an Oration before the People who gave a shout and said it was the Voice of a God and not of a man and that the worms should eat him because he gave not the Glory to God By Faith it 's seen that it was great faithfulness and obedience unto the Lord in the Apostles that they gave up themselves to do the Work of God and laboured in the Truth to turn both Jews and Gentiles to Christ the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the World and to the Grace which hath appeared to all men which taught the Saints that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they might live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World and come to know the saving of their Souls by the Grace through Faith and when the People did once believe they came to receive Grace for Grace and had Faith revealed in them from Faith to Faith which gave them Victory over the whole World and over the Transgression of it to be cleansed from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God and unto such the Apostles wrote Epistles exhorting them to continue in the Faith and to persevere in the Hope Watching and being Sober having the loynes of their minds girt about with the Truth unto these Salvation was come nearer than when they first Believed therefore they were to awake from sleep and rise from dead Works and to put off the deeds of the Night for the Darkness was past and the true Light shined and they were to put on the whole Armour of God to Arm themselves with the Armour of Light that they might withstand the evil Day and might be able to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil that they might offer their Bodies unto God a Living Holy Sacrifice acceptable unto God which was but their reasonable Service not fashioning themselves according to the Fashions of the World but to be renewed in their Mindes to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfed Will of God And they were not to adorn themselves with Gold or Silver or Pearls or Plaiting of Hair nor costly Array but with modest Apparel to adorn the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ Let not your adorning be with the putting on of Apparel nor wearing of Gold or Pearls ar broidered Hair but let it be in the hidden man of the Heart with a meek and quiet Spirit which with the Lord is of great price and their words were to be few and seasoned with salt that they might administer Grace to the Hearers that all things might be done in Order and decently for the setting forth the Glory of God and the Praise of his Grace by which they were called to be Saints By Faith it 's likewise seen that after the Apostles had once turned the People to the true Light and to know God shining in their Hearts to cause the Light to shine out of Darkness to give them the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ in which they received the Anointing which gave them an understanding to know all things so that they needed no man to teach them then they committed them to the Word of his Grace which was able to keep them from falling and left them to assemble themselves together in the Spirit to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth and not to forsake the assembling themselves together as the manner of some was but to wait for the Promises and persevere in the Hope unto the end waiting for the appearing of the great God and his Christ then they left them committing them to the Grace which was able to keep them from falling and to the Spirit of Jesus which was able to build them up and â—o keep them from the world unspotted â—nd to hate even the garment spotted with the Flesh and to present them Holy unto God without spot or blemish or any such like thing which brought them 〈…〉 one another and to have Union one wâ—â—h another and not with the world for a Believer and an Infidel cannot concord then I say they left them and did not continue with them as the manner of Hirelings ever was to stay as long as they lived for great sums of Money with one People except they could get a greater Benefice with another whose day is as the cutting off Life from the Earth and going down to the Grave but the Apostles day was to do the joyful Work of God and to call many into the Light the way of everlasting Rest and Peace and Joy who when they had turned one People to the Light left them and wrote to them from another People unto whom they were gone to turn them to the same Truth and out of other Lands So they saluted the Saints and their Assemblies which they had gathered with the saluâ—ations of Peace and Love exhorting all to press forward to the Mark of the price of the High Calling in Christ Jesus namely to the full attainment of the fulness of an Holy and perfect Life that they might all be presented perfect in Christ and sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit and being partakers of the Divine Nature and escaping the Corruption which is in the world through lust and being partakers of the Faith they might give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure adding unto Faith Vertue and unto Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Love and to brotherly Love Charity which is the band that keepeth perfect for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall and so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This I have given forth from the Innocency and uprightness of my Heart as moved of the Lord which I send abroad as a Testimony of the true Work of the true Faith and of its Effect it being a few of those excellent Truths which through Faith in the Light is given me to see and to believe and to witness forth the true Testimony of the Saints which justly and truly they through Faith witnessed forth to the Glory of God and it is to be Printed and sent abroad unto all People but most especially to all the English in America and the West-Indies and the Islands thereunto belonging which if in this I should finish my Testimony of Writing or Declaring the Truth of God yet this shall stand unto Generations to come and to this present Generation as a Testimony
