Way then should that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord would consume with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy with the Brightness of his Coming And the Apostles declared That Perilous times were at hand and should come wherein men should be Lovers of themselves more then Lovers of God and that they should be Proud Heady High minded men and should have a Form of Godliness but should deny the Power they should be such who seek after filthy Lucre and through Covetousness should make Merchandize of Souls for dishonest Gain and they should be Fierce Despisers of them that are good and should speak Evil of Things they know not but what they know is naturally as Bruit Beasts and in those Things they corrupt themselves these are Murmurers and Complainers walking after their own Lusts and their Mouthes speaking great swelling Words having mens Persons in Admiration because of Advantage these are as raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own Shame Wandering Stars to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness forever therefore the Wo is unto them for they have gone in the Way of Cain and run greedily after the Error of Balaam even for Gifts and Rewards And Enoch the Seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh in Ten Thousand of his Saints to execute Judgments upon all and to convince all that are Ungodly amongst them of all their Ungodly Deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their Hard Speeches which Ungodly Sinners have spoke against him Now these were the Ministers of Darkness therefore they have wrought in the dark their Deeds have been the Deeds of Darkness and these are they that have kept People in Blindness and Ignorance some Thirty some Forty and some an Hundred Years even all their Life time ever learning but they never came to the Knowledge of the Truth by them and these are they which have taught for Doctrine the Precepts of Men and their Precepts are contrary to the Scriptures and are as followeth First They tell People That the Scriptures are the Word of God when there is no such thing mentioned in the Scriptures but they declare that Christ was the Word which was in the beginning with God and was God 2dly They tell People of a Sacrament and some of them of several Sacraments and of Three Persons in the Trinity when the Scripture declares no such thing yet the Father Son and holy Ghost we own which is but one 3dly They Sprinkle Infants with Water and tell the People They are adopted into Christ and are thereby become Members of his Body when there is neither Command nor Example in all the Scriptures for any such thing 4thly They tell People That the First Day of the Week is the Sabbath Day and ought to be kept more holy then any other Day when there was no such thing commanded by Christ nor any of the Apostles 5thly They have told the People That the House made of Lime and Stone is the Church and the Temple of God wherein the Lord dwels when the Scripture declares no such thing but the Contrary that is that God dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands 6thly They taught the People to observe Dayes and Set Times as Christ mas day and Children mas-day and Lammâ—s-dâ—y and Candle-mas-day and Michael's-mas-day with Easter and their Good Fryday and their Whitsuntide and Shrovetide and many other Saints Dayes which are tedious here to mention whereof the Scripture makes no mention And they have told the People That Tythes and Offerings are due to them and Easter-Reckonings and Midsummer-Dues and Smoke-Pennys and Reek-Pennys and Money for Eggs and Gardens with their great fair House and Glebe-Lands whereby they their Wives and Families may live even in the Sins of Sodom which were Pride abundance of Idleness and Fulness of Bread Now this which they call their Dues is the very Pillar and Ground upon which their Gospel and Ministry stands for let this be but taken away and down fall they with their Gospel and Ministry which some of them have not been ashamed to declare in publick Now the Scripture declares not any such thing neither is there any mention made of such Maintenance to be Compelled from the People to maintain them that are the True Ministers who are Called and Chosen and sent abroad from Country to Country and from City to City to declare the Glorious Gospel that the Sound thereof might reach even to the Ends of the Earth and as they received freely so they were to give freely and into what City soever they came they were to enquire who was worthy and there to remain eating such things as were set before them for the Labourer is worthy of his Meat Now thou that readest consider in thy own Heart thinkest thou that the Lord God of Life hath intrusted his Glorious Gospel in the Hands of such Hirelings as before-mentioned who would not declare it to the Poor and Needy whereunto it is the Glad-Tidings of Salvation because they have not wherewithal to satisfie them for it Nay verely nay the Lord never intended any such thing but he sent his Prophets to cry out to every one that thirsts that they might come unto the Waters and take Wine and Milk without Money and without Price And John witnesses that the Spirit saith Come and the