power of God The goodness and mercies of God both in the holy Testimonies as recorded in the Scriptures of Truth and otherwayes manifested should lead unto true repentance of every evil way and work whereby God's righteous Spirit is grieved and quenched Assuredly the more God's holy and righteous Spirit doth strive many wayes with a people or Nation and they go on not regarding the operation of the hand of the Lord therein but do continue to grieve and quench the blessed motions thereof it will be more tolerable in the day of Judgment unto that People or Nation which profess less but do more So it 's not a bare Profession and Confession what people do that is acceptable but it 's in doing the Will of God through the movings of his holy Spirit in every Nation they that fear God and work righteousness are accepted and for that end that people might fear God and work righteousness his universal Love in his universal Spirit and power doth inlighten all mankind whereby they may see the evil and the good and to them that receive him in his tenders of love he gives them power to eschew the evil and to love the good of what Nation Language or Country they be of In the time I lived among the Turks it appeared to me that they had more Charity and true Love one unto another then may be found amongst many who are called Christians who live in Error out of God's way Surely such Christians are driven farther from true Love one to another and Mercy and Patience and Self-denyal then the very Turks They may be ashamed when they look back into those malicious works manifested upon an Innocent People in this Nation I suppose they are not to be parallel'd amongst the very Turks And for Christendom so called in general who are apostatized from the Truth how many Religions and high Professions there are made of God and Christ but how little of the blessed example and humiliation of Christ is followed Let the wise in heart take but a view of the greatest part of Christendom so called this day and see what works of Envy Malice and Hatred Evil Fruit is shewn forth where they seek the ruin and destruction one of another such wilde Fruit doth not proceed from Christ the Vine no no such Fruit proceeds from a corrupt root which Ax of the Lord must be laid to and it must be cut down the word of the Lord must come over it which must be felt a Hammer to beat down corruption and a Fire to consume it this Cross that Christians must take up if they arrive at that blessed Haven of rest which the Lord of Heaven and Earth has appointed for them that love him thus Christians bowing under the Cross the power of God and Crucifying their corrupt Wills and Affections and Lusts with that exalted proud arrogant spirit that carryes people above the Fear of God and the blessed example and humiliation of Christ Christians so called coming under this Cross then will you be a good example to all Turks and Infidels in the World and your good Conversations and true Love one unto another will convince the Turk that the Lord is with you of a Truth there being no other way to true happiness and peace with the Living God but by Christ the Way the Truth the Life which people being converted to and living in therein shewing forth the great Love of God to the World in his Son this will preach forth the righteousness of God unto them who are strangers thereunto and the people thus gathered to the Lord the Lord will be with them and plead their Cause whilst you observe that great and chief Commandment in loving God above all and your Neighbours as your selves in doing this you will please God and reach to the witness in them that do not know God But if you continue meer Talkers and high Professors of what you should do and leave that undone which should be done therein you will be a bad example and an ill savour to other Nations and a stink which the Lord of Heaven and Earth will never be pleased with though you may cry Lord Lord in your deep Distress he will not hear if you regard Iniquity the Prayers of the wicked are abomination to the Lord I speak the Truth in the love of God unto you in dealing plainly according to his blessed Will You that say you are Christians examine your selves will the name Christian avail you if you be out of the Christian-Life and Nature What will it avail you to retain a Name of being Christ's Followers and if you be found in the way of the Scribes and Pharisees by whom he was Crucified What will it avail you to talk of the Truth in the inward parts that which is lovely in the sight of the Lord if you be found in a Spirit of Deceit and Falshood in the Friendship of the World resisting the Just and he doth you no harm What will it avail you to cry Lord Lord and not wait to know his Will and do it What is it the near for you to talk of God's great Love to the World in the Son of his Love who invited all to him who was and is meek and lowly where the Rest and Peace is in the joy of the Lord to Immortal Souls if you be found in froward peevish exalted imaginary proud ambitious spirits What will it avail you to read and talk of the holy mens Lives and blessed Practices if you be found in the Life and Practice of Cain Nabal and Hamman The Followers of Christ Jesus the Heavenly man they were and are to deny themselves and take up a dayly Cross to Cain 's Nature to Nabal 's Nature to Haman 's Nature The blessed and effectual Cross that slayes the Enmity and makes a reconciliation by the blessed Cross the Power of the Lord and Saviour Christians being plung'd dipped baptized and brought under Christ the power and wisdom of God And in the blessed Gospel-order established and therein shining forth to the Praise and Honour of God this will preach and reach to the Turks and Infidels in the World and overcome them and make them confess That Christ Jesus is a blessed Leader and all that follow him are blessed and happy forever and that there is no other way to true Peace and Happiness but by following Christ's blessed example and great humiliation by all that ever come to attain to his Resurrection he must lead them in the way So away with all your Wooden Brazen Iron Golden Crosses with all your Trumpery thereunto belonging The very Turk sees over it with all Images and Religions which are turned into Trades and Merchandize whereby spiritual wickedness and the Mystery of Iniquity is upholden away with it all it stinks Now the great Mystery Christ in us the Hope of Glory is opened a blessed Fountain to wash in which makes clean the inside and fits and
the Lord hath ordained for peace is witnessed and in and by this great Ordinance are all Ordinances necessary to Salvation clearly understood So blessed are they who cease from their own vain labour and works and believe and wait upon the Lord to partake of his glorious works to expel the clouds of darkness and to command his Light to shine out of it in the heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ here 's the pure powerful foundation which God hath laid for all mankind to believe in and build upon and all that labour in darkness to comprehend what the Light is it s all vain labour though Light doth shine in darkness yet darkness cannot comprehend it and Christ knew what he said when he said I am the Light of the World though the World through malice envy and prejudice are so corrupted and darkened that he is become unto them a stumbling stone and a rock of offence yet he is the Light of the World and doth light the Candle of the wicked but when the wicked are lighted and their wickedness manifest they often hate Light that makes manifest their wickedness and puts out the Candle and so adds sin to sin in getting covers to hide their transgression And to such the hands of the Lord is stretched out in the love and mercy to them but all gain-sayers of it do turn into vanity calling good evil and evil good light darkness and darkness they call light and herein they reject love and mercy and imbrace hatred and lay other foundations which the Lord hath not laid and so labour in vain and build in vain which are all for the fire and must be destroyed the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Oh that people would consider and be wise and not go on to provoke the Lord to shut them out into utter darkness for out of darkness people are invited to turn to the Light and from Satans power unto God that they may have a sense and knowledge of his love and mercy who gives remission of sins to them who truly and unfeignedly repent of them and forsake them approving themselves before him in so doing and imbraceth that love and mercy and good will therein and so watching and walking in his light there will be more light and understanding given of his way truth and life the which he is making known in the Earth and his Salvation among his people Therefore be admonished not to provoke him and harden your hearts against his reproofs for in so doing you will be more and more confounded and your bonds of corruption in darkness will be made stronger and when his good Spirit hath done striving and the light and councel thereof be taken from you then will you be left in utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of Teeth For of a Truth the Lord is risen in great power to break down all the pleasant pictures and likenesses which mankind in their corrupt wills and affection have made of Religions and Worships and through their dark immaginary works therein they have opposed the Lords making known the true Religion and the true Worship which Christ did and doth set up in his Spirit of Truth and is standing and remains firm and unchangeable And therefore in the bowels of love I admonish all you who are not come to a true sense and experience of the Lords good will and pleasure in making known his way Truth and Life but are in some tenderness in panting after the Lord for the knowledge of his good will and pleasure therein I desire you to be perswaded to consider whether you have believed in the Light that comes from him and leads to him and if you were true believers in God and in his Christ then you cannot deny the manifestation of love and light that comes from him for what is known of God is manifest in us he shews it unto Oh it s a good thing to wait upon the Lord in Truth with a single eye unto him who sits with light and understanding of his blessed way Truth and Life Christ that was before Abraham and was in the body which was prepared for him to do the will of his Father in which he suffered without the Gates of Jerusalem by wicked hands and rose again and shewed himself unto many hundreds of witnesses and hath many thousand witnesses this day of his sufferings and resurrection who is the same yesterday to day and forever a mistery which is hid from the worldly wise and prudent who live in an exaltation above the pure holy manifestation of the Light of Gods holy Spirit and so neglecting the one thing necessary do live in the many things where offence to the just is given dayly and the movings of Gods good Spirit is grieved and quenched and then comparing themselves with themselves and measuring themselves by themselves they are not wise in heart and therefore are they shut out from the knowledge of the way of Truth and Life Therefore I do perswade all to wait low at wisdoms gate for the opening thereof that your hearts may be seasoned with grace and then that which hath been of low degree as to the esteem mankind hath had of it by the savour of Gods grace it will be beloved and esteemed and exalted and those dark immaginary works which hath been lets and hindrances of the knowledge of the Truth Way and Life they will be hated and disesteemed And things will be put in order by the true wisdom to the praise and honour of God and to the great peace and comfort of all the truly humble in heart And thus in a few plain words is this Testimony of Truth given forth for the Information of the truly breathing and thirsting Souls after the Way Truth and Life and the righteousness therein The which the Lord God Almighty exalt more and more unto the breaking forth of the day of his perfect love unto all them that seek him in Truth and with an upright heart Stephen Smith The 27th day of the 9th Month 1675. The LIFE OF CHRIST Which is the LIGHT of MEN Exalted above the WORKS of DARKNESS Being an Answer to a BOOK Intituled The Fundamental Error of the Quakers Detected By an Author who hath concealed his Name Herein is proved That men may not become Christians by following the Light within Rom. 1.18 19. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth in unrighteousness Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Printed in the Year 1678. An Answer to a Book Intituled The Foundamental Error of the Quakers detected Or That men do not become Christians by following the Light within without Outward Teaching c. THese are the works of the power of Darkness to render the Light of Christ Jesus of it self insufficient
