in order and he is a Christian and not an Infidel for all Infidels are unfaithful to the Light and so neglect their own houses and take no care for their own family and their house is out of order and their family is not provided for and there is no peace in that house for when man's eye opens into the world he lets his enemies into his house and they sit and rejoyce over him there the lust of the Eye goeth forth and the pride of Life exalteth and ruleth and in that part all envy and malice and evil-will is begotten and nourished and there the seed of the evil-doet hath his authority and from his power proceeds all unrighteousness all the bad thoughts words and deeds it is the very Womb of cruelty and the Breast that nourisheth the persecuting Birth and whilest this is entertained that peace of the house is disturbed and all the family is out of order and such a man is worse than an Infidel who takes not care of his own family but le ts in enemies and entertains them and so harbours that which disquieteth his family and destroyes it and then his own house being filled with enemies and they sitting in authority over him he becomes actually disposed by them and in their nature he appears against others and so envy and malice and evil-will and cruelty and persecution is brought forth and from the strength of darkness within it comes to be executed upon the innocent without and this is the wicked state unto which there is no peace but the righteous rejoyce in God and in his Love their peace is sealed Now the Light being loved the house comes to be cleansed and all the old rubbish of envy and malice purged out for the Power comes to have an operation in all that believe and by its working it kills the lust of the eye and cuts down the pride of Life and slayes the perverse Nature in every part and roots out the man of Sin and brings down the Throne of Antichrist and so the Seed of God riseth and the water of cleansing is felt and the little leaven is known that worketh all into a new lump so that the heart and mind becomes clean and the inward parts are washed and here Christ is known in his power and his fan is felt to go in man and the fire is felt that burns the chaffe and for this end is Christ made manifest and thus doth he come to man in the fall his judgement is with him yea it goes before him to cut down the seed of the evil-doer but they who abide the day of his coming or who stand before him when he thus appeareth who love his refining hand and turn not their back upon him or who abide the furnace until the work be perfected by him Oh his appearance is dreadful whilst the wicked standeth but his mercy is sweet when the wicked is removed And thus to be regenerated is a work beyond man 's own reason and thus to be renewed and changed is a state not to be comprehended and who comes to the putting off their old things they are ready to receive new and so passes from death to life in the translation and then they are born again of incorruptible Seed in which Seed the Gospel is known and Gospel-Peace possessed and there is Christ in his power over all he rules in the family and all the house is in good order and plentifully provided for and he fills that house with his peace and all the family have fulness of joy in his presence Here a man is in Christ and is a Christian and then he is no more his own but in the Life he is disposed and all his fruits appear for God Love is become his Garment and Meekness the Girdle of his Loins and this is the Birth born of God and to do his will it doth delight to love enemies is its nature and it can feed them when they hunger and give them drink when they thrist it cannot revile when it is reviled it cannot seek revenge when it is persecuted for it is born of Love and in love is naturally disposed and this is the man that is after God who is regenerated by the power of God and is born of the Seed of God which Seed is holy pure and perfect which Seed is Christ the Wisdom and Righteousness of God and as he is in himself so he is made the same to all that are born of him then man with his virtues becomes cloathed and is holy as he is holy in which holinesse God is seen and in this pure holy life of Christ the pure Religion is known a Religion undefiled mark Christ undefiled the Religion undefiled and that Religion that is not so is none of his for the pure Religion standeth in him and all his fresh springs open in it the heavenly water of Life is felt and known and his Streames run and cease not the Lord God doth open his Fountain the strength of his love goes forth the River cleanseth the Valleys and the sweetness of its virtue is felt from sea to sea the strength of it is very great and the banks with its fulness is ready to break this Religion flourisheth in the Life and in the Life it stands firm for ever and of its heavenly virtue there is no end And here is the standing Truth in which Truth Christ is fed upon and the meat that endures to everlasting life is known This is the Bread that comes down from heaven which if a man eat he shall never die and except man eat of this he hath no Life in Christ and in this all changable things have their end he puts that part down out of which the many Religions arise and so they decay and wax old but he endures the same for ever and brings in a standing Religion in his own nature and in this Religion there is no strife nor envy nor persecution for that is Cain's mark but love and peace and good will to all men the love that overcomes Cain's nature and races out his mark and proclaims Peace on earth and Good-will amongst men Here is Christ manifested in the Fathers Love and he would not the death of a sinner this is his mind and a sinner is conttary to his pure Nature in which there is no sin Then they have not the Mind of Christ that will Kill and Persecute about Religion and Oppress those that are contrary minded that is the work of Antichrist where ever it is and such are not redeemed out of the World but lives in it and with that part slays the Lamb and crucifies the holy One and that is spiritual Sodom and Egypt where the Just suffers for man not being redeemed hath a part standing that doth not regard the Innocency but rules over it and there man is wise in his own eyes and with that part he is lifted up and under that part doth the Innocent
