Light is in darkness and erres not knowing the Scripture which declareth of the Light which John came to bear witness off who was not the Light but testified of the Light Which was the true Light which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the World He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not nor knows him not and he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God John 1.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. And this we witness and by the same Light do we discern and testifie against him to be in darkness and blindness and is a deceiver who putteth the Letter for the Light and so draws Peoples minds off from the Light within them to the Letter without them seeking the living among the dead thinking to find Life in the Letter without them as the Pharisees did and will not come unto Christ that they might have Life John 5.39 40. and so they must be shut out of the Scripture as the Pharisees were and he also that saith the Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without feeding upon the husk and is ignorant of the true Light which was before the Letter was which all the Children of God were and are guided by and spoke and speakes the Letter from which was before the Letter was and with this the Letter witnesseth and who is guided by this cannot walk contrary to the Letter nor deny it but they know how to use it in its place and see in what condition it was spoken and it witnesseth with them both in words and actions and they that have this have and need the mystery within though they cannot read the Letter without nor ever learned as it was with Christ which confounded the Scribes and Pharisees and they who are never so learned without and can read and understand all Tongues and Languages without and doth not read the Scripture within only feed upon the Husk and are ignorant of the Life which is the Mystery which is hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto the ignorant as it was from the Scribes and Pharisees and high Priests and was revealed to those whom they counted ignorant and cursed and knew not the Law John 7.48 49 And they who take the Letter to be their Rule cannot walk according to it because they are ignorant of the Light which opens and leads into the Life which they who spake them forth lived in but drunkards and swearers and proud and wantonesse and covetoues lustfull enveons ones and all manner of unrighteous persons will take the Letter to talk of and say it is their Rule and Guide but are out of the Life thereof and so by it are condemned and those are the Swine that are feeding upon the husk without Luke 15.15 16. and have gotten the form but are out of the Life and Power and put the shadow for the substance and so lives in darknesse and knowes not whether he goeth but they that read with the single-eye may understand for the Scripture is within and was read within before it was read without Now silence all the Study and Wisdom of Man Concerning BAPTISM The Baptism we own which is the Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost and with fire but we deny all other for there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all and they who would have one Baptism outward and another inward would have two Baptisms when the Scripture saith the Baptism is but one and whosoever hath the Baptism outward are the same they were before but the Baptism of Christ makes a new Creature and this I witness for I received water upon my face as my Parents told me which they called Baptism but I grew up an Heathen as all other Children do and no New Creature though my Parents were counted Believers among the World and their Priests but now I wittess the Baptism of Christ by one Spirit into onâ— Body and now I witness a New Creature Old things are past away and all things become New And now I see the other to be formal imitation and the Invention of Man and so a meer delusion and all are Heathens and no Christians who cannot witness this Baptism Mat. 15.4 who can witness this denies all other for the Scripture saith the Baptism is but one and who can witnesse this are Believers but who cannot witnesse this are no Believers and so it is that water or no water availeth nothing but a New Creature for all by nature are the children of wrath and except they be born again they cannot enter and as for the Baptism of water which the Apostles used it being a figure for its time the power went along with it and the Disciples received the Holy Ghost when they were Baptized but none can witness this who sets themselves of acting or imitating the Apostles and so takes it up by imitation and their ground is the Letter and are not guided to it by the same Spirit which guided the Apostles and so they are the same after water as before and so now waâ—er or no water availeth any thing but a New Cereature for Water was but for its time though many in darkness have now got the Form and are groping in it for Life but wants the Life and Power and so from such turn away Concerning the LORDS SUPPER The Supper of the Lord we own which is the Body and Blood of Christ which the Saints fed upon and this is Eternal Food and Life and here they all feed upon one and are of one heart and one mind and here is pure and Eternal Union and Communion and this is not Carnal but Spiritual for Saints are Spiritual and their Communion is Spiritual and Eternall and this we witnesse who are of one heart and one mind who are in the new Covenant and herein we discern the Lords Body and here all drunkards are shut out and all lyars adulterers proud covetous lustfull and envious ones and all back-biters revilers extortioners and all deceitfull and unrighteous persons are shut out of the New Covenant 1 Cor. 6.9 10. and are with-out feeding upon the husk and shadow which is carnall for the brâ—ad which the world breaks is carnall and naturall and only feeds the outward carnall body and goeth into the belly and so passeth out into the dunghill and so likewise the Cup which they drink and so the Communion and Fellowship of the World passeth away but this is no nourishment to the Soul but still the Soul lies in death and here is no Communion but natural outward and carnal of several minds and hearts full of filthiness and uncleanness which is the Table of Devils eating and drinking their own damnation not discerning the Lords Body which is Spiritual which the natural man discerns
