was no God Spirit Power or Father vvithout the body of Christ to quicken that vvhich vvas vvithin the body of Christ but lay in its pure Seed onely Reason And did that pure Seed vvithout the help of any other povverful life vvithout quicken it self again Faith Yea vvithout the assistance of any without at all for let me tell thee there vvas no such povverful life vvithout the body of Christ as vvas dead vvithin the body of Christ therefore impossible that vvhich received life from Christ should quicken the life of Christ that created it no I say the povver of dying and living again lay in its ovvn nature only so that there vvas neither any infinite Spirit God or Father besides Christ that did quicken the Seed of Christ from death to life in the grave but his ever living Word of Faith spoken before his death I say that pure Heavenly Faith is death in life and life in death and this vvas that vvhich redeemed his Soul from the povver of the grave as it is vvritten O death I will be thy death O grave I will be thy destruction this Povver vvas dead and raised it self from Hos 13. 14 mortality vvith a spiritual body vvithout the help of any other to immortality again Reason Did he raise that same body that he vvas crucified in and buried vvith If not What became of that body and vvith vvhat body did he rise Faith I say Christ did rise vvith the very same body that he vvas Crucified in that same body vvas raised and no other Faith Hovv came it then from a moatal body to an immortal body seeing it was the same body which was capable to dye Hovv could that same body be made capable to live again a life Eternal Faith If the immortal body of God the Father had not died in the vvomb of Mary to a mortal Son of flesh blood and bone he had not been capable to live in this vvorld among his creatures and upon the Cross have died again as a mortal Son he had not been capable to live in that immortal glory from vvhence he came so that Christ as he vvas God tvvice passed through death viz from immortality to mortality and from mortality to immortality again Now to Ansvver hovv that body vvhich vvas made capable to dye vvas made capable to live in glory was thus That which was mortal viz. Water Earth and Air being dead I say that spark of Faith did kindle it self throughout the same form so raised the same body vvithout any of the gross Elements aforesaid so that novv it vvas a body without blood onely the same flesh and bone purified yea refined into a soft thin bright spiritual form swifter then thought so that now having raised it self to the same it was when it descended from Heaven to the womb of Mary now it was able to appear among his disciples as it did in the womb of a woman their windows and doors being shut yea able to ascend to his kingdom of glory from whence he came and so sate on the right hand of his Father or the right hand of the Majesty on high where now he will remain to all eternity CHAP. 3. Shewing Christ is the onely God and Father yea the Creator of heaven and earth now it is to be revealed what God and Father that was and where he was that Christ so often called upon when he was upon earth Reason FRom thy last Answer thou hast raised more objections which I would desire thou wouldest be free to answer and that is if thou canst reveal unto me what God or Father that was and where he was that forbid Joseph in a dream not to turn away his Wife saying That which was conceived in her womb was by the Holy Ghost and when Christ was born who it was that sent the angel with the whole host of heaven singing and praysing of God And when the wise men went to worship Christ that fore-warned them to go into their own countrey another way and told Joseph that he should take the childe with his mother and flee into Egypt and when Herod was dead commanded him to return back again And another time This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased these with many others I could relate which I desire thou wouldest answer seeing thou affirmest Christ was God the Father Faith Though I tell thee yet thou canst not believe me so that I may leave thee excuseless I am made free to speak unto thee and let thee know where it is written that Christ uttered a parable which was to this effect viz. There was a Mark 13. 34. certain man took his journy into a far countrey and set his house in order and gave authority to his servants and bid the Porter watch so that I affirm this parable was concerning his hard and sad journy he was then undertaking now the servants he intrusted with his divine Authority was Moses and Elias they were his porters that were to watch over Christ Jesus the Creator of heaven and earth for it is written before Christ became mortal flesh that there was Angels which Psalm â—1 11. should have charge concerning him which Angels were Moses and Elias and therefore it is written God buried Moses and took up Elias in a fiery chariot which none of the Prophets Exod. 20. 19 1 Kings 17. 2. 2 Kings cap. 1. was so suddenly transmuted into glory as they were and therfore it was for some great design more then ordinary otherwise there had been no necessity of raising them more then any other of the Prophets And then again thou mayest read there was none so much represented the Royal Prerogative Power of a God above as they did here below as at thy leisure read those Scriptures quoted in the Margent Reason Why could not God make use of some of the Angels then in glory to be as thou sayest his Steward or Deputy-father and to watch over his person the time he was upon earth they knowing him and was always obedient to him might as well officiate the place of trust and represented that authority as well as Moses and Elâ—as Faith Why or wherefore God was necessitated to take up Moses and Elias was as in these ensuing particulars will appear First because Elias was the Seed of Gods own nature and so are none of the Angels therefore not safe for God to trust a contrary Seed they being but pure reason when as the nature of Moses and Elias was Faith so that God knew it was impossible they should falsifie their trust committed to them Secondly if God had left the Angels to take care over him then had Christ in his infancy perished by the hands of Herod in that the Angels are not able to subsist one day without the revelation of the person of Christ therefore he being here below they would have brought all to confusion above as also Christ had not been preserved his
almost the whole world believes the Soul was never generated but the breathings of the Spirit of God which are immortal and cannot dye Faith From the Revelation of Faith I say those conceited wise men which through the ambition of Tongues and Languages have studied beyond all sober sense or reason to make all the world senseless sots as to think when the Seed is conceived in the womb that then God must come and give it a Soul be it a Bastard or Free-born the child can have no Soul till God give it so that thou makest God not onely a partner but a perfecter of mans basâ— lust in that filthy act But however thy thoughts are unseal'd concerning God yet this I know that all Souls since the fall of Adam are but mortal natural and must dye in the body being generated to live together must dye together in that they are both guilty of sin cannot ascend but rot in the grave together as it is written The Soul of man shall be cut off from the Land of the Living and the Soul that sins shall dye and that the pure Soul of Christ was poured forth unto death and the Lord hath said that Adam and Eve were but dust and to dust they should return again also it is written That David is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us this day for David is not ascended into the Heavens Acts 2. c. Now what should ascend if not Davids Soul For it is written Not this body but such a body as pleaseth God to give it So not the body but the Soul thou sayest must ascend then know this Soul was in the dust and not ascended for David is not ascended as much as if it had been said Davids Soul is not ascended nor no Soul without a body can ascend and there can be no ascension till the Soul hath past through death it can never ascend to Eternal life Reason If the Soul at the hour of death did not ascend to glory or descend to misery how comes it then that John writes I sâ—w under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Rev. 6. 10. Word of God and for the Testimony which they held and they cryed with a loud voice saying How lâ—ng O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth So that surely John saw many Souls in Heaven cying unto the Lord to avenge their blood on their enemies otherwise he had not declared it Faith Thy ignorance hath been great as now it is in this as for thee to imagine that John saw Souls in Heaven without bodies and their spirits without face mouth and tongue should cry How long holy and true c. When a Soul without a face and tongue cannot be seen nor speak therefore I tell thee there is a greater Mystery in those words then thou art aware of for from my Seed spring I say it is no more then the blood of Abels which cryed unto the Lord from the ground and so doth all the blood of the Saints From the blood â—f Righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias and so to the end of our Commission Do cry O Lord holy and true why dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth This John saw by Revelation as Steven and Paul in another case did see the Heavens opened And so John saw a wonder in Heaven a Woman cloathed Rev. 12. â— with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and the 12 Stars upon her head Now when John saw this great wonder he was not in Heaven neither was this wonder done in Heaven but upon the earth so it was the blood of the Righteous Souls that were murthered in their bodies that John saw not in glory but upon this earth Now whereas thou art almost confident that at the hour of death the Souls go out of the body if so deal plainly with thy self and tell me whâ—â—â—t is like for surely the Soul must have some form â—â— sâ—ape and so cannot get out but it would be seen by some thâ—â— stâ—â—ds by for if a â—oul were of that form and fashion as White in his Chamber at Whithall shewed me the picture of a soul â—â— a Book a dark soul and a light soul in â—â—rm like a â—copeâ—ilâ— I say if the soul were as such wisâ— Head-pieces reports how comes it that it cannot be seen to gâ— out of the diseased For my part I have been at the death of some and yet could not discern any thing come frâ—m them but groans and flegm so that if thou with all thâ— seed were noâ— stone blinde thou wouldst clearly see the soul dyeth within the body for want of evaquation with the body Reason If iâ— be as thou sayest that all souls are dead in the dust and so become dust How or which way shall these souls be found out or raised at the last day Faith From the Lord of glory I speak it there is not any of thy seed that doth in the least understand how to answer this Argument therefore that Faith may be known to be Lord over thee and thy seed I declare that Christ Jesus being a quicâ—ning Spirit not onely as in relation to himself but all man kind as it is written The first man Adam was made a living Soul and the second man Adam was made a quickning Spirit I say his Soul being perfectly dead and buried in the grave yet in death he quickned himself to life without the help of any as in the second Chapter is clear so as it is written Your lâ—fe is hid in Christ with God so that when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear Col. 3. 3. 4. with him in glory therefore as he was able to qâ—icken his own Soul so at the general account he is far more able by the word of his mouth to quicken the Seed of Faith that now are dust to eternal glory also to quicken the seed of Reason to eternal misery yea and that from the first soul called Adam to the last soul dying he can and will in the twinkling of an eye raise all the Seed of Faith that hath layn so long in the dust to meet him in the Air with bodies sutable to their natures yea the very appearance of Christ who is all life will quicken that which is dead in the grave to hear his voice and immediately to come forth and meet him in the Air as it is written The hour is coming John 5. 28 in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice Reason That I understand is the raising of another body and not the soul for it is written it is sown a natural body and is raised a spiritual body so that I conceive it is not the soul but that body raised another that will be the work of the Lord at the day of Judgement
though dead five thousand three hundred years ago yet at the day of our glorious Gods appearance each seed or soul shall arise with bodies suitable to their natures that soul or seed of faith that believed in our Commission shall ascend to meet its Saviour in the ayre and that soul or seed of Reason that despised our Commission shall arise a spiritual body upon this earth tormented to all Eternity 16. It is to be believed That the Kingdom of glory where Christ the onely God his Elect Saints and Angel doth and shall inhabit to all eternity is non-globical where God and his mighty Angels can at their pleasure with their bodies fly as swift as thought ten thousand miles in a moment and when he pleaseth God can stand sit lie in as narrow a compass as my self for none but our Revelation knows that there is an immortal Earth Sea Fish Fouls Beasts Hearbs Trees yea all things immortal glorious there as they are mortal deformed here and all this for the contemplation of God his Elect Saints and Angels to whom let all ye that have or shall have belief in our Commission so living and so dying in the truth of our Revelation sing praise glory and honour that ye shall see and enjoy what now ye do believe as touching our Commission 17. It is to be believed that certain men and women have and will seeingly come to the belief of our Commission insomuch that they have rejoyced in it contended for it yea have said they desired to depart this life in the belief of it and yet being according to birth the seed of Reason and not the seed of Faith in time of persecution riches glory and honour of this world fell away to their eternal perdition as I could name some but wo wo for as sure as Christ is God they shall never see that glorious Kingdom aforesaid 18. And lastly it is seriously by you to be observed That by believing the truth of what I write you will finde great satisfaction when I am taken from you that as this is the last Commission so the the the truth yea the onely truth that shall remain to the end of this bloody unbelieving world to reminde you of this one thing that it is not to be expected many to come to believe a Commission as to a notional dispensation for in the two former Commissions they cryed out Two of a Tribe one of a City so few in their Commissions that the Prophet Elâ—jah said I even I onely am left and they seek my life to take it aâ—ay and then saith Isaiah Who hath belâ—eved â—ur report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed So few that in the time of Christ at his sayings they were so hard to be understood that there fell away 70 at one time nay none stuck to him but the Apostles and a few more And then in the second Commission there was so few that really believed that sometimes Paul had but two or three stood by him in the faith And now in this our last they are so few that they are not worth the numbering among the multitude of notional Churches and therefore forget not that saying of Christ Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it But herein comfort your selves that those few of you that really enters in shall feel yea see and behold your God face to face yea sing out triumphing voyces of joy with eternal harmonies of divine musick for ever yea for ever in that glorious Kingdom aforesaid prepared for Christ your God and you his Elect Saints with the Elected Angels world without end so that ye shall sit stand lie walk go flie at your pleasure having nothing to say but glory here is the height of glory in the presence of our Saviour yea an endless glory without end These twenty particulars underneath asserted in the Quakers Downfal by Scripture proved and in that Revelation infallibly confirmed that Law Claxton the onely Bishop and true Messenger of our last Commission doth in the death of his soul seal them a real truth in confutation to the Quakers blinde Reasons imagination which are as followeth 1. That faith shall dye in the heel and reason in the head 2. That the Angel did descend into the womb of Eve 3. That a spirit cannot live without a body p 28. 4. That we and our God are cursed to all eternity p. 28. 5. That Christ or God is above the Stars with a body of flesh and bones 6. That God that Christ said was a spirit the meaning of his Revelation was that his invisible soul was that God or spirit abiding onely in his person p. â—9 7. Thaâ—â—eason is the seed of the Serpent 8. That by faith reason shall be kept in eternal death 9. That God gave Faith â—easâ—n and Sense but onâ—e 10. And that Faith Reason and Sense have in all generated in its kinde form and nature as in p 40. 11 That the Devâ—ls Kingdom and Reasons Kingdom are one 12. That God doth damn as well as save and that not for any evil thing done as he hath asserted in p. 58. 13. That we acknowledge no other God but what was within us 14. And that we conceive this God was an infinite nothing and so made all things of nothing 15. That the light in us is darkness 16. That an Infinite Spirit without a body is nothing 17. That we say God hath no form 18. That all the time Paul was cloathed with a corrupt persecuting spirit he was a vessel of honour in the account of God 19. That God is all Faith and no Reason and that Reason is of the Nature of the Devil p. 31. 20. That it was the wisdom of the flesh that made a chief Magistrate as in p. 36. In the next place I return as the Majestie of Christ the onely God in condemnation of your Diabolical perjâ—red lies against the holy Spirit of the nature of the most high God now revealed in us his last powerful infallible Prophets and Messengers of his eternal Majestie in the highest Heavens brought upon record in our Revelation as in your Reasons libel verbatim are asserted by that son of perdition J. Harwood 1. L. C. said He would prove God to be a man flesh and bones as we are Now ye the Believers of our Commission take notice that of which of these twelve particulars before quoted you by my pen finde silence we own as eternal truth but the rest that I set my pen against was not our words but Reason the Devil-lying imagination by those aforesaid Quakers as do but observe and thou mayest discern how I binde them hand and foot from their supposed light yet real darkness as seriously minde the first forged lie 3. L. C. said He had nothing of God in him and many other places nought of God in him Answ That you the blessed of the Lord may know
