and ignorance in his own wisdom may esteem that to be a Temptation which doth condemn and that out of Temptation all such who are tempted may be led and kept by that which doth condemn which is the pure Light of Christ which doth judge and condemn the Temptations and the Sin and the Transgressor who enters into it and every Evil motion which is apt to arise in the mind that is darkned and blinded by the God of the World which mind from the Darkness to the Light is to be turned in the Light to believe as he hath said I am the Light believe in the Light and it is a Temptation which hinders man from believing in the Light and all such keep not the Commands of Christ who do not believe and obey the Light and such profess his Words but deny that in which the power of his Life doth stand And it is a Temptation which causeth man to deny and refuse the Law which is Light and not come under nor receive the Ministration of Condemnation supposing he is under Grace and so not to come back to the Law because he hath gotten a Profession of Christ whose day Abraham saw whose seed came through the Law of whom Christ came who fulfills the Law and maketh an end of sin who was in the Church in the Wilderness and in his pity saved them and bare them all the dayes of old leading the humble seed that through the Wilderness of sin it might come and at last enjoy that by which the sin is done away forever And it is a Temptation which causeth man to call that a Temptation which in the Conscience doth sometimes arise and let men see that he by his sin is in the Fall the Death and the Curse and that the Judgments of God belong to him and that he cannot escape the fierce Wrath of the Almighty living in that by which sin is daily committed and the Righteous Law of God transgressed and himself out of the Covenant of Life wanting the power of God to bear him up out of Iniquity so that he labours and prays and crys sometimes with Tears like Esau to keep that alive in the Transgression which God hath appointed to destruction Consider this And strives against that which lettetâ— see the emptiness thereof and condemns afterwards if a false joy doth not arise secretly to glory in what was done whereby that was satisfied and got ease which the Judgment was to which of the Judgment was afraid and from under it led forth to perform a Will worship from the ground where Cain's nature bears rule who can bring a sacrifice but the deeds with the Light seen to be evil who at last murthers the just and the sin lying at the door which secret sin cannot be hid from the Light in any that commit it or in whom it is though never so secret And it is a Temptation which worketh in the dark corners of the heart in the time when Condemnation cometh to drive man to despair by reason of the fierceness of the Judgment and drives him from God and his Righteous Judgments into Unbelief and Hardness of Heart against God and herein the Tempter prevails over many some whereof then go to destroy themselves not keeping in patience under the Judgment which was to destroy the sin for Christ the Light comes to condemn and destroy the sin but the Life he comes to save Others through Unbelief have hardned their hearts in sin their minds being in that in which they cannot believe That ever they shall overcome sin nor be saved from it and such grow worse than before and use all means in vain lustful Delights to murther that in them which checks reproves and condemns them for sin and many here turn aside from under the Condemnation many and various ways some who are blind calling it Melancholly so that few endure to the end and enter through the strait Gate by the Death through it the Life to find not waiting with long forbearance out of that which hasteth in patience in the Light to see feel and know the seed of Abraham brought forth of the barren Womb which against hope in hope believe And these Temptations lead further into sin and is not that which condemns for sin for that would keep out of sin though its Judgments be never so heavy upon man for sin And being that God is known in the ways of his Judgments and that they who are to receive the Promise must keep Judgment and that with Judgment Sion's Redemption is to be witnessed and when Judgment begins to be set up in the heart to judge condemn confound overturn and cut down the Head Body and Root of all that which by the Light is seen to be in the Transgression having the form of Godliness but not the Power which keepeth out of and free from all sin which the Judgment is to pass upon Therefore is that a Temptation which then draweth forth the mind from under the Judgment to get ease by a supposed Peace with God from the Comprehension of something done without afar off or long ago and so climb up another way then by the Light within which I know is the door which condemns and bringeth to Judgment the hidden things of Darkness and brings fire and sword upon the Earth and sendeth not Peace to it but setteth two at variance within whereby there is much striving in the Womb and not rest day nor night because of the War between the two seeds out of which trouble being led by that which in the Judgment could not stand so that getteh ease again and then man preached peace unto himself having got out of some trouble he then striveth more strongly to keep out of it then he did before and labours much to comprehend a resting-place to abide in though that be not redeemed with Judgment out of Bondage which thereby should come to obtain rest and peace for evermore And being that the Law and the Prophets together are until John and that the Law is to judge and cut down that which is above the seed exalted and that the Prophecies and Openings from the Testimony of Witness is to uphold and preserve under the Judgment whereby some secret hopes or refreshings come unto that which at last out of Bondage shall be redeemed therefore it is a Temptation which leadeth forth on that hand in a Joy through the reason with great swelling Imaginations in the vain light Mind out of the fear of God not standing in his Counsel but like the rest of the false Prophets coming to true Openings from it run forth before that through judgment be brought forth which should go before and lead them in God's Wisdom and Counsel to stand and such speak great swelling words in a secret pride boasting of their Experiences but are become the untimely Children of the Mother of Harlots who with their Mother must be turned back into the Bed of Torments And
midst and hath rent the Vail and from under Death is risen in his unlimited Power Dominion and Authority even him that Death nor the Grave cannot hold who through Death hath conquered Death forever and though Death had Power over him before the Way into the Holiest of all was made manifest yet now Death hath no more dominion over him but he is risen through Death who was made a Curse and hath born away the Curse and removed the cursed ground upon which fallen man stood and hath born away the sin of the World and was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God through in and by him who hath opened the Understanding whereby the unsearchable Riches of unspeakable love comes to be made manifest even unto us who were going astray and were Children of Wrath as well as others and Aliens and Strangers to the Covenant of Grace and long were without God and in the World tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine after the cunning Craftiness of men whereby we were long deceived even by such who still bewitcht the Minds of the simple out of which Witchcraft I can say the Lord hath delivered and obedience to the Truth that makes Free is yeilded and Love Mercy and Judgment is come and brought forth and Victory is witnessed the Messenger of the everlasting Covenant is come even he that we long waited for and we do not look for another but he that is the same yesterday to day and forever who was to come and is come and is to come he that readeth let him understand who is without beginning of time or end of dayes who is made under the Law and became as a Servant being obedient to the Death through which the Life is risen up into the understanding and hath born away that which the Law had power over and hath brought in that by which the Law is fulfilled and so he that is the end of the Law for Righteousness is felt and received who taketh away the Sin and reconcileth the World up unto the Father where the sin is taken away by him who though he was made sin yet knew no sin who appears now the second time without sin to the saving of that which was lost which is now brought again and plenteous Redemption is known for the desire of all Nations is come and the second Houses is filled with his Glory the Wine-press is full the Fat 's overflow for the VVinter is past and the Summer is come and the Lillics appear in the Field where the Pearl was hid the Fig-tree puts forth her buds and the Vine yeilds her encrease the Olive doth blossom and the Apple-Tree in the midst of the VVood doth flourish and the good ground yeilds her encrease and is fruitful in its season to the good Husbandman and there is seed to the sower and bread to the eater the Barns are filled with abundance and the Store-houses with plenty and Treasure is laid up for many years in the heavenly places which are purified with the lively sacrifices so that the earthen Vessels are fitted to keep the heavenly Manna that shall dure throughout many generations and so against the Famine comes upon the Earth and all them that feed at Jezabels Table Oyle is laid up in safety and the finest of the Flower in a place where it is sure where it will last and never fail until the Heathen are scorched with heat and they that have forsaken the Lord are become as a parched Heath and all the gods of the Heathen famished and the Tongue of the Aegyptian Sea dryed up and all the false Prophets overturned who belong to Jezabel whose Body the Dogs must tear though she yet sits as a Qeen in opposition to the true Prophet Christ the Light and until them who are drunk with the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore and are the Merchants of Mystery Babylon the great the Mother of all the painted Harlots be all condemned in one day with an utter overthrow and the Seat of the Whore removed and all them that commit Fornication with her made as the Valley of Hammon Gog and as the Dung upon face of the Earth and all the Brats of the VVhore dashed against the Stones until then I say shall that in store remain and a Hiding-place be found for the Prophet of the Lord who is also hid near thee in thy own Land though thou art seeking him afar off Wherefore hear O ye Kindreds of the Earth for as the Dew spread upon the Mountains so doth the Streams of my Beloved raise overspreading the Earth with the comliness of his Love and filling it with the Beauty of his Grace the Banner of his Love is spreading forth as a Curtain and under the shadow of his Wings is a certain Hiding-place both from the Storm and from the Heat and though the Sea rage and all Kindreds and Tongues swell up in Wrath Pride and Arrogancy yet he come known witnessed and received who commands both the VVirds and the Sea who is the former of all things by whom they all were made and at his Command all are subdued and the lightnings of his Light enlightens the VVorld Psal 97. 4. and the Glory of his Power is spreading over the Nations and the excellency of his Beauty is reaching to his Lambs and because of his Comliness the Virgins love him and to him the Daughters of Jerusalem bring their Gifts and before him the Princes of the People lay down their Crowns and because of him the VVilderness doth rejoyce and the Desolate is made glad for the fruitful Land was become a barren VVilderness and now the baren VVilderness is turned into a fruitful Field and the plant sprung out of a dry Ground and the Seed is born of the barren VVomb and there is a VVay made in the VVilderness and streams are given in the Desart and the Ear of the deaf is opened the Lame doth walk and the Leaper is cleansed and the stammering Tongues speak plainly the Gospel is received and the everlasting Power is come even the Immanuel God with us and in us and we confess Christ come in the Flesh and do not look for another but do know that this is the great Prophet who is come into the VVorld that is set in the Heart Ecclcs 3. 11. which is in the midst out of which Moses said the Lord would raise up a Prophet Deut. 18. 15. the which Prophet being come which all are to hear he saith I am come a Light into the World John 8. 12. ch 12. 35 36 46. The VVorld being set in the Heart there is the light of him who saith I am the Light and he that is the Light is the true Prophet and the true Prophet is in the midst who is the Light whose day Abraham saw unto whom the Gospel was preached which Gospel is Gods Power whereby Abraham rejoyced because he came to see the Day
