fear to be cheated or deceived because the uprightness deals plainly and simply and speaks of things as they are and not otherwise and cannot conceal any fault if it know it to be a fault and then there would be a closing in few words as the Commodity was liked and yea and nay would stand on both sides And in this is the good order and is comly and commendable amongst men and a good savour unto God whereby he is honoured And when you have done your markets then repair to your outward dwellings and do not sit and drink and revel in Ale-houses for by that you many times doubles your offence and when you have gotten some dishonest gain by deceit in bargaining then to sit at an Ale-house until you have spent it and it may be much more then had you not better been without it every way for it adds sin to sin with grief Therefore be careful and eschew such evils and when you have refreshed your selves as need requires then do not run into excess for many are taken and wronged in that place who goes to use the creatures only for refreshment and when they fall into company and the strength of drink doth begin a little to strike upon their naturalls then they are overcome to continue until they wrong themselves every way Now the light of the Lord Jesus Christ guides out of all those evils If that you mind it and obey it it will guide you from lying and learn you to speak truth it will guide you from drunkenness and learn you soberness and so will change you from all those Evils wherein ye walk as it hath done many in this day who sometimes were such in some degree but now are washed and changed by the light and walks in the way of peace with God and can commend it unto you from a certain ground if you can but receive the report and they can tell you in truth that it is better to walk one day in the light though it be in the Cross unto themselves than to satisfie themselves by gaining the world through Invention and this is the Word of the Lord God unto you all people forsake your way and live and walk in the way of understanding that you may honour God in your generation and that you may be a good savour unto God and unto one another and in all things chuse the good and let the evil go then will your dayes end in peace which otherwise will end in sorrow and in that day you will remember the time you have mis-spent which then you cannot recover again though you may seek it with tears therefore whilst you have it prize it and do not spend it vainly for you have spent too much after that manner A General Exhortation NOw as there is a view taken of this great body and every particular state being seen in its several place how it lyeth and an Information being gone forth in the universal love of God unto them all whereby they may behold their error from the Created uprightness in every place and may also behold a way open to come in again into the good and blessed state of Innocency and to be gathered into the way and path of simplicity where no deceit nor guile nor hypocrisie can have beeing and so to come into the holy and good order of wisdoms Government and to stand as so many branches in their several places to be a good savour to God and honour God for if there were unity in the life and power of God through the universe how sweet would every one be in their place and what a good savour there would be through the Creation and then the Creation would be set free from that which now burdens it and God would have honour and glory and praise in his own work and his goodness and his blessing would rest upon it and there would be plenty to every man in his particular place and he would rejoyce in his own portion and then no deceit nor guile nor lying and swearing would be used amongst people to get dishonest gain and how would such a generation honour God! and how amiable would such a generation be in their places how amiable a thing would it be to see parents of children to bring up their children in the fear of God and to nurture them in the wisdom of God and to train them up in love and peace and unity together and to see Masters and Dames of families to order their families in Gods wisdom and to keep them in good order every way and to see servants in their places serve with diligence and to see aged people filled with sound wisdom and gravity and to see single people wholly given up to serve God and to see young people remember their Creator in the dayes of their youth and to see children fear the Lord in their infancy and to see such as are in outward Government to be cloathed with the wisdom of God and to see Ministers of Parishes deny deceit and come into the truth and to see Lawyers in true Judgement and Equity and to see all Trades-men with Just Weights and Measures and to see all Buyers and Sellers in the created uprightness then would hearts and minds come neer together in the one principle of God and unity and peace would abound amongst people And therefore as one body you are all exhorted to fear the Lord God and turn to his light with which you are enlightned and yield to obey it when in your Consciences it doth reprove you hearken diligently to that voyce which calls you to return and do not reject the Counsel of the Lord in any wise but be still and quiet and bow to the light in every manifestation and believe in it as it doth manifest it self that with the light the disorderly nature may come to Judgement in every place and that through Judgement the Creation may be delivered which at this day travels in pain grief and sorrow for the disorder is above and by disorder you are all out of your places and so runs in wicked practises with which you dishonour God and wrong your own souls Therefore you are all exhorted to mind the Light which would do you good and do not run your selves wilfully into eternal misery for the Lord would not have you perish but would that ye might come to the truth and be saved And this is his compassion towards you and his patience and forbearance concerning you for who amongst you that have not deserved cutting down if the Lord should not exercise his mercy every instant of time he may justly smite you and bring your dayes to an end in a moment Therefore consider for what end you are yet a breathing Generation and have yet time given you is it not that you may behold Gods goodness and come to repentance and that you may know the Light with which you are enlightned to be your redemption from
