carnal mind or to imitate things which others who had the Spirit did in the Spirit by the command of the Spirit for thee to imitate and practice this without the Spirit is idolatry An invented Church an invented Ministry an invented worship an imitated Church an imitated Ministry an imitated worship without the life without the Spirit all these are the work of mens hands and are idols and all that is performed herein is idolatry Rev 9 20. This is a Religion without life a worship without life a fabrick for idolatry and the whole course of worship and service in it is idolatry For the living God the Lord God of endless life and power is alone worshipped by his Spirit and in the truth of that life which he begets in the heart and all other worship though never so seemingly spiritual is idolatrous Ah professors professors if ye knew how many idol-prayers and services ye have loaded the Lord with and how ye have been whoring from him while ye have seemed to be drawing nigh to him ye would hang down your heads and mouâ—n For what ever ye have done in the worship of God without the leading and presence of his Spirit it hath been idolatry For the worship of God under the Gospel is in the Spirit and in the truth and required of them who are in the Spirit and in the truth and not of others John 4. 23. for them alone the Lord seeketh to worship and the Lord will admit of none to his worship but such as he seeks And if any else will thrust themselves into his worship it is not accepted nor do they worship the true God but they worship they know not what and their whole state and course here is a state and course of idolatry 4. Sorceryes witcherafts divinations and inchantments I do not mean outward sorceryes or witchcrafts they are but the shadow or figure of the inward mistery of deceit of this black dark spirit which appears as an Angel of light that he migh bewitch and deceive Neither repented they of their sorcer yes Rev 9 21. This false Church this adulterous woman she hath her golden cup and her wine mingled and with this cup she bewitches the eye with this wine she inflames the heart and intoxicates the brain She invents wayes and worships like to the true or she imitates the true wayes and appearances of life and when the poor simple young man is singly seeking after God from some true touches of his life before he comes to know the Spirit of life before he can come to be marryed to the Lamb she comes with her golden cup and with her tempting wine and bewitches the poor heart therewith and so leads it aside into her painted bed Wouldst thou enjoy God saith she wouldst thou worship him aright wouldst thou have fellowship with him Lo here 's the way here 's the Church here are the Ordinances here 's the Ministry here are the means Thou must wait upon God in the use of the means and these are them Did not the Saints formerly do thus did not they meet with God here did not they serve and worship God thus Come thou hither also do what they did enjoy what they enjoyed Yea but thou whorish woman did ever God appoint means wiâ—hout his Spirit Thou leavest the main yea indeed the only thing behind thee which it selfe alone is accepted and without which nothing is accepted And this is the course of the whore in all her transformings in all her baits in all her temptings she stil leaves the Spirit behind her She may perhaps speak of the Spirit to hide her self the more because the letter of the Scripture is so expresse therein and teach people to look and wait for the Spirit but so as is never to be obtained For he that begins in Religion either to pray or worship or seek the knowledge of God without the Spirit shall never meet with the Spirit so but that way of knowledge religion and worship of his must first be broken down and he become a fool and recieve the Spirit as a fool out of all his religious knowledge and wisdom which he had gathered before and afterwards following the Spirit which is thus received he shall be led into the true wisdom Now mark that which follows ye that have a desire to understand This spirit of deceit this whorish spirit this spirit of divination and witchcraft which by her sorceryes deceived all Nations Rev 18. 23. came forth curiously decked at first with all manner of deceiveableness of unrighteousness It had the exact form of life the true form of Godliness and a lively spirit in it it had the form of knowledge and the form of worship and with these it came to tempt and draw away them from the life and from the power who were in the life and in the power and it did prevail upon such as kept not close to the anointing But after it had overcome and gained the Churches territories then it might safely corrupt the form and so it did and went into multitudes of inventions and fopperies as at this day may be seen amongst the Papists Now these are easily discovered and seen through by any simple plain honest eye upon a little breaking forth of the light Therefore the whorish spirit when she perceives her self found out here she changes her shape and attire and comes back back again by degrees as need requires to the forms of knowledge and worship wherewith she was arrayed when she deceived at first yet stil she is the same and doth this to keep poor simple hearts still in her bands from the life and from the Spirit And thus painted thus decked thus holding forth Scripture-knowledge and Scripture-wayes of worship she is the more subtil witch the more subtil sorceresse and is able to deceive any eye but that which is opened in the light With her Lo here Christ lo there Christ she would deceive the very elect if it were possible but it is not possible for they are taught by the Spirit not to go forth and the anointing within preserves them And he that knoweth not this preservation is bewitched by her and his fear of God is such as may be taught by the precepts of men and practised without the knowledge of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is the Saints rule guide and preservation For as the Apostles were able Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit of the New Testament 3 Cor 3. 