Lucifer and his Image is cast out and here all his honour is thrown down and his breeding and manners and fashions and customs and words and wayes and worships which are after the flesh and not after the Spirit whereby he sets up himself and causeth his Image to be worshipped and this is the cause he rages in his Kingdom wheresoever we come and saith we are destructive to all Superiority and Magistracy and Ministry and Honour and Breeding and Manners and turn the world upside down for he knowes where Christ comes he comes to take his Kingdom from him and cast him down into the pit and there he must be tormented quick and all who bears his Image or his Mark and these are some of his marks which he calls Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding Manners and Civility But true Nobility we own the Seed of God is noble wheresoever it is born up and who can witness to the head of the Serpent bruised and the Seed of God born up to reign and rule there is true Nobility there is true Gentillity no more after the flesh but after the Spirit and this is to be honoured for honour is due to this both in Magistrate or Minister Fisherman or Plow-man Heards-man or Shepherd wheresoever it rules without respect of persons and hear fear to whom fear and honour to whom honour and this is no more after the flesh but after the Spirit And here all the true Prophets of God were Noblemen and Gentlemen sprung of the Noble Seed though of the Nobles and Great ones of the Earth they were disdaind and reproached because according to the world they were of lower degree some of them Plow-men some Heards-men some Shepherds and therefore they persecuted them and destroyed them yet they were gentile and bore all Christ was Noble sprang of the Noble Seed though of the Great ones and Nobles of the Earth he was disdained reproached and scorned to be the King of the Jewes because according to the World he was of low degree and supposed to be a Carpenters Son so they spit upon him and disdained him and crucified him yet he was gentile and bore all The Apostles were Noble sprung of the Noble Seed though of the Nobles and Great ones of the Earth they were despised and disdained and reproached because according to the World they were of low degree some of them Fisher-men and the like and came to turn the World upside down so they were despised pâ—asecuted and killed yet they were gentile and bore all But those were all noble sprung of the noble seed and so is all now who are of the same seed and those were all gentile sprung of the gentile seed and those have the nature but not the name and to those belong the true honour not after the flesh but after the Spirit Acts 7 for they denyed the honour of the World and therefore Christ said I receive not honour from men and said to his Apostles Be yee not called Masters neither call any Master upon the earth and though the Princes of this world exercise dominion one over another yet it shall not be so amongst you but he that would be the greatest amongst you let him be your servant Mat. 23.8 9 10 11. and said he How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 and here the true honour is no more after the flesh but after the Spirit and here you who are giving and receiving outside earthly honour you are in the unbelief out of the doctrine of Christ cringing and bowing and honouring and exalting the Devil and worshipping the Beast and his Image which all the world wonders after and worships Rev. 13. And as for Manners and Breeding Courtesie and Civility Learn to do us you would have all to do to you and speak every one truth to his neighbour And let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but such us is good for the use of edifying for evil communication corrupts good manners but let your yea be yea and nay be nay for whatsoever is more is evil Mat. 7.12 Ezek. 8.16 and breed your Children so and here is good Manners and Breeding Curtesie and Civility and who are of the right noble Seed hath this Manners and this Breeding but the Nobles and Great ones of the Earth want this Manners and this Breeding and both Priest and People of all sorts according to the World And here is the ground of all true Nobility Gentility Majesty Honour Breeding Manners Courtesie and Civility no more after the flesh but after the Spirit for the natural man mindes natural things and the spiritual man spiritual things but the natural man receives not the things of God and this we own and witness and the time is coming and now is that before this Seed every knee shall bow and every tongue confess and the Kings and Nobles of the Earth shall be bound in chaines and fetters of Iron and here is also the ground of the Nobility Gentility Superiority Honour Breeding and Manners of the world which is after the flesh but not after the Spirit sprung from proud Lucifer the lust that reigns in man and are not yea and nay but calls it manners to say nay and take it or do it and so they have the name but not the nature and so are Bastards and no Sons who are not sprung from the noble gentile seed and to those Honour is not due neither can we bow unto them for if we should we should set the Devil in the room of God and give unto him that which is due to God which when we were in blindnesse through ignorance we did and so worship the Beast and his Image which all the world worships and wonders after for they that are proud and lofty which is the Image of the Devil for the Devil is the Father of Pride and in gay attire those the world worships and wonders after and extols and exalts into high places but since the Lord hath opened our eyes this we cannot do but testifies against it wheresoever we come both in words and actions and so we are destructive to the worlds Superiority Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding and Manners which is after the flesh and not after the Spirit therefore the Devil hates us in the Nobles and great ones of the world but we give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and unto God that which is Gods Mat. 22.21 but we cannot give unto Caesar that which is Gods but fear to whom fear honour to whom honour is due He that hath an eare to hear let him hear and understand For saith the Lord if I be a Master where is my fear If I be a Father where is my honor Mal. 1.6 Concerning the Word THOU or THEE First concerning the word thou or thee which all those which are their Priests and Teachers knows
