you became to know your own selves you should not jarre so much with them as you doe for you and they and the Papists too are all brethren in the bottome and all worship one and the same God with your hearts viz. the Creature as I shall hereafter shew you and you differ not but in your heads because the God whom your worship hath his habitation there and him you worship in your formes and it is about your formall worship you jarre and whosoever worship God in formes they cannot chuse but jarre with those who be not in the same way of worship with them and from hence it is that so much blood becometh shed about Religion so called and indeed otherwise it cannot be but that while men live in formes they will be jarring and live in contentions and the effects thereof is Murther and Blood but where the power of God and truth of God is manifested and the heart becometh established therein it teacheth men another worke then jarring with and killing one another and differing from them in matter of judgement about a few weake out sid formes which all is but acts of the creature But be it knowne to you I have not any intention at all to wrong you or out of any malice to write to you but out of a friendly spirit give to you that right which doth belong to you in your forme and would if possible let you see the emptinesse in all formes and would have you to presse after that which is the substance and life and blisse and well-being of all soules and this is not comprehended or contained in any forme though never so well regulated and brought into the nearest conformity that possible can be according to rule or example in Scripture yet I confesse where men live in their weaknesse and blindnesse of that which is the chiefe good and cannot apprehend God as a Spirit and what worship he requireth nor can know Christ in the Divine nature but according to the Flesh so long I say a forme is tollerable and men ought to state a forme according to the best rule and example in Scripture and in their time and place they may bee good and usefull but out of their time and place they become damageable and hurtfull viz. when they become to bee lived in and life and peace found in them and so men setling down in them then doe they blinde men of that which is the pure good and so the good of and in these formes becometh evill and this I would have all Formalists to take heed of But more of this you shall heare afterward but now I proceed to the thing intended It is true I must confesse your forme is somewhat more tollerable and to be approved of in some things before those of the Presbyterie order because you have not as yet been as rigid and persecuting of those who have dissented from your forme as they have been but yet as you are but in a forme you know not what you would doe in case you had but as much power in your hands as the Presbyterians have had in some places for they for these many yeares have had power and by that power have been on the suffering hand untill of late and as yet you are sensible of the suffering but in case you live to have the whole Nationall power given into your hands and thereby become strong I know then what you would doe even persecute also all those who would not worship God in your form but you thinke you would not doe so but I know you would doe so for as you are but in a forme you would persecute if you had but the whole power but those whom you would persecute most would be those who had most of the Divine nature in them for of all other these shall be sure of persecution for one Formalist in some respect will beare with another yet all who are but in a forme of what forme soever will lend a hand to persecute those who live in Christ and Christ in them for what forme is the purest is but stated according to Christ in the flesh and all Formalists is but the Sons of the bond-woman and therefore they cannot cease to persecute the sons of Freedome but I know you cannot beleeve that ever you would doe any such wickednesse as this but alas you know your owne hearts no more then did Hazaell when Elisha told him what mischiefe he would doe afterward to the children of Israel 2 King 8.13 yet at present there is no such thing apparent amongst you but God hath used you as instruments whereby there is more liberty to the free-borne sons then hath been heretofore but this freedome as yet is not such to those who are free-borne indeed but if they come to disapprove of your formes or speake against them they shall bee sure of a snap by you if occasion serve for it but yet I confesse this liberty and freedome of yours will give more tolleration to twenty erring Sects rather then to one who hath the truth of God truly manifested in him in case he should come to teach your foundation but the best freedome of such is to keep themselves unknowne and then shall none have power to hurt them for indeed for all the liberty of Conscience that is so much spoken of yet if one should appeare to declare the Mysteries of godlinesse and the great Mystery of sin and selfness in the sons of men I am sure he should not be long without persecution but there be some amongst you yea even of your owne forme who is growne so wise in their good thinking that they conceit and strongly imagine that Christs personall reigne is already begun upon the earth because of such great wonders as they see brought to passe as they call them and all is because of the liberty themselves have gotten to use their owne forme with quietnesse and this doth so strongly worke upon the fancy of some wise fooles that from thence they conclude that the Kingdome is given into the hands of the Saints and that Christ shal reign amongst them for a thousand yeares and so have coted and wrested many Scriptures to that very purpose but if these poor blinded fools had but their eyes opened rightly they should rather cry out and bid all the Nation beware for the Devill is let loose and is come downe amongst them Revel 12.12 And this I am sure I can prove for I can discover very much of his working both in religion and out of religion not one forme in England whatsoever it be but I will prove somewhat of the Devill in it nay what Office or Trade soever is in England even from the highest to the lowest I can see the Devill have a hand in it yea and in many things a great deale more of him in it then ever and if this be the beginning of the Personall reigne of Christ I marvell what the
they could not know nor to this day can know how you do beguile them O that I and all Gods people who know the truth had heads full of water that our tears might run down day and night for the slain of our own flesh and blood and yet poor hearts their bodies liveth in the world and their hearts liveth in the Creature and their God liveth in their head and they worship him according to your blinde precepts and they love to have it so and yet is their poor spirits under the chains of sin death devil and hell and yet you nor they can be made beleeve that this is so And this is the effects and fruits of your wise preaching by way of Use and Doctrine which you have learned at the Holy Universitie you so much boast of But I tell you plainlie that since your wise preaching had its beginning the truth of God hath been hid by it and so the souls of men have been deprived of the sweet enjoyments thereof O wo be to you for your work yea wo and sorrow shall be your portion in a far greater measure then any of the sons of men yea you shall one day curse the time that your fathers put you to the Holy Universitie to make you Preachers nay you shall wish that they had put you to learn the trade of Tinklers when they put you to learn the trade of Preaching though at present you glory in your trade and think you are the Minister of the Gospel I know your pride is so great that when you see these lines you will be ready to burn them and make a scoff of me for writing them but that is no new thing for I know your spirits well enough neither do I care for your displeasure for I know in whom I have believed and who caused me to write these lines and him I desire to obey It s possible some of you may Petition to Authority to get me punished for my plainness with you as some of your Brethren have done in these daies against some poor people unto whom God hath more clearly manifested both his Justice and Mercy to their souls without your Ministry then ever he did to any soul under your Ministry And this maketh you all stark mad that God should do any thing in any soul but by you and so you both in Preaching and Petitions go about both to scandalize and persecute the truth of God and those souls in whom the truth is But this shall return upon you with shame and your own preaching and acting against the truth shall be your overthrow But friends I would not have you in the least to mistake me in what I write in general to you for no truth is so general but there may be some particular exception admitted in it so in this that I have written to you for though I express you all in general yet my charitie causeth me to admit of some particular exception of some amongst you in some respect for far be it from me to condemn the truth in any man or in any order if I can but perceive the least appearance thereof in any soul But that which I judge and condemn amongst you all is the illegal and unjust calling and coming into the Ministrie and your pride and covetousness in the Ministrie and the ignorance of the truth of God in the Ministrie and the great unknowing of God in the people as he ought to be known the which hath been the evil fruits and effects of your Ministrie I confess that many of you have wit and schollarship enough to maintain Argument with Papists and any other Formalists that differ in judgement with you and that many of you be able enough to take a sentence of Scripture and divide it into so many parts as the sence of speech will carry and so out of every part to raise out Doctrines and Uses Applications and Conclusions c. and so may beget a form of truth in some of your hearers and when this is done yet the power of truth is hid from you in your wise speaking and from them in their wise hearing For the power of the truth is one thing and the form of truth is another thing and the form of truth I know you hold out and may hold out by your wit and schollarship taught you in your Universities And this I know one man may teach another and as he is taught so may he speak yea and by the work of the brain may adde much to what hath been taught and yet for all this the heart is far enough from the enjoyment or partaking of the power of truth And where the power of truth is wanting in any of you though you have the form of truth yet are you none of those whom God calleth into the Ministrie but you shall one day be judged and condemned as theeves who came not in at the door but by some other way Though you put this off your selves and apply it to others whom the Lord hath raised of his own accord to speak what they know of God and have in some measure received the truth and can bear witness to the truth and by these your falshood becometh to be somewhat discovered And therefore great is your malice and envy against them but yet they shall increase and you shall decrease for the Lord will turn your skirts about your head and your nakedness and shame shall be discovered to all men I know that many amongst you who are envious fools and haters of the truth do jear and scoff at experienced men and speak evil of them behinde their back yet will fawn upon them to their face because they know these are too hard for them in matter of speaking of the truth as it is in Jesus and like beaten Cocks will hide their heads under the others wings and will assent to what they say because they cannot gain-say it but when their backs is turned then they will scandalize and speak evil of these persons and wrest their words to that which was never intended And when a pack of these fools is met together in their pots then do they strengthen the hands one of another and make their malicious scandals compleat and then goeth about to make the simple people beleeve that such and such men is perillous and erroneous persons and perswadeth them to take heed of them least they be seduced by them And thus do some of you seek to undermine the truth and the reason is because the truth will be their undoing But other amongst you I know is more witty and will not be so much against experienced men but perceiving that God owneth them they will not altogether speak against these as do the other but rather make use of their theevish art and steal some experiences from the mouth of others and can lay them up in their memories and make as much use of them as their own and speak of
