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{Page 12} III.
How the subtiltie of the Serpent workes in the children of disobedience; and how he rages where he sees the image of the Prince of Peace appear, to smother and strangle the hold Child Jesus.
O Thou subtle serpent, why dost thou so rage at the voice of the Lord, when he speaks in his own, whom he has redeemed1, and why art thou so mad against his Image where it is renewed and doth appear in whom he hath begotten to himself: Thou hast long uttered thy voice in open streets by blasphemous swearing, cursing, lying, slandering, railing, false accusing, scorning, and all manner of evil speaking, and hast brought forth thy image in thy Children, in persecuting, killing, stoning, mocking, imprisoning, covetousness, drunkenness, whoredoms, thefts, and all manner of evil works and deeds of darkness; thou hast long reigned as King on earth and in earthly hearts and carnall minds, and there hast showed forth thy enmitie against God, and in such thou art exalted above all that is called God, and hast got thy will upon them and hast brought them to fall downe and worship thee; for that thy pride lookes much after: and as thou hast divers colours, so thou lookest for divers kinds of worship2; and where thou appearest in greatest glory, there thou lookest for greatest worship; and those who will obey thee herein, to them thou givest large promises of great things in the world, and they shall be advanced in thy partiall kingdome; but there is a seed thou couldest never bring to fall down before thee, though thou hast often attempted it and divers wayes, sometimes by great threatenings, even to destroy the whole seed at one blow, as in Haman to Mordecai3 and all the seed of the Jewes, because he would not worship thee; and sometimes by great promises and large dissembling proffers, as unto Christ the Son of God, showing him all the riches of the world4, and the glory thereof, saying, {Page 13} all this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me, but this seed is that which is appointed to bruise thy head and lay all thy pride in the dust, and the voyce of this seed is terrible to thee where it speaks; for it never speaks good concerning thee but evil, and this seed is Christ who is risen in his Saints, to discover and destroy thy Kingdom by the sword of his mouth and by the brightness of his coming, for he speakes death to thee where he speakes5, and declares the Kingdom to be death and darknesse, and thy works to be dead works, and that all thy ways lead to the chambers of death, and that hell, death and destruction are the portion of all whom thou deceivest and leadest on in the broad way, but wherever the seed of God appears, it holds forth life, and leads into a way of life, works, and words of life and power, for it is the light of life and leads to life eternal. And as this light arises it discovers thee, not only within, but also sees thee, where thou art in the world, and is brought to lay thee open to others, and all thy deceivable workings, and to judge and condemn thee6; and this is the Son, where he is, he is the light of the world and judge of the world; for the Father has committed all judgment unto the Son, and he judgeth thee in and by his Saints. And now thou seest plainly that if he do but speak, and the creature hear and believe, then he will discover all thy subtletie, and redeem from under thy power, by which thou hast deceived the nations and ruled over them for many generations.
And therefore now thy designe is to stop his mouth, that he may not speak under pain of imprisoning or killing the body in whom he speakes, and if that will not prevail, then thou persuadest people not to believe that it is he that speakes in his own, calling it Blasphemy for any to confess him to speak in them, or dwell in them now7.
