but so much as read in the Scriptures concerning the power of life the Saints formerly enjoyed the living Ministry and Ordinances their sweet walking and fellowship in the light the presence of the spirit in their worship and in their whole course their sincere love in the spirit and tender bearing with one anothers weaknesses doubts and differences which he that reads singly cannot but pant after And the state of the Gospel was not to be a decaying and dying in these things or a loosing of them so that the power of the spirit and the revelations thereof should cease as the whorish spirit which hath gone out from the life pleads but to grow and increase and the last times to abound most of all with the power and glory of truth I say were it possible for persons who should read and entertain the least tast or savour of these things to be satisfied with any of those dead wayes and forms which the whore hath set up instead of them unless they were wholly bewitched and altogether deprived of their sences being made dead drunk which the whores mingled wine in this dark night of apostacy Yea professors are drunk they have deeply drunk of the cup and are sorely overtaken and their hearts overcharged with strong liquor which makes them even mad to draw others into their beds of fornication and to stand up themselves in great rage and call also to the Magistrates for the defence of them Yea like the clamourous woman they make a great noise about ordinances duties Ministry Church c. I have decked and perfumed my bed saith the loud woman the subtilhearted woman Prov 7. 16 17. but do not soberly consider which are the painted ones which the truth We have run on headily after these things too long it is now time to stand stil a while and wait for the purging out of the wine wherewith all our brains have been overturned that we may come into soberness and into a fit temper to be led by the Spirit of life out of the bed of fornications and out of the wayes worships ordinances and duties of fornication into the bed of the true and undefiled Spirit Now he that worships God aright must feel life within and that life raised and strengthned by him who begets it and this will savour death and faithfully following its guid will come out of the land of death even that land wherein all the false worshippers inhabit and wherein all the false wayes and worships duties ordinances Ministeryes c. are set up and flourish Now these secret sins of Babylon are the same with the more open and gross the great difference is their secrecy their not appearing like sins their paint their colour whereby they are swallowed down for holy and good As to instance There is fornication or adultery from the life in the finest in the purest way of worship man can invent or imitate but the fornication doth not so plainly appear here but they who have drunk of the cup take these things for the wayes and appointments of God Those that set up the whores Church do not call it so nor perhaps think it to be so those that set up the whores Ministry or ordinances do not give them that name but call them the Ministry and ordinances of Christ yet this is as truly as really fornication from the life as the grossest wayes of Heathenish worship O mark it mark it If thou hast read the Scriptures and thrust thy selfe into any practices thou there findest mentioned without the raising up of a living thing in thee and without thy following by the guidance thereof thou hast done this by the whores advice and in this thou art committing fornication and erring from the life for the true worship lies in the Spirit and in the truth and it is the new birth that God seeks to worship him but the spirit of man thrusting it selfe into these things the Lord abhors and rejects And this spirit never can be thus cleansed and fitted to enter into Christs bed but only gets a paint from Scripture and enters into the painted bed and bosome of the harlot where it remains unrenewed unchanged unmortified in the midst of all it's great talk and profession of these things And thus the Scriptures the Holy Scriptures of truth which were given forth from the pure spirit of life the whorish spirit maketh use of to estrange from the life For what sort of persons which have fornicated from the life but make use of the Scriptures to maintain their whoredoms by and to bewitch others into their whoredoms with Every sort cryes up their own way and worship to be the way and worship according to the Scriptures and if any be gathered out of all these witcheries into the power of God then the bewitched say that such are bewitcht Then as for all the abominations of the earth all the filth that defiles the heart it is to be found on the skirts of the whore even in her most refined dresse For her religion her worship her profession her practices do not reach to the purifying of the conscience but only to painting over of the old Sepulcher where rottennesse still lodgeth within The sore was never throughly searched the heart was never throughly circumcised or baptized the old man was never put of nor the new man put on the blood of purifying which truly washeth away the sin was never felt in it's vertue and power but only an apprehension and talk that they are cleansed in Christ from a notion they have stollen out of the Scriptures but not from the sensible feeling of the thing in life and power in their consciences And so the evil nature stil remains the evil heart of unbelief is stil to be found in them and they want the life they want the power they want the Spirit they want the love they want the humility they want the meekness they want the patience they want the innocency and simplicity of the Lamb and Dove And when the Lord comes to provoke them to jealousie by the shining of his light and by the appearance of his power in some whom they despise then the pride the passion the envy the heart-burnings the hard speeches the false surmisings with the rest of the enmity which still abides with them stirs and rises against the life and power and their hypocrisie is made manifest Yea some of the strictest among them can scoffe and jeer at the appearance of life so strong is the evil and unmortified nature in them and so conceited are they in their wayes and practices because of their cover under which all this iniquity for the most part lyes hid from their eyes But for all that it is there it is there the Lords candle will search it out and thine owne eye shall see it and find in thy selfe bloody Cain scoffing Ishmael prophane Esau the uncircumcised Jew who is angry that his brothers sacrifice is
accepted and his not who disdains and derides the true seed of of life the living heir who hunts abroad for food pleasing to that nature which is to be famished who crucifies the Lord of glory because of his meaness and because he appears not in that way of devotion and holinesse wherein they expect him Neither will he appear so but to overturn all that which ye have set up and to set up that which ye disdain This is the Lords work and it is marvellous in our eyes Now there are several sins which the Spirit of the Lord hath charged Babylon with and which he will reckon with her for and with all that partake with her therein some whereof I may mention As 1. Her deep fornications from the life under a pretence of honouring and worshipping of it Be not offended that I begin with it again seeing it is also mentioned among other particular sins of hers Rev 9. 21. She speaks fair words she calls to have the worship of God set up and a Godly Ministry and the Ordinances of God in a Nation but the thing is not so in the sight of God but in all this she seeks the advancement of her owne whoredoms And this was and is the very way of Antichrists rising he gets into the form he cryes up the form and by the form which he cries up he eats out the power If Antichrist speak directly against the power without first creeping into and setting up a form and crying up that he would soon be detected but under a form and profession of truth he hides himselfe and covers his spirit of enmity and persecution therewith and here he can secretly and safely smite the innocent and fight against that very spirit life and power which he himselfe in his form makes a profession of being subject to And this is the Wolfe in the Sheeps cloathing which by this fair appearance of the sheeps wool on his back covers his ravenous nature from the eyes of the beholders Now there are three wayes of fornication one of which this spirit is allwayes guilty of sometimes of them all 1. By inventing things which the Lord never commanded or adding to that which the Lord did command The mind of man is very busie and ful of inventions and where the heart is touched with devotion and zeal towards God the inventing part exceedingly exerciseth it selfe this way either in imagining and forming somewhat which it thinks may be acceptable to God or in adding to those things which it finds commanded In this way of fornication the popish Church abounds being filled with ceremonies of their own inventing and of additions to such things as are found mentioned in the Scriptures The common Protestants also have been too guilty here 2. By imitating of those things which were commanded to others When a man finds in Scripture the things which some others did or which they were commanded to do and so he is venturing upon them before he feels the leading of that spirit whereby they were led thereunto Now in this he errs from the life he goes without his guid he doth that which was a good thing in others who were led by the Spirit thereto but in him it is fornication This man is a theif and an intruder he steals into the outward knowledge and practise without the inward life and power he intrudes into that into which others were fairly led coming in by the doore for which entrance he also should have waited and not have run on headily of himself This way of fornication the strictest among the Protestants have generally been ensnared in who have run on further and further to search out the purest way of worship the neerest pattern to the primitive times and so have applyed themselves diligently thereto not knowing what they were to wait for to be their guid and give them the enterance And here now thinking themselves to be in the right they have contracted a lofty spirit and held forth their conceptions of the way as the only way and so have lost the meekness and simplicity which was fresh and lively in some of them before which sets them a great way back and makes the enterance into the kingdom very hard to them Whereas if that simplicity and tenderness were fresh in them the Lord would shew great regard to that easily pardoning this their errour and in mercy to them visiting that evil spirit with his judgements which stood nigh them and was the cause of their error But they are grown high they are grown wise they are become confident they know the way already and can maintain it by undenyable arguments as they think to be the way so the Lord with his teachings is at a great distance from them that lying very low in them which the Lord alone will teach 3. By continuing in practices to which they were once led by the Spirit without the immediate presence and life of the Spirit For the whole worship the whole Religion of the Gospel consists in following the Spirit in having the Spirit do all in us and for us Therefore whatsoever a man doth of himself it is out of the life it is in the fornication If a man pray at any time without the Spirit that prayer is fornication and is not either acceptable to God or profitable to himself but grieves the Spirit hurts the life and wounds the soul Now this way of fornication have they especially fallen into who have been acquainted with true leadings and openings of the Spirit and have afterwards run to them for refreshment and so by degrees forgot the Spirit that opened And by this means was that life which was precious and very favoury in the Ranters before they were seduced by the Spirit of deceit into that way of ranting overturned And thus they also who deeply saw into the mistery of whoredoms and into the more inward wayes of fornication above others even they also were deceived with the whores cup and drank afresh of that wine of fornication which the whore very cunningly had new mingled for them and they also are become a reproach to the Inhabitants of Sion who find a living habitation in that Spirit of life which they turned from Now if there be a true eye opened in any in the reading of this how easily and manifestly will he see whoredome whoredome fornication adultery generally in mens Religions practices in their Churches in their Ministeries in their Ordinances in their prayers in their whole course O how think ye doth the eye of the Jealous God behold these things but your eyes who are held captive here cannot see it The God of this world with his mists hath darkned you the great whore with her sorceries hath inchanted you and ye are her slaves ye are drunk with her cup and how can ye judge soberly eiâ—her of your own estate towards God or concerning your practices in Religion 2. Her notorious blasphemies Having fornicated from the
