of Truth can hide from the common Light Therefore the Light that common Light is precious even as the common Salvation is precious to the Profession of which you are called and under the acknowledgment of which you have been gathered And therefore abide therein and so walk as to answer that Light in every mans Conscience And think it not sufficient that you are gathered out of several Societies and out of the World under the Profession hereof except you walk therein He that walketh therein he is blameless before men they have no evil thing to say of him justly For it s by the Life and Conversation among men that a man is accounted an Innocent man or an evil doer and it s by the Light that he is seen to be so He therefore that doth not in his Life and Conversation answer the common Light that is in all men he is not therein right before the Lord who hath set up that Light in every Man to discern by Obj. It may be thou wilt say But we find by experience that many good men are evil spoken of by the World and Reproached and not reputed good men though they be so the judgment therefore of the World is false concerning many Righteous and Godly persons Answ I Answer First mind that thou thy self dost not judge wrong of men and count those Godly persons who are not Consider whether their Godliness lye only or chiefly in an outward Profession and Zeal of their way of Worship and for that Society that they are of If so then their judgment who judge by the Life and Conversation may be right and thine wrong as Christs was right concerning the Pharisees and others wrong who only lookt at their high Profession and strickt observation of pious observances as they were reputed Secondly But if the persons Reproached be Innocent in Life just and merciful men then those that know them well will scarcely speak evil of them except in the matters of their God unless the common light in them be obstructed and darkened by some means as by some private concern or through malice and enmity in their hearts or by prejudice judging by the hearing of the ear which is often unrighteous judgment or through some particular traditional Light which is darkness These and such like things pervert true judgment even as the Light of the Sun shining thorow glass gives the colour of the glass upon the opposite Object So they that judge through these things give judgment according to those false mediums they judge thorow But these stand not in so doing in the common Light but in a perverting light which is darkness and this their judgment is judged to be false by those that stand unbyassed in the common Light with them and the very ground of that their false judging is often seen by them So that the unbyassed common Light is still a true judge in the common actions of mens Conversation Object It may be thou wilt further Object That this Light is but a natural Light and a natural Light is not a true judge no more than the natural Man which cannot perceive the things of the Spirit of God Answ Where the Apostle uses those words 1 Cor. 2. He is there speaking of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard but not of the things that appertain to the common life of man and are visible before all men and such things indeed are not known but by a farther Revelation in the Light and Spirit of God which searcheth all things even the deep things of God However the common open Life of men is seen and judged by the common Light as thou calls it that God hath planted in every man And if thou wilt call that Light Natural yet will that nothing at all advantage thee whosoever thou art that walks contrary to it but it doth the more aggravate thy fault that thou lives contrary to a Light which God hath made so natural to thee and so planted in thee that thou canst do no evil but it discovers it in thee yea and records it in thy Conscience as in a Book And there 's the Book that is to be opened when the judgment is set and thou comes to be judged And the things written in that Book are the things done in the body whether good or bad and according to them thou shalt be judged And then this Light which thou calls Natural and was privy to all thy actions yea and to the intents and thoughts of thy heart will be a Witness against thee and shew thee thy evil deeds written in thy own Conscience and so God will be cleared when he comes to Judge and all the world shall be convinced thereby that they are guilty If thou callest that Light Common or Natural in an evil signification as if it were no true Light but a deceitful delusive unclean Light and a Product of the falne Nature then I shall not admit of those terms at all for then must it incline thee to evil of its own Nature as false Lights do and not stand as a discoverer of evil in thee and a faithful and true Witness against it Then also should it be a thing to be repented of that is to have the mind turned away from it and the actions of the life carryed contrary to it if it be evil and delusive And so when it checks thee secretly in thy heart for Swearing or Lying or wrong dealing or any other evil action or purpose of thy heart thou should'st then the rather do them because they are contrary to this deceitful and delusive Light as it s accounted by thee and so more likely to be true and good than it Or at least Wise thou shouldst not at all thereby be moved to avoid those evils because it s but a sinful evil delusive light that would stop thy carreer in them Again if that light be evil then its from the falne Nature and so from Satan that works therein And then is Satans Kingdom divided and he by that light seeks to bring to nought his own Kingdom For that Light works against his Kingdom in men It works to throw down Hypocrisie and Deceit and Lying and Swearing and Drunkenness and Uncleanness and Wrath and Envy and Murther and all such evil dispositions and actions wherein Satans Kingdom stands by discovering these things to the Conscience to be evil and witnessing against them and so Satan is divided against himself if this Light be evil and from him See what Consequences thy opposing of thy self to the Scripture of truth puts thee upon Had'st thou not better submit to the Testimony of the Servant of the Lord who said That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Be ashamed to say the Scripture is thy rule when thou fights against it and says contrary to it It saith That was the true Light
