Religion and one of which they serve therein He that is led by the Spirit of God he serves God he worships God He that is led by the spirit of Satan he serves not God but that spirit which appeares in the Temple of God like God and gives such demonstrations that he is God as no flesh can deny 2 Thess 2. 4. Here now is the great deceivableness of unrighteousness In prophanesse in manifest wickednesse Satan is easily seen and men that are found here it is granted that they are serving the Devil but that he should sit as King in gathered Churches in dutyes in ordinances in wayes of self-denyal and mortification and be worshipped here this is hard to be seene yet any of these which the Spirit of the Lord leads not into or which are performed at any time without his Spirit he is worshiped in Consider this ye that are wise in Religion and are dilligently reading the Scriptures and gathering knowledge and rules of worship and applying promises c. Do ye this in the life and Spirit of God or in your own wisdom and according to your owne understanding Doth not the wisdom of that spirit which is out of the truth guid you in your searchings after truth O do not serve that spirit which the Lord hates but come backe to that from which in all this ye erre and which in all this ye cannot serve and worship And let not your Religion any longer consist in meer practising what the Saints formerly practised for that ye may do without the same spirit but in yeelding up to that life power and pure spirit that they were led by And when ye are joyned to this then do not prescribe the Lamb the way that he shall go but follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Do not tell the Shepheard by your gathered wisdom the way that he must lead you in but know the voice and follow For this I can truly testifie that if once ye come in faithfulnesse and true light to follow the Lamb he will lead you in paths ye have not known and out of the paths ye have known 7. Compelling of others to worship Rev 13. 15 16. The false woman and the beast set up a worship in the will and they do not know why any in the will also may not subject and submit to it They can give them reasons they can give them arguments from Scripture and if they will not yeeld to these they are to be looked upon as stubborn and refractory and to be compelled by outward force This hath been the course generally throughout the Land of Babylon But these shew hereby that they themselves are erred from the truth and therefore very unfit and unlikely to teach it others For that which God works upon is the conscience which he convinceth by the light of his Spirit and no other light can truly convince it That therefore which would have a man yeeld to any practise or way of worship till he be truly convinced is of the Devil My son give me thy heart saith Christ the wisdom of God Come not to me with oblations and sactifices but give me thy heart My son give me thy knee give me thy obedience to the wayes I have set up give me thy conformity saith Antichrist saith the adulterated wisdom and if any refuse she endeavours to compel them Thus like Jeroboam the son of Nebat she makes that which she calls Israel to sin or like Nebuchadnezzar she sets up an Idol and causeth all her children to bow to it Thus the load of the iniquity of multitudes lies upon that scarlet whore who forces her cup of abominations and filthiness upon all she can Rev 17. 4. causing all both smal and great in all her Territories to receive her marke and worship her Image The work of the Minister of Christ is to keep the conscience tender that the voice of Christ may be heard and the Law of his Spirit of life which makes obedient to the God of life spring up there but this is the Image here is the way bow conform say the Ministers of Antichrist But we are not convinced in the sight of God that this is the way say poor souls It is your own fault ye may be convinif ye will say the Ministers of Antichrist we are ready to give you arguments and Scriptures to convince you how is it ye are not convinced Ye must be convinced otherwise the Magistrate must deale with you Thus they endeavour to harden the conscience that they may set upon it and ride it and terrifie it from it's subjection to it's only true and lawful King O the havock that hath been made of souls by this means the Lord is requiring it of this generation But let me ask this question to all the learned and wise in all the Regions of Babylon under what painted form or way of worship soever Can any worship God aright before they be truly convinced of his will and way can any be convinced without his light and Spirit were it good and acceptable in the sight of God for any persons to run into that way whereof thou sayest thou art convinced that it is the way before they themselves are convinced If it be not good or acceptable what is that that goes about to compel them Away with thy carnal weapons and if thou wilt draw to God draw by that which is spiritual but if thou wilt still be using outward force running to the laws of men and power of the Magistrate the Lord hath opened an eye which discovers thy nakednesse herein and is able to make it manifest in the sight of all people and thou shalt not long cover thy shame The Lotds people shall be a willing people to follow him in the day of his power but all the Lords people have been unwilling to follow thee in the day of thy power which is neer an end and the very fountain of thy deceit and tyranny over the conscience is opening and making manifest 8. Persecution of such as she cannot compell to her worship She sets up her form of knowledg she sets up her way of worship and those that will not be drawn to own the one and practise the other she sets her brand upon them for erroneous persons Schismaticks Hereticks they must not buy or sel Rev 13. 17. They must be banished or imprisoned or perhaps put to death for she is hardly satisfied til she hath drunk the blood of those who in any eminent degree are the witnesses of Christ against her Rev 17. 6. This was a thing wondered at by John with great admiration to see this woman this great City out of which all the venomous darts are shor against the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus under a pretence of zeal for the Church and ordinances of Christ For this is the engine whereby the Dragon makes war with the true womans seed which keep the commandements of God and have the testimony
carnal mind or to imitate things which others who had the Spirit did in the Spirit by the command of the Spirit for thee to imitate and practice this without the Spirit is idolatry An invented Church an invented Ministry an invented worship an imitated Church an imitated Ministry an imitated worship without the life without the Spirit all these are the work of mens hands and are idols and all that is performed herein is idolatry Rev 9 20. This is a Religion without life a worship without life a fabrick for idolatry and the whole course of worship and service in it is idolatry For the living God the Lord God of endless life and power is alone worshipped by his Spirit and in the truth of that life which he begets in the heart and all other worship though never so seemingly spiritual is idolatrous Ah professors professors if ye knew how many idol-prayers and services ye have loaded the Lord with and how ye have been whoring from him while ye have seemed to be drawing nigh to him ye would hang down your heads and mouâ—n For what ever ye have done in the worship of God without the leading and presence of his Spirit it hath been idolatry For the worship of God under the Gospel is in the Spirit and in the truth and required of them who are in the Spirit and in the truth and not of others John 4. 