and when a Servant that lived in the Family where I was inclined to go among them I diswaded her from it And now having laid down all at the Feet of God in a Readiness to follow him whitherever he would lead me I enquired of the Lord what was the Way and People and Foundation that he would establish and set up in the Room of what he had pulled down and the Lord shewed me and caused me to declare the substance of it to the Family that according to the Vision of the Prophet Isaiah in the six first verses of the second chapter Read ver 1 and 2. That he was now come to establish the Spiritual Mountain of his House a Worship which Christ set up in the Dayes of his Flesh not only over the Mountains of Samaria and Jerusalem but over all the Mountains and Hills which have since risen up in the Apostacy under what Form or Denomination soever in all which Mountains and Hills there was no Mountain of the Lord's House where he had his Residence and Dwelling and therefore he would establish this Mountain for his House unto which all the Nations where the Enemy had set up his Mountains and House in which he had his Seat should flow so that there should be no other Mountain or House of the Lord but this alone which should in time make the other Mountains desolate as without Inhabitants which Mountain man in all his Might Strength and Wisdom should have none of the Glory of the Establishment or Exaltation thereof but the Lord alone whose House it was who would be known to be the God of Jacob that was come forth to supplant and overturn the lofty Mountains and Hills and all that dwelt therein by such a poor despised People as Jacob was Read v. 3. And that according to the Prophet's Vision The People that came to this Mountain of the Lord's House were gone up into a higher State of supplanting and overcoming then was known in any of the other Mountains and Hills as they had the highest and freest Mission Authority so they had the highest Message and call to wit to come up to the Teachings of the God of Jacob who was come to supplant and overturn all the Teachers of the Mountains and Hills whose Teachings so affected those that came unto it as that they were resolved to walk in no other Paths or Wayes but what the God of Jacob taught them according to their Language we will walk nor would they go back any more to the Mountains and Hills where the Lord had no house or dwelling nor no teaching of the poor and needy how to supplant and overcome their Enemies for that now they were come to an higher and better Mountain which was as Zion and Jerusalem where the Infallible Word and Law of God was revealed and given forth as it was to Jacob who had no other Written Word or Law to walk by read ver 4. It was shewed me That by and through this People who were now come The Lord would cause his Judgments and Rebukes to be poured out upon all the Swords and Spears which were used to force the People to or to detain them in the Mountains and Hills or from coming to the Mountain of the Lord's House which needed not any Sword or Spear to estalish or exalt it or to force the Nations that were ready and free of themselves to flow unto it And that the Lord would also indue this People as he did Jacob with so much Thriftiness and Prudence as not to waste or throw away what might be improved for the good of the Creation so that aâ— they should not make any Spoyl upon the Body by the Sword and Spear so neither should they waste the Swords that had spoyled but rather beat them into Plow-shares and the spears into pruning-hooks and so turn destructive Weapons into useful Instruments for the publick prosperity of the Nations unto which they should become a Blessing as Jacob and his Seed was That their Faith and Belief should be so high as that the Judgments and Rebukes of the Lord should never cease after the Proclaiming this Mountain until Supplanter like it had brought down all Nations Parties and Perswasions to cease from rising up one against another and that the Concord and Agreement of the Nations should be so great as that the House of the Lord being now come for which they fought they should learn War no more nor seek to take up any Sword or Spear which they had beaten into Plow-shares and pruning-hooks which now they were to learn the use of as that which should abide when the Sword and all the Trade and Traffick of the Mountains that was for War should cease and come to in End read ver 5. It was shewed me as these verses opened one after another that the People unto whom I was to go were as to the Nobility of their Off spring of the House and Family of Worm Jacob the Supplanter and that as Jacob did so they should also supplant the Nations by the most unlikeliest Wayes and Means viz. Not by Roughness as Esau who was the Father of the Mountains but by Smoothness and Gentleness not by Pollicy and Cunningness as Esau but by Plainness