light and there enjoyes the fulness of life and he gives a measure of his own light to draw from the darkness and he who believes and follows this is led by it unto God from whom it came and being come out of the darkness unto him he begins again to feel the springs of life the fresh springs of life which are in him He that believeth is come to the well of salvation and draws living water out of it and drinks of the living water continually so that he can thirst no more yea out of his belly flow rivers of living water This is the fruit of the true faith but this is not the fruit of the faith of the Apostacy but there the soul remains stil disunited to God and united to the darkness and drinks not of the living streams but drinks dead water the fountain of pure life is not open to it but the fountain of iniquity and that blood which clenseth and taketh away the sin is not known There is onely a dream of these things in the dark night of apostacy by which dream the conscience is a little quieted for the present but when the witnes awakes and the light of the day shines the soul which is lean wil find it self in the hands of the enemy in the bonds of sin and feel that it never new that power that could redeem it but the subtil Serpent deceived it with a name in stead of the thing This is the true way the narrow way I can in the presence of the living God set my seal to the truth of it which it hath pleased God to discover and make manifest again after the long dark night of Apostacy And we come not to it by hearing or receiving of any new notions or apprehensions of things but by feeling that which puts an end to all creaturely notions and apprehensions and we grow in it by the increase of that thing in us The seed to which the promise was made the seed which was before Abraham was is felt and his day is seen and rejoyced in and by the light thereof the darkness is discovered and the kingdom of darkness is assaulted And as it dayly fals in many particulars so it shall at length fal in the general and the Kingdoms of this world shal become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and ye shal reign upon the earth where sin and Antichrist have long reigned and kept him down And though there be a great rage and out-cry among the people and heathenish professors yet the decree is gone forth and Sions King shal reign upon the holy hill of Sion and the hills and mountains shal melt before him and the earth shal shake round about him Therefore gather your selves together muster up your strong forces O ye several sorts of carnal professors Let all your differences one against another fal and joyn together against him who is against you all improve the Serpents wisdom and form arguments out of the Scripture thereby with the utmost of the skil and understanding of flesh get the Kings Rulers and Magistrates of the earth on your side too handle all the weapons of the flesh skilfully Dispute reproach revile whip stock imprison starve nay put to death See if you can uphold your kingdom for there is a mighty one come forth against you who will take the vineyard the kingdom the inheritance from you and give it to another and on you shall come that death and darkness that misery and destruction which ye have put far from you and preached as the portion of others Therefore consider your condition in the fear of the Lord and if ye feel not your selves able to fight it out make your peace betimes and let your greatest crowns your choisest wisdom and strength in the flesh be laid down at the feet of Christ at the lowest appearance of his light in the conscience Let not the least check of his spirit be spighted there but esteemed above the highest notions of light that ye have gathered in or can gather with your fleshly understandings And indeed it is no less then its due for this which runs fresh from the Spirit is more living in it self and more proper to that mans present estate to whom it comes then whatever he himself by his understanding can gather from the letter There hath been a precious seed of God long stirring in this Nation but it hath been oppressed and kept in bondage by the spirit of Pharoah and his wise Egyptians who would subject it to their laws and worships and not let Israel go out of Egypt at Gods cal to worship him in spirit and truth but would keep him in forms and waies of mans invention The Lord hath poured out his plagues upon this spirit and more and more wrought out the liberty of his people but as the plagues cease this spirit hardens it self and assaies the reducing of Israel into bondage again And as Pharoah renews the bondage of Israel so God renews the plagues on Pharoah and his Egyptians Pharoah hath a stubborn wil and a great wisdom and power and is loth to let Israel go but the Lord also is wise and strong and hath a wil more righteous then Pharoahs and by his wisdom and strength will he effect his will and Pharoahs shal not stand Who is such a stranger in Israel that hath not observed that as God began to raise up the seed in this Nation and cal it into liberty so the spirit of the wise Egyptians rose up against it exclaiming of error heresy blasphemy new waies new lights c And doubtless many tares have sprung up but the aime of the enemy was not so much to pluck up these tares as to destroy the one good seed of wheat Herod did not aime at killing all the Infants in Bethlehem but he would rather kill them all then have Christ live What preaching on the one hand what running to the Magistrate on the other hand and all to destroy this young babe When any different way of worship did appear as of Independency Anabaptism or of seeking and waiting for the truth how did they make an head against them and cry out against them for fear the young child should be born and appear there And now they see their own image brought forth there they are at peace with them and having discovered that where no part of the image or mark can be received but there is another nature in life and truth brought forth and no form without life wil down now they know where to shoot all their darts now they know against whom to invent and speak all manner of evil and against whom to direct all their envy rage and out-cryes and to prepossess all sorts of persons every where with all manner of prejudices that the truth may not spread any where but be opposed every where And all persons minds there are so filled before hand with the venome of the
