with much desire waited for that impowered them to do that which before they were commanded to do after they were endued with Power or had the Power in them And so what they were commanded to do they were to wait to receive Power in themselves from God to perform and Christ did intend to give them Power to do that which he commanded And as he commanded them to go and teach he also required them to tarry and so not to go until they had received Power so to do and so it was the Power of the holy Ghost in them which made them Ministers and these were and such are truly Ordained Ministers And after they had received Power from on high even the Spirit or Life of Truth and were filled therewith and so had it in them then they went to do that which was commanded them then they went to teach the Nations and converted Thousands and turned Sinners and brought Souls to God and then they were called Christians and then were People brought to be of the true Church which Christ buildeth upon that which flesh and blood revealeth not And this is the entrance into the Church of God 2 Thes 1. 1. the receiving of the Spirit and in this God is worshipped and not else for this hath excluded all other Worship and those only are the true Worshippers who come in thus by the Door which is Christ the Light and Spirit of Truth sent into the Heart from God And if all the prudent learned Divines so called in Europe or all or any of the wisest Orthodox men in any other Quarter of the whole World can prove by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament any other true Worship of God who is a Spirit now extant among men and to be performed especially among them called Christians with acceptance to God but only that which the Spirit of Truth leadeth such unto as receive it then let them bring it forth that we may see it and prove it by plain undeniable Truth of Scripture or otherwise I shall look upon their Proofs Words Ways Actions Practices Performances Duties and several Worships as things of no value Or if there be any other entrance into the true Worship of God than this Spirit that God sendeth or the Light which leadeth to it or if there be any other Worship which God doth or will accept to be after this spoken or prophesied of in the Scriptures of Truth whereby this shall ever be done away or ended from being the true only and alone Worship of God whilst men have a being upon Earth then let the wisest of the Sons of men bring it forth and produce there strong reasons therein that we may plead together and that the entrance into and the true Worship it self of the only true invisible God may be declared over all the World for the satisfaction of every tender Heart concerning this For this I am satisfied in that Christ Jesus who is the end of the Law and who finished his work when he was upon Earth is made a quickning Spirit and is the Way and Truth of Life which bringeth into the Worship of God and he is the begining and the end and he leadeth to the beginning of Gods Worship and he is the end and the Rest of all the faithful in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen and without him all is as nothing and all that come before him are Thieves and Robbers and he it is that abideth a Priest forever and his Spirit of Truth is it which all People and Professors whatsoever should first wait to receive thereby to be led into that true Spiritual Worship which alone God accepteth lest they and their Worship and Building fall together in a day when there is none to deliver And then thus I will Query If Christ own dear Disciples who had forsook all and followed him not Priest or Baptists did not come to receive this Spirit by hearing all the words which he he spoke unto them but by waiting after the words were ended Then whether those that have not forsaken all nor so much as the Worlds fashions do now come to receive the Spirit by Reading Hearing or Professing the same words of Christ now written or any other part of Scriptures Or whether a Proud man hath received this Spirit or a Lyar or a Prophane person or any Wise or Prudent man whatsoever by any means or way of his And whether any such ever did have can or may by any industry or other way or means attain to this Spirit which leadeth in the true Worship of God but as it is freely given forth from God And then whether all people are not to be led by that Spirit which God freely giveth into the Worship of God because Christ said The Spirit should lead which indeed doth lead into all Truth and nothing else doth so And they that have not received this from God to lead them are not yet come to be led by that which the Sons and Children of God were and are led by And the Ministration of the Spirit which all are now to be taught by is inwardly to be known in the most nearest secret invisible manner and is more out of the sight Comprehension and reach of mans Wisdom than any other Ministration and it is given forth from the clear Fountain it self unto the Souls satisfaction of man when he is come to the end of words or having heard much or all the words that can be spoken of it remaineth unsatisfied in a restless longing desire to find receive feel and enjoy the thing it self which the words declared of and that which satisfieth the true thirsting Soul comes clearly from God to the refreshing of the inward parts of man and filling of the empty barren hungry Spirit which cannot be saâ—â—sâ—ed without Gods indewllings and thus the Disciples were led along and at last in a foolish way to the great Professors they waited among them in Jerusalem and the Lord had regard unto them and sent his own Spirit unto them and then they were filled with the Holy Ghost And the secret invisible hand of God whose Power was and is felt in my heart having out of the sight of flesh and blood in the hidden counsel of his secret Will led me by the vertue of the operation and drawings thereof through those things which thereby I come to leave behind and to receive and feel that which now goeth before and is my Leader in whose Covenant of Life Eternal my Soul is now satisfied and so by good experience of the Lords leading and from an experimental knowledge and sensible feeling and present enjoyment of the incomes of the Spirit of Truth and Life which filleth the inward parts with the holiness of it self and giveth power to do the things required before of God even from the right and good understanding thereof is this written That where it meets with the like condition in a weaâ—y Traveller
Law of God and if you have ought against us you should come and declare it before our faces or let us have liberty to speak when the Lord moves any of us to come to you but fill ye up the measure of your Fathers the chief Priests Scribes and Pharisees in whose steps ye are found read Mat. 23. who denyed Christ the Light and called him a Deceiver and one that had a Devil and the Carpenter's Son and stirred up the Rulers and the rude People to Crucifie him and they themselves gave their Voice against him whom they had hired Judas to betray and after his Resurrection they hired Souldiers for large Money to declare Lyes of his Disciples and him who was just and afterwards were Enemies to his Innocent Lambs who had waited in Obedience to Christ the Light and so received that Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive by which they were endued with Power to go forth into the Towns Villages and Synagogues declaring against the false Worships even of Priests and People though they had Latin Greek and Hebrew and Moses preached among them every Sabbath day yet were they in the false Worship and deniers of Christ the Light of the World and his Ministers and Servants who were foolish and contemptible in their Eyes as we are this day in the Eyes of you who are in the ways of your Fathers consulting with the Rulers against such as come in the Name of the Lord to declare against your Oppression and unjust Practices and such are brought by you and your Hearers to suffer Imprisonment and loss of Goods if not Death it self even by â—tn and those that you have been long teaching and are of â—ght Church as it is called by whom the Church in God doth â— not as is witnessed in Devon-Goal wherein many of the Serva ever the living God have been kept Prisoners who have not Truth the Law of God nor Man and this is done by thosne Light taught no better by you Priests of Devonshire Is â—aâ—ed by you to your Ministry to bring forth such Fruits in the generality of your Hearers Did they ever imprison any for Conscience-sake who were taught by the Ministry of Christ the Light to deny Ungodliness And are not your Hearers in Ungodliness the which we bear Testimony against and all Ungodliness Therefore we suffer this day by the Seed of Evil Doers who have taken many of the Servants of God in the High-ways as they were going to visit the Members of Christ in Prison and took twenty Shillings from one of them who was going to relieve the Members of Christ in Prison and sent him to Prison also Another had ten Shillings taken from him and others had their Writings and other things taken from them Some others were put out of your Synagogues brought before Magistrates and sent to Prison and one dyed in Prison and this is done by you and your Hearers ye Priests of Devonshire Is it not a shame to your Ministry to bring forth no better Fruits in this your Gospel Profession and the Fruits of your Gospel-Hearers to lay wait as he that setteth Snares and set a Trap to catch men Jer. 5. 26. to the end and send them to Prison for going to visit Prisoners whose Relief from them was taken Was ever the like heard of in the days of the Prophets or Apostles Who but those that are as blind as you will follow you any longer For now as every simple man may see the Fruit of your Ministry which hath plainly appeared in most Towns and Ports of Devonshire at Tiverton they that depart from Evil are made a Prey of and many Abuses they receive and the Abusers not punished but some that have been abused were also cast into Prison and they who came to visit them were also persecuted and they that came in the Name of the Lord were there persecuted put out of the Synagogues and imprisoned At Tarington the Servants of the Lord that preached Repentance and that came for the good of 〈◊〉 were Evil intreated and Snares laid for them and 〈…〉 and the Priest of Tarington said That Paul was a 〈…〉 that it was his Duty to Swear This hs affirmed more than 〈…〉 At Plymouth the Servants of the Lord several times 〈…〉 inhumane Persecutions the like hath been seldom heard 〈…〉 by those that are called Christians 〈…〉 might be said and other places named with the Fruits that your Ministry hath brought forth but in this you may be known by your Fruits to all that love the Light of Christ who saith of the false Prophets By their Fruits ye shall know them And now is Christ the Light come to deliver his Flock from your Mouthes and he will bring back the lost and gather home the scattered that have been long devoured by you the many Pastors who have not brought home to Christ the Light the lost Sheep but with Force and with Cruelty have your ruled over them who have been scattered by you Shepherds that cannot understand Isa 56. 11. who feed the subtilty in your Hearers and not the simplicity neither have you ministred to the Spirit in Prison nor yet received your Ministry from him that opens the Prison Door And row your day is come the Hireling must fly into the Holes and yet shall you not be hid And now your carnal Preaching through your carnal Imaginations and Conceivings from the Letter which killeth to a carnal People for carnal Ends in carnal idol Temples high Places of beastly Worship This you are now seeking to uphold with carnal Weapons in the hands of carnal Men and Magistrates who send the Lambs of Christ into Prisons and all this will avail you no more than it did avail the chief Priests your Fathers who took counsel together how to take Jesus Christ the Light by subtilty and kill him and gave their Voice against him And are not you giving your Voices against Christ the Light caâ—â—ing it Natural as they call'd him the Carpenter's Son But fill ye up the measure of your Fathers ye blind Guides of Devonshire that upon you at whose hand the Blood of Souls will be required may come the Curses spoken of in Mal. 2. 1 2. For now is Christ the Light made manifest the second Priesthood who is made a Minister not after a carnal Commandment but after the Power of an Endless Life even him that is the Light and the true Shepherd that teacheth all to profit the Everlasting High Priest that leadeth up to God who committed all Power unto him that is the Light of the World which whoso believeth in and obeyeth shall not abide in Darkness as you and your Hearers do who are ever learning but never come to the knowledge of the Truth which makes Free But such as follow him who is the Light the Way the Truth the Life the Corner Stone refused by you for to you he is a stone of stumbling even he that is the Rock
