do wonder how any man can make it to be capable of any torment when as it is well known it came immediately from God and is no other but of God and if I may say further without offence it is God for that which is of God is God because God cannot be divided All men grant it is immortall and came from God pure and undefiled And how then it should be impure I know not for this I really see that though it was infused into the body yet I am sure it was not of the body nor could the flesh be capable of such a thing as we call union with the spirit and so the soule is in the body but is not of the body or the body but really distinct and so it is in flesh but not flesh and so it is God manifest in flesh But not in union or conjunction with flesh but hath a distinct and formall difference both here and hereafter the one returning to nothing the other living to all Eternity And further how this soule as men speak of should be impure and sinfull I know not for how flesh should defile a spirit I cannot Imagine being that I am sure and as every man will grant That no effect can be produced beyond its cause but every effect hath its rise and originall from its proper cause And so hath God laid in nature the body proper to the seed and to every seed it s own body And a man may as well gather Grapes of Thornes and Figs of Thistles as to conceive it can be that a visible or fleshly substance can corrupt a spirituall and invisible substance But then you will say where is the sin all this while you will say then sin is nothing or that there is no sin To which I have partly answered in the foregoing Subject spoken of which because it is so faln in my way I shall speak a little further in answer to you First I shall grant and I think it is no lesse then blasphemy to affirm otherwise that God is not the Authour of sin or that any sin can be in him he being light and in him is no darkness at all and so the soule being of him it must needes be pure and holy not admitting any mixture of flesh or that which we call corrupted nature And yet againe Secondly I cannot conceive there should be sin untill God was pleased to let out himself in flesh But for before he lived in himself and so there could be no sin there being nothing but God Thirdly Inasmuch as this flesh is a vaile or covering wherein this soule or divine Being lives this God soule or divine nature call it what you will the glory and beauty the purity and excellency thereof being darkened and obscured there is the sin For whatever men conceive of things this I really apprehend That that which we call the soule that is as men generally make it The understanding reason judgement will and affections are not positively or actually infected with sin but onely are obscured and cannot be so gloriously manifested by reason of the flesh or fleshly Being and so God tooke flesh upon him and through the vaile that is the flesh did destroy and doth condemn sin in the flesh So that whosoever prays or prophesies with a vaile or covering upon his head Christ which is God in the Spirit such a one dishonoureth his head which is Christ because he suffers something to come betwixt God and him So that by this time I suppose you see what I conceive of sin and where it lies and what I conceive of that we call soul and of the body or fleshly part of man wherein I have been forced to make a little digression because things are mysterious And to come to the point in hand concerning a Hell hereafter what it should be or what should be tormented in it I do not as yet apprehend for the soul came pure and is of the essence of God could not be corrupted and the body not capable of any impressions of God and returns to its first principle of earth so that unlesse you will imagine a Hell in God which you would account Blasphemy to speak I cannot fancy or imagine any such Hell hereafter as men dreame off The truth is there is nothing lives to all eternity but God every thing below God perisheth and comes to nothing and as all things had their subsistance and Being in God before they were ever manifested in the world or Creatures so in the end whatsoever is of God or God in the world at the end of it they shall all be rapt up into God againe And so as God from all eternity lived in himself and all things in him so when he shall cease to live in flesh and creatures he will then live in himself unto all eternity and will gloriously triumph over Sin Hell and death and all Creatures shall give up their Power and Glory unto God backe againe from whence it Originally came and so God shall be All. However if any man can imagine that there will be any dark appearance of God hereafter or unto all eternity then may he conclude a Hell for as sin is the dark appearance of God so is Hell an inseperable companion of it but to imagine the one or the other hereafter or to all eternity would render me in my owne apprehension one of those whose property it is to believe every thing but I know whom I have believed Thus have I done with that part of my discourse which I call the dark side of God which I divide into three parts which we call Devill Sin and Hell In all which I have indeavoured to clear God and to make the Devill and sin as vile as I can but am far short of the one or the other wanting words to express my self in either onely what was upon my spirit thou hast in the Letter Concerning the Resurrection NOw let us come to deliver our selves about that which we call Resurrection and to express it as it is in me I see it also to be spirituall and inward and is also of that which is the inward man For though I know the inward man which is God or the divine Being admits of no degrees either is more or lesse but yet in as much as this God is more gloriously manifested at one time more then another in man Hence it is that we give this Title of resurrection of the Creature after this life is ended But truly for my part I am fully satisfied in my own spirit with those words of Christ where he saith I am the Resurrection and the life and I see it fully made out in me that Christ spiritually is that resurrection which I thought should be of the creature And I cannot tell what in the creature should rise or be capable of such glory and happinesse beside God and so I see that which I did expect to enjoy hereafter onely
take the most principall places of Scripture that men look upon which speak of the Resurrection and in the spiritual discoveries of them if there be any thing to strengthen them in their opinion I shall and must give way And we shall begin with that which is the prime piller of their Faith and that is in the 1. of the Corinths 15. from the beginning to the end of it It being the whole subject of the discourse therein to treat of the Resurrection The drift of the Apostle is to prove the spiritual Resurrection of Christ to be as sure and certain as his fleshly and by the same Argument that he proves the one by the same he also proves the other in a spiritual sense And the comparison lies not betwixt the fleshly rising of Christ and the fleshly rising of men as most men imagine but betwixt the fleshly rising of Christ in the humanity and his spiritual rising in the divinity and so all along you shall see the comparison holds betwixt the naturall and the spirituall and not betwixt the naturall and the naturall And that we may see plainly it appears in the 47. verse The first man is of the Earth earthly the second man is from Heaven who is the Lord so that we see he compares the outward earthly man and the Lord from Heaven which is the spiritual and shewes evidently that it is not the earthly man that is raised but the spirituall and so Christ after the flesh was but of the earthly man and so must be destroyed and subdued as wel as other things and formes which did accompany that earthly being and as the one vanished out of sight before the Apostles so must the other and that this may not seeme strange to any man that the