by this woman and her seed and this hath been the state of the Church for many ages since the dayes of the Apostles she hass been fled and her seed made war against and killed and her heir caught up to God and the Nations which should have been ruled by her heir the whore hass set upon them and the peoples and the multitudes which he should have governed hath been the seat of the Harlot the mother of all abominations and was it not like to be so and how should it be otherwise when the manchild the womans heir hass been caught up to God and he hass been as prevailed against and the remnant of the womans seed made war against and killed and this hath been since the dayes of the Apostles and so all you Churches and sects by what name soever you are known in the World you are the seed of the great whore and she hath brought you forth while the other woman hass lodged in the Wilderness and remains childless if any man have an ear to hear let him hear Now it may be objected to me and thus may it be said by this accompt the Church the Lambs wife hass been prevailed against by the whore because it is said she hath killed the Saints the members of Jesus and of the Church this seems to shew as if the Church of Christ had been prevailed against but Christ sayes the gates of hel shall not prevail against them but she should remain for ever and the gates of hel should not prevail against her and how doth these two things agree it seems doubtful to us may some say Answ To all this I do answer the true Church the spouse of Christ in her self was never prevailed against so as not to be in being or that she was not but in her self hass remained in being and not prevailed against so as not to have a place or being and Christs words are true she hass had a place and being to wit in the desert Wilderness which place was prepared her of God there to be fed for such a time So she hass a place and has a being though in the Wilderness a place desolate and of mourning So she hass not been prevailed against as that she hass not had a being but the Lambs wife the mother of the heir that which is perfectly so which was and is to be joyned to Christ which is of his flesh and bones taken out of him that cannot be prevailed against never was nor never shall be for the divel nor Satan hath nothing in him of whose flesh and bones she is which is taken out of him and it is as possible for to prevail against him as to prevail against her for she is of him as Eve was of Adam if any have an ear to hear they may hear But her off-spring hass been overcome her seed made war against and her heir taken away and caught up from her so she not prevailed against nor overcome though banished into the Wilderness fled thither and there hass she fed and had a place and hass been left childless as I have said So the mother and the Lambs wife hath had a being and in her selfe never prevailed against nor overcome and Christ's words are true yet hath her seed been killed and made war against and overcome as John said and both these are true and this is my answer and if any have an ear to hear they may hear though a parable to the world yet plain to the seed which now God hath raised and is raising for the woman again is returning and her seed again is springing and she is becoming as fruitful as ever and her glory shal be as great the light of heaven shal cloath her and the light of the night shal be under her feet as perfectly when she is restored as it was before the apostacy though people cannot believe this in the apostacy No revevelation nor immediate teaching nor miracles now to be expected cry the professors and these false sects and Churches it was extraordinary times and extraordinary manifestations were amongst the Apostles and Churches of old say they but the same now is not to be expected nor never to be looked for but thus they are in blindness and ignorance and unbelief But we believe the glory of this woman that hath been long fled into the wilderness and hath been long without issue while she hath been fled shal have the same fruit and issue and the same clothing that she had before she fled When the whore and her seed is removed from the face of the earth the glory of the Lambs wife shal be as great her beauty as fair her fruit as plenteous as before the whore was and they that believe it not believes not the Scriptures for that testifies of the glory of the Church to be the greatest in the last dayes as we are sure and certainly know it shal come to pass when the waters are dried up which hath been the seat of the great whore Now though all those Churches and sects of people are said to be and known to be the seed of the whore and not of the Virgin as I have declared and though Nations and Peoples and multitudes have been all running to sornication and been deceived and made drunk yet this I have to say in all sorts of people and amongst all those sects amongst Papists and Protestants and all sects risen out of them in thousands of people notwithstanding the darkness and all the Apostacy that has ruled in the general yet in some of all sorts and sects there hath been a sincerity and simplicity and a desire and zeal for God and of God in them and amongst them yet the sincerity simplicity and desire which hath stirred in some of all sects it hath no soonet appeared but it hath been smitten and betrayed by the wicked without and so by the error of judgement within for even amongst the worst of sects we know there is some in whom there is simplicity and sincerity and zeal and yet erre in judgment for this is possible and we know it is so with thousands and ten thousands at this day there may be a simplicity and zeal and sincerity of heart and yet err in judgement the judgment not truly guided by the Spirit of the Lord but a false spirit and a false thing even the spirit of whoredom it self ruling the judgment and be chief there and this destroyes murders and betrayes the zeal and simplicity and this is and hath been ever since the dayes of the Apostles great error in judgment and the judgement of all those sects have been mis-guided and misted and a false thing and not the spirit of the Lord has guided the judgment and thereby the true sincerity zeal and simplicity hath been enslaved and held under by reason of the erring in judgment and the state of such are truly to be lamented where simplicity is devoured and sincerity
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 MY Soul hath stil in remembrance the grievous shakings and rendings that have been in this Nation which entred deep into the bowels of it and made every heart ake and every mind astonished This Nation was setled in religion and outward peace in such a way as was pleasing to most but yet there was a spirit within which had been long groaning under oppression whose sighs and cryes entred into the ears of the Lord and he arose up in his fury and jealousie and rent the heavens and rent the earth so breaking the very foundations of both that men generally were amazed and wondred what would become of all The former Religion was almost buried in confusion and in danger of being utterly lost a long-spun corroding war were we entangled in which administred no hopes nor likelihood of peace The hand of the Lord reacheth through all these dominions Mastracy Ministry the common people the people of God both such as were accounted so and such as were indeed so the line of confusion was stretched over them all they did all reel and totter like a drunken man as if they had been so to fal as to rise up no more But behold how suddainly and unexpectedly was there a settlement of al again The Nation setled in peace Magistracy setled Ministry setled the common people setled and those which were shaken in their Spirits got into their several waies in religion and setled again Thus there was a general healing of all again save onely of a few whose Spirits God had so reached that their wound was incurable and unless somewhat of God had been brought forth which the world cannot know