Beware of the Scribes and Pharisees which stand praying in the Synagogues and have the chiefest places in the assemblies called of men Masters devouring widows houses Are not all your Teachers such which Christ cryed wo against Are not you such and your generation that ever persecuted the righteous seed who had the form and the colour but not the power That generation persecuted Christ and the Prophets which is the seed of evil doers a generation that is wise in their own eyes a generation that is swift to shed blood the same generation that persecuted the Martyrs in nature You cry out of your fathers martyring how Queen Mary imprisoned and burned you are in the same nature It was the generation that held up the outward Temple the outward Worship that ever persecuted Priests and People Where did any of the Apostles stone any persecute any or imprison any or cause any to be imprisoned or haled before a Magistrate Oh horrible how dare you profess Christ and walk in the doctrines of devils Where did Christ give any such command to act any such thing You take him for your cloak and talk of his blood who are murderers blood-suckers hunting after blood to devour the righteous seed as all your fathers did in all ages in the time of Ieremiah in the time of Isaiah in the time of David in the time of the Apostles they stoned they imprisoned punched and beat c. And these be all your witnesses and they be your fathers who acted before you who had gotten the form of words as you have Here be ye witnesses that ye are the same generation in nature and have your cloud of witnesses which ever persecuted the righteous seed as you daily make it manifest Both Priests Rulers and People this I am moved of the Lord to write unto you to let you see your selves for you have not learned Christ at all For we have a cloud of Witnesses which were stooed by your generation as you may read in the Hebrews and in divers places they were stoned mocked Paul was stoned for denying the outward Temple Steven was stoned to death who denied the outward Temple John was banished they took up stones to stone Christ the righteous seed And where Christ is made manifest you do so now Christ to day yesterday and for ever Praises praises be to the Lord God Almighty for ever Our suffering is our joy our reproach is our riches Search the Scriptures and you will finde it to be so Do not your Priests cry Murder them Do not your People cry Stone them Do not you wag your heads at them Do not you gnash your teeth at them which you call Quakers Moses quaked David quaked Jeremiah shaked who cryed against the Priests You may as well cry Stone Moses Paul David Jeremiah and the rest of the holy men of God who quaked and trembled as they who witness quaking who quaked and trembled as they who witness quaking now as they did then Here you shew your selves to be the seed of blood-suckers thirsting after blood O Ye blood-suckers which hunt after blood which lay traps and snares to slay the righteous Oh what a profession is this you live in that are so full of fury and rage some mocking some beating some plotting and lying in wait to shed the innocent blood and yet you dare make a profession of God and Christ Christ never taught that doctrine And there you show your selves to be as bloody persecutors as ever the Jews were who crucified Christ and sought to slay the Apostles Oh England England is this the fruit of thy Ministery that your vineyard bears which you have planted How ye vine-dressers how is the vine yard full of briers and thorns Oh how is the vineyard full of dead trees which cumber the ground and bring forth no fruit Oh how are the Springs stopped which should water it with the Philistims Oh how full is the vineyard of Serpents Oh how full is the vineyard of thistles and nettles Oh how full is the vineyard of weeds Oh how full is the vineyard of wilde beasts and of trees that bear wilde grapes and sowre grapes which set the childrens teeth on edge Oh time hath been and now is that the pretended Dressers and Lookers to the vineyard are blinde and do not know one tree from another and cannot distinguish a Lamb from a Dog a Sheep from a Goat a Dove from a Kyte Full is the vineyard of wolves strong horses neighing and the horses of Pharaoh and his chariots whirring up and down and the vineyard is full of theeves and robbers and full of drunkards drunk with the wine of the sowre grape The Land is full of Oathes and mourns because of such The flesh hath been defiled the Land is full of respecting of persons But now is the Lord arising and risen which respects no mans person and lays the ax to the root of the trees every one that brings not forth good fruit must be hewn down and cast into the fire For now is the Lord sending his sons and daughters and servants into the vineyard Spears are broken and turned into mattocks and plow-shares and swords into pruning-hooks Some are plowing up and some are hacking up and some are pruning and some are dividing the sheep from the goats and the lambs from the wolves making a distinction putting a difference and some are bridling their horses which have been wilde some are distinguishing the Kytes from the Doves and putting a difference between