bee drowned in thee before thine entrance into Canaan or else thou must look to fall either in the wildernesse with the murmurers or to be drowned in the Sea with the Egyptians Repl. Further thou art telling me I am imagining what the beast is which John saw was like unto a Leopard saying that I have read of the Leopard that is an exceeding wild beast which cannot be tamed very cunning and crafty in tatching of his prey and furious and raging c. Answ For fear thou mightest finde this beast in thy self here thou art stopping and raging thus in thy wonted fury like a mad Pharisee that scorns to learn thou beginnest to teach and say Repl. Who in the light which never changes dwells which comes from God these see the beast where he is and what he is and all his spots discern Answ Here thou hast spoken truth though thou understand it not so as to apply it unto thy self which if thou didst great large spots of the beast would discover themselves in thee but being in the darknesse of thy Fathers minde thou canst not read thy self and therefore art thou seeking to discern the beast abroad in me and sayest in me is his denne And here thou thankest God thou art not as other men are stand by thy self I am holier than thou And so thou comest with much delight to see the beast in me and eatest and drinkest and gluttest thy self with a sight of the beast in me and nothing but the beast canst thou here see in his Denne thus art thou glorying over anothers spots and infirmities which thou thy self makest in thy fancy and then art glad to see in thy brother the beast is too cunning for thee he lies hid within thee and laughes to see thee his vassall and slave I say no more than what thou hast made manifest the beast in thee is in his Denne Thy pride and scoffing and railing against all others are spots and plain markes of the beast in thy fleshly heart dwelling for werâ— thou in the light and overcome by it that would make thee poor in thine own eyes and to condemne thy self in those things which thou condemnest in another and would teach thee to own a God and Christ above thy self This light of the Lord ruling in thee would have kept thee in the fear of the Lord and taught thee to own the Crosse and sufferings of Christ as the price of thy redemption which thou like a vile wretch tramplest under thy feet This light would have taught thee to bewail thine own infirmities and have kept thee low in thine own eyes and have made thee own trembling indeed which thou doest in the letter and flesh but not in truth and spirit and so art given over to strong delusions to believe a lye Repl. Thou tellest me I am covetous Answ I am so indeed by nature but I see the world loves me not it flies away and the Lord teacheth me to be crucified to it and to presse towards himself as my riches fulnesse and highest treasure Repl. Thou tellest me further That which hath led me from the light hath led me from the Lord and the same hath let the world into mine heart where the Sea is flowing even the salt Sea thence the beast ariseth with seven heads Answ The light in which I live hath led me to see the light and in the light I see the Lord and he hath ravished mine heart and caught me up to himself as to mine exceeding joy and though the world were so confounded and divided as to leave me alone yet I am not alone the father is my friend and the son is my companion And I can return unto my Father and Saviour living with me who alwayes takes me in when the world casts me out And this quickens me to live more above where all my treasure is and lesse below or in the creature where I finde confusion and tribulation As for the flowing of the salt Sea whence the beast arises with seven heads this I have seen according to my measure dried up and the beast with seven heads withering for want of his native heat and moisture in me And friend I beseech thee read the meaning of this at home in thy self read the bitternesse in thy self the evil eye that envies because God is good the folly and haughtinesse of thine own heart Here is the salt Sea in which thou art drowned though thou see it not and out of this Sea comes that Monster with seven heads which destroyes some with flatteries others with violence and rage aiming at his own Kingdom and greatnesse whoever perish with him this beast lies covered under all thine Hypocrisie and thou seest him not Further thou sayest Repl. I arm my self with all the wisdom and subtlety of the beast against the truth and with many Horns am I pushing at the Lamb. Answ This I have done in the dayes of mine unbelief when I consulted with flesh and bloud But since the day of the Lord hath begun to dawn in my spirit truth hath been my companion I have ventured all for her and laid my self open to the violence of all sorts of men for the truths sake And that I have suffered no more than I have considering the malice of carnal men and formal men this I look upon as a notable passage of wisdom and providence in God Further know that this truth in me which hath in some measure acquainted me with the will and nature of God my Saviour this teacheth me to plead against the errours and evils and blasphemies and idols of all not against any truth I see in my meanest brethren Neither am I with my Horns pushing against the Lamb no the Lamb is my well-beloved he shall lye all night betwixt my breasts he is my fair one when he withdraws my Soul faints when he appears my Soul lives and is exceeding merry This is he whom I can own in all the Sons of God even in those who cannot own the Lamb in me In all this he is my witnesse though thou know it not But thou sayest Repl. In me is the earth set who am drove from God Gen. 3. 23 24. And upon the earth is the Leopards Denne and foure-footed beasts and creeping things Answ When I was in the earth that indeed drove me from God but God hath lifted me up into Heaven in some manifestation of light and grace and here he keeps me in his own fellowship and presence above the earth and so I can leave the Leopards Denne full of wilde beasts and filthy things for the inhabitans of the earth And friend if thine eye were open thou mightest see how sadly thou art driven out from God and what a fool thou art in all thy professing thy self to be wise and how this hath made thee change the truth of God into alye and led thee away to worship thy self and thine empty companions who are poor creatures more than
