hearts with sorrow and trouble for if you flee from that then you will never be cleansed from your Sins for by the Spirit that judgeth Sin in the heart and burneth against it as a Fire was and is the Sons and Daughters of Sion converted unto God yea brought out of their Sins unto God and whosoever flees from that of God in them which condemns them when they do evil they flee from that which God hath placed in them to lead them out of evil and so they cannot come to be redeemed out of evil until they come to love that which condemns them for evil so I say unto you in tender Love love the Light within you and when it bringeth trouble upon you for your Sins which you have committed then own its judgments for it will not judge you except you have done wrong and as you wait in it it will let you see that its judgments are very just and true and so if you keep your minds unto it it will work true repentance in your hearts and a godly sorrow and it will lead you into the House of Mourning and through the Valley of Tears and as David did you will come to water your Bed with your Tears and to weep until your flesh fail of fatness and so you will travel through a short Sorrow into an Everlasting Joy for the Sorrow lasts but for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning For the Lord will give Beauty for Ashes and the Oyl of Joy instead of Mourning but he gives this only unto those that comes into obedience unto his Light within them so when condemnation cometh upon you for Sins which you have committed do not flee from it for it is the Rod of God and you will see it to be so as you wait with your minds stayed in the Light and you will see that it is not for your hurt but for your Everlasting good and then consider why should you flee from it Oh flee not from it For whom I love I rebuke and chasten said God and he restoreth every sinful man and woman whom he receiveth to be Sons and Daughters and through his Judgments in their hearts he redeemeth them from Sin and so receiveth them into his Everlasting Kingdom of Life and Glory So I say unto you in dear and tender love flee not from that of God in you which condemneth you for Sin and the Light it will be with you when you are in the Fields and when you lie in your Beds and where ever you go the Light is in you and if you love it and keep your minds unto it it will teach you when you are at your Labour and it will keep you out of all Evil if you keep your minds unto it and when wicked people would tempt you to that which is Evil it will not let you consent unto them but rather to reprove them and now people I say unto you if you love this same pure and holy and spotless thing in you which never consented unto any Sin that you have committed but hath alwayes stood in you a faithfull Witness against you when you did commit Sin I say if you love it and obey it though now it may but be little in you even as a Grain of Mustard-seed which is a small Seed yet when your affections are truly set upon it it will grow speedily and will become in you as a strong Tree and the Fruit of it will ravish and overcome your heart with heavenly Joy and then you will see the folly and madness of those who rejoyceth in doing of Evil and you will find that Holy thing in you to be as Christ said Mat. 13.31 32 33. Like a little Leaven that a woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal until the whole Lump was leavened so as you wait in this Light within you though it lie low in you because of the sinfull nature which lieth atop of it in you yet it will work in you as the Leaven doth work in the Meal for the sinfull nature which lieth atop is of the Devil and that which lieth under is of God and as you joyn in true love and affection to that suffering Seed of God you shall come to know and bear witness that God is able to bring it out of the Grave in you and from under all those Powers of Darkness that hath oppressed it for God is stronger then the Devil that you will confess and so wait in the Light of Christ to feel more of the strength of God and Christ in your own hearts then of the strength of the Devil and when this you are come to witness then you will have ceased from Sin which is the Devils work for God who is the stronger in you he will rule you by his Light and Spirit which dwells in you and then the Devil who was the stronger in you he will be cast out and then the Lamb the Light he will have the Victory in you and will lead you into all Truth and so the Light if you follow it it will lead you to be Children of the Lord God who is Light and in whom there is no Darkness at all and so the Children of the Lord are taught of the Lord by the Light of the Lord and they are in Righteousness established So put not the day afar off linger not away your time but prize it thou that is young in years say not in thine heart I have time enough I may take pleasure in Earthly things yet for many dayes and have time enough to repent and seek God afterwards I say unto thee say not so in thy heart for the Lord God can cut thee down as in a moment Psal 9.17 though thou be in the Flower of thy Youth but Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth and seek him while he may be found for the Spirit of the Lord will not alwayes