Bride saith Come and whosoever is athirst may come and take of the Water of Life freely And Paul affirms That he did not eat any Man's Bread for nought but wrought with Labour and Travail Night and Day that he might not be Chargeable to any but he commanded that if any would not Work neither should he eat Therefore their Maintenance was not so large neither did they sit down in one Place to preach the Gospel some Ten some Twenty and more years and so sit at Ease in Pride and Idleness compelling their Maintenance from the People and making Friends to the Rulers Magistrates having their Persons in Admiration that they may have the Advantage of the Law against the People that they may have their Goods by Violence and cast their Bodies into Prison if they Refuse to put into their Mouthes to satisfie their Lusts as those which have ruled in this long Night of Apostacy have done But the True Apostles who laboured with their own Hands and travailed up and down in Hunger and in Cold who were counted as Vagabonds and not worthy to live upon the Earth by them in whom the seed of the Serpent ruled they fore-told the People that such Ravening Wolves should come who should make a Prey upon the Sheep and as there had been False Prophets in all ages before them even so there should arise False Teachers amongst them who privily should bring in Damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bringing upon themselves swift Destruction and many should follow their pernicious Ways by reason of whom the Way of Truth should be
come and the Glory of the Lord is risen and arising upon her and though the Darkness doth cover the Earth and the gross Darkness the People yet the Lord shall arise upon her and his Glory shall be seen upon her and the Gentiles shall come to her Light and Kings to the Brightness of her rising and she shall awake and put on her Strength and her beautiful Garments shall be put on for henceforth there shall no more come into her the Uncircumcised nor the Unclean therefore cleanse your Hands ye Sinners and purifie your Hearts ye double-minded that you may be accepted in this the Day of the Lord 's lâ—rge Love and Mercies that is so largely held forth and proffered unto you to invite you that you might not partake of the Plagues of BABYLON which shall speedily come upon her at unawares in an Hour when you least think of it shall Desolation and Destruction come upon her and upon all them that are found in her partaking with her of her Sins O therefore as you tender the Eternal Welfare of your precious Souls which ought to be counted as dear and as precious in your Sight as any Man's Soul that ever lived on the Earth for they are precious in the Sight of the Lord therefore prize them and this the Day of your Visitation for you know not how soon the dark Night may overtake you and you may be sealed up in the Pit of utter Darkness and no Means afforded you whereby you may be redeemed into the Light again therefore consider of these Things while you have Time and Space and come forth of Babylon and touch no more of her Uncleanness lest you perish eternally with her in your Stubbornness and gain saying the VVitness of God in your own Consciences which dâ—th stand a true VVitness against you in these things and let not the long Forbearance of so merciful a God whose Spirit hath for a long time striven with you and still rises up to condemn you in your own Hearts for your evil Deeds I say let not his long Forbearance harden your Hearts against the Day of Slaughter because his Judgments are not speedily executed upon you for verily his Spirit shall not alwayes strive with Man but at last you will provoke his VVrath cause it to be kindled against you his fierce Indignation will break forth of a sudden upon you and Horror Dread and Terror will take hold on all such ungodly VVretches which do Despight to his Spirit of Grace which hath long striven with them in their own Hearts and Consciences and have turned it into Lasciviousness and VVantonness and put the Day of the Lord their God afar off from them yet let all such know that he is nigh unto every one of them to smite them in their own Hearts and in their own Consciences for disobeying of his righteous Law and just Command which he hath clearly made known unto them for what may be known of God is made manifest in thee for he hath shewed it unto thee O Man And though there hath been a long time of Darkness Ignorance whereat the Lord hath winked but now since the true Light hath shined in all Hearts so manifestly so that none can plead Ignorance after they once come to be acquainted therewith now doth he command all Men every where to repent he that shall deny to obey his Commands shall be left without Excuse in the Sight of God and in the Sight of his Witness which shineth in his own Conscience for the Commands of God are not grievous but they that love him keep his Commandments and meditate upon his Law Day and Night for their whole Delight standeth in walking in his Statutes The Man of Sin Death separated from the Man of Righteousness and Life wherein the first mâ—n Adam is manifested to be of the Earth earthly and the second Man Adam to be from Heaven heavenly THou that hast any Longings or Breathings