hearts with sorrow and trouble for if you flee from that then you will never be cleansed from your Sins for by the Spirit that judgeth Sin in the heart and burneth against it as a Fire was and is the Sons and Daughters of Sion converted unto God yea brought out of their Sins unto God and whosoever flees from that of God in them which condemns them when they do evil they flee from that which God hath placed in them to lead them out of evil and so they cannot come to be redeemed out of evil until they come to love that which condemns them for evil so I say unto you in tender Love love the Light within you and when it bringeth trouble upon you for your Sins which you have committed then own its judgments for it will not judge you except you have done wrong and as you wait in it it will let you see that its judgments are very just and true and so if you keep your minds unto it it will work true repentance in your hearts and a godly sorrow and it will lead you into the House of Mourning and through the Valley of Tears and as David did you will come to water your Bed with your Tears and to weep until your flesh fail of fatness and so you will travel through a short Sorrow into an Everlasting Joy for the Sorrow lasts but for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning For the Lord will give Beauty for Ashes and the Oyl of Joy instead of Mourning but he gives this only unto those that comes into obedience unto his Light within them so when condemnation cometh upon you for Sins which you have committed do not flee from it for it is the Rod of God and you will see it to be so as you wait with your minds stayed in the Light and you will see that it is not for your hurt but for your Everlasting good and then consider why should you flee from it Oh flee not from it For whom I love I rebuke and chasten said God and he restoreth every sinful man and woman whom he receiveth to be Sons and Daughters and through his Judgments in their hearts he redeemeth them from Sin and so receiveth them into his Everlasting Kingdom of Life and Glory So I say unto you in dear and tender love flee not from that of God in you which condemneth you for Sin and the Light it will be with you when you are in the Fields and when you lie in your Beds and where ever you go the Light is in you and if you love it and keep your minds unto it it will teach you when you are at your Labour and it will keep you out of all Evil if you keep your minds unto it and when wicked people would tempt you to that which is Evil it will not let you consent unto them but rather to reprove them and now people I say unto you if you love this same pure and holy and spotless thing in you which never consented unto any Sin that you have committed but hath alwayes stood in you a faithfull Witness against you when you did commit Sin I say if you love it and obey it though now it may but be little in you even as a Grain of Mustard-seed which is a small Seed yet when your affections are truly set upon it it will grow speedily and will become in you as a strong Tree and the Fruit of it will ravish and overcome your heart with heavenly Joy and then you will see the folly and madness of those who rejoyceth in doing of Evil and you will find that Holy thing in you to be as Christ said Mat. 13.31 32 33. Like a little Leaven that a woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal until the whole Lump was leavened so as you wait in this Light within you though it lie low in you because of the sinfull nature which lieth atop of it in you yet it will work in you as the Leaven doth work in the Meal for the sinfull nature which lieth atop is of the Devil and that which lieth under is of God and as you joyn in true love and affection to that suffering Seed of God you shall come to know and bear witness that God is able to bring it out of the Grave in you and from under all those Powers of Darkness that hath oppressed it for God is stronger then the Devil that you will confess and so wait in the Light of Christ to feel more of the strength of God and Christ in your own hearts then of the strength of the Devil and when this you are come to witness then you will have ceased from Sin which is the Devils work for God who is the stronger in you he will rule you by his Light and Spirit which dwells in you and then the Devil who was the stronger in you he will be cast out and then the Lamb the Light he will have the Victory in you and will lead you into all Truth and so the Light if you follow it it will lead you to be Children of the Lord God who is Light and in whom there is no Darkness at all and so the Children of the Lord are taught of the Lord by the Light of the Lord and they are in Righteousness established So put not the day afar off linger not away your time but prize it thou that is young in years say not in thine heart I have time enough I may take pleasure in Earthly things yet for many dayes and have time enough to repent and seek God afterwards I say unto thee say not so in thy heart for the Lord God can cut thee down as in a moment Psal 9.17 though thou be in the Flower of thy Youth