Riches Honour Dignity and Dominion Strength Wisdom and Goodness Fulness Satisfaction Eternal Treasure Durable Riches Infiniteness is his Name forever unexpressibly I am filled with his Love and Power he opens the Windows of Heaven he rains his Showrs as Silver Drops and as fine Myrrhe as sweet Odours he nourishes the Young he carries the Lambs in his Arms of Love he drives gently them that are with Young he is true and faithful forever he keeps Covenant he is long-suffering and kind who can declare his Power I am lost in the incomprehensible Being of Eternal Love Oh my dear Ones come up hither Fellow-Citizens of Jerusalem which is from above who is our Mother which few know but you who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life sound forth his Praise trumpet forth his Power declare his Name among the People that it may sound into the Eears of Generations to come this is he we have waited for this is he who hath begotten us to himself to reign with him the Lamb upon Mount Sion as Kings and Priests and Judges of the Prince of Darkness Death and Hell forever Salvation Honour and Glory be to him forever eternal infinite Praises Praises to him forever who was dead and is alive and lives for evermore KING OF KINGS forever Majesty Glory and Power and eternal Renown are in his right Hand forever his redeemed Ones live forever dwell follow live in him forever no Beast can touch the Mountain where he dwells but he dyes forever Come away my beloved Ones drink abundantly and be Refreshed and praise his Name forever Eternally I am shed and spilt among you never so as now never to be separated out of the Eternal Oneness sound forth his Praise declare his Word let it go forth as Thunder let the Heathen bow let the Princes of this World fall and the Kings worship at his Feet forever let the Disputer's Tongue Cleave to the Roof of his Mouth forever let all Flesh keep silence forever Babylon is fallen and become the Habitation of Devils forever the judge of all the World hath Confounded and cursed her Language forever God is risen and sits upon his Throne eternal Wisdom is come and the Ancient of Dayes all carnal shall be Confounded stop all Mouths in the Dust forever Eternity shall speak and judge forever whom he binds is bound forever whom he looseth is loosed forever whom he remits are remitted the Devil is chained the Grave gives up her dead and the Sea and Hell all is judged by him that lives forever O beloved Ones who are the Children of my eternal Father who have eaten at his Table and drunken of the new Wine in the Kingdom of God who are nourished and dandled upon the Lap of everlasting Love who suck at the Breasts of everlasting Consolation your Beauty is comely I am ravished I am filled I am filled with Love to you all I am sick of Love your Beauty hath ravished my Heart come sit down my dear Lambs together in the Fold where no Wolf can come and let us rejoyce together and sound forth his Praise who hath washed us and cleansed us and covered us and made us worthy to enter into the Fold the Bride-chamber to eat with him of the Bread of Life forever at the eternal Table of Life the Bridegroom is come Friends of him I know you rejoyce greatly because of his Voice And now my dear beloved Ones follow him for evermore in the eternal Light and Life where we were bred brought forth and nourished and are unknown to all the World but me you know and I know you in one who is the Condemnation of the world and in him I meet you and leave you in his Arms I lye down with you in the bosom of eternal Love Life Peace Joy and Rest forever where none can make us afraid My Name ye know my Voice ye know this is to all my beloved Brethren who are redeemed from the Earth Francis Howgil Bandon in Ireland the 7 th Moneth 1655. THE INHERITANCE OF JACOB DISCOVERED AFTER HIS RETURN OUT OF AEGYPT And the leading of the Lord to the Land of Promise declared and some Information of the VVay thither Or a Word of Exhortation to all Professors in England Scotland and Ireland and to all the World where this shall come wherein the common Salvation is declared in which the Saints believed and Deceit discovered and made manifest Also a few Words of Exhortation to the Rulers of England and Ireland AWAKE Oh Sion who hath long sitten in the Dust in Sorrow and Bitterness and hath been covered with Ashes and none hath had Compassion upon thee but all the Kings and mighty men of the Earth who have worshipped the Beast and received his Mark and committed Fornication with the Whore who sits upon many Waters which is full of Abomination and the Cup in her hand have all the men of the Earth drunken of and are made drunk and stagger and now glory in their Abominations and Oh Sion despise thy Virginity and thy Situation and have pulled down thy Towers and made thee as a desolate Widow and have gone over thee and trampled upon thy Glory and have made merry over thee and have slain thy Sons and Daughters in the streets even in Babylon where the Whore sits as a Queen and in Sodom and Egypt with whom they are joyned where the Witnesses lie slain But the time of thy Deliverance is come and the Years of thy Captivity are up Arise Oh Virgin who art not defiled who couldst not joyn with the Daughter of Babylon in her Whoredoms Therefore they have mocked thee and wagged their heads at thee and have said in their Hearts who shall deliver thee Arise shine forth put on thy beautifull Garments behold thy King cometh in his Glory who will adorn thee and crown thee with a royall Diadem in the Sight of â—hine Enemies who have reproached thee and thy reproach shall be taken away for thy Seed shall be as the Stars in multitude yea they that have spoiled thee shall be spoiled and they that have destroyed thee shall be destroyed for the King is coming out of his Tent yea he hath lifted up his Standard against all that have spoiled thee yea the destroyer is come up against Babylon and Egypt shall tremble and the Philistines Hearts shall fail for Fear and all the Cananites shall be cast out and this shall be performed by the Lord of Hosts the God of Jacob who is now arisen in his Jealousie and it burns as Fire against all the Inhabitants of the Earth and the Sea who have joyned their Strength together against the Inheritance of the Lord Rejoyce for evermore all that love his Appearance and who have waited for him he is come and coming to take Vengeance upon his and your Adversaries for he hath a Sacrifice in Babylon to perform even to cut off all her Children who have despised thee oh Sion Arm your selves oh
there and the Balm and the Physician is that thou say'st God hath armed the Magistrate with Civil Power for defence of Religion through the Concurrences of Divine Benediction and the Magistrate is to vindicate the Truth of God and also exercise 〈◊〉 Power for curing the Offenders and for his proof he brings 1 Tim. 1.20 of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander whom I have delivered up unto Satan Answ. It seems your Gospel that you Preach hath not Power in it to prevail against Heresie neither your Weapons are able to prevail which are but carnal and so the Power to suppress Heresie and Convince Gain-sayers is wholly without you though you Censure and Excommunicate and deliver up to Satan as you say yet you being in Satan's Power that which is against you hath Power over you and therefore you are fain to Cry up the Beast's Power which alwayes made War with the Saints under the Name of Hereticks and you say that in exercising of his Power is but defensive I say yes it is offensive and destructive to the Goverment of Christ and his Prerogative unto whom all Power belongs both in Heaven and Earth and the Goverment lyes upon his shoulders who is a wonderful Counsellor of whose Goverment there is no End and he is able to defend his Church and furthermore to take away thy Objection is willing and furthermore hath promised to keep his Church that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and therefore thou who wouldst have the Civil Magistrate to intrude into those things which belong not to him would have them Usurpers and Traytors unto Christ the Prince of Peace and the King of his People and head of the Church his Body unto whom absolute Power and Soveraignity belongs and Glory which he will not give to another And as for all the proofs which thou bringst of the Magistrates under the first Covenant they are all invalid as to the second Covenant for all the Kings Magistrates in the first Covenant what as they did in and about Religion as to the punishment of the false Prophets and them that had familiar Spirits and Wizards they were but Typical as in reference unto Christ the second Covenant who hath another way to kill the false Prophets and to make War against Heresie and Blasphemy and against all Sorcerers Deceivers and Anti-christs by the two-edged Sword which proceeds out of his Mouth with which his Enemies shall be slain who will not that he should Rule and exercise his spiritual Power against his spiritual Enemies Is not Heresie an Errour an inbred thing And is an outward Sword like to reach to that Therefore though thou mayst press the Magistrates or them whom thou callst so by their Cocerive power as thou callst it and promise to them divine Benediction like the Pope for making of Laws against that which thou and others may Judge Blasphemy and Heresie and Execute them with Whips and Ropes and cutting off Ears and destroying the Creature yet this doth not reach to Heresie and Blasphemy and all the Balm and Physick that you have in New-England wherein your Hope standeth as hath yet appeared are your Knotted whips and pitched Ropes Banishment and Death here is Balm and Physick indeed with destroyes the Creation And what was Paul a Magistrate who Censured Hymeneus and Alexander or else what dost thou bring this for Thou framest an Objection and also an Answer That the interposal of Authority in matters of Religion is violation of Liberty of Conscience thy Answer is Church Authority is Authority were this Objection good the Church may not then thou sai'st Authoritatively deal with any of her Members for holding forth or Teaching of false Doctrine contrary to Gal. 5.12 and Rev. 2.20 Answ. The Objection is good enough the interposing of Civil Authority in matters of Religion is a leading them beyond their Line for that which is ordained for the ordering of Civil things is not to intrude into that which is beyond its Sphere And why may not the true Church Authoritatively deal with any of her Members for holding forth false Doctrine What dost thou think that Paul in the fifth of