of Christ in the Sanctified which Sanctified are the only true Church of Christ You also say The only difference between the Old and New Testament is that in the Old lies hid the New by an Allegory Which is a Truth to him that hath an Ear to hear what the Spirit in the Letter saith Allelujah On Rom. 4.8 you say The words Imputed or Reputed do not diminish the Truth of Justice and that Justice is not reputed to them that are not made Just and Righteous Which is also a most real Truth On Gen. 22.1 you say There is as much difference betwixt Christ's Divinity and his Humanity as was between Isaac and the Ram and as is 'twixt Elesh and Spirit for what is born of Flesh is Flesh c. The Book Ecclesiasticus you say teacheth to contemn this present evil World and that things Earthly and Sensual are insufficient to give Peace and Rest to our Souls and that true Felicity consisteth not in Natural Knowledg gotten by Wit and Natural Industry nor in Riches Honour Pleasures nor in Authority or Dominion nor in any thing that is Sensual or Carnal but only in the Eternal and Internal fruition of God in our Souls which is procured by Free Grace which enables us to decline Vices and to pursue the ways of Vertue which lead to Beatitude all which are Truths most clear and excellent Allelujah Before Leviticus in which Book saith St. Jerome all Sacrifices Aaron 's Vestments and the whole Levitical Order almost every Syllable breaths forth Heavenly Sacraments I say even as the whole Creation doth breath forth God's Omnipotence his Grace and loving Kindness to Mankind Allelujah Zach. 1.3 When the Scripture saith Convert c. we are admonished that we have Free-Will and when we answer Convert us O Lord to thee and we shall be converted we confess that God's Grace preventeth or enableth us and when he commandeth any good of us it is either to humble or enable us in the performance as James 1.17 Heb. 13.21 which Doctrine is true for we have no other free-will to good but what God giveth us in by and through his Holy Spirit of Grace which appears to and in every Man Allelujah On Gal. 6.16 you say The New Creature is the true Faith and Work of Grace in the Hearts of the Faithful and is the Faith first delivered to and in the Saints A Speech most true Allelujah 1 Cor. 12.3 you say No Man can say Jesus is our Lord but by his Spirit within us which enableth us to be obedient to his Commands and to do the Will of God here on Earth as it is in Heaven for by Christ strengthening us we can do all things pleasing to God our Heavenly Father Allelujah On Heb. 12.28 you say Grace is the only means enabling us to serve and please God Tit. 2.11 And that Man 's free-Will is begot and worketh freely by free-Grace Also you say Free-Will is in Man for that no Sin can be committed without consent of free-Will nor can any Work merit or please God but what is wrought in Man by the free Grace of God's Holy Spirit Thus by Grace we are saved not of our selves it is the free Gift of God to every one Allelujah You say Elias is alive and shall be a fore-runner of Christ's second coming I say Elias in Spirit is alive and now preacheth Repentance and forgiveness of Sins to all that amend their Lives according to God's Holy Word written in every Man's Heart the Volumn of God's Book wherein his Will is known that it may be done here on Earth as in Heaven Allelujah You say also That Enoch is yet alive and shall preach in Antichrist's time with Elias This is also a Truth if you speak this of the Spirit of God that was in Enoch for as Elias's Spirit in John the Baptist's Time preached Repentance and forgiveness of Sins to all that truly repented and forsook their Sins preparing the way for Christ to be begot and born in us So did that Spirit of Elias preach Repentance to the Disobedient in the days of Noah As in this day the same Spirit of Elias preacheth Repentance to all that are dead in Trespasses and Sins Even so likewise Enoch the seventh from Adam in Spirit is alive who shall and now doth as you say preach in Antichrist's time for Christ the Word incarnate the Resurrection and the Life is now preaching in the Sanctified the Resurrection from the Dead to and in all that have bin crucified with Christ and are risen with him from the Death of Sin to the Life of Righteousness Allelujah Which Word Incarnate or Word in the Heart is God's Preacher to all the World and is the Gospel of Christ preached for the Obedience of Faith to and in all Nations and all Religions whatsoever so that all Men may believe and by obeying may be saved Amen Allelujah As it is written Deut. 30.11 to the 15. with Rom. 10.6 to the 9th Rom. 1.5 2 Cor. 10.5 Heb. 5.9 1 Pet. 1.22 Gen. 22.18 Deut. 13.4 Dan. 7.27 Isa 1.19 Job 36.11 12. You say Christ in Soul descended into Hell to deliver all just Men Which is a Truth if you mean Christ in Spirit as he is the Light of the World descends into every Man's unclean heart to cleanse and purifie it and so leads Captivity captive bringing the Souls of the Faithful once dead in Trespasses and Sins out of Death out of the Grave out of Hell into Abraham's Bosom where they sit and sing Allelujah You say Sin is always the cause of Reprobation Which is also a Truth most clear for it is our Sins that separate us from God and with-hold good things from us And in our Obedience or disobedience to the Word of God in our Hearts stands Life and Death Election and Reprobation for according to their Works shall every one receive whether they do good or evil Allelujah On Col. 3.9 you say The New Man is an inherent quality of Justice and Righteousness in our Souls and not only an Imputation of Christ's Righteousness but a Work of God's free Grace enabling the Faculties of our Souls to work freely the thing that is good and righteous A Truth most clear and excellent Allelujah 2 Cor. 1.5 you say All the Saints Sufferings and Afflictions are Christ's Sufferings by reason of the Conjunction and Vnion that is betwixt Christ the Head and the Sanctified his Members Allelujah You say Adam was created in Grace and Innocency which he lost only by Disobedience yet by Repentance is saved And thus it is with all the Sons of Adam He that sins against the Light of Christ in his Conscience eats the forbidden Fruit and so sins after the similitude of Adam 's Transgression and is not saved out of Transgression but by Repentance and laying hold of God's Spirit of Grace which obeying brings through the flaming Sword or Sword of the Spirit that turns every way to cut down Sin
outward Observations consist the many Antichrists St. John saw who said You have heard that Antichrist should come and now are there many Antichrists Even all Man's Prescriptions and Impositions not being the Spirit 's teachings are Antichrists the many false Spirits which do not feed but devour the Flock of Christ by bringing in the Old Law and other beggarly Rudiments and Inventions of Man's Wisdom which is the Whore and false Prophet which serves to no other end than to raze out the Revelation of God in the Consciences of Men to crucifie the Lord of Life the Spirit of Christ in resisting his Spirit of Grace and speaking evil of the Spirit which is the highest Blasphemy not to be forgiven in this World nor in the World to come Allelujah Thus the Universal Church of Rome may know by examining themselves whether they are in the Apostacy in the fall with Peter or whether they are in the Restoration with Peter when the Church of Rome was so renowned and guided by the Spirit and Revelation of God Or whether led by Traditions Prescriptions and Impositions of Man and as the Universal Church of Rome may know whether they are built on Christ the Rock Peter's Faith that never failed or on Peter's Person that so easily fell against which the Gates of Hell prevailed even so may every individual Person in the Church of Rome know whether they be in the true Faith of Christ or in the false Faith for the true Faith worketh by Love purifieth the Heart and destroys the Works of the Devil in Men it worketh Miracles it removeth Mountains of Sin crucifieth the Flesh with its Deeds and raiseth the Soul dead in Trespasses and Sins out of the Grave enabling the Soul to bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit Thus wonderfully doth Faith in Christ the Gift of God work in every one that truly believes Read Acts 15.9 Mat. 17.20 Rom. 12.3 1 Cor. 12.9 Heb. 12.2 Mark 16.17 1 John 3.8 Allelujah By this time your selves may answer Dr. Bayley's Challenge who saith The Church of Rome was once an excellent flourishing Mother-Church This Church saith he could not cease to be such but she must fall either by Apostacy Heresy or Schism To which I answer Christ's Church in Jerusalem and in Antioch were Mother-Churches before Rome and in Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philippe Colosse Thessalonica and the Church among the Hebrews were all flourishing Christian Churches but now not visible as to Man's Eye And how was Rome the Mother-Church whilst the Popes kept their Residence in Avignon for seventy Years together Nevertheless God knoweth who are his amongst them all for as St. Peter saith Acts 10.34 All of every Nation Sect and People those that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted with him whether Jews or Gentiles Barbarians or Scythians they are all one in Christ the Truth they that walk in the Truth walk in Christ Jesus and such the Truth makes freely accepted with God Allelujah Though I take not upon me to know Whether the present Church of Rome are Members of Christ's Body whereof himself the Spirit of the Father is only Head or the Synagogue of Satan the Children of the Devil their Father in whom he rules and guides who do his Work Yet this I declare That every one in themselves may perfectly know whether they belong to the True or False Church to God or the Devil If you do but examine your selves Whether Christ the Word in the Heart the Revelation of God by the Spirit of Truth the Light of Christ his Spirit of Grace be Head in you leading you into Truth and Righteousness bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit which Fruits are evident read Gal. 5.22 Ephes 5.9 Or whether the Spirit of Satan be Head leading into Lying Swearing Whoredom Fornication Adultery Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Hatred Variance Wrath Strife Pride Seditions Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness Revilings and such like Now your own selves every one in particular know these things to be Fruits of the Flesh proceeding from Man in the Fall unregenerate and are Earthly Sensual and Devilish And know ye not to whom you yield your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are whether of Sin unto Death or of Obedience to Righteousness also that the Wages of Sin is the death of the Soul and he that soweth to the Flesh shall reap Corruption for if ye live after the Flesh your Souls shall die but if through the Spirit you mortify the Deeds of the Flesh you shall live Finally my Brethren whether the Spirit of God that revealed to Peter the Things of God be Head in you or the Spirit of Satan which Ied Peter into the Fall into the Schism into Heresy into the Apostacy be Head which Spirit is the Spirit of Antichrist the which exalts many Inventions his Prescriptions and Traditions above the Inspiration and Revelation of God So try your selves examine your selves Know you not your own selves that unless Christ the Spirit of the Father be in you you are Reprobates as concerning the true Faith and cannot think a good Thought much less work a good Work and that it is he by his Spirit of Grace which is given to every one to profit withal that works all good in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure as it is written Phil. 2.13 Isa 26.12 Rom. 8 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 12.7 2 Cor. 10 11. 2 Cor. 1.21 22. Gal. 5.16.22 13.5 And whether the Court of Rome hath not used as much worldly Policy to obtain Soveraignty and Dominion in the Earth as any Earthly Prince whatsoever he that will resolve this Question let him read the History of the Council of Trent and other French Histories written by Members of the Gallical Church And whether with their good Words and fair Speeches they have not got into the Hearts and Consciences of simple People perswading them to believe the Pope to be Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ And when the Net hath thus catched and brought into this Faith is it not easy to make Merchandice of such Souls and also to command their Bodies and Purses who believe Peter's Key can open and shut Heaven when and to whomsoever Peter's Vicar and Successor pleaseth And what hath thus bin got by Peter's Net hath it not bin kept and added to by Man's Carnal Weapons which are not the Weapons of Christ nor of his Apostles nor Followers read 2 Cor. 10.4 John 18.36 as by woful experience many Emperors Kings and Princes in Europe have found to their great loss both of Blood and Treasure in pursuing and subduing the Waldenses and Albigenses Excommunicated An. 1250 and in acting against John Husse Jerome of Prague John Wickliff and Sir John Oldcastle as also against the Protestants in Germany Holland and Flanders with those Massacred at Paris by the then called Holy League and since by the inhumane Massacre in Ireland 1640 even against all those that have adventured
can hold forth the blessing of Peace and Establishment to the World and I am perswaded God hath fitted you for such a Work as this therefore I beseech you suffer a word of Exhortation Be faithful to the Testimony of the Lord with which he hath inspired you stand forth in the Name and Power of that Spirit which dwells in you lay by all carnal Ends and self Interests and come forth in the nakedness and simplicity of the Love of God in which you will breath out the blessing of Peace amongst us O let not Sion be built up any longer with Blood nor her Mourners wander about in the Defarts to seek for shelter and safety let the searchings of your Hearts and the yearnings of your Bowels be for the Breaches and Divisions that are among the People of God 'T is You that the great expectation of many of the Lord's People in this Nation is now towards Our Wounds Breaches in the Circumstantials of Religion are too wide and extensive for a formal outward and literal Ministry to heal and cement We have languished in Divisions too long already under these Physicians 't is only a Spirit-Ministry with evidence demonstration and power that proceeds from an innate Principle of the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts that can compose all our Differences satisfy all Parties and Interests and settle us upon a sure Foundation of Peace Rest and Happiness If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfil ye the Joy of the People of God in these Nations that ye come forth with the like Mind and Spirit in your Ministry amongst us and in the Power of the same Love preserve the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace I know there is wisdom and largeness enough in the Love of God to accomplish these noble Ends and the witness of this upon your Hearts must necessarily strengthen your Faith in this Ministry for certainly that Love so ample that can redeem the World when and where 't is witnessed by the Spirit will appear large enough to cover all our Infirmities abate all our Contentions and quiet all the Clamours that abound among us If thus you can appear and stand forth this day as indeed Priests unto God and true Ministers of Christ Jesus you shall worthily be called The Healers of our Breaches and the Restorers of our Paths to dwell and walk in with love and pleasantness one towards another In which Spirit of Universal Love and good Will I Rest a Friend to you and the Souls of all whilst I am and when I am no more R. R. To all Teachers Preachers and Dispensers of the Word and Sacraments under the Dispensations of those called Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists ROBERT RICH a Servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God which Gospel was promised and preached by the Holy Men of God ever since the Foundation of the World was Laid as in the Scriptures of Truth you may read Gen. 3.8 15. 12.1 3. with Gal. 3.8 Deut. 30.11 12 13 14 15. Rom. 10.6 8. Jer. 31.31 to 35. with Heb. 8.8 to the end Isa 52.7 with Rom. 10.15 Isa 61.1 with Luke 4.18 9.6 Mark 16.15 2 Cor. 4.4 6. 2 Tim. 1.10 1 Pet. 1.12 25. In the power and strength of which Gospel the Word in the Heart or Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts doth R. R. send Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah TO you that are Regenerate and born again of the Spirit who have Christ Jesus the New Man in you and are Members of his Body Spiritual through Sanctification of the Holy Spirit of Grace you in him and he in you made perfect in one to you Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplied from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Allelujah In the Year 1656 feeling the Birth of God in me by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven which Spirit of Light begat Christ Jesus the New Man in me by whom I obtained Reconciliation and Peace with God and good-will towards his Creation Which Spirit of Love moved me in the Year 1666 to send to the People called Presbyterians Thirty pounds to be distributed amongst their Poor that were in Need Sickness or any other kind of Adversity The like Sum I also sent to them called Independents As likewise to those called Anabaptists to be distributed to the Poor that were amongst them Not as Judas that betrayed his Master into the hands of Sinners for Thirty pieces of Silver but from one that witnessed the Resurrection from the Dead one who had long crucified the Lord of Life in my Self and by many and often Transgressions had slain the Witness of God his Holy Spirit of Grace and Light which oft cried in me Why wilt thou die Return to me the Light and Life of the Soul and thou shalt live At length I hearkened to the Voice of the Son of God in me in obedience to which Voice my Soul came to live in whose Life I have Rest Peace and Joy in the Lord my Saviour Allelujah Thus by the Incarnation or indwelling of the Life of Christ Jesus in my mortal Flesh I came to inherit Life Eternal by and through him that is the Regeneration the Resurrection and the Life Allelujah By which Spirit of Grace and Revelation of Christ in me I came to see what Peter saw Acts 10.34 35. Matth. 16.17 That of all Nations and Religions those that feared God and acted righteously towards Man are accepted with him Also by the same Revelation of God's Spirit I understood the great Love of God to the World that in all Ages and Times he hath sent and given his only begotten Son his Spirit of Light to be the Life of the World his Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life wherewith every one is enlightned both Jew and Gentile that cometh into the World that so all Men might be saved by believing in him and by following of him who is the Way the Truth the Life and God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah As you may read Isa 42.6 49.6 Deut. 30.11 to 15. Jer. 31.31 c. with Rom. 10.6 8. Heb. 8.8 to the end John 1.4 9. 8.12 12.46 2 Cor. 4.4 6. Which Spirit of Light Life and Truth in the Inward Parts the Word incarnate in the Heart moved on the Face of my Deep and shining on my Tabernacle which Tabernacle God pitched in me in whose Light I saw Light which gave me freedom to look into all manner of Opinions and Religions which Light opened my Understanding so as to know Good from Evil Right from Wrong and Truth from Error In which Spirit of Light I read many Books writ by Presbyterians Independents
