with the Light you will see the Kingdom of Heaven within which never gave consent to Sin and Evil like to a grain of Mustard-seed and to a Leaven which leaveneth into a New Lump And with the Light you will see the Field which is the World placed in your hearts where the Pearl is hid and with what you must dig to find the Pearl the Power of God and what you must sell for its sake to purchase the Field And waiting in this Light you will receive the Spirit of Truth the Comforter to to lead you into all Truth and to bring the Words which Christ hath spoken to your remembrance and it will shew you things to come and it shall receive of those which are Christs and give it unto you So loving the Light you love Christ and receiving it you receive Christ the first and the last For in the Light Christ is seen and handled his Voyce is heard and he is followed So in the Light you will see Christ to be your Teacher who saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life by whom Life Eternal is given And you are brought again to Christ the Shepherd who draws you out of the Fall to God into his Image where the Green Pastures of Life are known and fed upon And no man commeth to the Father saith Christ but by me who enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World that by the Light all may believe And saith Christ Believe in the Light whilst ye have the Light that you may be Children of the Light So you being enlightned with the Light which if you believe in it you come to be Children of the Light and Heirs of Promise and Mercy and of the Power of a Life that hath no End And believing in the Light you pass from Death to Life from Darkness to Light and you come to know a Translation from Darkness to Light and from Satans Power to the Power of God and to know the begotten of God into his own Image by his Power as you have been degenerated from God and have lost his Image by the Prince of Darkness and so translated from the Image of God into the Image of Satan from the Power of Christ into the Power of Darkness so you must come to the Light that ye may have another Conversion from Satans Power to God from Darkness to Light to be renewed into the Image of God and this is felt within and as you feel this within you will know the Word of God within in your hearts which is the Word of Faith which the Apostles preached to the Romans which they were to hear obey and do And that is the Word which seperates the pretious from the vile your pretious thoughts affections motions and words from your vile So the Word is in your Hearts and Mouthes to obey it and to do it And it is quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword And you shall not need to say Who shall bring it from Heaven or who shall fetch it from beneath But it is in the Heart and Mouth and this is the Word of Faith which the Apostles preached And the same Word is called a Hammer a Sword and a Fire to beat down to cut down and to burn up whatsoever is contrary to it So it is the same Word which sanctifieth and purifieth and reconcileth to God as beats down and cuts down that which is contrary to God and which seperates betwixt you and God So you may hear obey and do the Word for it is with you in all places and in all your occasions dividing good thoughts from bad good words and motions from bad For if all Christendom would hear and obey the Word in their Hearts which is pure and lives and remaines and endures for ever by which they would come to be born again of the Immortal Seed this Word would keep them from evil Actions and Words which are spoken and acted by them And so by the Word every one should be taught and should know the engrafted Word which is able to save the Soul which beats down and cuts down and burns up that which wars against it and keeps the Soul from the enjoyment of God And so in this Word they should know the annointing in themselves to teach them so that they should not need any man to teach them but as the same annointing teacheth them which teacheth Truth in all things And in this Light and Word which is in the heart they should know the New Covenant of God the Law written in the heart and put in their mindes by which they should not have need to say one to another Know the Lord for all should know him from the least even to the greatest And those are true Christians who come to witness this as thousands in England do witness it in this his Day among whom the pretious Pearl is found and the Field is bought among whom the Law of the Spirit of Life sets free from the Law of Sin and Death Who witness the Ages to come of which the Apostle spoke In which the kindness and exceeding riches of the Grace of God should be manifested again which the Lord in the Primitive Times made manifest amongst the Apostles who sat together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus In which places thousands are now come to sit Glory be to him for ever I. Concerning WORSHIP The Promise of Redemption is from that State in which Adam and Eve their Sons and Daughters are in the Fall driven from God into a State in which they were before they were driven from God to the Church in God Now they that sit down in a State driven from God are People far off from the Church in God Our Worship is in Spirit and in Truth in which the Devil abode not but is out of it who is the Author of strife and unrighteousness amongst People which Truth maketh the Devil to bow and cringe yea and destroys him and it is the Spirit that mortifies sin which makes the Separation from God Now we say that if all Christendom had worshipped God in Spirit and in Truth they had all been in Him out of which the Devil is and had been in the holy Mountain and had felt the Spirit ruling them in their own particulars and had felt the Spirit of Truth guiding and teaching them in them in their own hearts II. Concerning the CHURCH Our Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which he Redeems with his own blood without spot or wrinkle or deformity or any such thing which blood we feel in our Hearts purging us from all sin with which blood we feel our Consciences cleansed from dead works to serve the Living God So this blood is witnessed in us and the excellency thereof by which we come to know the price of Redemption III. Concerning the WAY We say that Christ is Our Way which is Light which enlighteneth you and
of War those were only Tythes of the Spoil and not by a Command And Christ was according to the Order of Melchisedeck who puts an end to War and destroyes the Devil its Author and redeems out of the Earth And although we are many thousands yet there is not a Beggar among us neither do we read there were any Beggars in the Primitive-Times which Church denyed Tythes and said The Priesthood was changed that took them together with the Law by which they were set up and also the Commandment which gave them So they who take Tythes and they who pay them are both Anti-christs and deny Christ to be come in the Flesh XII Of the HIGHER POWER Moses who had the Law saw over all Transgression and before it was he saw the state which Adam had in the Garden before he Fell he saw his state in the Fall and how Death reigned from Adam to Moses who received the Law which Law passed over all Transgression which Law did answer to the Witness of God in all which was a Command to people that they might not sin and that they might be kept from sin and so from Death which raigns from Adam to Moses which Law passeth over both sin and Death And this was the Higher Power higher than the Transgression which answereth to the Witness of God against the Rebellions which Witness is true holy righteous and equal which Law is just holy and good a true Measure and just Weight this is called the Higher Power this was added untill the Seed came which is Christ and this Law they were to hear even Moses To whom Wisdom was given to make the Pattern and to set forth Figures and Shaddows under the Law till Christ should come Of which Moses said The Lord will raise up a Prophet like unto me him shall ye hear in all things And when Christ himself came he put an end to all those Types Figures and Shaddows and changable things for in him there is no Shaddow who is called Gods Righteousness So the Law was in use untill the Seed came and Moses who had it said God shall raise up a Prophet like unto him and now he is come which we hear to wit the Seed who is the end of all the Prophets who Prophesied of him and so He is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believe So Believers are Members of the true Church of which Christ is the Head So Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Which Christ purgeth his Floor and burneth up the Chaffe commeth with his Fan Baptizeth with his holy Spirit and Fire and bringeth his Wheat into his Garner And Christ is the end of all Oaths which were under the Law and which was before the Law viz. of Oaths which put an end to strife among Men. XIII Of the KINGDOM of CHRIST how it is held up and how not The Kingdom of Christ is not held up by Carnal Weapons for saith Christ My Kingdom is not of this World therefore his Servants fight not Now all you that profess your selves to be Christians and bringers of glad Tydings yet ye are Fighthers with Clubs and Swords about Religion you are not the Servants of Christ who are fighting for an Earthly Kingdom for in Christs Kingdom we must fight with Spiritual Weapons in Patience and Long-suffering And Christ said to his Disciples who would have had fire to come down from Heaven to consume those that were contrary to them as it was in the dayes of the Prophet Elias That they knew not what spirit they were of So they who destroy Mens Lives and doth not save them they are not according to the mind of Christ nor the way of Christ but are under the Condemnation of it neither do they know what Spirit they are of And so they who are Spiritually wise cannot commit their Souls Bodies nor Spirits into the hands of such XIV Concerning Teachers Prophets Pastors Bishops Presbyters c. Teachers Prophets Pastors Presbyters and Bishops ought not to be such as are given to filthy lucre nor covetous nor given to wine nor strikers nor brawlers nor covetous of earthly things nor to teach for filthy lucre nor to contend about words and fables and vain Phylosophy and beggarly Rudiments and Traditions and Doctrines of men nor their Commandements neither ought they to compel People to observe Dayes Meats and Drinks nor such like things nor to bear Rule by their Means nor they ought not to be such who seek their gain from their quarter such were forbidden and such as teach for money and handfulls of Barly and pieces of Bread and such as teach for lucre were forbidden and opposed by the true Prophets Teachers and Apostles and such as wore long Robes and were called of Men Master and followed and loved Salutations in Markâ—ts and the uppermost Roomes at Feasts and such like all such are out of Christ and against such Christ himself cryed Woe woe who said Ye have one Master even Christ and ye are all Brethren And that it should not be so among them as it was among the Gentiles And so all they who have the Scriptures of Christ of the Apostles and Prophets and not in the Power and Spirit that gave them forth and do not obey it which reproves them that they may come into it but stop their Ears and shut their Eyes against it such are like the Pharisees these cannot worship God in the Spirit neither can they pray in the Spirit nor sing in the Spirit but quench it and burthen it and vex it These are out of the Fellowship of the Spirit and out of the Fellowship of God the Father of Spirits Those erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God And such go hither and thither to change their Way and go from the Spirit of God in their hearts which would lead them to Christ the Way the Truth and the Life So all such who have the Form of Godliness and are not in the Power and Spirit in which they were in who gave forth the words such are to be denyed And the true Praying is in the Spirit and the true Worship true Praysing and true Singing must be in the Spirit So they who grieve and vex the Spirit and quench it they cannot Worship God in the Spirit XV. An Exhortation to all Christendom to mind the Grace of God to wit the Light All ye People in that part of the World which is called Christendom come to the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned you that with it you may see your Salvation and may know Christ you Teacher the Captain of your Salvation and the Grace which comes by him which brings your Salvation which Grace teacheth us which Grace is sufficient in weakness and temptations which brings the Salvation and by it we are saved And this Grace teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and