the Galaâ—ians when he wished that they were even cut off that troubled them that he would have had them Killed or beat with pitched Ropes or would he have had the Galatians to have denyed them and have them exercised their Authority in the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ And dost thou bring Rev. 2.20 to prove that Thyatira had no Power in the Authority of God to have thrown out and Judged Jezebel This was their fault because they suffered her who called her self a Prophetess to teach and seduce and to eat things Sacrificed to Idols or thou judgest they wanted some Magistrate to kill her Authoritatively And if the Church may not deal with the Members Authoritatively who makes defection from the Faith why have you Excommunicated and thrown out so many for Hereticks in New-England Thou sai'st Liberty of Conscience and Liberty for Errour and Heresie are two things and the Errour of Conscience is a Liberty to Bondage and thou bringst They shall put you out of the Synagogues John 16. and to think to murther the Saints was Service unto God was not from Conscience but Errour of Conscience but the Object thou sai'st Subjected to the Coercive Power must be some act of the outward man and further thou sai'st There is a difference between quiet Heresie and turbulent Heresie Schism and Sedition Answ. It is true Liberty of Conscience and Liberty of Error and Heresie are two things but these lye both without the Power and the Line of any Civil Power as Civil Power to reach unto the one he should encourage that is to say them who exercise a pure Conscience towards God and towards Man and as for the other Error in Judgement it 's beyond the Power of the Civil Magistrate to rectifie but as it puts forth it self in outward Acts of Wickedness as to kill steal murder adultery defrauding cozening and cheating in outward things then the Sword reacheth to the Act outward but can reach no further and as for Heresie Schism Sedition turbulent and quiet as thou makest distinctions they are all in the Ground and you have had too many such Thoughts in your Hearts as that you did God service with all your whipping cutting off Ears beating with Ropes casting out of your Assemblies and not only so but out of your Country and banishing them from their Wives and Children and all this you have done and think you have done God good Service and have cast them out and said as the Prophet spoke of your Generation whose Hearts were hardned let the Lord be glorified these things you have to repent of before you know or will feel Remission of Sins from the Lord though thou saiest you know it belongs not to the Magistrate to compel any Man to be a Believer nor to punish any for
and the Sea obey him and therefore my dearly beloved ones unto whom the Lord hath reached in those Parts and whom he hath visited in this 〈◊〉 Day of his Power wherein he is exalting his Name which hath long been debased in the Nations and his Salvation in the Earth and the uttmost Parts shall be a Possession for his Son who hath long suffered and born the Iniquity of the People and hath suffered because the Sheep have been astray but now is the Lord bringing them back that have been driven away and them that have been scattered that he may feed them that they be no more a Prey to the Foxes and evil Beasts which have devoured them prize the Love of God in that he should follow you with his Love and send his Servants unto you to call you home who were gone astray and to give up their Lives freely that you might be made free and to suffer that you might be brought out of prison now I say you having heard and believed the Truth keep down all that which would lead you to question again and look not out at Sufferings and Difficulties for this I testifie unto you must be the Cup that all must drink of who come to enter in at the strait way and blessed and happy are all they who give up all freely to his heavenly Will for the same we passed through before we came to see the Reward and to reap Joy there is a time of Winter wait in the Patience and be not offended because nought but Barrenness and Bareness apppears for a while within when Summer comes the desolate shall rejoyce and the thirsty land shall become a land of Springs at which the Flocks shall drink and the Herds shall be refreshed and heed not the winter storms without neither the boisterous Floods he will rebuke the Wind and the Sea and they shall obey him and the Spring you shall see so keep the hope the Anchor and there will be a stay for your Hearts in time of Danger and you will see the storm over and the wind still and then the shower of Righteousness shall descend upon the tender Plant and the Rain the gentle showers which he brings out of his Treasure will refresh the inheritance of the Lord which hath long been dry and the Dew will distill upon the tender grass and the Brightness of the Sun will refresh the Heart and make it glad these things are true and faithfull and God will vouchsafe them unto you as you all abide in Patience in the Cross to all the mortal it shall dye and Immortality and Life you will see brought to Light through the Gospel and the Love of God is to you and the Thoughts of his Heart was towards you for good as God shewed unto me five years ago where I saw Virginia a beautiful Garden upon whâ—ch the Sun did shine most pleasantly and the Air was clear and the Glory of the Lord did overshadow it even to my Amazement at which my Heart was glad and my Spirit rejoyced in the God of the whole Earth and seeing the Lord hath begun his glorious Work among you and is shining forth as from mount Paran in his excellent Beauty keep all your Hearts pure and your Consciences clear that you may see him for so is his Promise The pure in Heart shall see God and to see the presence of God that gives Life and the Light of his Countenance is that which maketh glad the Heart therefore as the beloved of God put on Manhood never heed the Dragon's Power neither the Beast's threats neither the Harlot's censures but be valiant for the Truth upon Earth for the Lamb is arisen who shall tread down his Enemies in his Wrath and make them all as burnt mountains and his Fellowers with him and his Host is numberless and their Voice shall be as many waters which shall bring Dread upon the Nations who worship the Beast and have received his Mark and make the Hypocrites tremble and they all march on in his Strength and do not break their Ranks follow him for the Victory is his it 's decreed in Heaven who shall reverse it or alter it and all that follow shall triumph in his Strength and their Enemies shall be as Ashes under the Soles of their Feet and his Weapons are spiritual and so are all his Followers and they are keen and sharp and they shall wound the Head of the Kings Enemies who is the Lord our Righteousness the God of all Grace fill you with Patience and Long-suffering that you may as good Souldiers fight the good Fight of Faith that you may be crowned with Immortality and Life everlasting which God the Lord of Life and Glory will give unto all them that love the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Desire and Prayer of him that desires the Good of all which stand nearly related unto the Houshold of Faith Westmorland 1660. F. H. SOME OPENINGS OF THE WOMB OF THE MORNING To all the Princes of Germany and People who profess the Name of Jesus Christ in those Dominions this is sent as a free Gift in true Love unto those Nations Wherein the State of the true Church is discovered with her Foundation and Mystery-Babylon and her Foundation that all may try themselves upon what Foundation they are and whether they belong to that City which is to be made desolate or to the Lamb's VVife which shall be married unto him forever in everlasting Righteousness And the Way and the Entrance into the true Worship in which God is well pleased discovered unto them who are weary that they may come to Rest and to know that wherein Peace and Felicity consisteth THe Mighty day of the Lord is approcahing wherein the Secrets of all men's Hearts shall be manifested even from Him that sits upon the Throne to him that is the meanest Servant and every Bondman and every free-man the Circumcised and Uncircumcised the Professor and the Prophane their Works shall all be discovered and all their deeds shall be brought to Light and every one shall be Judged not according to what he hath seemed to Profess but what he is in reality and in Truth so shall he be reckoned and accounted of by the Lord for every man's Works shall be tryed of what sort they are and the reward shall be according to every Man's Works in Truth and in Righteousness not according as fallen man judgeth nor according as he calls right but according to the Righteous Judgment of the everlasting God in whom Truth Life and Immortality resides forever Now when this day Approacheth which is near at hand when the Thought of all Hearts shall be revealed then many who have ruled shall see they have not ruled in the Authority and Power of God and therefore must receive a Recompence and give an account of their Steward-ship unto the Lord and them that have served and obeyed shall see that their Obedience hath been