of men But friend look into the Scriptures and be ashamed of thine ignorance in this matter was all this no suffering of Christ no part of his Crosse Doth not Peter tell us Christ suffered for us in the flesh 1 Pet. 4. 1. and was there not a real thing done by it And therefore the Scriptures say once he appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once he appeared And in another place the way into the holiest is by the bloud of Jesus not by our bloud as if we were our own Saviours but by the bloud of Jesus And Christ laid down his life a ransome for many And we are redeemed not with Gold and Silver but with the precious bloud of the Son of God Why cannot all this Doctrine be remembred as well as thou and thee Is not this that Crosse of Christ which is foolishnesse to them that perish and a stumbling block to the wise Jews And did not the Apostle preach through this Crosse reconciliation to the world and forgivenesse of sins to all that believe Rom. 3. 24 25. Eph. 1. 7. 1 Joh. 10 7. Heb. 9. 22. to the end 10. 10. Do not all these places speak of Christs crucifying and sufferings in which crosse lies the foundation of our comfort and salvation And must all this stand onely for a figure and cypher Is thine heart so lifted up to despise what Christ hath done and suffered for thee Surely then thou hast no lot nor portion in this matter But all this is historie and hath wrought in me thou sayest we dying and suffering in the flesh and so I am still a stranger to the crosse of Christ But friend before thou judge another judge thy self and lay thy foundation low otherwise thy building will fall Lay it in the bloud of Christ otherwise there 's no remission no salvation Then descend into thine own heart and see how Christ hath layen bleeding under his crosse how thou hast made him to serve with thine iniquities and whether this have touched thine heart to bleed with him to suffer and die with him in thy flesh 1 Pet. 4. 1. And consider now if thy pride live thou thy self and thy will live then Christ is still under his crosse to thee and thou canst not bear witnesse unto his crosse but if thou even thou thy self art dead and crucified with Christ then thou knowest his crosse and art conformable to him in death and then thy sin and flesh will die and thy painted holinesse thy blameless life thy strictnesse righteousnesse and all thine observations will die and wither too in justification as it was with Paul Phil. 3 7 8. And so thou wilt glory in nothing but Christ and what he acts for thee and works in thee who was dead but now is alive for evermore and so thou wilt empty thy self of thy self thou wilt be nothing base and vile in thine own eyes humble meek and lowly But this thou art a stranger unto and see the root of thy sins remaines within in the pride of thine heart and this makes thee binde heavy burdens upon others but if they want thine helpe thou wilt not touch it with one of thy fingers they must look for nothing but Pharaohs cruelty and chiding As for mine own part I look for nothing from man my help is in the name of the Lord and my share in the crosse and death of Christ and in his resurrection I look for no help from man who is a lyar And this lyar in thee tels thee I am an enemy unto the crosse of Christ live in the flesh dead to the life of God But to thee I say so long as mine own heart condemnes me not I can see mine enemy is slain my will crucified and I am quickened to passe more and more into the life of God A sense of this within upon my spirit makes void all the accusations and condemnations of the world Repl. But thou tellest me I minde earthly things my God is my belly I have got the Tythes of two Parishes to maintain me in pride fulnesse Answ Though the old man minde the earthly with thee yet Christ in me minds the heavenly and he teacheth me to make the Father of all my comforts not my belly my God Further know my Tythe of two Parishes is not so much of mine own getting as thy Pigge and Duck and maintenance thou gettest from silly women in their husbands absence for saying an old tale â—ver that thou hadst said fourty times over before If thou wilt know where this was ask thy conscience and that will tell thee As for that providence that feeds me and thee thou knowest it not and so art angry at all which God gives unto thy fellow-servant Repl. Further thou sayest I reproach such who run not into the same excesse of riot with me Answ As for excesse in evil the grace of my God teacheth me to abhorre it and so I cannot chuse but reproach such with it who run into it but if I see men modest sober and scrupleing outward things as Tythes or the like out of meer conscience such I cannot but own and love especially if I see them free from pride and glorying in what they do which is the spoil of all Repl. But thou seest destruction to be mine end thou sayest and an Antichrist I am and all Tythe-mongers Answ Yet surely with God there is mercy and I shall look to him not man to be saved Further thou knowest he is an Antichrist who exalts himself and denies the Father and the Son this is Scripture not he who takes Tythes or denies Tythes that 's not Scripture And so though thou denie Tythes yet thou art still an Antichrist who exaltest thy self not the Father and the Son Therefore look to it that destruction and condemnation be not thy portion for ever Repl. Further thou sayest though I have glorious words of Christ yet I know not the Crosse of Christ being alive in the flesh not crucified not dead to sin for where the dying is that nature is limited c. Answ Here thou makest a vain repetition of Words and like the Pharisee thou canst acknowledge no truth in another for this would spoil the sale of thy perfect form Hadst thou read mine answer with understanding thou mightest have learned in it that the Crosse of Christ must be passed under by every truely anointed Christian as well as by Christ the head And so we must suffer in our flesh as he did in his flesh and when we thus suffer the man of sin is crucified and limitted This thou mightest have seen in mine answer hadst thou eyes to see but the pride and fulnesse of thy fleshly heart hath closed them up As for my dying and suffering in flesh and sin I desire the just God not unjust man to be the Judge he knows what sin is and the dying is but the heart of man is
the fatâ—â—â—e and fulnesse of God who is it's center and rest of which Canaan was a figure Wert thou in this rest thou wouldst cease from tine own works from the best as well as the worst as they are thine own and so thou wouldst learn to justifie thy self in the Lord and make him and his works thy rest and joy Repl. Thou sayest Isaiah bare witnesse against such who sought gain from their quarters Isa 5. 10 11. as I do witnesse my taking Tythe of two Parishes Answ Know friend that Isaiah witnessed this when Tythes were commanded and taken so that it was not Tythes but the greedinesse after gain that Isaiah rebukes in the watchmen calling them greedy Dogs which can never have enough though they were blinde ignorant dumbe sleeping dreaming taking no care to feed the flock or instruct the people yet they were greedy after the wages and gain This is that Isaiah condemned of old not the taking of Tythes moderately for their maintenance And this is a thing I am as ready to speak against as thy self knowing full well that the blindnesse and dumbnesse and lazinesse and formalnesse and covetousnesse of many of Englands watchmen hath brought all this reproach upon the ministery at this day Yet all this is no ground for thee and others to destroy the righteous with the wicked and to make the righteous as the wicked which have been a light to thee formerly though thou lye and shamefully deny it now to maintain thy pride and scorne against the best as well as the worst of Englands watchmen When thou canst tax me justly of being greedy after gain and of being blinde dumbe lazie as those were that Isaiah complains of then tax me for taking Tythes as if that were the end of my ministerie I could tell thee of the dumbe meetings of Quakers who when they are assembled by scores and hundreds which they glory much in and are all Prophets Diviners and Teachers as they dream yet are for want of vision half a day together dumb mute and silent and so go all away as wise as they came having never a dream to tell or word to speak because they have seen nothing And are not these dumb meetings of yours silent discoveries of the hand of the Lord against your great professions of light and perfection When your eyes are opened you shall see it to be so and be ashamed for your envy at the people of God Repl. Thou sayest further Jeremiah cried out against such who bare rule by the peoples meanes Jer. 5. 