strive with man and as the Tree falleth so it lieth there is no Repentance in the Grave and there is no unclean thing can enter into Gods Kingdom for the wicked must be turned into Hell and all that forget God So remember you are warned by a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and a true Lover of the Souls and Bodies of all men and desireth not the Destruction of any but desireth that all people might come to Repent while they have time and so obtain Mercy from the Lord God I am known by the Name of William Gibson Written in the Year 1664. and was sent then to be published in Print but the Person to whom it was sent being at that time cast into Prison and Calamities coming on in the City it was not gotten done Postscript IT is said by many ignorant people who use to plead for Sin That the Righteousest man that is upon the Earth doth Sin seven times a day now I say they do abuse and wrest the Scriptures for there is no such
and then Christ who is Gods Power speaks in him and judges and reproves the Proud for their Pride the Drunkards for their Drunkenness the Covetous for their Covetousness and the Hypocrites and Dissemblers for their dissembling hypocrisie then their wrath and sury riseth against the man in whom the Spirit of God speaketh and their anger is so great against the Spirit of God which speaketh in and through the man to reprove them for their wickedness that they would even break the Vessel through which the Lord God speaketh to reprove them for Christ said unto his Disciples before he was Crucified as to the outward They shall hale you before Rulers and Magistrates for my Name sake but take you no thought what you shall speak nor what you shall say for it is not you that speaketh but the Spirit of the Father that speaketh in you and the Prophet said Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men I will walk in them and dwell in them said the Lord God I will be their God and they shall be my people and Christ said before he was offered up as to the outward I and my Father we will come and make our abode with you and the Apostle John witnessed this fulfilled when he wrot his first Epistle which was after Christ had suffered without the Gate of Jerusalem John said unto the Saints We know that the Son of God is come 1 Joh. 5.19 20. and he hath given us an understanding to know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Life Eternal and Christ said unto his Disciples while he was outwardly with them He that is with you shall be in you and you may read in the seventeenth of John how Jesus prayed for the Saints and he said unto the Father I in them and thou in me Righteous Father that they may be one even as we are one O Righteous Father keep them in thine own Name and now Righteous Father I come unto thee and I am no more in the World but these are in the World I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the World but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil they are not of the World even as I am not of the World And now unto all people this we can truly say that it is a great joy and comfort to our Souls that our God by his holy Spirit in our hearts hath redeemed us out of our vain conversation which we for many dayes walked in after our own hearts lusts and that he hath now accounted us worthy to suffer for his Name sake and if you cannot love us so much now as ye could have done-several years ago when many of us were walking in the Broad way that leads unto destruction then this is an evident token unto you that you do not love God who created you for if you do love God who begets people into a holy and righteous life and conversation then you will love those people that are so begotten by him for it is written They that love him that begets they love them also that are begotten of him and we can tell you of a truth that it is God who hath begotten us out of that which is evil into that which is good yea he hath wrought a good change in us Glory to his Name for evermore for he hath created us anew in Christ Jesus the Light in the inner Man unto good works which he before ordained that we should walk in them and as we keep our minds stayed in the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened us and walketh in it it is God that worketh all our work in us and for us and we are his Workmanship and his Husbandry and we are his Sheep and he is our Shepherd and we do hear his Voice inwardly in our own hearts and he teacheth and instructs us by his good Spirit which he hath given us and we can tell you of a truth that he is a good Shepherd for he doth not let us want any thing that is good for us And we tell you plainly we cannot forsake our God who is the true Shepherd of Israel who never slumbers nor sleeps Ezek. 34. from vers 2 to 19. to follow a stranger or a Hireling for we have seen it by large experience that when the times of the greatest danger and the most need is then Hireling Shepherds flees from their Flocks Hos 4.9 and if you would have us to leave and forsake the Spirit of God within us to follow a Hireling Priest without us Mat 7. from verse 15 c. to the end this we cannot do for the Lord God hath let us see their deceit and hath led us from them and if we should turn unto them again it