fit our Souls the Kingdom to possess Yea in the Wilderness he doth us lead Till all is mortifi'd worn out and dead That is not fit t' enjoy that blessed Land Of which Canaan did a Figure stand A Servant-State precedes that of a Son A Sonship must be known e'er th' Work be done The faithful Servant doth his Master fear A Father's Honour doth i' th' Son appear The Fear i' th' first Estate precedes the Love The last excludeth Fear the Scriptures prove A Son abideth in the House alway The Servant is but for his Time and Day And knows not what is by his Master said Or acted whilst the Son is privy made For 't is his Meat to do his Father's Will And chearfully he doth it all fulfill A second Resurrection doth imply A first and second Death doth signifie That a first Death already 's passed by If the first Death we do not really find Until a second seizeth on our Mind Eternal Wrath will come to be our Share And who can that great Misery declare So then we must a first Death truly know E'er second come if we escape its Wo. The first Death on us by Transgression come And o'er our Minds as yet doth Pow'r assume Whilst we unto the World are found alive We 're dead to God and of his Life depriv'd Christ must arise in us before that we Can know this Death or from 't deliver'd be Sin is this Death and whilst its Pow'rs abide Unbroke in us Christ is as crucifi'd To us but if he rise he doth bequeath That Life whereby we apprehend this Death We know it thus and as we do partake Of this first Resurrection and do make Our Part in it assur'd we live thereby That Death to know which is in Christ to die Nor can we know it till we understand The Work is finish'd which he did command A second Death we may this Death express The first to Sin this to our Righteousness This is the Saints Death precious in God's Eyes Accepted as their sweetest Sacrifice And 't is their Gain for now to God they live And more they die more Life they do receive Christ made us live and we did Sin refrain But through this Death he cometh to be slain In us that has the Pow'r of Death the Devil In what he works like Good as well as Evil. This Death is that th' Apostle did profess His Longing for with so great Earnestness For unto all Self-righteousness he dy'd That he might know Christ and him crucify'd He first makes mention of his Resurrection Next of his Fellowship with his Affection And lastly of a true Conformity Unto his Death which he desir'd to see This last he did desire we plainly read T' attain the Resurrection of the Dead Much of these glorious Truths here might we write But if we would obtain a clearer Sight We must our selves in Seeking then delight For when all 's utter'd that can be declar'd Or spoken of that can be read or heard These Truths are Myst'ries still unto that Mind That does not them sincerely seek to find For such another never can them know The use of Words is to direct unto The Truth in us to find out ev'ry State Which unto us the Scripture doth relate They are not distant from us they are near If we could know the Truth of what we hear For God's the Substance of each Mystery And unto ev'ry Soul he 's always nigh He sills all Things and doth in all remain The Heaven of Heavens cannot him contain He 's nearer us than our most secret Thought If this we knew or were it truly taught Our Apprehensions would not be abroad At some far distant Place to seek our God For whilst such Notions prepossess our Mind The Truth of Godliness we cannot find Christ also doth near ev'ry Soul abide Being with the Father in strict Union ty'd The Holy Spirit which doth still proceed From th' Father and the Son as we may read In Scripture testify'd is also near If we look for him where he doth appear That Christ may formed be within our Heart Before he will the Mystery impart But unto whom do these great Truths belong Not to the wise the rich the high or strong In their own Eyes in this they have no Share But with their Skill and Art excluded are But unto such as low and needy be In ev'ry Age the Gospel has been free It was to such Isaiah did proclaim The Gospel-Riches in the Father's Name O every one that hungry is he cries Or thirsty let him come and without Price Buy Milk and Wine Thus God the Poor supplies But he that hath a Price for 't to be told Riches of Grace he never did behold For if 't can purchas'd be in any Case By what 's our own it cannot then be Grace For Grace as it is Free belongs to none But those in misery and Want alone Such then it was that Christ our Saviour sought When on an high Feast-day he