person where that of God in the conscience rules which respects no man's person 1 Kin. 3 24. here the Sword divides aright It gives a whole living Child to the true mother and the harlot set to be stoned without the Camp this makes the heart of the Righteous glad and so the whole Land becomes as God's Israel in which the showers of blessing and mercy flow for ever whose dwellers plagues come not to touch And this is the offering which God requires among you true Iudgement and Iustice to be executed upon the head of the transgressor without mercy But mercy to the Poor the Widdow the Fatherlesse and Oppressed and not to pervert the way of the stranger to turn him out of his way and all to be done and executed by the measuring line of true Judgement that of God in your consciences to order all your Lawes Acts and Ordinances that when God comes Innocent blood may not be found in your Land for which God is coming to visit and where the measure is scant and the ballances falsified God will find out the Iniquity and overturn it and make all as a plain before him and plant such in the Nations for his service as shall not bear the Sword in vain Concerning the Law saith Paul 1 Tim. 1.9 10 The Law is not made for a Righteous man but for the lawlesse and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and prophane for murderers and man-flayers for whoremongers for them that defile themselves with mankind for Stealers for Lyars and for Perjured persons Where the measure of the Lord Rules there the Law is fulfilled but where the Will rules concerning the Law or concerning the Customes or concerning Professions and Religions then the Heart is blind and cannot Judge then the unrighteous rules and it judgeth the just and by this the Just alwaies suffered the Prophets were killed and Christ crucified and the Apostles stoned and put to Death read Ps 94.20 21. Sinners and ungodly for whom the Law was made judged them for whom the Law was not made in their perverse Wills by a Law and this was alwaies the blindnesse and Ignorance of the World who did not judge according to that of God in the conscience for which cause the Jewes and Greeks are under a curse to this day whose sin is not repented of Therefore a warning to the whole World how they being sinners and in their sins Judge and condemn the Innocent and such in whose mouth is no guile nor in their heart Iniquity for the mighty day of God is at hand and the Lord is coming to enter into Iudgement for his own Therefore let all your Lawes be according to that of God in the conscience that you wrong not the Innocent nor hale Innocent blood upon your heads for such a Nation God will establish for ever and give their enemies as a prey to their net And this is your Visitation from the Lord whether you will hear or forbear I. P. Postscript GO ye and learn what that meaneth I will have MERCY and not SACRIFICE Mat. 9.13 saith Christ Learn to offer unto the Lord of his own that which is acceptable in his sight offer Truth and offer Righteousness the fruits of an upright heart God requireth substance and not shadows Psa 50.9 10 11 12. substance without all shadows I will take no Bullock out of thy house saith the Lord nor He-Goats out of thy folds for every beast of the Forrest is mine and the cattel upon a thousand Hills I know all the Fowls of the Mountains and the Wild-beasts of the Field are mine all the Bees of the Woods and the Waters of the Fountains are the Lord's who sanctifieth Israel If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the World is mine and the fulness thereof The Lord hath no pleasure with thousands of Rams or with the offering of ten thousand Rivers of Oyl for he hath shewed thee O Man what is good Mic. 6 7 8 9 12 13. and what the Lord doth require of thee But to DO JUSTLY and to LOVE MERCY and to WALK HUMBLY with thy GOD The Lord's voice crieth unto the City The rich men thereof are full of Violence and the Inhabitants thereof have spoken Lyes and their Tongue is deceitful in their Mouth Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee Hose 5.4 in making thee desolate because of thy sins They frame not their doings to turn unto God for the spirit of Whoredomes is in the midst of them And they have not known the Lord Hos 4.2 3 4 6 9. for with Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and committing Adultery they break out and Blood toucheth Blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and the Inhabitants shall fall in the day and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night and I will destroy thy Mother My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge For it is come to passe that there is like People like Priest wherefore I will punish them for their wayes and reward them for their doings The Lord God is working a Work of glory and praise unto his own Name and utter confusion to the whole Earth Confusion of their Words Confusion of their Works Confusion of their Wayes and will shew the Confusion of their Doings and confound the Imaginations of their Hearts and will make the Earth to know Rev. 21 23. ch 22.5 that in his holy Temple in the City of the Living God there needeth not the Light of a Candle nor the Light of the Moon nor the Light of the Sun for the Lamb is the Light thereof And if the Lord had need of any of those Lights who created them he would not say unto vain man that he needed them For he sheweth thee O man that thou shouldst walk by the Light which shineth in thy Conscience which sheweth and convinceth thee of thy sins and transgressions he requireth not the Songs of the cruel nor the Prayers of sinners Io. 9.31 Psa 34.18 Ps 51.17 but in a broken heart the soul of the Lord taketh pleasure Wherefore strip you make you naked and bare put away the Lyes and Oathes and Curses of your Lips and the Iniquity and Lusts of your Hearts Come now and cloath you with Righteousness and adorn your Breasts with the Chain of the Glory of Truth and be bound to the Lord therein Then in stead of Vengeance the dew of Mercy in stead of the overflowing wrath showers of Compassion in stead of a cup of trembling the wine of everlasting consolation Else behold the Indignation of the Lord as a Flood from his holy Mountain shall sweep the Channels and the stream of the fury of the Lord shall accomplish his end upon all the possessors of corruption And this is the Word of the Lord God to all the Inhabitants of Sodom Written by his Servant in obedience to his Commandment who is made a man of sorrows because of your sins Oh! that you all heard the voice of my cry over your City then would you cloath with sack-cloath and joyn in mourning and repent and know that your warning is from the Lord God which hath measured thy streets whose channels flow with blood and uncleanness I am a Lover of all your Souls JOHN PERROTT THE END