SOME PRINCIPLES Of the ELECT People of God In scorn called QUAKERS O send forth thy Light and thy Truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles Psal 43.3 For the Commandement is a Lamp and the Law is Light and the Reproofs of Instruction are the Way of Life Printed in the Year 1671. The CONTENTS Concerning FIrst A Breif Account of what we are and what our Work is in the World By I. Pennington Page 1 Secondly Grounds and Reasons Why we deny the Worlds Teachers Pag. 5 Some Principles of the Elect People of God Called Quakers P. 16 Worship P. 20 The Church Ibid. The Way Ibid. The Cross P. 21 True Communion P. 22 The Gospel Ibid. Faith Ibid. Baptisme P. 23 Persecution Ibid. Scriptures P. 26 Tyths P. 27 The Higher Power P. 28 The Kingdom of Christ how held up and how not P. 29 Teachers Prophets Pastors Bishops Presbiters Ibid. An Exhortation to all Christendom to mind the Grace of God to wit the Light P. 30 Perfection P. 33 Resurrection P. 34 Election and Reprobation Ibid. Fear and Trembling P. 36 The Body of Death P. 37 The Word Thou to a single Person P. 39 Putting off the Hat Bowing the Knee Cringings and Complements Ibid. Good Manniers P. 40 Objections of the World against the Preaching of Christ P. 41 Bread Water and Wine P. 42 The Sabbath Day P. 43 God-Fathers God-Mothers and sprinkling of Infants Ibid. The Word Trinity Ibid. The Ministry P. 44 Dayes Times Meats and Drinks Ibid. Marriages Ibid. False Prophets and Antichrists P. 45 A Generall Objection of People P. 48 The Jew Inward and Outward P. 49 Christ the Covenant of God Ibid. Plots and Conspiracies P. 50 Original sin P. 51 Oaths P. 52 The Word of God and Original Sin What it is P. 54 Heathen Idolaters naming Dayes and Moneth P. 63 Singing Psalms P. 65 A Warning to all to keep out of the Fashons of the World P. 66 Some Queries given forth to Priests ahd People to Answer if they can By G. F. P. 68 The Scriptures P. 72 Baptism P. 75 The Lords Supper P. 76 Prayer P. 77 Ministry P. 79 Magistracy and Government P. 80 Superiority Honour Breeding Manners and the Word Thee and Thou to a single Person P. 84 The Word Thou and Thee P. 89 Putting off the Hat P. 90 Perfection By J. Parnel P. 92 Womens speaking in the Church By W. D. P. 94 The Sum or Substance of our Religion P. 97 Christ Coming to the Father by him c. P. 103 The Gospel Ministration P. 107 Christ manifested without and within and how both are owned by them that know the Truth P. 108 The Principle of Truth what it is and how in may be discerned and how it may be purchased and possessed P. 111 An Invitation to Professors seriously to Consider c. P. 114 A Brief Testimony for Truth By T. Taylor c. P. 119 The Conclusion By I. Penington A brief account of what we are and what our work is in the world WE are a People whom God hath converted to himself a People in whom God hath raised up the Seed of his own Life and caused it to reign over the eartly part in our selves a People whom God hath divorced from the spirit of whordom and joyned to his own Spirit We many of us sought truly and onely after God from our childhood our consciences bearing us witness in the sight of God but the honesty of our hearts was still betrayed and we led aside by the Whorish spirit and knew not how to turn to that of God in us which inclined us toward God By this means we came to great distress and misery beyond all men not but that all men were in as great a want of God his Life Power and Presence as we but the sence therof was not so quickened in others as in us Now it pleased the Lord at length to pitty us and to inform our minds towards himself to shew us where Life lay and where Death lay and how to turn from the one and to the other and he gave us his helping hand to turn us And by being turned to hâ—m we have tasted of the Truth of the true Wisdom of the true Power of the true Life of the true Righteousness of the true Redemption and by receiving of this from God and tasting and handling of it we come to know that that which the world hath set up in the stead of it is not the thing it selfe Now mark we are not persons that have shot up out of the old root into another appearance as one sect hath done out of another till many are come up one after another the ground still remaining the same out of which they all grew but that ground hath been shaken shaking destroyed destroying removed and removing in us and the old root of Jesse hath been made manifest in us and we have been transplanted by the everlasting power of Life and a real change brought forth in us out of that spirit wherin the world lives and worships into another spirit into which no thing which is of the World can enter And hear we have met with the call of God the Conversion to God the Regeneration in God the Justification the Sanctification the Wisdom the Redemption the true Life and