but in every thing makes its requests known to God by prayer and supplycation with thanksgiving and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the heart and mind through Christ Jesus Surely the Apostle had learned himselfe when he taught others this in every state to be content He knew how to be abased and how to abound c. O glorious state O pure state of pure Life in the heart And what if I should add O perfect state The Apostle James saith Let patience have its perfect work that ye may be Perfect and Intire wanting nothing or in nothing Jam. 1.3 When Paul had so learned Christ that abundance could not lift him up nor want deject him or cause him to repine or distrust what did he want of this perfect state His next words are If you have no sence of this your state is never the better to be liked Answ Christ led Captivity Captive and the same Power is revealed to lead Captivity Captive in us And truly when God leads our Souls out of Captivity putting his fear within us writing his living powerful Law of Life in our hearts and putting his Spirit into us leading us in the way of holiness and causing us to walk therein we find this a better state then when we were groaning under deep Captivity Further he saith If your Peace and Joy stand in seeing no sin your selfe in your selfe I suppose it should be I shall more then suspect it not to be the Peace and Joy of Paul and all the Saints but a delusion Answ Our Peace and Joy is in him who is without sin and it abounds in us in his cleansing and delivering us from sin and we have found hâ—m remove sin as far from us as the East is from the West and as he removeth transgression from us and bringeth sin and the power of Sathan to an end in us he giveth us of his Peace and Joy And truly we do not only witness him destroying sin and the works of the Devil but breaking the very head of the Serpent casting him out And peirceing Leviathan that crooked Serpent and slaying the Dragon that is in the Sea And though such as he may suspect our peace and joy yet while Christ gives it us and maintains it in us it is very sweet and pleasant to us and the time may come that he may wish from his heart that he might pertake with us therein He concludes the matter thus We are without sin in him but in our selves nothing but sin Answ He spake of delusion just before a greater thâ—n this I do not know For Christ doth make a real change if any man be in Christ there 's a new Creation there 's a real Change The man is not what he was before but he puts off that which is old and puts on that which is nâ—w and so is really changed in his state and in the sight of God and is not what he was before The heart when it is really renewed and washed by the Water Blood and Spirit it is not the old abominable wicked deceitful heart that it was before If this be his knowledg and experience let him keep it to himselfe for my part I desire not to pertake with him therein but to be like Christ my Lord and Master even sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit that I may become wholly his and the Enemy of my Soul have no part in me He saith Christ shall appeare without sin to Salvation Answ I grant it But when and how Doth he not inwardly appear without sin to salvation to those who have waited for hastened and come to the inward day Doth not Christ appear without sin to Salvation inwardly in the day of his own Spirit Is not Salvation then witnessed for Walls and Bulworks Is not the glorious Salvation of the Gospel brought forth in the Gospel-Day And is there not in the Life and Dominion of Grace a pure Defence about all the Glory Is there any sin in the Grace and Spirit of the Gospel which appears and shines in the Day of the Lord And doth not this Grace bring Salvation to them that wait for the revealing of it He seemeth to clear himself of watching for our haltings Answ Had he not watched for our haltings and received things into and considered them in the prejudiced part he could not have writ such a Paper against Truth and Us so far from true Understanding and Judgement as this is But he saith He hath watched for our Repentings Answ If we should repent of having our eyes opened by the Lord and turning to his Truth and receiving his holy Spirit and of having the precious Promises of the Scripture made good to us and fulfilled in us we might justly loose our Portion and Inheritance of Life for ever We have repented from dead Works but we cannot repent of Gods pure Truth and the living Way Spirit and Power thereof But this I can tell him and that from the Lord whose Name I reverence and worship in That the Lord watchâ—th for his Repentings and turnings from that spirit in him which darkneth him concerning and prejudiceth him against the Truth He beseecheth me in Love c. and requireth me to clear my self of Free-Will Falling from Grace denying Election of Persons and Imputed Righteousness Answ What the Lord requireth of me that I must mind and I have divers times exprâ—ssed my heart nakedly in these things The Principle of Life which the Lord hath raised in me in that is the freedom to good and in that am I made free by Jesus Christ my Lord. And I had rather witness him upholding me by his Power than contend about a Notion of Falling or not Falling away And my care hath been about making my Calling and Election sure in him who is sure to those that are of him for ever And I have witnessed the righteoâ—sness of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in me and imputed to me and my soul