nay for I something doubt you have but a false interpretation of the words But canst thou tell what the work of the Lord is before he return the pure Language to any people canst thou tell what is the voice of this pure Language I doubt you cannot But here I will give you a glimpse what they both are if thou have but an eye to see and a heart to understand when the same is somwhat held out to thee First for the work of the Lord before he return to any this pure Language is partly expressed in the foregoing verse of the same Chapter where the Lord saith Therefore wait ye upon me until the day Iarise to the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie Zeph. 3.8 Hast thou known thy soul brought into such a sad sorrowful condition being voide of all help or comfort from all created and things acted and hast thou known thy soul so set and compassed about with sin and selfness pleasure praise and profit anger envy discontent both with God and man roving of thine imagination thy thoughts inclinations and desires bended down to created things hath the want of the lovely presence of God pressed thy Spirit so sore night and day that both thy sleep in the night departed from thee and thy appointed food by day refused hath thy soul known it self in captivity thus in and with these things and hast thou known thy soul in the lowest Hell under the chains of ghostly death and hast thou here born the indignation of the Lord for thy transgressions and hast thou here waited upon the Lord till he arose to the prey viz. To pluck thy soul out of the foresaid captivity and hast thou seen all these thy ghostly captivers assembled together and the fierce anger of the Lord poured upon them and devoured them all and hast thou known the fire of his jealousie viz. Anger and love mixed together that thereby all created and earthly things was devoured in thee so that all thy adversaries and captivers was captived so that Death and Hell is swallowed in victory and that now thy soul is carried upon the flying Cherubims so that now thou hast not a thought inclination or desire to either profit of the world praise of men pleasing of thy sences or affections with any delight but that as a brand pluckt out of the fire or as gold seven times refined thy soul doth so appear before thy God and then in the clear manifestation of the presence of God thou shalt have this pure language restored to thee viz. Then shall thy soul know how to pronounce Hallelujah rightly then shall thy soul know how to sing the new song expressed in Rev. 13.3 then shalt thou know how to call upon the name of the Lord for then thou shalt know what is his name because the same shall be written in thy forehead viz. In the noble faculty of thy soul even thy pure understanding for then thou shalt know truly that his Name is Wonderful Mighty and Merciful c. and so shalt praise him according to the knowledge of his Name But I will proceed no further in showing the nature of the pure Language nor what is to be done in every soul before it shall have that Language returned for by this glimpse those that have it can testifie the truth hereof and so can express what I mean because they understand my minde by what is already said and then there is enough and to those who know it not nor believe it because they have not known the same I suppose if more had been said it had but been lost labor and so to them this is enough also Neither indeed dare I explain any further for now in these days the cunning comprehending devil is let loose and he hath got into the wit of men and there he sitteth like a God and teacheth men how they shall learn this pure Language and new Song when they hear the same spoken or sung by those who have the same returned to them But yet this cunning devil in the wit of men doth not teach any thing but onely a sound of words for all the Devils in Hell nor all the wit and learning of men nor all the Angels in Heaven can return to man this pure Language nor teach this new Song unto any soul until it be redeemed from the earth and earthly things and till it be cloathed in the white robe and follow the Lamb whether soever he goeth and that have the white stone with the new Name which no man knoweth but he that hath it and none can teach this Language but the Lamb slain from the beginning c. But I have digressed too far from the thing intended but yet in my digressing I have a secret aim viz. To pitch something before the eyes of those whom I aim to shoot at afterward that while they be looking at what is set before them I may come the better to hit my mark for my Bow is ready bent and the Arrow of the Almighty is set in it and who cometh first in view I will let it flie at them whether I hit or miss A Spiritual Vision of the Presbytery and all other Forms without God included in it BUt methink I hear a voice speaking as though it were spoken by those who are of the Presbytery order and thus I hear them speak Indeed it is true The Lord had need to shoot out his Arrows at the wicked for they are mightily increased at this time for the poor Church and pure Church of Christ is like to be swallowed up by the power of strange wicked Sectaries who are risen up in these days and the reason is because of an unfaithful Parliament whom we too much trusted to for they have swarved from the trust we committed to them but if we had known how they would have proved we would never have acted so against the King for we little knew then what priviledge we had though our power was not so great as we should have had and which did wholly belong to us we being the onely people of God and had knowledge to govern both Church and State but the Parliament being metamorphised from the shape of Holiness they have given Liberty of Conscience to every one in their Religion and will not execute Justice upon men when they erre from the Faith which we have And this was their blindness and ignorance in adhering too much to that beast set out in the Revelation 13. viz. to Cromwel and a sort of wicked Sectaries under him who by their power have brought the Saints into bondage but if the Parliament had but stood to their first principles of Faith which we profess all these had been surprised for then had our power been strong and
also how many ways you will object against what I have written to you but I warrant you I have an answer for every one of your objections and I would have answered them all before I had left you but that I know if you will not lay this to heart it had but been follie in me to write any more for if I as I make no doubt but I very wel could have stopped all your mouths in what you could object yet I know your will is so bent in the way that when you had nothing to say you would stone me to death if you durst for you are of the same generation with whom Stephen had to do who was not able to resist his spirit he spake with yet they could stone him to death Acts 7.58 For the truth is that the God of your Fathers whom you worship viz. Self-pride self-praise self-profit self-wisdom self-power self-righteousness c. Self being the first person in the Trinity who by his spirit of wisdom doth so inspire you and in obedience to the same you become always resisters of the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 But being past hopes of doing good to the generality of you because I know your blindness and hardness of heart at present I will adde no more to what I have said for to you who are sealed up for destruction here is too much but if happily there be some amongst you who are not sealed and setled in blindness having some want and emptiness in their souls and the same lying upon their spirits in making them to finde little but ease comfort or content in any thing they either act or speak and that can finde nothing but wo and sorrow in all they go about either in the world or their forms of Religion I say if there be any such souls amongst you I know they have that within them that will cause them to close with what I here have offered to them and confess that I have said nothing but that which is as true as truth it self And to such souls this I know will be useful for one reproof enters more into a wiseman then a hundred stripes doth into a fool Prov. 17.10 But for all other before-said they are but fools and will not believe and therefore I leave them to be destroyed by their own folly and will return to the poor deluded people under them and give them a friendly advice and shew them how they have been cheated and cousened by these foul Beasts whom the Devil hath most subtilly brought into the Ministery and have reigned by his means so many hundred years whereby the true knowledge of God is worn out from amongst the sons of men and all under a form of faith in Christ and a brain-knowledge of God and performing some duties which they tell you is holy and therein have they strangled your souls and made you believe you were in the ways of God when alas you were but in your own ways and the way of God as yet you never knew Then hearken O ye poor deluded souls who have a desire to know your own deceit and have a willingness in you to know what the way of God is and where this God is and where the way to meet with your God is and see and know that your ways you have lived in and rejoyced in how they are but poor weak beggerly things and so long as you live in them you live but in your self and as long as you live in them you are not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven neither to know the Mysteries of God nor the misery of the sin that is in you and without you know that you shall not know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God As I have shewed you the original of the Ministers from whence they came so I will shew you your Religion and your duties and observations from whence they came and upon what grounds your forms are pitched and what is all that you can reap out of the very best of your forms and how far you may act in your forms and yet have your spirits deprived of the love of God which is the salvation of all souls that are saved and I will shew you from what principles your performances arise and by what power they are performed And first for your Religion I finde it to be nothing else but a feigned fantastick thing raised up by and through the vain conceits of your blinde Ministers who have no grounds for what they affirm but onely false conclusions which they draw from true principles in others and likewise the best grounds they have for any thing contained in the profession it is no more but examples from others who had command to observe such things and know the minde of him who commanded these things and observed these things according to the minde and intent of him who gave them command to observe such things but your Ministers being ignorant of the minde of the Commander observe the same by example not knowing the minde of the Commander and therefore they have given out these things to you and their own minde in them and from them have you observed these things in your Religion But now I will come to some particulars and I wish you to observe well what is delivered unto you by my Pen and the Lord give you hearts to understand the truth I shall deliver to you And first I come to that which is a principal point and part of your Religion viz. The observation of the Sabbath as you call it but that is not a proper name for it except you profess Circumcision and so become one with the Jews for to them was this delivered amongst the other Commandments but instituted at the beginning and when God had given out the rest of the Commandments to Moses he repeateth over this Commandment of keeping the Sabbath and telleth Moses for what end and purpose he had given that charge of keeping it viz. That it should be a sign between him and the people that they might know who sanctified them and whosoever did not refrain from all manner of work upon that day was to be put to death Exod. 31.13 14 c. And this was to be a sign between God and them in all their Generations Now if it were delivered to the Jews as a sign then was there something signified in it and appointed out by it to them I will tell you what it held out to them it held out three things in its signification As for the first it was the righteousness of God by which he sanctified them without any thing in them or by them whatsoever and as they were to cease from all labor whatsoever on pain of death so were they not to look at any thing within themselves whatsoever whereby they should look to be made holy for if they did it was the very death of their souls and God knew it well that they would be looking at something
in themselves and would secretly be oblieging him to it and Moses gave them a caveat of the same when he bad them take heed to themselves least they should say in their hearts for my righteousness c. Hath the Lord done these things for me Deut. 15.9 And for this very thing the Sabbath was to be a sign of his sanctifying them and that sanctification was not of themselves but that they were as clean stript of all righteousness to sanctifie themselves as he gave out strict command to cease from all labor whatsoever and that they should always be looking out of themselves unto the Lord their God who sanctified them and that they should know that sanctification was of him he did very oft rehearse the same to them as may be seen Levit. 20.8 21.8 22.9 16. and Ezek. 37.28 and many other places And as it was given them for a sign of the sanctification of God so it signified a spiritual rest unto them which rest should be in God that as their bodies was refreshed in and by that rest so should their spirits be refreshed in him and be at rest when they had laid aside and cast off all toyl and labor of spirit viz. Caring fearing loving and desiring to be satisfied with created things and that they were brought out of and beyond all their secret dependancy of what they acted or observed which while they lived in they were the cause why all toyl and labor hapned to their spirits in which they were deprived of the sweet rest in God For when the heart of man is carried out from the rest in God then is it in toyl about some created thing and whatsoever it be it affordeth nothing but restlessness and this made Solomon say who had tryed all things and found that those who would seek rest in any thing created should be deceived and that he should finde nothing but sorrow and grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the night Eccles 2.23 And because the Lord knew the people would be seeking rest in other things therefore he gave them this sign of the Sabbath wherein they should know from whom the rest of their spirits should come And when they were gone out from him and had not kept the Sabbath which held out to them the rest of their souls but were turned from him yet he would have them to return again to him and ask and enquire for the way that they had left and in walking therein they should finde rest for their souls Jer. 6.16 And David knew full well what was the rest of spirit and said to himself O my soul return to thy rest c. Psal 116.7 And thirdly This Sabbath was a sign of the eternal rest that souls should have in him after the end of so many several orders and dispensations both inwardly and outwardly these being darkly held out to them by the number of six days and the seventh to be the day of rest and kept holy to the Lord And that order of numbering six days was by the Lords own example held out to them in the first Creation where it is said the Lord was six days in working and creating all things though God himself wrought not in that manner but to stoop to our weak understanding of him that in our weak knowledge could apprehend nothing at all of him if he were not pleased to let out himself in ways whereby we might darkly grope after him And so in these several out-lettings of himself in these weak ways we might be brought by little and little passing through these dispensations that we thereby might be made fit and able to come to a condition of persecution wherein we should be in a capability to behold and stand in the presence and right knowledge of God himselfe And because to speake of these seven fold dispensations is not suitable for you at present and because of the ignorance of the times as yet else it may bee you should have