and so long as ye keep back the full freedom of Gods bounty and punish your brethren by this oppressing state you lye under a far worse curse and judgement then they that suffer under your yoke and bondage for they suffer but a little outward want and grief which is nothing to your eternal suffering ye Ministers preach on but what oppression is taken away or as we may say what wound is cured Now if Truth were restored and Justice we should then be truly taught of God and preaching might cease Jerem. 32. vers 40. I will put my fear in your hearts that ye shall not depart from me For it is God alone that keepes us in our Christian way and stayeth us up by his helpful Spirit for saith the Lord I will write my Law in your hearts so that we find Gods Spirit is and shall be our onely teacher It is not your external preaching that shall beget soules or actually regenerate it is God that worketh the will and the deed ye may informe or strengthen the weak or keep your people under an outward conformity but not to beget or saved soules for that is Gods ancient work of old called Election therefore ye Ministers ye are called but Labourers in his vineyard to keep things in order But truly we have many Ministers in this Kingdome that are more fit to be taught then to be Teachers yet some of them will say I have begotten many souls as if an outward act could do it But I say no for it is the inward working of God that doth it If God did not work it our Ministers might stand long enough in their Pulpits your preaching doth neither hinder nor further salvation it is onely Gods purpose and not your preservation Paul may plant but God prospereth He is the Foundation of our life and he will teach us Ye shall all know me from the least to the greatest saith the Lord. Why should ye Divines be so high conceited in your selves your way of preaching is not so ancient as the Apostles was neither have ye done so much good as they did in that short time they taught the Gospel for they taught their hearers to throw up the possessions which was true Gospel but I see no such matter by your new found Doctrine and your foundation cannot hold it is something too young For the Apostles foundation was not onely laid 1600 years agone which is ancient but Christ Jesus was their Author and finisher of their Temple and for that cause he suffered which proved it true Gospel But what our Ministers have made on it I cannot tell but this I am sure they have changed those Ordinances of Christ and those which they have erected will hardly be proved true Gospel they carry it on with a power which shall fall with Babylon It is not your Ministery which shall stand for yee divine for money and some of yee will leave your people for gain But the Prophet Esay saith Come buy wine and milk without money But many doth now both buy and sell the word of God as by Funeral-Sermons receiving money Or by a mariage Exhortation Oh what Task-masters bee these to stand two three or four hours in a Pulpit as ye call it Alas it is not your way to save souls it is proper alone to God ye may counsell them or inform your people which all you can do For God saith I will write my Law in your inward parts And what he hath so done you can but preach the Letter to the people But God ministreth the Spiritual guift to the hearer and infuseth grace in the heart It is Christs feet that are beautiful and bringeth salvation all your external preachings without Gods internal work is nothing Yet for all this I have heard some of our Ministers say they have begot souls which is but a vain pamphlet Again I can give relation of a godly man that said such a Minister was his adapted father so that men or Ministers may err in the sectet works of Gods election resting upon vain dictates and self ends which is a meritorious work to do for he that ascribeth any power to himself he taketh away and diminisheth the power of Christ and without the spirit of God what can ye do A Lay man having Gods spirit may do as much as you can do setting your trade aside which is Latin and Logick learned at Oxford and Cambridg which edifieth not the soul you be one against another which sheweth your Temple is not yet built in its own place Levi persecuteth which the tongue and Reuben looketh high so that as yet Judah can have no entrance Behold all your Churches must come to a Synod which is a grand consent to make up one model or holy lump called one unto the Lord for God will not behold all your mental knowings Ye must all know me He will have but one way and one Church which is the ancient foundation and I know none other Therefore come and acknowledge Christ to be your Master-builder Ye shall all know me That is the major or vulgar sort of people shall so know God that they shall put down your power I mean your Ministerial priesthood For God his will and power are both one and he laid them both upon that foundation which we bee all called to build upon I am ashamed of your ignorance both ministers and hearers if otherwise ye know and do not reform and comeout form the people your bloud be upon your own heads For I cannot but speak the things I have heard and seen desiring the Lord of his goodness to open your eys that ye may see this main work Ye shall all know me that is to be King priest and prophet As he is King to govern and as hee is both priest and prophet so to be all