cloathed therewith in his sight blessed be his Name O that the Professors of this Age might come to the annointing and see those things in the annointing Then would they know the Truth and harmony of the Scriptures therein But men by the Letter without the Spirit can never discern or find out the mystery of Life but only gather into their mindes and retain a litteral knowledge that killeth He bids me Love the Truth better than a Party Answ The Lord knoweth he hath taught me so to do For had it not been for the evidence and demonstration of Gods Spirit in this People I could never have owned them For O how low was the knowledge they held forth in my eye before the power of the Lord reached to my heart raising up his own Seed in me wherein I knew them And the Lord also knoweth that 't is in him that I love and discern and honour them to this very day Yea I see his Name written on their
by the Spirit of the Father which is the knowledge and confession of all the Children of the true and heavenly Mother which is the Mother of all that are born of the Spirit He repeateth â—hose words of mine That we do not make any finite thing our Righteousness but Christ of God is made into us Righteousness This he saith Is well spoken aâ—d wisheth we may alwayes abide on this confession Answ These words arose in me from an inward feeling of him who giveth Righteousness and of the Righteousness given and the Lord preserving me in that Life I shall feel so for ever and confess so for ever And truly I can testifie of no other Righteousness For blessed be the name of my God I feel the Righteousness of his Son revealed in me dayly from Faith to Faith In his name I have been gathered in his name I live and in him I feel Righteousness and indeed there is nothing but Righteousness Holyness Truth Life and Salvation and the like in him And he that is truly in him is Righteous and Holy in him there being in him a new creating of all that are there and a renewing into the holy and heavenly Image which consists in the Righteousness and Holyness of Truth He desireth me to give a plain answer to this Question Is Christ of God made our Righteousness by faith in his blood or in his Spirit Answ A pretended Faith in Christs blood without Faith in his Spirit is but dead and notional Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood saith Christ ye have no Life in you It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh saith he profiteth nothing Now the Faith must be in that which quickeneth And the Faith in that which quickeneth is Holy and Righteous and the man who is found in it is Justified through that Faith in the quickening Power in the sight of God Thus Abraham was Justified in the sight of God and thus are the Children of Abraham to be Justified even through believing in that holy Power and Spirit which requireth obedience and Justifieth the obedient and condemneth the disobedient for ever Rom. 4.24 He saith He fears a Snake in this green grass when I say from his Life Virtue and Power revealed in us is our conformity to him Answ It were better and safer for him to fear at home For the Snake is in his own grass and many notional high soaring expressions without true knowledge But can there be any conformity to Christ without his Life Vitrtue and Power inwardly revealed what else can conform unto and bring forth in the Image and likeness of Christ He saith He feareth lest I make this Life and Virtue our Righteousness which is indeed the fruits of it .. Answ Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge and runneth out from the Truth into his own imaginations What was Christs Righteousness Was it not the Life the Virtue the Spirit of the Father in him he being one with it in the Faith of it and in the obedience to it And is not the Righteousness of the head and the body the same communicated from the head to the body Are they not all of one and the Righteousness one and the same in both So much of Christs Spirit so much of his Righteousness And out of his Spirit out of his Righteousness for evermore For the Righteousness of the Son is revealed and communicated from Faith to Faith in his Spirit And so Christ is indeed made Righteousness to them that are found in his Spirit and they are covered with the garment of Righteousness and Salvation who are covered with his Spirit He saith Our Righteousness is before this Answ What is our Righteousness before any of the Life Virtue and Power of Christ revealed in us Is God a respecter of Persons Doth he Justifie any out of the holy Covenant before he hath made a change in him How doth this man with his vain imaginations turn the whole way and councel of God upside down He brings a Scripture to prove this The Spirit is life for righteousness sake Answ That Scripture which is Rom. 8.10 speaks of those in whom Christ is and dwels And there indeed The Body is dead because of sin and the Spiritis Life because of Righteousness This is plainly spoken and plainly felt and known as it is spoken O that he had the true sence and understanding of it as it is in Jesus He saith Righteousness is in order of nature before Sanctification Answ That which is holy is Righteous There is nothing Righteous in the eyes of the pure God but that which is holy The Head was really holy and Righteous and they that are in him pâ—rtakes of his Holyness and Righteousness and are really Holy and Righteous in him And Faith which purifies the heart and through which Sanctification is must needs be in order of nature before the