heard them more clearly defined to you for I assure you there is a Mystery in these numbers which as yet the most of the Sons of men be ignorant of and the Mystery in them was wrapt in them in the beginning and was mystically holden out to the Sons of men by Iohn in the Revelation by the seven Seales the seven Angels who sounded the seven Trumpets and the pouring out of the seven Viols which no man can or ever shall understand untill he be brought to live in the heart of God and God to live in his heart for none else is fit to know his secrets And under these three considerations it was that God gave out so strict command for the observation of the seventh day or Sabbath and under these considerations was Christ held out to them in his properties of Sanctification and spiritual rest and eternal rest of Souls and in this respect he was Lord over the Sabbath as himself testifieth in Mark 2.28 And as the Leviticall or Ceremoniall Law held out or were the shadows of the Office of Christ both of suffering and sacrifice which all of them was to be excluded after his death so was the Sabbath to be excluded when the thing signified by it was come and till that time that commandement was in force but when Christ was come you may observe how oft himself did crosse the Scribes and Pharisees in not observing the Sabbath according to their order Mar. 2.23 And when our Saviour upon divers occasions was to speake of the Lawes of Commandement which was to stand in force and should not in any wise passe away till they were fulfilled as may be seen in Mat. 5. c. yet never did he so much as touch or give command to keep the Sabbath because hee knew the same was fulfilled in his appearing of which he was Lord and whosoever doth observe the seventh day upon the obedience of the Commands before the appearance of Christ in the Flesh they erre not knowing the minde of God in his Commands and so they are blinded from beholding Christ in his properties therein contained and so by and in the observation of that day they become that to themselves which of right doth belong to Christ But I know you will say you doe not observe that day upon the same account as the Jewes did but under a Gospel consideration having the same day changed unto another day viz. the first day in which Christ rose from the dead and in that respect we call it not a Sabbath but the Lords Day It is true you call it the Lords Day but for that you have neither command nor example in all the New Testament but only as you may infer from that saying of St. John in Revel 1. the which you cannot justly affirme that it was the first day of the week in which Christ rose from the Dead but I would have you to know what the Lords Day is and how John called that
will I will not enlarge any more at present but bid you farewel Another word to the Anabaptists so called FRiends I mean not to dispute about the goodness or badness of your Form for I have oftentimes done that before when I had no better employment As for your Form I know well enough what it is and what you can reap out of it I will neither commend it nor discommend it but leave that to your selves and others and as it is a form so I let it stand in the room of a Form and I take it for no more nor any more is it though never so well regulated but this I know that you may make an Idol of your Form as do all other Formalists and where any form becometh idolized the same is abomination to the Lord for though your Form were delivered to you by the very verbal speech of God himself as the Law was to Moses yet when an Idol is made of that which God declareth and would have observed even that very same becometh abomination to him and the reason is because when an Idol is made of any Form then the heart is thereby turned from God and centreth in the Creature for the minde of God in all forms and in all dispensations shadows and types was still to draw the heart of man more near to himself and yet in all forms dispensations shadows and types the hearts of men have been further drawn from him and the reason was and is because the minde of God under all these dispensations was unknown and then men not knowing the minde of God in these they became to dote upon the thing and then the heart was ever carried into the Creature Then you who are my Friends of mine own flesh and blood who have betaken your selves into the Form of Rebaptising and so conceive your selves the onely people of God because of your well regulated form and you do so Idolize your form that you conclude that of necessity men must be brought into your form before they can have fellowship and communion with Christ and that all experience is nothing but delusion if it be not attained to under your form How now friends know you where you are or into what Region you are flown in your high and well fledg'd conceits are you in the first second or third Heaven or mounted unto the top of some high spired steeple and so from thence you look down and see all men below you seeming but as little children in comparison of your selves but yet take heed to your selves for those that you see walking below you though they may seem inferior to you yet you know not but they both stand and walk as safely as you for it is possible while you are looking down at others and judging them for their being so below you and seeming so little in comparison of your selves that your selves may catch a fall from your high mounted or conceited steeple yea such a fall as will lay you level with the ground I wish it were not lower Is this your Form the Gate through which all must enter that go to Heaven I am sure you conclude no less but if your conclusions could be proved true it were a very easie door to enter in at But what ever you may conclude of your Form I am right sure that both you and all other shall pass through a straighter gate then your form before ever they shall enter the Kingdom of God I know you finde or rather think you finde freedom and liberty in your Form and so would engage others to be partakers of the same with you yet while you think you have liberty and preach and pretend the same to others I can prove that you your selves are the servants of sin John 8.34 I confess for that which you observe as a main principle in your form viz. Baptism is near the rule of Scripture according as Types was instituted in time of Scripture and therefore for the using of it after your own order I leave it to your own freedom but yet I would have you to know that if your spirits be not carried out of and beyond it into the thing signified you shall all perish in your form and your form it self shall perish as shall all other forms of what kinde soever and so shall all things acted ordained or created all shall perish for they were begun with time and in time and time it self shall wear them out and time it self shall perish also then in what or where shall the spirits of men be happy and finde rest therefore I say wo to those souls who live in and contend for any thing that hath its being in time though it be never so pure an Ordinance for all things ordained acted or created was provided to bring the spirits of men out of these things into that which cannot be comprehended in time neither is ordained or created And all Forms must and shall be swallowed up in that which is no form according as we understand forms and all created things shall be swallowed up in that which is uncreated and all actions shall be swallowed up in that which never acted as we act nor as we understand acting but I will not flie too high from that I would be at for my intention is not to meddle with things too hard for your understanding but rather condescend to your own capacity and speak a word with a tongue which you may well understand in case your form have not stopt your ears and made blinde your eyes and made gross your hearts that so you can neither hear see nor understand Well now to the thing intended viz. to speak a word of that which is your main principle point in your Form and that is Baptism I know what ground you have for this act viz. From example of the primitive time as also in obedience to the commands of Christ It s true indeed Christ gave out such a command to his Disciples as he did for the observing of the Type instituted at his last Supper of which I have spoken something formerly But my friends do you know what was the minde of Christ in giving out command for the observation If you do say you know his minde I say you walk not according to what you say you know as will appear afterwards in speaking more fully hereof but in case you know not the minde of Christ in this command then take it for granted you cannot yield right obedience to Christ in your observing of this command but in your obedience in the same you detract from Christ and so become his enemies in this your obedience I have something touched this Type of Baptism before yet here I proceed a little further in illustrating the same more fully In the first place I would have you to observe that Baptism is threefold or there is a threefold Baptism and these three Baptisms had their times places operations and effects
requirings of the same And in all the time of the dispensation under the Law the whole Deity was named by the name of God or Father but when the fulnesse of time was come that God would appeare in a dispensation more cleare by which the Sonnes of men might the better know him then it was that the God-head in its properties divided it selfe and united it selfe to Flesh and so became the distinction in the God-head but yet the Godhead was the same it was before in the unity and in this new dispensation John Baptist begun the second Baptism in which he bare witnesse to the truth of the distinct property of God the Father viz. Christ or the Son of God and that hee was the Lamb of God which tooke away the sins of the world Jo. 1.29 And as Moses was the Messenger of God sent by him to declare his whole name or the whole God-head in his name unto the people when he would deliver them out of the Aegyptians bondage in the time of the first Baptisme so John the Baptist was his second Messenger sent by him to declare and beare witnesse of the distinct property of God and to shew to the people the name and worke of God in that distinct property viz. Christ the Son of God And as God did appeare more neare to manifest himselfe to men in his Son so the office of Iohn was to bring men out of and from under that darke dispensation under the Mosaicall observations into a more neare conformity and cleare beholding of God in that present dispensation under the Sonne and for this very purpose both the preaching and acting of Iohn tended to which God himselfe gave testimony also in the act of Iohns Baptisme by the appearance of another of his distinct properties viz. the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. and from hence it was that the name of the Sonne was added to the name of the Father and as the whole God-head stood in one name in the former dispensation and in making that name knowne and in giving out Lawes and Ordinances to be observed in that name in which the Covenant of workes was in force that name was terrible insomuch that the people could not abide to heare God speake to them yea Moses himselfe feared that great Majesty and quaked exceedingly Heb. 12.21 But when the God-head had in its property divided it self into the second dispensation into the property of Christ and so the second name of the Sonne being to be declared that name was Love and Peace and God with us Mat. 1.23 or God well pleased and reconciled to us And the Baptisme of Iohn it was called the Baptisme of repentance Acts 13.24 in which is included sorrow and departing or forsaking of something or a dying to something and to close with or to live in another thing and that was a forsaking or dying or departing from the former observations wherein they lived under the first Covenant of workes and to close with and live to the second appearance of God in that present dispensation wherein he would shew himselfe in a more quiet and peaceable manner then he had shewed himselfe in the former And John who made the way for and pointed at Christ as he was in the flesh he likewise bare witnesse of and fore-told what Christ would doe in the spirit viz. Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire c. Mat. 3.11 and the beginning of this Baptisme was after the death resurrection and ascension of Christ as may be seen in Acts 2.2 3 c. now this third Baptisme was more excellent then the two former and this was the Baptisme of Christ by the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost and the worke and operation of this Baptisme is to burne up consume or destroy all the remainder of what was left by the other two former Baptismes and likewise to comfort and establish and make to live in a more safe and sure union of the thing closed with and from hence the third name is added to the two former and thus the whole God-head in its properties divided it selfe into the three names viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost and in these three names or into these three names was all persons to be Baptised and Christ gave out his command to the very same purpose Mat. 28.19 And as these three-fold Baptismes did accord with the three-fold names in time operation and effect in the outward manifestation in order one following or succeeding another so they held out or typified the inward and spiritual succeeding one another and this inward worke and effect of these three names and Baptismes is that whereby and wherein the life and happinesse of all soules consist in having the same compleatly fulfilled in them And as I have given a little hint of the outward names and Baptisms in their times and dispensations succeeding one another so I proceed to speake a word of that which is the chiefe worke effect and end of all these in their inward or spirituall order of succeeding Therefore observe the Mystery of the first Baptisme or the Baptizing into the first name Father in the first dispensation under the Law as God in his orderly proceeding calleth and manifesteth himselfe to us Now when the Lord God would deliver the children of Israel out of Aegypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians and to make his name knowne to the people as the whole Deity stood in the one name so his name was made known to them in a wonderful and terrible manner as is before said So it is with us when God beginneth to draw our soules out of Aegypt and Pharoah and the Aegyptians bondage viz. the outward or grosse actings in which the Devill and our Lusts have kept us in bondage amongst the sonnes of men in their common condition living in the world and this God doth by the manifesting of his great and terrible name in the first worke of the soule whereby the soule becometh roused up and made to stirre and look about it selfe and to consider in what bondage it is by being so grosly carried out into the disobedience of the requirings of the commands of God and from hence it is that God appeareth in the terriblenesse of the condemning property of the soule viz. Conscience and maketh his wonderfull workes aad wrathfull displeasure knowne in the corruptible parts of man which keepeth the spirit in under its captivity and this God doth by the hand of his servant Moses viz. by sending the Law of Commandment out and setting it home to the heart and yet how loath is the Devill who hath his Kingdome in the inferiour parts of the soule to let the spirit of man goe out of his captivity from serving him and his people viz. grosse sins and outward transgressions and from eating of his Onions and Garlick viz. in having complacence in those sins and the love of the fellowship of the men of the world and eating of their
