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 [Page 2]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 [Page 3]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, [Page 5]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 them, and framing all their thoughts, and working all [Page 6]their works, and that he was with them in a [...] conditions: what carnall spirit would reach out to that by an outward way, which spiri­tually is in him, and which he stands really possest of? and which divine wisdom sees the best, and that things can be no otherwise with him. I shall speak my own experience herein, that I have made God mutable as my self, and therefore as things and conditions have changed, I thought that God was an­gry or pleased, and to have faln a humbling my self; or otherwise in thankfulness, never looking or considering that God is one intire perfect and immutable Being, and that all things were according to the Councel of his own will, and did serve the designe of his own glory: but thought that my sins or ho­ly walking did cause him to alter his purpose of good or evill to me.

But now I cannot looke upon any condi­tion or action, but methinks there appears a sweet concurrance of the supreame will in it nothing comes short of it, or goes beyond it, nor any man shall doe or be any thing, but what shall fall in a sweet compliance with it; It being the wombe wherein all things are conceived, and in which all crea­tures were formed and brought fourth.

Yea further, there is not the least Flower or Herbe in the Field but there is the Divine being by which it is, that which it is; and as that that departs out of it, so it comes to no­thing, and so it is to day clothed by God, & to morow cast into the Oven: when God ceases to live in it then it comes to nothing, and so all the visible Creatures are lively re­semblances of the Divine being. But if this be so, some may say: Then look how many Creatures there are in the world, there is so many Gods, and when they dye and per­rish, then must God also die with them, which can be no lesse then blasphemy to affirm.

To which I answer, and it is apparent to me, that all the Creatures in the world; they are not so many distinct Beings, but they are but one intire Being, though they be distin­guished in respect of their formes; yet their Being is but one and the same Being, made out in so many formes of flesh, as Men and Beast, Fish and Fowle, Trees and Herbes: For though these two last Trees and Herbes have not the life so sensibly or lively; yet it is cer­tain there is a Life and Being in them, by which they grow to that maturity and perfection, that they become serviceable for the use of Man, as other Creatures are; and yet I must [Page 8]not exclude God from them; for as God is pleased to dwel in flesh, and to dwel with and in man, yet is he not flesh, nor doth the flesh partake of the divine Being. Onely this, God is pleased to live in flesh, and as the Scripture saith, he is made flesh, and he appeares in se­verall formes of flesh, in the forme of Man and Beast, and other Creatures, and when these have performed the designe and will of God, that then as the flesh of Man and other Creatures, came from the Earth, and are not capable of knowing God, or partaking of the divine nature, and God ceasing to live in them, and being gone out of them, that then they all shall return to their first principle of dust, and God shall as he did from all eternity, live in himself, before there was a World or Crea­tures: so he shall to all eternity live and en­joy himself in himself, in such a way as no man can utter: and so I see him yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever: The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of all things.

Yea further, as God shall cease to live in flesh, and so all things shall come to nothing that are below him: Then shall he live in spirit, he will cease to live in the humane na­ture, and live is the divine, and so he is that [Page 9]eternall and everlasting life, in whom all the glory, beauty and excellency of Creatures are wrapt up; for as all things were let out of God: so shall they all give up their Being, life and happiness into God again; and so we may say truly, that God or the divine Being never dies; though the Clothing dissolve, and come to nothing, yet the inward man still lives; though the shadow dies, yet the soule or substance which is God, lives to all eterni­ty. Further, to me it is cleare, that there is nothing that partakes of the divine nature, or is of God, but it is God. The reason is, be­cause there are no distinctions in God, he Be­ing one individed essence: however Man out of a simple ignorance, distinguish of his Will, and of his love, of his justice and mercy, of common guifts, and of spirituall, as they call them; yet I cannot see any such things in God, or that he is capable of any degrees of more or lesse, or that he loves one man more then another, or hates one man more then another. However the Scripture saith, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated; it is but after the manner of men [...] for I cannot see that there is love or hatred in God, or any such passions: that which admits of degrees is not perfect.

Indeed in respect of men as they imagine God is angry and he is pleased, he threatens and he promises, he Commands and he punishes; but in God there is no such things, he being that I Am, which changes not; but all things are according to the Councel of his own will: And God loves the Being of all Creatures, yea, all men are alike to him, and have re­ceived lively impressions of the divine nature, though they be not so gloriously and purely manifested in some as in others, some live in the light side of God, and some in the dark side; But in respect of God, light and darkness are all one to him; for there is nothing con­trary to God, but onely to our apprehension. And for the proud selfish Being which is the Esau, is contrary to the sincere and pure di­vine Being, which is the Jacob: But the be­ing of both serve the designe of God as we shall in the sequell of the discourse shew. But to speak a little more of the present sub­iect; I wonder how that Divinity came into the world, and which is still maintained and used by those that call them selves Divines; who doe still hould and teach others, that there are three persons in the God-head, and yet but one God.