enters not nor the vain Janglers who come with their carnal Weapons from the Letter without to fight against the Lamb whose Commands are written in the Heart where the Holy Ghost is by such resisted who are not come to the second Ministry where all things are compleat in him who is the Head the Beginning and the End in whom the Circumcision made without Hands is witnessed so the Vail is taken off the Heart and the end is seen even he that takes away the Sin of the World and so all Trespasses come to be forgiven unto them that are buried in the Baptism and so dead unto Sin whereby also the Hand-writing of Ordinances was against us comes to be blotted out and nailed down to the Cross whereby the Principalities and Powers are spoiled by the Power of the Word that becomes Flesh whereby those things that were in shew are triumphed over and nailed down to the Cross through which the Life comes to be raised and so Christ Jesus the Son of God comes to be revealed and made manifest being quickned in the Spirit and so no more to know Christ after the Flesh but in that which is raised up through the Cross unto which the shews and shadows of things are nailed down So the Doctrines of Baptism and Repentance from dead works are left behind and those things that are left behind are forgotten and there is a pressing forwards to Perfection by the Ministry of the second Priesthood wherein every man is to be presented Perfect in Christ Jesus in whom there is a growing from Grace to Grace and a changing from Glory to Glory by the same Spirit having received of his fulness Col. 2. 10 11 12 13 14 15. Rom. 6. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Heb. 6. 1 2. 1 Pet. 3. 22. 2 Cor. 3. 18. In the time of the first Priesthood the outward Blood was to purifie the transgression being without and the law without And so here is the outward Washings with the outward Water and the set dayes of Purification and these things were to be done often because of the continual Transgression of that Law which stood without which came to be fulfilled and did not Christ Jesus suffer without the Gate Heb. 9. 23. Col. 2. 23. And the Law being without hath the shadow and yet not the Image therefore far short of Christ the Substance Heb. 10. 1. In the time of the second Priesthood the heavenly things themselves are purified with better sacrifices then these Heb. 9. 23. which served to the purifying of the Patterns and the heavenly things themselves being purified with the living sacrifice so the way into the Holyest of all is known which is not manifested under the first Priesthood Heb. 9. 8. And so there is an entrance made into the Believers Rest Heb. 4. 3 10. Rev. 14. 13. where the seed of Abraham sits down in the Father's Kingdom which consisteth of Righteousness Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. and so as there is a coming to feel the Power of the second Ministry preaching to the spirit in Prison 1 Pet. 3. 19. 1 Cor. 1. 24. and so to quicken them that were dead in sin Ephes 2. 1. by whose quickning Power the seed comes to be raised up together with Christ the Head who sits at the Fathers right Hand in the heavenly places Ephes 1. 20. which are purified and prepared for the faithful Ephes 2. 5 6. John 17. 21 22 23 24. And as the heavenly things of the heavenly places are purified and the entrance into the Rest ministred so Christ comes to be seen exalted at the Fathers right Hand in the heavenly places above all Principalities and Powers which are spoiled Christ being the Head over all things Ephes 1. 21 22. And so there is a ruling over all that which stands in outward show the which Christ made a show of openly triumphing over them in it Col. 2. 15. And if there be a triumphing over these things which are in show before the entrance into the Holiest of all be made how much more are the outward shows triumphed over and the Principalities spoiled when the way into the Holiest of all is made manifest by the Power of him who is gone into the Heavens and is on the right hand of God Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. 3. 22. In the time of the first Priesthood the Rule and Covenant were without and such as come on further resist the Spirit within yet profess the Scriptures without but resist the Inspiration which gave them forth and yet are zealous for their Rule without being yet blind like Saul even persecuting them in whom the Spirit of Truth bears rule which Spirit they being not come unto to open the Eye and lead them into all Truth are found out of thier Rule which they so much talk of Read and see James 1. 26. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Tit. 3. 9. Ephes 4. 29 30 31 32. and ch 5. 11. 1 John 3. 4. and ch 2. 4. John 12. 36. Mat. 5. 28 29 30 39 40 41 42 43 44. and Ch. 23. 26 27. 1 Tim. 2. 9. 1 Thes 5. 5 15 17 18 19 20 21 22. 2 Cor. 13. 11. In the time of the second Priesthood a measure of the Spirit of Truth is own'd received within which whoso follows walks not in Darkness John 8. 12. the which leads into all Truth and orders and rules the Creature in the fear of him who is the God of Order whereby the strong holds are broken down and every Thought comes to be subjected unto Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. who rules over all and upholds all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1. 3. who hath given to every man a manifestation of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 7. and a proportion of Faith Rom. 12. 6. Christ being all and in all Gal. 3. 28. Col. 3. 11. and as every man hath received Christ Job 9. 9. so to walk in him Col. 2. 6. according to the same Rule already attained Mat. 25. 21. and to mind the same things already received that is the cause Phil. 3. 16 17 and mark them that walk so and not go beyond the measure of what they have received but be faithful in it as good Stewards of the manifold graces of God Tit. 2. 10. and such as walk according to that Rule grace mercy and peace be to them and to all the Israel of God 2 Cor. 10. 12 13. Written by a Servant of Jesus Christ the only High Priest and Minister of life for whose sake he suffers in outward Bonds at Dorchester this 28th day of the 1st Moneth 1657. who is despised persecuted imprisoned by the World called Humphry Smith AN ALARUM Sounding forth unto all the Inhabitants of the Earth ASA Warning before the Vials of the Everlasting Wrath be poured forth upon them THe Lord of Hosts whose Name is Holy whose Way is Everlasting whose Truth endureth forever whose
For another time formerly the Light of Christ in me which then I knew not did so condemn me and judge and trouble me in secret that it brought Sickness upon me and thereby being Weak expecting I should dye I was then much troubled and it lay much upon my Conscience at that time that I had not in the time of my Health gone to the Steeple-house and in the fear of the Lord warned all People to Repent and I was then much grieved because I thought I should dye and not first in that thing discharge my Conscience And so though I might write much by what is written may appear to the Meek and Sober-minded that the Lord did not only call but also thrust me forth of the World into his Harvest and this was of God and the operation of his powerful Word which called me out of the World and Hundreds since by the Word of his Power through me have been gathered out of the Way of the World and received the Earnest of the Rest Eternal and many converted unto God and Wo be unto them who openly oppose me in this the Lords Work I now am in which he hath thus called me unto and let none think that I did wilfully neglect my outward Employment neither let any one think that I left my Family as not regarding them nor that I stay much out of that Country for any By-end for the words are true A Prophet is not without Honour save in his own Country and in his own House and those that did since seek to stop my Mouth did not well Concerning my publick Preaching and something of what followed THAT none may stumble thereat and say We called Quakers are such who change from one thing to another and so what we hold not to be regarded But I say Those that have to changes are not come into fear of God psal 55. 19. and the Fear of the Lord is to depart from Evil And they depart from Evil are become a Prey but such were cleansed and changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. and grew in Grace and Knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ And what I did or said then was in a great Zeal and real Intent to do good neither did I covet mens Silver for it neither was it my end to make a Gain thereby though much was freely offered me more than I intend to make mention though I recceived it not so that therein I was not much found in Covetousiness But when Judgement came upon me as before-mentioned I gave up that Preaching and said at the last Meeting I had then which was at Stoke-bliss That my Mouth was stopt at that present but if ever the Lord should open my Mouth again I should Preach indeed and it is so Praises to the Lord forever who hath indeed opened my Mouth and since I was no longer Rebellious and the living Truth of Jusus Christ do I declare and bear Testimony to his Name where-ever I come as his Spirit moveth me And let none herby think that I now glory in what was then my shame for though I had a great Zeal then for God it being not according to the Knowledge of the Crofs of Christ which crucisies to the World and all its vain Customs the which Cross being then left behind which is the Power of God so the Love of the world which is Enmity to God remained in me and the Root Iniquity not them removed out of my Heart therefore Fruits of Disobedience in secret were still brought forth which the Would the World took little notice of but I had one near me who did let me see all that ever I did and reproved me for vain Glory and having the Praise of Men and the Love of the VVorld and so my Preaching did not bring Souls home to God though I informed their Minds of many things which many ignorant People knew not before and so though much Love was in many yet this brought not forth Fruits of Obedience unto God and so all came to little for the People remained in their Sins and received not Power to come out of them neither came they out of the Fashions and Customs of the World nor to the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which purrisies the Heart stands in the pure Conscience my self And so their Faith and mine was vain being then in our Sins Therefore let none think that I now justifie any Deceit Hy-pocrisie or secret Evil that then was in me or practsed by me for in the Presence of the Lord God I do openly declare against it all and that Spirit that acted me therein but I own that simple thing which then encourged me to do good out of an Honest Intent and that kept me out of Covetousness and from receiving of Gifts And I openly declare against all Cruel Unjull and Ungcdly Action and Words and all that Filth which I wallowed in before I was a zelous Professor as it is known to may Ungodly Persons how I was once as Wicked as many of them whom I Warn all to Repent otherwife they cannot escape the Dammantion of Hell And I utterly deny and declare against that Blindnese and Hypocrisie I was in when I followed the chief Priests from one Idols Temple to another who were chief in the Serpent's Wifdom deceiving me and many more and taught me that Knowledge which came from the Devil who said Te shall be a Gods knowing Gen. 3. 5. And in that Knowledge in which every man is Bruitish Jer. 10. 14. from them Hirelings Iencreased in that which pusseth up and encreased my â—orrow as before was mentioned for by that Serpent's subtilty which I learned from them without me I fought against and resisted that which was holy in me Therefore I declare in the Name of the Lord God that all the Hireling Priests do more harm than good and shall never bring People to receive the Power of God but lead them into Subtilty and further off from the Knowledge of that of God in them Rom. 1. 19. And as true as the Lord God liveth upon their Death-beds shall both Priests and People witness this to be true And it s also as true that I write this without any Prejudice to any of their Persons but in Love to all Peoples Souls do I warn all them Hireling Priests in Herefordshire and elsewhere to leave deceiving the People for absolutely the People are deceived by them and forced to maintain them too who may be warned of them by what I have learned by Experience from them having tried them and their ways to the utmost and have much experience of them more than many Country People whose Souls I truly love and therefore this I write And I declare against that which ruled in me in the time of Ignorance and Perverseness and acted me in Cruelty or Oppression towards any Person or to Wrong Defraud or Insult over any one in Tyranny either by Word or Action or wherein I
this mans confused Writings See one more page 50. Now these People as far as I am and ever was able to discern them are indued with a large measure in those things the Apostle mentioned in Heb. 6. 4 5 6. I mean many of them that I know that I did take in my former Intimacy and Acquaintance with them to have received much of the Power of Truth through Christs and to have much communion with God and large experience of his Love But as for others of them they were never judged by me or the rest to be any more than a willing People and for such this Scripture doth not touch them Even by this although there might be much more mentioned thou mayst see in measure in the Light of Christ what he is that doth Rail against such a People whose Words Lives Ways and Actions are agreeable to the Scripture as he confesseth in his own Book The World loves his own and the World delights in its own the World speaketh to the World and the World hears that which is spoken from the Earthly Heart reacheth the deaf Ear and no farther that which is comprehended by the dark Mind that is spoken forth by the deceitful Tongue that feeds the Deceit that lodgeth in the Hearers so one Darkness upholds another and the same Deceit upholds its own in both Speaker Hearer So in both Writer and Reader yea all that write and speak that which proceeds not from the Life but from the Death being in the state of Death is but Death speaking to Death whereby Serpents are begotten or the Seed of the Serpents is encreased Now they that are of God hear God's Word and they that hear not his Word are not of God for the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are spiritually discerned by the spiritual man that judgeth all things though no man can judge him who is a Child of the day and dwelleth in the Light and hath no fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness out of which the Children of the Day are delivered and can witness the Darkness past and the true Light now shining in them But all those who say they have fellowship with Light and walk in Darkness are Lyars and all Lyars are shut out of the Kingdom and are estranged from God who is altogether Pure Holy and Righteous Just Perfect Light and those that dwell in him are as he is and they only have the Mind of Christ the which all the World and earthly Hearts are ignorant of Therefore I shall not put the worldly carnal Heart to judge of what may be written by me although I am but yet leaving off the World and entring into a little of that which is Eternal which no Eye of Flesh can ever attain unto and live neither can any but those that live in the same Life that speaks aright or understands what is spoken from the life by those that spake aright from the pure life Therefore let not thy deceitful Heart deceive thee in judging herein for the Old Heart is Deceitful as I shall further make manifest both unto the World and unto the Children of the Light not only from what I hear but from his own written words and my knowledge and being witnessed by the Light and Truth as it is manifested in me whereby something may so plainly appear that even the World it self may see the Deceit that always hath been and yet is in this man who now desires all the World to take notice p. 24. of his Exposition of his Lyes that he himself hath cast on us who are not of the World therefore the World knows us not for we witness against it that the Deeds thereof are Evil. After Edmund Skipp had thrown off his Tythes and convinced of much more which he was waiting to throw off too he then told me not long before he lest us That he had not Faith to carry him through neither could he believe but he was confident That the Devil would steal all that he had from him again the which is now too true Wo Wo Wo from the Eternal God to all the Inhabitants of the Earth who dwell in the earthly Darkness being seated in the Earth drove out from the presence of the living God and are Vagabonds and Fugitives in the Earth whose center is in the earthly dark Mind Wo to all those that put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light Wo to all those that go down to Aegypt for help in Aegypt the pure Seed is captiyated and kept in Bondage in Sodom and Aegypt the Lord is daily crucified and put to open shame Wo to all the Oaks of Bashan and all the Beasts of the Field Wo to them that build their Nests among the Stars for Capernaum that is lifted up to Heaven and in its wisdom in its own strength shall be brought down to Hell for the Lord God of Life and Power is risen out of his holy Habitation to confound the Language of Babel and dry up the Tongue of the Egyptian Sea and famish all the gods of the Heathen that know not God whose presence is terrible to all the Children of Disobedience Therefore Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker who ariseth to scatter his Enemies and to wound the Head of every one that goeth on still in his Wickedness Oh! the Day of the Lord is at hand wherein every man shall receive according to the Deeds done in his Body then he that hath seemed to wait and now begins to smite his fellow-Servants saying his Master delays his coming and so eat and drink with the Drunken that are drunk indeed with the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore of Babylon those are Drunkards indeed that are drunk with VVine and overcome but not with strong drink such stagger at the Promises and stumble at the Corner-stone but when that Stone shall fall upon them it will grind them to Powder Therefore be warned of the Lord thou that despisest and wonderest For all the Works of the Lord are Wonderful lest thou perish for the Lord is working a Work in these dayes that thou canst not believe nor any that live in their own Wisdom exalted above the pure Wisdom of Christ who teacheth all his to deny all yea even all both their Wisdom Righteousness Wit and all carnal Comprehensions for they are Followers of him who lived not in his own Will For saith he I came not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me and saith Not my Will but thy Will be done And he that is not yet made a Fool and so denies his own Will and Wisdom is yet exalted above the Cross and the Son of Perdition is exalted above all that is called God sitting in the Temple of God even in the Holy Place where Truth should alwayes be exalted Christ should reign as King and subdue all his Enemies under his Feet and lead Captivity
