the manifest Salvation of GOD unto the ends of the Earth as was spoken by the Word unto Isaiah his Prophet in whose face expresly we have the Revelation of the Father in whom we behold the Glory of the Son as the Glory of the only begotton of GOD full of Power and Wisdom hereby knowing what we Worship whom the whole world alienated from the Power Life Wisdom and Holiness of GOD do ignorantly Worship in the imaginations of their own hearts which before the Lord are only evil continually Him therefore declare I unto you GOD the Eternal and unto every mortal Invisible and Incomprehensible Spirit who is not likened unto the Creation which by the Power of his Eternal Word was made to glorifie hiâ—… Name by the Spirit sheweth That he dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is he worshipped by the Works of mens hands as if he needed any thing who from the beginning determined the times appointed and made all mankind of one mould and gave unto them Life and Breath and added thereunto of the Grace of his Mercy a measure of the Divine Nature if haply that thereby they might seek and feel after him the LORD their Creator But Man whom the LORD made little lower than the Angels and gave him the fulness of the Earth to possess rebelled at all times against his GOD he departed from the beginning from the living Way and made Invention the joy of his Heart and made his Inventions a fence against God and his Imaginations a Bullwark of defence and in all Ages and Generations though the LORD visited with Judgements Destruction Mercies and wonderful Deliverances and sent his Servants the Prophets arising up early and lying down late with Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line speaking as afar off by Signes and Figures and Parables and as at hand by Iudgement and Mercy And always shewed how that he is GOD and altogether unlimited neither bound unto Words nor Wonders nor limited in Sea or in Land but still Man made marks for GOD and set bounds for the Arm of his Power who in no wise is measured as the waters in the Wells nor contained as the Rivers with the banks who was not conceived as the Seed of Man nor born as the Babe of the Womb who is not comprehended as the grass with the ground nor as the wide swelling Seas with the sands of the shores who is not known as he knoweth all fowls and calleth the Stars by name who is not measured as the Earth with the Moon nor as the Heavens with the course of the Sun and therefore Man alwayes lost the knowledge of the eternal Power of the God-head and still settled in his own will which at first rebelled against GOD and in the same Will made Laws and Statutes and Ordinances for Government for Worship and for punishment though even from the dayes of the first man Adam unto this day the hand of the LORD GOD was turned against that work as witness the preaching of the Spirit of Abel Enoch and Noah he who hath an ear let him hear witness also Abraham Isaac and Jacob among the Heathen and Moses among the Egyptians yea witness the Spirit of Moses among Israel by Preaching by Power by Judgement and Deliverance What may I more say They would build a Tower to reach unto Heaven and Arks and Cities and Tabernacles and Temple And all for GOD to be constrained in their Works and when they had Commandments and Sacrifices as appointed by the Word of the LORD the Spirit sheweth when in all these things they would have forced the Rest of GOD the LORD arose alwayes against them and sent his Servants the Prophets to cry against those things with the same Word which commanded them whom they did beat imprison wound and torture yea and put to death And thus it alwayes was He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even as it is now and in like manner it hath been from the dayes of Abel until the Heir came and him they shamefully slew to possess the Vineyard Moreover of his dayes I may also speak even in the dayes of the LORD CHRIST when he was transfigured before his Disciples at the glorious appearance of Moses Eliah and the LORD the Disciples would build them Tabernacles but mercy appeared unto them in a Rebuke and they were instructed in the Way of GOD but yet and notwithstanding also that Paul the Apostle taught a pressing on from one degree of Faith unto another until all should be perfected unto the fulness of the measure of a compleat stature shewing also in the Resurrection who himself was risen with Christ the diversities of the measures of the Glories which were revealed and every measure as gathered into God in his fulness were respectively full shewing it by the figure of the Glories of the Lights of the Sun Moon and Stars and wrote to the Church how that he was caught up into the third Heaven and saw things which were unlawful to be uttered And John in the LORD'S Day in the Revelation of the Lord from Heaven saw the great things of GOD yet said the Angel unto him Come up hither I say notwithstanding all this the doctrine of GOD that he might be known to be GOD and not in any wise to be limited Man in his wilfulness and presumption unto this day hath set marks against him and made measures of words in their Wills as Cords of restraint to bind him yea the Heavens and the Earth and the depth of the Seas and all the increase of the Plant of the field and her seeding Seed the Sun Moon and Stars the Clouds the Winds the Hail and the Rain-bow of GOD shall witness against the Nations of the world in this matter They limit not God in their pleasure but do bow in subjection to his Will but the Nations of the Earth in the crookedness of their hearts have made walls against the passage of GOD. O Man lift up thine head and look and behold how the People and Inhabitants of the Earth do limit the LORD to their lusts O open thine Eye and see how they make GOD as a Transgressor in the Earth even as the Cattle of a Stranger which have fed in the fields of their Pasture and as the hand of a Thief and Robber which hath stolen the labour of another Look thorow the Earth among the Nations thereof and thou mayest read all their Professions as Prisons for the Reign of of GOD in the Conscience is limited by the forms of their Words and one cryeth Here and another saith There and another saith these are the Laws and the Precepts and he that will not Rest in this he is out of the Way of GOD and he that speaks against our Law and the Manners of our Worship he must bear the punishment thereof Concerning all which if the Conscience of GOD should demand Are your Words GOD