23. for them alone the Lord seeketh to worship and the Lord will admit of none to his worship but such as he seeks And if any else will thrust themselves into his worship it is not accepted nor do they worship the true God but they worship they know not what and their whole state and course here is a state and course of idolatry 4. Sorceryes witcherafts divinations and inchantments I do not mean outward sorceryes or witchcrafts they are but the shadow or figure of the inward mistery of deceit of this black dark spirit which appears as an Angel of light that he migh bewitch and deceive Neither repented they of their sorcer yes Rev 9 21. This false Church this adulterous woman she hath her golden cup and her wine mingled and with this cup she bewitches the eye with this wine she inflames the heart and intoxicates the brain She invents wayes and worships like to the true or she imitates the true wayes and appearances of life and when the poor simple young man is singly seeking after God from some true touches of his life before he comes to know the Spirit of life before he can come to be marryed to the Lamb she comes with her golden cup and with her tempting wine and bewitches the poor heart therewith and so leads it aside into her painted bed Wouldst thou enjoy God saith she wouldst thou worship him aright wouldst thou have fellowship with him Lo here 's the way here 's the Church here are the Ordinances here 's the Ministry here are the means Thou must wait upon God in the use of the means and these are them Did not the Saints formerly do thus did not they meet with God here did not they serve and worship God thus Come thou hither also do what they did enjoy what they enjoyed Yea but thou whorish woman did ever God appoint means wiâ—hout his Spirit Thou leavest the main yea indeed the only thing behind thee which it selfe alone is accepted and without which nothing is accepted And this is the course of the whore in all her transformings in all her baits in all her temptings she stil leaves the Spirit behind her She may perhaps speak of the Spirit to hide her self the more because the letter of the Scripture is so expresse therein and teach people to look and wait for the Spirit but so as is never to be obtained For he that begins in Religion either to pray or worship or seek the knowledge of God without the Spirit shall never meet with the Spirit so but that way of knowledge religion and worship of his must first be broken down and he become a fool and recieve the Spirit as a fool out of all his religious knowledge and wisdom which he had gathered before and afterwards following the Spirit which is thus received he shall be led into the true wisdom Now mark that which follows ye that have a desire to understand This spirit of deceit this whorish spirit this spirit of divination and witchcraft which by her sorceryes deceived all Nations Rev 18. 23. came forth curiously decked at first with all manner of deceiveableness of unrighteousness It had the exact form of life the true form of Godliness and a lively spirit in it it had the form of knowledge and the form of worship and with these it came to tempt and draw away them from the life and from the power who were in the life and in the power and it did prevail upon such as kept not close to the anointing But after it had overcome and gained the Churches territories then it might safely corrupt the form and so it did and went into multitudes of inventions and fopperies as at this day may be seen amongst the Papists Now these are easily discovered and seen through by any simple plain honest eye upon a little breaking forth of the light Therefore the whorish spirit when she perceives her self found out here she changes her shape and attire and comes back back again by degrees as need requires to the forms of knowledge and worship wherewith she was arrayed when she deceived at first yet stil she is the same and doth this to keep poor simple hearts still in her bands from the life and from the Spirit And thus painted thus decked thus holding forth Scripture-knowledge and Scripture-wayes of worship she is the more subtil witch the more subtil sorceresse and is able to deceive any eye but that which is opened in the light With her Lo here Christ lo there Christ she would deceive the very elect if it were possible but it is not possible for they are taught by the Spirit not to go forth and the anointing within preserves them And he that knoweth not this preservation is bewitched by her and his fear of God is such as may be taught by the precepts of men and practised without the knowledge of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is the Saints rule guide and preservation For as the Apostles were able Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit of the New Testament 3 Cor 3. 6. So they that received their Ministry or that which they ministred received not the letter only but the Spirit and were preserved not by the letter but by the Spirit and were made able to try words things and Spirits not by the letter but by the Spirit But this the whorish spirit is departed from and bewitcheth others from first possessing them that the Spirit is not to be looked for and then perswading them to make
Babylon the Great DESCRIBED The City of Confusion In every part whereof Antichrist Reigns Which knoweth not the order and unity of the spirit but striveth to set up an order and uniformity according to the wisdom of the flesh in all her Territories aâ—d Dominions Her SINS Her JVDGEMENTS With some plain Queries further to discover her And some considerations to help out of her Suburbs that her inward building may lye the more open to the breath and spirit of the Lord from which it is to receiv its consumption and overthrow Also An Exhortation to the Powers of the Earth By Isaac Penington the younger That which is far of and exceeding deep who can find out I and mine heart compassed to know and to search and to seck out wisdom and the reason and to know the wickedness of folly even of foolishnes and madness And I find more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets her hands bands He that is good before God shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Eccles. 7. 24 25 26. He that is born of the pure immortal seed and lives in the annointing escapes the golden cup of fornication and all the painted beds of fornication and is not defiled with women Rev. 14. 4. but remains chast to the Bridegroom London Printed for Lodowick Lloyd and are to sold at his Shop in Coâ—nhi 〈…〉 next door to the Castle 1659. LO this is the City which is built up of and filled with images and likenesses of the ways and truths of God without the life and power On her outside ther 's the likeness of a Church the likeness of a Ministry the likeness of the Ordinances Duties and ways of holiness On her inside ther 's the likeness of the good knowledge the likeness of repentance and conversion the likeness of faith the likeness of zeal for God the likeness of love to God and his Saints the likeness of the Lambs meekness and innocency the likeness of justification the likeness of sanctification the likeness of mortification the likeness of hope peace joy rest and satisfaction c. but the substance the truth the vertue of all these is wanting to her and she her self is found persecuting that very thing where it is found in truth the image whereof she cries up This This is the woman that hath bewitched the whole earth for these many generations and is still changing her dresses and paints that she might still bewitch people and sit as a Queen reigning over their consciences But blessed be the light which is arisen to discover and the power which is able to overthrow this stately this lofty this mighty City and all that take part with it The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth in Sion and Antichrist with his City Babylon falleth Sing praises sing praises O inhabitant of Sion to him who subjecteth Babylon with all her glory under thy feet For he bringeth down them that dwell on high the lofty City he layeth it low he layeth it low even to the ground he bringeth it even to the dust The foot shall tread it down the feet of the poor the steps of the needy Isa. 26. 5 6. The Preface THere hath been in me a zeal for God from my childhood and a most earnest search into the Scriptures which my soul deeply relished and my heart honoured and loved and still doth for the revelation of the mind and will of God Two things did I earnestly search and beg for The one was for the discovery of the outward way of worship The other for the inward life vertue and power which I looked upon the outward as the proper means to lead me to At the beginning of the troubles in these Nations there was a lively stirring in me and an hope that God was bringing forth somewhat I likewise felt the same stirring in many others at which my heart was rejoyced and with which my soul was refreshed but I found it soon begin to flag and wither which forced me to retire and to separate from that where I found the life and power dying and decaying In my separation the Lord was with me my soul remembreth it right wel and he had regard to the simplicity honesty and integrity of my heart which he himself had kindled in me And though I felt too soon into a way of Church-fellowship and Ordinances yet he had regard to me and pittyed me and refreshed my life even there But at length the form overgrew vs and the sweet and precious life in us began to dye Then the Lord found out another way to refresh us namely by a sensible relating of our conditions and of his dealings with us and workings in us which was very sweet and precious at first but the enemy crept in there also Out of this state I never made any change but here the hand of the Lord fel upon me striking at my very root breaking all my life in sunder and trampling my crown in the dust Then I became a man of sorrows being stripped of all my life faith hope joy comfort in one day not knowing which way to looke nor