and Baptists which Three I find so neerly united together as to the many Doctrines they place Salvation in that I join you in one Epistle together I confess I find you differing one from another and amongst your selves in Matters of Discipline and some other few Opinions wherein the Kingdom of God doth not consist and which a little Charity and Brotherly Love would easily unite and reconcile I know such and the like Things you much contend for and divide from each other as did and doth the Protestant from the Papist the Presbyterian from the Episcopal Protestant the Independent from the Presbyterian the Baptist from the Independent the Quaker as Ismael hath his hand against every one and all for nothing else than about Words and some outward Observations so that Christ's seamless Coat made of Good-will to all is much divided torn and rent who is one Spirit of Love to you all sent down from the Father of Spirits a Light to Jew and Gentile and to be God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Him who is the Eternal Son and Heir of God's Kingdom Him who is come into the World to save Sinners and to bless us by turning every one of us from the evil of our ways Against him do the Husbandmen Gog and Magog all Sects though never so different unite and join as Herod and Pilat did against the Lord 's Anointed in the Sanctified who is now coming to take his Kingdom though the Heathen never so much rage thereat and shall must and will rule and reign in them for ever and ever Amen Allelujah I know by what I have read in your Books that you Three all agree as do many other of the Sects in Christendom in the Birth of Christ as he was the Son of Man born of a Virgin that he lived a Holy Life was crucified dead and buried that he arose the third day and ascended into Heaven with his Natural Body of Flesh Blood and Bones And that your believing of what Christ did and suffered here on Earth in his own Person is your Salvation which Faith of yours I humbly crave leave to examine by the Scriptures of Truth And as I am a Priest of God to the World by having Christ Jesus in me I say and declare That unless ye be born of the Spirit and have the same Spirit in you that was in Christ Jesus to lead into Truth and Righteousness as it did him ye are no true Christians nor ever can see the Kingdom of God read John 3.3 Rom. 8.9 c. 2 Cor. 13.5 And except the Spirit of God's Grace kill Sin in us as in him Christ's Death at Jerusalem will do us but little good read Rom. 6.4 5 8. 8.6 10 11. 1 Cor. 15.31 Gal. 2.20 Ephes 2.5 Phil. 3.10 Col. 2.13 And as for Christ's Resurrection and Ascension without us this will do us no good unless in the Power of the same Spirit we be raised with him to sit down in Heavenly Places together with Christ Jesus read Rom. 6.4 8 11. 1 Cor. 6.14 Ephes 2.6 Col. 2.12 3.1 I also know and declare That in the true Christ are two Natures united in one Person First As he was the Son of God from all Eternity and is the Birth of God in all the Sanctified He is God blessed for ever Secondly As he was the Son of Man born of Humane Nature and of a Reasonable Soul subsisting as such he could do nothing of himself and denied himself and his own Will and was compassed about with many Infirmities like unto other Men Sin only excepted read John 5.30 Matth. 26.39 Heb. 5.2 As he was the Son of Man he was but a Creature having beginning of Days and end of Life But as he was the Son of God he was Alpha and Omega without beginning of Days and end of Life God's Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life to the World As he was the Son of Man filled with the Holy Ghost he had a Body prepared to do the Will of God here on Earth as it is in Heaven as all that are born of God have not only as our Example but for our Consolation and Salvation and thus it is with all that are born of the Spirit read 2 Cor. 1.5 6 7. John 13.15 Phil. 3.15 16 17. 1 Tim. 4.12 James 5.10 1 Pet. 1.21 So you see it is the Birth of the Spirit in all the Sanctified and not the Humane Nature that is the Saviour Not what Jesus did as he was the Son of Man at Jerusalem in his own Person only but what he did and for ever doth in the Saints as he was is and for ever shall be one and the same God's only begotten Son the Word in the Heart his Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life to Jew and Gentile and so he is God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah Moreover I would you might understand That all born of the Spirit are born of God and have the mind and Spirit in them that was in Christ Jesus and do the same Works and greater Works When as Dr. Taylor saith Christ is risen in them for are they not the Light of the World and Salt of the Earth walk as Christ walked and are in this World as he is in Heaven read Gen. 5.24 2 Cor. 6.16 Gal. 5.16 Col. 2.6 1 John 2.6 1 Cor. 2.16 Phil. 2.5 Matth. 5.14 Gal. 2.20 1 John 4.17 Mark 16.17 18. John 14.12 Rev. 1.5 6. As Christ by the Spirit of the Father was filled with the Holy Ghost in which Spirit the fulness of the Godhead doth dwell bodily of whose fulness is given to all the Sanctified Grace for Grace And as they receive the Spirit of Grace freely so they dispense the Word and Spirit of Grace freely for did not Paul give the Spirit read Acts 19.3 to 7. And was not that the Spirit Timothy received by the laying on of his hands called The Gift of God 2 Tim. 1.6 And did not he that ministred the Spirit to the Galatians give the Spirit to them read Gal. 3.5 And did not Paul by virtue and power of the Spirit 's Administration convert Thousands turning them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God And was it not by the virtue of the same Power of the Spirit that Peter converted at one Sermon about Five thousand And was it not the Power of the same Spirit in Christ Jesus in the Apostles and their Followers and in Moses and Aaron and in all the Prophets and Men of God that wrought and did all the Wonders and Miracles ever since the World began And this I do further declare to all the World as my Opinion That whosoever is not born of this Spirit and led by this Spirit of God is no true Christian nor Minister of Christ nor ever can profit the People or convert Souls to God I know that a Man void of the Spirit may through the Light of
and dare call God Father such are truly blessed and happy that can alway continually and ever-more pray God's Will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven Allelujah O God make clean our Hearts within us and take not thy Holy Spirit from us And such only are true Christians that have God's Holy Spirit to wash and cleanse and to guide into Truth and Righteousness those that have gone astray YOu that are born of the Spirit Nune Dimittis and so have Christ Jesus in you may sing the Song of Old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word Christ the Word in the Heart who speaketh Peace to all the sanctified People of God for mine eyes the Eye of the Spirit have seen thy Salvation Allelujah I have also perused the second Collect for Peace the third Collect for Grace the Prayer for the King and Royal Family the Prayer for the Clergie the Absolution Magnificat Deus Misereatur Cantate Domino Second Collect for Evening-Prayer the Litany the Collects for the second and third Sunday in Advent for the Nativity for St. Stephen 's St. John 's and Innocents days for the Circumcision for the first fifth and sixth Sunday after Epiphany for the first and second Sunday in Lent for the Sunday before Easter for Good Friday for Easter Even for Easter day for the third and fifth Sunday after for Ascension day for Whitfunday for the 7 9 11 16 17 18 19th Sundays after Trinity for Simon and Jude Philip and Jacob and All-Saints days In which foregoing Prayers Collects c. I take to be words of Truth and Soberness and do recommend them to all those that can pray them with a sincere Heart in the power and demonstration of the Spirit of Truth Allelujah Yet as I am a Priest of God by having Christ Jesus in me my Priest my Prophet my King I have somewhat to say and declare to the Heads and Governors of the Church of England That none amongst them presume to call or own themselves Ministers of Christ and his Gospel for not every one that crieth Lord Lord is a true Servant or Minister of Christ or fit to Teach Preach or Pray in his Name unless they first be called of God and baptized into the same Name and assisted by his Holy Spirit as Aaron was else none are fit Ministers of Christ read Exod. 4.30 6.13 26. 7.1 6. 28.30 Heb. 5.4 And that the Spirit of Christ be their Induction and Commission what to Preach and what to Pray Let such as are not regenerate and born anew take heed how they meddle with the Things of God that they touch not Holy Things with unclean and unsanctified Hearts and with polluted Hands and Lips lest they be smitten of God as Vzza was and lest a sorer Judgment attend them under the Gospel who run and are not sent than did those under the Law Thus declaring I have peace with God and am clear from the Blood of all Men that perish under such Teachers and Ministers as have not the Spirit of Christ to teach them and have no other Commission than from Man such cause the People to err and go astray and never can profit the Souls of their Hearers but like blind Guides they lead the Blind till both fall into Perdition I have observed in reading of our last English Translation of the Bible that many material Things might be amended and that it is better rendred out of the Vulgar Latin and Greek than we have it in English For which see some places in my Epistle to the Romanists And also Rom. 8.29 the Latin and Greek saith That he might be the first born in many Brethren The English The first born amongst many Brethren Which seems to deny Christ to be in the Saints Mat. 28.19 the Greek saith Baptising them into the Name The English Baptising them in the Name Which Name of God is a strong Tower whosoever is baptized thereinto puts on the Lord Jesus Christ a Saviour from Sin and Evil. Allelujah 2 Cor. 5.19 the Latin and Greek saith Hath put in us the Word of Reconciliation The English Hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation This I conceive is for the setting up of Man to be the Preacher and not Christ the Word in the Heart Rom. 1.19 English Latin and Greek well translate all speaking one and the same thing viz. That which is to be known of God is manifest or made known in Man even his eternal Power and Godhead in the Heathen 2 Tim. 3.16 the Latin and old English Bible saith All Scripture inspired of God or given by inspiration is profitable c. The English saith All Scripture is given by inspiration c. The which seems not to be a Truth without a Comment for there is much written that is not inspired of God even in the Bible it self In the last Edition are said to be amended from the former many thousand words And how many Copies or rather Autographs of the New Testament are now in the Library at Oxford and all differing one from the other St. Hierom saith That in his time the Original Copies let the Learned pardon the Expression of the Hebrew and Greek were much corrupted by Jews and Hereticks therefore he chose the Vulgar Latin after he had purged it from Faults committed by Writers c. laying aside all other Latin Editions which St. Hierom saith were in his time almost innumerable Thus by reason of so many false Copies false Writers false Translators and false Interpreters arise so many different Sects and Opinions in Christendom every Master of a Sect taking his Rule from Scripture and his own private interpretation thereupon So that if you make the Letter of the Scripture the only Rule it must needs be crooked and uncertain But God be praised and ever magnified that hath not left Man without a Witness of himself in every one a Rule most true and certain Christ the Word in the Heart which shines in the dark Heart of every Man and is a sure Word of Prophecy even Truth in the Inward Parts to which we do well to take heed as to a Light that shines in a dark place till the Shadows flee away and the Day-star arise in our Hearts then shall we see that it is not any Scripture without us but the inspiration of the Almighty only that giveth to Man an understanding in the things of God what is Truth and what is Error as it is written Job 32.8 Joh. 1.4 2 Pet. 1.19 compared with Isa 55.4 54.13 1 John 5.10 2.27 So that if you have Christ the Word in you you need no other Teacher but as that Anointed one teacheth who is the Truth in every one both Male and Female Jew and Gentile they are all one in Christ Jesus the Truth Such as have not Christ Jesus God's true and faithful Witness in them are Reprobates and can
