Christ down from above or to descend that is to bring Christ from beneath c. but the word to wit Christ is nigh thee in the heart and in the mouth to be obeyed and done and this is the Word of Faith that Paul preached nigh in the heart Even Christ in them â—he living hope that was as an Anchor to their Souls sure and stedfast the hope of Glory And Paul exhorted the Corinthians to examine themselves and to prove themselves whether they were in the Faith whether they knew not Christ to be in 2 â—or 13. 5. them except they were Reprobates And John in his writing to the Saints reminds them of that within which they had heard from the beginning and says to them Let that remain in you to wit The word which was in the beginning which you have heard from the beginning and if it shall remain in you ye shall continue in the Son and in the Father and tells them That they should not need that any man should teach them but as the anoynting which they had received of God abiding in them should teach them which was the Truth to wit Christ the Truth in them the anoynted the anoâ—nting And as he had and did teach them so they were to abide in him so they knew Christ in them witnessed the Power of God within the Truth witâ—iâ— the Word nigh in their hearts the Spirit of God in their inward parts by which they were led guided taught anâ— instructed For so many as are the Sons of God saith Paul are led by the Spirit of God and he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and this gave them an understanding in the things of God even the Spirit of God For no man knows the things of God saith Paul but by the Spirit â—f God through which he was made anable Minister of the New 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 12 Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit which giveth life And he Preached the everlasting Gospel Christ the Power of God the Word nigh in the heart and said If our Gospel be hid it is hid from them that are lost in whom Mark in whom the God of the world the Prince of the power of the Air that wicked spirit that worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience hath blinded their minds lest the light of the glorious Gospel Christ Jesus should shine in and unto them But God who commandeth light to shine out of darkness hath shined Mark in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus and we have this treasure in the Earthen vessel that the glory may be of God and not of us so the Saints Preached up Christ the Word of Life the Light the Truth within and Rom 1. 19. 1 Cor. 12. 7. Tit. 2. 11. said That which is is to be known of God is manifest in them and Paul says That the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall and the free Grace of God saith he Mark that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that we denying ungodliness and worldly lusts should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And the Saints they witnessed their reconciliation and were born again they felt and knew that in themselves of which they were born again even Christ 1 Pet. 23 24 25. in them the Seed incorruptible the Word of God which lives and abides for ever by which they were begotten again unto God and quickened by the Word of life even they who were once as dead stones were raised up as living Children unto Abraham and so they came to taste that the Lord was good and gracious to taste and handle of the Word of Life and to seed upon the Bread 1 Cor. 12. 13. of Life and to drink of the Cup of Blessing and so by one Spirit were baptised into one body and were made to drink into one Spirit wherein they worshipped and served the Lord God and had Unity with the Lord in and through the Eternal Spirit and Unity one with another which united their Souls unto each other and unto the Lord God over all blessed for ever Ah dear people you in whose hearts there is true desires and secret thirstings after the living God where-ever ye are scattered among the many Sects and people towards you doth my soul yea my tender soul yearn and stream with love and good-will and for your sakes dear people doth my Soul travel in the womb of Supplication that you might come to enjoy that which you are seeking after and come to possess that you are thristing for and for your sakes mostly is this written in tender bowels of unfeigned love and pity to your souls And dear people you that have true desires in you after the Lord and hath been seeking of him where you cannot find him and hath been running from Mountain to Hill and from Hill to Mountain from one broken Cistern to another from one dead Form to another but still are unsatisfied and are sensible that you still notwithstanding your long profession and confession of God and Christ in words and notwithstanding your practicing some things that you read of which the Saints once performed in obedience of the Spirit of Truth which led them thereunto want the feeling enjoyment of the Love and sweet Peace of God and go groaning daily under the burden of the bondage of sin and corruption and desires to be set free therefrom Oh dear people retire retire with your minds inward you who have been seeking a God a far off and hunting after the Lord without retire to within and wait to know the Lord God near you to know his pure Truth in your inward parts his pure Spirit in you to lead and guide you to teach and instruct you for God is a Spirit and his teachings are spiritual he must be known in Spirit worshipped in Spirit and in Joh 4. 21 22 23 24. Truth not at the Mountain neither at Jerusalem not in this set Form nor in the other Form As lo here and lo there but in the Spirit is the Lord God known and worshipped aright by them who are born of the Spirit And so the spiritualized people who are born oâ— the Spirit and lives in the Spirit and are taught and led by the Spirit of Truth these are the peculiar people who Worship the God of Truth who is a Spirit in the Spirit and in the Truth and these are acceptable Worshippers with the Lord who own no Worship but his own which he teacheth his people by his Spirit and they that is ignorant of the Spirit of God they are ignorant of the true Worship of God which is in the Spirit and although such may seem to Worship God yet their Worship is not of God nor accepted with God It is the purified Sons of Levy who have passed through
