Canaan whom Noah cursed And the beginning of this mighty Hunter's Kingdom was Babel where the Lord whom he hunted before followed after and confounded the Language of all them that belonged to this mighty Hunter who was a mighty one in the Earth and out of this Land of Babel went forth them that built many Cities and afterwards there was a People whose gods were according to the number of their Cities And so see what followeth when man is not led by the Spirit of God as Noah was and so preserved but hunts mightily before him being mighty in that which is Earthly first he is mighty in the Earth then a mighty Hunter then builds a mighty Tower whereby he that is earthly would climb up to Heaven this a Figure and then God confounded the Language and after wards those that were in the many Languages professed God who confounded the Language before whom their Father Nimrod hunted and they being found in that which God confounded though they professed God yet in Works denyed him and crucified his Son the Lord of Glory and writ over his Head of the many Languages Latin Greek and Hebrew and this was written above him that was the Light and so them now who are of the stock of Babel are yet exalted above the Light and count the Light a weak and low contemptible thing not able to save it self much less to save them that believe in it and so therein manifest themselves to be of their Fathers who crucified him that said I am the Light and said unto him If thou be the Son of God save thy self and so despised him who came to save them And this is some of the effect of mans hurting mightily in the Earth before they came to receive the Spirit as Nimrod did Gen. 9. 18 25. ch 10. 8 9 10 11. ch 11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. John 19. 19 20. But Jacob followed obeyed and believed the Lord who is a Spirit and the Presence of God was with him and the Blessing of the Most High was upon him and the Lord promised To be with him who was a Worm in six Troubles and in seven and when he passed through the Fire and the Water and God gave him a new Name and afterwards promised To give his Seed a Name better than of Sons and Daughters and Jacob was a plain man and dwelt in Tents and him God loved and he prevailed with God Isa 41. 14. ch 43. 1 2 3 4 5. Gen. 22. 28. Isa 56. 5. And so Nimrod with his Followers who was mighty in the Earth came to be confounded and Jacob who was little in the Earth as a Worm and dwelt in Tents he and his Seed came to be blessed And Moses the Servant of the Lord whom God Almighty honoured in his everlasting Love and made him a Deliverer unto and a Judge and Ruler over the People Acts 7. 35. he being in Aegypt the Land of Darkness and Bondage and all the Seed and Israel of God in cruel Oppression and I do not read that he had any direction from Man or Scripture or any thing else without him to guide him at first to refuse to be called the Son of Pharoahs Daughter and the glory of Aegypt and to chuse to suffer Affliction with the People of God Neither do I read that he saw the Angel or Glory of the Lord until after he was and had been Obedient unto that which God had given into him for that which may be known of God is manifest within Rom. 1. 19. for it is said in the Scriptures of Truth That it was by Faith Heb. 11. 24. that he refused the evil and chose the good and Faith is that which is in the Heart Acts 15. 9. As it is written If thou believe in thy Heart Rom. 10. 9. Acts 18. 37. And of that Faith in the Heart God hath given to every man a Proportion Rom. 12. 6. And as that which is but little in man is loved and obeyed so man comes to know more of God and hear his Word of Faith which is in the Heart Rom. 10. 8. And by hearing and Obedience of Faith man receiveth the Spirit Gal. 3. 2. which is an undeniable Truth which I might prove by a cloud of Witnesses from the Scriptures which were given forth from the Inspiration of God by his holy Servants And so there being something of God in man whereby man may as Moses did first refuse the Evil and then chuse a suffering state and so learn to do well the Sin then comes to be done away Isa 16. 17 18. and afterwards more of God's enless Love and powerful Presence is made manifest and so being faithful in the little received from God in the Heart man comes to rule over much as Moses did who first learned the Obedience of Faith in the Heart though in Aegypt and in the time of great Persecution where he was also despised of his Brethren yet he obeyed the Word of Faith in the Heart and so afterwards to him God appeared and the Word of the Lord came unto him and he talked with God afterwards face to face as a man talketh with his Friend and the many Wonders that the mighty Power of God wrought in and by him are recorded at large in the holy Scriptures for a Testimony thereof to last throughout many Generations And by this Faith also afterwards the Members of Christ did walk 2 Cor. 5. 7. And Joshua who succeeded Moses was full of the Spirit of Wisdom consider that he was first full of the Spirit and so thereby he came to be a Leader and Ruler over others and the Dread of the Lord fell and his Judgments came upon them who rose up or stood against him and those whom he by the Power of the Spirit in him came to rule over and great many and mighty were the Victories that God gave unto this man who was bold and couragious by reason of the fullness of the Spirit that was in him and the People hearkned unto him as they did unto Moses and he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses Deut. 34. 9. Josh 11. 15. But the Lords people in these dayes who are led by the Spirit of God in them are accounted both by Priests Rulers and People to be drunk or mad as it was before when the Son of God who is the Light was revealed in Paul Gal. 1. 15 16. he was accounted by the Ruler of the People to be mad Acts 26. 24. And when the Disciples of Christ had waited and afterwards received the Spirit of Truth within from the which they spake as with new Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance at them then many were amazed others mocked supposing them to be drunk Acts 2. 12 13 14 15. And when Hunnah prayed in Heart being grieved in Spirit was esteemed to be drunk even by Ely the Priest yet she by her Prayers in her Heart obtained her desire of
natural man perceiveth not the things of God which are hid from the Wise and Prudent even from the Readers of the Scripture from Scribes Pharisees Priests yea the Princes of this World for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory who is crucified daily by the same spirit that now ruleth in the Children of Disobedience even in the Scribes Priests and People that live in the same Nature where the learned Ones of the World are and all those that walk in Darkness to wit Pride Covetousness Love of the World Hatred Varience Strife Sedition Heresie Backbiting Heady High-minded Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God Scoffers walking after their own Ungodly Lusts Raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own Shame who account Gain Godliness whose Eyes are full of Adultery Feet swift to shed Blood Ears open to all deceit whose Mouthes are full of Cursing and Bitterness the Poyson of Asps is under their Lips their Throats are an open Sepulcher who imagin Mischief their Hearts being altogether Deceitful and desperately Wicked Such as these are the Fruits of the Flesh in the which all the World lies therefore I witness against the World that the Works thereof are Evil. Now in the world there are Sects Schismes Judgments and Opinions there they are heaping up Teachers to themselves having itching Ears and according to the number of their Fansies so are their wayes of Worship according to the number of their Imaginations so are their gods for there are many gods and many Lords but the living God is not known by the World for it by Wisdom knows not God No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him Now he that hath the Son revealed in him is born of God and he that is born of God overcometh the World and sinneth not He that sinneth hath not seen him But this is a hard saying who can bear it the World cannot for the World hears its own they that are of God hear Gods Word ye hear them not therefore ye are not of God Now Friends all you that have looked after me and other men for teaching now I can write unto you what I know that it is the Lord alone that teacheth his people to profit none teacheth like he who is now my Teacher indeed and will be yours if you are made willing and obedient to be taught directed and guided by him who is gathering his out of all Nations Kindreds and Tongues Ezek. 31. 11. which is by Jesus Christ the one and only Priest who is the Light of the Gentiles and the light of the World by which he hath enlightened every one that cometh into the World John 1. 9. which light shineth into the Darkness and the Darkness comprehendeth it not verse 5. Now the World is set in the heart of man eccles 3. 11. Of the which World Christ is the Light and he that followeth him shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life John 8. 12. This is that Grace of God that hath appeared unto all men teaching them to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11 12. This is the Light of Christ who is the Word of God in the Heart for his Word of the living God is not far off but it is nigh thee in thy Heart and in thy Mouth that thou mayest do it Deut. 30. 14. Now therefore Friends look not forth after them that say Christ is here or there for they are all Deceivers The Word is nigh the Light is within thee even in thy Dark Heart although thy Dankness cannot comprehend it because thou lovest Darkness rather then the Light of Jesus Christ which shineth in thy Consceince and lets thee see the evil of thy Wayes and calls thee to Repentance and to forsake the Wicked and live This is the Talent that thou art hiding in the Earth for the which thou must give an Account therefore say I unto thee mind that Teacher that teacheth to deny Ungodliness and this is the Light to Jesus Christ in thy Conscience the which Light proceedeth from Christ and leadeth all that love it John 8. 12. up to Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life the only Way and no other way to the Father Now all of you owning this VVord and Teacher and Light in your own Consciences you will come to witness Jesus Christ in the Light of Life and know him to be the way unto the Father which leads out of the Darkness of all the VVorld's Ways VVorships Forms Fashions Customs VVords VVayes and Actions and come to be gathered in the Light unto Jesus Christ who is the Light and from the Light then to come to witness the Scriptures to be true yea even fulfilled in you by the same Spirit as it was in them that did write and speak forth the Scriptures and so witness with them against the same things that were witnessed against then by the Children of the Light who had fellowship with the Father by the which they saw that which in measure I witness that there is but one Way one Truth one Light one Faith one Baptism one Spirit one Head one High Priest whoever liveth to make intercession for us one Church of the first-born whose Names are written in Heaven one God over all who is Rich unto all that call upon him in Spirit and Truth the which Worshippers the Father seeketh to Worship him who is a Spirit and all his Worships are Spiritual but God hears not Sinners and he that regardeth Iniquity in his Heart the Lord will not hear him for there are none but the pure in heart that shall see God whose Presence is Terrible to all the Workers of Iniquity that continue in the unfruitful Works of Darkness Now all of you see that you keep unto the true Guide which is Jesus Christ and follow him and see that you do not turn again to the Vomit as the manner of some is who begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh Oh! leave all for Christ you cannot serve two Masters you cannot be of the World and of God you must witness a Separation Therefore in Love to all your Souls that have been Professors with me in publick in these parts of the Nation and all others flatter not your selves in your Conditions promising your selves Liberty whilst you are the Servants of Corruption therefore forsake the Wicked and live Now my Friends and all Persecutors marvel not at my Change for the Wicked have no Changes therefore they fear not God Psal 55. 19. but I am made to witness the fear of the Lord to be the beginning of Wisdom the which Wisdom is pure which cometh down from above James 3. 17. which none of the Princes of this World know 1 Cor. 1. 21. therefore they call the Doctrines of Christ Madness Acts 26. 24. for the preaching of the
of Hosts goeth before you the mighty God is in the midst of you the shout of a King is among you and your Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual which will bring down their Holds though never so strong And you who suffer in outward Bonds and there in your place according to your measures bear your Testimony against the covetous Hirelings who are the Merchants that belong to the great Whore who have long fed at Jezables Table and have long deceived the simple Oh! faint not in your long-suffering the Lord God is with you as you continue in patience and long-suffering and you shall be crowned with Immortality forever if you endure to the end for the Cry of your Affliction is ascended up on high and the Lord hath heard the Sighing of the needy and a three-fold Reward will you at last receive who endure to the end For the Lord God of Life who seeth in secret is sccretly undermining the very Foundations of all Sions Enemies and bringing Deliverance unto the Captives in a Way that hath not been known that unto you O ye afflicted Ones may Deliverance come not by might nor by strength of man but by the mighty Arm of Gods Power which in due time will bring Deliverance unto all the dear Lambs of Christ who this day stand faithful in the Innocent sufferings And all you who are yet but young and tender abide you all in Meekness Lowliness Diligence and Faithfulness without murmuring at them that are growing up before you and let no Root of Bitterness spring up among any of you I beseech you in the Bowels of the Lord Jesus Christ And all you that are grown up into the Understanding of Holiness walk you all in the Life of God and let that guide you in God's Wisdom as Examples to the Flock among whom you are placed not as Lords to rule with any thing in the Will but in Tenderness to serve the least Member that it may be preserved that all may grow up a holy Building unto God the Father To whom be all Glory forever and ever The Blessing of the Lord be upon you and the Power of the Most High overshadow you that you may spring forth as the Rose in Summer and be fruitful as the Vine in its Season The true and ever lasting Rule discovered c. THe Lord God formed man of the Dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and and man became a living Soul So man was formed of that which was earthly and into that which was earthly that which was living was breathed and that which is living comes from God which is to keep and lead man unto God but man going from that which is living into that which is Earthly is thereby led from God and being led from that which is living he is also pleading for another thing than that which is the Life to be his Rule and Guide and so comes not to be guided by that which is manifest of God in him Gen. 2. 7. Rom. 1. 19. Now the Letter is not living but the Breath of Life within is the which living Breath man not knowing goeth forth from it to be guided by the Letter which killeth 2 Cor. 3. 6. But the holy men of God who walked with God and were obedient to his Will and spake forth and writ Scriptures from that which was holy in them and were Perfect in their Generation they were such who came to be guided by that which was living in them and from that men in dayes of old called upon the Name of the Lord Gen. 6. 28. and they had not a Scripture without them to guide them thereunto And Enoch walked with God and so he walked with that which is living and not with that which is earthly neither had he a Scripture without him to be his Rule and so he walking with him who is the Life came to be translated that he should not see Death Gen. 5. 24. Heb. 11. 5. And Noah who was Perfect in his Generation found Grace in the sight of the Lord. Consider this he found that by which man comes to be saved for by Grace man is saved which Grace to all men hath appeared and so Noah found that which bringeth Salvation which is the Grace of God in the Heart and thereby he came to do God's Will and not by any thing that was earthly nor from a Scripture without Gen. 6. 8 9. Ephes 2. 5 8. Col. 3. 15 16. And Noah who found that by which man is saved him God blessed and his Seed and said The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every Beast of the field and they were to multiply and bring forth abundautly from the living that was within the Earth for by that comes the increase of God and with them God established his Covenant and so Gods Covenant came to be established with him who found that in the Heart by which man is saved Gen. 9. 1 2 7 8 9. And the Lord who is the one Spirit was Abraham's Leader from his Kindred and Father's House and so Abraham heard that which was living and obeyed that which was spiritual who had not a Scripture to be his Rule and unto him the Lord appeared and blessed and in the time of the grievous Famines he and his seed was fed Gen. 12. 1 2 7 8 9 10. And he that is led by the Spirit comes thereby to receive feedings when the Famine comes upon them who are led by another thing and Abraham who followed the Lord was called the Friend of God and he through believing became the Father of many Nations and he saw the day of Christ the Light and obeyed the Word which liveth and abideth forever 1 Pet. 1. 23. and being led by that which is living from his Father's House and out of his Country so by that which is living was he preserved and him God loved and to him afterward the Word of the Lord did come saying Fear not Abraham I am thy Shield and thy exceeding great Reward And Abraham answered the Lord and the seed which God blessed came forth of his Loins who are led by the Spirit Gen. 15. 1. Heb. 11. 8 9. And on the contrary Nimrod who began to be a mighty one in the Earth he went hunting before the Lord who is the one Spirit and now there is that first which is earthly and much earthly Wisdom whereby man goeth hunting before the Spirit comes the which should not be but man should stand still and not hunt and see the Salvation of God and so receive the Spirit to lead or go before him and not to run or hunt before the Spirit but let it lead man as it s written As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God Rom. 8. 14. but Nimrod hunted before God who is a Spirit and he was one of the seed of Ham who was the Father of
Greatness of thy strength prevail against the Almighty If so then mayest thou stand in thy Wayes O City of London but if not thy Misery will be great and who shall bemoan thee in that day or pity thee in the time of thy Distress Forasmuch as thou hast refused the counsel of the Lord and rejected the voice of his Servants in the midst of thee and hearkened not to his Word in thy own Bowels but also slighted the many VVarnings of the Lord by his Servants who were sent of him in love to thee that thou mightest come to serve him and not thy own Pleasure proceeding on from Year to Year like a monstrous Woman who regardeth not the Voice nor Person of Husband nor Friend Oh! what shall be said unto thee Must thou needs be left for Desolation And must thou be left as a Woman forsaken Will thy Lovers help thee in the Day of Trouble or thy delightsom Pleasures preserve thy Heart from Judgment or thy glorious Riches hide thee from the burning Torments If thou lovest thy Wages of Vanity more than God and thy Hearts lust more than thy Maker and wilt not turn speedily from it to seek the Lord in thy Heart then mayst thou post on as thou art going hastily to the Pit and with much eagerness to the Gulf of Misery where none can help thee And then will thy Feasting be turned into Famine thy Beauty into Dust thy Glory into Shame and thy Honour into Contempt as thou hast seen it come to pass upon others whose Glory and Strength was as great as thine by whom thou hast not taken warning by a thorow and speedy returning unto the Lord with all thy Heart Therefore will God search thee and judge thee according to what is found in the midst of thee and thou shalt be awakened in the day of God's anger and be sensible of the Torment when it cometh For though God hath also tryed thee with giving thee thy Hearts desire yet hast thou not been thereby humbled and though the Lord hath visited thee in loving-kindness yet hast thou walked loftily nay moreover thou hast taken occasion thereby to be the more exalted and art going in the Steps of them that the Lord so lately for such things overturned before thee that it cannot yet be forgotten And dost thou or the Rules in thee think to establish your selves by acting such things for which God overtured many mightier then you Therefore O City think not to establish thy self by Blood nor to be setled by way of Revenge for though some men may have done some things unjust against some of you and others so that God may justly by you scourge them sore for it yet wherein you do it in the way of Revenge or to Avenge your own cause or to set up your selves in Self-ends like them before you therein God will also find out a Scourge for you And this I have seen that the Great men of the Earth stand in slippery places and their great strength before the Lord is as Smoke before the Wind. My counsel is therefore That thou fear the Lord and turn from the Way thou art in and let thy Judges know that the Lord will judge them and let thy Rulers understand that the Lord will rule over their Strength and Wisdom and let thy Teachers perceive that God is come to teach his own Children And let the Kings Heart be upright before the Lord in this the day of his Tryal and time of Visitation from God the shortness or length thereof being hid from him over whom God ruleth as it pleaseth him who is cutting his Work short in Righteousness Therefore let all thy Inhabitants O thou great City from the highest to the lowest take good heed unto their Wayes and the Intents which are in them for the Lord seeth the Secrets of all your Hearts H. S. ANd that thou mayst not altogether disesteem of this Vision concerning thee and that thy Wise men may not esteem it as a thing of nought which is published for thy good and brought forth for thy Warning and declared to set before thee thy state at hand that thou mightest be warned before-hand and come to find something in thy self whereby thou mightst stand in the day of Tryal and endure in the hour of Trouble or otherwise Gods Servants might seal up the Visions and Revelations of God in the Book of Secrets and treasure them in the enlightned Chambers of the Heart where God is revealing his Secrets to those that fear him Therefore shall I write what hath been formerly shewed most whereof being come to pass and the rest hasteneth In my former Vision in the dayes of the former Rulers I saw on a Hill many Trees together standing which were both great and tall but they were very old and of a long standing and many of their lofty Boughs were broken and battered and many hanged downward which pressed down the Trees and they were old withering and decaying and had not grown a long time and were but as a Wonder to the Beholders though they had been of great account and the chief Trees among or over the rest and it was so that I beheld them much even with admiration to see such Trees in such a state which was more to this purpose than is here exprest and I beheld until all these Trees were rooted up out of the Earth and so overturned every one and their dead Bodies lay in a confused manner and were fallen one upon another and the Ground upon which they stood was broken up and then there was some room and liberty and Light came in and I walked and looked every way both upon the Light and the great Desolation of these great Ones The Interpretation whereof may be read by such as can but see And though this great overturning befell those great tall and strong Trees and that light came into that Ground over which those fruitless Trees stood yet I beheld round about and near unto it much Briars Brambles and Thorns in abundance which covered the Earth and it was such Rubbish that it was never like to be fit for any thing but to have a Fire kindled among it and it was so thick and so strong that there was no passing in nor through it but only where the narrow Way was and there also those Briars would catch on every side and he that passed through must stoop very low And what those Briars and Thorns were let those Brambles read who covered the Earth with their Multitudes in Raging Swearing Cursing Shouting Roaring and Drinking the Health as they call it of their King at his coming And near unto the place of the Destruction of those great Trees was there a Child in great Desolation in a close place where it had been a long time and was not like yet to be released but remained in want and misery which mine Eye pitied and in Irons and my Heart was sadned for it and the
his Goodness the praises of the Lord ascend up to Heaven whose Mercies refresh the Earth Oh that you might partake with me of the unspeakable Blessings of God and feel and receive in your selves the true Tenders and Offers of the tenderness of my Love hereby presented unto you that you might feel your Hearts begin to open therewith to receive the same that in the Life of the Spirit of Truth you may truly perceive me to be present praising the Lord with you and likewise pertaking with you of your sufferings having also Acquaintance of your Grief and being truly sensible of your manifold Tryals and Tribulations The Lord preserve you to the end thereof And Friends let not your hearts be sad neither be ye overmuch cast down with any thing whatsoever of which I forbare to mention neither be ye discouraged by reason of any thing that the Lord bringeth or suffereth to come to pass either amongst us or concerning us neither let the multitude of Tryals nor the length of dayes therein cause you in the least to distrust the Lord who in his secret Wisdom in the end of all things bringeth forth good unto such who in all conditions and under all Tryals do truly love and cleave unto the Lord their strength But why should I multiply words The intent of my heart is that you might have benefit by the increase of the same love of God and the Springings forth thereof of the which we have all received For you know the Truth which teacheth all things and a measure of that Life from whence all these words do come which do service for the Lord and are helpful to his Servants and comfortable to his Chosen people and for the refreshing of the tender Lambs and the building up of the members in the holy Unity to grow up in the holy Life for the honour of his Glorious Name forever in whose blessed Name Life Strength and Virtue is found the which indeed is become a true Refuge unto the Chosen Israel of God where they are succoured when none can help and where they are preserved when none other can uphold unto whom they can pour forth their Complaints in secret and Address themselves at every needful time whose complaints are never by him rejected nor turned back upon the Upright hearted as sometimes it hath been when help or comfort hath been expected from some of the Children of men who may also be tempted and in danger of being overcome but the Lord can never be overcome neither can he ever Err in his Understanding or mistake in his Judgments nor reject that which is truly simple and tender neither yet receive that which is deceitful though appearing or seeming never so Glorious Let all Friends whose hearts are tender in the tenderness thereof still return unto him from that which causeth a hardness and out of that which bringeth distrust to leave that which bringeth darkness into the mind and so to get from the barren places into the fruitful Habitation of the living Then shall Peace flow as a River and Unity shall flourish as the varieties of the various Flowers in the Field and Righteousness shall spread over all as the Morning dew and then the Beauty of the Righteous shall shine and the Glory of the Lord shall yet more abundantly appear and fruit shall encrease as in the Summer season and the Vineyard of the Lord shall yet again flourish in Righteousness and the Lord shall be glorified in his Saints who is greatly admired by all them that truely believe Oh! that the seed might lift up the head Oh! that the Plants of Righteousness might spring that the true Mourner might be comforted That fruit might abound in abundance That the weak might receive strength That the Seed of the Lamb may know the Boldness of the Lyon That all might be refreshed together and that you all might live and grow and encrease with the Encreases of God The Lord God of Heaven and Earth grant these things unto you and fulfill them in you that you may be filled with Virtue and wax bold and Valiant to the end in the noble Life of the honourable Power of God whose Name is blessed for evermore Amen From Winchester Prison is this sent forth towards you and the true Love and Simplicity of Heart by your Brother in the fellowship and Testimony of Jesus and the Bonds of the Gospel Humphry Smith To the Young and Tender and to the late Convinced People of God amongst the rest of the Elect and already Chosen whose outward Habitations are in and near the County of Essex To be read amongst them in much Wisdom Meekness Deliberation and most chiefly in the true fear of the Lord God THe sound of the everlasting Truth of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth hath passed through and amongst you and the Word of his Power in the dread of his holy Name hath been published within your borders and the way of everlasting Life and Righteousness hath plainly been declared to the understanding and the Covenant of everlasting Peace and Truth hath been tendred unto your Hearts and the Day of Visitation from God hath been freely offered unto your Souls and the things which belong to your everlasting happiness hath been set before your Eyes and those things of the Kingdom of God which pertain to the Sons of men to know in the power of his Wisdom and in the strength of his Might hath been demonstrated among you and the tender Call of God in the day of his love hath been unto you Oh that your Hearts might retain it forever and that your Eyes might be abundantly opened to see into the unsearchable things of God! Oh that your understandings might yet be more opened to receive the Riches of the invisible Truth of God! Oh that your Hearts might come to be more enlarged therewith and that you who have known the Call of God and felt the working of his Grace in your hearts unto a true Convincement might all come to live the Life of Righteousness end forever hereafter to walk from that more and more which you are truly convinced of to be evil either in Word or Deed or any manner of Practice whatsoever and to walk with more Circumspection and Integrity and Faithfulness to the Lord in obedience unto all things truly made known unto you to be right and justifiable in the sight of the God of Heaven This certainly is the breathings of my Soul unto the God of Heaven for your everlasting Well-fare And the true desire of my present enlarged Heart for your Eternal Happiness is That as the Lord of Heaven and Earth hath counted you worthy of his Call in the power of his Grace which bringeth Salvation unto all you may not judge your selves unworthy of the Kingdom of God but may cleave unto his Truth in the inward parts leaving all that which hath kept you from it whatsoever it be and all that which hath
A COLLECTION Of the several Writings and Faithful Testimonies OF THAT Suffering Servant of God and Patient Follower of the Lamb Humphry Smith Who Dyed a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus in Winchester Common-Goal the 4th day of the 3d Moneth in the Year 1663. I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not only to me but to them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. LONDON Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane near Shoreditch 1683. George Fox HIS TESTIMONY CONCERNING Humphry Smith NOW concerning our dear Friend and Brother Humphry Smith who formerly had been a Preacher and a Man of Note but when it pleased the Lord to call him by his Grace and reveal his Son in him he came to be an able Minister of Jesus Christ and freely did preach the Gospel as he had received it freely and was cast in Prison for the Testimony of Jesus at Eversham in Worcestershire where he suffered very much in Oliver's days about the year 1655. and besides several other Goals that it may be party said of him as it was of Paul who had been zealous among the Letter-Professors and who had then esteem of him but when he came to possess Christ Jesus and to preach him then they hated him and persecuted him Yet through the Eternal Power of the Lord he was upholden through his Sufferings and travelled through many Hardships for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and did convert and turn many to the Lord Jesus Christ that had been outward Professors as he himself had been to the Possession of Christ so that he did see and was comforted in the Fruits of his Labours in Christ and his Grace And at last he was cast into Winchester-Goal where he ended his days and finisht his Testimony in an hard Imprisonment who there dyed in the Lord and rests from his Labour whose Works follow him Whose Memorial is blest among the Righteous in the Lords Heritage for he was a worthy Souldier and Follower of the Lamb and kept his Habitation in Christ Jesus in whom he now sleeps G. F. London the 8th of the 11th Moneth 1682. A TESTIMONY Concerning the Servant of Christ Humphry Smith DECEASED With Respect to his Life Testimony and Service for the Lord in his day ALthough I have not read all the Books and Writings given forth in Truths behalf by our dear Friend and Brother Humphry Smith and therefore cannot knowingly give particular account thereof as to all his Writings though many sound and weighty Experimental things I am sure he has written yet from the knowledge which I had of him his Conversation and Testimony and the living Society I had with him for some time before his Course was finished I have this Testimony nakedly and in the sight of the Lord to bear That he was a man fearing God and hating Iniquity fervent and zealous against Deceit and Hypocrisie and endued with a heavenly Gift and Gospel Testimony which he faithfully bore in his day according to his Ability and the Lord was with him and he was well beloved among his People He endured the Cross and bore Afflictions patiently and he was a great Sufferer in divers Goals and Persecutions for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Testimony which he declin'd not And he was in the Name of the Lord instrumental and helpful with other faithful Brethren and Servants of Christ to break through rough Oppositions perverse Gain-sayings and Persecutions of many Adversaries to the Life of Christianity even in those days of great Hardships and deep Sufferings not long after the first breaking forth of the Gospel Day to many in this Age and in divers parts of our professing Nation the Exercises deep Sufferings and Tryals of that day and time many now have not known the sharpness of since which the Lord has been with his faithful Servants all along and prospered his Work among the sincere Receivers of his Truth in the love thereof and the Lord our God hath crowned the Labours of his faithful Witnesses whose Dayes are ended in Peace among whom this Honest and Upright hearted man Humphry Smith had his Share and Portion and hath his Crown that fades not and his Inheritance Everlasting in the Kingdom of his and our Heavenly Father among the Spirits of Just Men in Glory I am really satisfied as knowing the End of the Upright Man to be Peace and that in the sight of the Lord the Death of his Saints are Precious as their Life is Acceptible And I pray God that all Friends and all those that yet remain with a Testimony for him and his holy Truth may be preserved in and with tender Regard unto the same Footsteps of the faithful and blessed Flock to the end of their Dayes as those that truly have respect to the Recompence of Reward and Kingdom that 's set before which will remain and stand us in stead when our Dayes Times and Years here are expired and gone George Whitehead London the 4th of the 8th Moneth 1682. THE Faithfulness of the Upright MADE MANIFEST Being a Testimony concerning the Life Death and Sufferings of a precious Servant of the Lord called Humphry Smith Who dyed a Prisoner for witnessing unto the living Truth in Winchester Common-Goal the 4th day of the 3d Moneth 1663. ARE thy famous Works ever to be forgotten Are thy Noble and Valiant Acts to be blotted out of the Memory of the Righteous Is thy holy innocent pure Life to be buried in Oblivion as not to be remembred by us any more Are thy Sufferings with all thy valiant Engagements with the Enemies of thy God to be blotted out of the Record of the Children of the most High Oh! what saith my Soul Nay nay let it be had in living Remembrance among the Followers of the Lamb and let it be written upon the Tables of their Hearts even to all Generations And as concerning this man he from his Youth upwards had desires after the Lord and he was often check'd by his Father because of his Solidity he mourned mightily after the Lord while he was yet a Child yea and panted after the God that made him He followed the zealous Professors and encreased mightily in that Knowledge which stands in the Comprehension yea exceeded many of his equals but at last the Lord seperated him for his own glory and sent him forth in his own Power and Eternal Name so he led him by the hand through the Wilderness and bore up his head above the Waves which sought to destroy him he became a Talk and a By-word unto them with whom before he had his Conversation yea they sought to destroy him in a moment but yet the Lord led him in the way and gave him the threshing Instrument that belongs to
upon him insomuch that in five days time he was so weak that he could scarcely help himself then he also sent a Letter unto Judge Terril signifying his Illegal dealing with him and also gave him to know that he was very Ill but there was little done in the thing so he grew weaker and weaker so that two men did turn him in his Bed and in the time of his Sickness he spake several precious words to Friends signifying unto them That he was given up in the will of the Lord either in Life or Death and as he lay under a great sit of the Feaver he said My heart is filled with the Power of God and then said It is good for a man at such a time as this to have the Lord to be his Friend Another time he said Lord thou sentst me forth to do thy Will and I have been faithful unto thee in my small measure which thou hast committed unto me but if thou wilt yet try me further thy will be done Also he said I am the Lords let him do what he will And near the time of his departure he cryed earnestly unto the Lord and said O Lord hear the inward Sighs and Groans of thine Oppressed and deliver my poor Soul from the Oppressor O Lord hear me O Lord uphold and preserve me I know that my Redeemer liveth Thou art strong and mighty O Lord with several other precious words Also about the same time he prayed unto the Lord That he would deliver his People from their cruel Oppressors and that those that were convinced or brought forth by him that the Lord would be their Teacher He lay very quiet and still and not any unsavoury word proceeded out of his Mouth all the time of his Sickness but he behaved himself like a Lamb and he was very sensible unto the last Moment he was faithful unto the Lord in his day and a Crown Everlasting is upon his head which shall rest upon him when all his Oppressors shall gnash their Tongues for pain and vexation of Heart as some of them have felt already yea and the full Cup of the Lords Indignation is preparing for all them who delight in Cruelty He was very meek and of a quiet Spirit very loving to all that had the least appearance of the Light springing up in them yea if any knew not the Light which condemns the sin then in the Meekness of the Love everlasting he would open unto them the way thereunto and labour mightily to bring them to the knowledge of it Oh! how great was his love to the eternal Truth which abounded in his heart and how would he groan for the lost Sheep surely his Love was more than my Tongue can express and his Courage did abound in a great measure he delighted not in vain Janglings nor Disputings of men of Corrupt Minds but in the simplicity of the Gospel of Peace which is his Crown forever and ever What shall I say his Life is swallowed up in Immortality and is no more to be seen in the visible yet he reigns over all Whisperers Back-biters and Slanderers of his innocent Life forever Thou Renowned Judge in Israel thou Valiant Souldier of the Lambs Host Peace is thy Portion forever Blessings will fill thine House and Fruitfulness will attend thy Seed as they abide in the Counsel of him who was the Bishop of thy Soul N. C. BUt O you Rulers of England what shall I say unto you Must you needs be made a perpetual Reproach unto all that come after you And is your delight wholly in Persecuting of the Innocent O Cruel Men O Merciless Men Will nothing but the Lives of Gods dear Servants satisfie your bloody Wills Surely the Lord God will visit you in his Wrath and sweep you away in his sore Displeasure yea in the dreadful Flames of the Burnings of his Vengeance will he cast you Oh! you Unsatiable Vigorous Tyrannical Idolatrous Men What! is Cruelty your Delight And is it Blood that you thirst after as after Wine which will not satisfie your Lustful Desires And is it nothing but the eternal Truth which you would not have so much as come into your Coasts worse than Barbarians How do you evilly intreat those who come in the love of the Lord to preach Repentance in your Streets and you take away the Lives of such who come to publish Salvation unto poor Sinners Surely your Unjust Dealings are come up before the God whom you so much contemn in his Servants and your Unrighteous Actions against them whom he hath sent in his own Name are pierced into the Bowels of the God of the Humble hearted who will surely plead with you in his Indignation and utterly destroy you in his Wrath if you Repent not speedily and humble your selves under his Righteous Judgments Wherefore I say Repent Repent for the Consumation is at hand yea the swift Vengeance of the Eternal God is nigh to be revealed upon all the Disobedient and the utter Wo and Calamity of all the Merciless with the cruel hearted is coming yea nigh to come which shall make a final End of all the Rebellious and Stiff-necked Ones whose Hearts are hard as the Adament Wherefore Awake Awake sleep not in your Wickedness in this day which is coming as a Thief in the Night upon you but arise up from Cruelty and shake your selves of the Garments of the Pollution of Blood which hath stained you Cleanse your selves of your Idolatry and clear your selves if you can of the Lives of Gods Servants which have dyed in your Prisons but if you cannot then known be it unto you That God will not spare the best of those that have had a hand in these things and shall persist therein but will destroy them utterly and Curse them from his Presence for evermore and in this I shall be clear of all your Blood when it comes upon you Nicholas Complin Written the 21th of the 4th Moneth 1663. William Jenings's Testimony concerning Humphry Smith THis is my Testimony for that man of God viz. my dear antient Friend Humphry Smith who dyed a Prisoner for the blessed Truth in Winchester Prison I being with divers more Friends in Prison with him for the Truth 's sake a long time before and also at his departure have this to say of him viz. That he was a man whose deportment and behaviour amongst us in Prison was comely yea even as a Father that takes care for his Children even so was his care and oversight over us he was a faithful Overseer indeed and one that minded the Lords business and certainly it s well with him He was kept very sensible in his sickness whereof he dyed was not heard to speak one unsavoury word although his exercise was not small through much weakness and in the time of his weakness near his death his crys were to the Lord for the preservation of his People who were dear and near unto him so that