rather wonder that such a Vail of Darkness should be so long over the minds and Hearts of them that believe not notwithstanding so clear evidence from Christ and his Apostles or the Example of the Primitive Christians or holy Martyrs who spoke the Truth but denyed to Swear at all but that Custome and Tradition is often more minded then the very Truth it self Oh! that the Rulers of this Nation would once consider weigh what they are doing and how many and great the suffering of a Conscientious People that fear the Lord in theirs Hearts are who dare not disobey the commands of Christ lest they fall into Condemnation and come under the rebuke of the Lord in their Hearts who hath Power alone to kill and to make alive but rather chuse to suffer the loss of all and undergo the manifold Sufferings that some malicious Spirits cause to be inflicted upon them when indeed there is no cause at all while prophane Persons Swear and forswear and take God's holy Name in vain and make little Conscience of any thing but sometime for and sometime against whatsoever seems countenanced and discountenanced by the Magistrates so that neither the King nor Kingdom is in any more security notwithstanding all such Swearing how solemn soever they seem in Swearing neither any more credit be given in Judicature then there is to be given to him that is a common Swearer in his private occasions or common Communication and Oh! how doth the Land abound in this insomuch that he that is not a Curser or Swearer is looked upon as a Phanatick or some disobedient Person or unconformable Man which ought especially to be eyed for a dangerous Person Oh! that the Heads and Rulers of the People would but consider how near the Judgment of God is and how ready to break forth upon the Nation and not without cause even great Evils are begun Pestilence and Sword already threatned and God's Arrows flying abroad to wound and to destroy them that continue in hardness of Heart rebellion against God and will not suffer him to rule and reign in the Consciences and Kingdoms of Men but vain Men would set up their Thresh-hold with his and not only so but against his and great is the wickedness and the Sins of this Nation upon many accounts which the Lord will bring a Scourge upon especially that grievous Sin of Persecution that Cain-like way which the Generations have chosen to add as they ignorantly suppose unto their Church and so build up their Zion with Cruelty and their Church by Iniquity Oh! this is loathsome in the sight of God had Zimri peace who slew his Master had Israel Peace when she slew the Prophets had the Jews Peace when they had Crucified Christ had the Romans Peace when they Persecuted the first Christians had Cain Peace when he had slain his Brother If nay let not England expect Peace when they are Persecuting them that are Members of Christ's Church so that this grievous Sin if England had no more were enough to bring the dreadful Judgment of God upon the whole Land and undoubtfully will if not repented of but now it must not be counted so and why because there are some Statuets and Laws which they obey not and so it 's for disobedience consider did not all the former pretend one Law or other did not all that ever suffer'd even the best of Men Christians suffer as disobedient as Offenders against some Law or other as Evil-doers in the Account of them that inflicted Punishments upon them if so as it is certain they did may not England be deceived while that they are thinking they do God and the King Service to root out and destroy some under the Notion of Heresie and some under the Notion of Disobedience and Factious may they not be persecuting Christ in his Members or destroying the peaceable Members of their Native Country the Lord open all their Eyes and do away the Darkness and the Vail of Ignorance that is over many Hearts that they may turn to the Lord and submit unto his eternal and unchangeable Power that so they may escape the Day of the Lord which is at Hand and the Judgment of God that is ready to break forth as an an over-flowing Scourge to cut off and sweep away in his Displeasure even all them that would not have Christ to rule in their Hearts neither have his Laws fulfilled nor obeyed which he writeth in the Hearts of all true Believers unto whom all must bow and be subject because the Father hath committed all Power into his Hand and his Glory he will not give to another no to none but him whom he hath given for a Covenant of Light and Life to be King Law-giver Saviour and Judge of his People and to be the Head of the Body his Church whom he redeems out of the World to himself to glorifie him who is the only Potentate and King of Immortal Glory God blessed forever and ever Amen To all the Well-beloved Flock of Christ whom he hath gathered into his Fold to feed in his Heavenly pasture in and about London Hartford and Kingston PEace from God the Father be multiplyed in all your Hearts through Jesus Christ the Prince thereof whom the Father hath sent as his Free Gift and given for the Covenant thereof unto all that believe and receive him to reconcile all even all that believe even them that have been and yet are afar off and are in Enmity in their Hearts yet by wicked Works and have no Title or Right unto Peace yet they that have received have and them that shall receive him shall have and shall be brought nigh unto God and out of the Wrath and Enmity and so come to be capable thereof through receiving and believing in his Name and Power by whom alone Remission of Sins is obtain'd and Peace and Reconciliation with God witnessed to whom be Glory and Honour forever and ever Amen Dearly Beloved with Thoughts of pure and unspotted Love I often remember you all who have been and are Followers of Christ and Sufferers for him in this present World and also have been and may expect to be while in the World Companions with them that suffer for that blessed Hope and Testimony which you have received from God in your Hearts by which the Saints in Light were purified and sanctified and did overcome the World and the Prince thereof who now ruleth in the Children of Disobedience who are subject to his Power and Government which stands in Wrath Envy Oppression Persecution and in that which leads unto every evil Deed and Work and because the Lord hath chosen you out of the World and from under the Power of the Prince of Darkness therefore he and all his Subjects hate you and as it was from the Beginning of his Kingdom since Sin entered into the World so it is now though it was not so from the Beginning of
whom we bear Witness and have the Witness in our selves even so do they unto us but the Servant is not greater then his Lord and therefore we that are baptized for the Dead and stand in Jeopardy of our Lives often we have a Cloud of Witnesses which endured the same and therefore the same Baptism and the same Cup must be drunk by all that follow him Well my dear Brethren your Sufferings I know and I know he of whom you bear Witness bears up your Heads who hath called you thereunto above all that which is done unto you as you stand in his Will and Counsel Well as dear Brethren and Companions in the same Tribulation Kingdom and Patience of the Saints as Witnesses of the same Faith as they were which are gone before you you are made Partakers of the same it is made manifest and revealed in you by the same God in which Faith they had Power and you have Power and endure as they did and as he did even the Contradiction of Sinners Well our God is on our Side and takes our Part and therefore my own Bowels in Patience endure God will bring forth your Righteousness as the Sun and your Enemies shall be ashamed and I know and you also know it is for the Advantage and the Furtherance of the Gospel of Christ and endure in Patience and long-suffering and look not out and the Lord in due Time will enlarge your Border and the eternal God of Power be with you chosen Ones for the Lord's Work you shall have your Reward nay he is come and his Reward is with him I know you have it and witness his Power and his Presence with you So my dear Ones in that which limits all and chains all and keeps under all Deceit dwell and abide forever in the living Power which makes the strong Man bow down and the Devils tremble and the unclean Spirits roar and the Power you know where is your Life that all the Powers of the Earth cannot reach and therefore do the Potsherds of the Earth strive in vain to set Bryars and Thorns in Battel against him in vain do they rage for notwithstanding all that God hath set and will set his own Son upon the holy Hill of Sion Glory unto him forever Shout out for Joy oh ye Sufferers for him who are set free by him and your Freedom can none take away for he is greater then all even him in whom ye have believed standing in his Power Wisdom and Counsel who is near you that none is able to pluck you out of his Hand for he hath the Keyes of David who opens and none shuts and binds and none can loose even he who rebukes the Wind and Seas and they obey him and causes a great Calm and causes the Water to abate nay to stand of a Heap and dryes up the Tongue of the Egyptian Sea that his ransomed Ones may go over into the Rest and he that hath and doth believe in him is entered into the Rest where we all meet in one in him who is the Judge of all the World the Light of the World and our Life who believe in his Name but the Condemnation of all the World who walk in Unrighteousness forever and ever For with the pure and upright he dwells and his Throne is established in Righteousness forever and ever And unto our God who lives forever shall all the Powers of the Earth bow to whom be Glory and eternal Praise of all his Redemed Ones forever and ever F. H. O All ye Sons of Sion and ye Daughters of the King who is glorious within who have waited for the Bridegroom Oh my beloved Oâ—es you who have long sitten in a solitary Place and have been as a silly Dove without a Mate and have been as a Widow desolate and as a parched Heath you that have wandred up and down in the long Night of Darkness and knew no Rest but were as one cast off by all and all that passed by you laughed at your Sorrow you have been as a Hissing and as a Proverb to all and as a Mark to shoot at by all your Faces have been as the Tents of Kedar parched and your Skin withered for Want of Refreshment and as a dead Tree that bears no Fruit Oh ye who have come through great Tribulation and have suffered the Loss of all the spoiling of all even the greatest Riches the chiefest Jewels who have lost all your Knowledge and Wisdom and become Fools for Christ's sake and have parted with all and have suffered the Indignation of the Lord to pass over all and have drunk of the Cup of Fury at the Hand of the Lord who have suffered Hunger Famine Pestilence and Earthquakes and the darkening of the Sun and the Moon lost her Light and the Stars have fallen and the Pillars of Heaven have been shaken the Earth hath been removed out of its Place as a Cottage and you have cryed out in the midst of all this He hath forgotten to be gracious and his Mercy is come to an End the Womb hath been shut up Desolation and Sorrow Loss of Children and Widowhood in a Day came upon you Oh ye tossed afflicted and not comforted that have been as Eunuchs dry and barren as in the Drought of Summer that have been as Pelicanes and as a Dove who hath sorrowed for the loss of her Mate and as one in Sorrow for the Loss of her first-born who have been in Bitterness and none could comfort you I am one with you your State I know I love you eternally yea you are my Brethren and Sisters forever sealed in my Heart and engraven to be read forever I see you I behold you I kiss you and embrace you with an holy Kiss of everlasting Love which overcomes Death and Hell which Love thinks no ill ye that are made Partakers of this Love know what I say ye that have waited for him and wait and suffer the spoiling of all I am marryed unto you I came forth of the same Womb which is Eternity free forever free-born not in Bondage because the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD is judged and cast out and the Glory of the Lord revealed Come forth ye Sons and Daughters of Jerusalem which is free from above utter forth your Voice sing aloud the Bridegroom is come and is coming and ye that have suffered the spoiling of all rejoyce for evermore lift up your Voices as Trumpets he is come he is covered with Righteousness as with a Robe his Countenance is as the Morning his Eyes are brighter then the Sun his Voice is Life Eternal Salvation is round about him he dwells in eternal Life Life is in his right Hand and Joy is in his Presence and Peace for evermore he is a tryed Stone he is a Rock which the Righteous fly to he hides his under his Wings and covers them with his Feathers Beauty Beauty Glory Glory Eternity Eternity Almightiness Almightiness Power