forth my hand towards the weak and utter my voice to the Prisoner of Hope and shew unto the meek in the Earth how the invisible God hath led his seed and is leading his Remnant through and out of the Variety of things unto the one thing it self from whence the various Things Gifts and Ministrations do come Now that which is chiefly in my heart to write for the Seeds sake is First Something concerning the Ministration of Moses when he was upon Earth Secondly Concerning the Ministration of Christ whilst he was upon Earth Thirdly and chiefly Concerning the Ministration of the Spirit First Concerning Moses's Ministration when he was upon Earth which was to last till Shiloh came or until the time of Reformation AS concerning Moses Ministration to wit the Law Condemnation or Death with the Priests Offering and worldly Sanctuary and an outward Tabernacle and daily Offerings for Sin and Store-houses for the Levites Strangers Fatherless and Widdows having the Ark of the Testimony within the vail and the Mercy seat covered and the Golden-pot and the People to seek the Law at the Priests Mouth whereby their knowledge is preserved and many profit much thereby and come day by day and year by year unto that which they esteem a place of holy Worship and Ordinances of God And notwithstanding the Priests of Moses Law were made by the Law of God yet that Priesthood changeth and the Law changeth and the very glory of all this passeth away for this did once seem glorious unto me and many more which only discovered sin though it made nothing perfect and with much delight was the reading of the Law and the Prophets hearkened unto and the daily confession of sin but the vail is over the heart whilst Moses is Preached and Sacrifices Morning and Evening with the long Prayers which the comers thereunto were not at all thereby made Perfect as pertaining to the Conscience though it had a shaddow of good things to come yet the glory thereof comes to be done away then how much more will the very glory of the most glorious Appearance of that Ministry perish and be done away which cometh short of this and hath not so much as the Image of this which was as a shaddow O weak and beggarly things that are found among those Priests now and their followers who come short of Moses Ministry for he directed them to Christ the substance and so his Ministration comes to be done away as Christ comes to be received for Moses did not seek to uphold his Priests or Law or Tythes or any thing else when Christ should come who is the end of the Law but did write of him and not withstanding his Ministry and Priests he said He that would not hearken unto him should be cut off and said The Lord will raise up Mark the words raise up The Lord shall raise up a Prophet and when the Prophet was come he said I am the Light and I am meek and low in Heart and this is to be raised up which is meek for to them that sate in darkness Light hath sprung up and the Soul that hearkneth not to the Prophet which springs up shall be cut off for Truth springeth up out of the Earth and Christ is the Truth and he said I am the Light which is the Horn of Salvation that God raiseth up to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and is the Salvation of Israel and so the soul is to hearken to that which God raiseth up and that is it which condemneth sin under it who is like unto Moses whose Ministry discovers sin and so Moses directed unto Christ who puts away the sin and Paul said of the glory of Moses Ministration That it was no Glory in respect of the Glory of the Ministration of the Spirit and the glorious Ministry of the Spirit was received after he who had a Body prepared had suffered the Crucifying of his body and the Prophets searched diligently to see the glory that was to be after the sufferings of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. But the thing intended That Moses when he was upon Earth directed unto Christ and gave commandment That they should hearken unto him who said I am the Light and this is one Tittle of the Law that the Light be hearkned unto who is the end of the Law and the substance and he that offendeth herein is guilty of all and this is that in which all the large Ministrations of Moses is included that Christ the Light the true Prophet be hearkned unto and obeyed that by hearing and obeying his Voice or the Word in the Heart they might come from under the Law and the Priests and that which waxeth old unto the Life and Obedience of him who abides a Priest forever even the Lord of that glory which lasteth for evemore Secondly Concerning Christ and his Ministration when he was upon Earth and his work which he finished ANd when he cometh which Moses commandeth to hearken unto even Christ the true Prophet the Light of the World the living Minister the end of the Law who had a Body prepared to do the will of the Father which was in him the Man Christ Jesus he saith follow me and he took up his Cross and passed through the Death and the Vail and so being made Perfect through sufferings attained that Glory which he had with the Father before he had a Body which Body was prepared to do the Fathers will whose will was That all men should be saved therefore Christ tasted death for every man and rose again for the Justification of those that believe in him who said I am the Light and is sate down at the right hand of God who is a Spirit eternally in the Heavens ascended up out of the sight of them which gazed after that Body which is gone out of their sight even he Christ the Ministry hid from Ages and Generations now made manifest to destroy the works of the Devil being meek and low in the Heart he saith Learn of me Then not the of Priests nor any longer of Moses for the Law is the Schoolmaster to Christ who being come calleth one from the Custom another from going to bury the Dead another from questoning and reasoning what this man or another should do that he might not stand looking out at others but himself to follow the Light saying follow thou me And those that followed him when he was upon Earth saw his Miracles and heard his Parables and eat of the outward Bread and were filled though many now eat and are not filled and they had his body among them and they came to the Baptism and the Supper but Christ himself Baptized not and when he was upon Earth he said I go to the Father and I go to prepare a place for you and he said whither I go ye know and he said before follow me and except a man deny himself and take up his Cross and follow
not standing in the Cross to your wills in Obedience to the Light to receive the Judgment due to that ground from whence Transgression ariseth whereby the Enmity might be â—â—ain the love of the World rooted out and that ruled over with the perfect Law of God which was not subject to it that the Law of the Spirit of Life your minds might be alwayes exercised in thereby to be made free from the Law of sin and death that sin might not reign in your mortal Bodies but that through the power of the Cross of him who is the Light the sinful Lusts of the flesh might be mortified and you led by the Light through the Law by it to have the Transgression thereof to you in every Particular discovered that every one might deny and stand out of that which leads into the Transgression thereof seeing with the Light that not one jot nor tittle thereof shallpass till all be fulfiled and the Righteousness thereof is to be fulfilled in you by your humble and faithful following of him that worketh in us who cannot transgress the Law who being made as a Servant under the Law to him you are all to come and see the Law stand in force over every one that doth transgress which Law is addedbecause of sin and that which saveth the Soul doth not make it void nor mittigate the power thereof against any one that sins wilfully after the knowledge of the Truth received but upon such the Wrath of God abideth which is ministred forth through the Law with Tribulation Anguish and Wo upon every Soul that doth Evil so Trouble Torment and Vexation of Spirit cometh upon such who turn aside from the simplicity of the Gospel and let the spirit of the world reign over them not being faithful in the little which from God they had received by the powerful ministry of his living Truth that the smallest of all seeds in them might spring with obedience through the whole body of the Earth under which it lieth and by it in many is oppressed and such in whom it is so are in many Doubts and Reasonings from that ground out of which Unbelief doth arise And then the Mind being from the Light a hardness comes in and the Rebellious take entrance and so that which is worse than before gets strength which being joyned unto leads in a secret deformity farther from the Witness then ever so that then the good Savour comes to be lost and the Understanding darkned not knowing the true motion and often a carcless Spirit gets head and such are from the true Love and suffering Seed in themselves and so not joyned in the Covenant of Love and Peace with them that abide therein the which they sceing a discontent ariseth therein in the mind so did Cain he murmured at the other but the Fault was in himself for Sin lay at the Door and it is Sin to transgress against that which is Perfect and the Light is the perfect gift of God and his Gifts are Perfect and in the Light there is no Evil and the Light is to lead out of that which is Imperfect they that err from the Light are in the strife and fleshly will And the other Eye seeks for evil and then that kindles a Fire in the Bowels and eats as a Worm and so drowns that