Garden and I was afraid because I was Naked and I hid my self And the Lord God said Who told thee that thou wast naked Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat Who began to excuse himself saying The Woman thou gavest to be with me she gave me to eat and I did eat And the Lord God said to the Woman What is this that thou hast done And the Woman said The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat And the Lord God said unto the Serpent Because thou hast done this cursed art thou above all Cattel and above every Beast of the Field on thy Belly shalt thougo and Dust shalt thou eat c. And I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel So the Lord sent him forth from the Garden to till the Ground c. and placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims and a Flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the Way of the Tree of Life Oh miserable Change Oh deplorable Alteration Oh lamentable State undeclarable undone Condition unexpressible Fall What! he that was in the Image of the Incorruptible Being a Living Soul inhabiting in the Garden of the Lord where the Tree of Life was and the Splendor of the Glory of the Divine Being was known and enjoyed drove from all into the Earth and not only so but the Cherubims and Flaming Sword that turneth every way placed to keep the Way of the Tree of Life Be astonished oh Heavens at this and be horribly afraid oh Earth The Lord God brought up Children and they Rebelled against him Now what was the Cause and Ground O ye Sons and Daughters of Adam that brought this horrible Change that brought man into this deplorable State and Condition Was it not Disobedience to the Righteous Law of God Did not Sin enter into the World through Disobedience and Death by Sin And is not Sin continued in the World through Disobedience Is there any other Way by which Sin enters now then it did then and Death by Sin which has reigned over all and reigns over all who are in the fallen Estate from God even over them that have not sinned according to the Similitude of Adam's Transgression For all have not sinned according to his Similitude who was deceived with an Expectation of an higher Estate then that in which the Lord God had placed him But all Iniquity of what Similitude soever is one in the Ground and becomes a Separator of man from his God So the Ground of all Iniquity and Transgression that ever was is or shall be is man's Disobeying the Righteous Law of God Disobedience whereunto bringeth Death But what was that which in Adam dyed and what was the Death seeing that the Lord said In the Day thou eatest of the Tree before mentioned thou shalt surely Dye and yet though he did eat thereof he lived outwardly and had Children It was the Inward Man that dyed which was so made by the Living Breath of the Almighty for man going out of the Counsel of the Lord by his Disobedience came to be alienated from the Life of God and so became insensible of that primary Life in which he was wholely a right Seed and a noble Plant In his Degeneration he became inwardly dead the inward Senses of the inward Man were lost the inward Ear was stopped the inward Eye was blinded the inward Sence of tasting how good the Lord is the inward Feeling after the Divine Virtue who is all Power Life Love and Joy the inward Sence of Smelling his Garments that smell of Myrrh and of the Spikenard Spiritually were all lost and instead thereof an Ear opened that hearkened to the Voice of the Stranger and an Eye opened that saw the forbidden Fruit pleasant and desirable the Heavenly Cloathing of Innocency Meakness and Resignation lost and thus he came to be without God in the World and here in this Estate Man was altogether out of a Capacity of abiding in the Garden or partaking of the Heavenly Tree of Life that was in the midst thereof and in this Estate are all the unconverted Sons and Daughters of men notwithstanding all Fig-leaf-Coverings of Professions But as the Law of the Spirit of Life breaketh forth in its Manifestation and the Sons and Daughters of men come with it to be awakened they will have the Sight and true Sence of their inward Estate and Condition which will indeed cause a Cry to arise in the Soul Oh wretched Estate Oh miserable Condition And here the Entrance of Sin comes to be seen which hath brought Death for the Wages of Sin is Death which was the Death that came over Adam and over all since that have disobeyed the Righteous Spiritual Law of God which is just holy and good and was before Transgression which Law bringeth to Christ the Promised Seed the Gift of God which is Eternal Life Now man being thus departed out of that Nature Image and Seed in which man had his Being before Transgression is become the degenerate Plant of a strange Vine before the Lord God that made him And from the Sons and Daughters of men as they stand joyned to this Nature and Seed