A Guide to the Blind Pointed to Or a true TESTIMONY TO THE Light within Wherein some men are reproved others counselled and encouraged but all who are ignorant of their true Guide directed to the path of Life With a Friendly CALL to all Notionists and high Professors of Religion in what Form soever To come speedily down from their Pinacles lest they fall into temptation Also some Queries to the persecuting Ministers of the Church of ENGLAND VVritten for the Truths sake by T.F. The darkness is past the true Light new shineth 1 Joh. 2.8 See therefore that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Eph. 5.15 London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by G. Calvert at the Black-spread Eagle near the west end of Pauls N. Brooks at the Angel in Cornhil 1659. THE PREFACE READER ALthough I have bin for many yeers a true seeker of the kingdom of Heaven yet had I been one who had sate in the seat of the scorner or been disobedient unto the Light or motion of Gods Spirit upon those Waters in me which had neer over-whelmed my Soul I should have remained as most men still do in darkness even until now or else been like unto those who are a sleep in sin neither knowing nor beleeving any other state attainable in this life who yet notwithstanding are bold to say They see But blessed be the Lord God I am not of their unbelief but of that faith which overcomes the World Sin and the Devil Friend If thou art such a one to wit a sinner and beleevest thou canst not be otherwise here and yet will presumptuously say Thouseest Know thou That Christ Iesus came to make thee blind and that those who are blind and sensible of it might see And thou who art a sleep in sin and dead whilest thou livest Arise and listen thou to the voice of Christ and to his knock in thee if thou wilt live to God open the door of thy heart unto him betimes He it is who calls to sinners to be pure and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is He it is who cryed out to Jerusalem to be gathered under his wing and he also if thou will be gathered would gather thee O refuse him not for he it is who hath called me out of darkness into light and caused me to listen to his still voice within me and he it is who calls to thee also to return and live saying to thee as he did to Israel Why will ye die O House of Israel Now that thou mayest know I am none of those that cry Lohere Or Loâ—hers nor of the many Sects and divided Judgments in this Nation I shall briefly tell thee how many by-wayes I have past through and how restless I was in them all till I came to own the light of Christ in me First As to my Education I must tell thee it was such a was in the fear of the Lord into which I admonish thee to hasten and therein continue all the dayes of thy life for I assure thee there is no safety but in that state and in the pure life of innocency from which all men by disobedience are fallen It 's not talking of the holy life but living it that can give thee an entrance into Paradice for the flaming Sword is turned against the transgressor so that he cannot touch the tree of life much-less eat thereof but with the Serpent must feed upon dust all the dayes of his life O Make haste Friend to the life of Obedience and come down from the barren Mountains lest thou die for there is no bread to be had there Consult no longer with the Serpents carnal reasonings in thee nor with his numerous and busie Agents without thee perswading thee that purity is not to be attained here Oh! that thou wouldest consider that the Soul which sinneth must die and that as the tree falls so it lyes that there is no Repentance in the Grave nor any other Way to life but by keeping the Commandments of God Friend Thy Enemy is within thee therefore look at home keep the Watch well there and if thou canst pray that thou enter not into temptation for the Devil now goes about roaring like a Lyon and is seeking whom he may devour Oh! beleeve not those that say The best of Gods Children cannot be free from sin in this life for I declare to thee they are all of the black Army of Satan and for the support of his kingdom are they come to fight and to make War with the Lamb and his followers who walk with him in white Remember thou That without holiness no man shall see God and that the pure in heart and they only can see him And thou who art flown high in thy comprehension of aiery Notions without life thou must descend and dwell in the Low-valley where once thou hadst some sooting for thy safety is there and no where else Come thou into the cool of the day and hear Gods voice unto thee who chargeth thee with eating of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil Thou hast lost thy state of happiness by hearkning to the Woman thy fallen Reason who is not to speak in the Church for thou hast suffered to be marr'd the holy Creation of God in thee and there is no way lest now for thee but to come to Christ Jesus the light of the world and life of man He it is though thou hast despised him because his appearance is low in thee who must repair the breach between God and thee but if thou reject him who is thy light and who would be thy leader thy stare is worse then fallen Adams was thou art now one with the Angel of false light Darkness will be thy portion as it is his for evermore Friend What I have further to say in this Preface may give thee some light of the crooked-wayes thou art not to walk in and therefore shall proceed to give thee an accompt of my wandring steps which the Lord hath now brought to my remembrance even from my Child hood The fear of God I say was before me even from my Youth so that when I was but a School-Boy I durst not omit my Morning and Evening Sacrifice of Prayer to God upon any pretence whatsoever Never did I swear an Oath but once since I was born and that was upon great provocation by a lewd Boy when I was about twelve yeers of age But such was the goodness of God to me then that presently after I had spoken the word I found trouble in my Conscience and condemnation for it many yeers after My Companions were mostly such as were sober and freest from scandal and I can truly say I remembred my Creator in the dayes of my Youth and was a true seeker of the Kingdom of Heaven from such time as I had an understanding to believe there was such a Kingdom to be sought after And when I
