in man And the powers of the flesh which is the Serpent or curse shall be subdued under him and man-kind shall be made onely subject to this one Spirit which shall dwell bodily in every one as he dwelt bodily in the man Christ Jesus who was the Son of man Now as Moses declared That the Lamb Jesus Christ should be that great Prophet to whom every one should give ear delivered it in general termes leaving the particular discoveries of his new doctrine to the Lamb himself when he came and so did not go about to imagine matters that was above his circle and we see the Doctrine of Jesus Christ when he came far exceeded the Doctrine of Moses the one being the substance of the other and so moâ—â— spiritual makings forth then the other Even so the man Christ Jesus the great Prophet declared in general termes what should be in later times leaving it to every son and daughter to declare their particular experiences when the Spirit doth rise up in them and manifests himself to them For they that believe saith he out of their bellies shall flow rivers or plentifull discoveries of the water of life Therefore as Moses gave way to Christ for when Christ appeared in flesh Moses administration began to be silent and drew back and set Jesus Christ in the chair to be the great Prophet that should be the teacher in types after him And the ministration of these discoveries were to raign in the world their appointed times Even so the Lamb Christ Jesus or that single body gives way to the holy Ghost or spreading Spirit If I go not away the Comforter cannot come to you for he that dwels bodily in me is to spread himself in you that as the Father in me and I in him are one even so I in you and you in me may become one witâ— the Father And the testimony of the Apostles declares as much Though we have known Christ after the flesh in one single body yet now henceforth know we him no more so but we look after that mystery which hath been kept secret from ages and generations past which is Christ in you the hope of glory And therefore I must tell you that yet live in dipping in water and observation of Gospel-forms and types you live yet under the ministration of Jesus Christ after the flesh declaring the Lamb Christ to remain as yet in one single person But know you that as the ministration of Moses gave way to this so this ministration is to give way to the inward teachings of Christ and the spreading of the Spirit in sons and daughters which will more excellently declare the glory of the mystery The man Christ Jesus himself told the woman of Samaria Woman the time is coming that neither in Jerusalem nor in this mountain shall men worship the Father but they that worship him shall worship him in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeks such to worship him By these words The Son of man declares that both outward forms customs and types of Moses worship under that ministration at Jerusalem likewise all forms and customs and types of this ministration of himself as the Lamb held forth at a distance to be our Mediatour should all cease and give way to the spirituall worship of the Father in the latter dayes or to the spreading of the Divine power in men the one Law of Righteousnesse being the teacher of all So that upon the rising up of Christ in sons and daughters which is his second comming the ministration of Christ in one single person is to be silent and draw back and set the spreading power of Righteousnesse and wisdom in the chair of whose Kingdom there shall be no end So as all things were gone out from the Spirit and were gone astray and corrupted The Spirit in this great mystery of truth being manifested in flesh burns up that drosse out of the Creation and draws in all things back again into himself and declares himself to be the alone wisdom and power of Righteousnesse that rules dwels that governs and preserves both in and over the whole Creation And now the Son delivers up the Kingdom unto the Father And he that is the spreading power not one single person become all in all in every person that is the one King of Righteousnesse in every one Here we may see what the dividing of time is which is the last period in which the Beast is to reignâ— for now every ministration pleads his priviledge till the Law of Righteousnesse drown up all in himself Moses yet pleads a priviledge in the practice of the Jews after the flesh The Son of man or Christ in one single person pleâ—ds a priviledge and not onely the true ministration of the Son of man according to the Apostles declaration But likewise many false forms customs and observations of Divine worship are raised up through a wrong understanding of those Scriptures all plead a priviledge And lastly the ministration of the Spirit forsaking all types and â—ormes worshipping the Father in the substance of truth This now pleads his priviledge as his due right by course So that you see here is the dividing of time But this last ministration is the sufferer for the present as being denied his right by the former that ought to give way And as the worshippers in Moses ministration envied and killed such as worshipped the Son of man the Lamb So now those that worship Christ at a distance in their severall Congregations and forms and are most zealous therein are in these dayes the most bitterest enemies to the ministration of Christ in Spirit and in truth But when this ministration of the Spirit spreads himself he will make the greatest separation that ever was For though Israels separation out of Egypt amazed the world and the separation of gathered Congregations out of Parish Churches so called did trouble the earth though it is no more but going out of one form into another not into the unitie of the one Spirit Yet this ministration of the Spirit now rising up by right of inheritance will take peace from the world much more for he hath begun and he will and shall go on to gather the scattered of Isreal together out of all Aegytian bondages and self-seeking oppressing government and out of all forms and customes of the Beast to worship the Father in spirit and truth being made to be all of one heart and one minde And this shall more and more appear as the earth grows up to be a common treasury for all Therefore let me tell you That all your enmity will not uphold your â—orms your imprisoning and reviving and making law to suppresse such as â—â—e contrary to you will never work your will but pull miseries and shame upon your selves as the zealous Scribes and Pharisees did in killing of Christ the Sonne of
bread the Priests must have the tenths of his encrease or else some oppressing impropriatour that shares the tithes between himself and the Priest which Law was brought in by the Pope and still upheld by such as call themselves the Christian Protestants All which is high treason and mighty dishonourable to Christ the great Prophet whom they seem to shew love to here the earth stinks because this hath been established by a compulsive binding power whereby the Creation is held under bondage this is the fruit of imagination Secondly For matter of buying and selling the earth stinks with such unrighteousnesse that for my part though I was bred a tradesmen yet it is so hard a thing to pick out a poor living that a man shall sooner be cheated of his bread then get bread by trading among men if by plain dealing he put trust in any And truly the whole earth of trading is generally become the neat art of thieving and oppressing fellow-creatures and so laies burdens upon the Creation but when the earth becomes a common treasury this burden will be taken off Thirdly For Justices and Officers of State that should relieve people in their wrongs and preserve peace they multiply wrongs and many if not most times oppresses the poor and lets the effending rich go free by laying aside the letter of their laws as the Priests doth the Scriptures and acts by subtil covetousnesse and smooth words to get money or else ruling by their own wills through envy to imprison and oppresse others letting poor people lie in prison half a year many times and never bring them to trial at all And thus the people have been and are oppressed by false imprisonments and punishments not for the breach of any known law but to satisfie the will of the Justice Bailiffs or Officer against all reason and equity as if the people made Officers to be their Aegyrtian task-masters Nay let all men speak openly as they find and I am sure they will say that the Justices and most state Officers doth more oppresse then deliver from oppression And thus I see that the whole earth stinks by the first Adams corrupt Government therefore it is the fulness of time for Jacob to arise extream necessity cals for the great work of restoration and when the restorer of the earth hath a little more manifested himself he wiâ— make the earth a common treasury and sweep away all the refuge of lies and All oppressions by making all people to be of one heart