your mind it being in them then your peace is broken and you are cross and brickle and envy gets up so this is not a perfect peace but is a broken peace and then you have the trouble and not the blessing and the reason is because your minds are in the Creatures and the outward things and are not staid upon the Creator where the perfect peace is and the blessing where nothing can get betwixt you and the Lord. And this is below Job to have the mind in the Creatures and visible things for when you are tried and Creatures fail you you are crost and troubled that shews an imperfect state for God said that Job was a perfect man and when that the Lord suffered him to be tried and when that his Goods and Houses were thrown down and driven a way and servents killed he said Blessed be the name of the Lord for the Lord gave and the Lord taketh here his mind was stayed upon the Lord and he retained his peace And when that his Children were destroyed and his wife said to him what dost thou continue in thy Integrity still Curse God and dye he rebukes her and calls her A foolish woman and said unto her Shall I receive good of the Lord and not evil Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked I must return again Here Job kept his integrity still and did not all this while offend with his Lips Now many of you who think your selves high and above Job if that your Goods and Children should be after the same manner taken away whose mind is in them you would be found in a troubled brickle state far below Job And when that Jobs Friends came to reason with him who kept his integrity and would no way yeeld to them they called him an Hypocrite and said he denyed Prayer and filled his Belly with East-wind and said what shall mortal man be more pure than his Maker Shall man that is born of a woman be Just God chargeth his Angls with folly and the Heavens are not clear in his sight And these are the Scriptures the Priests use to bring against Friends who keep there Integrity as Jobs Friends did against him but at the last the Lord commanded Job to offer a Sacrifice for his Friends because they had sinned and spoken not right as Job had who was perfect and kept his Integrity And the Apostle said to the Saints That he had learned in all conditions to be content Mark in all conditions but this was when he was Paul not when he was Saul running up and down with his packet of Letters halling the Saints before the Rulers like a Paritor then he was not content neither with his own condition nor others But when he came to learn of Christ which destroys the Devil and his works which teacheth to know all things then in all things he learned to be content so that you know that there is learning learneth and learned as a Child when he is learning learneth and learned is three stats so Paul he had learned in all conditions to be content and who was his School-Master but Christ by whom all things were made not of man nor by man out of the Truth so while he learned of men and by men he was not content neither are any others Therefore all are to learn of Christ the Light the Life and the Truth that you may come to that condition to have learned in all conditions to be content and not to trust in uncertain Riches for they have wings and will flee away and so he is never counted a wise man that will put any confidence in that which will flee away from him for those are the Heirs of the Earth and the World that lâ—ad themselves with thick clay that they may set their nests on high but they that be Heirs of Christ and of the Power of an Endless Life trust in the Living God and come to possess an Everlasting Inheritance of the Power of an Endless Life and come to increse in the Riches of the Everlasting Inheritance and there lay up Riches that are Everlasting which will abide for ever And so therefore mind every one Gods word in your Hearts and in your Mouthes and obey it and do it and be not of them that are saying in their hearts Who shall ascend or descend to fetch him from above Keep down that sayer under reproof and then your eares will be open to that which the righteousness of Faith saith The Word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth so thou needest not to say who shall ascend or descend and that was the Word which the Messengers of God preached and do preach and rebuke the Gainsayer And so all people seeing the Devil hath made the World like a Wilderness and there is so many wayes in it that they do not know which way to come out nor which to follow Therefore this is my Answer to you all Take Davids Lanthorn and Candle you may say What is that and where is it I say it is within you the Word of God you may say People do not use to carry Lanthorns and Candles in the day time but in the night I say you be in the Night of Darkness and therefore the Word is called a Lanthorn and Candle to you by which you may see the Way of the Lord which is perfect from all mens wayes which are imperfect by which ye may see the path of the just to be a shining Light from all the unjust paths that be in the Darkness for by this Word did David come to outstrip his Teachers who was made wiser then them all so it will you if you obey it for by this Word he saw Christ and called him Lord therefore he loved the Word and hid it in his heart for by it he spake so many glorious expressions which the World since hath turned into Meeter and made Songs or Ballads of them and this was the Word that came to Abraham which made him forsake his National Religion and Worship and Obey the Lord and this was the Word that came to Jacob the Shepherd by which he saw Christ and Prophesied of him to his Sons on his Death-bed when he said to Judah The Law should not depart from betwixt his feet till Shilo came meaning Christ and the gathering of all Nations should be to him as it is at this day the gathering is to Christ and this was the Word that came to Moses the Shepherd when he was keeping sheep which he Obeyed and went to Egypt and brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt by which Word he was made a Minister and when the Children of Israel were come out of Egypt into the Wilderness told them They need not go for the Word beyond the Seas c. for it was nigh them in their hearts and mouths to obey it and do it And this was the Word that made Moses a Prophet who prephesied
deny before his Father in Heaven O I beseech you do not trifle about these things for they are exceeding weighty lest ye perish from the way for missing of the Saviour ye must needs also miss of the Salvation O that ye knew your state as God knows it to be and as it is certainly known and felt in the measure of his Life and holy Spirit by those whom God hath gathered together and whose eyes he hath opened and preserveth open there Glory be to his Name therefore Yea Glory Glory Glory and everlasting Praises be sung to him throughout all the holy Land ye in the very heights of Sion by the Souls of the Redeemed from henceforth and for evermore Amen whose Mercy Love Grace Wisdom Power and rich Goodness remaineth and endureth for ever by and in which the Redeemed live to his Praise who have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb whose Blood they know what it is and none else knoweth it but they who feel the sprinkling and virtue of it Lo this is our God we have waited for him and how can we but be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation O let all that live by the breath of thy Power and drink of thy Streams sing praise unto Thee and exalt thy great and wonderful Name for ever and ever A brief Testimony for Truth by Tho. Tayler I Shall add somewhat of the Testimony which is written in my heart by the finger of Gods Spirit concerning the People called Quakers Indeed they have met with many reproaches and sore oppositions many wayes since they were a People but notwithstanding all their Bow abides in strength and the hands of their arms have been made strong against the wicked one with all his devices in his several kinds of instruments and their Light is still the same and their God the same who blesseth them from day to day even in the midst of all the revilings slanders persecutions and curses which they have met with from men without and in the midst of all the temptations inward trials and afflictions also which are often met with inwardly Yea we know him to be our God and cannot but trust him having found him to be faithfull to us hitherto and knowing his nature to be such that he cannot but continue his loving-kindness and faithfulness to all who are gathered by him in to his holy inward spiritual Covenant of Life and Peace and who dwells with him therein And truly we are fully satisfied and at rest in him and cannot desire another then he who hath redeemed our Souls from death given us Life brought us out of the Pit wherein was no water into a large place set our feet upon a rock a rock indeed and establisheth our goings in the path of holyness working all our works in us and for us by his Spirit and Power Yea we have the Witness in our hearts even the Witness which never erred nor can deceive which testifieth to and with our spirits our Sonship so that we do not imagine our selves sons from apprehensions upon Scriptures but we feel our selves sons in the true sensibleness and know who David is and reap and inherit the sure mercies of David daily O blessed be our Father O blessed for ever be the Father of Life who feeds who nourishes who waters Who refreshes with the Bread of Life and with the pure living water his Lambs his Babes his plants his tender ones of whom he is daily tender and who are daily tender of his Name and Honour And if any man preach another God then he who creates anew in the true Light and therein puts forth his arm of Salvation Death and Destruction and the Curse are his portion from the hand of the Lord. THE Conclusion GLorious was the Estate of the Church before the Apostacy for Purity of Doctrine for holy Order and Discipline for Love to God one to another and to all men even of Enemies for Faith in God for the Presence and Power of his Spirit among them insomuch as the unbeliever coming among them might find his heart and state reached to and be forced to confess and report that God was in them of a truth for singleness and uprightnesse of Heart meekness and innocency of Spirit and Conversation for zeal for God and his Truth suffering the spoiling of their Goods Imprisonments Stripes and many other wayes both from the Heathen and also from the professing Jews who had been the Church once O what shall I say concerning the beauty and loveliness of that State Ye that would know it O wait to feel it in that which giveth the true sence of it But over this glorious State came a dark thick corrupt night wherein the Kernel was lost and the Shell defaced wherein the House which had been swept and garnished became again recovered and possessed by the wicked spirit And how great hath this darkness been O what a kind of Church hath appeared in the World wherein the spirit of Enmity hath dwelt and acted in men under the Name of Christianity So that instead of loving and seeking the good of Enemies they are ready to rend and tear one another for every little difference and will be Lords over mens Faith requiring men to Practice things in Religeon before the Spirit of the Lord teacheth them so to do which the Apostles did not For though they had from God the express knowledge of what was Truth and could certainly instruct and build men up therein yet they were not Lords over mens Faith but if men were otherwise minded then according to what they knew and taught they could wait and bear with them bidding them walk so far as they had attained and God in his due time would reveal the rest also O that men were come to this Spirit again Then they would be Christians indeed and then they might be known to be Christs Disciples by their loving the Brethren and fellow-Disciples But without this love mens Religion is but as a tinkling Cimbal making a noise and sound of somewhat but not having the true Nature or Virtue of Religion in it Now will it not be a glorious Day when the Spirit of the Lord cleanseth away this thick darkness and causeth the Light of his pure Truth to arise and appear again Why there is such a Day to be wherein the true Church which was reproached and driven into the Wilderness is to come out of the Wilderness again and her Witnesses stand on their feet again and her Seed to spring up in the Power of Life following the Lamb who marcheth on fighting with the Sword of the Spirit the words of his mouth conquering and to conqeur thereby the corrupted Antichristian World even as he did at first the corrupt Heathenish World The Lord will purifie his Temple and cleanse the World by the Plagues of his Angels which he hath prepared making way for the beauty of his Truth and the Church of his gathering wherein he
