Worship did they ever make a Law to whip strangers who asks them nought or to force people to swear against the conscience and many such things are now done which in the time of the Apostles the heathen came far short of which now is filling up all against him whose coming is ever as a stranger in the earth and what hedgings here is at this day to keep him out from his own is plainly to be seen and that he should not have liberty to seek up his lost ones in high-ways and hedges Markets and Steeple-houses how have you heightned your walls higher then your fore-fathers and what daubing is at this day against the way of God from which your own wayes cannot save you for the way of God is perfect and will endure to all Generations wherein the upright walks and sinners falls in opposition thereto But how should you know his way who denies his light within seeing they that rebell against the light never knew the pathes thereof you are they who have erred in your hearts and therefore have not known his wayes and how should you have peace or enter into his rest for you that denyes his light and resists his Spirit in your hearts must needs be offended at his coming in your streets so you have set your selves against him and he hath set himself against you as at this day and therefore it is not with you now as it is was when you were in the work of making him way to walk in tender consciences and you will find him arise more to cross your wayes as you seek to stop his way you have begun to walk contrary to him and he is beginning to walk contrary to you and unto you is he become an enemy so take heed what you do for till you return will he watch over you for evil and not for good and the more you trime your own ways to withstand his way the more will he discover the blood of the innocent in your skirts before the Son till all may see you are no Christians nor what you Professe but open enemies to God and his people your hands full of blood Wherefore be not rash you headie people you that are but looking for his coming in outward observations are witnesses against your selves that his way you have not yet learned though you have read of it yet you know it not and will you appoint him a way and call it his way and will he own it who comes a way you have not known nor can believe if you be told it it would be your wisdom to stand still every one and cease from your own wayes and wait in the light which onely gives the knowledge of him and his way which light shines in the heart as faith the Scriptures and the Kingdom of God is within you and he whom you oppose is a Spirit and comes a spiritual way to cut down spiritual wickedness so to the Spirit of light turn that you may see to prepare to meet him in his own way and not to set your way to oppose him that he should break you to pieces The living God glorified in his Temples the true worshippers that worship him in Spirit and in Truth NOw glory to God in Heaven and the thousands of his Saints doth confess him upon earth who bear his Name and testimony against the world who have still put his coming afar off who have not that which they professe in them but tell of great things which they have not who are without God in spirit and his worship in spirit such as Christ said worshipped they knew not what and such now worship they know not what who worship that they have not and professe him they possesse not without God in the world in whose heart there is not God who are not the Temples of the living God but to this day worship in Temples made with hands as those who resisted the Holy Ghost ever did and how should such be holy vessels holy men and women what should sanctifie where God is not and what should lead where the spirit is not but the blind eye that leads into the ditch and what is like to govern where God is not in his throne in the heart how can such but be filled with unrighteousness who retain not God in their knowledge so it is not strange to the children of light who with the eye of God are guided to see the whole world lie in wickedness and to see such things acted against God in his Temples now by such as are without God as ever was so the Scriptures are fulfilled as you may read And ye holy in heart rejoyce and lift up your heads towards the day of Redemption and own your generation here on earth that you may be gathered to the Fathers with that which comes from above and that spirit which perfects the just and casts out the unjust where are the dogs and Adulterers and such as know not God and where the hearts are gathered to the Fathers in God there the earth is blessed whose God is the Lord who have received the spirit from on high and are filled with the Holy Ghost As Stephen was who saw heaven open who was full of God whom the great Professors stoned who was full of wroth and yet said they looked for his coming from Scriptures yet like mad men run upon him and destroyed his Temple so he destroyed their Temple which they thought to uphold who resisted God the Holy Ghost because he had no place in them who could not receive the light of the world nor his word could find place in them but in such as they cast out it found place whose bodies were the Temple of the living God as he hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and Enoch walked within with God in spirit and was not And Isaiah God had wrought all his works in him And Jeremy was full of the fury of the Lord And Ezekiel was the son of man And Daniel had the Spirit of the most High God the Spirit of light and understanding And Paul had the Son of god revealed in him the same that he Preached and said they that knew not Christ in them were reprobates he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit And to David the Lord said thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and David declared it and the Saints were begotten of God and partakers of the Divine nature and confessed the Father and the Son in them and that the Son of God was come and had given them an understanding which they that looked for him to come without understood not who beat him in their Synagogues and shamefully intreated him because they knew not the Father nor the Son but said he was to come And they that had the Son had Life and the rest was children of wrath filled with wrath and so the Father and the Son supt with such as
