Position 2

Next Page

That in this great apostasy, the true state of Christianity has been lost. This must be; for if there was an apostasy from the thing, there could not be a retaining of the thing about which the apostasy was. If they apostatized from the spirit, from the light, from the life; then they were gone from it - they lost it. Now it may be instanced in every particular how the state of Christianity was lost; but that would be too vast and tedious. It may suffice, therefore, to state some considerable ones, which may lead into the discovery of the rest.

1. The true rule of Christianity,

or the rule of a Christian, which is to direct, guide, and order him in his whole course, was apostatized from, and lost.

What is a Christian's rule, by which he is to steer and order his course? A Christian is to be a follower of Christ, and consequently must have the same rule to walk by as Christ had. A Christian proceeds from Christ, has the same life in him, and needs the same rule. Colossians 1:19; Christ had the fullness of life, and of his fullness we all receive a measure of the same life. We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.; Eph 5:30. Yes, we came out of the same spring of life from where he came: For both he that sanctities, and they who are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.; Heb 2:11. Now what was his rule? Was it not the fullness of life which he received? And what is their rule?

Is it not the measure of life which they receive? Was not Christ's rule the law of the spirit; the law which the spirit wrote in his heart? And is not their rule the law of the spirit; the law which the spirit writes in their hearts? How was Christ made a king and a priest? Was it by the law of a carnal commandment? or by the power of an endless life? And how are they made kings and priests to God? Rev 1:6. Is it by the Hebrews 7:16 law of a carnal commandment? or is it by the power of the same endless life? Lo, Heb 10:7; I come to do your will, Oh God, said Christ, when he comes into the world. Heb 10:5,10:7. But by what rule? By what law? Psalm 40:8; Thy law iswithinmy heart.; Psalm 40:8. And the same spirit who wrote it there, is also to write the new covenant, with all the laws of it, in the heart of every Christian, from the least to the greatest. Heb 8:9-10.

Yes, the same spirit that dwelt in Christ's heart, is to dwell in their hearts, according to the promise of the covenant. Ezek 36:27. This was Paul's rule, after which he walked,The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.; Rom 8:1-2. This made him Rom 8:1-2; free from the law of sin and death. Where is the law of sin written? Where is the law of death written? Is it not written in the heart? And must not the law of righteousness and life be written there also, if it be able to deal with sin and death? The spirit forms the heart anew, Galatians 4:19; forms Christ in the heart, begets 2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15, Col 3:10, Eph 4:23-24,1 Cor 15:53 a new creature there, which cannot sin 1 John 3:9,1 John 5:17-18; (He that is born of God sins not).

And this is the rule of righteousness,the new creature, or the spirit of life in the new creature. Gal 6:15-16. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but a new creature. And as many as ;walk according to this rule, peace be on them. Mark: there is the rule;the new creature, which is begotten in every one that is born of God 2 Corinthians 5:17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;; and this new creature is to be his rule. And as any man walks according to this rule, according to the new creature, according to the law of light and life that the spirit continually breathes into the new creature, he has peace; but as he transgresses that, and walks not after the spirit, but after the flesh, he walks out of the light, out of the life, out of the peace, into the sea, into the death, into the trouble, into the condemnation. Here then is the law ofthe converted man, the new creature;and the law of the new creature is the spirit of life which begat him, which lives, and breathes, and gives forth his law continually in him. Here is a Christian; here is his rule. He who does not have the new creature formed in him, is no Christian; and he who has the new creature, has the rule in himself.

You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. 1 John 2:20. How came they to know all things? Does John not say, it was by the unction? The anointing was in them, a fountain or well-spring of light and life, issuing forth continually such rivers and streams of life within, 1 John 2:27 as they needed no other teacher in the truth and way of life. The John 14:15-18 Comforter did refresh their hearts sufficiently, and John 16:13 led them into all truth. Search the apostles' epistles, and you shall find them testifying of the Lord's sending his spirit into the hearts of Christians; and exhortations to them not to grieve or quench the spirit, but to follow as they were led. They were to Gal 5:25; live in the spirit,; and to; walk in the spirit.; Gal 5:25. And the spirit was to walk, and live, and bring forth his own life and power in them. 2 Cor 6:16.

And what can be the proper and full rule of God's sons and daughters, but the light of the spirit of life, which they receive from their Father? Thus God did advance the state of a believer above the state of the Jews under the law. For the Jews had the law, though written with the finger of God, yet but in tables of stone; but these have the law, 2 Corinthians 3:3 written by the finger of God in the table of their hearts. The Jews' was a law without, at a distance from them, and the priest's lips were to preserve the knowledge of it, and to instruct them in it; but here is a law within, near at hand, the immediate light of the spirit of life shining so immediately in the heart, that they need no man to teach them; but have the spirit of prophecy in themselves, and quick, living teachings from him continually, and are made such kings and priests to God, as the state of the law did but represent.

The gospel is the substance of all the shadows contained in the law. A Christian is he that comes into this substance, and lives in this substance, and in whom this substance lives; and his rule is the substance itself, in which he lives, and which lives in him. Christ is the substance, who lives in the Christian, and he in Christ: Christ lives in him by his spirit, and he in Christ by the same spirit: 1 John 1:6-7 there he lives, and has fellowship with the Father and the Son, in the light in which they live, and not by any outward rule. 1 John 1:6-7.

But what is the rule now in the apostasy?

Among the Papists, the rule is the Scripture, interpreted by the church, (as they call themselves), with a mixture of their own precepts and traditions.

Amongst the Protestants, the rule is the Scriptures, according to their understanding of them by their own study, or according to the understanding of them received from men who they regard as orthodox (educated). And here arise continual differences and heats and sects; one following this interpretation, another that interpretation. And this is a grievous apostasy, and the root, spring, and foundation of all the others; for he that misses in his beginning, he that begins his religion without the true rule, how can he proceed correctly in anything afterwards? Objection: But are not the Scriptures the word of God? - And is not the word of God to be a Christian's rule? If every one should be left to his own spirit, what confusion and uncertainty would this produce!

Answer: The Scriptures are not that living John 1:1,14, Rev 19:13-16, Rom 10:8,17, Deut 30:11-14, 1 Pet 1:23,25 Word, which is appointed by God to be the rule of a Christian; but they contain words spoken by the spirit of God, testifying of that Word, and pointing to that Word which is to be the rule.

John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think to have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me; and you will not come to me that you may have life.; John 5:39-40. The Scriptures are to be searched for the testimony which they give of Christ; and when that testimony is received, Christ is to be come to, and life received from him. But the Pharisees formerly, and Christians since, (I mean Christians in name only), search the Scriptures; but do not come to Christ for the life, but stick in the letter of the Scriptures, and oppose the life with the letter, keeping themselves from the life by their wisdom and knowledge in the letter.