6. So they that received their Ministry or that which they ministred received not the letter only but the Spirit and were preserved not by the letter but by the Spirit and were made able to try words things and Spirits not by the letter but by the Spirit But this the whorish spirit is departed from and bewitcheth others from first possessing them that the Spirit is not to be looked for and then perswading them to make
that wisdome wherein they stand and to that eye wherewith they look to see Now mark this Antichrists coming when he first deceived was very mighty exceeding strong 2 Thess. 2. 9 10. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with al deceivableness of unrighteousness c. Weigh the thing wel Satan used al his art and al his strength to conceive and bring forth this mystery of iniquity so like the mystery of godlines that it might pass for currant in the world and he rule as God in in i◠With all power c. no power of deceit wanting he did not spare for signs and lying wonders yea 〈◊〉 gave power to the beast to do wonders and miracles even to make s 〈…〉 e come downe from heaven on the earth in the sight of men which was the sign and wonder whereby the God of Israel was distinguished from Baal power to work this very sign Satan gives to the Beast to confirm the godhead of the Dragon and Antichrist with Rev. 13. v. 13 14. These are the things men look for see but great power signs miracles they are satisfied the whole world stands ready to be deceived with this Yea and if the eye be not opened in persons which can distinguish of power they must needs be deceived Signs wonders and miracles had their place in the first covenant and were to that part to which the first covenant was not to them that beleeve but to them that beleeve not Now after the full demonstration of the truth by signs and miracles the power of Satan riseth up and by lying signs wonders and miracles overturneth the truth Now the unbeleeving part in man expects and cals for signs and miracles and says that wil determine the controversie and settle the state of the Church again but that part is not to prescribe God his way yea he wil steal as a theif upon thee whose ey is abroad and lookest for demonstrations without And as Antichrist got up thus so Antichrist wil go out thus he wil raise up this power and what lying signs wonders and miracles he can to defend himself with now the Spirit of the Lord is risen up to dispossess him and cast him out of the house which he hath long lodged in And he that can be cosened with power with signs with lying wonders which are lying because they come from the spirit of deceit with an intent to deceive though they may come to pass and appear true to mans eye Deut. 13. 1 2 3. or with any of the deceivablenes of unrighteousnes shal never come out of Babylon but only be translated into some of the more refined chābers of it fed with somemore fresh likenesses of truth where he shall stil remain an Inhabitant and worshipper in some Image perhaps of universal love life and liberty and yet be out of the life out of the love out of the liberty of the truth which stands in the power and presence of the Spirit of God and not in the most refined Image or likeness All the world wondred after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast Rev 13. 3 4. The Dragon is the Devil the beast is that spirit of the earth which he raiseth up and feeds in men with a form and appearance of truth to which he gives his power and his seat and his authority and every man hath a measure of this according to his state condition place and service in Babylon And now what a man doth here in Religion be he never so devout and zealous and frequent in Ordinances and duties is the worship of this spirit and of the Dragon who sits and rules in this spirit I am run into hard expressions very hard because the nature of these things is hid from mens eyes and they are in the mist of Antichrists raising in the smoak which comes from the pit where there is no opening of the true eye nor no true sight of things but truly if ever ye espy the Dragon the beast Antichrist the whore the false Prophet ye must look at home and read within and there having found the thing and seen it in the true light ye will be able to read it certainly abroad also Now do not go about to distinguish these things in the notion of the understanding but come to feel the life to unite with the life and the eye will open which can see into the nature of things and will behold all in it's season for that eye which is so eager to see shall never see these things but that eye alone which waits in stilnesse and quietnesse on the pleasure and good will of the opener Now all this time while Babylon stands while Antichrist sits in the Temple while Satan reigns over all the Antichristian world the true and living God hath not been known feared nor glorified but mens knowledge hath been of a false God they have set up and him they have feared and given the glory to in their worship nay the Gospel hath not been preached the true Gospel the everlasting Gospel the Gospel wherein is the light and power of eternal life to turn men from all Antichristian forms of knowledge and worship to the true life and power But when Babylon falls and Mount Sion begins to appear again then this Gospel is to be preached again even by an Angel who receiveth it from God himselfe Rev 14. 