every man that cometh into the World that with this Light you may see him the Way and may come to walk in the Way of Peace and Life which is the Way to God and which is the New and Living-Way in which the Apostles were out of which Christendom is gone erring from the Light in their own particulars into their own Inventions and Imaginations which is the cause that there are set up so many Wayes among them changable Wayes and changable Worships among them I say who have erred from the New and Living Way So whosoever comes to the Light in themselves they come to Christ they come to the New and Living Way out of the Old and Dead Wayes which are in the Fall from God out of his Image and Power So whosoever comes to his Image and Power they must come to the Light wherewith Christ the Way hath enlightened them all in their own particulars and hear his Voyce and Doctrine So there is not another Way to the Father but Christ the Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World which is the Way yea the New and Living Way So who love the Light they love the Way and they love Christ but they who hate the Light they hate Christ the Way IV. Of the CROSSE The Cross of Christ is the Power of God which is contrary to the World which Cross of Christ the Power of God was among the Apostles which Crucified them from all outward Figures Types Shadows and Inventions of Men. So they who are gone from the Power of God since the dayes of the Apostles have set up many Crosses who have lost the true Cross which is the Power of God The Cross of Christ which is the Power of God Crucifies that state in which Adam and Eve and all their Posterity were in in the degeneration in which Cross is the Power of God by which Cross they come to a state in which they were in before their Fall And in this Power of God the Cross is the Fellowship which is a Mystery which brings to the Beginning in which is Endless Life and this Mystery is in it V. Of the True COMMUNION The True Communion is in the Gospel which is among us as it was among the Apostles in the Spirit and Light by which we have Fellowship with the Father and with the Son VI. Of the GOSPEL The Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation for he that believeth receiveth Power receiveth the Gospel by which Life and Immortality is brought to Light and the Power of God expels that which keeps Life and Immortality from people and captivates their soules spirits and mindes and keeps them in Bondage which Power of God expells it all and sets them Free and gives them dominion over that which burdens them and gives them to feel and to see before that was which hides Life and Immortality from them And by this Power of God Life and Immortality comes to Reign in which is the Saints Fellowship and Church-Fellowship in which they come to be Heires of the Power of God Heirs of the Gospel Heirs of the Fellowship Membrs of the Church and Membrs of one another in the Power of God the Gospel wich was before the Power of Darkness was And now the Gospel must be preached again to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People who dwell upon the Earth that by this Gospel Life and Immortallity may be brought to Light among them and expel away that which hides it from them by which Power the Gospel which is Salvation which frees the Soules Spirits and Consciences from that which burdens them and to them this is Glad Tydings VII Of FAITH The Faith is one which purifieth the heart which giveth victory and which brings to have access to God and which giveth victory over that which seperates from God in which Faith was the Unity of the Saints in the Primitive Times in which also stands our Unity which Faith is the Gift of God VIII Of BAPTISME There is one Baptism by one Spirit into one Body which plungeth under all the corruption which got up since Transgression which hath made the Separation between Man and God which Spirit leads into one Body from the many Bodies and into one Head from the many Heads of those many Bodies which are in the Fall from God So Baptized with one Spirit into one Body which plungeth under all that which makes a separation from God We are made to drink into one Spirit and this Spirit is within plunging under all the corruptions which are within And the Cross of Christ which is the Power of God is within crucifying the mind which did walk in those things which hides from God and which keeps in the World in the lust of the Eyes the pride of Life and the lust of the Flesh which are not of the Father Now they that mind Earthly things they go from the Power of God within and are Enemies to his Cross which is the Power of God as Paul saith and so many Heads many Bodies many Baptisms are among them who are out of the Power of God the Cross of Christ and out of the One Baptisme with the Spirit into one Body into one Head Christ Jesus the first and the last the beginning and the end and the Head of his Church which is his Body and he is the Saviour of it of which Church we are IX Of PERSECUTION Now concerning the divers Faiths and divers Worships which are in the World and the Persecution about them such Believers and Worshipers are out of the one Faith which giveth victory and have lost the spiritual weapons and are run into the carnal and so are out of the true Worship which is in Spirit and Truth out of which as I said before the Devil is And here are all the carnall weaponed men fighting for their Worship and for Trifles When as the Spiritual weaponed men who have the Word of God and the Sword of the Spirit they strive not with flesh and blood destroy not Creatures by calling to the Powers of the Earth to help them When as carnal minded men who are out of the Church which was in the begining and its weapon and Spirit who deform kill and slay Creatures about their invented Worships Faiths Baptisms Churches Croses and such like which were not the Fruits neither the Works of the Apostles nor of the spiritual weaponed men So all ye that persecute and kill about Religion Church and Worship are not Worshipers of God in Spirit and Truth They are not in the fellowship of the Gospel the Power of God Which was before the Power of Sathan was and they are not in the true faith which giveth victory over that which seperates from God neither are they in the Cross of Christ the Power of God which was before Sathan was which crucifies the flesh and the world and their carnal weapons So all ye who Persecute and kill about Religion you
righteously and this is our Teacher that brings Salvation So you may have all the loynes of your mind girded up to wait for the Grace which is to be brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ according to Peters Exhortation Now they who turn from the Grace and walkes despightfully against the Spirit of God they set up Teachers according to their own hearts lusts and such makes Merchandize of them alwayes learning of them but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth but still remains in earthly mindedness covetousness and temptations and weaknesses where is mournings and complaints and where there are very many mourners and complainers among such as turn from the Grace of God into wantonness and set up Teachers as aforementioned according to their own hearts lusts c. Therefore come ye to the Grace of God and it will give you to see your ungodliness your unrighteousness and your worldly lusts and intemperance This Grace is your Teacher continually who brings Salvation if you take heed and have regard to it and love it but if you turn it into wantonness the sudden judgement of God will come upon you So take heed to the Grace of God your constant Teacher which brings Salvation by which Grace you will see your Salvation brought in For The mighty Day of the Lord is coming upon all unrighteousness of men The Son of the Lord God will appear against you he who hath all Power in Heaven and in Earth given to him who is King of kings and Lord of lords So take heed to the Light and receive it wherewith he hath enlightned so you receive the Lord himself Open ye your Gates that the King of Glory may enter in who stands at the door and knocketh turn ye to the Light and then you open the door where the coming in of the King of Glory is discerned And come from all the barren Mountains who are in the Fall alienated from the Image of God Life and Power Come from all those Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain who are as Vagabonds tossed up and down like a Tempest Come to the Light and receive the Light that in the Light ye may receive Christ and be his Children that by the same you may see the Day-Star appearing where the Sons of God sing together For Woe is to the World that lyeth in iniquity for the Lord is coming to judge it and to render to every one according to their works whether they be good or evil And with the Light every one of you knows whether your works are good or evil for what is to be known of God is manifest in you for God hath manifested it to you when you do any thing that is naught or unjust or worthy of Death by that which is of God in you you know it And when you go from this which is of God in you you do not glorify God as God but are alienated from his Life and Strangers from the Covenant of Life and Peace which is in Christ and so your foolish hearts are darkned and filled with unrighteousness and upon such comes the judgments and displeasure of God Now they who are delivered from the wrath to come they come to that which is of God in themselves viz. to the Light and so they see Christ the Covenant of God so Man is brought into peace with God and saved from the wrath to come and from all false Wayes false Doctrines false Worships and false Churches Commandments Traditions Rudimenus Will-worships Inventions and from Hand-Worship and Lip-Service So come to the Light and Spirit of God in your selves that by it you may be converted to God and may Worship him in Spirit and walk in the Spirit in Christ Jesus who was before sin was For since Man fell from God from his Power and Image all the false Wayes false Worships false Churches have been set up and by that Spirit and Power and Wisdom which is out of Truth from below which leads men to kill one another about them So the Light is the Way by which Life is to be found and this is the Light which enlighteneth you So come to the Light and you come to the Way which was before the power of Death was And Christ is called the Way and he is called the Light and who are out of the Light they are out of Him the Way in the wayes of Death and Darkness and Bondage For as the Jews outward were in Bondage and Captivity under Pharaoh in Egypt so the Jews inward in the Spirit are captivated in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt They who do not take to the directions of the Spirit and heareth what it saith for every man ought to hearken and hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches and not to mind nor hear any visible thing And in it viz. the Spirit they Edifie build and gather together and meet together in Vnity and Fellowship XVI Of PERFECTION He who leads man into Imperfection is the Devil and his work who leads from God for Man was Perfect before he fell for all his works were perfect So Christ who dâ—stroyeth the Devil and his works makes Man perfect again destroying him who made him imperfect which the Law could not do so by his blood he cleanseth from all sin and by the One Offering he perfecteth for ever them that are sanctified And they who do not believe in the Light which cometh from Christ by which they see the Offering and receive the Blood they are in unbeliefs concernig it And the Apostles who were in the Light Christ Jesus who destroyes the Devil and his works they spoke wisdom among them that were perfect although they could not do it among them that were carnal And their work was to perfect the Saints and for this end they had their Ministry given them until they all came to the knowledge of the Son of God who destroyeth the Devil and all his works and who put an end to the Prophets and to the first Covenant Types Figures and Saddows And the Apostles work was to bring people to the Vnity of the Faith which purified their hearts which gave them Victory over that which seperates them from God in which they have access to God by which Faith they please him by which they are justified and so at last they come to a PERFECT MAN to the measure of the Statrue of the fulness of CHRIST And so the Apostle saith We preach Christ in you the hope of Glory Warning every man that we may present Every Man Perfect in CHRIST JESUS XVII Of the RESURRECTION We say that Christ is the Resurrection and the Life to raise up that which Adam lost who hath all Power in Heaven and in Earth given to him and to destroy him who deceived him viz. Adam So Christ is the Resurrestion unto Life of Body Soul and Spirit and so renews Man into the Image of God and brings Man into an higher condition
honourable So forsake and come out of all vain Words and all vain Customs and all unprofitable and idle Communications and Talkings for which you are judged and condemned with the Light viz. the Light in your Consciences which reproves you and come into the the new Life in which God is served that your words may be seasoned with grace that by it your hearts may be established that no corrupt communication may proceed out of your mouthes for whatsoever is corrupt is contrary to the Witness of God in your Consciences to Christ the Light which reproves you Therefore away with all the Customes and Fashions of the World which grieve and quench the Spirit of God and repent while ye have time and spend not your time like a Tale come to the Light and sleep not in sin in darkness in seperation from God but prize the time while you have it lest in the end ye come to say we have had time but now it is past but so mind the Power of God the Light of Christ Jesus by which you may redeem it XXXII Concerning False Prophets and Antichrists False Prophets and Antichrists are much condemned in this part of the World called Christendom and they bring the 7th Chapter and the 24th Chapter of Matthew and say that they are but now come To which I Answer that Christ said They should come viz. Antichrists and False Apostles he said to his Disciples that they shall come i. e. to his Disciples and he gave them markes how they should know them A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit nor a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit And if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect for they have the Sheeps-cloathing And he commanded his Disciples that they should not follow them for they were inwardly ravening Wolves having the Sheeps cloathing And those were Antichrists and False Prophets false Christs and Deceivers who were inwardly ravend from the Light and so from the Seed viz. the true Christ And Christ told his Disciples those should come and before the decease of his Disciples they came as we may read in the first Epistle of John the second Chapter and fourth Chapters he saith Little Children ye have heard that Antichrist should come and even now there are many Antichrists and false Prophets come into the World So Christ had spoken before that they should come and his Disciples said that they were already come who went out from them inwardly ravend from the Spirit and this was above sixteen hundred years since And John who saw them already come he directed the Saints to this annointing in themselves and said to them that they had not need that any one should teach them but as this annointing taught