joyn to the Spirit of God in your selves and in that worship God and serve God and serve your Masters faithfully in your places and be content with such things as are provided for you grudge not at your meat nor drink nor strive not after costly apparrel but having food and raiment be therewith content and be not sloathful in your business but with a ready mind answer your places diligently and cheerfully so will you be a good savour in your places and you will have comfort in the end And be subject to your Masters commands in all things that are just knowing that you are to serve and do not aspire into equality with your Masters for that brings up pride and haughtiness and is foolishness nor do not contemn any business as below you but stoop down to the lowest and do it willingly if you be ordered to do it and do not seek after new places and fresh services that will draw you into a restless state and finding some differences in places your eye will be towards that where you have best pleased your selves and when you meet with any thing contrary in another place then you are displeased with that and then is ready to say it is but a Year and so your minds are gone from your place before you be well come to it and carelesness comes upon you and your Masters service is neglected by you and here you are not right in your places but unsetled and unstayed and so would every year be removing if not sooner and wandring and trying and this is a giddy head that runs out of the fear of God for if you come to the Light of Christ in your Consciences and come to walk in the Truth you will be setled and stayed and where you come to be placed you will not have a desire to remove but to observe your place diligently and carefully and let not your minds look out for ease in any place so that you be not oppressed above your strength for many do themselves wrong by looking out for ease and so refuse service wholly though able to perform it and so falls into a way of labour of their own industry and provides for themselves at their own hand and this is something that would not be under command but would be at liberty and at ease which doth not answer the Light of Christ neither stands approved by it So wait for Gods wisdom that with it you may be guided to stand and serve in your places unto which you are called and depart not from the Counsel of the Lord. To Aged People GRavity is comely and honourable it is worthy to be respected and reverenced but if you count your gravity from your gray hairs onely then you err in judgment and do not understand what gravity is and from hence many are accounted grave men and do account themselves so to be because they have passed over many years and by the course of nature their hairs are changed gray and they are come into an aged state and so you would be respected and honoured because of your gray hairs and because of the multitude of your years and do esteem your selves to be the chiefest in wisdom and of the deepest understanding and of the greatest knowledge to order things aright Now this is not the thing which makes you grave or sets you in a right capacity for true order for an old man may have a strong will to advance something in his own eyes and to set up something from his own apprehensions and from this ground in himself he would not meet with an opposer for he counts himself grave and wise and of a deep understanding and if any thing meet his will in opposition then he is displeased and the fretting froward nature rises in the passion and this manifests that he hath not the Wisdome of God that is peaceable and so is not in the true gravity nor in that which gives sound counsel which is grave and honourable Therefore I write unto you old men who have passed over many yeares and now draw nigh to finish your dayes and yet know not the true gravity though you be full of gray haires for gravity is in the sound and perfect wisdom of God by which wisdom all things were made and created and in that is the ancienâ— of dayes sitting and there is gravity in the Life and the Power and the Wisdom which created all things in right order and beheld them very good in that is the gravity and the sound wisdom therefore unto that yoâ— must all come who yet do not know it that you may feel the ancient of dayes sitting in youâ— with his Wisdom to guide you then will truâ— gravity beautifie you and make you honourable in your latter dayes in which gray haires over spread you for look back to the beginning of your time and behold the swiftness of the years that are past and consider whether you have assurance of Gods Salvation in your latter dayes and whether you be redeemed out of the world with all the vain customs and traditions that be in the world and whether you have Everlasting