can the Gentiles be found worthy but by coming out of them into the obedience of the Truth and to come out of the Earth out of the High-wayes and Hedges and Streets where there hath been lameness and blindness and hardness of heart which the Gentile if he comes in hath not the VVedding garment and to him it will be said Friend how camest thou hither not having a VVedding garment and he shall be taken and cast into utter darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Therefore all are to look about them and mind to obey that which is of God that you may have the VVeding garment the cloathing of Righteousness which whosoever feareth God and worketh Righteousness in all Nations both Jews and Gentiles shall be accepted but anguish pain and tribulation to the Soul of every one that doth Evil to the Jew first and likewise to the Gentile By Faith it is seen how just and righteous it was for the Apostles and Servants of Christ to meet togetter in the Faith and in the Fear of the Lord to wait together for the Promise of the Father which said Christ ye have heard of me and ye shall receive Power from on High when the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both at Jerusalem and in Judea and they through waiting received the Promise the Power from on High and the Holy Ghost came upon them and through the Power of the Highest were moved to go into the Nations and unto the People which dwelt upon the Earth Preaching the Gospel freely as they had received freely labouring in the Power of the Highest to turn People from the Darkness and Error of their Lives unto the Light and to the Knowledge of the Light of the Glorious Gospel which shined in their hearts to give them the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and Preached the Word of Faith in their hearts and in their mouths and that they had a more sure Word of Prophesie unto which they did well to take heed as unto a Light that shined in a dark place until the day dawned and the day Star arose in their hearts By Faith it is seen how just it was in the Apostles to go forth Preaching the Gospel to all Nations though commanded by the Rulers to speak no more in that Name yet they spoke the more boldly going into Markets Synagogues and Assemblies of the People though opposed by Priests Rulers People cast into prisons under sore Persecutions and Bonds and many Tryals yet they went on boldly not regarding the Commandment of men but obeyed God rather than man By Faith it 's seen how just it was in them to witness against false Worships false Teachers false Apostles false Prophets false Ministers laying them open by their Fruits as Christ had said when he prophesied that many false Christs and false Prophets should come and should deceive many by their fruits ye shall know them and by their fruits the Apostles laid them open who were false Ministers Messengers of Satan Ministers of unrighteousness transforming themselves into the likeness of the Ministers of Christ who went in Cain's way envying and persecuting the Just and in Balaam's way for Wages of unrighteousness and Promotion and Gifts and Rewards who minded earthly things whose God was their Belly and their glory in their shame whose end was to be destroyed who with good words and fair speeches deceived the hearts of the simple and through covetousness made merchandise of Souls bringing in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and preach for Money and Price when as the Lord said Freely ye have received freely give the Work-man is worthy of his meat these had eyes full of Adultery and could not cease from sinning beguiling unstable Souls whose hearts are exercised with covetous Practices cursed Children which have forsaken the right Way and are gone astray after the error of Balaam who loved the Wages of unrighteousness but the dumb Ass speaking with man's Voice rebuked such madness in him who was greedying after earthly things And the Apostles witnessed against such Teachers that spoke things which they ought not for filthy lucre sake who were proud men who were covetous men heady high-minded treacherous disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy blasphemers truce-breakers incontinent fierce dispisers of those that are good lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Life and Power thereof from such turn away for of this sort are they which creep into Houses leading silly Women captive laden with sin and led away with divers lusts ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these withstand the Truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith being Evil men and Seducers waxing worse and worse deceiving and being deceived but they shall proceed no further their folly shall be manifest to all men And Jude witnesseth against such as were ungodly men turning the Grace of our Lord Jesus into lasciviousness denying the only Lord and Saviour and called them Wells without water spots in their Feasts feeding without Fear Clouds carried about with Wind filthy Dreamers that defile the Flesh who went in Cain's way and Balaam's way having mens persons in admiration because of advantage being separated sensual having not the Spirit And the Apostle witnessed against them who were given to Wine and that were Strikers Lovers of Money of filthy Lucre bid the Saints take heed of such that were desirous of filthy Lucre that were self-willed who despised Dominion and spoke evil of Dignities natural bruit Beasts made to be taken and destroyed as all the Priests of the World despise that any can come into that Dignity or Dominion as to overcome Sin and to be throughly cleansed in this Life and perfected By Faith it 's seen that all these that testified against such as lived in these Practices before mentioned were just and faithful unto God and it 's likewise seen to be just and faithfulness in us to declare against all such that live in such Practices that they were in which the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and all the Saints testified against though the world could not bear it then to have their Teachers and Prophets declared against neither can they now yet it 's just with God and in faithfulness to the Lord to declare against them who are manifest by their Fruits to be in the steps of the false Prophets by their Fruits ye shall know them saith Christ for an evil Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit nor a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit. By Faith it 's seen that it was just with God to smite Herod the King who had stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church and persecuted the Saints when he had made
