and purposes as if it had never been Then why should not that judgement reach to the Innocent and set them free from their sufferings which originally was occasioned by his Power and have for many years together continued Prisoners I am sure sound Reason or a tender heart will judge this demand both lawful and expedient to be granted 2. This present Power now being in Government under which Power there are Courts Ecclesiastical appointed then all that have been Arrested by Writs original from any Temporal Court since this present Power Governed and who do remain in Prisons upon such Arrests in case of Tythes their Liberty may be justly challenged and demanded and it will be but a reasonable thing for such as are now in Power to grant it and cause it to be done I do not state these Cases as being versed in points of Law but as they are opened to me in the Truth in which Truth is the pure and sound Reason and that Truth and Reason seeth thorow all things that are unreasonable and also manifests what is reasonable that the Truth and sound Reason in another may answer it and receive it and in the Truth man comes to see all uunreasonable things and let all reasonable People now judge whether it be reasonable on their part that practise such things as are here mentioned and through such practices cause Innocent People to suffer and whether it be reasonable that Innocent People should yet suffer and be continued in Prison upon such grounds And whether such as now do suffer in those cases can be lawfully detained being Imprisoned upon original Writs in case of Tythes And though such things were done when there was not another way left to recover them and greedy men would not be satisfied without them though at that time there was such a practice and proceedings yet that Power being now judged unlawful and removed such things are returned into their old channel again and are to be tried in Ecclesiastical Courts onely Not that I hereby justifie the proceedings of any Court in this case for I have already shewed the ground of this matter to be corrupted and am now wading amongst the fowl and unclean streames where I find little delight as to my self but through a necessity laid upon me to do good both to Persecutors and Sufferers I am constrained to travel amongst these things though I hasten through them as contraries to my Life Now these things being duely considered it cannot but reasonably be judged that we have good cause who in these cases are concerned to demand our just Liberty and do expect it and if Liberty be denyed unto us upon this reasonable demand then let such know who are our Oppressors that we yet in patience do abide and in patience we do bear a sure Testimony against all evil-doers and unreasonable men And here it may be seen what bitter streams the Pope's fountain sendeth forth and not only so but also how those that are concerned in the practice of the Law do degenerate from reasonable men and with their unreasonable part do divert the streams from their proper course though in that channel they are too bitter for honest men to drink yet being diverted from that course they are made much more bitter from such as do practise in them for if any part of Reason did order the practice in such cases it would not prove so tedious and burdensome to those that are concerned to make defence If a man 's own Appearance would be taken for a sufficient Appearance as it ought to be or if a true Answer would be taken for a sufficient Answer without an Oath as it ought to be or if the Sheriff would have a man's Body to appear according to his Warrant as he ought to do this would come something near to Reason in practice and would not be so grievous to poor men who desire to fear God and walk in his Truth but men are shamefully degenerated from Truth and Reason and their very hearts and minds are corrupted and their wayes are all crooked and there is no soundness in their goings so that an houest simple man cannot walk with them but be defiled and ensnared And now I shall mention one thing and that from the Law for confirmation of what I have here layed down in the particular case of Tythes by which it doth fully appear that no Temporal Court hath any power to proceed against any man in that case for the Law saith after this manner 32. Hen. 8. ch 7. That some have not letted to substract the lawful and accustomed Tythes of Corn Hay Pasturages and other sorts of Tythes and Oblations commonly due to the owners proprietors and other possessors c. Wherefore it is enacted That all and singular persons of what estate or degree soever shall fully and truly and effectually divide yeeld or pay all and singular Tythes and Offerings aforesaid c. and if any do detain any part of the said Tythes or Offerings then the party either Ecclesiastical or lay person having cause to demand the said Tythes and being thereof wronged or grieved shall and may convent the person or persons so offending before the Ordinary his Commissary or other competent Minister or lawful Judge of the place where such wrong shall be done according to the Ecclesiastical Laws c. And another branch of the Statute speaketh on this wise That if any Ecclesiastical or Spiritual profits which now be or hereafter shall be made Temporal unto any person or persons and that if any other person or persons go about to disseize them or disinherite them then in that case the party or parties grieved may have their remedy in the Temporal Courts as may be seen more at large in the full Statute So here is a plain distinction made for whilst any thing remains in the nature of Tythes and only denyed as Tythes and Offerings no Temporal Court hath power to examine or determine in that case but the Ecclesiastical Courts onely but if any man shall call in question the Estate of another in the ground as it was once counted Spiritual and now converted into the possession of a lay person if an Interest in this case be questioned then have the Temporal Courts power to examine and determine the Interest of such Estate And there are divers other Statutes which do refer the recovering of Tythes where they are denyed to the determination of Ecclesiastical Courts only which I shall not at this time and in this place take notice of to mention for that which is already said may be sufficient to convince a reasonable man or woman that the ground and rise of them is out of the Truth and the way to recover them if denyed is to be in Ecclesiastical Courts only and not in Temporal Courts and that from determination of the Law in that case All which doth make it evidently appear how much we have been and are still