the precious and the vile betwixt the holy and unholy Tremble ye mountains and hills before the Lord for out of Sion doth the Lord utter his voice Wo wo to all you who inhabit the earth you will be scattered as the winde scatters the chaff you will be consumed as the fire consumes the stubble for the mighty day of the Lord is coming that shall burn as an oven look upon an oven when it is burning and you are afraid to go into it but the fire of the Lord is coming which will burn you all up root and branch The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it who will perform his word and none of you that are proud and wicked can escape it whether you will hear or whether you will forbear the Word of the Lord shall stand TO all you who profess the Scriptures to be your Rule and Touch-stone to try withal who fine men because they will not put off their hats at your Sessions at your Assizes at your Courts When did any of the heathenish Kings or Magistrates in any Age set up such a Law Read the Chronicles thorow and give an example else you shew your selves to outstrip all the heathenish kings When did ever Moses who was a Judge over all Israel command any people that came before him to put off their hats and fine them if they would not bow to him Or where did ever David or Solomon who were Kings command any to put
privately when thou art by thy self and when thou art publike Equity cries for justice and righteousness and against all sin and swearing and lying and adultery and covetousnes and drunkenness for this destroys honesty and reasonableness And Equity cries in all your hearts and consciences for equity for it is burdened with deceit and unjust dealings and corruptions Hearken hearken in your consciences how it cries for equity and with sighs and groans cries upon the Lord for mercy and equity and the Lord doth often send his Angel to relieve the simple for lust and pride oppresseth it and it is burdened with it and often tells thee All is vanity which thy lustful will and minde delighteth in which is without and which is in the first birth and would have thee to hearken to equity and within and not to thy lust that thou mightst have unity with God and not with the world for the whole world lies in wickedness where equity cannot enter it cryeth up and down the streets but hard hearts and drunkards and cursed speakers cozeners and cheaters and thou high and lofty one and whoremongers and idolaters and oppressors and dissemblers ye all shut the door of Equity when it cries to enter there is no room for it amongst these theeves for ye all must be brought before the great Judge of heaven and earth which despise Equity The great Judge is coming to render vengeance upon all that act contrary to Equity and in your own knowledge and out of your own mouthes shall ye be judged in righteousness for he is righteous that judgeth and hath spoken MEn bring up their children in natural Learning to have natural Books and Languages as Hebrew and Greek and have the Schools of Oxford and Cambridge which they call the two Mothers of Divinity which is Divinity and so training up in the natural lives up in the natural man both in pride in knowledge in person set up called of men Master and so with his books and Learning which he got at Oxford and Cambridge he trades with others and natural Languages and tells people it is the Original and saith he is sent of Christ which is the Whore and the Beast upon the waters that is the people and so all this is Witchcraft Whoredom Sorcery Divining and Conjuring Hypocrisie and Dissembling and was never sent of Christ for the Gift of God cannot be bought and sold but the letter and Carnal sells the Carnal but the Word cannot be sold by which all things stand and remain Another he stands up and saith he is the Minister of Christ which never was at Oxford and Cambridge but hath had some experience of the Truth tasted and he is got up into notions and fleed the Cross he goeth out and trades and sells his experiences and saith he is gifted which is false for the gift of God is not to be bought and sold for money Now the Truth is not to be bought and sold for money but Freely ye have received freely give Truth was sent forth without bag or purse or silver or scrip or two coats or a stick to defend it for their weapons were spiritual and all the others which Christ hath not sent forth their weapons are carnal they ride with their carnal swords and run to a carnal Magistrate to defend them and to get their carnal means of the poor people which do not pay them and those Jesus Christ never sent forth Where the pure light Christ is made manifest in Magistrate or People it doth discover them and deny them And the one he preacheth a Christ without and the other he preacheth a Christ within And he that preacheth Christ within and he that preacheth Christ without are both without for they both have him in the notion for he must be within and not speak For where Christ is risen and speaketh he denies him that speaks a Christ within in the notion and him that speaks of him without in the notion and all the earthly powers to uphold them and none but God alone to uphold him in his strength and power by his own Spirit