them they should abide in the Father and in the Son And so those Anti-christs false Prophets Wolves false Christs inwardly ravend they bear Pryars Thornes and Thistles which Christ said shall come and his Disciples said they were come and who went out from them into the World And in the Revelations it is said The whole World went after them So they went out from the Church Fellowship Gospel they went out from the Fellowship of the Spirit within being ravend from it they went from the annointing within which should teach them they went from the Law in the heart to wit from the New Covenant and they went from the Kingdom within and they went from the Word which is in the the heart to obey it and to do it they went out from the Light in the heart which gives the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ and so they lost the Pearl hid in the Field viz. the World in their hearts And so the false Prophets went out from the Disciples and as was said before in the Revelations it s said the whole World went after them So John wrote to the seven Churches which erred by permitting Jezabel to teach and to set up Idols and such who said they were Jews and were not but were the Synagogues of Satan So he goes on in the Revelation till he comes to the eleventh Chapter where the Witnesses are slain the two Olives which carried the oyl to the annointing of the Nations the two Candlesticks which holds the Light And in the 12th Chapter the Woman viz. the true Church fled into the Wilderness prepared for her of God that there she should be nourished for a time times and half a time And in the 13th Chapter The Dragon gives his Power to the Beast and the Beast with the Dragons power makes war against the Saints and killed them who were lâ—ft of that Seed who kept the Testimony of Jesus the Spirit of Prophesie who were in him from whom the ravening Wolves had departed Then all that dwelt upon the Earth worshipped the Beast and worshipped the Dragon and both caused and compelled all both small and great to fall down and worship And from hence arose this compelling power to Worship Then the false Prophet and the Whore through the Dragons Power got upon the Beast and caused all Nations to drink of her Cup. So thus the whore arose which went from the Apostles and from their Life Power and Spirit and committed Fornication before the Nations were married to Christ they took the Cup of Fornication of this Whore And she drank the blood of the Saints and Martyrs who were not inwardly ravend and who could not drink of her Cup. Yea she drank the blood of the Saints and Prophets who kept the Testimony of Jesus who were not inwardly ravend And so such doings and works they have set up for the space of fifteen hundred years viz. Killing and murdering and they have dispersed themselves into all Nations as the Apostles they were to go into all Nations And such works the Wolves have wrought in the Sheeps cloathing yea those who are inwardly ravend from the Spirit of God whose fruits are Brambles Bryars and Thorns and such like works those Raveners have done since the dayes of the Apostles being ravend from their Life and Power having the Words of the Sheep the Scriptures but not in the Power and Life which gave them forth therefore Bryars and Thorns appear who devour and kill the Lambs and compels them to worship and use violence upon them and their outward things about Religion which was not the work of the Apostles And so John saith Again the Beast and the Dragon and the False Prophets which hath deceived the Nations which Christ said should come and John said was come who went out from them from which time the World hath gone after them for the space of fifteen hundred years is to be taken Which Beast and false Prophet shall be taken and cast into the Lake of fire and the Nations shall be deceived no more and the Whore the great Whore which hath compelled the Nations to drink the Blood of the Saints is to be taken and her flesh burnt with fire and
Lucifer and his Image is cast out and here all his honour is thrown down and his breeding and manners and fashions and customs and words and wayes and worships which are after the flesh and not after the Spirit whereby he sets up himself and causeth his Image to be worshipped and this is the cause he rages in his Kingdom wheresoever we come and saith we are destructive to all Superiority and Magistracy and Ministry and Honour and Breeding and Manners and turn the world upside down for he knowes where Christ comes he comes to take his Kingdom from him and cast him down into the pit and there he must be tormented quick and all who bears his Image or his Mark and these are some of his marks which he calls Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding Manners and Civility But true Nobility we own the Seed of God is noble wheresoever it is born up and who can witness to the head of the Serpent bruised and the Seed of God born up to reign and rule there is true Nobility there is true Gentillity no more after the flesh but after the Spirit and this is to be honoured for honour is due to this both in Magistrate or Minister Fisherman or Plow-man Heards-man or Shepherd wheresoever it rules without respect of persons and hear fear to whom fear and honour to whom honour and this is no more after the flesh but after the Spirit And here all the true Prophets of God were Noblemen and Gentlemen sprung of the Noble Seed though of the Nobles and Great ones of the Earth they were disdaind and reproached because according to the world they were of lower degree some of them Plow-men some Heards-men some Shepherds and therefore they persecuted them and destroyed them yet they were gentile and bore all Christ was Noble sprang of the Noble Seed though of the Great ones and Nobles of the Earth he was disdained reproached and scorned to be the King of the Jewes because according to the World he was of low degree and supposed to be a Carpenters Son so they spit upon him and disdained him and crucified him yet he was gentile and bore all The Apostles were Noble sprung of the Noble Seed though of the Nobles and Great ones of the Earth they were despised and disdained and reproached because according to the World they were of low degree some of them Fisher-men and the like and came to turn the World upside down so they were despised pâ—asecuted and killed yet they were gentile and bore all But those were all noble sprung of the noble seed and so is all now who are of the same seed and those were all gentile sprung of the gentile seed and those have the nature but not the name and to those belong the true honour not after the flesh but after the Spirit Acts 7 for they denyed the honour of the World and therefore Christ said I receive not honour from men and said to his Apostles Be yee not called Masters neither call any Master upon the earth and though the Princes of this world exercise dominion one over another yet it shall not be so amongst you but he that would be the greatest amongst you let him be your servant Mat. 23.8 9 10 11. and said he How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 and here the true honour is no more after the flesh but after the Spirit and here you who are giving and receiving outside earthly honour you are in the unbelief out of the doctrine of Christ cringing and bowing and honouring and exalting the Devil and worshipping the Beast and his Image which all the world wonders after and worships Rev. 13. And as for Manners and Breeding Courtesie and Civility Learn to do us you would have all to do to you and speak every one truth to his neighbour And let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but such us is good for the use of edifying for evil communication corrupts good manners but let your yea be yea and nay be nay for whatsoever is more is evil Mat. 7.12 Ezek. 8.16 and breed your Children so and here is good Manners and Breeding Curtesie and Civility and who are of the right noble Seed hath this Manners and this Breeding but the Nobles and Great ones of the Earth want this Manners and this Breeding and both Priest and People of all sorts according to the World And here is the ground of all true Nobility Gentility Majesty Honour Breeding Manners Courtesie and Civility no more after the flesh but after the Spirit for the natural man mindes natural things and the spiritual man spiritual things but the natural man receives not the things of God and this we own and witness and the time is coming and now is that before this Seed every knee shall bow and every tongue confess and the Kings and Nobles of the Earth shall be bound in chaines and fetters of Iron and here is also the ground of the Nobility Gentility Superiority Honour Breeding and Manners of the world which is after the flesh but not after the Spirit sprung from proud Lucifer the lust that reigns in man and are not yea and nay but calls it manners to say nay and take it or do it and so they have the name but not the nature and so are Bastards and no Sons who are not sprung from the noble gentile seed and to those Honour is not due neither can we bow unto them for if we should we should set the Devil in the room of God and give unto him that which is due to God which when we were in blindnesse through ignorance we did and so worship the Beast and his Image which all the world worships and wonders after for they that are proud and lofty which is the Image of the Devil for the Devil is the Father of Pride and in gay attire those the world worships and wonders after and extols and exalts into high places but since the Lord hath opened our eyes this we cannot do but testifies against it wheresoever we come both in words and actions and so we are destructive to the worlds Superiority Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding and Manners which is after the flesh and not after the Spirit therefore the Devil hates us in the Nobles and great ones of the world but we give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and unto God that which is Gods Mat. 22.21 but we cannot give unto Caesar that which is Gods but fear to whom fear honour to whom honour is due He that hath an eare to hear let him hear and understand For saith the Lord if I be a Master where is my fear If I be a Father where is my honor Mal. 1.6 Concerning the Word THOU or THEE First concerning the word thou or thee which all those which are their Priests and Teachers knows
are out of the New and Living way Christ Jesus which saith Love Enemies and commands to give the checkâ— back and hairs to the Smiters ye are in Cains way who Persecute and Kill your Brother Christians as Cain did and so in this you do not well neither doth God respect your Sacrifice for if you and Cain had done well neither you nor Cain had killd your Brothers about Worship Church Sacrifice and Religion and then God would have had respect unto you but you doing not well sin lyeth at your door as it did at Cains and it s gotten in your House so that now neither his nor your Sacrifice God accepts or regards neither stand you in an acceptable state where now you are but in a way in which together with Cain you walk which is not the New nor the Living Way For Adam neglected to hear the Voice of God and Cain neglected to hear the Voice of God and the Jews they neglected to hear the Voice of God and you neglect to hear his Voice and the Devil who went from the Truth lyeth at the door of such who neglect the Voyce of God and so sin entreth into the House and defiles them and so their hearts are hardned for which cause they turned against their Brethren So they neither do well neither doth God accept their Sacrifice for they go from the path and the way where God respects and accepts People and so becomes Fugitives and Vagabonds in the Earth and hath not an habitation in God and in this Fugitive State those Baptised Nations are worse than the Nations not Baptized and many of them are much more Children of the Devil than before like the Jews Proselites killing and persecuting doing the Devils work who is out of the Truth For both Christ his Ministers and Apostles came to save mens Lives but the Devils policy was to cloath his Ministers Apostles and Messengers with the Sheeps cloathing and keeps People always under them that they may alwayes pay them but destroys and persecutes such as refuse And this is not according to Christ the Way who destroyes the Devil and his works who led Man from God and maketh Man unclean and Christ who destroyes the Devil maketh Man clean again and brings Man to God who is the Justifier Sanctifier Redeemer and the Captain of their Salvation and Persecution is alwayes blind So every Religion Church Worship Ministry Maintenance which is set up by Carnal Weapons Clubs and Swords is from Cain and Judas and from the Jews and from Anti-christ and is Anti-christianism and not from Christ neither in the Way which is the Way to Life For he is the Life which saveth Mens Lives but he is of the Prince of Death that destroyeth Mens Lives and of the Prince of Darkness out of the Light and out of Christ the Way who was before he was and his workes and who lives and remaines when he is gone to wit the Devil and all his Instruments and Works Let the Glory be to God alone for ever And all the vain Jangles and Contentions and Disputes concerning the Scriptures of Truth with the divers Meanings and Interpretations thereof from whence they arise because they are not in the Power and Spirit in which they were that gave them forth So they are not in Fellowship with God from whence they came neither with the Spirits of Just Men who gave them forth neither are in Vnity one with another for they are out of the Spirit in which Spirit we are by which Spirit we know God we know the Spirits of Just Men we know the Scriptures with which we have Vnity one with another and the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets and this is witnessed amongst us which God said viz. That he would pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh and Sons and Daughters should Prophesie And now both Sons and Daughters do Prophesie in our Age as formerly among the Apostles And now there are Women-helpers and Labourers in the Gospel