fear to be cheated or deceived because the uprightness deals plainly and simply and speaks of things as they are and not otherwise and cannot conceal any fault if it know it to be a fault and then there would be a closing in few words as the Commodity was liked and yea and nay would stand on both sides And in this is the good order and is comly and commendable amongst men and a good savour unto God whereby he is honoured And when you have done your markets then repair to your outward dwellings and do not sit and drink and revel in Ale-houses for by that you many times doubles your offence and when you have gotten some dishonest gain by deceit in bargaining then to sit at an Ale-house until you have spent it and it may be much more then had you not better been without it every way for it adds sin to sin with grief Therefore be careful and eschew such evils and when you have refreshed your selves as need requires then do not run into excess for many are taken and wronged in that place who goes to use the creatures only for refreshment and when they fall into company and the strength of drink doth begin a little to strike upon their naturalls then they are overcome to continue until they wrong themselves every way Now the light of the Lord Jesus Christ guides out of all those evils If that you mind it and obey it it will guide you from lying and learn you to speak truth it will guide you from drunkenness and learn you soberness and so will change you from all those Evils wherein ye walk as it hath done many in this day who sometimes were such in some degree but now are washed and changed by the light and walks in the way of peace with God and can commend it unto you from a certain ground if you can but receive the report and they can tell you in truth that it is better to walk one day in the light though it be in the Cross unto themselves than to satisfie themselves by gaining the world through Invention and this is the Word of the Lord God unto you all people forsake your way and live and walk in the way of understanding that you may honour God in your generation and that you may be a good savour unto God and unto one another and in all things chuse the good and let the evil go then will your dayes end in peace which otherwise will end in sorrow and in that day you will remember the time you have mis-spent which then you cannot recover again though you may seek it with tears therefore whilst you have it prize it and do not spend it vainly for you have spent too much after that manner A General Exhortation NOw as there is a view taken of this great body and every particular state being seen in its several place how it lyeth and an Information being gone forth in the universal love of God unto them all whereby they may behold their error from the Created uprightness in every place and may also behold a way open to come in again into the good and blessed state of Innocency and to be gathered into the way and path of simplicity where no deceit nor guile nor hypocrisie can have beeing and so to come into the holy and good order of wisdoms Government and to stand as so many branches in their several places to be a good savour to God and honour God for if there were unity in the life and power of God through the universe how sweet would every one be in their place and what a good savour there would be through the Creation and then the Creation would be set free from that which now burdens it and God would have honour and glory and praise in his own work and his goodness and his blessing would rest upon it and there would be plenty to every man in his particular place and he would rejoyce in his own portion and then no deceit nor guile nor lying and swearing would be used amongst people to get dishonest gain and how would such a generation honour God! and how amiable would such a generation be in their places how amiable a thing would it be to see parents of children to bring up their children in the fear of God and to nurture them in the wisdom of God and to train them up in love and peace and unity together and to see Masters and Dames of families to order their families in Gods wisdom and to keep them in good order every way and to see servants in their places serve with diligence and to see aged people filled with sound wisdom and gravity and to see single people wholly given up to serve God and to see young people remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth and to see children fear the Lord in their infancy and to see such as are in outward Government to be cloathed with the wisdom of God and to see Ministers of Parishes deny deceit and come into the truth and to see Lawyers in true Judgement and Equity and to see all Trades-men with Just Weights and Measures and to see all Buyers and Sellers in the created uprightness then would hearts and minds come neer together in the one principle of God and unity and peace would abound amongst people And therefore as one body you are all exhorted to fear the Lord God and turn to his light with which you are enlightned and yield to obey it when in your Consciences it doth reprove you hearken diligently to that voyce which calls you to return and do not reject the Counsel of the Lord in any wise but be still and quiet and bow to the light in every manifestation and believe in it as it doth manifest it self that with the light the disorderly nature may come to Judgement in every place and that through Judgement the Creation may be delivered which at this day travels in pain grief and sorrow for the disorder is above and by disorder you are all out of your places and so runs in wicked practises with which you dishonour God and wrong your own souls Therefore you are all exhorted to mind the Light which would do you good and do not run your selves wilfully into eternal misery for the Lord would not have you perish but would that ye might come to the truth and be saved And this is his compassion towards you and his patience and forbearance concerning you for who amongst you that have not deserved cutting down if the Lord should not exercise his mercy every instant of time he may justly smite you and bring your dayes to an end in a moment Therefore consider for what end you are yet a breathing Generation and have yet time given you is it not that you may behold Gods goodness and come to repentance and that you may know the Light with which you are enlightned to be your redemption from