passing from Death to Life and Christ Jesus is then known and Life in him and so an innocent birth is born of the Seed of God and man rises in Christ and becomes an heir of Life and blessing and then he knowes the Kingdom and the Inheritance and there he possesses the Peace and the Joy and then the Seed manifests its perfect beauty in its own perfect righteousness and perfect holiness and the glory of it spreads abroad and this is a state which can never be compassed nor attained but as in it self it is revealed for the strongest Reason of man is below it and the deepest of his Wisdom cannot fatham it nor compass it neither is there any other way to possesse it but through death to all that part which would compass it and comprehend it therefore every man to become a fool that he may be wise and if People would but come to such a state they might behold the son in his beauty and the glory of his incomprehensible Life and Wisdom which many are come to witness to his praise for evermore And all that would be answered with Peace must come to the simple state for the subtil searcher createth grief and trouble and therefore every man and woman to deny themselves and receive Christ Jesus in the despised way of the Cross that he may baptize them into his death and raise them again in his own Life and then his Life and Power and Wisdom spreads abroad and his kingdom over all is set and there is rest from labour and sitting down in perfect peace The Inheritance known in the Kingdom the Possession known in the Riches of it then man knows his portion in God who is the Fountain of everlasting good I thank the O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent of the world and hust revealed them unto babes even so Father because thy good pleasure is such A Narrative of some unjust and cruel Dealings c. I Having received the Truth of God and coming to walk in obedience to it and to live it I came to be convinced by it of the unlawfulness of many things that in times past I had practised and observed and amongst divers other things I was convinced in my Conscience of the unlawfulness of Tythes and being so convinced I duely considered them in the ground because I would not keep back any thing from another that might be his right And waiting in that which did convince me of the unlawfulness of them it was manifested to my understanding that the ground of them under the Gospel was wholly out of the truth and besides if any man had a due in such a part of my estate as was under the Law when such a part was due to certain People and for certain uses yet I found that the same use was not made of that part now neither were they such a People that now in divers places did receive them for under the Law they were paid into the Storehouse and the Levites had one part and the Fatherless and the Stranger and the Widows they were relieved with another part so that the Store-house did supply the necessity of many and there was not an Impropriator known in that day to have his own private Barn to gather his Tythes into and dispose of them to his own private use But besides this great disproportion betwixt Tythes under the Law and the use of them then and Tythes at this day and the use of them now I also was convinced that Christ Jesus was come to be the end of the Law and the end of that Priesthood and the Priesthood being changed there is of necessity a change of the Law and that by Christ Jesus Life and Immortality was brought to light through the Gospel and that a free dispensation was now to be enjoyed and lived in And still waiting to understand these things perfectly I came to know my own freedom by the power of Truth in my own heart and the Truth set me free from that state where I had been in bondage and so I was gathered by the Light of Christ Jesus manifest in my Conscience into the love of God where he opened his Fountain and I tasted the freeness of his grace and of his Mercy and in this dispensation the Son of God was revealed in me and then I knew the Law to be fulfilled by him and all the Types and Figures and Shadows and variable Things to pass away and come to their end then was my Understanding perfectly informed concerning the particular case of Tythes and I was clear in my Understanding that no Commandment stood in force for the continuing of them but by Christ Jesus the Law and the Commandment was fulfilled and that no man had any right either to give or sell to another any part of that increase which the Lord increased unto me and was truly the fruit of my own labour and charge And upon this ground I could not for Conscience-sake towards God observe that Practise or Custom of Tythes any longer though before I had done it with great diligence yet now I could not set out any part of that to another which I was satisfied was my own but I did mind to gather my corn as it came into order without taking notice of any man And William Pocklington of North Collingham was at that time the Farmer by Lease from the Impropriator of that part called Tythes within that place where I had corn growing but this is to be noted how that he had assigned the interest of his Lease unto Anthony Pocklington his Brother as the said Anthony told me himself and as there was sufficient cause to believe it for the said Anthony was in Possession and did gather the Tythes for his own use by which it did evidently appear that the present Possession after the manner of the Law did lye in Anthony and not in William Yet notwithstanding the said William caused a Sheriffs Warrant to be brought against me and sued me in his own Name and one John Taylor came into my dwelling house and did arrest my Body at William Pocklington's suit and I desired to see the Warrant and he shewed it unto me and I found the day of appearance to be past according to the Warrant and when I told the said Taylor of it he left me and went his way then the said William procured another Sheriffes Warrant against me and one John White came to my house and did arrest my Body and he gave me time untill the next morning to come to his house at Newark and when I came there I found William Pocklington who would have been drawing of me to Composition and said he would put it to me if I would but give him any thing but I could not consent to give him any thing upon that account whereupon he caused me to be sent to Nottingham Prison and it being mentioned