had been a great deal better for us that we had never been born Therefore it is in vain for you to strive to bring us to forsake Christ Jesus the true Shepherd who lays down his life for his Sheep Mat. 15.13 14. to follow a Hireling who loveth the Fleece but careth not for the Sheep for we know that they would have our outward things to live upon and would feed and cloath themselves therewith but Physitians of no value we have found and proved them to be and we did adventure our Souls under their Antichristian Ministry for a long time and we did expect help from them and some of us sought it with a great deal of diligence and zeal and we said in our hearts if there be good to be had in these men we shall have it but though we sought diligently in zeal to receive some good and help and comfort from them to have satisfied our poor hungry and starved Souls we could not get it but when we had with great diligence given attention to their Airy Doctrine which they speak in their own will and in their own wisdom and in their own time and thought to get something to have satisfied our longing desires withal behold we were like a man who in his sleep dreameth that he eateth but when he waketh it is not so but he is empty and hungry and unsatisfied and so have we been under the Ministry of the Priests of England we have been seeking Living Bread from them for many years and thought we should have gotten it from them and sometimes we thought we had been eating the true Bread that would have satisfied our longing desires but then we were deceived and it was but with us as it is with a man that dreameth in his sleep that he eateth but when he awaketh he is faint and hungry and the Living Bread we could never get from them for they never had it to give us but that we did not know certainly until we came to believe in the Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightened us but now having believed in the Light it
evermore Amen even so Amen saith my Soul Written the 18th of the 11th Moneth 1667. William Gibson A Tender True and Faithfull Salutation unto all People who in VVords profess God and Christ in what Form soever Friends IN true unfained Love I have had you in Remembrance and a tender Pitty and Compassion hath risen in my heart unto you and tender desires are in my heart unto the Lord my God for you all 2 Cor. 4.6 7. that your minds might be brought down unto the Eternal true Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightened you all which shineth in your hearts Joh. 8.12 12.4 6. and there convinceth you of Sin and reproveth you when you commit sin that by it you might all come to be led out of sin which is the Devils work And this I say unto you all in dear Love unto all your Souls if you believe not in the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you Joh. 3.19 20 21. which checketh you and troubleth you when you do evil I say if you believe not that God hath placed that in you to lead you out of the evil it Condemneth you for then you will never be led out of it but you will dye in your sins and then it will be with you as it was with the unbelieving Jewes and Pharisees in their daies for said Christ the Light unto the Pharisees If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins John 1.9 1 Joh 1.5 6 7. and whither I go ye cannot come Mark if they did not believe that he whom they despised and set at nought was the Son of God and the Light of the World and the Way and the Truth and the Life and the Door of the Sheepfold as he declared himself to be Joh. 14.6 then he said they should dye in their sins and if they dyed in their sins whither he went they could not come these sayings of his are true so because of their Unbelief they were shut out of the Kingdom of God and this I say unto all People Joh. 8.21 22 23 24 if you do not believe in that measure of the Spirit or Grace or Light of Christ which is but one in its nature Mat. 11.27 28 29 30. though the names are divers wherwith he hath enlightened every one that is come into the World then you will certainly dye in your sins and out of the Kingdom of God will you be shut because of your unbelief even as the Pharisees was because of their unbelief for God is no respecter of persons Joh. 10.7 8 9. For God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son a Light into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life so all who believe in the Light of the Son of God wherewith he hath enlightned every one that is come into the World Joh. 1.4 and dwelleth and walketh in that Light in that Light they have Eternal Life as it is written In him was Life and that Life was the Light of men and it is written He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son hath not Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him so he that believeth in the Light and Spirit of Christ and walketh in it it is his Life it is his Crown it is the true Living Way unto him Rev. 22.16 and it leads him up to God of his nature it is and it leads all people unto him who do beleeve in it and in faithfulness follow it it is the bright and morning Star unto all those that do believe in it and it doth arise in their hearts and as they abide in it it shineth in their hearts more and more until it hath