he was the Son of God and what his coming was for and what his office should be John 1.33 Now when Jesus Christ was in the flesh he baptised none for this his baptism was to be in its time and place suitable for its operation and that was to be after his Ascension though he had promised the same before his death yet that promise was not to be fulfilled till after his death and at the first administration thereof the Holy Ghost fell upon the persons baptized in a visible form of cloven tongues of fire Acts 2. By which visible appearance was held out the nature of the operation of that Ghostly Baptism viz. A twofold speech or speaking rising out of a twofold ground viz. The sensible feeling of love joy and life c. And likewise the sensible feeling of sorrow suffering and death And from these two grounds was to arise all their speaking who was baptized with the Holy Ghost and this was the pure language that God had promised to return to the people Zeph. 3. And those who had this pure language returned to them in this Ghostly Baptism was able to speak of the wondrous works of God Acts 2.11 Now this third distinct property of God viz. The Holy Ghost or the third out-letting of the Godhead in the third distinct property is the most clearest way of manifestation that man attaineth to in the flesh for this is that which giveth man the true knowledge of the mystery of God and the mystery of sin and selfness and the operation of this distinct property worketh the spirit of man out of the mystery of Self into the mystery of God and this work it worketh by bringing man into the fellowship of the suffering with Christ whereby the body of that sin and self becometh to be crucified and likewise it comforteth man and maketh him able to bear the Cross with Christ until the death of sin and self be accomplished and so the spirit be made partaker of the life and vertue of the Resurrection of Christ and with him become ascended above all powers and principalities and so to reign with him And therefore it was necessary that Christ should both suffer and rise again and ascend before he gave out the Holy Ghost because as he suffered so he left the same example of his suffering to be undergone by those who should be his followers And while he was with them in the flesh they could not suffer as they should do afterward for then he was the Bridegroom and they were the children of the Bride-chamber Luke 5.34 And so long as he was with them in the flesh they could not grow up to be perfect men nor to the stature and fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 For while Christ was in the flesh his followers looked too much at his bodily presence and therefore it was meet that his bodily presence should be taken away that so his ghostly presence might be manifested to them and therefore he told them except he went away from them the Comforter would not come John 16.7 But his Disciples being but as yet the children of the Bride-chamber was but yong in the holy understanding neither being acquainted with great joy or great suffering because as yet they were not in a condition so sutable for either as they should be thereafter but this they could not believe but sorrow filled their hearts when Christ told them of going away from them John 16.6 But herein is the great wisdom of God made known in the orderly and successive out-lettings of himself to the sons of men stooping to his capacity in every condition that so by little and little man may be wrought and drawn up into himself and to live and abide in that center from whence he had his Being And therefore as he had made his Name known in the first dark dispensation by appearing in our flesh but most clear of all by taking the two former away that the third might appear wherein we might see him and live in him in the spiritual Life and worship him as he is a Spirit the which we cannot do while we are so much in our selves both in reason and sence while we are under the first and second dispensation and therefore it was that Christs bodily presence in the second dispensation was to be taken away that made his followers look too much upon him as he was in that appearance whereby their Reason and Sence got too much life and therefore that both Reason and Sence might lose their lives his first bodily presence must be out of the way that his ghostly presence might appear in the Divine Nature in which and by which he would become the baptiser of Souls with the Holy Ghost and with fire by which baptism he would burn up and consume all the old rubbish and reliques of sin and self both in Sence and Reason and bring the Spirit out of and from the captivity of the same And while Christ was in the flesh he shewed them an example of life which he would have those that would be his Disciples to follow and likewise he told them how great things his followers was to suffer under the Ghostly Baptism and so he left them the example of his own suffering and death also the which they should have as a rule to walk by until the body of sin should be crucified and destroyed Phil. 3.17 And so it was that after Christ in the Divine Nature began to administer the Baptism of the Holy Ghost the person who was baptised therewith by the vertue thereof became so carried out after the example both of the life and death of Christ that they thought nothing too dear to forsake so that they might but attain to the fellowship of Christ both in his life death and resurrection And this was the whole delight of these souls who had been baptised of Christ by the proceeding or coming of the Holy Ghost out of the Divine Nature into their souls by which they were led out of all things acted or created or enjoyed wherein self had gotten life or might get life And this the Apostle Paul witnesseth when he said he counted all things but dross and dung in comparison of Christ c. And that he might be lost in all things and found in Christ by way of conformity to his suffering and death that thereby he might attain to the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.7 8 9 c. And so it is to this present day that those souls whom God draweth into a near union of himself he draweth them out of the first and second out-letting of himself in the first and second dispensation and so bringeth them into the third dispensation or Ghostly Baptism in which the body of sin and selfness becometh found out and forsaken for whilest the first and second dispensation is in force the body of sin is not so clearly found out nor can be so forsaken as it
all your Art and Schollarship is not worth a straw and that all your Uses and Doctrines from thence proceeding is but a meer foolish and fantastick invention whereby the form of truth hath been upholden by you and the power of truth kept down by that invention From whence it is That the hearts of the people hath been so glewed to sin and selfness and covereth themselves from the knowledge thereof by a fair seeming form taught them by your art through the help of your good thinking Friends fare you well I have no more to say at present and what you finde in these ensuing lines make good use of them for there is more in them then fools can know or beleeve but the wise shall reap the benefit thereof Yours as you love and know the truth as it is in Jesus Geo. Baitman THe rising of the Sun destroyes the darksome night The Foolmerts and the Owls therby is put to flight The ravening Wolves afraid their prey they shall not get The Fox with all his wiles is putten to his wit All Creatures who do use to raven in the night Begins to grieve full sore at splendor of this light For Nature teacheth them their working time is done When night is swallowed up by rising of the Sun Then do they hide themselves for fear they shall be found By him who seeks them out with his well-sented Hound Who wisely searcheth out each foot-step as they went For why they left behinde a very stinking sent Which doth direct unto the holes wherein they lurk And taken is also and plagued for their work When this is brought to pass then may the sucking Lamb Without being destroyed lie safely by its Dam. So may the old Sheep too feed safely without fear For why the Beasts are slain that off their Wool did tear The Epistle to the Reader CHristian Reader if thou have any desire to seek after the chiefe good for the everlasting well being of thy Spirit for thy better understanding and true information I have drawn these ensuing lines but I would not have thee to thinke that I expect any praise of thee if there be any thing in them praise worthy for I confesse these lines had never come to thy view with any consent of mine as I am a weake and worthlesse creature had it not been that he who hath the commanding power over all Creatures by the command he hath over me did over-master me and as it were forced this insuing Treatise to be written by me for I confesse I did as much resist the Word of the Lord in commanding me to write these lines as ever did any of his Prophets when hee sent them to pronounce any Judgement upon any people for their transgressions but while I gain-said the Lord in what he would have me to speake I had but little rest day or night untill I set on worke and put my Pen to paper to draw these insuing lines and as farre as I have declared to you the minde of these motions that wrought so strongly in me so farre I have found rest yet I know I have not here declared at large what I ought to have declared and therefore as yet my spirit is not at that peace the which it desires yet I have prevailed that what I have here written may be acceptable untill further opportunity But what is here presented to thy view I wish thee to weigh seriously and though it may seem to crosse thee in that which thou dost beleeve to be truth yet in questioning it I wish thee to question thy selfe also and if the same spirit be in thee which was in the Author when he wrote it thou shalt be made to see that there is a truth in it the which as yet hath been hid from thee especially if thou be one that hath had no other sight of truth but what thou receivest through the spectacles of the false Priests and hast knowne nothing of God but what thou hast been taught by their precepts and so hath blinded thee of the true knowledge both of God and of thy selfe and have closed thee up within the Prison walls of weake formes wherein thy poore soule hath been kept prisoner and fed with Pulse and Huskes and as for that which is the chiefe food of thy soule thou hast not as yet had a taste thereof But if thou have but any of the pure operations of the truth of God in thy soule by which thy desire is led out in seeking that which is the chiefe good I hope this will be of some use for thee for herein thou shalt in some measure see how thou hast been blindly led by the blinde Priests and their precepts and thou shalt see how they had their calling into the Ministery and from whence their originall beginning was and how they have continued to this day and wherein they have been the cause how the true knowledge of God is kept from appearing amongst the sons of men and likewise here thou shalt see discovered the emptinesse of all formes and the ground of formes and how the most part of things contained in formes is but only traditionall and therefore but superstitions and how the purest things in formes are but Idolatry when the minde of him that ordained them is unknown And here is set out before thine eyes that which is the mysterie and the minde of him who left the some in darke types and gave command for the observing of the same that so his minde might be found out in the mysterie of these types whereby the soule might be drawne out of that which is the type into that which is the mysterie of the type And if thou be either in the forme of the Presbyterian order or Independent Congregation or of the Brother-hood of the Anabaptists if thou be not setled on the lees in thy forme I know thou wilt be made to see that there is not that happinesse in thy form the which thou thoughtest there had been in it and then I hope this will partly shew thee what the substance of truth is and where it is to be found and how it ought to bee sought and as thy desire is upright in the seeking of that which is the life and substance of all things thou wilt be made to accept this weake discovery of truth but if thou be one who is setled on the lees in thy forme I know thou will but finde little herein to please thee for I know it will bee in appearance to thee as a thief who would take from thee thy treasure thou livest of and delightest in and wilt rather snarle and fight with it in thy wit then to yeeld thy selfe to be robbed by it But whatever thou art or in what forme soever thou livest I would have thee to understand my minde truly in what is here offered to thee for I would have thee to know that I am not such an enemy to formes as that I would