Power of God which the World cannot so much as bear the name of And what we are made of God in Christ we know to be truth and no lye and when we testifie of this to the World in the measure of the life of God in us we speak truth and no lye though the World which knoweth not the Truth cannot hear our voice Now our work in the World is to hold forth the virtues of him that hath called us to live like God not to own any thing in the World which God doth not own to forget our Country our Kindred our Fathers house and to live like persons of another Country of another kindred of another family not to do any thing of our selves and which is pleasing to the old nature but all our words all our conversation yea every thought in us to become new Whatever comes from us is to come from the new Principle of Life in us and to answer that in others but we must not please the old nature at all in our selves nor in any else And walking faithfully thus with God we have a reward at present and a crown in the end which doth and will countervaile all the reproches and hardships we do or can meet with in the World We are also to be witnesses for God and to propagate his Life in the World to be instruments in his hand to bring others out of Death and Captivity unto true Life and Liberty we are to fight against the powers of darkness every where as the Lord calleth us forth And this we are to do in his wisdom according to his will in his
than that in which Adam stood before the Fall even to himself who never changed and never fell nor never will fall And so they who forget God and do wickedly they are to be turned into Hell For they who forget God and do wickedly they go from the Life and Power of God into the Seperation from him and out of his acceptance for in the Life is the acceptance and so the Power Light and Life goeth over them who go into sin and iniquity which leades from God who was before Transgression was XVIII Concerning ELECTION and REPROBATION Reprobation is an Alienation from the Life and from that which is of God within and from his Voice and Command as Adam and the Jews did and such who despise that which is of God within they despise their Birth-right Such are concluded to be out of true Vnderstanding and true Knowledge and the Witness of God within is grieved and such are dead in their sences from the Life and Covenant of Peace with God and from the Seed which is called the Elect in which the Elect and the Election is known in the Seed Christ before the Foundation of the World which World slew him and they who slew him and now slayes him they were and are Reprobated from the Life who go from the Command of God and they have lost his Image they have lost his Power which keeps over and above and out of the Reprobation And so they who come into the Election the Seed they come out of the State in which Adam was in the Fall into the state in which he was in before he Fell and into an higher state than that into Christ the Seed the Elect. And so they in the Seed in the Elect in Christ the Wisdom of God they comprehend and see the state of Election before the World was laid and the State of Adam before the Fall and the State of Adam in the Fall in the Reprobation and the state of Adam restored again out of the Fall and a State which is higher than that in which Adam was in before he Fell into the Election which is a thing beyond that and the state of the beloved of God is seen in the Seed the Wisdom of God Cain was the first Birth Esau was the first Birth Ishmael was the first Birth Cain killed his Brother about Religion Ishmael was a Scoffer Esau bore the Sword he despised his Birth-right he fought against his Brother Jacob. So Christendom read your Reprobation the first Birth which is born of the Elesh for the first Birth will persecute him who is born of the Spirit So the most part of Christians are seen to be of the first Birth and to remain in the Reprobation from God Cain departed from the Voyce of God and Esau from his Birth-right and Ishmael in his scoffing nature they went from the Good and so from faithful Abraham who was in the Election And so they who are in Cains Ishmaels and Esaus nature are in the first Birth which is not Elected Now as to the Love of God towards one and his Hatred to another before either had done good or evil all this consists in the first Birth who despised his Birth-right which God foresaw which was not the Seed unto which the Love of God is to for ever Therefore know thy self O Christendom and thy Birth that that which hates the Principle of God and his Voice is reprobated he that rebells against Gods command and his Voyce God turneth against such neither doth he hear such who hates the Election and are in the Reprobation from the Seed yea even from the Law it self for the Law keeps a man from sin But the Law it self doth not say that it destroys the Devil but the Seed viz. Christ who is higher than the Law who is the Election and destroys the Devil So who knows the Election they must know the Seed they must know the Birth born of the Spirit Now if all Christendom know the Election they must know the Birth born of the Spirit which will not Persecute For the nature of Cain Ishmael and Esau is one of which the Apostle spoke in the Primitive times which we now also say is one and the Election is one which standeth in the Seed which was before the Foundation of the wicked world was And the Reprobation is one which standeth in the unjust world out of the Truth and the Life in disobedience to the Command of God Therefore know the one Reprobation and the one Election then ye shall know the Seed in which is the Wisdom of