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
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
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
than that in which Adam stood before the Fall even to himself who never changed and never fell nor never will fall And so they who forget God and do wickedly they are to be turned into Hell For they who forget God and do wickedly they go from the Life and Power of God into the Seperation from him and out of his acceptance for in the Life is the acceptance and so the Power Light and Life goeth over them who go into sin and iniquity which leades from God who was before Transgression was XVIII Concerning ELECTION and REPROBATION Reprobation is an Alienation from the Life and from that which is of God within and from his Voice and Command as Adam and the Jews did and such who despise that which is of God within they despise their Birth-right Such are concluded to be out of true Vnderstanding and true Knowledge and the Witness of God within is grieved and such are dead in their sences from the Life and Covenant of Peace with God and from the Seed which is called the Elect in which the Elect and the Election is known in the Seed Christ before the Foundation of the World which World slew him and they who slew him and now slayes him they were and are Reprobated from the Life who go from the Command of God and they have lost his Image they have lost his Power which keeps over and above and out of the Reprobation And so they who come into the Election the Seed they come out of the State in which Adam was in the Fall into the state in which he was in before he Fell and into an higher state than that into Christ the Seed the Elect. And so they in the Seed in the Elect in Christ the Wisdom of God they comprehend and see the state of Election before the World was laid and the State of Adam before the Fall and the State of Adam in the Fall in the Reprobation and the state of Adam restored again out of the Fall and a State which is higher than that in which Adam was in before he Fell into the Election which is a thing beyond that and the state of the beloved of God is seen in the Seed the Wisdom of God Cain was the first Birth Esau was the first Birth Ishmael was the first Birth Cain killed his Brother about Religion Ishmael was a Scoffer Esau bore the Sword he despised his Birth-right he fought against his Brother Jacob. So Christendom read your Reprobation the first Birth which is born of the Elesh for the first Birth will persecute him who is born of the Spirit So the most part of Christians are seen to be of the first Birth and to remain in the Reprobation from God Cain departed from the Voyce of God and Esau from his Birth-right and Ishmael in his scoffing nature they went from the Good and so from faithful Abraham who was in the Election And so they who are in Cains Ishmaels and Esaus nature are in the first Birth which is not Elected Now as to the Love of God towards one and his Hatred to another before either had done good or evil all this consists in the first Birth who despised his Birth-right which God foresaw which was not the Seed unto which the Love of God is to for ever Therefore know thy self O Christendom and thy Birth that that which hates the Principle of God and his Voice is reprobated he that rebells against Gods command and his Voyce God turneth against such neither doth he hear such who hates the Election and are in the Reprobation from the Seed yea even from the Law it self for the Law keeps a man from sin But the Law it self doth not say that it destroys the Devil but the Seed viz. Christ who is higher than the Law who is the Election and destroys the Devil So who knows the Election they must know the Seed they must know the Birth born of the Spirit Now if all Christendom know the Election they must know the Birth born of the Spirit which will not Persecute For the nature of Cain Ishmael and Esau is one of which the Apostle spoke in the Primitive times which we now also say is one and the Election is one which standeth in the Seed which was before the Foundation of the wicked world was And the Reprobation is one which standeth in the unjust world out of the Truth and the Life in disobedience to the Command of God Therefore know the one Reprobation and the one Election then ye shall know the Seed in which is the Wisdom of God and ye shall know that which goes from his Voyce Power and Command out of the Wisdom of God so whom God loves he loves for ever Know Jacob and know Esau Esau Cain and Ishmael were the first-born and is not Christendom of the first-birth who Persecutes who departs from the good and despises the pure and persecutes the Birth born of the Spirit which God hates And such act out of his Life in the Reprobation out of his Power and Wisdom and out of the Election Christ the Seed the second Birth who was before the Carnal Birth was and remains when he will be gone unto which the Love of God is for ever and unto whom is the Promise which goeth over the outward Birth and destroyes the Devil and his works who went from Truth and led man from God by which the Curse Wrath and Woe came upon Man which Christ the Seed brings the Blessing and gives man to see the blessed state of all things how they were in the beginning and how they were blessed in the beginning and through Christ Man comes up into the power which is his Throne where there 's Blessing and no Curse at all XIX Concerning FEAR and TREMBLING