Battering Rams AGAINST ROME OR The BATTEL of JOHN the Follower of the LAMB Fought with the POPE and his Priests whilst he was a Prisoner in the Inquisition-Prison of ROME ALSO A Certain REMONSTRANCE of Righteous Reason written in Rome-Prison of Mad-men unto all Rome's Rulers Together with a POST-SCRIPT to all tender-hearted Roman Catholicks London Printed for Robert Wilson at the sign of the Black-Spread-Eagle and Wind-mil in Martins Le Grand 1661. To the tender moderate Roman-Catholick Reader Friend THe following Writings being such as have been dispensed in the City of Rome unto which Answers were expected by me from them whom it chiefly concerned but not receiving any unto any of my Queries propounded to Pope Priests c. in Rome even unto this day and being now returned unto this Land of England may expect something of Answer from thee unto the said Interrogations which are of general concernment unto all Roman Catholicks or else I may conclude that Truth is in no wise on your side but absolutely and undeniably against you which I therefore leave unto thy consideration and if from that which followeth thou shalt be perswaded of the Truth which is held forth therein confessing it in singlenesse and simplicity of heart and mind if afterwards thou desirest to be further satisfied touching any thing of our Doctrine or Practices ask it in the Spirit of Moderation either by Word or Writing of me and according to the Light of the Knowledge of GOD given unto me I may meekly answer thee in the tendernesse of my Soul Who am a real faithful and true lover of all Souls Called John Perrott To the READER Reader I Have found it expedient for the satisfaction of many tender Desirers to intimate these few preceding Words to the following Tract shewing the certainty of the thing which many have enquired after yet not as if the relation thereof were able to enduce any Souls to believe in the True GOD forasmuch as Christ said If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets neither would they believe if one should come from the dead Yet every Work of the Lord God to me is of exceeding weight especially such wherein the life and safety of my outward man was very much concerned in the time of my Pilgrimage in Forreign Parts and Countries In brief I give this Relation to wit When I was in Legorn in my Travel onwards to Turky on a certain night an Angel of the LORD awakened me out of my sleep saying Arise and go to the Window the which I did in very much dread and trembling where standing I suddenly heard certain English-men in another Room at a Neighbour's house wickedly conspiring my hurt but blessed be God who sent his Messenger to warn me by the Power of his own Life delivered and saved me from the Evil of the said Conspiracy Moreover In Greece I met with divers difficulties being in my Pilgrimage led through many Tryals and Tentations by being brought before Rulers and Magistrates and sometimes destitute of any thing to purchase natural food yet still the presence of the Lord was with me both by Sea and Land and in the greatest straits he alwayes appeared in the greatest power of Love caring and providing for me even beyond all that my heart could ever think which things to mention at large would fill up much Paper And therefore in this compendious Preface may only hint one passage more of the powerful Arm of God battelling for mine Innocent Soul in a Righteous Cause which the Romans were well informed of before I arrived at Rome and that by divers hands from Venice by which they might at least-wise understand That God was my God and that I was his faithfull Servant in the Work that he had called me unto It came to pass in proceed of my Pilgrimage as I was returning by Sea from Smyrna to Venice that upon the way near unto Corfu the Sea-men and Captain of the Ship took a wrongful occasion of Anger and Wrath against me at which time I offered my self in much meeknesse and moderation to reason the matter with the said Commander of the Ship but in brief he threatned to cast me on shore on a certain barren Island on which there was no Inhabitant who when he saw that I was in that contented being wholly offered unto God in all place and time desisted that Attempt but forthwith bound himself under an Oath and Curse that when I came to Venice he would have me burnt to death by fire To whom I replyed saying I fear not man whose breath is in his nostrils but the God of life who was my Leader in all that he had called me unto This being at evening suddenly after these passages there was a cessation of many of his words of bitterness though some there were that grinned their teeth upon me and could even have found in their hearts to have bitten off my flesh from my bones which kindled the Anger of the LORD GOD Almighty against them for all that Night his sore Indignation and Vengeance did burn as a flame in his bosom so that it came to pass at the dawning of the next day that he cast down a ball of Fire betwixt the Decks amongst divers Passengers which brake as into the roaring of a Cannon amongst them and slew two persons and wounded one more and besides that the Lord caused Fire to Rain down from Heaven in coals upon them which burned some in their bodies others it smote and wounded and others it slew in the Ship And this is the Account of the slain viz. An English-man the Gunner a Dutch-man the Carpenter and an Italian a Marriner an Armenian Merchant and a Turk a Servant which were five of five several Nations and five others wounded which the Lord God Almighty gave as Examples of his Wrath that the rest that lived might fear his dreadful and terrible Name Moreover the said coals of Fire burned many holes through their Sails and split their Main-Top-Mast in the Puttox and then grievous was the cry of all Flesh amongst them And from thence their perverse Spirits were much more moderated to hear me in causes of Equity and Truth Many things more I might mention of the wonderful Works of my God whom my simple soul serves even in the integrity and uprightness of my whole Heart But in these things I cease at this instant having hinted some things of other Passages in other Writings and therefore at the present do draw to the putting in order the following Writings which were dispensed by me in the Inquisition-Prison at Rome J. P. An Epistle general to the Romans GOD who at sundry times and in divers manners in the dayes of old spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets hath now in these latter dayes spoken unto us by the Revelation of his Son the LORD from Heaven who in the fulness of the dispensation of time came a Light into the world to be
the World that all men through belief in the LIGHT might have Everlasting Life You that are in the Profession and Confession of a dead hope in a Saviour without you and are not in the Life of the Faith of the Substance CHRIST the living hope in you which clenseth the Soul from Sin and washeth the Heart from Iniquity Wait in the Silence for the Revelation of the LORD from Heaven who unto us is come that in you also he may be known and witnessed and testified to be come according to the Promise the second time without sin unto Salvation Wait for his Appearance in the Clouds to come breaking thorow the thickness of the blackness of the long night to come down in the Earth as a burning fire and to darken the Air with the smoak to set the Heavens in fire and to melt the Earth before him that you may come to know the Wonders of GOD fulfilled the Sun to be darkned and to become black as sackcloath of hair the Moon turned into blood and the Stars to fall from Heaven in the same substance to see and know these things come to passe and with the same eye by which the Glories of the Heavens were created and saw that it was good I say with the same Spirit and Life which spake forth the Prophecy which unto learned and unlearned is become as a Book that is sealed and hid from the Vultrous eye to witness the Prophesie fulfilled