Religion neither do believe that God ever required those Forcers to force any into their Church nor require them whom the Compellors summons to come amongst them These methods will not do to convince Conscientious Persons of any differing Religion to come to that House of Wood and Stone Now dear Friends you may perceive the Beast would have all small and great to worship him how doth he seek to compel People to worship him and receive his Mark either on their foreheads or in their hands and the cry is Who is like unto the Beast and who is able to make war with him And none will be able to deny his worship and refuse his mark but the faithful tribulated Saints of the most High that abide with Michael our Prince of Peace who will stand with and by the Children of his People the sealed Ones that have his mark on their foreheads and utterly reject the Mark of the Beast and deny it whatsoever they may suffer for so doing So beware of the Mark of the Beast freely reject and deny the worshipping of the Beast and the receiving of his Antichristian Mark for if any man worship the Beast or receive his Mark on their forehads or in their hands they shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God and be judged and condemned of him and the Cup of the Lords Fury shall be poured forth for them to drink without any mixture of his mercy or favour Therefore you Children of Light and of Gods day who have known that â—ay so far to dawn in your hearts as to have a discovery of the Whore Beast false Prophet and false Church and have warred in the Lambs warfare against the Beast in any measure and in the Light of the Lamb have seen and denyed the Whore and her golden Cup still maintain your War in the Lambs Spirit and Power against the Beast and let your hatred be against the Whore her Cup as much as ever for the whore and her cup is no better now than when you first saw her and began to hate her and burn her flesh with fire and her cup is the very same now however she may guild it I know God hath shewed and will more manifest to you the My stery of the great Whore that sits upon many Waters Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and he is willing to preserve you and will keep you from adhering to her or the beast on which she rides and that carries her if you will hearken still unto the Lord and obey him he will defend you from the cruelty of the great red Dragon Whore Beast and false Prophet and will take the Beast and with him the false Prophet and give them to the burning slame He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear And remember how freely the Lord hath made you to drink of the Waters of Life and how that water hath been in you as a Well springing up to Life eternal and how can any of you that have known the waters of a full Cup from God given unto you and to your great satisfaction have drunk thereof return again to the foul and muddy Waters that have no clearness nor life in them Such as keep in the sence of that Life and Waters of it which Christ hath given us I know will never again meddle with the corrupt foul muddy Waters which the Whore and false Church gives to her Children but the Bread and Water of Life which you have fed upon and drunk of at the Table of the Lord the Children of the great Whore know not and therefore their cry hath been Come to the Church receive the Sacrament if you do you must pay for it and if you do not you must pay the more and be cited to appear at Courts which they call Courts Spiritual but how carnally they act in keeping of them and in proceeding against them that for Conscience sake towards God cannot pertake with them let all that fear God judge Oh! dear Friends fear not the Wrath of man though his heart be lifted up never so much in manifest Oppression and threaten to act it upon you but still know you and believe that the remainder of mans wrath God will restrain and disappoint the Wicked cast not away your Confidence but wait patiently upon God and he will restrain the Wrath of the Wicked Persecutors that they will be confounded in their ungodly Proceedings and not be able to effect their vile purposes Depart not from the Faith which God hath given you the Mystery of which is held in a pure Conscience stand fast in it then I doubt not but such will quit themselves in this day through the Lords aid and assistance from all the Snares that now are or hereafter may be laid to catch and hurt the innocent and betray the simple So in the peaceable pure wisdom and power of the Lord keep over all the treacherous dealers who set a trap to catch men and who are full of deceit and flattery and will speak you fair sometimes as well as at other times shew their Teeth ready to devour you or eat you up with the wisdom and power of the Lord God keep out of them and over them for their delight is in Mischief to oppress a man and his house but the Lord seeth and knoweth all the intents and purposes of the Wicked with all their wicked works and will reward them accordingly Do you see Clouds to appear and arise remember it is said of Christ That he cometh with the Clouds and then should be a time of great Trouble and how it should be a day of Darkness and Clouds and thick Darkness and that covereth the Earth and Nations for so is the day of the Lord to the Wicked it s a day of gloominess and darkness but not light Now to behold Christ in the Clouds how comfortable and glorious is it but more glorious comfortable to see him expelling of them and causing the shadows of Death and Darkness to vanish away which they do and must do as the Son Christ Jesus the Substance comes into Peoples hearts and is revealed in them You that witness Christ so come see him in the clouds and how he breaks thorow the clouds driveth all away that he may cause his day to dawn more in clearness And Christ said Behold I come as a Thief in the night blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked men see his shame it is not safe in a storm for men to be naked without their garments that should cover them when distress cometh And now a stormy Wind bloweth dear Friends be ye all watchful and clothed with the garments of Praise which God promised to give his People instead of the spirit of Heaviness and it will be a great Wo upon all them that have not the Spirit of the Lord to câ—ver them with in this present Storm and when distress of Nations
