O Israel, the royal seed, the plant of renown, the living off­spring of eternity; O daughter of Sion, who didst once shine with the beauty and glory of life, what is become of thee! how art thou held captive, and chained up in Babylon! how dost thou lie fullied among the pots! how are the wings of thy Dove clipped! how art thou covered, and polluted with the filth of the whole earth!

O take up a Lamentation, weep O Israel, mourn O daughter of Jerusalem bewail thy widdow-hood, thy desolation, thy loss of Hus­band, thy sad captivity, thy banishment out of thine own land, and thy thraldom in the land of thine enemy.

What is become of thy God, the mighty God of Jacob, whose out­stretched arme hath been able to save and redeem his seed out of bondage? What enemy hath been able to stand before him? What wild Boar out of the Wood, or wild Beast out of the Forrest, was able to break into his Vineyard, while he kept the fence? where is that arm that smote Rahab, and slew the Dragon? Where is that hook that he was wont to put into the nostrils of the Leviathan? Pharaoh is alive, the wise Egyptians have power, Egypt holds the seed in bondage, Ge­bal, Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistins with the inhabitants of Tire, are all able to smite Israel, and to stop up the well-springs of life. Awake O arm of the Lord, and awaken Israel, that thou again maist become his Saviour in the sight of all the Nations; and let all the house of Israel, being awakened, mourn in the Spirit of the Lord after the Lord.

What is become of thy Messiah, the Lords anointed, the Captain of the Lords hoasts, the Angel of the Covenant of life, who was wont to go in and out before thee in fighting of the Lords battels, who was the Prince and Saviour in the land of peace and rest, who walked in the midst of the candlesticks, who was thy King thy shepherd thy tem­ple wherein thou worshippedst, and the eternal light of thy life in the Land of the living?

What is become of that holy spirit which q ickned thee to God, [Page 2] and which lived in thee being quickned? which kept thee alive in him that liveth, and made thee taste the sweetnesse of life continu­ally? Where is the anointing, which suppled thee all over with the oyl of gladnesse and salvation? Where is the comforter, that refreshed thy spirit continually, and led thee into all truth, teaching thee all the things of God, according to thy measure of growth in the life? Where is the Spirit of thy Father, which Spirited thee with thy Fathers nature, which begot and brought forth the life, power, glory, majesty, eternity of thy Father in thee?

What is become of Sion, the holy Mount, whereon thou wast built? Sion, the fortresse of holinesse, where is it? What is become of Jeru­salem the holy City, thy Mother whereof thou wast born? What is become of that Covenant of life, in whose womb thou wast begotten and brought forth, and by whose milk, and breath thou wast afterward nourished and brought up?

Where are all the fruits of the holy Land? the pleasant Grapes, the sweet Figs, the precious Olives, that yeelded Wine and Oyl to make the heart glad, and to refresh the countenance of the Lord of Life? Where's the joy in the Lord, the obedience to the Lord, the praying, the praising, the living, the walking in his Spirit, the entering into and bringing forth fruit in his pure understanding, and in his holy un­spotted will and movings in the purified heart?

Alas, alas, Babylon hath prevailed, her King hath reigned, Sion hath been held in bonds, and that which hath sprung up under her name, hath been the filthy off spring of Babylon, the seed of the Mo­ther of Harlots; and these have brought forth sower fruit, loathsome fruit, finely painted to the view of that eye which cannot search into it, but loathsom in its nature. This hath been the State of the apo­stacy since the daies of the Apostles, wherein that which hath not been of God hath reigned, and that which hath been of God hath suffered, and been reproached as if it had not been of God, and hath panted and mourned after the springing up of the spring of its life, and its gathering into it.