Wait for the Revelation of GOD's Plough in the Earth for the tearing up of the Ground and breaking the Clods thereof for a due preparation to receive the Seed of the Kingdom that you may become as GOD's Husbandry in the Earth and no longer remain as the barren Mountains thereof which never bear Plough thereon nor yeelded increase of good nor as the Woods of the Forrests whose Trees were never pruned which spread their unfruitful branches as thickets that cumber the ground Settle not your selves in the sluggards Rest nor as a wounded Fool with his putrified flesh who is rather willing to perish in death than to cut off his Corruption for life Be ye not alwayes as Moab setled upon the scent of the old lees for it stinks in the nostrils of GOD but wait for the Remove of the Ground and yeeld unto the hewings of GOD the Ax to be laid to the Root of the Tree and the Sword to the Soul that sinneth to know Judgment begin at the House of the LORD to cut off the Wicked in the Land And seek not to escape the day of GOD's Wrath but bear his Indignation within you as the just Reward of your sins which are called up unto Judgment against you And wait in patience until it be over and past that you may know his acceptable year to be come And when these things you know and witness fulfilled within you even as they are known and testified in the Life of GOD's Heritage you shall bear me Testimony in the Holy Ghost That although the Judgement be weighty the Ax burthensom and the flaming Sword of the LORD a most grievous thing all the burden the weight the grief and the travel is but of the carnal and sinful part And to it only is the irkesomness thereof until it be utterly cut off and slain upon the Crosse even of that part which is this day the cause of the cry of the Just in the Land and then you shall be one with the Judgement one with the Sword one with the Ax one with the Everlasting Burning of GOD to dwell in its glory for ever Here the true Purgatory is come and the sin is washed away thorow which the entrance is made into the habitation of the Peace of GOD and there is no true Rest without it Then there is no more sin no more transgression in the Land the cursed Earth is consumed with all her encrease the evil Ground and the Works which were wrought therein are burnt up together the New-Creation is come Jerusalem is created anew the old Heavens and the old Earth is passed away there is no more remembrance of them and Jerusalem is created an habitation of Peace the Glory of the LORD is in her and this is the holy City into which the Hebrews were entered which John prophesied should in these latter dayes come down from Heaven without whose gates are the Dogs Sorcerers Witches Whoremongers Murderers and whatsoever loveth or maketh a Lye into which we in the Kingdom are entered whose Kingdom is not of this World and you coming hither will enter into the way of the Wisdom and Counsel of the Most High to see all things purposes Statutes and Judgments by that of GOD ordered and brought forth in the Wisdom and Counsel of GOD and your own cast under foot as a corruptible thing for ever Then the whole Creation of GOD which travelleth in pain until the Redemption cometh will joy in the approach of Wisdom for then shal you use the Creatures singly to the proper end in the same Wisdom by the which they were created The burning desire of Lust shall dye and the evil appetite be taken away Increase shall fill the house and Blessing overflow the heart the Land shall be preserved in Peace and the City become a Sanctuary of safety Invasion shall never prosper For Wisdom shall confound the work of the Wicked and bring to nought the counsel of the Ungodly The eye of GOD is his Wisdom which pierceth the Depths of the Earth to be in his Wisdom is safety true safety sure preservation from all Snares Plots Conspiracies Designs and Intentions of the VVorld Hell and the Devil For by the Wisdom all flesh was made and that which warreth againsâ—… its Maker by the Wisdom it shall be confounded Wherefore all for everlasting safety draw near unto Wisdom's gates and wait for the Counsel and Wisdom of GOD to receive VVisdom in the Counsel of GOD and growing in the Wisdom and dwelling in the Wisdom and Counsel of GOD his eye comes to be with you as manifestly revealed in you which searcheth and seeth into the depths of a matter This is that Spirit of a man that knoweth the mind of a man and by the same the way of the wicked comes to be manifest and is a true defence against a thousand Armies Remember the poor man which was in the City who by Wisdom delivered it from the Destruction of the Enemy And make not the seat of Treachery your Trust nor pollished subtilty upon the head of Iniquity your Fort of Refuge for safety For it shall be as a rotten string in your right hand which shall break with the bent of the Bow For deliverance is only of GOD And the purpose of the perverse shall perish These things I have written if haply you may get hear to be led unto the entrance of the Knowledge of GOD to partake of his Treasure of Wisdom and whilst the poor man moves you to listen unto
Counsel if you resist and will not beware Beware lest in the time of distress you cry and gladly would and then he be not to answer From the Inquisition-Prison in Rome J. P. To Fabius Guisius Pope of Rome Friend MY Message is not unto any part of the natural either Wit Will or Wisdom it is neither meat for Serpents nor air for Camelions But the Word of the Lord God is to the Seed which shall be witnessed by the next Generation whether this which now is will hear or forbear This is the Message which I have heard and received and do declare unto thee GOD is Light and in him is no darkness at all who hath sent his Son a Light into the World that all that believe in him who is the Light of the World may have everlasting life unto which Light thou must bow and oughtest to lay down thy Crown at the feet of him who cometh in the Cloudâ—… thorow the thickness of the Night and breaking thorow the blackness and darkness of the black and gloomy day That which Daniel the greatly beloved of GOD saw afar off I see at hand the little stone is cut out of the Mountain without a hand and is already become a Mountain which the whole Earth is not able to remove and will become a Mountain which shall fill the whole Earth which shall throw down every Image before him as saith the Prophet GOD will confound the Image and the Image-maker and him which boweth before it Behold Overturn cometh and Overturn followeth until the last Overture be fulfilled and He come whose Right it is to Reign and his Government which is an Everlasting Government be set up and his Dominion unto the utmost Ends of the Earth of which there shall never be end GOD hath looked over the Government of the Land and hath heard the Blasphemies thereof They profess my Name saith the Lord of whom I am made but as a curse in their mouth And my Name is but made the grievous Oath of the Land saith the Jealous God And from the head to the tayl there is none amongst them that have made the Separation betwixt the Just and the Vile but as a Cage of unclean Birds they are all common as in Confession so also in their Iniquity and Transgression for which things