ye have not seen Christ, as Paul and the apostles did: so ye are out of the faith, and show he is not in you, neither do ye sit with him in heavenly places. Whoever receives faith from Christ, or knows Christ the power, knows immediately; wherefore thou hast shown thyself a reprobate from God, and under the judgment of it thou art come. And the apostle preached perfection; and Christ bid them be perfect, as their heavenly Father is perfect;' and the saints were to grow to perfection: and the work of the ministry was for the perfecting of the saints, till they all came unto a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' And thou in this hast denied the work of the ministry, that callest the doctrine of perfection a devilish doctrine.' And the scripture is not the author, nor the means of it, nor the rule, but Christ who gives it, and he increaseth it; and faith was before scripture was given forth. And all they that gave forth scripture had faith from God, and they are able to make wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.' But those that have the scripture, and deny the light that doth enlighten every man, &c. and hate it, have not faith, as the Pharisees had not; and so are such as the apostle spoke of who were 'reprobate concerning the faith,' before his decease, that had got 'the form of godliness,' as those that say, 'the scripture is the medium of faith, and absolute rule;' but that which rules it, and increaseth it, is Christ.

P. He saith, Christ's grace brings salvation, but not by any such light or power dwelling in them,' page 6.

A. The grace of God which brings salvation, that teacheth the saints, is in the heart, and stablisheth it. That which brings salvation and is their teacher, dwells within them; which brings them to say, 'this is the Lord whom I have waited for,' where the everlasting life runs, and flows.

P. He saith, Such as cause divisions are to be marked, that serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, their lust, will, or light within them,' page 12.

A. The light which doth enlighten every man, &c. Christ Jesus the second Adam, leadeth men from their lusts and wills, and from serving their own bellies, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ from whence it comes, for such as serve their own bellies are out of the light, in transgression, in the first Adam, in their own lusts and wills, where thou art, among the apostates in the deceivableness, the mystery of iniquity, which the apostle saw was coming in, which since the days of the apostles hath reigned; but now with the light is discovered and made manifest. And such as have served their bellies, and serve their bellies, which the apostles saw coming in before their decease, are now manifest to be such as deny the light that doth enlighten every man that cometh into the

world,' which is the salvation to the ends of the earth. Are they not for their own bellies,' casting into prisons, and haling before courts such as will not put into their mouths, that they do no work for? And these cause divisions among all people. Do not these serve their bellies? and are not people come to mark them, what a division they have set among people? yea, persecuting and prisoning for tithes and maintenance, and haling before judges and justices, by writs into courts, and at assizes and sessions? Do not these that make all this division, serve their bellies, and not Christ? They deny the light which doth enlighten every man, &c. and so deny Christ, the Lord that bought them.' But the light that every man hath that cometh into the world, the light that shines in the heart, gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus,' and brings all off from serving their bellies, and leads out of the lusts in the fall, which came by Adam in the transgression.

P. He saith, 'To speak of the word of God immediately, and that which I speak I speak it immediately. I am strengthened against that, and admonished by God to hold fast the form of sound words. And that which is able to make men wise unto salvation through faith. And Timothy was to stir up the gift of God that was in him mediately, by the putting on of the hands, and not neglect the gift that was in him. And God hath published his last dispensation, and nothing more to be added or altered,' page 15.

A. If thou art strengthened by God against speaking his word immediately; or if thou speaks not immediately, thou being strengthened by God against this, (as thou sayst,) in this thou shows thou never knew him. Whoever is strengthened of God, it is by his power, and that is immediate; whoever speaks his word that lives and endures for ever, it is immediate. In this thou, and you all, have showed yourselves to be ministers of the letter, and not of the word of God, which is immediate, which lives, and abides, and endures for ever, and is immortal and fades not away;' and this thou and you speak not immediately, and therefore have ye indeed put the letter for it, that are strayed from the word of God in your hearts, not born again of the immortal seed, the word of God. And whosoever stirs up the gift of God in him, it is immediate, and by the immediate. And who ever holds fast the form of sound words, the scriptures, is made wise unto salvation by them through the faith, he is in the immediate gift of God. And the gift which brought Timothy, by laying on of the hands of the presbytery, to see and divide the word aright, and kept him out of partiality, was immediate, and it was the immediate word of God that he was to preach in season and out of season. And, since the days of the apostles, from this have you all been apostatized,

and asleep in the night of apostacy in the great city; though there have been pipers among you, and sounding of the trumpets, and the voice of the bride, and the grinding of mills, and the light of candles. And the time is coming that Babylon shall fall, and become the habitation of devils, and the saints shall rejoice and sing over her, &c.

P. He saith, It is not properly and absolutely, in a full sense, that God is manifest, or glorified in the flesh of his saints,' page 29.

A. The saints are the temples of God, and God dwells in them, and walks in them; and they come to witness the flesh of Christ, and they glorify him in their souls and bodies, and the Lord is glorified in their bringing forth much fruit. And they witness the seed, the one offering for sin and transgression, to be manifest within; and such are not reprobates, that witness the one offering Christ Jesus; but they that have him not within, are reprobates.

P. He saith, The body is dead because of sin, yea, it is in itself but a wretched vile body,' page 30. And Christ is in, or among believers the hope of glory. And that person Christ, is personally absent from the believers. And we do not possess the glory of this glory Christ in us,' page 32.

