THere is a Position laid down in some Printed Letters, concerning the use of the Common-Prayer-Book, tendred by one Edm. Elis (who professeth himself to be a Minister of Jesus Christ) to Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Ford (as he stileth them) against which Position he en­treateth me, if I find upon my Spirit any thing to be objected against it, to discover it in exact and punctual expressions. This desire of his is set down in Print after the Letters.

His Position or Assertion is this: That a man may Worship God in Spirit, and in Truth in the use of that form of Prayer for Morning and Evening, which we call the Common-Prayer.

Now whoever would weigh this Assertion aright, must have the Ballance of the Sanctuary, and must put it into the Scale with an equal hand; and then looking with that eye, which is gi­ven to see the Misteries of the Kingdom of God, to him who is born of God, the Truth or Error of it is easily discerned.

True Prayer is the breathing of the Child to the Father which begat it, from the sence of its wants, for the supply of those wants.

The Winde bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: So is every one that is born of the Spirit, John 3.8. God by the Breath of his Spirit, begets a man out of the Spirit and likeness of this World, into his own image and likenesse. He that is thus begotten: wants Nourishment, wants the Divine Warmth, the Breasts of Consolation, the Cloathing of the Spirit, the Garment of Salvation; wants the Bread of Life to feed on, wants the Water of Life to drink, wants strength against the enemies Assaults, wisdom against his Snares and Temptations, wants the arm of the Deliverer to preserve and carry on the [Page 6] work of Redemption daily, wants Faith to deny the fleshly Wisdom, that so he may Trust and Feel the Vertue of the Arm of the Deliverer, wants Hope, Patience, Meeknesse, a clear Guidance, an upright Heart to follow after the Lord: yea ve­ry many are the daily wants of that which is begotten by the Breath of God, in its state of weaknesse, until it be drawn up into the Unity of the Body, where the full Communion with the Life is felt, the Heart satisfied, and the wants drowned.

Now the breathing of this Child to the Father, from the sence of these wants, for his Supply, that's Prayer: nay though it be but a Groan, or Sigh, which cannot be uttered or expres­sed, yet that's Prayer, true Prayer, which hath an acceptance with the Lord, and receiveth a Gracious Answer from him: And he that begetteth the Child, teacheth him to Pray, even by the same Spirit which begat him. In watching daily to the Spirit, the Child is kept sensible of the Will of the Father, and in his Light he sees the Way wherein he is to walk, he sees also the Enemie when he is coming, yea and the Snares he is privily laying, and he feels his own weaknesse to withstand or escape: And in this sence his Heart cries to the Father of Spirits for Preservation, for him to stand by him, for him to step in in the needful time, even in the Season of Distress. And thus, watching to the Spirit, the Life of a Christian is a continual course of Prayer: He prayes continually. This is the Living Prayer of the Living Child, which consists not in a Form of Words, either read out of a Book or conceived in the Mind; but in feeling the Breath of its Nature issuing out, from the Principle of Life in it, to the Living Spring, which is the Fa­ther of it; who by causing his vertues to spring up in it, nourish­eth it to Everlasting Life.