carnal mind or to imitate things which others who had the Spirit did in the Spirit by the command of the Spirit for thee to imitate and practice this without the Spirit is idolatry An invented Church an invented Ministry an invented worship an imitated Church an imitated Ministry an imitated worship without the life without the Spirit all these are the work of mens hands and are idols and all that is performed herein is idolatry Rev 9 20. This is a Religion without life a worship without life a fabrick for idolatry and the whole course of worship and service in it is idolatry For the living God the Lord God of endless life and power is alone worshipped by his Spirit and in the truth of that life which he begets in the heart and all other worship though never so seemingly spiritual is idolatrous Ah professors professors if ye knew how many idol-prayers and services ye have loaded the Lord with and how ye have been whoring from him while ye have seemed to be drawing nigh to him ye would hang down your heads and mouâ—n For what ever ye have done in the worship of God without the leading and presence of his Spirit it hath been idolatry For the worship of God under the Gospel is in the Spirit and in the truth and required of them who are in the Spirit and in the truth and not of others John 4. 23. for them alone the Lord seeketh to worship and the Lord will admit of none to his worship but such as he seeks And if any else will thrust themselves into his worship it is not accepted nor do they worship the true God but they worship they know not what and their whole state and course here is a state and course of idolatry 4. Sorceryes witcherafts divinations and inchantments I do not mean outward sorceryes or witchcrafts they are but the shadow or figure of the inward mistery of deceit of this black dark spirit which appears as an Angel of light that he migh bewitch and deceive Neither repented they of their sorcer yes Rev 9 21. This false Church this adulterous woman she hath her golden cup and her wine mingled and with this cup she bewitches the eye with this wine she inflames the heart and intoxicates the brain She invents wayes and worships like to the true or she imitates the true wayes and appearances of life and when the poor simple young man is singly seeking after God from some true touches of his life before he comes to know the Spirit of life before he can come to be marryed to the Lamb she comes with her golden cup and with her tempting wine and bewitches the poor heart therewith and so leads it aside into her painted bed Wouldst thou enjoy God saith she wouldst thou worship him aright wouldst thou have fellowship with him Lo here 's the way here 's the Church here are the Ordinances here 's the Ministry here are the means Thou must wait upon God in the use of the means and these are them Did not the Saints formerly do thus did not they meet with God here did not they serve and worship God thus Come thou hither also do what they did enjoy what they enjoyed Yea but thou whorish woman did ever God appoint means wiâ—hout his Spirit Thou leavest the main yea indeed the only thing behind thee which it selfe alone is accepted and without which nothing is accepted And this is the course of the whore in all her transformings in all her baits in all her temptings she stil leaves the Spirit behind her She may perhaps speak of the Spirit to hide her self the more because the letter of the Scripture is so expresse therein and teach people to look and wait for the Spirit but so as is never to be obtained For he that begins in Religion either to pray or worship or seek the knowledge of God without the Spirit shall never meet with the Spirit so but that way of knowledge religion and worship of his must first be broken down and he become a fool and recieve the Spirit as a fool out of all his religious knowledge and wisdom which he had gathered before and afterwards following the Spirit which is thus received he shall be led into the true wisdom Now mark that which follows ye that have a desire to understand This spirit of deceit this whorish spirit this spirit of divination and witchcraft which by her sorceryes deceived all Nations Rev 18. 23. came forth curiously decked at first with all manner of deceiveableness of unrighteousness It had the exact form of life the true form of Godliness and a lively spirit in it it had the form of knowledge and the form of worship and with these it came to tempt and draw away them from the life and from the power who were in the life and in the power and it did prevail upon such as kept not close to the anointing But after it had overcome and gained the Churches territories then it might safely corrupt the form and so it did and went into multitudes of inventions and fopperies as at this day may be seen amongst the Papists Now these are easily discovered and seen through by any simple plain honest eye upon a little breaking forth of the light Therefore the whorish spirit when she perceives her self found out here she changes her shape and attire and comes back back again by degrees as need requires to the forms of knowledge and worship wherewith she was arrayed when she deceived at first yet stil she is the same and doth this to keep poor simple hearts still in her bands from the life and from the Spirit And thus painted thus decked thus holding forth Scripture-knowledge and Scripture-wayes of worship she is the more subtil witch the more subtil sorceresse and is able to deceive any eye but that which is opened in the light With her Lo here Christ lo there Christ she would deceive the very elect if it were possible but it is not possible for they are taught by the Spirit not to go forth and the anointing within preserves them And he that knoweth not this preservation is bewitched by her and his fear of God is such as may be taught by the precepts of men and practised without the knowledge of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is the Saints rule guide and preservation For as the Apostles were able Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit of the New Testament 3 Cor 3. 6. So they that received their Ministry or that which they ministred received not the letter only but the Spirit and were preserved not by the letter but by the Spirit and were made able to try words things and Spirits not by the letter but by the Spirit But this the whorish spirit is departed from and bewitcheth others from first possessing them that the Spirit is not to be looked for and then perswading them to make
as good shift as they can without it and then having thus prepared people she brings forth her wares Look ye saith she this is the way thus and thus the Saints practised do thou thus also But thou must receive the Saints spirit before thou either know or worship or thou knowest and worshippest out of it and in that path of sorcery and witchcraft from the life thou shalt never meet with the life but the further thou proceedest therein wilt be more and more entangled from it and become stil a greater and greater enemy to it and more and more in love with the whore and her whorish paths and pleasing wayes of devotion whereby the false spirit in thee is raised up and nourished but thy soul famished for that can be nourished with nothing but the bread of life from the hand of the Spirit but not with words or forms of knowledge or wayes of worship invented or imitated which doe but tickle the understanding or affectionate part of man but reach not the life so that that which should serve the Lord is not there raised but stil bound over with the bond of iniquity 5. Luxury excesse and pleasure She is rich with her Merchandize and she enjoyes it to the ful she takes the pleasure of it She builds costly houses weares rich apparrel fares deliciously read spiritually with the spiritual eye She is rich in knowledge rich in wayes of worship rich in duties rich in religious performances and practices And as she gained these in her own will without the leadings of the life and by her own search and wisdom So she can make use of these in her own will and according to the direction of her own wisdom She can fast when she will give thanks when she will preach when she will pray when she will sing when she will meditate when she will bring forth her knowledge to others when she will Look on the Papists how rich are they in outward buildings in gorgeous Ceremonies in times of worship in wayes of mortification and pennance in fasts in feasts c Look on the several sorts of Protestants they have their riches in their kind too their Churches their buildings their arts their sciences their languages their bodyes of divinity their cases of conscience c. They can open the whole body of Religion resolve all doubts expound all Scriptures c. The great City was cloathed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls Rev 18. 16. And she sate thus on the Throne like a Queen living deliciously and taking her pleasure to which her torment and sorrow afterwards is proportioned ver 7. Yea she had treasure and costlinesse enough to make all her Merchants rich that would trade with her ver 19. What knowledge what delicate food could the wisest or greatest of the earth desire which she had not ready for them see ver 3. ver 9. But Sion all this while hath lain in the dust and been despised She hath had no building no fence but hath been trampled under foot by every unclean beast Her witnesses have been cloathed with sackcloath a garment which all the lofty inhabitants of Babylon disdain her sare hath been hard in the Wildernesse only a little Manm which with fleshly Israel who lust after rich and large knowledg is counted light bread and their souls soon loath it Nor had she this in plenty but only a smal proportion dayly from the hand of the free-giver sufficient to keep life in her in the Wildernesse and to furnish her with strength to give in her testimony against Babylon so far as the Lord saw good to call any of her seed thereunto Now what professor can be willing to fare thus with her at present and to wait for her future riches fulnesse beauty and glory Nay nay they have so long lived richly and fared deliciously in Babylon that they know not how to eat the bread of affliction and drink the water of affliction with sad and desolate Sion And yet this is the only way and passage out of Babylon into Sion That which hath been rich and fat and ful-fed there must become poor and lean and feel hunger and have none of the bread of life administred to it no nor so much as husks neither And in this sad day and state of misery the poor is visited which receives the Gospel and the dead raised which receives the life 6. Worshipping of the Devil All the world wondred after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon Rev 13. 3 4. Now the Dragon is the Devil Rev 20. 2. There is no other worship of God under the new Testament but in Spirit and truth and he that worships otherwise worships not God but that Spirit which teacheth to worship out of Gods Spirit and out of the truth Every prayer is not a prayer to God but only that prayer which is from and in the Spirit Every Ordinance or duty is not an Ordinance of God or a duty performed to God but only that which the Spirit leads into and guids and preserves in This is the way that all the earth have departed from the Lord namely by erring from his Spirit They cry up practises in Religion dutyes ordinances the means the means a Church a Church as the Jews did the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord but they find the Church before they have found the Spirit of the Lord and so they find not the Church that is in God the Church that is of his building but they poor hearts frame up a building as wel as they can according to the pattern they find in the Scriptures and so they are not an habitation for God in the Spirit but are estranged from the life and Spirit in all their worship and so are not found by the Spirit which searcheth them and their worship worshiping of God but the works of their own hands and Devils Rev 9. 20. For that charge stands good against all the inhabitants of Babylon even to the highest and strictest of them all whether in forms or out of forms There are many men who are very zealous and devout in their wayes of worship who were never taught by the Spirit the way of worshipping God nor do at all know how to worship in the Spirit these my soul exceedingly pittyes They have received into their understandings from the letter of the Scripture that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and that God will give his Spirit to them that ask it They have asked and they hope they have the Spirit but poor deceived hearts they know not what spirit they are of nor in what spirit they act nor what spirit they serve and so perish for lack of knowledge the key whereof hath been hid from them Now let such consider There are but two spirits the Spirit of God and the spirit of Satan one of which guid all men in their devotion and