O thou cursed, crooked, winding Serpent! More subitle than all the beasts of the field8: this was thy way among the professing wise knowing Jewes, when this seed first appeared in flesh, to make them believe that it was not he who was the Christ, the savior of the world, he was too poor, too plain, and of too mean a stock to be King of Israel: ye know this man from whence he is, a Carpenter’s Son, and his kindred are {Page 14} with us, and none believe on this man, but sinners, women, and Children, and a poor people that know not the Law, and they are accursed, but when Christ comes, then the rulers will own him and believe in him9: thus by perswading them to look for great things at a distance, a Christ to come, who would appeare more glorious to their carnal eyes, thou prevailed in them to crucifie the Son of God and Redeemer of the World. But now that the History of Christ being come, and hath suffered, and is risen again, is generally believed; now thy designe is to perswade people that it is a thing past long since, and sets them on to cry out against the Jews for killing of him, and Judas for betraying him, and thus sets one of thy children to cry out against another, making these believe that they are in a better condition than their fathers, when they are all found in one and the same work, killing some, imprisoning others, mocking, stoning, beating and shamefully entreating others and to keep them on in this work10, perswades them that it is not Christ they persecute now, for Christ is in heaven and sits at the right hand of God; and how can he be in his people now? he doth not appear in any now, or speak in any now, neither is there any Revelations. It was so in the Apostles time11, and the Saints of old witnessed such things; but it is blasphemy for any now to confesse him, in these dayes: and thus thou beguilest carnal man, led by carnal reason, to look for a carnal Christ like themselves, who can but be in one place, or person; as though God had now found some new way to speak to his people, and not by his Son, and all this is to put out the light lest thou shouldest be discovered: for thou rulest in darknesse, and by darknesse keepest thy possession amongst those whom thou hast blinded, but where Christ is revealed and known, he is known to be spiritual, and not carnal, not limited to one place, but filleth heaven and earth, is all, and in all his, but not seen by the carnal man, though he be the light of the world, for the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of the world, that they cannot see him, for he is a mystery to them and hid from all their carnal wisdom12, neither can they hear his voyce, for they are not of his sheep but are as the deaf Adder; but to them {Page 15 onely in whom he dwels he is known, they hear his voyce and are taught by him alone, and will own no other voyce nor teacher, and they know him to be the same Christ yesterday, today and forever; the same who when he was to ascend, said to his, if I go away, I will come again, that where I am, there may ye be also; the same who said I will come and make mine abode with you; the same who was in the Saints the hope of glory, & those who have him not in them are reprobates13.
The same Christ who spoke in Paul and the rest, and they knew his voyce wherever they heard it, and did obey it, though they suffered for it, for he was their light, their life, and their way to the Father; and by believing and following him, they were led out of all the wayes of death and darkness, up to God into puritie and holiness, and thus were brought to witnesse their redemption by him, and he is the same now to those who know him, in all things, according to the measure received: he reveals himself now to be the eternal Son of God in them, in whom he reveals the Father also, and that the Son and the Father are one in him14, he speakes in them and by them, and they know his voyce from all other voyces in themselves and others; they know his hand is not shortned, nor his love lesse than it hath been to his people; and that his delight is with the sons of men as much as ever; but it is onely in them who love and obey him, and not their lusts, and such can witnesse their fellowship with the Father and the Son, and they know that this is a mystery to all the worlds wisdom, and that the Serpent’s brood can no more own his voyce now, where he speakes, than formerly he could do, when he spoke in the flesh; and that he is but one in all, from the beginning to this day, and changes not: and that the serpent is but one in all his, though of divers colours and forms, and therefore at Wars, disputes and janglings among themselves, and at envy one with another; onely they are one in this15, that they all joyn to persecute the pure seed, in any where it appears; But where the pure seed appears, they are all of one colour, arrayed in pure linnen, white and clean, which is the righteousness of Saints, and are of one heart and one mind, and these follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth16, never to persecute {Page 16} any, but to suffer all the venome, rage and malice of the serpent’s brood, and are led throrow great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and thereby they are brought to bruise thy head and raign above thee, and tread upon thee, and thus the promise of God is fulfilled in his people, and this is witnessed in them, and they know that they are redeemed and set free from sin and death, even by the power and virtue of this seed being raised up in them, to rule in them, and is their guide, their judge and lawgiver, their light by which they see thy severall deceits17, whereby thou deceivest the nations and keepest them in sin and filthiness, persuading some that Christ is come and hath redeemed them among the rest, though they know it not, but still lives in their sins; yet if they have but a profession and go under the name of believers, and come before the Lord as his people in outward performances, though they have no witnesse within themselves yet all their sins are satisfied for past, present and to come.
