The

WORKS

OF THE

LONG MOURNFUL AND SORELY DISTRESSED

ISAAC PENINGTON

WHOM THE LORD IN HIS TENDER MERCY, AT LENGTH VISITED AND RELIEVED BY THE MINISTRY OF THAT DESPISED PEOPLE

CALLED QUAKERS

AND IN THE SPRINGINGS OF THAT LIGHT, LIFE, AND HOLY POWER IN HIM, WHICH THEY HAD TRULY AND FAITHFULLY TESTIFIED OF, AND DIRECTED HIS MIND TO, WERE THESE THINGS WRITTEN

AND ARE NOW PUBLISHED AS A THANKFUL TESTIMONY OF THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD UNTO HIM, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS

"THEY ALSO THAT ERRED IN SPIRIT SHALL KNOW UNDERSTANDING, AND THEY THAT MURMURED SHALL LEARN DOCTRINE."

ISAIAH 29:24

Volume 1

Contents

The Testimony of GEORGE FOX, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

The Testimony of THOMAS ELLWOOD, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

The Way of Life and Death Made Manifest, and Set Before Men

Some positions concerning the Apostasy from the Christian spirit

Some Principles guiding out of the Apostasy, to the Christian spirit

A Testimony of great concernment to all called Christians

A brief Account of what we are, and what our work is in the world

An Addition concerning the doctrine of Justification

The Scattered Sheep Sought After

A Lamentation; with a call to mourning and lamentation, etc.

Some Propositions concerning the only way of Salvation

The fundamental Principle of the Gospel

A short Catechism for the sake of the Simple-hearted

Babylon the Great Described

The Sins of Babylon

The judgment of Babylon

Some plain Queries drawn out of the Book of the Revelations

Some Considerations, helping out of the Suburbs of Babylon, etc.

An Exhortation to the Present Powers

The Jew Outward: Being a Glass for the Professors of this Age

The Axe Laid to the Root of the Old Corrupt Tree

Some Assertions concerning Faith, its Nature, Rise, etc.

A necessary warning, of great importance to all called Christians

A brief History of the state of the Church since the Apostle's days

An Exhortation to the present Age, relating to the workings of the mystery of Iniquity, and the mystery of Godliness

To the Parliament, the Army, and all the Well-affected in the Nation, who have been faithful to the Good Old Cause

A brief account of Some Reasons why the Quakers cannot do some things, and forbear doing some things; for which they suffer, etc.

Some Considerations Proposed to the City of London, etc.

Some Considerations Proposed to the Distracted Nation of England

To the Army

A Question proposed to the Rulers, Teachers, and People of England

An examination of the Grounds or Causes which are said to induce the Court of Boston, to make that Law of Banishment etc.

Examination of the Appendix of John Norton's Book

Answer to another Paper called "A True Relation etc."

The Authority which Christ excluded out of his Church

Some Considerations concerning the state of Things, etc.

A Warning of Love from the Bowels of Life to Professors

Where is the Wise, where is the Scribe? etc.

Letters of Isaac Penington

To his father

APPENDIX A — Additional Testimonies for Isaac Penington

* * *

The Testimony of GEORGE FOX, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

CONCERNING our dear brother Isaac Penington, who is lately deceased, and whom the Lord has lately taken away from among his people, and from his wife and children; he was a serviceable minister of the gospel of salvation, and of the word of life, which did spring through him often, to the refreshing and comforting of the church of Christ, and to his own comfort, and to the praise and glory of the Lord God. Amen.

And now all must be content with and in the will of the Lord God, who gives and takes at his own pleasure; who has all breath and life, and the length of days in his hand. And so he is well in the Lord; blessed be the name of the Lord, who is over all for ever. For, as John says; "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: "yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."

You may see what a cloud of witnesses the apostle speaks of, which died in the faith, and obtained a good report; which holy and divine faith is the victory. In this faith they pleased God; and by this faith, the gift of God, they had access to God, and so died in the Lord, and have his blessing from him, the fountain then and now. And so all true Christians are to live, that Christ may be "magnified in their bodies, whether it be by life or death," as the same apostle says, Phil. 1:20. And the same apostle says to the saints; "None of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Rom. 14:7-8. And Christ says, "Whosoever lives and believes in me, shall never die. Believe you this?" John 11:26. For they are grafted into Christ by believing in his light, which is the life in him.

The memorial of the just is blessed: "Even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial." Hos. 12:5. "But the name of the wicked shall rot." Prov. 10:7. "and his memory shall be cut off from the earth." Psal. 109:15. So you may see the memorial of the just is recorded by the just in Holy Scriptures of Truth. But my desire is, that all may see their names written in the  Lamb's book of life, before the foundation of the world, and rejoice in that, "and praise God, that their life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psal. 116:15. Therefore live the holy and righteous life, that you may die the death of the righteous.

It is now above twenty years since Isaac Penington came among God's people, and since that time he has gone through many exercises and trials and temptations and snares, both by them that are without, and false brethren; besides all his sufferings, and cruel and tedious imprisonments, and persecutions, for the name and life of Jesus Christ, and true Christianity; which in the end, some years before his death, the Lord, in and with his power, set him free from; and gave him dominion over all, and established him upon his living rock and foundation, to praise his holy name in his church, and among his saints and people, in the Lord's fresh living power and spirit. And he did freely minister of his living bread and water, which he had received from above, from the living God and his Son, to the comfort of them that fear the Lord, and keep their habitation in the truth, in meekness and in humility.

I do know that he is well in the Lord, and in peace with him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Such as are puffed up, and do swell in their notions, may rejoice and be glad that he is taken out of their way; and they may think they will have the more liberty; because that he, being a living stone, and member of the living head, had no fellowship nor unity with such as were full of high swelling words, without the life of Christ, the heavenly and spiritual man; but did reprove such, and admonish them: but such their gladness and joy will be turned into bitterness and sorrow and mourning in the end. Therefore, let all such take heed and be warned, lest the hand of the Lord do suddenly turn against them. For I could desire, that all were in that innocent life that he departed out of this world in: and I know that he died in the Lord, and is blessed. So let his works follow him, who is well, and at his rest with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the rest of all his faithful people. To him be glory and honor, thanks and praise, now and forever. Amen.

The Testimony of THOMAS ELLWOOD, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

ALTHOUGH I am not ignorant that many weighty and living testimonies have been already given in by true and faithful witnesses upon the same occasion, which might well seem sufficient to excuse mine; yet am I not thereby clear, but find a pressing upon my spirit to write a few lines also concerning this my dear deceased friend; to which, I confess, I am induced, and in some sort engaged, by the double obligation of affection and gratitude. Love him I did, and that entirely, and sure I am, very deservedly; for he was worthy indeed of love from all men, but more especially from me, to whom he had been abundantly kind: for in the day wherein it pleased the Lord to awaken my soul, and call me out of the pollutions of the world, with respect alike to worship and conduct, (for which I became the derision of my country, the scorn and contempt of my familiars and acquaintance, and in a manner an outcast also, exposed as it were in the world to shift in it,) how welcome was I then to him! how affectionately did he receive me! how regardfully did he take care of me! how tenderly and like a father did he watch over me, that I might not be drawn back, or any way be betrayed from the simplicity of truth, as I had received it! And can I ever forget his love, or let his manifold kindness slip out of my mind! Oh no; the remembrance of him is pleasant to me, and I think not of him without delight: for as a friend, I truly loved him; as a father (for such his care of me rendered him to me), I reverenced him; as an elder, I honored him, and that (as he right well deserved) with double honor. My spirit was truly united to his; yes, my soul was linked and knit unto him in the holy covenant of life, which death has not been able to dissolve. Bear with me therefore a little, I entreat you, whoever you are, under whose eye these lines may chance to fall, if I take liberty to express my sense of this my beloved friend; wherein if I seem somewhat  particular, know that my acquaintance with him was so.

He was naturally furnished with a sharp and excellent wit, and that well cultivated and polished with an ingenuous and liberal education; his disposition was courteous and affable, free from pride and affectation. His ordinary discourse cheerful and pleasant, neither morose nor light, but innocently sweet, and tempered with such a serious gravity, as rendered his converse both delightful and profitable.

From his childhood (as I have heard him occasionally say) he was religiously inclined, and sought the Lord in his tender years. And although the way of truth was not then so cast up unto him, as since, through the goodness of the Lord, it was; yet that he had then, at times, some true touches and tastes of life, some openings and sights of heavenly things, (though not so clear, unmixed, and abiding as after,) the treatises which he then wrote do manifestly declare. — And albeit, at the first manifestation of truth unto him in this present dispensation, he was not without doubts and jealousies concerning it, as himself relates; nor free for some time from disputes and reasonings against the meanness of its appearance, yet, after it pleased the Father, in the riches of his grace, to reveal his Son in him, thereby giving him to see, and certainly to know, what was that good and acceptable and perfect will of God; oh, how joyfully did he receive it! how willingly did he bow unto it! how readily did he yield his neck to the yoke of Christ! and how constantly and delightfully did he wear it! Did he then regard the pleasures of the times, or value the preferments and honors of the world, though living at that time in the favor and affluence of it? No, no: he turned his back upon it all; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; and casting down his crown at the foot of Jesus, he willingly became a fool to the world, and to the wisdom thereof, that he might be made truly wise to God. And surely he obtained his desire herein; for as he honored the Lord, and preferred him above all; so the Lord did highly honor him, and gave him liberally of the true and heavenly wisdom, adorned with humility; so that he was learned, and yet humble; full of knowledge (heavenly knowledge), yet not puffed up thereby. And as he had freely received of the Lord, so did he freely and readily  communicate thereof (as the following sheets do witness) unto such as stood in need of counsel, advice, information, or direction in their travel to the heavenly country. To which service he was fitted and very well furnished by the experiences of his own travel; for the Lord had led him through many a strait and difficulty; through many temptations, trials, and exercises, by which he had tried and proved him. Not only through the Red Sea and the Wilderness had he passed, but the bottom of Jordan also had he seen, and the upholding, delivering arm of the Lord through all had he known and felt; whereby he was able to speak a word of information to the bewildered passenger; a word of encouragement to the weary and fainting traveler; a word of comfort to the afflicted soul, and of consolation to the wounded spirit. And oh, how sweetly have I heard it flow from him! How has it dropped like the dew, and distilled like the gentle rain! Ah, how tender, how compassionate, how full of bowels and feeling sympathy was he! Surely his words have been many times as apples of gold in pictures of silver. For of a truth the Lord was with him, and his heavenly power did often fill his temple; and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him, and the fruits thereof were plentifully brought forth through him, in love, in joy, in peace, in long-suffering, in gentleness, in goodness, in faith, in meekness, and in temperance; so richly did the word of the Lord dwell in him. His delight was in the service of God, to which he was wholly given up, and in it spent most of his time, either publicly in meetings waiting upon God, or privately in visiting and ministering unto those that were distressed, or any way afflicted in mind or body; and when at home, he was frequent in retirements, and very inward with the Lord. Very fervent he was in prayer, and very frequent; for the Spirit of grace and supplication was plentifully poured upon him, by which he often wrestled with the Lord, and not in vain. The holy Scriptures he read much, and with great delight and profit: for he made it not a cursory or formal business, nor sought to pick out the meaning by his natural wit or learning; but, with a great composedness of mind, and reverence of spirit, waited to receive the true sense of them from the openings of that divine spirit, by which the penmen of them were inspired. Great and strong was the travail of his spirit for  the conversion of others; and in a more especial manner did his love flow and bowels yearn after the professors of religion, for whom he continually and earnestly labored, both by word and writing (not ceasing to seek them to his dying day), that they might be brought off from the shadows, and come at length to inherit substance. And blessed be the Lord, by the powerful operation of the Spirit of God, through his ministry, many were turned to the truth, and many confirmed in it: for the Lord was with him, and spake by him; so that his teaching was with divine authority, in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. To the world, and the affairs of it, he was very much a stranger; but deeply experienced in the things of God: for his affection being set on things above, his citizenship was in heaven, and his life hid with Christ in God. He was but a pilgrim on the earth, and is now gone home. In his family he was a true pattern of goodness and piety; not only by his grave example, but by his savory instructions and exhortations to godliness. To his wife he was a most affectionate husband; to his children, a loving and tender father; to his servants, a mild and gentle master; to his friends, a firm and fast friend; to the poor, compassionate and openhearted; and to all, courteous and kind. Very zealous he was for the truth, unwearied in promoting it, bold and undaunted in the defense of it, faithful in his testimony to it, patient and cheerful in his suffering for it. A right good and pious man indeed was he; one that truly feared God, and warily eschewed evil.

How great and various his exercises were in the times of his former professions; how earnest and pressing his spirit then was after the pure enjoyment of God; how strange and admirable the dealings of the Lord were with him; and how far he came at length to see the travail of his soul, and to be satisfied; as himself of all men best knew; so he has occasionally scattered here and there a hint thereof, in several pieces of the following books; which, for the reader's satisfaction, I had once thought to have collected and presented here together; but finding, amongst his loose papers, a summary account thereof, written with his own hand, above a dozen years ago, when, being in bonds for Christ's sake, he was sick near unto death, I chose rather to transcribe that here, and refer the more curious and industrious  reader to the several books and papers of the ensuing volumes, wherein he has touched the same subject; as namely, The Way of Life and Death, etc. in the preface, and in the postscript. Babylon the Great described, etc. The scattered Sheep, etc. An Examination of the Grounds, etc. and A Glass for Professors. Where is the Wise? Observations on Rom. 14:20. Of the Church in its first and purest State. The holy Truth and People defended. Not to enumerate each particular.

The account he gives of his spiritual travail is as follows:

"A true and faithful relation, in brief, concerning myself, in reference to my spiritual travails, and the Lord's dealings with me. I say true and faithful, because it is of the truth, and not given forth in my own will, but in the Lord's will and requirings of me at this time, for his service. The relation is as follows:

"I have been a man of sorrow and affliction from my childhood, feeling the absence of the Lord, and mourning after him: separated by him from the love, nature, and spirit of this world, and turned in spirit towards him, almost ever since I could remember.

"In the sense of my lost estate, I sought after the Lord; I read the Scripture; I watched over mine own heart; I cried unto the Lord for what I felt the lack of; I blessed his name in what he mercifully did for me, and bestowed on me, etc. Whatever I read in the Scriptures as the way of God to my understanding, I gave myself to the faithful practice of; being contented to meet with all the reproach, opposition, and several kinds of sufferings, which it pleased the Lord to measure out to me therein. And I cannot but say that the Lord was good unto me, did visit me, did teach me, did help me, did testify his acceptance of me many times, to the refreshing and joy of my heart before him.

"But my soul was not satisfied with what I met with, nor indeed could be, there being further quickenings and pressings in my spirit, after a more full, certain, and satisfactory knowledge; even after the sense, sight, and enjoyment of God, as was testified in the Scriptures to have been felt and enjoyed in the former times: for I saw plainly that there was a stop of the streams, and a great falling short of the power, life, and glory which they partook of. We had not so the Spirit, nor were so in  the faith, nor did so walk and live in God, as they did. They were come to Mount Zion, and the heavenly Jerusalem, etc., which we had hardly so much as the literal knowledge or apprehension what they were. So that I saw the whole course of religion among us was, for the most part, but a talk, to what they felt, enjoyed, possessed, and lived in.

"This sense made me sick at heart indeed, and set me upon deep crying to God, close searching the Scriptures, and waiting on God, that I might receive the pure sense and understanding of them, from and in the light, and by the help of his Spirit. And what the Lord did bestow on me in that state, with thankfulness I remember before him at this very day: for he was then my God, and a pitier and a watcher over me; though he had not pleased then to direct me how to stay my mind upon him. And then I was led (indeed I was led, I did not run of myself) into a way of separation from the worship of the world into a gathered society: for this both the scripture and the Spirit of God in me gave testimony unto; and what we then met with, and what leadings and help we then felt, there is a remembrance and testimony in my heart to this day. But there was something lacking, and we mistook our way; for whereas we should have pressed forward into the spirit and power, we ran too much outward into the letter and form: and though the Lord in many things helped us, yet therein he was against us, and brought darkness, confusion, and scattering upon us. I was sorely broken and darkened, and in this darkened state sometimes lay still for a long season, secretly mourning and crying out to the Lord night and day. Sometimes I ran about, hearkening after what might appear or break forth in others; but never met with any thing whereto there was the least answer in my heart, save in one people, who had a touch of truth; but I never expressed so much to any of them, nor indeed felt them at all able to reach my condition.

"At last, after all my distresses, wanderings, and sore travails, I met with some of the writings of this people called QUAKERS, which I cast a slight eye upon and disdained, as falling very short of that wisdom, light, life, and power, which I had been longing for, and searching after. I had likewise, some pretty distance of time after this, opportunity of meeting with some of them; and divers of them were by the Lord moved (I know it to be so since) to come to me. As I remember, at the very first they reached to the life of God in me, which life answered their voice, and caused a great love in me to spring to them; but still in my reasonings with them, and disputes alone (in my mind) concerning them, I was very far off from owning them, as so knowing the Lord, or so appearing in his life and power as my condition needed, and as my soul waited for. Yes, the more I conversed with them, the more I seemed in my understanding and reason to get over them, and to trample them under my feet, as a poor, weak, silly, contemptible generation, who had some smatterings of truth in them, and some honest desires towards God; but very far off from the clear and full understanding of his way and will. And this was the effect almost of every discourse with them; they still reached my heart, and I felt them in the secrets of my soul; which caused the love in me always to continue, yes, sometimes to increase towards them: but daily my understanding got more and more over them, and therein I daily more and more despised them.

"After a long time I was invited to hear one of them (as I had been often, they in tender love pitying me, and feeling my lack of that which they possessed); and there was an answer in my heart, and I went with fear and trembling, with desires to the Most High, who was over all, and knew all, that I might not receive any thing for truth which was not of him, nor withstand any thing which was of him; but might bow before the appearance of the Lord my God, and none other. And indeed, when I came, I felt the presence and power of the Most High among them, and words of truth from the Spirit of truth reaching to my heart and conscience, opening my state as in the presence of the Lord. Yes, I did not only feel words and demonstrations from without, but I felt the dead quickened, the seed raised; insomuch that my heart (in the certainty of light, and clearness of true sense) said, This is he, there is no other: this is he whom I have waited for and sought after from my childhood; who was always near me, and had often begotten life in my heart; but I knew him not distinctly, nor how to receive him, or dwell with him. And then in this sense (in the melting and breakings of my spirit) was I given up to the Lord, to become his, both in waiting  for the further revealing of his seed in me, and to serve him in the life and power of his seed.

"Now what I met with after this, in my travails, in my waitings, in my spiritual exercises, is not to be uttered: only in general I may say this, I met with the very strength of hell. The cruel oppressor roared upon me, and made me feel the bitterness of his captivity, while he had any power: yes, the Lord was far from my help, and from the voice of my roaring. I also met with deep subtleties and devices to entangle me in that wisdom, which seems able to make wise in the things of God, but indeed is foolishness, and a snare to the soul, bringing it back into captivity, where the enemy's gins prevail. And what I met with outwardly from my own dear father, from my kindred, from my servants, from the people and powers of the world, for no other cause but fearing my God, worshipping him as he has required of me, and bowing to his seed, which is his Son, who is to be worshipped by men and angels for evermore, the Lord my God knows, before whom my heart and ways are; who preserved me in love to them, in the midst of all I suffered from them, and does still so preserve me; blessed be his pure and holy name.

"But some may desire to know what I have at last met with? I answer, I have met with the Seed. Understand that word, and you will be satisfied, and inquire no further. I have met with my God; I have met with my Savior; and he has not been present with me without his salvation; but I have felt the healings drop upon my soul from under his wings. I have met with the true knowledge, the knowledge of life, the living knowledge, the knowledge which is life; and this has had the true virtue in it, which my soul has rejoiced in, in the presence of the Lord. I have met with the Seed's Father, and in the Seed I have felt him my Father. There I have read his nature, his love, his compassions, his tenderness, which have melted, overcome, and changed my heart before him. I have met with the Seed's faith, which has done and does that which the faith of man can never do. I have met with the true birth, with the birth which is heir of the kingdom, and inherits the kingdom. I have met with the true spirit of prayer and supplication, wherein the Lord is prevailed with, and which draws from him whatever the condition  needs; the soul always looking up to him in the will, and in the time and way, which are acceptable with him. What shall I say? I have met with the true peace, the true righteousness, the true holiness, the true rest of the soul, the everlasting habitation, which the redeemed dwell in: and I know all these to be true, in him that is true, and am capable of no doubt, dispute, or reasoning in my mind about them; it abiding there, where it has received the full assurance and satisfaction. And also I know very well and distinctly in spirit where the doubts and disputes are, and where the certainty and full assurance are, and in the tender mercy of the Lord am preserved out of the one, and in the other.

"Now the Lord knows, these things I do not utter in a boasting way; but would rather be speaking of my nothingness, my emptiness, my weakness, my manifold infirmities, which I feel more than ever. The Lord has broken the man's part in me, and I am a worm, and no man before him. I have no strength to do any good or service for him: no, I cannot watch over or preserve myself. I feel daily that I keep not alive my own soul; but am weaker before men, yes, weaker in my spirit, as in myself, than ever I have been. But I can not but utter to the praise of my God, and I feel his arm stretched out for me; and my weakness which I feel in myself, is not my loss, but advantage before him, — And these things I write, as having no end at all therein of my own, but felt it this morning required of me; and so in submission and subjection to my God have I given up to do it, leaving the success and service of it with him."

I.P.

Aylesbury, 15th of 3d month, 1667

Neither to him was it given only to believe, but to suffer also for the sake of Christ. His imprisonments were many, and some of them long, which with great constancy and quietness of mind he underwent. But because so general an account may perhaps not answer the expectation and desire of the reader, I will here subjoin a more particular; but that as contracted and short as may be.

His first imprisonment was at Aylesbury jail, in the years 1661 and 1662, being committed there for worshipping God in his own house; where, for seventeen weeks, great part of it in winter, he was kept in a cold and very incommodious room,  without a chimney; from which hard usage his tender body contracted so great and violent a distemper, that for several weeks after, he was not able to turn himself in his bed.

His second imprisonment was in the year 1664, being taken out of a meeting, where he with others was peaceably waiting upon the Lord, and sent to Aylesbury jail, where he again remained a prisoner between seventeen and eighteen weeks.

His third imprisonment was in the year 1665, being taken up, with many others, in the open street of Amersham, as they were carrying and accompanying the body of a deceased friend to the grave. From hence he was sent again to Aylesbury jail; but this commitment being in order to banishment, was but for a month, or thereabouts.

His fourth imprisonment was in the same year, 1665, about a month after his releasement from the former. — Hitherto his commitment had been by the civil magistrates; but now, that he might experience the severity of each, he fell into the military hands. A rude soldier, without any other warrant than what he carried in his scabbard, came to his house, and told him he came to fetch him before Sir Philip Palmer, one of the deputy-lieutenants of the county. He meekly went, and was by him sent with a guard of soldiers to Aylesbury jail, with a kind of mittimus, importing, "That the gaoler should receive and keep him in safe custody during the pleasure of the earl of Bridgewater;" who had, it seems, conceived so great, as well as unjust, displeasure against this innocent man, that, although (it being the sickness year) the plague was suspected to be in the jail, he would not be prevailed with, by the earnest importunity of a person both of considerable quality and power in the county, only to permit Isaac Penington to be removed to another house in the town, and there kept prisoner until the jail were clear. Afterwards a prisoner dying in the jail of the plague, the gaoler's wife, her husband being absent, gave leave to Isaac Penington to remove to another house, where he was shut up about six weeks: after which, by the procurement of the earl of Ancram, a release was sent from the said Philip Palmer, by which he was discharged, after he had suffered imprisonment three quarters of a year, with apparent hazard of his life, and that for no offense.

By the time he had been at home about three weeks, a party of soldiers from the said Philip Palmer (by order of the earl of Bridgewater, as was reported) came to his house, and seizing him in bed, carried him away to Aylesbury jail again; where, without any cause showed, or crime objected, he was kept in prison a year and a half, in rooms so cold, damp, and unhealthy, that it went very near to cost him his life, and procured him so great a distemper, that he lay weak of it several months. At length a relation of his wife's, by a habeas corpus, removed him to the King's-Bench bar, where (with the wonder of the court that a man should be so long imprisoned for nothing) he was at last released in the year 1668. This was his fifth imprisonment.

His sixth imprisonment was in the year 1670, in Reading jail, where he went to visit his friends that were sufferers there for the testimony of Jesus. Of which, notice being given to one called Sir William Armorer, a justice of the peace for that county, and living in the town, he was forthwith sent for before him, and committed to the jail, thereby becoming a fellow-sufferer with them, whom, being sufferers for the truth, he came to visit. Here he continued a prisoner a year and three quarters, and was brought under the sentence of premunire; but at length the Lord delivered him.

Thus through many tribulations did he enter into the kingdom; having been exercised, tried, proved, and approved by the Lord. Long was he in the warfare, and, like a good soldier, manfully endured the fight of afflictions: but having fought the good fight, and kept the faith, he has now, in the Lord's good time, finished his course, and is gone to possess the crown of righteousness laid up for him, and all those that love the bright appearance of the Lord. — A faithful laborer he was in the Lord's vineyard for many years; but now has he ceased from his labor, and his works follow him. He walked with God, and is translated. To the Lord he lived, and in the Lord he died, and by the Spirit of the Lord he is pronounced blessed: blessed for ever be the name of the Lord therefore.

THE WAY OF LIFE AND DEATH MADE MANIFEST

AND

SET BEFORE MEN

Whereby the many Paths of DEATH are impleaded, and the one Path of LIFE propounded, and pleaded for; in some POSITIONS concerning the Apostasy from the CHRISTIAN SPIRIT and LIFE; with some PRINCIPLES guiding out of it; and also an ANSWER to some Objections, whereby the simplicity in some may be entangled; held forth in tender Good-will, both to PAPISTS and PROTESTANTS, who have generally erred from the Faith for these many Generations, since the days of the APOSTLES; and with that which they have erred from are they comprehended.

By ISAAC PENINGTON, the Younger

[1658]

THE PREFACE

MY soul has still in remembrance the grievous shakings and rendings that have been in this nation, which entered deep into the bowels of it, and made every heart ache, and every mind astonished. This nation was settled in religion and outward peace, in such a way as was pleasing to most; but yet there was a spirit within, which had been long groaning under oppression, whose sighs and cries entered into the ears of the Lord: and he rose up in his fury and jealousy, and rent the heavens, and rent the earth; so breaking the very foundation of both, that men generally were amazed, and wondered what would become of all. The former religion was almost buried in confusion, and in danger of being utterly lost. A long-spun, corroding war were we entangled in, which administered no hopes nor likelihood of peace. — The hand of the Lord reached through all these dominions; magistracy, ministry, the common people, the people of God (both such as were accounted so, and such as  were indeed so), the line of confusion was stretched over them all; they did all reel and totter like a drunken man, as if they had been so to fall as to rise up no more.

But behold how suddenly and unexpectedly was there a settlement of all again! the nation settled in peace, magistracy settled, ministry settled, the common people settled, and those which were shaken in their spirits got into their several ways in religion, and settled again. Thus there was a general healing of all again, save only of a few, whose spirits God had so reached, that their wound was incurable; and unless something of God had been brought forth, which the world cannot know (no, the religious spirit of man, which is below, can no more reach it than the common spirit of the world), they had remained miserable, lost, scattered, and confounded to this day. But the Lord has in infinite mercy visited them in the season of distress: and there has a little foolish thing broke forth (at which all the wise and religious in the spirit of this world cannot but stumble), which has administered relief, and discovered the foundation whereon they also can settle. So that now there is, as it were, a universal settlement, as every creature is gathered into the center which is proper and suitable to its spirit to bottom on.

Now this I have to say to all; Let every one look to his foundation; for the Lord can arise again; yes, and will arise again, and shake once more; and then the heavens and the earth, which have not a true foundation, cannot but fall. If the earth be not founded upon and settled in righteousness, its present establishment will not stand. If the heavens be not founded upon and settled in truth, they will melt and pass away before the fire of the Lord. There is a spirit that mourns deeply to the Lord, groaning inwardly, and his ears are open to it, and he will plead the cause of his seed; and the churches and religions wherein the seed of the serpent can live and flourish, shall wither and come to an end. Dust is already become the serpent's food. The spirit of man, in all his exercises of religion, knows not the bread of life; but the dead feed upon the dead, and the dead spirit of man loves to have it so. But this cannot continue; for the Lord has been at work all this while; and when he brings forth the people which he has been forming, and their religion, the  religion of man will appear what it is; and shame and sorrow will be the portion of all who have pleased themselves therein, and trifled away the day of their visitation.

Be wise now, therefore, O you wise ones! be religious, O you religious ones! open the eye and ear that have been shut; shut the eye and ear that have been open: stumble no longer, lest you fall and rise no more. I know you cannot see; for the wrong eye is open, and the Lord has designed to hide his wisdom from that eye. If it be possible for you, become poor in spirit; lest you at last prove to be the rich whom the Lord will send empty away. Sell all quickly, that you may have wherewith to buy the pearl. You have not known the appearance of the Lord; but in your wisdom have disdained it, and he has disdained to make use of you in this great work; but it has been pleasant to him to lay stumbling-blocks before you, that you might fall and be broken. The children, the fools, the blind, can see the way, and enter into life; but you that are men, that are wise, that have both your eyes, that can judge in religion, and determine what is orthodox, and what erroneous, you cannot.

Oh hear, that your souls may live! You know not how short your time is; the day of your visitation passes away faster than you are aware. The cry has long gone forth, Behold, the bridegroom comes, and his spouse has been preparing for his bed! You must off with your old garments, and have the new on. You must have the true oil in your lamps, or the door of the kingdom will be shut upon you, and there will be no entrance for you. In plain terms, you must part with all your religion which you have gathered in your own wisdom, which has grown up in the apostasy, and which only can make a fair show in the dark; but can not endure the searching light of the day of the Lord; and you must purchase the true religion, the true righteousness, the true innocency and purity of Christ. The old must be done away, truly done away, and the new come in the place. So that flesh and self may be quite destroyed, and nothing but Christ found in you, and you found no where but in Christ, if you enter into his kingdom; for no unclean thing can enter. Therefore put away pride and passion and enmity and fleshly reasonings, and seek out that which is pure, and enter into it, and take up the cross  against all that is contrary, that so you may be wrought into it, and found in it. And turn from all imaginings and conceivings about the meanings of scriptures in the uncertain and erring mind, and come to that which is infallible. And know the silencing of the fleshly part, that the spiritual part may grow in the wisdom, that so you may learn in the spirit, and know the word of God, and be able to speak it.

My bowels are towards you, and in bowels has this been written, not to anger or shame you, but to provoke you to jealousy against that dark and evil spirit, which leads you to destruction under the guise and appearance of a light and good spirit. Nor is it to glory over you; for my soul lies down in shame and sorrow before the Lord, and the reproach of mine own apostasy, and seeking relief from the world (turning from the Lord, who had wounded me, to earthly vanities for ease), will not easily be recovered.

The Lord has been kind to me in breaking of me in my religion, and in visiting me with sweet and precious light from his own spirit; but I knew it not. I felt, and could not but acknowledge, a power upon me, and might have known what it was by its purifying of my heart, and begetting me into the image of God; but I confined it to appear in a way of demonstration to my reason and earthly wisdom, and for lack of satisfaction therein, denied and rebelled against it; and so, after all my former misery, lost my entrance, and sowed seeds of new misery and sorrow to my own soul, which since I have reaped. So that I have no cause to boast over others; but to lie low in abasement of spirit. And what I write is not in any dominion and authority of mine own; but to bring others into that dominion and authority which it is good for me, and for every one else, to be subject to. The Lord strip us of our own understanding, and of that righteousness which is but ours (though we have called it his), that so we may be gathered into, and receive his understanding, and be clothed with his righteousness, and feel his rest and peace! And happy is he that loses all to gain this; but he that keeps what he has too long, shall in the end lose all, and yet not gain this either; therefore be no longer wise in the eye of flesh, or according to what man calls wisdom; but be TRULY wise.

SOME POSITIONS

Concerning the Apostasy from the Christian Spirit and Life

POSITION I

That there has been a great apostasy from the Spirit of Christ, and from the true light and life of Christianity: which apostasy began in the apostles' days, and ripened quickly afterwards.

THAT the apostles and Christians in their days had the true spirit, the true light, and true life, I think will not be denied. "We know that we are of God, and that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." 1 John 5:19-20. They were truly born of God, and knew the Son of God come, receiving from him a true understanding, and the true light and knowledge in that understanding; and both the understanding and knowledge were rooted and seated in him that is true, where their situation and abiding were "(we are in him that is true)," where they met with the true Spirit, the true God, the true life, even life eternal. That they had the true Spirit from God, "(because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." Gal. 4:6) that they had the true light from God, "(God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts," etc. 2 Cor. 4:6) that they had the true life from and in the spirit, "(if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit." Gal. 5:25) is generally acknowledged concerning them.

Now of an apostasy from this, beginning even in their days, and to be completed not long after, the Scriptures also make mention. The Apostle Paul speaks expressly of the thing, that there must come "a falling away," and a revealing of "the man of sin, the son of perdition." 2 Thess. 2:3. Christ, the man of salvation, had showed and declared the path of life; had discovered the true church, which was "the pillar and ground of truth," against which the gates of hell could not prevail; had sent the true spirit, which could "lead into all truth," and preserve in the truth: but there must spring up a "man of sin, a son of perdition," who, in a  mystery, should work against this, and cause a falling from this to another thing. And this the apostle did not only give a touch of here in writing, but he had likewise told them of these things by word of mouth, to which he refers them, verse 5. This were enough to an eye opened; but for further illustration to the thick understanding of man, which is surrounded with fogs and mists of darkness, some more evidences of scriptures may be given.

Christ foretold of false prophets, Mat. 7:15. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." The Lord sent true prophets under the law, and gave them true visions to declare; Christ sent true apostles and ministers under the gospel, and gave them the truth which they should preach and propagate; but then there were false prophets, false apostles, and ministers to come after, who were never sent by Christ, nor ever received the truth from his spirit. Now these do not come to gather into the life and truth of Christ, but to scatter from it; and so either to begin or uphold an apostasy. And, says Christ, beware of them; for they come very subtlely; they come in sheep's clothing: they get the garment of the sheep upon their backs, even that very garment which the sheep did wear; but they have not the nature of the sheep, but the nature of the wolf, which is ravenous after the life of the sheep. Mark: where there is the garment without, but not the nature within; where there is the form of godliness, but not the power; where there are scripture words and practices, but not the spirit of life from which they came; there is the false prophet! there is the wolf! there is the apostate! there is the seducer from Christ!

Again, Christ foretells of many false prophets, Mat. 24:11. "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." And verse 24, "For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

And as Christ himself, so his apostles also after him, by the same spirit, foretell of the same thing.

The Apostle Paul speaks of seducing spirits in the latter times, and of doctrines of devils, which should prevail to cause a departure in some from the faith. 1 Tim. 4:1. — And if, in those days, the power of seducers was so great as to draw from  the truth, which was then so manifest and living, how easy it would be to keep from the truth afterwards, when it had been long lost, and out of remembrance, and thereby deceit got into the place and name of it.

The Apostle Peter also foretold of "false teachers," who should "privily bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them:" and that they should so prevail, that their "pernicious ways" should be followed by many, and "the way of truth evil spoken of." 2 Pet. 2:1-2.

Again, Paul, in his 2nd Epistle to Timothy, speaks of the last days, that the times therein should be "perilous;" chap. 3. Christ had said, "The love of many should wax cold, and iniquity abound.' Mat. 24:12. And Paul shows how the times would prove very perilous, by the abounding of iniquity. "In the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3:1-4. Behold what kind of fruit sprung up from the false doctrine of the false teachers in the apostasy from the truth. And yet all this under a form of godliness; "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." verse 5. Christ sent the power of godliness into the world, to subdue the root from have all this springs; to kill the evil nature inwardly: but in the apostasy the evil nature is not killed, but the power denied which should kill it, and the form kept up to cover the evil nature with: the inwardly ravening nature, which devours and destroys the stirrings and shootings-forth of the just-one in the heart, that gets the sheep's clothing, the form of godliness, to cover itself with. Look anywhere among the apostates from the apostles' spirit and doctrine, and see; Is self-love killed? is covetousness killed? are boasting and pride killed? is the love of pleasures killed? are persecutors and oppressors killed? and are your honor and glory laid in the dust? No: they are but covered with the form; their life is still in them; the power wherewith they should be killed was at first denied, and now is lost and not known. Where there is the life, there is the  power; and where there is the power, the evil nature is killed. But where the evil nature is not killed, there is only a form of godliness, a covering, a painted sepulcher, but rottenness within.

Now those last days and last times were not far off, but began then: for the apostle exhorts Timothy to turn away from such, verse 5. "From such turn away:" intimating, that even then there were such to be turned away from. — And he says, verse 8, that they did then resist the truth, like Jannes and Jambres; who with a likeness of what Moses wrought, but without life, did strive to resist the life and power that was in Moses. And this is the work of all deceivers, to get their own spirit into the likeness, and then to make use of the likeness to oppose and suppress the true life and power. So that they were come even then, when the apostle wrote this epistle to Timothy.

And Jude says, that "ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ," were "crept in" already. verse 4 of his epistle.

And the Apostle John speaks very expressly, 1 John 2:18-19. "Little children, it is the last time; and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us," etc. Christ, instructing his disciples concerning the last times, tells them there shall arise false Christs, with great power of deceit. Mat. 24:24. Now, says John here, there are come "many antichrists, whereby we know it is the last time." Mark: there were many antichrists to begin and lay the foundation of the apostasy, and make way for the great antichrist, who was to be their successor in the apostasy, and not the successor of the apostles in the truth: and these did not abide in the doctrines of the apostles, who preached "the everlasting gospel," nor in the spirit and principle which they were in; but "went out" from them, from their spirit (from the anointing to which they kept, and by which they were kept) into another spirit, and preached another gospel; a gospel which was not the power of God to kill the earthly, but consisted in such a dead, literal knowledge of things as the earthly might be fed and kept alive by. And as the great antichrist was to come, so these antichrists who were to make way for him were already come, and were already laying  the foundation of, and beginning the apostasy. So that the spirit of antichrist (that very spirit wherein antichrist succeeded, and in which he grew up, and perfected the apostasy) was then in the world, as this apostle says yet more manifestly, 1 John 4:3. "This is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world."

Nor was it idle, but it was at work, working itself into the form of godliness, that it might eat out the power, drive out the true spirit, and make a prey of the life. "The mystery of iniquity," says the Apostle Paul, "does already work." 2 Thess. 2:7. This spirit did work in a mystery of iniquity to eat out the mystery of godliness, and to set up this mystery of iniquity in the world, instead of the mystery of godliness. And it did prevail to wind itself in the form, and get possession of the form, and also to trample upon and keep under the life. It gained the "outward court" (for when that spirit had corrupted it, the Lord did not regard it, but gave it up to it), and it trod down the "holy city." Rev. 11:2. And this mystery of iniquity did not begin to work many ages after the apostles; but even then, in their days, already: "the mystery of iniquity does already work."

And look now into the estate of the churches then, according to what the Scripture records of them, and the symptoms of its working will plainly appear. The church of Ephesus (among whom some of the grievous wolves had entered, Acts 20:29) had left their first love. Rev. 2:4. The churches of Galatia were bewitched from the gospel. Gal. 3:1. The church at Coloss was entangled, and made subject to the rudiments of the world, and ordinances (which perish with the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men. Col. 2:20,22. Mark: when once one comes to be subject to the commandments and doctrines of men, to perishing ordinances, and worldly rudiments, which men teach and command, the true state is lost, and the apostasy is entered into. Here the wrong teacher is teaching, and he teaches the wrong thing, the wrong doctrines, the wrong commandments; and the wrong ear is hearing, which hears the wrong voice, and knows not the true; and so the more it hears and practices, and the hotter its zeal grows, the deeper it still runs into the apostasy. The church at Corinth also was haunted with false apostles, 2  Cor. 11:12-13. insomuch that the apostle was afraid lest that church should be corrupted by them. verse 3. The church in Pergamus had them that held the doctrine of Balaam. Rev. 2:14. The church in Thyatira allowed the woman Jezebel, which called herself a prophetess, to seduce and bring forth children in the apostasy. Rev. 2:20,23. The church in Sardis had a name to live, but was dead; Rev. 3:1. having defiled her garments. verse 4. The church in Laodicea looked upon herself as rich, and increased with goods, and as having need of nothing; but was wretched, miserable, poor, blind (so then the eye was put out), and naked, lacking the gold, lacking the raiment, lacking the eye-salve. Rev. 3:17-18. And lastly, all the Gentiles were warned by Paul, in his epistle to the church at Rome (whereby that church might look upon herself as more particularly concerned therein), to look to their standing; lest they, falling from the faith, from the truth, from the life, into the apostasy (as the Jews had done), might also feel the severity of God, as the Jews had. chap. 11:20-22.

Thus it is evident that the apostasy had got footing, and begun to spread in the apostles' days: and the Apostle John, in the spirit, beholding the future state of things, sees it over-spread and over-run all: "all nations drunk with the cup of fornication." Rev. 18:3. The way of truth had been evil spoken of long before, 2 Pet. 2:2 and the Rock of Ages, which alone can establish in the truth, had been forsaken, and all became as a sea; and up gets the beast (which could not rise while the power of truth stood), and the woman upon the beast, with the cup of deceit and error from the life, in her hand; and this she gives all the nations to drink, and they drink, and are drunk with it. So that all nations have been intoxicated with the doctrines and practices of the apostasy. They have taken that for truth which the whore told them was truth, and they have observed those things as the commands of God which the whore told them were the commands of God. And by this means they have never come to be married to Christ, to be in union with him, to receive the law of life from his spirit, and to know the liberty from the bondage of corruption; but have been in the bed of fornication with the whore, and have pleased, glutted, and satisfied the whorish principle in themselves with this fornication. And thus corruption did overspread  all the earth; for taking in a corrupt thing instead of the truth, it cannot purify the heart, but corrupt it more. A corrupt profession, corrupt doctrines, may paint, and make a man to himself seem changed; but the corruption still lodges within, which a spiritual eye can easily discern, though he that is in the corruption cannot. The Pharisees seemed glorious to themselves; but Christ saw through them. And every sort of people now, in their several strains and forms of apostasy, seem glorious to themselves; but the spirit of Christ sees through them all, to that which lies underneath (in whom it reigns), and there it finds corruption increased and strengthened in its nature by the form, though outwardly painted with it. Does not fornication defile and corrupt? so does the fornication of the whorish spirit: "the earth was corrupted with it." Rev. 19:2. So that this has been the universal state of Christendom since the apostasy; the error, the deceit, the fornication of the whore, have corrupted them, and withheld their eyes from the sight of that life and truth which has power in it to purify them. People, multitudes, nations, tongues, have been all waters: weak, unstable, without any foundation in religion, but fit to be swayed and tossed up and down with every wind or breath of the whore, of whose cup they had all drunk, and by whose spirit they were all guided; for "the whore sat upon them." Rev. 17:15. The whore, which had whored from God, and so was not the true church, "sat upon people, multitudes, nations, and tongues." She sat upon them; she had them under her; she ruled and guided them by her cup of fornication, and with her spirit of fornication, as a man would guide the beast whereupon he rides. So that all that the nations do from henceforth in religion, is under the whore, according to her guidance, by virtue of the wine that they have drunk out of her cup.

And though God reserved to himself a remnant to worship him, and give some testimony to his truth all this time; yet the "beast" (which was managed by the whore) had power over them: power to make war with them; power to overcome them. Rev. 13:7. The "beast" had power over all "kindreds, tongues, and nations" everywhere; to overcome the "saints," and suppress the truth they at any time were moved to give testimony to; and to set up the worship of the "beast," and make all the earth fall  down before that. Rev. 13:7-8. And the second "beast" had, and exercised, all the power of the first "beast," and set up his image, and gave it life, and caused men generally to worship it. Rev. 13:12. "And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive his mark" some way or other, either in their right hand, or in their forehead. verse 16. And such as would not receive his mark, nor worship him, he had power to persecute and kill; and he did kill them. verse 15. And the whore drank their blood. chap. 17:6. And God required it at her hand. chap. 19:2. Though she made the hand of the beast execute it, and would seem to wash her own hands of it.

So that now, since the days of the apostles, even all this time of the apostasy, since the man-child has been caught up to God, and was not to be found in the earth (which makes it seem such a strange thing for people to say Christ is in them), and the woman has been in the wilderness, and not in the habitable part of the world, Rev. 12:5-6. if all this time any one will look for the true religion, for the true church, for the true knowledge and worship of God, he must not look on any nation, or any people, or among the tongues, which are cried up in nations and people for the original, and as the chief interpreters of the original; for they are all drunk with the whore's cup: they are under the power, dominion, authority, and service of the "whore," who rides upon the "beast" to whom "power was given over all kindreds, tongues, and nations." But look among the nations who were persecuted, whose blood was drunk, whom the powers of the nations made war against; there alone the testimony of Jesus is to be found. Rev. 12:17. There alone are the witnesses against the present idolatry and corruption, and to some truths or other of Christ, which God enlightened them with, and whereto he stirred them up to give their testimony, though with the loss of their estates, liberties, or lives.

Now, by what has been expressed, is it not manifest to every eye that has room but to let in the letter of the scripture, in simplicity and plainness, that there has been a great apostasy from the true knowledge of Christ, and a universal corruption and power of death sprung up, instead of the power of his life and grace? "The grace of God, which brings salvation," has disappeared; and "the abomination of desolation" has taken up its place, and filled it with deadly venom against the truth, and against the life: so that enmity against God, under a pretense of love and zeal to him, has reigned generally in the hearts of men, from the times of the apostles to this present day. And as the light breaks forth, and their eyes come to be opened, they will see that they have been and are haters of God, and of his life and spirit; but lovers of the world, and of such a religion as suits the worldly spirit.

POSITION II

That in this great apostasy, the true state of Christianity has been lost.

This must needs be; for if there was an apostasy from the thing, there could not be a retaining of the thing about which the apostasy was. If they apostatized from the spirit, from the light, from the life; then they were gone from it – they lost it.

Now it may be instanced in every particular how the state of Christianity was lost: but that would be too vast and tedious: it may suffice, therefore, to instance in some considerable ones, which may lead into the discovery of the rest.

1. The true rule of Christianity, or the rule of a Christian, which is to direct, guide, and order him in his whole course, was apostatized from, and lost.

What is a Christian's rule, whereby he is to steer and order his course?

A Christian is to be a follower of Christ, and consequently must have the same rule to walk by as Christ had. A Christian proceeds from Christ, has the same life in him, and needs the same rule. Christ had the fulness of life, and of his fulness we all receive a measure of the same life. "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." Ephes. 5:30. Yes, we came out of the same spring of life from have he came: "For both he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Heb. 2:11. Now what was his rule? Was it not the fulness of life which he received? And what is their rule? Is it not the measure of life which they receive? Was not Christ's rule the law  of the spirit; the law which the spirit wrote in his heart? And is not their rule the law of the spirit; the law which the spirit writes in their hearts? How was Christ made a king and a priest? Was it by the law of a carnal commandment? or by the power of an endless life? And how are they made kings and priests to God? Rev. 1:6. Is it by the law of a carnal commandment? or is it by the power of the same endless life? "Lo, I come to do your will, O God," says Christ, "when he comes into the world." Heb. 10:5,7. But by what rule? By what law? "Your law is within my heart." Psalm 40:8. And the same spirit who wrote it there, is also to write the new covenant, with all the laws of it, in the heart of every Christian, from the least to the greatest. Heb. 8:9 10. Yes, the same spirit that dwelt in Christ's heart, is to dwell in their hearts, according to the promise of the covenant. Ezek. 36:27. This was Paul's rule, after which he walked, "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:1-2. This made him "free from the law of sin and death." Where is the law of sin written? Where is the law of death written? Is it not written in the heart? And must not the law of righteousness and life be written there also, if it be able to deal with sin and death? The spirit forms the heart anew, forms Christ in the heart, begets a new creature there, which cannot sin "(He that is born of God sins not)." And this is the rule of righteousness, the new creature, or the spirit of life in the new creature. Gal. 6:15-16. "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision; but a new creature. And as many as "walk according to this rule, peace be on them." Mark: there is the rule; the new creature, which is begotten in every one that is born of God. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" and this new creature is to be his rule. And as any man walks according to this rule, according to the new creature, according to the law of light and life that the spirit continually breathes into the new creature, he has peace; but as he transgresses that, and walks not after the spirit, but after the flesh, he walks out of the light, out of the life, out of the peace, into the sea, into the death, into the trouble, into the condemnation. Here then is the law of the converted man, the new creature; and the law of the new creature is the spirit of life which begat him, which lives, and breathes, and gives forth  his law continually in him. Here is a Christian; here is his rule: he that has not the new creature formed in him, is no Christian; and he that has the new creature, has the rule in himself. "You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things." 1 John 2:20. How came they to know all things? Does not John say, it was by the "unction"? The anointing was in them, a fountain or well-spring of light and life, issuing forth continually such rivers and streams of life within, as they needed no other teacher in the truth and way of life. verse 27. The "Comforter" did refresh their hearts sufficiently, and led them into all truth. Search the apostles' epistles, and you shall find them testifying of the Lord's sending his spirit into the hearts of Christians; and exhortations to them not to grieve or quench the spirit, but to follow as they were led. They were to "live in the spirit," and to "walk in the spirit." Gal. 5:25. And the spirit was to walk, and live, and bring forth his own life and power in them. 2 Cor. 6:16. And what can be the proper and full rule of God's sons and daughters, but the light of the spirit of life, which they receive from their Father? Thus God did advance the state of a believer above the state of the Jews under the law: for they had the law, though written with the finger of God, yet but in tables of stone; but these have the law, written by the finger of God in the table of their hearts. Theirs was a law without, at a distance from them, and the priest's lips were to preserve the knowledge of it, and to instruct them in it; but here is a law within, nigh at hand, the immediate light of the spirit of life shining so immediately in the heart, that they need no man to teach them; but have the spirit of prophecy in themselves, and quick, living teachings from him continually, and are made such kings and priests to God, as the state of the law did but represent. The gospel is the substance of all the shadows contained in the law. A Christian is he that comes into this substance, and lives in this substance, and in whom this substance lives; and his rule is the substance itself, in which he lives, and which lives in him. Christ is the substance, who lives in the Christian, and he in Christ: Christ lives in him by his spirit, and he in Christ by the same spirit: there he lives, and has fellowship with the Father and the Son, in the light wherein they live, and not by any outward rule. 1 John 1:6-7.

But what is the rule now in the apostasy?

Among the Papists, the rule is the Scripture, interpreted by the church (as they call themselves), with a mixture of their own precepts and traditions.

Amongst the Protestants, the rule is the Scriptures, according as they can understand them by their own study, or according as they can receive the understanding of them from such men as they account orthodox. And hence arise continual differences and heats and sects; one following this interpretation, another that.

And this is a grievous apostasy, and the root, spring, and foundation of all the rest; for he that misses in his beginning, he that begins his religion without the true rule, how can he proceed aright in any thing afterwards?

Objection: But are not the Scriptures the word of God? — And is not the word of God to be a Christian's rule? If every one should be left to his own spirit, what confusion and uncertainty would this produce!

Answer: The Scriptures are not that living Word, which is appointed by God to be the rule of a Christian; but they contain words spoken by the spirit of God, testifying of that Word, and pointing to that Word which is to be the rule. "Search the Scriptures, for in them you think to have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me; and you will not come to me that you may have life." John 5:39-40. The Scriptures are to be searched for the testimony which they give of Christ; and when that testimony is received, Christ is to be come to, and life received from him. But the Pharisees formerly, and Christians since (I mean Christians in name) search the Scriptures; but do not come to Christ for the life, but stick in the letter of the Scriptures, and oppose the life with the letter, keeping themselves from the life by their wisdom and knowledge in the letter. Thus they put the Scriptures into the place of Christ, and so honor neither Christ nor the Scriptures. It had been no honor to John to have been taken for the Light; his honor was to point to it: nor is it any honor to the Scriptures to be called the Word of God; but their honor is to discover and testify of the Word. Now hear what the Scriptures call the Word; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1.  "And the Word was made flesh." verse 14. This was the name of Christ, when he came into the world in the flesh, to sow his life in the world. And when he comes again into the world, out of a far country, to fight with the beast and false prophet, and to cleanse the earth of the whore's fornication and idols, wherewith she had corrupted it, he shall have the same name again; "his name is called the Word of God." Rev. 19:13. So Peter calls that the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever. 1 Pet. 1:23. And this Word that lives and abides for ever, was the Word that they preached. verse 25. And they that believed did not cry up the words that the apostles spake for the Word; but received the thing they spake of, "the ingrafted Word;" which being received with a meek, quiet, and submissive spirit, "is able to save the soul." Jam. 1:21. This is "the Word of faith" that is "nigh, in the heart and in the mouth." Rom. 10:8. This is the Word that stands at the door of the heart, and speaks to be let in "(Behold, I stand at the door and knock):" and when it is let in, it speaks in the heart what is to be heard and done. It is nigh; it is in the heart, and in the mouth; to what end? "That you might hear it, and do it." The living Word, which is "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," divides in the mouth, and divides in the heart, the vile from the precious; yes, it reaches to the very inmost of the heart, and cuts between the roots, Heb. 4:12. and this you are to hear and do. You are to part with all vile words, the vile conduct, the vile course and worship of the world outwardly, and the vile thoughts and course of sin inwardly, as fast as the Word discovers them to you, and to exercise yourself in that which is folly and madness to the eye of the world, and a grievous cross to your own worldly nature; yes, when the Word reaches to the very nature, life, and spirit within, from which all that comes, that strong, wise root of the fleshly life in the heart must not be spared, nor that foolish, weak thing (to man's wise eye) which is brought instead thereof, be rejected: which, when it is received, is but like a little seed, even the least of seeds; and when it grows up, it is a long while but like a child; and yet keeping in that childishness, out of the wisdom, it enters into that kingdom which the greatest wisdom of man (in all his zealous ways  and forms of religion) falls short, and is shut out of. This is the word of life; this is the true, living rule, and way to eternal life; and this is the obedience; this is the hearing and doing of the word. "He that has an ear, let him hear. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith: prove yourselves. Know you not yourselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?" 2 Cor. 13:5. Are you in the faith? Then Christ is in you. Is not Christ in you? Then you are in the reprobate state, out of the faith. Is Christ in you, and shall he not hold the reins, and rule? Shall the living Word be in the heart, and not the rule of the heart? Shall he speak in the heart, and the man or woman in whom he speaks run to the words of scripture formerly spoken, to know whether these be his words or no? No, no, his sheep know his voice better than so. Did the apostle John, who had seen and tasted and handled and preached the word of life, send Christians to his epistles, or any other part of scripture, to be their rule? No, he directed them to the anointing as a sufficient teacher. 1 John 2:27. "He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." John 7:38. He that has the fountain of life in him, issuing out rivers of living water continually, has he need to go forth to fetch in water? "The kingdom of heaven is within you," says Christ; and he bids "seek the kingdom." Light the candle, sweep your own house, seek diligently for the kingdom; there it is, if you can find it. Now he that has found the kingdom within, shall he look without, into words spoken concerning the kingdom, to find the laws of the kingdom? Are not the laws of the kingdom to be found within the kingdom? Shall the kingdom be in the heart, and the laws of the kingdom written without in a book? Is not the gospel the ministration of the Spirit? And shall he who has received the Spirit run back to the letter to be his guide? Shall the living Spirit, that gave forth the Scriptures, be present, and not have pre-eminence above his own words? What is the proper intent of the letter? Is it not to testify of the Spirit, and to end in the Spirit? The law, the prophets, John, led to Christ in the flesh; and he was to be the increasing light, when they should decrease. Christ's words in the flesh, the apostles' words afterwards, and all words since, are but to lead to Christ  in the spirit, to the eternal, living substance; and when words of Christ, of the apostles, or any other words spoken from the same spirit in these days, have brought to the spirit, to the feeling and settling of the soul in the living foundation, and to the building and perfecting of the man of God therein, they have attained their end and glory. But to cry up these, not understanding their voice, but keeping at a distance from the thing that they invite to: the words hereby are put out of their place, out of their proper use and service, and so attain neither their end nor their glory. And though man put that upon them which seems to be a greater glory, namely: to make them his rule and guide; yet, it being not a true glory, it is no glory, but a dishonor both to them and to the Spirit, who gave them to another end.

Now for the other part of the objection, that if men should be left to their own spirits, and should follow the guidance of their own spirits, it would produce confusion and uncertainty: I do acknowledge it; it would do so. — But here is no leaving of a man to his own spirit spoken of or intended, but the directing and guiding of a man to the Word and Spirit of life; to know and hear the voice of Christ, which gathers and translates man out of his own spirit into his Spirit: and here is no confusion or uncertainty; but order, certainty, and stability.

The light of God's Spirit is a certain and infallible rule, and the eye that sees that, is a certain eye; whereas man's understanding of the scriptures is uncertain and fallible; he, having not the true ear, receives such a literal, uncertain knowledge of things into his uncertain understanding, as deceives his soul. And here man, in the midst of his wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures, is lost in his own erring and uncertain mind, and his soul deceived, for lack of a true root and foundation of certainty in himself. But he that is come to the true Shepherd, and knows his voice, he cannot be deceived. Yes, he can read the scripture safely, and taste the true sweetness of the words that came from the life; but man who is out of the life feeds on the husks, and can receive no more. He has gathered a dead, dry, literal, husky knowledge out of the scripture, and that he can relish; but should the life of the words and things there spoken of be opened to him, he could not receive them, he himself being out of that wherein  they were written, and wherein alone they can be understood. But poor man having lost the life, what should he do? He can do no other but cry up the letter, and make as good shift with it as he can; though his soul the mean while is starved, and lies in famine and death, for lack of the bread of life, and a wrong thing is fed.

The Scribes and Pharisees made a great noise about the law and ordinances of Moses, exclaiming against Christ and his disciples as breakers and profaners of them; yet they themselves did not truly honor the law and ordinances of Moses, but their own doctrines, commandments, and traditions. So those now who make a great noise about the Scriptures, and about the institutions of the apostles, do not honor the Scriptures, or the institutions of the apostles; but their own meanings, their own conceivings, their own inventions and imaginations thereupon. They run to the Scriptures with that understanding which is out of the truth, and which never shall be let into the truth; and so being not able to reach and comprehend the truth as it is, they study, they invent, they imagine a meaning; they form a likeness, a similitude of the truth as near as they can, and this must go for the truth; and this they honor and bow before as the will of God; which being not the will of God, but a likeness of their own inventing and forming, they worship not God, they honor not the Scriptures, but they honor and worship the works of their own brain. And every scripture which man has thus formed a meaning out of, and has not read in the true and living light of God's eternal Spirit, he has made an image by, he has made an idol of; and the respect and honor he gives this meaning, are not a respect and honor given to God, but to his own image, to his own idol. Oh, how many are your idols, you Christians of England, as you think yourselves to be! How many are your idols, you gathered churches! How full of images and idols are you, you spiritual notionists, who have run from one thing to another, with the same mind and spirit wherewith you began at first! But the founder of images has never been discovered and destroyed in you, and so he is still at work among you all; and great will your sorrow and distress be, when the Lord's quick eye searches him out, and reveals his just wrath against him.

In my heart and soul I honor the Scriptures, and long to read  them throughout with the pure eye, and in the pure light of the living Spirit of God: but the Lord preserve me from reading one line of them in my own will, or interpreting any part of them according to my own understanding, but only as I am guided, led, and enlightened by him, in the will and understanding which come from him. And here all scripture, every writing of God's Spirit, which is from the breath of his life, is profitable to build up and perfect the man of God; but the instructions, the reproofs, the observations, the rules, the grounds of hope and comfort, or whatever else which man gathers out of the Scriptures (he himself being out of the life), have not the true profit, nor build up the true thing; but both the gatherings and the gatherer are for destruction. And the Lord will ease the Scripture, of the burden of man's formings and invention from it, and recover its honor again, by the living presence and power of that Spirit that wrote it; and then it shall be no longer abused and wrested by man's earthly and unlearned mind, but, in the hands of the Spirit, come to its true use and service to the seed, and to the world.

2. The true worship was lost.

The true worship of God in the gospel is in the Spirit. "The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship him." John 4:23. The true worship is in the spirit, and in the truth, and the true worshippers worship there; and such worshippers the Father seeks, and such worship he accepts; but all other worship is false worship, and all other worshippers are false worshippers; such worshippers as God seeks not, nor can accept their worship. Did God refuse Cain's sacrifice formerly? and can he accept any sacrifice or worship now that is offered in that nature? Why, he that worships out of the Spirit, he worships in that nature; but he that worships aright, must have his nature changed, and must worship in that thing wherein he is changed, in that faith, in that life, in that nature, in that Spirit whereby and whereto he is changed. For without being in this, and keeping in this, it is impossible to please God in any thing. He that is the true worshipper is a believer, and in his worship he must keep to his rule, the law of faith, the law of the Spirit of  Life in him, the law which he receives by faith fresh from the Spirit of Life continually. He must hear and observe the voice of the living Word in all his worship, and worship in the presence and power and guidance of that, as that moves, and as that carries on, or God is not worshipped in the Spirit. I shall instance only in prayer. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." Eph. 6:18. Mark: all prayer and supplication must be in the Spirit; yes, it must be always in the Spirit, which speaks in the heart to God, and makes the intercession, or it is no prayer. If a man speak ever so much from his own spirit, with ever so much earnestness and affection, yet it is no prayer, no true prayer, but only so far as the Spirit moves to it, and so far as the Spirit leads and guides in it. If a man begin without the Spirit, or go on without the Spirit, this is out of the worship; this is in his own will, and so will-worship; and according to his own understanding, and so fleshly worship; both which are to be crucified, and not to be followed in any thing under the gospel. "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit," (here are the true worshippers, "the circumcision;" and here is the true worship, "in the Spirit;" and they have no bounds and limits in the flesh, wherein their strength and confidence are broken) "and have no confidence in the flesh." If a man address himself to any worship of God without his Spirit, has he not confidence in the flesh? If he begin without the moving of his Spirit, does he not begin in the flesh? If he go on, without the Spirit's carrying on, does he not proceed in the strength and confidence of the flesh? But the worship of the Spirit is in its will, and in its time, and is carried on by its light and power, and keeps down the understanding and affectionate part of man, wherein all the world worship, and offer up the unaccepted sacrifices, even the lame and the blind, which God's soul hates.

Now this worship, as it is out of man's will and time, and in that which continues, so it is continual. There is a continual praying unto God. There is a continual blessing and praising of his name, in eating, or drinking, or whatever else is done. There is a continual bowing to the majesty of the Lord in every thought, in every word, in every action, though it be in worldly things and occasions; yet the Spirit of the Lord is seen there, and  the tongue confesses him there, and the knee bows to him there. This is the true worship, and this is the rest or sabbath wherein the true worshippers worship. When the creation of God is finished; when the child is formed in the light, and the life breathed into him; then God brings him forth into his holy land, where he keeps his sabbath. They that are in the faith, which is the substance of the things hoped for under the law, are come from all the shadows and types of the law, and from all the heathenish observations of days and times in the spirit of this world, where the spirit of man is hard at work, into the true sabbath, into the true rest, where they have no more to work, but God works all in them in his own time, according to his own pleasure. "We which have believed, do enter into rest." Heb. 4:3. "And he that is entered into his rest, has ceased from his works, as God from his." verse 10. He that has the least taste of faith, knows a measure of rest, finding the life working in him, and his soul daily led further and further into life by the working of the life, and the heavy yoke of his own laboring after life taken off from his shoulders. Now here is the truth, here is the life, here is the sabbath, here is the worship of the soul, that is led into the truth, and preserved in the truth.

But what is the worship now in the apostasy?

Among the Papists, a very gross worship; a worship more carnal than ever the worship of the law was: for that, though in its nature it was outward and carnal, yet it was taught and prescribed by the wisdom of God, and was profitable in its place, and to its end; but this was invented by the corrupt wisdom, and set up in the corrupt will of man, and has no true profit, but keeps from the life, from the power, from the Spirit, in fleshly observations, which feed and please the fleshly nature. Look upon their days consecrated to saints, and their canonical hours of prayer, and their praying in an unknown tongue, with their fastings, feastings, saying of Ave-Mary's, Pater-nosters, Creeds, etc., are not all these from the life, out of the Spirit, and after the invention, and in the will of the flesh? Ah! their stink is greater than the flesh-pots of Egypt.

And the worship of the Protestants comes too near them: for their worship is also from a fleshly principle, and in their own  times and wills, and according to their own understanding and apprehension of things, and not from the rising up and guidance of the infallible life of the Spirit in them; for that they will quench. They also observe days and times, and perishing ordinances, and are not come out of the flesh, into that Spirit where the worship is to be known, and to be in.

3. The faith, the true faith, was lost.

The faith which gives victory over the world; the faith which feeds the life of the just, and slays the unjust; the faith which is pure, the mystery whereof is held in a pure conscience; the faith which gives entrance into the rest of God; the faith which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen; this has been lost, and is not yet to be found among those who go for Christians.

For those who challenge the name of Christians, and say they believe in Christ, and have faith in him, cannot with their faith overcome the world; but are daily overcome by the world. Where is there a Christian, but he is either in the honors, or in the fashions, or in the customs, or in the worships of the world, if not in them all? He is so far from overcoming these, that he is overcome with them; yes, so overcome, so drunk therewith, that he has even lost his senses, and thinks he may be a Christian, and in a good state while he is there.

And the life of the just is not fed by their faith, but the unjust nature is fed, and the righteous witness, which is raised up and lives by the true faith, is kept down, and cannot bring forth his life in them, because of their unbelief; for that is the proper name of their faith; for being not true faith, it is not faith, but unbelief.

And the faith of Christians (so called) is not a mystery (they know not the mystery of it, which is held in a pure conscience), but consists in believing a historical relation, and in a fleshly improving of that, and can be held in an impure conscience.

Neither are they entered into rest by their faith; for they know not the sabbath in the Lord, but are still in a shadowy sabbath.

Neither is it the substance of what they hope for; but the substance of what they hope for is strange to them. They are not come to "Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the  heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, to God the Judge, Christ the Mediator, and the blood of sprinkling," and so to unity and certainty in the life; but are in opinions, ways, and practices suitable to the earthly spirit; which may easily be shaken, and must be shaken down to the ground, if ever they know the building of God, and the true faith.

4. The love, the true love, was lost.

The innocent love, which thinks no ill, nor wishes no ill, much less can do any ill to any; but suffers long, and is kind, meek, humble, not seeking its own, but the good of others; this love is lost. The love unfeigned is banished; a feigned love, such a love as enmity and violence proceed from, is got in the place of it. The true love loves the enemy, and cannot return enmity for enmity, but seeks the good of them who hate it: but this love can persecute and hate that which it calls the friend, no, the brother, because of some difference in opinion or practice. The love that was in Christ, taught him to lay down his life for his sheep; and he that has the same love, can lay down his life for his brother. But the love that is now amongst Christians tends rather to the taking away of life.

What is the love amongst the Papists? See their inquisitions, their wraths, their fire and faggot, etc.

What is their love in New England? Is it not a love that can imprison or banish their brother, if he differ but a little from them in judgment or practice about their worship? Yes, they can whip, burn in the hand, cut off ears, just like the bishops of Old England. If one had told them, when they fled from the persecution of the bishops here, that they themselves should have done such things, they would have been apt to reply, with Hazael, What! are we dogs? But they fled from the cross, which would have crucified that persecuting spirit, and so carried it alive with them; and being alive, it grew by degrees to as great a head there, as it did in the bishops here.

And what is the love here in Old England? Is it not a love that whips, stocks, imprisons, stones, jeers? Yes, the very teachers (which should be patterns of love to others), they will  cast into prison, and distrain the goods of their brother, even almost to his undoing, for maintenance, according to the law of the land made in the apostasy. See the Record of Sufferings for Tithes in England, which may make any tender heart bleed to read it, and is like to lie as a brand of infamy on the magistracy and ministry of England to succeeding generations. Is this the love of the righteous seed? Or is it Cain's love, which is in profession, in word, in show, but not in deed and in truth? And how can these love God? No, if the true love of God were in them, this enmity could not stand, nor such fruits of it shoot forth. But they have not seen the Father or the Son. And that life of them which appears in the earth, the evil spirit in man seeks to destroy, that he may keep up his own image and shadow of life, which the nature of the true life in its appearance fights against. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." — And by this may all men know, that those that now go for Christians are not Christ's disciples, in that they do not love one another. They are not at unity in the light, and so cannot love one another there; but are only in unity in forms, in opinions, in professions, in practices; so any difference there stirs up the enmity, causing risings in the heart against them at least, if it proceed not further. The true love grows from true union and fellowship in the light; where that is not known, there cannot be true love in the Spirit, but a feigned love in the flesh.

5. The true hope, joy, and peace are lost.

The true ground of hope is Christ in the heart, and the true hope is that hope which arises from this ground, from the feeling of Christ there; "Christ in you the hope of glory." Col. 1:27. What is the true Christian's hope? It is Christ in him; he "has eternal life abiding in him;" and he knows that cannot but lead to glory. But what is the common Christian's hope? He fastens his hope upon the relation and his belief of a history. "He that believes shall be saved." I believe; therefore I shall be saved. — And thus, as he has got up a wrong faith, and a wrong love, so he gets up a wrong hope. And this hope will perish; for it is the hope of the hypocrite, or a hope in the hypocritical nature, which complies with scripture words, but is  not in union with God, nor with the life of the scriptures; and so being without the anchor, is tossed in the waves of the seAnswer:

And the true joy is in the Spirit, from what is felt, and enjoyed, and hoped for there. But the common Christian's joy is from things which he gathers into and comprehends in his understanding; or from flashes which he feels in the affectionate part, from a fire and sparks of his own kindling, from which he fetches his warmth and comfort.

And the true peace stands in the reconciliation with God, by having that broken down which causes the wrath, and to which the wrath is, wherever it is found. The Lamb of God breaks down the wall of separation in the heart; the blood of Jesus, wherein is the life, cleanses away the sin there, makes the heart pure, unites the pure heart to the pure God: here is union, here is fellowship, here is peace; but the common Christian's peace is from a misunderstanding of scriptures, while the wall of separation is standing, while wickedness lodges in the heart. They reason themselves, from scripture words, into an apprehension that God is at peace with them, and that they are in union with him; while that of God which is in them, witnesses against them, and checks them, and wars with them; and they are not one with it, and cannot be, in that nature and understanding wherein their life lies, to which belongs no peace.

6. The true repentance, conversion, and regeneration have been lost.

The true repentance is from dead works, and from the dead principle from which all the dead works proceed: but these have not been repented of, but cherished in the apostasy. The praying, the striving, the worshipping, the fighting, have been from the dead principle. The building up and whole exercise of religion in the apostasy, have been in that understanding which is to be destroyed; and the will, which should have been crucified, has been pleased and fed with its religion.

The true conversion is from the power of Satan to God, from the darkness to the light: but in the apostasy, men have not known God or Satan, the light or the darkness; but have mistook, taking the one for the other, worshipping the devil instead of God, Rev.  13:4. and following the dark conceivings of their own and other men's minds concerning scripture, and calling them light.

Regeneration is a changing of man, whereby the birth is born of the Spirit; the stripping of the creature of its own nature, of its own understanding, of its own will, and forming it anew in the womb of the Spirit; so that the old creature is passed away, and comes forth a new thing, which grows up daily in the new life towards the fulness of Christ. But men have been so far from being born of the Spirit, that they have not so much as known the gift of the Spirit in them; but to this day are enemies, and at a distance from that of God in them, which is pure. And if they could but open their eyes, they would see that their birth is fleshly, and consists, at best, but in a such a conformity to the letter, as the old nature may imitate and attain; but the immortal seed is not sprung up in them, nor they dead to the mortal, nor alive to the immortal.

7. The true wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are lost.

The true wisdom stands in the fear of God, and departing from evil: this those that are taught of God learn, and thereby are made wise unto salvation. But most that are called Christians are not come to the fear of God; and many are got above it, looking upon it as legal, and not appertaining to the gospel; but the gospel state is love, which casts out fear. Does the love of God refuse or cast out the fear of God? No: it casts out the fear that brings bondage; the fear that came in by transgression; which fear is stirred up, and discovered by the law. And this is a fear of sin, or a fear arising from sin, through the law's manifestation of it, and the wrath against it, which causes both the fear, and much bondage from the fear: and this the gospel (which discovers the love, the mercy, the grace, the power, and unites to them) frees from, and casts out. But then there is a fear of God; a fear wrought in the heart by his Spirit; a fear which is part of the new covenant ("I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me"); a fear which is part of the "everlasting gospel," Rev. 14:6-7. and "endures for ever." Ps. 19:9. And this fear is not bondage, but liberty; it is indeed bondage to the unjust, but  liberty to the just; for where this fear is, sin is departed from; it sets free; it delivers the feet out of the snare of iniquity: there is true liberty. Can sin prevail in that heart, where the pure, clean fear of God is placed by God to keep it down? The love of God does not cast out this fear, but keeps in this fear; and this fear keeps the heart clean from the evil which defiles, and preserves the love from the enmity, which springs up where this fear is not. Now this fear, in the apostasy, was lost, or else what needed there an especial ministry to be raised up to preach it again. Rev. 14:6-7. And the estate of Christians everywhere does manifest this loss; for their hearts are not kept clean, which shows that the fear (which does keep clean where it is) is lacking in them. There is pollution, there is filth, there is deceit, there are high-mindedness, self-conceitedness, and love of the world, and worldly vanities, and many other evils to be found in the hearts of those that go for Christians; and the purity of heart (which comes from the fear, and stands in the wisdom) is not known. They are wise to do evil; but lack the knowledge to avoid the evil, and do the good. They are wise to get and enjoy the world; but know not the true riches. They are wise to gather together many scripture words against sin, and yet still keep the nature and life of it in the heart, and it is as a sweet morsel under the tongue. They are wise to apply promises to comfort themselves with (when sometimes they receive a just wound in their hearts from the righteous One); but know not that nature, nor that estate and condition, to which all the promises are made; but are yet in that nature, and in that estate and condition, to which the curse appertains.

The true righteousness stands in the faith, in hearing and obeying the word of faith. How comes the righteousness of the law, but by hearing and obeying the voice of the law? And how comes the righteousness of the gospel, but by hearing and obeying the Word of faith, who is preached, and the preacher of righteousness, in the heart? The Apostle Paul makes this comparison. Rom. 10. The righteousness of the law speaks on this wise, "The man that does these things, shall live in them." But how speaks the Word of faith? "The word is nigh you, in your mouth, and in your heart;" he that does that, he that hears that, shall live in that. "The hour is coming, and now is, when  the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Disobedience to the law is unrighteousness, and brings death; and disobedience to the living Word is unrighteousness, and cannot be justified, but condemned; and obedience to it cannot be condemned, but justified: so that when the soul hears, believes, and obeys, then it is justified; then its former sins are forgotten, and this is imputed to it unto righteousness. But when the soul will not hear, will not believe, will not obey, this unbelief is judged in him, and his sins retained, and not remitted. Now is not this a just and equal way of justification, O you sons of men! Is not your way unequal? Shall a man continue in the unbelief and rebellion against Christ, against the light, against the faith, and yet be justified by Christ, by the light, by the faith? This cannot be; God's way of imputation will stand; but man's invented way of imputation, which sprung up in the apostasy, will not stand. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, the blood cleanses; but not otherwise. If we walk after the Spirit, and not after the flesh, there is no condemnation; and not otherwise. The true baptism is the plunging down of the old thing, with all its filth, and the raising up of a new thing; and it is the new thing, the circumcision, the baptism, which is justified. God justifies his Son, and man only so far as he is found in his Son.

The true sanctification consists in the growth of the seed, and its spreading, like a leaven, over the heart, and over the whole man. By faith Christ is formed in the heart; the hidden man in the mystery is formed there; and as this seed, this leaven, this man grows, so he makes the man holy in whom he grows. The seed of life, the kingdom of heaven, is a holy thing; and as it grows and spreads, it purges out the old leaven, and makes the lump new; but now, in Christians that have grown up in the apostasy, this seed is not known, this leaven is not so much as discerned; but their holiness consists in a conformity to rules of scripture, received into the old heart and understanding. And what a noise has this made in the world, all this night of the apostasy! as if this were the heir, and should inherit the kingdom. No, no; the heir has appeared, (by whose presence it is seen, that this is not the heir) and you shall not be able to kill him; but he shall live to enjoy his inheritance, and the inheritance shall not be yours.

Redemption consists in being bought, by the price of the life, out of sin, out of death, out of the earth, out of the power of the devil. It is a casting off the strong man out of the heart, with all that he brought in, and a delivering from his power. It is a dissolving of the work of sin, which the devil has wrought in the heart, and a setting the soul, which is immortal, at liberty, free from sin, and free unto righteousness: this is the true redemption. But this redemption in the apostasy is a feigned redemption, wherein salvation from sin, and the devil, and his power, is not felt; but the strong man is still in the heart, and keeps the soul in death, and brings forth fruits of death daily.

The Christians formerly (in the first day of the breaking forth of God's power) had Christ in them, the living Word; they opened their hearts to him, received him in, felt him there, found him made of God to them their wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification, their redemption. 1 Cor. 1:30. They had the thing that these words signify and speak of, and knew the meaning of the words by feeling of the thing. But Christians now, in the apostasy, have got several apprehensions from the words, without feeling the thing the words speak of; and there lies their religion. — And now the true heir being come, holding forth the thing they have been all talking of, all sects upon the earth are mad against him, and would eagerly kill him. They would not have the living substance, which is the heir, live, and nothing be esteemed life but that; but they would have their dead apprehensions from the words live, and their dead forms and practices owned; and the heir of life must come in their way, in the way that they have hoped and waited for him, or they will not own him. Awake! awake! O you sons of the apostasy, and of the night! rise up out of the fleshly wisdom, out of the dead fleshly interpretations of scriptures, out of the dead invented forms of worship, and bow to the heir; kiss the Son, lest you feel the force of that dreadful sentence, "Those mine enemies, which desire not that I should reign over them, bring them here, and slay them before me." For of a truth the great Prophet is risen, and speaks in the heart, and his sheep hear his voice (there are many faithful witnesses thereof); and he that will not hear his voice, must be cut off; there is no avoiding of it: for the two-edged  sword is in his hand, and he will cut down the transgressor.

8. The church, the true church, was lost.

The true church was a company gathered out of the world into God, begotten of, and gathered into his life by the living Word, and so had a true place and habitation in God. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, styles them a church in God. A church under the gospel is made up of true Israelites, gathered out of their own spirits and nature into the measure of the Spirit of God in them, as Christ was into the fulness. They are such as are begotten of God, born of his Spirit, led by him out of Egypt, through the wilderness, to Zion the holy mount; there they meet with the elect, precious corner-stone which is laid in Zion; and they, being living stones, are built upon it into Jerusalem the holy city. 1 Pet. 2:5-6. Heb. 12:22. This is the true church. Everyone that believes in Christ is a living stone; and being a living stone, he is laid upon the living foundation, and so is a part of the building in the temple of the living God. Yes, his body and spirit being cleansed, he himself is a temple wherein God dwells, appears, and is worshipped. And the gathering of any of these together at any time in the life, in the name of Christ, is a larger temple, and such a temple as Christ never fails to be in the midst of. But the great temple, the full church, is the general assembly of the first-born. This is the unerring pillar and ground of truth: this always bore up truth; truth never failed here; but when it was at any time lost in the world, it might from hence be recovered again when God pleased, and as far as he pleased. Indeed the law of the Lord has always gone forth from this Zion, and the living word from this Jerusalem.

But what has the church been in the apostasy? A building of stone, say some; and that not only among Papists, but here in England also. Many have called the old mass-house a church, a temple, the house of God, pleading for it to be a holy place; and have showed it by their practices, keeping off their hats while they were in it.

Others say, not the stone building, but the people that meet there, are the church; whereof many are openly profane; yes, so far from being gathered into the Spirit, and so ignorant of his motions, that they are ready to scoff, if they hear a man speak of being moved by the Spirit. What are these? Are these living stones, whereupon the true church alone can be built? Are these children of the day? No, these are children of the night; children brought up in the apostasy from the true light, the true life, the true rule of Christianity, the true worship, the true faith, the true love, etc., and so are dead stones in that building; but not true living stones in God's building.

Other sorts separate from these, and gather congregations out of these; but still in the same spirit, in the same nature, being not themselves gathered out of the apostasy from the Spirit, into the Spirit again; and so they build but with the same stones as were in the old building, and not with the new and living stones, and so are but a more refined appearance of a church; but not a true church, not a church in God, and by the gathering of his Spirit; but of their own gathering, after a form, according as they have imagined from their reading and studying of the Scriptures.

9. (Which may be the last instance.) The ministry, the true ministry, has been lost.

The true ministry was a ministry made and appointed by the Spirit, by the gift of the Spirit bestowed on them, and by the Spirit sending of them, and appointing them to their work. Christ bid his apostles and disciples wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the Spirit, and when he had given them the Spirit, he gave them to the church for the work of the ministry. Eph. 4:11-12. Acts 20:28. And if none can be a member of the true church but by being begotten out of death into life by the Spirit, surely none can be able to minister to him who is so begotten, but by the same Spirit. So these receiving their ministry of the Lord Jesus, Acts 20:24. and the gift of the Spirit from him, they were made "able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit." 2 Cor. 3:6. They were able in God to minister from his Spirit to the spirits of his people; and they did not minister a literal knowledge of things to the understanding of man; but they led men to the Spirit of God, and ministered spiritual things to that spiritual understanding which was given them of God. Neither did they make use of their own wisdom  and art to tickle the natural ear; but spoke to the conscience, with the demonstration of the Spirit in the sight of God, as it pleased the Spirit to give them utterance.