raising of my dear Friend Lazarus viz. The Love of God which hath bin long pining away through a tedious famine of Contention and Strife even unto Death and invite to this Entertainment of Joseph's Love and as his Passover from the Death of Enmity to the Life of Love unfained such as they shall apprehend to be born again into the new Life of Love so as to have peace with God therein and good Will towards each other which is a Life and a World as yet to come to many who with one Heart and one Soul can meet and break Bread in the singleness of their hearts and behold my Spirit is with you from the beginning to the end even with all or as many as shall meet together in the Name or Power of Love the Father and of Love the Son and in the pure Innocent powerful loving Spirit thereof even with all that feel the Joy of the Lord their Strength or that have Christ Jesus the Love of God shed abroad in their Hearts all such are but one Bread which the Father giveth for the Light and Life of the World O eat and drink abundantly thereof my beloved Friends Allelujah After the Receipt of the forenamed Letter and the Mony disposed as was therein directed this attempt was made by R. B. towards the Feast of Divine Love an Invitation was sent by him to several Persons to afford their presence at his House in order to the end aforesaid Accordingly several of the said Persons on the first of September in the Year 1668 did there meet where after he had spoke something suitable to the occasion some Entertainment was made according to the directions of the foresaid Letter One of the Persons invited being necessarily absent made his Apology to the said R. B. in the ensuing Letter SIR THough Providence had otherwise ordained it that I could not be present at the Feast to which you so friendly and solemnly invited me yet this is to let you know I no way slighted it though it was but a Type for I am in my very Soul a real Friend to all that have a good will to that Catholick Love which was in the beginning and will be when all middle walls that are come in through Man's fall are removed The Lord prepare us all for that Feast of fat things that in the Mount of Sion is made ready that is the Mount in which the Lord will destroy the Covering cast over all flesh into which we enter after the Consummation of all Types in celebrating the Passover with our Lord Jesus in the like death to which we must be conformed that so the Vail being rent we may enjoy the most holy Things and inherit the essential Love for ever But this is a great Work and the attaining it the greatest Wonder To which the Lord bring us all Your true Friend in the Love of God T. B. The several and respective Acquittances given for the Receipt of each Thirty Pounds 1. By the Roman-Catholicks REceived the 23d day of December of John Raynes by the Appointment and Order of Mr. Robert Rich Senior of Barbadoes the Sum of 30 l. Sterling which we promise to dispose of to such as are in Need Sickness or any other Adversity We say received by us Tho. Godden Treasurer of her Majesty's Chappel G. Stapylton D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to her Majesty Hen. Latham Chapl. in Ord. to her Majesty at St. James's 2. By the Episcopal-Protestants REceived the 14th day of January 1667 of John Rayns by the Appointment and Order of Mr. Robert Rich Senior of Barbadoes the Sum of 30 l. Sterling which we promise to dispose of to such as are in Need Sickness or any other Adversity Benjamin Whichcot John Wells Thomas Grigg 3. By the Presbyterians REceived the 8th day of January 1667 of John Raynes by the Appointment and Order of Mr. Robert Rich Senior of Barbadoes the Sum of 30 l. Sterling which we promise to dispose of to such as are in Need Sickness or any other Adversity Lazarus Seaman Tho. Manton Robert Francklin 4. By the Independents REceived the 13th day of January 1667 of John Raynes by the Appointment and Order of Mr. Robert Rich Senior of Barbadoes the Sum of 30 l. Sterling which we promise to dispose of according to his Order to the Poor and such as are in Adversity amongst us We say received by us Thomas Brooks Matthew Barker Corn. Helme 5. By the Anabaptists REceived the 15th of January 1667 of Mr. John Raynes by Order of Mr. Robert Rich Senior of Barbadoes the full Sum of 30 l. which he ordered unto us for to dispose amongst the Poor and Distressed of the Baptized People We say received as before per Thomas Lamb Hanserd Knollys Tho. Cooper 6. By the Quakers REceived the 9th of the 11th month call'd January 1667 of John Raynes of London Merchant the Sum of 30 l. by the Order and Appointment of Robert Rich of Barbadoes Senior which he ordered to be disposed of to the Poor amongst us We say received by us John Bolton Amos Stoddart Gerard Roberts 7. By the Church of the First-Born REceived the 9th day of December 1667 of John Raynes by the Appointment and Order of Mr. Robert Rich Senior of Barbadoes the Sum of 30 l. which we promise to endeavour to dispose of according to his Order We say received by us Robert Bacon Will. Rollinson William Blackbororow Memorandum The several Sums above-mentioned were not all received by the particular Persons mentioned by the Author in his Order of Directions aforegoing partly because the said Persons could not conveniently be spoken with and partly also because liberty was left by him to dispose of it to any other three of each Class respectively A Salutation to the Seven Churches assembled by Order of Mr. Robert Rich at his Feast of Love As also a Descant on his Gift to the said Churches By J. S. Doctor of Physick WHen in Professing Europe Lust and Pride Conceiv'd and brought forth then Religion di'd Whence sprang a viperous Brood amongst the rest Strife War Division Falshood Interest All which our peevish Church-men did imbibe Picking for Self and not for God a Tribe Thus strung like Beads Men on their Centers move But the true Center of Religion's LOVE 'T is pure and undefiled to Do well All beside That is only Husk and Shell Wherein America now supplies our Lacks The fairest Preacher dwells amongst the Blacks Thus Jonah found both Priests and Confessors In a dead time ' mongst Heathen Mariners Thus Abr'ham Sarah Heads o' th Faithful Sect Were taught reproved by Abimelech His Love is greatest now when we have none Like Gideon's Fleece bedew'd from Heaven alone And as Heaven's Blessings Light and Rain do fall So is his bounteous Kindness general From Head to Feet the Oil of Aaron came The Skirts of 's Garment did partake the same Thus Holy Jacob on the Tribes let fall His Goodness round he blest
them one and all Accept I pray this tender Father's Will Who sees your Good and oversees your ill 1. His general Love you Cath'licks first doth bless Who shew but little and deserve much less His Bounty makes some ' mends for burning Troy His Minerals save where yours do all destroy He treats you well where others wish a Rope He sees with you God's Image in the Pope 2. The next a-kin he deals with as with th' others And what doth hinder but they may be Brothers His Love intends that compleat Union be Instead of compell'd Uniformitie And kindly doth all Cath'lick Christians bring Not to Christ's Vicar but to Christ their King 3. Smec smites with Horns and Hoofs and proves unkind To Priests before and Sectaries behind He blames all others and all likewise blame him Except this Friend who takes this course to shame him Maugre his Wrath he will him mercy show Though he have courted his own overthrow 4. The Savoy Sages may behold a Brother Who loves them more than they love one another He shews to them his Love in earnest which They would accept were they as Poor as Rich. Pride that puffs up and doth reject Love's Power Which courts them highly in a golden Shower 5. You who make sure of Water for a sign Who make your Teachers Merchant or Divine Three 's a full number go on and approve The Seal of Faith and Baptism of true Love You young strong Men do much yet lack you more This Friend 's kind Heart to sell and give to th' Poor 6. The Northern rugged Nature he subdues His gentle temper would win on the Jews An Heart of Stone such sing'lar Love must own A Flint will break upon a Bed of Down Come take your Mony and hereafter say James Naylor's Friend directs you the right way The Alabaster Box disdain'd by all Was shed in order to Christ's Burial This precious Gift incurs like indignation Which doth forerun his Rule and Coronation This Soveraign Oil proclaims those general Passions Which will instal him King of Saints and Nations His Standard's now set up and is inscrib'd Peace on the Earth good Will to every Tribe He gains Mens Hearts and Conquers Sans controul A little Leaven leaveneth the whole That Rich endeavour'd Lazarus to raise Shall then be spoken to 's eternal praise When Men enlightned shall on Christ's Name call From the Sun rising even to his Fall When God shall bless anew His whole Creation And Heaven and Earth shall make but one Plantation 7. You God-like Men whom he First-Born doth call Whose mature Spirits can bear Love to all Y' are willing God should rule when he forbears You won't pluck up nor sever Wheat from Tares If he says Grow together You 'l brook this That Light and Darkness Day and Night are His. In Wine-bibbers and those possest with Devils You 'l cherish Good and disincourage Evils On Lazarus his Ghost appearing FRight not my Friends if Lazarus appear Dismal and ghastly at this Meeting here His Grave-Clothes yet are on He scarce hath Breath His Face is wrapt with Monuments of Death When he reviv'd shall have put on his Dress When Wine and Oil shall Heart and Face refresh Then shall God's Pow'r and Love through th' Earth be spread All will believe a Preacher from the Dead This dark obscure Appearance doth fore-run A far more glorious Dispensation The Chaos this on which God's Spirit will brood Producing Light and Beauty all that 's good 'T is yet rude Ore but when t' has past the Mint You 'l see its Glory the King's Image in 't ' Mongst all the Precious Stones this is the Gem Which cut and set makes New Jerusalem The Type whereof at this Solemnitie May all th' invited Guests together see When Angels would converse with Mortals then They take a Body talk and walk like Men. Deposit sence and lay aside your Clay If you 'd converse with Spirits be as they In mixing Souls which are immortal bred There 's no distinction 'twixt alive and dead They soon can meet what e're the distance be Who move much quicker than a twinkling eye Thus Spirits meet and greet that all may know Angelick Visions may be here below To you in whom 's conceiv'd this Seed of Love Let this be th' quickening Day and let it move Let Robert Rich your noble Pattern be In Hallelujahs be as thick as he Jan. 25. 1667 8. In Obitam perpetuam memoriam Domini Roberti Rich Evangelistae Acrostichon per R. B. Ph. R Report who can the Truth of this one Man O Of 's Birth his Life his Acts the Course he ran B Born from on High he must be and his Quill E Enobled too by God's most Holy Will R Rome he dealt justly with 't is not destroy'd T The way that some do think by Fire and Sword R Rais'd up he was to the Immortal Life I It in all Parties puts an end to Strife C Christ is the Universal Light and Love H He that from Heaven came comes as a Dove On the Memory of Mr. Robert Rich who arrived at London from the Barbadoes Sept. 9. last past and departed this life Novemb. 16. following 1679. R Reconciling what he might O Oblique things bending unto streight B Bounteous to the Indigent E Each Sect did taste his good intent R Rare Pattern of Humility T 'T were well if such were you and I. R Researches of the highest kind I Inquiries lofty rais'd his Mind C Charioted hence to Heaven Above H His Legacies Light Peace and Love Mar. 25. 1680. J. W. Upon the Departure of Mr. Robert Rich Nov. 16. 1679. CAn real Christian Love be dead ' Cause Rich filled therewith is buried No no it lives in Christ our Head From whence 't will all the World o'respread He slipt away in such an Age When all the Babels are in rage And left us yet behind to see Most things in great perplexity But yet we hope the day draws near When healing Love will more appear J. L. Errata Last Paragraph of the Preface read Proficientis Perfecti each State may herein find what is sutable to them to their Joy Page 105. line 13. for Stars read Stairs To the Chief Bishop of the Roman-Catholick Church his Cardinals Arch-Bishops Bishops Doctors Priests Deacons and all other Ecclesiastical Orders and Degrees To all Generals Provincials Abbats Priors Guardians Rectors and Prefects of whatsoever Religious Orders of the said Church ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting TO those of you that are Regenerate and born again of the Spirit who are Members of Christ Jesus through the sanctification of the Spirit Elect and Precious to you Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplied from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Allelujah In the Year 1656 feeling the Birth of God in me by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of
