God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5.2 3. And now Oh ye Magistrates Priests and People who have persecuted and imprisoned until death your Neighbours called Quakers and spoiled and made havock of their Goods here you have broken the commands of Christ which is upon Record in the holy Scriptures of Truth which you call your Rule and everlasting Wo will come upon you if you do not speedily repent and with speed forsake those evil deeds for it is written in the Scriptures of Truth Wo unto thee that spoilest and thou wast not spoiled and I know we have not spoiled your goods nor sought your hurt any way but hath and still doth desire that you might repent and forsake the evil of your wayes and have your Sins forgiven you and obtain mercy from the Lord God we desire not your destruction the Lord God knoweth but we desire that you might repent and live But the words of Christ in the holy Scriptures bears witness against you that you have not done unto us as ye would we should have done unto you if you had been in our condition and we in yours you would not have had us to have imprisoned you unto death as you have done many of our dear Brethren whose innocent blood lies upon you and it cryeth unto God against you for vengeance as righteous Abel's did cry unto God against Murthering Cain and God doth hear and will avenge the blood of his Elect And you would not have had us to have spoiled your goods as you have done ours therefore the Scriptures of Truth without you and the Light of Christ within you doth bear witness against you And now you are stripped of all your Coverings and you stand judged and condemned before the Lord God of Heaven before whom all things are naked and bare he searcheth all hearts Ezek. 18 read it through and tryeth all reins and there is not any wicked work that you do or have done but the Lord God seeth them all and they must not go unpunished for the Lord God is just and equal in all his wayes and he will deal justly with you and with all people upon the Earth yea he will certainly reward every one according to their deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil And Christs words are upon Record in the holy Scriptures which you call your Rule where he commanded his Disciples to love their Enemies Mat. 5 43 44 45 46 47 48. and to do good unto those that did dispitefully use them and persecute them and they did as he commanded them for they loved him with all their hearts and his Commandments were not grievous unto them but to keep his Commandments was great joy unto them and so it is unto us whom you in scorn call Quakers endless infinite eternal everlasting praises honour dominion and thanks be unto the Lord our God who hath gathered us out from amongst you and by his own everlasting power working in our hearts he hath made us a willing people yea willing to bear all that you are permitted to do unto us and also makes us willing to do you any good that lieth in our power and so to reward you good for evil and this shall add to your torment and our God for whom we suffer he will clear our innocency in the sight of all Nations But you are far from fulfilling of this Command who hates and persecutes us who are your friends and so these words which Christ spake which is in the holy Scriptures which you call your Rule bears witness against you and the Light of Christ within you condemns you and so you are stripped of all your Coverings and so you stand judged and condemned by the Lord God in the presence of all holy just and upright men who sees and behold your wicked works And now all ye Merchant men Husbandmen and Tradesmen of what Trade or Calling soever who are Extortioners who take unlawfull gain and use unjust Weights and Measures who cheat and defraud one another in Buying and Selling and Exchanging of Gods good Creatures some of you lying and speaking worse of Gods good Creatures then you know them to be for your own corrupt ends that you may make a prey upon them that hath those good Creatures to sell and others of you that hath Gods Creatures to sell you speak better of them then you know them to be and so you tell lyes to get gain and so to make a prey of the Buyer and here you are judged and condemned by the Light of Christ within you and by his words which are upon Record in the holy Scriptures of Truth without you which you call your Rule because you do not do unto others as ye would they should do unto you and you do not love the Lord God with all your hearts and therefore you cannot love your Neighbour as your self therefore those words with many more in the holy Scriptures bears witness against you and the Light of Christ within you condemns you so you are neither Ruled by the Light of Christ within you nor by the Scriptures of Truth without you and so you are unruly Therefore I say unto you all turn in your minds unto the Eternal true Light wherewith Christ Jesus hath enlightened you all and if you love it it will work repentance in your hearts and if you give up your minds to be led by it it will lead you out of all deceit and double dealing and if you love it and in faithfulness follow and obey it it will lead you to love your Neighbours as your selves and then I am sure you neither can nor will nor dare cheat nor defraud them but then you will do unto them as you would they should do unto you and I am sure there is no man that would be cheated nor defrauded by any man that he deals withal in buying and selling and exchanging Gods good Creatures and so let every man and woman come to the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened them and as they would have none to cheat nor defraud them the Light of Christ will not suffer them to cheat nor deceive nor defraud any man or woman or child whatsoever if they love it and in faithfulness follow it for the Light is the Spirit of Truth which leadeth into all Truth all those that believe in it and in faithfulness follow it and so if all people would come unto the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened them then it would lead them all to deal justly plainly truly and uprightly one with another But alas this pure Light and Spirit in peoples Consciences is not loved nor heeded nor believed nor obeyed by many thousands of men and women who doth profess God and Christ in words and calls the Scripture their Rule and that is the reason that there is so much cheating and defrauding amongst people in buying and selling and exchanging
word in all the Bible called the Old and New Testament But in Proverbs 24. vers 15 and 16. thus it is written Lay not in wait O wicked Man against the Dwelling of the Righteous spoil not his Resting-place For a Just Man falleth seven times and riseth again but the Wicked fall into Mischief Now mark the Just man falleth seven times and riseth again now I say here is neither Sin nor Day spoken of but the Wicked fall into Mischief now consider to do Mischief is to do Evil and to do Evil is Sin but the Just man did not fall into Mischief and so he did not fall into Sin Now Hopkins and Sternhold who was men that did play upon Instruments of Musick in the same wisdom in which the Poets do make ungodly Ballads they made a Song which they called The Humble Complaint of a Sinner and in that Song of theirs there is some such like words as the Just man sinneth seven times a day but those words of theirs are not to be heeded for they had them not out of the Holy Scriptures but they are their own invented Lyes Many other places of the Holy Scriptures are wrested after this manner by those who have not believed in the Light who pleads for Sin for the Apostle Paul according unto the wisdom given unto him in all his Epistles he did write things hard to be understood which they that were unlearned and unstable did wrest as also they did the other Scriptures to their own destruction this is Peters Testimony who was a Fisherman and knew not Letters 2 Pet. 3.15 16. Acts 4.13 So all people take notice that it was not because they wanted Greek Hebrew and Latine that they wrested Pauls Epistles and the other Scriptures to their own destruction but it was because they were not come to believe in that measure of the Spirit wherewith Christ had enlightened them for from the Spirit of God was the holy Scriptures given forth and there is none can come to know them and understand them until they come to believe in and obey that measure of God in themselves which is one with that from which the holy Scriptures was given forth and when people come to believe in that and learn of that then God by that will open their understandings to know and rightly to understand the holy Scriptures and until then people can neither know nor understand them aright for while people are out from that of God in them they one imagine one thing from the Scriptures and another imagineth another thing from the same part of the Scripture and one saith it meaneth thus and another he saith nay but it meaneth thus and so they are bewildered in their imaginations about the holy Scriptures one saying this is the meaning and another saying that is the meaning and so every one builds his Religion according to his imagination and so every one that hath not believed in the Light they are wresting of the holy Scriptures and with their dark meanings are pleading Scripture and would fain prove by the holy Scriptures that theirs is the true Religion and as Christ said it should be so it is come to pass one saith Lo here is Christ and another saith Lo there is Christ but Christ said unto the Saints Go not forth now the Saints minds were gathered in unto the Light and that gave them to know the holy Scriptures and also to know the false Prophets who led peoples minds out from that of God in them for the Way of God is to be known within and he that leads people from that of God in them into outward observations he is a Deceiver and an Antichrist Pilate had Greek Hebrew and Latine and he could not open the Scriptures by it nor know the Son of God by it but he judged him to die and when he was to be Crucified he did write a Superscription in Greek Hebrew and Latine Letters and set it over Christs head and the persecuting Jews had Greek Hebrew and Latine for they came and did read the Superscription which Pilate had written but they could not open the Scriptures with their Greek Hebrew and Latine though they had all the Prophets Writings who prophesied of his coming and of the Place where he was to be born yet they could not understand the Prophets words with all their Greek Hebrew and Latine all their Earthly wisdom and Learning was to short and to shallow to understand those Heavenly things and so because they had not believed in the Light of Christ in