unto the day of God And having felt his Love by kissing of his Rod I will make mention of his Name and tell of his Salvation For he hath shewed me the same which saves out of Transgression Therefore with joy unto the Lord with th'Spirit I will sing Who hath broken the snare and cord of Death which was a sting And hath quickened by his Power a life in me to live Which when it feels his pleasent showers doth Praises to him give I when I feel the pure Fountain in me to ope and spring Which issues from Sions Mountain the Life of her sweet King Then is my sp'rit orecome ev'n with the issues of that Life Which cometh from the glorious Sun who leadeth out of strife Into the perfect pure Love which never thinketh ill Where nothing at all doth him move to any but pure good-will O in this Life that 's free from strife my soul hath its delight For O it is my married Wife to whom my very life In that same holy Marriage which is both clean and pure Which neither Death nor Hell can break but ever will endure Is even wedded yet not by any Imagination But by the Spirit undefil'd which saves out of transgression Yet in much fear unto the Lord I cry O without thy Presence what am I If thou forsake me I shall surely fall For of my self I have no strength at all O therefore by thy Power me deliver And save to glorifie thy Name for ever Yet now come hearken unto me all that desire to know And my Beloved long to see the way to you I le show It is by walking in the Light which doth convince of sin Which is committed in the night by all that walk therein Therefore out of the Darkness come and hearken to the Light Even the Glory of the Son and it will free you quite So my dear Beloved you will then come to see By whom my soul is moved who 's so dear to me O then you 'l come to see his shape and hear his glorious Voice The which will make the Seed to leap and your souls to rejoyce Therefore come now follow the Light and do not from it turn So shall you have a pure sight and myst'ries deep shall learn Even that great and glorious Work of happy Restoration The which is wrought by him that makes the blessed new creation Who sitting on the Throne alone shines like a precious stone Who doth enlighten every one that in the world doth come Therefore let all that fear the Lord now hearken to his Voice And obey it that better is than any Sacrifice Wherefore now come and look within and there encline your ear For 't is the Spirit of the Lord which only speaketh there For though mans heart's deceitful and imaginations nought Yet God's Spirit it is which shews him ev'ry idle thought Therefore within let every one unto the Light return And hearken to its Voice that 's pure and then you 'l come to learn What that is call'd that doth redeem and save the soul from sin And then you 'l come to know the Law that written is within Even by the finger and direction of the living God In all the hearts of them who understand and kiss his Rod Which smiteth and chastiseth them when ere they go astray That it might turn them that are out into the good old Way Wherein they will find peace that 's pure unto their souls and then Shall rest with God which will endure for evermore Amen And so the Lord God of eternal Holiness having lighted a Candle in my heart and given me a measure of his good Spirit by which he hath preached Righteousness thorow me if I had never opened my mouth nor set pen to paper I say I am not now to put it under a bushel and hide it but to set it up that it may give light unto all neither must I hide my Talent in the earth lest it be taken from me and given to another who will improve it better but my chiefest care must be to stand in all things approved to God in faithfulness and when he draws me or calls me forth if I leave the old man to mend his Net himself as Peter and John did let none that knows me marvel at it for I must go about my Father's business who hath redeemed my mind out of the love of earthly things and worldly delights that I should set my whole delight in him who hath also brought me to see of the travel of my soul and to be satisfied concerning the knowledge of his Truth so that I look not for another Truth Way Leader nor Guide to lead me up to a higher glory in this Truth which is yet to be attained for the revealing of which am I waiting in the Light not expecting any thing any other way but only a growing from strength to strength and a pressing on from glory to glory even as God in his Son Christ the Light shall make known himself unto me but I expect not another Saviour than Him the Light for by Him the Lepers are cleansed the blind made to see and the lame man to leap like an Hart the dumb to speak and to the poor is the Gospel preached by Him whom he filleth with good things but the rich and the full he sends empty away all which whosoever receives and follows the Lamb the Light the Way the Truth and the Life shall come to witness and reade with a clear understanding what I have written but from those that rebel against the Light these things are sealed by the hand of the Wisdom of God I. W. Some wholesom DIRECTIONS to stir up young People to seek after their Creator in the dayes of their youth ANd now O all you Young men and Maids with all that are of a capacity to understand my words who are young and tender in years for my bowels yearn towards you therefore come hearken to my voice and be attentive to the words of my mouth and I will instruct you in the Fear of the Lord which is the beginning of true Wisdom Now this is the Counsel of God unto you which he hath put into my heart to write that you all hearken to that which shews you the evil of the world and the vanity of your own wayes which condemns you for every evil word and action for that I testifie unto you all is the Spirit of God which he hath given you to profit withall which as you receive it will open your understandings and if you join therewith it will give you dominion over sin and cleanse you from iniquity O therefore come down to it and put your necks under the yoke and let that which crosseth the vain mind be your delight and still join with that in you which breatheth after God so shall you come to an acquaintance with him for to that doth he make known himself and to them and none but them