Jerusalem and that therein that vessel he bare the sins of the World and satisfied the wrath of God for sins past and overcame death hell and the grave and made way for the Seed to arise in all through the whole World who would believe in his light which then shined through him to all men wherein he might be seen to be the Way the Truth and the Life apparent openly triumphing over all that had passed above the Seed And much more might be said of him there finished all which I did believe according to Scripture which was as an opening of me to receive him from Heaven in the same spirit and power without which I could not have received the gift of that holy Spirit God having so purposed from the beginning that the Covenant of Eternal Life and power should be received no other way but by faith in him who in the fulness of time was there manifest in flesh for the taking away sins past and making a way for the Resurrection of life over all to save from sins for time to come The effect of which Faith when in the Light I first received it did turn my mind out of all my sins past and took my mind out of them and turned me towards God and holiness of life I then believed to attain in that faith and receive power therein to grow up in him to his fulness and stature which then I see no less Faith could save me then the perfect Faith of the Son God which before I had not received but then received with such gladnesse of heart that it set my face and delights out of all sin towards the perfection of Christ in which I then believed which was the Joy then set before me yet was not the work done and finished in me already though I having received the Faith and Hope of the Son of God and was turned from all my former sin and my own righteousness so that if I had departed this Body I had died in no less Faith then the Holy Faith of Christ Jesus and so being turned to his Spirit out of the works of the Flesh I was turned from my sin and so from condemnation yet was there a great work to do in me before I could witness freedom from the body of death and the root and ground of evil removed and the seed raised to reign and the soul brought into the holy City the resurrection of the dead and fellowship in the Father and the Son c. And that glorious liberty of the new Creature and all things to be of God in me as the scriptures do witness so this faith didnot work me into a conceit of my self glorying in knowledge and so to become a Teacher of others what I had conceived below the life but it led me down into the obedience of the Spirit of Light to wait therein for the Resurrection of Life and I came to see in that Light that the motions of sin did still work from the old ground and root and that must be removed by the power of Christ working in spirit and my obedience and watchfulness therein was required and that without obedience to this faith I could not come to perfect victory over the enmity nor the glorious liberty of the Sons of God for though this faith had turned my heart towards Christ and given me hope to attain him yet I had not then learned him nor was he yet formed in me so was I led in the Light of Christ to see what I had of this treasure in the earthen vessel which I found to be in me very little and that Seed the least of all Seeds so I became little in that eye which told me the Truth though I had been high in my own thoughts formerly And so to the Word of the beginning of Christ I was led or the first Principle of the Doctrine of Christ that with that which teacheth Christ I might learn Christ in every measure of him as I grew therein so was I brought to know him that was made under the Law and to the foundation of repentance from dead works and to Doctrines of Baptisms and to Eternal Judgement Then came I in Truth and Life to see what they were doing whom the Apostles exhorted to work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling after they had fully believed what Christ had done for them at Jerusalem in that vessel and many other Scriptures did he open to me as I learned him which before to me was a Mistery while I learned them in meanings without the Life of Christ which then was opened by the Revelation of Christ Jesus as they came to be fulfilled in me being led by the same Spirit in that work of Faith then came I to see that I through the Law must be redeemed from the Law and that my redemption from it must not be by making it void but by fulfilling of it and till then it had power over me and sin took occasion by it to strengthen it self in me but as I came to grow in the Spirit and Power of Christ I was in him brought through it it in him fulfilled and I dead to it as it came to be fulfilled and the words of Christ I found true I came not to break the Law but to fulfil it and it is easier for Heaven Earth to pass away then one jot of the Law to pass away tell it be fulfilled and I needed not a meaning to that Scripture but a fulfilling thereof in Christ Jesus And the School-master that brings to Christ I learned Christ formed the heir under Tutors before I knew the liberty of the Son of God or perfect freedom and then I saw the Scriptures could not be broken nor wrested but it must be learned in the life of it to Salvation which the unlearned wrest to their own destruction by meanings without life and that it was of no private interpretation but this one Spirit must open it all in the fulfilling thereof and this Faith in Christ Jesus onely was able to make wise unto Salvation of Eternal Life And then came I clearly to see Christ Jesus set before me in all things that I was to go through in that faith which I had first received and that the attaining of him was the hope of glory and no hope without him and this hope was as an Anchor in all hardships and temptations which was not a few I was led through but all was counted little while I stood in this Faith for the hope that was in me to win Christ And I clearly saw that now with standing my first faith in what he had done at Jerusalem yet if I did not continue therein to follow the same spirit in obedience thereto believing therein in all its leadings hoping to attain to Christ Jesus the end of that Faith in daily growing towards his Stature and fulnesse but had turned aside or set down short of the leadings
been short of this work as they were in whom the Child was unborn when he went away in the flesh and they knew not what Spirits they were of until he came again to them in Spirit and was revealed in them then could they preach the Resurrection of the dead and the Souls Redemption and desired to know him no more after the flesh when once they had received him in Spirit but Preached Christ within the Hope of Glory who till then looked for an outward kingdom and glory until they had received his promise He that dwelleth with you shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you the world seeth me no more but ye see me and because I live ye shall live also at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And this was his promise whom they received whom the world seeth no more whose expectations are carnal neither can any see the Kingdom of Heaven but who are born of this Spirit and Heirs of this Life and he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abides upon him whatever he may say he believes and none hath the Son but as they receive this Spirit and are led by this Spirit and born thereof And this I found also that this Son of God doth not appear in any within or without but as he conforms them to his own Image which he hath alwayes born in this world as saith the Scripture When he shall appear we shall be like him who shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body from glory to glory by the same Spirit And herein we have boldness in the day of Judgement because as he is so are we in this present world and this is not obtained with thoughts of believing without but by a lively working Power which works out the earthly image and nature and conforms to the heavenly in