And he that preacheth Christ without he knows him not but onely takes him for a Clack and the Prophets and Apostles to trade with them like a Stage-player which acts a Stage-play aloft with Points and Reasons and Uses and Authors and old Fathers and Tryals and Mattens and singing David's quakings cryings prophecies prayers and praises and so act a Stage-play for money and he that will give the most thither he goes and where they will not give him money he will not act his Play there And he that preacheth and saith Christ is within he must be dumb and not speak and the reason and the carnal part must speak him and the dumb is crucified And he that speaks him within and he that speaks him without know him not with their carnal reason Where he is risen and comes to be King there he denies all the worlds ways Diviners and Conjurers and denies all the world and reigns over all the corruption of man To him alone be all glory who reigns over all and is King of Saints King of Kings Lord of Glory blessed for ever To whom be all Glory for ever Amen Written by a friend of the Truth of the living God to all whom it may concern THe Lord God of power is thundering and uttering them forth against all you and upon the top of all your Powers of Witchcraft Charmers and Inchanters who live in your Sorcery and Whoredom and Witchcraft and Mystery of Iniquity The Lord is risen and rising to thresh you down with an Iron rod. The weight of the Lords hand is upon you and stretched over you which goes to the Popes head All bag and baggage must be taken The Sword of the Almighty is drawn against all your Popish ways Your Witchcraft and Whoredom is come up before the Lord to hew down and trample The Horse is gone forth Death Death All your Idols all your Jewels all your Pictures all your Beads earth to the earth All your Chanters and all your Charmers will stand you in no stead All your Counsellors will not hide you in the day of the Lords wrath All your outside knowledge of Angels of the Apostles of Christ of Mary will not save you nor stand you in any stead For the day of the Lords wrath is come among you a day of Vengeance the fire is kindling All your Pictures all your Crosses and Crucifixes must make a fire to burn you The Lord hath stretched his hand against you Wo unto Rome and all her Popish ways Wo unto all the Priests in England who had the Popish Law Ye Jesuites ye Inchanters Mystery of Wratchcraft the Sword is drawn out against you to cut you down Ye high Ekens which thought none had been able to make War against you now is the hand of the Lord of hosts upon you all and his Army is gathering and his Sword is drawn which hath two edges that before him none should escape The Land shall be plain before his host The Lord hath spoken it To you all this is the word of the Lord. The hand of the Lord is stretched out against all the Adulterers and Idolaters and the Sword of the Lord lies upon the Popes neck FINIS
THE TRUMPET Of the LORD SOUNDED And his SWORD drawn And the Separation made between the Precious and the Vile AND The Vineyard of the Lord dressed by his own Husbandmen and the dead trees cut down and all the mystery of Witchcraft discovered in all Professions By them who have come thorow great tribulation whose garments have been washed in the blood of the LAMB who are accounted as the off-scowring of all things for Christs sake scornfully called by the World QUAKERS And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God And the wine-press was troden without the city and blood came out of the wine-press even to the horse bridles by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs Rev. 14.19 20. London Printed for Giles Calvert at the black Spread-eagle neer the West-end of Pauls 1654. OH all you that do profess God and Jesus Christ in words see what you do possess of him All profession without possession is nothing but hypocrisie and dissimulation You have heard long and professed much in words but now it is not the hearers but the doers that shall be justified For he that saith he loves God and Christ and keeps not his commandments is a lyer and the truth is not in him If you love me saith he keep my commandments Now I command you to love one another with the same love that I loved you withal By this you may see how you are brought into the obedience of the truth Love the Lord with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy self Thou must love the Lord with thy hearty love see if thou do so If thou say thou dost and dost not he knows thy heart and he will judge thee for thy hypocrisie Take heed that thou be not found a lyer before him Thou that art in the highest profession see if thy heart be not abroad in the world delighting it self in pleasures or pride or profit or wantonness or anger or wrath or peevishness or perversness or covetousness or delighting in sporting or idle talking or foolish jesting or speaking evil of that thou knowst not take heed that thou be not delighting thy self in swearing and lying and drinking and running a whoring after other lovers If thy heart love any thing above the Lord or delight in any thing but in him alone he knows thy heart and he will judge thee for dissembling with