God but like the Devil then they came into the likeness of God again which Adam and Eve lost when they went from the Measure of the Spirit of God wherewith he had enlightened them and which he commanded them to obey Gen. 1.26 27. And though Adam's Sons and Daughters be ravined from the Spirit of God within them and so are committing Sin with greediness Gen 3 1 2. c. to the end and draw-Iniquity with Cords of Vanity and pulling Sin upon them as it were with a Cart Rope yet this is no argument to any good purpose to perswade people that all people must do as they do neither is it an argument to any good purpose to perswade people that there is no better a State or Condition to be attained unto while men and women beareth the Earthly Body or Tabernacle about seeing the Apostle Paul said unto the Saints who had been in the fall ravined from the Spirit or Grace or Light in their hearts but was then when he writ unto them returned to it again Ye were sometimes Darkness Ephes 5.8 9 13 14 15. but now are ye Light in the Lord mark his words Ye were sometimes Darkness that was before they had believed in Christs Light within them which is the true Light that hath Enlightened every one that is come into the World that was before they had believed Pauls Testimony who was sent of God Who is Light Acts 26.18 23. 16 17 ver and in whom there is no Darkness at all to turn people from Darkness to Light and so from Sathans power unto the Power of God but when they had believed in the Light wherewith Christ had enlightened them and had received Pauls Testimony who was sent to turn them from the Darkness which was in them in which they had committed sin unto the Light which was in them which had condemned and troubled them when they did commit sin then were they Light in the Lord 2 Pet. 1.19 Mark that in the Lord and so they were in him who is Light in God and Christ and so they knew God and Christ in them to save them from their sins Rom. 6.17 18 20 21 22. For said Paul When ye were the Servants of Sin ye were free from Righteousness Mark that is they were not in Righteousness but out of Righteousness and so were in unrighteousness which is sin for all unrighteousness is sin and all sin is of the Devil But now said Paul 1 Cor. 3.10 11. being free from Sin you are become the Servants of Righteousness and hath your Fruits unto Holiness and the End Everlasting Life Mark then the Fruit which they brought forth was Holy and the End Everlasting Life so here was a blessed change witnessed while they were in the Earthly Tabernacle the same Paul said to some of the Saints Some of you were Whoremongers and Adulterers but said be you are washed you are ceansed ye are sanctified he did not say unto them when they were Saints that they were Whoremongers and Adulterers as many now adayes call themselves Saints and Christians and yet liveth in much Wickedness and Uncleanness both of Flesh and Spirit But when they were washed and cleansed from their Filthiness and so was brought into the Likeness and Image of God again which is Purity and Holiness and so they came to see and know the Lord and it is written Without holiness no man can see the Lord and it is written Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God 2 John 3.4 5 6 7 9 10 24. and the Apostle John said He that is born of God sinneth not he that sinneth is of the Devil we are of God said he and the whole World lieth in Wickedness Wickedness is Sin but we are of God said he he that is of God sinneth not said he he that sinneth is of the Devil we know said he that the Son of God is come 1 Joh. 5.18 19 20 21. and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true and we are in him that is true Mark they were in him that is true Even in his Son Jesus Christ and this is the true God and Life Eternal and these are true Saints and true Christians which is come to witness Christ in them and hath witnessed him in them to destroy the Works of the Devil in them which is Sin and so to make them new Creatures as he had made those Saints in Paul and John's dayes 2 Cor. 5.17 18. For if any man be in Christ said the Apostles be is a new Creature old things are passed away said he all things are become new they that are Christs said he have crucified the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts and they bad put off concerning their former conversation the old man with his deeds which is corrupt and they had put on the new man Christ Jesus the true Light Col. 1.26 27 28. who is the Lamb of God who hath enlightened every one that is come into the World that all men in his Light wherewith he hath enlightened them might believe and the Saints and true Christians in the Apostles daye did believe in the true Light wherewith Christ Jesus had enlightened them and God by it did lead them out of Sin and so out of the Fall for before Sin entred there was no Fall for Sin was the Fall from God so who is come unto the Eternal true Light within them and by it is led out of Sin which was mans I all from God they are come out of the state of the first Adam in whose state men are dead in Trespasses and Sins and they are come into the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickning Spirit 1 Cor 15.20 19. and though they did once bear the Image of the First Adam in whom all are dead in Trespasses and Sins yet now they are come to bear the Image of the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven the Light which hath redeemed them from their Sins and though they were once dead in Adam who fell yet now are they made alive by the Second Adam who never fell and though they did commit sin daily while they were in the First Adams state faln and ravined from the Spirit of the Second Adam in their hearts yet now being come unto the Spirit of the Second Adam which they had ravined from and now having learned obedience unto it it being the Spirit of Truth or the True Spirit it leadeth them into all Truth and so out of all untruth and so all who hath in faithfulness followed and obeyed the Light wherewith Christ the Second Adam hath enlightened them they and none but they are made alive in and by Christ the Second Adam so as it is written it is come to be witnessed by such As in the First Adam all die so in the Second Adam all shall be made alive Mark in Adam all have
and the excellency of it is of him and not of us and to him we give the glory and honour for to him it is due for ever who by his Light which he hath caused to shine in our hearts hath given us to see them and their false Doctrines and false Worships and Wayes and now he hath given unto us Christ his Son his Covenant of Light to be our Teacher and this is that Way which once we did not know And God said unto man Thy Teacher shall no more be removed into a Corner but thine eye shall see thy Teacher thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it And we can say Experimentally through Gods mercy that that which in times past came behind us to call us out of Evil when we were gone into Evil even than same hath led us out of Evil and so that which formerly we were turned from we are now turned to again so that which followed us and condemned us when we did Evil that is come before us and leads us into those things which is well-pleasing to the Lord our God and so Christ Jesus the Light in us is become our Shepherd and we do hear his Voice in us and we do follow him and he doth give us Peace in our inward parts which neither the Devil nor Wicked men can take from us if we abide faithful unto him And so we are set down under him who is the true Vine and we are Branches in him and so we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in the Son of God Christ Jesus and this is the true God and Life Eternal and he is our Teacher Bishop and High-priest and Lord and King and we do believe that he shall no more be removed out of our sight nor hearing but we shall for ever see him and he shall Live and Reign for evermore and he said Because I live ye shall live also and we know what he said is true and he said I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and he that liveth and believeth shall never die and these things we do stedfastly believe And as for those Priests and Professors who say Revelation is ceased and there is no immediate teaching to be received in this Age and those that say they have not an infallible Spirit as the Apostle had as for those that hate the Light wherewith Christ Jesus hath enlightned them and loveth darkness which is of the Devil that cannot reveal the things of God and his Kingdom unto them and we know that those who hate the Light and will not hearken to the Light nor obey the Light they can have no immediate testimony to bear for God unto others and we know that there is no infallible Spirit but the Spirit of God and Christ and so they who do not believe in that measure of the Spirit of God and Christ which he hath placed in them to instruct them they have no infallibility but they fail of their Duty toward God and one towards another and so they are unprofitable Servants and wholy useless in the worship of God For if any man have nor the Spirit of Christ he is none of his now it is certain that the Spirit of Christ is infallible it did never fail to fulfil the Will of his Father and the Apostle said God had sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts whereby they called him Father and we do confess to the Glory of God that he hath sent the same Spirit of his Son into our hearts by which we can experimentally call him Father and in and by this we have the things of God and his Kingdom revealed unto us and are immediatly taught by this and this is infallible and doth not fail to lead us into all truth if we do in Faithfulness follow it and so it is our Comforter who love it and obey it but it is and will be the Torment and Condemnation of all those that hate it So the way of the Wicked is Darkness they know not at what they stumble Destruction and Misery is in their way and the way of Peace they know not The Priests and Professors who cry Revelation is Ceased and there is no immediate Teaching to be received in this Age and say that they have no Infallible Spirit These People say that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament is the Revealed Will of God unto them I say the Scriptures was given forth by the Inspiration of God which gives understanding and they do not stand and remain Open and Revealed unto any man or woman but unto such who comes into the Spirit of God and Christ which is infallible for when the Son of God opened his mouth and spake unto the World he spoke in Parables and they could not understand his words because their minds was out from that of God in them for Christ told the unbelieving Jewes that they did neither know the Scriptures nor the Power of