A VOICE FROM THE Close or Inner PRISON UNTO ALL THE Upright in Heart Whether they are BOND OR FREE LONDON Printed for the Author 1662. A Voice from the close or inner Prison unto the upright in heart whether they are Bond or free THe night of thick darkness or ignorance bondage and affliction is far spent the day of Redemption the welcome year of general Jubilee and glorious liberty of the Sons of God is at hand the Day-Star of the lightsom Morning is already risen in the hearts of hundreds and thousands of Saints Yea clouds of Angels or ministring Spirits are impowered and coming from the heavenly Temple to proclaim and publish it by sound of Trumpet By terrible things in righteousness will the God of Salvation now answer them that have waited on him His swift messengers from above are commissionated to pour their Vials forth and destroy the third part of all that grows in the earthly nature or bodily form of things as also of all creatures whose life is in a troubled boyling Sea and many men must die by the bitter waters of affliction who have not faith to sweeten them by the tree of Life being cast into them yea the very heavenly Lights themselves whether that rule by day or by night viz. Sun Moon and Stars must lose the third part of their lustre and woe woe woe to the Inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices and trumpets that are for to follow But oh ye meek ones of the earth that have sought righteousness and meekness who therefore have been are and shall be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger the time is coming and now is when the Holy one of Israel shall beautifie you with Salvation to the astonishment of earthly kindreds and people You that have sowne long in tears the time of reaping the joyful harvest of all your labours travels hardships and sufferings inward and outward is at hand and your joy is of that new nature that no man can take from you Oh ye that have long obscured your selves in silence to seek the pearl of price even the innocent harmlesse patient long-suffering suffering life by the blood of the Lamb which as it lost its living lustre in earthly ease power and prosperity so of late hath it shined forth to all beholders in burning fiery trials and having discovered this inheritance of the Saints in light have forsaken and sold all to purchase it Behold the clear evidence of your matchless wisdom and immortal state will soon appear for all that 's mortal will shrink and consume in that fervent heat whereby the old worlds Elements or Foundations shall melt and the heavens of visible worships themselves will pass away with a great noise then will that which cannot be shaken or consumed remain not impaired but improved in virtue strength and power convincing both apostate Professor and open Prophane between whom ye have suffered as fools gladly that you have wisely chosen the better part by keeping the word of Christ's patience without fainting To you shall come the first Dominion that stand as Towers or He-goats of the flock having withstood all encounters both within and without against Satan and his instruments enabled thereunto not by a sound of words but by an Almighty power whereby through weakness being made strong and willing by resisting even unto blood to overcome you have not minded the conquest that saves Life in stead of loosing it but with a ready willing mind yeelding to the loss of all in that war wherein is no discharge You that can stand still in this manner resign'd and sincerely given up into the will and custody of your faithful Creator without a double mind that consults to hear what flesh and blood can say which cannot inherit that glorious kingdom of God consisting in righteousness peace and joy in the holy Ghost nothing can hinder your admittance thereunto whose union in death and sufferings is so firm with Christ who is the resurrection and the life that over worldly distresse and tribulations of all kinds you are become more than Conquerors through him that loves you The Captain of our Salvation hath led the way before us and all you that have thus followed the gates of hell it self can never prevail to hinder your interest in his reign and glory Nevertheless Satan's winnowings and siftings of you may be for some small time frequent and many until by your finishing upon the Cross your Fathers work your hearts and soules become dry places wherein though the unclean spirit of this world seeks its rest yet finds none and the Prince thereof being thus judged hath nothing when he cometh in you for as there is no way to kill the fear of Death but by loving it in order to an abiding life so no resurrection can be to life but by dying to all on this side it and in this Grave mystical or litteral wherein no man of the meer first or natural birth which is of the earth earthly ever lay are alwayes buried those carnal fears vain hopes and false joys which are Satans various Engines of deceiveable unrighteousness to corrupt and beguile unstable soules whose conversation still is only in the changable glory of the first or second heavens but are not yet taken up into the third where the hidden Manna remaines incorruptible within the Vail of all transcient ministrations though pure and beautiful in their kind and season there only stands the true tree of everlasting life for all that come to feed upon even in the midst of the Paradise of God This is that pleasant lovely food that causes to hunger no more after carnal husky comforts of the old world without which man may live but not by bread alone though spiritual meat and Angels food but by every word coming forth from the mouth of the living God not as 't is onely written on paper but on the fleshly tables of his heart where God hath set the world which being restored or renewed by a right spirit within him does become an inward Paradise and in that is Christ the living Word who makes to live for ever yea out-live all storms as well as sun-shines of this lower outward world with a growing youth and beauty But to such as have not yet gained this Crown incorruptible and nevertheless are still lawfully striving for the mastery by a holy temperance in all things this time of general restitution which is at hand will much facilitate their course because the brethrens accuser shall be bound in chaines to his place not only from bruising the outward man with trouble and torment but also from seducing the inward man with his false glass or gloss which he is wont to present before as well refined as grosse self-lovers thereby inticing souls who are not fixt upon their invisible rock of Ages to those ensnaring treats and entertainments that are abundant in his airy principality Behold also the time