TO THE PRINCE OF VENICE AND All his NOBLES Which was Delivered for Him in His PALLACE and Received by Him in His COUNCIL-CHAMBER Being A VISITATION and WARNING of that CITY Which also may serve unto ENGLAND and all Nations called Christian Nations Written by the Servant of the Lord JOHN London Printed for Robert Wilson at the sign of the Black-spread-Eagle and Windmill in Martins Le Grand 1661. TO THE PRINCE OF VENICE c. FRIEND I Have many things to say unto the Rulers Prophets Priests and People of the City VENICE but yet you are not able to bear them You being yet in the Nature and Ground in which Amaziah the Priest of Bethel was in the dayes of the Prophet Amos Read Amos 7.10 c. And are not come to the Charity which Paul wrote of which bears all things believeth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 hopeth all things and endureth all things But whether you will hear bear or forbear this is the Word of the LORD GOD to you all The LORD of Hosts hath a Controversie with the whole Earth with whom he is arisen to plead even with all sinful Flesh upon the face of the Earth which have corrupted their waies before the Lord. Behold the mighty Day of the Lord GOD is at hand wherein the LORD will Plead with all Flesh and enter into Iudgement with all Flesh and execute Judgement by Sword and Vengeance with Plague and fulfil his Wrath by Famine and Fire until he sweeps the Land as with a Beesom of Destruction and that it be cleansed of evil-doers Behold Overturn cometh and Overturn followeth until the Last Overture be fulfilled and He Come whose right it is to Reign and the LORD Christ set up his Everlasting Kingdom whose Dominion shall never have end With whom no hypocrite lip-worshipper nor sinner shall have an inheritance of Life but shall be cut off for ever from the presence of the Lord and separated unto perpetual Woe and Misery to be held in the lake of fire and sulphure with the blackness of the chaines of darkness under the fiery Indignation and wraâ—â— the Lord God and therein to be swallowed up alive and to remain beyond the measure of all times Think of this you Whoremongers Whores and Harlots you Drunkards Gluttons Proud Covetous cursed Swearers and Lyars Cheaters and Defrauders Revellers Sporters Gamsters you that spend your pretious time in Vanity wherein yet GOD hath spared you to Repent In your abominable unclean Lusts Vanity and Wantonness you Envious-hearts that cannot speak out of Crookedness and Frowardness GOD hath a treasure of Vengeance seven Vials full of Wrath the Wrath of the Lamb whose Life in your Sodom is day by day throughout the number of your days slaughtered in your streets Think of Sodom and call to mind the end of Gomorrah for now at this time the Lord warnes you even as he visited them Cities Prepare prepare therefore to meet the LORD by true and unfeigned Repentance if haply the Lord may spare you and turn away the fierceness of his Wrath which looketh towards you Leave off your flattering-speeches and Titles one to another and let every one speak the plainness of his heart and truth to his Neighbour Amend all your waies and flatter not your selves nor deceive your souls with saying that you are of the Church of Rome For many shall say Lord but not enter and the Jews called Abraham their Father yet wanted his Faith But forsake your cursed speeches and Oathes and Adulteries and Whordoms and Drunkenness and all Idolatries and Inchantments and Sorceries cast from you the cords of vanity and so turn to the Lord and then the Lord will turn to you Or else GOD hath spoken in his holiness that he will visit you with his Vengeance because of your unrighteousness and ungodliness and although you may now shut your ears against your burden and laugh and mock at God's Messengers and afflict and punish them which cry against your loathsom abominations which stink in the nostrils of God and his Saints and is an abhorring unto modesty yea though you may but gain-say our voice It is because we cry against your sins and for none other cause but because we cry against all sin and reprove Iniquity in the gap Yet be it known unto you that GOD sent unto Babylon her burden Isa 13.1 and unto Moab his burden Isa 15.1 And unto Damascus her burden Isa 17.1 And unto Egypt Isa 19.1 And unto the Desart Isa 21.1 And unto Tyre Isa 23.1 And unto the South Isa 30.6 And unto Niniveh her burden Nahum 1.1 And unto Dumah Isa 21.11 And unto Arabia Isa 21.13 And unto the Valley of Vision her burden Isa 22.1 And it came to passe that those things which were once the Prophet's burden for them God laid every one's burden upon their own back and made them all to bear their own burden even as also from the Lord God I say unto you GOD will make you bear your own burden even for your own sin which is grievous whose burden also will be grievous in the day whereof you shall say each one to his neighbour and to his acquaintance even as Cain said Gen. 4.13 Our burden and punishment is greater than we can bear Remember you are warned in the day of the Lord's pitty Repent and turn from your sins for the Lord God laughs at your Confessors and Confessions whilst you and they are still following on in sin heaping sin upon sin drawing Iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with cart-ropes Else in God's day of Vengeance Isa 5.18 you shall remember that I did not run before I was sent that God might visit you with warning even as Niniveh was by Jonah which then repented Prize your time for this is the word of the Lord to you all therefore whilst you have time Repent And thou the PRINCE of Venice and the rest of the Nobles Arise from your Throne put on mourning in the inward parts and proclaim this in the City Jonah 3.5 6. for my MESSAGE is unto you and I clear my self unto you Let the KING of Niniveh be your Example and clear your selves to the People of all their blood I am come to make blind those which say they see and to turn from the darkness those which are blind to the LIGHT that they may see I am not come with the inticing-words of man's Wisdom neither in the excellency of Speech to man's Wisdom nor in the deceivableness of vain Philosophy but in the plainness of the demonstration of the Truth in the Power of GOD unto that of God in all but hid and sealed out of sight from the unclean and vulterous in all the World I am the Light of the World saith Christ which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Saith John John 8.12 John 1.9 who was a witness of him that was and I do tell you of the same