and one minde and then the Law of Righteousnesse and peace shal be the King that shal rule in every man and over every man who indeed is the Lord himself who is and wil be all and in all And now seeing there is nothing found but complainings and tears under his oppressions it is the fulnesse or fittest time now for Iacob to arise restore all things who indeed is Christ And for David to raigne who indeed is Christ the great devider between flesh and spirit the great law-giver of peace and truth For besides him there is no Saviour He indeed is the blessing of all Nations and the joy of the whole earth Therefore tremble thou Lord Esau thou proud and covetous flesh thou art condemned to die the sentence is begun to be put in execution for the poor begins to receive the Gospel thou shalt wast decay and grow weaker and weaker til thy place be no where found in earth and Christ the blessing of the Creation shal rise up and spread and fil the earth and all creatures shall rejoyce under his shadow Therefore you Tribes of Israel that are now in sackcloth every man with his hands upon his loins like a woman in travel stand stil and see the salvation of David your King this is called the time of Iacobs trouble for indeed the Spirit that is in you is oppressed under the burden of cursed flesh But he shall be delivered the time of his resurrection is come and his rising shal be your glory his light shal desperse your darknesse and cover the earth with the knowledge of himself for the blessing shal be every where Iacobs troubles formerly was two-fold First His kindred and friends endeavoured to hinder him of his temporal lively-hood and to make the earth to become a burden to him by changing his cattell and taking those earthly blessings from him which the Lord had given him Secondly when Iacob had a liberty to take wives children and cattell and to goe live free of himself his kindred runs after him and tels him he had stolen away their gods and for that begins a fresh to trouble him And the same troubles are the portion of those in whom Iacobs spirit rests For First Their kindred and neighbours endeavours to make them poor in the world and to oppresse them with the burden of poverty and straits Secondly Now the Father is drawing Iacob out of Babylon and makes his children to forsake the forms and customs of the National worship to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth Now kindred and neighbours in the flesh cries our O these men steals away our gods and by reproaches imprisonments or wrong dealing seeks to oppresse and suppresse them Wel this is but stil the time of Iacobs troubles but he shall be delivered out Wel let the lordly flesh scoffe and laugh and cry O when shal this be and say with the Lord of Samaria it is impossible for it is madnesse thus to speak wel such may live to see it but shal not enjoyne the blessing for when Iacob arises that is now very low and be must rise then Esau shal be his servant The elder shall serve the younger and thy portion shal be wraped up in Jacobs lap for all is his For now he Father is raissing up a people to himself out of the dust and of the stones that is poor despised people that are trod upon like dust and stones shal be now raised up and be made the blessing of the earth and the high mountaines shall be laid low the lofty looks of men shal be pulled down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in this day of his power CHAP. VIII AS I was in a trance not long since divers matters were present to my sight which here must not be related Likewise I heard these words Worke together Eat bread together declare this all abroad Likewise I heard these words Whosoever it is that labours in the earth for any person or persons that lifts up themselves as Lords Rulers over others and that doth not look upon themselves equal to others in the Creation The hand of the Lord shall be upon that labouror I the Lord have spoke it and I will do it Declare this all abroad After I was raised up I was made to remember very fresh what I had seen and heard did declare al things to them that were with me and I was filled with abundance of quiet
the offender to know his maker and to live in the community of the righteous Law of love one with another For talking of love is no love it is acting of love in righteousnesse which the Spirit Reason our Father delights in And this is to relieve the oppressed to let goe the prisoner to open bags and barns that the earth may be a common treasury to preserve all without complainings for uhe earth was not made for a few to live at ease upon and to kil such as did not observe the Law of their own making but it was made for all to live comfortably upon and the power of life and death is reserved in the hand of the Spirit not in the hand of flesh None ought to kil but such as can make alive therefore let every one walk righteously in the Creation and trust the Spirit for protection He that makes a zealous profession of the Spirit as all professours doe and yet doth not act this universall power of Righteousnesse in labouring the earth for a common treasury is a meer self-lover and he professes but himself and is a complementing enemy to Reason the King of Righteousnesse and if stil thou saist it is the Spirit whom thou doest worship then make it manifest to the world what spirit this is that rules every where besids Reason And futher he that denies this community denies the Scriptures Likewise whether the Preachers prosessours or rich men that upholds this unrighteous power of particular propriety Therefore you dust of the earth that are trod under foot you poor people that makes both schollars and rich men your oppressours by your labours Take notice of your priviledge the Law of Righteousnesse is now declared If you labour the earth and work for others that lives at ease and follows the waies of the flesh by your labours eating the bread which you get by the sweat of your brows not their own Know this that the hand of the Lord shal break out upon every such hireling labourer and you shal perish with the covetous rich men that have held and yet doth hold the Creation under the bondage of the curse This voice of the Lord work together and eat bread together doth advance the law of Reason and Righteousnesse the rising of this is the fall of mistical Babylon the oppressing flesh the living in the practice of this Laâ—v of love declares the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles to be a true declaration of the Spirit and no lie He that denies the practice of this lives in a continual denial of those Scriptures Therefore your selfish tyth-taking Preachers and all others that preaches for hire with all covetous professours take notice that you are the Judahs that betraid Christ and the Pharisees that put him to death and you stil persue the murder by standing up to hinder Christ from rising and coming in sons and daughters his second time in flesh I have now obeyed the command of the Spirit that bid me declare this all abroad I have declared it and I wil declare it by word of mouth I have now declared it by my pen And when the Lord doth shew unto me the place and manner how he wil have us that are called common-people to manure and work upon the common Lands I wil then go forth and declare it in my action to eat my bread with the sweat of my brows without either giving or taking hire looking upon the Land as freely mine as anothers I have now peace in the Spirit and I have an inward perswasion that the spirit of the poor shal be drawn forth ere long to act materially this Law of Righteousnesse If man-kinde knew their liberty which their Creatour Reason hath given us none would be offended at this new Law that is to be writ in every mans heart and acted by every mans hand They that submit in love and offers what they have freely to further this work shal prosper and finde peace for they honour our Maker by lifting up the Creation in Righteousnesse They that wil not submit freely the hand of the Lord shal be as sure upon them as it was upon Pharaoh who is their type O you great Adams of the earth that cals the earth yours and looks upon others as servants and slaves to you as if the earth were made only for you to live at ease and honour upon it while others starved for want of bread at your feet and under your oppressing government Behold the King the Lord of Hosts hath sent his servants to bid you let Israel goe free that they may serve him together in community off spirit and in community of the earthly treasure Be not you more proud and hard hearted then Pharaoh your type if you be as it is like you wil for the anti-type oft times is more powerfull then the type then assure your selves plagues shal multyply and Israel shal be pulled from under your burdens with a strong hand and stretched out arm and you and all your company shal perish together The Lord hath spoke it and he will doe it All the men and women in England are al