the Kingdom of Heaven Which Holy Spirit wrought so mightily as to beget the New Man Christ Jesus in me by whom I had peace with God and good will to all his Creation Which Spirit of Love moved me to send Thirty Pounds to be distributed amongst the Poor of the Roman-Catholick Church as a sign of my Love and good Will to them which I understood you received in the same Spirit of loving-kindness I sent it Not as Judas that betrayed his Master into the hands of Sinners for Thirty pieces of Silver but from one that witnesseth the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead whom by my sins I had formerly crucified and put to open shame but having repented and amended my former bad Life by help of his Holy Spirit of Grace Christ in me I came to see that those of all Religions that feared God and acted righteously towards Men were accepted of him and dearly beloved by me in which Spirit of Love the Ground and Pillar of Truth the End of the Law and Bond of Perfection I found freedom in my self to look into all sorts of Religions and knowing the Rock Christ Jesus on whom all the Holy Men of God are built and having a discerning by God's Grace between the Precious and the Vile between him that serveth God in the Spirit of Truth and him that only pretendeth to serve him but with a false Spirit in which Spirit of God I saw the difference between the true Church of God and that which is the false Church In this Understanding I did read many Books written and allowed by the Roman Church viz. The Bible translated out of the Vulgar Latin by St. Jerom the Old Testament Printed in two Tomes by the English-College at Doway and the New Testament printed at Rhemes and have weighed and considered the Reasons St. Jerome gives for translating it out of the Vulgar Latin rather than out of the Hebrew and Greek which were much corrupted as he saith by Jews and Hereticks c. And having purged the Latin Version from Faults committed by Writers c. laying aside all other Latin Editions which St. Jerome saith were in his time almost innumerable which Translation out of Vulgar Latin though in many things defective yet in some I find better to agree with the Truth than that translated into English out of the Hebrew and Greek As for Instance The Vulgar Latin translates Isa 12.3 You shall draw Water in joy out of the Saviour's Fountains The other You shall draw Waters out of the Wells of Salvation Psal 38.6 the Vulgar Latin saith Doubtless all things are Vanity The other Psal 39.5 saith Verily every Man at his best estate is altogether vanity which seems not to be true for the Regenerate Man which is born of the Spirit and hath Christ the New Man in him is not altogether Vanity for Christ is the Eternal and only begotten Son of God full of Grace and full of Truth Allelujah John 1.14 the Vulgar Latin saith The Word was made Flesh and dwelt IN us The other The Word was made Flesh and dwelt AMONGST us Which Translation I apprehend was to gratify those that deny Christ come in the Flesh of the Sanctified and so exalt the Flesh of Jesus equal to or above the Spirit which dwelleth in all true Believers Allelujah 1 Pet. 1.13 the Vulgar saith Trust perfectly in the Grace which is offered you in the Revelation of Jesus Christ The other Hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ This I also apprehend was to gratify those that say Revelation is ceased and also deny Revelation to continue in the Church of Christ to the end of the World which is contrary to Scripture and the Saints experience Read Mat. 11.27 Gal. 1.16 1 Cor. 2.10 Mat. 28.10 Romans 16.26 the Vulgar Latin saith To the obedience of Faith in all Gentiles The other saith Made known to all Nations This I suppose is also to gratify those that deny Christ the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World whom to obey is Eternal Life and Salvation both to Jew and Gentile Allelujah Heb. 1.1 The Latin saith God spake to the Fathers in the Prophets and last of all spake to us IN his Son The other saith God spoke to the Fathers by the Prophets and hath in the last days spoken to us BY his Son Which Translation is to set up Man the Letter to be our Teacher and to lay aside Christ the Word in the Heart the Saints only Teacher Heb. 12.15 The Latin saith Lest any Man be wanting to the Grace of God The other Lest any Man fail of the Grace of God Which seems to deny that the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and hath appeared to and in every Man to be sufficient to Salvation And in the Margent the Latin saith on that Text If we be not good there is no lack on God's part who offereth his Grace freely to all the defect is in our selves that answer not God's calling by his Grace Which I take to be sound Orthodox Doctrine Jude 14. The Vulgar Latin hath it Our Lord is come in his holy Thousands that numberless number which no Man can number The other saith The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints Which doubtless is to countenance a carnal personal appearance of Christ at his second coming who as he went a Cloud received him out of their sight even so in the like manner shall he return in a Cloud of Witnesses in his holy Thousands Allelujah Zach. 5.10 The Vulgar Latin hath it And I said to the Angel that spake in me The other I spake to the Angel that talked with me Which later Translation most assuredly was to gratify them that deny Christ God's Angel to come in the Flesh of the Sanctified Allelujah 1 Pet. 1.3 4. The Latin hath it Who according to his great Mercy hath regenerated us into an Inheritance that cannot fade conserved in the Heavens in you The other saith Reserved in the Heavens for you This likewise I apprehend is to gratify that Spirit which denies Christ to be in the Saints and Heaven to be there where Christ is which Spirit I take to be the Spirit of Antichrist I have likewise read and considered the Arguments Annotations Tables and other helps for the better understanding of the Text which I find in Divine things both useful and profitable As for Example Annotation before the Psalms saith That the whole Sacred Bible is a sealed Book and not rightly understood till the Seals be opened by the Key of God's Spirit And you say on Gal. 4.24 The Scriptures besides the literal Sense have a more deep spiritual and allegorical Sense not to be understood but by the same Spirit that writ them And you also say That there is no way to know Canonical Scriptures but by the Church Which is a Truth if you mean the Spirit
meerly Worldly and Carnal hath caused betwixt Prince and Prince And doth not this plainly shew that such a State or Church as hath brought so great a Curse over God's Creation where-ever it hath bin received is not Christ's Church whose Church and Kingdom is not of this World who loved his Enemies and came to save Mens Lives and not to destroy them So by their Fruits all Men may know the True Church from the False the Church of Christ from Antichrist's Church As I am a Priest of God after the Order of Melchisedeck who was of the Order of the Holy Ghost and born of the Spirit without Carnal Father or Carnal Mother I say as I am a Priest of God ordained by having Christ Jesus in me my Priest my Prophet my King I have something from God my Father to the high and mighty Men of the Earth in whose hands the Almighty God hath placed the Rule and Government of things Terrestrial as his Vicegerents in all the Earth to them I humbly make this Request First That they would look up unto him who bestowed on them this great Honour and Glory and acknowledg him God of Gods King of Kings and Lord over all Lords Allelujah Next that they would seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof which having found I most humbly intreat them to adore worship and serve the Lord our God therein and therewith which Worship only stands in the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Grace given to every one to profit withal which Worship the Omnipotent Lord God will accept and no other Service nor Worship but what proceeds from a pure sincere Heart to the Commands of Christ in Spirit the Word in the Heart And that none may be ignorant what this Kingdom of God is and wherein it doth consist and where it is to be found I most humbly offer and say The Kingdom of God stands not in any outward Observation of Man's prescription but is placed within every Man a Light to lighten the Gentiles and to be God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth which Light is called the Word in the Heart Christ the Vnction the Messiah the Anointed of the Lord which God in his great Love to the World hath given to and in every Man a Talent to profit withal that so every Man in it might work out his own Salvation the which as it is received and obeyed giveth power to repent and forsake Sin and leadeth into Truth and Righteousness and thereby we become the Sons of God being led by his Spirit This Talent in Scripture is also called by divers Names viz. The Grace of God which appeareth to and in every one teaching those that love his appearance to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts c. It is also called A Measure of the Spirit given to every Man to profit with also Truth in the inward Parts the Word in the Heart Christ the New Birth and New Creature God's Covenant of Light and Life to all the World who is the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World and so is God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth the way to God and Godliness that whosoever believeth in him and followeth him faithfully shall have Life Everlasting Allelujah Read Deut. 30.11 c. with Rom. 10.6 c. Isa 42.6 49.6 57.10 54.13 60.3 Jer. 31.3 c. with Heb. 8.8 c. John 1.9 1 Cor. 12.7 Tit. 2.11 And this Light of Life the Kingdom of God within every Man is compared to many things in Scripture He is the Lamb of God not the Pope's Agnus Dei that taketh away the Sins of the World the Lord our Righteousness the Spirit of Truth that leads into all Truth and the one thing only needful is that we hear and obey the Spirit of Truth and our Souls shall live Allelujah This Kingdom of God is likewise compared to a grain of Mustard-Seed sown in the Heart of every Man by God the Seed of Abraham which Seed is Christ the Light of the World also the Kingdom of God is compared to Leaven placed in a Man's Heart sufficient to leaven the whole Lump from the leaven of Malice and Uncharitableness into a lump of Truth and Love to Righteousness which Leaven is the Bread from Heaven which nourisheth the Souls of true Believers into Eternal Life Allelujah Thus you see what the Kingdom of God is where it is to be found and the blessed Effects it produceth in all that receive God's Heavenly Gift and are found walking therein and when ye know and feel this Kingdom of God in the movings thereof to be within you in the next place my most humble request and advice is That you would thenceforth seek the Righteousness thereof and walk in the same all the days of your Life in which you will find Peace with God Joy in your own Spirits and good Will from and to all Men but as you do undervalue this Small Seed the true Light and Spirit of Grace the Gift of God and prefer this present evil World Man's Prescriptions Traditions and Impositions above it then a Woe and a Curse from God to your Souls and Bodies in your Basket and in your Store but walking in the Righteousness of God's Kingdom you will know how to give God his due and to please him in things Spiritual and Temporal If you leave the Conscience of your Subjects to God alone for him to rule and guide which is God's due then will God give to Caesar his due viz. the Hearts of his Subjects to obey their Soveraigns in all things Temporal Natural and Civil then will Unity and Concord spring up Righteousness Peace and Love will kiss each other And then God will give his Blessing bless us in our Bodies and in our Souls in our Basket and in our Store in our Wives and in our Children in what we eat and what we drink and in whatsoever we set our hands unto both Prince and People Rulers and Ruled all blessed and happy and so will all the ends of the Earth fear the Lord our God bless and magnify him for ever Allelujah The Contents hereof I most humbly and heartily recommend to your most holy Father the Pope of Rome and his Clergy as they will answer it at the Day of God's Tribunal that they communicate these Matters to the Emperor and to all other Kings Rulers and Princes over whose Souls God I hope by his blessed Spirit of Grace hath made them Overseers who being born of the Spirit and having Christ Jesus the new Man in you the only begotten Son of God the Father in you go and preach Him to and in all the World a Saviour to all that believe in him and that follow him who is the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that comes into the World Yet know that no Man can preach truly to the converting of Souls neither can turn any from
Spirit of Grace they in him and he in them made perfect in one to them Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplied from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Allelujah In the Year 1656 feeling the Birth of God in me by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven Which Spirit of Light begot Christ Jesus the New Man in me by whom I obtained Reconciliation and Peace with God and good will towards all his Creation Which Spirit of Love moved in me in the Year 1666 to send Thirty pounds to be distributed amongst the Poor of the Episcopal Protestant Church as a sign of my dear love and good will to them Not as Judas that betrayed his Master into the hands of Sinners for thirty pieces of Silver but as from one that witnessed the Resurrection of Christ who had bin dead in Trespasses and Sins whose Soul was raised out of the Grave of Sin and Death wherein it had long lain Thus by the Incarnation or Indwelling of the Life of Christ Jesus in my mortal Flesh I came to inherit Life Eternal by and through him that is the Regeneration the Resurrection and the Life Allelujah By which Spirit of Grace I came to see what St. Peter saw that of all Religions Those that feared God and acted Righteously towards Man are accepted with him as it is written Acts 10.34 35. Mat. 16.17 Through which Grace I came to understand the great Love of God to the World that in all Ages and Times he hath given and sent his only begotten Son his Spirit of Light and Grace into the World his Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life wherewith he doth enlighten every one Jew and Gentile that comes into the World that so all Men might be saved by believing in him and by following of him that is the Way the Truth and the Life of God who is God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth as you may read Isa 42.6 49.6 Deut. 38.11 to 15. Jer. 31.31 to 35. with Rom. 10.6 7 8 9. Heb. 8.8 c. 2 Cor. 4.4 6. By which Spirit of Light Life and Truth in the Inward Parts the Word in the Heart moving on the face of my Deep and shining on my Tabernacle which God pitched in me I say I in the same Light found freedom to look into all manner of Opinions and Religions even in that Light which shewed me Good from Evil Right from Wrong and Truth from Error In which Spirit of Light I read many Books writ by Episcopal Protestants viz. something of Bishop Andrews Bishop Hall but most of Dr. Jeremy Taylors Dr. Hammonds Dr. Stillingfleets Dr. Tillotsons with divers others of like kind Which Books I read with delight having unity with them feeling the Spirit of Love to Truth and Righteousness to be their Dictator which Spirit of Grace taught them