come to the truth nor be led by the Spirit of Truth for the Children of God are all guided by the infallible spirit so long as they be faithful followers of it and they live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and talk in the spirit and act in the spirit all which is a Riddle to thee and impossible for any to open unless he have the gift of Faith to believe in the mighty Power of God which is the Son of God Friend whosoever thou art that art of this perswasion I must declare unto thee from the Lord Thy Faith is but Faney thou art still in Aegypt and like to perish in the Wilderness O be perswaded to search the Scriptures and to believe in Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of the Faith of his Disciples of Whom thou art none as thou now stands forbear thou to make mention of the holy and infallible Spirit of Truth which in their several measures all possess who are taught of God until thou are freed from the spirit of Error and come out from the fleshly apprehensions of the Divine Truth to see the infallible things of God by the eye of living Faith and if you come to know the Lord his truth your rotten foundations must be removed and your Faith built upon the Rock of Ages Dost thon think that because thy heart is filled with unbelief of the mighty Power of God and because thou knowest not the secrets of the Lord revealed unto thee in regard thou art not come into his fear that therefore the Lord doth not reveal his secret to any No no thou are miserably deluded and bereft of the right use of thy understanding by Satan and his Minister for know thou the Lord is as merciful now as ever as good now as ever and as free to reveal himself and his secrets unto those that fear him now as ever he was Canst thou be ignorant of this That the Lord reveals his secrets to them that fear him Or that the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Psal. 25.14 Or Prov. 3.32 That his secret is with the Righteous And Amos 3.7 That the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants Friend There is no way to come to the knowledge of God but by the Revelation of the Son of God in us witnessing with our spirits whose children we are And all that I shall say further to thee herein is this My soul shall weep in secret for thee and and thy Teachers who have caused thee to err they themselves not knowing the truth by saying Revelation is ceased when there is no other way to know God by A Word of Counsel to him that feels himself loaden with his sins and groans for deliverance but complains that he wants power ART thou laden with the burthen of thy sins And dost thou mourn in secret praying to God for case and pardon Or Art thou black with lying in the mire and filthy pollutions of this World so that thou art ready to say From the crown of my head to the sole of my foot I am full of wounds and putrified sores and would fain be made clean Art thon possest with the spirit of error and ignorant of the truth of God And wouldst thou be acquainted with the Spirit of God to guide thee into all truth and lead thee into the path of holiness Wouldst thou be freed from the spirit of pride self-love passion and emulation towards thy Neighbour Art thou covetous of gain and earthly-minded and dost not do to another as thou wouldst be done unto wanting the Royal Law of Love to be thy Rule Art thou possest not onely with one evil spirit but Legions and seest no power to resist the least assault of the Enemy Then be thou counselled by one who hath felt the weight and burchen of most of these evils and seen deliverance in a measure to own the light in thy conscience and that will open unto thee a door of hope and shew thee a Fountain where Judah and Jerusalem Jew and Gentile Christian and Heatheu Profane and Professor high and low rich and poor may wash in and be made clean yea and from all their filthiness may they be cleansed And if thou do so viz. own the Light in thy conscience and obey it it will lead thee to holiness And thou that complainest for want of power against sin I tell thee and do affirm unto thee whoever thou art Thou hast power unless with the unjust Steward thou hast buryed it in thy corrupt heart and made no improvement of it and the Lord for thy unsaithfulness hath taken it from thee and given it to him who hath been a better husband of his gift then thou hast been For this I say That the Lord hath given a Talent or measure of himself to every one to profit withal which is his light in every conscience the which whosoever doth not improve shall have it taken from him and he be cast into utter darkness for there is a day vvhen the Candle of the Wicked shall be put out and he shall have no light to vvalk by though he seek it and that vvith tears Remember Iudas and be vvarned by him to be faithful to thy Master and to obey him even whilst the Light shines upon thee and would guide thee least thy repentance be too late as his was and thou be with him called a Son of Perdition but if thou obey the Light in thy conscience which convinceth thee of sin I declare unto thee as a Word from experience of the mighty Power of God and of its powerful working there That it will not only give thee power against gross corruptions but against vain thoughts and idle words and though thy sins be red like crimson they shall be as Wool and as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Be willing therefore and obedient and thou shalt eat the good of the Land but if thou refuse and rebel thou shalt be devoured with the Sword The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Some Hope left for the persecuting Magistrate of England if his Day of Grace be not past already PEradventure thou mayest say unto me I have been a Civil Magistrate and a great Persecutor of the Saints 〈◊〉 the Most High God who have few or none on earth to plead their cause how shall I find mercy from the Lord for I am the greatest of sinners That when the Servants and Messengers of the Lord have come into our Cities Towns Villages or Market-places to preach repentance and declare against sin and to bring the glad tydings of the Gospel into our quarters where it was never preached before I have not been so sober unto them as the Gadarenes were to Christ who when he came to cast out unclean spirits and to do them good they entreated him to depart out of their coasts but I instead of entreating have compelled