children of this Land and the earth is the Lords not particular mens that claims a proper interest in it above others which is the devils power But be it so that some wil say This is my Land and cal such and such a parcel of Land his own interest Then saith the Lord let such an one labour that parcel of Land by his own hands none helping him for whosoever shal help that man to labour his proper earth as he cals it for wages the hand of the Lord shal be upon such labourers for they lift up flesh above the spirit by their labours and so hold the Creation stil under bondage Therefore if the rich wil stil hold fast this propriety of Mine and thine let them labour their own Land with their own hands And let the common-People that are the gatherings together of Israel from under that bondage and that say the earth is ours not mine let them labour together and eat bread together upon the Commons Mountains and Hils For as the inclosures are called such a mans Land and such a mans Land so the Commons and Heath are called the common-peoples and let the world see who labours the earth in righteousnesse and those to whom the Lord gives the blessing let them be the people that shal inherit the earth Whether they that hold a civil propriety saying This is mine which is selfish devilish and destructive to the Creation or those that hold a common right saying The earth is ours which lifts up the Creation from bondage Was the earth made for to preserve a few covetous proud men to live at ease and for them to bag and barn up the treasures of the earth from others that they might beg or starve in a fruitful Land or was it made to preserve all her children Let
and more righteous acting The voice of mourning shall be heard no more the birds shall sing merrily on every bough O rejoyce rejoyce for the time that the Lord God omnipotent wil raign in al the earth is beginning and he wil be servant to the Dragon Beast and man of the flesh no longer but wil tread down that murdering power and make him his footstool This is the work of the Lord that wil stop the the mouths of all hearsay and imaginary Preachers All mouths shall be silent and not dare to speak till the power of the Lord within give words to the mouth to utter And when men that are ful of wast words are made to see they speak they know not what when they shal see they speak other mens words like Parots not their own and sometimes they speak words from their imagination which may be false as wel as true for ought they know for they have had neither voice vision nor revelation to warrant their words when they see this Then they shal be ashamed and confounded in themselves For now lip service is to be judged to death and every one shal be fetched in to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth or else they shal perish for mens words shal grow fewer and fewer their actions of Righteousness one to another more and more and there shal no love be esteemed of but what is manifest in righteous actions And this shal be the ruler that every one shal observe to walk righteously in the Creation towards all Creatures according to the Law of equity and Reason and this Law shal be writ in every ones heart and he that hath this law in his heart is marked for a son or daughter they that have it not are marked for enemies and rebels to the Father And such a one is a Cain The Kingdoms of the whole world must become the Kingdoms of the Lord Christ and this the Nations are angry at Therefore count it no strang thing to see wars and rumours of wars to see men that are put in trust to act for publike good to prove fals to see commotions of people every where like flouds of water stirred up raedy to devour and overflow one another To see Kings storm against the people To see rich men and gentry most violent against the poor oppressing the and treading them like mire in the street Why is all this anger But because the man of the flesh is to die his day of judgment is come he must give up the Kingdom and Government of the earth man-kind into the hand of his neighbour that is more righteous then he For Jacob now must have the blessing he is blessed yea and shal be blessed and Esau shal become his servant The poor shal inherit the earth CHAP. X. ANd here now is made plain That the first shall be last and the last first The powers of the flesh or Adam in me he appeared first and trampled the man-child the power of righteousnesse and peace under foot I but when the man-child begins to rise up to rule the other fals and becomes the tail the last nay must be destroyed Two Kings that claimes interest in one Kingdom can never live quietly together Light and darknesse will be fighting till the one be conquered And surely the man of Righteousnesse or that last man that appears shal be the first that shal be honoured and become the preserving and restoring power the great Law-giver that shall rule in the new heaven and in the new earth in righteousnesse Of further The first that is the worshipping of God in types ceremonies formes and customs in set times and places which are the invention of the first man which doth slight and loath the way of inward Righteousnesse for they that live in established forms are filled with dislike and willingly would â—either buy nor sell with those whom the Lord hath drawn up to live in him they cannot indure the way of the Spirit let them say and professe what they wil for he that is strict in a formal customarily way of worship knows not what it is to worship in spirit and truth or to walk righteously in the Creation but is bitter spirited and merely selfish And this power appears first in a man and makes people very zealous professours of God and Christ in preaching praying and hearing But without knowledge what God and Christ is and they know not what they do nor the end wherefore they do so And their teachers in the same forms are blind guides and poor hearts both shall fall into the ditch and be mired in their own inventions most pittifully And when you come to see your selves stick in confusion and disorder and knowing that your teachers have deceived you Then you will remember these words That the first must be last Moses though he was a good man yet he was not to enter into the laâ—d of Canaan which types out this to me That the first man of the flesh shall never enter into the Fathers rest Then likewise you shall see that your zeal was but zeal without knowledge and that heat in you did but carry you along to advance self not to advance the Lord And that covetousness was the Lord chief Ruler in you which being crossed grew impatient and that impatiency you called it The zeal of the Lord when experience teacheth you silence you will not be offended at these words but ashamed of your self And here likewise you may see what it is to make a Sermon for a Sermon is a speech made from the man-seer which is Chaist within for this anointing sees the Father in every thing And therefore Christ in that one body The Lamb was called a great Prophet or Seer Now that man or woman that sees the Spirit within themselves how he enlightens how he kils the motions of the flesh and makes the flesh subject to Righteousnesse and so can see light in his light this man or woman is able to make a Sermon because they can speak by experience of the light and power of Christ within them who is indeed the man Seer But now he that speaks from imagination or from tradition and not from experience of what he sees cannot make a Sermon as the publike Preachers generally do and so he is a deceiver or false Christ and false Prophet that runs before he be sent put forward by secret pride and covetousnes to get a temporal living Therfore let none speak so discontentedly against Adam the first man by Creation that they say lived on earth about 6000 years ago as though he brought in the misery upon all for the Scriptures seem to declare that there were men in the world before that time For when Cain had killed his brother Abel which in one verse Moses seems to say was the third man in the world yet in a few verses following writing of Cains punishment declares Cains own