Peace sealed unto you in the Covenant of God Consider this with your selves and be serious for it is high time for you to awake and that the time past of your lives may suffice in which you have wrought the will of the Gentiles and that now you may come to redeem the time which you have spent for many of you have spent much time but few amongst you that hath redeemed it and through the custom which you have observed in your time you are bound up in what you practise and it is a very hard thing to pluck up your root because it had a long time to spread it self in the bottom and it is very hard to cut down your branches they have had so long time to grow in strength and you having seated your selves in the depths of customes and formality it is a very hard thing to remove you out of your habitations and you have much to say in your own defence and can plead the antiquity of your standing and the multitude of your years and so you would uphold such things as hath been accustomed to you and you can hardly believe that any other thing can be so right and good as what you practise and you fear your selves in this perswasion because you are old men and so you love your Church and you love your Ministry and you love your worship you can plead antiquity in your years and for your practises and can say thus it hath been all my time but consider your present time and how it is with you now for many years may bring many things to pass and that which seemed right in the beginning may prove wrong before the end and so you may erre in your observations and customs for God is not limited to time or person but manifests himself after
forgotten and in this place people may sit and not have God in all their thoughts and therefore it is not how a single-life stands in relation to it self but how it stands in relation to God for it may be single in relation to it self and yet in that state falls into the greatest snares and entanglements and where there is a full state in a single life the mind not being redeemed out of the world there is a Temptation lyes in that place and that part which is alive to the World that part would heap up the Worlds Riches though such a one do not know who shall possesse them and in this place a single life may be deeply entangled in the World with the care and deceitfulness of Riches and then by Riches and Wealth there is a seeking after honour and esteeme amongst men and to be honoured because there is fulness of Riches and that exalteth into pride and haughtiness and there may be also in such a one an eye open towards a joyned state and by his Wealth and Riches so gathered he would be accepted into an answerable Condition of the same and so through his single life is seeking advancement into a Joyned state and this is a great evil and bondage So a Single life may run as far from the Kingdom of God as those that are Joyned together and have Children and Families to provide for and it is not how any man or woman stands related to a Condition outwardly that makes them accepted of God but how they stand to God with their hearts and minds in every condition So all that be in a Single life outwardly are to be careful how they stand in relation to God and how their minds are exercised and in what that whilest they are Single in relation to the outward they do not fall under the powers of darkness within and so be taken and snared with their minds amongst many entanglements and yet look at themselves to be freest in their Single life for that which makes all people happy and every condition sweet is to answer the Light of Christ Jesus manifest in their Conscience and then however they stand in relation to an outward state they will have peace with God and comfort in their places and whether Joyned or Single the fulness of the Lord God will measure forth a portion unto such and they will possess his blessing both inwardly and outwardly so to be Single to God in the Light is a joyful state And all you that are Single in your life as to the outward and are in some places freed from cares and cumbers which some that are Joyned may be in take heed of ease and take heed of covetousness and pride and turn your minds to the Light of Christ Jesus in your Consciences and with the Light you will see that you have need to be careful and to be watchful for except you be Regenerated and born again you are at as great a distance from the Kingdom of God as those that are Joyned but if you come to the Light and Power of God with the Power to be born again then you will come into Freedom by the Son and will be free indeed and then will your hearts and minds stand Single to God and your care and confidence will be cast upon God and his Power and Life and Wisdom will cloath you and you will then be a good savour in your places and will be ready to do good with that you have and to honour God with what he gives you and so a Single life in the outward and a Single mind to God in the inward may here clap hands with Joy and whether Single or Joyned or how people may stand related to such outward states that doth not put a difference to the inward Joy and Peace and Comfort of the Lord but being faithfull to the Light and walking in the Light and Fear of the Lord and so to be born of the Seed Immortal of God there is a Single upright innocent mind known and whether outwardly Joyned or Single the Seed of God is felt in which is the Blessing To Young People YOung Men and Women the prime of your dayes are now present with you and the dayes past you cannot call again nor the dayes to come you know not and now as you have a present