most of all beautified with the largest Leaves and delightful-coloured blossoms which covered her large quick-sprouting-boughs but immediately her Root became a nurse of Rottenness And I saw an Ax blade in the hand of a certain Shepherd and loe He looked over all the Six and said This is because of their unfruitfulness and yet a sorer thing must come to passe And he turned to the Seventh Tree which was planted in a low Valley unploughed and behold her Body bowed and she stooped unto Him that had the Ax blade in his right hand and He took a member of that Tree without hurt to the Body and he made thereof a Helve for the Ax and fastened it thereto and he turned again towards the Sixth Tree and smote it that it fell to the ground and so He passed to the Fences of all the other Five first and made breaches upon them that they may all become utterly a Desolation for ever And he again said Even so must it be unto many Oaks and Cedars and wild apple-Trees in the Woods and Wilderness of the Forrests of the Regions of the Earth And again he returned to the Seventh Tree and digged about it and pruned it and it bare Fruit to his pleasure And he again uttered his Word and said This is to spread and I will dig a Well by her and make her Field pleasant and a refreshing River shall compass her Banks that my Flockes which I have in secret places may openly feed as one Herd within the compass of this Fence which I have framed and will build it round about that no Thief may reach to taste of her Fruit. And I saw it and blessed the LORD and magnified the NAME of the most High GOD. All that have received the key of Knowledge of the Oracles of GOD they can Read me and Understand me and Receive me and know that I am of GOD who being of GOD do know that the whole World lieth in wickedness Now a wise Prince and wise Rulers and wise Iudges and wise Priests and wise People such as minister to the glory of the LORD they will not judge of any thing before the true time But Fools are rash and perverse and froward and heady and furious such cannot judge aright for GOD being not in the measure of GOD which is meek humble and patient which is the true eye to see all things justly weighed in the ballance of Equitie and therefore cannot measure a cause aright and so not judge with the right Judgement for it wanteth to be set up within to destroy the heady and the rash and fierce and proud and envious within and so the measure without is scant and wanteth of the truth because it is first scant within and judgeth not evil within So it was with Christ sinners judged Him who was without sin that was and is the unjust Judgement then a Nation is full of sin and it haleth blood upon it wilfully but yet the LORD GOD will judge for all and the Nations shall know that he is Judge of Heaven and Earth Therefore to the Light which is God's measure in you all turn your minds which Light in all your Consciences shews you and will shew you all the evil that ever you have done in the body which if you love it and follow it will judge you all and so as you love the judgement thereof you will come to judge for GOD The evil eye will be cast out and the measure will be single within to judge all in truth and equity without therefore let all your Laws be according to that of GOD in the Conscience and this is the Word of the LORD in the Nations of the Earth Oh VENICE Why were thy Princes against the Execution of GOD'S Iudgements upon the heads of thine Inhabitants If plagues be their due because of their iniquities thinkest thou that that thing is equal in GOD'S sight which is made as a fence against GOD Or thinkest thou in righteousness that it is better to keep plague out of thy City which can in a moment break over thy Walls than to cleanse the City of Whordoms Adulteries Oathes cursed Speeches Drunkenness Pride Idolatry Envy and Murders by the just Execution of true Judgement in thy City But what now if GOD willing to shew his wrath upon the unclean vessels of Wrath visits thee with Plague within thy City and make thy bulwark which thou madest against GOD which is a fence binding unto Idleness wherein mischief is hatched without thy City to be put in Practice in thy City I say what if GOD make them Walls which thou hast built against GOD the works of thine own hand the burden of thine own back Bulwarks and a fence to fight against thee within thy Walls Will not Iudgement be Just then in thine own sight Look upon thy Lazzarette and remember thou wert told that if thou pullest down Product and repentest and amendest thy ways GOD will preserve in thee the longer a People and in Judgement thou shalt remember this Concerning Iniquity in the heart and the Fruits of the Cursed Tongue GOD is coming to judge all Iniquity in the heart and will rip open every heart and shew every man the deceitfulness of his heart No Iniquity is hid from GOD nor deceitful word or action so as that He seeth it not GOD who is the searcher of all hearts seeth the foolishness and deceitfulness and the Iniquity in the hearts of men which flatter one another with vain Titles which neither profits Body nor Soul saying one to another I am your servant Sir Your humble servant Sir Your servants servant Sir You are my Lord and Master I am your Slave Sir GOD seeth the Iniquity and cometh to judge the Iniquity which is in the heart the heart not thinking what the tongue speaketh Jude 16 but speaketh words of praise and flattering words and titles to mens faces and have mens Persons in admiration before their faces because of advantage that is the Iniquity in the heart and when they have turned their backs and have not the end which the Iniquity in the heart reached after then they will say concerning the persons whom they did flatter to their faces with titles of vain praise and vain honour saying that Devil did this and that Devil did that and that Accursed did the other thing Now if the Accursed One in them which works the Iniquity in them did not blind their hearts then they would see and know that wherein they did flatter they did but flatter with the Devil which they did confess was the Devil And when they said I am your servant Sir and I am your slave Sir You are my Lord Sir they did but give testimony that they are servants of the Devil and the slaves of the Devil Luke 19.22 and the Devil is their Lord. And thus said Christ unto the unprofitable servant even as these are unprofitable servants Out of thine own mouth thou art
judged and so Out of your Own mouths you are judged Rom. 2.2 And this is the Judgement which is of GOD which is according to Truth which that of GOD in all your Consciences sets to seal and shall set to seal the Truth of GOD's Judgments Now such men which by their own Confessions who out of their own mouths are judged which the Light in their Consciences witness that they are the servants of the Devil and the slaves of the Devil and the Devil is their Lord they will go to a Priest which Priest sayes he is the servant of God and they will confess to him some of their wickedness and the Priest will judge of it Now I will tell you what Paul saith to such a Priest Rom. 14.4 What hast thou to do to judge another man's servant to his own master he standeth or falleth So this I find the People in the Iniquity and the Priest in the Iniquity each one partaking of each others Iniquity Again There are those which do say they are Gentlemen and say such a one is a Gentleman and such a one is a Gentleman and such a one is a gallant Gentlewoman which are well bred he is a very understanding man he can complement well he is a man that can sing well and among such as are his Equals he is very Noble and will keep company and drink and be merry and knows very well how to behave himself amongst Gentlemen in all manner of good behaviour and courteous salutation And as for that Lady she can sing well and play well upon Musick and she knows how to behave her self well towards Gentlemen in bowing the body and speaking pleasant words But now if I were to ask a wise man Of what Kingdom is all this Is it of the Kingdom of GOD which is come down and is coming down among men or is it the Devil's kingdom which is the ground of deceit in the hearts of men Christ said Be not you called of men Masters Matth. 