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A43072
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The designe of God in the saints, or, The spirit transporting the minde of a Christian from the humane nature into the divine in the carrying on of which designe, the saint is a meere passive / by George Hassal.
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Hassal, George.
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1648
(1648)
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Wing H1133; ESTC R25419
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10,671
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26
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THE DESIGNE OF GOD In the SAINTS OR The Spirit transporting the minde of a Christian from the humane Nature into the divine In the carrying on of which Designe the Saint is a meere passive By George Hassal a member of the Army Zechariah the 4.th verse the 6.th Then he answered and spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts LONDON Printed in the year 1648. TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Know that in the setting forth but of these few lines I shall be brought under the censure of two sorts of men the naturall and spirituall as for the naturall man I look not upon him as a competent Judge here for he knowes not the things of the Spirit neither can he for they are spiritually discerned and therefore how can he judge of those things he is ignorant of yet I am sure I shall not escape his censure however but blessed be the Father he hath taught me how to beare the hard censures reproaches and revilings of such men with patience whil'st I look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things that are seene are temporary but the things that are not seen are eternall But as for the spirituall man he knoweth all things that appertaineth to life and godlinesse The spirit searcheth the deep things of God and revealeth it unto him so that he is a competent Judge Judging all things yet he himselfe is judged of no man and therefore I am sure of his charitable censure because he can tell how to judge spiritually Now Gentle Reader which of these two thou art I doe not know but this I shall desire to certifie thee of that I doe not write this to teach thee of the Father as to say know him for that is the work of the Spirit nor to enlighten thy understanding for the Lord hath prepared a Lamp for his anointed even Iesus Christ the true light that lightneth every man that commeth into the world but if this may be to thee as an evidence to these truths as already manifested in thee I shall much rejoyce and so I believe thou wilt for from that short yet sweet experience that I have had of the Spirit I finde it to be the nature of the Saints in whom it is to rejoyce in one anothers light as Solomon saith in Proverbs the 13.th verse the 9.th The light of the righteous rejoyceth 〈◊〉 but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out The Saint who is truly spiritualized is as it were overwhelmed with extreme passions of Love Ioy and spirituall delight in beholding the same light in others that is in himselfe wherefore as the Apostle John then bare record of Christ comming in the flesh and being made manifest in the flesh so doe I now bare record of his coming in the Spirit in the flesh of the Saints and manifesting himselfe unto them and that as the flesh of Christ died at Ierusalem and rose againe so doth the flesh of a Saint when Christ comes dye to the old Adam and by the power of the resurrection of Christ live to the new Adam by the renewing of the mind the Saint being once clothed with Christ which is his Righteousnesse Mortality that came by the fall of the first Adam is swallowed up of life which is the second Adam and so Christian Reader this is my earnest desire that we may waite upon God for a further Manifestation of himselfe untill he shall renew our strength then shall wee mount up with wings as Eagles then shall we runne and not be weary we shall walke and not faint Isaiah the 40.31 Thine in the Bwels of love GEORGE HASSALL THE DESIGNE OF GOD IN THE SAINTS OR The Spirit transporting the minde of a Christian from the humane nature into the Divine THat which according to my apprehension of the Spirit of God I perceive to be his designe in every one of those he intends to manifest himselfe unto but are yet in this veile of flesh is to transport them from flesh to Spirit from fleshly Aegypt where they are in bondage to the spirituall Canaan where he will make them free from Babylon in the Mysterie where they are in Captivity unto Jerusalem in the Mysterie where they shall be free Denizens from the beauty and excellency of a fleshly creature to the beauty and excellency of the spirituall Creator from all worldly glory and honour whatsoever to that heavenly honour and glorious priviledge to be the sonnes of God and Coheires with Christ In whose presence is fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore from the power of darkness unto his marvellous light from all outward or imaginary worships formes and carnall Ordinances to worship him who is the true God only in Spirit and truth in a word it is to transport the mind of a Christian or rather the mind which is the Christian when spiritualized from the humane nature of flesh to the divine nature of Spirit as Paul saith Though we have knowne Christ in the flesh yeet henceforth know we him so no more but in Spirit And so the Saint will say when he is got once to live with Christ in Spirit I knew Christ as I thought once in those fleshly dispensations or outward meanes as some call them but henceforth I shall desire to know him no more so but in Spirit as I doe The Saint being baptized with that one Baptisme not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ Peter the first the third and the 21. knowes Christ to be in him that heavenly Manna the bread of life and to be in him a Vine yielding fruit and to be in him a well of water springing up unto eternall life Paul saith that in the ministration of bread and wine they did but hold forth the Lords death till he came And when Christ which was the substance was come then the shadow was to be done away they were not to retaine the shadow with the substance and therefore sayes the Apostle Paul in Colossians the 2. d and the 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drinke or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moone or of the Sabbath dayes which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ When a man is new borne of the Spirit he is then a new bottle a vessell of honour fit for his masters use Now saith Christ Men doe not put old wine into new bottles but new wine into new bottles and both are preserved New spirituall wine is most fit for that Saint that is new spiritualiz'd Wherefore if he be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world should he be subject to
