that wisdome wherein they stand and to that eye wherewith they look to see Now mark this Antichrists coming when he first deceived was very mighty exceeding strong 2 Thess. 2. 9 10. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with al deceivableness of unrighteousness c. Weigh the thing wel Satan used al his art and al his strength to conceive and bring forth this mystery of iniquity so like the mystery of godlines that it might pass for currant in the world and he rule as God in in i◠With all power c. no power of deceit wanting he did not spare for signs and lying wonders yea 〈◊〉 gave power to the beast to do wonders and miracles even to make s 〈…〉 e come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men which was the sign and wonder whereby the God of Israel was distinguished from Baal power to work this very sign Satan gives to the Beast to confirm the godhead of the Dragon and Antichrist with Rev. 13. v. 13 14. These are the things men look for see but great power signs miracles they are satisfied the whole world stands ready to be deceived with this Yea and if the eye be not opened in persons which can distinguish of power they must needs be deceived Signs wonders and miracles had their place in the first covenant and were to that part to which the first covenant was not to them that beleeve but to them that beleeve not Now after the full demonstration of the truth by signs and miracles the power of Satan riseth up and by lying signs wonders and miracles overturneth the truth Now the unbeleeving part in man expects and cals for signs and miracles and says that wil determine the controversie and settle the state of the Church again but that part is not to prescribe God his way yea he wil steal as a theif upon thee whose ey is abroad and lookest for demonstrations without And as Antichrist got up thus so Antichrist wil go out thus he wil raise up this power and what lying signs wonders and miracles he can to defend himself with now the Spirit of the Lord is risen up to dispossess him and cast him out of the house which he hath long lodged in And he that can be cosened with power with signs with lying wonders which are lying because they come from the spirit of deceit with an intent to deceive though they may come to pass and appear true to mans eye Deut. 13. 1 2 3. or with any of the deceivablenes of unrighteousnes shal never come out of Babylon but only be translated into some of the more refined chābers of it fed with somemore fresh likenesses of truth where he shall stil remain an Inhabitant and worshipper in some Image perhaps of universal love life and liberty and yet be out of the life out of the love out of the liberty of the truth which stands in the power and presence of the Spirit of God and not in the most refined Image or likeness All the world wondred after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast Rev 13. 3 4. The Dragon is the Devil the beast is that spirit of the earth which he raiseth up and feeds in men with a form and appearance of truth to which he gives his power and his seat and his authority and every man hath a measure of this according to his state condition place and service in Babylon And now what a man doth here in Religion be he never so devout and zealous and frequent in Ordinances and duties is the worship of this spirit and of the Dragon who sits and rules in this spirit I am run into hard expressions very hard because the nature of these things is hid from mens eyes and they are in the mist of Antichrists raising in the smoak which comes from the pit where there is no opening of the true eye nor no true sight of things but truly if ever ye espy the Dragon the beast Antichrist the whore the false Prophet ye must look at home and read within and there having found the thing and seen it in the true light ye will be able to read it certainly abroad also Now do not go about to distinguish these things in the notion of the understanding but come to feel the life to unite with the life and the eye will open which can see into the nature of things and will behold all in it's season for that eye which is so eager to see shall never see these things but that eye alone which waits in stilnesse and quietnesse on the pleasure and good will of the opener Now all this time while Babylon stands while Antichrist sits in the Temple while Satan reigns over all the Antichristian world the true and living God hath not been known feared nor glorified but mens knowledge hath been of a false God they have set up and him they have feared and given the glory to in their worship nay the Gospel hath not been preached the true Gospel the everlasting Gospel the Gospel wherein is the light and power of eternal life to turn men from all Antichristian forms of knowledge and worship to the true life and power But when Babylon falls and Mount Sion begins to appear again then this Gospel is to be preached again even by an Angel who receiveth it from God himselfe Rev 14. 6 7. for man could never recover it again it requires a new inspiration The law is to go forth out of Sion the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And this Gospel is to be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and people v 6. mark There was not one Nation not one kindred not one tongue not one people that kept the everlasting Gospel but it was laid up in Sion it was carried with the Church into the Wildernes and there it hath been hid all the time of the apostacy since the dayes of the Apostles But now Sion is redeeming the true woman bringing back again out of the Wilderness she brings back the true everlasting Gospel with her and there is an Angel chosen in the power of the Lord even in the same power and Spirit that first preached it to preach it again to every Nation Kindred Tongue and people And the Lord hath so ordered it that he will have the voice of this Angel as despicable to the wise in Religion to the zealous in devotion of all sorts of this backsliding age as the former preaching was to the wise and devout both among the Jews and Greeks So that whosoever is wise in Religion according to the flesh whosoever is wise in expectation and waiting for the kingdome whosoever is wise in reasoning about it and can tel the foregoing signs of it c. shall not know the voice but he that can shut his eyes by