he left a good savour behind him for even such as were not Friends in the Prison where he dyed were made to speak well of him he was so innocent in his Conversation towards all People William Jenings South-hampton the 11th of the 12th Moneth 1682. The Testimony of Nicholas Gates concerning Humphry Smith DEar Friends Brethren and Sisters in Christ Jesus and all tender hearted People to whose hands thess Testimonies of our dear Friend Humphry Smith may come these few words arose in my heart to signifie concerning him I having had good experience of his Labours and Travails in the preaching of the Gospel of Christ Jesus with many more who were often comforted and refreshed in the sence of the Lords blessed Power which attended him in the living Testimonies he did bear concerning that Gift of God which is to be known in man he was a faithful Labourer in the work and service of the Lord and a patient Sufferer under the many Tryals that did befall him in his day he never murmured at the Exercises that he met withal through Wicked and Vnreasonable men he constantly testified of and unto the Light of Christ in the inward parts of men and women directing all to that of God in their own hearts affirming with the holy Apostle who said That which was to be known of God is manifest in man He was very powerful through the help of the Lord to the convincing of many and turning them to the Light of Christ in themselves his Testimonies yet live in the hearts of many though he be outwardly removed from us and many have cause to praise the Lord in that he raised him up with many more Brethren and Sisters to testifie of and concerning the Light of Christ within man by which we are made nigh unto the Lord who were afar off To whom be Praises and Thanks-giving forever Nicholas Gates senior Alton the 10th of the 12th Moneth 1682. James Potler's Testimony concâ—rning Humphry Smith GOd having raised up Humphry Smith with many other Brethren to publish and make known his Name in this the Land of our Nativity after a long and tedious Night of Apostacy and though the Name of the Wicked shall Rot yet the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance and many are the seals of his Ministry that were begotten to a lively hope in Christ Jesus through the Word of Life in him besides the many Testimonies left upon Record by him which though he be taken away yet live in the hearts of many bearing Testimony that he was of God and that his Word dwelt plentifully in him yet I being a Sufferer with him for more than a years time in that streight noisom Prison at Winchester and in my measure sensible of his faithfulness to God in that work and service which God had called him to I say the Love of God in my Heart to his Truth and to my deceased Brother constraineth me to give in my Testimony in few words with others of my Brethren to the many Testimonies left by him That he was a man that loved the Lord with an upright heart and that it was as Meat and drink to him to do the will of God delighting more in it than in his daily Food being diligent and laborious in his day and time desiring to spend and be spent for the Gospels sake He was a man very bold and valiant for the Truth and for the Testimony thereof suffered many sharp and hard Imprisonments in several Prisons in this Nation besides very much cruel and inhumane Usage by Wicked and Unreasonable men He was released out of Prison that time which I was Prisoner with him but was afterwards taken from a Meeting at Alton where much of the Lords heavenly Presence was manifested through him by a company of rude Souldiers and had before some Magistrates and committed to the same Prison at Winchester again where after he had been continued some time it pleased the Lord to visit him with sickness which with much patience he passed through yet in all the Lord was good unto him and preserved him in Peace and Contentedness and Submission to his Will magnifying the Name of his God through all being kept sensible and in good and perfect Memory to his decease JAMES POTTER Winchester-Prison the 8th of the 12th Moneth 1682 Edward Waldren's Testimony concerning Humphry Smith I Hearing that the Work and Testimonies left upon Record of that true and faithful Servant of the Lord in whose work and service Humphry Smith was found unto the last are printed in one Volumn I found much stirring and freedom to write this Testimony concerning him that it might be inserted in the Book he being a man that I greatly loved having Acquaintance with him and by him first convinced of the unchangeable Truth and Way of the Lord through the powerful Operation of the Spirit and Word of God that dwelt plentifully in the heart of this faithful Servant of God who loved not his Life to the Death for his Testimonies sake by which he overcame and was found faithful to the end which he finished with joy as by his last words spoken to some Friends doth manifestly appear a little before his decease or laying down of the Body in this close strait nasty stinking Prison or County-Goal in Winchester to the which I this day and time belong and am a Prisoner under the sentence of Praemunire for nothing else but obeying the Doctrine and Command of Christ Jesus because for conscience sake only towards God I cannot Swear at all Humphry was the first in scorn called a Quaker that ever had a publick Testimony for God in the Town of Andever it being a great Meeting in which by his powerful clear Testimony several were convinced though he was then opposed by rude Souldiers Not long after he was cast into this Prison some of those that were convinced by his Testimony that had a love raised to the Lord and some knowledge of his Way and Truth some of these in Andever being thereby led forth to visit Humphry in Prison both Priests and Professors began to stir and be in a rage against and at the breaking forth of Truth in that Town I then being weary of Priests and seperate Professors seeing their Pride Avarice Evil Lives and Conversations though under a specious pretence of God and Godliness but void of the saving knowledge of both I being sensible that this was my Condition and finding and feeling the Judgments of the Lord and the weight and burden of Sin and Iniquity being in the bondage of Corruption like them I had been among under all groaned to be delivered from under the weight and burden thereof into the glorious Liberty and Freedom of the Sons and Daughters of God and being unacquainted with the Way of the Lord or how to do his Will or to have any entrance into the Kingdom that consists in Righteousness Joy and Peace in the holy Ghost which
and here printed A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS Or Chief Heads contained in this VOLUMN THe Sufferings of the Saints at Evesham Or a short Description of the first Ground of the Persecution of the Servants of God Page A Warning to the Priests Magistrates Rulers and Inhabitants of Exon pag. 1. Some of the Effects of the Priests Ministry in Devonshire p. 6. The first and second Priesthood declared according to the Scriptures p. 10. An ALARUM sounding forth unto all the Inhabitants of the Earth as a Warning before the Vials of Everlasting Wrath be poured forth upon them p. 19. A sad and mournful Lamentation for the People of these Nations p. 28. Idolatry declared against p. 46. Man driven out of the Earth and Darkness by the Light Life and Mighty hand of God p. 52. I. Concerning my Call out of the World or my going out from my House Country and Imployment p. 55. II. Concerning my publick Preaching p. 62. The Wandering Star discovered or something in Answer to a Book called The Quakers Blazing-Star or The Worlds Wonder p. 68. A Word to all Professors p. 86. The just Complaint of the Afflicted against the Rulers who oppress the Innocent to be delivered to the Judge of the Sessions at Winchester after pag. 92. To them who have lately believed in the Light and are waiting to receive the Life p. 93. The Two striving within p. 98. The Love of God declared and Satans Wiles discovered p. 102. The Ground Foundation Beginning and Father and Children and Compass and End and the Effects of all the Harpers Musitioners Singers and Dancers p. 108. Divine Love spreading forth forth over all Nations Or the Glorious Day of Vnity Peace and Concord p. 116. To all Parents of Children upon the face of the whole Earth p. 123. The true and everlasting Rule from God discovered and that which proveth all things published from the Spirit of Truth p. 135. A Testimony of the true Prophet who was to come is come and there is not another p. 155. An Invitation from the Spirit of Christ p. 164. The sounding Voice of the dread of Gods mighty Power p. 167. To all that want Peace with God To the Sheep every where not brought home To the thirsty breathing Soul and to the Seed though in Captivity among and in the midst of all Professors p. 175. I. Concerning Mofes's Ministration p. 177. II. Concerning Christ and his Ministration p. 179. III. Concerning the Ministration of the Spirit p. 185. The Vision of Humphry Smith which he saw concerning London in the year 1660. p. 195. To the great Flock of the imprisoned Servants of God Almighty p. 201. A Warning to New-England's pretended Christians p. 207. The Lamb and his day proclaimed p. 211. Six Proposals stated for the Honour of the KING I. By his Subjects Vnity one with another p. 214. II. By his Subjects submission actively or passively unto all his Laws p. 216. III. By his Subjects faithfulness unto him p. 217. IV. By his Subjects Vprightness in their Traffick with other Nations p. 218. V. By his Subjects departing from that which dishonoureth both God the King and themselves p. 218. VI. By his Subjects being the peculiar chosen People of God p. 220. To the Lambs of Christ p. 223. To such in whose hearts the spirit of the Lord is beginning to move his Truth to declare p. 226. Sound things asserted 1. In the Kings own words 2. from late Experience 3. From Scripture-Truth 4. According to Reason and Equity p. 229. Forty four Queries propounded to all the Clergy-men of the Liturgy Also eleaven Reasons why these Queries are proposed p. 236. An Epistle to all the Meetings in Dorsetshire p. 258. To the despised rejected and persecuted Lambs of Christ in the County of Dorset p. 263. One Hundred and Forty four Lines of secret inward Melody and Praise to the Lord p. 269. Hidden things made manifest by the Light in a plain distinction between Condemnation and Temptation p. 272. Concerning Temptation p. 279. A Direction in the way to that within the Vail by which Temptations are overcome p. 285. The Meditations of an humble Heart p. 290. To the espoused Virgin p. 293. Something how the Marriage of the underfiled Lamb and Virgin came at first to be P. 295. To all dear Friends who keep faithful in their measures to the end P. 297. To the meek and open hearted Lambs and Flock of Heaven P. 301. The Cause of the long Afflicted and sore Oppressed sent forth from Winchester Prison P. 309. The Answer to the Mittimus P. 310. A Copy of a Paper sent to the Sessions P. 312. To the Sons of men P. 317. To Friends at Ailsbury Prison and in them parts P. 323. To the the Young and Tender and to the late Convinced People of God amongst the rest of the Elect and already Chosen P. 328. Concerning Tythes P. 335. To my nearly related Friend Elizabeth Smith P. 363. THE Sufferings Tryals Purgings Of the SAINTS at EVESHAM Who by their Obedience to the Lord in their Measures do overcome their Enemies by their daily suffering under them Or A short Description of the first Ground of the Persecution of the Servants of God occasioned by the Priests and the continual Proceedings of the Magistrates against them called Quakers AS the Priests were always Enemies unto Christ and his Disciples so do they continue persecuting the Saints laying Snares for the Innocent and smiting with the Tongue Jer. 18. 18. and stirring up the Rulers and the rude Multitude making Uproars and Insurrections against the Saints as they did against Christ and his Ministers for the chief Priests assembled with the Scribes and Elders of the People consulted how they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill him yet they would not do it on the Feast day lest there should be an Vproar among the People Mat. 26. 3 4 5 But the chief Priest and Rulers in Evesham after their Consultations how to ensnare the Innocent did come on the first day to ensnare us but standing in the counsel of God we were preserved from their first Snare which they laid for us I having notice of it before in bringing the whole multitude to provoke or entrap us the which when they could not do though hundreds of them gathered together about the Door where I and many of the Servants of the Lord were like those that gathered together about Lot's door Gen. 19. 4 5. yet none of them could provoke us to words nor had they any way to ensnare us then as afterwards will appear And after the chief Priests had hired Judas for thirty pieces of Silver to betray Christ Mat. 26. 15. and after Judas had brought again the thirty pieces of Silver then the chief Priests took the same Money for the which Judas had sold Christ and with it they bought a field of Blood Mat. 27. 6 7 8. So the chief Priests have purchased unto themselves and all their Generation with
the price of Blood a field a Blood to bury all those that are strangers to the Covenant of Grace So Gog who makes War with the Saints hath a place of Graves in Israel Ezek 39. 11. ver 19 20. and the dead are burying the dead for both Priests and People are prophane and dead in Trespasses and in Sins their hands being guilty of the Blood of the Righteous And after Christ was betrayed by the means of the Priests and when Pilate who would have released him they taught the People to ask for a Murderer and and destroy Jesus Mat. 27. 20. and such teachings the Priests do use now And after Jesus was by their means crucified and after he was risen then they consulted again with the Elders and they gave large Money unto the Souldiers to tell Lyes and taught them so to do that their murdering Actions might be hid and the Disciples falsly accused Mat. 28. 11 12 13. And the Servant is not greater than his Master whom they have called Belzebub much more them of his Houshold And as the chief Priests have consulted against and crucified Christ and denyed him in the Resurrection so they still continue persecuting and consulting against his Members harmless Lambs and faithful Ministers and there is little Persecution in England but the Priests have a hand in it if not the first Actors of it as thou George Hopkins Priest of Evesham hadst in all the barbarous Persecution there for after I and other Friends kept Meetings in private at Bengard in this Burrough of Evesham and none did make Insurrections against us neither did we give offence to any therefore thou couldst not find any ground at all to ensnare us by Then upon the 19th day of the 6th Moneth 1655. on that day didst thou with the Magistrates and the rest seek to ensnare us it being the First day of the Week and I being at Bengard at an appointed Meeting and thou being in thine accustomed Steeple-house in Evesham both parts of the day as thy custom was and after thou hadst done according to thy custom then thou and the rest came from that Steeple-house to the Steeple-house in Bengard and with thee didst thou bring the whole Congregation both the called Justices and Magistrates and rude People several hundreds the like seldom heard of And that thou camest on purpose to entrap us and stir up Persecution and smite with the Tongue will appear by these things following 1st Thou wast not use to come to that Steeple-house neither didst thou come there in the like manner before 2dly In thy coming that day on which I was there for I was there but seldom upon First days 3dly In that thou hadst thy Congregation with thee in thy Steeple-house at Evesham where thou mightst have said any thing to them then and there as well as to bring the same Congregation to another Steeple-house to hear the same man 4thly There were no People in Bengard but did or might come to hear thee in thy accustomed place as they were used to do 5thly In that thou hast not been in that Steeple-house since that day it being now fifteen weeks 6thly In that when thou wast come there thou didst speak evil of things thou didst not know and back-bite others And those thou didst bring with thee even this one Congregation to them distst thou say O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth And I say unto thee if thou hadst not bewitched them they would not have obey'd thee but the Truth to come there to hear thy Lyes for many there thou didst declare as to thy face was proved by Robert Smith for the which he was imprisoned eleaven weeks 7thly It will appear by thy Sorcery which thou didst then vent forth making that thy ground in Gal. 3. 1. thy heads thereof in short as it was brought to me in writing witnessed by many and not denyed but confessed with thy own Mouth since to me are as followeth Thou didst liken that which is called Quaking 1st Vnto Witch-craft 2dly In three Respects worse than Witchcraft 3dly Vnto Pharisees who ware Hats like Morters 4thly To Papists in some things and in some things worse And thou sayst Some sold their Bibles and others cast them behind their backs For the which thou wast declared to be a Lyar at the Sessions Lastly Thou didst conclude thy Sorcery with stirring up them called Justices and Magistrates to put the Oath of Abjuration in execution telling them That if men might refuse to swear out of tenderness of Consciences then that might be a Cloak long enough for all the Jesuites that might come into England And after thou hadst done and returned not meeting with any opportunity to ensnare me being I did not speak to any of you but continued with Friends until Constables came that night and took me out of the House and brought me before thee and two others that are set to do Justice but since I and many more have seen them and the Mayor to be most barbarous Heathens And when thou couldst not entangle me in my words whereby to send me to Prison at last you tendered the Oath of Abjuration unto me who am bound for Conscience sake not to Swear at all but to abide in the Doctrine of Christ Mat. 5 34. Therefore at last I was sent to Prison though thou at that time wast twining like the Serpent to wash thy hands like Pilate as if thou hadst not been the cause of my Imprisonment for thou didst say Thou didst believe that I did refuse to Swear out of tenderness of Conscience and bid the Justices do their Wills by me And thou didst see their Wills were to send me to Prison because I could not Swear unto the which thou hadst before stirred them up So Pilate said of Christ I am innocent â—f the Blood of this Person whom Pilate himself acknowledged to be just and could find no cause of Death in him yet he delivered him up to be crucisied Mat. 27. 20 24 26. And when we were first brought into the House then John Nickles one of the Constables smote Thomas Cartrite on the head and the Justices stood by and cared not for it and afterwards our Hats were taken off our heads and thrown among the feet of the People Then they asked me from whence I came I answered from Aegypt Then there was a Laughter among them both Priest Justices and People for the Fools heart is full of Laughter And after they had continued so I was moved of the Lord to speak to them thus O People is there no fear of God before your Eyes Did ever the Saints of Christ live in Laughing Mocking and Wantonness Then the Priest to uphold them in it said That Elijah did Mock Baals Priests Answ Though he did so yet it is not convenient to bring that Scripture to justifie the People in Mocking Then Theophilus Andrus said He hath spoken enough
righteous Seed so that Mayor Edmond Young said He would break our Meetings or else his Bones should lie in the Dirt. The which he did upon the 14th day of the 8th Moneth being the first day of the Week on the which in the Morning Friends met in private and not in the Street and as two Friends of the Town were going to that Meeting the Mayor laid Hands on them and put them in Prison and in the latter part of the day Friends met in the Street where they used to do where they were without any disturbance until the Mayor came with Officers and said It was an unlawful Assembly and said If there were above eight Persons met together it was an unlawful Assembly And presently laid Hands on Friends and pulled and thrust and kickt and put many in the Prison and in the Stocks and put me and two more in the Dungeon and when he saw that Friends were not afraid of him neither did any run away then he said He wanted another Prison for the Women for he had imprisoned Men in four several places that time when this was done he commanded his Sargeant to make proclamation and command in the Name of the Protector That every one should depart thence on pain of Imprisonment when he wanted more Prisons to put them in Thus he broke our Meetings who harmed not any nor resisted his Violence and then he said If we would meet in Houses or in the Fields he would not molest us Yet on the next First day he saw one of the Town going alone to a Meeting that we had then appointed in a House and him he put in Prison And so I being that Day put in the Dungeon where I now am as once before I was put in for Praying then he endeavoured to keep all People from me and for several Dayes and Nights we were denyed having Candles in this dark Dungeon at last he sent us each man a Penny-worth of Bread and a half Penny-worth of Beer a day the which the Goaler said was the Towns allowance but we still denyed it and sent him word That if we should not have Food for our Money or from our Friends then we should be without it So at last when we could have Bread from our Friends and Water then we did eat and drink and praise the Lord whose presence is with us Thus he much indeavoured to bring us into slavery unto his corrupt will which was according to the Words of Robert Atkins that sate Judge at the Sessions who then said to me thus You have been kept very high all this while but I shall take a course e'er I go hence that you shall be kept shorter And the Mayor Edmond Young caused a Trap-door to be made into the Dungeon locked down and all our Bedding and Bed-cloathes that Friends had sent us to be taken from us and will not let our Friends have it again Joshua Frensham a Prisoner having much pain with his Teeth did something earnestly desire that whilst he was a Prisoner he might have the use of a Pillow that was taken away which was his own but it was denyed On the second day after we were put in the Dungeon a Friend brought some Straw for us to lie on and the Goaler would not suffer it to be brought into us because he would not give him Money to unlock the Doors Once I sent to the Mayor to have Liberty for some man or Friend to fetch out our Dung from us and he denyed it and sent for a Constable to put that Friend in the Stocks that came to ask it And before I came in the Dungeon sometimes our Boxes and Writings were taken from us and sometimes our Stools that we had to sit or write upon and our Candles Besides eight Friends being Prisoners at the Goalers House were much abused by him the which I shall forbear to write only thus he said unto them If they would not pay four Pence a Night for each mans Lodging and eight Pence a Meal for each mans Diet then they should go all to the main Goal Which they refused to satisfie his Will in neither were they used to eat of his Diet being all Towns men But sometimes he would not suffer their Wives nor any other Friend to bring their Diet to them nor yet to come into them Then a man gained leave of him that dwelt next the Goaler and so went through his House and brought Food to the Prisoners which when the Goaler saw he threatned that man which had let him through and took the Beer from them intending by such Actions to force them to his will which they would not be subject to therefore he brought them all to the main Goal and then he said unto us That if he might have his will he would Hang us all And he had said before He might do what he would unto us for we should have no benefit of the Law neither durst any Lawyer plead for us Then were them eight kept in the Goal and we three in the Dungeon under them five dayes to our own Dung as I and some of us have been kept in this Prison and Dungeon with our own Dung in the same Room from time to time for this fourteen Weeks And as for the Prison it is not 12 Foot square but one Goal hole belonging to it four Inches wide where we took in our Food and Straw to lie upon and were forced to burn Candle every day when we have it by reason the Prison is so dark and so close and so many in so little room and so little Air with the stink of our own Dung all which might have occasioned the Death of some e'er this time and one they kept with me in the Dungeon until he had been sick after turned him once in the Night out and some others have not been well by reason of the exceeding closeness of the Prison whereby sometimes the stink of the Prison hath been so strong forth in the Street that People could not indure to stand by it sometimes when the dayes were hot the Breath of some Prisoners was almost stopt and lay for several dayes like men asleep and when dayes are at the coldest we have not room nor place either to make Fire or to walk to keep our Bodies warm Yet there is a large Prison over our Heads where they do sometimes imprison many of our Friends but that large Prison they will not let us be in neither could we nor Friends for us prevail to have Liberty to walk in that Prison sometimes by day and to come down into the other Prison by Night Therefore let all People whose Hearts are tender towards the Lord take notice how we are not only deprived of outward Liberty without the breach of any Law but are also kept in a most barbarous condition worse than Thieves or Murderers as the Goaler hath said That if we had been in for Theft or
to the Protector the corruption of those that are put in Authority under the Protector who act contrary to the Protector 's Laws against those that have been faithful And there is not any Friend at any time that can by any means since the Sessions gain or have for Money a Copy of our Indictments And let all People take notice that all that is printed in this Book is all but a short Declaration to what might be printed of the Persecutions of Priests Magistrates and People of this Town against the Saints From the Dungeon in Evesham by him that is known to the World by the Name of Humphry Smith A WARNING TO THE Priests Magistrates Rulers A Inhabitants OF EXON That they may be Preserved from the Wrath at hand With some of the Effects of the Priests Minstery in Devonshire whose Fruits have exceeded many and are now brought to light that the simple may return from them who profit not unto Christ the Light who reacheth all to profit and is come to teach YOU who are this day fasting for Strife and Debate that you may smite with the Fist of Wickedness and that you may exalt your selves in Pride vain Glory and Oppression one over another and persecute and imprison the Just and be as Lords over Gods Heritage exercising Authority one over another seeking honor one of another each man seeking his own Interest and not the good one of another pleasing your selves in lying Vanities corrupting your selves in those things which the Righteous Law of God forbiddeth sporting your selves in this the day of the Lord which is stealing upon you all as a Thief in the night so is he coming upon you unawares who are this day mocking God and your own Souls and are with and in Cain's nature offering a Sacrifice to God but the just Witness of God in the particular is murdered and you with your Sacrifices are shut out from the Lord God of Sabboths whose Rest you come not into but are feeding upon the Serpent's Food which is to know and not obey and the young Serpents are nourished and the old Serpent's Head is not broken Iniquity lodgeth in the Heart and Wickedness ruleth in the inward Parts From the Image and Life of God you are all fallen and are gone astray from your Maker and are erred from the right way and gone a Whoring after your own Inventions and have committed Fornication with strange Flesh the Thoughts of your Hearts are Evil and on your Beds do you imagine Mischief one against another and by Deceit and Defraud have you filled your Houses with the Treasures of Aegypt and Darknese is in your Dwellings even thick Darkness that may be felt and from your Eyes are the things of God hid and a Vail is over you and the Seed is in Bondage the partition Wall is yet standing and you are found without among the Dogs and the Sorcerers and the wild Beasts of the Field in the Nature of the Wolf subtil and devouring both the Lamb-like Spirit within and the Lambs without the Flock of God is scattered and the Thorns choak the Seed the fruitless Trees are not cut down the Brambles cover the Ground and Fruit to God is not brought forth but wild Grapes and Leaves and Airy Imaginations in the Subtilty above the Light where the Serpent is twining to keep his hold and this is the Reasoning in mans Will which is not brought to the Cross neither are the Corruptions of the Flesh crucified but you go on in your Sins from day to day and even hate to be reformed Was Sodom and Gomorah guilty of any Sin that is not found this day among you Are you not drinking down Iniquity as the Ox drinketh down Water Nay do you not even say in your Hearts that you are delivered to commit all these Abominations Wo Wo unto you the Lord God of the whole Earth hath a Controversie you his Judgments are as swift as lightning he is coming and is come to try you and to weigh you all in the just Ballance and now all your Coverings are too narrow all you who have made Lyes your Refuge and turned the Grace of God into Wantonness sporting your selves in this the mighty Day of the Lord and are found in Excess Pride Drunkenness and Gluttony ye painted whited Walls guilded Tombs painted over with Saints words but Enemies to the Saints Life even for you am I made to take up a Lamentation for the Wo and Misery coming upon you by reason of your Haughtiness and the Stoutness of your words through the hardness of your Hearts which are not circumcised nor purified by Faith but in them Perversness and the Love of this World hath gotten a room instead of God and so the old Bottles are full of stinking stuff and the Inn is filled with the Guests of this World and there is not room for Christ the Light Life and Son of God to be born up to take away the Sin of the World though you profess him and talk of him yet you complain for lack of Power whereas we bear Testimony That he is come who is the Power of God and unto him that saves from Sin is all Power committed both in Heaven and Earth in whom and by whom alone this Sonship is received and the Victory over the World which knows not God among whom you are seen in the Light that comes from Christ the Son of God who made all men of one Blood to dwell upon the face of the Earth and upholds all by the Word of his Power in whom we live move and have our beeing as the Poets have written and as the Wise and Learned of the Earth have said who came not to feel after find him before whom the Hills tremble and the tall Cedars bow he who is coming to turn your Waters into Gall of Wormwood and your Coverings into burning Pitch and his Jealousie will smoke like Fire against you who are as Stubble ready dried cut off from the stock and withered Wo unto you Workers of Iniquity is not your day at hand that you must depart forever and be no more seen Hath not Hell enlarged her self for the double-minded Ones Yea now is the day wherein the Wrath of God shall be revealed from Heaven upon all Unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness This shall come upon all you who have chosen your own way and are departed from the living God Is not this the Fast that the Lord hath chosen to loose the Bands of Wickedness Observe Wickedness is a Band which must be broken before man comes to offer up living Sacrifices well pleasing unto God who requireth to let the Oppressed go Free and that you break every Yoke Consider is the oppressed Seed of God let go Free the Seed to which the Promise belongs or is not the Iniquity born upon the Shoulders of him that is the Light whereby he is pressed down And are you not
of that Torment you have acted that Cruelty which afterwards the Light of Christ in your own Consciences hath condemned you for and the same will condemn all you forever that Repent not And these things will certainly come to pass and then shall all the Heathen know that the Lord is the same that ever he was and that he hath heard the Cry of the Oppressed and seen the Affliction of his People and taken notice of all your secret Contrivances against them who are born of and led by the Spirit who are as the sound of the Wind unto you that know not whence they come nor whither they go who now suffer by you with Christ and shall reign with him forever and ever when he who is their Life shall appear to confound Zion's Enemies forever and overturn the very Foundations of the Wicked though never so great and high and bring down the Mighty from their Ungodly Seats and overturn the Inventions of the Wicked and pour forth Everlasting Judgment upon the Beast and all them that bear his Mark or worship his Image And when the Whore shall have Blood to drink and the Mouthes of her Merchants stopt forever and all them that love and make Lyes their Refuge with all the Unclean and Unbelieving who receive Honour one of another and all the Blood-thirsty turned into the Lake then shall Righteousness spread over the Nations as the Morning-due and Holiness as the Light of the Sun in Summer and Judgment run down as Water and Peace spring up as a Fountain that overflows and is never dry In that day shall the poor of the Flock be gathered and the Out-casts of Israel return Deliverance shall come to the Captives and Joy to them that have Mourned the Wilderness shall then rejoyce and the Desart be glad for evermore Springs shall arise in the Desart and a Fountain shall be opened in the Wilderness the Standerd of the Lord shall be lifted up on High the scattered in the Desart and the Meek of the Earth shall flow unto it Nations shall turn unto the Lord of Hosts and People be gathered to the Banner of the Most High they shall feed together as the Lambs in the Morning and be satisfied as the Flock in Summer and then shall Zion's Mourners be comforted and filled with Joy forever then shall they shout aloud for Joy with Halelujah for evermore when the Smoke of the Torment of the Whore her Lovers and her Brats ascends up as the Smoke of Sodom forever and ever Then shall Glory Honour and Praise arise from them that were beheaded for the Testimony of Jesus the Light of the World and unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and the captives shall come out of their Captivity and the Prisoner out of the Pit and every Bond-man shall be set at Liberty and those that are at ease and Liberty in the Flesh shall be bound with Chains of Everlasting Darkness forever and ever and they shall be tormented day and night in the presence of the holy Angles and in the presence of the Lamb who is Light even all them who will not that he should reign who is the Lamb the Light and then shall they see Abraham Isaac and Jacob who wandered up and down and were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth these with all their Seed then shall they see in the Kingdom and Dominion of God and they themselves shut out and so the Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus shall they know fulfilled Wherefore Wo Wo Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth and all you the Enemies of the Lamb by reason of the Judgments that are yet to come for your Proud Flesh which is as the Flesh of Horses shall be as Dung upon the Earth and your Flesh is to be given unto the Fowls of the Air to feed upon for the Day of the great Slaughter is at hand and the Battel of the great King shall be set in order and every Battel of the Warrier is with confused Noise and Garments rolled in Blood but this shall be with Burning and Fuel of Fire and Blood shall all them have to drink who are found in Babel the great Whore that long have made the great men of the Earth Rich in whom the Blood of all the Saints is found from Abel unto this day wherein she and her Children are thirsting for the Blood of all them who believe in the Light Written upon the seventh and eight dayes of the 2d Moneth by him who suffers by some of Gogs Army in the House of Correction and common-Goal of Hampshire with the rest of the Lambs of Christ who is the Captain of my Salvation who hath armed me with the whole Armour of God and clothed me with the Armour of Light whereby he hath enabled me to stand in the day of Battel against all the Fiery Darts of the Devil and the Oppressions of Pharoah's Host and yet have nothing to Glory in but in the Lord having received all from him who teacheth my Hands to War and my Fingers to Fight and that not with Carnal Weapons but with Spiritual and deny all Carnal Fightings Qurrellings and Wars that ariseth from the Lust and learneth of him who maketh War in Righteousness and joyns with him in the Battel against the false Prophet the Whore and the Beast and all those that have his Mark in the Hand or in the Fore-head who rise up against them that have their Father's Name written in their Foreheads who is Light in whom I have believed and by whom do expect Deliverance in his due time with all his suffering Seed out of outward Bonds in the which I bear my Testimony against all his Enemies without Respect of Persons or Flattering Titles to any but in Love to the Souls of all though never so Dreadful to that in all which doth the Soul destroy to the which I am never to be reconciled but stand a Witness against until the Just under that arise and witness for me whose Love is only to the Seed of God in all by which I am known read and understood in the Light and of the other called Humphery Smith A Sad and Mournful LAMENTATION For the People of these Nations but especially for the Priests and Leaders of them and the more because of that which is coming to pass And let all People read it and let it have entrance into their Hearts in the fear of God for it is of much Concernment both for Priests Rulers and all People it being the deep Meditations of my Mind and the true Openings with the Light and Revelation of God in my Heart sundry times when my Spirit hath had secret conference with the Lord at such times as I have been absent from men or in the Night season in a true Mournful state of Pity towards the Souls of all Mankind for the Eternal good whereof this is written In Winchester-Prison and House of Correction being a colse Prisoner in a
filthy Hole the 16th day of the 11th Moneth 1658. by me that have him to be my Life who is a man of Sorrows that of men am called Humphry Smith MAny Dayes and Nights and Times and Seasons for many Weeks and Moneths of late Years have many deep and serious Considerations been in me and many Meditations in my Mind and Heart in the true fear of the living God and often times in quietness waiting on the Lord God of Abraham hath my Spirit had secret and private yet plain Conference with the Lord concerning the Teachers and Leaders of the People even the Hireling Priests of England and other Nations and the Followers of them And when I have weighed all in an equal Ballance I have found that it hath been in pure Love to the Souls all Mankind and without Prejudice or Envy to them their Bodies or Persons as they are the Creatures of God and the eternal Witness of God in his Covenant of Life hath and doth and will justifie me herein forever And when I have looked back upon the Teachers and seen what a stir and a noise is made among them about God and Christ and Faith in his Blood and Redemption and Justification by him and all proceeding from that nature in them which is at Enmity with God And when I have seen how many Thousand Thousands and Hundreds of times ten Thousands following of them and Contending Fighting Stoning Whipping and Imprisoning for them and are guided or rather blinded by them And when I have seen what care is taken for them and to uphold them by the great Rulers of the Nations even Protector Council Parliaments and Justices besides many Thousands of bruitish People that are stoning and fighting for them that they might be upheld and maintained yea even in Excess and Fulness from the Peoples hard Labours And when I have seen how many Hundred Thousand Pounds every year they have received from the People And when I seen that notwithstanding all this the People are still in Transgression and so under the Wrath of God and yet know not how to come out of their Sin which separateth from God but that many Thousands dye in their Sins and many more are pleading for Sin and many end their dayes in a Bed of Torment gasping strugling grovelling and raiging in unquietness under the horrible Terrors of the unutterable fierce Indignation of the Wrath of the Almighty and so go down into the Pit forever as many have done not knowing a resting place in the peaceable stillness of God's Covenant of Life and Peace Oh! when I say I have beheld and deeply considered these things and many more which might be named and seriously pondered them in my Heart from a true sense of God's Pity to the precious Souls of all Mankind and from a true Understanding of the Terrible Woâ—s VVrath Horor and Perplerity of Spirit that then comes upon such who thus due in their Sins not reconciled to God even then hath my heart been broken within me and mine Eyes as Fountains of Tears and a sad Lamentation night and day hath come upon me and a true Mâ—â—rning for the slain of the People who thus are cut off from God and separated from the Land of the Living O Wo is me because of these things my Soul hath been oppressed and my Spirit grieved and to the Lord alone hath a grievous Cry ascended up and I have said Oh that I could Mourn and Weep yet more in secret because of these things And when I have looked upon the Priests and People I have seen plainly and truly from the Lord God That the Spirit of Error and Ignorance in them hath been and is the very cause of all this Disorder Soul-Perishing state that is in and upon the Sons of men and their continuance therein then hath my Spirit said within me The Soul that sinneth it must dye but the Lord will require their Blood at the hands of those that have caused them to Err And the Lord hath said unto me concerning these Priests and Teachers My hand is against them And when I have looked farther back and considered them who were made Ministers by a known Law of God that they were declared against by the Spirit of Prophesie and that they were such Shepherds that could not understand being greedy and could never have enough Isa 56. 10 11. and that they were bruitish Pastors Jer. 10. 21. and as Murderers and Troops of Robbers and that the Lord had cursed their Blessings and made them base and contemptible in the Eys of the People Mal. 2. Then said I Ah! what state then are these men in who are not made Ministers by a Law of God neither yet sent forth by Christ Mat. 10. but are out of his Doctrine Mat. 23. and so Enemies unto him being known by their Fruits Mat. 7. 15 16. and are made Ministers by the Will of men and upheld by carnal corrupt Laws and the Imprisoning of hundreds that are come out from them that we may not partake in the Plagues with them who are seen to be of Babel Rev. 18. 4. in whom is found the Souls of men and the Blood of all the Saints from Abel unto this day and they have been upheld by the devouring of Widdows Houses the robbing of the Fatherless the spoiling of the Goods of Hundreds the Imprisoning of many until Death the Rifling and Robbing of whole Houses as may be witnessed in the County of Kent by a Paper entituled A Horrible thing and the Record of Sufferings for Tythe and many other parts in the Nation And when I have beheld these things I have said in mine Heart Those Ministers or rather Deceivers are far short and much worse than them in the Prophets dayes who were made Ministers by a Law of God though they became as Robbers and Murtherers And then have I also lamented the hard hearted blindness of many Rulers in these dayes who have been worse in their persecuting of those who from the Spirit of God do declare against these Ministers made by the Wills of men than the Rulers in the dayes of the Prophets who did not so Persecute them that declared against those who were made Ministers by a Law of God And surely I have said did not these Priests bewitch the Rulers that they cannot obey the Truth Gal. 3. And so cause them to obey them or be as it were Slaves or Pack-horses to them even making their boast in Print that they are still spurring on the Magistrate as Richard Baxter Priest of Kidderminster hath written But I say were not the Magistrates blinded by them and therefore uphold them by their corrupt Laws even giving them Treble Damages they would soon fall and come to nought for they are already fallen under the Magistrates and come creeping to them in the Serpents Wisdom upon their Bellies which is their God for more Dust or Earthly Treasure Money Goods and Earthly things But the Bishops
