AN EPISTLE TO THE FLOCK PROFESSING The true Light which lighteth every one that cometh into the World Wherein the Opposers and Villifiers of the True Light are by the way Expostulated with And they that own it are exhorted to Answer the Light in the Consciences of others by an unblamable life and to grow up therein both in the general and in their particular Relations Given forth chiefly for the Service of some in the Flock and may be serviceable also to others From a Lover of Truth and Righteousness wheresoever it is found W. T. Printed in the Year 1674. AN EPISTLE to the FLOCK Professing the true Light which lighteth every one that cometh into the World c. AS it pleased the Lord formerly to open my Mouth to check the Insultings of the first Adversary that appeared in Print against this present Dispensation to have slain it in its Infancy and afterwards to reprove the fraternity of those who stood under the name of Priests crying out against all that with-drew from them as Hereticks and Seducers c. So now it hath pleased him to open my Mouth to speak to some in the Flock gathered in under the acknowledgment of and testimony to the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World yet not in that manner as I spake to the former who appeared as open Adversaries but in tenderness and love to admonish and to help forward the work of the Lord in the spirits of some and to stir them up to mind the weighty things which the Lord chiefly requires in the Life and Conversation For let none think it sufficient that they are gathered into an outward Profession of any Truth or into this Society But consider and understand that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a Net cast into the Sea which gathers of every kind some good some bad So it was in the Primitive or first gathering after Christ and so it is now Some gathered then that were to be cast away and we may expect the same things now Math. 13.19 So shall it be saith 〈◊〉 Lord in the end of the World The Angels shall come forth and shall sever the Evil Ones out of the midst of the Righteous and shall cast them into a Furnace of fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth ver 50. So that although there hath been a separation from other Societies and from the World yet it remains that every one make their Calling and Election sure that they purge out the evil that remains unpurged away out of the heart till they become blameless and without offence in the World and bear so lively a Character of the Innocency of Christ our Lord that all that see and certainly know their Lives and Conversations may say of them This is the Seed which the Lord hath blessed Dear Friends you have been called to the testimony of a precious Truth if you rightly understand it and abide therein And though it hath many opposers yea and such as think of themselves highly as above so low a Doctrine yet it will stand when they shall fall And although they vilifie it and would reproach it with the terms of natural light and common light yet it will discover their darkness in their traditional * That is Doctrinal Notions and Principles received by tradition one from another which they follow as their light and guide as the Pharisees did This being darkness is great darkness holding them fast which stick therein which they receive upon trust one from another What if the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World be a common Light Is it the worse for that Is the Sun the less excellent because it gives light to all or its light the less precious because it shines upon all Is the Rain the worse because it falls upon the Bad as well as upon the Good No more is the true Light the less precious because of the commonness of it for that may in some sense be called common which lights every man even as that Power is common which gives motion unto all in which we live move Thou that opposes it it may be thou professes a light above it as thou thinkest Well but for all that take heed that this discover not thy Nakedness even as Christ Jesus that Light of the World discovered the Nakedness of the Scribes and Pharisees by the common Actions of their Life such as were obvious to all Take heed that this common Light discover not in thee Pride of heart as was in the Pharisees Exaltedness of mind from an out-side Profession as was in them or Covetousness under a Cloak of Religion or Earthly-mindedness or Self-willedness or Hard heartedness or Crafty Policy to circumvent or get beyond another or Fierceness or Implacableness or Contentiousness and such like For verily the common light in all men will manifest such things to them and then thy covering of thy self with thy more excellent light as thou thinks is become too narrow for thee and will not hide thy nakedness from the world who have but that common light as thou in disdain calls it For if they see a haughty spirit in thee will not they count of thee as thou art A Proud Man And their judgment and repute of thee is true and will stand being guided by the true light which discovers thee to them by thy fruits So if thou art a Covetous person the light discovers thee to the World Yea by common and true Light men are made manifest one to another where they live and where their actions are well known And therefore they can see and say one to another such a man is a hard-hearted man and again such a one is a tender-hearted merciful man What! do they see the heart Doth the common Light discover the heart Yea by the fruits it discovers it Therefore they can say discerning by the light such a person is Zealous for his way of Religion but I should be loath to fall into his hands I durst not trust him for all his Profession Such a person it 's true he will not abuse himself with Drink but he is Drunk with his own conceits And again of another they can say Such a man is a faithful trusty man I durst commit any thing I have into his hands without fear Thus the Lord discovers Trees by the Fruits Men by their Actions and the common Light receives as well as gives the discovery And of this many Friends have much experience whose faithfulness and uprightness hath such testimony in the hearts of their Neighbours that they dare trust them with all they have when they dare not trust their own Relations and Kindred On the other side are there not some I speak it with grief whom the World will not trust though under the same outward profession of Truth Why Because they see them in the same Nature with others that will over-reach So that no outward profession