but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth and seek him while he may be found for the Spirit of the Lord will not alwayes strive with man and as the Tree falleth so it lieth there is no Repentance in the Grave and there is no unclean thing can enter into Gods Kingdom for the wicked must be turned into Hell and all that forget God So remember you are warned by a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and a true Lover of the Souls and Bodies of all men and desireth not the Destruction of any but desireth that all people might come to Repent while they have time and so obtain Mercy from the Lord God I am known by the Name of William Gibson Written in the Year 1664. and was sent then to be published in Print but the Person to whom it was sent being at that time cast into Prison and Calamities coming on in the City it was not gotten done Postscript IT is said by many ignorant people who use to plead for Sin That the Righteousest man that is upon the Earth doth Sin seven times a day now I say they do abuse and wrest the Scriptures for there is no such
the Temple that God did create for himself to dwell in even above all that is truly called God and in a little Remnant the Lord God hath recovered his own Right and he now doth reign whose right it is and the Government is upon his shoulders and under his Government we do sit with great delight and his Fruit is sweet unto our taste and this is the Name which we can truly and experimentally call him The Lord our Righteousness for he is truly so who hath redeemed us out of unrighteousness and thus God the Father hath made his Son Christ Jesus unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and thus we who sometimes were Forreigners and Strangers from God are now brought near unto him and we that were in dayes past darkness are now made light in the Lord and we who in times past was dead in trespasses and sins hath he now quickned and thus God hath made his Son Christ Jesus the Captain of our Salvation and the Bishop of our Souls and we that were once wandered and gone astray in our imaginations into divers and sundry Forms of worship he hath now gathered us out of those various Forms where we were scattered in our imaginations and we have now found that within us which we had long been looking for without us amongst the false Prophets which Christ said should come and that they should deceive many and he said They shall say Lo here is Christ but Christ said unto his Disciples Go ye not forth Now Reader consider that Christ said unto his Disciples before he was crucified at Jerusalem I am the Vine ye are the Branches as the Branches cannot bring forth fruit except they abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me and without me ye can do nothing they were in a measure in him and he in them while as he did walk with them in that visible appearance which he after did suffer in and so it was good wholsom Doctrine that he did preach unto them when he said They shall say Lo here is Christ and lo there is Christ believe them not go not forth for that of Christ which they were come to know and their minds was brought in unto that was it which was sufficient to give them the knowledge of those salfe Prophets which Christ foretold them of that they should come in his Name and therefore it was very necessary that he should exhort them to keep within with it and this measure which they were gathered into the belief of and feeling of before his departure in that only and in nothing else could they know him and receive him in his coming again unto them who said I will not leave you comfortless I and my Father we will come and make our abode with you and they waited at Jerusalem until this blessed promise was fulfilled in them who was endued with Christ Gods power from on high so they were Gods Temples and God and Christ did walk in them according to his promise But now we who have our being in this Age wherein the Whore the false Church hath sitten as a Queen and hath riden upon the scarlet coloured Beast who hath received his Power and Seat and great Authority from the Dragon darkness hath covered the Earth and thick darkness hath covered us the people and so we were darkness in the power of darkness and so was hurled up and down with the false Prophets Doctrine and was deceived by their fained words and fair speeches with which they did lye in wait for that purpose and so we were long learning of them but was never able to come to the knowledge of the true God nor of his true worship by all their teachings and so Physitians of no value we have found them to be But as the Apostle Paul was sent to open the eye of the mind which the God of the World had blinded by turning peoples minds from that dark power that led them into sin unto the Light and Power of Christ in them which did condemn for sin by which they did witness redemption from sin So the Lord God hath raised up some in this present Age in the same work to turn peoples minds in unto the Light that thereby they may receive the knowledge of God and of his pare worship which is in his own Spirit and