SOME PRINCIPLES Of the ELECT People of God In scorn called QUAKERS O send forth thy Light and thy Truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles Psal 43.3 For the Commandement is a Lamp and the Law is Light and the Reproofs of Instruction are the Way of Life Printed in the Year 1671. The CONTENTS Concerning FIrst A Breif Account of what we are and what our Work is in the World By I. Pennington Page 1 Secondly Grounds and Reasons Why we deny the Worlds Teachers Pag. 5 Some Principles of the Elect People of God Called Quakers P. 16 Worship P. 20 The Church Ibid. The Way Ibid. The Cross P. 21 True Communion P. 22 The Gospel Ibid. Faith Ibid. Baptisme P. 23 Persecution Ibid. Scriptures P. 26 Tyths P. 27 The Higher Power P. 28 The Kingdom of Christ how held up and how not P. 29 Teachers Prophets Pastors Bishops Presbiters Ibid. An Exhortation to all Christendom to mind the Grace of God to wit the Light P. 30 Perfection P. 33 Resurrection P. 34 Election and Reprobation Ibid. Fear and Trembling P. 36 The Body of Death P. 37 The Word Thou to a single Person P. 39 Putting off the Hat Bowing the Knee Cringings and Complements Ibid. Good Manniers P. 40 Objections of the World against the Preaching of Christ P. 41 Bread Water and Wine P. 42 The Sabbath Day P. 43 God-Fathers God-Mothers and sprinkling of Infants Ibid. The Word Trinity Ibid. The Ministry P. 44 Dayes Times Meats and Drinks Ibid. Marriages Ibid. False Prophets and Antichrists P. 45 A Generall Objection of People P. 48 The Jew Inward and Outward P. 49 Christ the Covenant of God Ibid. Plots and Conspiracies P. 50 Original sin P. 51 Oaths P. 52 The Word of God and Original Sin What it is P. 54 Heathen Idolaters naming Dayes and Moneth P. 63 Singing Psalms P. 65 A Warning to all to keep out of the Fashons of the World P. 66 Some Queries given forth to Priests ahd People to Answer if they can By G. F. P. 68 The Scriptures P. 72 Baptism P. 75 The Lords Supper P. 76 Prayer P. 77 Ministry P. 79 Magistracy and Government P. 80 Superiority Honour Breeding Manners and the Word Thee and Thou to a single Person P. 84 The Word Thou and Thee P. 89 Putting off the Hat P. 90 Perfection By J. Parnel P. 92 Womens speaking in the Church By W. D. P. 94 The Sum or Substance of our Religion P. 97 Christ Coming to the Father by him c. P. 103 The Gospel Ministration P. 107 Christ manifested without and within and how both are owned by them that know the Truth P. 108 The Principle of Truth what it is and how in may be discerned and how it may be purchased and possessed P. 111 An Invitation to Professors seriously to Consider c. P. 114 A Brief Testimony for Truth By T. Taylor c. P. 119 The Conclusion By I. Penington A brief account of what we are and what our work is in the world WE are a People whom God hath converted to himself a People in whom God hath raised up the Seed of his own Life and caused it to reign over the eartly part in our selves a People whom God hath divorced from the spirit of whordom and joyned to his own Spirit We many of us sought truly and onely after God from our childhood our consciences bearing us witness in the sight of God but the honesty of our hearts was still betrayed and we led aside by the Whorish spirit and knew not how to turn to that of God in us which inclined us toward God By this means we came to great distress and misery beyond all men not but that all men were in as great a want of God his Life Power and Presence as we but the sence therof was not so quickened in others as in us Now it pleased the Lord at length to pitty us and to inform our minds towards himself to shew us where Life lay and where Death lay and how to turn from the one and to the other and he gave us his helping hand to turn us And by being turned to hâ—m we have tasted of the Truth of the true Wisdom of the true Power of the true Life of the true Righteousness of the true Redemption and by receiving of this from God and tasting and handling of it we come to know that that which the world hath set up in the stead of it is not the thing it selfe Now mark we are not persons that have shot up out of the old root into another appearance as one sect hath done out of another till many are come up one after another the ground still remaining the same out of which they all grew but that ground hath been shaken shaking destroyed destroying removed and removing in us and the old root of Jesse hath been made manifest in us and we have been transplanted by the everlasting power of Life and a real change brought forth in us out of that spirit wherin the world lives and worships into another spirit into which no thing which is of the World can enter And hear we have met with the call of God the Conversion to God the Regeneration in God the Justification the Sanctification the Wisdom the Redemption the true Life and Power of God which the World cannot so much as bear the name of And what we are made of God in Christ we know to be truth and no lye and when we testifie of this to the World in the measure of the life of God in us we speak truth and no lye though the World which knoweth not the Truth cannot hear our voice Now our work in the World is to hold forth the virtues of him that hath called us to live like God not to own any thing in the World which God doth not own to forget our Country our Kindred our Fathers house and to live like persons of another Country of another kindred of another family not to do any thing of our selves and which is pleasing to the old nature but all our words all our conversation yea every thought in us to become new Whatever comes from us is to come from the new Principle of Life in us and to answer that in others but we must not please the old nature at all in our selves nor in any else And walking faithfully thus with God we have a reward at present and a crown in the end which doth and will countervaile all the reproches and hardships we do or can meet with in the World We are also to be witnesses for God and to propagate his Life in the World to be instruments in his hand to bring others out of Death and Captivity unto true Life and Liberty we are to fight against the powers of darkness every where as the Lord calleth us forth And this we are to do in his wisdom according to his will in his