in order and he is a Christian and not an Infidel for all Infidels are unfaithful to the Light and so neglect their own houses and take no care for their own family and their house is out of order and their family is not provided for and there is no peace in that house for when man's eye opens into the world he lets his enemies into his house and they sit and rejoyce over him there the lust of the Eye goeth forth and the pride of Life exalteth and ruleth and in that part all envy and malice and evil-will is begotten and nourished and there the seed of the evil-doet hath his authority and from his power proceeds all unrighteousness all the bad thoughts words and deeds it is the very Womb of cruelty and the Breast that nourisheth the persecuting Birth and whilest this is entertained that peace of the house is disturbed and all the family is out of order and such a man is worse than an Infidel who takes not care of his own family but le ts in enemies and entertains them and so harbours that which disquieteth his family and destroyes it and then his own house being filled with enemies and they sitting in authority over him he becomes actually disposed by them and in their nature he appears against others and so envy and malice and evil-will and cruelty and persecution is brought forth and from the strength of darkness within it comes to be executed upon the innocent without and this is the wicked state unto which there is no peace but the righteous rejoyce in God and in his Love their peace is sealed Now the Light being loved the house comes to be cleansed and all the old rubbish of envy and malice purged out for the Power comes to have an operation in all that believe and by its working it kills the lust of the eye and cuts down the pride of Life and slayes the perverse Nature in every part and roots out the man of Sin and brings down the Throne of Antichrist and so the Seed of God riseth and the water of cleansing is felt and the little leaven is known that worketh all into a new lump so that the heart and mind becomes clean and the inward parts are washed and here Christ is known in his power and his fan is felt to go in man and the fire is felt that burns the chaffe and for this end is Christ made manifest and thus doth he come to man in the fall his judgement is with him yea it goes before him to cut down the seed of the evil-doer but they who abide the day of his coming or who stand before him when he thus appeareth who love his refining hand and turn not their back upon him or who abide the furnace until the work be perfected by him Oh his appearance is dreadful whilst the wicked standeth but his mercy is sweet when the wicked is removed And thus to be regenerated is a work beyond man 's own reason and thus to be renewed and changed is a state not to be comprehended and who comes to the putting off their old things they are ready to receive new and so passes from death to life in the translation and then they are born again of incorruptible Seed in which Seed the Gospel is known and Gospel-Peace possessed and there is Christ in his power over all he rules in the family and all the house is in good order and plentifully provided for and he fills that house with his peace and all the family have fulness of joy in his presence Here a man is in Christ and is a Christian and then he is no more his own but in the Life he is disposed and all his fruits appear for God Love is become his Garment and Meekness the Girdle of his Loins and this is the Birth born of God and to do his will it doth delight to love enemies is its nature and it can feed them when they hunger and give them drink when they thrist it cannot revile when it is reviled it cannot seek revenge when it is persecuted for it is born of Love and in love is naturally disposed and this is the man that is after God who is regenerated by the power of God and is born of the Seed of God which Seed is holy pure and perfect which Seed is Christ the Wisdom and Righteousness of God and as he is in himself so he is made the same to all that are born of him then man with his virtues becomes cloathed and is holy as he is holy in which holinesse God is seen and in this pure holy life of Christ the pure Religion is known a Religion undefiled mark Christ undefiled the Religion undefiled and that Religion that is not so is none of his for the pure Religion standeth in him and all his fresh springs open in it the heavenly water of Life is felt and known and his Streames run and cease not the Lord God doth open his Fountain the strength of his love goes forth the River cleanseth the Valleys and the sweetness of its virtue is felt from sea to sea the strength of it is very great and the banks with its fulness is ready to break this Religion flourisheth in the Life and in the Life it stands firm for ever and of its heavenly virtue there is no end And here is the standing Truth in which Truth Christ is fed upon and the meat that endures to everlasting life is known This is the Bread that comes down from heaven which if a man eat he shall never die and except man eat of this he hath no Life in Christ and in this all changable things have their end he puts that part down out of which the many Religions arise and so they decay and wax old but he endures the same for ever and brings in a standing Religion in his own nature and in this Religion there is no strife nor envy nor persecution for that is Cain's mark but love and peace and good will to all men the love that overcomes Cain's nature and races out his mark and proclaims Peace on earth and Good-will amongst men Here is Christ manifested in the Fathers Love and he would not the death of a sinner this is his mind and a sinner is conttary to his pure Nature in which there is no sin Then they have not the Mind of Christ that will Kill and Persecute about Religion and Oppress those that are contrary minded that is the work of Antichrist where ever it is and such are not redeemed out of the World but lives in it and with that part slays the Lamb and crucifies the holy One and that is spiritual Sodom and Egypt where the Just suffers for man not being redeemed hath a part standing that doth not regard the Innocency but rules over it and there man is wise in his own eyes and with that part he is lifted up and under that part doth the Innocent