Justification which is by it for God Justifieth no unbelievers but believers only Yea the wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn unto the Lord which cannot possibly be without some degree of Sanctification before the Lord will have mercy and pardon the Soul its sins Isa 55.7 and chap. 1.16 17 18. He saith Justification is an act of Grace passed upon us by God freely without respect to us as Godly nay properly reflecting on us in that moment as ungodly Answ I charge this in the sight of God for absolutely false Doctrine and contrary to the Gospel For God Justifieth no man as ungodly but calleth upon men to repent and turn from their ungodlyness and he will have mercy upon them Justifie and save them Now mâ—n are not ungodly in turning from their ungodlyness but changed And so their state is in some measure changed before Justified If Abraham was ungodly when God called him Yet in forsaking his own Country and following the Lord and offering up his Son he was obedient and not ungodly and in that obedience he was Justified A man may have notions of Justification in his mind and accordingly take himself to be Justified when he is not But there is no man Justified by the Lord till he be changed translated into him in whom God Justifieth out of the place of condemnation into the place of Justification For till men are changed by the Spirit and Power of the Lord they are but darkness and in the darkness where no Justification is It is the Believing the Obedient the Children of Light that are Justified by the Lord. He saith Were we godly before or at that time it were no act of Grace to pronounce us Righteous Answ He that witnesseth Salvation in Christ Jesus witnesseth it to be a continued act of Grace Grace appears to the Soul Grace teacheth Grace enableth Grace maketh a change from the ungratiousness of the heart and state and then Grace or God by his Grace in and through Christ Jesus forgiveth the sins that were
fallen upon the dark mountains and whilst he looks for Light he ha h lost that which once he had and his very Light as he esteems it is become obscurity and gross darkness as this dark paper of his from the dark Spirit and Principle makes manifest to all that shall read it in any measure of true sence or discerning And truly my oul doth weep in secret for his pride and height of Spirit in opposing the Lord his Truth and People And for this cause shall those who have looked upon themselves as the Children of the Kingdom and flock of God be laid wast and know that as it was a dreadful thing to oppose Christ Jesus the Lord in his appearance in flesh so it is also dreadful to oppose his appearance in his Spirit and Power wherein he is arisen to set up his Kingdom and to throw down Babilon which is built in the likness of Sion but by and in another Spirit Those in whom there is any tenderness towards God and true breathings after him left the Lord give them the sence and true understanding of this inward spiritual appearance of his Son and of what they have been doing and are doing against it that they may not continue to fight against the the Lord and kick against that which is able to wound and prick to their own hurt and eternal ruine For there is not Salvation in any other name then in that which is now revealed Blessed are all they that trust therein it being not another but the same that ever was To His POST-SCRIPT HE beginneth it with the justification of that passage of his in a foregoing letter of his to me wherein he said Christ is Heaven and I am Hell Answ When God visiteth man he finds him in union with Hell Death and darkness and the man is Dead is Dark is of an hellish Nature and Spirit in that state But when the Lord hath converted him cut him off from that root leavened him with the Spirit and Nature of his Son is he Hell still Ye were Darkness saith the Apostle but now are ye Light in the Lord. And such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God A man can be but Hell before he is washed before his filth be purged away by the Spirit of Judgment and Burning before the old leaven is purged out and he sanctified and made a new lump but after the Lord hath thus changed him and new created him in Christ Is he still Hell He saith He doth not call the new Creature Hell but there is an Old Man an Outward Man as well as the New Man the Inward Man Flesh as well as spirit in the Regenerate Answ What doth he mean by the Outward Man the Sinful Body The Body of Flesh is within The outward Body that 's not Hell that 's the Temple of God where the heart is Sanctified And the pure Word of Life Sanctifies throughout even in Soul in Body in Spirit those that are subject to it Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the living God and your Spirits much more for God is a Spirit and he dwels in a Spiritual Temple and his Temple is holy He addeth And unless your attainment be beyond Pauls he found that in him that is in his flesh dwelt no good thing and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit so that he could not do the thing that he would Answ Paul did once experience such a state that he felt himselfe Carnal Sould under Sin when he did not find how to perform that which was good but did what he hated the Law of Sin being strong in his members against the Law of Life in his mind which state he calleth A state of captivity to the Law of Sin in his members and calleth it a wretched state Rom. 7.23 24. But did Paul never experience another state Did he never witness the virtue