are wearing the crown Friends let me be plain with you How came you into the fear of the Lord Did that which brought you in lead you out again Surely no the Work of the Lord is perfect and stands for ever and the true Members of Christ Jesus call not this high or that low but they know that if any man will be great amongst them he is to be servant to all I say the Members jar not nor clash not one against another but there is a most sweet harmony in the body without any discord at all the highest doth not say to the lowest I have no need of thee nor the lowest doth not say so to the highest But friends is it not because you have felt the Cross too heavy for you to hear having once taken it up and laid it down again Or is it because you would shun judgement which you must come to again and love it too before you can meet with the Lord in peace Peradventure thou thinkest thy self some wise man in knowledge and so hast been accounted in thy generation and for thee to become a fool or to come back again after so great a profession of Christ as thou hast made would be to thy dishonor and shame would cover thy face If thus thou reasonest know this Thou art thy own Enemy and thou lovest the praise of men more then the glory of God or the salvation of thy own soul And since you cannot deny but the poor receive the Gospel the rich are sent empty away with all their words of mans Wisdom How comes it to pass that the plain and naked Truth of God preached in power and practised in simplicity is of no more account amongst you Friends be not deceived in your selves for you cannot deceive us The Light of Christ Jesus in us hath discovered you all to be out of the way who own it not Are you sent of God who cry Lo here or low there as some of you do and creep into Chambers and private places there speak with your doors shut Is this in times of freedom like the practice of the true Ministers of the Gospel who preach the glad tydings thereof to all inviting all and beseeching all to receive it that so all might come in or be left without excuse Can any of you say you preach the everlasting Gospel by the Revelation of Christ Jesus in you Or do you not confess your selves to be fallible and such as preach from a large comprehension of what you have heard or read peradventure from H. N. or Jacob Behem c Is what you preach of God And are all your springs in him If yours be the everlasting truth of God come forth and declare your Message to all for truth seeks no corners The Kingdom of Heaven is like a draw-net which being cast into the sea receives all that comes in but treasures up none but the good fish if then you would be Fishers of men come to the sea-shore stand in an open place and cast in your Nets into the seas of Confusion of this World prick people to the heart by your powerful Ministration and convince thousands of their Errors Heresies and false Opinions which they received and suckt in by the false prophets and Ministers of Antichrist as the true Ministers of Christ in the primitive times did and still do But if you doubt whether yours be the true Gospel or another My counsel to you is CEASE to declare it in the Name of the Lord for nothing shall profit the hearers but what is declared in the eternal Spirit of God without doubting Wait in silence then until you have received power from on high which when it is received and declared shall put to silence the gain-sayers and stop the mouth of the evil doers Friends for the Seed's sake in you I desire to speak therefore suffer me though a fool to be free with you Have you known the fools state which all that will be truly wise must come to if not hasten thither apace for mans Wisdom is foolishness with God and and keeps him truly in that which is but folly Oh! What will all thy carnal Wisdom though in a mystery and high notions avail thee so long as thou art got above that which leads to true Wisdom and makes wise unto salvation those that are fools for Christ Are you those that have got in thorough the strait Gate and do you walk in the narrow path which leads to life and which few find Or are you not indeed those who have striven for a time to enter but could not Take heed you be not left out Have you bid Farewel to the friendship of this World to the manners fashions vain customs and delights thereof Or are you not still alive in them all Have you born the cross till every idle world and vain imagination be slain and crucified Or are you not those who have felt it too heavy to bear and so laid it down again Are you as Beacons upon a Hill And do you give light to all that see your conversation Or have you not put your light in a dark Lanthore not suffering it to shine forth lest you your selves should be discovered Are you not those who preach and hear from a large comprehension but your selves far from the life of what you hear or speak Have you the power as well as the words of truth Or are you uot those who have lost the power you once had as the Devil hath done and retained the notion onely which he is the supporter of Are you indeed and in truth arrived at the dispensation of Love as you pretend or third degree of the holy life as you call it which loves its Neighbours good as its own and stoops to the meanest Babe in Christ as well as walks with the grown man Friends the Well of Life