come to the truth nor be led by the Spirit of Truth for the Children of God are all guided by the infallible spirit so long as they be faithful followers of it and they live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and talk in the spirit and act in the spirit all which is a Riddle to thee and impossible for any to open unless he have the gift of Faith to believe in the mighty Power of God which is the Son of God Friend whosoever thou art that art of this perswasion I must declare unto thee from the Lord Thy Faith is but Faney thou art still in Aegypt and like to perish in the Wilderness O be perswaded to search the Scriptures and to believe in Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of the Faith of his Disciples of Whom thou art none as thou now stands forbear thou to make mention of the holy and infallible Spirit of Truth which in their several measures all possess who are taught of God until thou are freed from the spirit of Error and come out from the fleshly apprehensions of the Divine Truth to see the infallible things of God by the eye of living Faith and if you come to know the Lord his truth your rotten foundations must be removed and your Faith built upon the Rock of Ages Dost thon think that because thy heart is filled with unbelief of the mighty Power of God and because thou knowest not the secrets of the Lord revealed unto thee in regard thou art not come into his fear that therefore the Lord doth not reveal his secret to any No no thou are miserably deluded and bereft of the right use of thy understanding by Satan and his Minister for know thou the Lord is as merciful now as ever as good now as ever and as free to reveal himself and his secrets unto those that fear him now as ever he was Canst thou be ignorant of this That the Lord reveals his secrets to them that fear him Or that the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Psal. 25.14 Or Prov. 3.32 That his secret is with the Righteous And Amos 3.7 That the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants Friend There is no way to come to the knowledge of God but by the Revelation of the Son of God in us witnessing with our spirits whose children we are And all that I shall say further to thee herein is this My soul shall weep in secret for thee and and thy Teachers who have caused thee to err they themselves not knowing the truth by saying Revelation is ceased when there is no other way to know God by A Word of Counsel to him that feels himself loaden with his sins and groans for deliverance but complains that he wants power ART thou laden with the burthen of thy sins And dost thou mourn in secret praying to God for case and pardon Or Art thou black with lying in the mire and filthy pollutions of this World so that thou art ready to say From the crown of my head to the sole of my foot I am full of wounds and putrified sores and would fain be made clean Art thon possest with the spirit of error and ignorant of the truth of God And wouldst thou be acquainted with the Spirit of God to guide thee into all truth and lead thee into the path of holiness Wouldst thou be freed from the spirit of pride self-love passion and emulation towards thy Neighbour Art thou covetous of gain and earthly-minded and dost not do to another as thou wouldst be done unto wanting the Royal Law of Love to be thy Rule Art thou possest not onely with one evil spirit but Legions and seest no power to resist the least assault of the Enemy Then be thou counselled by one who hath felt the weight and burchen of most of these evils and seen deliverance in a measure to own the light in thy conscience and that will open unto thee a door of hope and shew thee a Fountain where Judah and Jerusalem Jew and Gentile Christian and Heatheu Profane and Professor high and low rich and poor may wash in and be made clean yea and from all their filthiness may they be cleansed And if thou do so viz. own the Light in thy conscience and obey it it will lead thee to holiness And thou that complainest for want of power against sin I tell thee and do affirm unto thee whoever thou art Thou hast power unless with the unjust Steward thou hast buryed it in thy corrupt heart and made no improvement of it and the Lord for thy unsaithfulness hath taken it from thee and given it to him who hath been a better husband of his gift then thou hast been For this I say That the Lord hath given a Talent or measure of himself to every one to profit withal which is his light in every conscience the which whosoever doth not improve shall have it taken from him and he be cast into utter darkness for there is a day vvhen the Candle of the Wicked shall be put out and he shall have no light to vvalk by though he seek it and that vvith tears Remember Iudas and be vvarned by him to be faithful to thy Master and to obey him even whilst the Light shines upon thee and would guide thee least thy repentance be too late as his was and thou be with him called a Son of Perdition but if thou obey the Light in thy conscience which convinceth thee of sin I declare unto thee as a Word from experience of the mighty Power of God and of its powerful working there That it will