and power of the new Covenant even the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Power thereof freeing him from the strength and captivity of the Law of Sin in his members There were young men John speaks of who were strong and had overcome the wicked one Did Paul himselfe never attain to that state He bid others be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might and shewed them how to resist in it so as to overcome Did he never experience and witness it himselfe He said He had fought a good fight and was more then a Conqueror What was he then a captive to the Law of Sin in his members and did he then cry out Who shall deliver me from the body of this Death He said He could do all things through Christ that strengthened him was not that a state different from that other wherein he found only to will And could not do the good he desired but did the evil he allowed not but hated And blessed be the Lord there are many at this day who witness a farther state of redemption and deliverance from Sin and the Law thereof in the members then that state of captivity was which Paul there expresseth his former groanings and complainings under For he was not in that state of captivity when he writ that Epistle but knew the Dominion of Grace over sin and bid that Church be subject to the Grace and not give way to sin but yeeld their members servants to Righteousness unto Holiness Ch. 6. For that other place Of the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 He doth not there speak of himselfe but of the Galatians who were in a weak low and indeed fallen state from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel having let in that which was contrary thereunto And so he strives to gather them into the Spirit again and bids them Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and so they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For in the new Covenant man is taught of God the holy lesson of ceasing from evil and doing good and taught in the virtue and power of the Covenant so that he learns daily and grows daily out of Deceit into Truth until he come to be a true Israelite in whom there is no Guile And so in the spiritual War The house of Saul grows weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger until Sauls Kingdom be at length overturned and wholly destroyed and the Kingdom of David established in Righteousness for ever and ever Then Jerusalem the holy building the City of the living People the City of Righteousness the Habitation of Righteousness and Mountain of Holiness is known and Jerusalem is witnessed a quiet habitation there being peace in all her borders Then the mind is fully stayed upon the Lord in all conditions and he keeps it in perfect pâ—ace Then the Soul is careful for nothing
committed before For though the Lord visit me with Life quicken me thereby make a change in my heart and state yet it is his Mercy to acccept me and to pass by for his name sake my former debts and trespasses against him Alas the new Covenant is wholly a Covenant of Grace and Mercy and the giving of Christ drawing the mind to him accepting and Justifying in him are works of Grace and Mercy towards this So the Spiritual Israel may well sing this Song in the Land of Holyness and Redemption O praise the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever I can truly set my Seal to this thing that the more Holy and Righteous the Lord maketh me in his Son the more sensible am I of his Love Grace and Mercy in Justifying of me And it is pretious to me to witness Justification and acceptance with him in and through his Son He saith further But this is the Bounty the Freeness the Munificence the Richness of the Grace of God to call things that are not as though they were Answ Take heed of abusing that Scripture God sent Christ to Renew to Redeem to Change to make Holy and Righteous to make people such as the Father might be pleased with accept and Justifie And as Christ maketh them so the Father receiveth and accepteth them as such But God doth distinguish and call things as they are He doth not call an ungodly man an holy man a justified man But when he hath changed him new created him in Christ Jesus took him out of his old stock and planted him into the new then he accounteth and calleth him so and not before It were better for men to wait upon God to understand what his Spirit meant in what he spake then to put formed meanings of their own upon his words He wrests my words charging and reproving me as if I said The Love of God was a bare thing Answ Those were not my words nor did my words so signifie but my words were that it is not by bare Loving or meer Loving or only Loving that God makes a man Righteous which is very true manifest For there is besides his Love in and through that Love the sending of his Son and revealing of his Son drawing to and Transplanting into his Son to make Holy and Righteous in him For Holyness though it may be distinguished yet it cannot be devided from Righteousness nor can a man posibly be Righteous in Gods sight unless he be also Holy in some measure His reflecting words hereupon I pass by though very unjustly and unchristianly cast upon me without any just occasion given him by my words which I desire the Lord may make him sensible of that he may be forgiven it He blameth me for saying we make no finite thing our Righteousness and yet he saith We make the measure of the Spirit which each member of Christ receives our Righteousness Answ A measure hath the