day it shall be said to those who did not Feed Cloth and Visit the Lords tender ones in Prison Go ye Cursed into Hell Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels then surely sad will be the Sentence of those who through their Cruelty go about to deprive them of Food and Raiment and instead of visiting them in Prison doth unjustly cast them into Prison and hinder them that would visit them Oh surely the Lord God of Pity of Mercy of Compassion and endless Love hath seen the sufferings of his People in this Nation and hath taken Cognizance of their sore Afflictions and Tribulations Burdens and grievous Oppressions under which they have long Groaned whose Groans are come up before the Throne of the most high and is entred into the Ears of their Compassionate God and he is moved with infinite bowels of Love towards his suffering Seed and he will plead the Cause of his own Elect which have long Cried unto him whose Cries he the Living God hath heard whose Cries he the Almighty God will answer and will revenge their Cause upon the head of their Persecutors and will Oppress the Oppressors and Devour the Devourers of his People even as Stubble before the Fire fully dry and they shall not be able to escape the stroke of his Righteous Judgement which he hath now begun to make manifest in the Earth that the Inhabitants thereof might learn Righteousness and the Beesom of his Wrath is cleansing the Land of Evil Doers and many of those who desired and indeavoured to have Banished the peoof the Lord from their native Country and lawful Habitations such the Lord hath â—anished from their Houses and they have fled from their Habitations and run from his Righteous Judgements but whether can man fly to hide himself from the Lord and so that measure they meted out to others is moted to them again and this is just with the Lord who is equal in all his Doings and just in all his Ways and he will not be mocked by any but such as People Sow such must they Reap and according to their Deeds they must receive a reward Wherefore Friends so far as ye have a hand in the Sufferings of the Innocent you have cause to Repent thereof and to ease the Burdened and to set the Imprisoned and the Oppressed Free and as you tender and respect the good of your Souls and desire to be tendered and respected by the Lord so tender the Lords tender people and do not in any wise usurp authority over their Consciences for that is Christs seat and the Magistrates Sword is not to rule there but only Christ the power of God who maketh the Conscience he alone is to rule in and over the Conscience and Friends to the Light in your own Consciences come and be obedient thereunto and it will cause you to do unto all men as you would be done unto and in the Light you must come to believe hearked to it follow and obey it before your Souls can injoy true peace with the Lord and by it be inabled to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lust and by it to be taught to Live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World and to lay your Sword upon evil doers and to be a praise to them that do well and rather to tolerate such and to defend them in the exercise of their Consciences towards God in meeting together in his pure fear to Serve and Worship him then to suppress them And to exercise your power in breaking up their meetings who meet to Drink Swear Rant Tear and Devour the good Creatures of God upon their filthy ungodly Lust even to the great dishonour of the Lord and to the grieving of his holy righteous Spirit suppress such for that is the Magistrates work but as for those who feareth the Lord and liveth Peaceably and Honestly with all men let such have free liberty to serve the Lord in his own Way and worship him in his own Spirit and not to be compelled to a Dead Dark Invented Superstitious Worship which is not of God and then will the blessings of the Lord my God be powered down upon you and a good savour ye will be unto those that fear the Lord from whom ye will be worthy of double Honour And Friends I understand that it is the desire if not the intent of some of ye Rulers in this Town to proceed against me unto Banishment who am an innocent man and have done you no wrong neither have I committed any thing against you or any just Law worthy of Bounds much less of Bâ—nishment neither have I in this County been thrice Convicted by your Law as an offender and I would know whether those Records made by Justices who are only Commissionated for Norfolk be good evidence in Suffolk where those Justices themselves have no power seeing the Law saith that all offences other then Treason shall be Inquired Heard and Determined in the Shire Division Limit and Liberty where such offences happen as was Inacted in the third year of King James see Chapter the fourth Well I am not careful in this matter touching my own particular only I would not have you hasty in what you intend towards me but seriously to weigh the matter in that equal balance the Word of God and take heed what you do and hurt not your own Souls and sin not against the Lord then sure I am you cannot hurt me Wherefore be wise oh ye Rulers and be instructed ye Judges of the People touch not the Lords Anointed neither do his Prophets any harm and let not Envy and Prejudice blind your Minds nor cloud the nobility of your Understandings and take heed of ingaging the Lord more and more against you and your Town consider the Lord hath hitherto spared you and your Town from the Wo Sorrow Misery Distress and Calamity which is come upon many other places and if you desire the Lord should still spare you and your Town then do you spare those who fear the Lord in your Town and free them from their causeless Imprisonments and do not Afflict them lest thereby you hasten the just Judgements of the Lord God upon you and your Town which is even at hand Well my soul in the Lord is at rest and in quietness free from fearing the threatnings of men who are not able to Banish me from the presence of my God who is with me and with all who feareth his Name who will work the deliverance of his people from their Sufferings Burdens and grievous Oppressions in his own time and season and will so far preserve them as that they shall be a People when the Egyptians shall he dead upon the Sea-shore of his Righteous Judgments the Lord hath spoken it in whom is my Joy and Peace Refreshment and Comfort in the midst of my Sufferings who will never leave me if I leave not him for whose Cause for which I now suffer