God and ye shall know that which goes from his Voyce Power and Command out of the Wisdom of God so whom God loves he loves for ever Know Jacob and know Esau Esau Cain and Ishmael were the first-born and is not Christendom of the first-birth who Persecutes who departs from the good and despises the pure and persecutes the Birth born of the Spirit which God hates And such act out of his Life in the Reprobation out of his Power and Wisdom and out of the Election Christ the Seed the second Birth who was before the Carnal Birth was and remains when he will be gone unto which the Love of God is for ever and unto whom is the Promise which goeth over the outward Birth and destroyes the Devil and his works who went from Truth and led man from God by which the Curse Wrath and Woe came upon Man which Christ the Seed brings the Blessing and gives man to see the blessed state of all things how they were in the beginning and how they were blessed in the beginning and through Christ Man comes up into the power which is his Throne where there 's Blessing and no Curse at all XIX Concerning FEAR and TREMBLING The strong Man hath kept the House long and his Goods have been at Peace but now He is come who is stronger than he Christ Jesus the Stronger who doth dis-inherit and cast him out and spoil his Goods and makes Man the Temple of God that â—e himself may dwell in him an holy Temple and an Habitation for himself to dwell in who maketh the Keepers of the House to Tremble by which power of Christ the Salvation is wrought out with fear and Trembling And so we can say That it is God that workeâ—h in us both to will and to do according to his will and good pleasure In the dayes of the Prophets the Prophet he trembled and staggered like a Drunkard for the Iniquity of the Times and because of the holiness of the Word of the Lord He trembled when he heard his Voyce and when the Lord spake to him he feared greaâ—ly This is the Man whom God regards saith the Prophet Isayas who is of a broken and contrâ—ie spirit and trembleth at his word Who have been cast out by their Brethren who said let the Lord be glorified Who will appear for those that tremble at his Word and
the Lord that he will bring such honour in the dust and that which he will condemn as unjust The Apostle saith That Women ought not to adorne themselves with gould silver pearls costly attire platting of the hair but to be adorned with a meek and a quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price and the hidden man of the heart c. And if Christendom had minded this it had been more virtuous and more sober and less envious towards one about their Manners XXIV Concerning Objections of the World against the Preaching of CHRIST Object The World Objests and saith That some Preach Christ of Envy and some of Good-will and some of Strife and Contention And that Christ commanded to hear the Pharisees So we may hear say they our Teachers although they be wicked Answ He that hath the Form of Godliness and denyes the Power from such turn away The Apostle bid turn away from Envious men and Contentious men and men of Strife Although there was a time when the Name of Christ was first spread abroad in which time he permitted Envious men to spread his Name abroad But when his Name was spread abroad then he forbad such Envious and Contentious men to Preach and exhorted Timothy to withdraw from and avoid such for they could not bring People into the Power For Envious and Contentious men may Preach the Form and have it but they cannot bring People into the Power And so there came a time before the decease of the Apostles to turn away from such Now as to the hearing of the Pharisees this was before Christ was Offered up and before the fulfilling of the Law for they were Ministers of the Law and so people ought to do as they said but not as they did but when Christ was offered up he commanded them to Preach the Gospel and not to hear the Pharisees and it was the work of the Apostles to bring People to the end of the Law to the Seed into Gospel-fellowship into the Power of God which was before the Power of darkness was XXV Concerning BREAD WATER and WINE Bread Water and Wine are earthly and perishing things for the Bread and Wine which Christ gave at Supper in the Evening which the World takes at Noon those things Christ and the Apostle gave for a shewing forth and a remembrance of his death until he should come And after some of the Disciples had receiv'd it they doubted Whether he was the Christ or not And after the Apostle had given the Supper to the Corinthians in his first Epistle he bad then Examine themselves and so to eat in the remembrance of Christ But in the second Epistle he bad them examine themselves and try themselves whether Christ except they were Reprobates were in them or not Now they may be Reprobates who have taken the Bread and Wine and have had the Water They were Reprobates if Christ was not in them For Bread and Wine is not the Flesh and Blood of Christ which came down from Heaven which flesh whosoever eates lives for ever For People may eat of Bread made of Grain and may drink Wine make of Grapes and yet may dye Reprobates Now they were to take it in remembrance of his Death this was one State and than they were to come to dye with him and this was a nearer state than the taking of Bread and Wine in remembrance of his Death and then they were to arise with him and then to seek those things which were above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God but Bread Water and Wine are all earthly things and they are not Christ and they who have him they are not Reprobates neither do they