THE Standing Truth In which may be seen how every ones House is ordered and how their Families are provided and what Peace they have in their Dwellings and whether they be Christians or Infidels With some Directions to the Everlasting Rest ALSO A NARRATIVE OF Some Unjust and Cruel Dealings by William Pocklington of North Collington in the County of Nottingham against William Smith of Besthorp in the same County concerning Tythes And something touching Tythes in the Ground With several Cases stated concerning the Law and concerning the practice in the Law and how the innocent People of God called Quakers have and do suffer in some Cases contrary to the Law and in some Cases through the Illegal Practice in the Law And the Liberty of all that suffer in Bonds for Tythes justly claimed and demanded upon good and sound Grounds from the Law With many other Branches in Particular Cases Which are Published in Love to all People By WILLIAM SMITH LONDON Printed in the Year 1663. TO THE READER READER IN the first part of this Book thou mayest behold the Universal Love of God with the Work of his Power and thou mayest also behold how man comes to be regenerated and washed by the Everlasting Truth and what the state of man is in the Truth and what the state of man is out of the Truth and thou mayest see how Life is attained through Death and how Rest and Peace in Christ Jesus comes to be possessed In the middle part thou mayest behold a Testimony unto the Truth and Enmity and Deceit in opposition to the Truth In the latter part thou mayest behold divers Cases stated by which thou mayest perceive something of the Law and the practice in it and how deeply innocent people suffer for want of Right And these things thou reading over and diligently observing it may overcome thee to chuse the better part and in so doing thou wilt be kept out of all crooked and perverse wayes and not run with those that are wicked nor joyn hands with cruel men And as for the middle part of this Book coming to view it is through a necessity upon me to do good and that Warning may be taken by all who in such cases are concerned for I do not publish that part because I would lay open the faults of any neither to boast or glory over the weakness of any for I have received the Love of God and with that I can cover a multitude of Offences though in the same Love a Necessity is upon me to make such Practices manifest that whosoever is found in them may speedily repent and turn from them and that such as are yet free from them may be preserved out of them that so all may come to finde mercy with the Lord. And now let thy mind be to the Good in thy self and with the Light of Christ Jesus reade this Book thorow and learn of the meek Spirit of God for in that there is no envie so will it teach thee Truth and lead thee into all Truth where thou wilt feel the Everlasting Springs and the pure Streams of clensing and as thou waitest in the Spirit thou wilt feel the Effects of it to be Love and the Virtue of its nature Gentleness and Peace and if thou mindst it to obey it thou mayest do well in which my labour will be answered who desires the well-being of all men W. S. THE Standing Truth c. LOve is of God and by the Light of Christ Jesus the Love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of all that believe for the Light is a manifestation that beameth forth from the Love and in the Light the Love is tendered it is an universal Principle that in its own purity discovereth the world in mans heart for the uiniversality of its manifestation is not inclosed within the compass of any bounds but unto all men it giveth light and makes manifest with its light what is present in every man and in this manifestation the darkness cannot limit it for it is manifest in the universal love of God to give light to all that are in darkness that all in it might believe and come to everlasting Life Now here is the love of God first to man which love being received as in the Light it is manifested then man comes to be drawn with the love of God to love God again and this is perfect love with which love the sinner is sought and for sin reproved wherein the Lord God doth make known his own compassion to a sinner and doth manifest That he would not the death of a sinner but hath given his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And with this light of Christ Jesus is every man enlightened that cometh into the world and by it there is an universal manifestation of the love of God and though the Lord God doth thus manifest his love unto man and hath given to every man a measure of the Light of Christ with which he is enlightened and with which he sees his sin yet man not obeying the Testimony of it he abideth still in darkness and so he errs from the way of Truth and Life and is a wanderer in desart places and takes up his abode in the dark corners of the earth and there sits estranged from God and alienated from his Life and there man suffers bondage and affliction in himself his pain and his sorrow is daily upon him and his anguish and his grief is continually about him for no man can have true peace in his own house untill he come to the Light of Christ with which he is enlightened and after he is turned unto the Light and come into obedience then he hath a war to make and a great battel to fight before he can come to feel his peace setled and sealed for with the Light the body of sin and the body of death is discovered and then mâ—n comes to see how many enemies doth compass him about and how by them he is separated from God then he comes to see what he must war against and what armour he must put on to stand in the battel and what weapon he must take to make way thorow his enemies and by believing in the Light and following the Light he receives strength against his foes and having received the Light he hath received the Love of God and then he stands clad with the whole armour of God and takes the sword of God with which he smiteth to the heart of his enemies and wounds them to death so sees his enemies fall before him and when they are fallen he casts them out and cleanseth his house and then Christ Jesus takes the possession and he brings everlasting peace in with him and this is a wise man whose eye looks to his own house and takes care of his own family such a man loves peace at home and delights to see his family