and such who for its sake can lay down their Lives X. Of the SCRIPTURES Now concerning the Scriptures we say That they were not given for this end that Men should make a Trade of them for a Maintenance neither to keep People alwayes learning and alwayes teaching of them to get their Money this proceeds from the Earthly Wisdom Knowledge and Vnderstanding which shall perish and be confounded and brought to nothing and not in that Wisdom which cometh down from above which is pure and peaceable but in that Wisdom which is from beneath which is Earthly sensual and Devilish which will destroy them who are not of their Opinions and Judgments such are not in the Spiritual understanding which giveth Dominion over sin and which giveth a discerning by which they can discern one thing from another and are out of that Knowledge by which God is known which is Life Eternal So they who make a Trade of the Scriptures and serve themselves by them they are such as are out of the Life neither can they bring People to it and so they keep people learning all their Life time and this is the State of the Merchants of Babylon who are building up and plucking down Now this is the end and right use of Scripture viz. for all to read them and believe them and to wait in the Light to feel the Power and Spirit which was in them who gave them forth by which they may know them and have the Revelation of them in themselves and so feel Christ who is the Voyce and the Corner-stone by which they are fulfilled and so to receive him and live in him who fulfills them who is the end of the Prophets and of all Types Figures and Shadows So I say the Scriptures of Truth were given forth to be believed read fulfilled performed and that People might enjoy that of which they spoke to wit Christ Jesus the Substance The Scriptures of Truth are the Words of God which comes from God the Father of Truth and cannot be broken but must be fulfilled and he who fulfills them is Christ by whom all things were made and created who is called the Word of God XI Concerning TYTHES Tythes have been held up among Christians so called by Force and Violence since the dayes of the Apostles and Christs Incarnation by whom not any Example was given about Tythes for among them all things were done freely in Charity and Love Tythes before the Law by Abraham and Tythes c. Offerings c. under the Law were for the Priests Widows Fatherless and the Poor which Law of God commanded Tythes by reason of the encrease to be offered for his Service but Christ in Gospel-Times redeems from the Ninths and puts an end to the Law that gave the Tenths and to the Priesthood that took them and to the Commandment that gave them and puts an end to the Offerings And although Abraham paid Tythes to Melchisedeck in time
your Colledges for our Brother Paul the Tent-maker said If you will not work you must not eat For would you own Christ if he had come in your day who was called A Carpenters Son You Popes with your Triple Crowns and you Lord Bishops with your Coaches and fat Horses and gorgeous Aparrel with your Black Coats and white Coats and Girdles Are you like to entertain him who is called A Carpenters Son or to cast him and his mother into the Manger in your Stables This was the Word by which John the Evangelist saw Christ which did enlighten every man that came into the world and saw how he became flesh and came to his own and his own did not receive him but to as many as received Christ the Light to them he gave power to become the Sons of God which all they that are Ministers of the Letter made by the seven years Colledges and not the Word hate the Light And by this Word the Minister of the Word preacheth Christs Word Life Death and Resurrection And therefore as John saith in his Epistle That which our Eyes have seen our Hands have handled and our Ears have heard of the Word of Life do we preach unto you that which was from the beginning in the beginning was the Word though since the beginning were the words and letters for the Scriptures of Truth are the words of God and the words of Christ and he that adds to these words saith John in the Revelations God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book So the Word was in the beginning and Christs Name is called The Word of God but Christ is neither called Scriptures nor Writings for Scriptures signify Writings So In the beginning was the Word since the beginning were Writings and Scriptures In the beginning was the Word since the beginning were all false Wayes false Churches false Teachers and in the Word ye comprehend them all The Priest saith That Hebrew Greek and Latine were the Original the many Languages and the many Languages began at Babel which Nimrod the Hunter before the Lord began to build after God had destroyed the Old World with water then would he go build a Tower which should reach to Heaven then God came down and confounded them into many Languages so he hunted before the Lord but the Lord followed him and confounded him in all his work as he will do all the Builders that run before him and so all the Priest that have gotten the many Languages which began at Babel they tell simple ignorant people that they have the Original and are the Orthodox men and get in a different habit from them and say the Quakers are a simple people and despise the Learned Orthodox men who have the Original Give ear O people if these Languages which came up at the confounding of Babel are the Priests Original that makes them Orthodox and Divine then Pilate that crucified Christ was as good an Orthodox Divine as they for when he crucified Christ he writ a Paper in Hebrew Greek and Latine and set a top of him he was as ignorant of Scripture and of Orthodox and Divine matters as you and you as he and the Apostle saith That Tongues must cease then that which makes Orthodox men and Divine as you say must cease according to the Apostles Doctrine and so then Tongues neither are the Original nor make Orthodox nor Divine and John that gave forth the Revelations saith That the Whore and the Beast are set upon Tongues and the Everlasting Gospel must be preached again to all Kindreds and Tongues which were before Babel was who was the first beginner of Tongues Now it is clear that the Gospel must be preached to all Nations and Tongues and that Tongues are not the Original neither do they make Divines or Orthodox men but it is clear that it is the Word which was in the beginning which makes Divines yea Tradesmen which are base and contemptible in the eyes of the proud and them that have gotten Babels Tongues who are confounded by the ministers of the Word which was in the beginning before Babel was for all the Earth was of one Language and Speech before Babel And you that call your selves Orthodox men made by Tongues and say that is your Original who are so blind and cannot see that there was an Original before Babel was for did not Enoch the Prophet the seventh from Adam who prophesied in the Old World before it was destroyed and long before Babel was concerning the coming of Christ in Ten thousand of his Saints as in Jude and Lamech prophesied in the Old World concerning Noah and Adam and others might be instanced before your Tongues which you call your Original were and so we say that the Word of God is the Original which doth fulfil the Scriptures and the Word is it which makes Divines which is called a Hammer but it is a living Hammer and a Sword and Fire but a living Sword and a Fire to hammer cut and burn up that which separated and kept man from God by which Word man is reconciled again to God which is called The word of Reconciliation by this word are men and women sanctified and made clean and this is the Word that makes both men and woman Divines and brings them into the Divine Nature which hammers and cuts down that which corrupted their nature and by this Word aâ—e they brought into a Divine Wisdom Understanding Knowledg Spirit and Power And this is the Word that lives and abides and endures for ever by which the Saints are born again of the Immortal Seed and Word of God who feed upon the Milk of the Word up into a Divine Life Wisdom and Understanding and Divine Nature and by this Word they do see all Flesh to be as Grass and as the Flower of the Field that fadeth and the Word of God that lives and abides and endures for ever which is Christ whose Name is called the Word of God And so to Keep the Word of Patience which is over all the impatient Spirits and then you will know the Word of Life the Word of Patience and Word of Wisdom is Everlasting and abides and endures for ever which all they that be in the Letter out of the Life and Word have neither Patience to themselves nor others for the Word of patience and the Word of Life which is to be kept in all Tribulations was before Death and impatient Spirits were Concerning the Heathen Idolaters naming their Dayes and Moneths THE old Pagan Saxons in their Idolatry Were the first that brought in the names of the Days which those called Christians have retained to this day for they adored Idols and unto them offered Sacrifices and Worshipped the Planets See Vestigans Antiq. and Cambdens Brit. As touching the Idols which these Saxons adored they were divers and though they had many yet seven among the rest they especially appropriated unto the seven
past be sufficient which you have lived according to the Lusts of men and the course of the World that the rest of your time you may live to the will of God taking no though what you shall eat what you shall drink or what you shall put on therein your lives may judge the Heathens and that you may be as the Lillies for nothing you brought into the World neither any thing shall you take out and therefore while the Eye is gazing after every new Fashion and the mind and desire is thirsting to get it when it has it it lifts up its mind and so brings himself under the judgment of them that be in the sober Life and of the World also and to be like one of them Therefore take heed of the Worlds Fashions lest ye be moulded up into their Spirit and that will bring you to slight Truth and lift up the wrong Eye and wrong Mind and wrong Spirit and hurt and blind the pure Eye and pure mind and quench the Holy Spirit and through such foolish Toyes and Fashions and fading things you may lose your conditions And therefore take heed of the World and trust not in uncertain Riches neither covet the Riches of this World but Seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all outward things will follow and let your minds be above the costly and vain Fashions of attire but mind the hidden man of the heart which is a meek and quiet Spirit which is of great price with the Lord and keep to Justice and Truth in all your dealings and tradings at a word and the form of sound words in the Power of the Lord and Equity in Yea and Nay in all your dealings that your Lives and Conversations may be in Heaven and above the Earth that they may preach to all that you have to deal withal so that you may be as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and as Lights of the World answering the equal Principle in all that God in all things may be glorified So that you may pass your time here with fear as Pilgrims and Strangers and Sojourners as having an eye over all things that be uncertain as Cities Houses Lands Goods so as things below they that possess as if they did not and they thaâ— marry as if they did not yet as having a City whose Maker and Builder is God and a Possession of an Inheritance that will never fade away in which you have Riches that will abide with you Eternally Some QUERIES given forth to the Priests or People to Answer if they can 1. HAve any of you the same Spirit and Power as the Prophets and Apostles had 2. Or have you the same Revelation and Inspiration and Spirit of Prophesie and pouring forth of the Holy Ghost or do you own the pouring forth of the Spirit upon Sons and Daughters and is not this the last time in which it should be poured out and the Sons and Daughters should Prophesie and Old men dream Dreams and Young men see Visions 3. Or have you heard Gods voice and Christs voice immediately froâ— Heaven or are you some of them the Lord never sent nor spake unto Answer me these Queries 4. Do you own that Christ that died at Jerusalem to be the Light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world and are not all enlightened by him either to their Salvation or Condemnation 5. What and where is that which must give the knowledge of God is it within People or without them Answer me according to plain Scripture 6. Do you teach or preach that whilst a man is upon the Earth he may be freed from sin and the body of death and imperfection and shall be perfect whilst he be upon Earth or do you keep People in the state of your Father Adam and Mother Eve in the Fall or do you bring them to the state before they fell and so to Christ that shall never fall which of these states do you bring them to and keep your flock in in Adam and Eve in the fall or Adam and Eve before they fell or in Christ that shall never fall you must keep your flock in one of these three states and which of them is it Have you brought any of your flock whom you have driven to that condition and state they need no man to teach them that is to the anointing in them the Law in their hearts whereby they need not say one to another know the Lord that is to the Light of Christ that shines in their hearts to give them the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus and how many have you brought hither 7. What is the Mother of Harlots and what is the Beast she rides upon and what are the People Nations and Multitudes and Tongues the Whore sits upon and what is Mystery Babylon and what is the Woman that went into the Wilderness what was her time she was to be there and what is the Beast and Dragons Worship and what is a Will-worship and what is it to worship Angels and what is that which leads Nature into its Course and so to the glory of the first Body and what is the glory of the second Body and what is that which leads Nature out of its Course and so sets the whole Course of Nature on Fire 8. What is the ground of that which keeps in good manners and what is that which corrupts them and what is the Righteousness the World is reproved off and what are the Judgments and what is that which leads the Saints into all Truth and hath every one the Spirit of God and whether bowing bending dossing hats scraping cringing saying you to one be the honour that comes from above or what is it and whence comes it and whether this before mentioned do not stand in that Nature part and principle which is on fire if it hath not these things and therefore whether or no these things do proceed from that which leads Nature into its Course or out of its Course and what is it that defaces the glory of the first body 9. Whether or no you own Trembling and Quaking at the Word of God 10. Seeing you look upon your selves to differ from many and to be above them let us see wherein and in what it is manifest 11. What is self-Righteousness and what is Man's Righteousness and the Righteousness that is as filthy Rags distinguish these one from another or whether they be all one for our Righteousness is that which was before Adam was whom ye in scorn calls Quakers 12. Whether ever any came to see so far as Balaams Ass who saw the Angel of the Lord 13. What are the Graves and the Tombes and the Sepulchres and the Fowls of the Air and the Nests they sit in which Christ spake of Answer 14. Whether or no to pay Tythes or receive Tythes is not to deny Christ Jesus
