Bible, what is meant by my promising blessings if men would turn unto ME; and my threatening judg. ments if they would not. But one thing let men observe: I came to seek and to save that which was lost; then by the judgment of man, the way they have placed Election, alluding to a few chosen people in all ages of the world, they could never be lost by their account; then what have they to do with Redemption? it is those that they judge lost, that I am come to seek and to save. So let them take care, lest they perish like the Jews; for if men will come to redemption to be made alive in ME, and come to the knowledge of their God, they must believe and be convinced they are dead to that know. ledge from the Fall; and that it is by ME they must be renewed to be brought to life; that meaneth, a spiritual life, and a spiritual knowledge, which they lost by the Fall. And these are the people I am come to seek and to save, as I came to seek and to save the Gentiles, that were a heathen nation; a people that knew not how to serve God was brought in by the light of my Gospel; but doth my Gospel end there? how then are the words of the Apostle fulfilled? Let them answer Romans xi. 1-Hath God cast away his people? God forbid! but if the redemption of man never take place, the Jews must be cast away for ever; mark the number of years since the Gospel was established, and the Jews yet stand as an outcast nation; but mark what is said by the apostle-If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead ? Now where is the Scribe or where is the Pharisee, where is the wise man or where is the learned, or where is the disputer of this world, who can tell thee the meaning of the apostle's words? In thy heart thou answerest, no man; it is a thing impossible to be answered by man; because the casting out of the Jews was not the reconciling the world to God; neither

MAN MUST BE PROVED DEAD TO KNOWLEDGE.487 are they reconciled to this day; therefore the meaning cannot be understood by man; and this I know as well as thee, no man can explain it, nor can any man understand it; but I shall tell thee the meaning, how the casting out of the Jews will be the reconciling of the world to all true believers. From the Jews every nation must be convinced, that man is dead to the knowledge of his God; as I said of the Jews, You only have I known of all the families of the earth; then if these people, which were my only people that had been visited by my Spirit, by whose hands I had worked signs and wonders, as I did by Moses and by Daniel, and other prophets, and yet when I came into the world, and shewed signs and wonders amongst them, and worked so many miracles before them, yet did not know I was the Son of God, neither understood their prophets; how shall a people that were like a wild olive branch grafted into the vine, pretend to say they understand all my Bible, or understand my Gospel, or what was said by my apostles, any more than the Jews understood what was said by the prophets? This must be discerned by every man, that they are truly dead to knowledge, before I come to redeem them from the Fall; and this must be the faith of every man that is redeemed"We have no knowledge of ourselves; we see the "blindness of the Jews; and we see we are no bet"ter than they were a mixture of good and evil "was in them under the Law, and this we see under "the Gospel; yet if we discern deeply, we see the "Jews without knowledge; yet we see they trust "to their knowledge; and by their trusting to their "own wisdom, we see them stand as a proverb of

folly before us." This, when deeply discerned and weighed by mankind, will reconcile their hearts unto God, that they must be taught of God, and not of man, before the fulness of the Gentiles can he accomplished, and before their redemption' can

be accomplished, which meaneth the fulfilment of the Gospel; and this will be discerned by every true believer in the Gospel. But had the Jews never been cast out for their unbelief, in trusting to their own wisdom, men could not so clearly have discerned, that they were perfectly dead to knowledge, that there was no knowledge in man, and that every good and perfect gift must come down from the Father of Light; but had the Jews had wisdom and knowledge to understand their prophets, then they would have understood that I must come to die for the transgression of the Fall, and in the end to fulfil the promise, and destroy all the works of the devil, as it is spoken by the apostle. Now if the Jews had had all knowledge, that were my chosen people, the world might say" There is knowledge in man, and we that are brought in by the Gospel, have knowledge in ourselves the same;" and so the last error would be worse than the first. Men would never have believed they were dead to knowledge, if knowledge had been in all the Jews; neither could my words have been true, that man was dead to knowledge. It was not by knowledge that Abraham obtained a son, but by faith; neither was it by knowledge he obtained the promise when he went to offer up his son ; yet by faith he thought I should fulfil my word and promise that I had made him, without any knowledge how it should be accomplished: the wisdom of man might have disputed how it could be fulfilled when Isaac was dead; but the faith of Abraham believed, and he relied on the faithfulness of his God, and not on the wisdom of himself. And this must be the faith of all men, that trust in ME for redemption, seeing there was no knowledge in Abraham, to whom the promise was made; and there was no knowledge in the Jews; for by trusting to their own knowledge they were cast out: so by their fall, every wise man will learn so stand, and wish to be led by God, and not

WHAT IS LIFE FROM THE DEAD ILLUSTRATED. 489 by man. And this will be the reconciling of the world to God, when men are convinced from the folly of the Jews, that there is no knowledge in man; and they have no power of themselves to help themselves; yet there is power laid upon ONE that is mighty to deliver them from this death, and bring them into a newness of life with their God. And thus the eyes of the Jews must be opened-that they are dead to knowledge and must be restored by faith, which is life from the dead. At present they stand as a people dead to God; that is to the knowledge of his ways; but when they are restored to receive the promise, as Abraham received his promise, it must be by faith in the Son of God, as Abraham had faith in his son, that if I slew him I should raise him up another; so must the Jews believe, that though I was bound like Isaac and cast upon the altar, crucified on the Cross; yet I rose again in my perfect Body, as Isaac did; and this is the SPIRITUAL ISAAC in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed, that are the children of Abraham by FAITH. So when ye are redeemed from the power of Death, Hell, and Sin, will ye not say it is life from the dead? And life from the dead it will be to the Jews, when the eyes of their understanding are opened, and they begin to discern the prophets, that ISAAC was but a shadow of the promise that was made in the SON OF GOD, and they, like Jacob, seek after this promise to obtain it. But know, it is written, the promise is made to them that believe; and life from the dead is the redemption of man ;-but now I ask thee, who will seek for a physician when he judges he is in perfect health? or who will claim a promise that was never made to him? Then who will apply to ME as the great physician of all men, to be made alive in ME, as they were pronounced dead in Adam, before they are convinced that they are dead in trespasses and sins, and to the knowledge of their God? And this,

from the Jews, every wise man will discern, when he sees my Bible laid open before him, and call reason to his assistance, if knowledge was not in the Jews, it cannot be in the Gentiles; neither can it be in man, but in God; and thus relying upon their God, is the way that the world will be reconciled to God, that HE may be all in all, and rely on him for the promises that are made. Thus will the casting off of the Jews enlighten every true believer to rely upon the Lord; but the calling in of the Jews will be as life from the dead to them, that have been so long dead to the knowledge of God; why they were so many years cast out; why they have been without a prophet so long; why they have had no knowledge wherein their transgressions lay; but when their eyes are open to the whole, and they look back to a CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR, whose love they have slighted, because I died for the transgressions of man, and they judged I came too low, but now I am coming in might, majesty, and power, to call my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, to destroy the heathens that call not upon my name, and establish my kingdom in righteousness and peace; this they will find is a life from the dead; and by faith they will be thus received to obtain the promise made to the prophets. Here I have shewed thee the meaning of the words, why the casting out of the Jews is the reconciling of the world; because men would not believe they were dead to knowledge, if it was not for the Jews, that stand a proverb of death before them; and by thus acknowledging their death, is the way they will trust in ME for life.

But now mark the words of the Apostle-Boast not against the branches. Now let men answer, how they understand these words? the branches, here alluded to by the Apostle, were the Jews that stood out thorough unbelief; and the Gentiles that were grafted in in their stead, were alluded to by the wild olive, that should not boast