suffer and that is the part which defiles a man and tosses his mind with the waves of its sea for man can never come to true settlement whilst that part liveth in him that would be wise in knowledge out of the Life and whilst man is there seeking to know and to be satisfied with knowledge that very part comes over him with a vail and blinds his mind from that which he is seeking to know and this part will wrest things according to its own apprehension and from its own apprehension will draw conclusions and that doth thicken the vail upon man's heart but never removes it and man being thus scituate in his own Wisdom and Reason and with that part comprehending he stands at the greatest distance from that through which the things of God are revealed and his mind is not simple to receive the simple Truth but in the subtile wisdom of the flesh and the reason in that part he is striving to comprehend and here many seek but find not ask but receive not they are amiss in themselves and would receive things into that part which God doth never answer and many lye here unsatisfied and many also that satisfie themselves with that which they have comprehended into which their belief is entered though from God that part was never answered and so they build their nests on high and in their wisdom sit puffed up and there the fowls of the aire please themselves with notions with which the just are oppressed Oh how many entertain their enemy in their house how do they harbour him and lodge him and every way seek to please him as the most worthy guest but the best friend may stand and knock and not a door open to let him in Oh that people did but consider their present states how is man filled with that which the enemy brings home and how doth he receive it as the most lovely thing if the old wisdom doth but hunt and the old reason bring it home with what joy is that entertained and how choicely is that treasured up and what pride and glory doth man take in such riches it needs not be answered in words for he that with the Light of Christ will search his own house may find it to be so and receive an answer from the Witness of God in his own Conscience and therefore it is high time for all people of all sorts and sects to awake for time is swift and being past none can make it their own again Oh search with that of God in you that which bears the burden of uncleanness and of all your own righteousness Oh down into the deeps where you never yet have been that you may come to clearness in the bottom and learn the wonders of the Lord in that place and if you love the Light you may see your guests and how with strangers every room of your house is filled and how the Son of Peace and Love is excluded and shut out he is too low for your Wisdom and too mean for your Reason and when he would come in by his Light and beget your love unto him your eye cannot behold any comliness in him and so you exclude him as not worthy of acceptation and he being thus rejected that is holy and meek and just and good what can your houses be filled withal but passion and deceit and envy and malice yea rottenness and hypocrisie is lodged in your rooms and with such guests your houses are filled and there is an unclean house and an unclean heart and mind which God's beesom of judgement must pass thorow before the Son of Peace come into that house to govern So in the universal Love of God here is the Truth laid down as it is in Jesus that all who seek after the Lord God may be informed into the right way and let them mind well what here breefly followeth The Light comes from God and shines in darkness and with the Light darkness is discovered for the Light is not of darkness though it shines in darkness but with its manifestation it sheweth and reproveth darkness with its deeds and that is the first Principle of the pure Religion and the first Step into the way of Peace for to obey the Light is to obey Christ the Power of God and through obedience when the Light reproveth the Power is felt to take away that which is reproved and Judgement is executed upon that Nature which hath transgressed for the Power being minded it begets man into a self-denial and leads him in the daily cross to all that which it doth reprove in him and then the Power crucifies that part down which hath disquieted and troubled man in himself and through the Power man comes to his Peace for the way of the Cross is the way of Peace and the Cross is the Power of God and the Power stands in the way which leads unto Life and self must bow and be humbled unto it and the Cross must be daily taken up to that part which would save its Life and there must not be a turning aside to flie the Cross for that which draweth to do so is darkness and not Light and there is a part in man that is very hardly brought to the Cross and if it be brought unto it it is a very hard thing to keep it there the Life is sweet and would save it self and so the darkness standeth to wrest aside from the Cross and that which wresteth from the Cross doth wrest the Scriptures also unto which it draws the mind and raises up a defence for its Liberty here darkness wresteth and then catcheth and enshareth and the old Wisdom and Reason doth here betray the Innocency and such never come clearly thorow though they may have seen some openings for the Cross being denied and the judgement fled man never comes to be changed but abides in the old nature and what he hath seen afar off he gathers it into the old part and with that unrighteous part he holds the Truth and that is the part which loveth not the Cross but to die is the greatest gain Who have ears to hear let them hear When a man can stand still and eye the Power and the work of the Power in himself then he sees from whence his Salvation cometh and then Christ is known in his Power and received in his Power and there is no reasoning against him which Power is the Cross to every part of the old nature and humbles it down to the death and crucifies the world unto man and man unto the world and there he loses his own Life with all his Wealth and all his old garments are stripped from him and the willing and running ceaseth in him and all his own Wisdom and Reason comes into silence and there he lies before the Power a naked Child and in that state waits for an entrance into a new Life which through the Cross is attained and there is the