But how have ministers been made in the apostasy? By orders from men, set up in their own wills, after their own inventions. And how have they been qualified, but by human arts and languages, which have been of high esteem in that which men call the church, since the language and skill of the Spirit of God have been lost. God, who chose in his own church, does not choose here who shall be his ministers; but any man can appoint his son to be a minister, if he will but educate him in learning, and send him to the university, and so bring him into that way of order wherein men make ministers, and then he is able to minister unto man the things of man, according to human skill; and this, in the dark night of apostasy, must go for a true call to the ministry of God. Indeed, they are as true ministers as the church is to which they minister; but they never were, nor ever can be, thus made ministers of the church of God: but as God alone can form and build his church, so he alone can fit and appoint the ministers thereof. And though others, having seen the grossness of this, make their ministers by a call in their church; yet neither is that out of the apostasy, but only a striving of man to get out of it; which man cannot possibly do till he meet with the Spirit of God to lead out of it. So that that ministry also is but an invention of man made by man, and comes not from the Spirit, nor is able to minister spirit to the spirit.

Objection: But has there been no true religion since the days of the apostles? No true rule, no true worship, no true faith, no true love, no true hope, joy, or peace! no true repentance, conversion, and regeneration! no true wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption! no true church, no true ministry! What is become of all our forefathers? Did they all perish? And has not this ministry converted many to God? Were not you yourselves converted by it? No, have not many of them been martyrs, and witnessed to the truth of God? And though some of them are bad, yet are not many of them zealous and conscientious preachers of the word at this day? By such reasonings as these, the wisdom of man much strengthens and hardens itself against the truth.

Answer: The rule in nations, the worship in nations, the faith, love, hope, joy, peace, repentance, conversion, regeneration, etc., which have been cried up in nations for the truth, the churches in nations, the ministry in nations, all these have been corrupted, and never recovered their true state to this day. There have been changes from one thing to another; but the restoration has not been known. The whorish spirit has been hunted and pursued, and so run out of one form into another, traversing her way, and changing her ground and garments; but has not been taken and judged to the death: and the true spirit has not been able to find the bed of her husband; but has wandered from mountain to hill all the time of this cloudy and dark day, forgetting her resting place.

Yet, though the whole earth was corrupted, and false doctrine and worship set up everywhere among the nations, which continued the fornication and whoredom from the Spirit of life in the public ways and national worships; notwithstanding this, even all this while God reserved a seed to himself, which he caused to spring up in a remnant, and which he moved and carried on to witness against something of these corruptions, in their several ages and generations. And as fast as the beast killed and knocked down these, God raised up more: yes, though the whorish spirit, in some nations, painted herself curiously, leaving some of the gross doctrines and worships of popery, and got into a more refined way; yet God raised up witnesses against her there also, and still does, into what form soever she gets: for though of late she has decked herself very pleasingly, as she thinks, and covered herself round with scripture words and professions and practices as like as ever she can form them to the practices of former saints; yet quick and lively is the Spirit of God that searches after her, who has found her out, and raised up witnesses against her there also.

Now this seed, this remnant, though they were not able to recover the possession of the life and power that was lost; yet they had a true taste of it, and their testimony which they gave out from that taste was true: and so far as they kept to this testimony in the faith and in the patience which they had learned and received from God (though but in a low measure), they were  accepted of him. So that all were not lost in this night of darkness; but such as feared God, and knew and hearkened to his voice, had the testimony of his presence with them, and tasted of his life and power in measure. God was not a hard master to them; but tender and gentle, and contented to reap what he sowed. But the appearance of God in this dark time was weak and low, and easy to be made a prey of. And this is very observable, that so long as the simplicity ran pure, it was preserved; but so soon as ever the spirit of man was tempted either into any old, or into any new-invented form, the wisdom of the flesh got in with it, grew up more than it, and when it had gathered strength, corrupted the vessel, betrayed the simplicity, and lost the life. There was a precious thing stirring in queen Mary's days, the life whereof was more hurt and suppressed by that dead form of Episcopacy succeeding afterwards, than by the fore-going persecution. The persecution did clear and brighten it; but the fleshly form of Episcopacy brought death over it. Thus many precious beginnings and buddings-forth of the life have been betrayed in these late days; and the forms of Presbytery, Independency, and Anabaptism, have been little less than graves to bury and keep down the life. How many spirits, that had a precious savor in them at their entrance into those forms, did soon become fleshly, earthly, and very unsavory, losing the quickness and freshness that were in them before, and falling into the deadness of the form, withering with it.

And as touching the ministry, though in itself it was evil, being in the degeneration from the true ministry all this time of the apostasy, and the persons therein, for the most part, very corrupt, being brought up to it as a trade, and making use of it as a trade; yet I do believe that there was a simplicity of heart in some persons among them, which did cause them, in some degree of faithfulness, to seek the Lord, his service, and the good of souls. And in the time of ignorance and darkness, it pleased God to wink at and overlook the evil, and to cause good to pass from the good in them to the good in others, through the evil that hung about both. And this was the great tenderness of the Lord, in pity to his poor creatures, who were very destitute of help in the thick night of darkness, and should not now be made use of to justify  and keep up the evil. Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unkind! because his mercy and goodness extended to you, notwithstanding the evil which might have hindered, will you make that an argument to keep up the evil, and to oppose the light which discovers it? Because God caused light to shine through the darkness, and visited man in the dark, will you therefore set up the darkness as his proper way of ministration? The corrupt way, call, and exercise of the corrupt ministry could not keep out the tender love of God; but he had respect to the simplicity of some who were found in it, and to the simplicity of others who waited on him for instruction there, and did please to give some answer to both. And will you make this ungenerous use of it, to interpret it as his approbation of that ministry, which sprung up in the apostasy from him, among those that were apostatized, and is a great dishonor to him, and the abhorring of his soul? A ministry of Christ, a ministry set up by his Spirit, is precious; but a ministry made by man, according to his will, and ministering in his wisdom, the soul of the Lord bears as a burden, and is pressed with it; and as he raises up his own life, will ease himself of it. And what do they minister from, but the literal part of the Scriptures, which kills, and cannot give life. And what do they minister with, but their own understanding part; what meanings they can invent, what deductions their wisdom can draw from the Scriptures; but do not see the true meaning in the infallible and unerring light: and what do they minister to, but the understanding part in you? Whereas there is something else to be ministered to by the true minister. And what do they minister to you, but food for the understanding; food for the serpentine wisdom, which always fed upon knowledge, but never upon the true bread. And hereby another thing is fed in you, and not your souls; but they are kept in leanness and barrenness, under death and the bondage of corruption (which Paul cried out upon as a wretched state, and could find no ease, rest, or freedom from condemnation there), and without the true life and redemption. I do not deny but you may there meet with some kind of warmth in the affectionate part, which may be heated by a fire and sparks of man's kindling and blowing up; and this may go for life with you now: but in the presence of the truth, where the eye is open, it vanishes;  yes, the Spirit of the Lord has so blown upon it, that it is even withered in the sight of a more inferior eye in many people.

POSITION III

That there is to be a recovery, a true recovery, out of this state of apostasy, into the true state of Christianity again.

GOD will not let the desolations of Zion remain for ever; but he will again "build up Zion, and appear in his glory." He will set his "king upon his holy hill of Zion. The new Jerusalem shall again come down from heaven. The man-child," which was taken up, "shall come down again, conquering, and to conquer; and the Lamb shall get the victory" over the whore, and over all her apostatized nations and churches, that have a name and not the life; and he shall "rule them with a rod of iron," and make them a desolation which have made his holy city desolate, and trampled them down which have trampled upon it. "The lofty city he will lay low; he will lay it low, even to the ground: he will bring it even to the dust: the foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy." The whore shall be judged, with the beast whereupon she rode. The life, which they trod upon, shall rise up in the mighty power of the Lord, and overturn them. "The everlasting gospel shall be again preached to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people." Rev. 14:6. Mark: the gospel that was preached to the nations all the time of the apostasy, was not the everlasting gospel; that gospel did not bring life and immortality to light; but they were hid from men's eyes, and men had only a sound of words instead of the thing. And thus poor nations, kindreds, people, tongues, were everywhere bewitched with a form of things; with an outward knowledge, a perishing knowledge in the perishing part; a vain, traditional, invented worship, which stands in the wisdom and will of man; but had no union and fellowship with that which is everlasting. And thus all the nations, in the smoke of the bottomless pit, ran into the pit from which the smoke came. But the Lord has a time to pity the poor nations, and to send forth his true everlasting gospel again, to deliver the nations from that witchery and sorcery and spiritual  enchantment which got up in the dark. And as this everlasting light springs up, then down goes Babylon; down go all invented doctrines, all invented forms, all invented worships, and that wisdom and evil spirit that raised them up. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen! that great city! because she made all nations drunk of the wine of the cup of her fornication." Rev. 14:8. And now the new wine of the kingdom, which is tasted of in the everlasting gospel, purges out the old wine; and the drunkenness which thereby came upon the nations wastes. And they that have tasted of this life, and know this life, can never be bewitched back again by the whorish spirit, to dead forms and likenesses without life. No, when Babylon falls, she can rise no more. Though the life fall often, it can rise again; but when the witchery from the life is discovered and cast into the pit, it can get out no more. Indeed the beast has had all the strength of the nations, and the whore has had all the wisdom, all the esteem, all the honor. — Who can make war with the beast? Who can show miracles and wonders like the false prophets? Who can teach, but the wise, learned, orthodox men, that have the arts, and know the original? Yes, there is another that can make war, and a prophet that can preach better than they; one that can preach life; one that can preach the everlasting gospel, and knows the original of it; one that is wiser and stronger than the whore, and by his wisdom and strength is able to judge her, and cast her out of the nations, though she has got very strong possession. Rev. 18:8. Now learn wisdom; "know the parable of the fig-tree;" come to the life that is arisen, and abide not in the death that is passed and passing away. You have heard the voice of the whore, you have drunk of her cup, you have been bewitched, you have set up her inventions; but have lacked the thing which cannot be invented, and which the invented understanding cannot comprehend. But if the force of the wine shall remain upon you, so that you cannot hearken after, or let in, that which is everlasting, assure yourselves, as the life rises, you will meet with plagues and wraths from it, instead of the refreshments it brings to others; and know what it is to sit down under the dead talk of, without feeling, the living power of redemption. Therefore be wise, and know the times and seasons. That will not be borne with now, which was  borne with formerly; but as the love and power of God to salvation have more appeared, so the severity against those who now resist will appear more also; and death shall have its sting, which they that will love darkness, and hate the light, shall feel.

POSITION IV

That they that are in those things which have been set up in the times of the apostasy, are not yet come to the recovery from the apostasy.

THEY that are in the doctrines and bodies of divinity which have been formed since, are not in the true doctrine.

They that are in the rules of life which wise church-men or synods or councils have given, or which they themselves have gathered by their industry out of the Scriptures, are not in the true, living, and everlasting rule. They that are in the worship, or under the ministry, or of any church which has been set up since by the power of man, or from the inventing wisdom (though this wisdom has founded its inventions upon the Scriptures), are not in the true worship, in the true church, or under the true ministry. They that are in the faith, which has since been gathered into the understanding, and did not spring up from the mystery of life in the heart, are not in the true faith. The same may be said of love, hope, joy, peace, and all the rest mentioned before; yes, and all other things in religion; for all have been corrupted, even the inward part. And while here has been a great contention about the forms of worship and church-government, the power of godliness, and the government of Christ in the heart, have been lost.

Observe diligently what we have now to say. When the apostles, who had the true ministry, preached the gospel, they stirred and raised up the power of God in the heart; and the power of sin, corruption, and deceit sunk down, and was under foot, and trampled upon by the power. But when antichrist and the false prophets arose, they raised up the corruption again, and fed it with doctrines of deceit; but the power sunk down, and was not felt, but was buried all that time of the prevailing of the corruption and deceit. Now the power was not lost all this while in itself; but only lost to man, so that he knew not where to find it.  Yet this power, in this time of loss, did stir and move, and make them in some degree sensible of the loss, causing them to pant and seek after the living truth. And this was good; this was of God. But then there was an evil spirit, which was near to the good, and lay lurking in the serpentine wisdom of the heart, and that drew the mind (which was bent towards the seeking of a right thing) a wrong way, that cried, Lo here! lo there! look into the Scriptures; the church was so and so; go, get into such a thing; the Christians there did so and so; go, do such a thing; there is the way; there you shall meet with the life and the power. And thus it drew from that which stirred within, into an imitation of a form without, and there they came to a loss. I dare appeal to all honest hearts, was there not a good thing stirring in you, when you went into your church forms? Were you not led in simplicity, hoping to meet with life and power there? No, did you not lose it there, and become deader? Did you meet with the life and power there? I know, if you have not forgotten the taste of life, you will confess to me, that that which now you have is not life, but far short of that which you had when you entered into your form. Ah! poor hearts, the whore bewitched you. The harlot in your bosoms, and the false prophets without, helped to increase the witchery, crying Lo here! and lo there! but you knew not that the kingdom of heaven was within, from which that stirring of life was in you, where you should have kept, and not have gone forth: but now you are dead, and buried in your graves, lying there without sense, and are now got into the spirit of the world, and into the enmity against that life in others, which was then your life. And do you know where you are, and what you are doing? Can you bear to hear it?

Of a truth you are in the snare of the enemy, in the enchantment from the life, in the whore's bed, in the strumpet's bosom, and not in the bosom of our beloved. And your practices are branches of the fornication, parcels of the whoredom, inventions which have been gathered in by that understanding, and set up by that will, which whored from God. They are the effects and products of the whore's cup, which gets new dresses, new habits, new forms, new ways to cozen and deceive the simple with; but still she remains the whore; and those who are seduced by her are led  into her whoredom. For when God discovers and hunts her out of one form, then she decks herself with another, perhaps more seemingly spiritual, more scripture-like, and so more likely to take with the simple heart; and then she lies in wait for the young man to entrap him again, saying, Come in here; this is the true way of God without doubt. Did not the saints meet with life here formerly? You come here also. Here is the bed of your beloved; take your fill of life, your fill of love. And thus the poor, honest, simple heart follows her, going like a fool to the correction of the stocks, not knowing that it is for his life, until he comes to feel the loss of life. And then if she find she cannot keep him there, but fresh stirrings of life spring up in him again, and withdraw him from that which had deceived him, then she paints again, and lies in wait for him again, to catch him in some more refined appearance, or in some elevated notion, or at least in the shadow of that which is true: for the whore has not only art and power to invent forms and likenesses of that which is true, and make idols and images of them; but it has power also given it over the outward court; so that that which is found there, it can make idols and images of; that which is corruptible, it can get into and corrupt, and make an enemy to that life which lived in it before it was corrupted; and when it is corrupted, then there is no more truth or life to be found there, but the idol and the idolatry.

The Apostle John, who forewarned of antichrist, and gave a mark whereby it might be known; namely, by his not confessing Christ come in the flesh, 1 John 4:3 (which he that setts up any thing of the old covenant, or any invention or imitation of any thing therein, does not) bids also beware of idols: "Little children keep yourselves from idols." 1 John 5:21. Now, what is an idol? The Apostle Paul says, "An idol is nothing in the world." An idol is no true thing in its place; but a false thing set up instead of the true. A false conception of God in the mind is an idol: a false church or temple is an idol: a false minister, who is not made according to the appointment of God, and by the gift of his Spirit, but came in another way, by the appointment of man, is an idol shepherd; and the worship in this church, and by this ministry, is public idolatry; and all the worship in families, which has been erected after the same manner, without the guidance of the Spirit of God, is private idolatry. Were the heathens' temples, altars, priests, sacrifices, and other inventions of theirs (in imitation of the Jews) idolatrous? And are not the inventions of the heathenish spirit, or anti-christian nature in man, are not they also idolatrous?

Objection: But is praying idolatry, preaching idolatry, singing idolatry, baptizing of infants idolatry, breaking of bread idolatry?

Answer: The praying which God appointed is not idolatry: praying in the Spirit of God, when he moves, and according to the will of God, which is only known in the Spirit, is not idolatry; but your praying in your own spirit, and at your own times, and according to your own will (perhaps in way of imitation of the Jewish morning and evening sacrifices), this is idolatry. This is that which you have set up, instead of that which God set up; and so it is not the true thing which God set up, but an idol of your own making; and so you worship not God therein, but that spirit which helped you to invent and set up the idol. The same might be said concerning preaching, singing, washing with water, breaking of bread, and whatever else is practiced in religion upon these terms.

Objection: But does not the scripture mention these things? And did not the saints practice these things? Surely they were not idolaters! Can I be an idolater in practicing that which they practiced?

Answer: No, you are mistaken; they are not the things which they practiced. The stress of their religion lay in the life of it, in the presence of the Spirit of God in it; it was his breath made it the truth. Now, if you could have the same things that they had, yet without the same living breath, they would be but dead things; but idols. But you have not the true form of things either; you have not the true church, the true ministry, the true ordinances, according to the form; but things set up in their stead, by the invention of man, in the time of the apostasy from the true things; and what can these be but idols?

"The world wondered after the beast; and they worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast." Rev. 13:3-4. Behold, what was worshipped at the time of the apostasy! that which arose from the beastly invention of man, and not from the true Spirit of life. And the  inventing and setting up of these, and worshipping according to these inventions, is worshipping the dragon (for he gets in, and lodges in man's inventions), and not the living God. And therefore God, at the end of this apostasy, raises up a new ministry, to recall the nations from worshipping the dragon to the worship of God again, ver. 6-7. of that chapter, "what the Gentiles sacrificed" of old, "they sacrificed to devils, and not to God." 1 Cor. 10:20. And what the late Gentiles sacrifice (I mean Christians in the heathenish nature, Christians to whom the outward court was given, Rev. 11:2. and who have a profession of the saints' words and practices, but without life), they sacrifice not to God either; but to that spirit that helped them to invent and form a likeness or image of the truth. Transgressing the principle of God within, they go from God, and from his worship; and the devil, who went out from the truth, gets in, and they go into his power; and whatever they perform in worship there, is to him; for when they go from the principle of God in them, the devil gets into their hearts, and God goes out; and his true life, power, and worship are not known, but an image or likeness, which the devil sets up instead of the true thing. So then, in that state, let men consider what they worship; for there they cry up ordinances and duties, and kill one another about them, thinking that they worship and honor God thereby; but know not, nor are come to, that wherein God alone can be worshipped and honored.

"I know the blasphemy of them, which say they are Jews, and are not, says the Spirit." Rev. 2:9. Is this blasphemy? For a man to call himself a Christian, who is not, what is that? To call that a church, which is not, what is that? To call him a minister of Christ, who is not, what is that? To call those the ordinances of Christ, which are not, what is that? To call that faith, which is not, that justification which is not, etc., what is that? Can you spy out the blasphemer? You have made a great outcry against him long; are you willing now he should be put to death? The Lord has lighted his candle; he is searching for him, and he will find him out: and as we have desired, so it shall be; the Lord will not spare him. Oh be awakened, be awakened, you heathenish Christians! Open the eye that can see, and behold  where you are, and what you are doing, and how fast you are running into the pit. You have forgotten God; you have lost the true line of judgment; you have lost the key of knowledge; and the light that is in you is darkness, and leads to darkness, though you cannot possibly believe it. Oh! come back to the remembrance of God, and to true holiness, without which no man shall see him. For the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God; and you have forgotten him days without number.

POSITION V

That the only way of recovery out of the apostasy is by returning to, and keeping in, that Spirit from which the apostasy was.

THE apostasy came by leaving the Spirit of God, and running after another spirit; and the recovery must be by leaving that other spirit, and returning to the Spirit of God again. How did Christians formerly begin their religion? They began in the Spirit. Gal. 3:3. And so they were to go on to perfection, and not to intermix any thing of the flesh. And had the anointing been kept to, antichrist and the mystery of iniquity had been kept out; and where that is returned to, the anti-christian spirit is purged out by degrees, and the ways thereof discovered and forsaken. Therefore know the whorish spirit in yourself, which is busy to form likenesses in your mind to seduce you, and to make you fall in love with the likenesses which she has formed in other men's minds; and let her not deceive you with her paint and gaudy appearances; but know likewise the little seal of life, from which truth springs up in you, and in which the Spirit of Truth dwells, and is to be found; and take heed, lest the serpentine wisdom teach you to despise and turn from it. From this spring it was, that truth sprung up in the witnesses all the time of the apostasy; for they had their testimony from the Spirit of prophecy. Rev. 19:10. So far as they kept to that, they gave a true testimony; so far as their own spirits mixed with it, they corrupted it. But to abide in that was very hard; and there was need of much affliction and persecution to keep the flesh down, and to preserve the life pure. But as the life springs up more strongly, and overcomes that spirit inwardly, (I mean the wise, fleshly spirit) there  will be less need of outward afflictions or persecutions; yes, or inward either: but there will be a safe entrance into, and abiding in, the joy, the rest, the peace, where the whore within (which seduced from the life, where the power is, into some form where the power is not) is burnt. Learn then, and know in yourself that Spirit of prophecy which spoke in all the martyrs. Hear that, come to that, keep to that; feel the union, the fellowship, the spreading of that in you. When that bids you go, go; when that bids you come, come; when that bids you do this, do it. But the flesh is grown strong, and strongly resists this Spirit, both inwardly and outwardly; and will not allow him to rise up in the heart, or to rise up in the nation; but at any time when he stirs, and offers to speak, or lead to God, there is a reason rises up in the fleshly wisdom, that knocks him down, and denies his voice, and hearkens to another voice instead of his. Thus they first give way to the fleshly wisdom, and suppress the truth in themselves, and then they would go forth and suppress it in others; and they think them mad, and their rage rises against them where the truth is allowed to grow, and man's reason or fleshly wisdom denied. And thus is the "Lord of glory" evilly entreated, and slain at this day by this generation of Christians, as he was by the Jews slain formerly in the prophets, in that his appearance in a fleshly form, and in his apostles: and his blood will be required; for the earth shall not always drink it up and cover it, nor the adulterous woman be always able to wipe her mouth, and say, she has done no wickedness. You have saved alive the unjust, and killed the just. The murdering nature is alive in you, O you Christians! but the Holy One is slain, and lies buried in your graves: and you have painted your graves, and speak good words of him; but still keep him down, and let another rise up and live in you. You cry up that appearance of Christ in the flesh, and the words he then spoke, and the words of his apostles, and think if you had lived in those days, you would not have killed either him or his apostles; and yet you resist and oppose the same life in yourselves and in others, with such a kind of wisdom in the letter as the Pharisees had. Oh what will you do! the uncircumcised ear is got up in you, and you cannot hear; and the uncircumcised heart, and you cannot understand; but  when this is told you, you despise and wonder, and go on in the perishing state. My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my bowels! O England! England! you that killed the martyrs in Queen Mary's days; you that persecuted the Nonconformists afterwards; you that would not allow the people of God to meet together, to seek him with an honest heart; but would confine them to your gross, formal ways of worship! though the Lord has appeared, and broken the horns of the oppressors; yet the persecuting spirit is not broken in you; but you still hunt after the precious life of the seed, and would not let it spring up in the nation. The spirit of enmity is still up in you, which knows not the Lord of life; but by a natural instinct opposes him, and would eagerly keep up some grave or other, it cares not what, so it might but thereby keep down the life: for you can now bear with any form, and cherish it; and your only enmity is against those who are sent by the Lord to gather out of all forms into the life. How often would the Lord have gathered you! but you would not: and yet seeks to gather you; but still you will not: but, as if the former laws, made in Queen Mary's days, were not sufficient, you desire new laws, to ensnare and entangle the innocent. What will become of you, or what will you say to the Lord, when he arises to plead the cause of the innocent? For that Spirit which he raised up to witness against the whorish spirit (which lies hid in your forms of worship and religion, and appears in all your laws, councils, and ways of government, so far as they were formed, and so far as they are guided, by the wisdom of the flesh) is innocent: even as that Spirit which witnessed formerly against popery and episcopacy was innocent before the Lord, though accused by them as guilty of error in itself, and of disturbance to the public peace, as this is now by you.

SOME PRINCIPLES

GUIDING OUT OF THE APOSTASY, TO THE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT AND LIFE AGAIN

1. That there is no salvation but by the true knowledge of Christ. The Jews had received the ordinances of God, and knew of the Messiah to come, and believed it, and were very zealous  in their worship, in observation of circumcision, the passover, new moons, and sabbaths, etc., ("Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?") and yet God complains of them by his prophet, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." And the state is the same under the anti-christian apostasy, wherein the whore has made all nations, kindreds, tongues, and languages drunk with the cup of her fornication. The true knowledge and worship have been lost; though the eyes of them that have been in the apostasy, and drunk with the cup, could not see it, no more than the Jews could in their day. But to come close to the thing.

The knowledge of Christ is not literal, traditional, or fleshly, nor can it be received by the natural understanding; but it is spiritual, and the understanding must be given by God which receives it. "He has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true." 1 John 5:20. A man may read scriptures, hear sermons, etc., and thereby gather a knowledge into the old understanding: but neither this understanding into which the knowledge is gathered, nor the knowledge itself which is gathered, is spiritual, but fleshly, and so cannot save. He that comes once to receive an understanding from Christ, and to have the knowledge of Christ poured forth from Christ into his heart, knows the difference between that and the understanding into which he gathers things. The knowledge of Christ after the letter (and a faith in him answerable to such knowledge) will not save: but a man must know him in that Spirit, life, and power wherein he lived, if he groundedly hope to be saved by him. 2 Cor. 5:16-17.

2. That Christ saves by the new covenant: not by any thing got into the mind by the oldness of the letter; but by a life begotten, which is new. There are two covenants made mention of in scripture, one whereof is called the old, the other the new. The old belonged to the Jews, which is done away, with their ceremonies, state, and polity. The new, which is better than the former, Christ is the Mediator of. Heb. 8:6. By mediating between God and the creature, or by bringing them together in, and according to, this covenant, he saves. Man, by his disunion and distance from God, perishes: by being brought again to God, he lives again; which thing Christ effects by the new covenant. So then he that is not  led by Christ into that covenant, is not in the state of salvation.

3. That the new covenant is written in the heart; or there is no other way of coming into the new covenant, whereof Christ is High-priest and Mediator, but by having the laws of God written in the heart. "This is the covenant, etc. I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts, etc. They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." Heb. 8:10-11. He is speaking of the covenant whereof Christ is Mediator, ver. 6. which he calls a new covenant, ver. 8. and says it is not like the old, ver. 9. instancing in two main particulars, wherein it is very unlike. 1. The old was written outwardly in letters, to be read by the outward eye; but this is written inwardly in the heart and mind, and so can only be read by a spiritual eye. 2. Under the old they needed teaching from men; the priest's lips were to preserve knowledge, and they were to seek the law at his mouth; but now they should have the law so near them, so clearly written in them, that they should need none to teach them. From the law is the knowledge of God; the law is in the heart; and from the law in the heart springs up the knowledge of God in the least and in the greatest that are within this covenant, that they need not say, Know the Lord. — This is the state of the new covenant, which the Christians came to in these days. 1 John 2:27. But it has been a strange thing in this dark night of apostasy, and is yet a strange thing to many. But let such consider, Can a man be a Christian, and be out of that covenant whereof Christ is the Mediator? Can a man be brought back again to God by Christ, and yet be out of that covenant whereby Christ brings back men to God? Oh! how has Satan deluded poor souls in this thick night of darkness, to make men believe they have faith in Christ, and shall be saved thereby; while they are quite ignorant of, and strangers to; that covenant whereby Christ the Mediator saves. "They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest." Mark: there is not the least in this covenant but has the law so written in his heart, that he need not seek out for knowledge.

4. That the Spirit of God alone can write the covenant in the heart; or that Christ writes the covenant by his Spirit, — Man, by all his wisdom, cannot attain it. Man is driven out from  God, and cannot find the way back again to him, without the teachings and leadings of God's own Spirit. It is not the being educated in any way of religion from one's childhood, or the leaving of that, and running into any sect afterwards, that will avail any thing hereto; but the alone hearkening to the true voice of the true Spirit. It is written in the prophets concerning the children of this covenant, that they shall be all taught of God: "And all your children shall be taught of the Lord." It is the Lord alone, who by his Spirit teaches them to come to Christ, and to receive the new covenant into their hearts from Christ: for man is in an incapacity to know or receive Christ, or his covenant, until the Spirit has fitted and taught him. John 14:17. — But when he has prepared and fitted his heart, then with his own finger he writes the pure law of the nature and life of Christ therein; by the receipt whereof he comes out of his own dark spirit and nature into the true knowledge of God, and union with him. "I will put my Spirit within you." Ezek. 36:27. This is part of the covenant, and indeed that part whereby all the rest is wrought.

5. Therefore, the first proper step in religion, is to know how to meet with God's Spirit. There is no progress, no true progress, to be made in the true religion, till a man comes into the covenant; and there is no coming into the covenant but by the Spirit: therefore the first thing that is absolutely necessary to be known in religion, is the Spirit, his writing, or at least his motions and stirrings, in the heart. It may further be evidenced thus: all things in religion, acceptable to God, flow from the Spirit: all knowledge is to come from him; for he alone has revealed and can reveal truth, and is appointed by Christ to lead into all truth. All worship is to be offered up in him: they that worship the Father, must worship him in the Spirit and in the truth; for the Father seeks such to worship him; but rejects all other worshippers and worship, how glorious soever their worship may seem to them: particularly praying is always to be in the Spirit. Ephes. 6:18. Jude 20. So singing, etc., yes, the whole life and conduct is to be in the Spirit. Gal. 5:25. The mortifying of all corruption is to be done by the Spirit. "If you, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live." Rom. 8:13. Indeed a Christian is nothing, and can do nothing,  without the power and presence of the Spirit of God in him. So then, if nothing in religion can be done (with acceptance to God) without the Spirit, then the Spirit is the first thing to be looked after, by him who would be truly and well-groundedly religious.

6. The first way of meeting with the Spirit of God, is as a convincer of sin. Here is the true entrance; this is the key that opens into life eternal; he that can receive it, let him. It is not by soaring aloft into high imaginations and forms of worship; but by coming down to this low thing. This is the first and most proper work of the Spirit of God toward fallen man, whereby he makes way toward the writing of God's law in the heart; namely, to convince of sin. And where should man look first to meet with him, but in his first work upon him? When Christ promised the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, he said this concerning him, "that he should convince the world of sin." John 16:8. They who are created anew in Christ, and become his disciples, receive comfort from the Spirit; but what is he to the world? Or how may they feel any operation of him? Why he is to them a convincer of sin, and they may find him checking them for, and convincing them of, their sins. So that the great work for man, while he lies in the darkness (for when he is translated into light he will be easy) is to distinguish the movings and stirrings of the Spirit of God. And this is the best way for man in this state to know them by: that which discovers that which is evil, THAT is good. That which discovers that which is spiritually evil, THAT must needs be spiritually good; for evil is darkness, and cannot make itself manifest. That which discovers that which is undoubtedly pure, and inclines to it, THAT must needs be of God. Now to know this, and be joined unto it, is a joining of the creature unto God, by something of him that comes from his Spirit, and so is a true beginning of life eternal.

7. That whereby the Spirit of God convinces of sin, is his light shining in the conscience. Fallen man is darkness; the light shines in the darkness, and shows man the evil, which otherwise would lie covered in him. Man fell from God, lost the image of God, and became wholly darkness; but the Spirit of God is light, and shines in the darkness, and strives with man to reduce him back again to that light from which he fell. "God, who  commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God," etc. 2 Cor. 4:6. Where did the apostles and Christians in those days meet with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ? God shined in their hearts. He that made the light to shine out of the dark deep, Gen. 1:2. by his Spirit, he by the same Spirit made the light of the knowledge of life shine in their dark hearts; and there it is also that the work of conviction is wrought by the same Spirit. He that perfects the good work in the heart, the same is he that begins it there; and his beginning is, by reproving and convincing of sin, and so turning the heart from it unto God, and unto the obedience of that righteousness which he makes manifest. And he that meets not with the Spirit in the beginning of his work, or slinks back, and goes not on with him, but smothers his reproofs, not forbearing that, or parting with that for which he is reproved, is never like to meet with him in the end. And then it will be too late for him to blame that religion wherein there was only a dead form, but not the living power of God. He that will come to life eternal, must be translated out of his dead understanding, and all his dead ways and worships, which please that understanding, into a living principle, and keep in that principle; and then he shall know life indeed, and the true food of that life, and the true worship and service from that life, and the reward belonging to all.

8. That this light convincing of sin, shines in every conscience. "He has showed you, O man, what is good," Micah 6:8. "The life," which was in Christ, was "the light of men." John 1:4. Christ is "the light of the world," John 8:12. God, as he loved the world, so he manifested his love to the world, by sending his light into it, to enlighten every man that comes into the world, that with the light they may see his Son; and as many as receive him, to them he gives power to become the sons of God. As God would have "all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth;" so he has given that light to all, which may bring to the knowledge of the truth which saves. He is "the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world." John 1:9. "The grace of God, which brings salvation, has appeared unto all men," etc. As the enemy got possession of  every man's heart, by filling it with darkness; so Christ pursues, and seeks to dispossess the enemy, by the light which he sends after him into every man. And this is the condemnation of man: not that he lacks a light to witness against, and draw him from the enemy; but that he loves the enemy, and chooses to be one with the enemy; but hates light, and turns from it. John 3:19-20. He hearkens to the reasonings of his mind against the light, and so smothers and chokes it; but does not turn to the light, to have all the reasonings of his mind subdued by it, and subjected to it.

9. The true way to life eternal, is by believing in the light of the Spirit, which shines in the conscience. Man is in darkness, which keeps him in death; and there is no way to come out of the death, but by coming out of the darkness; and there is no way to come out of the darkness, but by following that light which discovers it, and calls forth from it; and he that does follow that, cannot remain in the darkness, but must needs come out. There is an evil principle in man, calling for evil; and there is a good principle calling from the evil to the good: now he that follows the good, cannot follow the evil, but departs from it. "I am the light of the world (says Christ); he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12. But this is that which undoes man; he loves the darkness, he loves the world, the course of the world, the worships of the world; he loves his own understanding, and his own will, and so hates that light which crosses these, and which would teach him, by the denial of them, to crucify that nature from which they spring, and to which they are suitable. And from hence it comes to pass (the love to sin within being strong, and Satan, the strong man, keeping the house) that the motions of God's Spirit are easily overborne, either by reasonings of the understanding, or by perverseness of the will: but if any man durst trust himself to them, he would quickly find of what nature they were, by the strong opposition of the strong man against them. It is indeed a strait and narrow way, into which no flesh can enter and walk; and yet it is the only way: for there is no life in God, no peace with God, while the enemy lives in the heart. But when the light is received and turned to, then the power begins to work, which slays the enemy in the heart; and that being done, there is no more war, but  peace. Then the true peace, which passes understanding, fills and refreshes the heart; whereas the peace which was in the soul before, was but the peace of the enemy, and will abide no longer than the enemy is allowed to keep possession quietly.

10. That believing in the light of the Spirit, which shines in the conscience, unites the soul to God, and opens the springs of life to it. Belief in darkness (which is unbelief towards God) disunited the soul, and closed up the springs of life from it. Belief in the light, which is sent to lead from the darkness, unites again, and opens the springs again. God is light; he dwells in the light, and there enjoys the fulness of life: and he gives a measure of his own light to draw from the darkness: and he who believes and follows this, is led by it unto God, from whom it came: and being come out of the darkness unto him, he begins again to feel the springs of life, the fresh springs of life. which are in him. He that believes is come to the well of salvation, and draws living water out of it, and drinks of the living water continually, so that he can thirst no more; yes, "out of his belly flow rivers of living water." This is the fruit of the true faith; but this is not the fruit of the faith of the apostasy; but there the soul remains still disunited to God, and united to the darkness, and drinks not of the living streams, but drinks dead water. The fountain of pure life is not open to it: but the fountain of iniquity: and that blood which cleanses and takes away the sin is not known. There is only a dream of these things in the dark night of apostasy; by which dream the conscience is a little quieted for the present; but when the witness awakes, and the light of the day shines, the soul, which is lean, will find itself in the hands of the enemy, in the bonds of sin, and feel that it never knew that power that could redeem it; but the subtle serpent deceived it with a name, instead of the thing.

This is the true way, the narrow way (I can, in the presence of the living God, set my seal to the truth of it) which it has pleased God to discover, and make manifest again, after the long dark night of apostasy. And we come not to it by hearing or receiving any new notions or apprehensions of things; but by feeling that which puts an end to all creaturely notions and apprehensions; and we grow in it by the increase of that thing in us.  The seed to which the promise was made, the seed which was before Abraham was, is felt, and his day is seen and rejoiced in; and by the light thereof the darkness is discovered, and the kingdom of darkness is assaulted. And as it daily falls in many particulars, so it shall at length fall in the general; and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign upon the earth, where sin and antichrist have long reigned, and kept him down. And though there be a great rage and outcry among the people and heathenish professors, yet the decree is gone forth, and Zion's king shall reign in the holy hill of Zion, and the hills and mountains shall melt before him, and the earth shall shake round about him.

Therefore gather yourselves together, muster up your strong forces, O you several sorts of carnal professors! Let all your differences one against another fall, and join together against him who is against you all. Improve the serpent's wisdom, and form arguments out of the Scripture thereby with the utmost skill and understanding of flesh; get the kings, rulers, and magistrates of the earth on your side too; handle all the weapons of the flesh skillfully; dispute, reproach, revile, whip, stock, imprison, starve, no, put to death. See if you can uphold your kingdom; for there is a mighty one come forth against you, who will take the vineyard, the kingdom, the inheritance from you, and give it to another; and on you shall come that death and darkness, that misery and destruction, which you have put far from you; and slighted as the portion of others. Therefore consider your condition in the fear of the Lord; and if you feel not yourselves able to fight it out, make your peace betimes, and let your greatest crowns (your choicest wisdom and strength in the flesh) be laid down at the feet of Christ, at the lowest appearance of his light in the conscience. Let not the least check of his Spirit be slighted there; but esteemed above the highest notions of light that you have gathered in, or can gather with your fleshly understandings. — And indeed it is no less than its due: for this which runs fresh from the Spirit is more living in itself, and more proper to that man's present estate to whom it comes, than whatever he himself by his understanding can gather from the letter.

There has been a precious seed of God long stirring in this  nation; but it has been oppressed, and kept in bondage by the spirit of Pharaoh and his wise Egyptians, who would subject it to their laws and worships, and not let Israel go out of Egypt at God's call, to worship him in Spirit and truth; but would keep him in forms and ways of man's invention. The Lord has poured out his plagues upon this spirit, and more and more wrought out the liberty of his people: but as the plagues cease, this spirit hardens itself, and essays the reducing of Israel into bondage again. And as Pharaoh renews the bondage of Israel, so God renews the plagues on Pharaoh and his Egyptians. Pharaoh has a stubborn will, and a great wisdom and power, and is loth to let Israel go; but the Lord also is wise and strong, and has a will more righteous than Pharaoh's; and by his wisdom and strength will he effect his will, and Pharaoh's shall not stand.

Who is such a stranger in Israel, that has not observed, that as God began to raise up the seed in this nation, and call it into liberty, so the spirit of the wise Egyptians rose up against it, exclaiming of error, heresy, blasphemy, new ways, new lights, etc.? And doubtless many tares have sprung up; but the aim of the enemy was not so much to pluck up the tares, as to destroy the one good seed of wheat. Herod did not aim at killing all the infants in Bethlehem; but he would rather kill them all, than have Christ live. What preaching on the one hand! What running to the magistrate on the other hand! And all to destroy this young babe. When any different way of worship did appear, as of Independency, Anabaptism, or of seeking and waiting for the truth, how did they make a head against them, and cry out against them, for fear the young child should be born and appear there! And now they see their own image brought forth there, they are at peace with them. And having discovered that, where no part of the image or mark can be received, but there is another nature in life and truth brought forth, and no form without life will go down; now they knew where to shoot all their darts; now they knew against whom to invent and speak all manner of evil, and against whom to direct all their envy, rage, and out-cries, and to prepossess all sorts of persons everywhere, with all manner of prejudices, that the truth may not spread anywhere, but be opposed everywhere. And all persons' minds  there, are so filled beforehand with the venom of the serpent, that truth cannot come anywhere, but it finds the enmity already stirred up, and prepared to withstand it.

This is a new way, a new light, says one; we knew a religion before this came up, and we will keep to that, let who will run after these new sects and ways. A natural light, the old light of nature, says another, or the corrupted light of Adam, which has run along through all his posterity. Another outcry is, that it makes the Scriptures void and useless. Others cry out, that it teaches things contrary to the Scriptures; that it sets up free-will; that it leads to a covenant of works; that it breaks down relations, laws, governments; takes away due respect from magistracy and superiors, and turns the world upside down. Thus the worldly spirit is everywhere up in arms, and a zeal kindled everywhere to keep it out of every heart, and out of every place and country.

Now these are not real things; but such kind of slanders and reproaches as always have attended truth. The prophets of God, Christ, and his apostles, though they have been spoken well of afterwards, yet they have ever been hated, spoken ill of, and persecuted by the generation of professors of their age. The Scribes and Pharisees could not with so great advantage have persecuted Christ and his apostles, without a seeming zeal for the law and prophets; and yet it was the same spirit that so vehemently cried up the law, the prophets, the ordinances of Moses, that persecuted the Spirit and life in Christ and his apostles, from which the law, the prophets, and ordinances came. And thus it is at this day; though that spirit is as blind now as it was then, and cannot see through its own cover; though it be as weak and narrow as theirs was. The guilty charges the innocent, that it might hide its own guilt, and keep its covering. The guilty Jews, and the guilty Scribes and Pharisees, charged the prophets, Christ, and his apostles, that they might not be found guilty by them, and have their formal covering rent from them. And thus it is at this day; truth is risen to make manifest men's false coverings, and the guilt and hypocrisy that lie hid underneath. Now to save themselves, they are prepared beforehand to lay that charge against truth, which truth has against them.

Search your heart, resist not the light, you that have charged  the truth with any of these things, and you will find it your own condition. The truth is no new light, or new way; and they that hold it forth, do not hold forth any new way, or new light; but it is you that have left the good old light, the good old way, which was before the apostasy, and have fallen in with some new light, some new way, invented and set up since the apostasy. It is you again that set up the natural light, the fallen wisdom, the wisdom which is out of the life, and in enmity with the life; with this you feed that understanding which is to be brought to nought; and when you have done this yourself, then you call the spiritual light, wherewith God has pursued it in all ages, a natural light. It is you that with this wisdom searching into the Scriptures, and gathering the oldness of the letter into the old understanding, make the Scriptures void and useless to your soul, and can not meet with that life and power which they speak of; but are still alive in your sins, and dead unto God; and then you cry out against that which comes to discover this to you, and to bring you out of the dead knowledge into the life of the Scriptures; you cry out against this, as if this made the Scriptures useless. And when you have set up a whole body of knowledge, religion, and worship, quite contrary to the Scriptures, which the truth comes to make manifest, then Cain's nature rises up in you, and you take up Cain's weapons, and eagerly would you kill your brother, because his sacrifice in the faith testifies against yours, which is out of the faith, and contrary to the true testimony of the Scriptures. Again; for a free-will and a covenant of works, you have set up a religion in the old will and works; not according to the new covenant of life, but according to the old covenant of death. And by this you preach that will to be free, which is in bonds; and set up the works of man's righteousness, and conformity to the letter, for the works of the new covenant. And for governments and laws, that which is according to God, which is a terror to the evil, and a praise to them that do well; that which is liberty to the just, and a curb to the unjust; this you are against, and cry out daily for the turning of the magistrate's sword against the innocent, because they are a light to discover your deeds of darkness, which are out of the light, and disturb your peace and your settlement in that which is fleshly, and of man, and not of  God. So for relations, and honor to magistrates; the transgressing nature has brought up a wrong thing, a fleshly thing, an honor and a duty which are of the flesh, and please the flesh, and are not according to God. And this is not honor indeed; not an honor that will stand; not an honor that will be justified in the sight of God; but it is a shame to them that give it, and a shame to them that receive it; discovering that they are servants to the flesh, giving to and receiving from the fleshly part that which the fleshly part (which crucifies the life) calls for, and is pleased with.

All that the light does to these things, is to discover and condemn them: and the end of its discovery is, that they might be removed, and truth and righteousness brought in the stead of them. But man's evil heart, which is the cause of them, cries out against the light, as if the light brought them. Whereas if man could be quiet and still, and allow the work of the light upon him, he would find that the same light which discovers them, would also purge them away, and leave neither root nor branch of iniquity, either in men's hearts, or in relations, or families, or towns, or cities, or laws, or governments; and there would be no lack of honor. Now though the serpent's wisdom is irreconcilable, and that understanding which stands there cannot be satisfied, but must be confounded and brought to nought, 1 Cor. 1:19. yet because underneath all this there is a simplicity in some, which is betrayed; for the relief of that, something further may be spoken in answer to these things.

Objection 1. To the first objection, that this is a new way, or new light, I answer:

Answer: It is new indeed to them who have lain long in the apostasy, and set up another light; but it is not new in itself, but the same that was in the beginning; yes, and before the beginning also. Christ was the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and the light that comes from him is like him; that also is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. It was the same under the law, the same before the law, the same since the law. As the darkness all along has been the same, so the light all along has been the same also. It was the same in the Jews, and the same in the Gentiles. It was this God expected obedience to from the Jews; and the prophet (in the name of the Lord) disdains their  sacrifices, and brings them to this; Micah 6:8. "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Their eye was upon sacrifices and oil; but the prophet points them to that which would bring them to the right sacrifice, and to the true oil. And the Gentiles, so far as they were obedient to this, were accepted, and excused in their own consciences; the faithful witness whereof is of God, and will stand in the day of Christ. Rom. 2:15-16. "That which was from the beginning," says the apostle John, "declare we unto you." 1 John 1:1. And "this is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." verse 5. And the end of preaching this message, is to draw out of the darkness into the light; to bring men to the feeling of the light of God in them, and so to union with it; which being turned to, draws out of the darkness. God, who is light, is nigh to every man, who is darkness; though man's sense is very thick, and can hardly see or feel him. And a light from him shines in man's darkness; but man's darkness comprehends it not. So that this light is not new in itself, but only new to the old spirit, which has long lain hid in the region of darkness and death, and has not known the light of life.

Objection 2. That this is a natural light, or the light of old Adam's nature.

Answer: It is in one sense a natural light; it is of the nature of him from whom it comes; of the nature of God, and of his Christ, whom it appears for: but it is not of the nature of corrupt Adam, whom it always reproved, and against whom it still stands a witness, and condemns all corruption. Man is darkness; and when Christ comes to redeem him, he finds him darkness: and Christ finds no light in him to help him to discover sin to him; but all the discoveries of sin that are made in the heart, are by the light of Christ, and not by any light of man's nature. The Lord is the searcher of the heart, and he searches it with his own candle, and not with any left in man's nature. Man fell into darkness, and knew not where he was; but the Lord comes after him with his candle, and discovers his state to him. It is the light from which man fell, and against which he sins, that is alone able to make his  disobedience manifest to him. "We know" says the apostle, "that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal." Rom. 7:14. The law is the lowest part of the light; and yet that is spiritual, and of Christ's nature, and not of Adam's nature; "we know it," says the apostle. Such as know the nature of that which manifests sin, know it to be spiritual. It is the fallen man from the light, the man in the darkness, that calls the light darkness: but that which discovers the darkness, and reproves the darkness, and wars against the darkness, is not darkness, but the light of life. And those who are spiritual, and feel the nature and power of it in their spirits, know it to be so. But man has set up a light of his own; has raised up a light by his study and invention, in the strength of the fallen wisdom: and now setting up this for light, he must needs call the true light darkness, as the Pharisees did Christ.

Objection 3. That it makes the Scriptures void and useless.

Answer: It came from the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures; it is of the same nature with the light that shone in them that gave forth scriptures; it speaks the same thing with scriptures, it leads to the same thing, and it opens and witnesses to the words which the scriptures speak; and so it brings the scriptures, which have been long abused, into their true use. Indeed it puts an end to the corrupt use of scriptures, to man's inventing and forming things out of them, and brings them into their true use and service. It takes the scriptures out of man's hand, who has slain the life by them, and puts them into the hands of the Spirit, who makes the words again pure and quick and living; purging away man's defiled and dead conceivings and interpretations of them.

A man must know the Spirit, come to the Spirit, be joined to, and be in union with the Spirit, before he can have the true understanding of the scriptures. The scriptures of truth are the words of God, or various expressions of his mind; which he that searches into, before he has his Spirit, cannot know: and so man, in this state, can only guess and imagine at things, but cannot see the truth. And from hence it is that so many sects and heaps are sprung up in the world, according to the variety of their imaginations. One sort of men cry, This is the way, this is the truth, this is the church, this is the worship. Another sort cry, This is not it; that is superstition and error; but this is it: and so a third and  fourth, etc. So about scriptures, one says this is the meaning; another says it is not so, but this is the meaning. The Papists say, the church must judge of the meaning of scriptures; and the Protestants, who take more scope, how do they doubt and differ, and oppose one another, about the interpretation of scriptures! Which plainly shows that they do not plow with the right heifer; for then there would be unity and certainty. They let their own reasonings and imaginations loose, and there is no foundation of certainty. But had they waited for the Spirit to begin with, and gone on no further than he opened to them, all these doubts and dissensions would have been choked in the birth, or womb, or not have come so far as either birth or womb. Yet do I not altogether deny the reading of scriptures, even in this state, if man read with fear and trembling: not setting up his own understanding, or the understanding of any man else; but waiting for the Spirit, which can alone give him an understanding to receive the true knowledge. But this I dare boldly affirm, that men's reading of the scriptures in their own wisdom and self-confidence (or confidence of what interpretation others have given) does them no good at all, but much harm, tending to the building up of that which God will again destroy. But he that begins with the Spirit of God, giving himself up to that light which comes from him, comes to true union with God, and to the feeling of the life, and so to a true growth and knowledge of the Spirit of God, whereby he comes to know and understand the scriptures, which came from the same Spirit; and hereby also he comes to be able to measure the deceit of his own spirit, which formerly led him aside, and also to see and measure the spirits of deceivers. But he that is in the deceit, in the imagination, out of the true knowledge, he cannot know the deceit of his own spirit, or the spirits of deceivers; but calls the truth deceit, and the deceit truth.

Objection 4. That this light teaches things contrary to the Scriptures.

Answer: That light which comes from the same Spirit which the Scriptures came from, cannot teach things contrary to the Scriptures. But man, who has taken the tools of his understanding, and formed images and likenesses out of the Scriptures (I mean invented meanings and senses, and judged these agreeable to the  Scriptures), he must needs judge that which is contrary to these, as contrary to the Scriptures: whereas the truth is one in itself, and agrees with whatsoever is true in this age, or in former ages; and differs only from that which is not true. And we know that there is that true unity with that Spirit from which the Scriptures came, and with the Scriptures, and with one another, in that light which the wisdom of man cannot but despise, as has not been in any age since the apostasy until now.

Objection 5. That this sets up free-will. When persons are exhorted to embrace the light, to let in the light, and told that condemnation comes for not believing or receiving the light, then they cry out, Can man believe? Can man receive the light? Has man free-will?

Answer: The will of man is bound; but there is liberty, power, and freedom in the light which visits man, and comes to unbind and save him. And man feels this power, tastes of this liberty, feels something disengaging him from the evil, and drawing him from it: but he being in love with the evil, draws back from the drawing, shutting his ears against the wisdom of the light, and opening his ears to the reasonings of the serpent; and then the liberty and power which were in the light, withdraw with the light, and the bonds are strengthened upon him. And this is the condemnation; not that there was a lack of power from God, but that he chose the power of the enemy, not loving the light, wherein the power of life lay. God knows the state of man in the fall, and knows the strength of the enemy; and the Savior that he sends has sufficient power against him; and the light that the Savior sends is stronger than the darkness, and can overcome the darkness, and cannot be overcome by the darkness. And if you join with the darkness, and will not yield to the drawings of the Father, but yield up yourself to the drawings and reasonings of the darkness; yet the strength of the light remains in itself. And though for the present you have struck it down and slain it; yet it will rise up a strong and living witness against you, and the darkness to which you have joined. When a man goes from the light, he goes into the will voluntarily; then takes and chooses in the flesh. When a man follows the light, the will of the flesh dies in him, another will rises up, and chooses for  him. There is the true liberty.

But as for your speaking of free-will, you do not know what you speak of: for the will, with the freedom of it, either stands in the image and power of him that made it, or in a contrary image and power. While it is in the image and power of him that made it, it is free unto good, and not to evil; while it is in the image and power of him who corrupted it, it is free unto evil, and not to good. The will is not of itself, but stands in another, and is servant to that in whom it stands, and there its freedom is bound and comprehended. For there is no middle state between both, wherein the will stands of itself, and is free to both equally; but it is a servant, and under the command of one of these powers. If it be under the command of sin, of the power of darkness, it is free from righteousness; and if it be under the command and power of righteousness, it is free from sin; but such a free-will as men commonly speak of, is mere imagination, and has no foundation in the true state of things.

And this may answer another objection, which lies as a great block in the way of many, who feel a conviction, but are withheld from obedience, under a pretense of lacking power; whereas the power lies in that light which convinces, and is received in the obedience, and in the cross. As the power of the enemy creeps in, in hearkening to him; so the power of truth is received in hearkening to, and receiving the reproofs of truth. That which checks the evil, that which stands against the mind, smiting it in its course of vanity and pleasure in the fallen state, in that is the power. That comes from the power, goes forth in the power, and the power is in it, and cannot be severed from it. So he that lets that in, lets in the power; and he that shuts that out, shuts out the power. And in this state a man may complain all his days for lack of power, and not meet with it: for how can he, when he refuses it in the way wherein the power seeks him, and waits for it in a way wherein it is not to be found? The appearance of the power at first is small, and contemptible to the eye of the fleshly wisdom; and it is not received in any such great, overpowering way (though that also is known afterward) as man is apt to expect; but all lies in one little seed, where the day of small things is known. The light, the life, the power, the purity, the wisdom,  etc., lie hid there; and in receiving that little thing, all is received; and in the growth of that, all grows up. But by being tempted by the enemy to neglect this, and wait for some great power and appearance of God, the soul is held in the bonds of iniquity, and kept from the life, as strongly as by the grossest form.

Objection 6. That this sets up a covenant of works; for a man is bid to do, bid to obey the light; and when he does, when he obeys, he has peace; and when he obeys not, he has not peace.

Answer: This sets not up the works of the law; but it leads through the works of the law to the righteousness of faith. "When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Rom. 7. The apostle was alive in his worship and Jewish state, till the law came: but when the law came, it slew that life that he had there, and he became dead, both to that life by which he lived before, and to the law that slew him; and then there arose up a life in him which answered the law, and could fulfill it, and lead to a righteousness beyond it: and then his life and righteousness were not any works of the law, but of faith, and in the faith. Gal. 2:19-20. But yet there is no passing to this, but through the administration of the law in the heart, in the hand of the Mediator. And when the life is risen and received, yet even then there is no peace but in the obedience to the life. The peace lives in that which brings the peace; and if there be a departing from that, there is a departing from the peace. Any fleshly thought, any fleshly motion, as it is out of the life, so it is out of the peace; and the mind joining to it, feels the death and trouble of it. Thus said the apostle, Gal. 6:15-16. "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them." The peace comes to the new creature, and to man walking according to the rule of the new creature: and the condemnation is not to them that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. 8:1. But if there be a hearkening to the flesh, and a fulfilling the unrighteousness thereof in any thing, God is righteous, and he cannot speak peace to the wicked, or to him that joins with the wicked. Therefore, where there is true peace, there must be a coming from the wicked nature, and a living out of the wicked nature, in him who is the life, the righteousness, the peace. I  know there have been curious fabrics in men's minds about the covenant of grace; but they have not known the nature of it, and of the works that flow from it, and so are apt to call the works of the new life, springing from the covenant of life, the works of the old covenant. But wisdom is justified of her children, and they know her birth: and in the true light the true nature of things is seen, and the true name and description given, which he that is out of the light cannot receive, but stumbles at: and the wiser he is, in his own devised way and knowledge of things, the more stumbling-blocks he has, and the more he stumbles.

Objection 7. and last. That it breaks down relations, laws, governments; takes away due respect from magistracy and superiors, and turns the world upside-down.

Answer: Iniquity has reigned, unrighteousness has wound itself into, and twisted about every thing. And now the truth comes to discover and purge out the iniquity; the strong man, who hitherto has kept possession of the house, cries out, as if the destruction of the thing were aimed at. No, it is only the evil that is aimed at; but the thing itself is not to be destroyed, but to be set free from the evil, and preserved. Relations are good, laws are good, governments are good, of God; but the unrighteousness of flesh, the pleasing of the flesh by the pretense of these, the giving liberty to the unjust, this is not good. And is it not thus in relations, in government, in the execution of laws? If a man will be fleshly, and walk in them according to the flesh, the law takes not hold of him, his relations are not offended at him; but if he comes once to feel the power of God and withdraw from the evil, and stand a witness for God against it, then relations, and powers of the earth, and laws, all strike at him: and the reason is, because they are in union with the evil, and so cannot bear the rending of the evil from the thing. And from hence it is, that wherever the gospel comes in power, it kindles a flame round about, setting father against son, and son against father, husband against wife, and wife against husband, etc. Yes, it goes closer than so; it sets one part in man against another; and the fight is very bitter and sharp, till one of these be subdued, and then there is peace; fleshly peace, if the wise, fleshly part prevail; spiritual peace, if the weak, foolish thing (to the world) in the heart, which is of God, prevail.

And for honor to magistrates and superiors, it is not denied; but fleshly honor, corrupt honor, honor from the fleshly part, and to the fleshly part, this cannot but be denied by them which are of God. That which is born of God is not of this world, nor can it give honor to that which is of this world; but it honors all men in the Lord. Whatever is of God in magistracy, it honors; whatever is in superiority according to God (as a father, a husband, a master,) it honors with true honor. Christ, the only begotten of God, could not receive honor of men, nor could he give honor to men: and he says to the Jews, How can you believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only? The receiving of honor from man cannot stand with the true faith (when you know the faith you will know it): he that respects persons, commits sin, and is a transgressor against the law of faith, which leads to the life which stands in God, out of the world's honors, worships, customs, and whatever else which is not of faith, but of the world. Mordecai did not bow to Haman; no, he sat in the king's gate, where Haman was to pass, and yet did not stand up, move, or bow to him. What an affront was this to that high, proud, lofty spirit! and yet it was of the Lord. This was a type (as the Jewish state in general was typical) of what God would do in the world, and is now doing. The Lord has raised up Mordecai's nature, and he has discovered Haman's nature, and has given the command to Mordecai, that he should not bow to Haman. And if you could search your hearts, you would find, that it is not that of God in you which is offended for lack of that which you call honor; but the Hamanish spirit, the fleshly pride and loftiness, which the Lord will lay low; and he alone will be exalted in this day of his mighty power; and man shall only be honored as he comes from him, and as he is found in him: but the honor which the fleshly part has sought and gained in the transgression, shall fall with the transgressor, whom the Lord has furbished his sword to smite.

And for turning the world upside-down, it is acknowledged: the power of the Lord is come forth to do it. That which is high, that which is wise, that which is strong, that which is rich, that which is full, that which is fat, the Lord will lay low, make  foolish, weak, poor, empty, lean; for it lies in wickedness. He will feed the fat and strong cattle with that judgment which shall make them lean and weak. And the humble, the foolish, the weak, the poor, the empty, the lean, he will raise up, and make wise, and strong, and rich, and full, and fat, with the true honor, the true wisdom, the true strength, the true riches, the sure and living mercies of David; who sets his feet on the top of the high places of the earth; of whom Christ came according to the flesh.

Thus I have in plainness of heart, and plainness of speech, set the truth and the error before you, and lent my hand toward the removing of some blocks which lay in your way, in love and pity to your souls. Now if any, in the reading of this, feel a secret touch upon their hearts, startling them, and giving some testimony to the truth, though very small, and through a thick, dark covering, there is that to which I speak; there is the witness within the veil; and there is the testimony rising up, which leads to life, if given heed to. Keep to this, and this will prick and wound, judge and condemn the contrary nature, though ever so strong. And when it does prick and wound, keep the wound fresh and open, as you love your life, till you meet with the true healer. For the false prophet will rise up in you, and fill you with reasonings, and perhaps multitudes of promises and comforts from scripture, skinning over the wound, and crying Peace, peace, when there is no peace. And when you have thus got over the trouble, then the false prophet, which brought you this peace, will stir you up against the witness, exalting the wisdom and reasonings of the flesh, and making merry with you over the witness, which witnessed against you and him, and over the trouble that came thereby; and this will bring you to that hardness of heart which is for destruction. And when you have slain the witness in yourself, and exalted your fleshly reason and understanding over it, then the false prophet which seduced you will kindle a zeal in you against the witness in others; and you will prove a persecutor of the life, under the name of deceit, error, heresy, and blasphemy; whereas you yourself are fallen into the deceit, into the error from the life, and into the blasphemy against it, and are in Cain's nature, and would eagerly be handling of Cain's weapons to destroy it.

Therefore take heed of the fleshly wisdom; take heed of your  own understanding; take heed of your reasoning or disputing; for these are the weapons wherewith the witness is slain. That wisdom must be destroyed, and that understanding brought to nought, and you become a child, and learn as a child, if ever you know the things of God. "Where is the wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?" Did they ever, from the beginning of the world to this day, attain the knowledge of the things of God? Where are the councils? Where are the great convocations? Where are the synods? Where are the assemblies of divines? What is become of them all? What have they done? Have they been ever able to lead out of the apostasy from the truth into the truth again? No: that wisdom is cursed; it is of the earth, and fixed in the earth, and is the grand enemy to the wisdom that is from above: and where that wisdom stands, there is no entrance for the other. This made it so hard for this sort of persons, in all ages, to own truth. Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. This made the whorish spirit so able to use sorceries and enchantments from the life in all ages. And it is easier for publicans, harlots, drunkards, swearers, and all sorts of sinners to own truth, and enter into life, than for these. For it is easier to empty them of their profaneness, than it is to empty these of their settled, conceited religion and devotion: and yet these, with their religion and devotion, cannot enter, no more than the other with their profaneness. You have a knowledge, a righteousness, a hope, a faith, etc., founded by your pretense to scriptures. Who can shake down these, say you? And yet these must fall, before you can build upon, and grow up in, the life that the scriptures came from. For the scriptures were not given for men to gather out of, and lay a foundation of faith there, by their own wills; but to discover and testify of the foundation. And he that comes there, and is built there, knows the truth; not because the scriptures say so, but because he feels the thing, is founded upon the thing, grows up in the thing, and the thing in him, whereof the scripture speaks. And this knowledge shall abide, and this faith, and this righteousness, and this holiness, and this redemption; whereas the other is but a name, put upon that which is not the thing.

These are precious and faithful words (though through a  vessel weakened, and weak beyond measure); and happy is he that has an ear to hear them; but woe from the Lord to that eye that is closed, to that ear that is shut, to that heart that is hardened, in the inventions and imaginations of man's fleshly mind, against the truth of God. Let the witness of God in you stir and speak, it shall answer me now: but if you, through the strength of the flesh, and the vain imaginations which you hug in your heart, stifle the voice of it now, yet I know it shall answer me one day; but then it will be too late for you to hear it.

The Lord is now gentle and tender, pursuing you with his love, and following you up and down with his light. And though you run from him into sin and transgression, and hearken to the wisdom of the flesh; yet his voice comes after you to reclaim you: and if you will hear, and but yield yourself to him, he will not put you to do any thing; but subdue all your enemies for you; yes, he will slay the serpentine wisdom in you, with all its inventions, and dash all the children of Babylon against the stones, without pity to them, though with great pity to you. But if you refuse, and choose the pleasure of the flesh, and the gross flesh-pots of Egypt, and turn your ear from his voice, giving way to the reasonings of the flesh, and keeping down the witness, the day of wrath and severity, which all the scriptures have spoken of, will come, and you will have your portion with hypocrites, who, in all ages, have covered themselves with a form of religion, pleasing to the flesh and the world; but have withheld their hearts from the power of life. Therefore prize the love of God to you in giving you this warning; and be not uncircumcised in heart and ears, as this generation of professors have always been; but let Christ reign in your heart, and let him trample all man's invented forms of knowledge and worship under his feet, and give up yourself to be led by him into the true knowledge and worship in the spirit and in the truth.

And now you who find your hearts touched and convinced of the truth, and find any desire kindled in you after the living God, and a hungering and thirsting after his righteousness, take notice of these three things, which I have upon my heart to say to you, by way of advice:

1. Know and take up your cross, the cross of Christ, the  daily cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is that which crosses the natural; and this is the power of God to deliver from the natural. How should the earthly understanding, the earthly will, the earthly affections, with the elementary nature (which have had their swing in the earth) be crucified and slain, but by the cross of Christ? He, therefore, that will have a religion to please himself in any thing, must not come here; and he who, after he is come here, admits of any thing pleasing to the earthly, and starts from the cross, which would deny and turn from it; so far as he does so, he goes backward, and not forward. It is no wonder that there is such an enmity in all sorts against the truth; for it strikes at their life, yes, at the very root of their life. If there were any new way or form of religion held forth, men's understandings and affections might by degrees be wrought up to it, and find pleasure in it; but this is direct death to that nature and spirit that has lived in any form of religion, and to the whole course of that nature and spirit; yet through this death, the true life springs up, in those who receive the strokes of it. Therefore be willing, and learn to die daily, and bring every thing which is contrary to Christ to the cross. Deny self in every thing, take up the cross in every thing, follow Christ in every thing. This is the way which Christ himself prescribes to become his disciples by: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." Seek not ease in the flesh, no, not in the least; but take up the cross every day, in every thing, till the earthly be slain; till the wisdom and strength of the flesh be wholly subdued, and then the wisdom and power of God will become natural.

2. Keep to the sense, keep to the feeling; beware of the understanding, beware of the imagining, conceiving mind. These cannot be for God, nor bring forth any thing for God, until they be new cast, and new moulded. The one seed of life lies in the invisible, in the hidden man of the heart, among multitudes of seeds of death; all which have their growth up into, and strength in, the corrupted natural. So that this seed cannot shoot up into any part of the natural, but the other seeds shoot up with it, and endeavor to choke it. Now the other seeds spring up two ways, either in a way of opposition against the true seed, or in a way of  similitude. There cannot be a good thought, or desire, or beam of light, enter into the understanding or will, but multitudes of evil thoughts, evil desires, or fleshly reasonings against it, will spring up with it, and strive to overbear it. And if the enemy be at length overcome, by the power of God fighting with him and vanquishing him, then he has his garment of light; then he brings in thoughts and desires, and motions like God's, which easily pass for good, if the soul keep not close upon the watch. The forward understanding is apt presently to own them, and the forward will to embrace, and the forward affections to let themselves forth into them, until the soul come to feel a loss in life, and miss the power and presence of God, and find the enemy strong again. Yes, the enemy has yet a more subtle way; namely, to raise motions like the motions of God's spirit, and suddenly, before the light has given the discerning of them, to raise oppositions and reasonings against them; that so by the opposition, which is manifestly evil, the motion itself, which is also evil (though good in appearance), might be the less suspected, and swallowed. Now the only way of safety is to keep out of the natural, whereof the enemy has possession, and where his strength lies, and to keep in the sense and feeling of the invisible seed, and only to come forth with him into the natural, in that sense and feeling. And when he comes, he will come with strength, above the strength that the enemy has in the natural, and by degrees conquer him. But by no means rest or abide in the natural, but retire with the Lord (who will not dwell there until it be cleansed) into the resting-place. These words may be hard to you at present; but hereafter (as you come into the exercise) you will feel them. And this is the reason why the formal and outward part of religion does so commonly eat out the life, because things there are suitable to, and exercise, that part wherein the strength of the enemy lies; and there can never be perfect freedom and safety until that part be subdued, and all that belongs to that part removed. The Lord is risen to shake, that the kingdom which cannot be shaken may appear; and happy are they who are shaken by his hand in all that is outward, and established in the inward life, power, and rest, which remains for ever, and cannot be shaken.

3. Wait patiently the Lord's leisure. Be not hasty after life  and salvation in the will of the flesh; but leave the Lord to choose his own season for the showering down of his mercy and blessing. The Lord will not presently entertain that spirit which has adulterated from him (prostituting itself to strangers, and defiling itself), into his bosom; but there must be a time of sorrow, a time of purifying and cleansing. The soul must know and feel that it has been an evil thing and bitter, that it has forsaken the Lord, the living fountain of living mercies, and has sought life from vanities, and among dead idols. And all the idols must be thrown away, and the heart washed from that nature that ran after them, and become a pure virgin, to bear and bring forth the living seed; and by faithfulness to that seed, and waiting in that seed, in the Lord's season it shall receive the mercy and the blessing and the inheritance which belong to that seed. The husbandman does not presently reap, but waits long, even till the seed be grown up to maturity. Jacob, the type of the seed, said, "O Lord, I have waited for your salvation." It is the election that obtains: it is to the seed, and for the seed's sake, that the mercy is bestowed; and there must be a waiting till the seed be grown up to age, and able to defend his portion from his elder brother, who otherwise would be ready to seize on it, and waste it upon harlots again. Therefore lie still, and bear the indignation of the Lord against that which has transgressed, till he judge it, and deliver from it, and lead into the innocency and righteousness, and then he will find a time to arise, and plead the cause of the innocent, and give the crown of immortal life to that which he has prepared for it. Therefore think not the race long, nor the battle hard, nor be weary of the afflictions and chastisements in the way; but follow the Captain, the Guide, the Leader; whose light, strength, courage, and wisdom, will overcome all, and bring the soul which abides in it into his own throne.

Now as you thus wait, taking up the cross, and keeping in the feeling; so the corrupt natural, the mortal, wherein Satan's throne and power has been, will wither, decay, and grow weak daily; and the tender plant of God, the immortal seed, will shoot up, and gather strength daily; and you will come to a will in God, and an understanding in God, and that which is of God will manifest itself; and you will come to know, and desire, and take  delight in the things of God: then the soul, which is immortal, will come to hear, and receive, and feed on the immortal word, which is the bread of life, and which alone is able to preserve and nourish up to eternal life. Then you will know what it is to tremble at this word, and to have all the powers of nature melt and fail before it. Then you will know the faith which gives the victory, and the knowledge which lets into life, and the fear which keeps the heart clean, and the hope which anchors the soul immortal in the immortal God, and the patience which wins the crown. And so you will come to witness the several conditions of the saints in scripture as you grow up into them, and will not need men to give you meanings of scriptures from their brain-studies, and acquired arts and understandings; but will know the meaning from the thing itself in your own hearts, and hear the words from the living voice of that spirit that first spake them, who alone is able to interpret his own mind, and open the words which he himself spake. And then you will know and love life and need no more exhortations to depart from all dead, corrupted, and corrupting forms, which ever were, and ever will be, enemies to, and betrayers of, the life. And so the peace of God, the rest of God, the true sabbath of God, the everlasting light and life of God, will come to be your own, and enjoyed by you, past all gainsaying or dispute in you; while the natural understanding in others is reasoning, contending and disputing about them, but can never know, while they are from the thing within: for that mind is not the heir, nor must it inherit the kingdom of God.

POSTSCRIPT

To those who have had a seriousness and depth in their religion, who could not sit down in empty forms and shadows of things, but have been pressing after the living substance; and missing of that, through error of judgment (the true eye being not fixed in the head), have come to a loss; and so are returned to, overgrown with, and hardened in, the old nature; and have taken up a pitiful rest and center in the earth, having let fall the pursuit of their spirits after the true center of rest in the life: a word to such from the love in the life.

THERE was a spirit, soul, or image of God brought forth,  and standing in his life, before the fall.

This soul was brought into death, under the burden and bondage of corruption, out of its proper center and resting-place, by the fall.

Now as there is in this state a true loss, so there is in this spirit a sensibleness, a groaning under the burden, a feeling the bitterness of the captivity, and panting after redemption and restoration to its former state.

Now though the whorish part, which seduced from the life, make a great noise in the flesh about saints' words, and tempt to pleasures of the outward part, and pleasures in the mind, and draw into forms and religious worship, and frame deep centers of satisfaction in the understanding (perhaps from true openings of the life, quenching it), and so seek to quiet the soul, and still the cry; yet the lost state remaining, the soul being not truly redeemed, but a false rest taken up by the way, in the false part, this will fail, and the sense be again renewed in the day of trial and sore trouble. For the soul, by any imagination or notion or feeling of a center in the corrupt mind, cannot be healed or restored; but only by having the true life raised up again in it, and itself brought into its proper place and mansion in the fountain of life.

There have been, in the shakings of this nation, great stirrings, the seed springing up, and great opening to the seed; the spirit of prophecy has been enlarged in us, above what many of our forefathers felt; but the way into the spring of life has not been known, where the preservation is: so the whorish part, the corrupt part, the understanding which was not purified, and brought into subjection unto the truth, this harlot caught the openings and prophecies of the true spirit, conceived with them, and brought forth children to the flesh; bringing forth a more inward apprehension of things, a more spiritual kind of knowledge, as of God to be all, all to be good, and in God, and all sin and evil done away there, etc. And so such as center here, form the fleshly mind, as it were, in him, as it was not known before. And now the redemption is forgotten, the pantings after life slain, and the flesh can lie down quiet in the unredeemed estate, and say, it is his will, it is good; and it can rest satisfied there in that will of his which is good. Thus the great abomination from  the subtle flesh sprung up, which made many hearts desolate of very precious springings-up and buddings-forth of the true life and power of God.

But after this great loss and betraying of the life in them, it has pleased God to raise it up in others, and to discover the hammer, the sword, the fire, which can knock down, cut down, and burn up this whorish part; and there the whore is brought, when she comes to betray again, and the springings-up of life shrink back, and lie safe in the center, while the whore is burning. And as the whore is burnt, the heir comes up, and the spirit (which is the portion of his inheritance) descends and rests upon him; and by this he is known; and that which is in union with him knows him. Therefore, if you will live, come to that hammer, that sword, that fire which flesh dreads, and let the flesh be delivered up to it: and do not despise the day of small things, waiting for some great appearance; but know it in its lowest knock: for its power of redemption is as truly there, as in its greatest appearance. He that has an ear let him hear, and his soul shall live.

Let those therefore whom this concerns consider their ways (as the grace that appeared to me has taught me to do) and try this foundation, upon what they stand; and that they do not kill what is opened, and live in the slain openings, and so in the end become dark, airy, dry, withered, wheeling about, and turning into the earth, it becoming their rest and foundation again, and so losing the joys which formerly the opener did open. This, with me, many of you may witness; for whom my desire is, that they may also witness the return to that which then opened, and live in the opener, and be preserved by him from abusing his precious openings any more.

For though I had a true taste of life and power from God; yet not knowing the foundation, there could be no true building with it; and so the spirit was quenched, the life wasted, the portion spent upon harlots, the true bread lost, and chaff and husks fed upon, without the least satisfaction to the soul; the sense whereof, when the spirit of the Lord awakened me, did almost overwhelm me. Yes, the bands of death were so strengthened upon me, and the spirit of the world had taken such hold of me, that I found my return very difficult: yes, when living words of hope were mentioned to me, to draw me back to that principle of life from which I had gone out, I could receive nothing; but cry out, Impossible! impossible! impossible! I felt myself like a tree twice dead, plucked up by the roots, without the capacity of life, sense, or motion in the eternal being any more. But at length it pleased life to move in a low way in the midst of the powers of darkness in my heart; and by sinking low out of the wisdom, out of the reason, out of all high imaginations, and trusting myself to it; though dreadful strokes and oppositions were felt from the powers of darkness; yet at length there was some appearance of the deliverer, in such a poor, low, weak, despicable way, as could never have been welcomed, had not the soul been first brought to distress, and the loftiness of the imaginary part brought down. And then coming out of that into the feeling, in another part, there was a seed sprung up into a child; and as the child grows, and feeds on the milk of the immortal Word, I live, and am strengthened in him, and daily weakened in that part which lived before. These are true words, from an honest heart, for the relief of those who may have been entangled in the same snare.

A TESTIMONY of great concernment to all those that call themselves Christians, but have not known the true church, of which alone the true Christian can be born.

THERE has been a great war between the woman and her seed, and the harlot and her seed, from the beginning to this day; and they have each had their prevailings in the war. The woman and her seed have been made strong in God, to conquer some of the territories of death, and to set up their life in the world. Thus, in the Jewish state, God prepared a heaven and earth for the woman and her seed, and when that heaven and earth were shaken, he prepared a more glorious heaven and earth in the Christian state. Now no sooner were the church and her seed seated in either of these, but the dragon made war against her, and in the war had power given him to recover her seat from her. Thus the devil got possession of the Jewish state, so that there was no room for the true church there, but all was in idolatry and corruption; and the Lord was not served by their ceremonies, by their sacrifices, by their sabbaths, by their new moons, by their  temple-worships, etc., but the devil. And the devil also got possession of the heaven and the earth in the Christian state; so that in their ordinances, and in their worships, in their duties, in those which they call their churches, God has not been worshipped in the truth, but the devil, for these many ages. For mark: who was it that got into the temple of God? Was it not antichrist? Was it not the spirit of Satan? 2 Thess. 2:4. And who was it that was worshipped in all the world, that had power given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and whom all that dwell upon the earth worship? Was it not the dragon? Rev. 13:7-8. Did not all the world wonder after the beast, and worship the dragon which gave power unto the beast? ver. 3,4. of that chapter. The woman was assaulted here, her strong holds taken from her, so that she could not stay safe in that heaven and earth which God had made for her; therefore there was another place prepared for her by God, in the wilderness, and she had wings of an eagle given her to fly there; but the dragon got into, and held possession of, the heaven where she was before. Rev. 12. So that none has known the church all this time but he that has been born of her in the wilderness; which was a place the world never dreamed of, but looked for her in the heaven and in the earth, which the devil had got possession of. And here they cry up the ordinances! the ordinances! duties! the church! the ministry! etc. (as the Jews did "the temple of the Lord! the temple of the Lord!") not knowing in whose hands these were, and whom they worshipped hereby. Now consider this, O you Christians! I speak what I assuredly know, that God could not be truly worshipped in any of these, while they were in the devil's hands; but the whorish spirit and her seed worship here: and the worship of the church and her seed was a wilderness worship, or a worship which she learned of God in the wilderness. Mark now, and consider my testimony, O you Christians! I deny all the worship, all the ordinances, which were taught the Christians of old, now practiced by the whorish spirit; for the devil had gained it and corrupted it; and having corrupted it, God could not be any more worshipped in it; but the anti-christian spirit sat there, giving forth those things as his law. He sat in the temple of God, and there made use of the vessels and ordinances which he had carried captive into his Babylon;  and I deny it to be possible to have any true use of these till the time of the recovery. And now the time of the recovery is come, and the restitution begun; people know it not, but cry up the old heaven and the old earth, which Satan had corrupted, setting it up in opposition against the new, which God has new formed, and is bringing forth in true beauty and glory.

Now in this war, though the devil, though the harlot and her seed got the woman's seed from her, and banished her seed as it were out of the earth, yet they were not able to touch the woman, nor to overcome the life of God in her seed, but only to kill their bodies; but the life was still conqueror over them, and not subjected to them. They could raise up churches, and ordinances, and ministers, and duties, and cause all that dwell on the earth to worship in some part or other of his Babylon; but they could never make the seed bow to any of their images; nor could they hurt the woman hereby who was in the wilderness, out of the reach of all these; and there she did eat the bread of life with tears, mourning over her desolate estate, and her loss of children. And here alone was the true bread of life, which was not to be known or tasted of in any of the ordinances of the apostasy. You will all one day acknowledge this to be a true testimony, held forth to you in true love: it were good for you that you could see it now.

A brief account of what we are, and what our work is in the world

WE are a people whom God has converted to himself; a people in whom God has raised up the seed of his own life, and caused it to reign over the earthly part in ourselves; a people whom God has divorced from the spirit of whoredom, and joined to his own Spirit. We, many of us, sought truly and only after God from our childhood; our consciences bear us witness in the sight of God; but the honesty of our hearts was still betrayed, and we led aside by the whorish spirit, and knew not how to turn to that of God in us, which inclined us towards God. By this means we came to great distress and misery beyond all men. Not but that all men were in as great a need of God, his life, power, and presence as we; but the sense thereof was not so quickened in others as in us. Now it pleased the Lord at length  to pity us, and to inform our minds towards himself; to show us where life lay, and where death lay; and how to turn from the one and to the other, and he gave us his helping hand to turn us: and by being turned to him, we have tasted of the truth, of the true wisdom, of the true power, of the true life, of the true righteousness, of the true redemption; and by receiving of this from God, and tasting and handling of it, we come to know that that which the world has set up in the stead of it, is not the thing itself. Now mark, we are not persons that have shot up out of the old root into another appearance, as one sect has done out of another, till many are come up one after another, the ground still remaining the same out of which they all grew; but that ground has been shaken and shaking, destroyed and destroying, removed and removing in us; and the old root of Jesse has been made manifest in us, and we have been transplanted by the everlasting power of life, and a real change brought forth in us out of that spirit wherein the world lives and worships, into another Spirit, into which nothing which is of the world can enter. And here we have met with the call of God, the conversion to God, the regeneration in God, the justification, the sanctification, the wisdom, the redemption, the true life and power of God, which the world cannot so much as bear the name of. And what we are made of God in Christ, we know to be truth, and no lie; and when we testify of this to the world, in the measure of the life of God in us, we speak truth, and no lie; though the world, which knows not the truth, cannot hear our voice.