our teachers And out Lord saith No man can come unto me except it be given him of the Father So it is not your teachings that shall beget souls for then and at that time there shall bee one Priest one people which is a living under their own Vine Christ Jesus Isaiah 55. He hath given him to be a Leader to them a witness and a Commander to the pesple so that it is Christ Jesus alone that begetteth souls And at that time he shall be the onely teacher when you Priests shall move out of their holes Micha 3. and shall not divine any more when Vision shall cease and we shall come unto him which is the patifical Vision which is our beauty in perfection When all mens teachings shall fail then our true Vine shall be the Teacher when we shall dwell under our own fig-tree ye shall no more say know the Lord for ye shall all know me And to winde up this discourse our Lord saith Joh. 6.45 It is written in the Prophets that they shall all be taught of God So that all of the New Jerusalem shall walk in that Light above
Johns testimony he was Juda and I am Israel Denus the feet of the two Witnesses Septemb. 29 1651. The Law of Sion HEre is an Alligory of two Lawes the first is the singular and pure Law of God the other is the unjust lawes of Man This pure Law of God shall put an end to all the lawes of man upon the seventh Vial this Law of God gendereth to life and salvation but the lawes of man do gender to cruelty and corruption which lawes of man must fall before Sion which are not lawes according to his Word and true equity all such lawes are but mens ordinances and shall not stand before the Law of God for there is but one Law and one Law-giver which is God that hath given us his Word for a Law to be a restoring right to all and for want of this true execution of Gods word it maketh the curse remain upon the Creature to this day and because of forbidden fruit which is contrary to his Institution maketh it so but Gods word should be set in its place to judge or condemn to save or justifie and not mens traditions which are vain Our Saviour saith Man liveth not onely by bread but by every word that cometh out of Gods mouth which is from his ancient Decree to keep all things by his Providence which is a hidden law and spiritual and agreeable to the letter of his Word and I know no other law that man can erect but to judge all things by the law of Gods Word and to throw down mens ordinances which be not agreeable to it for such lawes proceed not out of Sion neither can our Judges be Judges in Israel except they make Gods word the rule of justice to try causes by And going contrary to this Rule it maketh many fleshly Judges and weak Jury-men O simple ignorance and base folly to go from the Judge of Heaven and Earth to serve under these Judges which destroy his Word and Law of justice for there is no offence committed before God or against man but may be judged by his word of Truth and pure Gospel under the jurisdiction of Christ and his Church which may be called Jure Divino that is under twelve holy persons or so many Senatours of Gods house that your law may wholly proceed out of Sion that Divine Justice may censure all judicature power and so to tread them under feet with the scarlet whore which have taken away many mens lives contrary to Gods word and holy Scripture it hath been a poor businesse carried on so long that wicked Judges should sit to give sentence and some wicked fore-men among the rest should give up their verdict contrary to the Law of Sion having judged for reward and some for want of seeing the pure Will of God and declaration of his word his word ought to judge and govern and shall throw down all oppressing that his people may have rest from all their enemies these Judges have been in such esteem before men and yet ignorant of Divine justice which he hath set before them in his Word I desire you all to know both Judge and Justice if you adde or diminish from Gods VVord it will prove unjustice and therein ye fall severity and hinder the free passage of the Gospel changing it into your own ordinances using the Gospel to your own turns which is a cursed thing to do your lawes are of Euphrates which shall perish in Armagiddon and fall by destruction ye Judges Lawyers Priests and Jesuites your ordinances shall burn with Babylon and your seven streams of power are struck by the seventh Vial of Gods wrath his Law must go out of Sion which shall cast out all your laws that justice may run down our streets What makes so much bauling in our Churches To answer it is because they go on hood-winked compounding the lawes of men amongst the ordinances of God which be far distant the one from the other and for want of the true executing of this word of God all your Churches are in a combustion as Bees up in armes one against another for the truth and untill we make Gods word the Rule and Law of our civil affaires to bring our selves under the Captivity of Christ and untill then the curse shall remain I properly mean the cursed lawes of man which have bought and sold the lives of some men contrary to the Word of God and Law of Sion this curse or cursed ordinance of man God will suddenly burn up and abolish by the brightnesse of his appearing and David saith Blessed are they that keep his testimonies thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee I will not forget thy word Princes