power and in his love sweetness and meakness We are not to take wayes according to our own wisdom but there must be a strict watch set in the Life least that get up again nor must we speak such words as mans wisdom would call wise nor may we go in our own will to seek any but the Lord must go before nor may we make use of our own strength but feel his arm in our weakness nor may we go forth in that love sweetness or meakness which is pleasing to the fleshly mind but we must be true to God handling the sword skilfully and faithfully judging and cutting down the transgressor in the power and authority of God and when the meek the lowly the humble thing is reached and raised then the true love the sweetness the tenderness the meekness must go forth to that The Lord God is rough with the transgressor and all along the Scripture heweth and judgeth him and if we come forth in the same spirit we shall find the same leadings where we meet with the same thing for the Lord God will never be tender there nor can that which comes from him lives in him is lead by him be tender there wheâ—e he is not Now the very root of this severity is good and of God and hath love and sweetness at the bottom of it yea in pitty love and bowels do we use the sword It is in pitty to the poor captived creature that that might be cut down which keeps it in bonds and captivity And though we seem enemies to all sorts of men for the Lords sake yet we are not enemies nor could do the least hurt to them any way but are true freinds to their soules and bodies also and our only controversie is with that which captives and maks them miserable for we fight not at all with flesh and bloud but with the principallity and power which led from God and rules in it against God to the poor creatures ruine and distruction Yea if we had all the powers of the earth in our hands we could not set up our own way if after the manner of men I may so call it or so much as disturb others in their way thereby but should wait in patience till God gave us an entrance by his power Now let not men run on in heats against us but let them seriously consider whether we be of God or no and let them consider not with the reason and understanding which is alienated from God but with the witness which lies hid in the heart There is one great palpable argument that we are of God which is this all the World is against us the Worldly part every where lights with us the Worldly part in every sort and Sect of men opposeth us the rage of man every where riseth up against us But those that are so hot against us if at any time they become but meek and calm patiently considering our cause and consulting there upon with the testimony that they find in their own hearts concerning us they soon become pacified and see that we are no mans enemies against no righteous Law not against Relations not against Governments not against any thing in the world that is good but only against that which is evil and corrupt And of a truth the corruption of things God hath shewed unto us and daily cals us forth after an immediate manner to witness against Therfore let men be sober and take heed what they do least they be found fighters against God for the reproaches the scoffs with other persecutions which seem to be cast at us light on him It is not as we are men but as we are obedient to him as we stand witnesses for him that we meet with these things Now as it is not we our selves that do these things but the life and power of God in us so it is not we that are struck at but the Life and Power if it were not for that we might be as acceptable as other men It is because we are not of the World but God hath called us out of the World that we are so hated of the world This is the true cause though the world will no more now acknowledge it then it would in former ages Yet I do not speak this for my own sake to avoid my share in the Cross for the reproach of Christ is our riches yea far greater treasure then is to be found in the pallace of Egypt Yea the Presence of God the sweet power of Life makes up all our losses so that we have no cause to complain It is very sweet pleasant and profitable for us to be found Sufferers for God but we know it will not be profitable for you to be found Persecutors and this is told you in true love and good will by one who wishes no evil to you for all the evil that ye have exercised towards the dear and pretious People of God for these many years O that God would open your eyes that ye might see whom ye have opposed and against whom ye have hardened and strengthened your selves that ye might bow to him and receive life from him and not perish in your gainsaying and opposition Isaack Penington Grounds and Reasons why we deny the worlds Teachers FIrst they are such shepheards that seek for their gain from their Quartâ—rs and can never have enough which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry out against who bid all come freely without money and without price and was not hired but spake freely and these make marchandise and a trade of his words and therfore we cry out against them and deny them Isa 56.11 and 54.1 They are such Shepherds that seek after the Fleece and cloath with the wooll and feed on the fat which the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry wo against who made a prey upon us and the Lord said he would gather his Sheep from their mouths and that we should be a prey to them no longer and we do witness the promise of the Lord fulfilled and therfore we deny them Ezek 54.34 They are such Priests as bear rule by their means which was a horrible and filthy thing commited in the land which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry out against while we had eyes and did not see we held up such Priests but the Lord hath opened our eyes and we see them now in the same estate that they were in which Jeremiah cryed out against who did not bear rule by his means and therfore we deny them Jer. 5.31 They are such Prophets Priests that divine for money and preach for hire which the Lord sent Micah to cry against and whilst we put into their mouths they preached peace to us but now wâ— do not put into their mouths they prepare war against us and therfore we deny them Micah 3.11 They are such as are called of men Masters call men Masters and have the chiefest place in the Assemblies and stand
them sued men at the Law and therfore we cannot but utterly deny them Deut. 14.29 Heb. 7.12 They arâ— such Priests as beside their Tythe of Corn Hay Beast Sheep Hens Pigs Geese Eggs Cherries Plumbs take ten shillings for preaching a Funeral Sermon more or less as they can get it and ten shillings for the death of a man and Money out of Servants Wages and Money for Smoke passing up the Chimneys and Easter reckonings and Midsummer dues and Money for Churching of Women and thus by every device get Money and burthen poor people that labour very hard and can scarse get Food and Raiment to maintain them in idleness and pride these are they that have hearts exercised with covetousness burthening the Truth and making the free Gospel chargable if the Apostle was here he would be ashamed of them and so are we and therefore turn from them and deny them 2 Pet. 2.3 They are such Priests as not only take Tyths and Money for many other things of their own Hearers and sue them at Law for it but they take money of them they do no work for but only raile against them and say They that wayt at the Alter are pertakers with the Alter but live of them who are not of the Alter and say The Labourer is worthy of his hire but take Wages of them that have not hired them and if they will not give it them cast them into Prison or take their Goods by Justices Warrants these are they that Christ cryed wo against who lay heavy burthens upon the people who oppress tender Consciences that own the Everlasting High Priest where do they find any of the Ministers of Christ bargaining for so much a year here they abide not in the Doctrine of Christ but are Hirelings and therefore we deny them Mat. 23.2 They are such Preachers as have told us They have been gifted men and we find in the Scriptures that the gift of God is free and not to be bought and sold for money and Job said Wisdom is not to be purchased for money nor Gold but they will not sell their gift under 200 l. 100 l. 80 l. or 50 l. a year more or less as they can get it here we find they have not received the Gift of God but are like Simon Magus and therefore we deny them Acts 8.20 Job 28. They are Babylons Merchants that make a trade of Scriptures and the Saints conditions which the Prophets and Apostles spoke forth freely without money and without price and bad all come freely How many hundred thousand pounds in England is gained by the Scripture and humane Authors joyned to it Where is there a more profitable trade Here they make Scriptures their Cloak and colour to get Mnoey by and so make an Idol of it and if any come to witness it fulfiled as it was in them that gave it forth they cry out to the Magistrates against them as Blasphemers and Deceivers And if they answer He that administers spiritual things ought to reap carnal let him consider the Apostle wrote not that to the the World but to those that they had gathered out of the World to whom the ends of the World were come and let them gather people out of the World and then they shall not need to bargain with them for things of the World but their trading is with the World and therefore we deny them Isa 55.1 They are such Teachers as take a Text out of the Saints conditions and take a Weeks time to study what they can raise out of it adding to it their own wisdom Inventions Imaginations and heathenish Authors and then on the first day of the week go amongst the people having an hour glass to limit themselves by and say Hear the Word of the Lord and for Money tell people what they have scraped together These are they that speak a divination of their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord which the Lord sent Jeremiah to cry out against Jer. 23. These are they that use their tongues and say The Lord saith when as the Scriptures say so and the Lord never spake to them Jer 23.30 These are they of whom the Lord speaks I am against all such as steal my word every one from his Neighbour and so we are against all such as Jeremiah was sent to cry wo against the Pastors that now steal the words of the Prophets of Christ and the Apostles the Lord hath shaken his hand at their dishonest gain and to them belong the Plagues that are written in the Book they make a trade on for adding to it their own inventions therefore do we come out from amongst them and deny them Jer. 23.31 These are they of whom the Apostle speaks That creep into Houses leading silly women captive which are led away with divers lusts which be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledg of the truth though some have learned 50 60 or 70 years covetous proud high-minded self-willed lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God who have gotten a form of godliness but deny the power thereof from which the Apostle bad turn away and so do we 2 Tim. 3.6 They are such Teachers as gave us and give people Davids conditions in Meeter and when we had no understanding we sung after them as ignorant people do now his tremblings his quakings his weepings fastings prayers prophesies and when we sung we put of our hats and when they read them we kept them on and so they caused us to worship the works of their own hands here they shew the spirit of Error making wicked people to sing O Lord I am not puft in mind I have no scornful eye I do not exercise my self in things that are to high when they are puft in mind and have scornful eyes and do exercise themselves in things that are to high and are full of Filth Pride and Loftiness and can scarce look at one another here they make poor people to offer a Sacrifice of Lyes and make them Hypocrites deceiving themselves saying what they are not But the Singing with the Spirit and with understanding we own and therefore the Priests that Sing without understanding we deny 1 Cor. 14.15 They are such Teachers as deny the conditions that the Saints witnessed viz. trembling and quaking when as we find the Holy men of God that gave forth the Scriptures witnessed such things Moses who was Judge over all Israel feared quaked and trembled exceedingly and the Son of man was to eat his bread with quaking and Daniel the man of God trembled and was sore astonished and Jeremiah the Prophet of the Lord reeled to and fro like a drunken man and all his bones did shake and David who was a King trembled and quaked and Ephraim when he trembled was exalted in Israel and Habakkuk who was a Prophet trembled and his belly shook his lips quivered and Isaac in whom the seed was called trembled
