the Lord that he will bring such honour in the dust and that which he will condemn as unjust The Apostle saith That Women ought not to adorne themselves with gould silver pearls costly attire platting of the hair but to be adorned with a meek and a quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price and the hidden man of the heart c. And if Christendom had minded this it had been more virtuous and more sober and less envious towards one about their Manners XXIV Concerning Objections of the World against the Preaching of CHRIST Object The World Objests and saith That some Preach Christ of Envy and some of Good-will and some of Strife and Contention And that Christ commanded to hear the Pharisees So we may hear say they our Teachers although they be wicked Answ He that hath the Form of Godliness and denyes the Power from such turn away The Apostle bid turn away from Envious men and Contentious men and men of Strife Although there was a time when the Name of Christ was first spread abroad in which time he permitted Envious men to spread his Name abroad But when his Name was spread abroad then he forbad such Envious and Contentious men to Preach and exhorted Timothy to withdraw from and avoid such for they could not bring People into the Power For Envious and Contentious men may Preach the Form and have it but they cannot bring People into the Power And so there came a time before the decease of the Apostles to turn away from such Now as to the hearing of the Pharisees this was before Christ was Offered up and before the fulfilling of the Law for they were Ministers of the Law and so people ought to do as they said but not as they did but when Christ was offered up he commanded them to Preach the Gospel and not to hear the Pharisees and it was the work of the Apostles to bring People to the end of the Law to the Seed into Gospel-fellowship into the Power of God which was before the Power of darkness was XXV Concerning BREAD WATER and WINE Bread Water and Wine are earthly and perishing things for the Bread and Wine which Christ gave at Supper in the Evening which the World takes at Noon those things Christ and the Apostle gave for a shewing forth and a remembrance of his death until he should come And after some of the Disciples had receiv'd it they doubted Whether he was the Christ or not And after the Apostle had given the Supper to the Corinthians in his first Epistle he bad then Examine themselves and so to eat in the remembrance of Christ But in the second Epistle he bad them examine themselves and try themselves whether Christ except they were Reprobates were in them or not Now they may be Reprobates who have taken the Bread and Wine and have had the Water They were Reprobates if Christ was not in them For Bread and Wine is not the Flesh and Blood of Christ which came down from Heaven which flesh whosoever eates lives for ever For People may eat of Bread made of Grain and may drink Wine make of Grapes and yet may dye Reprobates Now they were to take it in remembrance of his Death this was one State and than they were to come to dye with him and this was a nearer state than the taking of Bread and Wine in remembrance of his Death and then they were to arise with him and then to seek those things which were above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God but Bread Water and Wine are all earthly things and they are not Christ and they who have him they are not Reprobates neither do they need outward things to put them in mind of his Death whenas they are dead with him and risen with him to live with him But they who will not dye and suffer with him such live in the Old Nature and desire to have outward things continually to put them in mind of his Death and such live in Strife and Contention about outward things and shaddows and do not come to Christ the Substance who was before the world was made in whom there is no strife at all but only Life and Peace XXVI Of the SABBATH DAY The Jews they kept the sabbath-Sabbath-Day a Type and Sign of Rest that both the Man-servant and Maid-servant and Strangers and all Cattel should rest within their Gates a sign of Christ who destroys the Devil the Author of Oppression and gives rest to Man and Beast and to the whole Creation and brings it again into that blessed condition which it was in in the beginning before the Fall Now as to the Saints Meeting together on the first Day of the Week this practice is not denyed but owned by us for who are come to the First Day as they Jews on the Last Day But there is more in the Word XXVII Concerning God-Fathers and God-Mothers and SPRINKLING of INFANTS Concerning God-Fathers and God-Mothers and Sprinkling of Infants and such like things the Scriptures make no mention yet the Scripture saith Repent Teach and Baptize XXVIII Concerning the Word TRINITY Of this word Trinitas there is no mention made in Scripture yet the Scripture speaks of Father Son and Holy Spirit and of Water Blood and Spirit and all these are one among us as in the Primitive time among the Apostles who gave no such outward Names to them as Trinity as the World now doth XXIX Concerning the MINISTRY They that receive from Christ they receive freely and they give freely they pray freely and preach freely and the Ministry is the gift of God and is to be exercised freely and of a free People of their earthly things it is to be Administred freely Heavenly men and bringers of glad Tydings of a Kingdom of which they are Heirs must Minister to the Eternal condition of People And this is the highest Love in the Life XXX Concerning Dayes and Times and Meats and Drinks The Kingdom of God consists not in Dayes Times Meats and Drinks and such like things but in Power Righteousness Faith and Joy in the holy Ghost and People ought not contend and Persecute one another about such things for the Apostles gave not any Commandment or Example that any should do so but on the contrary reproved them who did so and keep People in such things XXXI Concerning MARRIAGES Whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder and those which he joynes he joynes with his Power even by his Immortal Power with a Band over and above the State which is in the Fall where Men joyn and put asunder about outward and earthly things and jangle and fight about them but this is all in the defiled Bed out of the honourable state which was in the beginning where there was no hardness of heart And Marriage in it self is not condemned but owned and among all them who are in the Power I say it is