Thus they put the Scriptures into the place of Christ, and so honour neither Christ nor the Scriptures. It would have been no honour to John to have been taken for the Light; his honour was to point to it: nor is it any honour to the Scriptures to be called the Word of God; but their honour is to discover and testify of the Word. Now hear what the Scriptures call the Word; John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.; John 1:1. And John 1:14; the Word was made flesh.

This was the name of Christ, when he came into the world in the flesh, to sow his life in the world. And when he comes again into the world, out of a far country, to fight with the beast and false prophet, and to cleanse the earth of the whore's fornication and idols, by which she had corrupted it, he shall have the same name again; his name is called the Word of God.; Rev 19:13. 1 Peter 1:23. So Peter calls that the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. 1 Pet. 1:23.

And 1 Peter 1:25; this Word that lives and abides for ever, was the Word that they preached. verse 25. And those who believed did not cry up the words that the apostles spoke for the Word; but received the thing they spoke of, the engrafted Word; which being received with a meek, quiet, and submissive spirit, is able to save the soul. James 1:21.

This is the Word of faith; that is near, in the heart and in the mouth.; Rom. 10:8. This is the Word that stands at the door of the heart, and speaks to be let in Revelation 3:20(Behold, I stand at the door and knock):and when it is let in, it speaks in the heart what is to be heard and done. It is near; it is in the heart, and in the mouth; to what end?

That you might hear it, and do it. The living Word, which is Heb 4:12; quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,; divides in the mouth, and divides in the heart, the Jeremiah 15:19; vile from the precious Heb 4:12; yes, Heb 4:12; it reaches to the very inmost of the heart, and cuts between the roots, Heb 4:12, and this you are to hear and do. You are to part with all vile words, the vile conversation, the vile course and worship of the world outwardly, and the vile thoughts and course of sin inwardly, as fast as the Word discovers them to you, and to exercise yourself in what is folly and madness to the eye of the world, and a grievous cross to your own worldly nature; yes, when the Word reaches to the very nature, life, and spirit within, from where all that comes, that strong, wise root of the fleshly life in the heart must not be spared, nor that foolish, weak thing, (to man's wise eye), which is brought instead thereof, be rejected: which, when it is received, is but like a little seed, even the least of seeds; and when it grows up, it is a long while but like a child; and yet keeping in that childishness, out of the wisdom, it enters into that kingdom which the greatest wisdom of man, (in all his zealous ways and forms of religion), falls short, and is shut out of.

This is the word of life; this is the true, living rule, and way to eternal life; and this is the obedience; this is the hearing and doing of the word. Revelation 13:9. He that has an ear, let him hear. Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith: prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you are reprobates? 2 Cor 13:5. Are you in the faith? Then Christ is in you. Is Christ not in you? Then you are in the reprobate state, out of the faith. Is Christ in you, and shall he not hold the reins, and rule? Shall the living Word be in the heart, and not be the rule of the heart? Shall he speak in the heart, and the man or woman in whom he speaks run to the words of scripture formerly spoken, to know whether these are his words or not?

No, no, John 10:27 his sheep know his voice (He may give you words or understandings that are not exact copies of scripture, but they will not be in conflict with scripture). Did the apostle John, who had seen and tasted and handled and preached the word of life, send Christians to his epistles, or any other part of scripture, to be their rule? No, he directed them to the anointing as a sufficient teacher. 1 John 2:27. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.; John 7:38. He that has the fountain of life in him, issuing out rivers of living water continually, has he need to go forth to fetch in water? Luke 17:21; The kingdom of heaven is within you,; said Christ; and he says Matt 6:33; seek the kingdom. Light Luke 15:8 the candle, sweep your own house, seek diligently for the kingdom; there it is, if you can find it. Now he that has found the kingdom within, shall he look without, into words spoken concerning the kingdom, to find the laws of the kingdom? Are not the laws of the kingdom to be found within the kingdom? Shall the kingdom be in the heart, and the laws of the kingdom written without in a book?

Is not the gospel the ministration of the Spirit? And shall he who has received the Spirit run back to the letter to be his guide? Shall the living Spirit, that gave forth the Scriptures, be present, and not have pre-eminence above his own words? What is the proper intent of the letter? Is it not to testify of the Spirit, and to end in the Spirit? Luke 16:16 The law, the prophets, John, led to Christ in the flesh; and John 3:30-31; he was to be the increasing light, when they should decrease. Christ's words in the flesh, the apostles' words afterwards, and all words since, are but to lead to Christ in the spirit, to the eternal, living substance; and when words of Christ, of the apostles, or any other words spoken from the same spirit in these days, have brought to the spirit, to the feeling and settling of the soul in the living foundation, and to the building and Ephesians 4:11-13; perfecting of the man of God within, they have attained their end and glory. But to cry up these, not understanding their voice, but keeping at a distance from the thing that they invite to: the words hereby are put out of their place, out of their proper use and service, and so attain neither their purpose nor their glory.

And though man put that upon them which seems to be a greater glory, namely: to make the scriptures his rule and guide; yet, it being not a true glory, it is no glory, but a dishonour both to them and to the Spirit, who gave them for another purpose. (Tit 2:11-14,Luke 24:47; The gospel says that grace (the Spirit of Christ) will show a man his sins and then removes them — repentance with release from the bondage of sin — a teaching, redeeming, purifying Spirit accessed by coming to Jesus (waiting on the Christ's Spirit to speak), Heb 3:6, 14, Col 1:27, Rom 8:24, 1 John 3:2-3, 1 Pet 1:5-6, 9; with hope to Prov 8:34, Isa 55:3, John 10:27, 18:37, Luke 10:39, 11:28, 9:35, John 6:63, Hebrews 3:15,4:7,12:25, Acts 3:22-23 and 1 John 1:7,9, John 13:8, 15:3, Ephesians 5:26, Psalm 19:12, 51:2, 119:9, 2 Corinthians 7:1; hope for change.

This is the ministration of the Spirit - the gospel. Now for the other part of the objection, that if men should be left to their own spirits, and should follow the guidance of their own spirits, it would produce confusion and uncertainty. I do acknowledge it; it would do so. - But here is no leaving of a man to his own spirit spoken of or intended, but the directing and guiding of a man to the Word and Spirit of life; to know and hear the voice of Christ, which gathers and translates man out of his own spirit into his Spirit; and here is no confusion or uncertainty; but order, certainty, and stability.