mixture into the Cup of his Indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and of the Lamb of God who would have taken away their sin by his Light of Life but they would not believe therein Joh. 3.19 but loved the darkness rather because their deeds were evil but blessed are they that believe therein and follow it for it 's they only that die in the Lord and rest from their labour and their works do follow them saith the Spirit Revel 14.13 But now to the thing before-mentioned It 's plainly manifest that the Doctrine of Perfection is of God commanded by him and preached by his Son whom the Prophets prophesied should come to that end and witnessed by his Apostles and Ministers who have left in the Scriptures of Truth their Testimony concerning the same which as a Cloud of Witnesses doth testifie for and to the same far exceeding more than I have here mentioned By all which it appears that your Ministers are not of Christ notwithstanding all their wisdom and learning but contrary to him and his Ministers Isa 40.3 and the true Prophets who foretold of Him and the glory of his Day Therefore the conclusion must needs be They are of the false Prophets spirit and consequently of Antichrist wherefore I shall mention a little according to Scripture how they are one in this very thing with the false Prophets and Antichristian Seducers which were in the world in the Apostles days and which they prophesied should come in the latter days after their decease Now in the first place in the dayes of old God by the mouth of his Servants cryed against false Prophets and Priests who were from the greatest to the least all given to covetousness every one dealing falsly Jer. 23.14 17. Micah 3.5 13. Ezek. 10.11 12 13 14 15 16 in healing the hurt of the danghter of his People slightly crying peace to those that put into their mouth when there was no peace So they strengthned the hands of the wicked that they should not turn from their evil wayes but promised them life therein and so seduced the people and caused them to erre by their lyes and by their lightness one building a wall and another daubed it with untempered mortar which would not stand in the overflowing shower of the Wrath of God So in like manner your Teachers through covetousness and self-ends have spoken smoothly to you telling you of the Mercy of God 2 Pet. 2â— through which your sins should be forgiven you though you lived in them and with the Serpent's voice have said though you eat of the forbidden fruit which is sin yet ye shall not die so here in your unsound conditions even like a rotten wall they have daubed you with untempered mortar which will not stand you in any stead when the Lord by his pure Light in your Consciences comes to search you with Judgment then your daubing will not hide you from the Wrath of the Lamb no no then all their smooth words and untempered doctrine which they have invented to please you for self-ends telling you of Heaven what a happy glorious place it is wil all flie away from you and them also who have led you in blindness and have caused you to erre from the Voice of God to follow the voice of the Serpent who led man into sin and so blinded his mind that he might cause him never to find the way to God again which is a way of Holiness in which the unclean cannot walk So I say if you will not come out from amongst them and be separated from the unclean thing which is sin and own and receive the Light of Christ that it may search all your wounds and putrifying sores from the crown of your heads to the soals of your feet that so he may wash you thorowly and baptize you with fire and burn up all that is contrary to his pure Life in you I say except this you come to and witness with you blind guides you must fall into the ditch Now I shall come to speak a little of the Deceivers which Christ and the Apostles spoke of in their dayes First Christ said 1 Joh. 3.8 Beware of false Prophets which come unto you in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves ye shall know them by their fruits Now we know that sin is a mark of the Devil or a fruit of an evil tree likewise Perfection is a mark of God for he is perfect and it 's the fruit of a good tree so they who are in sin and plead it for doctrine that they can never be out of it whilst in this life are the evil trees because they bring forth such fruit as this which a good tree cannot bring forth Also Paul said that the Spirit spake expresly that in the latter times some should depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4.1 giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lyes in hypocrisie having their consciences seared with a