of the Serpent which hath defiled Man in Soul Body and Spirit proceed these Branches and Fruits of Iniquity to wit Pride Envy Emulation Strife Variance Debate Hatred Wrath Anger Murder Inordinate Affection Concupiscence Lasciviousness Wantonness Vanity Uncleanness Fornication Adulteries Love to this World Drunkenness Revelling Idleness Swearing Cursings Cheating Defrauding Double-dealing Evil-speaking Back-biting Covetousness Idolatry Witchcraft Man being thus fallen from God into this miserable deplorable State the infinite Being in his Endless Boundless Fathomless Loving-kindness hath opened a Way by which Mankind might be restored up to himself again which Way is the promised Seed concerning whom he said to the Serpent I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel So herein was the tender Mercy of the everlasting God extended unto Mankind in leaving a Seed else all would have been as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah which God destroyed with Fire in his Wrath So this is that one Seed on which he hath laid Help who is mighty to save who is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature in which Image Man was before the Transgression who was glorified with the Father before the World began This is He of whom in the Name of the great Jehovah I give Testimony That He is the Way of Life and Salvation and that there is no other Name by which any man can be saved then by him who was and is and is to come who was from Everlasting to Everlasting the Rock of Ages which followed Israel and was in the Church in the Wilderness as Stephen
THE WAY of LIFE REVEALED AND THE VVAY of DEATH DISCOVERED Wherein is declared Man's Happy Estate before the Fall his Miserable Estate in the Fall and the Way of Restauration out of the Fall into the Image of God again in which man was before the Fall Also the By-Pathes Crooked Wayes Wiles Snares and Temptations of the Enemy of man's Soul discover'd who has and doth go about as a Roaring Lyon seeking how he may ensnare and devour those who are in any measure escaping out of his Wayes of Death and Destruction The utter End and final Destruction of all false Professions Prophesied which have had their Rise in the Night of Apostacy through the Loss of the Ancient Eternal Power of the Mighty God by which the Gatherings to the Lord have been through Ages and Generations Also a Call in the tender Bowels of the Love of God shed abroad in this Day Age and Generation to all the scattered Sheep upon the barren Mountains of Profession to return to the true Shepherd Christ Jesus that so into the One Fold they may be gathered Charles Marshall Go through go through the Gates prepare ye the Way of the People cast up cast up the High Way gather out the Stones lift up a Standard for the People Behold the Lord has proclaimed unto the End of the World say ye to the Daughter of Sion Behold thy Salvation cometh behold his Reward is with him and his Work before him Isa 42.10 11. Printed in the Year 1674. To the READER BE serious when thou takest in hand to read this following Treatise and have a single Regard unto the inward Estate of thy Immortal Soul and let thy Spirit bow down to the Measure of the Spirit of God given thee to profit withal that by it the Eye of thy Understanding may be opened so wilt thou see the things herein contained which concern thy own Eternal Welfare and let not thy own Thoughts and Imaginations in the Wisdom from below which is sensual and earthly be Judge herein but stand still out of thy own Comprehendings Ascendings and Descendings and let a true and diligent Regard be had to the Word in thy Heart and Mouth there placed that thou mayst obey it and do it so will thy Heart be truly opened to read with Delight the Things herein opened by the Spirit of Truth which searches all things yea the deep things of God and the Travel in Spirit which is for the opening the Eyes of the Blind and unstopping of the Ears of the Deaf will be answered and the Lord God Almighty will have his Honour from his own Workmanship and thou the Benefit which is the Desire Travil and Breathings of him who is a Traveller for Sion's perfect Deliverance Bristol the 7th of the 2d Moneth in the Year 1673. C. M. THE Way of Life REVEALED AND THE WAY of DEATH DISCOVERED c. IN the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and after he had made all things on the Earth he made Man in his own Image formed him of the Dust of the Ground and breathed into him the Breath of Life and Man became a Living Soul and the Lord planted a Garden in Eden and there he placed the man whom he had formed and out of the Ground the Lord God made every Tree pleasant to the Sight good for Food to grow the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil And he that made man in this Estate gave him a Law to preserve him therein as the Scripture of Truth witnesseth saying And the