to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World which made them honourable in this World and glorious in the World to come Allelujah In reading of which Books I took notice of many worthy and true Sayings viz. Dr. Jeremy Taylor in his Great Exampler saith That Christ Jesus is our Example in his Birth Life and Death Also what I have read in Ancient Fathers that Disputes amongst Christians is the scab of the Church and destroys Charity which only edifies That God's Will and Commandments are made known in all Mens Spirits that they may do them The Word Incarnate is God's Preacher to all the World That Christian Religion is nothing else but a Restorer of the perfect Law of Nature for God gave Man at first a reasonable intelligible Nature both to love and serve him That Man 's Original Sin was to leave God the Good and go to the Creature the Evil. Man may keep or break the Law of Nature so sin against God his Neighbour and Himself Well-being is when right Reason and the Law of Nature is satisfied and evil Doing is to transgress the Law of Nature or right Reason this brings guilt of Conscience and torments And in this Obedience to the Law of Nature consists Heaven and in Disobedience Hell Christian Religion is to worship God in Spirit and in Truth and so to serve our Neighbour Revelation is both Natural and Reasonable so is Self-denial Death and Martyrdom to those that have an Ear to hear the Spirit 's Reason Self-denial is but confining the Appetite within the Limits of Nature The Philosophers were commended of old for preserving Reason and Religion in Practice before the School-men that fight about Opions Jesus his Life was sweet and affable and for our Example to Life Eternal Christ who dwells within the limits of Love gives us boldness with God and not fear In Christ are two Natures the Body but the upper Garment of the Soul his Soul was of the same Nature and Substance with ours in this inferior to the Angels One Grace succeeds another well prest and sometimes running over till we come to the fulness and stature of Christ Jesus even filled with the Spirit which hath no measure but is Infinite and Eternal God crowns and accepts his Grace in all Sects even the most Heathenish and accepts that when in Conscience they worship Idols Original Sin or one Sin committed makes us more apt for another so we have no cause to charge Adam but our selves only every one of us is the Adam the Man of Sin Obedience unites to God and conforms to his Will the which sanctifies Isaac offered is our Heart and Will offered up to God which he accepts Nothing so able to do Miracles as Love nor so certainly acceptable All exteriour Acts of Religion to be guided by our Superior that is by God only for no Man in Religion is Superior No act of Corporal Austerity or External Religion acceptable to God unless commanded by him The first Baptism Appearance or Resurrection of Christ is to kill Sin or to put off Sin The second Resurrection is to put on Christ the New Man and to walk in him God requires no more of Man than to receive and entertain his Grace that appears to every Man Though the Son of Man hath no where to hide his Head yet many Houses to convey his Grace Grace works Miracles in Saints as in Christ When Faith and Charity meet then Christians indeed and in Truth all else false and Antichristians God's House is the sanctified Heart where he dwells and is a House of Prayer for all Nations Every graceless wicked Man is a Devil No Sin hath Guilt but when a Man hath Understanding and Abilities to do better By the help of the Spirit it is possible to please God in all things One may die for Christ's Name that will not love his Nature nor quit one evil Lust for him this is false Martyrdom The law of Love in our Spirits
is the Rule of a Christian not an outward literal Command as the Jews had To exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees is to be clean within as in outward Acts. Jews and Turks better than Christians who transgress Christ's Law when they will not Moses's nor Mahomets The clean Soul of a Christian is the House of God and so the House of Prayer whose Body is his Temple Disciples did greater Miracles than Jesus when Christ was risen in them Every Man living in the state of Grace is a perpetual Miracle so our Water is turned into Wine Christ's Father and Mother are not Carnal but Spiritual Adam's Sin nor our natural Infirmities not imputed to us neither are our actual and malicious Sins our Infirmities Vertue conduces infinitely to the length and content of our Lives and Vice the contrary 'T is a vast Sum that will pay the Debt of Intemperance and Lust Though most deny Scripture to be an Allegory yet all Men in most things use it so and it is then rightly used when by Inspiration we see the Heavenly through the Earthly and the Spiritual through the Carnal I also lately read a worthy Treatise writ by Mr. Edw. Fowler of North-hill in Bedfordshire printed Anno 1671 holding forth the Principles of certain Moderate Divines of the Church of England in which they declare That the design of Christianity is to work real inward Righteousness and that love to God and Goodness is the highest Principle and that true Righteousness is the New Creature in us And that John the Baptist Christ's Forerunner's Work was to preach Repentance and to cleanse and purify the Heart and Soul Mal. 3.1 3 4. Acts 10.35 Dan. 9.24 that Christ may enter in and bring forth everlasting Righteousness I have likewise read a Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London by Mr. John Sharp upon 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable c. wherein he most excellently sets forth the happiness and profitableness of a vertuous Religious Life even in the straitest Paths of Repentance and putting off the Old Man with his Deeds of Darkness and afterwards to put on the New Man begot by the Word and Spirit of Grace in the Heart God's Covenant of Light to all the World read Deut. 30.6 11 to 15. with Rom. 10.6 8. Jer. 31.31 32 33. with Heb. 8.8 Isa 42.6 49.6 Luke 2.30 31 32. John 1.4 9. 3.16 Rom. 12.3 1 Cor. 12.7 Tit. 2.11 the which teacheth and enableth every one that will receive him to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and religiously in this present World Which certainly as saith the Preacher is the most profitable happy and blessed Life both for Soul and Body imaginable Likewise I have read a Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London by Mr. Joseph Glanvil upon 1 Pet. 1.2 See that ye love one another Wherein are delivered most excellent Truths both Catholick and Apostolick his desire is to unite all Perswasions into this Principle of Love in which Work my Soul hath long travelled In which Discourse he also saith Love is extensive to all Mankind and the more General the more Christian and like God To love for Opinion sake that is self-Love but to love the Principle and Image of God as Christ loves the Poor the Blind and Ignorant though his Enemies is God-like Also that Love is the Image of God pourtray'd and lively drawn on the Regenerate Soul Love is the Bond of Christian Union and when that breaks all goes into Confusion both in Church and State Christ Reigns when all unite in the Principle of Love and a holy Life which will be the fall of Antichrist Vertue and Goodness is to be owned in all Parties and Opinions and if they were practised it would reconcile all Men to each other True Religion is not to fill Heads with Notions and Opinions but to sow in the Mind the Seed of Vertue to direct to govern Passions and to destroy Self-will Christian Love is necessary but agreement in Opinions is neither necessary nor possible In eager and passionate Disputes Charity is always lost and Truth seldom or never found To give evil Names to Dissenters is Persecution Likewise I have read a Discourse concerning the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and of our Union and Communion with him made by Mr. William Sherlock who wrote an Answer to some new opinionated Doctors as he calls them which teach That by being acquainted with the Person of Christ and rouling themselves on him and believing the History of his Life Death and Resurrection that this Faith alone is imputed for Righteousness to them without having any thing that is good wrought in them by Christ or they doing any thing that is good and righteous in themselves That we are saved by Grace though we be disobedient to the Spirit of Grace God's Talent given to every one to profit withal Also they teach That God hath elected some to Salvation and others to Reprobation without regard had to Man's Obedience or Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ Jesus which Gospel is Christ the Word in the Heart as saith Rom. 10.6 7 8. To which and much more of this nature Mr. Sherlock maketh answer That the Person of Christ will never save those whom his Gospel the Word in the Heart and their own Consciences condemn who walk contrary to his Grace the Spirit of Light That Christ's Kingdom is erected by conquering Mens Minds by his Spirit to the Obedience of God such he pardons their sins and raiseth them unto an immortal Life For this end God sent his Son the Word in the beginning into the World to destroy the Works of the Devil to regenerate and redeem Man to the Obedience of Christ the Word And that nothing avails with God but the New Creature which is Christ in the Saints that came to be our Example and Guide to Heaven as well as our Mediator and Advocate and therefore we must imitate his Life if we would enjoy the benefit of his Death and Intercession God in the first Creation designed all Men for happiness and certainly in the second Creation he would have all Men saved and come to the Knowledg of Christ the Truth the Word in the Heart by yielding Obedience to Christ his Gospel and Spirit of Grace That nothing can be the happiness of a reasonable Creature but conformity to the Divine Nature That the great Mystery of the Recovery of Mankind out of the Fall consists only in repairing the Divine Image As in the first Creation we were made after God's Image so in the second we are renewed in the Spirit of our Minds after his Image which by Disobedience we lost and is recovered no other way than by obedience True expressions of Love to Christ is Obedience to his Laws writ in the Heart And that the Soul and Mind of a good Man or regenerate Man is the Palace or Temple of God That
and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of the World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and that he shall keep God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of his life I say it would be inquired into Whether those God-Fathers and God-Mothers do perform and keep this Oath Promise and Vow themselves If not then why should they undertake for another what they perform not themselves And if I mistake not it is a Tenent of the Church of Englands That we cannot live free from sin so long as we live in this World If so were it not far better never to Swear and Vow than afterwards to break them Is not this to add Sin unto Sin and so bring a greater condemnation on our selves As I am a Priest to God by having Christ Jesus in me I declare That Infant Baptism is no Ordinance of Christ's neither is John's Baptism with Water Christ's Baptism Christ's Baptism is to be baptized into the Name Nature and Spirit of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which Baptism of the Spirit is the one Lord one Faith and one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all through all and in us all that are born of and baptized with the Spirit of Grace This Baptism is that alone which saveth by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and not by putting away the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God And this Baptism of the Spirit which followed John's Baptism of Repentance is that only which can initiate into the Church of God make a Child of God and give an entrance into and an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven Allelujah And I query Whether Infant Baptism were not the Invention of Man rather than the Command of God brought in by the false Church for advantage-sake in the long dark night of Apostacy after that the True Church was fled into the Wilderness there fed and preserved of God whilst the Whore the Beast and false Prophet ruled who set up Shadows instead of Christ the Substance the Letter above the Spirit Man's Baptism which is with Water instead of Christ's by Fire which is the Holy Ghost And instead of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ the New Man which is the Saints Righteousness they put on a white Linnen Surplice to make them seem outwardly Holy that inwardly were full of Sin and Uncleanness full of Self-love Hypocrisy and Pride full of Covetousness Hatred Malice and all Uncharitableness And instead of bowing at the Name of God which is the Command of God Isa 45.23 that every knee should bow to him you bow at the Name of a Man not greater than is Immanuel which is the Name God himself gave the Virgin 's Birth Isa 7.14 who is the only begotten Son of God in all the Sanctified that saves his People from their Sins And your bowing at the Name of Jesus rather than at the Name Immanuel doth it not demonstrate you to be worshippers of Angels rather than the true God And for you to bow down to any Letters or Syllables joined into a Name of God or Man is this think you to worship God in Spirit and in Truth as he requireth And for any to bow down and worship any Thing or Name that is not purely God alone is most certainly Idolatry and false Worship And be not ignorant that the Name of God is his Power his Love shed abroad in our Hearts his Immanuel a strong Tower whereinto the Righteous flee and are there in Peace Rest and Safety Allelujah