A. I do believe you, that are not come to the light that 'doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world;' ye do not possess the hope of glory in you, ye are absent from Christ, and do not feel him. But the saints in the light receive Christ the hope of glory, and so he is not absent from them; for they have unity with him and the Father, and know a change in them from glory to glory, and witness Christ in them as believers in the light, who walk not in darkness, but have the light of life. And where the body of sin is destroyed and put off, they glorify God in their souls, and bodies, and spirits which are the Lords, and those are not wretched.

P. He saith, Christ is absent from us while we are in the mortal body.'

A. Contrary to the apostle who said,' the life of Christ is manifest in their mortal flesh.'

P. He saith, Christ is in heaven with a spiritual body.'

A. And priest Higginson said, he is in heaven with a carnal body. And thus ye are confused, and discerned, who are from the light, and can speak of the body of Christ by the letter, and tell where he rose by the letter, as the priests of old could tell Herod where he should be born; but Christ's body is glorified.

P. He saith,The first resurrection we desire not to account ourselves to have apprehended,' page 44. Such as magnify their belly to be some internal operation, making it with all deceivableness of un

righteousness in them that perish, glorying in their shame, minding sensual earthly things. All since the apostles have not the ministry of the gospel immediately, but mediately from the person of Christ, in their believing through their word,' page 46. And the text saith not, the word of faith in the heart."

A. The word of faith which they preached was in their mouth, and in their heart,' nigh them even in their hearts.' Rom. x. And we do believe you have not received the word immediately from Christ, as the apostles did, who have erred and apostatized from them. (So none are preachers of the word in the truth, but who are preachers of it immediately.) And such are all false apostles, and such as serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, who mind earthly things sensually, and are in the deceivableness of unrighteousness, deceiving the people with good words, forcing and taking maintenance of people they do no work for, keeping them all from the immediate teaching of God, they themselves being out of it, and conclude all in their own dominion, and all agree in one against the immediate teaching. And they that are out of the immediate teaching, are under the power of the beast, and antichrist, and the great whore, the mother of harlots. And so they served their bellies, when they went from the immediate teaching into the strong delusion, as since the days of the apostles it hath appeared. How are people all on heaps, out of the life, and spirit, and power of God? And so all that perish in the deceivableness of unrighteousness, are from the light which 'Christ doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world withal;' for none perish who are in the light. And the saints witnessed they were risen with Christ;' and they that were risen sought the things that were above, and not the things upon the earth.' And they that know the first resurrection, and are in it, are blessed, the second death hath no power over them,' and they are atop of Adam, and they are in Christ the resurrection and the life. And such as are in the first Adam, driven from God, and love to live in the fall, look not after the first resurrection, neither desired to come into it.

P. He saith, The glorious bringing down of the kingdom and glory is yet to be waited for, even by the disciples, all the time of this mortality,' page 54. All believers are personally from Christ in their mortal bodies: and none of the fathers saw the day of Christ as actually revealed, accomplished in their time.'

A. He that believes is born of God, and overcomes the world, and abides in the doctrine of Christ, and hath the son and the Father, and the spirit of Christ, the life of Christ in the mortal flesh. And the kingdom of heaven Christ said was in the Pharisees, and the saints come to and pos

sess the kingdom. And the kingdom of heaven is within them, and consists in righteousness, in peace, in joy in the holy ghost, and in power. And they were changed from glory to glory; and they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory; and that was in the kingdom, and this was while they were upon the earth. And Enoch and Abraham saw the day of Christ, and David saw the betrayer, and whose feet should be snared, whose eyes should be blinded, and whose back should bow down; and he saw Judas that betrayed Christ. And Isaiah saw the suffering of Christ, and how God laid the iniquity upon him. And Isaiah saw his name, and how his soul was made an offering for sin. And Daniel said, the Messiah should be cut off, but not for himself, which the apostles witnessed fulfilled.

P. He saith,The scriptures is the power of God unto salvation,' page 59.

A. Many may have the form, but deny the power of God, which is the gospel. And the letter doth not give life, neither is it the power of God unto salvation.

P. He saith, "That Christ is distinct from every one of us, and without us in our particular persons,' page 61.

A. The apostle said, 'Christ was in them except they were reprobates;' and they were of his flesh, and of his bone; and they eat his flesh, and drank his blood; then it was within them; and he is distinct from none but reprobates, who hate the light.

P. Nor are we to wait for a further revelation to us to be given forth, than the scriptures. For the word of God came not first to the Gentiles immediately, but to the apostles,' page 77.

A. The apostles that preached the word of God, it was immediate to whomsoever they preached it, for they had received it immediately. For the word itself is immediate, for it is the savour of death to the death, and of life to the life.' And none know the scriptures but by the spirit that doth reveal them. So all that witness the spirit of God witness the revelation, and the revealing of the scriptures to them by it. And the things of God, which are laid up for them that love God, eye hath not seen; but the eye may see the scriptures outwardly. And none know the son of God, neither knows any man the Father but the son, and he to whom the son reveals him.' And so people may have the scriptures, but not the revelation of the son of God by them. For the Pharisees had the scriptures, but not the thing they testified of.

the

P. He saith, "The scriptures are the word of God, and the key of knowledge,' page 79, and the opening of all things contained in the scriptures.'

A. The scriptures are the words of God, and that is his word who