from whence true Love should arise as deep as the depth of the Sea and nothing but raging Waves over it sometimes ready to vent forth its own shame and discover the nakedness of it self and others which begets its Image in the minds of them that regard it so as to come under it or let it have entrance in them And where these things are there is little increase within or without but Truth suffers and the World takes advantage and the Weak stumble for whom Christ dyed and the Lambs hurt and their dear Life grieved And so these things are far from answering the dear and tender Call and Visitation of the Lord and then if not faithful in little when can such come to rule or how can they receive the blessing of God being joyned to that which he hath cursed What shall I say to such or with what Words shall I find entrance in them Surely if I had not a Word to write I would mourn in secret for them Oh fruitless Trees dry Branches foolish Virgins unprofitable Servants take heed lest the Lord spue you out of his Mouth What should the Lord do for you that he hath not done My Bowels within me are troubled for you and I even mourn under the burthen of your Iniquities How is it that you delight in other Lovers and what is it in you that keeps you from the power of Truth How long shall the Lord stretâ—h forth his Hand to them that rebel against the Light And how often have you grieved the Spirit of the Lord And why is it that he is provoked to Jealousie every day Will not the Lord visit for these things And can the Wicked go unpanished Turn ye now therefore O ye Rebellious and let the Double-minded fear and tremble before the God of Power for no Peace have I to preach for the Wicked nor Pearls for the Swine in which the Unclean is entred Let your Hearts now therefore be opened and let Judgment come upon that which is above the Seed and sink down into the House of Mourning that the Prisoner may hear my Voice And now you that are honest tender faithful willing and obedient dear is my Love unto you the Lord God eternal preserve you dear Babes and give you up your Lives and praise his endless rich love who hath called you to come out of the World My dear Friends let my Fathers love arise in you even the same which I now feel towards you and let me come near unto you in the power of my Fathers love that you may feel my Life and partake with me of the hidden Treasure that your Hearts may be open to me again from the feeling of the Power of the covenant of Life that in him I may salute you who is at the Fathers Right Hand For unto you O ye Children of the Light is my Heart enlarged and toward you doth the Power of my Life arise from the streams of unlimitted Love which from all the World is hid and reserved in the Bosom of the Father for the meek and tender Lambs for whom the Milk is prepared and to whom the Bread is to be given and the sure Waters that never shall fail Let the Light arise in you my dear Ones that with it your Hearts may be opened one to another that you may know that the Lord is a God of Power and near at hand unto the Humble that in his Love you may be kept and by his Power be defended and so from strength to strength in his fear to walk and to come at last to be a People saved from Death and redeemed from the
Whose Soul is lost from bliss Oh praise him all ye Saints Who feel his vertue near Vnto him still give thanks Who is our Father dear Let wicked men lament Let all Vngodly howl Too late shall some repent When down his Judgments rowle When Babel's turn'd in t ' Lake When the Beast is thither thrown When Drunkards reel and shake When Wrath is poured down When Vengeance much w th might Is pour'd on the Whore And all secret Deceit Destroy'd forever more Then Sion shall be glad Then God shall honoured be Then Praises shall be had Then Worship shall be free Then Comfort shall abound In all true mourning Lambs And Gospel free shall sound Throughout all Nation Lands The time hereof's at hand The Captives shall be free Gods Seed in every Land By him shall gathered be Let Friends rejoyce in fear Let fear in love abound Let Thousands more draw near For we the Pearl have found Let all in Patience dwell And in the Lord still trust That we in Love excell In which with you I rest As I walking alone in my close Prison at Winchester upon the 24th of the 5th Moneth 1662. in much Quietness Meekness and inward Refreshings by the rising vertue of Gods refreshing Love these Lines began to run gently through me with Melody in my Heart to the Lord and when I was free in my self to write it departed not from me but came so easie and so fast as I could well write whereby in a very little part of the said day this was begun and finished with my own Hand Yet would I not have it looked upon to be a great thing nor a pattern or example for others to run into the like For since I came into the Life and Obedience of Truth I durst not write any thing thus in Verse until this day and time neither was there the least thought in me thus to write until the very instant For writing in Meeter is apt to beget a lightness in some Readers and make way for too much or a wrong Liberty in others to do the like but not in the true fear which is the continual Refuge of Humphry Smith Hidden things made manifest by the Light In a plain Distinction between Condemnation Temptation Wherein is shewed How the Righteous Law of God is ministred upon the Transgressor and how it is to be by all received as a Schoolmaster to come to Christ by him to have the sin done away forever Also of Temptation what it is and how it may be known discerned from Condemnation With a Direction to them who profess the knowledge of Truth and live not in the power of God Concerning the Ministration of Condemnation THe World being set in man's Heart and Sin being in the World before the Promise was made which Promise was before the Law by which the Sin is discovered which Sin was in the World before the Promise yet the Promise was before the Law and yet until the Law comes Death reigns over that to which the Promise is and Sin separateth man from God the which is not clearly seen until the Commandment which is Light is come the Ministration whereof is Condemnation unto Man being found in the Transgression the which Ministration of Condemnation is to pass over all having sinned and when this cometh it finds man in the Death and by it is sin revived whereby man comes to see a Body of Sin which stands between him and God so that he is afraid of the dreadful Power of God ministred forth through the Law to slay him that hath transgressed the which some coming to see or in the least measure to feel call it a Temptation because it maketh him sensible that Condemnation belongeth to him and that all his Profession and building upon the Promise in that which the Promise was not unto and seeing that if he lie down to receive this Ministration that then all his Profession and Knowledge Zeal Wisdom and Prayers which did arise out of that ground which was cursed by reason of the sin that was in the World before either the Promise the Profession or the Law will be all ript up from him as filthy Rags and that his shame and nakedness must appear as it s written Every mouth shall be stopped and every one shall stand guilty before God and no Darkness no shadow of Death shall hide the workers of Iniquity from the mighty hand of God who brings to judgment the hidden things of Darkness and rips open the secrets of the Heart so that the most secret Sinâ— that ever were committed are clearly made manifest and justly charged upon the head of the Transgressor who stands in Enmity to God who will wound the head of the Transgressor and plead in Righteousness with him in whom the sin is found though not made manifest until the time that the Law is come by which it is discovered And this Ministration of Condemnation is not a Temptation though many call it so who being blind put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness for that which sheweth man his sin doth not tempt man to sin but rather brings man in fear that he may not sin for because of sin was the Law added and the Law was given after much of the Love Preservation Power Deliverances and the Wonders of the Lord had been seen and it was given in the Wilderness where sometime there was want of Bread and Water where was Serpents Scorpions and many Tryals where the figure of him who was to heal the wounded and take away the sting of death and save the Life of man was lifted up on high without them the which figure or outward bodily Appearance was prepared by Moses And Christ had a body prepared him both which the carnal Eye might see and the carnal Mind contend about even as the Devil about the body of Moses but the Substance of the Figure Christ the Light Gods power being not received within in the heart and so fin the transgression of the Law remains within and the figure or that which the natural Eye did or may see was and is looked upon without and that without doth not take away the sin within and these knew not the Ways of God who sinned and at last loathed the Manna calling it light bread in the Wilderness even there was the Law Ministred they whose eyes are open may read and understand And where the Law was given forth there was a Mount or a high place of the Earth which then trembled by reason of the dreadful Power of the Lord of Hosts and beneath or under the Mount was the Seed and Israel of God which was to keep the Law and Life Read within and understand and yet by reason of that which was hard upon the heart there was a crying out with Dread and Horror and Fear That the Lord might speak no more lest they dye and so that which is hard upon the heart in the which by the