(There are 30,000 different sects of Christendom, all with their conflicting opinions as to what the scriptures mean; all having constructed a different gospel, different Jesus, and different God, according to their imaginations - rather than the one church called by the Spirit, taught all things including the scriptures by the Spirit, gifted by the Spirit, sent to preach by the Spirit, and given words to speak by the Spirit.)

(The light of God's Spirit is a certain and infallible rule, and the eye that sees that, is a certain eye; at which point man's understanding of the scriptures is uncertain and fallible; he, having not the true ear, receives such a literal, uncertain knowledge of things into his uncertain understanding, as deceives his soul. And here man, in the midst of his wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures, is lost in his own erring and uncertain mind, and his soul deceived, for want of a true root and foundation of certainty in himself. But he who has come to the true Shepherd and knows his voice, he cannot be deceived.

Yes, he can read the scripture safely, and taste the true sweetness of the words that came from the life; but man who is out of the life feeds on the husks, and can receive no more (never tasting the corn). He has gathered a dead, dry, literal, husky knowledge out of the scripture, and that he can relish; but should the life of the words and things there spoken of be opened to him, he could not receive them, he himself being out of that in which they were written, and in which alone they can be understood. But poor man having lost the life, what should he do? He can do nothing else but cry up the letter, and make as good a spin with it as he can; though in the meantime his soul starved and remains in famine and death for want of the bread of life, and a wrong thing is fed.

The Scribes and Pharisees made a great noise about the law and ordinances of Moses, exclaiming against Christ and his disciples as breakers and profaners of them; yet they themselves did not truly honour the law and ordinances of Moses, instead inserting their own doctrines, commandments, and traditions. So those now who make a great noise about the Scriptures, and about the institutions of the apostles, do not honour the Scriptures, or the institutions of the apostles; instead they honour their own meanings, their own conceiving, their own inventions and imaginations thereupon.

They run to the Scriptures with an understanding that is out of the truth; and which never shall be let into the truth; and so being not able to reach and comprehend the truth as it is, they study, they invent, they imagine a meaning; they form a likeness, a similitude of the truth as near as they can, and this must go for the truth; and this they honour and bow before as the will of God; which being not the will of God, but a likeness of their own inventing and forming, they worship not God, they honour not the Scriptures, but they honour and worship the works of their own brain. And every scripture which man has thus formed a meaning out of, and has not read in the true and living light of God's eternal Spirit, he has made an image by, he has made an idol of; and the respect and honour he gives this meaning, are not a respect and honour given to God, but to his own image, to his own idol.

Oh, how many are your idols, you Christians of England, as you think yourselves to be! How many are your idols, you gathered churches! How full of images and idols are you, you spiritual notionists, who have run from one thing to another, with the same mind and spirit by which you began at first! But the founder of images has never been discovered and destroyed in you, and so he is still at work among you all; and great will your sorrow and distress be, when the Lord's quick eye searches him out, and reveals his just wrath against him.

(Each sect in Christendom worships their own collective spirit, which has created and defined their Christ.) In my heart and soul I honour the Scriptures, and long to read them throughout with the pure eye, and in the pure light of the living Spirit of God; but may the Lord preserve me from reading one line of them in my own will, or interpreting any part of them according to my own understanding, but only as I am guided, led, and enlightened by him, in the will and understanding which come from him.

And here 2 Tim 3:17 all scripture, every writing of God's Spirit, which is from the breath of his life, is profitable to build up and complete the man of God; but the instructions, the reproofs, the observations, the rules, the grounds of hope and comfort, or whatever else which man gathers out of the Scriptures, (he himself being out of the life), have not the true profit, nor build up the true thing; but both the gatherings and the gatherer are for destruction. And the Lord will ease the Scripture, of the burden of man's forming and invention from it, and recover its honour again, by the living presence and power of that Spirit that wrote it; and then it shall be no longer abused and wrested by man's earthly and unlearned mind, but, in the hands of the Spirit, come to its true use and service to the seed, and to the world.

2. The true worship was lost.

The true worship of God in the gospel is in the Spirit. John 4:23; The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship him.; John 4:23.The true worship is in the spirit, and in the truth, and the true worshippers worship there; and such worshippers the Father seeks, and such worship he accepts; but all other worship is false worship, and all other worshippers are false worshippers; such worshippers as God seeks not, nor can accept their worship. Did God refuse Cain's sacrifice formerly? Can he accept any sacrifice or worship now that is offered in that same nature? Why, he that worships out of the Spirit, he worships in Cain's nature; but he that worships correctly, must have his nature changed, and must worship in that thing in which he is changed, in that faith, in that life, in that nature, in that Spirit by which and to what he is changed. For Hebrews 11:6; without being in this (true faith), and keeping in this, it is impossible to please God in anything. He that is the true worshipper is a believer, and in his worship he must keep to his rule, the law of faith, the law of the Spirit of Life in him, the law which he receives by faith fresh from the Spirit of Life continually.

He must hear and observe the voice of the living Word in all his worship, and worship in the presence and power and guidance of that, as that moves, and as that carries on, or God is not worshipped in the Spirit. I shall instance only in prayer. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.; Eph 6:18. Mark: all prayer and supplicationmust bein the Spirit; yes, it must bealwaysin the Spirit, which speaks in the heart to God, and makes the intercession, or it is no prayer. If a man speaks ever so much from his own spirit, with ever so much earnestness and affection, yet it is no prayer, no true prayer, but only so far as the Spirit moves to it, and so far as the Spirit leads and guides in it. If a man begins without the Spirit, or goes on without the Spirit, this is out of the worship; this is in his own will, and so will-worship; and according to his own understanding, and so fleshly worship; both which are to be crucified, and not to be followed in anything under the gospel.

Philippians 3:3 We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, (here are the true worshippers, the circumcision;; and here is the true worship, in the Spirit; and they have no bounds and limits in the flesh, in which their strength and confidence are broken), Philippians 3:3 and have no confidence in the flesh. If a man address himself to any worship of God without his Spirit, does he not have confidence in the flesh? If he begins without the moving of his Spirit, does he not begin in the flesh? If he goes on, without the Spirit's carrying on, does he not proceed in the strength and confidence of the flesh? But the worship of the Spirit is in its will, and in its time, and is carried on by its light and power, and keeps down the understanding and affectionate part of man, in which all the world worship, and offer up the unaccepted sacrifices,Leviticus 21:18; eventhe lameandthe blind, which God's soul hates.