6 7. for man could never recover it again it requires a new inspiration The law is to go forth out of Sion the word of the Lord from Jerusalem And this Gospel is to be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and people v 6. mark There was not one Nation not one kindred not one tongue not one people that kept the everlasting Gospel but it was laid up in Sion it was carried with the Church into the Wildernes and there it hath been hid all the time of the apostacy since the dayes of the Apostles But now Sion is redeeming the true woman bringing back again out of the Wilderness she brings back the true everlasting Gospel with her and there is an Angel chosen in the power of the Lord even in the same power and Spirit that first preached it to preach it again to every Nation Kindred Tongue and people And the Lord hath so ordered it that he will have the voice of this Angel as despicable to the wise in Religion to the zealous in devotion of all sorts of this backsliding age as the former preaching was to the wise and devout both among the Jews and Greeks So that whosoever is wise in Religion according to the flesh whosoever is wise in expectation and waiting for the kingdome whosoever is wise in reasoning about it and can tel the foregoing signs of it c. shall not know the voice but he that can shut his eyes by
but so much as read in the Scriptures concerning the power of life the Saints formerly enjoyed the living Ministry and Ordinances their sweet walking and fellowship in the light the presence of the spirit in their worship and in their whole course their sincere love in the spirit and tender bearing with one anothers weaknesses doubts and differences which he that reads singly cannot but pant after And the state of the Gospel was not to be a decaying and dying in these things or a loosing of them so that the power of the spirit and the revelations thereof should cease as the whorish spirit which hath gone out from the life pleads but to grow and increase and the last times to abound most of all with the power and glory of truth I say were it possible for persons who should read and entertain the least tast or savour of these things to be satisfied with any of those dead wayes and forms which the whore hath set up instead of them unless they were wholly bewitched and altogether deprived of their sences being made dead drunk which the whores mingled wine in this dark night of apostacy Yea professors are drunk they have deeply drunk of the cup and are sorely overtaken and their hearts overcharged with strong liquor which makes them even mad to draw others into their beds of fornication and to stand up themselves in great rage and call also to the Magistrates for the defence of them Yea like the clamourous woman they make a great noise about ordinances duties Ministry Church c. I have decked and perfumed my bed saith the loud woman the subtilhearted woman Prov 7. 16 17. but do not soberly consider which are the painted ones which the truth We have run on headily after these things too long it is now time to stand stil a while and wait for the purging out of the wine wherewith all our brains have been overturned that we may come into soberness and into a fit temper to be led by the Spirit of life out of the bed of fornications and out of the wayes worships ordinances and duties of fornication into the bed of the true and undefiled Spirit Now he that worships God aright must feel life within and that life raised and strengthned by him who begets it and this will savour death and faithfully following its guid will come out of the land of death even that land wherein all the false worshippers inhabit and wherein all the false wayes and worships duties ordinances Ministeryes c. are set up and flourish Now these secret sins of Babylon are the same with the more open and gross the great difference is their secrecy their not appearing like sins their paint their colour whereby they are swallowed down for holy and good As to instance There is fornication or adultery from the life in the finest in the purest way of worship man can invent or imitate but the fornication doth not so plainly appear here but they who have drunk of the cup take these things for the wayes and appointments of God Those that set up the whores Church do not call it so nor perhaps think it to be so those that set up the whores Ministry or ordinances do not give them that name but call them the Ministry and ordinances of Christ yet this is as truly as really fornication from the life as the grossest wayes of Heathenish worship O mark it mark it If thou hast read the Scriptures and thrust thy selfe into any practices thou there findest mentioned without the raising up of a living thing in thee and without thy following by the guidance thereof thou hast done this by the whores advice and in this thou art committing fornication and erring from the life for the true worship lies in the Spirit and in the truth and it is the new birth that God seeks to worship him but the spirit of man thrusting it selfe into these things the Lord abhors and rejects And this spirit never can be thus cleansed and fitted to enter into Christs bed but only gets a paint from Scripture and enters into the painted bed and bosome of the harlot where it remains unrenewed unchanged unmortified in the midst of all it's great talk and profession of these things And thus the Scriptures the Holy Scriptures