hot iron Now mark Is not this the doctrine of the Devil that though men live in sin they shall not be damned but shall escape the condemning power thereof did not the Devil himself preach this first Gen. 3.4 when he said Ye shall not surely dye though you eat of the forbidden tree and are not they who maintain this for truth those whose consciences are seared and hardned against the Voice of God even to speak lyes in hypocrisie against his Spirit which condemns sin in the flesh And also he further saith this 2 Tim. 3.1 2 c. Know that in the last dayes perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers false accusers without natural affection truce-breakers fierce despisers of those that are good heady traiterous high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof Now of this sort are they that creep into houses leading captive silly women laden with sin led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth Now it seems that these proud covetous high-minded men who were fierce despisers of those that are good had a form of Godliness like many now who deny the power thereof even as those did for the power of God or of Godliness makes all those that have it free from the power of the Devil whose power leads man captive at his will doing his work which is sin which all who have the form and not the power are servants to for he that commits sin is the servant of sin Joh. 8.34 and he that serves it the Devil is his master Rom. 6.16 for his servants ye are to whom ye obey and he that serves him cannot serve Christ nor is a Child of God for ye cannot serve God and mammon neither two masters saith
THE Doctrine of Perfection VINDICATED By way of Answer to some objecting Reasons frequently used by them that plead for Sin in this life And that Freedom from Sin is to be attained in this life or never plainly shewed herein and how they that deny it are one with the false Prophets and Antichristian Seducers spoken of in the Scriptures With some Wholsome EXHORTATION given forth as the Spirit gave utterance tending to provoke all that make a profession of God to press on after the same Shewing plainly how it is agreeable with what is signified in the Scripture and the Light within both of which bears witness for the said Doctrine and against all Sin Something likewayes expressed concerning BREAD and WINE Also some wholsome DIRECTIONS to stir up young People to seek after their Creator in the dayes of their youth Written by one who breathes to God for the Redemption of the Seed that lies yet in the house of bondage bound by the Cords of Iniquity J. Whitehouse LONDON Printed for R. Wilson 1663. TO THE READERS FRIENDS THe eternal invisible Fountain of Wisdom Life Love and everlasting Mercy who is the Creator and Upholder of all things by the Word of his powerful Spirit who is God over all blessed for ever who when I was young and tender in years did beget a sincere desire in my soul which hath caused me even to this day secretly to seek after the knowledge of and acquaintance with him that I might know his Will and receive Power from him to do the same 's the which desires he in his endless Love to my poor breathing soul which hath no true peace nor satisfaction but in doing his Will and enjoying his Presence which is of more value to me than any outward thing yea than Life it self in this world hath far more abundantly satisfied than many now can or than I my self once could believe when I was in the darkness which comprehends not the Light of his Son which shines in the hearts of the sons and daughters of men letting them see the evil of their wayes which I testifie as one who hath made proof of the same is sufficient to give them the knowledge of God and to lead them into all Truth if they would but give up to follow the leadings of it by the leadings of which in my seeking estate have I been drawn from one sort of People to another still to associate my self with those who did most sincerely press on after God in a holy life being willing to run with the formost that I might obtain with them the prize which is to say in this life only a perfect freedom from all sin even to put off the old man with all his deeds which is sin and a putting on the new which is created after God in perfect and true Holiness which the Lord God hath given me by his Spirit to believe and see a possibility of attaining to in which only stands the certain assurance of the full Prize and the eternal Weight and Crown of Glory which in the Life to come is to be fully enjoyed the which this first is but as an Earnest of without which the true certainty of the second cannot be obtained And since I have received this Faith power thereby hath been given me far more than before when I rejected the Light of his Son by which only I witness it is received And now this Faith which is from above even the perfect gift of God I find to be the chiefest thing for the effecting and compleating of an holy life in man through the power of God in them which believe being received into the heart of obtaining a perfect life becomes as a root therein which is pure that causeth the branches to be holy and keeps the creature circumspect and sincere to God still minding what a holy Calling and Mark is set before it and so the Faith being sound and clean the fruits thereof are Holiness which becomes the House of the Lord God And verily whosoever comes to sup with him without this comely pure covering of Holiness they