with the Light you will see the Kingdom of Heaven within which never gave consent to Sin and Evil like to a grain of Mustard-seed and to a Leaven which leaveneth into a New Lump And with the Light you will see the Field which is the World placed in your hearts where the Pearl is hid and with what you must dig to find the Pearl the Power of God and what you must sell for its sake to purchase the Field And waiting in this Light you will receive the Spirit of Truth the Comforter to to lead you into all Truth and to bring the Words which Christ hath spoken to your remembrance and it will shew you things to come and it shall receive of those which are Christs and give it unto you So loving the Light you love Christ and receiving it you receive Christ the first and the last For in the Light Christ is seen and handled his Voyce is heard and he is followed So in the Light you will see Christ to be your Teacher who saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life by whom Life Eternal is given And you are brought again to Christ the Shepherd who draws you out of the Fall to God into his Image where the Green Pastures of Life are known and fed upon And no man commeth to the Father saith Christ but by me who enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World that by the Light all may believe And saith Christ Believe in the Light whilst ye have the Light that you may be Children of the Light So you being enlightned with the Light which if you believe in it you come to be Children of the Light and Heirs of Promise and Mercy and of the Power of a Life that hath no End And believing in the Light you pass from Death to Life from Darkness to Light and you come to know a Translation from Darkness to Light and from Satans Power to the Power of God and to know the begotten of God into his own Image by his Power as you have been degenerated from God and have lost his Image by the Prince of Darkness and so translated from the Image of God into the Image of Satan from the Power of Christ into the Power of Darkness so you must come to the Light that ye may have another Conversion from Satans Power to God from Darkness to Light to be renewed into the Image of God and this is felt within and as you feel this within you will know the Word of God within in your hearts which is the Word of Faith which the Apostles preached to the Romans which they were to hear obey and do And that is the Word which seperates the pretious from the vile your pretious thoughts affections motions and words from your vile So the Word is in your Hearts and Mouthes to obey it and to do it And it is quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword And you shall not need to say Who shall bring it from Heaven or who shall fetch it from beneath But it is in the Heart and Mouth and this is the Word of Faith which the Apostles preached And the same Word is called a Hammer a Sword and a Fire to beat down to cut down and to burn up whatsoever is contrary to it So it is the same Word which sanctifieth and purifieth and reconcileth to God as beats down and cuts down that which is contrary to God and which seperates betwixt you and God So you may hear obey and do the Word for it is with you in all places and in all your occasions dividing good thoughts from bad good words and motions from bad For if all Christendom would hear and obey the Word in their Hearts which is pure and lives and remaines and endures for ever by which they would come to be born again of the Immortal Seed this Word would keep them from evil Actions and Words which are spoken and acted by them And so by the Word every one should be taught and should know the engrafted Word which is able to save the Soul which beats down and cuts down and burns up that which wars against it and keeps the Soul from the enjoyment of God And so in this Word they should know the annointing in themselves to teach them so that they should not need any man to teach them but as the same annointing teacheth them which teacheth Truth in all things And in this Light and Word which is in the heart they should know the New Covenant of God the Law written in the heart and put in their mindes by which they should not have need to say one to another Know the Lord for all should know him from the least even to the greatest And those are true Christians who come to witness this as thousands in England do witness it in this his Day among whom the pretious Pearl is found and the Field is bought among whom the Law of the Spirit of Life sets free from the Law of Sin and Death Who witness the Ages to come of which the Apostle spoke In which the kindness and exceeding riches of the Grace of God should be manifested again which the Lord in the Primitive Times made manifest amongst the Apostles who sat together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus In which places thousands are now come to sit Glory be to him for ever I. Concerning WORSHIP The Promise of Redemption is from that State in which Adam and Eve their Sons and Daughters are in the Fall driven from God into a State in which they were before they were driven from God to the Church in God Now they that sit down in a State driven from God are People far off from the Church in God Our Worship is in Spirit and in Truth in which the Devil abode not but is out of it who is the Author of strife and unrighteousness amongst People which Truth maketh the Devil to bow and cringe yea and destroys him and it is the Spirit that mortifies sin which makes the Separation from God Now we say that if all Christendom had worshipped God in Spirit and in Truth they had all been in Him out of which the Devil is and had been in the holy Mountain and had felt the Spirit ruling them in their own particulars and had felt the Spirit of Truth guiding and teaching them in them in their own hearts II. Concerning the CHURCH Our Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which he Redeems with his own blood without spot or wrinkle or deformity or any such thing which blood we feel in our Hearts purging us from all sin with which blood we feel our Consciences cleansed from dead works to serve the Living God So this blood is witnessed in us and the excellency thereof by which we come to know the price of Redemption III. Concerning the WAY We say that Christ is Our Way which is Light which enlighteneth you and