such are a terror to evil-doers and for the praise and encouragement of those that do well and such bear not the Sword in vain but stand in the Will of God which is cross to their own wills and they Rule for God and not for themselves and this Government is of God and not of Man nor after the will of Man neither takes hold of any tender Conscience nor oppresses it but stands in the place where it is set and some such Magistrates there hath been in the Northern parts of this Nation who witness the Law of God set up in their hearts and feared God and hated covetousness and testified against those who did not and so corrupt Magistrates sought to put them out so let all who are single-hearted judge who are destructive to true Magistracy and Government Concerning SUPERIORITY and HONOUR BREEDING and MANNERS also of the Word THOU to any single Person In the beginning when God made Man he made him to be Lord over all creatures Gen. 1.26 27 28. but not man to be Lord over man Yet he was to be servant of God and when he had disobeyed the command of God God spoke to Adam and Adam spoke to him and God thoued Adam and Adam thoued him and here was the plain language betwixt God and Adam And when God appeared to Moses in the Bush God thoued Moses and Moses thoued him and this was the plain language which ever passed betwixt God and his people in all Ages and thou that disdains to be thoued would exalt thy self above God who thous God in thy formall prayers and scornes to take it thy self therefore thou must come down as Lucifer did but it is Lucifer in thee that is exalted who must not be honoured but must be cast down into the pit and it is he who is head in man who would be honoured and would be superior and would be above God and calls this Manners and Breeding to bow to him and honour him and he hath vented wayes whereby he is honoured and exalted aâ—d worshipped and he calls this Manners and Breeding and who can honour him the most and exalt him the highest those he saith is the best bred and of the best breeding and those he calls Noblemen and Gentilmen and the other he calls Yeomen and common People and Inferioâ—rs though they all honour him but they observe it not so much as the other but their mindes is more set upon the Earth and Earâ—hly things to get wealth and riches and those he calls providenâ— carefull people but he that seeks preferment in the world and would be exalted and set up seek to get his breeding in as excellent manner as he can that so he may get in favour with Lucifer that sits in the Courts and high Places and so long as he pleases Lucifer he will set him up but both he and Lucifer must be cast down into the pit together Obad. 3 4. and here is the ground of the worlds Superiority Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding and Manners and here they Lord over one another by their corrupt wills and here is the ground of all Tyranny and Oppression Rackings and Taxings and Wars and Imprisonments and Envy and Murder and the Persecutions of the righteous all arises from proud Lucifer the Lust in man who would be honoured and all this is in the Fall and under the Curse but Mordechai could not bow to him in Haman and therefore he sought to destroy him and informed the King against him and all the Jewes in the Nation and said they were a scattered people and â—heir Lawes were diverse from all people neither did they observe the Law of the King then he set up a paire of Gallows for Mordechai Esth 6.1 2. but Haman was hanged on his own Gallows and is cast down to nothing and Mordechai is exalted in his stead so there is a time that Mordechai is despised and Haman exalted and there is a time that Haman is cast down and Mordehcai exalted and there is a time that Esau reignes over Jacob and there is a time that the Elder serves the Younger Gen 25.3 and there is a time that Pharoah rules and oppresses the Israelites but there is a time of Israels deliverance and Pharoah drowned in the Sea Exod. 11.9 So there is a time that Antichrist sits in the Temple of God as God and saith he is God 2 Thes 2.4 and Christ lyeth low in the Manger but there is a time that he must be cast into the Pit Rev. 19. and Christ alone exalted He that can receive it let him But in all Ages the children of God could not bow to Lucifer nor his Image and this was the cause why Shadrach Mesech and Abednego was cast into the fiery Furnace Dan. 6. and this was the cause why Daniel was cast into the Lyons den but by the hand of his God whom he alone worshipped and honoured he was delivered and exalted and his Adversaries cast down in his place and this was the cause why the Prophets were alwayes persecuted and imprisoned and the Apostles Acts 7. vers 6. who came to turn the World upside down And this is the cause now why the Ministers and Messengers of Jesus Christ are imprisoned stoned stocked whipped and shamefully entreated whom the Lord is pleased immediately to call from their outward Callings and Countries and sends them abroad into seveâ—al Countries to preach his Name no more after the flesh but after the Spirit and who knows him must know him no more after the flesh but after the Spirit And those come to turn the World upside down being crucified to the World and the World to them and these cannot honor Lucifer nor bow to Lucifer nor worship his Image though there was a time when they did but that was done in Egypt when they knew not God but now Lucifer and his Image is cast down and Christ alone exalted and the pure and perfect Law is witnessed which respects no mans person but God alone honoured and exalted and this we witness For amongst us there are no Superiours after the flesh but Christ is the Head and all the rest fellow-servants And he that would be the greatest should be the least and he that respects persons commits sin And the Angel would not suffer John to bow to him but said he was his fellow-servant and this we witness who are redeemed out of the Kingdom of the Devil from amongst the Children of this World into the Kingdom of the Son who are crucified to the world and the world to us by the Spiritual Cross of Christ in which we joy and glory amongst whom there is no partiallity nor respect of persons but all in union in one though ten thousand and here God alone is King and he alone is honoured exalted and worshipped no more after the flesh but after the Spirit for we have no other God in whom our hearts delight and here proud
learned Christ would not that have been against Joel's Prophesie but Paul did not so for he cites the Law and saith as also saith the Law But the Priests are blind and cannot see what the Woman is that was not permitted under the Law nor under the Gospel to speak For the Law did not forbid Miriam and those Women that Prophesied and were Prophetesses Judg. 4.3 4 5 6. Luke 2.36 And was it not a Woman that was sent by Christ that first did preach his Resurrection to his Disciples they that would stop Christ from sending Women now who are witnesses of his Resurrection they be of another spirit and also they are of another spirit then Moses was of who said he would that all the Lord's People were Prophets and were all the Lords People Men and no Women amongst them it appears that Moses would not stop any either Male or Female among the Lords People but the Priests and many more are of another mind but that mind is not the mind of Christ and therefore we matter it not what it either leads to say or affirm seeing they will be wilfull And seeing it is written in the first Language of Greek out of which the English was translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifies both Man and Woman and in Latine hic haec homo which doth signifie both man and Woman and in John 1.1 9. where it is said The Word which was with God was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world which word Man signifieth both Man and Woman and as it maketh no difference in the enlightening neither doth it in their speaking But that the simple may not be deceived by them many things have been and are written for their sakes more then for the sakes of such opposers who go after their own deceived heart and will not be warned and so the Lord lets many of them alone to whose righteous Judgments I leave them who will plead with them for what they have done against him who by their Sophistry and subtil Insinuations have turned aside the simple out of the way of Truth W. D. CONCERNING The SUM or SUBSTANCE OF OUR RELIGION Who are called QUAKERS And the Exercise Travels of our Spirits therein THIS is the Sum or Substance of our Religion to wit to feel and discern the two Seeds the Seed of Enmity the Seed of Love the Seed of the Flesh the Seed of the Spirit the Seed of Hagar the Seed of Sarah the Seed of the Egyptian womb the holy Seed of Israel and to feel the Judgments of God administred to the one of these till it be brought into bondage and death and the other raised up in the Love and mercy of the Lord to live in us and our Souls gathered into it to live to God in it Now when the Light of Gods holy Spirit breaketh in upon man and his quickning vertue is felt then life enters into that which was slain and there is a desire begotten in the heart to travel out of the Egyptian state into the good Land that the Soul which came from God might return back again to him out of the sinfull wandring miserable lost estate and might live and walk with him in the purity vertue and power of his own Life and Spirit But then the other birth strives for its life and Pharoaoh the King of Egypt takes part with his Egyptians against Israel and there is no help to the poor soul but as God pours out his Judgments upon that hard nature and spirit in man which is of the Birth of the Flesh and receives the influences and strength of its father which harden it against the true Seed And now what a condition is this poor Soul in the Light of Gods Spirit giveth it the sence of its state and the quicknings of Life make it sensible of its bondage there are also some desires and longings after deliverance but this doth but provoke the Enemy and the Soul being yet in his Territories and under his power he dealeth the more hardly with it increasing its burdens and oppressions daly And O the out-cries of the Soul in this state how is its spirit pained anguished and vexed within it so that it could almost many times chuse rather to lie still in Egypt then undergo the heavy burdens oppressions fears and dangers that it daily meets with in this state Yet there is a Secret hope springing up in the heart from the true Seed which often encourageth it to trust him and wait upon him who hath visited in his pure ministration of Judgment For this is felt many times as the Soul is made truly sensible by the Lord that the Judgment is not to the Seed not to Israel but to Pharaoh and his Egyptians and by every stroke of Gods wrath upon them the Seed is eased and its deliverance working out And so at last when the Judment is finished in the Land of Egypt the strength of Pharaoh and his Egyptians broken their first-born slain out comes Israel out of the Dark Land out of the House of Bondage to travel towards its resting place Then the Paschal Lamb is known and fed on yea it is because of the Blood of the Lamb sprinkled upon the Door-posts that Israel is passed over and saved in the day of Egypts visitation O who can read this truly that hath not felt and been a living witness thereof But now when the seed is come out of Egypt there is not the end but rather the beginning of its Travels Pharaoh and his Egyptians with their Horses aâ—d Chariots may pursue again and even overtake and there may seem no way of escape or help to the Soul but only to stand still hope in the â—ord and wait to see his Salvation Then shall the Sea be divided which stopped Israels course and Pharaoh with his Egyptians the Enemies of the soul in this appearance of dreadful opprssieng power be destroyed and seen no more Yet in the willdernes in the passage through the entangelements to the holy Land there are many straits trials and sore Enemies to be met with who will strive by open force and also with enchantements to betray Israel yeâ— there is a part yet unbrought down yet unwrought out at which they will be striving to enter the mind And as Israel forgets his God walking out of his Counsel hearkning to that which his ear should be shut against and so joyning to the contrary Seed the Plagues the Judgments the Indignation and wo will be felt by him and many Carkases may fall there So that there may be a great outcry in the heart Who can stand before this holy Lord God shall we be consuming with dying yes there is somewhat must be consumed with dying Yea if a man came so far as to witness dominion and victory over his Souls Enemies the evil Seed brought into death in him and a possession and inheritance in the pure rest