of as oppressive and should deliver your Brethren up to the Devourer and Spoyler who have born a Part of the Suffering in the Nation 's Distress and Grief in the greatest Calamity would you be thus done by would you bear it well I will not â—omplain but I will shew you the Ground and lay it before you that if it be possible you may be ashamed and repent lest the Lord also avenge himself upon you as he did upon the Enemies before you Have not many of you in England been acting in the Steps of the prophane when the Lord hath given you what you sought after Liberty and Freedom in those Things and now you labour by all your Strength and Power to oppress them who walk blameless before the Lord and men also Oh what Is all your Preaching and Praying and Fighting and Warring come to this that none must declare the Mind of the Lord except it be in your Way or Will or Time under pain of Bonds and Banishment Fines and Imprisonment Stocking Whipping Stoning And you that have been Sufferers your selves now come to be chief Oppressors and Opposers of the Lord in his Way and all manner of Lyes and Reproaches you cast upon the Truth and you take Part with the rest of the Priests and Deceivers in the Nation which took Part against you when you were for the Lord and number us among Transgressors of every Hand to make the Truth odious to all from the least to the greatest and yet you would be accounted Christians and if you say you have thus learned Christ I say you know him not Can you limit the Ocean from flowing or can you command the Wind that it blow not or can you stop the Windows of Heaven that it rain not upon the Earth If you cannot at all do it all lie down he that reproves God let him answer it Have you given counsel to the Lord or have you been his Instructer or can you limit him in his Way if you cannot no more shall you be able to stop his VVay who is riding on in his Povver and overturns all the VVorld's VVisdom Povver and Strength and who is able to resist him who dryes up the Face of the Deep and saith to the Sea be still and to the Mountains be removed and they are so and he will advance his own Glory and Power against all mens wills and Laws which stand in man's Will and will break all your Cords as a Bulrush and overthrow all your Counsel and make it even with the Earth and Shame shall cover all his Opposers and therefore learn Wisdom Oh ye Potsheards of the Earth and cease to strive against the Lord and his Power which will be too strong for you and you shall not be able to limit him nor stop him in his Way who runs his Course as a Gyant and bruises all his Enemies Heads and cuts them in Pieces by the two-edged Sword of his Mouth which he hath put into the Hands of his Saints who follow him in the War and our Conquest is through Suffering Glory unto him forever who hath counted us worthy to suffer for his Name sake and to be brought before Rulers and Councils for his Name sake that the Scripture might be fulfilled in us in this Day as it was upon our Brethren who went before us And Oh ye Rulers of Ireland who have been Professors and Affecters of Liberty and for suppressing Cruelty behold now the Lord hath sent to try you and you are found in the same Footsteps when you are tryed as them that the Lord cast out before you and in the same Nature of the chief Priests and Elders and Councils who breathe out Threatnings and send out Warrants and Inquisitions to bind all and to send up all bound too before you that so Evil you say may be prevented in time and take reports from the Priests and false Prophets of the Nations who are Lyars evil Beasts whose Mouthes the Lord will stop and bring shame upon them who are Flatterers and have flattered the Powers and Rulers before you till they were all cut off and now they flatter you and cannot hold up their Divination without you help them what Gospel is this they preach when a few poor despised People who are hated of the World that the Sound of them makes them afraid Oh that ever you should be so ignorant to joyn to Baal but let him plead for himself and they stand by their God and their Gospel and if they be not able to defend themselves let them perish But them who come in their own Name you receive but them who come in the Name of the Lord and seek none of your Tythes nor Augmentations nor your Advance them you cannot bear should be in the Nation who are not troublesome to any nor desire to eat any man's Bread for nought and these you call of an evil Life And Men who have devoured their own Estates and others also and Drunkards and all manner of unclean Persons these may have Liberty Oh! do you think that he sees not your doings and that he will not call you to an account for these things and you must know our Country and calling I say unto you who live in Envy and Wrath if we declare unto you ye cannot believe But God gives no account of his Matters unto man where do ye read O ye foolish People and slow to believe but that the Ministers of Christ were called out from their outward Employments into the Lord's Vineyard contrary to their own Wills and were Ministers contrary to the Will of man and did mind the Calling of God to his own Work both the Prophets and Apostles and Ministers of Christ and also they Preached the Gospel who were never Church-Officers in all their Life-time as you may see Acts 8.4 But you say that was in a time of Persecution And what is this Time How many have been Persecuted from Town to Town from City to City put in Prison haled out of the Synagogues as most part of the Nation of England can VVitness And you in Ireland are following your Leaders who are in this Generation and fill up your measure also but Persecution was ever blind But you say They suffered for well doing but we justly Let that in your Consciences be Judge Would you not have judged Paul as you do us who went into the Synagogues on the Sabbath day and disputed and in the Markets daily and Christ who was their Example and ours also in the Synagogues he taught and in Ships and Towns and Villages and Desarts and wandred up and down and the Ministers of Christ had no certain dwelling-place and the Multitudes that followed them would you not have said These men are evil livers Your Generation said so then and that they were Sowers of Sedition and Heresie and Ring-leaders of Sects and Setters forth of Strange Gods and are accused to be the Disturbers of the Peace and
whence Streams of Refreshment flow which make the Heart glad and the Soul to rejoyce in the Land of the living Oh my dear Ones who are anointed with the holy and living Oyl which he was and is anointed withal who is the Life you have received into your Hearts which teacheth you all things and is the Truth which abides forever and as you abide in him and he in you you are made Partakers of Eternal Life and because he lives you live also Now dear Ones having set your Faces towards Sion and towards the holy Tabernacle where he dwells look not back but all mind your Leader and Captain who hath chosen you to follow him in the War and to be Partakers of his Glory and Crown as they are faithful to his Commands which are not grievous to them who deny themselves therefore you all have known the Terrours of the Lord and the Indignation of the Almighty while you were in the disobedient Nature and in time past when you were in the Alienation and without the Knowledge of the true God in the World and worshipping dumb Idols even as you were led by the Enemy of God who ruled in you and seeing while you were in that Nature captivated unto divers Lusts which the Wrath of God hath come upon and you having tasted of the Cup of Wrath and that with the living God nothing that defiles can have Fellowship but with Doubting and Trouble and with Fear and Condemnation in you and not true Peace nor Assurance you did witness then but now being changed in your Minds by hearkning to his living Word which killed you while Sin ruled which brought Wrath and works Death now to the disobedient but now hath he changed your Minds and brought you subâ—ect and hath subjected the Adversaries under your Feet who have believed in him and have given up all to the Death of the Cross Oh my dear Ones stand all in that pure Freedom and your Measure which hath been obtained through the Death of the Cross and which Peace and true Liberty you have already obtained hath been purchased at a dear Rate and therefore dwell every one in that Measure and be diligent in the VVork of the Lord and press on that all may be subject by him who is the Light and Guide that he alone may have the Preeminence who is the Head of all Principalities and Powers in whom you have believed and received the VVord of his Power which is eternal to whom be Glory and Praise fâ—r evermore which VVord after it had judged and condemned Sin in the Flesh now gives pure Peace and Life to all who believe in it and are judged by it and it seals you and is the Spirit of Promise and bears witness in your Spirits as you act according to its VVill and therefore now all deâ—r Friends being all sensible of your Guide and Teacher shut him not up in a Corner but wait that his Word may be preached for a Testimony to all the World and the Nations of the World that so the End of it you may come to see in you and the utmost Part of it may be given in Possession to the Son that he may alone be glorified And all DEAR FRIENDS wait in Patience and be circumspect every one over your own Hearts that there be no fainting nor looking back amongst you but that you may all keep out that which would lead you into the Rebellion and it may be cut off that so you may come to the End of your Hope the Salvation of your Souls and watch one over another in the living and not with the Evil but