thus cry'd out Let him that thirsty is come unto me That he may drink Lifes Water which is free And these his gracious Words may be apply'd To all Mankind that should in him confide The Time approach'd that such should truly know Out of their Bellies living Waters flow And this was said touching the Holy Spirit Which every true Believer should inherit This to reveal he then both came and dy'd But was not known till he was glorify'd None in this holy Path he came to shew Can walk but such as are upright and true All Forms without us are but this within By which he doth destroy the Root of Sin This is the Way which all that do believe In Christ should wait assur'dly to receive This Way he did before his Follow'rs ly It was to wait for Power from on high That perfect Gift that cometh from above From God who in the Heart doth shed his Love This Way he did before all Ways prefer To be enjoin'd on each Particuler For tho' he did that Heavenly Wisdom preach And taught them as no other Man could teach Yet unto them he plainly did declare He'ad much to say which yet they could not bear Nor could they bear 't if he should bodily With them remain Therefore 't was needful he Should in the Flesh depart that they might know The Truth of what he came to say and do I 'll pray said he the Father and he 'll give Another Comforter with you to live And he continually with you shall stay And never more removed be away The Spirâ—t of Truth out of the World is thrust Because they see him not nor in him trust But you him know and shall hereafter find Him that is with you dwelling in your Mind Then unto your Remembrance he will bring What I have told you as to ev'ry thing When he is come I tell you what is true He 'll tâ—ke of mine and shew it unto you All 's nine the Father hath you may believe Therefore I said he 'll take of mine and give To you Yet a short while and th' World no more Shall see me as they have done heretofore Bâ—t you shall see me and you then shall know Because I live that you shall live also That day you 'll know I in the Father be In you also and you shall be in me Go search the Scriptures and you shall not find Another Method to perfect the Mind FINIS
O'er most as on him in a Creature-way Men look they know not his Eternal Day And whilst Men think he is not to be known As surely now as when to Jew was shown Or that he is not now to us so near As when he did to them i' th' Flesh appear Such know him not as everlasting King Nor yet as in his Death and Suffering Christ is and ever has a Myst'ry been Which Vult'rous Eye as yet hath never seen Whoever finds and sees whom they profess He is their Mystery of Godliness He was and is their undefiled way In which could never walk a Beast of prey Christ in the Flesh was vailed to the Jew To know him but i' th' Flesh's a Vail to you That Christ shall once be seen the Jews presume And you aright believe that he did come But whilst you know him not t' appear within Both are alike concluded under Sin 'T is true in a good Sense what both assert And into one new Man God will convert These two as they breathe after Christ and then Shall know that he puts off the Vail in Men. For all those Acts which heretofore he did He doth in Spirit now tho' they are hid Him still the legal Christian doth despise For in the Flesh he 's still a Cross to th' Wise He in the Flesh a Suff'rer alway was Since his being slain in Man came first to pass Christ is the same he was in every Case Who this believes doth a grand Truth embrace 'T is an authentick Truth that Christ is Lord But who so calls him of their own accord Without the Holy Spirit cannot find The truth of what they utter in their Mind In what they say true Witness is not born Nor th' Vail yet off their Understanding torn Now that the Lord the Spirit is was told Unto the Jew and true to all doth hold In Spirit then we must know Christ his Day Before the Vail in us be put away But we mistake that Christ expect to know As Jesus e'er we understand his Law The Law of God appearing in the Heart Of his great Work in us hath the first part This the Schoolmaster is which us doth bring To witness Christ in us as Lord and King This Holy Law in us must take a place Before we truly know what 's Grace as Grace This is affirm'd by the Apostle Paul And is no doubt acknowledg'd true by all I was said he without the Law alive But when th' Commandment came Sin did revive And then I dy'd was that made Death to me That was ordain'd to Life No verily But that Sin might as Sin be understood Death was in me wrought by that which