shall in no wayes enter with the Lamb into the Marriage-Chamber but be shut out the which I see this day to the burthening of my soul and grief of my spirit is abundantly wanting amongst most People professing God and Christ for they having not this purifying Faith count it Blasphemy and Error and so rest and believe in the contrary which is to say they must live in sin whilst in this life being taught so by their blind guides who could not themselves cease therefrom and so Prophaneness is gone forth from the Priests over all the Land as in the ancient dayes which giveth way to much loosness and sin the which if any in the Spirit of meekness and fear of God reprove them for then presently they flee to the Scripture and with the same spirit that leads them to sin rake together all the Saints failings to plead for sin term of life the which those things were never written for so that in stead of resisting the Devil in the pure Faith which stands in the Power of God rather gives place to him and pleads for their so doing so that the Devil hath not his Kingdom by force onely but by consent they having granted him a place in them while they have a place in this life which grieves the Spirit of God their Creator who alone should have the Rule and Government of their bodies souls and spirits which are his in the sense of which I am moved to write these following lines by way of Answer to some Questions or objecting Reasons which are frequently used by them that plead for sin and against the Doctrine of Perfection that if possible it may be a help to stir them up to the Witness of God in them that their Understandings by it may be opened who are not wilfully blind but rather through ignorance stand against the thing being beguiled by the subtilty of the Serpent as Eve in her innocency was who told her though she did eat of the forbidden fruit she should not surely dye and that is his lying voice at this day whether in Teachers or others that tells people though they live in some sin they shall be saved from the condemning power thereof So I shall proceed in order as before-mentioned as the Lord shall assist me by his Spirit with what else may be given me in thereby even as the Spirit shall give to express in what signification God shall please for the good of all that desire after him to whom this may come the which I commit to the Light in all Consciences to answer to the truth hereof desiring all that know me in the outward not to slight it because of the meanness of the outward vessel that wrote it but with care to weigh it over that God's Witness in you may answer for God hath made the poor in this world rich in
Christ So it 's certain we must be of the one for we cannot be of both And now also who is it that be ever learning and never comes to know the Truth but those that never knew a freedom from sin neither do believe they ever shall in this life for Christ said if you continue in my Doctrine then shall you know the Truth Joh. 8.31 32 33 34. and the Truth shall make you free But the Jews replied saying We were never in bondage to any man But said Christ He that commits sin is the servant of sin So it appears that they who are overcome with sin and led away with divers lusts are not come to know Christ the Truth who sets free from sin and they are the creepers into houses who lead silly people in blindness laden with sin and tells them they can never be eased of the burden thereof in this life yet promises them liberty and freedom in the life to come whilst they are the servants of corruption in this life Are not these the filthy dreamers that defile the flesh who are sensual and devilish Jude 10 11. knowing nothing but what they know naturally in which they corrupt themselves which is to say in their outward learning which though it be Hebrew Greek and Latine yet it is all but natural even as English is which a child may learn of its parents so likewise all other tongues are learned of men but the true knowledge of God is onely learned in and by the Spirit Are not these also those who with fair words and smooth speeches deceive the hearts of the simple by their great swelling words of vanity which they invent to please such who have itching ears that cannot away with sound Doctrine but love to be daubed up slightly who cannot endure to hear of coming out of sin in this life and yet would have Heaven in that which is to come I say such Teachers as these are of Antichrist whom Jude saith were clouds without water Jude 12. which is to have a shew of Godliness but have not his Life abiding in them but their hearts are exercised with covetous practices and for self-ends admire some mens persons for their own advantage who themselves could not cease from sin these are the murmurers and complainers Phil. 3.19 who walk after their own ungodly lusts minding earthly things whose god is their belly This was the fruit of the spirit of Antichrist that the Apostles said should come and was come in their dayes by which we know that those who bring forth such fruits are of the same spirit in these our dayes the consideration of which I shall leave to the Witness of God in all people that they thereby might come to see whether those that deny the Doctrine of Perfection and plead for sin term of life do not in all or many of these things agree with the Antichrists and false Prophets that are mentioned in Scriptures and so the conclusion unavoidably will be this They are not of God but of