the Fruits of Death whereon he feeds and is in some sort satisfied for he dares not approach unto the Tree of Life because the Angel of the Lord's Presence standeth with the flaming sword ready lifted up even the righteous Law which still layes hold on him when at any time he approaches near unto the Tree of Life this cuts him down so that he at all Times remains in Death and feeds upon the Fruits thereof this is the true State and Condition of the first Adam who hath lost himself and is fallen from God his Maker But now the second Adam whom the Lord is creating and whom he hath created even after his own Image in Righteousness and true Holiness who was and is the first born among many Brethren even Christ the Son of the living God who puts an End to Transgression and destroyes Sin and sayes O Death I will be thy Death and fulfills the Royal Law in all things and passeth through the flaming sword for the Fire cannot touch him but he has free Access to the Tree of Life and feeds plentifully upon the Fruit thereof and so lives forever and nothing will satisfie him but the very Life it self And this is the true Condition of the second Adam who is the true Heir of all things Now he that comes to have this Babe begotten in him that which hath begot him will bring him forth for shall I bring to the Birth and not bring forth saith the Lord now he that comes to be born of this Birth and to have his Life to stand in this he shall with this come to eat of the Tree of Life for this is he that shall enter in at the streight Gate into the City whose Builder is God Therefore if thou feelest any thing in thee which stirs and moves in thee against sin and against the very Appearance of Evil there lies the seed out of which this Babe is formed and therefore as it is as yet but weak as in Appearance to thee thou oughtest to be tender over it even more tender then the Mother that is newly conceived is over the tender Fruit of her Womb and beware of bruising of it and of smothering of it for a small thing will offend it and choak it but as thou art tender over it and with Carefulness dost cherish it and come to take Delight in it thou wilt find it to grow daily and encrease in thee from strength to strength but thou must beware that thou dost not at any time lay any Burden upon it whereby it may be offended for if thou dost thou wilt come into Condemnation for the same and thou wilt come to suffer Loss in thy self which Loss will not easily be regained for thou wilt find Deadness and Barrenness to arise up in thee and the Dread and Terror of the Lord will take hold daily upon thee until the Lord hath executed his Vengeance upon that which hath oppressed his seed for thou must assuredly come to know a day of Vengeance in thee to light upon the Head of the Transgressor and a Night of sâ—rrow before thou canst know the day of Joy and Gladness Therefore if thou wilt give up freely to let the Seed of God go free to serve the Lord its God in Truth and Righteousness and wait in Patience to see the Oppressor judged and condemned in thee and to see the Vengeance of the Lord to be laid upon the Head of the Transgressor and so to become one with that which judgeth and executes the fierce Wrath and Indignation of the Lord upon that which oppresseth the righteous Seed in thee Now if thou become one with the Lord in this and give up thy self willingly in Obedience to him then a short Work will the Lord make in the Earth and thou shalt come to see him whom thy Soul loveth who now doth but spring up in thee as a Lilly among Thorns but when he comes to be brought forth he will be the fairest amongst ten thousand and this is Christ in thee the Hope of Glory and thou wilt come to live in him and he in thee and so thou wilt come to live in the Life that was before Sin was and before Transgression was and shall be when Sin and Transgression is destroyed and shall be no more and then thou wilt come to witness old things to be done away and all things to become new a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and thou wilt come to witness God's Will to be done in thy Body of Earth as it is in Heaven and his Kingdom in thee to be come and established and his Power made known in thee to the destroying of the Power of Sin and Satan and his Glory to be made known in thee to the setting forth of his eternal Praise in the midst of all his Enemies and this is declared by many who are faithful Witnesses of it according to the Measure which the Lord hath freely been pleased to give and bestow upon them and this do they witness to be an eternal Truth according as the Spirit of the Lord God of Truth hath revealed it unto them for they never received from Man neither by Man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ who leads into the Path of Light and Life all that are willing and obedient to follow him now these things are deep and hidden Mysteries to them that yet remain in Darkness but if thou canst but read the Scriptures singly without adding thereunto thy own or any other Mans Imaginations they testifie of him that hath the Life in him and they declare how the two Births have been brought