need outward things to put them in mind of his Death whenas they are dead with him and risen with him to live with him But they who will not dye and suffer with him such live in the Old Nature and desire to have outward things continually to put them in mind of his Death and such live in Strife and Contention about outward things and shaddows and do not come to Christ the Substance who was before the world was made in whom there is no strife at all but only Life and Peace XXVI Of the SABBATH DAY The Jews they kept the Sabbath-Day a Type and Sign of Rest that both the Man-servant and Maid-servant and Strangers and all Cattel should rest within their Gates a sign of Christ who destroys the Devil the Author of Oppression and gives rest to Man and Beast and to the whole Creation and brings it again into that blessed condition which it was in in the beginning before the Fall Now as to the Saints Meeting together on the first Day of the Week this practice is not denyed but owned by us for who are come to the First Day as they Jews on the Last Day But there is more in the Word XXVII Concerning God-Fathers and God-Mothers and SPRINKLING of INFANTS Concerning God-Fathers and God-Mothers and Sprinkling of Infants and such like things the Scriptures make no mention yet the Scripture saith Repent Teach and Baptize XXVIII Concerning the Word TRINITY Of this word Trinitas there is no mention made in Scripture yet the Scripture speaks of Father Son and Holy Spirit and of Water Blood and Spirit and all these are one among us as in the Primitive time among the Apostles who gave no such outward Names to them as Trinity as the World now doth XXIX Concerning the MINISTRY They that receive from Christ they receive freely and they give freely they pray freely and preach freely and the Ministry is the gift of God and is to be exercised freely and of a free People of their earthly things it is to be Administred freely Heavenly men and bringers of glad Tydings of a Kingdom of which they are Heirs must Minister to the Eternal condition of People And this is the highest Love in the Life XXX Concerning Dayes and Times and Meats and Drinks The Kingdom of God consists not in Dayes Times Meats and Drinks and such like things but in Power Righteousness Faith and Joy in the holy Ghost and People ought not contend and Persecute one another about such things for the Apostles gave not any Commandment or Example that any should do so but on the contrary reproved them who did so and keep People in such things XXXI Concerning MARRIAGES Whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder and those which he joynes he joynes with his Power even by his Immortal Power with a Band over and above the State which is in the Fall where Men joyn and put asunder about outward and earthly things and jangle and fight about them but this is all in the defiled Bed out of the honourable state which was in the beginning where there was no hardness of heart And Marriage in it self is not condemned but owned and among all them who are in the Power I say it is
Light is in darkness and erres not knowing the Scripture which declareth of the Light which John came to bear witness off who was not the Light but testified of the Light Which was the true Light which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the World He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not nor knows him not and he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God John 1.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. And this we witness and by the same Light do we discern and testifie against him to be in darkness and blindness and is a deceiver who putteth the Letter for the Light and so draws Peoples minds off from the Light within them to the Letter without them seeking the living among the dead thinking to find Life in the Letter without them as the Pharisees did and will not come unto Christ that they might have Life John 5.39 40. and so they must be shut out of the Scripture as the Pharisees were and he also that saith the Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without feeding upon the husk and is ignorant of the true Light which was before the Letter was which all the Children of God were and are guided by and spoke and speakes the Letter from which was before the Letter was and with this the Letter witnesseth and who is guided by this cannot walk contrary to the Letter nor deny it but they know how to use it in its place and see in what condition it was spoken and it witnesseth with them both in words and actions and they that have this have and need the mystery within though they cannot read the Letter without nor ever learned as it was with Christ which confounded the Scribes and Pharisees and they who are never so learned without and can read and understand all Tongues and Languages without and doth not read the Scripture within only feed upon the Husk and are ignorant of the Life which is the Mystery which is hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto the ignorant as it was from the Scribes and Pharisees and high Priests and was revealed to those whom they counted ignorant and cursed and knew not the Law John 7.48 49 And they who take the Letter to be their Rule cannot walk according to it because they are ignorant of the Light which opens and leads into the Life which they who spake them forth lived in but drunkards and swearers and proud and wantonesse and covetoues lustfull enveons ones and all manner of unrighteous persons will take the Letter to talk of and say it is their Rule and Guide but are out of the Life thereof and so by it are condemned and