Page images
PDF
EPUB

and their work was to dress the garden, and to keep it, and to subduc the earth, and keep their dominion in his power and image, as he made them.

So here you may see the work which God commanded man and woman to do, whilst they were in his image; they were not to be idle, neither were they to do this in the sweat of their brows, nor to eat their bread in the sweat of their brows, whilst they kept the command of God, and obeyed his voice; neither did God set the man over the woman, whilst they kept in the image of God, and obeyed his voice, and kept his command, but were meet-helps; for both had power, male and female, over all the creatures which God had made, as long as they kept in the image of God, and obeyed his voice and command; but after they disobeyed God's voice and command, and hearkened unto the serpent's, and so were subjected under hope of being as gods, and of being wiser than God had made them; and thought that fruit was good for food, and to make wise, which brought them surely to die that day they did eat thereof. So Adam and Eve came to be dead to God; and instead of being wiser, came to be fools, and got the cursed ground, and thorns and thistles, instead of paradise.

But ye may say, that Adam and Eve were alive after this, else how could they have children afterwards?

Yea, they were alive outwardly, but they died from the image and likeness of God, and righteousness and holiness, which God Almighty made them in, and from that power, in which the Lord gave them dominion over all the works of his hands.

So the Lord God said, 'Thou shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.'

But the serpent said, 'If ye eat thereof ye shall not surely die.' And they did eat, and disobeyed the Lord's voice and command, and did surely die; and so death passed upon all men, and all died in Adam.

So God's teaching is true, who is the God of truth, and the serpent's teaching was a lie, who was a liar from the beginning, and a murderer; and Adam and Eve's becoming as gods, they were dead to God, according to God's word; but the serpent he became their god, and Adam and Eve his slaves, and their disobedient posterity, and were plunged and baptized into the serpent's image, likeness, power and wisdom, by which man knows not God.

This was the fruit of their transgression, and disobedience to God's command; and this was the wisdom they attained unto, and their disobedient sons and daughters, by forsaking God's teaching, and following the serpent's.

Therefore, as Christ said, 'Go, teach all nations, and baptize them

in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' Seeing all was dead in Adam, and so plunged into death, by disobeying the Lord, and hearkening unto the serpent.

So all must be baptized with the baptism of Christ, with fire and the Holy Ghost; and all their disobedience, transgression, sin and corruption, and their chaff must be plunged down and burnt up by the baptism of Christ, before they can come into the paradise of God, and have right to eat of the tree of life.

So the serpent is called the world's god, the world that lies in wickedness; and he hath made it like a wilderness with his rough plants, briars and thorns, that he hath planted in man and woman's transgressing heart, which as Christ saith, Must all be rooted up, every plant that the heavenly father hath not planted.'

Now the serpent who said, 'If they did eat, they should become as gods; but by this he brought them into death, by eating of that by which they died, and he became God.

And so, this god of the world had blinded their eyes, and makes people heathen like, so as they do not know God; so that in process of time they were led so far into transgression, that they made gods of stocks, and stones, and silver, and gold, and other metals.

So that Adam and Eve's sons and daughters were afar off from being god's themselves, when they made gods of stocks and stones, and other creatures, and fell a worshipping of them, and worshipped the host of heaven: This was far off from being gods themselves, who were so far degenerated from the image of the living God, as the lying teacher, the serpent, that was out of truth, had told them, and made them believe they should be as gods; but here they became slaves to him, and to that which the world's god wrought in them, in whom there is no truth.

For you may see, the very Jews, who were of the stock of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when they forsook the Lord God and his ordinances, and disobeyed his voice, how that after they felt his arm and power, and saw his great miracles and wonders, they began to make gods of metals, and wood, and stone: They would be wiser, like Adam and Eve, than God, who had made and taught them. So here their ears and eyes also went out from the spirit of God, which he had poured upon the whole house of Israel, by which they might have kept his laws, ordinances and commands, like Adam and Eve; and then their mouths went to swallow down that which the world's god wrought in them; and so drank down iniquity, as the ox drinketh up water; and then the curse came upon them, and judgment, wo and misery, and they were like thorns and thistles one unto another, which sprung out of the cursed ground of transgression, of which they had enough both

inwardly and outwardly; and so lost the blessing both inwardly and outwardly, that the heavens were as brass to them, and the earth as iron, all springs being stopped, both above and below.

And therefore came God's judgment upon the Jews, until they were driven out of the promised land of Canaan, as Adam and Eve were driven out of paradise, for disobeying God's voice and command.

And now you may see what hath made man and woman blind, even their forsaking and disobeying the living God of truth, that made them, and by hearkening unto, and following the world's god, in whom there is no truth; it is he that hath blinded man and woman, and filled them with his earthly and sensual wisdom, by which man doth not know God.

And, therefore, Christ the promised seed, which bruiseth the head of the serpent, which all the prophets and holy men of God had faith in: It is he that opens the eyes of the blind; so the Lord God of truth he made all good and blessed, and made man and woman to see; but the world's god hath blinded them by disobeying the God of truth, and hearkening to the serpent, the world's god, in whom there is no truth, and hath brought them into the curse; and by disobeying God, they lost and fell from his image, and came into the dust and death. And by disobeying the good God, who made all good, and obeying the serpent, the world's god, he makes all bad.

