A Few VVords Concerning CONSCIENCE WHAT IT IS And what Estate it was in before TRANSGRESSION And how it became Darkened Defiled and Corrupted And how again it may be Enlightened Cleansed Purified and set at Liberty as it was before Sin entred Intermixt with a few Words concerning Persecution among the diverse Sects in Christendom and upon the Face of all the Earth shewing that they all arise for Want of True Liberty of Conscience and what that Liberty is William Shewen Printed in the Year 1675. A Few VVords Concerning CONSCIENCE What it is c. COnscience is generally to be understood to be such a Being Subject Which Capacity is as a Book capable to contain what is written or imprinted therin and may be not only opened and shut but blotted and stained also Faculty or Capacity in Mankind which is wanting in all the Beasts of the Field Fish of the Sea and Fowls of the Air and in this Capacity Mankind differs from and excels them all being created in and endued with such a Capacity wherein and whereby he is enabled to participate of the Divine Nature to partake of the Beams of its Glory to Meditate Contemplate Consolate Delight and Refresh himself in the Light Law and Glory of his Maker which Capacity is not to be found in all the Elements of this World but only in Mankind Now in the Beginning Man's Mind Heart and Conscience was a Heavenly and pure Receptacle These Three are so inseparable that that which defiles the One defiles the Other and that which purifies the One purifies the Other Tabernacle and Dwelling place for the Almighty his Power Wisdom Light and Glory was displayed therein and Mankind was highly exalted thereby above all the Works of his hands And while Mankind stood here in this High and Heavenly Estate The Blessed Estate of Man before the Fall he lived in the Paradice of God enjoying the Light of his Countenance and had Unity with his Maker and could behold his Face with Joy and receive the Reflections of the Beams of Divine Glory shining in his Conscience with Delight living in Dominion over all the Creation his Conscience being Pure he held the Mystery of Faith in it eying the Invisible God through above and beyond all things visible and invisible This was the State of Mankind before the Fall while his Conscience was Pure and Undefiled while he remain'd in that Estate God made him and placed him in who was a Pure Innocent Subject Holy in his Being and Harmless in his Nature all within him and without him was Good yea very Good Now the Wisdom is to understand how that which was Holy and Harmless Innocent Pure and Undefiled did become Evil and Corrupted seeing in this State and Time Evil had not a Being whence could or did the Temptations arise The Wisdom of all men living in the Faln Defiled Estate cannot find out nor search into the Depth of these things The Mysteries of God are hid from the Wise and Prudent and revealed to Babes they are only revealed and made known by the shining of the same Light which was in the Beginning and gives the Children thereof to see to the same Therefore to the same Light and Spirit of God which moved upon the Face of the Waters in the Beginning before the Sun Moon and Stars were created or the Mountains formed which Light now shineth in the Heart of Mankind though Darkness which Light also God hath caused to shine out of Darkness in the Hearts of Thousands in this our Day and Age I say To this Light I chiefly refer and commend thee being indeed the Key of the Mysteries of God and Godliness yet a few Words for the sake of the Captivated and for the opening of that Eye that 's blinded that such may come to see and discern the Things of God and that the Enlightned may by seeing perceive how Mankind at first came to make Shipwrack of Faith and a Good Conscience and avoid doing the like Moses or the Author of Genesis was endued with an Excellent Spirit of Wisdom and Discerning when he comprized the History of the Creation and the State of Mankind therein and indeed I must tell my Reader That nothing short of a Measure of the same Spirit and Divine Wisdom can lead thee into a True Discerning Understanding of the same Nothing skort of the Inspiration of the Almighty gives a True Understanding of the things of his Kingdom he hath exposed the Shell but hath lockt up the Kernel from the Prudent Wit and Comprehension of Man under divers Similitudes and Hieroglyphicks thou mayest read the History and walk in the Field of the Creation yet if thou diggest not deep and find the Pearl and purchase it and like a Wise Merchant Man sell All for it thou wilt be ignorant of the Mystery and remain Poor Blind and Miserable for I intend not to throw Pearls before Swine neither dare I like Hezekiah shew the Treasures of the Lord's House to the Babylonians lest both I and it are carried into Captivity therefore Now it s said They were both * Many Carnal Conceits and Imaginations are and have been at Work among Men to Understand these things but they have not come to the Opening of the Seals nor to the Key of the Mysteries of God and so have divulged their own Carnal and Lucifrian Conceptions Comprehensions and Notions for the Divine Knowledge of God and many have thereby grown Rich Tall and Great in Brain and Head-Knowledge but Poor Low and Small in Experimental Heart Understanding and of the Work of God therein Naked the Man and his Wife and were not ashamed There was then No Cause of Shame in being no Temptation entred into no Sin committed which is the Cause of Shame And it s also said The Serpent was more subtil then all the Beasts of the Field which God had made Now God