forth in all Ages which Births came from the two Seeds even the Seed of the Promise and the Seed of the Serpent and between these two Seeds there is an everlasting Enmity placed so that they can never be reconciled one to the other but still arise one to destroy the other but at last the Seed of the Woman must and will get the Victory for that must come to bruise the Seed of the Serpent's head although the other bruise his Heel for a short Space now see the Seed of the Serpent brought forth by the first Birth in Cain how the Enmity comes to work in him so that he came as it were to murder Abel the second Birth which was brought forth of the Seed of the Promise and wherefore was it but because the Sacrifice that was offered up by the promised Seed was accepted and his the Seed of the Serpent was not therefore Cain the first Birth who as in Reference to his outward Birth after the Flesh was therein his Brother but yet he being ruled by the contray Seed to Abel the Enmity caused him to rise up and to murder innocent Abel and then he became a Fugitive and a Vagabond upon Earth all his Dayes not having an Habitation in God although he builded a City and call'd it by his Son's Name so here
THE REDEMPTION OF THE Seed of God At Hand Declaring the Return of the True Church out of the Wilderness into her former State of GLORY RICHARD MOORE Thâ—â— sâ—â—â—â— the Lord Keep ye Judgment and dâ— Justâ—â—e for my Salvation is near to come and my Righteousness to be revealed Isa 56. Printed in the Year 1677. A TESTIMONY Concerning RICHARD MOOR THE Author of this Book being a faithful Servant of the Lord and zealous for the Truth who laboured and travailed in the Work of the Ministry both in England and beyond Sea and was in Barbadoes when he wrote this little Book which was some Years since and because the Press hath been fully supplyed with other Things there was not an Oportunity to print it but knowing it was his great Desire it should be published and having now a fit Oportunity I was willing to answer what his Mind then was He came to London to visit Friends in the 11th Moneth and there fell sick and on the 13th Day of the same Moneth he dyed in Peace and thus much is signified concerning him by one who truly loved him for the Truth 's sake E. H. London the 14th of the 9th Mon 1676. TO THE READER WHoever thou art that readest this ensuing Treatise if thou findest any Thing in it which doth appear strange unto thee in the reading thereof be not troubled thereat but stand still in the Coolness of thy Spirit and turn in to the Measure of the Light of God which shineth forth clearly in thy own Conscience and there thou wilt see it openly made manifest unto thee but if thou readest it in the Power of thy own Will and therein standest expecting to receive Benefit thereby thou wilt find nothing but Deadness and barrenness for the Appearance of God and his Eternal Truth hath at all Times and Seasons been contrary to Man's VVill for it is now as it wâ—s in the Days of Old it comes not by the VVill of Man but holy Men speak as they are moved by the Spirit of God and as it was in former Ages so it is now in this our Day for he that departeth from Iniquity maketh himâ—elf a Prey unto this Generation of Evil-doers who set themselves in Perverseness against the Lord and have hardened their Hearts and stiffned their Necks against the Appearance of the Lord and of his Eternal Truth and he is come to be a Cross to the VVill of all Flesh for if the Things of God came according to the will of Man then the VVorld would receive them but seeing it crosseth Man's VVill therefore the VVorld hates it and calls it Foolishness and Madness and cryes out that them that are given up to follow it are Deceivers and are deluded and bewitched R. M. THE CONTENTS I. THe Return of the True Church out of the Barren Wilderness into her former State and Glory II. The Destruction of Babylon the Mystery of Iniquity and the Mother of Harlots and the Abominations of the whole Earth III. A Revelation of the Man of Sin and Death wherein he is separated from the Man of Righteousness and Life which two Men are of two several Births which Births proceed from the two Seeds which two Seeds are herein manifested and declared the one to be the Seed of God and the other the Seed of the Serpent whose Head is now to be bruised IV. A Word of Love unto the Sons and Daughters of Sion and a Hand held forth unto them who are yet in Egypt's Captivity and to them who are yet in the Desert Wilderness A True Manifestation of the Church's Return out of the Barren VVilderness where She hath remained since the Dayes of the Apostles which Church is the true Spouse the Lamb 's VVise Also the Speedy Downfal of Babylon the Mother of Harlots declared c. NOW is the appointed Time come wherein the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob is risen and arising to manifest himself unto his People and to make himself known to those that have long waited for this the Day of his Appearance unto whom the Son of his Righteousness is arising with healing in his Wings and now is the great Jehovâ—h appearing in his Dread and in his Power