lyes low and you must dig deep to find it high words without the power are as the blustering winds which do more harm then good but its the still low voice where God is heard and the sheep of Christ follow it 'T is true the Doctrine of the Crosse was once in my esteem but a low and mean dispensation and the disciples thereof as I thought in a pitifull and sad condition but this was in the time of my exaltation with you when I had got above the pure and meek seed of Jesus which was kept under in me but blessed be the Lord who hath brought down the Mighty from his Seat and set me on the Rock of ages On which if ever you know stability you must be brought which Rock Christ which followed the Israelites the wilderness and refreshed them wh 〈…〉 Rock is the food of Angels as well as every hungry soul If any of you h 〈…〉 this bread you know that in the m 〈…〉 of famine you shall have enough a 〈…〉 that your water is sure coming out the rock if so I
come to the truth nor be led by the Spirit of Truth for the Children of God are all guided by the infallible spirit so long as they be faithful followers of it and they live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and talk in the spirit and act in the spirit all which is a Riddle to thee and impossible for any to open unless he have the gift of Faith to believe in the mighty Power of God which is the Son of God Friend whosoever thou art that art of this perswasion I must declare unto thee from the Lord Thy Faith is but Faney thou art still in Aegypt and like to perish in the Wilderness O be perswaded to search the Scriptures and to believe in Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of the Faith of his Disciples of Whom thou art none as thou now stands forbear thou to make mention of the holy and infallible Spirit of Truth which in their several measures all possess who are taught of God until thou are freed from the spirit of Error and come out from the fleshly apprehensions of the Divine Truth to see the infallible things of God by the eye of living Faith and if you come to know the Lord his truth your rotten foundations must be removed and your Faith built upon the Rock of Ages Dost thon think that because thy heart is filled with unbelief of the mighty Power of God and because thou knowest not the secrets of the Lord revealed unto thee in regard thou art not come into his fear that therefore the Lord doth not reveal his secret to any No no thou are miserably deluded and bereft of the right use of thy understanding by Satan and his Minister for know thou the Lord is as merciful now as ever as good now as ever and as free to reveal himself and his secrets unto those that fear him now as ever he was Canst thou be ignorant of this That the Lord reveals his secrets to them that fear him Or that the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Psal. 25.14 Or Prov. 3.32 That his secret is with the Righteous And Amos 3.7 That the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants Friend There is no way to come to the knowledge of God but by the Revelation of the Son of God in us witnessing with our spirits whose children we are And all that I shall say further to thee herein is this My soul shall weep in secret for thee and and thy Teachers who have caused thee to err they themselves not knowing the truth by saying Revelation is ceased when there is no other way to know God by A Word of Counsel to him that feels himself loaden with his sins and groans for deliverance but complains that he wants power ART thou laden with the burthen of thy sins And dost thou mourn in secret praying to God for case and pardon Or Art thou black with lying in the mire and filthy pollutions of this World so that thou art ready to say From the crown of my head to the sole of my foot I am full of wounds and putrified sores and would fain be made clean Art thon possest with the spirit of error and ignorant of the truth of God And wouldst thou be acquainted with the Spirit of God to guide thee into all truth and lead thee into the path of holiness Wouldst thou be freed from the spirit of pride self-love passion and emulation towards thy Neighbour Art thou covetous of gain and earthly-minded and dost not do to another as thou wouldst be done unto wanting the Royal Law of Love to be thy Rule Art thou possest not onely with one evil spirit but Legions and seest no power to resist the least assault of the Enemy Then be thou counselled by one who hath felt the weight and burchen of most of these evils and seen deliverance in a measure to own the light in thy conscience and that will open unto thee a door of hope and shew thee a Fountain where Judah and Jerusalem Jew and Gentile Christian and Heatheu Profane and Professor high and low rich and poor may wash in and be made clean yea and from all their filthiness may they be cleansed And if thou do so viz. own the Light in thy conscience and obey it it will lead thee to holiness And thou that complainest for want of power against sin I tell thee and do affirm unto thee whoever thou art Thou hast power unless with the unjust Steward thou hast buryed it in thy corrupt heart and made no improvement of it and the Lord for thy unsaithfulness hath taken it from thee and given it to him who hath been a better husband of his gift then thou hast been For this