Captive that a Gift may be received which Gift is Eternal Life and this Life is in the Son by which Gift all that are in the Son-like Obedience do witness being made Heirs with him in the eternal Covenant which is established upon better Promises then the first therefore he taketh away the first that he might establish the second which is witnessed in the Son-like Obedience by the which we are made the Righteousness of God through him the which is a Mystery to the dark World whose Mouthes are now open to speak Evil of that they know not calling the Great and Mighty Works of God The Delusions of Satan and the conditions now witnessed in the Sons and Daughters that the Prophets and Apostles both passed through to speak of those things they now call The Works of Antichrist But he is an Antichrist that denyeth the Father and the Son Now see who is an Antichrist No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him He that denies this Revelation denies both Father and Son that is an Antichrist Now to know the Father is Eternal Life and he that saith He knoweth and hath fellowship with the Father and walketh in Darkness is a Lyar and the Devil is the Father of Lyes And he that liveth not in the Truth which is Jesus Christ he must needs Lye because he is out of the Truth and therefore found an Enemy to the pure Truth as it is in Jesus who is the Truth and Life it self by whom the World is and shall be judged when the Lord shall come in flaming Fire rendering Vengeance on all that know him not This Day is even at hand yea even now the Lord is coming a swift Witness against all unrighteous Ones who hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness living in their ungodly Practices sporting themselves now in the Day-time spending their time upon their Lusts living in their own Wills speaking forth the Saints Words but are Enemies to the Saints Conditions Oh! consider consider the Lord is Just in all his Wayes and he is come to judge the Earth with Righteousness he will plead with all Flesh before him all Faces shall gather Paleness and in him who is pure Light are all the Secrets of all Hearts laid open for nothing hideth from him who is a God of consuming Fire and of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity Oh be ashamed and confounded all ye Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea for the Devil is come down unto you and rageth because his time is but short To thy first in page 6. where thou sayest It must needs be the Spirit of Antichrist and Delusion that doth mis-inform the Heart I Answer The Heart it self is deceitful and out of the abundance of thy Heart thy mouth speaketh page 8. or else thou wouldest not speak as though a Deceitful Heart might be misinformed by a delusion for Deceit and Delusion is but one which lodgeth in the Hearts of all the Children of Disobedience who are all in the Death the Curse and the Fall unless they come to witness Restoration the Stoney Heart taken away and a New Heart given which is by the putting off the Old Man with his Lusts and Corruptions and the New Man put on which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. But in the Light in thy own Conscience see when ever thou couldest witness thy Redemption and thy heart free from Delusions as thou speakest or from the power of Darkness when thou by thy own Relation to me went from one Parsonage to another and that not without thy Gown as thou callest it upon thy back that thou hast looked upon as it was indeed Antichristian and then after at Bodinham thou didst sue the poor People for Tythes to my knowledge witness one poor man thou didst sue for one Shilling and wouldst have constrained the poor man to have paid Charges for that one Shilling if I and some other had not spoke to thee after thou hadst often refused the one shilling without Charge though the Light let thee see Tythes to be contrary to Christ yet then lived contrary to the Light in thy own Conscience as thou wast made to confess in my hearing and hundreds more that thou hadst acted in it contrary to thy Conscience two years and before that time thou didst confess unto me and to others How thou wast going to take counsel of men how to sue for thy Tythes and the Lord met with thee yet the Devil had like to have taken thee off of the work of the Lord again divers times as thou confessedit Then thou layest groaning under the burden of thy Tythes yet thou resolvedst to keep them another year yet I had thoughts to the contrary and was made to tell thee at J. B's house in Hereford on the sixth day that thou wouldest e'er long roar against thy Tythes like a Lyon and on the next first day after it was so and thou wast made to acknowledge the Lord in it and sent thy Man with those few words to me Brother Smith the Lord hath done a strange Work in me this Morning and I shall alter strangely this day therefore pray earnestly for me and make what haste thou canst to come unto me Now this is that which thou now callest Delusion for this was the greatest Power that ever thou couldest witness but thou wast made to see by the Light the Emtiness of thy own words both in Speaking and Prayer before as thou callest it witness that in Margarets Grave-Yard where thou spokest words the which were a burden to thy Life after acknowledgedst That it was nothing but Flesh though thou didst strive much in thy own strength And at Len. thou toldest the whole Assembly That thou hadst long spoke after the manner of men but now they must expect no more such from thee and that thy Praying was as dead as Ditch-Water but now thou shouldst wait to Pray in the Spirit and speak by the Spirit and the like at Cliston And then thou wast convinced that thou must leave all even Glebe-land too and so live on thy own Land and build on thy own Land as thou callest it and thou then wast convinced of more Deceit in thy Heart therefore thou wast not at all freed from Deceit but always lived in the Antichristian state where thou art yet witness thy own hand in page 5 where thou confessest Thou hast got a sinful Heart which is a Heart in Sin and full of Sin and we know that none but the Pure in Heart shall see God but Sin is of the Devil and is the Work of Darkness and none that walk in Darkness have fellowship with God 1 John 1. 6. Here thou discoverest plainly that the Old Heart is not yet taken away therefore thou wast not at all nor yet is free from Delusions Therefore for shame leave off thy judging the Hearts
of of others as thou hast read E. S. p. 6 11 19 16. And as for the five Charges which thou mentionest p 9. and saying That if we had had more Accusations against thee its like thou shouldst have had them and in saying The first Charge was Hypocrisie in pag. 7. I answer That that which was written by me in answer to thy Deceitful Lines first sent to us I shall for the sake of the simple set down plainly in the same order as it was written by me having a just Copy of it by me and then let the tender spirited read thy Lyes in thy own Book A true Copy of the Answer sent by me and the rest to thy Letter and Accusacion 1. You said you would tell us truly c. Answer There cannot be a true discovery of Truth brought forth in these that are yet in the fallen estate as thou art 2. That there is a Mystery of Iniquity in us that we see not Answ The Mystery of Iniquity is not discovered but by the pure Light and Life of God as it is freely given forth from God the which Light all the Children of Light live in but thou livest in the dark ways of the World and livest not in this pure Light to judge by 3. That the time is come that thou shouldst dis-burden thy self of the discovery of Truth Answ Thou hast laid aside too much Truth that which convinceth of thy Evil is now a burden unto thee but we disown all that disown the Truth Mark 4. That the Devil is an Angel of Light and his Nature is to act in the Light Doth the Scripture say that the Devil's Nature is to act in the Light Answ Thou art imagining what the Devil is without thee but thou knowest but little of his actings in thee although thou art his Servant and livest in his Light as thou callest it but the Light of Life thou art a stranger unto 5. The Light as it is acted in the Soul giveth no Discovery of the Deceit but rather covers it all Answ By virtue of the pure Light that proceeds from the Father we see thee live in that thou callest Light which doth not discover unto thee the abominable Practices thou art in to wit Pride thou dost usually call thy own Child Mr. Benjamin Skipp a Proud practice seldom heard of the love of the World deceiving the People upholding the Worship of the Beast painted over with the Saints words an Enemy to the Saints Life as doth now more fully appear 6. Thou writest so largely of the Devil as if thou wert acquainted with all his secrets both what he is doing and what he will do Answ The things of God thou art a stranger to for they are hid from thine Eyes and all such wise Ones of the Devil the World and the Flesh who are in the first Nature as thou art 7. Thou writest of what the Devil will bring us to Answ 1. It is neither thee nor the Devil in thee that know what we are much less what we shall be 2. If thou and the Accuser of the Brethren in thee have ought against us at present that we walk not up to the present discovery of the pure Light as it is in measure brought forth in us then I charge thee to speak 3. Thou Hypocrite first cast out the Beam that is at present in thy own Eye before thou goest to cast the supposed Mote that thou thinkest may fall into our Eyes hereafter In the close of this Answer I writ a tender Letter in love to his Soul Now let any that live in the Light compare these several Answers with that in pag. 7 8 9. In Answer to that which thou callest Railing and Reviling Language in pag. 10. the Devil hath always brought up his Children with so much pretence of Manners that they must not tell a Lyar he Lyes nor a Thief he is a Robber or if any tell the Proud of hsi Pride or the Covetous of their Covetousness then this is called Railing read the Scriptures cited by him this is fully cited Tit. 1. 13. c. 3. 15 c. See how thou condemnest the Practice of Christ both in his Person and Members in pag. 11. To that which thou callest thy Experience in pag. 11. I tell thee thou hast had much Experience of Deceit being always in it but thou never hadst any experience of the powerful Workings of God in us only thou wast made by the Light to see thy Filthiness in some measure and then presently thou wentst from the Counsel of the Lord and acted and spoke in thy own Will the which was Deceit indeed running before the Light the which I mourned over and often complained to my Friends who can witness the same Pag. 12. The Scripture cited by thee Mal. 3. They shall discern between the Righteous and the Wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not the Promise being in measure fulfilled in us we discern thee still to live in thy own Will and Wisdom Therefore when thou haltedst between two Opinions long at last one of our Friends was made sharply to reprove thee the which thou couldest not own and therefore left us that had undergone burdens upon our own Spirits for thee in condescending unto thee in tender love desiring thou mightst be made at last to witness the Work of the Lord in thee unto which thou art still a Stranger and now an Enemy unto In thy pag. 13. thou mentionest a Scripture as to us 1 Tim. 6. 4 5. They are there discovered by their Covetousness for they suppose that Gain is Godliness And canst thou in the least accuse â—s of Covetousness if thou canst spare not to speak the Truth but else let shame cover thy face for so many Lyes and comparing us with those in this Text. Ask the Light in thy Conscience whether thou hast not looked after Gain witness thy Tythes thy looking after another Parsonage to that thou hadst witness thy Physical Office thy questioning what to do for more Maintenance although thou hast told me that thy Lands was 10 1. per Annum 2 Tim. 3. 4. that is thy own Portion witness thy many Instruments of Musick in thy House Page 16. thou writest of Faith but thou knowest not that Faith that purifieth the Soul he that hath this Hope purifieth himself as he is pure he that believeth is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his the which Faith thou art a stranger unto for thou hast writ thy own Lyes and the Deceit of thy own Heart and thy carnal Thoughts the which thou callest the World with whom thou art to judge witness pag. 9. line 11. 7. 18. and thou thinkest in pag. 16 51 56 57. Page 17. Thou sayest that we esteem The more our Hearts are brought off the dealings of God and Prayer and Spiritual Exercises the more pure and Perfect The which thou knowest to be a