of Life yet if that part be not kept in the death if there be not a praying and watching to the Preserver of Israel in the pure fear and humility the Enemy will be sowing to the Flesh again he will be getting some of his corrupt Seed into the heart again if the Soul do but sleep and become negligent and so corruption will take root again and the contrary Birth grow up again and the Foxes break into the Vineyard and spoil the tender grapes So that this is our Religion to witness the two Seeds with the Power of the Lord bringing down the one and bringing up the other and then to witness and experience daily the same Power keeping the one in Death and the other in Life by the holy ministration of Gods pure living Covenant And so to know God in this Covenant in this Covenant which lives gives Life and Keeps in Life and to walk with God and worship and serve him therein even in his Son in the Light of his Son in the Life of his Son in the vertue and ability which flows from his Son into our Spirits this is our Religion which the Lord our God in his tender mercy hath bestowed upon us And indeed we find this to be a pure living and undefiled Religion before God daily witnessing his acceptance of it in and through his Son whose Name is here known and confessed worshipped and honoured according to the very heart of the Father This may be further illustrated and perhaps made more manifest to some by a Scripture or two The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary one to the other saith the Apostle Gal. 5.17 Here are the two Seeds the Seed of the Serpent the Seed of the woman whose striving and fight is in man when God awakens the Soul the one whereof hath a nature a desire or lust contrary to the other Now as the one of these prevails in any heart so the other goes down As the one gains Life and Power so the other is brought into Death and Captivity so that this is it every one is to wait for after they once come to the sensible knowledge and experience of these two to feel the Flesh brought down the lusts of it denied the Judgments of the Lord administred to it that so the other may come up to live thrive and prevail in the Soul and so the Soul witness Salvation and Redemption under its shadow Thus Sion is Redeemed with Judgment and her Converts with Righteousness Isa 1.27 What is Sion Is it not the holy Hill of God whereon his Son is set King to reign whereon the holy City is to be built and God to be worshipped in Spirit What condition is Sion in when God visits her to redeem her Is she not laid wast desolate lying in the dust as Psal 102.13 14. Well how will God redeem her Zion shall be redeemed with Judgement and her Converts with Righteousness By bringing Judgements upon that which keeps her under upon her Enemies the contrary Seed God redeems her and by bringing forth Righteousness the righteous Life and Spirit of his own Son in those whose minds are turned to her whose faces are set Sion-ward thus God redeems her Converts Yes yes it is truly felt and witnessed The living Righteousness of Christ revealed in the heart and having power there sets free from all unrighteousness which was there before And then when the unrighteous one is cast out and the righteous one is revealed and the Soul united to him and receives virtue and power from him then he becomes a Servant of Righteousness and doth not commit sin but doth righteousness And he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous 1 John 3.7 For how can it be otherwise when the righteous Life is revealed and brought up into dominion in him How can the same righteous Spirit and Life revealed in the members as was in the head but live and act after the same manner in the members as it did in the head O that men were turned to that which would give them the certain knowledge and sensible experience of this Now this is exceeding comfortable and precious to them that are in the true travel towards it much more to them that enjoy it This is the sum of all even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death and kept in death what to be brought up out of the grave to live to God and reign in his dominion and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to reign Now to experience it thus done in the heart the Flesh brought down the Seed of Life raised and the Soul subject to the pure heavenly Power whose right it is to reign in the heart in and by the Seed this is a blessed state indeed for here the work is done here the Throne of God is exalted and his King reigns in righteousness and peace and all his Enemies are under his feet and this Soul this true Israelite this redeemed one may wear the white Robe and serve God in righteousness and holiness without fear of his Enemies keeping in and to the Covenant which ministers Life and Power abundantly all the dayes of his life For that was to be the outward state of the outward Israel keeping to God in the outward Covenant and it is to be the inward state of the inward Israel keeping to God in the inward Covenant which is a pure Covenant of life and Peace of all inward and spiritual blessings and mercies in Christ wherewith the Souls are blessed that are obedient to God and walk humbly with him in this Covenant And I beseech you to consider O tender people who are grieved because of sin and corruption in your hearts and would fain witness victory and dominion over it in the Name and Strength of the Lord Jesus Christ whom did that prophesie of Zachary Luke 1.71 72 74 75. concern what was that holy Covenant who were to be so redeemed who were the Israel that was to inherit this promise All the Promises are yea and amen in Christ to the Israel of God Why should not the Israel of God hope to enjoy this even so to be acquainted with Gods holy Spirit and to wait upon him that they may witness it granted to them that they being delivered out of the hands of their Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him whose eyes are piercing and behold no iniquity all the dayes of their lives Surely they who witness that promise mentioned Isa 35.8 fulfilled to them cannot fall short of this And truly the Children of the New Covenant can never come throughly to live to God till they witness the inward Circumcision of the Heart so as to love the Lord with all the Heart and Soul Deut. 30.6 Now where it is so the Devil or Lust can find no place of entrance
and how then should they be able to sow their Seed and bring forth sin Out of the evil heart proceeds all evil but out of that heart which is throughly Circumcised to love the Lord God wholly evil cannot proceed If Lust be not conceived it cannot bring forth Sin and where the Womb which conceived it is kept dry and barren it cannot conceive again And is not this the Promise of the Gospel That the Womb which was once barren shall be very fruitful and bear abundantly but the other grow feeble and be able to bear no more Oh that People had experience of Gods Power and did believe therein what should stand in the way of it It was Israels sin of old when they looked at their Enemies and saw their footing and strength in the Land which God had promised to Abrahams Seed for an Inheritance they could not believe that they should be overcome O take heed of the same unbelief now Concerning CHRIST Coming to the FATHER by him Receiving him walking in him not in the oldness of the Letter but in the newness of the Spirit and concerning reading the Scriptures aright I am the Way the Truth and the Life No man cometh unto the Father but by me saith Christ John 14.6 MAN in the corrupt degenerate estate is fallen from God hath lost his Image the holy heavenly Image of the Father of Spirits is driven out from his presence dwels in the Land of darkness and confusion under the Government of the Prince of the Power of the Air who rules in and hath power over all the Children of Disobedience Now this should be mans work even to return to the Father to come back out of the prodigal lost state to the Fathers house where there is sufficiency and fulness of true Bread and Water of Life to satisfie every hungry and thirsty Soul The Way whereby a man must come the Truth wherein he must be renewed and the Life wherewith a man must be quickned is Christ the Son of the Living God and he must know him as the Son of the Living God and feel him revealed in him and received by him and so walk in him the Way in him the Truth in him the Life if ever he come to the Father He must not rest in the description of things but feel and know receive and walk in the Thing which by the Spirit of the Lord hath been often formerly and is still described in what words and by what means the Spirit pleaseth But to receive all the descriptions of him that were formerly given forth or all the descriptions that are now given forth that will not do but the Soul that will live by him must receive him and feel the ingrafting into him the holy Root the living Word of Gods eternal Power and must feel this Word ingrafted into his heart so that there be a real becoming one in nature and Spirit with him And then he is truly in the Vine in the Olive-tree and partakes of the vertue and sap thereof he abiding therein and walking in the Spirit Life and power thereof Now hear a man walks not nor cannot walk in the oldness of the Letter but in the newness of the Spirit only Paul notwithstanding all his knowledge of the Scriptures walked but in the oldness of the Letter before Christ was revealed in him And those in the Apostles dayes who had got the form of godliness but turned from and denied the power they walked but in the oldness of the Letter Yea the Church of Sardis for the most part and the Church of Laodicea who had received the right order and ordinances and the true descriptions of things and though they were full and rich and wanted nothing they walked but according to the oldness of the Letter and not in the newness and power of the Spirit of Life But alas how far are many who pretend to Christ in this day from this state who never came so far as to walk in the oldness of the Letter from a true understanding thereof but have only learned and continued to walk in the oldness of their own apprehensions and conceivings upon the Letter Can these in this state possibly understand Truth or know the inward spiritual precious appearances thereof either in their own hearts or others Surely no. Why so Why this is the reason because the measure the appearances of Truth either in themselves or others by their own old apprehension and conceivings upon Scriptures concerning Truth which is not the proper measure of it Now all such are yet in darkness let them pretend what they will and grow never so high in knowlerg exercises and experiences after this manner and so the best zealousest and most knowing of them in this state are but blind leaders of the blind and thus going on shall most certainly fall into the Ditch of perdition O that men could feel that which makes rightly sensible and might lay it to heart For no man can confess Christ how then can he receive him and walk in him but by the holy Spirit And he that knoweth not the Spirit rightly knoweth not Christ rightly and he that doth not know him rightly doth not confess him rightly and none can know him rightly but by the revelation of the Father inwardly The mistery must be opened within or there is no true knowing The mistery of deceit is discovered within and the mistery of Life is discovered within also And though the heart of man in the unregenerate estate is deceitfull above all things and despeartely wicked and no man of himself can search or know it yet that is not the state of the true Jsraelites whom God hath cleansed and taught to deny themselves daily but they have boldness before that God who hath searched them and removed from them the iniquities which he found therein Yea whoever witnesseth Christ revealed within shall find him revealed within for this very end to destroy the works of the Devil there and he is a powerfull Saviour of the Soul from sin and a powerfull Destroyer of the works of the Devil within Now concerning reading the Scriptures mind this It is said of the Jews that when they read Moses or in reading the Old Testament the vail was upon their heart which vail is done away in Christ 2 Cor. 3.14 15. O consider seriously is the vail done away from thee Dost thou read the Scriptures with the unvailed eye dost thou read in the Anointing in Christs Spirit in the pure heavenly Wisdom of the divine Birth It was promised of old that God would take away the face of the covering cast over all people and the vail spread over all Nations Dost thou witness this Promise fulfilled to thee dost thou know the difference between reading the Scriptures with the vail on thee and with the vail off Are the Scriptures opened and unlocked to thee by the key of David so that thou readest and understandest them in the Light