to lead into Christianity wherein the Author of the Book hath sufficiently manifested his folly in undertaking to detect that for Error which is a fundamental Truth Indeed he hath made a bold attempt in his dark comprehension in going about to limit the leading of the Light of Christ Jesus which shews plainly that he is not acquainted with the way thereof and in adventuring to speak and to affirm things so confidently that he hath no knowledge of this bespeaks him to be a rash inconsiderate man But least we should know him like a Coward he hath concealed his Name And in our reasonable and faithful confidence in Christ the Way Truth and Life we cannot give such dark ignorant works better entertainment then they deserve and by giving of them their due entertainment according to Truth we have cause to believe the endeavors of such dark immaginary Spirits will grow weaker and weaker and the turning of things upside down as the Author of that Book and his Generation hath done will prove a miserable hard travel and labour that will end in great sorrow and trouble But to come to the business in as brief manner as may be that I may not be tedious to the unprejudiced Reader This short answer is recommended shewing the drift of that dark Spirit by answering only some particulars Such manner of work as this having been often answered by many worthy Servants of the Lord the which are faithful witnesses against all such dark works By the way let it be remembred 1. That we truly own the holy Scriptures and all true and effectual outward Teaching in their place as proceeding from the holy Spirit 2. That by the assistance of the same Spirit only the Scriptures c. are truly to be understood and be made profitable 3. This Spirit works immediatly in the understanding where ever outward means becomes effectul 4. Divine Light and Inspiration being all sufficient to teach immediatly it is not to be limited to outward means First to prove the sufficiency of the Light of Christ Jesus to lead into true Christianity either without outward teaching or by it The Lord God of Heaven and Earth be his glorious and powerful outgoings in the Light being not to be limited take two or three instances out of the Prophets concerning this blessed leader the Light of Christ within Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart and said David rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness The which many thousands do this day by the springing up of this ever blessed Light within even where outward Teaching is not and by the effectual working in its powerful operation in springing up out of darkness many who had the name of that they were not were both convinced and converted and led into true Christianity And Isaiah prophesying the coming of Christs kingdom saith Isa 2.5 O house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord and in the 55 chap. 4 v. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people a leader and commander to the people And of this Covenant this light promised to inlighten the Gentiles John the greatest Prophet that was born of a woman God sent to be a witness that all through him might believe and this Testimony of the true light that lighteneth every man that comes into the World he had from God who sent him and not man's Teaching And Paul saith Gal. 1.12 speaking of the Gospel For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ So here men were made Christians by Christ the Light of the World without outward Teaching and this overthrows the affirmation of the Author of that Book who saith That men do not become Christians by following the Light within without outward Teaching But the Author may know that these men true Christians and men But I do affirm that there was never a true Christian made by mens Teaching without the leading and guiding of the Light of Christs Spirit within and that is by the leading of Christ within that people are made true Christians and the gainsaying of the Truth is the cause there are so many false Christians now adays by reason of such natural men as the Author of that Book manifests himself to be being ignorant of the Light not knowing the way thereof neither doth he know the fundamental principle of the people called Quakers the which is a manifest token of the gross darkness that he is under in that he presumes to call that error which he is a stranger to But neither he nor any else hath yet proved our opposing the leading and guiding of the Light of Christ within to its leadings and guidings in Teaching without But we do oppose its blessed Leading within and Teaching without to such dark unchristian-like Spirits that doth not know the way thereof who in such like dark works in a high degree of pride and arrogancy are going about to limit and set bounds to the works of the Lord God Almighty So that which he calls a fundamental Error is a fundamental Truth that it is possible with God this day and time as well as in days past to lead by the Son of his love into true Christianity with or without outward Teaching of which Truth the Lord God hath raised abundance of living witnesses this day and by his arm and power he is raising up more dayly who are built upon the same foundation that the Prophets Apostles and the Primitive Christians were built upon against which work and foundation the gates of Hell cannot prevail This Covenant this Light this Witness this blessed Leader Gods love Gods gift to the people all mind that it did not only inspire immediatly the Apostles but also the people by which Inspiration people come to understand when they have done evil even when none without can accuse them by this love wicked people are made sensible of their wickedness though indeed as it is written the Candle of the wicked is often put out yet many times they are overcome with the Light and Love of God therein that thereby they forsake their evil and turn from their wickedness and by yielding their members servants unto this righteous appearance of the grace of God and by obeying the infallible teaching thereof many have been converted into the true Christians faith and by the Truth sanctified and then justified through their obedience to the Heavenly gift of God are made true and living Christians abiding the Baptism of Christ who Baptizeth with Fire and the Holy Ghost and therein are confirmed and settled under the shadow of his wing whose fruit is very precious and pleasant And it is by this Light that the voice of the true Shepherd comes to be known from the false Shepherd thus by grubbing up the root of the tree the branches must needs
to the fear of the Lord placed in their hearts that thereby they might be preserved out of evil and doing always that that is just and right and to be sure to be courteous and kind to all loving the good in all and bearing their Testimony against the evil in all wheresoever it doth appear And whensoever said he you go about that which is weighty take counsel of good and sound Friends so that all things may be done to the honour and glory of the Lord and his blessed Truth in which your blessings are all yea and Amen And advised them not to run into the Cumbers of the World but to wait upon the Lord and he will find out a way for them in his time For the Lord said he is a calling and taking me out and from all Troubles and Cumbers from the evil that is a coming upon this wicked World in a good time wherein I am assured of that sound and perfect peaee wherein my Soul resteth with the Lord for evermore so that I have no more to do now but desire the Lord to make my passage easie to his Heavenly Rest William Lickfold He was born the 19th of the 7th Month 1623. He departed this Life the 22d day of the 7th Month 1678. A TESTIMONY FOR THE TRUTH And against DECEIT DECEIVERS WITH A Reproof unto those who are not Faithful to the Truth which they are convinced of By Stephen Smith Isaiah 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed for their Envy at the People Verse 12. Lord thou wilt ordain Peace for us for thou host wrought all our works in us Printed in the Year 1679. A Testimony for the TRUTH and against Deceit and Deceivers with a Reproof unto those who are not faithful to the Truth which they are Convinced of FOr as much as it hath pleased the Lord in his great love and tender mercy to visit many who have been long covered with Darkness and drawn by the Subtilty of the Serpent working in a Mystery within and without in his Instruments from enjoying that Love and great Riches which is declared of in the Scriptures of Truth which should be revealed in the latter dayes in his Everlasting and Unchangeable Covenant which Promise of the Lord many who had true breathing after him and could not be satisfied with feeding with Swine upon Husks but truly breathed after Living Refreshment and after that Bread which nourisheth that Birth which is Eternal and have delighted in the righteous Judgments of the Lord over the Enemy and Oppressor of mans Soul through which Judgments the Love of God hath greatly been manifest having thereby brought to the knowledge of his Everlasting and Unchangable Truth to the exceeding great refreshment and satisfaction of the Souls of many thousands who have earnestly desired the same before the World and all its glory and having received the same in the Love of it and known Freedom by it in the Injoyment of the same do meet together as the manner and practice was of those who lived in the Fear and Dread of the Lord in the Primitive times so now in the pure Fear and Obedience to the just and equal requirings of this Creator whose Wayes are Equal Right and Just meets together to wait on him to the end they may be refreshed and fed with the same Bread of Life that so the Plant which the Lord hath planted may grow that so they may be changed from glory to glory till at length they may come to bear the Image of the Heavenly whereas formerly they have born the Image of the Earthly and those who so meet the Spirit of Truth can truely say they never waited on the Lord in vain but do witness true refreshment from the God of Love whether a word be spoken in their Meetings or no so that they can truly sing in their Spirits of Mercy with Judgments and hath not executed Judgment without Mercy in which hath greatly appeared his wonderful Love to lost Mankind of which great and unspeakable Love there are to this day to the Glory and Praise of his great Name even from his own Works thousands of Living Witnesses and hundreds have laid down their Lives in Nasty Holes and Stinking Prisons and many have been Banished and many have suffered cruel Mockings and many thousands the Spoiling of their Goods whose Righteous Testimony through the Eternal Spirit of Love and Truth they have gladly born in this Day of Gods Power to the exceeding Comfort and Refreshment of all that are faithful Followers of the Lamb but is and shall be to the astonishment of all who persist in their Disobedience against the Spirit of Truth and continue in their Rebellion against it and this righteous Testimony through all who are true Worshippers in the Spirit and Truth who are led and guided in all their ways by the Spirit of Truth being Sons and Daughters of the Living God so greatly beloved by him so those that touch them in a wrongful manner do touch the Apple of his Eye who created all things for his Glory and though his Mercy is great in not executing Judgment speedily but gives space and time of Repentance yet if they mind it not but let the Day of Gods Love pass over their heads that Terrible Voice they shall hear My Spirit shall strive no more let Flesh know that it 's but Grass and when the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it it shall fade as a Flower and that in a moment when his Anger is kindled which may be when the Worker of Iniquity is in the height of his vain glory and greatest boasting so as that righteous Testimony through all who are in the true Innocent Seed unto which all the Blessings and the Promises of the Lord are doth stand as a true Witness of the Lords great Love in this day wherein he is making known his great Power against all Workers of Iniquity and unrighteous Actions and deceitful Workers who can feign and flatter with all sorts of debauched Persons and all dissembling Hypocrites Persons of unstable minds joyning with the cunning twisting twining Serpent in all its appearances in their earthly sensual and devillish wisdom being in the Adultrous whorish spirit degenerated from the Spirit of Truth holding a Profession of the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of Persons receiving honour and giving honour according to the Customs and vain Traditions of the World by which means they have no knowledge of that Honour which is from Above Yet notwithstanding these great Abominations which they commit in the sight of the Lord and all them which live in their faithful Testimony against them yet they lean upon the Lord and think there shall come no evil upon them but except such do speedily repent and turn from their Abominations and bow to the righteous Testimony of God in them which shews them the deceitfulness of
their hearts to the end they may above and before all desire a clean heart and a right Spirit that so they may be single hearted toward their Creator and all men which except that be known the Lord will send a day upon them wherein shall be weeping and howling and bitter Lamentation and their Torment shall be so great that in the Morning they shall wish it were Night and at Night they shall wish for Morning and many shall desire Death rather then Life So I greatly desire that all People would mind in coolness how it stands between them and their Creator and deal impartially with themselves for of a certain Cod will not be mocked but such as they sow such they must reap So all mind the Fear of the Lord is to depart from Evil that so the Curse of the Lord may be done away and his Blessing known and received And those that come amongst the Possessors of the Truth who have heard the sound of it and so a belief is raised in their hearts that God is found by them that diligently seek him in the Way of Truth many there be that are thus perswaded and so frequent Meetings together with them that are in the work of Truth in a bare Profession of Truth never throughly given up to the end that Truth may be their Guide in all their wayes but come and sits down with some reserve in their Hearts which they covet to keep as Achan did the goodly Babylonish Garment which was appointed for the Fire but for so doing the Curse of the Lord followed him though his covetousness was a trouble to the Children of Israel for a time yet at length God made it manifest and so will the Lord do those who comes amongst Friends with a reserve in their hearts that which is appointed for the Fire they that covet to keep notwithstanding the many Precious Meetings they come to and hear their conditions plainly laid open to them yet still consulting with Flesh and Blood which will never yield that true obedience should be given to the Lord so cannot amend but continue in the same course of Life for not taking heed to the Councel of the Lord nor giving wholly up to be guided by the Spirit of Truth such are not in the the Way of Truth but sit down as Branches by those of the Vine but their Fruit doth manifest them for those that deals so deceitfully with their own Hearts how can it be expected they should be true to others so such becomes an ill savour to Truth as long as they continue so and a burthen and a trouble to them that are in the way of growing in the Truth but let them know who harden their hearts against Reproof and though they do come amongst them that live in the Fear and Dread of the Lord and so meet together that they may receive a continual supply of the Bread of Life and enjoy the presence of the Lord yet their so coming with a reserve in their heart they cannot profit by it So at length seeing they cannot bring the Way of the Lord to their way they begin to grow cold in meeting and so by degrees the Enemy draws out the mind and then gets room for his consultations and so perswades them to wait no longer but that all Places are alike and so at length some get into the Mass-House with other silly People laden with sins ever learning and never able to come to the Truth and begin to perswade themselves or the Enemy of their Souls perswades them that there is a little difrence in the Declaration of the Ministers of Christ and Antichrist their words say they are all good and so begin to build Babel again having rejected that Love which did appear for their Everlasting good having chosen to please themselves in some small thing which they could not part with though no better then a Mess of Pottage for which many have sold an Eternal Inheritance so with Cain they are in the Curse wandering up and down in that which is cursed of the Lord and not beloved of good men so the Lord hath dealt justly in making them manifest They went out from us because they were not of us but