made nothing but what was Good keeping in its State Bounds wherein God had set and appointed them would so have remained But there being a possibility to break those Bounds and disobey that Law that God had set over them God gave Mankind A Warning thereof and acquainted him with the Penalty thereof also that in the Day he did it he should Dye the Death Now Mankind had Faith in his Maker and in his Conscience found himself bound to obey the Command given him and had Strength to resist the Temptation These Things are to be seen and known in the Light and Wisdom of God beyond what Words can express till the Woman the weaker Vessel believed a Lye and looked upon the Beauty of the Thing presented and let up a Desire to be wise and to know good and evil and to be as Gods so in this Hope of gaining and bettering their Estate became subject unto * Vanity and hereby the Light that shined in the Heart and Conscience became vailed Rom. 8.20 and
the Image and Glory of God that appeared therein Every particular within themselves must come to know the Loss and full Crucifixion and Death of the one and the Life and Resurrection of the other before Restoration can be known became lost as the Image of the Selfish Will and Desire rose up and became prevalent the Image of God declined and departed and when man lost his Faith which was held in the pure Conscience †The same befals Mankind at this Day when they loose their Anchor which Faith was as an Anchor by which Conscience as a Ship in a Storm was staied for a while from being made a wrack I say when he lost this Faith in the Word and Command of God and believed the Serpent's Lyes he soon made Shipwrack of both and no sooner were their own Eyes opened but the Eye and Light of God which shined in them became stopped and vailed and they lost the Glory and Benefit of it no sooner their own Wisdom and Knowledge sprung up but the Wisdom of God departed and Innocency the heavenly Clothing became lost and Nakedness appeared Faith and a good Conscience destroyed Shame Guilt Fear and Hiding the Effects of it succeeded So though Conscience in its primitive Estate was Pure Clean and Undefiled * The same Danger is still even among such as are presented as a Chast Virgin to Christ and have attained to an innocent Sinless Estate and a Dwelling-Place in Paradise therefore the Duty of all such is to watch and pray that they enter not into Temptation and are beguiled as the Serpent did Eve yet was liable and capable to be corrrupted darkened and defiled even as the Mind departed from a due Regard and obedience of the Law and Command of God and sleighted his Light and Glory which shined and illuminated his Heart and Conscience then Clouds of Error and Mists and Fogs of Self-will thoughts and Imaginations soon arose and darkened the pure Air and ecclipsed the Glory of that Sun that before shined in him drew a vail before the Light of God's Countenance Gen. 3.10 which to behold was his Joy and Delight now become his Fear Terror now a Night come over him he runs in the Darkness thereof to hide himself among the Trees of the Garden from the Presence of God this was the Way and Work of the first Adam in the Beginning and his Children are found in the same at this Day upon the Face of the whole Earth he that readeth let him understand Now when this noble Part or Capacity in Man is thus clouded and darkened and defiled through Disobedience to the Law of his God he then goeth astray more and more corrupteth himself through his Imaginations and Inventions more and more and according to that he entertaineth and joins himself to so becomes even Darkness and a Child of it 1 Cor. 6.16 17. And of the most excellent and best Part of the Creation becomes the worst and the principallest Instrument in the Hand of the wicked One to lead even Nature it Self out of its Course and to burden oppress corrupt and abuse all Things under his Power verifying that Maxim among Men The best of things being corrupted become the worst Now in this Degenerate Faln Clouded Darkened and Corrupted Estate the Sun of Righteousness and holy Principle of Light which at first shined clear in the Conscience * Though Mankind fell from and lost the Light and Glory of God yet that in it self remain'd the same and became his Judge and Reprover which before was his Comforter remains in it self the same pure and undefiled and doth glance forth its Eternal Beams of Light into this Darkness and gives Mankind in that Estate some Sense and Knowledge of their Lost Degenerated Corrupted Miserable Estate and in the Cool of the Day calls Transgressing Man to an Account as it did Adam and Cain and convinceth them of their Evil Deeds and calls to a Repentance or Returning again into the same Way he went out of even by the Help and Guidance of that Light and Holy Spirit which at first shined in his Heart and Conscience wherein he enjoyed the Light of God's Countenance and walked and lived in his Presence without Rebuke But being Departed Degenerated and Turned in his Mind from the Good into the Evil from the Glory and Light that once shined in him and and was pleasant for his Eye to behold into Sin and Transgression he is by it pursued reproved and convinced in order to turn him back again And whosoever hearkens to this Reproof and obeyes the Spirit of Truth ‖ The Way to Paradise and a Undefiled Estate again which convinceth of Sin and loves the Hand that smites them and submitteth to the same shall come to witness and enjoy the Undefiled Regenerate Happy Estate again and enter in through the Gate into the City and Paradife of God again