to a lost Groat which could not be found till the Woman had lighted the Candle and swept her House and he compared it to a certain Lord who went into a far Country who called his own Servants and delivered unto them his Goods and unto one he gave five Talents and unto another two and unto another one Talent to every man according to his several Ability and streight-way took his Journey then he that had received the five Talents went and traded with the same and made them other five Talents and likewise he that had received two gained also other two but he that had received one went and digged in the Earth and hid his Lord's Money after a long time the Lord of those Servants cometh and reckoneth with them and so he that had received five Talents came and brought other five Talents saying Lord thou deliveredst unto me five Talents behold I have gained besides them five Talents more his Lord said unto him Well done thou good and faithful Servant thou hast â—een faithful over a few things I will make thee a Ruler over many things enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord and he also that had received two Talents came and said Lord thou deliveredst unto me two Talents behold I have gained other two Talents besides them and his Lord said unto him Well done thou good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee Ruler over many enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord then came he which had received the one Talent and said Lord I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strewed I was afraid and went and hid thy Talent in the Earth lo there thou hast that is thine his Lord answered and said unto him Thou wicked and sloathful Servant thou knowest I reaped where I sowed not and gathered where I strewed not thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with Usury take therefore the Talent from him and give it to him that hath ten Talents for unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath and cast ye the Unprofitable Servant into utter Darkness where shall be Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth And he compared the Kingdom unto Ten Virgins and to many other things which would swell into a great Volumn to declare and open the Mysteries thereof Now all this was to be found within man for there he told them the Kingdom was whereunto this was likened and he advised them to strive to enter into the Kingdom and told them The Gate was streight and the Way was narrow which leads into it but the Way was broad the Gate wide that leads into Destruction yet nevertheless for all this the god of the World blinded their Eyes and their Hearts were still hardened although there were some that bore witness to their Faces whom they had sent unto Christ to seek to ensnare him by Words and testified That never man spake like unto him yet for all this the Enmity came to burn the more violently in them against him which Enmity arose from the Seed of the Serpent which lodg'd in them wherby they sought Oportunity that they might by any Means put him to death which was not unknown to him who was the express Image of God the Father in whom the Godhead dweltbodily so that he was the Searcher and Discerner of the Heart and by his Light he makes manifest the Secrets thereof for he saw through the Pharisees who made large Profession of God the Father but yet they rebelled against the Son of God whom he had sent a Light into the World therefore he pronounced Wo against them calling them Blind Leaders of the Blind and Hypocrites and Whited Walls and likening them unto Painted Sepulchres which outwardly made a fair shew but inwardly were full of Rottenness telling them that they washed the Outside of the Platter but the Inside remained full of Filthiness and that they paid Tythes of Cummin Mint and Annise when they omitted the weightier Matters even Justice and Judgment these are they that in outward Appearance did walk as to the Law blameless yet Christ warn'd his Disciples to beware of the Leven of these great Professors who did all to be seen of Men they made Long Prayers in the Synagogues and loved the Chiefest Place in the Assemblies and Greetings in the Market-place and would not keep Company with Publicans nor Sinners but cry'd out against Christ because his Disciples did eat with Publicans and Sinners yet nevertheless Christ told his Disciples that unless their Righteousness did exceed the Righteousness of these High Professing Scribes and Pharisees they should in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and he many times did dispute with these Professors who sate in Moses's Chair but they being Carnally-minded could not understand him because he spoke unto them in a spiritual Sense therefore what was spoken by him unto them was as Parables which they could not understand and many times his Sayings were so hard amongst them that them that believed on him could not understand for even his Disciples whereof he had chosen twelve particularly unto himself many times asked him in private what might be the Meaning of what he had spoke to them in publick And he sent forth many