was good This was the Law i' th' Heart there is no doubt For th' Law in Stone he never was without Nay further still we do in Scripture find He names th' aforesaid Law that of his Mind Which whilst not com'd unto we may believe His Sense of Sin and Death did not perceive An outward Good was to the outward Jew A Figure to the Spiritual that is true The outward Jews with Slavery opprest Before they could it see must be releast That is they could not see the promis'd Land Whilst shackled by imperious Phar'oh's Hand But were till more opprest as to it dead Nor could they cry to be delivered Thus Man in Death doth never Trouble know He 's dead to God and also to his Law The Law 's as dead to him till God revive Or by his Spirit make the same alive But when by God restor'd to Life it hath That Pow'r in us to manifest his Wrath From Heav'n against our Sin and what is Evil Wrought in 's by our malignant Foe the Devil For God Division makes by Judgment sure Betwixt the Soul of Man and Satan's Pow'r And Man in that Division doth partake Of Sorrow truly for the Evil's sake This is the Way the Father doth us draw Unto his Son that we his Love may know No other way the Righteous yet have found That saving Grace might unto them abound And they that know not thus the Work begin Their Knowledge has but superficial been Such then do well themselves to prove and try If they him know on whom they can relie Our Way th' Apostle here doth personate And to the Life sets forth the troubled State Thus he exclaim'd I in my Members find A Law that wars against that of my Mind And takes me Captive sore against my Will By which am forc'd to do that which is ill To what is good I readily consent But finds no pow'r the evil to prevent O wretched Man who shall deliver me From this body of Death and Misery The Law brought Wrath the Trouble Christ did bring Into his Flesh there to condemn the Sin His Soul to save by which he did espy Grace without Works and could it magnifie The Law of God the Creature doth condemn But Christ the Grace condemns the Sin in them God makes his Law alive this breaks Death's reign And Life we do receive by being slain Tho' all God's Dealings with us be in love Yet all his Acts we do not so approve For he doth kill before he giveth Life And in that dying there is found great Strife And yet this killing is to make us live But who in dying can that Truth perceive He makes us live but still we live in pain Because the Death and Evil doth remain We 're sure we live because we do endure The Sense of Grief which makes our living sure Our Trouble now proceedeth from within The Cause of it's the Knowledge of our Sin And Knowledge of our Sin and servile Yoke Is from the Law which we have truly broke And from 't we find cannot relieved be In this springs up the sense of Misery That fits us for the Gospel which is free Now then it is that we a Saviour want And do for him as th' Hart for Water pant Now we prepared are and Christ begins As Jesus now to save us from our Sins Sin he condemns i' th' Flesh and Pow'r doth give To serve him that has made our Souls to live A Type of this God did in Israel shew When the Aegyptian Host he overthrew I' th' Red-Sea and by that stupendious Deed His People from their Fear and Bondage freed Now unto God could Israel sacrifice What Aegypt could not stop tho' might despise Now Israel did rejoice and not before That their Oppressors they should see no more For now was their Deliverance atchiev'd From ev'ry thing that had in Bondage griev'd By this they were set free from all they knew That hindred them God's Worship to pursue Yet still before they could the Land possess Met various Troubles in the Wilderness Too tedious here and numerous to relate Which did concern them in their Servant-State This was to fit them and to lay them low In their own Eyes that they might truly know From God it was that now they did