with the Light you will see the Kingdom of Heaven within which never gave consent to Sin and Evil like to a grain of Mustard-seed and to a Leaven which leaveneth into a New Lump And with the Light you will see the Field which is the World placed in your hearts where the Pearl is hid and with what you must dig to find the Pearl the Power of God and what you must sell for its sake to purchase the Field And waiting in this Light you will receive the Spirit of Truth the Comforter to to lead you into all Truth and to bring the Words which Christ hath spoken to your remembrance and it will shew you things to come and it shall receive of those which are Christs and give it unto you So loving the Light you love Christ and receiving it you receive Christ the first and the last For in the Light Christ is seen and handled his Voyce is heard and he is followed So in the Light you will see Christ to be your Teacher who saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life by whom Life Eternal is given And you are brought again to Christ the Shepherd who draws you out of the Fall to God into his Image where the Green Pastures of Life are known and fed upon And no man commeth to the Father saith Christ but by me who enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World that by the Light all may believe And saith Christ Believe in the Light whilst ye have the Light that you may be Children of the Light So you being enlightned with the Light which if you believe in it you come to be Children of the Light and Heirs of Promise and Mercy and of the Power of a Life that hath no End And believing in the Light you pass from Death to Life from Darkness to Light and you come to know a Translation from Darkness to Light and from Satans Power to the Power of God and to know the begotten of God into his own Image by his Power as you have been degenerated from God and have lost his Image by the Prince of Darkness and so translated from the Image of God into the Image of Satan from the Power of Christ into the Power of Darkness so you must come to the Light that ye may have another Conversion from Satans Power to God from Darkness to Light to be renewed into the Image of God and this is felt within and as you feel this within you will know the Word of God within in your hearts which is the Word of Faith which the Apostles preached to the Romans which they were to hear obey and do And that is the Word which seperates the pretious from the vile your pretious thoughts affections motions and words from your vile So the Word is in your Hearts and Mouthes to obey it and to do it And it is quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword And you shall not need to say Who shall bring it from Heaven or who shall fetch it from beneath But it is in the Heart and Mouth and this is the Word of Faith which the Apostles preached And the same Word is called a Hammer a Sword and a Fire to beat down to cut down and to burn up whatsoever is contrary to it So it is the same Word which sanctifieth and purifieth and reconcileth to God as beats down and cuts down that which is contrary to God and which seperates betwixt you and God So you may hear obey and do the Word for it is with you in all places and in all your occasions dividing good thoughts from bad good words and motions from bad For if all Christendom would hear and obey the Word in their Hearts which is pure and lives and remaines and endures for ever by which they would come to be born again of the Immortal Seed this Word would keep them from evil Actions and Words which are spoken and acted by them And so by the Word every one should be taught and should know the engrafted Word which is able to save the Soul which beats down and cuts down and burns up that which wars against it and keeps the Soul from the enjoyment of God And so in this Word they should know the annointing in themselves to teach them so that they should not need any man to teach them but as the same annointing teacheth them which teacheth Truth in all things And in this Light and Word which is in the heart they should know the New Covenant of God the Law written in the heart and put in their mindes by which they should not have need to say one to another Know the Lord for all should know him from the least even to the greatest And those are true Christians who come to witness this as thousands in England do witness it in this his Day among whom the pretious Pearl is found and the Field is bought among whom the Law of the Spirit of Life sets free from the Law of Sin and Death Who witness the Ages to come of which the Apostle spoke In which the kindness and exceeding riches of the Grace of God should be manifested again which the Lord in the Primitive Times made manifest amongst the Apostles who sat together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus In which places thousands are now come to sit Glory be to him for ever I. Concerning WORSHIP The Promise of Redemption is from that State in which Adam and Eve their Sons and Daughters are in the Fall driven from God into a State in which they were before they were driven from God to the Church in God Now they that sit down in a State driven from God are People far off from the Church in God Our Worship is in Spirit and in Truth in which the Devil abode not but is out of it who is the Author of strife and unrighteousness amongst People which Truth maketh the Devil to bow and cringe yea and destroys him and it is the Spirit that mortifies sin which makes the Separation from God Now we say that if all Christendom had worshipped God in Spirit and in Truth they had all been in Him out of which the Devil is and had been in the holy Mountain and had felt the Spirit ruling them in their own particulars and had felt the Spirit of Truth guiding and teaching them in them in their own hearts II. Concerning the CHURCH Our Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which he Redeems with his own blood without spot or wrinkle or deformity or any such thing which blood we feel in our Hearts purging us from all sin with which blood we feel our Consciences cleansed from dead works to serve the Living God So this blood is witnessed in us and the excellency thereof by which we come to know the price of Redemption III. Concerning the WAY We say that Christ is Our Way which is Light which enlighteneth you and
than that in which Adam stood before the Fall even to himself who never changed and never fell nor never will fall And so they who forget God and do wickedly they are to be turned into Hell For they who forget God and do wickedly they go from the Life and Power of God into the Seperation from him and out of his acceptance for in the Life is the acceptance and so the Power Light and Life goeth over them who go into sin and iniquity which leades from God who was before Transgression was XVIII Concerning ELECTION and REPROBATION Reprobation is an Alienation from the Life and from that which is of God within and from his Voice and Command as Adam and the Jews did and such who despise that which is of God within they despise their Birth-right Such are concluded to be out of true Vnderstanding and true Knowledge and the Witness of God within is grieved and such are dead in their sences from the Life and Covenant of Peace with God and from the Seed which is called the Elect in which the Elect and the Election is known in the Seed Christ before the Foundation of the World which World slew him and they who slew him and now slayes him they were and are Reprobated from the Life who go from the Command of God and they have lost his Image they have lost his Power which keeps over and above and out of the Reprobation And so they who come into the Election the Seed they come out of the State in which Adam was in the Fall into the state in which he was in before he Fell and into an higher state than that into Christ the Seed the Elect. And so they in the Seed in the Elect in Christ the Wisdom of God they comprehend and see the state of Election before the World was laid and the State of Adam before the Fall and the State of Adam in the Fall in the Reprobation and the state of Adam restored again out of the Fall and a State which is higher than that in which Adam was in before he Fell into the Election which is a thing beyond that and the state of the beloved of God is seen in the Seed the Wisdom of God Cain was the first Birth Esau was the first Birth Ishmael was the first Birth Cain killed his Brother about Religion Ishmael was a Scoffer Esau bore the Sword he despised his Birth-right he fought against his Brother Jacob. So Christendom read your Reprobation the first Birth which is born of the Elesh for the first Birth will persecute him who is born of the Spirit So the most part of Christians are seen to be of the first Birth and to remain in the Reprobation from God Cain departed from the Voyce of God and Esau from his Birth-right and Ishmael in his scoffing nature they went from the Good and so from faithful Abraham who was in the Election And so they who are in Cains Ishmaels and Esaus nature are in the first Birth which is not Elected Now as to the Love of God towards one and his Hatred to another before either had done good or evil all this consists in the first Birth who despised his Birth-right which God foresaw which was not the Seed unto which the Love of God is to for ever Therefore know thy self O Christendom and thy Birth that that which hates the Principle of God and his Voice is reprobated he that rebells against Gods command and his Voyce God turneth against such neither doth he hear such who hates the Election and are in the Reprobation from the Seed yea even from the Law it self for the Law keeps a man from sin But the Law it self doth not say that it destroys the Devil but the Seed viz. Christ who is higher than the Law who is the Election and destroys the Devil So who knows the Election they must know the Seed they must know the Birth born of the Spirit Now if all Christendom know the Election they must know the Birth born of the Spirit which will not Persecute For the nature of Cain Ishmael and Esau is one of which the Apostle spoke in the Primitive times which we now also say is one and the Election is one which standeth in the Seed which was before the Foundation of the wicked world was And the Reprobation is one which standeth in the unjust world out of the Truth and the Life in disobedience to the Command of God Therefore know the one