their reward will follow them And many others there be that come to Meetings and hear Truth declared often and confesseth its the Truth but when they see if they come to obey they must take up a Cross to Flesh either in denying to fear man or else hazard of losing Goods and some their Companions and Acquaintance though it may be in iniquity and such like Baits the Enemy of mans Soul hath ready for that mind which is willing ro catch at them to save that alive which is in the Curse so sometimes they come and sometimes they stay away and then come again and the Enemy of their Souls gets a wound now and then but for want of giving up at length the Enemy begins to be whole again and so the Spirit of the Lord is grieved and quenched by degrees and the Enemy grows stronger and stronger and at length he gets these Reasons in the Creature because the Enemy knows many will not be satisfied without some plausible Reason so he tells many why thou art but a poor Creature or you are but poor Creatures and what can you do without power so here the willing mind readily catches at this bait and then when they are asked why they give not up O say they we want power O that I had but power to do so and so how joyful should I be and such like stuff the Enemy furnisheth them withall who are willing to receive it and in the mean time slight the appearance of Christ the Light in whom Power is received by grieving and quenching his Holy Spirit of Truth in which is the greatest manifestation of Love that God could bestow on lost Mankind in making manifest his Son in their hearts for the redeeming them up unto himself out of their lost condition in the nature of Adam in the fall up into the Nature of the Second Adam which never fell but how is this Love of God slighted by those who thus wilfully yield to the Enemy of their Souls and rejecting the Lord who searcheth the Heart and tryeth the Reins and then say they want power and its true when people have given themselves up to the power of the Enemy whose nature is to do all the hurt he can they may well say then they want power to do good that being disesteemed and accounted of as a thing of nought having cast behind them the great Love of God in his Son and embraced something which the Enemy hath set before them as some glory in the World and the like but as he was alwayes a Lyar the Devil so will he be found in this for instead of giving them the glory of the World he is fitting them for Gods Wrath and Indignation that so
when he is cast out of those more upright hearts and more thankful that he may possess those Swinish natures and so throw them headlong into a Sea of Destruction whith others of the like bad natures of whom I shall say something Those are they which have heard and seen something of Truth by reading Books or speaking with some in the Truth whose words being accompanied with power proceeding from the Spirit of Truth they not having been able to resist but standing over them questionings and reasoning have been raised in them concerning their buildings whether or no they be upon the right Foundation but that being catch'd too which shews them their conditions so plain that they have no assurance of their well-being but in doubting and reasonings and fears through which secretly torment doth arise but their minds being from him that shews them their conditions which though it be the greatest Love that God could bestow on lost Mankind yet in that it brings a Cross to flesh seeing plainly that if they hearken to it they must forsake all their vain Customs and Traditions of the World with all its Lusts and Vanities these things not agreeing with Flesh and Blood which they are consulting the mind being drawn from the Witness for God in their hearts by their wilful yielding to the Enemy of their Souls who is alwayes ready with his Baits to betray them who desire ease in the Flesh and whose minds are out in studying Arguments to keep them in the same the subtle Serpent being here at work to the end that the Creature may partake of his Table for he knows that then they cannot partake of Gods Table as the Scriptures of Truth declares so at his Table he hands out curious words in Prayers and hanging down the head like a Bullrush and with feigning and flattering words to all sorts of Deceitful Workers and doth help to turn and wind all sorts of Worship which the Beastly Nature sets up and so tells them there is Flesh as well as Spirit to be satisfied and that they must live in sin as long as they have a being here and to others whose natures be inclined to Lust he provides plentiful Dishes for them and others who are disposed to Drunkenness he directs them to Companions and opportunity and at his Table are variety of Dishes for the Covetous man or Proud High Heady Boaster Curser Ranter for all sorts that will come to his Table he hath curious Dishes in a plenteous manner and in all these he promises content and satisfaction but as he ever was so he is and ever will be a Lyar for let those speak who hath fed most plentiful at his Table if ever they were satisfied but that the more they fed the more hungry they were let all these forementioned and Gamsters speak for themselves and Thieves and Murtherers and the like But in some he works more in a Mystery and furnisheth his Table with curious words and so feeds them and decks them but alwayes at his Table he hath this Dish for all sorts of Professors and Prophane that they must live in Sin in this Life this is as it were a Chain by which he holds all that will believe so fast to his Table and then let them be as rich as they will in comprehending and getting into the Brain-knowledge the Scriptures and outward Learning so though the work grows so high in the Mystery of Iniquity that the Enemy of the Soul hath exalted himself above all that is called God and so makes a shew in fine words and in long Prayers and in curious Arts yet whilst he can keep them in his Chain to his Table if they cannot have ease in professing in one Sect he will give them leave to profess in another Sect and if that will not serve he will give them leave to go into the profession of Truth it self and further to meet together with them in the Truth any thing but hearing the Voice of the Son of God and obeying which brings to the Table of God and so overthrows his Table to any thing but this his Chain will reach Now as to what is before those that have seen something of Truth and some trouble hath by reason thereof risen in them but for love of a little ease to the flesh such their minds being out willingly goes into the Devils Chain and so feeds at his Table where they are furnished with Arguments against the Spirit of Truth manifested to lead and to guide into all truth and so out of Sin which is the Devils Chain but being thus furnished according to their hearts lust being in the Adulterous Spirit takes all occasion to speak evil of Truth and them that are in it who are true Worshippers of the Lord according to his Will in Spirit and Truth so the god of the World having blinded their minds an evil eye gets out and this watches for the halting of them who are in Truth and when the just hand of God is gone out in making manifest some who have been in the profession of Truth who have hardned their hearts against reproof till at length their hypocrisie and guile is made manifest on which they hereby take occasion to speak evil of the Way of the Lord and them that are in it the Enemy of their Souls giving them thereby some ease for the present but it lasts not long but the Fame of Truth is sounded in their ears again by the Witness of God within or else from those in whom it dwells without them then the Lamb riseth and gives torment again and their Coverings be too narrow and will not serve them neither shall they Wo to the Rebellious Children saith the Lord that take Counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not with my Spirit So all unrighteous Coverings which people of unstable minds are under the Wo of the Lord is against so what will become of them that are under them O that men would in coolness consider whose day of Gods Visitation in Love is not past least by their often provocations he visits in his great displeasure and says My Spirit is weary with striving it shall strive no more now for the sakes of many who have yet true Breathings after Living Refreshment and are willing to take up Christs Yoke and Burthen and to follow him that is meek and lowly in heart that so they may rest for their Souls for their sakes I shall give a brief Relation of the Ministers of Christ and of the Ministers of Antichrist First The Ministers of Christ must know Christ and see him and believe on him Joh. 6.40 But some will say Who is there that knows not Christ Doth not all that can read see what is writ of him in the Scriptures of Truth And is not the Christ which you mean who suffered without the Gates of Jerusalem and the like Yes we do own the same Christ and that which the
and let that which is wrong be rejected and that which is right received and in that which is Right will be â—â—â—n what Fast is Pleasing and Acceptable in God's sight and that Prayer which will be Effectual and Prevalent for the good of the Soul in a Right Understanding will be seen So now begin a Fast come pitty the Oppressed let the Prisoner go free have Compassion on the Poor break off Imquities by a True Repentance in turning from Evil the Cause of Anguish and Trouble upon the Soul that the Soul may be set at Liberty to praise the Lord and so let hard hearts be melted and broken down and the seat of Unbelief by reason of which the Love of God in the Light of his Son 〈◊〉 rejected and by that means pâ—â—â— souls are kept in Bondage conâ—â—â—â—â—â—o the Will of God let that seat 〈◊〉 Unbelief be thrown down for God 〈◊〉 greatly displeased at the Presumption of Mankind who have exalted themselves in their own wills where Self exerciseth Will-worship in a feigned Humility whereby the Cross is counted Foolishness So Christ's Exhortation To take up the Cross daily and deny Self God's Love therein that is slighted the Cross that being without Fasting that being without Prayers that being without all being done without a Right Understanding for want of which Ptetended Fasting is vain Prayer is vain and the Conversation of Mankind is vain and unprofitable where the will of man is set in Opposition against the Will of God in his Heavenly Guift even the Light of his Unerring Spirit by which the World is reproved of Evil and this is and will be the World's Condemnation their sleighting the many Visitations of God's Love in that he doth manifest unto them what is reprovable in his sight but they being unmindful of God's Love therein by which means their Souls are in great Bondage under Sin and Corruption subjected there under a vain Hope by the Subtilty of the Serpent That though they live unseparated from Sin yet they shall obtain Justification through Christ and see a good End or good brought forth through Sin be never finished this kind of Perswasion is through strong Delusions of Satan whose workings are in a deep Mystery of Iniquity in pretended Godliness but his End therein is to make void that Blessed coming of Lord and Saviour to finish Sin and to put an End to Unrighteousness and thereby to make way for the bringing in Everlasting Righteousness that souls in that Blessed Principle of God may rest in Peace Now where this is not known be Awakened I beseech you unto Righteousness which is God's and no otherwayes man's but as he becomes stript of his own Eyes and so comes before the Lord with a Broken and Contrite Spirit and Heart humbled at his sight who seacheth it by his Light and shews to man in the Cool of the Day what beastly Imaginations are lodging therein to the end that man might lye down at the Feet of his Appearance in a True Fast in abstaining from Evil and Praying in the Spirit that by the Exercise of God's Love in his striving therewith Evil may be overcome and so the soul set at liberty from Evil the cause of Trouble and Anguish which is upon every soul that 's in Evil. So let every one that names the Name of the Lord depart from Evil. Come Curser and Swearer be perswaded to be awakened and see what a sad Condition thy soul is in but if thou wilt not but hardenest thy heart what will the taking the Name of the Lord into thy Mouth avail thee Or Unclean Person who art defiled and endeavouring to defile others remember That none in Vnclaanness can enter into Heaven so except thou leavest thy Evil therein thy Expectations of God's Kingdom will fail thee Come Idolaters who are making Gods of Gold and Silver and Wood and Stone and so are bowing down to the works of your own hands that is a great Abomination and Evil greatly to be lamented who are so far blinded from the Appearance of the Light of God's Spirit in your own Hearts which being taken heed unto and obeyed brings to the Knowledge of God but that Love of God being rejected what strangers are you to God and the Saints of Life and so are become Beastly and Bruitish in your Understandings your Bands of Corruption through sin and iniquity being made strong and so under strong delusions are bowing to Pictures to put you in mind of God and the Saints though they cannot hear nor see nor smell what savour think you to get out of them Stocks and Stones Be Awakened I beseech you to Consideration and know that it 's some measure of that Grace and Truth which Jesus of Nazareth was filled with by Vertue of that all the Saints savour to God and one unto another which Grace hath appeared unto all but the Saints or Believers were and are taught by it so that which convinces of Evil is to them that believe in it and obey it an Instructer in the way of Life So leave your Folly in Bowing and Cringing to the East and to you know not what and answer the Love of God in his Principle of Light in you which makes manifest that which is Evil and then will the Eye of your Understaning be opened to the beholding of him who fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence so that no Darkness can cover man from him who is God of the North South East and West who will spoil your glorying who are boasting your selves of the Antiquity of your Religion who first went from the Cross which is the Power of God and so got up in a form of words and then set the Cross upon the House of Stone c. Alas your Religion is seen through and all who hang upon your Skirts they must have a share of the shame which is coming upon that Adulterated whorish Spirit which hath led the minds of the people out from a sense of the Royal Law of God within man so that the stream of God's Love therein to Mankind that hath been stopt and in the Night of Apostacy the stream of Malice and Envy and Hatred that hath run in your Streets where the Innocent Bloodshed lyes at your doors So it 's time you were awakened to a true Repentance that you may come to the knowledge of Salvation through the Remission of your sins for it 's the saving of your souls I seek and not the destruction of your bodies so Truth is my weapon which I desire may reach to that of God which is Truth in you that so the pure Language which is Truth may be restored in all and the Royal Law of Love therein may shew it self which gives an Understanding To love God above all and our Neighbours as our selves and to do to all men as we would they should do unto us Come all you who conceive mischief on your Beds in your hearts and cannot rest