the world which lieth in wickedness and therefore the world heareth and followeth them Yea Object but saith the world though we do not believe we can be perfectly freed from all sin in this life yet we do not believe that we must or may live in sin wilfully neither do our Teachers tell us we shall be saved if we do but they tell us we must strive against it what we can and then we shall be accepted through Christ for he hath tasted death for us and so hath made a way for all that can believe he died for their sin and rose again for their Justification to be accepted through his Righteousness which shall be imputed for ours and though we live in some sin which is condemned by the Law yet hath he by his Death delivered us from the condemning power of sin and the Law the force of which he hath taken away for we are not under the Law but under Grace To this I answer Answ Although they teach you to abstain from wilful sinning yet in teaching that you can never be free from all causeth many to give up to temptations and to give place to the Devil and then if the Witness of God reprove them for so doing they flie back in their minds from it and strengthen themselves in their unclean faith against it and so reject the Light and Power of God which is it onely that saves from sin and so though you strive against it what you can in this state all your striving is in vain being onely in your own wills and altogether of your selves having rejected through disobedience the Power of God which in his mercy is freely offered unto all in the Light of his Son to redeem them from that wherein they are held in bondage which is sin I say denying it and counting it an uncertain and insufficient thing you are never able to overcome the Enemy in your own striving for if you could then you had no need of a Saviour to destroy the works of the Devil for you which is sin and to save you therefrom which was and is the end of his coming in the flesh even in the hearts of all people to condemn sin there and also for this end he died to the flesh once and was made an Offering to put an end to all the Types Rom. 3.25 Sacrifices and Shadows of the first Law and Priesthood and so took away all the hand writing of Ordinances making an Atonement for sins past that forgiveness might be preached to and in all that receive him and walk in his Light which was not to be found in nor by the outward Law for it being once transgressed there remains nothing but condemnation So mercy and forgiveness came by Jesus the Saviour and not by the Law without whom none could be saved because all had and have transgressed and come short of fulfilling the Law therefore all your striving whilst you reject Christ the Light which makes sin manifest in whom the Law of the Spirit of Life is witnessed which sets free the soul through the administring of death unto and condemning that in man which warreth against it by bringing it into captivity unto sin through which comes death I say though you may strive with all your might which indeed is but weakness you will never get dominion over sin because you in denying the Light miss of the Power which only redeems out of the bondage thereof which Power doth accompany that which reproves for and condemns sin in the flesh to which except you become subjects unto neither freedom from sin nor the righteousness of the Law which is Perfection you will never come to witness and so though you believe he died for your sin yet unless you come to know him to arise in you to destroy it and take it away inwardly and thereby to fulfil the Law of Righteousness in you and so to mortifie the
his purpose is to satisfie it if you would joyn with him with whom all things are possible in that which shews you your conditions in that state where you are and makes it loathsome unto you that you might consent unto him and be willing to come forth who is calling in the freeness of his Love this day to all that are weary and heavy laden with sin Matth. 11.28 29 30. and have no delight in it that they might come to him who is meek and lowly in their hearts and take his yoke upon them which I testifie is easie to all the honest-hearted and his burden is very light wherefore O ye sincere breathers after God who hunger truly after him and his Righteousness lift up your heads for the Blessing of God is unto you therefore doubt you not but turn to the Light that tells you all that ever you did and look ye only at him and not at your own weakness then will you find him to be a Saviour who will open your eyes and enlighten your hearts and will bring you to the Fountain of Life where you shall draw Water out of the Well of Salvation Joh. 4.14 whereof you shall drink and be satisfied which shall spring in you up to everlasting Life Oh therefore come away for the Day of all dayes is dawned and the black clouds of the dark night which were over the Sun of the morning are fleeing away and the stone is rouled from the mouth of the Sepulcher and the Lamb is arisen from thence therefore arise come away my Beloved why seek ye the living amongst the dead For lo the fulness of him is not at all to be found in the observation of any outward things as Bread and Wine or the like Col. 2.20 21 22 23. which perish with the using therefore is leanness of soul upon all who stick in outward shadows and a complaint heard in all their habitations mourning in all their streets Wherefore arise arise this is not your Rest for it is polluted and the