THE mystery OF BAPTISM AND THE LORD' SUPPER; AND The SPIRIT of JESUS, the GUIDE unto both, and onely and Infallible RULE Leading both into them, and all other Ordinances and Ornaments of God, and a Saints Life.  
Which may serve as an ANSWER unto RANDAL ROPER's ANSWER unto a Paper written by me in the sense of the mystery of God, Directed to all BAPTISTS every where, &c.  
Given forth in God's tender Love unto all that desire to know more of his Spirit, Power and Glory of his heavenly Life revealed in them: By one that travaileth in his Spirit, that all the Mourners for the Beloved may be satisfied, and rejoice in their enjoying him for ever: Who is a tender Friend of all pure breathers after God. Called, JOHN PERROT.  
London, Printed for Robert Wilson. 1662.   

THE EPISTLE TO THE READER.  
FRIEND,  
SInce the Lord God Almighty of his own free Grace, Love, and Mercy, from my childhood, begot in me a true, pure, and living desire after himself, and that according to the same inclination led me in a continual earnest seeking mind,( of more of the Knowledge and Enjoyment of his Life,) through divers dispensations; in all making me to profit more than most of my fellows, until after many things and passages, that happened in the course of my Life, too tedious to be inserted here; At last I went down into the Water, and that verily of an upright and pure heart, to godward; and since the forementioned having been led more into the Spirit and Power of God.  
First, through the receiving of the Testimony of the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus.  
Secondly, through a resigned Mind into the Spirit of Life and Power, which hath lead into Obedience unto the Everlasting Ordinances in the Kingdom of Life and Glory. And,  
Thirdly, through many Conflicts, trials, and Temptations of the Enemy; extreme Sufferings and Oppressions, bearing the across in the Kingdom of the Tribulations of Jesus; I have learned of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World, better things than revenge, enmity, wrath, upbraidings, or rendering reviling for revilings; and therefore as contented with my portion from the hands of Professors evil calling me, as from the spirits of profane, that have made my Travels in the Gospel the subject of a Stage-play, do quietly sit down under the reviling phrases of Randal Roper, mentioned( in his said Book of Answer, called Truth Vindicated) in the Title page., Epistle to the Reader, and pages 2, 8, 9, 10. Yet signifying to all honest sober People who may red this, that as for high flown fancies, I am not a walker in them, nor a lover of them; but am a soul of care, that the fear of the living God may rest and abide unto the end in my heart; and am so far out of all fancies, as that I must confess I cannot prepare a substance of myself to feed upon; but whatever my soul lives by, is what is ordained of the living God; and do not assume unto myself a power of consecrating any thing, or changing anything out of its own simplo nature into another substance, nature, or being; but must confess that all good Works are wrought by God, and the power of his holy heavenly Life IN MAN, and so rob not him of his Glory through an Imagination or a Fancy.  
Moreover I own and confess, that what I am, I am not of myself, and my standing in what I am brought unto is neither of myself, but of the Almighty power of God, and I never desire to be any thing but in his Spirit the Eternal Sustance which was Life, before Death through disobedience and transgression came and happened unto man, and also is the end of all things which man deems to be the Oracles, which are but the Shadows and Figures of the one everlasting Oracle, which where it's come in the Life and Power, must of necessity end the Shadow; yea, were it the most glorious Type that ever was held forth; the best of which was but the show or appearance as of a face in a glass, but was not the face it self, though the face stood nigh the Shadow or Figure thereof: I therefore seek that all may come to kiss the Face itself, even the disolving and melting Lips of the Face of the pure Beloved; that there may be no more a Shadow seen in his Temple and Sanctuary but his presence the everlasting Glory and Light thereof, Rev. 21.23. which will ravish all in the enjoyment thereof, and give them the fullness of a cause of joyful singing the hallelujahs of the most high God even for ever and ever.  
But in how much it remains that many tender and travelling souls there are, which are not yet come into this enjoyment, nor indeed do rightly know the path that leadeth and conducteth from the outer Court into the King's Palace, at whose door the Fountain stands open to Baptize all the enterers thereinto, that as a pure sanctified People they may sit down at the Table of the Lord's preparing, and eat of his Supper, and be satisfied with the Eternal Bread and Wine, which he that eateth and drinketh thereof hath Life Eternal, and shall not die, John 6.50, 51, 52, 53. To the end that all may have an entrance thereinto, I shall proceed in the true instruction of the holy One.  
First, To speak of the mystery of the Baptism of Christ Jesus.  
Secondly, Of his Supper.  
First, What they are as apprehended by the fleshly eye and understanding.  
Secondly, What they are to the spiritual mind in the most everlasting and substantial part, that every Soul may see and discern the difference between the Flesh and the Spirit, both in the judgements of the Heavenly, Spiritual, and Carnal Minds; as also the difference between the external Works of the hands of Men, and the invisible and internal operation of the Spirit of God's power upon the Soul of man; and how insufficient the visible is for the Body, and much less for the Soul; and how all-sufficient the invisible is for the completing of the Soul in the Righteousness of God, that it may possess the Everlasting Peace of the living God; by which all may know in the Spirit's day of working Life in Man, the the needlesness of the fleshly parts assistance in working Life for Man, and so in the true knowledge choose the better and refuse the worse.  
And summarily shall give account unto all how insufficient Man( in transgression) is to understand the Everlasting Precepts, Commandments, and Ordinances of GOD and CHRIST, and the holy Scriptures, which by the Everlasting Spirit of Life and Truth were dispensed unto Man; that if haply any through taking notice thereof by the Spirit & its breathings into bodys of death, may be made to arise out of the grave thereof unto a glorious Life in God, to their perpetual satisfaction and joy which shall never determine.  
