come to the truth nor be led by the Spirit of Truth for the Children of God are all guided by the infallible spirit so long as they be faithful followers of it and they live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and talk in the spirit and act in the spirit all which is a Riddle to thee and impossible for any to open unless he have the gift of Faith to believe in the mighty Power of God which is the Son of God Friend whosoever thou art that art of this perswasion I must declare unto thee from the Lord Thy Faith is but Faney thou art still in Aegypt and like to perish in the Wilderness O be perswaded to search the Scriptures and to believe in Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of the Faith of his Disciples of Whom thou art none as thou now stands forbear thou to make mention of the holy and infallible Spirit of Truth which in their several measures all possess who are taught of God until thou are freed from the spirit of Error and come out from the fleshly apprehensions of the Divine Truth to see the infallible things of God by the eye of living Faith and if you come to know the Lord his truth your rotten foundations must be removed and your Faith built upon the Rock of Ages Dost thon think that because thy heart is filled with unbelief of the mighty Power of God and because thou knowest not the secrets of the Lord revealed unto thee in regard thou art not come into his fear that therefore the Lord doth not reveal his secret to any No no thou are miserably deluded and bereft of the right use of thy understanding by Satan and his Minister for know thou the Lord is as merciful now as ever as good now as ever and as free to reveal himself and his secrets unto those that fear him now as ever he was Canst thou be ignorant of this That the Lord reveals his secrets to them that fear him Or that the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Psal. 25.14 Or Prov. 3.32 That his secret is with the Righteous And Amos 3.7 That the Lord will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants Friend There is no way to come to the knowledge of God but by the Revelation of the Son of God in us witnessing with our spirits whose children we are And all that I shall say further to thee herein is this My soul shall weep in secret for thee and and thy Teachers who have caused thee to err they themselves not knowing the truth by saying Revelation is ceased when there is no other way to know God by A Word of Counsel to him that feels himself loaden with his sins and groans for deliverance but complains that he wants power ART thou laden with the burthen of thy sins And dost thou mourn in secret praying to God for case and pardon Or Art thou black with lying in the mire and filthy pollutions of this World so that thou art ready to say From the crown of my head to the sole of my foot I am full of wounds and putrified sores and would fain be made clean Art thon possest with the spirit of error and ignorant of the truth of God And wouldst thou be acquainted with the Spirit of God to guide thee into all truth and lead thee into the path of holiness Wouldst thou be freed from the spirit of pride self-love passion and emulation towards thy Neighbour Art thou covetous of gain and earthly-minded and dost not do to another as thou wouldst be done unto wanting the Royal Law of Love to be thy Rule Art thou possest not onely with one evil spirit but Legions and seest no power to resist the least assault of the Enemy Then be thou counselled by one who hath felt the weight and burchen of most of these evils and seen deliverance in a measure to own the light in thy conscience and that will open unto thee a door of hope and shew thee a Fountain where Judah and Jerusalem Jew and Gentile Christian and Heatheu Profane and Professor high and low rich and poor may wash in and be made clean yea and from all their filthiness may they be cleansed And if thou do so viz. own the Light in thy conscience and obey it it will lead thee to holiness And thou that complainest for want of power against sin I tell thee and do affirm unto thee whoever thou art Thou hast power unless with the unjust Steward thou hast buryed it in thy corrupt heart and made no improvement of it and the Lord for thy unsaithfulness hath taken it from thee and given it to him who hath been a better husband of his gift then thou hast been For this I say That the Lord hath given a Talent or measure of himself to every one to profit withal which is his light in every conscience the which whosoever doth not improve shall have it taken from him and he be cast into utter darkness for there is a day vvhen the Candle of the Wicked shall be put out and he shall have no light to vvalk by though he seek it and that vvith tears Remember Iudas and be vvarned by him to be faithful to thy Master and to obey him even whilst the Light shines upon thee and would guide thee least thy repentance be too late as his was and thou be with him called a Son of Perdition but if thou obey the Light in thy conscience which convinceth thee of sin I declare unto thee as a Word from experience of the mighty Power of God and of its powerful working there That it will not only give thee power against gross corruptions but against vain thoughts and idle words and though thy sins be red like crimson they shall be as Wool and as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Be willing therefore and obedient and thou shalt eat the good of the Land but if thou refuse and rebel thou shalt be devoured with the Sword The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Some Hope left for the persecuting Magistrate of England if his Day of Grace be not past already PEradventure thou mayest say unto me I have been a Civil Magistrate and a great Persecutor of the Saints 〈◊〉 the Most High God who have few or none on earth to plead their cause how shall I find mercy from the Lord for I am the greatest of sinners That when the Servants and Messengers of the Lord have come into our Cities Towns Villages or Market-places to preach repentance and declare against sin and to bring the glad tydings of the Gospel into our quarters where it was never preached before I have not been so sober unto them as the Gadarenes were to Christ who when he came to cast out unclean spirits and to do them good they entreated him to depart out of their coasts but I instead of entreating have compelled
