⁶ Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh [the sinful nature] with its passions and desires [lusts and affections]. The missing cross that leads to fruit, that leads to purity, that leads to salvation, that leads to union, that leads to the Kingdom — to have any of these, you must have first crucified your flesh, (sinful nature, lusts, affections), on the inward cross of self denial.

So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom 8:8
For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 8:13
And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh [the sinful nature] with its passions and desires [lusts and affections]. Gal 5:24

Until you have killed the sinful nature in you, you of course are going to continue to sin. As Jesus said, Truly, Truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. John 8:34. And if you die while still sinning, you have no inheritance in the kingdom of God; instead you will be banned from heaven to learn about the evil in yourself the hard way with far less reward that comes from putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision performed by Christ while still alive on the earth.

Notice, you do not belong to Christ until you have crucified your sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial. You are not in Christ until you have crucified your sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial. You are not one of his sheep until you have crucified your sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial. You do not have salvation until you have crucified your sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial.

There are two stages of perfection, which Fox and Crisp both described.

• The first stage of perfection is to become free of sin, (after you have crucified the flesh [the sinful nature] with its passions and desires [lusts and affections], but not yet born again. In this stage you see the Lord and have a fellowship with the Son and the Father, but you are not born again or in union with them yet. In this first stage, we learn to continually watch against temptation and to continuously follow the Lord, which watch William Penn has appropriately named, the holy watch.
  
  When you are crucified, (this first stage), William Penn describes what then happens:

  After this [seeing Him] it will bring you to the holy watch, to take care that you do so [sin] no more, and that the enemy not surprise you again. Then thoughts, as well as words and works, will come to judgment, which is the way of holiness, in which the redeemed of the Lord do walk. Here you will come to love God above all, and your neighbors as yourselves. Nothing hurts, nothing harms, nothing makes afraid on this holy mountain. Now you come to be Christ's indeed, for you are his in nature and spirit, and not your own. And when you are thus Christ's, then Christ is yours, and not before. And here communion with the Father and with the son you will know, and the effectiveness of the blood of cleansing, even the blood of Jesus Christ, that immaculate Lamb; which speaks better things than the blood of Abel, and through the living faith cleanses from all sin; their consciences being sprinkled with his blood, ceasing from dead works to serve the living God.

  In his Journal, George Fox describes the consequences of having fulfilled the law and having received the fruit of the Spirit, but not closely watching in the first stage:

  But if you look out from the faith, and from that which would keep you in the victory, and look after fleshly things or for words [speaking your own words] you will be brought into bondage to the flesh again, and to the law which takes hold upon the flesh and sin, and works wrath, and the works of the flesh will appear again. The law of God takes hold upon the law of sin and death; but the law of faith, or the law of the spirit of life, which is the love of God, and which comes by Jesus, (who is the end of the law for righteousness' sake), makes you free from the law of sin and death. This law of life fleshly minded men do not know; yet they will tempt you to draw you from the spirit into the flesh, and so into bondage. Therefore you, who know the love of God, and the law of his spirit, and the freedom that is in Jesus Christ, stand fast in him. Stand in that divine faith which he is the author of in you, and don’t get entangled with the yoke of bondage. For the ministry of Christ Jesus and his teaching brings into liberty and freedom; but the ministry that is of man, and by man, which stands in the will of man, brings into bondage and under the shadow of death and darkness. Therefore none can be ministers of Christ Jesus but in the eternal spirit, which was before the scriptures were given forth; for if they have not his spirit, they are none of his. Though they may have his light to condemn them that hate it, yet they can never bring any into unity and fellowship in the spirit, unless they are in it; for the seed of God is a burdensome stone to the selfish, fleshly, earthly will, which reigns in its own knowledge and understanding that must perish, and [reigns in] its own wisdom that is devilish. The spirit of God is grieved, vexed, and quenched with what brings into the fleshly bondage; and what wars against the spirit of God must be mortified by it; for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to each other. The flesh would have its liberty, and the spirit would have its liberty; but the spirit is to have its liberty, and not the flesh. Therefore if you quench the spirit, join to the flesh, and be servants of it, then you are judged and tormented by the spirit; but if you join to the spirit, and serve God in it, you have liberty and victory over the flesh and its works.

  In this stage accidental sins can occur; a man is still learning how to walk in the light continually. But if a man accidentally sins, the blood of Jesus promptly cleanses Him. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7. As George Fox wrote in his letter 262:

  That is to be condemned in yourselves, which has led you from Christ, from God, and from unity in the light; I say, that is condemned by the light, and must be executed and killed, and stoned with the living stone, and run through with the living sword, and hammered down with the living hammer to pieces, and burnt up with the living fire, and so made an end of. For that which leads into looseness, whimsies, imaginations, false visions, though it is condemned, yet, if it is not executed, it is in danger of rising again; and if it rises again, and gets over you, it will be your ruler, if it gets out of prison and is alive, and not executed. For after a thing is condemned, such as drunkenness, adultery, fornication, or any manner of looseness whatever, or running out from the spirit and light, if it is condemned, and judgment passed upon it, if it is not executed, there is danger of its reviving. For after a thing is condemned, and judgment passed upon it, it is to be executed. For you know, after a thief or a murderer is condemned and judged, and has sentence passed upon him, yet he is not executed that day; the execution comes afterwards. And therefore, after condemnation or judgment is passed upon any inward evil, or any outward action of evil, let execution be speedily done with the living hammer, and the living sword, and the living stone; so that the living fire may burn it up and consume it.
  