But now, man who is not born of the Spirit, but (by con­ceiving some of the Truths of God in the Wisdom from below) hath attained to some change of Opinion and Conversation, he pretends to be this Birth from above, though indeed he is born but of Bloods, or of the Will of the flesh, or of the Will of Man, John 1.13. and what God begets in, and gives to his True Child, he will be imitating, though he be out of the Nature and Spirit, where the True Child is begotten, and where the [Page 7] True gift of the Father is received by him. He will be believ­ing, though he hath not received any Proportion of the Living Faith from the Hand of the Father; he will be forming Repen­tance and Sorrow for sin, though his Heart be not turned from it; he will be hoping in Gods Mercy, although he be both from off the Foundation, and from under the shadow of the Mercy-seat; and he will be praying, though he hath neither received the Spirit, nor be taught by the Spirit to pray: And so being from that which should guide him, and teach him the truth and way of Worship as it is in Jesus, he runs out into the inventions and imaginations, and sets up a way of his own chusing; which he ha­ving much considered of, and beat out by reasonings, and fenced about with Arguments, he grows wise in his own eyes, and now verily believes it to be the way of God, and that he is able to maintain it against all opposers. Thus one man, he is for a Form; another man, he is against a Form, and for conceived prayers; and each think themselves able to maintain their own, and to overthrow each other. But Oh that that ear were open, which can hear the truth, that where there is any true, honest, upright desire after God, from the simplicity of the heart, it might not be thus betrayed through the subtilty of the fleshly wisdom, which lies lurking in the wise, reasoning, knowing part, to betray the poor weak Babe. The natural man, the reasoning man, the un­derstanding man, the wise man according to the natural wisdom, cannot understand the things of God. Here's no learning to pray aright, to believe aright, to hope aright, to mourn aright, to rejoyce aright, &c. But this wisdom must be brought to no­thing (1 Cor. 1.19.) and a man must become as a child to all knowledge, as let in this way: And he that so becomes a child, is taught to pray, to believe, to wait, to hope, and all that is ne­cessary to eternal life.

Now as the Father teacheth to pray, so he giveth desires or words (if he please) according to the present need. Sometimes he gives but ability to sigh, or groan (if he give no more, he ac­cepts that.) Sometimes he gives strong breathings, and plenty of words to pour out the soul in before the Lord. But if a man should catch those words, and lay them up against another time, and offer them up to God in his own will, this would be but Will-worship [Page 8] and abomination. This I have known experimentally, and have selt the Wrath of God for it. That is Prayer, which comes fresh from the Spirit; and that is a true desire, which the Spirit begets: but the affections and sparks of mans kindling please not the Lord, nor do they conduce to the Souls rest, but will end in the Bed of sorrow, Isa. 50.11.

Now as touching the Book of Common-Prayer, or Prayers conceived without the immediate breathings of the Spirit, I shall speak mine own experience faithfully, which is this: I have felt both these wayes draw out the wrong part, and keep that alive in me, which the true Prayer kills. And he that ut­ters a word, beyond the sence which God begets in his spirit, takes God's Name in vain, and provokes him to jealousie against his own soul. God is in Heaven, thou art on Earth, therefore let thy words be few. The few words which the Spirit speaks, or the few, still; soft, gentle breathings which the Spirit begets, are pleasing to God, and profitable to the Soul: but the many words, which mans wisdom affects, hurt the precious life, and thicken the vail of death over the Soul, keeping that part alive, which separates from God; which part must dye, e're the Soul can live.

The true Prayer is by that which God begets, in the vertue of his Spirit ( praying alwayes in the Spirit, Ephes. 6.18. Jude 20.) in the time he chuses: for the Spirit breatheth as well when he listeth, as where he listeth; and man cannot limit him when he shall breath, or when he shall not breath, but is to wait the sea­sons of his breathing, and so to watch unto Prayer.

Now if the Prayer be in words (for there is a praying without words) then it must be in those words which he pleaseth to give, from the sence which he kindleth, and not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, or would chuse to use. And in­deed, in the true Religion, and in every exercise of it, mans wisdom is kept out, and nail'd to the Cross, by which means the immortal life is raised and grows in the true Disciple. He be­lieves, he hopes, he waits, he prayes, he mourns, he rejoyces, he obeyes, &c. in the Cross to the mortal part: not as mans wis­dom teacheth, or would teach, or can teach any of these things; for his Sacrifice is still an abomination, even to the wise Egyptian [Page 9] part in himself (O wise man, abase thy self before the Lord in his Spirit, that thou mayest read this and live) but as the life teacheth, as the Wisdom from above teacheth, which breaketh down, shutteth up, confoundeth and destroyeth mans wisdom, while he is teaching his Babe.