Truth which the Devil and Sin is out of and the labours and travels of such as he doth send forth in his own Power and Wisdom is very effectual and prevalent in a Remnant to turn them unto God so that thousands that walked in darkness up and down amongst the false Prophets and knew not whether they went because the Prince of darkness had blinded their minds is now turned unto God who is Light and now they are Light in him as they were darkness in the power of darkness so now they are Light in the Power of God who is Light and in whom there is no darkness at all So as I said before that which we were seeking without us amongst the false Prophets who have cryed Lo here Lo there that we have found within us Glory yea glory to the Lord God for evermore for it is his own work and let it glorifie him And so Gods Promise we do witness fulfilled unto us Thus saith the Lord God I will bring the Blind by a way they know not and certainly God hath fulfilled this Promise unto thousands and will fulfil it in many thousands more that yet walks in darkness in the ignorance of God and his pure worship in his own pure Spirit for when we were wandering up and down in our imaginations amongst the false Prophets in their various invented Forms which they have variously invented in their fallen earthly wisdom then we did not look to be brought to the knowledge of God by a Light or Spirit of God and Christ within us for the Hireling Priests and other high Professors whom we did follow for teaching they did generally agree in telling of us that Revelation was ceased and that there was no immediate teaching to be looked for nor received in this Age and they have said and published it in print unto the Nation that they have not an infallible Spirit as the Apostles and Ministers that Christ sent forth had And while we did believe these their sleepy Dreams and lying Divinations thereby we were kept in Error and so by these their Lyes they caused us to err and they did labour what they could to keep us from believing in the Light but Gods love was such unto our poor distressed Souls which was thus tossed up and down by their false Doctrines That he coused his Light to shine out of darkness in our hearts and to give us the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and this Treasure have we in our hearts and inward parts even in the earthen vessels and so the power
pomp and dignity outwardly but when he came Mark 6.3 he came much contrary to their thoughts and expectations and imaginations for he was supposed by them to be Joseph the Carpenters son a man of low esteem amongst them and so they dispised him because of his low Appearance which was so far contrary to what they had imagined concerning his coming and so they would not have him to rule over them but they slew him so they lost the benefit of his coming and so died in their sins and so was shut out of the Kingdom of God because of their unbelief so here was their Misery they would not receive him because he came not according as they had imagined he should come Now Friends to come nearer to your condition I shall write as the Spirit of the Lord shall move me which dwelleth in my heart Friends consider What is the reason that you will not own the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you and all people to be a sufficient Teacher and Ordinance for Salvation unto you and all people and to bring you and all people unto God out of sin if you and they did believe in it and obey it I say consider Is it not because you have read the Prophets Christ and the Apostles Writings with the same dark minds in unbelief that the Jews did read the Prophets Writings and in the Darkness which you have loved a great deal more then the Light you have imagined that Christ would shew himself unto you some other way then by his Light in your Consciences It hath been a very hatefull thing unto many of you Professors to hear us exhort you to turn unto the Light within and because we told you that was the Ordinance of God for Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth according to the words of the Prophet who prophesied in the Power of his coming Isa 49.5.6 7 8 22. who said I will give him for a Light unto the Gentiles and Leader to his People to be his Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth and when we have born our Testimony amongst you concerning this Light according to the plain words of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles laid down in the holy Scriptures and in the brokenness of our hearts have in much love unto you declared our own experience of the vertuous opperation of this Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned us and what Christ the Light had done for our Souls since we in his Light believed and when we thus laboured in the Love of God to do you good in perswading you to believe in the Light wherewith he hath enlightened you that so you might have come to have felt the vertue and power of it in your own hearts for your own everlasting good then many of you have rejected our Testimony and hath shamefully entreated us and hath rewarded