of truth which were given forth from the pure spirit of life the whorish spirit maketh use of to estrange from the life For what sort of persons which have fornicated from the life but make use of the Scriptures to maintain their whoredoms by and to bewitch others into their whoredoms with Every sort cryes up their own way and worship to be the way and worship according to the Scriptures and if any be gathered out of all these witcheries into the power of God then the bewitched say that such are bewitcht Then as for all the abominations of the earth all the filth that defiles the heart it is to be found on the skirts of the whore even in her most refined dresse For her religion her worship her profession her practices do not reach to the purifying of the conscience but only to painting over of the old Sepulcher where rottennesse still lodgeth within The sore was never throughly searched the heart was never throughly circumcised or baptized the old man was never put of nor the new man put on the blood of purifying which truly washeth away the sin was never felt in it's vertue and power but only an apprehension and talk that they are cleansed in Christ from a notion they have stollen out of the Scriptures but not from the sensible feeling of the thing in life and power in their consciences And so the evil nature stil remains the evil heart of unbelief is stil to be found in them and they want the life they want the power they want the Spirit they want the love they want the humility they want the meekness they want the patience they want the innocency and simplicity of the Lamb and Dove And when the Lord comes to provoke them to jealousie by the shining of his light and by the appearance of his power in some whom they despise then the pride the passion the envy the heart-burnings the hard speeches the false surmisings with the rest of the enmity which still abides with them stirs and rises against the life and power and their hypocrisie is made manifest Yea some of the strictest among them can scoffe and jeer at the appearance of life so strong is the evil and unmortified nature in them and so conceited are they in their wayes and practices because of their cover under which all this iniquity for the most part lyes hid from their eyes But for all that it is there it is there the Lords candle will search it out and thine owne eye shall see it and find in thy selfe bloody Cain scoffing Ishmael prophane Esau the uncircumcised Jew who is angry that his brothers sacrifice is
as good shift as they can without it and then having thus prepared people she brings forth her wares Look ye saith she this is the way thus and thus the Saints practised do thou thus also But thou must receive the Saints spirit before thou either know or worship or thou knowest and worshippest out of it and in that path of sorcery and witchcraft from the life thou shalt never meet with the life but the further thou proceedest therein wilt be more and more entangled from it and become stil a greater and greater enemy to it and more and more in love with the whore and her whorish paths and pleasing wayes of devotion whereby the false spirit in thee is raised up and nourished but thy soul famished for that can be nourished with nothing but the bread of life from the hand of the Spirit but not with words or forms of knowledge or wayes of worship invented or imitated which doe but tickle the understanding or affectionate part of man but reach not the life so that that which should serve the Lord is not there raised but stil bound over with the bond of iniquity 5. Luxury excesse and pleasure She is rich with her Merchandize and she enjoyes it to the ful she takes the pleasure of it She builds costly houses weares rich apparrel fares deliciously read spiritually with the spiritual eye She is rich in knowledge rich in wayes of worship rich in duties rich in religious performances and practices And as she gained these in her own will without the leadings of the life and by her own search and wisdom So she can make use of these in her own will and according to the direction of her own wisdom She can fast when she will give thanks when she will preach when she will pray when she will sing when she will meditate when she will bring forth her knowledge to others when she will Look on the Papists how rich are they in outward buildings in gorgeous Ceremonies in times of worship in wayes of mortification and pennance in fasts in feasts c Look on the several sorts of Protestants they have their riches in their kind too their Churches their buildings their arts their sciences their languages their bodyes of divinity their cases of conscience c. They can open the whole body of Religion resolve all doubts expound all Scriptures c. The great City was cloathed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls Rev 18. 