Something written concerning the worlds creed, or, What they teach their children to believe for a belief of words cannot save the soul, but a belief in the light, Christ Jesus, the word of God ...

Something written concerning the worlds creed, or, What they teach their children to believe for a belief of words cannot save the soul, but a belief in the light, Christ Jesus, the word of God ...

Table of contents

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I Believe in God the Father Almighty, saith the Child, Maker of Heaven and Earth &c. (now mark) he that believeth in God, believeth in the Light, for God is Light, 1. John. 1.5. ver. And so becomes his Children; For not believing in the Light, you deny your own belief, your own Creed, who say you believe in God and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son, which was Conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified dead and buried, &c. Nor is there any who believe in the Son, but who believeth in the Light, wherewith Christ hath enlightened them, who lighteth every man that cometh into the World, that all men through him might believe, John 1.9. Who saith believe in the Light, that ye may be Children of the Light, John 12.36. ver. Nether do they know any thing of his birth Conception or ascension, which are from the light in their own particulars, and in it do not believe, where the same nature is reigning that was in Pilate that crucified him, and there he is not Lord where his light is not obeyed and received, who is meek and low in the heart, and teacheth all so to be that learn of him; for such confest him heretofore in word that in works denyed him; but where the light is followed and obeyed, there Christ the everlasting Father is believed in, and there he comes to rise, and thou with him in the power of his life, which before lay dead in thee, who was buried under the earth, and ascends the same that ever was, who descended first into the lower parts of the earth, and led Captivity captive, sitting on the right hand of the Father, above all principalities, and powers, who in all things hath the preheminency; Eph. 4.9. whose judgement is eternal, judging down self in thee, and raising up his own witnesse by his own power, through which his Resurrection is witnessed, and he reigning above the corruptible part, and there he becomes Lord; and none believeth in the holy Ghost, but who believe in the light, which enlightneth their understanding, nor know the general Assembly of the Church [Page]of the first-born, whose names are written in Heaven; neither are they come to the Communion of Saints, that are not come to the light in their own particulars, through which the Saints, the holy Ones come to have fellowship with God (who is holy) and one with another, who can have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknesse, but rather reproves them, Eph. 5.1. and if you say you believe such a thing as the Communion of Saints, and the remission of sins, why do you not come to the bloud of Christ to cleanse you; for they who were of this communion said, If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then have we fellowship one with another, and the bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, 1 Job. 1.7.

But who say they believe the remission of sins, and yet tell people they cannot be free from sin while upon the earth, do not such deny their own Creed or belief, and so keep people in bondage, in sin, and unbelief, out of the blessed mans estate, whose sin is forgiven, and iniquity not remembred, and out of the new and everlasting Covenant of God, where sin and iniquity comes to be blotted out and remembred no more, Heb. 8. and are such Teachers to be followed, or hearkned unto, that keep people out from God, and out of Gods kingdom, where nothing that defileth can enter; or is not Christ Jesus the Light, rather to be hearkned unto (the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world?) then them that say and tell people they can never be free from sin, [or he that taketh away the sin and so leads into the kingdom] let the sober minded people judge that love their own souls.

And will not this be grader tidings to men through the bloud of the Covenant, to have ratified the forgivenesse of sin, then to tell a man he can never be free from sin, and so make the bloud of Christ of none effect, and be shut out from God for ever, which doctrine the Teachers of the world have brought up; but the children of the light who are children of the new Covenant, come to the remission of sins; and he who was a Minister of Christ, was sent to turn men from darknesse to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that so they might come to witnesse the remission of their sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified, Act. 26.18. and that was the true Ministers work, for the perfecting[Page]of the Saints, and to bring people to the faith, through which the heart comes to be purified, and such believe the life everlasting, which of it are made partakers, who believe in the light, which is the life of men; and he that believeth hath everlasting life saith Christ, Joh. 3.36. and so believes a thing that is, that he hath, and not a thing that is not, that he hath not, is a witnesse of the Spirit, that hath been quickned by the Spirit, and so a living witnesse.