And my desires are, that imprejudiced mindes may red this, that where the Spirit of Life hath not so ardently inflamed as to carry on the Soul unto the possession of the Substance; Yet the honest rational part may acquiesce and sit still under it, until the power ariseth in the heart to led the Soul into the Life of it. Wherein I shall see the birth of some of the travail of my Soul, which panteth and breatheth, that all souls as new born babes of one Mother, begooten of one Father in the Spirit of Life and Power, may always suck at one breast, drink of one Cup, and eat of one Bread in the pleasantness and sweetness of Life everlasting. However God knowing my Heart, and beholding my Intention, is so full and satisfactory an Answer of my simplo heart, that in my service I find an acceptation; and therefore commit the issue to him alone, who by his alone work can perfect his Righteousness, and consequently his Praise in the Souls of all as pleaseth himself; and therefore in the Spirit of pure supplication and prayer, I rest, saying, Thy Will, O God, be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven; Glorify thyself in all desirers after thee, and yet also further in thy Vessel which is called,  
JOHN PERROT.  
The after mentioned are the Words of that brief Writing which I sent from Rome, which Randal Roper wrote his long Answer unto; the which I thought good to insert in this my second Writing, that the Spiritual Readers may see what a groundless occasion was taken by him to make such a Replication unto it as he did.  
Though indeed had I not two inducing and pressing Causes fallen on my Spirit to writ, should not at all put pen to paper about such a subject as in the least might bear a show or appearance of a Dispute between us in these days and times, wherein we are jointly made as Birds to the Fowlers snares. But seeing, first the Spiritual Mystery and Oraculous everlasting Truth, and secondly many simplo, upright, yet unsatisfied Souls are found concerned in the matter. I therefore in God's Spirit of heavenly love have taken occasion to offer this compendious Treatise to all upright-hearted peoples view, of whom I am an affecter in sincerity;  
J. P.   

To all Baptists every where, or to any other who are yet under the shadows, and watery Element, and are not come to Christ the Substance.  
GOd dwelleth in Deeps bottonles, beneath your element of Water, whence he is utterly departed; for it was too shallow for him: and his incomprehensible Majesty liveth and reigneth on high, far above your airy and cloudy heavens, which comprehended not but darkened his brightness; therefore he hath given them for a day of fire, and your old earth for consumption in their flames: you eat Bread and drink Wine as the Israelites did Manna and Water, and yet in unbelief died in the Wilderness; you rest in shadows like the unbelieving Jews, though you know that in them you are but in the touching, tasting, and handling, of the things which perish with the using. We are in the true Water and Blood which washeth the Soul and baptizeth, Dippeth, and Plungeth the Conscience, and cleanseth it from sin, which leads into the Heavens where God dwelleth; and we eat and drink the true and real Body and Blood of the Lamb; and hereby we know it, because it nourisheth us, and gives us blessed growth in the Life and Innocency of the Lamb, which was with God before shadows were; and henceforth we in it have passed and left them all as Images of Gold and Silver cast to the Moles and to the Bats for evermore.  
For know ye, where God is present, there needs not a representation of him, by any thing; and where the Eternal Fountain of all Virtue is set open, there needs not the digging of another Well for Waters: Turn therefore to the Light within in the Conscience, which is able to baptize and Wash your Souls from all sin, and make Rivers of living Water flow out of your bellies: which Light is the alone Salvation of God; he which loveth it and obeyeth it shall know it.  
John Perrot. From Rome Prison of Mad-men, the 2d. of the 8th. Month, 1660.   

THE mystery OF BAPTISM AND THE LORD' SUPPER, &c.  
FOrasmuch as there are many People that are various in their Opinions, and different in their Judgements concerning the two particulars of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper; some not discerning any further than that the Natural Creatures of Water, Bread, and Wine, are the Means or Conduit-pipes through which the Spirit of Life is conveyed unto them, and therefore are glued unto it as a thing never to be departed from.  
Others, as persons halting between two Opinions, are sometimes in question whether the visible Ordinances, stand not in force in this day of the breaking open of the brightness of the glory of the face of Truth, as Leaders into the more invisible substance, which everlastingly swallows up, and drowns all the visible shadows in its bottonles Deeps for ever; and sometimes think that it should surely be otherwise, as that onely the Life should be unto all Souls Life, and that in the appearance of it, the Types and Shadows thereof should be totally abolished, as that which gave not Life in any state, but on which the dead and carnal part hath long fed, and as being dark in the night of Death, have fixed upon the Figure which maketh not the practisers pure nor perfect thereby.  
And others there are, who being born unto the day of God's Power, in the heavenly Substance of his Life, through the Baptism of Jesus, which is of the Water of the everlasting Fountain of God, and of the Fire of his Furnace, and of the holy Ghost, which is the cleansing and sanctifying Virtue that purifieth the Soul from the Pollutions of Death, and thereby makes it capable of coming to God's Table to eat freely and satisfactorily of the Supper of the Lord, and so fixeth and firmeth upon the Substance only, and cannot turn unto a Figure, least by so doing he should dishonour Him, who hath led into himself, where there are no more Figures, Types nor Shadows of himself, who is the end of them all, even unto all that are in his Spirit, in himself, and in his Son Jesus the true Light of the World, which is the truest, soundest, purest and most living State.  
Now the first of these three, is the carnal and natural Man, which never came to the Birth of the Spirit of Power and Life; though divers have come to the state of emptying from vessel to vessel, and to an absolute Reformation of the creature Man: who being come no farther then the Flesh, can red none other then the Letter, which killeth, not understanding the Power of the Spirit which only and alone maketh alive; and therefore understands not the deeps of the things of God, according to the Apostles Testimony, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2.14. and for this Cause, many thousands there are that this day have no more an understanding of the Voice of Christ, in the Words which he spake unto his disciples; Go ye therefore and teach all Nations, Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World, Mat. 28.19, 20. Nor understand they the saying of him, speaking also to his Disciples, in this wise; Take, eat, this is my Body, &c. and drink ye all of it, for this is my Blood of the new Testament, which is  shed for many for the remission of Sins, Mat. 26.26, 27. than the Israelites had of the Statutes, Testimonies and Ordinances which were given to Moses by the Lord God. And thou shalt anoint them as thou didst anoint their Fathers, that they may minister unto me in the Priests Office; for their anointing shall surely be an Everlasting Priesthood throughout their Generations, Exod. 40.15. And this shall be an Everlasting statute unto you, to make an Atonement for the Children of Isreal, for all their Sins,( Levit. 16.34.) For ever throughout their Generations, Levit. 17.7.  