us evil for good and you have hated this Light and cried Away with this Light and also with those that have been moved of the Lord God to bear witness unto this Light Which is the Trve Light which hath Enlightened every one that is come into the World as the Jews cried away with Christ when they imagined he had been Joseph the Carpenters son 1 Cor. 2.4 5 c. to 16. and so the Light is judged by your Carnal Wisdom and Reason to be too low a thing to stoop unto and the Jews in their Carnal Wisdom and Reason judged Christ when he was come not to be worthy or fit to be a King over them because they looked upon him to be a Carpenters son a man inferiour unto many of them as they imagined and so they hated him and slew him And so now all you Professors who have been and yet are haters of the Light and cryeth away with it and accounts it too low a thing for you to stoop unto you are deceived Christ will not shew himself unto you any other way but by the measure of his Spirit wherewith he hath Enlightened you it is written No man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God but many of you Professors will not believe that the Light wherewith Christ hath Enlightened you is of power and sufficiency to bring you to God out of sin and so to this day you have not the Benefit of Christs coming but you are still in your sins committing them and pleading that you must do so while you are in the Earthly Tabernacle And so are you not Rebellious Children who Rebel against the Light Grace and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath placed in you to Instruct you And do not you as plainly Crucifie and do Dispite unto the Opperation of the Spirit Light and Grace of Christ in your Inwards Parts as the Jews did unto the Vessel which they imagined to be Joseph the Carpenters son So consider of these things soberly in meekness in the fear of the Lord God and be not angry at me for writing thus in plainness unto you for know you all assuredly that it is the Love of God in my heart unto you that constrains me to write thus in plainness unto you so while you have a little time prize it and while you have a sence and feeling of the Light Grace and Spirit of Christ in your inward parts checking and condemning you when you do Evil believe you all in it and in obedience unto it give up and when it condemns you for Evil which you have already done then own its Judgments for its Judgments are just and true and when it letteth you see Temptations unto Sin before you have consented unto the Tempter or done the Evil he tempteth you unto then love it and let your minds be closely joyned unto it and then it will preserve you from doing the Evil that you are tempted unto and then it will be no sin for you to be tempted unto Evil if you do it not nor give your consent at all unto the Tempter Mat. 4.1 2 to 13. but love the Light which lets you see his Temptation and in it you will have Dominion over the Tempter and you will be kept out of his Snare for Christ was tempted but sinned not and Christ the Light will not condemn you for being tempted unto Evil if you do it not and if you believe in and love and obey the Light of the Son of God wherewith he hath Enlightened you Though you may have done much Evil God will forgive you for Christ the Light his sake in whom you do believe and though you may feel great and strong workings in you to do Evil yet if you love the Light within you that gives you the sence thereof it will work mightily in you against that nature which would lead you to do Evil and if you keep your minds unto the Light then you will feel that nature to die daily in you which hath led you into Evil and so that which hath led you into
to the command of Christ and thereby breaketh his Command doth not love him and the Apostle John saith in his second Epistle He that transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and this is Christs Doctrine Swear not at all And so all people who of late have Sworn unto that which they did formerly Swear against the Lord God of Heaven and Earth he is grievously dishonoured by such for their Hypocrisie is very great and their Sin is very grievous in these particulars besides many other grievous Abominations which they have not yet repented of And so unto all that are in the before mentioned Abominations I say in Bowels of tender Love and true Pity and Compassion to your poor Souls Awake Awake Repent Repent come down unto the Eternal True Light in your own Consciences which doth condemn you for your Hypocrisie for being Time-servers and Men-pleasers Haste haste to meet the Lord God by speedy and unfained Repentance while you have a little time prize it for the time hastens to come upon you and all the rest of the prophane ungodly World which lieth in wickedness that time shall be no more then the sayings of John in the last of the Revelations will be witnessed Rev. 22.11 12. He that is filthy let him be filthy still mark that Let him be filthy still And there shall not enter into the Holy City any thing that worketh Abomination or telleth a Lye there shall not enter into the Kingdom of God