The strong Man hath kept the House long and his Goods have been at Peace but now He is come who is stronger than he Christ Jesus the Stronger who doth dis-inherit and cast him out and spoil his Goods and makes Man the Temple of God that â—e himself may dwell in him an holy Temple and an Habitation for himself to dwell in who maketh the Keepers of the House to Tremble by which power of Christ the Salvation is wrought out with fear and Trembling And so we can say That it is God that workeâ—h in us both to will and to do according to his will and good pleasure In the dayes of the Prophets the Prophet he trembled and staggered like a Drunkard for the Iniquity of the Times and because of the holiness of the Word of the Lord He trembled when he heard his Voyce and when the Lord spake to him he feared greaâ—ly This is the Man whom God regards saith the Prophet Isayas who is of a broken and contrâ—ie spirit and trembleth at his word Who have been cast out by their Brethren who said let the Lord be glorified Who will appear for those that tremble at his Word and
for those that are of a contrite heart who were for Signes and Wonders to both the Houses of Israel when they shall be confounded ashamed and astonished And before you know sin rooted out and wasted out of your flesh and the Earth shaken and removed out of its place and ye brought into that state which Man was in before he Fell you must know the trembling and shaking of that which is to be shaken and the removing of that which is to be removed before Christ the Seed will appear who is the foundation of many Generations and the Rock of Ages who is the First and the Last Who cannot be shaken neither can be changed So that the whole unjust wicked World hath much to suffer before they come to this they must know the Devils to tremble the Heavens to be shaken and the Earth also before he who cannot be shaken will appear by whom the World was made XX. Concerning the BODY of DEATH It s evident that they who plead for a body of Death and Sin about which the world so earnestly jangle and which they plead for as long as they live upon the earth that they also plead for its Author viz the Divel and this is not to plead for Christ who destroyes him who is the Author of sin and the Body of it Object Now if you Object that John hath said If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Answ John saith If we say we have not sinned we make him a lyar mark but if we confess and forsake our sins the blood of Jesus Christ the son of God cleanseth us from all sin Further he saith He that is born of God sinneth not neither can he because the Seed of God remains in him Because of which Seed he cannot sin for that Seed keeps the Holy so that the Evill one cannot touch him In this the children of God and the children of the Divel are manifest Whose children of both kinds contends and pleads for his own so there is a time in which men may say that they have sinned and have sin and a time to confess and to forsake sin and then a time to know the blood which cleanseth from all sin and then the Birth born which doth not commit sin and the Seed which remaines in him so that he cannot sin for as I said before it keeps the Holy that the Evil cannot touch him And though Paul cryed out of a Body of Death and of a Warfare yet afterwards he gave thanks to God that he had gotten Victory through Jesus Christ over the Body of Death and that the Law of the Spirit of Life had freed him from the Law of Sin and Death And afterwards the Apostle never complained of a Body of Death but he thanked God that he had obtained Victory through Christ who destroyes the Devil the Author of it who destroys Death and its Body and said that he was freed and that there was no condemnation to them who were in Christ Jesus and that the Life that he now lived was by the Faith of the Son of God which Faith gives Victory over Sin Death and the Devil which sin separates from God by which man hath displeased him by which Faith man is purified and hath victory and pleaseth God and hath access to him and is justified and saved Amen XXI Concerning the word THOU to a Single Person It is the manner among us to use the word Thou to a single person and You to more than one as in the Primitive times among the Saints according to Scripture and the Principle of God placed in every man which distinguisheth many from one and hath the proper word both to singular and plural to wit the singular word to a single person and the plural word to more than one according to the true understanding and Spirit of God in every man and the Testimony of all the Prophets But they are degenerated from the Spirit of God they are degenerated from the Scriptures and from their own Translations calling this manner of speaking Thou to one and You to many nonsence and improper when they themselves are gone from the true understanding which whosoever are in it comprehends them who are degenerated from it XXII Concerning putting of the HAT and Bowing the KNEE and Cringings and Complements To put off Hatts bowing Knees Cringing and Complements are from below and Customes and Manners of the World which shall pass away and never came from God neither is that honour wherewith men ought to honour one another for if all men had honoured and esteemed one another they had been of an higher Spirit than the Spirit of the World and of a more noble and generous Spirit Then neither Man nor Woman throughout all Christendom had