whether thou wilt hear and obey or neglect and contemn yet the Truth will find a witness in thy Conscience unto which this Book is commended and if thou be careful and keep in Gods fear and chuse the good then may thou find profit and peace and comfort to thy soul and if it so come to pass concerning thee whoever thou art I shall therein rejoyce W. S. Vniversal Love THe Wisdom that is pure from above hath the good order in it and by its government the Creation standeth in its place and service and all things come to be used and ordered in the fear of God and in this wisdom people are fitly disposed and are in a right capacity to order the Creation and every one in their place doth yield a good favour unto God for the wisdom from above is gentle and peaceable and easie to be entreated full of mercy and goodness and truth and this Wisdom being received the mind is fitly disposed to order those things which are committed to trust and charge and every one in their place comes to see their duty in their place and how they are to answer God through those things which he commits unto them and in their several places where he sets them and comes to see the great weight that lies upon them to perform with care and diligence such service as in their place God requires and so the Wisdom from above doth order every man in his place and he becomes a good favour in his place both to God and man and through the Righteousness that proceeds from such a man the Lord God is glorified and this is that which all people in their respective places are to mind and in what thing they are called to serve the Lord in that thing and in that place to be carefull to answer God and to honour God and such who have children are in this thing very deeply concerned for the charge upon them is exceeding great and therefore they are to mind the just and holy principle of God in themselves that they may receive the wisdom from above and in that to nurture and bring up their children in the fear of the Lord for how can Parent bring up their Children in the fear of God when they walk not in the fear of God themselves and how can they inform their children into that which is good when they themselves live in that which is evil and such Parents do usually teach their children to be vain and to follow that which is evil and so covetous parents teach their children covetousness for their own minds being in that thing they press their children to the practise of it and yet not under a shew of covetousness but under a shew of carefulness and providence at which door the mind goeth forth into the world and reaches it self to compass the wealth and riches of it and such Parents give encouragement to their children in this place and smile upon them with a cheerfull countenance and so the child runs in delighting and with pleasure exerciseth it self in covetous practises and strives after the earthly treasures to please its Parents and the Parents account such children careful children and provident witty and the children are hereby tempted out of the path of honesty and so run in cozening and cheating and defrauding for gain and that is counted pollicy and the Parents will smile upon their children and in such things delight in them as being witty and so teaches them and instructs them into such practises and how are children wronged in this place for want of good nurture in the fear of God! And when wealth and riches are heaped together then the mind is lifted up in pride and the Parents they exalt their children in haughtiness and pride and then they must have things suitable to their outward condition and so first teaches them to be covetous and then to be proud and poor children are lifted up in their minds at the beholding their costly apparel and their gay cloathing which by their Parents are provided and for want of good nurture in this place they run out of Gods fear and out of true order and then their Parents train them up in such things as they look at to be sutable to their conditions and so they put them to learn musick and dancing and singing and with such like vain things poor children are wronged by their Parents who should keep them in good order and in the fear of God and how do Parents allow their children liberty to sport and play and to be vain and informs them into the expertnesse of such practises and how are children exercised in vanity and how do they spend such dayes in vanity which they pretend to be holy dayes and doe not all such dayes which they observe to be holy end in prophanesse and vanity and wickednesse and are not children at liberty upon such dayes to satisfie their vain minds in pleasures and in sports and run into headiness and wildness and the rest of dayes which they do not count holy they turn their minds into covetousness and deceit And are these things commendable for Parents or for children or are these