pierce through her secrets as thou sayest in a moment and yet not be seen by any nor she stand amazed yea trembling in fear at so sudden appearance and dissolution of this svvift motional substance into her body for my part I cannot understand it neither vvill Scripture prove it so cannot believe it Faith Well may his dissolution into the vvomb cause admiration vvhen at his birth vvhich vvas no strange thing there should be such a multitude of Heavenly Host rejoicing vvith such Heavenly Harmonies that the Shepherd vvere amazed vvith fear yea a vvonder it vvas to them that heard of it far and near vvhich if there had not been a conception more than ordinary the birth of that conception had not caused such astonishment round about but novv God vvas become a Child yea Eternity become time and for a season to dvvell among his Creation and therefore if thou knevv that the body of God vâ—â—s of a bright glorious Chrystal soft thin transparent substance swifter than thought who at his Divine pleasure can transmute himself as high or as low and into as a straight a passage as can be thought on then thou wouldst cease reasoning and believe what I speak to thee that the body of God consisting of such Divine Spiritual and Heavenly matter as aforesaid could without the sight of any descend from Heaven to Mary And why or wherefore should she be amazed when she had tidings of what should be before Neither was his dissolution any prejudice at all to her but raptures of joy springing up in her Soul to her Eternal comfort Reason What then was all the God that created Heaven and Earth in the womb of Mary and was that the very God that was born in a Manger that was swadled suckled and dandled upon the knees and carried up and down the Countrey in the Armes of his Mother was this God the Father that created all things that now hath life in them that once could not go nor feed himself but be led and fed by its creature As unto this answer me plainly and really what is thy thought on this great mysterious Mystery Faith From the Spirit of Revelation I tell thee that was the very God that the Wise Men went to worship and that Herod did seek to kill was the very Godhead Spirit or Life of that Christ Jesus so that Pauls Revelation told him The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christs body and God Col. 2. 9. was in Christ reconciling the world with many such places and therefore the words that Christ spake was Spirit and Joh 8. 24. Life and again saith Christ Exept ye believe that I am he ye shall dye in your sins So that if the Eternal Godhead had not sprung up this Revelation he could not have uttered those sayings as his own Reason However thou hast quoted some certain places that confirm what thou sayest yet I cannot find but all along as I read God and Christ is two and not one so that there was a God in Heaven when Christ was upon earth and me thinks it is contrary to reason that God which created all Creatures should walk talk eat and drink with them and be affronted by them and as it were have his livelyhood by them that he created Faith Well Friend think of it what thou pleasest yet this I 'le assure thee that God and Christ is not two but one For what necessity was there for God to have a Son Surely if it were as thou sayest either God was in process of time to dye and so make his Son Heir or else he wanted a Companion to keep him Company if not so then the world was too great and so got a Son to assist him yet however I tell thee there never was but one God And surely then he that died for us must save us and if Christ be our Saviour then he must be our Creator and yet what striving here is for two Gods when in the beginning of Moses and the Prophets we read but of One as it is written Isaiah 4. 10 11. Before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour and then confirms it saying Neither is there Salvation in â—8s 4. 12. any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must saved and yet what a flutter thy seed makes about God and Christ so two Gods as though one God should Create and the other God should Save O for shame leave off these things and be silent in thy ignorance for thy seed is so various that some of you will have God a Spirit and Christ the Son a Person and others of you will have three persons and one God and the rest will have no Person at all but an infinite formless Spirit so that from my Revelation I tell thee and all thy seed with thee as by the Prophet Isaiah is proved there never was no God formed before Christ nor never shall be atfer him yet this I know there is three titles but one person which person ever was is and shall be Christ Jesus alone for Christ had the title of God the Father in the Law and the title of God the Son in the Gospel and now God the holy Ghost in this our last commission to which is onely revealed that Christ Jesus is the onely God Reason Then tell me what was that which died in Christ when he was crucified and said now it is finished and gave up the Ghost Faith That was he gave up his Soul to death which Soul was the Eternal Spirit or Godhead Father and therefore it is written He poured out his Soul to death and was offered Heb. 9 14. through the Eternal Spirit So died in mortality and was buried in the grave which Soul Spirit or Godhead in the twinkling of an eye quickned to immortality or spiritual form again Reason If the Creator of Heaven and Earth was that which died in Christ so that the God of all life being then become death How came he or by what means could he be quickned or raised to glory again Faith Yea it was the Soul Spirit that died and was perfectly dead that gave life to all and that life that died in a moment did quicken it self by its ever living Word of Faith spoken before his death that raised him to life saying Joh. 10. 18 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again there being no let or doubt in Faith that could hinder it what it had purpose to do Reason Was all the Power that created Heaven and Earth dead and buried at the very same moment and no power left without Christ to quicken that which was dead within the body of Christ Jesus Faith No more than is in a grain of Wheat and yet that dies and in season quickens again so that there
substance he was created of in those words The Lord God also made the man of the dust of the earth after his own likeness yea in the Image of God created he him so that I say he made Adam of this dust below and therefore it is the body of man is natural so of a heavy gross substance viz. flesh blood and bone Reason How or which way was man framed in the image of God and so compleatly made in the similitude of the Creator seeing mans body is of such gross mortal substance and Gods body thou sayest is of a bright fiery glorious chrystall immortal substance what likeness or image can mans be like unto God then tell me Faith In the creating of man the Lord God onely spake the word onely unto the dust of the earth and immediately the vertue thereof brought forth a living man of pure flesh blood and bone like unto God himself as near as could be so that I say it was not the visiblility of their persons that differed in the least but the glory of them onely for this by Faith I know God was an infinite spiritual body in all parts perfectly holy and Adam was a finite natural body of perfect innocency resembling that Divine form of God that created him Reason What then was the nature or spirit of Adam Angelical or was it Divine Faith I say though Adams body was made of the dust and appointed for generation so natural yet this from an unerring spirit I know that his Soul was not natural but supernatural or Divine and that because it was formed according to the invisible glory of the Eternal Spirit Reason What then was not Adams nature Reason so a reasonable creature if not then Adâ—m was unreasonable so not like unto God Faith From the Lord of Glory I say that if the nature of Adam had been rational in his creation then it could not have been Divine but of Angelical desiring nature of unsatisfaction in its self but that Divine Soul of Adam which was created after the likeness of the Eternal God did consist of several Heavenly properties in its measure answerable unto those Divine qualifications in the glorious Creator above all measure for the Soul of man is not without its several properties and yet they are all in a Heavenly Harmony in that the joy of Soul that Adam did possess arose in him from one Divine Heavenly voice called the Spirit of Faith which was all satisfaction in himself with his present condition not having the least thought of further happiness then what he enjoyed already thus as the Divine nature of the Eternal Spirit was variety of infinite satisfaction in it self So likewise the Soul of Adam being composed of the same qualifications was variety of satisfaction in it self also according to its measure Now if the nature of Adams Soul had been as thou sayest rational in his creation then through want of the Divine nature of Faith Adam would alwayes have been desiring after something that he wanted like unto the Elect Angels for this I know the nature of Adams Soul could not possible have any reason in it and that because the very nature of reason is not onely as aforesaid but it is too serious in its consideration whether things be good or right that are propounded to its understanding when on the contrary that nature or breath of Faith which singly was intirely given to Adam without the least consideration perfectly knowing the excellency of a thing as soon as ever it is presented unto it and therefore Adams nature must needs be Divine as Gods is and supernatural though cloathed with pure nature onely Reason If it be as thou sayest that Gods nature is all Divine Heavenly Faith without pure reason at all and Adam was onely partaker of that nature which thou sayest is so immortal pure that it is all Divine Heavenly satisfaction in its self How came it then that Adam having that nature of Divine satisfaction in his own Soul did fall from that happy and innocent condition wherein he was created Faith From the revelation of faith in my soul I declare that in the nature of God there is not the least motion of the purest reason at all that being onely the angels nature as aforesaid neither is it possible there should be in that thou hast heard in that chapter treating of the angels creation that reason in the purest sense is but a meer desire of the enjoyment of something that is above it so no real satisfaction in its self therefore if the nature of God were pure reason as Papists Episcopal Presbyter Independent Anabaptist Ranter Quaker and all Atheistical opinions of thy seed affirm then I say the Creator that gave satisfaction to another is not satisfied in its self and so in thy reason would follow there is something above God that must give satisfaction to God which from an unerring spirit is cursed blasphemy when it is written In him all fulness dwells and Col 2. 9. he it is that filleth all in all And again it is written There is Isaiâ—h 43. 10. none like him above him or before him or that shall be after him for a spiritual body of all divine heavenly faith and therefore it is written the wonderful transendent vertues of faith in so much that there is not the least let or doubt but whatever it believeth shall come to pass and to faith there is nothing unpossible that its revelation moves it to do when on the contrary reason is such antiphathy that it is a body of meer imaginary desires and no reality cloathed with fear let and doubts of faiths eternal power Now though the soul of Adam through the divine purity of its nature was immortal and uncapable of any rebellion against the glorious spirit of its Creator yet because its body was natural and had its beginning of this dust below his immortal soul having its being in a piece of clay was become subject through temptation to be transmuted from its present condition of his created innocency for this faith knows though the soul of Adam was of a divine nature yet because it was a created nature distinct to it self it was become a Son or Servant yea subject to its divine God and that through deep temptation he was subject to be transmuted into a sinful condition through which both soul and body might not onely be subject to natural death but also full of fear of eternal death or casting out of the spiritual presence of a divine Majesty to bring forth his heavenly disign of a more transcendent eternal glory that he had prepared through suffering to be enjoyed by his divine image at the last day with himself face to face Reason I conceive if Adam had such divine immortal heaven life breathed into him which thou calls his soul that was of the same property and nature of the divine God he might by that life have withstood all
by the man how the Devil got into him nor how this Devil or Devils went out of him and got into the Herd of Swine nor what become of those Devils in the Sea whether drowned in the Sea or no but however so as I have said before so I say again that there is no Devil without a body that can torment another neither can that Devil if he were not generated in man either come in or go out of man but he must be seen otherwise he is no Devil at all as for instance the distemper of man cannot be cast out but it may be seen and felt in the foul and stinking body that poysoned and distempered the minde of man And how dost thou know that the Soul of man leaveth or goeth out of the body at the hour of death CHAP. 9. Shewing what the Soul is and what it is that dieth how that the Soul which is the life of the body can dye and nothing else but life that dieth Reason VVHY I believe the Soul cannot dye because I conceive it a thing impossible the Soul being an Eternal Spirit cannot be capable of death and besides Solomon saith Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it So that it is my believe the Soul cannot dye Faith Though this Principle be fully cleared in the Prophets Book called joyful news from Heaven yet I shall reveal the truth of it upon another account that the Soul is mortal so capable to dye otherwise it could not live Eternal for as nothing but life can dye and that life being dead shall be made capable to live a life Eternal Reason Before thou proceed any further let me but hear how that nothing but life can dye which it is conceived by all knowing men that life which thou callest the Soul is immortal and cannot dye Now that natural life that runs in the blood may dye and therefore it is confessed when a man is murthered or hanged his breath is stifled and so the natural mortal dies yet all this while as Salomon saith The Soul goeth to God that gave it Faith Having in our former writings made it appear that Solomon was the highest pitch of Reason that ever was so what he spake was onely knowledge in nature and not by the Revelation of Faith therefore no Scripture For Reason imagineth things that are not and things that cannot be understood by any sober man much less by a man in Revelation as to think that an immortal Soul or Spirit should be limited to a mortal body which is as possible as light and darkness to dwell together as an immortal Soul to live in a mortal body therefore I say that the Soul and body of man are one distinct living and dying essence for the Soul or Spirit in the womb by degrees congeals together into a rational fire of blood and water and so in due time become a compleat body of flesh blood and bone so that the life that is in man is not Divine but natural onely Reason This is strange that the Soul or Spirit of a child should conceive in the womb that being a breath or gift of God and not generated in or by the seed for I read that God breathed into Adam and he became a living Soul so his Soul was not immortal but mortal and so is all man-kind Faith However it is strange to thee yet I know it is a real truth to me that the Word by which God first created life in man that Word or Breath was immortal which by his fall became mortal as at large is cleared in the seventh Chapter and this know God never created but male and female and gave life but once and since every life in its kinde hath generated bearing seed in its self so that from my Revelation I say that the rational Soul or Spirit of man lyes secretely hid in his seed like unto a spark of fire which spark doth quicken it self into a living form like unto his nature and so having cloathed it self with flesh his Soul or Spirit runs invisibly through the whole body and so is one entire substance being both conceived into life in the womb togegether and both living together upon the earth their appointed time and being both polluted together with sin is it not requisite that they should dye together and turn to the dâ—st and nâ—n-being again until the general bodily Resurrection of all man-kind Reason I know no other but that every man hath in him a good Spirit and a bad spirit as it is written The spirit lusteth Gal. 5. 