(In the Old Testament, God would not allow the lame and blind to approach the alter; the restriction is an allegory to God's repulsion of being worshipped by those who cannot see by his light and walk by his spirit.) Now this worship, as it is out of man's will and time, and in what continues, so it is continual. There is a continual praying unto God (in the Spirit). There is a continual blessing and praising of his name, in eating, or drinking, or whatever else is done. There is a continual bowing to the majesty of the Lord in every thought, in every word, in every action, though it be in worldly things and occasions; yet the Spirit of the Lord is seen there, and the tongue confesses him there, and the knee bows to him there. This is the true worship, and this is the rest or sabbath in which the true worshippers worship.

When the creation of God is finished; when the child is formed in the light, and the life breathed into him; then God brings him forth into his holy land, where he keeps his sabbath. They who are in Hebrews 11:1 the faith, which is the substance of the things hoped for under the law, are come from all the shadows and types of the law, and from all the heathenish observations of days and times in the spirit of this world, where the spirit of man is hard at work, into the true sabbath, into the true rest, where they have no more to work, but God works all in them in his own time, according to his own pleasure. Heb 4:3 We which have believed, do enter into rest.; Heb 4:3. And Heb 4:10; he that is entered into his rest, has ceased from his works, as God from his.; verse 10. He that has the least taste of faith, knows a measure of rest, finding the life working in him, and his soul daily led further and further into life by the working of the life, and the heavy yoke of his own labouring after life taken off from his shoulders. Now here is the truth, here is the life, here is the sabbath, here is the worship of the soul, that is led into the truth, and preserved in the truth.

But what is the worship now in the apostasy? Among the Papists, a very gross worship; a worship more carnal than ever the worship of the law was; for that, though in its nature it was outward and carnal, yet it was taught and prescribed by the wisdom of God, and was profitable in its place, and to its end; but this was invented by the corrupt wisdom, and set up in the corrupt will of man, and has no true profit, but keeps from the life, from the power, from the Spirit, in fleshly observations, which feed and please the fleshly nature. Look upon their days consecrated to saints, and their canonical hours of prayer, and their praying in Latin, with their fasting, feastings, saying of Hail-Mary's, Our-Fathers, Creeds, etc., are not all these from the life out of the Spirit, and after the invention, and in the will of the flesh? Ah! their stink is greater than the flesh-pots of Egypt.

And the worship of the Protestants comes too near them for their worship is also from a fleshly principle, and in their own times and wills, and according to their own understanding and apprehension of things, and not from the rising up and guidance of the infallible life of the Spirit in them; for that they will quench. They also observe days and times, and perishing ordinances, and have not come out of the flesh, into that Spirit where the worship is to be known, and to be in.

3. The faith, the true faith, was lost.

The 1 John 5:4; faith which gives victory over the world; the faith which feeds the life of the just, and slays the unjust; 1 Timothy 3:9; the faith which is pure, the mystery of which is held in a pure conscience; the faith which gives entrance into the rest of God; Hebrews 11:1; the faith which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen; this has been lost, and is not yet to be found among those who call themselves Christians. For those who challenge the name of Christians, and say they believe in Christ, and have faith in him, cannot with their faith overcome the world; but are daily overcome by the world. Where is there a Christian, but he is either in the honours, or in the fashions, or in the customs, or in the worships of the world, if not in them all? He is so far from overcoming these, that he is overcome with them; yes, so overcome, so drunk with them (the honours, fashions, customs, and worships of the world), that he has even lost his senses, and thinks he may be a Christian, and in a good state while he is there.

And the life of the just is not fed by their faith, but the unjust nature is fed, and the righteous witness, which is raised up and lives by the true faith, is kept down, and cannot bring forth his life in them, because of their unbelief; for that is the proper name of their faith; for being not true faith, it is not faith, but unbelief.

And the faith of Christians, (so called), is not a mystery, (they know not 1 Timothy 3:9; the mystery of it, which is held in a pure conscience), but consists in believing an historical relation, and in a fleshly improving of that, and can be held in an impure conscience. Neither have they entered into rest by their faith; for they know not the sabbath in the Lord, but are still in a shadowy sabbath. Neither is it the substance of what they hope for; but the substance of what they hope for is strange to them.

They have not come to 1 Timothy 3:9; Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, to God the Judge, Christ the Mediator, and the blood of sprinkling, and so to unity and certainty in the life; but are in opinions, ways, and practices suitable to the earthly spirit; which may easily be shaken, and must be shaken down to the ground, if ever they know the building of God, and the true faith.

4. The love, the true love, was lost.

The innocent love, which thinks no ill, nor wishes no ill, much less can do any ill to any; 1 Cor 13:4-7; but suffers long, and is kind, meek, humble, not seeking its own, but the good of others; this loveis lost. The love unfeigned is banished; a feigned love, such a love that enmity and violence proceed from, is gotten in the place of it. The true love 1 Cor 13:4-7; loves the enemy, and cannot return enmity for enmity, but seeks the good of them who hate it; but this love can persecute and hate what it calls the friend, no, even the brother, because of some difference in opinion or practice.

John 10:15; The love that was in Christ, taught him to lay down his life for his sheep; and John 15:13; he that has the same love, can lay down his life for his brother. But the love that is now among Christians tends rather to the taking away of life.

What is the love among the Papists? See their inquisitions, their wraths, their fire and faggot, etc. What is their love in New England? Is it not a love that can imprison or banish their brother, if he differs but a little from them in judgment or practice about their worship? Yes, they can whip, burn in the hand, cut off ears, just like the bishops of Old England. If one had told them, when they fled from the persecution of the bishops here, that they themselves should have done such things, they would have been likely to reply, with Hazael. What! are we dogs? But they fled from the cross, which would have crucified that persecuting spirit, and so carried it alive with them; and being alive, it grew by degrees to as great a head there, as it did in the bishops here.

(Penington speaks of the Puritans, persecuted in England, fleeing to Boston, and then later viciously persecuting the Quakers, including hanging three men and one woman.) And what is the love here in Old England? Is it not a love that whips, stocks, imprisons, stones, jeers? Yes, the very teachers, (who should be patterns of love to others),they will cast into prison, and seize the goods of their brother, even almost to his undoing, for maintenance (tithes of money and farm produce), according to the law of the land made in the apostasy. Seethe Record of Sufferings for Tithes in England, which may make any tender heart bleed to read it, and is likely to lie as a brand of infamy on the magistracy and ministry of England to succeeding generations. Is this the love of the righteous seed? Or is it Cain's love, which is in profession, in word, in show, but not in deed and in truth? How can these (pretending to love others) love God? No, if the true love of God were in them, this enmity could not stand, nor such fruits of it shoot forth. But John 5:37; they have not seen the Father or the Son.