actions And as thou approvest thy self to their Consciences so thou begers in them the like esteem of others If thou art of a haughty lofty spirit and despifest others as the Pharisees did they think all are so until they find it otherwise by experience and tryal of some But if thou be humble meek lowly-minded down-right honest and faithful to be trusted and thy Word as a Rock to be built upon as it ought to be then thou honours what thou professes and them that professe the same truth with thee If thou art a Busie-body going about tatling of others and descanting upon them and their actions and so sowing Enmity and Disaffection in the minds of people towards one another and so serving the accusing back-biting Spirit where then is the bridle to thy Tongue what 's thy Religion worth The Apostle tells thee its Vain Jam. 1.26 Thou that art such a one learn this lesson to be swift to hear slow to speak as the same Apostle teaches ver 19. And know that thou answer not the Light in the Consciences of others but they see thee in the Light that 's in them and can read thee what thou art when thou art gone And if thou art a Servant and pretendest to have found the truth of Religion and to be acquainted with the way of the Lord more perfectly yet art less mindsul of thy business and carrys more stoutly and faucily towards the Masters art more stiff to be commanded in thy Service using Religion as a Cloak to withstand them and when thou art reproved retortest biting words which may lash them thou dost not answer the Light in their Consciences which raises an expectation in them of more faithful and well-pleasing Service thou transgresses the Counsel of the Lord by his Holy Apostles which they delivered to his Servants in the Churches and thou stops their way to the Kingdom of Christ who look for better things to spring from the true Spirit and so thou art an offence in the world And wo to the world because of these and such like offences Therefore who-ever thou art Bond or Free Master or Servant see to it that thy life be upright and single as before the Lord who searches and sees all thy Actions and the Intentions of thy heart in them all and by thy Actions in thy Conversation will discover thee to the world for he that is the Light giveth them Light to discern by And think it not sufficient that thou art gathered into such a Society and perhaps maist have esteem among them But consider that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net cast into the Sea which gathers of every sort good and bad And many things are gathered in the Net that are to be cast away again the good only are to be gathered into Vessels the bad to be cast away If therefore thy life be bad what will thy being gathered into an outward Profession advantage thee Therefore be not high-minded because thou art gathered by the Net but fear lest after thou art gathered the Profession become a snare to thee through disobedience for it may become a snare to the Rebellious and Stout-hearted and Disobedient to the Worldly-minded to the Hard-hearted and Unmerciful to the Haughty and Disdainful yea to such as are lifted up and exalted in their own thoughts and in their own Righteousness or in any thing else for whatsoever it is that the heart is exalted in whereby to be lifted up to behave it self proudly above others it s not right before the Lord. To such I say whose Religion lyes in any forme or formal part of any Profession whatsoever without an approved Life and Conversation to such their Table may become a snare and a trap to hold fast such spirits in while the Lord finds our a purer path for his beloved Seed to travel on in If thou question this consider was not the ministration of the Law of Moses given to the Jews to feed at and to be refreshed at was it not as a Table spread in the Wilderness as well as the providing of outward food for them was Did not this become a snare and a trap to all the Stout-hearted and Hypocritical Professors of it And so they stuck fast in the formal profession of that ministration as in a snare when the true humble Seed had joyful tydings brought them and were transplanted into a more spiritual and approved way which the Lord directed them to walk in And doth not the Apostle Paul that chosen Vessel mind the Corinthians and in them us That though the Israelites were Baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea into that glorious ministration for it was glorious in its time Yet for all that how did their Carkasses fall in the Wilderness and never arrived at thâ— Promised Land the Land of Canaan Now these things saith he happened unto them for ensamples and were written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. Again do but cast back thine eye and look upon fore going ministrations of latter years and consider thy