17. after the flesh and the flesh agaâ—nst the Spirit and these are contrary So that by the learned it is believed that there is a natural life and an Eternal life in one man otherwise the body and Soul are both one which in Scripture I never read that these were both one bâ—t two one fleshly and the other spiritual Faith Didst thou know the truth of what thou hast said then wouldst thou know as followeth that every man in his fallen spirit hath remaining a little light or motion in him to justifie all the righteous proceedings of the Creator in his Conscience at the last day yet mind what I say he hath but one Soul or Spirit in him for that which the Apostle calls spirit in this place was a Divine light of life received unto the dark understanding by vertue of a word speaking from the eternal Spirit of the Lord of glory and not the essence of the holy Spirit for I know that those who do expect a glory to come in the invisible Heavens do confess that the spirit of the Divine Majesty is inâ—â—nite unchangeable immortal eternal therefore how thinkest thou it possible for men or Angels to be capable of the indwelling of the 〈…〉 nce of his Eternal Spirit and that which the Apostle calls flesh was mans own Spirit which consists of nothing but confused lying imagination or cursed carnal reasoning against the Heavenly light aforesaid Now that I may answer the last clause of thy demand that the Soul and body is one it is written All the Souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which came Gen. 46. out of his loins were threescore and six â—ouls again it is written Thy Fathers went dowâ— into Egypt with seventy persons Deut. 10. So that it is plain man is sometimes called Soul and sometimes is called a body or person or Soul Body and Spirit and yet man is but one living essence or substance However the learned of thy seed pretend they know much of this when indeed they know the least of all as to separate a mortal soul from a mortal body or to unite an immortal Soul to a mortal body which is as possible to make light and darkness God and Devil one Reason This is strange that none but thou shouldst know or dâ—scerâ— the Soul immortal when
Faith Oh! senseless sot that I should thus spend my time with thee when thou neither believes Scripture nor can rightly interpret any Scripture when thou mayest read in the 36th and 37th verses these words Thou fool that which 1 Cor. 15. 36. thou sowest is not quickned except it dye and that which thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain Now consider is not the life of the wheat grain in the body of the wheat corn when it is sowed and doth it not in its season dissolve its body with its life into dust and there dye yea perfectly dead till such time as refreshing showres and the heat of the Sun beams which is the life of the earth quicken that life which then lay dead to a new life by which vertue it cloaths it self noâ— with that old body but a new body and so abides not alone but brings forth a new encrease of sixty seventy or an hundred fold Now let me speak freely to thee as it is with the grain of wheat so it is with the soul of man for that is buried with the body in the earth were both soul and body is corrupted to dust and there lyeth as the wheat grain perfectly dead till such time that quickning Spirit the Lord of all life do appear and quicken that mortal soul which then was become dust to an immortal soul which after shall become an immortal life by which quickning it is clothed with a spiritual immortal body all glorious like God himself so now having a body sutable to its nature a spiritual powerful swift body like unto its Soul is now able to ascend to meet his Redeemer in the Air and so return with him into glory so that from the Lord of all power I say if the soul were immortal in a mortal body and could not dye but ascend to glory then I say there would be no need of Resurrection in that this body shall not rise though the Grave and the Sea at that day shall give up their dead is not intended their dead bodies but their dead souls that hath been many years drowned or buried that shall arise whether out of water or earth their souls shall arise every seed his own body but this I say if the soul were in glory already without a body as it cannot be then it were in vain to raise a body out of the earth to meet a spiritual Soul in Heaven in that no body can be raised without its soul nor a soul be any thing without its body so that if thou wert not stone blind thou wouldst say with me that to believe thy soul should go to Heaven without its body neither God nor Angels could see it or take notice of it nor the soul it self know what or where it is and so in conclusion never be capable of glory at all CHAP. 10. Shewing what Heaven is and how many there are with the nature and form thereof Reason WHat Heaven is that or where is it that these believing souls shall go to at the last day of Resurrection Faith First I shall tell thee from an unerring Spirit how many Heavens there are and which of those three this Heaven is that all believing souls shall inherit eternal glory in the personal enjoyment of their God face to face I find but a threefold Heaven spoken of in Seripture whatever thy seed vainly imagine to the contrary The first that I shall infallibly speak of is the visible Firmamental I. Heaven which is adorned with maty majestical lights above us and a fixed earth beneath us beautiful in its season with variety of delights which is natures onely desired Heaven through the secret Decree of the most wise God to manifest the variety of his most infinite wisdom unto Elect men and Angels in creating such natural glory to perish with the Angelical merciless Rulers thereof after they have enjoyed their momentary glory as it is written Thou Lord in the beginning hast established the earth the Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou dost remain they shall wax old as doth a garment this is that visible Heaven with the glory thereof Reason Which is then the next Heaven by Scripture proved that so if possible I may come to know that Heaven which is Eternal and shall never perish Faith As I do not set forth these Heavens in order so I say thou canst noâ— nor none of thy sed have any Faith in what I have or shall say but however the next Heaven I shall treat upon is that within the bodies of men or the first man Adam as it is written The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and Christ in you the hope of glory and know you not that Christ is in you except yâ—u be Reprobates Now this Heaven is that spiritual creation in natural bodies and within this perishing Globe that through its union with changable nature it might enter into mortality that so after a moments tasting of silent death as God himself did it might quicken again through death it self spiritual bodies full of Divine glories by which all the Elect as swift as thought ascend to meet their Lord in the Air and with his Divine person of bright burning glory enter into that prepared Throne of Eternal pleasures by which such a soul hath perfect peace with assurance here that it shall enjoy what it in this world believed Reason How is it possible any creature should give a description of the Kingdom of glory Which I perceive thou wilt say is the third and highest Heaven seeing it is a place that can by mortals cannot be seen therefore not known I conceive no mortal flesh is able to speak of it according to its form and nature Faith From the Lord of glory I say what is impossible to Reason is possible to Faith for by the Revelation of this Faith I can see and do know that the third Heaven is invisible yet visible ravishing glories which are Eternal this is that vast Kingdom where the persons of the mighty Angels and glorified bodies of Moses and Elias do now inhabit beholding the Face of that most Excellent Majesty whose Divine nature is Crowns of unuttâ—rable excellencies this is that habitation third Heaven Throne or Kingdom that the Pen of man is not able to write or his Tongue to speak However what by Revelation I have seen I shall here declare that the form of it is non-Globical insomuch that there is no end of the height of it nor circumference thereof insomuch that God his Saints and Angels may ascend ten thousand times ten thousand and yet no Globe to hinder so excellent glorious swift personal Majesty as God is and as for the nature of this Heaven it is so infinite that there is all manner of creatures for the contemplation of God his elected Saints and Angels Reason What dost thou believe
that there is all manner of other creatures in Heaven besides Angels and Saints as there is here below in the same forms and shapes as they are here in this world If so How are they supported and by what means do they live Faith From my Seed-spring within me I affirm that in the third and highest Heavens the Kingdom of glory there is a perfect earth and that is the Lords foot-stool which earth is immortal glorious upon which there is all manner of Trees Herbs Plants and all manner of four-footed beasts all manner of Fowls also I say there is chrystall Sea in which are all manner of Fishes nay to be short there is nothing here but what is there though this is to be understood as these are mortal those are immortal fiery glorious of a bright shining nature sutable for such a Majesty to solace himself withall as also his Saints and Angels also there is Thrones varieties of Glory with such Heavenly glorious Trumpetting voices from the Divine mouth of Saints and Angels that the Glory of Eternity doth ring again with such a sweet Divine Harmony that the enjoyment thereof is unutterable and the more they daily encrease with new joyes of ravishing praises and delights after all their tedious sufferings and that without end Oh! the Eternity the Eternity is that which makes it incomparable delightful otherwise the Kingdom of Glory above would little transcend the glory here were it not Eternal and full of variety of Divine pleasures but in that it is so as I know and believe therefore I cannot but say as touching the third and highest Heavens Oh! the Glory the top of Glory yea ravishing glories without end Reason How dost thou know this and where by Scripture canst thou prove this that there is such variety of immortal creatures there as there are mortal creatures here Faith Although this by Scripture could not be proved yet by Faith it ought to be believed for it is written Faith is the Heb. 11. 1 2. substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen for through Faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Now if thou couldst understand the truth herein contained then thou wouldst with me conclude that all things that are here seen with thy natural eye were brought forth after the same plat-form of things above which do not here appear so that from my Seed-spring I affirm there is not the variety of things here but there is the same above in the same likeness there in glory as here in shame so that there is all day and no night and that because the fiery glorious person of God being the light thereof in which Kingdom the glorified of the Lord may stand walk talk sit lye flye yea recreate themselveâ— in whatsoever their Divine Souls moves them to and that without the least motion of either pain sorrow or weariness in whatever it is intended to do and that because there is no end of new springing delights and that noâ— fancies of the eye but substantial realities that may be felt and embraced so that I esteem the hardship of this present world not once to be compared to that glory that shall be revealed in my soul and that Eternal without end so as it is written We look not at things which are seen here by the eye of Reason 2 Cor. 4. 17. but at things which cannot be seen but by the eye of Faith In that things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal therefore Our affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Eternal Glory CHAP. 11. Shewing what Hell is where it is with the Form and Nature of its torment Reason VVHat is that place called Hell and where is it that the unbelieving souls shall go to at the day of Resurrection Faith Having at large treated about this Particular in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you as touching the place of torment as also what Hell is and where it is yet now I shall give thee a discovery of it upon a clearer and higher account that Hell is the body of man and the life spirit or soul therein is the Devil Reason How can Hell be in man When it is written after both Dives and Lazarus was dead and buried the which man being in Hell he lift up his eyes in his torment and seeth Luk. 16. 20. Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cryed and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame so â—hat from hence I judge no man is in Hell till after death Faith In the first place thou must know this was a parabolical speech of the Lord of Glory in which the nature of two Seeds viz. Faith and Reason are discovered that is to say Faith representing the poor man Lazarus and Reason representing the person of the rich man Dives not that the rich man was in any Hell without him no more then thou art at this time yet this I know it is a true description of the state and condition of Reason being tormented in a burning flame with the sting of their own Conscience and that not onely as in relation to the various doubts and fears that attends themselves but on the contrary the assurance that believers enjoyes in this his present being for this I know that those who are true heirs of Abraham according to Faith are in his bosom that is in the same peace and perfect assurance as Abraham was for this I know that Abrahams Soul is rotted with his body in the grave and can neither see hear speak move or go no more the rich Devils of this world can till the day of Resurrection from my Seed-spring I declare that the Souls of Righteous or Wicked goes neither to Heaven nor Hell but both lyes uncapable of either joy or sorrow in silent dust as at large is handled in the ninth Chapter And whereas thou sayest there is none in hell till after death I say thou believes thou knows not what for there is not onely thou but many of thy Seed are now in Hell tormented that they cry unto the Seed of Abraham to know what shall become of them in this their flame crying out they are damned they are damned wishing Oh! that I had but one drop of that ever-living water to quench my flame that runs as a Well-spring in the Souls of the Seed of Faith by which they are freed from this unspeakable torment that notwithstanding all thy riches and wisdom thy seed or generation are pluâ—ged in Reason However thou would perswade me that there is no hell without man what then dost thou