And that life of them which appears in the earth, the evil spirit in man seeks to destroy, that he may keep up his own image and shadow of life, which the nature of the true life in its appearance fights against. John 13:35; By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.- And by this may all men know, that those who now appear to be Christians are not Christ's disciples, in that they do not love one another. They are not at unity in the light, and so cannot love one another there; but are only in unity in forms, in opinions, in professions, in practices; so any difference there stirs up the enmity, causing risings in the heart against them at least, if it proceed not further. The true love grows from true union and fellowship in the light; where that is not known, there cannot be true love in the Spirit, but a feigned love in the flesh.

5. The true hope, joy, and peace are lost.

The true ground of hope is Christ in the heart, and the true hope is that hope which arises from this ground, from the feeling of Christ there; Col 1:27; Christinyou the hope of glory.; Col 1:27. What is the true Christian's hope? It is Christinhim; he 1 John 3:15;has eternal life abiding in him;;and he knows that cannot but lead to glory.

But what is the common Christian's hope? He fastens his hope upon the relation and his belief of a history. ;He that believes shall be saved.; I believe; therefore I shall be saved. -- And thus, as he has gotten up a wrong faith, and a wrong love, so he gets up a wrong hope. And this hope will perish; for it is the hope of the hypocrite, or a hope in the hypocritical nature, which complies with scripture words, but is not in union with God, nor with the life of the scriptures; and so being without the anchor, is tossed in the waves of the sea.

And the true joy is in the Spirit, from what is felt, and enjoyed, and hoped for there. But the common Christian's joy is from things which he gathers into and comprehends in his understanding; or from flashes which he feels in the affectionate part, from a fire and sparks of his own kindling,* from where he takes his warmth and comfort.

(He works himself up into fleshly zeal and an emotional pitch, and mistakes those for the joy of the Lord.)

And the true peace stands in the reconciliation with God, by having that broken down which causes the wrath, and to which the wrath is, wherever it is found. The Lamb of God breaks down the wall of separation in the heart; 1 John 1:7; the blood of Jesus, in which is the life, cleanses away the sin there, Acts 15:9, 26:18, James 4:8, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 3:3, Tit 2:13-14 makes the heart pure, unites the pure heart to the pure God. Here is John 14:19-21,23, John 17:20-23, 2 Peter 1:4, Eph 2:5, Eph 5:30, Heb 2:11, 3:14; union, here is 1 John 1:3,7, Hebrews 12:22-23, Eph 2:5; fellowship,here is peace; but the common Christian's peace is from a misunderstanding of scriptures, while the wall of separation is standing, while wickedness lodges in the heart. They reason themselves, from scripture words, into an belief that God is at peace with them, and that they are in union with him; while that of God which is in them, witnesses against them, and checks them, and wars with them; and they are not one with it, and cannot be, in that nature and understanding in which their life lies, to which belongs no peace. (Peace is quietness and confident assurance forever. Quietness, means your mind is quiet; not rushing around plotting, planning, worrying, doubting, etc.)

6. The true repentance, conversion, and regeneration have been lost.

The true repentance is from dead works,* and from the dead principle where all the dead works proceed: but these have not been repented of, but cherished in the apostasy. The praying, the striving, the worshipping, the fighting, have been from the dead principle. The building up and whole exercise of religion in the apostasy, have been in that understanding which is to be destroyed; and the will, which should have been crucified, has been pleased and fed with its religion. (Dead works are any works not prompted by or ordered by the Holy Spirit. Dead works are all actions by men without the Life of God, who are still like Adam, cut off from the life of God, and so dead, performing dead works according to their imagination, pride, and lusts.) Acts 26:18 The true conversion is from the power of Satan to God, from the darkness to the light:but in the apostasy, men have not known God or Satan, the light or the darkness; but have mistook, taking the one for the other, worshipping the devil instead of God, Rev 13:4. and following the dark conceiving of their own and other men's minds concerning scripture, and calling them light.

(Worshipping the devil, who they think is God; their defined God, who doesn't care if they keep sinning until death, who doesn't care if they worship him without the Spirit of God providing the words and promptings, etc.) Regeneration is a changing of man, by which the birth is born of the Spirit; Eph 4:22; the stripping of the creature of its own nature, of its own understanding, of its own will, and forming it anew in the womb of the Spirit; so that 2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15, Col 203:10, Eph 4:23-24, 1 Cor 15:53; the old creature is passed away, and comes forth a new thing, which grows up daily in the new life towards the fullness of Christ. But men have been so far from being born of the Spirit, that they have not so much as known the gift of the Spirit in them; but to this day are enemies, and at a distance from that of God in them, which is pure. And if they could only open their eyes, they would see that their birth is fleshly, and consists, at best, but in a such a conformity to the letter, as the old nature may imitate and attain; but the immortal seed is not sprung up in them, nor they dead to the mortal, nor alive to the immortal.

7. The true wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are lost.

The true Job 28:28, Prov 16:6; wisdom stands in the fear of God, and departing from evil: this those that are taught of God learn, and thereby are made wise unto salvation. But most who are called Christians have not come to the fear of God; and many have gotten above it, looking upon it as legal, and not pertaining to the gospel; but the gospel state is 1 John 4:18; (perfect) love, which casts out fear. Does the love of God refuse or cast out the fear of God? No: it casts out the fear that brings bondage; the fear that came in by transgression; which fear is stirred up, and discovered by the law. And this is a fear of sin, or a fear arising from sin, through the law's manifestation of it, and the wrath against it, which causes both the fear, and much bondage from the fear; and this the gospel, (which discovers the love, the mercy, the grace, the power, and unites to them), frees from, and casts out.

But then there is a fear of God; a fear wrought in the heart by his Spirit; a fear which is part of the new covenant, Jeremiah 32:40; (I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me) a fear which is part of the ;everlasting gospel, Rev 14:6-7, and endures forever. Psa 19:9. And this fear is not bondage, but liberty; it is indeed bondage to the unjust, but liberty to the just; for where this fear is, sin is departed from; it sets free; it delivers the feet out of the snare of iniquity; there is true liberty. Can sin prevail in that heart, where the pure, clean fear of God is placed by God to keep it down? The love of God does not cast out this fear, but keeps in this fear;* and this fear keeps the heart clean from the evil which defiles, and preserves the love from the enmity, which springs up where this fear is not. Now this fear, in the apostasy, was lost, or else what needed there an special ministry to be raised up to preach it again. Rev 14:6-7.