Rom. 6. 18 22. and become the Servants of God So that the Blood of this Jesus who is the Son of the living God cleanseth us from all Sin 1 John 1. 7. ch 2. 12. because your Sins are forgiven for his Names-sake which Name is Jesus a Saviour from Sin and we know that he is manifested to take away our Sins and he that abideth in him sinneth not 1 John 3. 5 6. Rev. 1. 5. Now whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 John 5. 1. Now Jesus is a Savior Christ is God manifest in Flesh and anointed the true Teacher 1 John 2. 17. Now he that can witness Jesus Christ to save him from Sin he is born of God and can witness Christ in him the hope of Glory which is Emanuel God with us and those dwell in God and God in them 1 John 4. 16. 2 Cor. 6. 16. Now Sin is the unfruitful Work of Darkness God is Light 1 John 1. 5. Now he that saith he can witness Jesus and is born of God and yet lives in Darkness to wit Sin he is a Lyar. Now Jesus is one with the Father and dwelleth in the Father Now he that dwelleth in the Father hath this Hope or Faith that purisieth himself even as he is pure 1 John 3. 3. and 5. 1. And he that abideth in him sinneth not This is Jesus the Son of the living God that saveth his People from their Sins whom Paul witnessed revealed in him Gal. 1. 16. by the which he preached Grace and Peace to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1. 3 30. and 22. 16. Now there is no other Name given under Heaven by which men shall be saved Therefore all those that cannot witness this Jesus this Son of God they are false Apostles that speak of a Jesus that they know not like those that went to cast out Devils in the Name of Jesus whom Paul preached Acts 19. 13 14 15 16. Those were not Vagabond Jews only but chief of the Priests that did so Now all that cannot witness this Christ this Jesus revealed and brought forth in them as the true Apostles did that spoke from the Life of Christ in them even all others are false Apostles among whom thou art seen in the Light of Jesus Christ to be and in the World like a raging Sea whose Waves cast up Mire and Dirt continually unto whom there is no Peace Isa 57. 20 21. a Wandering Star never settled Jude 13. but tossed up and down with every Wind of Doctrine from such turn away II. How you may know them Pag. 36. 9. Abiding in the Light that comes from Christ in that Light you will see Light and so comprehend all the Children of Darkness for he that followeth Christ who is the Light of the World shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life to judge all the false Apostles and all the Children of the Night who live in the dark Mind in Pride Covetousness Lying making a Trade of the Scriptures which were spoken forth from the Light by those that witnessed it but thou that takest up their Expressions and livest not in the same Life thou art the false Apostle that preachest another Gospel Now besides the foregoing Scriptures thou hast declared thy self to be a false Apostle by thy own Writings First in writing thy Thinkings and Conceivings page 50. yet my former Thoughts page 53. I am but in part convinced page 16. Methinks page 51. As I conceive such were the false Apostles 1 Tim. 1. 7. understanding not what they say nor whereof they affirm but speak and write the Imaginations of their own Hearts as thou hast done in page 18. The thoughts of my own Heart in the which are many Devices Prov. 19. 21. Secondly In being one of the world and calling thy fellow-Creatures of the World to judge what thou sayest and here thou hast manifested thy self to be a false Prophet entered into the World which the Saints of God never did page 23. And let all the World assure themselves that in page 45. Here thou dost write thy self as thou art calls thy own to witness the World one with the World therefore we being gathered out of the World are hated and written against by thee John 15. â—â— I shall forbear to write what I know of thy former and yet continued Practices this being sufficient to prove plainly that thou art a false Apostle whose many Lyes written against us I need not to mention in particular only some few in short that the simple may not be deceived by thee nor the Truth suffer altogether under thy Scandals Page 48. Thou biddest the feeble Creatures of the World To judge of Spiritual things though the World by Wisdom knows not God 1 Cor. 1. 21. page 46. thou sayest That we do Lying Wonders But hast thou in all those Lyes and Writings of thine proved that any of those which thou callest Wonders are Lying Wonders for it is not thy saying it is a Lying Wonder that makes it to be so for there were such as thee that said that Christ cast out Devils through Belzebub but they were Lyars and so art thou Thou sayest Our Works are Deceitful page 49. But thou hast no ground for it but the deceit of thy own heart page 18. the which thou callest the World to bear thee witness page 23. 50. Thou sayest We disown the Power and Spirit of Truth which is a Lye but thou hast a form of Godliness denying the power thereof 2 Tim. 3. 5. Page 53. Thou sayest Thou art in part convinced that per adventure the Lord would have his People walk in some way whereby they might be brought into a perfect Unity in Heart Oh! art thou not here ashamed O let even the World whom thou callest unto so often read thy Ignorance What! art thou but in part convinced what way leads to Unity Oh! for shame for shame give over thy Profession talk no longer of the Gospel thou hast made thy self manifest to all men Oh! hast thou been talking of the Gospel so long and art yet Ignorant of the way that leads to Unity Oh! let shame stop thy mouth and cover thy face forever but if thou wouldest shift from this and say Thou meanest an outward way or form I tell thee there is no way to have fellowship with the Father 1 John 1. 3. but in the Unity of the Faith and the Knowledge not a Thinking of the Son of God who is the true living and only way unto the Father John 14. 6. where is perfect unity even one Heart and one way Jer. 32. 39. which is a way of holiness The Wayfaring men though fools shall not err therein Isa 35. 8. Also in page 53. thou sayest That thou art very sensible that thou hast lost thy Comforts and therefore thou dost hope not to give over until thou hast found some way or means of having thy former Enjoyments refreshed Why hast thou lost that
walk in the Light and continue in faithfulness in your Measures enduring the Cross unto your Wills that by it the Carnal may be crucified and that which is Earthly mortified and all the fleshly Lusts subdued and the ground of Unbelief removed that you as Obedient Children to the Light may walk not as do others in the Lusts of Ignorance and Wayes of Unrighteousness where all the Ungodly lie and are without his Fear not knowing that in which the Power of God doth stand and many of them are Murmurers and Complainers who dwell in all Unrighteousness from among whom Redemption you are to find that a true Separation you may come to know that the Unclean you may touch no more and that which defiles to be no more entangled with For the Lord our God is pure his living Truth is to be known in the inward parts and that which makes Free received in the Heart and pure is the Lord in his Ministration of Life and free in the Discoveries of his Love his unsearchable Riches are made known unto his Jewels and his Secrets revealed unto them that abide in his Fear whose Fear is a Fountain of Life whose Love is streaming forth as a River of Oyl unto the broken hearted and in him the Fatherless find Mercy and he giveth strength unto the Faint he cherished the Babes as a Nurse and feedeth the Young with Milk he gathereth the Lambs with his Arms and nourisheth the tender Plant he confoundeth the Proud in his Judgments and removeth the Ground of the Wicked Kings before him are as the Drop of a Bucket and Ungodly Rulers as the Smoke before a mighty Wind His Wonders are seen among the Living and his Judgments made known upon the Wicked they that come to him find Mercy but his Enemies he turns into the Land of Darkness the Ungodly are not able to come near his Presence when he is Angry the Wicked stand afar off but there 's no Darkness in which they may be hid nor shadow of Death in which they can be covered for his Hand will find out all the Rebellious and he will reward them all according to the Pride of their Heart then shall they be banished from the Lord as the Chaff before the Wind and none of their strength shall save them But all you that wait for Sion's Redemption and call that love his Appearance who are willing to take up the Yoke deny themselves and follow the Light thus I say unto all such The Lord God of Life is at hand he is hastning his Mercies to the simple and reaching forth his hand to the Helpless your Redeemer is near your Deliverer is at hand for the Lord God hath not cast off his People neither will he leave or forsake his Chosen Ones With the Brightness of his Power is he appearing to judge down that which kept his own in Bondage and lay low that which did the Just oppress that from under the Oppression it may now arise that the Hungry may be fed and the Naked come to be clothed with the Everlasting Righteousness of God who brings his Righteousness near unto the Humble and clothes them with the Armour of Light that so they may be able to stand where the Wicked cannot endure Wherefore all you my dear Lambs in whom there is honest Desires begotten after the living Truth of my Father who are in measure made willing to walk as Children of the Day and to undergo the Reproaches and Revilings of Wicked and Ungodly men and desire the Kingdom that is not of this World from the honest Simplicity of your Hearts that you may come to rest in the Kingdom of the Father forever Unto you I say my Heart's Desire and Prayer to God for you is That you may be enabled through the Power of him who is the Light to undergo all your Tryals within and without and that none of you may faint in your Way nor be weary of well doing but that you may come to shew forth the Works of Righteousness by a chaste Conversation in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation by whose Filthiness the Just is grieved And my dear Lambs grieve ye not the Spirit of the Lord neither be you Envious against the Evil-Doers let not Wrath arise in any one of you but be Examples of Love and Meekness one unto another and all come to know what a true waiting upon the Lord is in the Sincerity of the Heart to receive that which the World never knew even the Spirit of Truth which comes from the God of Peace in which the Blessing is received and leads in the way of Righteousness and will joyn your Hearts together in the Everlasting Covenant of the Father which he is establishing with all his faithful Ones among whom you may now come to be gathered and find an eternal Inheritance with them that are sanctified who come to be made one with him that sanctifieth who now cometh to purge away the filth and cleanse that which hath not been cleansed that Sinners may be converted unto him and the Filthy redeemed from their filthiness before the day come wherein it shall be said He that is Filthy let him be Filthy still Wherefore let the Day of your Visitation be dearly prized knowing that God who is Light will not alwayes strive with man and it s his Everlasting Love in that he hath visited you and passed by the Wise and the Mighty and made your Hearts sometimes soft and tender by the powerful Drawings of his Everlasting Love which by your Obedience and Belief in the Truth comes to be more and more shed abroad in your Hearts which Love will constrain Obedience to the Light in which Light Gods Power is received which Power maketh Sons who cry Father unto him that begeteth after his own Image whose Image comes to be renewed in the Children of the Light which Light is now come and we are Witnesses of it and testisie what we have seen and declare unto you the Message that was from the beginning and so preach not another Gospel unto you but the same which is the Power of God which I neither receive of men nor learn of men but by Revelation in which the Father is known which to the World is a Mystery and sealed from all them who believe not in the Light whose Deeds are Evil but manifest through the Operation of the mighty Power of God which worketh mightily in me that I might reach forth unto you also and that you might feel the Operation of the Fathers Love that is manifest in my Bonds to you who through many Tribulations with the rest of the Lambs of Christ are to wait for Deliverance from the Bondage of Corruption in the which you have long continued but now Christ Jesus the Light of the World is come to redeem them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to Bondage and the Bonds of Iniquity are now to be
the Captivated Seed of the Noble Plant of Renown which is hid in all Sober Humble Wise and Professed Religious Emperors Kings Princes and People in all Nations kindreds and Tongues over all the whole World and for all sorts of Poeple who know not the Power of Truth in the inward Parts that they may come to have the hidden Treasure opened in them and be gathered into the Glorious Life of Eternal Peace HEarken and hear ye Mighty Ones of the Earth that love Righteousness and all you Prudent Ones that can receive Instruction who have not yet hardened your Hearts as many have done against the day of Slaughter even all ye who are willing to come to Meekness and receive Understanding that your Souls may live who have an Ear ready to be opened to entertain Counsel that the Wisdom of the Most High you may attain unto and come to taste of the Virtue of the Substance of that which nourisheth all things living that the unsearchable Life of the unlimited Power you may attain unto and come to that which was in the beginning and partake of the Life which over Death is to reign that to the Immortal Beeing you may be led Be ye now therefore awakened and feel the operation of the Breath of Life in you and let the Virtue of the Word of Life break through you and the Power thereof break through the Earth that you may come to be overshadowed with the Influences of divine Love and filled with the sweet Content of the Riches of the Life Eternal that nothing may stop the River of Healing Oyl nor hinder the issuings forth of the pleasant Streams of Living Water but that in it your Souls may be refreshed and your Life grow up as a fruitful Vine that under the Wing of the most High you may be shadowed and rest in the shelter of a Rock For the Almighty Power of the Infinite Beeing is spreading forth it self and the Eternal Excellency is giving forth it self unto the Sons of men that they by Humility in it may come to rest forever and come to the fulness of that which only gives satisfaction without which there is no true Peace by which Immortallity may be enjoyed forever and the Life which only through Death is found and that Dominion which through Patience and Long-suffering is obtained which only belongs to Kings and Princes and such whom the King of Kings delighteth to Honour who hath eternal Crowns of unspeakable â—lory for all that come to him in the humble Simplicity and Innocency of Uprightness with that Love which thinketh no Evil which comes from that â—ife in which no Evil doth stand For he that inhabiteth Eternity hath roared from the highest Heaven and the Almighty Wonderful and Terrible God over all hath thundered with the might of his Power to the revealing of the hidden things of Darkness and discovering the Foundation of all Worships practised by all Mankind upon the face of the whole Earth and the ground of their Revolting from that which was and is to be their Life that by it they might have lived forever who from the holy Life and Virtue of all things being departed in their Transgression and Rebelion against the Light whereby thick Darkness bath covered all mankind and Bruitishness