cover one another and bear one another and if any fall by Temptation admonish and restore them in Love and let not Strife nor Contention be among you but all be low meek and gentle one to another that so no Pride nor Presumption nor fleshly Exaltation may be amongst you but that you may every one walk as Ministers of Righteousness in your Place and so preach Righteousness in the Earth that the Lord alone may be glorified who is enlarging his Kingdom in this the Day of his Power and in his Strength we run and are not weary fulfil our Joy and grow up as living Branches of Righteousness and bring forth Fruit in him who hath called you and begotten you by the Word of his Power to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of the dead incorruptible which hath changed you from Death to Life my Desire is to you and my Heart is enlarged when I think upon you and my Prayers are to the living God whom I know hears for you that you may all walk to the Praise and Glory of his Grace which hath saved you from Sin and will save you as you abide in it and will be sufficient for you to keep you single and without Stain and present you perfect before the Throne of God which is Grace God Almighty of Life and Glory be with you all my dear Brethren and preserve you all in the Arms of his living and eternal Power that you may all have Dominion by the Blood of God which is Life Eternal over all Sin and be cleansed by it from all Uncleanness and so receive the Eternal Reward the Inheritance with the Saints in Light which is the Inheritance of Jacob over which God reigns forever and blessed are they that come to witness this Forever the Lord of Life be with you all and preserve you under his Everlasting Shadow that so you may be brought to see the Lord and be ever with him who lives forever and ever and unto whom be Glory and Praise forever Amen Amen Dear Friends Glad would I hear from you that my Bowels may be refreshed for our Labour and Travail hath not been a little and our Suffering in this desolate Land my dear Brother E. B. whose Love I know is dear to you all I have not seen towards five Moneths I am in Hope I shall shortly the Work of the Lord prospers abundantly blessed be the Lord in such a wicked Generation as this is but Hell hath opened her Mouth against us and all is on Fire Councils and Head and Tail Rulers Officers Priests and all the Heathen are on an Vproar and so we must pass through Fire and Hail and Pillars of Smoak pray that we may be preserved for the Work whereunto he hath called us to gather the rest that are scattered and to turn them to the Shepherd and his Fold that they may lye down with you in the same Everlasting Fold and herein we war and strive and fight with Beasts but strong is the Lord who hath covered us and girded us with his own Armour and hath taught our Hands to War and our Fingers to fight in this the Day of his Power unto whom alone be Glory and Praise forever and ever Your dear Brother in the living Fellowship and Brotherhood which all that come to know must lay down their
Truth and have kept the Testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of prophecy the false prophets in all Nations who are from the Testimony of Jesus have called to the Beast to slay and to kill and to destroy the Seed of the Woman which is clothed with the Sun and so the Beast exercising his power which is from below hath killed and destroyed them who were subject to the higher power And what torturing massacring and persecution what burning and strangling there hath been what cruel Death 's many have been put to over all Nations and in all Nations where the Beast hath had power who makes War against the Life so that the Streets have run with Blood and all being gone from the Life and Power of God they set up themselves to be Judges over Mens Consciences and they who were in the Error they cryed out of Heresie and they that are gone from the Truth into a Lye the Ground of Blasphemy they cry out of Blasphemy and under the Horns of the Beast and under the Heads and the Crowns of the Beast what Cannons Constitutions Edicts and Laws have been in all Nations what Traps Gins and Snares have been laid in every Nation yea every Horn hath pushed and every Head hath lifted up it self against Christ the Head and every mortal Crown hath advanced it self against the Crown of Glory and against the immortal Crown so that it might be said as Elijah said The Altar of the Lord hath been broken down and his Prophets and his Witnesses slain none have escaped the Rage of the Beast Yet there have been a few who have kept their Garments clean and were not defiled with Women nor with the Harlot those who feared the Lord and durst not offend the righteous Law of God in their Consciences but have denyed whole Councils who were erred from the Faith and all the powers of the Earth in which the Beast bore Rule but rather chuse to suffer cruel Deaths then to let go the profession and possession of their Faith whose Blood cryes under the Altar How long O Lord holy just and true will it be ere thou avenge our Blood which Blood and Cry is entered into the Ears of the Lord of Hosts who will speedily take Vengeance on the Nations and dash them one against another and will break down that power which hath slain the Witnesses yea and hath gainsaid the power of God and all Nations who are from the Life in which the holy Men of God lived and in that Nature still which persecuted the Life of God wherever it did appear in any Measure yea swelled up and climbed to the very Top of Iniquity which is Satan's Crown and Glory and the Priests and they that went out from the Light into the World in John's dayes and Peter's dayes who then taught for filthy lucre and did subvert whole Houses from the Faith ever since that time have spread themselves over the Nations and have begotten people into a Form and into an Image without the life and so have worshipped the Beast and his Image And the deceit being entred then and Images then being set up one on this wise another on that and some have had an image of many mixtures such an Image as the Priests of England Scotland and Ireland worship and have got a Law to guard it that whosoever will not bow to it the Furnace is heat hotter to throw them into it Object And if any say Why I say so or how do I make that appear Ans. I answer thus the Cardinals Jesuites and other Romish Priests had a Law made to protect their Idol the Mass and if any spoke to him that was sacrificing to the Image or Idol then three Months Imprisonment but now if any declares against the Image that the Priests of England Scotland and Ireland have set up every one is to pay five Pound or six Months Imprisonment in a House of Correction and there be tortured and whipt and shamefully intreated near to the Loss of Life nay it 's now so much the more hotter now then ever None must come near the House of their Idol God or Image but must be counted a Breaker of the Peace nor speak to a deceiver and say he is so nor a Hireling and say he is so nor to a covetous Priest and say he is so and can for proof bring half of his Parish to witness the Truth of this but if he speak the Truth never so clear he must to Prison or pay five Pound or the House of Correction and there be whipt and stocked and fettered and chained and tortured and so ti is manifest that those Magistrates who had a Hand in making of this Law have outstript the Magistrates in the time of Q. Mary when the Pope had Power in his height in these Nations And the Priests now in these Nations who have set up their Image of many Mixtures and one Year they make one and another Year another and what that Power likes the best that is gone out of the Life and Power of God that they present to the Authority of the Nation as an Image of a more comely Stature then the former and then Authority makâ—s a Law to guard it and so it may truly be said as it was said to Israel Hath any other Nation changed their God but Israel had changed from the Living God to them by Nature which are no Gods And so have these Nations gone from God the Fountain of Life and from the Power of God and have set up an Image in which is no Life in stead nay they are not content with their Image but it grows old and then patch up another of many Mixtures one while the Mass that was held forth as their publick Profession and then Prelacy and the Book of Common-Prayer and then Presbytery and the Directory mixt and made up of Ignorance Blindness and of the Fragments of Popery and their own invention and this now is set up for all to bow to one while one thing which they call Faith and another while another and heaps of confused Confessions but are all out of the Life and from the true Faith And now they have manifested themselves to have no Faith and to be without Faith and are unagreed upon it instance that which is called the humble Petition and Advice presented to O. P. by the late Parliament that there may be a publich Confession of Faith made and recommended as the publick Profession and also that none may speak or write against under a Penalty but this Image the Lord hath by his immediate Hand from Heaven curst and confounded them that would have founded it before it ever came to be set up Ah silly silly that ever they who should profess Godliness should so shame themselves and all their Teachers for the teachers are not agreed yet of their Faith so they have either no Faith or else many Forms which are feigned and in this they