that he is now exposing to the light That surely God hath a glorious Design to carry on in the World even the building of David's Throne to all Generations I know a Day of Deliverance for Sion will come not with confused noise of the Warrier and Garments rouling in Blood but with burning and fuel of Fire in the Consciences of Men. Men they may fight against but this they can never fight against The Day approaches wherein God will decide his Controversy with the World not by outward Might and Power but by the Spirit of the Living God 'T was an usual saying with him Come what would every thing was upon the right Wheel in the wise contrivement of God for the accomplishing of his Righteous Designs in the World And speaking to his Children saith Regard not the Reproaches that are fallen on your Father say or do Men what they will Abraham's Faith will find the Blessing Abraham found These and many more of His as of Others I take to be true and faithful Sayings meet to be considered by all that wait for and expect Redemption Consolation and Salvation from the God of Israel Allelujah You will not blame me that I have enlarged upon the Testimonies of these Holy Men that have finished their Course kept the Faith and are gone before us into the Eternal Mansions of Glory who having quitted their Mortal Fabricks are flown into the World of hidden Wonders The Spirits of these Just Men made perfect are now upon you ye are come up to them and in the harmonious Fellowship of that Spirit which is now one and the same amongst all the Sanctified I have a few words of my inward Breathings to communicate to your holy Experiences In a deep sense thereof of my endeared Love towards that Royal Seed that richly dwells in you I here salute you and give you to understand That my Soul is firmly knit and united to that Principle of Life in which you stand bearing your Testimony for the Truth before God and Man amongst a crooked and perverse Generation who only dwell upon the out-side talks and pretences to God Religion and Christianity but hate even to Blood and Violence all those that are the free-born Seed of the Promise whose Faith and Obedience stands not in the Will Work or Wisdom of Man but in the Power and Spirit of God mightily working in their Hearts and Consciences whereby they are indeed purified washed and cleansed from dead Works to serve the Living God And so much the more is my Heart inflamed towards you when I consider you in refeference First To the Nature of your present Station And secondly To those great Designs that God hath prepared you for First For the Nature of your present Station I behold you not as Moah Jer. 48.11 12 c. but as a People standing in a more inward nearness with God than the rest of the formal Tribes of Religious Proselytes in the World a People that have bin scattered from all your fleshly Comforts and Confidences in all those Joys Hopes Helps and Establishments wherein you have trusted below God You have bin led into the Deeps of God's Wonders while others have bin only wading in the shallow Streams of a literal and formal Profession Unto you it is given to know those Mysteries of the Kingdom of God which lie hid from others in dark and obscure Parables you know that the Son of God is come and hath given you an understanding to know him that is True and that ye are in Him that is True which is the very God and Eternal Life You cannot be deceived with the tinkling Noises or glittering Baits of Loe here or Loe there for the Kingdom of God is within you In a word there is nothing below Spirit Power and Substance that can either crown your longing Expectations or reward your holy Breathings after Truth with a plenary and full satisfaction Thus as the Lord's Lillies among Thorns so do you stand among the formal Daughters being preserved in your Station upheld in your Principles and as Beacons flaming with the holy Blazes of a free and universal Love serve to enlighten the World into the way of Truth and direct their Feet into the Paths of that Peace Amity Union Rest and Security to which as yet they are so much estranged And this leads me to the other Consideration of the Great Work and High Designs which God hath prepared you for And surely glorious Things are spoken of thee O thou City of God! You are not only as Mount Sion beautiful for Scituation but also the Joy of the whole Earth for those humble gentle lovely and pleasant Aspects by which you shine upon the whole World with the inviting and astonishing Charms of a divinely inspired Love and Affection You are a People fitted above all others to be a Blessing to the World the whole Creation seems to groan and travel in pain with a longing and languishing expectation to be delivered into the glorious Liberty wherein Ye stand O how hath the form and out-side of Religion mixed with Carnal Interest exposed the World to Extremities of Horror and Confusion as at this day What indignity and reproach doth indelebly stick upon the Skirts of Profession and Christianity through that fiery and mis-guided Zeal those Feuds and bitter Animosities that Strife and Debate that Blood and Violence which abounds amongst those that walk under the glorious Names of Gospel-Professors and True Christians How insipid lifeless and unsavory is the whole state of formal Profession grown who while they cry up a Christ that died for them and contend for an Historical Faith of his Death and Sufferings hoping to be saved by a bare Imputation of a Righteousness wrought without them and yet know nothing all this while of any inward change or renewedness of Mind and Heart but totally ignorant of the inward active and real Righteousness which should commend them to the World in an healing saving comforting and refreshing Spirit And certainly the higher People are advanced in a literal and carnal Knowledg of God and Christ the more rough bitter and severe will their temper be towards all others that differ from them in the least Circumstances of Religion it being natural to that Knowledg and Wisdom to swell and puff up the Mind in the lofty and high conceits of a self-Righteousness rather than sweeten and soften the Spirit in that Charity which edifies Behold this is the distracted Station wherein the Children of Form are truly presented as Pharaoh's lean Kine tearing and devouring each other in this day of Wrath for now is the Judgment of this World and what may quench these Flames what may quel these Disorders what may repair these Breaches or allay these Distempers is the main thing that would be most desirable to know We see that neither the Prudence of Princes nor the Policies of Government the Prescriptions of the wisest Reformers nor the best esteemed
they account not themselves responsible for every particular Passage or Notion of the Author's especially as it may be distorted either by weak or malevolent Spirits but judg that they have sufficiently discharged their Duty by communicating his own Thoughts according to his desire to the World J. W. Our Saviour saith In his Father's House there are many Mansions and in the Christian State there be three Degrees Incipientis Preficientis and Perfecti each State may find what is sutable to them to that joy Capiat qui Capere potest Per R. B. Ph. An Abstract of a Letter and Directions of Robert Rich to Mr. John Raynes for the distributing of his Benevolence to the Seven Churches in London Mr. John Raynes THese may inform you That in the month of December 1666 by the way of Ireland we received the sad and deplorable Intelligence of London's Destruction by Fire wherewith the Beauty and Glory of that City is like Sodom turned into Ashes which when I had understood and throughly pondred I did impart my thoughts to your Brother Mr. Fr. Raynes to this effect viz. That this Calamity would be so universal and extensive that multitudes must of necessity be cast upon great extremities of Want and Misery and that now was a fit opportunity for all to hold out a hand of Charity towards their distressed Brethren To which purpose I had You upon my Heart to write unto you when our Fleet went which hath bin detained until now to dispose of the 210 l. in your hand Now Sir as touching your proceedings in this Business of my Request that these Seven Churches with all others might more fully discern the mind of my Lord in this figure of Love and Amity to them I think it meet to let you know that I have something already written to each of those Seven Congregations which in the fulness of time may be presented to their view Holding forth the Everlasting Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Christ in us the Saving Health and universal free Grace of God ready to be revealed to all Nations Sects and People Together with a Declaration or Testimonial of that dear Love and Vnity which my Soul hath to all that fear God and work Righteousness and not only to such but likewise to the Rebellious Disobedient and worst of Sinners Also something I have to offer concerning the New Creation God's Workmanship in Christ Jesus that which mine Eyes have seen and Hands have handled of the Word of Life of things that now are and must shortly come to pass when the Son in Man the New Birth shall more abundantly be revealed which as yet is a great Mystery to many and hath bin long hid from Ages and Generations of formal Professors of Godliness that have wanted the Power of Love or Christ Jesus that Spirit working all their Works in them and for them but is now making Himself manifest in all that are born again of his Spirit and baptized with that Water of Life which regenerateth and keepeth clean the heart That Chast Virgin that only bringeth forth the Man-Child and Second Adam who is Heir of all Things and the Saviour of All that believe and follow Him Who enlightens every one with the knowledg of Good that cometh into the World This is He that was and now is and is yet to come to all succeeding Generations of whom all the Prophets from Moses until John bare Record Allelujah Whose Day Abraham saw and rejoiced as do all that have Christ the Unction in them who only and alone openeth Mysteries and doth teach to sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb Allelujah Whose Star of old led as his Spirit doth now lead all the wise in Heart both to find and also to worship him acceptably according to his Law Mind and Will written therein even Him that is the Rock of Ages whose Body and Blood our Fathers did in the Wilderness as at Jerusalem taste of and which we their Children that are Heirs of the same promised Spirit do now eat and drink the Bread from Heaven which is not carnal but nourisheth the Soul into a Life and Kingdom that fadeth not away but endureth for ever Allelujah And now having in part acquainted you with the reason of my intended Proceedings my next care is what I can to lessen your trouble to which end I think it the best way to propound three of each sort of People chief amongst them as Overseers of the rest Men of good Report into whose hands the 30 l. may be delivered as a sign of my Love and by them be distributed amongst those of their way who are in Need Sickness or any other kind of Adversity A Note or List of Direction to Mr. John Raynes after what manner to dispose of the 210 l. in his hands I. THirty pounds to the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion Enquire I pray on the Exchange for Mr. Daniel Arthur or Mr. Thomas Wise Merchants they can inform you who are the chief Confessors and Teachers in Queen Katharines or in the Queen Mother's Chappel and give the Mony to three of the chief of them as a sign of my dear Love intreating them to bestow the said Mony on those that are in Need Sickness or any other kind of Adversity amongst them II. Thirty pounds to the Episcopal Protestants Give to Dr. Thomas Pierce Dr. Pearson Dr. Peter Gunning Dr. Robert Pory Dr. Britten Dr. Dukeson of St. Clements Danes to any three of them or any other three you judg more convenient as a sign of my dear love entreating them c. III. Thirty pounds to the Presbyterian Professors Give to Doctor Spurstow Dr. Manton Mr. Richard Baxter Mr. Thomas Case Mr. Samuel Clark or any three of them or to any three of that way you judg more convenient as a sign of my dear love c. IV. Thirty pounds to the Professors of Independency Give to Dr. Owen Dr. Dell Mr. John Goodwin Dr. Thomas Goodwin Mr. Thomas Brooks Mr. Feak to any three of them or to any other three of that way you judg more convenient as a sign c. V. Thirty pounds to the People called Anabaptists Give to Mr. Thomas Lamb Mr. John Rogers Mr. John Cooper Mr. Kiffen Mr. Vavasor Powel to any three of them or to any three of that way you judg more convenient as a sign c. VI. Thirty pounds to the People called Quakers Give to Amos Stoddard Simon Dring John Bolton Samuel Newton Gerand Roberts Henry Clark to any three of them or to any other three of that way you judg more convenient as a sign c. VII Thirty pounds to the Church of the First Born who worship God in Spirit and have their Conversations in Heaven Give to Mr. Robert Bacon Mr. VVilliam Rawlinson and to Mr. Blackborow My request to them is That they would receive this 30 l. of you and therewith provide a Dinner or Supper which I chiefly do for the
present Church of Rome is the only True Church of Christ and all others that differ from her are Schismaticks and Hereticks good for nought but to be destroyed in Body and Soul concerning which I do most humbly crave leave to examine by the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles intending what I find to proceed from God's Holy Spirit of Truth which are the Things of God to treasure up in Joseph's Storehouse the rest proceeding from Man unregenerate in the fall meerly humane and what was learnt of Man in the Schools or from the Letter I intend to return back again as your own Mony in your own Sacks In the first place I must needs commend the Christian Spirit of him that wrot Fiat Lux who saith He was bettered by reading Quakers Anabaptists Books c. which shews him a Man that could receive Truth from any Man or Sect try all things and I hope receive and hold fast that which is good in every Man of all Religions Further he saith All Sects maintaining their own Opinion none condescending to others destroy all Love and Charity which wanting no Religion is any thing worth but in Charity Love and Patience he saith all Sects are pleased Also he saith Difference for Opinions is neither pious nor rational He also saith That none is fit to judg of all Sects that is of Any nor is the Atheist meet Further he saith The Spirit of Christ or Charity the Love of God being departed all Forms of Religion are but a meer Romance He also saith Truth is found in Vnity not in Division And I say Till all come to the Unity of the Spirit given to every Man to profit with there can never be Unity Also he saith That the Soul of Man is Immortal Intelligible and Rational and that Moderation Love and Charity is the Image of God in Man and that right Reason doth not cast away Christ but is one with him Also Whosoever brings to Vnity is blest though but an Owl or Fool as the Spirits Preaching is accounted foolishness by unregenerate Men Also he saith All Sects fight against each other till Christ be set up the Teacher in all These and the like I take to be Maxims of Truth meet to be considered and received In the next place the Roman Writers assert The Pope of Rome to be Head of the Church of Christ here on Earth and Christ 's Vicar as being Peter 's Successor on whose Person you say Christ 's Church is built proved out of Matth. 16.16 17. To which I make return and say That Peter's Person was not the Rock whereon Christ's Church is built but the Spirit of God which revealed to Peter the things of God as will most evidently appear by the Reasons following viz. First For that no Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any Man the Father save the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him Mat. 11.27 Gal. 1.12 16. 1 Cor. 2.10 1 Pet. 1.13 So it is the Revelation of God the Father gives the Knowledg of God the Son and it is the Spirit of Christ in the Saints revealing the Father and the Son which is the Rock whereon Christ's Church is built against which the Gates of Hell can never prevail Matth. 16.17 Besides had the Church bin built on Peter's Person had it not fallen into Hell when Peter's Person became Satan an Adversary to Christ and against him when he savoured more the Things of Man than the things of God read Mat. 16.23 and this was after Peter's Faith the Revelation of God was called the Rock And what became of the Church and Peter the Rock when Peter denied and forswore his Master Mat. 26.69 c. Had not then the Church of Christ fallen into Hell if Peter's Person had bin the Rock whereon it had bin built And I pray tell me What think you had become of the Church of Christ had it bin built on Peter's Person when Peter dissembled and would have brought in the Old Law which stood in divers outward Observations wherein the Kingdom of God doth not consist And was not this to bring in the first Covenant and to deny Christ come in the Flesh the Second Covenant Christ the Word in the Heart and Revelation of God in Peter before his Fall which is the Rock God builds his Church on against whom the Gates of Hell shall never prevail but when a Church savours the Things of Man more than the things of God the Gates of Hell will surely prevail against that Church And this Revelation of God was the Rock before Peter's Person was and before his Fall was and after his Fall was and is that Rock whereon all the People of God stand and are built an Habitation through the Spirit for God to dwell in Allelujah And do not you think St. Paul that great Apostle of the Gentiles did well in withstanding and reproving Peter to his Face even in the face of all the Congregation for endeavouring to bring in such a Heresy and Schism into the Church of Christ as to withdraw from the believing Gentiles and so by his Example to set up the Observations of the Old Law which stood in outward things which was to deny Christ the New Law the Word of Grace in the Heart God's everlasting Covenant of Light and Life to Jew and Gentile which certainly was and is a most pernicious Doctrine wherewith all the Jews were drawn from the Faith of Christ insomuch that Barnabas was also led aside by their dissimulation And for those who had run well and begun in the Spirit for them to imagine they ought to be made perfect by the Observation of things outward and carnal was a most damnable Heresy which Peter and the rest of the Jews and Barnabas first begun to divide the Church of God the Head from the Members was doubtless a great Schism and falling from the true Faith first delivered to the Saints which stood in the Revelation of Christ the Spirit 's teaching Allelujah When Christ bid Peter feed my Sheep you say Peter received Supremacy over the rest of the Apostles and was made General Pastor of the Church And where Christ said to Peter I will give thee the Keys of Heaven and what thou bindest in Earth shall be bound in Heaven and what thou loosest on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Was Peter's Key think you Carnal or any thing else but the Revelation of God's Spirit to Peter before his Fall which surely is the Key of David which openeth the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God which no Man can shut And have not all true Believers born of the Spirit the same Key and Authority to bind and loose as Peter had read John 20.22 23. So that you see the Power of the Keys and the feeding Christ's Sheep stands in receiving the Holy Ghost and not in Peter's Person as Peter himself afterwards confessed read 1 Pet. 5.2 Acts 20.28 saying to the Disciples Feed