in knowledge hath happened unto many and inordinate Aflections have had Dominion and Sottishness hath blinded the Mind and the things that are made in the Earth hath filled the carthly Heart that in it the living Power that made all things cannot have entrance without which living Power received in the Heart there is not Eternal Peace by the enjoyment or possession of all the things that are created in or upon the Sea or Earth neither is there any manner of Worship that obtains life to the soal until therein man comes to be guided with that by which the soul at first had its life by which man was made which is Light for the Eternal Power who is Light is breaking forth of Darkness and shining forth as the Brightness of the clear Morning that all the dark Corners of the Earth may be enlightened with the beauty thereof which Light in the lowly and the meek may be felt who obeying it may know it shining more and more to the brightness of the Day of Glory whereby all Nations may come to taste of the Virtue of the Life and come to know the Covenant of Peace which will heal all the Breaches and restore the Unity of all Nations that one peaceable Covenant over all Nations may spread as the Morning Cloud and be all covered under that which shadows over all the Upright in Heart who love the Breathings forth of the holy Life and keep their Minds to the humble Seed continuing in the pure Fear thereby in them to have the Fountain opened that they all may drink at the Spring that shall never be dry whose Souls come to be as a watered Garden and their inward parts as a Vessel of Oyl their Hearts being enlarged with the abundance of Peace and because of Salvation rejoycing forever that all Nations may be at quiet and every one feed under his own Vine and none destroy nor devour one another henceforth forever more For by the Mighty Wonderful Operation of the Power of the one Light which shines in and over all were all things made and all Mankind upon the whole Earth from the Life of which one Light was breathed into man that by which man might be kept in the Unity and abide in the Oneness of Spirit the which though all Mankind are gone out from by Sin and Evil yet that which is but One in all which was before man and sin doth still in man remain even the Light proceeding from the Life which was the Life of man without which he is dead unto God which Light remaining in man a free gift from the God of Life Power and Love by it may all Mankind seek after the living God and find him who is not far from every one but is near unto all that seek him in the meek Lowliness in the Heart And that all Emperors Kings Princes Judges and all Nations Languages Kindreds Tongues and People upon the face of the whole Earth may come be restored into Unity Peace and Concord and be united together in one bond of Love and Peace and never learn War any more and that they may all come to the true Worship of the God of Life Power and Light in over all and never to have hatred one against another concerning professed Religious Worship nor differ and strive about that by which the Souls if all Mankind come to be saved nor about the Way of attaining thereunto And that all Nations and People may receive the Virtue of the Life it self by which man may come to live forever in that noble state of Prudence Innocency and Wisdom in the durable Dominion of divine Honour ruling in the excellency of the Omnipotent
the Scriptures testifie of and was given forth from John 5. 39. that by it in them they might be enabled to do God's Will and witness the Scriptures fulfilled as it is written I will walk in them and dwell in them 2 Cor. 6. 16. and he is the God of them in whom he dwells and they are his People in whom he walks from whose Inspiration the Scripture came in which it is written Prove all things 1 Thes 5. 21. and try the Spirits and that which proveth all things and tryes the Spirits comes from the God of the Spirits of all flesh and from the Word of his Power by which all things were made which Word in the Heart is as Fire which proves tryes and refineth things and is 1 John 4. 1. Numb 16 22. John 1 3. Col. 3. 16. Psal 3â— 3 Jer. 5. 14. Mal. 3 3. Heb. 4. 12. Psal 139. 1 23 24 John 4. 1. Luke 10. 42. 1 Cor. 2. 12. ch 1. 21. Rom 8. 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 3. 16. ch 2. 10 John 15. 4 5. Jude 6. 2 Thes 1. 5 6 7 8 9 10. John 17. 17. Psal 51. 6. John 1 14. ch 8. 44. 2 Cor. 44. Ephes 2 2. John 8. 24. ch 17. 7. 1 Tim 4. 5. Job 8. 32 ch 15. 5. 1 Joh. 3. 5. Dan 9. 24. 2 Cor 3. 5. ch 4. 10. Rom. 4. 8 10 Eph. 3 17. Col. 1. 27. Joh 16 25. ch 15 5 quick and powerful dividing asunder Soul and Spirit and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart man feeling that and coming to be guided by that which searches the heart and tryes the reins with that may he try all things from the which one thing within the false Spirits are gone forth into the World and those Spirits of the world and all the world by its wisdom and that Spirit which is without knows not God nor the measure of his spirit within And so those are the false spirits that are gone forth which are to be tryed by that which is not gone forth but abides within and discerns the Heart and those that are gone forth from being guided by that within as the holy men were they are like unto the Angels who kept no their first eslate for man at first was and holy men were guided by that within which is the Word which Word is Truth and he that abode not in Truth which is in the inward parts was a Devil and a Murderer who is called the God of the World that blindeth the Minds and worketh in all the Children of Disobedience and so the Devils Works are in his Children and they are talking of the Works of God without them but they that are led by the Word of Truth that sanctifieth cleanseth and maketh free by it they come to know the Works of the Devil destroyed which was in them 1 John 3. 8. And so he that destroyeth the Works of the Devil and maketh an end of Sin and bringeth in Everlasting Righteousness is known in all them that are not Reprobates And so when sin is made an end of Everlasting Righteousness is brought in and so it s within and not without And so he being received within who brings that in which is Everlasting to that man he is within the hope of Glory and shews plainly of the Father and saith Without M E yo can do nothing It s not said Without Scripture ye can do nothing and they that are without him who teacheth all things are without God in the World but he that hath the Son hath the Father also he that hath the Father and the Son abiding in him need not to go out from that to be taught or led by any other thing or Rule without him as it is written of him that overcometh That he shall no more go out and upon him that goeth not out the New Name comes to be written and he comes to be a Pillar in the Temple of God who goeth not out Rev. 3. 12. And the Name which is better than of Sons and Daughters even the Everlasting Name that shall never be cut off is given to them within the House and within the Walls even to such who take hold of the Covenant Isa 56. 4 5. And the Sanctuary is set in the midst of them for evermore Ezek. 37. 26 27 28. And in the midst of them will the Lord spread forth his hands as one that swimmeth Isa 25. 11. And though Ephriam compassed the Lord about with Lyes and the House of Israel with Deceit yet saith the Lord unto Ephriam I am God and not man the holy One in the midst of thee Hos 11. 9 12. And so Ephriam compassed him about with Lyes who was in the midst and he that was in the midst was holy though compassed about with Lyes and the Just Lord was in the midst of the filthy poluted and oppressed City Zeph. 3. 1 to 5. Consider this all you poluted Ones who oppress the Just in the midst of you for the Just Lord in the mâ—â—st will arise as a Lyon out of a Thicket and a young Lyon out of the Forrest he shall roar like a Lyon and utter his Voice like a man of War Isa 42. 13 14 15. And then shall his Enemies be scattered Psal 68. 1. And he will sweep away the Refuge of Lyes therefore the Daughter of Zion and the Daughter of Jerusalem and Israel shall be glad for unto them it is said The Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt not see Evil any more In that day shall it be said to Jerusalem Fear thou not and to Zion Let not thy hands be slack the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save Zeph. 3. 14 15 16 17. And he that is mighty to save is known in the midst and so he that justifieth is near Isa 50. 8. even he who hath said I will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel forever and my holy Name shall the House of Israel no more defile Ezek. 34. 7. For the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation this is my Rest forever here will I dwell for I have desired it I will abundantly bles her Provision I will satisfie her Poor with Bread I will also clothe her Priests not the Priests of England with Salvation and her Saints shall shout aloud for joy there will I make the Horn of David to bud I have ordained a Lamp for mine anointed his Enemies will I clothe with shame but upon himself shall his Crown flourish Psalm 132. 13 to 18. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 John 3. 3. The true Prophet who was to come is come and there is not another his Work witnessed and Truth declared from a feeling sence and experience according to Scripture THe true Prophet is come of whom Moses the Servant of the Lord did write who is raised up in the
midst and hath rent the Vail and from under Death is risen in his unlimited Power Dominion and Authority even him that Death nor the Grave cannot hold who through Death hath conquered Death forever and though Death had Power over him before the Way into the Holiest of all was made manifest yet now Death hath no more dominion over him but he is risen through Death who was made a Curse and hath born away the Curse and removed the cursed ground upon which fallen man stood and hath born away the sin of the World and was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God through in and by him who hath opened the Understanding whereby the unsearchable Riches of unspeakable love comes to be made manifest even unto us who were going astray and were Children of Wrath as well as others and Aliens and Strangers to the Covenant of Grace and long were without God and in the World tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine after the cunning Craftiness of men whereby we were long deceived even by such who still bewitcht the Minds of the simple out of which Witchcraft I can say the Lord hath delivered and obedience to the Truth that makes Free is yeilded and Love Mercy and Judgment is come and brought forth and Victory is witnessed the Messenger of the everlasting Covenant is come even he that we long waited for and we do not look for another but he that is the same yesterday to day and forever who was to come and is come and is to come he that readeth let him understand who is without beginning of time or end of dayes who is made under the Law and became as a Servant being obedient to the Death through which the Life is risen up into the understanding and hath born away that which the Law had power over and hath brought in that by which the Law is fulfilled and so he that is the end of the Law for Righteousness is felt and received who taketh away the Sin and reconcileth the World up unto the Father where the sin is taken away by him who though he was made sin yet knew no sin who appears now the second time without sin to the saving of that which was lost which is now brought again and plenteous Redemption is known for the desire of all Nations is come and the second Houses is filled with his Glory the Wine-press is full the Fat 's overflow for the VVinter is past and the Summer is come and the Lillics appear in the Field where the Pearl was hid the Fig-tree puts forth her buds and the Vine yeilds her encrease the Olive doth blossom and the Apple-Tree in the midst of the VVood doth flourish and the good ground yeilds her encrease and is fruitful in its season to the good Husbandman and there is seed to the sower and bread to the eater the Barns are filled with abundance and the Store-houses with plenty and Treasure is laid up for many years in the heavenly places which are purified with the lively sacrifices so that the earthen Vessels are fitted to keep the heavenly Manna that shall dure throughout many generations and so against the Famine comes upon the Earth and all them that feed at Jezabels Table Oyle is laid up in safety and the finest of the Flower in a place where it is sure where it will last and never fail until the Heathen are scorched with heat and they that have forsaken the Lord are become as a parched Heath and all the gods of the Heathen famished and the Tongue of the Aegyptian Sea dryed up and all the false Prophets overturned who belong to Jezabel whose Body the Dogs must tear though she yet sits as a Qeen in opposition to the true Prophet Christ the Light and until them who are drunk with the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore and are the Merchants of Mystery Babylon the great the Mother of all the painted Harlots be all condemned in one day with an utter overthrow and the Seat of the Whore removed and all them that commit Fornication with her made as the Valley of Hammon Gog and as the Dung upon face of the Earth and all the Brats of the VVhore dashed against the Stones until then I say shall that in store remain and a Hiding-place be found for the Prophet of the Lord who is also hid near thee in thy own Land though thou art seeking him afar off Wherefore hear O ye Kindreds of the Earth for as the Dew spread upon the Mountains so doth the Streams of my Beloved raise overspreading the Earth with the comliness of his Love and filling it with the Beauty of his Grace the Banner of his Love is spreading forth as a Curtain and under the shadow of his Wings is a certain Hiding-place both from the Storm and from the Heat and though the Sea rage and all Kindreds and Tongues swell up in Wrath Pride and Arrogancy yet he come known witnessed and received who commands both the VVirds and the Sea who is the former of all things by whom they all were made and at his Command all are subdued and the lightnings of his Light enlightens the VVorld Psal 97. 4. and the Glory of his Power is spreading over the Nations and the excellency of his Beauty is reaching to his Lambs and because of his Comliness the Virgins love him and to him the Daughters of Jerusalem bring their Gifts and before him the Princes of the People lay down their Crowns and because of him the VVilderness doth rejoyce and the Desolate is made glad for the fruitful Land was become a barren VVilderness and now the baren VVilderness is turned into a fruitful Field and the plant sprung out of a dry Ground and the Seed is born of the barren VVomb and there is a VVay made in the VVilderness and streams are given in the Desart and the Ear of the deaf is opened the Lame doth walk and the Leaper is cleansed and the stammering Tongues speak plainly the Gospel is received and the everlasting Power is come even the Immanuel God with us and in us and we confess Christ come in the Flesh and do not look for another but do know that this is the great Prophet who is come into the VVorld that is set in the Heart Ecclcs 3. 11. which is in the midst out of which Moses said the Lord would raise up a Prophet Deut. 18. 15. the which Prophet being come which all are to hear he saith I am come a Light into the World John 8. 12. ch 12. 35 36 46. The VVorld being set in the Heart there is the light of him who saith I am the Light and he that is the Light is the true Prophet and the true Prophet is in the midst who is the Light whose day Abraham saw unto whom the Gospel was preached which Gospel is Gods Power whereby Abraham rejoyced because he came to see the Day
