they be bitter to the Guilty for the Present come I say look where you are by the Light you may see you must see by it at last it were better for you if you would let your Eye be opened now and see that offensive Eye pulled out which hath been offended at God's Works all this while So do not harden your Hearts in this Day of God's Power being manifest lest you be cut off from his Rest forever Come therefore you that are judging others that did wickedly in their Generation by resisting God's holy Spirit so had none of the Works of its Revelation come see now what Latitude your Works are under If you be in the same Liberty in the Flesh as they were in it s no matter what you say Come now to the Tryal What Experience have you of the Operation of God's Spirit How much of the Mind and Will of God hath it revealed to you Can you say Thus saith the Lord by the certain Knowledge of the Revelation of God's holy Spirit Or have you only talkt of it as the Jews did who said We have God for our Father when they were doing the Devil's Works Come do not stop your Ears Have you heard the Voice of God or seen his Shape or are you ignorant of it as they were who accused Christ as if he was bearing False Witness Nay come further Have you not said That Revelations are ceased and thereby shut up the Way to the Kingdom of God and from the Knowledge of his Righteousness by your wicked Works in going about to establish your own Righteousness and Works therein for term of life Come you that have set up the Law and Covenant without above the Law and Covenant within are not these your own Works and have not they made you as blind as your Fathers the Scribes and Pharisees that you can neither see nor hear but in your blind Zeal are persecuting Christ's near Relations who follow him in their Generation even by the Drawings of his Father's Spirit unto his Humility and Patience who is the Way in whom God's Will was done And did not Christ give Testimony of his Relations his Mother his Brothers and Sisters who did his Father's Will And is not this to be done on Earth And is it not the Will of God that we should speak the Truth at all times and that we should be led and guided by the Spirit of Truth into all Truth is there any Sin in the Guide And is not this Christ of God the same Auointing or Teacher as he was in the beginning of the World Was not he before Abraham was And is not he the same yesterday to day and forever as he was in the beginning who was David's Lord and the Holy Men's Lord in all Ages And is not he the Covenant by which all must come unto God Was he not given for a Covenant and a Light to enlighten people and to be their Salvation to lead and command his People And must not his Sheep hear his Voice And is not he the same that he was in the beginning And is not this the Precious and Tryed Stone which the wise Builders building without are confounded and stumble at even the highest Notionists in the fleshly Wisdom in their highest Conceivings about the Holy Men's Words Come examine your selves and see whether Christ be not in you except you be Reprobates You Unbelievers how hath the Godd of the World led you about and blinded you that you cannot see the Light of this Glorious Gospel Come see the Cause Have you not been making Provision for the Flesh in the first place and answering the Lusts thereof after the Glory of the old World of Sin and Iniquity Hath not Respect of Persons been in your Eye and Filthy Lucre and Praise of Men and Greeting in Market-Places Have you not preacht and prayed in your own Wills and run for Gifts and Rewards in your own Wills And is not all this Honour to be had below And have you not sought it before the Honour of God's Work in your Hearts And is not this the Cause of your Ignorance of God's Kingdom and his Righteousness Christ and his Relations his Mother Sisters and Brethren who are sanctified and blest by the Will of God where it is done in Truth and Righteousness and where that is done do not such only confirm in Truth and Reallity all God's blessed and holy Works without in all Generations So do not envy and hate the People called Quakers for maintaining the Works of God's holy Spirit within them for there are many of them have been as high Talkers of the Works of God in holy Men without as you are but found not such Salvation as to venture Souls and Bodies and Estates till we came to cease from our own Labours in our own Willings and Runnings and so our Hearts were bowed unto God's holy Will in the deep Silence of all Fleshly Reasonings and Consultations So by the Works of God's holy and blessed Spirit the Way of God came to be made manifest in us the which is a Pure Holy Undefiled Way Christ the same yesterday to day and forever as he was in the beginning without Guile without Sin no Iniquity is in him he that is the Hope of Glory the great Mystery made manifest in us Gentiles who in former times when without the Knowledge of him in the World had Lords many and Masters many and feigned Faiths and Beliefs concerning him many and divers But when we were given up clearly to seek the Kingdom of God without any reserve of making Provision for the Flesh then the New Jerusalem God's Building came down from above the Mother of all the Faithful