THE

PREFACE.

W

HAT a day of diftrefs, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, is to come upon the wicked and ungodly world (even upon man, who was created in the image of God, but is now fallen from it, and found out of it, and in another image very unlike it); the eye which the god of this world hath blinded, and the heart which he hath hardened by fin and tranfgreffion, hath no fenfe of.

What a day of diftrefs and mifery fome in this nation (and in other parts of the world) have already met with! how they have felt the weight of fin upon their fpirits, and what a fore thing it hath been to them to feel their fouls feparated from that God that made them (who is the Hufband and Father, King, and Preferver of fouls, that are found in his image and nature); how they have been inwardly captivated by a foreign power, and oppreffed, and made to ferve under fin, and could hear no effectual tidings of his appearance who was able to fave, but their fpirits were ready to fink, and their hope of redemption, from that which oppreffed and captivated them, almoft cut off; this being an inward state and condition, hath been altogether hid from the eye which is outward.

How the Lord at length appeared unto thefe (his bowels having long rolled over them, and he having long waited to be gracious to them, even till the full and acceptable fet time was come); how his light hath fhined in and upon them; how he gathered thofe dry bones together, and breathed life into them, and made them live: this alfo is altogether an hidden thing from the eye of the world.

How the Lord, who appeared to them, hath exercifed and tried them; how he hath judged them, and how he hath faved them; what defolations he hath made inwardly in them, and what he hath built there: what an hammer, a fword, a fire, &c. his pure word of life hath been in them; how that birth which could live without God, without his inward life, or upon words and knowledge without life, hath been famifhed, until, by the pain of the famine, its very life and breath hath been taken from it, and it crucified with Chrift, by the pain of the cross of Chrift: and what birth hath

been

'been raised and crowned afterwards, and beautified with the ornaments of righteousness and falvation; yea, with the endless love and mercy with its God; and how the Lord is with his people, and dwells and walks in them, and how he hath humbled them to walk with him; and how in fear and humility they do walk with him in the light of day everlasting, even as God is Light, and walks in the light of his own day: these are very strange and unknown things to the wifeft and most prudent in religion at this day, who are not gathered into the mystery of godliness (nor into the Spirit, power, and glory of the Father) where these things are revealed in and by the Son.

What faith the children of wisdom have in the wisdom and power which hath appeared: what confidence they have in the Lord their God; that he will stand by them in all their exercises and trials, both inward and outward; and what experiences they have had of the Lord's ftanding by them in both: how his faithfulness doth not fail, and how their faith in him is upheld and preferved by him, that it doth not fail in the ftormy time, or hour of greatest diftrefs; and how their eye is unto him, and their hearts with him in the calms; fo that their God is all in all unto them continually: (and who knows this but they that have it!) Oh! who can utter or declare the sweetness and certainty of this, where it is enjoyed!

What love alfo the Lord fheds abroad in their hearts; and how he teacheth and causeth them to love, by often circumcifing their hearts, and cutting off that which hindereth the pure love from fpringing in them; and how they love others, in the love wherewith God (who is Love) hath loved them; and how natural it is to them to pray for their enemies, and to bless them that curfe them, and do good for evil; but cannot requite evil for evil, being transplanted into, and growing up in, the root that is good; and fends up good fap and virtue into them, which nourisheth all that is good in them, but is death and deftruction to the remainders of evil, as the Lord purfueth and findeth it out: Oh! how impoffible is it for the heart of man to conceive and understand!

Now I alfo having tafted of the mercy and goodness of the Lord, and having been brought out of a state of great mifery and forrow of heart into the redemption and joy of God's chofen; and having found the Lord faithful to me, and giving me faith in the appearance of his Spirit and power in me, and true love (tender love) not only to my brethren in the truth, but to all mankind springing in me, and divers fruits iffuing forth from it; fome of them at this time I cannot but publish, and the Lord open the hearts of those whom it concerns, that they may find fome help, benefit, and furtherance by it. For it is the joy of my heart to receive good from God; to be filled with his bleffings, to have my cup overflow; and that others may be helped, refreshed, and gladded therewith, and, by the sweet taste thereof, led to wait for the opening of the fame root and fountain of life in themfelves, to yield living fap, and fend forth living ftreams in them day by day.

VOL. II.

.N n

ΤΟ

ΤΟ ΤΗΕ

JEWS N ATURAL,

AND TO THE

JEWS SPIRITUA L.

Somewhat in the Love of GOD to the JEWS NATURAL, or Seed of ABRAHAM after the Flesh.

in

H! the glory of your ftate outward, who were the people whom God once chofe and loved, and manifefted his power and presence among, above all people! whose land was the glory of all lands, to which God brought you out of Egypt by an out-ftretched arm, through a dreadful wilderness, wherein ye were tempted, tried, and exercifed, and the fucceeding generation fitted to enter into. Oh! what laws and ftatutes, and righteous judgments, did God give you, fuch as no nation befides had! What a temple had ye to appear before God in, and the ark of the covenant, and holy priefts, kings and prophets! and how nigh was God to you, to be enquired of by you; and how ready to hear your prayers, all that you called upon him for! The eternal God was thy refuge, and underneath were the everlasting arms (the Lord was thy rock, and thou waft built upon him); and he did thruft out the enemy before thee, and did fay, Deftroy. And when the arm of the Lord did deftroy them before thee, thou didft dwell in fafety alone; and the Lord was a fountain of living waters to thee, and his heavens did drop down fatness upon thee. Happy waft thou, O Ifrael! who was like unto thee, O people faved by the Lord! the fhield of thy help, and who was the fword of thy excellency! and thine enemies were found lyars unto thee, and thou didst tread upon their high places. And it might have been ftill fo with thee, hadft thou not been unmindful of the rock that begat thee, and forgotten God that formed thee. For thy glory fhould not have been taken from thee, but fwallowed up in a

higher glory, wherein thou mighteft have had the firft and chiefeft fhare, hadst thou not, by thy almost conftant rebellion and unbelief, provoked the Lord against thee; not only often to afflict, but at laft utterly to caft thee off from being a people, and to chufe a people in thy ftead, who fhould bring forth better fruits to the Lord of the vineyard, than thou in thy day hadít done.