them they were dark and blind Spiritually and could not know nor understand the Scriptures nor know Christ when he was come but they said he had a Devil and was Mad but had they come to that of God in them that would have given them the knowledge of the Scriptures and the knowledge that he was the Son of God for he told them that the Kingdom of God did not come with outward observation as Lo here or Lo there Luk. 1â— 20 21. but that the Kingdom of God was within them and he told them that it was like a Grain of Mustard-Seed and it was like Leaven and he did direct their minds unto that in them but they did not believe his Doctrine and so would not turn their minds inwardly to learn of the Father the Word and the Spirit and so they knew not the Son but Crucified him and the Son said unto the Father I thank thee O Father Lord God of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and thou hast revealed them unto Babes now Pilate and the Jews the wisest and most prudent men that was in all that Quarter of the Earth in natural Learning and natural Wisdom because they did not come to that of God in them therefore did God hide the Heavenly things from them and all their Greek Hebrew and Latine and all their natural Wisdom did not do them any good at all as to bring them to the knowledge of God but they were hurt by looking at it for because of their great Learning and Wisdom naturally their hearts were lifted up in Pride and they would not believe in Christ nor receive his Testimony they judged him an inferiour man unto them and the Pride of their hearts deceived them For the World by Earthly wisdom doth not know God and the Carnal mind is Enmity against God and the Natural man receives not the things of God for they are Spiritually discerned and they do appear Foolishness unto all Earthly minded men and women But Peter and John and the rest of the Fishermen who knew not Letters they were men of more humble and low Spirits then the Jews were who had Greek Hebrew and Latine for they were proud because of their Tongues and Natural Learning as our English Priests and Doctors are and ours can no more know Christ and the holy Scriptures by their Greek Hebrew and Latine and Earthly Wisdom then Pilate and the Jews could but Peter and John and the rest of the Fishermen they were low mean men as to the outward they did not dispise Christ because of his low Appearance outwardly but they did believe in him and loved him and did forsake their Nets and followed him and in them God did take delight and he did reveal Great and Mighty things unto them which was hid from Pilate and the Jews who had Greek Hebrew and Latine And now I say unto all people God is rising to confound the Wisdom of all the Earthly Wise men who are proud of Greek Hebrew and Latine and who dispise their Neighbours who have it not and all their Earthly Wisdom in which they have boasted and exalted themselves will the Lord God make to appear as it is Foolishness and he will abase proud Haman in this the day of his Mighty Power yea he will bring down the Mighty and he will exalt them of a low degree yea this is the Lord God doing that no flesh may glory And now unto all people in tender Love I say turn in your minds unto the Manifestation of the Spirit and Light of Christ which is given unto you to profit withal that it may give you the Knowledg of God whom to know is Eternal Life and that it may open the holy Scriptures unto your understandings For it is written No man knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God And now Oh all ye Professors in all Forms I charge you in the Name and Power of the Lord God do not give your dark meanings unto the holy Scriptures for they are of no private interpretation and remember how you use to take Pauls words in his Epistles which are too hard for you to understand until you come unto the Light and learn of it I say remember how you use to take his words to plead for Sin for term of Life but come to the Light of Christ in you all and Learn of it and it will stop your Mouthes and not suffer you to open them to plead for Sin which is the work of the Devil I charge you in the Name of the Lord God do not wrest the holy Scriptures to plead for your Pride and Covetousness and Envy and other Abominations which you live in and delight in for Wo will come upon all that are covered and not with the Spirit of the Lord God and no other covering will stand you in stead in the day when you must all receive a Reward according to the Deeds done in the Body whether they be good or evil Read Isa 28. from Verse 1 to 23. And now I have cleared my Conscience in obedience unto the Lord God and I rest in peace and whether you will hear or forbear I am clear W. G. The End
of the Truth and Christ said How often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen gathereth her Chicken under her wings but ye would not and God said O Jerusalem thy destruction is of thy selfe but thy Salvation is of me I delight not in the death of him that dyeth but rather that every one would turn from his wickedness and Live turn you turn you O house of Israel why will you die The Priests and the Professors call the Scriptures the Word of God and the Gospel now the Scriptures is words and they were not in the beginning but was given forth by holy men many generations after God had created the Earth and all things in it and upon it and God spake words unto Moses Read Exodus the 20 and the Apostles spake words in the Word and Power of the Lord which was in the beginning before man was or words either and whosoever shall add unto the words of this Prophesic said John in his Revelations c. So the Scriptures is words and not the Word In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God By him was all things made in him was Life and that Life was the Light of men And this is that Eternal and Ingraffted Word which is able to save the souls of all that do believe in it The Prophet hid it in his heart lest he should sin against God and it was as a Fire shut up in the Prophets bones and it was and is as a Fire Hammer and Sword and Ax to cut down the Devil and his Works in the heart of man where it is received and no man or woman need say who shall ascend into Heaven to fetch Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep to fetch Christ up from vexeath or who shall go beyond the Sea to fetch Christ unto us for behold the Word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth that thou may hear it and do it and the four Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John which the Priests and Professors calls the Gospel is not the Gospel for it is but about Sixteen hundred years ago since those Books were written But the Gospel was Preached unto Abraham many Generations before those Books were written and the Gospel is Everlasting an Angel did flee thorough the midst of Heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to Preach That which is Everlasting is without beginning and without end now the Apostle said that the Gospel which he did Preach it was the Power of God now the Power of God is Everlasting without beginning and without end but books and words and writings had a beginning and may have an end so is not the Everlasting Gospel and there is no Gospel of God but one and that one Gospel Paul Preached and he received it not from man neither was he taught it by man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ and he said If any man Preach unto you any other Gospel let him be accursed So Reader that Gospel which we Preach we have not received it from man nor from books nor from writings but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in us and what we have felt and seen and tasted and handled of the Word of Life Spiritually Inwardly these things declare we unto People that they might believe in God the Father who is Light and in Christ his Son who is Light and that they in the Father and the Son might have Fellowship with us and so Reader we have Revelation among us and immediate Teaching by the infallible Spirit of Christ Jesus in us and as many as walk according to this Rule Peace be unto them for those are the Children of God even those who are led by the Spirit of God which never did fail to bring forth Righteousness in those that did Obey it And so Reader the Priests and Professors who deny Revelation and immediate Teaching and an infallible Spirit they can speak nothing of certainty concerning God and his Kingdom and things pertaining to the Salvation of Mankind but what they do speak is their imaginations and dreams so it is not for People to trust unto them for Teaching for their mouths must be stopped which was never yet opened by the Revelation of Jesus Christ the Power of God from Heaven and they are to come and learn in Silence of the Light in their own Consciences untill it hath taught them the Knowledg of God and until they come to know the Light to be infallible and the onely true Teacher And now Reader I say keep low in thy mind in the Reading of this following Testimony and if thou do find something spoken that thou cannot yet wholy joyn withall labour to keep in the Patience and keep out of Fretting and be not Rash for thou wilt find things that are evil sharply reproved in Persons of all sorts without respect of persons and it was the manner of the true Prophets and Ministers and Apostles of Christ and of Christ himself to reprove the false Prophets sharply and also to Reprove Wicked Prophane Ungodly Men and Women sharply to the end that they might Repent and forsake the evil of their waies But it hath been the manner of the false Prophets whom God never sent to Daub and flatter and Prophesie Lyes unto People and to speak Peace unto People in their sins and Wo from the Lord God is coming upon those Teachers who is making it their Business to Preach up sin for term of life and to Promise unto People Peace in their sins Your Sins hath seperated between you and me saith the Lord Your sins hath withholden good things from you and no man or woman can be joyned to God in their sins and no unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of God and as the Tree falleth so it lyeth there is no Repentance in the Grave So People must either witness Clensing and Freedom from sin before they go out of the Body or else they will never be made clean God did give the Apostles Gifts for the Work of the Ministry for the Edifying of the Church which was Christs Body until all come unto the measure of the Stature of Christ unto a Perfect man in Christ Jesus and the Apostle did bid People cast off every weight and burden and the sin that did so easily beset them that so they might run the Race that was set before them and they laboured that they might present every man Perfect in Christ Jesus and the Ministers which Christ doth send forth in this Age their Labour is to bring People into Christ Gods Power that they may sit down in Him in the heavenly Peace in him to Reign over sin and him that is the Author of sin which is the Devil and this the Lord hath already done for a little Remnant and he will certainly do it for many Thousands more To him be all Honour Glory Dominion and Praises both now and for