I will visit saith the Lord of Hosts As David complained I am made the song of Drunkards Even so now is Mary the Mother of Jesus by every unclean tongue in the corners of the streets in the Temples and in the High-ways of this Land of Whoredoms Thus saith the Lord Pull down the High-way marks of Idolatry that the stranger may not stumble before me Exercise thy Power for me and not against me saith the Lord And throw down the great Image and Idol of the Land lest I quickly tumble down two at once saith the Lord of Hosts Plant not Bryars in the Way neither set Thorns in the Gap For lo I am arisen to smite the whole Earth and to make breaches in the fenced places thereof For now even now for mine holy Name sake and my Seeds sake I am jealous saith the Lord of Hosts Righteousness shall run down like a Stream and the Knowledge of the Lord shall cover the Earth as waters cover the Seas which is found scant in thy Land Be thou henceforth no more called POPE for that was never promised nor prophesied of by the Word of the Lord I am Peter's Successor who am of his Spirit whose Kingdom is not of this World and so are we all who are made partakers of the Divine Nature which was fully in Christ who when the Jews would take him by force and make him a King he departed into a Mountain alone and was hid from them all but thou maiest keep the name of one of the Princes of this World and in thy place as a Ruler rule with the Judgment of Truth and Righteousness not turning the stranger out of his way nor condemning the Just by a Law which David in his day complained of Rob not God of his Glory For he forgiveth Sin Repent for thy Sin is not yet forgiven Neither watch for any man's halting for that is Iniquity but cherish all that cry against Idolatry and lift thou up thy voice with them that are redeemed out of the nature of Transgression and Sin that bear witness and cry against all Sin and alwayes wash thy hands and keep thy heart clean from their blood and the innocency of their sufferings Say not that I came to deceive the People of thy Nation whose life is as a Sea of Sin and Transgression who have not anything to be deceived of in that nature but Prophaness Sin and Uncleanness I came to declare the Message of GOD unto thee and so to pass as a Pilgrim and a Stranger out of thy Land I came not with any thing in my Vessel unto thee or any of this City which is new save only as it is new unto the old nature of all Transgressors and seed of Corrupters which is the new Wine of the Kingdom of GOD. Do not ask how thou shalt know For in Judgment thou shalt know that this is the Message of the LORD GOD of Heaven and Earth unto thee I have born a burden for thee and now I bear thy yoak under thee Yet much more could I suffer in the exercise of the long patience of the LORD That this Nation might drink of the Cup of the Everlasting Blessing of the LORD and the Curse removed from their head to eat the bread of peace and gladness for ever So having thus far cleared my self unto thee did it stand in my own freedom I should depart thy Coasts but being not mine own but the LORD's Witness against all Ungodliness For this Testimony with gladness I wear the yoak of bonds and not only yet but what else may follow in his content and patience that hath called me Who by the sons of men am called JOHN PERROTT From the Inquisition-Prison in Rome To the Governour of Rome Friend COme to know the Higher Power the Power of GOD to be highest in thee and let that be the Judge of all matters and causes which shall come before thee Let the Sword of the Judgment of GOD be set up in thy house within that the Transgressor may be slain within then the Eye will be opened the Ear will be unstopt the grossness of the Heart will be taken away and thou wilt have the understanding of the root of a matter in thee and wilt alway judge for GOD and every end will be shaken off No man shall at any time see his end over thee by gifts or presents deceitful speeches or flattering titles of that honour which comes from man but so thou wilt stand in the state of Honour which comes from GOD only which is the believing state but the seeking of the other is the unbelieving saith Christ Wherefore come to
in Prison in the Prison-house and sittest solitary in darkness in the shadow of death the bonds of death have bound thee and the Covenant with Hell hath captivated thee many do look at thee with the countenance of mirth and wag their heads at thy mourning thou art as a Lamb among Lions and as a prey to the devouring beasts thou art as a spoyl to the mouth of the Fox and as a destruction to the teeth of the Wolf the wild Asse is offended at thy moving and snuffeth up the wind in scorn of thy breathing the Bulls of Bashan do pursue thee with roaring and push with their horns at thy dwelling thou art cast in the side of the way and the Chariot wheels run over thee thou art placed as a But in the field for the Arrows and Darts to pierce thee thou art the despised in the Earth and mocked of men of the World thou art sold as a Slave into Egypt and counted the out-casts of Israel though I have heard thy cry in the Land and bear marks of the bleeding of thy grief in my bosome yet I want the greatness of the weight of Wisdom to measure the depths of thy misery thou mournest as a Dove in the Deserts which hath lost her only mate thou weepest as the wayling of a Widow and Mother bereaved of her Children thou cryest with the grief of the fatherless and comfortless Child without Mother thy mourning is as the cry of the Voice of the Orphan left without help in the Land thy groans are as the languishing of the Poor in the Earth which wanteth the daily bread thou lyest in the fields like a yeaned Lamb by the side of a dead Sheep sore are thy cryes as a strugling Babe at the breasts of a dead Mother Eye hath not seen neither hath ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of vain man to conceive the weight of thy Wo and Passions in all the dayes of thy Wrestlings VVherefore O Seed because thou hast born the Indignation of the LORD for a season and waitest until it be over and past and hast not slipt thy shoulder in the heat of the day nor thy neck from the yoak in the stormy time Therefore hath thy GOD thy Creator determined the good of thy travel in the Earth He hath said Thou shalt not always be as barren in the Land but shalt yeeld thy increase in the Nations O thou afflicted with the troubles of the deeps which tempests have rouled to the bottoms lift up thy head in the Joy of the LORD and be strong in the Power of his Might for the Word of the LORD is come down in the Earth which was spoken by the Prophets of GOD the LORD of the Heavens hath restored thy Mother and pitched her as a Sanctuary in the Earth the Daughter of Sion is her Name the Glory of GOD is with her He hath given her a new threshing Instrument with Teeth to thresh the Mountains to dust and to beat the Hills to powder to seive the Vanity of the Nations and to fan the Earth with her strength to be as a wound to every Wild-beast and destruction to the life of the Destroyer to be a snare to the Fowls of the Air and a fire to devour the Devourer to find out the Dens of the Earth and to open the holes of thy hiding to break the