Church of Rome and a great Rbel to his Prince I pray tell me Whether any comers to these things are made the more holy and perfect by the use of them as appearing to the Conscience Or do they take away the guilt of Sin in the Conscience whilst the Witness of God condemns I say nothing besides the Grace or Spirit of God in the Heart the Blood of Christ can give Repentance and sprinkle the Conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God Allelujah And who brought in pious Frauds setting forth false Miracles never truly wrought c. for pious Ends Is not this Man's Wisdom a Lie and contrary to the Wisdom and Truth of God And when came in your Index Expurgatorius wherein Books are purged or condemned that set forth the Prince's Right over the Clergy in Temporals also expunging out of Ancient Fathers and Decrees of Councils what you like not Who invented the Mass-Book Invocation and Prayers to the Saints departed for the Living and for the Dead Were these things brought into the Church from the beginning and by the Command of God or in the dark night of Apostacy by Man's prescription when the false Church the Whore and false Prophet ruled after the True Church was fled into the Wilderness out of the sight and reach of them that sought to devour her And can Prayers prevail with God that are invented by Man which do not proceed from the Spirit of God which Prayer is heard in all that it asketh But Prayers made by and proceeding from Man in the Fall in the unregenerate state are an abomination to the Lord for God heareth not Sinners but hears and answers them only who by Christ's mediation in our hearts truly repent hate and forsake their Sin and who are Regenerate and born again of his Spirit and that pray in the Power and Demonstration of this Spiritual Birth such and only such though in a Groan or Sigh God the Father hears answers and shews Mercy unto according as they desire Allelujah And when was Purgatory found out a Place to purge the Souls of Men that repent not but live and die in Trespasses and Sins Had ye not this from the Jews or from Man in the Fall I declare and say as I am a Priest of God in the New Covenant of Grace That there is no other Purgatory neither in this World nor in any other World to come save the Blood of Christ the Lamb of God slain by Sin ever since the Foundation of the World even when Cain killed innocent Abel then did Christ who was before Abraham was suffer in Abel which Blood of Christ the New Covenant cries for vengeance against and upon all that spill it and upon all that crucifie the Lord of Life and such as resist and quench God's Holy Spirit of Grace in themselves the only one Sacrificer and Mediator between God and Man the Saints only Redeemer Sanctifier and Saviour Allelujah And woe be to them from the Lord God under whose Skirts is found the Blood of the Souls of the poor Innocent the Church of Christ whom he hath purchased washed and cleansed with his own Blood his own Light and Life in themselves which the Faithful eat and drink and is the Blood of Sprinkling which speaketh better things than did the Blood of Abel whose Blood crieth for vengeance against them that spill it which Blood of Christ God's Spirit of Grace is that which washeth and cleanseth true Believers from all Sin and which Blood redeems up to God out of the Fall into Abraham's Bosom the Habitation of the Faithful where God's Honour and Glory dwelleth Thus God's Spirit only is that which purifieth and redeemeth the Soul from all pollution of Flesh and Spirit Amen Allelujah As it is written Isa 1.25 Psal 51.7 Mal. 3.3 Prov. 16.6 1 Pet. 1.22 23. 1 John 3.3 And this I have further to say to the Church of Rome both to the Clergie and Laity That whosoever amongst them hath not the Spirit of Christ to wash and cleanse and to lead them into Truth and Righteousness is no true Christian no true Member of Christ's Church nor can be saved or inherit the Kingdom of Heaven as it is written John 3.3 Rom. 8.9 11. 1 Cor. 2.10 and 12.13 2 Cor. 13.5 Who made Parish-Churches supplying them with Parish-Priests made by a carnal Ordinance of Man and set forth Tithes forcing the payment of them by carnal Weapons the Magistrate's Sword no Gospel-way of maintenance For as Christ's Ministers receive freely of his fulness Grace for Grace so they give and where only they sow Spiritual Things of them they reap Carnal without Hire or for filthy Lucre much less by force of Man's Law For most certainly this forced Maintenance was a thing of Man's Institution and brought in by the false Church the Whore the false Prophet riding the Beast the Civil Magistrate in the dark night of Apostacy after the True Church was fled into the Wilderness not seen of Man but well known of God and whose Life was hid in Christ with God Allelujah And when were Indulgences and Pardons brought in by the Pope's Bulls and when Limbus Patrum and Processions on Palm-Sunday c. Were these things the Command of God or the Command of Man known or practised by the Primitive Saints or came they in in the dark Night of Apostacy after the True Church was fled into the Wilderness yea or nay Who brought in or when came in the Inquisition that takes away Mens Lives for Opinion's sake Was this Christian like by God's Command or by Man's think you And was not the Jewish Jubile brought in by Boniface the third more to increase the Riches and to shew the outward Pomp of the Church of Rome than by any Command or Example of Christ for the same And did not Christ foretel That many should come in his Name but not in his Spirit false Christs and false Prophets and should deceive many and those were they that came in Sheeps cloathing outwardly seeming holy but inwardly were ravenous Wolves destroying all that differed from them or refused to receive their Mark their outward Superstitions and shews of Holiness and though roved from the Spirit of God yet spake good words of Truth by which they deceived the Hearts of the Simple and brought in the Old Covenant which was but a Type Figure and Shadow of the New standing in outward observations which shadow of the Old drove out the substance of the New Covenant Christ in Spirit which New Covenant stands in the inward Spiritual Grace the Word in the Heart And was not this bringing in the Old and setting up the Old a denying Christ the New to be come in the Flesh of the Saints the new and living Way So that whosoever comes to God must come by through and in him who is the Way the Truth and Life of God Allelujah And in this roving from the Spirit and setting up the Old Law of
is the Rule of a Christian not an outward literal Command as the Jews had To exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees is to be clean within as in outward Acts. Jews and Turks better than Christians who transgress Christ's Law when they will not Moses's nor Mahomets The clean Soul of a Christian is the House of God and so the House of Prayer whose Body is his Temple Disciples did greater Miracles than Jesus when Christ was risen in them Every Man living in the state of Grace is a perpetual Miracle so our Water is turned into Wine Christ's Father and Mother are not Carnal but Spiritual Adam's Sin nor our natural Infirmities not imputed to us neither are our actual and malicious Sins our Infirmities Vertue conduces infinitely to the length and content of our Lives and Vice the contrary 'T is a vast Sum that will pay the Debt of Intemperance and Lust Though most deny Scripture to be an Allegory yet all Men in most things use it so and it is then rightly used when by Inspiration we see the Heavenly through the Earthly and the Spiritual through the Carnal I also lately read a worthy Treatise writ by Mr. Edw. Fowler of North-hill in Bedfordshire printed Anno 1671 holding forth the Principles of certain Moderate Divines of the Church of England in which they declare That the design of Christianity is to work real inward Righteousness and that love to God and Goodness is the highest Principle and that true Righteousness is the New Creature in us And that John the Baptist Christ's Forerunner's Work was to preach Repentance and to cleanse and purify the Heart and Soul Mal. 3.1 3 4. Acts 10.35 Dan. 9.24 that Christ may enter in and bring forth everlasting Righteousness I have likewise read a Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London by Mr. John Sharp upon 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable c. wherein he most excellently sets forth the happiness and profitableness of a vertuous Religious Life even in the straitest Paths of Repentance and putting off the Old Man with his Deeds of Darkness and afterwards to put on the New Man begot by the Word and Spirit of Grace in the Heart God's Covenant of Light to all the World read Deut. 30.6 11 to 15. with Rom. 10.6 8. Jer. 31.31 32 33. with Heb. 8.8 Isa 42.6 49.6 Luke 2.30 31 32. John 1.4 9. 3.16 Rom. 12.3 1 Cor. 12.7 Tit. 2.11 the which teacheth and enableth every one that will receive him to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and religiously in this present World Which certainly as saith the Preacher is the most profitable happy and blessed Life both for Soul and Body imaginable Likewise I have read a Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London by Mr. Joseph Glanvil upon 1 Pet. 1.2 See that ye love one another Wherein are delivered most excellent Truths both Catholick and Apostolick his desire is to unite all Perswasions into this Principle of Love in which Work my Soul hath long travelled In which Discourse he also saith Love is extensive to all Mankind and the more General the more Christian and like God To love for Opinion sake that is self-Love but to love the Principle and Image of God as Christ loves the Poor the Blind and Ignorant though his Enemies is God-like Also that Love is the Image of God pourtray'd and lively drawn on the Regenerate Soul Love is the Bond of Christian Union and when that breaks all goes into Confusion both in Church and State Christ Reigns when all unite in the Principle of Love and a holy Life which will be the fall of Antichrist Vertue and Goodness is to be owned in all Parties and Opinions and if they were practised it would reconcile all Men to each other True Religion is not to fill Heads with Notions and Opinions but to sow in the Mind the Seed of Vertue to direct to govern Passions and to destroy Self-will Christian Love is necessary but agreement in Opinions is neither necessary nor possible In eager and passionate Disputes Charity is always lost and Truth seldom or never found To give evil Names to Dissenters is Persecution Likewise I have read a Discourse concerning the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and of our Union and Communion with him made by Mr. William Sherlock who wrote an Answer to some new opinionated Doctors as he calls them which teach That by being acquainted with the Person of Christ and rouling themselves on him and believing the History of his Life Death and Resurrection that this Faith alone is imputed for Righteousness to them without having any thing that is good wrought in them by Christ or they doing any thing that is good and righteous in themselves That we are saved by Grace though we be disobedient to the Spirit of Grace God's Talent given to every one to profit withal Also they teach That God hath elected some to Salvation and others to Reprobation without regard had to Man's Obedience or Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ Jesus which Gospel is Christ the Word in the Heart as saith Rom. 10.6 7 8. To which and much more of this nature Mr. Sherlock maketh answer That the Person of Christ will never save those whom his Gospel the Word in the Heart and their own Consciences condemn who walk contrary to his Grace the Spirit of Light That Christ's Kingdom is erected by conquering Mens Minds by his Spirit to the Obedience of God such he pardons their sins and raiseth them unto an immortal Life For this end God sent his Son the Word in the beginning into the World to destroy the Works of the Devil to regenerate and redeem Man to the Obedience of Christ the Word And that nothing avails with God but the New Creature which is Christ in the Saints that came to be our Example and Guide to Heaven as well as our Mediator and Advocate and therefore we must imitate his Life if we would enjoy the benefit of his Death and Intercession God in the first Creation designed all Men for happiness and certainly in the second Creation he would have all Men saved and come to the Knowledg of Christ the Truth the Word in the Heart by yielding Obedience to Christ his Gospel and Spirit of Grace That nothing can be the happiness of a reasonable Creature but conformity to the Divine Nature That the great Mystery of the Recovery of Mankind out of the Fall consists only in repairing the Divine Image As in the first Creation we were made after God's Image so in the second we are renewed in the Spirit of our Minds after his Image which by Disobedience we lost and is recovered no other way than by obedience True expressions of Love to Christ is Obedience to his Laws writ in the Heart And that the Soul and Mind of a good Man or regenerate Man is the Palace or Temple of God That
sprinkled from evil Works to serve the Living God are with faithful Abraham happy and blessed Allelujah Notwithstanding the Disciples had received the first Fruits of the Spirit yet they were to go to Jerusalem and there wait in that Spirit till they were indued with a fuller measure of the same Spirit from on High then they went forth converting many thousand Souls turning them from Darkness to Light from the power of Satan to the Power of God his Spirit in themselves and as they had received the Spirit freely so they gave the Spirit read Act. 2.1 2 3 4. 33.37 38 39 41. 19.3 4 5 6. 1 Tim. 4.14 6.20 2 Tim. 1.9 10 14. Tit. 3.5 6. In the Power of which Spirit the Disciples did not only do the Works and Miracles Jesus did but greater when as Dr. Jeremy Taylor saith Christ was risen in them Thus by the foolishness of the Spirit 's Preaching it pleased God to save those that believe and obey the Word in the Heart as Doctor Taylor saith which Word Incarnate is God's Preacher to all the World and God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah Singing Psalms Likewise be pleased to consider Whether the Psalms now sung in Parish-Churches for Matter and Form be the same sung by the Saints in the Primitive Times who sung that they witnessed to be true with understanding of the Spirit making melody in their Hearts to the Lord And whether those that sing what they cannot witness true in themselves do not sing lies in hypocrisy yea or nay And whether any can in Truth sing the 131 Psalm that is not born of the same humble and meek Spirit that was in Christ Jesus O Lord I am not puft in mind I have no scornful eye I do not exercise my self in things that are too high But as a Child that weaned is even from his Mothers Breast So have I Lord behav'ed my self in silence and in rest And whether any that have not entred into or gone through the New Birth can sing the 17th Psalm verse 3. Thou hast well tri'd me in the night and yet could'st nothing find That I have spoken with my tongue that was not in my mind And for the works of wicked Men and paths perverse and ill For love of thy most holy Name I have refrained still Psal 42. vers 3 4. The tears always are my repast which from mine eyes do slide When wicked Men cry out so fast where now is God thy Guide Psal 102.4 5 6 7 8. And as an hearth my bones are burnt my heart is smitten dead And withers like the grass that I forget to eat my bread c. Thus was David Crucified with Christ and buried with him in Baptism which none can truly sing but those that are partakers with Christ in his Death and Sufferings Allelujah Also Psal 6.2 c. For I am weak therefore O Lord of mercy me forbear And heal me Lord for why thou know'st my bones do quake for fear Psal 22.14 15. But I drop down like water shed my joints in sunder break My heart doth in my body melt like wax against the heat c. Psal 31.1 4 5. O Lord I put my trust in thee let nothing work me shame As thou art just deliver me and set me quite from blame The Psalms following can no Man truly sing but those that are born of the Spirit and have Christ the New Birth in them Such only as are risen with Christ can sing the triumphant new Song of Moses and the Lamb and of Simeon and Mary the Virgin Allelujah Psal 18.4 6. The pangs of death did compass me and bound me every where The flowing waves of wickedness did put me in great fear I thus beset with pain and grief did pray to God for grace And he forthwith did hear my plaint out of his holy place Vers 18 19 20 21 22. He brought me forth in open place whereas I might be free And kept me safe because he had a favour unto me For that I walked in his way and in his paths have trod And have not sinned wickedly against the Lord my God c. Verse 22. But pure and clean and uncorrupt appear'd before his face And did restrain from wickedness and sin in any case Vers 28 29. For by thy help an host of Men discomfit Lord I shall By thee I scale and over-leap the strength of any Wall c. Vers 31 32 33 34. The God that girdeth me with strength is he that I do mean That all the ways wherein I walk did ever-more keep clean c. He did in order put my hands to battel and to fight To break in sunder bars of brass he gave mine arms the might Thou teachest me thy saving health thy right hand is my tower Thy love and familiarity doth still increase my power And Verse 38. For thou didst gird me with thy strength to war in such a wise That they be all scatter'd abroad that up against me rise Vers 41 42 43 44 45 46. And still like dust before the wind I drive them under feet And sweep them out like filthy clay that sticketh in the street Thou keep'st me from seditious Folk that still in strife are led And thou dost of the Heathen Folk appoint me to be Head c. Vers 48 49. And for this cause O Lord my God to thee give thanks I shall And sing out praises to thy Name amongst the Gentiles all c. Allelujah Psalm 23. to the end My Shepherd is the living Lord nothing therefore I need In pastures fair and waters calm he sets me forth to feed c. Psal 4.1 7 8 9. O God that art my Righteousness Lord hear me when I call Thou hast set me at liberty when I was bound in thrall c. Psal 42.7 8. One grief another in doth call as Clouds burst forth their voice The floods of evil that do fall run over me with noise Yet I by day felt thy goodness and help at all assays Likewise by night I did not cease the living God to praise Verse 9. I am perswaded thus to say to him with pure pretence O Lord thou art my guide and stay my rock and sure defence Allelujah Psal 59.16 17. But I will shew thy strength abroad thy goodness I will praise For thou art my defence and God at need in all assays c. Psal 119.11 Within my heart and secret thoughts thy words I have hid still That I may not at any time offend thy Godly Will Vers 13 14 15 16. My lips have never fear'd to preach and publish day and night The judgments all that did proceed from thy mouth full of might Vers 22 55 56 57 67. Lord turn from me rebuke and shame which wicked men conspire For I have kept thy Covenant with zeal as hot as fire Vers 105 167 168. Even as a Lanthorn to my feet so doth thy Word shine bright And to my paths where-ever I