Now our work in the world is to hold forth the virtues of him that has called us; to live like God; not to own any thing in the world which God does not own; to forget our country, our kindred, our father's house, and to live like persons of another country, of another kindred, of another family; not to do any thing of ourselves, and which is pleasing to the old nature; but all our words, all our conduct, yes, every thought in us, is to become new. Whatever comes from us, is to come from the new principle of life in us, and to answer that in others; but we must not please the old nature at all in ourselves, nor in any else. And walking faithfully thus with God, we have a reward at present, and a crown in the end, which does and will countervail all the  reproaches and hardships we do or can meet with in the world.

We are also to be witnesses for God, and to propagate his life in the world; to be instruments in his hand, to bring others out of death and captivity into true life and liberty. We are to fight against the powers of darkness everywhere, as the Lord calls us forth. And this we are to do in his wisdom, according to his will, in his power, and in his love, sweetness, and meekness. We are not to take ways according to our own wisdom (but there must be a strict watch set in the life, lest that get up again); nor must we speak such words as man's wisdom would call wise; nor may we go in our own will to seek any; but the Lord must go before: nor may we make use of our own strength, but feel his arm in our weakness: nor may we go forth in that love, sweetness, or meekness, which is pleasing to the fleshly mind; but we must be true to God, handling the sword skillfully and faithfully, judging and cutting down the transgressor in the power and authority of God: and when the meek, the lowly, the humble thing is reached and raised, then the true love, the sweetness, the tenderness, the meekness must go forth to that. The Lord God is rough with the transgressor, and all along the scripture hews and judges him; and if we come forth in the same Spirit, we shall find the same leadings where we meet with the same thing: for the Lord God will never be tender there; nor can that which comes from him, lives in him, is led by him, be tender there, where he is not.

Now the very root of this severity is good, and of God, and has love and sweetness at the bottom of it; yes, in pity, love, and bowels do we use the sword. It is in pity to the poor captured creature, that that might be cut down which keeps it in bonds and captivity. And though we seem enemies to all sorts of men for the Lord's sake; yet we are not enemies, nor could do the least hurt to them any way; but are true friends to their souls, and bodies also: and our only controversy is with that which captives and makes them miserable; for we fight not at all with flesh and blood, but with the principality and power which led from God, and rule in it against God, to the poor creature's ruin and destruction. Yes, if we had all the power of the earth in our hands, we could not set up our own way (if, after the manner of men, I may so call it) or so much as disturb others in their way thereby; but  should wait in patience till God gave us an entrance by his power.

Now let not men run on in heats against us; but let them seriously consider whether we be of God or no: and let them consider not with the reason and understanding which are alienated from God; but with the witness which lies hid in the heart. There is one great palpable argument that we are of God, which is this: all the world is against us; the worldly part everywhere fights with us; the worldly part, in every sort and sect of men, opposes us; the rage of men everywhere rises up against us: but those that are so hot against us, if at any time they become but meek and calm, patiently considering our cause, and consulting thereupon with the testimony that they find in their own hearts concerning us, they soon become pacified, and see that we are no man's enemies, against no righteous law, not against relations, not against governments, not against any thing in the world that is good; but only against that which is evil and corrupt. And of a truth, the corruption of things God has shown unto us, and daily calls us forth after an immediate manner to witness against.

Therefore let men be sober, and take heed what they do, lest they be found fighters against God; for the reproaches, the scoffs, with other persecutions, which seem to be cast at us, light on him. It is not as we are men, but as we are obedient to him, as we stand witnesses for him, that we meet with these things. Now as it is not we ourselves that do these things, but the life and power of God in us; so it is not we that are struck at, but that life and power: if it were not for that, we might be as acceptable as other men. It is because we are not of the world, but God has called us out of the world, that we are so hated of the world. This is the true cause; though the world will no more now acknowledge it, than it would in former ages. Yet I do not speak this for my own sake, to avoid my share in the cross; for the reproach of Christ is our riches; yes, far greater treasure than is to be found in the palace of Egypt. Yes, the presence of God, the sweet power of life, makes up all our losses; so that we have no cause to complain. It is very sweet, pleasant, and profitable for us to be found sufferers for God; but we know it will not be profitable for you to be found persecutors: and this is told you in true love and good-will, by one who  wishes no evil to you, for all that evil that you have exercised toward the dear and precious people of God for these many years. Oh that God would open your eyes, that you might see whom you have opposed, and against whom you have hardened and strengthened yourselves, that you might bow to him, and receive life from him, and not perish in your gainsaying and opposition.

An Addition concerning the Doctrine of Justification

BECAUSE the doctrine of justification is of great concernment, and the enemy of mankind has exceedingly endeavored to corrupt it, and in the apostasy has greatly prevailed; and the darkness which springs up in the fleshly wisdom is exceeding thick at this day concerning this thing; therefore, in true love to souls, it is laid upon me to search into that scripture which chiefly speaks thereof, and from thence to clear it up to such, who are not yet come to the life that gave forth the Scriptures.

The apostle Paul does largely and fully treat of it, in his epistle to the Romans, and lays down several things concerning it, which if well heeded, may dash men's present apprehensions about it, and bring them to wait for the opening of those scriptures to them, in another light than they have yet known.

1. He affirms that justification is not "by the deeds of the law." Rom.3:20. If a man could say with the young man, All these things have I done from my youth; or as Paul, that he was as touching the law blameless; yet could he not be justified thereby.

And the apostle gives a mighty reason; "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now justification is not by the making of sin known, but by that which saves and delivers from it. The knowledge of sin may put a man upon seeking out for justification; but it cannot justify him, but rather condemn him; but that which delivers him from the sin, which the law makes known, that justifies him.

2. He affirms that "the righteousness of God" (which is the justification) "is manifested without the law." ver. 21. The law makes sin known, and shows the sinner the need of justification; but the justification itself is not thereby, but is manifested without it. The law commands the nature to act that pertains to similitudes, figures, types, and shadows, to the obedience of them;  but the seed takes away the nature that pertains to similitudes and shadows and the works of the law. So to the obedience of those things the law commands, there is justification by the law in the obedience to the works it commands; but the justification, Christ, removes the nature that pertains to those things the law commands; so that justification, the law, ends in Christ.

3. That this righteousness or justification is "witnessed by the law and the prophets." ver. 21. The law, though it is not the justification, nor can the justification be by obedience to it, or by the deeds of it; yet it gives testimony to the justification: for the substance of what the law and all the prophets witness is, that nothing can justify but the righteousness of God.

4. That this righteousness or justification is "by the faith of Christ," ver. 22. by believing or entering into that which justifies. As condemnation was by unbelief, by joining unto, and entering into, the spirit of enmity; so justification is by joining unto, and entering into, the Spirit of love, by true union with Christ in the Spirit; which union is by the faith which comes from Christ.

5. That this justification or righteousness is "upon all that believe." ver. 22. He that receives the faith, believes; and he that believes has righteousness; and he that believes not cannot have the righteousness; but the condemnation and wrath abide on him.

6. That this justification is "freely by the grace." ver. 24. There is no way to come to this righteousness but by the gift of grace; which gift is given freely. Therefore, if ever man will be justified, he must know the grace, and the gift which comes from the grace, and receive it; and receiving it, he cannot miss of justification; and not receiving it (but either being ignorant of it, or resisting of it), he cannot possibly be justified.

7. That this justification is by the "redemption of Christ." ver. 24. Christ is the redeemer; the redemption (wherein is the justification) is in him, and there is no way of meeting with the justification or redemption, but by receiving of him in whom it is; and he who has him, has the justification, and is made partaker of the redemption; and he who has not him, has it not.

Mark then, the justification or redemption is not by believing of a thing done without man (though that also is to be believed), but by receiving him into the heart. For the virtue of all Christ did without, is within him: and I cannot be made partaker thereof by believing that he did such a thing without, or that he did it for me, but by receiving the virtue of it into me, and feeling the virtue of it in me. This is that which saves me, and makes that which was done without to be mine.

8. That Christ is the "propitiation," ver. 25. or that which pacifies and makes way for sinners to God; so that he that truly receives Christ has the atonement; but he that has not received him, only dreams of peace with God; but still remains in the enmity, and is liable to the wrath, having the bond of iniquity over him, and is in the night.

9. That this propitiation is by "faith in the blood." ver. 25. There is nothing pacifies God but the blood of his Son; and there is nothing feels the blood but the faith, and that which is in the faith. A man may read scriptures, and gather notions about justification, and think he believes aright, and shall be justified; but he never comes to feel the blood, nor the life which is in the blood, till he receive the faith, and then he knows the true propitiation and the true peace, which before he did but talk of.

10. That this faith is "the righteousness;" faith is the gift of God, and this gift justifies; this gift is the justification; this is that which God "imputes for righteousness." chap. 4. ver. 3,5. The faith is in the blood, and the blood in the Son; and in the true receiving of the Son, both the faith and the blood are known and felt. These are true words, though hard to the fleshly ear. Do not stumble in the wisdom, but calmly wait for the revelation of the spirit, and then you will say, the price of this knowledge is not to be valued; and if once you come to taste truth here, all your knowledge in the letter will be but dross with you. "You are come to the blood of sprinkling." Oh, do not rest in an outward way of believing, an outward thing; but seek out the way of coming to the blood of sprinkling.

11. That the justification is of the "ungodly." ver. 5. He whom God makes righteous, was ungodly before he made him righteous. There was nothing but unrighteousness could be imputed to him in transgression, before he gave him his Son, and made him righteous in his Son; for nothing is righteous with God but Christ, and man only as he is taken into his righteousness;  which is done not by a believing from the bare letter, but by a receiving of faith in the life.

12. That the justification of the ungodly is by believing in him that justifies. ver. 5. The gift of faith goes forth from him, and is received into the heart. Now both by the gift itself, and by the exercise of it, is the justification; by receiving of the gift is the person justified; by the exercise of the gift are all his actions justified. Christ being let into the heart, justifies the heart into which he is received; and Christ being in the heart, justifies every motion and action that comes from his life; and any other motion or action is not justified; for it is out of that which is justified, and is in and from that which is condemned.

"Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." ver.3. God promised him a seed; he believed God. God bid him sacrifice this type; he believed. This was it which was imputed unto him for righteousness. Now if he had not believed; if he had not received the gift, or not exercised the gift, could he have been righteous? So that Abraham was not justified by any work he did, or could do; but by receiving and exercising the faith in the seed: by going out of his country, kindred, and father's house, not of himself, but by faith, and by living to God, and obeying his voice in that land to which he was led; not in his own will or power, but in the faith. And by hearing the call of God, and receiving the faith, and living out of self, out of a man's own understanding, will, and power, in the faith, and living power, and wisdom of God, is the justification now: and they that do thus are children of Abraham, born of the free woman; when as they who take up practices from the letter, without being ingrafted into the life, are but children of the bond-woman; but such children of Abraham as the Jews were (if so much); and cannot inherit that promise which belongs to the spiritual seed, while they live in that state.

13. That where the faith which is imputed unto righteousness is found, there "sin is not imputed, but covered;" which is a blessed state. ver. 6,7,8. Sin cuts off from God, who is life and blessedness. Sin lays open to the wrath of the Creator which is too great for the creature to bear. Wo and misery will be his portion to whom God imputes sin; but happy is he who has his sin covered! This is a happy condition; life and immortality will soon be opened to him. Now this blessedness comes not by the works of the law, for they cannot remove the sin; but by the righteousness of faith, which is able to cover the sin even from the pure eye of God. O Christians, Christians! do not imagine yourselves covered from sin; but know it, feel it; never rest till you are so made partakers of the true righteousness, that, by its virtue in you, you may be past all doubt that it is it. Believing from the letter without you that you are justified, may easily deceive you; but if once you come truly to feel in yourselves the thing which justifies, and so find the power and life of it in you, above the power of all that which condemns, casting out the condemned thing, and the condemner, with all his works, out of your hearts; this cannot deceive. The virtue of life was lost in the apostasy; and that which was living did not so much enjoy life as mourn after it; and the power and safety of life did then appear most in mourning; but now the apostasy draws towards an end, and the virtue begins to shoot up again; and he that will be a Christian now, must be so, not by retaining his old notions, but by feeling this new virtue, and by growing up in this new-sprung life and power of the Lord, whose appearance is new to us, who have not been acquainted with it, but have been brought up in the darkness of the apostasy, and lived in the waters where the great leviathan ruled, and who was able to make war with him there? But he that seeks, is joined with, and keeps to, that power which dries up the waters, and puts a hook into the nostrils of the leviathan; shall find the world, with the whole course of it, ending in himself, and the beginning and growth of an endless life; and in whom that life lives, they shall live also; but where death keeps the power of life down, such shall not live, or know the blessing, but abide under the curse of misery and death, and under the powers of darkness. Therefore look about you, and make a wise choice; for his servants you are whom you obey, whether the prince of darkness, in his invented forms of godliness, or the prince of light, in the living power; and your reward shall be according to your choice and work, either death in the death, if you choose and join to that; or life in the life, if you join to that. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear.

THE SCATTERED SHEEP SOUGHT AFTER

FIRST: In a LAMENTATION over the General Loss of the powerful PRESENCE OF GOD in his People since the Days of the APOSTLES; with a particular Bewailing of the Withering and Death of those precious Buddings-forth of Life, which appeared in many at the Beginning of the late Troubles in these Nations; with the proper Way of Recovery for such.

SECONDLY: In some PROPOSITIONS concerning the ONLY WAY OF SALVATION; where is an ANSWER given to that great OBJECTION, that the Light which convinces of Sin, is the Light of a natural Conscience; and a brief Account rendered of the Ground of Men's understanding Scriptures.

THIRDLY: In exposing to view the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE of the GOSPEL, upon which the REDEEMED SPIRIT is built.

AND FOURTHLY: In some QUESTIONS and ANSWERS (by way of CATECHISM, for the sake of the Simple-hearted) directing to that Principle, and fixing in it.

BY ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

[1659]

When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. And now they sin more and more, etc., therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, as the early dew, etc. Hos. 13:1,2,3.

Yes, his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up. Ver. 15.

We have all been as sheep going astray; but blessed be the everlasting arm which has gathered any of us to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.

Oh come to the fold; O scattered sheep, come to the fold. Wander no longer from mountain to hill; but remember your resting-place, the old resting-place of Israel, even the mountain of the Lord's house, where Israel may lie down and feed in peace, and no ravenous beast can disturb.

O house of Jacob, let whoredom, wine, and new wine no longer steal away your hearts; but come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

PREFACE

"My people have committed two great evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." This was ever and anon the complaint of the Lord concerning Israel, from the beginning to the end. The Lord did delight to beget, nourish, and bring up that people for himself; but they were almost continually revolting from him, and rebelling against him. He did mighty things for them; but they still forgot him. He redeemed them by his outstretched arm; he fed them, he defended them; but they knew him not, Isaiah 1:3. but decked themselves with the ornaments which they had from him, and then lift up the heel against him. Ezek. 16:7. and Deut. 32:15. In plain terms, they got what knowledge they could from him into their own vessels, and then they would set up for themselves, live of themselves, without fresh bubblings-up of life from the spring, from which their knowledge came. The priests said not, Where is the Lord? but could handle the law, and teach the knowledge of it without him; and the prophets could prophesy by another spirit. Jer. 2:8. And thus the Lord God of life lived not in them; but they lived upon such things as once came from the life; but, being separated from the spring, were dead, and nourished but the dead part in them, the estranged from God. And thus, though their professions were great, and they multiplied prayers, sacrifices, and fasts, and drew nigh to God with their lips, yet their hearts were far from him. They had forsaken the fountain; they drank not of the waters of the spring, of the rock that followed them; but they drank of the waters of their own cisterns. They set up that knowledge of the law for their light which they had hewed out with the tools of their own understanding, without the spirit that wrote it. This was Israel's error of old: they drank very zealously of the waters of the law; but they drank it not from the spring, but out of the cisterns which themselves had hewed.

And as it was thus with Israel of old, so has it been with Israel since. The Christian Israel has been always backsliding, always forgetting the Lord! still getting what they could from him to live of themselves, but refusing to live on him: getting  what knowledge they could from the scriptures without him; getting what they could from their exercises and experiences; but neglecting the spring of their life. And so this Israel also dies; this Israel likewise withers, and becomes a scorn to the heathen. For though they speak great words of their God; yet they themselves are but as the heathen; uncircumcised like them; unacquainted with the virtue and power of life like them; always striving against sin in that which cannot conquer; and so they also are slaves under their lusts and corruptions, like the heathen, and know not the truth, which makes free indeed.

Exceeding great has been the apostasy of this age! mighty was the appearance of God inwardly in his people's spirits! mighty was the appearance of God outwardly in the nation! many ways and great hopes there were of a thorough reformation. But how suddenly was the pure spirit of the Lord forgotten, and departed from, and his work overturned both within and without; inwardly in his people's spirits, and outwardly in the nation, whose revolting was but a type of the inward! and how has the spirit of the Lord mourned after his people, often reproving them for their backslidings! but they have been (as Israel of old) like a deaf adder, justifying themselves, and complaining against the witnesses of God (as Israel did against his prophets) who from the Lord testify against them. And it cannot be otherwise; for the dead waters in Israel's hewn cisterns will never agree with the waters of the living fountain, but will withstand their testimony.

How shall the charmer charm wisely enough to make apostate Israel hearken to his voice! I have not backslidden, says one in one form; I have not backslidden, says another in another form; I have not backslidden, says one in one notion; I am not backslidden, says another in another notion: I am believing, hoping, and waiting in what the Lord has already revealed, and following on to know him. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not my word; but still have been justifying yourself as if you had obeyed. And yet your backslidings are written upon your foreheads, as with the point of a diamond. For who among you retains his freshness? An evident demonstration that you are departed from the spring, and hold your knowledge, experiences, and hopes in the dead part; and your choicest prop of comfort is the remembrance of what you once had. Ah poor, barren, dead souls, is this your best support! return, return; enter into the house of mourning, and let the living lay it to heart.

THE SCATTERED SHEEP SOUGHT AFTER

A LAMENTATION; WITH A CALL TO MOURNING AND LAMENTATION, etc.

O ISRAEL, the royal seed, the plant of renown, the living offspring of eternity! O daughter of Zion, who did once shine with the beauty and glory of life, what is become of you! How are you held captive, and chained up in Babylon! How do you lie sullied among the pots! How are the wings of your dove clipped! How are you covered and polluted with the filth of the whole earth!

Oh take up a lamentation, weep, O Israel! mourn, O daughter of Jerusalem! bewail your widowhood, your desolation, your loss of husband, your sad captivity, your banishment out of your own land, and your thraldom in the land of your enemy!

What is become of your God, the mighty God of Jacob, whose out-stretched arm has been able to save and redeem his seed out of bondage? What enemy has been able to stand before him? What wild boar out of the wood, or wild beast out of the forest, was able to break into his vineyard, while he kept the fence? Where is that arm that smote Rahab, and slew the dragon? Where is that hook that he was wont to put into the nostrils of the leviathan? Pharaoh is alive, the wise Egyptians have power, Egypt holds the seed in bondage; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre, are all able to smite Israel, and to stop up the well-springs of life. Awake, O arm of the Lord! and awaken Israel, that you again may become his Savor in the sight of all the nations; and let all the house of Israel, being awakened, mourn in the spirit of the Lord after the Lord.

What is become of your Messiah, the Lord's anointed, the captain of the Lord's host, the angel of the covenant of life; who  was wont to go in and out before you in fighting the Lord's battles; who was your prince and savior in the land of peace and rest; who walked in the midst of the candlesticks; who was your king, your shepherd, your temple wherein you worshipped, and the eternal light of your life in the land of the living?

What is become of that holy spirit which quickened you to God, and which lived in you being quickened; which kept you alive in him that lives, and made you taste of the sweetness of life continually? Where is the anointing which suppled you all over with the oil of gladness and salvation? Where is the comforter that refreshed your spirit continually, and led you into all truth, teaching you all the things of God according to your measure of growth in the life? Where is the spirit of your father, which spirited you with your father's nature, which begat and brought forth the life, power, glory, majesty, eternity of your father in you? What is become of Zion, the holy mount, whereon you were built? Zion, the fortress of holiness, where is it? What is become of Jerusalem, the holy city, your mother, whereof you were born? What is become of that covenant of life, in whose womb you were begotten and brought forth, and by whose milk and breath you were afterwards nourished and brought up.

Where are all the fruits of the holy land; the pleasant grapes, the sweet figs, the precious olives that yielded wine and oil to make the heart glad, and to refresh the countenance of the Lord of life? Where is the joy in the Lord, the obedience to the Lord, the praying, the praising, the living, the walking in his spirit, the entering into and bringing forth fruit in his pure understanding, and in his holy and unspotted will, and moving in the purified heart?

Alas, alas! Babylon has prevailed; her king has reigned; Zion has been held in bonds; and that which has sprung up under her name, has been the filthy offspring of Babylon, the seed of the mother of harlots; and these have brought forth sour fruit, loathsome fruit, finely painted to the view of that eye which cannot search into it, but loathsome in its nature. This has been the state of the apostasy since the days of the apostles, wherein that which has not been of God has reigned, and that which has been of God has suffered, and been reproached as if it had not been of God, and has panted and mourned after the  springing up of the spring of its life, and its gathering into it.

The deep sense of this has afflicted my soul from my tender years; the eternal witness awakening in me, and the eternal light manifesting the darkness all along unto me; though I knew not that it was the light, but went about to measure its appearances in me by words which itself had formerly spoken to others, and so set up my own understanding and comprehension as the measure, although I did not then perceive or think that I did so. Thus continually, through ignorance, I slew the life, and sold myself for a thing of nothing, even for such an appearance of life as my understanding part could judge most agreeable to scriptures. This the Lord blew upon, though its comeliness was unutterable (the life still feeding my spirit underneath, from which sprang an inward beauty and freshness). Then such a day, or rather night, of darkness and distress overtook me, as would make the hardest heart melt to hear the relation of; yet the Lord was in that darkness, and he preserved me, and was forming of me to himself; and the taste I had then of him was far beyond whatever I had known in the purest strain of my religion formerly. And the Lord powerfully shut up my understanding, and preserved my life from the betrayer; but yet that was not perfectly destroyed in me upon which the tempter might work: and the Lord permitted him to lay a snare, and my feet were entangled unawares, insomuch as the simplicity was betrayed, and the fleshly part grew wise, by those exercises wherewith the Lord had tried me. This poisoned me; this hurt me; this struck at the root of my life, and death insensibly grew upon me. The devil, the envious seedsman, cozened me with the image of that, which before I had had in the truth, opening my understanding part (by the subtlety of temptation and deceit) which the Lord had been destroying; and letting that in, which the Lord had shut out: and then the Lord took away and shut up from that part, that which before he had opened to the seed, whereby the way of life became stopped, and the way of death opened in a mystery. And then I could talk of universal love, of spiritual liberty, etc., and wait for the glorious appearance of life, having lost that which formerly gave me the sense of its nature; yes, at length I could seek to the creatures for what they could yield, and strive to rub out the time of my misery without the immediate  presence of the life of the Creator. And as for this despicable people, whom I now own in the Lord, I could measure them, I could fathom them, I could own their standing; and yet see their shortness; and could, with satisfaction to my spirit, write death upon them, as the end of that dispensation of life into which I saw them enter, and in part entered. Here was my standing when the Lord drew his sword upon me, and smote me in the very inmost of my soul; by which stroke (lying still a while under it) my eyes came to be opened; and then I saw the blindness of that eye which was able to see so far, and the narrowness of that heart and spirit which was so large and vast in comprehending: and my soul bowed down to the Lord to slay this, to starve this, to make a fool of this; yes, my desire was, to present sense, as great after the death of this, as after the enjoyment of life in the Lord.

And now this has opened a fresh spring of sorrow in me, a mourning over the just One, which has been slain by me. Oh how cruelly, how often have I murdered that which came to give me life! How often have I sought to have my own understanding, my own comprehension, my own will and affections in religion, live, and the righteous, pure, immortal principle die! though I did not then call it my own, as other men do not now; but took it to be of God, and to be the thing that was to live. For I also was deceived, and thought the bastard (which was a false conception) was to inherit; not knowing him to be the bastard, but taking him for the right heir. And my soul is exceedingly enlarged in me towards those who at this day lie under the power of the same deceit; who have slain the Lord of life as well as I, and in whom the contrary nature lives under a covering; who cannot possibly see that this, which now lives in them, is not the heir, until the same eye be opened in them.

The life that was stirring at the beginning of the trouble of these nations was very precious. It did unite to God; it did unite to one another; it kindled a universal sense of the captivity, of the bondage, of the great oppression of Israel, and a joint cry went up to God for deliverance. And God heard the cry, and arose to deliver, and did begin to break the yoke, both outwardly in the nation, and inwardly in people's spirits.

But the tempter did also set himself on work again to entangle  Israel. For this end he brings forth likenesses of that which Israel desired, and was seeking after. He brings forth several forms of worship, to allure some with; several sorts of notions, to allure others with; several fresh appearances of life, of love, of liberty, to tempt the people of God aside from following that spirit which rose up to deliver. Thus comes he forth and prevails; he divides in Jacob, and scatters in Israel; drawing one part to this form; another part toward that form; one to this notion, and another to that notion; one to this inward image, another to that spiritual idol; and all from the life, all from the power, all from the Savior, all from the deliverer, and so the work stops. It stops in the nation, and it stops in people's spirits; and men generally wheel about and enter again, and apply themselves to make images like the images they had destroyed: and so the captivity returns; Israel is turned back into his bonds, and the spirit which oppressed him before, crushes him again, and rules over him. And so great has the breach been upon Israel, that the spirit of the world is become hardened, and thinks there is an end of this work of God; and now they may venture again to settle both church and state upon the old principles of that wisdom which the Lord was shaking.

And now where is the people whom the Lord was redeeming? Where is the praying people, the panting people, the mourning people, the people that could have traveled from sea to sea to have had the will of God revealed? Are they not run into the earth? Is not the spirit of the earth come over them? Are they not dividing the spoils? The inward Jew, the renewed nature is sunk, lost, made a prey of; the Gentile, the heathenish spirit has risen up, and seated itself in a form of worship, or in some high notions of knowledge, on which that spirit, which knows not the tree of life, loves to feed. Some are stark dead, no sense at all in them, but life quite swallowed up of death: others perhaps are still pressing toward the kingdom; but in the wrong nature, in that which shall never obtain: and they may there meet with some enjoyments; but not enjoyments from or of the true thing, but the likeness which the enemy has painted to deceive them with. And they may also wait and hope that the kingdom will come, and yet be out of that which knows its coming, and can alone prepare the heart for its appearance.  Yes, some are got so high, that they are even in the throne. They have the love, the life, the liberty, the joy, the peace of the kingdom, as they imagine. They can reign as kings without us, without that nature and principle wherein our life lies. But these mighty ones, these princes, the Lord will pull from their seat, and raise up the humble, the meek, the low in heart, the beggar from the dunghill, and give to him the throne of his glory.

Now this my life in love says to you all, as the proper and only way of your recovery and redemption, Come to that which can judge you. "Zion is to be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness." If Zion be redeemed, if the seed be again raised, that spirit which has got up above it, and keeps it down, must be judged, and brought under by judgment. How was Israel of old to be recovered from her idolatries and whoredoms, but by owning and coming to that light in the prophets which manifested and judged them? You also have worshipped idols; you also have run a whoring from the Lord, and have been inflamed with idols under every green tree. Every new idol, every fresh appearance, every lively likeness, has tempted you aside from the living God. When one way of worship has been dry and barren, you have left that: when some notions of things have appeared empty and shallow, you have been weary of them; but the next new idol, under the next green tree, has drawn you aside into the bed of whoredom, where you have lost true fellowship with the true God of life, and have been betrayed of the seed of life, which he began to quicken and raise from the dead. Now come to that which judges the idol, the idol-maker, the whorish spirit, which tempts aside from the true husband, and that spirit which is liable to be tempted; and let these be cut down by the judgment, and then the true seed of life will spring and flourish again. There is no other way; be not deceived: that must be awakened in you which can judge you, and must bring forth its judgment in you unto victory, if life in you ever rise and get the dominion over death. And that spirit which now rules in you, and keeps the life down, knows this very well, and therefore endeavors all it can to keep you from owning judgment. He would eagerly keep the light in others from judging you. "Do not judge," says he; "all judgment is committed to the Son." True; but shall not the light of  the Son judge? Shall not the light of that candle, which the Lord has lighted in one heart, discover and judge the darkness in another heart? Light does make manifest, and its manifestation is its judgment. The uttering of the words is but the declaration of what the light in the heart has done before, and cannot but do; for as long as it is light, wherever it comes, it will and cannot but discover and judge the darkness it meets with; though the darkness cannot own either its discovery or its judgment, but must needs except against it. Now if he cannot do this (which is utterly impossible for the dark spirit to do) then, in the next place, he fortifies and hardens the heart as much as he can from receiving the judgment, by persuading him to look upon it as the judgment of another spirit like his own, and not as the judgment of the light. And so what Paul said concerning man's judgment (that it was a small matter to him to be judged by man's judgment), the same will he say concerning this judgment. And yet, as the greatest judgment of man, in the highest strain of the comprehending part, shall fall; so the lowest judgment of the light, in the weakest child, shall stand: and all the exalted ones of the earth shall in due time fall before it; though now, in the present elevation of their minds, they may rise above it, and trample it down. Therefore be not afraid to judge deceit, O you weak ones! but be sure that the light alone in you judge; and lie very low in the light, that that part which the light in you judges in others get not up in you, while the light is making use of you to judge it in others.

And now, you poor lost souls, who find the need of judgment, and any willingness within you to embrace it, wait first for the rising of the Judge of Israel in your hearts, and in the next place wait for the joining of your hearts to him; both which are to be done by his eternal light, which manifests and gives his life. In the lowest shining of this light there is the judgment, and there is the king himself, who is not severed from the least degree or measure of his own light. Bow down to him, kiss his feet, know the nature of the thing, and be subject to it: worship him here in his humiliation, receive him in his strokes, in his smitings, and observe and turn from that in yourselves which smites him, and you shall one day see him in his majesty, in the power of his love, in his everlasting healings and embraces. And know  assuredly, that that which will not worship him here, will not be fit to worship him there, nor shall not; but shall only tremble at the dread of his majesty, and be confounded at the sweetness of his love, but not be able to bow down to it in the true life. For that spirit, which is out of the life, is shut out in its highest desires, hopes, attainments, enjoyments, seemingly spiritual rest, universal love, liberty, and peace, as well as in its darkest and grossest paths of pollution. Therefore wait to know the nature of things, that you may not be deceived with the highest, choicest, and most powerful appearances of death in the exactest image of life, nor stumble at the true life in its lowest and weakest appearance. And this you can only attain to by a birth of, and growth up in, the true wisdom, which slays that spirit which lives on the same things in the comprehension, and gathers a stock of knowledge and experiences in its own understanding part. These are words of tender love, and they will also be words of true life, where the Father's earth opens to drink them in; to whose good pleasure and blessing my soul commends them.

SOME PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION

1. That there is no way of being saved from sin, and wrath eternal, but by that Christ alone which died at Jerusalem. There is no name, virtue, life, or power under heaven given, by which lost man may be saved, but his alone.

2. That there is no way of being saved by him, but through receiving him into the heart by a living faith, and having him formed in the heart. Christ saves not as he stands without at the door knocking, but as he is let in; and being let in, he brings in with him that life, power, and mercy, which break down the wall of partition, unite to God, and save. The Jews could not be saved formerly by the belief of a Messiah to come, with the observation of all the laws and ordinances of Moses; nor can any now be saved by the belief of a Christ already come, with observation of all that the apostles commanded or practiced; but alone by the receiving of him into the heart, who there works out the salvation.

3. That there is no way of receiving Christ into the heart, and of having him formed there, but by receiving the light of his  spirit, in which light he is and dwells. Keep out the light of his spirit, keep out Christ: let in the light of his spirit, let in Christ: for the Father and the Son are light, and are alone known and received in the light; but never out of it.

4. That the way of receiving the light of the Spirit into the heart (and thereby uniting with the Father, and the Son) is by hearkening to, and receiving its convictions of sin there. The first operation of the Spirit towards man lying in the sin, is to convince him of the sin; and he that receives not the convincing light of the Spirit, the work is stopped in him at the very first; and Christ can never come to be formed in him, because that light whereby he should be formed is kept out. And then he may talk of Christ, and practice duties (pray, read, and meditate much), and gather comforts from promises, and run into ordinances, and be exceeding zealous and affectionate in all these, and yet perish in the end. Yes, the devil will let him alone (if not help him) in all this, knowing that he has him the surer thereby, he being (by the strict observation of these) kept out of the fear of the danger of his condition, which otherwise perhaps he might be made sensible of.

Objection: But I may be deceived in hearkening to a light within; for while I think that I therein hearken to the light of the Spirit, it may prove but the light of a natural conscience.

Answer 1. If it should be but the light of a natural conscience, and it draw you from sin, which separates from God, and so prepare you for the understanding, believing, and receiving what the Scripture says of Christ; this is no very bad deceit: but if, in the result, it should prove to have been the light of the spirit, and, you all your life-time, have taken it for the light of a natural conscience (and so have despised, or at least neglected, if not reproached it), you will then find that this was a very bad deceit.

2. I can show you by express scripture, that it is the work of the spirit to convince of sin. John 16:8. And again, that the law, which is spiritual, manifests that which is corrupt and carnal. Rom. 7:14. But where can you show me from scripture, that a natural conscience can convince of sin?

3. Let any man give heed to the light in his heart, he shall find it to discover his most inward, his most secret, his most  spiritual evils; which a natural light cannot do: for that which is natural cannot discover that which is spiritual.

4. The apostle says, that it is the grace which has appeared to all men, which teaches not only godliness, but also sobriety and righteousness. Tit. 2:11-12. The light of the fallen nature is darkness, can teach nothing of God. What any man learns now of the true knowledge of God, he learns by grace, which shines in the darkness of man's nature, to leaven it with the true knowledge; though man, being darkness, can by no means comprehend it, and so cannot give it its true name.

Therefore take heed, lest (through ignorance) you blaspheme the holy light of the pure spirit; calling that natural (looking on it with the carnal eye) which, with the spiritual eye, is seen to be spiritual. For you that do this will be also erring on the other hand, calling your carnal meanings and conceivings, about the mind of the spirit of God in scripture, spiritual. And he that thus puts darkness for light, must needs put light for darkness; and then call evil good, and good evil: and so err from the spirit of God in the whole course of his religion, even in the most inward exercises of it.

Man, by nature, is dead in trespasses and sins; quite dead, and his conscience wholly dark. That which gives him the sense of his death, and of his darkness, must be another thing than his nature, even the light of the spirit of Christ, shining in his dark heart and conscience. It is the seed of the woman which not only destroys, but also discovers, all the deeds of the serpent. Now this seed, this light is one in all, though there have been several dispensations of it. One to the heathen; in whom it springs up after a hidden manner, even as it were naturally; from which it had the name of the light of nature (though it be the mystery of life and salvation hid in them, Col. 1:27. this mystery IN the Gentiles; it is ill translated, among). Another to the Jews, in whom it was more rigorously stirred by a law given; who by types and shadows, and righteous exercises according to the law, were to be awakened to the living principle. Micah 6:8. Another to the Christians, in whom it was livelily brought forth to light and life, by an especial dispensation of grace; insomuch as that which was the mystery in the Gentiles, and veiled from  the Jews, being opened in them, was found to be Christ the hope. Col. 1:27. But under all these dispensations, the generality of men have fallen short of the glory of God, and missed of the substance. Therefore the Lord God is now bringing forth the substance itself, but under such a veil as hides it from the eye of man's wisdom, under what dispensation soever he be, and how high soever in that dispensation. To some it seems natural; to others legal; to some it seems from the power of Satan (or at least they pretend so); to others it seems the ministry of John Baptist. Thus men guess at it in the wisdom of their comprehensions, lacking the true line and plummet to measure it by.

Now to you who have not waited to learn in the wisdom of God the names of things (which there are given according to their nature); but, in the forwardness of your spirits, from your gathered knowledge, without the living power, have ventured to call that natural, which in the eternal wisdom is seen to be spiritual, and which has been able to effect that, which all that knowledge which you call spiritual could never do, let me propose the consideration of one scripture to your consciences, in the sight of God.

The scripture is that in Job 28:12. to the end. "Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knows not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth says, It is not in me; and the sea says, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof, etc. From where then comes wisdom, and where is the place of understanding? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of heaven. Destruction and death say, We have heard of the fame thereof with our ears: God understands the way thereof, and he knows the place thereof, etc. And he said unto man, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, is understanding." Now consider well:

First, Is this natural wisdom, or spiritual wisdom, that is thus precious? What is this, that destruction and death have heard the fame of? Is it the wisdom of nature? Or is it Christ, the wisdom of God?

Secondly, Where is the place of this? Where does God point man to find this wisdom? He points him to the fear. Unto man  he said, "(he has showed you, O man! what is good) Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, is understanding." Go to the fear; there it is taught; that is the wisdom: learn by the fear to depart from evil; that is understanding. This is it which is so precious, which nothing can equalize or value; here is the place of it, thus it is to be learned: sin overspreads all the land of darkness; there is no fear of God before men's eyes there; there is no learning of the fear there; all the wisdom that man can come by, cannot teach it: he that learns to fear God, to depart from evil, must learn of Christ, the wisdom of God, and must deny all the varieties of the wisdom of man; which undertakes to reach it but cannot.

Thirdly, What is that in man, which teaches the fear? which teaches to depart from evil? Every man has in him an eye that sees the evil; what is that eye, which the god of this world does so strive to blind, and does generally blind? Every man has in him an enemy to evil; one that never consented to it, but still reproves it, and fights against it, even in secret. What is this? This is no less than a ray from Christ, the wisdom of God, out of the seat of the fear in every heart, to lead into the fear, where the law of departing from iniquity is learned: and so this ray, being hearkened unto, and followed in the fear, brings up into the love, into the life, into the light, into the wisdom, into the power. Do not shut your eyes now, O you wise ones! but open your hearts, and let in that which knocks there, which can and will save you, being let in, and which alone can save you. For it is not a notion of Christ without (with multitudes of practices of self-denial and mortification thereupon) which can save; but Christ heard knocking, and let into the heart. This will open the scriptures aright; yes, this is the true key, which will truly open words, things, and spirits: but he that opens without this key, is a thief and a robber, and shall restore, in the day of God's judgment, all that he had stolen: and woe to him, who, when he was stripped of what he has stolen, is found naked.

The scriptures were generally given forth to the people of God; part to the Jews, part to the Christians. He that is born of the life, has a right unto them, and can read and understand them in the spirit which dwells in the life. But he that is not born  of the spirit is but an intruder, and does but steal other men's light, and other men's conditions and experiences into his carnal understanding; for which they were never intended, but only to be read and seen in that light which wrote them. And all these carnal apprehensions of his (with all the faith, hope, love, knowledge, exercises, etc., which he has gained into his spirit hereby; with all his prayers, tears, and fasts, and other imitations), will become loss to him (for he must be stripped of them all, and become so much the more naked), when God recovers his scriptures from man's dark spirit (which has torn them, and exceedingly profaned them with his conceivings, guessings, and imaginings), and restores them again to his people. The prophets and apostles, who wrote the scriptures, first had the life in them: and he who understands their words, must first have the life in him. He that understands the words of life, must first have life in himself. And the life, from which the words came, is the measurer of the words, and not the words of the life. And when the scripture is interpreted by the life and spirit which penned it, there is then no more jangling and contending about it: for all this is out of the life; from and in that spirit, nature, and mind, where the lust, the enmity, the contention are; and not the unity, the love, the peace. But this is it which undoes all; the dead spirit of man reads scripture, and from that wisdom, which is in the death (not knowing the mind of the spirit), gives meanings: and from believing and practicing the things there spoken of (which death may do, as well as speak of the same), gathers a hope that all shall be well at last for Christ's sake; though it feel not the purification, the cleansing, the circumcision, which cuts off the body of sin and death here (for it is not to be cut off hereafter), and so gives an entrance into the everlasting kingdom, where the King of Righteousness is seen, known, and worshipped in spirit.

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE GOSPEL

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5

THIS was the message which Christ gave his apostles, to make way into men's hearts by: this is the first thing that is proper for the mind to receive, which lies in the darkness;  namely, that there is no darkness in God, nothing but light. Darkness is excluded from him, and the mind that lies in darkness cannot have union or fellowship with him. Therefore he that will be one with God, and partake of his life, must come out of the darkness, which has no place with God, into the light where God is, and in which he dwells.

The work of the Son is to reveal the Father, and to draw to the Father. He reveals him as light, as the spring of light, as the fountain of light, and he draws to him as light. When he gave to his apostles the standing message, whereby they were to make him known to the world, and whereby men were to come into fellowship and acquaintance with him; this is it, "that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Christ Jesus, the Son of God, he is the image of his substance, the exact image of this light, the light of the world, who is to light the world into this substance. So that as God the Father is to be known as light, so Christ the Son also is to be known as light. He is the only begotten of the Father of lights, the only image wherein the eternal substance is revealed and made known. And he that receives this image, receives the substance; and he that receives not this image, receives not the substance.

Now there is a breath or spirit from this substance, in this image, which draws to the image; thus the Father draws to the Son; and the image again draws to the substance; thus the Son draws to the Father. And so hearkening to this breath, the mind and soul is led out of the darkness, into the image of light (which is the Son), and by the image into the substance: and here is the fellowship which the gospel invites to. Joining to this breath, being transformed by this breath, living in this breath, walking in this holy inspiration, there is a unity with the Father and the Son, who themselves dwell in this breath, from whom this breath comes, in whom this breath is, and in whom all are, who are one with this breath.

This breath purges out the dark breath, the dark air, the dark power, the mystery of death and darkness; and fills with the breath of light, with the breath of life, with the living power, with the holy, pure mystery.

Now, as the Father is light, and the Son light; so this breath,  this spirit which proceeds from them both, is light also. And as the Father, who is light, can alone be revealed by the Son, who is light; so the Son, who is light, can alone be revealed by the spirit, who is light.

He then who hears this message, that God is light; and feels himself darkness, and in darkness, and is willing to be drawn out of the darkness into fellowship with God, who is light; this is requisite for him to know; namely, how he may be drawn out, who is it that draws, and which are the drawings; that he may not resist or neglect them (waiting for another thing) and so miss of the true and only passage unto life. Wherefore, observe this heedfully.

None can draw to the Father, but the Son; none can draw to the Son, but the Father: and both these alone draw by the spirit. The Father, by his spirit, draws to the Son; the Son, by the same spirit, draws to the Father: and they both draw by the spirit as he is light, as he is their light lighted to that end. For as the Father is light, and the son is light; so that spirit which draws them must be light also. He is, indeed, the breath of light, eternally lighted, to draw to the eternal image of light, and then to the eternal substance, which eternally dwells in that eternal image.

Question: But how may I know the spirit, and its operations; that I may follow him, and be led by them, both to the Son and to the Father; and so come into the everlasting fellowship?

Answer: The spirit is to be known by those motions and operations which are proper to him; which flow alone from him, and from nothing else.

Question: What are they?

Answer: Convincing of sin, and reproving for sin; which nothing can truly discover and reprove, but the light of the spirit. Darkness cannot make manifest darkness, but whatsoever makes manifest is light. All the discoveries of darkness, in the hidden world of the heart, are from Christ the sun of righteousness, by his spirit, what name soever men may give it; who know not this sun, nor its light, nor the true names of things in the light; but have named even the things of God in the dark, and according to the dark apprehensions and conceptions of their own imaginary mind. But this I say to such, who are so ready to beat their  brains and dispute, leave contending about names; come to the thing, come to that which reproves you in secret, follow the light that thus checks and draws; be diligent, be faithful, be obedient; you shall find this lead you to that, which all your knowledge out of this (even all that which you call spiritual light) will never be able to lead you to.

And when you are joined to this light, it will show you him whom you have pierced (even so as never yet you saw him), and open a fresh vein of blood and grief in you, to bleed and mourn over him; and work that repentance in you, which you never were acquainted with before; and teach you that faith to which yet you are a stranger; and teach you that self-denial, which will reach to the very root of that nature which yet lives; even under that, and by means of that, which you call spiritual light; and will lay such a yoke on your neck, as the unrighteous one is not able to bear: yes, such a one as the hypocrite (which is able to hide it under confessions of sin, and forms of zeal, knowledge, devotion, and worship) shall be daily tormented and wasted with. And then you shall know what it is to wait upon God in the way of his judgments, and find the powers of life and death striving for your soul, and daily floods and storms encompassing and attending you, under which you will assuredly fall and perish, unless the everlasting arm of God's power be stretched out for you, and be continually redeeming you. And then you will feel and see how sin is pardoned, and how it is bound; how death broke in upon Adam, and how it daily breaks in upon mankind; and what that standard is, which the spirit of the Lord lifts up against the powers of darkness. And then you will come clearly to perceive, how that which you have called religion formerly (which flowed not from this principle) has been but the invention of your own imaginary mind (though you fathered it upon the Scriptures, as most men do most of their inventions about doctrine and worship), wherein you have been in a dream of being changed, and yet remain still the same in nature: and have had a name that you have lived, but are still dead; a name of being sanctified, but still unclean; a name of being justified, but still condemned by the light in your own conscience; which is one with him who is your judge, and who will  judge according to it: and so, as that which is real takes place in you, so that which has been but imaginary will pass away.

A SHORT CATECHISM

For the Sake of the Simple-Hearted

QUESTION. What is the estate and condition of all men by nature, as they are begotten of the seed of the evil-doer, and come out of the loins of the first Adam?

Answer. A state of sin and darkness; a state of death and misery; a state of enmity against God; a state accursed from God; exposed to his wrath and most righteous judgments, both here and hereafter.

Question: What brought Adam to this estate? and what keeps the sons of Adam in it?

Answer: Feeding on the tree of knowledge, from which man is not excluded to this day, though he is from the tree of life.

Question: How came Adam at first, and how come men still, to feed on the tree of knowledge?

Answer: From a lustful appetite and desire after the forbidden wisdom, sown in their hearts by the envious enemy of their souls; who is continually twining about this tree, and tempting men and women to eat of it, persuading them that the fruit thereof is good for food: and indeed it is very desirable to their eye, and promises fair to make them everlastingly wise, but still fails.

Question: What is the forbidden fruit?

Answer: It is knowledge without life; knowledge in the earthly part; knowledge acquired from below, not given from above. This promises to make men as God, and to give them the ability of discerning and distinguishing between good and evil, which is God's peculiar property. Eating of this fruit undid Adam, undid the Gentiles, undid the Jews, undid the Christians; they all feeding on the tree of knowledge, and departing from the life in their several dispensations.

Question: How does this fruit undo man?

Answer: The wisdom and knowledge, which they thus gather and  feed upon, perverts them; makes them wise in the wrong part; exalts them against the life; dulls the true appetite, and increases the wrong appetite; insomuch as there is not so much as a desire in them after God in truth; but only to get knowledge and wisdom from what they can comprehend. By this means, whatsoever was afterwards ordained to life, became death to man. Thus the Gentiles liked not to retain God in their knowledge, but fell by their dispensation; provoking God to cast them off, and give them up to the vanity of their imaginations. And thus the Jews, whom God then chose, fell likewise by their dispensation; God for this cause giving them up to their own hearts' lust, and rejecting them from being a people. And the Gentiles, whom God ingrafted into the true olive, in the Jews' stead, they also, after the same manner, fell by their dispensation. Thus each of these fell by gathering wisdom from the letter, but missing of the life in every of these dispensations.

Question: What is the food which man should feed on?

Answer: The tree of life; the word which lives and abides for ever, which is in the midst of the garden of God; which word was made flesh for man's weakness' sake, on which flesh the living soul feeds, and whose blood the living spirit drinks, and so is nourished up to eternal life.

Question: But had Adam this food to feed on? and was this to be the food of the Gentiles, Jews, and Christians, in their several dispensations?

Answer: God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul: and nothing less than life itself could satisfy his soul at first, nor can to this day. Every word of God that comes fresh out of his mouth, is man's food and life. And God speaks often to man, showing him what is good: but he cannot relish nor feed on this, but desires something else, through the error and alienation of his mind. And what God speaks now to man (if that be man's life) Adam had much more of it before his fall. And for the Jews, Moses tells them the word was nigh them, in their heart, and in their mouth: and Paul also tells the Christians so. So that the word is not far from any man, but men's ears are generally stopped against it, by the subtlety of the serpent which at first deceived them.

Question: But did not the Jews seek for eternal life, in reading and studying the Scriptures under their dispensation? and do not the Christians now seek for life, and to feed on life?

Answer: Yes they did, and do in their own way, but they refuse it in God's way. Thus Adam, after he had eaten of the tree of knowledge, would have fed on the tree of life also; but he was shut out then, and so are Christians now. And if ever they will feed on the tree of life, they must lose their knowledge, they must be made blind, and be led to it by a way that they know not.

Question: This is too mysterious for me; give me the plain, literal knowledge of the Scriptures.

Answer: Is not the substance a mystery? Is not the life there? The letter of any dispensation kills: it is the spirit alone that gives life. A man may read the letter of the Scriptures diligently, and gather a large knowledge therefrom, and feed greedily thereon; but it is only the dead spirit which so feeds, but the soul underneath is lean, barren, hungry, and unsatisfied, which, when it awakes, it will feel.

Question: But may not the dead spirit as well imagine mysteries in every thing, and feed thereon?

Answer: Yes it may; and the error here is greater than the former: but in waiting in the humility and fear, to have the true eye opened, and the true mystery revealed to the humble and honest heart, and in receiving of that in the demonstration of the spirit, out of the wisdom of the flesh, here is no error; but the true knowledge, which springs from life, and brings life.

Question: How may I come at this mystery?

Answer: There is but one key can open it; but one hand can turn that key; and but one vessel, but one heart, but one spirit, which can receive the knowledge.

Question: How may I come by that heart?

Answer: As you, being touched with the enemy, did let him in, and did not thrust him by, with the power of that life which was stronger than he, and nearer to you; even so now, when you are touched and drawn by your friend (who is nigh), and thereby find the beginning of virtue entering into you, give up in and by that life and virtue, and wait for more; and still as you feel that following, calling, and growing upon you,  follow on in it, and it will lead you in a wonderful way out of the land of death and darkness, where your soul has been a captive, into the land of life and perfect liberty.

Question: But can I do any thing toward my own salvation?

Answer: Of yourself you can not: but in the power of him that works both to will and to do, you mayst do a little at first: and as that power grows in you, you will be able to will more, and to do more, even until nothing become too hard for you. And when you have conquered all, suffered all, performed all; you shall see, and be able understandingly to say, you have done nothing; but the eternal virtue, life, and power, has wrought all in you.

Question: I perceive, by what is said, that there is a Savior; one which has virtue, life, and power in him to save; but how may I meet with him?

Answer: Yes, he that made man pities him, and is not willing that he should perish in the pit into which he fell, but has appointed one to draw him out, and save him.

Question: Who is this Savior?

Answer: He is the tree of life I have spoken of all this while, whose leaves have virtue in them to heal the nations. He is the plant of righteousness, the plant of God's right hand. Have you ever known such a plant in you, planted there by the right hand of God? He is the resurrection and the life, which raises the dead soul, and causes it to live. He is the spiritual manna, whereupon the quickened soul feeds. Yes, his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, which he that is raised up in the life feeds on, and finds the living virtue in them, which satisfies and nourishes up his immortal soul.

Question: But has not this Savior a name? What is his name?

Answer: It were better for you to learn his name by feeling his virtue and power in your heart, than by rote. Yet, if you can receive it, this is his name, the Light; the Light of the World; a light to enlighten the Gentiles, that he may convert and make them God's Israel, and become their glory. And according to his office, he has enlightened every man that comes into the world; though men neither know the light that comes from him, nor him from whom the light comes; and so, notwithstanding the  light is so near them, remain strangers to it, and unsaved by it.

Question: Why do you call him the light? Are there not other names every whit as proper, whereby he may as well be known?

Answer: Do not thus set up the wise and stumbling part in you; but mind the thing which first puts forth its virtue as light, and so is thus first to be known, owned, and received. Yet more particularly, if you have wherewith, consider this reason: we call him light, because the Father of lights has peculiarly chosen this name for him, to make him known to his people in this age by, and has thus made him manifest to us. And by thus receiving him under this name, we come to know his other names. He is the life, the righteousness, the power, the wisdom, the peace, etc., but he is all these in the light, and in the light we learn and receive them all; and they are none of them to be known in spirit, but in and by the light.

Question: How are the other names of Christ known in and by the light?

Answer: Letting in the light (which convinces of, and wars against, sin) the life stirs and is felt; and the life leads to the Word which was in the beginning, and gives the feeling of that also. And in the Word, the righteousness, the peace, the wisdom, the power, the love are felt; and he is made all these to those who are led into and kept in the light. And when the powers of darkness appear with mighty dread, and there is no strength to withstand them, this lifts up a standard against them, and calms all the tempests, and cures all the wounds and diseases of the soul, anointing it with the everlasting oil; so that now I can sensibly, and with clear understanding, call it my Savior, the Captain of my salvation, my Christ, or Anointed, my Husband, my King, my Lord, my God.

Question: Where does this light shine?

Answer: In the darkness at first; but when it has vanquished, expelled, and dispersed the darkness, it shines out of it.

Question: What is that darkness wherein the light shines?

Answer: Man: man's heart, man's conscience, man's spirit. This is the world, which Christ, the Sun of righteousness, is the light of, in every part whereof he causes the rays or beams of his light to shine at his pleasure; though in no part the darkness can  comprehend the least shining of his light.

Question: How then can it ever be converted thereby?

Answer: The darkness is not to be converted. Every man in this state is reprobated, and the wrath abides on him. So that the darkness is rejected, and man in the darkness; but man touched by the light, made sensible of it, and following it in the life and power which it begets, is drawn out of the horrible pit, and saved.

Question: How may I do to find the light in the midst of the darkness of my heart, which is so great, and this seed so small?

Answer: By its discovering and warring against the darkness. There is something which discovers both the open and secret iniquity of the corrupt heart, following it under all its coverings of zeal, holiness, and all manner of voluntary humility and self-righteousness, with which the true light never had unity; and sometimes may cause secret misgivings that all is not well, but there may be a flaw found in this covering, and in the end it may prove too narrow for the soul. This which thus wars against the darkness, to bring people off from all false foundations to the true and living foundation, this is the light; and thus you mayst find it, at some time or other, at work in your heart, if you mind it.

Question: Having found the light, how may I come to feel the saving virtue and power of it?

Answer: By believing in it. For the virtue and power springs up in the heart that believes in it.

Question: How can I believe in it? Am not I dead?

Answer: There is a creating, a quickening power in the light, which begets a little life, and that can answer the voice of the living power.

Question: Yes, if I could find any such thing begotten in me, then I might be drawn to assent that that (though never so small) might believe; but surely my dead heart never can.

Answer: Have you never found a true, honest breathing towards God? Have you never found sin not an imaginary, but a real burden? This was from life: there was something begotten of God in you, which felt this. It was not the flesh and blood in you; but something from above. And if this had known the spring of its life, and not been deceived from it by the subtlety,  it would have fed upon, and have grown up in, the virtue and power of the spring from which its life came.

Question: Why then, by this, all men have power to believe.

Answer: In the light which shines in all, and visits all, there is the power; and this power strives with the creature to work itself into the creature; and where there has been the least breathing after life, there has been a taste of the power: for this came from it. But the great deceiver of souls lifts up men's minds in the imagination to look for some great appearance of power, and so they slight and overlook the day of small things, and neglect receiving the beginning of that, which in the issue would be the thing they look for. Waiting in that which is low and little in the heart, the power enters, the seed grows, the kingdom is felt and daily more and more revealed in the power. And this is the true door and way to the thing: take heed of climbing over it.

Question: What is it to believe in the light?

Answer: To receive its testimony either concerning good or evil, and so either to turn towards or from, in the will and power which the light begets in the heart.

Question: How will this save me?

Answer: By this means; that in you which destroys you, and separates you from the living God, is daily wrought out, and the heart daily changed into the image of him who is light, and brought into unity and fellowship with the light, possessing of it, and being possessed by it; and this is salvation.

Question: We thought salvation had been a thing to be bestowed hereafter, after the death of the body; but if it be thus, then salvation is wrought out here.

Answer: So it is, even in all that are saved; for there is no working of it out hereafter, but here it is wrought out with fear and trembling; and the believer, who is truly in unity with the life, daily changed from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord.

Question: But show more particularly how faith, or believing in the light, works out the salvation.

Answer: First, it causes a fear and trembling to seize upon the sinner. The Lord God Almighty, by the rising of his light in the heart, causes the powers of darkness to shake, the earth to tremble, the hills and mountains to melt, and the goodly fruit-trees to  cast their fruit; and then the plant of the Lord springs up out of the dry and barren ground, which by the dews and showers from above, thrives, grows, and spreads till it fills God's earth.

2. In this fear and trembling the work of true repentance and conversion is begun and carried on. There is a turning of the soul from the darkness to the light; from the dark power to the light power; from the spirit of deceit to the spirit of truth; from all false appearance and imaginations about holiness, to that which the eternal light manifests to be truly so. And now is a time of mourning, of deep mourning, while the separation is working; while the enemy's strength is not broken and subdued, and while the heart is now and then feeling itself still hankering after its old lovers.

3. In the belief of the light, and in the fear placed in the heart, there springs up a hope, a living hope, in the living principle, which has manifested itself, and begun to work. For the soul truly turning to the light, the everlasting arm, the living power is felt; and the anchor being felt, it stays the soul in all the troubles, storms, and tempests it meets with afterwards; which are many, yes, very many.

4. Faith, through the hope, works righteousness, and teaches the true wisdom; and now the benefit of all the former trouble, anguish, and misery begins to be felt, and the work goes on sweetly. All the unrighteousness is in the darkness, in the unbelief, in the false hope. Faith in the light works out the unrighteousness, and works in the righteousness of God, in Christ. And it makes truly wise, wise in the living power; even wise against the evil, and to the good, which no man can learn elsewhere.

5. In the righteousness, and in the true wisdom which is received in the light, there springs up a love, and a unity, and fellowship with God, the Father of lights, and with all who are children of the light. Being begotten by Christ, the light, into the nature of the light, and brought forth in the image, there is a unity soon felt with God, the Father, and with those who are born of the same womb, and partake of the same nature. And here are a willingness and power felt in this love, to lay down the life, even for the least truth of Christ's or for the brethren.

6. Belief in the light works patience, meekness, gentleness,  tenderness, and long-suffering. It will bear any thing for God, any thing for men's souls' sake. It will wait quietly and stilly for the carrying on of the work of God in its own soul, and for the manifestation of God's love and mercy to others. It will bear the contradiction and reproach of sinners, seeking their good, even while they are plotting, contriving, and hatching mischief; laying many subtle snares, and longing thereby to entrap the innocent.

7. It brings peace, joy, and glory. Faith in the light breaks down the wall of darkness, the wall of partition, that which separates from the peace, that which causes the anguish and trouble upon the soul, and so brings into peace. Christ is the skillful Physician; he cures the disease, by removing the cause. The unskillful physicians, they heal deceitfully; crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace, while that which breaks the peace is standing: but Christ does not so, but slays the enmity in the heart by the blood of his cross, so making peace. And this is true peace, and certain peace.

Now finding the clods of earth removed, the enemy, the disturber, the peace-breaker trodden down, the sin taken away, the life and power present, the soul brought into the peace; here is joy, unspeakable joy! joy which the world cannot see or touch, nor the powers of darkness come near to interrupt. Here is now no more crying out, O wretched man! and who shall deliver! etc., but a rejoicing in him who has given victory, and made the soul a conqueror; yes, more than a conqueror. Wait to feel that, you who are now groaning, and oppressed by the merciless powers of darkness.

And this joy is full of glory; which glory increases daily more and more, by the daily sight and feeling of the living virtue and power in Christ the light; whereby the soul is continually transformed, and changed more and more, out of the corruptible into the incorruptible; out of the uncircumcision, the shame, the reproach, into the circumcision, the life, the glory.

Question: Does the light do all this?

Answer: Yes, in them that turn towards it, give up to it, and abide in it. In them it cleanses out the thickness and darkness, and daily transforms them into the image, purity, and perfection of the light. And this nothing can do but the light alone.

Question: What makes men generally so averse from the light?

Answer: Their unity with the darkness, which the light is an enemy to, discovering and disturbing it.

Question: But wise men, knowing men, men who are looked upon as having most light, they also are enemies to this light, and speak hardly of it.

Answer: Was it not always so? Did any of the rulers, or wise scribes and teachers of the law, believe in him formerly? And is it any wonder if such believe not in him now?

Question: What may be the reason why the wise men formerly have not, and now cannot, believe in the light?

Answer: There are two great reasons for it.

1. Because they cannot comprehend it. They can comprehend the knowledge which they can gather out of the book of nature, or out of the books of the law and prophets, or out of the books of the evangelists and apostles: but they cannot comprehend the light which all these testify of. So that such a kind of knowledge they can receive; but the light they cannot; for it is not to be comprehended; but gathers into itself, and comprehends.

2. Because it is an utter enemy to them. It will not wink at the closest of their evils, nor speak peace to them therein. Their own gathered knowledge may speak peace to them; but this will not. Thus the Jews could speak peace to themselves, from temple, ordinances, and sacrifices; though they walked in the stubbornness and uncircumcision of their hearts, resisting the checks and motions of the Holy Spirit there. And thus the Christians can speak peace to themselves, from a belief and hope through Christ's dying at Jerusalem (though they know not him in them, and are at a distance, and not one with that in their hearts which is of Christ, and in his power and authority checks and reproves for sin); but the light will not speak peace so, but only where the virtue of the living blood is felt, cleansing away sin.

Question: But there are many professors, strict professors, who, without doubt, have once tasted of the living virtue; what makes them such enemies to the light? For there are none speak more against it than they.

Answer: Because they are fallen from what they once had; for if they were in that living principle, which once gave them a true  taste of life through the Scriptures, they could not but know and own the light, which was the thing which gave them the taste, and would have preserved their relish, had they known how to turn to it, and abide in it.

2. The light is a witness against all their knowledge and religious practices, and imitations from the scripture, which they hold and practice out of the light, in the unrighteousness, even in that part which is not to know or be the worshipper. And can you blame them, that, when the light is so great an enemy to them, they all turn head against it? How is it possible, that having slain and murdered the just one in themselves, they should acknowledge and give him his due honor in others?

Question: But have the strict professors, who pretend great things in honor of Christ, murdered him in themselves?

Answer: Yes, verily, as really as the Scribes and Pharisees and people of the Jews put him to death at Jerusalem: for what they do to the least appearance of his light in their hearts, they do it unto him. Yes, our Lord Christ, at this very day, is as really crucified in their spiritual Egypt and Sodom, as he was without the gates of Jerusalem. And his righteous blood cries as loud against the professors of this age, as ever it did against the Jews; and they are hardened against him by a conceited knowledge, which by their imaginations they have gathered from the Scriptures, just as the Jews were; but the eye in them can no more see it, than the eye in the Jews could.

Question: Surely if they knew the light to be the only living way, they would not be such enemies to it.

Answer: Yes, I believe concerning them (as was said concerning the Jews) that if they knew it, they would not crucify the Lord of glory; for I bear many of them record, that they have a great zeal, though not according to knowledge. But at present very sad is their state; for the god of the world has blinded the eye in them, which alone can see the truth; and with that eye wherewith they now strive to see, they shall never see with comfort. Yes, so exceeding gross and thick are many of them become, and their hearts so fat, that instead of feeling the absence of the spirit of God in themselves, and mourning after it, they can mock at the appearance of it in others; and speak contemptuously  of a light within, where Christ says the light is: for, says Christ, Take heed that the light which is in you be not darkness; for if, etc. Luke 11:33, 36.

Question: But will not they reply, that they do not oppose (much less mock at) the light of the Spirit, but only that which you ignorantly call the light of the Spirit?

Answer: If we have found it to be the light of the Spirit, and to work that in us and for us which no other light ever could, do not blame us for giving in our testimony that it is that light. And take heed how you reproach us with ignorance, seeing many of us have passed through all that which you call knowledge; but our light is a new and strange thing to you, and you are not yet able to judge it.

Question: But may not men obtain eternal life by reading the Scriptures, without knowing or owning this principle of the light?

Answer: The true end of men's reading the Scriptures, is to turn them to the light. The Scriptures contain messages concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning the spirit; the end whereof is to turn men to the power and life, which can do the thing for them; which God, which Christ, which spirit, fill all things, and are within in the heart, as well as without. The Word is nigh you in your heart, and in your mouth, says Moses to the Jews, says Paul to the Christians. And to what end do they tell them it is there? But that there they should wait upon it, to hear its voice, and to obey it. Now mark; though men could practice and perform all things mentioned in the Scriptures; yet not being turned to this, they are not in the way of salvation: for the way of salvation is not a peculiar path, or course of ordinances and duties prescribed in the Scriptures; but it is a new way, a living way, a way that the wisest professors out of it never knew (I will lead them in paths they have not known). So that while men know not, nor are turned to, the light and power whereof the Scriptures testify, all their reading of the Scriptures, praying and practicing ordinances and duties there mentioned, are but in vain, and in the end will prove but a false covering, and not the covering of the Spirit.

Question: But how did men do formerly? for this is but a late notion about the light. Have none ever been saved that have  not embraced this notion?

Answer: I speak not of embracing a notion; but of turning to the thing itself, without which none ever was, or can be saved: for it is that alone can save, and it saves only them that are turned to it. Now if any man so read the Scriptures, as thereby to learn to turn to this, he may feel that which will work salvation in him, though he know not its name. For as darkness, being turned to, works death in a mystery, though its name be not known, but it may appear and be taken for light; so light, being turned to, works life in a mystery, although he in whom it works should not be able to call it by its name.

Question: Then by this a man may be saved, though he should not know the literal name Jesus, or the literal name Christ, etc.

Answer: The names are but the signification of the thing spoken of; for it is the life, the power (the being transformed by that) that saves, not the knowledge of a name. And Christians mightily deceive themselves herein: for they think to be saved by believing a relation concerning Christ, as he appeared in a fleshly body, and suffered death at Jerusalem. Whereas Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and the saving knowledge reveals him, not only as he was then, but as he was the day before, and will be for ever. And this knowledge is also revealed in the Scripture; but they are so drowned in the letter, wherewith the carnal part is so filled, that the spiritual eye cannot open in them to see: so that which was ordained for life, becomes death to them, and they perish; they perish just as the Jews did; for their eyes are withheld, by a wisdom which they have grown up in from the letter, from the beholding the mystery of life in the spirit, which alone can work out and save from the mystery of death.

Question: But did not God formerly work life in men by their reading of the Scriptures, and by the preaching of such godly ministers as are now despised, and accounted anti-christian?

Answer: When men read the Scriptures formerly, in the times of thick darkness, and when some of those (who were not made ministers according to the order of the gospel) preached in the simplicity of their hearts, according to the best light of their feeling and experience, the Lord pitied the simplicity of their hearts, and secretly refreshed this principle in them by such reading,  and by such preaching. But now this principle is made manifest, their reading and setting up a knowledge of the Scriptures without this (which was the thing even then from which they had their life), yes, in opposition to this, this increases their death and bondage, and shuts them out of life.

Question: Well, I will keep to the Scriptures, and wait for light there, let who will follow this new light.

Answer: Will you keep to the Scriptures, in opposition to that light, which alone can give the knowledge of the Scriptures? What kind of knowledge will you gather from the Scriptures. Not a knowledge which will humble you, and cleanse your heart; but a knowledge that will puff you up, and fit you for the slaughter. While you are from the light, you can not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God: but are exalting your own imaginations, conceivings, and reasonings, without the sense of scriptures. And this you will one day know with sorrow, when God calls you to an account for your boldness, in putting senses and meanings upon his words without his light.

Question: I am almost startled.

Answer: Many have fallen, and more must fall; for the sharp axe of the Lord is prepared to cut down every professor, with all his profession and religious practices, and imitations from scripture, which stand not in the pure life. Happy are you, if you now fall by that hand, which now strikes at many in great loving-kindness and mercy, that he might raise them up again, and fix them firm on the true foundation; but miserable are those whose eyes are withheld till the day of their visitation be overslept, and so they continue keeping their corrupt standing, and confidence in their fleshly knowledge of the Scriptures: for they also must fall; but their fall will be otherwise.

Mind therefore this my single-hearted advice:

Let your religion be to feel the pure principle of life in the pure vessel of life; for the eye must be pure that sees the life, and the heart that receives it. And faith is a pure mystery, and it is only held in a pure conscience. Know that in you that purifies you, and then you know Christ, and the Father, and the Spirit and as that lives and grows up in you, so shall you know their dwelling-place, and partake of their life and fulness.

BABYLON THE GREAT

DESCRIBED

THE CITY OF CONFUSION

IN EVERY PART WHEREOF ANTICHRIST REIGNS

WHICH KNOWS NOT THE ORDER AND UNITY OF THE SPIRIT, BUT STRIVES TO SET UP AN ORDER AND UNIFORMITY ACCORDING TO THE WISDOM OF THE FLESH, IN ALL HER TERRITORIES AND DOMINIONS

HER SINS, HER JUDGMENTS

WITH SOME PLAIN QUERIES FURTHER TO DISCOVER HER; AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS TO HELP OUT OF HER SUBURBS, THAT HER INWARD BUILDING MAY LIE THE MORE OPEN TO THE BREATH AND SPIRIT OF THE LORD, FROM WHICH IT IS TO RECEIVE ITS CONSUMPTION AND OVERTHROW

ALSO

AN EXHORTATION

TO THE POWERS OF THE EARTH

BY ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

[1659]

That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find out? I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason; and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness. And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, her hands bands. He that is good before God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. Eccl. 7:24-26

He that is born of the pure, immortal seed, and lives in the anointing, escapes the golden cup of fornication, and all the painted beds of fornication, and is not defiled with women; Rev. 14:4. but remains chaste to the bridegroom.

Lo this is the city which is built up of and filled with images and likenesses of the ways and truths of God, without the life and power.

On her outside there is the likeness of a church, the likeness of a ministry, the likeness of the ordinances, duties, and ways of holiness.

On her inside there is the likeness of the good knowledge, the likeness of repentance and conversion, the likeness of faith, the likeness of zeal for God, the likeness of love to God and his saints, the likeness of the Lamb's meekness and innocency, the likeness of justification, the likeness of sanctification, the likeness of mortification, the likeness of hope, peace, joy, rest, and satisfaction, etc., but the substance, the truth, the virtue of all these is lacking to her; and she herself is found persecuting that very thing (where it is found in truth) the image whereof she cries up.

This, this is the woman that has bewitched the whole earth for these many generations, and is still changing her dresses and paints, that she might still bewitch people, and sit as a queen reigning over their consciences; but blessed be the light which is arisen to discover, and the power which is able to overthrow this stately, this lofty, this mighty city, and all that take part with it.

The Lord God Omnipotent reigns in Zion; and antichrist, with his city Babylon, falls. Sing praises, sing praises, O inhabitant of Zion! to him who subjects Babylon, with all her glory, under your feet.

For he brings down them that dwell on high; the lofty city he lays it low; he lays it low, even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down; the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. Isaiah 26:5-6.

PREFACE

There has been in me a zeal for God from my childhood, and a most earnest search into the Scriptures (which my soul deeply relished, and my heart honored and loved, and still does) for the revelation of the mind and will of God. Two things did I earnestly search and beg for: the one was for the discovery of the outward way of worship; the other for the inward life, virtue, and power, which I looked upon the outward as the proper means to lead me to. At the beginning of the troubles in these nations, there was a lively stirring in me, and a hope that God was bringing forth something. I likewise felt the same stirring in many others, at which my heart was rejoiced, and with which my soul was refreshed; but I found it soon begin to flag and wither, which forced me to retire, and to separate from that where I found the life and power dying and decaying. In my separation the Lord was with me; my soul remembers it right well; and he had  regard to the simplicity, honesty, and integrity of my heart, which he himself had kindled in me. And though I fell too soon into a way of church-fellowship and ordinances; yet he had regard to me, and pitied me, and refreshed my life even there. But at length the form overgrew us, and the sweet and precious life in us began to die. Then the Lord found out another way to refresh us (namely, by a sensible relating of our conditions, and of his dealings with us, and workings in us), which was very sweet and precious at first; but the enemy crept in there also. Out of this state I never made any change; but here the hand of the Lord fell upon me, striking at my very root, breaking all my life in sunder, and trampling my crown in the dust. Then I became a man of sorrows (being stripped of all my life, faith, hope, joy, comfort, in one day) not knowing which way to look, nor what to desire. Sometimes there were breathings stirring in me, but they were presently judged; sometimes a little glance of refreshment from a scripture presented to me; but suddenly taken away, and my death and darkness increased thereby. Then should I wish, Oh that I might appear before his throne! for surely my conscience is clear in his sight, and I have not wickedly departed from my God, but was broken in pieces by his hand, even while my soul was earnestly seeking after him. Oh how my soul did mourn, to see how I was fit to be made a prey to every ravening spirit! and many did seek to devour me, but the hand of the Lord was with me, preserving me, though I knew it not. And though I was wholly broken, and desolate of all that I had called, or could call, knowledge (insomuch that I could not call any thing either good or evil), yet the Lord, by a secret instinct, preserved me exceedingly out of that which was evil, and kept my heart secretly panting after the fountain and wellspring of good. Yes, when I was at length (through deep despair of ever meeting with God any more in this life) captivated by the world, and betrayed by the love of it (which at last rose up in me, and gained upon me, by persuading me that my present estate and condition did require the free use of it, and the enjoyment of all it could afford), yet the Lord followed me, and often was I visited with secret loathings of the world, and turnings from it, and pantings after the spring of my life: but these were dreaded by me, and suddenly quenched by the  evil part, for fear of that misery and unutterable anguish which I had felt hereby; the remembrance whereof was fresh in me.

In this my courting of the world, and estrangement from the life, the reasoning part (which the Lord had been long battering, and had laid very low) gathered strength in me; and I began to grow wise again, and able to judge of the things of God, and to hope and wait for some great appearance, wherein at length I might be visited, and meet with that which I so vehemently desired, and stood in such need of. Thereby the enemy deeply deceived me, pleasing me herewith, and keeping me hereby from unity with that which alone was able to give me the sight of him, whenever he should appear. And in this fleshly wisdom I judged and despised the true life in others; as weak, low, and not able to bring them to that which I stood in need of, and waited for. Yes, the more I considered and reasoned in my mind, and the more I conversed with them (hoping thereby to find some clear ground either of owning or turning from them), the further off still was I; till at length the Lord powerfully touched, and raised up the life in me (which by all these reasonings and consultations, all this while, I slew); and then by degrees (waiting upon that), I saw, I felt, I tasted, I handled, as the Lord pleased to open to me here, that which was shut out from me in my narrowest search and closest reasonings. Thus the Jew in me was cast off, and the Gentile called: but who can read this? I am sure the eye of man's religious wisdom cannot.

Hereby my eyes have been opened, and I have seen the fetters, whereby I have been held captive from my life all my days: yes, many of the streets and chambers of Babylon has mine eye beheld (in the pure life), wherein the witch dwells which enchants from the life: yes, I have heard the tongue of the false prophet, which speaks so like the true prophet, as no flesh can discern or distinguish between them: yes, I have seen the dragon in the temple, worshipped there for God, by the strictest sort of professors. And now, in tender bowels, in the true light of life, from the pure movings of the eternal spirit (as the Lord pleases to guide and direct) do I come forth to visit my poor fellow-creatures and captives in Babylon. And what I have seen and known, I testify for the relief of others, that, if it  be possible (by the mercy and good hand of God), they may escape that misery wherewith my poor soul has been overwhelmed, and may come out of that filthy, abominable city which God is making desolate; where the pure life, the conquering faith, the suffering love, the purifying hope, the putting off of the body of sin, the putting on the living garment, is not and cannot be witnessed, but men are only dreaming of these things in Babylon; where all the satisfaction they have, is from the pleasure of their dream; but when they awake they will find leanness, and penury, and nakedness upon their souls.

A DESCRIPTION OF BABYLON

FOR THE SAKE OF THE DAUGHTER OF SION, WHICH AT PRESENT DWELLS IN THE MIDST THEREOF

Now, though the world be deaf and blind (even all sorts of worldly professors, from the highest to the lowest), yet open your ears, and hear the joyful sound; open your eyes, and see the city of desolations, and of all the abominations of the earth (both of flesh and spirit); and feel in yourselves what it is which is to be led out, and what is to lead you; that your feet may be guided to, and set firm upon, Mount Zion; where the life rules over all her enemies.

BABYLON is the spiritual fabric of iniquity; the mystical great city of the great king of darkness; built in imitation of Zion, painted just like Zion, that it might be taken for Zion, and be worshipped there, instead of the true, eternal, ever-living God, and King of Zion.

This is the seat of the man of sin: where there is a building framed in any heart, or in any society of men, like Zion; there he lodges, there he lives, there he sits as god, there he reigns, there he is worshipped, there he is exalted above all that can truly be called God in that heart, or in that society.

1. It is a city. This is a proper parable, to discover the mystery of iniquity by in this state; it is just like a city, in its kind it is a city. In a city there are several streets; in the streets, houses; in the houses, several rooms, to which families and persons appertain; and to all these there are laws and governments.  Thus it is here; there are many streets in this city of Babylon, many houses in every street, many rooms in every house; and the houses and rooms have their several families and persons appertaining to them; and they have their laws and governments, their knowledge of God and Christ; their order, their worship, their discipline in which they walk, and by which they order themselves in their several services, places, offices, and employments, under the king of Babylon.

2. It is a spiritual or mystical city. It is not an outward building of earthly materials, but an inward building of inward materials. As the outward Zion, the outward Jerusalem, is passed away in its use and service; so the outward Babylon is out of date too. (You need not look so far for it.) And as God has built up an inward city, a spiritual building; so has the king of darkness likewise. He could never have tempted from the city of the living God, from the city of the mystery of life, but by the city of the mystery of deceit. And as God builds his city of hewn stones, of squared stones, of living stones; so also has the king of darkness his hewings, his squarings, his preparations, his qualifications for his buildings. If the light break forth, and make it appear too gross to have the whole nation a church, or to admit a whole parish to ordinances, he will gather a church out of the nation, and select some of his choicer stones out of the parish; yes, he may grasp in some of the stones of the true temple, if they come within his reach and circle; that is, if they look abroad, if they step forth, and keep not close to the anointing within, which is the great and only ordinance of the saints' preservation from antichrist's power: for if they step forth but so much as into a prayer against antichrist, out of this, they are caught in his snare, and are serving him in that very prayer, which they may seem with great earnestness and zeal to put up against him.

3. It is a great city; an overspreading city, a city that overspreads the earth. As Zion was a vast city, a city that did overspread the nations (how did the faith of the gospel over-run the world in the apostles' days!) so this city has also over-run the world. Indeed it has taken up the whole territories and dominions of the other city (and has enlarged itself further), and Zion has been laid in the dust, and trodden under foot. And though many  witnesses, prophets, and martyrs, have mourned over her, yet none have been able to raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, nor to recover Zion to this day; but Babylon has had the power over her. Look with the true eye, and behold how all nations, kindreds, tongues, and languages, have been drunk with some or other of the mixtures of this false woman's cup (some of them over, and over, and over again), and have been inhabitants of this city, crying her up (though not all in her gross habit, but some in her more refined shapes and transformings) for the true church, for Zion; whereas, alas! she has only Zion's dress, Zion's shape, Zion's outward garment (which is the likeness wherein she lies in wait to deceive), but not Zion's spirit.

4. It is a city of iniquity, of hidden iniquity. That which is hidden in this city, it is not the life, it is not the righteousness, the holiness of the saints; but iniquity, sin, transgression of the life. Look into any of the streets of Babylon, into any of the houses, any of the rooms, any of the chambers of darkness; there is sin there; there is unrighteousness there; there is not one cleansed heart to be found there; not one pure eye to behold the God of life is to be found there; but in every heart sin in a mystery, iniquity in a mystery, unrighteousness in a mystery. They seem to be for God and Christ, and to be cleansed by them; but uncleanness lodges in them, and sin rules in them against God, and against his Christ in a mystery; which their eye cannot see, and so must needs mistake their state. Yet this is the true state of Babylon, in all the parcels of it; it is the unclean city, where purity of heart and life cannot be known; but though it be washed and transformed ever so often outwardly, yet still it remains inwardly polluted; that which defiles keeping possession and dominion there in a mystery. The living water, the living blood, runs not in any of the streets of this city, so that there can be no true cleansing there. No, such strangers are the choicest inhabitants of Babylon to the fountain of life in Zion, to the river that cleanses and heals, that they cannot so much as believe that there is a possibility of cleansing and perfect healing, and making sound and whole here, while on earth. There is great talk of these things (of the water, the blood, the cleansing) in all the regions of Babylon (which has heard of the fame, and forms to itself a  likeness); but the thing itself is not to be found there, and so the virtue, which comes from the thing itself alone, cannot be felt there.