Surely it is a mystery to mee; But I rather [Page 11]thinke it is a mystery of Iniquity, for I sup­pose a person cannot be without an essence, so that it plainly appeares there must be three essences in God, and yet these three must be but one; But I suppose the most of them have received so much new Light that they are a­shamed of such a Tenent, there being nothing in Scripture or reason to countenance such a grosse and carnall conceit of God: But I shall not enter upon any thing controvertall: one­ly I shall give you what is made out in me, and I conceive no other what the Scripture holds out in the letter, and so it is true, that there are three that bear record in Heaven, and yet these three but one. He doth not speak three persons, but three, and that thus, as farre as I conceive: The Father is God from all eternity, who's Being was in himself, having all Beings wrapt up in himself; This God letting himself and his Being in severall formes of flesh is God the Son: For I do not apprehend that God was onely manifest in the flesh of Christ, or the man called Christ; but that he as really and substantially dwells in the flesh of other men and Creatures, as well as in the man Christ, though as the Scri­pture speaks, he was the most express Image, [Page 12]and that the fulnesse of the God-head dwelt bodily in him; that is, in respect of manifesta­tion: but otherwise I conceive that God who cannot admit of degrees, can be said to dwell in him more then another, and I might shew that his Being in spirit, is much more glorious then his Being in flesh; the one being but a shadow and Type of the other.

But I forbear, because it may afford ano­ther discourse of it self, and returne to what we have in hand; and that is, that God the Sonne is God manifest in flesh: Now that we call Holy Ghost, is God living in Spirit, and all these are not three distinct Beings, onely one Being made out in three severall tearmes. To make it a little plainer, the Scrip­ture saith; God is Love; and yet it tells us of a threefold Love: The first is Gods Love to us, the second is our Love to God, the third is our Love to one another.

Now it is plaine, these are not three, but one: For by the same Love that God loves us, by the same Love we love him; we love him, because he loves us, and it is the same Love by which we love one another; and therefore the Apostle saith, He that loves not his brother, loves not God: And so we have communion with God, when we have com­munion [Page 13]with one another: So that Gods Love to us, and our Love to him, and to one another; are not three loves but one: so in like manner: Love is the Father; this Love manifested in Flesh is the Sonne; this Love loving the loved, is the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.

The Father is God forming all things; the Son is God, who is formed and manifested in Flesh; the Holy Ghost is God, manifesting or revealing the manifested: thus the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are not three persons, but one intire Being, made out in severall ex­pressions.

And thus I have done with this subject concerning God, being willing to loose my self in the thoughts of him, as knowing, that he cannot be known; and that all words, or expressions of Scripture or man come short of Him, and do but confound and darken the glory of that great Creator; who hath done all things according to reason, and is himself the reason and ground of all things; for in him they live, and move, and have their Being; and therefore to Him be the Glory for evermore.

Concerning Heaven.

NOw for that which we call Heaven, I cannot conceive it any locall place, be­cause God is not confined, or hath his Being [...] station in our setled compasse; and there­fore I see that true which the Letter speakes, The Kingdom of Heaven is within you: and so I see Heaven to be there, where God displaies his own glory and excellency; For Heaven is nothing but God at large, or God making out himself in Spirit and Glory. And so I re­ally see, that then men are in Heaven, or Heaven in men, when God appeares in his glorious and pure manifestations of himself, in Love and Grace, in Peace and rest in the Spirit; when God shewes himself to be all the happiness, comfort and reward, and so this Heaven is not outward, or a place of any out­ward or carnall bodily happines as men dream of; but it consists in righteousness, joy & peace in the Holy Ghost; all which are spirituall and terminated in God alone. I do not, as I have carnally conceived, that when Paul was rapt up into the third Heaven, and heard and saw things unutterable, that he was bodily taken up, or heard God with an audible voice; No, but I rather conceive it some extraordinary [Page 15]appearance of God, filling the Spirit with glo­rious amazements and admirations of its own excellency. So that, when God doth glorious­ly appeare to the silencing of flesh, and over­powering the selfish Being in man, and fils the spirit with its own glory, then is God and his Heaven come in the spirit, and such an estate some may be & have bin sensible of, that they have so felt the over-powering of God in their spirits, that they could not tell whether they were in the body, or out of the body: as was Pauls condition.