not only give thee power against gross corruptions but against vain thoughts and idle words and though thy sins be red like crimson they shall be as Wool and as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Be willing therefore and obedient and thou shalt eat the good of the Land but if thou refuse and rebel thou shalt be devoured with the Sword The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Some Hope left for the persecuting Magistrate of England if his Day of Grace be not past already PEradventure thou mayest say unto me I have been a Civil Magistrate and a great Persecutor of the Saints 〈◊〉 the Most High God who have few or none on earth to plead their cause how shall I find mercy from the Lord for I am the greatest of sinners That when the Servants and Messengers of the Lord have come into our Cities Towns Villages or Market-places to preach repentance and declare against sin and to bring the glad tydings of the Gospel into our quarters where it was never preached before I have not been so sober unto them as the Gadarenes were to Christ who when he came to cast out unclean spirits and to do them good they entreated him to depart out of their coasts but I instead of entreating have compelled
at Jerusalem must live in us and we in him and so must we know him even to lead and guide us out of all error sin and vanity into all truth righteousness and stability if we ever know him to salvation I know your minds have been abroad and peradventure yet are as mine was but I never knew my Saviour whom I sought without until I turned my mind inward and found him there No more can ye If them art still abroad wandring upon the barren Mountains O come down for I am well assured there is no food there for thy hungry soul The day I say is far spent and the night at hand wander no longer in the coasts of Egypt and Land of darkness where no Light is nor true Guide to lead thee but hasten into the low Valley search deep into the bottom of thy heart come to Meekness Patience and humility of spirit and there O there wilt thou meet with thy true Guide and that Light which alone can lead out of darkness all the faithful followers of it Reproof to him that faith the Light within is natural and that the Light of Christ was carnal and darkness as some have affirmed THou knowest not what thou sayest O man that sayest the Light is natural carnal or insufficient nor whereof thou affirmest Hast thou been a Teacher or Hearer in England for many years and a professor of Religion and yet knowest not Jesus Take this for thy portion thou who despisest the riches and goodness of the Lord in his Son Christ The Light or Talent which thou now hast shall be taken from thee and thou the unprofitable servant cast out into outward darkness vvhere shall be nothing but weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth because thou hast rejected the Light within which is Gods Witness in every man and hast judged and denied it Know this That thou by it shalt be condemned for ever I say the day of Grace and long-suffering of the Lord which would now lead thee to repentance will not alwayes last the Light or Candle of the Lord in thee will not alwayes shine but the night of darkness in which thou shalt ever remain will overtake thee where thou shalt be shut up in Chains for evermore then oh then it vvill be too late to vvish thou hadst not slighted the light in thy conscience and called it carnal darkness and insufficient for it now is and then will be more then a thousand Witnesses against thee The Light of Christ I say is not carnal is not darkness is not insufficient to lead blind man out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Lord for by it and it alone have I been lead from the one into the other and can set to my seal of a truth That God is light and Christ is light and that his light is in every man and it is and will be the condemnation That Light is come into the World but men love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil and ful of darkness Friend This I am bold to declare as in the Light of the Lord That there is no other way to be saved from eternal darkness but by coming unto Christ the light of the World and walking in his light if so thou do as he is in the light then and not till then shalt thou have fellowship with the children of Light and the blood of Jesus will cleanse thee from all sin Some Queries to them that say Revelation is ceased and that the Saints must not now expect such glorious manifestations as were in the primitive times and that say no man hath the infallible Spirit now MAny there are who in this state of darkness do believe and say That Revelation is ceased and that the infallible Spirit is not now known amongst the Saints and that they are not to expect such glorious manifestations now as were in the primitive times The ignorance and gross darkness of such I cannot but bewail and for the opening of their understandings shall propound unto them some Queries As first Whether is not Christ the same to day yesterday and for ever and the holy Spirit the same and as operative quick and powerful now as ever Or hath it lost its powerful operation now Is the