art and policy who shall learn him knowledge shall Oxford and Cambridge instruct his way their places are inferiour to him for Christ is our true word of prophesie far above all art or pretended skill God is the best University he will teach his people in all truth by an inward renewing the mind if God teacheth then let men lay down and say We cannot savingly teach we preach the letter but salvation is from above he ministreth the gift of healing and man cannot do it Ordination is ceased with the Apostles and God doth appear to us by his Son and under the name of two witnesses which is the Law and Testimony within that teacheth us better then all the Priests Therefore I desire we may all see and live under the teachings of God for he teacheth us the mystery of truth let God be true and every man a lyar you Assyrian Priests may prognosticate the people but Christ is the sure word of prophesie we will hear him with a laudable voice The Priests say Hear us we will not be silenced but for all this thou must be silenced Oh Priest for Kings and Lords and Nobles and Magistrates shall be silenced at his bright appearing There shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour Rev. 8.1 Who shall stand when he appeareth by a dividing of time I say all you Ministers have not yet preached the Gospel neither can any man preach the Gospel at all until he throweth down his own power of preaching and make Christ your Priest and Teacher and say you are no more a teacher of salvation but a keeper of cattel from your fathers and to work by the sweat of your brows for knowledge shall run to and fro and meet by voices and witnesses that shall throw off and extinguish all your negative voices that stand deffinating so high in Pulpits one witness of the Minister or Priest of himself is a negative untruth and is centred upon meesum which is by a singular vote and cannot stand for it is Christ alone that shall stand to preach for he is ordained and sent as a Mediator of himself between God and man Priests I believe in short time your people will be few in number for then and at that time the people shall betroth themselves unto the Lord and will refuse your teachings when they are inwardly taught of God they shall remove from you Pulpits and ye shall no more say to the people Know the Lord for they shall all know me that is they shall all know Christ to be the Minister and shall return to their first Love from whence they were fallen saying Come do thy first work as if Christ should say Christians come enter into your rest once in him and ever he is our Sabbath and Gospel of peace he is unchangeable to the end and that is a Sabbath indeed it is not your keeping a day once a week that can make a true rest it is the Sabbath within having Christ dwelling in thee by a true faith that is a Sabbath and a rest that cannot be taken away the receivings of Christ in thee quickeneth thee every moment from day to day which sheweth forth in thee a continual Sabbath From yeer to yeer thou shalt worship the Lord and keep the feast of Tabernacles when a Christian walketh in all outward righteousness that is a feast of one Tabernacle and to walk by inward righteousness that is the other feast of Tabernacles Ye shall once a yeer come up to keep the feast of tabernacles Zach. 14. These two Tabernacles the one for an inward the other for an outward are called first and second Tables which shall be the worship that shall be set up from day to day and yeer to yeer until Shilo come Priests it is not for you to keep a day once a week and be as evious as ever it is not to keep a day and be as covetous as ever that is not a true Sabbath Christ is the Sabbath and he is our eternal rest And Minister thou must deny thy self if ever thou wouldst enter into his rest for Christ sweetneth all things to a Christian every doubt is comprehended and comprimized in him he is the end of trouble of war and of every conflict he is our Gospel-peace to still the rage of all obstruction and for want of making Christ our teacher it causeth us to follow false Christs I mean Priests and Jesuites that teach their own Gospel and set themselves up by fat parsonages feigned lovers to deceive the people as if they had the minde of God at their will Humble-bee-Priests fat belly-goded-Parsons to declare to the people once a week as if God were tied to their set times so as the Jews did so do you keep a day once a week and yet crucifie the Lord and so do ye not knowing his eternal Sabbath Ye silly people I much condole your weakness in that you so much idolize the Priests and neglect your onely true rest The Lord appeareth to us every day aswel as on that day which thou callest the Lords day and truely ye are as legal as ever the Jews were though cunningly you call your Sabbath the Lords day yet cannot take away your observed forms the Lords day is every day Therefore Priest throw down thy observation Christ is the Sabbath of rest his day is every day from yeer to yeer Ye Doctors and Priestical Ministers you are very censurous I cannot but further relate a Pulpit-story of this Doctor Hill by some godly persons of neer relation to him having some discourse with them they did not comply with his element but were a little contrary to his judgement not pleasing to his allegation which to affront them in their judgement he thought to met with them in the Pulpit took a text of Scripture to cross them but as I understood God met him in the way and frustrated him in his first text whereof he took another text and in the same manner God met him again and blasted him upon his third subject so that he judged himself stricken and came down from the Pulpit and related a sad story to some that God justly punished him by reason of his inveterated spirit of bitterness so that I finde God met him by way of etilliation as we have an example in Jacob and Esau the Lord punished Jacob for taking his brother