things like Christians and how are poor children for want of good nurture in time carried away into all manner of vanity and so taken captive at the will of the Devil who holds them fast after he hath taken them and so vanity becomes natural to children who know no better from their childhood and what a dishonour is this to parents who should be grave and wise and sober and stayed for them to encourage their children in such things and behold them in the practise of such things with delight such things do not become a Christian profession in no place and to be sure it is not a Christians practise for it is unsavoury to God and grieves his spirit and all that are guided by his spirit and it is a trouble to Christians to see vanity flow in as a natural streame from generation to generation and the mind of people to be so seated in it as they study from time to time how to advance it and to train up their children in it for if children were not encouraged in vanity and trained up in it when they are young they would be more innocent and simple and stand more in the true order for as they are children they are innocent and harmless and a child as it is a child is more in the innocency than it is all its life time after except it come to the Spirit of God by that to be regenerated and therefore it must needs be a great weight upon Parents in this case for by training up their children in vanity they draw upon themselves the childs iniquity and by how much they do encourage their children in vanity by so much the more do they wrong both themselves and their children Therefore it is of concernment for all Parents of children
to weigh the matter and in time to consider it for certainly the Lord is grieved with evil deeds and with the disorderly walking of all such as are out of his fear and that Parents would be more mindfull of what they are intrusted with and to order it in Gods fear and Wisdom that all they have under their charge may be a good favour unto God and bring honour to his Name for if it be not so all his gifts are abused and his Name dishonored and there the Creation is out of order Now all Parents must come to that of God in themselves before they can instruct their children in the fear of God they must come to the Light in their own Consciences and in the Light behold their own present state for being from the Light of Christ they cannot walk in Gods fear themselves neither can they teach their children so and is not that a grievous thing when a whole Family is out of the fear of God and both Parents and children exercised in vanity and how doth wickedness flow like a flood from generation to generation and one generation goeth and another cometh and with every generation sin appeareth and evil is practised and grows from one to another in full strength and this is the ground because that children are not trained up in Gods fear for if that was so sin would dye and in every generation it would grow weaker and weaker and in time it would be rooted out and the practise in it would cease and it would not be had in remembrance Therefore all you Parents of children mind the fear of God in your selves and come to the Principle of God in your own Consciences and yield your selves unto that and obey it and then you cannot see your children run into vanity and suffer them to go unreproved if you once hearken to the voice of God in you and mind the Testimony of his witness in your Consciences to know in your selves unto what reproof belongeth and what the Lord alloweth and so to answer the Lord in obedience and come to know your selves changed then you will be able to instruct your children in the same path and cannot suffer them to run into vanity much less to train them up in it and so in the principle of God you will receive Wisdom from above and know the nature of it in which Wisdom is the pure order and good government then you cannot let your children lye and swear and curse and play and riot and be vain in pleasures and games your eye will be over them in Wisdom and in the gentleness you will reprove them and in meekness instruct them and when they do go amiss you will feel grief come upon you concerning them and when you are grieved for them in that state then take heed you do not fall into passion and anger and wrath and in that exercise your wills upon them and use your hand in severity towards them but in wisdom wait to be guided that not any fault which comes to your knowledge may pass unreproved neither any fault be too severely punished for they are both out of true order and you may know that when you have exercised your hand upon them in passion that you are not free from trouble afterwards when you come into coolness again you will be judged in your selves for your rashnesse and then you will have trouble in your Conscience and there is no profit to your children by that hand because wisdome doth not order it Therefore ye Parents who would have your children to do will and to be happy wait to be ordered in wisdom towards them and keeping to the Light of the Lord you will know both how to spare and how to correct and so with a meek and gentle spirit bring them into order and bend them in their tenderness before the bad part grow stubborn and be strong for in their tenderness it will be easie and whilst they art young and green the witness lies near them and reproof soon reaches them and if there be but an eye upon them in the wisdom of God the witness will answer and the bad will be presently judged in them which growing into more strength for want of timely order the darkness thickens over them and then the witness lies at a farther distance and