is come that the Bondwoman and her seed are to be cast out the true Heirs or Children of the Free must now inherit who have hitherto stood still in an obedient Child-like freedom to be offered up as Sacrifices yea slain all the day long for the Lamb's sake and led as sheep to the slaughter For although the Sons of Concubines have been sent away into the world with gifts whereby they have as rich and full publish't their own glory rather than in the Cross of Christ Jesus yet the more enduring Substance that fades not away or the Inheritance which can never be lost or alienated belongs to those Free-born Children of a greater than Abraham who like Princes have wrestled and prevailed because annointed with that spirit which suffers no foyle but by being in deaths often and willingly receiving the sentence thereof in themselves are grown too strong for the King of Terrors and much more for all petty Kings or Rulers on earth that must yeeld to him You are the regenerate Generation of just and upright ones who have dayes and nights in prisons holes or corners made it your work to become true learners of your gentle Lord and Master to be meek and lowly and by bearing his easie Yoke of self-denying love are become bound in Spirit not to avoid but freely embrace all others bending your minds to that holy stillness and silence wherein ye are instructed to commune with your own hearts and by doing so have escaped the flattering inticements of the strange woman whose wayes are moveable to hinder the simple in heart from pondering the path of Life and having countermin'd the subtil evil one in all his secret coverts of the self-loving nature and by renouncing all hidden leagues with the lustful bondage of corruption have let the immortal oppressed seed of God in you go free Behold even in that true freedom of the Son you are become free indeed Free from all creature-intanglements that would engage and anticipate your affections and hinder your minds from making those continual ascents and descents which only concern the will and work of your heavenly Father Free I say to follow the holy innocent patient Lamb of God wheresoever he goes even into those untrodden pathes of daily death to eternal Life which uncrucified flesh may boggle at and account uneasie and all this to no other end than that by straitning your selves by this fiery Baptism and contracting your selves within the narrow gate of self-denial your hearts and soules may become the more inlarg'd in universal love to God and good will to men in true bowels of pity mourning over the poor blind and their blind-leaders as also willing to direct them both in all humility to him that is ready to lead them as he hath you by a way unknown till it be tried and telling them with a brotherly kind of tenderness that this glorious liberty wherein you are new made and free-born Christ hath purchased and obtained for them also if they will but accept it in his obedience O ye Free-born Citizens of the New-Jerusalem your time is come to awake and come out of the dust where ye have lain long among the pots put on your beautiful garments of praise lay aside your sack-cloth O ye slain but now living Witnesses of Christ who is the Truth and Life and in this cloud that now arises of earthly trouble coming upon all Nations and Countries previous to the much longer calme and quiet which will follow ascend into the highest heavenly conversation while your enemies shall behold you yea ascend so as to descend no more but for his sake whose voice draws and calls you up thither even Christ who is your Life who as he appears in you so will you with him not in a vain but real glory even that glory upon which there is a defence both night and day a defence of Lambes from Wolves but offensive to none save onely such as in stead of yeelding or casting themselves into that gentle warming and nourishing heat of Divine Love which should cleanse and purify them from enmity and all other uncleanness do but kindle a fire of lustful wrath to devour their own soules whereby they intended to consume others It hath been the great joy of present and past ages to such as by Faith which is the evidence of things not seen by the carnal eye or darkened understanding could take a pleasing prospect of the New-creation-glory as well as the restitution of the old before it is to passe away the mystery whereof hath been alwaies hid from the wise and prudent in Christ who reveals himself to babe and sucklings These things were beautiful and lovely in their root but much more as they grow manifest in the branch of righteousness the very leaves of which shall heal the Nations and recover all that are not incurable by reason of their fixt and irreconcileable enmity against him that is unchangable in his love and goodness whereby a good time of refreshing shall come now no less to answer the longing expectance of the weary oppressed Creature which remaines as yet subject though not willingly to bondage then to raise and heighten the spiritual glory of such as are renewed in the spirit of their minds an earnest of which redemption both general and special all you have received who have willingly quit what is old and are contented it should pass away that you might be made new to all things and all things new to you both within and without you O you to whom this changable world yeelds no content in its most alluring smiles or flatteries nor terrour in its frowns but have still amidst all its variety sought for the one true unchangable being and an unchangable union with it behold now all vails and coverings will be worn away the shadows must fly apace and the true substance appear so as every eye shall see him though at present he comes in clouds even he whom the earthly kindreds and breed of but seeming Saints and sinners have pierced but they shall mourn because of him who shall be admired in all them that wait for and believe in him The force of Armes nor Armies nor yet the carnal Policy or Grandure of this world can any longer withstand that work which now is to be wrought in the fight of all nations not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord which work is neither outward or inward singly but both even the one as well as the other and therefore room no further remains for craft or subtilty to practise and prosper no inchantments against Jacob nor divination against Israel shall hurt the remnant that is redeemed from the earth undefiled in the way but the wicked shall be insnared in the work of his own hands and the righteous whom they plot against even by standing still in pure obedience to the will of God abstracted from all self-motions or desires shall see