A TRUE BELIEVER'S Testimony Of the WORK of True Faith Who hath believed in CHRIST JESUS the True LIGHT Who Enlighteneth every One that cometh into the World that all men through Him might believe Wherein are many Excellent things held forth which through Faith in the Light are seen learned and certainly believed c. and are profitable for all to reade With a Visitation to the Called of God every-where By a Servant of the Lord Geo. Rofe London Printed for Rob. Wilson in Martins le Grand near Aldersgate 1661. To the READER Reader VVHosoever thou art that shalt reade this little Book Be it known unto thee that I have not given it forth in any desire to appear unto men to be a setter forth of Books but in the Innocency and simplicity of my heart as it was upon me from the Lord who moved me thereunto by his own Spirit and Power else I should not have set my Pen to Paper to appear in Print So if thou readest in Innocency and simplicity of heart thou mayest see that my End is to manifest the living Truth of God and to establish many in the Faith which if thou truly desirest after then have regard to the Light which Christ hath enlightned thee withal that thou mayest reade with a sound Mind and a good Understanding weighing and considering seriously as thou readest and not making light of it and then thou mayest come to understand those things which thou never understoodst and to see the Faith in Jesus Christ who is the true Light and Truth by which we are carried through Nations and upheld in all Conditions both by Sea and by Land having the Promise of an Everlasting Kingdom after which we earnestly press and labour to bring People to for which sake all the Kingdoms of the World are against us But we do assuredly believe That the Truth shall overcome them And though we have nothing on our parts but the Truth of our God to uphold us against all our Enemies who are as the stars of Heaven in multitude yet they shall fall and dye away and waste as the Dew and every Mouth shall be stop'd and every Power confounded which riseth up against us and the Truth of our God in which we live and in which we have believed which if thou desirest to believe in fear not though thou maist meet with Difficulties but believe in the Truth and true Light and thy Faith shall give the Victory Farewel G. R. A True Believer's TESTIMONY of the Work of True FAITH c. AFter that from my Childhood I had often both desired and sought after the Lord in sighs and groanings and many tears and strong cryings the Lord in his own time manifested Himself to me by the Light which enlightens every one that comes into the World that all through it might believe in which Light I came to see my self when I first believed in it and when I first came to hear it speak in my heart and to own it I came to hear the Word by which Faith comes for it preached Faith unto me and by Faith in it I came to see all that ever I did and to have all my sins brought into my remembrance and set in order before me by the Light which comes from Christ the Author of Faith who enlighteneth every one that cometh into the World that all through Him might believe By Faith in the Light I came to see Judgement kindled in my heart and the thoughts and intents and purposes of my heart revealed and to own the Judgments of God upon all that ever I did and that God was Just Holy and True in all His Wayes and in all his Judgments By Faith in the Light I came to see if I forsook not the vain course of life in which I lived the Wrath and Judgments of God abode upon me By Faith I came to see how all the world live in wickedness and ignorant of the true God not knowing the way of Eternal Life By Faith I came to see all the World With its Ways and Worships are to be denied they acting all they do in that nature and with that spirit and mind which transgresseth and is without the Faith and out of the Light and that which is out of the Faith out of the Light cannot please God for out of the Faith none can please God By Faith I came to see where the Enemie of Man's soul lodgeth and how he dwells in the hearts of all Transgressors to turn the purposes of every heart unto Evil and to corrupt the thoughts of every mind By Faith in the Light I came to see the Judgment of the World and the Prince of the World judged and cast out By Faith I came to see the Seed which is immortal which through Faith it hath pleased the Father to reveal in me and Thousands of his Sons Daughters which by Faith he raised from the dead through his own Spirit which makes us to differ from all the World By Faith I came to see the Image of God renewed in his Seed which Seed is Christ one in the male and one in the female who is the Lamb of God which was slain from the Foundation of the World which God is raising in many Sons and Daughters to work out that nature which hath transgressed that the Sins may be taken away and the