of the Gospel and the Foundation and the Tryer of Spirits and the Touch-stone and say it 's the Foundation of their Faith and Religion and so are all in the distraction one Envying another and Persecuting one another about the words of Truth spoken from the Spirit of Truth which cannot be understood again but by the same Spirit and so all them that have not the Spirit of Truth are in the Apostacy And all Sects Judgments and Opinions that have risen up since the Apostacy from the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints when the woman Travailed and brought the man-Child which after because of the Dragon's Power fled into the VVilderness and her Child caught up unto God all the Faith and worship that since is sprung up since the VVhore hath sitten as a Queen in Majesty is all denyed the Ground of their Worship Laws Traditions Inventions and all their invented Practices and Forms and Images and Likenesses are denyed and disowned as to be the Dress and Attire of the Whore which hath allured People through her enticing pretences and shews of Holiness when indeed all is but spiritual Adultery and this must be all turned under again the Whore's flesh Burned and her Attire plucked off and her Nakedness appear and her shame to them that have committed Fornication with her and they shall be ashamed of themselves and of her and abhor themselves and abhor her and Destroyed shall she be and the Lamb's Wife shall be beautified and come out of the secret Place into open View out of the Solitary Wilderness into the beautiful place that the Lord will bring her into and the time times and half time is out the thousand two hundred and threescore Dayes are at an End and he bears witness of it who saw her fly away upon Eagles Wings into the secret place which was prepared for her for these Dayes and Times appointed and I say he that knows the Counsel of the most High in this matter can account the time times and a half and the Dayes and what shall be after the dayes be expired which is at an end blessed is he that sees believes and Understands he shall see that which yet hath not appeared neither can it be believed by the most though it were declared but yet a little while and the Earth grows ripe and an Ear will be opened in many who cannot yet hear and for a little while in this I shall be silent and Treasure up that which the Spirit hath revealed till the time be fully accomplished which God hath determined and then his Glory shall be revealed and all the former things which have lived since the man of Sin hath been Exalted shall all dye and an utter Consumption shall be of all the changeable Laws made since the Apostacy and the many changeable Dresses of the Whore and Attires in which she hath appeared and Imaginary worships into which all have run since they were Apostatized from the Faith all this shall be disannulled and come to an End and be Blasted forever the Spirit of the Lord saith Amen How the Woman that was clothed with the Sun and had the Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head which did flee into the Wilderness comes out again after the great Whore is judged and her Child that was caught up unto God comes to appear again NOW after the time times and half a time after the thousand two hundred and threescore Dayes she returns after the Whore is judged and the great City Babylon is fallen which hath made the Nations drunk and brought forth Children in Fornication who had drunk the Blood of the Saints in the Apostacy after the Whore was judged and the Voice was heard in Heaven of much People that sang Halelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power who witnessed to the Righteousness of God's Judgment And a Voice came out of the Throne saying praise our God all his Servants and ye that fear him both small and great Rev. 19.5 6. And I heard as it were the Voice of many Waters and as a great Multitude and as the Voice of a mighty Thunder saying Halelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth the Whore is now judged the Mother of Harlots condemned with all her Inchantments and Sorceries Now the Lamb's Wife appears who is the Mother of the man-child which was caught up unto God she that was cloathed with the Sun with the glorious everlasting caelestial Light she is both the Mother and the Wife he that hath an Ear let him hear Now Jerusalem that is from above spiritually so called who was the Mother of all the Saints before the Apostacy she appears again and comes to be the Wife of the Lamb and the City of the Saints and the Mother of them that are born from above this shall be and is made manifest to some but a numberless Number shall see it and the Day hastens greatly and she is appearing again and her solitary Garments shall be put off and as she was beautifull before the VVhore made the Nations drunk clothed with the Sun and had the Moon under her Feet and a Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head and though she became Child-less and also as a VViddow and the Remnant of her Seed slain and destroyed so shall she appear again in Glory and Beauty as before and shall be made ready yea mine Eye hath seen it she is making her self ready as a Bride for her Husband and unto her is granted that she shall be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white even arrayed in the Righteousness of the Saints which is not self-Righteousness the Garments of the Harlot and her Lovers but in the Righteousness of Christ the Lamb her Husband and Child also and she shall now bring forth many more Children though her Seed hath been slain yet a numberless Number shall appear and ten Thousand Thousand shall be brought forth by her and glory in her and reverence her and rejoyce in her forever and they shall be all clad in the same Robe which the Husband the Lamb is clothed withal and the same the Lamb's VVife this VVoman is â—lâ—thed withall and the same shall all the Children by clothed withal the fine Linnen the Righteousness of the Lamb which was dead and slain since the Foundation of the World but now alive and lives for evermore and here a heavenly Family appears now after the Apostacy and this shall be seen by all that have an Eye that can see through and beyond the Smoke of the Pit that hath darkened the Air while the Beast and Dragon have had Power but now hath her Child appeared again the man-child hath appeared again and he that was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day saw whither he was taken up to the Throne of God Rev. 12.5 and on the same Lord's Day he saw him after the Woman was fled and the Remnant of her Seed was made War with and slain in the Earth where the
is but to set Bryars and Thorns in Battel against the Lord. Thy Book thou callst Hell broke Loose or a History of the Quakers published to preserve Christians against formality of Religion and Apostacy and to the intent that thy Book might not grow old nor stick upon thy Hands as such other moudly stuff hath done thou saist London Printed in the Year 1660. and so hast Printed a lye in the Frontis-piece of thy Book thy Book by that time thou may'st hang up with old Almanacks or sell for waste Paper and if thou beginst with a lye and Scorn how dost thou think that this will be an Antidote as thou callst it against formality and Apostacy Is not a Lyar an Apostate is not he that pleads for Popish Trumpery a formalist in Religion without the Power he that reads but thy Title page may see what thy Book is within if he go no further the Covenant of Death is not yet broken in thee and the agreement with Hell is not yet disannulled and therefore all this Smoke is come out of the Pit in which thou delights to dwell And is this such a worthy Piece in thy account that thou must needs shelter it under the Wings of the Officers of the Army of England Scotland and Ireland art thou so great a Friend to them and in thy Book tell'st them they were the in-let of Heresie and Blasphemy who art but yet an Episcopal stem or at best a Presbyterial Branch I believe many amongst them will savour thy Spirit and know what Uniformity and unity thou art for which may be more properly called deformity and Enmity and so thy Flattering Epistle when they see thy Spirit will hardly merit thanks and so that wicked Spirit which could not be satisfied in the time of the former Parliaments and Protectors still persists in the unsatiable desire to see if the Army will gratifie thee and turn Persecutors but thou hast mist it far in crying a confederacy to the reverend Pastors or Priests of Scotland the Army knows right well or at least might do that the Priests of Scotland whom thou so reverencest have been alwayes Hinderers and Obstructors of the Way of God and of his Work these divers Years instance two â—o three Hundred of them before the sight at Dunbar who Prophesied all like Zedekiah for the poor Scots against the English Army to go up and Prosper and Cursed them and Excommunicated them and gave them up to Satan and for Distruction but such Prophets were made fools and their divinations were Madness and God gave a sufficient Testimony against them and their deceived Followers which I hope the English Army have not 〈◊〉 forgotten and for the Scotish Priests and their Doctrine and Practice 't is so grosly ignorant and abominably Prophane as I believe many of the Army do right well know but such as are not satisfied I refer them to a Book called The Doctrines and Principles of the Priests of Scotland wherein may be seen their deceit and how some of them have said they had Reason to curse the Magistrates from morning to Night because that Allowance was granted unto any to Worship God in Spirit and Truth who could not be subject to their Traditional uniformity and thou tellest the Army in thy Epistle That ruin is like to come upon all Religion and Piety if God prevent it not by you or some other way they may see what Religion thou art of which may be rather called Irreligious and Impious the Government of Religion and Piety lyes upon the shoulders of him who is a wonderful Counsellor and mighty to save and able to defend them that are subject to him and wouldst thou have the Souldiers or any others intrude themselves into Christ's Throne unto whom all Power is committed both to make Religious and preserve pious them that do believe in him this were to derogate from the Honour and Power which belongs to Christ who is the Head of the Church who will not give his Glory to another and let all take notice of this that whosoever hath sought to take Honour from him and glory from him he hath laid their honour in the Dust and their Glory is become as the moth-eaten Garment as hitherto it hath been evident and thou tellst them They know the Scripture is God's written Word and a Holy perfect rule of Faith and Practice and that it holds out that Christ is now in his human glorified Body in Heaven If thou hadst said the Scripture are the Words of God written thou hadst said something for the Word of God is one thing and the Words are another though the words are a Testimony of the Word and the Word and the Spirit which is one which gave forth the Words are the perfect Rule and Foundation of Faith which was before the Words and is greater then the Words as we have often declared to thy dearest Generation though they would not hear and where doth the Scripture hold forth a Human glorified Body in Heaven thy deceit and ignorant mind holds out a Human glorified Body we say according to the Scriptures that Christ's Body is spiritual and he is raised a spiritual Body and is Glorified in a spiritual Body and in a Heavenly Body which thou never knewest neither art like while the Nature lives in thee in which thou now stands And thou say'st in thy Epistle that one day in seven should be set apart for rational Souls to mind the things of Eternity And which is that Day that thou wilt set apart some of Babylon's Merchants have cryed up one day and some have cryed up another day and some have called the seventh day the Sabbath and some have called the first day the Sabbath and whether was Sabbaths made for Man or Man for Sabbaths and whether was dayes made for man or man made for dayes all time is in the Hand of the Lord and they that have Communion with him do mind the things of Eternity every day and so they come to know the day of the Lord in which rest is given to the Soul and the Creature hath rest though he labour in the Creation when that is done away in himself which hath Opprest thou may'st go learn what this means In thy Post-script as thou callst it thou saist If any shall take offence for thy seeking to civil or Military Power to Support Religion thy defence is thy belief is That thou ought to seek to the higher Powers to support Religion and this is the Liberty of thy Conscience and that this thou may do more acceptably then they who Cross their own profest Opinion as they have done of late Years by motions Counsels Books and Papers which they have delivered for these many Years for â—he pulling down the Ministry and Steeple-houses and that their importuning the Magistrate to pull down Ministry and Worship is a yielding of the Cause I say thy belief is without the true Foundation and so