Lord God commanded the man saying Of every Tree in the Garden thou mayst freely eat but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil thou mayst not eat for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Now God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was good but not for Food And man was indued with that Divine Wisdom that when the Lord God brought of every Beast of the Field and Fowl of the Air to Adam he gave Names unto them and whatsoever Adam called every living Creature that was the Name thereof So here was man's Station in the Image of God a Living Soul a Noble Plant wholely a Right Seed filled with Divine Wisdom and Virtue cloathed with Innocency covered with Glory adorned with celestial Beauty in the continual Enjoyment of the Love and Favour of the Eternal Being of all Beings having his daily Conversation with him that made him no Death no Darkness no Sorrow no Occasion of Tears no Transgression no Knowledge of Evil dwelling in the Innocent Life it self placed in the Garden into which came the River out of Eden that watered it Oh blessed State Oh happy Condition Oh unexpressible Enjoyment undeclarable Beauty and Glory 'T is beyond the Tongue of Man to declare fully that blessed happy Estate of Joy Peace Virtue Purity Holiness Righteousness and Fruition of Life which man was in before he transgressed the Royal Law of God c. Man's Miserable Estate in the Fall BUt now he who kept not his first Habitation neither abode in the Truth envied man's Happiness in the Truth and therefore as a Serpent more subtil then any Beast of the Field which the Lord God had made came to the Woman who out of the Man was made and said Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every Tree of the Garden The Woman said We may eat of the Fruits of the Trees of the Garden but of the Fruit of the Tree which is in the midst of the Garden God hath said Ye shall not eat neither shall ye touch of it lest ye dye And the Serpent said to the Woman Ye shall not surely dye for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evil And here the Serpent got an Entrance And when the Woman mark saw that the Tree was good for Food and that it was pleasant to the Eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one Wise she took of the Fruit and did eat and gave also to her Husb and with her and he did eat and the Eyes mark of them both were opened Here the God of the World prevailed so as to open an Eye that saw Evil pleasant and to Blind the Eye in these Children of Disobedience that they should no longer behold the Glory of God c. And here they became naked having lost the Robe of Righteousness and Garment of Innocency and then made Aprons of Fig leaves to cover their Nakedness and they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in the Cool of the Day and Adam and his Wise hid them elves from the Presence of the Lord God and the Lord God called unto Adam saying Where art thou And the Man said I heard thy Voice in the
testified before he was stoned to Death This is He who is without Beginning of Days or End of Life who in the Fulness of Time was manifest taking on him not the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham for whom there was a Body prepar'd to do the Will of his Father who after he had accomplish'd it ascended where he was before far above all Heavens that he might fill all This is the Emanuel God with us Jesus the Saviour Christ the Anointed who hath been called by several Names spoken of under several Denominations and Appellations through the Mouthes of his Servants the Prophets and Apostles in Ages and Generations by past This is the only Beloved of the Ransomed and this is our Friend And now he is arisen and arising who is the Ancient of Dayes in the Might of his Power and is revealing himself the Good Old Way and Path of Life whose Out-goings have been from Everlasting in which Way Abel Seth Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob and all the Servants Prophets Apostles and Saints of the Most High God walked through all Ages and Generations which Way was before all the invented Ways and Worships were which have been set up in the Will and Time of Man for all the holy Men of God and Saints of the Most High worshipped God in the Spirit of Holiness in which they were accepted of him who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh And no outward Performance whatever performed by any through Ages and Generations was any farther acceptable unto the Lord but as performed in this Spirit The Way of Restoration out of the Fall into the Image of God again in which Man was before the Fall c. BUt how Salvation comes to be wrought by him and how Mankind may be brought again into him who is the Way the Truth and the Life and brought from under the Power and Dominion of the Seed of the Serpent in which by Nature all have been the Children of Wrath is