sees no corruption whose light shines in the very darkest of mankind though they comprehend it not but when that Light which is the same also of them that love and live in it shines by good works as it ought before meer men that as yet remain in darkness then they may be induc'd to glorifie the heavenly Father of Spirits and Lights of all degrees or measures as well that rule by night as by day or of seven dayes together gathered into the glory of one 'T is love even love universal that hath imbreathed and its beauty inamoured the soules of some that are but few of many whereby they do as it were burn with holy desires to live in union with all mankind yea with the whole Creation and not an Oxe or an Asse or any other Creature that groanes and travels together in pain till now but as it waits for so it rejoyces in this glorious liberty of the sons of God who will ere long be better known among the sons of men than heretofore even by going forth and growing up as Calves of the stall not to be markt out for slaughter as they have been but by treading down the wicked things and persons like ashes under the soales of their feet when the Lord shall by fire and his spiritual sword plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord rather then of his People in whom he shall be admired will be very many because now the weapons of the Saints warfare will appear daily not carnal but more and more spiritual inabling them to single out and encounter those spiritual wickednesses in the high places of their own hearts and others thereby bringing down the mighty from their seats and exalting them that are of low degree and all this without any destroying in that holy mountain of God where they converse which in this respect is lifted up above all others and will suddenly fill the whole earth O ye Victorious Army of the Lamb who on white horses as Emblems of Peace and Love and in linnen white and clean which betokens the innocence and righteousnesses of Saints have followed him that is now gone forth conquering and to conquer glorious is and will be the triumph by the death of the Cross over all created excellencies as well as impure defilements by abandoning the adultrous spirit of this world O ye that witness the conquest of desire to any carnal pleasure which tends but to stupifie the immortal soul of man and bring it into the sleeps or slumbers of eternal death great is your wisdom in determining to know nothing but Christ and him crucified and in standing alwayes delivered up to death for Jesus sake that the life of Christ might the more be manifest in your mortal flesh great is your power and authority in the world as you appear already risen with Christ by seeking those things that are above as ye are living witnesses of the first Resurrection mystical so you tell the world that the literal is not far off and therefore what Prisons or Inquisitions can longer hold you what outward Chains can bind you that are inwardly free who is it that will harm you that are followers of good but eschew the evil in every appearance O ye that have chosen the most solitary paths that an earthly pilgrimage could yeeld therein to meet your Beloved whose love is better than wine that does but refresh and exhilerate for a season and then the natural man that is served becomes as heavy as before 't was tasted but the pleasure of your love and espousals with the Lamb knows no end it grows in you and you in it with such divine increases till it swallowes up words and thoughts as those narrow medium's which are far below and too strait for the expression of that loving life which is incapeable of any confinement but enlarges it self freely in and unto all that entertain it You that have conquered the great and last enemy and that by yeelding daily to it what other enemies but either are or will be at peace with you because you fear not them but love and fear him that commands all hearts and hands yea the very stones of the street and beasts of the field will be in league with you not to offend but defend you though because your munition of rocks and wall of fire is never wanting all other help from without is wholly needless and such as offer it do rather express their own love than your desire of any guard or regard but what alwayes comes from heaven before you call or ask it Your Wisdom is from above What Serpent can beguile you you are redeemed from the Power of all things below What Scorpion or deadly Poyson can hurt you ye are past the Fear of Pain no Tyrant can torment you yea you have past thorow Sorrows Sighs and Tears beyond them you are neither to be exalted or abased by any thing which Flesh can give or take your Life Peace and Joy is endless because your Love is stronger than Death Who will not bend or yield to you and take hold of your skirts O ye inward Jews circumcised in heart and be called by your New-name for all your Names are given by Him whose Name is One that no man knows but he that hath it Your Language one and not divided Your Church but one and not rent in Schisms Sects or Divisions And therefore not Carnal but Spiritual unknown invisible to the World but well known to Christ your Head and one another O ye that admit no Buyers or Sellers in your inner Man the Lord's Temple but are freed from Cares and Cumbers of this World having sold all your Possessions personal to gain the real and therefore have not spent your Money for that which is not Bread and does not satisfie but laid it all down at the great Apostles feet with a free willing mind to quit all single selfish property that is from beneath for that universal equal Liberty that is from above and as well to distribute or communicate your Wealth of good Works to an Enemy or poor Stranger as unto a Friend or Brother What man or sort of men under the Sun when they see you walk by this Principle but will desire your ruling with if not over them You are the Governours of Judah that rule with God because God rules in you and alwayes checks the entrance of any other that is strange or forreign to his All-pure impartial Spirit you that have learn'd of Shiloh the prosperer to heal Breaches and restore Paths to dwell in What People Nation or Language will not ask your Help to new lay their Foundations renew their Land-marks to re-build the wast Places and Desolations of many Generations All Government in things spiritual you yield to Christ onely in things temporal to Him and the Nations whereof he is as well King as of Saints yea the Heathen are his Inheritance and the utmost parts