not need alwayes to keep one Company of his Subjects to guard him for fear of any other of his Subjects but rather for fear of such as are not his Subjects And were all his Subjects brought in such Faithfulness and the King well and truly satisfied therein would it not ease him and his Council of much Care and sometimes Fear too and to be so well satisfied in himself concerning his Subjects Faithfulness to him herein that he could take their Word for it without Oath Bond or Surety Or if he had no Word or Promise at all from them yet could believe and trust them that they would never plot or rise against him nor do him harm but remain as firm steadfast and true to him as any other Princes Subjects in the whole World by any of their Oaths Bonds or other Engagements whatsoever if not more constant and steadfast which were all the King's Subjects brought unto would be such an Honour unto the King therein as would hardly be found belonging unto any Prince in the whole World again IV. Concerning the Honour that the King might have by the Uprightness of his Subjects in their Traffick with other Nations VVEre all the King's Subjects or most part of them brought into Truth Plainness and Righteousness so that their Yea was Yea and their Nay Nay that so all Merchants and Factors could take their Words and trust to their Words to be of more value than the Oaths of most Princes Subjects in the World and that in what Nation or Kingdom soever they come in the World as soon as it was heard they were such a Princes Subjects that then both the King of those Dominions with Princes Judges Merchants Factors and People might all conclude they were true men of their Words and that any man might deal with them and none be afraid to traffique with them because they abhor Deceit Defraud and Lying and all manner of Cozening or Dishonesty And would not this also promote trading and so enrich the Kingdom and be some means to relieve the Poor And is not the enriching of the Kingdom for the King's Honour And what Man or Nation is it but would desire to deal with Just Men And would not the Fame of such a Prince and such his Subjects as deal justly and truely where-ever they come soon sound over all the World And would it not be for his Honour that had such a People as did neither seek nor ask but a Just Price where-ever they come amongst all Nations in the World And if such Honour before mentioned be esteemed what part of it is beyond this which might cause a King's Name to be renowned over the whole World having such upright true just honest-hearted men in all things to his Subjects as not any other Eemperour or Prince could produce the like V. Concerning the King's Honour by his Subjects departing from that which disbonoureth both God and the King and themselves VVEre all the King's Subjects brought to leave and utterly to forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomp and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the flesh and the carnal desires of the same and so to leave and utterly forsake all manner of Evil in word and deed and to bear no Malice nor Hatred in their Hearts to keep their Tongues from Lying and Evil-speaking seeing it is the evil words that Corrupt the good manners and so not to speak proudly nor contemptuously no not of the meanest Member in the Nation but to abhor and leave Arrogancy with all manner of Voluptuosness knowing that God resisteth the Proud and so not one such prophane person as Lord Esau to be found amongst them nor one Swearer nor Lyar nor Thief nor Murderer amongst them neither yet a Drunkard nor a Glutton nor a Whoremonger nor a Covetous Person which is Idolatry to be found amongst them nor any that spend their dayes in Vanity nor that abuse or waste the good Creatures of God in any of the King's Dominions whereby any of his Subjects may come to want to his dishonour And were they all brought to forsake the very Appearance of Evil and so never to transgress any of his good Laws to his dishonour herein also would this be for the Honour of the King And thus might his Fame ring over all the World and be of great Renown among all the Upright-hearted in all Nations for what is a King without his Subjects And when is a King more honoured by his Subjects than when his Subjects themselves are most honourable and act most noble and honourably And what is more honourable and more noble in the outward practice among the sons of men whereby a King might be honoured than the things aforesaid Nay do not the Principles Qualities and Practices aforesaid make men more noble and honourable than the Titles of For Esau was called Lord Edom had many Dukes and Ishmael had twelve Princes Lord Esau or Dukes of Edom or Princes of Ishmael seeing Abraham was a Wanderer and Jacob a Pilgrim and Israel dwelt in Tents who obtained a good Report through Faith and whom God hath renowned with an everlasting Honour VI. Concerning the Honour of the King and also his great Benefit by his Subjects being the Peculiar Chosen People of God and their having the Spirit of the Lord to counsel Him VVEre many of the King's Subjects the true Servants and Children of the invisible God of Heaven and Earth by true mortification sanctification and regeneration and truly led moved and guided by the Spirit of God and many of them so grown into the Power and Wisdom of God really and absolutely so having the Spirit of the Lord poured sorth upon them in these latter dayes according to the promise of God which must be and is already fulfilled so that at a needful time one of them having as it was said of Daniel ch 5. v. 11. the Spirit Light Understanding and Wisdom being found in him could shew unto the King such a thing or things or secret Determination of God which all others the King's Wise-men whomsoever could not and to discover the lurking of the King's Enemies unto him and their secret purposes against him though they were far remote as Elisha discovered unto the King of Israel that which the King of Syria in his Bed-chamber contrived against him whereby the King of Israel escaped his Plots not once or twice 2 King 6. 10. And that they could and did at any time and often times as moved of the Lord declare and shew unto the King the Counsel of God concering himself and his Kingdom and what would come to pass concerning both and how he might avoid the Evil and chuse the Good like as Samuel and other Prophets who had the Spirit were wont to do unto the Kings of Israel in the dayes of old that so his Throne might be established in Righteousness which would be more than an ordinary Honour for
King and to know and receive and abide in and be led by the Spirit of Truth which the World cannot receive John 14. 17. And to know that Truth which God desireth in the inward parts where Wisdom is to be known Psal 51. 6. And is not the Word the Truth John 17. 17. And is not Christs Name called the Word of God Rev. 19. 13. And did not Moses say The Word was in the Heart And is not the Word there as a Hammer and like Fire Jer. 23. 29. And doth not that Word sometimes pierce and divide in the Heart and is it not there quick and powerful Heb. 4. 12. And is not Christ the Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. And did not he say I am the Light John 8. 12. and I am come a Light into the World John 12. 46. And did not he that was sent of God bear witness of the Light and say That it was the true Light or indeed the Light and Truth which lighteth every man that cometh into the World that all men through him might believe who was in the World John 1. 6 7 8 9 10. And did not he himself say Believe in the Light John 12. 35. And is not this he which is the Truth whom God hath given for a Light unto the Gentiles Isa 49. 6. And is not this he whom the Princes of this World hath not known 1 Cor. 2. 8. who was from everlasting when there was no Deeps nor Fountains of Water neither yet Mountains nor Hills Prov. 8. 24. And is not this he that is given for a Leader and Commander to the People Isa 45. 4. who will break the Yoke of the Oppressor Isa 9. 4. even him that is the Light whom they that walked in Darkness have not seen Isa 9. 2. who endeth the Strife with burning being born unto such as know and preach the Light Shall not his Name be called the wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the increase of whose Government and Peace shall have no end who shall sit upon the Throne and establish Judgment and Justice henceforth even forever Isa 9. 6 7. Is not this he at whose Name every Knee shall bow unto whom the gathering of the People shall be And are not the Kings to be brought unto his dwelling Isa 60. 11. And shall not the Kings of the Earth bring their Glory and Honour unto his beautiful Habitation Rev. 21. 24. and shall he not have a habitation in the Hearts of the Children of men in whom God doth come to dwell And may not this Truth and Power of God preserve the King Qu. 2. Again if the Kings Throne be upheld by Mercy and not by Cruelty nor Persecution whether then it be not good for the King to shew Mercy And how sadly even as it were without Mercy or Pity to Old or Young Widdows or Fatherless did several Thousands lately suffer by Imprisonment and divers wayes only concerning things which to them were matters of Conscience And should the King be perswaded moreover to break his Promise and restrain Liberty of Conscience and so thereby ruinate many Families impoverish many that now live well honest and comfortable and cause Children to starve in the Streets and Old People to perish with Hardships and Abuses and many more to lose their Lives in Prisons as some have done already who can lay down their Lives for Christs sake and that not for any Evil in the least done or intended by the said Sufferers but only truly and purely in matters of Conscience to God and whether this would not be unmerciful The third Query upon the same ANd is it not said in some of that part of the Book of Common-Prayer which is in it appointed to be read once a Year or upon that day called Ashwednesday Cursed are the unmerciful and should any man be first perswaded to be unmerciful and so brought liable to the Curse and then they themselves to curse him once a Year who cause him to be unmerciful and it may be much endeavour to make he himself say Amen to the Curse against himself and so curse one another And is it not dangerous for any man to come under the Curse and to be unmerciful lest God shut up his Mercy from him Therefore whether Mercy and Pity doth not become the King that therewith his Throne might be upheld And whether all the wise men he hath with all his Bishops and his armed men with all strength and Wisdom else whatsoever be able to uphold his Throne without Gods Mercy and if he would alwayes receive Mercy from God to have his Throne alwayes upheld thereby Whether it be not meet if not needful for him alwayes to shew mercy and to let all people but especially Gods Servants have Mercy from him or at least so much right as the Lord himself hath given them which is to Worship him in Spirit and serve him in that which purgeth the Conscience from dead works that they may serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. And seeing the King hath promised as aforesaid that such shall not be disquieted therein and whether these lines are not written for his good and in love unto the King 3. And seeing the same that said I am the Truth who was in the beginning with God Prov. 8. 30. said likewise By me Princes decree Justice Prov. 8. 15. Qu. 3. Then whether he be not the Power of God who said so And if so that he be the Power of God and that thereby Princes decree Justice or that which is just then what Power is that by which Princes decree Injustice And whether it be not Injustice for the King to be perswaded to break his Word and Promise and which Power are those men in that would have him do so seeing Christ is the Power of God by whom Justice is decreed And is it not just for the King to be as good as his word and may not all such as would have him break his promise remember That Lying Lips become not a Prince Prov. 17. 7. Moreover according to reason Whether many of them that do so much endeavour to have the King act contrary to his word or make void his promise by restraining sober honest Persons from the Liberty of their Consciences in spiritual matters and duties of prayer to the God of Heaven and waiting upon the Lord in his true service and fear of his holy Name whether such as these would be contented themselves to be restrained from the Wicked Liberty of their fleshly Lusts though that was never so openly promised them and so to be kept from all Whoredom Drunkenness and Swearing and such other works of Darkness wherewith they serve the Devil And can such be willing that all Boyes and all sorts of People as often as they see a Whoremonger or a Drunkard then all cry out presently A Whoremonger A Whoremonger or A Drunkard A Drunkard as they are that such