the dead dwell in you be that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodyes by his spirit that dwelleth in you Ver. 11. and Ver. 9. If any man hath not the spirit of Christ he is none of his And again If Christ be not in you then are you reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 By all which places it is most evident That Christ is the light of man and that he lighteth every man that cometh into the World of what Countrey or Nation soever and none can deny this unless he will unman himself and say he is not of the race and generation of manking So then it is clearly demonstrated to him that can read the Scriptures That Christ is the Saints Guide and that he is their hope of glory in them And thou that deniest Christ in man to be his Guide thou art either a reprobate or no man For Friend this is my Testimony for the Lord and it is the Testimony of thousands at this day blessed for ever be his Name That Christ within is man's true Guide and also man's true Light to walk by and that in him is life and the life is the light of men and that this light shineth in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it read 1 Ioh. 4.5 Yet now if any shall say he is in the light and hateth his Brother he is in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth To thee then who art a hater of thy Brother assure thy self that thou art none of the Children of Light not have I any thing to say to thee but this Thou art condemned already as well by the Light within thee as by the children of Light without thee For God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 But to the poor soul who is ignorant of his true Guide and is willing to follow him if he knew where to find him my counsel to him is this Look at home for thy Saviour is near unto thee and blessed art thou if thou canst believe it and obey him To thee I say that art seeking thy Saviour with all thy heart and art restless till thou find him Know for thy comfort that he is near to thee and to every one that is of an upright heart and is even in thy heart and in thy mouth Rom. 10.8 Seek him not then at a distance from thee or in any outward thing for he that justifies thee is near unto thee and if ever thou find him in truth thou wilt say as Iacob did That he was in this place and thou knewest is not Wouldst thou have thy Saviour and thy Guide to lead thee by his un-erring and infallible spirit Then cease from man whose breath is in his Nostrils and turn to the living God with whom onely the Well-springs of life are to be found Salvation is not to be had from the Hills nor from the Mountains neither from this divided judgement or that but from Jesus alone who is in his Saints the hope of glory and is the Saviour of all men but especially of them that believe I say The Tabernacle of God is with men and though he be the High and Holy one that inhabiteth Eternity yet is his dwelling also with him that is of a lowly heart and trembleth at his Word The spirit of Christ in man is the true Guide all others are false ones his Light in man is the true light al others are false ones Oh be not so willingly blind as not to see it nor so wilfully ignorant as not to know it He it is that condemneth sin in the flesh and reproves man for a vain thought or wanton look when nothing without him can Turn in the eye of thy mind than and hearken to his checks and daily reproofs in thee Knowest thou not that the state of reprobation belongs to him that hath not Christ in him Friend thy Saviour is within thee and if ever thou know him aright it must be there for there O there it is that thee and I have crucified him that is Lord of life and this is that Jesus whom the Jews crucified at Jerusalem but is now crucified by the false Christians within them and by them put again to an open shame as their Streets Market-places Cities Towns and Villages do declare by stocking mocking stoning cruel whipping long imprisoning and persecuting unto death his Members But now is come and is coming a day of tryal upon all prosessions whatsoever and all professors must now be tryed whether their faith be true or feigned none must escape the siery tryal but the judgement of the Lord will pass upon all high and low great and small poor or rich airy notions as well as carnal Ordinances which all perish with the using and now seen thorough in this day of light for the Sun which hath long sate in a Cloud is arisen to discover the inward subtilty and hypocrisie as well as the outward superstition and idolatry of all hearts Bring thy Works then to the light of Christ Jesus in thy own conscience that so they may be manifest whether they are wrought in God or nou for he that hideth his sin shall not prosper And thou who art a sinner and believest that thou canst not be freed from them because the blind guides have told thee so there is little ground for thee to hope for mercy for the sinner cannot stand before the Lord nor the wicked in the Congregation of the righteous nor can any unclean thing enter into Heaven Know thou that it is sin that crucifies thy Saviour who though he bear with patience the sinners burthen for a time being pressed therewith as a Cart with sheaves yet thou wilt one day find he will cast off the heavy burthen upon the sinners own back which when the Lord hath done striving with him will be too unsupportable for him to bear Oh that no poor soul would suffer himself to be mislead and deceived by blind Guides in a matter of so great concernment as the everlasting salvation or damnation of their immortal souls for the Light of Christ Jesus hath appeared unto thousands and discovered their Egyptian darkness and false Doctrine and can prove them to be such builders as reject the Corner-stone and declare lyes in the Name of the Lord And for which appearance of Christ in his Saints glory be given to the Father to the Son through the blessed Spirit for evermore Christ Jesus is to be known within by all who will approve themselves no reprobates and so to be within them as to live his life of meekness of patience of long-sufferance of mercy and compassion of goodnese of gentleness of wisdom and godly fear of self-denial of perseverance of faith of hope of love and whatsoever else are the fruits of his spirit and presence in us Friends 'T is not a Christ without that will save you but the same Christ which dyed