reasoning part which the Lord hath been long battering and had laid very low gathered strength in me and I began to grow wise again and able to judge of the things of God and to hope and wait for some great appearance wherein at length I might be visited and meet with that which I so vehemently desired and stood in such need of Thereby the enemy deeply deceived me pleasing me herewith and keeping me hereby from unity with that which alone was able to give me the sight of him when ever he should appear And in this fleshly wisdome I judged and despised the true life in others as weak and low and not able to bring them to that which I stood in need of and waited for Yea the more I considred and reasoned in my mind and the more I conversed with them hoping thereby to find some clear ground either of owning or turning from them the further off still was I till at length the Lord powerfully touched and raised up the life in me which by all these reasonings and consultations all this while I slew and then by degrees waiting upon that I saw I felt I tasted I handled as the Lord pleased to open to me here that which was shut out from me in my narrowest search and closest reasonings Thus the Jew in me was cast off and the Gentile called but who can read this I am sure the eye of mans religious wisdom cannot Hereby my eyes have been opened and I have seen the fetters whereby I have been held captive from my life all my dayes yea many of the streets and chambers of Babylon hath my eye beheld in the pure life wherein the Witch dwels which inchanteth from the life yea I have heard the tongue of the false Prophet which speaketh so like the true Prophet as no flesh can discern or distinguish between them yea I have seen the Dragon in the Temple worshipped there for God by the strictest sort of Professors And now in tender bowels in the true light of life from the pure movings of the eternal Spirit as the Lord pleaseth to guid and direct do I come forth to visit my poorfellow creatures and captives in Babylon And what I have seen and known I testifie for the relief of others that if it be possible by the mercy good hand of God they may escape that misery wherewith my poor soul hath been overwhelmed and may come out of that filthy abominable City which God is making desolate where the pure life the conquering faith the suffering love the purifying hope the putting off of the body of sin the putting on the living garment is not nor cannot be witnessed but men are only dreaming of these things in Babylon where all the satisfaction they have is from the pleasure of their dream but when they awake they will find leannesse and penury and nakedness upon their souls A Description of Babylon for the sake of the Daughter of Sion which at present dwelleth in the midest thereof Now though the world be deaf and blind even all sorts of worldly professors from the highest to the lowest yet open your ears and hear the joyful sound open your eyes and see the City of desolations and of all the abominations of the earth both of flesh and Spirit and feel in your selves what it is which is to be led out and what is to lead you that your feet may be guided to and set firm upon Mount Sion where the life rules over all her enemies BABYLON is the spiritual fabrick of iniquity the Mystical great City of the great King of dark ess built in imitation of Sion painted just like Sion that it might be taeken for Sion and he worshipped there instead of the true eternall ever-living God and King of Sion This is the seat of the man of sin Where there is a building framed in any heart or in any society of men like Sion there he lodges there he lives there he sits as God there he reigns there he is worshipped there he is exalted above all that can truly be called God in that heart or in that society 1. It is a City This is a proper parable to discover the Mystery of iniquity by in this state it is just like a City in its kind it is a City In a City there are several streets in the streets houses in the houses several rooms to which familyes and persons appertain and to all these there are Laws and Governments Thus it is here there are many streets in this City Babylon many houses in every street many rooms in every house and the houses and rooms have their several familyes and persons appertaining to them and they have their Laws and Governments their knowledge of God and Christ their order their worship their discipline in which they walke and by which they order themselves in their several services places offices and imployments under the King of Babylon 2. It is a spirituall or mysticall City It is not an outward building of earthly materials but an inward building of inward materials As the outward Sion the outward Jerusalem is passed away in it's use and service so the outward Babylon is out of date too Ye need not look so far for it And as God hath built up an inward City a spiritual building so hath the King of darkness likewise He could never have tempted from the City of the living God from the City of the mystery of life but by the City of the mistery of deceit And as God builds his City of hewen stones of squared stones of living stones so also hath the King of darkness his hewings his squarings his preparations his qualifications for his buildings If the light break forth and make it appear too grosse to have the whole Nation a Church or to admit an whole Parish to Ordinances he will gather a Church out of the Nation and select some of his choicer stones out of the Parish yea he may grasp in some of the stones of the true Temple if they come within his reach and circle that is if they look abroad if they step forth and keep not close to the anointing within which is the great and only Ordinance of the Saints preservation from Antichrists power for if they step forth but so much as into a prayer against Antichrist out of this they are caught in his snare and are serving him in that very prayer which they may seem with great earnestness and zeale to put up against him 3. It is a great City an overspreading City a City that over-spreads the earth As Sion was a vast City a City that did overspread the Nations How did the faith of the Gospel over-run the world in the Apostles dayes so this City hath also over-run the world Indeed it hath taken up the whole Territories and Dominions of the other City and hath enlarged it self further and Sion hath been laid in the dust and trodden under foot And
