Religion and Worship and if I were led to speak of what I see of this soul-betraying spirit of envy and persecution and of his fruit surely it would sill a larg volume but the Spirit of the Lord who hath made men wise in this Generation leads me briefly to hint of some of the fruits of the old spirit of persecution in this special Warrant to all sorts of people in Christendom so called who upon consideration with the Light of Christ in their Consciences may see those things to be true that so much the more plainly because the Lord in the largness of his love hath spoken so plainly and called unto man so often in this age by his Spirit through many of his chosen vessels who have suffered deeply by all the Powers that have born rule ever since we departed from evil and by the voyce of the spirit through the Lords chosen vessels have many minds been turned from darkness to light in their own Consciences which hath made this Generation wiser than many Generations heretofore in the Apostacy besides the great and marvelous works that God hath brought to pass in the sight of this Generation of men in overturning and changing and converting thousands from darkness to light and from evil to good and from envy to true love besides the overturning of Governours and Governments and Armies and that at the last without fighting or shedding of blood which is enough to awaken this Generation into a consideration of things past present and to come And thus did the old Serpent work before the days of Christ's coming in the flesh to end the Jews worship in out-side things and their Law and to set up the everlasting worship of God in the Spirit And now take notice how the old Dragon got in among the Jews who had Moses and the Prophets writings who had been great sufferers and who had known by writings how their fore-fathers were scattered and led into Babilon after God by a mighty hand had brought them through the Red Sea and Wilderness and these professing Jews said if they had been in the days of their fathers they would not have persecuted the Prophets but while they were in their Zeal worshipping in outward things the envious spirit of persecution got into them and blinded their minds and hardned their hearts and in those days this spirit of envy and murther and persecution began to work in Herod against Christ for he sent forth and slew all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof thinking to destroy Christ Acts 13. And after John was beheaded And see what the spirit brought Herod to at the last he was eaten with Worms And because the Envious Jews did not look for the Messiah or Christ to come in so low a degree as to be born in Bethlehem and laid in a Manger they knew him not And although their forefathers had suffered persecution and great affliction and they had said they would not have persecuted the Prophets whose words they had which prophesied of Christ who wrought wonders and miracles among them yet they Crucified the Prince of life and these were they that worshipped in Temples and Synagogues together with their Priests and Rulers that were stirred up by this persecuting spirit mostly through the Chief Priests against Christ and his Disciples who went up and down preaching the truth and doing good and wronging no man yet they cryed vehemently Let him be Crucified And as they Crucified Christ so they persecuted his Disciples and put many of them to death and provoked the Lord against them until he gave them up to be scattered and to be a hissing to all the Nations as the natural seed of those Jews are at this day so were they blinded and hardned and then betrayed to utter ruine as the persecutors had been before by the old Serpent the spirit of envy and persecution and then when he had done his worst against Christ and Christians in and through the Heathen Jews Rulers Priests and people of all sorts then he got in amongst them that were called Christians that did not watch in the Light and low meekness of spirit which were such as had the Sheeps cloathing but inwardly were ravening Wolves the ravening wolvish doggish envious spirit of persecution made them so and such in that nature had a form of godliness but denyed the power thereof and from such the true Christians were to turn away who were in the meek Spirit and harmlesse innocent nature of Christ that kept them always ready to do good and to receive wrong rather than to do any wrong to Jew or Gentile or the false Brethren that were false like the Jews and then this envious persecuting spirit led the deceivers that came to the Saints in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly were ravening Wolvs out into the world and they that were of the world went after them into a profession of Christ and yet of the worlds nature and they got a form of godliness but denyed the power thereof and from such the Saints were to turn away and so there was a difference in the nature of them that professed Christ for some were of the Lambs nature and others of the worlds nature yet all professed God and Christ and from that they had all the names of Christians but all were not of the divine nature of Christ and this was in the latter days or last times of the Apostles age as John said Little Children it is the last time as ye have heard that Anti-christ shall come even now there are many Anti-christs whereby they knew that they were the last times and the Anti-christs went out from the Apostles into the world and the world went after them and so the Apostacy came in and then they dayly encreased in the errour degeneration from the leader pitiful meek suffering and saving spirit so darkness ignorance hardness of heart and envy encreased among them that had the name of Christians but had lost the nature of Christ and the spirit of envy and persecution began to appear to be chief among them then the Beast rose up out of them that were like the Sea who received this imposing power from the old Dragon that stirred up the Jews to Crucisie the Lord of life and so the Beast set up an Image and caused the people to worship his Image and the Saints of the most High that would not worship the Image of the Beast nor receive his Mark in their foreheads or in their right hands were to be stain such was their imposition for their imagined way of worship and they made war with the Saints of the most High and overcame them and killed both small and great that would not worship the Beast and his Image and the man child Christ Jesus was caught up to God and the woman sled into the wilderness where she hath been nourished in the time of Apostacy and blindness of peoples minds and