16. And she sate thus on the Throne like a Queen living deliciously and taking her pleasure to which her torment and sorrow afterwards is proportioned ver 7. Yea she had treasure and costlinesse enough to make all her Merchants rich that would trade with her ver 19. What knowledge what delicate food could the wisest or greatest of the earth desire which she had not ready for them see ver 3. ver 9. But Sion all this while hath lain in the dust and been despised She hath had no building no fence but hath been trampled under foot by every unclean beast Her witnesses have been cloathed with sackcloath a garment which all the lofty inhabitants of Babylon disdain her sare hath been hard in the Wildernesse only a little Manm which with fleshly Israel who lust after rich and large knowledg is counted light bread and their souls soon loath it Nor had she this in plenty but only a smal proportion dayly from the hand of the free-giver sufficient to keep life in her in the Wildernesse and to furnish her with strength to give in her testimony against Babylon so far as the Lord saw good to call any of her seed thereunto Now what professor can be willing to fare thus with her at present and to wait for her future riches fulnesse beauty and glory Nay nay they have so long lived richly and fared deliciously in Babylon that they know not how to eat the bread of affliction and drink the water of affliction with sad and desolate Sion And yet this is the only way and passage out of Babylon into Sion That which hath been rich and fat and ful-fed there must become poor and lean and feel hunger and have none of the bread of life administred to it no nor so much as husks neither And in this sad day and state of misery the poor is visited which receives the Gospel and the dead raised which receives the life 6. Worshipping of the Devil All the world wondred after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon Rev 13. 3 4. Now the Dragon is the Devil Rev 20. 2. There is no other worship of God under the new Testament but in Spirit and truth and he that worships otherwise worships not God but that Spirit which teacheth to worship out of Gods Spirit and out of the truth Every prayer is not a prayer to God but only that prayer which is from and in the Spirit Every Ordinance or duty is not an Ordinance of God or a duty performed to God but only that which the Spirit leads into and guids and preserves in This is the way that all the earth have departed from the Lord namely by erring from his Spirit They cry up practises in Religion dutyes ordinances the means the means a Church a Church as the Jews did the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord but they find the Church before they have found the Spirit of the Lord and so they find not the Church that is in God the Church that is of his building but they poor hearts frame up a building as wel as they can according to the pattern they find in the Scriptures and so they are not an habitation for God in the Spirit but are estranged from the life and Spirit in all their worship and so are not found by the Spirit which searcheth them and their worship worshiping of God but the works of their own hands and Devils Rev 9. 20. For that charge stands good against all the inhabitants of Babylon even to the highest and strictest of them all whether in forms or out of forms There are many men who are very zealous and devout in their wayes of worship who were never taught by the Spirit the way of worshipping God nor do at all know how to worship in the Spirit these my soul exceedingly pittyes They have received into their understandings from the letter of the Scripture that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and that God will give his Spirit to them that ask it They have asked and they hope they have the Spirit but poor deceived hearts they know not what spirit they are of nor in what spirit they act nor what spirit they serve and so perish for lack of knowledge the key whereof hath been hid from them Now let such consider There are but two spirits the Spirit of God and the spirit of Satan one of which guid all men in their devotion and
Religion and one of which they serve therein He that is led by the Spirit of God he serves God he worships God He that is led by the spirit of Satan he serves not God but that spirit which appeares in the Temple of God like God and gives such demonstrations that he is God as no flesh can deny 2 Thess 2. 4. Here now is the great deceivableness of unrighteousness In prophanesse in manifest wickednesse Satan is easily seen and men that are found here it is granted that they are serving the Devil but that he should sit as King in gathered Churches in dutyes in ordinances in wayes of self-denyal and mortification and be worshipped here this is hard to be seene yet any of these which the Spirit of the Lord leads not into or which are performed at any time without his Spirit he is worshiped in Consider this ye that are wise in Religion and are dilligently reading the Scriptures and gathering knowledge and rules of worship and applying promises c. Do ye this in the life and Spirit of God or in your own wisdom and according to your owne understanding Doth not the wisdom of that spirit which is out of the truth guid you in your searchings after truth O do not serve that spirit which the Lord hates but come backe to that from which in all this ye erre and which in all this ye cannot serve and worship And let not your Religion any longer consist in meer practising what the Saints formerly practised for that ye may do without the same spirit but in yeelding up to that life power and pure spirit that they were led by And when ye are joyned to this then do not prescribe the Lamb the way that he shall go but follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Do not tell the Shepheard by your gathered wisdom the way that he must lead you in but know the voice and follow For this I can truly testifie that if once ye come in faithfulnesse and true light to follow the Lamb he will lead you in paths ye have not known and out of the paths ye have known 7. Compelling of others to worship Rev 13. 