that which at first might have been rebuked with a look will not then be brought down with a blow and here Parents both wrong themselves and their children for want of wisdom for they give way to their children whilst they are young and so lets up the bad part into strength and when they come to behold things far amiss in their children then they would bend them and cannot and so lets up the bad nature over their own heads and then beholds their children with mourning which in wisdom might be timely prevented And this is a great wrong both to Parents and children and brings grief and sorrow upon them both Therefore order is a sweet thing when Parents have wisdom to govern their children and to nurture them in the fear of God and to keep them in duty and submission in the fear of God then there is a good savour both in Parents and Children and a comly order beheld in the wisdom and to come into this comly order is a sweet savour and to inform children to the Principle of God in them and to teach them the fear of God and learn them to behave themselves modestly and soberly unto all people this is good education and also a good portion and there is the good breeding and the good manners which is decent and orderly and is an order approved of God but to let them run at liberty and bring them up in the foolish vain Customs and teach them to observe Traditions this is not orderly nor decent though they be taught to observe all Customs it is not good breeding nor good manners for those things are come to pass in the degeneration from the good and to teach children to bow and scrape and to put off their Hats to respect persons this is not good breeding nor good manners for good breeding and good manners is in the fear of God but he that respects persons commits sin and is out of the fear of God and such things are not approved of God and that which he doth not approve he doth condemn and to teach children to observe Traditions in matter of Worship or otherwise it is not good order nor decent to teach children a formal Worship or a formal Prayer or any formal practise accustomed by Tradition and doth not proceed from a present manifestation of the Spirit of God it is not good order nor decent for the Lord doth not allow of any traditional practise which stands in form distinct from his Spirit and what he doth not allow he doth reprove And therefore the matter is weighty upon Parents every way to keep their children
under nurture and teach them the fear of the Lord whilst they are tender and in all things to inform them to the principle of God in their Conscience that with the Light of Christ they may be guided and with the Light of Christ they may be taught and by it ordered in all their wayes and in all their doings then would mercy and truth spring in children and righteousness and holiness would naturally branch forth and children wou'd become a sweet savour in their Generation and in their places would fear God and honour God which now grieves him and vexes him with their ungodliness and unrighteousness vanity and prfaneness And so all Parents mind your places and your charge that you may account to God with joy and not with grief and alwayes inform your children to the Light of Christ Jesus in their Conscience the Light that shews both them and you your thoughts and words and deeds and reproves for all evil which is the principle from which good order is brought forth and be not hasty with your children in any matter nor let not bitterness arise at any time against them but in all meekness instruct them and in wisdom watch over them so you will know when to rebuke and when to cherish when to correct and when to spare and the Rod will then fall in its right place and in minding the Lord God and receiving his Wisdom with that Wisdom order your children so you will have comfort in them and they will bless you in time to come but if you suffer it to be otherwise you will have grief enough in your own dayes and in time to come your children cannot remember you with joy and that is a sad state every way Therefore walk in the fear of the Lord God and love the Light of Christ with which you are enlightened and in the Light you will receive Wisdom in which Wisdom is decency and good order every way and in every place and this will be your peace and your childrens happiness and they will grow in Gods fear and come up in his power and so from Generation to Generation Righteousness will spring and truth will spread abroad To Masters and Dames of Families RUle not in Lordship over such as are in place to serve you but walk in wisdom to-towards them and be tender over them in their places that they may serve you with joy and not with grief and consider that God made of one blood all Nations and such as have the lowest place distinguishable amongst men if they walk in Gods fear they are accepted of him and you are not to exercise your selves in your own wills over them though they be your servants but are to order them in the wisdom of God by which all things were made and created in which wisdom you will see the use and service of all things which you have under your hands and will see the Creation in its service in every place and so come to know the end for which you have servants to serve you and the service of that which you have to employ them in And therefore let your care be to instruct your servants in the fear of God for that is your right place as Masters and Dames and keep them out of vanity and in that let your care and diligence be manifested for that is a good favour And how do you wrong your servants and your selves by giving way to their liberty in vanity for that