though many Witnesses Prophets and Martyrs have mourned over her yet none have been able to raise up the Tabernacle of David which hath fallen down nor to recover Sion to this day but Babylon hath had the power over her Look with the true eye and behold how all Nations Kindreds Tongues and Languages have been drunk with some or other of the mixtures of this false womans cup some of them over and over and over again and have been Inhabitants of this City crying her up though not all in her grosse habit but some in her more refined shapes and transformings for the true Church for Sion whereas alas she hath only Sions dresse Sions shape Sions outward garment which is the likeness wherein she lies in wait to deceive but not Sions spirit 4. It is a City of iniquity of hidden iniquity That which is hid in this City it is not the life it is not the righteousness the holiness of the Saints but iniquity sin transgression of the life Look into any of the streets of Babylon into any of the houses any of the rooms any of the chambers of darkness there 's sin there there 's unrighteousnes there there 's not one cleansed heart to be found there not one pure eye to behold the God of life is to be found there but in every heart sin in a mistery iniquity in a mistery unrighteousness in a mistery They seem to be for God and Christ and to be cleansed by them but uncleaness lodges in them and sin rules in them against God and against his Christ in a mistery which their eye cannot see and so must needs mistake their state Yet this is the true state of Babylon in all the parcels of it it is the unclean City where purity of heart and life cannot be known but though it be washed and transformed never so often outwardly yet still it remains inwardly polluted that which defileth keeping possession and dominion there in a mistery The living water the living blood runs not in any of the streets of this City so that there can be no true cleansing there Nay such strangers are the choicest Inhabitants of Babylon to the Fountain of life in Sion to the river that cleanseth and healeth that they cannot so much as beleeve that there is a possibility of cleansing and perfect healing and making sound and whole here while on earth There is great talk of these things of the water the blood the cleansing in all the Regions of Babylon which hath heard of the fame and forms to it self a likeness but the thing it self is not to be found there and so the vertue which comes from the thing it self alone cannot be felt there And here in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Sion and the vessels of Babylon The vessels of Sion they are weak earthen foolish contemptible to the eye of mans wisdome which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there but the treasure the liquor of life in them is precious The vessels of Babylon make a great shew appear very holy very heavenly very zealous for God and Christ and for the setting up of his Church and Ordinances all over the world Thus they appear without but they are Sepulchers there 's rottenness within under all this there lodgeth an unclean an unsanctified heart an heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the Gospel while it makes such a great shew of subjection and obedience to the letter 5. It is the City of the King of darknesse of the great King of darkness of the Prince of the power of the ayre who rules universally in the darknesse in the mistery of iniquiry throughout even in every heart Where ever is sin there is Satans throne and there he hath his Laws his Government his power in every heart of his dominion And where there is the least subjection to him he is yet a Prince his building is not as yet there wholly thrown down he is not there as yet dispossessed and cast out As long as there is any thing left wherein he may dwell he knows his owne and keeps his hold of it It is his right and he will not loose it All sin all darkness is properly his it is his seat and he hath the Government there Man is the Land where these two Kings fight and what ever is good and holy belongs to the one King and what ever is evill and unclean belongs to the other and there is no communion or peace between them but each keep their own and gather of their own unto themselves And where the fight is once begun between these there is no quietness in that Land till one of these be dispossessed but then there is either the peace of Babylon most commonly under a form of holinesse or the peace of Sion in the spirit life and power 6. This City was built and is daily built in imitation of Sion painted just like Sion The intent of it's building was to eat out Sion to suppresse Sion to withdraw from the truth by a false Image and to keep her Inhabitants in peace and satisfaction under a beliefe and hope that it is the true Sion and therefore it must needs be made like Sion else it could no way suite these ends Every street must be like the streets of Sion every house like the houses of Sion every Tribe and family like the Tribes and familyes of Sion every person like the persons in Sion all the Laws Ordinances c. like the Laws and Ordinances of Sion the worship like the worship in