and Wisdom of God words which they left behind them and after their decease Grievous Wolves did arise who was ravened from the Spirit and was gone out from the Apostles in the Apostle John's dayes saith he 1 Joh. 2.18 19 20 26 27. They went from us that they might be made manifest they were not of us For said he if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us and Paul when he wrote unto Timothy he said I know that after my decease grievous Wolves shall arise who will not spare the Flock so before the true Apostles of the Lamb laid down their heads there was False Apostles and Deceitfull Workers crept in among the Saints who spoke perverse things and did draw disciples after them but while the true Apostles remained in the body they watched diligently over the Flock over which the holy Spirit had made them Overseers and they were a terror to deceit and kept back the work of the Devil in the false Apostles and deceitfull Workers for then they were already entred into the World and then it was the Last Time as John said Fifteen or sixteen hundred years ago Brethren 1 Joh. 4.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. as you have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists and false Prophets in the World whereby we know that it is the Last Time So all People take notice that Antichrist and the false Prophets were entred into the world before the Apostles decease and they have remained in the world ever since and this was before the name Quaker was given unto us by the Scorners yea this was before we were born so that it is plain that the Priests and Professors in all that called Christendom who have said that the false Prophets and Antichrists and Deceivers and Seducers came but when those people they called Quakers came have all erred in their Judgments and so have judged with evil thoughts and so they must all bear the Judgments of the Lord God for their false and unjust Judgment upon those they in scorn call Quakers for Antichrist and the false Prophets were entred into the World in the Apostles dayes Rev. 17.2 6. and after the true Apostles were put to death and were taken away from amongst men then the false Apostles work went more swiftly on Rev. 18.3 and they being ravened from the Life and Power and Spirit within they took the words of Christ and the Apostles which they had written in the motion of the Spirit of God in them and had left upon Record and they professed them and they being ravened from that measure of the Spirit of God from which the Scriptures was given forth then they wrested the Scriptures and gave meanings unto them they having lost the Key of Knowledg and then they went into the Liberty of the Flesh and so drew people after them and then the Night of Apostacy grew in fast and the Beast and the false Prophets made war against the Lamb and the Saints and they slew the Lamb and slew many of the Saints and so overcame them and then Antichrists Kingdom did increase fast and then the false Church which was not in God but in the Dragons power who had slain the Lamb and the Saints it grew great and then began the false Christians to be increased and the number of them to be many and so the false Christians who have taken upon themselves the bare name but are out of the Life and Nature of Christ they are spread over many Nations and are become a great and large people And so it is easie for people now to take the name Christian upon them in England and other Nations for now the whole Nation of England doth profess Christ in words and several other Nations so that if a man will profess Christ without him as they do and live in deceit and ungodliness as they do and turn and conform unto one Invention and Tradition of man after another as they do then they will not persecute him for professing of Christ without him as they do but if he be one who hath believed in the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened him and so is come to know Christ in him to destroy Sin in him and that Christ hath already led him out of the Sin which they live in then they will persecute him and as it was in the Apostles dayes so is it now He that is born after the Flesh persecutes him that is born of the Spirit and they that do live godly in Christ Jesus do suffer persecution It is evident that the Apostles and Saints in the Ages past witnessed Christ in them and so were made new Creatures by the working of his mighty Power if them for it is written If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a New Creature Now consider the thing in the fear of the Lord God who searcheth all Hearts Rev. 21.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. and tryeth all Reins who will assuredly reward every one according to their deeds done in the Body If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature Old things are passed away behold all things are become New Mark Old things are passed away Now in the Fear of the Lord God 2 Cor. 5.17 I say consider the thing well for it is weighty What was the old things which were passed away from the Saints Eph. 4.22 23 24. in that Age in which they lived upon the Earth was it not Sin yea assuredly it was Sin for Sin was and is the Deeds of the first Adam and all who are in his state are dead in Trespasses and Sins Joh. 1.29 but said the Apostle to the Saints You have put off the Old man with his deeds which is corrupt Joh. 8.34 and you have put on the New man Christ Jesus and Paul said That as many as were Baptised into Christ Jam. 1.12 13 14 15 16 17. they had put on Christ and so they were in him and he in them had destroyed the Works of the Devil and so had led them out of Sin and so had saved them from their Sins Gal. 3.27 28. for that is the work which God hath given him to do for the Sons and Daughters of men and all who comes to believe in his Light in their Consciences and obeys it they come to feel these things wrought within them and not without them for it is a plain Truth and cannot be denied by any sober wise and truly understanding man or woman the pure and holy God of Life and Power of Heaven and Earth he will not be reconciled to any people under what Name or Profession of Religion soever upon the Face of the whole Earth while they are in their Sins that is while they are in the practice of Evil-doing rebelling against the good Spirit of God in them Isa 63.10 which he hath placed in them to instruct them
to the command of Christ and thereby breaketh his Command doth not love him and the Apostle John saith in his second Epistle He that transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and this is Christs Doctrine Swear not at all And so all people who of late have Sworn unto that which they did formerly Swear against the Lord God of Heaven and Earth he is grievously dishonoured by such for their Hypocrisie is very great and their Sin is very grievous in these particulars besides many other grievous Abominations which they have not yet repented of And so unto all that are in the before mentioned Abominations I say in Bowels of tender Love and true Pity and Compassion to your poor Souls Awake Awake Repent Repent come down unto the Eternal True Light in your own Consciences which doth condemn you for your Hypocrisie for being Time-servers and Men-pleasers Haste haste to meet the Lord God by speedy and unfained Repentance while you have a little time prize it for the time hastens to come upon you and all the rest of the prophane ungodly World which lieth in wickedness that time shall be no more then the sayings of John in the last of the Revelations will be witnessed Rev. 22.11 12. He that is filthy let him be filthy still mark that Let him be filthy still And there shall not enter into the Holy City any thing that worketh Abomination or telleth a Lye there shall not enter into the Kingdom of God any unclean or filthy man or woman for all the Fearfull and Unbelievers who fears man more then God is for ever shut out of the Holy City except they repent and come to the Light of God and Christ in them and so believe in God who is Light and fear him and not man whose breath is in his Nostrils and all Persecutors Swearers Lyers Drunkards Whores and Whoremongers Adulterers Cheaters Scoffers Mockers Proud lofty wild and wanton ones Repent repent with speed Come down come down to the Eternal True Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightned you which in you cryeth for Repentance and amendment of life I say in Bowels of tender love unto all your Souls Make speed make haste to make your peace with God by submitting unto and obeying his pure Light in all your consciences for the Spirit Light and Grace of God and Christ in you which condemns you for your Sins must either make your peace for you with the Lord God or else peace with the Lord God you shall never witness neither in this world nor in that which is to come Isa 48.22 For there is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God for God said unto the wicked in the dayes of old Your Sins doth separate between you and me Isa 59.