received wrong or injury if they had esteemed and honoured one another for he that honours men will in no wise hurt them in this consists Breeding and Civillity And every Knee shall bow to me saith the Lord. For this is the cry Worship God and Fear him and Reverence him And if you Object That some in times past bowed them-themselves to an Angel but in the time of the Gospel which is the Power of God which was before the Fall in the state of Reformation and Restauration John was forbidden to bow to the Angel and the Apostels reproved them that bowed to them And although Jacob bowed for a time to his Brother Esau yet it is not said that he bowed to him all his Life time For it is written The Elder shall serve the Younger So the Elder shall bow among the Cringers and Knee-bowers one to another who will kill and envy one another and to them this is a Mystery XXIII Concerning GOOD MANNERS Evil Words and Evil Communications corrupts Good Manners And if Christendom would learn good Manners they must all come to the Light of Christ Jesus to the Spirit of God in themselves and to the Word of God in their hearts and months which will teach them to leave off Evil Words and will lead them from them and to deny them and this is the way to come to Good Manners But they who live in high Expressions and Complements and full of Evil Words and Flatteries and Dissimulations and call such Good Manners their Words and Works testify and manifest that they are Evil and Corrupt and such whose Manners are evil and corrupt they quench grieve and vex the Spirit of God in themselves and hate the Light and will not come to it because it reproves them of their evil words Such do love envy wrath vanity pride rashness hastiness and yet they are found in flattering Expressions and bowings one to another and they call it Good Manners and Honour when all such things are altogether out of that Honour that comes from above and are those things which the Witness of God in themselves testifieth against and testified in the Name of
the Lord that he will bring such honour in the dust and that which he will condemn as unjust The Apostle saith That Women ought not to adorne themselves with gould silver pearls costly attire platting of the hair but to be adorned with a meek and a quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price and the hidden man of the heart c. And if Christendom had minded this it had been more virtuous and more sober and less envious towards one about their Manners XXIV Concerning Objections of the World against the Preaching of CHRIST Object The World Objests and saith That some Preach Christ of Envy and some of Good-will and some of Strife and Contention And that Christ commanded to hear the Pharisees So we may hear say they our Teachers although they be wicked Answ He that hath the Form of Godliness and denyes the Power from such turn away The Apostle bid turn away from Envious men and Contentious men and men of Strife Although there was a time when the Name of Christ was first spread abroad in which time he permitted Envious men to spread his Name abroad But when his Name was spread abroad then he forbad such Envious and Contentious men to Preach and exhorted Timothy to withdraw from and avoid such for they could not bring People into the Power For Envious and Contentious men may Preach the Form and have it but they cannot bring People into the Power And so there came a time before the decease of the Apostles to turn away from such Now as to the hearing of the Pharisees this was before Christ was Offered up and before the fulfilling of the Law for they were Ministers of the Law and so people ought to do as they said but not as they did but when Christ was offered up he commanded them to Preach the Gospel and not to hear the Pharisees and it was the work of the Apostles to bring People to the end of the Law to the Seed into Gospel-fellowship into the Power of God which was before the Power of darkness was XXV Concerning BREAD WATER and WINE Bread Water and Wine are earthly and perishing things for the Bread and Wine which Christ gave at Supper in the Evening which the World takes at Noon those things Christ and the Apostle gave for a shewing forth and a remembrance of his death until he should come And after some of the Disciples had receiv'd it they doubted Whether he was the Christ or not And after the Apostle had given the Supper to the Corinthians in his first Epistle he bad then Examine themselves and so to eat in the remembrance of Christ But in the second Epistle he bad them examine themselves and try themselves whether Christ except they were Reprobates were in them or not Now they may be Reprobates who have taken the Bread and Wine and have had the Water They were Reprobates if Christ was not in them For Bread and Wine is not the Flesh and Blood of Christ which came down from Heaven which flesh whosoever eates lives for ever For People may eat of Bread made of Grain and may drink Wine make of Grapes and yet may dye Reprobates Now they were to take it in remembrance of his Death this was one State and than they were to come to dye with him and this was a nearer state than the taking of Bread and Wine in remembrance of his Death and then they were to arise with him and then to seek those things which were above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God but Bread Water and Wine are all earthly things and they are not Christ and they who have him they are not Reprobates