same nature with the fulness A measure of the Spirit and Life of the Grace and Truth which comes from Jesus Christ hath the same nature that the fulness haâ—h All the Life all the new Creation that comes from him and dwels in him is Righteous and found Righteous where ever it is found Yet I do not remember that we have thus expressed it that that measure is our Righteousness but it is he who is the fulness who is revealed in that measure and it is he who is our Righteousness our Wisdom our Sanctification our Redemption But it is in the holy pure measure of the heavenly gift that he is made thus of God to us not out of it He saith The Lord our Righteousness Redeems us not properly by the Life and Spirit of his Godhead though that was in the work supporting enabling him and carrying him up in that great undertakeing but by the death and sufferings of his manhood Answ This is strange Doctrine to make the manhood the main Redeemer and the Life and Spirit of the Godhead but the supporter and the carrier up of the man in the work of Redemption Whereas it was the Word which Created all which also Redeemed he that left his Glory and made himself of no reputation but came in the form of a servant to do the will It was the Spirit and Life of the Father even the Eternal Son which took up that body appeared in that body offered it up a pure and acceptable Sacrifice to the Father finishing the work therein which the Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 5. He saith Shall we think to answer the Law by our obedience Answ We do not look upon the Law of Moses which was given to the Jew outward to be the dispensation of the new Covenant or to be the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus But those who are in the new Covenant and have Gods Law writ in their hearts and his fear put there which preserveth from departing from him and his Spirit put within them to cause them to walk in his wayes and to keep his Statutes and Judgments and do them and who live in the Spirit and walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in these Yet they do not magnifie and cry up their own obedience nor call it their Righteousness but him from whom their obedience comes For in the measure of his Grace and living Truth the Soul is one with him and all that he is and all that he hath done is theirs and it is he himself that is the Righteousness of all that are in him And they that abide in him parâ—ake of his Righteousness from day to day which floweth in like a stream upon them I wish he could consider in what Spirit it is that he calls the white Stone a Ticket for the Righteousness Doth he know the white Stone with the new name It is no less then the Foundation Stone then the Righteousness it self And what doth he talk of bringing that as a Ticket for the Righteousness He seemeth to pass by some things which I spake in tender love and weightiness of Spirit to him as the Judgment of man in his day but let him take heed least when be comes to appear before God he then find it was the Judgment of Gods Spirit in the Light of his day Which day is inward and Spiritual which believers are to hasten to and which approacheth in every heart as the night spendeth and passeth away And all true Christians and Believers ought to wait for the passing away of the night and the dawning of this day and the arising of the day Star in their hearts He saith Christ is now ready to be revealed Answ I believe he is to be revealed fuâ—ther and in fuller glory But he is truly already revealed as the Saviour Shepheard and Bishop of the Soul and many are gathered home to their resting place in him which while they were
scattered up and down upon the barren Mountains before the Shepherd appeared and made himself manifest they could not find He seems to strike at the peace and joy which is of God and to give it a dash Because minds estranged from the Enlightenings and Convictions of God have much peace in their wayes and such are under delusions Answ We do not tell men of the peace and joy we have in our God boastingly but in a faithful way of Testimony concerning and invitation to what we once wanted but now have found under the leadings of the true Shepherd And the peace and joy which he gives is an evidence and assurance in the hearts of those to whom it is given by him And they that have been greatly distressed for want of the Lord and his powerful Arm of Salvation having met with it it riseth up from Life in them to testifie and say to others Lo this is our God we have waited for him and we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation And O that â—e also were stripped of this dead notional comprehensive knowledge concerning the Saviour that ye might meet with the Saviour himself and receive that knowledge from him which is Life Eternal And this with the true peace and joy thereof from him ye would find no delusion He speaketh Of suffering loss and of phrases and expressions better saith he to suffer loss in these then themselves to be destroyed Answ Let him apply this home O that he saw how those phrases and expressions and imaginary knowledge which he hath brought forth in this Letter stands in his way to hinder the true knowledge and that he cannot possibly receive the true knowledge without being emptyed of these and parting wiâ—h them for the excellency of the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus And without the true knowledge of Jesus men cannot but perish and be overtaken with destruction Then for being helpful