them not with mild perswasions but with cruel and merciless stripes upon their naked bodies with stockings stonings beatings long and tedious imprisonmets and other bitter usage which for shame I cannot mention And as if this had been too little I have caused some of them to be scourged twice or thrice for not bowing to my corrupt Will and worshipping me with their Hats off or for speaking to our blind Guide who calls himself a Minister And all this I have done contrary to the Law of the Land too and when I have so done I have with Passes sent them away as Vagabonds and Wanderers not suffering them though sufficient men and of good Estates near us to have a place in our quarters to dress their sore stripes deep wounds which my bloody Executioners have made upon their innocent and harmless bodyes nor yet a place wherein to rest their aking heads except in stocks dungeons close holes of little ease or filthy and stinking Goals amongst thieves and murtherers where many of them have finished their testimonies by death Now saith the guilty Magistrate This is the truth of my condition and thus have I served the Embassadors of Christ Jesus whom the malicious World cannot accuse of evil and my case is lamenable and the worse because what I have done was through the instigation of our Gospel-Minister as he called himself â—nd to please him who otherwise would not suffer me to be at rest crying out against them that they will undo us and our generation after us and render our Gospel to be Antichristian and our selves false Prophets as indeed we are and will make our nakedness and ignorance appear to all sober men if they be tollerated But that which is more considerable then all this I am afraid I have sinn'd the sin against the Holy Ghost which can never be forgiven and how shall I escape the damnation of Hell Friend Is this thy case indeed And art thou guilty so deeply as this in truth makes thee 'T is sad indeed Yet consider and for thy comfort I have this to say unto thee St. Paul was as great a Persecutor of the Saints as thou possibly hast been and as mad against them as the most of you have been or can be yet when the Light appeared to him and struck him from his horse or beastly nature of persecution he presently fell to the earth and with trembling and astonishing said Lord what wilt thou have me to do He did not as the blind Guides of this age say That the Light of Christ was natural and insufficient to guide him out of his darkness but he became obedient to the Light immediately though he saw no body consulting neither with flesh nor blood nor yet running to Gamaliel a great Doctor under whom he had been brought up for counsel but forthwith ceased from the sprit of persecution and obtained mercy So he being obedient to the Light became a true Disciple of Jesus and Preacher of the everlasting Gospel Acts 9. And now oh Magistrate know this That though thou hast been the greatest persecutor of the Saints amongst thy numerous Brethren and hast persecuted them until death as many in England have been for conscience-sake within these few years under a pretence of maintaining the Popish and Antichristian Law for Tythes and suppressing of Hereticks yet there is some hopes of mercy for thee also if thou canst in truth say That what thou didst then hast done ignorantly But if this be not thy case but hast wilfully transgressed and rebelled against the Light in thy conscience then O then â—hy condition is sad indeed and thou with the blind Guides art of all men most to be pittyed Examine therefore â—y own heart in secret and if thou findest that thou hast been a wilful Persecutor of Gods Servants cry mightily unto the Lord that the iniquity of thy heart may be forgiven thee and possibly thou mayest find hopes upon thy unfeigned confession and resolution to turn to the Lord and obey the Light within thee to obtain Mercy Cease I say from that Spirit of Persecution and become obedient for the future if peradventure thy fins may be blotted out A view of false Doctrines Or A Word of Reproof to false Teachers who boast that that they have the Original and yet are ignorant of the word of life FRiends to you all I speak who disown the Light of Christ within and count it a low thing a wo is pronounced unto you for your light is turned into darkness and your sweet into bitter and for the present see not your way before you the whole World lyes in wickedness and darkness is upon the faces of all who are led by you who preach for hire and divine for money contrary to the prophets phets and true Ministers of Christ you preach false Doctrine and practice persecution and therefore are you none of the children of Light nor Ministers of the everlasting Gospel You say That the best of Gods servants cannot be free from sin in this life whereas the holy Scriptures say Without holynesse no man shall see the Lord Christ himself hath preached perfection and hath commanded his Disciples to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect but you say No perfection is not to be attained here You say many of you That the Light of Christ in the conscience is natural not considering that he himself is spiritual and that his Light must of necessity be so too You say Revelation is ceased not considering this That no man knows the Father but the Son and him to whom the Son will reveal him You say No man hath the infallible Spirit now not considering That he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his For where-ever the Spirit of Christ is it must needs be infallible and you that have not the infallible Spirit you are none of Christs and if so then consider with your selves whose childrern you are and what spirit guides you and whither for it cannot lead you into all truth nor any part thereof Some of you have been heard to say That the Devil is the Power of God and that the Gospel is not the Power of God no more then a Rose Cake and further That the Light of Christ Jesus is carnal and darkness Friends I hope better things of many of you but assuredly this Doctrine is damnable and pernicious to the souls of men And therefore I warn you to forbear preachihg in the Name of the Lord whilst you are of this Faith which I affirm is of the Devils and not of the Saints whose faith overcomes the World and who believe they must be holy as God is holy and perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect in their several measures They know that the Son of God is the Light of the World and life of men and is not darkness carnal natural or insufficient to lead them to purity as you declare And because I wil not