our power is terrible as an Army with Banners against all who will not worship God in our way For our way of worship is the onely way of worship in all the world and all other are but erring Sects We helped both with our Prayers Blood and Purses to overthrow the whore of Rome and the King and his wicked rabble but now far worse is risen up in their place and by those we be more perplexed then ever for they have taken away our power by which we upheld the Faith and so are become into a very ill condition for we are no more but a mock amongst the people and we stand but as cyphers nay which is worst of all many of our own Faith declineth from us and adhereth to these new-come Sects And thus the pure Church becometh rent in peeces and all is because we want our power to compel and to execute justice upon the opposers but seeing it is so we will wait with patience for this is but the tryal of the Church for we know that hereafter our God will deliver us for although these things be faln upon us yet have we not departed from the way of our God nor dealt unfaithfully in his Covenant nay we appeal to our God for witness who knoweth our hearts that we keep close to our Religious worshipping of him for neither do we allow of any to be our Pastors but such as have come in by the right door men chosen of God made fit by the godly Universities confirmed by the approbation and laying on of the hands of our holy Presbytery and such we receive according to their worth and these and none other can speak the Language of Christ to us and with them we joyn in hearing them both Preach and Pray and in the holy Sacraments in which we have our Faith confirmed to our souls finding them very much comforted thereby so that we are made able to walk in holiness of life and perform all holy duties to our God and he in his loving kindness answers us again in giving us his holy Spirit to inspire us and by that Spirit we are made sure of our Salvation and know that we are elected from eternity and by that Spirit we call God Father and Christ our Brother and Mediator and in this we rejoyce continually walking in the ways of our God in holy life and Christian conversation making our calling and election sure by well-doing Hearing this voice I mused a little and thought in my self there is an appearance of some godliness here I will hold my hand and not shoot at such a holy object as this before I very well understand the truth of the matter for said I it is not for me to shoot out this Arrow but against them that God aimeth it for and those be such as are his enemies therefore I will consider a little and see what the minde of the Lord is before I let out this Arrow But not long had I considered hereupon till there was brought before my sight the object that had thus spoken and it seemed in appearance no less then what was expressed by the voice and me-thought there was much of God in it For it had a godly garb upon it a fair covering it was to look upon wrought with divers works and variety of colours all of them seeming to be dyed in grain and well-grounded So drawing somewhat nearer to behold this comly Garment the nearer I came to it the worse it seemed and in the skirts of it I espied much blood And I likewise saw that all the various work was but a gloss set on by the cunning of some witty Painter who had been very cunning in that art But while I was looking there was a voice said Look what thou seest under and within that garb and so the garb was somewhat drawn aside and under it I saw a monstrous Creature which is called Self and this Monster had as many heads and horns as the Beast which John saw in the Revelation And this Monster was closed fast to the heart and kept it under its power and captivity I saw also other Beasts with divers heads and horns and I saw several Epithites engraven upon these heads as namely Cruelty Blood-shedding Persecution Pride Love of the World Love of praise Love of honor Envy Anger Impatience Murmuration Hatred toward God and his people Hard-heartedness Carnal-mindedness Ignorance of God Self-conceitedness Good thinking c. And out of and from amongst these I saw a chain come from the Monster called Self and it reached out to the fair seeming Garment and kept the garment fast about these other Beasts so that they could not be discovered and this chain consisted of five links viz. False Faith false Love and false Hope and false fear of God and false-feeling of inward Joy and the name of that chain was called Hypocrisie And I saw one of the Beasts before said and he was like a Leopard and his name was Self-wisdom and I saw another of these Beasts and he was like a Dragon and his name was Self-power And I saw another of these Beasts and he was somewhat seemlier then the rest having two horns like a Lamb and his name was called Self-righteousness And these three I saw in Unity consulting together and I heard their consultation and it was against the most high God and against his own people And I saw the work they wrought and all their work was to make Robes and Garbs to hide themselves under them and so I saw how they had wrought this Garment aforesaid and the stuff they used in making it for it was made of ten several mixtures viz. Sanctifying the Sabbath hearing of their Minister Praying two times each day refraining from gross acting keeping from the company of the wicked assembling together to repetitions receiving the thing they call a Sacrament otherwise called Bread and Wine Lords Supper or the some small charity to those they call godly turning up their outward eyes towards the Element in their devotion reproving of other who worship not God in these things And all these are mixt together and made up very handsomly by and with a work-tool viz. Seeming zeal for the glory of God And I saw who helped to put this Garment on and he had a look as though he had been sore frighted and seemed as one who was not a very wise one and his name was called Conscience And I saw a Girdle that kept that Garment close to them that wore it and that was called Fear of Hell And on this Garment I saw a badge or mark as though it had been the Livery of some great man and his arms engraven therein and in that badge there was this Epithite engraven viz. The Saints sign and this was called Baptism And I saw an hollow Pipe that was fastned to this Garment and that went inward and the end that went inward and reached to the mouth of the frighted
is no Astrology for that you will not believe though never so true But this that I tell you shall undoubtedly come to pass and sooner perhaps then you look for it I will not tell you at present what I believe of you least when it cometh to pass you say I was a witch for I know you will not allow a true speaker the name of Prophet But me thinks I hear some of you object and say In what thou hast said thou hast not spoken truth for there hath many been converted by our Preaching and many godly people have we begotten and the Lord hath given a blessing to our Labors and by this we know we are the Lords Messengers to his people and the true Laborers in his Vineyard O my Friends do not think in what I have said that I have any minde to detract from you what is your due or to wrong any of you in the least For I confess Like may beget like for that is oft a truth in nature and so in you For I do not deny but many of you have a form of godliness and as you are in that form you may beget others also into the same form and so make them like your selves and yet all of you without the power of God and love of God and wisdom of God For if the love of God were shed abroad in your hearts it would turn your hearts into its own image but as yet you have not that love and therefore you have hatred in your hearts both against God and man And from hence it is That you can freely persecute and destroy all that worship not God in your way and this you have no order for nor example either from Christ or any of his followers but you and all your Converts go not a jot further then the Scribes and Pharisees but in that you believe Christ is come in the flesh and have an Historical or Notional Faith of him in your head but the world and selfness lyeth in your hearts and you are as hide-bound to the Gospel-forms as the Scribes and Pharisees were to circumcision and the formes under the Law and as they being hide-bound or heart-bound to these forms so became they to be the enemies of Christ when he appeared in the flesh And the very same are you and all your Converts fast tied in your heart to the Gospel-forms and hereby you are become the enemies of Christ appearing in the spirits of men and so are you become the persecutors of Christ in the Saints and yet in this you think you do God good service and the greatest perfection in your Converts is when they are made exceeding zealous for the honor and glory of God as they say so that whosoever worships God in any other way then theirs then are they sure of persecution by you or them if it be within the compass of your power and this you have in your generation and that faith and love and full assurance of your salvation alwaies is accompanied with pretended zeal for the honor and glory of God and from hence you count all other the enemies of God who have not the same garb that you have And all this great conversion you brag of is nothing else but a conversion from evil to far worse for you have turned some of your Hearers from some outward grosse offences and have brought them into a conformity to duty as you call it and by the refraining the outward grossnesse and closing to and with the outward duties your Conscience beginneth to cease biting so long as you walk obsequiously therein and from hence the foule Feind transformes himselfe into the Angel of Light and secretly wraps himselfe in your actings and by his power when once gotten rightly joyned to Selfe Righteousnesse then hath he power to worke Wonders and can worke like God and give consolation to the Soule and bring it into raptures and ravishments and can bring the Promises to remembrance which is suitable to confirme his workings and from such working he can make the Soule beleeve its regeneration and its calling and election to be made sure and that with a witnesse too in which assurance the Soule will oft rejoyce and shall have many false flashes of Love which the Soule can no way know but it is the feeling of the love of God and if you have brought any Soule thus far as to this full assurance and to be partakers of such feeling you thinke you have brought them farre on in grace and thus farre I know you may bring a Soule by your Ministery and yet this Soule is but two-fold the Childe of Satan more then it was before I will make this plaine unto you for when the Soule before was in the grosse actings then was that person in a more hopefull way for God to bring it to himselfe by his owne way then it is now for then when God would have brought these persons from their sinne in his bringing them either by himselfe or by those whom he would use for that worke then I say there was hope these Soules might have been led in a way whereby they should have escaped the snare of Satan But being that these soules are in the snare they are more in captivity to him then they were before and the reason is because then God had some power in the Consciences of them and oft times condemned them for their outward grossnesse but now they being brought out of these outward sinnes into the obedience of outward formes their Conscience loseth that priviledge and now instead thereof the Feind hath power to feed the Soule as is aforesaid the which he had no power to doe before and in this condition the Soule is well pleased to be and can stand for it selfe stoutly that it is sealed to God and made sure of Salvation and so is become exceeding fool-hardy rejoycing in its fooles paradise and being fed by false consolation and herein that person is once more the childe of Satan then before And secondly whereas before these soules were converted by you they would not persecute or bring any to death for not walking in their waies but now your Converts must seeke the honour of God and so in zeale for his glory they must become persecutors and destroyers of their fellow Creatures because they will not honour God in their way and thus are they become Murderers and yet they doe not know it but the same spirit that ruleth in them must they of necessity bee obedient to and it is proved before that that spirit in them that ruleth is Satan and he it is that setteth them on work For as our Saviour saith He was a murtherer from the beginning and his works will you do Joh. 8.44 And herein are your Converts twofold the children of Satan more then they were before It was not the Publicans and sinners that put Christ to death no no it was the religious zealots under the Law
