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
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
by you there are these sayings In page 252 thus His pure Spirit is put into the inward parts to be the rule and guide of life in all things And again Only by the teaching of the eternal Spirit is the living God known in the Creature Again page 408. It is promised saith he that the Spirit shall lead into all Truth and such do own the Scriptures but not as their Teacher for the anointing dwells in them and they need no man to teach them but as that anointing teacheth all things for all the Children of God are taught of God and need not any other Teacher nor need to say one to another know the Lord and all such own the Scriptures to be the Testimony of that which they believe and have received And again in page 834. The only perfect rule of Conscience in the exercise to God is the Spirit of Christ and not any other thing And because something besides the Spirit of God exercises the Conscience therefore it is that there are so many wayes and Sects of Religion and kinds of Worship in Christendom and among Christians while the Spirit of Christ only is not the rule of Judgment and exercise of Conscience to God and man Again page 861. The judgment in that matter Heresie must be just equal holy and only by the Spirit of Christ which is infallible and gives infallibility of Judgement and discerning into all cases and things Mr. Pen spends the fourth Chapter of his late Book Intituled Reason against Railing to prove that the Light within and not the Scriptures is the rule of Faith and practice In page 47. he saith We dare boldly affirm in the name of the Lord that the great reason of our belief concerning them the Scriptures is not any outward thing but inward Testimony recorded and Heavenly Amen that we have received from the holy Light within us to the Truth and faithfulness of those sayings Again p. 48. Wherefore the Scriptures are so far from being the great rule of faith and practice that the Light of Christ within us is both our warrant and rule for faith and obedience to them Again page 114. Let it be remembred saith he that Christ promised to send the spirit of Truth to lead into all Truth as much as to say none are led into the Truth nor in the Truth but by the holy Spirit of Truth or that their practice is a lye or they are led into a lye who are not led by the Spirit of Truth that alone leads into all the ways of Truth where by Truth is not meant the meer Letter of the Scripture which notwithstanding is true But the living powerful Truth Christ the Way the Truth and the Life of which the Scripture is but a record or declaration And page 115. Many may run into the practice of several outward things mentioned in the Scriptures to have been the practice of Saints in former Ages and yet not be led into the Truth for all that is but Will-worship imitation and unwarrantable Now let all the wise in heart who do retain so much of sense of the Spirit of Truths leading and operation thereof in them as that thereby they are in some degree in a capacity to judge of spiritual matters and that have a desire that God may not take away his holy Spirit from them I say let all such in the coole of the day when all self Interest is laid aside judge whether these men Edward Burroughs and William Pen and all them who are of the same Faith and Judgment with them do deserve such strange contradicton as the Author of that Book hath raised and made against them To be sure their method as he calls it is clearly agreeing with Christ and his Apostles Christ Jesus the Light of the World the Way Truth and Life did direct his followers to take heed to the Spirit of Truth that reproveth the World of sin c. and he counselled them to take that for their guide into all Truth And ought not all Christians to be followers of Christ their Lord and Master and how is it possible that any should follow Christ except they be led by the Spirit of Truth in themselves And he that steals away their minds from that guide he is a Thief and as Christ said The Thief comes to steal to Murder and to destroy but I am come that you may have Life and that you may have it more abundantly And the Apostle Paul is very open and plain in his Testimony concerning this matter in these words The things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God by this the deep things of God are searched out And are there not many deep things of God contained in Scriptures The which is not possible to be understood and searcht out by any other Spirit but only and alone by the Spirit of Truth therefore this must needs be a sufficient teacher of mankind without the Scripture as it was to Abel Enoch and to Abraham and the holy men of God long before there was any of the old or new Testament written And it was the great love of God in the moving of his holy Spirit in those faithful Servants by whom those weighty things as are recorded in the Scriptures of Truth were given forth And it is the great love of God in the moving of his holy Spirit in its leadings and teaching of his people through which the many Types Figures Prophesies and many hard sayings comes to be understood and a clear distinguishing comes to be known between the Jew outward and the Jew inward between the Law outward and the Law of the Spirit of Truth inward and between the shadow of good things and the good things themselves and also between the Spirit and the Letter the Power and the Form c. And for want of fearing God and taking heed to the motions of his blessed Spirit of Truth that is the cause there are so many heaps of Opinions about the Scripture therefore it is that all learned men in the Spirit of Truth do so highly esteem the teachings thereof as absolutely necessary to life and peace And all whose minds are converted by the Spirit of Truth and are spiritually exercised therein and feeling the life and peace that flows from it unto their Souls this confirms them settles them and makes them unmoveable and unchangeable in their Faith in the power of the Lord who hath been thus merciful in opening this fountain of life and love where a washing and cleansing comes to be witnessed and entrance ministered into the kingdom of God and of this day that is breaking forth and shining clearer and clearer Edward Burroughs that man of God was a faithful Instrument in the hand of the Lord and his works do demonstrate the same to thrash and cut down hypocrisie and gainsayers of the Truth and faithfulness of God unto mankind And in the succession of this blessed work and service in