to Lighc in the Hearts of the Sons of Men that they may see his saving Health and feel him and have Union with him who is the Author of Eternal Salvation in all that believe which Salvation God hath shed abroad richly in the Hearts of his People and his plenteous Redemption which many are made Partakers of and therein their Souls are satisfied and their Flesh rests in Hope and their Hearts are filled with Joy and Gladness and he which hath revealed this will perfect his own Work which he hath begun in them that believe and keep the Faith unto the End shall see the Top-Stone brought forth with Shouting and Victory with Joy Therefore Dear Friends and Brethren look not out neither faint when you are tempted and tryed but eye the Lord who is near to deliver and to administer Strength in Weakness of which I do not doubt but you have felt whose Arm is made bare to save and to defend all the upright in Heart in the Hour of Tryal and in the Time of Temptation and your Work shall not be in Vain for that whâ—ch is ministred from the Life shall not pass away unfulfilled but every one shall answer and bear Witness unto it in the Day of the Lord So in the Long-suffering and in the Patience and Meekness all dwell and in Love with one another and bear with one another and strengthen one another and be subject one to another in the Truth knowing your Works are one and the Message one which you have all to bear Witness of impose not upon one another but leave every one free to the free Spirit of the Lord in himself to be directed and guided in his Service and judge all that down which would beget into Strife for that Spirit will not gather unto God but scatter there hath been Hurt done already in that Place in striving and Contention which hath done Hurt for they that should be Builders should not bite one another and devour one another and so come to destroy them selves and others for that which would be greatest must be least and he which is least and Servant of all shall be exalted for with the humble God dwells and the lowly he leads in the Way of Peace for we are not sent to preach our selves neither to set up our selves but the Lord 's Christ who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross and gave his Life a Ransom for many and he is our Example and he alone is to be exalted and to have the Preeminence and they that exalt him he will exalt and they that honour him he will honour and self is excluded and glorying and boasting excluded by all the Children of Wisdom and that alone to be gloryed in which crucifies to the World and leads to Unity with God and Fellowship with Christ in the Eternal Rest. The Arm of the Lord be wâ—th you all and keep you in hâ—s Wisdom that you may finish your Testimony in Faithfulness and be clear of the Blood of all Men and so lay down your Heads in Peace when the Work is finished which the Lord hath appointed unto you that you may come to inherit the Crown of Glory which fadeth not away and be Partakers of God's eternal Excellency which doth excel eternally all the Glory of the World and the Renown thereof which fadeth away We have received divers Letters from divers of you and also we have heard how two dear Brethren have given up their Lives as a Sacrifice unto the Lord whose Life and Death was precious in his Sight in which I heartily rejoyce that they suffered so valiantly and boldly for his Names sake who laid down his Life for them and by it they are redeemed up unto God to live with him in that Life and Love which is everlastingly pure and satisfactory of which I am most certainly perswaded they had an Enjoyment of and Assurance and thereby had Joy and Peace and strong Consolation in him who hath reconciled all Things unto himself in one who is the Head of the Body which he hath redeemed which is his Church by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant by which every Member thereof is compleated and presented Perfeâ—â— in Jesus Christ our Light and Life our Crown and Rejoycing to whom be Glory forever and ever Amen And be tender and watchful over them that are convinced and let all your Lives preach before them and be their Example in all Things and keep them all down to their own that they may feel the Power of the Life immortal which you have born Witness of and exhort all to Stedfastness and not to look out at the Rage of the Enemy for that hath appeared which must conquer which cannot be subject to the Wills of corrupt Men Christopher Hâ—lder is arived here who declared unto us the Affairs of the Gospel in those Parts and all the Letters which came over unto our Hands will be sent carefully as they were directed So the everlasting God of Life Power be with you all is the Prayer of him whom God heareth Who is your dear Brother in the Suffering and Long-Suffering of God and in the Fellowship of the Gspel of Peace F. H. THE DECEIVER OF THE NATIONS DISCOVERED AND HIS CRUELTY Made manifest How he hath deceived the Nations and wrought his Works of Darkness more hiddenly under the Mask of Higher Power Holy Church and so persecutes the Righteous Seed and makes them suffer under the Name of Evil-doers in these latter Dayes More especially his Cruel Works of Darkness laid open reprov'd in Mariland in Virginia and the Sad Sufferings of the Servants of the Lord there by his Cruel Instruments Sent back unto them again that they may view their Work again and repent and be ashamed lest the Wrath of God sink them into the Pit as it hath done many before them who have opposed the Lord. GReat and many have the Tryals and Sufferings been of the Faithful Witnesses of God in all Generations by the Seed of Evil-doers who would not that Righteousness should reign and Truth have the Dominion because then the Glory of their Kingdom that standeth in Falshood and Deceit would be stained and blasted and not be had in Honour and Admiration Therefore the Devil who was a Lyar and a Murderer and an Oppressor from the Beginning hath labour'd by all his Power to deceive Mankind that he might exalt his Throne and Kingdom which consisteth wholely of Iniquity in the Hearts of the Sons of Men that so he might be honoured and worshipped and his Unrighteous Decrees fulfilled and himself admired above the true God which made both Heaven and Earth and all things that are therein who alone ought to be worshipped and honoured above all who is blessed forever whose Kingdom stands in Righteousness Equity Truth and Peace forever Therefore Satan being cursed and banished from the Presence of the Lord forever being full of Enmity Wrath and Rage Murder
now mark this that by which the Apostle gathered them from the Jewish Temples and Priest-hood and the Gentiles from their Idols Temples was by the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel to wit not the Law nor the Ordinances of the first Covenant but the Power of God and the word of Reconciliation for the first Covenant of the Jews made not the Comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Neither the Gentiles Idols Temples nor Worships made them perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but rather made them worse and more corrupted Heb. 9.9 But the Preaching and publishing of the Word of Reconciliation that did it was committed to the Disciples it was received and believed in by many both Jews and Gentiles as at Ephesus and elsewhere and they were made a Habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes. 2.22 Now mark this they preached not up the Letâ—er of the Law nor that which was written in Tables of Stone for the first Priest-hood that was ended and the Ministry of that and the Vail was over their Hearts while Moses was read and their ability stood not in the Litteral knowledge or in that which was written But they were able Ministers of the New-Testament of the Spirit and so all that did believe both Jews and Gentiles who received the word of Faith which was nigh in the Mâ—uth and in the Heart Rom. 10.8 they grew up in the Knowledge of God and of his holy Spirit and great Gifts grew amongst them as of Prophecy of speaking with Tongues of Interpretation and there was diversity of gifts and diversity of Operations yet all by the same Spirit which the Apostles were made Ministers of and which they that did believe and receive and received gifts from it and knew the Operation of it which wrought in them mightily to the throwing down the strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 And the principalities and Powers of Darkness and to the Translating and changing of them from Darkness to Light and from Satans Power to the Power of God even into the Kinâ—dom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 And several Congregations in divers Places were all one Body whereof Christ the Life was the Head in which they had believed and of whose Power they had tasted grew up in Knowledge and Wisdom and gifts and the Day of Christ approached which Abraham saw And they exhorted one another and admonished one another and when they met together at several Places every one according to the Gift of God as he had received not from the Letterâ— but from the Spirit did and might administer to the Edification one of another