that spiritual birth which is not of flesh and blood nor could flesh and blood ever discern it in whom it was but ever hated it in whom it hath appeared in all ages Which is of a shining nature where it is begotten of the Father and cannot be hid where it is formed but by his fruits gives light to the world contrary to the worlds wayes showing of his coming to Judgement against the deeds of darkness And this heavenly begetting of the Father is to be holden forth in that clear Image of the Father according to every several measure as he grows therein without mixture that all may see that he is not of this world who also takes them out of this world as he grows in any or they in him forth of the world they must go bearing his reproach that the Scriptures may be fulfilled they are not of this world even as I am not of this world and this is the worlds light and condemnation even his coming And so I find that Faith which joyns to the world where it is and doth not overcome the world is not the faith of Christ nor layes hold on the Power of Christ though Faith may believe the History of the Scriptures concerning Christ which faith sets not up the Kingdom of God in the heart and casts out the world there that faith saves not the Soul from the pollution of the world through lust and so is but a conceit of Salvation and not the Power of Salvation as saith the Scriptures Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even your Faith and the faith which works not thus is like a body without a spirit which is dead But the living Faith that stands in Christ Jesus that Spirit purifies the heart and Conscience and makes toward God in Christ the example in all good things overcoming what ever would let the appearance of Christ in his temple or hinder the bringing forth his vertues which is believed to be in him to the utmost of what ever he hath received of the Father for such believers who believes not in a lye but in the Truth and Power of God as it is in Christ Jesus and hath been declared in Scriptures not for a discourse but for an inheritance of life of whose fulness we all receive according to our Faith till his coming and we be compleat in him and he in us and so not come short of the Glory of God the end of our Faith and Conversation that to the world he may be manifest in life and power to be the same that ever he hath been though he have appeared in several forms in the flesh yet one in Spirit to make up a compleat body And therefore we find those who were of this Faith witnessed Christ present which the worlds faith could never receive under any form or profession but counted it blasphemy and that spirit the spirit of the Devil And so Isaiah witnessed this Child born to them that so believed in his time who was the mighty God the everlasting Father c. whose Name they knew to be Immanuel and this was before he appeared in that Temple at Jerusalem and Ezekiel was called the Son of man before that time also and Paul said he was revealed in him and spoke in him and wrought in him and in his flesh that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ was to be filled up for his bodies sake which is the Church and to whom he forgave any thing in his time he forgave it in the person of Christ and many more might be noted who confessed the same Christ in them present both before and after his time at Jerusalem which Testimony could never be received by the wisdom of the world in his Temples before nor then nor since to this day for the god of this world being King in the heart and having blinded the eye of the mind that should see his spiritual Glory through the light of the Gospel he perswades the world that he is either past or to come but never present and as many as are brought to confess him before men find it so at this day who are hated of all men for his Names sake that the Scriptures may be fulfilled and his Testimony finished And this Faith which confesseth him present is that which the world cannot bear nor receive who will preach him themselves at a distance what he was and will be but this faith cannot reach his coming at present in any measure to grow to his appearance now nor will this faith ever give an entrance into his Kingdom upon earth nor the holy rest nor is this the Faith of Christ that puts him thus afar off which fills with all the fulness of God And by what I have learned this is clear to me for ever without any more Controversie That the faith that admits of sin is not Christs Faith nor hath
that Knowledge which devours the life then be no longer as the wild Asses Colt but take up the yoak of the Son in whom thou sayest thou believest that the life of Faith thou may feel and know for only in the obedience is the life made sure to thee of what thou believest and thereby is Faith and Knowledge made perfect But until thou attain power for obedience of Faith thou art dead and knows but words in which thy Faith stands without life which accomplishes nothing but will arise to condemn thee when thy time is out Therefore in all thy seeking mind that which worketh in a lowly mind calling thee into the Obedience of what is there made manifest in the begettings of the Father and not in the conceivings of the Brain but in the Son For in the Brain-knowledge the Boaster Rules who glories in the wisdom of words but not in the words of life but in the Obedience of the Son is the Father known and glorified in such as walk in the Spirit and not in the wind whose praise is of God and their lives hid with him from all knowledge but what is Revealed in the Obedience of the Son So from man you may learn the knowledge of words but the knowledge of life is only begotten of God so he that hath the Son hath life not of the disobedient Nature for the only begotten of God is Conformable to him that begetteth him in all things through Obedience So feeling thy measure of the begettings of God in it be obedient and seek not to be above it in any thing lest the enemy thereby get power in thee to puffe up thy mind in thy Knowledge above thy life which devoures the life Therefore as thou feels Faith Love Meeknesse Gentlenesse Patience or any Godlinesse move in the Spirit therein become obedient with all diligence and thereby shalt thou know the power thereof against all the contrary motions in thy flesh so shalt thou learn the salvation of Grace unto life eternal which thou canst never attain by talking or any other way but in the Obedience thereof so shalt thou not receive the grace of God in vain nor words without the working power of life whereby the living knowledge of the Mystery of godlinesse will daily encrease For by Obedience of the Spirit is the soul purified from its darknesse and pollution and made fit for the further manifestation of the hidden Mystery and the receiving the fulnesse thereof and walking therein And so by the holy Ghost thou shalt be able to confess Jesus Lord over all powers in heaven and in earth the opener of all secrets and only revealer of the Father who begetteth by whom thou becomes wise in thy knowledge unto salvation not unto vain babling whose words shall rise and Condemne them who glory therein But thou if in Spirit thou