But he that hates the Reproofs thereof and rebells against the Spirit and humbleeth not himself under the Mighty Hand of God which smites for Transgression goes forward into utter Darkness stumbles falls and rises no more to the Resurrection of Life and Felicity but is filled with Fear and encompassed with Terrors round about upwards and downwards nothing but Tribulation Anguish and Vexation of Spirit attends Mankind in this Estate wherein his chief Companions are a Guilty Defiled Conscience ☞ wherein are written Grievous Things against him and a Wounded Spirit a Burden too heavy for Cain to bear though but the Fruit of his own Doings and the Crop of his own sowing Now in this State of Loss Misery and Bondage wherein the Heart and Conscience is defiled and Corrupted there is great Working and Contriving in the minds of Mankind how to find that again which is lost and how to be delivered from the Misery and Bondage wherein he is faln and this is the Nature of all Mankind in the Fall to seek out many Inventions and to go down to Egypt for Help and to walk by the Light of his own Fire and the Sparks that he hath kindled and in the crooked Wayes of his own finding out and to reject the Help Counsel and straight Way of the Lord he being darkened and deceived and the Light of Christ in his Conscience vailed he ever did and doth at this day in that Estate take one thing for another viz. Degenerate man in all Ages ever was Mistaken and alwayes took one thing for another Good for Evil and Evil for Good Light for Darkness Darkness for Light c. which Mistake is the Ground of all Error and Mischief in the World in matters of Religion Good for Evil and Evil for Good Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light c. And being thus far deceived exalts and sets up the one for the other so when he hath found out a Way and Worship that liketh him and sewed something together though but
Conscience and dark selfish Opinion is most ravenous this Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing hath sharp Teeth and cruel Clawes and a wilde untamed devouring Spirit notwithstanding his pretence of Zeal and Conscience for the Christian Religion 't is the Spirit of Cain Saul Blind Zeal a defiled Conscience private selfish dark Opinions the Ground of divers Massacries and much Blood shed in Christendom that Murderer and Persecutor about Sacrifice and Worship which will be rising up against his Brother and Neighbour as it hath been so it is at this Day he that is born of the Flesh will persecute him that is born of the Spirit c. But whosoever is led by his religious or rather irreligious Opinions to endeavour the Hurt and Ruin of his Brother or Neighbour about matters of Religion and Conscience if he accomplish and effect the fame he is an Evil Doer and ought to suffer as an Evil-Doer and he that hoth Good-will to all and seeks the good of all and hurts no man though he be of a contrary Mind and Judgment to him and of a defiled Conscience and erronious Opinions he is the Well-Door And the Laws of God and all good Men who are appointed to Rule for God are a Terror to the One and a Praise and Encouragement to the Other And such brutish unnatural Opinionists whose Consciences are not only darkned defiled and corrupted but feared as with a hot Iron who under the Profession of Christianity dare entertain and assert such Cruel Impious Tenets or Opinions as that it is lawful to Destroy the Property Liberty and Life of Men about the Christian Religion to account all that conform not to his Form and Fashion of Religion Tradition and Invention no better then Weeds and Vermine Corrupt and Cankered Members fit to be pulled up cut off burnt and destroyed where this Ravenons Beast is prevalent as in some Countries beyond the Seas it destroyes every Green Thing this Spirit and Bloody Opinion is hated of God and all Good Men and is as a Monster risen out of the Bottomless Pit and as the great Apollyon or Destroyer to be chained and shut up therein again Oh God! hasten the Time thereof is the Breathing of the Righteous Oh! how Lamentable is it to consider what Work and Havock this Spirit hath made under a Corrupt Blind Mis guided Conscience and Ignorant Zeal especially in this Part of the World called Christendom about Church Religion and Worship the Mind and Conscience the best and noblest Capacity of Man being in its primitive Estate when darkned defiled corrupted hardned and seared becomes the worst even a Habitation for Devils formed and transformed like unto an Angel of Light so that those that are not deceived and ruled by the One may be the Other The Greatest and Strongest Poyson of Souls Bodies Lives c. of Men is in the Whore's Golden Cup and all that drink freely thereof or are compelled thereto are deeply infected therewith And the Nations reel with the Wine of her Fornications But in all Ages the * transformed Devil who assumeth the Form of Religion and Profession of Godliness hath proved the greatest Deceiver and the most Cruel as might be evidenced at large by his Work in this present Age and throughout the Records of many Generations But all that come to return in their Minds to the Light and Glory of God The Way out of all Selfish and Private Opinions and Cruelty about them into perfect Freedom and Liberty of Conscience which at first shined in the Heart Conscience of Mankind made it a fit Receptacle or Dwelling-place for himself believes walks abides in the same shall again come to know live in the same Estate man enjoyed before his Conscience was defiled before the Vail came over his Heart and Understanding