And this Heaven the Land of Canaan was a lively Type of, wherein God after he had by a strong hand, brought the Children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, and through many dangers of the Wildernesse and red Sea, God at last brought them to a Land of rest, in which this is really made out to me; that it is the over-ruling power of God in us, that takes us from the Egyptian bondage of self and flesh, and through the Wildernesse and Sea; much toyling and toss­ing up and downe in selfe-Workes and hard duties, outward and carnall services; the Law still beating us to Workes of prayer, humiliation; making us to make Brick with­out Straw, and setting hard and cruell Task-masters over us.

so that we may say, through many tribulati­ons we must enter into the Kingdom of Hea­ven; but when Gods power is destroying these enemies of our Peace, and brings us in­to that Land of rest, that spirituall Canaan, which we speak of, then do we cease from these labours. But truly, this I speake from experience, so long as men are under Moses, they cannot enjoy neither must they come in­to this Land.

And therefore, I do not wonder that the Scripture speaks, Many shall seek to enter and not be able: and straight and rarrow is the gate, and few there be that finde it. I would not speak to discourage any; but I really appre­hend the greatest pretenders to Heaven scarce know what it is, or will ever enjoy it; but shall with Moses onely see it a farre off, God not being willing to do any great workes in their spirits: because of their unbelief; but what happyness and comfort they do enjoy, to whom God appeares thus spiritually in, none know but themselves. This is that heavenly Jerusalem spoken of in the Hebrewes, into which the souls of just men made perfect are come into.

The text doth not say, we shall come to it hereafter; but that we are come unto it, and [Page 17]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 [Page 19]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 [Page 21]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 [Page 22]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 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 [Page 23]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 [Page 24]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 [Page 25]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 [Page 26]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 [Page 27]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 over­power the dark and carnall, and so those An­gels of darkness shall be cast into their lake, and there be reserved to the great judgement [Page 28]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 [Page 29]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 [Page 30]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 [Page 31]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; [Page 32]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 [...]ente [...] in his own will; and so sins. Hence it is, that Nations and perticular persons, are grieved and discontented with their con­dition, and set [...]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 [Page 33]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 the ground of them; and as they are spiri­tuall & inward: so those spirituall and inward acts or motions that fall below, or tend to the crossing of this design of God, they are un­lawfull: and yet, in some respect these also tend to the glory of God, and sin it self doth as well fall in compliance with the glory of God, as well as that which we call grace and goodnesse; for sinne abounds that grace may a­bound much more.

And however men speak of offending God by sin, and the Scripture speaks of provoking God to wrath by the sins of a people; yet in­deed to me it is apparent, that God is no more provoked by sin to wrath, then he is allured to blessing by any holiness of a people or per­son: And therefore Jeremiah saith, The Lords [Page 34]hand is not shortned, that he cannot save, or his eares heavy that he cannot heare; but it is their sins that hide his face from them: In which I really see, that it is not as men gene­rally take it, that sin causes God actually to withdraw himself, or to alter his porpose of good to the Creature; but the truth lies in this, that there is that people are as near and ready to be helpt and saved of God when they sin as when they do good. But onely this there is, that in the nature of sin, that guilt and condemnation to it, & that accusing power it is of in the Conscience, that men mis-apprehend and do misconceive the face or countenance of God to them, and sin it is, that is that vaile or covering over the face & glory of God, that hinders the shining of it in the spirit. For the Sun doth shine as clear­ly when the Cloudes interpose betwixt us and it, as when it is a clear day, onely it doth not so appear to us: and so it is with God, the sin is the Cloud that interposes betwixt God and us, though God be the same and all one to us when we sin, yet we do not so see it, so that it is not a peoples sinning or doing good that is any cause in God, of good or evill to the Creature; for what absurdity would fol­low if God should hide his face, and let out [Page 35]his love upon the Creatures sinning, or doing that which we call good: how mutable should we make God to be, whereas we know that all accidents and occurrences are the mani­festations of that supream Will and Power which is immutable and unalterable, whether the Creature sin or do well.

And whereas some may say, then men may live as they list, because God is the same, and all tends to his glory, if we sin, or if we do well:

I answer them in the words of the A­postle: Men should not sin because grace a­bounds; but yet if they do sin, that shall turn to the prayse of God, as well as when they do wel. And so the wrath of man praises God as well as his love and meekness, and God glorified in the one as well as the other. And however this may seeme to countenance that God is the Authour of sin, and wills sin; yet to me it is plain, that there is nothing that hath a Being but God, and sin being a nulli­ty, God cannot be the Author of it, and so falles not within the decree of God; for so far as God was in man, and made him, so far he is God; but it was the man, the self-being that found out many Inven­tions. And all things that God made were [Page 36]very good when he lookt upon them; But sinne God could not behold, because it was not.