Sion the faith like the faith of Sion the painted Christ like the Christ of Sion all that go for truths like the truths of Sion they would not deceive else City Babylon would be soon seen through else and become quickly desolate and forsaken did she not lay her paint very thick and with great art and skil Now here 's the wisdome here 's the true eye tried to see through al the paints of this city in al the shapes and forms of it to turn from every street every house every chamber every image and false appearance of truth every false appearance of ordinances and wayes of worship every likenes of things which this spirit forms from the letter every duty that it thus cals for every promise of Scripture which it endeavours to apply to that to which it belongs not that it might lull the soule asleep and cosen and deceive it of the thing promised here I say is the true eye tried to turn from all this and to waite for the raising and redeeming of the true seed of Sion and for the springing up of the true life and power in it and from it For as long as this spirit can deceive you with any likenes ye shal never know the truth nor come to the worship of the true living God which alone is in the spirit and in the truth 7. The end of al this
of Satans building up this city this great city thus accurately in the power of deceit and in the very likenes of Sion was and is that it might be taken for Sion and he worshipped there as God and that without jealousie or suspition And he hath attained his end his city hath deceived and doth deceive it passeth currant for Sion among al the inhabitants of Babylon almost every sort of people cry it up for Sion in one appearance or other though al do not cry up the same appearance but their own image way and worship every one extolls their own image of the truth for the truth their own way of worship for the way their own church and family for the church and family of God And worshipping here they worship him and not the Lord for the Lord cannot be worshipped in any part of Babylon but the King of Babylon is worshipped in Babylon and the King of Sion alone in Sion Ah how deeply do men deceive their souls they think they beleeve in God they think they pray to God and hope to be owned at length by God and yet are so far from coming out of Mystery Babylon that it was never yet so much as discovered to them but they have either walked in the way of religion and worship they were brought up in in the apostacy or perhaps have removed out of one or two of the broad streets of it and so thereby think they have left Babylon when as the same spirit hath sit down in another street of the same city building up another house by the direction of the King thereof and there worshipping the same spirit as they did before but their souls never knew the fire in Sion and the furnace in Jerusalem by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed before the pure ey of life be opened which can see Sion Now because ye are more able to receive things from Scripture-expressions then from the nature of the thing it self spoken as it is felt in the heart concerning which much more might be said were ye able to bear it consider a few Scriptures Babylon is called a great city Rev. 16. 19. and a great and mighty city chap. 18. 10. O the power of deceit in that city to bewitch from the life O the multitude of lying wonders that are there shewn in the heart to make a man beleeve that he is in the life to perswade men that the King thereof is the King of Sion and that the laws and ordinances of worship there are the laws and ordinances oi Sion that the prayer there is the prayer of the true child that the beleeving there is the true faith the love there the true love the hope there the true hope c. Some parts of Babylon some likenesses of truth there are so taking that none but the elect by the opening of the eternal eye can espy the deceit And it is a spiritual city a mystical city a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity 2 Thes. 2. 7. whereupon she is called Mystery Rev. 17. 5. It is not a city of plain wickedness but a city of sin hid of sin keeping its life under a covering under a form of godlines of sin reigning in the heart under zeal under devotion under praying beleeving worshipping hoping waiting c. Where sin lies hid within under these there 's Babylon there 's the mystery of witchcraft there 's the painted throne of Satan there 's spiritual Egypt and Sodom where the Lord of life is daily crucified This is the city the mystical city the spiritual city Rev. 11. 8. And here is building up and throwing down continually She builds the spirit of the Lord confounds then down goes her building then up with another then down again This is her course without end when the Spirit of the Lord disturbs her for otherwise she can settle in any form of knowledg or worship though in her ordinary course she hath also many changes and turnings One while this or that being a truth another while not One while this or that being the sence or meaning of such a Scripture another while not Babylon is hardly ever without this kind of building up and throwing down And this city is a great city a city spread over all the earth she made all nations drink of the wine of the cup of her fornication Rev. 14. 8. The woman which is this city Rev. 17. 18. sate upon peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues Rev. 17. 15. She sate upon them as Queen as Princess guiding them in their knowledg and worship of the King of Babylon And those that once hated her and made war with her and burnt her flesh with fire she cosoned them with a new paint got them into her new bed of fornication and made them worship the King of Babylon again Rev. 17. 12 13. v. 16 17. and there they lay committing whoredom with her til the time of her last burning and utter desolation but then they forsook her for fear of her torment when they saw the smoke of her burning Rev. 18. 