daughters of men both souls and bodies who were Gods people by Creation but the Devil he stole their hearts and minds from God and out of the true Liberty of the sons of men as men and in that wretched and deplorable state were all Mankind in we as well as others before the new Creation or being Regenerated and Ransomed and created again in Christ Jesus unto good works by his living Word and then the love of God the Father which he hath shed abroad in our hearts did abound towards all Mankind upon the face of the whole earth insomuch that our hearts were made sad and heavy and our souls did mourn in secret for them and on their behalf to see their bondage and slavery and how this unreasonable envious persecuting spirit ruled over them and made them unwilling to hearken unto the counsel of God their Creator who sent many of us in his love and pity to call them to repentance that they might receive the remission of sins c. and embrace the love and mercy that God held forth unto them-wards not only in these neer Nations out also to them that are afar of but they have required us evilly for our good-will and true love towards them both soul and body even because we have told them the Truth and spoke against and struck at their greatest Enemy the soul-betraying spirit of envy and persecution and they would not hear and consider nor lay those things to heart which most concerned their peace and everlasting welfare of body and soul but went on in hardness of heart very contrary to the Light of Christ in their own Consciences until they had filled up their measures of iniquity and provoked the Holy One of Israel utterly to overturn them and cast them out to be made a prey upon by the old betrayer of Persecuters to be destroyed and cut off as others have been before in Ages past and that is the persecuting spirits work to lead to destroy and then to bring destroyers to destruction also as all may see that reads these lines with a good understanding And this is a true and brief Description of this greatest and most destructive enemy of Mankind in the whole Creation and how he hath betrayed Kings and Princes and Kingdoms and Nations of Jewes Heathen and Christians so called and also how he may be known and apprehended by a special Warrant And further be it known unto all that reads and understands that God the Creator of Mankind hath wholly and firmly decreed the taking and binding of this old Serpent which is the Devil shortly and to cast him into the bottomless pit and to shut and seal him down that he may deceive the Nations no more and God will also cast them into the Lake to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels for ever that will not return to the Lord in the time while he calleth unto them and striveth by his Light and Spirit with them and waiteth to be good and merciful and gracious unto them and this old Dragon is in a great rage because his Kingdome and Reign draws towards an end and he hath but a short time as it is written in Rev. 12. And then shall those words of God be fulfilled which he spake by the mouth of his Prophet Isaiah For out of Zion shall go forth-the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judg among the Nations and rebuke many people and they shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruâ—ing hocks and Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more and they shall rejoyce together in love and cry Come let us walk in the light of the Lord and go up unto the house of God that made us for he shall teach us of his wayes And then shall the people sing a new Song unto the Lord and his people shall praise him from the ends of the earth and they that were as a barren Wilderness shall lift up their voyce unto the most High and shout for joy of heart to see the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil that betrayed them into the curse and bitterness and enmity one against another taken and bound and cast out into the bottomless pit and sealed down that he no more can deceive them and then all may dwell together in love safely and their souls greatly to rejoyce in the Lord of Hosts and be exceeding joyful in God their Saviour who cloaths his with the Robe of righteousness and covereth them round about with the garment of salvation And the Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Bullock and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain saith the Lord. And we the people whom God hath called and chosen and made faithful and acceptable to himself through the work of his Son Jesus Christ in us and for us who are thereby made the first fruits unto God in this Age after the long Night of Apostacy into the grosse darkness and great ignorance from the true Light and Spirit of God and Christ that reveals and gives the knowledge of the things of God and from the first of our true convincement of sin and evill by the Light in our Consciences and from that very day in which God began to work in this great work of conversion out of the evil envious nature into true love and humility and out of the flesh into the Spirit and to be of the new Birth being born of the blessed womb of love and to be translated out of the Kingdome of darkness and Satan into the Kingdome of the Dear Son of God I say even from the very beginning unto this day have we been hated rejected vilified despised and reproached and greatly afflicted and persecuted and oppressed beyond measure and all hath been for the exercise of our Conscience in the Service of God and in love and good will towards men And thus have they sought to weaken and break us and scatter us into division like themselves and so to wear us out and none of all the Powers of the earth that hath reigned in their time hath been for us but against us But the Lord God Almighty who raised us up out of the Dust he hath been with us and among us all along and his right hand hath upheld us and his outstretched arm hath sustain'd us and they of us that had used carnal weapons heretofore some in the former Kings Army and some in the Parliaments Army when they came to seel the stroak of the Sword of the Spirit of God upon that nature that led to draw the Sword then he fell and perished by the Sword of the Spirit that led to draw the carnal Sword as Christ said it should be and notwithstanding the great occasions and provocations without number that hath been given us we have been kept by the