Presence may go along with them and his Arm may defend them and his Glory follow after them to be their Re-reward And the Spirits and Life of all the Children of the Promise the Heirs of Eternal Salvation He upholds who give themselves up unto Him and to the Appearing of his Glory and the Light of His glorious Gospel which shines in their hearts that they may be unto Him as the Tower of Sion and the Bulwarks of Jerusalem in them hath the Star arisen which hath shined from the North and is broken forth in the Darkness of the Night and is shining towards the South it rises in the East it looks towards the West and there is no place for its going down The Lord hath Multitudes of People He gathers them as the Bands of the Earth He suffers the Nations to afflict them for a season He chastizeth with the Rods of Men that He may prove them all for His Glory And yet a little while and the Rage of the Heathen shall sink He correcteth his People for their Good and chastizeth them for their Peace-sake that He may build up his Nation which He hath visited and establish his Seed which he hath gathered and multiply his People Thy Throne O God endures for ever and the Scepter of thy Righteousness who lettest not Sufferings and Tryals to come upon the Seed which thou hath chosen and the People which thou hast visited to destroy them but to establish them that when thou hast tryed them as Gold they may be established and fitted for thy use that they may be humbled and all fear before thee and wait upon thee that thou mayest renew us all from day to day and night after night in thy Life to do thy Service to fit all thine to Glory and Praise and Honour immortal for thy great Name thou art spreading over all the Earth By Faith it was given me to see wherein the Worship of the true God consisteth and how He must be worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Father seeks such to worship him as worship Him in the Spirit as worship Him in the Truth and in the true Light which enlighteneth every one in which none can see the VVorship but who come into the Faith and into the Humility and into the Fear and into the Waiting and into the Zeal for God which bows the heart before God and the heart being bowed then the Consideration is come into and the Inquirings into the Knowledge of Life and the sinking down to feel the Spirit which brings the Truth into Remembrance and also brings to be still and quiet and wait in stilness and quietness and silence then God is seen and felt and his Life which gives the Creature to feel after God who comes to be felt in his Life which enlighteneth the Creature and gives the Creature liveliness to wait for the renewing the strength and God reveals his Word his Power and his Requirings in the Creature which works in the heart and in the reins and runs through the mortal body and is weighty in operation to give Power and Dominion to the Creature to the end that it may have full power and strength to resist the Assaults of the Devil and to have its mind staid in stilness and quietness and silence and waiting for the Love and Vertue and Mercies of God which being felt then the Lord is admired and bowed unto this is VVorship to bow before the God of Heaven that all that 's in Man may be bowed down and submitted under the Life and Power then he worships he boweth down to the higher Power his soul abhors all defilements his thoughts are staid on God his heart is kept tender and open and he is refreshed in the Enjoyment of the Life and of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord and of his Power by which the Creature comes to admire the infinite Love and Mercies of God and the Riches of his Grace that after so long living in disobedience the Lord should reveal his Power and make known the Riches of his Grace to such a Creature that hath been as altogether unworthy but the Lord hath done it for his Seeds sake in Man which never consented to or took pleasure in sinning but hungred and thirsted after God and breathed after God and moved in the Creature towards the Lord even while the Creature was yet subject to vanity and for the Seeds sake the Lord is merciful full of compassion long-suffering and slow to Anger and blessed are all they that turn unto Him in the obedience of His Seed and in the Faith of His Son they shall see his Mercies know his Presence feel his Life Power and Spirit which bows and brings to worship God By Faith it 's seen that none are more sensible of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord than when they are still and quiet and wait in silence and stilness even when met together and when alone for by Faith many are come to see that the Lord is very near and that they feel his Presence when they wait upon Him and his Life breaks forth in his tender Love to the great refreshing of the soul and quickning of the Creature this takes away weariness and leanness from the soul and removes the multitude of vain Thoughts which have lodged in Man so that though they may often appear yet they become stilled as though they were not for when any thing appears contrary to the Will of God the Light is near and ready to administer Judgment upon it and to give the Creature to apply its mind to Judgment through which God redeems out of the Incumbrances and reveals his Noble Spirit of Life which stills the Thoughts and the Desires and Affections which would raise Lust and War in the flesh so that Man comes to wait out of himself and out of his own thoughts and imaginations in the Life the Promise it self where it feels the Riches of the Love and of the Mercies and of the Grace and of the Power which brings into the Glory and into the unspeakable Life and Love where the mortal body becomes filled with Immortality and Life which swallows up mortality in Victory and Conquest and Dominion and the delight of all mortal fading things and this hath made me bold and confident in the Lord of my Life to give up my whole strength for the witnessing forth the Truth through Faith which by Faith is received of God even through the Nations by Sea and by Land as the Lord requires which I account Eternal Salvation though for it I suffer many things but all is good and for good By Faith it 's seen how exceeding good it is to wait upon the Lord and to be still and silent before Him and in all things to eye Him and fear Him then the Incumbrances come to be taken away and the Darkness and Doubtings dissolved and Courage and Boldness for God received which