And the estate of Christians everywhere does manifest this loss; for their hearts are not kept clean, which shows that the fear, (which does keep clean where it is), is lacking in them. There is pollution, there is filth, there is deceit, there are high-mindedness, self-conceitedness, and love of the world, and worldly vanities, and many other evils to be found in the hearts of those that go for Christians; and the purity of heart, (which comes from the fear, and stands in the wisdom), is not known Jeremiah 4:22. They are wise to do evil; but lack the knowledge to avoid the evil, and do the good.They are wise to get and enjoy the world; but know not the true riches. They are wise to gather together many scripture words against sin, and yet still keep the nature and life of it in the heart, and it is as a sweet morsel under the tongue. They are wise to apply promises to comfort themselves with, (when sometimes they receive a just wound in their hearts from the righteous One); but know not that nature, nor that estate and condition, to which all the promises are made; but are yet in that nature, and in that estate and condition, to which the curse appertains.

(After the Psa 90:8, Eph 5:13, Heb 4:12 Lord has shown you the evil in your heart and life, and after you have Psalm 34:14, Psalm 37:27, Job 28:28, departed from evil, and Psalm 97:10, Proverbs 8:13, Romans 12:9, Job 1:1 hate evil, and shun evil, you will eventually be filled with the Gal 5:22-23 fruit of the Holy Spirit, including God's love. Then 1 John 4:17-18; love will have been perfected in us. Then you will know no fear, because perfect love expels all fear; and your conscience will be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, purging even the memory of your guilt, so you can served the living God. You will 1 John 4:17-18 have boldness in the day of judgment. But you will still reverence God with awe of his power and glory; as George Fox said regarding godly fear- To fear God, is not to grieve nor offend Him, but to be subject to Him and reverence Him.)

The true righteousness stands in the faith, in hearing and obeying the word of faith. How does the righteousness of the law come, but by hearing and obeying the voice of the law? And how comes the righteousness of the gospel, but by Rom 10:8,17; hearing and obeying the Word of faith, who (Christ, the word of God in your heart) is preached, and the preacher (Christ, the word of God in your heart) of righteousness, in the heart? The Apostle Paul makes this comparison. Rom 10. The righteousness of the law speaks on this wise, Rom 10:5; The man that does these things, shall live in them.;But how speaks the Word of faith? Rom10:8; The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart; he that does that, he that hears that, shall live in that. John 5:25; The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.

Disobedience to the law is unrighteousness, and brings death; and disobedience to the living Word is unrighteousness, and cannot be justified, but condemned; and obedience to it cannot be condemned, but justified. So that when the soul hears, believes, and obeys, then it is justified;* then its former sins are forgotten, and this is imputed to it unto righteousness. But when the soul will not hear, will not believe, will not obey, this unbelief is judged in him, and his sins retained, and not remitted. Now is not this a just and equal way of justification, Oh you sons of men! Is not your way unequal? Shall a man continue in the unbelief and rebellion against Christ, against the light, against the faith, and yet be justified by Christ, by the light, by the faith?

This cannot be; God's way of imputation will stand; but man's invented way of imputation, which sprung up in the apostasy, will not stand. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, the blood cleanses; but not otherwise. If we walk after the Spirit, and not after the flesh, there is no condemnation; and not otherwise. The true baptism is the plunging down of the old thing, with all its filth, and the raising up of a new thing; and it is the new thing, the circumcision, the baptism, which is justified. God justifies his Son, and man only so far as he is found in his Son. (the soul is justified by hearing, believing, and obeying — but this is not a one-time hearing event; it is a repetitive process, 1 Peter 1:13; requiring persistence to the end, when you see Christ bring your salvation. Justification, purification, perfection, sanctification, and salvation all occur simultaneously.) The true sanctification consists in the growth of the seed, and its spreading, like a leaven, over the heart, and over the whole man.

By faith Gal 4:19, 1 Peter 3:4, Col 1:27; Christ is formed in the heart; the hidden man in the mystery is formed there; and as Matthew 13:33, 1 Corinthians 5:7; this seed, this leaven, this man grows, so he makes the man holy in whom he grows. The seed of life, the kingdom of heaven, is a holy thing; and as it grows and spreads, it purges out the old leaven, and makes the lump new; but now, in Christians that have grown up in the apostasy, this seed is not known, this leaven is not so much as discerned; but their holiness consists in a conformity to rules of scripture, received into the old heart and understanding. And what a noise has this made in the world, all this night of the apostasy! as if this were the heir, and should inherit the kingdom.

No, no; the heir has appeared, (by whose presence it is seen, that this is not the heir), and you shall not be able to kill him; but he shall live to enjoy his inheritance, and the inheritance shall not be yours. Titus 2:14, Rev 14:3,4, Col 1:14, Eph 4:30; Redemption consists in being bought, by the price of the life, out of sin, out of death, out of the earth, out of the power of the devil. It is a Matthew 12:29; casting off the strong man out of the heart, with all that he brought in, Acts 26:18; and a delivering from his power. It is 1 John 3:8, Hebrews 2:14; a dissolving of the work of sin, which the devil has wrought in the heart, and a setting the soul, which is immortal, at liberty, Acts 26:17-18, 1 John 3:8-9,5:18, Luke 4:18-19, Luke 24:47, John 8:32,36, Rom 6:18,22, Colossians 2:11,3:5, Tit 2:13-14; free from sin, and free unto righteousness; this is the true redemption. But this redemption in the apostasy is a feigned redemption, in which salvation from sin, and the devil, and his power, is not felt; but the strong man is still in the heart, and keeps the soul in death, and brings forth fruits of death daily.

The Christians formerly, (in the first day (the church the Apostles) of the breaking forth of God's power), had Christinthem, the living Word; they opened their hearts to him, received him in, felt him there, found him made of God to them, their wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification, their redemption. 1 Cor 1:30. They had the thing that these words signify and speak of, and knew the meaning of the words by feeling of the thing. But Christians now, in the apostasy, have gotten several apprehensions from the words, without feeling the thing the words speak of;* and there lies their religion. - And now the true heir being come, holding forth the thing they have been all talking of, all sects upon the earth are mad against him, and would willingly kill him.

They would not have the living substance, which is the heir, live, and nothing be esteemed life but that; but they would have their dead apprehensions from the words live, and their dead forms and practices owned; and the heir of life must come in their way, in the way that they have hoped and waited for him, or they will not own him. Awake! awake! Oh you sons of the apostasy, and of the night! rise up out of the fleshly wisdom, out of the dead fleshly interpretations of scriptures, out of the dead invented forms of worship, and bow to the heir; kiss the Son, lest you feel the force of that dreadful sentence, ;Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me. For of a truth the great Prophet is risen, and speaks in the heart, and his sheep hear his voice, (there are many faithful witnesses thereof) and he that will not hear his voice, must be cut off; there is no avoiding of it; for the two-edged sword is in his hand, and he will cut down the transgressor.