Thus have I answered, in the simplicity of my heart, to the nature of the thing, so far as the Lord hath pleased to draw forth my spirit; and in sinking down to that, which thus opened my spirit, my Answer may easily be read and assented to: but to that which is in the disputing wisdom, out of the feeling of the hidden life and vertue, it may prove a Mystery.

Afterwards, he also intreateth me to peruse seriously, and to lay deeply to heart (in the real fear and dread of the great God) some particulars which he teacheth for Truths.

I perceive he is offended at the questioning of his Ministry, and that the main intent of his proposing these, is to justifie his Ministry; which if they were true, yet the preaching of them would not prove him, or any man else, to be a Minister of Jesus Christ: for it is not preaching things that are true, which makes a true Minister, but the receiving of his Ministry from the Lord. The Gospel is the Lords, which is to be preached, and it is to be preached in his Power; and the Ministers which preach it, are to be endued with his Power, and to be sent by him. The Apostles themselves, though they had received instructions con­cerning the Kingdom from Christs own lips, both in his life­time, and after his Resurrection ( Act. 1.3.) and had received a Commission from him to teach all Nations, Matth. 28.18, 19. Yet this was not sufficient to make them able Ministers of the New Testament; but before they went abroad to Preach, they were to wait for the Power, Act. 1.4, 8. And when they had received it, they were to minister in it, that men might be con­verted to the Power and by the Power, that the Faith of persons might not stand in the wisdom of their words (which Paul might have abounded in, as well as others) but in the Power of God, 1 Cor. 2.5. And this was it made Paul minister in fear and trembling,, lest the wrong part in him should minister, lest the earthly understanding part should be holding forth the Truths of God out of the Life, out of the Power; and so he should [Page 10] Convert men to the Wis [...]m of the words he spake, and not to the Power, v. 2, 3. This was it he was sent for, to turn men from darkness to light, from the Power of Satan to God (Acts 26.18.) from the spirit of enmity and death to the Spirit of Love and Life: and this he was careful of in his Ministry, that men might not run away with his words and miss of the thing. And this also was the way whereby he discovered true and false Ministers, I will come and know (saith he) not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the Power: for the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in Power, 1 Cor. 4.19, 20. Many men might catch their words, and run away with them and Preach them, but they could not Minister in the Power. Now the Kingdome, which the Gospel-Ministers are the Preachers of, consists not in words, but in Power. God hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament, not of the Letter, but of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 3.6. The Ministry of the New Testament is a Ministry of the Spirit, and it cannot be without the Spirit. It is a reaching to men's Con­sciences in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power (1 Cor. 2.4. and 2 Cor. 4.1, 2.) which being felt in the heart and turned to, this converts them to God.

The Ministry of the Gospel doth not consist in a bare opening of the Letter (or raising of Doctrines and Uses from the Letter, which the wisdom of man may easily perform) as the Ministry of the Law did: but in bringing men to the feeling of the Spirit, even of the Eternal Power of God which redeems, in turning men from the darkness to the Light, in setting their faces towards the Power. The Gospel is the substance of what was shadowed out in the Law; and he that Ministers it, must Minister substance. He must have the heavenly Treasure (that's the substance) in his earthen vessel, 2 Cor. 4.7. and he must give out of this Treasure into the vessel which God prepares: and that he may do this, he must Minister in the Spirit and in the Power. His words must not be such as mans wisdom would teach, or as mans comprehension would gather, but such words as Gods Wisdom prepares for him, and puts into his mouth. He that will be a true Minister, must receive both his gift, his Ministry, and the exercise of both from the Lord; and must be sure in his ministring to keep in the Power, or he will never [Page 11] win others to the Power: but in keeping in the Power, while he is ministring, and standing in the cross to his own understan­ding and wisdom, giving forth the truths which the Lord chu­seth to have him speak, in the words which God chuseth, even in the words which are ministred to him by the Power; in thus ministring he shall save both his own Soul and those that hear him, even all who in fear and meekness receive the ingrafted Word, which is able to save the Soul. For alas, alas, many have received words of Truth, and apprehensions of Know­ledge, whereby they hope to be saved: but how few are ac­quainted with that Knowledge which stands in the Power, which alone converts and keeps alive unto God! O how many Souls are to be answered for by them, who take upon them to be Pa­stors from God, who have fed the Flock with words, with Dis­courses which they have made, and have ruled over them with force and cruelty, but have wanted the love, the tenderness, the Light and Power of the true Shepherd! O what will these do, when God requires his sheep at their hands! O that there were an heart to consider. Ye Shepherds of England, little do ye know what is towards you.