indeed the thing that lieth on my Spirit weightily to demonstrate having obtained Mercy to see this Way of Life and Salvation revealed and opened and not only so but a Necessity hath been and is upon me to preach the Gospel of Christ Jesus and declare the Way of Life and Salvation to my Country-men through this Island of England and now a Necessity is also upon my Spirit to leave a Testimony of the same on Record This is generally confessed that in the first Adam all dyed and in the second Man Adam Christ the Lord all come to be made alive again But how Mankind comes out of this State of Death in the first Man Adam into this State of Life in the second Man Adam is that which the Wisdom of this World never knew never saw never understood nor comprehended truly or rightly Man by that Wisdom hath only imagined conceived something in the Carnal Mind concerning this great Mystery and therein hath set up many Inventions of the Way of Life and Salvation And into these many Wayes of man's Inventions and Imaginations set up in the fallen Wisdom of Man there have been the several Calls Lo here Lo there but the Day is dawned and appearing and now breaking forth more and more magnified and praised be the Name of the Infinite Almighty God wherein all invented Wayes set up in the Will and Wisdom of Man that is Earthly Sensual and Devilish shall come to an End And now in the Name of the Mighty God all the graven Images the Work of Men's Hands and Earthly Wisdoms shall be broken to pieces and ground to Powder the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it who will perform it by the Might of his Arm and by the Strength of his Power And therefore Tremble Tremble all ye Image-makers of all sorts who have been making and framing Likenesses of the Way of Life and Salvation in your fallen Wisdoms and corrupt Wills and have mad Gods thereof and have fallen bowed down to and worshipped them so that it may be said of Christendom so called as it was once said of Israel As are thy Cities so are thy Gods O Israel But now is the Fulness of Time come and coming wherein the ancient Way of Holiness in which the Righteous walked through all Ages and Generations is cast up manifest and manifesting which Way is Christ Jesus the Gift of the Father's Love unto the Sons and Daughters of men who hath as before-mentioned been preached up and declared of by his Servants Messengers Prophets and Apostles under several Denominations and Appellations according as he was pleased to manifest himself in to them and as his Spirit gave them Utterance Amongst many other Appellations he hath been declared a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedeck the Rock that followed Israel who was in the Church in the Wilderness a King a Law-giver VVonderful Councellor Prince of Peace a Branch a Light to lighten the Gentiles the Arm of God's Salvation a Covenant Messiah a Leader a Commander a Captain the Horn of God's Anointed a Stone of Stumbling a Foundation laid in Ston the Corner-stone the VVord of God the VVord that was in the Beginnning the True Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the VVorld the Truth the VVay and the Life King of Kings Lord of Lords Christ Emanuel Jesus the Beginning of the Creation of God the First-born of every Creature the First-begotten from the Dead the Faithful VVitness Alpha and Omega Bright and Morning Star the Image of the Invisible God the Off-spring of David Under these I say and other Names and Denominations hath he been spoken and declared of and by who still hath a Name that no man knoweth but himself who is that One Eternal Fountain of Blessedness and the One Pretious Saviour and there is no other besides him although diversly denominated according as his Spirit gave Utterance to demonstrate him to those unto whom his Servants spake prophesied and wrote And now by the Ancient Power of the Holy Everlasting God is he preached up under the Denomination of LIGHT in this Island of the Gentiles according as was prophesied of old Isaiah chap. 49. vers 6. who said Is it a light thing that thou shouldst be my Servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to preserve the Restored of Israel I will also give thee for a Light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth which is one with the Testimony of John chap. 1. saying In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the Beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made In him was Life and the Life mark was the Light of men and the Light shineth in the Darkness and the Darkness comprehendeth it not There was a Man sent from God whose Name was John the