And because the multitudes of men, and numbers of many Peoples do still stand with their eye outward, not having an inspection into the Face, or more glorious part of the Commandments and Ordinances of God, which are Everlasting, and to be held for ever and ever throughout all Generations; but are fixed upon the backer parts thereof, even that which the carnal part can see, touch, handle, feel, and taste, do therefore exceedingly err in their Judgments, as to that which is really God's mind, shall abide to the end of time and generations among his pure holy and glorious spiritual minded People; who hold neither the Law of Moses, nor the Ordinances of Jesus in a mixture, viz. part in a carnal, and part in a spiritual mind and practise; but the Everlasting Law and Ordinances given unto Moses, and by the Lord Jesus in and by the Spirit of Jesus, through and by which they were dispensed unto Moses and the Disciples, altogether as Oracles of a mysterious Life and Power, which the fleshly part of the Israelites, nay nor the minority or weakness of the Disciples thoroughly understood; as I could prove by the Letter of the Scriptures, where the Spirit is given and received to understand them as they were dispensed both by the Prophets and Apostles. Witness Isaiah, who cried against those things, which the Jews might say God commanded as Everlasting Ordinances, saying, Your new Moons and your appointed Fasts, my Soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them, Isa. 1.14. &c. And Paul's saying, Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Iesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his Flesh, Heb. 10.19, 20. Wherefore henceforth, know we no man after the Flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the Flesh, yet, now henceforth know we him so no more. 2 Cor. 5.16. Yet notwithstanding he said, when I was a Child I spake as a Child, I understand as a Child, and I thought as a Child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things, 1 Cor. 13.11. And now to the end that the childish things may be put away by all that are yet in the Childishness, or but in the shadows and types of the mystery and Power of the Substance, and yet do think that they are in the more aged growth and weighty experience, which ariseth from the weakness of the understanding of their Minority, in the breakings forth of the Everlasting Day of Glory.  
I come to show forth and speak something of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.  
1. What they are, as apprehended by the fleshly Eye and childish Understanding; that is to say, The Commandment of Christ in Mat. last, 19, 20. By such is apprehended as an absolute Commandement, and everlasting Precept to endure for ever, to the end of all Generations, to dip and plunge External Bodies of Flesh, into the External Element of Water, expressing the Words in that Work, or Administration, viz. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the holy Ghost; and so do deem that, to be the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ; and thence do make that Opinion or Conception of the backer part of the Everlasting Ordinance of Jesus, the ground of their separating from others, though professing the same God, the same Jesus, and Virtue of the Blood of Jesus, which sanctifieth the Souls of the true Comers thereunto, and presents them pure in the sight of their Maker. And for this Opinion of the backer Part of the Ordinance( of which John Baptist was the first Administrator) they take up divers Scriptures, which the natural Man can use in the self same manner as he stands in the carnal and fleshly Nature, an Enemy unto God, and Stranger to the mystery of the Baptism of Jesus, the true, living, and spiritual Son of God: The Scriptures used by them to the said end, are, viz. Acts 2.38. Acts 10.47. Acts 22.16. Acts 18.8. In all which, as well as the former mentioned in Mat. last, 19, 20. there is not so much as one Word that saith, Go and Baptize in the external Element of Water; nay, nor any where else in the whole Book of the Scriptures; but from the Disciples Practices, do infer that the said Baptism spoken by Christ, Mat. 28. is meant the Baptism with the external Element of Water, which is but their private Suppositions and imagined Conclusion: As on the other hand, the Episeopalists and Papists, do conclude that Children were Baptized, because certain were Baptized, they and their housholds, Acts 16.15, 33. Which is not in any wise a Testimony that the thing was really so; and therefore not a righteous Reason why such an Opinion should be concluded from such a Supposition and Imagination; viz. that the External is the real Baptism of Christ, and that also for the following, plain, palpaple, spiritual and undenial Reasons.  
1. Because John Baptist prophesying of Christ, and speaking of his Office in the Baptism committed unto him( who was near the end of all the Shadows and Types of the eternal Substance) said, I indeed Baptize you with Water unto Repentance, but he that cometh after me is mighter than I, &c. He shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost and with Fire Mat., 3.11. Forasmuch as he absolutely concludes, that that Baptism, viz. of the holy Ghost and with Fire, is the Baptism of Christ; I conclude in the Spirit of Christ, that the external Dipping and Plunging in the Element of Water, is not the face of the everlasting Ordinance of the Baptism of Christ; but at best, the backer Part as it was an Administration of John; and that for a time of continuance, according to his prophesy, I shall decrease, but he shall increase, &c. and therefore not to have an everlasting endurance, but was to give place to that which was before it, which at its coming was to end it.  
2. Because Christ was, and is an Everlasting Minister of spiritual things, he being the everlasting Love of the Father, whose Spirit is Life to all that are partakers of it, who in his appearance of the Spirit, could not do less than end the Shadows and Types, inasmuch as none of them did, or do make the comers unto them, or practisers of them, perfect in the sight of God; which the Administration of his Baptism of Fire and the holy Ghost can do, which not a Rational Man in a Nation professing Christ, can honestly deny, if he will but soberly confess that no Work is too hard to be wrought, completed, and perfected by the Spirit and Eternal Power, that made and completed all things in the Beginning.  
3. Because the External Water cannot be the Substance it self, but at best a Figure, typifying forth something of a Substance, which once must be revealed, as were all the other Types in Moses his day, which were commanded according to the Letter to be held, and kept as everlasting Statutes, the glory of the face of which they knew not, nor saw in their Day; as is most probable, you see not the face of the other in your day, being in and under the Type and Figure which is the vail of the Substance, as that of Moses in like manner was.  
4. Because the Apostle speaketh expressly, There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, Ephes. 4.4, 5. Where he concluding but one God, and one Faith, anexing to it but one Baptism according to the pure Faith in that one God; and John aforesaid expressing his own Baptism distincti from the Baptism of Christ, and telling plainly what the one and the other is; for any to conclude, that Baptism to be his Baptism, which was but the Type or Forerunner of him and his Baptism, is but to turn the order of the Work quiter upside down, and make him a Minister of the Weaker, which he was never a minister of; but according to the Scriptures, is known to be a real Minister of the one Baptism of the holy Ghost, witnessed by John, John 4.2.  