23.7 8 10 nor be not you called of men Lord for one is your Master and one is your Lord which is in Heaven Christ did never teach Lying nor Pride nor Vanity nor Lust nor no such evil thing but his Life bore witness against them for he said My Kingdom is not of this World if it were Joh. 18.36 then would my Disciples have fought Now hereby I know that all these who are in the fore-mentioned Lust Vanity Lyes Flattering and Deceit in their words works carriages and behaviours that they are not of Christ's Kingdom for being vain in their mindes and proud in their hearts after that they have flattered and complemented one with another when a matter or cause comes in competition between them to have the Superiority and Mastery and the most of the goods riches and glory of the kingdom of this World they fall into contention strifes debates quarrellings and fighting one with another somtimes to the slaying and murdering one of another Now these are they which the World call Gentlemen Oh! utter shame to all the World If they came but to see their own Ignorance in this matter Christ said Learn of me for I am Meek and Lowly Matth. 11.29 And He forbad His Disciples which learned Meekness of Him and Lowliness of Him to be one with the World in that which they feigned as their lowliness and which the World do now say is their lowliness and humbleness Matth. 23.5 6 7 14. Luke 6.26 in salutation Be not you as the hypocrites are that love greetings and salutations in the Market-places and love the uppermost Rooms at feasts and that love to pray to be seen of men or to have the praise of men or to be well spoken of in the worlds wayes Wo be unto you when all men shall speak well of you saith Christ For those which were in the customs of the World then which were vain-glorious and proud loving the praise of men and the flattering-words of men to flatter men with words of praise they were at enmity with Christ and his Disciples then Of which disciple-ship Paul bears his Testimony exhorting the Brethren saying Be not conformable to the things of this world Rom. 12.2 but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mindes And now such as are called and do call themselves the Gentlemen in these dayes they have done and in all places are ready to do the same things which the former evil generation did unto Christ and the Disciples and the Brethren which were transformed by the renewing of their minds to as many which also are now led out of the vanities of the World to bear witness against the deceits of the World and the Iniquity in the hearts of the sons of men Furthermore those which say they are Gentlemen Some are Scoffers that 's Ishmael's brood and have Envy in their hearts which are Cain's Brethren They will pull off their Hatts to a man's face and envy him in their hearts and mock him behind his back and will smite and fight and quarrel and yet such are called Gentlemen and are said to have good breeding and good manners whilst they have but the breeding of the wicked and the manners of the scornful and this is rottenness and dirt and chaffe the drosse and off-scouring of the Earth and when any of them come to know GOD they shall know this to be Truth according to the mind and will of GOD answering that of GOD the Light in all Consciences And again some of your Gentlemen will Lye and swear to a Lye in whose mouths Lying and Swearing is as common talking and some know how to complement to go a whoring and to be drunk with Whores and to make themselves merry upon the beds of Whores and they dresse up themselves in gay apparrel and perfume their apparrel to come with pleasant smels in the nostrils of Whores to be accepted in the house and eye of the Whores And Whores doing the same to be accepted of Whore-mongers to smell sweet in the nostrils of Whore-mongers and they paint their faces and put black spots in their faces the Devil's Mark in their faces that they may be well accepted in the sight of their Lovers and that their beauty may be pleasant to the eye and their smell sweet in the nostrils of their Lovers Many of these are your well-bred Gentlemen and Gentlewomen but they are a stinke in God's nostrils and an abhorring in the eye of the Lord whom the LORD GOD in his mighty Day which is at hand will make an everlasting abhorring unto all flesh Your well-bred Gentlemen and Gentlewomen which are said to be of great Parentage and of great Births Noblemens Children their Fathers men of great Estates they must be honoured and they must be respected for they are gallant-bred Gentlemen and Gentlewomen and are full of good manners whilst the least part is not equal in all their members
the heart is not upright before the LORD but their bones are full of Rottenness And would not this very Generation make a mock of Christ if Christ should come to ask of them What was your Father Adam Did my Father say that he was a Gentleman when he was made in his uprightness â—or your Mother Eve a Gentlewoman as the proud deceitful flesh among you are titled Gentlemen and Gentlewomen What was Abel Seth and Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Job Micha Zechary and the rest of the Prophets were they such Gentlemen as you Or if Christ should say was I reckoned such a Gentleman as you who was by such transgressors as you are numbred among transgressors Was Peter Paul Matthew Mark Luke or John Gentlemen such as you are If Christ should ask you these things would not you laugh at him and mock at him as the Jews laughed and mocked him upon the Crosse And now I ask you which of you is better than they were And further Where did any of the Apostles or Disciples or Brethren say one to another You are my Lord Sir I am your slave Sir with pulling off of Hats one to another and making great bowings one to another Where do you find that that was the manner of their salutation and greeting one another which you hold in deceit one towards another Yet these Gentlemen of your nature besides that Name in their cursed nature will say We are Christians and Christ is our Lord and Saviour Mat. 7.21 22. But I will tell you what Christ will say to such yea unto many such as will say Lord Lord In thy Name we have done many miracles in thy Name we have cast out Devils your Gentlemen are far from that of casting out Devils and if the Lord Christ will say to them Depart you cursed workers of Iniquity I know you not think you will he say lesse to your Gentlemen Again you that call Christ Lord hear you what the Lord Christ said unto such as you are Luke 6.46 Why call ye me LORD and do not the things which I say Now this Christ said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind and with all thy soul and thy neighbour as thy self Paul witnessed to it Rom. 8.4 John 14.15 John 2.4 That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And again saith Christ He that loveth me keepeth my Commandments Unto which John bears Testimony saying Whosoever saith he knows God and keeps not his Commandments is a lyar So you are here brought to proof and tryal whether GOD is your LORD or the Prince of the power of darknesse he that was a Lyar from the beginning your principal Head and Ruler let that of GOD the Light in all your Consciences Answer