And lest they should doubt of it, thou settest them to the letter, to steal that which Christ in Spirit witnessed in the saints, in whom he dwelt, but never yet in them18; and thus by applying the promises of the righteous unto the wicked, encourageth them to live in sin without fear; and this Doctrine thou broachest amongst thy Ranting crew, and so proclaims liberty to the lusts of the flesh, a Doctrine well pleasing to the first birth, and therefore so easily received, and cried up by many in these dayes. But if the judgment of God for sin seise upon the spirits of any, and they find that there can be no peace with God while sin stands, then thou hast another way to deceive them, perswading them that though it be sin and only sin that breaks their peace with God, yet what power have they against it of themselves19? they must look for a day (which will always be to come) when they shall have power given in an easie way to overcome sin, and never take up the cross nor deny their own lusts nor have their own wills crucified. And thus by tempting them to look out at redemption, past or to come, keeps them from minding their present condition, and tender of Christ within them, who by his light {Page 17} would lead them out of sin and filthinesse to witness redemption within themselves.
Another sort thou perswadest, that none ever was, or ever shall be set free from sin, while they are here, and that it is a vain thing ever to look for it; and that they are but Pharisees who seek to be cleaner than their neighbors20, and that God is merciful, and Christ came to save sinners: and thus Christ serves for no other end to them, but to talk on, and he who came to set the saints free from sin, and to discover sin, is by thine made a cloak for sin, and an encouragement in sin: and further to deceive them, thou gatherest up all the failings of the Saints, which are written as warnings for all that come after never to do the like, and these thou turnest to encourage thine in their sin; for this is thy cursed language: Did not David sin? Did not Peter sin? Did not Noah sin21? And am I better than they? And thus thou, who by sin at first didst stamp thy Image on the creature, and so work a separation betwixt God and man, so by sin thou upholdest thy Image and the separation; for sin is begotten by thee, and thou art the father of it, and it bears thy image, and the glory of thy kingdom stands in sin and filthinesse22, and thou and thy children delight in it.
But woe unto thee and thy Kingdom, for the day of thy torment is upon thee: for now Michael our prince, who stands up for the children and people of God, is arisen against thee, who will break thee and thy Image in pieces, and thou shalt be cast out of heaven, and thy angels into the earth, and thou shalt be chained in the bottomless pit and shalt deceive the nations no more; for thou art discovered, and the beast and the false Prophet by whom thou hast maintained Wars against the saints, and you shall all be cast into the lake that burneth, there to be tormented forever23.
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Coll. 3.10,11. ↩
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Rom. 8.7. 2 Thess. 2.4. Esther 3. 5,6. Esther 5.9,13. Esther 6.13. ↩
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Esther 3.6. ↩
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Mat. 6.8,9. ↩
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Gen. 3.15. 1 King 22.8. 2 Thes. 2.8. Rom. 8.6. Mat. 7.13. ↩
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1 Cor. 2.15. 1 Cor. 6.2,3.↩
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Prov. 26.25,26. Rev. 12.13,15.↩
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Joh. 9.21. Joh. 6.24. ↩
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Mat. 21.15. Joh. 7.18,19. ↩
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Mat. 21.35,36. ↩
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Gal. 1.16. Mat. 11.27. 1 Cor. 2.14. Heb. 1.2. ↩
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Col. 2.10,11. 2 Cor. 4.4. Pf. 58.4,5. Eze. 4.20,21. ↩
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Joh. 10.4,5. Joh 14.3. Col. 1.27 2 Cor. 13.3. John 14.6. ↩
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Mat. 11.27. Gal. 1.16. John 10.30. Joh. 10.4,5. Pro. 8.31. John 1.3. John 10.20. John 17.21. ↩
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Luke 23.12. Revel. 9.13. ↩
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Rev. 19.8. Revel 7.14. ↩
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Rom. 6.20,21.↩
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1 John 3.10. ↩
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Heb. 3.7.↩
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Joh. 3.6,7,8. ↩
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John 8.44. ↩
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Dan. 12.1. Dan 2.34.↩
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Rev. 20.10.↩
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