what to desire Sometimes there were breathings stiring in me but they were presently judged Sometimes a little glance of refreshment from a Scripture presented to me but suddenly taken away and my death and darknesse increased thereby Then should I wish O that I might appear before his throne for surely my conscience is clear in his sight and I have not wickedly departed from my God but was broken in pieces by his hand even while my soul was earnestly seeking after him O how my soul did mourn to see how I was fit to be made a prey to every ravening spirit and many did seek to devour me but the hand of the Lord was with me preserving me though I knew it not And though I was wholly broken and desolate of all that I had called or could call knowledg insomuch as that I could not call any thing either good or evil yet the Lord by a secret instinct preserved me exceedingly out of that which was evil and kept my heart secretly panting after the fountain wel-spring of good Yea when I was at length through deep despair of ever meeting with God any more in this life captivated by the world and betrayed by the love of it which at last rose up in me and gained upon me by perswading me that my present estate and condition did require the free use of it and the enjoyment of all it could afford yet the Lord followed me and often was I visited with secret loathings of the world and turnings from it and pantings after the spring of my life but these were dreaded by me and suddenly quenched by the evil part for fear of that misery and unutterable anguish which I had felt hereby the remembrance whereof was fresh in me In this my courting of the world and estrangement from the life the
the leadings of the pure life and enter into the hidden womb of wisdom where the light of life is sown he shall be new formed and come forth a child out of the womb of wisdom with the new eye the new ear the new heart the new understanding and sences and keeping in the childish simplicity out of the wisdome zeal and devotion which deceived him before he shall receive and enter into the everlasting kingdome Therefore all people wait humbly for the candle of the Lord that therewith ye may search out Babylon and may come to see what of her treasures ye have gathered that ye may throw them away speedily and give up your ships and vessels wherewith ye have traffiqued for these kind of wares to the fire of the Lords jealousie that ye may receive the durable riches that ye may hear the joyful sound of the everlasting Gospel and know the true Christ which it alone reveals and come to fear and worship and gloriâ—e the true God and not go down into the pit or lake with the Dragon the beast the whore and false Prophet which will be the portion of the most zealous false worshippers And when your eyes come once to be opened in the true light ye will bless the Lord for giving you these warnings and not be so angry at us who have paid dear for them for our willingnesse if it be possible to save you some of the charges they have cost us however at least to preserve your souls from that ruine and dreadful destruction which all the paths of Babylon lead to The sins of Babylon Although in the foregoing description some of the sins of Babylon have been touched at yet I find my spirit further drawn forth in way of service to the Lord and his people to take a further view both of them and some other of her sins THe sins of Babylon by the Spirit of life which hath righteously measured and knoweth them are referred to these two Heads Fornications and Abominations She allureth the spirit of the creature into a strange bed and there it acts filthily and abominably with this strange spirit Now of these there are two sorts First some more open and manifest Secondly some more hid and secret hard yea utterly impossible to be discerned without the shining forth of the pure light of liâ—e All sorts of men are estranged from the life under the whole heaven is the Lord God forgotten and his holy and pure Law and way of life and filthinesse and abomination is committed every where Now all this filth even the common filth of the earth springs out of Babylon hath it's rise from her womb Were it not for her the sound of life would be heard even among he Heathen and they would not be such strangers to him that made theÌ„ nor would they act so contrary to those leadings teachings of the Spirit of God who is the God of the whole earth which the darkest parts are not without It is she which withdraws their minds from the pure glimmerings that rise up in them setting up another God in their eyes and heathenish sottish wayes of fear worship and devotion and under this she makes them filthy and polluted unclean in their minds and in their bodyes brutish in their knowledge and in their practices For she is the mother of fornications and abominations of the earth Rev 17. 5. Look what of pride of vanity of cruelty of envy of wrath of lust of covetousness of idolatry of blasphemy c. is to be found anywhere among men upon the earth she is the mother of it all All the common filth and stench of the earth springs out of this womb this secret womb this hidden womb For though in this her open visible appearance she be manifest to the eyes of many yet to those children of hers who are thus conceived brought forth and bred up by her she is a mistery of iniquity and they perceive her not so much as here and so cannot escape this her openly polluted bed Secondly The whore hath more secret fornications and abominations Where she can passe thus she need not paint either her self or her ware but where need requires she hath her paint she hath her delicates for the curious eye Rev 18. 3. she hath her Cinamon Odours Ointments and frankinsence for the nice scent she hath her fine flower and wheat c. for the fine pallace and gold precious stones pearl and vessel 's of ivory and all manner of vessel 's of most precious wood for the more stately worshipper as wel as of brass and Iron for the more common Rev 18 12 13. she can paint both her self and her ware so as to make them taking to the eye of all flesh She can so mingle her cup as shall please every palate but that which is truly living and cast such a colour upon her abominations as no eye that 's without can suspect but takes with every young man that 's hunting abroad and knows not the spring of life in himself So that all the deceits in Religion all the several forms and wayes of knowledge and worship all the ordinances duties and devotions which the spirits of most men take pleasure in are of her And herein is her pride and glory in subjecting these in ruling over these in blinding the eyes of these and opposing the true life and power by these She doth not value whole Territories of the other so much as one Congregation of these For mark The great Master-piece of the whore was to paint her self like the Lambs wife and so to withdraw from the true Church and set up a false Church which by reason of its paint and likeness to that which once was the true should passe up and down the world and be taken for the true And here lies her beauty her glory her majesty her life her heart even in the deceivableness of this appearance Therefore her great care and indeavour is to keep her possession and dominion here She often reneweth and changeth her paint neerer and neerer to the Image and former likeness of truth that she might make it pass instead of the truth and so keep that which is indeed the truth down stil under reproach contempt and persecution as she hath done these many ages Therefore she hath her sorts of paint by her her varieties of sorcery of witchery of inchantments whereof her cup is ful and wherewith her wine is made strong to make the Inhabitants of the earth drunk thereby that being thus besotted being not themselves but their spiritual sences bound up as this wine doth very effectually where ever her cup is drunk off she might lead them up and down from one thing to another from one chamber to another from one bed to another from one practice and way of worship to another and stil keep them from the true living thing which their souls seek For were it possible for persons who did