say to that place where it is written Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Isaiah 30. 33. he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a flame of brimstone doth kindle it So that I believe there is a hill either in the air or under the earth reserved for the souls of all the wicked at their death as it is written The wicked shall be turned into Psal 9. 17. hell and all the nations that forget God Faith Whatever thou hast in this conference thought of me yet I have not in the least gone about to perswade thee or any of thy seed to credit what I have revealed in that the benifit of this discourse will onely redound to the seed of faith and as for this scripture that thou hast quoted here is neither thou nor any of thy seed can tell what to make of it yet for thy conviction and confirmation of the blessed of the Lord I shall give thee the true interpretation thereof which is as followeth Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Now I know this king is reason which is the God of this world as indeed there hath been since king Saul but few Kings that were of the seed of Abraham according to faith but onely reason yet however the king here intended is the seed of reason whether moderate or immoderate it is Esau the elder brother as unto the Government of this world it is the onely king and the situation of it is deep and large in that there is no end of reasons imagination it is so deep in cogitation that it is compared to a bottomless pit and therefore the prophet crieth Hell hath enlarged her self and Isaiah opened her mouth without measure as all along it hath appeared by thee so deep and so large that faith can neither fathom thy God or thy devil thy heaven or thy hell they are so infinite and boundless that there is no true account of any thing thou sayest for a true believer to build his salvation upon Now whereas it is said the pile thereof is fire and much wood that is the evil motions and wicked actions which thy deep and large seed of reason hath imagined things to be that are not and things that are real in their being cannot be comprehended by thee Therefore the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it which breath is no other but the Law held forth by his Messengers which will kindle thy motions and actions in a never-dying fire for as the pile and the wood is fuel for the external fire so are the wicked actions of Reason fuel for the eternal fire of the Law that shall burn throughout thy Soul and body with an unquenchable flame so that this soul of thine is that Hell surrounded with the wicked imagination of Reason Reason What then is there no place of torment to be prepared for the wicked as there is a place of glory prepared for the Godly And if there be a place let me hear thy judgement where it is to be and the nature of it Faith This in a few words I shall give thee a true description thereof that the place where all the seed of Reason shall possess their eternal tormenting misery shall be on this earth for as it is in your Law where a man commits his fact there he must receive his penalty so where a man commits his sin there he must receive his torment then know that as on this earth thy Soul hath been polluted with sin so on this earth it shall receive its torment which when the Lord cometh to put an end to this thy kingdom the Sun Moon and Stars shall be put forth as the snuff of a Candle and then this light glorious world shall return to a confused darkness yea a darkness that may be felt and the waters for want of the Moon will become a standing stinking Pool and the earth for want of the Sun will be dust or dry sand where there the seed of Reason shall be raised spiritual bodies sutable to their souls where therein shall flame yea burn and that for ever yea for ever for ever without end Reason If these that thou hast here related be truth then I say there can no flesh scarcely be saved and for my part I am no wiser in what I have heard then what I was before neither do I know what to make of them nor hereafter shall much trouble my minde with them but do really believe that there is more blasphemous lies then real truths in them for all the moderate wise men of the world do judge God a Spirit and the Devil not man but a spirit and as for the Soul is believed to be immortal and so either to ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell and I verily believe there is not one of 20 thousand that will believe any thing contained in thy discourse so that it causeth admiration in me that all should be deceived but those that believeth in these â—hings which if I be deceived I must be for I can neither believe in thee nor thy Doctrine Faith What thou hast now said is not in the least strange to my Soul that thou shouldst declare thy self as â—ow tâ—ou hast done for I have told thee all along that thou nor thy seed was not to understand this Doctrine no more then the Jews were to understand Christ as it is written Why do ye not understand my speech because ye cannot hear my Word for John 8. 43 44. ye are of your Father the Devil and the lust of your Father ye will do c. Even so I say unto thee thou being according to birth the seed of Reason so of the natuâ—e of the Devil thou judgest the truth a lye and a lye the truth because it is not given to thy seed to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Glory therefore I say as John said We are 1 John 5. 19. of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness so I infallibly know that almost the whole world will perish save those few that believed in the last spiritual Commission and because thou hast called this a blasphemous lye by Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth whose Revelation of Faith the Seed of his own body thou hast judged false and called a blasphemous lye I say in the vertue of our Commission that was given by a audable voice of words as it was given to Moses and Paul in theirs I infallibly pronounce thy soul and body damned to all Eternity CHAP. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operation thereof Reason WHat art thou more then I that thou dost thus assume Authority to thy self that onely belongs to God however thy curse I matter not onely I tremble to behold thy
A PARADISICAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT FAITH and REASON DISPUTING The high mysterious Secrets of Eternity the like never extant in our Revelation As touching God in Eternity how he became time in flesh and how he dyed in the grave and ascended to his glory again ALSO What the Angels are in form and nature and how the Angel became a Devil and that Devil man and that this World was prepared for the Devil so this the Devils Kingdom and what the Soul is with the place of its glory and torment With a brief Narration what a Commission is and how many Commissions there are what the difference of their worships and how that the Law was given to the Devil with a brief discourse on the Catechism the Lords Prayer and the Creeds as also a Divine Prospect to the Elect of the Lord. Written by Law Claxton the onely true Bishop and faithful Messenger of Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by William Learner at the Blackmoor near Fleet-bridge 1660. INDEX Chap. 1. SHewing whether God be a Spirit without á body or that God is a body of flesh and bone glorified Chap. 2. Shewing whether the Father became not a Son which Son was Christ and by death became a Father to all Eternity now in heaven glorified Chap. 3. Shewing Christ is the onely God and Father Creator of Heaven and earth now it is to be revealed what God and Father that was and where he was that Christ so often called upon when he was upon earth Chap. 4. Shewing whether the Angels were the first that God created and of what he created them with their nature and form and what was the cause of the Angels fall above all the rest Chap. 5. Shewing whether this World was before the Angels or no and whether this World was made of something or nothing and how it came into form and being and whether it shall for ever thus remain Chap. 6. Shewing of what matter Adams body was created and what was his nature soul or spirit and by what means he came to lose that estate he was created in Chap. 7. Shewing who it was that tempted Eve and Adam whether it was the Angel aforesaid and if so why is he called a Serpent Beast or Tree c. and how and which way they were deceived and what effect it hath ever since produced Chap. 8. Shewing whether Cain was not the first Devil and who are his seed or children and what Devils those were so frequently spoken of in Scripture Chap. 9. Shewing what the soul is and what it is that dyes how that it is none but the soul which is the life of the body that can dye Chap. 10. Shewing what Heaven is and how many heavens there are what the nature and form thereof Chap. 11. Shewing what Hell is and where it is what the form and nature of its torment Chap. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operations thereof Chap. 13. Shewing what the Law is at large and in short and whether any can keep the Law and when he is said to keep the Law and when not Chap. 14. Shewing whether that prayer doth not belong to all and whether by prayer we may come to the knowledge of God and whether it is our duty to make use of the Lords prayer Chap. 15. Shewing whether there be any truth in the faith of the Church of England expressed in the Creeds or Articles recorded Chap. 16. Shewing in eighteen Propositions the invincible mighty great Authority that is intrusted with a Divine Commissioner Also an eternal whip or scourge for the Quakers for belying the Holy Ghost A PARADISTICAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT Faith and Reason Disputing the high Mysterious Secrets of Eternity the like never yet extant in our Revelation CHAP. 1. Shewing whether God be a Spirit without a body or that God is a body of flesh and bone glorified Reason FRiend having such a convenient opportunity to have some conference with you my request is to know your judgement as touching the true God and that the more in this distracted age There are so many opinions concerning him That some holds him forth an Infinite Spirit c. others say Though God be a Spirit yet there are three Persons in the Godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and these three are one God the same in Substance equal in Power and Glory Now if thou please let me hear what thy judgement is of God Almighty Faith Notwithstanding this hodg-podg it matters not me what thou or all the wise men of the world hold For from the Spirit of Revelation I infallibly against men and Angels affirm That God the Creator of Heaven and earth is in the Person and Form of a man Reason How is it possible that God the Creator of all forms should admit of a form of his own Faith I say unless that Divine heavenly Faith or Nature had a Form or Person of his own he could not have created man after his own form image or likeness Reason Yea I grant God created man after his own image in righteousness and holiness but no otherwise Faith Ah pitiful Soul how thy riches choaks thee and thy wisdom blindes thee from believing in the true God that thou shouldst conceive that righteousness or holiness can be created without a form or didst thou ever read or hear of any holiness in any other creature but man onely so that thou canst not say this or that is holiness without a form and that the form of man above Reason What necessity or what ground can be shown that God who is the Creator of all forms should admit of a form of his own Faith It was the greatest ground of all for if God had not a form of his own it had been in vain to create either Angel or man in his form and that because he created them to behold his glorious person Reason Why cannot the glory of God be seen unless he admit of a Person and what matter of glory can be delighted onely in a single Person for I conceive him more glorious when he is a Spirit without a bosty for then he can fill Heaven and Earth wiâ—h his glory and every creature that he hath made then beholds iâ— in that they enjoy part of it Faith I say no glory can be seen without a Personal Substance nay it cannot bear the title of glory without a body for the glorious Spirit that ever was if it had not a body were nothing at all in that a Spirit cannot be seen so no delight in that which is not for what delight could man have with his wife if she had no person And whereas thou sayest God having a Person cannot fill Heaven and earth with his glory I say without his Person he could fill nothing at all As for instance what glory can there be in a
King without a person whose person being enthroned in his Crown and Dignity with all things suitable to his Majestie is that which fills his Court and Kingdom with renowned glory not that the Kings person is in every place but onely in his Court yet the hearts of his subjects over all his Dominions is filled with the report of his great power and glory so that the sound thereof as Solomons doth ring of the glory and greatness of his person so it is not the person of God but his powerful nature flowing in the hearts of his people that supports all things created by him neither is his person in any other place but his Kingdom of glory onely Reason If God admit of a form then God is not infinite but finite and so is not in every creature he hath made And if so how will this stand with those sayings In him we live move Acts 17. 28. and have our being Now from hence I conceive God is in every creature by his Spirit and hath no form of his own but lives in all forms that he hath made Faith Did I not know thee I should admire at thy ignorance but however I shall exactly answer thy Question that God was in the form of man before he became flesh in the same image and likness as now he is though then he was not flesh and bone as now he is yet as he is now so he was then a flame of bright burning glory that no Chrystal or Sun can stand before him yea his body is softer then down and swifter then thought and with that body so glorious can ascend or descend in his Kingdom of glory that he can be infinite as he pleaseth and yet when he vvill can consine his Godhead glorious Majestical Person to as narrovv a compass as any man vvhich if as thou saith God had no body but a Spirit and that Spirit in every creature then God vvere finite and limitted indeed that the Creator of Heaven and earth should be imprisoned in thy mortal corrupt sinful body nay not onely so but God vvas in Horses Hoggs Dogs Toads Snakes Spiders and all other creatures vvhich if it vvere as thou saith God vvere the vvorst of all creatures that he made Nay if it vvere so then frommy Seed-Spring I This is no Scripture of faith Acts 17. 28. But a Poets judgement in reason 2 Cor. 13. 5. say God is no Creator but a deformrd sick vveary sinful creature like thy self And as for those sayings In him we live move and have our being is thus to be understood that a true believer as Paul vvas that spake it doth by faith live move and have their being from the first vvord of faith that created Adam and not from any in-dvvelling of God in him as it is vvritten Christ in you the hope of glory and Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates is not thereby intended that God or Christ as he is a person is in you but as Paul saith Christ dwells in our hearts by faith It is faith vvhich is the nature of God of vvhich I am partaker of and by vvhich it evidenceth in my soul vvhere God is and vvhat God is both in form and nature Reason Thou saith God hath both form and nature if so his form and nature must be one and if one cannot be divided so he that hath one must have both therefore it vvill follovv vvhere the nature of God is there God must be himself for I conceive they cannot be separated in that it is vvritten That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee John 17. 21. Gen. 28. 16. that they also may be one in us c. and again it is vvritten Jacob said Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not so that I conclude God is in all creatutes Faith Though the nature be in the form yet it is not the form and therefore it is vvritten That by these you might be pertakers 2 Pet. 1. 4. of the Divine Nature though not the form As instance the Sun shines upon the just and unjust yet the body is in the firmament vve feel the vertue or nature of the body of the Sun by its heat and light yet vve have not the Sun so in my Soul I have the nature of God but not the form or body of God and therefore it is vvritten I am John 15. the vine and ye are the branches that is I am the vine and body of faith and ye have the branch or nature of faith so by my nature ye abide stedfast in me and I in you As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me by that nature flowing from me and therefore it is written Christ dwelleth verse 4. in my heart by faith by which Christ is in me the hope of glory and if I know not that Christ is thus in me I were a reprâ—bate not in me by his body but by his faiâ—h God or Christ is in me Reason What then is God in his person in heaven above the stars and his nature in thee here below then to me it is clear God and his nature is parted and so God looseth part of himself which to me is contrary to reason so not to be believed Faith However it is so to thee yet I know that God is in his glory and nature here below in mortals so really parted and yet no damage to God at all no more then a Fountain to cast out a Flood-gate of streams and yet retain its fulness in its self so the eternal Godhead fountain of all endless glory can stream yea hath streamed into all the seed of his own body such a Well-spring of eternal Assurance that all that are partakers thereof have perfect peace and belief in God the fountain of endless Glory and yet God all fulness in himself as David saith With thee is the Fountain of Life and Col. 2. 9. Christ said to the woman of Samaria Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be a Well of water springing up to everlasting life For in him dwelleth all the fulness of John 4. the Godhead bodily yea Christ is all in all So that I affirm it is no more loss to God to distribute his eternal Light into his creature then for the Sun to give light to the face of the earth and yet retain its essential light in its own body for as Jacob in his Vision saw a Ladder upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord it is no more but what Stephen and Paul saw by reve 〈…〉 on of their Faith as several times I