5. Because of the Spirit's manifesting it's self by degrees unto all Persons receiving it, that is to say, always manifesting its self more and more in Glory in the Souls of Men, according as the Lord prepares the heart by a full and thorough Baptizing of the Soul in the Fire of his Spirit, cleansing it from transgression, thereby making it capable to receive the Glory, or more clear Manifestation of the Glory of his mysterious Power and Life opened unto them. So that whereas certain will argue thus, which indeed is the chiefest of all their Arguments, to hold forth their going down into the outward Element. viz. Seeing the Scriptures hold forth that divers received the holy Ghost before they were Baptized with Water, and afterwards were Baptized with the said Element of Water: Hence it is, that it should remain an Ordinance in force even unto us this day, and all succeeding Generations. To which I answer.  
I. It is not thereby proved( but only imagined) that the Intent of Christ was, that they should to the ends of all Worlds Baptize in the External element of Water, nay not to the end of that World in which they then were; since which there have been divers Worlds, which is to say, divers Ages or Generations, which have quiter passed away; which simplo thing might end the Discourse and Contest about Baptism now in this World or Age, were it first an outward thing.  
II. I affirm, that Persons may receive the Gift of the holy Ghost, and find its Burning Baptizing Work in themselves several Years, and not so thoroughly baptized by it as to see the end of the Transgression, which brings to see the end of the Elements which are insufficient to take away the Sin and Transgression; but by a continuance, and perseverance in the Power of the holy Ghost, coming to see the end of Sin, and finishing of Transgression, the Apostles did see the end of all the figures( in that they saw him in whom was no shadow or variableness) which were Types and Shadows of the Spirit and its Operations, Col. 2.17. Jam. 1.17. which Shadows and Figures, came in since the Commencement of Sin and Transgression; the which being finished in them, they then could not give that in precept, nor( can any Prudent Man affirm) put that in practise, which was but a Shadow of the Substance, typifying the Substance forth, before it came; nay, nor in any wise exhort People thereunto, seeing, instead of helping men onwards into the Life of the Spirit, by giving up all into the Spirit; it might put them back so far from the Spirit, that in the last manifestation of the Spirit, he might say as he did in the case of Circumcision; If ye go down into the External Elements, the hidden Power shall profit you nothing at all, Gal. 5.2. 
* Acts 16.3. Yet mark, Paul circumcised since the Gospel Dispensation; red Gal. 6. v. 15.   
Object. But whereas it's by some queried, Whether then was it a Will-worship in the Disciples, their causing some to go down into the Water as they did?  
Answ. I say not that it was a Will-worship, as a thing either invented of themselves, or wilfully practised by themselves; but rather do believe, that it was their persuasion( for a time) that it answered the Mind of God; and so did the thing in fear, as Moses did the like in the Offerings under the Dispensition that he stood, which as I have said, were called Everlasting Sta●●tes, and so according to the fear and sincerity of their hearts, found acceptance at the hands of God, seeing God could not require more from them than he gave them to understand of himself; which argues, not that when he gave more of the holy Ghost than at first was given, and led through the Work of it, that then they should resist the more glorious manifestation, or say, we will never go up thither to depart from this. Neither doth it prove, that the Elements or external Dippings, or Washings, are the Door or Gate leading into the Spirit, for Christ saith, I am the Door, John. 10.7. whose Baptism was and is of the holy-Ghost and of Fire, who neither ever did, nor now doth Baptize with the external Element of Water.  
2. It was possible that the Apostles might Baptize certain with Water outward, after they had the full manifestation of the Spirit's Baptism inward; though not by commandment, but by permission, 1 Cor. 7.6. As Paul ministered certain things, who circumcised Timothy, which was contrary to the Gospel Dispensation, Acts. 16.3. And also after he had received the holy Ghost himself, by which he was made a Minister of the Gospel; and yet this is not an argument, that now the outward water stands still as an Ordinance in force, seeing the vail is broken, and breaking open, which hindered the Sight, Knowledge, and Understanding of what was and is within it, before whose eye yet the vail standeth. Yet I say, since the Door of the everlasting Fountain is set and setting open, in which the Everlasting Ordinance is to be truly administered; as on the one hand I say, here is Water, what hindereth now that ye should not be Baptized as well as us? So on the other hand I say, if you tie yourselves to the strength of the Water, into which you are dived, and will not leave that as an insufficient thing for your Souls cleansing, and come to the other which is all-sufficient to perfect the work; the Evil will be yours, and remember that you were once  told by the Spirit of the Lord through this poor contemptible earthen Vessel, the burden of the Evil will also one day be yours, when you shall know that all outward things cannot, nor ever could remove the least part of a burden from you; wherefore ponder these things maturely and wisely in all sobriety in your own hearts, and if you never outwardly answer me; Yet answer God in your own Consciences, when ye are alone in your most secret Retirements.  
Now I come to speak of the Opinions of divers concerning the Lord's Supper, which they hold forth from the Scriptures, Mat. 26.26, 27, 28. Mark 14.22. Luke. 22.19, 20. Take, eat, this is my Body and drink; ye all of it, for this is my Blood of the new Testament, this do in remembrance of me. And 1 Cor. 11.26. For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup, ye do show the Lord's Death till he come.  
Concerning which I certainly say, a most mean capacity might fully know, that for the practise of the thing which this day( by Professors and profane) is called the Lord's Supper, there is not found( in any of these or other Scriptures) an express Commandement of the Lord Christ, which reached further than the then present time, who only said, do this, which related to the time that was then present, not saying, ye shall do this, or the like of this, which would have spoken of or related to time that was to come; and therefore the Apostle imposed it not as a constringent Precept on the People( as an Everlasting Ordinance throughout all Generations) requiring what they practised, though Randal Roper treats very earnest for it in his Book, pages 9, 12, &c. as divers in an Imagination do feed upon it at certain times and seasons which are appointed for that purpose, touching which I have the following Words to express, that all tender people may understand the plainness of the Matter.  
1. The Bread and Wine must be the real Body and Blood of Christ itself. 2. Or, but a Figure and Shadow of the real Body and Blood of Christ.  