30 31. Answ Here thou art found perverting the very letter putting in peoples instead of Priest surely this was out of thy great love to the Priests or else thy Father to spare none hath opened thy mouth against both people and Priests but this is one of thy moates or small ones therefore I 'le by it passe Repl Thou goest on to say Jeremiah cals it an horrible and filthy thing and none so filthy as I who take Tythe of two Parishes and Micah cried out against such as taught for hire Mic. 3. 10 11. Answ All this being in a time when Tythes were lawfull as thou hast said I wonder how thou canst bring it in against the lawfulnesse of Tythes The Priests taught for hire and the Prophets did divine for money this indeed concerns all those who teach for coveteous ends and hire not any that teach faithfully what they have received from the Lord though they go not to warfare at their own charge but take Tythes as maintenance for their labour But all this I see proceeds from the old root of bitternesse in thee which teacheth thee to apply Scriptures after the manner of the world against all such who reprove sin in the gate Repl. But Christ thou sayest bare witnesse against such who are called of men Masters Answ And so do I against all such Quakers or others that would faine be Masters or Fathers of all other mens faith and light neither did I ever desire another to be Master and Father over the conscience but Jesus Christ the Lord For who is Paul or Apollo or Cephas but Ministers of the faith of Saints not Fathers and Masters of their faith But thee I see loving the thing Master and the thing Father and therefore all are condemned by thee that pin not their faith upon thy weak imaginations this was the sin that Christ condemned in the Priests and Pharisees of old For further answer read Mr. Baxter who hath said enough in this matter to give full satisfaction to the wise Repl. Further thou sayest Paul called such evill beasts and lyars who taught things they ought not for filthy Lucre Tit. 1. 10 11 12. so am I for filthy Lucres sake holding up the first Priest-hood and their wages c. Answ I know a necessity is laid upon me to preach the Gospell and this that I desire to teach in all meetings where I finde people met together and made free to heare and this I am ready to commend upon all occasions to every mans conscience in the sight of God And this Gospel I know itching ears cannot endure to heare And thou who criest out I teach for filthy Lucre I bring up the first Priest-hood and their wages none so filthy as I I take Tythe of two Parishes to thee I say thy wisdom hath made thee erre and hardened thy heart against the fear of God thine eye is put out by the God of this World and so like other dark forms thine envy is poured out chiefly against the Ministers and their Tythes and they are all Priests and Tythe-mongers all so and yet not all that 's but the old man in thee that saith so the lyar that never told truth nor loved any out of himself he hath taken from thee the understanding heart and so thou canst not see that here and there is a Minister that stands up in the gap that mourns for the Nations pride and beseecheth men to be reconciled to God though such an one be usually hated persecuted and that maintenance he hath be coveteously kept from him by the World And this is the man is most railed at by thy generation that stick in the Letter now and then when it seems to favour them though in other things they abhor the Letter and the meaning too What Scripture there is for Tythes and in what cases a Minister may take it as from God and man and yet oppresse none me thinks they might see who usually scoffe at the Letter for being called the word of God and pretend to the meaning to the spirit to be the chief thing in the word as indeed it is What Scripture there is for Tythes or maintenance thou shalt see afterwards and so for the present I 'le let thee alone to murmure and rail till the Lord rebuke thee Further in Canaan I said old things are passed away and all is become new and here thou criest out
against me Repl. Oh thou hard-hearted one how darest thou utter these things and not be pricked in thy heart who livest in the old and the new not known Is thy conscience seared with an hot iron Thou art he who calls evil good so the woe is upon thee Isa 5. 20. Answ Behold thou despiser and wonder and perish thou who deniest the Lord that bought thee and so art ordained for condemnation and learn if thou canst what this means I will have mercy saith the Lord and not sacrifice Salvation shall be of grace not of works lest man should boast David shall be a man after mine own heart notwithstandinding all his blemishes and errours which I see him bewailing I 'le accept of the will for the deed where I finde the will real and true And thou furious evil mind know that old things are passed away and all things become new there in Gods estimation where new and old are fighting one against another no sooner is this fight begun but the Soul presently begins to taste of Canaan or rest because it findes the house of David waxing stronger and strongerâ— and the house of Saul weaker and weaker and so the elder stoops to the younger Esau to Jacob flesh to spirit and though it rage furiously yet its head is broken its strength decaying and its spirit goes out more and more And here I am wrestling with the beast and false Prophet with all the powers of darknesse and Hell and so my conscience is not seared though I say old things are passed away and all things become new If thou look into thine own heart with a single eye thou wilt finde old things enough there to manifest thou art not yet at full rest in Canaan where thou must meet Gyants mighty enemies to fight with which will be as goads and pricks in thy side to keep thee humble sober and watchfull all thy life long and yet if thou wert in the good land thou wouldest have rest though not in fulnesse here And so this tedious war in Canaan is no bringing up an evil report of the good land because there the people of God have more with them than against them and so are more than Conquerours in the Lord which gives them some rest and peace and joy in the midst of all their warres and so cause of singing and triumphing in the God of their salvation All this I know is a riddle to thy fancie of perfection in thy self and actings and so the passing away of the old life and the springing up of the new is not truely known of