Reprobation and the one Election then ye shall know the Seed in which is the Wisdom of God and ye shall know that which goes from his Voyce Power and Command out of the Wisdom of God so whom God loves he loves for ever Know Jacob and know Esau Esau Cain and Ishmael were the first-born and is not Christendom of the first-birth who Persecutes who departs from the good and despises the pure and persecutes the Birth born of the Spirit which God hates And such act out of his Life in the Reprobation out of his Power and Wisdom and out of the Election Christ the Seed the second Birth who was before the Carnal Birth was and remains when he will be gone unto which the Love of God is for ever and unto whom is the Promise which goeth over the outward Birth and destroyes the Devil and his works who went from Truth and led man from God by which the Curse Wrath and Woe came upon Man which Christ the Seed brings the Blessing and gives man to see the blessed state of all things how they were in the beginning and how they were blessed in the beginning and through Christ Man comes up into the power which is his Throne where there 's Blessing and no Curse at all XIX Concerning FEAR and TREMBLING The strong Man hath kept the House long and his Goods have been at Peace but now He is come who is stronger than he Christ Jesus the Stronger who doth dis-inherit and cast him out and spoil his Goods and makes Man the Temple of God that â—e himself may dwell in him an holy Temple and an Habitation for himself to dwell in who maketh the Keepers of the House to Tremble by which power of Christ the Salvation is wrought out with fear and Trembling And so we can say That it is God that workeâ—h in us both to will and to do according to his will and good pleasure In the dayes of the Prophets the Prophet he trembled and staggered like a Drunkard for the Iniquity of the Times and because of the holiness of the Word of the Lord He trembled when he heard his Voyce and when the Lord spake to him he feared greaâ—ly This is the Man whom God regards saith the Prophet Isayas who is of a broken and contrâ—ie spirit and trembleth at his word Who have been cast out by their Brethren who said let the Lord be glorified Who will appear for those that tremble at his Word and
alienated from the Spirit of God in Babel where the Original of Tongues was in the dayes of Nimrod that Heretick who began to build Babel So Tongues do not make any man a Divine neither a Minister of Christ for that which makes a man Divine as they say is the Word which redeems out of Tongues which was before Babel was and in the beginning before the Fall which knocks down all that which corrupts mans Nature and renews again into the Divine Nature And whosoever are Ministers of the Word and Preachers of the Gospel they are in the Power and in the Word which was before Tongues were This Word brings into the Church-Felowship which is in God into which they are not brought by the Worlds Original which they call the Tongues which shall cease and out of whom we are redeemed neither do they bring into Fellowship with God neither into his Worship nor further than Babel where the Tongues stop But who comes to the Word of God and the Gospel they come to that which was before many Tongues were and shall remain when they shall all pass away XXXVIII Concerning OATHES The Spirit of Christ the Spirit of the Apostles of the Martyrs is risen again which gives Testimony against Swearing and Oathes There were no Oaths at all imposed upon Man before the Fall but only since the Fall for under the Law after the Fall and among the Jews Oaths and Commandments were given To which Christ by whom the World was made which was before the Fall which is the Oath of God which Oathes in the Fall were Types who put an end to strife and brings into quietness and peace and bindes to God without Oathes which Christ put an end to And Christ himself the Oath of God puts an end to all Oaths and brings into the Land of quietness and rest the Spiritaul Canaan and puts and end to strife and destroyes the Devil the Author of strife he who is the Rest the Way Truth and the Life who brings again to God and is the Covenant of God in man hath peace with God which destroyes that which led from God and from Christ and he himself said Swear not at all neither by Heaven nor by the Earth nor by any other Oath He who restores man into that state in which he was in the beginning before the Fall who restores into the Image of God And so in the Restauration there are no Oathes to be used nor Swearing according to his own Doctrine But Yea yea nay nay was to be used among men in all their Communications and what is more then this is evil So that Swearing now is evil And this is the Doctrine of him who restores People into that state in which man was in in the beginning who is the Substance who put an end to Figures And his Disciple Jeams in the 5th Chapter of his Epistle who followed his Counsel who is an Everlasting Counsellor saith Above all things my brethren Swear not neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath lest you fall into Condemnation but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay And this was the manner among them who followed the Doctrine and Command of Christ in the Restauration who were built upon the true Foundation which was first laid in the Primitive times among the true Brethren and was publickly held forth which Manner and Custome Doctrine and Command of Christ Jesus and the Apostles in the Primitive times many of the Martyrs followed held forth and practised among those who were Degenerated and Apostatized from the Life and Power of Christ and the Apostles although they profess the Words And now the Spirit of Christ is risen again and of the Apostles and Saints as in the Primitive times and the Spirit of the Martyrs who bear witness against all Oathes and all sort of Swearing whatsoevever that were used among the Heathens Jews and Apostatized Christians both privately and publickly and bindes to yea and nay in all manner of Communication as Christ and the Apostles taught and and the Saints and Martyrs practised knowing that whatsoever is more than yea and nay is evil and such who Swear are condemned according to Christ and the Apostles Doctrine So we say again That the Spirit of Christ the Apostles and Martyrs is risen again who hath been dead and is dead in and among the Apostates who have the Form but deny the Power from whom we have turned away But now its riâ—en again and lives amongst us Glory and Honour be given to God through Jesus Christ who hath restored to the beginning into the Image of God in which Man was in before he fell before Oathes were For Example Read the Book of Genesis and there you may see that there was no Command given to Adam and Eve before the Fall concerning Swearing neither from Christ who Restores Man again and who puts an END to OATHES before the Law and under the Law and Prophets both whom the Angels which sware worship for Christ saith Swear not at all who is Lord and Master so it is better to obey him than man and in all your Communication let your yea be yea and your nay be nay for whatsoever is more than this cometh of Evil saith he who restores even Christ And in the second Example consider the Apostles who did according to the Command and Doctrine of Christ who said Above all things my Brethren Swear not at all lest ye fall into condemnation Jam. 5. But let your yea be yea and your nay nay in all your Communication And although there was Swearing among the Jews and other Nations and Heathens before the Apostatized Christians used to Swear nevertheless the Apostles and the Brethren obeyed and they must obey the Doctrine and the Command of Christ for if Christ command one thing and Man another It is better to obey the Lord Jesus Christ the Life who is the Restorer Saviour and Redeemer than men This is the WORD of the LORD GOD to you all Concerning the WORD of GOD and the Original what it is BLessed are all those whose mindes are staid upon the Lord for they shall be kept in perfect peace so where the mind is staid upon the Lord there is a perfect peace for it is a whole peace which cannot be broken So here is not only a perfect peace but a blessing a perfect peace which comes from the God of all peace that bruiseth the Serpents head under your feet the troubler and the blessings which comes from the blessed God So all imperfect peace may be broken that is when the mind is staid upon any Creature or in any Creature and not upon the Creator or in any outward things Goods Houses Lands or Inventions of the Vanities in the foolish vain Fashions which the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life go into which will defile it and corrupt it when any of these things fail and are not according to
of Christ and said Like unto him God would raise up a Prophet him should they hear in all things mark in all things we are to be ordered both inward and outward for hearing Christ by whom all things were made And every one that would not hear this Prophet Christ should be cut off for how should they continue or reign And this was the Word that came to Samuel and made him a Prophet who spake to Ely the Priest and reproved his Sons and the Children of Israel and this was the Word that made Saul to Prophesie and Balaam though they erred from it And this was the Word that made all the Prophets to prophesie and to reprove the kings of Israel and their Priests of their Superstition and Idolatrous ways in seting up Groves and Images in High places and reproved all their Monthly Prognostications who spoke and acted from them and not from the Lord. And this was the Word that came to Isaiah by which he Prophesied of Christ and of his Preaching and of his Sufferings and by which Word he reproved the Shepherds which were as greedy dumb Dogs could never have enough seeking their gain from their Quarter and by this Word he saw that all the Children of God should be taught of God and established in Righteousness and Peace and though many tongues should rise up in Judgment against them yet those that were taught of God should condemn them all this power should be given to his children And many weapons formed against them should not prosper God would restrain them And also he saw them that were cast out that trembled at Gods Word to whom God would appear to their Glory and to the shame and to the confounding of them that cast them out for his Names sake as it is at this day And this was the Word of God that made Jeremiah a Prophet by which he saw the New Covenant by which Word he was said to reprove the People and Princes of the filthy and horrible thing commited in the Land that the Priests Preached for Hire and the Prophets prophesied falsly and for reproving them for their Superstition and Idollatry they struck him and put him in the Stocks and Prison and persecuted him in the Dungeon till his Persecutors were carried into Captivity And by the Word Jeremiah saw the number of Seventy yeares of his Persecutors being in Babylons Captivity Elijah by the Word was made a Prophet and by the Word reproved Ahab and Jezebel for their Idolatry and worshiping of Images For which Words sake they persecuted him and the rest of the Prophets and was not he fed of the Ravens by the River And did not they seek to take away his Life and did not he think all the Lords Prophets had been killed and he left alone yet did not the Lord say to him he had reserved so many Thousands that had not bowed the knee to Baal And Elisha the Plowman by the Word was made a Prophet and forsook his Plough and by the Word reproved the Idollatry in his Age of Priests and People And by the Word was Ezekiel made a Prophet by which Word he reproved the Shepherds of Israel that made a prey upon the people and taught them for the Fleece and by the Word he saw that God would bring the people from them that they should be made a pray upon no longer and would gather them from their Mouths and set one Shepherd over them Christ which is witnessed and by the Word he reproved false Prophets that