can the Gentiles be found worthy but by coming out of them into the obedience of the Truth and to come out of the Earth out of the High-wayes and Hedges and Streets where there hath been lameness and blindness and hardness of heart which the Gentile if he comes in hath not the VVedding garment and to him it will be said Friend how camest thou hither not having a VVedding garment and he shall be taken and cast into utter darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Therefore all are to look about them and mind to obey that which is of God that you may have the VVeding garment the cloathing of Righteousness which whosoever feareth God and worketh Righteousness in all Nations both Jews and Gentiles shall be accepted but anguish pain and tribulation to the Soul of every one that doth Evil to the Jew first and likewise to the Gentile By Faith it is seen how just and righteous it was for the Apostles and Servants of Christ to meet togetter in the Faith and in the Fear of the Lord to wait together for the Promise of the Father which said Christ ye have heard of me and ye shall receive Power from on High when the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both at Jerusalem and in Judea and they through waiting received the Promise the Power from on High and the Holy Ghost came upon them and through the Power of the Highest were moved to go into the Nations and unto the People which dwelt upon the Earth Preaching the Gospel freely as they had received freely labouring in the Power of the Highest to turn People from the Darkness and Error of their Lives unto the Light and to the Knowledge of the Light of the Glorious Gospel which shined in their hearts to give them the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and Preached the Word of Faith in their hearts and in their mouths and that they had a more sure Word of Prophesie unto which they did well to take heed as unto a Light that shined in a dark place until the day dawned and the day Star arose in their hearts By Faith it is seen how just it was in the Apostles to go forth Preaching the Gospel to all Nations though commanded by the Rulers to speak no more in that Name yet they spoke the more boldly going into Markets Synagogues and Assemblies of the People though opposed by Priests Rulers People cast into prisons under sore Persecutions and Bonds and many Tryals yet they went on boldly not regarding the Commandment of men but obeyed God rather than man By Faith it 's seen how just it was in them to witness against false Worships false Teachers false Apostles false Prophets false Ministers laying them open by their Fruits as Christ had said when he prophesied that many false Christs and false Prophets should come and should deceive many by their fruits ye shall know them and by their fruits the Apostles laid them open who were false Ministers Messengers of Satan Ministers of unrighteousness transforming themselves into the likeness of the Ministers of Christ who went in Cain's way envying and persecuting the Just and in Balaam's way for Wages of unrighteousness and Promotion and Gifts and Rewards who minded earthly things whose God was their Belly and their glory in their shame whose end was to be destroyed who with good words and fair speeches deceived the hearts of the simple and through covetousness made merchandise of Souls bringing in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and preach for Money and Price when as the Lord said Freely ye have received freely give the Work-man is worthy of his meat these had eyes full of Adultery and could not cease from sinning beguiling unstable Souls whose hearts are exercised with covetous Practices cursed Children which have forsaken the right Way and are gone astray after the error of Balaam who loved the Wages of unrighteousness but the dumb Ass speaking with man's Voice rebuked such madness in him who was greedying after earthly things And the Apostles witnessed against such Teachers that spoke things which they ought not for filthy lucre sake who were proud men who were covetous men heady high-minded treacherous disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy blasphemers truce-breakers incontinent fierce dispisers of those that are good lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Life and Power thereof from such turn away for of this sort are they which creep into Houses leading silly Women captive laden with sin and led away with divers lusts ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these withstand the Truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith being Evil men and Seducers waxing worse and worse deceiving and being deceived but they shall proceed no further their folly shall be manifest to all men And Jude witnesseth against such as were ungodly men turning the Grace of our Lord Jesus into lasciviousness denying the only Lord and Saviour and called them Wells without water spots in their Feasts feeding without Fear Clouds carried about with Wind filthy Dreamers that defile the Flesh who went in Cain's way and Balaam's way having mens persons in admiration because of advantage being separated sensual having not the Spirit And the Apostle witnessed against them who were given to Wine and that were Strikers Lovers of Money of filthy Lucre bid the Saints take heed of such that were desirous of filthy Lucre that were self-willed who despised Dominion and spoke evil of Dignities natural bruit Beasts made to be taken and destroyed as all the Priests of the World despise that any can come into that Dignity or Dominion as to overcome Sin and to be throughly cleansed in this Life and perfected By Faith it 's seen that all these that testified against such as lived in these Practices before mentioned were just and faithful unto God and it 's likewise seen to be just and faithfulness in us to declare against all such that live in such Practices that they were in which the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and all the Saints testified against though the world could not bear it then to have their Teachers and Prophets declared against neither can they now yet it 's just with God and in faithfulness to the Lord to declare against them who are manifest by their Fruits to be in the steps of the false Prophets by their Fruits ye shall know them saith Christ for an evil Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit nor a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit. By Faith it 's seen that it was just with God to smite Herod the King who had stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church and persecuted the Saints when he had made
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
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
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