any unclean or filthy man or woman for all the Fearfull and Unbelievers who fears man more then God is for ever shut out of the Holy City except they repent and come to the Light of God and Christ in them and so believe in God who is Light and fear him and not man whose breath is in his Nostrils and all Persecutors Swearers Lyers Drunkards Whores and Whoremongers Adulterers Cheaters Scoffers Mockers Proud lofty wild and wanton ones Repent repent with speed Come down come down to the Eternal True Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightned you which in you cryeth for Repentance and amendment of life I say in Bowels of tender love unto all your Souls Make speed make haste to make your peace with God by submitting unto and obeying his pure Light in all your consciences for the Spirit Light and Grace of God and Christ in you which condemns you for your Sins must either make your peace for you with the Lord God or else peace with the Lord God you shall never witness neither in this world nor in that which is to come Isa 48.22 For there is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God for God said unto the wicked in the dayes of old Your Sins doth separate between you and me Isa 59.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. your Sins doth with-hold good things from you so at this day it is your Sins that separates between you and the Lord God and with-holds the good things from you Luk. 19 27. so come unto the Eternal true Light within you and be subject unto it and it will judge down all your Babilonish thoughts and imaginations which you have vainly imagined concerning God and Christ and his Way of Worship and out of all your Sins will God lead you by his Light wherewith he hath enlightnened you if you be subject to it and he will bring you unto his Everlasting Kingdom where you may inherit Life Peace and Joy for ever and if you will not be subject unto this Light then you are Enemies both unto the Father and the Son and must be bound and cast into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Joh. 5.39 40. where the Werm never dieth nor the Fire is never quenched for said Christ the Light Bring those mine Enemies that will not that I should rule over them and slay them before me Christ the Light said unto the Unbelievers Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have Eternal Life but ye will not come unto me that ye might have Life read John the Fifth and Christ said unto the unbelieving Jews who said God was their Father that he was the Light of the World Mar. 1â— from vers 23 to 40. and all that follwed him should not abide in Darkness but should have the Light of Life but those Jews who called God their Father told Christ that he bore witness of himself and that his witness was not true but he told them that his witness was true and so it was and he told those hard-hearted unbelievers Joh. 8. from vers 12 to 26. and from verse 41 to 53. who said that God was their Father that they were of their Father the Devil and the works of their Father they did and those words of his were true read John the Eighth they told him they knew he had a Devil but they were Lyars and so they had the Devil themselves which they told him he had And now all you Priests and Professors of all sorts who deny those words of Christ which he speak unto the Jews when he said he was the Light of the World and whosoever followed him should not abide in Darkness but they should have the Light of Life Joh. 9.24 28 29. Joh. 10.20 21. you are in the same Error and false Judgment that they were in you are in the same blindnss of mind and hardness of heart that they were in for when he first spoke those words they withstood him to his Face for they did not believe that he was the Son of God and now you do profess that you do believe that he was the Son of God and yet you will not believe his words Oh thick darkness and blindness the Jews were condemned because they believed not his Testimony and do you think to be Saved for the bare professing that you do believe that he was the Son of God seeing you will not believe his words which he spake unto the Jews Oh consider your own selves whether were the Sins of those Jews or your Sins the greater in this particular they did not believe that he was the Son of God and so they did not believe his words for had they believed that he had been the Son of God then certainly they would have believed his words now you do profess that you do believe that he was the Son of God and yet you will not believe his words remember what Christ said unto the Jews Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23.29 30 31 32 33 34 35. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypecrites because you build the Tombs of the Prophets and garnish the Sepulchres of the Righteous and say if we had been in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have been pertakers with them in the blood of the Prophets wherefore be ye Witnesses unto your selves that ye are the Children of them that killed the Prophets Fill up the measure