after the Lord God that made thee and formed thee in the Womb who stretched forth the Heavens as a Curtain and by whom the Foundations of the Earth were laid and thou that hast any Thing in thee that is oppressed by the unrighteous Power and groans under the Burden of Oppression and desires to be set at Liberty even into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God arise out of thy dark Slumbers for the Night is far spent and the dawning of the Day of the Lord God of Power is come and the everlasting Son of Righteousness is risen and arising even Christ Jesus the eternal Son of God the Son of the everlasting Day who is the true Light of the World and hath enlightned every Man and Woman that cometh into the World with a Measure of his true Light which Light shineth in the Consciences of all the Sons and Daughters of Men and this is the Light that lets thee to see the Thoughts of thy own Heart For he that formed the Mountains and created the Winds he declareth unto Man his Thoughts and the secret Intents of his Heart whether they be good or evil and this the Lord hath placed in thee to bear a true and faithful Testimony for him against every Appearance of Evil is God's Gift unto thee which Gift is perfect and without Sin for it is a true Measure of his Son Christ Jesus which hath enlightned every Man and Woman this did never at any Time consent to the speaking of any evil Word or the acting of any unrighteous Action by thee or any other of the Sons or Daughters of Man but hath and doth at all Times stand a Witness for the Lord God of Life and hath at all Times been the Condemner of the Transgressor and the Worker of Iniquity in thee and them Now fallen Man being Darkness it self having no Means whereby to discern his own Thoughts yet this Light hath shined in the Darkness but the Darkness could not comprehend it therefore hast thou and all Mankind for a long time walked in Darkness and thy Deeds have been the Deeds of Darkness and thou art become a Stranger to God and to his Wayes of Light and Life by Reason whereof thou lovest Darkness rather then Light because thou lovest thy own Will thy evil Deeds which proceed from thence whereby the Heritage of God in thee hath beenlaid waste his Righteous Seed oppressed and trampled under Foot in thee by the Power of Unrighteousness through thee but now after his long Forbearance and after many gentle Admonitions which he hath held forth to the Rebellious Sons and Daughters of Men after all this is he appearing to make himself known and now are the Cries of the Oppressed entred into the Ears of the Lord God of Sabbath and he is now jealous for his Seed's sake which hath long suffered under the Burden of Oppression and he is now manifesting himself in this his great Day to plead with all Flesh
come upon them if they still went on in their Rebellion against the Lord And as the Lord had set the House of Israel whilest they stood in his Statutes as a Sign and as a wonder unto the Nations round about them so now likewise he hath set his Prophets in whom his Seed is raised as Signs and Wonders to the House of Israel because they were become a rebellious People but many of the Prophets they murdered wherein the same Seed of the Serpent that was in Cain appeared and some they cast into Prison others they Banished so that they provoked the Holy One of Israel to Wrath so that he let loose the Heathens against them and suffered them to destroy their Land and to lay waste their fenced Cities and to carry them away Captives into strange Lands till he had humbled them and brought them low then when they were in Distress they called upon him cry'd unto him in the time of their Trouble and his Ears were open to them and then he many times by his Prophets came to reason with them and to lay open before them the many Deliverances which he at sundry times had wrought for them of the Largeness of his Love towards them yet how they had all along rebelled against him and turned his Righteous Law behind their Backs and not regarded his Reproofs but yet when he by Afflictions had brought down the Seed of the Serpent so that they came low in Heart and in Mind to be humbled towards him and to let the oppressed Seed in them to arise whose Sighs and Groans were to the Lord for whose Sake the Lord brought back again their Captivity and caused them to rest in their own Land in Peace and Safety and when he had ruled them many Years by Judges then they desired to have a KING even as all the Nations round about them had who were Strangers to God and in this they provoked the Holy One of Israel but yet for his own Seed's Sake he suffered all this and much more And gave them a King in his Wrath even Saul the Son of Kish and anoynted him with his own Spirit that he might have Understanding and Wisdom to rule and govern them that they might walk humbly in the Statutes of the Lord but he himself soon disobeyed the Voice of the Lord when he was sent to destroy the Amalekites that he should not spare old nor young but slay both Man and Woman Infant and Suckling Ox and Sheep Camel and Ass but see how the Seed of the Serpent arose in Saul and the Children of Israel and caus'd him to disobey the Commands of God by sparing Agag the King