The deep sense of this hath afflicted my Soul from my tender years, the eternal witnesse awakening in me, and the eternal light manifest­ing the darknesse all along unto me, though I knew not that it was the light, but went about to measure its appearances in me, by words which it self had formerly spoken to others, and so set up my own un­derstanding and comprehension as the measurer, although I did not [Page 3] then perceive or think that I did so. Thus continually (through igno­rance) I slew the life, and sold my self for a thing of nothing, even for such an appearance of life, as my understanding part could judge most agreeable to Scriptures. This the Lord blew upon, though its comlinesse was unutterable (the life still feeding my Spirit under­neath, from whence sprang an inward beauty and freshnesse:) then such a day (or rather night) of darknesse and distresse overtook me, as would make the hardest heart melt to hear the relation of; yet the Lord was in that darknesse, and he preserved me, and was forming of me to himself; and the taste I had then of him, was far beyond what ever I had known in the purest strains of my Religion formerly. And the Lord powerfully shut up my understanding, and preserved my life from the betrayer. But yet that was not perfectly destroyed in me, upon which the Tempter might work: and the Lord suffered him to lay a snare, and my feet were intangled unawares, in so much as the simplicity was betrayed, and the fleshly part grew wise by those exercises wherewith the Lord had tried me. This poysoned me, this hurt me, this struck at the root of my life, and death insensibly grew upon me. The Devil (the envious seeds-man) cousened me with the Image, which before I had had in the truth opening my understand­ing part (by the subtilty of temptation and deceit) which the Lord had been destroying; and letting that in, which the Lord had shut out: and then the Lord took away, and shut up from that part, that which before he had opened to the seed, whereby the way of life be­came stopped, and the way of death opened in a Mystery. And then I could talk of universal love, of spiritual liberty, &c. and wait for the glorious appearance of life, having lost that which formerly gave me the sense of its nature: yea, at length I could seek to the creatures for what they could yeeld, and strive to rub out the time of my mise­ry without the immediate presence of the life of the Creator. And as for this despicable people (whom I now own in the Lord) I could measure them, I could fathome them: I could own their stand­ing, and yet see their shortnesse, and could (with satisfaction to my spirit) write death upon them, as the end of that dispensation of life, into which I saw them entering, and in part entred. Here was my standing, when the Lord drew his sword upon me, and smote me in the very inmost of my soul: by which stroke (lying still a while un­der it) my eyes came to be opened; and then I saw the blindnesse of that eye, which was able to see so far, and the narrownesse of [Page 4] that heart and spirit, which was so large and vast in comprehending: and my Soul bowed down to the Lord to slay this, to starve this, to make a fool of this; yea my desire was (to present sence) as great after the death of this, as after the enjoyment of life in the Lord.

And now this hath opened a fresh spring of sorrow in me, a mourn­ing over the just one, which hath been slain by me. O how cruelly, how often have I murthered that, which came to give me life! how often have I sought to have my own understanding, my own compre­hension, my own will and affections in Religion live, and the righte­ous pure immortal principle die! though I did not then call it my own (as other men do not now) but took it to be of God, and to be the thing that was to live: for I also was deceived, and thought the Bastard (which was a false conception) was to inherit not knowing him to be the Bastard, but taking him for the right heir. And my soul is exceedingly enlarged in me towards those, who at this day lie un­der the power of the same deceit, who have slain the Lord of life as well as I, and in whom the contrary nature lives under a covering; who cannot possibly see that this (which now lives in them) is not the heir until the same eye be opened in them.

The life that was stirring, at the beginning of the trouble of these Nations, was very precious: it did unite to God, it did unite to one another; it kindled an universal sence of the captivity, of the bondage, of the great oppression of Israel, and a joynt cry went up to God for deliverance. And God heard the cry, and arose to deliver, and did begin to break the yoke, both outwardly in the Nation, and inwardly in peoples spirits.

But then the tempter did also set himself at work, again to intangle Israel. For this end he brings forth likenesses of that which Israel desired, and was seeking after. He brings forth several forms of wor­ship to allure some with, several sorts of notions to allure others with, several fresh appearances of life, of love, of liberty, to tempt the peo­ple of God aside from following that spirit which rose up to deliver. Thus comes he forth, and prevails: he divides in Jacob, and scatters in Israel; drawing one part to this form, another part towards that form; one to this Notion, another to that Notion; one to this in­ward Image, another to that spiritual Idol; and all from the life, all from the power, all from the Saviour, all from the deliverer: and so the work stops. It stops in the Nation, and it stops in peoples spi­rits, and men generally wheele about, and center again, and apply [Page 5] themselves to make Images like the Images they had destroyed: and so the Captivity returns, Israel is turned back into his bonds, and the Spirit which oppressed him before, again crusheth him, and rules over him. And so great hath the breach been upon Israel, that the Spi­rit of the world is become hardened, and thinks there's an end of this work of God, and now they may venture again to settle both Church and State, upon the old Principles of that wisdom which the Lord was shaking.