led them out of the thick Night of Darkness and Blindness which remained over their hearts while they did not believe in the Light 2 Pet. 1.19 and so the Day-star which did arise in their hearts when they did believe in the Light and took heed unto the Light it did lead them out of the thick Night of Darkness and Blindness which had been over their hearts while they did not believe and the vail hath been taken away off the hearts of all those who have believed in the Light 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. and doth walk in it and so the Light which hath enlightned every one that is come into the World it is of the Divine Nature of God Who is Light and in whom there is no darkness at all and so it being of the Divine Nature of God it leadeth all unto God who doth follow it but they that do not believe in it nor love nor obey it it is their Condemnation as it is written This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World Joh 3.19 20 21. but men love Darkness rather then Light because their deeds are evil Mark that He that doth evil hateth the Light and will not bring his deeds unto the Light because he knoweth the Light will condemn him for his evil deeds which he hath done But he that doth Truth bringeth his deeds unto the Light that they may be made manifest that they are wrought in God But as it is written Pro. 4.19 Psal 82.5 The way of the wicked is darkness who hate the Light and because they hate the Light which would give them the knowledge of God if they did believe in it and love it therefore are they dark and blind and stumbles and knows not at what Friends these things are of great weight for you to consider while you have a little time and do not content your selves with a bare profession of God and Christ without you at a distance from you and from thence to draw a vain and dead hope that it will be well with you in the World to come for I say If ye die in your sins whither he goeth ye connot come and in dear love I say unto you those sayings of his will certainly be fulfilled upon you as they were fulfilled upon the unbelieving Jews if you do not believe in and obey the Light wherewith he hath enlightned you For I say consider the Jews they looked for the coming of the Messiah because they had the Writings of Moses and the other Prophets who prophesied of his coming yet when he was come they would not believe that it was he Christ but when he did the Works that no other could do then they said he had a Devil and by Belzebub the Prince of Devils he cast out Devils Now consider how came they to be thus deceived and thus to judge of him seeing they had the Prophets Writings which foretold of his coming Well Friends this I say they were expecting him to come in an other manner then he did come for they reading that he should be a King and Prince c. they looked for him to come in great
pomp and dignity outwardly but when he came Mark 6.3 he came much contrary to their thoughts and expectations and imaginations for he was supposed by them to be Joseph the Carpenters son a man of low esteem amongst them and so they dispised him because of his low Appearance which was so far contrary to what they had imagined concerning his coming and so they would not have him to rule over them but they slew him so they lost the benefit of his coming and so died in their sins and so was shut out of the Kingdom of God because of their unbelief so here was their Misery they would not receive him because he came not according as they had imagined he should come Now Friends to come nearer to your condition I shall write as the Spirit of the Lord shall move me which dwelleth in my heart Friends consider What is the reason that you will not own the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened you and all people to be a sufficient Teacher and Ordinance for Salvation unto you and all people and to bring you and all people unto God out of sin if you and they did believe in it and obey it I say consider Is it not because you have read the Prophets Christ and the Apostles Writings with the same dark minds in unbelief that the Jews did read the Prophets Writings and in the Darkness which you have loved a great deal more then the Light you have imagined that Christ would shew himself unto you some other way then by his Light in your Consciences It hath been a very hatefull thing unto many of you Professors to hear us exhort you to turn unto the Light within and because we told you that was the Ordinance of God for Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth according to the words of the Prophet who prophesied in the Power of his coming Isa 49.5.6 7 8 22. who said I will give him for a Light unto the Gentiles and Leader to his People to be his Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth and when we have born our Testimony amongst you concerning this Light according to the plain words of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles laid down in the holy Scriptures and in the brokenness of our hearts have in much love unto you declared our own experience of the vertuous opperation of this Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned us and what Christ the Light had done for our Souls since we in his Light