and the Priests in their dayes were exalted above the Magistrates and the Priests have yet that Spirit of Pride from which they write as if they rid upon the Magistrates and spurred them like Horses and this hath been so but it may be otherwife And I have seen how the Beast the Whore and the false Prophet uphold one another and ride one upon another and the Priests spurring up the Magistrates it s their own words and all making War with them that are sanctified rising up against them that are anointed who need none to teach and compassing about them whom God hath loved who are of the City where the Lamb is the Light and need not the light of the Sun nor the Moon And when I have thus pondered the state and condition both of Priests Rulers and People and compared them and their state with the Priests Rulers and People in the dayes of the Prophets and seeing the condition of these to be much worse and many things more that might be named and that the latter end of many is like to be miserable and that the Name of God is blasphemed by such who say they are Christians and are not like them Rev. 2. 9. and that they are in the Blasphemy though Rich men who do oppress the Poor in Spirit and cause them to be drawn before the Judgement-Seats James 2. 6 7. even then hath the consideration of these things often times brought a deep Mourning upon me and Sorrow hath filled my Heart But when on the other hand I have seen the Work of the Lord secretly going on in a hidden manner opening the Eyes and Understanding of many Rulers in the Nation and that many who are and have been in Authority amongst Men and in the Army have already and are believing in him who said I am the Light and is the Lord of Glory though as a Lamb dumb and a man of Sorrows not pleading his own Cause nor having whereon to lay his Head but Sick and in Prison and that many devout and honourable Women as in Acts 17. 12. are also coming and come to the Faith which purifies the Heart and Respects no mans Person without which Faith in the Heart walked by its impossible to please God And when the Eye of my Mind hath been fixed upon that Object then hath my Soul magnified the Lord therein and my Spirit hath rejoyced because of him that bringeth and is bringing Salvation and because of Righteousness Peace and true Judgment that the Lord is setting up over all in the Hearts of many Rulers and Devout and Honourable among the People that in Righteousness throught Humility they may come to be renowned with Honour forever These things on that hand and much which is coming to pass for an Everlasting Good among the People and is revealed in the Light and Fore-knowledge of God hath given some ease to my Wounded and Troubled Spirit and the Refreshings of my Father's Love hath bound me up in the Covenant of Life with the tender Seed in those whom the Lord is drawing by his Love through Humility to the durable Honour and Riches which will never fade Surely herein hath my Soul been made as a watred Garden with the Influences of my Father's Love so that living Praises over all hath ascended up to him whose Name is blessed for evermore because he worketh and none can let him But when I have looked back again upon the Priests and the many hundred Thousand Souls that are kept in the Witchcraft Gal. 3. Rebellion Job 24. 13. gain-saying blindness and ignorance and the daily murthering of the Souls of so many then because of the Shepherds who destroy the Flock there hath been in me a Lamentation and a Cry Oh the Priests the Priests surely Vengeance is prepared of God for them Wrath Indignation Cursing Mal. 2. 2. 2 Pet. 2. 14. Bitterness Torment Perplexity Astonishment of Heart Endless Misery and Shame amongst men from the wrathful Vengance of the wrathful Terrors of God will come upon them in a Day unaware and their Houses shall be left unto them desolate and they shall become a By-word among the People as I have already written from the dreadful Indignation of the Lord God of Hosts in a Book entituled An Alarum even so shall it come to pass upon them behold it is hastning the Lord God of Hosts hath spoken it and his Word shall not fail neitheir shall his Decree be changed And when these things have come upon me even as a Flood of mighty Waters then have I said in the Grief of my Heart alas for the Priests The Priests even the Leaders of the People where will they hide themselves in this day of sierce Wrath and siery Indignation from the Jealous God of Majesty that is near at hand Oh! how will Shame cover their Faces and how will their Countenances fall like Cain and how will they Curse like Shimei even their God and their King who is the God of the World and their Belly is their God and how will they seek Repentance with Tears like Esau who might have said He was of Abraham And how will they Repent too late like Judas who had obtained part of the Ministry Acts 1. 17. and yet denyed him that was the Light and betrayed him who comes to make an end of Sin and was a Devil and hanged himself and yet had obtained part of the Ministry Alas for the Priests of England Are not they worse then Judas Did not he bring again and restore the Silver which he had taken And can the Priests of England do so Nay they have wasted it upon the Lust and Pride even abundance so that if they themselves and all that they have left with their Wives and Children should be sold at the utmost value though I not desire it should be so yet thereby could they not restore the tenth part nor one part in a hundred of the Silver which they have taken nor bring again the Money as Judas did which they have gained Therefore have I said Surely a sad Day will come upon them when they become a By-word and a hissing to all People and are turned out of their Parsonages Glebe-Lands Tythes Treble Damages and old Mass-Houses as their Fathers the Bishops and Deans and Quiresters and Singing-Men and Boys were turned out of their Pomp and Pride vain Glory Covetousness Exaction and Tyranny and out of their Bishopricks Denaries and the like And when also that Gods Witness shall arise in them to confound them within and the Light of Christ condemn them for their Deceit and Hypocrisie Tyranny Pride Idleness fulness of Bread Extortion and all manner of Wickedness Oh the Priests the Priests have said What a Day will this be unto them Surely then as I said and say again That the Shepherds shall Howl and a bitter Lamentation of the Priests shall be heard in all the Land yea the noise of their bitter Cry soundeth already in my Heart
and behold I have seen their Wo which is near at hand their Wives also shall be left as Widdows and their Children as Fatherless and from the pitiful Benovelence of the People must they be kept from Perishing in their Bodies but alas for their Souls who shall deliver them And herein moreover is their State and Condition the more Miserable because they will not regard this neither would they at all be warned by them whom the Lord hath sent amongst them and because they will not see when the hand of the Lord is lifted up neither regard the Word of his Power therefore for their Envy to the Lords People shall they be ashamed Isa 26. 11. that upon them it may be fulfilled which is written Behold I work a Work in your days ye Despisers which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you Acts 13. 41. Therefore have I considered in the very depth of my secret Meditations what shall be said or done in these things when the Priests have violated the Law and made void that which is Perfect and the Leaders of the People rebel against the Light Job 24. 31. and harden their Hearts against Reproof and will not be warned that they might escape the Dreadful day at hand therefore have I said Ah! surely the Lord will root them up Head and Tail Branch and Root in one day Ah! fruitless Trees said I have not you your selves yet brought forth the first Fruits of the Spirit which is Love And are not ye your selves yet come to that which fulfills the Law of God to wit Love And are not all without it as sounding Brass having the Tongues and the like making a Noise among the People like sounding Brass and pleasing their Fancies as tinkling Cimbals 1 Cor. 13. And have you been all this while sowing to the Flesh And are you the men who deny him that makes an end of Sin and his Blood which cleanseth from all Sin and the Faith which purisieth the Heart And are you the men who deny the true Light of him who said I am the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Are you the men that deny the Son of God and will ye not that he should reign that is of the Seed of Abraham who wandered up and down And is it you that are saying one to another and to the Rulers of the Earth concerning him that is the Light This is the Heir come let us Kill him And would you not that he should Rule who condemns Sin and saveth his People from thir Sins and maketh an end of Sin Surely have I said even therefore will the Lord reward you according to the Fruit of your own Ways and as you have denyed him so must you be condemned by him that is the Light Job 3. 19. And as you have been and yet are with Pilate and others of Babel in the many Languages and Tongues upon which the Whore sits and as you have been and yet are of the Nations which are drunk with the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore the great Whore Mystery Babylon that sits upon many Waters and hath corrupted the Earth and as you have been drunk with the Blood of the Saints and made rich by the Robbing and Spoiling of the Houses and Goods of many even as Troops of Robbers Hos 6. 9. Forty in one Troop lately at Dorchester feeding their Belly their God And as you have devoured Widdows Houses and been drunk with the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore and the Blood of Saints even so shall you have Blood to drink and even so must you drink the Cup of Astonishment and fierce Indignation of the Lord God Almighty and he will plague you false Prophets with the Whore together and the Beast and you must be taken alive and cast into the Lake of Fire which burneth forever and ever And when I have waited to see the end of these things and pondered this in my Heart in the Uprightness of Innocency and pure Simplicity of God then hath it been said in me Where then will the Memorial of this Priesthood of these Nations who came up since the Apostles days and were descended from the Bishops that were commissionated by the Pope and established by the See of Rome And what a Howling and a bitter Lamentation will come upon many in that day when Mystery Babylon the Mother of all these painted Harlots comes to be overturned forever How then will the Great men and the Rich men and the Mighty Ones of the Earth Mourn and Lament because of the Desolation of the Whore with whom they have all along committed Fornication and to see these her Children the painted Harlots the Priests of England who are covered with Saints words even dashed to pieces with the Light which is the Stone that is falling upon them to grind them to Powder Alas alas say they how many were made Rich And how many of our Children were like to be made Rich by being bred up under the Skirts of this Woman who hath a Golden Cup in her Hand holding it forth to all that will come to her And how many young men began to love her Pov. 7. Alas say they were not many of our Children looking at the Golden Cup and and growing up under her Wing at Oxford and Cambridge and in divers other Schools and Nurseries where the Languages and Tongues are even Multitudes upon which the Whore sits Rev. 18. 1 15. who hath the Golden Cup at which the Kings and the Great Ones of the Earth have drunk abundantly And must this Woman be laid Desolate And must her Children be dashed to pieces against the Stone the Light therefore is the Cry great and the Lamentation will be grievous when the Iniquity is come to the full the Sin ripe unto Judgment the Beast fully fatted for the Day of Slaughter and that come to pass which is haâ—â—ning suddenly though few can receive these things unexpected by many revealed in me and the more are they and many other People hardened and blinded herein because the Priests are so high so great and so strong and upheld by the strength of such Laws even exceeding and doubling in their Power and Authority the Laws that were made for the upholding of their Predecessors the Jesuites and Popish Priests in the dayes of Queen Mary whose Law was but three Moneths Imprisonment and now it is six and then the Law was but for the Tythes and now it is three times as much and so they are more higher exalted than ever and our Task is doubled and trebled upon us and besides they cry out We are Idle and wander up and down But let me Reason a little Was it not suddenly after their Bondage in Aegypt was doubled that the Lord overturned the mighty strength of the Oppressors forever and was not the cry of the oppressed great because the Task was doubled upon them who were in
say He that is a Fisherman let him so abide neither did Christ say he that will be my Disciple must follow his outward Employment or Trade but he said He that will not hate Father and Mother Brethren and Sisters Wife and Children yea and his own Life too cannot be my Disciple Luke 1â— 20. and if not a Disciple much less a Minister of his But hereby neither Christ nor them Ministers of his neither I did or do intend to draw or perswade People to Idleness or open a Door for any such Evil neither is there many who are called out of the World's Worships and required to leave their Families and called to the Ministry but that hereby it may plainly appear that the Command and Call of Christ to his Work and Ministry is to be obeyed though it be to the forfaking of House Goods or Lands for a Minister of his said We have forsaken all And have not I done so and unto them who had forsaken all unto all such was promised a Hundred fold Matth. 19. 17 18 19. And Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one Jot or Tittle of his Word shall fail And truly I have found his Promise true for a Hundred times Hundred sold have I already received blessed be the Lord forever But how contrary it was to my own Will to fulfill the Will of the Lord. in leaving my Employment and outward Business in the World let all them judge with the Light who knew my Conversation therein and saw my Eagerness in the things of the World and Contrivances therein beyond many men my Heart being set in the Earthly things being very fierce in Labouring therein for the getting and encreasing of the Fruits of the Earth as though I would have laid up Treasure for many Years which might have been good in its place if my Mind had been redeemed out of it and my Heart from the Covetousness thereof but I say again it was much contrary to my strong Will to leave these things and the love of them and much more that might be named and be taken from it with a Hundred and Fifty Pound loss and be exposed to Want Hardships Revilings Imprisonments Whippings Stonings and all manner of cruel Torture that the Soris of men might have Power to inflict upon my Body and for me that ruled over many and was respected by many to become a Servant unto all and counted the Off-scouring of all and be abused by any Boy or the Vilest Person I meet and it was much contrary to my Will to refuse that Glory Honour and Preferment of the VVorld which was offered me by the Rulers thereof when I was beloved of them and Hundreds more and when I preached among them in the Pulpits daily and was then called of men Master like the Hirelings of England who being in the Curse cannot cease from Sin 2 Pet. 2. 14. yet I still refused their Unrighteous Gain and denyed all their Gifts and Rewards for the Lord in his Mercy kept me out of them Temptations though sometimes some that were then near Friends unto me would have perswaded me to have taken something of what was offered as to live upon but I durst not if I had wanted Food or Raiment but answered one Justice who was proposing me a free Gift toward Maintenance which might have been worth a Hundred Pound a Year or more seeing I left my Employment freely to preach daily but I say I answered I shall rather go in Sheep-Skins and Goat-Skins and eat Bread and drink Water and that little honest meek Principle in me which then kept me from that and such Temptations in due time led me to be Ruler over much which before I had not Power over therefore I say unto all it is good to be faithful to the little measure of God in the Conscience For when I was but young and void of the knowledge of God or his Way of Holiness my Mind ran much in the Earth with a covetous care how to gain the Riches thereof and even then did the Hand of the Lord follow me and his Witness in me did so judge and condemn me Night and Day for my Evil that at last I was scarce able to do any thing in the Earth or go upon it then waiting to see what the reason was after many Hours I saw clearly if I would leave the Wickedness of the world and follow the Lord and trust him I might have Peace and if not I was like to be cut off And then I left some Sins and resolved to live more Holy and began to Pray and Read and then I went to follow the Priests not knowing that in me which I was to hear and follow yet it secretly led me out of some Evil and so into some Peace and then my Heart was exalted in the Earth though I encreased in a Profession And when I was in the height of the World's Way and Worship and expecting Riches to increase even then in an unexpected time did the dread of the Lord fall upon me and his wonderful mighty Power wrought exceedingly in me to break me off from all my Wayes and seperate me from all the Worship of the VVorld and gave me to see the Abominations of all the Prayers of the Wicked and the Invalidity of all the Worships of all Mankind who are out of God's Covenant and the Operations then upon me by the terrible Hand of the Lord and the strivings that were in me can never be declared and then did the Lord command me to follow him in Obedience to his Will to declare against all Unrighteousness of men which I saw in the Light of Life to be in Priests Rulers and People and I then saw clearly in the eternal Light and foresight of God the Hardships Cruelties Whippings Imprisonments and Dungeon and many such things which since in part have been upon this Body fulfilled as may be read in several of my Books read the True Rule and at that time did the powerful Life of God so much break through me with such unspeakable Love that I was even willing to leave all walk with God But then contrary to Paul I reasoned with Flesh and Blood that I should be esteemed a Mad-man and that People would not believe me and that I was not fit and many such things Then the Word of the Lord was spoken in me saying Who is it that openeth the Mouth Is it not I the Lord Then was my Bowels even turned within me with the constraining Power of Gods Eternal Love and I began to be willing but when that was a little over the Tempter being near â— reasoned concerning my Wife and Children How they should be provided for and presently the Promise of the Lord was That they should be cared for and his Promise was to me That he who converteth Souls to God should shine as the Stars forever And when I had received them VVords into me I was overcome with
the Refreshings of God and at the present made willing to undergo all Tribulations if in my whole Life I did Convert but one Soul to God seeing and feeling the Redemption of one Soul to be so precious the which then grew so strong in me that I was scarce able to retain from present actual Obedience to God therein but when I looked at my outward things and how first to settle that in order then was I by Temptations made afraid That it was a Delusion or something of the Devil transformed as an Angel of Light and then between both I was in much Trouble and Distress not knowing what to do having not then known any called Quakers nor any such Operations in any man in those dayes yet that could hardly prevail to make me believe it was a Temptation But at last reasoning about outward things I then resolved not to leave them but to mind the things of the World and not obey that which called me out of the VVorld And to write in short at last I did strive and joyn with all the Powers of Darkness that I could and used all means possible to drive the Power of God from me and the Thoughts of him and his Works out of my Mind but Wo was me after for it and it had been just if his Spirit had never strived more with me but left me to be cut off forever and to remain in the horrible Pit of Darkness And surely it was for the good of others that the Lord did spare me some whereof may now with me rejoyce for evermore For when all was too little to overcome the mighty Power of God in me then did the love of the World prevail and even thirstings for the love of it to come into my Heart to drive out the Love of God at last I with it against God prevailed though the living Power of God was so great that the Devil the Flesh and the World was scarceable to overcome it for a time and so I have seen Children Wife Farms and Oxen to hinder from the Kingdom of God but that which hindred most was the love of outward Goods And so it was but just with God to take that at the last out of the way and if he had swept all away in his Anger as from Job he had done me no wrong But when I had thus in a cursed manner overcome the striving of the sweet and lovely Spirit of Truth yet was I not quiet but much troubled and in a sad Condition which I was not able to hide from the World who said I was going Mad seeing me so changed into Sadness but of all this and much more I durst not then spake a word to any Creature And now mark what for my Rebellion did justly follow My outward Goods which I then loved more than Christ became as a Prey and a Spoil to unreasonable men and most unjustly on their parts was I by them deprived of it and the Lord also dried up all my Springs within that such a time after I knew that I was left without hope being in the horrible Pit of Darkness from God that I could neither pray nor believe but concluded that I was accursed from God forever and that which disobeyed was accursed and being in a sad miserable Condition resolved to write a VVarning to all People that they might take Example by me and never resist the Spirit as I had done but before I could write sinking down into the Condemnation without Murmuring against God knowing him to be just if he cast me into the nethermost Hell forever the Lord had Compassion on me and listed my Soul out of the Horrible Pit and staid me with his hand for a time yet afterwards his Afflictions followed me in Judgments within and much trouble in things without which my Heart was so upon and yet for a long time I turned not unto the Lord that did smite that his hand might make whole though Checks I had by his Light in my Conscience but strong was my VVill about it until the fierce Judgment of the Lord did often break forth upon me with much Astonishment of Heart and Horrible Indignation not to be uttered with Tears as streams of VVater from mine Eyes night and day when it came upon me with Tremblings and Breakin gs which broke the hardness of my Heart and opened a way to something in me which then I dearly loved but going out again from that I reasoned about my Outwards and not waiting to receive Counsel from the Lord I went unto a Rich Understanding man in outward things whom I loved who may yet remember that I made my Complaint unto That I was not able any longer to abide in the Way of the World whose Counsel I then took and my own Will together and so sought to keep two Kingdoms some time longer and therefore much Trouble followed me within and VVasting Loss Shame and Destruction upon things without But however I durst do no less than follow the Lord and be Obedient unto him whatever Loss I suffered or whatever Shame or Reproach I might undergo though often times I was afraid that this Power of God in me would soon come to an end or fail from me and that then I might return to my outward Employment with great Shame and Loss and that then instead of doing Service for God I might bring a Reproach upon his blessed Name and my self thereby be a Hissing-stock to all men and they say I began to build and not able to finish and this also kept me back very much But such was the Everlasting Love of the Lord who is known in the Ways of his Judgments that his Hand was heavy upon me and his Judgments encreased in me that there was no way for me to escape but I must be Obedient and bow under it or be cut off forever by it so that my Bowels were often pained in me and it is like for many Weeks had little sleep or bodily rest and sometimes knew not my Wife and Children that I felt and heard in the Bed by me but thought they were People I should not be with And therefore one time after it was day I was rising and putting on my Clothes in a sober manner and in Meekness said Surely I should not be here and my Wife then laying hand on me easily perswaded me but I said I Know not who I am with neither did I know her Voice at that time And some time after having endured much I told she and my Family with Heaviness and Tears That I was not able to enduce it any longer and that I had abode with them in the way of the World so long as possible I could and that I must give up my Life to serve the Lord desiring them with Tears to be Content and in what I could I should be careful for their good as ever I was And this is true and but little of what might be written
For another time formerly the Light of Christ in me which then I knew not did so condemn me and judge and trouble me in secret that it brought Sickness upon me and thereby being Weak expecting I should dye I was then much troubled and it lay much upon my Conscience at that time that I had not in the time of my Health gone to the Steeple-house and in the fear of the Lord warned all People to Repent and I was then much grieved because I thought I should dye and not first in that thing discharge my Conscience And so though I might write much by what is written may appear to the Meek and Sober-minded that the Lord did not only call but also thrust me forth of the World into his Harvest and this was of God and the operation of his powerful Word which called me out of the World and Hundreds since by the Word of his Power through me have been gathered out of the Way of the World and received the Earnest of the Rest Eternal and many converted unto God and Wo be unto them who openly oppose me in this the Lords Work I now am in which he hath thus called me unto and let none think that I did wilfully neglect my outward Employment neither let any one think that I left my Family as not regarding them nor that I stay much out of that Country for any By-end for the words are true A Prophet is not without Honour save in his own Country and in his own House and those that did since seek to stop my Mouth did not well Concerning my publick Preaching and something of what followed THAT none may stumble thereat and say We called Quakers are such who change from one thing to another and so what we hold not to be regarded But I say Those that have to changes are not come into fear of God psal 55. 19. and the Fear of the Lord is to depart from Evil And they depart from Evil are become a Prey but such were cleansed and changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. and grew in Grace and Knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ And what I did or said then was in a great Zeal and real Intent to do good neither did I covet mens Silver for it neither was it my end to make a Gain thereby though much was freely offered me more than I intend to make mention though I recceived it not so that therein I was not much found in Covetousiness But when Judgement came upon me as before-mentioned I gave up that Preaching and said at the last Meeting I had then which was at Stoke-bliss That my Mouth was stopt at that present but if ever the Lord should open my Mouth again I should Preach indeed and it is so Praises to the Lord forever who hath indeed opened my Mouth and since I was no longer Rebellious and the living Truth of Jusus Christ do I declare and bear Testimony to his Name where-ever I come as his Spirit moveth me And let none herby think that I now glory in what was then my shame for though I had a great Zeal then for God it being not according to the Knowledge of the Crofs of Christ which crucisies to the World and all its vain Customs the which Cross being then left behind which is the Power of God so the Love of the world which is Enmity to God remained in me and the Root Iniquity not them removed out of my Heart therefore Fruits of Disobedience in secret were still brought forth which the Would the World took little notice of but I had one near me who did let me see all that ever I did and reproved me for vain Glory and having the Praise of Men and the Love of the VVorld and so my Preaching did not bring Souls home to God though I informed their Minds of many things which many ignorant People knew not before and so though much Love was in many yet this brought not forth Fruits of Obedience unto God and so all came to little for the People remained in their Sins and received not Power to come out of them neither came they out of the Fashions and Customs of the World nor to the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which purrisies the Heart stands in the pure Conscience my self And so their Faith and mine was vain being then in our Sins Therefore let none think that I now justifie any Deceit Hy-pocrisie or secret Evil that then was in me or practsed by me for in the Presence of the Lord God I do openly declare against it all and that Spirit that acted me therein but I own that simple thing which then encourged me to do good out of an Honest Intent and that kept me out of Covetousness and from receiving of Gifts And I openly declare against all Cruel Unjull and Ungcdly Action and Words and all that Filth which I wallowed in before I was a zelous Professor as it is known to may Ungodly Persons how I was once as Wicked as many of them whom I Warn all to Repent otherwife they cannot escape the Dammantion of Hell And I utterly deny and declare against that Blindnese and Hypocrisie I was in when I followed the chief Priests from one Idols Temple to another who were chief in the Serpent's Wifdom deceiving me and many more and taught me that Knowledge which came from the Devil who said Te shall be a Gods knowing Gen. 3. 5. And in that Knowledge in which every man is Bruitish Jer. 10. 14. from them Hirelings Iencreased in that which pusseth up and encreased my â—orrow as before was mentioned for by that Serpent's subtilty which I learned from them without me I fought against and resisted that which was holy in me Therefore I declare in the Name of the Lord God that all the Hireling Priests do more harm than good and shall never bring People to receive the Power of God but lead them into Subtilty and further off from the Knowledge of that of God in them Rom. 1. 19. And as true as the Lord God liveth upon their Death-beds shall both Priests and People witness this to be true And it s also as true that I write this without any Prejudice to any of their Persons but in Love to all Peoples Souls do I warn all them Hireling Priests in Herefordshire and elsewhere to leave deceiving the People for absolutely the People are deceived by them and forced to maintain them too who may be warned of them by what I have learned by Experience from them having tried them and their ways to the utmost and have much experience of them more than many Country People whose Souls I truly love and therefore this I write And I declare against that which ruled in me in the time of Ignorance and Perverseness and acted me in Cruelty or Oppression towards any Person or to Wrong Defraud or Insult over any one in Tyranny either by Word or Action or wherein I
abused or smote with Envy which is of the Devil Either man or Beast and that whereby I was led into any manner of Hypocrisie or Double-mindedness or any manner of Evil whatsoever which was Unjust in the sight of God though not seen by Man or any secret Evil that then lodged in the dark Corners of the stoney Heart then in me whereby any thing did arise in me or proceed from me which was contrary to the Humble Meek Innocent Upright Life of the Lamb of God who is now come and hath taken away the Sin of the World and is Pure Humble Meek and Lowly whose Life and Power of Love constraineth me to declare openly against all that which was done or said by me in Envy either openly or secretly against any Creature for there is nothing done in secreet that shall not be made manifest And let all who knew me before who are saying I was an honest man be warned of the like Evil and leave it considering that if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear for many did look upon me to be either a Godly or an Honest man yet am I made willing to let open Shame come upon all that which then was in me contrary to the Righteousness of God for he alone is to be exalted and the Transgressor is to be ashamed Psal 25. 3. And every mouth shall be stopt and every one stand guilty before God and the Shame and Nakedness of all both Priests and Fathers and People shall appear as much as mine when Gods Witness in them arise though they cover it for a time by deceitfull Flatteries Promising Liberty but are as deeply the Servants of Corruption as I was And I do assirm in the presence of the Lord God that there are a Generation of Professors who follow Sermons and have gathered themselves into outward Forms who are grown up into a Profession and Knowledge in the Letter who are further off the Life of God than the Publicans and Harlots and are grown into Pride Hypocrisie secret Deceit Arrogancy and Covetousness and some of them for a time denied the Priests and then for their own ends got into their places and so are more Abominable than they and the Tree of Knowledge they feed upon but the good savour of pure Obedience unto God in all Self-denial they have cast behind their backs and are become an ill Savour among all men And the Lord God will visit them for these things and in the Day of his sierce Wrath will all such want a Hiding-place and when the day of Howling and Astonishment come upon them as it hath passed upon me then shall they know that the Sinners in Sion shall be afraid and Horrible Fearfulness shall surprize the Hearts of the Hypocrites and then shall they find that God will not be mocked though they deceive themselves with vain Hopes which shall perish with all such Professors if they Repent not ard strip themselves bare from all their false Coverings which in the day of the Lord which they put afar off will certainly be all too Narrow For because of the greatness of my Profession without the Power that overcomes all Sin therefore was the Wrath of God the more upon me and I never came to receive Pardon for Sin nor Power over it nor to receive the Life of the Son of God until his Judgments had confounded all that Wisdom which I had learned from and among the Priests and Professors And this is absolutely true and may be a Warning unto all them And all that is herein declared of the Strivings in me and Judgments of God which came upon me is very short of what it was neither indeed can it be ever declared being then confounded both within and without not having any man to be a Director unto me nor then to guide me in Gods Wisdom neither did any man bring me unto that Condition nor lead me through it but even the Lord alone in whose Judgments I now rejoyce for evermore but this especially would I have all people that then knew me to consider That at that time when I was in Distress I knew not well what I should do or spâ—ke among men neither what I should be being become a Fool for Christs sake and my Wisdom being confounded and my Understanding brought to nothing Read 1 Cor. 1. 1 9 vers 27. And so that is true which I have writ in that book in Answer to Edmund Skipp wherein I said That we were but in measure leaving of the World and entering into a little of that which is Eternal at which time before-mentioned I was brought to be silent from my publick Preaching and waited on the Lord with a few foolish contemptible Ones in the Eyes of the World at which time having lost my Earthly Wisdom and not received that measure of the pure Wisdom of God which since he hath given me whereby to order all my Words and Actions in Prudency and Moderation before the Eyes of all People and others also might then with me therein fall short whereby some to this day may stumble at the whole Truth of God looking at what happened among us in that time when the Judgments of God was often on us by which Judgments his Sion is now Redeemed and so they looking at that and watch ever since for Evil may be kept thereby from receiving the precious tryed Stone which the wise Master-builders also refuse though we now know he is laid in Sion redeemed with Judgment for a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence even to both the houses of Israel But let all take heed of stumbling at the stumbling Stone the Light of Christ for other causes of stumblings especially by me I have hereby endevoured to remove out of the way and minds of all that are willing to receive the Truth or believe in the Light John 12. 36. And as for Edmund Skipp if ever he come again to that which convinced him of Evil and made him in publick deny his peaching for Hire and Tythes though after he strated aside and stumbled in the Dark not minding the Light of Life which once he honestly desired after in him to which Light if he return and love the Witness of God in him which hath ever since stood a Witness for me and hath let him see his Barrenness and without a true Eternal Rest and if he to that be obedient which is manifest of God in him and by it be led into Meekness and Plainness without Prejudice he may come to receive the living Truth of Jesus Christ for which this day I suffer Bonds for I did never yet look upon him to be so utterly Reprobate as not possible to receive the Faith that purifies the Heart and Respects no mans Person for truly my love hath been to the Seed oppressed in him though that which hath exercised him in Rashness against the Truth of God I do deny forever
Captive that a Gift may be received which Gift is Eternal Life and this Life is in the Son by which Gift all that are in the Son-like Obedience do witness being made Heirs with him in the eternal Covenant which is established upon better Promises then the first therefore he taketh away the first that he might establish the second which is witnessed in the Son-like Obedience by the which we are made the Righteousness of God through him the which is a Mystery to the dark World whose Mouthes are now open to speak Evil of that they know not calling the Great and Mighty Works of God The Delusions of Satan and the conditions now witnessed in the Sons and Daughters that the Prophets and Apostles both passed through to speak of those things they now call The Works of Antichrist But he is an Antichrist that denyeth the Father and the Son Now see who is an Antichrist No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him He that denies this Revelation denies both Father and Son that is an Antichrist Now to know the Father is Eternal Life and he that saith He knoweth and hath fellowship with the Father and walketh in Darkness is a Lyar and the Devil is the Father of Lyes And he that liveth not in the Truth which is Jesus Christ he must needs Lye because he is out of the Truth and therefore found an Enemy to the pure Truth as it is in Jesus who is the Truth and Life it self by whom the World is and shall be judged when the Lord shall come in flaming Fire rendering Vengeance on all that know him not This Day is even at hand yea even now the Lord is coming a swift Witness against all unrighteous Ones who hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness living in their ungodly Practices sporting themselves now in the Day-time spending their time upon their Lusts living in their own Wills speaking forth the Saints Words but are Enemies to the Saints Conditions Oh! consider consider the Lord is Just in all his Wayes and he is come to judge the Earth with Righteousness he will plead with all Flesh before him all Faces shall gather Paleness and in him who is pure Light are all the Secrets of all Hearts laid open for nothing hideth from him who is a God of consuming Fire and of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity Oh be ashamed and confounded all ye Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea for the Devil is come down unto you and rageth because his time is but short To thy first in page 6. where thou sayest It must needs be the Spirit of Antichrist and Delusion that doth mis-inform the Heart I Answer The Heart it self is deceitful and out of the abundance of thy Heart thy mouth speaketh page 8. or else thou wouldest not speak as though a Deceitful Heart might be misinformed by a delusion for Deceit and Delusion is but one which lodgeth in the Hearts of all the Children of Disobedience who are all in the Death the Curse and the Fall unless they come to witness Restoration the Stoney Heart taken away and a New Heart given which is by the putting off the Old Man with his Lusts and Corruptions and the New Man put on which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. But in the Light in thy own Conscience see when ever thou couldest witness thy Redemption and thy heart free from Delusions as thou speakest or from the power of Darkness when thou by thy own Relation to me went from one Parsonage to another and that not without thy Gown as thou callest it upon thy back that thou hast looked upon as it was indeed Antichristian and then after at Bodinham thou didst sue the poor People for Tythes to my knowledge witness one poor man thou didst sue for one Shilling and wouldst have constrained the poor man to have paid Charges for that one Shilling if I and some other had not spoke to thee after thou hadst often refused the one shilling without Charge though the Light let thee see Tythes to be contrary to Christ yet then lived contrary to the Light in thy own Conscience as thou wast made to confess in my hearing and hundreds more that thou hadst acted in it contrary to thy Conscience two years and before that time thou didst confess unto me and to others How thou wast going to take counsel of men how to sue for thy Tythes and the Lord met with thee yet the Devil had like to have taken thee off of the work of the Lord again divers times as thou confessedit Then thou layest groaning under the burden of thy Tythes yet thou resolvedst to keep them another year yet I had thoughts to the contrary and was made to tell thee at J. B's house in Hereford on the sixth day that thou wouldest e'er long roar against thy Tythes like a Lyon and on the next first day after it was so and thou wast made to acknowledge the Lord in it and sent thy Man with those few words to me Brother Smith the Lord hath done a strange Work in me this Morning and I shall alter strangely this day therefore pray earnestly for me and make what haste thou canst to come unto me Now this is that which thou now callest Delusion for this was the greatest Power that ever thou couldest witness but thou wast made to see by the Light the Emtiness of thy own words both in Speaking and Prayer before as thou callest it witness that in Margarets Grave-Yard where thou spokest words the which were a burden to thy Life after acknowledgedst That it was nothing but Flesh though thou didst strive much in thy own strength And at Len. thou toldest the whole Assembly That thou hadst long spoke after the manner of men but now they must expect no more such from thee and that thy Praying was as dead as Ditch-Water but now thou shouldst wait to Pray in the Spirit and speak by the Spirit and the like at Cliston And then thou wast convinced that thou must leave all even Glebe-land too and so live on thy own Land and build on thy own Land as thou callest it and thou then wast convinced of more Deceit in thy Heart therefore thou wast not at all freed from Deceit but always lived in the Antichristian state where thou art yet witness thy own hand in page 5 where thou confessest Thou hast got a sinful Heart which is a Heart in Sin and full of Sin and we know that none but the Pure in Heart shall see God but Sin is of the Devil and is the Work of Darkness and none that walk in Darkness have fellowship with God 1 John 1. 6. Here thou discoverest plainly that the Old Heart is not yet taken away therefore thou wast not at all nor yet is free from Delusions Therefore for shame leave off thy judging the Hearts