Religion and one of which they serve therein He that is led by the Spirit of God he serves God he worships God He that is led by the spirit of Satan he serves not God but that spirit which appeares in the Temple of God like God and gives such demonstrations that he is God as no flesh can deny 2 Thess 2. 4. Here now is the great deceivableness of unrighteousness In prophanesse in manifest wickednesse Satan is easily seen and men that are found here it is granted that they are serving the Devil but that he should sit as King in gathered Churches in dutyes in ordinances in wayes of self-denyal and mortification and be worshipped here this is hard to be seene yet any of these which the Spirit of the Lord leads not into or which are performed at any time without his Spirit he is worshiped in Consider this ye that are wise in Religion and are dilligently reading the Scriptures and gathering knowledge and rules of worship and applying promises c. Do ye this in the life and Spirit of God or in your own wisdom and according to your owne understanding Doth not the wisdom of that spirit which is out of the truth guid you in your searchings after truth O do not serve that spirit which the Lord hates but come backe to that from which in all this ye erre and which in all this ye cannot serve and worship And let not your Religion any longer consist in meer practising what the Saints formerly practised for that ye may do without the same spirit but in yeelding up to that life power and pure spirit that they were led by And when ye are joyned to this then do not prescribe the Lamb the way that he shall go but follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Do not tell the Shepheard by your gathered wisdom the way that he must lead you in but know the voice and follow For this I can truly testifie that if once ye come in faithfulnesse and true light to follow the Lamb he will lead you in paths ye have not known and out of the paths ye have known 7. Compelling of others to worship Rev 13. 15 16. The false woman and the beast set up a worship in the will and they do not know why any in the will also may not subject and submit to it They can give them reasons they can give them arguments from Scripture and if they will not yeeld to these they are to be looked upon as stubborn and refractory and to be compelled by outward force This hath been the course generally throughout the Land of Babylon But these shew hereby that they themselves are erred from the truth and therefore very unfit and unlikely to teach it others For that which God works upon is the conscience which he convinceth by the light of his Spirit and no other light can truly convince it That therefore which would have a man yeeld to any practise or way of worship till he be truly convinced is of the Devil My son give me thy heart saith Christ the wisdom of God Come not to me with oblations and sactifices but give me thy heart My son give me thy knee give me thy obedience to the wayes I have set up give me thy conformity saith Antichrist saith the adulterated wisdom and if any refuse she endeavours to compel them Thus like Jeroboam the son of Nebat she makes that which she calls Israel to sin or like Nebuchadnezzar she sets up an Idol and causeth all her children to bow to it Thus the load of the iniquity of multitudes lies upon that scarlet whore who forces her cup of abominations and filthiness upon all she can Rev 17. 4. causing all both smal and great in all her Territories to receive her marke and worship her Image The work of the Minister of Christ is to keep the conscience tender that the voice of Christ may be heard and the Law of his Spirit of life which makes obedient to the God of life spring up there but this is the Image here is the way bow conform say the Ministers of Antichrist But we are not convinced in the sight of God that this is the way say poor souls It is your own fault ye may be convinif ye will say the Ministers of Antichrist we are ready to give you arguments and Scriptures to convince you how is it ye are not convinced Ye must be convinced otherwise the Magistrate must deale with you Thus they endeavour to harden the conscience that they may set upon it and ride it and terrifie it from it's subjection to it's only true and lawful King O the havock that hath been made of souls by this means the Lord is requiring it of this generation But let me ask this question to all the learned and wise in all the Regions of Babylon under what painted form or way of worship soever Can any worship God aright before they be truly convinced of his will and way can any be convinced without his light and Spirit were it good and acceptable in the sight of God for any persons to run into that way whereof thou sayest thou art convinced that it is the way before they themselves are convinced If it be not good or acceptable what is that that goes about to compel them Away with thy carnal weapons and if thou wilt draw to God draw by that which is spiritual but if thou wilt still be using outward force running to the laws of men and power of the Magistrate the Lord hath opened an eye which discovers thy nakednesse herein and is able to make it manifest in the sight of all people and thou shalt not long cover thy shame The Lotds people shall be a willing people to follow him in the day of his power but all the Lords people have been unwilling to follow thee in the day of thy power which is neer an end and the very fountain of thy deceit and tyranny over the conscience is opening and making manifest 8. Persecution of such as she cannot compell to her worship She sets up her form of knowledg she sets up her way of worship and those that will not be drawn to own the one and practise the other she sets her brand upon them for erroneous persons Schismaticks Hereticks they must not buy or sel Rev 13. 17. They must be banished or imprisoned or perhaps put to death for she is hardly satisfied til she hath drunk the blood of those who in any eminent degree are the witnesses of Christ against her Rev 17. 6. This was a thing wondered at by John with great admiration to see this woman this great City out of which all the venomous darts are shor against the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus under a pretence of zeal for the Church and ordinances of Christ For this is the engine whereby the Dragon makes war with the true womans seed which keep the commandements of God and have the testimony
and lively then it had been in many ages before and accordingly the answers of God to it were more fresh and sweet and there was a tast of him and fellowship with him and sweet hopes and refreshments to the soul Though the way of praying preaching and worship either publique or private was not right before him yet he over-looked that which his soul hated winking at the time of ignorance and Antichristian darkness and met with that which he loved And if the simplicity had grown and thriven communion with God and life from him would have increased although the pure path of the Sanctuary had no yet been made manifest But this was it destroyed all another thing got up under a cover and the simplicity sunk and so the life with-drew and God hath grown strange to his people He missed that which he loved and came to visit he found that thrust upon him for his which his soul cannot own or unite with so he became but as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night Jer 14. 8. Enter into your hearts O ye back-sliding children is it not thus You who had sweet tasts of God is he not become a stranger to you You that had sweet fresh lively breathings after God are you not sit down in a form or under some pleasing notions and have got a covering but lost the simplicity of your life and the sweet tasts of God and refreshments from him Thus it hath been in all reformations there was commonly a pure single naked beginning but an evil thing soon got dominion over it slaying the pure living stirring by the form which it raised up under a pretence of preserving the life thereby and of serving God more uniformly and acceptably therein Ah the precious seed that was sown at the beginning of these troubles What is become of it how is every one turned aside from the pure life into some Idol or other of his own heart some into one way of worship and some into another some into one notion and some into another and all joyning together to keep the seed in bondage endeavouring either to bring it back again to Egypt to make it serve there or to destroy and bury it in the wilderness But the Lord hath visited his poor desolate seed and hath been gathering it from all quarters from amidst all empty forms on the one hand and all vain high notions on the other hand and he will preserve it overturning all his new enemies as wel as his old This then is the sum of the Answer 1. No way or particular act of worship under the New Testament is acceptable to God without his Spirit 2. All invented or imitated wayes or acts of worship to the performing whereof the mooving presence and power of his Spirit is not necessary but men can perform them without it are Babylonish and whoredome from that Spirit to which the true Christian is joyned and in which all that he doth is performed 3. Under this Antichristianism under this whoredom even in the Land of Babylon where the true Israel is captive a true simplicity and zeal towards God may sometimes be stirring 4. When this at any time is stirring towards the Lord the Lord pityes it the Lord loves it the Lord accepts it When this cals the Lord hears and waits that he may be gracious and return answers of grace to it 5. Though the Lord accept of this in the midst of Babylon and in the midst of the whorish wayes of worship that have been learned there yet this doth not make Babylon or her wayes of worship acceptable nor are not to be made use of nor cannot by any that fears God to justifie them 6. Where they are so made use of and the Babylonish wayes and forms of worship cryed up because of Gods visitations and tender mercy to his seed under them God is provoked his presence with-drawn life lost and wrath prepared against those forms and wayes of worship which will reach to the very bowels of those who are found there And let this word come home to your hearts O ye that ever knew what belonged to sweet communion with God! If God was so tender to you in Babylon when he stirred up in you a pure simplicity and zeal there what would he have been to you if ye had come out of Babylon Ah ye have lost the substance for a shadow and that not a right shadow neither but a shadow of your own forming and now ye are angry with them who will not also leave the substance to cry up your shadow Ah enter into your secret chambers and let shame cover your faces ye who would propagate that apostacy from the Lord which your own hearts have too far entred into and are so deeply involved in O that the eye were opened in you which can see it Do not your hearts a little feel it O mourn after the Lord and mourn after the losse of that which once in some measure in you was true to the Lord O that the lost sheep might be sought out and that which hath been scattered in the day of your loftines and seeking dominion and great things might be gathered again to the Lord for great is the wrath and severity that is towards you and he is become exceeding jealous for his seeds sake and judgement must begin with you who cry out against Antichrist in one grosse fleshly by appearance and yet are serving him your selves some of you in other forms some in Spirit This is a standing ttuth What ever is not of the Spirit of God in Religion and worship is of the spirit of Antichrist What ever the spirit of man hath invented or imitated is not the thing it selfe is not the true worship for the true worship is only and continually in the Spirit and never out of the Spirit The true praying is in the Spirit the true singing in the Spirit the true preaching in the Spirit Whatsoever is out of it is of Antichrist in man Now therefore give up all your Religion your knowledg your worship your practises which are out of the Spirit and return unto the Lord and wait for his raising of that seed in you which once began to spring but is now slain and lyes in death and captivity under all these and the earthly part wherein all this Religion and these practises stand covers its blood so as ye cannot see how ye have slaine and dayly do slay the just one O the blood the blood the innocent blood that daily cryes to the Lord against you How can the Lord accept any of your services while your hands are ful of blood while the pure simplicity is slain the love grown cold the life lost and the whorish way and path wherein and whereby it was lost cryed up for the way of God Shall not the Lord visit for these things Shall not his soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Yea his wrath