taught for handfuls of Barly and peices of Bread and daubed with untempered Morter and sewed Pillows under the Armholes and by the Word he saw the Patern of the Temple and the return of the Jews And by the Word Daniel was made a Prophet and saw Christ and his Kingdom and how the Saints should take his Kingdom and by the Word he saw such that should rise up against the People of God and by the Word he numbred the yeares of Christ to his time 499 yeares and of his Death and how he should end the Sacrifices and how that Christ should bring up Everlasting Righteousness and put an end to Sin and end the Prophets and Seal up their Visions And by the Word Micah was made a Prophet by which he cryed against the Priests that preached for Hire and the Prophets that prophesied for Money and the Judges that judged for Rewards and such as preached Peace to the people that put in their mouths like the Priests in these times and when they did not they prepared war against them and chopt their flesh and gnawed their Bones as the Priests in this day and time have done but Micah saw by the Word that the Sun was gon down upon such Prophets and Priests and they should have no Vision nor Answer from God therefore such are against Revelations and Visions on whom the Sun is set and gon down upon and then the Night comes upon them And by the Word was Amos the Herdsman made a Prophet who was a gatherer of Fruits and likewise all the rest of the Prophets who spoke forth Divine things and reproved the Superstition and Idolatry in their time and day And by the Word did all the Prophets speak forth Divine things which Word brought them into the Divine Nature and Mind which Word Hammered and Cut down that which corrupted their natures and this was the Word that made so many Fisher-men Preachers of the Gospel which is the Power of God And this was the Word which made Matthew the Toll-gatherer Luke the Physitian and Paul the Tent-maker Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel and Power of God And this was the Word which made Peter to see Joels Prophesie how that God would power out his Spirit upon all Flesh and Sons and Daughters should Prophesie and Young men should see Visions and Old men Dream Dreams and the powering forth of the Spirit upon Servants and Hand-maids that every one should have somthing to speak to the Glory of God And now the Priests and proud Prelates and Bishops and Popes though you have made a trade of the Saints words and the Apostles and Prophets words and gotten a deal of money by them which were fishermen and shepherds words from the Word Yet nevertheless if a company of Shepherds Herdsmen Fishermen Tent-makers and Toll-gatherers should come amongst you to Preach you would say Away with these Mechanick Fellows they have not served seaven yeares Apprentiship at the Colledges which we have set up to make Ministers therefore they are not to set up because they have not served their Apprentiships What say the Shepherds Tentmakers Physitians and Tolegatheres Do you make a Trade of our Friends words who were of our Occupation that never served Apprentiships in Colledges before they spake forth the words you make a Trade of what will you make a Trade of our Friends words who were of our Occupation Away with you to Work and away with
your Colledges for our Brother Paul the Tent-maker said If you will not work you must not eat For would you own Christ if he had come in your day who was called A Carpenters Son You Popes with your Triple Crowns and you Lord Bishops with your Coaches and fat Horses and gorgeous Aparrel with your Black Coats and white Coats and Girdles Are you like to entertain him who is called A Carpenters Son or to cast him and his mother into the Manger in your Stables This was the Word by which John the Evangelist saw Christ which did enlighten every man that came into the world and saw how he became flesh and came to his own and his own did not receive him but to as many as received Christ the Light to them he gave power to become the Sons of God which all they that are Ministers of the Letter made by the seven years Colledges and not the Word hate the Light And by this Word the Minister of the Word preacheth Christs Word Life Death and Resurrection And therefore as John saith in his Epistle That which our Eyes have seen our Hands have handled and our Ears have heard of the Word of Life do we preach unto you that which was from the beginning in the beginning was the Word though since the beginning were the words and letters for the Scriptures of Truth are the words of God and the words of Christ and he that adds to these words saith John in the Revelations God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book So the Word was in the beginning and Christs Name is called The Word of God but Christ is neither called Scriptures nor Writings for Scriptures signify Writings So In the beginning was the Word since the beginning were Writings and Scriptures In the beginning was the Word since the beginning were all false Wayes false Churches false Teachers and in the Word ye comprehend them all The Priest saith That Hebrew Greek and Latine were the Original the many Languages and the many Languages began at Babel which Nimrod the Hunter before the Lord began to build after God had destroyed the Old World with water then would he go build a Tower which should reach to Heaven then God came down and confounded them into many Languages so he hunted before the Lord but the Lord followed him and confounded him in all his work as he will do all the Builders that run before him and so all the Priest that have gotten the many Languages which began at Babel they tell simple ignorant people that they have the Original and are the Orthodox men and get in a different habit from them and say the Quakers are a simple people and despise the Learned Orthodox men who have the Original Give ear O people if these Languages which came up at the confounding of Babel are the Priests Original that makes them Orthodox and Divine then Pilate that crucified Christ was as good an Orthodox Divine as they for when he crucified Christ he writ a Paper in Hebrew Greek and Latine and set a top of him he was as ignorant of Scripture and of Orthodox and Divine matters as you and you as he and the Apostle saith That Tongues must cease then that which makes Orthodox men and Divine as you say must cease according to the Apostles Doctrine and so then Tongues neither are the Original nor make Orthodox nor Divine and John that gave forth the Revelations saith That the Whore and the Beast are set upon Tongues and the Everlasting Gospel must be preached again to all Kindreds and Tongues which were before Babel was who was the first beginner of Tongues Now it is clear that the Gospel must be preached to all Nations and Tongues and that Tongues are not the Original neither do they make Divines or Orthodox men but it is clear that it is the Word which was in the beginning which makes Divines yea Tradesmen which are base and contemptible in the eyes of the proud and them that have gotten Babels Tongues who are confounded by the ministers of the Word which was in the beginning before Babel was for all the Earth was of one Language and Speech before Babel And you that call your selves Orthodox men made by Tongues and say that is your Original who are so blind and cannot see that there was an Original before Babel was for did not Enoch the Prophet the seventh from Adam who prophesied in the Old World before it was destroyed and long before Babel was concerning the coming of Christ in Ten thousand of his Saints as in Jude and Lamech prophesied in the Old World concerning Noah and Adam and others might be instanced before your Tongues which you call your Original were and so we say that the Word of God is the Original which doth fulfil the Scriptures and the Word is it which makes Divines which is called a Hammer but it is a living Hammer and a Sword and Fire but a living Sword and a Fire to hammer cut and burn up that which separated and kept man from God by which Word man is reconciled again to God which is called The word of Reconciliation by this word are men and women sanctified and made clean and this is the Word that makes both men and woman Divines and brings them into the Divine Nature which hammers and cuts down that which corrupted their nature and by this Word aâ—e they brought into a Divine Wisdom Understanding Knowledg Spirit and Power And this is the Word that lives and abides and endures for ever by which the Saints are born again of the Immortal Seed and Word of God who feed upon the Milk of the Word up into a Divine Life Wisdom and Understanding and Divine Nature and by this Word they do see all Flesh to be as Grass and as the Flower of the Field that fadeth and the Word of God that lives and abides and endures for ever which is Christ whose Name is called the Word of God And so to Keep the Word of Patience which is over all the impatient Spirits and then you will know the Word of Life the Word of Patience and Word of Wisdom is Everlasting and abides and endures for ever which all they that be in the Letter out of the Life and Word have neither Patience to themselves nor others for the Word of patience and the Word of Life which is to be kept in all Tribulations was before Death and impatient Spirits were Concerning the Heathen Idolaters naming their Dayes and Moneths THE old Pagan Saxons in their Idolatry Were the first that brought in the names of the Days which those called Christians have retained to this day for they adored Idols and unto them offered Sacrifices and Worshipped the Planets See Vestigans Antiq. and Cambdens Brit. As touching the Idols which these Saxons adored they were divers and though they had many yet seven among the rest they especially appropriated unto the seven
past be sufficient which you have lived according to the Lusts of men and the course of the World that the rest of your time you may live to the will of God taking no though what you shall eat what you shall drink or what you shall put on therein your lives may judge the Heathens and that you may be as the Lillies for nothing you brought into the World neither any thing shall you take out and therefore while the Eye is gazing after every new Fashion and the mind and desire is thirsting to get it when it has it it lifts up its mind and so brings himself under the judgment of them that be in the sober Life and of the World also and to be like one of them Therefore take heed of the Worlds Fashions lest ye be moulded up into their Spirit and that will bring you to slight Truth and lift up the wrong Eye and wrong Mind and wrong Spirit and hurt and blind the pure Eye and pure mind and quench the Holy Spirit and through such foolish Toyes and Fashions and fading things you may lose your conditions And therefore take heed of the World and trust not in uncertain Riches neither covet the Riches of this World but Seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all outward things will follow and let your minds be above the costly and vain Fashions of attire but mind the hidden man of the heart which is a meek and quiet Spirit which is of great price with the Lord and keep to Justice and Truth in all your dealings and tradings at a word and the form of sound words in the Power of the Lord and Equity in Yea and Nay in all your dealings that your Lives and Conversations may be in Heaven and above the Earth that they may preach to all that you have to deal withal so that you may be as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and as Lights of the World answering the equal Principle in all that God in all things may be glorified So that you may pass your time here with fear as Pilgrims and Strangers and Sojourners as having an eye over all things that be uncertain as Cities Houses Lands Goods so as things below they that possess as if they did not and they thaâ— marry as if they did not yet as having a City whose Maker and Builder is God and a Possession of an Inheritance that will never fade away in which