false expositions and interpretations for no man knows the meaning of the spirit but he that hath the spirit And if the Father send forth any of these tradesmen to declare the testimony which is in them as in these dayes he sends forth many And these true labourers shall encrease let the Universitie men do the worst they can yet the Schollars seek to suppresse them calling them new-lights factious erroneouâ— blasphemers and the like And why do they all this Because the light of truth that springs up out of this earth which the schollars tread under feet will shine so clear as it will put out the candle of those wicked learned deceivers And therefore many of them that are more ingennous or subtile then the rest seeing light arises much amongst the people begin to comply with the people and give people their liberty to speak as well as they and denie the tithes upon this condition the people will give them a free contribution and own them as the chief Preachers and Prophets sent of God and to look upon themselves as underlings to the schollars And therefore stir up people to gather into Congregations and to make choice of one man to be their Preacher though they shall have a liberty to speak in the Congregation as well as he But all this is but deceit of the flesh to draw people under a new bondage and to uphold the hearsay-preaching that in time matters may be wheeled about again to advance the schollars and give them the supremacy in teaching And what is the end of all this but onely to hinder Christ the great Prophet from rising and whereas people should all look up to him for teaching and acknowledge no other teacher and ruler but Christ the Law of Righteousnesse dwelling in every mans heart the schollars would have the people to look up to them for teaching and truly let me speak what I find the more that you look upon them or any men for teaching the more you shall be wrapped up in confusion and bondage And therefore the upshot of all your Universities and publick Preachers and men-teachers is onely to hinder Christ from rising and to keep Jacob under and make him a servant and a slave to the man of the flesh So that all this do in the world about hear-say preaching and setled forms of worship is no other but the spreadings forth of the thorn-bush the fleshly man to hinder the worship of the Father in spirit and truth And all those strict and zealous Preachers and Professours of other mens words and writings and upholders of forms and customs are no other but the Scribes Pharisees and Judas that still pursue Christ in enmity And this is the Reason why man-kind are so ignorant and cold-spirited in the acknowledgment of the Father because the night-Vine or blanches of the Thorn-bush are so mighty great and thick that they hide the light and heat of the Sun of Righteousnesse from it This is the man of sin the mysterie of iniquity that lets and must let till he be taken out of the way Indeed this Thorn-bush doth so prick that none dares meddle with it unlesse he be well cloathed with Christ This Thorn-bush or night-Vine grows in the cold time of the night while the Sun of Righteousnesse is under the Clouds and the fruit it brings forth is unpleasant as pride covetousnesse envy self-love hypocrisie confusion bondage and all the misery under the power of darknesse to make Lord Esau a compleat Tyrant and they that act from this Vine are called children of the night Now from hence it appears what horrible proud men the Clergie are that call themselves Divines or Christ that grows in the light of the Father when alas their light is but a candle stoln from the Apostles and Prophets writings it is not their own light it is but hear-say in them Surely their pride and covetousnesse declares them to be the false Christs and false Prophers and that they are branches of the Thorn-bush that are full of sharp pricks in regard they endeavour to uphold a forced maintenance from the people whether they will or no and force the people to be silent to hear them preach hear-say and not to gainsay or question what they say under pain of punishment or being counted factious or sowers of sedition This is the bondage the people are under by these publique Preachers First they are filled with confusion by their saying and unsaying for they know not what they say they darken knowledge by their words Secondly they are like to be crushed in their estates by the power of corrupt Magistrates if they oppose these Preachers Doth not their shame almost appear to all men â—f it do not it will do ere long assure yourselve you Priests you must fall and be turned out as ludas Simon Magus and the Scribes and Pharisees that are the greatest enemies to Christ the spreading power of righteousnesse The Father doth not send hear-say men to be Labourers in his Vineyard but such as he first fils with the Divine power and then sends them to work in his Vineyard So that still it is but Christ in them that is the one man that is sent of the Father for the Father sends none but his beloved Son who is the law of righteousnesse and peace the spreading power And you shall find you proud and covetous Priests ere long that poor despised ones of the world that have this law in their hearts are the labourers than are sent forth and you that call your selves Divines and Labourers you are Traitors and Enemies to the spirit you have had warning enough you are left without excuse you are the men whose mouths must be stopped not by the hand of Tyrannicall humane power as you have stopped the mouths of others I abhor it for the Lord himself whom you dishonour by your hypocrasie will stop your mouth with shame and sorrow when he makes you to see your selves to be Devils Deceivers Scribes and Pharisees Simon Magaus's Demas's and Judas's that are Traitors to the spirit But if you say you do not assume the name of Day-vines but of Divines as you whrite your selves you are as bad under this description of Divines or Diviners are witches sorcerers deceivers as Balaam was and as the maid that got her Masters much gain by divination Suerly you are no other but Witches and Deceivers for you hold forth letter for spirit make people believe that your words of hear-say are the testimony and experience of the spirit within you and you pick their purses extremly by this divination and sorcerie Well your word Divinity darkens knowledge you talk of a body of Divinity and of Anatomyzing Divinity O fine languague But when it comes to triall it is but a husk without the kernall words without life the spirit is in the hearts of the people vvhom you despise and tread under foot You go on selling vvords for money to the
Reason and the Prophets and Apostles writings be Judge the earth is the Lords it is not to be confined to particular interest None can say Their right is taken from them for let the rich work alone by themselves and let the poor work together by themselves the rich in their inclosures saying This is mnie The poor upon their Commons saying This is ours the earth and fruits are common And who can be offended at the poor for doing this None but covetous proud lazy pamper'd flesh that would have the poor stil to work for that devil particular interest to maintain his greatnesse that he may live at ease What doe we get by our labour in the earth but that we may eat bread and live together in love and community of righteousnesse This shall be the blessing of Israel But as Esau hath setled his Kingdome they that work live in straits They that live idle surfet with fulnesse and makes all places stink with unrighteous envious oppression Wel when the Lord cals forth Israel to live in tents which I believe wil be within a short time he wil protect them This Trumpet is stil sounding in me Work together Eat bread together declare this all abroad Suerly the Lord hath not revealed this in vain for I shal see the fruit of righteousnesse follow after it which wil be the beginning of the great day of veangence to the Oppessour that hath held the earth under the bondage of civil propriety ruling a Tyrant over others forcing the poor to work for hire But in the day of restoration of Israel is not to eat the bread of a hireling in no kind he is neither to give hire nor take hire Did the light of Reason make the earth for some men to ingrosse up into bags and barns that others might be opprest with poverty Did the light of Reason make this law that if one man have not such abundance of the earth as to give to others he borrowed of that he that did lend should imprison the other and starve his body in a close room Did the light of Reason make this law that some part of man-kinde should kil and hang another part of man-kinde that could not walk in their steps Surely Reason was not the God chat made that law for this is to make one part of the Creation alwaies to be quarrelling against another part which is mighty dishonour to our Maker But covetousnesse that murdering God of the world was that Law-maker And that is the God or ruling power which all men that claim a particular interest in the earth do worship For the Earth is the Lords that is the spreading power of righteousnes not the Inheritance of covetous proud flesh that dies If any man can say that he makes Corn or Cattle he may say That is mine But if the Lord make these for the use of his Creation suerly then the earth was made by the Lord to be a common Treasury for all not a particular Treasury for some If any man can say he can give life then he hath power to take away life But if the power of life and death be only in the hand of the Lord then surely he is a murderer of the Creation that takes away the life of his fellow Creature man by any law whatsoever For all laws that are made by any man to take away the life of man is the upholder of the curse But what if some steal