bolts of the Prison-doors and the Chains of Death and Darkness to make thee as free-born in the Land of the Living to possess an Inheritance therein And it shall be no more with thee as in the dayes that all men sought after thee for evil and hunted thee for a purpose of mischief and cruel end for the LORD hath sworn thy Salvation and covenanted thy Peace for ever sighing and sorrow shall fly away from thee and thy tears shall be wiped from thine eyes and the LORD will possess thee with the Joy of Consolation and thou shalt reap Rejoycing as ripe Corn in the Harvest He will give thee Beauty for Ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness he will stay thee with Flaggons and comfort thee with Wine and fill thee with the greatness oâ—… his Love thy habitation he wil compass with encrease thy basket and thy store shall abound thou shalt eat the food of the Angels of God and be reckoned as a Leader in the Land thou shalt spring up as a plant in a fruitful ground and thy branches shall over-spread the Nations thou shalt be at the calling of the Assemblies in the East and the gathering of the People in the West the Lord will enlarge thy borders and make thy dwellings as the fulness of the Cities in the Earth thou shalt be as the Lord of an Host and as the Captain of the Army of GOD Battels shall bend to thy Bow and Hosts shall tremble at the shout of thy Voice thou shalt stand as a dread in the Land and a sign of astonishment in the Earth Princes shall tremble in thy presence and the faces of Kings gather paleness the dread of thy Countenance shall fill all with fear the Heavens shall tremble before thee Arise Arise my Love why sittest thou as dead in the night of slumber And as asleep amongst the Monuments of the Earth Why shall Death be thy dwelling and the Night a Watch unto thee Why shall thy face be vailed and the Clouds thus cover thy Glory Though thou art but that small worm Jacob and the Voice cryeth Who shall raise him Yet Arise Arise my Love and being rais'd thou art stronger than Armies thou art more than the Camps of ten thousand Hosts prepared in order for the battel O arise and spread forth thy Comliness and ravish the Virgins with thy Beauty and fill their Lamps with the droppings of thy Locks which wait until the morning for thee thy Presence is an Odor of Perfumes thy Word as a stream of Honey O whereunto whereunto shall I liken thee thou fairest of ten thousands filled with the Glory of thy GOD thy Feet are the Foundations of the Earth and thy Legs the Pillars of the Heavens thy Bowels as a Cistern hold the Waters of the Earth and the Waters of the Heavens as a Well Thou sendest them forth as a running brook and as streams to refresh the Plant Thy Reins are as the Virtue of God which made man in the glory of his Image thy Belly is the Fountain of Judah to wash away Sin and Uncleanness thy Thighs are as the Bats of the Fountains and thine Arms as the strength of GOD thy Back is the Tower of Zion and thy Breasts the nourishment of her Children thy Body is the Temple of GOD and thine Head the Crown of his Saints thy Hairs are as the Stars of Heaven for glory and thy Beard as the bright Clouds thereof at thy neesing the Earth is in fire and the Heavens in a flame before thee thy Soul
on the one hand and in how much you have spun a thrid beyond the staple on the other that you may see how you have lost the end your line not leading to Perfection nor your life out of sin and corruption Preach write and speak to the end of your dayes and time you shall never beget but by your own seed none other likeness but of your own nature You may come as far as the shadow shell and husk You may have the words but your nature cannot receive the Life and Power the Crosse of Christ which is the Power of GOD to Salvation is too hard a thing for you to bear You have the Image which is the loss of the Substance for where CHRIST who is the Substance is come there the end is come unto all Shadows Types and Figures which shadowed and figured out the Substance before it came Concerning Opinions I blow over them all as Chaff in as many as are in dissembling lyes hypocrisie swearing or cursed speaking Repent God's day is at hand Rome dispensed from the Inquisition-Prison J. P. I Could say many things unto you but you are not able to bear a little as the Priest concerning the Prophet complained saying The Land is not able to bear all his words you being not yet come unto the Charity which is in the Church of Christ which can bear all things and endure all things Wherefore at present I query a little further expecting first an Answer of the former and after that of these Concerning the Kingdom Query 1. What is the lost groat and the sweeping of the house to find it And whether have you found it yea or nay Que. 2. What is a Virgin's-state and are you in it and In which of the two the wise or the foolish What is the Lamp and the Oyl in the Lamp and do you possess it yea or nay Que. 3. Whether is not the Kingdom of Heaven as really in you as it was in the Scribes and Pharisees And whether are you in the Kingdom yea or nay Que. 4. Whether is any one of you a greater Prophet than John Baptist who was the greatest Prophet born of Women which went before him seeing he that is least in the Kingdom is greater than he Que. 5. If not one of you be in the Kingdom of God Are not all in the kingdom of Satan which are not in the Kingdom of God yea or nay Que. 6. What is the first Principle which leads to the understanding and knowledge of the Oracles of GOD And whether are you in it and doth your life answer it yea or nay Que. 7. What is the Key of David anâ—… who keeps it and whether is any thing opened or shut in Heaven or in Earth without it yea or nay Que. 8. What is the Book which is sealed with seven Seals and what are thâ—… Seals thereon which John said no man iâ—… Heaven nor in Earth was found worthâ—… to open Whether was Peter then in Heaven or in Earth or neither in Heaven nor iâ—… Earth And whether any now in your day is found worthy in Earth to do that which John in the Lord's day saw no man in Heaven or Earth was found worthy to do yeâ—… or nay Que. 9. VVhether is not the Prison anâ—… the Prison-house the seat of Sin and habitation of Corruption Or Is darkness anâ—… the shadow of death the Purgation from Sin for the Redemption out of Death Do you not know that the Seed is in Prison under the Clouds of darkness through Sin and Corruption in each one of you yea or nay Que. 10. VVhether have you Salt and Savour in your selves If you know not that it is in you are you otherwise fit but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men Que. 11. VVhat are the two Witnesses of whom it was said That they should again prophesie Whether are they not yet come or how know you but they be come Que. 12. VVhether is the Creation of Jerusalem anew unto you in Rome in the old Age of your sins which the Hebrews shall enter into according to Isaiah's Prophecy and which the Saints of the Most High are now entred into according to John's Prophecy where nothing that defiles can enter And whether is this any other than that which the Apostle said the Hebrews were entred into who were come unto the spirits of just men made perfect yea or nay The