and Simplicity not by going from Home seeking and toyling abroad like Esau the Hunter but by quiet abiding in their Tents and Habitations not by Might nor Force of outward Weapons in the Disuse of which Jacob was singular from his Predecessors but by Strength of Prayers spiritual Wrestlings which is attested by several learned Men upon Gen. 48.22 not by any bloody Plots or Conspiracies nor by any Confederacy with the House of Levi the Father of the Priests in whose House but not in Jacob 's the Instruments of Cruelty were found upon whom Jacob poured out an irrevocable Curse and in the Hatred and Antipathy of his innocent Mind charged his Soul not to enter into his Assembly nor his Honour to be united to him Not by the Dictates or Example of any precedent men or Scripture that was not then written but by following the Guidance of God's Word and Spirit which brought him up over all Opposition Assaults to Bethel the Place of Worship and Sacrifice unto God in which Respects Jacob was singled out by the Holy Ghost as a Lively Type of the People whom God would call and raise up from a low Degree in the last Dayes And I had not only a sight of this People by their Doctrine Practice and Off-spring before mentioned but also By the Principle by which they should walk and from which they should receive Power to supplant and overturn which was the Light of the Lord which Light their Message should be to call the People to Read ver 5. O House of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the Light of the Lord which Light was sufficient to bring them off from the Mountains and
World and by the Riches of his free Grace drew me out of those Wayes in which many Children were walking to their Destruction so that in the Feeling of the Movings and Strivings of his Spirit which I plainly remember from the sixth and seventh years of my Age I often left my Companions and Recreations that I was engaged with to seek some Place for Prayer and for the easing of my Heart unto him fearing that if I answered not his Call at that time I should not feel the same drawing afterward which sometimes I found to my Sorrow and the same Power constrained me to cry to him To acquaint me with himself and to convert me from every Evil Way and Work which I was prone to that I might gain others unto him and if he called me to it Dye for him as I read many of the Martyrs who were weak in themselves he enabled to do And being devoted to the Ministry from my Birth by my Parents who were zealous Professors of the Independant-Way they spared no Pains to instruct me in the Principles of that Religion nor any Cost for the Educating of me in the Knowledge of that Learning that was esteemed requisite for that Work So that about the twelfth year of my Age I was placed abroad with other Children at the School by whose Example and Importunity I was drawn to spend my Leisure-Hours in those Sports and Pastimes which were accounted harmless and by Reason of my Earnestness therein I neglected to answer the Movings of the Spirit of God which was near me and would often have kept me back from going with them whose Vain Words and Actions were a Burthen to me or else would have taken me off sometimes in the midst of my Play and called me to seek the Lord for my Soul the Motions of which were day after day quenched by my Disobedience until as to my Feeling it had ceased to strive with me so that when I went to pray or seek the Lord my Heart was shut up and my Words returned unto me again and I stood as one smitten before the Lord not being able many times to utter or bring forth a word because of the Guilt and Condemnation that was upon me when I came to be retired from my Companions which Guilt I heaped up for some years until the Reckoning was high between me and the Lord whose Judgments and Indignation so seized upon me at last as that I knew not but I was forsaken forever and had sinned out the Day of my Visitation and would have bowed to any Terms for the Heast Hopes of Mercy or escaping the Torments of Hell that were before me or for the obtaining the Stirring and Strivings of the Spirit of God with me as formerly I had felt it but my Cry seemed to be shut out so that my Life became a Burthen to me and all that I enjoyed was imbittered by the Wrath and Judgments of the Lord which followed me wheresoever I went or whatsoever I did so that there was no strugling with it or diverting of it which brought a Wasting and Consumption upon my Body which I never fully recover'd to this time this continu'd for many Moneths in which I scarcely open'd my heart to any but the Lord who through his Chastizements and Rebukes in which I did partake in Measure with Christ in his Suffering Baptism brought me by his Word of Power to some hope of Mercy and escaping of his Wrath not by justifying of me in my Sin but clensing me in Measure from Sin and the Love of it