Esau by the heel Therefore let no man think so low of his brother but that God can spiritually raise men to higher knowledge then Cambridge can do And let not Ministers and Doctors be so high now God appeareth to the weak things of the world to confound the haughtiness of the proud for we have a sure word of prophesie far higher then you can teach Doctors and Ministers ye preach of a Prince that ruleth in the Air I pray you what is that if you were as far from that as you are from right disciplying you would have but little to do with it Doctor I must tell you what it is that ruleth in the Air it is money which is the King of all the creatures that ruleth in the Air it buyes and sells and captivates all things under it silver and gold bewitcheth the world and you would spend your lives in the Pulpit for it and it is called but the Prince that rules in the Air and beguileth the Priests that preach for hire Christs is a free-Ministery and an endless Priesthood yours is failable I can give relation of a Priest that removed himself from about 40. l. a year for a place of 300. or 400. l. a year This Priest cunningly bewitched his people of the new place where he came and in the midst of his Sermon related to them That God had brought him thither in a cloud from the substance of 40. l. a year to 300. l. a year And was not this a cunning dawber to delude the people by a dark cloud Numbers Leviticus and Deuteronomy declareth That the Priests shall have no inheritances therefore I finde they that have bought Tythes and Impropriations have bought and sold that which was none of their own Lord Protector I desire you would give Tythes and impropriations to the widows the fatherless the blinde and the lame and to the poor as Christ would have it done so let it be that every Parish be eased of collection and praise God for the great good you have done for them A poor messenger a disciple separate for the kingdom of Christ I could have added much more to this work but in short I have declared some of the minde of God Daynus A messenger of the new Covenant under the Ark-angel of the Covenant As John was sent a messenger to the Jews to declare the kingdom of heaven at hand so I Daynus am sent to the whole Israel of God to shew the kingdom of heaven is come in power to me and I am the first upon the feet restored of the dry-bones of Israel Daynus to shew the day and year of the Lord and his year excepted FINIS
walke after the custome of the World I say If thou livest not after the example of Christ thou art a Minister of sinne and thy life doth not teach others then thou maist preach to others and be a cast-away thy self Alas poor fleshly man thou teachest the Letter and yet art ignorant of the truth thou hast set thy self high in a say-Pulpit to speak great things in a seenal way of repetitions speaking many things to please the people Ye be subtil Sophisters men-pleasers and self-seekers that can derive themselves into many formes contrary to the truth of God by setting up Sub-ordination in the place of Ordination to set themselves higher then Christ And in that they are made equal with him for he was made a little lower then the Angel meaning the Angels of your Churches that still keep him upon the Cross and crucifie his power Christ was ordained Minister of God but ye ordained your selves I can give a relation of one within the County of Lincolne a Minster called Mr. Male as I understand doth ordaine Ministers and that some petty Ministers have come many Miles to be ordained of him which is intolerable I wonder his heels are not pictured upwards Thus they may do though not by Lawful means But be you sure all sub-powers must down as things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth must bow at the name of Jesus He is the Prince of Peace and Prince of Power the Lord shall be exalted in all the Earth and your powers shall come down as low as dry Bones Ye high Priests know this that your state is failable for as you have cryed down the Bishop and his Surplis so now the Witnesses shall cry down with your Pulpits and your Fonts you are spiritual high in your own conceit full of pride sedition and covetousness self-seeking full of envy and bitterness in that ye differ not from the general world yet you can say you are the Ministers of God yet not walk after the example of Christ This that I declare is called your Funeral-Sermon or wind-up for ye shall be eclipsed by the bright appearings of the Lord. This eclipse took its first entrance in the year 1650. which shall cause the greatest earth-quake that ever was since the creation and the power of it shall decline towards the fourth or fifth yeer after 50. here in England Doctors what will ye do when your Tythes fail and your Ministery fails your new-Moons and Sabbaths fail then it shall be to you as the mourning of Hadadrimmon or a destructive time when ye shall have no audience or accommodation of the people for every one shall have a personal power put in them to stand alone without Preachers They shall be so inherently taught of God that the Minister shall say no more to them Know the Lord for they shall all be Prophets inwardly and shall stand by a personal faith as Abraham and Noah did in fulness of Spirit for the Lord saith In the last dayes I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and my servants and hand-maids shall prophesie When ye Ministers may say We are Vine-dressers and Husbandmen to till the waste Commons for our weekly Sabbaths are changed into one Sabbath once a year we shall go up to worship the Lord and to keep a Feast of Tabernacles which is a true Sabbath according to Christs Resurrection to keep a good conscience which is a Feast in the heart of the Creature and that is the best Sabbath to live in all righteousness every day which is a Sabbath And though the Jew have have lost his new-Moon and thou O Gentile thy new-Moon yet thou shalt remember