9 10. In the Temples of this city for in al the streets thereof yea in every house there are Temples Antichrist sits as God and is worshipped 2 Thess. 2. 4. He as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God He hath clothed himself like God he appears like God like the holy pure Spirit of life and power he appears in the temple of God he sits there he rules there he gives forth laws and ordinances of worship and devotion Yea if any one wil question his godhead or his right to do thus he wil prove it he wil make it manifest in the very temple of God that he is God He as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God He hath exalted himself into the throne above al that is called God he hath got into the temple he sitteth there as God and there he maketh it manifest to al his worshippers that he is the God in so much as among al the inhabitants of Babylon he is acknowledged and worshipped and the true Spirit of life is hid from their eyes and denied and crucified He shews himself that he is God he gives demonstrations of his godhead which that eye which is out of the life cannot but acknowledg and take to be true There is none can see and acknowledg the true God the true Christ but those that have the true ey the true anointing no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. and yet how many can speak great words of God and of Christ who know not what belongs to the anointing Alas alas Al nations and sorts of professors out of the life are coâ—oned with the devils demonstrations with Antichrists demonstrations with the whores demonstrations with the false Prophets demonstrations which are undeniable to
of Jesus Christ even by this false woman which rides on the beast by whose power and strength she overcomes the Saints She sets up a way of doctrine a way of worship in a Nation and gets laws made for the defence of it and against them that will not submit to it and here she is too hard for the Saints by this means she overcomes the Martyrs and Witnesses and keeps the truth down and keeps up her way of deceit which without this prop would soon fall This whorish spirit scents the Spirit of the Lord she knows it will soon be her death if she cannot make it appear odious and suppresse it Therefore she hunts this spirit she hunts the life and power of what she her self professes especially if it appear vigorous and strong in any she seeks advantages against the servants of the living God representing them to the earthly powers as persons of dangerous principles and bad practises inventing all manner of what can be called evil against them and spreading it among the people that the truth may start up no where in the earth but every where be knocked down by the violence of the multitude or by the sword of the offended Magistrate Now what is the matter of all this great noise and fury Why this A Lamb is risen up in the innocency the pure harmless spirit is appearing in the earth the true life which discovers the hypocrisie and dead forms and wayes of the whorish spirit is breaking forth Therefore she makes a great out cry awakpeople awak the church is in danger arise Magistrates Magistracy and Ministry wil down if this Lamb-like spirit be suffered Nay nay These shall stand but Babylon shall fall and her mistery of iniquity be discovered and her deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse made manifest and the true life and Spirit shall arise and take possession of the hearts of people and make them a clean and fit habitation for God and people that are subject hereto shall feel it and enjoy it though the Merchants of Babylon say men shall never be made cleane while they live but must stil have a body of sin and death hanging about them But how shall they put on Christ who have not put off the body of sin Shall those who are made Kings and Priests to God here on earth minister in their filthy garments These are some of the sins of Babylon that painted harlot which is subtle in heart and lyes in wait to deceive in the absence of the true Church whose cloathing and resemblance she takes up and appears in And when she hath done all this When like Aegypt she hath kept the seed in bondage in all her Territories and Dominions in every Church she hath set up and by all her Ministries and Ordinances When like Sodom she hath filled the whole world with filthinesse uncleanesse and all manner of spiritual abominations When like old Jerusalem the bond-woman she and her children have scoffed at the Spirit in every appearance all the time of her reigne and have trampled upon and domineered over them who have but spoken of the coming of the just one in his people sporting her self in her own deceivings Yet after all this She wipes her mouth and saith she hath done no harm She hath been for the Gospel and Church and Ministry and Ordinances and the saith once delivered to the Saints and only against deceivers seducers blasphemers and hereticks But the Spirit of the Lord cannot be thus deceived nor shall the Nations be allwayes thus deceived and suffer her to sit as a Queen upon their consciences but she shall see sorrow and they shall taste joy at the sound of the everlasting Gospel when once again it cometh to their ears Rev 14. 6. Chap 19. 