which Tidings was more precious to me then the Gain of the whole World though my Body was left very weak and my Strength decayed which in time was by the same Word restored to the Admiration of my Relations and Acquaintance that knew me in my Sickness And now my Fears and Distrusts were Banished by the Risings of the Life Spirit of God in me which wrought more frequently and powerfully then before drawing me into greater Watchfulness over my Thoughts Words and Actions and into an higher Abstinence from the Pleasure and Delights of this World moving Me to reprove such as dishonoured the Name of the Lord or did offend grieve his Spirit by the Mis-spending Time in Vanity in which I spared no Relations or others and oftentimes I was constrained to Warn and Reprove prophane and wanton People upon the Road and to ease my self in Evil Company by crying to the Lord which brought a Fear and Dread upon them and none durst to with-stand the Power that was with me in any Reproof Prayer or Exhortation which was administred in the Denyal of my own Will in which I never went without a certain Reward of Peace in my Bosome which were the best Times that ever I knew before the Truth was clearly manifested to me when I was not yet setled in any Form or Profession or observed any stinted Times or Way of Praying or seeking the Lord but as by his Spirit he moved upon my Heart at Home or Abroad to cry unto him I obeyed wondering and admiring what that was which was so sweet and pleasant in its Incomes and drew me into a daily waiting for it as my Life and by which I was broken and tendered in the receiving of every Mercy and Blessing as from the Lord and burdened and wounded with what was dead and unsavoury After which I was stirred up to seek after a People with whom I might have Unity in the Feeling of the same Life and Experience of the same work which I had pass'd through And in the Zeal of my Heart as one raised from the Dead that diligently minded the Improvement of the Time that I was intrusted with I neglected no Oportunities in all Seasons and Weathers without regarding the Health of my Body to go to hear such as were esteemed Lively Awakening Preachers first of the Presbyterians and then of the Independants unto whom I joyned my self as a Member among whom I felt a Measure of the Stirrings of the Power of God which brought Terror upon the Ungodly and seized many that were loose and vain with a Sense of their Iniquity and made them cry out under it and raised those Hungerings and Thirstings after Righteousness which caused many to break forth in earnest Cryes and Supplications unto God for Deliverance from the Bonds of Sin and Iniquity which was become burdensom unto them for the obtaining of that righteousness which was more precious in their Eye then the Glories and Pleasures of the World which they seemed dead unto for a time And with this Work I had Unity and delighted to be with this People in the dayes of their Tenderness and to spend Time in Prayer and Conference with them After which as we came to settle in the Form and to stint and limit the Spirit of God so I perceived a dying to the Life that moved and bubled up in us and caused us
JACOB THE Plain Man Wrestling with God unâ—… Break of the Day and prevalling in the Ligâ—…â—…ereof for perfect VICTORY and DOMINIGN over ESAU THE Rough Cunning Man And over all that would hinder him from going up to Bethel the House of God to sacrifice unto him in the Place where he first appear'd unto him Whereby all may see how I was after long Wrestling with and seeking the Lord brought off from Professing and Preaching that for Gospel which made not free from sin in this Life that I might come to know the Light and Life of Jesus manifest in me for the Destroying the Works of the Devil and giving Power to supplant overcome all that would hinder from going up to the Mountain of the Lord's House to Worship and Serve him in the Life and Purity of his own Spirit which is blessed for evermore Whose Outward Name is Laurence Steel Printed in the Year 1677. Reader THese things were required of me to give forth to be read in the Fear of the Lord which if kept to will make a right Application of all unto thy own Estate and Condition either by way of Condemning thee or Justifying of thee and may if in Singleness of Heart thou readest help to open thy Understandin the Discerning of these things which the Lord through the Dayes of Judgment and Tryals that are past and those that are yet to come hath and will more and more supplant overturn and what he hath and will yet more and more establish and exalt in the room thereof that so thou mayst come timely to escape the one and to joyn unto the other lest the Day of the Lord which will be as a Thief in the Night overtake thee unawares A TESTIMONY TO THE Gospel of Christ Jesus AS Anciently preached and believed in by the Primitive APOSTLES