of his Disciples to declare his Name abroad in the World and that they should publish That CHRIST the Mâ—sâ—ias who was the Redeemer of the World which the Prophets prophesied should come that now he is come a Light into the World that whosoever believes in him should no longer remain in Darkness and he fore-told to them the Destruction of their Temple and Temple-worships and that he was come to put an End to it all and that they should no longer worship him at Jerusalem nor in the Mount at Samaria but he that will worship the Father must worship him in Spirit and in Truth and that such the Father seeks to worship him and that God was and is a Spirit and those that will worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth and he told his Disciples that he had chosen them twelve and yet one of them was a Devil and he fore-told them that he should be betrayed by one of them into the Hands of Sinners and that they should be all offended because of him but honest-hearted Peter who was one of the 12. told him from the pure Simplicity that lodged in his Heart that though they all should forsake him yet he would not but Christ saw how secretly the Seed of the Serpent lodged in him so answered him that before the Cock should crow he would deny him thrice and he told them that the Shepherd should be smitten and the Sheep
the seed of the Serpent lodged in the Bishops and Prelates and how it was drawing out of the Form of Godliness again into the heathenish Way of Worship but see how the Lord hath then raised up a People in whom his seed was manifest who bore their Testimony against those Bishops and Prelates in whom the contrary seed lodged who came to be hated and in scorn and derision called Puritants and were rendered by them as Separates Deceivers Deluders in whom the seed of the Serpent ruled for therein lies the subtilty of the Serpent to charge the Truth with that which he himself is guilty of so that at all times the seed of God and his eternal Truth hath been persecuted by the Serpent and his seed under the Name of Error Heresie and Blasphemy So those People came to be imprisoned fined and many of them banished but yet see how the Judgments of the Lord came both upon King Bishops Prelates and Priests and how the Serpent came to have his Head bruised in them who raised up a War in the Nation whereby they came to be cut off from the Face of the Earth and all stood in a tottering Condition so that the seed of the Serpent was fain to endeavour to shelter himself under a more smoother Form of Godliness then he had done in many years before even under the Presbyterian Form but then the Lord raised up his seed in a People who could not be satisfied under that Form for the Light even Christ shined in them and let them see many gross Errors in it and caused them to with-draw from having Fellowship with them and these in scorn came to be called by the rude Multitude Independants but they also came soon after into a Form so that there was a ground in them wherein the seed of the Serpent might lodge therefore it soon entered into that Form and likewise corrupted it but then the Lord raised up his seed again in some of them and caused them to depart from them out of that Form and to give their Testimony against the Errors thereof which arose from the seed of the Serpent and these came by the rude Multitude to be called Anabaptists but these soon departed from the pure Life that arose in them from the seed of God in them and came into Imitation of what the Saints of God had done in former Ages and so came into a Form of Godliness and the Life and Simplicity which first moved in them came to be lost and there came a ground wherein the seed of the Serpent could lodge therefore he soon entred into that Form and likewise corrupted it yet the Lord still followed him with his Light which shined in these dark Forms and caused many of them to see that there is nothing but Emptiness and Barrenness in that Form and that their Souls therein could not be satisfied and then they came into a more purer Way and Likeliness of the Truth then any of the former and they bore their Testimony against all the Forms through which they had come for they saw by the Light of Christ the Deceit that lodged in them and so they came to a Way of seeking and waiting on the Lord but yet they likewise came again into a Form and there was a kind of a ground amongst them wherein the seed of the Serpent could remain for the Serpent can turn himself into the likeness of any thing even into the very likeness of the Way the Life the Truth but though he can transform himself into the Form of an Angel of Light and into the Likeness of Truth yet he cannot come into the Way nor into the Life it self nor into the Truth therefore now is the Lord raising up a People after all this who shall worship him in Spirit in Truth out of all Forms Likenesses so that in them the Lord will destroy and judge out all that ground wherein the seed of the Serpent can lodge so that the Serpent's Head is come to be bruised in many Thousands in their particulars and as it is begun in the particulars so likewise