to the establishing of his Covenant unto â—braham and to his Seed forever and he is now gathering his Elect from the four Quarters of the Earth and redeeming the Seed of Jacob out of their Captivity and the Outcast of Israel from under their Yoak of Bondage Therefore prepare thee to meet thy God O Israel for behold he is come and coming in Ten Thousand of his Saints and who may abide the Day of his Appearance for the Eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful Kingdom and he will destroy it from off the Face of the Earth saving that he will not utterly destroy the House of Jacob for behold he sitteth upon a white Throne before whose Face the Heavens and also the Earth shall fly away and their Place shall be no more found at all his Eyes are as a Flame of Fire and on his Head are many Crowns and he hath a Name written that no man knows but himself is clothed with a Vesture dipped in Blood and his Name is called The word of God and out of his Mouth goeth a sharp Sword wherewith he doth smite the Nations and he treadeth the Wine-press of the Fierceness and Wrath of the Almighty God and he hath on his Vesture and on his Thigh a Name written KING of KINGS LORD of LORDS and in his Hands is all the Power of the Earth and also of the Heavens for behold he makes all things new old things must pass away for the Dragon having had Possession for so many Dayes even many Generations of the old Heaven and also of the old Earth which I say the subtile Dragon having gotten the Dominion thereof he by his Filthiness defiled it so that the true Virgin could no longer remain therein but was driven forth of it and was banished into the mourning and desolate Wilderness a place prepared her of God for so many Dayes and her Heir which she had brought forth which is to rule the Nations with his Iron Rod hath been caught up from her to God and so the Dragon hath had the Dominion of the true Virgin 's Territories since the Dayes of the Apostles and hath made War with the Seed of the Virgin and as it were overcome them and in her Dominion he hath placed the great Whore the Mother of Harlots and she hath corrupted the Earth and also the Heavens wherein the true Virgin was placed before she fled into the Wilderness the Whore having poluted them with the Filth of her Fornication for her Superscription is Mystery-Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the whole Earth And the Nations which the true Virgin 's Heir should have ruled they have all been the Seat of this great VVhore and she hath
to a lost Groat which could not be found till the Woman had lighted the Candle and swept her House and he compared it to a certain Lord who went into a far Country who called his own Servants and delivered unto them his Goods and unto one he gave five Talents and unto another two and unto another one Talent to every man according to his several Ability and streight-way took his Journey then he that had received the five Talents went and traded with the same and made them other five Talents and likewise he that had received two gained also other two but he that had received one went and digged in the Earth and hid his Lord's Money after a long time the Lord of those Servants cometh and reckoneth with them and so he that had received five Talents came and brought other five Talents saying Lord thou deliveredst unto me five Talents behold I have gained besides them five Talents more his Lord said unto him Well done thou good and faithful Servant thou hast â—een faithful over a few things I will make thee a Ruler over many things enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord and he also that had received two Talents came and said Lord thou deliveredst unto me two Talents behold I have gained other two Talents besides them and his Lord said unto him Well done thou good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee Ruler over many enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord then came he which had received the one Talent and said Lord I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strewed I was afraid and went and hid thy Talent in the Earth lo there thou hast that is thine his Lord answered and said unto him Thou wicked and sloathful Servant thou knowest I reaped where I sowed not and gathered where I strewed not thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with Usury take therefore the Talent from him and give it to him that hath ten Talents for unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath and cast ye the Unprofitable Servant into utter Darkness where shall be Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth And he compared the Kingdom unto Ten Virgins and to many other things which would swell into a great Volumn to declare and open the Mysteries thereof Now all this was to be found within man for there he told them the Kingdom was whereunto this was likened and he advised them to strive to enter into the Kingdom and told them The Gate was streight and the Way was narrow which leads into it but the Way was broad the Gate wide that leads into Destruction yet nevertheless for all this the god of the World