the Lord and once a year consecrate thy gift to him and keep a new Sabbath by an offering to God in his new Covenant to worship him with all thy substance and then it will appear that thou art one of the new Sabbath Thou must deny thy self-ends and all sinister engagements and so betroth thy self unto God in righteousness to covenant with him according to the new-Sabbath Though the Constellations may fail yet his Sabbath-Ordinance shall stand it shall not be disannulled Heaven and Earth may pass away but not one jot or tittle of his word shall fail For Christ is the word of the Sabbath and in him we shall have rest if we enter into Covenant and that is to acknowledge him by a new Sabbath for in those dayes and at that time saith the Lord I will make with them a new Covenant not according to the old for this shall be the Covenant that I will make never to turn from them or take away the Ordinance of Sabbath from them Yet the Lord saith I hate your Sabbaths because your hands are full of blood As if he should say Ye keep Sabbaths to your selves and transgress my holy day Once a year thou shalt come up to keep a Feast of Tabernacles and all that will not come to the worship of Jerusalem shall have no rain or raigning power in this new Sabbath of rest Silly Priest I question not though thy Sabbath be taken away for Christ is thy eternal Sabbath and thou shalt worship him according to the order of Jerusalem for all your subordinances shall stoop at ordination your Sabbaths shall change into one Sabbath If thou wilt walk in my wayes and do that I command thee this day then thou shalt ride upon the high places of the Earth that is whoever shall Covenant to this new Sabbath shall enjoy all the promises the Lord saith I will dwell in you and ye in me Ministers your Sabbaths are failable therefore they be called your Sabbaths by illusion as if he should say If ye keep a day keep it to me for you observe dayes and do no righteousness therefore your new Moons and Sabbaths shall change and be taken away for I will make a new Covenant with them saith the Lord not according to the old but this shall be my Covenant never to turn from them that truely Covenant to me saying I will betroth thee unto me in mercy and loving kindness and thou shalt know the Lord for my counsel shall stand Doctor the taking away your Sabbath shall cause the Lords Sabbath to shine out more clear for ye have changed my Ordinances Mal. 3. Therefore the Land is cursed with a curse and your moonorital Sabbaths shall change if ye keep one day keep it to me saith the Lord. So that we ought to keep every day as a Sabbath once a year to make out our accompts which is Easter-day and the six dayes before it for every year shall be called as a Sabbath-day and so from year to year ye shall keep my Sabbath Ordinances and live in them that is from year to year ye must come to Jerusalems worship Zachary 14. Christ preached every where and made every day a Sabbath It is not for thee and me to keep a day once
a Week and walk contrary to God in all the rest If ye keep a day keep it to me and keep every day as a Sabbath One reason is ye make the seventh day a Cloak for your sinne to use holiness for your own turn so did the Jews under the Law and Christ cut off their Sabbath and so he will yours so that you shall not insult over them nor they over you for saith he I hate your new Moons and your Sabbaths The Lords day should be a rest betwixt God and thy Conscience if Christ dwell in thee thy soul is full of light If ye keep Covenant with me I will be your resting-place and that is a Sabbath in thy Conscience Paul saith ye observe dayes and months I wonder who hath bewitched you Your way of holiness is as the witcharft of Endor subtilly to beguile men and cause them to swim in vain conceits and so to hold up your abominations by keeping so many Sabbath dayes once a week for your own turnes as the Jews did their seventh day and yet persecute Christ and therefore it is not for them nor us to observe daies for there is but one Sabbath and that is the Lord in whom we shall have rest and that is to reform our lives and live in all good conscience to walk in righteousness and that is the best Sabbath shewing the day of his resurrection by a newness of life And at the appearing of the Lords power the Jew and Gentiles Sabbath are out by a wonderful dividing of time called once a year so that I finde the whole year is the Lords Sabbath All the year you in me and I in you Thou shalt consecrate thy substance to the Lord which is the seventh from the creation called the seventh vial or valley of Jehosaphat under which the World shall come under judgement called the Sabbaths Vial which is that we now live under called the separate time that God will set apart and take to himself the great glory of Monarchy that now shall resume that name to themselves and therefore Priest thou must fall with the King and Lord of dishonor that the prophesie may be made out that you may say I am no more a Prophet but an Herds-man or keeper of Cattle I am but as other men no Priest no Minister no Minister then silence not the People FINIS The second PART OF D. Hils Funeral-Sermon WITH His Apellation to Priests and People By me Henry Hasselwood THere be four sorts of Definators that may be called the Witch of the world very seenal and subtil I call them not the Witch of Jezebel neither do I call them the Witch of Endor yet I call them the Witch of the earth in that they use their own authority and pretend fair things though foul in effect promoting themselves by skill and art making out the authority of the beast and so deceive the people Those are four in number yet not any of them shall remain in authority for the Witch shall be cut off out of the earth and all that make a lye and every abominable branch shall be found out The Witch of the world is very subtil and much deceiveth by flatteries and seenal