I. Now by whom the first is concluded, that is to say, the Bread and Wine is the real Body and Blood of Christ, of them I could ask, How became you as God, to convert and change an earthly Creature into an Eternal Heavenly Substance? Or by what Power became you Creators of a God or Gods to your selves in your own Wills, and Pleasures; and afterwards to eat the God of your creating, to satisfy the Lusts of your Opinions and Fancies? Which, though Randal Roper saith in one place of his Book, page. 9. line 18. that it is not transubstantiate, and so goes on speaking of his faith in the Creatures, viz. Bread and Wine, which he calls the Ordinance, &c. but yet to show himself as an Opposer of the Spirit of the Lord in me, by which the Words in my former Paper were given forth; Whereas I spake of our partaking of the real Body which was not a Shadow, but the Substance itself, and he pleading for the Shadow in contradiction of me holding forth the Substance; writeth in this wise, in pag. 9. line 32, 33. to say, That shall perish, to wit, the Body of Christ and the Blood of Christ, is Blasphemy: so that either the man hath lost his aim in shooting against me, and so shoots at what he knows not; or else bends his Bow against himself, and makes his own Breast the open mark of his own Arrow; since it appears that by his own Words positively denying Transubstantiation, and his absolute intent pleading against my holding forth the real Body and Blood of Christ, must in true honesty confess that he hath shot against himself, or else hath aimed at what he knows not himself; and therefore I esteem it expedient that he should rather learn in silence to know his own Spirit, then in a Zeal without Knowledge hastily miscal and upbraid any person of Sobriety and Honesty, as he hath abusively miscalled me, and the Lord of Righteousness well knoweth it; but my Spirit is of the nature of forgiveness, in which I say, Father of Heaven and Earth, if it be thy pleasure remit him.  
II. Where the external Bread and Wine is understood and known to be but a Shadow of the Substance, and not the Substance itself, there it cannot be spiritually, nay, nor rationally believed that the Shadow is the Everlasting Ordinance to be partaked of, nor that which the Lord Christ said was his Body and Blood, which is the substance of the ordinance: And therefore, as many as say, or will confess that they esteem not the Bread and Wine as the real Body and Blood of Christ, but receive it, believing that in the use of it, and whilst they eat and drink it, they do partake of the real Body and Blood by Faith, whereby it becomes unto them a living Ordinance, and no otherwise; to such I am desirous to reply, saying, upon due consideration of the matter, you cannot but see that you put a certain confidence in the dead Creatures, so as to be Ministers of Life to your dead Souls, which stands but in the imaginary and deceivable part, for either the Souls Life must be in God, and God only, or else not at all in him; and where it stands and dwells in him only, it goes not out of him for a Shadow to feed upon, because his own Life is to that Soul Faith, Hope, and a perfect ground of Trust; yea it's Bread, Wine, fatted Venison, fig, Pomegrannets, and the choicest clusters of the Vineyard; and it's all, and fullness for ever and ever.  
So I may briefly sum up the matter thus.  
1. Because neither Christ nor the Apostles commanded the customary use of Bread and Wine, under the usual and formal denomination of a Sacrament or Ordinance, so to be observed and kept( as in the custom is practised both by Professors and profane) as a future Ordinance everlastingly to be kept throughout all Generations.  
2. Because it's impossible for created and corruptible Man, to create an incorruptible and uncreated Life and Substance of that which is created, or is not already created by God the Eternal Substance.  
3. Because a Shadow is not the Substance itself.  
4. Because Man's Soul cannot possibly be fed and nourished unto Life by shadows, but only by an Everlasting Substance.  
5. And because the external Bread and Wine are created things of God, and( as customarily used) but a Shadow and not the Substance itself. I therefore conclude( even in the Knowledge and Counsel of God) that it is but either in the time of the Night, or but in the shadows of the Morning under the Clouds of the Evening( this day) professed and practised as an Everlasting Ordinance, to continue to the End of all Generations, according to the Opinion of R. R. intimated in his Book, pages 22, 23.  
But now my beloved Friends, since the day is breaking, and the shadows are fleeing away; turn, turn and be ye like unto Roes or Young Harts upon the Mountains of Bethel, Cant. 2.17. For, why shall the shadows of the gloomy evening detain you from the Sun of the Morning? Or, why shall a Figure be as in the place of your Foundation? Seeing the Spirit is the only Salvation: Arise, Arise you panting Souls, and Breathers for the Life of God; Arise, arise and come away, seeing he calls and cries, come away my beloved; for I am departed from the Tombs, Monuments and Shadows, which stand in the whole Earth, though time was that I walked amongst you, whilst you were groping for the door at midnight, and when you were traveling under the Clouds of the Evening; yea, and there was a time when I followed you, whilst you were walking in the shadows of the Morning, which was a season of refreshment unto you, and lo my end was to take you with me, but ye would not, and therefore I passed by you, and you saw me not; so that now your Shadows which were[ once] your refreshments, are become as the black Bands of the Night Clouds about you; yet because of my mercies, I am calling, and in the remembrance of my compassions I am crying, Arise, come away, for yet the Day-Star attendeth to break forth before you; behold I am the Love of your labours, the Fruit which you travail for, the Life which you mourn after, the Beloved that can fill you, over-power, and ravish you with the sweetness of my peace and joy, which is endless and never wasting, which is fullness and everlastingly increasing. Come Drink, drink abundantly my beloved, for I am opening my bottles unto you, and eat ye hungry ones, for I am spreading my Table before you, which is a better Table than that which you tasted of in the Wilderness, whilst a Cry was in the Land, and Mourning in every Habitation; though I blessed that appearance unto you, whilst you bound me not, but also blessed me in that I set you free out of Egypt, and brought you into the deserts of the shady Trees; but when you sought to bind me to your apprehensions, who loosed you from the apprehensions of your Oppressors, you then became Oppressors of me, even through your making the transitory Shadows of the Substance, an Everlasting Law, of my Service, which I never required of you, which thing became a burden unto me; But that you might not always grieve me, but become a seed of my Souls Love, and delight unto me, I remembered my Covenant, to writ my everlasting Law in the Invisible part, that I created, that as God in the Spirit I might be for ever obeied and worshipped.  