and CHRISTIANS with the Manner of my coming to witness and receive the same THe Gospel of Christ as it was preached and witnessed by the Primitive Christians is the Power of God unto Salvation unto them that do believe in which Gospel the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all mark All Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men who hold the Truth which is the Gospel that should save them in Unrighteousness So the Truth is in Unrighteous Men and testifieth against their Unrighteousness in which it is by them held down and imprisoned which keeps them from witnessing Deliverance thereby And in this Gospel there is no Glad-tidings to any in Unrighteousness nor Justification in Ungodliness but Wrath revealed against it and abideth upon all such as hold the Truth therein until they come to bow to the Wrath of God which is revealed in them for the cutting down of all Unrighteousness and Ungodliness and for the freeing of the Truth which is held therein and such come through the righteous Judgments of God to know that Righteousness which is Christ the Power of God to be revealed for the removing and taking away of the Wrath that was upon them and the bringing them to Life and Justification who are hereby made Witnesses that what may be known of God viz. of his Eternal Power to sanctifie and redeem out of Sin and Unrighteousness is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them to be his Gospel and Power unto Salvation who do come from holding of the Truth in Unrighteousness to hold this Mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience so this Gospel of Christ which is a Mystery was manifested or shewed to the Primitive Saints to be within And how was it shewed Not by Tradition from Man or any outward Letter but by Revelation Therefore it is said The wrath of God is revealed mark and The Righteousness of God is revealed and Paul calls the Gospel which he received not by Tradition from any The Revelation mark of his Son in him And how was it that Christ came to be revealed in Paul but by the Light which exceeded the Brightness of the Sun the outward natural Light which Light was the Appearance of Jesus of Nazareth which also inwardly shewed him and prickt him for his Persecution which he saw not nor was not judged for by the outward Letter of the Law according to which he was blameless And Paul being thus met with and stopt by a greater Power and Authority then that by which he was before acting it was hard for him to kick against the Pricks of this Light but he fell down both he and his Companions with their Commission from the High Priest and all their Letter Knowledge before this Light of Jesus which was greater then all and here Paul lay until the Light that struck him down said unto him Stand up and in the rising up after he had known the inward Pricks and Terrors of the Lord he came to receive a Power and Commission to turn the People from Darkness unto the Light which he else-where calls the Revelation of Christ in him and when the Saints heard that Paul preached of and by virtue from Christ revealed in him which Gospel he once sought to destroy they glorified God in him mark in him And this was and is the true Gospel and the manner of the Saints receiving of it viz. by Revelation not by Tradition from Men or Writings and if an Angel from Heaven should bring any other Gospel he was to be accursed And this was and is the true Foundation other then which no man can lay upon which the Ancient Christians built their Hope of Glory viz. Christ in them which was not another then Jesus of Nazareth who was with them and now came to be manifest in them for the destroying of the Works of the Enemy that so he and his Works being cast out the Seed of God which is Christ the greater Power might only remain in perfect Dominion and Possession of the Hearts out of the good Treasure whereof good Fruits and Works were to be brought forth to his Glory who is blessed forever Now this Gospel of Christ I could not meet with or hear preached in any of the Professions that I was conversant in whose Faith was that Revelation was ceased and that there was not a total Cessation from Sin which is the Work of the Devil attainable in this Life nor no such Grace or Light given to Mankind by which they might come to deny all Ungodliness and all Worldly Lusts but that if the Conversation were reformed yet there would be Lust and Sin still remaining within to the Life's end from the Commission whereof none could be fully freed by any Power or Strength which God had given on this side the Grave Nor did I receive this Gospel by Tradition from Man or any Writings Learning or Wisdom of my own but from the living God who separated me for his Service from the Womb and placed his Fear in me which inclined me in the beginning of my dayes to seek his Glory Honour above the Pleasures of this