6 7. The judgement of Babylon BAbylon the great this great City of abominations which hath reigned over the whole earth which hath bewitched all sorts of professors with the golden cup of her fornications which hath subtilly led from the life and held all sorts captive in the witchery of her deceit and hath triumphed over the holy seed making Sion their mother desolate who sat in the dust and was trampled upon by her This great City this glorious City this rich City this mighty powerful City this Queen of the earth which knows not what belongs to Sions misery sorrow poverty and desolation with Antichrist her King and husband who hath cloathed himself with the garments of light and appeared in the likenesse of the King of Sion and hath long been so acknowledged and worshipped is to be judged by the Spirit of life which ariseth up out of the dust of Sion And though Babylon the great whore who in all her transformings hath still remained an enemy to the life hath great power and great wisdom and can shift very subtilly to save her self by both yet strong is the Lord God who judgeth her and he also is wise and she shall not escape his hand but he will pursue her with his voices with his thunderings with his hail-stones with his earth-quakes with his woes with his plagues with his cups of indignation till he hath made her manifest till he hath broken her in peeces till he hath crumbled and laid her in the dust till he hath brought her down to the very pit where the feet of Sion shall trample upon her for ever Sing sing O inhabitant of Sion dost thou not behold the Crown of pride going down apace The decree is sealed against her she cannot escape yea she is fallen she is fallen she is already taken in the snare the eye of my life seeth it and rejoyceth over her in the living power The plagues of God Allmighty from the fiercenesse of his indignation are visiting her whole Territories and passing over all her Land Nothing can help her to avoid his stroak no paint will serve no cover will hide no profession no practise no duties no ordinances no Church no Ministry can avail to conceal her but that spirit is pursued by the Spirit of the Lord and found out every where and plagues are prepared and powring out upon her Nay though she leave all her forms and pretend to wait and seek for the Lord yet she is found out there also Now what is her judgement Destruction and utter desolation from the hand of the Lord to be an hissing and reproach throughout all generations to be brought down by powrings forth of the wrath and vengeance of the Allmighty into the pit and there to drink the fulnesse of his wrath for ever Sion shal be exalted Sion shall drink the cup of life the cup of blessing the cup of love the cup of salvation for ever but Babylon the cup of fury the cup of indignation for ever and ever Sion shall sing but Babylon shall howl and all that saw any beauty or took any pleasure in her shall mourn over her Alas alas for her she who hath so many ages gone for the
Church is now proved to be the whore those who have been taken in their several transformings for the true Ministers made manifest to be the false Prophets their ordinances and duties but thefts and imitations things which they have stollen from what they read in the Scriptures but never received from the hand of the Spirit The wrath of God the dreadful cup of his fury and jealous indignation for the cause of Sion is to goe over her whole Land Over her Sea and all the Ships that trade therein and all her Merchants with all their precious traffique and merchandise All her doctrins which she hath stollen out of the Scripture all her disciplines all her experiences all her performances even those which are most like the performances of former Saints nay though she may speak the very words of truth yet as they come from her mouth they shall be thrown by and judged and be of no service or esteem in Sion The preciousest of her ware shall be drosse and dung in the Land of life where there shall be no Sea nor no such kind of Merchants traffique or trading for ever Her Earth also shall be made desolate and burnt up with all that is found therein All her settlement shall be shaken all her fruit-trees shall be rooted up all her fruit shall wither rot dye and perish All her conversions of people to God as she calls it shall come to nothing Yea and if she have yet any more dresses or secret coverings wherein she would appear like the Church again and bring forth again yet she and her children shall immediately be discovered her flesh burnt with fire and her children dash'd against the stones Every street in her City every house and idol in every street every room in every house with every inhabitant shall drink of the cup of astonishment and stumble and fal and rise no more Thou hast long triumphed over me O mine enemy because I have fallen and have long sit in darknesse but rejoyce no longer for I shall rise again and the Lord shall be a light unto me but thou shalt rise no more and thy light shall be put out for ever glory to the meeke suffering-Lamb even to him that sits upon the throne of life for ever Her Aire also shall be darkned The Lord shall enlighten my darkness but the light of Babylon shall be darkness for evermore The light of a candle shall be seen no more at all in thee Many lights hath Babylon set up in the dark night but the rising of the Sun of righteousness shall extinguish them all for ever and Babylon shall be shut up in utter darkness Yea all that have retained to Babylon all that have walked by the light of any of her candles that have cryed up any of her false ware for orthodoxe that have given up their names to her under any of her dresses or appearances or that have received any of her marks they shall partake of her shame of her misery and of her torment from the hand of the Lord God Yea her throne also shall be visited and the seat of Antichrist in every heart shall feele the wrath Rise up from the dust and shout forth with joy O captive daughter of Sion who hast long dwelt under oppression in the midst of the daughter of Babylon Behold Babylons King shall be no longer judge over Sion but thy King shall be judge and he shall judge the King of Babylon And let all the powers and potsheards of the earth strive to their utmost yet saith the Lord have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion and he shal rule in my people and rule over Babylon Therefore O inhabitants of the earth great and smal learn meeknesse learn righteousnesse learn the fear of the Lord Kiss the Son harden not your selves against him calling him a deceiver a blasphemer a seducer an heretick for what ye do to the least that appear in his life ye do to him but hearken to the word of his everlasting Gospel which saith FEAR GOD AND GIVE GLORY TO HIM FOR THE HOVRE OF HIS JVDGEMENT IS COME and ye cannot escape his hand by that fear which is taught by the precepts of men or by traditional knowledge out of the Scriptures nor while ye seek that honour which came out of the earth and is of the earth and to that which is earthly Therefore let your hearts learne to know him and your tongues to confess him and your knees to bow to him which if ye do ye must forget all that knowledge and those confessions and bowings which ye have learned in Babylon for though ye may have confessed some true things yet having learned this in Babylon ye have confessed falsly even as the Jews who said The Lord liveth yet swore falsly Jerem 5. 