thee Repl. Thou sayest I am ghessing what the veyl is between the holy and the holiest and tellest me neither in the holy nor the holiest am I found for who own the light that comes from Christ into the holy it leads them and in the holy who are that is bridled which leads into sin which in me is at liberty as thou sayest as my fruits and the fruits of my Ministery make it manifest Answ What I declared about the veyl thou neither understandest I see or art able to gain-say and therefore after thy wonted manner I finde thee scoffing But to thee I say the revelation of the Son in me by the Father hath led me into the holy place where I finde the Lord perfecting strength in weaknesse and sweetly delighting in me and in his own works wrought in me by himself in the midst of all mine infirmities And here I finde a dispensation of light and power from the new man which bridles the old and so Satan bound by a stronger than he that he is not at liberty in me as before though thou strongly take his part And as concerning my Ministery taxed by thee know that Paul may endeavour but it is God who gives the increase All that I can do is to commend the truth and grace of God to every mans conscience and he that hath an ear to hear let him hear And that my Ministery hath awakened some and shewed them their wounds and shame it matters not whether thou believe or not and that it hath been a faithfull witnesse against the many delusions and traditions of men it matters not whether thou believe or not and that it hath been a light to some that since are turned Atheists Quakers c. it matters not whether thou believe or not Onely this concerns thee and others that through your lying railing reviling and condemning one who loves you all dearly in the Lord by this as much as in you lies you have sought to make void my Ministery and to make it an offence to those who are setled upon their lees therefore woe unto thee from whom the offence comes Repl. But the light thou sayest which comes from Christs guides into the holy shews the veyl and in the patience rents it and lets into the holiest whither the High-priest alone enters even Jesus Christ and one High-priest over the house of God we witnesse in our measures come who put an end to Tythes c. Answ Your murmuring impatience and want of meeknesse and love to the weak ones of Christ is a strong witnesse that the light that is in you is turned into utter darknesse even darknesse that may be felt Hence your folly and nakednesse is seen of all and judged of all even those who have the least light appearing in them Further if the light have truely shined in you led you into the holy place rent the veyl and led you into the holiest whither the fore-runner is for us entred What mean ye then like other earthlings to be thus exalting and admiring one another seeking honour one of another though ye deny it to the world But your drift is fame you would be in the Heavens in the Holiest nay above all that is called God and Worshipped and this ye are led into by the light within and all must believe it not at all question it upon pain of being accursed by you But stay friends Hope indeed enters within the veil Heb. 6. 17. and this hope keeps the Soul groaning and longing and waiting all the while we are in this earthly Tabernacle after a full possession of our inheritance Rom. 8. 23 24 25. If thou art in the highest possession of God now thine hope is out for that which is seen and enjoyed is not hoped for But stay let the light of Jesus first enter thee into the holy place and there make thee a Priest which name thou so deridest before thou fondly conceit to be in the holiest and in this holy place thou wilt learn to despise thy self and all thine own righteousnesse Till Job came hither he had a great conceit of his own goodnesse and worth but now he abhorres himself and so will ye I know ye put your selves into a posture of suffering and reviling yet all this ye may suffer not for conscience towards God but in reference unto the idoll that ye have made
I should be a lyar like thy self yet I finde to the praise of Gods rich grace that his sicknesse is unto death his body cannot be cured but by the Word of the Lord I shall destroy him and so in all his appearances he is seen And though thou plead his cause like a man well feed strongly against me yet he and all his Angells must to their place go where I leave thee with him in thy dark imaginations romping up and down to perish in his Kingdom unlesse the Lord arise mightily for thy deliverance But thou tellest me again Repl. I am found in the pollutions of the World in the spots thereof living in disobedience to the minde of Jesus Answ I know there is none can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Though I have not attained unto what I desire yet I have through grace still the victory in the end and I am not in the flesh but in the spirit according to Gods account and here I know all things shall work together for my good and not withstanding all thy hard speeches yet mine own conscience bears me witnesse that with my minde I serve Jesus not my self or any other man in the World and so am not seared Repl But thou tellest me In the children of disobedience the Prince of darknesse rules even the beast which all the World wander after Answ And so say I the whole World lies in wickednesse and are obedient to the Prince of darknesse in fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and so wee are all till endued with power from on high and fetched out of this grave by the voice of the Son of God Repl. Thou sayest further When my measure I have filled up among the beast of the field and the Lamh have gored with my Hornes apace yet shall a band about my neck be put and tormented shall I be Answ As for the beasts of the field I leave thee to wander up and down with them in the field of the World till the Angell thrust in his sickle into the earth and gather the Vine of the earth and cast it into the great wine-presse of the wrath of God yet I desire thy life rather than thy death And still I say read thine own lesson over in thine own heart I know no band about my neck but the Lords work and will this keeps me from goaring the Lamb this makes me to own the Lamb still and this drives me still whither I with Christ would go into the sweetnesse and fulnesse of God where I can lye down and sleep in peace In mine answer to another of thy questions thou tellest me Repl. I am telling what the beast is and the number of his name whose number is 666. Answ Here I finde thee again shifting and scoffing and the reason is because thou wert discovered to be in the number of the beast this the wisdome of God saw afarre of and gave that answer to thy question as a sword to wound thee though thou spare and hide thy self For look the answer and compare thy spirit with it and see how right thou art in the number of the beast For art not thou one who cries out I am a God that cannot erre yet to the man that hath understanding though thy party be deluded in the midst of all thine imaginary fulnesse in thy self thou art but a poor miserable man that lies in errour this is the number of all thy wisdom 't is but fancie darknesse