Transgressions blotted out By Faith I came to see that no one is in the Covenant nor in the Promise which is Life Eternal who are not come to believe in the Light and to witness the Word of Faith in the heart and in the mouth to give them Victory over every evil Temptation every evil Lust every evil Desire every evil Thought and Word which the Light checks and reproves for By Faith I came to see that it is the true Light which enlightens every one that comes into the World which manifests every ones evil and reproves the evil of every heart and checks for every evil word work thought and deed and that this Light is spiritual and eternal and never changeth but is the same though when man or woman changes their Obedience it changeth its Administration it preacheth the Gospel truly in them even the Day of the Vengeance of God to that which transgresses and Peace Love and Good-will to every one that obeyeth and worketh Righteousness both to the Jew and likewise to the Gentile without respecting or accepting any person but witnesseth the Truth in all as in the sight of God By Faith I came to see that the Light which enlightneth every one that all men through it might believe is the very ground of the knowledge of all Good and is indeed the very Life of God it self in which his Seed is known in which God hath placed the Promise not only to live ever but that all that believe in it might live by it Because I live therefore I will that ye live also And this is
the Promise in the Seed before the World began even Life Eternal which in the Saints abides when the World shall be no more who through Faith have overcome the World and inherit Life Eternal and this is Jesus the only true God and the Saviour of the World who is from Generation to Generation By Faith I came to see that the Light which enlightneth every one which comes into the World answereth the Law and the Prophets and is the Life of them both condemning every Transgressor Transgression in which Light the Law being manifest condemneth the Jew that hath the Law and sinneth under it and condemneth the Gentile who having not the Law in the letter sins out of it and by the Light all the World will become guilty that every tongue may confess to God and every mouth may be stopped when by the Light which enlightens every one every ones deeds will be manifest for that records them all in the Book of Conscience and brings them all into remembrance before God and testifieth of them between God and man so that all come to be left without excuse By Faith in the Light it 's given me to see how all the World live in vanity transgressing the Light and the Law and the Prophets and those things that are noted in the Scriptures of Truth and it 's nothing they have more set at nought and less esteemed on and less regarded than these and less regarded than the Lord and his Truth and the Scriptures or writings of it though so highly cried up in words By Faith I see they prefer even those things which are as naught and worse than naught for they corrupt their minds before the Truth and Scriptures of it even in those things in which they transgress the Apostle's Doctrine in following the fashions of the World in wearing of Gold and Pearls and costly things and Rings on their hands and Jewels in their ears and Ribbonds Toys Baubles and costly Laces of Gold and Silver on all parts of their Bodies according as the lusts of Ignorance and the treachery of the proud earthly Nature and earthly sensual Wit invents Fashions to the great Dishonour of God and their own Bodies in which they should bear the Image of God and sanctifie their Vessels unto Honour but alas the Body which should be for the Lord that is given up to be fornicated after those unprofitable things before-mentioned and many more in the Fashions of the World in which many have given up themselves and in vain Bowings and vain Complements and vain Traditions and vain Flatteries and though they will say their hearts are not in those things yet by Faith in the Light I have seen long ago That all who live in such things and say their hearts are not in them deceive their own souls for by Faith I have seen long ago that none can live in such things but they do it to please that which is vain and of the Vanity and out of the Spirit of the Truth By Faith I have seen that it is hard for many to let the World go for many hang in it until they become ready to pass away and perish with it But blessed are they whose part is in the World to come who have denied themselves and this World and let the Kingdom of this World go whose part is in that which is Immortal By Faith I have seen that none can come highly to esteem of the Truth and the Scriptures of it but who believe in the Light that by Faith they may deny the World and all things thereof and their own selves also for that which loveth the World the Wrath of God is upon it the Love of the Pather is not in it this denies the Father and the Son and highly esteems of the Scriptures and never comes to Yea and Nay in all Communications neither fulfilleth the Royal Law and the Prophets for this is selfish and lightly esteems of the Law and the Prophets and will not fulfil them in doing to all men as men would be done unto By Faith I see this Principle which is earthly and hangs in the earthly Nature is a snare to thousands in this the Day of the Lord and earthly things are ready to ensnare many when they by Faith have overcome many other things which were snares unto them