unclean that the pure life may receive you into unity with it selfe but the spirit that is unpurged from its Babylonish worships and practises the Lord will not suffer to come neer him Therefore search what is Babylon and of Babylon in all your wayes and worships and wait on the Spirit of the Lord to be redeemed out of it and separated from it or ye must remain separated from the Lord and not partake of his life and vertue from which that City with all her inhabitants is shut out for ever The Lord hath had a sore controversie with this Nation with her Rulers her teachers and people for his seeds sake which he hath been begetting to himself and calling forth to worship him according to the pure Law of his spirit of life out of the wayes worships and Heathenish customs of the earthly spirit Israel is his first born whom he will not have any longer kept in bondage They are his own of his own begetting and forming of his own nourishing and bringing up the plants of his own right hand whom he watereth with the dews of Heaven and with the showrs of his everlasting mercy and loving kindness whom he hath gathered by the arm of his power and whom he leadeth and defendeth by his cloud and pillar of fire over whom he is tender as of the apple of his eye They are his anointed ones whom he will not have touched but rebuketh Kings and Parliaments Armyes and Councils for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm Have ye not seen how no strength nor Council hath been able to prevail against them They have had no fence but the arm which hath gathered them What plottings and contrivings hath there been against them How are they as sheep appointed for the slaughter destinated to be devoured crushed and trodden under foot what divinations and inchantments have been used against them even to blot out their name and remembrance from the earth But why do ye strive and contend thus with the God of Jacob can ye prosper He that made the earth will not ye let him have room therein for his people Must they be subject to your wils Must they bow to your image shall not the God of the spirits of all flesh have the command of the spirits of his own people can ye stop the Spirit of God from breathing upon them or will ye fal foul upon them if they be obedient to the breathings and movings of his Spirit May it not suffice that they are innocent and harmless among you in their conversations and practises but will ye still Lord it over their consciences will ye put the Lord to it to the very last to try it out with you whether he can defend his people and make way for their liberty Wel If peace be taken from you if your rulers laws and governments be broken in peices if his hand be stretched forth against you if he curse your very blessings whom can ye blame Why do you provoke him against your own souls are ye stronger then he If ye be stronger and wiser ye may prevail but if he be stronger and will put forth his arm his people shall be saved and find a shelter in him in the midst of all that wrath which is powring down upon you Your peace hath been lengthned out for their sakes If it had not been for their sakes for the remnant which the Lord hath had to gather ye had ere this been as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah The Land is ful of filthinesse which the Lords soul loaths and instead of drawing forth the sword against it ye draw it forth against his witnesses There is liberty enough for sin and vanity for excess and riotousnesse for images and idols but to worship God in Spirit to obey his pure movings this kindles your rage and these are the people who are a burthen to you Ah how fain would ye ease you of this people Sion is indeed a burthensome stone and will fall heavy on all that meddle with her But the Lord will ease himselfe of the adversaries of his life and Spirit and he will bring forth his righteousness which he hath prepared and set it up in the earth and none shall be able to stop him Therefore gather your selves together in battel associate your selves that ye may be broken in peices take council together it shall come to nought speak the word it shall not stand but the Lords council shall stand and he will fulfil all his pleasure and will delight himselfe in his people and raise them up by the fall of their enemies and then ye shall see against whom ye have plotted and contended and what ye have helped to bring about by all your secret plots and designs If the Lord had not been on our side now may Israel say if the Lord had not been on our side what had become of his poor people Ah poor worm Jacob how often would the foot of pride have trampled thee down again and again had not the everlasting arm been stretched out for thee But fear not worm Jacob nor be not sollicitous for thy preservation but trust that arm which delighteth to preserve thee Ah foolish people and unwise who strive against your own mercy who see not upon what hinge all your mercies hang but make it your work to break down the Wall that defends you Jerusalem is the City of the great King which is coming down from heaven and Israel is his people and both must have a place in the earth the Lord hath determined it and who can withstand it what prejudice can Jerusalem or the inhabitants thereof bring unto you They are enemies indeed to this earthly state of things and would have all brought in subjection to the life and power of their King and all that stands in opposition to God brought down and made pliable to his spirit and this the unyoked earthly spirit cannot bear But this is the interest of your souls and the way to unity with that life which is their happiness peace and rest for ever for if ye could pass through the fire and bear the burning up of your dross ye also might become vessels for the Finer and might dwell with them in their everlasting habitation The Saints formerly had an entrance ministred to them into the everlasting Kingdom and came to mount Sion which cannot be removed and to Jerusalem the City of the living God Heb. 12. 22. where the blood of sprinkling the peace that passeth understanding the everlasting righteousness and the joy unspeakable and full of glory was witnessed in the renewed spirit which receiveth the Kingdom which cannot be shaken and entreth into the everlasting rest And this is again revealed and the 〈…〉 nesses shall ascend into heaven in the sight of their enemies even into the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness dwells and the old heaven and old earth withal its inhabitants shall be burnt up and then shall it be seen that righteousness becomes and belongs to the house of God for ever And his City shall be a quiet habitation free from all the noise and hurry of Babylon where the pure river of life runs clear free from all the mud and mixtures of Babylon and the Lord God of infinite fulness will not disdain communion with his creatures but will tabernacle among them dwell with them sup with them walk in them and take them into his holy habitation and they shall dwell with him sup with him and walk in him But who shall abide in his tabetnacle who shall dwell in his holy hill He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart c. he who contemns the vile person how great and high soever but honoreth them that fear the Lord be they otherwise what they will This man shall dwell on high above the reach of all low creeping dark spirits even in that holy habitation of life and power which nothing can touch or annoy I shall now conclude with a few words concerning the present estate of this poor distracted Nation This Nation hath long lain wounded and sick She hath had many Physicians on whom she hath spent much who have promised her fair but have not effected her cure Of late her wound hath been much enlarged yea she is become sick at her very heart and in great danger Many are spending their judgement upon her some thinking a King would help all some a Parliament and some hoping for good from the Army but every eye sees her case to be very desperate Ah England England Thou strivest with thy Maker and he overturns thy strength and councils The life and wisdom which thou despisest is that which alone can heal thee Thou strivest to keep off the strokes from the enemies of God and smitest his dear ones how can he spare thee Hand stils joyn in hand to keep the Lords stroke from reaching Babylon which he hath directed at her heart and will not miss her but will peirce through every thing that stands in his way Though the cry hath long been Hurt not the tender conscience it is that on which God works and wherein he chuseth to appear and with which he is pleased and pitties Many promises have been touching liberty of conscience yet still the meek of the earth the innocent lambs of Christ those that are faithful to the light of God in their consciences are persecuted and suffer What canst thou plead O England why the Lord should not break thee all in peices and save his people himself by and in the midst of thy ruins The Lord will have the victory over thee in this particular about which he hath so long striven with thee It would be better and easier for thee to yield unto then be forced by his hand Therefore at length hear his voice which hath so often and so loud cryed unto thee Let my people go that they may serve me The End