I say That the Lord hath given a Talent or measure of himself to every one to profit withal which is his light in every conscience the which whosoever doth not improve shall have it taken from him and he be cast into utter darkness for there is a day vvhen the Candle of the Wicked shall be put out and he shall have no light to vvalk by though he seek it and that vvith tears Remember Iudas and be vvarned by him to be faithful to thy Master and to obey him even whilst the Light shines upon thee and would guide thee least thy repentance be too late as his was and thou be with him called a Son of Perdition but if thou obey the Light in thy conscience which convinceth thee of sin I declare unto thee as a Word from experience of the mighty Power of God and of its powerful working there That it will not only give thee power against gross corruptions but against vain thoughts and idle words and though thy sins be red like crimson they shall be as Wool and as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Be willing therefore and obedient and thou shalt eat the good of the Land but if thou refuse and rebel thou shalt be devoured with the Sword The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Some Hope left for the persecuting Magistrate of England if his Day of Grace be not past already PEradventure thou mayest say unto me I have been a Civil Magistrate and a great Persecutor of the Saints 〈◊〉 the Most High God who have few or none on earth to plead their cause how shall I find mercy from the Lord for I am the greatest of sinners That when the Servants and Messengers of the Lord have come into our Cities Towns Villages or Market-places to preach repentance and declare against sin and to bring the glad tydings of the Gospel into our quarters where it was never preached before I have not been so sober unto them as the Gadarenes were to Christ who when he came to cast out unclean spirits and to do them good they entreated him to depart out of their coasts but I instead of entreating have compelled
you whilst you are crying up Learning and humane Wisdom and despise the still and low voice of Christ in you which speaks not in the Words of mans Wisdom Oh ye men of Learning in all the Wisdom of this World When will you cease to tumble over your many and dusty Volumes of corrupted Authors to find out that Truth which lyes buryed within you Oh cease a while from searching into them and try whether you can find your Names written in the Câ—mbs Book of life if not mourn and â—â—â—â—â—nt for your condition of all others is most to be pittyed in regard of the great loss that is to come upon you you having much to lose Now that I may not leave you without hope as those who perish in their sins my advice to you is To turn to the light in your consciences and be obedient unto it for unless ou so do you can never come to the Key of David which opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens Wait at Wisdoms Posts which is the true fear of the Lord from which you are all departed who are gone from the light within and are seeking Salvation in outward things for the least Babe of Light sees thorough you and can discover your darkness A Direction for all such as wait for the coming of their Saviour in spirit and how they may know him when he appears CHrist's first appearance to the World was in flesh and the fleshly eye saw him but his second appearance is in spirit which no fleshly eye can behold and live for as the Lightning cometh from one part of Heaven to lighten another part under Heaven so shall the coming of the Son of man be and blessed are all they who wait for his second coming to wit without sin unto salvation for his second coming is to put an end to sin to finish transgression and to bring in everlasting righteousness He that hath an ear to hear let him hear Now if thou wouldst plainly know the signs of his coming unto thee in particular then know this That when he comes 't is to convince thee of sin and to make a separation between thee and thy former Lovers be they who or what they will be there is not a darling or dalilah to be spared though never so dear or near unto thee but all must be crucified yea and thy own life must be lost too if ever thou wilt find it in God Friend the life of a Christian is hid with Christ in God and there is no finding of it but by going out of self for know this That before Christ Jesus proclaims peace to the soul he sets the man at variance with himself and makes him war against the Enemies of his peace within him not without him To thee then who art at ease in the flesh hugging the spirit of self-love and of this World which lyes in wickedness and art courting the great men thereof for private respects as honor and preferment or the like know thou thou art not yet come to the spiritual Warfare nor dost thou know the coming of Christ to thee as a Saviour which every man must witness before he can be a true Souldier in the Army of the Lamb or witness redemption from the Spirit of Bondage My direction then unto thee is To watch for the coming of Christ who cometh as a Thief in the night that when he comes thou mayest not be found sleeping in sin nor snorting in the vain delights and pleasures of this life which are but for a moment Christ stands at thy door and knocks O give him entrance and