you have Riches that will abide with you Eternally Some QUERIES given forth to the Priests or People to Answer if they can 1. HAve any of you the same Spirit and Power as the Prophets and Apostles had 2. Or have you the same Revelation and Inspiration and Spirit of Prophesie and pouring forth of the Holy Ghost or do you own the pouring forth of the Spirit upon Sons and Daughters and is not this the last time in which it should be poured out and the Sons and Daughters should Prophesie and Old men dream Dreams and Young men see Visions 3. Or have you heard Gods voice and Christs voice immediately froâ— Heaven or are you some of them the Lord never sent nor spake unto Answer me these Queries 4. Do you own that Christ that died at Jerusalem to be the Light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world and are not all enlightened by him either to their Salvation or Condemnation 5. What and where is that which must give the knowledge of God is it within People or without them Answer me according to plain Scripture 6. Do you teach or preach that whilst a man is upon the Earth he may be freed from sin and the body of death and imperfection and shall be perfect whilst he be upon Earth or do you keep People in the state of your Father Adam and Mother Eve in the Fall or do you bring them to the state before they fell and so to Christ that shall never fall which of these states do you bring them to and keep your flock in in Adam and Eve in the fall or Adam and Eve before they fell or in Christ that shall never fall you must keep your flock in one of these three states and which of them is it Have you brought any of your flock whom you have driven to that condition and state they need no man to teach them that is to the anointing in them the Law in their hearts whereby they need not say one to another know the Lord that is to the Light of Christ that shines in their hearts to give them the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus and how many have you brought hither 7. What is the Mother of Harlots and what is the Beast she rides upon and what are the People Nations and Multitudes and Tongues the Whore sits upon and what is Mystery Babylon and what is the Woman that went into the Wilderness what was her time she was to be there and what is the Beast and Dragons Worship and what is a Will-worship and what is it to worship Angels and what is that which leads Nature into its Course and so to the glory of the first Body and what is the glory of the second Body and what is that which leads Nature out of its Course and so sets the whole Course of Nature on Fire 8. What is the ground of that which keeps in good manners and what is that which corrupts them and what is the Righteousness the World is reproved off and what are the Judgments and what is that which leads the Saints into all Truth and hath every one the Spirit of God and whether bowing bending dossing hats scraping cringing saying you to one be the honour that comes from above or what is it and whence comes it and whether this before mentioned do not stand in that Nature part and principle which is on fire if it hath not these things and therefore whether or no these things do proceed from that which leads Nature into its Course or out of its Course and what is it that defaces the glory of the first body 9. Whether or no you own Trembling and Quaking at the Word of God 10. Seeing you look upon your selves to differ from many and to be above them let us see wherein and in what it is manifest 11. What is self-Righteousness and what is Man's Righteousness and the Righteousness that is as filthy Rags distinguish these one from another or whether they be all one for our Righteousness is that which was before Adam was whom ye in scorn calls Quakers 12. Whether ever any came to see so far as Balaams Ass who saw the Angel of the Lord 13. What are the Graves and the Tombes and the Sepulchres and the Fowls of the Air and the Nests they sit in which Christ spake of Answer 14. Whether or no to pay Tythes or receive Tythes is not to deny Christ Jesus
to be come in the flesh and to deny Christ to be offered up the offering once for all and was not theirs of the Tythes a heave-offering and was not that Offering to be ended by Christ offering up himself and had not the Priests a Commandment to take Tythes of the People of their Brethren and do not you transgress the Law of God which take them of those you do not call brethren and was not the Widows Fatherless and Strangers to have a part of the Tythes and was every Priest and Levite and them that was to have a part of them to have a particular Tythe-Barn and was Tythes to be sold and was there any Impropriators and whether they do not hold up the Priests of the Jews and their Law and Commandments that take Tythes and give Tythes and so denyes Christ the Priest in holding up the Jews Priests 15. And whether or no MELCHISEDECK did taâ—e Tythes of all other Nations that were under him or any other Spoil but once of ABRAHAM and whether he had a Command for doing it or whether it was an Example 16. And whether the Jews did take Tythes of the Canaanites or any of those Nations that lived among them or of any People where ever they came that they had the power over that was not of them 17. You that speak so much of Christs Reigning whether or no Your Swords are beat into Plowshares and your Spears into Pruning-hooks that you do not learn War any more that Nation shall not lift up a Sword against Nation And whether or no this Ministration should be amongst Christians seeing that it was Christs Doctrine That they should love one another and love Enemies And he bad Peter put up his Sword And the Apostle said Their Weapons were Spiritual Secondly Doth not Peter say That the Heavens must receive Christ Jesus until the time of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of his Prophets since the World began Act. 3. Now do you look at restoring of things then by what doth Christ restore whether by his Light and Power within People or without them seeing the sin is within them and whether or no Christ doth not remain in the Heavens untill all things be restored and whether or no Christ doth not now Reign and whether or no he is not restoring and then by what as I said before doth he restore seeing he is in the Heavens and must remain in the Heavens until all things be restored and whether or no some was not restored when they sate in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2. And whether or no he that remaines in the Heavens be not also manifest in man that is restored and lives and walks and reigns in him Answer this you that talk of a Personal Reign 18. What is that Voice of Christ which his Sheep hears and knows from all false Voices and all that hear cannot endure any more to hear the Voice of a Stranger Hireling or Thief 19. What or where is the Word that People shall hear behind them saying This is the Way Walk in it when they turn to the right hand or the left or what the Word of Faith that none needs to say Who shall ascend to Heaven or into the depth to seek Christ fâ—om above or below but was nigh in their hearts and Is not the same now Answer in Writing the thing Queried G. F. CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES WE Witness the Life thereof and by the same do we witness the Scriptures to be Truth and serviceable in its place and was written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World is come 1 Cor. 10.11 And to us it is given to know but to the World in Parables Luke 8.10 And he that would go about to unfold the Parables to the dark mindes by the Serpentine Wit and Imagination he must be kept out of the Scripture and he who takes the Scriptures and makes a Trade of them professing to interpret them and so gets a living by them which was spoken forth freely he is a deceiver and must be shut out of the Scripture and who reads or takes the Scripture to talk or dâ—scoâ—rse of and is ignorant of the Life must be kept out of the Scripture for all those runs in with their Scripture Wit and Imaginations wresting them for their own ends adding and diminishing to their own destruction and so he must be shut out of the Scripture for hence arises all these Sects and Opinions in the World running into the Scripture with their Wit Imaginations and dark mindes one imagining one way and another another way and one of this opinion and another of that opinion but opinion are no assurance but are fallible and every one out of the way because they want the Life which is the Mystery and this is the difference between all Sects and Opinions and the infallible Truth and so they come not in by the door but are climbing up another way and so are shut out of the Kingdom but the same which gave them forth the same can open them and to it they are no Mystery nor Parable nor needs any meaning for they are of no private interpretation nor came they in the old time by the will of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost neither can the will of man open them but the same which spake them forth the same can open them and speak them forth freely so let him that hath a dream tell a dream and he that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully What is the Chaffe to the Wheat saith the Lord So he that hath the Letter let him speak the Letter and he that hath the Life let him speak the Life What is the Husk to the Kernel And what should Swine do with Pearls whose Life is in Husks and there they feed He that can receive let him the same which gave it forth the same can open it And he who saith the Letter is the Word is a deceiver and erres not knowing the Scripture for the Scripture saith In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God John 1.1 And the Word of the Lord came to the Prophets and they spake from the Word of the Lord Jer. 2.1 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among the Apostles and they saw the glory thereof as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father full of grace and truth And the Word is quick and powerfull sharper than a two-edged Sword and the Word is immortal and this the Apostles in whom the Word dwelt bore witness of and hath left it upon record and we witness the same the Word is the same which was is and is to be for ever and who putteth the Letter for the Word is blind and putteth the Shadow for the Substance and must be shut out of the Scripture And he who saith the Letter is the