and that as long as they live they cannot be free from corruption and these sit down without hope and shall never enter But yet notwithstanding there is encouragement enough for the faithful Traveller when he remembers that there were two to wit Caleb and Joshua who were true Spyes and that notwithstanding the multitude of false Spyes that went forth to view the Land these as faithful Witnesses For God brought in their Testimony and said Let us go up at once and possesse it for we are well able to overcome it And these for their faithfulness to the Lord notwithstanding the false Spyes ill report of the good Land were brought to possess the Land which flowed with Milk and Honey but the rest perished in the Wilderness for their unbelief and their children were wanderers there fourty years Now Friend It is observable and very remaakrble That Caleb and Joshuah who did enter had another spirit then the false Spyes had and followed the Lord fully to wit the Spirit of Faith which overcomes the World and all the Enemies therein to the soul of men so that the Believer and his Seed shall possess the holy Land when all the unbelievers shall perish in the Wildcrness Numb. 14. And as for the glory of this holy Land or New Jernsalem of which Canaan was a Type and the Riches thereof none wil doubt but all Will confess the Land is good though some say too good to be obtained here or possessed in this life I say as to this I cannot but bring in my testimony and declare They are all false Spyes and false prophets that say the Enemies of mans soul are not to be overcome in this life and that the holy life is not attainable for he that gives Victory over one sin which I witness will give victory over all sins if I and thou be faithful Warriers in the Army of the Lamb I say our Captain is able to make war wth the Enemy and not onely give us victory but also an entrance into the Holy of holies within the vail here where no false prophet can enter but him who is the Priest for ever after the order of Melehizedeck Therefore friends go chearfully on your way in believing the Enemy is as well before as behind look not back neither turn to the right hand nor to the left but press forward and in due time you shall reap if you faint not 'T is the Faith of the Saints which overcomes the World and all difficulties which the honest Traveller shall find in his Journey towards the holy Land And that none may be discouraged that he meets with troubles and tryals let him remember The greater his tryals are the stronger had his Faith need be and the bitterer his Travels are the sweeter will his Rest be If some of the Servants of the Lord have through experience said That the sufferings of this present life are not worthy the glory that shall be revealed what will they be able to say when in is revealed It is better to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Therefore let us proceed on our journey with unwearied minds and in the strength and power of the Lord make war against all the Enemies of our Souls following our Leader and in the end we shall be more then Conquerors And because there are many pretenders to holiness who with fair speeches do deceive the hearts of people and by enticing words of mans Wisdom seduce many a well-meaning and honest-hearted Traveller who is ever and anon ready to question whether his way be right I do advise thee as thou lovest life and tenderest the true rest of thy weary soul keep close to thy Leader whose voice is low speaking in thee saying Go not forth wander not for this I declare That whilst thou art unturned to thy Guide within thee or art listening to the loud Voice and found of big Words without as I have been thou canst finde no rest though thou travel hard to obtain it A Word concerning the Resurrection THE Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared unto many among whom I am come to give you notice though a most unworthy Messenger That he is now come to exalt his Son in his saints and set him upon his holy hill glory for evermore But many there are who with Martha do look for the Resurrection at the last day without and so put the day of his Resurrection in them far from them as believing no such thing and saying How can this be when in the mean time Christ lyes slain in some of them and others are so far from the holy Life of Christ that they are dead in trespasses and sins and some twice pluckt up by the roots neither knowing their Saviour within them nor Without them Art thou one that knowest nothing of the resurrection of Christ in thee then know that thou art not to look out to a day without thee for the resurrection of Christ but in Spiritual Sodomand Aegypt where he lyes still crucified art thou to expect his resurrection to wit in thy own wicked heart Christ before his resurrection from the Grave told Martha and said I am the the Resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and that he that liveth and believeth in him should not dye Dost thou believe this Arise then thou that art asleep in thy grave of sin fleshly ease or carnal delights and hearken to the voice of the Son of God in thee live for he who called Lazarus out of his grave of earth being naturally dead to life again will raise thee also and call thee out of thy spiritual grave of sin and denth if thou hearken to his Voice and obey his Call in thoe Christ Jesus after his resurrection appeared unto many of his Disciples with out them and they knew him not he being spiritual and after he had by many signal Testimonies made himself known unto them to be Jesus a Cloud received him out of the sight of those that stood looking after him Whereupon it was told them by two men who were in white that said To men of Galilee why stand ye here gazing The same Iesus which hath been taken up from you into heaven shall in like manner come again to wit in a Cloud for so he went up Now this Friend is a Mystery to the wise and learned men of this World oh that they knew it That the light of the World and life of men should come in a cloud but so it is and they are utterly ignorant of this mysterie though to the children of Light it is made manifest and revealed by the Spirit They can tell you that as Christ's first appearance to the World was in the flesh and the fleshly eye saw him so his second appearance is in Spirit and no fleshly eye can behold him he being now a spirit You