miserable Offendors And seeing that following is said to be the Absolution and Remission of Sins with the words of Almighty and most merciful Father c. together with the Absolution and Remission of Sins following be a true Confession Repentance and Remission from the bottom of the heart Or is it false and feigned If false is it no tâ—loaked of more sin and dissembling with God and deceiving their own Souls If true how then are such after Confession and Remission Miserable Sinners before they depart as in the Letany And if the Confession Repentance and Absolution be right and true and from the bottom of the Heart and such thus pardoned and so made clean run afterwards and that again and again into the very same Sins whether they be not like the Dog and the Sow that turn to the wallowing in the Mire and the Vomit again V. Whether after true Confession and Repentance such may thenceforth live a godly righteous and sober Life and that pure and holy according to the latter end of the Confession and of the Absolution VI. Whether all such as have erred and strayed from the ways of God were before they did so err made Members of Christ and Inheritors of God And whether any were made such Members c. but such as have tasted of the good Word of God and the Power of the World to come And whether such as have so tasted thereof and after err and stray from the ways of God can be renewed again by Repentance If not is not their Repentance false or not effectual like Esau's If true how then is the Scripture true seeing it speaks as afore-mentioned of not being renewed by Repentance VII Whether such as were made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven and are now erred and strayed from the ways of God so that they are Miserable Offendors and that against God's holy Law as themselves confess can then in that state and in that very hour sing unto the Lord and heartily rejoyce and come before GOD'S Presence with Thanksgiving And whether such Miserable Offendors are the People of God's Pasture and the Sheep of his hands VIII Whether all such as in the beginning of the Letany do themselves acknowledge four times over That they are Miserable Sinners can call God their Father by saying Our Father which art in Heaven Or can such Miserable Sinners make others the Children of God by sprinkling a little Water upon their faces And whether God hath such fourfold miserable Children Or are those that are truly the Children of God at the same time in such a fourfold miserable state Or are such miserable men truly the Ministers of Christ IX Whether God's people may be delivered by him from See Letany 6 7 8. Particulars all these things following that is to say from all Evil and Mischief from Sin from the Crafts and Assaults of the Devil from God's Wrath and from Everlasting Damnation from all Blindness of Heart from Pride Vain-glory and Hypocrisie from Envy Hatred and Malice and all Vncharitableness from Fornication and all other deadly Sin from all the Deceits of the World the Flesh and the Devil And whether such as are delivered from all these things be not delivered from all Sin And then are not such free without sin If not then what Sin is it they are guilty of who are truly delivered from all these And whether such as pray to be delivered from all these and do not believe that they shall be so delivered do not therein sin against God and so instead of being delivered out of sin by their praying add sin unto sin being it is written Whatsoever is not of faith is sin X. Whether shall I own that man as Christ did and believe See Letany the 14th Particular him who said We know that God heareth not Sinners or else miserable Offendors who in their Prayer say We Sinners do beseech thee to hear us O Lord and so believe that the Lord doth hear them though their continual fruits and the Scripture testifie otherwise XI What and where is the way of Truth which all such See Letany the 26th Particular as have erred and are deceived are to be brought into seeing when one sin was committed the creature was deceived and if deceived and in sin then unclean and no Vnclean thing shall enter into the Kingdom of God And whether Christ who is the Way and the Truth be not in the Kingdom of God And whether all such as are not only yet unsaved from their sin but are miserable Offendors and that against God's Righteous Law and yet in the same Nature Way Words Worship and Practice as were their fore-Fathers whom they confess were in Iniquity have not all these erred and are yet deceived seeing Christ saved his from sin And whether such do yet rightly know the Way of Truth themselves which they should be brought into in which there is no sin XII Whether all men are capable of the Mercy of God And whether Christ hath not lighted every man that cometh into the world And whether God doth shew to all men that be in Error the light of his Truth to the intent they may return into the way of Righteousness according to the Collect appointed for the third Sunday after Easter And whether the Word be not the Truth John 17. 17. And is not the World in the heart And hath not God shewed that to all men though they be in Error XIII Whether men may with the help of God's Grace cast away the works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light now in the time of this Life And whether the works of darkness be not Sin the works of the Devil And whether the Armour of Light be not the Power of God And whether the Power of God be not sufficient to defend from the Enemy and his Power and able to defend from the Devil and his works XIV Whether those that in this life have put on the Armour of Light are not to let it shine before men that God may be glorified And whether it be not for God's glory when his people are by the Light defended from all the works of darkness And whether those that now deny the Light and would hinder the children of Light from letting their Light shine before men which saveth them from sin be not them selves against the Common-Prayer and the late Reformation of it against GOD CHRIST and Scriptures seeing that God is Light and Christ said I am the Light and the Scriptures testifie of him that is the Light who commanded his to let their Light shine And then is he a man or below the principle of a man who hideth his Light under a Bushel XV. Whether any men in their Youth Infancy or full See publick Baptism about the midst and Catechism a â—ittle after the beginning Age may forsake the Devil and all his works the vain
Pomp and Glory of the World with all Covetous Desires of the same and carnal Desires of the Flesh so as not to follow nor be led by them and afterwards keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the dayes of their lives If they may why should they not profess the same and not be counted boasters by such as taught them so And why may they not live in the same without being persecuted for it by such as bound them to it If they cannot why is it that they are forced to promise and vow so to do XVI Again whether they that minister this Promise and Vow unto others have in all things performed the same viz. Whether they themselves who impose this upon others do forsake the Devil and all his Works the vain Pomp and Glory of the World with all Covetous Desires of the same and the Carnal Desires of the Flesh so that they themselves do not follow neither are led thereby but do keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same every day of their own Lives If they do how is it that their Fruits appear otherwise not only in vain Pomp and covetous Desires like Balaam but also in Covetous Practices worse than Balaam If they do not then whether therein they are not just like the Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites of Old who laid heavy Burdens upon the People but themselves would not move them with one of their Fingers XVII Again if any men in Youth Infancy or full Age do attain so far in their own particulars to forsake all tho things aforesaid which indeed includes all Sin whether they can safely and with a good Conscience Promise and Vow for another that he shall do the like seeing also it is but an Infant And whether all Infants in England be elected and are of the faithful Seed and whether any but Gods Elect can perform the Promises and Vows aforesaid If not why should the People be forced to make such Vows which cannot be kept and be constrained and taught to tell Lyes in the presence of God by saying We forsake them all if they nor the Child do not so If they do let God's Witness in their Consciences answer which will shew the truth of the matter XVIII Again whether it is good or evil for People To forsake the Devil all his Works the vain Pomp Glory of the World with all covetous desires of the same and carnal desires of the Flâ—sh so as not to follow nor be led by them and then to keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the dayes of his Life If Evil why are they bound and taught so to do If Good why are many this day Persecuted and Imprisoned only for so doing XIX Whether the old Man in People or Children may be See further in publick Baptism so buried that the new Man may be raised up in them If not why have the Priests prayed so many Years together If it may be so why may not such then profess the new Man raised up in them without being called Hereticks for so professing XX. Again if the new Man be to be raised up in People when they are in Infancy then whether it be not to be raised up any other time or some other time of their Life if it be not raised up in their Infancy And then whether they be not true Labourers who labour to raise this up in People And whether they be not effectual Preachers who do thereby raise it up in People And whether this new Man be not Christ And if he be not raised up whether the Preaching be not vain the Faith vain and the People continue in their Sins that being not raised up in them which is to save from Sin And whether this new Man is not in People and Children before it be raised up And is not the new Man the second Adam And is not that the Seed which if we had been left without we had been as Sodom And is not the Seed sown in all sorts of Ground And is not the Seed Christ which is still in the World though not known by the World and who lighteth every man that cometh into the World And is not this the Truth Christ which God desireth in the inward parts Psal 51. 6. And is not this the Truth which is promised to spring out of the Earth Psal 85. 11. And was not the first man made of the Earth and are not all People descended from him and so of the Earth And whether it be not unreasonable that many Hundreds should be Persecuted chiefly for professing this and that by such who taught them so to profess and for witnessing speaking and writing of the new man raised up in them and for living uprightly according thereunto XXI Whether Children or People who have the new man raised up in them may have all carnal Affections dye in them and come to know all things belonging to the Spirit not only to live but also to grow in them If not why are they deceived with those fair Speeches If they may then who are most agreeable thereunto and the best Christians they that only talk of and profess these things effected inwardly and yet deny that any live in it or them that are come unto and do truly know and live in the possession of these things within them XXII Whether the New Man be not the second Adam the quickning Spirit And if it be whether as many as are truly led thereby it being within them be not the Sons or Children of God And whether there be any other that be the Children and Sons of God but only such as have this New Man raised up in them and are truly led thereby See further in publick Baptism XXIII Whether all the Children these late hundred Years that were baptized were regenerated when a little Water was sprinkled upon their faces though it were done by such a Priest who himself was Unregenerate and either a Proud Covetous or Drunken Man If they were or the most part of them how then did they come afterwards to be Unregenerate seeing that after their Infant-Baptism most are looked upon to be and by their Fruits do indeed appear in an Unregenerate estate And whether in any Age it can be proved by Scripture that there were so many either Young or Old first regenerated and then unregenerated again If they were not how then are the Priests words true when he saith after he hath sprinkled them Seeing now dearly beloved Brethren that these Children be regenerate XXIV Whether all or any of those Infants these many See privaâ—e Baptism hundred late years whom the Priests say were born in Original Sin and in the Wrath of God did come to Regeneration in their Infant-Baptism and were then receiv'd into the number of the Children of God and Heirs of Everlasting Life Was all this done for them and did they
not standing in the Cross to your wills in Obedience to the Light to receive the Judgment due to that ground from whence Transgression ariseth whereby the Enmity might be â—â—ain the love of the World rooted out and that ruled over with the perfect Law of God which was not subject to it that the Law of the Spirit of Life your minds might be alwayes exercised in thereby to be made free from the Law of sin and death that sin might not reign in your mortal Bodies but that through the power of the Cross of him who is the Light the sinful Lusts of the flesh might be mortified and you led by the Light through the Law by it to have the Transgression thereof to you in every Particular discovered that every one might deny and stand out of that which leads into the Transgression thereof seeing with the Light that not one jot nor tittle thereof shallpass till all be fulfiled and the Righteousness thereof is to be fulfilled in you by your humble and faithful following of him that worketh in us who cannot transgress the Law who being made as a Servant under the Law to him you are all to come and see the Law stand in force over every one that doth transgress which Law is addedbecause of sin and that which saveth the Soul doth not make it void nor mittigate the power thereof against any one that sins wilfully after the knowledge of the Truth received but upon such the Wrath of God abideth which is ministred forth through the Law with Tribulation Anguish and Wo upon every Soul that doth Evil so Trouble Torment and Vexation of Spirit cometh upon such who turn aside from the simplicity of the Gospel and let the spirit of the world reign over them not being faithful in the little which from God they had received by the powerful ministry of his living Truth that the smallest of all seeds in them might spring with obedience through the whole body of the Earth under which it lieth and by it in many is oppressed and such in whom it is so are in many Doubts and Reasonings from that ground out of which Unbelief doth arise And then the Mind being from the Light a hardness comes in and the Rebellious take entrance and so that which is worse than before gets strength which being joyned unto leads in a secret deformity farther from the Witness then ever so that then the good Savour comes to be lost and the Understanding darkned not knowing the true motion and often a carcless Spirit gets head and such are from the true Love and suffering Seed in themselves and so not joyned in the Covenant of Love and Peace with them that abide therein the which they sceing a discontent ariseth therein in the mind so did Cain he murmured at the other but the Fault was in himself for Sin lay at the Door and it is Sin to transgress against that which is Perfect and the Light is the perfect gift of God and his Gifts are Perfect and in the Light there is no Evil and the Light is to lead out of that which is Imperfect they that err from the Light are in the strife and fleshly will And the other Eye seeks for evil and then that kindles a Fire in the Bowels and eats as a Worm and so drowns that from whence true Love should arise as deep as the depth of the Sea and nothing but raging Waves over it sometimes ready to vent forth its own shame and discover the nakedness of it self and others which begets its Image in the minds of them that regard it so as to come under it or let it have entrance in them And where these things are there is little increase within or without but Truth suffers and the World takes advantage and the Weak stumble for whom Christ dyed and the Lambs hurt and their dear Life grieved And so these things are far from answering the dear and tender Call and Visitation of the Lord and then if not faithful in little when can such come to rule or how can they receive the blessing of God being joyned to that which he hath cursed What shall I say to such or with what Words shall I find entrance in them Surely if I had not a Word to write I would mourn in secret for them Oh fruitless Trees dry Branches foolish Virgins unprofitable