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which made nothing perfect, to that which was perfect, and bid them be perfect, and of one mind; and he spoke wisdom among them that were perfect;' so he did not bring the people from it, but to it. And the letter itself is dead, as it is of paper and ink. And all ministers of letters and books written in paper and ink, and who speak from letters of paper and ink, and have not received from God what they preach, are ministers of the letter, and they are the ministers of death, though they minister all the letters written in the scripture, and have but the sheep's clothing, and beget not to God; but only make proselytes as such ministers did in old time, among the Jews. But they that were ministers of the spirit that gave forth the scriptures, had the sword of the spirit,' which the Jews, the ministers of the letter, had not. They that are out of the spirit, though they have all the scriptures given forth from it, are out of the spiritual weapons. And that which searcheth the heart, is that which gave forth the scriptures, which led all the holy men of God to speak them forth, who is the Lord, the searcher of the hearts. Which spirit owns all the words of the scriptures of truth declared forth from the spirit; but the spirit was before the scripture was given forth.

P. He saith, 'Men that are redeemed from all earthly worships, perfectly justified before God, sincere in their sanctification, yet they are in concupiscence, and blemishes, and conflicts,' page 166. And the word of God doth not abide in them that say they have no sin,' page

179.

A. They who are redeemed out of all earthly worships, and sanctified, are redeemed from blemishes, from conflicts, from concupiscence, and by their redemption they come to witness the kingdom of God that stands in righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy ghost,' out of conflicts; and they who are in the spirit, are in that which mortifies sin. And the word of God makes clean where it dwells; they are sanctified by the word, and made clean. It comes, and finds the sin, and takes it away, and makes clean, and hammers it down, cuts it down, burns it up, reconciles to the Father,' whom sin and iniquity separated from.

P. He saith, Sacramental water, and sprinkling baptism and water, &c. shows our being ingrafted into the body mystical,' pages 176. 178. 'which consists of a sign of a thing signified.'

A. Sprinkling infants is a sign of your own making, and sacramental water the scripture doth not hold forth, but it is a thing presumed above what is written. And that sign, a tradition, doth not bring into the body mystical, but leads from it; neither doth any elementary thing. But that which baptizeth into the body is the spirit, whereby all come to be one. And that baptizeth not into an elementary body,

but into a glorious body, the spiritual body. For there are lying signs come since the days of the apostles, which are out of the apostles' practice. You can show nothing for your sprinkling with your sacramental water. But the baptism that the scripture declares of, is owned in its place, and that of the spirit.

P. He saith, Bread and wine are spiritual institutions, and are not carnal in a sense as set in opposition to spiritual institution: and that is not mere carnal bread and wine after Christ's institution to be used, nor an ordinary bread and wine.' And he saith, In the Lord's supper is Christ's body, and it is his blood,' page 188. And this is my body and blood, the word of a command is, do this,' page 191. And Christ fed not the souls with wheat bread, and red wine,' &c.

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A. By all this what differ ye from the Papists? have not ye laid their foundation, and laid their ground? Bread and wine, are but bread and wine, temporal things, things seen, and may turn to ashes; but the body and blood of Christ will not do so. And bread is not spiritual, and wine is not spiritual, but are things seen and visible. And who eats the flesh of Christ, and drinks his blood, 'hungers no more, and thirsts no more;' but who eats temporal bread and wine, 'hungers more, and thirsts more.' And Christ did say, 'as often as ye do eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye show the Lord's death till he come.' And that which the apostle had received of the Lord, he delivered to the Corinthians. 'As often as they ate that, and drank that, they were to do it in remembrance of him, showing the Lord's death till he come.' But then saith the same apostle to the same Corinthians, in his last epistle, Examine yourselves. Know you not that Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?' And said, 'while we look not at the things which are seen; for the things that are seen are temporal.' So bread and wine are things that are seen, are things temporal, but the things that are not seen, are eternal.' Now bread and wine, are but bread and wine, not spiritual after consecration; it is but the same bread that it was before, and is no nearer the body of Christ after they have consecrated it, than it was before. Who is in the life and power of God, that gives every creature its being, and causeth every creature to come forth, is in the life and virtue of all creatures, and the being of all creatures, and the wisdom of all the creation, that is spiritual. He that giveth every creature its being, and causeth every creature to come forth, and gives the sense and feeling of all creatures, is spiritual. And here the soul comes to be known, and the seed Christ, and his body, and his blood.

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P. He saith, The worship of God in the spirit stands out of man's will, and they must wait in the light to feel the spirit; but let all lost

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souls beware of this counsel. And to bring people to the commands of the spirit is opposite to the scripture letter,' page 204.

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A. All true worshippers of God that he seeks to worship him, are in the spirit, and in the truth, that which the devil is out of, which man's will is out of; and in the spirit that gave forth the scriptures, all poor souls come to worship God aright, and magnify God, and glorify God, and to pray in the spirit, and to stand in the counsel of God. For no prophecy of the scriptures came by the will of man.' That which led them to speak forth scriptures, was beyond man's will. So men's will getting the scriptures, which no prophecy of it came by, they cannot worship God in the truth, nor in the spirit, but in their own wills. But who are in the spirit and truth, that led them to speak forth the scriptures, that learned of God the Father of spirits, and God of all truth, this is not will-worship. Now, will-worship is among them that have the scriptures given forth by the spirit of God in their own wills, which no prophecy of it came by: and can sing, pray, preach, and read in their own wills, and are out of the spirit that gave it forth; they are in a will-worship, out of the worship of God in the spirit. And such are opposite to the scriptures, and cannot agree with the letter of the scriptures, that are fighting about words, falling into sects and heaps about the words. But the worship of God is in the spirit that gave forth scriptures, and they who have learned of God the Father of spirits, own all the scriptures in their place, and are not opposite to them.