appointed time but the revelation of Moses and Elias being of the nature of God and a well-spring within their souls was that which did not onely support themselves but fed the Angels also and so kept them with that glorious Kingdom in due government and perfect obedience so that they had power as God himself in all things except creating and therefore it was they fore-warned Joseph and sent the Angel with a heavenly Host to the shepherds and commanded Joseph to flee and said This is my beloved Son Luke 2. 9 13. in whom I am well pleased I say they had power as God to do what you finde written Reason With what bodies did they represent the Place Throne and Dignity of God Faith With the very same body of flesh and bone without blood yet this I say in the transmutation of Elias all the mortal gross elements were struck out of his body viz. water earth and air and that spark of fiery life did divert the former elements into a flame of immortal glorious purity that the body which formerly was of a heavy gross substance was totally dissolved and refined into a glorious immortal spiritual body like God himself so that now they were no mortal creatures but immortal glorious Saints clearer then Chrystal brighter then the Sun and swifter then thought this was the glorious immortal creature that represented the Authority of the Eternal God Reason Did Christ when he was upon earth know that he had Moses and Elias to be his Steward or Deputy-father and if he did whether Christ knew that himself was God and Father Creator of heaven and earth and if so why did he so often and so seriously call upon a Father in heaven which if as thou sayest was but his creature and so God became a Son to his servant Faith I say after the immortal God and Father was become a mortal Son take notice as he lost his title so he lost his knowledge as touching he was Creator of heaven and earth for it was impossible for that which was become time to know it self as he did in eternity or while it was mortal to know what it was in immortality if he could have known it he would not have denied it neither have been by the feed of reason suffered to breath in this world so that I say Christ knew no other but that Elias was his God and father onely this as he grew in yeares so his Godhead revelation grew to the greatest height of knowledge that ever was to be in mortality so great that none was able to dispute with John 7 46 him and therefore it is written Never man speak like this man and his revelation was so high that he knew none was so near related to the father as Christ therefore he said Philip hast thou seen me and not seen the father knowest John 14. 9 10. thou not that the father is in me and I in him and that I and the father am one c. and yet from my seed-spring I say Christ knew not that he was the eternal father for if he had as aforsaid one time or another he would have told it his disciples saying All things the father hath made known to John 15. 15. me I have made known to you therefore who do men say that I am The answer was Some sayest thou art John the Baptist Elias Jeremias or one of the prophets but whom do ye say that I am Peter replies Thou art Christ the Son of the Matth. 16. 17. living God Now Christ owns this and no more saying Peter flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee and upon this rock I will build my Church c. so after Christ was risen with a spiritual body yet he knew not that he was the father as mind his words to Mary Go tell my brethren and thy brethren John 20 17. that I ascend to your father and my father to your God and my God so that till he was glorified he knew no other but that he had a father so that though Christ was the very God yet he bore the title of a Son and though Elias was but a glorified saint yet for that time was he honored with the title of God and Father Reason If thou canst tell me and therein deal planly with me what necessity was there for God thus to lose himself both in honor and knowledge and for what or wherefore was the cause that he laid down his life or poured out his soul or Godhead-spirit to death and whether it be matter of salvation to search into these deep secrets and other things depending thereon Faith If that eternal divine ever-living Body of Faith could in his royal will and pleasure been moved to any other way there had been no necessity to leave his glorious kingdom by which he lost his glory and honor both in title and knowledge but there was no other way so of absolute necessity and therefore he declares it as his promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the Serpent that as he had permitted the angels seed to deceive his own so he would by the same way undeceive it again to its former state before its fall and where it is written John withstood him at his baptism Christ said Suffer me this once to fulfil all righteousness Mat 3. 15. or fulfil all that the prophets have written of me as also it is written by Moses and most of the prophets of what befel him how he should be born of a woman and where he should be born and when led to death he was as a lamb dumb that opened not his mouth and that he should be as one despised forsaken and lost as unto title and knowledge and suffer the shameful death of the cross by thy seed that so he might keep thy seed under eternal death without which he could not have raised his own seed to eternal life the seed of the serpent to eternal misery and I say till he had thus suffered all power in earth was not his own as it was in heaven neither had he been Judge of the dead but living only so that from my seedspring I say it is the greatest concernment of a Souls salvation to know whether Jesus Christ be the onely God of no what he is both in form and nature â—â—y which the Devil is known in his form and nature without the knowledge of these things in one measure or another no soul in mortal flesh can be saved CHAP. 4. Shewing whether the Angels were the first that God created and of what he created them with their nature and form and what was the cause of the Angels fall above all the rest Reason WHat was the first creature God made And of what created he them and what was their nature and form Faith I affirm that the Angels were the first sensible living Beings formed by the Creator and that he
created them of that dust without or above this visible heaven yea I say by his word speaking unto that spiritual dust aforesaid there came forth an innumerable Angelical Host in persons or forms like men and not bodiless spirits as thy seed vainly affirm and the nature of their Angelical Spirits are pure reason onely Reason And was the fallen Angel created of the same matter as the other were and had that Angel the same form and nature as the rest of the Angels had if so why did not he sâ—and with the rest or the whole host of the Angels fall with him Faith I affirm that Serpent-Angel was created of the same matter and had the same form and nature yet was more wise or God-like in his creation than all the elect Angels of glory I say why he could not stand with the rest was the Creator fore-knowing that his Prerogative Royal would compel or move him to create this Angelical Reprobate in reference to his divine justice so that for the manifestation of his most glorious power unto elect men and angels his wisdom saw it most fit to endue this angel with more piercing rational wisdom and brightness of person than all his Angelical companions and that because he was decreed to the greatest shame and pain and not onely so but because the elect Angels should admire their Creators wisdom and power when they should see the out-cast condition of the highest created glory and themselves be filled with new declarations of honor praise and glory unto the Divine Majesty for his free electing love towards them through which they were ensured eternally to reign in their created purity This and no other was the cause why this Angel should fall from the rest Reason I have read as it is thus written That God spared not the 2 Pet. 2. 4. Angels but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgement so that I believe there was more then one in that the Scripture speaks in the plural and not the singular viz. Angels and not Angel Faith I infallibly affirm there was but onely one Reprobate Angel created at first for know this as there was but one man Adam cast out of his heavenly Paradise of created purity in soul and body as also all his seed or generation were cast out of their spiritual peace with him so likewise there was but one angelical Serpent cast from his rational created purity and that was the Serpent-devil which deceived Eve Now the Angels which were cast out with him were of his seed or generation through his union with the intrals of Eve where he had this world prepared for him and his generation Reason And was there no other way to manifest the greatness of his glory but by creating a seed or generation against himself and his seed that so he might damn one and save the other or what prejudice had it been for his Divine Majesty to have formed all in nature like himself as well as in form so that all might have enjoyed eternal happiness Faith I say there was no other way to manifest his divine excellencies unto angel or man but what he hath done if there had I am confident he would never have created any thing on purpose for eternal sufferings and that the more thou mayest think the wise Creator would never have suffered any creature to become rebellious against himself for the occasioning of such strange transactions in this world and suffering both of himself angel and man I say if he could have possessed his infinite glory in creating of every thing unto eternal pleasure Reason Why who was besides himself that should let or hinder what he had a mind to do but he might form all of the nature of himself as aforesaid Faith It is true though there was none besides himself yet I say that the Creators Royal Will and Pleasure was that glorious wheel that moved him to create or form any creature at all and sure I am it was unpossible for God to create the spirits of angels and men to be both of the nature of his own spirit or either of them to be of his divine nature then would the variety of his wisdom power and glory been all lost for want of distinction Moreover if angels and men had been both of Gods divine nature in their creation then in stead of their being capable to be transmuted into a higher or lower condition at the divine pleasure of the Creator would they not rather have been unchangable Creators then changable creatures therefore that God might impede all that might prevent his divine purpose he created the bodies of the angels spiritual and their spirits rational and he made the body of the man Adam natural and his soul spiritual and the cause was this that if their spirits and bodies had both been of the divine nature then it had been unpossible for them to change or commit any evil no more then the Creator himself where then had been all the wonderful transactions of his glorious Majesty or what had been formed in stead of creatures but Creators onely Reason How or which way came the angels forth living creatures if that life that brought forth their forms had not been in God so came forth from God infused into them as it was into Adam Faith Though the angels came forth living bodies in the forms of men yet that life was not in God nor of the nature of God but onely a created light of sensible life of divine joys proceeding from the eternal spirit by vertue of a word speaking through his heavenly mouth unto those elements aforesaid for I say that the uncreated essence or Godhead-spirit of an infinite Majesty was utterly uncapable to be conveyed unto finite created being for infiniteness is onely capable of its own glorious center and after the angels were formed into living bodies the divine Majesty and those created beings were become distinct in their essences for everlasting also the angels by apparant sight of their Creators face might know themselves to be but creatures yea subject to the divine pleasure of God that made them Reason I all along judged Gods nature to be pure reason and the angels nature the same and if not of the nature of God how or by what means came they obedient to the commands of God Faith Whatever thou hast judged of Gods nature thou art altogether mistaken for the nature of God is all-divine heavenly Faith and therefore the nature of the angels was and are of a contrary seed subject to mutability for the angels spirits are pure reason onely And what is the purest reason is it any thing else but all pure desires and what is the original of the most purest and perfects desire is it not a want of something that is desired or a kinde of unsatisfaction until its desire be satisfied from something that is not inherent in it self
hear thy thoughts whether this world was in being before the Angels because thou sayest the Angel was thrown into this world Faith Thou hast raised that which neither thou nor any of thy Seed can answer in that this and other that shall be revealed is onely to the Seed of Faith therefore for thy conviction and the satisfaction of the Seed of the Woman I against Angel and man declare and infallibly affirm that the substances of earth and water in this world and that glorious World above were from all Eternity in the Creators presence uncreated senseless dark dead matter like unto water and dust that had no kinde of life light or vertue in them in the least so that I say this world upon the account aforesaid was before the Angels creation Reason By the learning of this world we have understood that those substances of earth and water was not Eternal onely the Creator speaking the word so they came in being also it is written In the beginning God created the Gen. 1. Heaven and the Earth so that I understand there was no earth nor water till it was created Faith As I have said before so I say again this doth not belong to thy seed to know it for it is written Through Faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God Heb. 11. 3. So that by Faith I say that earth and vvater vvas Eternal and the vvord frame or create is to make formlesâ— dead vvater into sensible living forms for thou maist read That earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep c. So that there vvas an earth and vvater though dead and dark so vvithout form Novv the vvord creating or framing vvas to give life and light to those substances of death and darkness and therefore it is vvritten The Spirit of God moved upon the waters and said Gen. 1. 2. let there be light and there was light So that against Angel or man I positively affirm that the earth and the deep vvater vvere essentially one Chaos of confused vvater distinct from the Creator and vvhereas it is said In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth is thus to be understood that of the matter of vvater and earth that vvas formless and void God by a vvord speaking did create a formable vvorld as a place of convenient residence for such mortals as thou and I to inhabit in Reason Though it be consented that the earth and vvater in the beginning vvas dead and dark yet I cannot see but they vvere created so not eternal for it is vvritten I create light and I create darkness so that it vvill follovv God Isaiah 45. 7. created them vvithout form and void Faith In ansvver to this it is vvritten That God is light and in him is no darkness at all yet it is vvritten Darkness was upon the deep So that I knovv from eternity the Divine 1 John 1. 5. Nature of the Creators Spirit vvas nothing but immortal fiery glory of Life and Light so vvithout Controversie the dead earth and dark deep vvater never proceeded all Life and Light out of his glorious mouth and vvhereas thou sayest God created darkness is not intented as thou supposest but the meaning is that he created those Souls that vvere naturally dark into a marvellous light as these Scriptures vvill plainly manifest The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not and again I will open their John 1. 5. eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God vvith many such places but not one Scripture that God created or gave any being or beginning unto dead dark senseless earth and water aforesaid Reason I cannot yet understand but that God created that confused Chaos of water and earth and so of nothing by his word speaking this world was made Faith Though thou be the Seed of Reason yet in this thou art unreasonable to think that ever those dark dead Elements of earth and water should have their Original from his glorious Spirit I say their natures being so contrary it is impossible they should proceed the one from the other For alas What is death or darkness is it not through the absence of life and light and is not life being overcome by death absolutely become death or darkness or utter silence for a moment and if light and darkness life and death meet together is there any peace between them until one hath swallowed up the other If this be so as it is so then without Controversie earth and water were uncreated substances eternally distinct from the God of Life Light and Glory and that the more it is written And darkness covered the face of the deep therefore I say it is but a dream and a lye to say that God created all things of nothing or that God created that confused Chaos of water and earth it is all one as if thou shouldst say there was no Creator at all but earth and water and such like dead stuff as they are Reason It is written God made a Firmament and divided the waters that were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament Now was this Firmament Eternal as the rest Faith I say the Firmament that is visible was Eternal though it was of that dead dark matter as the other was Now the word making is the same creating which is no other then as aforesaid to make that which was dead and dark to be lively light and therefore God made Sun Moon and Stars and set them in the Firmament to give light upon this earth so that the Sun is the life of the earth the Moon the life of the waters Reason What then is the Nature of the Water and the Earth above this visible Firmament the same with this water and earth in this world Faith No in nature they are not the same for that above the Firmament is immortal spiritual when as this is mortal natural And therefore the Angels and all the creatures therein being created of that matter are spiritual immortal bodies when as man and all creatures herein are natural mortal bodies and therefore it is written There are Heavenly Bodies and earthly bodies celestiaal and terrestial the one above durable this below perishing that above sutable for such a glorious personal Majesty as the Creator is CHAP. 6. Shewing of what matter Adams body was created and what was his Nature Soul or Spirit and by what means Adam came to lose his state he was created in Reason THen tell me of which of the two substances was the body of Adam created of that above or this below Faith There is no Dispute to the contrary but that Adam was created of this earth below in that he is numbred among this visible creation as in Genesis is related And that Adam was to be Lord and rule over them and the Scripture tells thee what