it shall at length be bruised in the general the seed that hath long groaned unto God shall be delivered from under the Burden of Oppression for now after all this long dark night of Apostacy which hath been for this 1600. odd years wherein the Lord has been as it were a stranger unto the Sons Daughters of Men and they have lived as it were without God in the World taking pleasure and delight in the vanities thereof their foolish Hearts have caused them to err but now is the Day sprung from on high even the mighty Day of the Lord therfore the night must vanish away for the Darkness cannot stand before the Brightness of his Coming nor before the Gloriousness of his Appearance therefore it is time for the Prince of Darkness to arise to gather together the uttermost of his Strength for now is his Kingdom invaded on every Side even by the Lamb and his Followers who is risen to make War in Righteousness and by patient suffering shall overcome his Kingdom and bruise the Serpent's Head Now thou that readest hast thou not heard of a People who dare not swear nor dare not tell a Lye who cannot stoop nor bow their Knees nor put off their Hats in Honour to any man's Person in the World and which cannot give any vain flattering Titles to man neither can have any Fellowship with workers of Iniquity neither can they enter into any excess of Riot with them neither dare they speak any other Language then that which the Saints in former Ages spoke and stand as Witnesses against all vain Talks and foolish Jesting and cannot respect the Person of any man because therein they should commit Sin who dare not to do unto any man but as they would be done unto in the like Condition who bears their Testimony against all the vain Worships of the World and all deceitful Professors who profess God in Words but deny him in their Lives and Conversations and hast thou not at sometimes heard their very Enemies say that they believed that many of them were honest People and that their dealing towards them hath been honest and just and hast thou not heard that some of them have wished that they could live as those People do and hast thou not heard the People of the World report of what undaunted Spirits those People are who fear not the Frowns nor the lofty looks of the greatest Potent upon the Face of the Earth and on the other side hast thou not heard the rude People of the World even Drunkards Swearers Lyars and Covetous Persons and such as live in all manner of Excess of Riot cry out that these are Deceivers Deluders and Blasphemers and that they are not worthy to live upon the face of the Earth and hast thou not heard what petitioning to the Powers
the Fruits of Death whereon he feeds and is in some sort satisfied for he dares not approach unto the Tree of Life because the Angel of the Lord's Presence standeth with the flaming sword ready lifted up even the righteous Law which still layes hold on him when at any time he approaches near unto the Tree of Life this cuts him down so that he at all Times remains in Death and feeds upon the Fruits thereof this is the true State and Condition of the first Adam who hath lost himself and is fallen from God his Maker But now the second Adam whom the Lord is creating and whom he hath created even after his own Image in Righteousness and true Holiness who was and is the first born among many Brethren even Christ the Son of the living God who puts an End to Transgression and destroyes Sin and sayes O Death I will be thy Death and fulfills the Royal Law in all things and passeth through the flaming sword for the Fire cannot touch him but he has free Access to the Tree of Life and feeds plentifully upon the Fruit thereof and so lives forever and nothing will satisfie him but the very Life it self And this is the true Condition of the second Adam who is the true Heir of all things Now he that comes to have this Babe begotten in him that which hath begot him will bring him forth for shall I bring to the Birth and not bring forth saith the Lord now he that comes to be born of this Birth and to have his Life to stand in this he shall with this come to eat of the Tree of Life for this is he that shall enter in at the streight Gate into the City whose Builder is God Therefore if thou feelest any thing in thee which stirs and moves in thee against sin and against the very Appearance of Evil there lies the seed out of which this Babe is formed and therefore as it is as yet but weak as in Appearance to thee thou oughtest to be tender over it even more tender then the Mother that is newly conceived is over the tender Fruit of her Womb and beware of bruising of it and of smothering of it for a small thing will offend it and choak it but as thou art tender over it and with Carefulness dost cherish it and come to take Delight in it thou wilt find it to grow daily and encrease in thee from strength to strength but thou must beware that thou dost not at any time lay any Burden upon it whereby it may be offended for if thou dost thou wilt come into Condemnation for the same and thou wilt come to suffer Loss in thy self which Loss will not easily be