believed and when we thus laboured in the Love of God to do you good in perswading you to believe in the Light wherewith he hath enlightened you that so you might have come to have felt the vertue and power of it in your own hearts for your own everlasting good then many of you have rejected our Testimony and hath shamefully entreated us and hath rewarded us evil for good and you have hated this Light and cried Away with this Light and also with those that have been moved of the Lord God to bear witness unto this Light Which is the Trve Light which hath Enlightened every one that is come into the World as the Jews cried away with Christ when they imagined he had been Joseph the Carpenters son 1 Cor. 2.4 5 c. to 16. and so the Light is judged by your Carnal Wisdom and Reason to be too low a thing to stoop unto and the Jews in their Carnal Wisdom and Reason judged Christ when he was come not to be worthy or fit to be a King over them because they looked upon him to be a Carpenters son a man inferiour unto many of them as they imagined and so they hated him and slew him And so now all you Professors who have been and yet are haters of the Light and cryeth away with it and accounts it too low a thing for you to stoop unto you are deceived Christ will not shew himself unto you any other way but by the measure of his Spirit wherewith he hath Enlightened you it is written No man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God but many of you Professors will not believe that the Light wherewith Christ hath Enlightened you is of power and sufficiency to bring you to God out of sin and so to this day you have not the Benefit of Christs coming but you are still in your sins committing them and pleading that you must do so while you are in the Earthly Tabernacle And so are you not Rebellious Children who Rebel against the Light Grace and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath placed in you to Instruct you And do not you as plainly Crucifie and do Dispite unto the Opperation of the Spirit Light and Grace of Christ in your Inwards Parts as the Jews did unto the Vessel which they imagined to be Joseph the Carpenters son So consider of these things soberly in meekness in the fear of the Lord God and be not angry at me for writing thus in plainness unto you for know you all assuredly that it is the Love of God in my heart unto you that constrains me to write thus in plainness unto you so while you have a little time prize it and while you have a sence and feeling of the Light Grace and Spirit of Christ in your inward parts checking and condemning you when you do Evil believe you all in it and in obedience unto it give up and when it condemns you for Evil which you have already done then own its Judgments for its Judgments are just and true and when it letteth you see Temptations unto Sin before you have consented unto the Tempter or done the Evil he tempteth you unto then love it and let your minds be closely joyned unto it and then it will preserve you from doing the Evil that you are tempted unto and then it will be no sin for you to be tempted unto Evil if you do it not nor give your consent at all unto the Tempter Mat. 4.1 2 to 13. but love the Light which lets you see his Temptation and in it you will have Dominion over the Tempter and you will be kept out of his Snare for Christ was tempted but sinned not and Christ the Light will not condemn you for being tempted unto Evil if you do it not and if you believe in and love and obey the Light of the Son of God wherewith he hath Enlightened you Though you may have done much Evil God will forgive you for Christ the Light his sake in whom you do believe and though you may feel great and strong workings in you to do Evil yet if you love the Light within you that gives you the sence thereof it will work mightily in you against that nature which would lead you to do Evil and if you keep your minds unto the Light then you will feel that nature to die daily in you which hath led you into Evil and so that which hath led you into
to the command of Christ and thereby breaketh his Command doth not love him and the Apostle John saith in his second Epistle He that transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and this is Christs Doctrine Swear not at all And so all people who of late have Sworn unto that which they did formerly Swear against the Lord God of Heaven and Earth he is grievously dishonoured by such for their Hypocrisie is very great and their Sin is very grievous in these particulars besides many other grievous Abominations which they have not yet repented of And so unto all that are in the before mentioned Abominations I say in Bowels of tender Love and true Pity and Compassion to your poor Souls Awake Awake Repent Repent come down unto the Eternal True Light in your own Consciences which doth condemn you for your Hypocrisie for being Time-servers and Men-pleasers Haste haste to meet the Lord God by speedy and unfained Repentance while you have a little time prize it for the time hastens to come upon you and all the rest of the prophane ungodly World which lieth in wickedness that time shall be no more then the sayings of John in the last of the Revelations will be witnessed Rev. 22.11 12. He that is