suffer not his Locks to be wet with the dew of the morning Suffer not I say the evil one to make such a noise in thy soul as to drown the low voice of Christ in thee who saith I am meek and lowly of heart learn of me Let it not be said of thee He came unto his own and his own received him not Encouragement to the weary Traveller whose Journey is towards Canaan to follow the Light and Lamb of God to the Holy Land of Rest but not to go before it VVHosoever thou art that art come out of Aegypt the land of darkness where the blind lead the blind and hast a purpose and good will to travel to the holy Land thou must gird up the loins of thy mind and with a holy Resolution be content to pass through all the fiery tryals thou maist meet with and never sit down until thou shale arrive at perfect rest in God And that thou maist not loosethy Way be thou advised to follow thy Guide and go not before him for no longer then thou art a follower of the Lamb canst thou go aright or walk in safety Many there are who be come out of Aegypt and have made some progress towards Canaan but because the Guide to rest makes no haste he being meek and lowly and is a gentle Leader of his Lambs and those that are with young therefore it is that many times the followers go before their Leader and through haste lose their Way Be thou warned therefore who art but a young Traveller and follower of the lamb that thou leave not thy true Guide nor wander from him lest thou come into Aegypt again as some have done and so peradventure never find thy Guide more Friend if ever thou thinkest to be victorious thou must follow the Lamb for assure thy self the Enemy will assult thee on every side and endeavour thy destruction for know thou That 't is through sufferings and often conflicts with the Enemy that thou must pass yea and become a Conqueror too befoer thou must come to reign The daily death thou must witness and the daily Crosse must be born before the Crown of Victory can be obtained I say Thou must follow thy Leader and Captain of Salvation through all difficulties if thou wilt be victorious And for thy encouragement be assured of this He will never leave thee nor forsake thee In the light of the Lord then and as faithful followers of the Lamb let us jurney towards our Land of Rest with unwearied minds for assuredly The Land is good and will abundantly reward the Traveller upon his arrival there above what he could ask or think Many there are whom I believe are gone forth with an honest intent to travel ehither and finding the Way strait and the journey long and the Difficulties many have sate down by the way but let such know there is no truerest on this side Canaan Others there are who have gone forth to view the holy Land and as the false spyes of the Land of Canaan did so have these even brought up an evil report upon the good Land and have told people There is no attaining of it in this life for that the Cities are walled the Enemies are mighty and numerous and too strong to be overcome These have told people the holy life is unattainable
say Eat O friends drink abundantly O beloved Go no more forth But you who are still upon the Mountains you must come down and dwell in the low Valley before you can find safety You must walk in the narrow path which leads to life before you can come to rest and to the spirits of just men made perfect you must be joyned Peradventure some of you may say you are now upon the Mount with Jesus and have seen his transfiguration and do say in your hearts It is good to be here if so yet boast not For you must all come down from the Mount as the Disciples of Christ and as Christ himself did and live here below Nay though you have been wrapt up into the third heaven as Paul was and heard things unutterable yet the cross must be born and the Thorn in the flesh felt by all who are lifted up above their measures To your measures herefore of the gift of God all come Boast not of any thing which you have â—t attained through the death of the Cross for if you do you will suffer loss â—any of you have set your selves at the â—pper end in the room Oh be sure you be not without your wedding garments left the Master send you forth as unworthy guests you seem to be eager to tast of the Supper of the Lord and some of you are giving and taking it in beggarly elements All such are to know they are not yet past the shadow be their pretence what it will be much lesse come to the substance of all things which puts an end to types and shadows The voice in me cryes keep low abide in the fear of the Lord for there is the beginning of true wisdome High words will no longer beguile the true Israelite for in him there is an eye open which sees and can discern spirits and an ear that can hear the shepherds voice from the stranger The stranger or false messenger's voice saith I comprehend all mysteries I am past the first second dispensation to wit the fear and the faith and I am arrived at the third which is Love I have born the crosse and now wear the crown Is this thy voice indeed then know thou art the Antichrise whom God will destroy with the breath of his mouth whosoever thou art that cryest up one dispensation by way of boasting and sets it against another thou art doing the Devils work and endeavouring to make a rent where nothing but unity and peace