did sit and speak against me but I did meditate in thy statutes devine Thy Law is my counsel day and night I have more understanding then all my Teachers I understand more then the Ancient because I keep thy Law I have refrained my feet from every evill way because of thy word How sweet are thy words unto my taste Thy word is a light to my feet quicken me according to thy word mine eyes prevent the night watch I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy word Tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy word Now if our Lawyers would truly see this Law of God they durst not do as they do and if our Judges would prove causes by this word of God then might we call them the Judges in Israel but it is not so for they prove their own testimonies and act sin by a law but look into this 119. Psalm and ye shall find it pithy to this purpose he calleth it thy Statutes divine which if our Magistrates did but savingly look in this glasse of Gods law they might well throw away their books which be but the step-mother to this Law of Sion called mens ordinances which have thus traded in power over Gods word and true Gospel untill the year of our Lord 1650. which was then shaken though not utterly faln yet it shall lose its shining light of oriency and tho Lawyers and Judges shall never gain credit nor comfort until they do erect the true word of God far above the statutes of Winchester 2 Chron. 19. there ye may find at large that Jehosaphat made of the Levites and of the Priests and of the chiefest of the Fathers of Israel for the judgment of the Lord and for all Controversies And in that ye may find he did not set the ungodly to judge nor bloudy men that should judge according to their own wills but such as were chosen men of the Lord that should make his holy word the rule of justice to end all differences Now good Jehosaphat gave the Judges a charge saying Take heed what ye do ye judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment take heed and do it for there is no
iniquity with our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts and he charged them saying Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with a perfect heart and what cause soever shall come to you betwixt blood and blood betwixt law and commandment statute and judgement let them not trespasse against the Lord. Look upon this all ye that have contrary to this holy Law which is the written word of God given so long since to judge the earth this word of Sion shall throw down all your witchcrafts of Jesabel and your night-Spels of subtilty for ye have not judged according to the holy word of God Some may say Woe to you Judges Lawyers and Juries for destroying the declaration and truth of Gods word changing it into your own forms and not proving all Causes by Scripture all your legal rudiments must fall at the appearing of Sions glory and shall cause all your Rivers in Egypt to dry up for his word and the Saints must judge the earth and your unstable justice shall fall and come to nothing when the word of God shall be every mans true testimony to restore and to redresse to bring again and to reduce to settle all things to their ancient Oiginal which have been so long traduced from their place And without all question the godly of the people shall govern meaning the remnant of the Tribes out of Sion For I will cleanse your bloud I am the Lord that shall rore from thence and utter my voice and the earth shall shake but I will be the hope and heritage of Jacob He will be jealous for his land and have pity by his redeemed that they may have justice from God out of Sion And I cannot see how any other law can be warrantable but onely this word of God and to deny all mens mixture which are but ordinances of men and legal 1 Cor. 6.1 Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the Saints As if he should say will you bring your selves within the danger of the cursed laws of the Gentiles And in Vers 2. he saith Know you not the saints shall judge the world and we shall judge Angels much more the things that pertain to this life Joel 3.2 the Lord saith He will plead with all nations for the heritage of his people saying behold I will raise them out of the place where ye have sold them And elsewhere he saith I will restore unto you the years the Locusts have eaten the Canker-worm the Caterpiller and Palmer-worm which I have sent amongst you As if hee should say I will take away all the devourers that have led you captive which have seduced the simple carying on causes in Latin and in an unknown tongue This is not that law which the Apostle James declareth in his second Chapter saying So walk and so speak as you may be judged by the law of liberty which is Sion to try all your actions by and so to be justified by Gospel truths which is contrary to the laws of men And wicked men ought not to bear sway for God will have a community to communicate justice to all according as truth shall guide them to this law of liberty and Gospel freedom and not by mens ordinances that must fall For mercy shall rejoyce over judgement and shall glory over all oppression We cannot finde by either law or Gospel that men should die by any outward act of theft but the ancient records of God manifest only restitution and if the person be not able to restore then be a servant or slave to the person whom hee