Herein is God glorified in sinne, as contra­ries set together illustrate one another: and God is glorious and powerful in the destroy­ing that fleshly Being, which is exalting it self against the divine. And therefore is God ma­nifest in our flesh to destroy the workes of flesh in us; and he is plucking down those principalities and powers, and destroying that old man with his deceiveable lusts, and form­ing the new man which is himself, or the de­vine Being, and new man in us.

Further, I see that the reason why we cal some men wicked and some godly, is not any thing in the men; but as the divine Being appeares more gloriously in one then in another: so we say, the one is a Saint and godly, and the o­ther is wicked and profane; and yet the one acts as he is carried forth by the Supreme power, and so doth the other: And if there be any difference it is not in respect of the creature, of what it is, or doth; for the same divine Being, is in the one as well as the other; but onely it doth not so manifest it self in the one as the other. And therefore, as I dare call no man good because there is none good but [Page 37]God: so I dare call no man wicked or ungod­ly, because it is God only that makes the diffe­rence, and who am I to judge another mans Servant?

And I see also that the same power that in­ables a man to do good, the same power pre­vents a man from evill. For neither the evill act or the good act are evill or good, as they are acts; and men can no more do evill then they can do good, as they call it: which may answer that common Objection that men make.

That if this be so, men may drink, swear, and be profane, and live as they list.

And I answer further, the sin lies not in these outward acts, for a man may do the self-same act, and yet not sin: that is, that a man drinks to excess, there is the sin, that a man drinks for necessity or delight; the same act and posture of body is put out in the one, as the other: And so I might instance in the rest, so that the sin is from within: The lust within, and an inward lusting after the Crea­ture, beyond that end for which God hath designed it.

And further, this I affirm, that a man as man hath no more power or freedom of will to do evill then he hath to do good. I think [Page 38] Joseph had as many opportunities to commit folly as any man could have; and yet saith he, How can I do this and sinne against God? So that it was the power within which kept him, though questionlesse, he might have had a naturall inclination to have done the act as o­ther men.

And I believe Esau had as much will and power as a man, to do his brother Jacob a mis­chief, and to take away his life; but when God once appeared to him, then instead of killing him he imbraces him & so might be instance in divers other examples. So that, hence I con­clude, it is onely the powerfull presence of God in one man more then another, that one man acts not as vilely as another.

Again I apprehend further, that there is not two wills in God, as men generally teach and affirm; that is to say, an active will and a permissive will, and so a power to make a man to do good, and another kind of power to re­straine a man from evill, and so men confound the power and will of God, when as indeed: they are not distinct in God; for Gods power and will are all one: his will is his power, and his power is his will: and by the self same act that he wills things, by the selfe same act he doth things, and it is our weake­nesse [Page 39]otherwise to apprehend; for God be­ing one and intire, admitting of no distincti­on or division in himself, he admits of no va­riations, but all things are as that supreme will acts, and brings them forth; And I see according to the Councell of his will, they did no more that crucified Christ, then they that did imbrace him.

These things I write, not to countenance any unseemly act or evill in any man; And I know, God being purity it self, cannot behold uncleannesse, and his Spirit in me doth con­demn it wherever I see it, and I cannot but reprove it where ever it is found; Neither can I so close in society or fellowship with those that are in darkness, or walk unbeseem­ingly not becoming the Gospel; and yet I know, that if the grace of God appeared in them, it would as well teach them, to deny un­godlinesse and worldly lusts: as to live righte­ously and soberly in the World: Onely, I de­sire to open the nature of that which we call sin, and to make it as spiritually vile as I can: For I see my self to have been mistaken, and I see others are in sin, as well as in that we call grace & goodnes; For as I have made the for­mall and outward performance of a Duty, the onely thing wherein grace and godliness did consist so: have I made the outward doing [Page 40]or not doing of an act to be the sin; But I really see, that neither the one or the other, as an act is either good or evill: But as godliness is a mystery and inward, and is within us: so is sin likewise a mystery and also within us; and therefore it is called, a mystery of iniquity, from whence proceeds murders, adulteries, and are they not from the lust within? The inward lust and acting, is the sin which is con­trary or below God; the outward acting or putting forth of that inward lust, is the sin a­gainst man, and is below a man: and whether the thing or sinne be acted outwardly, or no, there is sin; And therefore, the spirituality of the Gospel is above the Letter, the Letter onely forbiding the outward act of adultery, but the spirituality forbids the very lust with­in; and therefore, he that looks on a woman with a secret and inward lust, hath commit­ted the sin in the Spirit and heart: as if he had done the outward act, and is in Gods account an adulterer: And all the use I can make of the premisses, duely considered, it rather aggravates the nature of sin, then extinuates or lessens it; for I can seriously reflect upon my own spirit, and see more sin within, then all the world can do without; I see that I have framed and fancied a God without me, and [Page 41]have given him an outward Worship while I have seem'd to be very spirituall, and so have been very far from that spirituall worship of him which is like himself, and consists onely in Spirit and Truth; for what a vaine thing is it to me for a man to put off his Hat, or kneele and show an outward reverence to an invisible God: and how carnall have I been, and men are in setting dayes and times a part to expresse an outward humiliation for an in­ward and spirituall sacrifice, whereas there is no humility but in the Spirit; and there is no spirituall exaltation of God; but when the Creature ceases from being, or do­ing any thing, and makes God All; whereas men think to get pardon and peace from God by a self-humiliation, prayers and duties, and I know not what: and so give that to a du­ty and a prayer, which is the onely pro­per worke of God, who subdues our sinnes, and pardons them for his own Names sake.