it is not wisdom and this is the summe of all the wisdom of the beast But thou art telling me Repl. Here is wisdom among them who are in it knit and from on high this wisdom is and was before the world was in it is no sin guile or spot Answ Here thou art lifted up on high to be without sin guile or spot and yet art blinde crafty subtle to say thou hast no sin and so thy sin remained upon the score I know the wisdom of God is high deep incomprehensible and was ever is and shall be ever the same and in this there is no sin or spot But what 's all this to make good thy dream of thine own party of knowing as they are known now and of being as pure in this earthly body as the Saints are in the heavenly Art thou as wise and as spotlesse as the wisdom of God is Ask thine own conscience and stiflle it not But go on Repl. In this wisdom and understanding thou sayest learned is the Vnity out of it the number Answ Well then out of thine own mouth art thou judged not to look upon or be in the Unity but in the number and so to make the number or variety the cause of dividing from the Unity where the Unity is appearing couldest thou be looking upon the Unity and not be telling of the number thou wouldest learn to love the Unity in the midst of variety and not cry out so much upon the variety or number where there is the Unity But to let thee alone in thy fancie though it condemne thy self Repl. Thou sayest That I who out of the light am turned am out of the Vnity and so in loftinesse in scoffing pride covâ—tousnesse fair speeches customes of the world Answ And why may not a Quaker be guilty of all these If but of one in form then of all in spirit And so to apply to thy self this Art thou not still lofty scoffing jeering cousening the simple exalting thy self idleing up and down to live upon other mens labours under a pretence of preaching the Gospel which is not the Gospel but thine own fancie vision and blasphemy many times against the Tabernacle of God and them that dwell in Heaven And are not these some of the ill nay worst customes of the world And so according to thy fine talk of the number of the beast thou art found even thou in his spots living out of the Unity which is the nature and work of God thou seest in others In the number of a man which is the variety of wickednesses in the world these thou art found alive in and making thy self great too in thine imagination at the sight of a number or variety of forms and failings thou seest many of the precious ones of God in bondage too much unto Repl. Further thou tellest me My head plots deceit Answ I could wish mine head were a fountain of tears that I could weep day night for all the deceit in the land for all the abominations that are done in the midst of this untoward generation And I can desire freely the Lord to consume and destroy all the deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse that is nourished in them that perish because they believe not the truth that they might be saved Let them be consumed by the brightnesse and coming of the Lord I have no plots in me against the very worst of men but can let them alone from being
persecuted outwardly knowing that it is judgement and misery enough for God to send such strong delusions as that men should believe a lye Repl. But my heart is in the earth thou sayest Answ In the earth is not my treasure I finde all here vanity and vexation of spirit But in the Lord have I righteousnesse and strength and so my treasure being above mine heart and affections are also above Repl. But my compleatnesse is in darknesse Answ Here indeed is the compleatnesse of the world but the Lord is arising to discover this delusion and in him his light and grace is my compleatnesse fulnesse and glory Repl. But to the light which comes from the corner-stone I act contrary and fall not upon it so upon me shall it fall and grinde me to powder Answ Had thy building been upon the corner-stone thou wouldst not in disobedience have denied him to be thy foundation but wouldst by this falling upon him have been broken all to pieces and never thus weakly been sodered up again to act and work for life in thine own power and merits and so to be a Christ a Saviour unto thy self making thy self whole without the bloud of the Lamb which takes away the sins of the world But be sure for this thy disallowing of the stone which is elect and precious thou shalt stumble and fall and be ground to powder for thy disobedience whereunto also thou art appointed As for me let me alone to live and walk in the light of the Lord to be all I am in the grace and righteousnesse of Christ Jesus In my self I am broken indeed my glory is gone and I am nothing But in Christ I am whole and well and need none of mine own power and merits to save me In him I feed upon that which is good upon substance upon the best upon fatnesse and he being my foundation without and within I have an everlasting covenant of grace even the sure mercies of David This I know because he is faithfull Repl. But thou tellest me I am out of the Vnity in the one spirit in the number of the beast the number of a man who professe the Letter declared from the life which life knits the Saints in one peace and thee shall eternally torment who livest in vanity and deniest the way of peace Answ Once more look home to thy self that thou even thou be not found in this number of a beast of a man that art compleat in thy form in thy observations drawn sometimes from the Letter and sometimes from thy fancie in the mystery and yet neither Letter or meaning is any more direction to thee than will stand with thy dark minde and form Therefore see and know that the life the Scripture the Christ the peace which thou art in is not the life out of the original in the one spirit but the life and Christ and peace of form of fansie of man and so notwithstanding all thy pretended Unity and holinesse thou regardest lying vanity and art in a weary land without water As for me my endeavour is to keep the Unity of the spirit in the bond of peace with all lowlinesse and meeknesse and long-suffering forbearing all my brethren in love I know the body the spirit the calling is one the Lord the faith the baptisme is one and that there is one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all A sense of all these constrains me to love the Saints in all this onenesse though in their wayes and walkings without they are divers yet in the substances of things they are all one and of one And upon this account could I freely and faithfully have communion with them preach and pray and enter into fellowship with them though by reason of their too much indulgence to their bodily exercise and outward wayes of walking they are for the most part against communion with any out of their own modell and way and so too much spirit of God I own it as a witnesse and Declaration of the Lords will and mind to man This I professe not out of the life and light of the spirit knowing that that is the living word the kernel the substance which quickens all the body and knits the Saints altogether in that one peace of God And this spirit declared in the Letter is that which keeps me from vanity and frees me from the Law of sin death and condemnation And now to the businesse of Tythes Thou sayes Repl. In my corrupt reason I am scraping up reasons to maintain Tythes but shew no Scripture Answ Here thou art at thine old trade prating and slighting but shewing little reason and yet thou goest on to teach and say Repl. To the Sons of Levi was Tyth paid for their service and the relieving the fatherlesse widdows and strangers Ans And why must not the Ministers of the Gospel have maintenance too for their service Doth the Gospel afford lesse than the Law But to let that passe Thou hast spoken a piece of truth to which I add Thou mayest finde even Levi himself paid Tythes in Abraham Heb. 7. 