them they receive power through it to become the Sons of God for through his Grace doth he manifest his power in them that believe in the Light to the drawing of their hearts and minds out of the ungodliness and worldly lusts and to the teaching of them to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world and thus the free Grace of God bringeth Salvation to their Souls And so dear people thus you who come to believe in the Light to love and obey the Light in your own Consciences will come to feel and witness the work of the Lord God in your hearts the working and opperation of the Word of Life to the casting out of the Bond-woman and her Son which is not to inherit to the binding of the strong man and casting of him out yea the Old man with his deeds is to be put off and you renewed in the spirit of your minds and the new Man is to Eph. 4. 20 21 22 23. be put on who after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness to put him on and to bring him forth before all men the only begotten Son of God who is full of Grace and Truth Mercy and Love Pity and Compassion Purity and Holiness and Good-will towards all who loveth Enemies and doth good to them that hate him c. So coming to the Light Christ Jesus you come to the Substance to him in whom the Figures Types and Shaddows end in and so come to witness him in you who fulfils all Righteousness he who is the end of the Law for â—ighteousness sake unto them that believe in him and to be Circumcised in him with the Circumcision Col. 2. 11 12. made without hands by the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ which the outward Circumcision was a figure of and to witness the Baptism of Christ which is with the Holy Ghost and fire which John's Baptism with water outward was a true figure of and he bore Testimony unto Christ the Light of the world who said I must decrease but he must increase I indeed baptise you with water but he Christ Jesus who was before me shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire whose fan is in his hand and he shall throughly purge his floor the Wheat he shall gather into his Garner but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire So the outward water was but a type the outward washing a type of the inward washing and inward cleansing and inward purging and purifying by the Water of Life or the Blood of Jesus that cleanseth from all sin which is felt thus to work in them who believe in the Light and walk in the Light and they come to know that begotten in them that feeds upon the flesh of Christ which is the living Bread upon which the living Soul seeds and is the Substance which the Bread and Wine outward did figure out which the Manna that God gave the Israel of old in the Wilderness was a pure type of the heavenly Manna the living Bread vvhich the birth that is born of God feeds upon and lives thereby and grows up into Eternal life The day of gathering is come wherein the Lord God of everlasting bowels of Compassion is a gathering the despersed and seeking that which was lost and bringing back that which was driven away and healing that Ezek. 34. 12 13 14 9 16. which was sick and binding up that which was broken but the strong and the fat he is feeding with Judgment The Lord is a gathering people out of the Forms Shels and Shadows wherein many have long stuck and is bringing of them to the Substance and life it self out of the many Sects and heaps and divers ways into the one pure path into the one way of Life Light Peace Truth and Righteousness who by the one Spirit hath and is baptising them who believe in the Light 1 Cor. 12. 13 into the one body wherein the unity the oneness and the fellowship is witnessed blessed be his Name The way of the Lord is pure and Righteous and unchangable I am the Way the Truth and the Life saith Christ John 14. 6. Rom. 10. 8 John 12. 46. 8. 12. the immortal Word which saith Paul is nigh in the heart to be obeyed and done This is he the Light the Salvation of God the true Light that lighteth every man that commeth into the world who saith None can come unto the Father but by me I am come a Light into the world saith Christ that whosoever believe in me shall not abide in darkness but shall have the light of life Therefore dear people love the Light and believe in the Light while ye have the Light that so you may become children of the Light and become heirs of an Inheritance incorruptible that will never fade away There is no obtaining the Crown but through the Cross and this you will come to know who come to love the Light and to be taught of him and to learn of him who is meek and low in heart Mat 11. 29 and 6. 13. and 10. 38. and to follow him in the strait and narrow way that leads to life which few there be that find it and walk therein He that will be my Disciple saith Christ must deny himself and take up his dayly Cross and follow me This you will come to feel and witness if you be followers of the Light a dayly denying of self you will know a denying of your own wills your own desires your own thoughts your own affections your own words and works your own wisdom and righteousness and a daily taking up the Cross an hourly living in the Cross through which you must come to be crucified to the World its Vanity its Pomp Pastime and Pleasures Sins and Iniquities vain Words Psal 6. 14 Works Fashions Customs Inventions and Traditions so coming to be crucified with Christ unto the world and to be Baptised into death with him unto sin you will come to live with him unto God in the life of Righteousness in whom then you will find that Rest Satisfaction Joy Comfort and Peace which no man can give unto you So dear people who are seeking and desiring after the Lord God to find peace and comfort to your souls this I leave with you flee not from that which doth judg you in your own hearts for sin and evil and bring trouble upon you and sorrow upon you and woundeth and pierceth you in secret because of Transgression I say love that flee not from it for oh dear people how many is there that when they have been judged by Gods pure light in their hearts for their sins when trouble and sorrovv and distress hath seized on them because of their sins vvhich Gods Witness hath set in order before their eyes then have they run unto vain helps and run unto man for