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
gives to fulfil his Will and to receive his Peace and to get Conquest over all the Enemies of the Soul in every partiticular and this gives Peace in all the World and satisfieth concerning outward things and enjoyments and gives to see the end of them all and that the losse of Estates Friends Relations and the destroying the outward body all is as nothing and but a parting with that which must be parted with be it sooner or later the Will of the Lord be done for we praise God we have found Christ and all things else is but as dung and drosse and must be parted withal By Faith in the Light man comes to see Him that is invisible and to the end of all visible things and delights and to be made willing to let all the Honours Preferments and Riches of the World and the Great Name and Reputation to passe away as that in which Life is not to be found and to be satisfied if he loses any thing for the Lord's sake and the Gospels sake he shall receive his Reward By Faith it comes to be seen that every one having Food and Rayment they are therewith to be content and that the labour of all in the works of the Creation is to be for the Glory of God and for the Praise of God and the Honour of God and every ones Labour is to be for the Lord and not to incumber themselves with taking care to lay up in store for Generations to come and for a Son or a Daughter which its not known whether they may glorifie God therewith or no so that every one in his present Generation is to preach Righteousness in all things that in all his works he may preach for God Noah a Preacher of Righteousness obtained mercy with the Lord in his Generation who obeyed God even God that hath created Heaven and Earth and all that lives therein who watereth the Earth with the dew of Heaven and causeth it to fall upon the tender Grass so that it buddeth and to mollifie the Clods of the Earth that the Seed yeeldeth encrease Seed for the Sower and Bread for the Eater who satisfieth every living thing that hath life and breath both in Heaven and in Earth and in the Waters under the Earth so that upon Him the care of every creature is to be set and the expectation of every Creature is to wait upon Him who is the Provider for all Generations from Generation to Generation unto a Thousand Generations that his Works might be seen unto all and the Wonders of his Mercies throughout all Generations to the setting forth of his Praise unto all Generations that the works of his Hands might all praise Him and He might be extolled by all his Creatures But certainly Generations have abused themselves and dishonoured the Lord Almighty and the Enemy of Mankind hath had his strong-holds in bewitching thousands and ten thousands to set their hearts on earthly things and earthly delights more than God so that they have forgotten God their Saviour rebelled against the Rock of the whole World who hath founded the Sea and the dry Land in Himself and every Creature in his Power who reserves the Wicked in his Wrath and places them in His Displeasure unto perpetual Generations And indeed this is the ground of the snares of all the world the Enemy having bewitched the minds of People to delight themselves in earthly things they have forgotten God their Saviour and defiled themselves with themselves and with the rest of the Creatures having their thoughts tempted to the creatures they give themselves up to be earthly and carnally minded and to have the burnings of the lusts to run into the greatness and height of glorying in the Creatures and this is that which separates the families of the Earth from God and which causes the enmity and the warrings and envyings and discord in all the World against which the Law it self was given for in that Nature which delights as before stands the sum of the Transgression of the Law from which a man must be born and redeemed before he can love the Lord with all his heart and mind and soul and serve Him with all his strength and to love his Neighbour as himself and to do unto every one as he would be done unto which fulfills all the Law but the Earth is the Snare and the parting with it the fear of many and the keeping many from the Covenant though man in giving all things up to the Will of the Lord and himself too gives but the Lord 's Own to Him which the Lord requires that in all things He may be served and honoured and who gives not up freely the fear with which they feared the Lord will bring upon them and the thing which they put far off He will bring near and make them suffer in Therefore ye Families of the Earth if you will come to the Covenant of God give up to the Lord in all things whose right it is and shake your selves come out of the love of the World and the delights of those things in which thousands have perished that Satan may not tempt you for when you are tempted and overcome and defiled you have first let your thoughts out to take pleasure or liking and to love that or those things at which the Temptation pointeth else you could never be so easily overcome as to make Sin the greatest pleasure in the World for if you believed in the Light and walked in the Light in the Fear of God and in Humility you would see the Thoughts and judge them and not suffer the Eye of the Mind to look on that at which the Temptation pointeth to take delight in that and to love that and to advantage thy self in that and then the Tempter should not overcome thee neither wouldst thou like the Glory of the World though tempted to it This is the great Temptation which blessed is he that overcometh and getteth the Victory through the Faith by which Faith Abraham forsook his Father's house and native Country and wandred a Pilgrim and a stranger in a strange Land seeking a habitation which was not an Earthly Tabernacle but Eternal in the Heavens whose Builder and Maker was God By which Faith Moses chose to suffer Affliction with the People of God rather than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season and would not dwell in the King's Court nor be called the Son of Pharoah's Daughter By which Faith the Saints chose to wander in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins and in Dens Caves of the Earth suffering the spoyling of their Goods with joy giving up their Bodies to suffer all manner of Torturâ—s these overcame the great Temptation and loved not their Lives unto Death Of whom the world was not worthy who through then faith suffered all things not accepting of deliverance By which Faith many in this Age give themselves up in the like Sufferings having the Evidence of a