time and a present day mind the Lord God and his fear that the dayes to come may not slip away from you and end in sorrow for though you be naturally in full strength and in the prime of your dayes yet the Lord can cut you down in a moment and bring your dayes suddenly to an end for he is God and there is not another it is he that formed you in the womb and hath brought you forth in your Generation and hitherto hath prolong'd your days and he hath not only brought you forth in a natural Generation but he hath also placed in you a measure of Light that is pure of himself and is immortal which in your Consciences doth manifest it self in brightness and is a true and faithfull witness for God And this hath the Lord God done for you and therein his love is manifest unto you and you are to mind that principle of God which is pure above all things and to keep your minds stayed in it and when you are reproved with it then do not start aside but close in with it and with its light you may behold your selves amiss for as your minds are from that of God in you you are exercising your full strength in vanity and spending the prime of your dayes in folly and the further you go forward in that path the longer will be your return and the sharper will be your judgment And what profit doth vanity bring you when you have been in the mirth of it one day doth it not pass away from you the next day and do you not feel that reproof overtakes you and that the witness of God in your Conscience smites you and you many times are brought to mourn in secret and doth not your joy and mirth in vanity here end in sorrow for being in your full strength you pursue vanity with eagerness and you sport your selves as if you could never sport enough and the diversities of vanity your minds run into and with such things you grieve the Lord. Therefore consider your day and your present time and spend not your full strength in vanity and say in your hearts God shall have our latter Age but this is our prime time and if we do not now rejoyce and be merry we shall never have such a time again This is your own way and you please your selves in it but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment And what if he cut you down in your full strength and in the height of your vanity then as Death leaves you Judgment will find you and in the grave there is
which God is setting up and with his Arm defends it and so in the Wisdom of God you will stand in your right places to Rule for the Counsel of the Lord is amongst such as receive his Wisdom and he gives his Counsel in his Wisdom but such as are out of the fear of God they are far off from Wisdom's path and so cannot walk in the way of true Judgment and such as do not hate the evil and the evil way but loves the evil and the evil way and the evil-doer they are far off from Wisdom's path and have more need to be Ruled than to be Rulers for they can never Decree Judgement in Righteousness nor Minister it in Truth then the Sword goes backward every way and turns against such as it should protect and protects such as it should fall upon and so both the Decreers and Administrators are out of Wisdom's path and can never keep good order under their Government and though some Decrees might formerly stand right in their places as they were Decreed in relation to an outward Government and at that time might be justly executed upon such as were principally intended yet the execution of such Laws now may be perverted and by those that are to Minister them may be wrested out of their proper place and when the Ministers of such Lawes do put them in Execution touching any matter which may relate to the Consciences of people though that Law may stand right in its place as it was Decreed yet the Execution of that Law otherwise ministred than by that Law was intended that Execution and Judgement doth not run in Wisdom's stream and in this place there be many Lawes diverted and in the Execution is wrested out of their place and in the practise of the Law there are many false streams crept in which by the Law it self was never intended and so in many cases honest people are wronged who are made the only objects of the eyes of the Administrators of the Law against whom the Law it self doth not appear Intentionally and here justice is turned backward and the Righteous is made a prey and both the Execution of some Lawes and also the practise in them are perverted and poor men they are wronged and know not which way to do themselves right by the Law though they be free to use the Law for first being imbodyed in an unknown tongue to most men they are not in a capacity to understand them secondly the head of them being onely at one place poor men cannot attend their own business but are forced to employ and entrust Strangers with it who many times prove negligent and for want of care on their part many poor men suffer loss Thirdly the many curiosities that stand in the practise of the Law which by poor men cannot be attained and so are constrained if they make use of it to buy it at an unreasonable dear rate which if the Fountain and the Stream did spring and issue forth in the Wisdom of God it might be otherwise and might every way be reduced into better order But touching the practise there is something opened more fully in divers cases in a Book entituled The Standing Truth So let every man in his place be diligent that you may Redeem the time that is past and from high to low who have a hand in any place to Rule Take Counsel of the Lord in all you do whether it be in Decreeing or Executing and let not any Law