And so I have done with that which we call sinne, which we call a privation of God, or the living below God; you see we have made it something and nothing, in respect of God it is nothing; for he knowes no defect, neither is he in darknesse; but is all glory and light.

Again, it is something in respect of the crea­ture; because it is in darknesse and lives not in the light and glory of that God; and there is that in the Creature, which as a vaile covers and hides the glory of God, and so it is sinfull: and yet here is God in all this; for should the Creature share in the Deity, God would not be so glorious; and should the Deity par­take of the Humanity, and be one with it, there would be no sin, and therefore is God manifest in flesh, but not to flesh; and there­fore doth the Divine Nature and Being live in the Humane, but is not the Humane, nor is the Humane capable of any conjunction or union with the Divine; and therefore the Divine lives in it self, and the Humane or fleshly Being lives in it self; and as the fleshly Being is below the Divine: so men living in it are sinfull; and as that acts: so they act sin, which is all at present I see of that we call Sinne.

Concerning Hell.

HAving spoken of the Devill and Sin, Hell must needes follow; for no sooner did [Page 43]Man leave to live in the Divine Being, and so lived in himself; but he was turned out of Paradise to digg for his living, and to worke, labour and toyle, to maintaine a self-Being, and to procure a self-happinesse, and so pre­sently he came to shame and misery; he eating of the forbidden fruite, which was his own holinesse, righteousnesse, all is cursed to him, and so the man is in Hell: so that our ceasing to live in God, and living in the self-Being, is the Hell; For that Angelicall life in us, being vailed and covered, we live in the Diabolicall; whence it is we are in Hell. As soone as man ceast to live in the light, but he would be knowing something, and doing something: so soone did he fall into a Chaos, and all was darknesse: and so that develish and self nature is in man, and he is reserved in chaines of darknesse till the judgement of the great day of Gods appearing in his Spirit, and till then he is in Hell, un­till God Judge and burne up that flesh, and carnall knowing of him; and reduce him to his first Being, to live in God till then, he suffers the fire of Hel in himself so that the Hell in a mans selfe and the con­demnation is, that a man is condemned of himself.

What adoe there is in the world to find Hell where it is, how many have puzled and beat their braines to find it out, as if it were a locall place? and therefore some because they would make it contrary to Heaven and as they fancie that the highest place, so they will be sure to make Hell the lowest, and therefore being as carnall in the one as the other, make it to be the lowest part of the Earth. Others, because they find a place speaking of the Devill, calling him the Prince of the Aire, they will make Hell in the Ayre I know not where. But as the Devill rules onely in Aierie and light spirits so I look upon this to be a Aierie fancy: For as the Devill is, and hath his Throne and Seat in e­very man, so is his Hell; & truly for my part I think they cannot be separated, and therefore I conceive any man that is in bondage to his own lust; nay further he that is under the Law or in any formal or outward duty, & is so pos­sessed with a spirit of bondage, that he must be so and so, do so and so, or else he must be damned, and in the doing of such and such things he shall be saved: this man is in Hell, and Hell in him, and needes no other Devill to torment him, but his own false and carnall apprehension of God; for as the spirituall ap­pearance [Page 45]of God doth necessarily and for­mally make Heaven, and cause joy and peace in the spirit: So the dark and carnall conceit or knowledge of God must needes cause sor­row and lamentation, and makes Hell.