flesh of Christ must be destroyed as well as other things It is plain in the 28. verse So that it is apparent that the Sonne of man being of the first Adam after the flesh must as well be subdued and perish with the fleshly forms and administrations that did accompany him For certain I am that as he was God or the divine being in him he could not be subdued so that it is very clear that it was the fleshly appearance that must needes come to nothing as well as the fleshly forme in other Creatures and so Christ did cease to live in the flesh that he might more transcendently live in the spirit and so he laid down his humanity to live in the Divinity and so it is true what the Apostle saith in the 20. v. That as Christ is risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that sleep and are dead in him so such as are dead in him shall surely rise That is they shall as surely rise to a spirituall condition as they have been spiritually dead in him And so he goes on in the 22. verse As in Adam all dyed so in Christ shall all be made alive Here is still the comparison betwixt the natural and the spirituall that is as sure as the fleshly Adam and outward visible forme dies so it is as certain they that are in Christ or the spititual man shall be made alive and quickened and God shall rise and appear in more power and glory in that life of the spirit then ever he did in the fleshly forme or shape But to go on The first fruits is Christ and then they that are Christs at his coming which is thus that as Christ herein was the first fruits of them that did live in the spirit as he saith a little while and you shall see me and a little while and you shall not see me because I go to the Father that is he was to lay down the flesh to live in the divine and spiritual life in which he appeared after his ascension and so was as good as his word and did come in spirit so it should be as spiritually true that they should partake of the same spiritual life and live in the same spiritual Resurrection as he and live in the Father as he did and therefore he comforted them and told them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God But yet in the mean time till the Son of man and all fleshly formes were subdued to the Father till men were brought to live in the Father and to live in a spiritual life till then Christ must raigne till then there must be outward formes of Christs death and there must be manifestations of God in flesh and outward Ordinances But when these are subdued then men must rise or rather God will appear to be that spiritually which they before enjoyed onely in an outward manner as is argued by the Apostle in the 25. verse And the last enemy is death And certain it is this death must be destroyed and the dead must rise or else death cannot be destroyed Now this must needes be a little opened that so we may see what the Resurrection is for certainly the dead must arise or else Christ cannot be risen For the opening of which death we shall take the same method as the Apostle doth here to compare the natural with the spiritual Then we say a man is dead when a man is void of all visible sence and motion when he ceases to act or move when the life is departed when the life is departed when the being ceases to live in the flesh that he cannot move to any outward or naturall act And so a man is spiritually dead or dead in Christ when a man ceases to be or act any thing in the things of God but is moved and acted as God is in him when there is nothing of the self-being appearing in a word when to the world he appeares to act nothing do nothing in an outward and formall way so that men think there is no spiritual life in him Then doth he die in the Lord when he wholly resignes up all his grace abilities knowledge of God into God and knowes not what he doth or is or should know ceasing from his own reachings forth after God living and being to any self-enjoyment or expectation of any future felicity life or comfort out of God For it is certain so long as the Creature thinks that he must act or do something to attain salvation or be any thing distinct from God so long he is alive without Gods life and so must needes be miserable and therefore the Apostle saith if in this life our hope was we were most miserable which life is not to be understood of the fleshly Being But in this life that is if our happinesse comforts did depend upon our owne self-actings and on our own being any thing were we most miserable But our hope is that all our felicity and comfort is terminated and centred in God onely And so Christ spiritually in us is the hope of glory which is a mystery and so being dead in Christ
so long as I lived and looked upon the outward scripture outward commands and duties set times of humiliation prayer I know not what I was always tost to and fro like the waves of the sea But when God appeared and shewed me that there was no scripure God commands worships but what were spirituall like himselfe and within men and what he was the authour and end of and that all things else were but shadowes what sweer peace and comfort I then did and do now enjoy I might tell you if I could for the truth is they are unspeakable and so it is the spirituall discovery of God that is the Scripture I look upon and if so then I must needs inferre that those in whom Christ is spiritually discovered and that live in a spirituall enjoyment of him they must needs be best able to speak the language of the Scripture and to give the sense and meaning of it and are best acquainted with the originall for God being the Authour of it they in whom he is most spiritually discovered must needs know the mind of it and what Scripture is which may exclude all outward parts of learning arts and other qualifications which men boast of for though they may serve to speak scripture outwardly and help to expresse men to one another and to read it in the severall translations of it from one Nation to another yet they all come short of the spirituall discovery of God and so are not essential to the knowledge of him he being onely known and seen in his own light And which may likewise condemne the Romane Clergy I think the English Divines may take their part herein That having attain'd a little skil in the several languages of several countrys and received ordination as they call it they think themselves so invested with power above their brethren that none must be infallible or authentick in the interpretation of Scripture but themselves and men of their order and unlesse they will say themselves that private men as they call them cannot have the same or more spirituall discovery of God then themselves I do wonder that they should so advance themselves and undervalue or despise others But we shall let them passe and return to what we have in hand and we shall see both the Authority and end of Scripture laid down by the Apostle in the 2 of Tim. 3.16 where he saith all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and iâ— profitable to teach c. that the man of God may be made perfect where we see plainly what I have spoken all along That the inspiration which is spiritual and of God is the true proper ground why men are taught and no man can be taught but it must be by a spiritual inspiration or else it is not of God and so the Scripture is not of any private interpretation but holy men speak as they were inspired so that that which gives the rise ground of Scripture is Gods speaking in men or inspiring men and they best know what is Scripture in whom God most powerfully speaks And it is as true that God speaks spiritually in man and not in any audible voice or forme of words for I do not conceive he ever spoke so to any he being void of all shape and form or bodily Organs And when God so speakes that from naturall they are made spiritual then is it indeed they are spiritually taught And to this sweetly falls in that of David thou hast taught me truth in the