Now for those things themselves, which he saith, he princi­pally endeavours to make known to the sons of men, there is a mixture in them; which, if he could singly apply himself to wait of the Lord, in the meek sober Spirit, out of the consultations, wisdom and confidence of the flesh, it might please the Lord to make manifest to him.

The first particular of those, which he layes down for Truths, is, That the good things of this life, honours, riches, &c. unless we make use of them in the service of God, are but vanity, and vexa­tion of spirit; And in no wise any more capable to satisfie, or content an immortal Soul, than Lime, and Ashes, and Cobwebs, and such like trash are to satisfie, and keep in health the bodies of those persons, who through the depravedness of their appetite, desire to feed on them.

Answ. Christ by his Ministry, calleth his Disciples out of the world, up to the Father, out of the honours, riches and what ever else is of the world. How can ye believe, which receive ho­nour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God [Page 12] onely? John 5.44. And the rich man, he bids him sell all and follow him. And the Apostle John saith, Love not the world, nei­ther the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the just of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world, 1 John 2.15, 16. He that will be a Disciple of Christ, must travel out of the earthly into the heavenly, leaving all that is of this world behind him, posses­sing nothing as his portion, but him who hath call'd him out of his Countrey, from among his kindred, and from his Father's house to another Land, kindred and habitation. So that here they are Pilgrims and Strangers, Sojourners and Passengers, unknown to the world and of a strange garb, behaviour and ap­pearance in it, not enjoying any thing as the world enjoyes, not using any thing as the world useth, not honouring men or recei­ving honour from men, as the world gives or receives honour, but honouring men in the Lord, and receiving honour from the Lord: and what ever they seem to retain of the earthly things, they hold as Stewards under the Lord, not using or disposing of them as they think good, but waiting for the discovery of the Masters pleasure, who is to order, in his Counsel and Wisdom, all that is his own to his own glory. The Law required a tenth part to be given up to the Lord: the Gospel requires all; Soul, Body, Spirit, Goods, good Name, &c. even that the whole posses­sion be sold and laid at the Masters feet: and he that keepeth a­ny thing back, cannot be a Disciple, cannot be a Souldier of Christ, but must needs entangle himself with the affairs of this life. This is sound and savoury, even the Truth of Jesus, as it is known and felt in the renewed Spirit: but his Words, if he measure them in the pure Light of God, he will perceive not to have sprung thence, but to have been formed in the earthly wise part, even in that wisdom, understanding and comprehension, which is shut out of the Mysteries of Gods Kingdom.

For his second, That nothing but the enjoyment of God, the Fountain of all Goodness, can truly and really content an immortal Soul: And for his third, That no man can enjoy God, but he that loves him with all his heart, and with all his Soul, and (for his sake) his Neighbour as himself: I own both the things them­selves [Page 13] and these words, and I felt a good savour in them at the reading of them: onely let me say this, if he put men upon striving after these things, without pointing them to the gift where the strength is received to perform, and where the wait­ing is to be for the strength, he cannot preach them profitably to his hearers.

To his fourth, That, though every sincere Convert, or regene­rate person loves God continually with his whole heart, as to the habit, or root of holy love; yet whilst he is in the body, he may sometimes fail of the Act, or fruit of it, and may offend God through the love of the creature. Which Truth (so much opposed in these dayes) is clear, and manifest in the holy Scriptures: particularly in the Re­cords of the hainous sins of the Prophet David, and Peter the Apo­stle.