9. and so Tythes were paid before the Law and Levi were in being as to the Letter so that the payment of Tythes extended further than to the litteral Tribe of Levi And if Abraham and Jacob payed Tythes as it appears they did before the Law Gen. 14. 18 19 20. and Gen. 18. 22. surely they did it by a light within and this light was their Law and this is thine too sometimes though very seldom especially when to part with something from thy self and therefore art thou covetous to rob others of all their glory in inward things to advance thy self and of their property too in outward things and so thou art greedy to keep the tenth of all But to proceed Repl. Thou sayest When Christ came he put an end to that service and to the wages due to that service and that he continued Tythes to the Ministers of the Gospel by a Law that thou bid'st me prove by Scripture command or example Answ That Christ put an end to the Levitical priest-hood that I deny not But that Christ put an end to the priest-hood so as to set up no teaching in the room thereof that I deny But what or who hath he set up Answer Ministers not of the Letter but of the spirit But are your Ministers such Answer those whom Christ anoints and ordains are such for the rest I plead not But where have you Ministers that are such if the thing should be granted any command example or practice for Tythes Answer we have the light within written in the hearts of all Nations which teacheth them to pay Tythes or maintenance unto their Priests at this day this is the light of our Nation to pay Tythe unto their Ministers And this is of as much force still where it guides and rules to teach men what to do as it
would not I finde a Law that when I would do good evill is present with me I finde a Law warring in my members contrary unto the Law of my minde and bringing me into captivity unto the Law of sin which is in my members O undone man that I am c. Wilt thou imagine that this was all warfare with sin without witnessing no peace but a sword to the earth or if thou mean by earth for thy words have alwayes a double meaning the earth within in the time of his warfare how canst thou see in him a freedom from this earth or a freedom from all remnants of sin the like may be said of that Thorn in the flesh mentioned in the Corinthians in with is this remarkable that it was after his abundance of visions and Revelations being caught up into the third heaven and into Paradise where he heard unspeakable words even after all these enioyments he felt a messenger of Satan buffeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was sent to strike me on the face with his fist as it were to upbraid me with mine inward pride and pronenesse to be exalted above measure did Paul witnesse this and canst thou see no pronenesse in thy self to sin and pride Surely thou art joyned to thine idoll and God lets thee alone to perish for want of vision Answ Further did Paul cry and groane all the dayes of his life and witnesse no deliverance did he alwayes fight and never overcome Repl. Paul never fought but was still more than a conqueror by the grace of God he had deliverance and victory still through grace and greatest deliverance when he was most sensible of his infirmities and therefore in the Lord he could Triumph and sing though in himself he was still nothing Rom 8. 2. 32. c. Col. 1. 11 12 13. And so may every Saint who lives in the light say in the Lord have I righteousnesse and strength in him I have all things and so in him will I glory and though there be a fleshly minde and will sometimes stirring in me yet greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world and so he can run his race with patience wrestle with boldnesse fight with courage and when he comes to die cry out with Paul I am now ready to be offered the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is layed up for me a Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Answer Further its true James sayes in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 3. here James speaks winningly for the seeds sake for the raising up of the simplicity Repl. Here 's a simplicity raised up in thee indeed by thine own evil heart and this thou lovest and this hides thy sin and folly and makes thee wrest and play with Scripture and so James must speak winningly for the seeds fake what wilt thou have James a lyar or an Hypocrite in telling the people that he and all did in many things offend and yet have no experience of this in his own Soul surely thine eye is out and darkned by the smoak and so neither Paul nor Iames nor the raising of one up from the dead will ever perswade thee to be humbled for thy sottishnesse and so Scriptures are of no force at all with thee But thou goest on and sayest that Iames in the 9. vers sayes with the tongue we curse men was Iames a curser or was he an offender in many things But to reply Iames was under the powerof no evil and yet he declares a pronenesse in himself and all flesh to run into sin and when thine eye is opened thou wilt see in thy tongue a fire a world of iniquity and how it defiles thy whole body and wipes away the glory of all thy profession and that this tongue of thine is set on fire of Hell and therefore thou goest on to hide thy nakednesse say Iames was writing to such who were getting the mastery in the flesh which is for condemnation Iam. 3. 1 2. Repl. And what thinkest thou of thy self Art not thou getting to be master and a great potent Lord in the flesh damning and judging all that wear not thy mark and so art to be judged and condemned thy self Math. 7. 1 2. But Christ thou sayest is the end of condemnation so of sin which is for ccondemnation to which I say Christ was the end of the Law for righteousnesse and he 's said to be made sin for us and to come into the world not to condemne the world but that the world through him might be saved but I never read that Christ was the end of condemnation and the end of sin though these things I know are overcome when he comes but thy phrase is new even like thy form which yet must be no form and in almost all thou sayest I see that Scripture sadly fulfilled in thee that evil men and seducers was worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Answ Further 1 Ioh. 1. 8 9. here Iohn wrote to such who were not come through the confession but to such as confesse he saith Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousnesse 1 Ioh. 1. 