hearken diligently and obey shalt know that he who sometimes spoke by the Prophets doth now speak by his Son the everlasting power of godlinesse only begotten of the Father and in all things like unto him in whom he is made manifest And the Prophets have Prophefied of Glory to come but the Son declares the Father in the present life according to the measure of him formed and as he arises in fulness he opens the heavens and gives the inheritance thereinto An opening of Light to all sorts of Rulers and People that wait for the Kingdom of God that you may not oppose him in his appearance nor set up another to reign upon earth in his stead DO you say you seek God you Rulers and People will you seek his face upon earth or would you see his appearance to reign in righteousnesse or can you rejoyce to see him manifest in Flesh or do you love his Image who is the Father of Lights from whom you look for the Son from Heaven then be not carnally minded in your expectation least you know him not in his appearance who is a Spirit and so oppose him as your Fathers in the flesh ever did except you be born of the Spirit you cannot see the Kingdom of God The Father dwells in the light and changes not and the Son is the light of the World in his own Image by whom he changes all things that are out of him and overturns shadows and customs and makes the world new and in Spirit and power is his Kingdom upon Earth and the flesh is the Vail with which he was ever hid from flesh and blood but revealed in spirit to such as desired to know no man after the flesh to set up or to worship And no man could ever say that this Jesus was Lord but by the Holy Ghost So with the light of the Spirit alone which sees through the vail is Jesus known to be Lord and King for ever with which you may all see what you set up to be Lord and Ruler in your selves or over others You that chuse Rulers Judges and Justices Mayors and Constables c. Do you see through the Vail to chuse Jesus in Spirit to Rule over you or over others Is that eye open which knows the Holy Ghost and what Vessell is filled therewith that you may chuse him to Rule in his Kingdom do you seek for that Spirit to chuse withal by which alone Jesus is known to be Lord Then it is plain you seek Gods Kingdom in the face of Jesus Christ who is that spirit which turning to causes the vail to be taken away from all hearts and will change you also into his Image by that Spirit as saith the Scriptures So there was none to be chosen for Judges Kings or Rulers in Israels Common-wealth but who had of this Spirit and Unction put upon them and then the Lord Reigned over them in his Anointed whether King Priest or Prophet man or woman but when they chused Rulers like other Nations then they rejected not Samuel but the Lord that he should not reign over them Now you that say you seek the Lord to Rule over you and say thy Kingdom come minde what you chuse to rule in you or over you with what spirit least your practise oppose your prayers and make void your daily expectation do you chuse after the flesh as other Nations do or do you chuse after the holy Ghost If you chuse after the flesh then you set the vail betwixt you and the Lord and Gods Kingdom and his Image you cannot see and so you reject the Lord as other Nations do but if you look through the Vail unto that which is within the Vail then shall the vail be taken away from all your hearts and you shall see him amongst you whom you wait for and him alone set up and worship and chuse him alone to reign over you who is near you at hand to all that put not his day afar off So if you make Rulers like all the Nations then after the flesh they that are rich they that are proud they
the Lord of his glory deny Christ in his Kingly office and set up another in his place And herein true wisdom may see that in so doing we resist not that power which is ordained of God nor the person but that spirit we testifie against by sufferings under which God never annointed for a Saviour holding forth the annointing as we have received for a witness against him in the spirit of meekness confessing our King in whom we receive power to suffer so to us he is come and by the gift of the Holy Ghost we can say he is Lord therefore to us there is but one Lord though there be many so called whether in heaven or in earth yet have we but one in all both in heaven and earth and him we know where ever he is by the gift of the Holy Ghost and to him in spirit we confesse and bow and the fruits of his spirit are manifest with the light of the world testifying against all the works of darkness in all the children of his Kingdom And to us he is born who is from above the holy Child wonderful in Councel and strength whose heavenly power and vertue takes our affections from all earthly objects and worship whose name is Immanuel and it is written in our hearts and shed abroad into the world in our lives and Christ Jesus is the end of our conversation him alone to put on above all to Preach by walking in him as we have received of that lively image of holiness and Truth the annointed of God and so we confesse him before men who is the right Heir in what vessel soever he appears and the prayers we give to God where this treasure is found in the earthen vessel and the hope of all our glory is Christ within and the increase of his Government is Christ within of which there is no end and with that spirit is all righteousness established the Kingdom of God upon earth and Eternal life And where this is not seen chosen and followed there men rule in their own wills and where mens persons and riches is respected in chusing such there the same is respected in judgement by such and the Law of God is perverted and the sword of Justice which should defend the cause of the innocent is laid by and the fist of wickeduess lift up against that which is tender of God in every conscience and when this rules the righteous Seed mourns in secret but wickedness reigns openly And this is and ever was the state of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of the Gentiles the one rules in the Spirit of Holiness and the other exercise Lordship in their own wills chosen and set up not by the Holy Ghost as you may read in the Scriptures concerning Israels common wealth who when they wanted the ruling of this spirit they sold themselves under their enemies but when this was their Judge they had a Saviour chosen after the spirit not after the flesh what ever was the vessel the Spirit was their Saviour Moses was a poor wandring Shepheard yet in this Spirit a God to Pharaoh and Saviour of Israel Samuel a poor man who received no reward for judgement and when they went about to chuse another after the manner of other Nations they rejected God who then gave them a King in his wrath David a poor man not chosen by the outward appearance as man looks but by the heart by the direction of the Spirit he was the Shepherd of Israel and his seed of the same Election hath the everlasting Kingdom of promise to all generations Elisha a plowman yet by that Spirit was he the Chariots of Israel and horsmen thereof Deborah a woman yet a Judge deliverer to Israel And too long