before but blessed are all they that dwell in the Faith in the Light in the Power which gives Victory over the World and over all that appertains unto it My Kingdom is not of this World saith Christ He that will enter into my Kingdom he must deny himself and take up his daily cross and follow me for none can enjoy two Kingdoms nor serve two Masters By Faith in God I received Power to deny my self and to cross my self in the love of all things and all delights beneath the Truth of God and to lay hold on the hope of Salvation though for its sake I suffered with the rest of the flock of God in the hatred of the World in Reproaches in Stonings in Tumultings in Scourgings in Stocks in Prisons in Fetters of Iron in Bruisings in Woundings in Travels in Rejection of all the World and yet by Faith have rejoyced over them all in hope accounting all things as nothing to be compared with the Glory which God hath revealed in his own Seed and the Power which by his own Son he hath revealed in me By Faith it was confirmed unto me that the Law and the Prophets and Christ's and the Apostles Writings the Scriptures are certainly Truth declared from the Lord and the Words of the most High God which I never doubted on from a Child but that they were to be believed by all By Faith I came to receive an understanding in those things noted in the Scriptures of Truth and to be satisfied concerning all things therein contained for in the day when I sought Knowledge and was ready to be incumbred in seeking out the mystery of things by Faith in the Light I received the Answer of God which I read in the word of Faith in my heart which spake on this wise faying That I needed not to seek Knowledge but to wait upon the Lord and to have my mind truly bowed before Him in the measure of his Life and whatsoever thing I stood in need of to know and that the Lord saw it expedient He would certainly give me the knowledge of it and to understand it in the Lord 's own appointed time VVhich Word hath been as a Stay to my Soul and I have seen God fulfilling it from day to day who hath made known Himself to me and given me His Truth who requireth nothing of any one under Heaven but that which He first giveth who condemneth none but for disobeying that which He giveth By Faith I see all the Professors of the World are aiming at the wrong Mark and seeking the wrong thing and in the wrong Way for they are seeking
Presence may go along with them and his Arm may defend them and his Glory follow after them to be their Re-reward And the Spirits and Life of all the Children of the Promise the Heirs of Eternal Salvation He upholds who give themselves up unto Him and to the Appearing of his Glory and the Light of His glorious Gospel which shines in their hearts that they may be unto Him as the Tower of Sion and the Bulwarks of Jerusalem in them hath the Star arisen which hath shined from the North and is broken forth in the Darkness of the Night and is shining towards the South it rises in the East it looks towards the West and there is no place for its going down The Lord hath Multitudes of People He gathers them as the Bands of the Earth He suffers the Nations to afflict them for a season He chastizeth with the Rods of Men that He may prove them all for His Glory And yet a little while and the Rage of the Heathen shall sink He correcteth his People for their Good and chastizeth them for their Peace-sake that He may build up his Nation which He hath visited and establish his Seed which he hath gathered and multiply his People Thy Throne O God endures for ever and the Scepter of thy Righteousness who lettest not Sufferings and Tryals to come upon the Seed which thou hath chosen and the People which thou hast visited to destroy them but to establish them that when thou hast tryed them as Gold they may be established and fitted for thy use that they may be humbled and all fear before thee and wait upon thee that thou mayest renew us all from day to day and night after night in thy Life to do thy Service to fit all thine to Glory and Praise and Honour immortal for thy great Name thou art spreading over all the Earth By Faith it was given me to see wherein the Worship of the true God consisteth and how He must be worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Father seeks such to worship him as worship Him in the Spirit as worship Him in the Truth and in the true Light which enlighteneth every one in which none can see the VVorship but who come into the Faith and into the Humility and into the Fear and into the Waiting and into the Zeal for God which bows the heart before God and the heart being bowed then the Consideration is come into and the Inquirings into the Knowledge of Life and the sinking down to feel the Spirit which brings the Truth into Remembrance and also brings to be still and quiet and wait in stilness and quietness and silence then God is seen and felt and his Life which gives the Creature to feel after God who comes to be felt in his Life which enlighteneth the Creature and gives the Creature liveliness to wait for the renewing the strength and God reveals his Word his Power and his Requirings in the Creature which works in the heart and in the reins and runs through the mortal body and is weighty in operation to give Power and Dominion to the Creature to the end that it may have full power and strength to resist the Assaults of the Devil and to have its mind staid in stilness and quietness and silence and waiting for