causeth them to run out of the fear of God and thereby wrongs themselves and it causes your business to be neglected which they ought to be carefull in and when by their carelesness you see your business neglected then your passion rises against them and it may be hard words and speeches you may give them and be full of fury and wrath and thereby disturbs your own peace and this is a great wrong to your selves First to have your business neglected and Secondly to have your peace disturbed which by your timely care in your places might both be prevented for did you but stand in Gods wisdom you would not let your servants run into vanity in any case but keep them in obedience to your just commands and in the fear of God to answer their places and not suffer them to run into wildness and sports and plays and upon those dayes in which they do not follow labour to keep them in some good exercise in the fear of God and in all things and in every place to inform them to the principle of God in them that which reproves sin in the Conscience that searcher which tryes the intents of the heart this would bring them into stayedness and soberness and coolness and keep them out of loosness and liberty at all times and in every place and when they were free from your labour they would be exercising themselves in something that is good and wholsom and walk in the fear of God and not run into madness and sports and spend their time worse in those things then if they were at labour And what good doth the observation of those dayes when they are observed in vanity and madness and folly had not servants better be at their honest labour than be at foot-ball and cudghils and dancing and revelling and drinking in Ale-houses and exercising themselves in all manner of vanity Do they keep that day holy to the Lord that practise such things or do they not pollute it more then those dayes in which they follow their true labour And is not these things generally practised upon the first dayes which is called Sunday or Sabbath-Day or Lords-day and is not more sin and vanity practised on that day and that principally by servants and children then all the six dayes besides except some day that is observed as a Holy-day in which ordinary labour ceasing then vanity comes into agitation and Masters and Dames not eying their servants in wisdom and to keep them in some good exercise and practise the minds of servants hunts after vanity and they come together and will say one to another Come What must we go do to day And is not this a sad state for a day to be observed as a holy day and people knows not what to do upon that day and so not kowning the good they run into evil and brings forth wicked practises after their own ungodly lusts and some pleases themselves with one thing and some with another and so runs headlong into vanity and then if you have but a little needful business to be done your servants are to seek and then it may be you are angry frets against them and charges them with carelesness and negligence in your business which in it self is true but are not you your selves the greatest faulters who keeps them not in subjection to do those things which are good and to follow that which is honest in the sight of all men and is not labour an
honest and a just thing in the sight of all men and is not vanity the contrary for when people are in their honest labour they are bold and cares not who sees them but when they are in vanity there is a shame comes upon them when sober people beholds them and sometimes they lurk into secret places to be out of sight when they practise vanity And doth not the observing such dayes after such a manner do more hurt than good every way is not both Masters and Servants wronged in the end of it and the Creation burdened with it and Gods Spirit grieved But some may say If Servants have no liberty they would be discouraged and cast down and their slavery would be great if they were alwayes kept to hard labour This doth not diminish any thing from their liberty but adds unto it for that which is pretended for liberty proves their greatest bondage every way and they are far more in bondage to their vanity than to their labor because the mind and delight being in it they are not so well satisfied as when they are in the practise of it and if they be at any time restrained then they are in great bondage and trouble and so the unruly vain mind worketh over the good and if it be not satisfied they are in bondage to their own heart lusts for by their vanity and wicked practises their souls are oppressed and there is bondage within and by the exercise of their bodies in vanity they will be so wearyed as somtimes they cannot follow their labour for some dayes after and that is bondage to the body then where stands their liberty but in their vanity and so uses their liberty as an occasion to serve the flesh for if Masters and Dames did order their servants in Gods wisdom and if servants were kept in the fear of the Lord God then there would be as true liberty as any service might open for their liberty and it would not stand in observing days or times but as any needful occasion might offer it self for the servants benefit then they might have true liberty on their own behalf and in their own business as need required and not be gainsayed and they would not expect or desire any liberty beyond that in any case if they were but brought into Gods fear and good order and they might then have liberty allowed them to serve the Lord and to wait upon him and to exercise themselves in the worship of his Spirit at any time or upon any day as there might be occacasion and not to keep a