most of all beautified with the largest Leaves and delightful-coloured blossoms which covered her large quick-sprouting-boughs but immediately her Root became a nurse of Rottenness And I saw an Ax blade in the hand of a certain Shepherd and loe He looked over all the Six and said This is because of their unfruitfulness and yet a sorer thing must come to passe And he turned to the Seventh Tree which was planted in a low Valley unploughed and behold her Body bowed and she stooped unto Him that had the Ax blade in his right hand and He took a member of that Tree without hurt to the Body and he made thereof a Helve for the Ax and fastened it thereto and he turned again towards the Sixth Tree and smote it that it fell to the ground and so He passed to the Fences of all the other Five first and made breaches upon them that they may all become utterly a Desolation for ever And he again said Even so must it be unto many Oaks and Cedars and wild apple-Trees in the Woods and Wilderness of the Forrests of the Regions of the Earth And again he returned to the Seventh Tree and digged about it and pruned it and it bare Fruit to his pleasure And he again uttered his Word and said This is to spread and I will dig a Well by her and make her Field pleasant and a refreshing River shall compass her Banks that my Flockes which I have in secret places may openly feed as one Herd within the compass of this Fence which I have framed and will build it round about that no Thief may reach to taste of her Fruit. And I saw it and blessed the LORD and magnified the NAME of the most High GOD. All that have received the key of Knowledge of the Oracles of GOD they can Read me and Understand me and Receive me and know that I am of GOD who being of GOD do know that the whole World lieth in wickedness Now a wise Prince and wise Rulers and wise Iudges and wise Priests and wise People such as minister to the glory of the LORD they will not judge of any thing before the true time But Fools are rash and perverse and froward and heady and furious such cannot judge aright for GOD being not in the measure of GOD which is meek humble and patient which is the true eye to see all things justly weighed in the ballance of Equitie and therefore cannot measure a cause aright and so not judge with the right Judgement for it wanteth to be set up within to destroy the heady and the rash and fierce and proud and envious within and so the measure without is scant and wanteth of the truth because it is first scant within and judgeth not evil within So it was with Christ sinners judged Him who was without sin that was and is the unjust Judgement then a Nation is full of sin and it haleth blood upon it wilfully but yet the LORD GOD will judge for all and the Nations shall know that he is Judge of Heaven and Earth Therefore to the Light which is God's measure in you all turn your minds which Light in all your Consciences shews you and will shew you all the evil that ever you have done in the body which if you love it and follow it will judge you all and so as you love the judgement thereof you will come to judge for GOD The evil eye will be cast out and the measure will be single within to judge all in truth and equity without therefore let all your Laws be according to that of GOD in the Conscience and this is the Word of the LORD in the Nations of the Earth Oh VENICE Why were thy Princes against the Execution of GOD'S Iudgements upon the heads of thine Inhabitants If plagues be their due because of their iniquities thinkest thou that that thing is equal in GOD'S sight which is made as a fence against GOD Or thinkest thou in righteousness that it is better to keep plague out of thy City which can in a moment break over thy Walls than to cleanse the City of Whordoms Adulteries Oathes cursed Speeches Drunkenness Pride Idolatry Envy and Murders by the just Execution of true Judgement in thy City But what now if GOD willing to shew his wrath upon the unclean vessels of Wrath visits thee with Plague within thy City and make thy bulwark which thou madest against GOD which is a fence binding unto Idleness wherein mischief is hatched without thy City to be put in Practice in thy City I say what if GOD make them Walls which thou hast built against GOD the works of thine own hand the burden of thine own back Bulwarks and a fence to fight against thee within thy Walls Will not Iudgement be Just then in thine own sight Look upon thy Lazzarette and remember thou wert told that if thou pullest down Product and repentest and amendest thy ways GOD will preserve in thee the longer a People and in Judgement thou shalt remember this Concerning Iniquity in the heart and the Fruits of the Cursed Tongue GOD is coming to judge all Iniquity in the heart and will rip