to establish Persons in Grace Answ Such kind of Doctrines as these do not tend thereto They may establish men in such a notion of Grace as he hath formed But they neither tend to lead to nor establish in the Grace it selfe but keep men from it Nay I can truly say it from him that is true that he himself cannot receive the Grace the thing it self till he part with these notions And O that he might know the Stone cut out of the Mountaine without hands to dash his Image that the living one who gives Life might be received by him in that measure of Grace and Truth which he inwardly dispences to all that travel out of the darkness of their own imaginations and conceivings upon the Scriptures into his pure Light The maine reason he giveth why he is not satisfied with that which I sent him concerning the sum and substance of the true Religion is because it fights with his notions even a stating of our Righteousness with God according to his imagination which is absolutly a meer dream which he hath dreamt of in the night and not seen in the Light of the day For the cry of the Spirit of the Lord is in the Gospel day Open ye the gates that the Righteous nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in This is the Truth as God haâ—h revealed by his own Spirit in this our day But to say this speaks of our state in him without witnessing it in our selves is but a meer dream And men cannot bring forth fruit to God nor be lovely and pleasing in his eyes but as their fallow Ground is ploughed up the Thornes Thistâ—es Bryers and that which is unclean and unholy removed Christ he saith Is the heavenly man and mansion in whom we are thus blessed and in whom we sit down in a state of Rest and Riconcilliation Heavenly and Divine before and without the consideration of any works of Righteousness which we have wrought c. Answ If he means this concerning the full sitting down in Rest it is directly contrary to Scripture For none sit down in that full Rest before and without consideration of Works of Righteousness wrought by them For that great Judgment is a time of rendering to every man according to his works Rest is the Reward of the Traveller And his Travels are not despised but considered in his Reward Mark every one that improved the Talent had a reward from his Lord. And come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat c. Math. 25. And the Apostle is of the same mind with Christ when he saith It is a Righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you rest c. 2 Thes 1.6 7. So that Persons do not sit downe in eternal blessedness in Christ before or without consideration of any works wrought by them And then for sitting down in an heavenly divine state of Righteousness Rest and Peace in him here It is a glorious State to be travelled to Theâ—e must be a translating out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the dear Son first The Kingdom must first be come and the Soul prepared to enter into it at the Gate which the Spirit opens to him in the way of the Gospel For it is one thing to know somewhat of Christ and to begin to become a Disciple and another thing to learn of him so to deny a mars own Wisdom and will as to come to receive and be born of that which is true and living of him and to learn to wait aright for the opening of the gate and entering into the Kingdom and Land of Life and to be prepared to sit down with him For their is a state of Discipleship wherein a man hardly knoweth a settlement so much as how to watch with Christ rightly and constantly But it is a great matter to be able to dwell and abide with him None can do this But he that can dwell with devoâ—ering fire and everlasting burnings For the pure Word of Life is a fire and he that sits down in the heavenly place in him must sit down in that fire This he Reckons the firm stable state which indeed is no state at all There is not a state in Christ without being in Christ And then the state is according to the Souls being in Christ For then the Work of Regeneration the Work of Sanctification the Work of Justifying c. goeth on and a man is with God according as he is framed and new created in Christ and not otherwise So that the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ is found Judging and Condemning whatever is not of God and Justifying onely what is of God in him For the Soul then comes into the new Covenant which requireth and Justifieth that which is new all that is wrought in God and condemneth all that is wrought out of him And so here is the true sence and knowledg
of sin by the new and pure Law of the new Covenant and the Advocate known and Repentance given by him upon all occasions to those that wait upon him and the Sprinkling of the Blood and Remission upon Repentance This is the new and Living Way of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath consecrated for all his made known in the dâ—monstration of his Spirit which will stand for ever Whereas mens aprehensions about those things which they have gathered and comprehended of themselves out of the Scriptures in the supposed Light of their natural Reason and Understanding are but Dreams and will vanish even in their own hearts if ever the true Light arise the e. He saith This state can never fall nor be finally fallen from Answ There is a way of coming to Christ and there is a way of preservation in Christ For there is a Power that Redeems and men are preserved by that Power in subjection to it And so every one That thinketh he standeth is to fear