and Demonstration of Gods holy Spirit or is thy own understanding and will at work of it self in searching into the Scriptures If the wrong birth the wrong wisdom the wrong understanding be at work it can gather but that which will feed and strengthen it self and if thou beest not in Christ and dost not read in Christ the vail is not taken away from thee for the vail is only done away in him but thou readest and walkest in the oldness of thy apprehensions upon the Letter and not in the newness of the Spirit and so knowest neither the Scriptures nor the Power of God what ever thou professest to men or dreamest concernning thy self For it is no other indeed Thy knowledge thy apprehensions thy faith thy hope thy peace thy joy being out of the compass of the pure living Truth in which the Substance the vertue the kernel of all is comprised and comprehended for ever are but as so many dreams O that men that are any whit tender and have any sincere desires in them towards the Lord could read that one Scripture Psal 43.3 4. sensible and experimentally O send out thy Light and thy Truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles what did not David know how to go to the Hiâ—l and Tabernacles of God without a particular sending forth of Light and Truth from God to lead him thither Then may men go unto the Altar of God unto God their exceeding joy and witness his Hill and House their dwelling-place when God by his Light and Truth sent forth from him into them leads them thither The Scriptures are words whose chief end drift and service is to bring men to the Word from which the Scriptures came And when men are there then they are in the Life of the Scriptures and witness the fulfilling of the Scriptures even the executing of the righteous judgments of God upon that spirit mind and nature in them which is contrary to his image and the fulfilling of the Promises and sure Mercies which belong to Christ the Seed and to them who are gathered into and abide in Christ the Seed Here 's the Covenant the new Covenant That which is said or those things which are said concerning the Covenant in the Scriptures are but descriptions of the new Covenant but Christ within the Hope of glory the Spirit within the Fear within the Power of Life within breaking down and reigning over the power of sin and death so that the Lord is served in the dominion and power of his own Life in righteousness and holiness before him out of the fear of sin and death all the dayes of our lives so that captivity can lead captive nor break the Souls peace no more nay not so much as make afraid those that keep their Habitation on Gods holy Mountain here is the Covenant indeed the strength and vertue whereof is witnessed in the Soul as the Soul feels the power of Life revealed in it and is made subject by the power to Christ who reigns in righteousness love mercy and Peace in the hearts of those whom he redeems out of the earthly nature and spirit up to the Mind and Spirit of his Father And here the Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs the pure Songs the Song of Moses the Song of the Lamb are sung to the Father of Spirits to the Redeemer of Israel which never were sung nor can be sung in any part of Babylon but all those Songs are but Dreames of the night which will be turned into howling and bitter lamentation when the whore that which hath whored from God and is not in the wisdom of his Spirit what ever she may pretend is stripped and the nakedness of her Profession and Religion with all her Duties and Ordinances as she calls them made manifest Concerning the GOSPEL MINISTRATION IF the Gospel be not a Ministration of Words or Letters but of the Spirit Life and Power and if it was the intent of God that men should not stick in Word or Testimonies concerning the things but come to the thing it self and live in the Sons Life and Power and feel the Son living in them Then they are greatly mistaken who think to gather a Rule to themselves out of the Testimonies and Declarations of things in the Scriptures and do not wait upon the Lord to receive the Spirit it self to become their Rule Guide and Way For these are all one The Truth is the Way The Truth which lives and abides in the heart where it is received and entertained is the Way the Rule is the Guide For God is one There are many names but the thing is one The Life the Power the Wisdom in the Father Son and Spirit is all one yea they themselves are one Perfectly one not at all devided or separated but where the Father is the Son is and where the Son is the Spirit is and where the Spirit is there is both the Father and the Son who tabernacle in man in the day of the Gospel And where these are there that is which is to be preferred before all words which was afore them and is in Nature Spirit and Glory above them He that hath the Son hath Life even the Life Eternal which the words testifie of He that hath the Son hath him which is true and he that is in the Son is in him that is true and abiding there cannot be deceived but he that is not there is deceived let him apprehend and gather out of the Scriptures what he can O how is God glorified and how is Redemption and real Salvation of the Soul witnessed in this dispised Dispensation of Truth which God hath held forth in these latter dayes Blessed be the Name of the Lord who hath hid this pure dispensation of Life from the eye of the prudent worldly wise part in every man revealing it only to the babish simplicity which is of his Son and which lives in him and by him Concerning Christs being manifested without and His being also manifested within and how both are owned by them that know the Truth IT is objected against us who are called Quakers That we deny Christ and look not to be saved by him as he was manifested without us but look only to be saved by Christ in us To which this is in my heart to answer to such as singly desire satisfaction therein We do indeed expect to be saved yea and not only so but do already in our several measures witness Salvation by the revelation and operation of the Life of Christ within us yet not without relation to what he did without us For all that he did in that Body of Flesh was of the Father and had its place and service in the Will and according to the Counsel of the Father But the knowledg and beliefe of that since the dayes of the Apostles hath been very much held in the unrighteousness and in the separation
to man as he stands in the alienation from God It crosseth his spirit his thoughts his desires his knowledge his reason his understanding even all that is of himself He must therefore conâ—ult with none of these but prefer the little pure Demonstration of the Light of Christs Spirit above all these and stand in the parting with and loss of them all for ever O this is an hard saying who can bear it Surely none but those that are taught and learn of the Father can thus come to give up to and follow the Light of the Son The Law of the Lord is perfest converting or restoring the Soul Psal 19.7 What Law was this or what Law is this Was it the Law of workes in the hand of Moses or is it the Law of Faith in the hand of Christ Doth not Christ enlighten every man that cometh into the World Would not God have all men to be saved and doth he not give to all a proportion of the true Light whereby they may be saved And it is not the property of this Light to convert to God Can any man receive this and be united to this and it not change his nature so that he must needs have a new nature and from that new nature do that naturally which the Jews by all their endeavours with-out this could never do Can any thing convert fallen man to God but Christ hath any thing power to convert to God but his pure Law of Life Can Christ and his Light be seprated Can any man receive his Light and be united thereto and not receive him O that mens hearts and understandings were opened by the Spirit and Power of the Lord For this is a direct riddle to all men who have not Gods Heifer to Plow with to understand it by And so for want of a true understanding it is despised and rejected among the Builders but with us it is elect and precious chosen of God and precious in the eye of our Souls Now this doth not exclude or make void any thing that Christ did in his Body of Flesh here on Earth or that he doth in Heaven for his but this brings unto a Right and into a Possession and Enjoyment of his Purchase For all that are in the Darkness and walk in the Darkness have nothing to do with Christ in truth and reallity what ever they may profess and what hopes soever they may feed themselves with but all that are in any measure of his Light and walk therein they are so far of him and have a right to and share in all that he did in and from the same Light and Spirit And this I dare positively hold forth as a standing Truth which hath been sealed unto me by constant experience that no man can fall in with and obey the Light wherewith he is enlightened but he must deny himself and take up a Cross to his own wisdom and will which Cross is the Cross of Christ which is the Power of God to the Salvation of the Soul And he that takes it up daily and waits upon the Lord therein shall witness the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to the redemption of his Soul ye then he shall be able in true understanding to say This is Light indeed Life indeed Power indeed That powerfull Arm which hath saved me from Sin and breaks the Snares Devices and Strength of the Enemy before me delivering me daily when none else can and when my own strength and wisdom is as nothing I cannot but call Christ the living Power and Wisdom of God revealed in me who will not give his glory to another For he is the Lord God of pure Power and Life for evermore and beside him there is no such Saviour Yea blessed be the Name of the Lord for ever the dayes of mourning after Salvation are over with many and the dayes of reaping and enjoying Salvation are come which shall endure with the Israel of God for evermore Amen Isaac Penington An Incitation to Professors seriously to consider Whether they or we fail in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem WE who are commonly called Quakers being a People whom the Lord hath gathered out of the wandrings out of the many Professions out of the several scattered estates and conditions wherein his Eye pittied us and his love found us out into a measure of the eternal rest where we have found that Life that Power that Manifestation of the Eternal Spirits and that redeeming Virtue which we never were before distinctly acquainted with I say having tasted of this haveing known this having felt this and come to a real enjoyment of it in some degree in our several measures we could not possibly conceal this Treasure but in bowels of love and in the movings of the Life and Power of the Spirit have been drawn to testifie of it to them who were left behind groveling under the burthen of corruption and crying out because of the sin and bondage from the powers of darkness who hath in a mist withheld their eyes from beholding that living Virtue which is able to save and doth save blessed be his Name therefrom Now this we have often found That this our Testimony hath not been received in the same Spirit and Love wherein it hath gone forth but the Enemy by his subtilty hath raised up jealosies concerning us and prejudices against us as if we denyed the Scriptures and Ordinances of God and that Christ that died at Jerusalem professing him only in words to win upon others by but denying him in reallity and substance To cleare this latter for my heart is only at this present drawn out concerning that we have solemnly professed in the sight of the Lord God who hath given us the knowledge of his â—on in Life and Power these two things First That we do really in our hearts own that Christ who came in the fulness of time in that prepared Body to do the Fathers Will his coming into the World Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection c. in plainness and simplicity of heart according as it is expressed in the Letter of the Scriptures Secondly That we own no other Christ then that nor hold forth no other-thing for Christ but him who then appeared and was made manifest in flesh Now it would be nakedly inquired into by Professors What is the reason that their jealousies still remain concerning us and why they are still so ready to cast this upon us Certainly if they did know and own the same thing with us in the Spirit and in the Power in the Life and in the Love which is of the Truth this prejudice and these hard thoughts could not remain But if they themselves do not know Christ in the Spirit but only according to a relation of the Letter no marvel though they miss both of the Spirit and of the true intent and meaning of the Letter and Likewise be liable to
clash against the Truth as it is made manifest in others And indeed the Lord hath shewen me in Spirit several times that they themselves are guilty of that very charge and that he will so implead them at his Judgment Seat which they cast upon us even of denying that Christ which died at Jerusalem to be the Christ For he that owneth the words of Scripture as he apprehends or conceives them in the reasonings of his mind and doth not wait to have them revealed in the Spirit keeping out of his own reasonings and conceivings and waiting patiently till the Lord open the thing in the Spirit he setteth up his own conceivings or an Image in his mind of the mind of the Spirit but misseth of the thing it self which alone is known in the Spirit by them who wait upon the Spirit there to receive it and are not hasty to set up their own reasonings and imaginations concerning the thing in the mean time No man can in Truth call Jesus the Lord but by the Spirit But any man that is any thing serious and weighs the Scriptures in the natural part may so learn to acknowledge his coming into the World and that he is Lord and King c. and may thus call him Lord yea and kindle a great heat in his affections towards him but all this out of the Life out of the Spirit is but mans Image which he forms in his mind in his reading the Scriptures and observing things therefrom But the true calling Jesus Lord is from the feeling of his eternal Virtue in the Spirit and finding the Scriptures opened to him by the Spirit in a Principle which is above the Reason comprehends the Reason and confounds and brings it to nothing Again There is no true Knowledge of Christ no living Knowledge no saving Knowledge which hath the eternal Virtue in it but that which is received and retained in a measure of Light given by God to the Creature in the Faith which is the Gift in the Grace which is supernatural and spiritual whereas the resoning part is but Natural And such as have received the Spiritual understanding know it to be distinct from the Natural and we experimentally find a very clear distincttion between Scriptures searched out by the reasonings of the mind and so practises drawn therefrom and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Now that Professors generally have not received their knowledge of Christ from the Spirit or from Scriptures opened it the Spirit and so know not the thing but only such a relation of the thing as mans reasoning part may drink in from the Letter of the Scriptures is manifest by this In that they are not able in Spirit and Understandind to distinguish the thing