hath offended The Lord saith He that killeth with the sword shall die by the sword shewing that by murther bloud shall touch bloud it were good if legal cruelty were restrained as yet it hath not but in short time provided by our God we shall have truth established in our borders with mercy and justice to remain in our streets it hath been a long time mixed with Wormwood by rigorous and cruel laws being enacted that any malitious man that would swear against another man whether it were right or wrong as many times by way of supposition not considering the danger of an oath or whether it be right or wrong the Oath being passed the Jurie presently findeth it the plaintiffe having no way to prove the wrong done but his own Oath by an inditement under the King to prove the theft making the King his grand witness which hath been an intollerable mark of the beast and all ye Jury-men may be ashamed and cover your mouths for all the bloudy Verdicts you have given up look to it for God will call you to an accompt for all your works in that you have set the King to prove mens actions which hath been a lying testimony when the King hath been far distant from the Bench ye corrupt Judges and simple Jury-men it hath evidently appeared by some that hath been wrongfully and hastily put to death a miserable spectacle before your eys and this is a fin that will lye heavie upon Judge and Jury-men when ye shall take the King for a witness as if he were present to prove the felony this is a high principle for a knave to work his will to prove the felony done to the Plaintiff but draw the Curtain there the King hath something else to do then to come and prove your unjust act A miserable heathenish law and Turkish the Turk can but demand a mans life and what is it else to do in this We see plainly the King may be enriched by such a law as for bringing in either to himself or some other Lord of a Mannor felons goods which freedom they have purchased from him that is gone And this law cannot be satisfied with mans life but wife and children must be utterly undone and all taken from them by the lord of felons goods O down with this Babylon I wonder the world doth not violently pull her down for they cannot be contented to take the things that were stoln which is all they can have but they will have all then all shall be mine so that the thing is although he never stole before and the fact be of small value yet he must lose his sweet life and die as a dog which is a base inhumane and salvage cruelty Turkish and not Christian-like the just God and Lord Jehovah will surely confound such doings Some have been by relation prepared for the ladder and yet by accident the right theef hath been taken and for the same fact hath suffered death a heavie thing it is unto that Jurie that shall censure a man to death by an indictment under his own pretence by an indictment in the Kings name yet we do not justifie theft but that it should be lawfully proved as all other trespasses be under two witnesses every truth shall be established for one witnesse which
shepherd Shewing some poor despised Messenger that God shall send to lay the Ministers under wrath by the seventh Vial. Now a pouring forth further he saith in the same Chapter Woe to the idle shepherds that leave their flock his arm shall be clean dryed up and his right eye darkened upon the sounding the alarm in Sion which is the pouring out of the last Vial which produceth Judgement and Justice in the Earth and by a standing up for it when all the Earth shall be awaked to maintain the Creation of Gods inheritance or institution These seven Vials make out one fulnesse that is all the fulnesse of Gods time and to that end they be called Vials six of them are poured out already the seventh is now in power pouring forth which is Kingdome power and glory for an infallible testimony of his bright appearing which is called the seventh and last Vial which shall violate and burn up every All under it called six All 's or Vial Ordinances that shall be purged by it This is King over all the other six Ordinances whereon all things must be proved upon the Center called the Everlasting Word saying All power is given me in heaven and in earth Thus all Powers dye and live in him by one Power which is true Gospel for he is the Fountain of every Original and at his appearance every Religion shall be purged and all conditions changed and shall darken all things at his bright appearing and under this everlasting Gospel or seventh Vial many shall be slain and fall under Gods hand for it shall try the Consciences of men and it shall judge all the Ordinances Who can but fear thee O Lord Revel 15. for thy Judgments are made manifest and the light is discovered that hath layn hid so long and God is taking off the vail and covering spread over all flesh and Judgment must first begin at his own house and every petty priesthood must fall for behold the constellations shall fail the Sun and the Moon and Ministers may fail but his eternal Priesthood shall stand for ever the Stars or Lights shall fall before him which is true Gospel and I know no other Gospel but that of Christ and his Apostles which is not fully preached forth nor actually performed but the Lord will now make all things new a new heaven a new earth a new Covenant and a new Gospel and old things must become new and though