nay the religions spirit of man which is below can no more reach it then the common spirit of the world they had remained miserable lost scattered and confounded to this day But the Lord hath in infinitemercy visited them in the season of distress and there hath a little foolish thing broke forth at which all the wise and religious in the Spirit of this world cannot but stumble which hath administred relief and discovered the foundation whereupon they also can settle So that now there is as it were an universal settlement as every creature is gathered into that center which is proper and sutable to its Spirit to bottom on Now this I have to say to all Let every one look to his foundation for the Lord can arise again yea and will arise again and shake once more and then the heavens and the earth which have not a true foundation cannot but fall If the earth be not founded upon and settled in righteousness its present establishment will not stand if the heavens be not founded upon and setled in truth they will melt and pass away before the fire of the Lord. There is a spirit that mourneth deeply to the Lord groaning inwardly and his ears are open to it and he will plead the cause of his seed and the Churches and religions wherein the seed of the Serpent can live and flourish shall wither and come to an end Dust is already become the Serpents food the Spirt of man in all his exercises of religion knoweth not the bread of life but the dead feed upon the dead and the dead spirit of man loves to have it so But this cannot continue for the Lord hath been at work all this while and when he brings forth the people which he hath been forming and their religion the religion of man will appear what it is and shame and sorrow will be the portion of all who have pleased themselves therein and trifled away the day of their visitation Be wise now therefore O ye wise ones be religious O religious ones Open the eye and ear that hath been shut shut the eye and ear that hath been open Stumble no longer least ye fall and rise no more I know ye cannot see for the wrong eye is open and the Lord hath designed to hide his wisdom from that eye If it be possible for you become poor in spirit least ye at last prove to be the rich whom the Lord will send empty away Sell all apace that ye may have wherewith to buy the Pearl Ye have not known the appearance of the Lord but in your wisdom have disdained it and he hath disdained to make use of you in this great work but it hath been pleasant to him to lay stumbling blocks before you that ye might fall and be broken The children the fools the blind can see the way and enter into life but ye that are men that are wise that have both your eys that can judge in religion and determine what is Orthodox and what erroneous yet cannot O hear that your souls may live Ye know not how short your time is the day of your visitation passeth away faster then ye are aware The cry hath long gone forth Behold the Bridegroom cometh and his Spouse hath been preparing for his bed Ye must off with your old Garments and have the new Garment on ye must have the true oyl in your Lamps or the door of the Kingdom will be shut upon you and there will be no entrance for you In plain terms ye must part with all your Religion which ye have gathered in your own wisdom which hath grown up in the Apostacy and which onely can make a fair show in the dark but cannot endure the searching light of the day of the Lord and ye must purchase the true religion the true righteousness the true innocency and purity of Christ the old must be done away truly done away and the new come in the place so that flesh and self may be quite destroyed and nothing but Christ found in you and you found no where but in Christ if you enter into his Kingdom for no unclean thing can enter Therefore put away pride and passion and enmity and fleshly reasonings and seek out that which is pure and enter into it and take up the cross against all that is contrary that so you may be wrought into it and found in it And turn from all imaginings and conceivings about the meanings of Scripture in the uncertain and erring mind and come to that which is infallible And know the silencing of the fleshly part that the spiritual part may grow in the wisdom that so ye may learn in the spirit and know the word of God and be able to speak it My bowels are toward you and in bowels hath this been writâ—â— not to anger or shame you but to provoke you to jealousie against that dark and evil spirit which leads you to destruction under the guise and appearance of a light and good spirit Nor is it to glory over you for my soul lyeth down in shame and sorrow before the Lord and the reproach of my own Apostacy and seeking relief from the world turning from thâ— Lord who had wounded me to earthly vanities for ease will not easily be covered The Lord
life from which they came ther 's the false Prophet ther 's the Wolf ther 's the Apostate ther 's the Seducer from Christ Aagin Christ fore-tells of many false Prophets Mat. 24. 11. And many false Prophets shal rise and shal deceive many and vers 24. For ther shal arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shal deceive the very Elect. And as Christ himself so his Apostles also after him by the same spirit foretel of the same thing The Apostle Paul speaks of seducing spirits in the latter times and of Doctrines of Devils which should prevail to cause a departure in some from the faith 1 Tim. 4. 2. And if in those days the power of Seducers was so great as to draw from the truth which was then so manifest and living how easie would it be to keep from the truth afterward when it had been long lost and out of remembrance and thereby deceit got into the place and name of it The Apostle Peter also foretold of false Teachers who should privily bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and that they should so prevail that their pernitious wayes should be followed by many and the way of truth evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. Again Paul in his 2 d Epist to Tim. speaks of the last days that the times therin should be perillous Chap 3. Christ had said The love of many should wax cold and iniquity abound Mat. 24. 12. And Paul showes how the times would prove very perillous by the abounding of iniquity In the last dayes perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their owne selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankeful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God 2. Tim. 2. vers 1. 