would it be to instance in all ages how he hath set up his throne and saved his people in this Election not of wisdom riches or worldly glory but the poor of this world rich in Faith heirs of the Kingdom of promise which you say you look for but cannot see nor receive while you chuse after the flesh as the world hath ever done who still have bent all their wisdom and Religion to keep the Heir out of his Kingdom whom they have been looking for after the flesh but not believing in the light to give them a fight through the vail to him that is born of the Spirit have resisted the Holy One and chosen the murtherer as did your fathers so do you alwayes resist the Holy Ghost and as it was so it is that which is born of the flesh is flesh and chuses after the flesh and worships after the flesh for it can see no further it cannot see the Kingdom of God and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and chuses after the spirit and worships in spirit and these are contrary Kingdoms and he that 's born after the flesh persecutes him that 's born after the spirit ever did and ever will do for the Scripture cannot be broken which hath so said and is now fulfilled And now you that are called Christians you read and Preach of this King Christ Jesus and his Kingdom what a One he ever hath been in his appearance upon Earth by whom he hath been received and by whom rejected and after what manner he hath ever suffered and by what power he hath reigned in all ages and this you will confesse in words but will you now receive him to reign in you Or can you own his appearance where it is set up in others and not be offended therewith is that eye open that knows him or can you delight in him who was never like the world in his walkings was not he ever poor as to this world and therefore rejected of the rich and learned lowly and rejected of Princes and them that was high was not his work ever to change shadows and forms and Religious traditions set up in mens minds above the life of Truth and leadings of the spirit and to set up spiritual worship and obedience in its place And therefore by the builders ever rejected and condemned and his new work was ever foolishness to the wise wherefore he bare the reproach thereof with patience was he not ever meek and innocent and harmless in his conversation towards all men as a Lamb indeed seperate from sinners in life yet seeking them to save out of sin with the dayly giving up his life c So he was and so he hath ever appeared on earth now can you receive you King as he was you that wait for him Or do you think he is changed Is he now become proud and lofty in flesh after the world cruel and covetous and hard-hearted subtle and crafty to deceive the simpie strong and violent to trample on the helpless doth the glory of his Scepter now stand in meats and drinks and fine apparel or great earthly possessions doth he now come to take up his abode and
delight in these things who ever hath come to take the minds of his people out of these things up into the heavenly treasure doth he now delight in earthly glory strife and exaltation Is the weapons of his Warfare now become carnal wherewith he overcomes his enemies doth he now come with haling and beating whips and prisons and cruel tortures to take the Kingdom of peace who hath suffered such things formerly from the world himself will he now turn oppressor of that which is tender in Conscience and grind the face of the poor or pervert the Judgement of the needy Should he now be seen in works of this nature were this to appear the second time without sin unto Salvation as he is promised Sure the vail is thick over that heart who sees not that this is not his Kingdom Power nor Glory nor his Image who is the same yesterday to day and for ever Yet is this nature above in many and chosen to Rule over many who say they wait for his Kingdom that eye being darkned with the love of the world which should give the true fight of his coming the carnal mind thinks God to be like himself But did you but honestly look into your own hearts with that eye which puts a difference between things that differ in your selves to know each motion of each Spirit and each power and the end and nature of its working the earthly and the heavenly you would soon be able to Judge of these two which so far differ in their fruits and are so contrary in all things and to own the right heir in his Kingdom But while you suffer the god of this world to keep his throne in your hearts by letting him captivate your minds and affections into earthly delights it is not like he will suffer you to chuse aright nor receive another to reign in you or over you the eye of the minde being blinded therewith the light of the Gospel cannot shine into the heart by which you should chuse and which gives the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus nor that treasure be seen or received in the earthen vessel as King either in your selves or others but the wise in heart knows what they wait for and when they see him they rejoyce with the joy of his Kingdom which consists not in carnal things nor comes with outward observations but whose coming is within and whose Kingdom consists in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost blessed be our King for ever and blessed are they who put not his Kingdom afar off And therefore you Rulers and People of all sorts high and low this word is to you and this day is to you the day of the Lord arise and receive your King into his Kingdom that he may receive you and establish you therein the Lord is at hand he is near to all that call upon him in truth righteousness To you Princes Judges Justices Mayors and Constables all sorts of Rulers who are in the place to Govern the Lord is at hand he is near you all the Kingdom of God is within you the Principle of God is within you with which if you mind it he will break the yoak of the oppressor within you and without you by the sword of Justice that 's his Kingdom upon earth put it not afar off let it arise in your hearts set it up above the will of man let it shine in your hearts let it speak in your Courts that which is of God in you all which Judges justly and with equity lay by your will your pride your covetousness and all that 's above that Spirit of meekness in your minds and make room in your hearts for the Holy Ghost that thereby Jesus may be Lord in you and over others that you may know him to whom Judgement belongs to be in you you need not say who shall ascend into Heaven to bring down Christ from above or who shall descend into the deep to bring up Christ again from the dead for he is nigh you and you may feel his witness in Spirit and his Word is in your hearts the Word of Faith the Word of Righteousness that therewith you may all know him who standeth in the Congregation of the mighty to Judge among the Gods who Judges not unjustly nor accepteth the person of the wicked but that with him you may deliver the Poor and Fatherless and Judge the cause of the Stranger wherein they are oppressed that 's his Kingdom and that 's the Word of Faith and the Word of Righteousness that leads to it And if this be set up in your own hearts