And here, in this there is a great difference between the vessels of Zion, and the vessels of Babylon. The vessels of Zion, they are weak, earthen, foolish, contemptible to the eye of man's wisdom (which cannot look for any great matter of excellency there); but the treasure, the liquor of life in them, is precious. The vessels of Babylon make a great show, appear very holy, very heavenly, very zealous for God and Christ, and for the setting up of his church and ordinances all over the world. Thus they appear without; but they are sepulchers; there is rottenness within: under all this there lodges an unclean, an unsanctified heart; a heart unsubdued to the spirit and power of the gospel, while it makes such a great show of subjection and obedience to the letter.

5. It is the city of the king of darkness, of the great king of darkness, of the prince of the power of the air, who rules universally in the darkness, in the mystery of iniquity throughout, even in every heart. Wherever is sin, there is Satan's throne; and there he has his laws, his government, his power, in every heart of his dominion. And where there is the least subjection to him, he is yet a prince; his building is not as yet there wholly thrown down; he is not there as yet dispossessed and cast out. As long as there is any thing left wherein he may dwell, he knows his own, and keeps his hold of it. It is his right, and he will not lose it. All sin, all darkness, is properly his: it is his seat, and he has the government there. Man is the land where these two kings fight; and whatever is good and holy belongs to the one king, and whatever is evil and unclean belongs to the other; and there is no communion or peace between them; but each keeps his own, and gathers of his own unto himself. And where the fight is once begun between these, there is no quietness in that land, till one of these be dispossessed: but then there is either the peace of Babylon, most commonly under a form of holiness; or the peace of Zion, in the spirit, life, and power.

6. This city was built (and is daily built) in imitation of Zion, painted just like Zion. The intent of its building was to eat out Zion, to suppress Zion, to withdraw from the truth by a false image, and to keep her inhabitants in peace and satisfaction, under  a belief and hope that it is the true Zion; and therefore it must needs be made like Zion, else it could no way suit these ends. Every street must be like the streets of Zion; every house, like the houses of Zion; every tribe and family, like the tribes and families of Zion; every person, like the persons in Zion; all the laws, ordinances, etc., like the laws and ordinances of Zion; the worship, like the worship in Zion; the faith, like the faith of Zion; the painted Christ, like the Christ of Zion; all that go for truths, like the truths of Zion; they would not deceive else; Babylon would be soon seen through else, and become quickly desolate and forsaken, did she not lay her paint very thick, and with great art and skill. Now here is the wisdom, here is the true eye tried, to see through all the paints of this city, in all the shapes and forms of it; to turn from every street, every house, every chamber, every image and false appearance of truth; every false appearance of ordinances and ways of worship; every likeness of things which this spirit forms from the letter; every duty that it thus calls for; every promise of scripture which it endeavors to apply to that to which it belongs not, that it might lull the soul asleep, and cozen and deceive it of the thing promised; here, I say, is the true eye tried to turn from all this, and to wait for the raising and redeeming of the true seed of Zion, and for the springing up of the true life and power in it and from it: for as long as this spirit can deceive you with any likeness, you shall never know the truth, nor come to the worship of the true, living God, which alone is in the spirit, and in the truth.

7. The end of all this, of Satan's building up this city, this great city (thus accurately in the power of deceit, and in the very likeness of Zion) was, and is, that it might be taken for Zion, and be worshipped there as God, and that without jealousy or suspicion. And he has attained his end; his city has deceived and does deceive, it passes current for Zion among all the inhabitants of Babylon; almost every sort of people cry it up for Zion, in one appearance or other, though all do not cry up the same appearance; but their own image, way, and worship, every one extols; their own image of the truth, for the truth; their own way of worship, for the way; their own church and family, for the church and family of God. And worshipping here, they worship him, and not the Lord: for the Lord cannot be worshipped in any part of Babylon; but the king of Babylon is worshipped in Babylon, and the king of Zion alone in Zion. Ah! how deeply do men deceive their souls! they think they believe in God, they think they pray to God, and hope to be owned at length by God, and yet are so far from coming out of mystery Babylon, that it was never yet so much as discovered to them; but they have either walked in the way of religion and worship they were brought up in, in the apostasy, or perhaps have removed out of one or two of the broad streets of it, and so thereby think they have left Babylon; whenas the same spirit has set down in another street of the same city, building up another house by the direction of the king thereof, and there worshipping the same spirit as they did before; but their souls never knew the fire in Zion, and the furnace in Jerusalem; by which the very inwards of their spirits must be cleansed, before the pure eye of life be opened which can see Zion.

Now, because you are more able to receive things from scripture expressions, than from the nature of the thing itself, spoken as it is felt in the heart (concerning which much more might be said, were you able to bear it), consider a few scriptures.

Babylon is called a great city, Rev. 16:19. and a great and mighty city. chap. 18:10. Oh, the power of deceit in that city, to bewitch from the life! Oh, the multitude of lying wonders that are there shown in the heart, to make a man believe that he is in the life! to persuade men that the king thereof is the king of Zion! and that the laws, and ordinances of worship there, are the laws and ordinances of Zion! that the prayer there, is the prayer of the true child! that the believing there, is the true faith! the love there, the true love! the hope there, the true hope, etc. Some parts of Babylon, some likenesses of truth there, are so taking, that none but the elect, by the opening of the eternal eye, can espy the deceit.

And it is a spiritual city, a mystical city, a city built by the working of the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thes. 2:7. whereupon she is called mystery. Rev. 17:5. It is not a city of plain wickedness, but a city of sin hid; of sin keeping its life under a covering, under a form of godliness; of sin reigning in the heart under zeal, under devotion, under praying, believing, worshipping, hoping,  waiting, etc. Where sin lies hid within under these, there is Babylon; there is the mystery of witchcraft; there is the painted throne of Satan; there is spiritual Egypt and Sodom, where the Lord of life is daily crucified. This is the city, the mystical city, the spiritual city. Rev. 11:8. And here is building up and throwing down continually. She builds; the spirit of the Lord confounds, then down goes her building; then up with another, then down again. This is her course without end, when the spirit of the Lord disturbs her; for otherwise she can settle in any form of knowledge or worship; though in her ordinary course she has also many changes and turnings; one while this or that being a truth, another while not; one while this or that being the sense or meaning of such a scripture, another while not. Babylon is hardly ever without this kind of building up, and throwing down.

And this city is a great city, a city spread over all the earth. "She made all nations drink of the wine of the cup of her fornication." Rev. 14:8. The woman, which is this city (Rev. 17:18), "sat upon peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev. 17:15. She sat upon them as queen, as princess, guiding them in their knowledge and worship of the king of Babylon. And those that once hated her, and made war with her, and burnt her flesh with fire, she cozened them with a new paint, got them into her new bed of fornication, and made them worship the king of Babylon again, Rev. 17:12-13. and ver. 16-17. and there they lay committing whoredom with her, till the time of her last burning and utter desolation; but then they forsook her, for fear of her torment, when they saw the smoke of her burning. Rev. 18:9-10.

In the temples of this city (for in all the streets thereof, yes, in every house, there are temples) antichrist sits as god, and is worshipped. 2 Thes. 2:4. "He, as God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." He has clothed himself like God, he appears like God (like the holy, pure spirit of life and power), he appears in the temple of God, he sits there, he rules there, he gives forth laws and ordinances of worship and devotion. Yes, if any one will question his godhead, or his right to do thus, he will prove it, he will make it manifest in the very temple of God, that he is God: "He, as God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." He has exalted  himself into the throne, above all that is called God; he has got into the temple, he sits there as God, and there he makes it manifest to all his worshippers that he is God; insomuch as, among all the inhabitants of Babylon, he is acknowledged and worshipped, and the true spirit of life is hid from their eyes, and denied and crucified. He has showed himself that he is God; he gives demonstrations of his godhead, which that eye which is out of the life cannot but acknowledge and take to be true. There is none can see and acknowledge the true God, the true Christ, but those that have the true eye, the true anointing ("no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy spirit," 1 Cor. 12:3); and yet how many can speak great words of God, and of Christ, who know not what belongs to the anointing? Alas! alas! all nations and sorts of professors, out of the life, are cozened with the devil's demonstrations, with antichrist's demonstrations, with the whore's demonstrations, with the false prophet's demonstrations, which are undeniable to that wisdom wherein they stand, and to that eye wherewith they look to see.

Now mark this: antichrist's coming, when first perceived, was very mighty, exceeding strong. 2 Thes. 2:9-10. "Whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness," etc. Weigh the thing well. Satan used all his art, and all his strength, to conceive and bring forth this mystery of iniquity, so like the mystery of godliness, that it might pass for current in the world, and he rule as God in it. With all power, etc., no power of deceit lacking; he did not spare for signs, and lying wonders; yes, he gave power to the beast to do wonders and miracles, even to make fire come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men (which was the sign and wonder whereby the God of Israel was distinguished from Baal; power to work this very sign Satan gives to the beast, to confirm the godhead of the dragon and antichrist with). Rev. 13:13-14. These are the things men look for; see but great power, signs, miracles, they are satisfied. The whole world stands ready to be deceived with this. Yes, and if the eye be not opened in persons, which can distinguish of power, they must needs be deceived. Signs, wonders, and miracles had their place in the first covenant, and were to  that part to which the first covenant was; not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Now after the full demonstration of the truth by signs and miracles, the power of Satan rises up; and by lying signs, wonders, and miracles overturns the truth. Now the unbelieving part in man expects and calls for signs and miracles, and says they will determine the controversy, and settle the state of the church again; but that part is not to prescribe God his way; yes, he will steal as a thief upon you, whose eye is abroad, and looks for demonstrations without.

And as antichrist got up thus, so antichrist will go out thus. He will raise up this power, and what lying signs, wonders, and miracles he can, to defend himself with, now the spirit of the Lord is risen up to dispossess him, and cast him out of the house which he has long lodged in. And he that can be cozened with power, with signs, with lying wonders, (which are lying because they come from the spirit of deceit, with an intent to deceive, though they may come to pass, and appear true to man's eye. Deut. 13:1-3) or with any of the deceivableness of unrighteousness, shall never come out of Babylon; but only be translated into some of the more refined chambers of it, and fed with some more fresh likenesses of truth, where he shall still remain an inhabitant and worshipper in some image, perhaps of universal love, life, and liberty, and yet be out of the life, out of the love, out of the liberty of the truth, which stands in the power and presence of the spirit of God, and not in the most refined image or likeness.

"All the world wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast." Rev. 13:3-4.

The dragon is the devil; the beast is that spirit of the earth which he raises up, and feeds in men with a form and appearance of truth; to which he gives his power, his seat, and his authority: and every man has a measure of this according to his state and condition, place and service in Babylon. And now what a man does here in religion, be he ever so devout and zealous, and frequent in ordinances and duties, is the worship of this spirit, and of the dragon who sits and rules in this spirit. I am run into hard expressions, very hard, because the nature of these things is hid from men's eyes, and they are in the mist of  antichrist's raising, in the smoke which comes from the pit, where there is no opening of the true eye, and no true sight of things; but truly if ever you espy the dragon, the beast, antichrist, the whore, the false prophet, you must look at home, and read within; and there having found the thing, and seen it in the true light, you will be able to see it certainly abroad also. Now do not go about to distinguish these things in the notion of the understanding; but come to feel the life, to unite with the life, and the eye will open which can see into the nature of things, and will behold all in its season; for that eye which is so eager to see, shall never see these things; but that eye alone which waits in stillness and quietness on the pleasure and good-will of the opener.

Now all this time, while Babylon stands, while antichrist sits in the temple, while Satan reigns over all the anti-christian world, the true and living God has not been known, feared, nor glorified; but men's knowledge has been of a false god they have set up, and him they have feared, and given the glory to, in their worship. No, the gospel has not been preached; the true gospel, the everlasting gospel, the gospel wherein is the light and power of eternal life, to turn men from all anti-christian forms of knowledge and worship, to the true life and power: but when Babylon falls, and Mount Zion begins to appear again, then the gospel is to be preached again, even by an angel, who receives it from God himself, Rev. 14:6-7. for man could never recover it again: it requires a new inspiration. "The law is to go forth out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And this gospel is to be preached "to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people," ver. 6. Mark: there was not one nation, not one kindred, not one tongue, not one people that kept the everlasting gospel; but it was laid up in Zion; it was carried with the church into the wilderness, and there it has been hid all the time of the apostasy, since the days of the apostles. But now Zion is redeeming, the true woman bringing back again out of the wilderness, she brings back the true, everlasting gospel with her; and there is an angel chosen in the power of the Lord (even in the same power and spirit that first preached it) to preach it again to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And the Lord has so ordered it, that he will have the voice of this angel as despicable to the wise in religion,  to the zealous in devotion, of all sorts in this backsliding age, as the former preaching was to the wise and devout both among the Jews and Greeks. So that whosoever is wise in religion according to the flesh; whosoever is wise in expectation and waitings for the kingdom; whosoever is wise in reasoning about it, and can tell the foregoing signs of it, etc., shall not know the voice: but he that can shut his eyes by the leadings of the pure life, and enter into the hidden womb of wisdom, where the light of life is sown, he shall be new formed, and come forth a child out of the womb of wisdom, with the new eye, the new ear, the new heart, the new understanding and senses; and keeping in the childish simplicity, out of the wisdom, zeal, and devotion which deceived him before, he shall receive and enter into the everlasting kingdom.

Therefore all people wait humbly for the candle of the Lord, that therewith you may search out Babylon, and may come to see what of her treasures you have gathered; that you may throw them away speedily, and give up your ships and vessels (wherewith you have trafficked for these kinds of wares) to the fire of the Lord's jealousy; that you may receive the durable riches; that you may hear the joyful sound of the everlasting gospel, and know the true Christ which it alone reveals; and come to fear and worship and glorify the true God; and not go down into the pit or lake with the dragon, the beast, the whore, and false prophet, which will be the portion of the most zealous false worshippers. And when your eyes come once to be opened in the true light, you will bless the Lord for giving you these warnings, and not be so angry at us (who have paid dear for them) for our willingness, if it be possible, to save you some of the charges they have cost us: however, at least to preserve your souls from that ruin and dreadful destruction which all the paths of Babylon lead to.

THE SINS OF BABYLON

Although, in the foregoing description, some of the sins of Babylon have been touched at; yet I find my spirit further drawn forth (in a way of service to the Lord and his people) to take a further view, both of them, and some other of her sins.

THE sins of Babylon, by the spirit of life (which has righteously measured and knows them) are referred to these two  heads, fornication and abomination. She allures the spirit of the creature into a strange bed, and there it acts filthily and abominably with this strange spirit. Now of these there are two sorts; first, some more open and manifest; secondly, some more hidden and secret, hard (yes, utterly impossible) to be discerned, without the shining forth of the pure light of life.

All sorts of men are estranged from the life; under the whole heaven is the Lord God forgotten, and his holy and pure law and way of life; and filthiness and abomination are committed everywhere. Now all this filth (even the common filth of the earth) springs out of Babylon, has its rise from her womb. Were it not for her, the sound of life would be heard even among the heathen, and they would not be such strangers to him that made them; nor would they act so contrary to those leadings and teachings of the spirit of God (who is the God of the whole earth), which the darkest parts are not without. It is she which withdraws their minds from the pure glimmerings that rise up in them, setting up another god in their eyes, and heathenish, sottish ways of fear, worship, and devotion: and under this she makes them filthy and polluted, unclean in their minds and in their bodies, brutish in their knowledge and in their practices; "for she is the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth." Rev. 17:5. Look what of pride, of vanity, of cruelty, of envy, of wrath, of lust, of covetousness, of idolatry, of blasphemy, etc., is to be found anywhere among men upon the earth, she is the mother of it all. All the common filth and stench of the earth springs out of this womb, this secret womb, this hidden womb: for though, in this her open and visible appearance, she be manifest to the eyes of many; yet to those children of hers who are thus conceived, brought forth, and bred up by her, she is a mystery of iniquity, and they perceive her not so much as here, and so cannot escape this her openly polluted bed.

Secondly, The whore has more secret fornications and abominations. Where she can pass thus, she need not paint either herself or her ware; but where need requires she has her paint, she has her delicates for the curious eye. Rev. 18:3. She has her cinnamon, odors, ointments, and frankincense for the nice scent; she has her fine flour and wheat, etc., for the fine  palate; and gold, precious stones, pearl, and vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of most precious wood, for the more stately worshipper; as well as of brass and iron for the more common. Rev. 18:12-13. She can paint both herself and her ware, so as to make them taking to the eye of all flesh. She can so mingle her cup, as shall please every palate but that which is truly living; and cast such a color upon her abominations, as no eye that is without can suspect; but takes with every young man that is hunting abroad, and knows not the spring of life in himself. So that all the deceits in religion, all the several forms and ways of knowledge and worship, all the ordinances, duties, and devotions which the spirits of most men take pleasure in, are of her. And herein are her pride and glory, in subjecting these, in ruling over these, in blinding the eyes of these, and opposing the true life and power by these. She does not value whole territories of the other so much as the congregation of these. For mark:

The great master-piece of the whore was to paint herself like the Lamb's wife, and so to withdraw from the true church, and set up a false church; which, by reason of its paint and likeness to that which once was the true, should pass up and down the world, and be taken for the true: and here lie her beauty, her glory, her majesty, her life, her heart, even in the deceivableness of this appearance. Therefore her great care and endeavor are to keep her possession and dominion here. She often renews and changes her paint, nearer and nearer to the image and former likeness of truth, that she might make it pass instead of the truth, and so keep that which is indeed the truth down still under reproach, contempt, and persecution, as she has done these many ages. Therefore she has her sorts of paint by her, her varieties of sorcery, of witchery, of enchantments, whereof her cup is full, and wherewith her wine is made strong, to make the inhabitants of the earth drunk thereby; that being thus besotted, being not themselves, but their spiritual senses bound up (as the wine does very effectually, wherever her cup is drank of,) she might lead them up and down from one thing to another, from one chamber to another, from one bed to another, from one practice and way of worship to another, and still keep them from the true, living thing which their souls seek.

For were it possible for persons who did but so much as read in the Scriptures concerning the power of life the saints formerly enjoyed, the living ministry and ordinances, their sweet walking and fellowship in the light, the presence of the spirit in their worship, and in their whole course, their sincere love in the spirit, and tender bearing with one another's weaknesses, doubts and differences, which he that reads singly cannot but pant after; and the state of the gospel was not to be a decaying and dying in these things, or a losing of them, so that the power of the Spirit, and the revelations thereof should cease (as the whorish spirit, which has gone out from the life, pleads); but to grow and increase, and the last times to abound most of all with the power and glory of truth: I say, were it possible for persons who should read and entertain the least taste and savor of these things, to be satisfied with any of those dead ways and forms which the whore has set up instead of them, unless they were wholly bewitched, and altogether deprived of their senses, being made dead drunk with the whore's mingled wine in this dark night of apostasy? Yes, professors are drunk, they have deeply drunk of the cup, and are sorely overtaken, and their hearts overcharged with strong liquor; which makes them even mad to draw others into their beds of fornication, and to stand up themselves in great rage, and call also to the magistrates for the defense of them. Yes, like the clamorous woman, they make a great noise about ordinances, duties, ministry, church, etc. ("I have decked and perfumed my bed," says the lewd woman, the subtle-hearted woman, Prov. 7:16-17.) but do not soberly consider which are painted ones, which the truth. We have run on headily after these things too long; it is now time to stand still a while, and wait for the purging out of the wine wherewith all our brains have been overturned, that we may come into soberness, and into a fit temper to be led by the spirit of life out of the bed of fornications, and out of the ways, worships, ordinances, and duties of fornication, into the bed of the undefiled spirit. Now he that worships God aright, must feel life within, and that life raised and strengthened by him who begets it; and this will savor death; and, faithfully following its guide, will come out of the land of death; even that land wherein all the false worshippers inhabit, and wherein all these false ways and  worships, duties, ordinances, ministries, etc., are set up and flourish.

Now these secret sins of Babylon are the same with the more open and gross; the great difference is their secrecy, their not appearing like sins, their paint, their color, whereby they are swallowed down for holy and good. As for instance:

There is fornication (or adultery from the life) in the finest, in the purest way of worship man can invent or imitate: but the fornication does not so plainly appear here, but they who have drunk of the cup take these things for the ways and appointments of God. Those that set up the whore's church, do not call it so, nor perhaps think it to be so; those that set up the whore's ministry, or ordinances, do not give them that name, but call them the ministry and ordinances of Christ: yet this is as truly, as really fornication from the life, as the grossest ways of heathenish worship. Oh mark it! mark it!

If you have read the Scriptures, and thrust yourself into any practices you there find mentioned, without the raising up of a living thing in you, and without your following by the guidance thereof, you have done this by the whore's advice; and in this you are committing fornication, and erring from the life: for the true worship lies in the spirit and in the truth, and it is the new birth that God seeks to worship him; but the spirit of man thrusting itself into these things, the Lord abhors and rejects. And this spirit never can be thus cleansed, and fitted to enter into Christ's bed; but only gets a paint from scripture, and enters into the painted bed and bosom of the harlot, where it remains unrenewed, unchanged, unmortified, in the midst of all its great talk and profession of these things. And thus the Scripture, the holy Scriptures of truth (which were given forth from the pure spirit of life), the whorish spirit makes use of to estrange from the life. For what sort of persons, which have fornicated from the life, but make use of the Scriptures to maintain their whoredoms by, and to bewitch others into their whoredoms with? Every sort cries up their own way and worship to be the way and worship according to the Scriptures; and if any be gathered out of these witcheries into the power of God, then the bewitched say that such are bewitched.

Then as for all the abominations of the earth, all the filth that defiles the heart, it is to be found on the skirts of the whore,  even in her most refined dress: for her religion, her worship, her profession, her practices, do not reach to the purifying of the conscience, but only to paint over the old sepulcher, where rottenness lodges within. The sore was never thoroughly searched; the heart was never thoroughly circumcised or baptized; the old man was never put off, or the new man put on; the blood of purifying (which truly washes away the sin) was never felt in its virtue and power, but only an apprehension and talk that they are cleansed in Christ, from a notion they have stolen out of the Scriptures; but not from the sensible feeling of the thing in life and power in their consciences. And so the evil nature still remains, the evil heart of unbelief is still to be found in them, and they lack the life, they lack the power, they lack the spirit, they lack the love, they lack the humility, they lack the meekness, they lack the patience, they lack the innocency and simplicity of the lamb and dove. And when the Lord comes to provoke them to jealousy by the shining of his light, and by the appearance of his power in some whom they despise, then the pride, the passion, the envy, the heart-burnings, the hard speeches, the false surmisings, with the rest of the enmity which still abides with them, stirs and rises against the life and power, and their hypocrisy is made manifest. Yes, some of the strictest among them can scoff and jeer at the appearance of life; so strong is the evil and unmortified nature in them, and so conceited are they in their ways and practices, because of their cover, under which all this iniquity, for the most part, lies hidden from their eyes. But, for all that, it is there; the Lord's candle will search it out, and your own eye shall see it, and find in yourself bloody Cain, scoffing Ishmael, profane Esau, the uncircumcised Jew; who is angry that his brother's sacrifice is accepted, and his not; who disdains and derides the true seed of life, the living heir; who hunts abroad for food pleasing to that nature which is to be famished; who crucifies the Lord of glory because of his meanness, and because he appears not in that way of devotion and holiness wherein they expect him. Neither will he appear so; but to overturn all that which you have set up, and to set up that which you disdain. This is the Lord's work, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Now there are several sins which the spirit of the Lord has  charged Babylon with, and which he will reckon with her for, and with all that partake with her therein; some whereof I may mention, as: —

1. Her deep fornications from the life, under a pretense of honoring and worshipping of it. (Be not offended that I begin with it again, seeing it is also mentioned among other particular sins of hers. Rev. 9:12.) She speaks fair words; she calls to have the worship of God set up, and a godly ministry, and the ordinances of God in a nation; but the thing is not so in the sight of God, but in all this she seeks the advancement of her own whoredoms. And this was, and this is, the very way of antichrist's rising; he gets into the form, he cries up the form; and by the form which he cries up, he eats out the power. If antichrist should speak directly against the power (without first creeping into, and setting up a form, and crying up that) he would soon be detected: but, under a form and profession of truth, he hides himself, and covers his spirit of enmity and persecution therewith: and here he can secretly and safely smite the innocent, and fight against that very spirit, life, and power, which he himself, in his form, makes a profession of being subject to. And this is the wolf in the sheep's clothing, which, by this fair appearance of the sheep's wool on his back, covers his ravenous nature from the eyes of the beholders.

Now there are three ways of fornication, one of which this spirit is always guilty of, sometimes of them all.

1. By inventing things which the Lord never commanded, or adding to that which the Lord did command. The mind of man is very busy, and full of inventions; and where the heart is touched with devotion and zeal towards God, the inventing part exceedingly exercises itself this way, either in imagining and forming something which it thinks may be acceptable to God, or in adding to those things which it finds commanded. In this way of fornication the popish church abounds, being filled with ceremonies of their own inventing, and of additions to such things as are found mentioned in the Scriptures. The common Protestants also have been too guilty here.

2. By imitating of those things which were commanded to others. When a man finds in scripture the things which some  others did, or which they were commanded to do; and so he is venturing upon them before he feels the leading of that spirit whereby they were led thereunto. Now in this he errs from the life; he goes without his guide; he does that which was a good thing in others (who were led by the spirit thereto), but in him it is fornication. This man is a thief and an intruder; he steals into the outward knowledge and practice, without the inward life and power: he intrudes into that into which others were fairly led; not coming in by the right door, for which entrance he should have waited, and not have run on headily of himself. This way of fornication the strictest among the Protestants have generally been ensnared in, who have run on further and further to search out the purest way of worship, the nearest pattern to the primitive times, and so have applied themselves diligently thereto, not knowing what they were to wait for to be their guide, and give them the entrance. And here now, thinking themselves to be in the right, they have contracted a lofty spirit (and held forth their conceptions of the way as the only way), and so have lost the meekness and simplicity, which were fresh and lively in some of them before; which sets them a great way back, and makes the entrance into the kingdom very hard to them. Whereas if that simplicity and tenderness were fresh in them, the Lord would show great regard to that, easily pardoning this their error, and, in mercy to them, visiting that evil spirit with his judgments, which stood nigh them, and was the cause of their error. But they are grown high, they are grown wise, they are become confident, they know the way already, and can maintain it by undeniable arguments (as they think) to be the way; so the Lord, with his teachings, is at a great distance from them; that lying very low in them, which the Lord alone will teach.

3. By continuing in practices, to which they were once led by the spirit, without the immediate presence and life of the spirit. For the whole worship, the whole religion of the gospel, consists in following the spirit, in having the spirit do all in us, and for us: therefore whatsoever a man does for himself is out of the life, it is in the fornication. If a man pray at any time without the spirit, that prayer is fornication, and is not either acceptable to God, or profitable to himself; but grieves the  spirit, hurts the life, and wounds the soul. Now this way of fornication have they especially fallen into, who have been acquainted with the true leadings and openings of the spirit, and have afterwards run to them for refreshment, and so by degrees forgot the spirit that opened. And by this means was that life, which was precious and very savory in the ranters (before they were seduced by the spirit of deceit into that way of ranting) overturned. And thus they also (who deeply saw into the mystery of whoredoms, and into the more inward ways of fornication above others), even they also were deceived with the whore's cup, and drank afresh of that wine of fornication which the whore very cunningly had new mingled for them; and they also are become a reproach to the inhabitants of Zion, who find a living habitation in that spirit of life which they turned from.

Now if there be a true eye opened in any in the reading of this, how easily and manifestly will he see whoredom, fornication, adultery, generally in men's religious practices, in their churches, in their ministries, in their ordinances, in their prayers, in their whole course! Oh how, think you, does the eye of the jealous God behold these things! but your eyes, who are held captive here, cannot see it. The God of the world, with his mists, has darkened you; the great whore, with her sorceries, has enchanted you; and you are her slaves, you are drunk with her cup; and how can you judge soberly either of your own estate towards God, or concerning your practices in religion?

2. Her notorious blasphemies. Having fornicated from the life, and from the spirit, then she blasphemes the life, and the holy, pure power and movings of the Spirit. "The woman which sat upon the scarlet-colored beast (with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication) was full of names of blasphemy." Rev. 17:2-3. Yes, the beast which carried her, which had many heads, horns, and crowns, he also had on his heads "names of blasphemy." Rev. 13:1. "And there was given to him a mouth, speaking great things, and blasphemies." ver. 5. And he, with the whore together (for he did it by her spirit and instigation, by virtue of the wine he had drunk out of her cup) "opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to  blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." ver. 6. This has been the work of the tongue, in every head of the beast; namely, to blaspheme the life, to blaspheme the true, living power, in all ages and generations, since the apostasy from the life and spirit of the apostles.

Now there is a twofold blasphemy, which the whore, and the powers of the earth that serve her, are guilty of.

1. There is a speaking well of the ways of their own invention, or the ways which they have imitated without the life. To call these the ways of God, the true ways of life, is blasphemy. "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but a synagogue of Satan." Rev. 2:9. There were, even in the apostles' days, persons who pretended to be Christians, and pretended still to be of the church, though they had lost the life; and this the spirit of the Lord said was blasphemy. And what is their gathering into a church, who were never gathered into the life, and setting up ordinances, and pastors? What is this? What is it for him to call himself a Christian, or inward Jew, who never had the foreskin of his flesh cut off by the circumcising knife of the spirit? What will the Lord say this is, when he comes to judge?

2. There is a speaking evil of the truths of God. The true knowledge, the true fear, the true worship, the true saints, the true God, the true tabernacle, the true temple, the true heaven, (all which is in the spirit, and is alone revealed and seen there) these are reproached, these are misrepresented (and the true sight and acknowledgment of them called error, heresy, and sectarianism) by all the blasphemers of Babylon.

Israel, who had the law and the prophets, the true ordinances and the true priests, yet they "called evil good, and good evil; they put darkness for light, and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." IsAnswer: 5:20. "They were so wise in their own eyes, and so prudent in their own sight; they were so mighty to drink wine, and men of such strength to mingle strong drink (justifying the wicked for reward, and taking away the righteousness of the righteous from him)," there was no convincing of them by the LIGHT of GOD, shining from the prophets, of their "casting away the law of the Lord, and despising the word of the Holy One of Israel." ver. 21 to 25. No, they were  observers of the law, and hearkened to the prophets and the priests of the law. Jer. 5:31. Therefore, when the overflowing scourge came, it should not come near them: yes, when the true prophets of the Lord threatened them with his coming with dreadful vengeance, and his strange work, they, in the height and confidence of their spirits, could reply, "Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it." IsAnswer: 5:19. How blind were they from seeing their blasphemies; their calling of evil good, and good evil, etc. Yes, in the very days of the apostles, the way of truth was evil spoken of, and synagogues of Satan setting up, and blasphemies growing up quickly from those which held the true form, but denied the power, even while the pourings-forth of the Spirit, and revelations from the Spirit, did abound: how can it be expected it should be otherwise now, when the Spirit is grown such a strange thing, that to mention such a thing as being moved by the Spirit, or acted by the Spirit, is become ridiculous? and the very teachers of the nation (who must speak by the Spirit, if they speak the word of God) cry revelation is ceased, and count it a reproach for a man so much as to pretend to speak by the movings, and in the power, of the Spirit.

Now this double blasphemy necessarily follows the fornication: whoever is fornicated from the life, he blasphemes the life, in all his knowledge, in all his worship, in all his religion. He calls that prayer which is not prayer; that an ordinance which is not an ordinance; that a church which is not a church; that a minister which is not a minister; and that which is indeed the prayer, the ordinance, the church, the minister, he denies and blasphemes; and cannot do otherwise, until the righteous judgments of the Lord purge the whore's wine out of him, and he be led back to that life and spirit again, from which (in all these ways of worship, inventions, and imitations) he is gone a whoring.

The whore, for these many ages, has been laying blasphemy to the charge of such as, in any degree, have been led by the spirit of the Lord from her whoredoms; but now the Lord is taking it off from them (who have long been unjustly charged therewith), and charging it upon her, and she cannot escape his judgment; for though she put on ever so fine dresses and appearances, like the spouse and church of Christ, yet the Lord can distinguish and  find out his spouse, though naked in the wilderness, and without her attire; and can also espy the whorish spirit, though clothed with the church's attire; and can charge her blasphemies (against him, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven) upon her.

3. Gross or more refined idolatries. "Little children," said John, "keep yourselves from idols." 1 John 5:21. He saw anti-christianism breaking in quickly, many antichrists being already come; and now (says he) keep to the anointing, and keep from idols. Without a very strict watch, without a mighty preservation by the anointing, he saw idolatry would even creep in upon them, who had tasted of the true power and virtue of life. But how shall they keep from idols, who know not the anointing, but think the revelations thereof are ceased? He that buys not the tried gold of Christ, (Rev. 3:18) how can he avoid buying untried gold of antichrist, or silver, or brass, or wood, or stone, which his merchants traffic for, and make idols of? Rev. 9:20. If your eyes be anointed with the true eye-salve, you may see and read the parable.

Idolatry is the worshipping of God without his spirit (that is the plain, naked truth of the thing). To invent things from the carnal mind, or to imitate things, which others, who had the spirit, did in the spirit, by the command of the spirit, for you to imitate and practice these without the spirit, is idolatry. An invented church, an invented ministry, an invented worship; an imitated church, an imitated ministry, an imitated worship, without the life, without the spirit, all these are the work of men's hands, and are idols, and all that is performed herein is idolatry. Rev. 9:20. This is a religion without life, a worship without life, a fabric for idolatry; and the whole course of worship and service in it, is idolatry. For the living God, the Lord God of endless life and power, is alone worshipped by his spirit, and in the truth of that life which he begets in the heart; and all other worship, though ever so seemingly spiritual, is idolatrous. Ah! professors, professors! if you knew how many idol-prayers and services you have loaded the Lord with, and how you have been whoring from him, while you have seemed to be drawing nigh to him, you would hang down your heads and mourn! for whatever you have done in the worship of God, without the leading and  presence of his spirit, it has been idolatry. For the worship of God, under the gospel, "is in the spirit and in the truth," and required of them who are in the spirit and in the truth, and not of others. John 4:23. For them alone the Lord seeks to worship; and the Lord will admit of none to his worship, but such as he seeks. And if any else will thrust themselves into his worship, it is not accepted; nor do they worship the true God, but they "worship they know not what;" and their whole state and course here is a state and course of idolatry.

4. Sorceries, witchcrafts, divinations, and enchantments (I do not mean outward sorceries or witchcrafts; they are but the shadow or figure of the inward mystery of deceit of this black, dark spirit, which appears as an angel of light, that he might bewitch and deceive). "Neither repented they of their sorceries." Rev. 9:21. This false church, this adulterous woman, she has her golden cup, and her wine mingled; and with this cup she bewitches the eye, with this wine she inflames the heart, and intoxicates the brain. She invents ways and worships like to the true, or she imitates the true ways and appearances of life; and when the poor, simple young man is singly seeking after God, from some true touches of his life, before he comes to know the spirit of life, before he can come to be married to the Lamb, she comes with her golden cup, and with her tempting wine, and bewitches the poor heart therewith, and so leads it aside into her painted bed. Wouldst you enjoy God? says she. Wouldst you worship him aright? Wouldst you have fellowship with him? Lo, here is the way; here is the church; here are the ordinances; here is the ministry; here are the means. You must wait upon God in the use of the means, and these are they. Did not the saints formerly do thus? Did not they meet with God here? Did not they serve and worship God thus? You come here also; do what they did; enjoy what they enjoyed. Yes, but you whorish woman, did ever God appoint means without his spirit? You leave the main, yes, indeed, the only thing behind you, which itself alone is accepted, and without which nothing is accepted. And this is the course of the whore; in all her transformings, in all her baits, in all her temptings, she still leaves the spirit behind her. She may perhaps speak of the spirit, to hide herself  the more (because the letter of the scripture is so express therein); and teach people to look and wait for the spirit, but so as it never is to be obtained: for he that begins in religion either to pray or worship, or seek the knowledge of God, without the spirit, shall never meet with the spirit so; but that way of knowledge, religion, and worship of his, must first be broken down, and he become a fool, and receive the spirit as a fool (out of all his religious knowledge and wisdom which he had gathered before); and afterwards, following the spirit which is thus received, he shall be led into the true wisdom. Now mark that which follows, you that have a desire to understand.

This spirit of deceit, this whorish spirit, this spirit of divination and witchcraft ("which by her sorceries deceived all nations," Rev. 18:23) came forth curiously decked at first, with all manner of deceivableness of unrighteousness. It had the exact form of life (the true form of godliness) and a lively spirit in it: it had the form of knowledge, and the form of worship, and with these it came to tempt, and draw away them from the life and from the power who were in the life and in the power; and it did prevail upon such as kept not close to the anointing. But after it had overcome, and gained the church's territories, then it might safely corrupt the form; and so it did, and went into multitudes of inventions and fopperies (as at this day may be seen amongst the Papists). Now these are easily discovered, and seen through by any simple, plain, honest eye, upon a little breaking forth of the light. Therefore the whorish spirit, when she perceives herself found out here, she changes her shape and attire, and comes back again by degrees (as need requires) to the forms of knowledge and worship, wherewith she was arrayed when she deceived at first: yet still she is the same, and does this to keep poor, simple hearts still in her bands, from the life and from the spirit. And thus painted, thus decked, thus holding forth scripture-knowledge and scripture-ways of worship, she is the more subtle witch, the more subtle sorceress, and is able to deceive any eye, but that which is opened in the light. With her "Lo, here is Christ, and lo, there is Christ," she would deceive the very elect, if it were possible; but it is not possible: for they are taught by the spirit not to go forth, and the anointing within preserves them. And  he that knows not this preservation is bewitched by her; and his fear of God is such as may be taught by the precepts of men, and practiced without the knowledge of the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is the saints' rule, guide, and preservation. For as the apostles were "able ministers, not of the letter, but of the spirit of the New Testament," 2 Cor. 3:6. so they that received their ministry (or that which they ministered) received not the letter only, but the spirit; and were preserved not by the letter, but by the spirit, and were made able to try words, things, and spirits, not by the letter, but by the spirit. But this the whorish spirit is departed from, and bewitches others from; first possessing them that the spirit is not to be looked for, and then persuading them to make as good shift as they can without it: and then (having thus prepared people) she brings forth her wares. Look you, says she, this is the way; thus and thus the saints practiced; do you thus also. But you must receive the saints' spirit before you either know or worship; or you know and worship out of it: and in that path of sorcery and witchcraft from the life, you shall never meet with the life; but the further you proceed therein, will be more and more estranged from it, and become still a greater and greater enemy to it, and more and more in love with the whore, and her whorish paths and pleasing ways of devotion, whereby the false spirit in you is raised up and nourished; not with the bread of life from the hand of the spirit, but with words, or forms of knowledge, or ways of worship invented, or imitated; which do but tickle the understanding, or affectionate part of man, but reach not the life; so that that which should serve the Lord, is there not raised, but still bound over with the bond of iniquity.

5. Luxury, excess, and pleasure. She is rich with her merchandize, and she enjoys it to the full, she takes the pleasure of it. She builds costly houses, wears rich apparel, fares deliciously (read spiritually with the spiritual eye). She is rich in knowledge, rich in ways of worship, rich in duties, rich in religious performances and practices. And as she gained these in her own will (without the leadings of the life) and by her own search and wisdom; so she can make use of these in her own will, and according to the direction of her own wisdom. She can fast when  she will, give thanks when she will, preach when she will, pray when she will, sing when she will, meditate when she will, bring forth her knowledge to others when she will. Look on the Papists; how rich are they in outward buildings, in gorgeous ceremonies, in times of worship, in ways of mortification and penance, in fasts, in feasts, etc. Look on the several sorts of Protestants; they have their riches in their kind too; their churches, their buildings, their arts, their sciences, their languages, their bodies of divinity, their cases of conscience, etc. They can open the whole body of religion, resolve all doubts, expound all scriptures, etc. "The great city was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearls." Rev. 18:16. And she sat thus on the throne like a queen, living deliciously, and taking her pleasure, to which her torment and sorrow afterwards are proportioned. ver. 7. Yes, she had treasure and costliness enough to make all her merchants rich that would trade with her. ver. 19. What knowledge, what delicate food, could the wisest or greatest of the earth desire, which she had not ready for them? (see ver. 3, and ver. 9). But Zion, all this while, has lain in the dust, and been despised: she has had no building, no fence, but has been trampled under foot by every unclean beast: her witnesses have been clothed with sack-cloth (a garment which all the lofty inhabitants of Babylon disdain): her fare has been hard in the wilderness, only a little manna (which, with the fleshly Israel, who lust after rich and large knowledge, is counted light bread, and their souls soon loathe it): nor had she this in plenty, but only a small proportion daily, from the hand of the free Giver, sufficient to keep life in her in the wilderness, and to furnish her with strength to give in her testimony against Babylon, so far as the Lord saw good to call any of her seed thereunto. Now what professor can be willing to fare thus with her at present, and to wait for her future riches, fulness, beauty, and glory? No, no; they have so long lived richly, and fared deliciously in Babylon, that they know not how to eat the bread of affliction, and drink the water of affliction, with sad and desolate Zion: and yet this is the only way and passage out of Babylon into Zion. That which has been rich and fat, and full-fed there, must become poor and  lean, and feel hunger, and have none of the bread of life administered to it; no, not so much as husks either. And in this sad day, and state of misery, the poor are visited, which receive the gospel; and the dead raised, which receives the life.

6. Worshipping of the devil. "All the world wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon." Rev. 13:3-4. Now the dragon is the devil. Rev. 20:2.

There is no other worship of God under the New Testament, but in spirit and truth; and he that worships otherwise, worships not God, but that spirit which teaches to worship out of God's spirit, and out of the truth. Every prayer is not a prayer to God, but only that prayer which is from and in the spirit. Every ordinance, or duty, is not an ordinance of God, or a duty performed to God; but only that which the spirit leads into, and guides and preserves in. This is the way that all the earth have departed from the Lord; namely, by erring from his spirit. They cry up practices in religion; duties, ordinances; the means, the means; a church, a church (as the Jews did "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord;") but they find the church, before they have found the spirit of the Lord; and so they find not the church that is in God, the church that is of his building; but they, poor hearts! frame up a building as well as they can, according to the pattern they find in the Scriptures; and so they are not a habitation for God in the spirit, but are estranged from the life and spirit in all their worship; and so are not found by the spirit (which searches them and their worship) worshipping of God, but "the works of their own hands, and devils." Rev. 9:20. For that charge holds good against all the inhabitants of Babylon, even to the highest and strictest of them all, whether in forms, or out of forms. There are many men, who are very zealous and devout in their ways of worship, who were never taught by the spirit the way of worshipping God, nor do at all know how to worship in the spirit: these my soul exceedingly pities. They have received into their understandings, from the letter of the scripture, that God is to be worshipped in spirit, and that God will give his spirit to them that ask it. They have asked, and they hope that they have the spirit; but poor, deceived hearts! they know not what spirit they are of, nor in what spirit they act, nor what  spirit they serve; and so perish for lack of knowledge, the key whereof has been hid from them. Now let such consider:

There are but two spirits; the spirit of God, and the spirit of Satan: one of which guides all men in their devotion and religion, and one of which they serve therein. He that is led by the spirit of God; he serves God, he worships God: he that is led by the spirit of Satan; he serves not God, but that spirit which appears in the temple of God, like God, and gives such demonstrations that he is God, as no flesh can deny. 2 Thes. 2:4. Here now is the great deceivableness. In profaneness, in manifest wickedness, Satan is easily seen; and men that are found here, it is granted that they are serving the devil: but that he should sit as king in gathered churches, in duties, in ordinances, in ways of self-denial and mortification, and be worshipped here, this is hard to be seen: yet any of these which the spirit of the Lord leads not into, or which are performed at any time without his spirit, he is worshipped in. Consider this, you that are wise in religion, and are diligently reading the Scriptures, and gathering knowledge, and rules of worship, and applying promises, etc. Do you this in the life and spirit of God? or in your own wisdom, and according to your own understanding? Does not the wisdom of that spirit, which is out of the truth, guide you in your searchings after truth? Oh, do not serve that spirit which the Lord hates, but come back to that, from which, in all this, you err, and which, in all this, you cannot serve and worship. And let not your religion any longer consist in mere practicing what the saints formerly practiced (for that you may do without the same spirit), but in yielding up to that life, power, and pure spirit that they were led by. And when you are joined to this, then do not prescribe the Lamb the way that he should go, but "follow the Lamb, wheresoever he goes." Do not tell the Shepherd (by your gathered wisdom) the way that he must lead you in; but know the voice, and follow it; for this I can truly testify, that if once you come in faithfulness and true light to follow the Lamb, he will lead in paths you have not known, and out of the paths you have known.

7. Compelling of others to worship. Rev. 13:15-16. The false woman and the beast set up a worship in the will, and they do not know why any in the will also may not be subject and submit to it. They can give them reasons, they can give them arguments from scripture; and if they will not yield to these, they are to be looked upon as stubborn and refractory, and to be compelled by outward force. This has been the course generally throughout the land of Babylon; but these show hereby that they themselves are erred from the truth (and therefore very unfit and unlikely to teach it others): for that which God works upon is the conscience, which he convinces by the light of his spirit; and no other light can truly convince it. That therefore which would have a man yield to any practice, or way of worship, till he be truly convinced, is of the devil. "My son, give me your heart," says Christ, the wisdom of God: come not to me with oblations and sacrifices, but give me your heart. My son, give me your knee, give me your obedience to the ways I have set up, give me your conformity, says antichrist, says the adulterated wisdom: and if any refuse, she endeavors to compel them. Thus, like "Jeroboam the son of Nebat," she makes (that which she calls) Israel to sin: or, like Nebuchadnezzar, she sets up an idol, and causes all her children to bow to it. Thus the load of the iniquity of multitudes lies upon that scarlet whore, who forces her cup of abominations and filthiness upon all she can, Rev. 17:4. causing all, both small and great, in all her territories, to receive her mark, and worship her image. The work of the minister of Christ is to keep the conscience tender, that the voice of Christ may be heard, and the law of his spirit of life (which makes obedient to the God of life) spring up there: but this is the image, here is the way, bow, conform, say the ministers of antichrist. But we are not convinced in the sight of God that this is the way, say poor souls. It is your own fault; you may be convinced if you will, say the ministers of antichrist; we are ready to give you arguments and scriptures to convince you; how is it you are not convinced? You must be convinced, otherwise the magistrate must deal with you. Thus they endeavor to harden the conscience, that they may sit upon it and ride it, and terrify it from its subjection to its only true and lawful king. Oh, the havoc that has been made of souls by this means! the Lord is requiring it of this generation.

But let me put this question to all the learned and wise, in all the regions of Babylon, under what painted form or way soever.  Can any worship God aright, before they be truly convinced of his will and way? Can any be convinced without his light and spirit? Were it good and acceptable in the sight of God, for any persons to run into that way, whereof you say you are convinced that it is the way, before they themselves are convinced? If it be not good and acceptable, what is that which goes about to compel them? Away with your carnal weapons; and if you will draw to God, draw by that which is spiritual: but if you will still be using outward force (running to the laws of men, and power of the magistrate), the Lord has opened an eye, which discovers your nakedness herein, and is able to make it manifest in the sight of all people; and you shall not long cover your shame. The Lord's people shall "be a willing people," to follow him "in the day of his power;" but all the Lord's people have been unwilling to follow you in the day of your power, which is near an end; and the very fountain of your deceit, and tyranny over the conscience, is opening and making manifest.

8. Persecution of such as she cannot compel to her worship. She sets up her form of knowledge, she sets up her way of worship, and those that will not be drawn to own the one, and practice the other, she sets her brand upon them for erroneous persons, schismatics, heretics; they must not "buy or sell." Rev. 13:17. They must be banished or imprisoned, or perhaps put to death; for she is hardly satisfied, till she has drunk the blood of those, who, in any eminent degree, are the witnesses of Christ against her. Rev. 17:6. This was a thing wondered at by John, with great admiration; to see this woman, this great city, out of which all the venomous darts are shot against the saints and martyrs of Jesus, under a pretense of zeal for the church and ordinances of Christ. For this is the engine, whereby the dragon makes war with the true woman's seed, (which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ), even by this false woman which rides on the beast, by whose power and strength she overcomes the saints. She sets up a way of doctrine, a way of worship in a nation, and gets laws made for the defense of it, and against them that will not submit to it; and here she is too hard for the saints; by this means she overcomes the martyrs and witnesses, and keeps the truth down, and keeps  up her way of deceit; which, without this prop, would soon fall.

This whorish spirit scents the spirit of the Lord; she knows it will soon be her death, if she cannot make it appear odious, and suppress it: therefore she hunts this spirit, she hunts the life and power of what she herself professes (especially if it appear vigorous and strong in any); she seeks advantages against the servants of the living God, representing them to the earthly powers as persons of dangerous principles and bad practices, inventing all manner of what can be called evil against them, and spreading it among the people, that the truth may start up nowhere in the earth, but everywhere be knocked down by the violence of the multitude, or by the sword of the offended magistrate. Now what is the matter of all this great noise and fury? Why this; A lamb is risen up in the innocency; the pure harmless spirit is appearing in the earth; the true life (which discovers the hypocrisy, and dead forms and ways of the whorish spirit) is breaking forth: therefore she makes a great outcry: Awake, people! awake! the church is in danger: arise, magistrates! magistracy and ministry will fall down, if this lamb-like spirit be permitted. No, no: these shall stand, but Babylon shall fall, and her mystery of iniquity be discovered, and her deceivableness of unrighteousness made manifest; and the true life and spirit shall arise and take possession of the hearts of people, and make them a clean and fit habitation for God: and people that are subject hereto, shall feel it, and enjoy it; though the merchants of Babylon say, men shall never be made clean while they live, but must still have a body of sin and death hanging about them. But how shall they put on Christ, who have not put off the body of sin? Shall those who are made kings and priests to God here on earth, minister in their filthy garments?

These are some of the sins of Babylon, that painted harlot, which is subtle in heart, and lies in wait to deceive, in the absence of the true church, whose clothing and resemblance she takes up, and appears in.

And when she had done all this; when, like Egypt, she has kept the seed in bondage in all her territories and dominions, in every church she has set up, and by all her ministries and ordinances; when, like Sodom, she has filled the whole world with filthiness, uncleanness, and all manner of spiritual abominations;  when, like old Jerusalem the bond-woman, she and her children have scoffed at the spirit in every appearance, all the time of her reign, and have trampled upon and domineered over them, who have but spoken of the coming of the just One in his people, sporting herself in her own deceivings; yet, after all this, she wipes her mouth, and says she has done no harm; she has been for the gospel, and church, and ministry, and ordinances, and the faith once delivered to the saints, and only against deceivers, seducers, blasphemers, and heretics. But the spirit of the Lord cannot be thus deceived; nor shall the nations be always thus deceived, and allow her to sit as a queen upon their consciences; but she shall see sorrow, and they shall taste joy at the sound of the everlasting gospel, when once again it comes to their ears. Rev. 14:6 and chap. 19:6-7.

THE JUDGMENT OF BABYLON

BABYLON the great, this great city of abominations, which has reigned over the whole earth, which has bewitched all sorts of professors with the golden cup of her fornications, which has subtly led from the life, and held all sorts captive in the witchery of her deceit, and has triumphed over the holy seed, making Zion, their mother, desolate, who sat in the dust, and was trampled upon by her: this great city, this glorious city, this rich city, this mighty powerful city, this queen of the earth (which knows not what belongs to Zion's misery, sorrow, poverty, and desolation), with antichrist her king and husband (who has clothed himself with the garments of light, and appeared in the likeness of the king of Zion, and has long been so acknowledged and worshipped), is to be judged by the spirit of life, which arises up out of the dust of Zion.

And though Babylon, the great whore (who in all her transformings has still remained an enemy to the life), has great power and great wisdom, and can shift very subtly to save herself by both; yet strong is the Lord God who judges her, and he also is wise; and she shall not escape his hand, but he will pursue her with his voices, with his thunderings, with his hail-stones, with his earthquakes, with his woes, with his plagues, with his cups of indignation, till he has made her  manifest, till he has broken her in pieces, till he has crumbled and laid her in the dust, till he has brought her down to the very pit, where the feet of Zion shall trample upon her for ever. Sing, sing, Oh inhabitant of Zion! do you not behold the crown of pride going down quickly? The decree is sealed against her; she cannot escape; yes, she is fallen, she is fallen; she is already taken in the snare; the eye of my life sees it, and rejoices over her in the living power.

The plagues of God Almighty, from the fierceness of his indignation, are visiting her whole territories, and passing over all her land. Nothing can help her to avoid his stroke; no paint will serve, no cover will hide, no profession, no practice, no duties, no ordinances, no church, no ministry, can avail to conceal her; but that spirit is pursued by the spirit of the Lord, and found out everywhere, and plagues are prepared and pouring out upon her. No, though she leave all her forms, and pretend to wait and seek for the Lord; yet she is found out there also.

Now what is her judgment? Destruction and utter desolation from the hand of the Lord; to be a hissing and reproach throughout all generations; to be brought down (by pourings-forth of the wrath and vengeance of the Almighty) into the pit, and there to drink the fulness of his wrath for ever. Zion shall be exalted; Zion shall drink the cup of life, the cup of blessing, the cup of love, the cup of salvation for ever: but Babylon the cup of fury, the cup of indignation for ever and ever. Zion shall sing; but Babylon shall howl: and all that saw any beauty, or took any pleasure in her, shall mourn over her. Alas, alas, for her! she who has so many ages gone for the church, is now proved to be the whore; those who have been taken, in their several transformings, for the true ministers, made manifest to be the false prophets; their ordinances and duties, but thefts and imitations; things which they have stolen from what they read in the Scriptures, but never received from the hand of the spirit.

The wrath of God, the dreadful cup of his fury, and jealous indignation for the cause of Zion, is to go over her whole land, over her sea, and all the ships that trade therein, and all her merchants, with all her precious traffic and merchandize. All her doctrines which she has stolen out of the scripture, all her  disciplines, all her experiences, all her performances (even those which are most like the performances of the former saints); no, though she may speak the very words of truth, yet as they come from her mouth, they shall be thrown by and judged, and be of no service or esteem in Zion. The most precious of her ware shall be dross and dung in the land of life, where there shall be no sea, and no such kind of merchants, traffic, or trading for ever.

Her earth also shall be made desolate, and burnt up, with all that is found therein; all her settlements shall be shaken; all her fruit-trees shall be rooted up; all her fruit shall wither, rot, die, and perish. All her conversions of people to God, as she calls them, shall come to nothing: yes, and if she have yet any more dresses, or secret coverings, wherein she would appear like the church again, and bring forth again; yet she and her children shall immediately be discovered, her flesh burnt with fire, and her children dashed against the stones. Every street in her city, every house and idol in every street, every room in every house, with every inhabitant, shall drink of the cup of astonishment, and stumble and fall, and rise no more. "You have long triumphed over me, O mine enemy! because I have fallen, and have long sat in darkness; but rejoice no longer; for I shall rise again, and the Lord shall be a light unto me: but you shall rise no more, and your light shall be put out for ever. Glory to the meek, suffering Lamb, even to him that sits upon the throne of life for ever."

Her air also shall be darkened. The Lord shall enlighten my darkness; but the light of Babylon shall be darkness for evermore. "The light of a candle shall be seen no more at all in you." Many lights has Babylon set up in the dark night; but the rising of the Sun of Righteousness shall extinguish them all for ever, and Babylon shall be shut up in utter darkness. Yes, all that have retained to Babylon, all that have walked by the light of any of her candles, that have cried up any of her false ware for orthodox, that have given up their names to her under any of her dresses or appearances, or that have received any of her marks, they shall partake of her shame, of her misery, and of her torment, from the hand of the Lord God. Yes, her throne also shall be visited, and the seat of antichrist in every heart shall feel the wrath.

Rise up from the dust, and shout forth with joy, O captive daughter of Zion, who have long dwelt under oppression, in the midst of the daughter of Babylon. Behold! Babylon's king shall be no longer judge over Zion; but your King shall be judge, and he shall judge the king of Babylon: and let all the powers and potsherds of the earth strive to their utmost; yet, says the Lord, "have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion," and he shall rule in my people, and rule over Babylon.

Learn, therefore, O inhabitants of the earth, great and small, meekness; learn righteousness; learn the fear of the Lord; kiss the Son; harden not yourselves against him, calling him a deceiver, a blasphemer, a seducer, a heretic (for what you do to the least that appear in his life, you do to him): but hearken to the word of his everlasting gospel, which says, "FEAR GOD, AND GIVE GLORY TO HIM, FOR THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT IS COME;" and you cannot escape his hand by that fear which is taught by the precepts of men, or by traditional knowledge out of the Scriptures; nor while you seek that honor which came out of the earth, and is of the earth, and to that which is earthly. Therefore let your hearts learn to know him, and your tongues to confess him, and your knees to bow to him; which if you do, you must forget all that knowledge, and those confessions and bowings, which you have learned in Babylon; for though you may have confessed some true things, yet (having learned this in Babylon) you have confessed falsely; even as the Jews, who said, "the Lord liveth," yet swore falsely. Jer. 5:2.

Now consider, you ministers of several sorts, and you several sorts of professors: we may appear great enemies to you, because we witness against your ways, and tell you what the end of them will be; but are we enemies to you indeed, whose desire it is to save you from this great wrath, which has already entered into the earth, and seized on some? Should we soothe you up, and not witness these things to you (which we infallibly know), how should we answer it to the Lord our God, or to your souls, when we shall appear before him? If we were in your condition, would we be content to be let go on, and to be overtaken with this great destruction? We cannot be silent. You must be silent; but we cannot. We know you must be silent; for that which now speaks in you, has been silenced in us, and is not to minister the things of God. But the spirit of the Lord must not be quenched in us, notwithstanding all our weakness; but the treasure must issue forth from the earthen vessel, for the relief of the poor in spirit, who alone receive the gospel. Therefore, though you hate us, though you persecute us, though you speak all manner of evil against us, and use us ever so hardly; yet there is love rooted in our souls toward your souls, yes, and toward your persons also: and having both felt the wrath, and tasted of the mercy, we cannot but warn you of the one, and invite you to the other. And oh! that you might find a shelter under the shadow of his wings in the stormy season, when wrath shall be showered down without mercy!

And this we cannot but tell you, that the several ways of religion in the Christian world are but so many several coverings; and that that which is covered with them is the whorish spirit, which the spirit of the Lord is hunting; who will strip her, and make her naked, and she shall appear to have been the whore under them all. Now that which lies beneath this spirit in you, which is despised and trampled upon as a thing of nought, which is burdened and daily slain by your multitudes of ordinances, professions, and religious practices; this is the heir of life; and by the raising up and living of this in you, may you come to life, and no otherwise. And all religion without this, even the most inward, is but the deceit of the whore, who makes a great show of worship, and zeal toward Christ, his ordinances and ministry (as she calls them); but by all these, and under all these, holds the life in bondage, and strives by all means to slay the heir, that the inheritance might come to her son. But Cain, the sacrificer; Ishmael, the son of the bond-woman; Esau, the hunter abroad after venison; the Jew, full of profession, zeal, ordinances, and worship, shall not inherit: but slain Abel shall be raised to life: Isaac (who was born of the dry and barren womb) shall have the promise; plain Jacob, the blessing; the out-cast Gentile be sought out. Thus it shall be; can you read it? Yet it is the desire of our souls that a remnant of you may be saved, and now is the gathering. Therefore seek humility, seek poverty of spirit, seek the suffering seed, the meek, innocent, harmless, dove-like nature, even the love which does no ill, nor thinks no ill; for this is the  spirit which is to be gathered: but the high and lofty, the wise and knowing, the fat and strong, the rough and confident, in their wisdom, and in their duties, churches, ordinances, etc., (which they have gathered and stolen from the Scriptures, out of the life) are with all these to be rejected, and to be shut up in blindness and hardness of heart. "Seeing they are to see, and not perceive; and hearing, to hear, and not understand; lest they should be converted, and healed." Yes, it is this spirit which is to fret under its pain and torment from the woes and plagues; but cannot repent, but passes on with Babylon to ruin and destruction. Rev. 16:9-11. "Babylon is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:2,4.

This is the cry concerning Babylon just upon her fall. Her iniquity is full, her filth overflows, the pure seed is gathering out of her, and nothing but devils and foul spirits, and unclean, hateful birds, remain in her. And the call still is to the people of God, from one remove to another, from one part of Babylon to another, to travel on, and pass away still, till they come quite out of it all. To come out of one part of Babylonish worship, that is not enough; or to come out of some pieces of Babylonish knowledge and wisdom, will not answer the call; but you must come out of it all. "Depart you, depart you; this is not your rest, for it is polluted." Stay not in any part of the unclean land, O child of the pure life! but be separate, and touch not the unclean thing, if you will have the holy One to receive you. Not only the several dresses and forms of the whore are polluted; but her spirit also, and all her inward fabric of religion, out of which you must also come, if ever you be joined to the pure life. Your faith, your hope, your love, your patience, your joy, your peace, your justification, your sanctification, your mortification, your ability to pray, to give thanks, to wait, etc., all must down, all must suffer loss, all must become dross and dung to you, that you mayst know the building of true life from and in the spirit. For the Lord will not own any of these, nor receive you with any of these which the whore has touched; but if you will have the pure life, both within and without, you must part with the corrupt life, both within and  without. This is a faithful and true testimony; but who can receive it? Will not both the houses of Israel be offended, and stumble at it? But if any of the people of God will abide still in Babylon, and not hearken to every call of the spirit of the Lord, to follow its guidance out of every part of her, they shall receive (from the impartial hand of the Lord) of her plagues, and have torment and sorrow proportionable to the glory and pleasure they have had with her. Therefore, if after one, two, three, or many removes out of some parts and practices of Babylon, the voice still follow, crying, "Come out of her, my people" (the spirit of antichrist is yet among you, the wine of fornication from the pure life is not yet purged out of you), do not stop your ears, thinking this belongs not to you, because you have forsaken some paths which are anti-christian; but hear and follow; for it is your life, and your way to rest and peace in the land of the living, and your sure preservation from anguish, perplexity, and misery in the hour of Babylon's judgment and sore distress.

AN OBJECTION ANSWERED

Now there is one thing which lies as a great block in the way, to hinder this testimony from entering into the hearts of those to whom it is directed, or at least to weaken the spirit's demonstration of it to their consciences (for exceeding subtle is the whorish spirit to keep every one of her subjects from the sight or suspicion of her in themselves, and to darken every beam of light, whereby it pleases God to make any way for the discovery of her in them), which is this:

Objection: But has all our religion, for these many ages, been Babylonish, and whoredom from the life? All our churches, all our ordinances, all our duties, all our ministry, etc. We can never be drawn to believe this. We are sure we have felt lively touches from God many a time, and enjoyed sweet communion with him in them. God has often met us there, and refreshed our spirits; which he would not have done, had they not been of himself.

Answer: There has been a simplicity and sincerity of heart, stirring in some people towards God, in all ages: even among the heathen, under all their idols; and among the Jews, in the midst of their great apostasy: which simplicity is of God, and acceptable with him, notwithstanding all the load of filth that may  hang round about it. Even in the midst of Egypt, or in the midst of Babylon, if Israel groans, the Lord hears, and may return sweet answers to Israel, even there. "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." The lowest breathing of true life towards God is the voice of his Son, and enters into his ear from the darkest part of Egypt or Babylon.

Now in this nation the simplicity has more stirred than in other nations; the seed of God in this land has been exceeding precious and dear to him. And at the beginning of these late troubles, the stirring of the simplicity from the pure seed was more vigorous and lively than it had been in many ages before; and accordingly the answers of God to it were more fresh and sweet; and there was a taste of him, and fellowship with him, and sweet hopes and refreshments to the soul. Though the way of praying, preaching, and worship, either public or private, was not right before him; yet he overlooked that which his soul hated (winking at the time of ignorance and anti-christian darkness), and met with that which he loved. And if the simplicity had grown and thriven, communion with God, and life from him, would have increased, although the pure path of the sanctuary had not yet been made manifest.

But this was it destroyed all; another thing got up under a cover, and the simplicity sunk; and so the life withdrew, and God has grown strange to his people. He missed that which he loved, and came to visit; he found that thrust upon him for his, which his soul cannot own or unite with; and so he became but "as a wayfaring man, that turns aside to tarry for a night." Jer. 14:8. Enter into your hearts, O you backsliding children! is it not thus? You who had sweet tastes of God, is he not become a stranger to you? You that had sweet, fresh, lively breathings after God, are you not set down in a form, or under some pleasing notions, and have got a covering, but lost the simplicity of your life, and the sweet tastes of God, and refreshments from him? Thus it has been in all reformations. There was commonly a pure, single, naked beginning; but an evil thing soon got dominion over it, slaying the pure, living stirring by the form which it raised up, under a pretense of preserving the life thereby, and of serving God more uniformly and acceptably therein. Ah! the precious  seed that was sown at the beginning of these troubles! What is become of it? How is every one turned aside from the pure life, into some idol or other of his own heart! some into one way of worship, and some into another; some into one notion, and some into another; and all joining together to keep the seed in bondage, endeavoring either to bring it back again to Egypt (to make it serve there), or to destroy and bury it in the wilderness. But the Lord has visited this poor, desolate seed, and has been gathering it from all quarters; from amidst all empty forms on the one hand, and all vain, high notions on the other hand; and he will preserve it, overturning all his new enemies, as well as his old.

This then is the sum of the answer.

1. No way, or particular act of worship, under the New Testament, is acceptable to God, without his spirit.

2. All invented or imitated ways or acts of worship, to the performing whereof the moving, presence, and power of his spirit are not necessary, but men can perform them without it, are Babylonish, and whoredom from that spirit to which the true Christian is joined, and in which all that he does is performed.

3. Under this anti-christianism, under this whoredom, even in the land of Babylon, where the true Israel is captive, a true simplicity towards God may sometimes be stirring.

4. When this at any time is stirring towards the Lord, the Lord pities it, the Lord loves it, the Lord accepts it. When this calls, the Lord hears, and waits that he may be gracious, and return answers of grace to it.

5. Though the Lord accept of this in the midst of Babylon, and in the midst of the whorish ways of worship that have been learned there; yet this does not make Babylon, or her ways of worship, acceptable; nor are they to be made use of (nor cannot) by any that fears God, to justify them.

6. Where they are so made use of, and the Babylonish ways and forms of worship cried up (because of God's visitations and tender mercy to his seed under them), God is provoked, his presence withdrawn, life lost, and wrath prepared against those forms and ways of worship, which will reach to the very bowels of those who are found there.

And let this word come home to your hearts, O you that ever  knew what belonged to sweet communion with God! if God was so tender to you in Babylon, when he stirred up in you a pure simplicity and zeal there, what would he have been to you, if you had come out of Babylon? Ah! you have lost the substance for a shadow; and that not a right shadow either, but a shadow of your own forming! and now you are angry with them, who will not also leave the substance to cry up your shadow. Ah! enter into your secret chambers, and let shame cover your faces; you who would propagate that apostasy from the Lord, which your own hearts have too far entered into, and are so deeply involved in. Oh, that the eye were opened in you which can see it! Do not your hearts a little feel it? Oh, mourn after the Lord, and mourn after the loss of that which once (in some measure in you) was true to the Lord. Oh, that the lost sheep might be sought out, and that which has been scattered (in the day of your loftiness, and seeking dominion and great things) might be gathered again to the Lord! for great is the wrath and severity that is towards you, and he is become exceeding jealous for his seed's sake; and judgment must begin with you, who cry out against antichrist in one gross, fleshly appearance, and yet are serving him yourselves, some of you in other forms, some in spirit.

This is a standing truth; whatever is not of the spirit of God in religion and worship, is of the spirit of antichrist. Whatever the spirit of man has invented or imitated, is not the thing itself, is not the true worship; for the true worship is only and continually in the spirit, and never out of the spirit. The true praying is in the spirit; the true singing, in the spirit; the true preaching, in the spirit: whatsoever is out of it, is of antichrist in man. Now therefore give up all your religion, your knowledge, your worship, your practices, which are out of the spirit; and return unto the Lord, and wait for his raising of that seed in you, which once began to spring, but is now slain, and lies in death and captivity under all these; and the earthly part (wherein all this religion and these practices stand) covers its blood, so as you cannot see how you have slain, and daily do slay, the just One.

Oh the blood, the blood, the innocent blood, that daily cries to the Lord against you! How can the Lord accept any of your services, while your hands are full of blood! while the pure simplicity is slain, the love grown cold, the life lost, and the whorish way and path (wherein and whereby it was lost) cried up for the way of God. Shall not the Lord visit for these things? Shall not his soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Yes, his wrath is kindled, the fierceness of his wrath is kindled against the professors of this age, and woe is from the Lord towards them. Woe to the Protestant congregations, woe to the select churches, woe to their pastors, who have helped them to wander from the life to dead idols, which cannot profit: woe to them who are exalted in notions and high knowledge. You have judged and condemned the Papists, and the Lord has found the same spirit of idolatry in you! but turn from your idols, return to your simplicity, put away your adulteries from between your breasts, and return to your first love, and the Lord will receive you, though you have wandered after many lovers, and have been inflamed with the love of idols under every green tree: but in these your church-ways and worships the soul of the Lord abhors you, and all your former zeal and simplicity are blotted out and forgotten; and in your present adultery and idolatry shall you die, unless you hear the voice of the Lord recalling you, and turn at his reproof.

Now in tender bowels to help you a little, consider that which follows:

The same spirit that steals away the true simplicity, raises up and steals in a false image thereof; which there is no perceiving at present, unless the soul lie very low, and be kept open and clear in the pure light.

And as in the true simplicity, the true light, the true knowledge, the true faith, the true hope, the true love, the true meekness, the true zeal, the true poverty and humility, etc., spring up and are nourished; so in the false image of simplicity (which the devil secretly conveys in, when he steals away the true) there is a likeness of all these springing up and growing.

And here is the beginning of Babylon in the heart; here are the inward riches and treasures thereof. What can Zion pretend to, which Babylon has not in the resemblance? Is there simplicity of heart in Zion? And is there not simplicity of heart among the inhabitants of Babylon? Yes, a false image. Is there light in Zion? And is there not also light in Babylon? Yes, there is the  light of the sun, and the light of the moon, and the light of the stars which fell from heaven, and the light of many candles shining in Babylon. Is there a true knowledge, in Zion? There is knowledge, falsely so called, in Babylon. A false knowledge of the cross of Christ; a false knowledge of his death; a false knowledge of his blood, without feeling the living virtue thereof, which truly washes away the sin. So for faith, hope, love, meekness, zeal, humility, &c, there are false images of all these in Babylon, and of whatever else is wrought in truth in the inhabitants of Zion.

Now when the truth is lost, and the false image crept in (both which are done at unawares, while the husbandman is asleep, and so he perceives it not, but thinks in his very heart that it is still the seed of truth that is growing up in him), then begins the mystery of fornication, idolatry, witchcraft, and all manner of spiritual wickedness and deceit to work in the heart. Your believing, your hoping, your love, your zeal, your praying, your waiting, etc., all here is abomination; it is from a false root; it is of a false kind; it is not of the true seed: the enemy has stolen away that, while you were negligent and slumbering; and all this arises in you from the seed which he did sow instead thereof, and is the fruit of the land of Babylon.

And having thus committed inward whoredom in your own heart, then you seek and set up outward ways of whoredom also. Having first set up an inward image of the inward life of the saints, you then seek and set up another image of their outward worship; an image of a church, an image of a ministry, an image of ordinances, an image of praying, an image of singing, an image of preaching, an image of baptism, an image of the saints' communion. And thus you are defiled within and without: and are mad with envy and rage that you can not bewitch the inhabitants of Zion (who are kept pure from all these defilements, and reserved as witnesses against you) into your bed of whoredoms. And thus, while you think you are the chief worshipper, you are all over polluted; "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;" there is no cleanness, no soundness, within or without, but "wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores," which "have not been closed, neither bound up, nor mollified with oil:" but the hurt of the daughter  of my people has been healed deceitfully, by physicians of no value, who have not the oil. IsAnswer: 1:5-6 and Ezek. 13:10.

This is generally the state of professors of this day; but they cannot see it: for they have put out the eye of the simplicity (wherewith alone God will allow the things of life to be seen), and God has blinded the eye of their wisdom, that they shall not see, nor be converted and healed that way. So that exceeding miserable is their estate: they will not see God's way, and God will not let them see their way. So that though there be "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little; yet it is that they might stumble, and fall, and be snared, and broken, and taken." For as discoveries of truth grow more clear and manifest; so they grow more hardened against it. And as they, on the one hand, increase in walking contrary to God; so God, on the other hand, proceeds in walking contrary to them; delighting more and more to stumble the wise, disputing part, which would so eagerly know, but must be made blind, that the eye of the babe may be opened, which sees that in the childish simplicity, which the other eye can never reach in the most manly wisdom.

Therefore put away all your images and likenesses of truth: put away your false faith (which can never overcome the worldly nature and spirit in you), and your false hope (which can never purify your hearts), and your feigned humility, and self-willed fasts (which can never bring down the lofty, exalted nature in you), and your false love (wherewith you can never love the brethren in the truth, but only the brethren in your notions, or some such other likeness of the truth), and your false zeal, meekness, holiness, etc., (all which spring and grow up from the wrong seed, in a seeming simplicity): and all your praying reading, preaching, etc., which you have taken up and do practice in your own wills, which should be crucified; and wherewith no service, worship, or performance, can be pleasing to God; and wait for the raising of the true seed of life, in the true simplicity, whereby you may serve God acceptably here, and be saved hereafter. And be not mockers, lest your bands be made strong; for the consumption is determined against you by that Spirit of life, whose breath will waste you. All flesh is grass, and the glory thereof as the flower of the field! Surely this people is grass,  and their zeal and profession of God, like the fading flower.

SOME PLAIN QUERIES

Drawn out of the book of the REVELATIONS, for all Sorts of Professors of this Age to answer between GOD and their own Souls; that they may see whether they have received that Light from him, which his Spirit judged necessary to give forth, to keep People chaste to him, and to preserve them from the several painted Beds of Antichrist's Fornications and Whoredoms from the Life.

"Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Rev. 1:3.

The time of deceit was then at hand for antichrist (with his false church, and false prophets) to get up, which were to last till "the hour of judgment." Rev. 14:7-8. Have you read? have you heard? have you kept the things written in this book? Then happy are you! But have you not read in the Spirit? have you not heard the true sound of these things from the Spirit of life? have you not kept the things written therein? Then you have been deceived with the mystery of iniquity, and must smart with the whore in the hour of her judgment.

The QUERIES are these which follow.

FIRST, WHAT woman was that which was clothed with the sun, and had the moon under her feet, etc. Rev. 12:1. Whether it was the true church or no?

SECOND. What that wilderness was whereinto she fled; where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1260 days? ver. 6.

THIRD. How long those 1260 days did last? and whether they be yet expired? and whether the true church is anywhere else to be found all the time of the 1260 days, but in that place in the wilderness?

FOURTH. What are all the churches, the ministry, the ordinances, that appear out of the wilderness all this while, while the true church is there?

FIFTH. What was that beast which came out of the sea; to which the dragon gave his power, his seat, and great authority? which all the world worshipped? Rev. 13 ver. 1, to 5.

SIXTH. What is that sea, and those ships, wherein and wherewith the merchants of the earth traded with Babylon, and were made rich by their traffic? what were those merchants? what their merchandize? and what kind of riches was this? Rev. 18 ver. 15, to 20.

SEVENTH. What was that name of God, and that tabernacle, and those inhabitants of heaven, which were blasphemed by the beast that arose out of the sea, all the time of the forty-two months? Rev. 13: ver. 5-6.

EIGHTH. What is the Lamb's book of life? and where is it? and how are the names of any so written in it, as to preserve them from the worship of the beast? Rev. 13:8.

NINTH. What is that beast that came up out of the earth, with the horns of a lamb (as if it came up in the Lamb's power), which does great wonders, and justifies his sacrifice, by making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men; who both caused men to make an image to the first beast, and also puts life into the image which men make? Rev. 13. ver. 11, etc. So that here is not a mere dead image, but there is life in the beast's knowledge, ordinances, and worship: yet with God all this is dead, for it is not the true life.

TENTH. What is the beast's mark, his name, his number? Rev. 13:17. For if I do not infallibly know this, I may have received his mark; I may help to make up his name; I may be of his number, and be, unknown to myself, a worshipper of him and his image, and so be liable to partake of the torment of the fire and brimstone threatened to such. 13:9-10.

ELEVENTH. What is that song, which none could learn but the 144000, which were not defiled with women, but remained virgins? Rev. 14:3.

TWELFTH. What was that other woman, which took and kept the place of the former woman, after she had fled into the wilderness, and enlarged her territories in nations, kindred, tongues, and peoples? Rev. 17:4, and ver. 15.

THIRTEENTH. What were the purple and scarlet colors, and the gold and precious stones she was decked with? ver. 4.

FOURTEENTH. What was the golden cup she had in her hand, which was full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornications;  in the midst of all her glorious appearance of zeal, devotion, humility, and holiness? ver. 4.

FIFTEENTH. What kind of drunkenness was it, wherewith the kings and inhabiters of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of this cup? Rev. 17:2.

SIXTEENTH. How may those who have hated the whore, and made her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burned her with fire, yet after all this, give their kingdom again to the beast? Rev. 17 ver. 16-17. How may this be done? and how often may it be done?

These are plain, simple queries, not to entangle men's minds, or set their brains on work (for that way shall they never be able to resolve them) but to awaken the simplicity in them, which will readily let them see what the Lord has revealed to them herein, and in which they are to wait for the knowledge hereof, that they may escape or come out of the snare. And in the mean time not to boast, as Israel of old did (when the prophets from the mouth of the Lord accused them) that they had not "polluted themselves," they had not "gone after Baalam" (Jer. 2:23. and ver. 35); but wait O backsliding Christian! and you shall "see the way in the valley." And though you have often traversed your ground to change your path, gadding from one form to another, from one notion to another; yet all this has been out of the life, out of the pure power, and still in the whoredom. Open the weak, sick eye in the weak heart (for how weak is your heart, while you have done all this!),and let the languishing simplicity be my witness: for (under all your wisdom, your zeal, your knowledge, your worship) that faints, that fails, that is not what it was in the beginning. Though you are grown much higher, wiser, and greater otherwise, yet there you have lost: and happy will you be, if all your gains ever since may become loss to you for the recovering of this.

SOME CONSIDERATIONS

Helping out of the Suburbs or Out-skirts of Babylon, that her inward building may be the better come at, and lie more open to the axe and hammer, which are to batter it down, and to cut it for the Fire.

FIRST, consider what it was the church fled out of, when she  fled into the wilderness. Was it not out of that church-state or building, which the Spirit of God had raised up for her here in the world, to which her ordinances, and way of church-worship belonged? Was it not here that the dragon assaulted her, and from which she fled into a desolate place and state?

Secondly, What spirit entered into these, when she fled out of them? Were not these the conqueror's spoils? Did not antichrist get possession of the form? Did not the whore get the spouse's attire? Did not the wolves gather up the sheep's clothing, and clothe themselves therewith? Was not the outward court (what is the outward court under the gospel, but the visible church-state, with the visible ordinances thereof?) given to the Gentiles, who trod under foot the holy city, all the while they were worshipping in the outward court? Rev. 11:2.

Thirdly, What spirit is it directs men to these, since the true church has been fled out of them? And to what intent? Is it not that spirit which would keep men from the life, that they might not be born of the barren womb in the wilderness, but be born of some of the fruitful wombs of the visible churches; while the true church is invisible, and has no visible place in the earth, but remains in that place in the wilderness which God prepared for her, and where she receives her food all the forty-two months? Rev. 12 ver. 6,14.

I have smarted deeply for these things, and have been taught by the briars and thorns of the wilderness, whereby my ears came to be opened, to hear the sound of the everlasting gospel, to which they were before through ignorance stopped. For I also did believe and expect great things in a church-state and way of worship; and in simplicity of heart did I enter into it, and walk in it, and was not without knowledge, warmth, and experiences there. But all this the Lord broke down by a strong hand, in one moment; and has taught me since to throw away all my gains here, and elsewhere, and to count them but dross and dung, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. And having tasted, having seen, having felt, having handled, I cannot but commend the life; and dissuade all men from all knowledge, all worship, all religion, all ways, and practices (though ever so taking, pleasant, and promising), out of  the life. And this is to know Christ; namely, to know the life: and this is to obey Christ, to obey the life: and this is the kingdom of Christ which is to come, to have the life reign in power and great glory. But the knowing or believing of a history concerning Christ, this is not the knowledge or the faith: antichrist all along the apostasy, in all his various forms and dresses, has known and believed thus: and this kind of knowledge must pass away, further than it can find a place and service in the life. Be not angry at my testimony; it flows from pure love, and comes forth in great good-will to your souls.

Yes, if it be possible that I might be a little serviceable to you (for my soul travails for the redemption of professors from the witchery of the whorish spirit, even of such as are ready to revile that which alone can redeem them), in the meekness and coolness of your spirits, out of the fiery, false zeal, consider yet a little further these few things following:

1. The state of the gospel is an invisible state, a state consisting of invisible things (as the law was a visible state, or a state consisting of visible things); the light invisible, the life invisible, the power invisible; that which converts invisible, that which is converted invisible, that which it is converted to invisible, and the whole course of spiritual life lies invisible.

2. This invisible state has a visible way of appearance to the world, by garments which it wears, by motions and exercises which the life chooses for it to appear in.

3. These garments are subject to corrupt, and to be worn by that which is corruptible, and corrupted. That which has not the life may put on the garment; and that which has lost the life may still keep the garment.