God And now all People whose minds are out from that of God in them they can no more know the Scriptures then the unbelieving Jewes could for it is that from which they were at first given forth which must give People the true understanding of them for Christ said unto his Disciples unto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom but unto others who were in the unbelief he did speak in Parables even the same words which to unbelievers seemed Lyes and madness even those words was made plain unto them And their hearts did burn within them when he opened unto them the Scriptures after his Resurrection and I say the Scriptures is a book sealed from all People who hath the Light and will not own it to be their Teacher and they are jangling and quarrelling about the meaning of the Scriptures and so are fighting and striving one with another about the Shaddow and Outside of things and never comes to Christ the Substance for said Christ to the unbelieving Jewes Search the Scriptures for in them ye think you have Eternal Life But ye will not come unto me that you might have Life He did not say you cannot come unto me but he said you will not come unto me that you might have Life so Reader thou mayst see they had a Stubborn will who would not come unto Christ God said unto man in the daies of old I have set Life and Good before thee and Death and Evil and God did not nor doth not say unto man Choose Death that thou mayest dye but he did say and doth say choose Life that thou mayest live Paul said I will that Prayers and Supplications be put up for all men in as much as God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge
sinned and died who have been ravined from the Spirit within them as he did from the Spirit within him and so have faln and sinned and died as he did but now all who cometh to witness Redemption from that Estate they must come into the Spirit and Light within them from which they have ravined and if they do not come to believe in and obey that they will never come to be made alive in and by Christ the Second Adam though they may talk of and profess never so much of God and Christ without them at a distance from them and though they may have a perswasion in their hearts and may really believe all that is written in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Birth of Christ and of his Death and of his Resurrection yet this believing will not bring them into acceptation with God if they do not come to believe in the Light and Spirit of Christ within them For I say in the fear of the Lord God consider Doth not all the prophane people in all those Nations ealled Christendom generally believe that he was the Son of God who was crucified without the Gates at Jerusalem and was born of the Virgin Mary and rose again the third day as they read the Scriptures of Truth which beareth witness of those things and yet though they have given credit unto those words which are written of him many of them are Proud and Covetous Drunkards and Swearers and Lyers Persecutors Murtherers and Theeves and Cheaters and Dissemblers Now I say in the Fear of the Lord God consider Is this true Saving Faith which they are in and though they have been taught by Tradition to believe as aforesaid yet their hearts are very corrupt and full of wickedness and so are far from the Lord God and they are far from being accepted with the pure God in that Estate now the Apostle saith Faith purifieth the heart and the Mystery of the Saints Faith in the Apostles dayes was held in their Pure Consciences which was Christ in them the Hope of Glory 1 Tim. 3.9 so they were in the True Saving and Living Faith their Faith stood in the Power Spirit and Light of Christ within them and the Power Light and Spirit of Christ within them did purifie their hearts and it made them of a Right Spirit and so that which purified their hearts dwelt in them for it is written The Tabernacle of God is with men Rev. 21.3 Ezek. 37.27 I will walk in them and dwell in them said God I will be their God and they shall be my people and Christ said unto the Saints I and my Father we will come and make our abode with you and Christ said unto his Disciples before he was offered up He that is with you shall be in you and he said Joh. 6.63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing and though the Apostle had known Christ once after the Flesh yet benceforth I know him so no more 2 Cor. 4.16 said he and he said I bear in my Body the Dyings of the Lord Jesus that the Life also of Jesus may be made manifest in my mortal Flesh Joh. 14.11 c. to 25. and he said I am crucified unto the World and the world unto me and the Life that I now live is by Faith in the Son of God I Live said he yet not I but Christ in me and so he witnessed Christ in him the Hope of Glory and the Apostle said unto the Saints Try your selves prove your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates Now I say the people of God who are in scorn called Quakers do believe and certainly know that he who was born of the Virgin Mary was the Son of God who was hated by the Jews and sentenced to die by Pilate though he could find no fault in him we do believe that he was crucified without the Gate of Jerusalem and was raised again the third day by the mighty Power of his Father in whose will he suffered though there was no fault in him and we believe and are sure that God was greatly