Answ. The Lord Circumciseth the heart of Believers under the New Covenant, to love the Lord their God with all their heart, that they may live: he causeth the Plant to spring up out of the dry and barren ground, which he watereth with his Blessing; and he layeth his Axe to the Root of the old Tree, hewing at it, even till he hath cut it up: he engrafteth the Eternal Word into the heart, and by it is daily purifying thereof, fulfilling the good pleasure of his goodness therein, and carrying on the Work of Faith with power: and the Ministry which he gave, was for the perfecting of the Saints. (Ephes. 4.12, 13.) which Ministry exhorted and encou­raged Believers (from God's Promises of his presence and powerful operation of his Spirit in the hearts of his Sons and Daughters) to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7.1. Now that the corrupt Tree shall never be cut down whilst man is in the body, that the heart shall never be throughly circumcised to love the Lord, but be in danger of offending God through the love of the Creature: this doctrine and belief springeth not from the pure Fountain of Life and Power, but the reasoning part hath gathered it from it's conceivings beneath the Power.

The Seed of God cannot sin (for as he is pure which begetteth, so is that pure which is begotten of him) nor can man sin, who is born of it and abides in it: and if God please to perfect the Birth and the work of Circumcision, What can hinder a man [Page 14] from being wholly born of it & from abiding in it? Indeed a man that strives in his own strength, either against sin or towards ho­liness, may well doubt of ever having it accomplished: but he that feels the Eternal Power beginning the work, and carry­ing it on daily, cannot doubt but he can perfect it, yea, and is encouraged (by the feeling thereof) to hope and wait on him for the perfecting of it.

As for his instances of David and Peter, they reach not the thing: For though David and Peter did fall, yet both David and Peter might attain an higher state before they went out of the body, then they were in before they fell. David was a great Prophet, and Peter a pretious Disciple, but yet there was an higher Estate to be administred, even the receiving that which the Prophets prophesied of, and which the Disciple was to wait for. The Disciples who had known Christ, and had been taught by him, and had received a Commission from him, to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth was given, yet were to wait for a Further and Higher State, even for receiving the Promise of the Father, the Power from on High, that he that was with them might be in them, John 14.17. John was as great as any Pro­phet, and yet he that was least in the Kingdom, was greater then he. Read the Acts of the Apostles, behold what a preti­ous people was brought forth, even in the beginning of the A­postles Ministry, how full of Faith, how stripped of the world, how single-hearted to God and one towards another, Acts 2.42. &c. and Acts 4.32. &c.) What would these be, abiding and growing up in the Vine? The cutting off of sin, is necessary while in the Body, but to make the committing of sin necessary while in the Body, is a great Derogation to the Power of Gods Grace, and to the Mystery of Faith, which overcometh the evils of the Heart, and the Worldly Nature within; purifieth the Conscience from dead works, and is held in the Pure Conscience. O that men knew the Power, and the Faith which stands in the Power: For then would not they judge it so impossible to be cleansed by the Faith through the Power. O that Light, that Light, that Pure Light of the Spirit, wherein the Living Blood runs, which cleanseth from all sin, and keepeth clean them that abide and walk in it! If this were but a little felt, such Do­ctrine [Page 15] as these (which are gathered in the comprehension from words read, without being let into the thing it self) would soon vanish, and find no place in the Heart where the Power dwells, nor in the understanding which is renewed, preserved and fed by the Power. For the things of God are to be known, and held in the understanding which is given of God (which understand­ing is of the Spirit, and is Spiritual) and not wirh the natural understanding, which cannot receive the things of the Spirit, but onely a carnal apprehension and sence of the words of the Spirit, according as a man can beat them out with, and com­prehend them in his reasoning part.