(From the Word of God within the heart: Salvation is not expectation. Salvation is John 8:32, 34, 36, Col 1:13, Rom 6:22, 1 Thes 1:10; to be delivered from sin. Your past evidences are a failure. 1 John 3:2-3, Heb 9:28, Tit 2:11-14, Luk 9:26-27; Witness salvation. 2 Pet 1:5-8, Luke 13:24-28; Make every effort, for the days are few. Eph 2:1, Tit 2:11-14; Saved by grace; but what about the rest of that chapter?You have not experienced grace until 2 Cor 4:14, Colossians 2:11-12,3:1, Romans 8:11, Ephesians 2:5-6; you have been raised with Him. Changing grace is alive in those who are Heb 10:35-39 confident.)

8. The church, the true church, was lost.

The true church was a company gathered out of the world into God, begotten of, and gathered into his life by the living Word, and so had a true place and habitation in God. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, styles them a church in God. A church under the gospel is made up of true Israelites, gathered out of their own spirits and nature into the measure of the Spirit of God in them, as Christ was into the fullness They are such as are begotten of God, born of his Spirit, led by him out of Egypt, through the wilderness, to Zion the holy mount; there they meet with the elect, precious corner-stone which is laid in Zion; and they, being living stones, are built upon it into Jerusalem the holy city. 1 Pet 2:5-6. Heb 12:22.

This is the true church. Everyone that believes in Christ* is a living stone; and being a living stone, he is laid upon the living foundation, and so is a part of the building in the temple of the living God. Yes, his body and spirit being cleansed, he himself is a temple in which God dwells, appears, and is worshipped. And the gathering of any of these together at anytime in the life, in the name of Christ, is a larger temple, and such a temple as Christ never fails to be in the midst of. But the great temple, the full church, is the general assembly of the first-born. This is the unerring pillar and ground of truth: this always bore up truth; truth never failed here; but when it was at anytime lost in the world, it might from here be recovered again when God pleased, and as far as he pleased. Indeed the law of the Lord has always gone forth from this Zion, and the living word from this Jerusalem.

To believe in Christmeans to be a new creature, dead to sin, raised to union in him, to sit with him in the heavens, and him being their true Lord, controlling their thoughts, words and deeds. The apostasy has changed this definition to become, a belief in the record of Christ in the scriptures to be true. But what has the church been in the apostasy? A building of stone, say some; and that not only among Papists, but here in England also. Many have called the old mass-house a church, a temple, the house of God, pleading for it to be a holy place; and have showed it by their practices, keeping off their hats while they were in it.

Others say, not the stone building, but the people that meet there, are the church; of which many are openly profane; yes, so far from being gathered into the Spirit, and so ignorant of his motions, that they are ready to scoff, if they hear a man speak of being moved by the Spirit. What are these? Are these living stones, whereupon the true church alone can be built? Are these children of the day? No, these are children of the night; children brought up in the apostasy from the true light, the true life, the true rule of Christianity, the true worship, the true faith, the true love, etc., and so are dead stones in that building; but not true living stones in God's building.

Other sorts separate from these, and gather congregations out of these; but still in the same spirit, in the same nature, being not themselves gathered out of the apostasy from the Spirit, into the Spirit again; and so they build but with the same stones as were in the old building, and not with the new and living stones, and so are but a more refined appearance of a church; but not a true church, not a church in God, and by the gathering of his Spirit; but of their own gathering, after a form, according as they have imagined from their reading and studying of the Scriptures.

9. The ministry, the true ministry, has been lost.

Eph 4:11, Luke 6:40, Luke 10:2; The true ministry was a ministry made and appointed by the Spirit, by the gift of the Spirit bestowed on them, and by the Spirit sending of them, and appointing them to their work. Christ told his apostles and disciples wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the (power of the) Spirit, and when he had given them the Spirit, he gave them to the church for the work of the ministry. Eph 4:11-12. Acts 20:28. And if none can be a member of the true church but by being begotten out of death into life by the Spirit, surely none can be able to minister to him who is so begotten, but by the same Spirit. So these receiving their ministry of the Lord Jesus, Acts 20:24. and the gift of the Spirit from him, they were made; able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. 2 Cor 3:6.

They were able in God to minister from his Spirit to the spirits of his people; and they did not minister a literal knowledge of things to the understanding of man; but they led men to the Spirit of God, and ministered spiritual things to that spiritual understanding which was given them of God. Neither did they make use of their own wisdom and are to tickle the natural ear; but spoke to the conscience, with the demonstration of the Spirit in the sight of God, 1 Cor 2:13, 1 Pet 4:11, Col 3:16, 1 John 1:3, 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Sam 23:2, Acts 2:4, Eph 6:19; as it pleased the Spirit to give them utterance. But how have ministers been made in the apostasy?

By orders from men, set up in their own wills, after their own inventions. And how have they been qualified, but by human arts and languages, which have been of high esteem in what men call the church, since the language and skill of the Spirit of God have been lost. God, who chose in his own church, does not choose here who shall be his ministers; but any man can appoint his son to be a minister, if he will but educate him in learning, and send him to the university, and so bring him into that way of order in which men make ministers, and then he is able to minister unto man the things of man, according to human skill; and this, in the dark night of apostasy, must go for a true call to the ministry of God.

Indeed, they are as true ministers as the church is to which they minister; but they never were, nor ever can be, thus made ministers of the church of God: but as God alone can form and build his church, so he alone can fit and appoint the ministers thereof. And though others, having seen the grossness of this, make their ministers by a call in their church (the Independents, not depending on their church hierarchy to appoint their minister); yet neither is that out of the apostasy, but only a striving of man to get out of it; which man cannot possibly do until he meets with the Spirit of God to lead out of it. So that such (congregation appointed) ministry also is but an invention of man made by man, and comes not from the Spirit, nor is able to minister spirit to the spirit.

Objection: But hasn't there been no true religion since the days of the apostles? No true rule, no true worship, no true faith, no true love, no true hope, joy, or peace! no true repentance, conversion, and regeneration! no true wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption! no true church, no true ministry! What is become of all our forefathers? Did they all perish? And has not this ministry converted many to God? Were not you yourselves converted by it? No, have not many of them been martyrs, and witnessed to the truth of God? And though some of them are bad, yet are not many of them zealous and conscientious preachers of the word at this day? (By such reasoning's as these, the wisdom of man much strengthens and hardens itself against the truth.)

Answer: The rule in nations, the worship in nations, the faith, love, hope, joy, peace, repentance, conversion, regeneration, etc., which have been cried up in nations for the truth, the churches in nations, the ministry in nations, all these have been corrupted, and never recovered their true state to this day. There have been changes from one thing to another; but the restoration has not been known. The whorish spirit has been hunted and pursued, and so run out of one form into another, traversing her way, and changing her ground and garments; but has not been taken and judged to the death. The true spirit has not been able to find the bed of her husband; but has wandered from mountain to hill all the time of this cloudy and dark day, forgetting her resting place.