such are a terror to evil-doers and for the praise and encouragement of those that do well and such bear not the Sword in vain but stand in the Will of God which is cross to their own wills and they Rule for God and not for themselves and this Government is of God and not of Man nor after the will of Man neither takes hold of any tender Conscience nor oppresses it but stands in the place where it is set and some such Magistrates there hath been in the Northern parts of this Nation who witness the Law of God set up in their hearts and feared God and hated covetousness and testified against those who did not and so corrupt Magistrates sought to put them out so let all who are single-hearted judge who are destructive to true Magistracy and Government Concerning SUPERIORITY and HONOUR BREEDING and MANNERS also of the Word THOU to any single Person In the beginning when God made Man he made him to be Lord over all creatures Gen. 1.26 27 28. but not man to be Lord over man Yet he was to be servant of God and when he had disobeyed the command of God God spoke to Adam and Adam spoke to him and God thoued Adam and Adam thoued him and here was the plain language betwixt God and Adam And when God appeared to Moses in the Bush God thoued Moses and Moses thoued him and this was the plain language which ever passed betwixt God and his people in all Ages and thou that disdains to be thoued would exalt thy self above God who thous God in thy formall prayers and scornes to take it thy self therefore thou must come down as Lucifer did but it is Lucifer in thee that is exalted who must not be honoured but must be cast down into the pit and it is he who is head in man who would be honoured and would be superior and would be above God and calls this Manners and Breeding to bow to him and honour him and he hath vented wayes whereby he is honoured and exalted aâ—d worshipped and he calls this Manners and Breeding and who can honour him the most and exalt him the highest those he saith is the best bred and of the best breeding and those he calls Noblemen and Gentilmen and the other he calls Yeomen and common People and Inferioâ—rs though they all honour him but they observe it not so much as the other but their mindes is more set upon the Earth and Earâ—hly things to get wealth and riches and those he calls providenâ— carefull people but he that seeks preferment in the world and would be exalted and set up seek to get his breeding in as excellent manner as he can that so he may get in favour with Lucifer that sits in the Courts and high Places and so long as he pleases Lucifer he will set him up but both he and Lucifer must be cast down into the pit together Obad. 3 4. and here is the ground of the worlds Superiority Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding and Manners and here they Lord over one another by their corrupt wills and here is the ground of all Tyranny and Oppression Rackings and Taxings and Wars and Imprisonments and Envy and Murder and the Persecutions of the righteous all arises from proud Lucifer the Lust in man who would be honoured and all this is in the Fall and under the Curse but Mordechai could not bow to him in Haman and therefore he sought to destroy him and informed the King against him and all the Jewes in the Nation and said they were a scattered people and â—heir Lawes were diverse from all people neither did they observe the Law of the King then he set up a paire of Gallows for Mordechai Esth 6.1 2. but Haman was hanged on his own Gallows and is cast down to nothing and Mordechai is exalted in his stead so there is a time that Mordechai is despised and Haman exalted and there is a time that Haman is cast down and Mordehcai exalted and there is a time that Esau reignes over Jacob and there is a time that the Elder serves the Younger Gen 25.3 and there is a time that Pharoah rules and oppresses the Israelites but there is a time of Israels deliverance and Pharoah drowned in the Sea Exod. 11.9 So there is a time that Antichrist sits in the Temple of God as God and saith he is God 2 Thes 2.4 and Christ lyeth low in the Manger but there is a time that he must be cast into the Pit Rev. 19. and Christ alone exalted He that can receive it let him But in all Ages the children of God could not bow to Lucifer nor his Image and this was the cause why Shadrach Mesech and Abednego was cast into the fiery Furnace Dan. 6. and this was the cause why Daniel was cast into the Lyons den but by the hand of his God whom he alone worshipped and honoured he was delivered and exalted and his Adversaries cast down in his place and this was the cause why the Prophets were alwayes persecuted and imprisoned and the Apostles Acts 7. vers 6. who came to turn the World upside down And this is the cause now why the Ministers and Messengers of Jesus Christ are imprisoned stoned stocked whipped and shamefully entreated whom the Lord is pleased immediately to call from their outward Callings and Countries and sends them abroad into seveâ—al Countries to preach his Name no more after the flesh but after the Spirit and who knows him must know him no more after the flesh but after the Spirit And those come to turn the World upside down being crucified to the World and the World to them and these cannot honor Lucifer nor bow to Lucifer nor worship his Image though there was a time when they did but that was done in Egypt when they knew not God but now Lucifer and his Image is cast down and Christ alone exalted and the pure and perfect Law is witnessed which respects no mans person but God alone honoured and exalted and this we witness For amongst us there are no Superiours after the flesh but Christ is the Head and all the rest fellow-servants And he that would be the greatest should be the least and he that respects persons commits sin And the Angel would not suffer John to bow to him but said he was his fellow-servant and this we witness who are redeemed out of the Kingdom of the Devil from amongst the Children of this World into the Kingdom of the Son who are crucified to the world and the world to us by the Spiritual Cross of Christ in which we joy and glory amongst whom there is no partiallity nor respect of persons but all in union in one though ten thousand and here God alone is King and he alone is honoured exalted and worshipped no more after the flesh but after the Spirit for we have no other God in whom our hearts delight and here proud
of Life yet if that part be not kept in the death if there be not a praying and watching to the Preserver of Israel in the pure fear and humility the Enemy will be sowing to the Flesh again he will be getting some of his corrupt Seed into the heart again if the Soul do but sleep and become negligent and so corruption will take root again and the contrary Birth grow up again and the Foxes break into the Vineyard and spoil the tender grapes So that this is our Religion to witness the two Seeds with the Power of the Lord bringing down the one and bringing up the other and then to witness and experience daily the same Power keeping the one in Death and the other in Life by the holy ministration of Gods pure living Covenant And so to know God in this Covenant in this Covenant which lives gives Life and Keeps in Life and to walk with God and worship and serve him therein even in his Son in the Light of his Son in the Life of his Son in the vertue and ability which flows from his Son into our Spirits this is our Religion which the Lord our God in his tender mercy hath bestowed upon us And indeed we find this to be a pure living and undefiled Religion before God daily witnessing his acceptance of it in and through his Son whose Name is here known and confessed worshipped and honoured according to the very heart of the Father This may be further illustrated and perhaps made more manifest to some by a Scripture or two The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary one to the other saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 Here are the two Seeds the Seed of the Serpent the Seed of the woman whose striving and fight is in man when God awakens the Soul the one whereof hath a nature a desire or lust contrary to the other Now as the one of these prevails in any heart so the other goes down As the one gains Life and Power so the other is brought into Death and Captivity so that this is it every one is to wait for after they once come to the sensible knowledge and experience of these two to feel the Flesh brought down the lusts of it denied the Judgments of the Lord administred to it that so the other may come up to live thrive and prevail in the Soul and so the Soul witness Salvation and Redemption under its shadow Thus Sion is Redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness Isa 1.27 What is Sion Is it not the holy Hill of God whereon his Son is set King to reign whereon the holy City is to be built and God to be worshipped in Spirit What condition is Sion in when God visits her to redeem her Is she not laid wast desolate lying in the dust as Psal 102.13 14. Well how will God redeem her Zion shall be redeemed with Judgement and her Converts with Righteousness By bringing Judgements upon that which keeps her under upon her Enemies the contrary Seed God redeems her and by bringing forth Righteousness the righteous Life and Spirit of his own Son in those whose minds are turned to her whose faces are set Sion-ward thus God redeems her Converts Yes yes it is truly felt and witnessed The living Righteousness of Christ revealed in the heart and having power there sets free from all unrighteousness which was there before And then when the unrighteous one is cast out and the righteous one is revealed and the Soul united to him and receives virtue and power from him then he becomes a Servant of Righteousness and doth not commit sin but doth righteousness And he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous 1 John 3.7 For how can it be otherwise when the righteous Life is revealed and brought up into dominion in him How can the same righteous Spirit and Life revealed in the members as was in the head but live and act after the same manner in the members as it did in the head O that men were turned to that which would give them the certain knowledge and sensible experience of this Now this is exceeding comfortable and precious to them that are in the true travel towards it much more to them that enjoy it This is the sum of all even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death and kept in death what to be brought up out of the grave to live to God and reign in his dominion and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to reign Now to experience it thus done in the heart the Flesh brought down the Seed of Life raised and the Soul subject to the pure heavenly Power whose right it is to reign in the heart in and by the Seed this is a blessed state indeed for here the work is done here the Throne of God is exalted and his King reigns in righteousness and peace and all his Enemies are under his feet and this Soul this true Israelite this redeemed one may wear the white Robe and serve God in righteousness and holiness without fear of his Enemies keeping in and to the Covenant which ministers Life and Power abundantly all the dayes of his life For that was to be the outward state of the outward Israel keeping to God in the outward Covenant and it is to be the inward state of the inward Israel keeping to God in the inward Covenant which is a pure Covenant of life and Peace of all inward and spiritual blessings and mercies in Christ wherewith the Souls are blessed that are obedient to God and walk humbly with him in this Covenant And I beseech you to consider O tender people who are grieved because of sin and corruption in your hearts and would fain witness victory and dominion over it in the Name and Strength of the Lord Jesus Christ whom did that prophesie of Zachary Luke 1.71 72 74 75. concern what was that holy Covenant who were to be so redeemed who were the Israel that was to inherit this promise All the Promises are yea and amen in Christ to the Israel of God Why should not the Israel of God hope to enjoy this even so to be acquainted with Gods holy Spirit and to wait upon him that they may witness it granted to them that they being delivered out of the hands of their Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him whose eyes are piercing and behold no iniquity all the dayes of their lives Surely they who witness that promise mentioned Isa 35.8 fulfilled to them cannot fall short of this And truly the Children of the New Covenant can never come throughly to live to God till they witness the inward Circumcision of the Heart so as to love the Lord with all the Heart and Soul Deut. 30.6 Now where it is so the Devil or Lust can find no place of entrance