an Oration before the People who gave a shout and said it was the Voice of a God and not of a man and that the worms should eat him because he gave not the Glory to God By Faith it 's seen that it was great faithfulness and obedience unto the Lord in the Apostles that they gave up themselves to do the Work of God and laboured in the Truth to turn both Jews and Gentiles to Christ the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the World and to the Grace which hath appeared to all men which taught the Saints that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they might live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World and come to know the saving of their Souls by the Grace through Faith and when the People did once believe they came to receive Grace for Grace and had Faith revealed in them from Faith to Faith which gave them Victory over the whole World and over the Transgression of it to be cleansed from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God and unto such the Apostles wrote Epistles exhorting them to continue in the Faith and to persevere in the Hope Watching and being Sober having the loynes of their minds girt about with the Truth unto these Salvation was come nearer than when they first Believed therefore they were to awake from sleep and rise from dead Works and to put off the deeds of the Night for the Darkness was past and the true Light shined and they were to put on the whole Armour of God to Arm themselves with the Armour of Light that they might withstand the evil Day and might be able to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil that they might offer their Bodies unto God a Living Holy Sacrifice acceptable unto God which was but their reasonable Service not fashioning themselves according to the Fashions of the World but to be renewed in their Mindes to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfed Will of God And they were not to adorn themselves with Gold or Silver or Pearls or Plaiting of Hair nor costly Array but with modest Apparel to adorn the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ Let not your adorning be with the putting on of Apparel nor wearing of Gold or Pearls ar broidered Hair but let it be in the hidden man of the Heart with a meek and quiet Spirit which with the Lord is of great price and their words were to be few and seasoned with salt that they might administer Grace to the Hearers that all things might be done in Order and decently for the setting forth the Glory of God and the Praise of his Grace by which they were called to be Saints By Faith it 's likewise seen that after the Apostles had once turned the People to the true Light and to know God shining in their Hearts to cause the Light to shine out of Darkness to give them the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ in which they received the Anointing which gave them an understanding to know all things so that they needed no man to teach them then they committed them to the Word of his Grace which was able to keep them from falling and left them to assemble themselves together in the Spirit to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth and not to forsake the assembling themselves together as the manner of some was but to wait for the Promises and persevere in the Hope unto the end waiting for the appearing of the great God and his Christ then they left them committing them to the Grace which was able to keep them from falling and to the Spirit of Jesus which was able to build them up and â—o keep them from the world unspotted â—nd to hate even the garment spotted with the Flesh and to present them Holy unto God without spot or blemish or any such like thing which brought them 〈…〉 one another and to have Union one wâ—â—h another and not with the world for a Believer and an Infidel cannot concord then I say they left them and did not continue with them as the manner of Hirelings ever was to stay as long as they lived for great sums of Money with one People except they could get a greater Benefice with another whose day is as the cutting off Life from the Earth and going down to the Grave but the Apostles day was to do the joyful Work of God and to call many into the Light the way of everlasting Rest and Peace and Joy who when they had turned one People to the Light left them and wrote to them from another People unto whom they were gone to turn them to the same Truth and out of other Lands So they saluted the Saints and their Assemblies which they had gathered with the saluâ—ations of Peace and Love exhorting all to press forward to the Mark of the price of the High Calling in Christ Jesus namely to the full attainment of the fulness of an Holy and perfect Life that they might all be presented perfect in Christ and sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit and being partakers of the Divine Nature and escaping the Corruption which is in the world through lust and being partakers of the Faith they might give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure adding unto Faith Vertue and unto Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Love and to brotherly Love Charity which is the band that keepeth perfect for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall and so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This I have given forth from the Innocency and uprightness of my Heart as moved of the Lord which I send abroad as a Testimony of the true Work of the true Faith and of its Effect it being a few of those excellent Truths which through Faith in the Light is given me to see and to believe and to witness forth the true Testimony of the Saints which justly and truly they through Faith witnessed forth to the Glory of God and it is to be Printed and sent abroad unto all People but most especially to all the English in America and the West-Indies and the Islands thereunto belonging which if in this I should finish my Testimony of Writing or Declaring the Truth of God yet this shall stand unto Generations to come and to this present Generation as a Testimony