Psa 50.16 17. How dare you take my Name in your mouthes saith GOD whilst you hate to be reformed This is to you also that take God's Name in vain when your hearts are vain and exercised in vanity and telling vain stories and speaking about vain things GOD will not hold you guiltless that take his Name in vain and the Name of Jesus in vain Exod. 20.7 yet you would have the Name of Christians because you confesse Christ to have been slain at Jerusalem but that will not serve you though also you call him Lord whilst you keep not the Commandments of the Lord. For I enquire among you all concerning the Lord of Life whether you know him to be daily crucified in your streets which spiritually are called Sodom and Egypt Revel 11.8 Here Christ is but called Lord with that Iniquity which for the love of the unrighteous Mammon call men Masters and Lords and saith I am your Servant Sir I am your Slave Sir whilst that is but a flattering Lye And here they flatter others with Lyes and flatter themselves with Lyes and in Lyes and are so vain in their Imaginations that they would flatter GOD with Lyes But GOD will make you all to know that he will not be mocked Gal. 6.7 Wherefore I say unto you that in vain hopes you expect Salvation whose pleasure is to persevere in Iniquity who are bound in the Womb of Witch-crafts in the loathsomness of all manner of unrighteousness If Noah Daniel and Job were among you Ezek. 14.14 their righteousness should but save themselves and but onely Jesus the Righteousness of GOD intercede for them or if Paul Peter and Mary were among this Generation of loathsome sinners their righteousness should but only save themselves and Jesus the only Intercessor and Mediator but only Intercede for them So wherein you hope to die the death of the Just and so to receive the Inheritance of the Just and live not the life of the Just I tell you nay The Inheritance of the Just will not be yours who live not the Life of the Just Your hope in the end Remember in vengeance when you are under wrath that I told you before mark the end their hope is the hope of the Hypocrite and their trust is as a Spider's-web Job 8.13 14. Luke 16.20 21 22 23 24 25. Isa 3.18 to 24. you that are called Gentlemen and Gentlewomen who live in your lusts and pleasures Read you your Figure as in a Glass the Scripture concerning the Rich man and Lazarus Read the Torment of Dives and mark his portion and consider your latter end Judah and Jerusalem had a day of warning whose Inhabitants were adorned with all manner of bravery and tinkling Ornaments with chains and bracelets and ornaments of the leggs and ear-rings and rings and changable suits of apparrel wimples and crisping-pins and glasses and fine linen and hoods and vails but the LORD GOD changed the glory of their Liberty and brought them down into Captivity Let their Sufferings be your Example and remember when Suffering comes upon you that you were warned to Repent And now you that would know the true adorning let me tell you what Peter witnesseth to be the true adorning he saith Let it not be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparrel but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price Now what will you all say for your selves who in your life are enemies to the Life walking contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostle Peter Deceive not your Souls if you would chuse to dye the death of the Just to have the Inheritance of the Just You must all choose first to come to the Light in all your Consciences which reproves you for all your sins and wickedness and following the Light which comes from Christ and none other Guide it will lead you to the Life
of the Just where none other Guide can lead you unto Christ the true Light of the World who is the Shepherd and Leader of his little Flock unto pleasant Pastures who are despised and hated of the wicked sinful World even as our Lord and Shepherd was before us But now is the LORD GOD coming to judge for his own whose we are and not our own The Ground of Idolatry in the Heart NOw I would shew you the Ground in which an Idol is made and in which Idolatry is brought forth Exod. 32.1 4. Whilst Moses was in the Mount and out of the Camp the Children of Israel consulted together and with Aaron the Priest and made a Calf and Worshipped it Ezek. 40.14 As for the Heathen in these dayes they have the Images of things visibly before them and do bow their heads unto them but as for the house of Israel they have set up their Idols in their hearts Now come you and examine all your hearts and let that of God in you answer me Paul the Apostle said Col. 3.5 Covetousness is Idolatry In that heart which is covetous the Image of Caesar the Image of the Prince of the Nation his Superscription Mark and Stamp in the Gold Silver and Brasse that 's the god which he serves that is the Idol in his heart the love of the Mammon is planted in his heart Now that heart Christ saith cannot serve GOD because the unrighteous Mammon is master in the heart Matth. 6.24 master of the mind master of the affection and master of the secret thoughts and there is no spirit to serve GOD for the mind is in the Mammon and it cannot serve GOD. Again Such as are proud having great Possessions in the Earth and go vain-gloriously in gay Apparrel which seek for the honour which comes from man and which love to be called Master and Lord and to be said unto I am your servant Sir and I am your slave Sir such are Unbelievers saith Christ Joh. 5.44 which seek honour one from another they have not Faith for they are not faithful in their life in obedience to Christ's Words who saith Be not you called of men Masters for one is your Lord Matth. 23.8 10. which is in Heaven Now their glory in the flesh is the Idol set up in their hearts here GOD is dishonoured by that cursed Image in the heart and Idol of vain-glory in the heart for the Scriptures say All Glory belongs to GOD. So when the heart lusteth after any Glory and sets up Glory in his mind that is a strange god and that strange god hath the glory and not the True GOD that is one of the gods of the Earth which will not save but shall be destroyed with the worshipper of the false god Again Some are Drunkards others Gluttons Whoremongers Whores and Thieves I would have all these also to know the Image and Idol which is set up in their hearts and the faln god which they worship with their affections and all their hearts which the true Eternal GOD will destroy Phil. 5.19 Lust and pleasure is their god as the Apostle saith Whose belly is their god who mind earthly things But whilst their hearts and affections take pleasure in the things of the flesh and so worship the Idol and false god in their hearts with the love of their hearts which part that is to say the whole heart the True GOD requires they are but fatting themselves to be fit for destruction which shall surely overtake them with the sore displeasure of the True GOD. Again Others love to see the Pictures of their Friends and Kinred and Children and the Pictures of the Patriarchs and Apostles and Christ and Mary and the Pictures of Wild-Beasts of the Field and the Tame Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of