my Mind Truth to receive where-ever we it find Whether it shall express'd or written be In Verse or Prose it is the same to me Altho' 't is true there 's many do decry Writing in Verse and think it Levity Yet well I know God may the Mind prepare Important Truths in Verses to declare Nay well I know before true Verse be made All roughness of the Mind must be allay'd A smooth and equal Temper must be found ' Ere Words can have right Number and true Sound The Temper is as Forms which may be true And yet in that Men Evil may pursue And Words apply unto another End Than Truth directs to speak or did intend Hence it appears Verse may be good or ill According to the Subject and Man's Will On this Account I shall survey thy Lines And Matter thou deliver'd has in Rhymes But first observe if thou wilst write again 'T is requisite thou keep a milder Strain For I will not hard Words with hard repay Nor Force add unto Force to gain my way 'T is Truth I seek and it shall be my bound According as God's Gift and Power 's found I 'll not say of my self in that respect As thou once said at Brigg I am Perfect But this I 'll say in me the Truth did spring Before for Truth I acted any thing Yet I 'll not say that all I 've said and done In Weight and Number with the Truth will run But this I 'll say where wrong to Truth I 'll yield Before without it I would gain the Field Therefore come forth i' th' Method that is true And do thy best my Failings to pursue As Wooll well pack'd by yielding I 'll resist The greatest Force in which thou can persist For in the main I do for Truth contend And in the Truth that War must have an end With my last Letter I shall first begin Because I find thou takes it as a Sin Or as a Crime in me or great Offence So plainly unto thee to write my Sense To me 't is plain thou takes it in this sort By the detracting Words thou dost retort Affirming that I rage I rave and roar With storming foaming and a number more Words too severe and hard to have relation To what thou calls A friendly Salutation For which I know no Cause in what was writ So thinks that thy Mistake hath caused it In this thou hast not been so kind to me Nor to thy self if thou mistaken be As to set forth the Matter or that Thing Whence these hard Words and grand Displeasure spring I am therefore in no Capacity My self nor thee where wrong to rectifie In short I 'm right or wrong in what is done If right thou dost too hard upon me run But if I 'm wrong thou still art found to blame That didst not now partic'larize the same For gen'ral Charges all Men will declare To prove one Evil thing invalid are Nay 't is a Maxim That Deceit doth lurk In Gen'rals and doth there obscurely work Thus gen'ral Charges are like Deeds o' th' Night Where Men decline the Scrut'ny of the Light In short by those hard Words which thou hast us'd I apprehend my self to be abus'd But if thou think this Charge thou can'st retrieve By answering mine which I do not believe Yet that thou mayst incourag'd be unto it I promise so submit when thou canst do it Mean while I shall proceed t' observe the rest Which in a gen'ral way is still exprest Which seems to me no edifying way Because the Truth doth almost undiscerned lay First with the State of Rest thou dost begin Enumerating many Virtues in That Sate which as thou statest them appear Not plain but intricate thou speakest there Of th' Fold of Rest in th' heat o' th' Day to be Plac'd in the Rest which can't with Truth agree For in true Rest there is no Day too hot This clearly shows that in it thou art not In it no Inequalities there are But all its Parts are congruous calm and fair And where each Part 's alike equally sure There needs no Fold of resting to secure For thus a Fold into a Fold is got Which is improper or else needeth not The Fold of Rest is only in the Way For Travellers to rest in th' Heat o' th' Day For their Refreshment when too much opprest By Heat i' th' Way and travel for the Rest By Fold of Rest we then may understand The Shadow of the Rock in th' weary Land Thou sayest the Angel in the Rest doth stand Which leads the Flock into the Holy Land Thy Words as may be seen imply no less As each observant Reader will confess Which if good Sense and understood by me The Rest and Holy Land do not agree Nay they are not one State but differ wide For sayst the Angel from the Rest doth guide Into the Holy Land by which thou hast Rashly thy self into Confusion cast For sure the Rest and Holy Land are one And 't is as sure i' th' rest the Angel leadeth none That th' Angel leadeth in the Way I grant But in the Rest that 's true there is no want I know 't is glorious for in it I have been On the Lord's Day and then have plainly seen Those true Dimensions there by which I know A right Account of it thou dost not show And if a right Account thou cannot give 'T is evident in it thou dost not live And if thou lives not in 't then in a Dream Where there is nothing truth that so doth seem No wonder for thy Rest seems in the way In which is chiefly known the Working Day And they who take their Peace and Rest up here Exceeding great in their own Eyes appear Their Acts and Words and Forms they magnifie As outward things above their Value