they have layn in darknesse under six or seven Dispensations of time to make out the end of their darknesse yet now the pure Light will spring that shall abolish all under it and his pure Ordinance is now in pouring forth which is his Sabbaths Vial it shall judge all her abominations and all her oppressions and shall make out all the Gospel Promises and priviledges by every outward and inward performance For it is not your peeced out charity or any meritorious work of your hand that God looketh for Thou must bring thine offering into Gods house for those that be destitute of comfort must have and receive of the gift from the Altar and not from any mans personal gift neither can it be so proper as from God and his Church as given from a Fountain and from his house must relief come which is from the Altar of God so the left hand shall not know what the right hand doth for it shall arise from the Tythes or Tenth part of the substance under Gods hand as if we should all say we give thee this from the overplus which is a feeding together in one propriety of an enjoyment under God so that every mans Tythes being consecrated to Gods house should make up every breach that Charity may have its perfect work to fulfill the Law of Liberty which is a Gospel freedome from the first Melchizedeck which may be called an endlesse freedome for the creatures of God to enjoy and so to make his house a Common Treasury to the peodle and not to command Tythes as Dues to the Minister neither can ye lawfully demand it either by Law or Gospel if ye can then disprove this which is written What if the Minister shall receive Tythes yet he is to bring it into Gods house for an offering and not to enrich himself but to be contented with the meanest condition to be humble to God and lowly to man and in so doing he shall not defile the offering of Gods Temple nor make his Ordinance a prophane thing which our Ministers have formerly done Priest I am your Inheritance saith the Lord and no other inheritance can you have of God for the overplus of his house is for you to eat and to drink with the stranger the fathenlesse and the widow What if thy Tythes be charged into Gods House it is the seventh part of thy gift that God looks for which shall make up his seventh Jubilee or seventh Vial called his rest which is a fulsilling all his Commands Ye shall keep my Sabbath Ordinances and not break my rest In a word the Priests of God must be free from all outward inheritance and in case of want they may lawfully eat and drink with such as be receivers at the Altar of God Priest I am your Inheritanee Deutr. 14.29 declareth of their not having any inheritance and because of the uncertainty of their condition therefore they shall eat and drink with the fatherlesse this alarm in Sion cometh home to our Ministers Priests and Levites Under the Law it was to them but a time but to our Teachers for a shorter time And if the Priesthood failed under the time of the Law how much more shall it do under the Gospel By this high Priest and his eternal Priesthood and upon the third appearance your preaching shall cease and that shall be when the two witnesses shall stand up to plead for Gods heritage and the peoples Inheritance and at their appearing your preaching must cease which is the partiality of one mans tongue for God will have two faithful Witnesses to plead in your Churches that shall satisfie the Consciences of the hearers Yet farther Gods Ministers ought not to stain themselves with worldly cares having food and rayment wherewith to be contented which is not so low a condition as our Saviours were having no where to hide his head Ministers what do you fear if God hath an House and in it a Common Treasury then fear not but the Church shall minister to your wants and be not offended though we move you to the Altâ—â— it is not an Altar set up in your Churches to bow unto but it is to the Altar of God that shall alter your Customes and priestly powers Leviticus 27.30 Numb 18.28 Deut. 14.29 Exod. 23. Deut. 26.12 13. Deut. 10.9 18.1 2. the Priests and Levites shall have no Inheritance with Israel therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren Lastly if Christ Jesus had given his Disciples the benefit of Tythes
then might our Ministers lawfully demand them as their dues but they nor we cannot find it so it were denyed under the Law and we have no Gospel for it therefore saith the Lord Ye rob me in tythes and offerings Malachy 3.8 9 10. Ministers are your Ordinances the same that Christ instituted to his Disciples otherwise they be but humane or mens Ordinances set up by your father Bishops You say we walk above Ordinances it is confessed we walk above your ordinances in that we walk up to the Ordination of Christ and his Disciples which you deny to the people which is the true administration of the everlasting Gospel which we be all ingaged to plead for even that truth and no better foundation can any man lay then that of our Lord and his Disciples and so far as ye preach forth that doctrine so far we will obey you and no further Is your Authority and Calling from the Royal Priesthood or from the Levitical Priesthood there can but one of them stand which is the new and living way consecrated to men Hebr. 10.21 He is our High Priest over the House of God and he hath laid the foundation So follow him according to Gods