2 3 4. Behold what kind of fruit sprung up from the false doctrine of the false Teachers in the Apostacy from the truth And yet al this under a form of godlinesse Having a form of Godlinesse but denying the power therof vers 5. Christ sent the power of Godlinesse into the world to subdue the root from whence al this springs to kil the evil nature inwardly but in the Agostacy the evill nature is not killed but the power denyed which should kil it and the form kept up to cover the evil nature with The inwardly ravening nature which devours and destroyes the stirrings and shootings forth of the just one in the heart that gets the sheeps clothing the form of Godlinesse to cover it selfe with Look any wher among the Apostates from the Apostles spirit and doctrine and see Is selfe-love killed is covetousnesse killed is boasting and pride killed is the love of pleasures killed are Persecutors and oppressors killed and is your honour and glory laid in the dust Nay they are but covered with the form there life is stil in them the power wherewith they should be killed was at first denyed and now is lost and not known wher there is the life ther is the power and wher ther is the power the evil nature is killed but wher the evil nature is not killed ther is onely a form of godlinesse a covering a painted Sepulchre but rottennesse within Now those last dayes and last times were not far off but begun then For the Apostle exhorts Timothy to turn away from such vers 5. From such turn away intimating that even then there wer such to be turnedaway from And he saith vers 8. that they did then resist the truth like Jannes and Jambres who with a likenesse of what Moses wrought but without life did strive to resist the life and power that was in Moses And this is the work of all deceivers to get their own spirit into the likeness and then to make use of the likenesse to oppose and suppresse the true life and power So that they were come even then when the Apostle wrote this Epistle to Timothy And Jude saith that ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousnesse and denying the onely Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ were crept in already vers 4. of his Epistle And the Apostle John speaks very expresly 1. Joh. 2. 18 19. Little Children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shal come even now are ther many Antichists wherby we know that it is the last time They went out from us c. Christ instructing his Disciples concerning the last times tells them ther shall arise false Christs with great power of deceit Mat. 24. v. 24. Now saith John here ther are come many Antichrists wherby we know it is the last time Mark Ther wer many Antichrists to begin and lay the foundation of the apostacy and make way for the great Antichrist who was to be their successor in the apostacy and not the successor of the Apostles in the truth And these did not abide in the doctrine of the Apostles who preached the everlasting Gospel nor in the spirit and principle which they were in but went out from them from theit spirit from the anointing to which they kept and by which they were kept into another spirit and preached another Gospel a Gospel which was not the power of God to kil the earthly but consisted in such a dead literal knowledge of things as the earthly might be fed and kept alive by And as the great Antichrist was to come so there Antichrists who were to make way for him were already come and were already laying the foundation of and beginning the apostacy So that the Spirit of Antichrist that very spirit wherein Antichrist succeeded and in which he grew up and perfected the apostacy was then in the world as this Apostle saith yet more manifestly 1 Joh. 4. 3. This is that spirit of Antichrist wherof ye have heard that it should come à nd even now already is it in the world Nor was it idle but it was at work working it selfe into the form of godlinesse that it might eat out the power drive out the true spirit and make a prey of the life The mystery of iniquity saith the Apostle Paul doth already work 2 Thes 2. 7. This spirit did work in a mystery of iniquity to eat out the mystery of godlinesse and to set up this mystery of iniquity in the world instead of the mystery of godliness And it did prevail to wind it self into the form get possession of the form and also to trample upon keep under the life It gained the outward Court for when that spirit had corrupted it the Lord did not regard it but gave it up to it and it trod down the holy City Rev. 11. 2. And this mystery of iniquity did not begin to work many ages after the Apostles but even then in their dayes already The mystery
entrance into and abiding in the joy the rest the peace where the whore within which seduced from the life where the power is into some form where the power is not is burnt Learn then and know in thy self that spirit of prophesy which spake in all the Martyrs Hear that come to that keep to that feel the union the fellowship the spreading of that in thee When that bids thee go go when that bids thee come come when that bids thee do this do it But the flesh is grown strong and strongly resisteth this spirit both inwardly and outwardly and will not suffer him to rise up in the heart or to rise up in the Nation but at any time when he stirreth and offers to speak or lead to God there 's a reason rises up in the fleshly wisdom that knocks him down and denies his voice and hearkens to another voice in stead of his Thus they first give way to the fleshly wisdom and suppress the truth in themselves and then they would go forth and suppress it in others and they think them mad and their rage riseth against them where the truth is suffered to grow and mans reason or fleshly wisedom denyed And thus is the Lord of Glory evil intreated and slain at this day by this generation of Christians as he was by the Jewes slain formerly in the Prophets in that his appearance in a fleshly form and in his Apostles and his blood will be required for the earth shall not alwaies drink it up and cover it nor the adulterous woman be alwaies able to wipe her mouth and say she hath done no wickedness Ye have saved alive the unjust and killed the just The murthering nature is alive in you O ye Christians but the holy one is slain and lies buried in your graves and ye have painted your graves and speak good words of him but still keep him down and let another rise up and live in you Ye cry up that appearance of Christ in the flesh and the words he then spake and the words of his Apostles and think that if he had lived in those dayes ye would not have killed either him or his Apostles and yet ye resist and oppose the same life in your selves and in others with such a kind of wisdom in the letter as the Pharisees had O what will ye do the uncircumcised ear is got up in you and ye cannot hear and the uncumcised heart and ye cannot understand but when this is told you ye despise and wonder and go on in the perishing state My bowels my bowels I am pained at my bowels O England England thou that killedst the Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes thou that persecutedst the non-conformists afterwards that thou wouldst not suffer the people of God to meet together to seek him with an honest heart but wouldst confine them to thy gross formal wayes of worship Though the Lord hath appeared and broken the horns of the Oppressors yet the persecuting spirit is not broken in thee but thou still huntest after the precious life of the seed and wouldst not let it spring up in the Nation The spirit of enmity is still up in thee which knows not the Lord of life but by a natural instinct opposeth him and would fain keep up some grave or other it cares not what so it might but thereby keep down the life for thou canst now bear with any form and cherish it and thy onely enmity is against those who are sent by the Lord to gather out of all forms into the life