neither do they need outward things to put them in mind of his Death whenas they are dead with him and risen with him to live with him But they who will not dye and suffer with him such live in the Old Nature and desire to have outward things continually to put them in mind of his Death and such live in Strife and Contention about outward things and shaddows and do not come to Christ the Substance who was before the world was made in whom there is no strife at all but only Life and Peace XXVI Of the SABBATH DAY The Jews they kept the Sabbath-Day a Type and Sign of Rest that both the Man-servant and Maid-servant and Strangers and all Cattel should rest within their Gates a sign of Christ who destroys the Devil the Author of Oppression and gives rest to Man and Beast and to the whole Creation and brings it again into that blessed condition which it was in in the beginning before the Fall Now as to the Saints Meeting together on the first Day of the Week this practice is not denyed but owned by us for who are come to the First Day as they Jews on the Last Day But there is more in the Word XXVII Concerning God-Fathers and God-Mothers and SPRINKLING of INFANTS Concerning God-Fathers and God-Mothers and Sprinkling of Infants and such like things the Scriptures make no mention yet the Scripture saith Repent Teach and Baptize XXVIII Concerning the Word TRINITY Of this word Trinitas there is no mention made in Scripture yet the Scripture speaks of Father Son and Holy Spirit and of Water Blood and Spirit and all these are one among us as in the Primitive time among the Apostles who gave no such outward Names to them as Trinity as the World now doth XXIX Concerning the MINISTRY They that receive from Christ they receive freely and they give freely they pray freely and preach freely and the Ministry is the gift of God and is to be exercised freely and of a free People of their earthly things it is to be Administred freely Heavenly men and bringers of glad Tydings of a Kingdom of which they are Heirs must Minister to the Eternal condition of People And this is the highest Love in the Life XXX Concerning Dayes and Times and Meats and Drinks The Kingdom of God consists not in Dayes Times Meats and Drinks and such like things but in Power Righteousness Faith and Joy in the holy Ghost and People ought not contend and Persecute one another about such things for the Apostles gave not any Commandment or Example that any should do so but on the contrary reproved them who did so and keep People in such things XXXI Concerning MARRIAGES Whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder and those which he joynes he joynes with his Power even by his Immortal Power with a Band over and above the State which is in the Fall where Men joyn and put asunder about outward and earthly things and jangle and fight about them but this is all in the defiled Bed out of the honourable state which was in the beginning where there was no hardness of heart And Marriage in it self is not condemned but owned and among all them who are in the Power I say it is
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
alienated from the Spirit of God in Babel where the Original of Tongues was in the dayes of Nimrod that Heretick who began to build Babel So Tongues do not make any man a Divine neither a Minister of Christ for that which makes a man Divine as they say is the Word which redeems out of Tongues which was before Babel was and in the beginning before the Fall which knocks down all that which corrupts mans Nature and renews again into the Divine Nature And whosoever are Ministers of the Word and Preachers of the Gospel they are in the Power and in the Word which was before Tongues were This Word brings into the Church-Felowship which is in God into which they are not brought by the Worlds Original which they call the Tongues which shall cease and out of whom we are redeemed neither do they bring into Fellowship with God neither into his Worship nor further than Babel where the Tongues stop But who comes to the Word of God and the Gospel they come to that which was before many Tongues were and shall remain when they shall all pass away XXXVIII Concerning OATHES The Spirit of Christ the Spirit of the Apostles of the Martyrs is risen again which gives Testimony against Swearing and Oathes There were no Oaths at all imposed upon Man before the Fall but only since the Fall for under the Law after the Fall and among the Jews Oaths and Commandments were given To which Christ by whom the World was made which was before the Fall which is the Oath of God which Oathes in the Fall were Types who put an end to strife and brings into quietness and peace and bindes to God without Oathes which Christ put an end to And Christ himself the Oath of God puts an end to all Oaths and brings into the Land of quietness and rest the Spiritaul Canaan and puts and end to strife and destroyes the Devil the Author of strife he who is the Rest the Way Truth and the Life who brings again to God and is the Covenant of God in man hath peace with God which destroyes that which led from God and from Christ and he himself said Swear not at all neither by Heaven nor by the Earth nor by any other Oath He who restores man into that state in which he was in the beginning before the Fall who restores into the Image of God And so in the Restauration there are no Oathes to be used nor Swearing according to his own Doctrine But Yea yea nay nay was to