Lords love to his Saints less now then before Or is his hand shortned that he cannot save to the uttermost as well now as ever Where is it said which ye so boldly affirm That Revelation is ceased or shall ever cease from the Saints or Spouse of Christ Hath not the Lord promised that in the later dayes he will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh and his sons and his daughters shall prophesie And hath not John said That the light of that day shall be as seven dayes and that there shall be no need of a Candle nor light of the Sun for the Lord God shall be the light thereof What is it that in the night of darkness when thou art lying upon thy bed of Adultery and carnal pleasure sporting thy unsatiable soul in the lusts of the flesh discovers and reveals the wickedness of thy heart unto thee What is it that in the day time checks thee for thy wanton eye and pride of life when none without perhaps dares accuse thee What is it that discovers unto thee in thy Chamber of Imagery the secret Adultery of thy heart when no outward eye sees thee What is it that brings to thy remembrance things past as if they were but yesterday and sets thy secret sins in order before thee What is it that tells thee thou hast committed the sin against the Holy Ghost and for which thou canst never receive pardon when committed Oh! how is it that thou shouldst suffer the instruments of Satan to work such a belief in thee and so far to put out the eye of thy Faith and of thy reasonable soul also as not to see thy self in a delusion when the Scriptures do positively say That no man knows the Father but the Son and him to whom the Son wil reveal him Matth. 12.27 Tell me poor soul whether thou canst be so ignorant of the Scriptures as not to know this That he that worships the Father must worship him in spirit Dost thou not know that the holy spirit is a spirit of Revelation wheresoever it is Dost thou not know that that is its work in man and that if thou hast not this Spirit of Christ thou art none of his Friend it 's an infallibly sign thou deniest the spirit that sayest Revelation is ceased it being its proper Work And thou that sayest No man hath the infallible Spirit now Let me ask thee also Hath the Lord no people in this Age to bear testimony to his Truth Do none know the Lord novv And are none in the Way of Truth Is this thy Faith Then knovv thou for certain thou art led by a spirit of delusion and whilest thou thus believest thou canst never
bore the ears as I may say of the hearers or bring to the Readers remembrance your multitude of Errors Heresies and false Doctrines nor trouble him with a view of all your ungodly practices at once I shall be sparing as hoping you may return from whence you are fallen and repent but shall hereafter if God will propound a few queries unto you whereby you may see your selves in some few particulars of your Doctrine and practice Friends Is preaching for hire and persecution of your Neighbour for conscience-sake to be miantained by Scripture Is throwing men into Gaols and stealing of their Goods to be maintained by the Scriptures Is your taking up the carnal Weapons to defend your Gospel with when your spirituall Weapons will not do to be maintained by Scripture Did Christs Ministers ever rebel against the Civil Magistrate and teach men so to do as many of you have done of late instead of being subject to the higher Powers For my own part I wonder not hereat as knowing that that spirit which at present guides you teacheth rebellion and disobedience as well to God as to man Furthermore You say you are Ministers of the Gospel and yet have perswaded people to believe that the Commandments of God cannot be kept Reader to thee who art of this perswasion with them be but moderate and let me ask thee this question For what end thinkest thou were the Commandments given by God Were they to be read onely or to be painted upon the Steeple-house Walls Will that please the Lord Or were they not given to be kept by his servants who enter into life Hath not the Lord said He will write them upon his peoples hearts never to be blotted out Or can any man be blessed that doth not keep them Tell me Doth any man require that of another which he knows he cannot perform and do And wilt thou make the Lord so hard a Master as to require obedience of man if it were not in his power to give it or that the Lord had not impowered him Friend even as the Serpent beguiled Eve so art thou by blind Guides He drew our first Parents into disobedience by going out to hearken to his subtilty and so left their innocency and thou being now in disobedience he would keep thee there by his evil instruments O take heed of the Serpents brood who say The Commandments of God cannot be kept for they are false prophets that so teach but assure thy self That if ever thou enter into life thou must keep the Commandments David could keep them under the Law and said That the Commandments of the Lord were not grievous My soul saith he hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly And again saith he I have done thy Commandments And again he saith I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies Read