life and from the Spirit then she blasphemes the life and the holy pure power and movings of the Spirit The woman which sate upon the scarlet coloured beast with whom the Kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made druâ—k with the wine of her fornication was full of names of blasphemy Rev 17. 2 3. Yea the beast which carried her which had many heads horns and crowns he also had on his heads names of blasphemy Rev 13. 1. And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies ver 5. And he with the whore together for he did it by her spirit and instigation by vertue of the wine he had drunk out of her cup opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwel in Heaven ver 6. This hath been the work of the tongue in every head of the beast namely to blaspheme the life to blaspheme the true living power in all ages and generations since the apostacy from the life and spirit of the Apostles Now there is a twofold blasphemy which the whore and the powers of the earth that serve her are guilty of 1. There is a speaking well of the wayes of their own invention or the wayes which they have imitated without the life to call these the wayes of God the true wayes of life is blasphemy I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but a Synagogue of Satan Rev 2. 9. There were even in the Apostles dayes persons who pretended to be Christians and pretended still to be of the Church though they had lost the life and this the Spirit of the Lord saith was blasphemy And what is their gathering into a Church who were never gathered into the life and setting up Ordinances and pastors what is this what is it for him to call himself a Christian or inward Jew who never had the fore-skin of his flesh cut off by the circumcising knife of the Spirit what will the Lord say this is when he comes to judge 2. There is a speaking evil of the truths of God The true knowledge the true fear the true worship the true Saints the true God the true Tabernacle the true Temple the true Heaven all which is in the Spirit and is alone revealed and seen there there are reproached these are mis-represented and the true sight and acknowledgement of them called error heresie and sectarism by all the blasphemers of Babylon Israel who had the Law and the Prophets the true Ordinances and the true Priests yet they called evill good and good evil they put darknesse for light and light for darknesse they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa 5. 20. They were so wise in their own eyes and so prudent in their own sight they were so mighty to drink wine and men of such strength to mingle strong drink justifying the wicked for reward and taking away the righteousness of the righteous from him that there was no convincing of them by the light of God shining from the Prophets of their casting away of the Law of the Lord and despising the word of the holy one of Israel ver 21. to 25. Nay they were observers of the law and bearkned to the Prophets and Priests of the Lord Jer 5. 31. Therefore when the overflowing scourge came it should not come neer them Yea when the true Prophets of the Lord threatnedtheÌ„ with his coming with dreadful vengeance and his strange worke they in the height and confidence of their spirits could reply Let him make speed and hasten his worke that we may see it Isa 5. 20. How blind were they from seeing their blasphemies their calling of evil good and good evil c Yea in the very dayes of the Apostles The way of truth was evil spoken of and Synagogues of Satan setting up and blasphemies growing up apace from those which held the true form but denyed the power even while the powrings forth of the Spirit and revelations from the Spirit did abound How can it be expected it should be otherwise now when the Spirit is grown such a strange thing that to mention such a thing as being moved by the Spirit or acted by the Spirit is become ridiculous and the very teachers of the Nation who must speak by the Spirit if they speak the word of God cry revelation is ceased and count it a reproach for a man so much as to pretend to speak by the movings and in the power of the Spirit Now this double blasphemy necessarily follows the fornication Whoever is fornicated from the life he blasphemes the the life in all his knowledg in all his worship in all his Religion He calls that prayer which is not prayer that an ordinance which is not an ordinance that a Church which is not a Church 〈◊〉 a Minister which is not a Minister and that which is indeed the prayer the ordinance the Church the Minister he denyes and blasphemes and cannot do otherwise until the righteous judgements of the Lord purge the whores wine out of him and he be led back to that life and Spirit again from which in all these wayes of worship inventions and imitations he is gone a whoring The whore for these many ages hath been laying blasphemy to the charge of such as in any degree have been led by the Spirit of the Lord from her whoredomes but now the Lord is taking it off from them who have long been unjustly charged therewith and charging it upon her and she cannot escape his judgement for though she put on never so fine dresses and appearances like the Spouse and Church of Christ yet the Lord can distinguish and find out his Spouse though naked in the wilderness and without her attire and can also espy the whorish spirit though cloathed with the Churches attire and can charge her blasphemies against him his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven upon her 3. Grosse or more refined idolatries Little children said John keep your selves from Idols 1 John 5. 21. He saw Antichristianism breaking in apace many Antichrists being already come and now saith he keep to the anointing and keep from Idols Without a very strict watch without a mighty preservatioÌ„ by the anointing he saw idolatry would even creep in upon them who had tasted of the true power and vertue of life But how shall they keep from Idols who know not the anointing but think the revelations thereof are ceased He that buyeth not the tried gold of Christ Rev 3. 18. How can he avoid buying untried gold of Antichrist or silver or brasse or wood or stone which his Merchants traffique for and make idols of Rev 9. 20. If thine eyes be anointed with the true eye-salve thou mayest see and read the parable Idolatry is the worshipping of God without his Spirit that is the plain naked truth of the thing to invent things from the
as good shift as they can without it and then having thus prepared people she brings forth her wares Look ye saith she this is the way thus and thus the Saints practised do thou thus also But thou must receive the Saints spirit before thou either know or worship or thou knowest and worshippest out of it and in that path of sorcery and witchcraft from the life thou shalt never meet with the life but the further thou proceedest therein wilt be more and more entangled from it and become stil a greater and greater enemy to it and more and more in love with the whore and her whorish paths and pleasing wayes of devotion whereby the false spirit in thee is raised up and nourished but thy soul famished for that can be nourished with nothing but the bread of life from the hand of the Spirit but not with words or forms of knowledge or wayes of worship invented or imitated which doe but tickle the understanding or affectionate part of man but reach not the life so that that which should serve the Lord is not there raised but stil bound over with the bond of iniquity 5. Luxury excesse and pleasure She is rich with her Merchandize and she enjoyes it to the ful she takes the pleasure of it She builds costly houses weares rich apparrel fares deliciously read spiritually with the spiritual eye She is rich in knowledge rich in wayes of worship rich in duties rich in religious performances and practices And as she gained these in her own will without the leadings of the life and by her own search and wisdom So she can make use of these in her own will and according to the direction of her own wisdom She can fast when she will give thanks when she will preach when she will pray when she will sing when she will meditate when she will bring forth her knowledge to others when she will Look on the Papists how rich are they in outward buildings in gorgeous Ceremonies in times of worship in wayes of mortification and pennance in fasts in feasts c Look on the several sorts of Protestants they have their riches in their kind too their Churches their buildings their arts their sciences their languages their bodyes of divinity their cases of conscience c. They can open the whole body of Religion resolve all doubts expound all Scriptures c. The great City was cloathed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls Rev 18. 