to love it more then gifts and rewards persons or earthly glory then is the Lord near you and his Kingdom is above the earth in you and your work will be to set it above the earth in others and so the Kingdom of your Father who begets this in your hearts his Kingdom comes as his Will is done upon earth as it is in Heaven where all obey him there is the Kingdom his the Power is his by which you Judge and the glory is his of your Righteous Judgement now and for ever if you therein abide And thus shall you be of the obedient Children to that of your Father in you begotten who say and do who pray and practise and not like the Scribes and Pharisees and Lawyers who said and did not who made long prayers but devoured the poor and needy and Judged not the cause of the stranger but laid heavy burthens upon others and bowed not thereto themselves who could not believe in the light nor receive Christ within them though he told them the Kingdom of God was within them and his Word had no place in them who was filled with pride and wilfulness so they had lost the Key of knowledge the Key of David to open to them the way into annointing whereby to know Davids Lord to reign in Spirit which hath the Promise of Davids Throne for ever So when they lost this the Kingdom departed from Israel and the Priesthood also and he set up his sign to the Gentiles preaching the Kingdom of God to them that were afar off and they that were not a people came to the Kingdom of his annointing and that great Mystery that had been hid from ages was opened thereby to the Gentiles which was Christ in them the Hope of Glory and Kingdom of the Father And now you that are called Christians and are making great Declarations what a glorious Kingdom the Kingdom of Christ will be at his coming and what holiness and righteous Government and many high things and great glory you look for c. But above all the rest how are you estranged who are gone out again from the annointing to look for this without you while you reject it within you Was Christ within them that great Mystery that had been hid from ages which by the hearing of Faith was
opened to the Gentiles and was the Hope of Glory to them even Christ within them whom the Apostles preached warning every man and teaching every man that they might present every one perfect in Christ Jesus the Hope of Glory within them which Faith the Jews not receiving lost their King and Kingdom And is your hopes without you as the Jews was Is that the Hope the Apostles preached to the Gentiles or that which enters within the vail Is there not a vail drawn over your hearts again whilst you read this in Scriptures And have not you lost the Key of knowledge who are gone out from the annointing in your hopes Have you not lost the Key of David which should let you see Davids Lord in which the Kingdom of God is established for ever Did God swear this to David after the flesh or to Abraham after the flesh or to any after the flesh Then how is his Kingdom everlasting Or why did he say the flesh profits nothing And why did the Apostle say they desired henceforth to know no man after the flesh no not Christ himself Flesh and blood passeth away but this Kingdom is everlasting so him whom the Apostles preached in Spirit by the receiving of the Holy Ghost wherein they were to grow up to his age and stature and appearance him you reject in spirit to be the hope of your glory and kingdom and wait for a Government after the flesh and so shut up the great Mystery of godliness which was opened and the Kingdom against your selves which Mystery is not after the flesh but God manifest in flesh Christ within the Hope of Glory and this Mystery was ever shut with carnal expectations but opened in the Spirit as it was so it is who denies the Spirit to be Lord shuts up the Kingdom Wherefore arise out of the flesh you Rulers and People and receive your King long hath he been rejected and thrust out of the Throne of Judgement for which you have no Peace nor Establishment Why will you not turn to him who calls you in Spirit what a shame is this that you are called Christians and know not your annointing Christ in you What Christians and without Christ Christ not come What do you Rule withal and discern with and Judge with Is not all that reprobate who knows not Christ in you But if you know a Just a Holy a Righteous Principle of Spirit in you that is of Christ set it up and you set up Christ bow to the Holy Ghost and you worship in Spirit and thereby you shall say that Jesus is Lord set up his light in your hearts and his day will arise to you all for there must the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts which will give the knowledge of God near you and true Judgement near you and that which Rules over spiritual wickedness near you which all must bow to who receives the Kingdom of God honour God in your hearts set him up in your hearts let him be Judge in your hearts and first receive his Light and Judgement there before you pass Judgement upon others least you in judging others before men condemn your selves before God David had little thought he had done that when he said he that had taken his neighbours lamb should surely dye and you may soon do the like if you go out from the Spirit and Judge before you receive Judgement in your own hearts and see all be clean there first then is your Scepter established in Righteousness and your Judgement in Truth which is the Scepter of the Throne of David in Spirit which condemned David in flesh and will condemn you in the flesh if you sin against it and that is his Kingdom and he is King for ever who in Spirit condemns sin in the flesh and for this end is he manifest that the Righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in all who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit which comes in his Name who went away after the flesh that the kingdom might come And if you receive your Authority and Judgement in this right Principle of God it will Judge for God in all your selves and others and it will fit you to be Mediators betwixt the Offender and Sufferer in all and you will see what it is which transgresseth and what is transgressed and the nature of every offence to pass an equal Judgement accordingly and this is of God and he loves it and where that of God is pressed not to clear the oppressor but to Judge the oppressor and set that of God which is innocent free and here with that of God in your selves you Judge for that of God in all and set that of God above the oppressor in all which oppressor is not of God in you nor in others but is to be Judged and for the Law and for the Sword but against that of God the Law is not And here is Gods Kingdom already near and not afar off where God is all in all and the Righteous reigns and the power that is ordained of God the Soul is subject to for Conscience sake towards God in Heaven and Earth and that of God in every Conscience shall answer to your Judgement and Authority and God shall set you up therewith as a terrour in every heart above the evil-doer the murtherer and traytor and the arrows of the Almighty shall stick in the hearts of all that seek to undermine this