4. The preservation of the life lies not in the garment, or in the observation of any thing wherein the life did once appear; but the preservation of the garment lies in the life. And the life may change its garment at its pleasure, and may refuse to wear those any more which the whore has worn, but as the life again leads.

5. When the life is at any time lost, the only way of recovery is by retiring to the invisible, and keeping there, and growing up there; and not coming forth in the visible further than the  life leads, nor staying there any longer than the life stays.

Now this is the mistake of persons generally; they look for the finding the invisible life in visibles. They run to corrupted ordinances and ways of devotion, and think to find God there: but do not wait to feel him in their hearts, and to be led by him into what he pleases; and to stay no where any longer than while he stays there, but to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes.

Some others mistake in running to that, and waiting there where they once felt life, but do not know the way to wait on the life itself: and so they are running to an image, waiting at an image, worshipping of an image, and the living God will not meet them there. But throw away your images; let Ephraim, the dear child, say to his idols, Get you hence; thrust away your adulteries which provoke the eye of God's jealousy, receive the forerunner (the severe purifier) into your bosoms, and let the fire of his jealousy cleanse your hearts, and the pure will soon come after, and lodge again between your breasts. Can you hear this sound? That which is born of the same wisdom, cannot but hear it; but the other birth must have its ear stopped.

Now hearken to this advice. When the invisible life is felt and known, do not disdain to follow it into whatever visible thing it leads. Let not your wisdom be judge what the life will lead into, or what the life is to be followed in; but let the life itself be judge: and let the child, which is born of the life, follow it singly, without murmuring, without disputing. The life has foolish ways (to the eye of your wisdom) of breaking the wisdom in you, which is contrary to it, which your wisdom will be reasoning and disputing against; and if that wisdom be hearkened to, the life is overturned in its course, and the head of the serpent remains found in you, which the foolish and weak things (which the wisdom of God chooses to cross and disturb it by) would help to break and crush.

AN EXHORTATION TO THE PRESENT POWERS

BABYLON the great, the mystery of iniquity, which has deceived and held captive the whole Christian world for these many generations, under forms and appearances of godliness and devotion, is at length come into remembrance before God, who  is arisen to judge her, and overturn her seat. The army has been preparing, and many soldiers have been drawn forth; the trumpet has sounded, the battle is begun, and blood has been shed on both sides; the blood of the creature on the one side, the blood of the whorish spirit on the other side.

The whore (with the power of the beast on which she rides, and by whose strength and assistance she makes war with the Lamb) is mighty and dreadful: and it has long been said, "Who is able to make war with the beast?" (whose strength is hers). But the Lord God (who has risen out of his holy habitation to judge, and has begun to judge her) is more mighty; by whose arm and strength she shall fall, and the beast shall not be able to carry her up and down any longer; no, nor to uphold her in her seat of government over the consciences of men.

Be wise now, therefore, and consider the present state of things; and if you find not hearts to help the Lord against the mighty, yet take heed of helping the mighty against the Lord. The vessels wherein the life arises and appears, are poor and very contemptible, and you may easily trample upon them: but the life which rises up in them is very precious, and too strong for the powers of earth or of hell. The Lord did not appear formerly among you, or of late begin to raise you up again, that you should become enemies to him, or aiders of his enemies against him; but that you might let his seed go forth to worship him in the wilderness (for in this dark land of Egypt they cannot). Therefore break the yokes, and take off the burdens, and let there be no new snares laid; but leave the conscience (where the Lord chooses to appear, and which he delights to draw out of the world to himself) free to the Lord.

The Lord has kindled, and is kindling, the fire with which he is burning, and will burn, the flesh of the whore. Come not near to help her, lest you feel the flames. Stand afar off and see her burning, and at most pity her, but help her not.

We fight not against the flesh and blood of creatures, but against that evil spirit which captivates and makes them miserable: nor do we fight with carnal weapons, but with such weapons as are able to reach that spirit. Now if you interpose with your carnal weapons, and smite the vessel which the Lord is  pleased to make use of in this warfare, his hand will be upon you: yes, if you endeavor to bear off the stroke from the whore, it will light upon yourselves, and the Lord's hand (and his strokes in this day of his jealousy and vengeance) is very heavy.

Do what you can, you shall not be able to hinder the Lord's victory (who will overcome, even by this very people, whom the wise of all sorts despise). All that you can do in taking part with the enemy, is but to bring wounds and judgments upon yourselves, and to shorten the days of your government. But the work of the Lord will go on and prosper; and this painted harlot (which pretends to be the spouse of Christ, and has decked herself so pleasingly with her stolen knowledge of scriptures, and lays claim to his ministry and ordinances) shall be stripped naked, and her shame seen, and every child in the life shall be able to point at her; and the song of triumph over the dragon, the beast, the false churches, and all the false prophets (who are not made, nor prophesy not, by the anointing) shall be sung in righteousness, even to the Lamb, who daily gets, and will get, perfect victory; for to him it is given over all his enemies.

POSTSCRIPT

THE redemption of the soul is by the Spirit of the Lord; which he that would enjoy from it, must know its appearance and operation in himself, and not quench or limit it, but universally be subject to its guidance and leadings. All man's inward misery arises from man's inward rebellion, which is as the sin of witchcraft (springing from the spirit of witchcraft). His recovery and happiness are in the faith and obedience to the pure power, movings, and operations of the Spirit in him.

The Lord God, who made mankind, who is the Lord of all, he is redeeming a people to himself by his Spirit. And this Spirit will not be limited by the powers of the earth, but will break nations in pieces, and trample upon princes as mortar, and as the potter treads clay, till it has made its way through them.

Oh! open the eye, the inward eye, which can discern the seasons. It is not now the time for antichrist to prevail, or for proud flesh to rise up in its heady will, to stop the outgoings of its Maker. This season is past; and the season of the prevailing of the life and power of the Sun of Righteousness is now come.

Therefore lift up your heads, O you weak and faint of the flock! for iniquity and oppression must fall both within and without; and the tender God of everlasting love will turn back the captivity of his people, and of his creatures. Be not therefore affrighted at the inward power of sin in the heart, nor at the outward oppressing powers of the earth; for the Redeemer's strength is above all, and he is stretching forth his mighty arm to save: in the true and living faith of the elect it is felt.

And O you potsherds of the earth! strive not with your Maker, limit him not, for he will assuredly break through you. Think not to subject him to your laws; but learn his law, come under his yoke, and be bound by him, that you may taste of his liberty. Wash your lips, and kiss the Son, and be not angry at his various appearances so contrary to your wisdom; but fear his dreadful name, and his threshing instrument which has teeth; and seek a hiding-place under the shadow of his wings, against the sharp season of the breaking-forth of his wrath, and jealous indignation for the cause of Zion, which hastens quickly.

He has long let the spirit of Babylon have its liberty, and his has been silent: now is the time for his Spirit to speak, and for Babylon's to be silent. Will you still force him to silence, and open Babylon's mouth? Will you not allow him to speak, but according to the laws and orders of Babylon? Must that counterfeit queen still sit on the throne among you, and the true princess be made her servant? Oh let it not be grievous to you, to see the Spirit of the Lord arise, and make Babylon appear Babylon! Her wisdom, her knowledge, her unity, her uniformity, her order, her comeliness, her beauty, are but folly, confusion, disorder, and deformity before the Lord. Happy is the eye that sees it, and the foot that turns from her.

Therefore awake, arise, and stand up from the dead. Come out of the thick, dark land, where the pure God of life is not to be found: "Come out of Babylon, and touch not the unclean," that the pure life may receive you into unity with itself: but the spirit that is unpurged from its Babylonish worships and practices, the Lord will not allow to come near him. Therefore search what is Babylon, and of Babylon, in all your ways and worships; and wait on the Spirit of the Lord to be redeemed out  of it, and separated from it, or you must remain separated from the Lord, and not partake of his life and virtue, from which that city, with all her inhabitants, is shut out for ever.

The Lord has had a sore controversy with this nation (with her rulers, her teachers, and people) for his seed's sake, which he has been begetting to himself, and calling forth to worship him (according to the pure law of his Spirit of life), out of the ways, worships, and heathenish customs of the earthly spirit.

Israel is his first-born, whom he will not have any longer kept in bondage. They are his own, of his own begetting and forming, of his own nourishing and bringing up; the plants of his own right hand, whom he waters with the dews of heaven, and with the showers of his everlasting mercy and loving-kindness; whom he has gathered by the arm of his power, and whom he leads and defends by his cloud, and pillar of fire; over whom he is tender as of the apple of his eye. They are his anointed ones, whom he will not have touched, but rebukes kings and parliaments, armies and councils, for their sakes; saying, "Touch not mine anointed; and do my prophets no harm."

Have you not seen, how no strength nor counsel has been able to prevail against them? They have had no fence, but the arm which has gathered them. What plottings and contrivings have there been against them! How are they, as sheep appointed for the slaughter, destined to be devoured, crushed, and trodden underfoot; what divinations and enchantments have been used against them, even to blot out their name and remembrance from the earth!

But why do you strive and contend thus with the God of Jacob? Can you prosper? He that made the earth, will not you let him have room therein for his people? Must they be subject to your wills? Must they bow to your image? Shall not the God of the spirits of all flesh have the command of the spirits of his own people? Can you stop the Spirit of God from breathing upon them? Or will you fall foul upon them, if they be obedient to the breathings and movings of his Spirit? May it not suffice that they are innocent and harmless among you in their conversations and practices, but will you still lord it over their consciences? Will you put the Lord to it, to the very last, to try it out with you, whether  he can defend his people, and make way for their liberty?

Well! if peace be taken from you; if your rulers, laws, and governments be broken in pieces; if his hand be stretched forth against you; if he curse your very blessings, whom can you blame? Why do you provoke him against your own souls? Are you stronger than he? If you be stronger and wiser, you may prevail: but if he be stronger, and will put forth his arm, his people shall be saved, and find a shelter in him, in the midst of all that wrath which is pouring down upon you. Your peace has been lengthened out for their sakes. "If it had not been for their sakes," (for the remnant which the Lord has had to gather) "you had, ere this, been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah." The land is full of filthiness, which the Lord's soul loathes; and instead of drawing forth the sword against it, you draw it forth against his witnesses. There is liberty enough for sin and vanity, for excess and riotousness, for images and idols: but to worship God in spirit, to obey his pure movings; this kindles your rage, and these are the people who are a burden to you. Ah! how eagerly would you ease yourself of this people! (Zion is indeed a burdensome stone, and will fall heavy on all that meddle with her). But the Lord will ease himself of the adversaries of his life and Spirit, and he will bring forth his righteousness which he has prepared, and set it up in the earth, and none shall be able to stop him. Therefore gather yourselves together in battle; associate yourselves, that you may be broken in pieces: take counsel together, it shall come to nought; speak the word, it shall not stand: but the Lord's counsel shall stand, and he will fulfill all his pleasure, and will delight himself in his people, and raise them up by the fall of their enemies: and then you shall see against whom you have plotted and contended, and what you have helped to bring about by all your secret plots and designs. "If the Lord had not been on our side, now may Israel say;" if the Lord had not been on our side, what had become of his poor people! Ah, poor worm Jacob! how often would the foot of pride have trampled you down again and again, had not the everlasting arm been stretched out for you! but fear not, worm Jacob, nor be solicitous for your preservation, but trust that arm which delights to preserve you.

Ah foolish people and unwise! who strive against your own  mercy; who see not on what hinge all your mercies hang, but make it your work to break down the wall that defends you!

Jerusalem is the city of the great King, which is coming down from heaven: and Israel is his people; and both must have a place in the earth. The Lord has determined it, and who can withstand it? What prejudice can Jerusalem, or the inhabitants thereof, bring unto you? They are enemies, indeed, to this earthly state of things, and would have all brought into subjection to the life and power of their king, and all that stands in opposition to God brought down, and made pliable to his spirit; and this the unyoked earthly spirit cannot bear. But this is the interest of your souls, and the way to unity with that life which is their happiness, peace, and rest for ever. For if you could pass through the fire, and bear the burning up of your dross, you also might become vessels for the finer, and might dwell with them in their everlasting habitation.

The saints formerly had an entrance ministered to them into the everlasting kingdom, and came unto Mount Zion, which cannot be removed; and to Jerusalem, the city of the living God, Heb. 12:22. where the blood of sprinkling, the peace that passes understanding, the everlasting righteousness, and the joy unspeakable and full of glory, were witnessed in the renewed spirit, which receives the kingdom which cannot be shaken, and enters into the everlasting rest.

And it is again revealed, and the witnesses shall ascend into heaven in the sight of their enemies; even into the new heaven and the new earth, where righteousness dwells; and the old heaven and the old earth (with all their inhabitants) shall be burnt up: and then it shall be seen that righteousness becomes, and belongs to, the house of God for ever. And his city shall be a quiet habitation, free from all the noise and hurry of Babylon; where the pure river of life runs clear, free from all the mud and mixtures of Babylon; and the Lord God of infinite fulness will not disdain communion with his creatures, but will tabernacle among them, dwell with them, sup with them, walk in them, and take them into his holy habitation, and they shall dwell with him, sup with him, and walk in him.

But who shall abide in his tabernacle? who shall dwell in his  holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart, etc., he who contemns the vile person (how great and high soever), but honors them that fear the Lord, be they otherwise what they will. This man shall dwell on high, above the reach of all low, creeping, dark spirits, even in that holy habitation of life and power, which nothing can touch or annoy.

I shall now conclude with a few words concerning the present estate of this poor, distracted nation.

This nation has long lain wounded and sick: she has had many physicians (on whom she has spent much) who have promised her fair, but have not effected her cure. Of late her wound has been much enlarged; yes, she is become sick at her very heart, and in great danger. Many are spending their judgment upon her; some thinking a king would help all, some a parliament, and some hoping for good from the army; but every eye sees her case to be very desperate. Ah England, England! You strive with your Maker, and he overturns your strength and councils. The life and wisdom which you despises, is that which alone can heal you. You strive to keep off the strokes from the enemies of God, and smite his dear ones; how can he spare you? Hand still joins in hand to keep the Lord's stroke from reaching Babylon, which he has directed at her heart, and will not miss her, but will pierce through everything that stands in his way. Though the cry has long been, Hurt not the tender conscience; it is that on which God works, and wherein he chooses to appear, and with which he is pleased, and pities. Many promises have been, touching liberty of conscience; yet still the meek of the earth, the innocent lambs of Christ (those that are faithful to the light of God in their consciences) are persecuted and suffer. What can you plead, O England! why the Lord should not break you all in pieces, and save his people himself, by and in the midst of your ruins? The Lord will have the victory over you in this particular, about which he has so long striven with you. It would be better and easier for you to yield unto, than be forced by, his hand. Therefore, at length hear his voice, which has so often and so loudly cried unto you, "Let my people go, that they may serve me."

THE JEW OUTWARD BEING A GLASS FOR THE

PROFESSORS OF THIS AGE

WHEREIN

IF THEY READ WITH MEEKNESS, AND IN THE TRUE LIGHT, SUCH OF THEM AS HAVE NOT OVERSLIPPED THE DAY OF THEIR VISITATION, MAY SEE THEIR OWN SPIRITS, TO THEIR OWN EVERLASTING ADVANTAGE AND COMFORT, BY LEARNING SUBJECTION TO THAT WHICH HATH POWER IN IT TO DESTROY THE EVIL SPIRIT IN THEM

CONTAINING

Some EXCEPTIONS and ARGUMENTS of the JEWS against Christ's Appearance

in that Body of Flesh in their Days; which the present PROFESSORS may view and compare with their Exceptions and Arguments against his Appearance in Spirit in this Age; that they may see and consider which of them are the more weighty

BY ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

[1659]

PREFACE

THE Lord God of infinite goodness, has ever dearly loved mankind, yet could never so appear to them since the transgression, as to be owned by them, till the veil was taken from before their hearts. Israel in Egypt hearkened not to Moses, because of their anguish and bondage. When they were led out, they were ever and anon murmuring, and picking quarrels against him. Samuel they rejected (as the Lord lays to their charge); though  they might excuse themselves, and say they had just exceptions against his sons. Elijah, that mighty man of God, the great restorer of Israel, and pleader against Baal by fire, his life was sought for. And though there be not a particular record of their usage of the prophets about those days, yet in general he complains that they were all slain but himself. 1 Kings 19:10. Micaiah was smitten on the cheek, and jeered by the false prophet who smote him, and said, "Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto you?" And he was commanded to be put in prison, and fed with bread of affliction and water of affliction. Jeremiah was put into the dungeon, even to the danger of his life: and by those few that were left, that seemed singly to inquire by him concerning the will of the Lord (Jer. 42:2-3), disdainfully rejected. chap. 43:2. Why should I spend time in particular instances? What prophet can I except? for though all their bad dealings with them are not related in scripture; yet Christ testifies that they did deal badly with them all; some of them they stoned, some of them they scourged in their synagogues, some of them they killed and crucified, and others they persecuted from city to city. "Yes," says Stephen, "which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just One." You make it such a strange thing, that if Christ had been a prophet, you should not own him; why which of the prophets was owned? You have still some exception or other against us, that we are not the prophets of God; and against our message, that it is not the mind of God. You take arguments from one prophet's words to oppose another prophet with; and from one prophet's manner of coming, to oppose another prophet's manner of coming. If John come neither eating nor drinking, you reject him for his austereness: if Christ come both eating and drinking, you reject him for his liberty and freedom in the life. Now what is the reason of this? Christ himself gives the reason. Mat. 11:19. "Wisdom is justified of her children." You are not the children of wisdom, you are not begotten of the life, of the Spirit of the prophets, and so cannot justify that Spirit. You have got the letter of the prophets, you are born of that; but you are not born of the life, you are not born of the wisdom. And so whoever comes  forth in the same birth from the letter with you, him you can own; but if any prophet come forth with that same Spirit, him you cannot own. He that is born after the flesh, cannot but persecute him that is born after the Spirit. Jerusalem was all along the persecutor of the prophets, from the beginning to the end.

And is this nothing to you, O you professors of this age! Search and see who have been the persecutors among you, but they who have had the name of the church and her prophets. Who have slain the witnesses? The church of Rome has slain the witnesses against her, and the Protestants have slain the witnesses against them. About the beginning of these troubles, if a man were never so truly zealous, yet if he could not conform to the common prayer book and ceremonies, how was he persecuted! A Non-conformist, a Separatist, a Brownist, an Anabaptist (though owning the same Christ in his very heart and soul) yet because his practice was a testimony against the false church-worship of the common Protestant, must be hunted up and down to courts, imprisoned, fined, banished. And to this day, the Lord can bring forth no birth of his Spirit, but the zealous professor hates, reviles, and seeks to destroy it. If the Lord lay any law upon the conscience, if it be not suitable to their apprehensions from the letter, how do they reproach, disdain, revile, and endeavor to render such odious to the magistrates, and to the people!

But why should we wonder at these things? There is no new thing under the sun. The state of the world is just as it always was. The power of Truth in every age has been still opposed by those who cried up the form. It were a wonder if it should be otherwise. I should much more wonder, if the teachers and professors of this age should own Truth, than that they fight against it, and persecute it. Well, friends and brethren, be strong in the Lord, and faithful to his Truth, in the power of his might: bear the reproach, the afflictions of this age, the persecutions of this your day. Verily your eyes shall see that there is a reward for the righteous, and your hearts shall be satisfied with it, when the children of the kingdom (of this age, as well as of Christ's, and all former ages) shall be shut out in utter darkness, where shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

THE JEW OUTWARD

SOME EXCEPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS OF THE JEWS AGAINST CHRIST'S APPEARANCE, etc.

THE Jews were once the only outward, visible people of God, who were chosen by God for a peculiar people, who had the promise of, and expected, the Messiah; whose faith and hope of salvation was in him; yes, and at that very time they were looking for him, yet, when he came, he was "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense" to them, and they could by no means receive him. They were full of reasonings, and doubts, and contendings about it; but could never, with all their wisdom from the letter, determine that was he. Though he lived as never man lived; though he spake as never man spake; though he did what never man did; yet still some exception or other they had from the letter of the scriptures, to which his manner of appearance, his conduct, and his doctrine, did not suit in their judgment; and so, after many disputes and debates, they at length delivered him up to death, as a blasphemer, a deceiver, a seducer of the people.

Many exceptions and arguments they had against him; against his descent, his doctrine, his practices, his miracles, his followers, etc., which I shall refer to heads, to make them more obvious.

1. They excepted at his descent and kindred. "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? and his sisters, are they not all with us." Mat. 13:55-56. What! this that glorious Messiah! the great king of glory, of whom all the prophets prophesied and spoke great things! Surely it cannot be. "And they were offended in him." ver. 57. It was this made them they could not receive that heavenly doctrine of his, which otherwise might have been life to them, when he taught them that he was "the bread of life that came down from heaven:" but they murmured because of it, and said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I came down from heaven." John 6:41-42. So again, John 7:27. "We know where this man is from; but when Christ comes, no man knows where he is from." This was a close argument, and was raised up to eat out a deep impression of his being  the Christ, as may appear from the foregoing verse. He speaks indeed boldly, and deep things, &c, as if he were the Christ; but how can it be he, seeing it is known from where he comes?

2. At his country, or place of his education and residence, which was Nazareth of Galilee. "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" John 1:46. "Shall Christ come out of Galilee?" John 7:41. "Search and look; for out of Galilee arises no prophet." ver. 52.

3. At the time and season of his coming. He came (as to their sense) before Elias. With this argument they pinched the disciples, as is signified in that query of theirs to Christ, "Why then say the Scribes, that Elias must first come?" Mat. 17:10. This could not but be a sore argument in the mouth of the Scribes, who might reason with the disciples on this wise: what poor, ignorant, sottish, deluded people are you, to own this man for your master, and take him for the Messiah! Elias must first come, and restore all things. If this man preached ever so heavenly doctrine, and did ever so many miracles; yet, if he pretend to be the Messiah, he can be but a deceiver: for the true Messiah comes not before Elias; and every one knows that Elias is not yet come, nor his work of restoring all things so much as begun.

4. His doctrine administered abundance of offense to them, and they were continually stumbling at it. That heavenly doctrine, mentioned a little before, that he was "the bread of life," they murmured at. John 6:41. When he did but say "God was his Father," they presently flew out upon him, and said, "he made himself equal with God." John 5:18. When he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," they misunderstood him, and brought it forth as an argument against him at the time of his suffering, Mat. 26:61. and cast it as a jeer in his teeth. Mat. 27:40. When he did but say to the man sick of the palsy, "Son, your sins are forgiven you;" the Scribes and Pharisees presently exclaimed against him, "Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Luke 5:21 and 7:49. When he preached very powerfully against covetousness, the Pharisees derided him. Luke 16:14. Yes, when he did but preach a parable or two about "the widow of Sarepta, and Naaman the Syrian" (it coming a little close to their state) "all they in the  synagogue were so filled with wrath, that they rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill, to cast him down headlong." Luke 4:28-29. At his saying that "Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and he saw it, and was glad;" the Jews replied, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" John 8:57. How absurd and impossible was this to them, that a man of not fifty years should say, that Abraham (who lived so many ages before) saw his day! And instead of giving them an argument to demonstrate it to them, he only returns them a more confident affirmation, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am;" ver. 58. which so enraged them, that "they took up stones to cast at him." ver. 59. Now mark: the life speaks what it sees and knows, and so it gives forth its testimony. The wise professor, not being in the life, cannot know or receive the testimony; but calls for arguments and demonstrations to his wise eye. The life refuses to answer him; but instead thereof, only affirms the thing more strongly and confidently. This, being so far from that which he looks for, and requires to satisfy him, kindles disdain and rage in him: and he looks upon the life, for this way of proceeding, as worthy to be stoned. What! when they should lay before Christ a fair argument, whereby they might plainly convince him by evident reason, that he could not see Abraham's day, and he, instead of answering it, should only bring forth a more confident affirmation, would not men's wisdom in this age even hiss at such a thing? Yet this was the way of the life then, in that day; and the life may, at his pleasure, take the same way again now, to offend the wise and knowing.

When he spake of his being "the good Shepherd," and of his "laying down his life for his sheep" (and of the hireling's flying, in time of danger, to save himself), John 10:11-12. many of the Jews said, "He has a devil, and is mad. Why hear you him?" ver. 20. Many of them that were then the people of God (the separated people; for the Jews were a people separated from the world, and studied the law, and observed the ordinances of Moses) looked upon Christ as a man not fit to be heard speak; but as a mad-man, as one that had a devil, as one that might have great power of deceit from the devil, to bewitch men from truth. "Why hear you him?" What good can you expect from  him? "He has a devil, and is mad." Oh, how desperately will bold flesh venture to judge of the life and power of God, when it has got a little knowledge from the Scriptures, and a way of worship, duties, and ordinances!

When he said, "I and my Father are one," John 10:30. "they took up stones again to stone him," ver. 31. and made no question but they did well in doing of it, as appears by their answer to his demand, for which of his good works they stoned him. They replied very confidently, "For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because you being a man, make yourself God." ver. 32-33. And when he said, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death," John 8:51. then said the Jews unto him, "Now we know you have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead. Who make you yourself?" ver. 53. Were not Abraham and the prophets holy men? Had not they the sayings of God? And did they not keep the sayings of God? Yet they are dead. Such a kind of speech as this must needs be from the devil. Now you make manifest from what spirit you speak. "Now we know you have a devil." And indeed how could the professors of that age digest such things, being so contrary to what appeared to them to be certain truth in the Scriptures.

And there were many other things as hard to them; though the exceptions which might or did arise in their minds, are not particularly mentioned; as when he says, "I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them." John 10:7-8. How offensive must this doctrine needs have been to them, going carnally to understand and reason about it? What! were all the prophets and holy men before you thieves and robbers? Did the truth never come till you brought it? What became of our fore-fathers in former ages? Were they none of them God's sheep? Did none of them find the door? For you say you are "the door," and you have been but of late. And whereas you say the sheep did not hear them; that is utterly false; for they did hear Moses, and they did hear the prophets: and we have their writings, and will keep to them for all you, let who will be your sheep. When he said, that "he came not to send peace, but division," Matt. 10:34-35. how readily might they reply, that his own mouth discovered him not  to be the Messiah, the Savior, the Peace-Maker; but the worker of divisions, the cause of breaches in families, setting three against two, and two against three! Luke 12:51-52. When he said, "Whosoever commits sin, is the servant of sin," John 8:34. might not they well except against this, as condemning the whole generation of the righteous, and making null the way of sacrifices, which God had appointed for sins committed at any time by his people, which could not but pre-suppose their commission of sin? Did not Abraham, Isaac, David, Moses, and the rest of the prophets, all commit sin, and were they the servants of sin? He taught also that the children of the kingdom should be cast into utter darkness. Mat. 8:12. Oh, how harsh would this sound in the ears of the zealous, professing Jew, who was waiting and hoping for the kingdom! So in his doctrine there seemed many contradictions to the fleshly understanding; for one while he said, "I judge no man;" for I came not to condemn the world: and yet was not he continually judging and condemning the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Priests, the Lawyers, and that whole generation of professors? So again, he came to seek and save that which was lost; to preach the gospel of peace; and yet another while he says, he came not to send peace, but a sword, and to kindle a fire, and to set men at variance, etc. Again, one while he said, "I and my Father are one;" another time, "My Father is greater than I." One while he bid men do as the Scribes and Pharisees taught; another while he bid men beware of the leaven or doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Mat. 16:12.

But to what purpose should I heap up any more instances? O you that read this, wait to know in your self the ear that cannot hear Christ's doctrine; while you condemn the Jews, do not run into the same error of unbelief and gainsaying; but wait to know the voice of Christ in this day, and to receive the ear that can hear it; for though you should be willing to hear, yet you can not till your ear be opened. Nicodemus, who could acknowledge Christ "a teacher come from God," yet could not receive the doctrine of the new birth from him. John 3:4. And there were many things the disciples themselves were not able to bear: for when, at a certain time, he spake of "giving his flesh to eat," not only the Jews, John 6:52. but they also, stumbled.  ver. 61. And who is there among professors that can now bear it, or receive Christ's own interpretation of it? who says, that "the flesh" (which they understood) "profits nothing;" but the flesh which he meant was "spirit and life." ver. 63.

5. At his practices and manner of life. "How is it that he eats with publicans and sinners." Mark 2:16. "Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber; a friend of publicans and sinners." Luke 7:34. "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him; for she is a sinner." Luke 7:39. At the publicans and sinners drawing nigh to hear him, the Pharisees and Scribes were offended, and murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners, and eats with them." Luke 15:1-2. And when he went to Zaccheus's house, they all murmured, saying, "that he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner." Luke 19:7.

Again; because he healed on the sabbath, and justified his disciples in plucking of ears of corn on the sabbath, "they were filled with madness, and communed what they might do to him," Luke 6:3. "and took counsel how they might destroy him." Mark 3:5-6. Another time, the ruler of the synagogue spake with indignation about it. Luke 13:14. Yes, "the Jews did persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had healed a man, and bid him take up his bed and walk, on the sabbath-day." John 5:8,16. And some of them made it a strong argument against him, "This man is not of God, because he keeps not the sabbath-day." John 9:16. What! come from God, and be a breaker of ordinances! Can these two stand together? Read and consider. What more strict ordinance of God under the law than the sabbath? What one ordinance more conducing to the honor and worship of God? Did not their whole religion and worship much depend upon it? How could this possibly but be a great offense to them in that spirit, and literal wisdom from the scriptures, wherein they stood? Yet Christ, in his fleshly appearance, was Lord of the sabbath; and in his spiritual appearance he does not lose his dominion.

Again; they excepted against him, that he did not teach his disciples to fast and pray, as John did, Luke 5:33, but could allow them to transgress the traditions of the elders. Mat. 15:2. He was not strict after the Jewish way of devotion, nor strict after John's  way neither; but against the traditions of the godly elders of the Jewish church; against sanctifying of the Lord's sabbath (justifying his disciples in plucking ears of corn thereon; whereas their fore-fathers the Jews were not so much as to gather manna on that day); against fasting and prayer: for he justified his disciples in that they did not fast and pray as John did, saying, "How could they mourn while the bridegroom was with them? Mat. 9:15. And consider which way the Jews (in the state they stood) could understand such an answer as this, to rest satisfied therewith.

6. They excepted "against his miracles," partly because he did them on the sabbath-day, John 9:16. whereupon, they concluded he could not be of God; for if he had been of God, he would have observed the day which God commanded: and if he wrought them not by the power of God, by whose power then must he work them? So they concluded, "He casts out devils by the prince of devils." Mat. 9:34. "He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils casts he out devils." Mark 3:22. And having thus concluded in themselves, there was no ear open in them to hear any thing that might be said to the contrary. And again, partly because he did not answer their wills, in giving them such a sign as they required: for this was still their tone, "Master we would see a sign from you." Mat. 12:38. "What sign show you to us, seeing that you do these things?" John 2:18. And they more particularly express what sign; they would have a "sign from heaven." Luke 11:16. "What sign show you, that we may see and believe you?" John 6:30. We are ready to be convinced, we are ready to believe, if you would give us sufficient ground of believing in you. As for all your healing people, and casting out devils, Beelzebub, the prince of devils, may furnish you with power wherewith to deceive and bewitch us from the law and ordinances of Moses, which we are sure are of God; but show us a sign from heaven, or else blame us not for not leaving Moses to run after you.

7. They excepted at the testimony which the Spirit of God in him gave concerning him. When he spake the inward testimony, which the Spirit of God gave from within, saying, "I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," John 8:12, they presently cried out,  "You bear record of yourself; your record is not true." ver. 13. Mark his answer: "It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true; I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me." ver. 17-18. How would such an answer pass now in these days, though the same life should speak it? Would not the wise professors of this age even hoot at it? Yet the thing is known at this day, even the life which the Father begets, and the Father's testifying of it, and with it. And you that read this, might know it, could you wait in the loss of your own life, wisdom, and knowledge, for it.

8. They excepted against his disciples and followers, which were women, publicans, and sinners; the common people, yes, the meanest, the poorest, and most ignorant (in their account), who were fittest to be deluded and led away. "Are you also deceived? Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed on him? But this people who know not the law are accursed." John 7:47-49. The common people, the ignorant people, the unsettled people, such as know not the law, such as understand not the Scriptures, they run after him, and cry him up; but which of the settled ones, which of the truly zealous ones, which of the wise men in the knowledge of the law and prophets, which of the orthodox Scribes and Pharisees, who keep close to Moses, which of these believe in him? Whom of them can he deceive? As for the heady people, who, for lack of knowledge from the Scriptures, are ready to run after every new fangle, they are not worth the minding, they are accursed; and therefore no marvel, though God give them up to follow this deceiver, and to cry up his new light, and forsake the good old light of Moses and the prophets.

9. They excepted against him, that he did not rebuke his disciples, and the multitude (spreading their garments, cutting down branches from the trees, and strewing them in the way), with the children that cried Hosanna to him, as he rode on the ass's colt to Jerusalem; but he rather justified them. Luke 19:39-40. and Mat. 21:15-16. What a ridiculous and vain-glorious piece of pageantry would this seem to the fleshly-wise eye?

10. That he did not show sufficient authority for what he did. "By what authority do you these things; and who gave you this authority?" etc. Mark 11:28. You take upon you great authority over the people of God, over their teachers, yes, over God's temple, sabbath, and ordinances; but where is your authority so to do? Show us that, etc.

11. They excepted when he spoke of his sufferings and death. "We have heard in our law that Christ abides for ever; and how say you the Son of man must be lifted up! Who is the Son of man?" John 12:34. Surely he that is to be lifted up cannot be the Christ that is to abide for ever, and not to die! So that here, in one breath, you have overthrown all that you have been setting up by your preaching and miracles. Now which way could they understand this thing? No, the very disciples themselves could not swallow it, but were startled at it; and Christ was content to hide it a long time from them. And yet if there be any thing held forth now in these days, by the same Spirit (as concerning light and perfection, or other truths which are seen in the Spirit), because men cannot apprehend them with their carnal understanding, and make them agree with their carnal knowledge of the Scriptures, what liberty do they take to themselves to speak both against the truth itself, and also against them who have seen these things in the Spirit, and speak them from the Spirit! Now whosoever becomes a disciple, must wait in the obedience to know the doctrine, and not think to enter with that wisdom and carnal reasoning from the Scriptures, which the Scribes and Pharisees, and professors of that age were shut out with.

There were many other things which they could not but except against; as at his answers to their questions, to which sometimes he was silent, and gave no answer at all; at other times, he answered not directly, but in parables. And how offensive is this to man's wisdom, who requires a positive and direct answer! And sometimes his answers might seem quite from the thing, as John 12:34-35.

His not giving respect to persons (for it was a known thing of him that he regarded not men's persons. Mat. 22:16.) could not be very pleasing to them, who loved greetings, and sought honor one of another. He showed not respect to Herod the king; but spake contemptuously of him, as men would account it: "Go," says he, "and tell that fox." He did not show respect to the reverend and grave doctors of the law; no, nor to the high  priest himself. No, he did not show respect to his own disciples; but said to Peter (when he mildly and affectionately desired his death might be avoided) "Get you behind me, Satan." How harsh and rough a reply might this seem! If Peter had erred, through his affection and tenderness to his Master, a meek spirit would gently have informed him; but to call him devil, and say, "Get you behind me;" what kind of spirit does this savor of? would that professing Jew say, who knows not the true meekness, but seeks after a fleshly meekness, which is a servant to the fleshly wisdom and prudence, but not true-born. No, he did not speak respectfully to his own mother (as man's spirit, by its rule of respect, would judge and condemn him); but said, "Woman, what have I to do with you?" John 2:4. And in a manner denied all his relations. Mat. 12:48.

Lastly (to instance no more), at his harsh censures of all the professors of that age (who observed the law of Moses, and Israel's statutes), with all their laborious and godly teachers; justifying none but himself, and what he taught, and a few of his followers. He told them, that they had not the "love of God in them." John 5:42. Did not this, think you, seem to them a very harsh charge? And why not the love of God? Because they did not follow him and his new doctrine? Yes, would they be ready to say, they did love God, and kept his commandments, sabbaths, and ordinances, which he transgressed.

He laid this also to their charge, that they did not believe Moses. John 5:46. What an unjust charge might this seem, when they were so zealous for Moses; and their very dislike of him, and controversy against him, were for the sake of the law and ordinances of Moses!

Another charge he laid to them was, that they were not the children of Abraham, or of God; but of the devil. John 8:39,42, 44. What a rash, censorious man might they account him, thus to speak of them, who were the human seed of Abraham, who were such strict observers of God's laws and ordinances (which is the property of his children), and such enemies to the devil, that they would not be drawn from the truths and way of worship taught by Moses and the prophets; no, not by all the miracles he could work!

He called them "a faithless and perverse generation." Mat. 17:17.

He told them that they did not know God; though they said with confidence that he was their God. John 8:54-55. How could they bear this? They had been studying the law and the prophets, and had a great stock of knowledge from thence, and were strict and exact in worship (some of them, as well as Paul, might be, according to the law, blameless). And now to be told that they did not know God! No, he that abounds in knowledge, devotion, and worship, yet not being in the life and pure power of the Spirit, has not one dram of the true knowledge.

He told them that they should "die in their sins." John 8:21. (Oh, hard word, and severe judgment!) And yet he had told them a little before, that he judged no man. ver. 15. Yes, they did think themselves exceedingly wronged by him; and thought that no man that had any thing of God in him could speak such things, but only one that was an enemy to the people of God, and led by the spirit of Satan. To this effect they express themselves, ver. 48. of that chapter, "Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil?"

Yes, when he charged them with going about to kill him, they seemed in themselves so clear in their own consciences, that they answered, "You have a devil. Who goes about to kill you?" John 7:20. How easily might they close up the controversy, and, by this very thing, conclude him to be a false prophet! He says, we went about to kill him; when (God knows) there was not such a thing in our hearts. Can this man be a true prophet? Yet Christ knew the professing Jew to be the murderer, and, in and for his religion's sake, still seeking to slay him. And there is no such murderer of Christ (the life) upon the earth, as the zealous professor and worshipper out of the life. He that is in the life cannot persecute any man; he that is out of the life cannot but persecute him that is in the life. Hereby the true and false Christian may be discerned by the weakest simple and single eye.

And then for their teachers and expounders of the law, how exceedingly bitter did he seem against them! and how heavy things was he continually laying to their charge! He called them blind guides, hypocrites, painted sepulchers, graves which appear  not, and pronounced woe upon woe against them. Read that one place, Mat. 23:33. "You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?" What! speak thus of our zealous teachers, who study the law, are strict in practicing of the ordinances, and take such pains to instruct us in the mind of God from Moses and the prophets! Was such a man as this fit to live? No, and he does not show a gospel spirit. Mark how sharp and bitter his words come from him (for indeed a sharper speech, with greater vehemency and indignation of spirit, can hardly be spoken); and they might seem to aggravate this sharp condemnation of his from his own confession. He himself had confessed that they sat in Moses' chair. Now he might have shown some honor to Moses' chair, and to their office, which was of God, and doubtless good, and not have gone about to make them thus odious in the eyes of the people. No, he himself had bid men do as they said, but in ver. 3. of that chapter. Now was it likely that ever men should mind what they said, or observe their doctrine, when he had thus represented them "as oppressors of the conscience," ver. 4. "as devourers of widows' houses, and making long prayers in hypocrisy," ver. 14. as "making their proselytes more the children of hell than themselves," ver. 15. as "neglecters of the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," ver. 23. as "appearing righteous to men, but full of hypocrisy and iniquity," ver. 28. as "of the same generation that killed the prophets," ver. 31-32. as "deceivers;" as "such as led into the ditch; and bid men beware of their leaven;" were not these good kind of encouragements for people to hear them? Yes, he charged them with "shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men, and not going in themselves, nor allowing men to enter that were going in." ver. 13. How could they observe what they taught without hearing them? And would Christ wish any to hear such men as these? Yet for all this, without doubt, they were not without their justifications against Christ in these respects; and also had their charges, on the other hand, ready against him. Now, how did they shut up the kingdom of heaven against men? Did they not teach the law, and direct men to the ordinances of God, and open the prophets' words to them? Was this shutting up the kingdom of heaven? and would not they allow men to  enter? Why, their work was to win people to their profession; they would compass sea and land to make a proselyte. How stiffly might the Jews have pleaded against Christ, that he did slander their godly ministers, who were very painful and zealous in opening the Scriptures, and teaching the way of God! No, he himself could not deny but they taught well; for he himself says, "Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do." Mat. 23:3. But mark now, that you may understand the thing. It is thus: any teaching or expounding the Scriptures out of the life shuts up the kingdom: for the life is the kingdom, and words from the life yield the savor of the kingdom; but words out of it, though ever so good and true, reach not to the life in another; but only build up a knowledge in the contrary wisdom, and teach to hold the truth in the unrighteousness, where Satan's kingdom stands, and where he has the dominion over all that is brought there. And so this kind of teaching and knowledge shuts up the door and way of life, and must be lost, before the kingdom can be found.

They shut up the true kingdom; but they opened another kingdom; they opened the kingdom another way (which was in truth shutting of it); and they had disciples and children of the kingdom, whom they tickled with the hope of life, and fed with promises and comforts; but these the Lord would shut out. "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness." Mat. 8:11-12. This is true at this day in the present dispensation, as it was then in that dispensation; though men make it a great accusation against us, charging us that we say none are the people of God but ourselves, and as if all were damned but we. These are men's harsh and unsavory expressions; we use not to speak after this manner, but soberly open the state of the thing as it stands in the truth (and as it has been revealed unto us by him who is true, and cannot lie); which is thus:

That through which men are saved, is the dispensation of Truth in their age. The measure of light which God gives forth in every age, that is the means and proper way of salvation in that age: and whatever men get, or profess of the knowledge of Truth declared in former ages, yet making use of that to withstand the  present dispensation of Truth in their age, they cannot thereby be saved; but may thereby be hardened against that which should save them. And this we are assured of from the Lord, that as the Jews could not be saved by the law of Moses (making use of it in opposition to the shining of the light of God in the prophets in their several ages), nor afterwards could be saved by magnifying and observing both the words of Moses and the prophets, and their belief from thence of a Messiah to come (making use of those things to oppose that appearance of Christ in the flesh, which was the dispensation of their day then); no more can any professors be saved now by the belief of a Christ come, or any thing which they can learn or practice from the Scriptures, making use thereof to oppose the dispensation of this day; which dispensation is the immediate and powerful breaking forth of the light of the Spirit in the hearts of God's people (who have earnestly sought, and in much sorrow and perplexity of spirit longed and waited for him), after this long dark night of the anti-christian apostasy.

There remain yet some other exceptions against him, about the time of his suffering death, with his hard usage, which should not wholly be passed over, as:

1. His disrespectful or irreverent answering of the high-priest, as it seemed to them, when he asked him of his doctrine, John 18:19. his answer was, that "he spake openly in the world, not in secret; Why ask you me? Ask them that heard me." Whereupon one of the officers struck him, saying, "Answer you the high-priest so?" ver. 22. The plainness and simplicity of the life (which bows to God, and cannot regard man in the transgression) seem rude and unmannerly to the lofty spirit of the world.

2. His silence at the testimonies brought against him, and to the high-priest when he questioned him. Mark 14:60-61. Indeed either the speaking or silence in the life, is offensive to the carnal professor, who knows not the law of life in this particular; but can either speak or be silent, according to his own will. This is the difference between the true and the false Christian; the false Christian's knowledge and religion stand in his own will, in his own understanding; he speaks in his own time; both which are crucified in him that is born of the Spirit.

3. When he did speak the truth himself, the high-priest rent  his clothes, and charged him with blasphemy. Mat. 26:65. And those that were by fell in with the high-priest, and said, he was "guilty of death." ver. 66. Then they "spit on his face, and buffeted him, and smote him, and mocked him, and blind-folded him, and struck him on the face, bidding him prophesy who smote him." Mat. 26:67-68. and Luke 22:63-64.

When they brought him to Pilate, they would have Pilate take it for granted that he was an evil-doer, and worthy of death: for when Pilate asked for their accusation against him, they answer, "If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto you." John 18:29-30. Pilate refusing so to proceed in judgment, ver. 31. they begin to bring in their charges: "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying, that he himself is Christ, a king." Luke 23:2. Pilate examines him herein; but professes he can find no fault in him at all. John 18:38. Then the chief priests accused him of many other things, Mark 15:3. and were more fierce, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place." (This indeed was his great offense, he taught with the authority of the Spirit, and not as the Scribes). Then Pilate sent him to Herod (where the chief priests and scribes stood vehemently accusing him), who questioned him much; but he answered him nothing. And "Herod, with his men of war, set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him back to Pilate." Luke 23:9-11. Pilate professed that he could not find him guilty of this second charge, neither of perverting the people, ver. 14. therefore, chastising him, he would release him, ver. 18. but the people, by the persuasion of the chief priest and elders, cried all at once, "Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas," ver. 18. but let him be crucified; "Crucify him, crucify him!" ver. 21, etc. Now when Pilate had scourged him, and the soldiers had stripped him, and put him on a scarlet robe, and had put a crown of platted thorns on his head, and a reed in his right hand, and had bowed the knee to him in mockery, and spit on him, and smote him with a reed, he brings him forth to them again, hoping this might appease their malice, and they might be content to spare his being crucified. They tell him they have a  law, and by their law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. John 19:4,7. (See how they turn and wind every way to make the innocent an offender, and to make some law, of one kind or other, take hold of him!) But when all their accusations would not prevail with Pilate, but still (from the sense of his innocency) he had a mind to release him, they used another subtle artifice, telling him, "If he let this man go, he was not Caesar's friend." John 19:12. This carries it with Pilate: now he disputes no further; but delivers him to their will. Luke 23:25.

Now you who read this, take heed of judging the Jews for all this wickedness, while the same nature is alive in you which did all this in them: for assuredly you (in whom that nature which did it in them is not subdued) would have done the same thing, had you lived in those days. You that disdain and persecute the appearance of Christ in this age, would have disdained and have persecuted his appearance in that age. Do not deceive your soul.

The Jews did as little think that ever they should have put a prophet, or any good man to death (much less the Messiah) as you can: yes, they could blame their fathers for killing the prophets, and say, If they had lived in those days, they would not have done it; and yet do not you read what they did? The persecuting Spirit was ever blind, and could in no age read its evil and bitter nature, and its enmity against the life and power. Be not you blind in your day, as they were in theirs; and an enemy, under pretense of being a friend.

4. Another exception or argument against him, about the time of his suffering death, was, that he did not put forth his power to save himself from the cross; "He saved others, let him save himself," if he be Christ, the chosen of God. Luke 23:35. Is it likely that this is the Son of God, and that he did so many miracles by the power of God, and cannot now save himself from the cross? This his suffering death on the cross did a little stumble some of the disciples, as may appear, Luke 24:20-21. and was enough to have overturned the faith of any which stood not in the Spirit, and in the power. The soldiers also could mock, and manage this argument against him, saying, "If you be the king of the Jews, save yourself." Luke 23:37. And they that  passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, "You that destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself. If you be the Son of God, come down from the cross." Mat. 27:39-40. Likewise the chief priests, with the Scribes and elders mocked among themselves, saying, "He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the king of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see, and believe." Mark 15:31-32. One of the thieves also railed on him, saying, "If you be the Christ, save yourself and us." Luke 23:39. And when he cried out to his God, "Eli, Eli, etc." they derided him: "This man calls for Elias; let us see whether Elias will come and save him." Mat. 27:47,49. And after he was dead, the chief priests and Pharisees spake of him as of a known deceiver, ver. 63. and seem, in a pious zeal for the church, to take care that there be no further occasion, after his death, for the reviving and spreading of his deceit and errors. ver. 94. Thus the Holy One, the Pure One, the Just and True One, (in whose heart and mouth was no guile found) was numbered among transgressors, accounted a deceiver and put to death as a blasphemer, by the zealous priests and professors of that age, who were so confident of the righteousness of their cause (on the behalf of the law of Moses, and their sabbaths, temple, etc.) against him, that when Pilate washed his hands, as clear of his blood, all the people answered, and said, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Mat. 27:25.

Now let men consider what the great exceptions are, which they have against the living appearance of Christ in his Spirit, now towards the close of the apostasy, and against us his witnesses, whom the Lord has called forth to testify his name. Many exceptions men have against our persons, our doctrine, our practices, for lack of miracles, etc. Is this generation more wise or more just in their exceptions than the former was? Consider the main ones a little.

Their great exceptions against our doctrine are:

1. That we preach up a light within, and that he that receives that light, receives a perfect gift; and growing up in it, grows up to perfection, which in this life (through faith and obedience to this light or perfect gift) may be attained, and the body of sin put off, and the new man, Christ, put on.

Answer: Indeed we cannot but preach up the Light within, and declare unto men how great things it has done for us; even that which we could never by any means meet with from any light without. And this is perfect, and tends to make perfect, carrying on its work daily. Now he that feels its virtue, cannot doubt of its power. He that sees the body of sin daily going off, cannot doubt but he may be stripped. Indeed, if a man strive against sin in his own will, and by his own gathered knowledge, he cannot get much ground, and so it is hard for him to believe perfection. But he that feels unity with that which is perfect, cannot but acknowledge that it is able to perfect him, and in faith and patience is encouraged to hope and wait for it.

2. That we deny that Christ which died at Jerusalem, and his imputed righteousness, and set up an inherent righteousness.

Answer: We know no other Christ than that which died at Jerusalem, only we confess our chief knowledge of him is in the Spirit. And as Christ said in the days of his flesh, that the way to know his Father, was to know him; and he that knew him knew the Father also; so we now witness, that the way to know Christ is to know the Spirit; and that he that knows the Spirit, knows Christ also; with whom Christ is one, and from whom he cannot be separated. And as for imputed righteousness, it is too precious a thing to us, to be denied by us. That which we deny, is men's putting it out of its place, applying it to them who are not in the true faith, and walk not in the true light: for in the true light, where the fellowship is with the Father and the Son, there alone the blood cleanses. 1 John 1:7. And there alone the righteousness is imputed to him, who is cleansed by the blood in the light, and not to him who knows it not. And as for inherent righteousness, we meddle not with that word, but this we say; That our life exceedingly lies in feeling the righteousness of Christ wrought and revealed in us; and we wish men could come out of the reasoning about it, into the feeling of the same thing with us; for then we are sure they would not so sharply, nor so long contend.

3. That we deny the ordinances, and means of salvation.

Answer: We deny nothing that the apostles and Christians formerly practiced; nor do we deny any thing that any now practice in the light, and in the faith; but the setting up of such  things in the will, that we deny; or the imitating these without the command of the Spirit, that we deny also. And this we testify, that antichrist crept in here, and that they are his great cover to keep men from the life; and therefore warn men to mind the life, and to take heed they be not kept from the substance by the shadows, where antichrist lies lurking, to bewitch from the substance. And we are sure, that these in antichrist's hands, are not the means of salvation; but keep from the sight of the holy city, where the life and salvation are. And we read that the outward court was given to the Gentiles; who "trod under foot the holy city." Rev. 11:2. And we have found by experience, that, while we ourselves were crying up the outward court, we did trample under foot the city, though we then knew it not.

Their exceptions against our persons are, that we are ignorant, illiterate, and also unsettled persons, who have still been seeking up and down, etc.

Answer: What persons are fittest for God to make use of, towards the recovery of his people out of the apostasy? Does not God choose that which is weak and mean and contemptible, that his glory might the more appear? Is not this a more likely way for him to steal upon the world, than if he appeared in the wise and learned ones? And among whom is his appearance to be expected? Among those who are settled upon their lees in the apostasy; or among those who have mourned, panted, and sought to come out of it, and could not be settled without his appearing to them, and fixing their feet upon the rock? But have we been unsettled, since God has fastened us on the living foundation? No, here is no more going out; but he that abides faithful remains a pillar in the house of God.

Men except likewise against our practices, as that we show not respect to persons, and that we are not strict (after their manner) in duties, etc.

Answer: We have heard that voice, "Fear God, and give glory to him," Rev. 14:7. (not only as it is written there, but in Spirit:) and where the Lord is exalted, the glory of the creature falls; read IsAnswer: 2. how all falls in that day, that God alone might be exalted. And we cannot, in this mighty day of the Lord, any longer give to man that honor which he has gathered in the fall, and  which pleases the fallen nature, and not that which is born of God. And for duties, we have bewailed, in the sight of the Lord, our former running into duties without his Spirit: and we must confess, we can only pray in the Spirit; sing in the Spirit; wait in the Spirit; speak in the Spirit (as that gives utterance), and not of ourselves, or when we will; but as we see life, strength, and power from on high, leading and assisting us. And our religion consists neither in willing nor running, but in waiting on the Spirit and power of the Lord, to work all in us and for us. All these things we look upon to be our duty, and practice them.

It is likewise excepted against us, that we do not work miracles.

Answer: We point to that which wrought all the outward miracles formerly, and which now works great inward miracles in Spirit; and we are sure the same power, which we have received the Gospel in, is of the same healing virtue. But that power works according to the purpose of its own will, and not according to the will of man (yes, though Paul had the gift of healing, yet he "left Trophimus at Miletum sick." 2 Tim. 4:20); neither was the will or wisdom of man satisfied in all those miracles which Christ and the apostles wrought. It is enough for us to feel and live in the moving of the power; in which we rejoice, and are more satisfied (that by it our names are written in the Book of Life) than we could be by any such outward and visible appearance and manifestation of it. But if we did work outward miracles, yet if you had not an inward eye to see them with, you would not be able to distinguish by what power they were wrought.

To what purpose should I mention any more particulars? Is it not enough? Oh! fear before the Lord! and do not lose the present dispensation of life through mistake (or because you cannot have things suited to your corrupt wills); but know the Gospel, which is an inward dispensation, and does not consist in outward shadows, but in inward virtue, life, and power: "For the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Come to wait for that, to feel that, to unite there; and then we shall not differ about that which is outward. But it is antichrist's way, by the magistrate' power, to force an agreement about the outward, which destroys that tenderness of  conscience which preserves the inward.

And now let me put one question to you; Where is the deceit of the ages after Christ to be expected? Did the Jews deny Moses and the prophets' writings, or ordinances? No, were they not very zealous for these? And were not these their cover, under which they persecuted Christ, and vented all their malice against him? So can it be expected now, that the deceivers of this age should deny the apostles' writings, or the practices therein mentioned; Or is it not rather to be expected, that under their crying up of these, they should hide their enmity against the life? Search and see, has not every after-age of professors taken up the words and practices of them who were persecuted in the foregoing age; and under the profession of those words and practices, have hid their spirit of persecution? There is a remnant only among professors to be saved; the generality of them have still been persecutors, creeping into the form, getting that for a cover upon their backs, and then fighting against the life and power. Oh! wait on the Lord in his fear, that you may be found worthy to know the persecuted truth on the one hand, and the persecuting spirit on the other hand, in this day of large profession, and also of bitter persecution!

Now what might be the cause, or how could it come to pass, that the zealous worshippers of that age should thus err in their zeal, and be thus heady and rash against him, whom they looked for to be their Savior? How came they thus to err in vision, and stumble in judgment, in so weighty a matter? Show unto us the cause, that we may see whether the same cause be not in us: for undoubtedly if it be, it will produce the same effect, and so we may ignorantly draw upon our heads the same heavy wrath in our day, that they did in their day.

Answer: The causes were very many; I may mention some few of the principal ones; which if they be seen into and removed, by that power which is able to do it, such as are of a more inferior influence, will not be able to stand.

1. One cause of their blind zeal, and bitterness against Christ, was, Their ignorance of the Scriptures, and of the power of God. If they had known the Scriptures in the true light, they could not but have known Christ, from whom the Scriptures  were given forth; and if they had known the power of God, they could not but have known him who came in the power; yes, who was the power. They had knowledge enough of both these one way; that is in the letter: they knew the words of scripture (they could make large expositions of them), they knew what was said in scripture concerning the power of God, but they knew not the thing itself; and so turned against it, and made use of the words (which came from it, and testified of it) against it.

2. A second cause of this their sad miscarriage in their zeal, was Their putting the law and ordinances, and writings of the prophets, out of their proper places. They exceedingly magnified and cried them up, in that carnal way wherein they apprehended and practiced them, but understood not the right end and use of them. And by these means, practicing the shadows in the carnal mind, they lost the substance, which the proper use of the shadows was to have pointed them unto.

3. Their high conceits of the goodness of their state in relation to God, and of the certainty of their knowledge of the truths of God from Moses and the prophets. They were confident they knew God aright, and that he was their Father, and that they were his children and people. And so Christ appearing in a seeming contrariety to these (notwithstanding all his powerful preaching and miracles), they made no question but they might boldly conclude him not to be of God.

4. Christ's coming in a way that they looked not for him. They had concluded from the Scriptures how Christ must appear; and he coming in a far different manner, they could not own him, but looked upon him as a deceiver, one that pretended to be Christ, but was not like to what the Scripture said of Christ. So what the scripture says of Christ's second coming, is hid as much from the carnal eye of professors in this age, as what was said concerning his first coming, was hid from them in their age; and he will steal upon them as a thief, at a time, and in a way, and after a manner, that they expect not.

5. (Which is the main one, and cause of all the former.) Because they were from the light within, from the true light in their own hearts and consciences. The light within is the great ordinance of God, and the proper means to give the knowledge of him  (2 Cor. 4:6.); without which it was never received under any dispensation: for the light that shines abroad, or from without, can alone be known and received by the light that shines within. Christ himself opens this in a parable; "The light of the body" (says he) "is the eye; if, therefore, your eye be single" (clear without beams or motes) "your whole body shall be full of light." Mat. 6:22. But if that be evil, if that be dark, if that be closed by the god of this world, all Moses' words, all the prophets' words, yes, all Christ's and his apostles' words, cannot give you light. Can I see the light of the sun, moon, or stars, or of any fire or candle, if I have not a natural eye, and if that natural eye be not open? So neither can I see the light of any dispensation of life, if I have not an eye within me open, wherewith to see it. So that that which gives me the sight of the things of God, is the eye which God has given me. By that may be read the eternal power and Godhead in the creatures, in the books of Moses and the prophets, in the writings of the evangelists and the apostles, as the Spirit leads and opens. Yes, the same Spirit, that opened to these without books, may again open to any of us without books at his pleasure (and will not be limited to books); and we then may read also as they did, even within in the Spirit, and in the immediate life; but without this, can none of these things of God be read aright. Now the God of this world had blinded this eye in the Jews; yes, they themselves had "stopped their ears, and closed their eyes," etc., they would not see this way, they would not be converted and healed this way. They would keep up the knowledge which they had gathered from Moses and the prophets, without this eye; and with that they would see, or not at all.

Thus being from the light within, they could not see the place of life within, where life is to be received: they could not see the womb of wisdom, which is within, and so could not enter in to it, and be born again. And being not born of the wisdom, how could they justify the wisdom? Being not born of the light, how could they know or own Christ, whose coming and appearance was in the light? For that appearance of Christ the life, in that body of flesh, could not be discerned by all men's wisdom in the letter (the disciples themselves came not so to know it); but "my Father which is in heaven has revealed it to you." And mark it:  the disciples who were illiterate, and not so knowing of the scriptures that were written of Christ, yet they knew Christ: but the Scribes and Pharisees, who were very skillful in the letter, could not know him. What was the reason? The reason lay in the difference of the eye, or light, wherewith they looked: the one looked with an outward eye, the other with an inward eye. And a little inward light will do that, which a great deal of outward light will not do. And this I can certainly affirm, that all the light that men can gather from the Scriptures, cannot give them the knowledge of Christ as he has appeared in this age; no, nor as he has appeared in any age, since the days of the apostles: but a little true inward light will give the knowledge of this thing, and open those scriptures infallibly (in its season) which all the generations of wise and learned men have been controverting and disputing about, in that wisdom and searching spirit which is never to understand them. This then is the main and full reason of this deep error of the Jews, and their desperate splitting upon the rock, which would have saved them. They were begotten of the letter, which was given forth in former ages; but not of the life, which was raised up in their age: and so they knew not how to turn to the light within, which alone was able to give them the true and certain knowledge of the things of God.

Now consider these things well, O you professors of this age! and take heed that you do not fall after the same example of unbelief. "Be not high-minded, but fear." Be not so confident of what you have gathered by your wisdom for truth from the Scriptures (after the manner that they were, of what they had gathered by their wisdom); but fear, lest you should be mistaken as they were: and wait for the opening of that eye in you which was shut in them; even the true eye, in the true light, by the holy anointing; where there never was nor can be any mistake. The Jews fell by unbelief. Unbelief of What? They believed the Scriptures, they believed according to that knowledge they had gathered from the Scriptures; but they did not believe in the living Word. They had a knowledge abiding in them, which they had gathered from the Scriptures, but they had not the living Word abiding in them; and so their faith was but unbelief (for the living faith stands in the belief of the living Word in the heart, which the Scriptures  direct to; without the knowledge of which, all knowledge of words is vain; and without faith in which, all faith is vain also). Now says the apostle to the Gentile Christian, "You stand by faith." Rom. 11:20. By what faith? By faith in that Word in the heart, which they neglected and turned from. Rom. 10:8. For Moses had taught them, after the laws and ordinances about worship and sacrifices, that the Word that they were to obey and do (the Word that could give them life, and make them obedient to all the commandments without) was in their heart and mouth. Deut. 30:14. And so the prophet Micah, when they proposed sacrifices and oil, to please God with, brings them to this which was given to them in common with mankind. Mich. 6:8. For all ordinances and laws and observations and practices without, are but to bring to the life within, which is to be found again there, where it was lost, and still lies slain and hid (even in the field or house where it was lost). And he that seeks abroad, never finds it; but when the candle is lighted in his own house, and he searches narrowly in the field, in his own heart, and the eternal eye begins to open in him; then he cries out, God was in this place, and I was not aware of it. Ah! how the enemy bewitched me, to run from mountain to mountain! and from hill to hill! and has hereby covered my eye from beholding the mountain of the Lord's house, and from feeling the spring of my life, which I further and further ran from, all the while I was seeking abroad. Therefore, O you professors, be not so conceited like the Jews, and running after them into their desolation and misery, but learn wisdom by their fall! Do not you set up your ordinances and scriptures, after the manner that they set up theirs; for this is your danger: for this I clearly, in the light of the Lord, testify to you; that if you gather a knowledge and wisdom from the letter of the Scriptures, after the manner that they did, without knowledge of the Word within, and without a light within from that Word, you lose the living faith, you are but dead branches; and all your knowledge of scriptures, and practices, and faith, and duties, etc., that you here hold and observe, are but for the fire; and the flames of eternal wrath shall kindle more fiercely upon you because of them, than upon the Jews; for you stumble upon the same stumbling-stone at which they stumbled and fell, and it will fall  upon you also. And as you have more scriptures than they had, and the experience of their fall to warn you; so your destruction will be exceeding dreadful "if you neglect so great salvation;" whereof at this day there are so many living and powerful witnesses, as they are known and owned to be in the light of the Lord, though despised in your exalted and conceited wisdom.

Now to help any honest and single hearts among you over this great stumbling-block of a light within, consider these few things.

1. That all the knowledge, all the true knowledge, that ever you had of God, was from a light within. I do not deny that you might receive your knowledge through the Scriptures (and some warmth formerly in those things which you call ordinances and duties); but that whereby you received the knowledge was the light within; the eye that God secretly opened in your spirits. This was the way you then came by it, though you perhaps might feel the thing, but not know how you came by it, even as a babe may see truly, but does not understand its own eye, or know how it sees.

2. While this eye was kept open in you, your knowledge was true in its measure, and serviceable to you, and did draw you nearer to God, making you truly tender, meek, sweet, humble, patient, loving, gentle, and of precious breathings towards God, and after righteousness. Oh! how lovely were you to God in this state! "When Israel was a child, I loved him." God remembers at this day the kindness of your youth, and is seeking after you. Oh! why do you so harden your hearts against him?

3. That wherever this eye is shut, the virtue of the true knowledge is lost, and the sweet fruits thereof wither. The outward part of the knowledge may be retained; yes, perhaps increased, but the life is gone, and the pure sweet savoriness (to God) vanished. And if this eye were but a little opened again in you, your death and unsavoriness might be soon seen and felt in you, in all your knowledge, duties, ordinances; yes, in your very graces and experiences. You have a faith still; yes, but it lacks the savor of your former faith: you have some kind of love, gentleness, and meekness; yes, but it is only a thing formed by the fleshly wisdom and reasoning, but not natural from the living spring, not such as you once felt, etc., for the true and living eye being shut, that which is then best (or afterwards attained) is  held but in the dead part, and serves but to feed death.

4. The great work and design of the enemy of your souls is not to steal away the bulk of your knowledge, or to draw you from ordinances or duties; but to steal the life out of your spirits. This I have experimented from my childhood: I might still have knowledge enough of any kind; but that which I lacked was life; and I was still sick under all the sorts of knowledge that ever I met with, and under all ordinances and duties, for lack of the life. The Lord had given my soul a taste of true life, whereby I became unsatisfied without it, and no manner of knowledge or enjoyment could take me up by the way: yes, when through extremity I seemed willing to be content with any thing; yet still my heart was sick after that one thing, which alone could truly ease and satisfy it. Now if the enemy can prevail herein: to blind the inward eye, and steal away the life within, he has enough. Then abound as much as you will in knowledge, in zeal, in duties, in ordinances, in reading scriptures, praying, meditating, etc., you are the surer his hereby, and so much the better servant to him: for how much the richer you are in knowledge, experiences, hopes, and assurance, without the life and power; so much the more acceptable and honorable and useful are you in his kingdom.

Therefore see where you are. Is the inward eye open in you? Do you know the light within? (Surely he that sees by a light within, can hardly speak evil of it!) Or has the enemy, by some of his artifices, drawn a veil over that eye, wherewith once you saw in some measure? Oh! be not slight in a matter of so great weight! Oh! please not yourselves with the eye of the perishing wisdom, with death's eye, and with death's knowledge of scriptures and of the Son of God; which speaks great words of the fame of true wisdom, but is a stranger and enemy to the thing! Oh! life is precious! eternal life is precious! To have the word of God abiding in the heart, and to feel the true light give the true life, who can set a value on this! Ah! do not lose your souls for a trifle; for a little such knowledge of the Scriptures as the earthly part can gather! This I cannot but exceedingly despise, although the Scriptures I truly honor, for their testimony of that whereby I live. If you see not the way of life by the inward light, which alone can show it, you lose your souls. If the God of the world has  blinded that eye in you, what are all your treasures of wisdom and knowledge? What are all your hopes? And what will become of you? All these sparks of your own kindling from scriptures will not secure you from the bed of sorrow. O you several sorts of professors, why will you die with the uncircumcised? Why will you go down into the pit, among them that know not the Lord?

But what shall I say to this generation? The spiritually-wise foresees the storm, and hides himself; but the spiritually-foolish run on headily, and are punished. The clouds have long been gathering; but the sick eye cannot discern the signs of the times and seasons; and so because judgment comes not as men expected, they grow hard, and wear off the sense wherewith they were something affected at the first threatening of it: but assuredly both judgment and mercy hasten, and they will come, and will not tarry.

For the same Lord God Almighty, which confounded the Heathens' Babel (when their sins and vain confidence were ripe), which they built to prevent any future flood (for though they once had the true knowledge of God from an inward light, Rom. 1:21. yet they soon left that, "not liking to retain God in their knowledge," ver. 28. but running out into imaginations, and so building a Babel, whereby their foolish hearts became darkened to the light which God had made to shine in them; which showed what might be known of God unto them. ver. 19); yes, the Lord God which overthrew the Jews' Babel, which they had built from their knowledge of the laws and ordinances of Moses, and the scriptures written to them (they running out into imaginations also); whereby they likewise thought to prevent "the overflowing scourge" from coming near them, IsAnswer: 28:15; the same God will overthrow the Christians' Babel, which they have built from the prophets' and apostles' words (by their own imaginations and conceivings in the high-mindedness, out of the fear), whereby they think to escape the deluge of eternal wrath. (For their city also shall be "thrown down with violence," and shall be "found no more at all," Rev. 18:21.) And the great work of this day is to discover the rottenness of their wall, and the untemperedness of the mortar wherewith they had daubed it. He that reads, let him understand; but the uncircumcised in heart and ears cannot.

THE AXE LAID TO THE ROOT

OF THE

OLD CORRUPT TREE

AND

THE SPIRIT OF DECEIT STRUCK AT IN ITS NATURE

FROM WHENCE

ALL THE ERROR FROM THE LIFE, AMONG BOTH PAPISTS AND PROTESTANTS, HATH ARISEN, AND BY WHICH IT IS NOURISHED AND FED AT THIS DAY

IN A

DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FAITH WHICH IS OF MAN AND THE FAITH WHICH IS OF GOD

AND

In some ASSERTIONS concerning true FAITH; its NATURE, RISE, etc.; its receiving of CHRIST, its abiding and growing in his living VIRTUE

WITH

A Warning concerning Adding to and Diminishing from the Scripture in general, and the Prophecies of the Revelations in particular. Discovering what it is, and the great Danger of it, with the only Way of Preservation from it. Whereto is added A short Touch about the Use of Means

AS ALSO

A Brief History concerning the State of the Church since the Days of the Apostles

WITH AN EXHORTATION TO THE PRESENT AGE

By the Movings of the Life, in a Friend to the Living Truth of the Most High God; but an utter Enemy to the Spirit of Error and Blasphemy, wherever it is found, as well in the strictest of the Protestants, as among the grossest of the Papists

ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

[1659]

PREFACE

There was a glorious day, and bright appearance of Truth in the times of the apostles. They had the true Comforter, who led them into all Truth, and kept them alive in Truth, and Truth alive in them. By this Spirit, they, as living stones, were built up a spiritual house, founded upon Zion, the holy mount; into Jerusalem, the holy city, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of Truth. And here they had their citizenship in heaven, with God, the judge of all; with Christ, the Mediator; and with the spirits of just men and the holy angels, which always behold the face of God. They lived in the Spirit, they walked in the Spirit, they prayed in the Spirit, they sung in the Spirit, they worshipped in the Spirit, and in that understanding which the Truth had made free, and had God dwelling in them, and Christ walking in the midst of them; and, by the presence and power of his life in them, were truly dead unto sin, and alive unto God; they being not strivers against sin with man's legal spirit, but by the power of grace, which made them more than conquerors through him that loved them. This was part of the glory of that state, in the day of the sunshine of the gospel.

But, behold! a thick night of darkness overspread the beauty of this! Some false brethren went out from the true church into the world, getting the sheep's clothing, making a great outward appearance, and drew the world after them; yes, and some from the very churches themselves. (How hard was the apostle Paul obliged to plead with the Corinthians about his own apostleship and doctrine, that he might preserve that church from the false apostles!) And when they had gathered a sufficient party in the world, they made head against the true sheep and lambs of Christ, fought with them, and overcame them. And when they had overcome them that had the living testimony of Jesus, and the true power and presence of the Spirit among them, then they set up their own dead form, making a cry all over the nations of the earth: "Revelation is ceased! there is no looking now for such an infallible Spirit, and such immediate teachings as the Christians had in the apostles' days, who had the anointing to teach them all things;" but they pointed men to traditions, to the church, as they called it (which title the whore has engrossed since the days of  the apostles), or to searchings of the scripture, and reading expositions upon it, and bodies of divinity, formed by the understanding-part in man to instruct the understanding-part. Thus the whole course of religion, and of the knowledge of God, came to be out of that Spirit and life wherein it first came forth (and wherein it first stood), and consisted in doctrines of men, and a form of worship and knowledge which the wisdom of man had framed, in an imitation of that which formerly stood in the life.

And now men being gone from the life, from the Spirit, and his immediate teachings, into an outward form of knowledge and worship of God in the wrong nature, antichrist is got up, and the dragon sits in the temple, appearing there as if he were God, giving out laws and ordinances of worship in public, and putting men upon duties and exercises of devotion in private, and he is obeyed and bowed down to in the observation of these; but the true, living God is not known, nor his secret, still voice which calls out of these heard; because of the great noise which the dragon makes in his temple (for so it is now, he having gained it, though it was once God's), about his laws and ordinances of worship, which he would have all compelled to, and none suffered to testify against them that they are his, and not the Lord's.

Yet it pleased the Lord, all the night of this darkness, to raise up some witnesses against the dragon, and all his invented forms of worship; though they were still hunted, persecuted, knocked down, and their testimony cried out against, as error, heresy, schism, and blasphemy; and the ways, worships, and ordinances of the whore, the beast, and dragon, still cried up as the truth. Thus the Papists cried out against the Protestants as heretics and schismatics, who were witnesses against them; and the Protestants cried out against the Non-conformists, Separatists, and Brownists, who were witnesses against them; and every sect cries out most against them who are led further from the apostasy, and raised up by the Lord, as witnesses against them, against their sitting down in their forms, and not pursuing the guidance of that Spirit, which would lead them quite out of the darkness, and not have them sit down by the way.

Now the Lord God, in these latter days, has not only raised up witnesses against the whore, the dragon, the beast, the false  prophets, with all their inventions which they have set up instead of the truth; but has assayed, and begun to deliver his people out of this Egyptian darkness, and to bring them back to the light of the land of Canaan. And now great enemies have appeared; the sons of the night exceedingly strengthening themselves to keep out the daylight, every one crying up his own form, and all joining hand in hand against the power: yes, and that spirit which first tempted from God is exceeding busy to cause those whom the Spirit of the Lord has been drawing out of the land of darkness, to make a captain to return to Egypt; or at least to sit down in some form, or some pleasant notion of things by the way, and not to follow the Lord through all his intricate leadings in the vast, howling wilderness, till he bring them into the possession of the true rest. What a work was there to quench that spirit which stirred in the Protestants against Popery, and to fix them in Episcopacy, and in the use of the common prayer-book! When that was detected, and turned from, the Presbytery endeavored to take its place, and to bring in its directory; but the pursuit of the Lord was so hot against that, that it sunk presently, and his mighty hand would not allow it so much as to arise. Much about the same time Independency and Anabaptism appeared and contended; and there was a more simple and honest thing stirring there, than in the other: and accordingly the blessing of the Lord (which was not to the form, but to the life which was stirring within) did appear more among them. But they fixing there, lost the life and simplicity to which the blessing was, and met with the death and the curse, which is the proper reward of the form: for any form, out of the life, kills the life; and its reward is death to itself. The form kills the life, which stirred underneath, and made it appear with some freshness; and when the life, from which it had its seeming beauty and luster, dies, then it soon withers and dies also: so that the living principle being once slain, there remains nothing but the dead spirit, feeding on the dead form. There was one more pure appearance, and nearer to the kingdom than all these; which was of seeking and waiting: but death overcame this also, making a form of it, and stealing in some observations, from the letter of the Scriptures, concerning the kingdom, whereby their eyes were withheld from beholding  the inward principle and seed of life within, to look for some great appearance of power without (such as was among the apostles), to set things to rights; and so they were held captive by the same spirit, in their seeking and waiting, whereby the others are held in their forms. Thus have persons generally missed the following of that good Spirit, which began to lead them out of Egypt, the dark land; and losing their guide, have fixed some where or other by the way; resting in some form, or in some notion or expectation of things (according as in their wisdom they have imagined from their skill in the letter), short of the life itself. Thus have their carcasses fallen in the wilderness.

Now this I have to say to you all: all you who rest in any form whatsoever, or rest in any notion or apprehension of things short of the life itself, you had even as good have stayed in Egypt, as to fix by the way, and to take up a rest in the wilderness, short of Canaan. In plain terms, you had as good have abode in Popery or Episcopacy; you had been as acceptable to God there as here. Not that I say your forms of Independency, Anabaptism, or Seeking, are as bad as Popery, Episcopacy, or Presbytery: no; they are all somewhat nearer, and the last of them very much nearer: but your fixing there, and the dead spirit feeding there on the dead thing, is as remote from life as if it had gone quite back again. And this dead spirit is as hateful to God here, as it is among the Papists; yes, and in one sense more, because it makes a pretense beyond them.

And the truth is, you have gone back again, though not in the direct form, yet into that very spirit wherein Popery's strength and kingdom lie; and so are become one of the beast's names; and your strength and defense lie in the beast's horns, either in the outward powers of the earth, or in that inward knowledge of things and wisdom from the letter, which is out of the life, and so are not yet come out of the city of Babylon. For mark: the spirit that fixes in a form short of the life, is the same that whored from the life: and the same spirit is the whore still, in what form soever she be. The Spirit that rose up in the life, against the death and corruption whereof Popery wholly consisted, was a good Spirit; and this Spirit would pass through all forms, till it meet with the life. It is the other spirit that says to  you, You have gone far enough; and so tempts you to stay by the way. And he who hearkens to this spirit, and stays any where by the way, is caught with the old whore in a new dress, and is drinking the cup of fornication afresh. And then, like the Papists, he runs to the powers of the earth, to defend his form against the witnesses of God (and that is his cover under which he persecutes, and there he lies hid), or at least to his own wisdom and reason, to strengthen himself with arguments for fixing here, and against going any further. And then he grows wise in the flesh, and cries against them who are still led by the same Spirit to press on further, as weak, silly, giddy, unsettled, seduced people, that can never know when they are well. Thus the wise Episcopalians reviled the simple-hearted Non-conformists, who pursued further than they. And the Non-conformists, when they lost their simplicity, and began to stick, reviled those that pursued beyond them. And thus at this day, those who are pressing on in the Spirit, are disdained by those who have taken up their station in the flesh; and with their two great horns of earthly power and earthly wisdom, are they pushing at them.

Look about you, look about you, all sorts of devout professors; see where you are! Are you not dead in your forms? Is not the good old Puritan principle (wherein once was true life in its measure) dead and buried there? Consider with yourselves; has that grown in your forms? Or has it been slain there? Speak the truth in your own hearts; can you truly say, from a sensible feeling in the life, that that principle is still alive in you? If it were so, you could never be drawn to persecute, no, nor suffer persecution, you that have power to hinder it: but if that seed be choked, then you may well connive at, if not further the enemy, and plead for him, and join interests with him. While Abel lived in you, Cain could not rise up in his dominion; but now the right seed is slain, the murdering nature appears.

Oh hasten out of this spirit! Hasten out of Babylon! Cast off the spirit of Popery: return to the old Puritan principle: do not cry it up in deceit, to oppose the present appearance of truth, which is grown up further in it; but subject that dead, formal, earthly spirit to it, which is fallen beneath it. And when you are come to a true touch of life there, you may be able to own the  same truth in its growth to a further measure. But while you are in the dead understanding, and from the power and life of truth in your own particular, do you think to be able to measure truth aright in others? No; you measure by a false appearance of things in the fallen understanding, and in the wisdom which you have gathered there, since you yourself fell from the living principle: and this must needs commend that most which is nearest to it, and not that which is nearest to truth. And this is the great error of this age; men, with a gathered knowledge from scripture words, without the true faith and life, go about to measure that life and knowledge which come from the faith; and because it suits not with the apprehensions which they have taken into their minds, they condemn it. And thus, being in the stumbling wisdom, and way of observation to which truth was never revealed, but was ever an offense, they stumbled at it: and so men generally dash and split themselves against the same rock now, as the Pharisees did of old. Now this understanding must perish, and this wisdom in men be brought to nought, before that can be raised up which can judge aright.

Hearken therefore to my exhortation, as you love your souls; Come out of Popery in deed and in truth: come out of the SPIRIT of Popery: burn the whore, in her new forms as well as in her old: cast off all these new names of the beast, under which the old spirit has made a prey of the life in your own particulars, and lies lurking to make a prey of the life in others, and to force it into its own deceitful forms of death, and slay it. Leave defending your faith and church by the beast's horns, and come to that faith and church which is received, gathered, and defended by Christ, the One Horn of Salvation. Leave your reasonings and disputings in that wisdom which has slain the life, and come to that wisdom which comes from the life, and springs up in the life; and you will find more certainty and satisfaction in one touch of true life, than in all the reasonings and disputes of wise men to the world's end. The ground wherein men's religion grows (even the most zealous) is bad; even the same ground wherein the Pharisees' religion stood and grew; and it has brought forth such a kind of fruit; namely, such a kind of conformity to the letter as theirs was; which stands in the understanding and will of man,  rearing up a pleasant building there, but keeps from the life, and from building in it. But the true religion stands in receiving a principle of life; which, by its growth, forms a vessel for itself; and all the former part, wherein sin on the one hand, or self-righteousness on the other hand, stood and grew, passes away.

These things following strike at the king of Babylon himself; yes, even at the very root of the anti-christian spirit in every man; which he that can mildly receive the stroke of, may feel the true Spirit of life (which lies underneath) spring up in him, and give life to his soul: which, when it is delivered, will be able truly to know, and rejoice in the Lord his Savior. And when the root of that spirit is cut down (which never brought forth sweet, pleasant fruit unto life; but only sour fruit, finely painted and dressed for the eye and palate of death), its body, branches, leaves, and fruit will wither and die daily, and truth come to grow safely.

THE AXE LAID TO THE ROOT

OF THE

OLD CORRUPT TREE

A DISTINCTION between the FAITH which is of MAN, and the FAITH which is of God: One whereof is the Faith of Zion, the other the Faith of Babylon: The one laying hold on Christ, as he is revealed the King of Life in Zion; the other lays hold on a Historical Relation of Christ, the Fame whereof has sounded in Babylon.