be decreed or stand in force that is decreed which in any place may bind the Conscience but break them down and lay them waste for they bring distress and sorrow every way for many innocent people come under hard usage in outward sufferings by them and such as makes them and Executes them they come under the hand of God and his rebuke and in that place they do themselves most wrong for they go heavily in themselves whilst Judgement is their Cup to drink and it doth assuredly fall and will remain for ever without speedy Repentance So to be in the Wisdom of God is a High state such are in a capacity to Rule for they Fear the Lord and hate both the evil and the evil way and in the Wisdom of God they are worthy of Honour and the hearts of the Innocent can give it them and they will not expect any thing more and in the Wisdom good order is brought forth amongst all people and love and peace and unity will grow and spring under that Government and universal peace will spread over all the Earth in the universal love of God then Kings will Reign and Princes Decree Justice and the Vine will over spread and there will be a sitting down under it without fear And now O ye Rulers be wise in your places for the concernment is great unto you there is one above you whose Judgment is true for ever he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords strong and powerful is his Arm who dwells in the Heavens that is higher than all and in his hand you are but as Potters clay Therefore fear before him and wait for his Wisdom that you may bring all things into right order in such places and matters as you have power to order that quietness and peace may be setled and the issue of blood stopped that so you may get your selves a name which unto Generations to come may be a good savour but if you seek not the Lord in your day and set not his Fear before your eyes then will your names fall and the Remembrance of them will cease in your Generation therefore again I say unto you all who are in Government this day prize time while it is present To Ministers of Parishes so called TO be an able Minister of the Spirit is a place to be honoured and esteemed for such doth labour truly in the Word and Doctrine and what is made manifest in the Spirit and from the Spirit declared such a one is a true Minister not of the Letter but of the Spirit and such doth not speak words which mans wisdom teacheth but in the Demonstration of the Spirit and in Power and here stood their preaching who were endued with Power and Wisdom from on High and in that went forth to gather the scattered and the dispersed both of Jews and Gentiles and to bring them into one Spirit and they did not go forth until they had received Power and were endued with Wisdom from on High but they were to tarry at Jerusalem and wait for it and in waiting for it the gift came upon them and they received it and were able Ministers in it then they having received the Power and Wisdom from on High in the Power and Wisdom they received their Message and there was a necessity layed upon them to preach that unto others which they had received of God and they were the good Stewards of the manifold grace of God and these were
an Innocent people through these things which in some particular cases in matter of practise is mentioned in a book Entituled The Standing Truth which I shall here pass by for I now speak more generally and in the universal love of God in which I have much pity to all sorts of people that are out of order in their places who have not the wisdom of God to guide them in what they are called unto and so run in confusion and disorder in what they practise and giving Judgment of things in their own way which is not approved in the sight of God Therefore ye Rulers and Lawyers keep your watch at wisdoms post and if you would flourish in your dayes and leave a good savour behind you when your dayes are finished then receive wisdom in the light with which you are enlightned turn your minds thither and be diligent that so the Judgment of the Lords power may go over the transgressing part in your selves and that the spirit of Judgment and burning may cleanse your old habitations in every place then you will know Christ in you and the law which proceeds out of his mouth which law is holy and righteous just and good and you will know his throne of true Judgment and behold him sitting upon his throne in your selves and judging down all your evil thoughts words and deed then you will know the Law-giver and the hand that executes it in Righteousness upon the transgressour and there is Christ the wisdom of God felt and known in which wisdom deep matters are found out and the secret things which lyes hid in the heart they are discerned and Judgment goeth forth against the transgressor And this makes Rulers wise in their several places and fills them with gravity and sound Judgment and makes them honourable in their generation and in wisdom good order will be brought forth amongst you which now is wanting for want of wisdom for if the practise in your law was traced thorough how many by-paths might you be found in who are concerned in it surely very many and being many you smother them amongst your selves by your own practise and being so that the practise lyes amongst your selves you can answer one another in your own wayes and there is none can discern you but who walks in the light of the Lord which makes all things manifest and sees thorough the hidden things of darkness So be wise in your day as becometh men be sober and moderate and coole and quiet in your places that is comely