Psal. 119 166 167 168. Now Friend consider the promise of the Lord concerning his people by the the mouth of his Prophet Zechariah That in the day of the Lord He that is feeble amongst them shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God Zech. 12.8 And as the keeping of the Commandments is the entrance into life so are they pronounced blessed that keep them Rev. 22.14 psal. 119.2 Prov. 8.32 And saith St. John Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments 1 Joh. 2.3 But he that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Ver. 4. And again Whatsoever we ask saith he we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight 1 John 4.22 and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him Ver. 24. Such then as say that the commandments of God cannot be kept are hereby proved to be Lyars false prophets and deceivers Come out therefore from among them and be thou separate from such unclean men for the lyar shall not enter into the Kingdom nor any unclean or imperfect thing Friends I even tremble to think on your condition who break the Commandments of God and teach men so to do you are so far from the Way the Truth and the Life that unless you speedily repent and turn to the Lord you will have your portion with hypocrites where is weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore My direction then to you also before it be too late is To own the Light in your consciences and submit to its checks when you are reproved by it and know this That whilst it reproves you for your fins the day of Grace is not yet past nor hath the Lord given over striving with you but when you feel no checks of conscience when you do evil in thought word or deed then be assured your day is past and you are sealed up for destruction I say unto you therefore again Own the Light within you while you have it and take it for your Guide for you are gone a whoring from God and the Spirit of Truth and Holiness you know not O do not any longer abuse this Light this Lamb of God for you will one day find him to be the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah who when his Wrath shall be kindled against you you must be consumed for ever And now to you who say We are the Learned Ministers of England We have the Tongues We have the Originals and we have the many Languages and therefore we are best able to interpret the Scriptures To you I say this That the holy Scriptures are a sealed Book to all that are not taught of God by the Revelation of his spirit which you falsly and ignorantly say is ceased therefore it is that the unlearned Doctors and others the University-men of this age wrest them to their own destruction therefore it is that there are so many Errors Heresies Opinions Sects and divided Judgements amongst you and those who are called Christians Friends if you be ignorant of the true Original of all things to wit the infallible and unerring Spirit of God by which the holy Scriptures were wrote you want the key of true knowledge which should open them unto you and you with all your learning must stay without when the simple whom God teacheth and whom you despise can give you the true meaning and mind of God's Spirit shall enter in Oh! remember that the Jews had the Original Tongues before you and spoke them naturally and more then that they had amongst them the true Original himself even Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the first and the last and yet they crucified him and chose a Thief and a Robber before him I wish from my very soul it were not so with you chusing Hebrew Greek Latine and other Tongues before the naked and simple truth of God I say Christ Jesus was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the wise Greeks foolishness So is he this day to
instigated the corrupt Magistrate by the Rage Envy and Malice of this persecutiâ—g spirit in you both to stock beat mock and most cruelly whip and imprison until death the free-born people of the Naâ—â—on because they could not for conscience sake sat is fie your Lusts and greedy appetites with that Popish Maintenance by Tythes or otherwise because they have spoken to you as they were moved of the Lord in your places of idolatry and false Worship 7 Whether are you not the greatest Opposers of Authority and Disturbers of the publike peace that are in the Nation obstructing the setling of the Common-wealth and Reeping it from being a free Nation when as you take up Arms and carnal Weapons to fight against the civil Magistrate whom in all just things you ought to obey and preach subjection unto 8. Whether is it not the height of ingratitude pride and rebellion in you to kick against your Governors and Feeders and set them at naught who are your supporters in your Trades for filthy lucre Oh ye seed of Evil-doers when will you you see your wickedness against the Lord your true Husband from whom you have gone a whoring and entertained strange Lovers and return to him by true repentance for your many great and crying sins 9. Whether is your Gospel free and without charge as the true Ministers of Christs was and still is or do you no buy it and your abilities to preach at Schools Colledges