the Love and Vertue and Mercies of God which being felt then the Lord is admired and bowed unto this is VVorship to bow before the God of Heaven that all that 's in Man may be bowed down and submitted under the Life and Power then he worships he boweth down to the higher Power his soul abhors all defilements his thoughts are staid on God his heart is kept tender and open and he is refreshed in the Enjoyment of the Life and of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord and of his Power by which the Creature comes to admire the infinite Love and Mercies of God and the Riches of his Grace that after so long living in disobedience the Lord should reveal his Power and make known the Riches of his Grace to such a Creature that hath been as altogether unworthy but the Lord hath done it for his Seeds sake in Man which never consented to or took pleasure in sinning but hungred and thirsted after God and breathed after God and moved in the Creature towards the Lord even while the Creature was yet subject to vanity and for the Seeds sake the Lord is merciful full of compassion long-suffering and slow to Anger and blessed are all they that turn unto Him in the obedience of His Seed and in the Faith of His Son they shall see his Mercies know his Presence feel his Life Power and Spirit which bows and brings to worship God By Faith it 's seen that none are more sensible of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord than when they are still and quiet and wait in silence and stilness even when met together and when alone for by Faith many are come to see that the Lord is very near and that they feel his Presence when they wait upon Him and his Life breaks forth in his tender Love to the great refreshing of the soul and quickning of the Creature this takes away weariness and leanness from the soul and removes the multitude of vain Thoughts which have lodged in Man so that though they may often appear yet they become stilled as though they were not for when any thing appears contrary to the Will of God the Light is near and ready to administer Judgment upon it and to give the Creature to apply its mind to Judgment through which God redeems out of the Incumbrances and reveals his Noble Spirit of Life which stills the Thoughts and the Desires and Affections which would raise Lust and War in the flesh so that Man comes to wait out of himself and out of his own thoughts and imaginations in the Life the Promise it self where it feels the Riches of the Love and of the Mercies and of the Grace and of the Power which brings into the Glory and into the unspeakable Life and Love where the mortal body becomes filled with Immortality and Life which swallows up mortality in Victory and Conquest and Dominion and the delight of all mortal fading things and this hath made me bold and confident in the Lord of my Life to give up my whole strength for the witnessing forth the Truth through Faith which by Faith is received of God even through the Nations by Sea and by Land as the Lord requires which I account Eternal Salvation though for it I suffer many things but all is good and for good By Faith it 's seen how exceeding good it is to wait upon the Lord and to be still and silent before Him and in all things to eye Him and fear Him then the Incumbrances come to be taken away and the Darkness and Doubtings dissolved and Courage and Boldness for God received which
was assented unto by the People and the Image dedicated before the Rulers the Captains and Officers and People of the Land and Commandment That all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People when they heard all the sorts of Musick should fall down and worship if not to be cast into the Fiery Furnace But these faithful Servants of the Lord though in Captivity regarded not the Kings Commandment but served the living God who delivered them by their Faith out of the Fiery Furnace and out of the hands of Nebuchadnezzar who would have forced them contrary to their Faith who himself was forced from his Kingdom and driven from amongst Men c. because he was exalted in Pride against the Lord and in the delight of earthly things who said Is not this great Babel which I have built by the might of my Power for the glory of my Majesty By Faith it 's seen that it was just in Daniel who was come to pray in Faith and in the Spirit that he would not be restrained from serving his God in the way as he was wont to do though wicked Rulers and Princes betrayed the King to make a Law to ensnare him which was called a firm Decree and unalterable according to the Law of the Medes and Persians yet Daniel feared not but served his God according to his Conscience though it was against their Royal Law and firm Decree which the King and Princes had made and by his Faith was delivered out of the Den of Lions and God stopped their mouthes And these things are a faithful Testimony against all changable Priests who crouch and bow and dissemble with every Power of the Earth who can but give them a Reward and will change their Faith VVorship and Religion according to the Will of every Power that rules as Chief in the Nations so that People cannot have any Certainty of trusting in them nor in their Way Faith VVorship nor Doctrine And these things may serve as a Confirmation of all in the True Faith that they may continue in the exercise of their Conscience in the pure Religion and Worship of God believing that that way which the Wicked may hope to destroy them for