though many Witnesses Prophets and Martyrs have mourned over her yet none have been able to raise up the Tabernacle of David which hath fallen down nor to recover Sion to this day but Babylon hath had the power over her Look with the true eye and behold how all Nations Kindreds Tongues and Languages have been drunk with some or other of the mixtures of this false womans cup some of them over and over and over again and have been Inhabitants of this City crying her up though not all in her grosse habit but some in her more refined shapes and transformings for the true Church for Sion whereas alas she hath only Sions dresse Sions shape Sions outward garment which is the likeness wherein she lies in wait to deceive but not Sions spirit 4. It is a City of iniquity of hidden iniquity That which is hid in this City it is not the life it is not the righteousness the holiness of the Saints but iniquity sin transgression of the life Look into any of the streets of Babylon into any of the houses any of the rooms any of the chambers of darkness there 's sin there there 's unrighteousnes there there 's not one cleansed heart to be found there not one pure eye to behold the God of life is to be found there but in every heart sin in a mistery iniquity in a mistery unrighteousness in a mistery They seem to be for God and Christ and to be cleansed by them but uncleaness lodges in them and sin rules in them against God and against his Christ in a mistery which their eye cannot see and so must needs mistake their state Yet this is the true state of Babylon in all the parcels of it it is the unclean City where purity of heart and life cannot be known but though it be washed and transformed never so often outwardly yet still it remains inwardly polluted that which defileth keeping possession and dominion there in a mistery The living water the living blood runs not in any of the streets of this City so that there can be no true cleansing there Nay such strangers are the choicest Inhabitants of Babylon to the Fountain of life in Sion to the river that cleanseth and healeth that they cannot so much as beleeve that there is a possibility of cleansing and perfect healing and making sound and whole here while on earth There is great talk of these things of the water the blood the cleansing in all the Regions of Babylon which hath heard of the fame and forms to it self a likeness but the thing it self is not to be found there and so the vertue which comes from the thing it self alone cannot be felt there And here in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Sion and the vessels of Babylon The vessels of Sion they are weak earthen foolish contemptible to the eye of mans wisdome which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there but the treasure the liquor of life in them is precious The vessels of Babylon make a great shew appear very holy very heavenly very zealous for God and Christ and for the setting up of his Church and Ordinances all over the world Thus they appear without but they are Sepulchers there 's rottenness within under all this there lodgeth an unclean an unsanctified heart an heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the Gospel while it makes such a great shew of subjection and obedience to the letter 5. It is the City of the King of darknesse of the great King of darkness of the Prince of the power of the ayre who rules universally in the darknesse in the mistery of iniquiry throughout even in every heart Where ever is sin there is Satans throne and there he hath his Laws his Government his power in every heart of his dominion And where there is the least subjection to him he is yet a Prince his building is not as yet there wholly thrown down he is not there as yet dispossessed and cast out As long as there is any thing left wherein he may dwell he knows his owne and keeps his hold of it It is his right and he will not loose it All sin all darkness is properly his it is his seat and he hath the Government there Man is the Land where these two Kings fight and what ever is good and holy belongs to the one King and what ever is evill and unclean belongs to the other and there is no communion or peace between them but each keep their own and gather of their own unto themselves And where the fight is once begun between these there is no quietness in that Land till one of these be dispossessed but then there is either the peace of Babylon most commonly under a form of holinesse or the peace of Sion in the spirit life and power 6. This City was built and is daily built in imitation of Sion painted just like Sion The intent of it's building was to eat out Sion to suppresse Sion to withdraw from the truth by a false Image and to keep her Inhabitants in peace and satisfaction under a beliefe and hope that it is the true Sion and therefore it must needs be made like Sion else it could no way suite these ends Every street must be like the streets of Sion every house like the houses of Sion every Tribe and family like the Tribes and familyes of Sion every person like the persons in Sion all the Laws Ordinances c. like the Laws and Ordinances of Sion the worship like the worship in Sion the faith like the faith of Sion the painted Christ like the Christ of Sion all that go for truths like the truths of Sion they would not deceive else City Babylon would be soon seen through else and become quickly desolate and forsaken did she not lay her paint very thick and with great art and skil Now here 's the wisdome here 's the true eye tried to see through al the paints of this city in al the shapes and forms of it to turn from every street every house every chamber every image and false appearance of truth every false appearance of ordinances and wayes of worship every likenes of things which this spirit forms from the letter every duty that it thus cals for every promise of Scripture which it endeavours to apply to that to which it belongs not that it might lull the soule asleep and cosen and deceive it of the thing promised here I say is the true eye tried to turn from all this and to waite for the raising and redeeming of the true seed of Sion and for the springing up of the true life and power in it and from it For as long as this spirit can deceive you with any likenes ye shal never know the truth nor come to the worship of the true living God which alone is in the spirit and in the truth 7. The end of al this
of Satans building up this city this great city thus accurately in the power of deceit and in the very likenes of Sion was and is that it might be taken for Sion and he worshipped there as God and that without jealousie or suspition And he hath attained his end his city hath deceived and doth deceive it passeth currant for Sion among al the inhabitants of Babylon almost every sort of people cry it up for Sion in one appearance or other though al do not cry up the same appearance but their own image way and worship every one extolls their own image of the truth for the truth their own way of worship for the way their own church and family for the church and family of God And worshipping here they worship him and not the Lord for the Lord cannot be worshipped in any part of Babylon but the King of Babylon is worshipped in Babylon and the King of Sion alone in Sion Ah how deeply do men deceive their souls they think they beleeve in God they think they pray to God and hope to be owned at length by God and yet are so far from coming out of Mystery Babylon that it was never yet so much as discovered to them but they have either walked in the way of religion and worship they were brought up in in the apostacy or perhaps have removed out of one or two of the broad streets of it and so thereby think they have left Babylon when as the same spirit hath sit down in another street of the same city building up another house by the direction of the King thereof and there worshipping the same spirit as they did before but their souls never knew the fire in Sion and the furnace in Jerusalem by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed before the pure ey of life be opened which can see Sion Now because ye are more able to receive things from Scripture-expressions then from the nature of the thing it self spoken as it is felt in the heart concerning which much more might be said were ye able to bear it consider a few Scriptures Babylon is called a great city Rev. 16. 19. and a great and mighty city chap. 18. 10. O the power of deceit in that city to bewitch from the life O the multitude of lying wonders that are there shewn in the heart to make a man beleeve that he is in the life to perswade men that the King thereof is the King of Sion and that the laws and ordinances of worship there are the laws and ordinances oi Sion that the prayer there is the prayer of the true child that the beleeving there is the true faith the love there the true love the hope there the true hope c. Some parts of Babylon some likenesses of truth there are so taking that none but the elect by the opening of the eternal eye can espy the deceit And it is a spiritual city a mystical city a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity 2 Thes. 2. 7. whereupon she is called Mystery Rev. 17. 5. It is not a city of plain wickedness but a city of sin hid of sin keeping its life under a covering under a form of godlines of sin reigning in the heart under zeal under devotion under praying beleeving worshipping hoping waiting c. Where sin lies hid within under these there 's Babylon there 's the mystery of witchcraft there 's the painted throne of Satan there 's spiritual Egypt and Sodom where the Lord of life is daily crucified This is the city the mystical city the spiritual city Rev. 11. 8. And here is building up and throwing down continually She builds the spirit of the Lord confounds then down goes her building then up with another then down again This is her course without end when the Spirit of the Lord disturbs her for otherwise she can settle in any form of knowledg or worship though in her ordinary course she hath also many changes and turnings One while this or that being a truth another while not One while this or that being the sence or meaning of such a Scripture another while not Babylon is hardly ever without this kind of building up and throwing down And this city is a great city a city spread over all the earth she made all nations drink of the wine of the cup of her fornication Rev. 14. 8. The woman which is this city Rev. 17. 18. sate upon peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues Rev. 17. 15. She sate upon them as Queen as Princess guiding them in their knowledg and worship of the King of Babylon And those that once hated her and made war with her and burnt her flesh with fire she cosoned them with a new paint got them into her new bed of fornication and made them worship the King of Babylon again Rev. 17. 12 13. v. 16 17. and there they lay committing whoredom with her til the time of her last burning and utter desolation but then they forsook her for fear of her torment when they saw the smoke of her burning Rev. 18. 9 10. In the Temples of this city for in al the streets thereof yea in every house there are Temples Antichrist sits as God and is worshipped 2 Thess. 2. 4. He as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God He hath clothed himself like God he appears like God like the holy pure Spirit of life and power he appears in the temple of God he sits there he rules there he gives forth laws and ordinances of worship and devotion Yea if any one wil question his godhead or his right to do thus he wil prove it he wil make it manifest in the very temple of God that he is God He as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God He hath exalted himself into the throne above al that is called God he hath got into the temple he sitteth there as God and there he maketh it manifest to al his worshippers that he is the God in so much as among al the inhabitants of Babylon he is acknowledged and worshipped and the true Spirit of life is hid from their eyes and denied and crucified He shews himself that he is God he gives demonstrations of his godhead which that eye which is out of the life cannot but acknowledg and take to be true There is none can see and acknowledg the true God the true Christ but those that have the true ey the true anointing no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. and yet how many can speak great words of God and of Christ who know not what belongs to the anointing Alas alas Al nations and sorts of professors out of the life are coâ—oned with the devils demonstrations with Antichrists demonstrations with the whores demonstrations with the false Prophets demonstrations which are undeniable to