your Colledges for our Brother Paul the Tent-maker said If you will not work you must not eat For would you own Christ if he had come in your day who was called A Carpenters Son You Popes with your Triple Crowns and you Lord Bishops with your Coaches and fat Horses and gorgeous Aparrel with your Black Coats and white Coats and Girdles Are you like to entertain him who is called A Carpenters Son or to cast him and his mother into the Manger in your Stables This was the Word by which John the Evangelist saw Christ which did enlighten every man that came into the world and saw how he became flesh and came to his own and his own did not receive him but to as many as received Christ the Light to them he gave power to become the Sons of God which all they that are Ministers of the Letter made by the seven years Colledges and not the Word hate the Light And by this Word the Minister of the Word preacheth Christs Word Life Death and Resurrection And therefore as John saith in his Epistle That which our Eyes have seen our Hands have handled and our Ears have heard of the Word of Life do we preach unto you that which was from the beginning in the beginning was the Word though since the beginning were the words and letters for the Scriptures of Truth are the words of God and the words of Christ and he that adds to these words saith John in the Revelations God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book So the Word was in the beginning and Christs Name is called The Word of God but Christ is neither called Scriptures nor Writings for Scriptures signify Writings So In the beginning was the Word since the beginning were Writings and Scriptures In the beginning was the Word since the beginning were all false Wayes false Churches false Teachers and in the Word ye comprehend them all The Priest saith That Hebrew Greek and Latine were the Original the many Languages and the many Languages began at Babel which Nimrod the Hunter before the Lord began to build after God had destroyed the Old World with water then would he go build a Tower which should reach to Heaven then God came down and confounded them into many Languages so he hunted before the Lord but the Lord followed him and confounded him in all his work as he will do all the Builders that run before him and so all the Priest that have gotten the many Languages which began at Babel they tell simple ignorant people that they have the Original and are the Orthodox men and get in a different habit from them and say the Quakers are a simple people and despise the Learned Orthodox men who have the Original Give ear O people if these Languages which came up at the confounding of Babel are the Priests Original that makes them Orthodox and Divine then Pilate that crucified Christ was as good an Orthodox Divine as they for when he crucified Christ he writ a Paper in Hebrew Greek and Latine and set a top of him he was as ignorant of Scripture and of Orthodox and Divine matters as you and you as he and the Apostle saith That Tongues must cease then that which makes Orthodox men and Divine as you say must cease according to the Apostles Doctrine and so then Tongues neither are the Original nor make Orthodox nor Divine and John that gave forth the Revelations saith That the Whore and the Beast are set upon Tongues and the Everlasting Gospel must be preached again to all Kindreds and Tongues which were before Babel was who was the first beginner of Tongues Now it is clear that the Gospel must be preached to all Nations and Tongues and that Tongues are not the Original neither do they make Divines or Orthodox men but it is clear that it is the Word which was in the beginning which makes Divines yea Tradesmen which are base and contemptible in the eyes of the proud and them that have gotten Babels Tongues who are confounded by the ministers of the Word which was in the beginning before Babel was for all the Earth was of one Language and Speech before Babel And you that call your selves Orthodox men made by Tongues and say that is your Original who are so blind and cannot see that there was an Original before Babel was for did not Enoch the Prophet the seventh from Adam who prophesied in the Old World before it was destroyed and long before Babel was concerning the coming of Christ in Ten thousand of his Saints as in Jude and Lamech prophesied in the Old World concerning Noah and Adam and others might be instanced before your Tongues which you call your Original were and so we say that the Word of God is the Original which doth fulfil the Scriptures and the Word is it which makes Divines which is called a Hammer but it is a living Hammer and a Sword and Fire but a living Sword and a Fire to hammer cut and burn up that which separated and kept man from God by which Word man is reconciled again to God which is called The word of Reconciliation by this word are men and women sanctified and made clean and this is the Word that makes both men and woman Divines and brings them into the Divine Nature which hammers and cuts down that which corrupted their nature and by this Word aâ—e they brought into a Divine Wisdom Understanding Knowledg Spirit and Power And this is the Word that lives and abides and endures for ever by which the Saints are born again of the Immortal Seed and Word of God who feed upon the Milk of the Word up into a Divine Life Wisdom and Understanding and Divine Nature and by this Word they do see all Flesh to be as Grass and as the Flower of the Field that fadeth and the Word of God that lives and abides and endures for ever which is Christ whose Name is called the Word of God And so to Keep the Word of Patience which is over all the impatient Spirits and then you will know the Word of Life the Word of Patience and Word of Wisdom is Everlasting and abides and endures for ever which all they that be in the Letter out of the Life and Word have neither Patience to themselves nor others for the Word of patience and the Word of Life which is to be kept in all Tribulations was before Death and impatient Spirits were Concerning the Heathen Idolaters naming their Dayes and Moneths THE old Pagan Saxons in their Idolatry Were the first that brought in the names of the Days which those called Christians have retained to this day for they adored Idols and unto them offered Sacrifices and Worshipped the Planets See Vestigans Antiq. and Cambdens Brit. As touching the Idols which these Saxons adored they were divers and though they had many yet seven among the rest they especially appropriated unto the seven