To the fifth, That the Souls of the faithful are alwayes growing in grace, whilst they are in the body; and at the instant of death, or separation from the body, our Lord Jesus shall present them to the Father without spot, or blemish.

Answ. Christ presenteth to the Father, when he hath purified the heart and mind, and made it fit for Gods pure life and pre­sence. He hath received the fulness from the Father, and hath freely given of his grace and of his truth to the sons of men, to regenerate them, to cleanse and sanctifie their hearts, and make them fit for God to dwell in. He sitteth in his Temple as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver (who is like a Refiner's Fire and like Fuller's Soap) and when he hath purified his Disciples, his Children, his Levites, he presenteth them to the Lord, for the Lord to Tabernacle and dwell in: when he hath throughly con­secrated them, he presenteth them as Kings and Priests to his Father, to offer up an Offering for Righteousness, and to reign with him in his Kingdom, Mal. 3.3. Rev. 1.5. And there were some so purified by the leaven of the Kingdom (which purgeth out the old leaven by degrees, even till at length it hath made the lump wholly new) that to them all things were pure, Titus 1.5. There were some come unto Mount Sion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels, to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just men, made perfect, and to Jesus the Moderator of the New Covenant, and to the Blood of Sprinkling, Heb. 12.22, 23, 24. Thus it was before the Apostacy: yea, [Page 16] and after the Apostacy there were some found standing on Mount Sion again, such as had learned the New Song, such as were redeemed from the Earth, such as were not defiled with Women, (with any of the false Churches or their false wayes of worship) but had kept their Virginity in the Wilderness. If ye would know who these were, they were the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb after the Apostacy, who were throughly cleansed by the Spirit of burning, insomuch as in their mouth was found no guile, but they were without fault before the Throne of God, Revel. 14. v. 1. to 6.

The Work of the Spirit of Christ in the heart is an inward work, and doth not consist in outward time or seasons, but in spiritual degrees and seasons: which when they are finished, the heart renewed, the spirit changed, the work wrought out; then the glory of the Father is revealed, the entrance into the everlasting Kingdom Ministred, and then there is a sitting down in the everlasting Mansion, even with Christ in the Heavenly places which he hath prepared, where they that are redeemed, and purged, and sanctified, sit together with him: and as the body cannot hinder his entring into the spirits of his Saints, and his dwelling in them, no more can it hinder their entring into him and dwelling in him.

Now there are several exercises of Spirit, several measures of Faith, and several degrees of Life and Glory. Some are under the Clouds, some in the Sea; some in Egypt, some in the Wilderness; some waiting for his appearance, some in the enjoyment of him already appeared. In some the work of Re­generation, of Sanctification, of newness of Spirit and Life is but begun, in others it is interrupted and they come to a losse; in some it is much carried on, even towards consummation, and some are already compleat in him, finding fulness of satisfa­ction in him (in whom the everlasting Springs are opened, to the full content of their hearts) and bring forth fruit to him, to the full content and satisfaction of his heart. In the Apo­stles dayes there were those that waited for his coming, and there were those also that knew him come, and had received the good understanding from him, and were in the Eternal life, John 5.20.

[Page 17]Yet this doth not exclude growth, for the fulness is infinite: and though a perfect state may be attained in the perfect gift, yet there is a growth in the perfection (for Christ who was per­fect, and in whom was no guile, grew in Wisdom and Know­ledge, and in favour with God and men.) And as God is in­finite, so that which is transplanted into him, there is no growth in him; but the Tree, which stands in God's holy Earth, by his pure River of waters, shall grow for ever into his endless life and fulness.