the Lambe was not to be sodden in water which points out in the Spirituall signification that while man is in his naturall corruption and while lust and love of the world and unstablenesse of spirit being carried to and fro by the power of sinne inward or outward and so cometh to owne Christ in his propitiation by way of an Historicall beleeving this is to prepare the Paschall Lambe to themselves contrary to the command of God and doth boyle the same in water viz. their sin and lusts by the fire of the false faith and thereby their sin as the water taketh the vertue of the Lamb into it selfe and thus the broth is made sweeter to them then the meat boyled in it and from hence it is that sinne is so pleasant to men because they have seasoned it by the vertue of the boyling of the Paschall Lamb in it viz. by the false application of the death of Christ whereby they get to themselves liberty to sinne and by so doing make Christ the author of unrighteousnesse Gal. 2.7 and can freely sinne that grace may abound Rom. 6.1 So as the Lamb was not to be sodden in water it was not to be eaten raw for that was unsuitable to the digestion and would indanger and damnifie the bodies by bringing severall casualties upon it And likewise raw flesh was counted uncleane and so when the plague of Leprosie was upon any so long as any raw flesh was to be seen that person was to be accounted uncleane but when the raw flesh was wholly covered by the Leprosie then that person was to be pronounced whole Lev. 13.12 13. all which holdeth out to us in the signification that those who looke upon Christ in the flesh as he was borne of the Virgin Mary lived in the Body suffered in the Body and rose in the Body and so becometh to be a worshipper of God in any outward forme and goeth no further but to apply themselves in these formes what Christ was in the flesh even this is to eate the Paschall Lambe raw and so bringeth distempers upon the soule whereby it will be in danger of death and these distempers are such as loosen the strength of the reines whereby it becometh to have an issue of blood continually running viz. The thoughts inclinations feares cares loves and desires running continually into the Creature and yet can worship God in a forme and apply Christ in these formes according as he was and what he suffered in the flesh And from hence it is that though they have the Plague of Leprosie upon them viz. hearts full of sin and selfenesse yet doe they not know it but by the Physick got out of these forms they keep downe that Leprosie from their owne beholding thinking to cure the same and by so doing there is some raw flesh still in the soule viz. some good some righteousnesse some good conceit of what is acted in their holy forme out of which there is many good thinkings raised in the minde of the love of God and faith in Christ and sanctification of the Spirit c. all which is but as the raw flesh arising amongst the Leprosie and while that soule hath that raw flesh in it it is but loathly in the eyes of God and is accounted as uncleane and untill man truly know himselfe all over-spread by this plague of Leprosie viz. sin and selfnesse as well in his good actings as in his evill actings he is not in a capacity to be pronounced cleane and the Apostle Paul knew the plague of this Leprosie well enough when he cryed out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me c. Rom. 7.24 And for the pronouncing of such cleane as are over-spread with this Leprosie of sin Christ came and to save those that knew themselves invested therein from head to foot inside and outside and that bear the burthen thereof continually Mat. 11.28 And when our Saviour instituted this Type this hee included in the same remembrance Now the manner of the preparation of the Paschall Lambe was to be rosted with Fire Fire having in it these significations viz. wrath anger fury heat consuming terribleness c. and in its better signification it holds out good viz. comfort light and love and zeale and life c. So it is to be understood that Fire in its first significations pointeth out sorrow and suffering and so it is that when the Fire of God or his fury or anger c. is kindled in the soule of man in the condemning property of the light which is in the Conscience and the spirit of man findeth it selfe deprived of the love of God and nothing but the fury of the Lord poured out and that nothing but woe and want appeareth in the soule and sin abounding which is as fuell to the Fire of the anger which he feeleth within himself when this cometh to be truly kindled there is great tribulation in that minde and this fire must all souls be brought into before they be fit for knowing how good Christ is for this was the way that he went himselfe even under the wrathfull displeasure of the Justice of the Father passing through the fire of his indignation and so as the Paschal Lambe was rosted at the fire it kept all the sweetnesse and vertue in it selfe by which it was more pleasant to the taste and truly nourishing so Christ by going through the fire of the anger of God became to bee made pleasant to all those who taste him and none can taste or eate him rightly but such as have their Soules brought into the same fire or sufferings with Christ and so can close with Christ as a suffering Christ and bearing the same indignation with him and owne him in that way and walke with him in that way in the daily denying of selfe and this Christ himselfe left in command to all that would be his Disciples and in this also would he have them to remember him so often as they should eate that Bread and drink that Cup. Likewise the Paschall Lambe was to bee eaten with bitter Herbs which holdeth out the daily sorrowes and sufferings of these Soules who doe taste of the consolations of Christ and as the soure Sauce is used to sweet meat to help the stomack to digest well so that no surfeit cometh by the sweetnesse of the meat so afflictions are the only preservative of the Soule least consolation cause distemper and this the Apostle witnesseth by the prick in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 And Christ himselfe maketh this out to his Disciples when he told them of the sorrow they should have in his absence yet he bad them be of good comfort for he would come againe to them Ioh. 14.18 and this he would have them to remember also I could have proceeded further in the explanation of the Paschall Lambe in other particulars but what is said I hope may suffice and bee enough for the matter in hand
in the way of the Cross that thereby the body of Sin and Self might be crucified and dye with the Body of Jesus that so the Divine nature might live and grow in them whereby they might be made partakers with Christ in the Resurrection and this made the Apostle Paul weigh little of either consolation or affliction religious walking or any created thing so long as he had not attained to the resurrection of the dead as you may see in Phil. 3.11 12 c. and all that he desired to know amongst those whom hee taught was Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 and so by the pressing after Christ in the way of the Crosse he became dead to all things whatsoever whether the Law or World or what might be had in any thing acted or created and became crucified in his affections to all with Christ and he lived in the Divine nature of Christ it living in him as may be seene Gal. 2.20 And further he plainly demonstrateth that they which be Christs have both their affectious and lusts crucified Gal. 5.24 and all his owne rejoycing was in the Crosse of Jesus Christ whereby the world was crucified to him and he to it Gal. 6.14 and the truth is so long as the minde of Christ is unknowne to men in the Mystery of this Type before said they look but upon Christ in a fleshly way being blinded by Lust and what they conceive of him is but false and feigned and so give that to the Type which only belongeth to the Divine nature and this is because of the faith which is Historicall and Traditionall and from hence it is that Christ cannot be apprehended further then he was in the Flesh and what he suffered in the Flesh and these Types he left us in the Flesh by which he would have drawn men more neare to himselfe in the Divine nature and those very things which should have been something to have drawne us into himselfe even by the policy of Sin and Satan and false Teachers they have drawne us from Christ and so placeth Christ in Types and Forms and in this very way you have been taught to know Christ and so are become the enemies of his Crosse and therefore for all the faith you pretend to have in Christ and the comfort and strength you imagine to have gotten from the Type is nothing but meere fancy and the delusion of the Devill whereby he hath beguiled you by being a lying spirit in the mouthes of your false Ministers for as yet the world and your owne lusts and livelinesse of affections to created things is yet in your heart and if you had been taught in the right way of apprehending Christ and following him it might have been your Souls might have injoyed more of the Divine nature then otherwise they have done and therefore I cannot but pitty you poore blinded Soules and out of love I have written these few lines unto you if perhaps there may be some amongst you who may thereby grope somewhat more neare the understanding of the truth then heretofore and I make no doubt but that some will understand by what is here written how to conceive of Christ in the Flesh and how in the Divine nature and how in this Type viz. the Passover or his last Supper and I hope you will learne in time to know in a more cleare way how to understand and injoy more of the sufferings with Christ then you ever yet have done and and so become more pure and right partakers of the Divine nature it selfe then ever you have done in the outward Type and out-side forme but I something doubt that while your false Teachers who have the lying spirit in them have power to destroy you they will still deceive you therefore as you love your owne Soules beware of them and say not but that a friend giveth you warning of them But in concluding of this Type instituted by Christ I would have you further to understand in briefe the summe of all what hath been formerly held out viz. the suffering with Christ according to the Flesh and the fellowship or communion with Christ in the Divine nature for herein standeth and is contained all the whole duty of every one who will be Christs Disciples for in suffering we have communion with him as he was in the Flesh in which we must follow him to the very death upon the Crosse viz. in living in the daily denying our selves both inwardly and outwardly inwardly by keeping our thoughts desires and affections out of loving and living of and in any thing below the communion of the Father and the Sonne by the partaking of the Divine nature and when wee by true examination of our owne hearts finde them bending downe into earthly objects of what kinde soever then to draw back our hearts from them and beating downe all the objects as they rise or be presented to the heart or will and hereby man shall come to know the evill of his owne heart whereby his affliction inwardly shall be much increased whereby he shall be made a suitable companion for Christ in the way of suffering in which the Soule becometh to have communion and fellowship with Christ and in this fellowship the Apostle desired to know Christ And for the outward sufferings they very much help the Soule into the fellowship of Christ and these bee of divers sorts viz. losse of goods losse of health losse of friends and relations losse of the praise of men losse of the pleasure in the world c. all which man may suffer the losse of by accident or to say by the hand and worke of God and to these may be added other sufferings of the Flesh in the outward self-denial viz. by taking no more of the Creature then will serve for the uphold and support of the body neither in meat drinke nor apparrell c. and this all men ought to observe that will follow Christ in the fellowship of his suffering for whatsoever man taketh more of the Creature then is before said the same is for keeping lust alive and addeth fuell to the fire but these outward sufferings will not bring man into the true fellowship of the communion of the suffering with Christ without the inward suffering before said goe along with the outward suffering for by both the Soule is rightly fit to be partaker with Christ in suffering And when the Apostle Paul had to doe with the Corinthians about some afflictions under which they were and to let them know that those who would follow Christ must beare him company in suffering and not start back from it nor turne aside from Christ in that fellowship therefore he sets before them the example of the people in the Wildernesse who were all Baptized in the Sea which was as much as to enter into Covenant with God to abide all sufferings that after should come upon them before they came to the Land
upon the heart and thus your prayers is turned into sinne and this you have by asking and receiving counsell of your blinde Priest and hereby you make a cover for your selves that you may adde sin to sin this you may plainly see in Isa 30.1 but those who knew or doe know the true ground of Prayer were never tied to set times but to occasions and the occasions being so many made our Saviour give out this caveat so oft Watch and pray Mar. 13.33 and the Apostle who knew the ground of prayer and the many occasions to pray made him bid the Thessalonians pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 and those who know the evill of themselves shall not need to have one to teach them when to pray or how to pray neither can they be tyed to set times for they shall finde that sin in themselves that cannot bee limited to times and therefore they cannot limit themselves to pray against it at times for to those both sin and prayer is unlimitable and this made the Apostle utter his desire in the well-wishing of those whom hee taught in the truth and right knowledge of God and themselves and willed them to pray every where 1 Tim. 2.8 Secondly for the forme you use in your prayer it is but your owne human invention which causeth you to straine your braine drawing out from thence so many words and multiplication of speech and to fill up your houre is oft put to use the same words over and over and so contrary to the command of our Saviour you use vaine repetitions Mat. 6.7 And herein you differ not from the Heathens for they think to be heard for their much speaking and this your beat-braine Duty is but the sacrifice of fooles and yet you know not that you doe evill but this your doing pleaseth your selfe and pacifieth your blinde Conscience and from hence you draw conclusions that God is pleased also making him such a one as your selves Psa 50.21 but those who know the right ground of prayer they are not tyed to times neither are they tyed to a forme in prayer for the true ground of prayer turneeth set times into occasions and it turneth selfe formes and repetitions into short and feeling expressions yea oft times such expressions as you could not heare if you were besides the Persons who uttereth these expressions and those are the cryes that ring and eccho in the eares of the Lord of Hosts and these are the prayers that prevaileth with the Lord in answering and filling the desires of such soules and these prayers and cryes are the very vigorous out-pourings of the Spirit which maketh intercession for the Saints and he who is a Spirit knoweth the minde of the Spirit Rom. 8.26 and in this manner Moses who knew the right ground of prayer called upon the Lord in his greatest distresse not so much as speaking one word that any of the people heard and yet his spirit cryed out so vehemently to the Lord that the Lord said unto him Wherefore cryest thou unto me and all that while his spirit was calling upon the Lord with his tongue he was admonishing the people to beleeve in the Lord as you may see Exod. 14.13 14 15 c. And in this manner Hannah poured out her prayer to God and prevailed with him in the thing she desired though Eli before he knew the truth accounted her a drunkard 1 Sam. 1.13 14. but the truth is that you know not the right ground of prayer and therefore you cannot depart from your set times and set formes and therefore you aske and receive not because you aske amisse Jam. 4.3 And the reason why you have not the right ground of prayer is because you know not God but as a Person and not as he is a Spirit and you know not the wisdome