16. And she sate thus on the Throne like a Queen living deliciously and taking her pleasure to which her torment and sorrow afterwards is proportioned ver 7. Yea she had treasure and costlinesse enough to make all her Merchants rich that would trade with her ver 19. What knowledge what delicate food could the wisest or greatest of the earth desire which she had not ready for them see ver 3. ver 9. But Sion all this while hath lain in the dust and been despised She hath had no building no fence but hath been trampled under foot by every unclean beast Her witnesses have been cloathed with sackcloath a garment which all the lofty inhabitants of Babylon disdain her sare hath been hard in the Wildernesse only a little Manm which with fleshly Israel who lust after rich and large knowledg is counted light bread and their souls soon loath it Nor had she this in plenty but only a smal proportion dayly from the hand of the free-giver sufficient to keep life in her in the Wildernesse and to furnish her with strength to give in her testimony against Babylon so far as the Lord saw good to call any of her seed thereunto Now what professor can be willing to fare thus with her at present and to wait for her future riches fulnesse beauty and glory Nay nay they have so long lived richly and fared deliciously in Babylon that they know not how to eat the bread of affliction and drink the water of affliction with sad and desolate Sion And yet this is the only way and passage out of Babylon into Sion That which hath been rich and fat and ful-fed there must become poor and lean and feel hunger and have none of the bread of life administred to it no nor so much as husks neither And in this sad day and state of misery the poor is visited which receives the Gospel and the dead raised which receives the life 6. Worshipping of the Devil All the world wondred after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon Rev 13. 3 4. Now the Dragon is the Devil Rev 20. 2. There is no other worship of God under the new Testament but in Spirit and truth and he that worships otherwise worships not God but that Spirit which teacheth to worship out of Gods Spirit and out of the truth Every prayer is not a prayer to God but only that prayer which is from and in the Spirit Every Ordinance or duty is not an Ordinance of God or a duty performed to God but only that which the Spirit leads into and guids and preserves in This is the way that all the earth have departed from the Lord namely by erring from his Spirit They cry up practises in Religion dutyes ordinances the means the means a Church a Church as the Jews did the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord but they find the Church before they have found the Spirit of the Lord and so they find not the Church that is in God the Church that is of his building but they poor hearts frame up a building as wel as they can according to the pattern they find in the Scriptures and so they are not an habitation for God in the Spirit but are estranged from the life and Spirit in all their worship and so are not found by the Spirit which searcheth them and their worship worshiping of God but the works of their own hands and Devils Rev 9. 20. For that charge stands good against all the inhabitants of Babylon even to the highest and strictest of them all whether in forms or out of forms There are many men who are very zealous and devout in their wayes of worship who were never taught by the Spirit the way of worshipping God nor do at all know how to worship in the Spirit these my soul exceedingly pittyes They have received into their understandings from the letter of the Scripture that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and that God will give his Spirit to them that ask it They have asked and they hope they have the Spirit but poor deceived hearts they know not what spirit they are of nor in what spirit they act nor what spirit they serve and so perish for lack of knowledge the key whereof hath been hid from them Now let such consider There are but two spirits the Spirit of God and the spirit of Satan one of which guid all men in their devotion and
of Jesus Christ even by this false woman which rides on the beast by whose power and strength she overcomes the Saints She sets up a way of doctrine a way of worship in a Nation and gets laws made for the defence of it and against them that will not submit to it and here she is too hard for the Saints by this means she overcomes the Martyrs and Witnesses and keeps the truth down and keeps up her way of deceit which without this prop would soon fall This whorish spirit scents the Spirit of the Lord she knows it will soon be her death if she cannot make it appear odious and suppresse it Therefore she hunts this spirit she hunts the life and power of what she her self professes especially if it appear vigorous and strong in any she seeks advantages against the servants of the living God representing them to the earthly powers as persons of dangerous principles and bad practises inventing all manner of what can be called evil against them and spreading it among the people that the truth may start up no where in the earth but every where be knocked down by the violence of the multitude or by the sword of the offended Magistrate Now what is the matter of all this great noise and fury Why this A Lamb is risen up in the innocency the pure harmless spirit is appearing in the earth the true life which discovers the hypocrisie and dead forms and wayes of the whorish spirit is breaking forth Therefore she makes a great out cry awakpeople awak the church is in danger arise Magistrates Magistracy and Ministry wil down if this Lamb-like spirit be suffered Nay nay These shall stand but Babylon shall fall and her mistery of iniquity be discovered and her deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnesse made manifest and the true life and Spirit shall arise and take possession of the hearts of people and make them a clean and fit habitation for God and people that are subject hereto shall feel it and enjoy it though the Merchants of Babylon say men shall never be made cleane while they live but must stil have a body of sin and death hanging about them But how shall they put on Christ who have not put off the body of sin Shall those who are made Kings and Priests to God here on earth minister in their filthy garments These are some of the sins of Babylon that painted harlot which is subtle in heart and lyes in wait to deceive in the absence of the true Church whose cloathing and resemblance she takes up and appears in And when she hath done all this When like Aegypt she hath kept the seed in bondage in all her Territories and Dominions in every Church she hath set up and by all her Ministries and Ordinances When like Sodom she hath filled the whole world with filthinesse uncleanesse and all manner of spiritual abominations When like old Jerusalem the bond-woman she and her children have scoffed at the Spirit in every appearance all the time of her reigne and have trampled upon and domineered over them who have but spoken of the coming of the just one in his people sporting her self in her own deceivings Yet after all this She wipes her mouth and saith she hath done no harm She hath been for the Gospel and Church and Ministry and Ordinances and the saith once delivered to the Saints and only against deceivers seducers blasphemers and hereticks But the Spirit of the Lord cannot be thus deceived nor shall the Nations be allwayes thus deceived and suffer her to sit as a Queen upon their consciences but she shall see sorrow and they shall taste joy at the sound of the everlasting Gospel when once again it cometh to their ears Rev 14. 6. Chap 19. 6 7. The judgement of Babylon BAbylon the great this great City of abominations which hath reigned over the whole earth which hath bewitched all sorts of professors with the golden cup of her fornications which hath subtilly led from the life and held all sorts captive in the witchery of her deceit and hath triumphed over the holy seed making Sion their mother desolate who sat in the dust and was trampled upon by her This great City this glorious City this rich City this mighty powerful City this Queen of the earth which knows not what belongs to Sions misery sorrow poverty and desolation with Antichrist her King and husband who hath cloathed himself with the garments of light and appeared in the likenesse of the King of Sion and hath long been so acknowledged and worshipped is to be judged by the Spirit of life which ariseth up out of the dust of Sion And though Babylon the great whore who in all her transformings hath still remained an enemy to the life hath great power and great wisdom and can shift very subtilly to save her self by both yet strong is the Lord God who judgeth her and he also is wise and she shall not escape his hand but he will pursue her with his voices with his thunderings with his hail-stones with his earth-quakes with his woes with his plagues with his cups of indignation till he hath made her manifest till he hath broken her in peeces till he hath crumbled and laid her in the dust till he hath brought her down to the very pit where the feet of Sion shall trample upon her for ever Sing sing O inhabitant of Sion dost thou not behold the Crown of pride going down apace The decree is sealed against her she cannot escape yea she is fallen she is fallen she is already taken in the snare the eye of my life seeth it and rejoyceth over her in the living power The plagues of God Allmighty from the fiercenesse of his indignation are visiting her whole Territories and passing over all her Land Nothing can help her to avoid his stroak no paint will serve no cover will hide no profession no practise no duties no ordinances no Church no Ministry can avail to conceal her but that spirit is pursued by the Spirit of the Lord and found out every where and plagues are prepared and powring out upon her Nay though she leave all her forms and pretend to wait and seek for the Lord yet she is found out there also Now what is her judgement Destruction and utter desolation from the hand of the Lord to be an hissing and reproach throughout all generations to be brought down by powrings forth of the wrath and vengeance of the Allmighty into the pit and there to drink the fulnesse of his wrath for ever Sion shal be exalted Sion shall drink the cup of life the cup of blessing the cup of love the cup of salvation for ever but Babylon the cup of fury the cup of indignation for ever and ever Sion shall sing but Babylon shall howl and all that saw any beauty or took any pleasure in her shall mourn over her Alas alas for her she who hath so many ages gone for the