and Baptists which Three I find so neerly united together as to the many Doctrines they place Salvation in that I join you in one Epistle together I confess I find you differing one from another and amongst your selves in Matters of Discipline and some other few Opinions wherein the Kingdom of God doth not consist and which a little Charity and Brotherly Love would easily unite and reconcile I know such and the like Things you much contend for and divide from each other as did and doth the Protestant from the Papist the Presbyterian from the Episcopal Protestant the Independent from the Presbyterian the Baptist from the Independent the Quaker as Ismael hath his hand against every one and all for nothing else than about Words and some outward Observations so that Christ's seamless Coat made of Good-will to all is much divided torn and rent who is one Spirit of Love to you all sent down from the Father of Spirits a Light to Jew and Gentile and to be God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Him who is the Eternal Son and Heir of God's Kingdom Him who is come into the World to save Sinners and to bless us by turning every one of us from the evil of our ways Against him do the Husbandmen Gog and Magog all Sects though never so different unite and join as Herod and Pilat did against the Lord 's Anointed in the Sanctified who is now coming to take his Kingdom though the Heathen never so much rage thereat and shall must and will rule and reign in them for ever and ever Amen Allelujah I know by what I have read in your Books that you Three all agree as do many other of the Sects in Christendom in the Birth of Christ as he was the Son of Man born of a Virgin that he lived a Holy Life was crucified dead and buried that he arose the third day and ascended into Heaven with his Natural Body of Flesh Blood and Bones And that your believing of what Christ did and suffered here on Earth in his own Person is your Salvation which Faith of yours I humbly crave leave to examine by the Scriptures of Truth And as I am a Priest of God to the World by having Christ Jesus in me I say and declare That unless ye be born of the Spirit and have the same Spirit in you that was in Christ Jesus to lead into Truth and Righteousness as it did him ye are no true Christians nor ever can see the Kingdom of God read John 3.3 Rom. 8.9 c. 2 Cor. 13.5 And except the Spirit of God's Grace kill Sin in us as in him Christ's Death at Jerusalem will do us but little good read Rom. 6.4 5 8. 8.6 10 11. 1 Cor. 15.31 Gal. 2.20 Ephes 2.5 Phil. 3.10 Col. 2.13 And as for Christ's Resurrection and Ascension without us this will do us no good unless in the Power of the same Spirit we be raised with him to sit down in Heavenly Places together with Christ Jesus read Rom. 6.4 8 11. 1 Cor. 6.14 Ephes 2.6 Col. 2.12 3.1 I also know and declare That in the true Christ are two Natures united in one Person First As he was the Son of God from all Eternity and is the Birth of God in all the Sanctified He is God blessed for ever Secondly As he was the Son of Man born of Humane Nature and of a Reasonable Soul subsisting as such he could do nothing of himself and denied himself and his own Will and was compassed about with many Infirmities like unto other Men Sin only excepted read John 5.30 Matth. 26.39 Heb. 5.2 As he was the Son of Man he was but a Creature having beginning of Days and end of Life But as he was the Son of God he was Alpha and Omega without beginning of Days and end of Life God's Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life to the World As he was the Son of Man filled with the Holy Ghost he had a Body prepared to do the Will of God here on Earth as it is in Heaven as all that are born of God have not only as our Example but for our Consolation and Salvation and thus it is with all that are born of the Spirit read 2 Cor. 1.5 6 7. John 13.15 Phil. 3.15 16 17. 1 Tim. 4.12 James 5.10 1 Pet. 1.21 So you see it is the Birth of the Spirit in all the Sanctified and not the Humane Nature that is the Saviour Not what Jesus did as he was the Son of Man at Jerusalem in his own Person only but what he did and for ever doth in the Saints as he was is and for ever shall be one and the same God's only begotten Son the Word in the Heart his Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life to Jew and Gentile and so he is God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah Moreover I would you might understand That all born of the Spirit are born of God and have the mind and Spirit in them that was in Christ Jesus and do the same Works and greater Works When as Dr. Taylor saith Christ is risen in them for are they not the Light of the World and Salt of the Earth walk as Christ walked and are in this World as he is in Heaven read Gen. 5.24 2 Cor. 6.16 Gal. 5.16 Col. 2.6 1 John 2.6 1 Cor. 2.16 Phil. 2.5 Matth. 5.14 Gal. 2.20 1 John 4.17 Mark 16.17 18. John 14.12 Rev. 1.5 6. As Christ by the Spirit of the Father was filled with the Holy Ghost in which Spirit the fulness of the Godhead doth dwell bodily of whose fulness is given to all the Sanctified Grace for Grace And as they receive the Spirit of Grace freely so they dispense the Word and Spirit of Grace freely for did not Paul give the Spirit read Acts 19.3 to 7. And was not that the Spirit Timothy received by the laying on of his hands called The Gift of God 2 Tim. 1.6 And did not he that ministred the Spirit to the Galatians give the Spirit to them read Gal. 3.5 And did not Paul by virtue and power of the Spirit 's Administration convert Thousands turning them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God And was it not by the virtue of the same Power of the Spirit that Peter converted at one Sermon about Five thousand And was it not the Power of the same Spirit in Christ Jesus in the Apostles and their Followers and in Moses and Aaron and in all the Prophets and Men of God that wrought and did all the Wonders and Miracles ever since the World began And this I do further declare to all the World as my Opinion That whosoever is not born of this Spirit and led by this Spirit of God is no true Christian nor Minister of Christ nor ever can profit the People or convert Souls to God I know that a Man void of the Spirit may through the Light of
THE EPISTLES OF Mr. ROBERT RICH TO THE Seven Churches so called by Him Viz. 1. To the Roman Catholick 2. The Episcopal-Protestant 3. The Presbyterian in one Ternary 4. The Independent in one Ternary 5. The Anabaptist in one Ternary 6. The Quaker 7. The Church of the First-Born Containing his Testimony to God's Approbation of the Good and Aversation to the Evil in all Persuasions Published by particular direction given by the Author in his life-time Together with an Abstract of a Letter of the Authors declaring his Gift or Benevolence sent to each of the said Churches London Printed And are to be sold by Francis Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhil below the Royal Exchange 1680. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THe Author of these ensuing Epistles after he arrived at a true understanding of Things did not value himself upon the account of that splendor and magnificence wherein he formerly appeared upon the Stage of this World For though he were born of a worthy Family had many great and noble Relations enjoyed the accession of a comely Personage and Presence lived in high Estimation Opulency and Credit in the state and condition of a Merchant in the City of London for many Years yet all these things he passeth by in the Character which he hereafter gives of himself For after he was once truly enlightned none of them did elate or lift up his Mind nay he was willing to sacrifice them all to a better prospect even a Pisgah-view of the Heavenly Canaan Hence it was that he chose rather to suffer Affliction with a despised People than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season Hence also it came to pass that as the Work of Conversion is called a New Birth as if the true Date of our Lives did Commence therefrom so our Author over-looked the former part of his Life as I hinted but now in the account he gives of himself neither did it any otherwise affect him than with regret and sorrow for having lived so unfruitfully so long a time To eat drink and be cloathed and so to walk up and down on the face of the Earth as the manner of most Men is is but a low mean and unprofitable Life For then we begin to live profitably when we come to understand the use of Life and when we devote it to the prosecution of those ends for which it was given us which are The Glory of God the Good of our Neighbour and the Salvation of our own and others Souls It pleased God to carry the Author above the Temptations of this World by breaking in upon his Soul in a Divine and Heavenly Work wherewith he was exercised for some Years Having thus changed his Station and given up his Name to Christ he was first engaged in a particular FOrm amongst the People called Quakers The manner how he came to be engaged in that Administration his carriage therein and recession therefrom cannot be better expressed than in his own words in a Letter of his sent from Barbadoes where he for above twenty Years resided dated Novemb. 30. 1678. In the Year 1654 says he I became a Quaker in which Dispensation of John I was truly baptized into Repentance and amendment of Life which blotted out all my former Sins and for two Years time was in the strength of this Baptism carried with delight both to do and to suffer even above and beyond my Equals All which time I lived after the Mode of that Sect a severe strict Life a Pharisee of Pharisees till in the Year 1656 when my dear Brother J. N. suffered for confessing to Christ in the Saints my love to that Testimony made me willing to stand by him in his Sufferings and to bear his Cross for which Testimony the World the Powers of Darkness then ruling my Kindred and my Brethren the Quakers hated me and sold me into Egypt by their many false Reports Yet there the Lord my God appeared to me and finding me in my Innocency wherewith he had cloathed me hath ever since become my exceeding great Reward He being thus in great part disingaged from that particular Form of Profession having a deep insight into things and judging that the whole Body of Truth was not circumscribed within the Bounds of one particular Persuasion but lay scattered and dispersed amongst the Outcasts of Israel i.e. The several Parties and Opinions which did all though some more mistakingly and with less refinedness than others lay claim to Religion and to hopes of Eternal Happiness therein and hereby attaining a more universal Spirit he found freedom in his mind to dive into the several Forms of Professors now appearing in this or other Lands with a design to cull out the Gold i.e. that which was good in all and to reject the Dross A Work as requiring a discerning Judgment into things that differ so apt to expose the Undertaker to the dislike of most Parties few especially in things of the Mind being willing to have Errors Misapprehensions or Mistakes imputed to them He that endeavours to interpose himself an Arbiter or Reconciler between Disagreeing Parties especially in the heat of their Contentions may receive blows from both but thanks from neither at least till the Fit be over and the Mind retiring to a sedate Recollection becomes more sensible of and thankful for such friendly Interposures Our Friend then being engaged in His Thoughts in this Work and knowing it to be a Character of pure and undefiled Religion to visit the Fatherless and Willows in their distress finding also that a particular Spirit was very predominant among Professors the Apostle complaining of it in his time That all sought their own and that few did naturally care for the Estate one of another insomuch that James makes Beneficence and doing good to others the Symptom of True Faith Hence it was that in his first Address he was willing to visit the Poor of every Congregation rather than the Rich and That he did by his early Liberality transmitting Thirty pounds apiece to the Necessitous and Indigent of every Party which it seems was received by them all as a Testimony of his general Love as by their Acquittances hereafter mentioned may appear The manner of transmitting the said Sums and the distributing of them as aforesaid hath bin formerly published in print in a Letter of R. R. to J. R. his Friend an Abstract whereof is here also presented and in each of the subsequent Epistles it is also further hinted therefore I need say no more of it in this place Having made that fair Introduction his next Work was according to his Promise to give each Party his words of Advice and Counsel which are contained in the ensuing Epistles The Differences between each Party are described in the Epistles themselves and therefore my labour here in endeavouring to make out their disagreement may be superseded One thing more the Publishers hereof think fit to declare That
persecuted the True Church and Members of Christ according to those Laws made by Man many a thousand even to death And this came to pass that the Prophecy of Daniel might be fulfilled who saw the Beast the Roman Monarch should have power to scatter to destroy and to make desolate the Holy City and Holy People for a time times and half a time which time is One thousand two hundred and sixty days and taking a Year for a day is One thousand two hundred and sixty Years He that is wise and standeth in his Lot as Daniel did in the measure of God's Holy Spirit the Lot of God's Heritage knoweth the meaning of the Spirit in those deep mysterious and hidden Things of God in which Spirit it is seen that the time times and half a time is accomplished that the Church of Christ is to stay in the Wilderness who is coming out of her Wilderness condition out of her mourning Sackcloth as a Woman cloathed with the Sun of Righteousness and a Crown of Stars upon her Head the Faithful Chosen and truly Sanctified and having the Moon all inferior and borrowed Lights under her Feet where the Citizens of Sion the New Jerusalem have no need of a Candle or any teaching of Man for the Lord God by his Inspiration is their Light and they need no other Light but as the Unction the anointing teacheth them and is the true Inward and Infallible Teaching in which Light of the Lord God the Nations that are saved walk Allelujah Thus you see when how and by whom the Apostacy from the true Faith and Church of Christ came in and wherein it still standeth even in savouring as Peter did the things of Man more than the things of God the inspiration of his blessed holy Spirit Allelujah And this Apostacy appeared in the Apostles days whereof Peter was the Ring-leader as may be seen Gal. 2.11 when Peter dissembled and forsook Christ his Spirit the Rock the True Church and Faith the Corner-Stone the sure Foundation of the True Church throughout all Generations God's Covenant of Light to all the World and his Salvation to the Ends of the Earth his Talent and Measure of his Holy Spirit of Grace given to every one to profit with in the which disobeying stands our Condemnation and in obeying of it standeth our eternal Salvation our Peace and Rest with God Allelujah Thus by Peter's bad Example the Church of Christ had like to have bin lost in the Apostacy had not St. Paul that great Apostle of the Gentiles stood in the Gap in withstanding Peter so boldly to his very Face for this his dissimulation which did not only draw away the Jews but Barnabas was also carried away by their dissimulation by their compelling the Gentiles to live as did the Jews they brought a great Schism into the Church and had like even at that time to have carried the whole Church into the Apostacy had not St. Paul withstood them Which Apostacy afterwards came in by observing the Old Law and other Heathenish Customs prescribed by Man rather than the Commands of God For did not the Apostacy come in by observing of Days Months Times and Years by observing Holy Days New-Moons and Sabbath-Days or Sundays so called from the Heathens read Gal. 4.10 Col. 2.8 16 17. Luke 17.20 What ado was there about the keeping of Easter-day of outward Circumcision Baptism and Supper all which were but Figures of the Inward What Quarreling and Disputes were there even in the Apostle's days about these Matters and soon afterwards between the Arrians and those of one Substance concerning the Nature and Being of Christ one Bishop thrusting out another and killing one another about these outward Things of Man's setting up such things wherein the Kingdom of God is not found nor the Church of Christ edified but much Blood spilt and Humility Love and Charity lost in these bitter Disputes and Contests and all about such beggarly Rudiments as these which no ways did benefit the Church but destroy it in so much that those called Christians were worse than the Heathens in Conversation and more like their Father the Devil than the Children of God or Brethren of Christ Jesus Allelujah And as the Apostacy increased and waxed strong by savouring the things of Man more than the things of God then came in the Abomination which made desolate the Observation of Christmass-day Whitsunday c. and other Saints days both Feasting and Fasting-days keeping of Lent prescribing what Meats should be eaten and what not About this time came in also Altars made with mens hands and brought into the Church to worship God withal which in the Old Law was but a shadow of Christ in the Saints the New Law which Altar and Tabernacle God pitched in Man and is God's Workmanship and not the Work of Man's hand And did not the Apostacy bring in the Seven Sacraments viz. John's Baptism which stood in the outward Element of Water in the place of Christ's Baptism which consisteth in the operation of the Holy Ghost in the Saints the which cleanseth from Sin and begets the New Man Christ in them their Hope and Glory Allelujah Did not also the Sacrament of the Altar come in with the Apostacy consisting of carnal Bread and Wine which are but Creatures turned you say by the Priest's Consecration into the Real Body and Blood of Christ whereas the Real Body of Christ is not Carnal nor Elementary but the true Blood that came from Heaven the Blood and Spirit of Christ the Vine and is the true Wine that chears the heart of God and Man Read Judges 9.13 Matth. 