learned Christ would not that have been against Joel's Prophesie but Paul did not so for he cites the Law and saith as also saith the Law But the Priests are blind and cannot see what the Woman is that was not permitted under the Law nor under the Gospel to speak For the Law did not forbid Miriam and those Women that Prophesied and were Prophetesses Judg. 4.3 4 5 6. Luke 2.36 And was it not a Woman that was sent by Christ that first did preach his Resurrection to his Disciples they that would stop Christ from sending Women now who are witnesses of his Resurrection they be of another spirit and also they are of another spirit then Moses was of who said he would that all the Lord's People were Prophets and were all the Lords People Men and no Women amongst them it appears that Moses would not stop any either Male or Female among the Lords People but the Priests and many more are of another mind but that mind is not the mind of Christ and therefore we matter it not what it either leads to say or affirm seeing they will be wilfull And seeing it is written in the first Language of Greek out of which the English was translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifies both Man and Woman and in Latine hic haec homo which doth signifie both man and Woman and in John 1.1 9. where it is said The Word which was with God was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world which word Man signifieth both Man and Woman and as it maketh no difference in the enlightening neither doth it in their speaking But that the simple may not be deceived by them many things have been and are written for their sakes more then for the sakes of such opposers who go after their own deceived heart and will not be warned and so the Lord lets many of them alone to whose righteous Judgments I leave them who will plead with them for what they have done against him who by their Sophistry and subtil Insinuations have turned aside the simple out of the way of Truth W. D. CONCERNING The SUM or SUBSTANCE OF OUR RELIGION Who are called QUAKERS And the Exercise Travels of our Spirits therein THIS is the Sum or Substance of our Religion to wit to feel and discern the two Seeds the Seed of Enmity the Seed of Love the Seed of the Flesh the Seed of the Spirit the Seed of Hagar the Seed of Sarah the Seed of the Egyptian womb the holy Seed of Israel and to feel the Judgments of God administred to the one of these till it be brought into bondage and death and the other raised up in the Love and mercy of the Lord to live in us and our Souls gathered into it to live to God in it Now when the Light of Gods holy Spirit breaketh in upon man and his quickning vertue is felt then life enters into that which was slain and there is a desire begotten in the heart to travel out of the Egyptian state into the good Land that the Soul which came from God might return back again to him out of the sinfull wandring miserable lost estate and might live and walk with him in the purity vertue and power of his own Life and Spirit But then the other birth strives for its life and Pharoaoh the King of Egypt takes part with his Egyptians against Israel and there is no help to the poor soul but as God pours out his Judgments upon that hard nature and spirit in man which is of the Birth of the Flesh and receives the influences and strength of its father which harden it against the true Seed And now what a condition is this poor Soul in the Light of Gods Spirit giveth it the sence of its state and the quicknings of Life make it sensible of its bondage there are also some desires and longings after deliverance but this doth but provoke the Enemy and the Soul being yet in his Territories and under his power he dealeth the more hardly with it increasing its burdens and oppressions daly And O the out-cries of the Soul in this state how is its spirit pained anguished and vexed within it so that it could almost many times chuse rather to lie still in Egypt then undergo the heavy burdens oppressions fears and dangers that it daily meets with in this state Yet there is a Secret hope springing up in the heart from the true Seed which often encourageth it to trust him and wait upon him who hath visited in his pure ministration of Judgment For this is felt many times as the Soul is made truly sensible by the Lord that the Judgment is not to the Seed not to Israel but to Pharaoh and his Egyptians and by every stroke of Gods wrath upon them the Seed is eased and its deliverance working out And so at last when the Judment is finished in the Land of Egypt the strength of Pharaoh and his Egyptians broken their first-born slain out comes Israel out of the Dark Land out of the House of Bondage to travel towards its resting place Then the Paschal Lamb is known and fed on yea it is because of the Blood of the Lamb sprinkled upon the Door-posts that Israel is passed over and saved in the day of Egypts visitation O who can read this truly that hath not felt and been a living witness thereof But now when the seed is come out of Egypt there is not the end but rather the beginning of its Travels Pharaoh and his Egyptians with their Horses aâ—d Chariots may pursue again and even overtake and there may seem no way of escape or help to the Soul but only to stand still hope in the â—ord and wait to see his Salvation Then shall the Sea be divided which stopped Israels course and Pharaoh with his Egyptians the Enemies of the soul in this appearance of dreadful opprssieng power be destroyed and seen no more Yet in the willdernes in the passage through the entangelements to the holy Land there are many straits trials and sore Enemies to be met with who will strive by open force and also with enchantements to betray Israel yeâ— there is a part yet unbrought down yet unwrought out at which they will be striving to enter the mind And as Israel forgets his God walking out of his Counsel hearkning to that which his ear should be shut against and so joyning to the contrary Seed the Plagues the Judgments the Indignation and wo will be felt by him and many Carkases may fall there So that there may be a great outcry in the heart Who can stand before this holy Lord God shall we be consuming with dying yes there is somewhat must be consumed with dying Yea if a man came so far as to witness dominion and victory over his Souls Enemies the evil Seed brought into death in him and a possession and inheritance in the pure rest