righteousnesse and power of God viz. his Christ but according to the flesh and therefore all your worship and holy duties as you call them is framed according to the knowledge that you have of God and Christ and this knowledge you have is no more but by relation of others as you have heard and seen in the Scriptures and the speaking thereof by your relative Priests and from hence it is that you have formed in your heads an Historicall faith and fantastick beleeving for as yet you have not been in the City of God and what you have heard and seen therein you cannot speake of and no further then you have knowledge of God you can beleeve God and no further then you can beleeve God can you call upon him and what God is in his Spirituall being you have not yet beleeved then how can you call on him in whom you have not beleeved Rom. 10.12 and why is it that you have not rightly beleeved even because you have not rightly heard of God and why is it that you have not rightly heard of God even because you have not had him rightly preached to you by your Priests and the reason why they could not rightly declare and preach God as he is a Spirit and Christ as he was and is in the Divine nature is because they were never sent Rom. 10.14 15. But I know that you may object against me and say that you you have some examples in Scripture both for your set times and set forms of prayer for you will say that David praised at even morning and at noon c. and that our Saviour himself prayed at sundry times and the Apostles themselves used prayer in this manner very oft with others c. It is true I do not deny vocal prayer and times for vocal prayer in case the right ground of prayer be in the person or persons praying for I would have you to understand what I have formerly said for I do not deny but confess occasional praying but that which I deny is the set-times and set-forms of prayer which is but good thinkings rules and blinde Priests precepts without any command or example in Scripture but vocal prayer occasionally the persons rightly grounded this is all that you or any can gather out of any example in Scripture And in this wise David oftentimes both prayed and praised and occasionally Christ in the flesh both prayed and praised and occasionally did the Apostles and the believing people in the primitive time both prayer and praise And according to this same rule the Apostle bad those that were afflicted pray and those that were merry he would have them to praise in singing of Psalms Jam. 5.13 And so I would have all men while they be in the body and the body of sin in them to use vocal prayer occasionally and that their expressions may arise from the very sence of the occasion and such prayers or expressions of desires accompanied with the right ground God will hear and answer the desires of such and will deliver them from fear and trouble and then shall such have cause to praise and glorifie
is in the Divine nature and the reason is because that the faith according to Christ in the flesh doth not take away lust out of the heart but rather conformeth the heart to lust and lust to the heart and lust is lovely to the heart and the operation of the Divine nature or faith issuing out of and from the Divine nature it killeth lust in the heart and draweth the heart with all its affections into the right center and from hence it is that many in their forms fal short of that which is the true center and becometh enemies of Christ and yet none preach Christ nor pretend Christ more then those but can you who are so compleatly congregated people thinke that you be any such as be the enemies of Christ I doubt you will hardly beleeve it but let me tell you in plaine termes you had best beware lest you be found in the number of such for whosoever are enemies to the Crosse of Christ shall be found enemies to Christ but I feare you doe not rightly understand what the Crosse of Christ is and then how should you be friends to it for I assure you none knoweth the Crosse of Christ but those who be rightly incorporated into the Divine nature and that is not an incorporating in Kirk-fellowship as you call it and while you are bound up in that incorporating I may upon safe grounds conclude that you as yet know not what the Crosse signifieth But it may be that some amongst you would know what I meane by the Crosse of Christ and would heare my opinion of the same for I know this is a time wherein man is addicted to heare new things but yet I have not any new thing to tell you for what I have to say to you is no more but such old tales as hath formerly been told both by Christ and his true follower but when the following of Christ ceased then the old sayings and tales which was formerly told grew out of fashion and new sayings and wise sayings and learned sayings and studied fictions being new became to be in request But to answer what some of you may desire I will bring old sayings to explaine the truth hereof to you and these shall be the saying of the Apostle Paul who oft insisted upon this very subject viz. the Crosse of Christ but this was not the wooden Crosse upon the which the Body of Christ was crucified that was a type indeed of the other Crosse spoken of by the Apostle and in respect of the reference the one had to the other made the Apostle use that Metaphorical speech in sufferings for suffering is this Crosse and by suffering we have fellowship with Christ and beare him company but what suffering is it that maketh man have fellowship with Christ and rightly may bee called the Crosse it is the daily selfe-deniall of our owne hearts with the inclinations thoughts loves and desires which is daily tending and bending downe to the creature in one kinde or other and the creature with its objects arising to meet the affections to carry them after them from the living and abiding in God as he is a Spirit and in Christ as he is in the Divine nature or the union of the Father and in that union of the Father and the Son to keep the heart with its affections that so the fellowship of the Father and the Son may daily be the fellowship of our hearts and this is that which ought to be the center of all hearts without which there can be no happinesse in any forme yea this leadeth the heart out of centering in formes and this was that which the Apostle would have those whom he wrote to to injoy and for that end he declared the truth as it was in Jesus that so they might have fellowship with them who were partakers of the truth and hee affirmeth that their fellowship was with the Father and the Sonne 1 Jo. 1.2 3. And where the heart is rightly called and rightly carried on in the way of Christ and those who were his followers they rest not in Formes and Kirk-fellowships for they finde in themselves other matters to goe about and that is to presse after the fellowship of the Father and the Sonne and their longing empty mourning spirit is not nor cannot be content with any thing below that fellowship and out of the great desire hereof the soule is set at varience with all created things or whatsoever may interpose or keep back the Spirit from that which is the object of its desire and when by pure inlightening the pure beleeving is fixed in the will or heart then I beleeve there will be suffering in the daily striving to keep the created object from the heart and the heart from the creature by objects and then shall appeare and be made manifest that which never did appeare before even the great body of sin and selfnesse which of necessity must be destroyed and crucified and made as dead as the Body of Jesus when it hung dead upon the Crosse of wood and this daily withstanding the body of sin in the heart and affections is the Crosse upon which the body of sin must be crucified for this body of sin or this selfnesse in the heart must dye or the soule must dye instead of it and it is not a few daily duties or being incorporated into a congregated way that will destroy it no no for this body of sin and selfnesse is of another nature then so for it will cost man the best blood in him before it be subdued and the Apostle who knew the evill of it and the necessity of having it crucified could not rejoyce in any thing more then in the Crosse of Christ by which hee was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 and by this daily denying of the out-goings of the heart into the creature and the incoming of the creature into the heart man becometh planted into the likenesse of Christs death without which none can be partaker of his resurrection Rom. 4.5 and being baptised into the death of Christ by way of suffering in the selfe deniall the body of sin is destroyed or the old man crucified Rom. 6.6 and the Apostle counted but all things dung and drosse in comparison of knowing Christ in this manner and to be found in him and to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering and a conformity to his death if by any meanes he might attaine to the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.10 11 c. this was the marke he aymed at to which he walked by the rule of the suffering and example of Christ and in obedience to his commande which most was for selfe deniall he pressed hard after him in the way of his suffering that so nothing that was of selfe might live in him yea when he found that selfe got life and food by way of consolation then was
dainties viz. pleasures of all sorts which concernes the satisfying the corruptible part in man but when God goeth on in his wondrous workes and shewed upon Pharoah viz. The Devill and his people then the Israelites is made willing to depart viz. the noble faculties of the soule and affections from thence proceeding and when the first borne becometh slaine viz. the strength of the will begotten in it by the Devill then the Devill is forced to let the noble faculty depart from the bondage of the Lusts beforesaid then out they goe to the red Sea whereat the people was in greater strait then ever viz. though the noble properties and the will be going and departing out of the bondage beforesaid yet the Devill raiseth up all his forces and pursueth the noble faculties of the soule thinking to take them againe into bondage in that strait at the red Sea viz. when the noble faculties is in departing out of sin then it is that temptation is more raised up then ever and doth so heap up and flow before the understanding that to passe over them there is no hope or likelihood to reason in which strait the Devill with his army driveth on apace in the Irascible faculties and cometh on the back side of the noble faculties of the soule and so raiseth despaire and secret feare out of which anger and passion is produced and in the operation of which in that great distresse of the soul wisheth it selfe that it had never stirred out of its former condition rather then to have moved thus farre and to be swallowed up in that present sad condition But when God will have his name more clearly manifested then doth he divide the Sea viz. all these great over-flowings of temptations and so the noble faculties and the spirit passeth through them all and the Devill and sin and despaire is all over-whelmed in those temptations and this is the great work of God in the defeating of the Devill and destroying him and sin in the same way wherein he thinketh to destroy the noble faculties of the soule and when the noble faculties becometh thus delivered having undergone this first Baptisme or suffering or plunging as before said then doth man begin to feare the name of that great God who hath done these great things for his soule and so becometh to be obedient to Moses viz. to the outward requiring of the Commandment and knowing God to be so great and terrible the feare of his name doth cause man to yeeld obedience to his Law and in the transgressing or going astray from its requirings the same appearance of God is manifested as was at the giving out thereof and this terriblenesse of God is knowne in the condemning part of the soule viz. the Conscience and so in the obedience to God in his terrible manifestation in the first Baptisme under the first dispensation man acteth in that feare to all the outward requirings of the letter and seeketh thereby to asswage and allay the appearance of that anger and goeth about to please God and satissie Justice by outward sacrifices and so it is that man living under this dispensation and acting zealously therein the condemning part or conscience becometh somewhat pacified and quietnesse beginneth to appeare and from hence it is that men draw conclusions that God is well pleased with their Sacrifices and as under this first Baptisme in the first dispensation wherein is contained the first Covenant of workes men apprehend God in terror in the manifesting the whole Deity in the one Name they become to yeeld obedience accordingly viz. in a fearful servile manner like flint stone and the steel who being forcibly beat together from which fire is produced even so the heart of man in the first dispensation is hard as the nether milstone and will not yeeld any obedience except the hand of God by the Hammer of the Law smite upon the same and thereby force out obedience to what God requireth in the first dispensation So in time when the heart is made more willing and answerable to the requirings under the first dispensation then by the obedience there-under man hath peace as is before said from whence he concludeth that God is well pleased with him and so from these two grounds viz. The terror or anger of God out of which ariseth the fear of Hell and out of the life and peace of conscience out of which ariseth the hope of Heaven man worketh all his works and so is under the condition of the first Covenant of works in which the Deity standeth in one Name though we in our days know not the mystery hereof for when any soul is but under the first Covenant of works he can talk of the Deity as it is divided in its properties but that is because of the living in this present dispensation under the Gospel wherein we have received a Historical relation of Christ and the Holy Ghost by which men have got the relative knowledge of the threefold name of the Deity and yet know not the power and proper working of the Deity in the threefold names but blindly looking upon them as they were put out in the outward Types and so make a humble jumble of them according to the history or relation of the same and from hence it is that men talk and Preach and confer of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and yet live not in the power of what they preach or speak for they have not known the operation and proper work in their souls of the Deity in the threefold names or three distinct properties of the Deity in the orderly manifestation of it self in the conditions suitable for the same But those who lived in the time of the first dispensation under the Covenant of works where they had the Law of Commandment and the Ceremonial Law also and the Ordinances therein contained they were not in the dispensations of the Deity in its distinct properties as we be but the distinct properties was all included in the whole essence of the Deity viz. Christ and the Holy Ghost was both one in the Father and the Father in them and all but one God and though the Godhead was thus whole in it self yet God let out himself in distinct properties into the souls of the upright people under the first dispensation and by the very same way they were saved as we be and did enjoy God in the same way that we do though not in the same dispensation for though they lived under the Covenant of works and Ceremonial observations yet those souls whom God had let out himself to in his distinct properties of mercy and loving kindness and wisdom by which they knew God and felt God as he was in those properties though they did observe these things in that time yet they knew that salvation was not in these things but in the observing of them their hearts was led and drawn out of and beyond the things they