before the Image of God was lost before any Place or Credit was given to the Serpent's Lyes where true Liberty of Conscience was lived in and the Light of God's Countenance enjoyed the Serpent ruled over and the Earth subdued in the Paradise of God The Light that now shineth out of Darkness in the Hearts of Thousands and Ten Thousands leads not only into these things but farther into the Life State of the second Adam against whom the Serpent never could nor shall prevail And the God of Heaven and Earth who hath caused or commanded it to shine hath the Praise and Glory thereof both now and for evermore Postscript SUch Opinions in Religion which bind man's Conscience to seek and endeavour the Hurt of his Brother or Neighbour in his Name Person Liberty Estate or Life because he doth not believe and practise the same Manner and Form of Worship as he doth are very Cruel Unnatural and Unreasonable First Because many times People come by their Opinions as Heirs come by their Estates Hereditarily if their Parents or Tutors were of this or that Sect of the Jews or Mahumetans their Children commonly are trained up and educated in the same if of one of the Sects among the Christians so called then commonly the Child is trained and catechised in the same and many Parents take as much Care to leave their Children possessed of their Religious Opinions as they do of their Estates as might be shewed at large both among Jews Turks and Christians And in Christendom the greatest Proof many have to prove themselves Christians is that their Parents and Tutors were so called and accounted and they have received and walked in their Traditions and conformed to the Orders and Discipline of Holy Church so called and they believe as the Church believes and 't is their Opinion this is Christianity enough to carry them to Heaven many being bound in their Consciences by a traditional implicite Faith to their Hereditary Christianity or the Traditions of their Fore-Fathers that they never Question their Way nor Title therein they never knew no other nor better nor dare not for Fear seek further their Consciences being bound under their private traditional Opinions and Ceremonies Now that such should have their Bodies hurt and their Lives destroyed and their Estates rent from them and their Posterity because they will not change and renounce their Opinions they have been bred up and educated in and conform to that Opinion and Form of Worship that hath the Sword in its Hand and is become National in the Country where he lives is both Cruel Unnatural and Unreasonable whether he be Jew Mahumetan Christian Papist or Protestant 2dly Because no man is able to change his Own Mind in Religion when he pleaseth or when commanded nor break those Chains of Tradition he hath been educated in from his Childhood neither is he able to shake off those Bolts and Fetters of Opinion and change his Faith and Belief when he pleaseth For when man's Conscience is defiled with Erroneous Opinions and his Mind and Understanding darkened and bound under the Chains thereof he is not
Sword of the Spirit the Helmet of Salvation the Breast-plate of Righteousness and the very Feet shod with the Preparation of the Gospel or with that which prepares the Way of the Gospel I say these are Weapons of the True Church and of every Member thereof whereby those that say they are Apostles and are not are tryed and found Lyars and the Errors and Doctrines of Balaam detected Read Rev. 1 2 3. and the Lord open thy Understanding and the Teachings of the Woman Jezabel who calleth her self a Prophetess resisted yea all the Faults and Errors of the Seven Churches are reproved and judged by the Son of God who holdeth the Seven Stars in his Right Hand Note and walks in the midst of the ‖ The Son of God is in the midst of his People who are like Gold tryed in the Fire and made Vessels of Honour to hold the Heavenly Treafure and Temples of the Living God this is the true Church that what she bindeth and looseth on Earth is confirmed in Heaven against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail out of the Pale of this Church there 's no Salvation This is the Holy Church that cannot err where the infallible Judgment is even in whom the Son of God lives and walks in the midst and hath by his bright and powerful Appearance broken down and removed all that is contrary to him and set the Mind Heart and Conscience at perfect Liberty from all Private Opinions Selfish Conceivings Dark Thoughts and Lofty Imaginations which once did defile them In this Church is the one Mind one Heart and one Judgment and she hath the one Faith one Baptism and one Lord is as a Coat woven from top to bottom without Seam And all the Members of this Church are livin Stones fitted and squared for the House and Habitation of God in the fitting and preparing of which the Sound or Noise of the Workman's Tool is not heard nor Self had in any Reputation but the Praise and Glory of all is to God the Worker of all in his People to whom all Honour is due forever and evermore Seven Golden Candlesticks and those that turn not at his Reproof Repent and are Reformed by his Judgments will assuredly in the End hear this fatal Sentence I gave her space to repent and she repented not behold I will cast her into a Bed and them that commit Adultery with her into great Tribulation I will kill her Children with Death and all the Churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the Reins and Hearts giveth to every one according to his Works He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Something after