known and witnessed from Death unto Life and the Administration of Condemnation being passed through and the Spirit that ruled in the disobedient Estate cast out and the Openings of that which doth exceed in Glory the Administration of the Spirit being known here the Enemy will again Transform and with all his Power and Strength in the Transformation as an Angel of Light work by his Temptation on the Right Hand and on the Left For when there are Openings to the Understanding and Prophecies and through the Working of the Eternal Power Joy springs in the Heart then will the Enemy work secretly and cunningly to draw the Mind out of the Valley of Humility and if he prevaileth here to draw out of this Habitation of Safety then he will transform to lead the Mind out eitchr through the Motions of his transforming Spirit and Power into Extreams thereby endeavouring to destroy the true Birth which is bringing forth and so bewilder the Mind and hurry it forth through imaginary Motions to Dishonour the Name of the Living Eternal God and to destroy his work which through Sorrow and Travil hath been brought forth And if he cannot prevail here but the Light of the Lord discovereth him and the Power of the Lord works over his Appearance herein then will he be at work to draw the Mind out of the Watchfulness out of the daily Awe and Fear and out of the Liberty of the Sons of God which Libeity is only to serve the Lord for Dominion being selt in some measure the Morning of Comfort Consolation injoyed and Praises spring in the Heart to him that vifited and redeemed the Enemy will be ready here also to draw the Mind out of the Valley of Humility out of the stay'd Estate of Meek and Constant Watchfulness in the Light thereby causing the Creature prodigally to spend the Portion and to lavish out the Injoyment by running and climing up to sacrifice upon the Mountains and run before the Leadings Guidings and Movings of the Power of the Lord into the speaking forth of the Injoyment the Prophecyings and Openings not being led thereunto by that Eternal Power that first opened the Heart and here is the Ground of the Untimely Birth that hath been brought forth that hath and will wicher and come to nothing But now where the Enemy is seen and discovered in all the aforesaid Workings and cannot prevail by these Snares Trapps Gins and Ternptations aforesaid he will not cease who goes about on a Roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour and how he may again get an Entrance so that he layes his Temptations according to the Spirit Growth Capacities and Inclinations of every one Now after the good Work of God has been begun prosperously and that the Right Arm of God's Salvation hath been wonderfully revealed and signally manifest to bring out of Egypt's Land of Darkness spiritually and that the Lord hath magnified his Arm spiritually in giving many signal Deliverances from the Destroying Enemy and has often fed with the Heavenly Food and caused the Rock to yield Water for the Thirsty and that the many Turnings aside in the Passage through the Wilderness have been seen and the Back-slidings and Going out from a Sence of the Eternal Power have been discovered that there is a coming through the River of Judgment and the Mighty Power and Arm of the Everlasting God drives out the Enemy that hath inhabited where only Abraham's Seed is to inhabit and that the War in great measure ceaseth and part of the good Land is possessed and enjoyed even the Land that floweth with Spiritual Milk and Honey and the Fruit of the Vine drunk of here also as in the Travils afore-mention'd will the old crooked subtil Enemy be working as he did with outward Israel causing Jesurun to wax fat and then kick against the Ancient Power leading the Mind out through the Injoyment of that which in its place is good into ease and so to forget the Lord that made formed man and brought him into the Land of Rest and lightly to esteem of the very Rock of Salvation and so leadeth into an easeful State in a Profession and draws away the Mind from the inward Enjoyment of Virtue to set up Idols in the Heart and to serve other Gods even Gods of Gold and Silver and an Idol a Profession without Life and Possession And into this State and Condition did the old Enemy prevail to lead a People who in many Ages had seen the Great and Mighty Works of the Lord who saw from time to time the Arm of God Almighty out-stretched and magnified in the Sight of their Enemies for them howbeit as aforesaid they departed from the Lord and from the inward Sence of his eternal Power Now here the Spirit that was cast out and wandred in dry Places takes to it Seven worse Spirits and returns tempts prevails enters and here indeed the Latter-end sâ— worse then the Beginning for in the Beginning although the Enemy had his Power and Rule yet there was a Sence thereof and the Heart and Mind was humbled tender and brought into the true Poverty and there was a Mourning before the Lord for want of the Dominion and this State of Humiliation Brokenness of Heart and Tenderness of Spirit in which the Lord took and taketh Delight and therefore in his endless