amongst men and receive Christ Jesus the wisdom of God thus you may be a good savour in your generations as becomes Christians and that the meek pure holy humble righteous principle of God in you may dispose you in the power and wisdom of it self and change you into the purity of its own nature and that it may manifest the vertue of its own life and bring forth its own fruit in all godliness justice mercy equity and truth so will your names abide and ages to come will feel the sweetness of your savour but if you reject the wisdom of God and yet go on in your own way a blot will fall upon your names and ages to come will tread upon you as not worthy of Remembrance and God will raise up others to do his work Therefore in your day mind the Lord and his fear and be just in all things and let not gifts blind your minds nor Rewards turn away your Eares from the poor cast bribery behind you and tread Covetousness under your feet for whilest such things are entertained true Judgment must needs be perverted and in that place your own Souls lyes in bondage to Corruption and you are destitute of Gods Salvation which is the saddest state that any man can be in for the soul is of more value than all the world and a wise man loves his own soul and waits to know the Redemption of it which cannot be Redeemed by any corruptible thing as Gold and Silver though you had never so much of it but with the precious blood of Christ Jesus and what will it profit you to be in great dignity and high in honour amongst men and to possess much of the worlds Riches nay if you had all the world and lose your own souls you are undone for ever and surely your way doth tend to the chambers of death Therefore I say again to you all be wise in time and look to your particular places and let the streams of honesty and equity run amongst you and do not pervert things which in themselves are honest but follow the thing that is good in all you practise that you may have peace in your latter End To such as trade in Weights and Measures AN Equal Balance with a just Weight is approved of God and a true Measure in all things is a good favour unto God and in such just and equal practises God is well pleased and his Name his honoured for that which is just and equal and honest that yields a good savour when every man and woman walks with a Conscience void of offence towards God and men and deals justly and equally with every man they have dealings with in their places this is comely and commendable amongst men and is justified before God and it keeps the Conscience cleare from stain and guilt and brings true peace to every man whose practise stands in any place for when every man answers his place faithfully unto God then doth he possess the peace of God And if people do not deal justly and equally in their respective places they cannot have peace with God for if they do not answer their places faithfully as unto God they erre from their calling and goeth out of their place in which God hath placed them If they have deceitful Weights and Measures and an unequal Balance and do not yield the full weight and measure to every man they deal withal they do not answer their places faithfully for the Lord appoints unto men their places in their Callings and he makes some capable of one place and some of another and doth require of every man faithfulness in his place and if he do not perform his place faithfully then he grives the Lord if he do not strive in singleness to perform his place faithfully his Conscience doth offend both God and honest men and in that place the peace of God cannot be his portion for the Light of the Lord in his own Conscience doth pursue him and is a swift witness against him if he have an unjust weight and ballance or measure and thereby defraud and cozen and deceive such as he deals withall he stands with a guilty Conscience before God and receives Judgement from the righteous Principle of God in himself for all deceit and fraud and guile and cozening and cheating and dissembling is in the fall and with the light of Christ Jesus is reproved and with the light
your time in deceit then in sorrow you will lye down and your latter end will be bitterness Therefore remember your end To such as buy and sell in Markets or in any other places MAn was created upright but he hath sought out many inventions And through inventions disorder is come amongst men and by defrauding and cozening and cheating one another they run into confusion and distraction and so are gone from the created uprightness into subtilty and inventions and with that subtil part they invent their wicked practises and studies how to gain their own advantage in their dealing And from this ground arises all deceit amongst men in buying and selling and trading and they will commend their Cattel and their Commodities above what they are and above what they know them to be to gain advantage and though they know that their Commodity be not at all worthy of commendations yet the subtil part inventeth how to commend it and how to set a great price upon it and by subtilty thinks to over-reach another and it may be will ask much more for such a Commodity then he intends to take for it and from thence many vain words arises amongst men in their dealing and in their bargaining and not onely so but also many oathes and cursings proceeds out of their mouthes and all to set forth that thing which they know is not to be so commended and here men stands in swearing and cursing and multitude of words before they can come to close if they do close at all and this practise is not in the