own esteem of them Dost not thou thy self look upon them as a snare to many holding their feet fast that they cannot get on in the pursuit of truth in following the Lamb whither-soever he goes Now as thou judges of them it shall be judged of thee except thou walk humbly with thy God and mindest the weighty matters that he chiefly takes delight in For the Seed is to go forward and to grow up in those things and will leave them behind who are found failing therein although they be strict asserters of the outward form of their profession This is spoken to thee that art high lofty in thy heart and lifted up above others in thy mind because of thy prosession while as yet thou comes behind some of them in thy Life and Conversation and in actions of Equity and Mercy and such weighty things But to you that are despised and overlooked by such to you I say you humble Shrubs you Under-growth you Meek and lowly-minded ones whose hearts are kept in the fear of God and thereby made careful that you offend not in your Life and Conversation nor also with the Tongue and so do not make it an instrument of sowing Discord or Enmity among Brethren by whispering and back-biting you are as well able to rule the whole body Do you keep humble where you are in the lowliness of your mind And if others exalt themselves over you and magnifie themselves in abasing you or others and so would bear up themselves by vilifying others as if they themselves were some body and others of light account Yet be not you like them neither be troubled that you are hidden and overlooked but rest in the Lord waiting on his Will and keeping out of those evils and recording things in your hearts as you
of their knowing of him as Philip did But continuing in his Fear and abiding in the Path of Righteousness and Holiness they may come to know the Lord and that it is he that Operates all these things in them and for them and to feel the cleansing and washing of their Consciences by the Blood of Jesus Christ from all sin which is enjoyed in walking in the Light but not in talking of it only The true Christian Life doth not lye in words as if to be changed from one form of words to another were it although the Holy Spirit which changeth the heart require words sutable to himself and to eschew corrupt words Neither doth it lye in the changing of Apparrel although the Spirit that changeth require modest Apparrel sutable to himself and sutable to that humble mind which he formeth in man Nor doth it stand in high Notions or soaring Imaginations wherein the exalted nature gets up and magnifies it self above the simple-hearted but it is in simplicity and godly sincerity With such exalted Spirits the Apostles of our Lord were much troubled in the Primitive times after Christ and laboured much to keep down Believers from them to the simplicity that was in Christ as you may perceive by their Epistles Of such also our Lord made mention and strengthened the simple-hearted against them in some of his Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia In that to Thyatira he takes notice of some who were high in their Imaginations and Notions insomuch that they looked upon those whom the Lord approved of but as weak and low in comparison of themselves and as such as did not know the depths of Satan for that was the phrase it seems which they used But the Lord encouraged the simple-hearted against their exalted expression and said I will lay on you no other burthen but that which you have already hold fast till I come Rev. 2.24 25. And what would he do when he comes that he had expressed before verse 23. I will give to every one according to his Works not according to their Imaginations Neither doth the life of Christianity stand in any outward formal way although some way may be required for the gathering together of the true Worshippers who Worship in Spirit and in Truth As its probable there was in the old World before the Flood for there was a distinction between the Sons of God and those that were called the Daughters of Men. Some were called Men and some the Sons of God But how-ever after the Flood it is expresly said Job 1.6 That the Sons of God came together to present themselves before the Lord. So that this may be requisite and hath been practised more especially in all ages since Christianity was openly named in the World But observe Satan himself can come there as well as the Sons of God The Pharisee can be there whose Religion lyes chiefly if not only in outward observances For the Proud Covetous Persecuting Pharisaical Hypocritical spirit can come under the formal part of any Profession And so there were those in the Apostles days who had a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof they were to be turned away from For their lives were corrupt as you may read 2 Tim. 3. where you may see of what sort they were Neither doth it stand in openings or visions of things or understanding of Mysteries though these are excellent gifts given forth from the Lord and enjoyed by many of his Faithful Ones Yet for as much as evil Men and Spirits may have true Opinions therefore the Life of a Christian doth not consist therein but in living in Obedience unto the pure Life which doth open Balaam had very eminent Visions and Openings of things yet is he Noted in Scripture for a false Prophet because his Heart and so his Life was not right before the Lord. His heart run after the reward of Unrighteousness and he gave evil Counsel to Balaac against a People whom he knew the Lord had respect to and would not suffer him to speak an evil word of them to Balaac yet he taught Balaac