that wisdome wherein they stand and to that eye wherewith they look to see Now mark this Antichrists coming when he first deceived was very mighty exceeding strong 2 Thess. 2. 9 10. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with al deceivableness of unrighteousness c. Weigh the thing wel Satan used al his art and al his strength to conceive and bring forth this mystery of iniquity so like the mystery of godlines that it might pass for currant in the world and he rule as God in in i◠With all power c. no power of deceit wanting he did not spare for signs and lying wonders yea 〈◊〉 gave power to the beast to do wonders and miracles even to make s 〈…〉 e come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men which was the sign and wonder whereby the God of Israel was distinguished from Baal power to work this very sign Satan gives to the Beast to confirm the godhead of the Dragon and Antichrist with Rev. 13. v. 13 14. These are the things men look for see but great power signs miracles they are satisfied the whole world stands ready to be deceived with this Yea and if the eye be not opened in persons which can distinguish of power they must needs be deceived Signs wonders and miracles had their place in the first covenant and were to that part to which the first covenant was not to them that beleeve but to them that beleeve not Now after the full demonstration of the truth by signs and miracles the power of Satan riseth up and by lying signs wonders and miracles overturneth the truth Now the unbeleeving part in man expects and cals for signs and miracles and says that wil determine the controversie and settle the state of the Church again but that part is not to prescribe God his way yea he wil steal as a theif upon thee whose ey is abroad and lookest for demonstrations without And as Antichrist got up thus so Antichrist wil go out thus he wil raise up this power and what lying signs wonders and miracles he can to defend himself with now the Spirit of the Lord is risen up to dispossess him and cast him out of the house which he hath long lodged in And he that can be cosened with power with signs with lying wonders which are lying because they come from the spirit of deceit with an intent to deceive though they may come to pass and appear true to mans eye Deut. 13. 1 2 3. or with any of the deceivablenes of unrighteousnes shal never come out of Babylon but only be translated into some of the more refined chābers of it fed with somemore fresh likenesses of truth where he shall stil remain an Inhabitant and worshipper in some Image perhaps of universal love life and liberty and yet be out of the life out of the love out of the liberty of the truth which stands in the power and presence of the Spirit of God and not in the most refined Image or likeness All the world wondred after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast Rev 13. 3 4. The Dragon is the Devil the beast is that spirit of the earth which he raiseth up and feeds in men with a form and appearance of truth to which he gives his power and his seat and his authority and every man hath a measure of this according to his state condition place and service in Babylon And now what a man doth here in Religion be he never so devout and zealous and frequent in Ordinances and duties is the worship of this spirit and of the Dragon who sits and rules in this spirit I am run into hard expressions very hard because the nature of these things is hid from mens eyes and they are in the mist of Antichrists raising in the smoak which comes from the pit where there is no opening of the true eye nor no true sight of things but truly if ever ye espy the Dragon the beast Antichrist the whore the false Prophet ye must look at home and read within and there having found the thing and seen it in the true light ye will be able to read it certainly abroad also Now do not go about to distinguish these things in the notion of the understanding but come to feel the life to unite with the life and the eye will open which can see into the nature of things and will behold all in it's season for that eye which is so eager to see shall never see these things but that eye alone which waits in stilnesse and quietnesse on the pleasure and good will of the opener Now all this time while Babylon stands while Antichrist sits in the Temple while Satan reigns over all the Antichristian world the true and living God hath not been known feared nor glorified but mens knowledge hath been of a false God they have set up and him they have feared and given the glory to in their worship nay the Gospel hath not been preached the true Gospel the everlasting Gospel the Gospel wherein is the light and power of eternal life to turn men from all Antichristian forms of knowledge and worship to the true life and power But when Babylon falls and Mount Sion begins to appear again then this Gospel is to be preached again even by an Angel who receiveth it from God himselfe Rev 14. 6 7. for man could never recover it again it requires a new inspiration The law is to go forth out of Sion the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And this Gospel is to be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and people v 6. mark There was not one Nation not one kindred not one tongue not one people that kept the everlasting Gospel but it was laid up in Sion it was carried with the Church into the Wildernes and there it hath been hid all the time of the apostacy since the dayes of the Apostles But now Sion is redeeming the true woman bringing back again out of the Wilderness she brings back the true everlasting Gospel with her and there is an Angel chosen in the power of the Lord even in the same power and Spirit that first preached it to preach it again to every Nation Kindred Tongue and people And the Lord hath so ordered it that he will have the voice of this Angel as despicable to the wise in Religion to the zealous in devotion of all sorts of this backsliding age as the former preaching was to the wise and devout both among the Jews and Greeks So that whosoever is wise in Religion according to the flesh whosoever is wise in expectation and waiting for the kingdome whosoever is wise in reasoning about it and can tel the foregoing signs of it c. shall not know the voice but he that can shut his eyes by
the leadings of the pure life and enter into the hidden womb of wisdom where the light of life is sown he shall be new formed and come forth a child out of the womb of wisdom with the new eye the new ear the new heart the new understanding and sences and keeping in the childish simplicity out of the wisdome zeal and devotion which deceived him before he shall receive and enter into the everlasting kingdome Therefore all people wait humbly for the candle of the Lord that therewith ye may search out Babylon and may come to see what of her treasures ye have gathered that ye may throw them away speedily and give up your ships and vessels wherewith ye have traffiqued for these kind of wares to the fire of the Lords jealousie that ye may receive the durable riches that ye may hear the joyful sound of the everlasting Gospel and know the true Christ which it alone reveals and come to fear and worship and gloriâ—e the true God and not go down into the pit or lake with the Dragon the beast the whore and false Prophet which will be the portion of the most zealous false worshippers And when your eyes come once to be opened in the true light ye will bless the Lord for giving you these warnings and not be so angry at us who have paid dear for them for our willingnesse if it be possible to save you some of the charges they have cost us however at least to preserve your souls from that ruine and dreadful destruction which all the paths of Babylon lead to The sins of Babylon Although in the foregoing description some of the sins of Babylon have been touched at yet I find my spirit further drawn forth in way of service to the Lord and his people to take a further view both of them and some other of her sins THe sins of Babylon by the Spirit of life which hath righteously measured and knoweth them are referred to these two Heads Fornications and Abominations She allureth the spirit of the creature into a strange bed and there it acts filthily and abominably with this strange spirit Now of these there are two sorts First some more open and manifest Secondly some more hid and secret hard yea utterly impossible to be discerned without the shining forth of the pure light of liâ—e All sorts of men are estranged from the life under the whole heaven is the Lord God forgotten and his holy and pure Law and way of life and filthinesse and abomination is committed every where Now all this filth even the common filth of the earth springs out of Babylon hath it's rise from her womb Were it not for her the sound of life would be heard even among he Heathen and they would not be such strangers to him that made theÌ„ nor would they act so contrary to those leadings teachings of the Spirit of God who is the God of the whole earth which the darkest parts are not without It is she which withdraws their minds from the pure glimmerings that rise up in them setting up another God in their eyes and heathenish sottish wayes of fear worship and devotion and under this she makes them filthy and polluted unclean in their minds and in their bodyes brutish in their knowledge and in their practices For she is the mother of fornications and abominations of the earth Rev 17. 5. Look what of pride of vanity of cruelty of envy of wrath of lust of covetousness of idolatry of blasphemy c. is to be found anywhere among men upon the earth she is the mother of it all All the common filth and stench of the earth springs out of this womb this secret womb this hidden womb For though in this her open visible appearance she be manifest to the eyes of many yet to those children of hers who are thus conceived brought forth and bred up by her she is a mistery of iniquity and they perceive her not so much as here and so cannot escape this her openly polluted bed Secondly The whore hath more secret fornications and abominations Where she can passe thus she need not paint either her self or her ware but where need requires she hath her paint she hath her delicates for the curious eye Rev 18. 3. she hath her Cinamon Odours Ointments and frankinsence for the nice scent she hath her fine flower and wheat c. for the fine pallace and gold precious stones pearl and vessel 's of ivory and all manner of vessel 's of most precious wood for the more stately worshipper as wel as of brass and Iron for the more common Rev 18 12 13. she can paint both her self and her ware so as to make them taking to the eye of all flesh She can so mingle her cup as shall please every palate but that which is truly living and cast such a colour upon her abominations as no eye that 's without can suspect but takes with every young man that 's hunting abroad and knows not the spring of life in himself So that all the deceits in Religion all the several forms and wayes of knowledge and worship all the ordinances duties and devotions which the spirits of most men take pleasure in are of her And herein is her pride and glory in subjecting these in ruling over these in blinding the eyes of these and opposing the true life and power by these She doth not value whole Territories of the other so much as one Congregation of these For mark The great Master-piece of the whore was to paint her self like the Lambs wife and so to withdraw from the true Church and set up a false Church which by reason of its paint and likeness to that which once was the true should passe up and down the world and be taken for the true And here lies her beauty her glory her majesty her life her heart even in the deceivableness of this appearance Therefore her great care and indeavour is to keep her possession and dominion here She often reneweth and changeth her paint neerer and neerer to the Image and former likeness of truth that she might make it pass instead of the truth and so keep that which is indeed the truth down stil under reproach contempt and persecution as she hath done these many ages Therefore she hath her sorts of paint by her her varieties of sorcery of witchery of inchantments whereof her cup is ful and wherewith her wine is made strong to make the Inhabitants of the earth drunk thereby that being thus besotted being not themselves but their spiritual sences bound up as this wine doth very effectually where ever her cup is drunk off she might lead them up and down from one thing to another from one chamber to another from one bed to another from one practice and way of worship to another and stil keep them from the true living thing which their souls seek For were it possible for persons who did