Universities of Arts Sciences and humane Learning 10. Whether is the incorruptible seed of God in all men yea or nay And 11. Whether is that seed of God in Man sufficient to guide man to his true rest Or is there any thing besides that which can lead man into the path of life and enable him to walk therein 12 With what did the Lord say he would search Jerusalem and where was it 13. Whether is not the Spirit of God in man the Candle of the Lord with which he Will search all men and whether if once it he put out or removed the soul be not left in eternall darknesse 14. Whether if man obey not the Light or Candle of the Lord in him which shews him the evil of his way and judgeth him for a vain thought when nothing else can it will not be his condemnation for ever 15. Whether do you know the word of life in the heart and quickning Spirit within from the dead letter without 16. Whether of these two viz. the writings of the holy men of God and their experiences of God declared unto others or the Spirit it self by which those writings were penned is mans true Guide and infallible Rule to walk by 17. Whether is the quickning and powerful Spirit of God in man by which he became a living soul subjected to a dead letter Or is that which was from Eternity of lesse esteem because it is in man then the thing which hath proceeded from it and in comparison thereof is but as yesterday Oh blush and be ashamed ye Builders of Babel c. that you have refused the Corner stone and Well of life and hewn unto your selves empty cisterns that will hold no water I mean your University-Learning and have prefe red a dead letter before the living word of God 18. Whether do you in deed and in truth own the holy Scriptures If so how comes it to passe that you preach so contrary thereto saying Revelation is ceased And that the Saints cannot be free from sin here That perfection is not attainable in this life And that the Commandments of God cannot be kept And that no man now hath the infallible spirit Can any one of these be proved by Scripture if so make it appear if not stop your mouths and forbear to take the holy name of God into your polluted lips till you have learned the truth as it is in Jesus 19. Whether can man by all his Learning open the holy Scriptures yea or no or can he by all his study pains or humane industry get the true knowledge of God in Jesus Christ 20. Whether is the Knowledge of the whole body of your Divinity sufficient to empower man to conquer the least sin or subdue the smallest corruption in him 21. Whether is the learning of the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge on whose legs you yet stand necessary for the begetting encreasing or perfecting in the truth the true Disciples of Iesus Christ if not whether are they now employed to a right use 22. What have you to say why the said Universities and all the Colledges therein should not be converted to pious and charitable uses as Hospitals Alms-houses and places to set the poor at work in when as instead of being Universities of Piety they have been places of contention pride idleness ignorance and idolatry 23. Whether are not the two Universities Cages of unclean Birds and of foul and hatefull Spirits when as those who proceed from thence are so infections as to hold forth a necessity of living in pollution whilest they live saying it cannot be otherwise 24. Whether instead of seeking the Kingdome of heaven within you and teaching men so to do Yot do not seek and teach it to be sought without And whether you be not searching into the fallible sayings of old authors and sweeping your University-Libraries and Temples made with hands to find the lost groat which lies hid in your own houses or earthly Tabernacles 25. Whether are not false Teachers the Cause of so many Errors Heresies Sects and divided judgements as are in the Nation and whether it is like to be otherwise whilest false Doctrine is so frequently preached and the Fomenters thereof upheld by a Law 26. Whether do you not take upon you to be Heads of Colledges Churches Congregations and Assemblies and so make many heads and many Masters when as Christ Iesus saith his Spouse or Church is but one and he is the Head thereof 27. Whether do you not as much as in you lies divide the body of Christ by your many Sects and select Societies when as the Saints though many Members are but one body united in Christ 28. Whether in truth and singlenesse of heart can any of you say That the fruits you are known by are love joy peace meekness long sufferance gentlenesse self-denial faith patience temperance moderation and the like or are not your fruits contrary to all these and the root of the first Adam still growing in you 29. Whether have you been born again of the incorruptible seed and are you entred into the Kingdome of heaven where none comes but such as are dead to this world and the friendship thereof or are you not still shut out as unbelievers c 30. Whether are you not those that shut up the Kingdome of heaven against men and neither go in your selves nor suffer others And whether insted of preaching the Gospel and glad tidings of salvation you deny it not and preach down that