temptation whatsoever though it was in a house of clay Faith Again and again against all thy seed I affirm that the soul of Adam was onely of the divine nature in its creation yet because it was one essence with a body that was taken out of dust it was both probable and capable to be thought into a condition of entering dust again and that for these ensuing particulars First to fullfil these Scriptures saying In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death And in the sweat of thy Gen. 3. 19. face thou shalt eat thy bread till thou return to the earth for out of it thou wast taken because thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return again Secondly if the body of Adam had been immortal in his creation as well as his soul he would not onely have been uncapable of natural generation but also he would have been uncapable of any transmutation whatsoever and where then had been the prerogative power of infinite wisdom and transcendent glory of the Creator ever been seen or known by angels or men And therefore it was Adam knew not whether he should stand or fall from his present state or no neither did he know what power he was indued withal in his created purity neither did he know any greater glory but what then at present he enjoyed so that if Adam had known that he had power in his own will to preserve himself in his present condition thou mayest be sure if he could have kept himself in that blessed state he would never have lost it for making use of all the power that was in him to have resisted a temptation unto rebellion in which he knew there was a threatning of a loss of that created glory he enjoyed as aforesaid CHAP. 7. Shewing who it was that tempted Adam and who it was that tempted Eve whether it was the Angel aforesaid and if so why he is called a Serpent a Tree c. and how and which way they were deceived and what effects it hath ever sinee produced Reason HOwever I cannot believe whatever thou hast related as touching these things yet tell me who it was and by what means Adam was deceived Faith I say though the Soul of Adam was Divine and free from all kinde of rationality so could not possibly have any desire in him after any carnal copulation with his Wife for I know that carnal pleasures were too low for a spiritual Soul whose nature was variety of Divine satisfaction in it self and therefore the woman Eve through the permission of God was first guilty of the transgression of lust and so tempted her innocent Husband to lye with her if possible to cover her folly And now from the Lord I say that the carnal I desire in her towards her Husband proceeded not from her Divine purity but from the rational nature of the unclean Serpent within her Reason Now I understand that thou makest Faith and Reason two contraries as fire and water so that from hence I understand that Seed thou callest Faith hath no desire but that all desire doth onely 〈◊〉 from Reason al he Faith Whether thou understand or â—o yet this I shall reveal to thee that God is now a body of flesh and bone glorified with all Divine spiritual Heavenly Faith and no Reason as aforesaid for â— so â— God himself woâ—ld be subject to transmutation as man and so full of unsatisfaction that all his transactions would be iâ—perfect and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason Seeing thou 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iâ— him â—â— How comes it then that God saith Come now lets reason together saith the Lord c Now if there were no Reason in God Isaiah 1. How could he have reasoned with the Rulers of Israel Faith Oh! that thou could but see how thy ignorance blinds thee from the true understanding of any Scripture as to think that God in his person should Reason with them when thou reads it was none but the Prophet Isaiah who from the Revelation of Faith in his own Soul reasoned the cause with them as from the Lord for I tell thee and all blind Quakers Reason with thee that if God were not of a nature contrary to the nature of Angels and men there could have been nothing created nor preserved in their form and order as now they are and this I know that Faith can take up the words of Reason though not inherent in it as Reason to take the vvords of Faith though not experienced in it Reason What then was that Reason which deceived Eve or was it an Apple or a Serpent for the woman said the Serpent beguiled me and I did eat Now if thou canst tell me what it was that deceived Eve Faith Though I tell thee thou canst not believe yet thou mayest read That the great Dragon the old Serpent called the Devil and Satan which deceiveth the world he was cast out into the earth therefore it is written Wo unto the Inhabiters of Rev. 12. 12 13. the earth for the Devil is come down among you So that from my Seed-spring I say that Angelical Serpent which I have discoursed with thee in the 4th Chapter was that which deceived Eve Reason I cannot find in Scripture that was an Angel which deceived Eve though I confess the Scripture saith there was an Angel cast down but for what I know not for it is written Thou shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and in another place it is said a Serpent beguiled her not in the least relating it was an Angel so that I believe it was one of the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made and the Devil was an invisible spirit vvhich entered into the body of the Serpent and spake those subtile expressions through his mouth and so caused the vvoman to eat of the fruit of a natural Tree vvhich the Lord God had forbidden and tempting her Husband to eat of the fruit vvith her it operated that venemous evil in them and all man-kinde Faith Oh! the gross darkness that lodgeth in the spirits of the learned and unlearned of thy seed not knovving the Scriptures are generally expressed in natural terms for the manifestation of spiritual things and yet the learned of thy seed vvould persvvade men exactly to understand them in the Letter because thou measurest the glorious things of Eternity by thy rational learning vvhen thou maist read that the seed of the Devil are sometimes called by the name of Devils Dragons Vipers Serpents fruitless Trees and such like so this Angelical reprobate by vvhom Eve vvas deceived vvas called the Dragon an old Serpent the Devil Satan the Deceiver or the Tree of knowledge of good and evil and such like names sutable to his cursed nature so in truth I say that Serpent that tempted Eve vvas that Angelical Dragon-Devil aforesaid vvhich God from the highest Heavens cast down to this lowest earth and it was his seeming Divine
wisdom and Angelical person that bewitched Eves innocent Soul to hearken to him and her eyes to dote upon him for let but moderate Reason guide thee and thou maist see it must be a person more wise and comely than Adam to deceive her and therefore it is written When the Woman Gen 3 6. saw the Tree it was good for food pleasant to the eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and she did eat and also gave to her Husband and he did eat Reason Well then suppose it be granted it was the Angel that deceived her by words What is then supposed by eating And she saw it was good food and did eat So that the words of the Angel might entice her But what was that she did eat Faith That is when the innocent Soul of Eve was over-poured by the Serpents subtile Language her spirit did consent unto him to come in to her and take full possession of her to be her God and guide instead of her Creator Now by the word eating of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil from the Lord of ever-living Faith I say that the Creator called it eating First Because none of thy seed should know the Lords secrets until it was his pleasure he would receive honour by it Secondly The Spirit of God called it eating because of the civility of the Speech for the Scripture Language is much like a modest pure Virgin which is loath to have her secret parts mentioned in the least Thirdly That she might beware how she hearkned to any voice that was contrary to the voice of the Seed of God in her so that if she should hear the voice of a stranger she should not give away as many a Virgin since hath been deluded So that I say this Angelical person entered into her womb through her secret parts and being united to her Soul and body his Serpentine nature dissolved it self into her pure Seed and defiled her throughout and so became essentially one with her through which she naturally conceived a Serpent Dragon Devil into a man-child of flesh blood and bone and brought forth her first begotten son of the Devil yea the Dragon Devil himself and called his Name according to his nature Cain or cursed though ignorantly she said that she had received a man from the Lord just so on the contrary the womb of the Virgin wife Mary was honoured with the Angelical God himself through which her polluted nature was not onely cleansed while he was in her womb but also by the vertue of the Divine power she was inhabited to conceive his glorious Majesty of her Seed into a holy Babe of unspotted flesh blood and bone and in his season to bring forth her first begotten Son of God yea the true God and everlasting Father himself and called his Name according to his Nature Emanuel Jesus or Blessed as at large is disputed in the second Chapter Reason Thou sayest eating was admitting the Angels person into her body if the Angel was of as large a compass as I am how was it possible and where do we read that God cursed the Angel and how can it be proved that Angel was the first Devil Faith As Christ said unto Nicodemus so say I unto thee though the body of the Angelical Serpent in its length or breadth was as a man is yet I know it was not of so gross a substance as mans is for it was a spiritual body created in another World for though the bodies of the mighty Angels are in forms like men yet I know they shine like unto the Sun or a flame of fire being formed in a Region of a more higher nature than this therefore they are of motion as as swift as thought and of a pure thin or bright fiery nature so that with great ease they pierce through a narrow passage at the Divine pleasure of the Creator Reason Were it so as thou savest What harm or defilement could this be to her Soul or body he being a person so glorious I conceive it should rather endue her with more knowledge than before Faith Though the Angel was glorious in person yet his nature was corrupt in comparison of hers even as that blood which is defiled vvith the Pox or Gangreen Novv this man to enter the body of a vvoman vvhose blood is pure and free from any corrupt distemper Is it not a defilement to her body Even so his Serpentâ—ne Reason dissolved it self into her pure Seed of Faith and became essentially one vvith her through vvhich she vvas Soul and body deâ—â—ed throughout by vvhich she lost her Divine satisfaction and Heavenly Peace that formerly she enjoyed in her ovvn Soul Reason Hovv vvill this stand agreeable to Scripture vvhen thou sayest it vvas an Angel that deceived Eve and the Letter saith it was a Serpent And besides it is written God cursed not the Angel but the Serpent What then dost thou say the Angel was the Serpent And if so what glory was there in a Serpent And where was the Angel or Serpent when cursed Faith Though I have told thee of this before yet now I tell thee again he was called a Serpent as unto the subtility of his nature or seed and that Serpentine Angelical form that by enticing words did deceive her was wholly dissolved into seed in her womb when the Eternal curse was passed upon him Reason If the Angelical person was in the body of Eve when he received his curse How then could he be capable of understanding a Sentence denounced against him being in the womb and changed from his former condition as thou hast revealed Faith The curse denounced by the Creator upon the Serpent in the womb of Eve was not for his satisfaction in the least but to convince Eve of her deceived thoughts of possessing such God-like happiness promised to her by the Angel also it was to convince her of doting of her first born but instead of rejoicing in him at his birth her Soul would not only loath his company but would also cast him out of her presence least he should murther her as he did his Brother Abel for her tender compassion towards him Furthermore it was spoken for her Divine satisfaction when the light of Redemption should shine in her deceived Soul and shew her that her first-born son was not from the Lord but the Angelical Serpent cursed in her womb by the Creator Reason Why should the Serpent and his generation undergo an eternal curse and Eve and her generation suffer but an external curse seeing she rebelled against a greater light than the Angel Faith I know she was utterly uncapable of eternal curse for these considerations First Because her Soul proceeded from a Heavenly Nature of Eternal Majesty himself Secondly Because that consent in her to evil proceeded not from her own nature but the unclean spirit of the Serpent speaking into her innocent Soul
examples more onely one more I shall quote which is more remarkable then those before and then let me heat thy answer and that is touching the man that lived in the land of the Gadarenes which man had Devils Luk. 8. 27 a long time and wore no cloaths neither abode in any house but in the tombes and no man could bind him no not with chains Mark 5. 4. neither could any man tame him and alwayes night and day he was in the mâ—untains and in the tombes crying and cutting himself with stones and all the Devils in him besought Christ that they might go into the Herd of Swine which they had no sooner entered but the man was well in his right minde and the whole Herd of Swine ran violently down a sâ—eep place into the Sea Now if thou canst make it apparent that these were no Devils besides Cain and his Seed then I shall with thee believe that there is no other Devil but man and woman Faith From Christ the onely Lord of Glory in the Revelation of his Eternal Spirit I affirm that those Devils so tituled from the first of Matthew to the last of the Revelation were onely the Seed of Reason and the violent distempers of the imagination thereof as first mind that the Devil that tempted Christ was one of the ablest Disputants whether a Pharisee or Sadducee I cannot by Faith finde yet by permissions I judge him rather a Sadducee they being the wisest and subtilest Devil of the two I say the Pharisees and Sadducees commissionate this man which by experience they found were best versed in Scripture to see if he could tempt the Lord Jesus to Baptize them with the holy Ghost and fire so that I say this Devil was a man of the same seed of those where it is written Ye shall not tempt the Lord Deut. 6. 6. your God as ye tempted him in Massah again it is written When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Heb. 3. 9. works 40 years as at large thou may read in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you so that I say these tempters of the Lord were the people of Israel men and women and no other form or Spirit whatsoever and again it is written That Jam. 1. 