How often would the Lord have gathered thee but thou wouldst not and yet seeks to gather thee but still thou wilt not but as if the former laws made in Queen Maries dayes were not sufficient desirest new laws to ensnare and entangle the innocent What wil become of thee or what wil thou say to the Lord when he ariseth to plead the cause of the innocent for that Spirit which he raised up to witness against the whorish spirit which lies hid in thy forms of worship and religion appears in all thy Laws Councils and waies of Government so far as they formed and so far as they are guided by the wisdom of the flesh is innocent even as that spirit which witnessed formerly against Popety and Episopacy was innocent before the Lord though accused by them as guilty of error in it self and of disturbance to the publique peace as this is now by thee Some Principles guiding out of the Apostacy to the Christian Spirit and Life again 1. THat there is no salvation but by the true knowledg of Christ The Jews had received the ordinances of God and knew of the Messiah to come and believed it and were very zealous in their worship in observation of Circumcision the Passeover New moons and Sabbaths c. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God and yet God complains of them by his Prophet My people perish for lack of knowledg And the state is the same under the Anti-christian Apostacy wherein the whore hath made all nations kindreds tongues and languages drunk with the cup of her fornication the true knowledg and worship hath been lost though the eyes of them that have been in the apostacy and drunk with the cup could not see it no more then the Jews could in their day But to come close to the thing The knowledge of Christ is not litteral traditional or fleshly nor can it be received by the natural understanding but it is spiritual and the understanding must be given by God which receives it He hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true 1 John 5. 20. A man may read Scriptures hear Sermons c. and thereby gather a knowledge into the old understanding but neither this understanding into which the knowledge is gathered nor the knowledge it self which is gathered is spiritual but fleshly and so cannot save He that comes once to receive an understanding from Christ and to have the knowledge of Christ powred forth from Christ into his heart knowes the difference between that and the understanding into which he gathers things The knowledge of Christ after the letter and a faith in him answerable to such knowledge will not save but a man must know him in that spirit life and power wherein he lived if he groundedly hope to be saved by him 2 Cor. 5. 16. 17. 2. That Christ saves by the new covenant Not by any thing got into the minde by the oldness of the letter but by a life begotten which is new There are two covenants made mention of in Scripture one whereof is called the old the other the new The old belonged to the Jewes which is done away with their ceremonies state and polity the new which is better then the former Christ is the mediator of Heb. 8. 6. By mediating between God and the creature or by bringing them together in and according
and I dyed Rom. 7. The Apostle was alive in his worship and Jewish state till the Law came but when the Law came it flew that life that he had there and he became dead both to that life by which he lived before and to the Law that flew him and then there arose up a life in him which answered the Law and could fulfil it and lead to a righteousness beyond it and then his life and his righteousness were not any works of the Law but of faith and in the faith Gal. 2. 19 20. But yet there is no passing to this but through the administration of the Law in the heart in the hand of the Mediatour And when the life is risen and received yet even then there is no peace but in obedience to the life The peace lies in that which brings the peace and if there be a departing from that there is a departing from the peace Any fleshly thought any fleshly motion as it is out of the life so it is out of the peace and the minde joyning to it feels the death and trouble of it Thus saith the Apostle Gal. 6. 15 16. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth but a new creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them The peace comes to the new creature and to man walking according to the rule of the new creature and the condemnation is not to them that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 1. but if there be an hearkning to the flesh and a fulfilling the unrighteousness thereof in any thing God is righteous and he cannot speak peace to the wicked or to him that joyns with the wicked Therefore where there is true peace there must be a coming from the wicked nature and a living out of the wicked nature in him who is the life the righteousness the peace I know there have been curious fabricks in mens minds about the covenant of grace but they have not known the nature of it and of the works that flow from it and so are apt to call the works of the new life springing from the covenant of life the works of the old covenant But wisdom is justified of her Children and they know her birth and in the true light the true nature of things is seen and the true name and description given which he that is out of the light cannot receive but stumbles at and the wiser he is in his own devised way and knowledge of things the more stumbling blocks he has and the more he stumbles Object 7. and last That it breaks down relations Laws Government takes away due respect from Magistracy and superiours and turns the World upside down Answ Iniquity hath reigned unrighteousness hath winded it self into and twisted about every thing And now the truth comes to discover and purg out the iniquity the strong man who hither to hath kept possession of the house cries out as if the destruction of the thing were aimed at Nay it is onely the evil that is aimed at but the thing it self is not to be destroyed but to be set free from the evil and preserved Relations are good Laws are good Governments are good of God but the unrighteousness of flesh the pleasing of the flesh by the pretence of these the giving liberty to the unjust this is not good And is it not in relations in Governments in the execution of Laws If a man will be fleshly and walk in them according to the flesh the Law takes not hold of him his relations are not offended at him but if he come once to feel the power of God and withdraw from the evil and stand a witnesse for God against it then relations and powers of the earth and Laws all strike at him and the reason is because they are in union with the evil and so cannot bear the rending of the evil from the thing And from hence it is that wherever the Gospel comes in power it kindles a flame round about setting father against son and son against father husband against wife and wife against husband c. yea it goes closer then so it sets one part in man against another and the fight is very bitter and sharp till one of these be subdued and then there is peace fleshly peace if the wise fleshly part prevail spiritual peace if the weak foolish thing to the World in the heart which is of God prevaile