THERE is a faith which is of a man's self; and a faith which is the gift of God: or a power of believing, which is found in the nature of fallen man; and a power of believing, which is given from above. As there are two births, the first and the second, so they have each their faith; and each believes with his faith, and seems to lay hold on the same thing for life; and the contention about the inheritance will not be ended, till God determine it. Cain will sacrifice with his faith, and he believes he shall be accepted: if he had not believed so, he would not have been so  angry when he found it otherwise: and the Cainish spirit in man, the vagabond from the life of God, which has not a habitation in God, nor the eternal life of God abiding in him, is busy with the same faith at this day, and has the same expectation from it as Cain had.

This is the root of the false religion; of the false hope; of the false peace; of the false joy; of the false rest; of the false comfort; of the false assurance; as the other is of the true. In this faith, which is of man, and in the improvement of it, stands all the knowledge, zeal, devotion, and worship of the world in general, and of the worldly part in every man in particular: but the true knowledge, the true zeal, the true devotion, the true worship, stand in the faith which is given of God, to them that are born of the immortal seed; which lives in God, and in which God lives for ever.

Now it deeply concerns every man, to consider from which of these his knowledge, religion, and worship proceed, and in which of them they stand. For if they proceed from, and stand in, the faith which is of man, they cannot please God, nor conduce to the salvation of the soul. But though they may taste very pleasantly to man's palate now, and administer much hope and satisfaction to him at present, yet they will fail at the time of need; for, as Christ said concerning the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, so may I concerning this faith; Except your faith, with the works of it, exceeds that faith, and all the works of it (even to the uttermost improvement thereof) which is to be found in man's nature, it will never lead you to the kingdom of God, nor be able to give you any right to the inheritance of life. For he that will inherit, must be the right heir, must have the faith of Abraham, the faith of Isaac; which springs up from the root of life in the seed; and this leads the seed into that spring of life (out of which it shot forth as a branch) which is the inheritance promised to the seed. And here is Christ, Alpha and Omega, in every particular soul where life is begun and perfected, running its course through time, back to that which was before the beginning.

Therefore observe, and consider well, what this faith which is of man's self can do; and how far it may go in the changing of man, and in producing a conformity of him to the letter of the Scriptures. And then consider where it is shut out, what it cannot do, what change it cannot make, what it cannot conform to: that so the true distinction may be let into the mind, and not a foundation laid of so great a mistake in a matter of so great concernment.

1. A man may believe the history of the Scriptures; yes, and all the doctrines of them, so far as he can reach them with his understanding, with this faith which is of man. As by this faith a man can believe a history probably related to him; so by this faith he believes the histories of the Scriptures, which are more than probably related. As by this faith a man can receive doctrines of instruction out of philosophers' books; so by the same faith he may receive doctrines of instruction out of the Scriptures. Reading a relation of the fall of man, of the recovery by Christ, that there is no other way to life, etc., this faith can believe the relation of these things, as well as it can believe the relation of other things.

2. This being believed from the relation of the history of these things, it naturally sets all the powers of man at work (kindling the understanding, will, and affections,) towards the avoiding of misery, and the attaining of happiness. What would not a man do to avoid perpetual extremity of misery on soul and body for ever, and to obtain a crown of everlasting blessedness? This boils the affections to a height, and sets the understanding on work to the utmost, to gather all the rules of scripture, and to practice all the duties and ordinances therein mentioned. What can the Scriptures propose to be believed, that he will not believe? What can it propose to be done, that he will not do? Must he pray? He will pray. Must he hear? He will hear. Must he read? He will read. Must he meditate? He will meditate. Must he deny himself, and all his own righteousness and duties, and hope only for salvation in the merits of Christ? He will seem to do that too; and say, when he has done all he can, he is but an unprofitable servant. Does the scripture say he can do nothing without the Spirit? He will acknowledge that too, and hope he has the Spirit. God has promised the Spirit to them that ask it; and he has asked long, and asks still, and therefore hopes he has it. Thus man, by a natural faith, grows up and spreads into a  great tree, and is very confident and much pleased; not perceiving the defect in his root, and what all his growth here will come to.

3. This being done with much seriousness and industry, there must needs follow a great change in man: his understanding will be more and more enlightened; his will more and more conformed to that to which he thus gives himself up, and to which he thus bends himself with all his strength; his affections more and more weaned; he will find a kind of life and growth in this, according to its kind. Let a man's heart be in any kind of study or knowledge, applying himself strictly to it, he gathers understanding in his mind, and warmth in his affection: so it is also here. Yes, this being more excellent in itself, must needs produce a more excellent understanding, and a more excellent warmth, and have a greater power and influence upon the will.

4. Now, how easy is it for a man to mistake here, and call this the truth! First, he mistakes this for the true faith; and then he mistakes in applying to this all that which belongs to the true faith: and thus entering into the spirit of error at first, he errs in the whole course of his religion, from the beginning to the end. He sees a change made by this in him; and this he accounts the true conversion and regeneration. This leads him to ask, and seek, and pray; and this he accounts the true praying, the true seeking, the true asking. This cleanses (after its kind) his understanding, will, and affections; and this he takes for the true sanctification. The justification which is to the true believer, he also applies to this faith; and so he has a peace, a satisfaction, a rest here, and a hope of happiness hereafter. Thus he receives what is already revealed; and he waits for what may be further revealed, which he can embrace and conform to, turning still upon this center, and growing up from this root. And he that does not come here in religion, falls short of the improvement of man's nature, and of the faith that grows there (which naturally leads all the powers of nature here, and fixes them here), which is but dead. And now this man is safe; he is a believer; he is a worshipper of God; he is a Christian; he is an observer of the commands of Christ: when the overflowing scourge comes, it shall not touch him: all the judgments, plagues, threatenings, in the Scriptures, belong not to him, but to the unbelievers; to them  that know not God; to them that worship not God; to them that observe not the commands of Christ. Thus, by his untempered mortar from his false faith, he has built up a wall against the deluge of wrath; which wall will tumble down upon him when the wrath comes. The growth of this faith, and great spreading of it into all this knowledge, zeal, and devotion, has not changed the nature of it all this while; but it is the same that it was at the beginning, even a power of nature in the first birth; and all these fruits are but the fruits of the first nature, which is still alive under all this. All this can never kill the principle out of which it grows; but feeds it more, and fattens it for the slaughter.

Thus far this faith can go: but then there is something it is shut out of at the very first: there is something this faith cannot receive, believe, or enter into. What is that? It is the life, the power, the inward part of this. Though it may seem to have unity with all the scriptures in the letter; yet it cannot have unity with one scripture in the life: for its nature is shut out of the nature of the things there witnessed. As for instance: it may have a literal knowledge of Christ, according as the scripture relates; of his birth, preaching, miracles, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, etc. Yes, but the thing spoken of it knows not. The nature of Christ (which is the Christ) is hidden from that eye. So it may have a literal knowledge of the blood of Christ, and of justification; but the life of the blood which livingly justifies, that birth cannot feel; but can only talk of it, according to the relation it reads in the scripture. So it may have a literal knowledge of sanctification; but the thing that sanctifies, it cannot receive into itself. So for redemption, peace, joy, hope, love, etc., it may get into the outward part of all these; but the inward part, the life, the spirit of them, it is shut out of, and cannot touch or come near; nor can it witness that change which is felt and known here. And here is the great contention in the world between these two births; the one contending for its knowledge in the letter, and the other contending for its knowledge in the life: the one setting up its faith from the natural part, calling it spiritual; and the other, which has felt the stroke of God upon this (and thereby come to know the difference), setting up the faith of the true heir: which faith has a different beginning, and  a different growth from the other, and will be welcomed into the land and kingdom of life; when the other will be manifested to be but the birth of the bond-woman, and be thrust forth with its mother to seek their bread abroad: for the seed of the bond-woman is not to inherit with Isaac, the seed of promise.

Question: What then is that faith which is the gift of God? And which is distinct from this?

Answer: It is that power of believing which springs out of the seed of eternal life; and leavens the heart, not with notions of knowledge, but with the powers of life. The other faith is drawn out of man's nature, by considerations which affect the natural part, and is kept alive by natural exercises of reading, hearing, praying, studying, meditating in that part; but this springs out of a seed of life given, and grows up in the life of that seed, and feeds on nothing but the flesh and blood of Christ; in which is the living virtue, and immortal nourishment of that which is immortal. This faith, at its first entrance, strikes that part dead in which the other faith did grow, and by its growth perfects that death, and raises up a life which is of another nature than ever entered into the heart of man to conceive. And by the death of this part in us, we come to know and enjoy life; and by the life we have received, know, and enjoy, we come to see that which other men call life (and which we ourselves were apt to call life formerly) to be but death. And from this true knowledge, we give a true testimony to the world of what we have seen and felt; but no man receives our testimony. It grieves us to the heart to see men set up a perishing thing as the way to life; and our bowels are exceedingly kindled, when we behold an honest zeal and simplicity betrayed; and in tender love do we warn men of the pit, into which they are generally running so fast; though men reward us with hatred for our good will, and become our bitter enemies because we tell them the truth, and the most necessary truth for them to know; which they can bear neither in plain words, nor yet in parables. Yet be not rough and angry; but meekly wait to read this following parable aright, and it will open into life. The parable is briefly this:

That which sold the birth-right, seeks the birth-right with tears and great pains; but shall never recover it. But there is  one which lies dead, which has the promise, which stirs not, which seeks not till he is raised by the power of the Father's life, and then he wrestles with the Father, prevails, and gets the blessing from him. Therefore know that part which is up first, and is so busy in the willing and in the running, and makes such a noise about duties, and ordinances, and graces, to keep down the life which it has slain: and know that seed of life which is the heir, which lies underneath all this, and must remain slain while this lives: but if ever you hear the voice of the Son of God, this will live, and the other die. And happy for ever will he be who knows this! But misery will be his portion, who cannot witness a thorough change by the almighty power of the living God, but has only painted the old nature and sepulcher, but never knew the old bottle broken, and a new one formed, which alone is able to receive and retain the new wine of the kingdom; whereas the other, Pharisee-like, can only receive a relation of the letter concerning the kingdom.

SOME ASSERTIONS

Concerning FAITH, its Nature, Rise, etc., with its Receiving of CHRIST, and what follows thereupon; namely, a Growing in his living Virtue; with a Knowledge of the true, living, unerring Rule, and Obedience to it in the Life.

ASSERTION I

THAT the true faith (the faith of the gospel, the faith of the elect, the faith which saves the sinner from sin, and makes him more than a conqueror over sin and the powers of darkness) is a belief in the nature of God; which belief gives entrance into, fixes in and causes an abiding in that nature. Unbelief enters into death, and fixes in the death: faith gives entrance into, and fixes in the life. Faith is an ingrafting into the vine, a partaking of the nature of the vine, a sucking of the juice of life from the vine; which nothing is able to do but the faith, but the belief in the nature. And nothing can believe in the nature, but what is one with the nature. So then faith is not a believing the history of the scripture, or a believing and applying the promises, or a  believing that Christ died for sinners in general, or for me in particular; for all this may be done by the unbelieving nature (like the Jew); but a uniting to the nature of God in Christ, which the unbeliever starts from, in the midst of his believing of these. Yet I do not deny that all these things are to be believed, and are believed with the true faith: but this I affirm, that they also may be believed without the true faith; and that such a belief of these does not determine a man to be a believer in the sight of God, but only the union with the nature of that life from which all these sprang, and in which alone they have their true value.

II

That the true faith springs from the true knowledge, or comes with the true knowledge of the true nature of God in Christ, which it believes in. He can never believe in the nature of God, who has not first the nature of God revealed to him. If a man search the Scriptures all his days, hear all that can be said by men concerning God, Christ, faith, justification, etc., be able to dispute about them, and think he can make his tenets good against all the world; yet, if he has not received the true knowledge of the nature of these things, all his professed faith in them cannot be true.

III

That the true knowledge is only to be had by the immediate revelation of Christ in the soul. No man knows the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the son reveals him. The dead shall hear the voice of the son of God, and they that hear shall live. There is no raising of a dead soul to life, but by the immediate voice of Christ. Outward preaching, reading the Scriptures, etc. may direct and encourage men to hearken after and wait for the voice; but it is the immediate voice of Christ in the soul, which alone can quicken the soul to God: and till the light of life shine immediately from Christ in the heart, the true knowledge is never given. 2 Cor. 4:6. Therefore they that never yet heard the immediate voice of Christ, are still dead in their sins, and have not yet received the true, living knowledge, but a dead, literal knowledge, which gives a false shining of things in the dead part,  but kills the life. Indeed the proper use of all means, is to bring to the immediate voice, life, and power; and till this be done, till the soul come to that, to hear that, to feel that, to be rooted there, there is nothing done that will stand; but men stick by the way, crying up the means, and never knowing, tasting, or enjoying the thing which the means point to. But he that knows God comes into the immediate presence; and he that daily lives in God, lives in the immediate life; and the true faith leads to this, giving the soul such a touch and taste of it at first, as makes unsatisfiable without it. By this Christ cuts off the Jews, with all their zeal and knowledge. John 5:37-38. "You have not heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape; and you have not his word abiding in you." There is the hearing of the voice, the sight of the shape, and the having the word of God abiding in the heart, which gives both the hearing of the voice, and the sight of the shape, and keeps the soul quick, and living in the life. The voice gives life, the sight of the shape daily conforms into the image, which is beheld by the eye of life; and the word abiding in the heart nourishes and feeds the living soul with the pure bread of life. But the Jews knew not this; but were crying up their sabbaths, the law of Moses, the ordinances of Moses, the temple of God, the instituted worship of God, and so were shut out of the thing itself which those things ended in, and out of a capacity of receiving it. And thus many zealous ones at this day, not having come to this, no more than the Jews did, but sticking in the letter of the gospel, as the Jews did in the letter of the law, stumble at the present dispensation of life, and cannot do otherwise.

IV

That Christ's immediate revelation of the nature of his Father is to his babes. Not to the wise, not to the zealous, not to the studious, not to the devout, not to the rich in the knowledge of the Scriptures without: but to the weak, the foolish, the poor, the lowly in heart. And man receives not these revelations by study, by reading, by willing, by running, but by being formed in the will of life, by being begotten of the will of the Father, and by coming forth in the will, and lying still in the will, and growing up in the will, here the child receives the wisdom which  is from above, and daily learns that cross which crucifies the other wisdom, which joins with and pleases the other will, which loves to be feeding on the shadowy and husky part of knowledge, without life. Therefore, if ever you desire to receive this knowledge from Christ, know that eye in yourself that is to be blinded, which Christ will never reveal the Father to: read at home, know the wise and prudent there, whom Christ excludes from the living knowledge. And if you can bear it, that eye that can read the Scriptures with the light of its own understanding; that can consider and debate, and take up senses and meanings of it, without the immediate life and power; that is the eye that may gather what it can from the letter, but shall never see into the life, nor taste of the true knowledge; for Christ, who alone opens and gives the knowledge, hides the pearl from that eye.

The true knowledge is only poured into the new vessel. It is the living soul alone that receives the living knowledge of the living God from Christ the life. The old nature, the old understanding, is for death and destruction. The wisdom of the flesh, though painted ever so like the spiritual wisdom, is not to be spared anywhere; but that wisdom, with all its zeal and growth and progress in religion must perish. All men's knowledge of the Scriptures which they have gathered in that part will profit them nothing, but hinder them. Every building which the leprosy of sin has overspread, is to be pulled down; therefore he that has only the old house swept and garnished, never received the true knowledge, from which the true faith springs, but his life lies in the oldness of the letter, in the conformity of the dead part to that, and he knows not the virtue of the knowledge of God in the newness of the Spirit (the veil being over his heart) which is only given to the new understanding.

V

That this faith (which springs from the true knowledge) is God's gift, and is not that power of believing which is to be found in man's nature; but of another nature, even the nature of the giver. And when man is called to believe, he is not called to put forth that faith wherewith he believes other things; but to receive and exercise the gift of faith, which is from above. That  which is to be believed in is spiritual; and that must be spiritual which believes in it. Man, with all the powers of his nature, is shut out; it is another thing, distinct from man, which is let into life, and which lets man in. For man receiving the faith, entering into the faith, and becoming new-formed in the faith, then he also may enter; but till then he is shut out, and knows not the life, let him believe and read and pray and hear and exercise himself in that which he calls duties and ordinances ever so much; for all these, set up in the wrong part in man, only feed the wrong part; and that, with all its food and nourishment, falls short of the life. Therefore the true entrance into religion is to feel that power which slays man's natural ability and propensity to believe, that so the gift of the true faith may be received: for there is no rising up and living of the second, without the death of the first, with all its natural faculties and powers.

VI

That by this faith alone, which is the gift which is from above, (and not that faith which grows either in the wilderness or garden of the old nature, and is fed by the oldness of the letter, and not by the newness of the Spirit) is Christ received. For Christ can be received by the faith alone that comes from him; and that faith which comes from him cannot but receive him. Man's faith refuses him; it receives a literal knowledge of him from what it hears from men, or from what it reads related in the Scripture concerning him; but refuses the nature of the thing. And it cannot be otherwise; for man's faith, not being of the nature of it, cannot but refuse it. But this faith, which is given of God, which is from above, being of the same life and nature with Christ, cannot refuse the spring of its own life; but receives him immediately. There is no distance of time; but so soon as faith is received, Christ is received, and the soul united to him in the faith. As unbelief immediately shuts him out, so faith lets him in immediately, and centers the soul in him: and the immortal soul feels the immortal virtue, and rejoices in the proper spring of its own immortal nature. But the faith of man never reaches this, never receives Christ, but only a relation of things concerning him; and with that faith which  stands in the letter, opposes that faith which stands in the life. And here is the spirit of antichrist; here is the mystery of iniquity, working out of one form into another: for antichrist does not directly deny Christ, or deny the letter; but cries up Christ, cries up the letter, cries up ordinances; but so as they may feed the faith of his own nature, and maintain a hope there. And thus the spirit of man is at unity with what will feed his own, with what interpretations his own understanding can gather out of the Scriptures. And thus can he cry up Christ, and say he hopes to be saved by him, while the spirit of enmity against the nature of Christ lodges in his heart. This is antichrist, wherever he is found; and this is his faith, and great is his knowledge, and many are his coverings; but the Lord is searching him out, who will strip him, and make his nakedness appear.

VII

That Christ is received as a grain of mustard-seed. Christ is such a thing, as every eye, but the eye of this faith, despises. He is the stone which the wisdom of the builders, in all ages, has rejected. They look for a glorious Messiah; but they know him not in his humiliation, in the little seed, out of which he is to grow up into his glory: and so missing of the thing, they build up only with high imaginations in the airy mind concerning it. As when God sent Christ in the flesh, there was no form nor beauty in him; the Jews, whose hope and expectation lay there, yet saw no manner of comeliness, no desirableness in him; even so it is now: when God comes to offer him to those that think they place all their hopes in him, they see no loveliness in him, but refuse him daily. What! this little thing, small, like a grain of mustard-seed, can this be the glorious Christ which the Scriptures have spoken so much of? Why, we know the descent of this (its father, mother, and kindred are with us), we find this in our nature. Thus, like the Jews of old, they make a great noise about Christ, but refuse the thing itself. And this for lack of the true eye of faith: for if they had that eye, they would see the virtue in the little seed, and receive him in his humiliation in their hearts, where he knocks daily for entrance, and be content till this grain of mustard-seed grew up into a great and glorious  tree. But for lack of this eye, they keep him out, and let in the painted murderer, who dwells in them, and covers himself with a knowledge, a zeal, a faith, and hope, etc., in the old nature, in the old vessel, in the old understanding: and thus they give God and Christ good words, while the evil spirit has their heart, and dwells there, bringing forth his own old evil fruit under an appearance of devotion and holiness.

Hear now, you wise in the letter, but strangers to the life! there is a twofold appearance of Christ in the heart; there is an appearance of him as a servant to obey the law, to fulfill the will of the Father in that body which the Father prepares there for him: and there is an appearance of him in glory, to reign in the life and power of the Father: and he that knows not the first of these in his heart, shall never know the second there. And he that knows not these inwardly, shall never know any outward, visible coming to his comfort. For if Christ should come outwardly to reign (as many expect), yet to be sure he would not reign in you, whose heart he has not first entered into and subdued to himself; which is only to be done by his appearance there, first as a servant, then as a king. But what estate are Christians (so called) now in, who know not him in them who is able to serve the Lord; but are striving and fighting in that nature where sin has the power, and which can never overcome, being not in union with, but strangers to, that life and power which is the conqueror! Therefore let all consider in the depths of their hearts; for this is infallibly true: they that never received the seed of life in their hearts, never received Christ; and such shall never be free from sin while they live: for having not received the Son, who makes free, how can they be free indeed? Or be free from wrath when they are dead? For that faith concerning Christ will not save them hereafter, which did not bring them to receive Christ here.

VIII

That this seed being received, grows up into its own form; or is formed in that creature into which it is received. It there grows up into the body in which it is to serve the Lord, and which body is to be glorified when it has finished its service. As a seed cast into fitted earth, or the seed of man or beast sown in  a fitting womb, receives form and grows into a plant, or living creature; so it is with this seed in its earth. Open the true eye, O you Christians! and begin to read the mystery of godliness.

IX

That this creature, or the Spirit of life in this creature (which it is in union with, and which is never separated from it) is the Christian's rule. Gal. 6:15-16. 1 John 2:27. Heb. 8:10,12. The Son is never without the Spirit of the Father; no, not in the seed; and the Spirit of the Father is the Son's rule. Outward rules were given to a state without; to men who were not brought to the life, but were exercised under shadows and representations of the life: but the Son, who is within, who is the substance of all, who is the life, who is one with the Father, whose proper right the Spirit is, he is not tied to any outward rule; but is to live and walk in the immediate light of the Spirit of his own life. And he that has the Son, has this rule; and he that has not this rule, has not the Son: and he that has not the Son, has not the true faith (which immediately receives him) and so is no Christian; but has stolen the name from the letter, having never received the nature from the Spirit, to which alone the name belongs.

X

He that has Christ, or the seed of eternal life, which is Christ, formed in him (which seed the Spirit always dwells in, and never is absent from, which is the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures), he is in a capacity of understanding those scriptures which that Spirit gave forth, as that Spirit leads him into the understanding of them. But he that has not received that which is like the grain of mustard-seed, and so has not Christ nor his spirit (whatever he may pretend to), he, by all his studies, arts, languages, reading of expositors, conferences, no, experiences, can never come to the true knowledge of the Scriptures; for he lacks the true key, which alone can open. He may have got a great many wrong keys, none of which can open; but he lacks the true key of the true knowledge, and so is shut out of that; and only let into such a kind of knowledge as the wrong key can open into. And with this kind of knowledge the  merchants of Babylon have long traded; but their day is expiring quickly, and their night of lamentation and howling hastens.

XI

Though he can understand the Scriptures, as the Spirit leads him into the knowledge of them, and can set his seal to the truth of them, yet he cannot call them his rule: for, having received the life for his rule, and knowing it to be so, he cannot call another thing it. He that has received the new covenant into his heart, with the laws of the life thereof written there by the Spirit of life, who does write them there, even in the least of all that believe, as well as in the greatest, he knows that this living writing is his rule. The Scriptures give relation where the covenant and law of life is written; and if I will read it, there must I go, where the Scriptures point me. I must go to Christ the book of life, and read there with that eye which Christ gives, if I read the things of life. And the Scriptures are willing to surrender up their glory to Christ, who was before them, and is above them, and shall be after them. But there is a false spirit, which has seated itself in a literal knowledge of the Scriptures, and has formed images and likenesses of truth from it (every one after the imaginations of his own heart); and all these fall, if Christ the life appear: and so this spirit cries up the Scriptures now in a way of deceit, just as the Jews cried up Moses. It was a good remove, to withdraw the ear from the false church, and to listen to the true testimony which the Scriptures give of Christ: but it is the seducing spirit which tempts to stick by the way, and to rear up buildings and forms of knowledge from the letter of the Scriptures, and not come to feel after, unite with, and live in, Christ the life. And unless you come to this, your reading of the Scripture is vain, and all your gathering rules of practice, and comforts from promises, will end in vanity: for until you know, and have received the thing itself, you are at a distance from that to which all belongs. A lively and glorious testimony of truth has God held forth in this age, at which all that stick in the letter cannot but stumble; and there is no possibility of knowing or receiving it, but by feeling the true touch of the inward life of it. "Wisdom is justified of her children:" but  they that are not born of her, cannot justify her womb or birth.

To the Jews, who were an outward people, there was an outward rule given, a law of commandments, statutes, judgments, and ordinances, proper to that state wherein they were, and to that thing to which the ministry was: but all this was to be done away, and to end in that which all this represented. So that to Christians, Christ the substance being come, which is the end of all these shadows, the true Jew being raised in the immediate life, now there is a necessity for the immediate life for the rule. To them under the gospel, to them who are come to the substance, to them who are begotten and born in the life, there can be no rule proportionable to their state, but Christ the substance, Christ the life. Here he alone is the light, the way, the truth, the rule; the Spirit is here the rule, the new creature is the rule, the new covenant the rule; all which are in unity together, and he that has one of them has them all, and he that has not them all has none of them. So that directions taken out of the scripture cannot be the rule to him who is the true Christian; but the measure of grace, the measure of the light, the measure of the Spirit, the measure of the gift received into the living soul from the spring of life, this is the alone rule of life. But Christians in the degeneration have lost this, and so have taken up words for a rule (which were not given to that end); and so with deductions by the earthly part, they feed the earthly part. What is fed by men's scripture knowledge, but the earthly understanding? The earthly will heated; the earthly affections warmed? And of the fruits of this earth they bring sacrifices to God: and they are angry that God has raised up Abel, their younger brother, who offers up the Lamb of God to God, and serves the living God, in his own living Spirit, and with the faith which comes from him. Abel's religion stands not in that part wherein all other men's religion stands, but in the death of that part; and in the raising up of another part, wherein life springs. Can you mildly receive these gentle leadings? Do not provoke the tender heart of the Lamb against you, who also has the voice of a lion, and can roar terribly out of his holy mountain against the enemies of his life and Spirit.

A NECESSARY WARNING

And of very great Importance to all that call themselves CHRISTIANS, and hope for a Share in the Book of LIFE, and the escaping the Damnation of Hell; which is their Portion whose Names are written in the Book of Death, and blotted by God out of the Book of LIFE, though they hope to find them written there.

HEAR AND CONSIDER

IT is recorded, Rev. 22:18-19. "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Great are the plagues that are written in this book, even the pouring out of eternal wrath without mixture; torment day and night, in the presence of the Lamb, etc. As the growth and fulness of the mystery of iniquity are spoken of in this book, so the measuring out of the fulness of wrath to it, is spoken of also. And great are the life and blessedness that are here promised, to those that fight with and overcome the mystery of iniquity: and receive not any marks or names of the beast, nor are subject to any of his horns, though he push ever so hard with them. Now to meet with all the plagues here threatened, and to miss of all the blessedness here promised, is it not a sad state? Why, he that adds to these things here spoken, or diminishes from the words of the prophecy, the Lord has said this shall befall him. Therefore, in the fear of that God who has spoken this, and will make it good, let every one search, who is the adder, who is the diminisher.

Now mark, see if this be not a clear thing. He that gives any other meaning of any scripture, than what is the true, proper meaning thereof, he both adds and diminishes; he takes away the true sense, he adds a sense that is not true. The Spirit of the Lord is the true expositor of scriptures; he never adds nor diminishes: but man, being without that Spirit, does but guess, does but imagine, does but study and invent a meaning, and so he is ever adding or diminishing. This is the sense, says one; this is  the sense, says another; this is the sense, says a third; this, says a fourth: another that is witty, and large in his comprehension, he says they will all stand; another, perhaps more witty than he, says none of them will stand, and he invents a meaning different from them all. And then, when they are thus expounding them, they will say, take the sense thus, it will yield this observation; or take it thus, and it will afford this observation. Does not this plainly show, that he who thus says, has not the Spirit of the Lord to open the scripture to him, and manifest which is the true sense, but is working in the mystery of darkness? And yet this very person, who is thus working with his own dark spirit in the dark, will in words confess, that there is no true understanding or opening of scripture, but by the Spirit of God. If it be so, how dare you set your imagination, your fancy, your reason, your understanding on work, and so be guessing at that which the Spirit does not open to you, and so are found adding and diminishing?

Now he that is the adder, he that is the diminisher, he cries out against the Spirit of the Lord, and charges him with adding and diminishing: for man being judge, he will judge his own way to be true, and God's to be false. That which is the adding and diminishing, he calls the true expounding of the place; but if the Spirit of the Lord immediately open any thing to any son or daughter, he cries, This is an adding to the word: the scripture is written; there are no more revelations to be expected now; the curse, says he, is to them that add. Thus he removes the curse from his own spirit, and way of study and invention, to which it appertains; and casts it upon the Spirit of the Lord. And man cannot possibly avoid this in the way that he is in; for having first judged his own darkness to be light, then, in the next place, he must needs judge the true light to be darkness. He that has afore-hand set up his own invented meaning of any scripture to be the true meaning, he must needs oppose the true meaning, and call it false, and so apply himself to form all the arguments he can out of other scriptures, to make it appear false. Thus man, having begun wrong in his knowledge of the Scriptures, stands engaged to make use of them against the Lord, and against his own soul; and yet really in himself thinks that he makes a right use of them, and that he serves the Lord, and that he is not opposing his  truth, but opposing error and heresy; while he himself is in the error, and in the heresy, and against the truth; being a stranger to that Spirit, in whose immediate life and presence the truth grows.

Did the Lord, in these words, of forbidding to add or diminish upon so great a penalty, lay a restraint and limit upon his own Spirit, that it should no more hereafter speak in his sons and daughters; or did he intend to lay bounds upon the unruly spirit of man? Did God leave man's spirit at liberty to invent and form meanings of his words, and bind up his own Spirit from speaking further words afterwards? When Moses said, you shall not add or diminish, was this to be any stop to the prophets, in whom God should speak afterwards? Is not this one of the subtle serpent's inventions, to keep up the esteem of man's invented meanings as the true sense, and to make a fortification against the entrance of that Spirit, which can discover all his false interpretations of the true words of God, and to make him see that he is the adder and the diminisher, and that his name will not be found in the book of life, when the true light is held forth to read by?

But this is general, extending to all scriptures: my drift is more particularly concerning adding to the things, or diminishing from the words of the book of this prophecy.

There are two things chiefly spoken of in this book; Mystery Zion, Mystery Babylon; the true church, the false church; the Lamb's wife, the whore; the hiding of Mystery Zion, the appearing of Mystery Babylon in her place; the flying of the church out of her heaven into the wilderness, leaving all behind her which she could not carry with her; even all the ordinances and institutions of Christ, wherein once she appeared worshipping and serving God; and the starting of the false church into her place; taking up all that she had left, even all the ordinances and institutions of Christ in the letter; thus covering herself with the form of godliness, with the sheep's clothing, that she might pass the better for the true church: and the dragon who managed the war against the woman and her seed, raises up first one beast, and then another, and sets this whore on the top of them; who with the cup of fornication makes all the earth drunk, all nations, peoples, kindreds, tongues, languages. And the beast has his horns everywhere; his marks everywhere; his names everywhere; and  also his image in every part of Babylon. And who will not worship him, he fights with; yes, such as are led by God to rent from the whore, he calls schismatics, heretics, blasphemers, and persecutes them as persons not worthy to live. Thus the state of things is quite changed, the power of truth lost, the form set up without it; those that seek after the power hated, persecuted, blasphemed; but those that lie still under any of the beast's forms, go for good Christians, for members of the visible church, so called by them.

Now mark: he that calls anything the church, but what this book calls the church, he adds: he that does not know the wilderness, and own the church in the wilderness, he diminishes. The church of Rome is not the church in the wilderness; the church of Scotland is not the church in the wilderness; and the church of England is not the church in the wilderness; the several gathered churches are none of them the church in the wilderness: all these have sprung up since the church's flight, and have appeared in her absence, usurping her name, and appropriating it to themselves; but God, who gave it to the church, has not given it to them; and so they must lose it again, when God brings back the church out of the wilderness. So he that calls those, which formerly were the institutions and ordinances of Christ, which the woman left behind her, and which the harlot has got and attired herself with, which she now appears in, and wherewith the dragon is now worshipped, he adds to this book, which says the outward court was given to the Gentiles, and the true church had nothing left her but the inward temple, wherein alone the true worshippers worshipped; and they that worship elsewhere, are the false worshippers, worshipping in false temples, in temples of the whorish spirit's building; take it either outwardly or inwardly, for it holds true in both. He that makes the beast's names fewer than they are, or his marks fewer than they are, or his horns fewer than they are, or his image less than it is, he diminishes. And the danger hereof is not small; "For if any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke  of their torment ascends up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name." Rev. 14:9, etc.

Now this I affirm: Whosoever has not the name of Zion, the mark of Zion, which he received of her in the wilderness, where the living God is with her, and where he is taught by God the laws of the wilderness-worship, and in some measure to testify against all the corrupted ordinances and institutions which have the beast's mark, and go now abroad in the world under the beast's name; I say, whoever has not the true mark of Zion, it is impossible for him to avoid the mark of Babylon. And he who avoids not the mark, cannot escape the plagues. But he that has the mark of Zion, is, by a secret inward instinct of true life, led from the marks of Babylon; and (if he faithfully follow the guidance of it) from out of all the names, and from under all the horns.

It is not enough to be rent from Popery, and sit down under the power and government of the same spirit in another form; or to be rent from Episcopacy, and the same spirit sit down in Presbytery; or to be rent from Presbytery, and the same spirit sit down in a form of Independency, or Anabaptism; or to be rent from these, and the same spirit sit down in a way of seeking and waiting, and reading of words of scripture, and gathering things from thence without the life: but the true religion consists in knowing and following a true guide to the church in the wilderness, and thereto receive the mark, the living mark, which will preserve out of all invention, and further progress of the dead spirit.

Now therefore look about you; know the spirit of whoredom, and see how you have been begotten in the adultery, and born of the whore, and have served the dragon, and worshipped his dead idols, and not the living God. And be not satisfied with changing of forms and dresses (which are but the several deceitful appearances of the whore), but put off that spirit; lest when you have hated the whore, and burnt her flesh as she appeared in one form, you give yourselves up to her again, when she appears in another form: for the plagues are not so much to the form wherein the whore appears, as to the whorish spirit: and  whosoever is found under her dominion, in any of her territories, under any of her forms, with that mark of hers upon them which belongs to that particular form, though ever so curiously painted, he shall drink of the unmixed cup of wrath.

Therefore tremble all sorts of people! pluck off your false coverings; see the shame of your nakedness, while it may be for your advantage so to do. The angel is gone forth, the corn is reaping and gathering into the garner, many lambs are brought into the fold of everlasting rest, Zion is redeeming, the true life is rising, the whorish spirit is judging, the door of life is yet open. Do not lie secure in the whore's wisdom! Do not lie slumbering, and reasoning, and disputing from the letter of the Scripture, till the gathering be finished, till the door be shut, till the eternal flames seize upon you, and you find yourselves in the bosom of hell unawares, and see the children of the kingdom in Abraham's bosom, but yourselves shut out, and left to weep, and wail, and gnash your teeth.

Question: But how may I avoid adding to the things, and diminishing from the words, of this prophecy, and of other scriptures; that I may not meet with the weight of this curse, or miss of the blessing?

Answer: Do you ask this question from your heart, in the simplicity, out of the fleshly wisdom? Then hearken with that ear, and you shall set your seal to mine answer.

1. Wait for the key of knowledge, which is God's free gift. Do not go with a false key to the Scriptures of Truth; for it will not open them. Man is too hasty to know the meaning of the Scriptures, and to enter into the things of God, and so he climbs up over the door with his own understanding; but he has not patience to wait to know the door, and to receive the key which opens and shuts the door; and by this means he gathers death out of words which came from life. And this I dare positively affirm, that all that have gone this way to work have but a dead knowledge; and it is death in them that feeds upon this knowledge, and the life is not raised. Consider now the weight of this counsel in the true balance: there is no opening of the Scriptures but by the true key, nor is there any coming at the key till the Lord please to give it. What then is to be done, but only to wait  (in the silence of that part which would be forward, and running before-hand) till the key be given, and to know how to receive it, as it is offered in the light; and not to wait in the will, or expect to receive it according to observations in the fleshly wisdom from the letter.

2. Let not your understanding have the managing of this key, when it is given; but know the true opener, the skillful user of the key, the hand which can only turn the key aright; and let him have the managing both of his own key, and of your understanding. Do not run in your own understanding, or in your own will, to search out the meaning of scripture; for then you feed with the scripture that which it is the intent of all words of life to destroy: but as you waited for the key at first, so continually wait for the appearances and movings of the user of the key, and he will shut out your understanding and will continually, which would still be running after the literal part of scriptures; and let you into the life both of the prophecies and doctrines thereof. Man, when he has received a true gift from God, he would be managing of it himself, and to be sure he will manage it for himself (for the gratifying and pleasing of himself, and not for God); and then God, being provoked, takes away the substance, and leaves him the shell. Therefore he that has received a gift must be very watchful against that which would betray, or he may easily lose it: for though the gifts and calling of God are without repentance; yet if that lay hold of the gift which was not called, and to which it was not given, the Lord will thrust that by, and take away his gift from it.

3. Do not graft any of the fruit of the tree of life upon the tree of knowledge; for it will not grow there: an appearance, a likeness of the true fruit may grow there; but the true fruit itself will not. My meaning is, do not make a treasury of knowledge in the understanding part, which is to perish; but know the true treasury of all the things of life, which is in the life itself; and in that understanding which is formed, kept, and lives in the life. Lay no manna by to feed upon in the old store-house (lest the fleshly part should be running there, when its fleshly appetite is kindled after food); but daily receive the continual bread from the hand of life. The wisdom of the life strikes at your wisdom  and understanding; and if ever you will grow wise any more, you lose this, and can not possibly retain it: for that part is then getting up in you, in which it cannot be held: but only a shadow, an image, a resemblance and likeness of it, which feeds and pleases that part which eagerly would have life, but cannot know it; and therefore is necessitated to make images and likenesses of things in heaven, or things in earth, that it might have something.

4. Take not up a rest in openings of things, though by the true key. Take heed of overvaluing that kind of knowledge; for that part which overvalues that knowledge will presently be puffed up with it: but there is a more excellent and safer kind of knowledge to be pressed after, which is a knowledge of things by receiving of them. There is a knowledge of things by the Spirit's opening the words which speak of them, or by inward, immediate prophecies from the word of life in the heart. This is an excellent knowledge, and not to be found in the earthly part of man: yet the earthly part (when this knowledge is given) is very apt to be swelled and exalted with it; but then there is also a knowledge which arises from the gift of the thing itself. This knowledge is very precious, and much more full and certain than the other, having the nature and immediate power of life in itself, and so is perfectly able to preserve. As for instance, to make it more plain: there may be a knowledge of justification, by the Spirit's opening the words written in scripture concerning justification, and the blood of sprinkling; and this is a good knowledge, where there is a true opening of it from the Spirit: but then there is a knowledge by feeling of the blood of sprinkling in the heart, and by seeing with the new eye the way of its justification; and in this knowledge is the power and the cleansing of the life received, which in the other was but spoken of. Therefore rest not in opening of prophecies, or true meanings of these things (though this kind of knowledge is very excellent, and has been very rare), but wait to feel the thing itself which the words speak of, and to be united by the living Spirit to that, and then you have a knowledge from the nature of the thing itself; and this is more deep and inward than all the knowledge that can be had from words concerning the thing.

5. When you feel things, then seek their preservation in  the proper spring of their own life. Let the root bear you, and all your knowledge, with all that is freely given you of God. When you feel yourself leavened with the life, and become a branch shot out of the life, then learn how to abide in the life, and to keep all that is given you there; and have nothing which you may call your own any more; but to be lost in yourself, and found in him. Know the land of the living, wherein all the things of life live, and can live nowhere else.

Now in all this, in this whole course, from the very first step of it, there is certainty, there is stability, there is infallibility. From the very first opening of the true key, I begin to learn something of God; and to learn certainly, and feel an assurance and establishment in it: and growing up here, I grow up in the true learning, and in the true settlement, and so I am not unlearned and unstable, wresting the Scriptures to my own destruction: for I take none of the knowledge of the Scriptures from myself, from my own understanding, from my own study and invention, or from the studies of other expositors, but from a certain hand. And how can he wrest scripture, who is kept single, and has no desire to have any thing to be the meaning of it, but what is the meaning; nor no will to know the meaning, further than the good-will of him whose Spirit penned it thinks good to give forth the meaning to him; and who waits to receive this, not to feed the lustful, knowing part in himself, but to feed the life with it? And when the life has no use for it, he is content to have it shut up, and to be without it: I say, how is it possible for this man to wrest scriptures? But now a man that has taken in a body of knowledge already, he goes to the Scripture, and bends it, to make it speak answerable to that; and where it speaks contrary, he invents a way to make it comply, and so wrests scriptures forward and backward, to make them speak agreeable to what he has already received and believed. Thus every sort of persons, Papists and Protestants, bend the Scriptures, to make them speak conformable to their opinions and practices; not having the true learning, which gives to read them in the true original, where the knowledge of what they speak and mean is certain: and so they are also unstable, and subject to be shaken by a wind of reason which is stronger than  their own. And this wresting of scripture is to their own destruction; for that part which is so much as desirous to bend a scripture, is to be destroyed; and that part cannot receive the true knowledge; but stumbles in its own wisdom and way of seeking, at the wisdom of God, and at the true way of finding.

But the foregoing counsel, faithfully hearkened unto, will preserve out of this, and also bring to the true means, and to the true use of the means, which all nations, who have drunk of the whore's cup, have erred concerning, and taken the false for the true. The strength of this wine has made all nations, people, tongues, and languages, to mistake; who, in the heat of their drink, have cried up the means, the means, the ordinances, the ordinances, etc., not perceiving how this heat came from the spirits of the whore's wine, and not from the sober, meek, calm, gentle leadings of the Spirit of Christ; and so, in a fleshly zeal, have set up the whore's means, instead of the Lamb's means, and contend for them with the whore's spirit and weapons. Now it is impossible for any man so much as to know the true means till the whore's wine be purged out of him; for that will make him err in judgment, and take the false for the true. And which way shall he ever come to the kingdom, who has lighted upon the wrong means? Or how shall he ever come to the true means, who never yet saw the witchery of the whorish spirit from the life, and how he himself has been bewitched and cozened with the false, instead of the true? As for instance:

Prayer; that is generally taken for a means: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. If parents, which are evil, know how to give good gifts to their children; how much more shall the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" This therefore is an undoubted thing, that prayer is a means.

Answer: True; there is a prayer which is a means, and there is a prayer which is not a means. There is a prayer which is an ordinance, and there is a prayer which is an invention. There is a prayer which is the breath of the true child, and there is a prayer which is the breath of the fleshly part, a breath of the whorish spirit. There is a prayer of the first birth, and there is a prayer of the second birth; both which cry and weep to God  for the same thing. Now the one of these is the true means, the other not: one of them is Christ's ordinance, the other is antichrist's ordinance. Now the question is, which of these your prayer is; whether it be your own breath, or God's breath; whether it come from the renewings of the Spirit of life, or from your own natural part painted. For accordingly it is either the true means, or the false means. If it be the true means, it shall have the thing; the Spirit, the life, the kingdom it prays for: if it be the false means, it can never obtain it. Papists, they pray; Protestants, they pray; some in forms, some without forms; some meditating before-hand, some not meditating. Are all these the true means; or are any of them the true means? The birth of the true child is the only true prayer; and he prays only in the moving and in the leading of that Spirit that begat him: and this is a prayer according to the will, in the life, and from the power. But all men's prayers, according to times they set to themselves, or according to formings of desires in their own minds, which they offer up to God with the nature and heart that sins against him, these are false means, and may satisfy the drunken spirit erred from the life, but are no means to the truth.

Can you pray? How came you to learn to pray? Wast you taught from above? or did you gain the skill and ability by the exercise and improvement of your own natural part? Did you begin with sighs and groans, staying there till the same Spirit that taught you to groan, taught you also to speak? Wast you ever able to distinguish the sighs and groans of the Spirit's begetting, from the sighs and groans of your own natural and affectionate part? And has that part, with all its sighings, groanings, desires, endeavors, etc., been thrust aside, and the seed immortal raised by the Spirit of eternal life, which teaches to cry and mourn, and at length to speak, to the Father for the preservation and nourishment of his life? If it has been thus with you, then you have known that prayer which is the true means; but if otherwise, though you pray ever so long, and with ever so great affections, and strong desires, this is all but the false means, with its false warmth from the false fire; this is but the means which the whorish spirit (which is not in union with the life and power, but keeps the seed in bondage) has set up  instead of the true means. And this can never lead to truth, but keeps alive God's enemy under this pleasant covering. Neither is this the worship of the living God: but as it is from another spirit, so it is to another spirit.

Oh learn to be sober! Come out of this drunken fury, and consider things mildly and seriously. Do not make a great outcry of ordinances, ordinances! the means, the means! This is the voice of the clamorous woman, who, with her loud noise, would eagerly keep you from listening after the still voice of true wisdom, which cannot be heard in the midst of this great noise and hurry in your spirits: but consider which are the true ordinances, which are the true means; which are the likenesses man has framed, and which is the true thing itself. And if you could once be mild, gentle, and calm, and turn from your own wisdom and fleshly knowledge of things, it might please God to remove your stumbling-blocks, and to open that eye in you which can see the anti-christian nature, and discern between the coverings which it has formed to hide its deceitful spirit under, and the true garment and clothing of life. But the seed of the kingdom is little, and you are great; how can you enter into it? The pearl lies hid in the field, and you are gazing up to heaven; how can you see it? Christ is descended into the lower parts of the earth, and you are using means to ascend upwards in the wrong nature; how can you meet with him? The gospel has been hid; the sun has not shined; it has been night, and you have got many false candles; which way can you acknowledge the little glimmering of the day-star, who have such satisfaction in the warmth of your false fires? You are far from the true light, who have not yet received so much of it as to discover the darkness of the night. You are too high, too wise, too knowing for Christ, or for the sight and acknowledgment of the true means which lead to life. And if you could once come to see this, there might be some hope; but in that wisdom wherein your life and knowledge stand, you are shut out; and you are reasoning and stumbling at the stone; while others (who are broken in spirit, and in meekness and humility led to try) find it a sure foundation, even a foundation of eternal life, for the true seed of life; and are built into the living city, which is made without hands, and without any of the tools of man's wisdom.

A Brief HISTORY of the STATE of the CHURCH since the Days of the APOSTLES, with the living Seal to it; which he that has eternal Life abiding in him can read and witness; but that Wisdom, Zeal, and Devotion, which is in the Death, cannot.

AFTER the universal degeneration and corruption of the Jewish state, and the putting an end to the shadows thereof, by the appearance and succession of the substance, it pleased God to dissolve that people, state, and policy; and by the power of his life, without either the wisdom or strength of man, to set upon the heathenish world, which he subdued and brought under the power of his life. By his apostles and messengers, who preached the everlasting gospel, the word of eternal life, he gathered assemblies up and down the nations, whom the nations by all their persecutions could not subject; but they reigned over them in the power, authority, and dominion of God: for they were kings and priests to God in the sight of all the nations, and they did reign upon the earth: insomuch as the heathenish spirit of man observing their order in the Spirit, and the wisdom and power of the Spirit among them, who by his living light was able to search the hearts of those who came to observe them, could not but acknowledge that God was in them of a truth.

Now the next thing to be expected, is Satan's opposition against this power of life, and his stratagems to undermine it. He withstood the growth and settlement of the church all that he could by open force, making use both of the heathenish devout worshippers, who fought for their Jupiter, their Diana, and other gods and goddesses; and of the Jewish devout worshippers, who fought for their temple-worship, with the laws and ordinances of Moses, which were now expired. But neither of these would do; but the church, in the power of life, gained ground upon him, and did rather thrive and increase, than diminish by this opposition. Therefore now he falls to his stratagems; he gets some false brethren out of the church (they went out from us); these he clothes as angels of light, puts the sheep's clothing on their wolfish nature, makes them appear as like the apostles as may be, endues them with an excellent, taking knowledge of life and spirituality in appearance; forms in them an image of the Truth, and  inspires this image with the spirit of his own life; and with these he goes forth into the world, and gathers the world about him. Now the world was presently taken with this (the world went after him); for this is that the world would have, an appearance of religion, an image of Truth, but their own spirit in it. The worldly spirit, that flies off from the life, from the power, can readily close with this, because it is its own. Bring forth ever so high notions of religion and spiritual wisdom, the world will hug them, the world will feed on them, the world will clothe itself with them. The world can swallow and digest anything but life; any pleasant picture of things in heaven will down with the world; but the nature, the life, the Truth, the Spirit, Christ in his true and living cross, this will not down with the world.

Now the devil having thus set up his false image in the world, and gathered a party after him, then he sets upon the church, and the battle goes very hard, life striving to defend, and death to overcome. How hard did the apostles strive in their day to keep their converts to the simplicity of Truth, and to the way thereof (which even then began to be evil spoken of); writing epistles to the churches, warning them of the false apostles, and wishing them to stand their ground! Yes, Christ himself writes several epistles from heaven to some of them, checking their back-slidings, and encouraging them to renew their zeal and strength, putting them in mind of the crown which attended the victory. But at length the devil with his stratagems prevails, gets the possession of the church's territories, and the church is made to fly for her preservation; and such of her seed as are left behind her, the enemy makes war against, slays, and drinks their blood.

Now here is an end of all the glory of that state: now the devil has gained the world again: the same spirit that lost it under the heathenish power (for there he was conquered) recovers it under an anti-christian appearance, setting up the same wickedness, and the same course and current of death, under forms of anti-christian religion, as he had done before under forms of heathenish devotion.

Thus the devil being conqueror, having gained the field, he divides the spoils among his army: he takes whatever was the church's and makes his own, and ranks them in his way of anti-christian religion and devotion; so that henceforward those things which were once Christ's and the church's are now all his, and distributed by him among his followers. He gives the name church to the whore which he sets up; he gives the name Christian to his disciples; he prescribes baptism and the supper, which he calls sacraments, and praying and preaching and singing, which he calls public ordinances; and he prescribes private duties and exercises of devotion; and he gets the letter of the Scriptures, and forms multitudes of meanings and expositions, and has lying signs and wonders for such as need them, that he might keep all the several brigades of his army quite under his pay, and might have some pleasing wares of traffic for every sort of his merchants in his Babylon. For this is the city of that king, which he built after his conquest over the life, and which he has enriched with the spoils from the life. And here all his subjects shall have content; they shall have what they will, if they will but be faithful to him in the main. Call for what likeness, what invention, what appearance of truth they will, they shall have it, so that they will but be content without life. No notion about the Spirit will he deny them, so they will be content with the notion, without the presence of the living Spirit. They shall have light in their understandings, warmth in their affections, joy, peace, hope, comfort out of the Scriptures. They shall apply as many promises to themselves as they will, have what they will, do what they will, so they keep out of the feeling of the living principle; but if once that stir, and there be any hearkening after that, then he begins to show his tyranny, on the one hand, to force them back; and his stratagems, on the other hand, to tempt them aside from it.

The devil having thus gained the form, and enriched himself with the church's spoils, and slain them which had the living testimony, then he falls to corrupting the form: for that filthy spirit, though he can clothe himself with the form to deceive from the life, and abide there to keep down the life; yet he does not much love it; he loves his own form better: and when he is out of fear and assaults from the life, then he returns to his own form again, or patches up a garment more suitable to his own nature, taking in something of the other with it, to make his own pass the better; for if he should have returned to the direct heathenish forms of idolatry and false worship, he could not so have lain hid; therefore he makes a mixture of something which was prescribed to the Jews, with some things found practiced among the Christians. Thus he brought in inventions of crosses and images and beads and pictures and relics and ceremonies beyond number: insomuch as not only the life and power was lost, but the true likeness also; even so lost that it is impossible for all the wisdom of man to recover the knowledge of the likeness again. Men have striven much; but they never could form a true likeness of the primitive church, and the way thereof.

Now though it is the desire of the devil to keep men in the grossness of darkness, yet, rather than lose them, he will let them have some part of the form again: no, he will tempt them with a gaudy appearance of the form, to keep them from meeting with the power and life, when he perceives true, secret, inward stirrings in them, which will not be quieted without something. Thus, when there was a stirring against Popery, he tempted aside into Episcopacy: when that would hold no longer, then to Presbytery: when that will not serve, into Independency: when that will not keep quiet, but there are still searchings further, into Anabaptism: if that will not do, into a way of Seeking and Waiting: if this will not satisfy, they shall have high notions, yes, most pleasant notions concerning the Spirit, and concerning the life, if they will but be satisfied without the life: yes, they shall have all the liberty in the creatures they can desire (the best-painted liberty), if they will but be satisfied without that liberty which stands not in the creatures out of the life, but over the creatures in the life. And he that turns aside to any of these, he is still under the dominion of that spirit; and there he holds knowledge, and there he performs his worship, and there he has his unity, his liberty, his life, his rest, his peace, his joy, his hope. Now no man can worship God, till he comes out of every part of this Babylon, and his feet touch Zion; though there may be a secret panting, and an unknown safety, and an acceptation of the poor, mourning soul in the passage. Yes, all sorts of people, here you were accepted in your stirrings after life, in hearkening to the leadings of life from out of the Babylonish  spirit; but your turning aside to the Babylonish wisdom in a new dress, and sitting down in a new form of her inventing, has brought you to a loss of life, and has made you hateful to the living God, who has drawn his sword against you, and has prepared his vials, his thunders, his plagues, his woes: and you must drink of his cup with sorrow, as you have drunk of the whore's cup with pleasure. You that have found a bed of pleasure in any of your forms, or in any of your notions, and so have found ease in the whore's painting; you must be cast into the bed of sorrow, and know the fire in God's Zion, and the furnace in his Jerusalem; if ever you become a habitation for God, or expect to feed on his holy mountain.

The condition of the church all this while (all this time of Satan's reign in forms of knowledge and worship) has been very lamentable, and is expressed in scripture by parables and resemblances of a sad state. She has been as a city pulled down, like a ruined city, which needs rebuilding before she can come to be a city again (when the Lord shall build up Zion). She has been as a wilderness, barren, undressed, unregarded. She has been like a mournful widow, whose husband has been rent from her, and her children slain. She has lost all her ornaments, all her garments, all her ordinances, all her appearances, and ways of life, insomuch as the ways of Zion mourn. But Babylon, the mother of harlots, she has got all the beauty, all the glory, all the church's attire, all the church's ordinances, and all the trade and traffic run there, and she is cried up for the true church; and if any dare speak a word against her, and for the true church indeed, they are exclaimed against for schismatics and heretics, and war prepared against them, and some or other of the beast's horns pushing at them. Thus it has gone all the time of the apostasy; the whore has flourished with the name of the church, making great merchandize of souls, selling their formal stuff for money; and abundance of children has the whore brought forth, and nourished with her milk of deceit; but the true woman, the Lamb's wife, with her seed, and the living food from her living breasts, has had no place on the earth.

But this state of things is ended in part, and ending quickly. The Lord God of life is arisen out of his holy habitation to  assault the dragon, to discover and strip the whore, to recover a possession for his life in the earth, to make room in the world for his church, which he is bringing out of the wilderness. The battle is begun; the territories of antichrist are assaulted; the Lamb has appeared on his white horse, and has gathered many of his called, faithful, and chosen about him; the ensign is lifted up; the light (which searches the inwards of the enemy's dominions) has appeared, and his inmost power and wisdom are not feared; but the Lord God is feared, and the dragon's arm withers, and the head of his policy (whereby he ensnared and entangled from the life) is crushing. Glory to the endless power of life, for ever and for ever!

Be wise now therefore, and lose not your share in the immortal crown. Take heed how you be found fighters against the Lamb, in the wisdom and power of Babylon, which is to fall. Painting will not pass now: that blood of the Lamb is felt, which washes off the whore's paint; even all her painted notions of the blood of Christ, and of sanctification and redemption, etc., the whorish nature being discovered underneath all these. You have got the name of church, the name of Christians, the name of ordinances, etc., by the whore's help; but the nature of life you lack: and the living power is come to recover the name from you; and we, his living witnesses, testify to your faces, that you shall not enjoy it; but the name and the thing shall go together; and he that has not the thing shall also lose the name. Yes, your eyes shall see that you have been the sacrilegious ones, who have stolen holy names and titles, which you never received from the hand of God; but the whorish spirit (which is out of the life, and an enemy to the life) has handed them to you. And this is told you in dear and tender love, that you might not perish, but have eternal life abiding in your hearts, and the new name written by the Spirit of life on your foreheads, which all that know the writing of the life, may be able to read and acknowledge.

There are several touches of these things in divers of the epistles of the apostles: but the full relation is given forth in that book of the Revelations, which was penned by the Spirit of God, to be read in the light of the Spirit, and so to be a preservative against the overspreading contagion of anti-christianism.  And it is said, at the entrance into it, "Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein." But men having lost the Spirit, have not been able to read it; and having lost the right ear, they have not been able to hear the words it speaks: and how then could they keep the things written therein? He that does not understand what he is warned against, how is it likely he should be preserved by the warning? The Spirit of God judged this warning necessary, but the spirit of deceit cries, it is a deep thing not to be meddled with. Now this is a plain demonstration, that men generally are overtaken with the whoredom, and drink of the whore's cup, and submit themselves to the beast, and exalt his horns, and receive his mark, and some or other of his names; because they have not the knowledge of that which discovers these things, and was given by the Spirit of God to forewarn, and so to preserve out of them. He that knows not the mystery of iniquity working under a form of godliness, may not he easily be deceived with the mystery of iniquity? He that knows not what is become of the true church and ministry, and where to look for them, may not he easily own a false church and ministry? He that knows not the Spirit of the scriptures, which the church carried with her, when she left the letter behind her, may not he easily set up the letter for his rule? He that knows not the living mark and name of a Christian, with which the Spirit of life seals all the lambs of Christ in the life, may not he easily give this name to himself, and to others who have not this mark, but the beast's mark? He that knows not the true faith, the true love, the true hope, the true joy, the true peace, the true rest, the true consolation in Christ the life (the true meekness and patience of the saints, etc.), may not he easily set up shadows or likenesses of these (which he gathers from the letter of the Scriptures and the promises thereof, receiving the knowledge of them into the wrong part, and applying them to the wrong thing) instead of these? Ah, poor hearts! the book of the Revelation is easy to that Spirit that wrote it: and it was not given forth to be laid by as useless; but to be serviceable in the hand of the Spirit, for the ages after the days of the apostles; and in the true light it is easily read: and they that can read it, can see that in it, which they that cannot  read it, cannot believe. And this is plainly seen; that there is but the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of deceit: but the Lamb's wife, and the whore (which has whored from the Spirit, which has made use of the letter, to run a whoring from that Spirit that wrote it): that there is but the true church, and the false church; but life, and death; but form, and power; but Christ the mystery of godliness, and antichrist the mystery of iniquity; but God, and the dragon; God in the church or temple in the wilderness, and the dragon in the world's churches and temples, appearing there as if he were God, giving forth laws and ordinances like God; and all the world falls down before him, and worships him as if he were God; and hopes by this worship which they perform to him, and by their faith and hope which they receive from him, to be saved at last. I say there are but these two: and he that is joined to the one of these, is not joined to the other. Let him that reads understand; which he may easily do by the wisdom of the Spirit, but never can by the wisdom of the letter. For though we know how to join these two in the life, yet there is a necessity of separating them at present, till the letter be gained out of the hands of the whorish spirit, which has built up several forms of knowledge, religion, and worship in Mystery Babylon, by the letter without the life; all which must fall with Babylon.

AN EXHORTATION

RELATING TO THE WORKINGS OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY, AND THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS IN THIS PRESENT AGE

ALL people upon earth who love your souls, and have any true, secret pantings after God, look to the nature of your spirits, and look to the nature of those things you let into your minds; lest you take death for life, error for truth, and so sow to yourselves corruption, and rear up a fabric in Mystery Babylon, which will be turned into desolation and utter ruins, by the power of life from Zion.

Strong is the spirit of deceit that is entered into the world, and glorious and very taking are his images and likeness of truth; which will deceive all but the very elect, who were chosen from the foundation of the world, and whose eyes are open to see the  foundation of life, which was before the foundation of the world.

It has been a heavy, dull time for many ages: there have only been witnesses hitherto raised against antichrist, and he has found it an easy matter to knock them down, and keep up his ways of profaneness, and of formal, superstitious kinds of devotion, up and down all the nations. But now it is a quick time; the Spirit of the Lord God has arisen, the searching eye is opened, the pursuit after the very spirit of antichrist is begun; yes, very quick and fresh is the scent of that Spirit which hunts the whore; and now she goes forward and backward, traverses her ground, changes her paint and colors often, shifts her garment continually, and uses all the art she can to save her life. Now the king of Babylon opens his treasury, brings forth all his likenesses, all his images, all appearances; with some or other of them (if it be possible) to tempt the simple soul, and keep it satisfied therewith, in some of his chambers of darkness and imagery, out of the life and power.

Therefore now be warned and look about you, and be not cozened with any of the wares of Babylon, where the merchandize and traffic is for souls, and where all the wares of deceit are, which are proper to cozen souls: but seek for the nature of that thing, which the inward pantings of your hearts at any time have been after; and wait for the opening of that eye, which can see, through all manner of paint, to that nature; and keep low in the life, simple and honest-hearted, and then gaudy appearances will not take with you; for they are only temptations to the aspiring part, which is lifted up above the pure, low, humble principle: and if that part were brought down, you would be safe; but while that stands, you will not be out of the danger of temptations. Now this know:

There is nothing whereof Zion is built, but the likeness of it is in Babylon; and the likeness is very taking, even more taking to that eye which is open in men, than the truth itself. The truth is a plain, simple thing; it is not gaudy in appearance; its excellency lies in its nature: but the appearances of truth which Satan paints are very gaudy, very glorious, seemingly very spiritual, very pure, very precious, very sweet; they many times even ravish that understanding and those affections that are out of the  life. Oh, what shall I say! Shall I speak a little of the wares of Babylon? Where is there an ear which can hear me? Yet he that opens my mouth, can open your ear: therefore let me speak a little plainly.

1. There are many glorious false births in Babylon. There is no inheriting the kingdom, but by being born again. This doctrine the king of Babylon preaches; he is eager to do so, else the letter of the Scripture would overthrow his kingdom. Now, therefore, to keep from the true new birth, he has his images of the new birth, his several false births. A great while outward baptism and a formal knowledge were enough to make a man a Christian; but now, since that is discovered, and will not do, he brings forth better births; he has inward changes of the mind (multitudes of them) fit for every one who is seeking after the life, to be tempted from the life with; and he tempts every one with a proper bait, with that which is taking to him in his present estate. What changes any kind of knowledge, by virtue of the notion (with the devil's quickening power added to it), can produce in any man, the devil can transform man into. Yes, many are these changes; and he that does not know the nature of the true birth, may easily be deceived with that which is just like the thing he looks for. A man looks for a new birth, for an inward change; he looks for a knowledge to change him: he shall have just the very likeness of that which his heart desires, the lively likeness; the devil is ready at hand to furnish him with it: which way can the man, who never saw the true thing, espy the cheat?

2. There are many glorious desires in Babylon, many pantings, many breathings after that which this birth of Babylon takes to be life. The devil has these wares, these images in his shop too; as he has a false birth in imitation of the true, so he has false breathings for his false birth. If his child could not seemingly breathe towards God, as if he were a natural child of God, he would soon be detected; therefore he inflames him with desires of growth, with desires of enjoyment, of that which he calls life, with seeming desires of serving and glorifying God; and here come in the prayers of the fleshly birth, which are many times carried on with exceeding great earnestness of the  fleshly part, to which also the father of this birth gives answers. And now which way can deceit be so much as suspected here? And yet here also the deceiver lodges, and herein he works, raising strong desires in that part wherein he dwells, that he may allay those pure desires, which otherwise would be arising from the life underneath, and which, notwithstanding all this, sometimes do arise, especially when the soul is in anguish.

3. There is false food in Babylon, false knowledge to feed this wrong nature with; there is knowledge, falsely so called. There are several appearances of all the truths in Zion. There is outward knowledge of the letter, and there is inward, mystical knowledge; and each of these have their warmth, and their freshness, and do nourish up this child, and cause it to grow. Yes, what knowledge and experience, which at first sprang from the true life, this spirit makes a prey of, and daily brings into his Babylon, therewith to feed and fatten that which is born of him, and to cover the old, deceitful nature under, which is not slain thereby, but daily lives, and moves, and puts forth itself; this is certainly felt by that which is made sensible in the life, but hard to be spoken, because the deceived heart is so gross, and the ear so heavy. Now here the painted whore, which has dealt treacherously with the life, sits as a queen, and says she shall see no sorrow: this knowledge is certain to her, these experiences she has had the feeling of, and knows they can never be shaken. But, O you princess of Babylon! the Lord will strip you, the Lord will unbear your inwards, and your own eyes shall see your nakedness, which shall be for a perpetual reproach among all the inhabitants of Zion: and then your dark, deceitful spirit shall have no more to say against those who now see through your covering, to your nature, in the light; and judge you, not of themselves, nor in their own wills and understandings, but from the true power, and in the true guidance of the life, whose work it is to pursue, overtake, and judge death, even to death. For all this knowledge, all these experiences in you, though you see it not, nor can see it with that eye wherewith you look to see, are held captive by that which transgressed, and has erred from the life, and are made use of to keep your soul in bands: and as they are thus held, death and the curse must overtake them, ere  that life in you, from which they first sprang, can possibly arise. Grasp not after the knowledge of this in the understanding part, but wait for the sense of it from that life which lies slain underneath these, and by that part which exalts these.

4. There are false keys to open the several chambers of imagery in Babylon. This food man cannot gather of himself, it must be given to him: this knowledge man cannot get into by himself, but as this spirit leads him, and opens to him; for he has the keys of death, and opens into the treasures of death. Now this hugely confirms a man in the deceit, without the least suspicion of it. Why, says he, I had not this knowledge from myself, I came not to it by mine own skill or understanding, but it was given me, it was opened to me; and it came in fresh, and warmed in my heart, begetting sweet and pure desires in me, and has made me eye the glory of God, and not myself. Yes, it might come thus in the likeness, and work the likeness of this in you; and yet itself not be truth, nor be able to work the truth of this in you; and this is proper to deceive your very heart, and make you a pleasant inhabitant of Babylon, and a joyful worshipper of the king thereof, whom, through this deep deceit, and most subtle false appearance in your heart, you mistake for the King of Zion.

5. This false spirit has his false crosses, his false combats and fightings. The very Papists have not only their wooden and stone crosses, but they have also their ways of self-denial, their ways of crossing the natural part, of resignation to the Divine Will, as they call it, of fighting against corruption, etc. It is manifest that a man must deny himself, or else he cannot be a Christian (his own will must not, cannot live, if he truly give himself up to Christ): therefore that spirit which lies lurking to deceive, has several ways of self-denial to teach, all which must have some hardness in them to the natural part, or else they could not pass; and these may produce great and constant conflicting in the flesh, and yet the fleshly nature be still kept alive under all these conflicts and exercises of self-denial. He has a circumcising-knife, which cuts off a great deal, but always spares the nature; and as long as the nature is spared, the devil still has that wherein he can dwell.

6. He has his false love to God and man, and his false zeal for God. Love and zeal are two distinguishing things. All men conclude that love determines a man to be a Christian, and so they take up some appearance or other of love; something that satisfies themselves that their love is right, both to God and man. The very Papists, who are full of blood and cruelty, yet pretend to love; they have an image of love which contents them. But there are far higher images, even images of universal love and sweetness, which no eye can perceive, but that which knows the truth. And take one word from me, you to whom it belongs: all you that cry up universal love from the sweet sense of its image, you shall one day know, that one act of particular love from the true nature, exceeds this in its utmost extent.

7. He has his false life. The devil has not only a dead, formal religion, but he has a resemblance, an imitation of the quickenings of the spirit. The devil puts his life into his image, where need requires. He has not only a dead, literal knowledge, but he has paintings of the life; he draws a thing to the life; he makes his dead image of truth as like the living substance of truth as possibly he can; insomuch as his images of life, at a distance, without being beheld in the true life, cannot but be taken for living. Now here is the depth of deceit, when the devil's images of life in the heart are taken for the living thing, for the life itself.

8. He has his false liberty. There is a glorious liberty in the Gospel: there is a perfect freedom in the service of the life; there is a liberty in the power of the life over all the creatures. God made all things for man, and he denies him nothing; he being in subjection to him in the life, and using all in the dominion of the life. Now the devil paints a liberty like this; yes, a liberty that seems greater than this, even a liberty wherein the fleshly part (whose very nature is eternally shut out of the nature of true liberty) has scope; which liberty is not surrounded, and cannot be surrounded by the power of life, as this is; and in this painted liberty, that spirit which painted it lives; which paint the true liberty takes off, slaying that which calls it liberty, and gathering in the name of liberty from this false appearance, to that which is liberty indeed. And by the way, he that can read  this, let him. The perfection of the true liberty lies in the perfection of bonds, in the perfect binding down of that which is out of the life; for the true liberty is the liberty of the life, and of nothing else; and when all that is contrary to the life is perfectly bound down, then the life has its full scope, without the least control of the fleshly part; and when the life lives, then that which is joined to the life lives also.

Now here is the mystery of iniquity; here is the inward kingdom of darkness; here is the glory of Babylon! Here is he that contends for the kingdom, for the inheritance! Here the son of the bond-woman (thus dressed, thus furnished, thus filled within and without) will have it go for granted that he is the right heir: and yet all this while he lacks the nature of that which is to inherit, and cannot possibly receive that nature into himself, but only such images aforementioned. And if, in tender love to his soul, from a clear sight of this thing, we warn him, and bid him look about, he cries, Do not judge. He really thinks he is right in the main, and he seems willing to refer it to the day of trial. Ah, poor heart! the eye is opened which can see; that which has judged the deceit in us, can also judge the deceit in you. Cannot the spiritual eye see things in its kind? To what end has God given it? Can you see and judge natural things in the natural part? So can they see and judge spiritual things who are in the light, and who live in the life; yes, we shall continue judging you in the fear, and in the humility, till God open that in you, which can seal to our judgment.

Objection: How difficult do you make the way to life, if not utterly impossible! If all this be true, Who can be saved!

Answer: The way to life is very difficult; yes, and impossible to that part in man, which is so busy in willing and running towards life; but it is as easy, on the other hand, to that which the father begets, raises up, and leads. "The wayfaring-man, though a fool, shall not err." The wisest and richest merchants in Babylon cannot set one step in it; the least child in Zion cannot err there. Therefore know that in yourself to which it is so hard: and know that which God has given to you, which will make it easy.

You have a living talent given you by God; let not your eye  be drawn from that; but join to that, keep there, and you are safe; and that will open your eye to see all deceits, just in the very season and hour of temptation. For you must expect to meet with all these temptations, as your growth makes you capable of receiving them. And as they come, the true eye being kept open, they will be seen; and being seen they will easily be avoided in the power of life; for in vain the net is spread in sight of the bird. Therefore that you mayst be safe:

1. Know the light, the eternal light of life, the little glimmerings and shinings of it in your soul. This comes from the rock, to lead you to the rock: and if you will follow it, it will fix you upon the rock where you can not be shaken.

2. Keep in the light, keep within the hedge, step not out of your own, keep out of the circumference of the spirit of deceit; the power of whose witchery and sorcery extends all over the regions of darkness.

3. Love simplicity, love the nakedness of life, stand single in the honesty of the heart, out of the intricate, subtle reasonings, and wise consultings about things; for by these means the serpent comes to twine about and deceive your soul; but in the simplicity of the movings of life, in the light, lie the power, the strength, the safety.

4. Lie very low continually, even at the foot of the lowest breathing and appearances of the light. Take heed of being above that wherein the life lies; for the wisdom, the power, the strength, yes, the great glory lie in the humility; and you must never be exalted, you must never come out of the humility, but find and enjoy the honor and glory of the life in the humility.

5. Mind the reproofs of the light; for that will still be setting you to rights. That will still be bringing down that which would get up above; and there lies the preservation. Oh the chastenings of the light, the sweet chastenings of the love by the light! These are healing stripes. This brings down the exalter, and that in you which loves to be exalted, and to be seeking the honor of the spiritual riches, before the humility is perfected.

Thus, in love to souls, have I poured out my soul before the Lord, and held forth gentle leadings, even to the most stubborn and stiff-necked.

To the Parliament, the Army,

and all the Well-affected in the Nation, who have been faithful to the

Good Old Cause

[1659]

THAT there has been a backsliding and turning aside from the GOOD OLD CAUSE even by the army (who formerly were glorious Instruments in the hand of God) has been lately confessed, and that they have cause, and desire to take shame to themselves.

Now that they may see the cause of shame that lies upon them, and may abase themselves in the sight of God, and before all the world, it behooves them to search narrowly into their backslidings, and consider the fruits thereof, that they may be truly humbled, and turned from that Spirit which led them aside, lest any of them take advantage to make a feigned confession for their own ends, and fall afresh to seek themselves; and their own Interests, and not the Good Old Cause, singly, and nakedly, as in the sight of the Lord.

Many bad fruits have grown from this corrupt spirit, and the corrupt course it has run in these late years, which would be narrowly searched into, and considered of: Some few general ones I may mention.

1. The name of God has been blasphemed in the sight of the whole earth, and that holy Spirit and Power (which many hearts can witness was the beginner and carrier on of this Work) made a scoff and derision to the enemies of truth in these nations, and in the nations round about, who watched to see the issue and result of these things. The controversy was very great and eminent, and drew many eyes upon it, the Lord was appealed to on both sides to decide it; and many know, that by his presence and power in the army, the scale was turned, (even when they were very low, and cried out for prayers; and made large promises in the day of their distress.) Yes, the Lord did  not desert the army, but heard their prayers, and the prayers of his people for them, carrying on the deliverance, until he had given a perfect victory into their hands. But then the army deserted the Lord; and just like men that were ruled by the spirit of the world, forgot the Lord, and his cause and interest, and their fellow companions in the hard travel and service, and set up themselves, and their own interest, making their general the greatest, and their officers great. Thus the Cause was betrayed, the measure of it lost, a private, particular, selfish, earthly, corrupt interest set up, and men countenanced and advanced, not according to their fidelity to the Good Old Cause, but according to their compliance with this new selfish interest.

2. The great work of God, both in these nations, and in the world, has hereby been turned backward. In these nations, that spirit which began this work (when at any time it has appeared in simplicity and singleness for the prosecution of it) has been snibbed; what was built up formerly, thrown down; and that which was thrown down, now again built up; so that the face of the nation was changed, and unrighteous ones came into place and power, and the innocent and upright (those that feared God, and could not seek themselves, or the pleasing of men) have been oppressed and crushed. And if the work was thus stopped in these nations, its advantage of spreading further must needs be interrupted. God had raised up a power against oppression, in which he eminently appeared, even to the dread of the nations round about: and how far this power should have gone on in his work, by the leadings of his Spirit, had they waited in his counsel, kept to their Leader, and not turned aside to another spirit, and to other ends and interests, who can tell?

3. Great and vast treasures have been expended, for the maintaining of you in greatness in your backslidings, and the poor have groaned to bear the burden: and while you have grown thus high, extravagant, and excessive, many (who remained faithful) have gone without even that which was their due, and have undergone great hardships thereby.

4. The account of all the blood which has been shed lies somewhere. Was it for a thing of nought? Was it of no value?  No, it was precious in the sight of the Lord; many (yes very many) in the singleness and simplicity of their hearts losing their lives for the Cause. And yet how soon had you forgot all this, casting it, and the cause behind your backs, and setting up yourselves! Thus have you grieved that good Spirit, which never gave you victory over your enemies for this end, that his name, and cause, and interest should be forgotten, and yours grow great: but the name of the Lord should have been exalted by you, and you should have remained low and little, both in your own eyes, and in the eyes of others. But the Lord has been veiled by your greatness, and that veil lies upon him at this day: Read this in the true humility, and in the fear and dread of his great name, who will be exalted over all, and whom no power or greatness on earth shall be able to hinder from arising. Remember these things, O you backsliding children, and be abased; that the Lord may forgive you, and may vouchsafe yet once more to make use of you in his service.

But I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, lest you should confess, and turn back, not with an upright heart, but feignedly: and if so, then you will not lie flat in your spirits, either before the Lord, or before men, but will be keeping up the greatness you have got in your backslidings, and seeking your own interests, and self-ends afresh. There has been often a naked, honest, simple, pure thing stirring in the Army, which the great ones (seeing some present use of) fell in with, and improved for their own ends; but destroyed the thing itself; so that it attained not to the bringing forth of that righteous liberty, and common good which it seemed to aim at (and did indeed aim at in those in whom the stirring did arise) but was made use of as an advantage to advance them in their particular interests against their enemies, and so set them up. Have you seen this use made formerly of such lively stirrings in some, and such fair pretenses in others after righteousness, liberty, and the common good? Take heed of it now. Let not the pure stirrings after good, be betrayed into the selfish lusts and interests of your own corrupt hearts. Do not fall so hastily to the work of reformation, nor be not so forward to propose things for settlement; but wait to be  purged from that backsliding spirit (which sticks closer to you and makes you unfitter for this service than you are aware) that you may come into a capacity of desiring the common good, and of being faithful in the prosecution of it; and put off your greatness and swelling honors that you have contracted in the time of your backslidings, and come at least into an equal balance with them that remained faithful. Are you humbled before the Lord for your backslidings, and yet keep your corrupt standings? Is this true humiliation? Is this taking of shame to yourselves? Ah, do not force the Lord to deal with you! do not force the Lord to strip you, and manifest your shame! If it be truly in your hearts, that the work of the Lord should go on, let such be picked out who have not backslidden, and let them carry it on; and stand you by a while, till it be made manifest that your hearts are changed, and there be a testimony given to the nation, that you are truly humbled, and become men of other spirits: For while this spirit remains in you, you will be secretly for yourselves, and cannot possibly be cordial, either to the Lord, or to the nation, in the work of reformation; but while you seem to be setting your hands to it, your hearts will be erring from it, and your endeavors will be to obstruct those whose hearts are entire and faithful to it.

Now to the Parliament, let me say this, You have one day more by the good hand of God, by the great mercy of God, you have one day more; (not for your righteousness, not for your fitness for the work; but for the unrighteousness of that power, which would not go on with the Lord's work, but bring back again to Egypt, has the hand of the Lord been stretched forth against them.) Be not slothful, be not selfish, be not wise in the flesh: but know that Wisdom which is to be your Guide and Leader, and let it be your wisdom to follow. A Providence has brought you together; let the same Providence lead you. Be single and honest to the nation, and upright hearted toward God; and if any straits come, be not hasty, but wait for the manifestation of his council, for the unveiling of his arm to protect you. Let not the army be your confidence. Do not any one thing to please the army; much less a corrupt interest of a part of the  army; but apply your selves to do that which is truly just and righteous in the sight of God, of the army, and of all men. The Lord has as it were new created you, and given you a new being; look up to him to preserve you, and apply your selves faithfully to his work, without self-ends and interests in yourselves, and against all self-ends and interests in others, leaving it to his power to stand by you and preserve you therein; and do not join (through fear or favor) with that which is great and powerful, but with that which is single and honest. Mind the stirring of that spirit in the army, and in the nation, which revived theGood Old Cause; and cherish it and cleave to it: mind likewise the apostatizing spirit, which would color over the apostasy, and make it seem as little as they could, and frown upon it, though in persons never so great. You are in the place of God; respect not persons, but righteousness, and you shall have honor, even that honor which will stand, when the vain honor and title which corrupt man aspires after, whereby his heart is lifted up above his brethren (which the King of Israel's was not to be) shall fall to the ground, do men what they can. Open your eyes (that eye in you which alone can see the power that has wrought this change) there is the arm of flesh, and the arm of the Lord before you, choose which you will cleave to. The Lord has a work to do, a great work, and he will not lack instruments. You have a time of trial, whether you will become fit instruments in the hand of the Lord; improve it in his fear and in his wisdom; and do not think yourselves secure, as you can gain the present powers on your side; but be single to the Lord, and he will bring over the hearts of the army and nation to you. And take heed of your debates; let every man fear his own wisdom and his own will, in every word he speaks in the House; for that which comes from self, will be but for self (though under a pretense it may seem to be for God) but pursue what is manifestly good and righteous, and not what the wisdom of the serpent can cast a color over, and make appear so.

To those who have remained faithful in the nation, and waited for this day, I have one word also. Keep your eye on the Lord; fix not your hopes on the army, or on the Parliament; but  look through them, to him who has the power over them. Man is a vain, empty, foolish thing, there is no good to be expected from him. If the Lord appear in them, and they abide in his fear, and be guided by his counsel, they may be instruments of good in his hand, otherwise they will prove but broken reeds; but he that waits on the Lord shall not be disappointed, but shall meet with and receive the good in the Lord's season. The Lord's mighty power is at work, he snaps instruments asunder at his pleasure. When they are wise, when they are strong, when they are puffed up in the imaginations of their hearts, he overturns them with his finger, and calls up that which was not, that which the foot of pride trampled upon. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Wait on the Lord: If these also prove treacherous, his hand can overturn them also; and he will at length bring forth an instrument, which his soul can take pleasure in, and which he will make faithful to him in his work. O nation of England, wait on the Lord! wait on the Lord, O my soul!

From Chalfont in Bucks, the 18. of the 3. mon. 1659.

This from one who is a friend to the Commonwealth, a lover of true Freedom, and desires the good of all men.