high Of their Injoyments wondrous Noise they make As if they could by Force the Kingdom take They none can know nor can they well agree With any but of that Fraternity They see not how the Rains and Dews do fall Nor how from God the Sun doth shine on all Their Way and Form becomes to them a Snare Which God at first might for their Good prepare That they might through its use look for the Seed To whom the Promise is in time of need But such seem Rich and Wise and nothing want Whilst they are Blind and Poor and Ignorant As this is seen if any disapprove And show 't it will their Indignation move To persecute such in an unjust Hate As Troublers and Disturbers of their State But 't is no News it 's not their Fault alone Self-Righteous Men in every Age have shown The same to such as happ'ned to displease By troubling them in their false Rest and Ease But as they 're mov'd and troubl'd soon 't is plain They never yet did the true Rest attain Nor whilst their Voice is heard so loud i' th' Street Did they with the strait Gate yet
ever meet Nor whilst their Work 's so much insisted on Know they the Rest in which the Work is done Nor whilst their Care 's so much i' th' outward Court Do they know that where th' Righteous do resort Whose Life as all is hid with Christ in God Where inwardly their Souls make their abode And as that which is hidden can't be seen So they have never in great Flourish been Their Kingdom as long since their Master said Of Worldly Things is neither form'd nor made They low and little are in their own Eyes And ne'er extol themselves as great or wise And as they 're low so they at little aim Of that which th' other boastingly proclaim They 're like unto the Daughters of the King Which altogether Glorious are within As for their Works they 're com'd unto an End That on God's Work in them they may depend They cease to work but never cease to shew These Works God has in them wrought that are true This Path is narrow and the Gate is strait And few there be that enter in thereat 'T is strait as Abr'am's off'ring up his Son In whom his Hopes and Comfort was begun He offer'd him in whom the Promise stood It was his All and yet the Act was good Whatever's good doth come from God it 's plain And when recall'd we should restor't again Nay he recalleth that which he did give That we might see by him we only live He lendeth help us to regenerate And with him we seem to co-operate That Work to perfect but when that is done It 's offer'd up as Abr'am did his Son Yea even as to Death at God's Command And this is done that we might understand Our Weakness and our Nothingness discern And th' Gate of true Humility might learn When this Act 's done we in another sort Receive that we may sensibly report Man sav'd in Mercy not by Works must be Yea by the Grace of God that 's ever free This we ne'er truly knew till we did meet Grace without Works in Love our Souls to greet Nor can that Act be done and truly known Till Works are unto their Perfection grown This Act is then as Ev'ning to that Rest Whose Morning is the Sabbath which is blest Concerning which much more might here be said But that my Letter would too long be made So shall defer my further Argument Until a sitter Season do present Mean while I will a little let thee see How with thy self thou still dost disagree In what hast written thou wouldst seem my Friend Until thou comest near the latter end What put thee out of humour whilst thou writ That at the Last thou should the First forget A Friend at first but at the last art none What Humour this deserveth to be shown 'T is like some foolish Fancy if not vain Which in thy next I pray thee well explain Thou sayst Dear John let 's not disturb each other Then shall my Heart and Spirit call thee Brother But if thou'll not thy raging Spirit curb But thou will still the Churches Peace disturb Then stand thee forth and hearken to the Doom Of holy Church which without doubt will come 'T is plainly in the two first Lines imply'd If I molest thee not we shall abide Without reserve in cordial Friendship ty'd And yet before I 'd given thee denial Or thou hadst made of me a further Trial Against me thou proceedest in the latter And threatens with some other awful Matter By which if thou or those thy Words agree It is as constant in unconstancy Likewise for Peace whilst thou did seem to speak Thou didst for War but an Occasion seek As to Holy Churches Doom From whence or from what People must it come And what 's the Fault and Crime which I have done That I am into so great Danger run