9. and the bloud of Iesus Christ cleansed from all sin Repl. Even before and after the confession thou mayest read there 's sin still to be confessed before if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves after if we say we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us here 's sin still to be looked upon otherwise we deceive our selves we make him a lyar the truth is not in us his word is not in us and so he who covers his sins shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy and if we confesse our sins God is faithfull to forgive our sins not to impute but cover them and cleanse us from them by the pardoning and healing vertue of the bloud and spirit of Jesus this confession must be real if we look the cleansing should be real and this forgivenesse cleansing is an encouragement to us to make our confession and our resolution to sin no more which resolution being like the confession in truth God accepts of it as 't is written if there be a willing minde 't is accepted according to that a man has not according to that he hath not and so that Soul sins no more who do's not love sin peccatum facere make it to delight in it but it sins unwillingly it lusteth against lust would not for a world be under the dominion of sin this the Apostle speaks of Rom. 6. 11 12. reckon your selves sayes he to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God let not sin reign c. and so this is the reasoning of a gracious heart shall I continue in sin that grace may
and is at a losse in himself then Christ begins to be seen and then Christ is sweet and then he 's the onely Tree out of which life grows and so the Souls feed upon him who is that meat which perisheth not sealed by the father Further thou sayest the Tree of life comes down from heaven which is the hidden Manna and is the new name which none can know but he that hath it Repl. The Tree of life thou sayest comes down from heaven then he is not surely in the natural maâ—â—s thou sometimes dreamest if thou have this Tree in thee this liviâ—g Tree in thee why doest thou not declare him and tell us how hâ—â— the Manna and what the eating is Thou must answer nothing new no reason of thy faith hope but if these things were written in â—â—y spirit in deed and truth thou wouldest surely know that one maâ—â— end why they are given is that we might declare them Furthâ—â— thou sayest the hidden Manna the white stone the new name onely such as overcome have fed on read and know Rev. 2. 17. And yet thou in thy busie minde must needs be enquiring about it thou who art in the bondage of corruption scraping up Scriptures for sin darknesse to remain in man whil'st he is upon the earth that art an enemy to Christ the Tree of life who scoffes at yea and nay his doctrine c. Repl. All this surely do's not declare what Eden is or Paradise is or the Tree of life or the hidden Manna or the white stone or the new name unto all which thou wouldest fain pretend a peculiar interest by thine own overcoming yet canst not declare thy self surely friend if thou sawest the Lord and didst indeed abide in his presence thy foolish nature would not thus appear still in power wert thou in the light and joy of Paradise feeding upon God in thy self and upon God in every thing that is made surely thou couldest not scoffe at any truth of God and call it a scraping up of Scriptures because the Scriptures shew man his manifold errours and infirmities and so thou couldest not deny plain light written in Scripture and every mans experience that knows himself Didst thou know the Tree that the overcomer eats of surely thou wouldst not thus lye down to the Serpents power didst thou live in the Lord and feed upon the Lord who is the Paradise and Tree of life both surely thou wouldest see God in thy fellow-servant and not smite him or murmur because the Lord bears another company besides thy self for surely there 's enough in God for us all And did'st thou know the hidden Manna eat of it this would surely sweeten thine heart make thee forget the bitterness that comes through thy lips didst thou know the pure image the divine nature didst thou see this springing up in thee as a seal of life to thee surely thine heart would not thus retain the old hardnesse the old language having nothing written upon it but the name of the old man though the poor old man know it not or will not see it and so to summe up this and to leave a word or two with thee The Garden of Eden is every where where the Lord is manifested Paradise is the fulnesse and joy that grows up out of this manifestation the Tree of life is God in Christ manifested seen and know the eating is the feeding and living in our spirits upon the verâ—â—â—â— and excellencies as of God who bids all his friends eat and drink abundanâ—â—â— and the hidden Manna is the sweetnesse and inward nourishment the souâ—â—inds in God and the white stone is the purity and reality of the divine naturâ— in us and the new name written upon the stone is the Name of God the natuâ—â— minde will judgment of God the fullnesse of God let out according to oâ—â— measure into our hearts which shews to us the things that are freely given to â—s of God declares us in our experiences to be his Sons Daughters all these things are one in substance in the root being but the new man sprung up in us to bring us into Paradise and joy onely unto us thereis a variety of operations and administrations all which as we overcome so we are acquainted with Quest 25. What is the bottomlesse pit and the smoake that arises from thence and the darkning of the Sun and aire by the smoake and the locusts which came out of the smoake which John saw Answ When thou art come to the sound of the 5. Angels then thou wilt know see the bottomlesse pit out of which comes all the Sorceries Witchcrafts and Enchantments which deceive the Nations Repl. It seems thou hast heard the sound of the 5. Angels and yet hast not seen the Star fallen from Heaven unto the earth and so hast not heard the right sound if thou hast declare it neither hast thou seen the bottomlesse pit and so beholdest not the Sorceries Witch-crafts and Enchantments which come from thence neither the infatuations and strong delusions which God in wrath has given yee up unto and all your brethren in all other dark forms and superstitious vanities those delusions errours idols sins wickednesses abominations which spring up in such a variety abroad in the Nations hast thou not seen neither how all these grow up out of one original the bottomlesse pit of the angry wrathfull Kingdom of Lucifer thy father who has still been soaring up to Heaven but is still cast down unto the earth and the elect seed he cannot he must not deceive totally and finally and yet ought they alwayes to be upon their watch waiting upon their Bridegrom as knowing their own pronenesse unto evil but all yee who are secure and lofty perfect in your observations and imaginations that yee have never so much as a wandring thought prevailing much lesse sin appearing either in your lives or tongues even like your forefathers the Ranters whom yee own not in words but yet in spirit as they are pure holy undefiled in all things so are yee as they are reconciled to all things so are yee and as all that they speak is righteous altogether so all that comes from your idle lips and so yee as they are totally free from all remnants of the old Adam even ye poor wretches are thrown down into all the saddest and strongest â—â—â—usions of the evil one being down as it were at the bottom of the botâ—â—â—lesse pit perverting betraying and deceiving your selves and others with the dream of your high knowledge wisdom righteousnesse 〈◊〉 gifts high lights perfect attainments being found in all the steps 〈◊〉 the Pharisees Jews Priests Elders and Rulers of old who denied and crucified the Lord of glory And when yee pretend most love to Christ within and his light within even then ye most deny and grieve him trampling under your feet the Lord that bought yee making but a