Holy Days Holy Days both Fasting Days and Feasting Days were they brought in by the Command of God or prescribed and imposed by Man Was not St. Paul afraid of his Galatians that he had bestowed his labour on them in vain who instead of setting up and forming of Christ the Day-Star in their Hearts fell to the observation of Days and Months and Times and Years setting up of Meats and Drinks what to Eat and when to eat and what and when to forbear respecting of New Moons and Sabbath Days one day more holy than another all which in the first Covenant were but shadows of good Things to come which the Saints possess and enjoy in the second Covenant which is Christ in them the end of the first Covenant their Hope their Crown and Glory Allelujah In the fourth Commandment you pray That God would incline your hearts to keep this Law which is to keep holy the Seventh day according to God's Command to the Jews Thus by your Traditions ye make void the Law of God and change the Truth of God into a Lie and by bringing in the Old Covenant which stands in divers outward Observations which maketh nothing perfect ye have thrust out the New Covenant Christ the Word in the Heart the Saints Teacher which perfecteth for ever those that are sanctified Allelujah The Lord's Supper The Lord's Supper I humbly declare to be a great Mystery not rightly understood by Man in the Fall It is not Carnal Bread and Wine neither Carnal Flesh and Blood as unregenerate Men apprehend and imagine Christ's Words and Works are more Spiritual than for Carnal Men to understand them it is the Spirit that quickneth and the Inspiration of God alone that giveth to man understanding in the things of God The true Supper of our Lord is when Christ stands at the door of our Hearts and knocks that we then open to him and he comes in to us and sups with us This is the right Supper of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus who is the First and the Last the Alpha and Omega of all our Graces and Mercies Wherefore my dear Hearts Open O ye Gates and be lift up ye everlasting Doors that Christ the King of Glory may come in and sup with you Allelujah So the Flesh and Blood Bread and Wine that comes from Heaven is Christ's Spirit of Light his Body which he gives for the Life of the World this is Meat indeed and Drink indeed that feeds and nourisheth the Soul up to Eternal Life which Cup of the New Testament is the saving Health of all Nations that dwell upon the Face of the whole Earth O my dearly Beloved take and receive eat and drink abundantly of this Cup of Salvation it is the new Wine in our Father's Kingdom a Fountain of Life that can never be drawn dry Allelujah Behold I shew to you a Mystery the Word in the Heart the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts is the Leaves of the Tree of Life St. John speaks of in the Revelations given for the healing of the Nations for the uniting of all Sects and Opinions in Religion into the one true Religion both Jews and Gentiles Barbarians and Scythians as well as Christians of all Sorts or Names whatsoever whether called Roman Catholicks Episcopal Protestants Presbyterians Independents Baptists Quakers Seekers Socinians Arminians or
by what other name known or distinguished even all that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted of him and dearly Beloved by me even all that in sincerity and uprightness of Heart walk in the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith they are enlightned even so Amen Allelujah Most Reverend Arch-Bishops right Reverend the Bishops with others the Reverend Doctors and Fathers of our Church I humbly beg leave of you to enquire Whether setling Ministers in Parish Churches and compelling all to hear them to Preach and to Pray first came in by the Command of Christ and by his Command so continue or came this in in the dark Night of Apostacy by Man's command whilst the false Church the Whore and false Prophet ruled after the True Church of Christ was fled into the Wilderness Tithes Also I query Whether Tithes set out in every Parish Church were done by a Command or Law of God or by a Law of Man And if you receive them as from a Command of God to the Levitical Priesthood then are you to maintain all the Poor the Fatherless and Widows out of them that there may not be a Beggar in England as there was not in Israel And if you receive them as from a Law of Man then Whether a forced Maintenance by Man's Law be a suitable and proper Maintenance for the Ministers of Christ Jesus who receive freely from him the Things of God and so they give and dispense freely those Things without Mony and without Price not for filthy Lucre-sake but of a ready Mind and only to them they sow Spiritual Things of them they reap Carnal and not by a Law of Compulsion but by the Law of Love only which is Christ's Law and Command to his Disciples and Followers Allelujah Preaching in Churches And whether all the Ministry placed in every Parish to Preach and to Pray are sent of God as Aaron was read Exod. 4.5 12.15 Deut. 4.5 And as all Christ's Ministers are and ever were Commissionated Assisted and Instructed by his Holy Spirit when and what they shall Preach and when and what they shall Pray but 't is not so with Ministers made by a Carnal Commandment of Man that receive their Commission from Man only Such run with Balaam after Gifts and Rewards who preach for Hire and seek for Gain from their quarters such I declare are no true Ministers of Christ neither can ever any such as have not Christ in them profit the Souls of People at all for all God's People are taught of him and great is their Peace Allelujah Doth not David say O God thou hast taught me from my Youth up And the Meek God doth teach And Job who was no Israelite but an Edomite saith He did teach from the Hand of the Lord and that he was taught by immediate Revelation and Inspiration of the Almighty And Isaiah saith That in God's Mountain which is his Spirit he teacheth of his ways and that all God's Children are taught of him and that God had anointed him to Preach which Unction is Truth in the Inward Parts and no Lie and teacheth the Way of God truly which teaching of God's Spirit is the way to God wherein no Man can err though a Fool. And Jeremiah saith In those days of the Spirits teaching I will make a New Covenant saith the Lord for I will write my Law in their Hearts and put my Spirit in their inward parts and they shall teach no more every Man their Neighbour for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest Allelujah And Jonah preached what he received from the Mouth of the Lord and what the Lord taught him And Micah a true Prophet of the Lord saith That in the time of the Spirit 's Reign and Government the Mountain of the Lord shall be established on the top of the Mountains and many People shall flow to it and shall say of God He will there teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for the Law shall go out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem which Jerusalem and Zion is no earthly Building made of Wood and Stone but the New Jerusalem is the sanctified Heart the new Heart and right Spirit a City whose Maker and Builder is God Father and Mother Sister and Brother of all God's Children Allelujah And did not John the Baptist whose Baptism was from Heaven teach his Disciples how and what to Preach and how and what to Pray saying As ye go preach the Kingdom of God is at hand And God the Father taught Holy Jesus his Son to preach deliverance to the Captives all those that truly repent the acceptable Year of the Lord. And as his Father taught him so taught he his Disciples saying Go ye into the High-ways and Hedges and tell the Blind the Lame and the Halt even all that are small and little in their own eyes all that are heavy laden with Sin let such come and buy Eye-salve buy the sincere Milk of the Word without Mony and without Price And did not Holy Jesus preach often in the Temple and Synagogues of the Jews and did he not weep over them who were so hard-hearted towards him that when he would have gathered them together as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings yet they would not be healed nor covered under the Wings of the Cherubims that attend the Mercy Seat of God from under whose Wings of Grace and Love ariseth healing to all that are weary of their Sins And Holy Jesus also saith As my Father taught me I speak and do and as his Father taught him so taught he his Disciples the New and Everlasting Covenant How that by his Light and Spirit all God's People should be taught of the Lord and that great should be their Peace and that those who would be his Disciples must learn of him to be low and meek in Heart and to take up the daily Cross to their own Wills which made him to deny his own Will to do the Will of the Father as you may read Luke 22.42 John 4.34 5.30 6.38 Heb. 2.4 10.10 Phil. 2.13 And this Obedience to the Will of the Father Christ the Word in the Heart is our Sanctification Justification Redemption and Glorification Allelujah And all such alone as are taught of God Speak and Preach as Men having Authority and not as do the Scribes and Pharisees that have nothing else to teach them save the dead Letter and their own Interpretations thereupon Thus when Jesus had breathed on his Disciples and given them the Holy Ghost he saith Go ye and teach all Nations baptising them into the Name Nature and Power of Christ's Spirit not with material Water for that is John's Baptism but with Fire which is the Holy Ghost the only one true Baptism which washeth and cleanseth the Soul Regenerates and begets the New Man Christ in us all such who have their Hearts and Consciences washed and
sprinkled from evil Works to serve the Living God are with faithful Abraham happy and blessed Allelujah Notwithstanding the Disciples had received the first Fruits of the Spirit yet they were to go to Jerusalem and there wait in that Spirit till they were indued with a fuller measure of the same Spirit from on High then they went forth converting many thousand Souls turning them from Darkness to Light from the power of Satan to the Power of God his Spirit in themselves and as they had received the Spirit freely so they gave the Spirit read Act. 2.1 2 3 4. 33.37 38 39 41. 19.3 4 5 6. 1 Tim. 4.14 6.20 2 Tim. 1.9 10 14. Tit. 3.5 6. In the Power of which Spirit the Disciples did not only do the Works and Miracles Jesus did but greater when as Dr. Jeremy Taylor saith Christ was risen in them Thus by the foolishness of the Spirit 's Preaching it pleased God to save those that believe and obey the Word in the Heart as Doctor Taylor saith which Word Incarnate is God's Preacher to all the World and God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah Singing Psalms Likewise be pleased to consider Whether the Psalms now sung in Parish-Churches for Matter and Form be the same sung by the Saints in the Primitive Times who sung that they witnessed to be true with understanding of the Spirit making melody in their Hearts to the Lord And whether those that sing what they cannot witness true in themselves do not sing lies in hypocrisy yea or nay And whether any can in Truth sing the 131 Psalm that is not born of the same humble and meek Spirit that was in Christ Jesus O Lord I am not puft in mind I have no scornful eye I do not exercise my self in things that are too high But as a Child that weaned is even from his Mothers Breast So have I Lord behav'ed my self in silence and in rest And whether any that have not entred into or gone through the New Birth can sing the 17th Psalm verse 3. Thou hast well tri'd me in the night and yet could'st nothing find That I have spoken with my tongue that was not in my mind And for the works of wicked Men and paths perverse and ill For love of thy most holy Name I have refrained still Psal 42. vers 3 4. The tears always are my repast which from mine eyes do slide When wicked Men cry out so fast where now is God thy Guide Psal 102.4 5 6 7 8. And as an hearth my bones are burnt my heart is smitten dead And withers like the grass that I forget to eat my bread c. Thus was David Crucified with Christ and buried with him in Baptism which none can truly sing but those that are partakers with Christ in his Death and Sufferings Allelujah Also Psal 6.2 c. For I am weak therefore O Lord of mercy me forbear And heal me Lord for why thou know'st my bones do quake for fear Psal 22.14 15. But I drop down like water shed my joints in sunder break My heart doth in my body melt like wax against the heat c. Psal 31.1 4 5. O Lord I put my trust in thee let nothing work me shame As thou art just deliver me and set me quite from blame The Psalms following can no Man truly sing but those that are born of the Spirit and have Christ the New Birth in them Such only as are risen with Christ can sing the triumphant new Song of Moses and the Lamb and of Simeon and Mary the Virgin Allelujah Psal 18.4 6. The pangs of death did compass me and bound me every where The flowing waves of wickedness did put me in great fear I thus beset with pain and grief did pray to God for grace And he forthwith did hear my plaint out of his holy place Vers 18 19 20 21 22. He brought me forth in open place whereas I might be free And kept me safe because he had a favour unto me For that I walked in his way and in his paths have trod And have not sinned wickedly against the Lord my God c. Verse 22. But pure and clean and uncorrupt appear'd before his face And did restrain from wickedness and sin in any case Vers 28 29. For by thy help an host of Men discomfit Lord I shall By thee I scale and over-leap the strength of any Wall c. Vers 31 32 33 34. The God that girdeth me with strength is he that I do mean That all the ways wherein I walk did ever-more keep clean c. He did in order put my hands to battel and to fight To break in sunder bars of brass he gave mine arms the might Thou teachest me thy saving health thy right hand is my tower Thy love and familiarity doth still increase my power And Verse 38. For thou didst gird me with thy strength to war in such a wise That they be all scatter'd abroad that up against me rise Vers 41 42 43 44 45 46. And still like dust before the wind I drive them under feet And sweep them out like filthy clay that sticketh in the street Thou keep'st me from seditious Folk that still in strife are led And thou dost of the Heathen Folk appoint me to be Head c. Vers 48 49. And for this cause O Lord my God to thee give thanks I shall And sing out praises to thy Name amongst the Gentiles all c. Allelujah Psalm 23. to the end My Shepherd is the living Lord nothing therefore I need In pastures fair and waters calm he sets me forth to feed c. Psal 4.1 7 8 9. O God that art my Righteousness Lord hear me when I call Thou hast set me at liberty when I was bound in thrall c. Psal 42.7 8. One grief another in doth call as Clouds burst forth their voice The floods of evil that do fall run over me with noise Yet I by day felt thy goodness and help at all assays Likewise by night I did not cease the living God to praise Verse 9. I am perswaded thus to say to him with pure pretence O Lord thou art my guide and stay my rock and sure defence Allelujah Psal 59.16 17. But I will shew thy strength abroad thy goodness I will praise For thou art my defence and God at need in all assays c. Psal 119.11 Within my heart and secret thoughts thy words I have hid still That I may not at any time offend thy Godly Will Vers 13 14 15 16. My lips have never fear'd to preach and publish day and night The judgments all that did proceed from thy mouth full of might Vers 22 55 56 57 67. Lord turn from me rebuke and shame which wicked men conspire For I have kept thy Covenant with zeal as hot as fire Vers 105 167 168. Even as a Lanthorn to my feet so doth thy Word shine bright And to my paths where-ever I