and to the building up and comforting one another in the most holy Faith which gave them Victory over Sin which Faith was wrought in them by hearing of the Word that was nigh them in the Mouth and in the Heart which was the Word of Consolation which was in the Beginning Moreover when they met together they might Prophesie one by one and every one Exercise his own gift to the edification and Comfort of the Body as the Spirit did lead them in Order and if any went out from his Measure he was judged by them that were in the Spirit Furthermore they that had believed the Gospel which was published to them for remission of Sin they grew up into great Enjoyments and Attainments in the righteous Life of Christ which was manifest in them And though first they knew the Ministration of Condemnation and the sentence of Death yet afterwards came to know the Ministration of the Spirit and the sweet Assurance and Testimony of it bearing Witness to the Spirit that they were the Sons of God and they were made Heirs according to the Promise Heb. 6.17 and were made joynt-heirs and co-heirs with Christ in the Kingdom which is Immortal which faâ—es not away and did dome to know Mount Sion and the City of the living God Heb. 12.22 and it were large to speak of the Glory and the Transcendent Excellency of the Church of Christ which became a purchased Possession to him in the Primitive Times or the first hundred Years after the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh. But take notice of this that they that were sent out who had received freely of the Father of Christ and of the Spirit Ministred freely as they had received freely without making any Covenants or enquiries after worldly revenews but went from City to City Preaching the Gâ—spel of Christ freely as they hâ—d received without any conditionâ— frâ—m the People And as many as believed and received the Gospel did Minister freely their Hearts being open unto them who had declared unto them spiritual Things Acts 4.34 Mat. 10.8 c. So that we read of no compulsion or forcing Maintenance from any of the Cities whether they believed or not believed the Father took care of such Harvest-men and and what they received was given freely and there was no Complaint though often they denyed that which was proferred to them and thâ—ir Câ—re was to make the Gospel of Christ not Burdensome or chargeable but rather their Hands should Minister unto their Necessities Acts 18.3 Again though divers gifts were given unto the Disciples before and after Christ's Ascension as some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers and some Elders or Bishops yet they were all made Ministers by the holy Ghost yet it were large to speak of the Power and of the Wisdom and of the Enjoyments of God in that day and time and of the Gifts and of the order which was in the Church at that time But in a Word the Son of God was made manifest and gave them an Understanding and they knew him that was true Truth it self and Christ was revealed in them and manifested to them the Hope of their Glory Col. 1.27 Furthermore they come to see over the new Moons and Fâ—sts and Feasts and Dayes and Times and Meats and Drinks and none could judge of them or ought to judge of them in those Cases for they saw the Body Christ for the man-Child was brought forth and the Woman was Cloathed with the Sun who had the Crowd of twelve Stars upon her head who brought forth the holy Child Jesus who saves his People from their Sins In whom all Shadows Types Figures Representations end This in short was part of the Glory of the Primitive Church which would be large to speak of as it was in the first State of its Purity But hereafter some fuller thing the Lord may bring forth in his own time and day CHAP. II. Concerning the entring in of the Apostacy and the Declination from the Purity of Doctrine Worship and Practice and when it began downwards from the entring of it in until this present Age and Time CHrist the true Prophet which Moses spake of whom the Lord raised up and manifested in the Fulness of time he prohesied and declared of false Prophets that should arise Mat. 7.15 Beware of
unto forever in the perpetual Covenant of Life which can never be broken which will ouâ—â—â—â—â— Death and Hell and all the Lord's Adversaries who would not acknowledge the most â—igh to rule in the Kingdoms of Men and to have the Power and only Authority in the Hearts and Consciences of Men which is his only Right and he never yet did give nor will give this Honour and Glory to any other though the Devil and Satan who hath made blind the Nations hath usurped and laid Claim to that which only belongs to the living God of Heaven and Earth and he hath long reigned in the Earth and now his Subjects plead for his usurped Power and Dominion and are loath to let any Part of it go or fall but we certainly know the Victory is the Lamb's and his Followers and though you be in the War and in the Hardship and Suffering and as killed all the Day long yet your Bow abides in Strength and the Lord will cover your Heads that your Enemies shall not touch your Life as you keep near the Lord and glorious will be the Triumph and great the Glory and Victory unto all that continue unto the End in the Hope and Faith which is manifest from our Lord Jesus Christ in your Hearts by which you have been purified and sanctified and made meet and worthy to be an Habitation for the living God the Crown of Glory the Riches of the Kingdom which is without End shall be yours and your Souls shall forever be bound up in the Bundle of Life and ye shall shine as Stars of God in the Brightness of his immortal Power forever and ever and have ye not received an Earnest of the same already and hath not God doubled and redoubled his Grace upon you and in you from Time to Time have not you eaten of the Grapes of the Land already which those which were brought from Esâ—col by the good Spies in the Land of Israel were not to be compared unto let your Hearts be comforted and do rejoyce in Hope for the Inheritance which God hath promised you who will perform his Promise and make good that which he hath said notwithstanding all the Opposition of all the Sons of Amaleck and you shall see it feel it and be made Partakers of it taste it handle it enjoy it possess it even that which shall satisfie your Hearts to the full only be of a believing Heart look not out neither think the Time long nor the Lord slack for you hitherto have been provided for in your Way since you set your Faces towards Sion and the Lord hath been your Leader and in the Front and his Righteousness hath been your Reward and so will continue with you unto the End forever true and most faithful we have found him in the Time of need Most tenderly beloved the Lord God our Almighty Rock and Everlasting Refuge moved in my Heart to greet you with these Lines for in his Name Power and holy living Life which is fresh and powerful in my Heart do I say Peace Good-will Mercy Love Life Joy and the Encrease of all heavenly and spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus be multiplyed among you to the confirming of you and establishing of you in the most holy Faith which is begun and to the finishing of the blessed Race which you are begun in and to the strengthning of you by his Almighty Power in all your inward Man to make War and to overcome to fight the good Fight of Faith to the laying hold of eternal Life and to the obtaining of the Crown of Glory and Diadem of Righteousness which shall be set upon the Heads of all the Lamb's Followers through Tribulation which Rubies are not to be compared unto neither the fine Gold of Ophir but the hidden Treasure the durable Riches the everlasting Peace the white Rayment the glorious Clothing of the Lord the Righteousness of the Saints you shall possess Oh dearest Hearts most dearly and entirely beloved of the Lord and me what might I say to make all your Hearts glad even as mine is at this Time though melted into Tears of Joy for your sake because the Lord hath made you so freely and willingly to take his Yoak upon you and to bear his Cross and to despise the Shame and to endure the Reproach so willingly Oh blessed blessed blessed from the Lord God forever I pronounce you in his Name and Power that ever lives only Potentate to whom belongs Glory and Honour forever and ever Amen Dearly beloved true it is as it hath been foretold by his Servants that they that will live godly in Christ Jesus much suffer Persecution because of the Enmity that is in the World in whom the Love and Peace of God dwells not although they will make mention thereof in Words but in Works deny him as is very evident this Day by them who would not be counted Heathens but Christians and yet hate his Life and Appearance and they are grown so blind and impudent through the Unbelief that is in them that they cannot discern the Fruits of the Spirit where they are brought forth neither can believe though it be declared unto them and as is manifest would not let God have any Honour or Worship if it suit not their Blindness or their corrupt Laws which they make not only to stand by God's Law but even to cross it and gainsay iâ— and are so impudent as to say That to worship God is Crime enough if they think meet to call it so whether to Banishment Death or Confiscation and yet will say Cursed is he that parts Man and Wife and again Whom God hath joyned together let no Man separate and Cursed is he that spoils the Fatherless and doth oppress the Widdow and the like and yet cannot see themselves in the very Act. Well Dear Hearts although it be your Share to partake of the Heat of the Dragon's Fury yet you are not alone and though you be counted unworthy by these corrupt Judges to live in your City Family and your native Land because you will not deny that which God hath wrought in you and manifest to you by his Spirit and conform to them in their Blood-thirstiness and Cruelty therefore they by their unjust Seâ—tence have pronounced you to be banished out of your native Country and from your dear Relations and yet say it 's just and think that their Statute which is like a Spiders Web will be their Shelter which they have made even as the Jews did against Christ his Apostles the Romans against the primitive Christians even the same they would do for Mahomet Baal and Milcham if there were a seeming Law to be their Shelter Well what shall we say but that they are in Cain's Way and themselves banished from the Presence of the Lord and would have all wander as they after the Paths of the Heathen and after the Customs of the Nations and the corrupt Traditions