open every heart and shew every man the deceitfulness of his heart No Iniquity is hid from GOD nor deceitful word or action so as that He seeth it not GOD who is the searcher of all hearts seeth the foolishness and deceitfulness and the Iniquity in the hearts of men which flatter one another with vain Titles which neither profits Body nor Soul saying one to another I am your servant Sir Your humble servant Sir Your servants servant Sir You are my Lord and Master I am your Slave Sir GOD seeth the Iniquity and cometh to judge the Iniquity which is in the heart the heart not thinking what the tongue speaketh Jude 16 but speaketh words of praise and flattering words and titles to mens faces and have mens Persons in admiration before their faces because of advantage that is the Iniquity in the heart and when they have turned their backs and have not the end which the Iniquity in the heart reached after then they will say concerning the persons whom they did flatter to their faces with titles of vain praise and vain honour saying that Devil did this and that Devil did that and that Accursed did the other thing Now if the Accursed One in them which works the Iniquity in them did not blind their hearts then they would see and know that wherein they did flatter they did but flatter with the Devil which they did confess was the Devil And when they said I am your servant Sir and I am your slave Sir You are my Lord Sir they did but give testimony that they are servants of the Devil and the slaves of the Devil Luke 19.22 and the Devil is their Lord. And thus said Christ unto the unprofitable servant even as these are unprofitable servants Out of thine own mouth thou art
that is and is to come The little Stone cut out of the Mountains without a hand which smiteth at the feet of the great Image of the Earth whose head is gold the body and members part silver part brass part iron and part iron mixt with clay Dan. 2.32 33. Until all the Images and Image-makers of the Earth be confounded before the LORD and the great Image of the whole Earth become like the chaffe of the summer-threshing-floors and the wind carry them away that no place be found for them and the little Stone which smiteth the Image become a great Mountain and fill the whole Earth For now is the Lord God of Heaven and Earth about to set up his own Kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the Kingdom shall not be left to other People but it shall break in pieces and consume all other Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever I am the Light of the World saith the Lord of the Kingdom he that believeth in me shall not abide in darkness but have the Light of Life The Trumpet of the Lord hath sounded and is sounding and many that are dead in Christ have heard the voice and are already risen out of the grave and have appeared at the Judgement of the Lord of the whole Earth who cometh quickly to Judge all the Inhabitants thereof 1 Cor. 15.51 52. both quick and dead And now are the words of Paul fulfilled We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible John 8.51 And furthermore He that now shall keep the words of Him who is the Light of the World shall never see Death All this cometh and is come according to the Everlasting purpose of the glory of the LORD and that men may no more make a talk of the Scriptures but that they may be all fulfilled Awake awake therefore you that slumber in your confessions and yet are asleep in your sins awake to the turning from your sins that ye also may hear the voice of the trump of GOD and the joyful voice of the shout from Heaven with Him who cometh in the glory of his brightness cloathed in white whom no flesh can see and live Awake awake to the Judgement whilst the day springeth from on high and visiteth you For of a Truth whether you will hear or forbear the LORD GOD cometh who hath shewn signes in the Heaven in the Firmament above the Earth and darkened the Sun at his Word and turned the Moon into blood even whilst the Nations were asleep and shewed it to the thousands which he hath gathered from Sea to Sea and from the Islands in the Sea and shewed his Wonders unto them fire and pillars of smoak and blood and vapours whereof I am a witness for the LORD GOD of Heaven and Earth who am of him sent to declare his mighty day which is at hand to the Inhabitants of the Earth A warning therefore to the World whilst you have time Repent lest he who cometh as a thief in the night find you in the cursed nature of iniquity and you be judged with the condemned for ever unto wrath and think you of the perverseness of that faithless generation in the dayes of Noah who continued eating and drinking in the strength of their lusts and would not take warning until the Flood came and made an utter destruction of them all for as the dayes of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be Matth. 