Ordinances professions and Religious practises this is the heir of life and by the raising up and living of this in you may ye come to life and no otherwise And all Religion without this even the most inward is but the deceit of the whore who makes a great shew of worship and of zeal towards Christ his Ordinances and Ministry as she cals them but by all these and under all these holds the life in bondage and strives by all means to slay the heir that the inheritance might come to her son But Cain the sacraficer Ishmael the son of the bond-woman Esau the hunter abroad after venison the Jew full of profession zeal ordinances and worship shall not inherit but slain Abel shall be raised to life Isaac who was born of the dry and barren womb shall have the promise plain Jacob the blessing the out-cast Gentile be sought out Thus it shall be can ye read it yet it is the desire of our souls that a remnant of you may be saved and now is the gathering Therefore seek humility seek poverry of spirit seek the suffering seed seek the meek innocent harmlesse Dove-like nature even the love which doth no il nor thinks no il for this is the Spirit which is to be gathered but the high and lofty the wise and knowing the fat and strong the rough and confident in their wisdom and in their duties Churches ordinances c. which they have gathered and stollen from the Scriptures out of the life are with all these to be rejected and to be shut up in blindness and hardness of heart Seeing they are to see and not perceive and hearing to hear and not understand lest they should be converted and healed Yea it is this spirit which is to fret under it's pain and torment from the woes and plagues but cannot repent but passeth on with Babylon to ruin and destruction Rev 16. 9 10 11. Babylon is become the habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every uncleane and hateful bird Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Rev 18. ver 2. 4. This is the cry concerning Babylon just upon her fal Her iniquity is ful her filth overflows the pure seed is gathering out of her and nothing but Devils and foul spirits and unclean and hateful birds remain in her And the cal stil is to the people of God from one remove to another from one part of Babylon to another to travel on and pass away stil til they come quite out of it all To come out of one part of Babylonish worship that 's not enough or to come out of some peices of Babylonish knowledge and wisdom will not answer the cal but ye must come out of it all Depart ye depart ye this is not your rest for it is polluted Stay not in any part of the uncleane Land O child of the pure life but be separate and touch not the unclean thing if thou wilt have the holy one to receive thee Not only the several dresses and forms of the whore are polluted but her spirit also and all her inward fabrick of Religion out of which thou must also come if ever thou be joyned to the pure life Thy faith thy hope thy love thy patience thy joy thy peace thy justification thy sanctification thy mortification thy ability to pray to give thanks to wait c. All must down all must suffer loss all must become dross and dung to thee that thou mayest know the building of true life from and in the Spirit For the Lord will not own any of these nor receive thee with any of these which the whore hath touched but if thou wilt have the pure life both within and without thou must part with the corrupt life both within and without This is a faithful and true testimony but who can receive it will not both the houses of Israel be offended and stumble at it But if any of the people of God will abide stil in Babylon and not hearken to every call of the Spirit of the Lord to follow its guidance out of every part of her they shall receive from the impartial hand of the Lord of her plagues and shall have torment and sorrow proportionable to the glory and pleasure they have had with her Therefore if after one two three or many removes out of some parts and practises of Babylon the voice stil follow crying Come out of her my people the spirit of Antichrist is yet among you the wine of fornication from the pure life is not yet purged out of you do not stop your ears thinking this belongs not to you because ye have forsaken some paths which are Antichristian but hear and follow for it is your life and your way to rest and peace in the Land of the living and your sure preservation from anguish perplexity and misery in the houre of Babylons judgement and sore distresse Now there is one thing which lies as a great block in the way to hinder this testimony from entring into the hearts of those to whom it is directed or at least to weaken the spirits demonstration of it to their consciences for exceeding subtle is the whorish spirit to keep every one of her subjects from the sight or suspition of her in themselves and to darken every beam of light whereby it pleaseth God to make any way for the discovery of her in them which is this Object But hath all our Religion for these many ages been Babylonish and whoredom from the life all our Churches all our Ordinances all our dutyes all our Ministry c We can never be drawn to beleeve this We are sure we have felt lively touches from God many a time and enjoyed sweet communion with him in them God hath often met us there and refreshed our spirits which he would not have done had they not been of himselfe Answ There hath been a simplicity and sincerity of heart strring in some people towards God in all ages even among the Heathen under all their Idols and among the Jews in the midst of their great apostacy which simplicity is of God and accepted with him notwithstanding all the load of filth that may hang round about it Even in the midst of Egypt or in the midst of Babylon if Israel groans the Lord hears and may return sweet answers to Israel even there When Israel was a child I loved him and called my son out of Egypt The lowest breathings of true life towards God is the voice of his son and enters into his ears from the darkest part of Egypt or Babylon Now in this Nation the simplicity hath more stirred then in other Nations the seed of God in this Land hath been exceeding precious and dear to him And at the beginning of these late troubles the stirring of the simplicity from the pure seed was more vigorous
and lively then it had been in many ages before and accordingly the answers of God to it were more fresh and sweet and there was a tast of him and fellowship with him and sweet hopes and refreshments to the soul Though the way of praying preaching and worship either publique or private was not right before him yet he over-looked that which his soul hated winking at the time of ignorance and Antichristian darkness and met with that which he loved And if the simplicity had grown and thriven communion with God and life from him would have increased although the pure path of the Sanctuary had no yet been made manifest But this was it destroyed all another thing got up under a cover and the simplicity sunk and so the life with-drew and God hath grown strange to his people He missed that which he loved and came to visit he found that thrust upon him for his which his soul cannot own or unite with so he became but as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night Jer 14. 