Disturbance being a Word in general As oft besides as in the Truth doth fall Thou should therefore the Fact have specifi'd That by some Rule thy Charges might be try'd For I whilst in the Dark thou dost me shoot How to avoid the Danger am in doubt For thou shouldst not suppose I can be made Of what I neither hear nor see afraid And what is not and what doth not appear Are both alike as tho' they never were Of Holy Church thou dost begin to speak But where or what she is I 'm still to seek The World we know is of Pretenders full Describe her therefore by a certain Rule This I desire of thee to undertake Because I would to her a Journey make For if she Holy is I truly see None but the Heretick cut off must be An Heretick doth against Knowledge act For to be Self-condemned is his Fact This Cause with thee I would before her plead In hopes I might thy Judgment supersede For I for Proof would thy own Words produce Before her for my Service and my Use Since thou hast said my Way to me seems right And that thou know'st then I against my Light Act not therein as this thou must confess She cannot me for Heresie suppress Again I would desire of her to know If she Commission gave thee thus to do Or if she had selected and made choice Of thee to be the Oracle of her Voice For how canst thou be any other way Ascertain'd what she shall both do and say And if not certain is' t not Arrogance Or Folly thus thy Judgment to advance Thou saith It is your Creed Back into Bonds to drive the Holy Seed For where our Walls are weak if we repair Thou and such Men as thee disturbed are As were of old that subtil Hornet breed Who was the like unto old Jacob's Seed These Walls that 's weak are of Jerusalem And how can I compared be to them But then the Matter still which I should know Is whether 't is Jerusalem below Or that above thou should agree to this Least I might understand that Point amis This thou omitted but I ne'er did read Of more than two and therefore will proceed T' enquire which of these Cities it must be To which thy Words most fitly can agree As for Jerusalem that is above Her Walls are perfect good the Scriptures prove For God her Walls hath good and perfect made And none to that which he hath done can add Therefore it never can this City be Which the kind Mother is of all that 's free It then must be Jerusalem below Concerning which the Sacred Scriptures show When Men have done whate're they can as Men She is in bondage with her Childeren What Work is this or what do you intend When more you work still more you have to mend For is not this like them that 's learning ever But ne'er attain the Truth by that Indeavour Or like to them that found out Shinar's Plain A Babel's Tower to erect again And like to them will you not stopped be Until your Language you divided see Is' t not divided
't is very plain He was intended to go home again Thus was he faithful till it came to pass That he deceived by a Prophet was Who yet prevail'd not till he let him know He was a Prophet and not only so But that th' Almighty by his Angel spake And bid go seek out and conduct him back Unto his House that he might with him stay To be refresh'd before he went away Thus far was Judah's Prophet faithful found Until this time he firmly kept his Ground But now he fail'd yet e're he was aware His rash Credulity drew on the Snare 'T is like he thought it was the Prophet's due To be believ'd all Prophets being true This show'd him young that small Experience had To think all Prophets good when some were bad That he a Prophet was none can deny He did not here mistake but in his Lye Thus do we find and are constrain'd to grant There may be Prophets true that Truth may want Hence it appears we ought not to depend On Prophets whatsoe're they may pretend Especially when they persuade us to What we believe we never ought to do Some right some wrong here is uncertainty If we depend upon them generally And what 's uncertain if we don't believe As certain Truth a Lye we do receive And what unto the whole cannot belong Of right belongeth not to any one Therefore when Prophets Credit greatly press Because themselves as Prophets they express At best from Truth they lead that so direct And them whene're they do 't we may suspect For Truth we know the Mind compleatly frees From ev'ry Doubt and all Uncertainties True Prophets therefore ever will direct Unto the Truth i' th' Mind to have respect So in the Mind there may no Doubt remain For those in Doubt are not in Truth 't is plain True Prophets do advise each one to know A certain