XIII. The True Christian's Faith and Experience concerning a Holy Life. The true Christian believeth, that it is his duty to live a holy life, and to forsake the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of the world, (which lies in wickedness,) and to keep God's holy will and commandments. And they are not grievous unto him; for he loves the law of God in his heart, and sees it written there with his own finger, enjoying that precious promise, "I will write my law in their hearts, and put my fear into their inward parts."* And he can say as David once did, “Oh how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day! How sweet are thy words unto my taste; yea, sweeter than the honey to my mouth; thy law is my delight; the law of thy mouth is better to me than ten thousands of gold and silver." The true Christian being in this estate, and persevering in this love of God and his law, it becomes his meat and drink to do the will of his heavenly Father. And so by walking in this law, and meditating in it, and by feeding on this word which is sweeter than honey, he becomes so united with it, and so natural a subject and child of it, that he comes to be able to say, as some of old did, "We can do nothing against the truth." This is the true forsaking the devil and all his works, &c. and the keeping God's holy will and commandments. And as the true Christian grows up in this, he doth always that which pleaseth him, like unto his elder brother, the captain of his salvation, who is gone before, being bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, sitting in heavenly places with him, beholding the glory of their heavenly Father, even the same glory which was before the world began, before the `devil and his works entered, before his holy will and commandments were broken, or before the forbidden fruit was eaten. Those that have their eyes anointed with eye-salve, and are clothed with fine linen, and have their garments washed in the blood of the lamb, and follow him whithersoever he goeth, and have no guile in their mouths, but stand before the throne of God without spot or wrinkle, those are they that are redeemed from the earth, and have their conversation in heaven, and enjoy those things, and give the glory to him who is God blessed forever. The titular Christian, he saith and professeth, that it is his duty to live a holy life, to forsake the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of the world, and to keep God's holy will and commandments, but never cometh to witness that estate. It is very grievous to him to make straight steps to his feet; he enjoys not that precious promise, the • Jer. xxxi. 33. law writ in his heart, and the fear which keeps the heart clean, in the inward parts; neither is the law of God his meditation all the day, nor his delight therein; neither are his words to him sweeter than honey, or better than thousands of gold and silver. He cannot say that he doth nothing against the truth; nor that he doth always that which pleaseth God; nor that he follows Christ the captain of salvation: neither is he a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; nor sits in heavenly places with him, beholding the glory of God, &c. though he will sometimes talk of these things, as they are written in the holy scriptures; but in his heart he is a stranger to them. And God's holy witness in his own conscience makes him confess that his heart is desperately wicked, and that his thoughts and meditations are defiled, and full of sin, and that his best performances or doings are accompanied with sin and corruption, and that in all he doth, he doth something against the truth. And further, he is so far from living a holy life, and forsaking the devil and all his works, and keeping God's holy will and commandments, that he is begotten into such a belief and persuasion, that it is not possible to do it while he breathes in the air of this world, but must always be sinning, and doing that which he ought not to do, and leaving undone that which he ought to do; always confessing, always sinning, and never forsaking; so always reaping the wages of sin, which is death, and so always wanting the mercy and forgiveness, which he that forsakes the devil and all his works, partakes of. So in short, this is one of the last lessons the devil can teach his children, viz. to persuade them, and make them believe, that they cannot cease from sin, but must be committers of it, and servants to it, and that they cannot forsake him and all his works, nor keep God's holy will and commandments so long as they live in these houses of clay.* Such titular Christians as these, he hath them in chains and fetters strong enough, nothing less than the mighty arm and power of God is able to break them, and to release those poor captives, and to redeem them out of this deep pit of misery, wherein is no water, wherein their souls or inward man lies as among the pots, soiled with the smoke and soot of the bottomless pit. "O God! hasten, and bring deliverance to these poor bond-slaves of sin and satan," is the cry of the souls of the righteous, who have the mind of their heavenly Father, who desires not the death of them that die, "but that they should come to the knowledge of his truth, and be saved,” and be partakers with them of the exceeding riches and glory that is laid up for all that love his appearance, and is ready to be revealed to all that truly wait for it. * Those that preach this belief and persuasion in the world are direct ministers of 1 satan. XIV. The True Christian's Faith and Experience concerning the Motion or Moving of the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of the Old Serpent in the Hearts of Men. The true Christian is indued with a heavenly spirit of discerning, by which he seeth to the beginning, before sin entered the world, and by it perceiveth how it entered, and how it hath grown and increased, and filled the earth with violence; and how that old serpent, (which at first was fain to use great subtilty and lies, and make great promises, before he could prevail against Eve,) is now grown so powerful a prince in his kingdom of darkness in the hearts of the children of men, in whom he rules, that he no sooner commands, but they obey. He needs not use his subtilty and cunning to betray, allure, and persuade, nor make great promises, before he can win to his obedience, many being grown such natural children of him, and such born slaves in his kingdom, that now in these days his commands are sufficient to thousands and ten thousands; and his very motions to evil have gained such a powerful name in the world, even among the titular Christians, that they count him too mighty to be withstood, too powerful to vanquish, too strong to war with, overcome and conquer in all his motions, commands and temptations, while on this side the grave. Hereby people are become home-bred slaves, and