to the Confounding of that which kept that in Bondage under the Transgression which was given into man before the Transgression was out of which Transgression there is no coming but by and through the Ministration of Condemnation which doth it discover in the ground of it through which there is a coming to receive the Gospel of Peace which is the Power of God not to be preached to the Wicked things under which the just do suffer which the Law is to but by the Lord of glory through the Light preached to the Spirit in Prison that it through the Condemnation of the other may grow up to lead and guide the Creature in all things in obedience to Gods will from a true sense of his Love in the heart whereby his whole Law comes to be fulfilled and the Promise and the Blessing received in him who is the end of the Law who is the Light given into man to let him see and to condemn the sin the which man being dead in and in Trespasses doth not love but is afraid of that which in secret judgeth and reproveth him from the which man flying forsaketh that by which he should come to receive the Mercies of the Lord but Wo to them forever who strive with their Maker and call him Belzâ—bub who is the Light in the Heart and should be Master in the House Therefore let all take heed of despising the Law which is written with the singer of God in the heart whilst it is yet hard sor the Law of God is perfect making wise the simple and the Ministration thereof is to destroy that which did it Transgress and lead unto him by whom the Transgression is finished And this is not a Temptation but a Dispensation of Gods Justice Through his Righteous Law upon that which sinned over which the Law hath Power so long as that liveth which the Law is to kill that through the death of it that might come again to live which was before the Law and before the death and before the sin And now when the Law or Ministration of Condemnation cometh man is to stand still and wait quietly under it and not let any thing break through in a haste to rage or gaze and wonder at that which is so dreadful that man is not able to stand under it without unspeakable Astonishment because of that which then is over him who then is commanded not to break through lest he dye for the Law is to break through that which cannot keep it and make way to that which is to keep it and live forever but man is not to break through from under the Condemnation to that where the Law is ministred until that is received by which the Law may be kept for such who in the Condemnation do abide come at last to see and receive him that is made under the Law and is the end of it and taketh away the sin but such who come to the Law and break out from under the judgment before the Lord had broke through and cut down all that in them which could not keep it such have let in Death again to reign over that which with judgment should have been redeemed to bear away that which the Law had power over and arise up with that Power Love Life and Obedience to God as in all things to fulfill the whole Law of God which until then doth still stand in force over that and them in which sin remaineth which doth transgress the Law one tittle whereof shall not perish till all be fulfilled though some coming to the Law have broke forth and then healed the Wound slightly supposing it would serve their turns to talk of the fulfilling of it by and in another for them and without them seeing themselves not able to keep it in all things not waiting to the end of the Law by it to have all that destroyed which could not keep it and receive that which cannot break it Mark and in it keep by it to be led out of the Wilderness of sin in the promised Land to rest in it to have the dayes prolonged and the life preserved for Christ the Light cometh to save the Life And there are many that are now come to peace dominion and the land of Rest who did once come to know the judgments of God upon Cain's nature which then cryed out That his punishment was too heavy to bear and have also come to see the Beast whose head is full of the Names of Blasphemy and yet have they not started aside like a broken Bow from under the judgment neither suffered the Enemy to prevail over them by Temptations to curse God and dye nor to call him Belzebub who is the Light which condemns and should be Master in the house neither have they dispised Moses Law which is the Ministration of Condemnation and in its time is glorious but in patience and long-suffering under it have waited and that without murmuring or suffering that to break forth in rage which Gods judgments are to neither have they suffered Unbelief to prevail over them but in love to him who was made a Curse in patience have endured all these things and have been made as free to drink the Cup of Astonishment with the Dregs thereof as the Lord was to pour it forth unto them who now drink the Cup of Salvation even the Blood of the Lamb which cleanseth from all sin whose life saveth them from the Terror of the Pit who have come to feel the seed born and brought forth though with Pangs and Sorrow which the blessing is to Those may see hear and understand what I write who are come to know how the Law is handed forth by a Mediator who was before the Law and the Righteousness of God manifest without the law and sin discovered by the Law and Gods Righteousness revealed by that which was before the Law and that notwithstanding the Law must be received yet by the works thereof no flesh shall be justified but by obedience of Faith towards God in the Blood of his Son by which all that is done away which trangress'd the Law and so not of Works nor of Merits but of Faith and Love is the Law fulfilled Concerning Temptation And that those who were born blind and have been ever since covered with the blackness of Darkness through their own Wisdom being dead in Trespasses and Sins not feeling nor savouring the things of God but remain in that Religion and Profession which crucisied his Son who is a man of Sorrows and called him A Blasphemer who is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World and said he had a Devil who came to condemn sin in the flesh whose Light in every Conscience is the Condemnation so long as the Evil deeds remain the which Condemnation is not a Temptation for God who is Light tempteth no man to Evil. Therefore in love is this written that no man through blindness
being the Lord God of Life hath given his Son a Light in the Heart that man might be led taught and guided by him out of sin and giveth power to all them that love follow and obey him to overcome their sin whose light being in Man a free gift from God and that by no other Name Way or Means man can ever be saved Therefore that is a Temptation which leads out from that in the Heart Which in it is given there to make an end of Sin to follow that which doth not make an end of Sin nor minister Power to them that follow it to overcome their sin so that they cannot receive that which cleanseth from all sin such have the root and ground in them from whence sin cometh but the Root of Jesse in whom there is no sin they are only professing and talking of without them And that is a Temptation that leadeth man to commit any manner of sin whatsoever and keeps man from believing in him that maketh an end of Sin and keeps man in sin and from Repentance and turning from sin whilst that of God in the Conscience is striving with him against sin perswading him that he cannot be free from sin and to put off the time of true Repentance until Gods Spirit by the Light in the Heart hath ceased striving and then such think all is well because that which judged and condemned them for the least appearance of Evil hath ceased striving with them that so they are now quiet and not judged as formerly for what they do though they do the same things for which formerly they were judged but let such assuredly know That that which was sin is sin still though they instead of coming through the Law are gone back from the Law which did discover it and come to that state again which was before the Law or a worse where Death reigns and Sin is in the World though not discovered by the Law to them who have despised the Law and so become dead to that which should fulfill the Law and also dead in that which doth transgress the Law even so dead in sin that now feeling the weight and burthen thereof neither yet feeling any thing of God in them striving in them against it and is not their latter end like to be worse than their beginning And are not such as these who have got a Profession more hardned in their Sin and pleading more strongly for their continuance therein than the Publicans Harlots and Prophane And that is a Temptation which draws forth the mind to fear love serve obey or respect any man or created thing glory honour or whatsoever may be named more than God or to deny obedience to God for the attaining or retaining thereof or to let any of the most glorious Creatures of God fill and take plnce in the heart that in it room may not be found for the Power of God to enter so that the life virtue and substance of all things in which there is full satisfaction cannot be received And that is a Temptation that leadeth forth to seek or love the praise of men for if that was out of the Faith which received Honour from men then that must needs be of the Devil which would compel Honour to be given to it that is it in man of the Devil which would have the begotten of God honour and worship it which would take the due honour and praise from God to whom alone belongeth all Dominion Glory Honour and Obedience and Praises forever and ever And that is a Temptation which draweth forth the Mind to worship any other God but he that made all Men of one Blood and is above all and through all and in you all who dwelleth in his People and what of him may be known is manifest within whom all may feel after and find whom the World by Wisdom doth not know who abhorreth the Sacrifices of them whose Hearts are Uncircumcised and is wearied with the Peoples Words Mat. 2. 17. and grieved with their Iniquity who heareth not the Prayers of men of Sin but waiteth to be gracious unto such who wait for him in the Light of his Son who was led as a Lamb dumb and is of the Seed of David who was dumb with silence and opened not his Mouth while the Wicked was in place But when the wicked thing is removed out of his place and the humble Seed of the Shepherd raised up in his Throne upon his Hill of Holiness having his Enemies under his Feet then he speaketh with Authority and not as the Scribes Thus man coming into the fear of the Lord and waiting in the Light of his Son in the Heart with it may he see and discern between that which discovereth and condemneth Sin and that which tempteth to Sin out of which that man may be redeemed and kept out of Temptations is this written in love to the Seed over which the Beast the Dog and the Swine do vaunt themselves who have nothing to do with this but only to receive the Cup of Astonishment which to the Serpents is to be poured forth who are not to feed upon this which is written A Direction in the way to that within the Vail by which Temptations are overcome TRuth is that in which the Power of God doth stand and in the Truth there is no Lye and all them who receive Truth from God in it they receive his power whereby they are made his Sons in his power to stand in obedience to his will which is that by which they are sanctified and by obedience of Faith thereunto are preserved keeping in stedfastness by the mighty Power of God out of that which doth defile are preserved in that Dominion and place of Holiness into which the Harlots out of the Truth and Power and all proud Boasters and such who are intruding into things they have not seen and all Murmurers who complain for want of Power do not enter Therefore all People who profess the knowledge of the Truth and yet have not received the Power of God in which no Sin doth stand wait ye all in the Light to know the Vail rent and the ground to be removed from whence the Words come which darkens that in which the counsel of God should be received and wait to feel Judgment and Condemnation upon the Earthly that over the Seed doth rule and keep Judgment that through the Condemnation that may spring which never yet was found For certainly till there be a coming through the Ministration of Condemnation the Pearl is hid under the Earth and the Earthly bears rule over it whereby it still in Bondage lies and the Creature sometimes led by a fight of that which it doth not possess holding the Truth of God in that which is not his Righteousness for his Righteousness is revealed by Faith through the power of him that takes away the Sin and so it s not comprehended in by that mind which is