life and from the Spirit then she blasphemes the life and the holy pure power and movings of the Spirit The woman which sate upon the scarlet coloured beast with whom the Kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made druâ—k with the wine of her fornication was full of names of blasphemy Rev 17. 2 3. Yea the beast which carried her which had many heads horns and crowns he also had on his heads names of blasphemy Rev 13. 1. And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies ver 5. And he with the whore together for he did it by her spirit and instigation by vertue of the wine he had drunk out of her cup opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwel in Heaven ver 6. This hath been the work of the tongue in every head of the beast namely to blaspheme the life to blaspheme the true living power in all ages and generations since the apostacy from the life and spirit of the Apostles Now there is a twofold blasphemy which the whore and the powers of the earth that serve her are guilty of 1. There is a speaking well of the wayes of their own invention or the wayes which they have imitated without the life to call these the wayes of God the true wayes of life is blasphemy I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but a Synagogue of Satan Rev 2. 9. There were even in the Apostles dayes persons who pretended to be Christians and pretended still to be of the Church though they had lost the life and this the Spirit of the Lord saith was blasphemy And what is their gathering into a Church who were never gathered into the life and setting up Ordinances and pastors what is this what is it for him to call himself a Christian or inward Jew who never had the fore-skin of his flesh cut off by the circumcising knife of the Spirit what will the Lord say this is when he comes to judge 2. There is a speaking evil of the truths of God The true knowledge the true fear the true worship the true Saints the true God the true Tabernacle the true Temple the true Heaven all which is in the Spirit and is alone revealed and seen there there are reproached these are mis-represented and the true sight and acknowledgement of them called error heresie and sectarism by all the blasphemers of Babylon Israel who had the Law and the Prophets the true Ordinances and the true Priests yet they called evill good and good evil they put darknesse for light and light for darknesse they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa 5. 20. They were so wise in their own eyes and so prudent in their own sight they were so mighty to drink wine and men of such strength to mingle strong drink justifying the wicked for reward and taking away the righteousness of the righteous from him that there was no convincing of them by the light of God shining from the Prophets of their casting away of the Law of the Lord and despising the word of the holy one of Israel ver 21. to 25. Nay they were observers of the law and bearkned to the Prophets and Priests of the Lord Jer 5. 31. Therefore when the overflowing scourge came it should not come neer them Yea when the true Prophets of the Lord threatnedtheÌ„ with his coming with dreadful vengeance and his strange worke they in the height and confidence of their spirits could reply Let him make speed and hasten his worke that we may see it Isa 5. 20. How blind were they from seeing their blasphemies their calling of evil good and good evil c Yea in the very dayes of the Apostles The way of truth was evil spoken of and Synagogues of Satan setting up and blasphemies growing up apace from those which held the true form but denyed the power even while the powrings forth of the Spirit and revelations from the Spirit did abound How can it be expected it should be otherwise now when the Spirit is grown such a strange thing that to mention such a thing as being moved by the Spirit or acted by the Spirit is become ridiculous and the very teachers of the Nation who must speak by the Spirit if they speak the word of God cry revelation is ceased and count it a reproach for a man so much as to pretend to speak by the movings and in the power of the Spirit Now this double blasphemy necessarily follows the fornication Whoever is fornicated from the life he blasphemes the the life in all his knowledg in all his worship in all his Religion He calls that prayer which is not prayer that an ordinance which is not an ordinance that a Church which is not a Church 〈◊〉 a Minister which is not a Minister and that which is indeed the prayer the ordinance the Church the Minister he denyes and blasphemes and cannot do otherwise until the righteous judgements of the Lord purge the whores wine out of him and he be led back to that life and Spirit again from which in all these wayes of worship inventions and imitations he is gone a whoring The whore for these many ages hath been laying blasphemy to the charge of such as in any degree have been led by the Spirit of the Lord from her whoredomes but now the Lord is taking it off from them who have long been unjustly charged therewith and charging it upon her and she cannot escape his judgement for though she put on never so fine dresses and appearances like the Spouse and Church of Christ yet the Lord can distinguish and find out his Spouse though naked in the wilderness and without her attire and can also espy the whorish spirit though cloathed with the Churches attire and can charge her blasphemies against him his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven upon her 3. Grosse or more refined idolatries Little children said John keep your selves from Idols 1 John 5. 21. He saw Antichristianism breaking in apace many Antichrists being already come and now saith he keep to the anointing and keep from Idols Without a very strict watch without a mighty preservatioÌ„ by the anointing he saw idolatry would even creep in upon them who had tasted of the true power and vertue of life But how shall they keep from Idols who know not the anointing but think the revelations thereof are ceased He that buyeth not the tried gold of Christ Rev 3. 18. How can he avoid buying untried gold of Antichrist or silver or brasse or wood or stone which his Merchants traffique for and make idols of Rev 9. 20. If thine eyes be anointed with the true eye-salve thou mayest see and read the parable Idolatry is the worshipping of God without his Spirit that is the plain naked truth of the thing to invent things from the
flesh is grass and the glory thereof as the flower of the field Surely this people is grasse and their zeal and profession of God like the fading flower Some plain Queryes drawn out of the Book of the Revel for all sorts of Professors of this age to answer between God their own souls that they may see whether they have received that light from him which his Spirit judged necessary to give forth to keep people chast to him to preserve them from the several painted beds of Antichrists fornications and whoredoms from the life Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophesie and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand Rev 1. 3. The time of deceit was then at hand for Antichrist with his false Church and false Prophets to get up which were to last til the houre of judgement Rev 14. 7 8. Hast thou read hast thou heard hast thou kept the things written in this book then happy art thou But hast thou not read in the Spirit hast thou not heard the true sound of these things from the Spirit of life hast thou not kept the things written therein Then thou hast been deceived with the mistery of iniquity and must smart with the whore in the hour of her judgement The Queryes are these which follow I. What woman was that which was cloathed with the Sun and had the Moon under her feet c Rev 12. 1. Whether it was the true Church or no II. What that wilderness was whereinto she fled where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there 1260 dayes vers 6. III. How long those 1260 dayes did last and whether they he yet expired and whether the true Church is anywhere else to befound all the time of the 1260 days but in that place in the wilderness IV. What are all the Churches the Ministry the Ordinances that appear out of the wilderness all this while while the true Church is there V. What was that beast which came out of the Sea to which the Dragon gave his power his seat and great authority which all the world worshipped Rev 13. ver 1. to 5. VI What is that Sea and those ships wherein wherewith the Merchants of the earth traded with Babylon and were maderich by their traffique what were those Merchants what their Merchandize and what kind of riches was this Rev 18. ver 15. to 20. VII What was that name of God and that Tabernacle and those inhabitants of heaven which was blasphemed by the beast that arose out of the Sea all the time of the 42 Moneths Rev 13. vers 5 6. VIII What is the Lambs book of life and where is it and how are the names of any so written in it as to preserve them from the worship of the beast Rev 13. 8. IX What is that beast that came up out of the earth with the horns of a Lamb as if it came up in the Lambs power which doth great wonders and iustifieth his sacrifice by making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men who both causeth men to make an Image to the first beast and also putteth life into the Image which men make Rev 13. ver 11. c. So that here 's not a meer dead Image but there 's life in the beasts knowledge ordinances and worship yet with God all this is dead for it is not the true life X. What is the beasts mark his name his number Rev 13. 17. For if I do not infallibly know this I may have receved his mark I may help to make up his name I may be of his number and be unknown to my selfe a worshipper of him and his Image and so be liable to partake of the torment of the fire and brimstone threatned to such Rev 14. 9 10. XI What is that song which none could learn but the 144 thousand which were not defiled with women but remained Virgins Rev 14. 3. XII What was that other woman which took and kept the place of the former woman after she had fled into the wildernesse and enlarged her territories in Nations Kindreds tonguus and peoples Rev 17. 4. ver 15. XIII What was the purple and scarlet colours and the gold and precious stones she was decked with ver 4. XIV What was the golden cup she had in her hand which was ful of abominations and filthinesse of her fornications in the midst of all her glorious appearance of zeal devotion humility and holinesse ver 4. XV What kind of drunkenness was it wherewith the Kings and inhabiters of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of this cup Rev 17. 2. XVI How may thâ—se who have hated the whore and made her desolate and naked and cat her flesh and burned her with sire yet after all this give their kingdom again to the beast Rev 17. v 16 17. How may this be done and how often may it be done These are plain simple Queryes not to intangle mens minds or set their brains on work for that way shall they never be able to resolve them but to awaken the simplicity in them which will readily let them see what the Lord hath revealed to them herein and in which they are to wait for the knowledge hereof that they may escape or come out of the snare And in the mean time not to boast as Israel of old did when the Prophets from the mouth of the Lord accused them that they had not polluted themselves they had not gone after Baalim Jer 2. 22 23 v 35. but wait O backsliding Christian and thou shalt see thy way in the valley And though thou hast ofâ—en traversed thy ground to change thy path gadding from one form to another from one notion to another yet all this hath been out of the life out of the pure power and stil in the whoredom Open the weak sick eye in the weak heart For how weak is thy heart while thou hast done all this and let the languishing simplicity be my witnesse for under all thy wisdom thy zeal thy knowledge thy worship that faints that fails that is not what it was in the beginning Though thou art grown much higher wiser and greater otherwise yet there thou hast lost and happy wilt thou be if all thy gains ever since may become losse to thee for the recovering of this Some considerations helping out of the Suburbs or out-skirts of Babylon that her inward building may be the better come at and lye the more open to the Axe and Hammer which is to batter it down and to cut it up for the fire FIrst Consider what it was the Church fled out of when she fled into the wildernesse Was it not out of that Church-state or building which the Spirit of God had raised up for her here in the world to which her ordinances and way of church-Church-worship belonged Was it not here that the Dragon