ought to be for one mans state in Christy though but the babe is not to be set against another no more then Christ is to be divided But now on the contrrary the true Shepherds voice saith I am meek and lowly of heart learn of me and be little in your own eys This voice calls out of the world it stills the waves when they rage it binds the strong man in chains and Nobles in fetters of iron by its meekness patience gentleness and long-suffering Therefore friends come all down into the true fear of the Lord where this is to be witnessed and no where els Your knowledge in misteries and large comprehensions of divine things unlesse your practice be answerable doth but fit you for the scourge with many stripes I say while you are upon your Pinacles the inward beauty of the Temple you can never behold nor see the glorious presence of the Lord who fits therein Hasten therefore to the porch where wisdomes voice is to be heard and become Doore-keepers therein which keeps out sin and vanity that so an entrance may be made unto you into the holy of ho-lies For this I declare to you all That no more of the true knowledge of God have you attained then what you have learned and known through the death and daily cross of Christ Jesus And now to thee who hast been once enligtened and hast tasted of the heavenly gift and been made partaker of the holy Ghost and tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Content not thy self with these refreshments nor feed thou upon them for they will passe away as the lightning but live thou upon the bread of life it self from which these refreshings have proceeded for that 's it and it alone which can nourish the Soul up to eternal life I say again keep low and patiently run the race that is set before thee and through perseverance thou shalt gain the Crown Some Queries to my old friends the Ministers of the Church of England FRiends I come not now to question you as to my self nor yet your Faith and Hope in God being fully satisfied concerning you and your Ministry and also of your Call thereunto having well known and heard the chief amongst you for many years together Yet for the sakes of those heaps of people that pin their faith upon your sleeves and take all for granted that you declare unto them for truth believing your lives also to be unblameable I shall mildely propound unto you these ensuing Queries charging you as you would be accounted Ministers of Christ and are willing to observe the Apostles direction of rendring a reason of your hope to every one that shall ask you to make it appear in your answer by what fruits you may be known 1. VVHether was your Call to your Ministry from God yea or no as the true Ministers of the Gospel ever was and will be Or was it not a place of preferment to a comfortable maintenance as you call it and to get a Trade to live by that called you And whether if that maintenance were removed you your selves would not soon come to silence and your Ministry quickly fall to the ground 2. Whether or no did ever the true Ministers of Christ or any of them go to the Arm of Flesh for aid to uphold their Doctrine and force a Maintenance from people contrary to their consciences as you do 3. Whether are you not respecters of persons honouring and fawning upon those men most who can promote you to the greatest Benefices And do you not remove from one quarter to another where the greatest gain is to be had often leaving your flock when you are assured of greater wages from other Masters or because you may not sheer them to their very skins 4. Whether do you not rend and tear mens Goods from them to the value of ten times more then your unreasonable and Antichristian demands are under a pretence of a Popish Law for maintenance and trebble damages and yet come forth and say you are Gospel-Ministers and the workman is worthy of his hire though the true Husbandman never set you to work 5. Whether is the spirit of cruel and bitter perjecution in which many of you are found and which none of you that I hear have declared against be the sprâ—â—â— of a true Minister of Christ or the spirit of Antichrist 6. Whether have you not stirred up the Beast â—nd
bore the ears as I may say of the hearers or bring to the Readers remembrance your multitude of Errors Heresies and false Doctrines nor trouble him with a view of all your ungodly practices at once I shall be sparing as hoping you may return from whence you are fallen and repent but shall hereafter if God will propound a few queries unto you whereby you may see your selves in some few particulars of your Doctrine and practice Friends Is preaching for hire and persecution of your Neighbour for conscience-sake to be miantained by Scripture Is throwing men into Gaols and stealing of their Goods to be maintained by the Scriptures Is your taking up the carnal Weapons to defend your Gospel with when your spirituall Weapons will not do to be maintained by Scripture Did Christs Ministers ever rebel against the Civil Magistrate and teach men so to do as many of you have done of late instead of being subject to the higher Powers For my own part I wonder not hereat as knowing that that spirit which at present guides you teacheth rebellion and disobedience as well to God as to man Furthermore You say you are Ministers of the Gospel and yet have