secret parts then indeed men come to be convinced of their former weak and carnall condition when God spiritually discovers himself in them So that it is not the reading or perusing of the Scripture in the letter of it for so a man may read all his life-time and be never the better that teaches men spiritually But when the Scripture is spiritually made out and interpreted in them then they are taught And then it is that the man of God is made perfect then doth the inward fleshly Being or carnall man appeare dark and carnall and the spirituall or the man of God comes to be perfect and this spirituall man is able to judge all things as the Apostle saith then can he spiritually discern the Scripture in him and so can read it true in the outward letter For I really see that all the knowledge of the Scripture in the letter of it reaches no further but to a historicall and fleshly knowledge of God and indeed to this kind of knowledge which many do boast of the Scripture is very helpfull But he that knows no further then the outward letter knowes but Christ after the flesh And though so I have known Christ Scripture and God yet henceforth know I them so no more they being spirituall Again this I conceive that all the whole story and letter of the Scripture doth but set out and speak but of two estates and conditions of men or in men that is the fleshly Being and the Divine the naturall and the spirituall man And all these are presented to us in their several degrees and actings in each state and personated in severall persons from the beginning to the end of the Bible And so Gain and Abel Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau David and Saul and so the good Kings and the bad the good Prophets and the wicked the true Apostles and the false they do but all expresse both Estates and are not so much to be lookt upon in their severall persons but are really fulfilled and appliable to every man in each Estate Degree and Condition whatsoever As to instance it tels us of the Man Christ who lived and died at Jerusalem and that he rose from the dead and ascended and past through all conditions But alas how farre is this from reaching the spirit a man may read it and believe it and yet be never the better do him no more good then any other History which we call prophane But the spirituality and Comfort and that which is spirit and life lies in this to see him found in the spirit to die in him and to rise with him to ascend and sit down with him in the heavenly places being made conformable to him in the spirit to have the everlasting Gospel preacht in the spirit All which the History and Person of Christ and the outward Gospel are but shadows the other is the sealed Book which none can read till God open himself to be the Scripture Then indeed can we understand what Scripture is and then are we guided by that inward life and spirit of truth more then by the outward letter and teachings in the World So that it is not the History of Scripture that is the Scripture or that is the word of God but it is the spiritual speaking of God which is the word of God and is spirit life But some may say doth not the word say Hear and your souls shall live and
his seale unto And yet I dare affirme to the most rigid spirit that workes in any man at this day against the things asserted That there is not any thing positively affirmed but I could with more ease prove the truth of them by divers Testimonies of Scripture and reason then he could with any truth or Scripture oppose them and any man that shall impartially weigh things may see that there is nothing in the Treatise then the very Language and correspondency of Scripture in the Letter of it will easily speake and sweetly comply with in a spirituall sence So much I thought good to premise by way of Preface to the Discourse All that GOD aimes at in such things as are of this nature is but to make out his owne Honour and Glory before men and to gaine esteeme from them And all I aime at is that we might resolve all the Comforts Glory and future felicity into GOD againe and so to make GOD All and the Creature nothing and if in the Discourse I shall detract or prevaricate from either of the Ends I am much mistaken and shall willingly confesse with that Prophet O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was deceived And so I leave the Discourse and thee together and if you happyly agree it is all the fruire of my labour that I expect to Reape If not I shall willingly waite an opportunity to make you both Friends As I am to every man J. B. THE Light and dark sides OF GOD. Concerning God O God what shall I say thou art when thou canst not be named what shall I speak of thee when in speaking of thee I speak nothing but contradiction For if I say I see thee it is nothing but thy seeing of thy selfe for there is nothing in me capable of seeing thee but thy self If I say I know thee that is no other but the know 〈…〉 thy self for I am rather known of thee then know thee If I say I love thee it is nothing so for there is nothing in me can love thee but thy self and therefore thou dost but love thy self My seeking of thee is no other but thy seeking of thy selfe My delighting enjoying thee is no other but thy delighting in thy selfe and enjoying of thy selfe after a most unconceivable manner If I say I prayse thee blesse or magnifie thee it is no other but thy praysing blessing and magnifying of thy self I say thou art infinite but what that is I cannot tell because I am finite And therefore I am led to believe that whatsoever thy Scripture or any man else speaks of thee it is but thy meer condescention to speak to us in the language of men and so we speak of thee to one another For this I know that whatsoever the Scripture or any man else speakes what thou art I know thou art not that because no man can say what thou art And therefore when the Scripture saith thou art a spirit It is because a spirit is the highest thing or tearme that men can give or apprehend For thou art beyond any expression and therefore thou art pleased to cloathe thy self with such Titles and Expressions of spirit love mercy power strength or whatsoever is amiable or high in esteeme among men to honour thy self and beget an high esteeme and lawfull respect of thy self from men And therefore whatsoever I speak or write of thee it is from thy writing and speaking in me for I really see that thou dost not speek to men but in men because there is nothing in man capable of thy speaking or hearing but thy self onely this man declares outwardly what he hath heard and seen inwardly and yet that outward Declaration is of God also for thou being the life and substance of all Creatures they speak and move yea live in thee and whatever any Creature is it is that as it is in thee And therefore thou art pleased to give thy self that Title I Am. This therefore I can say of thee That thou onely art and there is none beside thee But what thou art I cannot tell Onely this I see that there is nothing hath a Being but thy Being is in it and it is thy Being in it that gives it a Being and so I am ready to say with thy Servant Lord whither shall I go from thy presence for it is thy presence and Being that is the subsistance and Being of all Creatures and things and fills Heaven and Earth and all other places And therefore I cannot as I have carnally conceived and as men generally do that God hath his personall being and presence in one place more then another or that he hath a simple pure glorious and intire being circumscribed or confined in a place above the Starres and Firmament which the men of the World call Heaven And that all Creatures here below are the products of that Being and had their Being of him and yet distinct from him But the spirit in me speakes otherwise and saith I must not ascend up to Heaven to fetch Christ thence nor descend into the depth to fetch him from thence for the Word is even in you which Word is God