or whore or become idle and wil not work but live upon others labours as rich men do that cal the land theirs I answer If any manifest such a Achanish or Serpents power as to endeavour to bring in the curse againe upon the Creation he shal not be imprisoned hanged or killed for that is the worke of the Midianites to kil one another to preserve themselves and self-interest But the punishment of such shal be this he shal be set to work and have land oppointed him to work upon and none shal help him he shal have a mark set upon him al this time that every ones eie may be upon him as upon a fool in Israel he shal be a servant to every one til such time as the spirit in him make him know himself to be equal to others in the Creation If any do steal what wil they do with it None shal buy or sel and al the while that every one shal have meat and drink and cloaths what need have they to steal Their stealing shal get them nothing but to lose the benefit of Sonship And that is to be set alone to eat his own bread none having communion with him For every one shal know the Law and every one shal obey the Law for it shal be writ in every ones heart and every one that is subject to Reasons law shal enjoy the benefit of Sonship And that is in respect of outward community to work together and eat bread together and by so doing lift up the creation from the bondage of self interest or particular propriety of mine and thine which is the Devil and Satan even the God of this world that hath blinded the eies of covetous proud flesh and hath bound them up in chains of darknesse The universal spirit of righteousnesse hath been slain by covetous proud flesh this 1649 years ago But now that spirit begins to arise againe from the dead and the same Beast seeks to hinder his rising or else watches to kil the Manchild after he is brought forth Covetous proud flesh wil kil a Tyrant but hold fast the same Tyrannie and slaverie over others in his own hand he wil kil the Traitor but liks wel the Treason when he may be honoured or lifted up by it Look upon the mountaines and little hils of the earth and see if these prickling thorns and briars the bitter curse does not grow there Truly Tyrannie is Tyrannie in one as wel as in another in a poor man lifted up by his valour as in a rich man lifted up by his lands And where Tyrannie sits he is an enemy to Christ the spreading spirit of righteousnesse He wil use the bare name Christ that he may the more secretly persecute and kil his power Tyrannie is a subtile proud and envious Beast his nature is selfish and ful of murder he promises fair things for the publique but all must be made to center within self or self interest not the universal libertie Wel to be short Let every one know if they wait upon their Maker they wil know That the universal power of righteous Communitie as I have declared is Canaan the land of rest and libertie which flows with milk and honey with abundance of joy and peace in our Maker and one in another But the condition of the world that upholds civill interests of mine and thine Is Egypt the house of bondage and truly Pharoahs task-masters are very many both Teachers and Rulers Therefore thus
said the voyce of the spirit in me guiding my eie to the powers of the earth three times Let Israel go free Let Israel go free Let Israel go free Work all together Eat bread altogether Whosoever labours the earth for any one that wil be a burdning Ruler over others and does not look upon himself as equal to others in the Creation the hand of the Lord shal be upon that labourer I the Lord have spoken it and I wil doe it Declare this all abroad Israel shal neither give hire nor take hire Surely this is both ful of reason and equity for the earth was not made for some but for al to live comfortably upon the fruits of it And there cannot be a universal libertie til this universal communitie be established All tears occasioned through bondage cannot be wiped away til the earth become in use to all a common Treasurie And then Jerusalem wil become a praise to the whole earth and not til then At this time the barren land shal be made fruitfull for the Lord wil take off the curse And if any grumble and say The Heaths and Commons are barren and the like and so draw against the work All that I say let them go their way their portion is not here they live in the low flesh not in the height of the spirit And they know not the mysterie of the Lord who is now restoring Israel from bondage and fetching them out of all lands where they were scattered into one place where they shal live and feed together in peace And then there shal be no more pricking briar in all the holy Mountain This shal be the glory of all they shal lie down in rest This is the Branch This is Israel This is Christ spread in sons and daughters This is Jerusalem the glory of the whole earth Where then will be the railing persecuting Priest or the Tyrant Professour that sucks after the bloâ—d and miserie of those that wil not joyn 〈…〉 his forms But indeed as yet as the state of the world is while the first Adam yet sits in the Chair and corrupts the Creation by his unrighteous wisdome and power I say at this time the feirce wrath of the King of Righteousnesse is threatned over this Land called England and indeed over all the whole earth where particular interest bears rule and enslaves the Creation And if covetous proud flesh stil uphold this self-propriety which is the curse and burden which the Creation groans under Then O thou covetous earth expect the multyplying of plagues and the fulfilling of all threatning prophesies and visions for thy downfal in miserie But if thou wouldst find mercie then open thy barns and treasuries of the earth which thou hast heaped together and detains from the poor thy fellow creatures This is the only remedy to escape wrath and the door of acceptance to mercie is yet open if thou do this The Judge of Truth and Right waits yet upon thy comming into him Therefore O thou first Adam take notice that the Lord hath set before thee life and death now chuse whether thou wilt for the time is near at hand that buying and selling of land shall cease and every son of the land shal live of it Divide England into three parts scarce one part is manured So that here is land enough to maintain all her children and many die for want or live under a heavy burden of povertie all their daies And this miserie the poor people have brought upon themselves by lifting up particular interest by their labours There are yet three doors of hope for England to escape destroying plagues First let every one leave off running after others for knowledge and comfort and wait upon the spirit Reason til he break forth out of the Clouds of your heart and manifest himself within you This is to cast off the shadow of Learning and to reject covetous subtile proud flesh that deceives all the world by their hearsay and traditional preaching of words letters and sillables without the spirit And to make choyce of the Lord the true Teacher of every one in their own inward experience The mysterie of the spirit and the mystrie of Babylon Secondly Let every one open his bags and barns that al may feed upon the crops of the earth that the burden of povertie may be removed Leave of this buying and selling of Land or of the fruits of the earth and as it was in the light of Reason first made so let it be in action amongst all a common Treasurie none inclosing or hedging in any part of earth saying this is mine which is rebellion and high treason against the King of Righteousnesse And let this word of the Lord be acted amongst all work together eat bread together Thirdly Leave off dominion and Lordship one over another for the whole bulk of man-kinde are but one living earth Leave off imprisoning whiping and killing which are but the actings of the curse And let those that hitherto have had no Land and have been forced to rob and steal through povertie hearafter let them quietly enjoy Land to work upon that every one may enjoy the benefit of his Creation and eat his own bread with the sweat of his own brows For surely this particular propriety of mine and thine hath brought in all miserie upon people For first it hath occasioned people to steal one from another Secondly it hath made Laws to hang those that did steal It tempts people to doe an evil action and then kils them or doing of it Let all judge if this be not a great devil Well If every one would speedily set about the doing of these three particulars I have mentioned the Creation would thereby be lift up out of bondage and our Maker would have the glory of the works of his own hands They that offer themselves and what treasure they have freely to further this work shal find mercy and the blessing of all Nations shal be his Comfortor They that hinder this common interest of earthly community and wil keep up the tyrannical government of old Adam stil the hand of the Lord shal be upon that person whosoever he be Thus saith the Lord to all the great ones that are cloathed with objects and are lifted up flesh with honours in the government of the world Let Israel go quietly out of your bondage that they may serve me If you wil not let him go I wil not come with 10 plagues as upon Egyptian Pharoah of old but I wil multiply my plagues upon thee thou stout-hearted Pharoah that makes shew of love to me and yet all is but like Jehu to lift up thy self over the remnant in the Land Adam is the commer in of bondage and is the curse that hath taken hold of the Creation And he may wel be called A-dam for indeed he does dam and stop up the streams of the waters of life and