of the Amalekites alive and the best of the Sheep and of the Oxen and of the Fatlings and of the â—ambs and all that was Good and would not utterly destroy them but every thing that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly and so provoked the Spirit of the Lord which anoynted him King and the Lord repented that he had set up Saul King over Israel and he rent the Kingdom from him because his pure Seed came to be oppressed in him and so as he gave those People a King in his Wrath he took him from them in his Sore Displeasure But then he sent his Servant Samuel whom he anoynted to be a Prophet unto the House of Israel and sent him unto Saul to acquaint him that the Lord had rent the Kingdom from him and the Spirit of the Lord departed from him and with it his Honour but yet behold the Subtilty of the Serpent in him who would have tempted the Prophettohave honoured him before the People when that in him to which the Honour did duely belong was departed from him but herein the Serpent's Head in some Measure came to be bruised Then the Lord sent his Prophet to anoynt David King over Israel who was the Son of Jesse for said the Lord Behold I have found a man after my own Heart to reign over Israel to whom the Lord promised that out of his Loyns after the Flesh should come the MESSIAS that should rule over the spiritual Seed of Abraham and that there should not want one to sit upon the Throne of David henceforth even forever and that his Kingdom should be an Everlasting Kingdom and of his Dominion there should be no End and the Government should be upon his Shoulders this is the great Prophet that Moses foretold of to the Children of Israel that should come saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up from among your Brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things and it shall come to pass that he that will not obey the Voice of this Prophet shall be cut off from amongst the People Now consider what this Moses was who declareth this unto Israel he was one whom the Lord preserved in the Court of Pharaoh in Egypt which was of the stock of Israel and by his Hand the Lord brought many Plagues upon the Land of Egypt and by him delivered the Seed of Israel out of their Captivity So likewise this Prophet that the Lord hath promised to raise up like unto him from amongst their Brethren even from within the midst of every man which shall bring JUDGMENTS and PLAGUES upon spiritual Egypt even the Land of Darkness bring Deliverance unto the spiritual Seed of Israel which now groans under the Burden of Oppression This Messiah even CHRIST all the Prophets pointed at him and prophesied of his Coming even in the one Body of Flesh for they prophesied That a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son and they should call his Name EMANUEL which by Interpretation is GOD WITH US and he promised To give him for a COVENANT unto the People and for a LIGHT unto the Gentiles that he might be his Salvation unto the End of the Earth and that he should put an End unto all Types and Ceremonies which then the Children of Israel observed were commanded so to do even by the Lord their God and had their Priests their Levites their Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifice their Heave-Offerings their Peace-Offerings their Shew-Bread their Passeovers their New-Moons their Sabbaths their Solemn-Assemblies their Temple and Altar with the Ark of the Testament but yet all These were but Shadows of things which were to come for the Substance was and is CHRIST for the Seed of God was yet for all this oppressed in them for they smote with the Fist of Wickedness and many times provoked the Lord to Wrath so that he destroyed many of them and they caused him to say that though the number of the Children of Israel were in number as the Sands on the Sea Shore yet should there be but a Remnant of them saved which Remnant was them in whom the pure Seed of God came to be raised up to bear Rule and so they came faithfully to believe in the Promises of God and so by Faith they
the Seed of the Serpent bruised the Seed of the Woman's Heel and yet the Serpent's Head was bruised in this thing See the Declaration of Jacob and Esau and there thou shalt see it more nearly and clearly made manifest unto thee for there thou may'st see the two Seeds Placed together in one fleshly Womb and there they strove which should first come forth to the Birth I know thou canst not but with me witness these two Seeds in thee striving which shall be brought forth now rough Esau came first forth in the Birth who became a Hunter and hunted up and down after Venison and became a rough hairy Man of whom it was said The Elder shall serve the Younger before they had been instrumental to do Good or Evil then after him Jacob was brought forth who by true Interpetation is a Supplanter who stayed at home with his Father who in Process of Time came to get both the Birth-right and the Blessing for the Blessing of Right belongeth to him for he was blessed in the Womb for in him the promised Seed sprung up who at last became a great People yet was he by Esau long kept out of the Birth right although that Esau had sold it to him and counted it a small thing even a thing of