of Life yet if that part be not kept in the death if there be not a praying and watching to the Preserver of Israel in the pure fear and humility the Enemy will be sowing to the Flesh again he will be getting some of his corrupt Seed into the heart again if the Soul do but sleep and become negligent and so corruption will take root again and the contrary Birth grow up again and the Foxes break into the Vineyard and spoil the tender grapes So that this is our Religion to witness the two Seeds with the Power of the Lord bringing down the one and bringing up the other and then to witness and experience daily the same Power keeping the one in Death and the other in Life by the holy ministration of Gods pure living Covenant And so to know God in this Covenant in this Covenant which lives gives Life and Keeps in Life and to walk with God and worship and serve him therein even in his Son in the Light of his Son in the Life of his Son in the vertue and ability which flows from his Son into our Spirits this is our Religion which the Lord our God in his tender mercy hath bestowed upon us And indeed we find this to be a pure living and undefiled Religion before God daily witnessing his acceptance of it in and through his Son whose Name is here known and confessed worshipped and honoured according to the very heart of the Father This may be further illustrated and perhaps made more manifest to some by a Scripture or two The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary one to the other saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 Here are the two Seeds the Seed of the Serpent the Seed of the woman whose striving and fight is in man when God awakens the Soul the one whereof hath a nature a desire or lust contrary to the other Now as the one of these prevails in any heart so the other goes down As the one gains Life and Power so the other is brought into Death and Captivity so that this is it every one is to wait for after they once come to the sensible knowledge and experience of these two to feel the Flesh brought down the lusts of it denied the Judgments of the Lord administred to it that so the other may come up to live thrive and prevail in the Soul and so the Soul witness Salvation and Redemption under its shadow Thus Sion is Redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness Isa 1.27 What is Sion Is it not the holy Hill of God whereon his Son is set King to reign whereon the holy City is to be built and God to be worshipped in Spirit What condition is Sion in when God visits her to redeem her Is she not laid wast desolate lying in the dust as Psal 102.13 14. Well how will God redeem her Zion shall be redeemed with Judgement and her Converts with Righteousness By bringing Judgements upon that which keeps her under upon her Enemies the contrary Seed God redeems her and by bringing forth Righteousness the righteous Life and Spirit of his own Son in those whose minds are turned to her whose faces are set Sion-ward thus God redeems her Converts Yes yes it is truly felt and witnessed The living Righteousness of Christ revealed in the heart and having power there sets free from all unrighteousness which was there before And then when the unrighteous one is cast out and the righteous one is revealed and the Soul united to him and receives virtue and power from him then he becomes a Servant of Righteousness and doth not commit sin but doth righteousness And he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous 1 John 3.7 For how can it be otherwise when the righteous Life is revealed and brought up into dominion in him How can the same righteous Spirit and Life revealed in the members as was in the head but live and act after the same manner in the members as it did in the head O that men were turned to that which would give them the certain knowledge and sensible experience of this Now this is exceeding comfortable and precious to them that are in the true travel towards it much more to them that enjoy it This is the sum of all even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death and kept in death what to be brought up out of the grave to live to God and reign in his dominion and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to reign Now to experience it thus done in the heart the Flesh brought down the Seed of Life raised and the Soul subject to the pure heavenly Power whose right it is to reign in the heart in and by the Seed this is a blessed state indeed for here the work is done here the Throne of God is exalted and his King reigns in righteousness and peace and all his Enemies are under his feet and this Soul this true Israelite this redeemed one may wear the white Robe and serve God in righteousness and holiness without fear of his Enemies keeping in and to the Covenant which ministers Life and Power abundantly all the dayes of his life For that was to be the outward state of the outward Israel keeping to God in the outward Covenant and it is to be the inward state of the inward Israel keeping to God in the inward Covenant which is a pure Covenant of life and Peace of all inward and spiritual blessings and mercies in Christ wherewith the Souls are blessed that are obedient to God and walk humbly with him in this Covenant And I beseech you to consider O tender people who are grieved because of sin and corruption in your hearts and would fain witness victory and dominion over it in the Name and Strength of the Lord Jesus Christ whom did that prophesie of Zachary Luke 1.71 72 74 75. concern what was that holy Covenant who were to be so redeemed who were the Israel that was to inherit this promise All the Promises are yea and amen in Christ to the Israel of God Why should not the Israel of God hope to enjoy this even so to be acquainted with Gods holy Spirit and to wait upon him that they may witness it granted to them that they being delivered out of the hands of their Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him whose eyes are piercing and behold no iniquity all the dayes of their lives Surely they who witness that promise mentioned Isa 35.8 fulfilled to them cannot fall short of this And truly the Children of the New Covenant can never come throughly to live to God till they witness the inward Circumcision of the Heart so as to love the Lord with all the Heart and Soul Deut. 30.6 Now where it is so the Devil or Lust can find no place of entrance