which should have been placed before REader I would have thee seriously weigh consider what thou readest in this small Treatise and with the Measure of Divine Light which shines in thy Mind Heart and Conscience whether thou be Darkness or Light a Believer or an Infidel take a perfect View of thy self and thou mayest by the Light thereof infallibly perceive and know Whether thou art a Member of the * None can be of the holy Catholick Church further then they walk in the Light learn of the Grace and profit by the Manifestation of the Spirit of God given to them and is present with them convincing reproving judging all and every Appearance of Evil and ready to teach lead into all Good and it is those only that are led and guided by the spirit of God that are his Sons Daughters and Members of the holy church which is in God he that can receive it let him Holy Catholick Church or whether thou art of some private Opinion or Sect which only calls it self so and whether thy Mind Heart and Conscience-are clensed and set at Liberty from all that did defile and imbondage them or whether thou art corrupted defiled captivated and bound under with the Chains of Darkness Superstitious Education Corrupt Tradition and Selfish Opinions kindling thy Sacrifices with Coals from thy own Altar and walking in the Light of thy own Sparks by the Eye or Light of God which runs to and fro through the Earth and searcheth thy Heart tryeth thy Reins and sheweth unto thee thy Thoughts thou mayest see thy own state and condition how thou standest in the Sight of the Lord if thy Mind be spiritual thou hast Life Peace if thy Heart be pure thou seest the Lord if thy Conscience be purged from dead Works thou art a Servant of the living God and findest Acceptance with him being alive to Righteousness and dead to Sin but if thou dost Evil Sin lies at thy Door and he that saves his People from their Sins thou art ignorant of and Death the Wages thereof attends thee profess what thou wilt and let thy notion opinion be what it will let thy form and fashion of Worship and Religion be what it will whether thou art a Jew Mahumetan Papist or Protestant this is the Word of Truth to thee whether thou wilt hear or forbear thou shalt find it sealed upon thee in the Day of the Lord. W. S. THE END
leaves he will endeavour to cover his Nakedness therewith and to hide himself from the Wrath that is revealed in him and awakened against him and when he hath invented a Medicine to cure his Sickness and a Salve to heal his Wound though deceitfully and found Mortar to daub up the Breach though it be untempered his Conscience being darkened and his Heart deceived he will plead Conscience for the Use of the same and sets them up as the only Remedies to be found c. So natural is it for degenerate Man to worship the Works of his own hands and to follow the Inventions Conceiveings Thoughts Imaginations of his own corrupt Heart yet calls it the Way of the Lord and if any of his Neighbours or Brethren come to hear and obey the Voice of God and to follow the Light and Guidance of his Spirit to find Acceptance with him and refuseth in a good Conscience to God to follow his direction The Cause of Cain's Anger against his Brother or the Wicked against the Righteous in this Age. and to make Use of his invented Means and to bow down and worship the Image he hath set up then Envy and Hatred ariseth and Violence breaks forth and Blood toucheth Blood even because such will not nor cannot for Conscience sake see say and do as he doth bow to his Image and Invention and worship as he doth though he finds not Acceptance of God nor the Light of his Countenance towards him in his Worship no more then Cain that Religious Murderer did whose Offering was the Fruit of that Ground that 's cursed which never did nor never will bring forth Fruit well-pleasing to God And it is from Mankind labouring in this Ground being driven out of the Paradise and Garden of God that all the Diversity of Opinions Notions The Rise of Opinions and the Cause of Cruelty and Persecution about them Conceivings Thoughts Imaginations and Contrvances Forms and Fashions of invented Worship upon the Face of the whole Earth springeth and ariseth and all the Envy Hatred Cruelty Bloodshed Compelling Forceing and Persecution about Fashions of Worship and Religion among all the Sects in Christendom ariseth from this Ground and all that are found in the Work thereof though they may pretend Conscience and Zeal to God and the Maintenance of the Gospel and the Good of Souls are of the Spirit of Cain the first Murderer about Religion and his Reward they will find measured into their own Bosoms from the Hand of God Now the divers Sects and formal Worshippers in Christendom are ready to stand up plead and contend for their Forms and Invention and Way and Manner of Worship also cry out for Liberty of Conscience in their Way and for the Practice of their Fashion in Worship and will also in their Infancy cry out against Persecution Every Selfish private narrow Spirit Sect and Opinion though in its Rise may pretend otherwise hath Persecution at the Bottom when they want only Number Power Strength to persecute themselves which when they attain unto and their Horns grow strong and get Crowns upon them they will and have been found doing the same Work as might be demonstrated at large but being obvious to the Observation of the Judicious and intending Brevity I forbear and indeed they can do no otherwise being of a private narrow self-conceited Spirit ignorant of the true Liberty of Conscience which Liberty stands not in