wherein no Evil can be conceived whose Children in her are made free from the Law of Sin and Death and this blessed City hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof This blessed Habitation is prepared for God's People who love the Light of his Appearance and delight to do his Will So away with all False Accusations from all you False Accusers of the People called Quakers who say We expect to be Saved by a Righteousness of our own and by Works of our own If it were so as you falsely and vainly do say then might we not keep in the Broad Way with you Hypocrites who are gotten above the daily Cross and so led about by the Thief above the Door where you Foxes who are cunning in Hunting about after others Works have Holes enough to creep and cring into to keep you in the Glory of the World of Sin and Iniquity where you have had a long Trade in your Imaginations conceiving God's Works in his blessed Instruments without you whose Lines you have long made your boast of so your Lyes are upon your own Heads For this I testifie and the Testimony is the same
And is not this Christ of God the Way out of Transgression who was obedient and subject to the Will of his Father in all things And must not they all that are saved be brought into this blessed Covenant of Life the End of God's great Love in his Son manifested to the World that through him they might not abide and perish in Darkness but through believing and obeying that Second Coming and Appearance of the Light of him they might have the Light and Understanding of the Life of him the one blessed Offering that perfects forever them that are sanctified And now all you blind Leaders of the Blind under all your Imaginary Lifeless Confessions and Professions of God and Christ what strength of Arguments do you use in your perverse Wills and Affections to strengthen the Old World of Transgression in Sin and Iniquity whereby you go about with all your Might to make void the Second Covenant which is without Fault and so you shut up the Way to God's Kingdom and the Knowledge of his Righteousness by labouring and moiling in your vain Service and Works to establish your own Righteousness and dark Works therein And by this Fruitless Labour and Travel what Darkness and Blindness have you brought over the Nations through your ignorant Conceivings of those gratious Words which were spoken by the effectual working and moving of God's Holy Spirit in and through Holy Men the which was for a blessed End spoken even to turn people from the Darkness which was over them by reason of Transgression unto the true Witness in them the Light that makes manifest all that is reprovable and wicked in Mankind the which being turned from and the Light obeyed that they may be led to the Knowledge of God that they may not be without God in the World whom to know is Life Eternal And so Light is sown for the Righteous that through this blessed Seed the Serpent's Head may be bruised and kept under in all and so is way made to put on the Heavenly Image again by being led and guided out of Darkness by the Light of the Emanuel in and through every blessed and glorious Degree of his Works to the Mark of that Price the Measure and Stature of the Fulness of Christ Jesus the Heavenly Man the Heavenly Image as many as are baptized into Christ put on Christ Now I say unto you blind Leaders of the Blind who have got some few of the Gratious Words and Works of the Righteous Men of God therefore I say but few of them because there is but little upon record of those mighty Works which did then shew forth the Wonderful Power of God in and by the effectual Workings of his holy blessed Spirit the which if all had been written the World could not have contained the Books and of that which was written you have but a part with which you blind Leaders of the Blind have made a long Trade in Wresting Perverting and Corrupting to your own Destruction making them look every way but the right in your Imaginary Conceivings thereof So wrong you are in your Judgments who have denyed the effectual Workings of God's Holy Spirit that what in you lies by your Works of Darkness you are making void God's Holy Law and Covenant as to any true Understanding or Knowledge of it in the Mind and Heart And so building your selves up in Imaginations and Conceivings what Strangers are you to God's Holy Works in and by the effectual Working of his holy Spirit within Man How brutish are you in your Understandings to stand and wonder and some to despise till they perish at the News of these Works though God hath raised many faithful Witnesses who have declared and given Testimony to them even to the laying down their Lives and many their Liberties and in great measure their Estates whereby it hath plainly shewed That this is the Time and Season wherein God is making known his Mighty Power for the subduing and bringing under the Power of Darkness that the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdoms of God and that the Kingdom of his Son which is in Righteousness Peace and Joy of his blessed holy Spirit may be set over all And is not this according to that Prayer Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Earth c Now consider Are not all those Wayes destructive