Juglings to steal away the peoples appetite as to delude them with smoke or to puff them up with some vain ostentation subtil Sophisters winding themselves into the form of Christ deceiving the people denying the power of his resurrection preaching up themselves bewitching the world and deceive the people So much for the first Definators that call themselves Ministers of God and are not Brethren I would have every one live up to the teachings of God without second-hand-teachers and to walk up to that principle of grace put into them for spiritually we live under the divine power of the Son of God he is all our teacher to guide us in the way of truth it is not for man to do it David saith Renew in me a right spirit Psal 1â— Who knoweth the error of his life Who can teach but Christ alone Then let us stand in that liberty wherein he hath made us free And James saith Walk so that you may be judged by the law of liberty And Paul saith Prove every truth that is by witnesses So that no man can preach of himself but Christ doth preach all both neer and afar off by a singular power from God to teach us all things he saith I am the way walk in it follow my example but not the examples of men The Doctrine is from thence That all men and ministers are but learners and cannot teach any further then they walk by a good example The first Reason is It is not words but works of faith and piety which is a good example It is not for a man to say I am a Minister and yet but all words Look upon the good life and not upon the profession The second Reason is Men or Ministers have no lawful authority to teach for Christ and the holy Ghost inwardly teacheth and they are the two Witnesses by a law inserted in the conscience The third Reason is They cannot teach in that they cannot prove Ordination The fourth Reason is That every petty Priesthood must fall and stoop at Christs Ministery But some silly people may object Shall we lose our teachers better lose our Christ And so they dote upon a Ministery of flesh Was not Christ the Messiah a Minister ordained of God He teacheth and shall sit upon twelve thrones by a power and all men Ministers must come under his teaching and lay down their Crowns and the honourable men must stoop at his Scepter for he is the Minister of God and no other for we have had many Teachers yet none can lead us in the true way And having so great an high-Priest that is able to lead us in all truth he hath once entred into the Priestly Office and maketh intercession to God for us continually Then why should we lean upon the pettifogging Priests which must come down from their Pulpit-Thrones and set up Christ upon his throne For while your Power raigneth Christs power is crucified upon the cross and his truth suffereth violence But now he shall sit upon your thrones and judge the Whorish power by a seat of justice so ordained And until you all throw down and make Christ the full end and scope of all teaching your Temple will be divided for you must come all to the Law and Testimony which is Christ and the Spirit writ as a Law and Testimony in our consciences which are the two witness-bearers to prove every true Christian for this is a time dividing time I speak of a new Sabbath Christ in the conscience every day once a yeer continually I speak of a new Sabbath old things must pass away and the things that are old must change Brethren ye ought not to look so much upon feigned Teachers of the second hand feigned lovers and so
own soul and say no more I am in Christs stead Doctor know that thine is an earthly authority but Christ is a Minister by an heavenly authority Then lay down thy false power You say you are Ministers of God and yet can minister but the outward letter and the letter shall non-residence you and suspend your authority for you are but false Christs Therefore Priest thou must lay down Christ is all thy Lectury he is eggal tyal and substantial You are but egg but he is eggal Therefore lay down and say We are no teachers but pleaders for righteousness mercy and justice and cannot teach the holy Ghost Christ is the altar then go no more to the Scribe nor to any earthly teacher If Christ be truely formed in thee go no more to the Wise-man or the Scribe which be inwardly ravening wolves and yet they come in Christs name which enjoy the tenth part of our Nation called the Tythes and Impropriations which might outwardly redeem the poor the blinde and the lame the fatherless and widow People you look for an outward speaking but the inward speaking is of God It is the holy Ghost that speaketh in thee and me and that is the surest teaching and ten thousand times more good it will do thee then all thy second-hand-teachers that cannot declare a true testimony Then all ye blinde guides that lead the blinde the Lord doth rightly teach Ministers dare not express themselves men dare not express themselves therefore the truth of Christ must needs suffer violence And I finde that these Wise-men and Counsellors are but the Witch of the world Ye Pulpittians there can be no election of Ministers but by Christ in whom he said Go it was in those days a work of election onely of Christ and from Christ an Ordination tolerated by the Son of God but now that power of election is of none effect and let him be what he will if a Minister or Lay-man if he take upon him to ordain or elect any to be Ministers of God or to give any such authority he falsly standerh in Christs place and cometh not in at the door but take Christs Office in their hand and they are not called to it The work of mans Priesthood failed long since for Christ is our high-priest once for all and he standeth a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedek He shall purge the sons of Levi that they may bring an offering in righteousness which is to throw down their power at the eternal power and live up to the endless Ministery of Christ and shall say I am no