and Demonstration of Gods holy Spirit or is thy own understanding and will at work of it self in searching into the Scriptures If the wrong birth the wrong wisdom the wrong understanding be at work it can gather but that which will feed and strengthen it self and if thou beest not in Christ and dost not read in Christ the vail is not taken away from thee for the vail is only done away in him but thou readest and walkest in the oldness of thy apprehensions upon the Letter and not in the newness of the Spirit and so knowest neither the Scriptures nor the Power of God what ever thou professest to men or dreamest concernning thy self For it is no other indeed Thy knowledge thy apprehensions thy faith thy hope thy peace thy joy being out of the compass of the pure living Truth in which the Substance the vertue the kernel of all is comprised and comprehended for ever are but as so many dreams O that men that are any whit tender and have any sincere desires in them towards the Lord could read that one Scripture Psal 43.3 4. sensible and experimentally O send out thy Light and thy Truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles what did not David know how to go to the Hiâ—l and Tabernacles of God without a particular sending forth of Light and Truth from God to lead him thither Then may men go unto the Altar of God unto God their exceeding joy and witness his Hill and House their dwelling-place when God by his Light and Truth sent forth from him into them leads them thither The Scriptures are words whose chief end drift and service is to bring men to the Word from which the Scriptures came And when men are there then they are in the Life of the Scriptures and witness the fulfilling of the Scriptures even the executing of the righteous judgments of God upon that spirit mind and nature in them which is contrary to his image and the fulfilling of the Promises and sure Mercies which belong to Christ the Seed and to them who are gathered into and abide in Christ the Seed Here 's the Covenant the new Covenant That which is said or those things which are said concerning the Covenant in the Scriptures are but descriptions of the new Covenant but Christ within the Hope of glory the Spirit within the Fear within the Power of Life within breaking down and reigning over the power of sin and death so that the Lord is served in the dominion and power of his own Life in righteousness and holiness before him out of the fear of sin and death all the dayes of our lives so that captivity can lead captive nor break the Souls peace no more nay not so much as make afraid those that keep their Habitation on Gods holy Mountain here is the Covenant indeed the strength and vertue whereof is witnessed in the Soul as the Soul feels the power of Life revealed in it and is made subject by the power to Christ who reigns in righteousness love mercy and Peace in the hearts of those whom he redeems out of the earthly nature and spirit up to the Mind and Spirit of his Father And here the Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs the pure Songs the Song of Moses the Song of the Lamb are sung to the Father of Spirits to the Redeemer of Israel which never were sung nor can be sung in any part of Babylon but all those Songs are but Dreames of the night which will be turned into howling and bitter lamentation when the whore that which hath whored from God and is not in the wisdom of his Spirit what ever she may pretend is stripped and the nakedness of her Profession and Religion with all her Duties and Ordinances as she calls them made manifest Concerning the GOSPEL MINISTRATION IF the Gospel be not a Ministration of Words or Letters but of the Spirit Life and Power and if it was the intent of God that men should not stick in Word or Testimonies concerning the things but come to the thing it self and live in the Sons Life and Power and feel the Son living in them Then they are greatly mistaken who think to gather a Rule to themselves out of the Testimonies and Declarations of things in the Scriptures and do not wait upon the Lord to receive the Spirit it self to become their Rule Guide and Way For these are all one The Truth is the Way The Truth which lives and abides in the heart where it is received and entertained is the Way the Rule is the Guide For God is one There are many names but the thing is one The Life the Power the Wisdom in the Father Son and Spirit is all one yea they themselves are one Perfectly one not at all devided or separated but where the Father is the Son is and where the Son is the Spirit is and where the Spirit is there is both the Father and the Son who tabernacle in man in the day of the Gospel And where these are there that is which is to be preferred before all words which was afore them and is in Nature Spirit and Glory above them He that hath the Son hath Life even the Life Eternal which the words testifie of He that hath the Son hath him which is true and he that is in the Son is in him that is true and abiding there cannot be deceived but he that is not there is deceived let him apprehend and gather out of the Scriptures what he can O how is God glorified and how is Redemption and real Salvation of the Soul witnessed in this dispised Dispensation of Truth which God hath held forth in these latter dayes Blessed be the Name of the Lord who hath hid this pure dispensation of Life from the eye of the prudent worldly wise part in every man revealing it only to the babish simplicity which is of his Son and which lives in him and by him Concerning Christs being manifested without and His being also manifested within and how both are owned by them that know the Truth IT is objected against us who are called Quakers That we deny Christ and look not to be saved by him as he was manifested without us but look only to be saved by Christ in us To which this is in my heart to answer to such as singly desire satisfaction therein We do indeed expect to be saved yea and not only so but do already in our several measures witness Salvation by the revelation and operation of the Life of Christ within us yet not without relation to what he did without us For all that he did in that Body of Flesh was of the Father and had its place and service in the Will and according to the Counsel of the Father But the knowledg and beliefe of that since the dayes of the Apostles hath been very much held in the unrighteousness and in the separation