and take heed lest he fall And not to boast and say I am in a state of Justifycation which is firme and cannot be moved and it cannot fall nor be finally fallen from For ye are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Keep to the Power which preserves Hold that fast which thou hast let no man take thy Crown Keep the faith make not shipwrack of it and of a good Conscience O that men knew the right Doctrine and way of coming to Christ which they cannot do till they are taught of the Father Joh. 6.45 and the right Doctrine and Way of standing and abiding in him For truly mens professed coming to Christ believing and standing at this day is generally notional outward without but not in the inward Life and Power it self without which no man can come to him nor stand and abide in him He chargeth us With setting up a Covenant of Works alwayes doing and never done a Covenant to be performed by us for our selves not by Christ for us Answ I would he saw in the true Light how unjust and untrue this charge is For the Lord God of Life knoweth that he himself hath taught us the new Covenant and thereby taught us to wait upon himself in his Son to work all our works in us and for us And this we dayly experience that we can work nothing but as he works in us Therefore our whole course is a waiting on him in stilness to witness him appearing and doing all in us And blessed be his Name we do not wait in vain But if he think all works are excluded out of the new Covenant he greatly erreth For the Works of Gods Spirit are required and have a place therein And God and Christ the King and Shepherd is the Judge of his People in the new Covenant and justifieth or condemneth according to the Law thereof In the faith and obedience he justifieth In the unbeliefe and disobedience he condemns without respect of Persons And it is a pretious thing in the Gosple Ministration to come to God the Judge of all and to witness true judgment set up by God in a mans own heart that by the ministration of the pure judgment there the Soul may come to learn Righteousness of the holy Teacher and Shepheard even the Lord Jesus Christ who is just and faithful under his Fathâ—r in the impartial Ministration of the new Covenant Hereupon several charges he brings against us through his own mistakes and misapprehensions of us As First That our Doctrine imployes Free Will and power in the creature Answ We have never experienced Free Will nor Power as of our selves but as we have bin turned to Gods Power and received it from him nor did we ever testifie to others that they could receive and embrace Truth in their own will by their own power O that this Person had true discerning of and were severed from that Spirit which thus chargeth us For whoever receives this Testimony concerning the inward Light of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never find himself able to do any thing therein by his own will and power But there witnesseth Gods begetting him out of his own will by the Life and Power of Truth Secondly He chargeth it That it maketh the Election of God altogeâ—her frustranious Answ Election of the Seed in the Seed it doth not at all make frustranious But mens wrong apprehensions concerning Election out of the Seed the true Doctrine of Election doth not conâ—â—â—â— with He hath chosen us in him so that in him to wit in Christ the choice is and he that will make his Election sure must make the Seed sure to him growing in the nature thereof wherein the Election is to the truely obedient He saith Our Righteousness with God is the Foundation Answ But is there not somewhat which is the Foundation of our Righteousness with God And can we be Righteous with God til we come to that Foundation and be made Righteous by it Must we not first believe in him And is not faith a gift which comes from the holy Root and maketh a change in them in whom this gift is found Doth not Faith make a difference between them that believe and them that believe not So that so soon as ever there is true faith and it thus works the State is changed And there is no Justification before faith For in the unbelief is the condemnation for ever He that believeth not is condemned already And what is he justified there too at the same time Was Abraham our Father justified in the unbelief and disobedience Or in believing and obeying God for what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness That which I spoke of he saith Is but the fruit and superstructure Answ When Christ directs men to the Seed of the Kingdome doth he direct unto the fruit and superstructure I spoke there of the Seed of the Light of the holy Spirit of the quickening Virtue Is that the superstructure Or is that the fruit of mens being made Righteous Nay must they not turn to that receive that believe in that even in the Light of Gods Spirit for they are the true and right believers before a man can come to be made Righteous or accounted Righteous in the eyes of the Lord For none are Righteous but in him And all are out of him till they be gathered into him He instanceth in one passage of mine in a Book entituled The Sum or substance of our Religion who are called Quakers the words are these This is the sume of all even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death and kept in death what to be brought up out of the grave to live to God and Reign in his Dominion and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to Reign Now to experience it thus done in the heart the flesh brought down the