some time of exercise in this work and through the everlasting love of God in the Body in preserving it sound and intire where his will is done and a fight given of the Enemy's working therein and so not able to prevail At length many go out in Distraction to Meetings and there make sad noises to prevent if possible the going forth of the Declaration of Truth as much as in them lyes keeping people from a Reception thereof by their Babbling and Squalling to Disturb Meetings it having plainly appeared But their Nourishment being from the Vine of Sodom disobedience to that which they might be convinced of being the cause from whence the first going out was so the Root being corrupt the Fruit is corrupt so all in time grow dry and withered being an ill savour therein and a stink whilst they live herein upon Earth so that both the way and end in that way is destructive The which may serve for a warning to all who are convinced of the Truth to take heed how they slight Gods love therein in disobeying that Principle of God in them which is meek and lowly and all that live in true Obedience to it they live in safety where evil in uncleanness cannot enter nor haughtiness hath no place there but they that answer that Blessed Principle they rise in its nature to hate uncleanness and haughtiness so in its nature of meekness and lowliness all who grow here bring forth good Fruit which is a Blessed savour in his sight who is Creator of all and all who are grafted into this root and abiding therein do feel sap and nourishment from the same whereby they spring grow and flourish in a green lively sensible life of the exercise of God's love to mankind and so dare not appear otherwise in the sight of men then they stand approved in his sight who sees all things and so meeting together to wait upon him who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth all gathering together in his Blessed Name feeling true Refreshment in his Presence strength there by is renewed to love God above all and to love one another and to watch for the good in one another and to testifie against the evil which may be an occasion of defiling or hurting any still waiting in meekness and love to the end the good may be preserved and that which is evil resisted And though this love by many may be rejected yet it is that which will carry them who are exercised therein above the head of all opposition and preserve them who keep their Habitation therein out of all extreams even to finish their course with Joy and Peace in that Crown of Life which is everlasting Come all you who live in Envy Hatred Malice Strife and Contention Masters and Dames of Familes who are in Branglings and evil and rash Speakings and Discontents these Fruits proceed from a corrupt and cursed ground and so is an ill savour and bad example to your Families This is a great evil And all Children who are Stubborn and Heady who do not obey your Parents as it is meet in the Lord This is a great evil And all Servants who are not Subject and Obedient in your several places but are high-minded and cannot bear Reproofs but are ready to Answer again and to be Disquiet and Murmur and Whisper and to tell Tales to stir up Anger and Strife This is a great evil NOw to the good in every particular is this writ even that good Principle of God by which if taken heed to its nature is to make manifest that which is evil and it will not in the least agree with any thing that is evil That is a Pearl indeed which the Earthly mind and wisdom hath kept people from the knowledge of but the way of the upright which was and is out of evil And so the fear of offending God by obeying his good gift that is good and out of evil which is a true and right way to a clear understanding what to abstain and Fast from and what to Pray in and for according to the will of God So a Testimony of the everlasting love of God in his way which is perfect many have received where the Eye of Understanding hath been opened from which that is seen which was from the beginning even the word of life in which there 's no Evil so its good and just that this be confessed to before men and great evil to deny it so it s the good which is of God by which all evil is overcome so Blessed are they who overcome the evil by the good and so are built and established through the good word of God by which the soul being freed from bondage and corruption in sin and evil from which the soul being set at liberty on the unspeakable love of God herein in his Son manifested to destroy the Devil's works which is sin and evil here is freedom through the the Son of God's love in Deed and Truth so that Scripture is fulfilled If the Son sets you free then are you free indeed whose Blessed freedom is out of sin and evil So the Blessed end of the everlasting love of God in his coming in the Light of his unerring Spirit of life and power to finish sin and put an end to transgression this is seen and known to be the richest and choicest of his many mercies to mankind the which mercy of God being rejected or obstructed through the vain imaginations and evil ways set up by man's wisdom in the fallen estate from a right understanding where conclusions are made That sin cannot be overcome I say to all such who are at ease under that conclusion they are fled to lying vanities where being from a sense of God's mercies in his Son and there dwelling and abiding their habitation is in Darkness their Fasting is in Darkness their Prayers are in Darkness their Fellowship is in Darkness and their Professions and Confessions of God and Christ are in Darkness where they know not what they say or what they do being in Darkness and there reading the Testimony of the holy men of God they are quite blind to what the Will of God is therein so through Darkness the way of God that being hid how many ways have been set up in the dark the Eye that should see that being shut and the Ear that should hear that being stopt the Vultures eye that being open which could never see the way of God so people under gross darkness being led about there by the Vulterous eye an evil eye how are they on heaps about the words being on heaps in Parties so heaps in Parties being up one Party cryes out Lo here another Lo there and so many Parties with their Lo here and Lo there are set up one Party crying out Stand further off my way of building and fashioning in Professions and Confessions of God and Christ is better and more righteous then thine Another Party
the chief Corner-Stone So here was the Primitive Christians Foundation from whence proceeded and proceeds Heavenly blessed and gracious words from the true sense and feeling of the operation and powerful works of God's holy and blessed Spirit And from this holy uncorruptible pure Foundation and way of God were all true Ministers and Teachers of others raised from the blessed operation of the Spirit of Truth in themselves whereby they had and have the Will and Mind of God unto People though not all in the same measure or degree But every one being faithful to his own measure of knowledge is therein a Minister of the universal love of God in his Eternal Spirit unto the World So here lyes the difference between true Teaching and Teachers and false The true Teaching being the anointing of God's holy Spirit and Power wherewith mankind being anointed and taught of God and according to God's blessed will therein in a cross to his own Carnal Will and Affections speaking forth and delivering the Truth unto people as it is in Jesus Lord of all in whom the Peace is and from whom Peace is proclaimed under those Conditions and Qualifications as it pleases him to make and tender who is Lord of all The false Teaching is that Spirit of Iniquity the old Deceiver of the World the Serpent that worked and wrought under a Mystery subjecting mankind unto his will under a vain hope through which he beguiled him at first drawing out a Compliance of his Will unto his delusions and so to transgress the blessed commands of his Maker through which yielding of mankind unto the Serpent's Counsel they became Transgressors of God's holy Law and Covenant and for that cause was drove from God's Presence and then Fear entered and Trouble and Sorrow entered by man's yielding to the Traytor by which means he partook of the Nature of his Cursed works and being thus drove out of the Garden of Eden the Lord placed a Flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life And now the same Mystery of wickedness by which mankind was drawn into Transgression the same spiritual wickedness got in a high place above the pure Seed of God in man there keeps mankind in bondage to his will under many fair and specious hopes That though sin and transgression the cause of death be not finished in them yet deliverance shall be had by the manifestation and works of the Seed without them So here mankind being Imbondaged by these corruptible works under the dark power of the enemy from whence arises all corruptible ways man being gone from the uprightness in which he was created goes now abroad hunting about in his Inventions and Conceivings being led about by this Thievish Spirit which first drew his mind from the will of God and so in this is climing up and down every way but the right door and so being in this Earthly wisdom from below by Arts and Trades set a teaching of their Imaginations and Conceivings concerning the holy works without and so here lay down Foundations under Confessions and Professions of good works and gracious words without and thereby keep the Serpent's works of transgression and sin alive within and here the false Teachers under several covers of Confessions and Professions in the spirit of Antichrist set up And so here being tossed up and down in floods of Inventions from thence their shameful works are cast up in the old World of transgression and sin where these false Teachers are so rivited the works of the Enemy being become so natural unto them by reason of the continuance of time in transgression and sin that thereby they are now become impudent and bold even to dare to plead for the Serpent's works sin for term of life taking it for delusion and high presumption for any to speak to the contrary And so here false Teachers being raised from the works of the enemy moving in the Earthly wisdom for Earthly things being propt and bolstered up through vain glory praise of men and weighty Pounds many Nobles and special Marks with abundance of Crowns and frequent appearances of Angels in and by which they are so oyled that their Tongues run at their own Wills and Lusts by fair Speeches of other mens Lines and Works with which ignoront simple people being taken have so fed and oyled the Wheels of these Trades-men the which hath set them up so strong that they make all the defence they can to strengthen themselves and their Clients in the old World of sin and Iniquity And so these false Teachers having put darkness for light and light for darkness what strong Pillars and props they are grown under the Devil's Kingdom and power of darkness under several heads more that might be mentioned being derived from one beastly power from whence is risen several Heads and so branched out in several Horns the which are pushing every way against the Horn of God's Anointing the power and strength of the effectual and blessed Teachings of his holy and blessed Spirit the door and way by which all must enter that come to be truly satisfied with God's righteousness Christ the same Seed promised in the beginning to bruise the Serpent's Head the effectual works and power of which according to God's good pleasure was and is manifest in the World So to the praise and honour of God's holy works many can say Peace from him that is and was and is to come Jesus Lord of all who delivers his people from their sins the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World through which powerful and blessed works of mercy and Peace is extended to all mankind without respect of persons upon Earth So blessed are they that fear God and are found out of their own willings and running in their perverse and crooked nature in a true submission and obedience to the righteous works of God's righteous holy Spirit the true Christian Spirit that Christianity may flourish again and that Heathenism and Paganism under that name Christian may be subdued and vanish away and Jesus Lord of all exalted in the hearts and minds of people over all his enemies Then shall the Nations flourish and yield Fruit in Season to the praise and honour of God forever ANd now all you Merchants of Babylon Howl and Cry Alas alas What! all these precious Trades whereby we have gotten so much Gain must they all down Where be all our Mountains and Rocks that have been so long a making up by all our Fellow-Tradesmen by Arts and Inventions in Professions and Confessions of good works and words without through Ages and Generations past Will none of these Mountains and Rocks cover and hide us from the great wrath of the Lamb What must we now bow to his righteous works who takes away the sins of the World or else will ye grant us no Peace Alas alas what clothing in Scarlet and and Purple and Fine Linnen of Egypt