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. your Sins doth with-hold good things from you so at this day it is your Sins that separates between you and the Lord God and with-holds the good things from you Luk. 19 27. so come unto the Eternal true Light within you and be subject unto it and it will judge down all your Babilonish thoughts and imaginations which you have vainly imagined concerning God and Christ and his Way of Worship and out of all your Sins will God lead you by his Light wherewith he hath enlightnened you if you be subject to it and he will bring you unto his Everlasting Kingdom where you may inherit Life Peace and Joy for ever and if you will not be subject unto this Light then you are Enemies both unto the Father and the Son and must be bound and cast into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Joh. 5.39 40. where the Werm never dieth nor the Fire is never quenched for said Christ the Light Bring those mine Enemies that will not that I should rule over them and slay them before me Christ the Light said unto the Unbelievers Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have Eternal Life but ye will not come unto me that ye might have Life read John the Fifth and Christ said unto the unbelieving Jews who said God was their Father that he was the Light of the World Mar. 1â— from vers 23 to 40. and all that follwed him should not abide in Darkness but should have the Light of Life but those Jews who called God their Father told Christ that he bore witness of himself and that his witness was not true but he told them that his witness was true and so it was and he told those hard-hearted unbelievers Joh. 8. from vers 12 to 26. and from verse 41 to 53. who said that God was their Father that they were of their Father the Devil and the works of their Father they did and those words of his were true read John the Eighth they told him they knew he had a Devil but they were Lyars and so they had the Devil themselves which they told him he had And now all you Priests and Professors of all sorts who deny those words of Christ which he speak unto the Jews when he said he was the Light of the World and whosoever followed him should not abide in Darkness but they should have the Light of Life Joh. 9.24 28 29. Joh. 10.20 21. you are in the same Error and false Judgment that they were in you are in the same blindnss of mind and hardness of heart that they were in for when he first spoke those words they withstood him to his Face for they did not believe that he was the Son of God and now you do profess that you do believe that he was the Son of God and yet you will not believe his words Oh thick darkness and blindness the Jews were condemned because they believed not his Testimony and do you think to be Saved for the bare professing that you do believe that he was the Son of God seeing you will not believe his words which he spake unto the Jews Oh consider your own selves whether were the Sins of those Jews or your Sins the greater in this particular they did not believe that he was the Son of God and so they did not believe his words for had they believed that he had been the Son of God then certainly they would have believed his words now you do profess that you do believe that he was the Son of God and yet you will not believe his words remember what Christ said unto the Jews Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23.29 30 31 32 33 34 35. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypecrites because you build the Tombs of the Prophets and garnish the Sepulchres of the Righteous and say if we had been in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have been pertakers with them in the blood of the Prophets wherefore be ye Witnesses unto your selves that ye are the Children of them that killed the Prophets Fill up the measure
no habitation in God but was a Vagabond and his Soul delighted in Evil Gen. 4. from vers 5 to 17. then in that state he offered unto the Lord God but the Lord God did not accept of his Offering no God took no pleasure at all in it because he was ravened from the Spirit or Light of God within him and was wicked and then when Cain and his Offering was rejected then Cain was wroth and his countenance fell and the Lord said unto Cain Why art thou Wroth and why is thy Countenance faln if thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted but if thou doest evil sin lieth at thy door But Cain who was full of wrath because he was reproved and his Offering not accepted he in his wrath rose up against his righteous Brother whom God loved and whose Offering God accepted and he slew his righteous Brother because his Brothers works were righteous and his own were wicked and the Lord God cursed Cain for shedding innocent blood and Cain when he was ravined from the Spirit of God within him and had shed innocent blood he became great in the Earth and builded a City and although he had a City upon Earth yet he was a Vagabond because he was wandered and ravened from the Spirit of God within him for his Soul had no habitation in God but the Wrath of God did abide upon him And now all ye Priests and People and Professors of all sorts who have been or are or desire to be Persecutors of those whom the Lord God loveth and taketh pleasure in take notice of Cain's Reward that great and first Persecutor about Religion and all of you repent and give over persecuting people for the exercise of their Consciences towards God Or else you will undo your selves The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it for whosoever persecutes any man for the exercise of his Conscience towards God they are of the same Spirit with Cain and their Reward will be the same with his if they do not give over persecuting and speedily repent for there ought none to exercise Authority over the Consciences of men and women but the Lord God and his Son Jesus Christ who are one for it is Gods Right only to Rule in and over the Consciences of people and what man or men soever upon the Face of the whole Earth who doth take upon him or them to lay a yoke upon the Consciences of people to limit people from a Worship into which they are already led by the Spirit of the Lord God such who so doth they do and will provoke the Lord God of Heaven and Earth against them and he will bring his Wrath upon them and it will fall heavy upon them 1 Cor. 12.7 and he will bring them down For God is a Spirit and he hath given the manifestation of his Spirit to every one to profit withal and every one that believeth in the measure of the Spirit of God which he hath given them to profit withal they come by that to be led into a pure Spiritual Worship in which the Lord God takes pleasure and whosoever striveth against them the Lord God will visit them with Judgment and he will deliver his oppressed people out of their hands And so all Persecutors come to the Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightened you and that will let you see that all this while you have been perfecting a people whom God hath made harmless for the exercise of their Conscitnces unto him in a pure Spiritual Worship you have been fighting against God who oreased you as Soul was who was as zealous for his Form of Religion as you are for yours and in his blind zeal he persecuted the Church of God and he thought he had been doing God service as many of you zealous Professors have done in your bitter angry zeal but both his thoughts and yours have been vain in this particular and so you have fulfilled the words of Christ who said unto the Saints The time will come that they will think they do God service that shall kill you Joh. 16.2 3. but Saul was an Enemy of God and a Fighter against God and a Voice came unto him from the Lord God and the Voice said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9.5 and Saul being strucken down answered the Voice which spake unto him and said Who art thou Lord Acts 22.8 19 20. and the Voice answered unto his question and said I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks take notice that Saul who after his Conversion was called Paul his Conversion to the Christian Faith was after Christ had suffered without the Gate of Jerusalem for Saul was going to Damascus with Letters from the high Priests to bring the Saints which was at Damascus to Jerusalem to be persecuted for Jesus Christ the Light and Life of men he had suffered without the Gate of Jerusalem in that Body which his Enemies called Joseph the Carpenters Son before the Voice told him I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest So all Persecutors take notice that it was Jesus in those Saints which was at Damascus and in other Saints that Saul persecuted I say it was Jesus the Spirit Life and Power in those and other Saints that Saul persecuted for as for the Vessel which was supposed by his Enemies to be Joseph the Carpenters Son that was offered up before so Jesus Christ was in the Saints and he was their Comforter the Spirit of Truth and he did lead them into all Truth and the Saints were hated and persecuted both by Jews and Gentiles who did not believe in the Spirit and Light of Christ within them and as it was in their dayes so it is in our dayes Joh. 14.16 17 18 26. He that is born of the Flesh persecutes him that is born of the Spirit and they that will live Godlike in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution Mark they that will live in the likeness of God in which state man was created they must suffer persecution but if they will continue in the likeness or Image of the Devil in Pride Drunkenness and Hypocrisie and only profess God and Christ without them and winde and turn about unto every new Invention which is invented in the thick and dark Night of Apostacy which yet remains in and over the hearts of many thousands of those that calls themselves Christians then they may not be persecuted but if they be Proud men then they may find some friendship amongst the Proud Joh. 15 18 89 20 21. and if they be Drunkards they may find some friendship amongst the Drunkards and if they be Hypocrites Time-servers and Men-pleasers and Dissemblers then they may find some friendship amongst the children of the same nature for the World loves its own but if a man be redeemed from these things by Christ the Light within him