day as a holy day and pretend a worship to God upon that day and prophane that day which they pretend to keep as holy that is not good order nor decent for to pretend the observation of a day and a worship to God upon that day and to go to a Steeple-house a few hours and observe the practise of such Ceremonies as is there observed and then to run into vanity and wickedness the remaining part of the day these things grieves the Lord from day to day Therefore you that have servants under you First mind the principle of God in your selves the Light of Christ Jesus in your Consciences and receive the testimony of it and do not gain-say its reproof in your selves then you will know what to reprove in your servants and coming to the Light of Christ in your selves with the Light to be guided and ordered in your own particulars then you will be good patterns and examples to your servants for you being from that of God in your selves which would guide you and lead you into truth and righteousness you become bad patterns to your servants And how can you reprove or reform their evil practises in any place when their eyes behold you in the practise of the same thing which you in words may reprove in them nay many times you exceed them in vanity and profaneness and so are out of order in your selves not being guided by the Light which is pure And who are convinced of profaneness and in your selves are ordered into moderation and soberness and have some desires after God and sets up a practise in your Families of reading or expounding Scriptures and prayer and singing David's Psalms which you call Family Duties Take heed you be not ensnared in that place for there is a danger lyeth near though your practise may have somthing of a shew of godliness in it for though at first you may practise such things in some tenderness towards God and perform them as necessary Duties and in that place standing faithful to God in what is made manifest and not a further manifestation opened to you your practise is not condemned in that place but this is the danger when the observation of a practise centers the mind in the form of what is practised and so in time is content with the observation of the form only this is a place where many loses the life and the savour of it and that which at first was truth in it self in the manifestation and practice doth in time become false through the observation in the form only and there the Kingdom of God is not found nor true peace enjoyed But some may say Is not Family Duties good Order Yes they are so but not as they stand in the observation of a form only for such a practise may be observed and continued when there is not any thing of God to move unto it and that observation cannot then stand in the order of God but in the disorderly part of mans own will who sets his own time and speak his own words and in that performs somthing as a service unto God Therefore who are in this state and would have your Families come into good order in this place keep your minds to the Spirit of God in you and wait to know the motion of it and it will shew you the time and will give you words if there be need in the time and will move to prayer as there is need and will teach you how to pray and what to ask for the Spirit knows your infirmities and makes intercession with groans many times when never a word is spoken and when the Spirit of God moves you to a Duty either on your own behalf or the behalf of your Family in any place then neglect not that time but call your Family together and sit down in Gods fear and wait upon him that in his spirit you may discharge your Duty and then if any thing be out of order in your Families by which you are grieved there will be a word of Reproof given in the Spirit or if there be need of Exhortation the Spirit will give a word of Exhortation and when it is a time of Prayer the Spirit will move to prayer and give words in Prayer And this will stand in Gods order and out of your own wills and you will have comfort in it and
in peace one amongst another and to preserve every man every way in his proper state wherein he outwardly is placed And in this place Moses was appointed and set to govern Israel in the Wisdom of God and it is said that Moses was the meekest man upon the earth and he governed Israel in meekness and in wisdom and was a Magistrate for good unto them and the Law that was given him of God he was faithfull in the execution of it and the transgressor came under his power and the righteous was set free for the Law was not made for them neither did Moses execute it upon them And in those dayes true Justice had a free course from the wisdom of God in Moses and he was a praise to them that did well and a terror to the evil-doers And here he had the Sword placed in his right hand and it went over the head of the transgressor and brought the transgressor into subjection And this was true Judgment and righteous and the execution of the righteous Law stood in the righteous principle of God which principle did endue Moses with wisdom and with meekness to govern And the Scriptures mention divers Governments which in Ages past have been set over the people and some of them ruled in righteousness and under them the people had peace and some that ruled in cruelty and in their dayes the people had trouble and such Rulers turned against the righteous whom they should have protected and then there was a complaint that justice was turned backward and equity could not enter and that justice was fallen in the streets and that the righteous was become a prey Mark the righteous was become a prey and such were wicked that made a prey upon the