those are the Swine that are feeding upon the husk without Luke 15.15 16. and have gotten the form but are out of the Life and Power and put the shadow for the substance and so lives in darknesse and knowes not whether he goeth but they that read with the single-eye may understand for the Scripture is within and was read within before it was read without Now silence all the Study and Wisdom of Man Concerning BAPTISM The Baptism we own which is the Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost and with fire but we deny all other for there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all and they who would have one Baptism outward and another inward would have two Baptisms when the Scripture saith the Baptism is but one and whosoever hath the Baptism outward are the same they were before but the Baptism of Christ makes a new Creature and this I witness for I received water upon my face as my Parents told me which they called Baptism but I grew up an Heathen as all other Children do and no New Creature though my Parents were counted Believers among the World and their Priests but now I wittess the Baptism of Christ by one Spirit into onâ— Body and now I witness a New Creature Old things are past away and all things become New And now I see the other to be formal imitation and the Invention of Man and so a meer delusion and all are Heathens and no Christians who cannot witness this Baptism Mat. 15.4 who can witness this denies all other for the Scripture saith the Baptism is but one and who can witnesse this are Believers but who cannot witnesse this are no Believers and so it is that water or no water availeth nothing but a New Creature for all by nature are the children of wrath and except they be born again they cannot enter and as for the Baptism of water which the Apostles used it being a figure for its time the power went along with it and the Disciples received the Holy Ghost when they were Baptized but none can witness this who sets themselves of acting or imitating the Apostles and so takes it up by imitation and their ground is the Letter and are not guided to it by the same Spirit which guided the Apostles and so they are the same after water as before and so now waâ—er or no water availeth any thing but a New Cereature for Water was but for its time though many in darkness have now got the Form and are groping in it for Life but wants the Life and Power and so from such turn away Concerning the LORDS SUPPER The Supper of the Lord we own which is the Body and Blood of Christ which the Saints fed upon and this is Eternal Food and Life and here they all feed upon one and are of one heart and one mind and here is pure and Eternal Union and Communion and this is not Carnal but Spiritual for Saints are Spiritual and their Communion is Spiritual and Eternall and this we witnesse who are of one heart and one mind who are in the new Covenant and herein we discern the Lords Body and here all drunkards are shut out and all lyars adulterers proud covetous lustfull and envious ones and all back-biters revilers extortioners and all deceitfull and unrighteous persons are shut out of the New Covenant 1 Cor. 6.9 10. and are with-out feeding upon the husk and shadow which is carnall for the brâ—ad which the world breaks is carnall and naturall and only feeds the outward carnall body and goeth into the belly and so passeth out into the dunghill and so likewise the Cup which they drink and so the Communion and Fellowship of the World passeth away but this is no nourishment to the Soul but still the Soul lies in death and here is no Communion but natural outward and carnal of several minds and hearts full of filthiness and uncleanness which is the Table of Devils eating and drinking their own damnation not discerning the Lords Body which is Spiritual which the natural man discerns
clash against the Truth as it is made manifest in others And indeed the Lord hath shewen me in Spirit several times that they themselves are guilty of that very charge and that he will so implead them at his Judgment Seat which they cast upon us even of denying that Christ which died at Jerusalem to be the Christ For he that owneth the words of Scripture as he apprehends or conceives them in the reasonings of his mind and doth not wait to have them revealed in the Spirit keeping out of his own reasonings and conceivings and waiting patiently till the Lord open the thing in the Spirit he setteth up his own conceivings or an Image in his mind of the mind of the Spirit but misseth of the thing it self which alone is known in the Spirit by them who wait upon the Spirit there to receive it and are not hasty to set up their own reasonings and imaginations concerning the thing in the mean time No man can in Truth call Jesus the Lord but by the Spirit But any man that is any thing serious and weighs the Scriptures in the natural part may so learn to acknowledge his coming into the World and that he is Lord and King c. and may thus call him Lord yea and kindle a great heat in his affections towards him but all this out of the Life out of the Spirit is but mans Image which he forms in his mind in his reading the Scriptures and observing things therefrom But the true calling Jesus Lord is from the feeling of his eternal Virtue in the Spirit and finding the Scriptures opened to him by the Spirit in a Principle which is above the Reason comprehends the Reason and confounds and brings it to nothing Again There is no true Knowledge of Christ no living Knowledge no saving Knowledge which hath the eternal Virtue in it but that which is received and retained in a measure of