filthy let him be filthy still mark that Let him be filthy still And there shall not enter into the Holy City any thing that worketh Abomination or telleth a Lye there shall not enter into the Kingdom of God any unclean or filthy man or woman for all the Fearfull and Unbelievers who fears man more then God is for ever shut out of the Holy City except they repent and come to the Light of God and Christ in them and so believe in God who is Light and fear him and not man whose breath is in his Nostrils and all Persecutors Swearers Lyers Drunkards Whores and Whoremongers Adulterers Cheaters Scoffers Mockers Proud lofty wild and wanton ones Repent repent with speed Come down come down to the Eternal True Light wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of God hath enlightned you which in you cryeth for Repentance and amendment of life I say in Bowels of tender love unto all your Souls Make speed make haste to make your peace with God by submitting unto and obeying his pure Light in all your consciences for the Spirit Light and Grace of God and Christ in you which condemns you for your Sins must either make your peace for you with the Lord God or else peace with the Lord God you shall never witness neither in this world nor in that which is to come Isa 48.22 For there is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God for God said unto the wicked in the dayes of old Your Sins doth separate between you and me Isa 59.2 3 4 5 6 7 8. your Sins doth with-hold good things from you so at this day it is your Sins that separates between you and the Lord God and with-holds the good things from you Luk. 19 27. so come unto the Eternal true Light within you and be subject unto it and it will judge down all your Babilonish thoughts and imaginations which you have vainly imagined concerning God and Christ and his Way of Worship and out of all your Sins will God lead you by his Light wherewith he hath enlightnened you if you be subject to it and he will bring you unto his Everlasting Kingdom where you may inherit Life Peace and Joy for ever and if you will not be subject unto this Light then you are Enemies both unto the Father and the Son and must be bound and cast into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Joh. 5.39 40. where the Werm never dieth nor the Fire is never quenched for said Christ the Light Bring those mine Enemies that will not that I should rule over them and slay them before me Christ the Light said unto the Unbelievers Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have Eternal Life but ye will not come unto me that ye might have Life read John the Fifth and Christ said unto the unbelieving Jews who said God was their Father that he was the Light of the World Mar. 1â— from vers 23 to 40. and all that follwed him should not abide in Darkness but should have the Light of Life but those Jews who called God their Father told Christ that he bore witness of himself and that his witness was not true but he told them that his witness was true and so it was and he told those hard-hearted unbelievers Joh. 8. from vers 12 to 26. and from verse 41 to 53. who said that God was their Father that they were of their Father the Devil and the works of their Father they did and those words of his were true read John the Eighth they told him they knew he had a Devil but they were Lyars and so they had the Devil themselves which they told him he had And now all you Priests and Professors of all sorts who deny those words of Christ which he speak unto the Jews when he said he was the Light of the World and whosoever followed him should not abide in Darkness but they should have the Light of Life Joh. 9.24 28 29. Joh. 10.20 21. you are in the same Error and false Judgment that they were in you are in the same blindnss of mind and hardness of heart that they were in for when he first spoke those words they withstood him to his Face for they did not believe that he was the Son of God and now you do profess that you do believe that he was the Son of God and yet you will not believe his words Oh thick darkness and blindness the Jews were condemned because they believed not his Testimony and do you think to be Saved for the bare professing that you do believe that he was the Son of God seeing you will not believe his words which he spake unto the Jews Oh consider your own selves whether were the Sins of those Jews or your Sins the greater in this particular they did not believe that he was the Son of God and so they did not believe his words for had they believed that he had been the Son of God then certainly they would have believed his words now you do profess that you do believe that he was the Son of God and yet you will not believe his words remember what Christ said unto the Jews Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23.29 30 31 32 33 34 35. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypecrites because you build the Tombs of the Prophets and garnish the Sepulchres of the Righteous and say if we had been in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have been pertakers with them in the blood of the Prophets wherefore be ye Witnesses unto your selves that ye are the Children of them that killed the Prophets Fill up the measure