and God is the Word Nay I see that God is in all Creatures Man and Beast Fish and Fowle and every green thing from the highest Cedar to the Ivey on the wall and that God is the life and being of them all and that God doth really dwell and if you will personally if he may admit so low an expression in them all and hath his Being no where else out of the Creatures Further I see that all the Beings in the World are but that our Being and so he may well be said to be every where as he is and so I cannot exclude him from Man or Beast or any other Creature Every Creature and thing having that Being living in it and there is no difference betwixt Man and Beast but as Man carries a more lively Image of the divine Being then any other Creature For I see the Power Wisdom and Glory of God in one as well as another onely in that Creature called Man God appeares more gloriously in then the rest And truly I find by experience the grand reason why I have and many others do now use set times of prayer and run to formall duties and other outward and low services of God the reason hath been and is because men look upon a God as being without them and remote from them at a great distance as if he were locally in Heaven and sitting there onely and would not let down any blessing or good things but by such and such a way and meanes But Lord how carnall was I thus to fancie thee Nay I am confident that there is never a man under the Sun that lookes upon God in such a forme but must be a grosse Idolator and fancie some corporall shape of him though they may call it spiritual Did men see that that God was in
was no Temple nor needed any Sun or Moon which as I apprehend was but that there should be such glorious and spiritual dispensations and discoveries of God in the Saints and that they should enjoy such a life as that they should not worship in any outward external way or forme And should not need to be taught by men or meanes or of any outward Administrations or Ordinances But that the Lord God and the Lamb should be their light and they should be immediatly taught by him and therefore it is said there was no Temple in it the Lord and the Lamb being the light glory Temple and all which condition is glorious and cannot but be Heaven to him that doth enjoy it and into which I know some are brought and have received the accomplishment of all those promises and Prophesies which are spoken of in Scripture and have received that new name which none know but they that have it And thus have I shewed you Heaven as it appeares in my spirit and for my part I see no otherwise of it however men judge I am willing to let fall any carnall apprehension of a visible or corporeal enjoyment of God or any expectation of a happy condition out of God after this life and dayes are ended being willing to resigne and give up to God what he is in me in flesh that so God may be all and advanced above all in the spirit And for my part I see the Lord so framing my spirit that I am content to be nothing that he may be all though I must confess when I think seriously of it there is nothing so grievous to flesh and blood in me as to think that all the glory and happiness that I expected to have had in a corporal and sensible enjoyment must be terminated in God onely This I am sure of that if there be any such thing I shall have my share among the rest which for the present I think ridiculous to looke for onely this I wait what the Lord will do in my spirit for the present And being sweetly refreshed in the spirituall Disovery of himself in me which is to me Heaven Concerning the Angels FOr the Angels I see the world as much mistaken in them as in the former for I really see that man lives in the Angelicall nature and that the Angels are also Spirituall and in man and herein man is honoured in that God tooke humane nature and not the Angelicall For had he confined his own glory in himself he had missed one of his opportunities of magnifying himself and therefore he took the humane nature and so was God manifest in flesh as well as seen of Angels and as the divine nature is in man so is the Angelicall and as the one acts so doth the other for may we not see the Angels of God ascending and discending in man Are not the motions of mans spirit here and there in a moment cannot man ascend into the hights and discend into the depths Are not the motions of a mans spirit at one end of the World at one time and at another end of it instantly again Doth not God make his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire Is not every spirit of illumination and spirituall discovery of God an Angell of God to convey some light and influence to the Creature whence is it that all those sweet and spiritual assistances and consolations are flowing in the spirit but by the power and presence of these Angels It is said the Devill left Christ and Angels came and ministred to him and comforted him In which I really see every spirituall support and comfortable appearance of God is an Angel of God How do the Angels pitch their Tents about them that fear the Lord which is no other but that all providences and passages watch about them and administer comfort unto them I do not as I have conceived that they are created spirituall substances distinct from God and waiting upon God as serving men about their Lord to see what his pleasure is and yet this I know all accidents that are good or evill crosse or pleasing are of God and are his Angels and do his will These are the Angels on which God rides in triumph by which he plagues the World and doth great things in Heaven and Earth and therefore I looke upon every glorious manifestation of the power and wisdom of God to be an Angell when I read of Gods coming with thousands of his Angels It refreshes my spirit to think that there will be times of more pure and spirituall glory manifested Now there is here and there an Angel or spiritual discovery of God then will the world be full of his glory and all flesh shall see the salvation of God I cannot conceive they have any fleshly forme or shape though it is said Lot received two Angels which is spiritually true for there was something more then ordinary of Gods mind discovered to him And when I read of the Angel of the Lord smiting the Campe of the Assyrians that there fell so many thousands in one night I do not believe there was any visible appearance but that there was an extraordinary appearance of Gods power which is called an Angell And so whereever we read of Angels appearing to this or that Servant of God I cannot look upon them otherwise then some more glorious appearance or manifestation of God and his will and pleasure concerning things or persons And whereas the Scripture speaks of good and bad Angels I see onely this in them that the one is pure discovery of God the other the more impure dark for where as man had a glorious enjoyment of God and lived in Gods light when he left that went to live in a self-being out of God There were Angels Hell and his discoveries of God became dark and confused and so brought him into bondage so that the dark and carnall knowing of God is the evill Angel and the glorious and pure manifestation of God is the good Angel So likewise the providences that fall out in the world that tend to the comfort or well-being of Creatures they are the good Angels the crosse providences occurrences that do afflict and grieve a people or person they are the evill Angells or Angels of wrath and displeasure not that they are so indeed but because the Creature doth misapprehend the mind of God in them for all things whether Angels good or evill principalities powers life or death things present or to come are for good to them that are called of God When I read of Michael and his Angels and the Dragon and his Angels fighting against one another I see nothing there but the fleshly and dark apprehensions of God against the pure and spirituall and as Michael overcame the Dragon so the more pure and spiritual dispensations of God shall over-power the dark and carnall and so those Angels of darkness shall