Lord is departed from thence and is turning away the backside of his Glory that you may behold him in the perfection of beauty even face to face therefore his bowels yearn towards you that he might come in and sup with you that he may make his abode with and in you knowing right well that your souls satisfaction depends onely of the enjoyment of his pure living presence which only quickens and raises them out of death to life which no external thing can do Rev. 3.20 Jer. 23.29 Rom. 10.8 therefore is he come home to the door of your hearts Oh then come down and feel to the knocks of the hammer of his Word which is nigh you even in your hearts and mouthes that your rocky and stony hearts may be softned and broken thereby then shall you feel the Water of Life which will spring from the Light therein the which when you have felt and tasted of you will never go more to the muddy waters which are fouled by the feet of the beasts of the field which satisfieth not the appetite of that which hungers after God for the sake whereof my soul breathes after you and to the Lord also in your behalf and in the yearning bowels of endless and unutterable Love am I drawn forth thus to write unto you in this day wherein the Lord hath shewed me how he is seeking you to himself who by the right-hand of his out-stretched Arm will bring you into the Fold of true Rest if you resist him not in the way of his own workings wherein he is drawing near unto you even to reveal himself in your hearts that he might guide you with the Light of his Eye and be unto you an Everlasting Teacher Therefore this must I signifie unto you that it is in his Love to you for good to suffer your Teachers to be removed into corners this day and to premit such in their places wherein your souls have no delight that so he may draw you home to his own house wherein there is bread enough that so you may come to wait to receive at his hand and not at the hands and lips of men who have fed you with that which died of it self and quickened not unto God neither will stand you in any stead in this day which is come as a tryal to shew you the emptiness of all outward things whereof you have been feeding in them thinking to have life and have denied the Light within in which the Life is only and have been idolizing men who spoke unto you in the wisdom of words and not in the power of God by setting them up in your hearts and running in your minds upon them more than you should have done and while you enjoyed their presence you made slight of the little appearance of Christ's Light in your Consciences the which many of them taught you to do telling you it was a natural thing which grieved the Lord therefore did he often warn the Teachers and Professors by his Servants and Prophets both by words and signs what a day he would bring upon them for these things except they repented and turned from the evil of their wayes to his Light but they would not hear nor regard therefore in righteous Judgments is it now come and coming to be fulfilled but yet in mercy that so he might bring you down to himself whose Love is yet to many of you freely held forth in the Light of his Son whom I exhort you all to bow unto Psal 2.12 and kiss him lest he be angry and in his Wrath withdraw from you shutting the door of mercy because when he called you would not answer but O my spirit yet breathes towards you saying Oh that you would cease hunting without like Esau for so you miss of the blessing but turn in home to the Light of Christ and like Jacob keep at home and there you will meet with the Blessing which will satisfie your souls Col. 2.16 17. where you will feel the ingrafted Word of Life to be the full sum and substance of all outward shadows and far exceeding all Types or Representations that can ever be made of it the which when you come indeed to know and find your hearts will be overjoyed insomuch that you will be ready to call to your neighbours and friends to rejoyce with you even like the woman who had lost her groat in her own house Luk. 15 8 9. and went abroad to seek it but at last turned home and in sweeping and making clean her own house found it there This is your state therefore be still and see the Salvation of God which is nigh unto you and believe not those who draw you without saying Lo here or there for the Kingdom of God is within you which your souls breath after Luk. 17 21 23. Therefore hew no more broken cisterns that can hold no water to
say unto you Come up higher out of these things and you shall see greater than these as saith the Spirit Oh then rest not in the lesser lest by so doing you miss of the greater for the Glory of all Glories is appearing and that which you think to be the greatest light unto you shall become but meer darkness in comparison of the marvelous Light that shall yet appear in the day that is already dawned Oh therefore prepare prepare to meet the Bridegroom for the Marriage of the Lamb draws nigh yet none but those who have on the pure Wedding-Garment shall enter with him into the Bride-Chamber neither taste of the Supper of the Lamb. Having had some experience of the Loving-kindness of God and of his dealings with me from my Childhood to this day it is moved in my soul to give forth a Testimony of the same for the good of all who in the dayes of their youth seek and desire after him IN the dayes of my Childhood I was brought up with my Parents after the manner as other Children were but not in much