to Mankind that are made up in the dark Conceivings of Man without the Light of understanding the Will of God herein And by your Works of Darkness in opposing the Blessed and Effectual Works of God's holy Spirit what Misery and Confusion have you brought your selves and the Nations into where you lie in Heaps in Controversies about the Works and Words without till the Enemy's works of Darkness be over-grown in you by which you are so droven from the Presence of God and the Light of his Countenance that you are greatly confounded kicking and stumbling at the pretious Stone the which in your Fleshly Worldly Wisdom you think too mean to be in your Buildings by reason of which how many Fashions are your Buildings of reeling and staggering from one Fashion to another soaring aloft in your airy Imaginations of the things of God in using your Wits and Arts to bend the Holy Men's Testimonies to your corrupt Wills and Affections And so much more as you strive in these Works so much more you are and must be confounded What a sad Work have you herein taken in hand and what vast Sums of Money have you exacted out of Nations to maintain the Pride and Arrogancy of your hearts herein Oh! that there were such a Heart in people to sit down before the Lord that they may partake so much of his blessed Works as to open the Eye of their Understandings that they may see over these Works of Darkness where nothing is good nor pleasant to the truly Hungering and Thirsting Souls after God's Righteousness How miserably have these Nations been cheated by these blind Guides who have exacted abundance of Wages under Pretence of being Healers and Curers of the Nations but are now found by the Effectual Workings of the Light of God's holy Spirit to be the chief Instruments of the letting in of Darkness Corruption and Abominations that raign on the Earth Through that Adulterated Spirit the Mother of all Harlots who are departed from the true Spouse and so running and hunting after others Blessed Works and Experiences have set up Trades in their Arts of telling and boasting of others Lines and Works where that Adulterated Spirit hath covered them who are corrupted with her Sorceries and VVitchcraft under various Fashions of Confessions and Professions of God and his Christ But underneath these Coverings are the same wicked hands by which the Just hath suffered and been rejected and set at nought in all Ages And through the blessed VVorks of the Light of God's holy Spirit these Corrupt Workers and Works of Darkness being discovered and a
concerning the Gift of God which is Life Eternal you being really out of it in your own imaginary Parts Gifts in comprehending the VVorks done without you and so not sensible of any Real Perfect Pure VVork of God's Holy Spirit in you the which is the Cause you are so Dark and wickedly Blinded to plead for Sin the which is accompanied with the VVages of Death the Cause of Death being Sin the which remaining the Effects cannot cease even Death and Corruption from that venemous Sting over all Flesh that is corrupted with it So for Shame leave your false Accusations against an Innocent People called by the Name of Quakers for testifying of the VVorks of God's holy Spirit the which are perfect in every Degree and therefore there is not the least Sin nor Evil in them So all you who say You are not without Sin in your Best Duties I say They are all VVorks of your own which blind and hide God's Works from you And as you may read of the Works of God's Spirit in Mordecai how they could not bow to the Pride and Arrogance of Haman and also the Works of God's Spirit in Daniel how they could not bow to them that would have restrained and limited them and also the Works of God's Spirit in Shadrach Meshach and Abednego how they could not bow to the Golden Image set up by Nebuchadnezer though Laws under Penalties of Death in a Cruel Manner was before them and also the Works of God's Holy Spirit in the primitive Christians through the Strength of which they under-went hard and grievous things under the spirit of Antichrist which got up in a Form of the good Words in the Pleasures and Vanities of the Works of the fleshly Wisdom the which have been kept up by the same Wisdom by an Arm of Flesh under which the Innocent People who are true Witnesses of the Works of God's Spirit have suffered very deeply in this Age the which cannot be hid though the Cause for which they have thus suffered is so far hid that it cannot be believed though they have been wonderfully declared of But it is Mordecai Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego's God which we who are in Scorn called Quakers do worship in and by the Effects and blessed Operation of his own blessed Spirit wherein stands our Confidence and not in Flesh and our Faith Belief and Hope is in him that he will turn the Hearts of many of our Enemies unto us though many will perish in their Gain-saying So over all the VVorks and Powers of Darkness is our Faith and Belief that the Holy Righteous VVorks of God's blessed Spirit shall be exalted and the God of Truth in and through his blessed VVorks in preparing and fitting the Hearts of people the Knowledge of him shall encrease till it spread over all And for this Purpose