honoured in his Faithfulness Obedience and Humiliation who though he was without fault humbled himself unto the death upon the Cross and we do believe and are sure that all that did believe in him in that Age in which he suffered outwardly and did confess him boldly before his Enemies and suffered death for his Name sake or imprisonment they are everlastingly well who continued in faithfulness unto the end But consider O all ye professors in that called Christendom it was a hard and mighty thing in that Age in which he suffered to confess before his Enemies that he was the Messiah the Christ the Son of God for to confess before his Enemies that he was the Son of God was cause enough for his Enemies by their unjust Law by which they had put him to death to put those to death that should so confess him So that in that Age there durst none confess him before his Enemies to be the Son of God but those who were come to feel and know the Measure of the Spirit of God which he had given them to instruct them for that gave them to know that he was the Son of God and it filled their hearts with zeal and boldness to confess him to be the Son of God though they were put to death for their Confession for Christ said No man can come unto me except my Father draw him Joh. 6.44 45 46. so God drew them by the Measure of his Spirit in them to know that Jesus was the Son of God and by the same he drew them to confess him boldly before his Enemies And Christ said unto his Disciples Whom do men say that I am some said he was John Baptist and some Elias But he said unto his Disciples Mat. 16.13 14 15 16 17. whom do ye say I am Peter answered and said Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Jesus answered and said unto him Flesh and Blood hath not revealed that unto thee but my Father only But oh you Professors in what Form soever consider It is many Ages past since Christ suffered without the Gate of Jerusalem and people have been ravened from the Life and Power and Spirit in which the ancient Christians lived for you may read that the Saints were called Christians fiest at Antioch Act. 11.26 and it is very like at that time the name Christian was as hatefull a name both with the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles as the name Heathen is hatefull here in England and other Nations who calls themselves Christians but Christ and his Apostles wrought many great and wondrous Works in and by the mighty Power of God Acts 20.29 30. while they were walking upon the Earth among the Sons and Daughters of men and they wrot in the Spirit and Power
and Wisdom of God words which they left behind them and after their decease Grievous Wolves did arise who was ravened from the Spirit and was gone out from the Apostles in the Apostle John's dayes saith he 1 Joh. 2.18 19 20 26 27. They went from us that they might be made manifest they were not of us For said he if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us and Paul when he wrote unto Timothy he said I know that after my decease grievous Wolves shall arise who will not spare the Flock so before the true Apostles of the Lamb laid down their heads there was False Apostles and Deceitfull Workers crept in among the Saints who spoke perverse things and did draw disciples after them but while the true Apostles remained in the body they watched diligently over the Flock over which the holy Spirit had made them Overseers and they were a terror to deceit and kept back the work of the Devil in the false Apostles and deceitfull Workers for then they were already entred into the World and then it was the Last Time as John said Fifteen or sixteen hundred years ago Brethren 1 Joh. 4.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. as you have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists and false Prophets in the World whereby we know that it is the Last Time So all People take notice that Antichrist and the false Prophets were entred into the world before the Apostles decease and they have remained in the world ever since and this was before the name Quaker was given unto us by the Scorners yea this was before we were born so that it is plain that the Priests and Professors in all that called Christendom who have said that the false Prophets and Antichrists and Deceivers and Seducers came but when those people they called Quakers came have all erred in their Judgments and so have judged with evil thoughts and so they must all bear the Judgments of the Lord God for their false and unjust Judgment upon those they in scorn call Quakers for Antichrist and the false Prophets were entred into the World in the Apostles dayes Rev. 17.2 6. and after the true Apostles were put to death and were taken away from amongst men then the false Apostles work went more swiftly on Rev. 18.3 and they being ravened from the Life and Power and Spirit within they took the words of Christ and the Apostles which they had written in the motion of the Spirit of God in them and had left upon Record and they professed them and they being ravened from that measure of the Spirit of God from which the Scriptures was given forth then they wrested the Scriptures and gave meanings unto them they having lost the Key of Knowledg and then they went into the Liberty of the Flesh and so drew people after them and then the Night of Apostacy grew in fast and the Beast and the false Prophets made war