meer notion and trifle of the bloud of his Crosse and when ye cry down the Pharisees and Priests in their titles of masters fathers even then ye must cry up the same spirit in your selves thus have ye made lies your refuge and under vanity are ye hid and so strongly enchanted and deluded with the smoak and stinking savour that arises out of the pit that ye have shut up the Kingdom of heaven and none must enter but your selves in the midst of all your strong infatuations but the Lord laughs yee to scorn And thou who sayest all the forms of the Nations are idols and that all the Lords people who worship not with ye are Harlots and no locusts there are but the Priests which have been spread in every Parish of the Nations for hundreds of years for so thou sayest in thine answer the locusts are the Priests of the Nations spread in every Parish for many hundred years thou who seest no other locusts thou hast not heard the sound of the Angel thou speakest of which when thou doest thou wilt hear that the locusts comprehend more than the Priests and take in not onely wicked and carnal and false teachers among them but likewise all the wicked envious erroneous false Teachers Priests Prophets and Disciples as they call themselves in all other Sects and forms abroad in the Nations it being the smoak that darknes the light of the Sun and the aire and shuts all discoveries of God out of the minde and heart that begets and brings forth these locusts John speaks of and happy had it been and would be sure for the Nations if none but the Priests of the Parishes had been smothered and darkned with this great smoak so that the locusts surely are more than thou art aware of and the smoak that comes from the pit greater than thou art yet acquainted with and hence thou seest not how thou thy self art found in that which thou condemnest in the Priests even in nipping and devouring the tender grasse where 't is growing and springing scoffing at all that worship not in thy Temple too made with hand roaring in the midst of thy Congregations against many of the most precious Saints of God seeking in all the power of thy Father to bring all into a confusion and to make all the name of Religion a very scorn among all the Heathen as 't is at this day And thou who still pratlest at scoffing at the Doctrine of Christ when thou thy self art still scoffing at Christ himself seeking to darken his light and glory sprung up in many precious souls in the Nation but into the pit thou and thy brethren again must go and there be bound in chains and reserved against the judgement of the great day therefore away with all thy glory thy form sends out but a nasty smell the darkest Priests of the Nations whom thou so much deridest can see thine eye blinded by the God of this world and put out by the Philistines in thee and so read if thou canst but thou knowest never a letter of the book and Word of God yet look without and within and it may be thou mayest discern the smoak and where the locusts grow and live and that they are not many of the Priests onely but many of the Quakers too who are still breathing out of the bottomlesse pit a numberlesse number of evil thoughts murders errours evil speakings blasphemies all which defile the man Quest 26. What are the two witnesses and their prophesying in Sackcloath and their standing before the God of the earth Answ One witnesse thou hast within thee that when thou art in any measure calm and quiet in thy minde lets thee see thy covetous practises thy lusts and the uncleannesse of thine heart and the Hypocrisie and hardnesse thereof and that thy walking is a far off the walking of such who are indeed Ministers of the Gospel and that a light vain deceitfull minde rules in thee that hearkens unto in that stand lest thou perish in thy corruptions if thou minde that which witnesses against thy evil deeds and unto it yieldest obedience that will give thee an hint of the other and that is swift against thee Repl. All this instead of an answer is but another buffet of the evil one the witnesse thou speakest of is my friend still and no sooner do's Satan stir but he 's at hand to binde him and to stay his mouth and not the least covetuousnesse lust wickednesse do I finde arising in me but he 's ready to rebuke and to command a calm that I may hear his voice and he 's first and last my Saviour and witnesse still and the sealer up of all my comforts and joy the father that loves me has given me the bloud and spirit of his son to seal up all his promises and favours to me that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye I might have strong consolation Therefore away away with all thine accusations delusions sooner mayest thou turn the frame of the earth and heavens than alter the fathers minde concerning me in love look for these two witnesses in thy Soul lest thy high talk of a light within go out for ever in utter darknesse and thou be lest unto the destroyer as one of thy poor brothers almost was who Satan was like to starve and burn to death in body as well as in Soul but God raised him up in great love and grace restored him to his understanding sense and light and for a memorial to all generations commanded him to publish the foot out of the snare Quest 27. What is the new creature wherein the life and power of it stands and how ye came acquainted with it in your Souls Answ The new creature is he that is in Christ Jesus and therein his life and power stands and as we came to take up the Crosse and follow the light we came to be acquainted with it in our own Souls and who witnesse the new creature old things are done away which we finde thee loaded withall and no comming to the new creature but in and through the Crosse which thou knowest not being an enemy unto the Crosse and Ranter-like must talk and tell of Eden Paradise white stone new name Tree of life new creature new Jerusalem hidden Manna Repl. Behold still the figure of an unclean spirit no changeling like the mad Cow that gives a good Meal but plucks it down again with her horn so thou now and then speakest fair a few good words we have but the end still savours of the evil one and so like the Pharisee thou art one who sayest but do's not and a stranger to the new creature which commands all muttering murmuring accusing to cease he 's calm a Lamb meek and quiet peaceable and gentle apt to teach patient he can suffer no flesh to exalt it self that 's Antichrist whom he is come to consume and he