24.37 So if You perish in your sins and the People for their sins the blood be upon Your own heads henceforth and for ever Remember you were warned to Repent Now the LORD is coming to blind the World which do say that they see and to bring to nothing their wisdom and to confound all the Will-worships of all the sons of men upon the face of the Earth who can Sing and Preach and Speak and Pray in their own time and in their own wills that is to say when they will even in the same will wherewith they Swear Col. 3.5 1 John 3.15 Psal 109.7 John 4.23 Rom. 8.4 and Lye or are Proud or Covetous which is Idolatry or Envious which is Murder All these things in the Will and Time of Man both in Priest and People being but one as saith the Scripture Let his prayer become sin and again saith Christ God heareth not sinners for the Worship of God is in Truth and in Spirit such Worshippers the Father seeks to Worship him such as walk not after the Flesh in whom the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled who walk after the Spirit in the Spirit Now who are in the Spirit and led by the Spirit into all Truth in the true knowledge and understanding of the mysteries of Truth which is hid from those which walk after the flesh in sin and are sinners walking against the Life of the Spirit which leadeth the true Worshippers of GOD in the Spirit out of all sin into all truth John 16.13 By which Spirit of Truth the Scriptures were spoken forth and the Prophecies of the Prophets were spoken forth as Parables as saith the Prophet The Vision of all is become unto you Isa 29.11 12. as a book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is sealed And again the book is delivered to him that is not learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I am not learned So that it is hid from both the learned and the unlearned being not in the life of the Spirit by which it was written and given forth and Christ spake not any thing to the World but what he spake in Parables Matth. 13.34 2 Cor. 4.3 1 Pet. 3.19 And if our Gospel be hid it is hid from them that are lost saith Paul who live in their sins against the life of the Spirit by which the Gospel came and was preached to the Spirits in Prison to the lost sheep of the house of Israel And now if the World knows not how to try their own Spirits let me shew them a little by asking a few Questions according to the Scriptures which by the Spirit of Truth and Understanding were given forth which if you have the Spirit and do walk according to the Truth of the Scriptures by the Spirit of Truth of Wisdom and right Understanding then with the Life of the Spirit you will be able rightly to answer them all else you will know of what Spirit you are as it is more necessary that the World should know of what Spirit they are then to imagine that they worship in the Spirit whilst yet they are in their sins and as men in the flesh walking and living in the lust and liberty of the flesh
judged and so Out of your Own mouths you are judged Rom. 2.2 And this is the Judgement which is of GOD which is according to Truth which that of GOD in all your Consciences sets to seal and shall set to seal the Truth of GOD's Judgments Now such men which by their own Confessions who out of their own mouths are judged which the Light in their Consciences witness that they are the servants of the Devil and the slaves of the Devil and the Devil is their Lord they will go to a Priest which Priest sayes he is the servant of God and they will confess to him some of their wickedness and the Priest will judge of it Now I will tell you what Paul saith to such a Priest Rom. 14.4 What hast thou to do to judge another man's servant to his own master he standeth or falleth So this I find the People in the Iniquity and the Priest in the Iniquity each one partaking of each others Iniquity Again There are those which do say they are Gentlemen and say such a one is a Gentleman and such a one is a Gentleman and such a one is a gallant Gentlewoman which are well bred he is a very understanding man he can complement well he is a man that can sing well and among such as are his Equals he is very Noble and will keep company and drink and be merry and knows very well how to behave himself amongst Gentlemen in all manner of good behaviour and courteous salutation And as for that Lady she can sing well and play well upon Musick and she knows how to behave her self well towards Gentlemen in bowing the body and speaking pleasant words But now if I were to ask a wise man Of what Kingdom is all this Is it of the Kingdom of GOD which is come down and is coming down among men or is it the Devil's kingdom which is the ground of deceit in the hearts of men Christ said Be not you called of men Masters Matth. 