Order and appointment The Ministerial Duty BRethren beloved in the Lord I am bold to write unto you for a more stability and amplitude of the Church Hence it is that God hath oftentimes spoken by the mouth of his Prophets saying I will put my Law in your hearts and write it in your inward parts So that in those times and at that day people shall be inherently taught of God and shall be free from mens teaching and void of preaching But some may say To what end shall this be To this objection there be divers answers As for the first Jeremy the 32. I will give them one heart for the good of them and their children after them this promise actually is made out to his Elect in that state of knowing God Secondly Every one shall live under his own Vine Meaning Christ and his spirit with the life of God dwelling in us which shall be our teacher For ye shall all know me saith the Lord. That is under the New Covenant which is his third or fourth dispensation Verily there were a knowing of God before the Law or Gospel was taught For it is said about the 7. of Genesis that blessed Noah walked with God And Abraham before the Gospel he was taught of God and lived by faith and it was accounted to him for righteousness which passed all the outward declarations Now under the Gospel here is a knowing of God too though as yet under a humane power which may then be taken away Jerem. 31. vers 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour or his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest of them And at that time there shall be a far higher and clear seeing and beholding of God when Freedome hath taken off the curse and Justice hath destroyed all oppression then preaching may cease for your children shall be as aforetime and your off-springs shall be prosperous and so it was before and so it shall be after this Ministry may cease Our Saviour by his Disciples settled the Church and laid the foundation which is called the living stone which were the Gospel setled about 1600 yeares agone which were a sufficient foundation and our preaching hath been little lesse then 100 yeares or thereupon which is contrary to the Gospel which they held forth for Christ and his Apostles held forth the outward with the inward saying If ye will be my Disciples ye must leave all to follow me Ye must not onely follow me in spirituall things but put off your carnal things this was his Disciples care to the Church that not any should want and in case of necessity none should know their own which if we were so taught of God it should do so likewise that is to do the works of the second Table with the first Table and that would truly adorn the Church of God and truly I much marvel how our preachers have fallen from this doctrine It is a great starving the creatures of God that some have too much and some destroyed by wants and in this our Ministry can shew no true calling in that the livelihood of the Creation is withheld from them which be Gods creatures and our Ministers will not lay open the ungodly abuse of them that carry the world on so for the Ministers of righteousnesse should have an outward calling as well as an inward and in case they fail in any of them they are then but Truth-breakers and fail in their Message to God and will not lay open those full Truths therefore saith the Lord Ye shall be inwardly taught of me and all know me and whosoever hindereth this work of restoration they be but murtherers of truth and justice whether they be ministers of men for behold and see what oppression is taken away by your preachings There were a two-fold curse under the old Law which in part is taken away the inward and spiritual curse is taken off by the sufferings and power of Christ now this outward curse still abideth with us and so shall do till the horn of oppression be broke and for that end God plagued the earth after the fall of Adam saying it should bring forth bryers and thornes which are wicked men Rulers as bryers in the hedge of Gods garden now I can assure you that are the Vine-dressers if you do not cut out all these bryers and abominable branches out of his hedge it will shew ye are not faithful to him nor good Stewards in your places Now this three or fourfold curse lying so heavy upon man as first a natural curse in lying under a sad and dark dispensation which is a spiritual dissertion which every one of us lye under till God comes in to our soules And thirdly that legall curse which is the hand-writing of ordinances under a general declaration of Gods Justice Now these three Curses being taken away and censured by the Lord Christ yet there is one curse more for us to take off which is our oppression in the world as man to man which eateth out all Christian community and causeth men to lead brutish lives in respect of that life they should continue in under him which is our life Now this outward curse being so inordinate amongst us that I think men and ministers be all inherently accursed that they cannot neither will they see the evill of an oppressing State which canseth all to be out of order Now God hath taken off three curses from of man which we could not have done by our selves the fourth is left to man or mens power that they should thorowly purge the world of all transgression and of every cursed thing behold all your affaires are left upon the record of your consciences