And for honour to Magistrates and Superiours it is not denied but fleshly honour corrupt honour honour from the fleshly part and to the fleshly part this cannot but be denied by them which are of God That which is born of God is not of this World nor can it give honour to that which is of this World but it honours all men in the Lord. What ever is of God in Magistracy it honours what ever is in superiority according to God as a father an husband a master is it honours with true honour Christ the onely begotten of God could not receive honour of man nor could he give honour to man and he saith to the Jews how can ye believe which receive honour one another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely The receiving of honour from man cannot stand with the true faith when ye know the faith ye will know it He that repecteth persons committeth sin and is a transgressor against the Law of faith which leads to the life which stands in God out of the Worlds honours worships customes and whatever else which is not of faith but of the World Mordecai did not bow to Haman nay he sate in the Kings gate where Haman was to passe and yet did not stand up move or bow to him what an affront was this to that high proud lofty spirit and yet it was of the Lord. This was a type as the Jewish state in general was typical of what God would do in the World and is now doing The Lord hath raised up Mordecais nature and he hath discovered Hamans nature and hath given the command to Mordecai that he shall not bow to Haman And if ye could search your hearts ye would finde that it is not that of God in you which is offended for want of that which ye call honour but the Hamanish spirit the fleshly pride and loftines which the Lord will lay low and he alone will be exalted in this day of his mighty power and man shall only be honoured as he comes from him and as he is found in him but the honour which the fleshly part hath sought and gained in the transgression shall fall with the transgressor whom the Lord hath furbished his sword to smite And for turning the World upside down it is acknowledged the power of the Lord is come forth to do it That which is high that which is wise that which is strong that which is rich that which is full that which is fat the Lord
will lay low make foolish weak poor empty Lean for it lies in wickedness He will feed the fat and strong cattle with that judgment which shall make them lean and weak And the humble the foolish the weak the poor the empty the lean he will raise up and make wise and strong and rich and full and fat with the true honour the true wisdom the true strength the true riches the sure and living mercies of David who sets his feet on top of the high places of the earth of whom Christ came according to the flesh Thus I have in plainnes of heart and with plainnes of speech set the truth and the error before you and lent my hand toward the removing of some blocks which lay in your way in love and pitty to your souls Now if any in the reading of this feel a secret touch upon their hearts startling them and giving some testimony to the truth though very smal and through a thick dark covering there is that to which I speak there is my witness within the vail and there is the testimony rising up which leads to life if given heed to Keep to this and this will prick and wound judge and condemn the contrary nature though never so strong And when it doth prick and wound keep the wound fresh and open as thou lovest thy life till thou meet with the tâ—ue healer For the false prophet will rise up in thee and fill thee with reasonings and perhaps multitudes of promises and comforts from Scripture skinning over the wound and crying peace peace when there is no peace And when thou hast thus got over the trouble then the false prophet which brought thee this peace will stir thee up against the witness exalting the wisdom and reasonings of the flesh and making merry with thee over the witness which witnessed against thee and him and over the trouble which came thereby and this wil bring thee to that hardness of heart which is for destruction And then when thou hast slain the witness in thy self and exalted thy fleshly reason and understanding over it then the false prophet which seduced thee will kindle a zeal in thee against the witness in others and thou wilt prove a persecutor of the life under the name of deceit error heresy and blasphemy whereas thou thy self art fallen into the deceit into the error from the life and into the blasphemy against it and art in Cains nature and wouldst fain be handling of Cains weapons to destroy it Therefore take heed of the fleshly wisdom take heed of thine own understanding take heed of thy reasoning or disputing for these are the weapons where with the witness is slain That wisdom must be destroyed and that understanding brought to nought and thou become a child and learn as a child if ever thou know the things of God Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer of this World did they ever from the beginning of the World to this day attain the knowledge of the things of God where are the Councils where are the great Convocations where are the Synods where are the assemblies of divines what is become of them all what have they done have they been ever able to lead out of the Apostacy from the truth into the truth again Nay that wisdom is cursed it is of the earth and fixeth in the earth and is the grand enemy to the wisdom that is from above And where that wisdom stands there is no entrance for the other This made it so hard for this sort of persons in all ages to own truth Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted the. This made the whorish spirit so able to use sorceries and inchantments from the life in all ages And it is easier for publicans harlots drunkards swearers all sorts of sinners to own truth and enter into life then for these For it is easier to empty them of their profanenes then it is to empty these of their setled conceited Religion and devotion and yet this with their Religion and devotion cannot enter no more then the other with their profanenes Ye have a knowledge a righteousnesse an hope a faith c. founded by your pretence to Scriptures who can shake down these say you and yet these must fall before ye can build upon and grow up in the life that the Scriptures came from For the Scriptures were not given for men to gather the meanings out of and lay a foundation of faith there by their own wils but to discover and testifie of the foundation And he that comes thither is built there knows the truth not because the Scriptures say so but because he feels the thing is founded upon the thing grows up in the thing and the thing in him whereof the Scripture speaks And this knowledge shall abide and this faith and this righteousness and this holiness and this redemption whereas the other is but a name put upon that which is not the thing These are precious faithful words though through a Vessel weakned and weak beyond measure and happy is he that hath an ear to hear them but woe from the Lord to that eye that is closed to that ear that is shut to that heart that is hardned in the inventions and imaginations of mans fleshly mind