the Air and the Fish of the Sea and the Creeping-things of the Earth and so that eye which takes pleasure in the sight of these Pictures le ts in the love of them into the heart and so unto many mine eye hath seen in the Counsel of GOD these things have been a double Image and a double Idol as the Image and Idol of the Heathen and the Image and Idol of Israel an Image and an Idol without which they have bowed unto and kissed upon a piece of Board or against a Wall and upon a piece of Paper or cut out of an intire body of Wood GOD's Vengeance and Plagues and Indignation will smite the hearts of all such Idol-worshippers which worship Images and Pictures without and let in the love of these things into their hearts then it becomes the god of the heart also here GOD is not known among such to be all in all for where an Image or an Idol a false god within or without stands the True GOD is nothing at all to them or in them until He shall be known to them all in Vengeance and Fury against them all Now I would shew you further that those things may be made an Idol and an Image in the heart which GOD once commanded To which end Jeremiah spake unto the House of Judah saying Jer. 7.4 Trust you not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord are these when he was sent to cry against the Temple which GOD once commanded to be built that His Name might be sanctified therein Then the Temple was all glorious within as I am speaking after the manner of men without as it was also glorious within in the Substance whilst the Jews were kept to within where the Substance was known but when an Eye was open in them to let in the glory of the Temple without then they were turned from the glory of the Temple in the Substance and so GOD forsook their Temple 2 Cor. 6 16 19. Now saith Paul Your Body is the Temple of the living GOD and he that now shall set up Love and not the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World which is CHRIST the Love which cometh from GOD GOD is Love 1 John 4.16 1 Joh. 1.5 and GOD is Light So he that sets up another Love than the Light and hath in his heart another Love than the Light he sets up a false god and worships an Image and is an Idolater in the substance though his love be to make long Prayers or to read the Scriptures or to hear Sermons or to sing Psalms or to give Alms and all his Goods to the Poor and his Body to be burnt being out of the Light which reproveth all sin in the Conscience and reproveth all false love in the Conscience Matth. 6.5 the love of that which would be seen of men or have praise of men that which leads to be spoken well of men for his words or for his works or for his Religion that is the false love in the hearts of the Heathen
and professing Christians That is their false god even the love which is not of the True GOD who is Love and who is Light for the Light in all your Consciences upon a due search of all your hearts will reprove it And again Gen. 6.5 Where the Imagination of the heart of man ruleth which is only evil continually I say where the Imagination worketh in Jew or Gentile to walk according to the Law or the Gospel being not in that by which the Law was given forth and the Gospel preached they worship a false god that which their own hearts do imagine to be God whilst the True GOD is hid from Imaginers the worshippers of strange gods which their Imaginations do make in their minds Now that is the ground of an Idol and the ground of Idolatry The Imagination which blinds the eye and blinds the heart Rom. 1.28 and blinds the understanding altogether concerning the true Knowledge of the True GOD. For they like not to retain GOD in their knowledge who like to retain Imaginations in their minds Many have heard it said that GOD is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and he will be worshipped in Spirit and do think from that report they have enough of the knowledge of GOD and of the True Worship and yet the World that thus confess are divers in their Worships being not yet in the Spirit in which GOD is truly known and witnessed to be a Spirit they worship they know not what Joh. 4.22 who are in the flesh in the lust nature and deeds of the flesh which is at enmity with God who is a Spirit Here I find all the World Jew and Gentile Professor and Prophane of all Nations in sin in the flesh at enmity with GOD and the Spirit and with all that walk with GOD and Worship GOD in Spirit and do hate and persecute them Gal. 4.29 according to that which Paul said As then he that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now mark even so it is now because they know not GOD which hath begotten us into the Spirit and therefore they hate the Father and them whom the Father sendeth And this to all the Idol Worshippers within and the Idol-worshippers without in the World is the Word of the LORD GOD. Concerning the strait Way to Life IT is not the will of the LORD that alwayes the simple should be held in a by-way Therefore let me declare unto the simple Isa 35.8 the strait-way of the Lord which the way-faring-men though fools shall not erre therein All the World is yet ignorant of that way being in divers pathes in the going forth of their Feet but in the substance and body their footsteps lead them Matth. 7.13 to meet all in the one broad wide way of sin and transgression which leads to the Pit of Perdition This is glad-tidings to the Seed of the captivity which I sound among the sons of men The LORD is come and coming to fulfil the Promise of his Covenant which he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophet Jeremiah whom GOD sent as a Child among the Nations with his Word and to confound the counsels of the wise by the Revelation of his Wisdom in Childhood Behold the dayes come Jer. 3.31 33. saith the LORD that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their GOD and they shall be my People 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4. That was the Law which God gave unto Moses who was a Follower of Christ which was not written in tables of stone but engraven upon the table of the heart For this commandment which I give thee this day is not hidden from thee neither is it a far off it is not in heaven Deut. 30.11 12 13 14. that thou shouldest say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say who shall go over the Sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the Word is very nigh unto thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou mayest do it Rom. 10.8 2 Pet. 1.19 And this was the Word of Faith which Paul preached and the same Word of Faith which Peter also bore witnesse to saying We have a more sure Word of Prophecie whereunto ye do well if ye take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark Place until the day dawn and the day-Star arise in your Hearts Now all that are not come to this Word of Faith which is a Light that shineth in a dark Place they are out of the true Faith of Christ whose Name is called the Word of GOD Who saith Rev. 19.13 John 8.12 Joh. 12.46 I am the Light of the World which lighteth every man that cometh into the World saith John 1.9 And Christ the Light of the World who said I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by by me John 14. v. 6. This is the Way which for Ages hath been hid from the simple the Light which leadeth to the Father who giveth Life everlasting to all that love the Light and follow and walk in the Light wherewith they are lightened which tells you in youâ— own mindes and consciences that you must not Swear nor Lye nor Steal nor Covet nor be Proud nor Scornful nor vain in your Words and Hearts nor wanton in your Mindes unto uncleanness and lust of the Flesh nor Envy any man which is murder nor be Drunk nor Gluttenous nor to do any Wickedness This is the strait-way Matth. 