this or that or the other invented Form or Fashion of Worship Conceiving or Opinion but in the Light Power of God which every particular Man and Woman upon the Face of all the whole Earth ought to know and experience enlightening and ruling in his Conscience and Conscience can never enjoy its true Liberty till it come into this Estate ☞ The Consciences of Men are generally weak darkened defiled corrupted vitiated and which is worst of all some who have lost the Day of their Visitation are seared as with an hot Iron and in this State have a Bond and Tye upon their Consciences which ought to be broken and cast off till which they are liable to make Conscience of such Things they ought not as might be instanced through all Sects both among Indians Turks Jews and Titular Christians and the Evils and Mischiefs that ensue from hence are very many Conscience in the State above ☞ is the great Troubler of the World of Mankind and the Evils that are brought forth and committed under the Notion Pretence and Seal of Conscience are Evils of the greatest Magnitude Now nothing under Heaven is able to rectifie the Conscience enlighten cleanse and purifie and redeem it into true Liberty but the Light and Power of God shining and operating in the Conscience as it did before Transgression entered What alone is able to bring Liberty of Conscience before Sin was committed and before Opinion Invention dark Thoughts and Imaginations sprung up this alone is able to purge and cleanse the Conscience from Darkness and dead Works and make it an undefiled Habitation for God again as it was in the Beginning this is the State wherein Liberty of Conscience is known and enjoyed even when Man comes to have his Conscience exercised in ☞ and ruled and governed by the Light Spirit and Power of God then man's Heart becomes his Throne and he sits and rules therein and that which usurped it is cast down and the Prince of the Air which got his rule and place there by Disobedience is cast out And all those that come not to know this brought to pass within themselves ☞ nor are not in the Way that leadeth thereto are but of a private selfish Opinion and Sect though as above while they are little and low and small in Number they may plead for Liberty of Conscience and cry against Persecution Force Imposition and Violence about Religion yet when their Opinion prevailes and the Horns thereof grow strong thereby they will push towards the East West North and South and will smite their fellow-Servants and as I have said before it can be no otherwise then so until man comes to know the universal Light and Spirit of God to shine rule in his Conscience ☞ establish it in perfect Liberty and Love to the whole Creation of God and to all the Works of his Hands and in Obedience to all his holy Commandments in this stands the perfect Liberty of Conscience Now for want of this the Titular Christians of all Sorts and Sects are so wedded to their private selfish Opinions Traditions Notions Conceptions Apprehensions Comprehensions Thoughts and Imaginations about Religion Church and Worship and matters relating to Conscience that they envy hate bite and devour one another about them One will persecute about his Mass Book and Sacrament of the Altar another about his Common Prayer-Book Maintenance and Church-Discipline another about his Directory another about his Church-Faith
and Agreement of the Assembly of Divines so called and about Bread and Wine and Water Dayes and Times and other outward Things They will quarrel with tear and devour one another and all like so many ravenous Beasts will prey upon the Sheep ☞ Ephraim against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim but both against Judith Every Sect in Christendim one against another devided like the Builderrs of Babel yet all against the tender meek harmless Lamb like Spirit of Jesus in whomsoever it appears that in all Ages since the Fall and Apostacy grew up as a Lilly among Thornes prik'd on every Side A Thorn may hurt a Lilly but a Lilly cannot hurt a Thorn as a Lamb among wolves which though hurt and prey'd upon wants the very Nature Capacity of hurting again or rendring Evil for Evil even as an outward Lilly doth a Thorn or a Lamb a Wolf So that this is an infallible Sign and Token both of the one and the other ☞ of him whose Conscience is at Liberty to serve the Lord and loves his whole Creation and is at Unity and Peace therewith and of him who hath his Conscience bound under a private Opinion corrupted and defiled with Envy Hatred and Evil-Will against his Brother and Neighbour about Matters of Sacrifice Religion Faith and Worship And whoever thou art and of what Opinion soever thou art hereby thou mayst measure and try thy self and find of what Generation and Stock thou art of whether of the righteous or the wicked whether thou art a Lilly or a Thorn a Lamb or a Wolf and whether thy Conscience be at Liberty or bound If thou find a Mind Will or Inclination in thee An 〈◊〉 Signe where Conscience 〈…〉 Liberty to Envy Hate Persecute lay violent Hands like Cain upon thy Brother and Neighbour thou mayst assure thy self and infallibly know that thy Conscience is degenerated defiled and that thou art born of the Flesh and that thou art a Thorn and no Lilly a Wolf and no Lamb And this Flesh thou art born of is the Flesh of the Whore the false Church which hath drunk the Blood of the Saints and Martyrs in all Ages and this Whore thy Mother hath not only nursed thee up but made thee drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and thou art a Citizen of Mystery Babylon the great and a