created uprightness but from the subtil inventions through which man is carried out of Gods fear and order for the created uprightness is a pure just and holy state a state that stands upright to God and unto all men it is not a subtil Inventer but a simple Dealer in all things it cannot lye for gain nor swear for profit nor curse for wealth it cannot deceive nor defraud any man in dealing though much outward profit might be seen in the end it cannot commend a thing above what it really knows it to be it cannot make many words in bargaining for it is an upright state and speaks things uprightly and justly and speaks no more than it knows to be true and not that neither at all times for many words is a burden to it and it is weary of them it prizes the worth of things according to discerning and according to discerning it speaks a standing word it hath no reservedness in it to take or ensnare another by deceit for it is upright in all things But how is man degenated from the Created uprightness and how hath he sought out the subtil Inventions and how doth every generation grow more cunning in their dealing and more deceit and guile breaks in upon generations and they degenerate more and more from the Created uprightness so that it is a grief to behold how one man deals with another in trading and how Markets are filled with multitude of words which stands wholly in deceit and guile and what a noise doth people make in Markets and runs in the pursuit of gain with such Eagerness as the whole Course of nature is set on fire and the anger and the passion and the unruly nature will sometimes be so let up as one man will strive with another about their dealings and how will one man deceive another and defraud another with buying things one from another and many times forestalling things before they come into a Market and many times by Ingrossing things into their hands which they have no need of but to lay them by and keep them for advantage and this wrongs the poor and the needy that when things are at a reasonable price then the Rich Ingrosses them and by that means keeps it at a dearer price in plenty than otherwise it would be and then in scarcity the poor must either buy it at their dear prices or be in want and this grinds the poor every way and is a disorderly practise and is filled with Covetousness which the subtil Inventer finds out to get wealth and Riches and thus men run and knows no stay for their minds they would be dealers in every thing and counted great dealers in all things and would have a name and so are alwayes in the thronged part and in the cumber about many things in which they all offend But who Remembers the Lord or who chuses the better part or who seeks the Kingdom of God first and trusts the Lord to add all things else unto him and who serves the Lord with fear not the subtil Inventer but the Created uprightness which under all such practises and wicked devices lies grieved and pained for though man be gone into the Inventions through the temptations of the subtilty yet there is something upright remains in him which did preserve its own beeing though man degenerated and this is a pure principle in man which doth not allow of deceit for that which is upright and that which is deceitfull hath no agreement together in any place so that when deceit is practised uprightness reproveth for it bears the burden of it Therefore all people who are concerned in these things take heed to your wayes and to your doings for they are very bad you cannot but know your selves that there is much amiss in you and that you do run many times after dishonest gain and that which lets you see is it the light of Christ and that you must come unto if ever you come to be upright men for though some may be qualified in some things and in their natural temper do manifest more moderation than others and that there be more reservedness in their wayes and that they do not appear so passionate nor angry openly so deceitfull yet there is a self-end lyes in the bottom of such a man and he will reach forth himself to make his end secretly for if the mind of man do not come to the light with the light to be guided he doth not come into the upright state but lyes amongst the many inventions where none can please God And now your day is with you who are buying and selling and trading and the Light of Christ is manifest in you to shew you wherein you err and if you do not turn when it repoves you at any time and come to repentance you will wrong your selves for ever Therfore make haste out of your way and turn to the Lord and receive his wisdom in the light that his wisdom may order you in all your places and services then you dare not use many words in your bargaining but speak a standing word according to your judgment in that which you have to sell or buy and you dare not speak in the praise of any thing for any end to your selves and this practise would stand in uprightness and would answer Gods witness in every man and then you would be out of