him for if thou say thou lovest the Lord and livest in envie wrath backbiting deceit oppression cruelty or guile or malice or hard-heartedness or passionateness or any of these the Lord knows the secrets of all hearts act it never so closely or subtilly it is naked and bare before the Lord who is present everywhere and his eyes are open to behold the good and the evil Thou mayst make a profession of God and Christ and make a fair shew to the world and yet be an hypocrite but if thy heart and tongue be not one God doth know it and he will judge thee for it and if thou make never such a shew in outward profession and seem never so righteous and do not bridle thy tongue thy Religion is vain Pure religion and undefiled is this before God and the Father To visit the fatherless and widow and to let the oppressed go free and to keep thy self unspotted in the world Now if thou make a profession in words and a shew to be seen of men and do not the works that are required as to depart from iniquity and to live righteously holily and uprightly in this present world all thy profession is but hypocrisie and God will judge thee and plague thee for it Thou hadst better never have made profession of God and Christ then to profess him and live in sin and wickedness Where is thy love to him when thou disobeyest him and breakest his Commandments There is no love to him there is none at all to him if thou do so but on the contrary thy love is to the devil for know you not that his servant you are to whom you obey whether it be of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Now if thou obey righteousness thou art servant to it and art free from sin but if thou obey sin thou art servant to sin serving the devil and so art free from righteousness then where is thy profession The Minister of Jesus Christ is to redeem souls from their vain conversation See what you are redeemed from if you be not yet in your sins if you be you are enemies to him The Ministery of Jesus Christ is a Ministery of love and joy and peace in the holy Ghost It is a glorious Ministery not formal but spiritual You that profess it see that you put in practice what you profess if thou profess thy self to be a Christian obey the commands of Christ make manifest the fruits of thy Ministery Be not a fore-sayer but I charge thee by the Lord that thou put in practice or else profess nothing at all If thou do profess love and do not perform it what is thy profession worth Dost thou clothe the naked dost thou feed the hungry dost thou let the oppressed go free If thou dost not thou art not obedient to the commands of Christ Dost thou love thy enemies dost thou bless them that curse thee dost thou pray for them that hate thee and despightfully use thee Christ saith Swear not at all dost thou so He saith Go not to law dost thou not Let your conversation be without covetousness is it so He saith Recompence no man evil for evil dost thou so He saith Vengeaâ—ce is mine and I will repay it dost thou obey him and keep his sayings If thou do not what use is thy profession of It grieves the Spirit of the Lord to see the well-favoured harlot how she sits in the street deceiving the simple and ensnaring them and how she is painted with the Saints words and with Christs and professes 't is love to him and persecutes him to death where he is made manifest in his people She sits as a Queen but she must come down and sit in the dust ere long and you must all give an account of your profession whâ—t fruits you have brought forth For the Lord is coming to separate the sheep from the goats and your works will be tried whether your love be made manâ—fest or no He will say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you when I was hungry you fed me when I was thirsty you gave me drink when I was naked you clothed me when I was sick in prison you visited me They will say When did we see thee so Yea said he in my members ye did for inasmuch as ye did it to them yet did it to me Here are the fruits of the righteous Now the Lord is coming to look for fruit see that your
fruit be good that you bring forth I mean ye that are professors for if it be not good it will not be accepted for every tree that brings not forth good fruit must be hewn down and cast into the fire Your works must be tried by the fire and if they be unrighteouâ— they must with the trees be cast into the lake that burneth See if ye obey the Commandments of Christ or of the Devil The carnal heart saith God is an hard Master but he is not it is none but the evil and slothful servant that saith so for he is exceeding good his commandments are not grievous but joyous The carnal heart saith it is hard to keep them But where is thy love towards him when thou dost disobey him When he saith If ye love me keep my commandments the carnal ones say It is hard to keep the commandments of the Lord but the devils commandments are easie they can keep them with ease and go on in joy and delight it is no trouble to keep the devils commandments Saith he You may be proud it is but Decencie he saith you may be covetous it is but a provident care he saith you may be angry it keeps others in subjection to you he saith you may be drunk it is but