perswaded people to believe that the Commandments of God cannot be kept Reader to thee who art of this perswasion with them be but moderate and let me ask thee this question For what end thinkest thou were the Commandments given by God Were they to be read onely or to be painted upon the Steeple-house Walls Will that please the Lord Or were they not given to be kept by his servants who enter into life Hath not the Lord said He will write them upon his peoples hearts never to be blotted out Or can any man be blessed that doth not keep them Tell me Doth any man require that of another which he knows he cannot perform and do And wilt thou make the Lord so hard a Master as to require obedience of man if it were not in his power to give it or that the Lord had not impowered him Friend even as the Serpent beguiled Eve so art thou by blind Guides He drew our first Parents into disobedience by going out to hearken to his subtilty and so left their innocency and thou being now in disobedience he would keep thee there by his evil instruments O take heed of the Serpents brood who say The Commandments of God cannot be kept for they are false prophets that so teach but assure thy self That if ever thou enter into life thou must keep the Commandments David could keep them under the Law and said That the Commandments of the Lord were not grievous My soul saith he hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly And again saith he I have done thy Commandments And again he saith I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies Read Psal. 119 166 167 168. Now Friend consider the promise of the Lord concerning his people by the the mouth of his Prophet Zechariah That in the day of the Lord He that is feeble amongst them shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God Zech. 12.8 And as the keeping of the Commandments is the entrance into life so are they pronounced blessed that keep them Rev. 22.14 psal. 119.2 Prov. 8.32 And saith St. John Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments 1 Joh. 2.3 But he that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Ver. 4. And again Whatsoever we ask saith he we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight 1 John 4.22 and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him Ver. 24. Such then as say that the commandments of God cannot be kept are hereby proved to be Lyars false prophets and deceivers Come out therefore from among them and be thou separate from such unclean men for the lyar shall not enter into the Kingdom nor any unclean or imperfect thing Friends I even tremble to think on your condition who break the Commandments of God and teach men so to do you are so far from the Way the Truth and the Life that unless you speedily repent and turn to the Lord you will have your portion with hypocrites where is weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore My direction then to you also before it be too late is To own the Light in your consciences and submit to its checks when you are reproved by it and know this That whilst it reproves you for your fins the day of Grace is not yet past nor hath the Lord given over striving with you but when you feel no checks of conscience when you do evil in thought word or deed then be assured your day is past and you are sealed up for destruction I say unto you therefore again Own the Light within you while you have it and take it for your Guide for you are gone a whoring from God and the Spirit of Truth and Holiness you know not O do not any longer abuse this Light this Lamb of God for you will one day find him to be the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah who when his Wrath shall be kindled against you you must be consumed for ever And now to you who say We are the Learned Ministers of England We have the Tongues We have the Originals and we have the many Languages and therefore we are best able to interpret the Scriptures To you I say this That the holy Scriptures are a sealed Book to all that are not taught of God by the Revelation of his spirit which you falsly and ignorantly say is ceased therefore it is that the unlearned Doctors and others the University-men of this age wrest them to their own destruction therefore it is that there are so many Errors Heresies Opinions Sects and divided Judgements amongst you and those who are called Christians Friends if you be ignorant of the true Original of all things to wit the infallible and unerring Spirit of God by which the holy Scriptures were wrote you want the key of true knowledge which should open them unto you and you with all your learning must stay without when the simple whom God teacheth and whom you despise can give you the true meaning and mind of God's Spirit shall enter in Oh! remember that the Jews had the Original Tongues before you and spoke them naturally and more then that they had amongst them the true Original himself even Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the first and the last and yet they crucified him and chose a Thief and a Robber before him I wish from my very soul it were not so with you chusing Hebrew Greek Latine and other Tongues before the naked and simple truth of God I say Christ Jesus was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the wise Greeks foolishness So is he this day to