Now therefore Friends, with the assistance of God's holy Spirit, I am come to speak a little of the Mystery of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, showing, what they are to the Spiritual Mind, in the most everlasting and substantial part.  
Forasmuch as the Soul of Man is that degenerate Plant, of which the Lord said, I planted thee a noble Vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate Plant of a strange Vine unto me? Jer. 2.21. And seeing it is not the Body that requires the dipping in order to the sanctifying of the Soul, but it's the Soul[ onely] that needs the washing and cleansing. GOD therefore in his Wisdom, that the deep Mysteries of the ways of his Mercies, might be revealed and made manifest, hath prepared for the invisible and immortal poor soul of man, an invisible and everlasting Fountain for the Soul of Man to bathe and to wash in, which according to the Prophets words, Zech. 13.1. is( in this day) opened unto many, and opening unto many more, whence issues the great Rivers which spiritually are called Jordan, Aenon, and Nilus, which overflow the Grounds of the Valleys and Low Lands; and so Baptizeth them thoroughly, which is the true and everlasting Ordinance of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus; even the Baptism with this pure washing and cleansing Water of him the Fuller, who so sits as to baptize in these his everlasting Rivers of sanctifying Water, and in this Furnace of his purifying fire as a Refiner, Mal. 3.2, 3. bringing forth his gold perfectly tried; through which work, or administration of the mystery of the everlasting Ordinance, we have knowledge both of the glory of the Law-giver, and of the glory of the face of his Law & Ordinances given forth, dispensed & ordained of him; the which everlasting Ordinances were constituted of the wisest Eternal power, lastly to effect that which all outward Ordinances could not do; which is to say, to take away sins and iniquities, which is the thing that the former could not do; and this as the most new, living, and everlasting Baptism, is to endure and continue throughout all Generations; because it is of the Spirit or eternal Rivers which can never change, but endure for ever and ever; in which stands the all-sufficiency of power to work, complete, and perfect that in man; and man in that righteousness of God which the external Baptism is altogether insufficient to do.  
And therefore to this One thing which is onely needful and necessary for man's Salvation, the yearnings of my Soul are, that all may be truly gathered; that after each mans desiring, they may not at last lie down in the sparks of their own kindling, and waters of their own finding; or dwell in the Cisterns of their own hewing, which will hold no waters( of the living Substance at all.)  
But now if any Soul puts the thing to question, saying, it's true I have been for many years a thirster after God; I have followed him as I thought, through divers Dispensations, until at last I also passed under the Administration of Water-Baptism, hoping some time to see the end of that which oppressed my soul, and weighed down my tender spirit; but though I traveled over Mountains, my dayes were wholesomeness, and though I wandered in deserts, my time hath been tiresomness; so that when I thought of living, my Cogitations were composed of grief and trouble; and when I thought of dying, my heart was full of horror; so that every thing was suffering, and a burden of continual disquiet; and the day is not changed now, even because of my sins; yea, the number of my numberless transgressions, which, though I went down into the Water, I came up as unclean as before; for the Water cleansed not my Body, and much less sanctified my Soul; and this my experience is greater and of more concernment than any man's fleshly notion, which men may feed fancies withal; and a light head and a merry heart may bear empty shows, and light things in their breasts, but a wounded Conscience who can bear? Prov. 18.14.  
Therefore, since I believe that because Sin stands in my Soul, both Guilt and Condemnation stands in my Conscience; and seeing God first created the Soul without Sin surely with him, there cannot be but; a way to new create, and save Man from Sin the which work; of Mercy, cannot but bring a final End unto man's Misery. This therefore is the Question.  

Quest.  
What is this way of Salvation, Baptizing, Washing, Cleansing, Burning, and Purifying man's Soul from Sin? signify to me, what the Water is, and how my Soul may be Bathed, Washed, Sanctified, and purely Purged from Sin by it?   

Answer.  
Though the way of Salvation, and the baptizing Water, the Refiners Fire, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Anchor of Hope, the Rock of Faith, the Mercy and Love of God, are divers in the Denomination, whereby the excellency of his Wisdom is revealed, through his Spirit's Diversities of Operations, in and upon man, for the perfecting of his Soul, in the Life of Righteousness; yet in the substance, it's all but one; and therefore, as that One is needful, and only needful in order to man's Salvation; I make mention of this holy Way, and spiritual Cleansing, according to the Words of our Lord Christ Jesus, who said, I am the Way the Truth,, and the Life, John 14.6. of which, that his Disciples might have a real, true and living Knowledge, he testified unto them, what he was, in plainer Terms, giving them to understand how, and in what manner he was the Way to Life; expressing it in this wise; I am the Light of the World; he that believeth in me, shall not abide in Darkness, but shall have the Light of Life, John 8.12. Of whom also John Baptist bare his Testimony, who witnessed him to be the true Light, that enlighteneth all mankind coming into the World, John 1.9. And indeed, it could not be less, seeing that God is Light, and in him is no Darkness at all, 1 John 1.5. And seeing, that the Spirit of the Eternal Father, was put upon him, Isa. 42.1. Yea, the fullness of the God-head,( which is the Way, the Life, the Light, and Everlasting Salvation itself) dwelled in him bodily, Col. 2.9. who in the eternal Counsel of the Father, hath  shed abroad something of his saving Spirit of Light into every Heart, that in the fullness of time, the prophesy of the Prophet might be fulfilled, that was written, speaking of this Saviour, Way, Truth, and Life, who was given for a Covenant of the People, and for a Light of the Gentiles, that he might be the Salvation of God to the ends of the Earth, Isa. 42.6. & 49.8. Therefore, known be it unto all inquirers after the everlasting Way of the Lord's Salvation; none other do I hold forth( unto them) to be the saving Path of God, the cleansing Water of the Fountain of God, and the refining Fire of the Furnace of God; but that measure and proportion of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, which as a Light is given into their Souls, in the free Love and Grace of God, to save their Souls; and I affirm, that is the very proportion and measure of God in every Soul, which as a burning Candle gives a Light Within searching, the dark corners of the Heart, and trying the Reins of the Sons of men; even all whose Consciences are not yet seared as with a hot Iron, in whom this Light is utterly put out, so as it henceforth may never give Life; who thereby are sealed unto everlasting Condemnation; and in such the Darkness is exceeding great, according to Christs Words, Mat. 6.23. Of which State I stand not now to insist.  