Government for the Kingdom of God it is in which he Rules who cannot forget himself nor hath this Kingdome been taken from any who once received it thus till they go out of it themselves by suffering or setting up another to rule above that measure of this Just and Innocent Principle of God And if you receive this Kingdom from Heaven in love of it then shall you receive your Judgement from Heaven also and your Law to Judge by and God shall make you rich towards him in Righteous Judgement and towards his People and a discerning Spirit will he give you in this Annointing to know hard matters that are hid from flesh and blood which you shall receive in secret and bring forth openly and all shall hear and fear and praise the Lord for you and you shall no more go to the Heathen to learn Judgement whom the Lord hath removed far from him nor shall you uphold those Laws by which the servants of God hath suffered formerly in the times of Popery nor shall the Statutes of Omri be kept and observed nor follow the wayes of the house of Jeroboam for you have seen what God hath done concerning them that you may fear to follow them But you shall have your Laws from the Law-giver Christ Jesus and your Judgement from the Father of Lights whose Ministers then you are to whose sword that of God in every Conscience shall answer which is written in every heart and which every heart shall fear to offend when they
had them and the Lord was at their Table and they fed with him in his sufferings and blood and the rest made a large Profession of him but fed at the table of Devils and these grew great in violence and strong to devour and shed blood and the other excelled in meekness and patient in suffering and here were they separated into life and death never like to meet more And here now may all read the worship in spirit in such as know God in spirit and the worship in Letter in them that have not God know not what they worship and these know not what they do who know not what they worship and the Son of God faith Father forgive them they know not what they do who saith they worship they know not what who worship not in spirit who worship in their thoughts of God but not the Spirit of God in possession and knowledge who think they do God service to kill and destroy the Temple of God because they know not him in themselves that is worshipped therein as Christ hath foretold and must be fulfilled at the coming of the Holy Ghost And when God descends from heaven to walk on Earth in his Temples and to require his worship to himself out of all Sects and traditions this is his entertainment from all that look for him in observations whose coming is within and his Kingdom is within you And now to you he is come of whom you have been long talking and in that way he appears among you of which you are Preaching The Jews had but the prophesies and shadows to know him by reading without them but you read and Preach in words of the lively pattern in spirit and have heard of the same Life and Testimony which now he bears against you in his Temples and when he comes you cannot receive him who suffers the same things among you Oh England how wilt thou stand in judgement what wilt thou plead for thy selfe when he arises to judgement whose Testimony against thee is drawing to an end what will be thy excuse and who wilt thou say thou took him to be who now endures such contradiction against himself such haling beatings scourgings and mockings and banishings imprisonings and death without resistings hast not thou heard of him before he came that thou might have known in this thy day the things of thy peace hast thou not read of him that is sent to seek his lost in Temples Synagogues in Markets and where the greatest of the people be in which manner he now appears being refused of the rich gathers the poor in the high wayes and hedges yet hath no where to lay his own head hast thou not heard of the everlasting way of his walkings in Prophets and Apostles his pilgrimage in their bodies upon earth who was ever a stranger in the world at his coming from heaven what spirit wilt thou say this is which hath conformed so many at this day who was amongst you like wolves to devour others now to suffer the spoiling of their goods and torturings of their bodies and taking away their lives without seeking the least revenge wilt thou at that day say thou had thought it had been the spirit of the Devil as many of you now doth though in your consciences otherwise convinced Alas for thee how art thou wept over at this day And what a lamentable sorrow hath many of the Lords servants for thee whom thou hast cast in holes and prisons for their obedience to God and testimony of their conscience towards God in them whose patient sufferings and unparaleld cruelties are no more valued with thee then if they were dogs and this hath gone throughout thee from the least to the greatest till there be very few left which are not wholly hardned so that to hear of these evil dealings exercised upon the innocent doth no more enter your hearts then the rain enters a rock wherefore our souls are troubled for you and our hopes concerning your healing grows dayly less and our sufferings in the Lord Jesus dayly greater hasting to the full and what will you do in the end thereof Or whom shall we take to witness for you or may you be compared with any that ever hardned themselves in these wayes and escaped destruction that our hopes might revive and our prayers not cease did ever any thus deny the life of what yon Preach in words your selves and which some of you have in measure felt and suffered for and have been answered in by the Lord and your eyes have seen the vengeance of the Almighty and how dreadful it hath been both upon Kings Priests and Rulers for resisting Ah how much better had it been for you never to have known these things which you have seen read and Preached then now that they should be fulfilled upon you to the uttermost how well had it been for you had you been as those you call heathen rather then to Profess Christ and thus act against him at his coming even in the same way your selves Preach him Alas alas what hath the innocent done why he thus is used among you doth he cry against sin against pride against false worships against corrupt Rulers corrupt Teachers corrupt Lawyers c. And with much meekness bears his witness against these evils in you for a testimony of light to your words whom he hath lifted up in wrath and zeal and judgement against the same things in the persons of others and will not this arise against you of which you are witnesses all in one generation But say thou he breaks the peace and breaks our Law and is unmannerly c. But was he not ever so accounted and is he not now in the same way he ever walked what would that peace do for you could you keep it whole which is broken by reproving sin and deceit Is there any peace to the wicked from God will be keep that Law which will not give him liberty to Reign in his Temples and to lead his people by his Spirit or will you plead that Law against him in judgement when he comes to deal with you who should know his Law written in your hearts to limit you and not your Laws to limit him nor your manners must not bind the conscience where he is known to be King and this you know is truth and have pleaded it against others and now cannot own it will not the Laws of Christ and the manners of Christ of which you read in Scripture agree with your Government and peace who calls for his Kingdom to come amongst you and profess to rule according to Scriptures how will this stand at that day when you must not be your own Judges nor by your own Laws And why is he counted your enemy seeing his appearance now is in love to give you light out of this for your Eternal salvation against which he will certainly come in Judgement to