with precious Stones will these no longer hide our sins and iniquities Must all our works herein wherein we thought to have established our own righteousness must they now all be put off as dung and dross Alas alas though we have lived so far from the knowledge of the operation and works of God's Spirit as utterly to deny its Revelations now adayes and so have been dark and void of the knowledge of God's righteous chastisments and rebukes therein yet we have presumed that by custom of Confessions and Professions of God's good works done in and through holy men without us would have given us a right to his holiness thou the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh the pride of life and friendship of the World had never been wholly subdued in us but in such a part as might be 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 understanding and Mordicai 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 would have 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 fly into no Corner nor Hole but we are found out and pursued Alas alas can't all the Wisdom of the World and Arts therein help to hide our sins and Iniquities from the Light of the Lamb Is every Creature so manifest in his sight that made all things good in the beginning And is he now at work again And must all yield to his works or be accounted his enemies and be cast out of his presence who is Lord of all whose is the Earth and fulness thereof Alas alas words 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 must it 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 subtile Serpent the deceiver of the Nations in and through his Instrument 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 Prayers That we may follow the example of Christ's Humiliation and Patience that we may attain to his Resurrection c. What brave words have you workers of iniquity got in your Old Bottle that can hold none of the New Wine And so in your corrupt wills what will the using good words do you good but thereby add to your Condemnation who by good words and corrupt and bad actions are withstanding and have withstood the good will pleasure and love of God in his Son to the World 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 powers works of God's holy Spirit wherein his Will is manifest is rising more and more to a more perfect day of his will being done upon Earth to the praise and honour of his blessed and holy Name whose works 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 Waters 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 Imprisonments 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 willings and runnings and works therein how have they been overcome their strength being an Arm of Flesh as well as others and so fleshly works have been overcome by fleshly works But it is not so with them who are in scorn and derision called Quakers because they have bowed to God's way the which is quite different to man's wayes was that name given but in God's way hath his Arm been revealed and its strength made manifest in our weakness 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 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 know his blessed works of mercy and love and judgment in the Earth wherein that true glory and
it may come in his sight who sees all things I am cleared that herein I wish the good of all Stephen Smith The 10th of the 8th Month 1670 SOME REASONS AGAINST Paying Tythes AND Upholding that Ministry that doth Receive the same Written in Love to the Truth and for the sake thereof and in Love to my Neighbours Stephen Smith I. CHrist Jesus he is Lord of Heaven and Earth and hath power over all flesh by whom the World was made who is Heir of all things and hath right of government in the Hearts and Consciences of all people and over all the Kingdoms of men the right of ordaining and appointing Ministers being in him and also in giving forth his Righteous Law and Commands in their Hearts where he ought to reign where his Ministers so ordained of him are to wait with their Minds staid in his Light to receive of him freely a supply of wisdom and power and to communicate from the same freely and to be contented with what provision the Lord is pleased to make for them and by him there being a change of the Priesthood under that Covenant given unto Moses and the people of Israel there is made of necessity a change also of the Law and forasmuch as the Priests in this Age who are not ordained of Christ do uphold that which the Lord hath changed therefore we do deny them and that which they claim for their Maintenance II. These Priests being not ordained of Christ nor appointed to that Office by him they therefore do usurp that Authority the which doth of Right belong to Christ Jesus the which are presumptious sins and therefore we do deny them III. These Priests having denyed the Revelation of Christ's Spirit now adayes and set up the Letter and Law without above the Spirit and Law within by which its plain and evident that they are Strangers to the great Love of God in his New Covenant and being void of the knowledge of the gift of God to the World they have nothing but Imaginations and Inventions of their own Brain-study and out of others Works and Labours therefore we do deny them IV. They not being ordained of Christ they bring forth no pleasant Fruit as is evident but being ordained of man being man-made Ministers they are men-pleasers so no Servants of Christ Jesus but of their own Bellies and for the sake thereof they are abominable greedy of filthy Lucre and therefore we do deny them V. They being out of the way of the Lord and strangers thereunto therefore they can be no guides therein having set up Imaginations and Devices in their own Hearts they follow them in defrauding people therefore we deny them VI. Forasmuch as Christ hath said John 10. All that ever came before me are Thieves and Robbers or as it may be rendred All that go before him Now mind before Abraham was he was and before the Prophets were he was so the true Prophets they did not go before him they waited for the Signification of Christ's Spirit which was in them the which was their Foundation and this was the Apostles Foundation and the Believers in the Primitive time were built upon the same but the Thieves and Robbers were the false Prophets and Priests that came before him who steal the true Prophets words and use them in their Divination for Money and Rewards and Preaching for Hire the which were wicked practices testified against and cryed out against by the true Prophets among which wicked practices we finding the man-made Ministers in this Age and Generation who go before Christ and being of that number Christ Jesus spoke against therefore we deny them VII All take notice that the Testimony against Priests that preach for Hire is no new thing of twenty or thirty years standing as some do vainly imagine those abominable practices were testified against by the true Prophets read Micah 3. Isaiah 66. Jer. 5. Ezek. 13. Hosea 6. and read Christ's Testimony against Hirelings John 10. and mind all the holy men of God were and are of the same mind And for Priests and People now adayes to pretend to Cospel-order and Gospel-dayes and to live in the same and if not worse practices then the false Prophets Priests Teachers and People who were before the more powerful manifestation of Christ to flesh the everlasting Gospel who is the end of the Law for Righteousness to all that believe this is a very great shame even to the name of Christianity and the false Teachers the Priests being the Leaders into these Abominations therefore we do deny them VIII Paul an Apostle of Jesus he did exhort the then Believers to follow him as he was a follower of Christ who ever was and is a blessed Leader out of Transgression out of sin and therefore out of Strife and Contention he taught and teaches to love enemies for this Cause was and is the love of God in his Son manifest in flesh even to condemn sin in the flesh and to destroy the Devil's works of Malice Envy Lust Pride Excess Covetousness Lying Guile Hypocrisie Deceit Fraud Vain Worships Vain Services Persecution and all other Abominations that may be mentioned the true and faithful witness even the Light of his holy Spirit in mankind never did nor will assent unto to any thing that is evil And forasmuch as the Priests are led by another Spirit and acted by another Spirit as by their Fruits and Practices they are manifested even to be led by the spirit of Cain he being the first Persecutor about Religion and the Priests being in the same steps of Persecution they may say if they speak truly Beloved be you followers of us as we are followers of our fore-Fathers Cain the false Prophets and Teachers in Ages past they bringing forth the same Fruits therefore of necessity they must spring from the same corrupt ground and root and therefore let all the wise in heart judge whether we have not good cause to deny them IX It hath been so from the beginning that he that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now and when we turned our backs upon ungodliness and waited in the grace of God that we might live godly and righteously in this present evil World we did believe we might suffer by unreasonable reasonable ungodly men who live exalted above the Grace of God of which number the Priests are chief and therefore we deny them X. And whereas Christ Jesus who is Lord of the Sabbath did above sixteen hundred years ago set up the everlasting Worship in the Spirit and Truth and directed all to take that for their Leader into all Truth and the Truth and blessed effects whereof being witnessed to the praise of God this day as it was in the Primitive time And whereas the man-made Ministers of this Age and Generation who are not ordained nor sent of Christ Jesus do teach for Doctrine the Commands of men
and so worship in vain and by their Traditions and vain Customs they have excluded that Worship in Spirit and Truth the which Christ Jesus set up therefore we do deny them XI Whereas the man-made Ministers now adayes do make that their Plea for their Persecution and wickedness they have a Law so said their fore-Fathers the Scribes Pharisees and Chief Priests who Crucified Christ they said they had a Law and what Persecutors about Religion since Cain had not some seeming pretence and covering though indeed these in this generation do excel in rare Arts and Coverings to hide their wicked bloody Spirit of Persecution under but he is risen and come that sees through them and teaches his Followers of them and therefore we do deny them XII And we do commend the Reader for his full and compleat satisfaction about the ground and setting â—p of Tythes since the Gospel-dayes unto a Book Entituled The Great Case of Tythes Revived by Francis Howgil who dyed a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus in that Book are all Reasonable Objections clearly answered and there is clearly shewen what a dark night of Apostacy was over people when Tythes were set up by a Law and how many hundred years it was after Christ before that gross Ignorance was ushered in in making Laws to Prosecute and compel about Tythes And unto all we do signifie That we have hopes in our Lord and Master Christ Jesus our Saviour that he will maintain us by his Grace and supply us out of his fulness of Wisdom and Power to live godly soberly and righteously in this present life giving no just Gause of Offence to any but in all things to live an innocent harmless life keeping our Conscience void of Offence both before God and all men And if any that may be among us and profess to own our Principle should do otherwise then right and just let none be so rish as to condemn our just Principle or those that live in it because of the unfaithfulness of some that may make some Profession of it and not live up to it And we do pray for all in Authority that the Lord of Heaven and Earth man pour out his Spirit of Judgment and Wisdom upon them that they may be opened and that the Nobility of their Vnderstandings may be cleared from Darkness and Error that they may discern between the Precious and the Vile and that they may be for the Punishment of them that do Evil and for the Praise of them that do well The 6th of the 1st Month 1676 Wholsome Advice AND INFORMATION In TRUE LOVE to all called CHRISTIANS To provoke them to the Royal Law of Love as it is in Jesus and to the Blessed and Effectual WORKS therein THe Lord of Heaven and Earth who by his great power and wisdom did Create all things good who in the beginning gave unto mankind Dominion over the Earth and God blessed them and said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and every Living thing that moveth upon the Earth And the works of the Lord were all good and are all good savoury pleasant being ordered by his universal power and wisdom by which they were created But mankind being fallen from the sense thereof they have formed and fashioned many Inventions in their minds being captivated under the enemy's power of Darkness wherein they are become corrupt and unsavoury having lost their Dominion instead of subduing the Earth they have let the Earth over them and being become Earthly-minded the things that move upon the Earth have Dominion over them and thus being captivated under the enemy's dark power set the enemy's dark power above the power and wisdom of God Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever by whom all things were created who is Heir of all by whose Power Life and Immortality is brought to Light glory be to him for ever But people being imbondaged and corrupted they are become such slaves thereunto and in such a ground of Infidelity that they cannot so much as believe in God's power and wisdom which is manifested to create again into its own primitive savoury holy Life in Dominion over the Earth but in the State of Infidelity mankind being plunged with their narrow spirits they go about to measure the things of God and in their fallen Earthly wisdom to weigh things of Eternity and being confounded in their works what variety of coverings do people get to cover their shame in all parts of the World as well as in Christendom so call'd where indeed they do greatly excel other Nations in curious Arts to make coverings to hide their great shame a miserable Trade but very costly in in this Nation And forasmuch as the love of God hath been and is largely manifested through which many have been and are redeemed from that great folly and madness in that vain travail and labour in joyning with those Arts-men of the Times who spend their dayes and consume abundance of Treasure in making false coverings to cover their shame out of which confusion many being redeemed who are baptized into Christ and have put on Christ's beautiful Garment and are comely in his sight who is Lord of Heaven and Earth before whom every Creature is manifest and because such cannot run with them in the same Excess of Riot and pay towards the Maintenance of those Sottish Arts-men what a wonder they make of it and cry to the Magistrates for help to punish the Innocent people for keeping their Consciences void of offence both towards God and man What Imprisoning even many to Death and Spoiling Tearing and Rending of Goods seeking thereby the destruction and ruin of many thousands of industrious laborious Families A practice not so common amongst the very Turks among whom I having lived I did observe something of their Behaviours to the Christians and Jews that live amongst them and one unto another and in many common Civilities which are called moral in which they seemed to exceed many who are called Christians in Christendom the Christians that live amongst them of several Opinions agreeing together in outward concerns do enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences in their several ways of Worship and the Jews have the same freedom the Jews observing the Seventh day and are quiet and the Christians the First day and are not disturbed and the Turks observe the Sixth day and I did not perceive any Penalties inflicted either on Christians or Jews for worshipping of God as they suppose they should but they do live quietly and peaceably one with another in these Concerns And concerning the Turks Moderation in permitting the Christians so quietly to enjoy their several perswasion in Religious matters I made some Inquiry What reason they could give for the same and thus answer was returned me thus saith Turk In case we should go about to