I do not much wonder at the carnall Papist, no more then at the carnall Protestant, the one fancying a carnall purgatory, the other a carnall Hell.

And I think the one gets as much money for frighting men with the one, and making them believe they can show them the way to avoid it, and bring them to Heaven, as the o­ther doth in frighting them with purgatory, and making the poor people believe they can keep them from that. But I let that passe.

And however, the Scripture speaks of Hell, and expresses it by fire and brimstone, and the worme dying not, and many other expressi­ons. It speakes as in other cases, after the man­ner of men, not that there is such visible and material formes of punishment: But that as fire and brimstone are the most fearful things to the nature of man; so doth the Scripture set out the miserable and fearfull Estate of a carnall condition, and what miseries and tor­ments do accompany such an Estate. And what consequences have followed the out­ward [Page 46]man from being in such darkness, and what the absence of God hath caused in the spirit, the Scriptures and many daily examples do abundantly testifie: whose terrors and distractions in their spirits have been such as have been easeless and remediless, and made them willing to become their own Butchers, and all this hath been from a misapprehensi­on and confused knowledge of God. The truth is, I shall speak from my own experi­ence, so long as I was in bondage, to dayes, times, and set times, that I must pray so often, and do so much, frequent such Ordinances, so long I was in trouble and sorrow; for I re­ally saw there was this and that failing, and miscarriage in every duty that I suffered tor­ment in my spirit, for fear I should never at­tain my end, which was a carnall and sensible enjoyment of some happiness which I called Heaven, and when I was inlarged in this and that duty, I thought then all was well, and that I should go to Heaven: And so I was continually suffering the torment of Hell, and tossed up and down, being condemned of my self. And this is all the condemnation that I see is come into the World, that men love darkness rather then light, because their deeds [Page 47]are evill, That men live in love, the dark and fleshly Being, and not in the light, in the divine being; this is the condemnation not causally but formally: And this is that I found til God appeared spiritually, and shewed me that he was all the glory and happiness himself, and that flesh was nothing, and should enjoy no­thing, and then I could not but cease from my former fleshly actings which caused no­thing but fear and trouble, and saw God, or rather God made out himself in me joy and peace, and brought me into the glorious li­berty of the Sons of God, whereas I was be­fore in bondage to sin, law, an accusing Con­science which is Hell. And yet I cannot ex­clude God in all this, for if we descend into Hell he is there: He is in the dark, though we see it not as well as in the light that we see: He is in wrath and severity, and we are wisht to behold him in both; let there be never such confusions of spirit, never such terrors and Hell, let there be darkness and no light: yet there God is, there is some glimps of himself, in as much as there is a secret go­ing out of the spirit towards God, and all the distractions the Creature lies under, is because it cannot enjoy the presence & love of God, & yet God is [Page 48]there amidst all that darkness and raignes in the midst of his enemies, and so he descends into Hell, and returnes with a glorious try­umph, rising with abundance of joy and peace in the spirit: So that though the Earth be moved, and the great mountains which the Creature had made to it self, be tumbled up and down, and the Creature have no rest, but is easeless and restless, yet God is there as a Rock unshaken of any storme, but is sweetly refreshing and delighting himself with him­self, and so enters into the strong mans house, and disarmes him, and bindes him hand and foote, and casts him into utter darkness.

And to summe up all, if there be any that think this is not Hell enough to be inwardly and spiritually tormented. Let them but consult with those that have been under spi­rituall desertions as they are called, and have cryed out as if their bones had been broken, and would have chosen death rather then life, and thought they could have indured many burnings to have been rid of such a con­dition.

And I think they will tell them there is no other or need be no other Hell, and all this comes from a dark and carnall knowledg, or rather ignorance of God, for certain it is, God [Page 49]condemns none. But the condemnation is of a mans self, and in a mans self.

If any shall say, all this is nothing; I care not, if this be all the Hell, and that it lasts no longer then this life; But is there not a Hell hereafter, that is, the Hell to think of Eter­nity, and that the Creat re shall be everla­stingly tormented, and indure the wrath of God to all Eternity?