be used among men in all their Communications and what is more then this is evil So that Swearing now is evil And this is the Doctrine of him who restores People into that state in which man was in in the beginning who is the Substance who put an end to Figures And his Disciple Jeams in the 5th Chapter of his Epistle who followed his Counsel who is an Everlasting Counsellor saith Above all things my brethren Swear not neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath lest you fall into Condemnation but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay And this was the manner among them who followed the Doctrine and Command of Christ in the Restauration who were built upon the true Foundation which was first laid in the Primitive times among the true Brethren and was publickly held forth which Manner and Custome Doctrine and Command of Christ Jesus and the Apostles in the Primitive times many of the Martyrs followed held forth and practised among those who were Degenerated and Apostatized from the Life and Power of Christ and the Apostles although they profess the Words And now the Spirit of Christ is risen again and of the Apostles and Saints as in the Primitive times and the Spirit of the Martyrs who bear witness against all Oathes and all sort of Swearing whatsoevever that were used among the Heathens Jews and Apostatized Christians both privately and publickly and bindes to yea and nay in all manner of Communication as Christ and the Apostles taught and and the Saints and Martyrs practised knowing that whatsoever is more than yea and nay is evil and such who Swear are condemned according to Christ and the Apostles Doctrine So we say again That the Spirit of Christ the Apostles and Martyrs is risen again who hath been dead and is dead in and among the Apostates who have the Form but deny the Power from whom we have turned away But now its riâ—en again and lives amongst us Glory and Honour be given to God through Jesus Christ who hath restored to the beginning into the Image of God in which Man was in before he fell before Oathes were For Example Read the Book of Genesis and there you may see that there was no Command given to Adam and Eve before the Fall concerning Swearing neither from Christ who Restores Man again and who puts an END to OATHES before the Law and under the Law and Prophets both whom the Angels which sware worship for Christ saith Swear not at all who is Lord and Master so it is better to obey him than man and in all your Communication let your yea be yea and your nay be nay for whatsoever is more than this cometh of Evil saith he who restores even Christ And in the second Example consider the Apostles who did according to the Command and Doctrine of Christ who said Above all things my Brethren Swear not at all lest ye fall into condemnation Jam. 5. But let your yea be yea and your nay nay in all your Communication And although there was Swearing among the Jews and other Nations and Heathens before the Apostatized Christians used to Swear nevertheless the Apostles and the Brethren obeyed and they must obey the Doctrine and the Command of Christ for if Christ command one thing and Man another It is better to obey the Lord Jesus Christ the Life who is the Restorer Saviour and Redeemer than men This is the WORD of the LORD GOD to you all Concerning the WORD of GOD and the Original what it is BLessed are all those whose mindes are staid upon the Lord for they shall be kept in perfect peace so where the mind is staid upon the Lord there is a perfect peace for it is a whole peace which cannot be broken So here is not only a perfect peace but a blessing a perfect peace which comes from the God of all peace that bruiseth the Serpents head under your feet the troubler and the blessings which comes from the blessed God So all imperfect peace may be broken that is when the mind is staid upon any Creature or in any Creature and not upon the Creator or in any outward things Goods Houses Lands or Inventions of the Vanities in the foolish vain Fashions which the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life go into which will defile it and corrupt it when any of these things fail and are not according to
of Christ and said Like unto him God would raise up a Prophet him should they hear in all things mark in all things we are to be ordered both inward and outward for hearing Christ by whom all things were made And every one that would not hear this Prophet Christ should be cut off for how should they continue or reign And this was the Word that came to Samuel and made him a Prophet who spake to Ely the Priest and reproved his Sons and the Children of Israel and this was the Word that made Saul to Prophesie and Balaam though they erred from it And this was the Word that made all the Prophets to prophesie and to reprove the kings of Israel and their Priests of their Superstition and Idolatrous ways in seting up Groves and Images in High places and reproved all their Monthly Prognostications who spoke and acted from them and not from the Lord. And this was the Word that came to Isaiah by which he Prophesied of Christ and of his Preaching and of his Sufferings and by which Word he reproved the Shepherds which were as greedy dumb Dogs could never have enough seeking their gain from their Quarter and by this Word he saw that all the Children of God should be taught of God and established in Righteousness and Peace and though many tongues should rise up