Light given by God to the Creature in the Faith which is the Gift in the Grace which is supernatural and spiritual whereas the resoning part is but Natural And such as have received the Spiritual understanding know it to be distinct from the Natural and we experimentally find a very clear distincttion between Scriptures searched out by the reasonings of the mind and so practises drawn therefrom and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Now that Professors generally have not received their knowledge of Christ from the Spirit or from Scriptures opened it the Spirit and so know not the thing but only such a relation of the thing as mans reasoning part may drink in from the Letter of the Scriptures is manifest by this In that they are not able in Spirit and Understandind to distinguish the thing it self from the Garment wherewith it was cloathed though the Scriptures be very express therein Speak of Christ according to a Relation of the Letter there they can say somewhat but come to the Substance come to the Spirit of the thing come to the thing it self there they stutter and stammer and shew plainly that they know not what it is Now the Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore between him that came and the Body in which he came between the Substance which was vailed and the Vail which vailed it Lo I come a body hast thou prepared me There is plainly He and the Body in which he came There was the outward Vessel and the inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the bodily Garment Christ but that which appeared and dwelt in the Body Now if ye indeed know the Christ of God tell us plainly what that is which appeared in the Body whether that was not the Christ before it took up the Body after it took up the Body and for ever And then their confining of Christ to that Body plainly manifesteth that they want the knowledge of him in Spirit For Christ is the Son of the Father he is the infinite eternal Being one with the Father and with the Spirit and cannot be divided from either cannot be any where where they are not nor can be excluded from any place where they are He may take up a Body and appear in it but cannot be confined to be no where else but there no not at the very time while he is there Christ while he was here on Earth yet was not excluded from being in Heaven with the Father at the very same time as he himself said concerning himself The Son of Man which is in Heaven John 3.13 Nor was the Father excluded from being with him in the Body but the Father was in him and he in the Father whereupon he said to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father What did every one that saw that Body see the Father also Nay not so but he that saw Christ the Son of the living God whom flesh and blood revealed not but the Father only Mat 16.16 17. he saw the Father also O Frinds look to your knowledge of Christ and to your Faith and Knowledge of the Scriptures and to your Prayers also for it is easie missing of the living substance in all these and meeting with a shaddow which may please and make a great shew in the earthly part in the natural understanding and affections but satisfieth not the Soul or that which is born after the Spirit but still the cry there goes out where the Soul is awakned after Truth Substance Life Virtue from Gods Spirit in the Spirit which it alone can feed upon These four things following I am certain of which he that cometh into the true Light shall infallibly experience them there First That nothing can save but the knowledge of Christ even of that very Christ and no other who took upon him the prepared Body and offered it up at Jerusalem Secondly That no Knowledge of Christ can save but the living Knowledge Not a knowledge of him after the Letter which the carnal part may get much of and value it self much by but a knowledge of him in the Spirit which is only given to that which is begotten and born of the Spirit and only retained by that which abides and remains in the Spirit and runs not out into the fleshly reasonings imaginings and concevings about the things mentioned in the Scriptures Thirdly That that man who knoweth not Christ in Spirit nor keepeth close to him in Spirit but through darkness and misguidance of the spirit of deceit called the shinings of his Light his reproofs his checks for that which is evil and his secret motions to that which is good natural This man though he seem to own Christ never so much according to the Letter yet in Truth denies him Fourthly He that denies Christ in his knocking 's and visitations of him in his own heart and before men in the Truths which he holds forth by his Servants and Ministers of his Spirit him will he
deny before his Father in Heaven O I beseech you do not trifle about these things for they are exceeding weighty lest ye perish from the way for missing of the Saviour ye must needs also miss of the Salvation O that ye knew your state as God knows it to be and as it is certainly known and felt in the measure of his Life and holy Spirit by those whom God hath gathered together and whose eyes he hath opened and preserveth open there Glory be to his Name therefore Yea Glory Glory Glory and everlasting Praises be sung to him throughout all the holy Land ye in the very heights of Sion by the Souls of the Redeemed from henceforth and for evermore Amen whose Mercy Love Grace Wisdom Power and rich Goodness remaineth and endureth for ever by and in which the Redeemed live to his Praise who have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb whose Blood they know what it is and none else knoweth it but they who feel the