And now, where is the people whom the Lord was redeeming; where is the praying people, the panting people, the mourning peo­ple, the people that could have travelled from sea to sea to have had the will of God revealed? are they not run into the earth? is not the spirit of the earth come over them? are they not dividing the spoils? The inward Jew, the renewed nature is sunk, lost, made a prey of, the Gentile, the Heathenish Spirit hath risen up, and seated it self in a form of worship, or in some high Notions of knowledge, on which that Spirit (which knows not the Tree of life) loves to feed. Some are stark dead, no sence at all in them, but life quite swallowed up of death. Others perhaps are still pressing towards the Kingdom, but in the wrong nature, in that which shall never obtain; and they may there meet with some enjoyments, but not enjoyments from or of the true thing, but of the likenesse which the enemy hath painted to deceive them with: and they may also wait and hope that the King­dom will come, and yet be out of that which knows its coming, and can alone prepare the heart for its appearance. Yea some are got so high, that they are even in the Throne: They have the love, the life, the liberty, the joy, the peace of the Kingdom (as they imagine.) They can reign as Kings without us, without that nature and princi­ple wherein our life lies. But these mighty ones, these Princes the Lord will pull from their seat, and raise up the humble, the meek, the low in heart, the beggar from the dunghil, and give to him the Throne of his glory.

Now this, my life in love saith to you all, as the proper and only way of your recovery and redemption, come to that which can judge you. Sion is to be redeemed with judgement, and her converts with righteousnesse. If Sion be redeemed, if the seed be again raised, that Spirit which hath got up above it (and keepeth it down) must be judged, and brought under by judgement. How was Israel of old to be recovered from her idolatries and whoredoms, but by [Page 6] owning and coming to that light in the Prophets which manifested, and judged it? Ye also have worshiped Idols, ye also have run a whoring from the Lord, and have been inflamed with Idols under every green Tree. Every new Idol, every fresh appearance, every lively likeness hath tempted you aside from the living God. When one way of worship hath been dry and barren, ye have left that; when some notions of things have appeared empty and shallow, ye have been weary of them; but the next new Idol, under the next green Tree, hath drawn you aside into the bed of whoredom, where ye have lost true fellowship with the true God of life, and have been be­trayed of the seed of life, which he began to quicken and raise from the dead. Now come to that which judgeth the Idol, the Idol-maker, the whorish Spirit which tempteth aside from the true husband, and that Spirit which is liable to be Tempted; and let these be cut down by the judgment, and then the true seed of life will spring and flourish again. There is no other way, be not deceived. That must be awake­ned in you which can judge you, and must bring forth its judgment in you unto Victory, if life in you ever rise and get the dominion over death. And that Spirit which now rules in you (and keeps the life down) knows this very well, and therefore endeavours all it can, to keep you from owning judgement. He would faine keep the light in others from judging you, Do not judge, saith he, All judgement is committed to the Son. True, but shall not the light of the Son judge? shall not the light of that candle which the Lord hath lighted in one heart, discover and judg the darkness in another heart? Light doth make manifest, and its manifestation is its judgement, the uttering of the words are but the declaration of what the light in the heart hath done before, and cannot but do; for as long as it is light, where ever it come, it will and cannot but discover and judge the darkness it meets with, though the darkness cannot owne either its discovery or its judgment, but must needs except against it. Now if he cannot do this (which is utterly impossibly for the dark spirit to do) then, in the next place, he fortifies and hardens the heart, as much as he can, from receiving the judgement, by perswading him to look upon it as the judgement of another spirit like his own, and not as the judge­ment of the light, And so what Paul said concerning mans judge­ment (that it was a small matter to him to be judged by mans judgement) the same will he say concerning this judgement. [Page 7] And yet, as the greatest judgement of man, in the highest strain of the comprehending part, shall fall: so the lowest judgement of the light in the weakest child shall stand; and all the exalted ones of the earth shall in due time fall before it, though now (in the pre­sent elevation of their minds) they may rise high above it, and trample it down. Therefore be not afraid to judge deceit. O ye weak ones, but be sure that the light alone in you judge; and lie very low in the light, that that part, which the light in you judgeth in others, get not up in you, while the light is making use of you to judge it in others.