19. I know my Redeemer lives and that I shall see him with these eyes I do wonder what a God men fancy to be seen with a fleshly eye I alwayes took God to be a Spirit invisible and that no created fleshly things was able to see him I cannot imagine then how Jobs eyes which were and should be in a visible form and shape should be capable of such a Divine invisible vision But yet if Job was so carnall to conceive that his fleshly eyes should see a spirituall God yet I am not And if any man shall say that Christ hath a Body in heaven which he lived in when he was upon the earth and that may be seen being visible and corporall for that when any man shall prove heaven a locall place and that God the Fathour sits there and receives petitions from his Son Christ as men do visibly here on earth then I shall give him an answer neither have I so learned Christ to make him to consist of flesh and bloud or bodily shape in heaven as men call it for though it be said that Steven saw the heaven opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God yet am I not so carnall to believe That Stevens fleshly eyes might see up above the stars and skies and that the house top might be open where he was and so he bodily saw Christ sitting in a bodily shape at the right hand of God in heaven As a Diuine of Leicestershire did affirm to me in a private conference that he thought it might be so But his divinity being as little as his person I leave him as knowing that the man Christ left his fleshly being to live in the divine which is void of all forme and shape or to be seen visibly by any outward or corporeall substance and that no light can see him but his own and when men live in this light then they will agree with me till then I must leave men to their dark and carnall apprehensions In the meane time I am content to be nothing that God may be all and to let fall my thoughts of any glory or excellency hereafter as a creature as knowing that the fleshly man dies that the spirituall may be raised and that all creature or sensible enjoyment of God shall cease in eternall silence and it is fruit and joy enough in my spirit that God hath so discovered himself in me that I can willingly resolve all my comforts joy and peace into God who is that endlesse and infinite Ocean and rather desire to be comprehended of it then to comprehend it so that by all that hath bin alleadged I cannot see that there is any thing in that called Scripture to prove any fleshly living of the body after this life but that all things and Creatures below God perish and die and God onely lives and rises in more power and glorious appearance then ever be was in when he lived in the flesh which is that resurrection which is spirituall and which we have endeavoured to make out and so I leave it and come to the last Subject of my discourse which is that we call Scriptures and because men are as carnall about that as any of the former and because the ground of all the mistakes in the former is onely the mis-apprehension of the Scripture we shal insist upon that a little the more larger and so conclude Concerning the Scripture IF you take Scripture as it was written by the Prophets and Apostles It is a forme of wholesome words a perfect rule for all outward actions a true Guide for a mans outward conversatition among men The liveliest expression of the mind of God of all other books setting forth all conditions estates and enjoyments of all men in the world it is the word in flesh The word was made flesh it is the highest discovery of God in flesh the truest testimony of God in the world I do verily believe that what pitch soever any man hath or can attain unto but it is able to speak to him in it thus it is in the letter and the out-side of it But if you ask me what I make Scripture I look upon it to be spiritual and so it is the Law written in the heart and so it is spirit and life as Christ saith The words that I speak are spirit and life so that what Christ speaks spiritually that is Scripture and so it is the power of God for take Scripture as it is in the History it hath no more power in the inward man then any other writings of good men nor is it in that sense a discerner of the secrets as it is in the History so it is to be believed above all other writings in the world but as it is a mystery and God being the substance of it so I must believe it as God makes it out in me I must not build my Faith upon it or any saying of it because such and such men writ or speak so and so But from that divine manifestation in my own spirit for the Scripture as it is written outwardly is but an outward witnesse of that which is within and the spirituality of it wherein the life and being of it doth consist is made out by a spiritual discovery I do not go to the letter of Scripture to know the mind of God but I having the mind of God within I am able to see it witnessed and made out in the Letter for if I do a thing lawfull from the Letter yet if I be perswaded in my own spirit I should not do it I sinne Yea further that power and authority which the Scripture hatâ—â— is not because such and such men writ it but from that divine manifestation in them And so indeed if I have the same discovery that they had then I can say it is the word of God otherwise I lie for it is one thing to believe the Scripture because such and such write it as most men do and it is another thing to believe it because God saith so in me and so it is the spirituall speaking of God that is the Scripture and so that is true They that are of God hear Gods Word Now no man can hear God but as God speaks And it is as true that as God speaks spiritually so no man hears him but in a spirituall manner and so we hear Gods word And therefore it is said often in the 1. Rev. He that hath an eare let him hear what the spirit saith to the Churches Which cannot be understood of a carnall eare because every man hath that but as the Spirit speaks spiritually so it is the spirituall eare that hears the Spirit For all the outward speaking or hearing of men or Scripture cannot reach the Spirit Further the Scripture I do apprehend as it is written outwardly is God clothed in fleshly tearmes and expressions and speaks in the language of men as when he speaks of
himself and he uses such expressions as are highest in mens esteem and his commands threatnings and promises admonitions exhortations they are all as men speak to one another for I dare not believe God is this or that or can be named by any title or that he ever threatned any people or Nation or promised any that upon such and such terms they should have this or that or upon neglect of him they should suffer this or that for to me it plainly appears that there is neither wrath or anger love or hatred in God or that God was any thing more or lesse to a people upon their sinning or doing any good For then a thousand absurdities would follow But the truth is because men apprehend anger when they sin and God pleased when they do well therefore men speak as one to another and God so far condescends as to speak to men in their own language But that he is so in himselfe I should think blasphemy to affirme for I am confident there is never an error or tenent in the world as men maintaine but if men take that for Scripture which they call the Bible it doth fully and literally countenance and uphold and I know no other way in the world to uphold the authority of Scripture than to make it spirituall And whereas men speak that we deny Scripture I must confesse for my part tha◠I know no greater door opened to the denying it then for men to presse and urge men to do such and such things because the outward word saith so and so indeed so far I shall deny it as the Letter is inferiour to the Spirit so far I conceive the letter doth vaile and shadow the