nought and sold it for a thing of small Value even for a Mess of Pottage which afterwards he would have sought the Blessing with Tears but could not attain it but the Power of Jacob daily increased so that he became a mighty people and the Dread and the Terror of the Lord was with him which caused the Heathen even the Stock of Esau even many times to fear and tremble and stand astonished at their Presence Yet nevertheless this fleshly Seed of Jacob which came out of his fleshly Loins came to be corrupted and the Seed of the Serpent came to bear Rule in many of them so that the Seed of God came to be oppressed in them which should have born Rule over the Seed of the Serpent in their earthly Bodies so that many times there was hardly one to be found in an Age or one in a Generation which came to witness the Serpent's Head to be bruised in him or that the Seed of God ruled in him in singleness and simplicity so that the Lord came as it were to be forgotten amongst the Sons and Daughters of Men but yet there was the Seed within which still breathed and groaned after God for which seed's sake the Lord hath long waited that he may be gracious unto the Sons and Daughters of Men otherwise he had long ago consumed them in his Fury and his fierce Wrath had broke forth upon them as it did upon SODOM and GOMORRAH and all the Cities of the Plains But he hath at all times raised up his own seed in some so that they have born their faithful Testimonies for him against the seed of the serpent and so by them came to give forth Laws and Statutes whereby the Children of Men may come to know his Mind and Will so that in the Performance of them they should liâ—e but they that disobey the same should dye the Death then all they which were of the Seed of Jacob after the Flesh said that whatsoever the Lord should command them they would perform but the Lord full well knew that there was not such an Heart in them which caused him to cry out Oh that there was such an Heart in this People to obey me then should their Peace break forth as the Morning and their Righteousness as the Sun at Noon-day but the Lord 's all-seeing Eye saw that there was the Seed of the Serpent still lodging amongst them and in them which soon afterwards shewed it self forth which caused the Lord's Wrath to break forth upon many of them even to their Destruction And although the Lord had wrought great Deliverances for them even in carrying them down into the Land of Egypt and causing them there to endure a hard time of Servitude and Bondage under the Hand of Pharaoh's hard Task-masters and raising up his own Seed to shew it self amongst them even to the redeeming them out of the Land of Bondage and from under their Egyptian Captivity even by many grievous Plagues and mighty Wonders which he shewed forth upon Pharaoh and his Egyptian Host and carried them through the Depths of the Red Sea as upon dry Land and destroyed Pharaoh and hâ—s Multitude who pursued after them and led them through the Desart Wilderness and caused Water to gush cut of the Rock to satisfie their thirsty Souls and fed them many Years with Manna in the Wilderness yet nevertheless for all this his large Love towards them this pure Seed of God was still oppressed in many of them by this Seed of the Serpent which caused the Lord to destroy many Thousands of them in the Wilderness before they came into the promised Land so that there was but a very small Number of them that came out of Egypt that entred into the Land of Rest even but Two Persons which were JOSHUA and CALEB for all the rest were destroyed because the Seed of God was oppressed In them even by the Seed of the Serpent which caused them To complain and To murmur and to depart from his Statutes and rebel against his Righteous Laws yet still the Seed of God cryed and groaned unto him under all this and his Ears are continually open unto the Cryes thereof and for this Seed's Sake he raised up a People out of the Stock of JACOB even in the Wilderness which he caused to enter into the Land of Promise And whenas they stood faithful in his Laws and Statutes he destroyed their Enemies before them even in a wonderful and miraculous manner so that in process of time they came to have victory over all their Enemies and to sit down in the Land in Rest and Peace and the Lord made them a Dread and a Terror to all Nations round about them and they built strong Holds and great fenced Cities so that they became a mighty People as they stood faithful unto the Lord he made them as a Sign and as a Wonder unto all the Nations of the Earth so that his Fear and Dread fell upon many that had been Strangers to and alienated from him they were set as a City upon a Hill which could not be hid but still there was the Seed of the Serpent lodging in many of them for when they were brought to sit down in Rest and Ease the Seed of the Serpent came to rise in them and the pure Seed came to be oppressed and the pure Simplicity that came to be lost and they rebelled against the Lord transgressed against his pure Laws Statutes and they committed Whoredom even with the Heathen and then the Lord raised up his Seed in his Prophers and sent many of them unto them to fore-warn them of the Destruction that would