already what need we have any further witness Therefore make him a Pass to go to Aegypt again and let him be whipt out of the Town for there is an Act of Parliament against such as wander up and down under the Name of Aegyptians Then some asked When I came from thence others mocked So I was a sport unto them as Sampson was unto the Philistians Judg. 16. 25. and I stood silent but at last the Lord moved me to speak saying Why People are you altogether blind in the things of God Of Aegypt and Sodom I was where our Lord was crucified Rev. 11. 8. and in Darkness and Bondage did I dwell being a Child of Wrath as well as others but the Lord by his living Power hath brought me from the Land of Darkness to the Light and from Bondage to the Land of Rest and into the Liberty of the Sons of God Then Theophilus Andrus said Speak on for I never heard the like of this before But I was not to be subject to their Wills but to stand in the counsel of God Question But you have had some outward Beeing or Family had you not Answer I had a Farme of 30 l. by the year at little Cowrne in the County of Hereford not thirty Miles off this place but I have now left part of it and my Wife and Children are in the rest and there I was a great Professor and a publick Preacher in many places thereabout daily and then I was owned by the Justices and great men of the Earth and many Hundreds did resort to hear me where I came and I was then beloved of many for the World loves his own But now I come to witness the Power of that which then I did but profess and now am I hated by the World And after other words from them called Justices and others and they could not entangle me in my words then the Priest with the subtilty of the Serpent seeing they could not ensnare me he then began like those that came to Christ and feigned themselves just men that they might take hold of his words and deliver him to the Power Luke 20. 20. And like as the Saduces came to entangle him concerning the Resurrection saying Moses saith thus but what sayest thou So the Priest George Hopkins among his many subtil Questions said Thus Solomon saith The just man falleth seven times What say you or the like And there is not a man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not How do you expound that A. I am redeemed from the Earth Q. But do you not walk on the Earth A. I walk in the Light which leads out of the Earth Q. But are you not upon the Earth A. As for this outward Body being upon the Earth Enoch was for a time upon this outward Earth yet he walked with God Q. But do you walk with God A. They that are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God as God hath said I will walk in them Q. But Solomon saith There is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not Now therefore answer to the Question do you sin yea or nay A. He that is born of God sinneth not Q. But are you free from sin yea or nay A. If I were not free from sin will it therefore follow that no man is Q. Do you believe that any man can be free from sin whilst he is here A. Yea I do believe it Then the Priest said it was a Popish Tenure and he could shew me a Book that the Papists do hold That men may be free from Sin in this Life Then I said the Papists do hold that there is a God and that Christ dyed for Sinners and so do I Therefore if the Papists do hold a Truth must I deny it because they hold it or must the Truth therefore be called a Popish Tenure because they hold it The Priest said Nay but in such things as these that are in dispute between the Papists and us which is That men may be free from Sin and that they are justified by Works wrought in them I answered It is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed who hath wrought all our works in us and for us And I have heard that the Papists do hold that there is a Purgatory which I deny to be purged in from Sin after Death but I seldom hear that they did hold that men might be free from sin here And if they are free from sin whilst they are here then they need not hold that there is a Purgatory to purge them after Then I asked the Priest if men should be free from sin whilst they are here The Priest said Nay Then I asked him if men should be purged from sin after Death The Priest said Nay Then I said if thou wilt not have men cleansed from sin neither before Death nor after Death then when wilt thou have them cleansed The Priest said What if God will forgive men and cleanse them from their sin at the very time of their Death as Christ did the Thief on the Cross Ans Thou art not to question what God will do or may do in that but canst thou prove by Scripture that God doth so And if thou wilt say the Thief was purged from sin when Christ spoke to him then that was before his death So when the Priest was almost taken in his own Snare then the Serpents Wisdom began to twind out of that and asked me How I was justified But I seeing his subtilty was not careful to answer him in that matter Dan. 3. 16. but stood silent as Christ did before the high Priest Mat. 26. 62 63. So then there was a stir among the People because I was not hasty to utter words before the Lord but after the Priest had urged very much then I said Thou dost wait to ensnare me and if I should say that I was justified by Faith in the Blood of Christ thou wouldst but seek to entangle me in it Then the Priest asked If I were justified by the Blood of Christ Ans Yea. Qu. Are you justified by that Blood of Christ that was shed at Jerusalem A. By the Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God who was the express Image of his Fathers glory in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead really who suffered at Mount Calvery by Jerusalem for Sinners am I justified Q. But are you justified by the Blood of Christ without you or within you A. Though Jesus Christ has shed his Blood for Sinners yet I remained in my sin until I came to witness the Blood of Christ in me Q. Are you not justified by the Blood of Christ that was shed for you A. If the Blood of Christ was not shed then Sinners could not be justified by it Then the Priest said You do not answer me plainly whether you are justified meerly by that Blood which was shed upon the Cross
And the chief Priest rent his Clothes and accused him of Blasphemy in whom there is no Sin and they all said He is worthy of Death who said God was his Father And when the chief Priests had caused him to be brought before Pilate and Vehemently accused him of many things yet Pilate would have released him and when the chief Pirests and Elders saw that and that one should be released at the Feast and that it might not be the man of Sorrows that is not of the World but the Murtherer and Thief that had stole therefore the Priests and Rulers then perswaded the Multitude That they should ask Barrabas the Thief the Murtherer and destroy Jesus the Image of God that comes to condemn for Sin Mat. 27. 20. And so to this day at the time of the Feast the Thief and that which Murthers is at Liberty and that is destroyed which comes to save from Sin But the Govenour said Why what Evil hath he done And Pilate washed his Hands and confessed him to be a Just Person but the chief Priests and Scribes stood and vehemently accused him Luke 23. 10. But Pilate said the third time Why what Evil bath he done I have found no cause of Death in him And yet the Priests even forced Pilate to do that which was Unjust And do not the Priests now even force the Magistrates to persecute those that they find nothing in them worthy of Death or of Bonds And so the Priests having provoked and instigated the People thereunto they cryed Away with him that is the Light and Crucifie him that makes an End of Sin and the chief Priests also gave their Voice with them against him and so the Voices of them and of the chief Priests prevailed to have him slain murthered and crucified who is the Power of God that had raised the Dead in whom Pilate could find no fault neither yet Herod and when he was crucified who is the Light that condemns for Sin then the chief Priests and Professors kept their Feast and their Passover with the Shew-Bread or Unleavened-Bread which the carnal Eye might see and the murthering Priests feed upon and then they may talk of their Ordinances having slain him that is given for a Witness Isa 55. 4. And so such as slay the Witness within are talking of the Ordinances without and they cryed Away with him that is the Bread of Life and they Crucified him at whose presence the Devils were tormented and in the time of their Feast and Passover who had the Oracles of God the Witness of God lay slain this may be read within and upon their Sabboth-Day even the Day of their Worship who worship in the High Places that which came to save from sin lay in the Grave and they were reading that which discovered sin but make nothing Perfect and him in whom there is no sin was in the Earth in the time of their Worship and he that was the Light in the Earth was Perfect but that which they read in the high Place made nothing Perfect and the place of Holy Worship is to be laid desolate and where Christ the witness is not risen the Sin is not taken away and there the Faith is vain He that can receive it let him But after the Feast he that is given for a witness arose again and so before the Feast of the Passover of the Jews and Professors they murthered the Witness and for a time while the Witness lay slain they kept the Passover with outward Bread in an outward Temple offering the outward Sacrifices but after the Feast was over and their outward Worship for a time ended then he that is given for a Witness unto the People arose again and so that which leades to Feasting murthers the witness of God yet when the feasting is over and the outward Profession and Worship ended for a time then he that is the Witness ariseth even the Light of Christ in the Conscince and condemns for sin and then the Priests and Professors were and are worse then before And when some of the Watch came and declared that he was risen who is given for a Witness Mark they that are upon the Watch are the first that know the rising of the Witness then the chief Priests who had mocked him Mark 15. 31. the chief Priests were Mockers assembled with the Elders and took counsel again for then they were more tormented than before and that which they feared came upon them for they said this would be worse than that before therefore they said of him This Deceiver said After three dayes I will rise again Therefore said they let a Watch be set lest his Disciples steal him away and say He is risen and so the last Error be worse than the first And so the Priests called the Resurrection of Christ Error and Christ the Light a Deceiver and these Priests now say The Light deceiveth or is Natural and not sufficient But Christ the Witness being risen again the chief Priests gave large Money to the Souldiers to tell Lyes of him and his Disciples and caused them to deny the rising of the Witness as the Priests do now for the Witness is in Man 1 John 5. 10. And said the Priests If this come to the Governour 's Ear we will perswade him and secure you Mark 27. 62 63 64. Chap. 28. 11 12 13. And so the chief Priests gave some Money to have him betrayed and crucified but they gave large Money to have the rising of him who is the Witness the Resurrection and the Lite denyed after he was betrayed crucified and so them Priests gave their Money to have him betrayed by him that is a Devil and gave large Money to the Souldiers to deny the Resurrection of him and to tell Lyes and the Devil is a Lyar from the beginning and the Father of it O horrible Abomination and Cruelty that ever the Priests the Leaders of the People should do such things as these and to be found themselves the worst of Men or rather as Beasts as it is written I said in my Heart concerning the state of the Sons of Men that God might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are Beasts Eccles 3. 18. And these things may be a warning both to all Governours Officers Souldiers People that they may never more be deceived by nor joyn to have a hand with the Subtil Treacherous Deceitful Priests against the Innocent who by their subtilty did and do overcome both Governours Judges Rulers Souldiers and People and so crucified the Lord of Glory and make it their business ever since to keep People from believing in him who said I am the Light believe in the Light John 8. 12. ch 12. 35 36 46. But mark and consider Were those Priests Wicked herein And were they Murderers and Abominable Then have I considered how much worse and how far more Abominable are these Priests of England and other Nations