2. Now consider ye Ministers of several sorts and ye several sorts of professors We may appear great enemies to you because we witness against your wayes and tel you what the end of them will be but are we enemies to you indeed whose desire it is to save you from this great wrath which hath already entred into the earth and seized on some Should we sooth you up and not witness these things to you which we infallibly know how should we answer it to the Lord our God or to your souls when we shal appear before him If we were in your condition would we be content to be let go on and to be overtaken with this great destruction We cannot be silent Ye must be silent but we cannot We know ye must be silent for that which now speaks in you hath been silenced in us and is not to minister the things of God But the Spirir of the Lord must not be quenched in us no notwithstanding all our weaknes but the treasure must issue forth from the earthen vessel for the relief of the poor in spirit who alone receive the Gospel Therefore though ye hate us though ye persecute us though ye speak all manner of evil against us and use us never so hardly yet there is love rooted in our souls towards your souls yea and towards your persons also and having both felt the wrath and tasted of the mercy we cannot but warn you of the one and invite you to the other and O that ye might find a shelter under the shadow of his wings in the stormy season when wrath shall be showred down without mercy And this we cannot but tel you that the several wayes of Religion in the Christian world are but so many several coverings and that that which is covered with them is the whorish spirit which the Spirit of the Lord is hunting who wil strip her and make her naked and she shall appear to have been the whore under them all Now that which lyeth beneath this Spirit in you which is despised and trampled upon as a thing of nought which is burthened and daily slain by your multitudes of
unclean that the pure life may receive you into unity with it selfe but the spirit that is unpurged from its Babylonish worships and practises the Lord will not suffer to come neer him Therefore search what is Babylon and of Babylon in all your wayes and worships and wait on the Spirit of the Lord to be redeemed out of it and separated from it or ye must remain separated from the Lord and not partake of his life and vertue from which that City with all her inhabitants is shut out for ever The Lord hath had a sore controversie with this Nation with her Rulers her teachers and people for his seeds sake which he hath been begetting to himself and calling forth to worship him according to the pure Law of his spirit of life out of the wayes worships and Heathenish customs of the earthly spirit Israel is his first born whom he will not have any longer kept in bondage They are his own of his own begetting and forming of his own nourishing and bringing up the plants of his own right hand whom he watereth with the dews of Heaven and with the showrs of his everlasting mercy and loving kindness whom he hath gathered by the arm of his power and whom he leadeth and defendeth by his cloud and pillar of fire over whom he is tender as of the apple of his eye They are his anointed ones whom he will not have touched but rebuketh Kings and Parliaments Armyes and Councils for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm Have ye not seen how no strength nor Council hath been able to prevail against them They have had no fence but the arm which hath gathered them What plottings and contrivings hath there been against them How are they as sheep appointed for the slaughter destinated to be devoured crushed and trodden under foot what divinations and inchantments have been used against them even to blot out their name and remembrance from the earth But why do ye strive and contend thus with the God of Jacob can ye prosper He that made the earth will not ye let him have room therein for his people Must they be subject to your wils Must they bow to your image shall not the God of the spirits of all flesh have the command of the spirits of his own people can ye stop the Spirit of God from breathing upon them or will ye fal foul upon them if they be obedient to the breathings and movings of his Spirit May it not suffice that they are innocent and harmless among you in their conversations and practises but will ye still Lord it over their consciences will ye put the Lord to it to the very last to try it out with you whether he can defend his people and make way for their liberty Wel If peace be taken from you if your rulers laws and governments be broken in peices if his hand be stretched forth against you if he curse your very blessings whom can ye blame Why do you provoke him against your own souls are ye stronger then he If ye be stronger and wiser ye may prevail but if he be stronger and will put forth his arm his people shall be saved and find a shelter in him in the midst of all that wrath which is powring down upon you Your peace hath been lengthned out for their sakes If it had not been for their sakes for the remnant which the Lord hath had to gather ye had ere this been as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah The Land is ful of filthinesse which the Lords soul loaths