more a Minister of God I am but as other men Mens Priesthoods have been ever held up with money and outward territories but Christ teacheth freely and so did all they that he tolerated and sent All his disciples were without resting-places so are not ye he said The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath nowhere to hide his head Which of all the disciples of Christ held up personal proprieties to themselves I am sure amongst them it was not a common thing as it is amongst you for some of our Priests have large inheritances and will rather lose Christ then lose their Parsonages or great possessions of land But Christ did not ordain such disciples but such as were to carry neither scrip nor staff to trust to shewing that proprieties were not given them Learn of me saith Christ if I have nothing what can you expect if I be your example be as I am I tell thee if thou beest never so high a Doctor and eminent for gifts and yet dost buy and sell the creation thou art no Minister of God Therefore lay down thy authority for it is false At the first the Creation was not bought and sold for money it was to stand in its own original and not to be traduced or ingrossed by money and so to be changed from its original None of the Apostles bought or sold the Creation for money as some of our Doctors have done which is utterly unlawful Heaven is the Lords throne and the earth his footstool Now ye abominable Priests that buy and ingross the earth into your hands and tolerate all others so to do can a man buy the Lords throne for money No for it his place of rest neither can ye buy the earth which is his footstool Therefore ye Ministers are buyers and sellers and as money-changers in the Temple of God and for this cause of buying and selling the Creation your Temple is broken in pieces and there shall not be one stone lest upon another that shall not be thrown down So that I clearly finde that Ordination of Priests and Ministers ceased at buying and selling the Creation for then Christ came and put an end to their Ministery and God appears chiefly to us by his Son having him dwelling in us by the gift of the holy Ghost that is the Law and Testimony in us And God hath left power to his two Witnesses to plead for righteousness because there was no truth in the Priests therefore he hath given the two Witnesses power that shall hold to the end DOctor I see nothing but an end of all Traditional preaching for Mediumal preacheth in the mount of his power and requireth setting up thrones and to bring all things before the seat of justice Christ must sit upon his seat and judge the ends of the earth He is said to sit upon twelve thrones that is by an audiencee of twelve voices to vindicate and make out the full truth by Witnesses Then where is your preaching power your grinding in a Mill will cease Ye stand beating the Pulpit but all is in vain for the honourable seat of Justice will exclude all your seenal Witcherasts You have preached long yet no justice mercy nor truth is in our borders But the Prophet Zâ—chariah saith In those days and at that time many shall be joyned to the Lord which sheweth they shall throw off the Ministeries of men And the Prophet Hosea saith They shall be sowed to the Lord in truth in mercâ— and loving kindness saith the Lord I will betroth thee unto me That shews that every one should understand and know their Mariage union with Christ and come out from Priest and People It is not enough to say thou art a Christian but thou must prove thy self by an inward Law and testimony with the approbation of the grand Church that is by an inward and outward testimony that shall make them free Heb. 4.9 There remaineth a rest to the people of God and in vers 10. He that is entred into that rest hath ceased from his own works as God did from his This Christian rest is perfection of parts without toyl and legal cate having inward sanctity in the soul which is a sweet sabbath-Sabbath-rest and I know no other Sabbath You observe days called Sundays outwardly and do not look to the
ordain and appoint without the help of man Let no man say He can teach for no man can teach life and salvation Then down with all teachers that we may live under a peaceable Government our own Vine Christ Jesus for he will teach us of his wayes without all differing disputations Those that call themselves teachers they live as drone-bees by the sweat of other mens brows Therefore let them stop their mouths for the people will not give ear to them but will live under their own vine by a new Sabbath Covenantial and you shall bewitch the people no longer when fulness comes God will teach and the people shall declare what God hath done for their souls Then all these Dromidaries of Midian must break off your heavenly teaching and come under the peaceable Dominion of Christ You high Doctors blame me not for speaking where life is it will branch it self forth Who shall hinder my speaking the truth the silly Worm to the cold Earth the Sallamander to the Fire so all things to their proper use to the honour of God Oh that these rotten Priests would lay down their power and make Christ all in all Fat Priests that live as Drones belly-godded persons proud and delicious God is angry with you because no power will throw you down God will give his people wisdom to come out from you and to live by a higher teaching which is from the holy Ghost for there will be a great falling away that the iniquity of the Priests may be discovered I have tried all your Ministeryes and can have no rest in them my spirit is so universally taken up with the appearings of Christ that I unfailably see an absolute doing away of your Forms your Sabbaths your Sacraments your Baptism your common-Churches your separate-Churches your Anabaptist-Churches your Papist Churches all your set forms must return to the ancient Church of the Jews which is the stable perfection of Christ for