Stranger to the beloved City of God and a hater of those that dwell therein notwithstanding thou mayst have a golden cup of Profession which thy Mother holds forth to the Nations yet thy Conscience is defiled and thy Heart corrupted and so far darkened and captivated under Bondage strong Delusion that notwithstanding thou appearest like a Thorn A perfect Sign of one that is made drunk with the Wine of Fornication and in the Nature of a Wolf hurting the Lilly and worrying the Lamb yet thou thinks thou art doing God good Service therein being made so drunk with the Whore's Cup and blinded in thy superstitious Zeal that thou takes the Lilly for a Thorn and the Lamb for a Wolf and the Whore thy Mother for the Lamb's Wife And now this is an infallible Sign where Liberty of Conscience is enjoyed where the Light Love and Power of God rules in the Conscience such if his Brother or Neighbour hath his Conscience in Bondage A true infallible Sign where Liberty of Conscienc is enjoyed or is weak being vailed and darkned so far as to believe a Lye and to make Conscience of doing that which he ought not to do whether it be to worship as the Mass-Book prescribes or as the Common Prayer-Book Directory Church-Faith Assembly of Divines so called or as any other invented Platform of Religion Commands I say he that hath his Conscience truely enlightened ☞ and is a Christian indeed doth not hate and envy his Brother or Neighbour therefore neither hath he any evil Will towards him in this Estate and hath no more inclination to put forth his Hand against his Person Life Liberty or Estate because of his Conscientious Errors and Religious Practices then he hath against his own Life but instead thereof in the universal Love of God finds it his Duty to pitty such in his Heart and having obtained Liberty of Conscience himself and found the universal Medicine which if applied is able to cure all sick and feeble Minds wounded Spirits weak and distempered Consciences he is willing and ready to tell his Brother and Neighbour what the Lord hath done for his Soul and how and where he came to find the precious Pearl and to inform and instruct them how they may find the same and exhort and perswade them to receive and make use and tryal of the same Medicine that hath cured him though for this his Love and good Will he meets with much Exercise and Hardship from the ill-natured and Ignorant and much Opposition and Scorn from the selfish-wise and prudent this was the Portion of the righteous and Ministers of the everlasting Gospel from the ungrateful World in all Ages * who were constrained in the Love of God to run to and fro among them The Work and End of the true Ministry that Knowledge might be enereased and to warn Men to flee from the Wrath which is to come and knowing the Terrors of the Lord perswaded Men to be reconciled to God Thus they did and do in Obedience to him and Love to their Souls and not for Gold and Silver and selfish Ends but to discharge their Consciences in the Sight of God this hath been the Labour of Love and Travail of the righteous in all Ages who come to have their Consciences made tender and truly enlightened cleansed purified and set at Lberty from all that did defile them they never persecuted hated hurt or destroyed any about Matters of Conscience and Religion though erronious in their Opinions and superstitious in their Practices ☞ neither ought any to be troubled vexed and ruined in their Persons Liberties Lives and Estates because of those Things especially when their Opinions tend not to the Ruin Hurt and Destruction of Mankind and his outward well being and humane Society ☞ But some such Opinions there are which indeed are as Monsters in Nature destroying natural Affection Violating the Bounds of Humanity under the Cloak and Pretence of Religion and Christianity and some are so far besotted in their Opinions that they will plead Conscience for the Prosecution of them though thereby they lay waste the Property Life and Liberty of Persons that are of a contrary or different mind and Judgment to them though better livers then themselves Now the End of all good Order and Government among Men The End of Magistracy true Government is to preserve and defend their Properties Liberties and Lives from the Teeth and Mouthes of such as would spoil and rob them of either And among all the Beasts of prey this blind Zeal misguided
Fruit of Mankind hating the Light and running and walking and working in Darkness leads Men to hate * envy and persecute one another about them And all these Things come to pass amongst Mankind for want of believing in the Light Grace Spirit and Power of God that shines appears and operates in the Mind Heart and Conscience of Mankind according to the State it finds him in either to reprove or commend justifie or condemn which Light Grace and Spirit is one and leads all that obey it and follow it into Oneness of Mind Oneness of Heart and into the One standing and everlasting Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth where Acceptance is felt and the Light of God's Countenance enjoyed the Partition-Wall broken down and the Enmity slain and the Serpent's Head bruised within by the springing up of the promised Seed and powerful Appearance of Christ within who leadeth into that blessed Love and Charity which never faileth which thinketh no Evil where the rejoycing is not in Iniquity but in the Truth And whoever thou art that readest these Things and art not come to witness within thy self the virtuous Efficacy of the Power Life and Blood of Jesus to cleanse purge and purifie