Cross of Christ is to the Joros a Stumbling-block to the Greeks Foolishness for Christ is this day as he was ever a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence to both the Houses of Israel 2 Cor. 1. 13. therefore are they this day speaking Evil of that they know not for say they concerning these Sects call'd Quakers We know that it is every where spoken against Acts 28. 22. But in the Way that men call Heresie do I Worship the God of my Father Acts 24. 14. and am not ashamed to own the Power that shakes the Earth for if I should be ashamed to own the Power of Christ before men then he might justly be ashamed of me before my Father which is in Heaven but I own and witness the same Power which made Moses exceedingly fear and quake The which overpowered Daniel that he had no strength left in him Dan. 10. 8. Which Power made Habakkuk Tremble his Lips Quivered Rottenness entred into his Bones Hab. 3. 16. the which Power struck down Paul Acts 9. 3 4 5 6. which caused the Goaler to come in Trembling Acts 16. 26 27 28 29. Therefore I say unto all serve the Lord with Fear and Trembling Psal 2. 11. and work out your Salvation with fear and Treambling Phil. 2. 12. for now I know the Lord to be with them that Tremble at his Word Therefore O foolish People without Understanding which have Eyes and see not Ears and hear not Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not Tremble at my Presence Jer. 5. 21 22. Are you worse than Devils that Fear and Tremble Isa 2. 19. And now the mighty Power of the living God hath shaken the Earth and the Heavens that now that which cannot be shaken may remain Heb. 12. 27. Now all you that will enter in with the Bride-groom wait to receive the same Power for the Lord Jesus Christ is come tendering himself unto his own John 1. 11. and I witness that as many as receive him receive Power to become the Sons of God John 1. 12. O be not Fools and slow with Heart to believe all that the Prophets and Apostles saith for the Lord is still a God with Power he is the same yesterday and to day and forever whose everlasting Love is shed abroad in our Hearts by which the Love of the World is cast out For if any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him John 2. 15. But we are bought with a Price and after glorifie God in Body Soul and Spirit which is the Lord's 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Being made Ministers nof of the Letter which killeth but of the Spirit which giveth Liâ—e 2 Cor. 3. 6. Giving no offence in any thing that the Ministry of Christ be not blamed but in all things approving our selves as the ministers of God in much Patience in Affliction in Necessities in Distresses in Stripes in Imprisonments in Tamults in Labours in Watchings in Fastings by Pureness by Knowledge by Long-suffering by Kindness by the Holy Ghost by Love unfeigned by the Word of Truth by the Power of God by the Armour of Righteousness on the Right hand and on the Left by Honour and by Dishonour by Evil Report and Good Report as Deceivers and yet True as unknown and yet well known as Dying and behold we Live as Chastened and not Killed as Sorrowful and yet always Rejoycing as Poor and yet making many Rich as having Nothing yet Possessing all things 2 Cor. 6. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 10 Verses Now the Light of the glorious Gospel in the Face of Jesus Christ hath shined into our Hearts whereby the Grace that was to be brought in at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. is now in us witnessed even the Grace the Apostle exhorted to hope for and the Prophets searched after 2 Pet. 2. 20. the which Grace and Glory is now made manifest in the Sons and Daughters whereby the everlasting Gospel is sounded forth in the Ears of many Thousands in England blessed are they that hear the joyful sound thereof For verily verily as the four Hundred and Thirty years Bondage in Aegypt was at last accomplished and as the Captivity in Babylon had an end and the Lord brought again the Captivity of his People even so now the many Years of Apostacy is over and the Lord hath heard the Cry of his own Seed and is come down to deliver Israel out of all Distresses and to gather the Out-casts Psalm 147. 2. And to bring home that which is driven away and to bind up that which is broken and to strengthen that which is sick but he will destroy the Fat and the Strong and will feed them with Judgment Ezek. 34. 26. but his own shall be delivered from the many Shepherds which have destroyed the Flock of Christ and they shall feed no longer Verse 20. yea verily People the mighty Power of the Lord is risen in England to gather his from the Corners of the Earth and they that have been long in the High-ways to Destruction being â—lind and Lame shall now be compelled to come in to the Supper of the Lamb and eat of the hidden Manna But many of the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out For for Judgment is Christ come into the World that they that see not may see and they that soe may now be made Blind Joh 939. And the Sword of the Lord is drawn against the man of Sin to cut it down Root and Branch and to set up the Kingdom of Christ in Rightcousness and true Holiness And this Work of the Lord shall certainly go on and Men Devils nor the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it The just Complaint of the Afflicted against the Rulers who oppress the Innocent to be delivered to the Judge of the Sessions at Winchester the 8th Moneth 1658. YOu that are set to rule over others should not let secret Envy Ambition and Prejudice so rule over you as not at all to hearken to the Counsel of the Meek nor receive Instruction from the Simple whom the Lord preserveth but you should let Haughtiness and Arrogancy be done away for God resisteth the Proud And you should come to that which is meek low sober and humble with it to know a ruling over that which hath captivated you under the power of Sin and Satan who hath so blinded the Mind that the Meek of the Earth are become your Enemies for telling you the truth and the Day upon you is come in which you cannot endure sound Doctrine But this I tell you That they who hate Reproof are bruitish and every man is bruitish in his Knowledge yea O ye men your Pastors are become bruitish and have not known the Lord though this be a hard saying to you who are your selves in that which is to be ruled with the Sword of God's dreadful Power who will execute Judgment upon all and with his own eternal
with the Indignation of the Lord and overcome with the Power of his Might Many Woes could I from the Lord declare and much of his Judgment make known unto you yea many Lines might I write and unfold the Mysteries of his Power which from your Eyes are hid and long hath my Soul mourned in secret for you and because of the fierce Terrors of the Lord which you cannot escape mine Eyes have been filled with Tears and my Heart with Sorrow and that for you O ye blind scornful and rebellious Men that rule this County The Lord God will bring Shame upon you and your Names shall Rot and be left for an evil Savour for the Generations to come Better had it been for you if the Womb had been your Grave or that you had had a Milstone hanged about your Necks and cast into the depth of the Sea before you had writ an Line or made one Order or had a hand against one of the Friends of Christ who follow him that makes an end of sin whom one day you shall see to be of the Seed whom God hath chosen who being born of the Spirit are now unto you as the Wind of which you hear a sound but know not whence they come neither whither they go whom you keep in your filthy Prison to force them to bow to you like Haman but take heed how long you provoke the Lord therein and consider what it is in you which you would have us please bow or submit unto by speaking such words as may satisfie that Will in you which unjustly cast and keeps us in Prison And now behold the Lord God hath tryed you and you are found Enemies to his suffering Seed and Fighters against God and your Hypocrisie is made manifest and the Infamy of your Unrighteousness is spread over the Nation and Gods Witness in the hearts of Thousands will judge of your Actions to be Unjust and Unreasonable and to the Children of Light your insides are discovered and your end is seen and your secret intents neither can your Devices be hid nor any shelter cover you for the Light is come that makes all things manifest and the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Be ye now therefore awakened and instructed O ye Rulers of the Earth and let your Minds be turned to the Light in you and strive no longer with God who is Light for that which may be known of God is manifest in you And did you not first strive and fight against his Witness in you you would not fight with your carnal Weapons and carnal Prisons against his Messengers and Servants who fear before him and fear not them that kill or imprison the Body till death of whose Servants and Messengers you shall know that I am one in the day of your Calamity and Destruction the which that you might escape in Soberness and Meekness have I this many Moneths dealt with you writing reasonable and plain things unto you that you might in meekness come to hear the Cry of the Oppressed both within and without but if you hear not earthly things but in that be unreasonable and unfaithful in the unrighteous Mamoâ— who shall commit unto you the greater Riches or open unto you the Mysteries of the things of God who with things that are not is bringing to nought things that are and with the things that you despise is he overturning the Counsels of the Mighty and that which confounds the Wisdom of the VVise and brings to nothing the Understanding of the Prudent and overturns the Devices of the Wicked even in that is my Life and in that which terrifies troubles torments and condemns the World do I rest in Peace with God for evermore and remain A Friend to the whole Creation and to the Souls of all Mankind who of men am numbred amongst Transgressors in a filthy Prison and place unfit for men at Winchester this 24th of the 8th Moneth 1658. To the Enemies of Equity Truth and Peace I am only known by the Name Humphry Smith To them who have lately believed in the Light and are waiting to receive the Life THE Day of Gods Everlasting Love is come and with his Mighty Power is he risen to gather all them in the Light of his Son that long have sate in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death upon whom the Day is now Dawning wherein the Outcasts of Israel shall be gathered and the Captives that long have groaned may now come to know Deliverance for with plentious Redemption is the Lord visiting his People and he is coming near unto his own and seeking them that are afar off and lifting up a Standard for the Standard for the Strangers to flow unto and many shall return unto the Lord and People shall be gathered to the God of their Salvation and he will pour out his Spirit upon the Humble and fill the Meek with the Riches of his Love Multitudes of People shall come unto Sion and the Poor of the Flock to the City of the great King for Light is breaking forth as the Morning and Righteousness as the Sun at Noon therefore shall the Mourning Seed be comforted and that which groaned in Captivity lift up the Head that the Prisoner may spring forth of Bondage and the longing Soul be satisfied and Judgment come upon the Wicked and Terror upon the Loftiness of man the Rebellious brought down to the Dust and that which boweth not unto the Light with it is condemned forever that through the Condemnation the Seed may spring which long in Death hath lain and is now to be raised up by the Arm of God's Almighty Power which now comes to be revealed unto them who believe the Voice of the true Spirit which is in the midst whom all are to hear and obey his voice who comes out from God and leads them that believe in and obey him up unto God again and he is the only Way unto the Father by whom the Redemption comes who is arising in the Hearts of the Children of Light whereby they come to know Light shine out of Darkness giving them the Knowledge of God which Knowledge they never learned from all the Teachers of the World which Teachers are themselves in that Ground in which the Knowledge of God cannot be received and that which they have not received themselves they cannot teach others therefore you have not received the Knowledge of God from them after which Knowledge something in you hath long groaned which is now to be satisfied from him in whom the Fullness of God doth dwell who is the Light of which you have received in which you are to wait to receive the Promise of the Father that your Souls may be refreshed in the Bosom of his Love and feel God's Mercies showered down as the early Rain in the time of Drought that your tender Desires may not wither nor your breathing Spirits faint in the way but may with chearfulness
walk in the Light and continue in faithfulness in your Measures enduring the Cross unto your Wills that by it the Carnal may be crucified and that which is Earthly mortified and all the fleshly Lusts subdued and the ground of Unbelief removed that you as Obedient Children to the Light may walk not as do others in the Lusts of Ignorance and Wayes of Unrighteousness where all the Ungodly lie and are without his Fear not knowing that in which the Power of God doth stand and many of them are Murmurers and Complainers who dwell in all Unrighteousness from among whom Redemption you are to find that a true Separation you may come to know that the Unclean you may touch no more and that which defiles to be no more entangled with For the Lord our God is pure his living Truth is to be known in the inward parts and that which makes Free received in the Heart and pure is the Lord in his Ministration of Life and free in the Discoveries of his Love his unsearchable Riches are made known unto his Jewels and his Secrets revealed unto them that abide in his Fear whose Fear is a Fountain of Life whose Love is streaming forth as a River of Oyl unto the broken hearted and in him the Fatherless find Mercy and he giveth strength unto the Faint he cherished the Babes as a Nurse and feedeth the Young with Milk he gathereth the Lambs with his Arms and nourisheth the tender Plant he confoundeth the Proud in his Judgments and removeth the Ground of the Wicked Kings before him are as the Drop of a Bucket and Ungodly Rulers as the Smoke before a mighty Wind His Wonders are seen among the Living and his Judgments made known upon the Wicked they that come to him find Mercy but his Enemies he turns into the Land of Darkness the Ungodly are not able to come near his Presence when he is Angry the Wicked stand afar off but there 's no Darkness in which they may be hid nor shadow of Death in which they can be covered for his Hand will find out all the Rebellious and he will reward them all according to the Pride of their Heart then shall they be banished from the Lord as the Chaff before the Wind and none of their strength shall save them But all you that wait for Sion's Redemption and call that love his Appearance who are willing to take up the Yoke deny themselves and follow the Light thus I say unto all such The Lord God of Life is at hand he is hastning his Mercies to the simple and reaching forth his hand to the Helpless your Redeemer is near your Deliverer is at hand for the Lord God hath not cast off his People neither will he leave or forsake his Chosen Ones With the Brightness of his Power is he appearing to judge down that which kept his own in Bondage and lay low that which did the Just oppress that from under the Oppression it may now arise that the Hungry may be fed and the Naked come to be clothed with the Everlasting Righteousness of God who brings his Righteousness near unto the Humble and clothes them with the Armour of Light that so they may be able to stand where the Wicked cannot endure Wherefore all you my dear Lambs in whom there is honest Desires begotten after the living Truth of my Father who are in measure made willing to walk as Children of the Day and to undergo the Reproaches and Revilings of Wicked and Ungodly men and desire the Kingdom that is not of this World from the honest Simplicity of your Hearts that you may come to rest in the Kingdom of the Father forever Unto you I say my Heart's Desire and Prayer to God for you is That you may be enabled through the Power of him who is the Light to undergo all your Tryals within and without and that none of you may faint in your Way nor be weary of well doing but that you may come to shew forth the Works of Righteousness by a chaste Conversation in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation by whose Filthiness the Just is grieved And my dear Lambs grieve ye not the Spirit of the Lord neither be you Envious against the Evil-Doers let not Wrath arise in any one of you but be Examples of Love and Meekness one unto another and all come to know what a true waiting upon the Lord is in the Sincerity of the Heart to receive that which the World never knew even the Spirit of Truth which comes from the God of Peace in which the Blessing is received and leads in the way of Righteousness and will joyn your Hearts together in the Everlasting Covenant of the Father which he is establishing with all his faithful Ones among whom you may now come to be gathered and find an eternal Inheritance with them that are sanctified who come to be made one with him that sanctifieth who now cometh to purge away the filth and cleanse that which hath not been cleansed that Sinners may be converted unto him and the Filthy redeemed from their filthiness before the day come wherein it shall be said He that is Filthy let him be Filthy still Wherefore let the Day of your Visitation be dearly prized knowing that God who is Light will not alwayes strive with man and it s his Everlasting Love in that he hath visited you and passed by the Wise and the Mighty and made your Hearts sometimes soft and tender by the powerful Drawings of his Everlasting Love which by your Obedience and Belief in the Truth comes to be more and more shed abroad in your Hearts which Love will constrain Obedience to the Light in which Light Gods Power is received which Power maketh Sons who cry Father unto him that begeteth after his own Image whose Image comes to be renewed in the Children of the Light which Light is now come and we are Witnesses of it and testisie what we have seen and declare unto you the Message that was from the beginning and so preach not another Gospel unto you but the same which is the Power of God which I neither receive of men nor learn of men but by Revelation in which the Father is known which to the World is a Mystery and sealed from all them who believe not in the Light whose Deeds are Evil but manifest through the Operation of the mighty Power of God which worketh mightily in me that I might reach forth unto you also and that you might feel the Operation of the Fathers Love that is manifest in my Bonds to you who through many Tribulations with the rest of the Lambs of Christ are to wait for Deliverance from the Bondage of Corruption in the which you have long continued but now Christ Jesus the Light of the World is come to redeem them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to Bondage and the Bonds of Iniquity are now to be
nor any man to teach them then hath the Enemy invited them to sit down at ease and so not minding the continual fear at last they loath the Manna and call it Dry whereas the driness and barrenness comes by reason of their Unfaithfulness in not improving what they had through their continual watchfulness under the daily Cross And the Enemy geteth forth the Mind of others to watch for Evil or at least to look at the Temptations Backslidings Backwardness and Failings of others more than their own Conditions who see their own Evil therein some whereof thereby at last draw back others question the Truth it self and by such things as these the Simplicity in many other tender Lambs is burdened grieved and the Life pressed down by which they should grow and be fruitful unto God And others being convinced with the pure Light of something that is Evil which seemeth little to the carnal Eye and so going out from the Obedience to the Light and consult and reason and take Counsel of the Serpent who then contrives a way to shun the Cross therein and so endeavour to dawb the thing over from a secret Deceit working in the Power of Darkness until the Light hath even ceased striving with that Person and then he goes on with the thing saying He hath liberty therein But let such mark and observe themselves for no more unto them is committed neither do they grow or come any further but there stand as dry Plants coming long to Meetings having the Form but not feeling the Power for such who knowingly deny their Obedience in any thing to the Light of Christ he will deny them his Power in all things And thus doth and will the Enemy of your Souls make havock of the Flock if in the pure humble fear he be not alwayes watched against and slain by the Power of the Cross in the Light and many other Wiles and Ways doth the Enemy of your Souls watch to devour ensnare and overcome you the time would even fail one to declare it the Lord God Almighty help you against it that so in the Light you may see all these and many more things which you are all to Watch and War against that Spiritual Wickedness in High-places may not overcome you and that you may not turn aside with the Error of the Wicked nor be overcome with the power of Temptations but that you may be all diligent and watchful against every appearance of your Enemy and be able to stand in the day of Tryal that the Enemy of your Souls prevail not Therefore all Friends every where keep upon your Watch let the Light search your Hearts and keep your Meetings together in the silent fear and dread of the Lord that his Power in you all may raise you all in the Dominion and Wisdom of God to stand and feel that which keeps your Hearts together in the unlimitted Love of God and so his presence you will be fruitful unto his Blessing come to receive whereby you will be fruitful unto him in every good Word and Work The living Power of my Father preserve you all from the Power of the Enemy and keep your Minds in that which crosseth your Wills that the Lord God of Life may watch over you all for good for evermore Written for the good of many from the true Love of him who is known to many of you by that which is nearer than the Name of Humphry Smith Winchester-Bridewell the 4th Mon. 1658. TO THE Musitioners Harpers Minstrels Singers Dancers and the Persecutors From one who loved Dancing and Musick as his Life which being parted with and the Light being come which was before these things in which they are all seen And from it is declared THE Ground Foundation Beginning and Father and Children and Compass and End and the Effects of all the Harpers Musitioners Singers and Dancers Who may read what I have learned who have tryed their wayes and also searched into the things of God and declare this according to Scripture and have found the Joy which Man cannot take away JUBAL was the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ and so the Father of all such Musitioners being himself of the Seed of Lemach who slew a man and so the Son of a Man-slayer was the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ And the Man Christ the Light is the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World And Jubal was of the Generation of Cain who first slew a Man and then built a City he slew his Brother one that was near unto him and the Light of the Lamb slain is near unto every one even that which comes from the Man of Sorrows is in the Heart Cain's Seed slayes the man of Sorrows the Musitioners were of Cain's seed And that which slayes the man of Sorrows invents sets up and delights in the Instruments of Musick and the Father of all such was Jubal the seed of Cain who built a City and so was a Rich man and his seed delighted in Musick and so his seed who are gone from the Lords leading are building Cities Strong holds high and large Houses with painted Parlours and then set up the Instruments of Musick in the cieled Houses without and within themselves full of Rottenness or as a Cage of unclean Spirits whereby the just is murthered and the House laid wast and desolate as to the Life of God which should be the Temple of the holy Ghost and the Father of all these was Jubal the seed of Lemach a Man-slayer who also had another son Tubalcain the seed of Cain an Instructer of every Artificer in Brass and Iron and he that hath attained to never so much if not come to that which fulfills the perfect Law is as sounding Brass 1 Cor. 13. and there is many also of the Seed of this Instructer whose Instructions bring people to be but as sounding Brass And this first Instructor and Jubal were the Off-spring of Cain the Vagabond driven from God against whom the Blood of the Righteous doth Cry yet so rich in the Earth that he built a City being separated from God who confounds mans wisdom then comes that which makes merry over the Witness Gen. 4. And they who danced in the wilderness and sung and made a great noise and were in the Mirth and Vain Delights were a stiff-necked People and such as sate down to eat and drink and rose up to play like the same Generation now who are stiff-necked and bow not to him who is the Light low in the Heart to whom every knee shall bow but eat and drink and rise up to vain delights having Musick at their Feasts seeding themselves without fear Jude 12. like Jezabel at whose Table the false Prophets feed who made a Feast when she intended to murder the Righteous to gain his Possession read within and that which Murders the Just and such who forget God delight in
these things for they that sung and danced in the Wilderness forgot the mighty Power of the Lord which brought them out of Bondage therefore they got into the carnal Liberty like many others at this day before they come to the true Rest and these were in the false Worship who Worship that which the carnal Eye might perceive and these had lost the true Guide And when they were in their singing and dancing they knew not what was become of him who was the Minister of the Law that discovers sin but though they who danced saw him not for a time but began to dispise him yet in a time unexpected he came upon them in the Fierceness of his Anger who executed the judgments of the Lord upon those vain Dancers with whom he was grieved who was in the Church in the Wilderness and is the holy One in the midst who with a suddain slaughter destroyed these Dancers whose voice of singing was not because of Mastry neither was their Voice the voice of the Cry of the Oppressed and these were Idolaters whose Hearts were uncircumcised and knew not the Wayes of God who therefore condemned them with an utter Overthrow that they perished in the Wilderness where they thus sinned after they had seen the Deliverances of the Lord as many of the Rulers and People of England have done who have forgotten their Leader to whom these are left for an Example of whom there were about thirty Thousand slain for their Singing Dancing and False Worship Exod. 32. 1 Cor. 9. And Herod had Dancing before him and she that danced and he that was pleased with Dancing caused his Head to be taken off that directed to him that is the Light and preached the Lamb that takes away the Sin and their carnal Nature and so this murders that which is to prepare the Way of the Lord and they took off his Head and murthered him who was a burning and a shining Light and slew him that preached Repentance and so the Dancers and the Rulers of the Earth who were pleased with Dancing and Musick murther that in them which calls to Repentance and are ready to murder such as preach Repentance to them And whilst there is a delighting in Dancing and Musick that which calleth to Repentance is in Bondage for John was in Prison when Herod was pleased with the Dancing and there is not a greater Prophet than he that preacheth Repentance and he that proclaims the Way of the Lord was in Prison and she that danced desired his Death and he that caused him to be beheaded was a King a great one in the Earth who was pleased with Dancing and was a Swearer out of Christs Doctrine for he promised with an Oath What soever she would ask who danced before him then nothing would satisfie the Dancer but the Death of him who preached Repentance and he was an Observer of Days and kept the day of his Birth with Dancing It was his Birth-day the day of his Birth in which he was brought forth who was a Swearer the Swearers delight in dancing that caused his head to be taken off who warned them that had the Oracles of God To fly from the Wrath to come and said They were a Generation of Vipers who had the Scriptures and came also to his Baptism and brought not forth fruits meet for Repentance these are the Vipers And so that which is to lead unto Christ doth suffer in Bondage and is murthered and the Head or first Appearance of it taken off upon that day which the Birth of that is brought forth which is pleased with the Dancing not like Job Jeremiah and delights in the Musick and that which exerciseth the mind of the Creature in the dancing desireth the Death and Murthering of that in Prison which is to call to Repentance above all other things yea there is nothing then so much desired as the Killing and Overcoming of that which is cast into Prison by him that delights in the Musick Matth. 14. And when them in Israel who had Harps the Musitioners them who delighted in Musick were carried Captive into Babylon the Land of Confusion in which Land Nimrod the mighty One in the Earth went hunting before the Lord and by the River of Babylon they sate down and wept who were before the Musitioners with their Harps these went into Captivity because of the Sin and hanged their Harps upon the Willowes and sate down Mourning by the Rivers of Babylon and that which delighted in the Musick caused the Captivity and leads into Bondage that which should come to Liberty whereby Sorrow Weeping and Mourning comes in the End for the Songs of the Temple is to be turned into Howling and their Delight in the Musick was turned into Weeping and they led captive from Zion who were come to the land of Promise and there took Liberty in these fleshly Delights Psalm 137. The Mind that hath Wisdom may read this And it was the King of Babylon who said Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the Might of my Power for the Honour of my Majesty that set up the golden Image to be Worshipped at the hearing of all kind of Musick and he also was a great man in the Earth a great King the King of Babylon a mighty One in Confusion who commanded the Magicians the Astrologers and Sorcerers and Caldeans and ruled over them and all them that dwelt in the Earth and he sent Greetings of Peace to People Nations and Languages that dwelt in all the Earth but he that is the Light comes not to send Peace on the Earth and the Angel cryed Wo Wo Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth but he that was King over Nations in the Earth had many Instruments of Musick even all kinds of Musick and he that delighted in the Musick set up the Golden Image and by his command they that heard the Musick were presently to fall down and Worship the great Golden Image like the Children of Israel who set up the Golden Calf and these were Idolaters and in the false Worship and that which delighted in all kinds of Musick was in the Enmity to the Righteous Seed and sought to murther them who denyed the Musick and false Worship and therein such appear to be of Cain the Murtherer and of Lemach the Man-slayer And these great Ones in the Earth who had all kinds of Musick were in Babylon and these were the persecutors and such persecute now whose Rage was exceeding great against the Servants of the living God who to him were faithful though in Babylon and regarded not their Musick neither feared their great threatning Words nor yet obey their strict Command neither would they keep their Decrees nor take much care to Answer them in that matter nor bow before their Image though made with Gold nor Worship any other God than he that dwells in his People though they were in the Land of captivity among them in the
Land of Confusion who at last were brought to confess unto and fear and tremble before the living God who is Light that revealeth secrets in the Hearts But that which delights in the Musick seeks to murder the just and unto that which seeks to murther and persecute all them who are yet great in the Earth are joyned being not out of the Earth redeemed and the Rulers of the Earth take counsel together against the anointed which need not man to teach which seed is preserved and anointed amongst the flames of their burning Enmity for the Princes the Governours the Captains the Judges the Rulers the Counsellors the Sheriffs and all the Rulers of the Provinces who were of Babylon that delighted in the Musick stood before the Image and were in the false Worship and joyned together in the Persecution as such do now against the Seed of God and to confirm the Decree made by the King of Babylon which Decree was made with such fierce Tyranny and height of Pride and Envy that nothing less but presently to cast into the burning fiery Furnace would satisfie that Nature which ruled in these great Rulers in the Earth that loved the Musick whose fire of Enmity burned within them and they caused their Decree to be Proclaimed with a loud Voice That at the hearing of their Musick all men should Worship their Image or presently be cast into the Fire without because of their Fire of Enmity within the which Decree being not obeyed nor their Image worshipped nor their Enmity within nor Furnace without regarded by the Servants of the living God presently the King of Babylon was so full of Fury as the Furnace was full of Fire so that the form of his Visage was changed and rose up in that Power of Enmity against the Righteous Seed like Cain the Murtherer who rose up against his Brother whose Countenance also was changed whereby it appears he and the rest were of Cains seed and the Musitioners of their Father Jubal the seed of Lamech who slew a man read Dan. 3. When the Harp and the Musick go they must Worship the Image And the Persecuting Rulers of England need not to put this far from them being Rich and Mighty in the Earth and Envious like Cain and delighting in the Musick like the rest of his seed for the great Whore and Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth Mystery Babylon hath made all the Kings of the Earth Drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and the Great Men the Rich Men of the Earth and all Nations have committed Fornication with her who have corrupted the Earth and all Nations wonders after the Beast and in all Nations the Seed and Children of Mystery Babylon and of Cain and Lamech are sprung up and even in this Nation and other adjacent Kingdoms the Princes the Governours and Captains the Judges the Treasurers the Counsellors the Sheriffs and the Rulers of the Provinces delight in the Instruments of Musick and are Envious against the Righteous Seed who cannot bow to any Image nor Worship any Golden glorious Image or Likeness whatsoever but the living God who is able to deliver them and is a Spirit dwelling in his People and in Spirit is Worshipped by them who cannot bow unto or worship any Image or Likeness without set up by the will of man And therefore it is this day that the Governors and Captains the Judges the Treasurs the Counsellors the Sheriffs the Justices and all the Rulers in the Earth who are of Babels stock and of their Fathers Cain Lamech and Jubal are joyning together to persecute them that Worship God in Spirit who commanded not to bow down or worship any Image or Likeness and so their Likenesses are denyed the Substance being come and Christ revealed within who is a man of Sorrows who said The World should rejoyce John 16. 20. But their joy should be turned into sorrow and his Light in the Conscience is it which judgeth those vain Delights in carnal Musick which is to perish with the using For when the Spirit was departed from Saul he sought for one to play upon a Harp before him and for a time he was satisfied with that and when he heard the Musick he would be well but afterwards his delight in the Musick could not overcome that Murthering Spirit in him but at the very time that Saul heard the Musick he sought to slay him that was to be King and such as Saul who reject the Counsel of God slayes him that is the Light and would not that he should reign who is a man of Sorrows and he that loved the Musick had an evil Spirit or something that troubled him and that which moved in him while he heard the Musick to murther that which was to Reign the Lords Anointed the same thing led him to the Witch And so first he left the Spirit of God then sought â—ase by Musick then sought Counsel from the Witch he was shortly after destroyed They follow Witchcraft who obey not the truth which makes Free and he that is the Light is the Truth and the Lamb slain by that which takes delight in that which is out of the Truth invented by the Generation of Cain a Fugitive in the Earth of whom his deceived Mother said I have gotten a man from the Lord whose seed loves that which keeps from the Lord and leads into the Witchcraft like Saul not obeying the Lord nor the Truth of his Son who is the Light and Saul being required made use of the Harp to quiet him for a time from whom the Spirit of the Lord was departed and afterwards the seed of the Evil-Doers even the chief of the Nations did chaunt to the sound of the Viol and invent unto themselves Instruments of Musick like David putting far away the Evil day lying upon Beds of Ivory drinking wine in Bowls but not grieved for the Affliction of the Righteous seed and these were them that were at ease in Sion who were to go into Captivity with the first that go into Captivity whom the Wo is to as may be read Amos 6. And Solomons Wives his Men-Singers Women-Singers and Instruments of Musick drew away his Heart from the Lord and after he cryed against the Vanity of these things for it leads out from the Spirit and fear of the God of order within into the confused things without and such as follow that are of Babel the Mother of Harlots who hath made all Nations drunk in whom the time is come that the Voice of Harpers and Musitioners shall be heard no more at all for the Foundation and Skirts of that great Whore and her Craftsman are discovered with the Light which judgeth these things From a Prisoner of Christ in whom my Life is hid Humphery Smith DIVINE LOVE Spreading forth over all NATIONS OR The Glorious Day of Unity Teace and Concord Tendred unto all the Meek of the Earth Given forth from a tender Compassion to