Isaac Penington the younger.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF SOME REASONS

(Amongst many that might be given)

Why those People called QUAKERS cannot do some Things on the one hand, and forbear doing of some Things on the other hand; for which they have suffered, and do still suffer, so much Violence from the People, and such sore Persecution from the Teachers and Magistrates of these Nations. Whereby it may appear to all, who are willing to take any fair Consideration of their Cause, that their Sufferings are for Righteousness' Sake, because of the Integrity of their Hearts towards God, and void of any just Ground of Offense towards Man.

This account was drawn up thus brief, for their sakes who lack either time or patience to consider of it more at large; and answers to the heads of their sufferings, in a particular declaration to the PARLIAMENT.

[no date]

1. Why we go into meeting-places or markets or other-where to testify to the truth, and against deceit.

Reason: Because we are moved of the Lord so to do. We are his; and where he bids us witness for him, and against deceivers and their deceit, we must do it: woe unto us (from the Lord) if we do it not. If any man do any such thing in his own will, we witness against him, and the Lord will require it of him. Now this is no more than the apostles and servants of the Lord have done, as it is recorded in Scripture.

2. Why we cannot pay tithes.

Reason: Because tithes were not a maintenance appointed by Christ for his ministers, but were set up by the Pope (as the maintenance of his ministers) since the days of the apostles. And this maintenance by tithes, Wickliff and others bore a testimony against, and divers of the martyrs in Queen Mary's days suffered for, as by the articles charged against them, and the testimony that they held forth, may appear.

3. Why we meet together on the first days of the week, and at other times.

Reason: Because we find the Lord drawing of us, and his  presence among us in our meetings, and receive refreshings to our souls thereby.

4. Why we cannot swear.

Reason: Because Christ our Lord (who is greater than Moses, who gave the law about swearing) has said, "Swear not at all;" and his apostle (who abode in his doctrine) says, "Above all things, my brethren, swear not; neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath." Now mark the drift of Christ, which is not only to forbid profane and unlawful oaths (for if that were all, Christ had spoken nothing further nor fuller than Moses had done; which is contrary to all the instances of the like kind, whereby he straitens all that had been said by Moses of old time,) but all swearing, without exception, as may further appear by the instance immediately foregoing, in the case of divorce, where he expresses an exception in these words, "Saving for the cause of fornication;" but here is no exception added by Christ; and the putting in of an exception by man's wisdom, destroys Christ's words, making his command no straiter than the law of Moses, which forbad all profane and unlawful swearing. Levit. 19:12.

5. Why we cannot put off our hats to men.

Reason: Because it lifts up that in man which God will destroy. It is suitable to that nature which is of the earth, and feeds it. It is pleasing to the flesh; and that which is an enemy to the flesh, cannot give it that which feeds and pleases it. If we should please men, we could not be the servants of Christ. This is the true ground whereupon we cannot do it; and not in contempt to authority, or any man's person. Neither can we respect men's persons; for in so doing we should commit sin, as says the apostle. And let men consider what it is in them that cannot bear with it; it being done in simplicity of heart upon this account.

6. Why we cannot justly be looked upon as vagrants or sturdy beggars.

Reason: Because we beg not, nor pass up and down in any idle way; but either about our civil employments and occasions, or about the work of our God; nor are any way burdensome to the nation. If to be from our dwellings about the work of our God, be accounted the breach of a law, would not the same law have taken hold on Christ and his apostles, if it had been in their days?

7. Why we visit friends in prison.

Reason: Because they being imprisoned for their obedience to Christ, what we do to them, we do to him; and we are afraid, lest he should say to us at the great day; "I was sick and in prison, and you visited me not." Now they that are so far from doing this themselves, that they punish others for doing it, when God shall call them to account, what will they answer?

8. Why we cannot contribute towards the repairing of the steeple-houses, or pay clerks' wages.

Reason: Because they are places which were erected for popish and idolatrous worship; and where a worship not differing in its nature and ground (but only in form) is continued in this day; and the root from which all this idolatry grew, is not so much as discovered, much less purged out of these dominions, by them who formerly declared against it in words. Now as we will answer it to God, we are to give no countenance or furtherance to idolatry. And for clerks, they were officers invented by the false church (since the apostasy), never appointed by Christ in his church, and such we dare not help to maintain. Was it not solemnly covenanted with the Lord against superstition, for the plucking up of Episcopacy, root and branch? And must not those that are faithful to the Lord perform their covenant, though to their hurt?

Now any man that shall in the fear of the Lord read this, may see that these things bear a weight upon our hearts; and what we do herein, we do for conscience' sake, in obedience to the Lord; and not out of stubbornness or rebellion, as by some we are charged, nor out of any delight that we have to disturb or disquiet others; but singly to the Lord, that we may stand clear in his sight. We know whom we obey therein, and are sure we do that which is pleasing to him. Therefore let men take heed how they persecute us, lest they be found fighters against him who will be too strong for them. For these many ages, since the days of the apostles, deceit has got up, antichrist has sat in the temple, the true worshippers have been imprisoned and martyred. The Lord will avenge the sufferings and blood of his saints, and in due time will plead their cause against the oppressors, on whom his hand will then fall heavy, and the rocks and the mountains shall not be able to hide them from the presence of the Lamb; and that day who will be able to abide? though now men put it far from them.

SOME CONSIDERATIONS PROPSED TO THE CITY OF LONDON

and the nation of ENGLAND, to calm their spirits, and prepare them to wait for what the LORD is bringing about, that they may not run headily into their ruin and destruction; and, by this extraordinary heat of their spirits, kindle that Fire which will soon devour them: with a short exhortation to them relating to their true Settlement, and the Removal of that which hinders it.

[no date]

1. THE Lord God Almighty, who made heaven and earth; who upholds them by the word of his power; whose they are, with all their inhabitants; he rules in the kingdoms of men; establishing or overturning laws, governments, and governors at his pleasure. Psal. 75:5. etc. Dan. 4:25,35.

2. That the Lord has had an especial hand in the shakings and changes of this nation; and has some great things to bring about, which he orders all unto. And though many of the transactions and passages (as relating to men) have been very blamable; yet the Lord has been just and good in them all; and can, in his own good time, recover the ground which he has seemed to lose, and advance both the good of his people, and of the nation, by all their sufferings, losses, discouragements, and disadvantages.

3. In this late revolution, there may be more of God than man is aware of. God, in his infinite wisdom, might see that this parliament was not fit for work, and so might allow such a thing to fall out between them and the army (heightening their spirits on both sides) as might occasion the removal of them out of the way. Yes, and this present change may be but a passage to another, unless the Lord find these very faithful and diligent in his service, and not minding themselves and their own interests.

4. If this late revolution was of God, and he saw it good to bring it about, for the further carrying on of his work, he will be able to maintain it; and those that oppose him therein shall not be able to stand before him. They may bring ruin upon the nation and themselves; but they cannot set up what God throws down, nor raise up any thing else in the stead of it, according to  their wills; but that which he, by his providence and disposing hand, appointed to succeed, must have the time of trial which he allots it.

Therefore let men fear the Lord God, whose eye is upon us, and whose power is over us; and let us take heed of being found fighters against him. The cause has long lain a bleeding; yet there is at length a true reviving of it: and those whose hearts the Lord has stirred up to seek it faithfully, the Lord will be with them, and he is ready to pardon their former miscarriages. But oh, that they could lay themselves low, and forget their own interests, that the cause might rise up clear and manifest above them! Remember this saying, O you great ones! The Lord did not throw down the former greatness of the nobility, for you to rise up in their places; but you should have lain low, and remained little, and have let the Lord been great; and it is your true interest to descend and become little again. And if it were once manifest that you did not seek yourselves, but the cause of God, the good of his people, and of the nation, that every part and sort of men might feel their oppressions broken, and their just rights and liberties recovered and preserved for them; this would draw the hearts of all the honest-hearted people to you as one man; and those which have been scattered would be again united; and our very enemies (seeing our integrity and righteousness and true reformation by the wisdom and guidance of God) would magnify that work of God, which, as yet, cannot but be a reproach.

Therefore, O England! fear before the Lord, and wait upon him: and let your eye be taken from man; for he is very vanity. Neither your good nor your harm arises this way; but out of your own bowels. What have all these afflictions done towards the refining you? Are you not yet what you were? O England! will you not be made clean? When shall it once be? Murmur not against the rods wherewith the Lord sees good to chastise you; but mourn over your wickedness, your pride, your deceit, your excess, your cruelty, your oppression, your false worship, and idolatries, etc., and over your enmity against that which is of God, wherever it appears.

At the beginning of these troubles you could bear with no form of worship, but your own. Now you are come thus far,  that you can almost bear with any form. No, but that will not serve; the Lord will have room for the power of godliness, and he will not always allow you to smite his servants for their obedience to his spirit. This is his controversy with you, and the cause of all your misery: when misery, distress, and ruin have opened your eyes, you will see it. Oh that your day of calamity might pass over you! if you could indeed humble yourself before the Lord, and not walk any longer thus contrary to him, in the work which he is resolved to bring about, the Lord might pity and spare you; for he delights in mercy: but if you continue to walk contrary to him, and will be settled afore his time, and in a way, and by such means, as he approves not, the steps of his power against you will over turn you. Therefore fear, and be humble and meek before him; for therein lies the wisdom which can preserve you: but strive not to withstand his foot-steps, lest he trample down your crown, your strength, your hopes, your peace, and all that is desirable in your eyes.

This is in tender love, as a gentle warning to you, that you may take heed of giving way to that fierce spirit, which is the fore-runner of misery and desolation;

From him who is a dear lover of this city, and of his native country,

ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

SOME CONSIDERATIONS PROPOSED TO THE DISTRACTED NATION OF ENGLAND

concerning the present design and work of God therein; upon their submitting whereto does their settlement alone depend, and not upon any Form of Government, or change of Governors, as that spirit which seeks their ruin tempts them to believe.

[1659]

1. THAT God, in great mercy, broke the bonds of the Romish yoke, which lay hard upon the neck of this nation, and was very weighty upon those consciences wherein the true reforming light did arise in any measure; and who were in any measure true to that light which the Lord caused to break in upon them.

2. That the reformation out of Popery was not presently perfected (no, was never yet perfected), but was very weak and low, many things therein savoring very much of Popery (the nation being hardly able to bear at that time what was done); so that there were many things still continuing, which could not but be burdensome to the upright-hearted, and to the tender consciences, as the light which began their reformation did grow and increase in them.

3. That the Lord God (who, in such great mercy, had delivered this nation from the yoke of Popery) could not but expect that the reformation should grow and increase until it were perfected; even until nothing was left which arose from that spirit from which Popery sprang, and which might (in its proper tendency) be serviceable to that spirit; but that all his people in this nation, might have free liberty at least (if not encouragement), to return to the pure worship of him in spirit and in truth; even as in the days of the apostles, before the apostasy from the Spirit and from the Truth.

4. That the reformation out of Popery was not pursued as the Lord expected it should; but a dark way of worship established in the land, and a dark church-government (both like that of Rome); whereby those that were truly conscientious, and in whom the reforming light did further and further arise, were reproached, nick-named, hated, persecuted, etc., insomuch that there was a bar set up against the proceeding of the reformation any further, and a formal way of church-government and worship erected; which was pleasing to the loose and carnal spirit; but sharp, cruel, and burdensome to the stricter sort, and to such as were tender-hearted toward God.

5. That under this church-government and way of worship there was a going backwards towards Popery again, instead of going further from it. Things grew every day worse and worse; ceremonies daily abounding, and were more and more strictly enjoined; wearing of surplices, bowing at the name of Jesus, railing of the communion-tables, and making steps up to them; calling them high altars (bowing thrice at their approach to them)  having corporasses over their bread, saying second service, etc. And the chief end of their visitations was to establish such things as these; and to suppress lecturers, and conscientious preachers (among whom some fresh life did spring up, for the relief of the needy and desolate); and to curtail preaching, praying before and after sermons, yes, and catechizing too, which by authority was appointed in the place of the afternoon-sermons, when they found it exceed the limits they intended. And this proceeded so far, that there was very little difference between us and the Papists, save only the name; the worship in both becoming dead, and formal, and pleasing to the fleshly part, but empty of that which should feed and refresh the spirit. Only the Lord has reserved to himself a remnant, who could not bow to these things but groaned under them, and witnessed against them, mourning bitterly to the Lord under the load and weight of them.

6. That when the wrath of the Lord arose against this form of church-government and worship (as indeed it was high time for the Lord to appear; for the power and life of religion was even expiring), and he brake down all that stood up in the defense of it, and gave much liberty to the oppressed spirits and consciences of his people; yet this was not pleasing to the nation; but eagerly would they have had either the same form up again, or at least some other such like in the stead of it; whereby the loose spirit of the nation might be settled in some way of formal worship, and the growing reforming light snibbed in the spirits of the tender-hearted towards God.

Look back with a single and honest eye. Has it not been thus? Has there not been a sharp contention between God and this nation concerning this thing? The Lord has risen to remove the yoke from the oppressed, that he might cause the powers of this nation to let the oppressed conscience go free; but the nation would have them bound. It is still crying to the powers and authorities in being to lay the yoke on again. When one power is broken down (because it is not faithful in the Lord's hand, but starts aside from the Lord's work, for which it was chosen, to another of its own choosing), it seeks to have another harder power set up (I mean harder to the tender conscience); yet God overturns that also; and what can stand before him who is risen to shake  terribly the earth, and to make the oaks and cedars thereof to fail, totter, and fall? O England! will nothing serve your turn but the enslaving of God's heritage? That tenderness of conscience which God has begotten in his people is his own; is that which he will inherit. It is that which he brought out of the Egyptian darkness of Popery, and which he is now redeeming, and delivering out of the relics thereof: and if these three nations should for the generality join together as one man; yes, and though other nations should join with them, yet will they fall short of power and wisdom to prevent the Lord of bringing to pass his intended work.

Was it the generality of the nations God redeemed out of Popery? Or was it a poor, persecuted remnant, for whose sakes he did it, and whom he chiefly had respect unto? And is not the Lord able to carry on this work further and further? Did he allow them always to be stopped in their progress, and held in bondage by the powers set up? No, did he not at length break them down at their cries, for their sakes? And do you think he will now allow the line of Presbytery to be stretched over them, to keep them down from rising up any further in obedience to the pure law of life in their spirits? O England! in the zeal of the Lord of hosts I could bid defiance to all your counsels and strength, though I should see you encompass round his poor suffering seed (who are very weak and foolish as to that kind of strength and wisdom), because mine eye sees the Almighty One (before whom, in your greatest strength and height of confidence, you are as nothing) engaged against you; but I rather choose to mourn over you, and to wait for the opening of your eyes, by the anointing of the true eye-salve, which alone can unbewitch the nations. Yes, in bowels of tender love and pity to you, I do beseech you, O England! consider yourself; do not undo your happiness and prosperity; fight not against the Holy One, the Mighty One of despised, distressed Israel; be not tempted to follow Israel into the wilderness (where they now are, and where the hand of the Lord has led them), to bring them back again into bondage, because you see them entangled in the straits, and nothing appears able to deliver out of your hand. Remember what befell Pharaoh and all his host. This Israel, whom you hunt, is dearer to the Lord than ever that Israel was: for that was but  a shadow of the true seed; but the true life itself is begotten and brought forth in many of these; and the power and presence of the Lord is mightily with them, and amongst them; though you, in the unbelief, can not see it. There is now an hour of temptation upon you; there appears a fair opportunity to you to be revenged on them, and bring them under. Take heed what you doest, lest he, who has the power over all, bring you under, and set them on the top. Seek righteousness, seek the good of all, seek true reformation, and the Lord will bless you: but if you think to obtain the setting up of old forms, and ways of worship and government, or any new ones like to the old, under which the righteous cannot but groan (though the wicked and loose spirit may rejoice), you will be deceived, and your mistake may prove very dangerous and bitter to you. Our earnest desires to the Lord for you are, that you may be spared as much as possible (and that the sufferings of God's people, from the very first rent from Popery till this day, may not be laid to your charge); but iniquity is so twisted into your bowels, that with much tearing, which will cause great pain to you, it can hardly be separated from you. You are too wise and willful; this is the cause of your sorrow. If you could fear before the Lord, and patiently wait for the revealing of his will, and of his guiding you by his wisdom, and not be so enraged against instruments, but see through them to his hand (who has afflicted you), and humble yourself before that, how sweetly and easily might his work go on in you! But alas! have you not set yourself against it from the very first? And now you are much pleased with a seeming probability of turning it backward. Ah, poor land! what will this stiff spirit (which has all along these times of trouble repined at and opposed the work of the Lord) bring you to?

The time of reformation is come; the work of reformation is begun by that power which is able to carry it on; and that which now stands in the way thereof (how high and mighty soever) will be overturned. And although (as to what men have done) the cause and work of reformation may justly become a reproach; yet the foundation of reformation which God has laid is glorious: and in these troublesome times is he rearing up the building of his New Jerusalem, which, when he has finished and brought forth,  will dazzle the eyes of the whole earth. O England! be not high-minded, run not out into parties and breaches, in the heady will; but fear before him whose power is over you (who comprehends all your counsels, strength, designs, and hopes, as with a span, and when they are at the height, can moulder them to nothing with the touch of his finger); for his will must stand, not yours.

This is from him, whom, in the day of your distress and bitter calamity (which your present courses lead quickly unto), you will confess to have been your true friend,

ISAAC PENINGTON THE YOUNGER

Written the 19th of the 11th Month, 1659

TO THE ARMY

[no date]

FRIENDS,

Do you not see how often you have been betrayed? The Lord has done great things for you, and by you, and put great opportunities into your hands: but still they have been lost, his work fallen to the ground, and his name become a reproach over all the earth, through your means. Oh! be abased before the Lord, and lie very low, and consider how justly he may lay you aside from being his instruments, in that great and glorious work he has to bring to pass. If you desire to stand, look up to the Lord, to keep your spirits very low, and poor, and meek, and ready to hear. Oh! wait to know what has betrayed you hitherto! for assuredly that lies in wait to betray you again: and if the Lord mightily preserve you not from it, will make you forget him, and cause you to mind and seek yourselves afresh, so soon as ever your fears are over. Therefore, in the day of your prosperity, the Lord watch over you, and keep you close to the stirrings and honest movings for public good, that have sprung up in your hearts in the days of your adversity; and take heed, lest the subtlety in the wise, fleshly-reasoning part deceive you; but fear the Lord in your reasonings, and beg earnestly of him to keep the simplicity alive in you, that the fleshly wisdom get not mastery over it. For the evil counsellor is near you, even in your own  bosoms, and he lies lurking in plausible and fair-seeming reasonings. Therefore keep close to the simplicity, and let your reasonings be servants to it, and not masters over it. Ah! remember how often you have started aside like a warped bow: become now at length upright to the Lord, carrying faithfully to the mark those his arrows which he is shooting at the regions of Babylon.

This is from one who waits for what the Lord will effect, and hopes at length to see an instrument in his hand wherein his soul will delight.

ISAAC PENINGTON THE YOUNGER

A QUESTION

Propounded to the Rulers, Teachers, and People of the Nation of ENGLAND, for them singly to answer in their hearts and consciences, in the fear and dread of the Mighty God of Heaven and Earth; whose mighty Arm of Power is stretched out in this Nation, first to overturn what stands in his way, and then to establish (in the place thereof) what he has purposed in his heart. And this is the thing which the Lord has determined to do, both particularly in persons, and generally throughout the Earth; namely, to pull down the Mighty from their Seats, and to exalt the Humble and Meek (who are made such by the Presence and Power of his Life in them), that he alone may be exalted in the Spirits of his People, and throughout the Earth. And this Work has the Lord begun already; for his great and notable Day has appeared, and breaks forth quickly, though the eye which is closed cannot see it, nor the benumbed sense feel it. But he that has an ear, let him hear the sound of the Lord's Trumpet, which says, in the mighty breath of his Spirit of life, Awake! you dead, and stand up to judgment; for the day of Recompense is come, the day of the eternal vengeance of our God, and the day of his everlasting Mercy and plentiful Redemption. The Question is as follows.

[1659]

When this nation was rent from Popery (in part I mean: for wholly it was never rent, but did still retain the same spirit;  though by the magistrate's sword it was forced from that form and way of worship which the Pope had established) did it wait on the Lord for the guidance of his spirit and power, thereby to build up a true church and habitation for God in the Spirit? Or did it take such materials as were ready at hand, and frame up a building as well as it could, wherewith the consciences of many (that were tender-hearted towards God) were even then dissatisfied, and felt, in the eternal life of God, the reformation not to be right in its beginning?

This is a weighty question: for an error at first, an error in the foundation, is great, and the cause of many following errors. If the Spirit of God was not then consulted with, and waited upon; if he did not raise the fabric, surely the building was not right. It was the Spirit of God which rent men from Popery (so far as they acted upon pure and honest principles), showing the blackness and darkness thereof, and kindling desires in them after a more inward and spiritual way of worship. Thus far was of him. But if men did then consult with their own wisdom, for the ordering and carrying on of the reformation, and so upon politic grounds and reasons did raise up a building, and not wait on the Lord for his light and power to build with; then surely that building was not of God, nor could he be honored thereby, nor his truth preserved, nor the integrity and conscientiousness of his people's hearts towards him cherished; but all this would suffer and be in danger by this building, and a contrary spirit be pleased with it, and thrive under it. And has it not been so? Were not the Non-conformists to it (though known to be precious persons in the savor and life of God) looked upon and dealt with as enemies, while such Conformists as were known to be loose and scandalous, yet could flourish well enough, and make a fair show in this national church, and be zealous contenders for the way of worship and government in it? Yes, those that have been strict in their lives and conversations, and truly zealous towards God in their souls and spirits, pressing after righteousness and purity; such as these, though they might conform, yet were they not hated, nick-named, in scorn called Puritans, and snares laid for them to entrap them? And how could it be otherwise? For if the building was not right, if the  constitution and government of this church were not of God, then it could not favor and cherish that which was of God, then it could not nourish or be pleased with obedience to his pure life and spirit, but rather with obedience to its carnal form. For so it is in truth and reality before God; this church, with its whole constitution, government, order, and way of worship, was either of God's spirit, and so spiritual; or of man's wisdom, and so carnal. If of God's spirit, then it will be a friend to that which is spiritual, and an enemy to that which is carnal; if of man's wisdom, then it will be a friend to that which is carnal, and an enemy to that which is spiritual. And this is a true mark of the true church, and of the true church power and government; it begets and preserves that which is spiritual, it beats down the carnal; whereas the church power and government which is carnal preserves that which is carnal (a carnal unity, a carnal uniformity in worship, etc.), but checks, snubs, smites, and persecutes that which is spiritual; and for such a kind of power and government to be set up, the carnal part in every man contends and cries out. And so long as there is any change made in this church by the same wisdom, it will never be otherwise; it will be from carnal to carnal, and so still against that which is spiritual. Therefore look back singly, and consider what the building was, and how it was reared up; and see whether it was of God or no: or whether it was built up in the forwardness of man's spirit, by carnal reasonings and consultings, accommodating things to the present state of the nation, and not to the plain and clear measure of God's truth.

First, See what the materials were whereof this church was built. Were they materials fit to make up a true church of? Was it built up of a people truly converted to God? Of persons changed in heart? Of persons sensible of the foregoing idolatry, and turned in their souls, minds, and spirits from dead idols towards the living God? Or was not rather the heart of the nation still inclined towards Popery, even while it was turning into a Protestant church? And was it not chiefly made a Protestant church by the force of the civil power, which wound in by degrees a Protestant interest; the heart of the people still remaining unchanged, and hankering after Popery; but at length, in tract  of time, seeing they knew not how to help it, won over to Protestantism with the same heart and spirit that they came out of Popery with? Consider seriously in the sight of God (who looks both forward and backward upon things with a true eye), whether it has been thus or no?

Secondly, See what kind of ministry was then set up. Was it a new ministry (as John Huss, that famous Bohemian martyr, prophesied should arise, and as Luther saw the necessity of, utterly disclaiming the deriving of orders from Popish bishops)? or was it the same ministry which was derived from Rome? It is a sore stress the ministers of England have been put to; namely, to plead for the truth of the ministry of the church of Rome, that thereby they might defend their own. Now mark this thing following; there arose false apostles, false prophets, false teachers in the apostles' days; whom Satan clothed like true apostles, like true prophets, like ministers of righteousness. Thus they appeared, thus they seemed to be; but they were not of God, but Satan; not sent of God, not inspired by God; but inspired and sent by Satan. These false apostles, these false prophets, fought against the true church, and true ministry of Christ. And though they were oftentimes discovered, by the spirit of Christ in his church, and the church preserved from them, yet we find related in Scriptures, that at length they did prevail, insomuch as the third part of the true ministers were shaken, and swept down from their place and standing by them, Rev. 12:4. yes, and at length the church herself (as to the truth of her outward state) overcome, and fled into the wilderness, ver. 6, 14. and a false church got up in her stead, which has a cup of fornication to make people spiritually drunk; and to bewitch them from the true worship of God, into imitations and likenesses, Rev. 17:4. and those who will not acknowledge her likenesses and imitations to be the truth, but, in the word of the Lamb's testimony, witness against them, she drinks their blood. ver. 6. Now can any man of any manner of seriousness and sobriety of spirit (who is not drunk and overcome with this whore's wine) believe, that after false prophets had got the day, and set up the false church, that they would set up the true ministry in it? Oh, how blind have men been, that they should  go about, and take such pains, to derive a succession of the true ministry from the ministers of prophets of the false church!

Thirdly, What kind of maintenance was set up for this ministry? Was it a gospel maintenance? Was it that they should live of the gospel, which cannot but open men's spirits to the true ministers thereof? Or was it a maintenance forced from the people, by that outward power which set up the church? And was this maintenance like unto, or the same with, the maintenance which the Popish ministry had before in this nation, for their idolatrous service?

Fourthly, What kind of worship was it, which was set up? Was it the worship of the gospel, which is in spirit and truth? Or was it a form of worship invented by man, and so accommodated to the present temper of the nation, that they might, with the more ease and willingness, step out of Popery into it, because of its nearness and likeness thereto?

Fifthly, What kind of church-government was set up? Was it a pure, spiritual government? Was it put into the hands of the Spirit? (For nothing is to govern, or can rightly govern over the spirits of Christ's people, in spiritual things, but the spirit of Christ.) Or did men frame up a church-government by their wisdom, and put it into the hands of such as might exercise it without, yes, and against, the Spirit?

Sixthly, What kind of order was set up in this church? Was it the true, gospel order? Was it the order of Christ's spirit, whereby the carnal wisdom of man might be quenched, and his spirit have scope? Or was it a carnal order, whereby the carnal wisdom, learning, knowledge, and arts of man might have scope, and the spirit in its motions be quenched?

Seventhly, By what wisdom was the common prayer-book compiled and set up; and surplices, crosses, and other ceremonies enjoined? Was it by the wisdom of God's spirit, for the building up of the spirits of his people in the faith? Or was it for the pleasing and satisfying of the carnal part in people? And what sort of persons were they who did most contend for, and were most pleased with, these? Were they, for the generality, the stricter, or the looser sort?

Eighthly, How came it about, that the supreme magistrate of  this nation was made chief head and governor of this church under Christ? Was this from Christ's institution, or of man's wisdom and invention? If of man's inventing wisdom, then against Christ, then of antichrist's spirit, who exalts that which is not of Christ, to sit and govern in his temple.

Oh! weigh these things, look about you, O England! O rulers, teachers, and people look about you! And if it plainly (upon a naked search) appear that there was, at the very first, a foundation laid of suppressing the true worship, and the witnesses to it, do not shut your eyes. Have not the people of God still been misrepresented, had reproachful names cast upon them, and, in some degree or other, been persecuted from the beginning of the reformation? And though names change, and rulers change, and the teachers change, and the people also change in their religion and worships, yet is not the persecuting spirit still the same, and the persecuted spirit still the same also? The persecuting spirit changes its cover often, but still retains its nature, hunting after the life and pure power of the spirit, in the children which are begotten of God. Are not the people of God in every change a despised people, and their integrity towards God still struck at? When the Lord began a little to wipe off the reproach from them, at the beginning of these troubles, and the persecuting spirit could not so conveniently hunt them any longer under the name of Puritans, then other names were invented for them, whereby the same spirit sought to make them appear odious again, under a new reproachful title, that so it might be persecuting the same thing afresh. Oh, how mightily has the Lord striven to keep the powers and people of this nation from falling upon his people! and yet still, so soon as they come to any peace, and feeling of power, they are at it again. O England! your persisting in this cannot but bring wrath upon you. What would you have of us? Shall we not fear the Lord? Shall we not obey the Lord? Shall we not worship the Lord our God, who has redeemed, and is redeeming, our souls from death? Shall we not be Protestants in truth and uprightness of heart before the Lord? Shall we not testify against the Popish spirit, and Popish practices, and all new inventions of the same spirit (though they get ever so fine a covering) in the church of  England, as well as against them in the church of Rome?

The Lord is our witness, we would not offend you, O England! no, not the meanest persons of the whole nation: but from out of Popery we are called (and from whatever else the same nature and spirit may take up in the stead of it), to follow the Lord our God towards the land of the living; and follow him we must, however you deal with us. O England! if it had been so that your rulers had built up a true church, yet the evil spirit, the unclean spirit, would have endeavored to pollute it, to provoke the Lord to remove his candlestick (which is an inward act of his spirit, the outward building might stand notwithstanding), and then your house must have been left desolate, and the same spirit would then have called his people out of it. But if your building has not been spiritual, and in the spirit, how can the spirit of the Lord allow the children begotten by him to lodge in it! Oh, when will you have an ear to hear, that the Lord's wrath may assuage towards you; which kindles more and more, and is entering quickly within your bowels! This, this is the Lord's charge against you: You are for the Protestant name (it is now become your interest, and a goodly covering in your eyes) but against the Protestant spirit; which the Lord calls to follow him further and further from all the things of Popery, and from all the things like Popery. And the Lord will put a difference between the Protestant name and the Protestant spirit; between them that serve him in the fear which he begets in the heart, and them that set up that kind of fear which is taught by the precepts of men.

O England! we are now seemingly in your hands (who have long handled us very roughly); and we have no strength against you, nor no hope of deliverance from you, but in the Lord our God; and there we are at rest, waiting upon him, in the innocency and integrity which he has begotten in our hearts, until he plead our cause. And in that day you will see that we have not been your enemies, and then you will mourn over that mist of darkness, which has withheld your eye from discerning what true friends we have been to you, and how we have endeavored, and sought with our hearts to prevent your drinking of that bitter cup, which is to go round the nations. And if your ear could have been opened, you might have been spared.

POSTSCRIPT

THE gospel is free; the grace and mercy thereof free; the spirit a free spirit (freely given of God, and freely ministering for God); the church a spiritual building, built in the freedom and liberty of the life of the spirit; the order and government of the church is from and in the same free spirit, guiding a people whom God makes willing in the day of his power; the maintenance of the ministry a free maintenance; the whole obedience and worship free, in the free spirit, and in the truth which is begotten in the heart by the free spirit. The head of this church is Christ, the living Spirit, who has appointed none to be head under him here on earth, nor has given power to any to make any laws concerning his kingdom, or the government thereof; concerning his ministry, or the maintenance thereof. (Is it not thus? Does not the least child of light see it to be thus?) But the church of England was a church built by force; settled by force; her ministers maintained by force: her order, unity, uniformity, and government, forcible; and the free, pure spirit of life can have no scope in her, but according to the wills of her rulers, teachers, and people: if it move otherwise, if it appear otherwise, it is sure to be nick-named and persecuted. O England! England! can God always allow these things? Will not his hand at length be stretched forth against you?

Given forth by ISAAC PENINGTON the Younger, in the fear and dread of the Most High, the 14th of the 12th Month, 1659.

REMARK

"The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." 1 Thes. 5:2-3. And when the Lord comes, woe to him who is found beating his fellow-servant, and endeavoring to force the conscience (which God has made tender and pliable to the voice of his spirit) from its obedience and subjection thereto.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE GROUNDS OR CAUSES

WHICH ARE SAID TO INDUCE THE COURT OF BOSTON

IN NEW ENGLAND

TO MAKE THAT ORDER OR LAW OF BANISHMENT, UPON PAIN OF DEATH, AGAINST THE QUAKERS

AS ALSO

OF THE GROUNDS AND CONSIDERATIONS BY THEM PRODUCED, TO MANIFEST THE WARRANTABLENESS AND JUSTNESS BOTH OF THEIR MAKING AND EXECUTING THE SAME; WHICH THEY NOW STAND DEEPLY ENGAGED TO DEFEND, HAVING ALREADY THEREUPON PUT TWO OF THEM TO DEATH

AS ALSO

OF SOME FURTHER GROUNDS FOR JUSTIFYING OF THE SAME, IN AN APPENDIX TO JOHN NORTON'S BOOK (WHICH WAS PRINTED AFTER THE BOOK ITSELF, YET AS PART THEREOF); WHERETO HE IS SAID TO BE APPOINTED BY THE GENERAL COURT

And likewise of the Arguments briefly hinted, in that which is called, "A true Relation of the Proceedings against the Quakers, etc."

Whereunto something is added about the Authority and Government Christ excluded out of his Church; which occasions something concerning the true Church-Government

BY ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

[1660]

The stone the builders refused, is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Ps. 118:22-23

I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so Father; for so it seemed good in your sight. Mat. 11:25-26

TO THE RULERS, TEACHERS, AND PEOPLE

OF

New England

MANY a weary step has my poor soul fetched, and many difficulties and hardships has it met with in its pursuit after truth. The immortal seed has deeply suffered in me through the mists of darkness, and various stratagems and powers of the enemy, which have often encompassed me, and distressed my spirit exceedingly. I have known many battles, received deep wounds; yes, and have been in deaths and graves often, where the living seed has languished for lack of the living spring. Yet this thing, to the praise and glory of the Preserver of Israel, may I speak; the sense of God, and the savor of his spirit, were never wholly taken away from me; though many times I knew it not, but was too apt to distrust it, being ignorant of the way of its appearing in me. The Scriptures I always exceedingly prized, and a deep knowledge of them, from an experimental sense of the things they spake of, was bestowed on me: but I knew not what it was which gave me the knowledge, nor how it sprang; but went about still to fix it in the letter, and so gave away the glory from the spirit, which shines above and beyond the letter, and ought so to be acknowledged.

Before this despised people appeared, I was even quite worn out, and said, My hope is cut off from the Lord; there is no such appearance of him to be looked for as my poor distressed soul needs. Live without the presence of his spirit I could not; where to meet with his spirit I could hear no news; and that precious knowledge which I had through the operation of God upon my heart from the living spring; the same hand which gave  me, also break in pieces, and pulled down that inward building which was reared up in my spirit.

What a man of sorrows I became hereupon, how I mourned all the day long, and roared out after my God all the night-season, is not to be uttered. And if it might be the Lord's pleasure, oh that my misery might end with me, and that this might be the issue of all my sufferings, to fit me to be a faithful instrument in the hand of the Lord for the preserving of others therefrom!

Now this was it which undid me; namely, the getting up of the fleshly wisdom and understanding; which, though God had broken in me mightily several times, yet it still had some secret device or other to creep in again into me, and to twine about my spirit, undiscerned by me: but this effect still attended it; by degrees, like a canker, it eat out the sweetness and freshness of my life and spirit, and exalted that part in me which God hides the mysteries of his kingdom from.

At first acquaintance with this rejected people, that which was eternal of God in me opened, and I did immediately in my spirit own them as children of my Father, truly begotten of his life by his own spirit; but the wise, reasoning part presently rose up, contending against their uncouth way of appearance, and in that I did disown them, and continued a stranger to them, and a reasoner against them, for above twelve months; and by weighing and considering things in that part, was still further and further off from discerning their leadings by the life and spirit of God into those things. But at length it pleased the Lord to draw out his sword against that part in me, turning the wisdom and strength thereof backward, and to open that eye in me again, wherewith he had given me to see the things of his kingdom in some measure from a child; and then I saw and felt them grown in that life and spirit, which I, through the treachery of the fleshly-wise part, had been estranged to, and had adulterated from. And now what bitter days of mourning and lamentation (even for some years since) I have had over this, the Lord alone fully knows. Oh! I have known it to be a bitter thing to follow this wisdom in understanding of scriptures, in remembering of scriptures, in remembering of experiences, and in many more inward ways of workings, that many cannot bear to hear. The Lord has judged  me for that, and I have borne the burden and condemnation of that, which many at this day wear as their crown. And now what am I at length? A poor worm! Whom can I warn effectually? Whom can I help? Whom can I stop from running into the pit? But though I am nothing, I must speak; for the Lord draws and moves me: and how unserviceable soever my pity be, yet my bowels cannot but roll, both towards those that are in misery, and those that are running into misery.

Read in the fear, and in simplicity, what was so written; and the Lord open that eye in you which can see the way of life, and discover the paths of the mystery of iniquity in its most hidden workings in the heart; that you sleep not the sleep of eternal death, and so at last be awakened in the bowels of that wrath and fiery indignation, which that spirit which errs from, and transgresses, the life and light within, can neither bear nor escape.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE

Grounds or Causes, etc.

THAT in New England there has been a law made of banishing the Quakers, so called, and of death in case of return, is well known in these parts; but what induced them hereunto, and what just grounds and reasons they had for it, many are not acquainted with, but are very much dissatisfied concerning their proceedings therein; fearing that they have dishonored God, brought a reproach upon the name of Christ and his gospel, exceeded the limits of their power, given an ill example of persecution, laid a foundation of hardening their hearts against God, and of drawing his heavy wrath upon them; all which they cannot but be guilty of, in case it should be proved that they have been mistaken, and that these people (upon a further search) should appear to them to be of God, as they have already to very many, who have been exceedingly prejudiced against them, till they came more meekly to hear and consider their case. For there are many  here in Old England, and in other parts, who once reviled, reproached, and thought they could hardly do bad enough against them; who now, in the singleness of their hearts, can bless God for raising up such a people, and that they themselves were not cut off in their blind zeal against them; but, in the rich mercy of God, had a way made for the removing of their prejudices and hard thoughts, and for the opening of their eyes, whereby they came to see that these are, indeed, a precious people of God; begotten, brought forth, and guided by his power; and that it is his living truth, which they (in obedience to his living power) are drawn to bear witness to, and to hold forth unto the world. And one such testimony for them is of more weight and value in a true balance, than thousands of testimonies against them from such who are prejudiced, and have not patience to consider things in equity and uprightness of heart, and also whose interest lies another way.

Now meeting of late with a paper beginning thus: At a general court held at Boston the 8th of October, 1659. (wherein, by way of preface, there is first an account given of what induced them to make this law of banishment and death, and then grounds and considerations laid down to clear it to be warrantable and just), it was upon my heart to consider and examine these, to see whether they did arise from the seed of God, and from the true knowledge of the Scriptures by his Spirit, and so were weighty to the conscience which singly waits upon God for satisfaction about truth; or whether they did arise from the fleshly part, and from fleshly reasonings upon Scriptures, and so were but chaffy, and not able to satisfy the weighty, considering spirit, as in the sight of God.

And this I was the more induced to do, because I found bowels rolling towards them, and a sense of what might easily be their snare, which has overtaken and entangled many: for many who have blamed others severely, and really thought how well they themselves would have amended things, if ever they came into place and power, yet have failed, and run into the very same error, when they have come to the trial. So these persons, when they were formerly persecuted in England, no doubt thought and intended, if ever they came to be free from it, to lay a foundation against it: yet when they came to the point, and felt their condition changed, insomuch as it was now in their hand to  determine what was the way of worship, church-government, and order, there lay a great temptation before them to set up what they judged to be right, and to force all others to a conformity to it. Yes, now was their great danger, and time to beware, lest the same persecuting spirit did get up in them, which their being persecuted was a proper means to keep down: and if so (if the same spirit which persecuted them got up in them), then they who were once persecuted could not possibly forbear persecuting; for that spirit will persecute wherever it gets up. And having laid its foundation of persecution under a plausible cover, then by degrees it more and more veils the eye, hardens the heart, and takes away the tenderness which was in the persons before, while they themselves were persecuted. Now I cannot but pity those that fall into the snare of the enemy; especially those who are taken in so great a snare, and come to so great a loss of their tenderness towards God, his truths, and people, and run so great a hazard and danger of the loss of their own souls.

The Grounds or Causes expressed of their making that Law of Banishment, are in Substance these three.

1. THE coming of the QUAKERS from foreign parts, and from other colonies, at sundry times, and in several companies and numbers, into the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.

Answer: This, of itself, is far from any warrant; for "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." And though they claim a propriety in it, yet it is still more the Lord's than theirs; and he may send any one of his servants into it at his pleasure, upon what message or service it seems good unto him. So that the great question to be determined here is this: Whether these persons came from the Lord, in his will, and at his appointment; or whether they came of themselves, and in their own wills. For if they came by commission and appointment from the Lord of heaven and earth, their warrant was without doubt sufficient. But if they came in their own will, and upon their own designs, then they went out of the Lord's counsel and protection, and must bear their own burden. Now consider whether you were tender in the due weighing of this, before your imprisoning and dealing hardly with them. For if, at their first coming, you  imprisoned them, and engaged yourselves against them, you thereby made yourselves unfit for an equal consideration of the cause; and God might justly then leave your eyes to be closed, and your hearts hardened against his truths and people, for beginning with them so harshly and unrighteously, and not in his fear.

2. Those lesser punishments of the house of correction, and imprisonment for a time, having been inflicted on some of them; but not sufficing to deter and keep them away. Why do you omit cutting off of ears? Are you ashamed to mention that amongst the rest? Indeed the remembrance of it strikes upon the spirits of people here, and perhaps in New England also.

Answer: They that are sent by the Lord, and go in the guidance of his spirit, cannot be deterred from obedience to him in his service and work, either by lesser or greater punishments. Punishments deter the evil-doer; but he that does well is not afraid of being punished; but is taught, and made willing, and enabled to suffer for righteousness' sake. Phil. 1:29. And you will find your greater punishments as ineffectual to obtain your end, as your lesser. For they whose lives (in the power of God) are sacrificed up to the will of God, are no more afraid of death, than they are of whips, prisons, cruel usage in prisons, and cutting off of ears. Surely it had been a sweeter, a more Christian and safer course, to have weighed the thing in God's fear and dread, before you had begun any of your punishments. But your own late relation confesses, that you began with them upon reports from Barbados and England, from good hands, you say; and so they of Damascus might have said, if they had received the letters from the high-priest, or relations from zealous and devout Jews. And I have heard related from many hands (which, having drunk in prejudices from reports, and begun with imprisoning of them, might easily follow) that they were never afforded a fair hearing; but at your courts, questions were put to entrap them, and they not allowed to plead the righteousness and innocency of their cause, but endeavors used to draw them to that (and a watching to catch that from them) which would bring them within the compass of some of your laws. Your consciences know how true these things are, and will one day give in a clear and true testimony, although you should be able to bribe them at present.

3. That their coming there was upon no other grounds or occasion, for aught that could appear, than to scatter their corrupt opinions, and to draw others to their way, and so to make disturbance.

Answer: Christ says to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world:" and they are not to lie still, and keep their light under a bushel; but to lighten and season the world, as the Lord calls and guides them. And if the Lord does see that New England, notwithstanding all its profession and talk of the things of God, has need of his salt to savor it with, and of his light to enlighten them with, and so sends his messengers and servants among them, they have no reason to be offended with the Lord for this, or with his people, or with the truths they bring. They have long had a form up, and it may have eaten out the power, that they may not be so savory now in their ease and authority in New England, as they were under their troubles and persecutions in Old England: and God may, in kindness to them, send among them a foolish people to stir them up and provoke them to jealousy. Now their coming thus is not to "scatter corrupt opinions;" but, by the power of truth, to scatter that which scatters from the Lord. Nor is it to draw to their way, but to the Lord, to Christ, his living way; which they are exhorted to try, and feel, and certainly to know, before they receive. Nor does it make any "disturbance," but only to that which is at ease in the flesh, and fleshly forms of worship. And Israel of old was often thus disturbed by the prophets of God (though they still could not bear it, but were enemies to the prophets for it), notwithstanding they had received their way of worship certainly from God's hand. How much more may the Lord take liberty, by his servants and messengers, to disturb these who never so received it, but have formed up a way out of the Scriptures, whereof many that are truly conscientious, doubt whether it be the way or no; even as they themselves doubt, and are ready to contend against, the ways that others have formed!

Now those that pick a quarrel with truth, and seek matter against it to persecute it, do not call it truth, but error, corrupt opinions, the way of a sect, the making of disturbance, or such like. And persecutors, for the most part, do not only say this,  but bring forth their strong arguments; insomuch as the persecutor is commonly just in his own eyes, and the persecuted is blamed as the evil-doer, and cause of his own sufferings. Were the bishops without their plea? No, did not he that was called Dr. Burgess (in the book) seem to carry the cause clear against the Non-conformists? And why the bishops might not establish their way by authority, or the Presbyters their way, as well as those accounted Independents their way (not regarding the Dissenters, or tender-conscienced), I confess I see not; but that they have justified the bishops by their practicing the same thing, and so unjustly condemned them in words.

But how can you say, "for aught that could appear"? when you were so unfit (through receiving of prejudices and reports, and beginning so roughly with them) to consider what might be made appear, and also so far from giving way to them to make what they could appear, as is before expressed? And does not this also imply that there may be a just, righteous, and warrantable cause of their coming, in relation to God and his service, though it does not yet appear to you? And in a meeker and cooler temper, when another eye is opened in you, you may see and acknowledge that cause, who are the Lord's servants; whether they come in his name or no; whether they are his truths or no, which they bring with them. These are things God opens to the humble, to the meek, to such as fear before him, and wait for his counsel therein; but those that can determine things by intelligence beforehand from other parts, and imprison persons as soon as they come, and so proceed on with a stiff resolution against them, how are these in any capacity to seek or receive counsel from God in a case of so great concernment? So that at last, even when they have drunk their blood, they must be forced to say, "for aught that could appear," this was their only end, work, and intent; but whether it was so or not, they do not certainly know.

Thus far is in answer to the account they give, by way of preface, to what led them to the making of this law of banishment and death. Now the grounds and considerations themselves, which they held forth to clear this to be warrantable and just, follow to be scanned, which are in number six.

1. The doctrine of this sect of people (say they) is destructive  to fundamental truths of religion.

Answer: For the making of this argument forcible, two things are necessary; if either of which fails, it falls to the ground.

1. It is necessary to make manifest, that persons, for holding or propagating doctrines contrary to fundamental truths of religion, are, by Christ's institution, punishable with dismembering, banishment, or death. For Christ is the head, king, and law-giver to his church: it is he that is the foundation of religion, and the giver-forth of fundamental truths of religion: and he is the proper judge of what punishment is fit for such as either will not receive his fundamental truths of religion, or afterwards start back from them, and broach doctrines contrary thereto. Now it is required (in his name and authority) of such powers as will take upon them to inflict these kinds of punishment upon such kind of offenders, Christ's institution for this thing. Christ was as faithful in his house as Moses, and if such a course had been necessary for the preservation of his church, surely he would not have withheld it. But Christ overcomes the devil's kingdom by his spirit: by that he wins souls, and gathers into, and builds up, his church; and by that he is able to defend them. By his spirit he preaches the truth, and sows the seed of the kingdom; and by his spirit he upholds and maintains it. This is his way of overcoming all the mists of darkness and false doctrines, and not a magistrate's sword. "The weapons of our warfare (says the apostle) are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds." 2 Cor. 10:4. Are there strong-holds of darkness? Are there false doctrines broached against the truths of Christ? Who are the warriors against these? Are they the civil state, the magistrate, the earthly powers? or are they the ministers and servants of Christ? And what are the weapons that are mighty to overthrow these? Are they stocks, whips, prisons, cutting off of ears, banishment, death? or are they of a spiritual nature? The spiritual weapons are sanctified by God to this end, and are mighty through him, able to effect it thoroughly: whereas the carnal weapons are weak and unsanctified, and can reach only the carnal part; but the strong-hold remains untouched by these. And it is only the carnal part which desires to have the use of such carnal weapons in the church: the spiritual man would conquer by his  own weapon, or not at all. Christ came not to destroy men's lives, nor never gave order to have men killed about his truths. If his people be disobedient, and broach doctrines ever so contrary and destructive to his kingdom, he has a spiritual way of fighting with them now, and has appointed his servants to have his mighty spiritual weapons in a readiness for the revenging every disobedience. 2 Cor. 10:6. And he has likewise a time of dealing with them hereafter; but he has nowhere appointed that his subjects (if they could get the command of the sword in a nation or country) should kill such. Abundance of blood has been shed upon this pretense, which the Lord will make inquisition for: it should at length be seriously inquired into, what truth there is in this bloody doctrine. For, under this cover, all the persecutions and sheddings of the saints' blood shelter themselves. Oh! consider at length, how cruel and bloody, men have made the gospel of peace by this principle; and what an advantage it gives to the carnal part in those that are persecuted, if once they can get the command of the outward sword, to forget their own sufferings, and suddenly turn persecutors of such as differ from them, though upon as weighty grounds (if not more weighty) than they differed from others upon. But this they that are uppermost will not yield to, that the grounds of such as differ from them are sufficient; even as those that they differed from would not yield that their grounds were sufficient. Thus still they whose arguments go forth under the shelter, or by the command of, the present authority, are looked upon as most weighty; and the others' cause is trampled upon, though ever so just, innocent, upright, and weighty in itself; and the meek of the earth, the humble-hearted, the tender-conscienced towards God, are still made the offenders and sufferers: and their enemies are still made their judges. I do think these of New England would have once thought it hard measure, that Conformists, whom they differed from, should have been the judges, whether their grounds were sufficient or not; and yet they (ever since they have had the power in their hands) have taken upon them to be the judges of the sufficiency of the grounds of such as differ from them, and have as freely condemned all that differed from them, and been as sore a curb upon the tender conscience, as ever the bishops were. So that it is plain, that which they sought was their own liberty (they did not like to be oppressed and enthralled contrary to their judgments), but not the liberty of the tender conscience towards God, but rather the yoking and enthralling of it to their judgments and arguments and interpretations of scripture, which he that differs from, must be an offender with them, even as they were once accounted offenders for differing from the Conformists; and so are all become transgressors of the law of God, in doing that to others, which they would not that others should do to them.

2. It is requisite also to make manifest, that the doctrine of this sort of people is destructive to the fundamental truths of religion. For if it be not so, then they are injured and misrepresented; and both their banishment and death, and all other punishments inflicted upon them on this account, will prove to have been unjust.

There are four instances given, or four particular fundamentals mentioned, to which their doctrines are said to be destructive. First, The Sacred Trinity. Secondly, The person of Christ. Thirdly, The Holy Scriptures, as a perfect rule of faith and life. Fourthly, The doctrine of perfection.

Now for the making the thing clear and manifest to every sober mind, it is requisite first to consider what the QUAKERS hold in these several particulars; and then whether that which they hold in these respects be contrary to the truth of these things, as they are plainly related in the Scriptures: for if that which they hold be according to the naked voice and proper intent of the Scriptures, then they are not to be blamed; but the blame will light on their accusers, who might easily be found guilty of injuring both them and the Scriptures, both in these and many other things, were they not judges.

1. Concerning the Sacred Trinity. They generally, both in their speakings and in their writings, set their seal to the truth of that scripture, 1 John 5:7. that "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit." That these three are distinct, as three several beings or persons: this they read not; but in the same place they read, that "they are one." And thus they believe their being to be one, their life one, their light one, their wisdom one, their power one: and he that  knows and sees any one of them, knows and sees them all, according to that saying of Christ's to Philip. "He that has seen me, has seen the Father." John 14:9. Three there are, and yet one; thus they have read in the Scriptures, and this they testify they have had truly opened to them by that very Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures, insomuch that they certainly know it to be true, and own the thing from their very hearts: but as for this title of Sacred Trinity, they find it not in Scripture; and they look upon scripture-words as fittest to express scripture things by. And surely if a man mean the same thing as the scripture means, the same words will suffice to express it: but the Papists and school-men having missed of the thing which the scripture drives at, and apprehended something else in the wise, imagining part, have brought forth many phrases of their own invention to express their apprehensions by, which we confess we have no unity with; but are content with feeling the thing which the scripture speaks of, and with the words whereby the Scriptures express it. Now whereas they call this a fundamental, we do not find it so called in scripture; nor do we find the disciples themselves understanding therein, but knew not the Father. John 14:8-9. And Christ going about to inform them, does not tell them of another distinct being or person: but "have you not seen me? And believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" ver. 10. And so the believers at Ephesus had not so much as heard there was a Holy Ghost. Acts 19:2. So that if you will make this a fundamental truth, yet it is such a fundamental as true faith did stand without, both in believers before Christ's death, and in believers after. This is the great fundamental, "that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all," 1 John 1:5. and the great work of the ministry is to show men where this light is, and to turn men from the darkness, wherein is the power of Satan, unto this light, wherein is the power of God. Acts 26:18. And he that comes into this light, and into this power, is owned in the light and in the power, wherein is the life of all the saints, and the true fellowship both with the Father and the Son, and one with another. 1 John 1:3,7. And the true trial of spirits is not by an assent to doctrines (which the hypocrite may assent to on the one hand, and the true believer may startle at on the other hand); but by feeling of them  in the inward virtue of the light, in the spirit, and in the power. This was the apostle's way of trial. 1 Cor. 4:19-20. "I will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power; for the kingdom of God, is not in word, but in power." A man may speak high words concerning the kingdom, and get all the doctrines about it, and yet be a stranger to it, and quite ignorant of the power: and another may lack divers doctrines concerning it (perhaps some of those which men call fundamentals), and yet be a citizen of it, and in the power. But now, under the anti-christian apostasy, men lacking the feeling of the life and power, wherein the true judgment is, they own or disown one another upon an assent or dissent to such and such doctrines, and so fall into this great error of disowning many whom Christ owns: and if they find persons not assent to, or dissenting from, any of those things which they call fundamentals, then they think they may lawfully excommunicate and persecute them. So, by this mistake, they cut off that which is green, they persecute that wherein is the living sap, and cherish the dry and withered. That which is most tender towards God, and most growing in the inward sensibleness (which causes it to startle at that which others can easily swallow) lies most open to suffering by this kind of trial.

2. Concerning the Person of Christ. They believe that Christ is the eternal light, life, wisdom and power of God, which was manifested in that body of flesh which he took of the virgin: that he is the king, priest, and prophet of his people, and saves them from their sins, by laying down his life for them, and imputing his righteousness to them; yet not without revealing and bringing forth the same righteousness in them, which he wrought for them. And by experience they know, that there is no being saved by a belief of his death for them, and of his resurrection, ascension, intercession, etc., without being brought into a true fellowship with him in his death, and without feeling his immortal seed of life raised and living in them. And so they disown the faith in Christ's death, which is only received and entertained from the relation of the letter of the Scriptures, and stands not in the divine power, and sensible experience of the begotten of God in the heart.

Now they distinguish, according to the Scriptures, between  that which is called the Christ, and the bodily garment which he took. The one was flesh, the other spirit. "The flesh profits nothing (says he), the spirit quickens; and he that eats me, shall live by me, even as I live by the Father." John 6:57,63. This is the manna itself, the true treasure; the other, but the visible or earthen vessel which held it. The body of flesh was but the veil. Heb. 10:20. The eternal life was the substance veiled. The one he did partake of, as the rest of the children did; the other was he which did partake thereof. Heb. 2:14. The one was the body which was prepared for the life, for it to appear in, and be made manifest. Heb. 10:5. The other was the life, or light itself, for whom the body was prepared, who took it up, appeared in it to do the will, Ps. 40:7-8. and was made manifest to those eyes which were able to see through the veil wherewith it was covered. John 1:14.

Now is not this sound according to the Scriptures? And is it not a good way to know this by unity with it, by feeling a measure of the same life made manifest in our mortal flesh? 2 Cor. 4:11. This we confess is our way of understanding things; and likewise of understanding the Scriptures, which speak of these things. And we have found it a far surer kind of knowledge; namely, to understand the Scriptures by experience of that whereof the scripture speaks, than to guess at the things the scripture speaks of, by considering and scanning in the earthly part what the Scriptures speak of them. Such a kind of knowledge as this, a wise man may attain to a great measure of; but the other is peculiar to him who is begotten of God, whose knowledge is true and certain, though it seem ever so different from his who has attained what he has by the search of his wisdom.

3. Concerning the holy Scriptures being a perfect rule of faith and life. The new covenant is the covenant of the gospel; which is a living covenant, a spiritual covenant, an inward covenant, and the law or rule of it cannot be written outwardly. Read the tenor of the new covenant, Heb. 8:10. "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts." If God himself should take the same laws, and write them outwardly; yet, so written, they are not the new covenant: at most they would be but an outward draught of laws written in the new covenant. And  mark; this is one difference given between the new covenant and the old; the laws of the one were written outwardly, in tables of stone; the laws of the other were to be written in the heart. That is the book wherein the laws of the new covenant were promised to be written, and there they are to be read. So that he that will read and obey the laws of the covenant of life, must look for them in that book wherein God has promised to write them; for though in other books he may read some outward descriptions of the thing, yet here alone can he read the thing itself. "Christ is the way, the truth, and the life." What is a Christian's rule? Is not the way of God his rule? Is not God's truth his rule? And is not the truth in Jesus; where it is taught and to be heard, and to be received even as it is in Jesus? Ephes. 4:21. Is not he the king, the priest, the prophet, the sacrifice, the way to God, the life itself, the living path out of death; yes, all in all to the believer, whose eye is opened to behold him? The Scriptures testify of Christ, but they are not Christ; they also testify of truth, and are a true testimony; but the truth itself is in Jesus, who by his living spirit writes it in the heart which he has made living. And so a Christian's life is in the spirit: "If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit." Gal. 5:25. The whole life and course of a Christian is in the volume of that book, as the Lord opens the leaves of it in him. "The gift of God, the measure of faith" given him by God, that is his rule; that is his rule of knowledge, of prophesying, of obedience. Heb. 12. Rom. 1:5. 12:6. If he keep there, if he walk according to the proportion of it, he errs not: but out of the faith, in the error, in all he knows, in all he believes, in all he does. The new creature, that which God has new created in the heart, in which life breathes, and nothing but life breathes, which is taught by God, and true to God from its very infancy; that is his rule whereby he is to walk, the apostle expressly calls it so. Gal. 6:15-16. That which is begotten by God is a son; and the son, as he is begotten by the breath of the spirit, so he is preserved and led by the same breath; and such as are so led, are sons, and none else; for it is not reading of scriptures, and gathering rules out thence, that makes a son, but the receiving of the spirit, and the being led by the spirit. Rom. 8:14-15. And being the whole worship of the gospel is in  the spirit, there is a necessity of receiving that in the first place; and then in it the soul learns to know and wait for its breathings and movings, and follows on towards the Lord in them. The spirit cannot be withheld from breathing on that which he has begotten; and that breath is a guide, a rule, a way, to that which it breathes upon. Now this is most manifest, even from the Scriptures themselves, they expressly calling Christ the way, the truth, etc., the new creature, the rule, the faith, grace, or gift, given to be the rule, testifying the heart to be that which God has chosen to write his laws in; but where do they call themselves a perfect rule of faith and obedience? "They are they (says Christ) which testify of me; and you will not come to me, that you might have life." John 5:39-40. Life cannot be received from the Scriptures, but only from Christ the fountain thereof; no more can the Scriptures give the rule, but point to the fountain of the same life, where alone the rule of life, as the life itself, can be received. The Scriptures cannot ingraft into Christ, nor give a living rule to him that is ingrafted; but he that has heard the testimony of the Scriptures concerning Christ, and has come to him, must abide in him, and wait on him for the writing of the law of the spirit of life in his heart, and this will be his rule from the law of sin and death, even unto the land of life. Now if men have mistaken in the night of darkness, and put the Scriptures out of their place (even in the place of the Spirit), and so have become ministers, not of the Spirit, but of the letter, whereas the apostles were made "able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit," 2 Cor. 3:6. let them not be offended at the spirit of God for teaching us otherwise, nor at us for learning as the spirit of God has taught us; the Scriptures also testifying that this is the rule, but nowhere setting up themselves for the rule. And it is the same spirit, which would now fix men in the Scriptures, to keep men from Christ the living rule and only way to life eternal, as formerly kept them by tradition from the Scriptures, though it is hard for them who are entangled in this deceit to see it.

Now for the proof of these things thus barely here charged, the reader is referred to Mr. Norton's (as they style him) Tractate against the Quakers. Concerning the validity whereof, I refer the reader to Francis Howgill's answer thereto, wishing him  to read both in the fear and dread of the Almighty, waiting for his counsel to guide him in the true discerning which of them savors of man's wisdom, and which of them writes from acquaintance with the truth itself. In which answer of his, he recites such errors of that Norton, as would make a great sound against the Quakers, if any such could justly be charged upon them. I shall mention only two or three of them, viz. That God is a distinct subsistence from the Son and Spirit; and that the Son is a distinct subsistence from the Father and the Spirit; and because it is said, the "Father shall give you another Comforter," this another, he says, is intelligible of the Essence. (Are there then three distinct, infinite Essences or Beings?) That the Spirit of God without the letter is no spirit. (He was before the letter, he was never limited to the letter, he will be after the letter, and he is what he is without the letter). That Christ's words John 17:21. give an uncertain sound. (Where have any of the Quakers cast such a blemish upon any portion of scripture?) Surely this man had more need to seek to have his own vessel cleansed, than to accuse others of errors or blasphemy. And if he have no other way to overthrow them, than by maintaining such kind of things as these against them, he will never get victory over them any other way than by the outward sword: but by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of his testimony, and not loving their lives unto the death, they will easily overcome all such kind of champions.

4. The fourth and last instance which they give of the destructiveness of their doctrine to the fundamental truths of religion, is, That opinion of theirs of being perfectly pure and without sin, which(say they) tends to overthrow the whole gospel, and the very vitals of Christianity: for they that have no sin, have no need of Christ, or of his satisfaction, or blood to cleanse them, nor of faith, repentance, etc.

Answer: That the Lord God is able perfectly to redeem from sin in this life; that he can cast out the strong man, cleanse the house, and make it fit for himself to dwell in; that he can finish transgression and sin in the heart, and bring in everlasting righteousness; that he can tread down Satan under the feet of his saints, and make them more than conquerors over him; this they confess they steadily believe. But that every one that is turned to the  light of the spirit of Christ in his heart, is presently advanced to this state, they never held forth; but that the way is long, the travel hard, the enemies and difficulties many, and that there is need of much faith, hope, patience, repentance, watchfulness against temptations, etc., before the life in them arrive at such a pitch. Yet for all this, says Christ to his disciples, "Be you perfect;" directing them to aim at such a thing; and the apostle says, "Let us go on unto perfection;" and Christ gave a ministry "for the perfecting of the saints:" and they do not doubt but that he that begins the work, can perfect it even in this life, and so deliver them out of the hands of sin, Satan, and all their spiritual enemies, as that they may serve God without fear of them any more, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their lives.

Now how is this doctrine, or how is this people, because of their believing and holding forth this doctrine, guilty of all this great and heavy charge that is laid upon them here; as that they have no need of Christ, his satisfaction, his blood, nor of faith, repentance, growing in grace, God's word and ordinances, nor of watchfulness and prayer, etc.? Let us consider the thing a little further.

First, The doctrine of perfection, if it should be granted to deny all this, yet it cannot be supposed to deny the need thereof, until the state of perfection be attained. No, they that truly believe that such a state is attainable, cannot deny the use of those things which are proper to lead to that state, but will conscientiously apply themselves thereto, and press all others thereto, who desire to attain that state. And they that have either heard them speak, or read their writings with any equality of mind, may abundantly testify for them against the unrighteousness and injury of this charge. Their life lies in Christ, their peace in his satisfaction for them, and in a sensible feeling of his blood sprinkled in their consciences, to cleanse them from sin; and by that faith, which is God's gift, they feel, and wait further to feel, the righteousness of Christ imputed to them for justification. And as for being perfectly just in themselves, it is a very unrighteous charge upon them; for their justice and righteousness is in Christ for ever, and not in themselves; but in the denial and crucifying of self are they made partakers of it, which is bestowed by the  free grace, mercy, and power, of him who has mercy on them, and not by any willing or running of theirs. And as for repentance, they feel the need of it, and find a godly sorrow wrought in them, and a bitter mourning over him whom they once pierced, and still pierce, so far as they hearken to the tempter, and follow the motions and lusts of the transgressing nature. And they do both watch and pray against sin, and feel what a bitter thing it is to have the watch so slackened, whereby the temptation prevails, which would lead to sin. And as for purifying themselves daily, and putting off the old man, and putting on the new; it is that which their hearts delight to be continually exercised about; and all this with a hope that it may be effected, that the vessel may be made holy to the Lord, a fit spiritual temple for him to dwell in, that he may display his life, glory, power, and pure presence in them. But if the belief that this may be attained, in the way wherein God leads them towards it, and a hope to attain it, with an acknowledgement of it so far as it is attained; I say, if this make them guilty of so great a charge, then they are indeed guilty; for they cannot but believe it, wait for it, hope for it, and acknowledge it, so far as they feel it wrought in them. But how can this possibly make them guilty of denying these things, seeing the exercise of these things not only stands with, but is increased by, such a belief and hope?

Secondly, The state of perfection itself, does not exclude these things, in such a way as this charge seems to intimate. For in the state of perfection, the blood is not laid aside as useless, but remains to keep pure for ever. It is the blood of the everlasting covenant, Heb. 13:20. both the covenant and the blood last for ever, and are useful even to them that are perfect. And there is need and use of the faith in the blood, to believe the preservation. As the covenant itself lasts, so that which lets into, and keeps in the covenant, lasts also. That which unites and ties the soul to Christ, the life, abides in the soul for ever, even as the union itself abides. And there is a growing in the life, even where the heart is purified from sin, even as Christ did grow and was strong in spirit; for a state of perfection does not exclude degrees. And so there is also a need of watching against temptations in a perfect state; for Adam was perfect, and  yet he needed a watch: and Christ was perfectly pure and without sin, and yet he did both watch and pray. So that if any were brought to the perfect state of a man, even unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, which the ministry was given to bring all the saints unto, Eph. 4:11-13. if any were taught and enabled so to walk in the light, as to be cleansed by the blood from all sin, and to have such fellowship with the Father and the Son, as might make their joy full, 1 John 1:3-4,7. if any were brought to that state of glory, as to be chaste virgins, 2 Cor. 11:2. without spot or wrinkle of the flesh, but holy and without blemish, Eph. 5:27. if any should be made perfect in every good work to do his will, which was a thing the apostle prayed for, Heb. 13:21. if any should have so put off the old man, and have put on the wedding garment, as to be made ready and fit to be married to the Lamb, Rev. 19:7. yet this would not exclude faith in the blood, or prayer, or watchfulness, to keep the garment pure, etc., nor growth in the life. And this we are not ashamed to profess, that we are pressing after, and some have already attained very far, even to be made perfect as pertaining to the conscience; being so ingrafted into Christ the power of God, so planted into the likeness of his death and resurrection, so encompassed with the walls and bulwarks of salvation, as that they feel no condemnation for sin, but a continual justification of the life; being taught, led, and enabled to walk, not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Rom. 8:1.

From what they have said concerning this opinion of perfection (as they call it) they draw an argument against their other doctrines in these words. Such fundamentals of Christianity are overthrown by this one opinion of theirs, and how much more by all their other doctrines?

Answer: To which I shall say this: If their grounds and proofs against any other doctrines of the Quakers, be no more weighty and demonstrative, than those they have here brought forth against the doctrine of perfection, they may spare entertaining prejudices against them and condemning them; and in the first place weigh them in a more equal balance than they have done this. And I dare appeal to any naked and unbiased spirit, who shall fairly consider what is above written, whether the doctrine  of perfection be such a hideous error as they have represented it. No, whether it be not a precious truth of the gospel of Christ, and a great encouragement to him who shall follow the command of Christ; who says, "Be you perfect;" to believe that (in the way of faith and obedience) he may be wrought up to such an estate by the free grace, mercy, love, and power of God. Yes, let me add this word more; he that feels the everlasting arm working one sin out of his heart, cannot but believe that the same arm can work out all, and pluck up every plant which the heavenly Father has not planted; which hope and belief causes him with joy to follow this arm through the regeneration. But if I did believe there were no perfecting work of redemption in this life, but I must still in part be a slave to Satan, still crying out of the body of sin and death, and never have my heart purified for the Holy One to inhabit in, but remain in part unconverted, unchanged, unregenerated, unsanctified; oh, how heavily should I go on! I am sure it would be as a weight upon my spirit in resisting of sin and Satan. This is not the glad tidings of the everlasting gospel, but sad news from the borders of death, which would keep the creature not only in the bonds of death, but without hope of deliverance in this life; and refer the hope to that day wherein there is no more working out of redemption, but the eternal judgment of the tree as it falls.

Now having, after this manner, proved that the doctrines of the Quakers are destructive to the fundamental truths of religion, they lay down their argument whereupon they conclude that it is lawful for them, no, their duty, to put them to death, in these words: "Now the commandment of God is plain, that he that presumes to speak lies in the name of the Lord, and turns people out of the way which the Lord has commanded to walk in, such a one must not live, but be put to death." Zech. 13:3. Deut. 13:6-9. 18:20.

Answer: 1. By what has been said against them, it is not manifest that they have spoken lies in the name of the Lord. No, if they themselves, who thus charge them, could but soberly and mildly, with a Christian spirit, weigh the thing, would it not rather appear that they, in thus falsely charging them, and managing such untrue and unrighteous arguments against them,  have spoken lies, both concerning them, and against the Lord and his truth? And as for turning men out of the way, that cannot be justly charged on them, who turn men to Christ, the living way, and deliver the same message the apostles did, that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" and who point them to that place where God has said this light is to be found, which is the heart, where God writes the new covenant, and the laws thereof, Heb. 8. where the word of faith is nigh. Rom. 10. Surely they that direct here, do not turn men out of the way. But they that point men to guess at the meanings of scriptures, and to gather knowledge, and form rules to themselves out of them, by their own natural wit and understanding, which can never reach the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and which God hides the true knowledge of the Scriptures from, these are those that turn men out of the way. For they that rightly understand the Scriptures, must first receive a measure of the Spirit to understand it with; even as they that wrote any part thereof, did first receive a measure of the Spirit to write it by.

2. It is not manifest by these places quoted, that the governors of New England have received authority from the Lord to put the Quakers to death, if their doctrines were such as they accuse them to be. That of Deut. 13:6-9. is a manifest case concerning one that should tempt to the following of other gods, of the gods of the people round about, nigh or far off; in such a case the offender was to be stoned to death, ver. 10. but is this applicable to cases of doctrine? That of Deut. 18:20. gives a clear note how the prophet may be known that speaks a lie in the name of the Lord, and what kind of lie it is, for which he is to be put to death, ver. 22. but it does not say that every man in the commonwealth of Israel, that holds any doctrine contrary to what some of them might call the fundamental doctrines of the law, should be put to death. That of Zech. 13:3 is a prophecy, not a command, and is not to be understood in man's wisdom, nor to be fulfilled in man's will. It were better to wait for the true openings of prophecies in the Spirit, than to let the carnal part loose, to gather something out of them for the satisfying of the flesh, and making its thirst after the blood of God's lambs appear more plausible. I would but put this question to your  consciences in the sight of God; whether in a conscientious submission to the will of God in this scripture you put them to death; or whether from this scripture you seek a shelter and cover for the thing, having already done it, or fully purposed to do it.

So that the case is not here the same with any of the cases mentioned in those scriptures: for if some of their doctrines were lies (which you have been very far from proving), yet it was not for such kind of lies that death was appointed in the commonwealth of Israel. And yet there is a large difference between what was lawful to be done in the kingdom or commonwealth of Israel, and what is now lawful to be done. The kingdom or commonwealth of Israel was a state outwardly representative of what was inwardly to be done in the state of the gospel, by Christ the king thereof. He is the king and law-giver to his people, and he is their judge concerning their receiving or rejecting them; concerning their obeying or disobeying them; concerning their holding the faith, or their letting go the faith; and maintaining things contrary thereto. And he does judge his people here in this life, so far as he thinks fit, Heb. 10:30-31. reserving also what he thinks fit for another time of judgment. Acts 17:31. And who is he that shall take his office out of his hand, and judge one of his servants in the things of his kingdom? Rom. 14:4. Is not this an intruding into Christ's kingly office? He gave authority to, and command for, the doing of such things outwardly before his coming, as might represent what he would do inwardly after his coming; but where has he given authority since his coming, to do such things any more? Does not the typical king, with his typical government, cease, after that king, with his government which is figured out, is come?

O governors of New England! to take away the life of a man is a weighty thing; and the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who either does it in a violent manner, or who makes an unjust law to do it by. But "how precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints!" Oh, how will you be able to bear the weight of their blood, when the Lord makes inquisition for it! You had need have a very clear warrant in this case. Oh, how will you answer this thing at the judgment-seat of Christ! Alas! such arguments as these will stand you in little stead: but you have  done it, and now must maintain it; and it is exceeding hard for you (being thus deeply engaged in the sight of the nations) to come to a sober and serious consideration of the state of the case, as it stands before the Lord.

2. The second ground or consideration which they hold forth to clear their law of banishment and death against the QUAKERS to be warrantable and just, is this: "Because they are far from giving that honor and reverence to magistrates which the Lord requires, and good men have given to them; but, on the contrary, show contempt against them in their very outward gesture and behavior; and some of them at least, spare not to belch railing and cursing speeches," etc.

Answer: That we do not give that honor and reverence to magistrates, which the Lord requires, deserves a weighty proof. For what we do or forbear in this kind, we do as in the sight of the Lord; as persons who are not only liable to suffer from men, but also to give an account to HIM at the last day. Now towards magistrates our carriage is thus, as in the presence of the Lord.

1. We observe their commands in all things that are according to God. We submit ourselves to the government that is supreme, and to the governors under the supreme, for the Lord's sake, who in their several places ought to be for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well, according to 1 Pet. 2:13-14. This is God's ordinance, and here magistracy is in its right place, namely, in punishing the evil-doer for his evil deeds; but not make a man an offender for a word, or for a gesture, which is neither good nor evil in itself, but as it is done. He that pulls off his hat, or bows in flattery, or to please man, in him it is evil: he that forbears to do it in obedience to God, and in the fear of his name, in him it is good.

2. When any magistrates punish us for well-doing, for our obedience to the Lord's spirit, though we know God never gave power to any magistracy to punish therefor; yet we patiently suffer under them; referring our cause to him that judges righteously, and waiting on him for strength to carry us through our sufferings for his name's sake.

3. When we appear before them, we appear as in the Lord's presence, desiring his guidance, that we may give due honor and  respect to all that is of him in them; and may be kept from honoring or pleasing that which is not of him, and which he would not have us honor. This is the temper of our spirits, and accordingly is our carriage as in the sight of the Lord, whatever men deem of us.

But the great matter is, because we do not pull off our hats, and bow to them, or that we use plain language to them (as you and you to a particular person), which some of them will needs interpret to be contempt; though others of them, who are more sober and considerate, can clearly discern that it is not at all in contempt either to their authority or their persons; but in a mere single-hearted obedience to God. Now to drive this a little towards a fair trial, consider in meekness, and in God's fear.

1. What kind of honor this is which is thus much stood upon? Is it the honor which is from above, or the honor which is from below? What part springs it from in man; from the new birth, or from the earthly nature? And what does it please in man? Does it please that which is begotten of God? Does it please the meekness, the humility, the lowliness, the new nature? Or does it please and help to keep up the old nature, the lofty spirit, even that part which is prone in every man to be exalted out of the fear of God? For this I may freely say, that whatsoever is of the earth, has an aptness in it to feed the earthly part; and particularly this of outward bowing to the creature, is apt to hurt him that receives it. In man's giving and receiving honor, God has been forgotten. They have forgotten God, who have been giving honor to one another; and they have forgotten God, who have been receiving honor from one another. And what if the Lord, who has made us sensible of the evil herein, has laid a restraint upon us? Can any forbid the Lord from laying such a thing upon us? Or is it lawful for any to go about to hinder us from obeying the Lord therein? You who are thus eager in contending for honor, are you sure it is not the evil part in you, which does desire it? If it be the good part in you, you will desire it in meekness and gentleness; yes, and will be able to bear the lack of it with joy, where it is denied you upon such an account, that it may run more purely towards the Lord.

Now if it be earthly honor, it is of a perishing nature: it is  not always to last; but is one of the fashions of this world which is to pass away (how long a time soever it has had); and God may call his people from it at his pleasure; and if he calls from it, they must leave it off, though the earthly nature and power be never so angry thereat. The Lord has let men have a long day, wherein man has been lifted up, and appeared great, by receiving that honor which is of the earth, not of the faith: but at length the Lord will bring forth his day, wherein he will be great, and have every knee bow to him, and every tongue confess to him: and then man shall be little, and his honor fall, and the Lord alone be exalted. IsAnswer: 2:17.

2. Does not the image of God grow up into the likeness of God? Does God respect men's persons? Did Christ regard any man's person? Did not James say, "If you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are convinced of the law, as transgressors?" James 2:9. Of what law? Of the law of faith, which exalts the new birth, and lays flat the creature in its transgressing nature, estate, and honor. For, says Christ, who received not honor from men, nor gave honor to men, "How can you believe, which received honor one of another?" John 5:44. That which receives earthly honor, is of the earth, and cannot believe; and that which gives earthly honor, is of the earth, and so not of the faith. The faith is a denying of the earth, a taking up of the cross to the earthly honor, which is as a block in the way of faith. How can you believe, when you cherish that part in you which is against the faith? The immortal seed of life, in the day of the gospel, grows up out of the earth, leaving it, with its customs, fashions, honors, and its nature and worship too, behind it.

So that look into the ground of the thing with the eye which sees over the transgressing state, and over all things which have sprung up from the transgressing part, and which please that part which is out of the faith, out of the life and power, drawn from God into the earth, and it will be manifest that earthly honor has its root, foundation, and service there; but falls off like a shackle from man's spirit, as the life rises in him, and as he is redeemed out of the earth.

Now as for Abraham's and Jacob's bowings, etc., those things had their season under the law (which made nothing  perfect), as other things had; but now God calls every man to bow to the Son, and will not permit so much as a bowing to an angel, who is far more honorable than any magistrate. And the Son calls to honor the Father, and to seek the honor which comes from God only; and he that will be his disciple, must take up his cross to the earthly part, and follow him, who neither gave earthly honor, nor received earthly honor, but condemned it. John 5:44. Therefore let men consider the ground of the thing, and the different state between Jews under the law, and Christians under the gospel; and not think the bringing of instances from them of old time can excuse us from following Christ according to the law of faith, who gave us this pattern of not receiving or giving honor to men's persons; and let not the weight of our plea (it having so great impression on our hearts) be despised by any that pretend relation to our Lord and Master, which I shall briefly thus recite.

1. It is the single and sincere desire of our hearts to give all the honor and obedience to magistrates, which is due unto them according to the Scriptures.

2. It is manifest that we are careful of observing all just laws; and patient in suffering through unjust laws, or where the magistrate does persecute us without or against law.

3. This kind of honor of pulling off the hat, and bowing to the person, we do not find commanded in scripture; but we find Christ's command against it, who says "follow me;" who both denied to receive it, and did not give it; but condemned it. And we find its rise to be from the earthly part, and to the earthly part it is given; which it pleases, being given to it; or is offended at being denied it: and this part we are taught by the Lord to crucify in ourselves, and not to cherish in others.

4. The bowing of persons under the law (which was an earthly state, wherein many things were permitted, which are not permitted under the gospel) does not bind Christians under the gospel; and does not limit the spirit of God from taking of any one or more, or all of his people, from giving that which the earthly part calls honor, to that which is of the earth.

5. We do appeal to the Lord our God (who is our judge and law-giver) that he has laid this upon our spirits; and has smitten several of us, when there has arisen so much as a desire  in us to please men in this particular: and in the fear of his name, and in obedience to him, we do forbear it; and not either in contempt of authority, or of the person in authority.

6. We find by much experience, that the forbearing of this is a service to our Lord and Master, and a hurt to his enemy. It offends the passionate, it offends the rough, it offends the proud and lofty; that spirit is soon touched and stirred by it: but that which is low, that which is meek, that which is humble, that which is gentle, that is easily drawn from valuing and minding of it, and finds an advantage therein. And of a truth the earthly spirit knows and feels that God is taking the honor from it, and giving it to the meek and humble; which makes it muster up its forces and arguments to hold it as long as it can.

Now what moderate man (much more any Christian) could not forego the putting off of a hat, or the bowing of a knee, upon so solemn and weighty an account as this. If this were your own case, would you be forced, imprisoned, fined, or have this made an argument against you to banish you, or put you to death? You do not know how the Lord may visit you by his spirit, and what he may require of you. He may call you also to give forth your testimony (and to fight under the banner of his spirit) against all the fashions, customs, honors, yes, and worships of this world. That which is born of God, is not of this world: and as it grows up in any earthen vessel, so it draws the vessel also more and more out of this world. "You are not of the world," (but called out of the world), "therefore the world hates you." That which can please the world, that which can bow to it and honor it, that the world loves; but the immortal seed which cannot bow, but testifies against the world's honors, that they are not of the Father, but of the world, this seed the world hates, and the vessels in whom it bubbles up, and through whom it gives forth its testimony against the world.

Objection: But in the New Testament Luke styles Theophilus most excellent; and Paul, speaking to Festus, said, Most noble Festus; which are terms or expressions of honor and reverence.