And now ye poor lost souls (who find the need of judgment, and any willingness within you to embrace it) wait first, for the rising of the Judge of Israel in your hearts, and in the next place wait for the joyning of your hearts to him; both which are to be done by his eternal light, which manifests and gives his life. In the lowest shin­ing of this light there is the judgement, and there is the King him­self (who is not severed from the least degree or mersure of his own light) bow down to him, kiss his feet; know the nature of the thing, and subject to it: worship him here in his humiliation, receive him in his strokes, in his smitings (and observe, and turn from that in your selves which smites him) and ye shall one day see him in his majesty, in the power of his love, in his everlasting healings and embraces. And know assuredly, that that which will not worship him here, will not be fit to worship him there, nor shall not; but shall only tremble at the dread of his majesty, and be confounded at the sweetness of his love, but not be able to bow down to it in the true life. For that Spirit which is out of the life, is shut out in its highest desires, hopes, attainments, enjoyments, seemingly spiritual rest, universal love, liberty and peace, as well as in its darkest and grossest paths of pollution. Therefore wait to know the nature of things, that ye may not be deceived with the highest, choicest, and most powerful appearances of death in the exactest image of life, not stumble at true life in its lowest and weakest ap­pearance. And this ye can only attain to by a birth of, and growth up in the true wisdome, which slaies that spirit which lives on the same things in the comprehension, and gathers a stock of knowledge and experiences in its own understanding [Page 8] part. These are words of tender love, and they will also be words of true life, where the Fathers earth opens to drink them in, to whose good pleasure and blessing my soul commends them.

Some Propositions concerning the only way of Salvation.

1. That there is no way of being saved from sin and wrath eternal, but by that Christ alone which died at Jerusalem. There is no name, vertue, life, or power under heaven given, by which lost man may be saved, but his alone.

2. That there is no way of being saved by him, but through receiv­ing him into the heart by a living faith, and having him formed in the heart. Christ saves not as he stands without at the door knock­ing, but as he is let in; and being let in, he brings in with him that life, power, and mercy which breaks down the wall of partition, unites to God, and saves. The Jews could not be saved formerly by belief of a Messiah to come (with the observation of all the Laws and Ordinances of Moses) nor can any now be saved by be­lief of a Christ already come (with observation of all that the Apostles Commanded or Practised) but alone by the re­ceiving of him into the heart, who there works out the Salva­tion.

3. That there is no way of receiving Christ into the heart, and of having him formed there, but by receiving the light of his spirit, in which light he is, and dwels: Keep out the light of the spirit, keep out Christ; let in the light of the spirit, let in Christ: for the Fa­ther and the Son are light, and are alone known and received in the light, but never out of it.

4. That the way of receiving the light of the spirit into the heart (and thereby uniting with the Father and the Son) is by hearkning to, and receiving its convictions of sin there. The first operation of the spirit towards man lying in the sin, is to convince him of the sin: and he that receives not the convincing light of the spirit, the work is stopped in him at the very first; and Christ can never come to be formed in him, because that light, whereby he should be formed, is kept out. And then he may talk of Christ, and practise duties (pray, read, and meditate much) and gather com­forts from promises, and run into Ordinances, and be exceeding zealous and affectionate in all these, and yet perish in the end. [Page 9] Yea the Devil will let him alone (if not help him in all this) know­ing that he hath him the surer thereby, he being (by the strict obser­vation of these) kept out of the danger of his condition, which other­wise, perhaps, he might be made sensible of.

Object. But I may be deceived in hearkning to a light within, for while I think that I therein hearken to the light of the Spirit, it may prove but the light of a natural conscience.

Answ. 1. If it should be but the light of a natural Conscience, and it draw thee from sin (which separates from God) and so prepare thee for the understanding, believing, and receiving what the Scri­pture saith of Christ, this is no very bad deceit; but if in the result it should prove to have been the light of the Spirit, and thou all thy life time hast took it for the light of a natural conscience (and so hast despised, or at least neglected, if not reproached it) thou wilt then find that this was a very bad deceit.

2. I can shew thee by express Scripture, that it is the work of the spirit to convince of sin, Joh. 16.8. And again, that the Law (which is spiritual) manifesteth that which is corrupt and carnal, Rom. 7.14. But where canst thou shew me from Scripture, that a natural consci­ence can convince of sin?

3. Let any man give heed to the light in his heart, he shall find it to discover his most inward, his most secret, his most spiritual evils, which a natural light cannot do: for that which is natural cannot dis­cover that which is spiritual.