But since I am speaking to your Conditions, in whom there are Breathings and Pantings after God; I would that you should all take cognizance of that measure of the Spirit of the Lord, which is given into your souls; seeing it's so plainly and clearly distinguishable from every other Spirit; that is to say, Being of God, is of the Nature of God, and therefore makes manifest every Work, Word, and Thought which is contrary to the Righteousness of God, which another Spirit cannot do: Whereby God is known to be greater than the Devil and Infernal Spirit, which thing you may all discern in yourselves.  
Well, have you proved the many things already mentioned? Have you traveled, and are still tired? Have you dived into the Water, and yet still do remain as drowned in Corruption? Have you sought Peace by the Works which you could Work, and yet do remain as tossed by the Waves of the sorest Fears and Doubtings? and can you believe that there is a way of Redemption, though the way is not to you a way, seeing you have not entered into the way? And if the Experiences of all your own Works and Actions have thus far failed you, Come, Come now a little and prove the Work of another, who can work for, and in you, that which you can neither work for, nor in yourselves.  
What shall I say? Your Souls are the sinful Subjects, you know it, and that outward Water cannot, but that a Spirit must sanctify them; I would that you should also believe and know: Come therefore to this One, and not to another besides this One( viz.) the appearance of its self in yourselves; Seeing the Apostle witnessed, that that which may be known of God, is manifest in you, Rom. 1.9. which is as impossible, that at any time, at any place, in any thing, or any case, it should ever deceive you, as it is for God to change from his Nature of Holiness, and become a corruptible thing: And therefore, because he hath visited you with his Grace, in giving you a measure of his Spirit( which in its nature is Innocent, Pure, and Holy) which never did, nor ever could in yourselves, consent unto a thing that's Unrighteous, or contrary to its Nature( which in your own Consciences( in Gods sight) you cannot well say other ways) the ground-work is sure, and the Foundation will be found to be certain, as you come to build upon it.  
Now therefore, as this measure is clearly opened in you, knowing it to be burnings against Unrighteousness( as the Lord God is an everlasting consuming Fire against the Ungodly) you hitherto having known your Souls to be as Bodies composed of Sin, and the best of your Robes to be but the menstruous Rags of your own Righteousness( the which Body thus arrayed, could talk of the Scriptures, which point out this Light( which is the Spirit of judgement, and of burning) but by its Words, nor by its Works, could ever array its self with the royal Righteousness of the Spirit.) Now, therefore ought you to draw near, and stand a little still to be striped of all your raiments, by this Spirit, that as naked Bodies, you may be cast by the same, into its own fiery and fierce burnings: Yea, stand a little, and let this searching Spirit of the Light of Jesus, the Lamb of God, come over your Minds, and seize upon your Thoughts in the Righteousness of its Judgments, and then you shall know: This is Jordan the great, and Aenon the Baptizing River; yea, and Nilus, the overflower of the Banks, which will not cease rolling and tumbling you in their Streams, until the currents of judgement have passed over you, and utterly slain that Body, which in the unrighteous Nature, is alive in you; and then, even then, when that Body is utterly destroyed,( which is as a sowing of the old, in a deep Grave of Oblivion) a new shall arise, and a fresh branch shall spring up, and the Resurrection from the Dead shall be witnessed, and he that kills will then be perfectly known, because he makes alive, that he may be gloriously known; and then may I ask of you, When the Old man is crucified and slain with all his Affections, and singular Lusts, and the babe Jesus( the Life and Resurrection from the Dead) is formed in you; and when his Life is brought forth unto the shining of the Brightness of the Day, and you no more in yourselves, but he altogether, is of God a Saviour for you in yourselves; where then shall your Sins be? and how then shall your Sorrows be? yea, when there is not a Body, nor Womb of a Body to conceive Sin; but when the whole shall be the Lord's, and the Lambs, how shall that be brought to a birth, where a Seed enters not, nor hath a Womb to conceive nor bring forth?  
Let therefore, these Rivers run and stop them not, that with these Waters you may be thoroughly washed: For lo, though their Streams are as currents of Fire, and dreadful burnings, which melt the Rocks before them, and convert all the Adamantine Mountaines and Hills of hardness, into a dissolvedness in you, yet to your Souls that delight in their burnings, and love the appearance of their Judgments( in that you would be as God is, voided of Sin, pure, holy, and full of Righteousness) that in Truth you might glorify him, and have everlasting heavenly Joy in the Lord your God; to you their Floods are as Seas of sweet Wines, which have descended from the Mountain of God's Holiness; and as the Bathings of Rivers of oil of your bodies of hardness, and joints of stiffness; Come run therefore ye Breathers, and hast, hast hither ye Thirsters to these Waters, and Plunge yourselves ye panting Ones, into the Deeps thereof; for behold, here are Places for you to wade in pleasures, and room for you to swim in Solaces; in the Storms, here is an Ark for your Salvation, and in the Fire, an Habitation of Preservation. Yea verily, verily, this( in the Spirit and Name of the Lord) I say unto you, here is the Substance of all your seekings, which can perfect that in you, which all things without you can never complete you in; this is the Spirit which first Baptizeth into the judgement, that as men in the Flesh, you may be judged; that next it may baptize you into a justification with God in the Spirit, and so plunge you in the Seas and Oceans of everlasting blessedness; and into the Supper of the Lord Jesus, whose body and blood will nourish you unto Life eternal; so that, whereas the baptizing is a burying in the figure, in the like manner it is a burying of death unto death; and of sin in the grave of perpetual forgetfulness, by the living eternal substance; and then after the death of the old, baptizeth the Life of the new into Life, first having stripped off all the vicious raiments; next clothes, decks, and attires, with all the heavenly robes and ornaments of meekness, mercy, patience, purity, truth, temperance, humbleness, chastity, charity, and all other virtues which make the Life a blessedness; and in this Baptism the Soul becomes plunged into the belly of the great Deeps, where the joys of Life abound, amid the noises of the Waters, which roar out the hallelujahs of the Most High, and the clappings of the hands of the Floods, which sound out everlasting Praises of the most holy King, who is blessed for ever and ever. Which puts a period to all the pangs, and makes the sighings fly swiftly away.  