Ground for what Men say and do Nor would have them on any so rely As to submit and know no reason why For Truth not being in 't there 's danger great Least such may be impos'd on by Deceit Or otherwise if their intent be true Such may mistake in what they do pursue And if the Blind led by the Blind shall be Neither the Danger of the Ditch can see Nor can intended Kindness justifie The doing ill that good may come thereby For if it could th' old Prophet an Excuse Of like import for his Deceit might use For tho' he ly'd it 's plain he did intend No less than Kindness to him as a Friend Nay his Design was unto him to shew Respect and Friendship as a Prophet true For he no sooner heard that he was slain By th' Lion which did by him yet remain But Love prevailing o'er the Terror led His friendly Heart to go take up the Dead To whom he kindly decent Burial gave As good as he himself desir'd to have For when he dy'd he did command his Sons To lay his Body by the Prophet's Bones And to his Honour said would come to pass All that by him at Beth-ell spoken was What Man can shew unto another more Respect than he to Judah's Prophet bore Both after Death had seiz'd him and before And yet in that he led him from the Way Which God on him as a Command did lay And by a Lye deceiv'd him it 's a Blot In After-Ages ne'er to be forgot Thus all his Kindness will not justifie His Fraud or wipe away his Infamy For our Instruction this was surely writ That we might truly caution'd be by it No Man against his Reason to persuade To acquiesce with us for as I said It is to him a Lye if he receives It for a Truth and otherwise believes Nor ought we to prefer at second Hand What Men are pleas'd to say is God's Command Contrary to what we believe his Will That we should value and keep to until It be perform'd or superseded by His Power that did on us that Service ly Nay if I should mistake had rather chuse Into God's Hands to fall than him abuse For Errors in this Case can rarely be But in such things as may with Truth agree And where I do believe there is an Awe Which as 't is true is as th' Almighty's Law To me and if to that as what I see Or do believe I shall contrary be As I transgress this Rule or it neglect God I dishonour and his Law reject But tho' I should mistake if but sincere God would at length the Truth unto me clear For where 's the Man that never yet has been Deceiv'd in what he'as thought he'as heard or seen Let him begin the first to censure this And when that 's done to prove it is amiss But Judah's Prophet in that he preferr'd Another's Sense before his own he err'd And for that Fault came into th' Lion's Pow'r Who did his Body kill tho' not devour For that was left that he might ever be A great Example to Posterity So that if we in this Affair transgress Our Fault is greater and Excuse is less If less can be because he could not know This grand Example which the Scriptures show Hence that blind Notion which so many git That Prophets unto Prophets should submit Is wrong if then it was as now in use We see 't corrected for a great Abuse Yea punished with great Severity Which shews it now as well as then a Lye Observe the Story and apply it well For with our Case it runneth parallel For had he only my last Letter meant Or with some Fact had bounded his intent His Words tho' hard might yet have been receiv'd As flowing from an Heart that 's only griev'd But not content that to condemn alone He will his Judgment fix on all I 've done In this he is too bold he soars too high His Judgment as unjust I must deny I must not fear his Threatning nor receive His seeming Kindness nor his Prayers believe For if he cordial be I truly find He shews to me but his mistaken Mind For God hath in this Matter said to me Go not to them let them return to thee And tho' you may this disregard and slight I know that in his Fear and Dread I write Whose Voice I must obey and Pow'r respect ' Gainst every one that shall the same reject In God's Command I must against him stand And all of his Opinion in the Land For I 'll affirm that God did me concern In truth by gen'ral Cautions to forewarn Friends of the danger of Formality Which he long since shew'd me approaching nigh The likeness of the Truth to be the thing That was instead of Truth like up to spring In this he shew'd me was the Mystery Of that which Scripture calls Iniquity On that Account Beware o' th' Form was mine Advice in Meetings where the Pow'r Divine Was wanting But the Words Beware o' th' Form Was the occasion that hath made you storm At me with