regained for thou wilt find Deadness and Barrenness to arise up in thee and the Dread and Terror of the Lord will take hold daily upon thee until the Lord hath executed his Vengeance upon that which hath oppressed his seed for thou must assuredly come to know a day of Vengeance in thee to light upon the Head of the Transgressor and a Night of sâ—rrow before thou canst know the day of Joy and Gladness Therefore if thou wilt give up freely to let the Seed of God go free to serve the Lord its God in Truth and Righteousness and wait in Patience to see the Oppressor judged and condemned in thee and to see the Vengeance of the Lord to be laid upon the Head of the Transgressor and so to become one with that which judgeth and executes the fierce Wrath and Indignation of the Lord upon that which oppresseth the righteous Seed in thee Now if thou become one with the Lord in this and give up thy self willingly in Obedience to him then a short Work will the Lord make in the Earth and thou shalt come to see him whom thy Soul loveth who now doth but spring up in thee as a Lilly among Thorns but when he comes to be brought forth he will be the fairest amongst ten thousand and this is Christ in thee the Hope of Glory and thou wilt come to live in him and he in thee and so thou wilt come to live in the Life that was before Sin was and before Transgression was and shall be when Sin and Transgression is destroyed and shall be no more and then thou wilt come to witness old things to be done away and all things to become new a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and thou wilt come to witness God's Will to be done in thy Body of Earth as it is in Heaven and his Kingdom in thee to be come and established and his Power made known in thee to the destroying of the Power of Sin and Satan and his Glory to be made known in thee to the setting forth of his eternal Praise in the midst of all his Enemies and this is declared by many who are faithful Witnesses of it according to the Measure which the Lord hath freely been pleased to give and bestow upon them and this do they witness to be an eternal Truth according as the Spirit of the Lord God of Truth hath revealed it unto them for they never received from Man neither by Man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ who leads into the Path of Light and Life all that are willing and obedient to follow him now these things are deep and hidden Mysteries to them that yet remain in Darkness but if thou canst but read the Scriptures singly without adding thereunto thy own or any other Mans Imaginations they testifie of him that hath the Life in him and they declare how the two Births have been brought forth in all Ages which Births came from the two Seeds even the Seed of the Promise and the Seed of the Serpent and between these two Seeds there is an everlasting Enmity placed so that they can never be reconciled one to the other but still arise one to destroy the other but at last the Seed of the Woman must and will get the Victory for that must come to bruise the Seed of the Serpent's head although the other bruise his Heel for a short Space now see the Seed of the Serpent brought forth by the first Birth in Cain how the Enmity comes to work in him so that he came as it were to murder Abel the second Birth which was brought forth of the Seed of the Promise and wherefore was it but because the Sacrifice that was offered up by the promised Seed was accepted and his the Seed of the Serpent was not therefore Cain the first Birth who as in Reference to his outward Birth after the Flesh was therein his Brother but yet he being ruled by the contray Seed to Abel the Enmity caused him to rise up and to murder innocent Abel and then he became a Fugitive and a Vagabond upon Earth all his Dayes not having an Habitation in God although he builded a City and call'd it by his Son's Name so here
should be scattered and that the Chief Priests and Elders should take him by Policy hale him before the Judgment-Seat that he should by them be put to Death and that the third day he should rise again that he would go before them into Galilee and that no Man could take away his Life but that he laid it down that he might take it up again for he had Power to lay it down and Power to take it up again all which came to pass according as he had said for the Enmity still arose amongst the Jews against him from the seed of the Serpent which lodged in them and caused them to combine with the Chief Priests and Elders who hired Judas Iscarriot even one of the twelve to betray him into their Hands for thirty Pieces of Silver and so came with a Band of Soldiers and with a trayterous Kiss betrayed him into the Hands of Unreasonable Men who came forth with Pikes and Staves as if he had been a Murderer whenas he daily taught in their Synagogues and disputed with them in their Assemblies and no Man laid hands upon him but now was the Time come wherein the seed of the Serpent must bruise his Heel and he must bruise the Serpent's Head for he had compared his Life unto a Corn of Wheat which when it was sowed in the Ground was but one but