  No man after he has beaten his child, hates him ever afterwards, but loves him, if he repents and changes; so does the eternal Father. And if a child falls down into the dirt, he does not go and tumble him more into the dirt, or into the ditch, and there let him lie in the dirt and ditch, but takes him out and washes him; and so does the heavenly Father, who leads his children by his hand, and dandles them upon his knee.

  Should we fall to temptation, unless we wilfully disobey, we can still choose to repent as we walk in the light and the blood of Jesus that cleanses us of all sin. However, once we have arrived at this first stage of perfection and purity, if we wilfully disobey the Lord, then we are lost; this is the sin that leads to death.

  For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
  But only a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries of God.
  Whoever despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
  How much more severe a punishment, do you suppose, will be thought worthy for one who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has acted with spite [contempt] to the Spirit of grace? Heb 10:26-29
  
  Years ago, when I had sinned, thinking I was following the Voice of the Lord, but instead was deceived by the enemy pretending to be Him, I was very despondent and almost sure I had lost my chance to attain salvation; then I heard the Lord say to me: "Until you look me in the face, and then return to sin, you can come back to me;" that message is in perfect harmony with the Heb 10:26-29 verses above, because in this first stage of perfection you enter paradise and have fellowship with Christ and God, where you certainly receive knowledge of the truth.

  Those who fall to wilful, disobedient sin in this stage are the stars that fall from heaven as described in Revelation 6:13; and the devil's greatest tool to tempt us, then and now, is sexual immorality; so be intensely on guard against even wilfully imagining commission of sexual immorality. In this first step also be on your guard against covetousness. Guard yourself against sexual immorality and all sin doubly now so that you are doubly ready to withstand the temptations then, the consequences of falling then being disastrous.
  
  Also, don't preach or teach unless you are specifically commanded what to say, (all, and only all, words from Him); and if you are told to preach or teach, do nothing less, nothing more; completely obey your commands, and when the commands stop, return to your home to wait on Him in humble silence. Failure to comply with this can result in your never advancing to permanent perfection, the second stage; or with deception, deliberately sinning with resultant loss of life.

• The second stage of perfection occurs after you have been further prepared by the ministry of righteousness and demonstrated your watchfulness against sin , when you are then born again, still subject to temptation but unable to fall to temptation, unable to sin. Here you enter into union with God, and you sit down at rest in Christ; therefore you possess Christ and his righteousness, which is the end of imputation and the end of belief. Penington partially explains why preparation is necessary before entering the union in his writing, The Holy Truth and People Defended :

  "For there is a state of discipleship, by which a man hardly knows a settlement, so much as how to watch with Christ rightly and constantly [the first stage]; but it is a great matter to be able to dwell and abide with Him [Christ]. None can do this, but he that can dwell with devouring fire and everlasting burnings for the pure word of life is a fire, and he that sits down in the heavenly place in him, must sit down in that fire [the second stage]."

  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
  He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppression, who keeps his hands from taking bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;
  He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him; his waters will be sure.
  Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold the land that is very far off. Isa 33:14-17

  In his Letter 222, George Fox wrote: "For are not here kindness and riches, for man and woman to be brought out of that state in the fall, to the state of Adam and Eve before they fell. And he that brings them here is Christ, and it is by his blood, it cost him his blood, his life, and he does not leave them in the state that Adam and Eve were in before they fell, but he sets them down in himself, who never fell, a safer state than Adam was in before he fell. Now who sit here in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, the first and the last, the beginning and ending, the safe place, in the wisdom of God."

  From the Word of the Lord within:

  • "The changes that the Spirit makes are long lasting.
  • We seek a permanent relationship.
  • In the Old Testament it was not a permanent relationship; they often lost it.
  • Temporary perfection is replaced by permanent perfection.
    
  • As wonderful is the crucifixion of self, you are to continue in the steps of faith until you hear or see the end."

Based on scripture and the writings of the early Quakers, we can separate the various descriptions of spiritual maturity into the two stages:

* These occurrences were also attainable in the Old Covenant [Old Testament].

** Despite Old Testament scripture referring to sons of God, (though scant), about which George Fox wrote in his letter 246, Fox states that a son must be born again; since one born again is protected and cannot sin, the new covenant son is radically different than the Old Testament sons referenced.

According to the Word of the Lord within, the first stage is not even a shadow of what you will inherit in the second stage.

After you have crucified your selfish, devilish nature, (the first stage of perfection), you must be continuously watchful, (against temptation), as you walk according to the Lord's guidance because without watchfulness you can fall to temptation, just like Eve fell.