Yet when thy state was thus glorious, it was not a ftate of the truly subftantial, lafting glory, but a fhadowy ftate or reprefentative thereof. Thy day of glory was not the day of the Meffiah, the day of everlafting light inwardly, wherein the Lord alone is exalted inwardly in the hearts of all, in whom he breaks down all that is contrary to the light of his day. Thy day was but the day of the outward fhadows of the heavenly fubftance; but when that day (the day of the inward fubftance and glory) fhined, thy fhadows or fhadowy ftate was to fly away, and to be fwallowed up in the pure fubftance and spiritual kingdom of the Meffiah.

Thy birth from Abraham after the flesh, was not the birth which was to inherit the promise in the kingdom of the Meffiah; but there is a birth. inwardly born of the Spirit, born after Abraham in his faith, who travels. inwardly, as Abraham did outwardly, and feeks an inward country and city, whole builder and maker is God: to thefe the fpiritual kingdom and promifes belong.

Thy circumcifion was but the circumcifion outward, the circumcifion of the flesh; it was not the circumcifion of the heart: that is the circumcifion of the inward Jew, which indeed the fcripture called for from you, because there was somewhat near you, which would have fo circumcifed you, had ye hearkened and given up to it. But ye, as a people, were not fo circumcifed, but were a ftiff-necked people (as Mofes and the prophets were ftill complaining of you) uncircumcifed in heart and ears, refifting God's Spirit both in your own hearts and in the prophets, until the Lord was provoked to take away both vifion and prophet from you.

The Egypt in which your fathers were in bondage, and Pharaoh who oppreffed them, was but the Egypt outward, and Pharaoh outward. There is an inward Egypt, wherein the fpiritual feed, the inward man, the foul is in bondage; and there is a fpiritual Pharaoh, that oppreffeth the fpiritual feed, in fpiritual Egypt: and there is a ftretching out the arm of the Almighty inwardly, to break the ftrength of the inward Pharaoh, to pierce Leviathan the crooked ferpent, and to deliver the foul from under his captivity.

The wildernefs alfo your fathers were led through, was but the outward wilderness, where they were tempted and tried by the Lord many ways, that he might do them good in the latter end. But the inward Ifrael, after they are led out of the inward Egypt, are tried in the inward wilderness; where they are judged after the flesh, and that wafted in them, which is not to enter into and inherit the good land, where they are tried in the furnace Nn 2

of

of affliction, and their filth purged away by the spirit of judgment and burning; that the righteous nation, which hath received the holy inward law, and keeps the truth, may enter into the good land, city, and kingdom of the Meffiah, and inherit the bleffed promifes of life and falvation there.

Mofes, your great prophet, was a type of the great, lafting, ftanding prophet, whom God would raise up like unto Mofes, who was to give his inward law as Mofes did the outward, and to lead all the fpiritual Ifrael as Mofes did the outward Ifrael; and his word was to be heard and stand in all things whatsoever he shall fay unto his people: and whofoever will not hear and obey this prophet, fhall be cut off from among the holy, fpiritual, and inwardly-fiving people.

Jofhua who fucceeded Mofes, led but into the figurative reft: he was but a figure of him that inwardly leads into the inward and fpiritual reft; which the true Jews, which are inwardly created and formed by God, and made a willing people, in the day of his power, enter into.

The pillar of cloud, and pillar of fire in the wilderness, were but figures. of the fpiritual pillar of cloud and fire, by which the fpiritual Ifrael are led and defended in the glorious gofpel-day of God's Spirit and power. Read Ifaiah, ch. iv. which speaketh of the gofpel-day, and the pillar and cloud of fire to be created therein, and of the defence which is to be on all the inward and fpiritual glory.

The land of Canaan, the outward good and kingdom of Ifrael, was but a figure of the inward land, and kingdom of the inward Ifrael, in the days of the Meffiah. This is the land of Judah in which the fong is fung, because of the inward ftrong city where God appoints falvation for walls and bulwarks, which the righteous nation which keepeth the truth, enter into, Ifaiah xxvi.

Their outward kings in that land, and particularly David, were but types of the fpiritual king, the fpiritual David, whom God will raife up to the fpiritual people, who fhould feek the Lord their God, and David their king; who fhall be their fpiritual fhepherd and ruler, whom God hath appointed to feed them in the integrity of his heart, and to guide them by the fkilfulness of his hands, who is King of righteousness and peace inwardly, and who minifters righteousness and peace to the sheep and lambs of his pastures.

Their outward priests (even their high-priests) were but a representation of the great high-prieft of God, who was to be a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedeck, Pfal. cx.

Their outward covenant (made with them from the outward mount Sinai, upon the giving of the law, and holy ftatutes and ordinances, by which they were to live and enjoy God in their outward state) was but a shadow of the inward and spiritual covenant, the new and everlasting covenant, which God makes with his inward and fpiritual people in the latter days.