go it is a flaming light c. Psal 130.5 6. In God I put my whole trust my soul waits on his will For his promise is most just and I hope therein still c. Psal 146.1 My soul praise thou the Lord always my God I will confess While breath and life prolong my days my tongue no time shall cease Allelujah These and the rest of David's Psalms are good and excellent to those that can sing them with David's Spirit that have within them a clean Heart and right Spirit as David had Allelujah But to those that sing them with an impure unclean and unrepenting Heart all things performed by them in the Worship and Service of God are impure even their very Prayers and Praises are Sin Thus to the Pure all things are pure to all such as sing in the movings and joy of God's Spirit with understanding making melody in their hearts to the Lord. So let Christ the Word dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing with Grace in your Hearts to the Lord Blessed are the People that are in such a case who have Christ the Lord for their God working all their Works in them and for them both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Allelujah I do believe the Church of England the best constituted National Church in the World and adorned with many of her Worthies the best Learned and most sound in Doctrine and for integrity of Life and Conversation most Sweet most Humble Meek and Charitable whose Plat-forms of Religion of all the National Professions I judg the most large and likely to gather together and build up into Love and good Works which is the Sum of all true Christian Religion and the End both of the Law and Gospel Yet as I know there may be many things amended some left out and some added in the Nine and thirty Articles and Common-Prayer Book so I well know there is that Wisdom and Understanding in the Church of England if called together to weigh and consider of these Matters as will not only correct and amend what is amiss but also add those things that may much illustrate Truth to the Edification and Salvation of Souls and to the building up and uniting several different perswasions in the Truth and in Love towards each other who now at present are much divided I do also know that there are and ever were Operations and Administrations of God in the World all wrought by one and the same Spirit The first Dispensation is from Adam to Moses under which Administration Men were taught to serve and worship God by the seven Precepts of Noah taught from Father to Son and such as were sincere and upright hearted in that Worship pleased God and were accepted of him who requires no more of any than what they have and not what they have not The second Administration was from Moses through the Prophets unto John the Baptist and such are taught by wise Rules taken out of the Law and Prophets and need a learned National Ministry such as are well read in Natural Philosophy and in Divinity to expound and preach to the People those things that tend to Peace and Godliness to love God the Light and Life of our Souls above all things Terrestrial and our Neighbour which is all mankind as our selves In these two consist the Sum and Substance of all true Religion but by no means to preach those things that are Doubtful or Controversal all that tends to the dividing of Christ's seamless Coat and not to unite in the Truth but to destroy it Truth in the inward Parts is that which all Men of all Religions agree to without Dispute Which Dispute ever was and is as saith Dr. Taylor the Scab of the Church and Bane of all true Religion The third and last Administration is from John the greatest of all Prophets born of a Woman or that stick in Form or outward ward Observations unto Christ the Word in the Heart who is without form or comliness the eternal and only begotten Son of God before Abraham he was and is and is to come without Carnal Father or Carnal Mother without beginning of Days or end of Life God's High Priest for ever after the Order Melchisedeck which is the Order of the Holy Ghost and all such born of God's Spirit of Grace having Christ Jesus in them are the only Sons and Daughters of God and need no other Teacher save God alone Allelujah I likewise know there are dividings of Names and Opinions in the Church of England some receive the Doctrines and Interpretations of Luther and Calvin others rather chuse Socinus and Arminius for their Guides Thus is Christ divided when in Truth Christ is but one Eternal Universal Spirit of Love Light and Life in all Men of all Religions in the World and God's Salvation through Him is to the ends of the Earth For the sake of those that thus disagree I have looked into and considered the Grounds and Causes of their Divisions Luther's Doctrine I find chiefly to consist first Against Indulgences and that they were unlawful against Free-will against the Pope's Supremacy and his Excommunication against Temporal Possessions of the Clergy against Merit of Works and Monastick Life against Canonical Obedience and distinction of Meats against Transubstantiation and Communion under one kind against the Mass and Aurigular Confession against Absolution and Purgatory against extream Unction and five of the Sacraments He also held That General Councils might err that Antichrist was not a particular Person but a Spirit contrary and against Christ's Spirit that Faith only justifieth yet Man is not saved without good Works that a faithful Man might have assurance of his Salvation that the Sacrament did not convey Grace but was a sign of it that to the Faithful Sin is not imputed And some of his Followers say That we are not justified by Faith or Works but by the essential Righteousness of Christ dwelling in us And by Luther's protesting against the Church of Rome in these Things first began the Name Protestant Calvin's Doctrine I find to consist herein First he saith The Scriptures are a sufficient Rule to Life the only Judg of Controversies that the Elect only have saving Faith that Predestination to Life and Death depends not in Man's Obedience or Disobedience but on God's Choice that the true Church of God consisteth only of the Elect that the Church and Magistrate may not make Laws to bind the Conscience in Matters Religious and Divine that Sins are inherent in us though not imputed to us that Faith is a more excellent Vertue than Charity that there is no merit in us that there is but two Sacraments and these can neither justify nor confer Grace Socinus's Doctrines I find chiefly to consist in this First That there is no Origninal Sin in us derived from Adam that there is a
free-will to Goodness in us that we may here fulfil the Law of God if we walk in the Grace given us to profit with as Rom. 8.13 Tit. 2.11 that the Causes of Predestination are not in God but in our selves who obey or disobey the Grace of God given as a Talent to every one to work out his own Salvation that Christ did not satisfy for us but gives power by his Grace to satisfy for our Selves that there is not a Trinity of Persons in one God he denies that God hath elected a certain number to Salvation and reprobated the residue to eternal Damnation he denies that God's Justice was satisfied by Christ's Sufferings and that God needed no such rigid Satisfaction that Men are not made really Righteous by any imputation from another's Righteousness without whilst they are really unrighteous within he doth not believe that Christ ascended into Heaven with his humane Body of Flesh Blood and Bones but that Body which he hath is more Spiritual and Glorious he owns the Spirit of Grace in every Man sufficient to all that obey and follow it to lead into Life Eternal Arminius his Doctrines I find chiefly to be these First That God hath not elected some and reprobated others that God is just in saving those that believe and obey his Gospel and in condemning those only that reject and disobey it Which I take to be according to Truth read John 3.19 Deut. 30.14 15 19. That Men are not made just by Imputative Righteousness only but Inherent that Man is not made Righteous within by any imputation from another's Righteousness from without whilst he is really unrighteous within which I take to be sound Doctrine read Rom. 8.9 10 11 13 14. 2 Cor. 5.17 10.5 13.5 Gal. 2.20 Col. 1.27 2.6 He affirms That the Grace of God is sufficient to lead Men that obey and follow it into Eternal Life This I take also to be sound Doctrine agreeable to Truth read Tit. 2.11 He says Christ's Carnal Flesh Blood and Bones is not ascended into Heaven read 1 Cor. 15.50 2 Cor. 5.16 John 3.13 6.63 Eph. 4.10 That God hath not decreed to leave any Man in the state of Damnation This also agrees with the Scriptures read Prov. 21.15 28.18 Isa 59.2 Jer. 4.14 Ephes 2.5 1 Tim. 2.4 That God affordeth sufficient means to bring to the knowledg of Christ by his Light and Spirit of Grace within every one read John 1.4 9. 1 Cor. 12.7 Tit. 2.11 That Christ did not die for the Elect only but tasted death for every Man even his Enemies by giving his Light and Life unto every one as John 1.4 9. Which Spirit of Grace if any resist or despise such crucify to themselves the Lord of Life afresh That Original Sin of it self is not sufficient to condemn Mankind to eternal punishment This also is a Truth read Jer. 31.30 Ezek. 18.2 3 4. That an unregenerate Man is not totally and finally dead to Sin and destitute of spiritual Strength but that he may by God's Grace hunger and thirst after Righteousness and live this also agrees with Ephes 2.1.5 5.14 That Grace and Free-Will are cooperating Causes in our Conversion and that Perseverance is not the effect of Election but is attained by virtue of the New Covenant read Jer. 31.33 c. Rom. 10.6 8. 2 Cor. 4.6 7. Heb. 8.8 13.5 That there is no Original Sin conveyed from Adam to his Posterity read Gen. 4.7 Ezek. 18.2 3 4. 33.11 18. Rom. 6.22 23. That there is free Will to Goodness in us by God's free Grace read Tit. 2.11 That God could justly pardon our Sins when by his Grace we repent without any other satisfaction than his own free Mercy and Grace That God doth not predestinate any to Damnation but as they obey or disobey his Laws read Gen. 22.18 Deut. 4.30 13.4 Job 36.11 Isa 1.19 Acts 5.32 Heb. 5.9 1 Pet. 1.2 22. I humbly beg pardon that I have presumed to illustrate the Sentiments of the Arminian Doctrines with Scriptures it is because they have bin much cried out against as errant Hereticks although upon examination I find them more sound in the True Faith than those that call them so And by that small experience I have obtained both by reading and otherwise I find and observe that those that are indeed the greatest Hereticks cry Hereticks first Thus the blessed Apostle St. Paul was estemed an Heretick when he said After that way you call Heresy do I worship the God of my Fathers And how was Holy Jesus cried out against as a Blasphemer and otherwise only for preaching the New Covenant the Gospel of Christ Jesus which the Scribes and Pharisees would not receive because against their Traditions and outward observation of the old Law which made void the New And I have known one of late Years much cried out against as a notorious Heretick and Blasphemer for preaching up Christ in the Saints God's New Covenant and the Way to Life Eternal Allelujah And certainly there is no greater mark of a false persecuting Church as learned Mr. Joseph Glanvil observes than to give evil Names to Dissenters in Matters of Opinion in Religien Lastly I humbly beseech and intreat all that undertake the Cure of Souls that they preach nothing save Christ and him Crucified that is to say His Spirit of Light crucifying and killing of Sin in us and Him risen that is to say That we seek in the Heavenly Spirit those things that are Heavenly And as by God's especial Grace he puts into our Minds those things that be Holy Just and Good so by his continual help we may bring the same to good effect through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Allelujah And my truly devout and hearty Prayer to thee O God of my Salvation is That thou wouldst be pleased to send down upon our Bishops and Curats and all Congregations committed to their Charge the healthful Spirit of thy Grace And that they may truly please tâ—â—e pour upon them the continual Dâ—â— of thy Blessing and so replenish them with thy Heavenly Grace that both by their Life and Doctriâ—â— they may set forth thy Glory and sit forward the Salvation of all Men through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Allelujah Finally my Brethren all you of the Clergy that are the Inheritance of God how-ever you are externally dignified or qualified that have Christ Jesus God's High Priest in you his blessed and holy Spirit to guide you 't is You that are truly Reverend in my esteem and are certainly precious in the sight of God Ye are his Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People able to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God the Word of God dwells plentifully in You whereby you are made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter which kills but of the Spirit which gives Life and ministers Grace to the Hearers 'T is You reverend and worthy Sirs that