brought us forth and the eminent Hand of the Lord that appeared in our deliverance and freedom from Egypt's hard Task masters and the Lord did redeem us from the Heathen and their Heathenish Words Fashions Wayes and Worships never to learn their Words Wayes Fashions or Customs any more And God called us out of Sodom spiritually and to leave the filthy Communication and Conversation of the Sodomites which we were never to look back upon any more truly 't is very dangerous being in Sodom and Egypt spiritually where our Lord was crucified who can expect any thing but Ruin and Destruction to be found amongst them that now declare their Sin as Sodom Therefore let none of you go into Egypt again for any help or think to have relief there go not down thither nor look back towards Sodom lest you perish or be found worthy of the Wrath and Displeasure of Almighty God by reason of going back into Egypt again and then any of you should be found in Sodom or Egypt spiritually for if there be a desire in any to go back and they draw back God's Soul shall have no pleasure in them and God will be displeased with you that lust after Egypt or the Flesh-Pots there or any thing you were called of God to leave and forsake when you came out of Egypt notwithstanding a Sea of Troubles and many Hardships may appear yet still resolve in the Power of the Lord to go forward and with heavenly delight follow the Lord fully and look still to the Lord and not at any Hardships or Difficulties that may appear in your Journey nor at the length of it neither O! let none of you say that Food which God hath given you from Heaven is light Meat for that evidently bespeaks murmuring at the Food which God gives whereof you have eaten with us If any shall be filled so with unbelief to slight that and desire Egyptian Flesh-Pots and begin to value that again which you vomited up as unsavoury and not good Soul's Food and return to it again sad will the latter end of such be whatever their beginning was And if any of you should forsake the Lord his Fountain of living Waters and dig to your selves broken Sisterns that will not hold the living Water then a terrible day of Wrath and the great Displeasure of the Lord will come upon you and so you may become Monuments of his Displeasure which to avoid wait upon the Lord low in his fear when you come into the Assemblies of the Righteous and earnestly desire that this Heart of Unbelief whereby some in all Ages departed from God and went backward and not forward may not be found in you resolving for the future in the fear awe and dread of the Lord God to cleave to the Lord and follow the Lord in the doing of that which is good and to keep out of Disobedience Sin and Evil while you abide in this world Come not to the Meetings of the Saints as if it were a thing indifferent whether you came or did stay at home such luke-warm Hearers and Professors of the Truth amongst us God will spue out that are neither cold nor hot and yet cold enough towards that which is good the day is at hand that will manifest every Birth every Tree and every Spirit really as it is unto all who witness the â—aâ—â— measure of the heavenly Birth or are Trees of Righteousness and who are of a right Spirit Dear Friends give not way to that to please your selves or to gratifie the Devil or any corrupt Men or Women in the Spirit of this World which would intice you or draw you thereunto that you might be ensnared and then such will but sport themselves to see any of you speak act and walk after the course of this World as such as would draw you into evil do but be not you like unto them nor learn any of their wayes for the wayes of evil men lead from God and from his pure and precious Life which he hath made manifest and brought you into in measure so be the more circumspect diligent and watchful watch you in all things that you may please the Lord and endure Hardship and Affliction with God's called chosen and faithful when we are called thereunto that as true and faithful Warriors in the Spirit and Power of God we may all be kept together in one Spirit to the end Oh! be circumspect every Son and Daughter Servant and Hand-Maid have your Eye in your Head and if thy Eye be single the whole Body will be full of Light which tends much to the safety and preservation of the whole Body and the faithful are the Body of Christ and Members one of another and must needs be sensible of each others suffering can one Member suffer and not the whole Body suffer with it Dear Friends keep to Christ Jesus who is the Head of his Body the Church which he hath purchased with his own Blood still mind the Head and hold the Head that you all may be kept living Members of his Body purely knit together and firmly united unto him that you may be compleat in him wanting nothing of that state which you ought to be in as to a growing into him who is the fulness that filleth all in all In your Assemblies diligently wait to feel his presence more and more purely to refresh and comfort you whereby more and more you will have living experience how good and safe a thing it is for them that fear the Lord to meet often together to wait upon and serve the Lord and answer his will and requiring therein whatsoever men may require contrary of us herein we are to obey God rather then man or man's Edicts to the contrary whereby many times Storms arise and the Sea comes to be troubled Friends forget not how the Lord hath covered us and sheltred us when former Storms and Tempests have been and the Rain hath fallen yea when the Enemy hath come as a Flood and the Floods of the Ungodly broke forth upon us in the Dragon's rage to destroy the heavenly Birth and that which was of God in us how the Lord by his mighty Power which is an unlimitted Power brought Help Salvation and great Deliverance even when all other Helps failed and stood afar off I hope many yet living do remember with Joy of Heart how the Lord caused the Winds and Sea to obey him and divided the troubled Waters where the Whore then did sit and now sitteth which was Nations Kindreds Tongues and People all which the Whore sits upon for Nations Kindreds Tongues and People are all like Waters rouling tumbling upon Heaps and are troubled there is no settlement upon them few knowing what they all nor why they are tumbled so upon Heaps but notwithstanding the Saints who are the Lamb's followers must pass through these waters and through the fire also the Lord will divide the waters to make way for his