of Gods good Creatures and that is the cause that there is so much robbing and stealing Gods good Creatures one from another and that is the cause there is so much hanging and killing one another about Gods good Creatures and that is the cause that there is so much hanging and burning and killing one another about Religion even because people do not believe in and obey the Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightened them and until the inhabitants of England and all Nations come unto the Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightened every one that is come into the World and believe in and obey it they will never come to be established in Peace nor to have the Blessing of God nor to inherit the Kingdom of God but while they are Rebellious against the Light of Christ in them there will come Judgments and Plagues one after another and there shall be no peace to the Wicked who continue in Rebellion against the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened them neither in this World nor in that which is to come and these are the words of Truth from the Lord God unto all people which shall stand a Witness for the Lord God against all who do continue in Rebellion against the Light and I do declare in the Name of the Lord God that it is the great Misery of all Nations both Jews and Gentiles Turk and Pope and all other Nations whatsoever that they do not believe in the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened every one that is come into the World for if all people in all Nations would come to the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened them which convinceth them of Sin then the Light would reconcile all differences amongst them yea it would reconcile them all together and it would make them of one heart and of one mind but they being out from the Light they are of many minds and they are striving one with another who shall be the greatest and they are warring one with another and killing one another for Earthly Crowns and Earthly Honour and Earthly Riches and also about their Idolatrous Worship and their many Babilonish Religions Now the Apostle said Jam. 4.1 c. to ver 11. From whence cometh Wars and Fightings come they not even from your Lusts so now if all Nations would come to the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened them then they would feel power shed abroad in their hearts in the light to cut down the Lust in them all Jam. 5.1 2 3 4 5 6. from which all Wars doth arise For if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 And so if the Light were loved and followed it would cut down the Lust from which Wars doth arise and Pride doth arise and Covetousness and Envy doth arise for Pride in the heart and Covetousness in the heart and Envy in the heart is the causes which makes people break forth into Wars and Fightings one against another and so to kill and destroy one another now Christ Jesus the great Prophet whom Moses said all was to hear and obey he said Love your Enemies do good unto those that dispitefully use you and persecute you and he said Put up thy Sword into its sheath Mat. 26.51 52 53. Rev. 13.10 for he that smiteth with the Sword shall perish with the Sword you Carnal-weaponed men who are wrestling with Flesh and Blood and are killing of you Fellow Creatures either for their Religion or for their Earthly things though you may not be slain by a Carnal Sword as you have slain others yet if you do not come to the Light of Christ within you and repent and give over killing about Religion and about Earthly Honour and Earthly Crowns then the great Sword of the Lord God Almighty which proceeds out of his Mouth will cut you down and you will perish by it and be cast into the Lake that burns for ever Christ Jesus when he was manifest upon the Earth among the Sons of men he said unto them Think ye that I came to bring Peace upon the Earth I tell you nay but a Sword now you Carnal-weaponed men this Sword which he sent upon the Earth it was not like your Carnal Sword which kills the Creatures in their Sins but the Sword which Christ sent upon the Earth it was a Spiritual Sword which did enter into the hearts of the wicked and it did cut down the Sin and so redeemed the Creature out of the Bondage of Sin from under the Power of him who is the Author of Sin which is the Devil and so Christ's Sword which he brought upon the Earth it did not kill the Creature but it killed the Sin and so brought the Creature into a glorious Liberty out of Bondage to Sin and so into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God So all you Carnal-weaponed men come to the Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightened you all that so in the Light you may all come to know and feel that Spiritual Sword to enter into your hearts and to take Peace from the Wicked One within you and so to kill the Sin in you and cast him out of you who is the Strong Man even the Man of Sin who is the Prince of the Power of the Air who rules in the hearts of you Children of Disobedience who disobeys the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you that so the Sword of the Spirit may have its