For answer hereunto, I must professe, I do not know of any such thing, nor do I conceive what should be thus tormented; for that which men call a soule, I had thought to have made it a particular of the present discourse; but I shall referr it to further consideration, onely to stay any mans appetite that desires my opinion of it, I shall onely give him this morsell to chew upon, and that is this:

I 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; [Page 50]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 its 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 [Page 51]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 [Page 53]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 [Page 54]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 [Page 55]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 pro­per and peculiar to God, for I really see that after God is manifest in flesh, and seen of Angels, preached in the world, and believed in, that then he shall after all this be received up in­to glory, and that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God: and that nothing lives to all eternity, but pure Divine glory. I cannot conceive any other resurrection then of carnall to be made spirituall, and that is no other then the spirituall appearance of God: so that when I would find out what the resurrection is, I re­flect upon my own spirit, and trace the goings of God there, and there I can find God rising from one degree of glory to another, and changing me into his image by his spirit: and so I see how he hath led me from one dispensation to another, and from one ordinance to another, till at last he appears so spiritually that he over-powers all flesh and formes which I admired in my carnall condi­tion, [Page 56]and appears to be that temple, glory and light himselfe, which I had thought to have had in a sensible and carnall enjoyment hereafter, so that I am led to believe that there is no such out­ward felicity to be enjoyed in this resurrection: but that it is God arising in the spirit, and shi­ning brighter and brighter, till the perfect day: & making all the creature-apprehensions, and know­ledge of God to cease, and this resurrection I clearly finde in my owne spirit, that the most glo­rious and inlarged parts and abilities in prayer, speaking, or otherwise, in which I have delighted, and no question but I did enjoy God in them, though in a darke and low estate: these I say, the glory and beauty of them are all withered and vanished before the bright and glorious ap­pearances of God in the spirit; for the Son in me having delivered up his Kingdome, and those fleshly and formall manifestations, and outward bodily worships ceasing, God is all in all, so that I can neither in Jerusalem, or in the Mount, or in any outward form or duty worship God, knowing that he is only to be worshipped in spirit & truth, and that though God was with me in my former carnall and dark condition, and did lead me in it gently, yet all was but to raise up himselfe, and to be that spiritually in me in another way then that which I expected, and so of naturall he hath made me spirituall, which is the spirituall resurrection that we are speaking of. [Page 57]And further I really see that the flesh of man, and of all other creatures differ not any thing in the nature of them indeed, in respect of the kind and manner, some flesh is of men, some of Beasts, and some of fishes: but as flesh none of them are capable of any more glory then one another, all being of the same mould, and comming to the same end, and though the spirit in them, or what­soever is God in them, return to their originall, which is God, and so lives in him again, yet the fleshly part returns to dust from whence it came: and as the man dies, so dies the beast; as dies the wise man so dies the foole, one end is to them all as Solomon speaks: and whereas men imagine that there is a fleshly resurrection, and that the same body flesh and bones shall rise and remain a cor­porall and visible substance: how this should be I am sure they do not know themselves: for however men speak that the corporall body shall be made a spirituall, to me it is ridiculous, because the Scripture saith, That which is borne of flesh is flesh, and can remaine in no other capacity. And besides, I hope no man will deny, that a spi­rituall thing can be seen of a fleshly, or that an externall organ of the body can see an internall and invisible thing, the Apostle makes it plaine, that the things which are seen are temporall, and the things that are not seen are eternall. Now how it can stand or consist with reason or Scrip­ture, [Page 58]Logick or Rhetorick, that men should hold and maintaine that men should visibly see one another in heaven as they call it, and know one another, and see their visible shape as they lived in on the earth, & yet they maintaine on the other side this is a spirituall body: I cannot see if this be divinity, then I am not in the humanity; but indeed I am willing to give way to their weaknesse, because I have been as childish my selfe, only I cannot but take notice of the Babell and confusion that men are in, and yet thinke themselves the only Embassadours of peace, and as if all knowledge and spirituall learning were confined to them, but laying my hand gently on their sore, I let them passe, and go on to that in hand.