against the truth of God Let the witness of God in thee stir and speak it shall answer me now but if thou through the strength of the flesh and the vain imaginations which thou huggest in thy heart stifle the voice of it now yet I know it shall answer me one day but then it will be too late for thee to hear it The Lord is now gentle and tender pursuing thee with his love and following thee up and dovvn with his light and though thou run from him into sin and transgression and hearken to the wisdom of the flesh yet his voice comes after thee to reclaim thee and if thou wilt hear and but yeeld thy self to him he vvil not put thee to do any thing but subdue all thy enemies for thee yea he vvil slay the serpentine vvisdom in thee vvith all its inventions and dash all she children of Babylon against the stones vvithout pitty to them though vvith great pitty to thee But if thou refuse and choose the pleasure of the flesh and the gross flesh-pots of Egypt and turn thine ear from his voice giving vvay to the reasonings of the flesh and keeping dovvn the vvitness that day of vvrath and severity vvhich all the Scriptures have spoke of vvil come and thou vvilt have thy portion vvith hypocrites vvho in all ages have covered themselves vvith a form of religion pleasing to the flesh and the vvorld but have vvith-held their hearts from the povver of life therefore prize the love of God to thee in giving thee this warning and be not uncircumcised in heart and ears as this generation of professors have alvvaies been but let
be delivered up to it and do not despise the day of smal things waiting for some great appearance but know it in its lowest knock for its power of redemption is as truly there as in its greatest appearance He that hath an ear let him hear and his soul shal live Let those therefore whom this concerns consider their waies as the grace that appeared to me hath taught me to do and try their foundation upon what they stand and that they do not kill what is opened and live in the slain openings and so in the end become dark airy dry withered wheeling about and turning into the earth it becoming their rest and foundation again and so loosing the joyes which formerly the opener did open This with me many of you may witness for whom my desire is that they may also witness the return to that which then opened and live in the opener and be preserved by him from abusing his precious openings any more For though I had a true taste of life and power from God yet not knowing the foundation there could be no true building with it and so the spirit was quenched the life wasted the portion spent upon harlots the true bread lost and chaff and husks fed upon without the least satisfaction to the soul the sense whereof when the spirit of the Lord awakened me did almost over-whelm me Yea the bands of death were so strengthned upon me and the spirit of the word had taken such hold of me that I found my return very difficult yea when living words of hope were mentioned to me to draw me back to that principle of life from which I had gone out I could receive nothing but cry out impossible impossible impossible I felt my self like a tree twice dead plucked up by the roots without the capacity of life sence or motion in the eternal being any more But at length it pleased life to move in a low way in the midst of the powers of darkness in my heart and by sinking low out of the wisdom out of the reason out of all high imaginations and trusting my self to it though dreadful stroaks and oppositions were felt from the powers of darkness yet at length there was some appearance of the deliverer in such a poor low weak despicable way as could never have been welcomed had not the soul been first brought to distress and the loftiness of the imaginary part brought down And then coming out of that into the feeling in another part there was a seed sprung up into a child and as that child grows and feeds on the milk of the immortal word I live am strengthened in him and daily weakned in that part which lived before These are true words from an honest heart for the relief of those who may have been entangled in the same snare Here follows the Testimony Concerning the Estate of the True Church what she hath been and what she is and it was given forth as being the motion of the Spirit of the Father and left with me and is Judged sutable and servicable to be here inserted and it may be for the edification of many COncerning the True State of the Church what she hath been and what she is at this day and concerning her increase and decrease thorough ages and generations past and her present State is this returning again out of the Wilderness where she hath long been fed having a place prepared of God Now the Apostle saw her a woman clothed with the Sun covered with the light of Heaven and with the glory of God having the Moon under her feet the light which was ordained to rule the night Thus she was and this was her state in the dayes of the Apostles when many were converted out of darknesse and renewed to be members of this Church for her glory shone through the World and she flourished through Nations and this was her Estate in the Apostles dayes and she travelled to bring forth the man-child Christ Jesus which is the child and husband of this woman which was clothed with the brightness of the glory of God the elected spouse of Christ the Lambs wife and his body of his flesh and of his bones having power and dominion and treading under all contrary And thus was it with her in generations past whose seed spring forth as branches fruitful and glorious But in process of time it came to pass that this woman the spouse of Christ his body the wife and mother of thiâ— man-child she was bereaved of her beauty and her garments were taken away her seed was made war against and was smitten and overcome and she fled into the wilderness and there hath sat desolate as a widow lamenting the losse of her children and being deprived of her husband and the man child which should have ruled the Nations for she hath been fled into the Wilderness and her former beauty hath not appeared to be and her former glory hath seemed to be gone and she hath been driven away from her head from her husband and from her seed Behold all people the Estate of such a woman and read this parable who can a woman most glorious and fair having her husband ruler of the whole earth and having an heir born to rule over heaven and earth being covered with the light of heaven and of the everlasting day and having the light of the night under her feet yet hath this woman been deprived of her glory and sate desolate in the Wilderness a mournfull place seperated from her husband and made childless and without seed and what ey that sees this a right but must mourn and what heart that truly perceives it but must lament a woman so great and so glorious and so fruitful as to bring forth the heir of heaven and earth yet hath she been left as a mourner as without husband and without issue for many generations This hath been her estate and condition for ages since the dayes of the Apostle which John saw in a vision would shortly come to pass after him and we see it hath been come to pass within this sixteen hundred years and this hath been the estate of the true Church for many ages a woman childless whose heir hath been taken from her and whose seed hath been made war against and killed for many generations But her time was decreed and she should but be thus for so many dayes and now are the dayes expired and she again shall receive her heir that hath been caught up from her and her seed shall spring forth and her slain shall live and her beauty shall be given her and her first glory shall be increased and she shall feed no longer in the mourning Wilderness but she shall be fed upon the Mountain of Gods house which is to be established upon the top of all mountains and her seed shall spring forth numberless and her heir shall rule with an iron rod and her marriage day is