now he apeareth all your forms must be done away Christ at the first came under a state of imperfection yeilding to the laws of men but now he cometh in perfection and will do away all your forms and shadows for when that which is perfect is come the unperfect must be done away My desire is to see the Priests thrown down and let the Lord preach alone for all the Ministers under the cope of heaven are not able to define or make out the truth neither can they speak truth till they give up their Ministery to Christ for all teaching belongeth to him and I know not any as can teach but shall run themselves into errors for it is God that teacheth and not fleshly man for by mans teaching the curse hath continued on the earth to this day neither shall it be till Christ hath the full pre-eminency and all powers yeilded up to him by an endless Covenant saying When that which is perfect is come then that which is not shall be done away when he cometh in power your illegal forms and relecks shall be done away for his formal power shall throw off your shadows as all the creatures declare the glory of God and preach forth his excellency but not as a Priest to Minister in Christs place but to shew what the Lord hath done for the creation and to acknowledge Christ alone to teach life He preacheth forth peaceable dominion to them that are nigh and to them that are afar off from him righteousness doth arise which is the end of all preaching Christ is the stability of the Church I do not say of named Churches but of one Church without difference or dividual dividing he is the husband of one spouse his perfection shall guide us unto all truth and for want of setting up Christ in his oriency of power men set themselves up and destroy his heritage but the chosen people of God must act against every thing that is opposite to Christ for he is Prince of peace and Prince of power and for his cause sacrifice thy life otherwise thou art no Christian for we must look no more upon the Ark of the Covenant it must not be once named amongst us The letter of the Scripture shall be failable when the testimony truly dwelleth in us by faith then all our outward shadows shall be done away Christ hath redeemed us from all typical shadows and from the curse of the letter being once made a curse for us that the blessing may come upon the people by faith and not by literal forms and shadows Gal. 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree Shewing the miserable condition of all such that hold so much by the tree of the Law and deny the freedom of the Spirit they might have in the Son of God for as many as rely upon works are men-workers lie still under the curse for Christ is the free Abraham he hath done all the work of renovation and we are free in him without works and saved in him without mens works if once in Christ then free indeed from all mens traditional teaching while we are justified in Christ we acknowledge our selves sinners in that we see nothing in our selves and Christ to be just in all It is the believing Abraham that shall be justified and not the working Abraham For grace is of faith and not by works lest any man should boast for if the inheritance be of the letter it cannot be of faith God gave it to Abraham as he believed so the Lord promised to him and to his seed for ever according to the Covenant of faith which is the Law and Testimony written in the conscience called two Witnesses within which do Christian a creature and baptize him into the promised Covenant of Abraham and Christ which is far above all your teaching forms and shadows I speak to the people saying Stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ hath made you free and be no more entangled with the yoke of bondage but know your selves at liberty as children of the day and rejoyce with Jerusalem all that love her be glad and rejoyce for the amplitude and stability of the Church when all the Churches shall be maried to Christ in the new Covenant that they may suck and be satisfied with the brest of consolation for the Lord will extend peace to his Church as a river and to the people as a flowing stream from a fountain of teaching from above GOod men may sometimes deny Christ not knowing the end of disciplying This Doctor Hill was an eminent man and without all question declared forth many good things in his time yet subject to erre as we be by relation of some of the Souldiers that quartered in the town of Cambridge as they told me I cannot tell but as they related a sad story of this Doctor Hill by relation he was intended to persecute with the tongue whether right or wrong his spirit knoweth it best I cannot prove it yet it was certified me
to forsake wife and children and calling too yet I must do it and that is my cross to follow my Saviour in his example and not to be led by false Christs or such as you call Ministers of God And for that I stand up which doth anatomize my life And as John lost his life for Christ so I lay down my life for him daily I know my self truly called to it night and day I can have no rest the Lord is with me continually moving me in the work of the new Creation and to go out a Disciple in the power of Eliah a Messenger to call in the Jews If any one would take up my place he cannot perform it neither can I deny it or put it off Therefore let all godly souls mourn with me for I shall be sure of a solitary life as an Anatomy shall I die and the end of my pilgrimage is not known and thus I give up all yet I advise not every one to do so but to walk up to that calling that God hath called them to I say Judgement must sit and the Saints must judge the ends of the earth for God is the beginning and the end of every work I speak as killed yet alive and though I die daily yet I live and my cross doth anatomize my life when I see the unstableness and brevity of life so changeable are all things under Christ his brightness putteth