better Kingdom than that of this World counting all things as nothing that we may win Christ By Faith in the Light the Covenant of God is seen and the Spirit of Life received into the heart to be a Guide and a Ruler which writes its Law in the heart and puts it in the mind in which the Directions for the whole course of a Man's Life and Conversation comes to be read as Man comes to take heed unto the Grace which brings the Salvation and saves the Soul and the Creature daily from the snares of the Devil in teaching the Creature that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they may live soberly righteously and godly in this present evil world and so come to know the Promise of the Covenant fulfilled in them which saith That all the People of God shall be taught of God and established in Righteousness far from Oppression which none comes to witness but who believes in the Light the Grace which changeth the heart for said God I will make them a new heart and give unto them a right Spirit that they may have all One heart and all One way and serve me all the dayes of their life without fear Which none comes to witness but such as believe in the Light and wait in the Light to feel the Fountain of Life and Power opened in them to wash them from Sin and from Transgression as the Lord said for if this be not witnessed the Iniquities will oppress the Soul and defile the Creature and the old treacherous 〈◊〉 â—ill abide which will make the nature treacherous and yield its members members of obedience unto Sin and so to transgress the Law and so to be in hatred of God and this keeps from knowing the holy Anointing of the Soul with the Power of the Highest which teacheth all things that the Saints need no man to teach them but the Anointing in them teacheth them all things which are Truth and of it is no Lye and this Anointing in them gives them to know the Father and the Son and to have an understanding to know all things both of the Law and of the Gospel that they need no man to bid them Know the Lord for the Seed of the Covenant is in them the Heir of Life by which they see the Lord teaching them all so that All know Him from the least to the greatest and are All taught of Him and have ceased from man whose breath is in his nostrils and love Him and keep His Commandments which to them are not grievous but joyous though for their Obedience they may suffer and have suffered by the Wicked in Bodies and Estates By Faith it is seen how Christ is a Saviour unto the utmost of all that come unto God by Him who in His first aâ—â—â—â—ring in the Creature manifests sin and condemns for sin who being believed in destroyes the sin and works that nature out of the Creature which hath sinned and taken pleasure in sinning and so gives the pardon of the sins past and gives the Creature to live in obedience in the time to come and so manifests Himself to be a Saviour to the Ends of the Earth and that He is mighty to save and to redeem his People out of all Pollutions of Flesh und Spirit that He may present them in himself without spot or wrinckle or any such thing an Holy Church a Spiritual House builded of living stones an Holy Nation a Peculiar People a Royal Priesthood separated from sinners and zealous of good works And thus through Faith Christ comes to be seen to be a whole Saviour and that the same Life in which He manifesteth Himself in the Creature which saves from Swearing Drunkenness Whoredom Theft and the like gross evils is as able to root out the very ground of the Transgression as it is believed in and to destroy the earthly nature which hath finned and to save from all sin and make man wholly a right Seed that he may be perfect as his Father in Heaven is perfect and holy because God is holy without which Holiness no man can see God neither can any out of the birth of the Holy Life see the Kingdom which the Children of the Covenant see and are Heirs of being born again not of corruptible seed but of the Word of God which lives and endures for ever by which Birth they keep themselves that the wicked one toucheth them not And this is the Victory over the World which tramples upon the World and all its Delights and Pleasures Faâ—hions and Vanities and hath put a cross and stop to that in them which was of the World and he that is born of God sinneth not neither can he because the Seed of God is in him which keeps him from sinning and gives him to deny the Temptations of the Devil which would draw to sin and in this are the Children of God and the children of the Devil manifest he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as God is Righteous he that sins is of the Devil and hath neither seen God nor known Him By Faith in the Light it is seen that none can ever come to know the secrets of God but such as believe in the Light which hath enlightened every one that cometh into the World And there 's not any that can ever come to be true Prophets true Ministers true Teachers true Apostles true Elders true Pastors true Evangelists but such as believe in the true Light which enlightens every one that comes into the World for he that believes not in the Light he is not Zealous for God's Name and for his Truth and his Glory and against all the wicked World and its wayes And he that is not zealous for God he is dark the World is iâ— his heart he sinks under the wicked and wants the true discerning Spirit which should warm him with Power and Zeal and so wants the true Discerning and the Openings and the Revelations Visions and Prophesies and the true Knowledge of Life Eternal which the Nations are to be turned unto such cannot be Ministers of the Riches of God under any name nor do the work of God aright for he that doth Gods work aright must have it so wrought in him that he may do all things according to the Pattern that he sees of God And he that is not zealous for God he receives not the true Wisdom he cannot be a Prophet but must be prophesied against he that is not zealous for God he hath not the Vision of God nor the Revelations he cannot be a Teacher to open the Mysteries of God but must first have Judgement opened in himself He that is not zealous for God and against all the World and its Deceit he cannot be an Apostle or a Pastor he cannot feed the Sheep and Lambs but must first be fed with the Judgments of God himself to bring him off the Earthly-miâ—â—â—dness in which he feeds and off thâ—â—â—â—ghts of the sons and