4. The Apostle saith, That it is the grace which hath appeared to all men, which teacheth not only godlinesse, but also sobriety and righte­ousnesse, Tit. 2.11 12. The light of the falne nature is darknesse, can teach nothing of God; what any man learns now of the true know­ledg of God, he learns by grace, which shines in the darknesse of mans nature, to leaven it with the true knowledg, though man (be­ing darknesse) can by no means comprehend it, and so cannot give it its true name.

Therefore take heed lest (through ignorance) ye blaspheme the holy light of the pure Spirit, calling that natural (looking on it with the carnal eye) which with the spiritual eye is seen to be spiritual. For thou that dost this, wilt be be also erring on the other hand, calling thy carnal meanings and conceivings (about the mind of the Spirit of God in Scripture) spiritual. And he that thus puts darknesse for light, must needs put light for darknesse; [Page 10] and then call evil good, and good evil: and so err from the Spirit of God in the whole course of his Religion, even in the most inward exercises of it.

Man by nature is dead in trespasses and sinnes, quite dead, and his conscience wholly dark. That which giveth him the sense of his death, and of his darknesse, must be another thing then his nature, even the light of the spirit of Christ, shining in his dark heart and conscience. It is the seed of the woman which not only destroyes, but also discovers all the deeds of the Serpent. Now this seed, this light is one in all, though there have been several dispensations of it: One to the Heathen, in whom it springs up after an hidden manner, even as it were naturally, from whence it had the name of the Light of Nature (though it be the mistery of life and salva­tion hid in them, Col. 1.27. this mistery in the Gentiles, it is ill translated among:) another to the Jews, in whom it was more vigorously stirred up by a Law given, who by types, and shadows, and righteous exercises according to the Law, were to be awakened to the living principle, Mich. 6.8. Another to the Christians, in whom it was livelily brought forth to light and life, by an especial dispensation of grace; in so much as that which was the Mistery in the Gentiles, and vailed from the Jews, being opened in them, was found to be Christ the hope, Col. 1.27. But under all these dispen­sations, the generality of men have fallen short of the glory of God, and missed of the substance. Therefore the Lord God is now bringing forth the substance it self, but under such a vail as hides it from the eye of mans wisdome, under what dispensation soever he be, and how high soever in that dispensation. To some it seems natural, to others legal; to some it seems from the power of Satan (or at least they pretend so) to others it seems the ministry of John Baptist. Thus men guess at it in the wisdome of their comprehensions, waiting the true line and plummet to measure it by.

Now to you who have not waited to learn in the wisdome of God the names of things (which there are given according to their nature) but in the forwardnesse of your spirits, from your gathered knowledg, without the living power have ventured to call that na­tural, which in the eternal wisdome is seen to be spiritual (and which hath been able to effect that, which all that knowledge which ye call spiritual, could never do) let me propose th conside­ration [Page 11] of one Scripture to your Consciences in the sight of God.

The Scripture is that in Job 28.12. to the end.

Where shall wisdome be found? and where is the place of under­standing? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the living. The deep saith, it is not in me; and the sea saith, not in me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thoreof, &c. Whence then cometh wisdome, and where is the place of understanding? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of Heaven. Destruction and death say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God un­derstandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof, &c. And he said unto man, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wis­dome, and to depart from evil is understanding.

Now consider well:

First, Is this natural wisdome or spiritual wisdome that is thus precious? What is this that destruction and death have heard the fame of? Is it the wisdome of nature? or is it Christ the wisdome of God?

Secondly, Where is the place of this? where doth God point man to find this wisdome? He points him to the fear, Unto man he said (he hath shewed thee, O man, what is good) Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. Go to the fear, there it is taught, that is the wisdom: learn by the fear to depart from evil, that's the understanding. This is it which is so pre­cious, which nothing can equalize or value, here is the place of it, thus it is to be learned. Sin overspreads all the land of darknesse, there is no fear of God before mens eyes there, there is no learning of the fear there, all the wisdom that man can come by, cannot teach it▪ he that learneth to fear God, to depart from evil, must learn of Christ the wisdom of God, and must deny all the varieties of the wisdome of men, which undertakes to teach it, but cannot.