To his sixth, That no man can so know God as to love him with all his heart, and with all his Soul, but through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and him Crucified: Who, by those grievous sufferings which he endur'd when he was upon Earth, made satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of all those that believe in his Name: so that it is as consistent with the justice, as with the mercy of God, to forgive them their sins, and make them heirs of eternal life. God is just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

Answ. The knowledge of Christ is life Eternal, and in his Cross is the spiritual vertue, which cuts off the uncircumcision of the heart, whereby it is enabled to love the Lord. Now Christ is the Lord from Heaven, the quickning Spirit, who sow­eth the Seed of the Kingdom in the heart, and causeth it to spring up; out of which Seed the Faith, the Love, the Hope, the Meekness, the Patience, and every spiritual fruit springs and grows. And he that is thus born of this Seed, and receives the knowledge of life which springs from this Seed, he cannot but love him which begat him, and he reapeth the fruit of all that Christ did and suffered in that prepared body: and God is both just, and the Justifier of him, who is thus united to Jesus. But that man who knoweth not this Faith, nor is acquainted with the love which springeth from this Root, and which is of this Divine nature, but thinketh to be justified by applying to himself what is related in the Histories concerning Christ; this man deceives his Soul, and misseth of the true Justification: for God is just, who hath made the Promise sure to the Seed, and hath shut out man, further than he is born of the Seed, and found in the Seed. But he who abideth in the Seed, and in whom the Seed findeth pleasure and abideth, he cannot miss of [Page 18] the Promise, of the everlasting Righteousness, the Reconcilia­tion, the Peace, the Joy, and whatever else God giveth to the Seed.

To his seventh and last, That the ready way to receive Christ, the onely Light, by which we may see the way to Heaven: or so to believe in him that we may be saved by him, is, to forsake all that we have, that we may be his Disciples: that is to say, to take off our affections from things on the Earth, and to set them on things above, where Jesus sitteth on the right hand of God: putting our trust and confidence in the free, and in the infinite mercy of God, through Christ, to be guided by him in all our wayes, to be led by his good Spi­rit in all those wayes of grace and holiness, through which we must pass before we can attain to glory.

Answ. To know Christ as the Light eternal, (as he was yester­day, is to day, and will be for ever) to trust this Light in its con­victions, calls, and free openings of love, to feel its living vir­tue, and in that virtue to give up all thats of the earthly nature and spirit, to sell it for the everlasting inheritance, this is indeed the way to life. But it is not the doing of things which is of va­lue, for man may imitate and strive to do much, and may go a great way in forsaking all, and in taking off his affections from things, (inasmuch as he may give all his goods to the poor, and his body to be burned, and yet it profit him nothing:) but it is the doing of things in the virtue, in the life, in the power which comes from Christ, which is of acceptance with God, and of advantage to the soul. Every motion and operation of true life springs from the root of life, and hath the virtue of the root in it: and that which differenceth it from all mens imitations, and from all the like­nesses which the earthly spirit can frame, is the nature and virtue of the root being found in it. Therefore he that will be a true Christian, must eye Christ the spring of his life, and keep in the feeling of his living virtue, and in that offer up all his Sacrifices of faith, love, and obedience to God: and he that will be a true Minister, must wait upon the power himself, to be an Instrument (in the hand of the power) to direct men to this, and to preserve and build them up therein.