good-fellowship he saith you may be oppressors it will bring you in gain and he saith you may use deceitful merchandise for if you do not as the world do ye shall lose by them he saith you may swear and lye they will believe you the better he saith you may be envious and hate or else they will not matter for you And so in every unrighteous act he will make a cloak for it to cover it And for to live in unrighteousness it is very easie you may run on the broad way to destruction with joy and delight but to act in righteousness it is very hard And then you say the way is narrow to keep in it it is so therefore if ever you come to Sion you must go on the strait way for it is the strait way that leadeth to life and few there be that finde it but broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that follow it Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity for no unclean thing shall enter into the kingdom of heaven for he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity Therefore perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord and live not in words but bring forth fruits meet of amendment of life and cease from evil and turn to the Lord that he may have mercy upon you If you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land but if you be disobedient and stiff-necked then wo and misery will be your portion for the day of the Lord is coming in power and he will gather his elect unto himself See if you can yet witness your election that your names may be written in the book of Life if ye cannot ye are deceived already then what use is all your profession of it will prove hypocrisie and it were better never to have made a profession then to profess and not put in practise what you profess For it is not they that say they love God and Christ but they that make their love manifest by their works that shall be accepted by yielding up obedience to his Commands If you say you love God and Christ in words and your actions be contrary it is but hypocrisie You may profess much in words but if your hearts be not one with your tongues to guide them though they may prophesie in his Name yet if they be workers of iniquity they must depart and Christ will say Depart ye workers of iniquity I know you not Therefore be not sayers but doers and be what you speak in all things and do not speak one thing and do another for God doth love the upright in heart See how you are built up into the truth for the Saints that spake forth the Scriptures were what they spake and they spake what they lived in they were the workmanship of God created in Christ Iesus to good works See if you can witness this yet see what you are wrought out of and what ye are wrought into And live not in words but bring forth fruit that God may be glorified that you may be what you profess in reality For the day of the Lord is coming wherein the deceits shall be laid open and all things made manifest as it is all secrets shall be revealed the secrets of all hearts And all the crowns of men shall be thrown down for how can ye believe which seek honour one of another and seek not the honour which is of God alone All the haughtiness of man shall be brought down and all the loftiness of men laid low all secret pride and secret envie and secret malice and secret revenge and secret subtilty and secret hypocrisie and secret dissimulation shall be laid open and made manifest and they shall all be ashamed of the evil of their doings and the pure naked truth be unveiled and spread abroad that righteousness may flourish and see the Lord set up and honoured and rule and reign for evermore The Lord will plague the Beast and judge the Whore and punish the wicked very sore Sing Hallelujah to the Highest for ever A Separation betwixt the people of God the righteous seed that ever suffered with the seed of evil doers that each may know that witness and see ye have a cloud of witnesses who are the seed of the righteous and you may see you have a cloud of witnesses who are the seed of evil doers persecuting the righteous seed Priests People and Rulers you know the letter speaks and you may read it in Matthew and all along the Scriptures how the Priests People and Rulers were against Christ in which generation you shew your selves to be and clear your selves for the generation of the feed of the righteous Do not you hale out of your Synagogues and hale before Magistrates Do not you here fulfil Scripture which Christ prophesied of Do not you imprison which Christ speaks of Do not you stone with stones shewing your selves to be in the generation that stoned Steven that cryed against the Temple Acts 7. And do not you hale and beat them that come to speak the truth freely in your Temple shewing your selves openly to be in that generation that beat the Apostles and haled them out of the Temple And do not your Teachers go in the way of Balaam for gifts and rewards who had the spirit of errour shewing ye have erred from the truth Do they not go in the way of Cain to envie who would murder And do you not scorn and mock and wonder and despise as they did against David and Paul and the rest of the servants of God Are not your Teachers they that Christ speaks of which said