When George Fox was raised to this first stage, he was immediately tempted to practice medicine as his Journal relates below:

Now I came up in spirit, through the flaming sword, into the paradise of God. All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter. I knew nothing but pureness, innocence, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of God by Christ Jesus; so that I came up to the state of Adam, which he was in before he fell. The creation was open to me; and it was shown to me how all things had their names given them, according to their nature and virtue. I was at a stand in my mind, whether I should practice medicine for the good of mankind, seeing the nature and virtues of the creatures were so opened to me by the Lord.

He was tempted to practice medicine according to his own desires; his carnal mind was at a stand, not yet destroyed. Those of us who reach this first stage of perfection will likewise be severely tempted; but we can minimize our risk of falling if we remember to: 1) continue to obey any commands we have received in the past, and 2) reject anything that we want to do, only doing what we are ordered to do by the Lord. Should we fall, unless we wilfully disobey, we can still choose to repent as we walk in the light and the blood of Jesus that cleanses us of all sin. The less we fall, the sooner we attain the second stage and inherit the substance, Christ.

From the Word of the Lord within: "Many fell and erred from the true faith. When the fruit withers, I remove the protection."

I would submit the following additional admonitions to guard against falling to sin at this stage, (lessons learned from the sad failure of James Naylor):

• If you find your pride swelling due to your preaching or writing; cease and flee to the solitude of sitting in the Light until ordered back to your tasks by the Light.
• Beware of flatteries. Rebuke them. The Lord has told me: groups of flattering women are particularly dangerous.
• Beware of crying women; such can completely overcome a man's good judgment. There is a protective instinct in a man to take care of a woman in distress; but never let that instinct overcome your basic spiritual and moral principles learned.
• When you find yourself getting mixed messages, some true and some false, withdraw to the solitude of waiting on the Light.
• When you are warned by an obviously more mature brother, heed it.
• Don't tolerate small failures, for as James Naylor said: "by little and little I was drawn out." Flee to the Light. I believe little by little refers to preaching and teaching with your own words, not remaining silent, unless you hear all, (and only all), words to say; first you add one or two words, then five and six, then you answer a question without hearing the words to answer, then you expand on your answer, then you are speaking entire paragraphs — all starting with one or two words. Then you move without being sent, preaching entirely from your own mind. Or maybe it could start with simple writing; answering a serious aspersion cast on the true church; and then you feel obligated to answer all criticisms in writing, etc; all this being done from your carnal mind that is still alive. So, you never advance; and if you get further deceived you are likely to commit sin; then you are lost.

Concerned about the risk of loss in the first stage of perfection, the Word of the Lord within said, "speak slowly, forever hold your peace." Previously He has said:

• "Do not be eager to speak.
• A word spoken from the Spirit requires you to hear what the Spirit says to you; speak only what you are told to speak.
• Put together my mouth and my mind to deliver the word of God to the world; the word is given to proven receptacles.
• No one is to be giving speeches until words come from Him.
• When you speak words from yourself, it doesn't matter what you say; you say them with the wrong spirit, and they don't reach the heart of your listeners.
• All and only words from Him are to be spoken; the purpose is to prevent anyone from going out without authority, which you can see creates problems.
• Regarding those who run ahead, they are abandoned with cruel, hard knocks."

The death of the early Quaker, James Naylor, appears to be the classic example of protection being removed due to wilful disobedience after reaching the first stage of perfection. James Naylor was an eminent early Quaker preacher who had reached the 1st stage of perfection. However, he sadly dropped his watchfulness and refused the written order of the Society along with written and in-person warnings from George Fox to disassociate himself from a group of fawning admirers that were out of the truth. In writing Fox warned him from the Word of the Lord that he was "against the Truth in willfulness and stubbornness." Shortly afterwards, Naylor precipitated a great scandal, which resulted in him suffering severe punishment and imprisonment; as he was returning home, he was beaten, robbed, left bound and naked in a field, found by a passer-by, and taken to a Quaker doctor where he died a day later at the age of 42. These events are detailed in the web page on James Naylor.

As I was reviewing James Naylor's failure in my mind, I heard the Word of the Lord within say: "stunning willfulness." If you are aware of how eminent James Naylor was among the early Quakers, it is indeed stunning what he did and continued to do over a significant period of time.

Before George Fox had entered the second stage of perfection and the kingdom, for about three years he was sent on limited, specific assignments by the Lord. But he only did what he was specifically told to do, exactly when he was told to do it; he then returned to his residence and continued waiting on the Lord. Plus, he was sufficiently perfected that he was able to preach, debate, and pray with words supplied by the Holy Spirit; so powerful were his words that even churches shook when he prayed within them. So limited teaching or preaching can be instructed by the Lord before you are completely perfected; but be careful to only do what he tells you to do, nothing more, nothing less; then return to your home to continue to wait on the Lord's further imparting of his Spirit by his words that you hear him speak to you.

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