Israel in this day and though Rahab and the Dragon stand up in the way of Israel God will cut Rahab and wound the great Dragon and whatsoever would stand up in his way to hinder his Work snall be confounded and fall before him for strong iâ— the Lord that judgeth the great Whore and divideth the Waters thereon she sits and who will give her Blood to drink who hath long drunk the Blood of the Saints and still thirsts after more Blood to drink about Conformity in matters of Religion and the worship of God but the hour of her Judgments is come her Paint is seen through and her golden Cup full of Abomination is clearly discovered 't is in vain for the Kings of the Earth to think to support or heal her nay she is not willing to be healed but thinks she hath no need of any healing Medicine and truly I know none for her that is to be destroyed and must certainly be destroyed even that false Church mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots which hath called her self Christ's Spouse but hath the marks and attire of an Harlot My dear Friends as God hath called you out of her not to partake of her Sins Abominations any more keep out of her and stand clear of her Devices and and subtil Strategems she doth now or hereafter may make use of to draw ye from Christ Jesus and the Church that is in God to a House of Wood and Stone which they that are in Babylon call a Church and call to the Sons and Daughters of Sion to come to their Church and receive the Sacrament who are come to the true Church which is in the only true God and are living Members thereof united to Christ Jesus our Head and Husband and we need no other Head or Husband nor need not come to any Church but that which Christ is the Head and Husband of from whom we receive of his living Bread and Wine of his Kingdom and his holy things are given to us by the Spirit that comes from the Father and the Son and you know Friends that whereas Christ said a little before he went away as to his appearance in the Flesh he would send the Comforter to his Disciples which was the Spirit of Truth to lead and guide them into all Truth promising them that the Spirit should take off his and shew it unto them which as they then did receive it we are made now certain Witnesses of it So need not go to a House of Wood and Stone called Church and there sit amongst the corrupt putrified company of diseased misorable Sinners that are so much out of Health that they have no whole part in them what comfort can a healed Soul or a sound mind have in coming or sitting amongst them where one may sooner come by an evil Disease than ever be soundly cured of any inward Distemper or Sickness and you partaking of God's goodness and his holy things at his Table and having spiritual Fellowship and Communion with him that is abundantly better than all the Bread and Wine which is outward and will decay given by impure Hands to such as communicate with them as many times it is administred without any Commission from God and yet that we must by these Church-men be forced to come amongst them and eat and drink unworthily with these unworthy Administrators and Receivers of that which they call the Sacrament is certainly both Unchristian and Unreasonable and very Unchristian-like as the Administrators and Receivers of it who would now compel us to eat and drink with them will one day know to their Wo if they Repent not in time and we may justly deny such as for their Bellies sake without any authority from God presume to take upon them in a rude unchristian manner three times with the same Mouth that they bless God and curse Men to admonish us You that are taught of the Lord and have received his Counsel and spiritual Admonition from him have learned of him to admonish one another and know them that watch for the Soul from them that watch and lay in wait for their Prey and dishonest Gain whose God is their Belly and who glory in their shame who hunt you into their Courts to sleece you and seed themselves with the Fat and cloath themselves with the Wool which they obtain by making you and yours their Prey in spoiling of your Goods But dear Friends let none of these things that are at present or things to come be able to move you from the peaceable Habitation in the Life and Power of God to which you are come and have been kept living Witnesses of fear not neither be at all dismayed consider whose the Earth is and who hath Power to give it when and to whom he pleaseth for it is not the Devil 's nor his Servants Man is but as a Tenant of it at the will of the Lord God who hath given us that great gift his Son shall he not with him freely give us all things And be patient and rest quiet and contented although you should be fed with the Bread of Affliction and Water of Affliction for a season and that shall not be unless God see it convenient for us let this still comfort you the beholding of your Teacher near you that cannot be removed into a Corner and feel God's covenant which is everlasting that he made with David in all things well ordered and sure said David although then God made it not to grow he had a sure Hope and doubted not of the growth of it in God's time and appointed season And the Vision was for an appointed time and at the end it shall speak the Prophet said wait for it it will surely come and will not tarry You tribulated Followers of the Lamb that are come to stand with the lamb upon Mount Sion never regard the high looks nor threats of them of Babylon Sodom or Egypt although they may hate you and cast you out for his Name sake in whom you have believed God will make them blush for shame for their high looks for God will smite them that threaten your Ruin and Destruction and their designs God will discover and confound them before they be put in execution as the Wicked desire whom the Moth shall eat as doth a Canker and the Wind shall drive them away like Stubble the Righteous shall see it and rejoyce over Babylon when her Merchants and them that traded with her shall howl and lament for Widdowhood Sorrow and Destruction shall come upon her in one Hour and 't is greatly dangerous to buy any of the Merchandize of this great Whore and false Church that would force to their Church Religion and Worship such that believe it cannot make them better or do their Souls any good What Church but the false will by Prisons and great Penalties endeavour to make them come to their Church that are not of their Church nor