from the inward work of the Power and Life of Christ in the heart which as so held cannot save any But whoever feels the Light and Life of Christ revealed in him and comes into union with God there-through he feels the work of Regeneration of Sanctification of Justification of Life and Redemption and so comes to reap benefit inwardly and to partake of the blessed fruits of all that Christ did outwardly Yea he that is thus one with Christ in the Spirit cannot exclude himself nor is excluded by God from the advantage of any thing nor every thing Christ did in that body of Flesh This indeed is the main thing to witness Salvation wrought out in the heart to witness the eternal Power and Arm of the Lord laying hold on the Soul to save it and not only laying hold on it to save it but to witness the working out and the effecting of the Salvation as really in the Substance as Israel of old did in the shadow For as they witnessed Moses and Joshua outwardly so the true Israelite the inward Israelite the spiritual Israelite is to witness that which is the Substance of these even the Son of God revealed inwardly Now they were not saved outwardly by a baâ—e outward believing that Moses and Joshua were sent of God to save them but by following them in faith and obedience to what from God they required So to the inward Israel Christ is given for a Leader and Commander who appears to the distressed embondaged Soul in Egypt brings out of Egypt and so leads on towards the good Land and into it Now as the Soul followes as the Soul believes in his Appearances and obeys his voice in the holy pure Covenant of Life so he works out the Redemption thereof But as unbelief and disobedience gets up and the heart is heardened at any time against his Voice and Counsel and the ear open to the temtaptions of the Enemy the Redemption thereby goes backward and the distress and captivity returns again This is witnessed known and experienced by ever true Traveller towards Sion Therefore the main thing requisite is to abide in the sence of the Redeemers Power as also in waiting for his motions and apperances and in the Faith and Obedince thereof For sin gathers strength and is brought forth by letting in and giving way to the motions thereof and so also Holiness and Righteousness is brought forth and getteth ground in the mind by harkening and giving up to the stirrings and movings of Gods holy Spirit Therefore it is of great necessity to every true Traveller to come to a right understanding and distinguishing of these and then that the heart be kept with all diligence because out of it are the issues both of life and and death And most happy is he who knows the issues of death stopped and the issues of Life opened and whose spirit is naked and open before the Lord for Life to spring up in him and issue forth through him at its pleasure O it is a precious state to witness Captivity led Captive by Life and the power of Life reigning over it And truly there is as real deliverance witnessed inwardly by those that wait upon the Lord and are faithfull to the leadings of his holy Spirit as ever there was by the Jews outwardly in their faithfull following Moses and Joshua and Christ is as truly an Healer of his People in this ministration of Life to them by his holy Spirit as ever he was an Healer of Persons out wardly in the dayes of his Fesh That with the other Miracles which he wrought then was but a shadow of what he would work and perform inwardly in the day of his Spirit and holy Power and shall he or can he to those that faithfully wait upon him fall short in the one of what he shadowed out in the other Nay surely it was the intent of his heart and he will not fail to perform it to save to the very utmost all that come to God by him and abide in his holy pure righteous living Covenant Here is the skill of Christianity to abide in him and here the living Virtue and pure Power is felt which overcometh all but nothing can overcome it but Victory Dominion Glory Majesty and Power is sung unto him who is King of Saints who reigns in righteousness and who establisheth Peace and Truth within his Borders A few words concerning the the Principle of Truth What it is How it may be discerned and how it may be purchased and possessed QUest 1. What is the Principle of Truth Answ It is the Light which reproves and makes sin manifest Whatsoever doth make manifest is Light Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest arise from the dead c. Eph. 5.13.14 There is no other way of awaking out of sleep and arising from the the dead but by the Light which makes sin manifest And O how pretious is that Light Quest 2. How may the Principle of Truth be discerned Answ By its piercing quickning nature which discovereth it self in its appearances and operations For it appears and works not like mans reason or like motions of his mind which he takes into his understanding part but it appears and works livingly powerfully and effectually in the heart Mans reason is corrupt dark impure since the fall and in the hand and under the power of the wicked one It s nature is to hide and cover sin not to discover it Now the Light of the Law which discovers sin ariseth not hence Who can bring the clean pure light of the Law out of the unclean impure Reason of man The Light indeed may shine in the Darkness but it is no part of it but of another nature and descent It is from Gods Spirit and given to man in his love unto him to lead him out of his dark wayes and spirit into the pure Spirit and way of Holiness For the Light which discovers sin is all holy and pure like the Fountain from whence it comes Now a man that is acquainted both with Reason and with this Light he can distenguish the Nature and operations of both For there is a great difference between TRUTH held in the Reasoning part and TRUTH held in its own Principle It is very powerful in the one it effecteth little in the other In the pure quickenings of Life this distinction is perceived and also held Therefore our advice is to all men to retire from all mortality that they may come to feel the Spring of Life in themselves and something springing therefrom into them to quicken them and to wait to have their understandings opened and kept open by that that so they may receive retain and not again lose the capacity of understanding the things of Gods Kingdom Quest 3 How may this Principle Seed or Pearl be purchased and possessed Answ By dying to a mans own wisdom and will There is not another way For the Light is wholly contrary