of Truth can hide from the common Light Therefore the Light that common Light is precious even as the common Salvation is precious to the Profession of which you are called and under the acknowledgment of which you have been gathered And therefore abide therein and so walk as to answer that Light in every mans Conscience And think it not sufficient that you are gathered out of several Societies and out of the World under the Profession hereof except you walk therein He that walketh therein he is blameless before men they have no evil thing to say of him justly For it s by the Life and Conversation among men that a man is accounted an Innocent man or an evil doer and it s by the Light that he is seen to be so He therefore that doth not in his Life and Conversation answer the common Light that is in all men he is not therein right before the Lord who hath set up that Light in every Man to discern by Obj. It may be thou wilt say But we find by experience that many good men are evil spoken of by the World and Reproached and not reputed good men though they be so the judgment therefore of the World is false concerning many Righteous and Godly persons Answ I Answer First mind that thou thy self dost not judge wrong of men and count those Godly persons who are not Consider whether their Godliness lye only or chiefly in an outward Profession and Zeal of their way of Worship and for that Society that they are of If so then their judgment who judge by the Life and Conversation may be right and thine wrong as Christs was right concerning the Pharisees and others wrong who only lookt at their high Profession and strickt observation of pious observances as they were reputed Secondly But if the persons Reproached be Innocent in Life just and merciful men then those that know them well will scarcely speak evil of them except in the matters of their God unless the common light in them be obstructed and darkened by some means as by some private concern or through malice and enmity in their hearts or by prejudice judging by the hearing of the ear which is often unrighteous judgment or through some particular traditional Light which is darkness These and such like things pervert true judgment even as the Light of the Sun shining thorow glass gives the colour of the glass upon the opposite Object So they that judge through these things give judgment according to those false mediums they judge thorow But these stand not in so doing in the common Light but in a perverting light which is darkness and this their judgment is judged to be false by those that stand unbyassed in the common Light with them and the very ground of that their false judging is often seen by them So that the unbyassed common Light is still a true judge in the common actions of mens Conversation Object It may be thou wilt further Object That this Light is but a natural Light and a natural Light is not a true judge no more than the natural Man which cannot perceive the things of the Spirit of God Answ Where the Apostle uses those words 1 Cor. 2. He is there speaking of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard but not of the things that appertain to the common life of man and are visible before all men and such things indeed are not known but by a farther Revelation in the Light and Spirit of God which searcheth all things even the deep things of God However the common open Life of men is seen and judged by the common Light as thou calls it that God hath planted in every man And if thou wilt call that Light Natural yet will that nothing at all advantage thee whosoever thou art that walks contrary to it but it doth the more aggravate thy fault that thou lives contrary to a Light which God hath made so natural to thee and so planted in thee that thou canst do no evil but it discovers it in thee yea and records it in thy Conscience as in a Book And there 's the Book that is to be opened when the judgment is set and thou comes to be judged And the things written in that Book are the things done in the body whether good or bad and according to them thou shalt be judged And then this Light which thou calls Natural and was privy to all thy actions yea and to the intents and thoughts of thy heart will be a Witness against thee and shew thee thy evil deeds written in thy own Conscience and so God will be cleared when he comes to Judge and all the world shall be convinced thereby that they are guilty If thou callest that Light Common or Natural in an evil signification as if it were no true Light but a deceitful delusive unclean Light and a Product of the falne Nature then I shall not admit of those terms at all for then must it incline thee to evil of its own Nature as false Lights do and not stand as a discoverer of evil in thee and a faithful and true Witness against it Then also should it be a thing to be repented of that is to have the mind turned away from it and the actions of the life carryed contrary to it if it be evil and delusive And so when it checks thee secretly in thy heart for Swearing or Lying or wrong dealing or any other evil action or purpose of thy heart thou should'st then the rather do them because they are contrary to this deceitful and delusive Light as it s accounted by thee and so more likely to be true and good than it Or at least Wise thou shouldst not at all thereby be moved to avoid those evils because it s but a sinful evil delusive light that would stop thy carreer in them Again if that light be evil then its from the falne Nature and so from Satan that works therein And then is Satans Kingdom divided and he by that light seeks to bring to nought his own Kingdom For that Light works against his Kingdom in men It works to throw down Hypocrisie and Deceit and Lying and Swearing and Drunkenness and Uncleanness and Wrath and Envy and Murther and all such evil dispositions and actions wherein Satans Kingdom stands by discovering these things to the Conscience to be evil and witnessing against them and so Satan is divided against himself if this Light be evil and from him See what Consequences thy opposing of thy self to the Scripture of truth puts thee upon Had'st thou not better submit to the Testimony of the Servant of the Lord who said That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Be ashamed to say the Scripture is thy rule when thou fights against it and says contrary to it It saith That was the true Light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Thou