blinded their Eyes and their Hearts were still hardened although there were some that bore witness to their Faces whom they had sent unto Christ to seek to ensnare him by Words and testified That never man spake like unto him yet for all this the Enmity came to burn the more violently in them against him which Enmity arose from the Seed of the Serpent which lodg'd in them wherby they sought Oportunity that they might by any Means put him to death which was not unknown to him who was the express Image of God the Father in whom the Godhead dweltbodily so that he was the Searcher and Discerner of the Heart and by his Light he makes manifest the Secrets thereof for he saw through the Pharisees who made large Profession of God the Father but yet they rebelled against the Son of God whom he had sent a Light into the World therefore he pronounced Wo against them calling them Blind Leaders of the Blind and Hypocrites and Whited Walls and likening them unto Painted Sepulchres which outwardly made a fair shew but inwardly were full of Rottenness telling them that they washed the Outside of the Platter but the Inside remained full of Filthiness and that they paid Tythes of Cummin Mint and Annise when they omitted the weightier Matters even Justice and Judgment these are they that in outward Appearance did walk as to the Law blameless yet Christ warn'd his Disciples to beware of the Leven of these great Professors who did all to be seen of Men they made Long Prayers in the Synagogues and loved the Chiefest Place in the Assemblies and Greetings in the Market-place and would not keep Company with Publicans nor Sinners but cry'd out against Christ because his Disciples did eat with Publicans and Sinners yet nevertheless Christ told his Disciples that unless their Righteousness did exceed the Righteousness of these High Professing Scribes and Pharisees they should in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and he many times did dispute with these Professors who sate in Moses's Chair but they being Carnally-minded could not understand him because he spoke unto them in a spiritual Sense therefore what was spoken by him unto them was as Parables which they could not understand and many times his Sayings were so hard amongst them that them that believed on him could not understand for even his Disciples whereof he had chosen twelve particularly unto himself many times asked him in private what might be the Meaning of what he had spoke to them in publick And he sent forth many of his Disciples to declare his Name abroad in the World and that they should publish That CHRIST the Mâ—sâ—ias who was the Redeemer of the World which the Prophets prophesied should come that now he is come a Light into the World that whosoever believes in him should no longer remain in Darkness and he fore-told to them the Destruction of their Temple and Temple-worships and that he was come to put an End to it all and that they should no longer worship him at Jerusalem nor in the Mount at Samaria but he that will worship the Father must worship him in Spirit and in Truth and that such the Father seeks to worship him and that God was and is a Spirit and those that will worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth and he told his Disciples that he had chosen them twelve and yet one of them was a Devil and he fore-told them that he should be betrayed by one of them into the Hands of Sinners and that they should be all offended because of him but honest-hearted Peter who was one of the 12. told him from the pure Simplicity that lodged in his Heart that though they all should forsake him yet he would not but Christ saw how secretly the Seed of the Serpent lodged in him so answered him that before the Cock should crow he would deny him thrice and he told them that the Shepherd should be smitten and the Sheep
the seed of the Serpent lodged in the Bishops and Prelates and how it was drawing out of the Form of Godliness again into the heathenish Way of Worship but see how the Lord hath then raised up a People in whom his seed was manifest who bore their Testimony against those Bishops and Prelates in whom the contrary seed lodged who came to be hated and in scorn and derision called Puritants and were rendered by them as Separates Deceivers Deluders in whom the seed of the Serpent ruled for therein lies the subtilty of the Serpent to charge the Truth with that which he himself is guilty of so that at all times the seed of God and his eternal Truth hath been persecuted by the Serpent and his seed under the Name of Error Heresie and Blasphemy So those People came to be imprisoned fined and many of them banished but yet see how the Judgments of the Lord came both upon King Bishops Prelates and Priests and how the Serpent came to have his Head bruised in them who raised up a War in the Nation whereby they came to be cut off from the Face of the Earth and all stood in a tottering Condition so that the seed of the Serpent was fain to endeavour to shelter himself under a more smoother Form of Godliness then he had done in many years before even under the Presbyterian Form but then the Lord raised