better for time to come then you have been in that time which you have already spent God doth not desire your Destruction but would have you to come unto his Light in all your Consciences that he might govern and rule you all by that for without that you cannot govern nor rule your selves And now all ye Lyars Swearers Mockers Scoffers Vain-Talkers and Idle-Jesters Whoremongers and Adulterers and all you who delight in Laughter which is Madness and in vain and ungodly Songs with Musick and Chambering and wanton Lusts come to your Tryal The Devil was and is a Lyar Joh 8.44 Rev. 21.8 Rev. 22.15 Hosea 4.2 Jer. 9.3 and every Lye that any of you tell the Devil is the Author of it and he leads you into it and all those that loves and makes Lyes are shut out of the Kingdom of God And all you Mockers and Scoffers it is written That Abraham had two Sons the one by a Bond-woman and the other by the Free-woman Sarah Gen. 21.9 10 11 12. the Mother of the Faithfull Sarahs Son was Isaac and the Son of Hagar the Bond-woman was Ishmael and Ishmael the Bond-womans Son he mocked and scoffed Isaac the Free-womans Son and God was angry at him and he was not an Heir of the Blessing of God with Isaac whom he scoffed but he was cast out but Isaac was an Heir of Gods Everlasting Blessing and so you Scoffers and Mockers who mocks and scoffs those that fears God Isa 28.22 you are of Ishmael's Seed and you are not Heirs of the Blessing of God with those whom you scoff and mock but you are cast out as Ishmael was and hath not the Blessing but the Curse it is written There shall come Mockers in the Last Time Jude 18. who shall walk after their own ungodly Lusts And you Vain-Talkers Foolish-Jesters it is written in the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Jam. 1.26 27. Jam. 4.4 5 6 7 8 9 10. That mans Religion is vain who hath not a Bridle to his Tongue and so your Religion is a vain Religion who hath not a Bridle to your Tongue and all peoples Religion upon the Earth is vain who are not come to believe in and obey the Light of Christ in them for none of them have a Bridle to their Tongue for they will say one thing and do another and many will Lye and Swear and Scoff and Mock and Dissemble and speak one thing with their Mouthes and have a contrary purpose in their Hearts and whosoever doth so their Religion is a vain Religion and God abhors it Christ saith In your Communication Let your yea be yea and your nay nay Mat. 5.37 and whatsoever is more then yea and nay cometh of Evil mark that it cometh of Evil Evil doth not come from God Eph. 4.29 but from the Devil and every idle word must an Account be given for unto the Lord God And all you Whoremongers and Adulterers Paul said unto the Ephesians That they knew that no Whoremonger Heb. 13.4 nor unclean person nor any covetous man had any part in the Kingdom of God and Christ Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience be not ye therefore partakers with them Ephes 5.5 6 7. And Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Luk. 6.25 Eccl. 2.2 Eccles 7.3 4 5 6. and it is written Wo unto you that Laugh for you shall Mourn Sorrow is better then Laughter and the Laughter of a Fool is like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot Let your Laughter be turned into Heaviness and your Joy into Mourning Humble your selver under the mighty hand of God and he shall lift you up it is written in the Scriptures That they that live in Sports and Pleasures 1 Tim. 5.6 are dead while they live they are dead in Trespasses and Sins and so are dead from God Sorrow is better then Langhter the hearts of the Wise are in the house of Mourning but the hearts of Fools are in the house of Mirth And you Swearers Christ saith Mat. 5.34 Jam. 5.12 Swear not at all and the Apostle saith Swear not by Heaven nor by the Earth nor by any other Oath And because of Oathes the Land Mourns So all ye wicked and ungodly people those before-mentioned words with many more bears witness against you and the Light of Christ within you which is a nearer and greater Witness it condemns you and so you are in a very Sad and Miserable Condition and you cannot see how to help your selves out of this your Sad Estate for you are neither ruled by the holy Scriptures without you nor by the Light of Christ within you and so you are an unruly and ill-governed people for you are shut out from God because you do not believe in the Light wherewith he hath enlightened you and you are shut out of the Scriptures also which you do profess to be your Rule for if you did believe in the Light in would lead you to do those things which God doth require of you and so to do the good that is spoken of in the Scriptures and to leave the evil undone which is spoken against in the Scriptures but you hating the Light and loving the Darkness you do the evil that is spoken against in the Scriptures but you leave the good undone and so you are not like Gods Children but the Children of the wicked One whose work you are in and so you are stripped of all your Coverings and you stand judged and condemned by the Lord God and you have no Cloak for your Sins But now I say unto you all in the Fear of the Lord God there is Mercy with the Lord God that you may yet come to Fear him if you will come unto his Light in all your Consciences which lets you see how wickedly and vainly you have and still do spend your time I say if you will believe in the Light which condemns you for your Sins and follow it it will lead you out of your Sins which it condemns you for and though it is a condemning Light to you while you disobey it and do the evil that it lets you see you should not do yet when you obey it it will keep you from doing any evil and then you will find it to be a Saving Light and when it hath Redeemed you out of the evil which it condemns you for then it will not condemn you but it will justifie you and speak comfortably unto you But I say unto you all do not delay but come unto the Light and wait in it to receive power from God against the Devil and all his wicked works which he hath wrought in you and when the Judgements of God doth arise in your hearts for your Sins which you have committed then do not flee from that which judgeth you and filleth your
the Temple that God did create for himself to dwell in even above all that is truly called God and in a little Remnant the Lord God hath recovered his own Right and he now doth reign whose right it is and the Government is upon his shoulders and under his Government we do sit with great delight and his Fruit is sweet unto our taste and this is the Name which we can truly and experimentally call him The Lord our Righteousness for he is truly so who hath redeemed us out of unrighteousness and thus God the Father hath made his Son Christ Jesus unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and thus we who sometimes were Forreigners and Strangers from God are now brought near unto him and we that were in dayes past darkness are now made light in the Lord and we who in times past was dead in trespasses and sins hath he now quickned and thus God hath made his Son Christ Jesus the Captain of our Salvation and the Bishop of our Souls and we that were once wandered and gone astray in our imaginations into divers and sundry Forms of worship he hath now gathered us out of those various Forms where we were scattered in our imaginations and we have now found that within us which we had long been looking for without us amongst the false Prophets which Christ said should come and that they should deceive many and he said They shall say Lo here is Christ but Christ said unto his Disciples Go ye not forth Now Reader consider that Christ said unto his Disciples before he was crucified at Jerusalem I am the Vine ye are the Branches as the Branches cannot bring forth fruit except they abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me and without me ye can do nothing they were in a measure in him and he in them while as he did walk with them in that visible appearance which he after did suffer in and so it was good wholsom Doctrine that he did preach unto them when he said They shall say Lo here is Christ and lo there is Christ believe them not go not forth for that of Christ which they were come to know and their minds was brought in unto that was it which was sufficient to give them the knowledge of those salfe Prophets which Christ foretold them of that they should come in his Name and therefore it was very necessary that he should exhort them to keep within with it and this measure which they were gathered into the belief of and feeling of before his departure in that only and in nothing else could they know him and receive him in his coming again unto them who said I will not leave you comfortless I and my Father we will come and make our abode with you and they waited at Jerusalem until this blessed promise was fulfilled in them who was endued with Christ Gods power from on high so they were Gods Temples and God and Christ did walk in them according to his promise But now we who have our being in this Age wherein the Whore the false Church hath sitten as a Queen and hath riden upon the scarlet coloured Beast who hath received his Power and Seat and great Authority from the Dragon darkness hath covered the Earth and thick darkness hath covered us the people and so we were darkness in the power of darkness and so was hurled up and down with the false Prophets Doctrine and was deceived by their fained words and fair speeches with which they did lye in wait for that purpose and so we were long learning of them but was never able to come to the knowledge of the true God nor of his true worship by all their teachings and so Physitians of no value we have found them to be But as the Apostle Paul was sent to open the eye of the mind which the God of the World had blinded by turning peoples minds from that dark power that led them into sin unto the Light and Power of Christ in them which did condemn for sin by which they did witness redemption from sin So the Lord God hath raised up some in this present Age in the same work to turn peoples minds in unto the Light that thereby they may receive the knowledge of God and of his pare worship which is in his own Spirit and Truth which the Devil and Sin is out of and the labours and travels of such as he doth send forth in his own Power and Wisdom is very effectual and prevalent in a Remnant to turn them unto God so that thousands that walked in darkness up and down amongst the false Prophets and knew not whether they went because the Prince of darkness had blinded their minds is now turned unto God who is Light and now they are Light in him as they were darkness in the power of darkness so now they are Light in the Power of God who is Light and in whom there is no darkness at all So as I said before that which we were seeking without us amongst the false Prophets who have cryed Lo here Lo there that we have found within us Glory yea glory to the Lord God for evermore for it is his own work and let it glorifie him And so Gods Promise we do witness fulfilled unto us Thus saith the Lord God I will bring the Blind by a way they know not and certainly God hath fulfilled this Promise unto thousands and will fulfil it in many thousands more that yet walks in darkness in the ignorance of God and his pure worship in his own pure Spirit for when we were wandering up and down in our imaginations amongst the false Prophets in their various invented Forms which they have variously invented in their fallen earthly wisdom then we did not look to be brought to the knowledge of God by a Light or Spirit of God and Christ within us for the Hireling Priests and other high Professors whom we did follow for teaching they did generally agree in telling of us that Revelation was ceased and that there was no immediate teaching to be looked for nor received in this Age and they have said and published it in print unto the Nation that they have not an infallible Spirit as the Apostles and Ministers that Christ sent forth had And while we did believe these their sleepy Dreams and lying Divinations thereby we were kept in Error and so by these their Lyes they caused us to err and they did labour what they could to keep us from believing in the Light but Gods love was such unto our poor distressed Souls which was thus tossed up and down by their false Doctrines That he coused his Light to shine out of darkness in our hearts and to give us the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and this Treasure have we in our hearts and inward parts even in the earthen vessels and so the power