sprinkling and virtue of it Lo this is our God we have waited for him and how can we but be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation O let all that live by the breath of thy Power and drink of thy Streams sing praise unto Thee and exalt thy great and wonderful Name for ever and ever A brief Testimony for Truth by Tho. Tayler I Shall add somewhat of the Testimony which is written in my heart by the finger of Gods Spirit concerning the People called Quakers Indeed they have met with many reproaches and sore oppositions many wayes since they were a People but notwithstanding all their Bow abides in strength and the hands of their arms have been made strong against the wicked one with all his devices in his several kinds of instruments and their Light is still the same and their God the same who blesseth them from day to day even in the midst of all the revilings slanders persecutions and curses which they have met with from men without and in the midst of all the temptations inward trials and afflictions also which are often met with inwardly Yea we know him to be our God and cannot but trust him having found him to be faithfull to us hitherto and knowing his nature to be such that he cannot but continue his loving-kindness and faithfulness to all who are gathered by him in to his holy inward spiritual Covenant of Life and Peace and who dwells with him therein And truly we are fully satisfied and at rest in him and cannot desire another then he who hath redeemed our Souls from death given us Life brought us out of the Pit wherein was no water into a large place set our feet upon a rock a rock indeed and establisheth our goings in the path of holyness working all our works in us and for us by his Spirit and Power Yea we have the Witness in our hearts even the Witness which never erred nor can deceive which testifieth to and with our spirits our Sonship so that we do not imagine our selves sons from apprehensions upon Scriptures but we feel our selves sons in the true sensibleness and know who David is and reap and inherit the sure mercies of David daily O blessed be our Father O blessed for ever be the Father of Life who feeds who nourishes who waters Who refreshes with the Bread of Life and with the pure living water his Lambs his Babes his plants his tender ones of whom he is daily tender and who are daily tender of his Name and Honour And if any man preach another God then he who creates anew in the true Light and therein puts forth his arm of Salvation Death and Destruction and the Curse are his portion from the hand of the Lord. THE Conclusion GLorious was the Estate of the Church before the Apostacy for Purity of Doctrine for holy Order and Discipline for Love to God one to another and to all men even of Enemies for Faith in God for the Presence and Power of his Spirit among them insomuch as the unbeliever coming among them might find his heart and state reached to and be forced to confess and report that God was in them of a truth for singleness and uprightnesse of Heart meekness and innocency of Spirit and Conversation for zeal for God and his Truth suffering the spoiling of their Goods Imprisonments Stripes and many other wayes both from the Heathen and also from the professing Jews who had been the Church once O what shall I say concerning the beauty and loveliness of that State Ye that would know it O wait to feel it in that which giveth the true sence of it But over this glorious State came a dark thick corrupt night wherein the Kernel was lost and the Shell defaced wherein the House which had been swept and garnished became again recovered and possessed by the wicked spirit And how great hath this darkness been O what a kind of Church hath appeared in the World wherein the spirit of Enmity hath dwelt and acted in men under the Name of Christianity So that instead of loving and seeking the good of Enemies they are ready to rend and tear one another for every little difference and will be Lords over mens Faith requiring men to Practice things in Religeon before the Spirit of the Lord teacheth them so to do which the Apostles did not For though they had from God the express knowledge of what was Truth and could certainly instruct and build men up therein yet they were not Lords over mens Faith but if men were otherwise minded then according to what they knew and taught they could wait and bear with them bidding them walk so far as they had attained and God in his due time would reveal the rest also O that men were come to this Spirit again Then they would be Christians indeed and then they might be known to be Christs Disciples by their loving the Brethren and fellow-Disciples But without this love mens Religion is but as a tinkling Cimbal making a noise and sound of somewhat but not having the true Nature or Virtue of Religion in it Now will it not be a glorious Day when the Spirit of the Lord cleanseth away this thick darkness and causeth the Light of his pure Truth to arise and appear again Why there is such a Day to be wherein the true Church which was reproached and driven into the Wilderness is to come out of the Wilderness again and her Witnesses stand on their feet again and her Seed to spring up in the Power of Life following the Lamb who marcheth on fighting with the Sword of the Spirit the words of his mouth conquering and to conqeur thereby the corrupted Antichristian World even as he did at first the corrupt Heathenish World The Lord will purifie his Temple and cleanse the World by the Plagues of his Angels which he hath prepared making way for the beauty of his Truth and the Church of his gathering wherein he