observed and was fixed fast in the enjoyment of the thing signified in and by these things as we may see by David Solomon and Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the other Prophets and all other people in these days but those who became blinded of that which was the mystery of these things by reason of the devil sin and selfness they became to live in the things they observed and knew nothing of God in the mystery and out-letting of himself in his distinct properties and from hence it came to pass that their hearts was carried out to the Creature and yet thought to please God in and by these outward observations and from hence it was that when the heart was turned from God in closing with him in his distinct properties signified in the mystery that the observations of these things became abominable in his sight as you see in Isai 66.3 4 5 c. And so it is with us also when it cometh to pass we being called into the first dispensation of works and duties as we call them wherein we think to please God by walking in our Gospel observations and yet our hearts carried out to the love care and fear seeking and desiring of the Creature then it is that our Gospel-Forms and holy Duties becometh loathsome and abominable in the eyes of God and we are in his sight no more but as the religious Scribes and Pharisees in their first dispensation under the observations of the Law But when the Lord intendeth to bring the souls of his people more near to himself and that he may manifest himself more clearly to them in his distinct property viz. In his Son Jesus or in making the Name of his Son to be known and the power of his Son to appear then doth he change the former dispensation and maketh it void and bringeth in the second dispensation suitable for such a manifestation And so it was that when the fulness of time was come Christ did appear in the flesh and in that out-letting of God in his distinct property viz. His Son it was in another manner then he first manifested himself in making his name known in the beginning of the first dispensation as is shewed before For this second out-letting of himself was in a more milde and peaceable way whereby and wherein he was well pleased in the reconciling of the World to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 And those souls the which he would call more near to himself out of the former dispensation he so provided that they should be fitted and prepared to meet him in the second dispensation And in those days came John the Baptist who was to be the fore-runner before Christ who should prepare the way for him and should make ready a people prepared to meet their God Luke 1.17 And so it was that by him was instituted the second Baptism and his Baptism was called The Baptism of Repentance and his Preaching was to make the people wait for a further manifestation of God then ever they had known formerly and his Office was to lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree c. And he was the voice of the cryer in the Wilderness c. Isa 40.3 And he was the Messenger sent before the face of God in his appearing in his distinct property of the Son Mal. 3.1 And all the Preaching and work of John Baptist was to make a fit way for the manifestation of Christ in the second dispensation wherein he appeared in the flesh And so it was that all that came to be baptised of him was to be repenting persons even such as the Father had wrought into some measure of want and falling short in what they thought to have found in the first dispensation under the Covenant of Works and those that came to his Baptism in the strength of their own conceited righteousness and building up themselves in the opinion of their old priviledges these he would not baptise but gave them a repulse according to their desert Mat. 3.7 But so many as believed his preaching or speakings of the Kingdom of God was brought out of the depending of any thing that they had formerly observed and was made to know that life and peace and salvation was to be had in none of these things but in the second distinct property viz. The Son of God or the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world Iohn 1.29 And as many as he baptized was to depart from or dye to all things whatsoever they had closed with or lived in formerly and was to repent and mourn for their former foolishness in thinking to have pleased God by their duties and sacrifices and when the emptiness of these things was made manifest to them by the preaching of Iohn then were they made willing to forsake them and to close with and desire to live to and in the life of the Son of God whom he had held out to them and that they did believe the truth of what he preached they gave testimony thereof by undergoing his baptism in which they were to look for performance of the second Covenant and this baptism the which they under-went in the outward act signified to them suffering or plunging and the great afflictions to come upon them both outwardly in the owning and professing Christ to be the Saviour and inwardly in the daily denying of themselves in keeping their hearts from depending upon any thing acted and likewise in running out into the desire fear care love or seeking of things created c. And these was the fruits to be brought out in those who was under the office and discipline of John whom he had brought into a conformity of waiting for the powerful manifestation of the Name into which he had baptized them The very same work in the Mystery becometh to be fulfilled in us in this present dispensation for when the fulness of time is come that God intendeth to come nearer to the souls of those whom he meaneth to draw to himself and to make the Name of his Son to be known in the powerful manifestation thereof then doth he send out John Baptist to prepare the way for his appearing in their spirits viz. he bringeth the Law home to the heart in the inward part thereof by which the abomination of the heart becometh manifested both in the things acted and things created and truly knoweth how he hath deceived himself in the performing of his holy duties under a Gospel consideration And from hence he shall finde that all these duties performed in great zeal for the honor and glory of God as he conceived was all wrong grounded and likewise he shall see his secret and false conclusions drawn from them and how he found life and peace in them and thought that God would own him in and for these actings and conceived himself the onely man in the favor of God and could make use of all the promises as they were suitable and did
ought But who is it that will believe the truth hereof for the sons of men is blinded of the right sight and knowledge of the truth and by reason of the love they have to lust sin and selfness they are become enemies of the Cross of Christ and if any have attained to the first dispensation beforesaid they think themselves to have attained all that is necessary and that they need no more and so becometh to settle upon the lees of their own performances and so becometh the resisters of the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 And if any be brought out of the first Baptism under the first dispensation which containeth in it the Covenant of works and so be made partakers of the second Baptism by which they are brought into and prepared to meet Christ in his first appearance and when they have known the Son of God or God in his distinct property of the Son manifesting himself to their soul by which the soul hath comfort and content and refreshment and deliverance from its former troubles and now it finding the effects of the propitiation of the Son in covering and hiding its sin and in justifying the soul and taking of the power of condemnation from it then doth that soul conclude That all is done and can be pleased with that present condition supposing they have that which never will fail and say in their heart They shall not be removed because the Lord of his goodness hath made their mountain so strong Psal 30. And from these false conclusions many a soul becometh to lose it self and turn back again into the world and into the captivity of the Creature from which it was delivered and so man foolishly concluding That being in the Land of Canaan he shall see the bondage of Egypt no more but while man is but in the enjoyment of the first manifestation of God in the first appearance of his Son he is but a babe and but ignorant of what the minde of God is in that present condition and therefore they are very subject to be content with that present station because it pleaseth them so well supposing that there is none that have attained any further then what they have already attained too when as alas they know not as yet what it is to die with Christ on the Cross nor what the fellowship of his sufferings is nor what the vertual power of his resurrection meaneth And so it is that from the idolizing of that present enjoyment they in a very short time become to be cast out of that enjoyment and yet do they not know that they are so cast out because of the false fiend who hath got again into the house from whence he was gone out and counterfeiteth God through the help of the imagination and so maketh these souls believe That God is their present portion and that they have such a fast hank of him that nothing can be able to separate them when at that very instant of time the heart is in captivity with the Creature I fear that this is the very condition of many now adays who having known God after this manner beforesaid and yet have forsaken him again and turned to the Creature and yet do but little know that they be so far carried away from God as they are But when God in his orderly proceeding goeth on in bringing the soule through all the dangers and difficulties of the creature and Selfe then doth he not suffer the soule to have what it would have nor injoy what it would injoy in that first manifestation of himself in the name of his Son but as the bodily presence of Jesus was to be taken away in his appearing in the second dispensation in the flesh that so he might come againe in the Spirit or ghostly Baptisme by which they should still be led on till they were in the nearest and safest union of the Father and the Son that could be attained to in the body so it is that the ghostly presence in the first manifestation in the Spirit must be taken away that so the spirit may come to a further and more sure partaking of the Divine nature then it could in the first manifestation For as Christs followers could have been pleased to have still injoyed the bodily presence of Christ in the first appearing in the flesh so would a soul be pleased with the first manifestation of Gods appearing in the name of his Son to the spirit But as Christs bodily presence must be taken away that thereby the life of Selfe which lived in the sence and reason of his Disciples under that present injoyment might become destroyed and over-throwne by the coming againe in the power of the Spirit or ghostly Baptism So it is that the first appearance of God in Christ in the first appearance of the soule must be hidden and taken away because of so much life of selfe in the sence and reason and that by a further and more cleare and safe way to manifest himselfe in the soule and that is by the pouring out of the Holy Ghost into it by the vertue of which the soule becometh Baptised into the suffering and death of Christ whereby the life of sence and reason becometh to dye and the spirit brought out of the clawes of Sinne Death Devill and Hell and the power of the Resurrection of Christ becometh to be known and the body of Sin becometh to bee destroyed by the powerfull working and burning of this ghostly Baptisme and this was the very Baptisme the Apostle Paul spake of when he said Know you not so many of us as were Baptised into Christ were Baptised into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptisme into his death c. For if we have been planted together into the likenesse of his death we shall also be in the likenesse of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin may be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin c. Rom. 6.2 3 4 5 c. And those soules who know God in this worke can witnesse to the truth of the three-fold name of Father Son and Holy Ghost because they know the power and working of God in these three Baptismes under these three names and none else can speak rightly of them because they have but the knowledg thereof by relation though God let out himselfe in this three-fold manner as is before said yet God is but one and the same God and though there bee these three Baptismes yet they all make up but one perfect Baptisme by which the soule is perfectly compleated in one faith Ephes 4.5 whereby the soule becometh led out of all things acted or created and all sufferings or injoyments in any condition below the injoyment of the fellowship of Christ in his Suffering Death and Resurrection and this is the very end and effect of all former out-lettings of God in any of the