can hold forth the blessing of Peace and Establishment to the World and I am perswaded God hath fitted you for such a Work as this therefore I beseech you suffer a word of Exhortation Be faithful to the Testimony of the Lord with which he hath inspired you stand forth in the Name and Power of that Spirit which dwells in you lay by all carnal Ends and self Interests and come forth in the nakedness and simplicity of the Love of God in which you will breath out the blessing of Peace amongst us O let not Sion be built up any longer with Blood nor her Mourners wander about in the Defarts to seek for shelter and safety let the searchings of your Hearts and the yearnings of your Bowels be for the Breaches and Divisions that are among the People of God 'T is You that the great expectation of many of the Lord's People in this Nation is now towards Our Wounds Breaches in the Circumstantials of Religion are too wide and extensive for a formal outward and literal Ministry to heal and cement We have languished in Divisions too long already under these Physicians 't is only a Spirit-Ministry with evidence demonstration and power that proceeds from an innate Principle of the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts that can compose all our Differences satisfy all Parties and Interests and settle us upon a sure Foundation of Peace Rest and Happiness If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfil ye the Joy of the People of God in these Nations that ye come forth with the like Mind and Spirit in your Ministry amongst us and in the Power of the same Love preserve the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace I know there is wisdom and largeness enough in the Love of God to accomplish these noble Ends and the witness of this upon your Hearts must necessarily strengthen your Faith in this Ministry for certainly that Love so ample that can redeem the World when and where 't is witnessed by the Spirit will appear large enough to cover all our Infirmities abate all our Contentions and quiet all the Clamours that abound among us If thus you can appear and stand forth this day as indeed Priests unto God and true Ministers of Christ Jesus you shall worthily be called The Healers of our Breaches and the Restorers of our Paths to dwell and walk in with love and pleasantness one towards another In which Spirit of Universal Love and good Will I Rest a Friend to you and the Souls of all whilst I am and when I am no more R. R. To all Teachers Preachers and Dispensers of the Word and Sacraments under the Dispensations of those called Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists ROBERT RICH a Servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God which Gospel was promised and preached by the Holy Men of God ever since the Foundation of the World was Laid as in the Scriptures of Truth you may read Gen. 3.8 15. 12.1 3. with Gal. 3.8 Deut. 30.11 12 13 14 15. Rom. 10.6 8. Jer. 31.31 to 35. with Heb. 8.8 to the end Isa 52.7 with Rom. 10.15 Isa 61.1 with Luke 4.18 9.6 Mark 16.15 2 Cor. 4.4 6. 2 Tim. 1.10 1 Pet. 1.12 25. In the power and strength of which Gospel the Word in the Heart or Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts doth R. R. send Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah TO you that are Regenerate and born again of the Spirit who have Christ Jesus the New Man in you and are Members of his Body Spiritual through Sanctification of the Holy Spirit of Grace you in him and he in you made perfect in one to you Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplied from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Allelujah In the Year 1656 feeling the Birth of God in me by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven which Spirit of Light begat Christ Jesus the New Man in me by whom I obtained Reconciliation and Peace with God and good-will towards his Creation Which Spirit of Love moved me in the Year 1666 to send to the People called Presbyterians Thirty pounds to be distributed amongst their Poor that were in Need Sickness or any other kind of Adversity The like Sum I also sent to them called Independents As likewise to those called Anabaptists to be distributed to the Poor that were amongst them Not as Judas that betrayed his Master into the hands of Sinners for Thirty pieces of Silver but from one that witnessed the Resurrection from the Dead one who had long crucified the Lord of Life in my Self and by many and often Transgressions had slain the Witness of God his Holy Spirit of Grace and Light which oft cried in me Why wilt thou die Return to me the Light and Life of the Soul and thou shalt live At length I hearkened to the Voice of the Son of God in me in obedience to which Voice my Soul came to live in whose Life I have Rest Peace and Joy in the Lord my Saviour Allelujah Thus by the Incarnation or indwelling of the Life of Christ Jesus in my mortal Flesh I came to inherit Life Eternal by and through him that is the Regeneration the Resurrection and the Life Allelujah By which Spirit of Grace and Revelation of Christ in me I came to see what Peter saw Acts 10.34 35. Matth. 16.17 That of all Nations and Religions those that feared God and acted righteously towards Man are accepted with him Also by the same Revelation of God's Spirit I understood the great Love of God to the World that in all Ages and Times he hath sent and given his only begotten Son his Spirit of Light to be the Life of the World his Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life wherewith every one is enlightned both Jew and Gentile that cometh into the World that so all Men might be saved by believing in him and by following of him who is the Way the Truth the Life and God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah As you may read Isa 42.6 49.6 Deut. 30.11 to 15. Jer. 31.31 c. with Rom. 10.6 8. Heb. 8.8 to the end John 1.4 9. 8.12 12.46 2 Cor. 4.4 6. Which Spirit of Light Life and Truth in the Inward Parts the Word incarnate in the Heart moved on the Face of my Deep and shining on my Tabernacle which Tabernacle God pitched in me in whose Light I saw Light which gave me freedom to look into all manner of Opinions and Religions which Light opened my Understanding so as to know Good from Evil Right from Wrong and Truth from Error In which Spirit of Light I read many Books writ by Presbyterians Independents
and highest Profession we were but as sounding Brass and as a tinkling Cymbal c. Holiness and Love to God are but two Names for one Thing Love to God and to Man are like Soul and Body that are separated no way but by death Sin is hardly known in its secret Root till Men have tasted the bitterness of the Fruit. In a word I have long seen that envious Wisdom what-ever it pretends is not from Above but is earthly sensual and devilish and that where envy and strife is upon a Religious Account there is Confusion and every evil Work That which killeth Love killeth all Grace and Holiness and killeth Souls that which quencheth Love quencheth the Spirit a thousand-fold more than the restraining of our Gifts of Utterance doth That which banisheth Love banisheth God that which is against Love is against the Design of Christ in our Redemption and therefore may well be called Antichristian the White Devil is a Love-killer as well as the Black he is as mortal an Enemy to Love who backbiteth another and saith he is prophane or he is an empty Formalist or he is a Lukewarm temporizing complying Man-pleaser as he that saith he is a peevish factious Hypocrite Believe it it is Apostacy to fall from Love your Souls die when Love dieth To preach without Love to any that differ from your Sect O what a loathsome Sacrifice is it to the Lord of Love When the Papists had murdered so many hundred thousands of the Albigenses and Waldenses who would have thought but that they had done their Work When the French Massacre had murdered thirty or forty thousand and dispatcht the Leaders of the Protestant Party who would have thought that they had but strengthened them When the Duke d' Alva had done so much to drown the Belgick Protestants in Blood he little thought he was but fortifying them Queen Mary's Bishops little thought that their English Bonefires were but to light Men to see the mischief and badness of their Cause and like firing of a Beacon to call the Land to take them for the Enemies of Mankind When the Irish had murdered two hundred thousand they little thought that they had but excited the Survivery to a terrible Revenge I will come no nearer but you may easily do it your selves If we bite and devour one another we shall be destroyed one of another c. These and the like faithful and true Sayings the Book is full of which are well worth the reading with due Consideration had thereon And as Mr. Baxter intimates That he which suffers for his Religion sheweth he hath the better Religion than those that cause Sufferings And our patient Martyrdom and Suffering by them may tend at last to open their Eyes and turn their Hearts and save their Souls for the Blood of Martyrs hath ever bin the Seed of the Church which Seed hath ever encreased the number of the Sufferers Many other good Instructions and Directions both to Ministers and People hath he in this Book set forth for uniting in Love and Amity different Perswasions into one Principle of Love well worth the taking notice of And now my dear Brethren as I am a Priest unto God by having Christ Jesus the Eternal Spirit of Truth in me I am thereby enabled to hold forth an Exhortation to all of you which in the Bowels of the extensive Love of God towards you I earnestly pray you may receive I know there is amongst you a Worthy Righteous and Sober People who I can bear you record have a Zeal of God according to the several Administrations of your outward Forms and Worships whereby you are distinguished Nevertheless I have a few things against you namely That you have the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ amongst you with respect of particular Persons outward Forms and carnal Observations Hence arise all those Strifes and Contentions those bitter Revilings and evil Censures that have abounded amongst you both towards each other in your divided Forms and also toward all others that are not concerned with you as under your distinct Attainments But I testify and declare to you and to the whole World That if any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature and as many as walk according to this Rule of the New Creature Peace be upon them as upon the Israel of God and in every Nation Sect Form and Opinion He that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him 'T is neither here nor there in this nor that neither in the Mountains of Form and Worship that you have raised to your selves nor at Jerusalem that God will be now worshipped but every where in Spirit and in Truth is the Worship that he accepts Give therefore the Spirit of God his due Scope and Latitude to blow where when and how it listeth in every Man 'T is the great Controversy that God hath with the World at this day That he alone may reign in the Consciences of Men by the just Measure of his own Light in every one And till this Royal Prerogative be setled upon Him there will never be Peace on the Earth but Men shall rend tear and devour one another and those that lead into Captivity must themselves go into Captivity herein will the Patience Love and Charity of the Saints be exercised and encreased Allelujah Wherefore let your Moderation be known to all Men the Lord is at hand Be not O be not found smiting your fellow Servants in the day of his Appearance The Spirit of God which hath sealed you to the day of Redemption is a tender Spirit O do not grieve it in your selves nor endeavour to quench it in others If thus you can come forth amongst Men you shall be a blessing in your Generation a Light to them that sit in darkness and a Refreshment to the Mourners of Zion who languish in the Breaches and Divisions that have bin made upon her Inhabitants In which Universal Spirit of Love to Truth and Righteousness I Rest a Friend to you and the Souls of all Men in any Sect or Opinion of Religion whatsoever whilst I am and when I am no more Robert Rich. An Epistle for the most pure Amity and Unity in the Spirit of Life and Love of God in all sincere-hearted Souls amongst the People called QUAKERS And as to them so unto all or any other Sort or Sect of People that own and follow the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith every one is enlightned ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah IN the Year 1666 feeling the Babe of Grace the Word in the Heart to wax strong in the Love of God shed abroad in my Heart I sent to the Poor of your People Thirty pounds which after some of your Leaders had received to wit John Bolton Gerad Roberts and Amos Stoddard and given under their hands accordingly 't was denied to be received and about a Year after returned to me again with many