spirituality of it And if men have the Law in their hearts and be taught of God they need not run so often to a great Bible to relieve themselves in straights and doubts as men generally do never reflecting upon their spirits to see what God speaks there I do not speak it to condemn the practise neither is the fault in the Book but in mens carnall conceits of it and seeing men make an Idoll of it and think the reading and perusing the outward word is enough to cure all their wounds and to resolve their doubts so that as men look upon God outwardly and carnally so do they have recourse to an outward word to strengthen their carnall apprehensions Truly I must confesse ingeniously that as to my own spiritual enjoyment I see nothing of any concernment in it or in looking upon it but onely this I see and so it is some comfort to me to read that God hath discovered himself in others as well as in me and that the spirit speaks the same in me as it did in them But for any thing of God that I look to attaine unto by reading or looking upon it I do not care whether ever I look upon one again or no And yet this is no detracting from the glory or authority of Scripture because the Scripture is within and spirituall and the Law being writ in my spirit I care not much for beholding it in the Letter but as to the ends aforesaid And the truth is it is the Law in the spirit that is the true Bible the other is but a shadow or counterpart of it and therefore I do not expect to be taught by Bibles or Books but by God nay further I do not do any thing or abstain from any thing because the outward letter commands or forbids it but by reason of that commanding power which is God in me and his speaking is the power of God to salvation and it is in that by which I live and by which I act and so the Apostle speaks of the law outward that it was not made for the righteous but for whoremongers and such and such And so I see that if men were acted guided by that inward law of righteousnesse within there need be no laws of men to compel or restrain men and I could wish that such a spirit of righteousnesse would appear that men did not act or do things from externall rules but from an internall law within Again to speak a little further concerning the Scripture men generally speak that we must do nothing but what we have a rule for and are asking what warrant have you to do such a thing shew a rule from Scripture and then we will believe you or else it is but a whimsey and I know not what Truly it is true and I would those that talk most of a rule did see that rule for the safest and prime rule that I know for any man is that pure spirituall law and rule of righteousnesse which is within and so far as any man doth any thing beneath or beyond that so far he doth that which he hath no warrant for but who must judge of this rule whether this or that be according to the mind of God or no To this I answer in the words of Scripture because men will soonest believe me That it is the spirit which searches all things even the deep things of God and there is no knowing the spirit but in its own light which is spiritual therefore I think it not so safe to go to the Bible to see what others 〈◊〉 spoken and writ of the mind of God as to see what God speaks within me and to follow the ducture and leading of it in me I shall sooner and so others shall sooner mis-apprehend the mind of God in other men then in my self and the same law and rule being in me which was in those that writ the Bible and to which internall and spiritual rule within I must take a measure and scantling of all my actions I had rather measure them from or by a rule within then by any outward rule or word whatsoever for the one that is to say the Bible without is but a shadow of that Bible which is within which is the Law spiritual the safest and onely rule If any man shall say that I may be deceived and take that for a discovery of God which is but a fancie of my own Brain I answer I may mis-interpret the outward Scripture and so run as great a hazard that way and as soon fall into errour because it speakes of and to men in variety of Estates and conditions and so if I take that part of it which doth not speak to my condition I shall then make a false construction of it so that I conceive the farest and surest rule to walk by is that law of the spirit and as many as walk according to that spirituall rule peace shall be upon them and on the Israel which is of God but as many as walk according to a rule without them and so look for a God and Scripture without they shall be but at a losse and live in continuall trouble and disquietment and if I may speak my own experience without offence
unto it and that we have full and actuall possession of it and so saith the Apostle Our conversation is in Heaven which is nothing but the glorious appearance of God in our spirits when of naturall we are made spirituall we shall see the Scripture speaks of no other Heaven but what is spirituall and not consisting of any corporall or bodily felicity as men conceive God being all the glory and happiness of the creature and so he that believeth hath everlasting life within him and abiding in him because God there gloriously makes out himself to be the Life and happiness To look for a carnall and sensible enjoyment of God distinct from that pure and divine Being of God savours to me of a carnall spirit because it sets up something beside God when there is nothing that lives and is glorious to all eternity but God For as I said before there is nothing in the creature capable of God or to enjoy his glory nor nothing is of God but is God because God cannot be devided nor none can share with him in his Glory he having not given any glory to any creature out of himself but what ever the creature apprehends to be its own glory it is truly and spiritually no other but Gods one Being and glory But the truth is as men fancy a high God though yet very carnally so they fancy a high place for him above the Starrs I know not where herein indeed God condescends to the weaknesse of men in the Scripture to set himself and his glorious presence out to us as if they were properly in one place more then another when as we know a Spirit is not any where confined but the God of Spirits is in all and through you all And so Heaven is his Throne the Earth his Foot-stool That is God is in low and dark appearances as well as in the most glorious God is the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity and not any circumscribed place and so he is in low Spirits And the truth is where God is highest in the Spirit he is so low in that Spirit that they do not desire any glory out of himself but are willing to be nothing that he may be all It is very true that the Scripture saith We looke for new Heaven and new Earth wherein dwells Righteousnesse And truly I find that where God dwells and is come and hath taken men up and wrapt them up into the Spirit there is a new Heaven and a new Earth all the Heaven I look ever to enjoy is to have my earthly and dark apprehensions of God to cease and to live no other life then what Christ spiritually lives in me The Scripture speakes likewise of a Kingdom and a City and Mantions and that Christ went to prepare a place for the Saints all which are true in the Spirit For when God raigns in the Spirit he brings all into subjection under him and so he is King and Kingdom himself and Christ went to prepare and to make out himself in Spirit and so he left the flesh to live in the Spirit and his spirituall coming was much more glorious then his carnall and visible presence with them And the truth is the one was but a predarative and fore-runner of the other so it so it is spiritually true that he that was least in the kingdom of Heaven was greater then John the Baptist where note that those carnall and outward observations of Baptisme and other administrations that John was in they were but the preparatives