when it sprung up it came to be many and he said that the Son of Man must be lifted up and when he was he should draw all Men after him and he told his Disciples that he would come again unto them and be with them unto the End of the World and that he would not leave them comfortless but he would send them the Comforter even the Spirit of Truth which should lead them into all truth and bring all things to their Remembrance and that he should convince the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and that he was the good Shepherd that would lay down his Life for the Sheep and that all the rest were but Thieves and Robbers whose own the Sheep were not But now thou that readest do but consider and behold how mightily the Enmity which is placed betwixt these Two Seeds works in each of them one against the other see how the Seed of the Serpent ariseth to bruise the Seed of the Woman's Heel in the Disciples of Christ and them that had believed in him when he was betrayed and taken and bound and sent away to the Judgment Seat how the Seed of the Serpent raised up Doubtings and Fear and Questionings in them whether he were the CHRIST yea or nay whereby the pure Seed of God in them came as it were to have its Heel bruised for that present time they all forsook him except Peter only in whom the Seed of God was raised up in something a higher Measure then the rest but yet in the very time of Tryal when he cane to be questioned concerning Christ the Seed of the Serpent raised up in him a slavish Fear which caused him to deny Christ even with Oaths but then the Cock crâ—w and he remembred Christ's Words and he went forth and wept bitterly Now see also the Strivings that were betwixt the Two Seeds in Pilate how from the honest Simplicity of the Seed of God which lodged in him he consessed he found no Fault in him whom they called the King of the Jews but would have loosed him from the Bands of Death but yet see the Workings of the subtile Serpent in him which raised up a Fear in him of displeasing the People whose Mouthes were continually opened unto him crying out Away with this Fellow crucifie him he is not worthy to live upon the Earth Now behold what a streight Pilate was in between two even in himself they cryed out That they would have Christ crucified and Barabas the Murderer delivered to them and his Wife sent to him That he should have no hand in the Death of that just man for She had been much troubled in a Dream concerning him and that of God in his own Conscience testified unto him That he was innocent of the things whereof he stood accused before him then the Seed of the Serpent rose up in him and caused him to work wickedness in Hypocrisie and caused him to call out unto the People and to tell them that he would not have any Hand in the Death of this man but that his Blood should be upon them and upon their Children and they all cryed out that it might be so so Pilate called for Water and washed his Hands and said That he was innocent as concerning the Blood of this Just Man and so he delivered him unto them to be crucified who formerly had great Strivings in his Body of Flesh in so much that it caused him to sweat Drops of Blood so likewise now upon the Cross the Seed of the Serpent so bruised his Heel whereat he cryed MY GOD MY GOD why hast thou for saken me but at his Departing when he yielded up the Ghost then the Seed of the Woman began to rise to bruise the Serpent's Head when the Vail of the Temple rent and the Rocks clave and the Graves opened and many of the Saints that had slept came forth and Darkness came over the Earth then Fear and Dread fell upon the Hearts of many and the Serpent's Head was bruised down in them so that they confessed that they believed he was the Son of God And although they buried him in a strong Sepulchre and rolled a mighty Stone upon the Mouth thereof although the chief Priests and Elders sealed it with their own Seal and set Souldiers over it to watch him lest any Man should steal him away in the Night yet the third Day he rose again according to the Scriptures in such a Miraculous Manner that the Sight thereof struck Dread and Amazement upon the Souldiers which caused them to for sake the Sepulchre and to go and tell it to the Chief Priests and Elders yet see the Subtilty of the Serpent how it wrought in them to cover the Guilt from the sight of Men and how he turned his Head to save it from bruising in causing them to give the Souldiers Money that they might go their way and report That whilest they were asleep his Friends came and stole him away from them yet nevertheless he appeared unto many after he was risen from the dead for the Bands of Death could not hold him And the first which saw him after his Resurrection was Mary who stood weeping without at the Sepulchre and Jesus said unto her Woman why weepest thou who seekest thou She supposing him to be the Gardener said unto him Sir if thou hast born him hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him awâ—y Jesus said unto her Mary she turned her self and said unto him Raboni which is to say Master Jesus said unto her touch me