of Christ in me did let me see the Abominations of the Priests practices and did speak against their way of sprinkling Infants and said I should never stand as a God-father for any nor never did whereat a man Swore at me and said It was pity any one did it for me but I said I mattered not if they had never done it for I was never the better though I had never heard any one speak against the things nor did not until many years after And so that which is now my Guide is the same which was in the beginning before the Sin and no other Foundation I never knew neither can another Foundation be laid in any than that which is already laid which is Christ within the hope of Glory and he saith I am the Light come unto me and suffer little Children to come unto me for the Kingdom of God is of such as come to him meek and low in Heart who saveth from Sin And certainly I never knew the Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace until I became again as I was when I was a little Child And how hard it is to come again into that simple innocent state when degenerated from it let Gods Witness in the Couscience answer Therefore is this written that you may not shut up the Kingdom of Heaven from your Children Secondly Take heed how you cause or suffer your Children to Babble many vain words with their Tongues with a delight to hear them prattle when there is no need for thereby afterward the Tongue becomes an unruly Member set on fire of Hell Jam. 3. 6. as I found and bore the fierce Indignation of the Lord for and many little Children would not come to speak so many vain and evil words which corrupt the good Manners if they were not much provoked thereunto and seeing People delight to hear them speak the most crasty words which are from the subtilty of the Serpent and many send their Children abroad among other wild People or Persons to have them learn subtilty and crast to speak their words from and how to be hardy or too hard for others by subtil Words and Lyes also in buying and selling and when they have learned it say They can live any where and that they can shift for themselves and live by their Wits and forecast which indeed oft-times to deceive others and yet there 〈◊〉 such a plain honest simple Principle in some that they can never be brought into such subtil words nor into so many words as others though they themselves have much endeavoured to attain it but they have been more plain and simple and the Lord preserveth the simple Psal 11. 6. and such sometimes could not defend their own cause but were pleaded down when their cause was just by others that had learned more of the Serpents subtilty which the Vengeance of God will one day come upon when the Lord avengeth the cause of the oppressed And in this I have had also much experience for when I was a Child I saw much into the vanity of needless words and was very backward a long time in speaking and in that and some other things much differing from other Children and many thought I would have been a fool 〈◊〉 they call it 〈…〉 the foolishness of God and therefore oft-times much means was used to cause me to speak and many Provocations long together and yet not at all scarce make me speak one word for I saw then it was needless and could not ask one how he did when I saw he was well nor answer that which was needless and when I was a little grown up and sent upon any small Errand I should deliver my Message in very few words that people thought I would be never like a man and about ten years of Age my Father in the flesh would sometimes send me to Market and it was long before he and all others could make me ask any more then the price he did allow me to sell at or if he did not set me a certain price then I should resolve of a price in the mind according as I saw the Market and so I often sold with the cheapest being loth to take too much and therefore was often esteemed and called a Fool and Dunce but it had been easier for me if I had never been drawn out of that state when I was taught of God to do unto others as I would be done unto and was fearful to strike any one but rather gave way to them that struck me and so was by many of my equals abused and it was hard for me to take away the life of any Creature and pleaded much against it with my Father and Mother when they commanded me to do it though it was but to kill a young Dog or Cat or the like my Life in me was grieved to do it and much was I forced to harden my Heart before I could do any such thing though commanded by my Parents which may be a warning to all Parents that they be not the cause of the hardning of their Childrens hearts and then say of them they are hardy Lads for that which har dens the heart seperates from God who is Love and from Christ who comes to save the Life and so the Sacrifice of God is not known which is in the broken Heart but the Lord is with the humble and the broken hearted And you should all take heed of provoking your Children to many words for all flesh should be silent before the Lord and their words and yours should be few seasoned with salt that they might minister grace to the Hearers for God sitteth in Heaven unto whom an account must be given for every Idle word and according to every word that a man shall speak shall he be judged Therefore let the fear and dread of the Lord God be before your Eyes that you bring not your Children into the Condemnation by speaking more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of plain simple Truth in few Words left the Lord God of Heaven and Earth requite it of you in the day of his firce Wrath when you will not be able to answer him one of a Thousand and left you bring your tender simple Babes to be Children of the Devil and then it be not in your power to bring them back out of that state again but they dye in their sins upon whom the Wrath of God abideth Therefore as you love and tender their good both of Soul and Body see that you keep and in all things bring them to Gods Witness in them and that will judg and reprove them for any Evil they have done and will keep them more out of all Evil then you by any other Reproof can do and will answer your chastizing for any Evil to be just when done in the true Moderation not exceeding the Offence committed nor proceeding from the least motion of the wrathful nature in you mark that Thirdly take heed of provoking your
Children to unquietness neither disturbe them of being quiet for many are not content to see them sober and quiet but are provoking them to Lightness and vain Pleasure when they would be sober like Lambs for it is written In quietness and rest shall ye be saved Isa 30. 13. And study to be quiet I Thes 4. 11. And commune with your own Hears and be still Psal 4. 4. For when I was a Child I did often sit and stand quiet long together pondering many things in my Mind and as I grew up all along that thing remained with me that for an hour or some hours if I were not disturbed I should sit quiet either waiting on the Lord for Counsel or searching which motion in me to be guided by And when I have been riding along the way when I have sound the right thing in me did not lead me I have turned back and not rode that Journey And my silent siting like a Fool my Father hath often called studying and hath often sharply reproved me for it saying by way of Reproach I would sure study to be some great Preacher or another and my Mother hath come to me it s like hundreds of times both when I was a Child and a Man and in her pity hath laid hards on me and bid me should not sit studying so for surely I would make my self a fool not knowing what my condition was And being so usually disturbed and grieved sometimes on First-dayes or when I could I should get into some Wood or place so private that none should find me and there wait in quietness three or four hours and sometimes the Love of God would break through me and his Word would make my heart soft and I felt the same then which now is my Life and now I know that those that wait on the Lord renew their strength and though it is written The Lord was weary of the Peoples Sacrifices and with their Words Mal. 2. 17. Yet it was never written in Scripture that the Lord was weary of those that waited upon him Therefore you should suffer your Children to wait upon God or at leastwise to be quiet and that which may be known of God is manifest in them Rom. 1. 19. And the Lord hath not lest himself without a Witness in every Conscience and it is Christ that is given for a Witness Isa 55. 4. and his Light shineth in their hearts who saith Come to me and learn of me for he is the Shepherd and Bishop of the Soul who teacheth all to Prosit Isa 48. 17. And is that true Prophet which whoso hears not the Soul is cut off and certainly my Soul was cut off from the Life when I was forced from hearing his voice in me that is a man of Sorrows and as a Lamb dumb Therefore take heed of provoking your Children to hear ken to a stranger or another Teacher than he that is a living Mimster within the vail and the vail is over the Heart where I have found that Instructor that shall never be removed but all Teachers without may be removed and Priests and men may dye but this abides a Priest forever being made by the Power of an endless Life Heb. 7. And so now all such as come to know something of God in them they also come to sit in silence and quietness to receive Instructions from God which is no new thing invented by the will of man or learned one from another but is the same with that which guided the Prophets and was in my heart from God of a Child and I do affirm in the presence of the Lord God that I had never returned out of that degenerate state which I was hurried into from the measure of the breath of Life in me if I had not waited in and been obedient unto the Light of Christ which was in me so a Child And you may all mind that all along there hath been something in you which in secret did reprove you for sin and will let you see the sins of your Youth or Childhood and that is the Light of Christ the Son of God who so loved the World that he gave his Son a Light into the World and the World is sct in the Heart Eccles 3. 11. that all men through him might believe and be saved from Wrath to come and that is it that is given for a Witness and the Witness is alss in the Conscience of a Child which will testifie against it after it hath done Evil and the Countenance will fall like Cain but before they have done Evil they are not ashamed as Adam being innocent and if they be falsly accused of an Evil they have not done they will have Boldness therein and the Witness in them will justifie them and the Witness is given of God to be a Leader Isa 54. 4. and a Captain Heb. 2. 10. and a Saviour Mat. 1. 21. And the Lord in the midst is mighty to save Hos 11. 9. And this is freely given to every one without Money and without Price so that there is neither Jew nor Greek Barbarian nor Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is all and in all and he is called a Witness and the Light of the Gentiles and he saith I am the Light believe in the Light And God is Light who is above all and through all and in all Ephes 4. 6. And he hath placed a sufficient measure in every one Psal 46. 5. Heb. 8. 10 11. which was my Teacher when I knew no other and before I knew what it was and is my Teacher now and is the same as ever it was and doth not Change and this is that which comes from God and is not put in them by Man nor humane Learning but men by their Eloqent Speeches and vain Deceit may lead them forth from that in them and so break the Command of Christ who said Go not forth Mat. 24. 25. And then when they are led forth after Lo here and Lo there from the Rock which Christ the Light within and from the sure Foundation which God hath laid and no man can lay another though they despise this and reject and refuse this precious Corner-stone which is the Light that shineth in the heart to give the knowledge of God from the which being led by the subtility of mans fallen Wisdom then are they liable to follow any devised Fables and Imaginations and Sects and Opinons and to be scattered upon every dry barran and dark Mountain as the Lord knoweth I was long not knowing where to find Rest having been hurried from and led out from my true Guide from and by the which at first I could pray with the Spirit as in measure the Spirit that was within helped my Infirmity with Sighs and Tears which being led out from and the tender Motions of it quenched then after I grew up was taught to say Prayers and some Prayers that others learned out of Books and this they
laid upon me to say every night but I found that was just as dry Heath instead of a Honey-comb before And so being led on in a Form and to look after Things and Teachers without the Light within became darkned and my understanding of the Son of God's Love shed abroad in my Heart which sometimes being sensible of I began very Young to look after Priests and Sermons and thought to have sound the true Thing again there but as true as the Lord God of Heaven and Earth liveth They did me more harm than all the rest and led me farther from my Teacher and from the sence of the feeling after God Acts 17. 27. to sind him near me then ever and withal begot in me abundance of the Serpents subtilty and the more because I being sensible of a want in me received their fair Speeches with much eagerness and earnest Desires believing them that that was the Way to Peace so that I grew much into that knowledge which puffâ—th up and did indeed encrease my Sorrow and so by them was I deceived the Lord God knoweth I Lye not but speak the Truth in Flainness having not Envy towards any of their Persons and this is the very Truth of my Heart in the Presence of the living God That it was more harder for me to leave and deny and know Redemption out of that which I learned from and among the Priests then to leave the Fruits of all the Sin that ever I by Temptations did run into and my Witness herein will abide in me forever Therefore let the Lord God be the Teacher of your Children who hath given them Life and Beeing and a better Teacher you cannot provide for them nor direct them unto and that which may be known of God is manifest in them and let that lead them and guide them in his fear and you are to let them understand that they should do and speak justly according to that Witness of God in them which will let them see when-ever they are tempted to speak a Lye or say they have done such a things as you commanded them and have not and will let them see they should be faithful and diligent unto you in all things that are just in the sight of God and other things you should not require of them left you grieve them but examples of Righteousness should you be in all your Words and Actions unto them and if you are not able to set them to School to learn to read yet they have the Light from christ in them already and that will shâ—w them plainly of the Father and he that is the Light is the good Old Way in which the way faring men though Fool cannot Err. And if you set them to school never so long to read and write and with their learning to search the Scriptures which is good yet they are to come to Christ the Light that they may have Life and they are to learn of him and follow him and so to learn of Christ as to know him to be in them the Hope of Glory and the Way out of Sin and unto the Father his will in all things made manifest to obey rather then man that so it may go well with them and that they may come to receive a Blessing from God and be a Comfort to their Parents who fear him and at last in Gods Everlasting Covenant lie down with Peace and Rest ANd all you young Children who are growing up into years of discretion this you are to understand that you have not made your selves but were created by the Lord God of Heaven and Earth who ruleth over all Mankind whose Presence is every where and filleth Heaven and Earch and Knoweth the secrets of all the Hearts of the Children of men and sheweth unto man both Old and Young what is his Thoughts from whom the least Evil cannot be hid who is dreadful in Holyness and just in his Judgments and Righteous in all his Wayes and his Presence is near unto every one and from his All-seeing-Eye can no one hide his deeds and before him should you fear forever and learn in his fear to walk which will keep you out of Evil and grieve ye not his Spirit left he refuse to help you in your great Distress neither provoke the Lord against you by learning Wickedness among the Sons of men who are all astray from the lowly Guidance of his Spirit and so their works are Evil and their words Unfavoury and Evil Words they use which doth corrupt the good Manners the which of them you should not learn but let your Yea ne Yea and your Nay be Nay and so learn of Christ that his Power he may minister unto you and you by him come to be saved that you may be Children of God and taught of God and drawn by his Spirit unto Christ his Son who said I am the Light of whom the Scriptures bear Testimony And in him the Scripture saith is Life and he is come who is the Light that you might have Life in your selves and come to be Heirs of the Promise of God by Regeneration through the working of the Power of God which worketh in the Hearts of the Children of men to sit them for himself a Habitation of Holiness that he may be glorified in his People And certainly you ought in the tenderness of your Years to have a true fear before that God of Life which made you who is an invisible Spirit as may be read in the Holy Scriptures of Truth And as you learn the fear of the Lord who cometh to dwell in his people he will by the Direction and Guidance of the Light of his Son in your Hearts who is the Mediator by whom the Law is handed forth will he teach you your Duty towards your Neighbour which is near unto you and to Honour your Father and Mother and what Honour is as also your Duty and Obedience in the first place towards God that his Love might be towards you and that your dayes might be prolonged as also saith the Law for whoso groweth Wicked and Rebellious against the Light the Lord suffereth not to live out half their dayes Job 24. vers 13. For Life comes from God and he withdraws it at his pleasure from them that obey him not and when he taketh way their Breath they dye and the Breath of God was the Life of the Soul of man and Christ said He was the Life who is meek and lowly in Heart who said Suffer little Children to come unto me and said he I am the Way and he cometh to condemn Sin and calleth to Repentance his Name is caled The Word of God Rev. 19. 13. and the Word is very nigh thee even in thy Heart Rom. 10. 8. And so that is the Way that you all which are Young should go and be trained up in that when you are old you might not depart from it Prov. 22. 6. so may you have
Peace with God and his Blessing to be with you alwayes and be a Comfort to your Parents and all that truly fear the Lord. Written by a Member of Christ whose love was to little Children and so is mine who am called Humphery Smith THE True and Everlasting Rule From God discover'd AND That which proveth all things Published from the Spirit of Truth To the which Rule the Scriptures also bear Testimony that the Simple and Honest-hearted may see what Rule they are to walk by to come to perfect Peace and Rest with God for evermore Also A Testimony of the true Prophet who was to come and is come and there is not another his Work witnessed and Truth declared from a feeling-sence and experience according to Scripture Wherein also is shewed That the Prophets of God and Ministers of Christ did preach the Light and so those who preach the Light now do therein preach the same Doctrine as the Prophets Christ and his Apostles did With an Invitation from the Spirit of Christ By a Servant of the Lord and a Sufferer for his Truth in the House of Correction at Winchester in Hampshire called Humphry Smith The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken Deut. 18. 15. To the Flock of GOD whom he hath gathered in Glocestershire Herefordshire Worcestershire Wiltshire Oxfordshire Buckinghamshire Hampshire Dorcetshire and Devonshire TO you my dearly beloved Lambs and Babes in Christ Jesus chosen of God the Father before the Foundation of the Word called to be Saints sanctified with the living Truth in the inward parts justified by him that is near redeemed with the Blood of the new Covenant glorified as a royal Diadem in the hand of the Father preserved through believing and obedience by the mighty Arm of unlimited Power compassed about with Salvation anointed with Oyl of Joy and Gladness of Heart who are beloved of my Soul and the Joy of the whole Earth who are chosen and faithful and true who through great Tribubation the Kingdom do come to receive who have not loved your Lives unto the Death who did once walk in the Shadow of Death whose feet now come to be guided in the Way of Everlasting Peace to whom the hand of the Father's infinite Love hath been reached forth as unto tender Babes who come to be born and nursed up by the Womb and the Paps that are free which is the Mother of us all who know the first-born which is blessed for evermore who are become the first Fruits unto God and to the Lamb who have received the Testimony of Jesus who have washed your Robes in the Blood of the Lamb and have received the fine Linnen which is the Righteousness of God and the Righteousness of the Saints whose Sins are done away forever whose Nakedness is covered who have put on the pure Robes and are adorned as a Bride for her Husband who are clothed with Righteousness as with a Garment and are all Glorious within and are able to stand upon the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire and before the Throne out of which proceeds Lightnings and Thunders and Voices who have cast down all your Crowns at the fect of the Lamb and come to wait on him forever and ever who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is worthy of all Glory and Honour and Praise and Thanks and Obedience and Dominion from all his for evermore The Salutation of me the Prisoner of Jesus Christ with my own hand unto you my dear Ones unto whom at present my Bowels of Love from God the Father are poured forth with whom I am in the Spirit of Love and Meekness among whom I have passed through good Report and evil Report yea that which is not to be named who am as one of the least yet not the least in Love unto you who are unto me as the Children of my own Bowels bound up with me in the unspeakable Life of the Father which from all the World is hid for evermore where Life and Immortality dwelleth forever and is daily felt by all you that abide faithful in the Obedience and keep your Garments unspotted of the Flesh abiding in the pure Fear and godly Humility your Bread is continued and your Waters are sure and your Souls are made as a watered Gardâ—n and Peace and Life springs up in you and you may delight your selves in Fatness and find the replenishings from the Fountain of God's living Mercies and grow up in the holy Life as Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified The Church of the first born are you come to be the Pillar and Ground of Truth made lively Stones elect and precious growing up a holy Building unto God the Father who will dwell in you his holy Temple forever and ever who are founded upon the elect precious and Corner-stone the sure Foundation the Rock of Ages the Light of the World whose light is your life which is shining forth unto the Sons of men that they may see your good Works which are wrought in and by you and hear your seasoned words which ministers Grace unto the Hearers and answers Gods Witness in all and makes for your Advantage who are as Plants of Renown a Habitation of Holiness Vessels of Honour Clusters of Grapes who receive nourishment from the Vine whose Fruit never fadeth whose Rivers are never dry whose Rayment never waxeth old whose Glory never fadeth whose strength is renewed as the Morning your Dread is upon the People and your Terror upon the Heathen your Enemies are all as stubble before you and your God in the midst of you is a consuming Fire Dreadful is his Presence in you unto all his and your Enemies the Workers of Iniquity who shall fall before you as the Grass that is cut down and wither as the Blossom that is cut off Paleness shall cover the faces of all your Enemies before you shall all People be much pained Sorrow shall take hold upon them in the Night-season then shall the Arrows of the Lord reach into their Bowels Astonishment of Heart shall be upon them and they shall fly when none pursues and be in Distress and none shall deliver Arise against them O ye my Lambs in the strength of the Lord who teacheth your hands to war and your fingers to fight let the Beast be overturned forever let the Whore have blood to drink let her Merchant be spoiled forever and all her Children dashed against the Stone and broken to pieces as a Potters Vessel with the Power of the Light let the Darts of your hands who handle the Word of Life strike through all the false Prophets and reach unto the secrets of all their Hearts to the renting open of their Chambers of Darkness and the cutting down of the Enemies of the Most High and fear not let not your hands be slack the Lord
the Lord who gave her a Son that knew the Lord and ministered before him being yet a Child but the Sons of Ely the Priest were Sons of Belial and knew not God like the Priests of England 1 Sam. 14. and 2. 18. And David a man after Gods own Heart was a deaf man and heard not and as a dumb man that openeth not his Mouth being dumb with Silence and held his Peace even from good until his Heart was hot within him and the Fire burned then he spake with his Tongue Psal 38. 13 14. Psal 39. 1 2 3. 9. and afterwards he said Thy Word have I hid in my Heart which Word is as a Fire that I might not sin against thee and so that which keepeth from Sin is hid in the Heart and that Word David said was a Lamp to his Feet and a Light unto his Paths which Word he kept and loved the Law of the Lord which is written in the Heart and so was made wiser than his Enemies and had more understanding than the Ancients and all his Teachers Psal .. 119. 10 11. vers 42 43 50 67 81 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105. And all the Prophets of the Lord were led guided and directed by the Spirit of Christ which was in them both in their Actions which sometimes were as Foolishness and Madness in the Eyes of the Professing Jews and also in their Words which sometimes were as Thunder against the ungodly though they were the Rulers of the People and their Words were so Terrible against them that professed Godliness and lived in unrighteousness that Amaziah the high Priest said of one of the Prophets who spake in the dread of the Lord That the whole Land was not able to bear his Words Amos 7. 10. And Amaziah the Priest of Bethuel being not able to bear the Word of the Lord therefore he falsly accused Amos of conspiring against the King Amos 7. And from the Spirit in them did the Prophets with boldness declare against the Wickedness of the Rulers of the People saying to the poluted City Thy Princes are Rebellious and Companions of Thieves they love Gifts and Rewards and judge not the Fatherless nor the cause of the Widdow and suh as these are the Adversaries and Enemies of the Lord upon whom he will be avenged and all them that trouble his Servants Isa 1. 23 24. 2 Thes 1. 6. And it is just and right for the Friends of Christ to declare against the Enemies of the Lord and those that decree unrighteous Decrees and write grievousness which they have prescribed and turn aside the Needy from Judgment and take away the Right of the People that they may Rob the Fatherless against these is the Hand of the Lord stretched out and they are to bow down under the Prisoners and fall under the slain Isa 10. 1 2 3 4. and saith the Prophet Wo to the filthy and poluted City her Princes are roaring Lyons her Judges are evening Wolves her Prophets are light and treacherous her Priests have poluted the Sanctuary Zeph. 3. 1 2 3 4. and many more such expressions they used which was not Railing but sound Words in the fear and dread of the Lord read Amos the first and second Chapters And from the Spirit of Truth in them did they also declare even against such as were the Teachers and Leaders of the People and were made Ministers by a Law of God which Law was then in force and those Ministers departing out of the way and corrupting the Covenant like the Priests of England therefore the Lord made them as he will these who deny the Way the Light base and contemptible in the Eyes of all the People because they also have been partial in the Law Mal. 2. 8 9. and against such did and do the Servants of the Lord declare they being such Shepherds that cannot understand but are blind ignorant dumb greedy Dogs these are the worst of Dogs Isa 56. 10 11. and by such is the horrible thing committed Jer. 5. 30 31. And the Pastors are become bruitish Jer. 10. 21. Therefore hearken not unto them Jer. 27. 13 15 16. verses also read Jer. 23. and Ezek. 34. For as Troops of Robbers wait for a man so the company of Priests murther in the way by consent Hos 6. 9. And one of the chief of that number is John Hodder Priest of the Parish called Haychurch in the County of Dorset and there was a People the Heads thereof judged for Reward and the Priests teached for Hire and the Prophets divined for Money is it not so in England Mich. 3. 11. and saith the Prophet O ye Priests this Commandment is for you I will send a Curse upon you and corrupt your Seed and spread Dung upon your Faces even the Dung of your solemn Feasts hearken ye Priests of England Mal. 2. 1 2 3. And this was and is sound Doctrine which the itching Ears of the false Teachers of our dayes cannot endure to hear being found themselves such cursed Children that cannot cease from Sin that were to come in the latter dayes 2 Pet. 2. 14. and those Words and many more to the same effect were they guided by the Spirit of Christ the Light in them to speak and from that Spirit they declared against the Rulers Priests and People who had the Law or Letter and Moses Writings without them yet were Enemies to the Spirit of Truth within But the Prophets searched diligently to see what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them did signifie 1 Pet. 1. 11. So that the Spirit of Christ was in the Prophets which testisied unto them and was their Rule and Guide And when Christ came who is the end of the Prophets and the Law he also declared against the same generation as the Prophets did and we do and he said They were of their Father the Devil who did his Works notwithstanding they had the Scriptures and the Oracles of God and were of the place of holy Worship and were zealous and strict therein even against them did Christ proclaim many Woes Mat. 23. for the Word of God had no place in them neither could they hear it John 8. 37 43. but in Christ the Light did all the fullness of God dwell Col. 1. 19. 2. 9. And so he that had the fullness of God within him was counted a Deceiver a Blasphemer denyed and crucified by them that had the Oracles of God without them and read the Prophets every Sabbath-day yet knew not their Voices Acts 13. 27. which prophesied of him whom they knew not when he was come who is the Light And now we do bear witness that the Light is come as did Isaiah 60. 1 2 3. though Darkness covers the Earth and gross Darkness the People yet in him that is the Light doth the fulness of God abide and no man cometh to the Father or fulness of God but the Son who is Light And
midst and hath rent the Vail and from under Death is risen in his unlimited Power Dominion and Authority even him that Death nor the Grave cannot hold who through Death hath conquered Death forever and though Death had Power over him before the Way into the Holiest of all was made manifest yet now Death hath no more dominion over him but he is risen through Death who was made a Curse and hath born away the Curse and removed the cursed ground upon which fallen man stood and hath born away the sin of the World and was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God through in and by him who hath opened the Understanding whereby the unsearchable Riches of unspeakable love comes to be made manifest even unto us who were going astray and were Children of Wrath as well as others and Aliens and Strangers to the Covenant of Grace and long were without God and in the World tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine after the cunning Craftiness of men whereby we were long deceived even by such who still bewitcht the Minds of the simple out of which Witchcraft I can say the Lord hath delivered and obedience to the Truth that makes Free is yeilded and Love Mercy and Judgment is come and brought forth and Victory is witnessed the Messenger of the everlasting Covenant is come even he that we long waited for and we do not look for another but he that is the same yesterday to day and forever who was to come and is come and is to come he that readeth let him understand who is without beginning of time or end of dayes who is made under the Law and became as a Servant being obedient to the Death through which the Life is risen up into the understanding and hath born away that which the Law had power over and hath brought in that by which the Law is fulfilled and so he that is the end of the Law for Righteousness is felt and received who taketh away the Sin and reconcileth the World up unto the Father where the sin is taken away by him who though he was made sin yet knew no sin who appears now the second time without sin to the saving of that which was lost which is now brought again and plenteous Redemption is known for the desire of all Nations is come and the second Houses is filled with his Glory the Wine-press is full the Fat 's overflow for the VVinter is past and the Summer is come and the Lillics appear in the Field where the Pearl was hid the Fig-tree puts forth her buds and the Vine yeilds her encrease the Olive doth blossom and the Apple-Tree in the midst of the VVood doth flourish and the good ground yeilds her encrease and is fruitful in its season to the good Husbandman and there is seed to the sower and bread to the eater the Barns are filled with abundance and the Store-houses with plenty and Treasure is laid up for many years in the heavenly places which are purified with the lively sacrifices so that the earthen Vessels are fitted to keep the heavenly Manna that shall dure throughout many generations and so against the Famine comes upon the Earth and all them that feed at Jezabels Table Oyle is laid up in safety and the finest of the Flower in a place where it is sure where it will last and never fail until the Heathen are scorched with heat and they that have forsaken the Lord are become as a parched Heath and all the gods of the Heathen famished and the Tongue of the Aegyptian Sea dryed up and all the false Prophets overturned who belong to Jezabel whose Body the Dogs must tear though she yet sits as a Qeen in opposition to the true Prophet Christ the Light and until them who are drunk with the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore and are the Merchants of Mystery Babylon the great the Mother of all the painted Harlots be all condemned in one day with an utter overthrow and the Seat of the Whore removed and all them that commit Fornication with her made as the Valley of Hammon Gog and as the Dung upon face of the Earth and all the Brats of the VVhore dashed against the Stones until then I say shall that in store remain and a Hiding-place be found for the Prophet of the Lord who is also hid near thee in thy own Land though thou art seeking him afar off Wherefore hear O ye Kindreds of the Earth for as the Dew spread upon the Mountains so doth the Streams of my Beloved raise overspreading the Earth with the comliness of his Love and filling it with the Beauty of his Grace the Banner of his Love is spreading forth as a Curtain and under the shadow of his Wings is a certain Hiding-place both from the Storm and from the Heat and though the Sea rage and all Kindreds and Tongues swell up in Wrath Pride and Arrogancy yet he come known witnessed and received who commands both the VVirds and the Sea who is the former of all things by whom they all were made and at his Command all are subdued and the lightnings of his Light enlightens the VVorld Psal 97. 4. and the Glory of his Power is spreading over the Nations and the excellency of his Beauty is reaching to his Lambs and because of his Comliness the Virgins love him and to him the Daughters of Jerusalem bring their Gifts and before him the Princes of the People lay down their Crowns and because of him the VVilderness doth rejoyce and the Desolate is made glad for the fruitful Land was become a barren VVilderness and now the baren VVilderness is turned into a fruitful Field and the plant sprung out of a dry Ground and the Seed is born of the barren VVomb and there is a VVay made in the VVilderness and streams are given in the Desart and the Ear of the deaf is opened the Lame doth walk and the Leaper is cleansed and the stammering Tongues speak plainly the Gospel is received and the everlasting Power is come even the Immanuel God with us and in us and we confess Christ come in the Flesh and do not look for another but do know that this is the great Prophet who is come into the VVorld that is set in the Heart Ecclcs 3. 11. which is in the midst out of which Moses said the Lord would raise up a Prophet Deut. 18. 15. the which Prophet being come which all are to hear he saith I am come a Light into the World John 8. 12. ch 12. 35 36 46. The VVorld being set in the Heart there is the light of him who saith I am the Light and he that is the Light is the true Prophet and the true Prophet is in the midst who is the Light whose day Abraham saw unto whom the Gospel was preached which Gospel is Gods Power whereby Abraham rejoyced because he came to see the Day
of him who is the Light of the World unto whom all the Prophets gave Testimony Isaiah who witnessed the Son born and the Child given Isa 9. 6. by whose stripes he came to be healed he preached the Light and said The Light was come and the Gentiles should come to his Light and Kings to the Brightness of his rising and he also prcached the Light to be everlasting Isa 60. 1 2 3 19 20. so that Kings and Gentiles shall come unto him that is the Light who is Gods Wisdom that is from Everlasting Prov. 8. 23. who is given for a Light to the Gentiles and in him they trust And Isaiah said Come ye let us walk in the Light of the Lord Isa 2. 5. And the Disciples called him Lord who is the Light And David's servants were careful that the Light of Israel might not be quenched by his going forth to War Mark That which leads forth to War quenches the Light 2 Sam. 21. 17. And Job did not deny but the Light was given to him that was in Misery and to the man whose Way was hid Job 3. 20 23. And David preached him who is given for a Light unto the Gentiles to be Salvation to the ends of the Earth and said The Lord is my Light and my Salvation Psal 27. 1. And in thy Light we shall see Light Psal 36. 9. And Light is sown for the Righteous Psal 97. 11. And he that came of David said Truly Light is sweet Eccles 11. 7. And when he came of whom the Prophets prophesied who is the only Prophet and High-priest and the end of the Prophets and the Law and that Priest hood which was made by a Law he being come preached himself to be the Light of the World and said While you have the Light believe in the Light John 8. ch 12. And John who was a Minister of Christ preached the Light and said it was the Life of man John 1. and Light is come into the World John 3. 16. And Peter preached the Light shining in a dark place And the Ministers of Christ who were Eye-witnesses of his Glory said The Light shined in Darkness and God commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness and some witnessed that they were made partakers of the Inheritance with the Saints in Light And many more Proofs might be brought from the Scriptures of Truth as a Cloud of Witnesses to prove that we who preach declare and bear witness to the Light do not therein preach a new Doctrine nor another Gospel but the same with all the holy men of God and that which we have heard and seen which was from the beginning which Message is this even the Light which Light in the World in the Heart is the Corner-stone which is the sure Foundation and other Foundation can no man lay than he that is the Light that is already laid And this is the true Prophet which all are to hear and the Children of the Light do hear know and obey his Voice and stranger they will not hear but him by whom God speaks for God in times Past spoke unto our Fathers at sundry times and in divers manners but in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his Son who is the Light whose Name is called the Word of God Rev. 19. 13. which Word was hid in Davids Heart of whom Christ came who is the Light and the Word which was a Light unto Davids feet and a Lanthorn to his steps and so David called him Lord who is the Light and the Word nigh who is in the midst and preacheth Peace to them that believe in follow and obey him that is the Light and the Light is the Condemnation of all them that hate it and every one that doth Evil hates the Light but the Light is the Condemnation of all whose Deeds are Evil and every one that loves the Light wherewith he is enlightned brings his deeds to it and by it the hidden things of Darkness are made manifest and waiting in that which it doth make manifest to be Evil so Christ the Light comes to destroy the Works of the Devil and make an end of Sin and reconciles up unto God who hath given him a Light of the Gentiles and a Covenant to be salvation to the Ends of the Earth and this is he that lighteth every man that comes into the World which World God so loved that he gave his Son a Light into it that all men through him might believe and be saved from Wrath to come and so it s the Will of him that sent him who is the Light that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth which Truth brings Freedom to the Seed whereby it comes to have Peace with God being redeemed from the Bondage of Corruption and set at Liberty from under the shadow of Death wherein many long have walked whose feet now comes to be guided into the Way of Everlasting Peace where the Children of the Light do rest together And this is he who hath wrought Redemption with his own Power and redeemed out of the Captivity and opened the Prison Door and preached Peace to the Spirit that was in Prison in the dayes of Noah when the old World was destroyed and brought the Flood upon the Ungodly yet saved the Seed in the midst of the Storm and raging Waves and by him even he that is the Light is Captivity led captive and that which ruled over is brought to be a Servant under and when the Word of the Lord came to the Rock it opened and much of living Water issued forth abundantly whereby the Thirsty came to be satisfied and clothing from him who is the Light doth daily come and the Rayment that never waxeth old he clothes with the Armour of Light and is as a Sun and a Shield from him the Spiritual Weapons come and he teaches the Hands to War and the Fingers to Fight so that the strong Holds are broken down and every Thought comes to be subjected and when he leads through the sufferings like a Lamb so is he followed and when he arises up to speak with Authority and not as the Scribes then is he obeyed who then utters his Voice like a man of War and lifts up his Voice like a Trumpet crying aloud unto all them that are Thirsty and proclaming the Woes unto all them who wear the false Coverings and by him are his Enemies confounded and Judges led away fools and Princes laid in the dust And at him do the Kings of the Earth shut their Mouthes and before him shall they all bow for with the Sword of his Lips doth he slay the Wicked and his slain are many and shall be more for no Flesh shall stand before him who is now come to plead and make War in Righteousness and now are his Enemies flying unto their strong Holds and fenced Cities but his Salvation is stronger than Walls or Bulwarks and that all