the Ostrich in the Wilderness O let it be timely considered by you how degenerate you are grown from that Love Meekness and Simplicity to which you at first pretended Are not you the Men that have in your Doctrine exalted the Measure of God in all Men as the only Guide and Director in that to abide and by it to be led and not by any outward Prescriptions or Impositions whatsoever And are not you the Men that now not only impose and prescribe on others but also condemn and censure your Innocent Brethren as Heathens and Infidels because in Conscience they cannot subject themselves under the Yoke of your Prescriptions Are you so presumptuous as to conclude all knowledg and discerning in the Things of God and all Spiritual Judgment is given into your Hands that you usurp the Keys of the Kingdom and will let none in but those who stand in conformity to your carnal and literal Impositions Is G. F. and the Body of his Friends of greater Authority than Peter who was an Elder and Pillar of the Church whom nevertheless Paul withstood because he did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel but endeavoured to compel the Gentiles who had their Law within themselves to live after the manner and form of the Jews whose Law stood much in outward Observation from the Letter as doth G. F's Comely Order And are G. F. and his Friends so bold and daring as to condemn the Generation of the Just that went before you in other past Ages under their various Dispensations and all those Worthies in our present Time who cannot own your Practices or submit to your Precepts by concluding them none of the Body of Christ because noneof your Membership Is the Body of Christ now shrunk and narrow'd into G. F's Tribe of Members and Ministry are these the Lips only that preserve Knowledg are you the only Men that fear God and work Righteousness and must we forsake the inward Testimony to ask the Law from your Mouths Can any thing be more prodigious and destructive to the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus than this Doctrine or present it self with greater horror and amazement to the minds of all rational and sober Men and all that truly fear God than the injunction of a necessary submission to G. F. and his Tribe of Proselytes under the penalty of being no otherwise esteemed than Heathens and Infidels Do not you in these things apparently cloath your selves with the Livery and Character of Him who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or worshipped by creating a Dominion over your Brethren and the movings of God in them and claiming a Power to judg of all Differences prescribing Rules and Orders and putting Yokes upon the Necks of your Disciples to the stifling of their Consciences wounding their Peace and destroying that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free If this be the Spirit which you at present stand in as your several forementioned Papers do plainly import I dare boldly challenge all that have gone before you from the Pope himself downward to all Sects and Opinions extant in the World to produce if they can a greater Instance of swelling Soveraignty over the Minds and Consciences of Men than you have erected And certainly had you a Secular Power but framed and fitted to your Rule Ecclesiastical Supremacy the World would soon feel that the Finger of your Church-Censures would bear an equal weight at least with the Loins of those Persecutors which have bin your Predecessors Now all this considered can you in soberness conceive that this frame of Spirit in that absolute Dominion which you claim to your selves over all others will render you the Healers of our Breaches and the Restorers of our Paths of Peace Can you think that this Arbitrary and Haughty Government will invite the Nations and Languages of all Sects and Opinions to lay hold on your Skirts which desire to be led by you because the Lord is with you Or do they not rather with dread and horror behold you while you so heavily impose upon others in such Circumstances and Indifferencies wherein the Kingdom of God doth not consist and make those Rules and Prescriptions of equal value with Divine Institutions Witness the Hat c. the outward Garb imposed upon your Proselytes Your Set-times when to begin and when to end your Religious Exercises notwithstanding your pretence of the immediate guidance of the Spirit Your manner of greeting one another with many things of the like Nature To all which an exact conformity is required upon the penalty of a Censure from G. F. and his Eldership Now dear Friends can you in the cool of the Day of God upon your Spirits believe that this violent and rigid sort of Practice will render your Feet beautiful upon the Mountains or will attract the Hearts of any wise or ingenuous People towards you No surely your experience may otherwise inform you that since this violence of Esau against his Brother Jacob hath appeared amongst you the Curse of Babylon hath overtaken you Isa 47.9 to the end even the loss of Children and Widowhood which will certainly come upon you in their perfection as the Witness of God ariseth amongst those that you have so heavily yok'd and burthen'd with your own invented Prescriptions I have done with you when I have told you That the Dispensations in which God administers Himself to the World at this day do most naturally call for a more sober moderate tender and loving Spirit amongst Christians than this wherein you are exercised You cannot but observe how the Lord of Hosts is pleading with the World in the dreadful Manifestations of his Power by Plague Fire Sword c. how He turns the Earth up-side down and makes it reel to and fro like a Drunkard and the Foundations of the World are out of Course divided and broken both in their Civil Policies and Religious Practices Fear the Pit and a Snare have laid hold on the Inhabitants of the Earth there is no Establishment in their Paths and the way of Peace they know not Yea this is the day of Jacob's Troubles and for the Divisions of Reuben there are great searchings of Heart God is now pleading in Judgment with the People that have bin called by his Name searching Jerusalem with Candles Zeph. 1.12 c. and Judgment is already begun at the house of God He is about to judg the Spiritual Pride and Exaltation the Cruelty and Oppression the Hypocrisy and Formality that hath mingled it self with all the fair and beautiful Professions of those that have bin called Christians And what will you say my Friends if in Israel's Skirts be found the Blood of the Souls of the poor Innocent Jer. 2.34 c. Now if this be the proper Work of the Almighty at this day as certainly all that are not either blinded with Carnal Interest or lull'd into a formal Security must needs
Darkness to Light save those only that are born of the Spirit and so have Christ the Word in their Hearts as Paul had and all true Ministers of Christ have Read Gal. 1.15 16. 2.20 Eph. 2.10 Col. 1.27 2.6 3.16 2 Cor. 13.5 Thus learn to know Christ as all the truly sanctified know him not after the Flesh as he was the Son of Man nor after the Letter which kills but after the Spirit which begetteth Christ the new Man in us who is the only true Agnus Dei that takes away the Sins of the World of all that believe in him and that saves his People from their Sins as he did the Virgin Mary Luke 1.47 giving and encreasing Grace in them working all their Works in them and for them perfecting Holiness in all that love his Appearance which Work of Grace in our Hearts is our Sanctification Justification and Salvation Allelujah Thus being faithful to God in administring the things of God as you receive them from him on God's Name and in his Strength go on and prosper convert all Nations to Christ the Word in the Heart God's Covenant of Light to all the World to Christ the Rock and Revelation of God to Peter on which his Church is built which Spirit of Grace guided the Church of Rome when she was so much renowned into Truth and Righteousness which Spirit of Truth gave St. Peter Repentance and led him out of his Fall where the Gates of Hell prevailed into all Truth and made him an able Minister of Christ not of the Letter but of the Spirit in which Spirit he faithfully served his Master in feeding his Sheep with Spiritual Food Christ the Bread and Water of Life from Heaven Allelujah And know that no Man can please God save Christ the new Man in the Saints who is created after the Image of God in Righteousness and true Holiness And the first Step towards Heaven and true Christianity is to be born of the Spirit for no Man can please God nor go to Heaven save he that came from Heaven even the Son of God in Man which always is in Heaven Read John 3.13 Also know that every Motion in Man's Heart to Good is the Inspiration and Revelation of God as every Motion to Evil proceeds from the World the Flesh and the Devil which Trinity is but one evil Spirit that rules in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience for of our selves we cannot so much as think a good Thought and without Inspiration and Revelation we can never know God the Father nor God the Son but by the Inspiration of God the Holy Ghost Nor can we know or act aright in the things of God but by the Revelation of his own Spirit a measure whereof is given to every one to profit withal Nor can we please God nor attain Salvation but as we are born of his Spirit and led by his Spirit into Truth and Righteousness as it is written Mat. 11.27 John 3.3 6.44 1 Cor. 2.10 11. Gal. 1.15 16. 1 Pet. 1.13 1 John 3.24 with 1 Cor. 6.11 17. 12.7 2 Cor. 3.3 6. Gal. 5.16 Eph. 2.22 3.16 1 Pet. 12.11 For the natural unregenerate Man tho never so knowing in Literature and other worldly Knowledg as to please the Ear and Understanding of a Man knoweth nothing of the things of God nor understandeth the Scriptures meaning nor Gospel of Christ nor can he preach it because these things are only spiritually discerned And he that wanteth this Spirit of God in him to be his Prophet his Priest his King to reveal the things of God to offer Prayers and Praises to God and to lead into Truth and Righteousness is no Minister of Christ nor true Christian neither can such a one ever inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Read Luke 4.18 8.10 24 45. Rom. 10.8 1 Cor. 2.10 11. 2 Cor. 3.6 4.3 4 6 7. Gal. 1.11 12. 1 Thess 1.5 3.8 1 Pet. 1.11 12. With John 3.3 Rom. 8.9 2 Cor. 13.5 1 Joh. 3.3 After this manner you having Christ the Bread and Water of Life in you then may you feed Christ's Lambs otherwise not and your selves being converted and turned from Darkness to Christ the Light in your selves then you may convert others else not And all that profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ be sure you feel God's Spirit to be your Commission both to begin and carry on that Work else all Preaching and Praying will be but vain and you cannot profit the People at all but must lie down in sorrow under all your own Kingdlings and Conceivings either from the Letter or what you have learned from Man in the Schools c. Thus you having Christ the Truth in your selves being born of the Spirit he will teach you to preach Truth and lead you into all Truth to the saving not only of your own Souls but also of the Souls of those that hear you Even so Amen Allelujah And there is but one thing needful to make the Church of Rome as much renowned now as ever which is That all forsake the Wisdom of the Flesh and walk in the Wisdom of the Spirit of Grace the Word in the Heart given to every one of all Religions to be their Teacher and Leader into the Way of Truth and Righteousness Allelujah Thus there are and have bin in all Ages and of all Opinions and Religions Witnesses of Christ's Birth who are begotten and born again of the Spirit which crucifieth Sin in us and of his Resurrection which createth the New Man in us in which Body of Christ the Spirit of Light which came from Heaven the Sanctified arise and ascend into Heaven and there sit even whilst their Mortal Bodies are here on Earth at the right Hand of God the Father in the Unity and Fellowship of Christ the Son and Blessed Spirit where are Pleasures for ever-more Allelujah Read Ephes 1.3 2.6 Heb. 12.22 1 John 4.17 Psal 16.11 Job 36.12 In the Unity of which Spirit of Grace Love and Charity I most humbly take my leave and in it rest one with all the faithful Seed of Abraham who are begot and born again of the Seed and Spirit of God and led by the same Spirit into Truth and Righteousness Allelujah In which Spirit of Truth I remain a Friend to the Vniversal Catholick Church of Christ throughout all the whole World amongst Jews and Gentiles yea a true Friend to the Souls of all Men whilst I am and when I am no more ROBERT RICH. To the Episcopal Protestants the most Reverend Arch-Bishops the Right Reverend the Lord Bishops the Reverend the Priests Doctors and Deacons and all Degrees of the Clergy and Laity of the Church of England ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah TO you that are Regenerate and born again of the Spirit and so are initiated into the Church of Christ made Members of his Body Spiritual through sanctification of the Holy