it self from the Garment wherewith it was cloathed though the Scriptures be very express therein Speak of Christ according to a Relation of the Letter there they can say somewhat but come to the Substance come to the Spirit of the thing come to the thing it self there they stutter and stammer and shew plainly that they know not what it is Now the Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore between him that came and the Body in which he came between the Substance which was vailed and the Vail which vailed it Lo I come a body hast thou prepared me There is plainly He and the Body in which he came There was the outward Vessel and the inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the bodily Garment Christ but that which appeared and dwelt in the Body Now if ye indeed know the Christ of God tell us plainly what that is which appeared in the Body whether that was not the Christ before it took up the Body after it took up the Body and for ever And then their confining of Christ to that Body plainly manifesteth that they want the knowledge of him in Spirit For Christ is the Son of the Father he is the infinite eternal Being one with the Father and with the Spirit and cannot be divided from either cannot be any where where they are not nor can be excluded from any place where they are He may take up a Body and appear in it but cannot be confined to be no where else but there no not at the very time while he is there Christ while he was here on Earth yet was not excluded from being in Heaven with the Father at the very same time as he himself said concerning himself The Son of Man which is in Heaven John 3.13 Nor was the Father excluded from being with him in the Body but the Father was in him and he in the Father whereupon he said to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father What did every one that saw that Body see the Father also Nay not so but he that saw Christ the Son of the living God whom flesh and blood revealed not but the Father only Mat 16.16 17. he saw the Father also O Frinds look to your knowledge of Christ and to your Faith and Knowledge of the Scriptures and to your Prayers also for it is easie missing of the living substance in all these and meeting with a shaddow which may please and make a great shew in the earthly part in the natural understanding and affections but satisfieth not the Soul or that which is born after the Spirit but still the cry there goes out where the Soul is awakned after Truth Substance Life Virtue from Gods Spirit in the Spirit which it alone can feed upon These four things following I am certain of which he that cometh into the true Light shall infallibly experience them there First That nothing can save but the knowledge of Christ even of that very Christ and no other who took upon him the prepared Body and offered it up at Jerusalem Secondly That no Knowledge of Christ can save but the living Knowledge Not a knowledge of him after the Letter which the carnal part may get much of and value it self much by but a knowledge of him in the Spirit which is only given to that which is begotten and born of the Spirit and only retained by that which abides and remains in the Spirit and runs not out into the fleshly reasonings imaginings and concevings about the things mentioned in the Scriptures Thirdly That that man who knoweth not Christ in Spirit nor keepeth close to him in Spirit but through darkness and misguidance of the spirit of deceit called the shinings of his Light his reproofs his checks for that which is evil and his secret motions to that which is good natural This man though he seem to own Christ never so much according to the Letter yet in Truth denies him Fourthly He that denies Christ in his knocking 's and visitations of him in his own heart and before men in the Truths which he holds forth by his Servants and Ministers of his Spirit him will he
deny before his Father in Heaven O I beseech you do not trifle about these things for they are exceeding weighty lest ye perish from the way for missing of the Saviour ye must needs also miss of the Salvation O that ye knew your state as God knows it to be and as it is certainly known and felt in the measure of his Life and holy Spirit by those whom God hath gathered together and whose eyes he hath opened and preserveth open there Glory be to his Name therefore Yea Glory Glory Glory and everlasting Praises be sung to him throughout all the holy Land ye in the very heights of Sion by the Souls of the Redeemed from henceforth and for evermore Amen whose Mercy Love Grace Wisdom Power and rich Goodness remaineth and endureth for ever by and in which the Redeemed live to his Praise who have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb whose Blood they know what it is and none else knoweth it but they who feel the sprinkling and virtue of it Lo this is our God we have waited for him and how can we but be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation O let all that live by the breath of thy Power and drink of thy Streams sing praise unto Thee and exalt thy great and wonderful Name for ever and ever A brief Testimony for Truth by Tho. Tayler I Shall add somewhat of the Testimony which is written in my heart by the finger of Gods Spirit concerning the People called Quakers Indeed they have met with many reproaches and sore oppositions many wayes since they were a People but notwithstanding all their Bow abides in strength and the hands of their arms have been made strong against the wicked one with all his devices in his several kinds of instruments and their Light is still the same and their God the same who blesseth them from day to day even in the midst of all the revilings slanders persecutions and curses which they have met with from men without and in the midst of all the temptations inward trials and afflictions also which are often met with inwardly Yea we know him to be our God and cannot but trust him having found him to be faithfull to us hitherto and knowing his nature to be such that he cannot but continue his loving-kindness and faithfulness to all who are gathered by him in to his holy inward spiritual Covenant of Life and Peace and who dwells with him therein And truly we are fully satisfied and at rest in him and cannot desire another then he who hath redeemed our Souls from death given us Life brought us out of the Pit wherein was no water into a large place set our feet upon a rock a rock indeed and establisheth our goings in the path of holyness working all our works in us and for us by his Spirit and Power Yea we have the Witness in our hearts even the Witness which never erred nor can deceive which testifieth to and with our spirits our Sonship so that we do not imagine our selves sons from apprehensions upon Scriptures but we feel our selves sons in the true sensibleness and know who David is and reap and inherit the sure mercies of David daily O blessed be our Father O blessed for ever be the Father of Life who feeds who nourishes who waters Who refreshes with the Bread of Life and with the pure living water his Lambs his Babes his plants his tender ones of whom he is daily tender and who are daily tender of his Name and Honour And if any man preach another God then he who creates anew in the true Light and therein puts forth his arm of Salvation Death and Destruction and the Curse are his portion from the hand of the Lord. THE Conclusion GLorious was the Estate of the Church before the Apostacy for Purity of Doctrine for holy Order and Discipline for Love to God one to another and to all men even of Enemies for Faith in God for the Presence and Power of his Spirit among them insomuch as the unbeliever coming among them might find his heart and state reached to and be forced to confess and report that God was in them of a truth for singleness and uprightnesse of Heart meekness and innocency of Spirit and Conversation for zeal for God and his Truth suffering the spoiling of their Goods Imprisonments Stripes and many other wayes both from the Heathen and also from the professing Jews who had been the Church once O what shall I say concerning the beauty and loveliness of that State Ye that would know it O wait to feel it in that which giveth the true sence of it But over this glorious State came a dark thick corrupt night wherein the Kernel was lost and the Shell defaced wherein the House which had been swept and garnished became again recovered and possessed by the wicked spirit And how great hath this darkness been O what a kind of Church hath appeared in the World wherein the spirit of Enmity hath dwelt and acted in men under the Name of Christianity So that instead of loving and seeking the good of Enemies they are ready to rend and tear one another for every little difference and will be Lords over mens Faith requiring men to Practice things in Religeon before the Spirit of the Lord teacheth them so to do which the Apostles did not For though they had from God the express knowledge of what was Truth and could certainly instruct and build men up therein yet they were not Lords over mens Faith but if men were otherwise minded then according to what they knew and taught they could wait and bear with them bidding them walk so far as they had attained and God in his due time would reveal the rest also O that men were come to this Spirit again Then they would be Christians indeed and then they might be known to be Christs Disciples by their loving the Brethren and fellow-Disciples But without this love mens Religion is but as a tinkling Cimbal making a noise and sound of somewhat but not having the true Nature or Virtue of Religion in it Now will it not be a glorious Day when the Spirit of the Lord cleanseth away this thick darkness and causeth the Light of his pure Truth to arise and appear again Why there is such a Day to be wherein the true Church which was reproached and driven into the Wilderness is to come out of the Wilderness again and her Witnesses stand on their feet again and her Seed to spring up in the Power of Life following the Lamb who marcheth on fighting with the Sword of the Spirit the words of his mouth conquering and to conqeur thereby the corrupted Antichristian World even as he did at first the corrupt Heathenish World The Lord will purifie his Temple and cleanse the World by the Plagues of his Angels which he hath prepared making way for the beauty of his Truth and the Church of his gathering wherein he
will bring forth his Righteousness wherein his Power shall appear wherein his Presence shall be made manifest wherein that which shined before in the Primitive Church shall shine again in this new-reared Building of his insomuch as men shall be forced to say This is the Church of Christ indeed God is here of a truth This is the Gosple-Jerusalem indeed which is built upon the holy Hill of Sion in which Innocency Righteousnesse Truth Love Sweetnesse Peaceablenesse and the gentle Nature and Spirit of the Lamb lives and reigns and the Lord bless thee O Habitation of Justice and Mountain of Holiness Now of a truth this Work is begun The times of refreshment are come from the Presence of the Lord. The Lord hath heard from Heaven pitiying the cries of his Seed and hath visited their Souls causing the Light of Life even the pure Light of the everlasting Covenant to shine upon their Tabernacles But whoever would know these things and partake of them must come in at the Door by the Guidance of the Spirit through the Light which is with him And he that would enjoy the full Light even the shinings forth of the Sun at noon day must begin with its glimmerings even that in the heart which discovereth and draweth out of the corrupt state of the World towards the Father O hear and live Do not dispute about it but wait to feel it upon the feeling of it despising the shame and taking up and enduring the Cross and so bearing the reproach and sufferings of Christ in thy Age and Generation And as thou obeyest thou shalt know of its Doctrine but out of the pure Faith and Obedience there is no true sound deep-rooted knowledge but all of that kind must be parted with for the knowledge which is of the Faith and which is made manifest and increased in the Obedience which knowledge is of a far more excellent Kind and Nature Then that which thou art to part with for it The Lord guide thy Mind and stretch forth his Hand to help thee who from the least touch of a true Nature and Spirit desirest after the pure Truth and Way of eternal Life Amen This Testimony here held forth is faithful and true and I know the Witness of God in many hearts will answer to it and happy is he that maketh a right use of it For so doing his Soul will not fall short of the pure living Truth nor set up any thing else for Truth which is not Isaack Penington THE END John 10.1 2 Pet. 1.20 21. Jer. 23.28 John 1.1 Jer. 2.4 8. Ezek. 1.3 John 1.14 Rev. 19.13 Heb. 4.12 13 Luke 1.73 19.15 John 16.13 Rom. 18.14 Mat. 11.15 Mat. 13.11 Mat. 3.11 Ephes 4.5 6. Rom. 6.3 1 Cor. 12.13 2 Cor. 5 17. John 6.54 55 56 57. Acts 4.32 1 Cor. 10.16 1 Cor. 10 21. 1 Cor. 11.29 1 Cor. 2.14 1 John 3.17 Rom. 8.6 2 Tim. 3.5 1 Pet. 3.12 Jam. 5.5 6. Pro. 15.8 29. Ex. 40.12 13. Luke 1.3 Hab. 1.13 Mat. 12.34 Job 14.4 Gen. 3.15 2 Sam. 2.22 1 Sam. 5.22 Isa 1.13 14 15 16 17. Mark 16.25 Amos 3 7 8. Am 7.14 15. Gal. 1.11 12. 1 Cor. 1.17 18 19 c. Chap. 2. 2 Pet. 1.21 Act. 2.4 c. Acts 20.33 1 Thes 9.6 as in Act. Act. 24 5.6 Act. 22.22 Witness the Town of Cambridge the Wel-head Rom. 7.14 Rom. 4.15 Rom. 8.1 Gal. 5.23 Rom. 8.8 2 Sam. 23.3 Pro. 28.15 16. Pro. 25.28 Pro. 29.10 Isa 14.15 James 2.9 Hos 4.18 Hester 3. Dan. 1.3 Isa 23. Isa 5.27 28. Psal 82.1 3. Zeph. 3.3 Hos 4.18 Mar. 6.17 c Hest 3.8 Rom. 13.3 4. Exod. 4.10 11 12 13. Acts 9.5 6. 2 Thes 2.4 Jam. 4.1 2 3. 2 Cor. 5.16 17. Gal. 6.14 Col. 1.18 Mat. 20.25 26 27. 1 Cor. 12.12 13. Acts 4.32 Rom. 6.4 5. Rev. 19 Rom. 13.7 1 Kings 19.9 Am. 7.24 25 Deut. 32.3 Deut. 37.5 Mat. 13.55 56 57. Rom. 8.5 Phil. 2.9 10 11. Psal 149.8 Rev. 13. Rev. 14 5. Rev. 18.6 Mat. 20.25 Prov. 22.7 1 Cor. 9.19 Prov. 1.23 Prov. 16.4 Luke 16 10 20. Acts. 17.25 James 2.6 Esth 3. 2 Pet. 2.12 Jude 10. Gen. 1.27 Gen. 5.24 Lvke 4.18 Mat. 10.11 Rev. 21.27 1 Cor. 15.5 John 8.13