P. He saith, Never were psalms sung as they ought to be, but they had some musical tune or poetry,' page 205. And The holy ghost made overseers and elders over the church, but that was not immedi ate,' page 207. 'That no man can read out of scripture that Paul was free from covetousness,' &c.

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A. Paul saith, Let not covetousness be once named among you, as becometh saints.' And that no covetous one should enter into the kingdom; and he saith, it is idolatry.' And the apostle lived the life of the son of God through faith, witnessed he was made free from the body of sin, and had victory over it, and thanks God, that there was no condemnation to them that were in Christ Jesus.' Paul was in Christ, where there was no condemnation, which covetousness is out of. And the holy ghost is immediate that makes the officers in the church. It is the same that was in them that spoke forth scriptures. And as the holy ghost, that leads men to speak forth the scriptures, makes elders and overseers in the church, these are not made by men, but these see the fulfilling of the scriptures, and come into that which fulfils it, and are in it. And for your singing your psalms, and your poetry, and setting them in frame and a musical way, these are come

up since the pope, as tunes and organs; since men have ravened from the spirit, and gone from that, they have got up this poetry, and turned David's conditions into a metre, and given them to people who are ignorant of David's conditions. And psalms are spiritual songs, of which all are ignorant when they are from the spirit of God that led the holy men of God to speak forth the scripture; with which spirit of God, all the psalms, and spiritual songs, and hymns are seen, which from it were given forth, and all the scriptures, and in that is the singing in the spirit. And for the ministers' maintenance, the apostle said, 'Have not I power to eat, and power to drink?' (And Christ said, 'Freely ye have received, freely give.') This was not spoken to the heathen, nor Jews, nor Gentiles, who were unconverted, but was spoken among the saints who were a vineyard, and to whom spiritual things had been sown, and to such whose hope they were made partakers of. But hirelings and those that teach for filthy lucre, ‘that mind earthly things,' that seek for their gain from their quarter, that 'bear rule by their means,' are all out from this, and were judged by the prophets, Christ, and the apostles, to be such spirits as had got the form, and taught for the earth, and made the earth a wilderness. And such got not out the wheat, and ploughed but in vain, which is the ploughing of the wicked, which is sin. So there is a great difference between these and those that preached the gospel, the glad tidings, to all nations, which relieved the oppressed: for the oppressed being relieved, life and immortality came to light through the gospel: the wheat was gotten out, the spiritual things sown, the vineyard planted, the flock was known, the milk was known, the corn gotten out: among such some used their power to eat, some did not, (mark,) that power that did not oppress, that did not hurt. But all you that preach for tithes, and will take money of them that ye do no work for, by a law, and cast into prison if they will not give it, and take treble damages; you bring not the glad tidings to the nations, you are the oppressors of the nations, of the just; and are not helpers and relievers of the oppressed: and so have made manifest your apostacy; and that you are apostates, out of the apostles' doctrine, and out of the gospel, the power of God, which the apostles were in. But now shall the gospel be preached that gives liberty to the oppressed, and strikes down all the oppressors.

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P. He saith, God sends either mediately or immediately; and he sends by man's ministry mediately,' page 211. And saith, they pretend to no such call of an apostle, an officer in every church as Paul,' &c. page 213. And Some are converted mediately by those sent by man, with their mediate call,' page 214.

A. All who are converted, are converted with the immediate: there

are none converted upon the earth, but it is with the immediate spirit of God that mortifies. And all ministry that is sent of God, and from God, and called of God, where that speaks to them it is immediate, for whosoever hears his voice, it is immediate and powerful. And all ministry of man, sent out by man, (which is mediate,) never converts any souls to God, for the soul is immediate, and mediate reacheth not to the immortal soul; but the immediate ministry reacheth to the immediate immortal soul, and so preacheth the immediate gospel to it, the power of God. And all ministers that are sent forth in the power of God, who are moved of God to speak to any by the power of God, the eternal spirit of God, the holy ghost, that is immediate, and not of man, and that begets unto God, and converts them; that is immediate, not mediate, and they do as the power of God moves them, which is immediate, and that is for God in that place. And they shall feel the spirit of God in them witnessing with that power, and the spirit of God in another, that speaks to them. And the power of God is eternal, where it moves it is one; and the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. And all you since the days of the apostles, that do not pretend to such a call as the apostles had, and to have such officers as the apostles in every church, (which we do believe you have not,) you have shown that the holy ghost hath not made you overseers; and you have declared yourselves to the world to be such as inwardly ravened from the spirit of God: and all to be but ministers of the letter, not of the spirit, and so only have the sheep's clothing. So ye are such as have brought people and nations to be all on heaps, and like waters: not made overseers, as the apostles were, not having the call as the apostles had; so not by the holy ghost, not by the immediate power of God, not preachers of the gospel, as the apostles were, who were immediate. Therefore these things have been wanting, the holy ghost to make you overseers, and the spirit the apostles were in, which would cool and quiet all the spirits of the people. For want of this ye are all on heaps about scripture. But the holy ghost opens it again to Overseers. And so ye that have ravened from the spirit of God inwardly, there is no talk among you to have the call as the apostles had, and to be overseers, as they were; that we do believe, your fruits declare it. But the spirit is witnessed which the apostles were in, which hath discovered you and your church. Glory be to the Lord God for ever!

P. He saith, 'Immediate teaching in the least degree of God immediately, is contrary to Daniel ix. and Timothy.' And saith, 'I am yet to learn the promise of immediate teaching of God,' page 216. And 'Women are excluded from this kind of prophecy,' 218. He saith, 'Ministers, pastors, teachers, having the grace of God, gift of prophecy,

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