Thirdly, What is that in every man which teachech the fear? which teacheth to depart from evil? Every man hath in him an eye that sees the evil; what is that eye which the God of this world doth so strive to blind, and doth so generally blind? Every man hath in him an enemy to evil, one that never consented to it, but still reproves it, and fights against it, even in [Page 12] secret: what is this? This is no less then a ray from Christ the wis­dome of God, out of the seat of the fear in every heart, to lead into the fear, where the Law of departing from eniquity is learned; and so this ray, being harkned unto, and followed in the fear, brings up into the love, into the life, into the light, into the wisdome, into the power. Do not shut your eyes now, O ye wise ones, but open your hearts, and let in that which knocks there, which can and will save you, being let in, and which alone can save you, For it is not a notion of a Christ without (with multitudes of practises of self-de­nyal and mortification thereupon) which can save, but Christ heard knocking, and let into the heart. This will open the Scriptures aright; yea this is the true key, which will truly open words, things, and Spirits; but he that opens without this key, is a Thief and a Robber, and shall restore (in the day of Gods Judgment) all that he hath stollen; and woe to him, who when he is stripped of what he hath stollen, is found naked. The Scriptures were generally given forth to the people of God; part to the Jews, part to the Christians. He that is born of the life, hath right unto them, and can read and understand them in the Spirit, which dwels in the life, But he that is not born of the Spirit, is but an intruder, and doth but steal other mens light, and other mens conditions and experiences into his carnal understanding, for which they were never intended, but only to be read and seen in that light which wrote them. And all these carnal apprehensions of his (with all the faith, hope, love, knowledge; exercises, &c. which he hath gained into his Spirit hereby, with all his prayers, tears and fasts, and other limitations) will become loss to him, (for he must be stripped of them all, and become so much the more naked) when God recovers his Scriptures from mans dark Spirit (which hath torn them, and exceedingly prophaned them with his conceivings, guessings, and imaginings) and restores them again to his people. The Prophets, and Apostles who wrote Scripture, first had the life in them; and he who understands their words, must first have the life in him. He that understands words of life, must first have life in himselfe. And the life (from which the word came) is the measurer of the words, and not the words of the life. And when the Scripture is interpreted by the life and Spirit which penned it, there is then no more jangling and contending about it; for all this is out of the life, from and in that Spirit, nature, and mind where the lust, the enmity, the contention is, and not the unity, the love, [Page 13] the peace. But this is it which undoeth all, the dead spirit of man reads Scripture, and from that wisdome which is in the death (not knowing the mind of the Spirit) gives meanings: and from believ­ing and practising the things there spoken of (which death may do, as well as speak of the fame) gathers an hope that all shall be well at last for Christs sake, though it feel not the purification, the cleansing, the circumcision which cuts off the body of sin and death here (for it is not to be cut off hereafter) and so gives an entrance into the ever­lasting Kingdom, where the King of righteousnesse is seen, known, and worshiped in spirit.

The Fundamental Principle of the Gospel.

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, 1 Joh. 1.5.

This was the message which Christ gave his Apostles to make way into mens hearts by. This is the first thing that is proper for the mind to receive which lyes in the darknesse; namely, that there is no dark­nesse in God, nothing but light. Darknesse is excluded from him, and the mind that lies in darknesse cannot have union or fellowship with him: Therefore he that will be one with God, and partake of his life, must come out of the darknesse, which hath no place with God, into the light where God is, and in which he dwels.

The work of the Son is to reveal the Father, and to draw to the Father. He reveals him as light (as the spring of light, as the foun­tain of light) and he draws to him as light. When he gives to his Apostles the standing message whereby they were to make him known to the world, and whereby men were to come into fellowship and acquaintance with him, this is it, That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Christ Jesus, the Son of God, he is the image of his substance, the exact image of this light, the light of the world, who is to light the world unto this substance. So that as God the Father is to be known as light, so Christ the Son also is to be known as light. He is the on­ly begotten of the Father of lights, the alone image wherein the eter­nal substance is revealed and made known. And he that receives this image, receives the substance; and he that receives not this I­mage receives not the substance.

Now there is a breath or spirit from this substance in this Image, which draws to this Image (thus the Father draws to the Son) and the Image again draws to the substance (thus the Son draws to the Father) [Page 14] And so hearkning to this breath, the mind and soul is led out of the darknesse into the Image of light (which is the Son) and by the Image into the substance: and heres the fellowship which the Gospel in­vites to. Joyning to this breath, being transformed by this breath, living in this breath, walking in this holy inspiration, there's an unity with the Father and the Son, who themselves dwell in th [...] breath, from whom this breath comes, in whom this breath is, and in whom all are who are one with this breath.