out every light he appeareth as the Sun Let all be silenced BAbylon shall down with all her merchandizes Gods people are commanded to depart out of her the world doth lament her miserable condition saying Alas alas and cannot help her and being thus taken in the same snare with her that they can do no less but mourn with her saying How is our condition changed and we brought low that were so high exalted The clamation is saying It is not your greatness but your goodness that God esteems which causeth her to mourn seeing her wants saying How art thou fallen from God in the world and art become odious in his sight destitute and art become the habitation of Divels and all unclean spirits saying We have recreated our selves in the world and sent gifts one to another in vain for in a moment our condition is changed and we left miserable and desolate cut off in our hopes our iniquities have reached to heaven and God is angry Alas poor Babylon how are we fallen our Idolatry it is all disclosed And thus Babylon must fall in all her practices of oppression and covetousness and from every unlawful act when all scoffers and jeerers shall be brought under this sad calumny of hell in the world which may then cause them to say We be ashamed of our smoak that ascendeth up to heaven and we justly see our burning saying Alas alas for in a moment it is come upon us when all prophane persons shall be laid out in the open view of Gods Church under the judgement of a community bar'd out from the inward temple being left under a dark and a fearful dispensation How may this terrifie the hearts of all unbelievers when judgement is inflicted upon them when they shall be shut out from the holy community of Saints burning under the fire of Gods jealousie and contempt hopeless and helpless I pity your condition all ye Merchants of the world for your earthly treasures shall burn and your sorrows shall come unawares and ye must fall at his appearing and all the dark corners of the earth shall be made manifest and discovered by his kingdom Alas poor Babylon we cannot hide our decayes upon Gods discovery it is not our curiosity that can keep us but if we be wicked we must fall for God will search Jerusalem with torches and much more you that disobey him he will prove all your works and what is within us and whether we be Hypocrites or Christians to know whether we be royal for him or no otherwise we must burn and fall in her idolatry and so be shut out of the land of the living and lie in eternal despair This Babylon shall fall first at the preaching of the kingdom Secondly it shall penetrate and fall at the discovery of the outward court Thirdly it must fall at the building of the inward temple Fourthly it shall finally fall after the little book is opened and the everlasting Gospel preached to shake both heaven and earth meaning the godly and the wicked There is a threefold shaking first of nations to bring them all into one which is to his kingdom for all the kingdomes of the earth must become the kingdom of our Lord and yeild to his golden scepter Secondly there must be a great shaking of heaven or the heavenly people Ministers others to drive them of their own bottoms so that every Christian way shall be broken to pieces and this burning from above shall cashire all your opinions that godliness may be one and all differences cease that Christ may be one and his name one and his nation one to him That unity may swallow up all differences that they may serve him with one heart in love and under one consent The third shaking is the earth or earthly mindes of men thus carried away from God And therefore they be called Babylon which shall endure a terrible shaking when the third part of the earth shall fall which is Sodom when God shall give up all her doings of cruelty to his holy ones This shaking shall shake down all her power and pride and all her domineering fashions which shall cause her to say Alas whither are we fallen now our condition is changed and we brought under our underlings when our pompe shall be turned into emptiness and our wordly joy into mourning it shall then shew apparently that thou art fallen and so soon as God calleth out his own people from out of thee in that very moment and hour thou shalt burn and consume till thou shalt be found no more O Babylon how soon will thy judgement come What city was like this and cry when they see her burning with spiritual fire for in a moment our great riches are come to nothing they that were made rich by her shall stand afar off and see her burning and dare not controverse for her nor hold up their hand to defend her but shall cry Alas alas such is our condition hopeless and helpless This shall be her condition when Sion raigneth and God shall sever the one from the other by a refining power Here is a use of trial to all your consciences to know and try your selves whether ye be of Canaan or not if thou beest not thou must burn with Babylon for God will burn up all idolatry he will consume the wicked from off the earth Therefore rejoyce over her ye holy ones come to the feast of the Lord to eat her flesh and burn her with fire for in her was found the blood of the