boundless Loving-kindness visited caus'd his red â—ming saving Power Arm to be reveal'd But now in this other Estate the Mind is high the Heart fat full and at ease and gotten forth into the Love of the World and the things there 〈◊〉 through which there is an Vamindfulness of the Lord who in the beginning was every day sought after and diligently waited for and here the Rock the Power is lightly esteemed of for the Escimation is of another thing and here two great Evils are committed even at once viz. The Fountain of the former living Mercies forsaken a hewing out broken Cisterns a Profession that will hold no Water no durable Refreshment no durable Joy no durable Peage nor Consolation And the Enemy hath thus prevailed through many Ages to bring Thousands from their Enjoyment of God in the pure tender broken contrite upright-spirited Estate which he hath doth effect through his Workings and Subtilty and that gradually his first Foot-step hereunto is to bring out of the constant daily sure Watchfulness and causing a little Liberty to be taken to the carnal Mind and to the Flesh and that gradually and as it were unperceivably causing such to take down as it were a Taste a certain Enjoyment of Sweetness therein and thereby a little darkning the Sight alluring a little into a little more Liberty sometimes his Beginnings are to draw out of the Obedience in those things that were required in the Day of Small things sometimes into many Words out of Watchfulness no more to be as a Door-keeper in the House of the Lord and so
the Enemy works to cause such-like things to seem small and indifferent things thereby to cause the Offence of the Cross in those things to cease and then the Heart and Mind runs forth to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lust thereof either in Meats Drinks Apparel or such like which the Truth in times past hath discover'd and made manifest and the Power of God the Cross of Christ hath crost and in measure lead out of into VVatchfulness in pure Fear and holy Awe not making Provision for the Flesh in any respect to fulfil the Lufts thereof but drawing the Creature in Practice as well as in Principle into Plainness and out of all Superfluities admitting of the Creature to refresh Nature and not feed the Lusts But yet the Enemy works by degrees subtilly and covertly to lead out of the Liberty of the Cross of Christ Jesus the Power of God unto Salvation into the Liberty of the Flesh again and hereby gets a little farther Entrance and though the Enemy be working to draw forth the mind into a wrong Liberty as into many Words in Dealings in Commerce or Converse and into the Love of the World and the Things thereof again c. yet the Profession may remain and the Enemy may be contented therewith yea and many times the Power of God may be felt in some measure which indeed works not in the Approvement but to draw out of the Snare but the God of the World having by this time much blinded the Eye and darkened the Heart and deceiv'd the Understanding there is not a Sence nor Knowledge of the Mind of the Power of the Lord in its Workings nor a real Sence of the Decay gradual subtil Workings of the Enemy for the outward Profession Conformity may be in a great measure kept to which is a Cover under which the Enemy may work undiscovered by the Unwatchful And so the Enemy many times leads cunningly step by step until he hath lead out of the Power of Godliness and slain the tender Birth which in the first dayes of tender Visitations was begotten and so here now there will be a growing high fat and thick and such will call the Operation of God's dividing Power Extreams Imaginations and Jesurun like will kick and turn against the dividing Power of the mighty God for all such are best contented with a Likeness Image for it loves the smooth things in the Wisdom of the gifted Man that has lost his Way through erring from the Power not waiting continually on all Occasions to be guided thereby So here is the itching Ear and heaping up Teachers to please Self to please that uphold that and here Jezebel is suffer'd and upheld which Error crept into the Church of Thyatira in all Ages they that went from the broken tender Estate into the Conditions before discover'd did do both suffer and nurture this Jezebel who must be cast on the Bed of Torments and all her Children must be kill'd with Death And all the Workings of the Enemy under every Disguise is to slay that which was quickned to bring in a Contentedness with an Outside Profession of the Way of Truth Light and Life of Christ Jesus the Power of God unto Salvation whilst the Heart is adulterated and gone from the Lord has imbraced other Lovers so in process of time where the Enemy thus prevails he leads again into the World from whence the Arm of the Lord gather'd and the Latter-end of such is indeed worse then the Beginning For the Enemy having lead to