7.14 and the little narrow way which Christ the Light who is the Way spake of leads to Life it is strait and narrow to that Nature in all flesh living which walks in sin enemies to the strait way of Life John 16.8 The Light which convinceth the World of sin if you love it and follow it will lead out of all sin this is the way which the Prophets prophesied of should be to the wayfaring-men though fools wherein they should not erre This is tryal to all the Worlds ways of Jew and Gentile upon the face of the earth Are they entred in that way in which a Sinner cannot walk 1 Jo. 3.8 Joh. 3.19 No Sinner doth walk in the Light for all Sin is of the Devil And he that commits Sin is of the Devil And this is the condemnation of the world that Light is come into the world and men love Darknesse rather than Light because their deeds are evil The Lord God is come to put all Professions in the Ballance and wil weigh them in the Ballance of Equity and that which is found in the vanity of
many large words and Shews and likenesses yet not being in the substance in the Righteousnesse of God which is Christ the Light By the substance which is the Light the Lord God who is Light will overturne them all and by the breath of his mouth will blow over all confessions and professions and those which make them and like as untimely leaves they shall fall Jer. 48.11 and perish and rot on the Earth For behold the Lord God hath looked and hath seen and seeth all the World asleep and like unto Moab setled upon their lees which have not been emptyed from vessel to vessel and the old scent of their traditions in whom iniquity is increased by their traditions remaines in them and the tast is not changed at all And now is the Lord of Hosts which brought Israel out of Egypt stretching out his Arme for the sake of the Captivate to break the bonds and loose the captivity for he hath said in his righteousnesse they which have lead into captivity shall goe into captivity Rev. 13.10 and the captivate shall goe free Oh all ye Sons of men who are endued with sobriety and moderation ponder your waies and consider your doings for behold the Lord lifteth up his hand against all the ungodly and now the voice behind you saith Isa 30.31 this is the way walk in it who therefore sent his Son into the world a Light who hath lightned you with his true Light that you should walke in the Light which convinceth you in your consciences of all sin when you are in secret and none eye seeth your hearts and the Light tels you in your minds your wicked evil intents and when the thoughts of sin arises in your mindes the Light shewes it to you which if you love and join your mindes to the Light it wil save you from your sins then you wil know the end of Christ's coming in the flesh which was to save his people from their sins Math. 1.21 1 Jo. 3.8 and that he might destroy the works of the Devil the works of him which doth evil that is the wicked one in man which was a lyar from the beginning Wherefore all people prove your waies and prove your hearts for the Mighty God is coming to search the Earth and to make a narrow search through it And this is the Inquisition which the Lord of Hosts will make through the whole Earth for the Soules which have been slautered and starved and all the wrongs which the Innocent have suffered by the Inquisitions of the Sons of men who have as it were hunted after mischief and blood in all their waies Woe to the Shepherds to the Prophets and Pastors of the Flocks which feed their flocks upon the mountaines and nourish their increase with winde the wind of the Lord God will disperce them and make their heritage a howling Look to this thou populous Noe Nahu 3.8 that art scituate among the Rivers that hast the waters round about thee whose ramparte is the Sea and thy Wall is from Sea to Sea when the Lord God dries up Euphrates then shall his army have a passage unto thee And then his Priests shall sound about thy Walls with Rams-hornes Rev. 16 12. and in a day thou shalt fall as Jerico except thou repentest and this unto thee is the word of the Lord God whether thou wilt hear or forbear Therefore to the way which will lead thee from the woe which will redeem thee and lead thee from the cause which is the multitude of thy sins The Light will lead thee unto Fear and Dread and trembling and palenesse and feeblenesse before the Lord of Truth and Righteousness whose vials are filled and prepared and behold God's long patience is exercised to try thee and to prove thee and now a warning is come and cometh to thee and the whole World Enter therefore into the straitnesse of the way the Light which God setteth as a marke either for thy rise and salvation or miserable downfall into Judgement and Destruction which if thou repentest not as sure as the Lord lives he will make thee to know that thou shalt become as Babylon which he shall be called blessed that dasheâ—h the Brats of thy uncleannesse and Whordoms against the Stones and this upon thee shall stand as the Word of the Lord to be fulfilled in Judgement except thou repentest And now I tell thee there is no salvation under Heaven for thee but the way which is set for the simple the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World in which the wayfaring men though fools cannot slide nor erre therein and this is the Declaration of the Lords Truth to be witnessed by the seed in all even by that of God in every man's conscience Now if any man or Woman upon the face of the Earth King or Queen Prince or Princess Priest or People from the highest to the lowest in all Nations of the Earth do say That the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World is not the true way to God's Kingdome or if they say that there is another way under Heaven which leads to Life besides the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World I say their way is darkenesse or if any manner of persons do hate the Light and mock the Light they are witnesses to themselves that they are yet in darknesse And they who have another Rule or Guid to lead them than the Word of God which is nigh you saith Paul in your mouth Rom. 10 8. and in your heart or if they say they have another guid than the Light which shineth in their consciences it is a false Guide and leads into Darknesse Again if any Priest or People from the highest to the lowest do Scoffe and Mock the Messengers of the Light let that stand before all grave sober-minded men as a signe of the last times and of the Spirit of Antichrist in those which are the Mockers and the Scoffers whether Priest or People from the highest to the lowest 2 Pet. 3 3. and so here Peters words are fulfilled In the last daies shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts But God will make them all to know concerning all Mockers and Scoffers of his Light and the Messengers of his Light that he sits in Heaven and sees them and laughes them to scorne for they are the despisers wonder and perish Act. 13 41. for whom this was written Behold I work a work in your daies saith the Lord a work which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you and so those who despise the Light they are in Darkness and so great is their Darknesse that they cannot see their darkness but I feel their Darkness to be thick and like a cloud which the Light hath covered them with because they despise the Light and Mock the Light wherewith they are lightned