said You have we aried me with your Sacrifices And so say I to you now you have wearied the Lord with your Words and yet many are saying Wherein have we we aried him I say in this have you wearied the Lord in that you say such as do Evil are Good in the sight of God Mal. 2. 17. Therefore thus I declare unto you who are yet in your Sins meeting together in the Idol Temples Your Service is not the Service of the true God neither is your Worship that which the Lord accepteth for he accepteth none but the Worship in Spirit and in Truth not in one high Place or other but your Worship is in some High-Place Idol-Temple or Steeple-House where all manner of Viperous Beasts are round and unsanctified Persons meet together who commit all Abominations and live in all manner of Filthiness and yet lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us no Evil shall come unto us Whereas they are an evil and an adulterous Generation adulterated from the Spirit of Truth in which the true Worship stands and are ignorantly worshipping in a Temple made with Hands in which God dwellcth not neither is his Power there received to overcome the Sin and so the People are wearying themselves for very Vanity and travelling to bring forth Death and labouring for that which profits not neither do they come to meet the Lord in the way of his Judgments nor find the Path of Life where the Unclean can never come neither yet do they know the Bread of Life nor drink his Blood that cleanseth from all Sin nor come to be translated into the Kingdom of the Son of God but remain in that Ground which was eursed by reason of man's Rebellion Gen. 3. 17. Heb. 6. 8. which Ground being not removed with the mighty Power of God the Blessing cannot be received nor the Understanding opened to know and receive that which the Natural Man perceiveth not the Eyes of their Minds being darkened through the Ignorance that is in them the Vail being over the Heart when that is read every day of their Worship which discovers Sin but makes nothing Perfect which Worshippers did and do Crucifie him that comes to take away the Sin But now he is come who hath forever perfected those that are sanctified and he that sanctisieth and they who are sanctified are all of one But they that are not sanctified are not of the one but are in the many Opinions in the Lusts of Ignorance and Wayes of Unrighteousness being not come to the one Faith which purifieth the Heart nor to know the one Baptism one Church one Way one Truth one God the Father of him who is the one Light which lightneth every man that cometh into the Wâ—rld of the which Light which is but one there is given a measure to every one of you which Light shineth in Darkness though not by it comprehended which Light will let you see that you your selves are out of God's Covenant in the World's Worship not reconciled to God upholding Idol Temples and Heathenish Customs with Bells and such things which the People of God never used but did and do deny forever and exhort you and all others to leave worshipping the Beast or upholding that which is not the true Worship of the true God practised by men of Sin in Steeple-Houses every First-Day Wherefore all People every where leave your Idolatry which you have learned and received by Tradition from the former Papists and Heathen who worship the Work of their own Hands and bow down to their own Inventions as you long have done and for this many Hundred Years have been learning and yet are not come to the Truth neither to believe in it but remain in Unbelief and Ignorance and your long time of Ignorance God winked at Acts 17. 30. But now Light is come in which God is calling to you and all men every where to Repent and forsake your Idolatrous Worship which by you a sinful Generation is practised in a Steeple-house one day in seven and Catn's Nature remaining in the inward parts from the which Idolatry all that sear the Lord God of Abraham are now to come from the Uncleanness of that Worship which is upheld by the Heathen for verily the Hand of the Lord God Almighty is stretched sorth against it and them Wherefore all People turn your Minds to the Lord God of Life who dwelleth in his People and not in Temples made with Hands and hath given to every one of you a measure of the true Light of his Son which Light in you will let you see your secret Sins and will teach you and shew you plainly of the Father if you love it and come to be led by it to do God's will so may you come to worship the Lord God of Life in Spirit and in Truth with the Children of the Light and of the Day which hath dawned upon many who need not any man teach them but are all taught of the Lord Glory and Honour and Everlasting Praises to his blessed Name forever and ever Amen Given forth as a Testimony against all Idolatry and Heathenish-Worship from the true Love of God the Father in pity to the Souls of them who have Eyes and see not and Ears and hear not that they may come forth of Darkness to follow Christ Jesus the Light of the World who is bringing the Blind by a Way that they know not Isa 42. 16. Therefore is this to go abroad among all People and read in Steeple-Houses Streets Market-places private Meetings and Families that all may consider what they have been doing in the dark Ezek. 8. 12. By a Servant of the Living God a Sufferer for the Testimony of his Name in the Common Goal and House of Correction at Winchester Humphery Smith The 4th Moneth 1658. Man driven out of the Earth and Darkness By the Light Life and Mighty Hand of GOD Wherein plain and simple Truths are brought to light that so the cause of Stumbling may be taken from before the Eyes of both Rulers and all sorts of Professors in Herefordshire c. Also something related of the Wonderful Power of God in the Work of Redemption and Restroration With a plain Self-denyal by him that takes up the daily Cross Behold the Lord worketh wonderfully every Morning he bringeth his Judgments to light he hath brought me back from the Grave and saved my Soul from Hell and set my feet upon a Rock THE Living Truth of the Lord God which he hath revealed in me by the mighty Operation of his Word of Life which living eternal Truth being my Life and shall last for evermore and be as a Standard of the Most High lifted up to all the scattered weary Souls that they may flow unto it and have it to be unto them a place of Refuge and Defence to fly unto in the day of Distress and by it come to be made Free and in it
these things for they that sung and danced in the Wilderness forgot the mighty Power of the Lord which brought them out of Bondage therefore they got into the carnal Liberty like many others at this day before they come to the true Rest and these were in the false Worship who Worship that which the carnal Eye might perceive and these had lost the true Guide And when they were in their singing and dancing they knew not what was become of him who was the Minister of the Law that discovers sin but though they who danced saw him not for a time but began to dispise him yet in a time unexpected he came upon them in the Fierceness of his Anger who executed the judgments of the Lord upon those vain Dancers with whom he was grieved who was in the Church in the Wilderness and is the holy One in the midst who with a suddain slaughter destroyed these Dancers whose voice of singing was not because of Mastry neither was their Voice the voice of the Cry of the Oppressed and these were Idolaters whose Hearts were uncircumcised and knew not the Wayes of God who therefore condemned them with an utter Overthrow that they perished in the Wilderness where they thus sinned after they had seen the Deliverances of the Lord as many of the Rulers and People of England have done who have forgotten their Leader to whom these are left for an Example of whom there were about thirty Thousand slain for their Singing Dancing and False Worship Exod. 32. 1 Cor. 9. And Herod had Dancing before him and she that danced and he that was pleased with Dancing caused his Head to be taken off that directed to him that is the Light and preached the Lamb that takes away the Sin and their carnal Nature and so this murders that which is to prepare the Way of the Lord and they took off his Head and murthered him who was a burning and a shining Light and slew him that preached Repentance and so the Dancers and the Rulers of the Earth who were pleased with Dancing and Musick murther that in them which calls to Repentance and are ready to murder such as preach Repentance to them And whilst there is a delighting in Dancing and Musick that which calleth to Repentance is in Bondage for John was in Prison when Herod was pleased with the Dancing and there is not a greater Prophet than he that preacheth Repentance and he that proclaims the Way of the Lord was in Prison and she that danced desired his Death and he that caused him to be beheaded was a King a great one in the Earth who was pleased with Dancing and was a Swearer out of Christs Doctrine for he promised with an Oath What soever she would ask who danced before him then nothing would satisfie the Dancer but the Death of him who preached Repentance and he was an Observer of Days and kept the day of his Birth with Dancing It was his Birth-day the day of his Birth in which he was brought forth who was a Swearer the Swearers delight in dancing that caused his head to be taken off who warned them that had the Oracles of God To fly from the Wrath to come and said They were a Generation of Vipers who had the Scriptures and came also to his Baptism and brought not forth fruits meet for Repentance these are the Vipers And so that which is to lead unto Christ doth suffer in Bondage and is murthered and the Head or first Appearance of it taken off upon that day which the Birth of that is brought forth which is pleased with the Dancing not like Job Jeremiah and delights in the Musick and that which exerciseth the mind of the Creature in the dancing desireth the Death and Murthering of that in Prison which is to call to Repentance above all other things yea there is nothing then so much desired as the Killing and Overcoming of that which is cast into Prison by him that delights in the Musick Matth. 