make Shipwrack of Faith and of a good Conscience the second Death comes over and such become twice dead and become as Salt which has lost its Savour are good for nothing but to be cast forth and troden under foot of men The Preservation out of these By-paths Crooked Ways Wiles Snares Temptations of the Enemy is only in the True Waiting Sincere Abiding in the Light Gift Grace of God in which the daily Revelations and Manifestations of God's Eternal Power and Right Arm of Salvation and Preservation is known in the daily Acquaintance Experience thereof which keeps all Minds truly low and Hearts sincerely tender wherein ariseth an inward Travail Longing Breathing and Panting after the daily and continual Injoyment of the Life Power blessed refreshing heavenly Virtue which alone renews and increases the Strength of the inward Man in which God Almighty preserve all the Travellers Zion-wards to the End The Utter End and Final Destruction Prophesied of all False Professions who have had their Rise in the Night of Apostacy AFter the Glorious Breakin gs forth of the Day of God amongst the Apostles c. the Enemy wrought mightily against that Appearance both in his Instruments by and through which he raised up Persecution and also in those Apostates in whom he got an Entrance amongst the Churches and has so prevailed that great has been that horrible Night of Darkness and Apostacy that hath been some hundreds of years in over the Nations of the Earth in which times the old subtil Serpent in his many Transformings Appearances has mightily wrought to alienate man from his God Oh the Ways Inventions that have been by him set up through his workings in the Wisdom which is from below which is earthly sensual and devilish under Pretence of Religion Obedience Worship of God! What Rending Tearing Devouring Murdering and Destroying hath there bin for these many hundreds of years about Religion First the great Red Dragon of Persecution appear'd to devour the Man-child and destroy the Woman but both were preserved then he made War with the Remnant of her Seed and after came in another Appearance which John saw rise as a Beast out of the Sea who had seven Heads and ten Horns and on his Horns Crowns and upon his Heads the Name of Blasphemy and one of his Heads had a deadly Wound by the Sword but this deadly Wound was again healed all the World wondred after the Beast saying Who is like the Beast and Who is able to make War with him And all on the Earth have and do worship the Beast whose Names are not written in the Book of the Life of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World And after this a second Beast appear'd that came out of the Earth and this Beast had two Horns like a Lamb but spake as a Bragon and John saw he exercised all the Power of the first Beast who receiv'd his Power and Authority from the Dragon like unto which this second Beast spake and this Beast that had Horns like a Lamb caused the Earth them that dwelt therein to worship the first Beast whose deadly Wound was healed and he caused all both Small and Great Rich and Poor Free and Bond to receive a Mark in their Right Hand or in their Fore-heads And here has been the universal working
of the power and spirit of Darkness that hath exalted himself sitting in the Temple of God as God and Ruler but blessed forever be the Name of the Almighty God the great Red Dragon and the Beast that arose out of the Sea the Beast that arose out of the Earth and Mystery Babylon are and shall be manifest The Wisdom that is pure peaceable numbers these Appearances and the Judgment of the great Whore is come coming who rides upon the first Beast for now the Angel of God's Presence is come down from Heaven having great Power who lightens the Earth with his Glory the mighty Cry is now going over the Earth utter'd with a strong Voice saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen become the Habitation of Devils c. All Nations have drunk of the Wine of the Wrath of her Fornications the Kings of the Earth have committed Fornication with her the Merchants of the Earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her Delicacies and the Voice is now uttering from Heaven Come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Sins and that ye partake not of her Plagues for her Sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities and now is the one day dawning over the Earth wherein her Plagues Mourning and Famine come and she shall be utterly burn'd with the Fire of God's Jealousie for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her And now in the Name of the eternal everliving blessed God the Creator of all things I prophesie of the perpetual Destruction utter Desolation of the Religions Inventions Ways Worships Prescriptions Orders Decrees and Imitations that have been setting up this many hundreds of years and not by the eternal living Power