way through all your unclean hearts that you may come to know Cains nature to perish in you by the Spiritual Sword even that nature in you which slew Righteous Abel that your Souls may be saved in the day of the Lord. Christ never owned Carnal-weaponed men to Fight for his Kingdom Isa 2.4 for though some offered to Fight for him that he might not have been delivered unto the Jews yet he judged and denied them in that thing and he said If my Kingdom were of this World then would my Servants Fight but his Kingdom was not nor is not of this World therefore his Servants in former Ages were forbidden to Fight for him with Carnal weapons and his Servants in this Age who are in scorn called Quakers they are bound by the Eternal Spirit of the Lord God Almighty never to Fight for Christs Kingdom with Carnal weapons for the Lord God Eternal he will Fight for it with and by the Breath of his Mouth by which he slew his Enemies heaps upon heaps in the Ages past Rev. 19.15 16. and vers 13 14. Acts 12.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 21 22. and in this Age the Everlasting God he hath made ready his great and strong Sword yea he hath made it sharp and he is laying it upon Leviathan that crooked Serpent and he will slay the Dragon
word in all the Bible called the Old and New Testament But in Proverbs 24. vers 15 and 16. thus it is written Lay not in wait O wicked Man against the Dwelling of the Righteous spoil not his Resting-place For a Just Man falleth seven times and riseth again but the Wicked fall into Mischief Now mark the Just man falleth seven times and riseth again now I say here is neither Sin nor Day spoken of but the Wicked fall into Mischief now consider to do Mischief is to do Evil and to do Evil is Sin but the Just man did not fall into Mischief and so he did not fall into Sin Now Hopkins and Sternhold who was men that did play upon Instruments of Musick in the same wisdom in which the Poets do make ungodly Ballads they made a Song which they called The Humble Complaint of a Sinner and in that Song of theirs there is some such like words as the Just man sinneth seven times a day but those words of theirs are not to be heeded for they had them not out of the Holy Scriptures but they are their own invented Lyes Many other places of the Holy Scriptures are wrested after this manner by those who have not believed in the Light who pleads for Sin for the Apostle Paul according unto the wisdom given unto him in all his Epistles he did write things hard to be understood which they that were unlearned and unstable did wrest as also they did the other Scriptures to their own destruction this is Peters Testimony who was a Fisherman and knew not Letters 2 Pet. 3.15 16. Acts 4.13 So all people take notice that it was not because they wanted Greek Hebrew and Latine that they wrested Pauls Epistles and the other Scriptures to their own destruction but it was because they were not come to believe in that measure of the Spirit wherewith Christ had enlightened them for from the Spirit of God was the holy Scriptures given forth and there is none can come to know them and understand them until they come to believe in and obey that measure of God in themselves which is one with that from which the holy Scriptures was given forth and when people come to believe in that and learn of that then God by that will open their understandings to know and rightly to understand the holy Scriptures and until then people can neither know nor understand them aright for while people are out from that of God in them they one imagine one thing from the Scriptures and another imagineth another thing from the same part of the Scripture and one saith it meaneth thus and another he saith nay but it meaneth thus and so they are bewildered in their imaginations about the holy Scriptures one saying this is the meaning and another saying that is the meaning and so every one builds his Religion according to his imagination and so every one that hath not believed in the Light they are wresting of the holy Scriptures and with their dark meanings are pleading Scripture and would fain prove by the holy Scriptures that theirs is the true Religion and as Christ said it should be so it is come to pass one saith Lo here is Christ and another saith Lo there is Christ but Christ said unto the Saints Go not forth now the Saints minds were gathered in unto the Light and that gave them to know the holy Scriptures and also to know the false Prophets who led peoples minds out from that of God in them for the Way of God is to be known within and he that leads people from that of God in them into outward observations he is a Deceiver and an Antichrist Pilate had Greek Hebrew and Latine and he could not open the Scriptures by it nor know the Son of God by it but he judged him to die and when he was to be Crucified he did write a Superscription in Greek Hebrew and Latine Letters and set it over Christs head and the persecuting Jews had Greek Hebrew and Latine for they came and did read the Superscription which Pilate had written but they could not open the Scriptures with their