libertie When slaverie began to creep in upon the Creation the Spirit might wel cry out in Lamentation Ah-dam A-dam which draws together a head of corrupted waters of covetous proud and imaginary flesh to stop the streams of the waters of life and libertie But saith the Spirit our Maker The seed from whence the Creation sprang shall bruise that Serpents head and open the dam againe and cause the waters of the Spirit which is Life and Libertie to run free againe without any stoppage This A-dam stops up the waters or Life and Libertie in a two-fold way Firâ—â— he ties up the Creation man in chains of darknesse within it self For there is not a man and womon â—ound since Adam's rise but the man Christ Jesus in whom the seed ruled in power but they were bound up in bondage to coveteousnesse pride imagination and to all the powers of the flesh So that the free running streams of the Spirit of life were stopped that they could not run which hath made every one cry O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from this body of sin or death Here you see that knowledge libertie and comfort hath been stopped or dammed up within the Câ—eation maâ— Secondly this A-dam being the power of coveâ—ous proud flesh he sets up one part of the Creation man to rule over another and makes Laws to kil and hang thal part of the Creation that wil not submit to the ruling part And so he is become a God ruling in the spirits own house not preserving the Creation but does set the Creation together by the ears to kâ—l it self to the mighty dishonour of our Maker Therefore when the people would have Saul to rule them the Spirit declared that that outward ruling power was the curse and he set him up in his wrath to be a scourge not a blessing Now whereas the Creation man should live in equalitie one towards another this A-dam hath lifted up mountaines and hils of oppressing powers and there by that dammed and stopped up that universal communitie Therefore at the first rising up of this serpentine power to enslave the Creation he might wel be declared by way of Lamenattion A-dam Adam Covetousnesse or self-love is the dam the letter A before declares that he is a preparer to miserie and is delivered by way of Lamentation Ah or A-dam Dovetousnesse or self-love is the man of sin that appears first The imagination arising from that couetous power is the woman or Eve which like the Ivie clings about the tree and so covetousnesse and imagination does beget between them a supposed joy pleasure and delight but it proves a lie These two Covetousnesse and Imagination the man and the woman of sin or A-dam and his Eve or Ivie does beget fruit or children like both Father and Mother as pride and envy hypocrisie crueltie and all unclean lusts pleasing the flesh And now the dam-head is made up strong to stop the streams of waters of life and universal libertie But in the fulnesse of time the Spirit wil break down this dam-head againe and cause the waters of the Spirit of life to flow again plentifully And herein you may see how the publique Preachers have cheated the whole world by telling us of a single man called Adam that kiled us al by eating a single fruit called an Apple Alas this Adam is the dam that hath stopped up the freedome of the Spirit within and without so that while he rules a man can have no community with the spirit within himself nor community of love with fellow creatures he does so puff them up with covetousnesse and pride and desire of Lordly rule one over another Do but look into every mean and woman and into al the actions of the world and tel me whether that first Adam be one single man as the publique Preachers tel you or is not more truly that covetous proud and imginary power in flesh that hath dammed and stopped up the way of the spirit of life and universal libertie and so he is that Father of lies and Satan that holds the Creation under bondage til the Son which is the light in the Creation shine forth and sets us at libertie And if the Son set you free you are free indeed This Son is the second Adam which is A-dam indeed that stops the streams of bondage from runing and sets the Creation at libertie again CHAP. IX WHat I have spoken I have not received from books nor study but freely I have received and freely I have declared what I have received And the Declarations of the Lord through his servant shal not be in vain The beholding and feeling of the Law of righteousnesse within me fils my whole soul with precious peace the favour of the sweet ointment and I know as this power of love spreads in al mens hearts as it wil spread for Jacob must rise Then there shall be no begger no tears no complaining no oppression but the blessing of the Lord shal fil the earth Then our swords shall be beaten into plow irons add our spears into pruning hooks and then shall the Lord be known to be the salvation of Israel and the restoration of the whole Creation Iâ— any man be offended here let him know I have obeyed my Maker herein and I have peace in him When the Man Jesus Christ was one earth there was a sweet communitie of love between all the members of that humane body For the spirit that was within made every member a servant to the other and so preserved the whole body in peace one member did not raign over another in tyraâ—nie Even so when the humane body was laid in the earth the Spirit which indeed is Christ came again the second time upon the Apostles and Brethren while they were waiting for that promise at Jerusalem And as Christ then began to spread himself in sons and daughters which are members of his mystical body they did not rule in slavery one over another neither did the rich suffer the poor to beg and starve and imprison them as now they do But the rich sold their possessions and gave equality to the poor and no man said that any thing that he possessed was his own for they had all things common But this community was a vexation to Esau the covetous proud flesh and he strove to suppresse this commnuity And the Lord he gives this Beast a toleration to rule 42 months or a time times and dividing of time and in that time to kil the two Witnesses that is Christ in one body and Christ in many bodies or Christ in his first and second comming in flesh which is Justice and Jugement ruling in man I but now the 42 months are expiring we are under the half day of the Beast or the dividing of time and Christ or the two Witnesses are arising and spreading himself again in the earth And when he hath spread
to life And hence it is that many a poor despised man and woman that are counted blasphemers by the understanding Pharisees of our age as the learned Pharisees of old called Christ and people are afraid to buy and sell them but casts out their names for evil yet these have more sweet peace more true experience of the Father and walks more righteously in the Creation in spirit and truth then those that cal themselves teachers and zealous Professours And why Because these single hearted ones are made to look into themselves wherein they can read the work of the whole Creation and see that History seated within themselves they can see the mystery of Righteousnesse and are acquainted every one according to his measure with that spirit of truth that is to be the blessing of the whole earth and that enlightens al that come into the world these are the dust and stones so the earth that are trod under foot But out of this Sion whom no man regards shal the Deliverer come But now those that are called Preachers and great professours that runs a hearing seeks for knowledge abroad in Sermons in books and Uuniversities and buyes it for money as Simon Magus would have done and than delivers it out again for money for a 100 l. or 200 l. a year And those men that speak from an inward testimony of what they have seen and heard from the Lord are celled by these buyers and sellers Locusts â—actions blasphemers and what not as the language of Pulpits runs but the Lord wil whip such traders out of his Temple And truly the whole world wanders after the Beast and though the people many of them doe see that their Prheachers are blinde guides bitter spirited proud and covetous yet they are ashamed and afraid to disown them O great bondage under the devils And hence it is that they think they