26.29 John 6 51 63. which Bread and Wine whosoever eateth and drinketh shall live for ever as it is written Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my Voice and open the Door of the Heart I will saith Christ come in to him and Sup with him and he with me Which Supper is not an outward carnal eating and drinking as the false Church supposeth but is a Spiritual eating and drinking to receive Christ into our Hearts and feed on him there which nourisheth the Soul up into Eternal Life Allelujah Read John 6.27 33 48 51 57 63. Rev. 3.20 The other Five Sacraments as Confirmation Penance Orders Marriage Extream Vnction are these think you or the two former more a Sacrament Similitude or Representation of Christ than the meanest Animal that God hath made And where doth the Scripture call these or any one of them a Sacrament Is not Christ the Beginning and End of all God's Works figured out by a Lion a Lamb yea by every thing that hath Life Is he not the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the Valleys yea by things that have no Life For is not Christ the Door and Way to God And may not we as well bow down and worship God in these things as in any of these Seven Sacraments And to fall down and
Darkness to Light save those only that are born of the Spirit and so have Christ the Word in their Hearts as Paul had and all true Ministers of Christ have Read Gal. 1.15 16. 2.20 Eph. 2.10 Col. 1.27 2.6 3.16 2 Cor. 13.5 Thus learn to know Christ as all the truly sanctified know him not after the Flesh as he was the Son of Man nor after the Letter which kills but after the Spirit which begetteth Christ the new Man in us who is the only true Agnus Dei that takes away the Sins of the World of all that believe in him and that saves his People from their Sins as he did the Virgin Mary Luke 1.47 giving and encreasing Grace in them working all their Works in them and for them perfecting Holiness in all that love his Appearance which Work of Grace in our Hearts is our Sanctification Justification and Salvation Allelujah Thus being faithful to God in administring the things of God as you receive them from him on God's Name and in his Strength go on and prosper convert all Nations to Christ the Word in the Heart God's Covenant of Light to all the World to Christ the Rock and Revelation of God to Peter on which his Church is built which Spirit of Grace guided the Church of Rome when she was so much renowned into Truth and Righteousness which Spirit of Truth gave St. Peter Repentance and led him out of his Fall where the Gates of Hell prevailed into all Truth and made him an able Minister of Christ not of the Letter but of the Spirit in which Spirit he faithfully served his Master in feeding his Sheep with Spiritual Food Christ the Bread and Water of Life from Heaven Allelujah And know that no Man can please God save Christ the new Man in the Saints who is created after the Image of God in Righteousness and true Holiness And the first Step towards Heaven and true Christianity is to be born of the Spirit for no Man can please God nor go to Heaven save he that came from Heaven even the Son of God in Man which always is in Heaven Read John 3.13 Also know that every Motion in Man's Heart to Good is the Inspiration and Revelation of God as every Motion to Evil proceeds from the World the Flesh and the Devil which Trinity is but one evil Spirit that rules in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience for of our selves we cannot so much as think a good Thought and without Inspiration and Revelation we can never know God the Father nor God the Son but by the Inspiration of God the Holy Ghost Nor can we know or act aright in the things of God but by the Revelation of his own Spirit a measure whereof is given to every one to profit withal Nor can we please God nor attain Salvation but as we are born of his Spirit and led by his Spirit into Truth and Righteousness as it is written Mat. 11.27 John 3.3 6.44 1 Cor. 2.10 11. Gal. 1.15 16. 1 Pet. 1.13 1 John 3.24 with 1 Cor. 6.11 17. 12.7 2 Cor. 3.3 6. Gal. 5.16 Eph. 2.22 3.16 1 Pet. 12.11 For the natural unregenerate Man tho never so knowing in Literature and other worldly Knowledg as to please the Ear and Understanding of a Man knoweth nothing of the things of God nor understandeth the Scriptures meaning nor Gospel of Christ nor can he preach it because these things are only spiritually discerned And he that wanteth this Spirit of God in him to be his Prophet his Priest his King to reveal the things of God to offer Prayers and Praises to God and to lead into Truth and Righteousness is no Minister of Christ nor true Christian neither can such a one ever inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Read Luke 4.18 8.10 24 45. Rom. 10.8 1 Cor. 2.10 11. 2 Cor. 3.6 4.3 4 6 7. Gal. 1.11 12. 1 Thess 1.5 3.8 1 Pet. 1.11 12. With John 3.3 Rom. 8.9 2 Cor. 13.5 1 Joh. 3.3 After this manner you having Christ the Bread and Water of Life in you then may you feed Christ's Lambs otherwise not and your selves being converted and turned from Darkness to Christ the Light in your selves then you may convert others else not And all that profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ be sure you feel God's Spirit to be your Commission both to begin and carry on that Work else all Preaching and Praying will be but vain and you cannot profit the People at all but must lie down in sorrow under all your own Kingdlings and Conceivings either from the Letter or what you have learned from Man in the Schools c. Thus you having Christ the Truth in your selves being born of the Spirit he will teach you to preach Truth and lead you into all Truth to the saving not only of your own Souls but also of the Souls of those that hear you Even so Amen Allelujah And there is but one thing needful to make the Church of Rome as much renowned now as ever which is That all forsake the Wisdom of the Flesh and walk in the Wisdom of the Spirit of Grace the Word in the Heart given to every one of all Religions to be their Teacher and Leader into the Way of Truth and Righteousness Allelujah Thus there are and have bin in all Ages and of all Opinions and Religions Witnesses of Christ's Birth who are begotten and born again of the Spirit which crucifieth Sin in us and of his Resurrection which createth the New Man in us in which Body of Christ the Spirit of Light which came from Heaven the Sanctified arise and ascend into Heaven and there sit even whilst their Mortal Bodies are here on Earth at the right Hand of God the Father in the Unity and Fellowship of Christ the Son and Blessed Spirit where are Pleasures for ever-more Allelujah Read Ephes 1.3 2.6 Heb. 12.22 1 John 4.17 Psal 16.11 Job 36.12 In the Unity of which Spirit of Grace Love and Charity I most humbly take my leave and in it rest one with all the faithful Seed of Abraham who are begot and born again of the Seed and Spirit of God and led by the same Spirit into Truth and Righteousness Allelujah In which Spirit of Truth I remain a Friend to the Vniversal Catholick Church of Christ throughout all the whole World amongst Jews and Gentiles yea a true Friend to the Souls of all Men whilst I am and when I am no more ROBERT RICH. To the Episcopal Protestants the most Reverend Arch-Bishops the Right Reverend the Lord Bishops the Reverend the Priests Doctors and Deacons and all Degrees of the Clergy and Laity of the Church of England ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah TO you that are Regenerate and born again of the Spirit and so are initiated into the Church of Christ made Members of his Body Spiritual through sanctification of the Holy
never divide the Word of Truth aright nor know Truth from Error neither have they a Will or Affection to follow the one or eschew the other for Man of himself not having Christ in him can neither think nor do any thing to please God 2 Cor. 2.17 The old Translation saith We do not sell the Word for Mony The last Translation saith We are not as many which corrupt the Word of God But such as sell for Mony making Merchandize of the Word and Prayer corrupt the Word and Prayer and are Simon Magus his Ministers and none of Christ's Ministers For as they receive freely so they give freely Allelujah In one place of the Common Prayer you say There is no health in us In another you pray quite contrary That God will not take his Holy Spirit from us also that God would cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of his Holy Spirit And you acknowledg That all the ends of the Earth have seen the Salvation of God Also that God hath openly shewed his Righteousness in the sight of all the Heathen And is not this what the Scriptures say John 1.9 That Christ the true Light enlightneth every one that cometh into the World And 1 Cor. 12.7 that a manifestation of the Spirit is given as a Talent to every one to profit with that thereby every one may work out his own Salvation if he will And Tit. 2.11 that the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to and in all Men that none may truly say there is no health in us for there is that Spirit of Grace in every one which is the saving Health of all that obey it and the Condemnation of all that disobey despise reject and hate it read John 3.19 c. So let all Men honour this Spirit of Light the Son as they do honour the Father of Lights Allelujah Our Father I observe you oft repeat Our Father which art in Heaven c. Which Prayer is good for a Disciple of Christ to pray one that is born of the Spirit such have right to call God their Father and such God owns for his Children but those that are unregenerate who serve the World the Flesh and the Devil whose Works they will do for such to call the Holy God Father is not this Blasphemy and a breach of the first Commandment to take the Name of God in vain And for any to teach this Prayer to unsanctified and unholy Men Is not this an Abomination that maketh desolate As I am a Priest to God I do declare That all Services Sacrifices Prayers and Acts of Religion offered up to God in any kind of Devotion whatsoever in an unclean unsanctified unregenerate Heart are an abomination to him but if any Man be a worshipper of God according to his Will writ in our Hearts him he heareth read Isa 66.3 Prov. 15.8 28.9 Psal 66.18 with John 9.31 Luke 16.15 Rev. 21.17 Seeing God doth not hear Sinners but only heareth his Son his Spirit the Word in the Heart go to him and in his Son's Name ask of the Father what ye want who heareth him and giveth liberally and upbraideth no Man ask of him to create in you a clean Heart and a right Spirit to be put within you who giveth his Holy Spirit to them that in sincerity ask it then shall ye have a Heart according to God's own Heart which will do all his Will here on Earth as it is done in Heaven This right Spirit God's Son within us worketh Miracles in the Saints as in the Son it raiseth our Souls out of the Grave of Trespasses and Sins to live in his Presence in Peace Joy and Tranquillity all the days of our Lives Amen Allelujah Athanasius his Creed Athanasius his Creed is also of great Authority in our Church which imposeth a necessity of believing the same on no less tearms than our Eternal Salvation yet I judg that there are amongst many useful Truths some things asserted in that Creed which are neither needful to Salvation nor can be made good by the Scriptures of Truth nor yet by Reason Humane or Divine First he saith There is one Person of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost and that the belief hereof as he expresseth it is absolutely necessary to Salvation 'T is true the Eternal God who filleth Heaven and Earth with his Presence as he is pleased to hold forth himself in the various manifestations of his absolute Greatness Wisdom and Love to the World so he is thereby known to us under several Names and Appellations as most proper to those manifestations of himself for what is the Father but God the Eternal Creator of all things who forms the Light and creates the Darkness and of nothing hath made all things to appear in their order out of the first Chaos and Darkness of Confusion And what is the Son but the same Eternal God manifest in Flesh the Word in the beginning with God and was and is God the Way the Truth the Life the Covenant of God's Salvation to the World This Son as I conceive is no distinguished Person from the Father but is in Deed and in Truth the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the Word by which the Worlds were made humbling himself into humane Nature to seek out lost Man and to gather him into a nearer acquaintance with his God And what is the Holy Ghost but the same Eternal Spirit Witnessing Quickning Renewing Sanctifying Purifying Cleansing and Comforting the Hearts of the Faithful where God is pleased to pitch his Tent and Tabernacle These are the Three that bear witness in Heaven and these Three are one not divided by personal distinction but one Individual and Eternal God in variety of manifestation Then he saith In this Trinity none is afore nor after another and none is greater nor less than another Yet in contradiction he saith the Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten Certainly he that begets must be before and greater than he that is begotten For my part I am more charitable than to believe all Men damned that never heard of Athanasius his Creed and am well satisfied that whosoever believes in Christ that was that is and is to come God's Everlasting Covenant of Light and Grace to Jew and Gentile and his Salvation to the ends of the Earth shall be saved even all of every Nation that feareth God and worketh Righteousness Allelujah Infant Baptism Concerning Infant Baptism with Water I may not say it is an Ordinance of Christ nor dare I call it Christ's Baptism neither do I think there is that virtue in it as is said That it ingrafts into Christ's Church makes a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven And whether those God-Fathers and God-Mothers that undertake promise and vow on behalf of the Child That when of Age he shall forsake the Devil