prepares for his glorious and everlasting Kingdom the desire of all Nations is come and coming blessed are all they that wait for him and receive him where there is neither Greek nor Jew Col. 3.11 Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is all and all And this Love of God to the World in his Son Christ Jesus the Lord of Heaven and Earth by his universal Power and Wisdom hath raised thousands of Living Witnesses who cannot deny him before men knowing assuredly that the Cause is the Lord's and he will plead it with all flesh and to all faithful and true witnesses that continue to the end they shall have a Crown Immortal Life the which Life and Immortality is brought to Light through the Gospel praises be to his holy Name forever So it s for True Christianity that many who are call'd Quakers have so deeply suffered to this day and in this true Self-denyal and dayly Cross following our blessed Leader and Commander Christ Jesus we have sought the good of all mankind testifying against Infidelity and Corruption where-ever it appears Take but a view of this Nation and see what abundance of poor distressed Families are begging up and down and many are ready to perish for want of Conveniencies and do but view how others do swell in Pride and Luxury and cover themselves over with a Name of Christian whatever esteem this may have in the sight of fallen men I am sure it hath none with God nor those who are raised unto some degree of knowledge of his divine power and wisdom by which all things were created good in the beginning and by which alone that which is out of order must be put into order again The Lord God prosper his blessed work of Reformation which he hath begun in the Earth saith my Soul and the Souls of all who are truly sensible of his Righteousness therein By one that did Live several years amongst them Stephen Smith The 8th day of the 12th Month 1673 THE END A Faithful Testimony Concerning the SCRIPTURES And Dangerous Estate that they are in who through their private Interpretations do add unto and diminish from the Holy Prophesies therein Contained And do thereby make void the End and Tendency of Gods great Love through the Moving of his Holy Spirit in Holy Men in giving forth those Blessed Testimonies plainly shewn And the Blessed Motion Operation Revelation and Divine Inspiration of Gods Holy Spirit in its Blessed Works and Manifestation in this day time and season Asserted And an Exhortation unto all to Bow to the Light and Manifestation of Gods Holy Spirit in them least the things which concern their Everlasting Rest and Peace be hid from them With some brief Instances of Wicked motions and their Effects and Blessed motions and their Effects taken out of the Scriptures Revel 22.18 For I Testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophesie of this Book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book Printed in the Year 1679. A Faithful Testimony Concerning the SCRIPTURES COme all Professors of the holy Scriptures to the tryal whether there may not be great and high talking of by those who are real opposers of the very end and tendency of that love and mercy of God which through the Scriptures is testified unto Come to plain dealing and weigh things in a true ballance and let that which is light and vain which is a lett that the Noble Seed cannot come forth Let that be cast off that the Nobility of your Understandings may be opened and cleared from darkness and error that the things which concerns your everlasting peace may be witnessed before you go from hence and shall be seen no more The 2 Pet. 1.20 21. Knowing this first that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation For the Prophecy came not in old time by the Will of man But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Now mind since the Prophesies in Scripture is of no private interpretation let all who would not be supposed to be of that number who are giving their private Interpretation of those weighty and high concerns consider what Spirit they are led and acted by therein For as much as those weighty concerns cannot be understood but by the universal love and mercy of God in and through the manifestation of the Light of his holy Spirit given to every man to profit withall Therefore all had need to consider whether they feel and understand the mind and will of God through the manifestation of his blessed Spirit leading and guiding them into the knowledge of those Prophesies aforesaid And if this love of God in the manifestation of his Spirit be not taken heed unto and received and used for that end it is given all they who neglect it can give no other Interpretation of the Prophesies but what they conceive in their private Conceptions the which is a dangerous Estate the Prophesies being deep things wherein the great Salvation of the Lord unto mankind is signified and this goodness and mercy of the Lord is only revealed by his Spirit as said the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for he searcheth all things yea the deep things of God So it s by taking heed unto the manifestation of the blessed gift of God by which the love and mercy of God were witnessed unto by the holy men of God that the Scriptures of Truth come to be clearly understood And this Spirit of God giving to man kind light and understanding in the things of God this also pure and holy in man the which must be taken heed unto by all that comes to a clear understanding in those weighty concerns of life and peace under that penalty least they be hid from them Therefore there is a necessity even for all to take heed to that love of God in the blessed operation and inshining of his holy Spirit in them as saith the holy Apostle Rom. 1.19 Because that which may be knâ—â—â— of God is manifest in them for God hath 〈…〉 unto them And therefore aâ—â— that deny this universal love of God the moving of his holy Spirit and do nor the heed to the manifestation of it in themselves they are they who are the opposers of the love and mercy of God signified through the Scriptures And thus in the works of darkness being found opposers of the 〈◊〉 intent and meaning of the will of God through the blessed operation of his good Spirit how are people giving private Interpretations of the Prophesies in the Scriptures according to their own private Imaginary conceivings adding and diminishing to bring them to their corrupt minds and wills In which works of darkness they make void the great love of God testified of by holy men throughout the Scriptures and so are without the real benefit which
is and may be received through Faith and Comfort of the holy Scriptures by them who do truly take heed to the manifestation of God's holy Spirit in them which convinceth the World of sin and therefore universal and take that for a rule and guide to walk by out of darkness and to guide and lead into all Truth Oh it 's the carnal mind which is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be It 's that mind that would make void this love of God in the manifestation of his Spirit to every man to profit with as saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Therefore it is of necessity for all to take heed to the Revelation and Manifestation of Gods holy Spirit in them if ever they come to a true knowledge of the love and mercy of God testified unto in old time And therefore it 's good for all to consider what state they are in whether in a natural or spiritual whether in a capacity to receive an understanding in the things of God testified of in the Scriptures or whether in a natural estate wresting them to their own destructions In that state what false conceptions about the things of God are brought forth the which genders to bondage and corruption And in this Worldly wisdom what diversity of Inventions do people get make and find out to keep them from the Cross which Christ exhorted his followers to take up dayly and follow him Though this may be accounted as foolishness to them that perish yet as said the Apostle But unto us that are saved it 's the power of God It was not the intent in the moving of God's holy Spirit in holy men in giving forth those blessed Testimonies of God's righteousness and love therein unto the world that people in their carnal minds and natural estates should cover their unrighteousness therein and deck and trim themselves therewith for some selfish advantage the which are very presumptuous sins that have gotten dominion in the hearts of those who do account themselves Leaders of the people And indeed if the people did not love to have it so they would bow to the manifestation of God's love and mercy in them But being contrary minded then to yeild to the good will and pleasure of God in the moving of his good Spirit how greatly do they provoke the Lord of Heaven and Earth in grieving and vexing of his holy Spirit as said the Prophet Isaiah in another Case 63.10 But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them In that state it 's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living I do therefore beseech all to be considerate in this weighty concern wherein the Souls Immortal are so deeply concerned and let not the day of God's Visitation in and by the striving of his good Spirit pass over your heads least you be left mourning and grieving without God in the World and so without any certain hope of all the Saints and Sanctified in the Truth And through the blessed operation and revelation of the holy Spirit of Truth he is now the hope of all them who are real denyers of that which hath a tendency of grieving and quenching his holy Spirit and in this is Christs Doctrine obeyed in denying that which is contrary to the will of God whose blessed will is the satisfaction of all and for that end hath he given of his good Spirit unto all the which ought to be taken unto by all The gain-saying of the striving thereof was the cause of the Worlds overthrow of old in that they grieved his good Spirit and therein provoked the Lord of Glory till in his hot displeasure he said his Spirit should not alwayes strive with them And the cause of the Scribes and Pharisees Crucifying the Lord of Glory by their wicked hands was by their doing despite unto Gods holy Spirit they being stiff Necked did resist the moving and striving of Gods holy Spirit as their Fathers did before them which brought those sad and miserable Calamities which may be read of upon them And that which was the cause of Ignorance in Dayes Ages and Generations past is now the cause of great ignorance in which the people living in error know not the Scriptures nor the power of God and for want of the knowledge thereof people do perish Thus plain and evident it is to all who have the Eyes of their understandings opened that they who are true owners of the Scriptures their sense and knowledge thereof comes by the moving of the Spirit of Christ who lighteth every man that comes into the world unto which the true Gospel Ministers turned people even from darkness that was in them unto the Light that was in them which Light that shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehendeth it not In this principle of the Light of Gods holy Spirit which makes manifest the Deeds of Darkness must all believe and obey that come to find Life and Peace And read John 1.1 what is there said concerning the word of God by which all things were made the which the Devil is out of though he may get the words and talk and preach of the word But being out of the word of God he cannot preach that He that can receive it let him for in him the word by which all things were made is Life and the Life is the Light of men And for the inshining and breathing forth of this Light out of Darkness must all wait in the Self-denyal of all dark works taking up the Cross dayly thereunto that Life and Immortality may be brought to Light through the Gospel And if this be hid It is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them that believe not 2 Cor. 3.3 4. least the light of his glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine upon them And whilst this love of God testified unto through the Scriptures remains hid what true benefit can such be supposed to have of the Scriptures though they may be never such high Talkers and Professors thereof Oh that people would consider what they are doing that they may not labour and travail all their days in vain and lye down in sorrow at last Come be sober be wise you Professors of the Scriptures and remember that it is witten For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 that every one may receive the things done in the body whether they be good or bad What then will a bare Profession of holy mens words and works wrought without you avail you if you be found in uncleanness in unsavoury words and works