are wise and learned and the only men sent of God to preach the Gospel til the power of Righteousnesse come and declare before all the world that they are enemies to the Gospel and knows him not for the anointing is the glad tidings which are manifest within the heart not a distance from men And so Christ takes these wise and learned in their own crafty covetousnes and pride and declares them to be very silly men the most ignorant of all blinde guides painted sepulchers Prophets that run before they be sent and the great fooles of the world and troublers of Israel and the Scribes and Pharisees that stand up to hinder Christ from rising or to cast reproachfull dirt upon him where he rises as much as they can to keep him down and hold him under as a servant still and this they will doe till they be swept away amongst the refuge of lies as part of that treasure for that must be your portion Nay let me tel you That the poorest man that sees his maker and lives in the light though he could never read a letter in the book dares throw the glove to al the humane learning in the world and declare the deceit of it how it doth bewitch delude man-kinde in spiritual things yet it is that great Dragon that hath deceived all the world for it draws men from knowing the Spirit to own bare letters words and histories for spirit The light and life of Christ within the heart discovers all darknesse and delivers mankind from bondage And besides him there is no Saviour CHAP. XI WEll in the next place I must declare to you that all that which you call the history and have doted upon it and made it your idol is all to be seen and felt witin you before you cast oft true peace Adam and Christ you have heard are both to be seen within the heart Cain and Abel is to be seen within Abraham a power that prefers the honour of Righteousnesse before a beloved Isaac is to be seen within Meek spirited Moses that rules your bodies by an outward Law of Righteousnesse is to be seen within you killing of Sacrifices and offering them up is to be seen within you Israel or one that is a wrestler is to be seen within you And this is Christ the elect one that fights against your lusts The Canaanites Amalekites Philistines and all those armies of the Nations even troops of untighteous powers one following another are to be seen within you making war with Israel Christ within you The Land of Canaan the habitation of rest is to be seen within you travelling and drudging in the wildernesse and then comming to rest upon the seventh day is to be seen within you Judas a treacherous self-loving and covetous spirit The Commanders of the Jews the chief powers that are within the flesh first condemning then killing then buying Christ is to be seen within you Christ lieing in the grave like a corn of wheat buried under the clods of the earth for a time and Christ rising up from the powers of your flesh above that corruption and above those clouds treading the curse under his feet is to be seen within The stone that lies at the mouth of the sepulcher your unbelief the removing of that stone setting you at libertie is to be seen withing you Heaven and hell light and darknesse sorrow and comforts is all to be seen within the power of darknesse and the power of light and life is to be seen within you Good Angels which are divine discoveries or sparks of that glory And bad Angels which are the powers of the flesh let loose out of the bottomlesse pitâ—selfishnesse and so working its own miserie are to be seen within For man-kind is that Creation in which the great Creatour of all things wil declare and manifest himself Therefore it was said That God was in Christ That one anointed humane body reconciling or drawing all things into himself and so making peace For while al things are out of that one power of Righteousnesse jarring and flashing against him there is no peace in the Creation but sorrow tears and vexation but when all things are made to lie down quiet in him and acknowledge him in all and are subject to him the alone King of Righteousnesse now there is rest and peace every where Therefore if you look for heaven or for manifestation the Fathers love in you in any place but within your selves you are deceived for what glory soever you shal be capable of to see with your eyes or hear with your ears it is but the breakings forth of that glorious power that is seated within for the glory of the Father is not without him but it is all within himself or rises up from within is manifested abroad The Kings daughter is all glorious within All that glory which declares heaven is seen within that spirit that rules within the Creation man-kind And further if you look for any other hell or sorrows in any other place then what shall be made manifest within
declare the Lord in a pure language shall bear his shame who soever he be None shall need to turn over books and writings for indeed all these shal cease too to get knowledge but every one shal be taken off from seeking knowledge from without and with an humble quiet heart wait upon the Lord til he manifest himself for he is a great king and worthy to be waited upon His testimony within fils the soul with joy and singing he gives first experience and then power to speak forth those experiences And hence you shal speak to the rejoycing one of another and to the praise of him that declares his power in you he that speaks his thoughts studies and imagination and stands up to be a Teacher of others shal be judged for his unrighteousnesse because he seeks to honour flesh and does not honour the Lord Behold the Anointing that is to teach all things is comming to create new Heavens and new Earth wherein Righteousness dwels and there shal not be a vessel of humane earth but it shal be filled with Christ If you were possible to have so many buckets as would contain the whole Ocean every one is filled with the Ocean and perfect water is in all and being put all together make up the perfect Ocean which filled them all Even so Christ who is the spreading power is now beginning to fil every man and woman with himself he wil dwel and rule in every one and the law of reason equitie shal be Christ in them every single body is a star shining forth of him or rather a body in and out of whom he shines and he is the Ocean of power that fils all And so the words are true the Creation mankinde shal be the fulnesse of him that fils all in all This is the Church the great Congregation that when the mysterie is compleated shal be the mystical body of Christ all set at libertie from inward and outward straits and bondage And this is called the holy breathing that hath made all new by himself and for himself Before this truth be believed in by mankinde you shal see much troubles in the great world the first Adam wil strive mightily before he loose his Kingdom he can pretty quietly hear that Christ will role in sons and daughters that are scattered abroad But to hear that the Kingdoms of the world shal be Christ's Dominions likewise and that the material earth shall be his possession as well as the earth mankind O this cuâ—s Adam to the heart all the world will storm and be angry when this is made known Wars and rumours of wars will multiply Father will be against Son and Son against Father the love of many shall wax cold and zealous professours that live without the spirit shall become the most bitter enemies to Christ and prove very treacherous self-seeking self-loving ful of subtil policy to waste and wear out every one that seeks to advance Christ by their bitternesse and oppression But all in vain for Christ must rise and the powers of the flesh must fall CHAP. XIII FRom what hath been hitherto spoken if there were no experience to prove it it appears that the first Adam or fleshly man seeks life peace and glory to himself from creatures and things that are without him As first he seeks content and peace from wife children friends riches places of dominion over others and from such like But that peace that is built upon such hay and stubble-foundations will fall and come to nothing Secondly the fleshly man seeks content and peace from Sermons Prayers Studies Books Church-fellowship and from outward Forms and Customs in Divine Worship But that peace that is built upon this foundation of gold silver and pretious stones will fall and come to nothing likewise All creatures teats are to be dried up that the soul can suck no refreshing milk from them before the Lord teach it knowledge Some there are nay almost every one wonders after the Beast or fleshly man they seek for new Jerusalem the City of Sion or Heaven to be above the skies in a locall place wherein there is all glory and the beholding of all excellent beauty like the seeing of a show or a mask before a man And this not to be seen neither by the eies of the body till the body be dead A strange conceit But poor Creatures you are deceived this expectation of glory without you will vanish you shall