8. Enter into your hearts O ye back-sliding children is it not thus You who had sweet tasts of God is he not become a stranger to you You that had sweet fresh lively breathings after God are you not sit down in a form or under some pleasing notions and have got a covering but lost the simplicity of your life and the sweet tasts of God and refreshments from him Thus it hath been in all reformations there was commonly a pure single naked beginning but an evil thing soon got dominion over it slaying the pure living stirring by the form which it raised up under a pretence of preserving the life thereby and of serving God more uniformly and acceptably therein Ah the precious seed that was sown at the beginning of these troubles What is become of it how is every one turned aside from the pure life into some Idol or other of his own heart some into one way of worship and some into another some into one notion and some into another and all joyning together to keep the seed in bondage endeavouring either to bring it back again to Egypt to make it serve there or to destroy and bury it in the wilderness But the Lord hath visited his poor desolate seed and hath been gathering it from all quarters from amidst all empty forms on the one hand and all vain high notions on the other hand and he will preserve it overturning all his new enemies as wel as his old This then is the sum of the Answer 1. No way or particular act of worship under the New Testament is acceptable to God without his Spirit 2. All invented or imitated wayes or acts of worship to the performing whereof the mooving presence and power of his Spirit is not necessary but men can perform them without it are Babylonish and whoredome from that Spirit to which the true Christian is joyned and in which all that he doth is performed 3. Under this Antichristianism under this whoredom even in the Land of Babylon where the true Israel is captive a true simplicity and zeal towards God may sometimes be stirring 4. When this at any time is stirring towards the Lord the Lord pityes it the Lord loves it the Lord accepts it When this cals the Lord hears and waits that he may be gracious and return answers of grace to it 5. Though the Lord accept of this in the midst of Babylon and in the midst of the whorish wayes of worship that have been learned there yet this doth not make Babylon or her wayes of worship acceptable nor are not to be made use of nor cannot by any that fears God to justifie them 6. Where they are so made use of and the Babylonish wayes and forms of worship cryed up because of Gods visitations and tender mercy to his seed under them God is provoked his presence with-drawn life lost and wrath prepared against those forms and wayes of worship which will reach to the very bowels of those who are found there And let this word come home to your hearts O ye that ever knew what belonged to sweet communion with God! If God was so tender to you in Babylon when he stirred up in you a pure simplicity and zeal there what would he have been to you if ye had come out of Babylon Ah ye have lost the substance for a shadow and that not a right shadow neither but a shadow of your own forming and now ye are angry with them who will not also leave the substance to cry up your shadow Ah enter into your secret chambers and let shame cover your faces ye who would propagate that apostacy from the Lord which your own hearts have too far entred into and are so deeply involved in O that the eye were opened in you which can see it Do not your hearts a little feel it O mourn after the Lord and mourn after the losse of that which once in some measure in you was true to the Lord O that the lost sheep might be sought out and that which hath been scattered in the day of your loftines and seeking dominion and great things might be gathered again to the Lord for great is the wrath and severity that is towards you and he is become exceeding jealous for his seeds sake and judgement must begin with you who cry out against Antichrist in one grosse fleshly by appearance and yet are serving him your selves some of you in other forms some in Spirit This is a standing ttuth What ever is not of the Spirit of God in Religion and worship is of the spirit of Antichrist What ever the spirit of man hath invented or imitated is not the thing it selfe is not the true worship for the true worship is only and continually in the Spirit and never out of the Spirit The true praying is in the Spirit the true singing in the Spirit the true preaching in the Spirit Whatsoever is out of it is of Antichrist in man Now therefore give up all your Religion your knowledg your worship your practises which are out of the Spirit and return unto the Lord and wait for his raising of that seed in you which once began to spring but is now slain and lyes in death and captivity under all these and the earthly part wherein all this Religion and these practises stand covers its blood so as ye cannot see how ye have slaine and dayly do slay the just one O the blood the blood the innocent blood that daily cryes to the Lord against you How can the Lord accept any of your services while your hands are ful of blood while the pure simplicity is slain the love grown cold the life lost and the whorish way and path wherein and whereby it was lost cryed up for the way of God Shall not the Lord visit for these things Shall not his soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Yea his wrath
is kindled the fiercenesse of his wrath is kindled against the professors of this age and wo is from the Lord towards them Wo to the Protestant Congregations wo to the select Churches wo to their pastors who have helped them to wander from the life to dead idols which cannot profit Wo to them who are exalted in notions and high knowledge ye have judged and condemned the Papists and the Lord hath found out the same spirit of idolatry in you But turn from your Idols return to your simplicity put away your adulteries from between your breasts and returne to your first love and the Lord wil receive you though ye have wandred after many lovers and have been inflamed with the love of idols under every green tree but in these your Church wayes and worships the soul of the Lord abhors you and all your former zeal and simplicity is blotted out and forgotten and in your present adultery and idolatry shall ye dye unlesse ye hear the voice of the Lord recalling you and turn at his reproofe Now in tender bowels to help you a little consider that which follows The same spirit that stealeth away the true simplicity raiseth up and stealeth in a false image thereof which there is no perceiving at present unlesse the soule lye very low and be kept open and cleer in the pure light And as in the true simplicity the true light the true knowledg the true faith the true hope the true love the true meekness the true zeal the true poverty and humility c. springs up and is nourished so in the false image of simplicity which the Devil secretly conveys in when he steals away the true there 's a likeness of all these springing up and growing And here 's the beginning of Babylon in the heart here are the inward riches and treasures thereof What can Sion pretend to which Babylon hath not in the resemblance Is there simplicity of heart in Sion and is there not simplicity of heart among the inhabitants of Babylon yea a false image Is there light in Sion and is there noâ— also light in Babylon yea there 's the light of the Sun and the light of the Moon and the light of the Stars which fel from heaven and the light of many candles shining in Babylon Is there true knowledge in Sion There 's knowledge fasiy so called in Babylon a false knowledge of the Crosse of Christ a false knowledge of his death a false knowledge of his blood without feeling the living vertue thereof which truly washeth away the sin So for faith hope love meekness zeal humility c. There are false images of all these in Babylon and of what ever else is wrought in truth in the inhabitants of Sion Now when the truth is lost and the false image crept in both which are done at unawares while the husbandman is asleepe and so he perceives it not but thinks in his very heart that it is stil the seed of truth that is growing up in him then begins the mistery of fornication idolatry witchcraft and all manner of spiritual wickedness and deceit to work in the heart Thy beleeving thy hoping thy love thy zeal thy praying thy waiting c. All here is abomination it 's from a false root it 's of a false kind it is not of the true seed the enemy hath stollen away that while thou wast negligent and slumbering and all this ariseth in thee from the seed which he did sow instead thereof and is the fruit of the Land of Babylon And having thus committed inward whoredome in thine own heart then thou seekest and settest up outward wayes of whoredom also Having first set up an inward image of the inward life of the Saints thou then seekest and settest up another image of their outward worship an image of a Church an image of a Ministry an image of Ordinances an image of praying an image of singing an image of preaching an image of baptism an image of the Saints communion And thus thou art defiled within and without and art mad with envy and rage that thou canst not bewitch the inhabitants of Sion who are kept pure from all these defilements and reserved as witnesses against thee into thy bed of whoredoms And thus while thou thinkest thou art the chiefe worshipper thou art all over polluted the whole head is sicke and the whole heart faint there isno cleanness no soundnesse within or without but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores which have not been closed neither bound up nor mollified with oyl but the hurt of the daughter of my people hath been healed deceitfully by Physitians of no vallue who had notthe oyl Isa 1. 