and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of the World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and that he shall keep God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of his life I say it would be inquired into Whether those God-Fathers and God-Mothers do perform and keep this Oath Promise and Vow themselves If not then why should they undertake for another what they perform not themselves And if I mistake not it is a Tenent of the Church of Englands That we cannot live free from sin so long as we live in this World If so were it not far better never to Swear and Vow than afterwards to break them Is not this to add Sin unto Sin and so bring a greater condemnation on our selves As I am a Priest to God by having Christ Jesus in me I declare That Infant Baptism is no Ordinance of Christ's neither is John's Baptism with Water Christ's Baptism Christ's Baptism is to be baptized into the Name Nature and Spirit of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which Baptism of the Spirit is the one Lord one Faith and one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all through all and in us all that are born of and baptized with the Spirit of Grace This Baptism is that alone which saveth by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and not by putting away the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God And this Baptism of the Spirit which followed John's Baptism of Repentance is that only which can initiate into the Church of God make a Child of God and give an entrance into and an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven Allelujah And I query Whether Infant Baptism were not the Invention of Man rather than the Command of God brought in by the false Church for advantage-sake in the long dark night of Apostacy after that the True Church was fled into the Wilderness there fed and preserved of God whilst the Whore the Beast and false Prophet ruled who set up Shadows instead of Christ the Substance the Letter above the Spirit Man's Baptism which is with Water instead of Christ's by Fire which is the Holy Ghost And instead of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ the New Man which is the Saints Righteousness they put on a white Linnen Surplice to make them seem outwardly Holy that inwardly were full of Sin and Uncleanness full of Self-love Hypocrisy and Pride full of Covetousness Hatred Malice and all Uncharitableness And instead of bowing at the Name of God which is the Command of God Isa 45.23 that every knee should bow to him you bow at the Name of a Man not greater than is Immanuel which is the Name God himself gave the Virgin 's Birth Isa 7.14 who is the only begotten Son of God in all the Sanctified that saves his People from their Sins And your bowing at the Name of Jesus rather than at the Name Immanuel doth it not demonstrate you to be worshippers of Angels rather than the true God And for you to bow down to any Letters or Syllables joined into a Name of God or Man is this think you to worship God in Spirit and in Truth as he requireth And for any to bow down and worship any Thing or Name that is not purely God alone is most certainly Idolatry and false Worship And be not ignorant that the Name of God is his Power his Love shed abroad in our Hearts his Immanuel a strong Tower whereinto the Righteous flee and are there in Peace Rest and Safety Allelujah Holy Days Holy Days both Fasting Days and Feasting Days were they brought in by the Command of God or prescribed and imposed by Man Was not St. Paul afraid of his Galatians that he had bestowed his labour on them in vain who instead of setting up and forming of Christ the Day-Star in their Hearts fell to the observation of Days and Months and Times and Years setting up of Meats and Drinks what to Eat and when to eat and what and when to forbear respecting of New Moons and Sabbath Days one day more holy than another all which in the first Covenant were but shadows of good Things to come which the Saints possess and enjoy in the second Covenant which is Christ in them the end of the first Covenant their Hope their Crown and Glory Allelujah In the fourth Commandment you pray That God would incline your hearts to keep this Law which is to keep holy the Seventh day according to God's Command to the Jews Thus by your Traditions ye make void the Law of God and change the Truth of God into a Lie and by bringing in the Old Covenant which stands in divers outward Observations which maketh nothing perfect ye have thrust out the New Covenant Christ the Word in the Heart the Saints Teacher which perfecteth for ever those that are sanctified Allelujah The Lord's Supper The Lord's Supper I humbly declare to be a great Mystery not rightly understood by Man in the Fall It is not Carnal Bread and Wine neither Carnal Flesh and Blood as unregenerate Men apprehend and imagine Christ's Words and Works are more Spiritual than for Carnal Men to understand them it is the Spirit that quickneth and the Inspiration of God alone that giveth to man understanding in the things of God The true Supper of our Lord is when Christ stands at the door of our Hearts and knocks that we then open to him and he comes in to us and sups with us This is the right Supper of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus who is the First and the Last the Alpha and Omega of all our Graces and Mercies Wherefore my dear Hearts Open O ye Gates and be lift up ye everlasting Doors that Christ the King of Glory may come in and sup with you Allelujah So the Flesh and Blood Bread and Wine that comes from Heaven is Christ's Spirit of Light his Body which he gives for the Life of the World this is Meat indeed and Drink indeed that feeds and nourisheth the Soul up to Eternal Life which Cup of the New Testament is the saving Health of all Nations that dwell upon the Face of the whole Earth O my dearly Beloved take and receive eat and drink abundantly of this Cup of Salvation it is the new Wine in our Father's Kingdom a Fountain of Life that can never be drawn dry Allelujah Behold I shew to you a Mystery the Word in the Heart the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts is the Leaves of the Tree of Life St. John speaks of in the Revelations given for the healing of the Nations for the uniting of all Sects and Opinions in Religion into the one true Religion both Jews and Gentiles Barbarians and Scythians as well as Christians of all Sorts or Names whatsoever whether called Roman Catholicks Episcopal Protestants Presbyterians Independents Baptists Quakers Seekers Socinians Arminians or
by what other name known or distinguished even all that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted of him and dearly Beloved by me even all that in sincerity and uprightness of Heart walk in the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith they are enlightned even so Amen Allelujah Most Reverend Arch-Bishops right Reverend the Bishops with others the Reverend Doctors and Fathers of our Church I humbly beg leave of you to enquire Whether setling Ministers in Parish Churches and compelling all to hear them to Preach and to Pray first came in by the Command of Christ and by his Command so continue or came this in in the dark Night of Apostacy by Man's command whilst the false Church the Whore and false Prophet ruled after the True Church of Christ was fled into the Wilderness Tithes Also I query Whether Tithes set out in every Parish Church were done by a Command or Law of God or by a Law of Man And if you receive them as from a Command of God to the Levitical Priesthood then are you to maintain all the Poor the Fatherless and Widows out of them that there may not be a Beggar in England as there was not in Israel And if you receive them as from a Law of Man then Whether a forced Maintenance by Man's Law be a suitable and proper Maintenance for the Ministers of Christ Jesus who receive freely from him the Things of God and so they give and dispense freely those Things without Mony and without Price not for filthy Lucre-sake but of a ready Mind and only to them they sow Spiritual Things of them they reap Carnal and not by a Law of Compulsion but by the Law of Love only which is Christ's Law and Command to his Disciples and Followers Allelujah Preaching in Churches And whether all the Ministry placed in every Parish to Preach and to Pray are sent of God as Aaron was read Exod. 4.5 12.15 Deut. 4.5 And as all Christ's Ministers are and ever were Commissionated Assisted and Instructed by his Holy Spirit when and what they shall Preach and when and what they shall Pray but 't is not so with Ministers made by a Carnal Commandment of Man that receive their Commission from Man only Such run with Balaam after Gifts and Rewards who preach for Hire and seek for Gain from their quarters such I declare are no true Ministers of Christ neither can ever any such as have not Christ in them profit the Souls of People at all for all God's People are taught of him and great is their Peace Allelujah Doth not David say O God thou hast taught me from my Youth up And the Meek God doth teach And Job who was no Israelite but an Edomite saith He did teach from the Hand of the Lord and that he was taught by immediate Revelation and Inspiration of the Almighty And Isaiah saith That in God's Mountain which is his Spirit he teacheth of his ways and that all God's Children are taught of him and that God had anointed him to Preach which Unction is Truth in the Inward Parts and no Lie and teacheth the Way of God truly which teaching of God's Spirit is the way to God wherein no Man can err though a Fool. And Jeremiah saith In those days of the Spirits teaching I will make a New Covenant saith the Lord for I will write my Law in their Hearts and put my Spirit in their inward parts and they shall teach no more every Man their Neighbour for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest Allelujah And Jonah preached what he received from the Mouth of the Lord and what the Lord taught him And Micah a true Prophet of the Lord saith That in the time of the Spirit 's Reign and Government the Mountain of the Lord shall be established on the top of the Mountains and many People shall flow to it and shall say of God He will there teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for the Law shall go out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem which Jerusalem and Zion is no earthly Building made of Wood and Stone but the New Jerusalem is the sanctified Heart the new Heart and right Spirit a City whose Maker and Builder is God Father and Mother Sister and Brother of all God's Children Allelujah And did not John the Baptist whose Baptism was from Heaven teach his Disciples how and what to Preach and how and what to Pray saying As ye go preach the Kingdom of God is at hand And God the Father taught Holy Jesus his Son to preach deliverance to the Captives all those that truly repent the acceptable Year of the Lord. And as his Father taught him so taught he his Disciples saying Go ye into the High-ways and Hedges and tell the Blind the Lame and the Halt even all that are small and little in their own eyes all that are heavy laden with Sin let such come and buy Eye-salve buy the sincere Milk of the Word without Mony and without Price And did not Holy Jesus preach often in the Temple and Synagogues of the Jews and did he not weep over them who were so hard-hearted towards him that when he would have gathered them together as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings yet they would not be healed nor covered under the Wings of the Cherubims that attend the Mercy Seat of God from under whose Wings of Grace and Love ariseth healing to all that are weary of their Sins And Holy Jesus also saith As my Father taught me I speak and do and as his Father taught him so taught he his Disciples the New and Everlasting Covenant How that by his Light and Spirit all God's People should be taught of the Lord and that great should be their Peace and that those who would be his Disciples must learn of him to be low and meek in Heart and to take up the daily Cross to their own Wills which made him to deny his own Will to do the Will of the Father as you may read Luke 22.42 John 4.34 5.30 6.38 Heb. 2.4 10.10 Phil. 2.13 And this Obedience to the Will of the Father Christ the Word in the Heart is our Sanctification Justification Redemption and Glorification Allelujah And all such alone as are taught of God Speak and Preach as Men having Authority and not as do the Scribes and Pharisees that have nothing else to teach them save the dead Letter and their own Interpretations thereupon Thus when Jesus had breathed on his Disciples and given them the Holy Ghost he saith Go ye and teach all Nations baptising them into the Name Nature and Power of Christ's Spirit not with material Water for that is John's Baptism but with Fire which is the Holy Ghost the only one true Baptism which washeth and cleanseth the Soul Regenerates and begets the New Man Christ in us all such who have their Hearts and Consciences washed and
go it is a flaming light c. Psal 130.5 6. In God I put my whole trust my soul waits on his will For his promise is most just and I hope therein still c. Psal 146.1 My soul praise thou the Lord always my God I will confess While breath and life prolong my days my tongue no time shall cease Allelujah These and the rest of David's Psalms are good and excellent to those that can sing them with David's Spirit that have within them a clean Heart and right Spirit as David had Allelujah But to those that sing them with an impure unclean and unrepenting Heart all things performed by them in the Worship and Service of God are impure even their very Prayers and Praises are Sin Thus to the Pure all things are pure to all such as sing in the movings and joy of God's Spirit with understanding making melody in their hearts to the Lord. So let Christ the Word dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing with Grace in your Hearts to the Lord Blessed are the People that are in such a case who have Christ the Lord for their God working all their Works in them and for them both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Allelujah I do believe the Church of England the best constituted National Church in the World and adorned with many of her Worthies the best Learned and most sound in Doctrine and for integrity of Life and Conversation most Sweet most Humble Meek and Charitable whose Plat-forms of Religion of all the National Professions I judg the most large and likely to gather together and build up into Love and good Works which is the Sum of all true Christian Religion and the End both of the Law and Gospel Yet as I know there may be many things amended some left out and some added in the Nine and thirty Articles and Common-Prayer Book so I well know there is that Wisdom and Understanding in the Church of England if called together to weigh and consider of these Matters as will not only correct and amend what is amiss but also add those things that may much illustrate Truth to the Edification and Salvation of Souls and to the building up and uniting several different perswasions in the Truth and in Love towards each other who now at present are much divided I do also know that there are and ever were Operations and Administrations of God in the World all wrought by one and the same Spirit The first Dispensation is from Adam to Moses under which Administration Men were taught to serve and worship God by the seven Precepts of Noah taught from Father to Son and such as were sincere and upright hearted in that Worship pleased God and were accepted of him who requires no more of any than what they have and not what they have not The second Administration was from Moses through the Prophets unto John the Baptist and such are taught by wise Rules taken out of the Law and Prophets and need a learned National Ministry such as are well read in Natural Philosophy and in Divinity to expound and preach to the People those things that tend to Peace and Godliness to love God the Light and Life of our Souls above all things Terrestrial and our Neighbour which is all mankind as our selves In these two consist the Sum and Substance of all true Religion but by no means to preach those things that are Doubtful or Controversal all that tends to the dividing of Christ's seamless Coat and not to unite in the Truth but to destroy it Truth in the inward Parts is that which all Men of all Religions agree to without Dispute Which Dispute ever was and is as saith Dr. Taylor the Scab of the Church and Bane of all true Religion The third and last Administration is from John the greatest of all Prophets born of a Woman or that stick in Form or outward ward Observations unto Christ the Word in the Heart who is without form or comliness the eternal and only begotten Son of God before Abraham he was and is and is to come without Carnal Father or Carnal Mother without beginning of Days or end of Life God's High Priest for ever after the Order Melchisedeck which is the Order of the Holy Ghost and all such born of God's Spirit of Grace having Christ Jesus in them are the only Sons and Daughters of God and need no other Teacher save God alone Allelujah I likewise know there are dividings of Names and Opinions in the Church of England some receive the Doctrines and Interpretations of Luther and Calvin others rather chuse Socinus and Arminius for their Guides Thus is Christ divided when in Truth Christ is but one Eternal Universal Spirit of Love Light and Life in all Men of all Religions in the World and God's Salvation through Him is to the ends of the Earth For the sake of those that thus disagree I have looked into and considered the Grounds and Causes of their Divisions Luther's Doctrine I find chiefly to consist first Against Indulgences and that they were unlawful against Free-will against the Pope's Supremacy and his Excommunication against Temporal Possessions of the Clergy against Merit of Works and Monastick Life against Canonical Obedience and distinction of Meats against Transubstantiation and Communion under one kind against the Mass and Aurigular Confession against Absolution and Purgatory against extream Unction and five of the Sacraments He also held That General Councils might err that Antichrist was not a particular Person but a Spirit contrary and against Christ's Spirit that Faith only justifieth yet Man is not saved without good Works that a faithful Man might have assurance of his Salvation that the Sacrament did not convey Grace but was a sign of it that to the Faithful Sin is not imputed And some of his Followers say That we are not justified by Faith or Works but by the essential Righteousness of Christ dwelling in us And by Luther's protesting against the Church of Rome in these Things first began the Name Protestant Calvin's Doctrine I find to consist herein First he saith The Scriptures are a sufficient Rule to Life the only Judg of Controversies that the Elect only have saving Faith that Predestination to Life and Death depends not in Man's Obedience or Disobedience but on God's Choice that the true Church of God consisteth only of the Elect that the Church and Magistrate may not make Laws to bind the Conscience in Matters Religious and Divine that Sins are inherent in us though not imputed to us that Faith is a more excellent Vertue than Charity that there is no merit in us that there is but two Sacraments and these can neither justify nor confer Grace Socinus's Doctrines I find chiefly to consist in this First That there is no Origninal Sin in us derived from Adam that there is a