23.7 8 10 nor be not you called of men Lord for one is your Master and one is your Lord which is in Heaven Christ did never teach Lying nor Pride nor Vanity nor Lust nor no such evil thing but his Life bore witness against them for he said My Kingdom is not of this World if it were Joh. 18.36 then would my Disciples have fought Now hereby I know that all these who are in the fore-mentioned Lust Vanity Lyes Flattering and Deceit in their words works carriages and behaviours that they are not of Christ's Kingdom for being vain in their mindes and proud in their hearts after that they have flattered and complemented one with another when a matter or cause comes in competition between them to have the Superiority and Mastery and the most of the goods riches and glory of the kingdom of this World they fall into contention strifes debates quarrellings and fighting one with another somtimes to the slaying and murdering one of another Now these are they which the World call Gentlemen Oh! utter shame to all the World If they came but to see their own Ignorance in this matter Christ said Learn of me for I am Meek and Lowly Matth. 11.29 And He forbad His Disciples which learned Meekness of Him and Lowliness of Him to be one with the World in that which they feigned as their lowliness and which the World do now say is their lowliness and humbleness Matth. 23.5 6 7 14. Luke 6.26 in salutation Be not you as the hypocrites are that love greetings and salutations in the Market-places and love the uppermost Rooms at feasts and that love to pray to be seen of men or to have the praise of men or to be well spoken of in the worlds wayes Wo be unto you when all men shall speak well of you saith Christ For those which were in the customs of the World then which were vain-glorious and proud loving the praise of men and the flattering-words of men to flatter men with words of praise they were at enmity with Christ and his Disciples then Of which disciple-ship Paul bears his Testimony exhorting the Brethren saying Be not conformable to the things of this world Rom. 12.2 but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mindes And now such as are called and do call themselves the Gentlemen in these dayes they have done and in all places are ready to do the same things which the former evil generation did unto Christ and the Disciples and the Brethren which were transformed by the renewing of their minds to as many which also are now led out of the vanities of the World to bear witness against the deceits of the World and the Iniquity in the hearts of the sons of men Furthermore those which say they are Gentlemen Some are Scoffers that 's Ishmael's brood and have Envy in their hearts which are Cain's Brethren They will pull off their Hatts to a man's face and envy him in their hearts and mock him behind his back and will smite and fight and quarrel and yet such are called Gentlemen and are said to have good breeding and good manners whilst they have but the breeding of the wicked and the manners of the scornful and this is rottenness and dirt and chaffe the drosse and off-scouring of the Earth and when any of them come to know GOD they shall know this to be Truth according to the mind and will of GOD answering that of GOD the Light in all Consciences And again some of your Gentlemen will Lye and swear to a Lye in whose mouths Lying and Swearing is as common talking and some know how to complement to go a whoring and to be drunk with Whores and to make themselves merry upon the beds of Whores and they dresse up themselves in gay apparrel and perfume their apparrel to come with pleasant smels in the nostrils of Whores to be accepted in the house and eye of the Whores And Whores doing the same to be accepted of Whore-mongers to smell sweet in the nostrils of Whore-mongers and they paint their faces and put black spots in their faces the Devil's Mark in their faces that they may be well accepted in the sight of their Lovers and that their beauty may be pleasant to the eye and their smell sweet in the nostrils of their Lovers Many of these are your well-bred Gentlemen and Gentlewomen but they are a stinke in God's nostrils and an abhorring in the eye of the Lord whom the LORD GOD in his mighty Day which is at hand will make an everlasting abhorring unto all flesh Your well-bred Gentlemen and Gentlewomen which are said to be of great Parentage and of great Births Noblemens Children their Fathers men of great Estates they must be honoured and they must be respected for they are gallant-bred Gentlemen and Gentlewomen and are full of good manners whilst the least part is not equal in all their members