fore-runners of a more spirituall condition the Kingdom of Heaven not consisting in them And therefore it was reasoned Why do the Disciples of John Fast and Pray Luke 9. and thy Disciples Fast not and Christ gives them the reason It was his presence which is not to be understood of his carnall presence with them but of his spirituall presence which he promised to appear in them and therefore the Baptisme of the Holy Ghost and fire was the substance of which the water Baptisme was but a shadow and so he that was least in the spiritual Kingdom and had a spiritual enjoyment of him was greater then he that was the greatest and most strictest in the Observation of the outward Duties and Ordinances that John was under so that it is plain to me that the spiritual presence of Christ or God in the spirit is the Kingdom of Heaven into which whomsoever is entered he ceases from the outward and formal use of outward Administrations and Ordinances and to sits down spiritually in the Kingdom of the Father and is as the Apostle saith allready set down in the heavenly places and when God thus spiritually appears in you then you will be content with me to sit down and enter with me into an eternall nothingness and be willing to let God advance himself glorifie himself unto all eternity and so cast down your Crownes at his feet in everlasting silence Into which condition when you are brought you shall not need to expect any other Heaven for then shall you enter into that rest wherein you shall cease from that labour and toile of outward and formall duties as seeing God to be that in you which you expected in self If any shall say these things are true but these conditions and this estate is reserved for another life We cannot expect to be perfect here while we are in the flesh I answer that it is true we shall not that is there is nothing of us that is capable of this spirituall enjoyment and therefore we must know that our perfection lies not in any thing that the Creature is but it lies in God and in that respect unless you will say God is not so perfect here as he will be we are as perfect as ever we shall be so that though this spirituall condition be not of us yet it is in us and what Heaven or Estate God will be in when he ceases to live in the flesh I think is as vain for us to imagine as impossible to apprehend Yet if any man can tell me how he was before there was a World I shall with as much ease tell him how he will be when the World ceases to be and however men are so carnal women like that they dream of a Heaven wherein they shall sit one at the Right hand of God and another at the left and hope to have much outward felicity and glory when they have glorified bodies as they imagine yet for my part I look for no such condition and I see nothing in the Scripture to strengthen me in such a conceit For however it speakes of a City that hath twelve gates and streetes paved with Gold and yet I suppose all do but point out the glorious condition that God will appear in upon Earth and therefore I mind that there was a Jerusalem that it is said came down from God out of Heaven In which there
be cast into their lake and there be reserved to the great judgement day of the Lord within us when he shall sit as a refiner in our spirits then shall the chaffe be burnt up consumed by the brightnes and fire of these Angelical appearances of God this was an Angel of God comforting me against all the aspersions of heresie blasphemy that the people of God lye under at this day and so you see what I thinke of the Angels and what they are And thus have I done with that which I call The light side of God I come now to the dark and shall begin with that first which is called Devill Concerning the Devill I See that which we call the Devill is also in man and yet I cannot apprehend him to be a creature as men generally do For then I must give him a Being and there is nothing hath a Being but God that is formally and properly yet as men speake though improperly there is such a thing as we call Devill which I conceive to be nothing but the fleshly Being or as men commonly speak the corruption of nature or as the Scripture calls it the old Man and this also moves and acts in all those things which we call sinfull So that so far as a man lives in a sinfull being so farre the Devill in him and therefore when Mary Magdelen had 7 Devils cast out of her it gives me to conceive that every sin is a Devill and so far as a man is led aside of his own lusts so far he is led by the Devill and therefore he is called Satan Tempter and Deceiver with divers other expressions And hence it is that whatsoever is hatefull or hurtfull to man we use to say the Devill is in it and so every thing that doth hinder or darken our spirituall comfort and peace that is a Devill in us God is Light and in him there is no darkness and it is as true the Devill is darknesse and in him there is no light at all And so farre as yny man is in that darknesse so farre he is in the Devill so much the nearer he comes to him and therefore it is said You are of your Father the Devill and his workes you do God is the Way Truth and Life and the Devill is falsehood his wayes tend to darknesse and end in death and destruction This is the deciever that would perswade us of a happyness of our own and a glory out of God He is that Mystery of iniquity that man of sinne whom the Lord is continually destroying and for whose destruction God is man'd in our flesh and as the Devill the deciever hath led us from God to live a life of our own so God in us is reducing us againe to live in himself and so the spirituall seed is breaking the head and power of the carnall this Devill is the spirit of envy malice cruelty ever seeking to devoure and rob us of that which is most precious to us Men fear a Devill without them and so fancy him to be terrible in their apprehensions never considering that he is in them and therefore it is said The Devill entered into Judas not but that he was in him before but then was there a more then ordinary appearance of him and so he is that Judas indeed which is ever betraying the spirituall Christ into the hands of self and flesh and is continually crucifying the Lord of life and putting him to open shame and vailing his glory under shadowes making men to take them for substances and so is transforming himself into an Angell of light and so makes men put light for darknesse and darknesse for light exalting himself and perswading self and flesh to have high thoughts of himself and seeking to put out all that spirituall light and glory wherever it appeares in the spirits of men So that however men ascribe a Being and person a Him to him yet there is nothing so neither would I call him any thing but as it is the language of men to expresse our selves to one another about that which wee call Devill And so I shall leave the Devill and speak something of Sinne because that is most like him being of the nearest Kindred to him Concerning Sinne. FOr Sin I cannot tell how to call it any thing because it is nothing I cannot give it a name because it is no substance or creature It is rather Primitive then Positive we call it and give it a Being though indeed in it self it hath none It is no act for then it were visible but Sin is inward and spirituall as that is which we call Grace and Holinesse it is therefore called spirituall wickednesse it is rather the defect of Grace and a deficiency in the Creature then any act as visible to the outward view Further Sin as Sin admits of no degrees for that which we call a great sinne is no more then that which we call the least but because we would not be thought to lessen it while we speake of it we shall give you our thoughts of it in the language of Scripture And therefore we see the Apostle describes it to our hands where he saith We have all sinned and are deprived of the Glory of God So hence I conclude that sinne is a coming short or a