Reason in the Letter beget and bring Men into a Sect and into an Opinion so strong that he may come to die for it as we see in the Quakers and Papists c. yet for the sake of Christ and his Leadings will not forsake their Lusts nor their own Self-Wills This is as Dr. Taylor saith false Martyrdom Also I know you Three are all One in many other Opinions You agree with Calvin viz. That the Scriptures are the Word of God and a sufficient Rule of Life to measure and try Doctrines and Spirits by under the Gospel and the only Judg of Controversies And as is printed before the Bible with Marginal Notes Here is the Spring where Waters flow to quench the heat of Sin c. Here is the Bread that feeds the Life that Death cannot assail c. The Fortress of our Faith is here and Shield of our Defence c. Whereas in truth the Scriptures without the Spirit are but a dead Letter put in the place of Christ who is the only true Bread and Water of Life But instead of Christ in us the New Creature the Word in the Heart and only Rule of Life that ends all Controversies and leads into Love and Union even all that walk therein you place the Dead Letter which increaseth but never endeth Strife and Controversies amongst Christians And indeed how can it be that the Scriptures should ever end Controversies seeing there are so many false Copies and every one differing from each other that no Man knows the True nor do I think there is any without Error nor any so false but that there is much Truth in it St. Hierom saith That the Hebrew and Greek Copies were much perverted by Jews and Hereticks so that he rather chose the Vulgar Latin though many Faults were committed by Writers in that also which having amended he laid aside all other Latin Versions which he saith in his Time were almost innumerable So that I see in those Primitive Times there were no True Copies to be found and that if you make the Written Scriptures your full Rule it will be but a crooked one such as every Man by his private Interpretation makes as a Nose of Wax to turn every way and putting that Authority upon the Scriptures by making them the Rule of Christian Life and End of Controversies is so far from working this End that it hath broched more Heresies and false Opinions than ever were known in the World before these last and perilous Times And there can be no recovery out of this Gulph of Misery but as Men come to forsake this great Idol the Letter and putting no more stress and confidence in it than in a Declaration of Truth when first written and uncorrupted and that Men return to the Word of God the Volumn of God's Book the Word in the Heart which never can be corrupted nor changed the sure Word of Prophecy which if a Man obey will surely lead into Life Eternal Allelujah And this setting up the Letter above the Spirit and Man by Carnal Force making himself Judg thereof hath bin the cause of all the Innocent Blood shed upon the account of Religion from Abel to this day Dr. Gell a pious Man and well read in the Oriental Tongues hath writ a Book in Folio printed Anno 1659 entituled An Essay towards an amendment of the last English Translation of the Bible wherein many Faults are found and amended by him And the Makers of the last Translation say in their Preface They had amended many thousand Words that were amiss in the former Translation Wherefore my Advice is That all accounted Christians do avoid vain Jangling and Disputing about Religion and the Letter which eats as a Canker and is as a Pest in the Church and destroys all true Religion which consists in brotherly Love and Kindness which Love edifies and is the Sum and Substance both of Law and Gospel Rather learn to judg and condemn your selves than your Brethren this is the way to have Peace with God and Unity and Amity one with another though of different Opinions and Perswasions Allelujah Likewise with Calvin ye agree That Predestination to Life and Death depends not on Man's Obedience or Disobedience but on God's Choice and that God from all Eternity elected a certain number to Salvation and reprobated the residue to Eternal Damnation Which Opinion I take to be greatly inconsistent with the Nature of God and most unprofitable to maintain as Doctrinal amongst Men for God would have all Men saved by coming to the Knowledg of the Truth and by obeying the same To which end our most gracious Lord God hath so loved the World as to send his only begotten Son into the World the Word in the Heart that was in the beginning with God and is God his Covenant of Light to the World and his Salvation to the ends of the Earth to enlighten every one that cometh into the World that all Men of all Opinions and Religions might believe in him that was before Abraham was and by following and obeying him who is the Truth in every one all might come to see their Souls redeemed out of Death and so come to enjoy Life Eternal which Life is in his Son Immanuel Allelujah Ye also believe with Calvin That by Christ's outward Life and Sufferings in his fleshly Testimony God's Justice was satisfied for Sins and Justification compleatly wrought for the Elect not only by forgiving sins past but reputing really just whilst actually sinful I apprehend them more sound in the Faith who believe that Christ cannot so properly be said to be the Cause as the Effect of the Father's Love for God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. And although such are forgiven who truly repent and that Remission is sealed by Christ's Blood the Sacrifice and Blood of Sprinkling on our Consciences yet Men are not made Righteous within by any Imputation from another's Righteousness without whilst they are really unrighteous within themselves Ye also deny the Light the Word in the Heart to be Christ that shines in his Spiritual Appearance in his People which is certainly a great Error and contrary to Scripture and the Saints Experience read John 1.4 9. 12.46 2 Cor. 4.4 6. Isa 42.6 49.6 51.4 John 3.19 Ye also deny that Christ's Light can lead Men that obey it unto Salvation which also is contrary to Scripture and the Saints Experience read Job 29.3 Psal 36.9 43.3 119.105 Joh. 8.12 12.36 Rev. 21.23 Ye also deny the Spirit to be poured out in these Days as in former Ages or that Men ought to wait for the Motions of it to Preach Pray or praise God which is also contrary to the Scriptures and the Saints Experience read Joel 2.28 29. Isa 25.9 30.18 40.31 Acts 1.4 Luke 2.25 2 Thess 3.5 Thus far all Three agree in one as concerning the main Points of your Faith
evil opprobrious Names which makes me say That I went to my Own but my Own would not receive me but sold me into Egypt by their many false Reports And poor Joseph found no greater Enemies than his Brethren were Nevertheless the Lord my God did not forsake me but found me out in the Innocency wherewith he had cloathed me and appeared to me in all my straits and was my Strength my Joy and Crown of Glory and at length brought me forth of Prison to stand before Princes assisting and carrying me with much Courage and through great Opposition to bear and finish my Testimony to Christ in the Saints And being cast out from my Brethren the Lord my God took me up and became my Teacher under whose Teachings I felt more of the Love of God and increased more in knowledg of the Things of God than when I sat under the Teachings of Men by whose Teachings I grew in Wisdom and in Stature unto the Measure of a perfect Man in Christ Jesus then I came to know that out of Egypt God hath called his Son to whom he hath given not only the Heathen but the whole World for his Possession and Inheritance In which Spirit of the Son I call to mind the sweet Union and Communion I had with the Quakers when they preached Christ the Light in every one that cometh into the World the Way to God the Father of Lights which Light sprang up so strongly in my Heart that with St. Paul it struck me down to the Ground where I felt the Root of the Matter in my Self so that I needed no Man to teach me but as the Unction that small grain of Mustard-Seed grew to a great Tree on whose body did hang all my Sins my Weaknesses and Infirmities which Seed of the Kingdom begot in me a new Heart and placed within me a right Spirit the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding fill'd with the Love of God Allelujah In the day when the People called Quakers were small in their own Eyes I dearly loved them who did not only preach Christ the Truth and Light in every one but with much boldness and courage and through great Persecutions defended the same living in much Love and Amity one with another which to me was a most lovely sight to see till there came to be a difference between J. N. and George Fox then G. F. by reason of his Enmity and Self-exaltation envied and persecuted J. N. and begat a most bitter wrathful Spirit in all his Friends against J. N. and all that stood by him in his Sufferings Thus G. F. was the Father that begat all those Divisions Rendings and Tearings that were then amongst the Quakers and since to this very day which with great violence lasted till J. N. took all the blame on himself and made himself of no reputation who was circumcised in Heart and Soul in which Circumcision he lived and died a true Israelite indeed But G. F. and his Party continued acting in another manner of Spirit for I have seen those pull hale and carry out of their Synagogue at the Bull and Mouth one Richard Freeman and the chief in this work was John Bolton with divers others At this time I perfectly saw that God had divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel and that a separation was making betwixt the Precious and the Vile amongst the Quakers And was it not the same bitter persecuting Spirit in G. F. that writ against J. Perrot's Book called Vnity and Amity For did not G. F. say This Book was writ with Cain 's Spirit Crying against his Sottishness and Ignorance affirming That a Cloud had compassed him that he went in the way of the false Prophets that his Spirit would give up the Children of God to Persecution Further alleaging That J. P. is one of Ham's Stock and that his gross Lies proceeded from a devilish hellish Spirit and that none that are in the least Truth will believe him and that he is a Liar and a Deceiver And the great Offence G. F. takes at this Book is that J. P. owns the Spirit of God's Grace and Light to be in Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Seekers and others also that he hath Unity and Amity with all that walk therein the which G. F. denying and calling it a Lye c. plainly shews he is an Enemy to all that will not bow down to him and call him Master or Father of their Spirits and that he is turned from the Faith once delivered to the Saints and that he is removed to another Gospel than what at first himself had preached and also writ against J. P. that he was like a Dog snarling and biting such as are in the Life of Truth and so like a Dog thinks he will die This and much more hath G. F. writ against J. P. pursuing and hunting him as Saul did David like a Partridg on the Mountains from Country to Country from Region to Region and from City to City whithersoever he went these venemous Arrows were shot against him At this time I perfectly saw a Star fall from Heaven called Wormwood or the Dragon's Tail with which he drew to the Ground a third part of the Stars of Heaven then I saw a War in Heaven a Religious War the Dragon against the Lamb Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and his Angels Which bitter Spirit of the Dragon did write or indite John Bolton's Book printed 1670 intituled Judas and his Treachery c. In which Book he saith The thirty pounds Robert Rich sent to the Poor amongst the Quakers was the price of Blood and Judas his Treachery That Robert Rich is a Vagabond on the Earth one that hath not an Habitation in the Living God That he is a Contender against God's Blessed and Holy Way the Way of Life with whom Robert Bacon is joined That they were Idolaters and judged them to be the Whorish Spirit and that the Mystery of Iniquity in R. R. and R. B. was brought forth to open view And all along his Book is full of the like Expressions not only against R. R. and R. B. but the same Railing Accusations are also against Innocent J. N. and J. P. and for no Evil said or done against any one of them as in their own Consciences they well know To all which Railing Accusations R. R. saith The Lord rebuke thee About the same time another Book was writ against R. R. and R. B. by Ger. Roberts Geo. Whitehead and E. H. intituled Impudency and Ranterism rebuked in which they call the Spirit of R. R. which sent thirty pounds to their Poor A drunken ranting Spirit a fained Love and the Gift they call Cain's Sacrifice Balack's Reward and Balaam's Wages Judas's Oblation and a Superstitious Idolatrous Gift Also that R. R. is a wandring Star a raging Wave of the Sea that he is a Sow wallowing in the Mire a Dog casting up his Vomit that he is that Fool which
acknowledg Can you yet be so vainly confident as to perswade your selves that nothing of this Evil shall come near your Borders whilst the Arrows of God's Judgments fly so thick in the World and stick so deep in the Hearts and sides of all both Civil and Religious Interests Are you and your Imposing Tribe the only Men that must escape when the whole World is to be set on Fire yea the very Heavens of Professors are to be burnt up and nothing to be left alive in us but what can lie down in those Flames Is there nothing think ye in or amongst your People that is for Judgment Or is this a time for you to build and raise a Name to your selves when God is destroying to contend for outward Rule and Dominion over others when God is pleading his own Royal Prerogative to sit in judgment over the Consciences of your Brethren when the Judg stands at the Door Or are ye so regardless of the prints and footsteps of the Almighty in his present Providences that ye say in your Hearts with that Evil Servant The Lord delays his coming and fall to smiting your fellow Servants with the Tongue and Fist of Wickedness wounding and reproaching them with your bitter and severe Censures thinking with the evil Husbandman therewith to kill and slay the Heir the Seed of God in Man that must rule and reign Surely my Friends the tempestuous Storms of Wrath and Indignation that you see falling upon the World do earnestly call for a more mild and sober Spirit amongst you than this Let therefore your Moderation be known to all Men the Lord is at hand If you would be a blessing to the World in your Generation learn first to judg and condemn your selves Cast off your Judging Censuring and Imposing Spirit and give the Witness of God in every one its just Right its due Scope and Latitude and usurp not Authority over it Take not upon you to be Lords over God's Heritage let the Bowels of your Love and Tenderness be drawn out and extended towards the measure of God in all Men of every Religion in forbearance and forgiveness to the whole World follow Peace in the Spirit of Love with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God Give Christ his Prerogative in Spirituals He must and will have it Give Caesar his due in Temporals who may of undoubted right challeng it Thus if you can commend your selves to God and the World ye shall be the Joy of this Generation all good Men will be drawn out in an earnest imitation of your Purity while the violent and wicked shall stand mute and be struck dumb at your modest Patience and Meekness you shall never want either inward Peace or outward Freedom but ye shall enter into Peace and Rest in your Beds each one walking in his Uprightness This my dear Friends is the Testimony in which I long to meet you and which will justly provoke the hearty embraces of Your true Friend in Love to serve you R. R. To the Birth of God in all the Sanctified the Church of the First-Born whose Names are written in Heaven who are born again not of the Will of the Flesh but of God's Holy Spirit You to whom is given the White Stone and the New Name that none knows but he that hath it who as living Stones are laid in the Walls not of the Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her Children but of the New Jerusalem that is Above in the Heart and Throne of God which is Free and is the Mother of us all To you however you are divided or where-ever ye are lodg'd and held in the Clifts of the Rocks in Dens and Caves of the Earth or secret places of the Stars under all your divided Tribes ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah Dear Brethren BEing moved in my Spirit in the Year 1666 to salute the Seed of God the Seed of the Promise in all Men and in particular the Seven Churches of Christendom namely the Roman the Episcopal Protestant the Presbyterian the Independent the Baptist the Quaker and the Church of the First-Born to each of them I gave Thirty pounds to be distributed amongst the Poor of their People as a sign of my dear Love to the Seed of God in all which I saw lay crucified dead and buried in some and in others risen and reigning into Life that is Eternal That which principally moved me to this general Salutation was the sad and serious apprehension of the Straits and Limits by which I saw the Seed of God held in Bondage and these several sorts of Professors to value themselves and also condemn one another in reference to those Modes and Methods of Worship and Obedience in which they are divided and distinguished My Salutation intended a cheek to this unkind severity amongst them and according to the inward Testimony from God upon my Spirit if possible to let them understand that our gracious God is no respecter of Persons Sects or Opinions but of every Nation those that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted of him and that all those that walk in the Light of the Lord wherewith he hath enlightned them are saved Allelujah In the Heavenly Revelation of this Blessed Vision wherein I felt and found my self in a through Reconcilement to all Sorts and Sects of Men I have begun and now finished my Epistles to these Seven States of Christians which I recommend to the Children of Light to read and to consider what the Spirit saith to the Churches And because in the Travels of this Testimony upon the Soul I have met with several Celestial Pilgrims journying towards Sion with their Faces thitherward by whose sprinklings in many of their Books and Papers I have bin often refreshed and comforted I cannot but commend both their Names and Labours to the sober Enquirers after Truth as well knowing that though these Witnesses are dead and gone yet their Spirits and Testimony remain and still speak to us At this time I read many Books writ by the Divine Spirit in which I took great delight some few whereof I find freedom to expatiate on First Cebes the Theban Philosopher his Table writ in Greek since translated into English who lived Anno Mundi 3553 which Table was hung up in the Temple of Saturn This Table consisted of three Parks or Inclosures at the Gate of the first stood the shape of an Old Man called Life's Genius afterwards True Instruction which I understand by interpretation to represent the Light and Grace of God which appeareth to and in every one This Light or Life's Genius taught and instructed all how they should lead their Lives according to those Rules he directed both to avoid temptations to Vice and to imbrace all those Divine Vertues that lead to Beatitude I have read the Imitation of Christ writ by Thomas of Kempis Also Cardinal Cusanus his first