Prophecy is become unto all saith Isaiah as a Book that is sealed Friends spur up your Colledges to answer me For if once your Chariot wheels are clogged in the sand and your Host troubled know that Judgment is nigh and the Floods will soon close and joyn hands over your heads Dispensed from the Inquisition-Prison in Rome J. P. THat which is done in secret shall be preached upon the house top For the Bed is too short the Covering is too narrow the Nakedness is seen strip off the Fig-leaves they hide not the Line is stretched but yet the Stone is sealed Nevertheless if you will come forth come forth if you will enter enter come and be as a Roe and Hart upon the Mountains to run and read me to grow to the understanding of a Proverb and the Interpretation thereof the words of the Wise and their dark sayings For behold there cometh a Nation of a deeper speech than ye can perceive of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand they shall break over Walls and climb upon the tops of Houses and enter in at the Windows of the Closets A fiercer People hath not been saith the Spirit of the Prophet The Trumpet of the Lord of Hosts is sounding the Alarm his dreadful day is at hand the dead in Christ have heard and are partakers of the first Resurrection He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and Repent Rome dispensed from the Inquisition-Prison J. P. To the Pope and Governour and the rest ruling in the City of Rome Friends IN your places it is necessary that you consider that which is indeed above all things honourable I crave not the breaking off the yoke of my bonds at your hands as being assured that your hands were bound of the Lord thus far unto my Imprisonment that you by the means thereof might have knowledge how you are bound with the Chain of Satan under the Curse through Sin and Transgression the LIGHT being come declared and testified unto you henceforth you have no more cloak for your sin This I desire not of you but concerning you of Him which openeth and no man shutteth that the Prisoner in you in the Prison-house within which sits in darkness under the shadow of death may be set at liberty and come forth with the high praise of GOD in his mouth This I offer unto you that I mighâ—… know either by your willing or nilling whether you exceed or fall short of the Nobility of the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to know the truth of the matter
is the Substance of the Creation of GOD and thine Eyes the Light of the Day thy Teeth are as the Angels of GOD in the Heavens to fight thy Battel on Earth thy â—…outh is the Door of the Counsel of GOD and thy Tongue the Teacher thereof O! the Earth the Earth is confounded before thee I am as a Wren in the Earth lost under the stretching of thy Wing I began in the shallow places but am overwhelmed as a Worm in the deeps of GOD no man hath comprehended thy Glory wherefore let him bear his Judgement for ever that fashions thee like unto a graven thing or that makes an Image of thy CHRIST Let him bear the perpetual shame of his folly and the judgment of thy dreadful Word Let his own soul eat his confusion and drink up the dregs of his condemnation for Glory is thine in the highest who art only known to the pure in heart and remembred of the Upright in the Earth An Image is a mark of the unmindfulness of thy Name and a sign of the forgetfulness of thy Presence O Seed stand up as a Sign to the People and as an Ensign to the Nations of the Earth that they may be gathered to the Knowledge of the LORD thy GOD to remember Him as a God that is present even at hand for Iudgment to the Wicked and Salvation of his own Elect. Call call for thy Courage and cry aloud for thy Strength and cloath thy self therewith as in the dayes of old stretch forth thine Hand in thy Power and draw back the Clouds of the Night Appear thou Sun of the Morning as setled in the Heavens above that the Nations may flow to thy Light and Kings to the brightness of thy Rising that the Isles may be gathered in one to wait for the Law at thy Mouth that the tongue of the Egyptian Sea may be dryed up and but One pure Language remain in the Earth and that the Earth be filled with the Knowledge of GOD as Waters cover the Seas It was once said and the Voice answered Until how long And the Spirit said Until the determination of the time appointed even until the fulfilling of the Abomination of Desolation in the Earth and it seen to stand in the Holy Place Then said the Angel The mighty Dreadful Day of GOD is at hand Awake awake to the Judgment of the Terrible Day of the LORD Fear GOD and give Honour and Glory to his Name O that thine Innocency were known in the Land thy Love received in the Earth Thou art as the Innocent Lamb of the Flocks and as the New-born Babe at the Breast thou art as the Turtle which flyeth in fear and as her young in the Nest without guile thy Love is as the Mother to her comly Daughter and as the Father to his only Son thy Love is as the Spouse to her Welbeloved and as the Bridegroom wedded to his beautiful Virgin it passeth the love of Women thy Bonds are stronger than Death thou bearest the greif of thy Love for because of thy Love thou art hated I love the love of thy Love and do bear the burden thereof I love the bonds of thy Love for because of thy Love thou art bound O make thy Love thy Battel and the bent of thy Bow in the Earth that he which hath pierced thee may mourn and be broken in the bowels of Love that the Mountains may be melted before thee and the Hils drop down like Wax and gather to the Body of Love where neither Envy nor Lyes have life Spread forth thy Arms in love that thy measure be filled in the Earth For Scorners do hiss at the kindness of thine heart and mock at the meekness of thy mind thine Arrows of Love be their wound to pierce them to the heart in their seat Overcome with the Love which created and perfect the Glory of GOD Make known thy Self as thou art a Leader in the Righteousness of GOD Instruct the simple thy way and confound the Prudent thereby Thy Way is the path of the Just the sinner cannot walk therein it is a Guide to the Wayfaring-man the Fools cannot erre therein The Wise do stumble in their sight and the Subtil do fall before them which maketh the Heathen rage and all the Diviners mad Open open thy Bosom to thy lovers and thy Treasure to the soul which seeks thee which spareth not Life from the Crosse nor Lust from the flaming Sword but layeth the Neck at the Yoak to yeeld the First-born unto Death Thy Treasure is the body of Wisdom more pure than refined Gold Thy Wisdom is as the Oracles of GOD and Counsel of the Most High Thou feedest thy own with the Life with Wisdom the substance of Life The Swine feed on husks as a prey and run to a shadow for shelter In Winter they wander in the Woods and in Summer they wallow in the Mire The Serpent licks up the dust of the ground and hideth in a hole of the Earth But thou buildest a Nursery for Babes and a Dwelling for the Sons of God Thou makest a Bed for the Virgin and she is kept as a Bride for the Lamb Thou makest the simple as an Host to battle with the Armies of Gog thou givest thy Counsel in the Day and the weak is made strong for the War The Philistine flourisheth his Sword