For the Lord God that made man and woman perfect and upright in his image, in righteousness and holiness, and so to be like him their Father. And man and woman by disobeying the Lord God of truth, his command and voice, and obeying the serpent, the world's god, that abode not in the truth, and in whom there is no truth that makes them so imperfect, unholy, unrighteous, and ungodlike; not like God the father of truth, (the creator of all, who takes care and feeds and nourishes all) but like unto the serpent, to bear his image and do his works. So the devil is their father, as Christ said to the Jews. So they have the very image of their father, who is out of truth, and was a liar and a murderer from the beginning, that obey him.

For whilst Adam and Eve obeyed the voice and command of the Lord God, they abode in his image, and were in the likeness of God their creator.

But when they disobeyed the voice of the pure, true and living God, and obeyed the serpent, the world's god, then they entered into his image, as the Jews, which forsook the law of God, and the voice and command, and the laws of God.

[ocr errors]

Christ told them, They were of their father the devil, and his lusts they would do, though they profess Moses and the prophets, and that they were of Abraham.'

And so may many that are called christians now, profess themselves christians, and make a profession of Christ and the apostle's words; but if they were of Christ and the apostles, they would do the works of Christ and the apostles. But let the christians and others examine themselves, if they be not erred from that spirit, which the living God of truth doth pour upon all flesh, by which they should hear the voice of God and Christ, and obey his command, and not have hearkened unto the foul, unclean, murdering spirit of the world's god, in whom there is no truth, and lent their ears and eyes after his teaching, and feed upon that which he works in them; and instead of being saviours upon Mount Zion, they are destroyers of one another, and enemies unto one another, instead of loving enemies, or one another. And so, are not the fruits of this spirit manifest to be from this foul, unclean spirit, the world's god, in whom there is no truth, and not from the living God of truth?

So it is clear, it is not the profession of the Jews, which profess the Old Testament, nor the christians that profess the New, with that foul, unclean, murdering spirit; but it is the fruits and the works that are wrought by the spirit of Christ and the apostles, the fruits and works of the spirit that God accepts, that make Jews in spirit, and true christians, like Christ.

For all the children of Adam may make a profession of their father and mother being in paradise, whilst that they are out of it, serving the world's god, that makes them blind, and fills them with sin and unrighteousness, and so are unlike the living God of truth, but are like the world's god, that is out of truth. And this the world's god causes them all to plead for the body of sin and death, and imperfection, which he hath wrought in them (and not the living pure God) as long as they live, till they come to the grave.

But the living God of truth did not make Adam and Eve with a body of sin and death, and blind, nor unrighteous, ungodly and unholy, not like as the world's god hath made them; but the living God of truth made man to see and hear him, and in his image and likeness, holy, righteous, and perfect, without sin or a body of death; but they disobeying the living God, and obeying the serpent, the world's god, came to be blind, imperfect, unrighteous, and unholy, like the world's god, and so came to have a body of death and sin; and so fell from life into death, and so worshipped the dragon and the beast, and gods of their own making; for the world's god hath several ways to keep his subjects in, and will let them profess what they will, and have what outside shows they will; and this world's god hath his ministers, his prophets, his pastors, his teachers, and his apostles, all false, who got amongst the Jews, and got amongst the christians before the apostles'

decease, and he will let them make as many faiths and creeds as they will, to profess, so long as they come not into the possession of life.

But the faith that is the gift of God, which Christ is the author of, that is the victory over the world's god, which purifies the heart, and brings them to have access to God; this faith that gives the victory, the world's god and his messengers and ministers cannot endure to hear tell of.

Nor believe in the light, which is the life in him, (the word) by whom all things were made, by which they come to be born of God, and children of light, and by it overcome the world. This the world's god, and his ministers, prophets, and apostles, cannot endure to have spoken of; but call it a natural light, and a made and created light, and insufficient: though Christ saith, believe in the light;' but the world's god and his ministers tell people, it is not saving but the world's god is not changed from his lying; 'for when he speaks, he speaks of himself, and there is no truth in him,' saith Christ.

For you may see, he told Eve, they should not die, if they did eat, but should be as gods: but the living God of truth told them, 'in the day that they did eat, they should die."

So the world's god is the same now, who tells you, the light within, (which is the light of Christ,) which you are to believe in, is not saving.

But Christ, who destroys the world's god, the liar, he saith, 'believe in the light:' and saith the Lord, he that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life' and the God of truth saith, 'be ye holy, for I am holy: be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,' saith Christ; and this was to be whilst men and women were upon the earth.

For God made man and woman holy and perfect by Christ Jesus, who comes to bruise the serpent's head, that made man and woman unholy and imperfect, and to destroy the devil and his works, and was made sin and a curse, to take away sin and the curse, that through him, they who believe might be made the righteousness of God in him.

But the world's god, and his messengers and ministers say, 'none shall be holy, nor be perfect on this side the grave; none shall be so baptized, as to have all their chaff and corruptions burnt up in the floor of their hearts, whilst they are on this side the grave, but they must have sin in them, to humble them.' But sin lifts up, and doth not humble

any.

And so here again, the world's god and his messengers and teachers speak a lie; for there is no truth in him, who was a liar from the beginning.

And the apostle said, 'they were circumcised with the spirit, by which the body of the sins of the flesh was put off.' But the world's god, and his apostles, and ministers, and messengers say and preach, that all must

« PreviousContinue »