suffer and that is the part which defiles a man and tosses his mind with the waves of its sea for man can never come to true settlement whilst that part liveth in him that would be wise in knowledge out of the Life and whilst man is there seeking to know and to be satisfied with knowledge that very part comes over him with a vail and blinds his mind from that which he is seeking to know and this part will wrest things according to its own apprehension and from its own apprehension will draw conclusions and that doth thicken the vail upon man's heart but never removes it and man being thus scituate in his own Wisdom and Reason and with that part comprehending he stands at the greatest distance from that through which the things of God are revealed and his mind is not simple to receive the simple Truth but in the subtile wisdom of the flesh and the reason in that part he is striving to comprehend and here many seek but find not ask but receive not they are amiss in themselves and would receive things into that part which God doth never answer and many lye here unsatisfied and many also that satisfie themselves with that which they have comprehended into which their belief is entered though from God that part was never answered and so they build their nests on high and in their wisdom sit puffed up and there the fowls of the aire please themselves with notions with which the just are oppressed Oh how many entertain their enemy in their house how do they harbour him and lodge him and every way seek to please him as the most worthy guest but the best friend may stand and knock and not a door open to let him in Oh that people did but consider their present states how is man filled with that which the enemy brings home and how doth he receive it as the most lovely thing if the old wisdom doth but hunt and the old reason bring it home with what joy is that entertained and how choicely is that treasured up and what pride and glory doth man take in such riches it needs not be answered in words for he that with the Light of Christ will search his own house may find it to be so and receive an answer from the Witness of God in his own Conscience and therefore it is high time for all people of all sorts and sects to awake for time is swift and being past none can make it their own again Oh search with that of God in you that which bears the burden of uncleanness and of all your own righteousness Oh down into the deeps where you never yet have been that you may come to clearness in the bottom and learn the wonders of the Lord in that place and if you love the Light you may see your guests and how with strangers every room of your house is filled and how the Son of Peace and Love is excluded and shut out he is too low for your Wisdom and too mean for your Reason and when he would come in by his Light and beget your love unto him your eye cannot behold any comliness in him and so you exclude him as not worthy of acceptation and he being thus rejected that is holy and meek and just and good what can your houses be filled withal but passion and deceit and envy and malice yea rottenness and hypocrisie is lodged in your rooms and with such guests your houses are filled and there is an unclean house and an unclean heart and mind which God's beesom of judgement must pass thorow before the Son of Peace come into that house to govern So in the universal Love of God here is the Truth laid down as it is in Jesus that all who seek after the Lord God may be informed into the right way and let them mind well what here breefly followeth The Light comes from God and shines in darkness and with the Light darkness is discovered for the Light is not of darkness though it shines in darkness but with its manifestation it sheweth and reproveth darkness with its deeds and that is the first Principle of the pure Religion and the first Step into the way of Peace for to obey the Light is to obey Christ the Power of God and through obedience when the Light reproveth the Power is felt to take away that which is reproved and Judgement is executed upon that Nature which hath transgressed for the Power being minded it begets man into a self-denial and leads him in the daily cross to all that which it doth reprove in him and then the Power crucifies that part down which hath disquieted and troubled man in himself and through the Power man comes to his Peace for the way of the Cross is the way of Peace and the Cross is the Power of God and the Power stands in the way which leads unto Life and self must bow and be humbled unto it and the Cross must be daily taken up to that part which would save its Life and there must not be a turning aside to flie the Cross for that which draweth to do so is darkness and not Light and there is a part in man that is very hardly brought to the Cross and if it be brought unto it it is a very hard thing to keep it there the Life is sweet and would save it self and so the darkness standeth to wrest aside from the Cross and that which wresteth from the Cross doth wrest the Scriptures also unto which it draws the mind and raises up a defence for its Liberty here darkness wresteth and then catcheth and enshareth and the old Wisdom and Reason doth here betray the Innocency and such never come clearly thorow though they may have seen some openings for the Cross being denied and the judgement fled man never comes to be changed but abides in the old nature and what he hath seen afar off he gathers it into the old part and with that unrighteous part he holds the Truth and that is the part which loveth not the Cross but to die is the greatest gain Who have ears to hear let them hear When a man can stand still and eye the Power and the work of the Power in himself then he sees from whence his Salvation cometh and then Christ is known in his Power and received in his Power and there is no reasoning against him which Power is the Cross to every part of the old nature and humbles it down to the death and crucifies the world unto man and man unto the world and there he loses his own Life with all his Wealth and all his old garments are stripped from him and the willing and running ceaseth in him and all his own Wisdom and Reason comes into silence and there he lies before the Power a naked Child and in that state waits for an entrance into a new Life which through the Cross is attained and there is the