knew it to be the Word of Faith and the Word of Eternal Life and the Word is the same this day and the glory of it is seen and the vertue of it is felt and fed upon for as in the beginning it generated and generation was brought forth by it so now it doth regenerate and the new born babe desires the sincere milk of it and the Word feeds it and nourishes it with its own goodness so the babe feeds upon the Word and receives the milk of the Word as its natural food and it doth not live by any other thing and whilest it is a new born babe the Word gives it milk but when through nourishment it grows into strength then it eats the flesh for the Word is made flesh and the flesh is meat indeed and this must people eat if they have life in Christ for Christ is the Word and Christ is the Life and they that do not eat him have no Life in him And this is a hard saying to all unbelievers for such said in times past how can this man give us his flesh to Eat and this is the bread that comes down from Heaven which if a man eat he shall never dye they are blessed that believes in this for Christ is the Bread of Life and all that hungers after him in truth he feeds them according to his own pleasure and here is living water felt from Christ the fountain and here is meat known that endures to Everlasting life and with his vertue and goodness the soul is replenished and comforted and this is the Word which is near every man who shall ascend to fetch it down from above or who shall descend to fetch it from below but what faith it the Word is night thee even in thy heart and in thy mouth to obey it and do it and there must man know it and obey it if ever he come to feed upon it and he must first know it as a reprover and then as a hammer and a fire to break down and burn up all that drossie nature that is in him and the rebellious part that stands in opposition against the Lord. And this is the Word which is nigh unto every man alwayes taking hold upon the transgressor in Judgment and as a swift witness overtakes the transgressor in all his wayes and in that place it is quick and powerful and sharper than a two Edged sword if a man commit Evil the Word hath a quick motion to find him and is powerful to judge him and sharp to wound him and the hairy scalp of the wicked is wounded by the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and so it manifests it self in man according to the present disposition of a man if darkness dispose him and that he be in the Evil either in thought word or deed then the Word stands against him and is quick and powerful and sharp and a hammer and a fire and man may feel it to be so in its operation for it is to be understood that the Word in it self is an unchangeable being and one pure perfect intire body of love yet the manifestations of it appears diversly as man stands before it and it hath its operation in man according to mans present disposition for if he sin he is quickly overtaken with Judgement and that which overtakes him and Judges him is the Word and there he may feel it powerful and sharper then a two Edged sword and through his obedience to it in that manifestation then it becomes a hammer and a fire in its operation and it is as a fire in his bones to consume the fleshly part in every place And by this a young man may cleanse his wayes for if a man take heed to the Word when it manifests it self with Reproof and when it shews him the out-goings of his mind and his wandering thoughts and vain imaginations and the body of sin and death that is in him and doth defile him and separate him from God if he take heed to the Word when it manifests secret Evils which is its nature to do then it will become a light to his feet and a lanthorn to his paths and he will find it to be a true guide unto him yea in his lowest state it will be a light to his feet and guide his feet and then man doth not err when he comes to the Word in himself and takes heed unto it then the Word becomes a light to his feet for the Word is light and man following the light and walking in the light he doth not stumble but walks safely and with the light of the Word he sees his way and sees all dangers as they lye And he that thus takes heed to the Word and answers the Word and comes to obey it when it reproves him then the Word lifts him up and sets his feet in the way and so becomes a light to his feet to guide him that he may not err and the Word gives man strength to follow it and then he begins to travel out of the dark Corners of the Earth and out of the Earthly habitations and follows the Word and believes in the promise of the Word and this is an Express Word in every man it speaks Expressly in his Conscience according to the state it finds him in and so it may be known manifesting it self as mans present state and condition is and as man takes heed unto it he takes heed to the light and the light guides his feet out of all perverse wayes and crooked wayes and froward wayes and guides him and leads him in the way of peace and so it is a cleansing Word who takes heed unto it are cleansed by it for a young man may clense his ways by taking heed to the Word and by obeying the word and man that takes heed unto it and obeys it the cleansing water of the word goes through him and it cleanses out of him all the corrupt and bad nature that hath defiled him and made him unclean then man may feel the water of the word to wash him and the water of Regeneration to renew him and here the word plunges man in its own pure water and washes him and makes his in-side clean and so his heart is washed and made clean and his mind is made clean and his body clean and here is the Baptiser and the baptising which doth not lye outward for the taking away the filth of the flesh but makes a man clean within and renews him in the spirit of his mind unto God and so washes away the filth of the old nature which hath loadned and burdened the tender Seed And this is the water of the word which flows in man as man takes heed unto it and obeys it and then man is sanctified by the word and the word is truth and being thus cleansed and washed and sanctified by the word then it becomes the word of reconciliation and the