But alas, this is the Stone, which the wise Builders have all along refused! The Builders before the coming of Christ, they [Page 19] got a knowledge concerning the Messiah to come, but being un­acquainted with the thing it self, rejected both it at its coming, and also the Vessel wherein it appeared. And the Builders all along the Apostacy, gat a knowledge of Christ come, and preached Believing in him crucified as the way to life; but the living Stone, the living thing it self (which is both the foundation, the corner-Stone, and the top Stone of the Building) they have been ignorant of, and ready to persecute every appearance of it. Christ can no more now appear in Spirit, than formerly he could in that prepa­red body of flesh; but the wise Builders now are as ready to cry out against him for a Blasphemer, a prophaner of Gods Ordinances, a deceiver of the people (yea, a Witch or one that hath a Devil) as the wise Builders then were. But Wisdom in all ages is justi­fied by her Children, and of none else. He that is born of the Wisdom, he can discern the womb, and own the fruit and branchings forth thereof under the mean dark vail, whereby it hides it self from all the fleshly wise of every age. The King­dom of God cometh not by observation, the wisest Scribes and Pha­risees could not know it by all the observations, which they could gather out of Moses and the Prophets Writings; nor can any now know it, by any observations they can gather out of the Apostles Writings: but by being born of that spirit whereof they were born, and by being formed in that womb wherein they were formed, by this means alone is the thing come to be known which they knew. He that receiveth the same eye, seeth the same thing, according to his measure: and coming to the life, wherein they received the Truth, the words which they spake concerning the Truth are easie. Thus as they were writ in the Spirit, so are they there along truly read: and being so read, they become exceeding profitable to that which so reads them: but man guessing, and imagining, and reasoning in his carnal wisdom concerning the things of God, and so gathering sences and meanings about the words and expressions of Scripture, doth but build up a Babel, which the eternal Life and Power will throw down (when ever he appears) with that which built it. O that men were wise to wait for the discovery of the true Rock, and of the true Builder upon that Rock, that that City and Buil­ding might be raised in them, which God alone can rear, that [Page 20] they might not be left desolate and miserable in that stormy day, which will shake all Buildings, and Foundations, and Rocks but our Rock: wherein all Professors, and Preachers, and high Notionists, and what ever sort else can be named (who have stumbled at Gods living Truth, and at the pure appearance of his redeeming Power, which in this age hath mightily broke forth, after the long dark night of Apostacy, to the sight of every eye which is opened in the Spirit) shall confess with tears, sorrow, anguish and shame, that their Rock is not in our Rock, they themselves being Judges. For though all sort of Pro­fessors generally own Christ as the Rock in words, yet most miss of the thing: and the subtile Enemy hath made use of a No­tion, or apprehension of the thing in the carnal mind, to de­ceive them of the thing, to keep them from feeling the eternal vertue, the living Power of Life in the heart, which is the Arm of Gods Salvation, whereby Christ draws mans lost soul and spirit out of the Pit, out of the Grave, out of Sin and cor­ruption up to the Father. But O how are poor hearts deceived, who think by a believing of what Christ did, of a satisfaction he made for them while he was here on Earth, though they lye in the Pit all their dayes, though they carry the body of sin a­bout with them to the very last of their time here in the body, and have not felt the Arm of God's Power breaking down their spiritual enemies, their lusts, their corruptions, and redeeming them from them, yet hope to be saved in the end, and to be presented without spot or wrinkle to God! Christ had the name Jesus given him, because he was to save his People from their sin: and no man can truly and livingly know the name Jesus, further than he feels the saving vertue of it: but he that effe­ctually feels the vertue, he indeed knows the name, and can bow at the name, feeling his lusts and enemies bowed under by the power thereof, and that raised up in him, which can Wor­ship the Father in the Spirit and in the Truth. O that the sons of men knew, O that the Teachers and Professors of this age knew, what they have so long reviled and trampled upon! Surely they would mourn bitterly, kiss the Son, and escape the wrath.

Now, if the Lord please to smite any ones earthly wisdom [Page 21] and comprehension (which is the main thing which stands in the way of the pure openings and revelations of the life) and give him the feeling of any thing here written, let him in fear acknowledge the Lord, sacrificing to his goodness, and waiting upon him to be kept in that feeling, not magnifying or villifying any of his In­struments, but in meekness and humility embracing the instructi­ons of the Almighty, from the hand which he pleaseth to give them forth by. As for me, I am but a Shell; and if this party knew me (who sets me up so high, preferring me above many, whom the Lord hath preferred far above me) he would soon acknowledge me to be a very poor, weak, contemptible one: yet this I must by no means deny, that the pure Liquor of the eternal Life, at its pleasure springeth up and issueth out through me; though I can also in true understanding say, that it issueth out far oftener and much more abundantly through others. Let it have its honour, where ever it appears; and the Lord bring down that in peoples hearts, which hindreth the owning and receiving of its virtue.