their Faith and Obedience that way God is able to deliver and exalt them as may be seen of Mordecai the Three Children Daniel and many others who abode faithful to the death and being throughly proved were exalted and their Enemies who hoped to have destroyed them were destroyed and thus through Faith and Comfort of the Scriptures to have Hope and strong Confidence in God By Faith it 's seen that Micah the Prophet of the Lord justly and righteously declared against the Judges that judged for Reward and against that grievous Abomination of the Priests preaching for Hire and the Prophets divining for Money who spake Peace and cryed Peace peace while they put into their mouthes but if they put not into their mouthes then they prepareed war against them Mica 3. and yet they will lean upon the Lord and say No evil shall come upon them But for their sakes Sion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become an heap and the Mountain of the House of the Lord as the high places of the Forrest Mark what desolation here was because of these things though they said No evil shall come upon them and cryed Peace while they put into their mouthes and gave them the hire the Wages of Unrighteousness the Money for which they preach'd and divined By Faith it 's seen how just it was in Amos to declare the Word of the Lord faithfully though against King Jeroboam and the Priests and though he was but an Herdsman and a gatherer of Sycamore fruits yet called thereunto of God against whom Amaziah Priest arose in Envy to have expelled him out of their Coasts who complained against him to the King and said the Land was not able to bear his words and bid him flee Into the Land of Benjamin and prophesie no more at Bethel for it was the King's Chappel and the Palace of the Kingdom And by Faith in the Light it is seen how just it was in Malachy to declare the Commandment of God against the Priests who had violated the Law and transgressed that which they should have brought people to the obedience of and to the fulfilling of that if they did not Repent God would curse their Blessings and spread the dung of their solemn Assemblies on their faces and men should carry them away yea I have cursed them already faith the Lord. Now these Priests Lips should have preserved Knowledge and the people should have sought the Law at their mouthes for the Covenant with Levi was Life and Peace for evermore for he turned many from Iniquity to Righteousness but these violated the Law and corrupted their doings and transgressed that Which they should have brought people to the obedience of for which cause God rejected their doings and cursed their Blessings and they should be no more Priests to Him But unto us the true Priest is manifest CHRIST who hath written his Law in our hearts and put it in our minds so that we see the end of all the Priests and cannot seek the Law at their mouths who divines it out for Money and have no need to seek it of them for we are come to the Everlasting Law written in our hearts the Covenant of God wherein all know the Lord and witness Christ and his Spirit of Life at whose mouth we have received the Law and He is the Preserver of our Knowledge By Faith it is seen that it was just and righteous in Christ to bid the Jews do as the Pharisees said while they sat in Moses Seat and read the Law but not to follow after their works nor their traditions which were vain by which they made the Commandments of God of none effect and this was spoken to the Jews who were under the Law for under the Law Christ was made of a Woman to Redeem them that are under the Law and the Law was to be fulfilled which Christ is the End of which he then witnessed unto that it was to be heard from their mouths who when Christ was offered up the End of the Law the everlasting Offering the Apostles witnessed the contrary that such as had the Form of Godliness and denyed the Life and Power from such turn away for then they made but merchandize of Souls after Christ was come and offered up the everlasting Priest who writes his Law in their hearts and puts it in their minds that by it all may be taught of God and so come off from the Pharisees and Priests though they sate in Moses Seat whose Worship was vain teaching for Doctrines the Traditions of men drawing near with their mouths and lips while their hearts were far from God By Faith it 's seen that it was just and righteous in Christ to own the Tything of Mint Annis and Rhue amongst the
after Knowledge and to grow high in Wisdom and in Profession of words when as they should seek after the Life and wait for the Power of God which should lead them in pure Obedience to the Lord and to his Truth which Life and Power if they miss on they will be but as if they had precious Ointment of the Apothecary but alas Flies have corrupted it that it cannot cure Even so if all the knowledge of the World whilst mixt with earthliness and enmity neither doth it stand in the Power of the Lord which redeemeth out of the World and giveth to seek after God and feel after Him in his Life to walk in his pure living way which who come into shall not want Wisdom nor Knowledge but shall have it in the gift of God By Faith it 's given me to see that the same Life which God hath in these last dayes made manifest and declared to be the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that cometh into the VVorld was in the dayes of Old which is the Heart of God by which he purposeth and upholdeth all things