power of God and through Faith in Christ from putting forth a hand or a finger to take up a carnal Sword or other weapon for or against any creature any more notwithstanding the tumults changes overturnings strivings buffettings that hath been among the sons of men since the Lord in the infiniteness of his love hath called us out from amongst them into peace with God on earth and love to all Man-kind who are his creatures But many of us have been moved of the Lord to break our Swords in pieces and other Instruments that were prepared against creatures so that they might do no hurt and this was as a signal testimony that we should war no more as we hope whole Nations will do in due time when God hath slain the enmity that is in and among them by the power of his love which is stronger than Death as he hath done in us Glory and Honour be given to our God who lives for evermore who hath brought us to stand witnesses for him and of his works as a Pattern to all Mankind upon the face of the whole earth and as Christ said By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if you have love one towards another And through Faith and Patience and Long-suffering with love goodness have we been made instruments to overcome the hearts and minds of many which hath been turned to the Light in their own Consciences and to the Grace of God given unto them and it is given unto us and remaineth in our hearts to continue in love to our very enemies in the Faith and Patience unto the finishing our course for the Name and Glory of God whether it be by life or death for we have full assurance how that it is better to dye in the Lord than to live in sin But let all spiritual Israel know assuredly that the rod of the wicked shall not alwayes be upon the backs of the the righteous for God will remove the yoak from off their necks and wipe away all tears from their eyes and sorrow and sighing shall flee away although some may as some hath finished their testimony in being slain for the Word of God and are received into the Kingdome of everlasting peace and Glory for ever and our warfare is spiritual and our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds and to the cutting down of every thing that riseth up against Christ within that all may be insubjection unto him whose right it is to reign and so our victory is spiritual and we do give thanks unto God who hath given us victory over sin and death hell and the grave and over the tempting spirit of envy persecution in our own particulars through faith in Christ Jesus who is the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls and we do not at all desire victory over mens persons as they do who strive and fight with carnal weapons but our striving and smiting and fighting with our spiritual weapons is against sin and he that tempts to sin and evil which is the greatest enemy to mans everlasting peace who is the Devil and Dragon and in the power of the meek spirit and Lambs nature our-stroke is and shall be against him in all his appearances within and without as it hath been in the pure love of God the Father Vnto whom be honour and glory now and for evermore And now all you that do own this Special Warrant from God and his Law and Command from him which is Light in every Conscience and that which it requires and are awakened and stirred up thereby against the spirit of envy and persecution and in whose hearts it is to joyn with the Lamb to make war with the Dragon lend your ears to wisdomes voyce in you and so far as these lines are according to the same even so be instructed how and with what to arm your selves so that you may not be overcome with this persecuting spirit nor do any hurt to any of the Sons or Daughters of men for as the Scripture saith Wisdome is better than strength or weapons of war in this work and the lips of knowledge is a precious Jewel and every purpose herein is established by Counsel and with good advice make war for I saith the Lords Spirit will make the soul-betraying spirit of persecution feel the stroak and woe and misery and plagues and Vials double filled of the wrath of the Almighty shall come upon the head and crown of thee thou subtle Serpent but I have pity and bowels of mercy towards all mankind whom I have Created saith the Lord and I will wait yet a little longer for the return of the captivated ones that I may shew mercy unto them that do look unto me from the ends of the earth and be saved and that I may shew compassion unto ten thousand times ten thousands of those that do return at my reproof and come unto me by true and unseigned repentance yea a numberlesse number that I may be exceeding good and gracious unto them as I have been unto thousands that are already come home unto me by my true and everlasting Light saith the Creator of mankind And now all you that do own and obey Gods Special Warrant the Light which he hath sent forth into your own hearts and consciences you are all required to wait low in it to see what you are to be armed with and then to receive it in the Light and put it on then you are still to wait and to keep low to hear the voyce of the meek soul-saving Spirit and then to obey and meekly to follow him who is the Captain of our salvation and then you will see how you are to war and fight against the foes of your own house in every particular and that not without hope of overcoming and so as you put off the works of darknesse put on hope for an Helmet and faith and love for your brest-plate and your shield and let righteousnesse be your covering and keep low in the patience and let your feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace and put on therefore as the Elect of God bowels of mercy kindnesse humblenesse of mind meeknesse long-suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another If any man hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye and above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfection and so take unto you the whole Armour of God and hold fast the sword of the Spirit which is the power and word of God that so you may be able to quenoh the fiery darts of the enemy and through the strength of your Armour and sharpnesse of your weapons and through the word of God and his grace and the word of patience or the opperation of his power to effect the work in you you may be made victorious in the end of