of the living God nor Directions Leadings Guidings of his quickning Spirit of Life that led guided the Apostles in their Day Age and Generation Root and Branch Head Tail and the whole Fabrick of the Babylonish Building shall be utterly consumed razed down and confounded forever and all the Worshippers of the Beast and the Image shall drink of the VVine of the VVrath of God which is pour'd forth with out Mixture into the Cup of his Indignation and these VVorshippers shall be tormented and have no Rest Night nor Day who worship the Beast and his I age and whosoever receive the Mark of his Name c. A Call in the Tender Bowels of the Love of God shed abroad in this Day Age and eneration unto all the Scattered Sheep c. HEarken give ear all ye scattered Ones upon the barren Mountains of Profession who having lost the living Sence that was on many of your Spirits years ago are now seâ—king the living amongst the dead Professions your Bread in desolate Places Remember the days moneths and years past call to mind the days of your Tenderness when the Light of God so shined on your Tabernacle that by it you saw your selves in Darkness and in Separation from the Injoyment of your Creator which Sence brought a Day of Mourning bitter Lamentation on you which was the Cause of your Fasting Praying and earnest Seeking after the Lord with multitude of Sighs Groans and Tears which caused you to put many Days and Times apart to meet together to pour forth your Souls in seeking the living God for his Appearance Breaking forth by his eternal Power and for the Revealings of his ancient Arm and Horn of Salvation And in that Day how did many of you retire your selves into your Closets secret Places to mourn before the Lord And how did your Cries Breathings and Pantings after the Lord prevent the Morning Watches And in that Day was it not Substance it self that you sought after even the Revealings of the Son of God's Love in your Souls Let me now come near and expostulate with you in the Name of the Mighty God even with you amongst all Professions that have any Tenderness or Breathings after the Lord remaining in you What was it that stirr'd up your Hearts many years since thus to seek after the Lord What was it that gave you the sence of your own inward Conditions What was it that made Sin appear exceeding sinful What was it that you felt in your Minds that war'd against the Law of Sin Death in your Members What was it that in some meaâ—ure open'd the Eye of your Understanding to see Idolatry and Superstition VVhat was it that was drawing your Hearts out of the VVorld that even made those things of light esteem in comparison of that which your awakned Souls sought after VVhat was it that inwardly upheld you in Sufferings VVhat was it that you retired your Minds unto when the Wicked raged as the Waves of the Sea when you were mocked for the Plainness of your Apparel and for your Severity in your Families Remember your many signal Deliverances How did the Lord answer you in the Day of your Tenderness VVhat was it that exercis'd you inwardly moving on every one of your particular Souls and Spirits for a Reformation was it not the free Grace of God was it not that Light which shined on your Tabernacle Did not this shine in your Hearts and move on your Spirits God wards and began the inward VVork of the Lord in you VVhy did you start aside from following on toward the Lord in the Way of his Judgments when a little Prosperity attended you VVhy did you seek to get from under the Judgment before it was brought forth into Victory Be awaken'd and come back you Professors of all sorts that have thus turn'd aside for a thing of nought which has caus'd you to wander from one Mountain of Profession to another and from one exalted Hill of Imaginations and Conceivings to another until you have spent all your Portion and are in nature return'd to Babylon the City of Confusion out of which the Lord God Almighty thus calls you Hasten hasten to come forth and partake no longer with her in her Sins lest ye partake with her of her Plagues which are now hastening to come upon her and upon all that shall be found within her Borders Open now your Eyes and behold where you miss'd turn'd aside through which your foolish Hearts have been and are darkned for the Enemy that goes about as a Roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour wrought in you to turn you from this pure immortal Principle of the Divine Being that in the dayes moneths and years by past awakned you and began to work the Work of God in you into a Profession of the Words States Conditions whereof the Saints wrote left on record behind them who attain'd thereunto through passing from Death to Life in Obedience to the Grace of God that is given to every man to profit withal who knew the holy War and fought the good Fight and so obtain'd the Victory through the effectual Workings of