14. And when them in Israel who had Harps the Musitioners them who delighted in Musick were carried Captive into Babylon the Land of Confusion in which Land Nimrod the mighty One in the Earth went hunting before the Lord and by the River of Babylon they sate down and wept who were before the Musitioners with their Harps these went into Captivity because of the Sin and hanged their Harps upon the Willowes and sate down Mourning by the Rivers of Babylon and that which delighted in the Musick caused the Captivity and leads into Bondage that which should come to Liberty whereby Sorrow Weeping and Mourning comes in the End for the Songs of the Temple is to be turned into Howling and their Delight in the Musick was turned into Weeping and they led captive from Zion who were come to the land of Promise and there took Liberty in these fleshly Delights Psalm 137. The Mind that hath Wisdom may read this And it was the King of Babylon who said Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the Might of my Power for the Honour of my Majesty that set up the golden Image to be Worshipped at the hearing of all kind of Musick and he also was a great man in the Earth a great King the King of Babylon a mighty One in Confusion who commanded the Magicians the Astrologers and Sorcerers and Caldeans and ruled over them and all them that dwelt in the Earth and he sent Greetings of Peace to People Nations and Languages that dwelt in all the Earth but he that is the Light comes not to send Peace on the Earth and the Angel cryed Wo Wo Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth but he that was King over Nations in the Earth had many Instruments of Musick even all kinds of Musick and he that delighted in the Musick set up the Golden Image and by his command they that heard the Musick were presently to fall down and Worship the great Golden Image like the Children of Israel who set up the Golden Calf and these were Idolaters and in the false Worship and that which delighted in all kinds of Musick was in the Enmity to the Righteous Seed and sought to murther them who denyed the Musick and false Worship and therein such appear to be of Cain the Murtherer and of Lemach the Man-slayer And these great Ones in the Earth who had all kinds of Musick were in Babylon and these were the persecutors and such persecute now whose Rage was exceeding great against the Servants of the living God who to him were faithful though in Babylon and regarded not their Musick neither feared their great threatning Words nor yet obey their strict Command neither would they keep their Decrees nor take much care to Answer them in that matter nor bow before their Image though made with Gold nor Worship any other God than he that dwells in his People though they were in the Land of captivity among them in the
truly come from the one state into the other by having a little Water poured on their faces and by the speaking of these words viz. I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen It being done by a man who himself at another time will confess with his own Mouth That he is with the rest a miserable Sinner And how can an old miserable Sinner make a young Child thus happy XXV Whether all Children so sprinkled or the most Seâ— Caâ—◠〈◊〉 part of them were made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven If not whether it be not pity that so many thousand Children should be taught and trained up to speak that which is untrue whilst they are so young in saying they were made so when they were not and likewise to be deceived thereby all the dayes of their lives If they were made so how shall a reasonable man be perswaded from any good reason of Scripture-proof that they are afterwards dismembred from Christ separated from God and dis-inherited out of the Kingdom of Heaven And when did Christ lose his Members or God his regenerate Children or his Kingdom the Inheritors thereof XXVI How can such make others the Members of Christ who are not so themselves And whether Christ hath any miserable Members And if miserable Sinners pretend to take upon them to make others the Members of Christ and receive Wages for it and yet do it not whether such are not plain Deceivers XXVII Whether the Priests that say they are miserable Siâ—â—ers and miserable Offendors be really so or not if not are not they miserable Lyars in so saying If they be whether they that are miserable Sinners and miserable Offendors can make others so free from all sin and misery as the Members of Christ in whom is No Sin who were as miserable as themselves if they were born in Original Sin and in the Wrath of God XXVIII Whether Children were not first taught their duty towards God before their duty towards their Neighbour And whether all such are not still in the first place to obey God and secondly to love their Neighbour as themselves And so whether Obedience to God is not still to be preferred before obedience to man though his Neighbour If not why were they so taught If it be why then do the Teachers now seek to cause them to obey man in Swearing and many other things rather than Christ who said Swear not at all Mat. 5. James 5. XXIX Whether Children are not taught among other things to hurt no body by word or deed to bear no Malice in the heart to rule the Hands the Tongue the Body and the Desire in not coveting any man's Goods If this be right so to do why do not the Priests themselves do it and instruct all Magistrates and People in the like and suffer them that do so and encourage them also to continue in the same If this be not right why did the Priests teach it us when we were young and whether be the Priests covetous yea or nay XXX Whether Children were not taught that they could do little of themselves nor walk in the Commandments of God nor serve him without his special Grace and after in another place that the Geace was inward and Spiritual If so whether God's special Grace which is inward is not much more than the Letter which is outward If it be not why were those words written in the outward Letter XXXI Again if none can walk in the Commands of God nor serve him without his special Grace which is inward then what manner of walking or service is theirs who of late have denyed the Grace which is inward and them that are led by it which Grace the Bishop in the Confirmation prayeth to the Lord to defend Children with And if nothing can be done of ones self without this Grace and that this Grace doth defend and the Apostle saith bringeth Salvation and by Grace ye are saved and the Catechism saith this Grace is inward and spiritual and also why are so many persecuted this day for receiving this Grace and power by it which is inward who walk in the Commands of God and serving him XXXII Whether Children were not taught that this See Bishopping inward and spiritual Grace was a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness If so then whether shall People esteem those Common-Prayer-men to be rightest who directed to the inward and spiritual Grace to bring unto a death unto sin and a new birth unto Righteousness or these men who direct unto the Letter without or a Steeple-house or any thing else that is outward and visible seeing the others directed to that which is inward and spiritual which the Apostle said saved them and whether the same doth not save now or whether the Grace of God hath not the same sufficiency in it self as it had in the dayes of the Apostles or in the dayes of the late Reformers of the Common-Prayer And whether those which have received this inward Grace may not thereby increase in the same and in the Spirit more and more according to that in the laying on of hands XXXIII If you will grant the Apostles words to be true See Maâ—â—imony that the man was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the Transgression 1 Tim. 2. 14. then whether this be not dark work or works of darkness to cause the man to worship the woman seeing they were both deceived and in the Transgression and so instead of worshipping God make him worship the deceived Transgressor XXXIV If you will grant that man was not deceived but the Woman who was first in the Transgression Then wherefore is it that Man being first deceived by the Woman must now also worship the Woman And whether this be God's Ordinance or not And did not God ordain that Man should rule over the Woman Gen. 3. 16. And why then did man ordain that man should worship the woman And when did God ever ordain that man should worship that which he had set him to rule over If you will grant that when Peter did only contradict Christ in words Christ esteemed him as a Devil saying Get thee behind me Satan Mat. 16. 22 23. Then whether all the women you marry do not more contradict Christ both in Words and Actions than Peter then did and so in as bad or a worse state than Peter then was And if so then whether that man which is caused to worship such a woman or a woman in such a state do not therein worship one that was deceived by the Devil XXXVI But whether doth the man worship the woman yea or nay If he doth is it not evil to worship the Creature or any thing else but God alone If he doth not why must he speak that Lye and so thereby serve the Devil and â—o be constrained to worship the
hindred you and doth hinder from the Life and Virtue of it in your own Hearts this all to leave behind you forever and to give it away freely and as freely willing as a man would part with Dross for Gold and present mortal Honour for immortal Renown forever for behold the Glory of the World passeth away and all the Beauty thereof shall be as a fading Flower when it is fully ripe the strength thereof shall melt away like Wax before the Jealousie of our God and Aegypt shall be judged and Babylon confounded and the strength of the Oppressor brought down and the Lord will weaken the power of the Heathen and all the Earth shall know that he is the same God of Power and righteous Judgments as ever in the day when he cometh in the dread of his Power to assemble the Heathen to Judgment and to pour forth Floods of Indignation upon the Wicked when Anguish shall enter the dwellings of the Ungodly and intolerable perplexity seize upon the Consciences of the Unfaithful when the Hypocrite shall no longer cover himself nor the Adversaries of Sion rejoyce against her when the Lord shall reach forth his Hand and scatter his open Enemies as in the day of slaughter and consume the Bryars of the Earth as with endless Burnings and unquenchable Flames in the strength of his Fury when he pleadeth by the Fire of his Jealousie and the Sword of his Mouth with all the Wicked Ungodly and Unfaithful ones who make Flesh their Arm and depart from the Word of the living God in their Hearts which then they shall know to be Powerful against all Unrighteousness and quick in executing Judgments accordingly Oh! happy is the Man that then shall know a Refuge and blessed shall the People be whose God is then the Lord and full well