against the Lamb and the Saints and they slew the Lamb and slew many of the Saints and so overcame them and then Antichrists Kingdom did increase fast and then the false Church which was not in God but in the Dragons power who had slain the Lamb and the Saints it grew great and then began the false Christians to be increased and the number of them to be many and so the false Christians who have taken upon themselves the bare name but are out of the Life and Nature of Christ they are spread over many Nations and are become a great and large people And so it is easie for people now to take the name Christian upon them in England and other Nations for now the whole Nation of England doth profess Christ in words and several other Nations so that if a man will profess Christ without him as they do and live in deceit and ungodliness as they do and turn and conform unto one Invention and Tradition of man after another as they do then they will not persecute him for professing of Christ without him as they do but if he be one who hath believed in the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened him and so is come to know Christ in him to destroy Sin in him and that Christ hath already led him out of the Sin which they live in then they will persecute him and as it was in the Apostles dayes so is it now He that is born after the Flesh persecutes him that is born of the Spirit and they that do live godly in Christ Jesus do suffer persecution It is evident that the Apostles and Saints in the Ages past witnessed Christ in them and so were made new Creatures by the working of his mighty Power if them for it is written If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a New Creature Now consider the thing in the fear of the Lord God who searcheth all Hearts Rev. 21.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. and tryeth all Reins who will assuredly reward every one according to their deeds done in the Body If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Old things are passed away behold all things are become New Mark Old things are passed away Now in the Fear of the Lord God 2 Cor. 5.17 I say consider the thing well for it is weighty What was the old things which were passed away from the Saints Eph. 4.22 23 24. in that Age in which they lived upon the Earth was it not Sin yea assuredly it was Sin for Sin was and is the Deeds of the first Adam and all who are in his state are dead in Trespasses and Sins Joh. 1.29 but said the Apostle to the Saints You have put off the Old man with his deeds which is corrupt Joh. 8.34 and you have put on the New man Christ Jesus and Paul said That as many as were Baptised into Christ Jam. 1.12 13 14 15 16 17. they had put on Christ and so they were in him and he in them had destroyed the Works of the Devil and so had led them out of Sin and so had saved them from their Sins Gal. 3.27 28. for that is the work which God hath given him to do for the Sons and Daughters of men and all who comes to believe in his Light in their Consciences and obeys it they come to feel these things wrought within them and not without them for it is a plain Truth and cannot be denied by any sober wise and truly understanding man or woman the pure and holy God of Life and Power of Heaven and Earth he will not be reconciled to any people under what Name or Profession of Religion soever upon the Face of the whole Earth while they are in their Sins that is while they are in the practice of Evil-doing rebelling against the good Spirit of God in them Isa 63.10 which he hath placed in them to instruct them
do as he said and not as he did for he had no need to say so for his Conversation and Doctrine was agreeable The Apostle Peter when he writ unto the Elders he said unto them Feed the Flock of God which are amongst you not taking the Oversight thereof by Constraint but willingly let all people that reads take notice of those words the Elders were not to take the Oversight of the Flock by constraint but willingly now the reason why Peter did write these words unto them was because there was not any outward Gift or Reward to be given unto them for their Feeding and taking Care for the Flock of God for it was a Spiritual Work and it was to have a Spiritual Reward so lest any through the temptation of the Enemy of their Souls should have striven to put that from them that God required of them Peter warned them then the next following words are these Not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind now filthy lucre is much Earthly gain ill gotten but the Elders were not to take the oversight of the Flock of God for outward gain but as being of a ready mind and a willing mind to serve God in what he required of them yea to feed his Sheep with the Bread of Life which God gave unto them and the Elders were not to be Lords over Gods Flock which he had made them Overseers of but they were to be Examples to the Flock and they were good Examples to the Flock and they did not say as some of the Hirelings have said Do as we say and not as we do for they had no need to say so for their Conversation and Doctrine was agreeable and so is the Doctrine and Conversation of the Elders and Ministers of Christ in this Age Glory to the Lord God for ever Now if there were a young Priest that had learned his Trade at Oxford or Cambridge who wanted a place to set up his Trade in if one should come unto him and