which Life in due time was declared to be his Son and made known in the Church while in the Wilderness and was the Rock which followed Israel of which they drank when they were joyned unto the Law and baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea by which Moses He was seen that God would raise Him up in the midst of the People for all the People to hear that he that would not hear Him might be cut off So that certain it is the Law did prophesie that the Son of God should come and not only so for he was manifest in the dayes of Noah preaching to the Spirits in Prison whose day Abraham saw and was glad by which Life the Prophets wrote of his Sufferings which they saw and witnessed should certainly be fulfilled before the Seed was raised up through the Virgin which Seed is Christ who is come and hath taken the Seed of Abraham and David and suffered in the body which Sufferings by Faith in the Light which He hath enlightened every one withal are clearly seen and believed to be done and fulfilled according to the Scriptures So that by Faith in the Light it 's seen and certainly believed that the Lord 's Christ is come in the flesh hath suffered and is arisen in Glory in the Kingdom of his Father having suffered and fulfilled all things that was written of Him being declared by signs and wonders and mighty deeds to be the only begotten Son of the Father the Prince of all his Saints the Kings of the Earth and Priests unto God and all these things hath he done and suffered as it was written of Him in the Prophets That He being the first-born among many Brethren and the first begotten from the dead might have the preheminence being in all things a Captain and Example in all Godliness and Humility humbling Himself unto death even the death of His Cross that in all things He being our Example we may follow Him in His Sufferings and Death who in that He dyed once dyed unto Sin in that He liveth He liveth unto God Death hath no more dominion over Him So likewise is every one dying unto Sin to live unto God that the residue of the dayes may be spent in the Service of God and the death which hath reigned in the mortal body and subjected the Creature unto Vanity may have no more dominion but may be swallowed up and consumed unto the end in the Victory of the Judgments of the Life And by Faith it is seen that it is a greater Mystery to know Christ to be the first-born who must be witnessed born first in Man before Man can be born again and be begotten from the dead before Man can be begotten from the dead He that reads let him understand he that reads must read by Faith in the Light and blessed is he that readeth and heareth and seeth and hath part in these things he shall give Glory to the Lord and to his Christ who is translating many Sons and Daughters out of the Kingdoms of this VVorld into Himself and into His Kingdom to praise and glorifie and magnifie Him for ever By Faith it is seen that Christ is certainly manifested to be that which was written of Him namely to be a Covenant of the People and Light of the Gentiles and Salvation of the Ends of the Earth who is able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by Him who hath freely offered up himself once for all and by the one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and not only so but being an Atonement for Sin hath appeased the Wrath of God towards all so that He is become a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World having obtained Favour with God so that time and space is given and a day of Visitation unto all that the Long-sufferings of God waiteth towards all And this is the Liberty and Advantage which Christ through his Death and Sufferings hath purchased for All that all Men having a Visitation and time they might Repent and turn to the Lord by doing Righteousness which if they neglect their time and through impudence and impenitence and hardness of heart continue in their sins and unbelief and so treasures up Wrath against the day of Wrath and the revelation of the Righteous Judgments of God such shall certainly perish and receive the greater Condemnation when the measure of their Iniquities are full and all the Sufferings of Christ will be laid to their charge who have pierced the Just by resisting the Grace and the Light which from the Just is come to witness against all Transgression and doth testifie against it in every ones Conscience and this all shall see to be true that the Sufferings of Christ will be but to the greater Condemnation of them that continue in Wickedness though by His stripes are they made whole who turn unto Him but the Just when He appears the Families and Kindreds of the Earth shall weep and waile over Him when every Eye shall see Him and them that pierced Him shall behold him for He shall come in the Glory of his Kingdom and in the Power of his Father to sit as Judge upon all the Families and Kindreds of the Earth pleading with them by Sword and Fire and righteous Judgements taking Vengeance on all who have not wrought Righteousness on the Earth nor walked prudently amongst Men to shew forth his Praise and the glory of his Grace in obeying unto an Holy Life and Pure Conversation and as he comes rises and appears He destroyes the spirits of Belial and consumes the Transgressor that His Covenant of Peace and Life for evermore may be established with and in His Seed in which He comes and in which he reveals himself in the Children of the Covenant in Mighty Power that his