5 6. Ezek 13. 10. This is generally the state of professors at this day but they cannot see it for they have put out the eye of the simplicity wherewith alone God will suffer the things of life to be seen and God hath blinded the eye of their wisdom that they shall not see nor be converted and healed that way So that exceeding miserable is their estate They will not see Gods way and God will not let them see their way So that though there be line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little yet it is that they might stumble and fall and be snared and broken and taken For as discoveries of truth grow more cleer and manifest so they grow more hardned against it And as they on the one hand increase in walking contrary to God so God on the other hand proceeds in walking contrary to them delighting more and more to stumble the wise disputing part which would so fain know but must be made blind that the eye of the babe may be opened which sees that in the childish simplicity which the other eye can never reach in the most manly wisdom Therefore put away all your images and likenesses of truth Put away your false faith which can never overcome the worldly nature and spirit in you and your false hope which can never purifie your hearts and your fained humility and self-willed fasts which can never bring down the lofty exalted nature in you and your false love wherewith ye can never love the brethren in the truth but only the brethren in your own or some such other likenesse of the truth and your false zeal meekness holinesse c. All which spring and grow up from the wrong seed in a seeming simplicity and all your praying reading preaching c. which ye have taken up and practise in your own wils which should be crucified and wherewith no service worship or performance can be pleasing to God and wait for the raising of the true seed of life in the true simplicity whereby ye may serve God acceptably here and be saved hereafter And be not mockers lest your bands be made strong for the consumption is determined against you by that Spirit of life whose breath wil wast you All
been drawn forth the trumpet hath sounded the battel is begun and blood hath been shed on both sides the blood of the creature on the one side the blood of the whorish spirit on the other side The whore with the power of the beast on which she rides and by whose strength and assistance she makes war with the Lamb is mighty and dreadful and it hath long been said Who is able to make war with the beast whose strength is hers But the Lord God who hath arisen out of his holy habitation to judge and hath begun to judge her is more mighty by whose arm strength she shal fal the beast shall not be able to carry her up and down any longer nay nor to uphold her in her seat of government over the consciences of men Be wise now therefore and consider the present state of things and if ye find not hearts to help the Lord against the mighty yet take heed of helping the mighty against the Lord The vessels wherein the life arises and appears are poor and very contemptible and ye may easily trample upon them but the life which riseth up in them is very precious and too strong for the powers either of earth or of hel The Lord did not appear formerly among you or of late begin to raise you up again that ye should become enemies to him or aiders of his enemies against him but that ye might let his seed go forth to worship him in the wildernesse for in this dark Land of Egypt they cannot Therefore break the yoaks and take off the burdens an 〈…〉 er there be no new snares laid but leave the conscience where the Lord chooseth to appear which he delights to draw out of the world to himselfe free to the Lord The Lord hath kindled and is kindling the fire with which he is burning and wil burn the flesh of the whore Come not neer to help her lest ye feel the flames Stand afarre off and see her burning and at most pity her but help her not We fight not against the flesh and blood of creatures but against that evil spirit which captivates and makes them miserable nor do we fight with carnal weapons but with such weapons as are able to reach that Spirit Now if ye interpose with your carnal weapons and smite the vessel which the Lord is pleased to make use of in this warfare his hand will be upon you yea if ye endeavour to bear off the stroak from the whore it will light upon your selves and the Lords hand and his stroaks in this day of his jealousie and vengeance is very heavy Do what ye can ye shall not be able to hinder the Lords victory who will overcome even by this very people whom the wise of all sorts despise all that ye can doe in taking part with the enemy is but to bring wounds and judgements upon your selves and to shorten the dayes of your government but the worke of the Lord will go on and prosper and this painted harlot which pretends to be the Spouse of Christ and has deckt her self so pleasingly with her stollen knowledge of Scriptures and layes claim to his Ministry and Ordinances shall be stripped naked and her shame seen and every child in the life shall be able to point at her and the song of triumph over the Dragon the beast the false Churches and all the false Prophets who are not made nor prophesie not by the anointing shall be sung in righteousnes even to the Lamb who dayly getteth and will get perfect victory for to him it is given over all his enemies A Postcript THe redemption of the soul is by the Spirit of the Lord which he that would enjoy from it must know its appearance and operation in himself and not quench or limit it but universally be subject to its guidance and leadings All mans inward misery arises from mans inward rebellion which is as the sin of witchcraft springing from the spirit of witchcraft his recovery and happiness is in the faith and in the obedience to the pure power movings and operations of the Spirit in him The Lord God who made all mankind who is the Lord of all he is redeeming a people to himselfe by his Spirit And this Spirit will not be limited by the powers of the earth but will break Nations in pieces and trample upon Princes as Mortar and as the potter treadeth clay til it hath made its way through them O open the eye the inward eye which can discern the seasons It is not now the time for Antichrist to prevail or for proud flesh to rise up in its heady will to stop the outgoings of its maker This season is past and the season of the prevailing of the life and power of the Son of righteousnesse is now come Therefore lift up your heads O ye weak and faint of the flock for iniquity and oppression must fall both within and without and the tender God of everlasting love will turn back the captivity of his people and of his creatures Be not therefore affrighted at the inward power of sin in the heart nor at the outward oppressing powers of the earth for the redeemers strength is above all and he is stretching forth his mighty arm to save in the true and living faith of the elect it is felt it is felt And O ye potsheards of the earth strive not with your maker limit him not for he wil assuredly break through you Think not to subject him to your Laws but learn his Law come under his yoake and be bound by him that ye may tast of his liberty Wash your lips and kisse the Son and be not angry at his various appearances so contrary to your wisdome but fear his dreadful name and his threshing instrument which hath teeth and seek an hiding place under the shadow of his wings against the sharp season of the breaking forth of his wrath and jealous indignation for the cause of Sion which hastneth apace He hath long let the Spirit of Babylon have its liberty and his hath been silent now is the time for his Spirit to speak and for Babylous to be silent Wil ye stil force him to silence and open Babylons mouth Will ye not suffer him to speak but according to the Laws and orders of Babylon Must that counterfeit Queen stil sit on the Throne among you and the true Princesse be made her servant O let it not be grievous to you to see the Spirit of the Lord arise and make Babylon appear Babylon Her wisdom her knowledge her unity her uniformity her order her comelinesse her beauty is but folly confusion disorder and deformity before the Lord happy is the eye that sees it and the foot that turns from her Therefore awake arise and stand up from the dead come out of the thick dark Land where the pure God of life is not to be found Come out of Babylon and touch not the