14. man is tempted when he â—s drawn away of his own lusts and enticed so that I affirm there is no other Devil but thy lustful Soul within thee that doth tempt thee to commit any wickedness acted by thee so that I say the meaning of that Satan entered Judas was onely this being by Christ Jesus discovered that he was the man that should betray him then forthwith nature in him entered into a resolution to betray the Lord of Life being then sealed up to a reprobate minde went out to his Brethren the Pharasaical Devils and sold him for thirty pieces so that I say there was no other Devil entered him but what was in him no more then would enter thee if thou wert now damned by me onely a spirit of tormenting envy would as it did in Judas so flame and burn that if possible thou wouldst destroy me as Judas did Christ Reason Notwithstanding what thou hast said as touching a Devil tempting or entering seems to have some colour of truth in it But then what wilt thou say of those Devils that were cast out of Mary and many others but especially of those legion that was cast out into the Herd of Swine For it is expressed when the Devils were cast out of the man they went into the Herd of Swine so that surely this was something more than Reason otherwise if Reason be the Devil and Reason cast out then the man had not been cloathed in his right minde but been altogether unreasonable Faith Let me speak never so plainly thou canst not understand me yet however this I shall tell thee that those Devils which by the powerful Word of Christ Jesus were cast out of Mary Magdalen or out of that man or any other creature spoke of in holy writ were onely all manner of filthy diseases or violent fiery distempers that hurried that man about such desperate wickedness oftentimes encreasing so powerfully that it did not onely occasion to rend his own body and break Iron chains but also ready to tear any one in pieces as many of thy seed at this day are possessed with Devils by such as thou are believed to be Devils and therefore it is that learned of thy seed have attempted by Conjuring Physical Medicaments to chain up that distemper or cast out by Vomit or Purgation and such like deceitful means which if thou wert not stone blind mightest see that these supposed Devils yet real distempers were no other but such as thou calls Lunatick frenzy Madness Convulsions or falling-sickness such like proceeding from melancholy is Colerick corrupt humors of the blood that by these Devilish distempers many of thy seed are chained up Prisoners in Bedlum all the dayes of their life which if they could be cast out by Faith being Lord over those Colerick and Melancholy distempers of the minde then they vvould by the Divine knovvledge of the true God be cloathed in their right mindes Reason If this vvere as thou sayest onely violent distempers in that man and so in Mâ—ry vvhat then vvas that vvhich came out of the man and entered into the Hâ—rd of â—vvine and if they vvere onely that vve call diseases vvhy then are they called Devils Faith From life of that Divine light in my Soul I declare they vvere no other but violent diâ—â—empers aforesaid vvhich said diseases by the povverful Godhead in Christ vvas commanded at the request of the man to enter the Herd of the Svvine vvhich vvhen the Svvine vvere pâ—ssessed vvith the same distemper they vvere as mad as the man tearing and tumbling themselves into the Sea by reason of that violent distemper or affliction that the svvine became giddy in their heads not able to preserve themselves through the violence of the said distraction Now why the said distempers are called Devils are because none should know the true Devil but the Heirs of glory for thou mayest read the whole transaction of Christ were revealed in Parables and the mystery of Truth only revealed to the true Believers of the Lord of Glory And if thou supposest they were Devils what then dost thou apprehend them to be and how got they into the Herd of Swine and not seen Reason I conceive the Devils are invisible spirits that tormented the man and so could convey themselves into the Swine without the sight of any even as the Soul or Spirit of man at the hour of death do go forth of his body to Heaven or Hell Faith Oh! thou senseless sottish Reason now thou discovers thy ignorance in his as hath been in the rest as though the Devil were an invisible spirit and so cannot be seen
are born of women there hath not risen a greater then John the Baptist and yet thou and thy â—eachers will not believe unless present vengeance fall upon thee But know this though the Pharisees desired a sign from Christ and Mat. 12. 38. none would be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas yet know this he was Christ the Eternal God for all that and though Christ rebuked James and John in the saying Luke 9. â—4 Lord wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did yet they were not for the future freed from the Eternal fire in their souls So let me tell thee and yet not I but the Revelation of the Holy Spirit within me though not presently yet it shall flame within thee as fire from Heaven and that without end till it consume all thy hopes of salvation and thou shalt know and finde that this sentence of thine shall shut the Heavens and it shall rain no more showers of mercy or comfort in thy soul so that I say though thou finde it not presently thou shalt as surely feel it after death as Christ is God the Eternal Father And what if miracles did belong to our Commission as they do not in that ours is the Commission of the Spirit so our sentence spiritual thou wouldst no more believe then thou dost now but rather call us Conjureâ—s unless the tenor of our Commission was as the two former to execute present vengeance and if it were executed once or twice and not upon every occasion thou wouldst be as much seared up in unbelief as thou art now Reason If thy Commission were as real truth as Moses and the Apostles and such a power did attend thine as was in theirs then I should as truly believe in yours as now I do in them Faith Ah blinde Soul thou dost not know what is truth and what not for if thou didst thou wouldst as really believe in me as in them But from my Seedspring I tell thee That thou nor none of thy Seed do really believe that the Scripture is a true Record of the Transactions of Christ thou mayest talk of it and preach from it but if thou wert really perswaded in thy own soul of the truth therein contained then thou wouldst believe in us for the Apostles writ of us as Moses and the Prophets writ of Christ to come and therefore if thou didst believe in them that have nothing but a dead letter to prove them Commissioners surely then thou wouldst believe in us that are living and know this if the Roman Authority had not established Moses and the Apostles Writings for Scripture then it had been believed no more then ours for thy Fathers in the days of their lives notwithstanding their miracles did no more believe in them then thou dost in us and know this the same power that attended them upon externals doth belong to our Commission in spirituals and therefore as the Apostle had power in his Commission to curse either Angel or man that did preach any other Doctrine so we have the same power in ours Reason What then doth not their Commission belong to us in these days successively as it did to them what then is the meaning of those Scriptures where it is writ The Scriptures aforetime are written for our learning and again it is writ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded Mat. 28. 20. you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world Faith From the Lord of Glory I tell thee That neither of those Commissions do belong to thee or any of thy Seed either by succession or otherwise for from my Seed of Faith I declare That the Scripture was never written for the learning of any of thy Seed though none living now present do make it a more Idol for their own gain then thy Seed doth Though I have sufficiently proved this point in the Quakers Downfal yet from my well-spring within me I tell thee That as the Scripture was written by the revelation or inspiration of Faith so I know it was writ for the use of none but the Believers of that Faith which neither thou nor none of thy Seed are partakers of For as Paul the great Commissioner was the Penman of those sayings so that Scripture that he spake of was the writings of the first Commission viz. Moses and the Prophets which were written before his time and so for the learning of him and all that believed in his Doctrine for our learning that are of the Seed of Faith and for none of the Seed of Reason whatsoever but for our learning The word Plural includes all the Seed of Faith with him were the Scriptures written so the Commissions of Moses and the Apostles were not written for the use of any of the seven Churches but our Commission alone for as none understood the Commission of Moses and the Prophets but the Apostles so none now living understand either of the two former Commissions but this our spiritual Commission now in being and therefore from my Seedspring I tell thee We onely are the Judges of the Scripture whatsoever Reason thy cursed Seed pretend to the contrary as now thou shalt hear an infallible Exposition of the other Scripture which thou hast quoted which all besides our Commission gives a false definition thereof Go ye therefore and teach all Mâ—t 23. â—0 Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world Now from hence all the seven Churches of thy Seed viz. Papist Episcopal Presbyterian Independent Baptist Ranter and Quaker do suppose that the extent of these words are in force to the end of this world and therefore the Baptists have assumed the Apostles Commission as their own when as if ye were not stone blinde you may read as ye run that this Commission was given to the twelve then living and not to Kiffin and Patience or any other Teacher of the Baptists whatsoever for ye were not born many hundred years after when this command was expressed And loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world with you my beloved Disciples and none other Reason I cannot conceive from this Scripture but there was to be a continuance of the Apostles Commission to the end of this World and though there was none of the Commissioners left to give or invest the same power by imposition of hands yet we having the same Spirit of God in us although not in the same measure yet may we not lawfully follow them as our patern and as the Apostle exhorts Brethren be followers Phil. 3. 17. together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample othervvise vvhat should all the World have done to have knovvn God or
it is finished bringeth forth death Novv Jam. 1. 15. vvhile thy lust is a tempting there comes a good motion and frustrates that temptation by vvhich means that thou hadst intended is not conceived so no sin indeed lust vvas burning in thy heart but in that it came not to perfection the lavv hath quenched the flame for vvhat hath the Lavv to do vvith a heart-adultery no no it is no thought but an act that breaks the Law and what comes not within the bounds of the Lavv be it adultery nay be it murther if it lie onely in the heart and be not acted there can no Lavv condemn thee Reason What is thy thoughts as touching the fourth Commandment as being changed from Saturday to Sunday and vvhat is the reason why this Command vvas changed above all the rest and vvhetheâ— this Sabbath called The first day of the week is not according to the judgement of the Assembly of Divines to continue to the end of the World vvithout any alteration thereof Faith It matters not me vvhat grounds or principles of Religion your Assembly of Divines holds forth as a Catechiâ—m to thy Seed for this by Faith I knovv and against men and Angels affirm That as the Commission of Moses ended in the Commission of the Apostles so the Jevvish Sabbath vvith the rites thereof ended in the Sabbath or first day of the vveek of the Apostles then knovv as the Commission of the Apostles ends in ours so vve have povver as the Apostles to erect you a Sabbath suitable to our Commission for knovv this that one Commission is not tied in point of Revelation to observe the former but each Commission according to its title and place hath power in it self to direct you what manner of Sabbath you are to keep therefore observe the Sabbath of Moses Commission was in this nature as followeth viz. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gate for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Now this Sabbath thou wilt not own but the First day or Sabbath of the Apostles which hath no such form in it as the Sabbath of the Jews hath And why the Sabbath of the Jews was altered I tell thee in that Christ the onely God by his own power that day had quickned death into life as it is written In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards Mat. 28. 1 2. the first day of the week came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre and behold there was an earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sate upon it So this being the first day of Christs Resurrection was a day of joy and gladness to the Apostles in that it brought peace and rest to their souls confirmed in their faith that he was Christ the Son of God Whereupon the Revelation of their faith led them forth to keep the first day of their Saviours Triumph over sin hell and death to be a day set apart to assemble together and contribute their benevolence for the refreshment of the poor members of that faith as it is written And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples Act. 20. 7. came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight also Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you 1 Cor. 16. 2. lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come Now this Command being a day set apart in point of Worship therefore as the Commission changed so the Worship changed and so of necessity it will follow that the day must be changed Therefore take notice as this Commission was not to hold to the end of the World no more ought that First day for as I said before every Commission hath power in it self in the vertue of its Revelation to change its Worship suitable to its Commission so a Commission hath power to change a day for that Worship Now our Commission being spiritual doth hold forth no manner or forms of Worship but the worshipping of God in Spirit and truth Therefore I say not onely the Jews Sabbath but also the Apostles First day in our Commission are void and of no effect as it is written He spake on a câ—rtain place of Heb. 4. 4. the seventh day on this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works So the blessed of the Lord believing Christ to be God the Father Creator of Heaven and earth are entered into the perfect liberty of faith which frees them from the lusts of the flesh and so entered into peace and rest by which not onely the Jews Sabbath nor the Apostles First day but every day is a Sabbath to the Elect of the Lord Now Mat. 12. 1 10. in that the Priests of this World do know that if the first should be as another day then they would lose their hearers and so in conclusion lose their tythes therefore as Christ and the Apostles by the Jews were accused for breaking their Sabbath so the Pharisaical Teachers of thy Seed will condemn us for repealing the First day of the Week But however in the Authority of our Commission I declare That every soul which knoweth Christ in his Form and Nature the Devil in his Form and Nature hath entered unto his eternal Sabbath of perfect rest without end Reason Let me but hear thy judgement as touching that saying of the Lawyer to Christ Master which is the great Commandment in the Law Now Christs answer was That thou shouldst Mat. 22. 36 37 38. love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy minde this is the first and great Commandment Faith And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Now what manner of love is this with which if we love the Lord and our Neighbour as our self we keep the whole Law but for my part I know not the man that can love his neighbour as himself and so none can truly love God My judgement is That all the ten Commandments are according to the sequel of these words reduced into two heads and these two are comprehended yea fulfilled in this word Love as it is written Owe no man any thing but to Rom. 13. 8 love one another