up his seed in a People who could not be satisfied under that Form for the Light even Christ shined in them and let them see many gross Errors in it and caused them to with-draw from having Fellowship with them and these in scorn came to be called by the rude Multitude Independants but they also came soon after into a Form so that there was a ground in them wherein the seed of the Serpent might lodge therefore it soon entered into that Form and likewise corrupted it but then the Lord raised up his seed again in some of them and caused them to depart from them out of that Form and to give their Testimony against the Errors thereof which arose from the seed of the Serpent and these came by the rude Multitude to be called Anabaptists but these soon departed from the pure Life that arose in them from the seed of God in them and came into Imitation of what the Saints of God had done in former Ages and so came into a Form of Godliness and the Life and Simplicity which first moved in them came to be lost and there came a ground wherein the seed of the Serpent could lodge therefore he soon entred into that Form and likewise corrupted it yet the Lord still followed him with his Light which shined in these dark Forms and caused many of them to see that there is nothing but Emptiness and Barrenness in that Form and that their Souls therein could not be satisfied and then they came into a more purer Way and Likeliness of the Truth then any of the former and they bore their Testimony against all the Forms through which they had come for they saw by the Light of Christ the Deceit that lodged in them and so they came to a Way of seeking and waiting on the Lord but yet they likewise came again into a Form and there was a kind of a ground amongst them wherein the seed of the Serpent could remain for the Serpent can turn himself into the likeness of any thing even into the very likeness of the Way the Life the Truth but though he can transform himself into the Form of an Angel of Light and into the Likeness of Truth yet he cannot come into the Way nor into the Life it self nor into the Truth therefore now is the Lord raising up a People after all this who shall worship him in Spirit in Truth out of all Forms Likenesses so that in them the Lord will destroy and judge out all that ground wherein the seed of the Serpent can lodge so that the Serpent's Head is come to be bruised in many Thousands in their particulars and as it is begun in the particulars so likewise it shall at length be bruised in the general the seed that hath long groaned unto God shall be delivered from under the Burden of Oppression for now after all this long dark night of Apostacy which hath been for this 1600. odd years wherein the Lord has been as it were a stranger unto the Sons Daughters of Men and they have lived as it were without God in the World taking pleasure and delight in the vanities thereof their foolish Hearts have caused them to err but now is the Day sprung from on high even the mighty Day of the Lord therfore the night must vanish away for the Darkness cannot stand before the Brightness of his Coming nor before the Gloriousness of his Appearance therefore it is time for the Prince of Darkness to arise to gather together the uttermost of his Strength for now is his Kingdom invaded on every Side even by the Lamb and his Followers who is risen to make War in Righteousness and by patient suffering shall overcome his Kingdom and bruise the Serpent's Head Now thou that readest hast thou not heard of a People who dare not swear nor dare not tell a Lye who cannot stoop nor bow their Knees nor put off their Hats in Honour to any man's Person in the World and which cannot give any vain flattering Titles to man neither can have any Fellowship with workers of Iniquity neither can they enter into any excess of Riot with them neither dare they speak any other Language then that which the Saints in former Ages spoke and stand as Witnesses against all vain Talks and foolish Jesting and cannot respect the Person of any man because therein they should commit Sin who dare not to do unto any man but as they would be done unto in the like Condition who bears their Testimony against all the vain Worships of the World and all deceitful Professors who profess God in Words but deny him in their Lives and Conversations and hast thou not at sometimes heard their very Enemies say that they believed that many of them were honest People and that their dealing towards them hath been honest and just and hast thou not heard that some of them have wished that they could live as those People do and hast thou not heard the People of the World report of what undaunted Spirits those People are who fear not the Frowns nor the lofty looks of the greatest Potent upon the Face of the Earth and on the other side hast thou not heard the rude People of the World even Drunkards Swearers Lyars and Covetous Persons and such as live in all manner of Excess of Riot cry out that these are Deceivers Deluders and Blasphemers and that they are not worthy to live upon the face of the Earth and hast thou not heard what petitioning to the Powers