Power To all the Judges and Rulers of the Earth who rise up against the Lamb And to Gog Magog and all their Armies and to the whole Host of the Power of Darkness and to all men who fight against God who or whatsoever they be or whatsoever they be called BEhold ye Rulers of the Earth and listen and hear all ye Earthly minded Men let the Blindness of your Minds be opened that your dark Hearts may be enlightned hear I say and stop not your Ears whose Minds are in the Earth whose Eyes are closed whose Hearts are covered with a thick Vail by your own Iniquity who see not the Wonders of the Lord wrought among the living neither perceive the mighty Power of the God of the whole Earth who are besotted through the sinfulness of your continual Transgressions and are groveling as Moles in the Earth and laden with thick Clay and covered with the Vail that is spread over all Flesh that you see not the glory of the God of Life neither perceive ye the comliness of the holy One of Jacob to whom the bright Morning Star is as a Cloud of Darkness and the Way of the living God as a fierce Whirlwind of Fire who see not him that dwelt in the Bush neither hear his Voice who hath made Darkness his Habitation and his Pavilion round about him thick Clouds of the Skey Hear I say and let my words have entrance in you and let the sound of my Voice take place in your Hearts let the opening of my Lips give Astonishment to the Wicked and the enlargement of my Heart the Confounding of the Heathen let the Dread of the Lord take hold upon the Hypocrites and Astonishment seaze upon the Double-minded let the Prudent keep silent and hear and let the Honourable be quiet and consider let the Understanding give audience to my words and let the Mouth of the Fool be stopt let the Sinner stand still and be quiet and let the Ungodly consider the words of Truth rebel not against the Word of the Lord neither harden your Hearts against the Dread of his Power let the tall Cedar bow and bend and that which is lifted up be brought down and stand ye all in Meekness For behold the Omnipotent Power is come the Rock of Ages is revealed the Everlasting strength is made manifest the God of Abraham hath reacht forth his hand and the Redeemer of Israel is come to dwell in the midst the great Jehova hath uttered his Voice and he whose Name is I Am is at hand he that moveth upon the Waters may be felt and he that formeth the Seed in the Womb may be known he that inhabiteth Eternity is come to dwell in his People and walk in the midst of the poor despised of his flock having cleansed them by the washing of Water and renewed them by the Spirit of Burning and refined them with his Righteous Judgments and cleansed them with the Blood of his Son that in his Zion redeemed with Judgment he may dwell for evenmore and take up his rest in the midst of his People having made the place of his feet Glorious and his residence as a Seat in the midst of a Fire which burneth against all them that are in the Night and giveth light to them that are in the Covenant whose Glory is hid from the dark Mind and his Counsel with-held from the Unbelieving in Heart he standeth near unto the Wicked who perceiveth him not and taketh Notice of his secret Intents he observeth the footsteps of the Kings of the Earth and marketh the Decrees of the Unrighteous and when they have filled up their measure he putteth forth his Finger to their Life and taketh away their Breath he suddainly cuts off the Wicked and regardeth not the Mightiness of Princes he searcheth the Hearts of Kings and ruleth over the Powers of men his Infiniteness can never be declared in his hand is the Breath of the Life of the Souls of all Mankind Hear I say and consider my words and ponder the Meditations of my Mind for behold the Lord God of Life is come Immanuel is revealed the Root and Off-spring of David is grown up as a Plant of Renown the Seed of the Shepherd sits upon the Throne and before him shall all the Kings of the Earth lay down their Crowns every Emperor shall bow and bend and the Potentates of the Earth before him shall wither as a green Herb their Glory shall perish as the untimely Birth of the Womb their Honour shall vanish as the Smoke before the Wind their Wisdom shall fade away as a Blossom cut off and their Understandings shall come to nothing the Wisdom of the most high shall be exalted over all and with his foolishness will he them all confound yea with a foolish Nation will he anger the Judges of the Earth and with a despised People will he provoke the Rulers of the World to jealousie by the foolishness of his Flock will he confound his Enemies and by his weakness in them will he subdue the strength of the Mighty and though all his Enemies strive in the Arrogancy of their Spirits and in the fierceness of their strength yet shall he be exalted who is led as a Lamb dumb and he shall reign whose right it is in whose Mouth there is found no Guile who maketh an end of Sin and bringeth in Ever lasting Righteousness and setteth up Judgment in the Heart and cometh to rule in the Kingdoms of men and overturneth the Host of his Enemies by whom Judges are led away Fools Diviners turned Mad before whose Presence the Mightiness of the mightiest Rulers of the Earth is as Wax before the fire and their Strength melteth away as the fat of Lambs Wherefore hear and see O ye Kindreds and Rulers of the Earth the Lord our God is come the might of his strength is revealed and the Power of his Presence made known he hath chosen his Army to himself and their Names are written in his Life he hath numbred up his Hosts together and armed his chosen with his Everlasting Strength the Captain of his Host goeth before them and the Camp of the Lord is very great they are Numberless as the Sand of the Sea and Infinite as the Stars of Heaven Even so is the Seed of Abraham the Remnant of the Flock of Jacob whom the Lord hath redeemed who are chosen and faithful and true yea behold its even so and that all the Nations of the Earth shall know for the Lord of Hosts rideth on in Meekness in the midst of his Host and maketh War in Righteousness with the Enemies of the Lamb who would not that he should reign who makes an end of Sin and he is clothing his Army with Zeal as with a Garment and covering them with the Armour of Light and preserveth their Head in the day of Battel and girds them up with strength and guideth their feet upon the Rock and preserveth their
forth my hand towards the weak and utter my voice to the Prisoner of Hope and shew unto the meek in the Earth how the invisible God hath led his seed and is leading his Remnant through and out of the Variety of things unto the one thing it self from whence the various Things Gifts and Ministrations do come Now that which is chiefly in my heart to write for the Seeds sake is First Something concerning the Ministration of Moses when he was upon Earth Secondly Concerning the Ministration of Christ whilst he was upon Earth Thirdly and chiefly Concerning the Ministration of the Spirit First Concerning Moses's Ministration when he was upon Earth which was to last till Shiloh came or until the time of Reformation AS concerning Moses Ministration to wit the Law Condemnation or Death with the Priests Offering and worldly Sanctuary and an outward Tabernacle and daily Offerings for Sin and Store-houses for the Levites Strangers Fatherless and Widdows having the Ark of the Testimony within the vail and the Mercy seat covered and the Golden-pot and the People to seek the Law at the Priests Mouth whereby their knowledge is preserved and many profit much thereby and come day by day and year by year unto that which they esteem a place of holy Worship and Ordinances of God And notwithstanding the Priests of Moses Law were made by the Law of God yet that Priesthood changeth and the Law changeth and the very glory of all this passeth away for this did once seem glorious unto me and many more which only discovered sin though it made nothing perfect and with much delight was the reading of the Law and the Prophets hearkened unto and the daily confession of sin but the vail is over the heart whilst Moses is Preached and Sacrifices Morning and Evening with the long Prayers which the comers thereunto were not at all thereby made Perfect as pertaining to the Conscience though it had a shaddow of good things to come yet the glory thereof comes to be done away then how much more will the very glory of the most glorious Appearance of that Ministry perish and be done away which cometh short of this and hath not so much as the Image of this which was as a shaddow O weak and beggarly things that are found among those Priests now and their followers who come short of Moses Ministry for he directed them to Christ the substance and so his Ministration comes to be done away as Christ comes to be received for Moses did not seek to uphold his Priests or Law or Tythes or any thing else when Christ should come who is the end of the Law but did write of him and not withstanding his Ministry and Priests he said He that would not hearken unto him should be cut off and said The Lord will raise up Mark the words raise up The Lord shall raise up a Prophet and when the Prophet was come he said I am the Light and I am meek and low in Heart and this is to be raised up which is meek for to them that sate in darkness Light hath sprung up and the Soul that hearkneth not to the Prophet which springs up shall be cut off for Truth springeth up out of the Earth and Christ is the Truth and he said I am the Light which is the Horn of Salvation that God raiseth up to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and is the Salvation of Israel and so the soul is to hearken to that which God raiseth up and that is it which condemneth sin under it who is like unto Moses whose Ministry discovers sin and so Moses directed unto Christ who puts away the sin and Paul said of the glory of Moses Ministration That it was no Glory in respect of the Glory of the Ministration of the Spirit and the glorious Ministry of the Spirit was received after he who had a Body prepared had suffered the Crucifying of his body and the Prophets searched diligently to see the glory that was to be after the sufferings of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. But the thing intended That Moses when he was upon Earth directed unto Christ and gave commandment That they should hearken unto him who said I am the Light and this is one Tittle of the Law that the Light be hearkned unto who is the end of the Law and the substance and he that offendeth herein is guilty of all and this is that in which all the large Ministrations of Moses is included that Christ the Light the true Prophet be hearkned unto and obeyed that by hearing and obeying his Voice or the Word in the Heart they might come from under the Law and the Priests and that which waxeth old unto the Life and Obedience of him who abides a Priest forever even the Lord of that glory which lasteth for evemore Secondly Concerning Christ and his Ministration when he was upon Earth and his work which he finished ANd when he cometh which Moses commandeth to hearken unto even Christ the true Prophet the Light of the World the living Minister the end of the Law who had a Body prepared to do the will of the Father which was in him the Man Christ Jesus he saith follow me and he took up his Cross and passed through the Death and the Vail and so being made Perfect through sufferings attained that Glory which he had with the Father before he had a Body which Body was prepared to do the Fathers will whose will was That all men should be saved therefore Christ tasted death for every man and rose again for the Justification of those that believe in him who said I am the Light and is sate down at the right hand of God who is a Spirit eternally in the Heavens ascended up out of the sight of them which gazed after that Body which is gone out of their sight even he Christ the Ministry hid from Ages and Generations now made manifest to destroy the works of the Devil being meek and low in the Heart he saith Learn of me Then not the of Priests nor any longer of Moses for the Law is the Schoolmaster to Christ who being come calleth one from the Custom another from going to bury the Dead another from questoning and reasoning what this man or another should do that he might not stand looking out at others but himself to follow the Light saying follow thou me And those that followed him when he was upon Earth saw his Miracles and heard his Parables and eat of the outward Bread and were filled though many now eat and are not filled and they had his body among them and they came to the Baptism and the Supper but Christ himself Baptized not and when he was upon Earth he said I go to the Father and I go to prepare a place for you and he said whither I go ye know and he said before follow me and except a man deny himself and take up his Cross and follow
it may answer its own and be helpful to the weak and feeble that such may not give over pressing forwards nor faint in their long Travail though many Mountains on which they did nourish themselves for a time will not yield them Bread now yet that they may with me and the rest of the Followers and Friends of Christ past and present alwayes continue following the Spirit as it leads until the inward man be filled therewith and so power and strength from God come to be known and received in every particular For thus it is with Christs Followers now they are not satisfied until they are filled with that which they heard of and their Souls thirsted after and so it was with them then and they were filled with what they wanted before and then from that which they were filled with they spoke forth and so they did teach the Nations and brought People under the Power of God and baptized them into that and dipt them into the Name of the Father and brought them under that which saveth from Sin and plunged them into the holy Spirit and as they taught they did this baptizing as they did teach and plunging them as their Doctrine went forth into that which washeth and purifieth the Conscience from the Filth and Guilt of Sin of which the outward Baptism was a Figure of this which saveth and so their Doctrine was from an inward Life and proceeded from that which was invisible so reached to that which wanted Life in the Hearers and so brought up the Power of God over them and them under it and into it for the Word is into and they were to bring People Into the Name not Water and they were to bring or baptize them Into the Name as they did teach Go ye and Teach Baptizing Into Baptizing is in the Present Tense when they did teach And so here the Spiritual Inward Baptism goes aloâ—g with the preaching of the Word of Life which is inward and brings man to an inward enjoyment of God being baptized Into his Name which is a strong Tower which preserveth from the Power of the Devil And we all who are brought into this and are come in here are all by one Spirit baptized into one Body and so worship God in the Spirit having the Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience by the washing of Regeneration in the Ministration of the Gospel of Peace whereby there is a drawing nigh to God being brought into his Name and a free access to the Throne of that Grace which saveth from and out of all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit H. S. THE VISION OF Humphry Smith Which he saw concerning LONDON In the 5th Moneth in the Year 1660. being not long after the King came in The Prophet speaking of the pouring forth of the Spirit in the latter days saith That then the Young Men shall see Visions Joel 2. 28. And the wise King said Where there is no Vision the People Perish Prov. 29. 18. And the true Minister of Christ said I will come to Visions and Revelations of the Lord 2 Cor. 12. 1. Concerning the great City of LONDON I Beheld all her Waters which belonged to her frozen up and that exceeding hard and the Vessels which went upon them so that I and others passed over her Waters without the least danger over the greatest Vessels which had carried her Merchandize for all was frozen with a mighty Freezing whereby all her goodly Merchandize were stopt and her mighty swift Waters were turned into a mighty think frozen Ice which stood still so that her pleasant Streams ran not And as for the City her self and her Suburbs and all that belonged to her a Fire was kindled therein but she knew not how even in her goodly places and the kindling of it was in the Foundations of her buildings and there was none could quench it neither was there any able and the burning thereof was exceeding great and it burned inward in a hidden manner which cannot be expressed and the Fire consumed Foundations which the City stood upon and the tall buildings fell and it consumed all the lofty things therein and the fire searched out all the hidden places and burned most in secret places but the Consumation was exceeding great where with it consumed And as I passed through her streets I beheld her state to be very miserable and very few were those that were left in her who were but here and there one and they feared not the Fire neither did the burnings hurt them but they were and walked as mournful dejected People and the fire burned every where so that there was no escaping of it And thus she became a Desolation and as an Astonishment for the burning was suffered of God for her chastizement and could never be â—â—enched nor overcome and in the midst of her Waters was the Vessel of her Merchandize frozen up that none could move it and there were none that could stop the burning and the Fire consumed all things both Stone and Timber and it burned under all things and under all Foundations and that which was lifted up above it fell down and the Fire consumed it and the burning continued for though the Foundation was burnt up and all the lofty part brought down by the fire yet there was much old stuff and part of broken desolate Walls and Buildings in the midst which the fire continued burning against and that which was taken as to make use of which yet escaped the fire became useless in mans hand as a thing of nought And the Vision hereof remained in me as a thing that was secretly shewed me of the Lord. And now let her Wise men find out the matter and her Prudent men read and her Divines so called interpret the Vision and let her know that her day is at hand and let every one of them look to their own ways And as for thee O City of London thy Sin hath been exceeding grievous and thy Iniquities beyond measure Who can number thy daily Transgressions or set before thee the multitude of thy Abominations Oh! thy wayes have grieved the Lord and thy works have oppressed the Just and the Lord will surely plead with thee whom thou hast long rebelled against and walked in thy Pride and nourished thy self in Voluptuousness as a Beast for the slaughter and in Arrogancy hath thy steps been found Oh! thy Heart hath been defiled and thy wayes are wayes of Grievousness and thy paths are polluted before the Lord and thou hast not done the thing that is just in his sight but hast chosen thy own Wayes and trusted in thy own Wisdom Take heed now therefore O City of London for God will be too strong for thee and thy strength shall fall before him and thou must come to an Account for thy Deeds and then where will be thy Refuge or what shall be thy Shelter Will thy Multitude of men deliver thee from God or the
and so may it be well with all you as ye are faithful to God in the suffering state and so enjoy his Presence thus also with you for evermore may it go well Shall I now therefore return to Exhortation and Admonition with desires of tender Love towards you that you all in patience may stand and look to the Lord whom we have and have none other in Heaven to hear our Cry nor in Earth that truly commiserateth our Cause nor hath Power like him to help Dear Friends he knoweth our Intents and seeth how it is with us he hath given to many of us an heart to say Lord if thou shouldst suffer us to perish we will not leave thee and whatever become of us we dare not deny thee before men for thou hast called us and we are thine even thine own whom thou hast chosen Let your desires be forever thus unto the Lord and wait upon him continually and let your Eyes be more upon the Lord than upon those things which in this day of Tryal are suffered to come to pass by him which he can also turn for his own Glory and your Everlasting Comfort And Friends this know that as your Minds are upon and much caring how to preserve the temporal things the weight of them will lie upon you and stop the Springs of better Treasures but as your Minds are towards the Lord a great case and satisfaction will be come unto you And Friends Murmur not that this day is come for it may be there was need of it even amongst us and it may be ye are more yet to be redeemed out of the earthly part and transitory things and question not but this will be for good and as for Tryals since this cloud was up I have even drunk deep with you of the inward sufferings yea more than is convenient to mention but the Lord hath kept my feet upon the Rock and with all the Upright I sing Praises to his Name And now be tender one to another you may read the Figure God is bringing you near together and Aegypt is thrusting you out by reason of the Torment that is upon them and a Land of Rest is before you and from the presence of the Lord they cannot Banish us nay nor what they would neither for God is on our side though they have yet something more to do and when every mans Work is over he shall certainly receive his Reward from God either good or evil and then as the Apostle saith of the Wicked They shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Presence 2 Thes 1. 6 7 8 9. But Friends it is safe for you all to dwell in your own Tents and mind the Lord and let your love be towards him above all things and in all things that you do wait to feel his Counsel and Guidance and trust him forever for great is the work of the Lord yea I have even looked for this day that the Cry of the innocent may reach unto Heaven and as I have said the sound thereof reach over Europe that Kings may come to be crowned with Honour and Judges decree Righteousness and true Judgment may stream forth as Water and Righteousness as a living stream that Thousands and Thousands of Thousands may slock to our Fold as Doves to the Windows that the Nations of men may bow under the Scepter of Righteousness and the Powers of Darkness shut up forever Behold O Friends yea stand still and see the fall of Babel the Destruction of the Whore and the Torment of the Beast for though Hell hath enlarged her self yet this we know the Lord liveth who scatters the Powers of Darkness Oh! what more shall I say who come to the dwelling-place of its unutterable Power may feel the unsearchable things of God And Friends let not the Enemy prevail through Unbelief for there Israel fell in the days of old and there is no greater danger than that of Unbelief But consider that you have something still to resist and seldom ever more than now and you have a spiritual Enemy to war with which flyes not but as he is resisted and in the time of your weakness and inward trouble is his time to prevail if ever and if thou canst stand then full easie mayst thou walk when Refreshings come and with delightsomness mayst thou persevere when the Cloud is over and this know that a Storm lasteth but for a time and Winter is but for a season and the Night remains not always nay the four hundred and thirty years had an end and the Bounds of the Seas are set and happy is he that always looketh unto him that ruleth over them for though when the Waves swelled even the Disciples were ready to think he cared not if they perished yet he intended better things for them and when for the Life's sake they cryed unto him he soon and easily abated the Rage both of Wind and Sea and then the sweetness of a Calm is prized Dear Friends I need not open the Parable unto you but even rather say The Lord be with you even every one of you beyond all that I can write and the Lord strengthen you and keep you stedfast in the Faith and refresh your Souls and minister more strength virtue and comfort unto you all every where for evermore Amen This is chiefly intended for all the imprisoned Servants of God and them yet at liberty and to be read among them with a good Understanding in that which gives it distinctly in the fear of God Humphery Smith Chalfont in Buckinghamshire the 13th of the 11th Mon. 1660. To Nâ—w-Englands pretended CHRISTIANS Who contrary to Christ have destroyed the Lives of men Having seen something of yours called by you an Appendix whereby you would justifie your selves in Whipping Imprisoning Banishing Killing and making Spoil of whole Families I being weak of Body and in Bed the strength of the Lord arose in me from the which was given forth that which followeth THe Lord God will answer you with that which you shall never be able to resist from the which you shall never be 〈◊〉 to fly neither shall your Coverings defend you but God will visit in secret and the Almighty will rain Snares upon you and all your strong holds in one day and that suddainly in a moment will the Lord God scatter and confound with all your strong Reasons and your Weapons which you have gathered together against the invisible God and his Servants like your Fathers in the dayes of Old Isa 41. 21. these with all your Weapons of War against the Lamb and the suffering seed shall be broken in the midst of you and Death will overtake you and Gods Righteous Judgments will enter within your dwellings and a day of blackness from the Throne of God will come upon you and his Anger with Bitterness will be poured forth upon you as a mighty Storm which
which cometh on a suddain and as a Whirlwind which none can stop and as the mighty unmerciful raging Waves of the Sea which none is able to resist even so shall the day of your Calamity come which is hastning as the lighting whose breaking forth all your fleshly Wisdom shall never be able to hinder Behold I have heard a Voice of Terror from the Lord against your Unrighteous Proceedings and the day of Gods Vengeance is in his heart and who should stand to plead with him Behold ye Thorns the Lord our God is a consuming fire and before him you cannot stand for your Sins have reached up to Heaven and your Iniquities are come before the most High and your grievous blood-thirsty actions are spread over Nations and Gods witness in thousands who are not of us but rather yet against us do rise up in their hearts against you and when you are awakned you will be filled with Anguish and a Cup of Astonishment from the Righteous God of Truth will be poured forth unto you and as sure as you have thirsted after and drunk deep of the Blood of Gods chosen though despised of men so certain shall you have Blood to drink and Trembling Horror Amazement will most absolutely come in that day which approacheth as a Thief in the Night and then shall your Bowels be ripped open and your inside Coverings broken and then shall your Hearts be rent with Perplexity and Amazement shall come over you as a Cloud of the Night and the hand of the Almighty will find out your secret lurking places and then shall ye know that the Lord our God doth and will plead the Cause of his People and avenge himself on his and their Enemies and then shall ye know that ye have risen up against the Lamb who is sometimes silent from pleading his own cause who though dumb as to answer the mighty Ones of the Earth yet faithful in suffering according to the will of him who ruleth over all and then shall ye know that though no answer at all were written unto your dark pretended Coverings yet shall you then feel an answer near unto you and the sound of Gods Terrible Voice shall be heard in the midst of you and form the dreadful Noise of his War shall you never be able to cover your selves with all your Writings Printings nor Declarations though never so strong from the prudency of the Earth for God hath cast all that behind his back and in the day at hand shall you most absolutely come to know it so to be For behold my heart is indeed rent and God hath opened in it the secret Counsel of his Will and his Purpose concerâ—ing you whose Decree shall never be changed which is sealed against the evil doer And 〈…〉 or Evil-doer who have done worse then 〈…〉 selves a Reproach amongst me◠〈…〉 the People O horrible and Wicked Cruâ—lty and Mercilâ—ss Tyranny which is found in the midst of you Is this the fruit of your Profession And has the Spirit of Truth led you to do these things Do not even the Nations stand and look at you And do not the Upright in Heart mourn in secret because of your Sins Ah! who could have believed that you would have done such things And do you think now to stop the Mouthes of People by publishing your strong Reasons Nay this is plain in my heart that all whatsoever you Print Publish or Declare shall never give satisfaction to the meek just Principle of God which remains in the Spirits of many Thousand Thousands in the Nations round about you And if your called An Appendix with the rest of your Writings were never answered by us and if we therein should lay our mouthes in the dust forever yet this we know that the holy One of Israel the Righteous God of Truth will plead our cause and execute Judgment in his fury and avenge the Blood of his Saints and help the man of low degree against him who is too strong for him and to the Lord God of Righteousness we commit our Cause and the Innocency of our dear Brethren and in Gods blessed will I rest and am satisfied in respect of his love unto his Jewels though but as Fools to the World and in respect of his answering of you acording to the fruit of your own wayes And behold ye Children of men I cannot but proceed to declare unto you the Day which is near at hand and warn you all to strip your selves from your coverings and sit down ye People in Dust and Ashes and confess your Iniquities in secret unto the Lord before it be to late for great is the Wo which is coming upon you and that which I have heard concerning you is none other then a Voice of Terror O the Trouble Distress and Calamity that soundeth in my heart concerning you and from the Lord God will it be poured forth and exceeding deep shall you drink thereof and this shall you know to be true when the Whirlwind cometh from far and the shadows of the Night draw near when no hiding place will be found for the Hypocrite neither a refuge for the Evil doer And then as ye have not spared the despised of the World so will the Lord cast upon you and not spare O the Bitterness and Unutterable Torments which will then come but who amongst you will believe these things and who can entertain the Counsel of the Lord And are not your hearts yet hardened against Reproof And are not to be reproved for your Envy against Gods People Nay moreover are you not sometimes already reproved by him who seeth in secret and who searcheth the Intents of the Heart and maketh manifest unto man the Wicked Enterprises thereof and overturneth the Counsels of the Wicked but remembreth the Cause of the Needy and pleadeth the Innocency of the Upright in whose sight the Death of the Saints is precious and who pleadeth their Cause in the day of Trouble and will most certainly confound his Adversaries and scatter his Enemies as smoke is scattered with a mighty Whirlwind and in that day where then will your place be found And a seed there is which God will deliver from your hands and preserve from the Blood-thirsty men which shall grow up in the midst of you as a Lilly among Thorns and Gods blessing shall be upon them with whom my Life is And as the latter gleaning in the time of Harvest so shall the gathering of Gods Heritage be And what you have done will be for the advantage of the suffering Seed and for the Glory of God and much for your disadvantage and eternal Shame and endless Misery if you repent not And this you men of sin should know that inasmuch as you have taken away the Life of Gods Creatures and moreover Unjustly by an Unrighteous Law destroyed the Lives of his Servants therein may all men see that you are contrary to Christ and led by a Spirit
opposite to him who came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And what is here written need not hinder the moving of God in any of my Bretheren his servants in giving forth a more large Answer according to the particulars written in your called Appendix or to any other of your writings the which you may also expect only this was in my heart in which I have discharged my Conscience and so herein give forth my Mite a-amongst the rest of my Brethren by way of Declaration and that from God And by this it is my Souls desire your hearts may be humbled and truly rent and broken for your own Iniquities and that with speed or otherwise Gods dreadful hand you cannot escape And this is in faithfulness to God and love to your souls from a Friend thereof called Humphry Smith The 14th of the first Moneth in the Year 1660. The Lamb his Day PROCLAIMED THe Kingdom of God is at hand which comes not with Observation Salvation is near unto all that will receive it Redemption is coming in a time unexpected and Deliverance in a way not known as a Thief in the dark is the Heir come whose Light out of Darkness is shining and that which shineth out of Darkness is it alone that giveth the knowledge of God whom to know is Life eternal and the brightness of the Day of God is springing forth of Darkness as the Morning-Sun after the Darkness of the Night and glorious is this Day of the Revelation of God to all them that have waited for his coming who in the Life of his Power through the Obedience in his Love come to rejoyce in his Dominion over all the Powers of Darkness forever and sound forth the dreadful Day of his Power unto all the Inhabitants of the Earth from the which Christ the Saviour comes to take Peace and to bring the Sword of Gods Judgments into the Bowels of all the Earthly Minded and in him that judgeth the secrets of all mens Hearts do his Followers rejoyce and proclaim him unto you all that makes an end of Sin who of the Father of Love and Mercy is tendered unto all that will receive him that in him who condemns the Evil deeds and sin in the flesh Salvation might be attained unto who now comes unto his own of whom many receive him not for he is come to judge the World whom God so loved that he gave his Son the Light of the World that whosoever believe in him by whom the secrets of all hearts are and shall be judged may be saved from Wrath to come and find a sure hiding place when the wicked shall be cut off the Earth And now who will receive the Lamb in whose Mouth there is no Guile Who among the Sons of men will receive him that hath been slain from the Foundation of the World Who will receive him that is the Gift of God which is Perfect Who will receive him that is a man of Sorrows whose beauty is hid from the prudent of the Earth Who will receive him that the Priests cry out against and the Rulers say Away with him from the Earth Who will come unto the waters of Life and return unto the Fountain of living Mercies that in his Belly the springs of Life may be felt Who can endure to follow him to end of World whose Kingdom is not of this World and who receiveth not honour of men Who can hear receive and keep the hard sayings and drink his Blood that cleanseth from all sin Who is willing to receive him that is the Resurrection and the Life whose Presence troubled and terrified his own Disciples so that their Hearts burned within them VVho will lay down their Crowns at the foot of him that is the Light and mourn over him that is slain whom they have pierced and through Patience Long-suffering and Obedience follow the one Shepherd in the Regeneration even unto them is the VVord of Consolation sent Therefore be ye awakned O all ye Rulers and People let not your Hearts be hardned against Gods VVitness in you neither stop your Ears nor close your Eyes for of a Truth the Lord is at hand and is come to try you with his Loving-kindness and with his Judgments His flock despised of men hath he sent in the meekness of his love to preach the innocent Life of his Son among you in Meekness Patience Sufferings and Tribulations who being reviled revileth not again but in patience enduring long Imprisonment yea VVant and Sickness there and Abuses cruel Mockings Stonings in the street daily and Revilings by ungodly Persons whose Cruelty is encreased and their Sins multiplied encreasing to the day of Judgment and Righteous Revelation of Gods wrath upon all Unrighteousness of men who hold his Truth in that which is not his Righteousness which is now brought near unto all that fear before him in Uprightness of Heart that Truth in the inward parts they might come to know and in it VVorship the God of the Spirits of all flesh And all you People that are meek and tender who have been taught by the Priests and not by the Lord whose Mercy to the humble abideth forever the Lord God Almighty hath so loved you that he hath provided a better Teacher for you which shall not be removed and a Priest that abideth forever and a Bishop for your Souls and behold he is no less then a King yea he ruleth over Kings and help is laid upon him who is mighty and he is able to save and he is so willing to do it that he hath laid down his Life for that end and he standeth at the Door and knocks and he that knocks is called the Word and the Word is as a hammer and the Word is in the Heart where Christ is to be received and where this knocks for entrance and it knocks against sin and in him is no sin and he cometh to save you from sin and to lead you the way to the Father and without Money doth he ever teach nay he giveth abundantly unto all that are taught by him and that more then mortal Riches and you may have him to be with you alwayes forever and he can resolve all your Doubts and satisfie every one and replenish the weary and nourish the faint and in him are all Gods Treasures of the which by him you may come to partake forever and he himself is as a Treasure in thy field but hid from thee which I have found in the Earthen Vessel and declare it unto thee that thy Fallow-ground may be ript up to find the Pearl for this is near unto thee and the motion of it is against thy sin the beauty whereof thou canst never see until to it thou comest to hearken H. S. FOR THE honour of the king AND And the great Advancing thereof amongst men over all Nations in the World In the ensuing Proposals tending thereunto stated in Six PARTICULARS Concerning the KING'S
with Humility forever the little Child is you to lead in the peaceable Path of the Fathers love that you all as Lambs may follow him whose Power saveth from Sin in him trust compassed about with the Walls of Salvation and feeling the everlasting strength you all to preserve in the Power of his Might his Blessing to receive unto the Seed that you in it and by it may be fruitful unto God forever For dear Friends the Father is well-pleased in him who is meek and lowly in the Heart and in obedience unto him through the leadings of his Spirit of Power in which the Father's Love is manifest which leadeth in the low Ground where the safe way of everlasting Peace is known where all things are quiet and still where the small still Voice is heard whereby the Dead come to live in the powerfull Life of the Fathers Love which compasseth about the Seed as a Wall of everlasting Strength which is made perfect in Weakness and to the Weak is only to be known that the Weak then may say I am strong feeling Strength ministered forth from that which is begotten of the Father which never was comprehended by the Earthly Wisdom which is all scattered as the Smoke before the Wind when he ariseth who hath long been as a Servant and is now to be served that he may be Lord over all who is as a Man of Sorrows and leadeth through the Suffering state that by the Obedience of Faith through the Power of the Cross which crucifies and brings to the Death that which is to dye that the Vail may be rent the way into the Holiest of all made manifest and that received into the new Ground which abideth forever even that which now Comforteth the weary Soul and Satisfieth the longing Spirit and Replenisheth the dry and barren Land with the Rivers of the Valley and the Springs of the Desart that the Meek in the Earth may Rejoyce forever and through the Earth may grow as a Lilly in Summer For plainly it s the Poor that receive the Gospel and the Meek of the Earth that shall inherit Substance and its the Lowly that will abide forever and the Seed of the Shepherd that shall be set on the Throne and he that is low shall never fall neither shall his Footsteps at all be moved he leads the Creature in the Fathers fear and guideth the Tongue in Wisdom and it s him alone that all are to wait for to receive and continue in even him that is acquainted with grief who never openeth his Mouth in Perverness but speaks Life in Wisdom through the Power of the Father's love which overpowereth the Soul as an overflowing River of Oyl which makes all well and heals the grieved Spirit which none ever comes to find but such as alone walk with him who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross and became as a Servant though he was Lord over all in him there is Safety for he is the Rock and the sure hiding Place even out of the sight of the World and from the Tempters power for the Devil hath nothing in him who is meek and low in whose Mouth there is found no Guils And this is he that hath been long set at nought whose Tenders of Love constrains Obedience to himself because of the Beauty that is in him which from them is hid over whom the Vail is through which they cannot see the Comliness of his Love Oh all ye Lovers and Followers of Truth and Righteousness come ye all and sink down in your Minds unto him whose love springeth forth of the low Ground as a Well-spring of Life issuing forth abundantly as through a Rock that is hid under the Earth thence cometh Life to the Humble and there may you drink with me of the Cup of Blessings for from the Root of Jesse and the Foundation the Branch which is low doth spring forth the Life to the satisfying of every Branch and truly in him there is Life indeed and with him there is no want Who can desire another than he or who can complain that dwells in him where the Unclean doth never come where all things are at Peace and Rest is enjoyed forever Oh let none turn aside from him nor climb up above the measure of his humble Life nor reach beyond the Power of his Breathings forth neither grieve ye him through the unkindness of your forward Wills but love him as the Life of your Souls and prise him above all that can be spoken and tender his Love as the Apple of thine Eye that he to thee may be forever the Prince of Eternal Peace and the Power of thy Strength and the Blessing of thy Life that thou never mayst want Food nor Rayment nor want a shelter in the hour of Temptation nor look for another to help in the time of need And so my dear Lambs in him keep for evermore for it s he that comes out from God and keepeth them in perfect Peace who in his lowly Spirit abide from thence to feel the Fathers Love arise with it to love and tender one another So to that which is of my Fathers Life in you all I desire to be known and in it with you to have Fellowship forever which is more than â—â— to be declared by a multitude of Words or written in many or long Epistles the bowels of my Fathers love from the measure of his own Life in me is to his Image and that which is begotten of him in you all So the Life of the Power of the Lamb of God be with you all and the Blessing of the God of Love and Peace preserve you in all Humility of mind that the begotten of the Father through the Power of his Love may increase and grow up unto him who is the Life of my Soul who is blessed for evermore Amen H. S. Winchester-Bridewell To such in whose Hearts the Spirit of the Lord is beginning to move his Truth to declare YOu whom the mighty God of Power hath found in a Desart Wilderness polluted in your Blood without help or strength of your own whose Nakedness did once â—ppear and you in it stood guilty before the Bar of Gods Justice receiving the Condemnation due from him who then said unto you Live and since in the measure of that Word upon the Lord have waited to receive that which was promised of him who is the Father of the faithful This I say unto you the thing is great that you are come unto and entering upon to speak in the Name of the mighty God and to publish the Message of the most High to declare the Word of the Lord among the Heathen and minister Life to the Spirits in Prison to stand Witnesses for God to the People and to be as Guides and Examples to the Tribes of Israel Oh! how can you but be overcome with the dread of the Lord and filled with the Power of his Love How can your