that thou is the proper word to one particular person and is so all along the Scripture throughout to any one without respect of persons yea to God himself and the word you is the proper word to more then one but not to one and it so is all along the Scriptures throughout As for example at all times when the Apostles spake to Christ they used the word thou or thee unto him and when he spoke to more then one of them he used the word you or ye but if he spoke but to one he used the word thou or thee as in Mat. 16.14 15 16 17. verses And also Paul thoued King Agrippa and King Agrippa thoued him as in Acts 26.27 28. verses and so all along the Scripture And so it is plain that now it is an invention of proud Lucifer in man to exalt himself as it will plainly appear for amongst the great and rich ones of the Earth they will either thou or you one another if they be eqall in degree as they call it but if a man of low degree in the Earth come to speak to any of them then he must you the rich man but the rich man will thou him Nay you shall find it so betwixt Priest and People If a poor labouring man come before one that you call a Minister though he be one of his hearers and one who helps to maintaine him according to his ability yet he must you the Priest and the Priest thou him And here the Heathen Lord over one another by their corrupt wills but this is contrary to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ who made themselves servants to all and yet those will call themselves the Ministers of Christ And the word Minister signifies a servant and they are Masters and so they have gotten the Name but not the Nature and so are bastards and no heires who are not sprung from the gentle seed and yet they are hired as servants of men and yet bears rule by their means as Masters over those that maintaines them so that he that hath an eye to see let him see the deceits of the professed Ministers of England Jer. 5.30 31. Concerning putting off the HAT. This is another invention of proud Lucifer whereby he is honoured and worshipped and exalted in man but the Scripture doth not speak of any such fashon used in any age but man hath found out many inventions since the Scripture was recorded and now it is so that it is a fashon throughout the Land whereby one man is exalted above another for if a poor man come before a rich man it may be the rich man will move his hat that is called courtesie and humility but the poor man must stand with his hat off before him and that is called honour and manners and due respect unto him but if the rich man doe bid him put it on it is counted a great courtesie and he gets honour to himself there to be counted a courteous man But this difference or respect of persons was never ordained by God but by the Devil whereby he exalts himself in man but James the Apostle of Jesus Christ witnessed against it as in James 2.1 2 3 4 5. and so on and said He that respects persons committs sin for there is no respest of persons with God Acts. 10.3 4 and therefore saith James Howl ye rich men and here your professed Ministers abide not in the doctrine of Christ and so hath not God but the Devil and his Ministers they are whom they exalt 2 John 5. And now you shall see the partiality of the names in this your breeding and manners First from a poor man to a rich man it is called honour and due respect and manners from a rich man to a poor man it is called courtesie and humility but amongst the rich and nobles of the Earth it is called Court-like breeding but of those of the lower degree it is called Country breeding and amongst the lower sort of the world it is called neighbourhood and civil respect one to another and so the Devil hath covers for all his deceit and so he is honoured and exalted both in Court and Country but the highest in the Court and therefore they have the highest title But wo unto them that hides their sin and covers with a covering and not of the spirit of the Lord Isa 30.1 But this is the riches of the world and the Devil that makes so many degrees as between Dives and Lazarus and Haman and Mordecai for the Lord hath made all the Nations of the Earth of one mold and one blood but we who are redeemed out of his Kingdome he calls us clowns and fools and saith our Religon is built upon such small and frivilous things and stumble at strawes and leaps over blockes this saith his wisdome but it is even death to him to bâ—ar these strawes especially where he is the highest exalted for it puls down all his honour and therefore do rich men and great ones of the Earth and Rulers and Priests and Pharisees persecute and oppresse us and draw us before Judgement Seats and would root us out of the Nation as Haman would have done by Mordecai and the rest of the scattered Jews because they cannot bear those strawes but I say whatsoever it is that comes to be forbiddâ—n in the conscience it becomes a weight and a burden though it be never so small a thing in the eye of a Pharisee so let none despise the day of small things Ezek. 4.10 but some will call it stubbornness obstinacy pride and presumption but the same nature would have called it so in Mordechai who could not bow to Haman as the rest did that sate by and so let every one take heed of speaking evill of that you know not least you call good evill and evill good for the woe is pronounced against such but they that were after the Flesh alwayes in all Ages persecuted them that were after the Spirit And so it is not many mighty nor many noble nor many wise after the flesh are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and the weak to confound those that are mighty that no flesh should glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1.26 27 29. Concerning Perfection Man was perfect without sin before the Fall or else he could not have been the Image of God for God is pure and perfect and he made man after his own Image pure and perfect without sin but when he sinned he defaced his Image and lost his pure estate and was drove out of Paradice and became the Image of the Devil for sin is the Image of the Devil and here all sin is in the Fall and who are in the Fall are in the Devils kingdome which is impure and impefect and unclean but God promised the seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 and Christ the