will it be for them who then know a hiding place Then shall Sion alone rejoyce and Jerusalem be glad forever and only the redeemed of the Lord shall walk in the Paths of his Judgments and in the midst of devouring and consuming Fire which to them shall be as a Wall for everlasting defence round about them and as precious healing Oyl of Joy and Gladness in the midst and as pure Oyntment poured out into the Wounds of the broken-hearted Light shall shine forever in their Habitations and Wisdom shall be found in them like as in Daniel the Servant of God in the dayes of Old and only the Faithful shall stand and the Upright-hearted shall endure and God will keep his little Ones and the Weak shall be strengthened by him and the Poor of the Flock shall be comforted and the Feeble among men shall receive strength from God as the Morning and renewing of virtue as the dawning of the day and the Lambs of the Fold shall be kept and only Gods People shall stand yea they shall stand and the Gates of Hell with all the powers of darkness shall never prevail against them the Lord hath spoken it whose Words shall stand forever which shall seal it unto the Heritage of God and the Dross must be purged away and the Unbelieving must stand behind and the Careless will stagger at the Promises and they that seek themselves shall have Self enough but Self shall never help them in that day neither shall their own Wisdom stand them instead neither yet their Righteousness in the Day of God's Controversie when the great Oaks shall fall and the lofty Cedars shall bow to the Dirt when no covering at all shall hide but that which is put upon men by the Power of God's dwelling Spirit in the Heart of every individual by the virtue thereof and not otherwise And this moreover I say to every particularly unto you who were late astray from God and lately were convinced of the precious Truth of his Son that in the Name and Power of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth from him to you was I sent and that more chiefly to gather the Out-casts than to feed the Lambs who were already gathered and rather to call home the lost Sheep than to nourish them that were already brought home and to call Sinners to Repentance and for the opening the Hearts Understanding and Eyes of those who though they truly desired had not clearly understood the secret things of the hidden Wisdom of the Almighty And truly my Love was to Sinners and the true affections and breathing of my Soul for the Prodigals in them parts which were most chiefly my Message from God at that time and my Service of Love unto the Souls of such in them parts and to publish the Name of the Almighty in the great Congregations and surely my own Brethren even the gathered Flock of God attended in much patience whilst I thus performed my Service of love to you neither did I turn my Face from you to them nor with-held from you the Counsel of God in truth neither was I negligent in the Service to do you good neither yet sparing of my strength nor with-holding my Speech when God gave utterance but rather can truly say I could even have been spent for you in the discharge of my Conscience to the Lord my strength And now this is that which my Heart desireth of you and my Soul desireth for you That you all and every of whose Hearts then God touched with the feeling of his Love by the power of his Immortal Word through me his weak Earthen Vessel that you all may obey the Call and Visitation of God in the requiring of his Light in your own Hearts thereby willingly to depart from the wayes of the Wicked the professions of the Hypocrites and the paths of Ungodly men and to stand no long in the way of Sinners nor regard the counsel of them who hate the Light and Truth in the inward parts and to come out from amongst them that are unclean who live still more and more in that which pollutes them who live in their Sins professing God and serving the Devil until they have finished their Sins which then bringeth forth Death and he that dyeth in his Sins not believing in the Light which makes an end of sin cannot come where Christ is And so the Tree falling there it lieth and as Death leaveth Judgment findeth and as Judgment findeth so shall the Reward according to the deeds be And then shall every man stand or fall to his own Master the Servants of the Devil to their Master and the Servants of God to their Master and there is no more Masters but them two and no man can serve both though Thousands profess the one and serve the other who in that day must give an account whom they have served and not whom they have professed for they who professed God and served the Devil were Hypocrites and so are unto this day of whom the World is full And blessed are they who by the living Power of the Soul-saving Grace of God are truly redeemed out of the
Bondage before And were we not before in Bondage under Bishops and Priests and Kings and Tythe and is it now double and trebled And is the little finger of the Priests become heavier then the Bishops loyns And will not God visit for these things And doth not this shew that the day of Overturning is at hand But say people How can these things be they seeming to be established more then ever Yet I reason again with such Who would before-hand have believed that the Bishops who were far greater then they should have come tumbling down so soon with perpetual Shame and Reproach and their Common-Prayer-books taken away with the Priests Idolatrous Surplices and manv such things And hath the Lord began with them the Head And will he not go on to finish his Work in Confounding and utter Overturning the Tail and Dreggs of them which are yet left behind and are like unto unnatural children denying their Parents the Bishops and the Pope and yet creep into their Mass-houses and live upon the same Maintenance which their Parents provided for them and yet call the Pope Antichrist and he is so their great Father who set up the Bishops that established them in their Tythe ' Parsonages and old Mass-houses and so the Pope being an Antichrist and they come from the Bishops set up by the Pope then it follows that they are the Dreggs of Antichrist and if their own words Writings Way Maintenance and Practices be but as it is and doth appear then herein I do them no wrong And these things have I also thus considered and leave to the consideration of such who are not willing to remain in blindness that seeing the Bishops are overturned though they were above the Magistrates the Priests may also soon be turned down by the Magistrates seeing they are fallen under the Magistrates already and they set them up and put them in and turn them out at their pleasure and may soon turn them down when they are weary of being spurred by them And as I have considered these things in the meditations of my Mind so have I also considered the Words and Wayes of these Priests of England Ireland Scotland and other Nations and what ado and a stir they have kept against those Priests that caused Christ to be crucified and how he suffered by them And when I have weighed and considered the Actions of them Priests that did so and the Words and Actions of these Priests against them Priests and the Ways of one and the other I have then found that these in many things are worse then them though they were very bad and so both to be denyed as I have considered according to Scripture Thus The Priests the Readers of the Law which discovers Sin but makes nothing Perfect and the Scribes and Pharisees had the Scriptures and a large zealous Profession thereby but when Christ the living Minister came who was the thing or the Substance of which the Scripture declared from which they had the Profession he being come they knew him not and therefore for a time the Scribes Pharisees and Priests disputed reasoned and contended with him and sought to entangle him in his words and did seek occasion against him that they might deliver him to the Rulers and he disputed among the Doctors but when much People believed on him they cryed out The whole World is gone after him John 12. 19. Mat. 22. 15. But when he who is the Power of God had raised Lazarus from the dead and out of the Grave then the chifest of the Priests and Pharisees held a Council against him then they began to stir and the Beast began to rage and they said This man doth many Miracles and if we let him alone all men will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation John 11. 47 48. And so saith the Priests now If we let him alone who is the Light all men will believe on him and we shall loose both our Place and Nation for who will fight for us say they if all men come to believe in the Light which lets men see that Wars and Fighting comes from the Lust which Lust wars against the Soul James 4. But one of their own Generation even a chief Priest told the rest They knew nothing at all John 11. 49. the Priests who deny the Light know nothing at all and so these chief Priests and Pharisees who knew nothing at all sought the Life of the Lamb and to take him verse 57. And the chief Priests also consulted to put Lazarus to Death also John 12. 10. And so the Priests now seek to kill that which Christ the Light the Power of God hath raised from Death out of the Grave for now the very thing it self is come to Life out of Death and this Torments them exceedingly even more then all the Words Forms Disputing and Professions whatsoever that was before it And it was at the Passover the Worship and Feast of the Jews that the Priests sought to kill him that had raised the dead And when Jezabel whose blood the Dogs must lick at whose Table the false Prophets feed when she intended to murther the Just and take away the Life of the Innocent and give his Possession to another she made a Feast and that which feasteth the one thing Murthers the other And at the Jews Feast the one or the other was to be releast and at the time that they keep the Passover who are the Jews outwardly then he suffers who is the end of the Law and the Prophets and so at the Feast of their Passover the chief Priests sought to kill him that was led as a Lamb dumb and Satan entered in Judas and after that then Judas went out from Christ the Light and when he went out it was Night and then was the Son of man to be glorified but Judas who went out from him that is the Light went to the chief Priests and Captains and they were glad when Judas was come among them who was a Devil and the chief Priests made a Covenant with him that was a Devil and gave him Money to betray him who is the Light And he that took the Money had obtained part of the Ministry and he was a Devil and now such Ministers that take both the Money Body and Goods are worse then Judas whom the Priests say was a Bishop or a chief Priest because it is written His Bishop-rick let another take Acts 1. 20. And suddainly after the chief Priests had made a Covenant with him that was a Devil was the Jews Passover at which time he that comes to make an end of Sin was betrayed and then Judas who departed from him that is the Light and was become a Devil betrayed the Son of God and had him led away to Ciaphas the High-Priest and the chief Priests and Elders and all the Council sought false witness to put him to death Mat. 26. 59.