pomp and dignity outwardly but when he came Mark 6.3 he came much contrary to their thoughts and expectations and imaginations for he was supposed by them to be Joseph the Carpenters son a man of low esteem amongst them and so they dispised him because of his low Appearance which was so far contrary to what they had imagined concerning his coming and so they would not have him to rule over them but they slew him so they lost the benefit of his coming and so died in their sins and so was shut out of the Kingdom of God because of their unbelief so here was their Misery they would not receive him because he came not according as they had imagined he should come Now Friends to come nearer to your condition I shall write as the Spirit of the Lord shall move me which dwelleth in my heart Friends consider What is the reason that you will not own the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you and all people to be a sufficient Teacher and Ordinance for Salvation unto you and all people and to bring you and all people unto God out of sin if you and they did believe in it and obey it I say consider Is it not because you have read the Prophets Christ and the Apostles Writings with the same dark minds in unbelief that the Jews did read the Prophets Writings and in the Darkness which you have loved a great deal more then the Light you have imagined that Christ would shew himself unto you some other way then by his Light in your Consciences It hath been a very hatefull thing unto many of you Professors to hear us exhort you to turn unto the Light within and because we told you that was the Ordinance of God for Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth according to the words of the Prophet who prophesied in the Power of his coming Isa 49.5.6 7 8 22. who said I will give him for a Light unto the Gentiles and Leader to his People to be his Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth and when we have born our Testimony amongst you concerning this Light according to the plain words of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles laid down in the holy Scriptures and in the brokenness of our hearts have in much love unto you declared our own experience of the vertuous opperation of this Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned us and what Christ the Light had done for our Souls since we in his Light believed and when we thus laboured in the Love of God to do you good in perswading you to believe in the Light wherewith he hath enlightened you that so you might have come to have felt the vertue and power of it in your own hearts for your own everlasting good then many of you have rejected our Testimony and hath shamefully entreated us and hath rewarded us evil for good and you have hated this Light and cried Away with this Light and also with those that have been moved of the Lord God to bear witness unto this Light Which is the Trve Light which hath Enlightened every one that is come into the World as the Jews cried away with Christ when they imagined he had been Joseph the Carpenters son 1 Cor. 2.4 5 c. to 16. and so the Light is judged by your Carnal Wisdom and Reason to be too low a thing to stoop unto and the Jews in their Carnal Wisdom and Reason judged Christ when he was come not to be worthy or fit to be a King over them because they looked upon him to be a Carpenters son a man inferiour unto many of them as they imagined and so they hated him and slew him And so now all you Professors who have been and yet are haters of the Light and cryeth away with it and accounts it too low a thing for you to stoop unto you are deceived Christ will not shew himself unto you any other way but by the measure of his Spirit wherewith he hath Enlightened you it is written No man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God but many of you Professors will not believe that the Light wherewith Christ hath Enlightened you is of power and sufficiency to bring you to God out of sin and so to this day you have not the Benefit of Christs coming but you are still in your sins committing them and pleading that you must do so while you are in the Earthly Tabernacle And so are you not Rebellious Children who Rebel against the Light Grace and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath placed in you to Instruct you And do not you as plainly Crucifie and do Dispite unto the Opperation of the Spirit Light and Grace of Christ in your Inwards Parts as the Jews did unto the Vessel which they imagined to be Joseph the Carpenters son So consider of these things soberly in meekness in the fear of the Lord God and be not angry at me for writing thus in plainness unto you for know you all assuredly that it is the Love of God in my heart unto you that constrains me to write thus in plainness unto you so while you have a little time prize it and while you have a sence and feeling of the Light Grace and Spirit of Christ in your inward parts checking and condemning you when you do Evil believe you all in it and in obedience unto it give up and when it condemns you for Evil which you have already done then own its Judgments for its Judgments are just and true and when it letteth you see Temptations unto Sin before you have consented unto the Tempter or done the Evil he tempteth you unto then love it and let your minds be closely joyned unto it and then it will preserve you from doing the Evil that you are tempted unto and then it will be no sin for you to be tempted unto Evil if you do it not nor give your consent at all unto the Tempter Mat. 4.1 2 to 13. but love the Light which lets you see his Temptation and in it you will have Dominion over the Tempter and you will be kept out of his Snare for Christ was tempted but sinned not and Christ the Light will not condemn you for being tempted unto Evil if you do it not and if you believe in and love and obey the Light of the Son of God wherewith he hath Enlightened you Though you may have done much Evil God will forgive you for Christ the Light his sake in whom you do believe and though you may feel great and strong workings in you to do Evil yet if you love the Light within you that gives you the sence thereof it will work mightily in you against that nature which would lead you to do Evil and if you keep your minds unto the Light then you will feel that nature to die daily in you which hath led you into Evil and so that which hath led you into
for said God I gave them my good Spirit to instruct them Neh 9.20 but they rebelled against me Isa 30.1 and he said Wo unts the rebellious Children who take counsel and not at me Mark God is a Spirit and his Counsel is received within people and his Voice which giveth Counsel is to be heard within people and that is it which crieth within people for them to Repent and to forsake the evil of their doings and all who do refuse to hear and obey that of God in them which calls upon them to repent and forsake the evil of their doings they all refuse to obey Gods Voice and to take counsel at him and so are rebellious Children upon whom the Wrath of God abideth and upon them it will abide for ever if they do not come to obey that in them which crieth unto them to Repent and forsake the evil of their wayes for God said Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the Door and knock if any man open unto me I will come in unto him and sup with him and he with me Oh people how oft hath the Lord God who is Light and in whom there is no darkness at all knocked at the door of your hearts when your hearts have been exercised with covetous practices and stuffed full thereof but alas there was no room for him no Pro. 1.25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33. you would not open unto him nor let him have entertainment in your minds and so you have rejected his Counsel and would not return at his Reproof who would have had mercy on you had you returned at his Reproof and he would have mercy on you yet if you would hearken unto his Voice within you Col. 3.5 2 and turn at its Reproof from the evil it reproves you for and if you do not you will perish The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and none can alter it for he is above all and his Words will stand Alas consider you Earthly minded men and women Do you not read That Covetousness is Idolatry Luk. 14.33 and the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil Alas consider what is all your Religion worth Mat. 19.28 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 verses if you love Gold or Silver Houses or Land Wife or Children better then your Religion and before you will forsake your Gold and Silver and lose it or your Houses and Land you will forsake your Religion and joyn unto a Religion contrary to your Consciences Alas doth not this plainly shew unto your own understandings that you love the Earthly things Rom. 1.25 which you have in possession Jam. 5.