15 16. The false woman and the beast set up a worship in the will and they do not know why any in the will also may not subject and submit to it They can give them reasons they can give them arguments from Scripture and if they will not yeeld to these they are to be looked upon as stubborn and refractory and to be compelled by outward force This hath been the course generally throughout the Land of Babylon But these shew hereby that they themselves are erred from the truth and therefore very unfit and unlikely to teach it others For that which God works upon is the conscience which he convinceth by the light of his Spirit and no other light can truly convince it That therefore which would have a man yeeld to any practise or way of worship till he be truly convinced is of the Devil My son give me thy heart saith Christ the wisdom of God Come not to me with oblations and sactifices but give me thy heart My son give me thy knee give me thy obedience to the wayes I have set up give me thy conformity saith Antichrist saith the adulterated wisdom and if any refuse she endeavours to compel them Thus like Jeroboam the son of Nebat she makes that which she calls Israel to sin or like Nebuchadnezzar she sets up an Idol and causeth all her children to bow to it Thus the load of the iniquity of multitudes lies upon that scarlet whore who forces her cup of abominations and filthiness upon all she can Rev 17. 4. causing all both smal and great in all her Territories to receive her marke and worship her Image The work of the Minister of Christ is to keep the conscience tender that the voice of Christ may be heard and the Law of his Spirit of life which makes obedient to the God of life spring up there but this is the Image here is the way bow conform say the Ministers of Antichrist But we are not convinced in the sight of God that this is the way say poor souls It is your own fault ye may be convinif ye will say the Ministers of Antichrist we are ready to give you arguments and Scriptures to convince you how is it ye are not convinced Ye must be convinced otherwise the Magistrate must deale with you Thus they endeavour to harden the conscience that they may set upon it and ride it and terrifie it from it's subjection to it's only true and lawful King O the havock that hath been made of souls by this means the Lord is requiring it of this generation But let me ask this question to all the learned and wise in all the Regions of Babylon under what painted form or way of worship soever Can any worship God aright before they be truly convinced of his will and way can any be convinced without his light and Spirit were it good and acceptable in the sight of God for any persons to run into that way whereof thou sayest thou art convinced that it is the way before they themselves are convinced If it be not good or acceptable what is that that goes about to compel them Away with thy carnal weapons and if thou wilt draw to God draw by that which is spiritual but if thou wilt still be using outward force running to the laws of men and power of the Magistrate the Lord hath opened an eye which discovers thy nakednesse herein and is able to make it manifest in the sight of all people and thou shalt not long cover thy shame The Lotds people shall be a willing people to follow him in the day of his power but all the Lords people have been unwilling to follow thee in the day of thy power which is neer an end and the very fountain of thy deceit and tyranny over the conscience is opening and making manifest 8. Persecution of such as she cannot compell to her worship She sets up her form of knowledg she sets up her way of worship and those that will not be drawn to own the one and practise the other she sets her brand upon them for erroneous persons Schismaticks Hereticks they must not buy or sel Rev 13. 17. They must be banished or imprisoned or perhaps put to death for she is hardly satisfied til she hath drunk the blood of those who in any eminent degree are the witnesses of Christ against her Rev 17. 6. This was a thing wondered at by John with great admiration to see this woman this great City out of which all the venomous darts are shor against the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus under a pretence of zeal for the Church and ordinances of Christ For this is the engine whereby the Dragon makes war with the true womans seed which keep the commandements of God and have the testimony
of Satans building up this city this great city thus accurately in the power of deceit and in the very likenes of Sion was and is that it might be taken for Sion and he worshipped there as God and that without jealousie or suspition And he hath attained his end his city hath deceived and doth deceive it passeth currant for Sion among al the inhabitants of Babylon almost every sort of people cry it up for Sion in one appearance or other though al do not cry up the same appearance but their own image way and worship every one extolls their own image of the truth for the truth their own way of worship for the way their own church and family for the church and family of God And worshipping here they worship him and not the Lord for the Lord cannot be worshipped in any part of Babylon but the King of Babylon is worshipped in Babylon and the King of Sion alone in Sion Ah how deeply do men deceive their souls they think they beleeve in God they think they pray to God and hope to be owned at length by God and yet are so far from coming out of Mystery Babylon that it was never yet so much as discovered to them but they have either walked in the way of religion and worship they were brought up in in the apostacy or perhaps have removed out of one or two of the broad streets of it and so thereby think they have left Babylon when as the same spirit hath sit down in another street of the same city building up another house by the direction of the King thereof and there worshipping the same spirit as they did before but their souls never knew the fire in Sion and the furnace in Jerusalem by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed before the pure ey of life be opened which can see Sion Now because ye are more able to receive things from Scripture-expressions then from the nature of the thing it self spoken as it is felt in the heart concerning which much more might be said were ye able to bear it consider a few Scriptures Babylon is called a great city Rev. 16. 