Yes, though the whole earth was corrupted, and false doctrine and worship set up everywhere among the nations, which continued the fornication and whoredom from the Spirit of life in the public ways and national worships; notwithstanding this, even all this while God reserved a seed to himself, which he caused to spring up in a remnant, and which he moved and carried on to witness against somewhat of these corruptions, in their several ages and generations. And as fast as the beast killed and knocked down these, God raised up more. Yes, though the whorish spirit, in some nations, painted herself curiously, leaving some of the gross doctrines and worships of popery, and have gotten into a more refined way; yet God raised up witnesses against her there also, and still does, into whatever form she gets. Although she has lately decked herself very pleasingly, as she thinks, and covered herself round with scripture words and professions and practices as like as ever she can form them to the practices of former saints; yet quick and lively is the Spirit of God that searches after her, who has found her out, and raised up witnesses against her there also.

Now this seed, this remnant, though they were not able to recover the possession of the life and power that was lost; yet they had a true taste of it, and their testimony which they gave out from that taste was true; and so far as they kept to this testimony in the faith and in the patience which they had learned and received from God, (though but in a low measure), they were accepted of him. So that all were not lost in this night of darkness; but such as feared God, and knew and listened to his voice, had the testimony of his presence with them, and tasted of his life and power in measure.

God was not a hard master to them; but tender and gentle, and contented to reap what he sowed. But the appearance of God in this dark time was weak and low, and easy to be made a prey of. And this is very observable, so that long as the simplicity ran pure, it was preserved; but so soon as ever the spirit of man was tempted either into any old, or into any new-invented form, the wisdom of the flesh got in with it, grew up more than it, and when it had gathered strength, corrupted the vessel, betrayed the simplicity, and lost the life. There was a precious thing stirring in queen Mary's days, the life of which was more hurt and suppressed by that dead form of Episcopacy succeeding afterwards, than by the subsequent persecution.

The persecution did clear and brighten it; but the fleshly form of Episcopacy brought death over it. Thus many precious beginnings and budding-forth of the life have been betrayed in these late days; and the forms of Presbytery, Independency, and Anabaptism, have been little less than graves to bury and keep down the life. How many spirits, that had a precious savour in them at their entrance into those forms, did soon become fleshly, earthly, and very unsavoury, losing the quickness and freshness that were in them before, and falling into the deadness of the form, withering with it. ) Make no mistake; you cannot stay in the false church, thinking to reform it or help others there. From the Voice of the Lord:

Just like Judaism was taken over by the enemy, so has Christianity, which is corrupt, through and through. Like Daniel, you are captive of the Isaiah 48:20, Habakkuk 1:5-7, Isaiah 47:1, Revelation 18:4; Chaldeans. Your place of worship is filled with unclean birds. Rev 17:1 Babylon is greatand mighty. Your heart cannot reach those who wonder after the beast. Woe to those who try to bring good from evil. Oh Christendom, Revelation 18:4; be not at ease in Babylon!; ) As touching the ministry, though in itself it was evil, being in the degeneration from the true ministry all this time of the apostasy, and the persons with that, for the most part, very corrupt, being brought up to it as a trade, and making use of it as a trade; yet I do believe that there was a simplicity of heart in some persons among them, which did cause them, in some degree of faithfulness, to seek the Lord, his service, and the good of souls. And in the time of ignorance and darkness, it pleased God to wink at and overlook the evil, and to cause good to pass from the good in them to the good in others, through the evil that hung about both. And this was the great tenderness of the Lord, in pity to his poor creatures, who were very destitute of help in the thick night of darkness, and should not now be made use of to justify and keep up the evil.

Do you thus requite the Lord, Oh foolish people and unkind! because his mercy and goodness extended to you, notwithstanding the evil which might have hindered, will you make that an argument to keep up the evil, and to oppose the light which discovers it? Because God caused light to shine through the darkness, and visited man in the dark, will you therefore set up the darkness as his proper way of ministration? The corrupt way, call, and exercise of the corrupt ministry could not keep out the tender love of God; but he had respect to the simplicity of some who were found in it, and to the simplicity of others who waited on him for instruction there, and did please to give some answer to both. And will you make this ungenerous use of it, to interpret it as his approbation of that ministry, which sprung up in the apostasy from him, among those that were apostatized, and is a great dishonour to him, and the abhorring of his soul?

A ministry of Christ, a ministry set up by his Spirit, is precious; but a ministry made by man, according to his will, and ministering in his wisdom, the soul of the Lord bears as a burden, and is pressed with it; and as he raises up his own life, will ease himself of it. And what do they minister from, but the literal part of 2 Cor 3:6; the Scriptures, which kills, and cannot give life. And what do they minister with, but their own understanding part; what meanings they can invent, what deductions their wisdom can draw from the Scriptures; but do not see the true meaning in the infallible and unerring light: and what do they minister to, but the understanding part in you? Whereas there is somewhat else to be ministered to by the true minister. And what do they minister to you, but food for the understanding; food for the serpentine wisdom, which always fed upon knowledge, but never upon the true bread.

And hereby another thing is fed in you, and not your souls; but they are kept in leanness and barrenness, under death and the bondage of corruption, (which Paul cried out upon as a wretched state, and could find no ease, rest, or freedom from condemnation there), and without the true life and redemption. I do not deny but you may there meet with some kind of warmth in the affectionate part, which may be heated by a fire and sparks of man's kindling and blowing up; and this may go for life with you now: but in the presence of the truth, where the eye is open, it vanishes; yes, the Spirit of the Lord has so blown upon it, that it is even withered in the sight of a more inferior eye in many people. (Pennington chooses to ;believe; there were good intentioned false ministers in his day, and so did this site editor previously have the same opinion; but the Lord has told me that not one has good intentions.

Evidently, every minister knows deep down inside that they are preaching opinions, which conflict with many scriptures; but, as 1 Timothy 4:2; Paul told Timothy: speaking lies with hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Paul called such, ministers of Satan, masquerading as ministers of righteousness. Yet these self-appointed ministers of Satan are often deceived to believe they are Christ's, even though Christ Luke 6:39-40; never called them, never trained them, never perfected them, never authorized them, did not Luke 10:2, Mat 9:38; send them to the harvest, or Eph 4:11-12; gift them with the ministry, of which all Eph 4:11-13; true ministers' sole purpose for the perfection of the saints. Eph 4:11-13. Satan's ministers will deny perfection is even possible, denying the same scriptures they claim to be their rule and guide.)