And whereas the Scripture speaks of a spirituall body, I conceived that there is a spirituall body, and that this body must be raised: which spiritu­all body I apprehend to be nothing but the di­vine Being, or God in spirit: termed a Body for these two reasons as I conceive: First, because God is the body and substance of all things, and so it is said, that this God dwelt bodily or sub­stantially in the man Christ, he being that per­son in whose flesh God did more gloriously ap­pear then in any other, so he was the most ex­presse Image o [...] his Fathers person, and in this respect God may be termed a spirituall Body, [Page 59]though for my part I dare not imagine him to have either person or body. Secondly, God may be stiled a spirituall body; because this body or divine Being is, and hath its Being in many Mem­bers. And so God is stiled the head of the body, and Christ is the head of the Church, which is his body, wherein Ireally apprehend that all the appe­rances of God in the Saints as they are called, & all the manifestation of God in flesh, or in any fleshly or outward dispensation or form; they are but the Carkes and shadow of God who is the body or substance of them all, and all these dying and vanishing as they shall: God shall onely live and raise himself a spiritual body, and therein live to all eternity; so that it is spiritually true, that the body which is fleshly shall perish, and the spiritu­all body shall be raised, as we shall have occasion in the sequel of the discourse to make out; but because men are still poring upon a Scripture without them to prove a carnall Resurrection, and will believe nothing but what they think the Scripture speaks in the letter, though indeed they erre, not knowing it or the power of God: I shall a little condescend to their weakness in this kind: though for my part, if there were not a let­ter in all the Bible to strengthen me in my opi­nion of the Resurrection I should not much care, nor need I the testimony of it as to my self; for I have a surer word within, to which I take heed: yet I say for other mens sakes, I shall take the [Page 60]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 [Page 61]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 [Page 62]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 [Page 63]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, 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 [Page 66]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 [Page 67]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 [Page 68]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. [Page 69]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 f [...]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 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 [Page 70]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 [Page 71]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, [Page 72]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 [Page 73]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 hat [...], 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, [Page 74]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, [Page 75]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 [Page 76]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 [Page 77]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 [Page 78]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, 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 [Page 79]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 [Page 80]all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and i [...] 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, [Page 81]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 [Page 82]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 faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God? Is not the Scripture and outward letter [Page 43]a meanes to convey the knowledge of God, and meanes to ger Faith? To which I answer, it is true; but what living is it to which hearing is annexed. If an outward and carnall living and knowing of God, then the outward Scripture contributes to it; but if it be a spiritual living, which is a living in God, then that life must be enjoyed by a spirituall hearing: for all the outward hearing in the world cannot reach to that, so that to me it is plain, that then men spiritu­ally live, when God spiritually speakes, and so this spiritual life is attained by a spirituall speaking of God; and when men heare that spiritual speaking, then their soules live spi­ritually in that, and so the word of Christ is verefied; That [...] an lives not by bread onely, but by every word which pro­ceedes out of the mouth of God, that is, it is not any out­ward or external way or meanes that supports the Spirit, but [...] is the divine and spiritual food, that the divine and spiri­tual man lives upon, and on that he feedes spiritually with [...] and satisfaction: it being sutable to him; and [...] onely blessed that eat bread in the Kingdom of [...]: for they never hunger or thirst after any externall or outward teaching or speaking of men; and so it is true, that faith comes by hearing. But what do you make of Faith? If it be a spiritual thing, as it is, then it must needes come by a spiritual meanes, which is a spiritual hearing, and so the following words explain it, That hearing comes [...] the word of God: Now it is apparent, that God speakes spiritually, and so he is heard and believed spiritually; and men cannot heare God speak, but it must be by a spiritual hearing, sutable to the speaking. But men are still objecting and say, did not Christ and the Apostles convince men of the truth of things by the Scripture, shewing things must needs be so. I answer, it is true, but the reasons plain which was, that because men were not able to bear Christs spiritual speaking, it being mysticall: therefore he speaks to them in parables, and in such a way as they could apprehend, and so did condescend to their weaknesse, and so Christ speakes of himself, that he needed not Iohns Testimony, he had [...] sufficient proofe with himself, and needed not any mans [Page 84]Testimony of him. And besides, as men did hasten their lief of things upon an outward letter: therefore Christ the Apostle brought Scripture to prove things, that he mi [...] bear them with their own weapons. And so alleadged Sc [...] ­ture to the Devill, to answer him in his own way. An [...] the Apostles brought Scripture to prove a Christ in the f [...] which some went about to deny. And whereas s [...] alleadge that to the Law and the Testimony, if any [...] speak not according to that, it is because there is no [...] in him. It is also true, if any man speak not from that [...] tuall Law in himself, and hath not the inward Testimon [...] the spirit within: in such a man there is no truth, let speak what he will, and this is the grand cause why me [...] dispute and jangle about things, because men speak not [...] the inward experience and spiritual teaching, but from [...] dition and the outward letter. Nay I verily believe mo [...] the Religion in the world is borne up, because others [...] held and done so before them, and they think it [...]ff [...] to walk in an outward conformity, in duties and Ord [...] ­ces, and never eye the goings of God in their own Spi [...] But this by the way, and all I drive at in this, and I [...] no body will be offended, that I would make Scripture [...] is to be spiritual, and not subject to the gross and carna [...] prehensions and interpretations of any sort of men [...] ever; neither dô I lessen the Authority of it in so doing [...] the reason of all the mistakes in and about the Scripture [...] not in the Scripture, but in mens carnall apprehensions [...] For if men were spiritual, they might judge it also [...] spiritual as God himself i [...]. And I would have men set [...] upon a sure foundation, which is God and that Divine [...] within us, which is pure and Divine Scripture.