Servants take heed lest the Lord spue you out of his Mouth What should the Lord do for you that he hath not done My Bowels within me are troubled for you and I even mourn under the burthen of your Iniquities How is it that you delight in other Lovers and what is it in you that keeps you from the power of Truth How long shall the Lord stretâ—h forth his Hand to them that rebel against the Light And how often have you grieved the Spirit of the Lord And why is it that he is provoked to Jealousie every day Will not the Lord visit for these things And can the Wicked go unpanished Turn ye now therefore O ye Rebellious and let the Double-minded fear and tremble before the God of Power for no Peace have I to preach for the Wicked nor Pearls for the Swine in which the Unclean is entred Let your Hearts now therefore be opened and let Judgment come upon that which is above the Seed and sink down into the House of Mourning that the Prisoner may hear my Voice And now you that are honest tender faithful willing and obedient dear is my Love unto you the Lord God eternal preserve you dear Babes and give you up your Lives and praise his endless rich love who hath called you to come out of the World My dear Friends let my Fathers love arise in you even the same which I now feel towards you and let me come near unto you in the power of my Fathers love that you may feel my Life and partake with me of the hidden Treasure that your Hearts may be open to me again from the feeling of the Power of the covenant of Life that in him I may salute you who is at the Fathers Right Hand For unto you O ye Children of the Light is my Heart enlarged and toward you doth the Power of my Life arise from the streams of unlimitted Love which from all the World is hid and reserved in the Bosom of the Father for the meek and tender Lambs for whom the Milk is prepared and to whom the Bread is to be given and the sure Waters that never shall fail Let the Light arise in you my dear Ones that with it your Hearts may be opened one to another that you may know that the Lord is a God of Power and near at hand unto the Humble that in his Love you may be kept and by his Power be defended and so from strength to strength in his fear to walk and to come at last to be a People saved from Death and redeemed from the
out of the Covenant And this know assuredly That many may see that which is afar off and not feel the Life of what they see and so are many high Professors in the World who change from one Opinion to another and are all yet but fruitless Trees which are to be cut down and rooted up And many there are who call him that is the Light Lord and Master but to the Light are not obedient in Self-denial nor taking up the daily Cross which is the Power of God and crucifies unto the World and so the first Man of the World being not crucified nor put off the new Man is not received and so little more is witnessed by many who profess Truth without the Life than was in the time of other Forms for if the Death be not known the Resurrection of the Just received and the Dead raised then is all in vain And this is not known by any but such who know the Judgments of the Lord set up in the Heart and the Cup of Astonishment to the Adulterous Seed which comes of the will of the Flesh and cannot lay down the Life for the Friend Wherefore I say wait to know the Birth that is Immortal and feel that born up which never yet was raised in them over whom the Vail yet is that the free Birth may be known and the Seed whom God hath appointed the blessing unto from under death redeemed that by the powerful risings thereof the understanding may be opened with that which was before Forms were that to it you may come which giveth Life unto the Soul and know a Saviour born of the barren Womb and a Deliverer brought forth in the place where he hath not been known and the Plant to spring out of that ground which is yet dry that it may be overshadowed with the loveliness of its spreading forth that a way may be opened in the Wilderness and the humble exalted in the Valley and so come to learn of that which is yet little and low and take heed of taking counsel of the Serpent whose subtilty will soon lead forth from the Simplicity neither cover your selves with any thing before the Righteousness of God which is perfect be received but love that which comes from the man of Sorrows who comes to break the peace of all them who walk not in the Everlasting Way of Life Let all them who are out of it search their Hearts with the Light And take heed of that which is high froward or strong in the Will for we are weak which is not brought to the Cross for there is the first Birth from the wrong grounds which will speak and act that which it lives not in neither is able to confirm it in Faithfulness to the Death and Loss of all for things may be true in themselves and that which is out of the Truth may speak of it yet such vain Talkers cannot suffer to Death for what they speak For that which cometh forth first is strong in the Earthly and would live forever and have the Blessing and would rule over the meek thing in the particular and in others having a secret desire to be admired being far unwilling to take a Servants place but certainly it is the meek humble suffering Seed which in many is yet oppress'd that is to last forever who through Death comes into the Dominion Therefore sink down out of the airy Comprehension and Subtilty above the Life and first come to suffer with that which is meek and low if ever you intend with it to reign in that Peace and Life which from all that without the Vail is hid and in silence watch and be sober to see him come which saves the Soul and clothes it with his own Righteousness that you be not found without a Covering of the Spirit Power and Life among the foolish Virgins for few there be that find the Way of Life and abide therein And I knowing the Terror of the Lord that will certainly come upon all them who dye out of his Covenant therefore I Warn all People every where as the Lord enlargeth me to wait to feel the powerful Word of Repentance and with the Light to make diligent search into the ground and foundation of all Professions Words and Actions For the Lord will make inquisition for the Blood of the Just and reward the Double-minded according to the intents of their hearts the Gaul whereof will be rent with the Power of his Might which will sweep away the refuge of Lyes and confound your Divinations in the head of that knowledge above the seed and a day of Desolation must come Sword and Famine must you know and the Earth to be removed and your Heavens shaken that the poor may come to receive the glad Tidings of the Gospel which is the Power of God for the fat and the strong are for judgment both within and without and they are still sent away empty but the poor are they which are to be satisfied not the rich high wise strong mighty prudent Diviners and Orthodox men and zealous Professors and liscentious Libertines as they are called who profess a Saviour to come and some would have a King to reign hereafter but they are not agreed how nor when nor where their King shall reign whom they imagine shall come but are found Despisers not Lovers nor Faithful Followers of him that is come the Glory of whose KINGDOM is already shining over the World and is established in Righteousness who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is our Head our Law-giver and our King and we do not look for another as the Drunkards of Ephriam do who are drunk but not with Wine and stagger at Noon-day and must be dashed one against another and broken to pieces as the Potsherds of the Earth who are looking for a King to come and know not the King who is already come who is the Light to which they will not bow though it in secret doth them reprove and shew us plainly of the Father and lets them see their Disobedience To it now therefore bow and bend for plainly the Lord God who is Light will not alwayes strive by the Light of his Son in your hearts And this know That as I tender the least honest desires that are begotten in any after the living Truth of God yet I am to deal plainly with all and clear my Conscience of all who are covered with their own Conceivings and in Words and Writing to warn all in the Spirit of Truth and Meekness as the Lord moveth me in faithfulness to declare against that which yet in any bears rule over the Seed which by Judgment must be overturned and all the Judgments of the Lord are true Wherefore ye that are willing to come out of Temptations into that where the foolish Virgins cannot enter wait in the fear of the Lord to feel his Work within whilst the day of Salvation lasteth lest thick
together contrary to Law deprived me of the benefit of all their Law and Liberty other such Rulers who accused and Imprison Gods people formerly who pretended a Law then as these do now And so here is still much Law spoken of but little Mercy and less Justice or Equity either among them or these And thus we are daily brought before Magistrates and cast into Prison where the Members of Christ have been sick and some have dyed too whom these called Christian Magistrates never visited And thus in pretence of a Law doth Christs Members suffer by these now as he himself did by those then who said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye And hereby all People may plainly perceive who are not wilfully blind that here is not one thing charged against H. Smith but what hath been Charged against Gods Servants in the days of old And all persons may easily see that Humphry Smith is not any otherwise accused than the Members of Christ have already been And all the Rulers themselves may hereby know that in all this there is not one word or particular thing by which Humphry Smith doth now suffer but what the Lords dear people have already suffered by and under and that by the Magistrates or the Rulers of the People by whom likewise now Humphry Smith doth Suffer and so he is hereby and therein the more declared to be one of Gods Servants and they by whom he thus suffers are manifested the more to be of the same Generation who still accuse and Imprison and by cruel hands cause Gods Servants to suffer but Christ hath promised whose word shall stand forever That these things should turn to us for a Testimony Luke 21. 17. And this may and doth this day testifie to the World and for us against the World that we are of God and that Humphry Smith is his Servant and that he doth this day suffer by the Rulers under the same accusation and no other and for the same Truth and so in the same cause as Gods People of old did and not for any thing else nor any other thing pretended against him nor in the least laid to his charge And if this will in no wise convince these Rulers of their Evil herein nor other People of the Innocency of my present sufferings Then let them all take heed lest the God of this World hath wholly blinded them and hardned their hearts therein and chained them up in obscurity and bound them under the Powers of Darkness and so far Seduced them already that they are become past Sense Sight or Feeling and then no more bâ—t a most fearful looking for the Righteous Judgments and Indignation of the Almighty which will one day devour and none shall deliver And then shall they all know both Rulers and People that I am Gods Servant this day in Bonds for the Testimony of Jesus against the Cruelty of men in close Prison at Winchester being known to the wicked World by the name Humphry Smith This was in short time sent back to them that committed me A Coppy of a Paper sent to the lâ—te intended but Adjourned Sâ—ssions .. WE are men that do fear the Lord and do also truly desire peace with and amongst all men among whom we have likewise behaved our selves in peace and quiâ—tness labouring with our hands in the things that are honest whereby to provide for our selves and Families continuing also in carefulâ—ess therein that though we suffer in body and estate that neither we nor them might be chargeable to any neither have we wilfully provoked the Officers and Rulers against us but in Humility in that we dare not but obey the Lord that made us in waiting upon him for the which only and for no other cause on our parts we have already suffered before this Imprisonment so much cruelty and Inhumane Usage that several sheets of Paper might be filled there with though it would not be easie to be believed that English-men should so unmercifully be abused by Souldiers and other men of their own Nation as hath been daily inflicted upon us in the Town of Portsmouth the place of our aboad and habitation where for the space of one year and half few First-dayes therein but we were by the rudest Souldiers that they could chuse for the purpose and such like Officers either haled out of our Meetings before the Law was made as against us or beat forth with much Voilence or thrust or beat with Muskets along the streets or punched or knocked with the great ends of Muskets and so with Voilence drove forth at the Gates from our own Habitations and then were hindered from coming in again to our Employments and most if not all these things were daily inflicted upon us â— with many more crueler Beatings and Bruisings of our Bodies than is herein written and our Goods have been spoiled and some carried away and our Windows battered down even after we were beat and turned out as aforesaid and such First-dayes as we escaped these things we were shut up together in our own Houses and Armed men set on every side to keep us in both Men and Women in a most evil and unseemly manner and food denyâ—d to be brought in to us and sometimes our food that was sent us taken away by the Souldiers and other times we were some of us kept in several nasty Holes which are so bad that most people do esteem it a hard thing for the worst Fellon or Offender to be kept a few dayes where we were constrained to be several weeks having also both Friends and our own Wives and Relations yea and Food it self and other needful things then kept also from us and in Feltons-Hole the Waves of the Sea have so beat in on one of us in Winter-season that he hath stood in water up to the Ancles for the which things the Lord God hath and will visit them that were the Actors thereof And when we had for the space of one year and half in much patience suffered many such things as aforesaid then Affliction was added by the severe Execution of a Law against five or above meeting from their habitations and assembling together under pretence of Worship the which though our Meetings were not in pretence but really intended and absolutely for the Worship of God yea notwithstanding though we were not this time for the which we yet suffer the Number of Five that departed from our habitations and so not Transgressors of that Law as we made it appear unto the Mayor and Rulers that committed us Neither could they themselves affirm and prove that we had therein transgressed that Law yet notwithstang they imposed the utter most penalty upon us which in the said Law is mentioned against them that transgress it and so kept us full three Moneths in Prison in that Town and three Weeks moreover then the three Moneths And then in our Mittimus they did not so much