which hath shined in all their consciences and this to that of God is Truth and shall stand to be witnessed by that of God in all consciences which the World hate who make a Mock of the Light for the Truth is but one and the Way is but one and that one is Christ the Light which lightneth every man that cometh into the World which Baal's Priests and Prophets did alwaies despise and mock and this standeth over all decitfull hearts and Tongues Concerning Righteous Judgement GIve eare give eare ye Iudges and hear ye Rulers and Iustices of the whole Earth The Lord God is come coming to look for the fruit of Righteousnesse and Truth from you all Livit. 19.15 God looks for true Judgement from all without respect of Persons in judgment that justice and true judgement may give the Widdow her right and let the oppressed of the Land goe free and God looketh that you should incline your eare to the Cry of the poor and answer the lamentation of the needy and the fatherless in his time of need God heareth their cry even the cry of the poor and needy the fatherless Widdow and oppressed who cry for judgement which cries for mercy Behold the Lord cometh to look for the fruits of Righteousnesse among you mercy and true judgement to be found in you Oh all you high exalted in the strength of the conceits of your Wisdome you must come downe from the top of Mount Carmel come down to the true measure of equity come down to the just weight and ballance of true judgement in which all the Kings Princes Judges and Justices of the whole Earth shall be weighed and measured by the true measuring line of Judgement such as have judged for gifts and rewards and have not turned their hands from Bribes but have loved the liberal hand of I will give you Sir This is a present for my Lord which hath blinded the eye of Righteousnesse and so Equity and true Judgement hath been turned backward and here corruption Reigns and the fruits of Righteousness not brought forth for the true judgement is wanting and the ballance is not used to weigh a trive and a present the Life of the needy is not set in the Scale against it which in the ballance of true Judgement is the greatest weight here the Innocent is undone the Widdow poures out her Teares and the groanes and cries of the poor the fatherlesse and oppressed goe up to God and God weighs that in the ballance of his Sanctuary Amos 2.6 Mich. 3 against the lightness and wickedness and corruption of the unjust Judges vanity who turn the poor and stranger from his right and sell the needy for a pair of shoes and here Zion is built up with blood and Jerusalem with Iniquity when the heads thereof judge for rewards Wherefore all ye Rulers Justices Judges come and learn to rule and judge aright in your own house that you way become Ministers in the house of the Lord for he which judges in Truth and executeth Judgement in Righteousnesse he is a Minister in the Lord's house he bears not the sword in vain but with the Sword he is a terror to all evil doers and a praise to them that do well here the wicked come to be cut off and the murderers slain with the edge of the Sword and this cleanseth the Land of Evil doers and from shedding all Innocent blood here the Just rejoiceth and the Vpright and Innocent is made glad when the Harlot is cut off and the Whoremonger destroyed and the sword in Judgement held over the head of the wicked then there is no more filthinesse in the Land there is no more uncleanness in the City for Truth runs downe like a stream and Righteousnesse covers the Earth and the Knowledg of God the Land as waters cover the Seas A man's enemy saith Christ is that of his own house Come learn Judgment true Iudgement ye Nations of the Earth that the fruit of Righteousness may be brought forth amongst you and in you Draw the Sword and set up the Sword first in your own house and learn to know the Murderer there and the Harlot there and the Wicked there and the Lyar in your own house which David said he would not keep in his house he loved Judgement and therefore from a Shepheard God exalted him upon the Throne Ps 101 7 8. and with him the Sword of Judgement was set up in his house and in the Land to root the wicked out of his house and out of the Land and to cut off the seed of the evil-doer Now the false lover in you which loves Rewards Gifts and Presents or any Love which is not the Love of the Light the Love of Christ in you that 's the Harlot which betraies you and the murderer which murders the Innocency of the Just and perverts his cause and strangles the Innocency of his cause which the Sword ought to right and that which swears and tells a Lye in you that is the wicked one who was a lyar from the beginning who was a murderer and that which lusteth unto Envy in you because you have not your wills in the flesh that is Cain's seed his own nature and life which slew Innocent Abel which is for Judgement and for the Sword for God hath set a mark upon it to that end Now Abel's blood mark Abel's blood which is the Life that little grain of Innocency which is oppressed in your hearts and minds that little poor seed which never did consent unto evil in you but was pressed down with heavinesse to heart and laden and burdened in you even to the Soul which the Soul felt in time of sinning and when you had committed sin the Light in you which cries for Justice the Blood which cries from the Earth for Judgement Amos 2.13 which God hears that is the oppression of God's Soul which the wicked in you have laden and pressed down as a Cart is laden and pressed down with sheaves over which wicked one in you the Sword is to be set in your own house the two edged Sword of the Lord his Word the Light which will slay the enmity in righteous Judgement and the life of the wicked-cut off And so measuring and ruling your own house with the Judgement of Truth here you become equal Rulers for God of all the world without you for the Just hath his right within the ballance of equity is set up within and here the true eye is open which looks into the Justness of a cause and sees the Justness thereof and loves it and for the sake of truth deals Justice to the Innocent and Judgement to the Oppressor then the eye discerns aright and gives unto every one his right and cannot look upon any with prejudice because he is thus or thus or because he was thus or thus here no man is respected because of his place or because of his