and instead of drawing forth the sword against it ye draw it forth against his witnesses There is liberty enough for sin and vanity for excess and riotousnesse for images and idols but to worship God in Spirit to obey his pure movings this kindles your rage and these are the people who are a burthen to you Ah how fain would ye ease you of this people Sion is indeed a burthensome stone and will fall heavy on all that meddle with her But the Lord will ease himselfe of the adversaries of his life and Spirit and he will bring forth his righteousness which he hath prepared and set it up in the earth and none shall be able to stop him Therefore gather your selves together in battel associate your selves that ye may be broken in peices take council together it shall come to nought speak the word it shall not stand but the Lords council shall stand and he will fulfil all his pleasure and will delight himselfe in his people and raise them up by the fall of their enemies and then ye shall see against whom ye have plotted and contended and what ye have helped to bring about by all your secret plots and designs If the Lord had not been on our side now may Israel say if the Lord had not been on our side what had become of his poor people Ah poor worm Jacob how often would the foot of pride have trampled thee down again and again had not the everlasting arm been stretched out for thee But fear not worm Jacob nor be not sollicitous for thy preservation but trust that arm which delighteth to preserve thee Ah foolish people and unwise who strive against your own mercy who see not upon what hinge all your mercies hang but make it your work to break down the Wall that defends you Jerusalem is the City of the great King which is coming down from heaven and Israel is his people and both must have a place in the earth the Lord hath determined it and who can withstand it what prejudice can Jerusalem or the inhabitants thereof bring unto you They are enemies indeed to this earthly state of things and would have all brought in subjection to the life and power of their King and all that stands in opposition to God brought down and made pliable to his spirit and this the unyoked earthly spirit cannot bear But this is the interest of your souls and the way to unity with that life which is their happiness peace and rest for ever for if ye could pass through the fire and bear the burning up of your dross ye also might become vessels for the Finer and might dwell with them in their everlasting habitation The Saints formerly had an entrance ministred to them into the everlasting Kingdom and came to mount Sion which cannot be removed and to Jerusalem the City of the living God Heb. 12. 22. where the blood of sprinkling the peace that passeth understanding the everlasting righteousness and the joy unspeakable and full of glory was witnessed in the renewed spirit which receiveth the Kingdom which cannot be shaken and entreth into the everlasting rest And this is again revealed and the 〈…〉 nesses shall ascend into heaven in the sight of their enemies even into the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness dwells and the old heaven and old earth withal its inhabitants shall be burnt up and then shall it be seen that righteousness becomes and belongs to the house of God for ever And his City shall be a quiet habitation free from all the noise and hurry of Babylon where the pure river of life runs clear free from all the mud and mixtures of Babylon and the Lord God of infinite fulness will not disdain communion with his creatures but will tabernacle among them dwell with them sup with them walk in them and take them into his holy habitation and they shall dwell with him sup with him and walk in him But who shall abide in his tabetnacle who shall dwell in his holy hill He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart c. he who contemns the vile person how great and high soever but honoreth them that fear the Lord be they otherwise what they will This man shall dwell on high above the reach of all low creeping dark spirits even in that holy habitation of life and power which nothing can touch or annoy I shall now conclude with a few words concerning the present estate of this poor distracted Nation This Nation hath long lain wounded and sick She hath had many Physicians on whom she hath spent much who have promised her fair but have not effected her cure Of late her wound hath been much enlarged yea she is become sick at her very heart and in great danger Many are spending their judgement upon her some thinking a King would help all some a Parliament and some hoping for good from the Army but every eye sees her case to be very desperate Ah England England Thou strivest with thy Maker and he overturns thy strength and councils The life and wisdom which thou despisest is that which alone can heal thee Thou strivest to keep off the strokes from the enemies of God and smitest his dear ones how can he spare thee Hand stils joyn in hand to keep the Lords stroke from reaching Babylon which he hath directed at her heart and will not miss her but will peirce through every thing that stands in his way Though the cry hath long been Hurt not the tender conscience it is that on which God works and wherein he chuseth to appear and with which he is pleased and pitties Many promises have been touching liberty of conscience yet still the meek of the earth the innocent lambs of Christ those that are faithful to the light of God in their consciences are persecuted and suffer What canst thou plead O England why the Lord should not break thee all in peices and save his people himself by and in the midst of thy ruins The Lord will have the victory over thee in this particular about which he hath so long striven with thee It would be better and easier for thee to yield unto then be forced by his hand Therefore at length hear his voice which hath so often and so loud cryed unto thee Let my people go that they may serve me The End