19. and a great and mighty city chap. 18. 10. O the power of deceit in that city to bewitch from the life O the multitude of lying wonders that are there shewn in the heart to make a man beleeve that he is in the life to perswade men that the King thereof is the King of Sion and that the laws and ordinances of worship there are the laws and ordinances oi Sion that the prayer there is the prayer of the true child that the beleeving there is the true faith the love there the true love the hope there the true hope c. Some parts of Babylon some likenesses of truth there are so taking that none but the elect by the opening of the eternal eye can espy the deceit And it is a spiritual city a mystical city a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity 2 Thes. 2. 7. whereupon she is called Mystery Rev. 17. 5. It is not a city of plain wickedness but a city of sin hid of sin keeping its life under a covering under a form of godlines of sin reigning in the heart under zeal under devotion under praying beleeving worshipping hoping waiting c. Where sin lies hid within under these there 's Babylon there 's the mystery of witchcraft there 's the painted throne of Satan there 's spiritual Egypt and Sodom where the Lord of life is daily crucified This is the city the mystical city the spiritual city Rev. 11. 8. And here is building up and throwing down continually She builds the spirit of the Lord confounds then down goes her building then up with another then down again This is her course without end when the Spirit of the Lord disturbs her for otherwise she can settle in any form of knowledg or worship though in her ordinary course she hath also many changes and turnings One while this or that being a truth another while not One while this or that being the sence or meaning of such a Scripture another while not Babylon is hardly ever without this kind of building up and throwing down And this city is a great city a city spread over all the earth she made all nations drink of the wine of the cup of her fornication Rev. 14. 8. The woman which is this city Rev. 17. 18. sate upon peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues Rev. 17. 15. She sate upon them as Queen as Princess guiding them in their knowledg and worship of the King of Babylon And those that once hated her and made war with her and burnt her flesh with fire she cosoned them with a new paint got them into her new bed of fornication and made them worship the King of Babylon again Rev. 17. 12 13. v. 16 17. and there they lay committing whoredom with her til the time of her last burning and utter desolation but then they forsook her for fear of her torment when they saw the smoke of her burning Rev. 18. 9 10. In the Temples of this city for in al the streets thereof yea in every house there are Temples Antichrist sits as God and is worshipped 2 Thess. 2. 4. He as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God He hath clothed himself like God he appears like God like the holy pure Spirit of life and power he appears in the temple of God he sits there he rules there he gives forth laws and ordinances of worship and devotion Yea if any one wil question his godhead or his right to do thus he wil prove it he wil make it manifest in the very temple of God that he is God He as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God He hath exalted himself into the throne above al that is called God he hath got into the temple he sitteth there as God and there he maketh it manifest to al his worshippers that he is the God in so much as among al the inhabitants of Babylon he is acknowledged and worshipped and the true Spirit of life is hid from their eyes and denied and crucified He shews himself that he is God he gives demonstrations of his godhead which that eye which is out of the life cannot but acknowledg and take to be true There is none can see and acknowledg the true God the true Christ but those that have the true ey the true anointing no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. and yet how many can speak great words of God and of Christ who know not what belongs to the anointing Alas alas Al nations and sorts of professors out of the life are coâ—oned with the devils demonstrations with Antichrists demonstrations with the whores demonstrations with the false Prophets demonstrations which are undeniable to