righteous And these things came to pass either as the Rulers received the wisdom of God or contemned it for without the wisdom of God it is not possible that any should rule for God or should decree judgment in righteousness or minister it with a good understanding for Solomon who was endued with wisdom and ruled in wisdom whose Memory doth not perish but is a good savour this day he saith The fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate Counsel is mine and sound wisdom I am understanding I have strength By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice by me Princes Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth I love them that love me and all that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8. Now mark the fear of the Lord is the first step into true Government and the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogancy and the evil way so both the evil and the evil way must be hated But where such are in Government as do practise evil and delights in evil and walks in the evil way and in pride and arrogancy then they do not walk in the fear of the Lord and so are not come into the first step of true Government for such cannot have the counsel nor found wisdom nor understanding nor strength and such can never be a terrour to the evil-doers who love the evil way themselves neither can they be a praise to them that do will until they hate the evil and the evil way in themselves So it is the weighty matter to get wisdom and wisdom proffers her self in kindness to all that seek her early and makes a promise that she will be found of such They that seek me early shall find me I love them that love me This is Wisdom's voyce but the evil-doers regard it not neither do they seek her or love her for The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil Then where the evil is loved and practised where pride and arrogancy is advanced wisdom is not sought nor regarded and such cannot decree and establish their Laws in righteousness for in wisdom alone is the true Order and Government it is by Wisdom that Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice So all ye Rulers by what name soever distinguished Let it be your care and diligence to get Wisdom seeing that without Wisdom no Decree can stand approved unto God and therefore it s of the greatest concernment to get Wisdom for Riches and Honour are with Wisdom yea durable Riches and Righteousness her fruit is better than Gold and her revenues than choice Silver she leads in the way of Righteousness Mark Wisdom leads in the way of Righteousness and in the midst of the paths of Judgment that she may cause those that love her to inherit substance and fill their treasures And here is Wisdom and her portion to her children a portion that is durable and Everlasting and this is a flourishing state and a standing Government but without Wisdom every Throne stands unstedfast and all Nations are like the waves of many waters Therefore ye Rulers Consider and lay it to heart both all that are present and all that are to come for this is to Generations and you that are present mind your day time is precious and but a little remains unto you therefore turn to that of God in you for you cannot be free from its Reproof it is a Principle that doth not respect your persons for it is in it self the most Worthy Noble and Honourable and no man is truly Honourable but in it though outwardly he may be set on high it doth not regard any man for his greatness but Reproves him for his sin how Mighty soever he be amongst men this Principle which is of God in man hath a sure Testimony against that man which doth evil and faithfully reproves him in his Conscience without regarding his greatness And this is the Light of Jesus Christ with which you are enlightned the Light that is present with you every where and in every place beholds your thoughts when you are upon your Thrones and when you are together in Counsels and upon your Seats of Judgment the Light is with you and amongst you and is in your Consciences a Witness for God and if you err from it your Decrees can never be established for there is nothing can stand but that which is of God and from hence proceeds the works of mens own Wisdom who Decrees Statutes and executes Judgment and not in the Counsel of God their power and strength hath been overturned and their Decrees hath come to nought and so shall it be henceforth and for ever saith the Lord who doth all these things Therefore if you desire that your work may stand and that it may not be rooted out and come to nought then mind the Light of Christ in your Consciences in which Light the Wisdom of God is received and you minding the Light with the Light to be guided it will lead you in the way of sound Judgment and bring forth Truth and Righteousness