Hearts be restrained from breaking and your Bowels from an unexpressible yearning after the advancing of the living Truth of God which he hath so freely made you partakers of May you not fall down to the Dust before the presence of the Lord and become as the smallest thing in respect of him Who can but fear before him and be astonished at the Power of his Might and bow before him who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh that he over all may be honoured who is blessed for evermore And as through Humility you come to receive that which maketh Honourable even that which is Holy like pure Oyl to comfort and nourish you in that keep treasuring it up for your selves until you receive Power from on High or feel the higher Power that stands over all opening the Mouth of that which is to speak giving you Power and Wisdom your Life forth to minister to the reaching of that in all which can receive the Gospel and to the chaining down of all the Powers of the Prince of Darkness that would arise up against it And such as feel something stirring to speak Words and a great War and trouble within being neither quiet one way nor the other and by reason of fearfulness Words begin to go forth as from under a load and trouble and then feel the Earth lie upon the Seed let such take heed of speaking too much with a strangled and strained Voice but sink down again and wait to feel that rent and broken which is as a hard thing between thee and that which should rise up to speak that thou mayest feel it opened in thee as a place of broad Rivers giving thee room or as the opening of a Rock and the powerful issuing forth of a mighty stream of living Water pure and clear not mixt with Earth and Dirt and when thou hast felt this take heed of spending all upon others and another time take heed of that which would imitate such a Power again And also let such who speak in Meetings take heed of speaking above the Vail with a forward Zeal leaving the Light behind him lest he do more hurt behind him than he doth good before him and when the Vail is rent and a few Words spoken and the measure being declared the Vail comes on again upon a sudden and then some there be that change the Voice and continue in a form of strange words an hour after like a Priest Now the measure in such is owned the which they keeping to might increase but going beyond it the other will increase and that decrease but stopping with the Light when it stops and so become a Fool the Light would arise again Life speak and it s that alone which doth Service for God and other long Declarations of Words do but thicken the Vail over them that have felt Life though Death in others who have not found Life will feed upon the many words And such as are moved to bear their Testimony against the false Prophets or the Wickedness of men in it be faithful keeping in the fear and dread of the Lord that in his strength you may stand as a Wall of Brass against the Ungodly and spare not to thresh the Heathen so long as you feel the Hammer of the Lord up over them and then take heed of Disputations after and go not out of that which is your strength lest you fall before your Enemies and dishonour the Lord. But let every one take heed of running too soon for some such there are who run to Priests and others in the light airy Spirit and pride of Heart who are vain Boasters out of the Truth whose service the Lord abhors and likewise some such speak in Meetings whose Mouthes should be stopped Thus Friends from the dear love of my Life to you all and the living Truth of God for which I suffer in Bonds have writ these things in plain and few words to be considered of by you whom it concerns and the Lord God of Life make it a blessing unto you Winchester-Bridewell H. S. Sound things Asserted I. In the King 's own Words II. From late Experience III. From Scripture-Truth IV. According to Reason and Equity And certain things opened or propounded by way of Enquiry thereupon Offered in meekness and good will unto the consideration of the King's Lords Counsellors and other his chief Officers under him in all places of Justice Trust both Civil Military and Ecclesiastical Being intended for the good of the KING and themselves and all Persons under him and for the preserving of Peace amongst men The first Assertion I. FOrasmuch as you are set in Authority under the KING and so are to observe and to be Ministers of his Laws for the punishment of Evil and not to go beyond his Will and Proclamations and so to do that which is just and reasonable toward all his Subjects thereby to preserve them in Peace towards him and one with another II. In that the King hath freely engaged himself by Promise in his Declaration from Breda That no man shall be disquieted nor called in question for differences of Opinions in matters of Religion c. And in that he hath since he came to England doubled the Confirmation thereof in repeating the self-same words twice over in his Declaration Of Ecclesiastical Affairs bearing date the 25th of the 8th Moneth called October 1660. page 5 and 18. And since all this he having again renewed the same in a late Speech of his to the Parliament bearing date the 8th day of the 5th Moneth called July 1661. saying It is to put My Self in mind as well as You that I so often I think as often as I come to you mention unto you my Declaration from Breda And he further saith My Lords and Gentlemen let it be in no mans Power to charge either Me or You with breach of Our Word or Promise which can never be a good Ingredient to our future Security Page 5 6. III. In that he hath confirmed the same to us in particular in a late Proclamation entituled The Enlargement of Prisoners called Quakers bearing date the 11th of the 3d Moneth called May 1661. wherein he writeth us his Subjects called Quakers whereby Friends were generaly released out of Prison and that without Fees IV. In that the King hath promised the same by word of Mouth and granted that we should have our Liberty of Conscience and that we should not suffer therein engaging Himself thereunto in the Word of a King and in that he hath manifested the same towards us several times The first Queries upon the first Assertions THese things above written being rightly considered and truly understood this then would I learn from you or enquire of you whom the King hath set in chief places of Authority under him and let just witness of God in all your hearts answer hereunto Query 1. Whether all or as many of you whom the King hath
not standing in the Cross to your wills in Obedience to the Light to receive the Judgment due to that ground from whence Transgression ariseth whereby the Enmity might be â—â—ain the love of the World rooted out and that ruled over with the perfect Law of God which was not subject to it that the Law of the Spirit of Life your minds might be alwayes exercised in thereby to be made free from the Law of sin and death that sin might not reign in your mortal Bodies but that through the power of the Cross of him who is the Light the sinful Lusts of the flesh might be mortified and you led by the Light through the Law by it to have the Transgression thereof to you in every Particular discovered that every one might deny and stand out of that which leads into the Transgression thereof seeing with the Light that not one jot nor tittle thereof shallpass till all be fulfiled and the Righteousness thereof is to be fulfilled in you by your humble and faithful following of him that worketh in us who cannot transgress the Law who being made as a Servant under the Law to him you are all to come and see the Law stand in force over every one that doth transgress which Law is addedbecause of sin and that which saveth the Soul doth not make it void nor mittigate the power thereof against any one that sins wilfully after the knowledge of the Truth received but upon such the Wrath of God abideth which is ministred forth through the Law with Tribulation Anguish and Wo upon every Soul that doth Evil so Trouble Torment and Vexation of Spirit cometh upon such who turn aside from the simplicity of the Gospel and let the spirit of the world reign over them not being faithful in the little which from God they had received by the powerful ministry of his living Truth that the smallest of all seeds in them might spring with obedience through the whole body of the Earth under which it lieth and by it in many is oppressed and such in whom it is so are in many Doubts and Reasonings from that ground out of which Unbelief doth arise And then the Mind being from the Light a hardness comes in and the Rebellious take entrance and so that which is worse than before gets strength which being joyned unto leads in a secret deformity farther from the Witness then ever so that then the good Savour comes to be lost and the Understanding darkned not knowing the true motion and often a carcless Spirit gets head and such are from the true Love and suffering Seed in themselves and so not joyned in the Covenant of Love and Peace with them that abide therein the which they sceing a discontent ariseth therein in the mind so did Cain he murmured at the other but the Fault was in himself for Sin lay at the Door and it is Sin to transgress against that which is Perfect and the Light is the perfect gift of God and his Gifts are Perfect and in the Light there is no Evil and the Light is to lead out of that which is Imperfect they that err from the Light are in the strife and fleshly will And the other Eye seeks for evil and then that kindles a Fire in the Bowels and eats as a Worm and so drowns that from whence true Love should arise as deep as the depth of the Sea and nothing but raging Waves over it sometimes ready to vent forth its own shame and discover the nakedness of it self and others which begets its Image in the minds of them that regard it so as to come under it or let it have entrance in them And where these things are there is little increase within or without but Truth suffers and the World takes advantage and the Weak stumble for whom Christ dyed and the Lambs hurt and their dear Life grieved And so these things are far from answering the dear and tender Call and Visitation of the Lord and then if not faithful in little when can such come to rule or how can they receive the blessing of God being joyned to that which he hath cursed What shall I say to such or with what Words shall I find entrance in them Surely if I had not a Word to write I would mourn in secret for them Oh fruitless Trees dry Branches foolish Virgins unprofitable Servants take heed lest the Lord spue you out of his Mouth What should the Lord do for you that he hath not done My Bowels within me are troubled for you and I even mourn under the burthen of your Iniquities How is it that you delight in other Lovers and what is it in you that keeps you from the power of Truth How long shall the Lord stretâ—h forth his Hand to them that rebel against the Light And how often have you grieved the Spirit of the Lord And why is it that he is provoked to Jealousie every day Will not the Lord visit for these things And can the Wicked go unpanished Turn ye now therefore O ye Rebellious and let the Double-minded fear and tremble before the God of Power for no Peace have I to preach for the Wicked nor Pearls for the Swine in which the Unclean is entred Let your Hearts now therefore be opened and let Judgment come upon that which is above the Seed and sink down into the House of Mourning that the Prisoner may hear my Voice And now you that are honest tender faithful willing and obedient dear is my Love unto you the Lord God eternal preserve you dear Babes and give you up your Lives and praise his endless rich love who hath called you to come out of the World My dear Friends let my Fathers love arise in you even the same which I now feel towards you and let me come near unto you in the power of my Fathers love that you may feel my Life and partake with me of the hidden Treasure that your Hearts may be open to me again from the feeling of the Power of the covenant of Life that in him I may salute you who is at the Fathers Right Hand For unto you O ye Children of the Light is my Heart enlarged and toward you doth the Power of my Life arise from the streams of unlimitted Love which from all the World is hid and reserved in the Bosom of the Father for the meek and tender Lambs for whom the Milk is prepared and to whom the Bread is to be given and the sure Waters that never shall fail Let the Light arise in you my dear Ones that with it your Hearts may be opened one to another that you may know that the Lord is a God of Power and near at hand unto the Humble that in his Love you may be kept and by his Power be defended and so from strength to strength in his fear to walk and to come at last to be a People saved from Death and redeemed from the
of Salvation are come wherein God even our God is shining out of Zion the redeemed of the Lord the perfection of Beauty unto all the World and all Nations who have been high shall now be brought down into the Valley there will Christ the Lord of Hosts plead in the cool of the day with all Flesh and fallen man and the day is come that the Heathen shall be weakned and the strength of the Mighty shall fail and he that handleth the Bow and the Shield and the Spear shall not deliver himself but the mighty man shall fall in the Streets and the strong man shall utterly faint and Wisdom shall perish from the Wise and Understanding from the Prudent and Judges shall be led away Fools and the Honourable shall be laid in the Dust and no Weapon formed against the Righteous Seed shall prosper for of a truth the Lord is with us and in vain do all the Potsherds of the Earth strive against the Lamb and his meek Spirit in his Members for though they Fine one and Whip another and Imprison many yet the day is come that they shall fall down under the Prisoners and bow down under the Slain for the Lord our God is risen over them all and he even laughs them to scorn and will have them in derision Therefore by ye still and quiet O ye flock of the most high and let the Bountifulness of God's everlasting Love break the Earthly Pitchers and feel Gods unlimitted Power fighting for you who are now to be quiet for a little season and you shall see the destruction of the wicked and the overturning of the seats of the ungodly who are all but as Chaffbefore the wind as stubble ready dryed before the fire of God's Jealousie which will shortly smoke against his Enemies who shall vanish like smoke when our God ariseth to confound Babel and overturn the foundation of the Wicked for great Babel is come in remembrance before our God who is now giving her Blood to drink and the day is at hand that Vengeance shall be poured forth upon the head of the Wicked and Flames of everlasting Burning upon the Whore the Beast and the false Prophet and all they that commit Fornication with strange flesh and they shall now be taken and cast alive sensible of Gods Wrath into the Lake that burneth forever and ever yea the day is at hand and the Ungodly shall not escape Therefore ye Sons and Daughters of the most High lift up your Heads behold your Redemption draweth nigh therefore rejoyce in the Lord forever and again I say Rejoyce for your Redeemer cometh riding upon the Wings of the Wind a Fire devoureth before him and behind him a flame burneth behold his Reward is with him and his Work before him and long his Enemies shall not stand but the overflowing Scourge shall pass over them all and their Covenant with Hell shall be broken and their Agreement with Death shall be dissanulled and their Shame and Nakedness shall appear to the view of all Nations and their Whoredoms shall be made manifest in the sight of all People and the Nations afar off shall hiss at them and they shall become a By-word and a Hissing to them afar off Wherefore be ye still and quiet O ye Children of the Light commune with your own Hearts and be still in your own Closets and fret not your selves because of the Ungodly for his day is short and e'er long his place shall not be found and in the mean time your Patience comes to be exercised and by the Tyranny of the Wicked and the Oppression of the Merciless your Faith is tryed and blessed forever are they who love not their Lives nor Goods more than Christ the Light but follow him unto the end who is despised of men contemned of the Wise and consulted against by the Rulers of the Earth who are now lifting up their beastly Power unto Heaven and are laying Snares and setting Traps to catch the Innocent and are openly blaspheming the God of the Seed of Abraham whom they call Quakers who confess we are Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth And all you who stand fast in the Faith that respects no man's Person and you that in patience endure the spoling of your Goods the Imprisoning or Whipping of your Persons and all you in whom there is honest desires begotten after the living Truth of the God of Life even to you all my Bowels of Love do reach and of your sufferings I do partake and my Prayer and Hearts desire to God for you Night and Day with Tears is That you may be preserved unto the end and this I write from a true sence and feeling of you your Sufferings and Conditions who are tryed divers wayes both within and without but faint not my dear Lambs the Lord God will never break Covenant neither can he leave or forsake the faithful Therefore only trust in the Lord and be still for the Lord of Hosts is fighting for you yea it is so and all your Enemies shall be but as the dust of the Earth and as the mire in the streets so shall the Lamb in Meekness Trample upon them all And my dear Friends now the Everlasting Love of God unto you hath appeared with the same Love come to love one another and be watchful one over another and in the Light meet often together and be not soon shaken in mind and so turn from the true Guide as some have done and that which is out of the Light with it judge in wisdom and meekness that you may answer that of God in all who contrary to the Light do act but of rash Judgment see that you all beware but rather in love wait to restore and build up one another and none of you depart out of Gods fear but be low single-hearted plain and honest without any By-covering or Double-mindedness but as Doves and Lambs in the godly simplicity all walk not as Strangers unto or High-mindedâ—ess one over another but in Love to serve and let your Minds be kept on the Eternal Invisible things and let Faith Love Meekness and Vertue abound in you so shall the work of God prosper in and by you Truly Friends the Love of the Lord is towards you and he will make you a blessing and a praise over the Earth and if you stand in his Counsel your Enemies shall be confounded and overturned Believe it it must be so And you the Jewels of the Lord shall be Crowned with Eternal Dominion and the Lord of Glory will be your God and Peace Righteousness and Plenty shall you enjoy forever Wherefore faint not O ye seed of Abraham who are Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth but let the meek be encouraged and the tender nursed up in the everlasting Arms of Gods endless Love and let none turn back because of the Enemy that standeth up before but all joyn battel with the Lamb and Gog and
Whose Soul is lost from bliss Oh praise him all ye Saints Who feel his vertue near Vnto him still give thanks Who is our Father dear Let wicked men lament Let all Vngodly howl Too late shall some repent When down his Judgments rowle When Babel's turn'd in t ' Lake When the Beast is thither thrown When Drunkards reel and shake When Wrath is poured down When Vengeance much w th might Is pour'd on the Whore And all secret Deceit Destroy'd forever more Then Sion shall be glad Then God shall honoured be Then Praises shall be had Then Worship shall be free Then Comfort shall abound In all true mourning Lambs And Gospel free shall sound Throughout all Nation Lands The time hereof's at hand The Captives shall be free Gods Seed in every Land By him shall gathered be Let Friends rejoyce in fear Let fear in love abound Let Thousands more draw near For we the Pearl have found Let all in Patience dwell And in the Lord still trust That we in Love excell In which with you I rest As I walking alone in my close Prison at Winchester upon the 24th of the 5th Moneth 1662. in much Quietness Meekness and inward Refreshings by the rising vertue of Gods refreshing Love these Lines began to run gently through me with Melody in my Heart to the Lord and when I was free in my self to write it departed not from me but came so easie and so fast as I could well write whereby in a very little part of the said day this was begun and finished with my own Hand Yet would I not have it looked upon to be a great thing nor a pattern or example for others to run into the like For since I came into the Life and Obedience of Truth I durst not write any thing thus in Verse until this day and time neither was there the least thought in me thus to write until the very instant For writing in Meeter is apt to beget a lightness in some Readers and make way for too much or a wrong Liberty in others to do the like but not in the true fear which is the continual Refuge of Humphry Smith Hidden things made manifest by the Light In a plain Distinction between Condemnation Temptation Wherein is shewed How the Righteous Law of God is ministred upon the Transgressor and how it is to be by all received as a Schoolmaster to come to Christ by him to have the sin done away forever Also of Temptation what it is and how it may be known discerned from Condemnation With a Direction to them who profess the knowledge of Truth and live not in the power of God Concerning the Ministration of Condemnation THe World being set in man's Heart and Sin being in the World before the Promise was made which Promise was before the Law by which the Sin is discovered which Sin was in the World before the Promise yet the Promise was before the Law and yet until the Law comes Death reigns over that to which the Promise is and Sin separateth man from God the which is not clearly seen until the Commandment which is Light is come the Ministration whereof is Condemnation unto Man being found in the Transgression the which Ministration of Condemnation is to pass over all having sinned and when this cometh it finds man in the Death and by it is sin revived whereby man comes to see a Body of Sin which stands between him and God so that he is afraid of the dreadful Power of God ministred forth through the Law to slay him that hath transgressed the which some coming to see or in the least measure to feel call it a Temptation because it maketh him sensible that Condemnation belongeth to him and that all his Profession and building upon the Promise in that which the Promise was not unto and seeing that if he lie down to receive this Ministration that then all his Profession and Knowledge Zeal Wisdom and Prayers which did arise out of that ground which was cursed by reason of the sin that was in the World before either the Promise the Profession or the Law will be all ript up from him as filthy Rags and that his shame and nakedness must appear as it s written Every mouth shall be stopped and every one shall stand guilty before God and no Darkness no shadow of Death shall hide the workers of Iniquity from the mighty hand of God who brings to judgment the hidden things of Darkness and rips open the secrets of the Heart so that the most secret Sinâ— that ever were committed are clearly made manifest and justly charged upon the head of the Transgressor who stands in Enmity to God who will wound the head of the Transgressor and plead in Righteousness with him in whom the sin is found though not made manifest until the time that the Law is come by which it is discovered And this Ministration of Condemnation is not a Temptation though many call it so who being blind put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness for that which sheweth man his sin doth not tempt man to sin but rather brings man in fear that he may not sin for because of sin was the Law added and the Law was given after much of the Love Preservation Power Deliverances and the Wonders of the Lord had been seen and it was given in the Wilderness where sometime there was want of Bread and Water where was Serpents Scorpions and many Tryals where the figure of him who was to heal the wounded and take away the sting of death and save the Life of man was lifted up on high without them the which figure or outward bodily Appearance was prepared by Moses And Christ had a body prepared him both which the carnal Eye might see and the carnal Mind contend about even as the Devil about the body of Moses but the Substance of the Figure Christ the Light Gods power being not received within in the heart and so fin the transgression of the Law remains within and the figure or that which the natural Eye did or may see was and is looked upon without and that without doth not take away the sin within and these knew not the Ways of God who sinned and at last loathed the Manna calling it light bread in the Wilderness even there was the Law Ministred they whose eyes are open may read and understand And where the Law was given forth there was a Mount or a high place of the Earth which then trembled by reason of the dreadful Power of the Lord of Hosts and beneath or under the Mount was the Seed and Israel of God which was to keep the Law and Life Read within and understand and yet by reason of that which was hard upon the heart there was a crying out with Dread and Horror and Fear That the Lord might speak no more lest they dye and so that which is hard upon the heart in the which by the
hidden place and Life to grow up in the midst of Death and to break through the Powers of Darkness and the Lord in his Power gave utterance to his Servants and Messengers and then were the words of his Truth as Food to the Hungry and with much gladness of Heart was the sound of the Way of Life by many received then did Love begin to arise in the Heart and a tenderness in the Bowels and a willingness in the Mind and then was a Joy like the Joy of Harvest among the People and many began to invite one another saying Come and we will return to the Lord and we will resolve to walk in his Paths forever then was the Voice of Thanksgiving among the People and the wayes of the Lord became more delightsom than Gold and the footsteps of Righteousness more pleasant than all the Treasure in the world O! it even melts the heart to remember the dayes that are past and to consider the infinite Goodness of him that is the God of the Poor and Needy Then were many made willing to run and to leave their filthy Garments behind them even before they well knew how to do it O! how loathsom was Sin in that day and how wearisom was the Land of Darkness and how desirable even beyond expression was the unsatisfied thirsting Soul after the Presence of God Could the Treasure of the Earth then have given Peace or could Silver have satisfied the hungry heart Or could the choisest Love of the most nearest Relations have quenched the thirst of the parched ground Surely none but the Lord was then desired yea other Lovers became as loathsom and other Delights became burthensom to the weary Travellers and all Vanities began to vanish as a Vapour of Smoke and the Wind of Heaven was daily a scattering the chaff and the barren Womb mourned for the quickning Life of God who had put it into the hearts of his long afflicted scattered Ones to follow him in the Ways of Truth Equity and then did the Lord visit such again and again in his Loving-kindness by his Servants whose Living Words of Truth through them did yet more open the Understandings Hearts satisfie the judgments of the humble People in the knowledge of the way to Rest and Peace in leaving the evil chusing the good to walk come to live therein forever And then came the time of Trial and Exercise when the Cross must be taken up to the Worlds wayes and all foolish Vanities left behind and the needless words no longer used nor that Religion continued any longer in which made nothing perfect Then did the People gaze and wonder and the Relations and the Acquaintance stood like as from David afar off and then was every ones greatest Enemy with the Light found in his own House then did the Tribes of the Earth mourn then did the Dragon stretch forth his Power then did the Doubtings and Fears and Thoughts and Unbelief come roling in like Floods O the straights that many then were in even seeming greater than any before and none but the Lord could deliver so that then the Cryes were doubled and the secret Groans came on afresh again and the greater the Cryes of such were the more they prevailed with him that was to help but with his Rod he forced them to submit unto his Will by departing out of that which had caused him to frown upon them and by leaving that which had polluted their Dwelling and as they began to obey him therein so he began to let forth the smiles of his Favour towards them and when they offended again he chastized them fore and scourged them for their Negligence and corrected them because they forgot their Obedience to his will and as thereby they drew near unto him he eased the stroke of his Justice and let them taste of his Mercy and sometimes invited them with love as a Father draweth the Child And thus he left not working with them and in them by his own secret Wisdom and Power until he had brought them to be after the desire of his Heart that he might delight in them forever and that they might never more be scattered upon the barren Hills nor yet the dark Mountains And as Obedience in Truth and Innocency was willingly yeilded to the Lord Peace began to take hold and Satisfaction got some entrance and a little secret hope there was which became as an Anchor to the Soul against the Stormy time and also in the midst thereof and as Inniquity was departed from so there came into the humble Heart some satisfaction from God and some stability in his way of Righteousness and then refreshings of Life attended the heart in the Morning and the Water which reneweth the Thirsty began to open it self in the midst of a barren Land and then nothing was more desired than the living upon that Food with which the God of Heaven doth nourish only his Children which he freely gave and brought down even near to the Tents of Israel and he caused them to know his Statutes and his Judgments and he put his perfect Law in the midst of them and his Mercy seat within the Vail that they might ask Counsel at the living Oracle and he gave them his Spirit which all the circumcised of Heart do rightly know to be the chiefest good and to this end did he bestow that most precious Gift upon them and gave that Spirit of Life into them even to guide counsel and direct inform instruct reprove defend and succour them and nourish their Souls for evermore And so he set before them the way in which they should walk with him wherein he would be their Father and the Rock of their strength and made known unto them the secret Mysteries of his heavenly blessed Will which had been long concealed and doth yet so remain from the Disobedient and covered from the Children of men And when even the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob had done all this and much more for you O ye now well beloved Friends then did he begin to try your patience and to exercise yoâ— yet further to prove you and to make known unto you even more of that which had long been in the heart and then he suffered a calm to come over you and much quietness there was with many and then did the Enemy begin to assay again to bring into Carelesness and present a spirit of slumber with dulness and negligence attending and then the Seed was again burthened therewith and the Upright hearted durst not give way thereunto before whose Eyes the pure heavenly fear still remaineth surely it were almost endless to relate the sundry Tryals and States which have been known among the flock of Jacob Who could have believed that the strong should have been so tempted as they were and the mighty so assaulted divers wayes as they have been and yet that the weakest who continued in the Grace
which teacheth to deny Ungodliness should stand and remain And how wonderfully hath the Lord preserved his whole flock unto this day even so that with true gladness of Heart in living Praises it might truly be said That no Weapon formed against Gods Israel hath to this day yet ever prospered though no man hath appeared either in Field or Court on their behalf nor visible hand appeared for the defence of the flock of Heaven O! where is that Lamb of the fold who now stands in the Covenant of Redemption that cannot breath forth the Praises of God in the heart-breaking Power of his Love and the sensible feeling of his tender unspeakable Mercies Behold O friends the goodness of God is unutterable yea I have not words to express it and such that feel it may taste of it and drink of the fulness thereof beyond the narrowness of my broken speech and let such draw near unto me and let lose that which bindeth and closeth up in the Bowels that we may meet at the entrance of Wiâ—dom's Gate and live one with another and one in another so as the World did never â—now neither in their nature shall eveâ— understand for my heart is filled with Love and my dweling is enlarged with bouâ—dless Borders of Peace and my Life streams forth in meekness Behold there is none can stop it where the seed springs up as a Lilly and where the dawning of the day is witnessed where undefiled Love which cannot think Evil hath its resting-place and where the true simplicity of meekness remains Even there my Lines are read my Words are heard my Mind is Known my Language understood my Love received and even my Life takes entrance What shall I say I am with near or in the midst of aâ— the Innocent Lambs by the virtue of that Power and inviâ—â—ble Spirit which filleth all in all and in silence with you could â— long rest where the World should neither know nor yet perceive me the same Bread which I receive in the invisible Power break unto or disperce among the Lambs of God who can feed upon no other Even so the same is it which my Soul at present doth live yea behold I live who once was dead and my Life is hid among the rest with Christ in him from whence the heavenly Food and the Souls-saving and hearts-satisfying Power doth come And this is to stir up your Minds and to put you in remembrance of the Lords dealing with you and his large Loving-kindness towards you and his effectual work of Love in you that you may never forget him nor be unmindful of his fatherly Pity towards us all when we were all in our low estate and that you may feel the Revivings of his virtue and the Inlivenings of his power and the quicknings of his Spirit That you may grow therein and wax fruitful to God and come to be seated and established in the Land of Life blessed from Heaven with much more fruitful increase than the Land of Goshan That the fruit of Lebanon may be known and the Rose of Sharon and your selves as the Cedars that are full of Sap and your Life as the Vine that never wanteth Nourishment whose Fruit aboundeth to the glading of the Vine-Dresser that the Lord may rejoyce over his Heritage and delight himself in the midst of Zion and be glorified in his People and admired of all them that believe THe Lord God of Heaven preserve all every where in the Love Long-suffering Forbearance Meekness Gentleness out of the Strife or Self-seeking for surely Wo will come upon that Spirit wherever the Lord finds it and even the Lord knoweth the desires of my Heart in true simplicity hath been That his righteous Judgments might pass betimes upon every appearance thereof in my self Neither do I believe that God will ever prosper it in any nor any with it Therefore my Exhortation in the Everlasting Love of the God of Heaven is That you all every where live in true Brotherly Love and remember Joseph's advice to his Brethren That they fall not out by the way The Heavenly God of Power and Life and Virtue keep you out of all this in the Life of Wisdom and Meekness where Strife shall never inhabit nor Death enter within the Walls of Zion in which their dwelling is who keep themselves undefill'd and remain in the fear of God to whom I commit you all and to the Power of the Word of his saving Grace praying to the Lord for you That evermore you may continue in the Love of Christ From the feeling and refreshing whereof in the heart this is written unto you by him that in the Truth can serve the least of you being your Friend Humphry Smith ANd Friends this is a time of quietness and stillness or a time for you so to be and there hath been a large time of gathering and for convincing and now the Lord is proving and trying them that are gathered And after this time blessed and thrice happy shall they be that are found faithful in it and worthy to be Crowned with Heavenly Honour and to be further employed in Gods service and to remain as Pillars among the Flock of Heaven and as Lights to invite others home to the dwelling of God And now should all Friends be kept in Wisdom and take heed what words they use among men or concerning any men though they do contrive against us Had the Lord left us where they are and set them where he hath placed us then might we have been this day as ignorant of the Way of Peace towards Enemies and of the Path of Innocency and Righteousness as they now are but the Lord hath shewed us Mercy And I say the God of Heaven forgive them and defend us And all that dwell in this may come at last to see a time of greater Gathering than ever yet was Oh! my Pen cannot write it And if all were quiet in their own measures and little at all were moved in that measure either to write print or speak at this time waiting singly upon God Oh! he would plead for us and he alone would help us and keep us as in his Arms until the Indignation were over-past And this I write that you might know of my continual confidence in the Lord if he had or did not at this time raise up or make use of any of us to help him or to be workers together with him But a Remnant he hath whose hearts he enlargeth with prayer and some of them with strong inward desires and groans and some with utterance to declare the good will of God unto others in your Assemblies and some steadfastly to believe in God that he will never leave us and all this ascends up before the Lord even as one sacrifice And he that hath heard and had mercy on us when we were not his People and turned not back our complaints in that day O! how shall he now forget
us now we are his people and are purchased unto him with a Ransom more precious than all the Gold in the World Who is it among all the flock of God but have already had much experience of his Love good Will and Mercy And wherefore then should any of the Sons or Daughters of Zion suppose that God will ever forsake or leave them in distress I even say doubtless and certainly it will not be so but the Lord will stand by us and the God of the whole Earth will go before us and the wonderful dreadful powerful Presence of the most High will be with us over us among us and in us for evermore and we shall certainly be preserved by his Power And by this my tenders of Love in these Lines all the dear anâ— humble hearted Friends of Christ may hear from me and understand that something of the virtue of the Vine is and remaineth in me and if the will of God should be so that my Body suffer in this close unsavory Prison at Winchester many Moneths or several Years longer yet shall the Lord be my God forever and my Rest unto the end of Troubles and in silence and secret shall and doth my Heart and Soul pour forth Intercession to the Throne of Power in the behalf of his own Truth and People and for every feeble Plant which God hath planted And when I have put you in mind that you ought not to forsake the Assembling of your selves together I leave you to God at present H. S. ANd you should all take heed of that which would lead you up an easier way than by the Light that condemns sin and terrifies and troubles you for by it doth God speak and in it calls for Repentance and in it strives with you and many more so strongly that they cannot rest night nor day being not yet reconciled to it but this consider that this will not alwayes strive with you therefore while the Light is and is not put out if you will hear his Voice by whom God speaks peace that Peace you might enjoy forever then take heed of that by which a hardness comes upon the Heart and a Vail so thick with unbelief that the true Mourning is done away that there cannot be then a secret Crying unto the Lord for help and deliverance in the true brokeness of Heart which openeth to God with Bowels of Love and Tears whereby Gods Mercy is felt but a hardness upon the heart and a wrong thing ask for Peace in the unbelief from that which darkneth Take heed of this thing And this know assuredly that when Trouble comes in the inward parts and the rumour of War is heard between the two Nations Jacob and Esau both in the Womb and the Light condemning in the heart which hath been fleshly and the Witness of God awakning the Conscience that then if there be not a Brokeness thereby and a Mollifying of the Heart and a humbling of the lofty part then will Hardness take place and Rebellion prevail with thee against the Light Therefore in its season let these things have entrance in you and come to that which can receive it in love faithfulness and plainess as it is written H. S. The Cause of the long Afflicted and sore Oppressed sent forth in brief from Winchesteâ— Prison bâ—iâ—g a Copy of the Mittimus whâ—â—eâ—y Hâ—mphry Smith was again committed in oâ—th pace of his former lonâ— suffering in the same streight unsavory Prison wiâ—h his Answer which was then sent bâ—ck thereunto As likewise a shoâ—t Relation from the rest of them called Quakers there The Mittimus To the Keeper of his Majesties Goal at Winton or to his sufficient Deputy Greeting YOu shall herewithal receive the Body of Humphry Southton Smith who was taken at unlawful Meetings at Alton being a Ringleader and one of the chief of the Quakers who travelleth the Country to seduce the People and disturb his Majesties Peace contrary to the Law in that behalf made and provided These are therefore in his Majesties Name to will and require you forthwith that you receive the Body of him the said Humphry Smith into your Custody and him to detain in your said Goal until he shall be delivered from thence by due order of Law Whereof fail you not at your peril Given under our Hands and Seals at Alton the 14th day of October in the thirteenth year of his Majesties Reign Anno 1661. John Norton Humphry Bennit The Answer THe Jews who denyed him that said I am the Light laid hands on Paul crying out Help men of Israel this is the man that teacheth every where against the Law Acts 21. 28. And the Jewish Christians who denied the Light laid hands on Humphry Smith and in the Mittimus say He was at an unlawful Meeting And so these called Christians say Our Meetings are Unlawful or against the Law And just so it was said of Paul That his teaching was against the Law Again John Norton and Humphry Bennit say That Humphry Smith was a Ringleader Likewise Turtullous said That Paul was a Ringleader Acts 24. Again Humphry Smith is accused for one of the chief of the Quakâ—rs and for travelling the Country to seduce the People And in the same manner Paul was accused for a mover of Sedition among all the Jews throughout the World Acts 24. 5. and if so then Paul was a greater Traveller than Humphry Smith And as Humphry Smith is here accused for seducing the people so Paul was accused for setting forth of strange Gods and for preaching new Doctrine Acts 17. 18. And again Haman accused the Lords People That they kept not the Kings Laws And these men accuse us that we disturb the Peace contrary to the Kings Laws And the Rulers accused Paul for teaching things that were not Lawful And these accuse Humphry Smith That he did that which was contrary to the Law which they say is made and provided which is as much as if they had said We have a Law just like their Fathers who crucified Christ and said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye And so these who have Envy which is Murther in their hearts say We have a Law made and provided and by the force thereof Humphry Smith who is a member of Christ must be Imprisoned his Body Mark not his Soul then his Soul may be at liberty And them Magistrates cast Paul into Prison And so these did by H. Smith And they charged the Goaler To keep Paul safely Acts 16. 12. And these charge or require the Goaler in no less than his Majesties Name and at his own Peril to receive and detain the Body of Humphry Smith in his said Goal until he shall be delivered by due Order of Law And in this their acting and writing they themselves have compared Humphry Smith with Paul and others of Gods people And themselves with Pauls Persecutors and But now they have above a year