to man as he stands in the alienation from God It crosseth his spirit his thoughts his desires his knowledge his reason his understanding even all that is of himself He must therefore conâ—ult with none of these but prefer the little pure Demonstration of the Light of Christs Spirit above all these and stand in the parting with and loss of them all for ever O this is an hard saying who can bear it Surely none but those that are taught and learn of the Father can thus come to give up to and follow the Light of the Son The Law of the Lord is perfest converting or restoring the Soul Psal 19.7 What Law was this or what Law is this Was it the Law of workes in the hand of Moses or is it the Law of Faith in the hand of Christ Doth not Christ enlighten every man that cometh into the World Would not God have all men to be saved and doth he not give to all a proportion of the true Light whereby they may be saved And it is not the property of this Light to convert to God Can any man receive this and be united to this and it not change his nature so that he must needs have a new nature and from that new nature do that naturally which the Jews by all their endeavours with-out this could never do Can any thing convert fallen man to God but Christ hath any thing power to convert to God but his pure Law of Life Can Christ and his Light be seprated Can any man receive his Light and be united thereto and not receive him O that mens hearts and understandings were opened by the Spirit and Power of the Lord For this is a direct riddle to all men who have not Gods Heifer to Plow with to understand it by And so for want of a true understanding it is despised and rejected among the Builders but with us it is elect and precious chosen of God and precious in the eye of our Souls Now this doth not exclude or make void any thing that Christ did in his Body of Flesh here on Earth or that he doth in Heaven for his but this brings unto a Right and into a Possession and Enjoyment of his Purchase For all that are in the Darkness and walk in the Darkness have nothing to do with Christ in truth and reallity what ever they may profess and what hopes soever they may feed themselves with but all that are in any measure of his Light and walk therein they are so far of him and have a right to and share in all that he did in and from the same Light and Spirit And this I dare positively hold forth as a standing Truth which hath been sealed unto me by constant experience that no man can fall in with and obey the Light wherewith he is enlightened but he must deny himself and take up a Cross to his own wisdom and will which Cross is the Cross of Christ which is the Power of God to the Salvation of the Soul And he that takes it up daily and waits upon the Lord therein shall witness the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to the redemption of his Soul ye then he shall be able in true understanding to say This is Light indeed Life indeed Power indeed That powerfull Arm which hath saved me from Sin and breaks the Snares Devices and Strength of the Enemy before me delivering me daily when none else can and when my own strength and wisdom is as nothing I cannot but call Christ the living Power and Wisdom of God revealed in me who will not give his glory to another For he is the Lord God of pure Power and Life for evermore and beside him there is no such Saviour Yea blessed be the Name of the Lord for ever the dayes of mourning after Salvation are over with many and the dayes of reaping and enjoying Salvation are come which shall endure with the Israel of God for evermore Amen Isaac Penington An Incitation to Professors seriously to consider Whether they or we fail in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem WE who are commonly called Quakers being a People whom the Lord hath gathered out of the wandrings out of the many Professions out of the several scattered estates and conditions wherein his Eye pittied us and his love found us out into a measure of the eternal rest where we have found that Life that Power that Manifestation of the Eternal Spirits and that redeeming Virtue which we never were before distinctly acquainted with I say having tasted of this haveing known this having felt this and come to a real enjoyment of it in some degree in our several measures we could not possibly conceal this Treasure but in bowels of love and in the movings of the Life and Power of the Spirit have been drawn to testifie of it to them who were left behind groveling under the burthen of corruption and crying out because of the sin and bondage from the powers of darkness who hath in a mist withheld their eyes from beholding that living Virtue which is able to save and doth save blessed be his Name therefrom Now this we have often found That this our Testimony hath not been received in the same Spirit and Love wherein it hath gone forth but the Enemy by his subtilty hath raised up jealosies concerning us and prejudices against us as if we denyed the Scriptures and Ordinances of God and that Christ that died at Jerusalem professing him only in words to win upon others by but denying him in reallity and substance To cleare this latter for my heart is only at this present drawn out concerning that we have solemnly professed in the sight of the Lord God who hath given us the knowledge of his â—on in Life and Power these two things First That we do really in our hearts own that Christ who came in the fulness of time in that prepared Body to do the Fathers Will his coming into the World Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection c. in plainness and simplicity of heart according as it is expressed in the Letter of the Scriptures Secondly That we own no other Christ then that nor hold forth no other-thing for Christ but him who then appeared and was made manifest in flesh Now it would be nakedly inquired into by Professors What is the reason that their jealousies still remain concerning us and why they are still so ready to cast this upon us Certainly if they did know and own the same thing with us in the Spirit and in the Power in the Life and in the Love which is of the Truth this prejudice and these hard thoughts could not remain But if they themselves do not know Christ in the Spirit but only according to a relation of the Letter no marvel though they miss both of the Spirit and of the true intent and meaning of the Letter and Likewise be liable to
clash against the Truth as it is made manifest in others And indeed the Lord hath shewen me in Spirit several times that they themselves are guilty of that very charge and that he will so implead them at his Judgment Seat which they cast upon us even of denying that Christ which died at Jerusalem to be the Christ For he that owneth the words of Scripture as he apprehends or conceives them in the reasonings of his mind and doth not wait to have them revealed in the Spirit keeping out of his own reasonings and conceivings and waiting patiently till the Lord open the thing in the Spirit he setteth up his own conceivings or an Image in his mind of the mind of the Spirit but misseth of the thing it self which alone is known in the Spirit by them who wait upon the Spirit there to receive it and are not hasty to set up their own reasonings and imaginations concerning the thing in the mean time No man can in Truth call Jesus the Lord but by the Spirit But any man that is any thing serious and weighs the Scriptures in the natural part may so learn to acknowledge his coming into the World and that he is Lord and King c. and may thus call him Lord yea and kindle a great heat in his affections towards him but all this out of the Life out of the Spirit is but mans Image which he forms in his mind in his reading the Scriptures and observing things therefrom But the true calling Jesus Lord is from the feeling of his eternal Virtue in the Spirit and finding the Scriptures opened to him by the Spirit in a Principle which is above the Reason comprehends the Reason and confounds and brings it to nothing Again There is no true Knowledge of Christ no living Knowledge no saving Knowledge which hath the eternal Virtue in it but that which is received and retained in a measure of Light given by God to the Creature in the Faith which is the Gift in the Grace which is supernatural and spiritual whereas the resoning part is but Natural And such as have received the Spiritual understanding know it to be distinct from the Natural and we experimentally find a very clear distincttion between Scriptures searched out by the reasonings of the mind and so practises drawn therefrom and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Now that Professors generally have not received their knowledge of Christ from the Spirit or from Scriptures opened it the Spirit and so know not the thing but only such a relation of the thing as mans reasoning part may drink in from the Letter of the Scriptures is manifest by this In that they are not able in Spirit and Understandind to distinguish the thing it self from the Garment wherewith it was cloathed though the Scriptures be very express therein Speak of Christ according to a Relation of the Letter there they can say somewhat but come to the Substance come to the Spirit of the thing come to the thing it self there they stutter and stammer and shew plainly that they know not what it is Now the Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore between him that came and the Body in which he came between the Substance which was vailed and the Vail which vailed it Lo I come a body hast thou prepared me There is plainly He and the Body in which he came There was the outward Vessel and the inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the bodily Garment Christ but that which appeared and dwelt in the Body Now if ye indeed know the Christ of God tell us plainly what that is which appeared in the Body whether that was not the Christ before it took up the Body after it took up the Body and for ever And then their confining of Christ to that Body plainly manifesteth that they want the knowledge of him in Spirit For Christ is the Son of the Father he is the infinite eternal Being one with the Father and with the Spirit and cannot be divided from either cannot be any where where they are not nor can be excluded from any place where they are He may take up a Body and appear in it but cannot be confined to be no where else but there no not at the very time while he is there Christ while he was here on Earth yet was not excluded from being in Heaven with the Father at the very same time as he himself said concerning himself The Son of Man which is in Heaven John 3.13 Nor was the Father excluded from being with him in the Body but the Father was in him and he in the Father whereupon he said to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father What did every one that saw that Body see the Father also Nay not so but he that saw Christ the Son of the living God whom flesh and blood revealed not but the Father only Mat 16.16 17. he saw the Father also O Frinds look to your knowledge of Christ and to your Faith and Knowledge of the Scriptures and to your Prayers also for it is easie missing of the living substance in all these and meeting with a shaddow which may please and make a great shew in the earthly part in the natural understanding and affections but satisfieth not the Soul or that which is born after the Spirit but still the cry there goes out where the Soul is awakned after Truth Substance Life Virtue from Gods Spirit in the Spirit which it alone can feed upon These four things following I am certain of which he that cometh into the true Light shall infallibly experience them there First That nothing can save but the knowledge of Christ even of that very Christ and no other who took upon him the prepared Body and offered it up at Jerusalem Secondly That no Knowledge of Christ can save but the living Knowledge Not a knowledge of him after the Letter which the carnal part may get much of and value it self much by but a knowledge of him in the Spirit which is only given to that which is begotten and born of the Spirit and only retained by that which abides and remains in the Spirit and runs not out into the fleshly reasonings imaginings and concevings about the things mentioned in the Scriptures Thirdly That that man who knoweth not Christ in Spirit nor keepeth close to him in Spirit but through darkness and misguidance of the spirit of deceit called the shinings of his Light his reproofs his checks for that which is evil and his secret motions to that which is good natural This man though he seem to own Christ never so much according to the Letter yet in Truth denies him Fourthly He that denies Christ in his knocking 's and visitations of him in his own heart and before men in the Truths which he holds forth by his Servants and Ministers of his Spirit him will he