But how can you believe these things who are out of the light, and see them not, Christ descending into hell, ascending into heaven, or resurrection from the dead, which is a mystery, untill the light be turned unto, the mystery is hid, and not revealed, Christ within the hope of glory, Col. 1.27. or know the Judge of quick and dead, that are from the light, by which he is known; and death and destruction may say, we have heard the fame of a God, and of a Christ, and of such things, Job. 28.22. and so may they that are strangers in their minds and ignorant of the mystery, Christ within the hope of glory, that know him not there, and so in the reprobate state, according to the Apostles own words, Know you not that Christ is in you except you be reprobates, 2 Cor. 13.5. and the Apostle spake of some who-were men of corrupt minds, lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God, reprobate concerning the faith, 2 Tim. 3. but who believe in the light, to know Christ within, the mystery, come out of the reprobate state; and light is come into the world, and the world is set in mans heart, 2 Cor. 4.6. and who cometh to it must come where it is come, in the heart where it shineth; and that is the light which in the Conscience convinceth man of sin and evil, and sheweth him the errour of his way, through which man comes to see his way out of the world, being turned to the light, and in it believing, which is the way to the Father, Joh. 14, 6. So that them who are the true believers, that believe in God, believe in the light, are come to know a measure of God within themselves, that is to be believed in; and they who believe in Jesus Christ his Son, believe in the light which he hath enlightned them withall, which is little, or the least of all seeds, which the kingdom of heaven is likened unto, to the earthly man in its first appearance, to [Page] whom the Parables were spoken; and this light is that which is to be believed in, and brings into its own likenesse, to be little and low, to become a child of the light, otherwise not being turned unto, and believed in, it may be there, as the talent hid in the earth, which doth not increase while it lyes hid, and under the clods, but there is a time that the seed must arise, if ever it grow and come from under the earth, and grow over the earth, before it come to ripening; this little seed of the kingdom must, before it be gathered into the barn, abide many storms in its growth, and so through the growth of the seed the mysteries of Gods kingdom come to be known, which is revealed in the light; for whatsoever maketh manifest is light, through which Christ within, the mystery, hid comes to be known, Eph. 5.13. his Resurrection, Ascension, Death, and Burial, and what it was (in man driven out into the earth) that crucified him and buried him; which is to be crucified, and so comes Captivity to be led captive, by him who descended first into the lower parts of the earth; and there God the Father comes to be believed in, where the light is obeyed and believed, and Christ is Lord where the seed immortal comes to reign, otherwise their faith is dead, who are yet in their sins, and not come to believe in the light wherewith Christ hath enlightned them, and have not the faith of Gods Elect, the faith that purifieth the heart, and so in the dead estate believe that which they neither see, nor feel, nor taste, nor handle, the unpurified state; but who come to see, to feel, to taste, to handle, come to a principal that is living of God, that is living in themselves; so what he hath seen and heard that he comes to believe, and that he can declare unto others, and believes not onely because others have declared it, but having seen and felt it in their own principle; and such can give Testimony of the just, that are come into the faith of the just that liveth, and such know their Testimony is faithful and true, that have born testimony of him, and confirm the Scriptures, and are confirmed by them, and so lay them not waste, but bear testimony of the truth of them wrought in themselves; having the same things fulfilled in them according to their [Page] measure, as was in them that gave them forth; One Spirit, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, that serve the Lord with one consent, where the Lord is one, his Truth one, and his Spirit one, wherein he is worshipped, such are of the one family, that grow up and meet together in the unity of the faith, that know the Religion that is pure, and come to the faith that purifies the heart, where there is no jars, nor janglings about Sacraments, divers washing and carnal Ordinances, that are come to the house, and know its out-goings, and in-comings, and know the Ordinances of the house, and are fed with the good things of his house, who is the Father of Spirits. And thus the children of the light, that believe in the light, feed together, and are nourished up together, all feeding upon the one bread, the bread of life, that nourisheth up unto eternal life; and this is another manner of feeding, another kind of Baptism then what the worlds Professors call their Sacraments, and so you must first be baptized into his death, before you come to be partakers of his life; and he that comes to this comes to the substance, the thing it self, not to shews, figures, and shadows, to keep people in that, but to be partakers of that which is living, the bread of life, and to drink of the water of life from the spring of life, plunging the deadly part under, where this Baptism is witnessed, the one Baptism, baptized by the one Spirit into the one body; 1 Cor. 12.13. and so the Baptism must be known before the table be come unto, which the Saints have declared and were witnesses of.

Therefore you who have been in these things so long, and in such a belief, consider whether your faith have yet purified your heart, or given you victory over the world, or when it will, that say you believe in God, in Christ, and in the Spirit, and yet believe not in the light, for God is light, and the Spirit enlightneth the understanding, and Christ is the true light of the world; can you believe in all these and not believe in the light, or is that the true faith where the light is not believed in, which enlightneth every man that cometh into the world; or is a confession of words, or repetition of words enough to save the soul, for the Heathen had that, which thought they should be heard for [Page] their much speaking, who knew not God; but a belief in the light, in the Lord Jesus Christ, that brings the salvation, for with the heart man believeth, which is more then words; and he that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, the Light is his condemnation.

Cain was the first blood-shedder, because his Brothers Offering was accepted, and his was not, for no other reason, and all that is of Cains Generation are blood-shedders, according to the Scripture, 1. Epistle of John 3. Chapter and the 12. and 15. verses, for how can any one whatsoever say the Lords Prayer, in deed, & in truth, when we pray forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us, so that they that say this and do it not, bring a curse upon themselves instead of a blessing, for they desire others to do by them, as they do by others.

W. S.

THE END.

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Something VVRITTEN Concerning the Worlds Creed, Or what they Teach their Children to BELIEVE; For a Belief of Words cannot save the Soul, but a Belief in the LIGHT, CHRIST JESUS the Word of GOD. And this is Written unto them who have been so long time in the Words, out of the thing, that they may come at length into the thing, out of the Words, and know that of God in themselves, which is to be believed in.

LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons, at the Signe of the Bull and Mouth, near Aldersgate, 1660.

Information about this book

Title statement

Something written concerning the worlds creed, or, What they teach their children to believe for a belief of words cannot save the soul, but a belief in the light, Christ Jesus, the word of God ...

Smith, William, d. 1673.

Edition statement

1660

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A60654

ID [STC]

Wing S4332

ID [STC]

ESTC R10110

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

11990366

ID [OCLC]

ocm 11990366

ID [VID]

52007

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Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A60654)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 52007)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 824:24)

Source

— Something written concerning the worlds creed, or, What they teach their children to believe for a belief of words cannot save the soul, but a belief in the light, Christ Jesus, the word of God ..., Smith, William, d. 1673..

Extent

8, [1] p.

Printed for Thomas Simmons ...,. London :: 1660.. (Reproduction of original in Huntington Library.) (Attributed to William Smith. cf. NUC pre-56, p. 306.)

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