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. much more then the Lord God who created both you and them and doth it not plainly appear unto your own understandings that you worship and love the Creatures which God hath created more then him who created them and then consider what is your Profession of God and Christ worth what is all your Religion worth now I know what the Serpent will say in man and woman in whom he ruleth he will tell them that they are not covetous nor idolatrous though they may love Gold and Silver and doth strive still to get more though they have much already and though they do get it by oppressing of the Poor and Needy and by Extortion and by Grinding the Face of the Poor and by using many false and deceitfull words in their Buying and Selling of Gods good Creatures though they may lay House to House and Land to Land and so bring several of their fellow Creatures into much poverty and misery by their unjust dealings yet the cunning Serpent will call this good Husbandry and will tell such as are led by him into the before mentioned Abominations that it shall be well with them in the World to come I say wo will be upon all those that are led by him into the before mentioned Evils and that doth believe his lying Promises for he was a Lyer from the beginning so he is not to be believed nor his voice hearkened unto for whosoever doth believe him will be undone by him for he is a Lyer and a Murtherer And now such as have been professing God and Christ in words but with their hearts hath served loved and obeyed him now when times of tryal and suffering for Religion is come he will tell them that they need not be so strict for though they do go to the Worship contrary to their Consciences yet saith the Serpent God knows your heart that you do not own that Worship to be the true Worship of God and you do not joyn with them in your hearts though you do go with them to their Worship and so saith the Serpent you may go and keep your hearts clean in the sight of God and you may save your goods from being spoiled and the Serpent will bring Scripture and say He that will not take care for his Family is worse then an Infidel and what will you undo your Self your Wife and your Children God requireth no such strictness as this and this is but an extream this is the Old Serpents Voice which covetous men and women and proud and envious men and women have hearkned unto and obeyed who hath led them into the before mentioned Abominations yet he hath given them leave to make a great Profession of God and Christ and with their Mouthes they have spoken much of God but he the old Serpent hath had the Heart and so it hath been far from the Lord God And so now the old Serpent hath kept his Seat and Authority in the heart notwithstanding all the Profession that hath been made of God and Christ leads his Subjects to submit unto one Form of Religion after another according to the Precepts or Commandments given forth by men and so as men changeth their Commandments or Precepts for the setting up of a new Form of Religion so such in whom the Serpent ruleth he leads them to bow down unto it and so to receive the Mark and so to turn any way to save themselves from being imprisoned or their Goods spoiled even to turn as the Wind-mill to the Wind or as the Weather-cock with the Weather So I say unto all people that are turning from one Form of Religion to another to save themselves from Persecution consider what is all your Religion worth who will not suffer for it if you can help it by Swearing contrary to the Doctrine of Christ whom you have much professed in words who saith Swear not at all and contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles who said Swear not by Heaven nor by Earth nor any other Oath and Christ who saith Swear not at all he saith If you love me keep my Commandments and his Commandment is Swear not at all so it is plain to the understanding of every truly wise man and woman that all that do Swear contrary
of your Fathers ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers how can ye escape the Damnation of Hell Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets Wise men and Scribes and some of them you shall Kill and Crucifie and some of them you shall Scourge in your Synagogues and shall Persecute from City to City that upon you may come all the righteous Blood shed upon the Earth from the Blood of Righteous Abel unto the Blood of Zacharias whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar And now Oh all ye Professors of all sorts who will not believe Christs words which he hath left upon record in the Holy Scriptures and yet say you do believe in him you are judging and condemning the Jews for slaying Christ and his Apostles and you imagine and say if you had lived in the dayes of the Jews who slew Christ and his Apostles you would not have been partakers with them in the Blood of Christ and of his Apostles Oh consider if Christ were now walking up and down in these Nations called Christendom in such a low and mean Appearance as he appeared among the Jews in that Age in which he suffered death among the Jews and should pronounce Woes against those who calls themselves Christians and say they do believe in him and love him would not they be angry at him and fret at him and cry away with him Oh consider it if he should tell the Proud and Covetous and Envious Priest and Professors who calls him Lord and calls God their Father that they were of their Father the Devil who was a Lyar and a Murtherer and if he should call them Serpents and a Generations of Vipers would they not chase and fret at him and would they not cry Away with him and would they not desire to have him shut out of their Countrey Oh consider of these things and lay them to heart ye persecuting Priests People and Professors of all sorts if you are Christians you are Christ-like now Christ is meek and he saith Learn of me I am meek and lowly in the heart and you shall find rest unto your Souls so all you persecuting Priests People and Professors of all sorts come to the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you all and believe in it and obey it and it will open your Hearts and Understandings to know and understand that Christ is the Light of the World and hath enlightened every one that is come into the World and that all that believeth in that Light wherewith he hath enlightened them shall not die and perish in their Sins but by Christ the Light within they will come to be led out of their Sins and so to have Everlasting Life in him the Light For it is written In him was Life and the Life was the Light of men and the Light will let you see that Christ spiritually within men and women is unto them the way to God the Father and the Truth and the Life and the Door of the Sheepfold and if you believe in the Light it will open your hearts to understand that no man or woman upon the Earth can come to get any entrance into Gods Everlasting Kingdom but by Christ spiritually within for he saith I am the Light I am the Way I am the Truth I am the Life I am the Door of the Sheepfold he that enters by me the Door shall go in and find Pasture but he that climeth up another way is a Thief and must be cast down and none can ever enter into Gods Kingdom but by Christ spiritually within even the same Christ which the Jews cried away withal who was Crucified without the Gate of Jerusalem yea I say the same Christ and not another I say if ye believe in this Light it will open your hearts to understand these things to your own everlasting comfort and satisfaction and it will give you an entrance into Gods Everlasting Kingdom and if you do not believe in the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you then you will continue in blindness of mind and hardness of heart and will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived and you will continue fighting against the Lord God who Created you and you will continue fighting against the Lord Jesus Christ in his Members persecuting his tender and dear Servants who are as dear unto him as the Aple of his Eye and if you do it had been better for you that you had not been born for said he Whosoever shall offend one of these my little ones that believe in me Mat 18.5 6 7. it were better for him that a Misstone were hanged about his Neck and he were cast into the Sea 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12 13. and if you continue in so doing then these are the words of Truth unto you all you are of the same Seed and Spirit that they were of who slew the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles and if you be found in the same work the Holy and Just God will give you the same Reward So remember you are warned now in your life time Mat. 25. from vers 32 c. to the end so prize your time and all of you labour to amend your doings which are evil in the sight of the Lord God And believe in the Light that you may be the Children of God who is Light and in whom is no Darkness at all And now unto all people in all Forms who profess the Scriptures of Truth to be your Rule to walk by and denieth the Light Grace and Spirit of God which is but one wherewith he hath enlightened you to be a sufficient Rule or Guide for you to walk by and calleth it a new Way and calleth it False Doctrine to direct people to the Light within them I say in Coolness and true Moderation in the Fear of the Lord God consider and take diligent notice of Peter's Doctrine to the Saints Know this said he that the Scriptures came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God gave them forth as they were moved by the Holy Spirit or Ghost So I say in the Fear of the Lord God take notice there were Holy men before there were Holy Scriptures and it was the Holy Spirit or Light of God and Christ in men that made men holy and was their Guide and their Rule by which they were led and guided to do those things which did please the Lord God before there was any outward Writing or Printing Abel was a Righteous man and was beloved of God and was Guided and Ruled by the Spirit of God within him before any part of the Bible was written and Abel offered unto the Lord and the Lord accepted of his Offering but Cain was a wicked man and a Vagabond for he was wandered and ravened from the Spirit of God within him and when he was ravened and wandered from the Spirit of God within him and his Soul had
sinned and died who have been ravined from the Spirit within them as he did from the Spirit within him and so have faln and sinned and died as he did but now all who cometh to witness Redemption from that Estate they must come into the Spirit and Light within them from which they have ravined and if they do not come to believe in and obey that they will never come to be made alive in and by Christ the Second Adam though they may talk of and profess never so much of God and Christ without them at a distance from them and though they may have a perswasion in their hearts and may really believe all that is written in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Birth of Christ and of his Death and of his Resurrection yet this believing will not bring them into acceptation with God if they do not come to believe in the Light and Spirit of Christ within them For I say in the fear of the Lord God consider Doth not all the prophane people in all those Nations ealled Christendom generally believe that he was the Son of God who was crucified without the Gates at Jerusalem and was born of the Virgin Mary and rose again the third day as they read the Scriptures of Truth which beareth witness of those things and yet though they have given credit unto those words which are written of him many of them are Proud and Covetous Drunkards and Swearers and Lyers Persecutors Murtherers and Theeves and Cheaters and Dissemblers Now I say in the Fear of the Lord God consider Is this true Saving Faith which they are in and though they have been taught by Tradition to believe as aforesaid yet their hearts are very corrupt and full of wickedness and so are far from the Lord God and they are far from being accepted with the pure God in that Estate now the Apostle saith Faith purifieth the heart and the Mystery