So now in the Light of God you may see that as your minds at all times, and in all places stand continually stayed, in and under the sense of this spiritual Light, as you have a feeling thereof in yourselves, you must be thereby continual feeders on the substance in yourselves, and thus the Cup of Salvation being handed unto you, you drink of the fullness, and of the sweetness thereof, as it's manifest unto you; and hereby you knowing the Lord's true and heavenly Table, and seeing it spread in the heavenly place, and coming to know that it is an Immortal substance which deceives not the soul, as it can be deceived by that which the body can touch and taste: and thus your souls really eating, and really drinking of the Spirit of Eternal Life, cannot but by it be nourished unto everlasting Life; and then you cannot but see the end of the Shadows, which were altogether weak and insufficient for the administering of Life. And again, knowing the reality of this Spirit of Life in yourselves, cannot so much belie the Spirit as( wrongfully) to call the Spirit a Fancy, or Fiction, or hence forth so much undervalue it, is ever in any succeeding day to exchange it for a show or ●… ade●.  
And now to sum up the matter, this I say; No man can judge aright of this which he is not experienced or entered into; though I and we all in the Light can judge of that which we have experienced and passed thorough, being said from it by this which is the end of all shadows that went before it, which no man can speak aright of, but the same that hath the self same experience of it; and therefore, to such as lift up their voices against it, God's Spirit( in my Soul) expressly speaketh; you either wilfully resist a small appearance, or else speak the things you neither know nor understand. For which cause, a Warning, a Warning, a Warning to all People, least at any time any should grieve the Spirit of the most high God, and( in the fullness of the dispensation of time) bear the weight of his Judgements for the same.  
And yet I would have all know, that though I cannot put a sufficient value upon the Spirit and its Baptism, and Table; so I put not an under-value on that which once had a time of service; but as a Type and Shadow, had its determination by the coming in of the Substance; not as if it was in no wise come in, in the time of Moses, but as not so fully come in then as it was in the time of the Prophets; not in the Prophets so fully as in the time of John Baptist; nor in John Baptist's time so fully, as it was in the fullness of the manifestation of Jesus, in John, in the time of his appearing to him in Patmos; which ended all Figures and Glasses that shewed the glories of Faces, being face to face in the glory of glories, in whom doubtless God was all in all; but this saying who can red it? but he who in the kingdom( where visibles serve not to feed the soul) hath his fellowship and union with the Father and with the Son, but it may be the weaker cannot.  
Yet a few words remain in my heart to utter forth unto you, touching the holy Scriptures of Truth, to clear us of the general aspersions and slanders which by the unbridled tongues of certain misunderstanding hearts are cast upon us.  
The Scriptures of Truth we own, and witness, according to Peter's Testimony; who avouched on this wise, The prophesy came not in old time by the will of Man, but holy man of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. 1.21. the which being spoken by the Spirit, which uttereth forth Mysteries and Oracles, the thing spoken is not that which giveth to understand the words of the voice, but the spirit the speaker must of necessity give the understanding of the thing spoken, if ever there be a right understanding thereof; and me-thinks every rational Soul might clearly and plainly perceive so open and easy a thing as this is, That the Scriptures cannot make a man understand the Spirit, except first the Spirit gives a man an understanding of the Scriptures, seeing by the Spirit in a Mystery they were given forth, according to the Prophets words, The prophesy is become unto all as a Book that is sealed, Isa. 29.11. &c. And, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2.14. and therefore not intelligible without the Spirit. And vers. 15. He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, but without the Spirit, judgeth nothing aright, but in righteousness is judged of the Spirit of God, which, and only which Spirit, gives to understand and judge all Causes in equity; but in its own way and words is not understood, but as itself gives understanding of its self. And therefore because we set not the Scriptures above the Spirit, we are in no wise to be blamed, seeing whilst we set the Spirit above the Scriptures,( we according to the Scriptures) are undoubtedly justified of God, in giving the Spirit its due authority over all, though in so doing we undervalue not, nor lessen the weight of the Scriptures, in that we confess them to be pure fruits of the holy Spirit; and as all come into the Spirit by which they were dispensed, may serve as Doctrine, Instruction, and of Advantage unto them, and through Faith, may make them wise unto Salvation; but to the faithless and unbelieving( which put not their trust onely in the Spirit, which quickeneth and maketh alive, but( as in the flesh) keep their confidence in the Letter which killeth) to such they are not of the like use and benefit; and therefore under that death and slaughter they take the Letter for the way and rule to Life, using certain Scriptures to hold forth such an opinion which stands in absolute contradiction to the mind of the Spirit, which in Christ spake saying, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Joh. 14.6. Who said, He was the Light of the World, John 8.12. And said, when the Spirit of Truth was come, it should led them into all Truth, John 16.13. as we know divers which have not the Scriptures, nor can red them, have the Spirit, and when they are red, they by the Spirit do truly and perfectly( according to their measures) understand them; as divers there are that can red the Scriptures, yet not having the holy Spirit, do not understand them; certain of whom though walking in wickedness, both in Life and conversation, yet take up the Scriptures in certain contests to hold forth their carnal conceptions and opinions by them; but seeing not any but the Spiritual man understandeth the mind of God, written forth in the Scriptures: I tenderly exhort all, neither to trust their own apprehensions, not any other mans opinion concerning the Scriptures, unless themselves are qualified, or such as are qualified with the Life of Jesus in the Spirit of the Father, having or giving Testimony of the three by the Fruits in righteousness, power and virtue.  
Lastly, this is the sum of all. There is no Truth, Way, not Life, but the Spirit of Iesus, which is an Eternal Light; there is no Conductor besides it, into the bosom of the Father; there is no Everlasting Ordinance, but this Eternal Substance; There is no Perfecter but it, and it can perfect all as it did create all; and all that yield in obedience to it, and by it come out of themselves, in and by its power and virtue, may be made clean without spot, as the Lamb is immaculate, and so live in it with God for ever and ever.   
THE END.