faist it is not How is it thy rule now when thou denys or opposes it Lastly let this sink into thy heart O vain Contender who strives against the Truth Wilt thou make that to be evil which leads or directs into the paths of Peace and in following of which even some of the Gentiles have found an excusing Conscience and if that excuse we have Peace with God and for want of following it how many call'd Christians dye in horrour such as glory in their Christianity over the Heathen Unbelievers But tell me shall not their Obeying that Light be accounted to them for Christianity when thy disobeying it shall be counted to thee Paganisme and Gentilisme although thou glories over them Even as formerly the Uncircumcision of such who kept the Righteousne's of the Law was counted to them for Circumcision and the Circumcision of such as kept it not was accounted for Uncircumcision What did the name of Circumcision profit them that were Transgressors and Evil doers under the Law And what will the name of Christianity profit thee who walks contrary to the Light that discovers sin and wickedness in thee Therefore own that Light that enlightens every mans Conscience and submit to it in thy life and in thy words own it in thy actions as well as in thy expressions and bring thy deeds to the Light and weigh them in the Light that they may be made manifest that they are wrought in God And thou hast also the harmony and consent of the Writings of the holy men of God concurring with that Light in thee to make the testimony of it the stronger in thee against all ungodliness and worldly Lusts Therefore if thou who art called a Christian walks contrary to it the greater will be thy Condemnation the preventing of which is the thing to be minded by thee and not jangling about the Light in words whilst thou disobeys it in practice If thou wilt needs call it natural common yet own it from the Lord then I matter not that thy calling it so please thy self in thy own terms but know That it is a Beam from the infinite Majesty which hath no fellowship with wickedness but discovers it reproves it and is contrary to it And by the testimony of it in thy self and in all men will the Lord be clear when he judges the world in Righteousness I further affirm against thee that undervalues this light that there is such a piercing sight in it that thereby the true Seed is known and discerned by all that see them thorowly as it is said in the Prophecy of Isaiah chap. 61.9 All that see them shall acknowledg them that they are the Seed which the Lord hath blessed He had been speaking a little before of the Meek the Broken-hearted the Mourners in Zion such as were under a Spirit of heaviness such as our Lord comforted and Preached good tydings to pronouncing them blessed Matth. 5. as was Prophesied of him to do Isa 61.1 That Innocent Seed whose meek quiet humble temper whose inoffensive spirit whose blameless life whosoever shall see they shall be thereby convinced in their hearts That this is the Seed which God hath blessed This Convincement seeing it shall be upon all that see them it must needs be from a light common to them all which is the true Light If any oppose this let them shew from whence it shall be that all that see them shall have this discovery of them This testimony I say the common Light will give of them in all mens hearts that see and know them in truth I shall not deny but that some may judge otherwise even of the true Seed thorow sinister respects and prejudicate received opinion or by judging thorow received traditional Notions or by the hearing of the ear or by judging according to other mens judgments or being swayed by some private concern or judging by imagination and such like false ways of judging especially they that are of a Pharisaical Spirit exalted in the formal part of any Religious Profession and judging thorow that these not judging in the common true Light that lightens every man that cometh into the world may easily give a false judgment of the true Seed whilst those whom they despise as having no Religion may judge rightly of them and sometimes even their own Consciences may from the common Light at present overswayed in them lay up in them at the bottom that which shall force them in due time to confess to the true Seed and that they mght have seen them if they had not hearkened to those false wayes of judging so that still I say the unbyassed common Light that enlightens every man is the true Light and these particular Lights through which the false judgment proceeds are not the true Light Well then If this be the true Light let every one that Professes it mind to answer this Light in every mans Conscience This you have been often exhorted to do by those who have laboured with you in the truth and there may be need still to put you in remembrance thereof that so the actions of your life may be approved of by all that know you though they cannot approve of your way or Religion as they use to speak And consider that herein you stand as the lights of the world even in your Actions in your Conversation in your Works Therefore saith our Lord Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven It is not talking good words without living a good life that glorifies God It 's the Life the Conversation that 's approved or disapproved in other mens Consciences It 's that which gathers to Christ or being amiss scatters from him Profess what thou wilt and with what eagerness thou wilt as if thou wert Zealous for him yet if Wickedness be found in thee thou dost but harden mens hearts against the truth and gathers not into the life of truth If they see unfaithfulness in thee that thou hast more respect to thy own ends than to single truth minds thy own gain more than simple honesty makes use of advantages from anothers weakness or ignorance or tenderness to get beyond him this will be seen that it is not right in the sight of the Lord and the Light in others will judge it and thou dost not approve thy self to their Consciences And though thou maist smooth over thy action artificially with words and make fair pretences yet that doth not make thee approved in their Consciences Thou maist stop their tongues perhaps from clamour but thou dost not satisfie their minds and Consciences For It 's the voyce of thy Actions not of thy Words that takes place in their hearts And therefore there is no approving of thy self to their Consciences nor answering of the true Light in them but by thy faithful honest single upright