your time in deceit then in sorrow you will lye down and your latter end will be bitterness Therefore remember your end To such as buy and sell in Markets or in any other places MAn was created upright but he hath sought out many inventions And through inventions disorder is come amongst men and by defrauding and cozening and cheating one another they run into confusion and distraction and so are gone from the created uprightness into subtilty and inventions and with that subtil part they invent their wicked practises and studies how to gain their own advantage in their dealing And from this ground arises all deceit amongst men in buying and selling and trading and they will commend their Cattel and their Commodities above what they are and above what they know them to be to gain advantage and though they know that their Commodity be not at all worthy of commendations yet the subtil part inventeth how to commend it and how to set a great price upon it and by subtilty thinks to over-reach another and it may be will ask much more for such a Commodity then he intends to take for it and from thence many vain words arises amongst men in their dealing and in their bargaining and not onely so but also many oathes and cursings proceeds out of their mouthes and all to set forth that thing which they know is not to be so commended and here men stands in swearing and cursing and multitude of words before they can come to close if they do close at all and this practise is not in the created uprightness but from the subtil inventions through which man is carried out of Gods fear and order for the created uprightness is a pure just and holy state a state that stands upright to God and unto all men it is not a subtil Inventer but a simple Dealer in all things it cannot lye for gain nor swear for profit nor curse for wealth it cannot deceive nor defraud any man in dealing though much outward profit might be seen in the end it cannot commend a thing above what it really knows it to be it cannot make many words in bargaining for it is an upright state and speaks things uprightly and justly and speaks no more than it knows to be true and not that neither at all times for many words is a burden to it and it is weary of them it prizes the worth of things according to discerning and according to discerning it speaks a standing word it hath no reservedness in it to take or ensnare another by deceit for it is upright in all things But how is man degenated from the Created uprightness and how hath he sought out the subtil Inventions and how doth every generation grow more cunning in their dealing and more deceit and guile breaks in upon generations and they degenerate more and more from the Created uprightness so that it is a grief to behold how one man deals with another in trading and how Markets are filled with multitude of words which stands wholly in deceit and guile and what a noise doth people make in Markets and runs in the pursuit of gain with such Eagerness as the whole Course of nature is set on fire and the anger and the passion and the unruly nature will sometimes be so let up as one man will strive with another about their dealings and how will one man deceive another and defraud another with buying things one from another and many times forestalling things before they come into a Market and many times by Ingrossing things into their hands which they have no need of but to lay them by and keep them for advantage and this wrongs the poor and the needy that when things are at a reasonable price then the Rich Ingrosses them and by that means keeps it at a dearer price in plenty than otherwise it would be and then in scarcity the poor must either buy it at their dear prices or be in want and this grinds the poor every way and is a disorderly practise and is filled with Covetousness which the subtil Inventer finds out to get wealth and Riches and thus men run and knows no stay for their minds they would be dealers in every thing and counted great dealers in all things and would have a name and so are alwayes in the thronged part and in the cumber about many things in which they all offend But who Remembers the Lord or who chuses the better part or who seeks the Kingdom of God first and trusts the Lord to add all things else unto him and who serves the Lord with fear not the subtil Inventer but the Created uprightness which under all such practises and wicked devices lies grieved and pained for though man be gone into the Inventions through the temptations of the subtilty yet there is something upright remains in him which did preserve its own beeing though man degenerated and this is a pure principle in man which doth not allow of deceit for that which is upright and that which is deceitfull hath no agreement together in any place so that when deceit is practised uprightness reproveth for it bears the burden of it Therefore all people who are concerned in these things take heed to your wayes and to your doings for they are very bad you cannot but know your selves that there is much amiss in you and that you do run many times after dishonest gain and that which lets you see is it the light of Christ and that you must come unto if ever you come to be upright men for though some may be qualified in some things and in their natural temper do manifest more moderation than others and that there be more reservedness in their wayes and that they do not appear so passionate nor angry openly so deceitfull yet there is a self-end lyes in the bottom of such a man and he will reach forth himself to make his end secretly for if the mind of man do not come to the light with the light to be guided he doth not come into the upright state but lyes amongst the many inventions where none can please God And now your day is with you who are buying and selling and trading and the Light of Christ is manifest in you to shew you wherein you err and if you do not turn when it repoves you at any time and come to repentance you will wrong your selves for ever Therfore make haste out of your way and turn to the Lord and receive his wisdom in the light that his wisdom may order you in all your places and services then you dare not use many words in your bargaining but speak a standing word according to your judgment in that which you have to sell or buy and you dare not speak in the praise of any thing for any end to your selves and this practise would stand in uprightness and would answer Gods witness in every man and then you would be out of