Divine Heavenly Substance in the proportion and linaments of a man whose person was more bright and glorious then the Sun softer then Doun and swifter then thought So that I say this was the substance the Fathers person then consisted of and against men and Angels I affirm that there was no person before the world but the Father onely neither could he beget a Son until he dissolved his Divine substance into seed in the womb of Mary by which dissolution the Father begot or conceived himself into a Son of flesh blood and bone For this by faith I know that the person of the Father was capable of transmutation into the form of flesh though now he is not having taken upon him the form of flesh in fulfilling that promise saying The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent Gen. 3. 15 which was no other but the Eternal Father was to be born of a woman with flesh blood and bones so that it was not the Father begot a Son but the Father became a Son as the Prophet Eliah by Revelation clearly unfolds saying unto us A childe is born unto us a Son is given and the Government Isa 9 6. shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellour the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace and then it is written that that Word or Eternal Spirit that formed it self as aforesaid that Word became flesh and dwelt among us and saith Paul The Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily so that it is clear as in the Ioh. 1. 14. second Chapter is infallibly proved that the Father begot no Son before the Worlds but the Father in time became a Son himself and that not in two persons but one person alone But then what wilt thou do with these Scriptures where it is written Reason Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee also it is said We beheld his glory the glory as of the Psal 2. 7. onely begotten of the Father and again it it said Ioh 1. 14. Unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again Heb. 1. 5. No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared him also it is written I will be to him a Father Joh. 1 17. and he shall be ti me a Son Now if Christ was not begotten of his Father why or wherefore should the Apostles Revelation declare that Christ had a Father and was begotten by him Faith As I have often told thee so I say again What hast thou to do with Scripture our Commission being the onely Interpreter thereof thou not believing the report therein was damned Yet for the further satisfaction of the hearers that shall believe this I shall declare that the Apostles in their Commission was not to know Christ any further or otherwise then onely a Son begotten by his Father and that for them in their time was sufficient as the Son himself expresseth John 15. 16. All things that the Father hath made known to me I have made known unto you also Paul declares He that confesseth with his tongue and believeth with his heart that Christ is the Son of God shall be saved Though now in our Commission it is not sufficient in that our Revelation leads us infallibly to believe Christ was and is the Everlasting Father Creator of Heaven and earth as by Scripture is confirmed All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made So that Christ as he was the Father was the Creator of all things whether in Heaven or earth as is manifest in that intricate Revelation of Paul which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead c. Who can Eph. 1. 20. tell but our Commission who raised Christ from the dead was there any other God or Father but what was within him that raised him from the dead as he saith I have power John 10. 18. to lay down my life and I have power to take it again as in the third Chapter is shewed at large And who should set him at the right hand of the Father but the Godhead power within him that enthroned him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this world but that which is to come insomuch that Christ by his death hath conquered himself to be head over all things And what is that which so highly promoted him above all even his Spiritual body the fulness in which was that which filled all in all So that I say That Father which Christ so often called upon vvhen he vvas on earth I say if it had not been his creature Elias commissionated in Glory then Christ could have made nothing nor by his own power have quickned himself to life again Nay I say if Christ had a real Father that had begotten him then Christ could not have had the preheminence in power name and been the chief head in that the Father is above the Son But hovvever let blinde Reason think vvhat it vvill from an infallible Spirit I say that Elias vvas his Deputy-Father and so at Christs ascension vvas to give up his Authority and Commission to Christ the Eternal Father from vvhence he received it 2. Secondly Thou believest God a reasonable soul perfect God and perfect man c. In ansvver to vvhich from the Revelation of Faith I tell Answ thee is the greatest blasphemy that by man can be imagined as to consider the nature of the tvvo Seeds viz. Faith and Reason First as in relation to their Satisfaction Secondly their povver First What Divine satisfaction could there be in God if there were the least spark of Reason in him I knovving in Reason there is no real satisfaction vvhatever it being a seed though as pure as in the Angels yet it is altogether unsatisfactory in it self as hath been proved in the Reprobate Angel he being left to his pure Reason alone vvas brought to aspiring confusion if possible to unthrone God and all creatures made by him as at large in the fourth Chapter is proved vvhich if the nature of God vvere but pure Reason then might the Reprobate Angel have kept his standing and the rest of the Angels have had full satisfaction in themselves vvithout any supply from God at all vvhich in the fourth Chapter thou hast heard to the contrary And therefore if the Nature of God vvere pure Reason he could have no satisfaction in himself but from another and so in conclusion there must be some above God to satisfie God Therefore from that God vvho is a body of living Faith I say Cursed is that soul vvho believes God to have the least motion of Reason in him nay further in the povver of our Commission I say
there is no creature believing God a reasonable soul that shall have true peace here or glory hereafter as is confirmed in these Scriptures Being justified by faith we have Rom. 5 1. Hebr. 10 22. Heb. 11. 6. peace in God and again Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith and without faith it is unpossible to please God I say if God had but a reasonable soul vvhat matter for faith for by reason vve may have peace in God and in reasons belief thou mayest please God But alas poor blinde souls for vvant of this precious seed of faith thou canst not knovv God in form and nature so not believe him as he is 2. Secondly as there is no satisfaction so there is no povver in reason as there is in faith as it is vvritten I say unto you Maâ— 17. 20. if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this Mountaâ—n Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be unpossible to you By faith God framed the Worlds by faith Abels sacrifice was accepâ—ed with God by faith Noah was warned of God by faith Sarah belâ—eved by faith Abrâ—ham Hâ—b 11. offered up his son Isaac by faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh by faith fire was quenchâ—d the Lyons mouthes stopped the prison doors opened So by faith I knoâ— that Christ is the Everlasting Father by faith I knovv the soul of Christ is all faith and no reason by faith I knovv it vvas his pure Soul or Godhead Father in Christ that dyed and by his own power quickned himself again by faith I know that God in this our last Commission spake to John â—eeve as he spake to Moses and Paul O what a powerful Seed is faith that kills sin kills the Devil yea kills death nay what a high gloss doth the Lord of glory stamp upon faith and not so much as taking notice of reason at all and yet blinde reason the Devil will have God a reasonable soul O if not for fear yet for shame desist thy damned belief and from me observe the Soul of Christ is all Divine Heavenly faith which none shall know what God in his Form and Nature is but he whose faith is Lord over reason in this life Reason If the Soul or Nature of God be not pure reason how comes it then that God saith Come now let us reason together Isa 1. 18. saith the Lord c. which if his Nature as thou saith were all Divine Heavenly faith and not reason I conceive God could not have reasoned the case with them Faith O the gross darkness of reason that cannot understand that it was not the Lord from his own mouth that reasoned the case with them but the Prophet Isaiah for this by faith I know that God never reasoned with any but the Commissionate Prophets whose Seed is of his own Nature and in the vertue of that Commission are Ambassadors in Gods stead to reason the case with them for this I know that faith can take up the words of faith though faith speaks powerfully and infallibly when as reason speaks but dubiously and doubtfully Reason Is it not strange that reason should be the Governour of this World as thou hast formerly expressed and hath by its wisdom erected things in such a glorious form and order as now they are and yet should not be a Seed satisfactory in it self How comes it then that the Governours thereof taketh so much delight and pleasure in this World if man were not satisfied in the affairs of his life surely I cannot see but there is as much satisfaction in reason as in faith for I conceive men endued with reason have more content then men endued with faith Faith Now thou hast raised an Objection that thy experience may silence thee in the various transactions of this bloody World that the mutability thereof floweth from the nature of that Seed reason as instance the grand mutations of thy Kingdom When you had a King before you were not therewith satisfied but cryed out no Bishop no King and through much bloodshed you attained reasons desire for know this faith will shed no blood and therefore observe it is the Seed of reason divided against it self and then reason hunted the King like a Patridge till you had your desire accomplished and when you got victory over the Kings Army then the Bells rung and Bonfires made yea days of thanksgiving kept for joy and now you are unsatisfied for a King again and reason improved all its subtilty to attain its desire and then for joy of that which formerly it killed the bells rung the fire flamed oathes were sworn and healths were drunk till you could not stand to the destruction of your own souls and therefore I say there is no satisfaction in reason let it be never so rich or great in this its Kingdom that it is cloathed with crowns of Gold and deckt with Pearls and Diamonds and attendee with variety of Servants yet in all this reason is not satisfied but sometimes it would enjoy more honour and joys of this World and then it is afraid it shall lose all its honour pleasure and delight that it formerly enjoyed So that I say there is not from the King upon his Throne to the Beggar in the straw whose reason is Lord over faith that hath any true satisfaction at all For alas Solomon tâ—e greatest of all found no real content but cryed out all that he had enjoyed was vanity So that reason in the purest sense is compared to the bottomless pit that hath no end of its imagination and yet such Devils as thee will have God a reasonable Soul when in my Revelâ—tion thou hast heard there is no durable satisfaction at all in reason but faith alone for faith hath a foundation and can limit it self to a small compass yet be really contented without the glory of this World at all knowing this is but mortal and must perish in the desire thereof and therefore faith is satisfied in that it lays holds on that which is Immortal Eternal and shal never perish no more then God himself so that for all thy Kingdom with the glory here below my faith will have nothing to do with thy powers thy trading thy great joy and delight in that they must all vanish as the smoak in the ayre for the delight of my soul is in that glory and riches on the other side of death which is eternal and shall never perish world without end which neither thou nor none of thy Seed shall never see nor in the least measure enjoy But then 3. Thirdly Thou believest in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life which proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified c. As unto this I know thou hast no ground in Scripture to Answ prove the
a word and a stab when as the Jew Devil is subject to the Law he is reasonable in that he will moderately try the innocent by the Law so that God saw good the Devils should have a Law to curb them yea torment them and condemn them for ever Now the rule that the Seed of Faith doth walk by is not by the Law but by Faith as it is written The Law of faith hath freed us from the Law of sin and death though most of Rom. 8. 2. thy Seed do conclude themselves believers yet I say that freedom onely belongs to a Commission and the believers thereof as the Apostle includes all believers with him are free from the Law and none other For Chrâ—st is the end of Rom. 10. 4. the Law for righteousness to every â—one that believeth And what though I have been a great sinner yea so great murther excepted that there was few beyond me yet now being washed sanctified yea justified that I am now no longer under the Law but under Grace which none of thy â—eed shall ever attain too notwithstanding they seek it with tears Reason What then do all believyrs of thy Commission keep the Law and not any of the seven Churches keep the Law as well as thou What then dost thou say of the Quakers and many others that are very moderate just men insomuch that none can tax them with the breach of any of the ten Commandments Faith I say in the experience of my Revelation there is not any keeps the Law but those that are freed from the Law as aforesaid and sure I am there is none in the perfect Law of Liberty but the Seed of the Woman which Seed of Faith doth run in the line of one Commission to another so that I can speak for no more then I finde in the publique profession thereof not denying but there may be here one and there one scattered up and down which if the report of our Commission came but to the hearing of their ear they would embrace it as the rest of our believers do But truly I speak it there are so few known and not known that there is not a hundred to ten millions of the contrary Seed that will or can believe the report of a Commissioner as touching the true God and therefore we may say with the Prophet Who hath believed our report or to whom is the Isa 43. 1. Arm of the Lord revealed that is the arm of Faith revealed So few there was in every Commission that they were but a little yea and that a very little flock in comparison of the non-commissionate Churches And whereas thou supposeth by the moderate carriage and just dealing betwixt man and man the Quakers with many other of thy Priesthood generation may keep the Law as well as the believer of a Commission I shall moderately answer thee in that saying of James That whosoever shall keep the whole Law and Jam 2. 10. yet offend in one point is guilâ—y of all So that I say though the Quakeâ—s of all the seven Churches do nearest keep the Law yet in that they offend in the first command they are guilty of all for it is written Thou shalt have no other Gods Exo. 20. 3. but me Now as aforesaid thou hast heard me in the first and second Chapters that there is none of your seven Churches Sons of Generations but you have other gods besides Christ the oneâ—y God some of you saying God is a Spirit without form and this Spirit God is within you and others of you will have no God but Nature onely and the rest of thy Bâ—bâ—lonish brood will have one Spirit to have three persons So that from the knowledge of the true God I tell you all are guilty of the Law though I acknowledge the Quakers exact walking and therefore I love them yet in that they are ignorant of the knowledge of the true God which is life Eternal I say your Directories forms of Prayer the Creed Baptism breaking of Bread and set days of Fasts and Thanksgiving and such like stuff are not onely a breach of the first but second Commandment all which have a form of godliness but not the power So that I say they are no less then Idols and graven Images of thy own invention and therefore it matters not though some of you keep all the rest of the Commands and not know the true God thou art guilty of all Reason Then if a man come to the knowledge of the true God that is sufficient notwithstanding he break all the rest of the Commands because thou saith Thet keeping of all the rest is nothing without he know that God which thou hast revealed Faith However it is thy pleasure to misconstrue me in that thou knowest not the indwelling of truth in me yet this is the thing I said unto thee That though any of thy Seed keep all the Commands but the first in that they keep not all they are guilty of all for this I knovv the knovvledge of the true God leads forth a soul to keep all the Commandments of God for in that I knovv him therefore I love him and so keep his Commandments as it is vvritten If ye love me keep my Commandments Reason What then dost not thou sin because thou knovvest the true God and keeps his Commands then I must say thou art more righteous and perfect then any man upon earth for it is vvritten If we say that we have no sin we 1 John 8. deceive our selves and the truth is not in us vvith such like places Faith Let me tell thee if I sin I do not keep the Lavv as it is vvritten Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth the 1 Joh. 3 4. Law for sin is the transgression of the Law But in that I have knovvn the true God vvhich Seed of God remaining in me I cannot sin because I am partaker of the Divine Nature of God Now if I should say that I have no motionâ— to sin I should deceive my self and the truth is not in me for I knovv there is a great difference betvvixt a motion and an act for it is to be understood not he that thinketh a sin but he that committeth sin is of the Devil as all thy Seed are at a loss as touching the mysterie of this secret not understanding a motion from an act and therefore thousands of thy Seed perish for want of knovvledge in that saying of Christ That whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Mat. 5. 28. from hence concluding that if thou dost but lust after her thou mightst as vvell lie vvith her and soo too too many of thy seed do commit the act indeed vvhen if thou hadst a discerning betvvixt a thought and an act thou hadst not defiled thy soul as it is vvri ten When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when