but it is kept for the wound of his body The weak turneth back the force of the Giant and slayeth him with his own Sword he takes not Glory to his hand but yeeldeth his heart to his GOD By Wisdom the Kingdom is created and folded in secret from the Wicked he which casteth his Crown at thy feet thy Glory shall cover his head This is without respect to any man's person whether Jew or Gentile in Rome A Visitation of the Love of GOD to the Seed And be it his Woe for ever and ever that keeps it back Dispensed from the Inquisition-Prison in Rome J. P. Righteous REASON written as a REMONSTRANCE to Romes Rulers Touching the Imprisonment and Persecution of the Servant of JESUS ROME being called of her Inhabitants The Head of the World and Holy City and her Church the Mother of many Nations cryed up as the most famous in Faith Doctrine Life and practice of Righteousness of the Lord Jesus of all Peoples upon the face of the Earth To her Heads and Rulers therefore I am willing to offer this entrance of the Remonstrance of my Cause in a compendious Tract by the representation of Reason the Rule of the Law and Prophets the Judgment of wise and holy Judges the Commandments Doctrine and Example of the LORD JESUS with what else occasionally may be intervenially inserted in the same to be placed as a Looking-glasse of Equity in all the Courts of Judicatory in her City I John the Servant of JESUS in the holy and blessed Calling of the Quaking and Trembling at the Word of the LORD GOD
the waves of temptations passing over your weary minds you shal not always mourn like doves for a mate nor grieve like Widows for the losse of their Beloveds neither shall your dayes be alwayes Tribulations nor the continuance of your time as surpassing pangs of pains But surely you shall draw into a good time wherein Beauty shall be given into your souls for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning and the Garments of Praise for the spirit of heaviness in which time the strength of the LORD your Maker shall be the Pavillion of you Peace and you shall rest in his Joys for ever Well therefore O ye tender Friends whom my soul is seeking in the Love of my Father to be united unto Him in his Holiness Come and experience this Doctrine and prove this new and living Way of the LORD though not another than that which from the beginning was but only new unto the old nature of all flesh which corrupteth its way in the sight of the Lord God which is the Way wherein the holy Apostles and suffering Servants of JESUS lived and walked and being but one as the Apostle saith There is one Way one Truth and one Life as ye believe and confess there is but one True GOD and therefore as ye find in your way coruption abounding ye have cause also to confess that the Way of God being but one cannot be the Way in which you walk Forasmuch as GOD hath said by the mouth of his holy Prophet speaking of the Messiah I will give him for a Way and for an high way which the wayfaring-men though fools shall not erre therein Who also spake by the same Prophet saying I will give Him for a Covenant to the People for a Light to the Gentiles that He may be my Salvation unto the ends of the Earth of whom also in the fulness of the dispensation of time John the Baptist bore Witness testifying Him to be the True LIGHT that lighteth all mankind coming into the World as Christ himself said I am the LIGHT of the World he thot believeth in me shall not abide in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life This is the Way even the true Way of the LORD GOD which I desire through proof your souls may experience And to the end that you may have the true Witness within you of the Power of Holiness which leads into perfect Unity with the Perfect GOD in the Innocent Life of the Lamb of GOD that taketh away the sin of the World I tenderly exhort counsel and advise you to turn your minds unto that Light of the Lamb of GOD which shineth into all your Souls convincing you in all your Consciences of all your sins and joyning your minds unto it in perfect Love of it because it is of the pure Nature of your pure Creator you shal come in due time to find and see assuredly that as that same Light which shineth in all your Consciences is of such a powerful and virtuous Nature as that it not onely searcheth your hearts and tryeth your reins and finds out your most secret sins but also convinceth you as well of the least as of the greatest of your sins so it will likewise free deliver and ease you from the burden of your sins which is the cause of your dissatisfaction and many sorrows because that as it is of GOD pure perfect and altogether virtuous in its nature cannot change from its property nature and vertue but as it convinceth of the least sin being loved and lived in must also deliver from the least sin and being still of the same vertue and nature of GOD convincing your souls of your greatest sins being loved and lived in must also free and deliver you from your greatest sins and being found of so pure and powerful a nature and vertue to free and deliver your souls from your least and from your greatest sins must also of necessity in the same love deliver you from all your sins The which all must confess excepting some in Atheism might say That the perfect Grace and Light of the Alsufficient GOD is an Insufficient Medicine to heal the soul perfectly of all its maladies and infirmities But I am better perswaded of all you that desire the true Knowledge of the true and living God having a sensible Understanding in you that there is such a Light shining into your souls that sheweth you all your sins the which ye may remember you have had from your Childhood because you cannot otherwise say but that from your Childhood it accused you of all your sins in the secrets of your Consciences which no one else could accuse you of but yet ye were not then directed unto it as you are now counselled and therefore could not know the power and virtue because you never proved its force strength and virtue through a perfect love yeelding in obedience unto its motions and often checks of your minds Wherefore this is the happy day of your Visitation wherein it is told you that if you love that LIGHT which shews you the nature of all Temptation unto Evil and joyn unto the LIGHT so as to be guided by the LIGHT which is contrary to all Evil it will deliver you from the end of the Tempter which presents the Temptation by saving you from the Evil which Light you will then know in the invisible power of the holy God which is given you for the perfecting of his Praise in your hearts through the forming and new-creating your hearts into the mind of his own Righteous Spirit which thing you cannot know but through the experience and tryal which in the tryal I am sure as God is holy and that measure of Light in your Consciences is of GOD which is holy vertuous and powerful will purifie you from sin and perfectly save and deliver you from all evil And therefore I must needs conclude that he is most extreamly sinful and desperatly evil that saith he desireth to be delivered from all sin and evil which will not try to experience such a power and virtue of the Grace of GOD given into his soul which is able to save and deliver him from all evil Be ye therefore wise O People unto your own Salvation having had experience of the vanity of your own way and wayes try ye now the Righteous Way of GOD in which you cannot transgress and that because in your wayes you have not found rest to your desirous and thirsty souls which of all things would choose rather to be cloathed with the Righteousness of the living GOD and after tryal by pure obedience in pure and undefiled love if ye find not deliverance from your sins which is the cause of your pressures and burdens and afterwards the peace of your poor souls and satisfaction of your simple tender minds even in fulness of Content and Joy in the Pleasures of Immortal Life which is the end of all your Desires Requests and earnest seekings Then