What will it avail you to have read what blessed and holy Lives the Saints and Servants of the most High God led and possessed if you be found in an unsavoury Life and in an unholy Conversation in an unclean Possession If so will you not be found denyers of the scope and tendency of Scriptures where it is written to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace and all that possess this are in a clean and holy possession The Scriptures saith to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace So to the blessed motions of Gods holy Spirit you must turn your minds and eye its leadings and guidings this is the way the Saints and Servants of the most high God were directed to and guided in by the true Preachers of the everlasting Gospel And therefore unto that of God which he manifests and shews you must bring your hearts and minds before you can know the law of the Spirit of Life to set you free from the law of sin and death Oh consider will a talk of freedom avail one in Captivity whilst he sees no way but that he must remain so all his Life time Awake awake out of your Dream unto righteouâ—ness and sin not that you may â—now â—he Lord and his way the which is above mans ways as the Heaven is above the Earth The Lord of Heaven and Earth hath ordained a means and way to everlasting Peace and Happinâ—ss and the Scriptures testifie the same Even of Christs spiritual appearance who is the Way Truth and Life so to that of God which is holy must every one come that is made holy unto that which is righteous must every one come that is truly made righteous and meet for the Kingdom of God the which the unrighteous cannot inherit Oh hat people would consider their wayes wherein they walk and not go on in evil wayes and satisfie themselves with a â—alk what they have heard of the righteous way and live out of it for the great love of God in his Heavenly gift to the World was and is that people should be led by it to that repentance never to be repented of even to forsake that which is manifest to be wrong false and evil by the faithful and true witness the Spirit of Truth in every one As it is written Behold I have given him for a witness to the people Isaiah 55.4 a Leader and Commander to the people And it is also written 1 Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself Blessed are they who are in the way of the knowledge of reconciliation unto this faithful and true witness and live up unto it This will be to their joy and comfort in that life and peace which is everlasting And to them that do not believe he is a witness of their unbelief and hard heartedness to their shame and confusion as you may read And I will come near to you to Judgment Malachi 3.5 and I will be a swift witness against Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against false Swearers and against those that oppress the Hireling in his Wages the Widow and the Fatherless and that turn away the stranger from his right and fear not me saith the Lord of Hosts read Rom 8.16 Joh. 1.5 By this you may see how plentifully the Scriptures testifie of the Spirit of Truth witness And now try in your selves come to the examination if any be unclean in Thought or Action is there not that within that shews it and witnesseth against it If any be unmerciful this witness will witness against it if any back-bite or defraud or murmur or lye or steal or bear false witness or contemn the counsel of the Lord and proud and high minded in contemning his holy Law and Commandment this faithful and true witness will ever be a witness against all such and against all that is bad and hath a tendency of defiling and corrupting any And therefore all they that deny this are real denyers of the love and mercy of God testified unto through the Scriptures And further concerning this faithful and true wirness Christ the word of God observe what the Scripture saith Bom. 10.6 7. Say not in thy heart who shall ascend into Feaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead But what saith it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach Now mind are not you opposers of the love and mercy of God in the moving of his holy Spirit in those holy men which gave forth the Scripture whilst you remain gain-sayers of that more sure word so nigh the heart and mouth and in your exaltedness of Spirit in a fleshly worldly wisdom being puft up above what is written what a vain travail and labour they live in In imagining and creating to your selves a contrary way to what the Lord hath ordained to salvation Come to the witness in you and by that if you conrinue your subjection thereunto you will be sensible that it is the love of God unto you and in this love be admonisht to give private Interpretations of the Prophesies in the Scripture least thereby you provoke the Lord till swift destruction comes upon you And for your further Information observe what the Sripture saith 1 Joh. That was the true light which lighteth every man that comes into the World as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God The Scripture doth not say as many as profess him he gives power but it saith as many as receive him who lighteth every man that comes into the World to them he gives power c. Indeed he is to be received in his spiritual appearance and for that end he stâ—nds at the door and knocks in gentle reproofs and convincement whereby the hard heart must be broken and set open unto him and receive him before the remission from evil be witnessed and the great horrible clouds of darkness be expelled and the vail over the heart rent and power received to overcome the wicked one as it is written Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice Revel 3.20 and open the door I will come into him and will Sup with him and he with me This is a great tender of love and mercy be they not very hard hearted that saith unto him depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways these are they that oppose the Scriptures Testimony and shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men Mat. 23.13 for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in This was the sad and deplorable condition of those high professors of the Law and the Prophets whom Christ pronounced dreadful wo against And all that are refisting the Spirits Testimony in themselves
quarter And he did not rail in saying so he spoke the Truth Read what wicked motions there was in the flesh and the motion of the true Prophet against them said he They were as fed Horses every one neighed after his neighbours Wife Jer. 5. The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof Read the true Prophets motion in the word of Truth against the false fleshly Prophets motion Who moved for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread Ezek. 13. Read how wicked they were The wicked false Teachers in this Age have a larger and richer Trade they move for Thousands of Pounds The true Prophet moving in the Truth cryed out against the horrible wicked fleshly motions of the Priests and said As troops of Robbers wait for a man Hosea 6. so the company of Priests murder in the way by consent for they commit lewdness Observe they were agreed in their motion Read the wicked motions of a wicked spirit in the Presidents Princes Governours Counsellers who moved the King to make an unalteralterable Decree to insnare Daniel Dan. 7. because he was Honest and Just And though Daniel was acquainted therewith and knew the penalty yet he was moved in a good Spirit to open his Windows and pray as before And read what became of the motions of the wicked and also of the blessed motions The good Spirit in the Prophet moved him to testify against the false Spirits motions both in head and tail Said he The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for Hire Mic. 3.1 and the Prophets thereof Divine for Money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us Oh the presumption and confidence of wicked motions and observe how hireling Priests were cryed out against in former dayes as well as in these last dayes Christ in his Doctrine gave people warning To beware of the Scribes which love to go in long Clothing and love Salutations in the Market places Mark 12. and the chief Seats in the Synagogues and the uppermost Rooms at Feasts Which devour Widows houses and for a pretence make long Prayers But they are worse that make Widows and devour Estates examine the Jailers Calenders for near 30 years last past Acts the 20. The Apostle was moved by a good Spirit to declare what should come after him saying For I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the Flock And what a wonderful motion this wicked generation have had for near this 30 years let all them that have heard and seen and are more moderate and wise in heart judge 1 Joh. 2. There you may read that there was then many Antichrists and the evil motions of that wicked Spirit the which was then in the World Chap. 4.3 was to deny Christ's coming in flesh And John being in the Spirit on the Lords day had wonderful things revealed unto him both of the Beasts rising out of the Sea and out of the Earth Revelation and with what swelling Pride he exalted himself over the Saints and Servants of the Lord God And how that Kings agreed to give their strength and power unto the Beast with one mind to make War with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them For he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are blessed and chosen and faithful And he saw the downfall of Babylon and the End of the Beast and false Prophet Read chap. 19. And this is coming to pass and must be fulfilled glory praises and honour be given to the Lord God forever And thus unprejudiced Reader who hath some Breathings after the knowledge of the Lord and canst not take up a rest in a sinful state but desires that true Judgment may go forth Here is plain Truth and also some brief instances therein which is but few to what might be given from Genesis to the Revelations of the wicked Spirits motions and their Effects and of the blessed motions of Gods good Spirit and their Effects by which thou mayest see by the fruits and practices who are of that brood and generation of Cain and his followers and who are of the generation of Abel and his followers And what a wicked proud arrogant Spirit that is which dares presume to limit the moving of Gods holy Spirit in its Revelation Operation and Divine Inspiration And by which wicked and presumptuous works that proud ambitious and aspiring Spirit hath turned the very end and tendency of the love and mercy of God in the moving of this holy Spirit through holy Men in giving forth those blessed Testimonies and Prophesies in Scriptures even quite to another use then intended And how the Antichristian Spirit which was in the World in the Apostles dayes wrought in a Mistery of Iniquity and in Confessions and Professions from the true witnesses Testimony that Christ was come into the World and how he was Born and how he Suffered and was Ascended and will come again which is all true But under this fair covering the Merchants of Babylon set up their Trades and fraighted their Vessels with the Whores Trumpery and with fair Speeches and good Words out of the Life out of the Power they have deluded poor Souls making Merchandize of them setting up that which is profitable in the way of righteousness for the way of righteousness and so excluded the second coming of Christ in Spirit to them that look and wait for him without sin unto Salvation This great mistery the which is Christ in us the hope of Glory the way of Truth and Life the way of Righteousness unto the Father out of which none can come unto him this by their Arts they have wholly excluded And thus having set the Scripture for a chief rule and only rule of Life they have excluded the Spirit of Truths guide and leadings the which the Scripture directs unto and so set the Scriptures above the Spirit by the moving of which they were given forth And the Words and Writings of the Scripture they have set up for the word it self And this Spirit having put the Declaration and Writings of Matthew Mark Luke and John for the Gospel here the Gospel the power of God that is excluded and Christ the word of God in the heart and mouth that is excluded And thus having turned the Scripture upside down The man of sin the Son of Perdition 2 Thes 2.3 who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And now saying in effect that the day of Christ is past as touching his appearance and coming in the flesh he is at a remoteness or distance from his people Now Revelations are ceased say they and the best
Spirit which is the one true Baptism through and by him who is to increase in all his Blessed Office as Priest to Minister according to the necessities of all that come unto him as proper to open the Mysteries that are hid from the Wise and Prudent a Bishop to oversee what is lacking in the Church a Shepherd to lead his Flock in an out and to Feed them in Green Pastures of Life and Peace a Physitian to heal the Wounded a Prince to give forth his Righteous Laws and Decrees in his Church where his Righteous Holy Laws are written in the Heart is to be read and spread before all that all who are met in his holy Name may partake of his Divine Nature and so become Heirs of his everlasting Kingdom which never shall have end So Blessed are they who believe in God and do not make haste but wait patiently for the fulfilling of his promise that you may be delivered and kept from Worshipping the Inventions of men So in good will to all who have a desire to Truth is this given forth by Stephen Smith The 27th day of the 8th Month 1673. An Answer to a Paper called The Gospels Glory A Paper Intituled The Gospels Glory or the Covenant of Grace and Grace of the Covenant Vnfolded And for the better understanding of them who Impartially desire to know the Truth as it is in Jesus is this brief Answer given The Blessed Gospel of Christ glad Tydings of Christ The Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 17. therein is the righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith This was preached unto Abraham which was hundreds of years before Moses and therefore so long before his Writings And the same blessed Gospel they which are of the same faith with blessed Abraham Gal. 2.8 are blessed with him in the knowledge of this is invisibly to be felt and seen to expel the Clouds of darkness and error and to rent the vail thereof and to break down the Partition wall which is made up through sin and iniquity and thus to finish sin and put an end to transgression and to bring in everlasting righteousness and herein is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in them that believe through the Gospel of Christ he being the end of the law for righteousness to them that believe And in this invisible glorious work in opening the understandings of them that believe is the glory of the Gospel manifestly shewed 2 Cor. 4.3 4. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of the World hath blinded the minds of them which believe not least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them so unbelief is the cause why people have not the knowledge of the Gospel which the Apostle was not ashamed of it being the power of God unto salvation the power of a Saviour the wisdom of a Saviour Christ Jesus the Heavenly man In his blessed spiritual appearance for the refreshing of every truly hungering and thirsting soul after his righteousness Paul to the Galatians saith the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man Gal. 1.11 12. for I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ so that the blessed Gospel is an inward glorious work wrought by the Spirit and power of Christ Jesus the foundation of all the Prophets and Apostles on which the true believers were and are built to the praise and honour of God for ever And whereas he saith the grace of the Covenant unfolded therein he shows what birth he is of which might fitter be imployed in its Poetry in making of Balads then to be found so presumptuous in affirming the grace of the Covenant unfolded in that dark imaginary stuff in that Paper The grace of God being an invisible appearance of Gods holy Spirit unto all mankind which is testified to Paul and Titus For the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men Teaching us c. So here was and is the universal love of God to all mankind not willing that any should perish but that all might know the Truth and be saved So in that the grace of God appears unto all the renders of his love is therein shewed to all without respect of persons That in every Nation they that fear God and work righteousness through the blessed operation of the grace of his holy Spirit such are accepted of him So than they are in the way of a blessing who believe in God and wait in a full assurance And trust in him for the knowledge of the infallible teachings of grace whereby way is ministred unto a growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus And thus far the Apostle did unfold the love of God from what he had handled felt seen of the mercies and riches of Gods great love to all mankind therein being a true witness of the love of God through the grace of his holy Spirit by and in which the good of all was and is sought but indeed there be but few that doth regard it though his hand of love be stretcht out all the day long There be so many false Teachers who by good Words and fair Speeches deceives poor simple ignorant people through their great flourishing words about the grace of God out of the sensible feeling of its blessed vertue and power in its infallible Teachings and thereby bringing Salvation And though this love of God hath appeared to all all have not the knowledge thereof as they had and have who are true believers in God As said the Apostle to Titus Teaching us so true believers Baptized by one blessed Spirit into one body and therein being received into Gods holy Covenant of grace cannot but cry out Oh the vertue of Christ Jesus by whom comes grace and truth which is of a healing nature glad tydings indeed unto wounded Souls and none can be further truly sensible of the unfolding of this love of God to the refreshing and comforting of their immortal Souls but by the feeling of its vertue and power to quicken revive and raise up out of sin and iniquity the cause of death And in his Poetry he saith Gods works preach not redemption from Hell the name of Christ there is not legible Ans And in and by all Gods powerful and glorious works both within man and without is the blessed and powerful name of Christ to be read and understood So its Gods works alone that preach redemption from the power of Hell and death 2 Cor. 5.19 and therein is Christs holy name legible But as it is written that which is born of flesh is flesh and so a heap of fleshly works are in that Paper to the shame of the Author in giving them that Title c. And as that which