strictness or restraint from evil vanities that Children are prone to by them they being after the manner of other worldly people given to the fashions and vanities thereof and such like things themselves but had my liberty in many things even as I would but yet notwithstanding God in his endless love to my soul shewed me the evil of my wayes words and actions and begot a desire in me after himself and opened my understanding and shewed me much of the vanity and ignorance of the Teachers and Professors of the world insomuch that I was fully satisfied that the Teachers of the world were not the Ministers of Christ and that they did people little good which caused me that I never followed them so as to expect benefit from them and I marvelled that those who could reade the Scriptures and seemed to be wise would ever follow them Such things as these were stirring and working in me from eight or nine years of age until eleven or twelve about which time the People called Baptists appeared in this my native place and Country which is Tipton in Staffordshire whose Doctrine and outward Form which I only look'd at I found to be more in imitation according to the Scriptures than the other Teachers and therefore did I go amongst them and owned them more than any and after some years time my understanding was very much opened so that I became wiser than all my acquainted Play-fellows in Religious matters and could not freely act such things as others did though I was many times overcome with them but the Lord followed me with his Witness so that I had no peace in any evil words or actions insomuch that many times in the very acting of vain foolish things something would smite me into heaviness and grief though I was never given to that which the world calls gross sin but only childish vanities as playing with lads foolish jesting and idle talk singing of songs and such like things as other untoward lads are given to which scarce any one would reprove me for for the best sort of people about me were guilty of many such things who seemed to be wise men yet notwithstanding I could have no peace in them though something would tell me I was young and need not matter such things so early but might let them alone til I was a man and then I should have more knowledge in godly matters and it would be well enough to grow civil and circumspect then yet for all this I could not get over the Witness of God but it shewed me that this was the Serpent's voice that would draw me from remembring my Creator in the dayes of my youth And so in the exercise of these things my soul was often revived with true desires after God who I little thought was so nigh me as he was and many times I made Vows in spirit that if he would pass by my sins past I would never do as I had before But alas in my own power I could not perform them and I was ignorant of the Power and Spirit of God and though we in these dayes had nothing but he Scriptures to help our minds in such things for the Teachers concluded that all Revelations and imediate Teachings by the Spirit of God as in the dayes of old were ceased the which made me many times sorrowfull saying Oh that I had been alive in those dayes when the Lord taught his People by his Spirit And when my spirit was exercised in such things I was many times drawn to go into some secret place to be alone and there could I freely make my moan to God according to the meaning of my mind with strong desires and tears sometimes praying in words as God gave me utterance which I knew he would not despise but was more accepted with him than all the fine words or forms of mens inventions and this I can truely say I never in all my dayes prayed in hypocrisie to be seen of men neither ever did learn any form of prayer to rest in it for I knew that was deceit but from the smcerity of my heart I ever did it and in these things I many times felt even a sweet communion with God and many times in my waiting upon God and pondring of things concerning him some things would open in me signifying that a glorious day was nigh at hand which I should live to see and that I should bear a Testimony for God therein but when I went to reason in my self how it should be fulfilled I being unlearned neither should be brought up to learning outwardly but little my Parents being but mean in the outward then I darkned my self by these reasonings and could not see how it should be but when I remembred that all things were possible with God then was I made to see that those reasonings came from flesh and blood and were to be denied but many times the enemy of my soul overcame me and brought me to much vanity which I knew to be evil yet though I knew it and had a desire against it yet was I carried away into it then when I retired in my mind to God something would tell me that I had sinned against my own knowledge and God would not accept me and so would have cast me into dispair as if I should never be forgiven Then this thing would be brought into my remembrance by the Spirit 〈◊〉 God That his Blessing was to those that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and they should be satisfied which greatly revived my soul for I could truly say notwithstanding all my sins that I was one of those hungerers and for all the doubting desperations that the Devil could cast into me yet I felt something in me that as it were could rely upon God as being of his nature and still cryed after him in which I felt some