deny before his Father in Heaven O I beseech you do not trifle about these things for they are exceeding weighty lest ye perish from the way for missing of the Saviour ye must needs also miss of the Salvation O that ye knew your state as God knows it to be and as it is certainly known and felt in the measure of his Life and holy Spirit by those whom God hath gathered together and whose eyes he hath opened and preserveth open there Glory be to his Name therefore Yea Glory Glory Glory and everlasting Praises be sung to him throughout all the holy Land ye in the very heights of Sion by the Souls of the Redeemed from henceforth and for evermore Amen whose Mercy Love Grace Wisdom Power and rich Goodness remaineth and endureth for ever by and in which the Redeemed live to his Praise who have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb whose Blood they know what it is and none else knoweth it but they who feel the sprinkling and virtue of it Lo this is our God we have waited for him and how can we but be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation O let all that live by the breath of thy Power and drink of thy Streams sing praise unto Thee and exalt thy great and wonderful Name for ever and ever A brief Testimony for Truth by Tho. Tayler I Shall add somewhat of the Testimony which is written in my heart by the finger of Gods Spirit concerning the People called Quakers Indeed they have met with many reproaches and sore oppositions many wayes since they were a People but notwithstanding all their Bow abides in strength and the hands of their arms have been made strong against the wicked one with all his devices in his several kinds of instruments and their Light is still the same and their God the same who blesseth them from day to day even in the midst of all the revilings slanders persecutions and curses which they have met with from men without and in the midst of all the temptations inward trials and afflictions also which are often met with inwardly Yea we know him to be our God and cannot but trust him having found him to be faithfull to us hitherto and knowing his nature to be such that he cannot but continue his loving-kindness and faithfulness to all who are gathered by him in to his holy inward spiritual Covenant of Life and Peace and who dwells with him therein And truly we are fully satisfied and at rest in him and cannot desire another then he who hath redeemed our Souls from death given us Life brought us out of the Pit wherein was no water into a large place set our feet upon a rock a rock indeed and establisheth our goings in the path of holyness working all our works in us and for us by his Spirit and Power Yea we have the Witness in our hearts even the Witness which never erred nor can deceive which testifieth to and with our spirits our Sonship so that we do not imagine our selves sons from apprehensions upon Scriptures but we feel our selves sons in the true sensibleness and know who David is and reap and inherit the sure mercies of David daily O blessed be our Father O blessed for ever be the Father of Life who feeds who nourishes who waters Who refreshes with the Bread of Life and with the pure living water his Lambs his Babes his plants his tender ones of whom he is daily tender and who are daily tender of his Name and Honour And if any man preach another God then he who creates anew in the true Light and therein puts forth his arm of Salvation Death and Destruction and the Curse are his portion from the hand of the Lord. THE Conclusion GLorious was the Estate of the Church before the Apostacy for Purity of Doctrine for holy Order and Discipline for Love to God one to another and to all men even of Enemies for Faith in God for the Presence and Power of his Spirit among them insomuch as the unbeliever coming among them might find his heart and state reached to and be forced to confess and report that God was in them of a truth for singleness and uprightnesse of Heart meekness and innocency of Spirit and Conversation for zeal for God and his Truth suffering the spoiling of their Goods Imprisonments Stripes and many other wayes both from the Heathen and also from the professing Jews who had been the Church once O what shall I say concerning the beauty and loveliness of that State Ye that would know it O wait to feel it in that which giveth the true sence of it But over this glorious State came a dark thick corrupt night wherein the Kernel was lost and the Shell defaced wherein the House which had been swept and garnished became again recovered and possessed by the wicked spirit And how great hath this darkness been O what a kind of Church hath appeared in the World wherein the spirit of Enmity hath dwelt and acted in men under the Name of Christianity So that instead of loving and seeking the good of Enemies they are ready to rend and tear one another for every little difference and will be Lords over mens Faith requiring men to Practice things in Religeon before the Spirit of the Lord teacheth them so to do which the Apostles did not For though they had from God the express knowledge of what was Truth and could certainly instruct and build men up therein yet they were not Lords over mens Faith but if men were otherwise minded then according to what they knew and taught they could wait and bear with them bidding them walk so far as they had attained and God in his due time would reveal the rest also O that men were come to this Spirit again Then they would be Christians indeed and then they might be known to be Christs Disciples by their loving the Brethren and fellow-Disciples But without this love mens Religion is but as a tinkling Cimbal making a noise and sound of somewhat but not having the true Nature or Virtue of Religion in it Now will it not be a glorious Day when the Spirit of the Lord cleanseth away this thick darkness and causeth the Light of his pure Truth to arise and appear again Why there is such a Day to be wherein the true Church which was reproached and driven into the Wilderness is to come out of the Wilderness again and her Witnesses stand on their feet again and her Seed to spring up in the Power of Life following the Lamb who marcheth on fighting with the Sword of the Spirit the words of his mouth conquering and to conqeur thereby the corrupted Antichristian World even as he did at first the corrupt Heathenish World The Lord will purifie his Temple and cleanse the World by the Plagues of his Angels which he hath prepared making way for the beauty of his Truth and the Church of his gathering wherein he