deprivation of the Glory of God and so farre as a man is short of that glory or doth not live and act in that divine Being so farre he sins so farre as he is in darknesse and hath this glory vailed in him so far he is sinfull In brief sin is a living out of the will of God for God being the Supream will and having ordered all things and persons to be in such and such a condition this self and carnall Being wills something of its own below Gods Will and so prevaricates from that and â—enteâ—â— in his own will and so sins Hence it is that Nations and perticular persons are grieved and discontented with their condition and set â—ayes times a part as if they could alter the Supreme Will not considering that the Supreme will must be subjected unto and that they must receive evill from the hands of God as well as good and not knowing that all is in the ordering of the Supreme will and so run to this and that outward and formall duty and so are carnall and sinfull while they think they do God good service and yet I do not condemn them in so doing for to them it is their light though they be truely and spiritually in darkness and though men act in darknesse yet God is there vailing his glory and so they must needs sin for sin is properly the dark side of God which is a meere privation of light Further we must consider that God gives not any Law or Rule out of himselfe or beyond his own glory And as himself and his own glory are the ultimate end of all actions and
when Christ rises we shall be sure to rise with him so that there is a sweet truth in that Scripture where it is said That the day of a mans death is better then the day that a man is borne For better it is for a man to die spiritually then to live naturally And so none of us liveth to himself or dyes to himself but whether we live or dye all is in the Lord and he is glorified in the death as well as in the life for our life is hid with God in Christ as the Apostle saith to the Collossians though we be dead as he saith and nothing appeares of life to our selves or others yet we need not fear for the life is hid with God in Christ And when Christ our life shall appear and so appear as to be our life and happinesse then shall we appear glorious but it is in him when Christ rises so spiritually and gloriously to subdue and destroy the fleshly being which is the death and causes death for no sooner did sin enter but death entered with it then doth Christ the spirituall being and life triumph And then is death swallowed up of life and mortality of immortality That is flesh is swallowed up of spirit and death the fleshly being is swallowed up of life the spirituall being And then shall be brought to passe that saying O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory But thanks to God for it is he that gets the victory again as it is in the naturall so it is in the spirituall This Resurrection is set forth by the resemblance of the graine of Corne and it holds out a lively resemblance of the spirituall life and death and of the spirituall Resurrection of the naturall for as the graine of Corn dyes before it lives and in this death there is life hid so in this spirituall death there is spirituall life though it be hid and lye buried in the grave of earthly and carnall apprehensions as God gives the one a Body and is himself the substance and Body and the life so doth the spirituall Body the inward and spirituall life which is God rise to more glory then ever he did appear in in the earthly and outward forme and as the fleshly appearance dyes and ceases and as in the death there is life so God when he ceases to live in flesh he lives and rises with much more glory in the Spirit And yet it is true till the fleshly and outward form or formall Being suffers the Divine cannot reigne and therefore in the midst of death there is life and God doth but dye in weaknesse to rise in power Not that God is weak but he is buried and hid in the carnall sense and life to rise with more strong and glorious appearances of himself which is the spirituall Resurrection which is further illustrated by the terrestriall Bodies and the heavenly Bodies which doth but further confirm the spirituall rising of Christ For though there be a glory in the terestriall and outward dispensations and manifestations of God in them so when God is pleased to uncloath himself and to let out himself in pure and heavenly dispensations when these come and appear and that God puts on the heavenly clothing then is the corruptible swalled up of the incorruptible For it is true that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God nor corruption put on incorruption but when there shall be a change and of naturall we become spirituall and when the last Trump shall blow that is when God shall gloriously sound forth his one praise nothing but spirituall power appears Then shall the dead hear the voice of the Sonne of God and live and the dark and carnall appearances of God shall give way to the more pure and spirituall and then shall God gloriously triumph over Sin Death and Hell and live without any vaile in his own pure and divine glory The consideration of which is sufficient to perswade me to be stedfast and to abound in the work of the Lord knowing that though my labour be in vaine as to self or flesh yet it is not in vaine in the Lord he being the end and summe of all Thus have I as briefly and plainly as I could gone over the substance of the whole Chapter though much more might be spoken being conscious to my own spirit that I have not hid or concealed any clause which might serve to speak for a carnall Resurrection or for a rising of the body after its dissolution here in any visible form or shape But that as the light is in me so have I manifested it out to others and do onely referre my self for tryall to that light which manifests all things leaving other men to their own darke and carnall apprehensions of a carnall Resurrection and conclude that the Resurrection is from the carnall to the fleshly Christ from Christ living in the flesh to his living in the Spirit which is that I call the Resurrection and if time and mens patience would suffer I could easily prove that whatsoever Christ as man was or did from his Birth to his ascension in his life and death in the flesh they were but all Types and shadowes of what he would be and work in his glorious coming in the Spirit and so they are applyed all along if men wil let the Scripture speak in the very Letter but I let it passe at present And further to gratifie mens weakness I shall proceed to another Scripture which is as carnally urged as the former to prove a carnall Resurrection and that is in Matthew concerning Christs reasoning with the Sadduces they denying the Resurrection And Christ proving it to them by saying That he was the God of the living and not of the dead and so that though Abraham Isaack and Jacob were dead long agoe yet they lived But to open this Scripture we must know what Resurrection the Sadduces denyed and what Resurrection Christ proved I affirm that it was the spiritual Resurrection which they denyed and that appeares plainly by that in the 23 of Acts 8. where it is said that the Sadduces deny the Resurrection or Angell or Spirit but there is no mention of the Resurrection of the Body And so it is clear that Christs argument to them was to prove a spirituall Resurrection and so it holds a full proof of what we affirme and a fâ—ll answer to the Sadduces For God is not the God of the dead but of the living not of flesh but of Spirit And so Abraham Isaack and Jacob. they did really and spiritually live in God though they were dead in the flesh So that I conceive and it is clear to me that a spirituall and Angelical appearance of God is that Resurrection which is held forth and which should be and they are the Sadduces that deny this spirituall Resurrection Another Scripture which is alledged to as little purpose is that in Iob