to entice them to Fornication and Idolatry Satan himself and the evil Spirits may have openings and a sence given them of true things as its plain they had in the days of Christ in the flesh Art thou come said they to torment us before the time They knew that by him God would judge the World and them and they knew the time was not yet Therefore say they art thou come to do that Work before the time They knew whence he was what he was We know thee who thou art said they even the Holy One of God Paul and Silas going about in the Ministery of the Lord the evil Spirits knew them and followed them crying These are the Servants of the Living God Act. 16.17 chap. 19.15 Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye said the evil Spirit to the Exorcists who took upon them to cast out Devils in the Name of Jesus And further Satan knoweth when his time is near an end and that he hath but a short time Rev. 12.12 Therefore in respect of these things be wise to Sobriety and mind the approved blameless Life And let not Satan disquiet and trouble you because you are not as such a one or such a one who have had wonderful Openings from the Lord but keep down to the Anointing that abiding unction which guides the Life and discovers evil Paths and leads into all Truth and keeps abiding in the Truth and abiding in the Lord. I do highly prize the serviceable gifts of knowledge and utterance and such like given for the service of others But the Union of my heart is with you that are careful that you offend not in your words nor in your lives who walk humbly with your God observing the checks motions inclinations of the Spirit of Christ in your hearts applying to the Lord in all cases especially of difficulty as a Child to the Father for Council Guidance Wisdom Strength Assidance Succour Success whose Holy Spirit is your Guide Strength Assistance in Prayers and Supplications and Thanksgivings without limitation to time or place so that you cannot be banished from your Temple or place of Worship or removed into a corner where you cannot offer up Spiritual Sacrifices to God You whose hearts do breath after the Lord and to be filled with his Holy Nature and you who inwardly Converse with God dwelling in inward Peace and Consolation which the World cannot give nor take away it being Administred by him whom they cannot reach You whose hearts are ballanced with the free gift of God to your selves that excludes all boasting and with the true sense of the Universal Love of God over all that shuts out all Pharisaical exaltation and despising of others and so are kept lowly in your minds Also you who mournt in secret who Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness to be filled with it your selves and that it may fill the Earth Such as you it is that my heart is towards from the least of you that have the true savour of God in your hearts to the greatest from the Babe to the Father It 's you that my Soul longs after wheresoever you are found walking at present And that such may be daily raised up more abundantly to the magnifying of the Name of the Lord in the Earth and to the convincing of the World of the evil of their ways and of a Righteous Life that their hearts may be opened thereby to believe the Truth and to receive it in the Love of it is the earning of my Soul For these are they which are the true Seed of Sion of which glorious things are spoken and which the Lord loves above all the dwellings of Judah above all the out-works or formal ways of all professions It 's you that honour the Lord and make his Name to be loved in the Earth And your Prayers do I desire on my behalfe as mine are for you that utterance and strength and faithfulness may be given me to hold forth the Truth seasonably and stedfastly both in Life and Doctrine as it is or may be communicated unto me And to you the God of peace multiply all blessings with Joy and Consolation and make you to abound more and more in every good gift to his praise and to the raising up of thirstings after Righteousness in the hearts of others Amen POSTSCRIPT IF this shall fall into the hands of any that have an Enmity in them against the Flock and therefore catch at every failing they can espy or hear of in any Member that therewith they may asperse the whole Let them know that first of all they ought to judge at home and learn to separate between the Precious and the Vile in their own Bosom and then will they come to distinguish after the same manner in the Flocks of Christ and their desire and endeavour will be rather to convince those that err and strengthen those that are weak and gather those that stray and support those that stumble and help forward those that come behind and to hide the Infirmities of the weak then seek to blast the whole by the weakness or wickedness of some Let such remember the words of the Prophet Isaiah Woe to him that calls good evil or evil good that puts darkness for light and light for darkness and so confounds what God would have distinguished The true Spirit is not a Spirit of Confusion but of Order and Clearness distinguishing aright between the Precious and Vile And so did our Lord teach us to do by his example in his Epistle sent to the seven Churches of Asia the good that was found in them he approved of and encouraged and reproved only the evil He did not over-look the good in them because of the evil neither did he approve of the evil because of the good but saith he I have somewhat against thee Repent c. Let us learn to be like-minded lest any one by false and confused judging heap Judgment and Condemnation upon their own Heads W. T.