is born of flesh is flesh so that which is born of the spirit is spirit and these two births are contrary for the birth of the flesh though it may speak great swelling words and tell of the victory of Christ and triumph in swelling words of his fame as in that Paper yet it being a worker of iniquity it must have that Sentence depart from me it can in no wise inherit the Kingdom of God though it may glory and say I have preached and done many things yet its product is but spiritual wickedness got in a high place which the indignation of the Lord is against so it must be cast out he that can receive it let him And thus much might be said as to the words in that Paper but to all Impartial readers this is sufficient to convince them that that Paper is none of the Gospels glory nor none of the Covenant of grace neither is the Covenant of grace at all there unfolded But it is a meer parcel of conceivings from the same imaginary spirit that uses to be Imployed about making of Ballads And so in true love to all unto whom this may come I counsel you to mind the fear of offending God that you may be made sensible of the blessed appearance of the grace of Gods holy Spirit that you may be received into the blessed Covenant thereof and therein be witness of its sufficiency in teaching what to deny and what to do this being the means ordained of God for the good of all and all that becomes sensible of the infallible teachings of the grace of God such will not wonder at Silent Meetings as many do who are out of the sense of Gods love therein many such grow despisers and wonder and cannot believe the effectual works of the grace of Gods holy Spirit though in the demonstration and power thereof they be declared and published from time to time And I wish all to take heed of being exalted through vain glory in fleshly works the which are attended with sorrow and misery and will bring all them that rest there to the end but in the Lord is everlasting glory And mind the saying of the Apostle to the Ephesians But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath he quickned us together with Christ by grace yea are saved So mind the blessed teachings of the grace of God which is pure holy and perfect in every degree and this the mark which all should set before them as they expect to run well in their Heavenly race and obtain the blessed peace of God to their Souls which is the will of God and in the knowledge thereof I give this Testimony who am what I am by Cods Grace and therein a well wisher to all who are truly seeking after the knowledge of Cod in which love I rest Stephen Smith The 11th day of the 11th Month 1674. A Testimony to the way of Truth and Life with seasonable Exhortations thereunto THat which hath been of low degree and little esteem with mankind now is the Lord God exalting and will exalt and set over all the blessed Way Truth and Life Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever the blessed way of the Lord opened unto the wise in heat but ever was and is a mistery shut and hid from the wicked the Vultures eye hath not seen it nor the unclean cannot enter into it but a Fountain is opened praise to the Lord for ever to wash and to cleanse from sin and iniquity and so to sift and prepare for the way of Truth and Life Blessed are they who trust in the Lord and keep their minds stayed upon the blessed manifestation of his light and love and mercy unto them therein with their eye single unto the Lord whose blessed springs of life and true refreshment will in the Lords time and season rise in the hearts of such to the great consolation and peace and rest of their Souls whom the Spirit of the Lord will guide unto the knowledge and understanding the pure and unchangable Religion which comes from above where the true Worship which Christ did and doth set up in the Spirit and Truth will be witnessed And this being possessed and enjoyed all the false Religions and Worships which are out of the way of Truth and Life will be discovered and keeping low in the silence of the earthly and sensual wisdom wisdom which is pure from above will be manifest and herein the works of the blessed day of the Lord will be seen who is working a reformation in the Earth in restoring the blessed language of Truth and setting up Truth and Righteousness and Mercy and Peace and bringing a people to a pure language to speak the Truth from the guidings and leadings of the Spirit of Truth which was Prophesied of That the Lord would power out of his Spirit upon all flesh Sons and Daughters And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together Blessed are they who believe and trust in the Lord and patiently wait for the fulfilling of his promise for the Lord will assuredly stain the glorying of all the fleshly births and create and bring forth a spiritual birth unto which all his blessed promises are And the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Lords and his Christs and he shall reign for ever and he will exalt his everlasting Kingdom and of the increase of his Government there shall be no end This peaceable Kingdom of the Son of his love is in righteousness peace and joy in his holy Spirit whose Tabernacle is with men and the Ark and the Testimony and the Mercy Seat over all his works where he doth commune with them he takes pleasure in and makes known his good will and pleasure unto mankind who receiving freely communicates freely the good will and pleasure of the Lord here is the Wine and Milk without Money or Price And the Spirit saith come and the Bride saith come and he that heareth saith come and he that will come let him come and take of the water of life freely for a fountain is open where life manifests it self freely and the streams of Babylon are drying up where the Whore with her guilded Cup of Sorceries and Witchcraft hath sat a Cup of Wormwood and Gaul is filling to her and a Bed of Torment will be the portion of her Merchants and all that receive her mark and wear it on their forehead or in the hand So blessed are they who do escape out of Babylon and set their faces towards Zion the holy City where the substance is injoyed and that which was figured and typified in the Law and Covenant given forth in Mount Sinai in the Gospel in Mount Sion is possessed the blessed Law and Covenant in the Mind and in the Heart Christ in us the hope of Glory the Substance and herein that which
to what outwardly hath been taught or written from the blessed motions thereof or that may be taught or written by the motion of the same But we do oppose the true Teachings thereof to the false Teaching of all immaginary deceitful Spirits who under a pretence of love to Souls do make Merchandize of them And that being the great hinge on which his work depends in concluding the Scriptures to be the rule of Faith and Practice excluding the immediate Teaching of the Spirit and the all-sufficiency thereof I do ask whether Faith be a fruit of the Spirit or of the Scripture or whether a true Christians practice in living peaceably lovingly justly and holy and mercifully and in a clean life and conversation in long sufference patience goodness brotherly kindness c. be a fruit of the blessed Spirit of God or of the Scripture And since it cannot be denyed but that Faith and practice in a true Christian holy Conversation is a fruit of the blessed Spirit and that the Scriptures say the same Then are not all the gain-sayers of the immediate Teaching Opperation Revelation and Divine Inspiration of Gods holy Spirit of Truth a grand cause that there is so little fruit of the Spirit brought forth in Christendom And whether that be not the cause of so many heaps of Sects Notionists and Opinions among them and of so much Pride Lust Hypocrisie Fraud Deceit Wrath Malice Murders Witchcrafts Sorceries and all other abominations that might be mentioned committed in all the World the Lord gives the humble in heart true Judgment but the proud he doth resist But in Page 42. the Author saith Christ indeed or God Creator as he is described in the beginning of that Chap. Joh. 1.9 Doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World with the faculty of reason and understanding by which he may know that there is a God and that he is to be worshipped and that he is peaceable and the difference between moral good and evil in many things But however this may possibly be a light sufficient to direct the Heathen to as much as God expects from them if they live up to it to whom he affords no other Light yet this Natural Light is not sufficient to direct those that live under the Gospel to believe and do what they are bound to believe and do upon pain of Damnation c. Answer He hath clearly manifested his ignorance of the Gospel and what men are to be brought under that are made true Christians as if the Light of Christ within had not Gospel in it or could not minister Gospel But by hating of the Light how blind are they who have such low thoughts of thy way thereof accounting the Light of Christ natural yet sufficient to direct the Heathen as much as God expects of them Such is the esteem of them whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds taking the Jew outward for the Jew inward and the Christian in shew for the Christian in Truth And the wild Heathenish life and conversation of the Christian in shew for Christianity if they do but only in words own the Scriptures to be their rule of faith and practice And the true Christian that brings forth the fruits of Gods holy Spirit in life and conversation and is not ashamed to confess to the immediate motions of it in its blessed leadings and teaching to love of God above all and their neighbours as themselves and lives in true fear and watchfulness that they may not grieve nor quench the immediate motions of Gods holy Spirit in them but are careful to live up to the reason and understanding that Christ hath illuminated or inspired them with and to eshew the evil and to love the good being shewed it by the Light of Christ and that God ought to be worshiped in Spirit and Truth and is in the performance thereof according to Gods will confessing to the blessed holy Spirit of God to be the rule of Life Faith practice Such a faithful and true Christian as this having such an account to give as is given by Edward Burrough and William Pen of the sufficiency of the pure Spirit of God to be the Judge of all matters of life and conversation Such true Christians are very slightly esteemed by such private immaginary Spirits as the Author of that Book is manifest to be of in all his works of darkness in that Book But I had rather be a Christian and though I am called Heathen then to be a Heathen and yet to be called and accounted a Christian In Page 61. the Author saith Another place misunderstood and misapplyed by you is Joh. 16.13 When the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth which is not a promise of sending the Spirit to guide all Christians by its immediate motions But a promise to his Apostles for they only were then present with Christ at his passover c. Ans Indeed the immediate motions of Gods holy Spirit is the great trouble of them who follow the motions of their own Spirit and lives out of the way of the knowledge of the holy Spirit of God which is Light and Life But I ask in case people are not to follow Christ and his Apostles into the true Faith and practice of Christianity by the immediate motions of Gods holy Spirit of Truth by the motions of what Spirit are they to be led and guided since there is such variety of Sects and Opinions in the motions of their private Spirits which of them is to be followed But since the Author hath limited the immediate motions of Gods holy Spirit only unto the Apostles I do ask into what Spirits motions were people Baptized and led into the body of Christianity or are they now to be led into the same and how can Christians have the Crown of Immortal Life as Paul had in finishing his course of life well and he said that was not laid up for him alone but also for all them that love the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ And who can be a follower of him in the way if they do not take heed to the immediate motions of Gods holy Spirit as he did according to the measure and manifestation thereof in every one And again What can set people free from the spirit of bondage or from the spirit of error or corruption and deceit and hypocrisie but the immediate motions of Gods pure holy spirit in them But such is the dark work of the Author of that Book even to gainsay and limit the immediate motions of Gods holy Spirit and to set up the private selfish imaginary Spirit which is not in unity with the Light and Spirit of Truth But if the promise of Christ was only to give that gift of the immediate motion of Gods holy Spirit unto the Apostles then to what end did he counsel the Churches to Pray in the Spirit to Sing in the Spirit and to