as deal justly with us but writ therein That we were lately taken at a Meeting as though it had been very lately indeed and thereby have sought to conceal the long Imprisonment we had then suffered for the same Meeting therein signified and concerning which we have also suffered nine weeks more in this Prison of Winchester this 13th of the 11th Moneth 1662. And these our heard and unreasonable Sufferings and grievous Abuses doth even cause a Cry for Mercy and may claim Compassion in Equity as well as Justice from you who in Justice ought to shew Mercy in relieving the oppressed who having suffered all these things only upon the account of some difference in Opinion in matters of Religion or matter in us of Conscience to God wherein also the King 's late Declaration offereth us Relief the benefit thereof we shall gladly receive but if otherwise then we say The will of the Lord be done whom we dare not but follow though it should be to the loss of all John Austin Jonas Goff William Bucklan Thomas Cozens Nichlos Cumplin William Jennings Solomon Nun also a Prisoner eleven Weeks for not paying four Shillings for being absent four First-dayes from their Church at Fareham which in Conscience he could not pay and so he is kept from his Masters business being a young Apprentice-lad John Bishop also a Prisoner nine Weeks being taken out of his own House from the which he was not departed neither were there then found with him any more men but two Humphry Smith a Prisoner one year and three Moneths and never called at Assize or Sessions nor suffered to come to any of the Rulers in the County to lay before them the true state of his Case And now seeing the hardness of the hearts of the Rulers is such that though a Copy of this fore-going Paper was sent unto them at the time of their late appointed Sessions and they not release the said sufferers nor commiserate their long and fore suffering Cause being some of them but poor men and seeing the said Paper was turned again and so the cause of the long oppressed turned aside Therefore is this published with the other that both Rulers and People may hear and see the long and many Afflictions of the harmless And now as touching four Coats that in cold Winter weather were stript off us since we came to this Prison and openly carried forth by one whose name we forbear to write and the Money for them drunk presently in strong Beer concerning the which although we mentioned not a word amongst the rest of our sufferings in the fore-going Paper And yet seeing it is so that just thereupon we were curbed and checked and Friends kept out from us and bitter words used at them that were let in though the Goaler had profit by them and that even by the Goaler's Wife she having slighted Gods love and so now hath little Pity for us and this being also done at the same time when the King's Declaration was come forth which is so largely tending to our Liberty And that the said Goalers Wife and himself if they own that action may know that it was out of forbearance of love and not of slavish fear of any that we mentioned not these our Coats in the said Paper Therefore are these few lines pertaining to this matter now added to the rest of the sufferings of us J. A. T. C. J. G. N. C. This 14th day of the 11th Moneth 1662. And the cause or the Reasons wherefore the Copy of the Mittimus with the answer of me H. S. is herein made publick are these First Because John Norton and Humphry Bennit have not only thus committed me upon no other account but for being such a man as Gods servants were in the days of old and for doing no other thing but what was though sometimes unjustly charged against them and also before this late Law was made intentionally against Meeting Secondly Because they have kept me close Prisoner one Year three Moneths and upward and that only upon this account Thirdly Because I have been all this time deprived even of that benefit of the Law in this Land which Thieves and Murderers have being not all this time called at Assize or Sessions Fourthly Because the said John Norton refused to let me have any liberty for a little season when a Friend came to seek it of him after I had lain here almost a Year Fifthly Because nothing of evil is proved or brought in against me nor any Law known by which they thus keep me in long Bondage though wrongfully in the Mittimus they have pretended a Law Sixthly Because I am more hardly dealt with in my imprisonment then the High-way-men that break out of Prison or any other Ossendor here by their order for the keeping of Friends from coming in to visit him that is one of the Members of Christ in Prison Seventhly Because that by no means all this time I can be permitted once to pass forth to any House in the Town and several Reasons more wherein I am unreasonably dealt with all which having so long and with much silence and patience undergone Eightly Because all this and much more of their hard dealing and my sufferings are so little regarded by the said John Norton and Humphry Bennit and other Rulers who some of them said I might Rot here Therefore I say thus much is at present published and that other tender hearted people and the meekest among the Rulers may both read and consider the cause of the Oppressed and also the long sufferings of Humphry Smith The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service John 16. 2. If the World hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you John 15. 81. But in the great day when it shall be said Come ye Blessed and Go ye Cursed the things then laid to their charge will be these I was Hungry Thirsty a Stranger Naked Sick and in Prison and ye visited me not Answer When saw we thee so Reply In as much as ye did it not unto one of the least of these ye did it not to me according to Mat. 25. 41 42 43 44 45 46. The the Sons of Men. YOu Sons of men whom God hath made to shew forth the works of his hands listen a little be quiet and hear and let your Minds be still Why should Envy arise in your heaâ—ts let my words be received in Love for behold I speak in Righteousness and in Peace from him that hath good-will towards man let your vain thoughts be denied and in coolness of Spirit in true Moderation give ear a little Why should the true fear of the Lord be dispised by you And why should you not receive instruction that your Souls might live in Peace forever Or why should I be esteemed by you as an Enemy for bringing the Message of Everlasting Peace to you which long did want it
Be quiet now therefore and hear all ye Judges Rulers Governours Justices and all other Officers and People whatsoevr upon the face of the whole Earth who ignorantly from your Zeal in that knowledge which puffeth up have had a hand against a dispised rejected forsaken People that are accounted the Off-scouring of all things and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter and are killed all the day long who follow him in the Travail of their Souls and brokenness of Heart whose face is marred more then the Sons of men to whom from him no Beauty nor Comeliness doth appear nor any thing wherefore he should be desired who indeed and in truth is not of this World Behold I say unto you who have persecuted the Innocent and smote the harmless with the Tongue and the Fist of Wickedness if you will let the humble seed arise in you and read with fear and consider in Meekness with a true desire to receive the Power of God's Love unto you is this Word of Visitation sent therefore O ye men feel ye that which opens the heart for behold I was made of one flesh with you and the Lord God and Father of my Life made all men of one Blood that they might feel after him and find him and surely from the true sence and feeling of Gods infinite Love unto Mankind that he might be saved from Wrath to come Therefore am I moved with my Father's Pity to visit you to whom Gods Love is and in whom the Seed lieth in Bondage and is not brought to the birth nor deliverance but the Earth is over it and you that should be gathered into God's Everlasting Covenant of Peace who lie yet in the Bondage why will you not believe my words which are the Truth of the Lord in the Power of his Love which will stand forever And so all your Hating Reviling and Imprisoning the Servents and Seed of God without you in the Nation and your ruling over the Innocent Honest Plain and Harmless is unto you a true figure of your hating resisting and imprisoning the Seed of God which is in you and your ruling over the honest meek thing in you with Tyranny and Cruelty in the strength of your wills and this hath long been so and by this figure hath the Lord been pleased to preach unto you of late years that you might hear and see and understand and this is plainly so you being not reconciled unto that of God in Bondage in you Therefore is your hatred against them without you who are reconciled to God and have no Confidence in the flesh and because you are not reconciled to him that made you therefore hath his witness in you often times disturbed and broke your Peace in the Earth and the hand of the Lord hath so followed you that many times you could not cause his Spirit to cease striving with you for some time but even trouble from it hath come upon you even in the Night-season when you would have Peace and when the Power of the Enemy of your souls hath risen up in you with Wrath and Envy in hastiness and passion against the Servants of the Lord and thereby have been moved with Envy to act that which was Evil against them intending thereby to make the true Jews bow down unto Haman's spirit in you then afterwards and some at the very time hath the witness of God in you arose and brought Judgment and Trouble and Torment upon you when some of you have been alone in quietness then hath the Lord been secretly Dealing with you by his measure of Light in you the which you have strove against some not knowing what it was and sought Peace and ease another way and so have not loved that which came to confound your Wisdom nor received that which is to bring the understanding of the prudent to nothing for that prudent understanding is in man and that which is to confound it is to be received in man I speak what I know and the Truth of which will stand forever but you have not received that which in the heart began to judge you nay rather are you not afraid of being judged and of that which judgeth in you And is it not a hard saying unto you that have talkt of God to preach him unto you who confounds the Wisdom of the Wise and brings the Vnderstanding of the prudent to nothing and to tell you how that which may be known of God is manifest in you Is it not therefore plain that you are yet joyned to that which is to be confounded and so have not received that which is to confound though it be in you for the Kingdom of God was in the Pharisees but they not knowing it did neither know the Lord of Glory but crucified him without them and resisted that which was holy in them yet professed the Scriptures without them as you do whose minds are out from the measure of the Inspiration of that Spirit in you which gave forth the Scriptures which are without you which Scriptures also testifie of the Light of Christ which is in you and of that which may be known of God in you to which you are to come for unto them who had the Scriptures without them Christ Jesus said Come unto me I am meek and low in heart and his Name is called the Word of God which is nigh even in your hearts though from you there it be hid as a Treasure hid in the Field but though it be hid from you yet it is there and though you have been unprofitable yet have you had a Talent yea the Lord God hath given Gifts to the Rebellious though they receive it not that he might dwell in them ye hard-hearted stiff-necked and uncircumcised why will you not believe my words Why will you not receive the Truth When will you bend and bow before the Lord God of Life Can you say in your hearts like the fool That there is no God Would you shut him out from having an entrance in you When was it that you did come to this thing which is hid in the heart And when did you try this thing which sometimes judgeth condemneth troubleth or confoundeth whether this thing would give you the knowledge of God And is not the Light to give the knowledge of God And doth not he that is the Light enlighten every man And is not the Light that which doth make manifest And is not there something in you that doth at sometimes make manifest And is there not something in you which doth judge and condemn you for Evil which is made manifest by it You that talk of trying all things Is not there one thing and have you not yet need of one thing even that which gives Power over sin and cleanseth from all sin And have you tryed this one thing the Light or that of God in you Whether this will bring you to Peace with God and man And whether by
hindred you and doth hinder from the Life and Virtue of it in your own Hearts this all to leave behind you forever and to give it away freely and as freely willing as a man would part with Dross for Gold and present mortal Honour for immortal Renown forever for behold the Glory of the World passeth away and all the Beauty thereof shall be as a fading Flower when it is fully ripe the strength thereof shall melt away like Wax before the Jealousie of our God and Aegypt shall be judged and Babylon confounded and the strength of the Oppressor brought down and the Lord will weaken the power of the Heathen and all the Earth shall know that he is the same God of Power and righteous Judgments as ever in the day when he cometh in the dread of his Power to assemble the Heathen to Judgment and to pour forth Floods of Indignation upon the Wicked when Anguish shall enter the dwellings of the Ungodly and intolerable perplexity seize upon the Consciences of the Unfaithful when the Hypocrite shall no longer cover himself nor the Adversaries of Sion rejoyce against her when the Lord shall reach forth his Hand and scatter his open Enemies as in the day of slaughter and consume the Bryars of the Earth as with endless Burnings and unquenchable Flames in the strength of his Fury when he pleadeth by the Fire of his Jealousie and the Sword of his Mouth with all the Wicked Ungodly and Unfaithful ones who make Flesh their Arm and depart from the Word of the living God in their Hearts which then they shall know to be Powerful against all Unrighteousness and quick in executing Judgments accordingly Oh! happy is the Man that then shall know a Refuge and blessed shall the People be whose God is then the Lord and full well will it be for them who then know a hiding place Then shall Sion alone rejoyce and Jerusalem be glad forever and only the redeemed of the Lord shall walk in the Paths of his Judgments and in the midst of devouring and consuming Fire which to them shall be as a Wall for everlasting defence round about them and as precious healing Oyl of Joy and Gladness in the midst and as pure Oyntment poured out into the Wounds of the broken-hearted Light shall shine forever in their Habitations and Wisdom shall be found in them like as in Daniel the Servant of God in the dayes of Old and only the Faithful shall stand and the Upright-hearted shall endure and God will keep his little Ones and the Weak shall be strengthened by him and the Poor of the Flock shall be comforted and the Feeble among men shall receive strength from God as the Morning and renewing of virtue as the dawning of the day and the Lambs of the Fold shall be kept and only Gods People shall stand yea they shall stand and the Gates of Hell with all the powers of darkness shall never prevail against them the Lord hath spoken it whose Words shall stand forever which shall seal it unto the Heritage of God and the Dross must be purged away and the Unbelieving must stand behind and the Careless will stagger at the Promises and they that seek themselves shall have Self enough but Self shall never help them in that day neither shall their own Wisdom stand them instead neither yet their Righteousness in the Day of God's Controversie when the great Oaks shall fall and the lofty Cedars shall bow to the Dirt when no covering at all shall hide but that which is put upon men by the Power of God's dwelling Spirit in the Heart of every individual by the virtue thereof and not otherwise And this moreover I say to every particularly unto you who were late astray from God and lately were convinced of the precious Truth of his Son that in the Name and Power of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth from him to you was I sent and that more chiefly to gather the Out-casts than to feed the Lambs who were already gathered and rather to call home the lost Sheep than to nourish them that were already brought home and to call Sinners to Repentance and for the opening the Hearts Understanding and Eyes of those who though they truly desired had not clearly understood the secret things of the hidden Wisdom of the Almighty And truly my Love was to Sinners and the true affections and breathing of my Soul for the Prodigals in them parts which were most chiefly my Message from God at that time and my Service of Love unto the Souls of such in them parts and to publish the Name of the Almighty in the great Congregations and surely my own Brethren even the gathered Flock of God attended in much patience whilst I thus performed my Service of love to you neither did I turn my Face from you to them nor with-held from you the Counsel of God in truth neither was I negligent in the Service to do you good neither yet sparing of my strength nor with-holding my Speech when God gave utterance but rather can truly say I could even have been spent for you in the discharge of my Conscience to the Lord my strength And now this is that which my Heart desireth of you and my Soul desireth for you That you all and every of whose Hearts then God touched with the feeling of his Love by the power of his Immortal Word through me his weak Earthen Vessel that you all may obey the Call and Visitation of God in the requiring of his Light in your own Hearts thereby willingly to depart from the wayes of the Wicked the professions of the Hypocrites and the paths of Ungodly men and to stand no long in the way of Sinners nor regard the counsel of them who hate the Light and Truth in the inward parts and to come out from amongst them that are unclean who live still more and more in that which pollutes them who live in their Sins professing God and serving the Devil until they have finished their Sins which then bringeth forth Death and he that dyeth in his Sins not believing in the Light which makes an end of sin cannot come where Christ is And so the Tree falling there it lieth and as Death leaveth Judgment findeth and as Judgment findeth so shall the Reward according to the deeds be And then shall every man stand or fall to his own Master the Servants of the Devil to their Master and the Servants of God to their Master and there is no more Masters but them two and no man can serve both though Thousands profess the one and serve the other who in that day must give an account whom they have served and not whom they have professed for they who professed God and served the Devil were Hypocrites and so are unto this day of whom the World is full And blessed are they who by the living Power of the Soul-saving Grace of God are truly redeemed out of the
way works worships and nature of such to serve the living God in the newness of the spirit through Faith and Patience and to walk in Innocency before the Lord for evermore Such shall come to rejoyce in the Truth and the Arm of the Lord shall bring them more nearer to himself that they may come to see the Lord in his Glory and to praise him in the Land of the living and to behold Sion in her perfect Beauty and to feel their Unity with Gods Elect and to enjoy the Covenant of Everlasting Peace that shall never be broken to be bound up together in the life of Immortality Wisdom and Righteousness to shine forth as the Morning like the Jewels of the Lamb and to be beautified with Meekness as the Members of the unspotted of God Oh! the Crown of Rejoycing and Everlasting Felicity that is set before you to whom I am not able to express the infinite bounty and goodness of the Almighty Oh! who can hold when the Lord hath spoken or conceal his loving-kindness when the Almighty giveth utterance The Lord hath enlarged my Heart let me not therefore enquire among you where there is room to receive it Oh! let there be an inward search whether that the door be open and the straitness taken away that he which was with you may find entrance in you and you truly come to feel the receiving of his life to the glad Tidings of your Hearts From such an outward Prison cannot keep me nor from them the vast distance of Miles cannot with-hold me Behold I say in the Name of God I am near unto you And when you are assembled together with one accord in the place where the Light is a Ministry to the work this read among you in the fear of the God of Heaven then shall many of you know it so to be that the Lord hath given me of his unlimited Spirit which I freely let forth unto you And the breathings of my life are that you might receive benefit thereby and be comforted together And be strengthened in the inward man that the Devil may not prevail nor the love of the World overcome the innocent desires which God hath begotten let no unbelief nor slavish fear hinder you in your spiritual progress toward the attainment of the Crown of Life in the Kingdom of blessedness which God hath certainly prepared for the upright and innocent And now behold I turn unto my Brethren the called and chosen of God whom my Soul hereby saluteth unto whom I cannot by words sufficiently express my Love neither have I room to publish the enlargedness thereof in writing neither will usual phrases of Speech satisfie my broken Heart Oh! blessed be the day that ever you were called and the hour of your Visitation and the time of the Conception of the Seed in the Womb and the season of the forth-coming thereof into the liberty of Peace Blessed be the Lord forever on your behalf who hath chosen you to the riches of life and brought you to the Well-springs of Mercy and caused you to drink of the Rivers of his strength which hath daily been renewed unto you Oh! blessed be the God whose love hath not been with-held from your Souls and who hath not with-held counsel from your Eyes Friends God hath opened my Heart unto you receive me therefore as in the Bowels of Mercy that now we may praise the Lord forever Oh! that your Souls may with me forever magnifie the unutterable Power of the God of Heaven and that you may this day with me drink freely of the Cup of Eternal Salvation that then we may rest together as in a Bed of Repose in the delightsom Arms of our Father's love that forever we may sing the Song of the Lamb and sound forth the Praises of the Almighty together that you may know the Lord is with me and that the holy One of Israel is indeed become my everlasting Support And unto you all Friends Erethren and fellow Members of the heavenly Body these are the pourings forth of Gods infinite Love free for all that can receive it And thus in few words as unto you my Brethren even desiring to be felt and received in that which comprehendeth all words and is more than words can express in which the words end which was before the words were where my dwelling is and you that truly know me know it so to be where-with you in the eternal Beeing and Substance of all living I rest in the Fountain of Mercy desiring daily in my pourings forth of my Soul unto God that you all may walk blamelesly and be preserved in the Truth of your Hearts to stand stedfast in the day of Tryal at hand And so in the power of Wisdom which is the Refuge of the Innocent the Lord God Almighty of Heaven and Earth preserve you all and keep you all for evermore Amen And hereby you may likewise know that I am in health and strength of Body and Soul and that my Heart is sometimes enlarged with the Power of Gods Love and my Spirit at Liberty which is out of their power to imprison by whom my Body is shut up in the close unsavoury Prison of my late and long sad Sufferings in the common Goal at Winchester where this is written by him that God hath called herein to be your Servant in obedience to his blessed Will known to the World but unto you in that which is nearer than this Name Humphry Smith Concerning TYTHES TYthes at first were not required but given only of the Spoils of the War only once by Abraham unto him that was made like unto the Son but the Substance being come even Christ who was before the Wars and before Abraham he redeems out of the Lust from whence the Wars arise and so bringeth to an end of that from whence Wars come and so to an End of that from whence Tythes were first given and so to give nor pay Tythes any longer being redeemed out of Lust and Wars and Fightings by the Blood of Jesus who said I am the Light that abideth a Priest forever and his day Abraham rejoyced to see who brings to the End of the Tythes and makes War with that and slayes that which caused men to Slay one another in the Wars who comes to save the Life who is Greater than Abraham who being now come denyeth fighting and saith He that taketh the Sword shall perish with the Sword And so that was to perish whereby Tythes were first given then must there needs be an end of Tythes which also perisheth with the using and the Law for the Tythes which had a shadow of good things to come decayes and waxes old and vanisheth away the good things themselves being come and good will towards man and the Covenant of Light to joyn the hearts together For Tythes were never given nor paid until after men had killed and slain and done violence and wrong one to another
and Christ saith Love your Enemies and if he smite thee on the one Cheek turn the other And such as are come to that and obey his command are come out of the Wars and the Strife unto the Prince of Peace who was before the Wars and so know the peaceable Covenant which will not wax old but last forever in which there is no Wars nor killing one another and so comes to the End of that Covenant which commanded the Tythes and to the change of the Law the Priest whereof and they that receive the Tythes murder and slay him that is to bring to the End of Tythes so that by him to the End of Tythes they are not come nor from under the first Covenant where the Tythes are paid whilst the vail is over the Heart and that Ministry standing which makes nothing Perfect and will dye and change and perish but he that Redeems out of and from among them and that which perisheth abides a Priest forever and of him it is said he liveth And so him we bear Testimony of who is entred within the Vail in whom the Vail is done away and so that is seen and departed from and made an end of which stood whilst the Vail was not rent and the way into a more Holy known than the first Covenant wherein the Tythes were paid the Vail being over the Heart and is yet over the Hearts of all them who pay or receive Tythes and all that uphold it who may take notice that the first Priests that ever took by force Offerings were Sons of Belial and knew not God whom the Lord destroy'd and they perished in the Wars with the Sword 1 Sam. 2. 12. ver 16. Therefore we cannot but deny Tythes and the upholding of it and all such as take it especially ly force which Actions are the fruits of such Priests as know not God and such he will overturn For the Seed of God in many Thousands Cryes unto him by reason of the Cruel Oppression of Tythes from under which the Lord will deliver us Humphry Smith This for my nearly related Friend Elizabeth Smith at Little Cawerne THe God of Heaven that made me and the Lord God of Power that called me to obey and follow him even in that day when I was not acquainted with his Voice and who hath been my Guide Defence Succour and Comfort unto this day and moment and who hath ever upheld me as a Father the Child by the Arm of his Power whom the world neither did nor can by its Wisdom ever know who is the only wise Invisible Spirit that upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power who is dreadful to the Heathen that know him not and more precious than ever can be expressed with Tongue or Pen unto them who have felt and received and live in the true sence of the Enlarging incomes of the virtue of his Power the Life whereof to them is most desirable My Strength Life and Refuge alone is he whose service I have no cause to decline and whose precious powerfull call he never gave me cause to repent for with himself he hath and doth dayly gratify me with a full Reward for all and all manner of my manifold Tryals and daily Sufferings and Exercises which I meet with in the way but really and Absolutely I can truly say that none of these things move me in the least from that foundation upon which the God of Heaven and Earth hath long since established me that I might stand for him and the Glory of his Name who hath both set and appointed me thereunto and given me Courage as a fortified Tower to stand as a mark for the Adversaries of Sion to vent forth the utmost of their limited Fury And in the Lord my strength is my Considence neither have I believed that ever I should distrust him though since the day that I have known him he hath even suffered the Sorrows of Death and the pangs of Hell and the Powers of Unutterable Darkness at sometimes to compass me in on every side and to lift up themselves in the vaunting Arrogancy of the swelling Pride thereof as Mountains never to be removed But behold he who hath his way in the Whirl-wind and his path through the midst of the deepest Ocan him alone it was that my broken Heart was by the power of his constraining Love resolved to follow forever even through the greatest difficulties and the most hardest Straits Tryals and Hardships with all manner of outward and inward Sufferings that might be permitted to happen unto or fall upon any one of the Children of men Oh! that I could now sufficiently declare his Goodness and so fully and effectually make mention of his Power as it deserveth or as the Lord hath given into my Heart to desire of him to be made use of in the Declaration or Manifestation thereof in this my day unto the Sons and Children of men Surely when I am waiting of him and of his unutterable Goodness and Power my Words and Lines are also short of setting forth the Virtue and Fullness of the most unexpressible divine excellency thereof that sometimes I am rather ready to dwell in silence with and in the fullness thereof which overcomes with unutterable Virtue than to be writing of that which in its self can never be written though what is written may be by and with and from the overflowings of the same and so be as drops or little streams of heavenly Water to refresh the dry and thirsty Land which therein doth its service and then the praise thereof is to return unto him who is the alone fountain of all Virtue and the Life which giveth Life even unto the dead that hear his Voice whereby he comes to be known to be Infinite in Wisdom Power and Virtue whom my soul doth Honour my heart doth Praise and my spirit adoreth forever for none is like to him neither doth my soul desire any other but he whilst in this body or for evermore in the Life which yet doth come Let all that know him bow before him and let all that hear his voice be humble and meek and let every one that truly desires after him wait with diligence and in patience upon him and let all that are faithful to him rejoyce in his Love and prize him for much more then the liberty of their bodies or the Enjoyment of Thousands and Thousands of Thousands of Temporal Visible Earthly thing All which are his and he is ours yea he is certainly mine and I am his and my soul doth magnifie him and my spirit doth yet breath farther to sound forth his Praises not only all the dayes of my life whilst in this Earthly Tabernacle but likewise in the hearts of Thousands of them yet unborn and among the Generations that are yet to come by my faithful upright Testimony and the Record thereof which may remain when the God and Father of my life hath gathered me
Power is he working Deliverance for his Jewels that are precious in his sight who suffer long and cruel Bondage under your strong corrupted Wills for which thing the Lord will visit and bring Darkness upon you even thick Darkness that may be felt and will fill you with Trouble in the Night season and overwhelm you with Obscurity in the day when you would have Rest Hearken ye Rulers and consider my Words and be ye warned of hatching Mischief in secret for behold a day of Trouble is coming upon you a day of Darkness and not Light yea the Lord God is coming near to Judgment and with Place this after pag. 92. what measure ye have meated it shall be measured to you again for of a truth the Lord is for us yea even with us and in us the mighty God of Jacob in whose dreadful Power and righteous Judgments we rejoyce forever whose Word of Power is our Life at which the Heathen rage whose Foolishness is our Wisdom in which we stand knowing him to be near who justifieth us who will not alwayes suffer the Rod of the Wicked to rest upon the back of the Righteous neither will his Spirit alwayes strive with you who rebel against the Light Job 24. 13. But those who hate Instruction and receive not the fear of the Lord neither yet cease afflicting the Members of his Son even such is the Lord of Life coming to viâ—â—t and he reacheth forth his hand and taketh away the Breath of the Wicked and putteth forth his Finger to the Life of the Princes of the Earth and most assuredly there is neither Pope King Prince Ruler Judge Justice or any other Nation or People whatsoever that shall be able to stand before the dreadful Power of the Lord of Hosts neither shall they ever prosper who combine together and rise up against him his poor despised Flock and the knowledge of his Ways but he will rain Snares upon all his Adversaries and pour Contempt upon Princes and stain the Pride of all their Glory and bring into Contempt all the Honourable of the Earth and with a foolish Nation will he anger the Judges of the Earth and with a People rejected forsaken and trodden under foot will the Lord bring down the strong Oaks of Bashan and Zion that no man cared for which hath been as a plowed Field will the Lord restore into its former Beuty and Jerusalem shall become a Praise over all the Earth and the Mountain of the Lords House of Holiness shall certainly be established above all your high dark Mountains of Wickedness and there is no Weapon formed against the Seed whom God hath blessed that ever shall prosper for we know in whom we have belived and we fear not the inchantings of Balaam neither are we discouraged because the mighty Rulers of the Earth would have the Israel of God defied for we know the Enterprizes of the Wicked will come to nothing and themselves shall fall into Destruction who are privately and openly seeking the Destruction of those whom God hath said shall prosper Therefore in vain do the Wicked bend their Bows and smite with the Tongue and imprison by their unjust and false Writings called Mittimusses for the Lord God seeth the Affliction of his People and will reprove Kings for their sakes and take the Wise in their own Craftiness and lead Judges away Fools and bring the Honour of the Princes of the Earth into Contempt for evermore and a perpetual Shame shall cover the faces of all Zion's Enemies and the Adversaries of Jerusalem which is free shall be as Chaff before the Wind and none of the Arm of Flesh shall be able to preserve you from the Wrath of the Almighty neither shall your Greatness in the World deliver you from the wrathful Presence of the Lamb who is the Light that condemns for the Sin neither shall any of your Unrighteous Laws Decrees and Ordinances Warrants or unjust Orders and Snares which you make for the Innocent hide cover or deliver you from the Terror of the Pit in this day of Darkness that is nigh at hand wherein yet more gross Darkness shall cover you until your feet stumble at the dark Mountains and you suddainly fall and never rise again and a perpetual Shame cover your Names for evermore who Repent not Wherefore Wo unto you Rulers of Hampshire who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth which makes free Who hath blinded your Minds that you cannot see the Life of the suffering Seed which preacheth the Innocency of the Lamb in Meekness and Long-suffering among you What is it that hath hardened your hearts that Truth cannot have entrance in you How are you Bowels shut up that you have not affection to Nature How unreasonably have you caused the Members of Christ sick and in Prison to suffer How will you give an Account for these things when they must go to the left hand who visit not the Members of Christ sick and in Prison Oh blind and miserable men my Soul even mourns over you that which should be your Life is and will be your Condemnation it lieth in Prison in you Oh! who are more blind than you And how long have you hardened your hearts against the day of Slaughter and rebelled and strove with the Powers of Darkness against the Light of Christ in you who amongst you hath not whereon lay his head neither can he be received though he come unto his own How evilly have you entreated his Servants and Messengers Where is your entertaining of Strangers and when do you plead the Cause of the poor and needy Is it not apparent that the poor in Spirit you are strangers to And is it not seen that the Bonds of Iniquity which separate you from God are not broken Are not we in this filthy streight Prisor a true figure of the filthy streight place in you that the righteous seed is long in Prison And is not the cutting off of one of the chiefest Counsellors among you an apparent token that your Councils are not of the Lord And may not the suddain destruction of another of the chiefest of you be a warning to the rest Are you more hardened than they in the days of Corah And are you more blind and worse than them whom God plagued because they kept the Ark of the Testimony of the Lord in the place of the uncircumcised And is not his Testimony a witness in us And will ye not see when the hand of the Lord is lifted up Surely were the oppressed let free within you would soon let the oppressed go free without and because it is not so Wo be to you a hard hearted and unbelieving Generation who shall pity you in the day of Slaughter or bemoan you when your Calamity cometh as a Whirl-wind Even then shall you know that the Lord is become your Enemy who are Enemies to his Lambs Oh! my heart is enlarged and I am filled
the Testimony of his Name and remain Prisoners for the same Truth and Testimony of Jesus for which also this Body of mine doth and hath long suffered Restraint and Bonds and my Soul grieved with the Sodomitish Wickedness and Heathenish Prophainness of Hard-hearted Rebellious to God and disobedient Ungodly People whose Judgment slumbereth not and whose Damnation will certainly come and be just from God upon them who have made a Covenant with Death and shew forth themselves as a people at an Agreement with all the Powers of Hell in which is the Reward of all the Wicked that have forgotten God and wholely rejected the manifold Manifestation of his Mercies which unto you O ye dear and tender-hearted is as precious Oyl and as desirable Treasure Who can but prize the Mercies of the God of Heaven How refreshingly hath it often flowed in upon the thirsty Habitations of many to the abundant refreshing and comforting of the weary Land Oh! how sweetly and with what pleasantness hath mine Eyes beheld the springing up and the growth and spreadings of the tender Plants after the distiling streams of the Heavenly Dews upon them and every one standing in his place flourishing with their Branches over the Earth not one offending the other and all casting forth a sweet favour being daily replenished with the springings up of the Sap of Life and comforted with the Sun Beams of Righteousness How harmoniously then doth the Garden flourish And how beautiful is every Plant whom God hath planted And is it possible for any other plants to bring forth Fruits unto holiness but only such whom the God of Heaven causeth to grow And how sad is it for any one Plant to hurt kill or destroy another And who can without some Remorse or pity behold the withering and fading of any such Plants whose flourishing was once so delightsom that all who passed by and took notice thereof commended them for their virtue or at least took some special notice of their prudence and the wisdom of him by whom they flourished in that they grew multiplied and prospered though they could not perceive nor understand by what invisible virtue they thus were nourished nor whence it came I say again when I have beheld the Trees of the Lord the Plants of the Garden of God in their fresh green growing flourishing united State in the Life of Liberty my heart hath often been refreshed my Soul quickned my Spirit revived and my mind and desires abundantly satisfied Then hath my life founded forth the precious praises of the Almighty in the Assemblies of the upright and my Heart broken therewith in the delightsom Love hath poured forth Thanksgiving with tenderness and tears in secret O! how then hath the overflowing of Mercy reached over the uttermost borders of my dwelling and how sweetly have we then been comforted and revived one in another How lovely then hath the face of the Righteous been when Righteousness it self in the Meekness of Love looked forth at the Windows How were the Bowels of each other then enflamed within them How sweet was the Beauty of Meekness to the Beholders Who then could but receive the love of the loveliness it self Dear Lambs of the fold of Heaven whose hearts are still opened by the feeling of the virtue of life who only know me and can hear the words of my Life and understand the Voice of my Love My Heart and Soul salutes you my Love is dear unto you my Life hath long reached forth it self towards you in my Remembrance your Life is written I am your Servant in the Love of God a Member of the Body with you a Brother in Tribulations a Companion with you in your Warfare a Feeder with you at your Table and one that rejoyceth with you in the Joy unspeakable being made with you a partaker of that precious Inheritance that fadeth not away where Life and Love and fellowship with Praises and Thanksgiving aboundeth forever Wherewith should I greet you in the Greetings of that Love which cannot be uttered And how should I Salute you in that which cannot be declared What words might I use to speak forth the Life of Wisdom or reach forth the true love of a broken Heart Behold I may become as a Babe herein and be silent as a Child yet learning utterance lest in reaching forth of my strength I should signifie my weakness to unfold the undeclareable Infinitness of the fulness of Virtue Wisdom Meekness Life and Love from the measure whereof my simple words most certainly do at present proceed as some few amongst many will surely perceive hereby who remain in the single-heartedness of undefiled Unity whose desires are still afresh enflamed and whose Bowels yet daily yearn after a more fuller enjoyment of God and the encrease and preservation of his Precious Truth and who for the same can still deny themselves to serve others in the true sense and feeling of the undefiled brotherly Love and who can lay down their Crowns that the Lamb may be honoured and suffer in the inward man that the Brother may be preserved for whom Christ dyed and towards whom Gods Love was even when he was an Enemy the which love of God being continued towards thee in the same Love shouldest thou continue towards thy Brother and there-with mayst thou do him good and perform some service towards the Lord whose love was towards you both and then from him shalt thou receive a Reward into thy own Bosom and in the needful time God will deliver thee and at the hour of Tryal he will Succour thee and thou the dear Plant of the Lord thereby mayst stand though some that were stronger then thee be overcome and fall into the Snare of the Enemy in that hour of Tryal and be then entangled with many Incumbrances and that of divers kinds The Lord God of Heaven and Earth preserve my dear tender hearted Lambs and Brethren out of such things that a Vail may not come over you and so the Life be stopt from springing up in you for then may such again go Mourning all the day long when none doth pity Friends the often Incomes of Gods Love and the forth flowings of the same towards you and the precious seed of God in them parts hath constrained me at present to visit you in the true love of my Soul with these Lines that so you might not only hear from me but also in some measure be comforted in me and likewise some of you a little refreshed hereby For Behold the God of Heaven is my Refuge and strength and the Lord of Host is my Upholder and the holy One of Israel is my Everlasting Support and the daily Incomes of that which doth truly comfort is as Marrow to my Bones yea the Lord hath prolonged my dayes inlarged my Borders and beautifyed the Place of my Dwelling My heart is overcome with his Love my Soul is filled with his Virtue and my Tongue doth declare of