or Are your Customs the Arm of GOD yea I say if that Conscience in whom GOD liveth and reigneth should ask of them all Are your Words or Customs or Forms of Worship the immediate Commandment of the LORD GOD from Heaven which shall endure for ever not one of a thousand either could or would give a ready Answer thereunto which if they would honestly answer negatively concluding their words not to be GOD nor their Customs the Arm of GOD why then do they set their Words above GOD as a limit and bound to the Spirit of GOD And why set they their Customs and Forms of Worship in the Seat of GOD to judge in more Power than the Arm of GOD To the sons of men it may be fully said To whom is the Living GOD known and the Arm of the LORD revealed For if GOD be a Spirit and is only known in Spirit to live in Spirit and to dwell with men in the Spirit How remaineth the knowledge of this true GOD among the sons of men who by the limitations of their Customs and Forms of Worship and Words in the Will out of the unlimited Spirit do thrust him the unlimited Spirit out of his true habitation To all the sons of men upon the face of the Earth who have reached as far as the Tradition but want the Life even unto all Sects and among you all I might largely and plentifully declare your Judgments of others and not with that of GOD in the Conscience answers not that of GOD in the Conscience of any man and GOD hath no Unity with your Judgment but his hand he turneth against it even as in all Generations past The Customs of your Worships and not in the Spirit the Spirit turneth against you and the Spirit will have glory over you for be you not ignorant how that the Spirit created the Times and in time Tradition and Custom came forth And the Spirit which changeth the Times will change the Customs and Forms and when GOD hath put all these things under foot he will be known to be All in All in the Conscience his own proper Seat and Dominion What art thou O corruptible man in whom God created a Conscience that sits above GOD in thy Will making a Law against GOD in the Conscience of another Knowst thou not that GOD hath the whole Dominion there Knowest thou not that GOD hath granted a Law against all Sin and written it in the Conscience his own seat where he cometh to Judgment of the whole World of Mankind as well in it the Heathen who have not the Letter of the Law by the same which he will judge both Jew and Gentile who have the Law and in the Life are found transgressors of the Law And makest thou a Law against the Light of the Throne of GOD against that which thou makest and settest a bound-mark limitation and Law which is in another in and by the self same thing in thy self shalt thou be judged of GOD because of thy Law and the LORD GOD will be known to be the Lord of Spirits and Father of Lights whose Spirit and Light by all the Customs Traditions Laws and Forms of Worship in the World is not in any measure comprehended to be equally judged or made in Righteousness subordinate unto in the Conscience of another and that of GOD in you all shall witness this for ever and bear its everlasting Testimony against your comprehensible corrupt wills which make Laws and constrain Customs and Traditions by Laws against the incomprehensible measure of GOD in another Wherefore a Warning from the LORD GOD the Father of Spirits and Lights to you all is come to give you to take heed in due season lest you be found fighters against GOD your Creator in the day that he calleth to Account and draweth near unto Judgment in the Land And lay it to heart with understanding that for this cause only that he was fought against in the Conscience by Customs by Laws by Judgment by Life by Traditions by Forms of Worship by Sinners by Rebellion against the Power in the Conscience by Jews and by Gentiles all the Overtures Desolations Confusions Destructions Captivities and Revelation of the Wrath Indignation and Vengeance of GOD from Age to Age reaching unto this present Age came to passe in the Earth Witness the Flood witness Sodom and Gomorrah witness the Red Sea witness the Walls of Iericho witness the Mulberry-trees witness the Battels of Israel and the Captivity of his Children witness the Worms that ate Herod witness the Destruction of Ierusalem and the scattering of the Iews in the Earth witness Greece Germany Scotland England and Ireland and yet the LORD will call the whole Earth to witness and bring heap upon heap and destruction upon destruction and desolation upon desolation by Fire and Sword in every Land that standeth against the Word of the LORD GOD. But blessed is he that cometh to know the ground and root of a matter in him to know the end of the Desolations determined to be in the Earth I might say unto you how that in the dayes of Luther GOD moved in the Darkness upon the face of the deeps thereof but they which made him their Rest are confounded and their head is broken as Clay He appeared brighter by Behman and Brown but they which built their Travels as Towers the LORD confounded with many Languages and even running up to the height Baptists Seekers and Ranters some made bounds for the pure and others in their lusts revolted wherefore GOD hath laid them one upon the other as a heap of confusion together And thus he hath begun the work of his hand decreed to perfect his purpose And the LORD GOD will make the Nations to know That he hath not sent down his Word in the Earth to be likened unto a breath of Vanity in the Air and that he caused not his Prophets to run in vain as him which comes short of the mark but that his Law which he wrote upon the Tables of Stone he writeth upon the Table of he Heart and both the Law and the Prohets no more as in the dayes of continual ransgression shall be told as a tale of tatlers and as a history of vain bablers pointed upon the tongue of a deceitful mouth but that they shal be fulfilled and witnessed yea and perfected in the Spirit in Life and in Power as by the Spirit in Life and in Power they were revealed and given forth to this only end of GOD in his Creature For which cause lastly JESUS the Saviour was revealed to perfect that which was lacking and to compleat the Redemption in fulness Therefore all you dwellers in the Monuments of the Earth Awake from the deadness of your Forms and Worships and draw near unto the quickning Power of the Righteousness of GOD which leads to Life in the Truth and Salvation from all Sin To which end GOD sent the Immanuel a LIGHT unto