This breath purgeth out the dark breath, the dark air, the dark power, the mistery of death and darknesse, and fils with the breath of light, with the breath of life, with the living power, with the ho­ly pure mistery.

Now as the Father is light, and the Son light, so this breath, this spirit which proceeds from them both, is light also. And as the Fa­ther who is light, can alone be revealed by the Son who is light: so the Son who is light, can alone be revealed by the spirit who is light.

He then who hears this message, that God is light, and feeleth him­self darknesse and in darknesse, and is willing to be drawn out of the darknesse, into fellowship with God who is light: This is requisite for him to know, namely, how he may be drawn out, who it is that draws, and which are the drawings, that he may not resist or neglect them (waiting for another thing) and so misse of the true and only passage unto life. Wherefore observe this heedfully.

None can draw to the Father but the Son: none can draw to the Son but the Father: and both these alone draw by the spirit. The Fa­ther by his Spirit draws to the Son, and the Son by the same spirit draws to the Father: and they both draw by the spirit as he is light, as he is their light lighted to that end. For as the Father is light, and the Son light, so that Spirit which draws to them, must be light also. He is indeed the breath of light, eternally lighted, to draw to the eter­nal Image of light, and then to the eternal substance, which eternally dwels in that eternal Image.

Q. But how may I know the Spirit and its operations, that I may follow him, and be led by him, both to the Son and to the Father, and so come into the everlasting fellowship?

A. The Spirit is to be known by those motions & operations which are proper to him, which flow alone from him, and from nothing else.

Q. What are they?

A. Convincing of sin, and reproving for sin, which nothing can [Page 15] truly discover and reprove but the light of the Spirit. Darknesse ca [...] not make manifest darknesse, but whatsoever maketh manifest is light. All the discoveries of darknesse in the hidden world of the heart, are from Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse, by his Spirit, what name soever men may give it, who know not this Sun, nor its light, nor the true names of things in the light, but have named even the things of God in the dark, and according to the dark apprehensions and conceptions of their own imaginary mind. But this I say to such as are so ready to beat their brains and dispute, leave contending about names, come to the thing, come to that which reproves thee in secret, follow the light that thus checks and draws; be diligent, be faithful, be obedient; thou shalt find this lead thee to that, which all thy knowledg out of this (even all that which thou callest Spiritual light) will never be able to lead thee.

And when thou art joyned to this light, it will shew thee him whom thou hast pierced (even so as never yet thou sawest him) and open a fresh vain of blood and grief in thee, to bleed and mourn over him; and work that repentance in thee, which thou never wast acquainted with before; and teach thee that faith, to which yet thou art a stranger; and teach thee that self-denyal, which will reach to the very root of that nature which yet lives, even under that, and by means of that which thou callest spiritual light; and will lay such an yoke on thy neck, as the unrighteou one is not able to bear, yea such an one as the hypocrite which is able to hide it self under confessions of sin and forms of zeal, knowledg, devotion and worship) shall be daily tor­mented and wasted with. And then thou shalt know what it is to wait upon God in the way of his judgments, and find the powers of life and death striving for thy soul, and daily floods and stormes encompassing and attending thee, under which thou wilt assuredly fall and perish, unlesse the everlasting arm of Gods power be stretched out for thee, and be continually redeeming thee. And then thou wilt feel and see how sin is pardoned, and how it is bound; how death brake in upon Adam, and how it daily breaks in upon mankind; and what that standard is, which the spirit of the Lord lift­eth up against the powers of darknesse. And then thou wilt come clear­ly to perceive how that which thou hast called religion formerly (which flowed not from this principle) hath been but the invention of thine own imaginary mind though thou fatheredst it upon the Scriptures, as most men do most of their inventions about Doctrine and Worship) [Page 16] wherein thou hast been in a dream of being changed, and yet remainest still the same in nature, and hast had a name that thou hast lived, but art still dead; a name of being sanctified, but still uncleane; a name of being justified, but still condemned by the light in thine own con­science, which is one with him who is thy Judge, and who will judge according to it. And so, as that which is real taketh place in thee, so that which hath been but imaginary will passe away.