hath God raised many contrary to the VVisdom of the VVorld in whom he hath made known his Righteous Works who have Unity and Fellowship therein who are true Labourers therein purely out of Love to God and his blessed VVorks in Good-will and true Love to all men that all may taste of the Goodness of God the Experience of which will bring Mankind to be of one Mind and Heart and therein to agree to Praise and Magnifie God who shows Man his Thoughts to whom belongs Honour and Glory forever And now all you Leaders of the People in all Forms and Fashions who are denying the Works of the Divine Power of God in its blessed Operation and powerful Working in setting free them who are heavy laden and weary through the Enemies works of Sin and Iniquity the which you say cannot be Overcome therefore you are Denyers of the Sufficiency of God's Works and his Kingdom wherein dwells Righteousness Peace and Joy in and through the Effectual Workings of God's Holy Spirit the which though you say in words Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done c. But being Sayers and not Doers you are so darkened that with all your own Wills and Mights you are strengthening the Old Kingdom of Transgression where Sin and Iniquity aboundeth the Devil's works Was it not by reason of Transgression that the first Law the first Covenant was added which was written in Tables of Stone And was not this in Force till the Manifestation of the Seed of Life and Power the Coming of the Messiah to finish Transgression and to put an End to Sin and so bring in everlasting Righteousness God's Kingdom Now all you blind Leaders of the Blind is not here God's Second Covenant writ in the Heart into which all must come that come unto God where his Light is to shine who is the True Light that enlightens every Man that comes into the World And if this Righteous Law be taken heed unto will it not judge Lust when it rises in the Heart And will it not judge Anger when it rises in the heart and will it not judge every Desire of Breaking Promise when it arises in the Heart And will it not judge every Hasty and Froward Action and Lightness when they appear in the Heart And is not all that proceeds from this Righteous Law and Covenant of God in the Heart Pure Truth Yea and Nay And what is more then Plain Truth Yea and Nay is it not judged by this pure Law in the Heart And are not all forbidden to Swear by this one Law-giver who is able to Save or to Destroy And must not his Righteous Law and Decree take place though many Laws through Darkness and Ignorance may be made against it And must not all that come to Sion the City of the Living God be Redeemed through these Righteous Judgments And are not the great Mercies of God witnessed in and through these Righteous Judgments And all that will not come under this Righteous Law and Government where Mercy and Peace kisses and Truth and Righteousness is set over all is it not just that they be left to Judgment without Mercy So is not Destruction from Self-willing and Running of people out of the Counsel and Knowledge of the Will and Mind of the Living God And is not the Salvation of every Soul in and through the Righteous Decrees and Just and Holy Laws of God which is Light in every Conscience And must not all that come to Salvation come first to the Way and Means that God hath ordained And is not the Second Coming of Christ in the Light of his Holy Spirit the Way by which all must come unto God the which is without Sin without Spot without Guile And must not all that come unto God come unto him in this one Blessed Savoury Offering And is not this Christ of God the same yesterday to day and forever as he was before Abraham was and so the same in the beginning of all things And must not all that come to God come out of Transgression the Cause why Mankind was drove from the Presence of God
Holy Men without us would have given us a Right to his Holiness though the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh the Pride of Life and Friendship of the World had never been wholely subdued in us but in such a part as might he consistent with our Gain and Profit in the World But Alas Alas Our Coverings be too narrow they will no longer hide us God's Righteous Works are abroad in the Earth who is inspiring his People with True Light of Vnderstanding and Mordecai sits in the Gate and will not bow to Wickedness Haman Alas Alas We have twined and twisted about through many Crafts and Inventions some of our best Arts-Men having called the Light a Devil some others a Natural Light and others a Bewildering Light and likewise many False Accusations have we raised with Evil Reports Scornings and Reproachings of the People called Quakers for Confessing to the Works of the Light of God's Holy Spirit yet all our Shifts do not at all help us but those Works prosper and they are generally a Faithful People to their Testimony Alas Alas Who would have thought our Mother had been such a Harlot What delicate Inchantments and Sorceries hath she used and trained us up in that we have been thus deceived and thereby have been Instruments of deceiving the whole Nations Alas Alas We can flee into no Corner nor Hole but we are found out and pursued Alas Alas can't all the Wisdom of the VVorld