in Judgment against them yet those that were taught of God should condemn them all this power should be given to his children And many weapons formed against them should not prosper God would restrain them And also he saw them that were cast out that trembled at Gods Word to whom God would appear to their Glory and to the shame and to the confounding of them that cast them out for his Names sake as it is at this day And this was the Word of God that made Jeremiah a Prophet by which he saw the New Covenant by which Word he was said to reprove the People and Princes of the filthy and horrible thing commited in the Land that the Priests Preached for Hire and the Prophets prophesied falsly and for reproving them for their Superstition and Idollatry they struck him and put him in the Stocks and Prison and persecuted him in the Dungeon till his Persecutors were carried into Captivity And by the Word Jeremiah saw the number of Seventy yeares of his Persecutors being in Babylons Captivity Elijah by the Word was made a Prophet and by the Word reproved Ahab and Jezebel for their Idolatry and worshiping of Images For which Words sake they persecuted him and the rest of the Prophets and was not he fed of the Ravens by the River And did not they seek to take away his Life and did not he think all the Lords Prophets had been killed and he left alone yet did not the Lord say to him he had reserved so many Thousands that had not bowed the knee to Baal And Elisha the Plowman by the Word was made a Prophet and forsook his Plough and by the Word reproved the Idollatry in his Age of Priests and People And by the Word was Ezekiel made a Prophet by which Word he reproved the Shepherds of Israel that made a prey upon the people and taught them for the Fleece and by the Word he saw that God would bring the people from them that they should be made a pray upon no longer and would gather them from their Mouths and set one Shepherd over them Christ which is witnessed and by the Word he reproved false Prophets that taught for handfuls of Barly and peices of Bread and daubed with untempered Morter and sewed Pillows under the Armholes and by the Word he saw the Patern of the Temple and the return of the Jews And by the Word Daniel was made a Prophet and saw Christ and his Kingdom and how the Saints should take his Kingdom and by the Word he saw such that should rise up against the People of God and by the Word he numbred the yeares of Christ to his time 499 yeares and of his Death and how he should end the Sacrifices and how that Christ should bring up Everlasting Righteousness and put an end to Sin and end the Prophets and Seal up their Visions And by the Word Micah was made a Prophet by which he cryed against the Priests that preached for Hire and the Prophets that prophesied for Money and the Judges that judged for Rewards and such as preached Peace to the people that put in their mouths like the Priests in these times and when they did not they prepared war against them and chopt their flesh and gnawed their Bones as the Priests in this day and time have done but Micah saw by the Word that the Sun was gon down upon such Prophets and Priests and they should have no Vision nor Answer from God therefore such are against Revelations and Visions on whom the Sun is set and gon down upon and then the Night comes upon them And by the Word was Amos the Herdsman made a Prophet who was a gatherer of Fruits and likewise all the rest of the Prophets who spoke forth Divine things and reproved the Superstition and Idolatry in their time and day And by the Word did all the Prophets speak forth Divine things which Word brought them into the Divine Nature and Mind which Word Hammered and Cut down that which corrupted their natures and this was the Word that made so many Fisher-men Preachers of the Gospel which is the Power of God And this was the Word which made Matthew the Toll-gatherer Luke the Physitian and Paul the Tent-maker Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel and Power of God And this was the Word which made Peter to see Joels Prophesie how that God would power out his Spirit upon all Flesh and Sons and Daughters should Prophesie and Young men should see Visions and Old men Dream Dreams and the powering forth of the Spirit upon Servants and Hand-maids that every one should have somthing to speak to the Glory of God And now the Priests and proud Prelates and Bishops and Popes though you have made a trade of the Saints words and the Apostles and Prophets words and gotten a deal of money by them which were fishermen and shepherds words from the Word Yet nevertheless if a company of Shepherds Herdsmen Fishermen Tent-makers and Toll-gatherers should come amongst you to Preach you would say Away with these Mechanick Fellows they have not served seaven yeares Apprentiship at the Colledges which we have set up to make Ministers therefore they are not to set up because they have not served their Apprentiships What say the Shepherds Tentmakers Physitians and Tolegatheres Do you make a Trade of our Friends words who were of our Occupation that never served Apprentiships in Colledges before they spake forth the words you make a Trade of what will you make a Trade of our Friends words who were of our Occupation Away with you to Work and away with
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
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
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