though many Witnesses Prophets and Martyrs have mourned over her yet none have been able to raise up the Tabernacle of David which hath fallen down nor to recover Sion to this day but Babylon hath had the power over her Look with the true eye and behold how all Nations Kindreds Tongues and Languages have been drunk with some or other of the mixtures of this false womans cup some of them over and over and over again and have been Inhabitants of this City crying her up though not all in her grosse habit but some in her more refined shapes and transformings for the true Church for Sion whereas alas she hath only Sions dresse Sions shape Sions outward garment which is the likeness wherein she lies in wait to deceive but not Sions spirit 4. It is a City of iniquity of hidden iniquity That which is hid in this City it is not the life it is not the righteousness the holiness of the Saints but iniquity sin transgression of the life Look into any of the streets of Babylon into any of the houses any of the rooms any of the chambers of darkness there 's sin there there 's unrighteousnes there there 's not one cleansed heart to be found there not one pure eye to behold the God of life is to be found there but in every heart sin in a mistery iniquity in a mistery unrighteousness in a mistery They seem to be for God and Christ and to be cleansed by them but uncleaness lodges in them and sin rules in them against God and against his Christ in a mistery which their eye cannot see and so must needs mistake their state Yet this is the true state of Babylon in all the parcels of it it is the unclean City where purity of heart and life cannot be known but though it be washed and transformed never so often outwardly yet still it remains inwardly polluted that which defileth keeping possession and dominion there in a mistery The living water the living blood runs not in any of the streets of this City so that there can be no true cleansing there Nay such strangers are the choicest Inhabitants of Babylon to the Fountain of life in Sion to the river that cleanseth and healeth that they cannot so much as beleeve that there is a possibility of cleansing and perfect healing and making sound and whole here while on earth There is great talk of these things of the water the blood the cleansing in all the Regions of Babylon which hath heard of the fame and forms to it self a likeness but the thing it self is not to be found there and so the vertue which comes from the thing it self alone cannot be felt there And here in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Sion and the vessels of Babylon The vessels of Sion they are weak earthen foolish contemptible to the eye of mans wisdome which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there but the treasure the liquor of life in them is precious The vessels of Babylon make a great shew appear very holy very heavenly very zealous for God and Christ and for the setting up of his Church and Ordinances all over the world Thus they appear without but they are Sepulchers there 's rottenness within under all this there lodgeth an unclean an unsanctified heart an heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the Gospel while it makes such a great shew of subjection and obedience to the letter 5. It is the City of the King of darknesse of the great King of darkness of the Prince of the power of the ayre who rules universally in the darknesse in the mistery of iniquiry throughout even in every heart Where ever is sin there is Satans throne and there he hath his Laws his Government his power in every heart of his dominion And where there is the least subjection to him he is yet a Prince his building is not as yet there wholly thrown down he is not there as yet dispossessed and cast out As long as there is any thing left wherein he may dwell he knows his owne and keeps his hold of it It is his right and he will not loose it All sin all darkness is properly his it is his seat and he hath the Government there Man is the Land where these two Kings fight and what ever is good and holy belongs to the one King and what ever is evill and unclean belongs to the other and there is no communion or peace between them but each keep their own and gather of their own unto themselves And where the fight is once begun between these there is no quietness in that Land till one of these be dispossessed but then there is either the peace of Babylon most commonly under a form of holinesse or the peace of Sion in the spirit life and power 6. This City was built and is daily built in imitation of Sion painted just like Sion The intent of it's building was to eat out Sion to suppresse Sion to withdraw from the truth by a false Image and to keep her Inhabitants in peace and satisfaction under a beliefe and hope that it is the true Sion and therefore it must needs be made like Sion else it could no way suite these ends Every street must be like the streets of Sion every house like the houses of Sion every Tribe and family like the Tribes and familyes of Sion every person like the persons in Sion all the Laws Ordinances c. like the Laws and Ordinances of Sion the worship like the worship in Sion the faith like the faith of Sion the painted Christ like the Christ of Sion all that go for truths like the truths of Sion they would not deceive else City Babylon would be soon seen through else and become quickly desolate and forsaken did she not lay her paint very thick and with great art and skil Now here 's the wisdome here 's the true eye tried to see through al the paints of this city in al the shapes and forms of it to turn from every street every house every chamber every image and false appearance of truth every false appearance of ordinances and wayes of worship every likenes of things which this spirit forms from the letter every duty that it thus cals for every promise of Scripture which it endeavours to apply to that to which it belongs not that it might lull the soule asleep and cosen and deceive it of the thing promised here I say is the true eye tried to turn from all this and to waite for the raising and redeeming of the true seed of Sion and for the springing up of the true life and power in it and from it For as long as this spirit can deceive you with any likenes ye shal never know the truth nor come to the worship of the true living God which alone is in the spirit and in the truth 7. The end of al this