happiness that have refused the heavenly though they have been called to the latter as well as have lost though possest of the former and likewise cause those few to inherit Incorruption who being chosen thereunto in him that saw no corruption have according to their good deeds done in the body desired their corruptible part to put it on and their mortality to be swallowed up of immortal Life rather than in doing evil of eternal Death An earthly I say or temporal happiness that 's real not that onely seems so by letting loose the selfish nature to feed upon any thing forbidden that perisheth but by bridling it and so preserving mankind in that abstinence and forbearance which may prepare them to sustain that fiery tryal which the Cherubims and flaming sword that is previous to the enduring supplies and substance that never fail from the Tree of Life which Christ is to every one that waits upon and believeth in him For the time is at hand when open iniquity shall stop her mouth and wickedness have no longer place upon the house top but be driven from corner to corner and from one Nation to another till at last it find no room in the world But justice equity righteousness and temperance shall spread it self among all people as that common salvation of all men which though now the great multitudes that live more like beasts than men seem to render as a thing impossible yet those redeemed ones from the earth and among men in whose mouthes is found no guile that witness a life of faith above though not contrary to that of reason and morality in the best of meer men do already see it more than probable The knowledge of the Lord's glory covering the earth as waters cover the sea leaves no room for ignorance on the one hand or for a false vain appearance of knowledge or glory on the other but when the fear of the Lord shall be acknowledged as the beginning of wisdom by all that desire it not for their own sake but of Christ in whom the treasure thereof is hidden as well as for the good of their neighbour then will men understand that Wisdom dwels with Prudence and finds out the knowledge of witty inventions which are to be subject and subservient to his ends onely that freely teaches the plow-man and instructs him to discretion both to sow and reap as well as to thresh and bruise the bread-corn yea the mysteries of both Kingdoms even of grace and nature shall disclose themselves that have hither to been lock't up and hidden from the self-seekers of both or either such mysteries as will in a manner astonish the world and make poor brain-sick mortals that have been long captive to vain traditions and false methods of knowledge of many kinds to be like them that dream when they shall after much wandring be returned to some clearer prospects of what they labour after than the wise and prudent could ever attain who for building of Babels Fabricks in the Antichristian world have hitherto had preheminence But time would fail to tell what is now in the Womb of Providence and of that Nation which shall be born in a day ready to come forth and be sown among the people in all parts of the world where they now ly scattered under various tryals which tend but to wash and whiten the garments of their outward conversation whereby they may be better known as well as by their inward principle of life in the blood of the Lamb to the end that by the honour of his livery and marks of dying or mortification in their bodies and Christ being risen in their spirits they may be also better trusted by those that have hitherto esteemed them deceivers of men while they have been true to him and walk'd as he walked who was in the world without guile and yet reported to have had a Devil Oh let not my Lord Esau be longer angry with the yonger brother that hath supplanted him both of birth-right and blessing since thereby he does but wrong his own soul For Saviours must now come upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau but the Kingdom shall be the Lord's Even the Kingdom that is everlasting to which all others must give place and that speedily for the Lord is nigh who hath his fan in his hand having determined to sift the nations with a seive of vanity and to skreen the People or separate the chaffe from his true seed yea it shall come to pass that in all the land saith the Lord two parts therein shall be cut off and dye but the third part shall be left therein And I will bring the third part thorow the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried they shall call on my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God This word of Prophecy is sure and will now be sooner understood than in former ages because its fulfilling and accomplishment in all Nations but especially in England as the first fruits of righteousness to God and pattern to others seems very near at hand All which is witnessed by a Prisoner of hope that is learning of his heavenly Master in every state to be content and therefore to lose his old acquaintance kindred country name and nature in suffering travels by seeking all new to the end he may be found no more in lustful anger but in love without dissimulation to the worst of enemies as well as the best of friends and so to blunt the Sword of wrathful Ministers not by shunning or resisting but in patient meekness quietly yeelding thereunto that either in life or death as the Lord shall choose he may by faith get victory over himself and the world Remaining still a Servant of Christ Jesus and a hearty well-willer to his whole Family new-named of him in the earthly as well as in the heavenly Nature THE END