of the Saints Faith in the Apostles dayes was held in their Pure Consciences which was Christ in them the Hope of Glory 1 Tim. 3.9 so they were in the True Saving and Living Faith their Faith stood in the Power Spirit and Light of Christ within them and the Power Light and Spirit of Christ within them did purifie their hearts and it made them of a Right Spirit and so that which purified their hearts dwelt in them for it is written The Tabernacle of God is with men Rev. 21.3 Ezek. 37.27 I will walk in them and dwell in them said God I will be their God and they shall be my people and Christ said unto the Saints I and my Father we will come and make our abode with you and Christ said unto his Disciples before he was offered up He that is with you shall be in you and he said Joh. 6.63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing and though the Apostle had known Christ once after the Flesh yet benceforth I know him so no more 2 Cor. 4.16 said he and he said I bear in my Body the Dyings of the Lord Jesus that the Life also of Jesus may be made manifest in my mortal Flesh Joh. 14.11 c. to 25. and he said I am crucified unto the World and the world unto me and the Life that I now live is by Faith in the Son of God I Live said he yet not I but Christ in me and so he witnessed Christ in him the Hope of Glory and the Apostle said unto the Saints Try your selves prove your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates Now I say the people of God who are in scorn called Quakers do believe and certainly know that he who was born of the Virgin Mary was the Son of God who was hated by the Jews and sentenced to die by Pilate though he could find no fault in him we do believe that he was crucified without the Gate of Jerusalem and was raised again the third day by the mighty Power of his Father in whose will he suffered though there was no fault in him and we believe and are sure that God was greatly honoured in his Faithfulness Obedience and Humiliation who though he was without fault humbled himself unto the death upon the Cross and we do believe and are sure that all that did believe in him in that Age in which he suffered outwardly and did confess him boldly before his Enemies and suffered death for his Name sake or imprisonment they are everlastingly well who continued in faithfulness unto the end But consider O all ye professors in that called Christendom it was a hard and mighty thing in that Age in which he suffered to confess before his Enemies that he was the Messiah the Christ the Son of God for to confess before his Enemies that he was the Son of God was cause enough for his Enemies by their unjust Law by which they had put him to death to put those to death that should so confess him So that in that Age there durst none confess him before his Enemies to be the Son of God but those who were come to feel and know the Measure of the Spirit of God which he had given them to instruct them for that gave them to know that he was the Son of God and it filled their hearts with zeal and boldness to confess him to be the Son of God though they were put to death for their Confession for Christ said No man can come unto me except my Father draw him Joh. 6.44 45 46. so God drew them by the Measure of his Spirit in them to know that Jesus was the Son of God and by the same he drew them to confess him boldly before his Enemies And Christ said unto his Disciples Whom do men say that I am some said he was John Baptist and some Elias But he said unto his Disciples Mat. 16.13 14 15 16 17. whom do ye say I am Peter answered and said Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Jesus answered and said unto him Flesh and Blood hath not revealed that unto thee but my Father only But oh you Professors in what Form soever consider It is many Ages past since Christ suffered without the Gate of Jerusalem and people have been ravened from the Life and Power and Spirit in which the ancient Christians lived for you may read that the Saints were called Christians fiest at Antioch Act. 11.26 and it is very like at that time the name Christian was as hatefull a name both with the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles as the name Heathen is hatefull here in England and other Nations who calls themselves Christians but Christ and his Apostles wrought many great and wondrous Works in and by the mighty Power of God Acts 20.29 30. while they were walking upon the Earth among the Sons and Daughters of men and they wrot in the Spirit and Power
hearts with sorrow and trouble for if you flee from that then you will never be cleansed from your Sins for by the Spirit that judgeth Sin in the heart and burneth against it as a Fire was and is the Sons and Daughters of Sion converted unto God yea brought out of their Sins unto God and whosoever flees from that of God in them which condemns them when they do evil they flee from that which God hath placed in them to lead them out of evil and so they cannot come to be redeemed out of evil until they come to love that which condemns them for evil so I say unto you in tender Love love the Light within you and when it bringeth trouble upon you for your Sins which you have committed then own its judgments for it will not judge you except you have done wrong and as you wait in it it will let you see that its judgments are very just and true and so if you keep your minds unto it it will work true repentance in your hearts and a godly sorrow and it will lead you into the House of Mourning and through the Valley of Tears and as David did you will come to water your Bed with your Tears and to weep until your flesh fail of fatness and so you will travel through a short Sorrow into an Everlasting Joy for the Sorrow lasts but for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning For the Lord will give Beauty for Ashes and the Oyl of Joy instead of Mourning but he gives this only unto those that comes into obedience unto his Light within them so when condemnation cometh upon you for Sins which you have committed do not flee from it for it is the Rod of God and you will see it to be so as you wait with your minds stayed in the Light and you will see that it is not for your hurt but for your Everlasting good and then consider why should you flee from it Oh flee not from it For whom I love I rebuke and chasten said God and he restoreth every sinful man and woman whom he receiveth to be Sons and Daughters and through his Judgments in their hearts he redeemeth them from Sin and so receiveth them into his Everlasting Kingdom of Life and Glory So I say unto you in dear and tender love flee not from that of God in you which condemneth you for Sin and the Light it will be with you when you are in the Fields and when you lie in your Beds and where ever you go the Light is in you and if you love it and keep your minds unto it it will teach you when you are at your Labour and it will keep you out of all Evil if you keep your minds unto it and when wicked people would tempt you to that which is Evil it will not let you consent unto them but rather to reprove them and now people I say unto you if you love this same pure and holy and spotless thing in you which never consented unto any Sin that you have committed but hath alwayes stood in you a faithfull Witness against you when you did commit Sin I say if you love it and obey it though now it may but be little in you even as a Grain of Mustard-seed which is a small Seed yet when your affections are truly set upon it it will grow speedily and will become in you as a strong Tree and the Fruit of it will ravish and overcome your heart with heavenly Joy and then you will see the folly and madness of those who rejoyceth in doing of Evil and you will find that Holy thing in you to be as Christ said Mat. 13.31 32 33. Like a little Leaven that a woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal until the whole Lump was leavened so as you wait in this Light within you though it lie low in you because of the sinfull nature which lieth atop of it in you yet it will work in you as the Leaven doth work in the Meal for the sinfull nature which lieth atop is of the Devil and that which lieth under is of God and as you joyn in true love and affection to that suffering Seed of God you shall come to know and bear witness that God is able to bring it out of the Grave in you and from under all those Powers of Darkness that hath oppressed it for God is stronger then the Devil that you will confess and so wait in the Light of Christ to feel more of the strength of God and Christ in your own hearts then of the strength of the Devil and when this you are come to witness then you will have ceased from Sin which is the Devils work for God who is the stronger in you he will rule you by his Light and Spirit which dwells in you and then the Devil who was the stronger in you he will be cast out and then the Lamb the Light he will have the Victory in you and will lead you into all Truth and so the Light if you follow it it will lead you to be Children of the Lord God who is Light and in whom there is no Darkness at all and so the Children of the Lord are taught of the Lord by the Light of the Lord and they are in Righteousness established So put not the day afar off linger not away your time but prize it thou that is young in years say not in thine heart I have time enough I may take pleasure in Earthly things yet for many dayes and have time enough to repent and seek God afterwards I say unto thee say not so in thy heart for the Lord God can cut thee down as in a moment Psal 9.17 though thou be in the Flower of thy Youth but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth and seek him while he may be found for the Spirit of the Lord will not alwayes strive with man and as the Tree falleth so it lieth there is no Repentance in the Grave and there is no unclean thing can enter into Gods Kingdom for the wicked must be turned into Hell and all that forget God So remember you are warned by a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and a true Lover of the Souls and Bodies of all men and desireth not the Destruction of any but desireth that all people might come to Repent while they have time and so obtain Mercy from the Lord God I am known by the Name of William Gibson Written in the Year 1664. and was sent then to be published in Print but the Person to whom it was sent being at that time cast into Prison and Calamities coming on in the City it was not gotten done Postscript IT is said by many ignorant people who use to plead for Sin That the Righteousest man that is upon the Earth doth Sin seven times a day now I say they do abuse and wrest the Scriptures for there is no such