tell him of three or four places one of One hundred pounds by the year and another of Two another of Three and another of Four and bid him chuse which of those he would go unto one may easily know which he would chuse for he would be where he could get most with his Trade and he need not be constrained to go unto a Parish where he might have Four hundred pounds in the year for his Hire 1 Thess 2.9 but he would make great hast to get unto it lest another of his own Trade should get it before him and this is contrary to those Ministers which Christ sent forth Paul who was a Tentmaker when he was a Minister of the Gospel laboured with his own hands and administred unto his own necessities that he might make the Gospel without charge and Peter and John and the rest of the Ministers of the Gospel some were Fisher-men and some of other callings and they Laboured with their hands yet they had power to eat and to drink for the refreshment of their Bodies when they did travel up and down among the Saints who were gathered by their Ministry but they were often in Hunger and Cold and Fastings and Peril by Sea and Land and were often whipped stocked and imprisoned and they had not a Parish and a hundred pound in the year and an outward Law to guard them as the Hireling Priests have And now all ye Magistrates both high and low and all people in what Form of Religion soever think it not strange that we cannot come unto the Steeple-house and hear your Priest Preach and Pray seeing that they are so far different from the Ministers of Christ every way so that they are no more like the Ministers which Christ sent forth in nature then a Wolf is like a Lamb. And now all Magistrates and People of what form of Religion soever who profess the Scriptures to be your Rule and denieth the Light Spirit and Grace of God within you which convinceth you of Sin to be a sufficient Guide of it self to lead you out of Sin whether you be such as own those Priests and their Practice which I have written something in short against or whether you be such as do deny them and are gathered into some other Form differing from them if you set the Scriptures in the Place of the Spirit of God which made men holy before any Scriptures were written and from which the holy men spake forth the holy Scriptures then with you is my controversie on the behalf of the Lord my God So come to your Tryal and be you tryed by that which you call your own Rule the Holy Scriptures which was given forth from and by the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit of God is the Original of the Holy Scriptures therefore I and all my faithfull Brethren and Sisters do know them and love them and believe them Abel was a Righteous man before the Scriptures were written and he in the Spirit of God had his Habitation and by it he was kept pure before God and in the Purity of his heart and Innocency of his Soul he offered unto God and God had respect unto his Offering And Enoch walked with God in the Spirit in Innocency before the Scriptures were written And Abraham knew God who is a Spirit and believed in him before Scriptures were written Isaac and Jacob had acquaintance with God before the Scriptures were written for these men were before Moses was born and Moses knew God before he did write Scriptures No man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God and the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God and these men did know the things that God did require of them in their Generation by the Spirit of God and in the same they did perform that which was required of them in which they were accepted of God in their Generation And all the Prophets and Apostles who did write the holy Scriptures they did know God before they did write Scriptures and it is the same that ever it was that doth give unto man the knowledge of God and of his things even the Spirit of God But in the Bible which you call your Rule there is an express Command of God Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Mat. 19.19 and thy Neighbour as thy self these words are written in the Bible which you call your Rule now to the Witness of God Mark 12.29 30 31. the Light of Christ in all your Consciences do I appeal Whether do you love the Lord God with all your hearts and your Neighbours as your selves yea or nay You that persecutes your Neighbours because they will not be of your Religion and come to your Steeple-houses and hear your Hireling Priests and pay them Tythes which was never demanded by any of Christ's Ministers no the Ministers and Apostles of Christ did never demand nor receive any Tythes