have sold themselves for nought, having let in that accursed faith that hath sprung up in the apostacy from the true faith, that they can never resist all the motions of the devil, nor disobey all his commands, nor be delivered from all his temptations, till the death of their natural bodies, which is then too late; for, "as the tree falls, so it lies," &c. Now, the titular Christian will readily acknowledge and confess, that the motions of the devil are strong, powerful, and present with him and in him, and that thereby he is stirred up to evil. But he doth not believe that the spirit of God is so nigh him, and present with him, moving in him against the motions of the evil one; nor that there is sufficient power from God given to him, to preserve him from obeying the motions and temptations of the world, flesh and the devil, and to move him to that which is good, and enable him to do it. Also he hath no faith in this gift of God, but rather counts it delusion, and the property of a fanatic, to profess the knowledge of the spirit of God moving in them to speak and write good words, and to do good works. This professors and profane, learned and unlearned, make a mock at, concluding this operation of the spirit is not in use, nor to be known in these days, nor to be expected in these later ages of the world; as if God had left the world of mankind to be guided wholly by the motions of the devil; and as if there was no law or power in the mind able and sufficient to war against the law and power that is in the members, and overcome it. Thus to believe is the faith of devils, and not the faith of God's elect, for the true Christian, in this age as in former ages, is a living witness of the moving of the spirit of God to every good word and work, as the holy men and Christians in former ages did, who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and as they were led and guided by the spirit, as is testified in the holy scriptures, though made a mock of in this day. And this spirit of God accompanied the righteous in all ages, and always moved, led, and guided them into the way of peace; and as they obeyed it, and abode with it, they were preserved by it therein, though in the midst of their enemies. This preserved Joseph when the patriarchs* "moved with envy, sold him into Egypt," and out of the temptations he met with there; and the same spirit of envy that moved the patriarch's to sell Joseph, moved Cain to kill Abel, and moved Esau to hate his brother, and the Israelites to envy Moses and Aaron; and the Jews to persecute the prophets, Christ, and the apostles; and the unbelieving vagabond Jews were moved by this spirit of envy, to make a tumult against Paul and Silas, and to assault the house of Jason,† and to draw him and the brethren to the rulers, with false accusations. The spirit of envy is the same at this day, and his motions are the same, and all that obey them are found in the same work. And the motions of the holy spirit are also the same, and all that obey them bring forth the fruits thereof, and they are both manifested by their fruits. The one moves to good, the other to evil; the one to love and goodwill, the other to envy and hatred; the one to patience and long-suffering, the other to anger, rage, and persecution. The one moves to meekness, gentleness, and lowly-mindedness; the other to hardness, roughness, exaltedness, and high-mindedness. So by the fruits and effects are the motions of the spirit of God known and distinguished from the motions of the devil, the prince in darkness. And whosoever do or shall profess to speak or write words, or do works, in and by the motion of the spirit of God, if they tend not to good, if they are not accompanied with the fruits of the same, if they will not endure the trial of the spirit of God in others, and abide by the testimony thereof; and also agree with the testimonies of the holy men of old, left upon record in the holy scriptures-for the spirit of the prophets was subject to the prophets, and the Christians were of one mind-I say, (except this,) their motion is to be judged by the spirit of God, and them also that obey it, as a delusion of an exalted spirit, and as a high imagination, which must be brought down; and whoever glories therein, or boasts thereof, will fade and wither as a flower, and fall and corrupt as untimely fruit: the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.* XV. The True Christian's Faith and Experience concerning The cry in the world is, even among many called Christians, no revelation in these days; revelation is ceased; no spiritual vision to be known now; no sight of God now, as Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, and primitive Christians had, &c. Now, the faith, experience, and testimony of the true Christian is, that where there is no vision, no heavenly sight, that is the perishing state. Where there is no revelation known, there is no true knowledge of God, as is witnessed by the holy scriptures, "None knoweth the Father but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him.”‡ Since the veil came over man's heart, there was never any other way in any age, nor is there in this age, to come to the true knowledge of God but by revelation; by taking off the veil, and removing *the covering, which hides the face of God from man. The outward veils before Moses's face, in the outward temple, were a figure of this veil, that is spread over the hearts of men; and the rending the veil of the temple from top to bottom, was a figure of revelation and spiritual sight," into the holiest of,all," or the taking away that which stood betwixt man and the true sight and knowledge of God. And there is not, nor ever was, since the cause of the veil entered, any man upon the face of the earth, that came, or comes to the knowledge of God by any other means. Men have sought out many inventions, and devised many ways and means to gain the knowledge of God, but all in vain; as his invention, device, and knowledge increaseth, his sorrow increaseth also; and all he can arrive at is traditional knowledge, an historical knowledge, a strong conceit and imagination concerning God, which is all nothing worth. When he comes to see and know him by sight and revelation, he will say as once Job did, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee; therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."§ And as there is no true knowledge of God but by revelation, so Many whom the old serpent could not move nor draw into carnal wickednesses, have been captivated with spiritual wickednesses, in high places; and have been deceived so far as to call high thoughts and imaginations, motions of the spirit of God; and these have been exalted above all that is called God, being joined to the son of perdition, who usurps the throne of God, and hath been and is worshipped as God. Job xlii. 5, 6. † Prov. xxix. 18. + Matt ii. 27. |