inward Sabbath to rest in God I wonder who hath bewitched you from the eternal rest Doctors and Ministers Once in that setled rest made free in Christ then free indeed The houshold of faith are no more under your Legalities once free in Christ free indeed he is our true vine and ministreth to us the Holy Ghost and setteth us at liberty from all the earthly Christs to live by the spirit of life and Christ preaching in us that maketh us inwardly and outwardly free from the traditional and literal teachings of men Once in covenant with Christ and for ever sallowmorted in the fellowship of the Son of God by a solempnisie or setled union with the Lord as Abraham and Noah did free from the teachings of men that came in his name and are not the very Christ but deceive the people using many words yet Christ never did so he spake few words and the people answered him And likewise the Apostles did so by disciplying and answering Disputations Every Christian ought to be in a married union with Christ and so throw off the Priests and cry Abraham Abraham our father after the order of Melchizedek a Priest for ever Christ a Prophet a Priest a Teacher a Fore-runner and so throw off all Legators that stand as Lawyers in their Pulpits pleading Mediators betwixt God and many mens souls But Melchizedek was a Priest long before Aaron the Priest or any high Priest of you all Christ was and is a Priest unchangeable but you are instruments in his hand I do not call you Ministers because you destroy the Offering of Gods Temple so you shall be destroyed and your change it is nigh at hand God had an house before any Priest of Levi was whereof Gods extent was first extended by an Ordinance ordained to Abraham which was the Tenth of all his substance that should go to the house of God whereof Abraham brought in the Tenth of his substance unto the house of God after the order of Melchizedek after Gods order And because you have denied these things therefore your Priestdom shall cease and your power shall go down You Sâ—onets Ministers of God as you call your selves though but outward instruments such as have wounded the Lord in the house of his friends The Prophet Zâ—chariah much complaineth against all such ministring instruments as Pulpittians men of conformity as if their conformity was the way to salvation Those are instruments indeed that teach salvation and yet not the very Christ yet come in his Name and deceive many and will not lose one days teaching of the people by no means but will get one Sionet or another to learn the people salvation and will give the man that stands in their absence twenty shillings for his Sabbath-days work of preaching conformity to the people night and morning as if the way of conformity was the very way to salvation and thus one Priest gratifieth another for money as if salvation could be bought with money O out with all money-changers of the Temple for the Lord will cut off the name of Baal out of the earth that stand bawling with their own tongues for money And are not these money-changers of the seenal Witchcrafts very subtil and crafty yet call themselves the Ministers of God simple instruments in his hand We may call a spade a spade in ones hand for what is one man more then another When God is instrumental and teacheth us all by his Son a Priest for ever he is instrumental and not man Foolish man may take upon him Christs office and set himself high as Scribe over the people yet he shall come down to plead among his low equals Wo to you Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites ye outside Preachers of the letter and cannot minister the spirit for God inwardly teacheth and so will do when all your forms are down for Christ saith Ye shall all be taught of God from the least to the greatest which is a far higher teaching then that of men The next thing that I shall treat upon is my desire to see the people come out from those false Christs and be married to Christ Jesus in the new Covenant which is a glorious and spiritual marriage made free in him and come no more under Legators yoke To be taught of God is to live by the Son of God without the teachings of men and that is to stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and come no more under their yoke of bondage but live up to Ordination which is above the teachings of men Though they call themselves Ministers of God believe them not for our Lord saith they be false Christs that come in his name And truely those be the men that call themselves Converters and soul-savers of the people or the feet that bring glad tidings of salvation and so nuzzle up the poor ignorant people O come out from those false Christs and see your freedom and liberty in Jesus Christ come out and stand upon your feet as faithful Witnesses raised of the dry bones redeemed from the spawn of Euphrates I mean from the Priests that preach up their own self-honour and cunningly keep to themselves the heritage of Gods house by a carnal and usurped authority that call themselves instrumental when indeed they are but formed instruments in his hand and as low as others and have wounded him in the house of his friends The Lord is ministerial and instrumental without the help of men or any such Merit-mongers that have stood so long in their Pulpits as Mediators betwixt God and so many thousand poor souls These satisfactorious Priests not ordained of God nor sent of Christ yet they run and call themselvs Curates of mens souls and Ministers of God as if the work of God were in their hands Miserable blind guides that deceive the people feigned Christs Ambassadors as they call themselves as if Christ were not in all places to preach salvation without them Doctor what will you do when your Churches stand forlorn and your people withdraw themselvs when the Lord will be worshipped in every place then what will become of your Jerusalems when God will be known in every place and the people not tyed to your formed Churches Your forms must cease and go down I cannot see but Gods people that have enjoyed the clearest light from above have ever bin persecuted by your Ministers and Clergical power if not by Bishops yet by secret counsellors that call themselves Ministers of God Though they may set themselves high and seem to take away some of the power of Christ yet God will blast their seenal Witchcrafts and cunning sophistry Though they may call themselves by those great names yet the Witch shall be cut out of the earth I cannot tell but I am sure ye have made your selvs rich and great justitious and high by robbing Gods house of Tythes and common rights and yet can set nothing in order but preach on in