and Arts therein help to hide our Sins and Iniquities from the Light of the Lamb Is every Creature so clearly manifest in his Sight that made all things good in the beginning And is he now as work again And must all yield to his VVorks or be accounted his Enemies and be cast out of his Presence who is Lord of all whose is the Earth and the Fulness thereof Alas Alas VVords of Repentance of Sin will not serve now there must be a true Repentance and Forsaking Sin and Evil or else we perish forever Even so it must be done to you Workers of Iniquity who have been and are as Props and Pillars strengthening the Old World of Transgression in Sin and Iniquity the Devil's works and therein withstood the Sufficiency of God's Love manifested to the World in his Son to destroy the Devil's works which works of Transgression the old subtil Serpent the Deceiver of the Nations in and through his Instruments is striving and labouring to maintain under several and very large and specious Pretences of crying out Lord Lord But come Workers of Iniquity these Good Words will not give you Admittance into the Kingdom of God it s not they that say Lord Lord shall enter therein but they that do the Will of God And was not his Will manifested to the World in his Son that they that believed and followed him in doing his Father's Will might not Perish but have everlasting Life And do not many of you confess to this in words who say in your set Prayers That we may follow the Example of Christ's great Humiliation and Patience that we may attain to his Resurrection c. VVhat brave VVords have you VVorkers of Iniquity got in your Old Bottle that can hold none of the New VVine And so in your corrupt VVills what will the using good VVords do you good but thereby add to your Condemnation who by Good VVords and corrupt and Bad Actions are withstanding and have withstood the Good-will Pleasure and Love of God in his Son to the VVorld So your works of Darkness and Falshood are clearly manifested and you can't hide them from the Light But the Light of the Effectual and Powerful VVorks of God's holy Spirit wherein his VVill is manifest is rising more and more to a more perfect Day of his VVill being done upon Earth to the Praise and Honour of his blessed and holy Name whose VVorks are Pure Holy Just and Perfect in every degree thereof and tend to the true Reformation Peace Prosperity and Establishment of all Mankind in God's Love and Mercy therein forever So worshipped be God that made Heaven and Earth and the Fountains of VVaters and all things therein who fills the hearts of the Upright with Joy and Gladness through the Shinings forth of the Light of his Countenance who sits upon his Throne and saith Behold I make all things New Amen AND now unto such who are in Doubt Whether God's Holy Spirit doth so effectually work now adayes as in the Primitive Times Unto you I say What Flesh could ever have indured such grievous and continued Punishments in Tryals of divers sorts by Imprisouments and Banishments and Hangings and Killings as in New-England and Imprisonments to Death and Spoiling of Goods in Old England and Cruel Mockings and Scoffings and Bloodshed by Unmerciful Men Indeed some in a Voluntary Humility have somewhat appeared in Sufferings but being in their own Willillings and Runnings and VVorks therein how have they been overcome their Strength being an Arm of Flesh as well as others and so Fleshly VVorks have been overcome by Fleshly VVorks But it s not so with them who are in Scorn and Derision called Quakers because they have bowed to God's VVay the which is quite different to Man's wayes was that Name given but in God's VVay hath his Arm been revealed and its Strength made manifest in our VVeakness So that to the Praise of him that lives forever the Operation of his Blessed Spirit is felt as in the Primitive Dayes and the Glory and Comfort of it hath ministred Strength and Refreshment in the time of Tryals though this Way of God's Proceeding hath been hid from the vulterous evil Eye So to the Praise and Glory of God is Confession made through the Operation of his holy Spirit through which Thousands have been preserved and kept from bowing to the seed of Cain Haman and the Beast which hath made the World as a Wilderness where wild Fruits and wild Actions spring So we can truly say to the Praise of God Let not the Wise Men in the Wisdom of this World glory in their Wisdom nor the Strong Men in their Strength nor the Mighty Men in their Might but let all wait in that pure Measure of the Light of God's Spirit in their Consciences that by it they may draw near unto God that they may know his Blessed Works of Mercy and Love and Judgment in the Earth wherein that true Glory and Honour of God is ANd further Concerning Ministry this I say As the Blessed Works of the Light of God's holy Spirit has place in Hearts and so opens Understandings a Discovery will be made from thence of the False Corrupt and Wicked Ministers who open their Mouthes for Gifts and Rewards from whose Works in fair and deceitful Speeches Prophaneness is gone out into the World where the Revelations of God's holy Spirit is denyed and set at nought they telling People Revelations are ceased they are not to be known now adayes