second and third Rule of Perfection and his Idiot with others of the like Divine Nature all tending to a Holy Life by virtue of Christ's Holy Spirit in us the only way to Life and Salvation Allelujah I have also read many Divine Works writ by H. N. Jacob Behm John Saltmarsh Dr. Everard William Sedgwick William Erbery Dr. Gill Dr. Taylor with others that were inspired of God and spake of the second Coming of Chrit in the Sanctified and of that blessed Day which should attend his Appearance Allelujah I have also read with much delight two Books writ by J. N. called Love to the Lost and A Salutation to the Seed of God in all Also one small Book writ by John Perrot entituled An Epistle for the most pure Amity and Vnity in the Spirit and Life of God to all sincere-hearted Souls I have likewise lately read some Prophecies and Predictions of that Holy Learned Man James Vsher Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh who through Inspiration of God's Spirit spake of many things which long after came to pass that which is to me most remarkable in that Sheet of Paper is that he being intreated to write in brief of Justification and Sanctification desired he might be excused notwithstanding the Person soliciting through importunity obtained a promise A while after his Promise being claimed he replied He had not writ yet could not charge himself with breach of Promise for said he I did begin to write but when I came to write of Sanctification that is of the New Creature which God formeth by his Spirit in every Soul which he doth truly regenerate I found so little wrought of it in my self that I could speak of it only as a Parrot by rote without knowledg and understanding and therefore durst not proceed any further upon it Adding I must tell you we do not well understand what Sanctification and the New Birth is It is no less than for a Man to be brought to an entire Resignation of his own Will to the Will of God and to live in the offering up of his Soul continually in the flames of Love as a holy burnt Offering to Christ And how little says he are many of those that profess Christianity experimentally acquainted with this Work of Regeneration in their Souls Moreover he desires his Friend to look he be not found a Worshipper in the outward Court which outward Court says he is the formal Christian whose Religion lies in performing the out-side Duties of Christianity without having an inward Life and Power of Faith and Love uniting them to Christ and these God will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the Gentiles the Prophane that call themselves Christians but are the Synagogue of Satan The Worshippers within the Temple and before the Altar are those that do worship God in Spirit and in Truth whose Souls are made his Temples and he is honoured and adored in the most inward Thoughts of their Hearts and they Sacrifice their Lusts and vile Affections yea and their own Wills to him and these God will hide in the hollow of his Hand and under the shadow of his Wings and shall be preserved as a Seed to partake of that Glory which shall immediately follow I have also lately read two Treatises writ by Sir Henry Vane First An Epistle General to the Mystical Body of Christ on Earth the Church Vniversal in Babylon The second The Face of the Times Wherein he well discovers the Rise Progress and Issue of the Enmity and Contest between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent He saith That till the Seventh Trump sound 1666 the Woman's Seed must suffer afterwards the Seed of the Woman being risen with Christ must reign with him and then the Head of the Serpent should be bruised He speaketh most excellently of the first and second Covenant and of a single and double Portion of the Spirit of Regeneration and Restoration into the first Estate in Paradise which may fall also of the New Creation or Second Birth the Seed of God in Man which endures and never will nor ever can fall Hallelujah He saith The Quakers Principle is To restore out of the Fall into the first State who though they are Angels yet may fall He shews how Angels fell who through pride oppose all higher Lights than themselves and that such fallen Angels become the greatest Enemies to the Birth of Christ in the Saints which Spirit is the great Antichrist the Old Serpent the Devil that is to be cast into the Bottomless-Pit with all his Angels who outwardly appear as Angels of Light but inwardly they devour the Innocent This I have seen to be a Truth in the bitter contests betwixt G. F. and his Angels and the self-denying humble meek Spirit that was in J. N. and J. P. and those that suffered with them for bearing their Testimony to Christ in the Saints which is the last the most glorious and highest Dispensation as saith Sir H. V. now at the very Doors a Truth which many can Witness He further saith The Lamb will overcome by Sufferings and that the first sign of Christ's second Coming is distress of Nations that the Potsherds of the Earth dashing one against the other wil lmake way for Christ's Reign in which War none but Hypocrites and Apostates which make the outward Court will suffer whilst God's People will be preserved in Peace and Safety Sir H. V. also saith The Holy City and Temple measured are Saints in Power That the Woman clothed with the Sun is Christ's dead Body raised Vrim and Thummim he saith are the two great Lights Righteousness and Truth when they meet in our Hearts It is he saith a fickle and foolish Religion that depends on the Magistrates Power either to set up or pull down That Believers Rewards in Sufferings is inward Peace and Joy in a serene quiet Mind He was also in his day a great Prophet he saith Israel's Captivity is near an end at which time the Sons of God shall be made manifest so soon as that is come there will need little other help than the Grave it self to cast them forth as the Womb doth the Fruit then shall you know the Lord is God when he hath opened and brought you up out of your Graves such will the Lord own visibly for his People by putting his wonderful Spirit in them and then will God's Indignation be poured out upon his Enemies That the Nation that hath kept the Seed of God in Bondage himself God will judg more signally than he did Pharaoh and the Egyptians in this day shall the Tabernacle of God in Men be visible He also saith Doubtless great and precious Promises are to be accomplished in and upon Believers here on Earth to the making of Christ admired in them That this dark Night and black Shade that God hath drawn over his work in the midst of us may be the Ground Colour to some beautiful Piece
Regularities of the most magnified Authors and reverend Fathers are capable to accomplish this Reconciling Work Nay the Sacred Oracle of the Scripture it self is so far short of obtaining this blessed End that all different Parties do endeavour with the greatest industry imaginable by warping and winding the Text not only to suit it to the occasion of their present Differences but also thereby to justify their mad blind and uncharitable Zeal towards each other What Remedy then is left us in this Distress Is there no Balm in Gilead Yes certainly for although the extent of our Wounds and Breaches are too wide and great for the most ample Wisdom and Righteousness of Man to heal and cement there is yet largeness enough in the eternal and universal Love of God to accomplish this great Work and to make his Jerusalem a Praise upon the Earth And 't is my dear Brethren by the ample and large manifestations of this Universal Love shed abroad in your Hearts that this great Design of God must be accomplished and oh how the Consideration of this Glorious Work in and by you to be brought forth doth draw out my Spirit towards you Awake awake then put on thy strength O Sion put on thy beautiful Garments O Jerusalem thou Holy City stand forth thou Virgin Daughter clothed with the strength of the Divine Majesty and proclaim the Glory of your Principles by the beauty of your Practices to the World There is Majesty enough in that Love which fills and feeds your Souls to confound the Cruelty of all your Opposers to shame and astonish the World into silence and stilness and of this let us be confident that how-ever the over-flowing Tides of common Calamities blown up by the raging breath of formal and carnal Interests may swell as a Flood upon the World yet no Weapon that is form'd against Love to Truth and Righteousness shall prosper the Heathen may rage and the People may imagine a vain Thing The Kings of the Earth may Plot Conspire and take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed yet the Lord hath set his King upon his Holy Hill of Zion and he shall and doth Rule and Reign in the midst of his Enemies Let it therefore appear to the World whose Subjects ye are whose Banner ye are under and what Motto it bears which is Glory to God in the Highest on Earth Peace and good Will towards Men. O how beautiful will those feet be upon the Mountains which are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace How beautiful are thy Feet with Shooes O Princes Daughter Cant. 7.1 How amiable and pleasant will your Lives and Testimonies be among Men when you come forth in the largeness of that Love Meekness and Humility in Forbearance and Forgiveness which are the proper Ornaments and most natural Instances of a true Gospel-Profession In the Name of God arise then and shew your selves in his strength to be that in Power and Life which the World are only in Pretence and Notion let it be known by the lively and active demonstrations of the Spirit of God in you That greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World Your Principles I am sure are more noble extensive and generous do but draw them forth and shew them to open view and you will be a Blessing in your Generation The several Tribes and Languages shall fasten on your Skirts and say We will go along with you for the Lord is amongst you Nay even the Kings of the Nations shall shut their Mouths at this appearance of God in you Isa 52.14 15. For that which had not bin told them they shall see and that which they had not heard they shall consider As Pharach said of Joseph Where is there a Man in whom the Spirit of God is Gen. 41.38 c. Finally my Brethren Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might put on the whole Armour of God for your Work and your Warfare requires it and ye know that nothing below that can enable you to finish this your Testimony Ye wrestle not against Flesh and Blood neither are the Weapons of your Warfare Carnal but mighty through God to subdue every high Thought and vain Imagination All those Principalities and Powers and those spiritual Wickednesses in high Places which have captivated the Royal Seed of the Promise and exalted themselves against the free Breathings of the Spirit These my dear Friends are the powerful Enemies over which ye must be more than Conquerors through him that loves you and when in the strength of this Love you have subdued the World calm'd and quieted that wild and furious Spirit of Wrath that is let loose among Men and prepared the way for the Kingdom of God and of his Christ to be establish'd in us and amongst us what remains but that in a holy denial of your Selves and Services your Gifts and Graces your Love and Enlargements your Faith and Patience your Sufferings and Perseverances you offer up the Son of the Promise and cast down these your Crowns at the feet of Him that sits upon the Throne joining in Consort with the Celestial Quire of Saints and Angels in the Sacred Hymns of Divine Praises and Allelujahs Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power to the Lord our God Rev. 19.1 to 10. Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be the glory of all thy wondrous Works Sing Zion shout O ye Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem Judges 5.1 to 14. Awake Deborah awake awake sing to the Lord Arise Barak take the Harps of God in your hands ye Heavenly Victors and in your most strenuous Notes sing aloud with Moses and the Lamb upon your Chrystal fiery Floods Rev. 15.2 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy Ways thou King of Saints who will not fear thee O God and glorify thy Name for thou only art Holy all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy Judgments are made manifest And again Allelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth and is manifest to be All in All all Vnity in all Variety Thus to ascribe to God All in all and to the Creature-Nothing is the top-Stone of God's Building to which we cry Grace Grace Allelujah For His is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Allelujah THE END
free-will to Goodness in us that we may here fulfil the Law of God if we walk in the Grace given us to profit with as Rom. 8.13 Tit. 2.11 that the Causes of Predestination are not in God but in our selves who obey or disobey the Grace of God given as a Talent to every one to work out his own Salvation that Christ did not satisfy for us but gives power by his Grace to satisfy for our Selves that there is not a Trinity of Persons in one God he denies that God hath elected a certain number to Salvation and reprobated the residue to eternal Damnation he denies that God's Justice was satisfied by Christ's Sufferings and that God needed no such rigid Satisfaction that Men are not made really Righteous by any imputation from another's Righteousness without whilst they are really unrighteous within he doth not believe that Christ ascended into Heaven with his humane Body of Flesh Blood and Bones but that Body which he hath is more Spiritual and Glorious he owns the Spirit of Grace in every Man sufficient to all that obey and follow it to lead into Life Eternal Arminius his Doctrines I find chiefly to be these First That God hath not elected some and reprobated others that God is just in saving those that believe and obey his Gospel and in condemning those only that reject and disobey it Which I take to be according to Truth read John 3.19 Deut. 30.14 15 19. That Men are not made just by Imputative Righteousness only but Inherent that Man is not made Righteous within by any imputation from another's Righteousness from without whilst he is really unrighteous within which I take to be sound Doctrine read Rom. 8.9 10 11 13 14. 2 Cor. 5.17 10.5 13.5 Gal. 2.20 Col. 1.27 2.6 He affirms That the Grace of God is sufficient to lead Men that obey and follow it into Eternal Life This I take also to be sound Doctrine agreeable to Truth read Tit. 2.11 He says Christ's Carnal Flesh Blood and Bones is not ascended into Heaven read 1 Cor. 15.50 2 Cor. 5.16 John 3.13 6.63 Eph. 4.10 That God hath not decreed to leave any Man in the state of Damnation This also agrees with the Scriptures read Prov. 21.15 28.18 Isa 59.2 Jer. 4.14 Ephes 2.5 1 Tim. 2.4 That God affordeth sufficient means to bring to the knowledg of Christ by his Light and Spirit of Grace within every one read John 1.4 9. 1 Cor. 12.7 Tit. 2.11 That Christ did not die for the Elect only but tasted death for every Man even his Enemies by giving his Light and Life unto every one as John 1.4 9. Which Spirit of Grace if any resist or despise such crucify to themselves the Lord of Life afresh That Original Sin of it self is not sufficient to condemn Mankind to eternal punishment This also is a Truth read Jer. 31.30 Ezek. 18.2 3 4. That an unregenerate Man is not totally and finally dead to Sin and destitute of spiritual Strength but that he may by God's Grace hunger and thirst after Righteousness and live this also agrees with Ephes 2.1.5 5.14 That Grace and Free-Will are cooperating Causes in our Conversion and that Perseverance is not the effect of Election but is attained by virtue of the New Covenant read Jer. 31.33 c. Rom. 10.6 8. 2 Cor. 4.6 7. Heb. 8.8 13.5 That there is no Original Sin conveyed from Adam to his Posterity read Gen. 4.7 Ezek. 18.2 3 4. 33.11 18. Rom. 6.22 23. That there is free Will to Goodness in us by God's free Grace read Tit. 2.11 That God could justly pardon our Sins when by his Grace we repent without any other satisfaction than his own free Mercy and Grace That God doth not predestinate any to Damnation but as they obey or disobey his Laws read Gen. 22.18 Deut. 4.30 13.4 Job 36.11 Isa 1.19 Acts 5.32 Heb. 5.9 1 Pet. 1.2 22. I humbly beg pardon that I have presumed to illustrate the Sentiments of the Arminian Doctrines with Scriptures it is because they have bin much cried out against as errant Hereticks although upon examination I find them more sound in the True Faith than those that call them so And by that small experience I have obtained both by reading and otherwise I find and observe that those that are indeed the greatest Hereticks cry Hereticks first Thus the blessed Apostle St. Paul was estemed an Heretick when he said After that way you call Heresy do I worship the God of my Fathers And how was Holy Jesus cried out against as a Blasphemer and otherwise only for preaching the New Covenant the Gospel of Christ Jesus which the Scribes and Pharisees would not receive because against their Traditions and outward observation of the old Law which made void the New And I have known one of late Years much cried out against as a notorious Heretick and Blasphemer for preaching up Christ in the Saints God's New Covenant and the Way to Life Eternal Allelujah And certainly there is no greater mark of a false persecuting Church as learned Mr. Joseph Glanvil observes than to give evil Names to Dissenters in Matters of Opinion in Religien Lastly I humbly beseech and intreat all that undertake the Cure of Souls that they preach nothing save Christ and him Crucified that is to say His Spirit of Light crucifying and killing of Sin in us and Him risen that is to say That we seek in the Heavenly Spirit those things that are Heavenly And as by God's especial Grace he puts into our Minds those things that be Holy Just and Good so by his continual help we may bring the same to good effect through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Allelujah And my truly devout and hearty Prayer to thee O God of my Salvation is That thou wouldst be pleased to send down upon our Bishops and Curats and all Congregations committed to their Charge the healthful Spirit of thy Grace And that they may truly please tâ—â—e pour upon them the continual Dâ—â— of thy Blessing and so replenish them with thy Heavenly Grace that both by their Life and Doctriâ—â— they may set forth thy Glory and sit forward the Salvation of all Men through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Allelujah Finally my Brethren all you of the Clergy that are the Inheritance of God how-ever you are externally dignified or qualified that have Christ Jesus God's High Priest in you his blessed and holy Spirit to guide you 't is You that are truly Reverend in my esteem and are certainly precious in the sight of God Ye are his Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People able to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God the Word of God dwells plentifully in You whereby you are made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter which kills but of the Spirit which gives Life and ministers Grace to the Hearers 'T is You reverend and worthy Sirs that