condemnation Have you not heard of the love of the Father to the world who sends his Son to lay down his Life therein for a light to the world that whosoever believeth therein might not be condemned can you read and confess this life laid down in the Prophets in Christ in the Apostles in the Martyrs and in all in whom this righteous blood hath been shed from Abel to your time and can you not say they were blind Priest and People who could not see this innocent sufferer in his several appearances And what will you say of your selves seeing the same testimony is before your eyes but not received was ever his sufferings so increased in so little a time and for such little foolish things as your selves calls them which though they seem little yet much innocent blood hath been shed and this life is laid down dayly in many And why should you count that so little which your brethren count dearer then their precious life Is there any thing makes it so but the tenderness of the one and hardness of the other But say you they are guilty of their own blood to suffer for such foolish things but who is their executioners do not you suffer fools dayly they shall witness against you that there is something in it more then folly have you not read that God chuseth the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and base despised things to bring to nought things that are and weak things to confound the mighty and can you read and Preach this and not see it fulfilled nor understand without a meaning then take heed how you call that foolish which God hath chosen to lay down his life in for a witness against the murtherer in the wise men of the world will you call that foolishness whereby the mysteries of God comes to be manifest and that which he hath chosen to declare himself in openly in his Temples and his worship his service and his suffering long in meekness and the Devil in his Temples with his servants his pride his rashness and cruelty and to lay each open to the simplest heart by their fruits which have been long covered with words but now every one that knowes a Wolfe from a Lamb may see and cannot be deceived will you call this little which discovers so great a depth of deceit so closely hid and opens the painted Sepulchres and searches the heart of the deceitful laying it open to your selves and others which else you could not have known nor believed if you were told it could many of you have believed the prince of pride had ruled in you til you see him act you in cruelty on your brethren because they cannot worship you or could you have believed that the murtherer had been there till you proceed to cast into prisons your brethren keep them there till death for these little things And these things some suffer under you for a witness and the rest are spared though that spirit would have none to live that the Scriptures may be fulfilled Satan shal cast some of you into prison c. And are not these things manifestly laid open to your selves and all that are not willingly blind and also the contrary Spirit of Christ Jesus where these things are patiently endured And will you call this foolishness which thus leaves all the world without excuse and prepares all for righteous Judgement many had little thought these little things should have opened such great secrets or this folly have confounded such wisdom when a subtle spirit hath been some years getting knowledge and words and Religion to make himself fair without that others may believe him to be a suffering Saint and one of these little things arises in his way which discover him to be a devouring Wolfe in a moment may not the wise then truely say the weakness of God is greater then the wisdom of men and God hath chosen foolish things to confound the wise And now the Scripture is fulfilled to your face whether you seeing can perceive or no and the rock of offence is laid and the stone of stumbling though he be refused And he is come whom we have looked for in the thousands of his Saints and the head over his Church and his body he is preparing dayly that the Fathers will may be done in Earth and that he may take vengeance of them that know him not nor will receive his testimony who will not believe his light that now shineth but take pleasure in unrighteousness though he be come after their own Preaching and many are his witnesses at his day glory to his brightness and let the Son arise and Reign for ever in whom alone the Scriptures are now fulfilling and the builders reject him and the wicked make prey upon him where he turns from iniquity and the spoiling of goods is suffered joyfully and the havock is made of the Church and he is taken from prison and from Judgement and the reproach of many he bears and the back is given to the smiter and he that sues at the Law for the coat may take the Cloak also he that would have the Hat take the head and body also without resisting and prayers and tears is shed for them that hate and despitefully use him and goods are taken away and not asked again this is our beloved and this is his voice and his sheep knows it and follows him and thus it is written of him and thus it is now read and glory to him that liveth and Reigneth for ever who was and is and is come TO THE RANTERS WO unto you Ranters of all sorts the day of your torment approacheth your cup is almost full your time draws near an end you are fed you are grown full for the slaughter your swelling is reached up to Heaven and the burthen of the Innocent Just one in you cries on high above all people you have dealth evil with the Lord and treacherously betrayed the tender proffer of his Spirit you have murthered the babe in the womb and he hath not resisted but intreated How many gentle reproofs hath he visited you with And with what Love and Faithfulnesse hath he followed you from one of your evils to another calling to you in secret in season and out of season before the act of your wickednesse in the act of it and after you have done it If by any means he might have overtaken you and prevented your ruine and won you again that he might have done you good and saved you from the paths of the Destroyer all wch is written where it cannot be rooted out against the day of vengeance although you have done what you can to stop the mouth of Gods witnesse in you and to stifle the Just least he should reprove you or give you light in your dark by-paths wherein you have walked towards the Lord as wilde Colts and fed Horses refusing his teachings or corrections