will sit in thee as a refiners fire as fullers sope I will take away all thy drosse and tin Loe I create a new heaven and a new earth in thee and the first heaven and the first earth shall passe away The first Adam with all his glory and splendor which hath hitherto been thy heaven it shall vanish away and the second Adam which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse must take place and in that new heaven and new earth that I create in thee there shall dwell Righteousnesse It is I friend that am that righteousnesse that will dwell in thee and make mine abode with thee nay I will sup with thee and thou shalt sup with me and I will impart of the divine nature unto thee As the Father hath given to me of the Spirit freely so will I give unto thee and thou shalt partake thereof thou shalt see thy selfe to live in and by me thou shalt see thy selfe to have thy being and spirituall subsistence in me I am that bread of life and that water of life our of thy belly shall flow rivers of living water I will destroy in thee every evill thought and high imagination that exalteth in selfe against me for now is the judgement of this world in thee now shall the Prince of this world be cast out sinne shall have no more dominion over thee for I will so manifest my selfe unto thee that thou shalt no more lust after nor be in love with any thing below me as thou shalt apprehend me in Spirit all thy legall Righteousnesse shall appeare to thee but as a menstruous rag and therefore wait thou upon me untill I accomplish this my work in thee for in the doing of it thou shalt be a meere passive but when it is finisht that I have once translated thee into my Image the shalt thou bring forth fruit suitable to the stock you are graffed into yea thou shalt be so clothed with fine linnen clean and white that thou shalt not in the least be found naked Mortality shall be swallowed up of life and thou shalt give thanks unto him who hath given thee the victory through thy Lord Jesus Christ And as it is my meat and drinke to doe the will of my father so shall it be thine for I will transport thy minde thy heart and affections from all earthly things whatsoever though it have appeared unto thee formerly never so glorious unto heavenly divine and spirituall things that shall never vanish away it shall be more glorious yea more sweet unto thy taste then the hony or the hony combe it shall be more precious unto thee then the gold of Ophir Blessed be the Lord I finde that he hath already in some measure so taken me up above fleshly and carnall things that I only wait upon him for a further and fuller manifestation of himself in me according to his promise for I know that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slacknesse I know that his coming draweth nigh he that shall come will come and will not tarry and though that in outward ordinances I was once busie and active yet I finde that in the inward and spirituall workings within me I was then yea and am still a meere passive and therefore according to my apprehension we must know that in the transportation of a Christian out of the humane nature into the divine he is a meere passive and not active at all untill he partake of the divine nature and then as it is the divine nature of the Spirit to be active in searching the deep things of God and declaring it to him so is it a divine nature in the Spirit likewise to make the minde active in spirituall things and in declaring unto others what God hath manifested of himselfe in him That as the Father is so is he in this present world the 1. of John the 4.th and the 17.th but this we are not able to apprehend whilst we are in the body being absent from the Lord or whilst we are in low fleshly dispensations being absent from the spiritual which is beyond humane sense or common reason For as is the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly when we are once translated into his heavenly Image then we shall see as we are seen and know as we are known For as he is perfect so are we with one and the same perfection and as he is holy so are we with one and the same holinesse and as he is righteous so are we with one and the same righteousnes Christ is the Lord our righteousnesse as well as the Fathers only we want a fuller manifestation of it which we must waite for he is that lamp that the Father hath prepared for his Anointed to be a Lanthorne unto their feet and a light unto their pathes whilst we are in the humane and naturall condition there is a strong man armed which is our lusts armed with a desire of worldly riches honour and pleasures keepeth the house which is the minde and for a while the things that he enjoyeth are in peace untill the stronger then he cometh which is Christ and dispossesseth him of the minde taking it off from doting on the world and taketh possession himselfe and maketh it his Temple his house of prayer and whips out all the buyers and sellers out of it he will no longer suffer a den of theeves to harbour there but takes it up for his owne habitation and there he sits as a Refiners fire and as Fullers sope purifying cleansing us as gold and silver that we may offer unto the Lord an offering in Righteousnesse in all which the Creature is a meere passive still Christ alone who is wonderfull in Councel and excellent in working his arme alone brings salvation to him and his righteousnesse it sustaineth him and therefore sayes the Saints this is the Lords doing and it is wonderfull in our eyes So that I say the Christian in the various workings of God in him which is the drawing him up from one dispensation which is low unto another that is higher and so from one dispensation to another untill he take him up above all to live in Spirit with himselfe doth not in the least help or assist but is a meere passive in it though he think himself active in it by following of good duties which is only bodily exercise and profiteth little as the Apostle saith but being once brought up into the nature of Spirit he is then active in spirituall exercises all his sacrifices that he offers to the Father are spirituall he can offer no other and such only are well pleasing to the Father as are offered in the Son For in him alone he is well pleased God accepts not of any duty or performance whatsoever though never so zealous that is not done and acted in and by Christ