thy Mind Heart and Conscience from all that doth defile and set them at perfect Liberty to serve the Lord and to lead thee into the heavenly City where the Book of Life is kept and to see thy Name written therein and also his Name imprinted in thy Forehead bearing his heavenly Image as thou hast born the earthly I say except thou knowest these Things wrought by the Spirit and Power of God in thee and for thee thy Mind Heart and Conscience remains defil'd and under Bondage to thine own Inventions private Opinions and Notions and he that is called the Prince of the Air rules in thy heart and thou art captivated and carried away with the windy Doctrines Rudimens and carnal Ordinances and Traditions of men and art tasting touching and handling those Things which perish with the using and art prone liable to bite tear murder and devour thy Brother and Neighbour about them so art as a whited Wall and painted Sepulchre and professing Hypocrite and Titular Christian a direct Phanatick and Sectarian and art like Cain a Fugitive in the Earth which God hath cursed that brings forth Bryars and Thorns which tear the Sheep and hurt the Lilly this is thy State and Condition let thy Talk Profession Notion Opinion Form and Fashion of Religion be what it will and whether thou art a Jew Mahometan Papist or Protestant while thy Mind Heart and Conscience is defiled darkened captivated and bound under with the Chains of Opinion Tradition and Precepts of men thou canst not enjoy Liberty of Conscience thy self nor suffer others and if thou compassest Sea and Land to make Proselytes to thy Opinion and Tradition and hast Power to force and compel an Outward Conformity to the same thou makest them two fold more the Children of Hell then before Force Cruelty and Violence may make Hypocrites and Formalists but No True Worshippers of God in the Spirit nor Christians indeed Finally to Force and Compel by Corporal Punishments in Matters of Conscience and Religion is infallibly contrary to and inconsistent with the very Nature of true Religion and Being of Christianity And among whomsoever it s found and practised 't is an evident Demonstration that the Pure Religion they are ignorant of and Strangers to and such are only Christians in Name and Opinion and of a dark narrow private self-conceited spirit priding it self with it own Notions and lofty Imaginations grounded upon the Education and Tradition received from his Fore-Fathers and the carnal Comprehensions and Conceivings of his own corrupt Heart from the ancient Writings of Holy Men hence it is that every Sect and Opinionist like so many Beasts with Horns push one against another hate bite tear and devour one another each endeavouring to sit down as a Queen in the Seat of the Scornful exercising themselves in things that are too high Imperiously measuring trying and judging his Brother and Neighbour who differs from him by his selfish carnal dark exalted spirit who passeth under and assumes the Name of a Sheep though in Nature and Work he be a Wolf and if this Beast of Prey hath Horns and Claws strong enough to make Spoil according to its Nature it would hardly leave the Bones till the morrow This is the Generation whose Teeth are as Swords Proverbs 30 14. and their Jaw-Teeth as Knives to devour the Poor from off the Earth and the Needy from among men this is the Generation also who are pure in their own Eyes yet are not washed from their Filthiness but is as a polluted Leper full of Sores from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot From this Generation ariseth the Cry and Violence against the Innocent as Hereticks and Blasphemers haling them before Magistrates and hurrying them to Goals Inquisitions Gallowses and Fire tearing the Flesh from the Bones and the Lise from the Body about Matters of Religion Church Faith Worship and Conscience all which is infallibly the Fruit and Effect of that Spirit of Cain that Envious Sacrifices that can Worship with one Hand and Murder with the other call God Father and with the same Tongue call Christ Jesus a Blasphemer Deceiver and Child of the Devil and lay their Wicked Hands upon him as an Evil-doer not fit to live this is and hath been the Work of all the Private Carnal Dark Self-conceited Opinionsts in Christendom who are all Members of the False Church and of the Great City Mystery Babylon whose Citizens are all of defiled Minds corrupt Heares and darkened misguided if not seared Consciences And none of this Work hath been nor never will be found in the true Church nor among the Citizens of the heavenly Ferusalem whose Defence and Weapons never was nor will be Carnal but Spiritual and Mighty through God to the breaking and casting down every thing that exalteth it self against the Prosperity thereof whose Warfare was never against mens Bodies Lives nor Estates to destroy the One and possess the Other neither do the Thoughts thereof enter into the Heart of a True Christian to Hurt his Brother or Neighbour because of Difference in Religion and Understanding of things relating thereto Yet the True Church hath its Way and Means of Defence and every living Member thereof is in its Place and Capacity engaged and bound by the Law of the Spirit of Life and in the Universal Love of God ☞ to be watchful and diligent against the creeping in of Selfish Private Opinions and the broaching of Damnable Doctrines or the growing up of any hurtful Weeds in the Garden of God but as I have said this Defence is spiritual viz. the Light Power and Spirit of God revealed in the Inward Parts this Church puts on the whole Armour of Light the