Greek Hebrew and Latine though they had all the Prophets Writings who prophesied of his coming and of the Place where he was to be born yet they could not understand the Prophets words with all their Greek Hebrew and Latine all their Earthly wisdom and Learning was to short and to shallow to understand those Heavenly things and so because they had not believed in the Light of Christ in them they were dark and blind Spiritually and could not know nor understand the Scriptures nor know Christ when he was come but they said he had a Devil and was Mad but had they come to that of God in them that would have given them the knowledge of the Scriptures and the knowledge that he was the Son of God for he told them that the Kingdom of God did not come with outward observation as Lo here or Lo there Luk. 1â— 20 21. but that the Kingdom of God was within them and he told them that it was like a Grain of Mustard-Seed and it was like Leaven and he did direct their minds unto that in them but they did not believe his Doctrine and so would not turn their minds inwardly to learn of the Father the Word and the Spirit and so they knew not the Son but Crucified him and the Son said unto the Father I thank thee O Father Lord God of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and thou hast revealed them unto Babes now Pilate and the Jews the wisest and most prudent men that was in all that Quarter of the Earth in natural Learning and natural Wisdom because they did not come to that of God in them therefore did God hide the Heavenly things from them and all their Greek Hebrew and Latine and all their natural Wisdom did not do them any good at all as to bring them to the knowledge of God but they were hurt by looking at it for because of their great Learning and Wisdom naturally their hearts were lifted up in Pride and they would not believe in Christ nor receive his Testimony they judged him an inferiour man unto them and the Pride of their hearts deceived them For the World by Earthly wisdom doth not know God and the Carnal mind is Enmity against God and the Natural man receives not the things of God for they are Spiritually discerned and they do appear Foolishness unto all Earthly minded men and women But Peter and John and the rest of the Fishermen who knew not Letters they were men of more humble and low Spirits then the Jews were who had Greek Hebrew and Latine for they were proud because of their Tongues and Natural Learning as our English Priests and Doctors are and ours can no more know Christ and the holy Scriptures by their Greek Hebrew and Latine and Earthly Wisdom then Pilate and the Jews could but Peter and John and the rest of the Fishermen they were low mean men as to the outward they did not dispise Christ because of his low Appearance outwardly but they did believe in him and loved him and did forsake their Nets and followed him and in them God did take delight and he did reveal Great and Mighty things unto them which was hid from Pilate and the Jews who had Greek Hebrew and Latine And now I say unto all people God is rising to confound the Wisdom of all the Earthly Wise men who are proud of Greek Hebrew and Latine and who dispise their Neighbours who have it not and all their Earthly Wisdom in which they have boasted and exalted themselves will the Lord God make to appear as it is Foolishness and he will abase proud Haman in this the day of his Mighty Power yea he will bring down the Mighty and he will exalt them of a low degree yea this is the Lord God doing that no flesh may glory And now unto all people in tender Love I say turn in your minds unto the Manifestation of the Spirit and Light of Christ which is given unto you to profit withal that it may give you the Knowledg of God whom to know is Eternal Life and that it may open the holy Scriptures unto your understandings For it is written No man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God And now Oh all ye Professors in all Forms I charge you in the Name and Power of the Lord God do not give your dark meanings unto the holy Scriptures for they are of no private interpretation and remember how you use to take Pauls words in his Epistles which are too hard for you to understand until you come unto the Light and learn of it I say remember how you use to take his words to plead for Sin for term of Life but come to the Light of Christ in you all and Learn of it and it will stop your Mouthes and not suffer you to open them to plead for Sin which is the work of the Devil I charge you in the Name of the Lord God do not wrest the holy Scriptures to plead for your Pride and Covetousness and Envy and other Abominations which you live in and delight in for Wo will come upon all that are covered and not with the Spirit of the Lord God and no other covering will stand you in stead in the day when you must all receive a Reward according to the Deeds done in the Body whether they be good or evil Read Isa 28. from Verse 1 to 23. And now I have cleared my Conscience in obedience unto the Lord God and I rest in peace and whether you will hear or forbear I am clear W. G. The End