hearts with sorrow and trouble for if you flee from that then you will never be cleansed from your Sins for by the Spirit that judgeth Sin in the heart and burneth against it as a Fire was and is the Sons and Daughters of Sion converted unto God yea brought out of their Sins unto God and whosoever flees from that of God in them which condemns them when they do evil they flee from that which God hath placed in them to lead them out of evil and so they cannot come to be redeemed out of evil until they come to love that which condemns them for evil so I say unto you in tender Love love the Light within you and when it bringeth trouble upon you for your Sins which you have committed then own its judgments for it will not judge you except you have done wrong and as you wait in it it will let you see that its judgments are very just and true and so if you keep your minds unto it it will work true repentance in your hearts and a godly sorrow and it will lead you into the House of Mourning and through the Valley of Tears and as David did you will come to water your Bed with your Tears and to weep until your flesh fail of fatness and so you will travel through a short Sorrow into an Everlasting Joy for the Sorrow lasts but for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning For the Lord will give Beauty for Ashes and the Oyl of Joy instead of Mourning but he gives this only unto those that comes into obedience unto his Light within them so when condemnation cometh upon you for Sins which you have committed do not flee from it for it is the Rod of God and you will see it to be so as you wait with your minds stayed in the Light and you will see that it is not for your hurt but for your Everlasting good and then consider why should you flee from it Oh flee not from it For whom I love I rebuke and chasten said God and he restoreth every sinful man and woman whom he receiveth to be Sons and Daughters and through his Judgments in their hearts he redeemeth them from Sin and so receiveth them into his Everlasting Kingdom of Life and Glory So I say unto you in dear and tender love flee not from that of God in you which condemneth you for Sin and the Light it will be with you when you are in the Fields and when you lie in your Beds and where ever you go the Light is in you and if you love it and keep your minds unto it it will teach you when you are at your Labour and it will keep you out of all Evil if you keep your minds unto it and when wicked people would tempt you to that which is Evil it will not let you consent unto them but rather to reprove them and now people I say unto you if you love this same pure and holy and spotless thing in you which never consented unto any Sin that you have committed but hath alwayes stood in you a faithfull Witness against you when you did commit Sin I say if you love it and obey it though now it may but be little in you even as a Grain of Mustard-seed which is a small Seed yet when your affections are truly set upon it it will grow speedily and will become in you as a strong Tree and the Fruit of it will ravish and overcome your heart with heavenly Joy and then you will see the folly and madness of those who rejoyceth in doing of Evil and you will find that Holy thing in you to be as Christ said Mat. 13.31 32 33. Like a little Leaven that a woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal until the whole Lump was leavened so as you wait in this Light within you though it lie low in you because of the sinfull nature which lieth atop of it in you yet it will work in you as the Leaven doth work in the Meal for the sinfull nature which lieth atop is of the Devil and that which lieth under is of God and as you joyn in true love and affection to that suffering Seed of God you shall come to know and bear witness that God is able to bring it out of the Grave in you and from under all those Powers of Darkness that hath oppressed it for God is stronger then the Devil that you will confess and so wait in the Light of Christ to feel more of the strength of God and Christ in your own hearts then of the strength of the Devil and when this you are come to witness then you will have ceased from Sin which is the Devils work for God who is the stronger in you he will rule you by his Light and Spirit which dwells in you and then the Devil who was the stronger in you he will be cast out and then the Lamb the Light he will have the Victory in you and will lead you into all Truth and so the Light if you follow it it will lead you to be Children of the Lord God who is Light and in whom there is no Darkness at all and so the Children of the Lord are taught of the Lord by the Light of the Lord and they are in Righteousness established So put not the day afar off linger not away your time but prize it thou that is young in years say not in thine heart I have time enough I may take pleasure in Earthly things yet for many dayes and have time enough to repent and seek God afterwards I say unto thee say not so in thy heart for the Lord God can cut thee down as in a moment Psal 9.17 though thou be in the Flower of thy Youth but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth and seek him while he may be found for the Spirit of the Lord will not alwayes strive with man and as the Tree falleth so it lieth there is no Repentance in the Grave and there is no unclean thing can enter into Gods Kingdom for the wicked must be turned into Hell and all that forget God So remember you are warned by a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and a true Lover of the Souls and Bodies of all men and desireth not the Destruction of any but desireth that all people might come to Repent while they have time and so obtain Mercy from the Lord God I am known by the Name of William Gibson Written in the Year 1664. and was sent then to be published in Print but the Person to whom it was sent being at that time cast into Prison and Calamities coming on in the City it was not gotten done Postscript IT is said by many ignorant people who use to plead for Sin That the Righteousest man that is upon the Earth doth Sin seven times a day now I say they do abuse and wrest the Scriptures for there is no such