never see it this outward heaven is not the durable Heaven this is a fancy which your false Teachers put into your heads to please you with while they pick your purses and betray your Christ into the hands of flesh and hold Jacob under to be a servant still to Lord Esau Wel what a man sees or hears to day may be gone to morrow all outward glory that is at a distance from the five senses and taken in by a representation is of a transient nature and so is the Heaven that your Preachers tell you of But when the second Adam rises up in the heart he makes a man to see Heaven within himself and to judge all things that are below him He makes many bodies to be the declarers of him who is the one power of righteousnesse that rules therein And this is Heaven that will not fail us endurable riches treasures that shall not wax old and where moth and rust cannot corrupt nor thieves break through and steal This Christ is within you your everlasting rest and glory And as the man of the flesh fetches in comforts from without seeking content in and from Creatures and Creature-objects so he envies every one that crosses his desires crosse him in his pride covetousnesse and uncleannesse and he grows extream angry at every body tell him that his formall and customary preaching and praying is but self-seeking not setting up the Lord and he is filled with rage against those that tel him so But he never looks within to check himself he takes no remedy there at all and lets those Devils lie quiet within and if any be sent I say from the Lord to disturb those his lusts he will disturb that messenger if he can but he will cherish himself within He thinks that whatsoever he doth is good and that whatsoever crosses that power that is in his heart doth crosse the Lord But truly it is no other but the Serpents power which must be destroyed he fetches in content from the Creatures that are without him and his envy and discontent runs after things and Creatures that are without which crosses his fleshly desires But now the man of righteousnesse Christ when he rises up in the heart he loves all that are without him and he envies none but the Serpent within which troubles the Creation and so is quite different to the other For as soon as Christ is rose up in a man the first thing he doth he takes
is the spreadinq power of righteousnesse which is Christ that filleth the whole Creation with himself And he is called a tree or a vine because he doth not lie in one single person but spreads himself in mankind and every single body in whom he breaths is but a bough or bud of the vine So that look upon all together in whom Christ is spread and they make up but one vine knit together by that one spirit into one body whether they be poor or rich learned or unlearned and therefore those rich men that despise the poor and those learned University men that despise the unlearned are pricks of the thorn-bush not branches of the vine they be the curse that is now near to burning And every single one alone in whom Christ breaths is but a parcel of the vine in whom the divine power dwels and rests Even as every branch of an Apple-tree is filled with the sap which is the life of the whole tree Christ is said to be the divine because he grows and flourishes in the time of light he is the Sonne himself he is a vine or tree that grows by day in the heat of light and so brings forth abundance of fruit to the glory of the Father Trees that grow in the heat of the Sun bring sorth pleasant fruit So those that are branches of this vine that grows in the heat and life of one spirit the King of Righteousnesse bring forth abundance of the fruit of Righteousnesse according to the nature of the vine they grow from Therefore the Saints are called Children of the day not of the night for they speak what they know in experience and what they have received feelingly from the Lord and their actions and words are not at random for they act Righteousness within the Creation from the law of Reason and Righteousnesse which they feel seated within Every one that doth act or speak from the light and power of the day-vine within himself can give an account of his words and actions But this is the glory that Adam the man of the flesh hides himself from This is the Law of Righteousnesse which fleshly Israel could not behold This is the new Covenant which our Clergie is unacquainted with Now opposite to this Divine which is Christ there is a night-vine which is the power of selfishnesse or the bottom esse pit spread abroad in mankind And every man and woman that is guided by this selfish power of darknesse are but branches of the night-vine And this nigt-vine which I called Lord Esau or fleshly man hath filled the whole earth with darknesse under pretence of his learning and fleshly Government so that he is a spread tree But he is called by the Spirit the Thorn-bush The fruit that he brings forth is sour and bitter and good for nothing but the dunghill for trees that grow alwayes in the shade or place of darknesse where the heat and light of the Sun doth not cooperate brings forth unpleasant fruit Now this night-vine but rather Thorn-bush is the branching forth of the wisdom and power of selfish flesh every bud from it is a sharp prickle treacherous covetous Judas is one branch from that root and he hath risen up to a mighty great tree for every treacherous and covetous heart is but the buddings forth of Judas So envious Scribes Pharisees are other branches from the same root these have risen up into mighty spreading trees for every one that is zealous without knowledge making a profession of the spirit of righteousnesse yet grudging and â—aring the way of the spirit are but the buddings forth of the Scribes Pharisees that killed Christ after the flesh and now is spread in every Land and Family to hinder Christ from rising or else to suppresse and kill him againe if they could after he is risen up in sons and daughters So covetous Demas proud Simon Mugus froward Nabal unrighteous Elimas and such like are all the buddings forth of the thorn-bush and have covered the earth with their branches to keep it in darknesse and to hide the Sun of Righteousnesse from it And all these are centred in the Clergy the Universities are the standing ponds of stinking waters that make those trees grow the curse of ignorance confusion and bondage spreads from hence all the Nations over The paying of tythes the greatest sin of oppression is upheld by them pride covetousnesse idlenesse bitternesse of spirit despising and treading all under-foot in whom the spirit of the Lamb appears is upheld by them these are the standing enemies against Christ Their Churches are the successours of the Jews Synagogues and are houses of bondage their Universiâ—ies are successours of the Scribes and Pharisees houses of learning And though they persecuted Christ and the Apostles and would own none of their Doctrines yet when they found that Christs Doctrines began to fill the earth and to make the way of the Law odious and their trade began to fail Then did those houses of learning begin to take in and own the writings of the Apostles and to own that doctrine prevailing with the Magistracy through the deceit of their subtilety to establish tythes in their hands still for their maintainance though Christs doctrine threw down that oppression And then from legall Sacrificers they became hearsay-Preachers of the Gospel not from any testimony of light within themselves but from the writings of the Apostles which they professe great love to and keep charily for their tythes sake and by the one they deceive the souls of people for they preach the letter for the Spirit and by the other they pick their purses And this is very manifest by their carriage for though those writings which they live by were not writings that proceeded from any Schollars according to humane art but from Fishermen Shepherds Husband men and the Carpenters son who spake and writ as the Spirit gave them utterance from an inward testimony Yet now these learned schollars have got the writings of these inferior men of the world so called do now slight despise and trample them under feet pressing upon the powers of the earth to make laws to hold them under bondage and that lay-people trades-men and such as are not bred in schools may have no liberty to speak or write of the Spirit And why so Because out of these despised ones doth the spirit rise up more and more to clearer light making them to speak from experience and every fresh discovery of the Father shines more glorious then the old till at last the creature is made to see the Father face to face in his own light But now the learned schollars having no inward testimony of their own to uphold their trade by a customary practice they hold fast the old letter getting their living by telling the people the meanings of those trades-mens words and writings but alas they mightily corrupt their meaning by their multitude of