assaulted her and from whence she fled into a desolate place and state Secondly What spirit entred into these when she fled out of them Were not these the Conquerors spoils did not Antichrist get possession of the form did not the whore get the Spouses attire did not the Wolves gather up the sheeps cloathing and cloath themselves therewith Was not the outward Court what is the outward Court under the Gospel but the visible Church-state with the visible Ordinances thereof given to the Gentiles who trod under foot the holy City all the while they were worshipping in the outward Court Rev 11. 2. Thirdly What spirit is it directs men to these since the true Church hath been fled out of them and to what intent Is it not that spirit which would keep men from the life that they might not be born of the barren womb in the wildernesse but be born of some of the fruitful wombs of the visible Churches while the true Church is invisible and hath no visible place in the earth but remains in that place in the wildernesse which God prepared for her and where she receiveth her food all the 42 Months Rev 12. ver 6. 14. I have smarted deeply for these things and have been taught by the bryars and thorns of the wildernesse whereby my ears came to be opened to hear the sound of the everlasting Gospel to which they were before through ignorance stopped For I also did beleeve and expect great things in a Church state and way of worship and in simplicity of heart did I enter into it and walke in it and was not without knowledge warmth and experiences there But all this the Lord broke down by a strong hand in one moment and hath taught me since to throw away all my gains here and elsewhere and to count them but drosse and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord And having tasted having seen having felt having handled I cannot but commend the life and disswade all men from all knowledge all worship all Religion all wayes and practises though never so taking pleasant and promising out of the life And this is to know Christ namely to know the life and this is to obey Christ to obey the life and this is the kingdom of Christ which is to come to have the life reign in power and great glory But the knowing or beleeving of an History concerning Christ this is not the knowledge or the faith Antichrist all along the apostacy in all his various forms and dresses hath known and beleeved thus and this kind of knowledge must passe away further then it can find a place and service in the life Be not angry at my testimony it flows from pure love and comes forth in great good will to your souls Yea if it be possible that I might be a little serviceable to you for my soul travels for the redemption of professors from the witchery of the whorish spirit even of such as are ready to revile that which alone can redeem them in the meekness and coolness of your spirits out of the fiery false zeal consider yet a little further these few things following 1. The state of the Gospel is an invisible state a state consisting of invisible things as the Law was a visible state or a state consisting of visible things The light invisible the life invisible the power invisible that which converts invisible that which is converted invisible that which it is converted to invisible and the whole course ofspiritual life lyes in the invisible 2. This invisible state hath a visible way of appearance to the world by garments which it wears by motions and exercises which the life chooseth for itto appear in 3. These garments are subject to corrupt and to be worn by that which is corruptible and corrupted That which hath not the life may put on the garment and that which hath lost the life may stil keep the garment 4. The preservation of the life lyes not in the garment or in the observation of any thing wherein the life did once appeare but the preservation of the garment lyes in the life And the life may change it's garment at it's pleasure and may refuse to wear those any more which the whore hath worn but as the life again leadeth 5. When the life is at any time lost the only way of recovery is by retiring to the invisible and keeping there and growing up there and not coming forth in the visible further then the life leads nor staying there any longer then the life stayes Now this is the mistake of persons generally they look for the finding the invisible life in visibles They run to corrupted ordinances and wayes of devotion and think to find God there but do not wait to feel him in their hearts and to be led by him into what he pleaseth and to stay no where any longer then while he stayeth there but to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth Some others mistake in running to that and waiting there where they once felt life but do not know the way to wait on the life it selfe and so they are running to an image waiting at an image worshipping of an image and the living God will not meet them there But throw away your images let Ephraim the dear child say to his idols get you hence thrust away your adulteries which provoke the eye of Gods jealousie receive the forerunner the severe purifyer into your bosoms and let the fire of his jealousie cleanse your hearts and the pure will soon come after and lodge again between your breasts Can ye hear this sound That which is born of the same wisdome cannot but hear it but the other birth must have it's ear stopped Now hearken to this advice When the invisible life is felt and known doe not disdain to follow it into what ever visible thing it leads Let not thy wisdom be judge what the life will lead into or what the life is to be followed in but let the life it selfe be judge and let the child which is born of the life follow it singly without murmuring without disputing The life hath foolish wayes to the eye of thy wisdom of breaking the wisdom in thee which is contrary to it which thy wisdom will be reasoning and disputing against and if that wisdom be hearkned to the life is overturned in its course and the head of the Serpent remains sound in thee which the foolish and weak things which the wisdom of God chooseth to crosse and disturb it by would help to break and crush An Exhortation to the present Powers BAbylon the great the mistery of iniquity which hath deceived and held captive the whole Christian world for these many generations under forms and appearances of Godliness and devotion is at length come into remembrance before God who is arisen to judge her and overturn her seat The Army hath been preparing and many Souldiers have
is kindled the fiercenesse of his wrath is kindled against the professors of this age and wo is from the Lord towards them Wo to the Protestant Congregations wo to the select Churches wo to their pastors who have helped them to wander from the life to dead idols which cannot profit Wo to them who are exalted in notions and high knowledge ye have judged and condemned the Papists and the Lord hath found out the same spirit of idolatry in you But turn from your Idols return to your simplicity put away your adulteries from between your breasts and returne to your first love and the Lord wil receive you though ye have wandred after many lovers and have been inflamed with the love of idols under every green tree but in these your Church wayes and worships the soul of the Lord abhors you and all your former zeal and simplicity is blotted out and forgotten and in your present adultery and idolatry shall ye dye unlesse ye hear the voice of the Lord recalling you and turn at his reproofe Now in tender bowels to help you a little consider that which follows The same spirit that stealeth away the true simplicity raiseth up and stealeth in a false image thereof which there is no perceiving at present unlesse the soule lye very low and be kept open and cleer in the pure light And as in the true simplicity the true light the true knowledg the true faith the true hope the true love the true meekness the true zeal the true poverty and humility c. springs up and is nourished so in the false image of simplicity which the Devil secretly conveys in when he steals away the true there 's a likeness of all these springing up and growing And here 's the beginning of Babylon in the heart here are the inward riches and treasures thereof What can Sion pretend to which Babylon hath not in the resemblance Is there simplicity of heart in Sion and is there not simplicity of heart among the inhabitants of Babylon yea a false image Is there light in Sion and is there noâ— also light in Babylon yea there 's the light of the Sun and the light of the Moon and the light of the Stars which fel from heaven and the light of many candles shining in Babylon Is there true knowledge in Sion There 's knowledge fasiy so called in Babylon a false knowledge of the Crosse of Christ a false knowledge of his death a false knowledge of his blood without feeling the living vertue thereof which truly washeth away the sin So for faith hope love meekness zeal humility c. There are false images of all these in Babylon and of what ever else is wrought in truth in the inhabitants of Sion Now when the truth is lost and the false image crept in both which are done at unawares while the husbandman is asleepe and so he perceives it not but thinks in his very heart that it is stil the seed of truth that is growing up in him then begins the mistery of fornication idolatry witchcraft and all manner of spiritual wickedness and deceit to work in the heart Thy beleeving thy hoping thy love thy zeal thy praying thy waiting c. All here is abomination it 's from a false root it 's of a false kind it is not of the true seed the enemy hath stollen away that while thou wast negligent and slumbering and all this ariseth in thee from the seed which he did sow instead thereof and is the fruit of the Land of Babylon And having thus committed inward whoredome in thine own heart then thou seekest and settest up outward wayes of whoredom also Having first set up an inward image of the inward life of the Saints thou then seekest and settest up another image of their outward worship an image of a Church an image of a Ministry an image of Ordinances an image of praying an image of singing an image of preaching an image of baptism an image of the Saints communion And thus thou art defiled within and without and art mad with envy and rage that thou canst not bewitch the inhabitants of Sion who are kept pure from all these defilements and reserved as witnesses against thee into thy bed of whoredoms And thus while thou thinkest thou art the chiefe worshipper thou art all over polluted the whole head is sicke and the whole heart faint there isno cleanness no soundnesse within or without but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores which have not been closed neither bound up nor mollified with oyl but the hurt of the daughter of my people hath been healed deceitfully by Physitians of no vallue who had notthe oyl Isa 1. 5 6. Ezek 13. 10. This is generally the state of professors at this day but they cannot see it for they have put out the eye of the simplicity wherewith alone God will suffer the things of life to be seen and God hath blinded the eye of their wisdom that they shall not see nor be converted and healed that way So that exceeding miserable is their estate They will not see Gods way and God will not let them see their way So that though there be line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little yet it is that they might stumble and fall and be snared and broken and taken For as discoveries of truth grow more cleer and manifest so they grow more hardned against it And as they on the one hand increase in walking contrary to God so God on the other hand proceeds in walking contrary to them delighting more and more to stumble the wise disputing part which would so fain know but must be made blind that the eye of the babe may be opened which sees that in the childish simplicity which the other eye can never reach in the most manly wisdom Therefore put away all your images and likenesses of truth Put away your false faith which can never overcome the worldly nature and spirit in you and your false hope which can never purifie your hearts and your fained humility and self-willed fasts which can never bring down the lofty exalted nature in you and your false love wherewith ye can never love the brethren in the truth but only the brethren in your own or some such other likenesse of the truth and your false zeal meekness holinesse c. All which spring and grow up from the wrong seed in a seeming simplicity and all your praying reading preaching c. which ye have taken up and practise in your own wils which should be crucified and wherewith no service worship or performance can be pleasing to God and wait for the raising of the true seed of life in the true simplicity whereby ye may serve God acceptably here and be saved hereafter And be not mockers lest your bands be made strong for the consumption is determined against you by that Spirit of life whose breath wil wast you All