come and the approach thereof nigh and life shall be revealed Thus she hath been and thus she shall be the Lord hath said it Now as for all those multitudes of sects and peoples that have professed Religion and as for all those Churches so called that hath gone under that name which hath professed Christ to be their head and made a shew of him in appearance the Papists Church the Protestants Church and all the sects that hath risen out of both of them they have not been the true spouse the lambs wife but children of fornication and not of the seed of that woman that was once clothed with the Sun and they are come up and their original begun while this true woman this spouse of Christ hath been childless none of these are clothed with the sun nor none of them have brought forth the heir of salvation Come let 's reason with you who was your mother who brought you forth and in what womb was you bred you that have appeared in the World and for many ages for the true spouse The mother of the heir hath been childless and as a widow banished from her husband and her heirs seperated from her and her seed killed and made war against She hath not born you nor brought you forth then of what womb did you spring all ye of the Papists and Protestants Church and all the sects that came out of you answer me this None of you hath been fled into the Wilderness for you have appeared in the World None of you have been as a widow mourning for you have been practising ordinances and rejoycing in the World None of you have been without issue nor your seed made war against for you have been fruitful in the World and one sect brought forth another and one Church brought forth another therefore none of you hath been that woman which John saw for never none of you from the least to the greatest of you was ever clothed with the sun nor had the moon under your feet nor ruled the Nations with the rod of iron therefore none of you are the true spouse the lambs wife he is not husband to any of you nor is he your child nor heir And this is the word of the Lord God to you all you Churches and sects your beginning and springing forth was from another womb while this woman lodged in the Wilderness and while she was childless and without seed and the mother of harlots brought you forth the great whore whose superscription is Mistery of Babylon and her character is Mother of all abominations For while this other woman hath been fled into the Wilderness which John saw was fled thither this woman the mother of harlots which brought you fotth hath been fruitful and flourishing and hath had an husband and many children for John speaks of two women of a whore and of a virgin of one the bloud of whose seed was drunk and the other drunk the bloud yea one that was made war with and against for the Saints were killed and their blood drunk and that other killed the Saints and was made drunk with their bloud the one was fled into the Wilderness he saw of which I have spoken and the other making all Nations drunk with her fornication and ruling over all the Nations of the earth as a Queen and while the one of those the virgin the Lambs wife hath been fled into the Wilderness and left childless without seed the other the whore hath been fruitful and brought forth many children taken great pleasure in the World and committed fornication with the Kings of the earth and these things John saw was to come to pass and we see that have John's spirit is come to pass already And come all ye Sects upon the earth and Churches so called that have been in the World for many ages which of those two women are you of and the seed of whether of them are ye who of these two was it that brought you forth answer me and make it appear But I have said already the virgin brought you not forth the Lambs wife did not bear you nor you are not of her for you were brought forth while she was banished and deprived of her heir and without her husband and you are of the seed of that whore the product of her fornications generated by the seed of adulterers and though you have been warring and fighting and striving one against another yet you were bred in one womb and are of one seed And though some of you in one appearance of the whores beauty brought forth have made war against them brought forth in another appearance of her and burned her flesh yet have ye given your power to the beast and John saw that also which we see is fulfilled some that should hate the whore and make war against her yet should they also give their power to the beast This have we seen fulfild amongst you sects and false Churches and your beginning we know and the first beginning of whordom and when the whore began with her fornications since which time all Nations have drunk her cup and her sent hass been upon Nations and multitudes and peoples Her first whoredom John speaks of in his Epistle and her beginning they went out from the body from the spouse and from the virgin they went out from the true Church being false members not as ever being of the body of Christ nor of the true Church but such as had been amongst the members of the true Church and were once convinced which had got the form and put on sheeps cloathing upon the Wolvish nature and here was the beginning of her whordom she went from the spouse and went into the World and the World heard her and received her and they drunk of her cup and committed fornication with her and she played the whore in the unbelieving World after she departed from the Saints She went out from them and they denied her and it was manifest she was not of them and this was the beginning of whoredoms and she was but young yet in her whordoms and little in the World and had not yet deceived many but in process of time it came to pass she increased so mightily that she made all Nations drunk and overcame them Kings and Rulers Bondmen and Freemen they all drunk of her cup and she became so great that Nations kindreds multitudes and peoples was her seat her place of goverment where she sate Ruler and Queen having dominion over all and all was bewitched by her and made drunk with her cup and of this woman came ye all ye sects upon earth and you are the multitudes kindreds and peoples upon which her seat hath been and over whom she hass had government And this is she that hass drunk the bloud of the Saints and overcome them and the heir and seed of the other woman the virgin hath long been made war against and killed and slain