Answer: Christ did promise his disciples and ministers that he would be with them, and give them what to say. Now if nobility and true excellency did appear in any persons, and he led them by his spirit to acknowledge it, this is no sufficient warrant for men to do the like in their own wills; or to give such titles to persons being in authority, whether they be such persons or no. Luke knew Theophilus to be excellent, and he was led by the spirit of God to style him excellent; for by the spirit of God he wrote the scripture, Luke 1:3. wherein he so styles him. And for Festus, he that shall strictly observe his carriage, will find it to be very noble, in that he would not be won by the importunity and informations of the high priest and chief of the Jews, and of the multitude also, against Paul, but applied himself to an upright consideration of the cause, Acts 25:2. 24. to the end. The same spirit which showed the unworthy carriage and ignobleness of the high priest and zealous professing Jews, might move Paul to set this mark of honor upon Festus. The Lord loves truth in the heart, and truth in words, and the following of the guidance of his Spirit into truth: but to give a man high titles, merely because he is great and high in the outward, without discerning that he is such, and without the leading of God's spirit so to do, this is of the flesh, according to the will of the flesh, out of the faith, and not according to truth and righteousness: and in the fear of the Lord there is a watch set over our spirits in these things, lest we should esteem and honor men according to the will of the flesh, and not in the Lord. Titles of office, or of relations, as master, father, etc., we find freedom to give; but titles which tend towards flattery, or exalting man out of his place, and the lifting up of his heart above his brethren, we have not freedom in the Lord to use. And Elihu also found a restraint upon him in this respect. Job 32:21-22.

Objection: It is noted as a brand and reproach of false teachers, that they despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 2 Pet. 2:10. and Jude ver. 8. Now it is well known that the practice of the QUAKERS is but too like those false teachers, etc.

Answer: It were worth a narrow search and inquiry what the dominion and dignities (or glories) are, which the false teachers speak evil of, or blaspheme, etc. Search the Scriptures: where do you find the false teachers speaking evil of earthly authorities? No, they still cling close to them, exalt them, get them on their side, and cry them up, and will be sure enough never to fail in  pleasing the magistrate with cringing and bowing, or any thing of that nature. But there is the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ in the heart; there is the rule of his spirit over the fleshly part; and there is the truth in the inner man; there are spiritual dignities (or glories); these the false teachers, in all ages, did despise, and were not afraid to speak evil of; though they should have feared to speak evil of the movings and guidings and lowest appearings of the spirit of God (which excel in nature and worth the greatest earthly dignities); yet they have not; but have blasphemed the holy life and appearances of God in his people: no, they have not spared his more eminent breakings-forth in his very prophets, holy apostles, and Christ himself. Mark what they speak evil of; they speak evil of "the things they know not." ver. 10. What were the things they knew not? The inward movings and virtue of his spirit; the inward power, life, glory, and dominion of truth in the heart, they knew not: it was against Christ in his people their evil deeds and hard speeches were. ver. 15. But as for the high and great ones, the dominions and dignities of the earth, they knew them well enough, and did not speak evil of them; but had their persons in admiration, because of the advantage they had by them. ver. 16. They have always had a double advantage from these, both of gain to themselves, and of overbearing the lambs of Christ by their great, swelling words. The Lord has still so ordered it in his wisdom, both before the coming of Christ, at his coming, and since, that the false prophets and teachers should still have the advantage of the outward authorities, and his people be a poor, afflicted, despised, persecuted remnant, whose glory is inward, and cannot be discerned by the outward eye, no, not of God's Israel. See the dignities particularly expressed, Rev. 13:6. The name of God, his holy power in his people; the tabernacle, which is sanctified and made honorable for him by his spirit; them that dwell in heaven, who are redeemed out of the earth, and have their citizenship above; these are dignities which the earthly authorities, no, the false teachers themselves, never knew the worth of, and so they are not afraid to blaspheme them. The first beast, on which the false church rode, with the second beast, which are of the very race of these false teachers, making an image to the first beast, because of advantage, all join  together in blaspheming these dignities. Rev. 13. and 17.

To open this a little further: John said in his days, that it was then the last time; for there were many antichrists then come. 1 John 2:18. From where did they come? "They went out from us," says he, "but they were not of us." ver. 19. "They were sensual; they had not the spirit," and so could not abide the presence, life, judgment, and power of the spirit; but "separated themselves." Jude 19. But where went they, when they went out from the true church? why, they went out into the world. 1 John 4:1. They got the form of godliness, which would stand well enough with the lusts and ease of the flesh, and went and preached up that in the world. And now speaking the things of God in the worldly spirit, the world could hear them. ver. 5. Thus having got a great party into the form of truth, now they blaspheme the power, now they mock at the movings of the Spirit, the leadings of the Spirit, the living name, the true tabernacle, the true inhabitants of heaven, who have their citizenship above, in the heavenly nature, in the heavenly principle, in the pure spirit of life (for as they are begotten by the Spirit, so they live in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit). This, the false teachers (who have got the form of doctrine, and the form of discipline, holding it in the fleshly wisdom, where they may hold their lusts too) mock and blaspheme. Jude 18. And this has been the great way of deceit since the apostasy; God gathered a separated people from the world; the false teachers get the form of godliness from them, and set it up in the world, and then turn against the power, and deny it, speaking evil of or blaspheming the spirit, which is the dominion, and his ministrations (in the spirits of his people), which are the dignities or glories of the New Testament, which excel all earthly dignities, and also the ministration of the first covenant. 2 Cor. 3:7-8.

So likewise for railing speeches. The false prophets can speak smooth words; speaking in the fleshly wisdom, they can please the fleshly part in their very reproofs; but he that speaks from God, must speak his words, how harsh soever they seem to the fleshly part. And he that speaks in his name, spirit, majesty, and authority, is exalted high above the consideration of the person to whom he speaks. What is a prince, a magistrate, a ruler,  before the Lord, but clay, or dust and ashes? If the Lord bid any of his servants call that, which was once the faithful city, harlot; and say, concerning her princes, that they are rebellious, and companions of thieves, IsAnswer: 1:21,23. what is the poor earthen vessel, that it should go to change or mollify this speech? And so for the false prophets and teachers: if the spirit of the Lord (in the meanest of his servants) call them idle shepherds, hirelings, thieves, robbers, dogs, dumb dogs, greedy dumb dogs, that cannot bark (though they can speak smooth pleasing words enough to fleshly Israel, and the earthly great ones), generation of vipers, hypocrites, whited sepulchers, graves that appear not, etc., who may reprove him for it, or find fault with the instrument he chooses? Now man judging by the fleshly wisdom, may venture to call this railing; and the prophets of the Lord have been accounted rude and mad and troublers of Israel; and so it is at this day: but the Lord, being angry with the transgressor, may send a rough rebuke to him, by what messenger he pleases; and what is the poor creature that he should gainsay his Maker, and desire the message might be smoother? But now these false teachers, who can speak smoothly to the fleshly part, flatter the great ones, and the professors which fall in with their form of doctrine and discipline, they deny the power, and blaspheme the movings and goings-forth of the spirit of God in his people; and if any be drawn by the spirit to separate from their formal way, and to seek after the life and presence of the power, him they cried out of as a sectary, a blasphemer, a heretic; and so bring railing accusations against that life and spirit by which he is drawn, and of him for following the drawings of it: and thus they become guilty of speaking evil of what they know not. Jude 10. They that are drawn out of the world's worships, know from what they were drawn; but they that remain still in them, do not know the power which drew out of them, nor into what it drew; but looking on it with a carnal eye, it appears mean to them, and so they readily disdain it, and think they may safely speak evil of it, though in truth they know it not.

And as for cursings; there are children of the curse, as well as of the blessing: and the spirit of the Lord may pronounce his curse against any children of the curse by whom he pleases. Curse you Meroz: curse you bitterly the inhabitants thereof. Judges 5:23. And yet Meroz did not persecute, but only not come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. So the professing Jews, with their rulers and teachers, were cursed by the spirit of the Lord. Ps. 69:22. etc. So Judas was cursed. Ps. 109:6, etc. For Peter applies it to him. Acts 1:20. Now if the curse be causeless, it shall not come. Prov. 26:2. And well will it be with him whom men causelessly curse. Mat. 5:11. Although they were the highest, devoutest, and most zealous professing Jews, with their priests and rulers in those days; and although they should be the highest, most zealous, and devout formal Christians, with their rulers and teachers in these days, who may have got this form, as well as they got that form, and yet hold the truth in unrighteousness, and deny the power, as false teachers formerly did, who held the form. 2 Tim. 3:5. But the case of Shimei is not at all proper to the thing in hand, because he did not pretend to curse in the Lord's name and authority; but, manifestly out of the fear of God, cursed the Lord's anointed in his low state. Neither were these two QUAKERS put to death for cursing. So that if Humphry Norton were never so blamable, yet that reaches not to them, but is to be reckoned to him that did it, who is to stand or fall to his own master therein. Yet this I may say, because it is so extraordinary a case (we having not known the like) that if he had not the Lord's clear warrant for what he did, surely the Lord will severely judge him, for speaking so peremptorily and presumptuously in his name, if not required by him.

And so as touching contemptuous carriage. When there is not contempt in the heart, it is not easy to show contemptuous carriage; but the fleshly part missing of the honor which is pleasing to it, and being offended thereby, is ready to apprehend that to be spoken and done in contempt, which is spoken and done in the humility and fear of the Lord.

3. A third ground or consideration to justify their law of banishment and death of the QUAKERS, is drawn from "Solomon's confining of Shimei, and of putting him to death for breach of his confinement;" whereupon they argue, that "if execution of death be lawful upon breach of confinement, may not the same be said for breach of banishment; banishment being  not so strait, but giving more liberty than confinement?"

Answer: The question is not whether the magistrate, upon no occasion, may banish upon pain of death; but whether the banishment of the QUAKERS, upon pain of death, was just or no. If it were ever so manifest that a magistrate might banish, and put to death in case of not observing his law of banishment; yet that does not prove that every law of banishment is just, and that the death of such as do not obey their law is just also. He may make a law in his own self-will, pride, passion, resolvedness, and stiffness of spirit, and so draw the sufferings of persons under that law (either of banishment or death) upon his own head. Now the QUAKERS coming in the name of the Lord, by his commission, and upon his work (whom all the magistrates of the earth are to reverence and bow before), if magistrates will presume to make a law to banish them upon pain of death; yet if the Lord require them either to stay or return, they know whom to fear and obey, which delivers them from the fear of them who can only torture and kill the body: and they had rather die in obedience to the Lord, than feel the weight of his hand upon their souls for their disobedience. It is not in this case as it is in ordinary banishment upon civil accounts, where it is in men's will and power to abstain from the place from which they are banished; but they must fulfill the will of their Lord, not at all regarding what befalls them therein.

4. The fourth ground or consideration to justify their law of banishment and death against the QUAKERS, is drawn from "the right and propriety which every man has in his own house and land, and from the unreasonableness and injuriousness of another's intruding and entering into it, having no authority thereto; yes, and when the owner does expressly prohibit and forbid the same. And that if any presume to enter thus, without legal authority, he might justly be impleaded as a thief or usurper; and if, in case of violent assault, he should be killed, his blood would be upon his own head." Whereupon it is argued thus: that "if private persons may, in such a case, shed the blood of such intruder, may not the like be granted to them that are the public keepers and guardians of the commonwealth? Have not they as much power to take away the lives of such, as, contrary to prohibition, shall invade or intrude into their public possessions  or territories?" And that the QUAKERS do thus invade and intrude without authority, they argue thus: "For who can believe that QUAKERS are constables, to intrude themselves, invade, and enter, whether the colony will or not, yes, contrary to their express prohibition? If, in such violent and bold attempts, they lose their lives, they may thank themselves, as the blamable cause, and authors of their own death."

Answer: It is no invasion, nor intrusion, for any messengers and servants of the Lord to enter into any part of his earth at his command, upon his errand, and about his work. And if any should be so sent to the house of a particular person, to deliver a message from the Lord, and the owner of the house, instead of hearing and considering his message in meekness and fear, whether it were of God or no, should be rough and violent with him, and command him off, before he had delivered his message, and either upon his not immediately going off, or his return with another message (for the Lord, if he please, may send him again) should fall upon him and kill him; upon whose head would this man's blood light?

2. If men will needs have it go for an invasion, it is an invasion of a spiritual nature, and the defense from it cannot be by carnal weapons. Killing of men's persons is not the way to suppress either truth or error. How have the Papists been able to defend their kingdom, or suppress the truth by their bloody weapons? They may prevail in their territories against men's persons for a season, but the truth will have a time of dominion, and will, in the mean time, be getting ground in men's minds and consciences, by the sufferings of the witnesses to it. No, my friends, if you will defend yourselves from this invasion, you must get better weapons.

3. Is this your rule concerning any that shall come in the name of the Lord; that if they be not constables, or other earthly officers, you will banish them, and put them to death? Is the Lord of heaven and earth limited to send none but constables among you? Well! you may judge by your law while your day lasts; but the Lord in his day will clear his servants and messengers, though they have not been constables, and lay it upon the heads of them who have unrighteously shed it.

5. The fifth ground or consideration, whereby they justify their law of banishment and death against the Quakers, is this: "Corruption of mind and judgment is a great infection and defilement, and it is the Lord's command that such corrupt persons be not received into the house; which plainly enough implies that the householder has power enough to keep them out, and that it was not in their power to come, if they pleased, whether the householder would or no. And if the father of the family must keep them out of his house, the father of the commonwealth must keep them out of his jurisdiction (they being nursing fathers and nursing mothers by the account of God). So that what a householder may do against persons that are infected with the plague or pestilence (who may kill them, if otherwise he cannot keep them out of his house), a magistrate may do the like for his subjects. And if sheep and lambs cannot be preserved from the danger of wolves, but the wolves will break in amongst them, it is easy to see what the shepherd or keeper of the sheep may lawfully do in such a case."

Answer: It is granted, that the corruption of the mind and judgment is defiling and infectious; and therefore every heart that knows the preciousness of truth, is to wait on the Lord in his fear, in the use of those means which he has appointed for preservation from it; but that killing the persons is one of the means God has appointed, this is still the thing in controversy, and is still denied to be either proper in itself, or sanctified by God to this end. The apostle says, "There must be heretics, that they which are approved may be made manifest," 1 Cor. 11:19. but he does not say, hereafter, when there are Christian magistrates, they must banish or cut off the heretics, as fast as they spring up; but God has use of these things for the exercising of the spirits of his people, and the truth gains by overcoming them in the faith and power of the spirit. And so, as touching wolves, the apostle Paul called the elders of the church of Ephesus, and told them, that "after his departure, grievous wolves should enter in among them, not sparing the flock." Acts 20:28-29. 31. The Lord has put into the hands of his shepherd a sword, which will pierce to the heart of the wolf; he standing faithful in the power of God, in the life of righteousness, need not fear any wolf; but by the power  of the spirit, and presence of the truth, shall be able to preserve the consciences of his flock pure to God. What kind of shepherd is he, that cannot defend his flock without the magistrate's sword; but take away that, the wolf breaks in, and preys upon his sheep? Surely the true shepherd, who knows the virtue of the sword God has put into his hand, will never call to the magistrate for his sword of another nature, which cannot touch the wolf, the heretic, the seducer, but only flesh and blood, with which the minsters of Christ never wrestled nor fought. And this is not the way to preserve the hearts and consciences of the flock (it may perhaps strike terror into the fleshly nature); but their consciences are so much the more apt to be wrought upon by the doctrines, patience, and suffering of those who are thus dealt with. The magistrate's sword being thus used, does not at all preserve that which is tender, but hurts it, disengages it, stirs up a witness in it against those that thus go about to defend that which they call truth, that build up their Jerusalem with blood, and govern their flock with force, affrighting them from that which they call error, and affrighting them into that which they call truth, with an outward sword; whereas the true temple is built in peace, governed in peace, maintained in peace, defended by peace; and error and heretics dispelled by the power of the spirit, manifesting the deceit to the conscience; and not by the sword of the magistrate, dealing with them as with worldly malefactors. Now this I say as before the Lord; the true shepherd, who has received the sword of the spirit, and has tried the virtue of it, cannot distrust it, cannot desire the magistrate's help by outward force against errors or heresies. He that looks upon it as insufficient, and calls to the magistrate for his sword, plainly discovers that he has not received, or knows not the virtue of the true one, and dishonors both his master's work and weapon.

For that place of 2 John ver. 10. It is one thing for man not to receive a man into his house, and another thing for him to kill that person who offers to come against his will. Do you believe in your hearts, that the apostle's intent was to direct the Christians, to whom he wrote, to keep them out by violence, and to kill them if they could not otherwise keep them out? Though the parallel is not proper; for God has often sent his servants into  countries, cities, and places of resort, against the will of the rulers, priests, and false prophets, but never to break violently into any man's house.

The magistrate keeping in his place, cannot but be a nursing father to the church; for let him draw out his sword against that wickedness which is proper for him to cut down, it will exceedingly help to nurse up the church; but where has the magistrate commission to meddle with any of the spiritual shepherd's work? No, his sword was never appointed to cut down errors, or heresies, or heretics; but the sword of the spirit, in the hand of the spiritual shepherd. God has set up a hedge between these two powers, which he that breaks down lays both waste as to their true use, virtue, and order; and this antichrist has long done in many appearances. The bringing of these two to rights, setting each in its proper place, will give such a wound to his kingdom, as he will not be able to recover. And mark this by the way; antichrist has all along made use of the magistrate's sword to slay the lambs, under the name of heretics, sectaries, wolves, blasphemers; but Christ comes with the spirit of his mouth to slay antichrist. 2 Thes. 2:8. That is the sword all the heretics, seducers, and false prophets were slain with in the apostles' days before the apostasy; and that is the sword that antichrist (who has made use of the other sword against Christ all along the apostasy) shall be slain with after the apostasy. When Christ comes to fight against antichrist (who has cruelly torn, rent, and butchered his people under the name of wolves) he will take his own sword, which is the word of his mouth. That did the work at first; that must do the work again. But in the midst, between these two seasons, there has been bad work made with the magistrate's sword; the witnesses, upon every appearance and breaking forth of God's truth in them, having been liable to feel the smart of it.

6. Their sixth and last ground and consideration, whereby they justify their law of banishment and death against the Quakers, is this: "It was the commandment of the Lord Jesus unto his disciples, that when they were persecuted in one city, they should flee unto another; and accordingly it was his own practice, and the practice of the saints, who, when they have been persecuted, have fled away for their own safety."

"This," they say, "reason requires, that when men have liberty unto it they should not refuse so to do; because otherwise they will be guilty of tempting God, and of incurring their own hurt, as having a fair way open for the avoiding thereof, but they needlessly expose themselves thereto." Whereupon they argue thus:

"If therefore, that which is done against the Quaker were indeed persecution, what spirit may they be thought to be acted and led by, who are, in their actings, so contrary to the commandment and example of Christ and his saints in the case of persecution, which these men suppose to be their case? Plain enough it is, that if their case were the same, their actings are not the same, but quite contrary. So that Christ and his saints were led by one spirit, and these people by another: for rather than they would not show their contempt of authority, and make disturbance among his people, they choose to go contrary to the express direction of Jesus Christ, and the approved example of his saints, to the hazard and peril of their own lives."

Answer: Afflictions, tribulations, trials, and persecutions are not to be fled from, but to be borne and passed through to the kingdom, into which the entrance is through many of these, Acts 14:22. and Christ says, "He that will be his disciple, must take up his cross daily, and follow him." Luke 9:23. Now persecution for Christ is part of the cross, which the disciple must not run away from, but take up, and follow Christ with. Yes, the apostle is very express, 2 Tim. 3:12. "Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution." It is the portion of all, and all must bear it. The world hates and persecutes (in some degree or other) all that are not of the world; and all must be content with their daily portion thereof, waiting on God for strength to bear the cross, not flying it; and the apostle commends the Hebrews for "enduring the great fight of afflictions." Heb. 10:32-34. The Jews were zealous for the law and ordinances of Moses, and grievous persecutions of the Christians, especially of such as had been of them before: now the Christians are commended for standing the shock, for bearing the brunt, for not fearing the loss of name, goods, life, or any thing, but eying the heavenly treasure. So Christ, warning of persecution, bids the church to "fear none of those things which she should suffer,"  but "be faithful unto the death:" and he that thus overcomes, should not be hurt of the second death, Rev. 2:10-11. and the Apostle Peter says, "If you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are you: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled," 1 Pet. 3:14. and the Apostle Paul bids the Philippians "stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God." And the same apostle who commended the Hebrews, as having done well in bearing the great fight of afflictions, encouraged them to go on still, and not to be "weary or faint in their minds, but resist even to blood," eying Christ, who endured the contradiction of sinners to the very last. Heb. 12:3-4. And he practiced as he taught, for he was not terrified with bonds or afflictions, nor accounted his life dear unto him; but that which was dear unto him was the serving of his Lord and Master, in preaching and witnessing to his truths, as his spirit led him, Acts 20:23-24. trusting in the Lord to uphold him in enduring of them, or to deliver him out of them, as he pleased, 2 Tim. 3:11. but that which he, and the rest of the apostles and saints of Christ, applied themselves to in case of persecution, was to suffer. 1 Cor. 4:12. And whoever they are that will be Christ's faithful disciples now, must look to meet with the same cross as they did, not only from the profane world, but from the worldly professors also: for there were not only zealous worldly professors in that age, but the same spirit has remained in every age since, which still gets into the best form it can, when need requires, to oppose the power thereby. And they that are in the spirit and in the power, must expect to be persecuted by such; and they are to bear it, and not to fly from it, unless by a particular call and dispensation from the Lord for a particular service; which is not the rule (as it is here made) but rather an exception from the rule.

So Christ sending his disciples in haste to preach the gospel, bids them not salute in the way, Luke 10:4. nor be stopped by persecution, but hasten to publish the sound of Christ's coming in the cities of Israel, "For the harvest was great, but the laborers few," Mat. 9:37. and yet notwithstanding all the haste they could make, they should not have "gone over the cities of Israel, before the Son of man come." Mat. 10:23. There is a time to suffer persecution, and a time to flee from persecution; and both these are to be known in the Lord, and to be obeyed in the leadings of his spirit: but to lay it down as a general rule for Christians to observe, that when they are persecuted, they should flee; this is expressly contrary to the scriptures before mentioned, which show that Christians are not generally to flee, but to stand in the service and work to which they are called; bearing witness not only by believing and publishing, but also by suffering for the testimony of the truth. They are Christ's soldiers, and their duty is to stand in the battle, and bear all the shot and persecutions of the enemy: if God call them off to any other service, that is a sufficient warrant for them; but flying upon other terms may prove a great dishonor to their Master, and to his cause and truth, and may be the occasion of a great loss to their spirits, who are so tempted to flee. Neither is this bearing the brunt of persecutions, and standing in God's work and service (notwithstanding them all, even unto death) any tempting of God, but an obedient taking up of the cross according to his will and command. And whereas you plead that reason requires it; what kind of reason is it which bids avoid the cross of Christ, and flee for safety? And what kind of spirit is that, which preaches this doctrine; laying it down as a general rule, for Christians to flee when they are persecuted? Is it not that spirit which would desire to be at ease in the flesh, insomuch as itself will rather persecute, than be disturbed in its fleshly liberty, though it is very unwilling to bear the reproach of being accounted a persecutor? Ah! how did the Jews cry out against their fathers for killing the prophets, and verily thought if they had lived in their days, they should by no means have done it: and yet the same spirit was in them, though they saw it not, but thought themselves far from it. That which blinded them was a wrong knowledge of the Scriptures, and a great zeal and devotion about their temple, worship, and ordinances, without a sensible feeling of the guidance of God's spirit. The same spirit that deceived them, lays the same snare in these days, and men swallow it as greedily, and with as great confidence as they did; the zealous professors of religion, for the generality, still becoming persecutors of the  present appearance of truth, not knowing what they do.

Thus in the fear of the Lord God, and in love to your souls with a meek and gentle spirit (not being offended at what you have done, but looking over it to the Lord, who brings glory to his name, and advantage to his truth, by the sufferings and death of his saints) have I answered your grounds and considerations; and in the same fear, love, and meekness, have I some things further to propose to your considerations, which are of great concernment to you, and deserve to be weighed by an equal hand in the equal balance, without prejudice or partiality.

1. Consider meekly and humbly, whether the Scriptures be the rule of the children of the new covenant. For if the Scripture was not intended by God for the rule, and you take it to be the rule, then you may easily mistake the way to eternal life, and also err in your understanding and use of the Scriptures; making such a use of them as they were never intended for, and so missing of the true use and intent of them.

Now that the Scripture was not intended, nor given forth by God, to be the rule of the children of the new covenant; besides our faithful testimony from the sight of the thing in the true, eternal light, weigh our arguments from the Scripture; many are mentioned in our writings; consider at present of these three.

1. The Scripture is an outward rule or law; but the Scripture says, the law of the new covenant shall be an inward law. It is written in the prophets, that all the children of the new covenant, or New Jerusalem, shall be taught of the Lord, IsAnswer: 54:13. who teaches them inwardly by his spirit, and writes his law in their hearts, Jer. 31:33-34. and after this manner did the Lord take his people into covenant with himself, and teach them in the apostles' days. 1 John 2:27. The covenant is inward, the teacher inward, the writing inward, the law inward: and there it is to be read, learned, and known, where the spirit teaches and writes it.

2. Scripture (or the writings of Moses and the prophets) was not the law of the children of the new covenant (as such), not in the time of the old covenant. The law of Moses was the rule of their outward state, it was the rule of the outward Israel, but not the rule of the inward Israel; no, not then in those days.

In Deut. 29:1. Moses makes a covenant with Israel by  express command from God, besides the former covenant which he made with them in Horeb. And he says, the commandment of this covenant is not to be looked for where the other was written, but in another place, in a place nearer to them; even in their mouth, and in their heart; there they were to read, hear, and receive the commandment of this covenant. "For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off," Deut. 30:11. "it is not in heaven," ver. 12. "neither is it beyond the sea," ver. 13. "but the word is very nigh unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you mayst do it," ver. 14. "and this was the way of life then." ver. 15. "See (says Moses) I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil." Here your eternal happiness depends; obey this word, and live; disobey it, and die. And if they had kept to this word; they would also have walked in obedience to the law; but neglecting this, they could never keep the law, but still came under the curse of it, and missed of the blessings. They thought to please God with sacrifices, and oil, and incense, and observing new moons and sabbaths, wherein the Lord still rejected them for lack of their obedience to this word; and the prophets still guide them to this word, bidding them "circumcise their hearts," which alone can be done by this water. Yes, after much contest between the Lord and them, when they seemed very desirous to please the Lord with what he should require, whether "burnt-offerings, calves, rams, or oil," in great plenty; the prophet lays by all that, and points them to the obedience of this word, as the way to please God, and as the only thing that he required of them: "He has showed you, O man! what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8. All this is written in your heart, O man! read there, obey that word, that is the thing that God requires. So David's law was the word written in his heart; he saw through sacrifices and burnt-offerings, to the inward writing, and this made him wiser than all his teachers, who were busied about the outward. The outward law was but a shadow of good things to come, it made nothing perfect; but David knew a perfect law, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. 19:7.

3. The Scriptures of the New Testament never call themselves the rule, but they call another thing the rule; they call the writings of God's spirit, in the hearts of his people, the laws of the new covenant, Heb. 8:10. They call Christ "the Way, the Truth, the Life." John 14:6. (The way is the rule, the truth is the rule, the life is the rule). They call the new creature the rule; walking according to which, the peace and mercy is received and enjoyed. Gal. 6:16. They refer to the Comforter, as the guide into all truth, John 16:13. yes, as the compass of all truth, wherein the believer is to have his whole life and course. Gal. 5:25. Live in the spirit, walk in the spirit, follow the spirit; keep within that compass and you cannot err. A man may err in understanding and interpreting of scriptures; but he that has received the spirit, knows the spirit, follows the spirit, keeps to the spirit: so far as he does so he cannot possibly err. So says John, writing concerning seducers, warning against them, 1 John 2:26. "You have received an anointing, which teaches you of all things." Keep to the teachings of that in every thing, and you are safe. But may we not be deceived? No, the anointing keeps from all the deceit in the heart, and from all the deceits of seducers. "It is truth, and no lie," ver. 27. and it leads into all truth, and out of every lie; and this will teach you to abide in him. In whom? In the Word which was from the beginning, which is ingrafted into the heart of every believer, and into which the heart of every believer is ingrafted; and so he truly is in the vine, and the sap of the vine runs up into him, which makes him fruitful to God; he abiding in the Word which he has heard from the beginning, and the Word which was from the beginning abiding in him, ver. 24. And the Apostle Paul says expressly, that the righteousness of faith comes by the hearing of this Word, making the same Word the rule to the children of the new covenant now, as Moses said was the commandment of God to them, quoting this place of Moses for it. Rom. 10:6. etc. So that Paul, indeed, taught nothing but Moses and the prophets; pointing to the very same Word and commandment of eternal life, as Moses had done. "This is the Word of faith which we preach;" that Word which Moses taught, which he said was nigh in the heart and in the mouth (no man need ascend up to heaven,  or go down to the deep, or seek anywhere else for it), that is the very thing we point you to; that is the Word of faith, that is the commandment of life. And with what zeal would Paul (were he now alive in the body) declare against such, who should overlook or deny this Word, and set up his writing, with the writings of the rest of the apostles, for a rule instead thereof! Yes, I could show yet further, how the spirit of prophecy, or testimony of Jesus, or living appearance of God in the heart, has been a rule to the witnesses against antichrist's deceit, all along the night of apostasy, Rev. 11:3. 19:10. though they themselves, being in the night, distinctly knew not what was their rule; but by a secret breath of life, were quickened, guided, preserved, and in it accepted: but these things will open of themselves, as the mist is expelled, and the veil rent which has overspread all nations, and covered professors generally in this night of anti-christian darkness, and universal apostasy from the living power.

2. Consider whether the Scripture be your rule or no? that is, whether in singleness of heart you wait on the Lord, to open the Scriptures by his spirit, and to keep out your carnal reason from thence (which cannot understand them, but will be wresting them, and making them speak as it would have them); or whether you take scope to search into them with that part, which ever was shut out from the right knowledge of them. "The natural man understands not the things of the spirit of God." The spirit of the Lord alone understands the meaning of his own words, and he alone gives the understanding of them, which he gives not to the wise searcher and disputer (nor to the prudent professor. Mat. 11:25), but to the babe which he begets, to which he gives the kingdom, and opens the words which the Scripture speaks concerning the kingdom. "The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God;" and if that search into the Scriptures, it will gather only a knowledge suitable to its enmity. Thus the Jews were great enemies, and strong enemies, by the knowledge which they had gathered out of the scriptures written to them; and the same spirit has also wound itself into the scriptures written since: and as then that spirit fought against Christ and his apostles, with those very scriptures which the spirit of Christ had formerly written; so the same spirit fights now against the lambs of Christ,  with the scriptures which were written since. Yes, the great strong-hold of antichrist at this day, is scripture interpreted by the fleshly wisdom: for antichrist comes not in a direct denial of Christ or scriptures (he is too cunning to be found there), but bends them aside by the fleshly wisdom to serve the fleshly will, and thus undermines the spirit, and exalts the flesh, by a fleshly understanding and interpretation of those very scriptures which were written by the spirit against the flesh. And through this mistake it is, that some innocently cry up things practiced at the first springing up of truth, not seeing of what nature they were, and upon what account they were done, and what of them were cast off by the same spirit, which before had led to the use of them, though scripture expressly testifies thereof. For, Rev. 11:1-2 there was the measuring of the building which God's own spirit had built, part whereof was reserved for God, part given to the Gentiles, or uncircumcised in heart, who are now the Gentiles, since the breaking down of the former distinction between Jew and Gentile. That which God reserved for himself was "the altar, the temple, the worshippers therein;" all these are inward. The outward court was given to the Gentiles, to those who would be worshippers under the gospel, and yet had not the circumcision of the gospel; to them the court which is without the temple is given; and this they get and cry up, and tread under foot the holy city, trampling upon the inward and undervaluing it. Christ within, the spirit within, the law within, the power within, becomes a reproach; and this they have power to do, even to keep down the inward, and cry up the outward, all the time of the forty-two months; and to persecute and slay the witnesses whom God raised up to testify for the inward, and against the outward (as it is now in the Gentiles' hands, and made use of by them to keep down the inward); and so the building being thus taken down, the church flies out of it into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God for her. Rev. 12:6. Mark: she is not where she was before; that building was measured, taken down, and disposed of by God: but she has been, and is all the time of the forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days, in another place, prepared by the spirit of God for her, where she fled, and where she was nourished from the face of the serpent,  who was seeking after her, and making war with the remnant of her seed, ver. 14. etc. And they that seek for her now in her former building will miss of her, and may meet with another woman, which (in several appearances and disguises, and practicing of ordinances appertaining to the outward court) blasphemes the holy city, the true temple, altar, and worshippers. Happy is he that can read this; for it is the mystery of this book, sealed from all the Gentiles and worshippers in the outward court.

Many sorts cry up the Scriptures for their rule; but which of them is taught by the spirit to keep the carnal part out of the Scriptures? Which of them keeps out their own will and understanding, receiving their knowledge of Scriptures from that Spirit which wrote them? Do not men rather gather a knowledge in the flesh, and then grow strong, and wise, and able to dispute, and confident in their own way, and become fierce despisers of those who cannot own their interpretation of these scriptures? and thus the mind of God, the true meaning of the Scriptures, is not their rule; but an image which they have formed out of it; a meaning which their wit has strongly imagined and fenced with arguments, and the real mind and intent of the Spirit is hid from them. So by this means many both deceive their own souls, and help to deceive the souls of others, missing of the plainness and simplicity of the Spirit, and gathering senses in the wit and subtlety of the fleshly part, where the serpentine wisdom lodges, and twines about the tree of knowledge. Now what do these men do? whom do they serve? and where do they run themselves, and lead many other poor souls, whom they pretend to be helpful to save?

3. Consider whether you did not flee from the cross, in your transplanting into New England, and so let up that part in you there, which should have been kept down by the cross here, and gave advantage to that spirit to get ground in you, which you outwardly fled from. The safety is in standing in God's counsel, in bearing the cross, in suffering for the testimony of his truth; but if at any time there be a fleeing of the cross (whether the inward or the outward) without God's direction, the evil spirit is thereby let in, his part strengthened, and the life weakened. That spirit which would save itself from the cross, is the same with that which would persecute that which will not save itself. Mark how  sharply Christ speaks to Peter upon this account, when he would have tempted him to avoid the cross: "Get you behind me Satan; you are an offense unto me; for you savor not the things of God," etc. Mat. 16:23. The seed offers up all to God in his service, will suffer anything for his name's sake, even the loss of liberty, goods, yes, life itself, for the testimony to the least truth. Now that which says to the seed, when sufferings come for the testimony of truth, "avoid it, save yourself; let not this be unto you," or the like, that is Satan: and if Satan be not cast behind, but that counsel hearkened unto which leads from the cross, Satan is followed. And if you fled your proper cross in your removal from hence unto New England, though you meet with many others there, yet hereby you lost your proper advantage of serving and honoring God in your generation; yes, you lost that which would have kept your spirits tender, and open to the voice of God's spirit; and then no marvel if afterwards you grew hard, and fit to persecute, who first had showed yourselves unfit and unworthy to suffer. You might meet with many crosses afterwards, which might neither be able to humble you, nor keep you tender, having once lost that cross which was appointed of God to do it: for all crosses do not break, humble, or keep the heart low and meek; but such as are sent and sanctified by God thereunto.

4. Consider, when you came to New England, whether tenderness grew up in you, and was abundantly exercised towards such as might differ from you: or whether you were as eager for the way that you thought to be right, as the conformists you fled from were for the way they thought to be right. When Israel came out of Egypt into their own land, they were to be tender even towards an Egyptian, much more towards their own brethren. Now when you were out of danger of being persecuted yourselves, did you lay a foundation of tender usage towards all that should differ from you; or did you lay a foundation of persecuting such as differ, and would allow none differing from you, but persecute them, just as the bishops persecuted you? Did you flee the having of yourselves persecuted; or did you flee the persecuting spirit? For if you did flee only your own persecutions, and not the persecuting spirit in yourselves, no marvel though it fell a persecuting so soon as the fear of your own  persecution was over. In this fleshly part there is a persecuting spirit, which if it be not kept down by the power of God, though it loves not to be persecuted, yet will soon be persecuting.

5. Did you feel yourselves grow in the inward life, upon coming into New England; or did that begin to flag and wither, and your growth chiefly consist in form and outward order, in which you might easily be mistaken too? For many who have given a true testimony, and have been faithful in helping to pull down, yet have erred when they came to build up. That spirit which is kept low by persecution, and gives forth its testimony against things in fear and trembling, is many times exalted when it is out of persecution; and can weigh, debate, consider, and resolve things in that part which cannot build for God. Ephraim, under the rod, spake trembling; but the rod being off, he could exalt his own wisdom, and offend in Baal. That worship and way of government and order which a man takes up in the fleshly reason, and which fall in with the worldly interest, he serves not the true God in, but Baal. This it is that destroys and eats out the life of religion in many; namely, the mixing of it with their worldly interest: for then the offense of the cross ceases to them, and they begin to be offended at others on whom the cross is still laid by God, thinking that they may comply with them in joining their religion and worldly interest together, and so avoid the cross as well as they. No, he that will follow Christ, must take up the daily cross, even that cross which God daily lays upon him, who will still be requiring something which is contrary to his own fleshly part, and contrary to the fleshly part of those with whom he converses. And as this cross is taken up, the worldly part is offended, and the life grows, cutting down worldly interests and ways of religion daily; but as worldly interests are followed and kept up, the fleshly part thrives, and the life decays and suffers, even till at length it come under death, and then death has the dominion.

6. Consider whether your chief strength of setting up your church-government and order at first, and of bringing persons into it, and of preserving them in it, lies in the spirit and spiritual weapons, or in the flesh and carnal weapons. If in the spirit and spiritual weapons, then you will be able, in God, to persuade  men's consciences to it, and to preserve them by the same virtue and strength which persuaded them; and this you will still have the main recourse to: but if in carnal, then you will have recourse to the carnal; and there will be your main confidence of keeping up your church. For if it was built by that power, it must be upheld by that power; so that take that away, it falls. This is antichrist's strength; he sets up a form in the wisdom, and maintains it by the outward sword. Take him off from this, and put him to gaining ground by the demonstration of the spirit to men's consciences as in the sight of God, or to preserving his ground so, here he is at a loss, and his kingdom daily falls, even in the most refined parts of it. Let every church and people that names the name of Christ depart from the ways of antichrist, and make the spirit of Christ their strength: for that is indeed the only strength of the true religion, both of the inward and outward part thereof; in that it begins, by that it is preserved, and there also it grows, and is perfected.

7. Consider (for it lies upon me to press it yet further, and lay it more home to you for your good) whether the persecuting spirit did not take its advantage of assaulting you, upon your getting from under the cross here, into New England; and whether it did not soon find a place in you there, and grow up in you, and bring you from step to step to that degree of hardness, that you could at length even drink the blood of the saints.

That it was then the proper time for the persecuting spirit to seek to get an entrance into you, is very manifest; but whether it did get entrance or no, that belongs to you narrowly to search and examine. When you were under the hatches, while you yourselves were persecuted, then there was little room for that spirit in you; then was not a proper time for your entertaining of it: but when you were at liberty to choose a way and form of worship, then was a proper time for this temptation to prevail with you, of setting up your own way, as the chief or only way; and, under a pretense of zeal for God, to persecute the breakings-forth of his light in others. For it could not be expected that that spirit should directly tempt you (who had suffered so much by persecution) suddenly to become persecutors of others: but to hide its bait under a cover; and, under a pretense of zeal for  God, his truths, and way of worship, to blind your eyes, and draw you aside into that which is indeed persecution of it. Sin is very deceitful, and seeks covers; and of all sins, persecution has the most need of covers, it is of so contrary a nature to the tender spirit of the gospel. Now when sin has got its cover, then by degrees it hardens the heart, both from and against the truth. "Take heed," etc. says the apostle, "lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb. 3:12-13. And persecution most hardens of any sin. How cruel, how bloody does it make! it even unmans men! Prisons, whips, cutting off of ears, banishment, death, all is little enough, if not too little. And what reviling does it fill men's pens and tongues with, making them so hot and passionate, that they cannot equally consider the cause; but misunderstand it, misrepresent it, and strive to make it appear another thing, both to themselves and others, than indeed in plain truth it is. Look over your writings, consider your cause again in a more meek and upright spirit, and you yourselves will easily see how, in your heat, you have mistaken, and dealt more injuriously with others, than you yourselves were ever dealt with.

There is a time of righteous judgment, wherein the most inward covers shall be ripped off, and the sinner appear what he is; and then the persecutor shall bear that shame, that burden, that misery, which is the portion of that spirit. It is but a small advantage to it to cover its iniquity for a little moment. If you could make all the world believe that you are not persecutors, what would this profit you, if, in the day of the Lord, you should be found such? But having proceeded thus far, it is hard for you to consider and retreat. That spirit has too great advantage over you, to make you accept of any cover it can now offer you to hide yourselves under. Oh! that you could see how you have wrested scriptures, and what strange kind of arguments you have formed, to make that which you have done pass with your own hearts, and to make it appear somewhat plausible to others. Yet all this will not do; the eye of the Lord sees through you; and that light which you reproach, makes you manifest to be at present in subjection under the bloody, dark power, who will hold you as long as he can, and furnish you with such weapons as he has, against the Lamb and his followers. But you come forth to battle  in a bad day, for the light is arisen to conquer, and is not now to be overcome with the darkness. And though you meet the woman and her seed with a flood of reproaches and persecutions, yet that will not stop her from coming forth out of the wilderness, to show her beauty and innocency again in the earth. Consider these things, and come out of this hard spirit into tenderness, if it be possible, that the still, meek, gentle spirit of life may be your leader from under all false covers, into the truth itself; where there is a gentle lying down with all that is of God, and not so much as an offense because of any difference (much less heart-burnings and persecutions); but a sweet waiting on the Lord for every one's growth in their several ranks and stations.

Since my waiting on the LORD for the Presence and Guidance of his Spirit, in the examining the foregoing Grounds and Considerations, there came forth an appendix to JOHNNORTON'S Book, wherein are laid down some further Grounds by way of justifying of their Proceedings; which, for their Sakes, and likewise on the Behalf of the Truth and People of GOD, I may also say something to.

1. THEY insinuate an argument concerning "the not suffering of evil, which" they say "is common to all that fear God, with themselves."

Answer: Evil is to be resisted; but in God's way, according to God's will, and not according to the will of the flesh. Spiritual evils are to be resisted (by and in the faith) with spiritual weapons, which God has appointed and sanctified thereto. Earthly evils, outward evils, transgressions of the just law of the magistrate, are to be resisted by the sword of the magistrate. Here are the bounds which God has set; which he that transgresses, sins against the Lord and his own soul. But the believer is not to step out of God's way to resist the magistrate's evil, nor the magistrate to step out of God's way to resist spiritual evil; but both are to wait on the Lord for his blessing on the means he has appointed; and it is better for each of them not to resist evil, but let it grow upon them till the Lord please to appear against it, than to overcome it by an unrighteous weapon. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in  chariots." IsAnswer: 31:1.

2. A second argument is taken from "the sole cause of (their) transplanting, which" they say "was to enjoy liberty, to walk peaceably in the faith of the gospel, according to the order of the gospel."

Answer: That there was an honest intent in many of them in transplanting into New England, I do not doubt; though whether they had a sufficient warrant from God to transplant, was doubted, and objected against them by many of their conscientious fellow-sufferers here in Old England, who testified to them that they did believe it to be their duty not to fly, but stay and bear their testimony for God and his truth by suffering: and this had been a better way of resisting that which was manifestly evil, than of resisting by the sword that for evil, which, in due time, they themselves may see and acknowledge not to have been so. But if they did truly desire liberty, did not the enemy tempt them to be selfish, to seek it so far as might comprise themselves, excluding such as might differ from them, upon as just grounds as they themselves differed from others? Did not they set bounds to the truth, and bounds to the spirit of God, that thus far it should appear, and no further? Whereas God has degrees of discovering and leading out of the anti-christian darkness: and he that opposes the next discovery of truth, the next step out of Babylon, is as real an enemy and persecutor, as he that opposed the foregoing. In that they testified against the bishops, they did well; but if they will now set up a stand, either to themselves or others, and not follow the leadings of the Lamb, their life may be withered, and they may perish in the wilderness, while others are following the guide, which they left (when they set up their stand), towards Canaan.

And as for walking peaceably; that they might be free from the fear of outward powers, having liberty to try whatever pretends to be of God; and if it appear error, be out of danger of having their consciences forced; this is a great mercy. But if they would live so peaceably as that no discovery of God further should ever start up among them, nor the Lord himself be allowed to send any of his servants with any further discovery of light unto them, this is not a peace which God allows to any  man, nor which his people desire; but only the carnal part, which loves to be at ease, and not to be at the pains of trial in the fear of the Lord, of what comes forth in his name. And who walk thus, walk not in the faith, nor in the order of the gospel, which does not suddenly reject any thing, but first thoroughly tries both doctrines and spirits, whether they be of God or no. He that rejects that which is of God cannot thrive or prosper in his spirit; and he that tries in the hastiness of the flesh, and not in the patience or meekness of the spirit, is in great danger of rejecting whatever of God appears.

But can they not enjoy their own liberty, and walk in the gospel, and manage the sword of the Spirit against errors and spiritual enemies (according to the order of the gospel), which is mighty through God to cut down the flesh, unless they get the magistrate's sword to cut down every appearance of truth (and every person holding forth any truth) but what they themselves shall own? Cannot the spirit of God lead into further truth than they were led into when they went into New England? And may not the Lord take his own time to discover it to them, and to lead them into it? So that when first it appears, it may be hid from them; and will nothing serve them but the magistrate's sword to cut it down so soon as ever it appears? Did not the bishops of England think theirs to be the gospel order, and cried against the Non-conformists, that they could not live peaceably for them, but they disturbed the order of the church, and drew men's minds from matters of faith and edification? Surely the desire of such a kind of peace (as may stop the breaking forth of light to the people of God for their further leading out of Babylon) is not good. This is rather a fleshly ease, than true peace, which the Lord has not allotted to his people; but they are to wait for the pouring down of his spirit, and the opening of the deep mysteries of his life in the latter days, and to try what comes forth in his name, whether it be of him or no, that they may not lose the good as it breaks forth, nor be deceived with the evil, as it gets into and appears in the shape and likeness of the good.

Now the drift of the argument lies in this, that this liberty they cannot enjoy without a non-toleration of others. Toleration of any but themselves, and their own way, disturbs their peace, their faith, their order.

Answer: The true liberty, the true faith, the true order of the gospel, was enjoyed formerly, without this power of suppressing others by carnal weapons, and violent laws. Yes, this power of suppressing others, and of compelling to a way of religion and worship, came up with antichrist; and that power which came up with antichrist, is not of Christ. "The dragon gave his power to the beast," Rev. 13:4. and another beast rises up with "horns like a lamb," ver. 11. and this beast compels. ver. 12. Mark: the beast which appeared with horns like a lamb, as if it had Christ's power, and makes fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men (and who can deny these to be of God, that can do such things!) this very beast compels, or causes to worship, as ver. 12. So this beast, which appears like a lamb, joins with the first beast whom it had set up under another appearance, and both compel to the worshipping of an image of the truth (of such an image of the truth as they think good to advance), and seduce from the truth itself. And he that will not be deceived with their image, with their likeness, with that which they call the truth and way of God, or order of the gospel, and so shall refuse to bow thereto, he shall not be permitted either to buy or sell. ver. 16-17. There is no living as men within their bounds, unless they will bow to their image. But the true Lamb does not compel, but calls to wait on the Father's drawings, till the Father by his spirit make willing. And though by the Lamb "kings reign, and princes decree justice," Prov. 8:15. yet they never had any commission from him to force men to that way of religion and worship, to which the spirit of the Lord alone can make them willing, nor to fall upon them because they were unwilling. This is from the dragon, wherever it is found.

This then is the great matter of controversy, you account it your liberty not to tolerate; and here stands your peace and religion (which was a liberty the true Christians never had), and you cannot with patience bear any to testify against you; and so you now fall upon any who come to witness against you, even as you yourselves once suffered when you were witnesses. But how can you manifest that God shall reveal no truth, but what he reveals to you? Or if he does, that you have liberty not to tolerate it, or the  persons that hold it forth? Wherefore consider seriously whether this be a right liberty you have aimed at: for if your aim has been at a liberty which is not granted of God, at such a liberty as will not stand with the liberty of his spirit in his people, no marvel though you have run into indirect means to attain it: and so from step to step have been led to the utmost degree of violence and persecution; and being engaged in it, are now forced to seek for arguments to maintain it. This argument is further enforced, by proposing "the inconsiderableness of the QUAKERS' suffering of a non-toleration," compared with "a manifest and greatest hazard of toleration unto the country; their absence from hence is no detriment to them; their presence here threatens no less than the ruin of us all." etc.

Answer: As for outward detriment, the QUAKERS do not consider that in cases of this nature; but that in them which is born of God, hearing and receiving his command, presently obeys, waiting for his presence and power to carry through, and does not at all mind the hardships to be met with. But the inward detriment, arising from disobedience to God, is very great; even the loss of his sweet presence, life, and power at present, besides the utter hazard of the soul: for that which draws back from obedience to the spirit of the Lord, the Lord has no pleasure in: and they have known the terrors of the Lord to the disobedient; therefore they may not please men in forbearing to go where he sends them; nor (standing in his counsel and power) do they fear them which can kill the body; but they exceedingly dread the death and loss of their souls, and him who has the power thereof.

And as for their "presence threatening the ruin of all to you," that is but a misapprehension. It may indeed be ruin to that part in you which is wise and strong, without the presence of the life of God; but the elect, which is built upon the rock, cannot be ruined by any appearance of God; no, nor by any appearance of the powers of darkness against God; for the gates of hell cannot prevail against the true church. And there is great advantage of errors and heresies to the true church; for the life grows and gets ground by a fair trial and overcoming of them, and the approved are thereby made manifest. 1 Cor. 11:19. Now what kind of church is yours, which is in such danger of being ruined by that  whereby the true church was advantaged? So that to plead that either you must suffer your religion, your souls, your liberties to be made a prey of, or take this course to defend them, is very inconsequent; and a strong argument against you that yours is not the truth, which needs such a defense as the truth has not been used to have; but has grown up, been preserved, and thriven not only without it, but against the strength and force of it.

So likewise those considerations of the "shepherd's defending the flock from the wolves," and of the "keeper of the vineyard maintaining the hedge against the wild beasts," etc., are not proper to the thing in hand: for the spiritual sheep, the soul, the liberty of the church, the true religion, the true vineyard, are not outward, nor to be defended after an outward manner; but the defense is according to the nature of the thing which is to be defended. To trust or look after an outward power for defending these, is to betray the faith, which is the shield. Therefore let them consider whether, in looking out too much at these, they have not lost the true weapon, and the sight of the true thing which is to be defended, which the arm of the Lord alone gathers, and the arm of the Lord alone preserves.

This argument is yet further pressed from the present state of your own people, "too many of them being perilously disposed" as you say "to receive their doctrine, being already too much disaffected, if not enemies to order," etc.

Answer: Alas! alas! have you had your order, your church-government so long up, and are the multitude among you yet so ready to be shaken? Behold what a weak, unstable settlement you have attained to all this time by your outward force! but search honestly, and see who they are that are so ready to be shaken. Are they the "discontented, and unconscionable multitude?" (as you speak) or are they the most simple-hearted, most conscientious, and zealous towards God amongst you? (For it is experienced here in Old England, that the ground they gain is not upon the unconscionable, but the conscientious). If it be these that are somewhat touched with the sense of their doctrine, it may make you fear that there is more of God therein than you are aware of. Therefore do not proceed to argue thus violently against a thing, before you have tried it: but come to a deep, serious,  inward consideration of the thing between God and your own souls: not in the pride, loftiness, and self-willedness; but in the honesty, humility, and meekness of your spirits: and then perhaps you may see beauty, and the life of your souls, in that which you now so revile and persecute. And though you matter not how you imagine and speak all manner of evil falsely against us; yet do not also wrong the best among yourselves, by terming them "discontented and unconscionable," because their spirits are not hardened by your form; but yet retain some tenderness towards God, his truths, and people.

But why do you charge following the light within so deeply, as to be "a giving up of men's selves to their own inclinations," and that it "immediately canonizes them for saints, discharges them from subjection, both civil and sacred, and from the Scriptures as the rule of life; and by virtue of this their saintship, entitles to the estates and dignities of all who are not of their minds," etc.

Answer: Surely if you were guided by the light within, you would be preserved from such kind of injuriousness both to persons and principles. Are your tongues and pens your own, at liberty to speak and write any thing that will make for your advantage, how manifestly false soever? If it were but a natural light, yet, being of God, it would not deserve this deep blame. Have you ever tried it, as we have done? If not, why do you yet speak so against it, before you have tried it? We can upon much experience testify, that it is against our inclinations; that it discovers them, calls from them, and is a daily cross to them; upon following whereof we feel the bitter dying of the earthly part, and the inclinations thereof pining away. And from true subjection to that which truly is of God, it never discharges; but leads to obedience to what is lawfully commanded by authority, and to patient suffering under what is unlawfully inflicted. And as for the Scriptures, it opens them in the life which gave them forth; it fulfills them in us; it makes them our own; it makes us able to set our seal to the truth of them in the sight of God; and to receive that for the rule which the Scriptures say is the rule, "the living word, Christ the living way, the word in the mouth, and in the heart," Rom. 10. "the law in the mind, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which is the word ingrafted into their hearts, who are  created anew in Christ. And this is the honor which we give to the Scriptures, namely, to receive that which they testify of; to live and walk in that spirit which they call to us to live and walk in: to take heed of painting the old nature, and letting the old spirit live upon its imaginations, which it gathers out of the Scriptures, reading them in the oldness of the letter, and not in the newness of the spirit. And we profess nakedly that we believe the truth of God, not merely because the Scripture has said it (for that which is out of the truth may thus believe); but also because, in coming to the thing, and receiving the truth as it is in Jesus, we have found it to be just as the Scriptures speak of it. But what do you speak, as if following the light did entitle men to the estates and dignities of all who are not of their mind? No, the light teaches not to covet, not to desire, earthly dignities or estates. Let it be looked at over Old England: which of us so much as mind these things? No, the Lord knows that the love of these things is daily rooted out of our hearts more and more, and we are a people whom the world cannot charge with covetousness, or love of the world, wherewith all sorts of professors hitherto have been too justly chargeable. O rulers of New England! why do you thus overturn the cause of the innocent? If we were a bad people, yet to lay things so notoriously false to our charge, and to charge that principle in us with it, which powerfully leads us from it, this is not right nor justifiable in the sight of God. Ah! take heed of reviling, persecuting, and speaking all manner of evil against us falsely, for his name's sake whom we are called to serve, and whom we do serve in following and obeying the light of his spirit in us, which has led us to the true knowledge of God, and to life and peace with him.

About the close of this argument, for the further strengthening of it, it is said, "duty is not opposite to duty: passiveness for the truth, and activeness against the enemies of truth, are both duties in their season."

Answer: Every kind of activeness against the enemies of the truth is not duty; for some kind is sinful. There is a lawful fighting, and an unlawful fighting. Such a kind of fighting against an enemy as may hurt a friend, and cannot hurt the enemy, is unlawful. Now the magistrate's sword may hurt a friend, may affright  the tender conscience from its duty towards Christ; but it cannot reach the falsehood which lodges in the heart, nor draw the party from that, but rather hardens him in it: so that it is not a duty to have the magistrate's sword drawn out against that for which it is not proper, where it may do hurt, and not good. The householder would not permit his own servants to gather up the tares, lest they should root up the wheat with them. Mat. 13:29. Did Christ deny his disciples that liberty, and does he grant it to the magistrate? Is the magistrate out of danger of hurting the wheat, while he is smiting at the tares? No, is he not in danger of smiting and rooting up the wheat instead of the tares? Surely this is the magistrate's duty, to keep in his place, and not to extend his sword beyond his commission, and beyond what it is proper for. And let me put this to all the magistrates of the earth, who have been drawing out their sword against tares (as they might think), "are you sure that you never touched any green thing?" Rev. 9:4 Did you never pluck up any wheat? You must give an account of this to Christ one day. Here in Old England, in the bishops' days, they were liable to be excommunicated and weeded out of the church, and also be struck at by the magistrate: how it has been in New England, I leave it to your consciences to consider of, do not slubber it over, but make up a just account.

What Moses did Levit. 24. in case of blasphemy, he did by immediate direction from God, ver. 13. and he was a type of Christ, who inwardly and spiritually fulfills all his outward shadows. And Christ does not say that every blasphemer under the gospel shall be put to death, but all blasphemy or speaking against the Son of man shall be forgiven; but there is a kind of blasphemy which he will not forgive. And the church, by his Spirit, are to try and deal with blasphemers, even to the cutting of them off, by the sword of the Spirit, that they may repent, and "learn not to blaspheme;" 1 Tim. 1:20. but the magistrate is not now appointed to cut them off in their blasphemy, and so to take away that time of repentance from them, which Christ has allowed them. Christ's ordinances and institutions do not clash one with another; he does not bid the church cut off a person from the unity, with the sword of the Spirit, that he might feel the loss of life, and be made sensible of what a condition his  blasphemies have brought him to, and so come to mourn and repent, I say Christ does not do this on the one hand, and, on the other hand, bid the magistrate banish him, or cut him off with the sword, and so take away his time of repentance from him. No, this device sprung from the false church, to make her excommunication outwardly terrible and dreadful, which has no inward virtue, or cause of terror and dread at all in it.

So as touching Nehemiah, he was both extraordinarily stirred up by God, and his time was under the law; so that the argument from his example is not valid to them, who have not such a warrant as he had (for he says himself, that God had put in his heart what he had to do at Jerusalem. Neh. 2:12), and where the state and ministration is changed. The priests did that under the law, which is not now to be done, but typified what Christ, the unchangeable Priest, was to do; so likewise kings, judges, and governors of that people, did that under the law towards them, which is not now to be done outwardly towards any, by any king, ruler, or magistrate; but typified what Christ was inwardly to do in the spirits of his people, and how he would gather, preserve, and defend his church, and wound and subdue his enemies, even by his rod and scepter, which is the sword of his Spirit, the word of his mouth.

And as for Ephesus and Thyatira's not allowing false apostles and the woman Jezebel; we do not say that any errors, or erroneous persons, are to be allowed by the church, but to be dealt with in Christ's power and authority. But the delivering up of these to the secular power, we know to have been an invention of antichrist's, and a great dishonor to Christ (as if his rod and scepter were not sufficient to defend his subjects and kingdom, and to beat down his enemies), and also a ground of much affliction, persecution, and blood-shed of the saints; yes, and of suppressing the truth of God for a season. For the persecutor having once gotten his cover, then he can do that openly and boldly, which otherwise he would blush and be ashamed of. To persecute Christ, to put his people to death, and that for professing and publishing his truths; God forbid, says the anti-christian spirit (in every form and way of religion), that we should do this; but in every age calls the witnesses to the truth (of that age) blasphemers,  wicked persons, persons that by their tenets overthrow the fundamental truths of the gospel, and their doctrines destructive, etc. And now what zealous people or minister, or what Christian magistrate, can allow such as these? By this artifice, the sufferings of the saints come to abound in every age, and their blood is made havoc of: and what is thus done, easily passes as an act of justice against offenders, and not (as indeed it is) persecution of the truths and people of God. The after age can see what it is, and cry out against it: but still it is the subtlety of the persecuting spirit to hide the persecutions of the present age, under an appearance of zeal for God, and of justice against offenders.

3. In the next place it is said, on the QUAKERS' behalf, that they are the lambs of Christ.

Indeed this is a considerable thing; for if they be Christ's lambs, then they are innocent, and cannot be the causers of their own sufferings; but that will rest upon their persecutors, though they use even so much art to make the lambs appear guilty, and themselves guiltless; their spirit, nature, manner of fighting (which is with lamb-like weapons, which hurt not flesh and blood), their whole course and conduct, and manner of suffering, etc., manifest them to be lambs; this is of much more force than a bare saying they are lambs. None of this is mentioned on their behalf, but only that they say they are lambs. But let us see how fairly that is overthrown.

Against this, that place, John 5:31. is alleged; "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true:" whereupon it is said thus, Had not Christ been God, the reason of the Jews had been good against him.

Answer: Does not the spirit of God dwell in the sons of God? And does not the spirit of God bear witness in them that they are his children? And is not this witness true? John says, "We know that we are of God." 1 John 5:19. Was not this witness true in John, because John was not God? Was not the prophets' testimony true (that they were his prophets, and that God had sent them, and that it was his message which they brought), because they were not God? Shall the spirit of God work wonders in the heart? and shall he not testify concerning his own work at his pleasure? Ah, friends! how do you understand scripture, and raise  inferences from it, thus to condemn the generation of the righteous? Search the Scriptures: do not the prophets still testify that the Lord sent them, and that it was his word which they spake? though they themselves were not God, but persons moved by the spirit of God; who stirred in his servants under the law, but dwells, rests, and abides in his people under the gospel; and what he testifies is true, though fleshly-wise Israel (who seem to themselves very skillful in the law and letter of the Scriptures) could not receive his testimony either then or now. Ah! friends! you had need take heed and consider, lest the bastardly birth in you has taken up a habitation in the letter, without knowing the mind of the spirit, whose presence kills the carnal part, and shuts out the wisdom of the flesh from meddling with the Scriptures.

And whereas you seem to refer "all to the trial of the Scripture," both station, doctrine, and practice; surely if you had done so in truth, you would have more patiently heard their testimony according to the Scriptures. Every man pretends Scripture, but none truly honors it, but they who are guided by that Spirit which it testifies of. And they who are not guided by that Spirit, walk not according to the Scriptures, but according to reasonings of the fleshly part, which winds itself into the letter of the Scriptures, that by some conformity thereto, it may avoid the dint of the Spirit. And this is the way of antichrist's prevailing, by getting the form, crying up that, winding his own fleshly spirit into that, and sheltering itself under that. Thus the Jews cried up the temple of the Lord, the sabbath, the law of Moses, and writings of the prophets; and under this cover, with great zeal persecuted Christ; he was looked upon as a blasphemer, as one against God's temple, his sabbath, his ordinances, etc. And since the days of Christ, the anti-christian spirit speaks great words of Christ; his death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, etc., and of church order, and discipline, that, under this cover, it may fight against the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth; who alone can lead into truth, and which is the proper way of God's ministration since Christ's ascension. And this has been the way of opposing truth ever since, and still is: and here is the antichrist, he that holds these in the wrong part, and by these fights against the true Spirit.

But if there be any truth in this, that you are willing to be tried by the Scriptures, let it yet come to a fair trial this way, and let them have free liberty to manifest among you, what they have to say from the Scriptures; why your church, your ministry, your order and government, your whole way of teaching and worship is not of God, nor according to the Scriptures, but an invention and imitation, set up in the way of resemblance of what once was truly so. If this cannot be made good against you, you will have much advantage of shaming them, and of settling your people much firmer than by prisons, whips, cutting off of ears, banishment, and death; which no man's heart (seriously considering it in true soberness) can possibly believe to be the proper engines of settling or preserving the gospel of peace.

But that the Scripture is the rule of trial under the gospel, I read not in Scripture; but that the things of the Spirit are to be known in and by the Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:12. The Apostle John, speaking of antichrists, seducers, and erring spirits, which were to be tried, does not bid them try them by the words which he wrote, or by the other apostles' words, or by the prophets' words; but by the anointing; which keeping close to, they need fear no seducers. 1 John 2:26-27. The Word which was in the beginning being received, abode in, and kept close to, tries all words and spirits. That which begets to God is the Spirit; the great gift (which is given to him who is begotten) is the Spirit; and this (being given) is to become the fountain of life to the believer. John 7:38. And in this spring of life he is to live, and receive milk and knowledge; and here he is to walk, and here he is to try all other waters, even by this water. And this is more to a believer, and more enables him to try, than all the words of truth that ever were written; though he that has this cannot despise or undervalue any thing that the Spirit ever wrought; but yet the Spirit itself is more to him, and more certain, than any words concerning the Spirit. Men may make false glosses, and mud, and make void the Scriptures by their reasonings, and interpretations, and traditional apprehensions; but this water ever runs fresh and clear, and no foul spirit can defile it. Moses gave the law, which directed to, and ended in, Christ: Christ in the flesh finished the work which the Father gave him to do, and  directed to the Comforter to be the leader into all truth, yes, the spring of life to the believer; and here the believer is safe: but the anti-christian spirit ravening from this, cries up the letter in the stead of this, and does not see how the letter points to and centers in this. "God has made us able ministers of the New Testament" (says the apostle); "not of the letter, but of the spirit." 2 Cor. 3:6. He overlooked the letter: that was not the thing he was chiefly to minister, but the Spirit, the power, to turn men from darkness to light, that they might feel him that is true, and have the life eternal abiding in the heart: but now, in the anti-christian darkness, the spirit being lost, which is the gospel-administration, they seemingly advance and cry up the letter, putting it into the place of the Spirit. Yet in truth it is not the Scripture either, in its naked simplicity, which is thus cried up, but man's wise reasonings about it. The fleshly will, the fleshly understanding, the fleshly strength getting a seat there, having formed a building out of it, and reared strong-holds in that part which can be wise, and live without the Spirit; now its life, its interest, lies in the Scripture thus believed, thus understood, thus practiced: thus therefore it cries it up, not as it came at first out of the hands of the Spirit, nor as the truth of it is now seen in the simplicity and nakedness of the Spirit, but as the wisdom from below has formed meanings and apprehensions concerning it. And here every sort of men are wise in their own eyes, and strong and prudent in their own conceivings and reasonings, but know not the bringing to naught of that understanding, which precedes the opening of the eye of the babe, which has that sight of the things of God given it, which is out of the reach of all the wise and strong ones. It is true, under the law they were to try by the law and the testimony, IsAnswer: 8:20. but yet not in an uncertain way, according to their own guessings, imaginations, and reasonings, but according to a certain interpretation and knowledge thereof; and in cases of difficulty the judge was to have recourse to the priest. Deut. 17:8, etc. And the priest, in cases of doubt, had an ordinary way of inquiring by Urim, Numb. 27. besides the way of inquiring by prophets, which was very common with them also. 1 Sam. 9:9. 28:6. But now the Jews having forfeited these, and filling their minds with a  gathered knowledge from the law and prophets, trying Christ and his truths by this, judged amiss both of him and them. Now the law was a shadow of good things to come; not a shadow of another outward law or rule, but a shadow of the inward rule, of the law of the new covenant written in the heart, of the Spirit put within, Heb. 8. and by this law is the true believer fully as able to try, as they were by the former; but without this, a Christian's trial of things is not so certain as theirs was under the law.

4. The force of the fourth argument is to this effect, "That the dictate of the conscience is not a sufficient plea in case of mere and single ignorance, much less in willful and affected ignorance."

Answer: The dictate of conscience is not made a plea by us; but the answering and obeying the light of Christ in our consciences, is that which keeps them void of offense, both towards God and towards men. Now it is one thing for a man to act evil, and plead it is his conscience; and it is another thing for a man to be guided by the infallible Light of the Spirit; or if he be not come so far, yet to be made tender in his heart towards Christ concerning his practices in religion. In this last case we say, that in things, whose good or evil chiefly depends upon the knowledge and persuasion of the mind, which Christ alone can do, here Christ is the sole Lord and judge of the conscience, Rom. 14:4. and not either minister, church, or magistrate. Christ gives knowledge, Christ increases knowledge, and Christ requires obedience according to the knowledge given or increased. That is many times required to be left, upon a further degree of knowledge given, which was not required to be left before; and so also upon the same terms may things be required to be performed, which were not required to be done before. And this, indeed, is the very sum of the true religion (since the death of Christ, and his finishing of his work here), either to worship in the Spirit, or to wait for the Spirit. He who has not received the Spirit, he is to wait for the Spirit. He who has received the Spirit, he is to wait in the Spirit for the movings and outgoings thereof, and to be obedient thereto. And Christians are to take heed, not only of a wrong spirit, but also of quenching the movings of the true Spirit in themselves or others. If the erring  mind has mistaken about worship, and through its mistake set up a wrong way, the Spirit in the tender plants will be moving against it, which the wise, reasoning, fleshly part will be knocking down; and so the birth, which is after the flesh, will be getting advantage of, persecuting, and keeping under the immortal seed. Now suppress evil to the utmost, but take heed of quenching the good in any; take heed how you stop that in its course of discovering evil (in your worships, or otherwise) which easily passes for good, until the Spirit begin to make it manifest. Ah! friends! if the carnal wisdom had been crucified in you, and the spirit of God had had more scope in manifesting evil among you, what might you have grown to ere this day! But if the magistrate upon every doubt, or difference, or startling of the tender conscience, step in with his sword, how is the way of the breaking forth of truth stopped up! And that which is truly of God, and most tender towards him, is most liable to suffer this way. And this is that which makes the QUAKERS such a suffering people, because they have found the benefit of keeping the conscience tender towards God, and so prize it above all things; and this mercy have they received from the Lord, sensibly to distinguish (in this tenderness towards God, and in the fear of his name) between the dictates of conscience, and the voice of his spirit there. Now it is not at all pleaded by us, that under a pretense of conscience, you should suffer all manner or any manner of evil: but first, Punish not good for evil; do not punish the good in others, to defend the evil in yourselves. Secondly, That which is manifestly evil, punish it by such hands and means as God has appointed; the spiritual by spiritual, the temporal by temporal; and do not make punishing of evil a pretense of persecuting good in others, and of upholding the evil in yourselves.

But as touching your distinction of mere and single ignorance, or willful and affected, we can bless the Lord who has delivered us from them both, by the day-spring which he has caused to arise in our hearts; and we can with a further measure of the same spirit bear this from you, with a measure whereof some of the Non-conformists bore this from the conformists, who would cast this upon them, that their ignorance was affected, they were refractory, but might have been better informed if they would.  And we wish with all our hearts, that there were not too just cause of retorting both parts of this distinction back upon you; for if you had not been very grossly ignorant, you could never have thus put darkness for light, and light for darkness, casting such odious reproaches upon the truth, to make it appear what it was not. Had you not been ignorant of the scripture, you would have known the movings of the life and spirit of it in others; but through ignorance of the eternal power, and from your dark reasonings and conceivings about the letter, you are ready to call Christ Beelzebub; not knowing the anointing in the members, no more than the Scribes and Pharisees did in the head. And had not your ignorance also been too much affected, you would have taken more pains about the trial, and not have run into such mistakes all along, both about them and their doctrines, as you have done.

That Christ referred himself either to Pilate's or the Jews' trial of him by Scriptures, is a gross mistake at best. The Jews did try him by Scriptures; and according to their understanding thereof, found him a sabbath-breaker, against Moses' law, and that he could not be the Messiah, John 7:27. 52. 12:34. but by their law ought to die. John 19:7. There is no trying of the things of God by considering of Scriptures in the carnal mind, in the wise, reasoning part; but in the Spirit which wrote the Scriptures, in the understanding which God gives, 1 John 5:20. in the wisdom which is bestowed on the babe (who lives in the simplicity and pure innocency that is in Christ), there the truth itself, and also the Scriptures (which testify of it) are clear. Now Christ did not refer himself to them to be tried by the Scriptures (for he knew what was in man, and he knew after what manner they would try him thereby); but he bid them "search the Scriptures," which testified of him, that so they might come to know and receive him, John 5:39-40. and none knew him, but those to whom the Father revealed him.

So the case of Paul's appealing to Caesar does not prove that Caesar was a proper judge in cases of conscience; but he was, at that time, a proper defense against the malice of the Jews, who most unconscionably persecuted Paul, under a pretense of zeal for God, and defense of their church and ordinances. And were you not in power, but an equal heathen magistrate over us both,  the QUAKERS durst refer their cause to trial, that they have done you injury, no more than Paul did the Jews. Indeed Paul preached that which was the end of the law, and the overturning of the Jewish state: and if their priests and rulers had had him to judge, they would have made him as great an offender as you now make the QUAKERS. Now if your religion stand upon such a bottom as theirs did, and not upon the Rock, in the faith, and by the Spirit, you may well fear us; it is not without a cause; for this we certainly know, that all professions of God and of Christ, imitations and practices from the letter, which stand in man's will and wisdom, will not be able to abide the breath of this suffering seed, who love the testimony of Jesus, and service to his name, above their lives.

And as for an "erring conscience," there lies the dispute, whose conscience errs, yours or theirs? You say they have erred from the letter, the order, and ordinances of the gospel: they say you have erred from the Spirit, and therefore must needs have erred from the letter also (and this they are ready to prove according to the Scriptures, if you dare stand to a fair trial). And also that you are in a knowledge, faith, worship, wisdom, etc., which stand in the will and carnal part, and keep the carnal part alive. This deserves a meek and serious consideration in the fear of Him who can destroy the soul; and not such a bloody and fiery trial, as your proceedings and writings too much savor of.

5. That a regular defense of the truth by the godly orthodox magistrate, and others respectively, is not persecution.

Answer: To bring the sword of the magistrate into the work of Christ's Spirit and power, this is irregular; and it does execution irregularly, cutting down the person, and not the sin; whereas, the sword of the Spirit cuts down the sin, that the person may be saved. Christ came not to destroy men's lives, but to save; and if any man receive him not, or speak against him, he calls not for fire from heaven, or for a magistrate's sword, but waits to be gracious, and by the power of his Spirit (having once convinced and gathered) does he defend his truths and people. Let but the magistrate stand still with his sword, the Spirit of Christ will soon get the victory over error; and a sweeter and a better victory than the magistrate's sword can effect. Truth sprung up  without the magistrate's sword: yes, against it. So it grew, and so it conquered. The magistrate's sword here (though ever so favorable to truth) does more hurt than good, putting the true sword out of his place, and keeping down that tenderness of spirit, wherein the truth alone can spring.

That coercion was instituted for restraining of evil, we grant, (this is the same with the first argument:) but he that appointed two kinds of coercion, set each their limits, which they are not to transgress. See the answer to the first argument.

But whereas you say, that "tares and ill weeds need no more than being let alone to over-run and spoil the corn;" that is directly contrary to Christ, who said expressly, "Let both grow together until the harvest." Matt. 13:30. Surely he would not have his wheat in danger of being destroyed all the time till harvest; but he judged that plucking up the tares would more endanger the wheat, than letting them alone. ver. 29. Man may easily mistake, and pluck up an ear of wheat, instead of a tare; and better it were to let many tares alone, than pluck up one ear of wheat. You have long been busied in New England about plucking up tares. Are you sure you never plucked up any wheat? No, have you not weeded out the wheat, and left the tares standing? Undertaking a work so directly contrary to Christ's direction (and so without the guidance of his Spirit), you might easily thus err. Now what the tares are, is afterwards expounded: they are such persons as grow among the wheat, but are not wheat; but are to be gathered from the wheat with Christ's sickle, and bound up in bundles for the burning, in the day of his harvest.

Your comparisons of a gangrene, and the like, I wish you knew how to apply. The power of God's truth in the spirits of his people is no gangrene; but the form without the power is a gangrene, and, like Pharaoh's lean cattle, soon eats up the fat. And he who has lost his own tenderness and freshness, soon turns persecutor of such as remain tender, and seek to preserve their freshness.

In the days of the apostles there was a king in Israel; then the church was well governed, in the meekness and sweet authority and power of Christ's Spirit, which hurts not creatures, but strikes at Christ's enemy in creatures. Since that time, the Papists have  had a long day of doing what was right in their eyes; the Episcopalians, a day after them, of doing what was right in their eyes; and so the Presbyterians and Independents, etc. But it were better for them all to lament after the right king, than to set up a usurped authority in his absence. Carnal reason, the wisdom of the flesh, has got his seat, giving forth his meaning of scripture, and so (under a color of them) ruling over his flock with force and cruelty, and not with the meek, gentle, righteous scepter of his Spirit, which alone is appointed of Christ to govern them.

So then the magistrate's punishing of the QUAKERS is not regular by any institution of Christ; but only by a law of their own making, as it is further explained, p. 95. of this Appendix; the grounds whereof have been already examined and found insufficient to warrant them therein; which I leave to themselves, and to every man's conscience, to consider of, in the dread of God, the judge of all.

Upon the result of all, it may not be amiss to state the case between the governors of New England and the Quakers, which is briefly thus:

If the governors of New England had just cause to make such a law against the Quakers, and had a true, rightly-derived power so to do from God, who is the spring of all just power; and if the Quakers had liberty from the Lord to choose or refuse obedience to it, then their suffering death is justly to be imputed to themselves.

But if the governors of New England had not a just cause of making this law, nor authority and power from God so to do; and the Quakers had not liberty to choose or refuse coming there, but had an indispensable command from Christ, their Lord; then their sufferings and blood will be on the heads of the governors of New England, and will stick closer to them than to be wiped off by such kind of arguments and reasonings.

All depends upon your first step of proceeding. If that was without due ground, not in the fear of the Lord, without Christ's allowance and direction; without having duly weighed the thing in the true, unerring balance, but rather in the hastiness and stiff resolvedness of the flesh; then all your proceedings since have been but aggravations of your sin; and God might justly let you  go on thus far, to shame you even in the sight of the very heathen, among whom the sense and abhorrence of this cruel and bloody spirit cannot but make your profession of the gospel of peace become a reproach.

The Quakers came to you in the name of the Lord, to discover from him to you the evil of your ways; to convince you by his light of your departing from that which was persecuted in you in the times of your sufferings in Old England: but you would not meekly hear and consider of what they had to say to you from the Lord; but presently imprisoned and sent them away; and so proceeded further and further against them, till at length you came to drink their blood. So that in truth their testimony is the cause of their death; and judge in your own hearts whether this be not a persecution of a deep dye. It were better for you to charge it upon your own hearts, than to have the Lord charge it upon you, when you come to stand before him to be eternally judged.

There remains yet another Paper (printed here in England) called, "A True Relation of the Proceedings against certain QUAKERS, at the General Court of Massachusetts, holden at Boston in New England, October 18th, 1659."

THE arguments therein, whereupon they would have their proceedings pass for just, and not be accounted persecution, are these: "The authority of this court, the laws of the country, the laws of God, and their gradual proceedings."

Answer: Persecutors are very seldom (if at any time) without these pleas for themselves. Had not the bishops as fair a right to this plea, to cover their persecutions of the Nonconformists with? Could not they, in their day, have alleged the authority of their courts, the laws of their country (perhaps some not made directly to entrap either, as yours were), and had not they as confident a pretense to the law of God as these? And did not they also proceed gradually? He that doubts, let him read HOOKER'S" Ecclesiastical Polity," and other writings of the Conformists, and see whether their spirit was not more mild and Christian-like and their arguments more weighty by far, than those which these have used against the QUAKERS. No, have the very Papists themselves been without these arguments? Did they not proceed gradually  in Queen Mary's days against the martyrs? Yes, what pains did they take to convince them of their heresies, and to bring them into the unity of the true church, as they accounted it! But these arguments did not justify the Papists or Conformists in the sight of God (though they might justify their proceedings in the eyes of their own party); nor will they justify them to have gone one step beyond the Conformists. But as the spirit of persecution entering into the bishops and Conformists was the same spirit, as well when it was in them as in the Papists; so the same spirit entering into the Non-conformists, is the same spirit still in them, as it was in the bishops and Conformists. And the plea of the authority of their court, the laws of the country, with such a kind of pretense to the law of God, and their gradual proceedings, is no more, in truth and reality, a shelter for them, than it was for the other; though they, in their day, look upon it as a good and sufficient cover, even as the bishops did in their day, and the Papists in their day. Had they lacked this cover, the nakedness of their zeal and profession would have appeared to every eye: yes, their own consciences could not but have flown in their faces, had they put them to death so soon as ever they had come over, without any foregoing proceedings. But this is the nature of the persecuting spirit; first it seeks a cover to stop the mouth of its own conscience, and to hide its blood-thirsty actions from the eye of the world; and then its feet are swift to shed the blood of the innocent. But the same Lord God of truth and righteousness, who has unmasked the Papists, and unmasked the bishops, will unmask these also, and their nakedness shall more appear than the others', who would hide themselves and their own cruelty with that covering, which they themselves have judged in others. It is not therefore any of these, but the grounds of their proceedings must manifest them to be just; or else, notwithstanding the pretense to justice, their whole course of proceedings will prove in truth (and according to righteous judgment) but persecution.

Now the Grounds of their Proceedings they mention to be these:

1. "Their having received intelligence from good hands from Barbados and England, of the pernicious opinions and  practices of the QUAKERS."

2. "Their professed tenets" (how well you have acquitted yourselves herein, let all that fear God judge).

3. "Their turbulent and contemptuous behavior to authority."

4. "Their designs to undermine and ruin the order and peace here established."

Answer: He that is willing to receive shall never lack intelligence against the truths and people of God, even from such hands as he will be ready to call good (It is a remnant only that receive truth; the generality of professors in all ages are still ready both to send and receive intelligence against all the living appearances of it, and of God's witnesses to it). Nor can he who has already entertained prejudices ever lack matter against their tenets, behavior, or to charge them with designs. Have not these reproaches always been cast upon every appearance of God? Are not the vessels he chooses to hold forth his truths by still represented as persons of pernicious opinions and practices, their tenets charged to be wicked, and they looked upon as turbulent and contemptuous etc.? Were not the Non-conformists themselves looked upon as persons that would undermine and ruin the order and peace of the church; who for such trivial things would make such great rents and breaches, marring the beauty, and disturbing the unity, order, and peace of the church of England? Surely they cannot yet forget this, besides that common charge against them of contumacy against authority. These are but the old weapons of the old serpent (only a little new furbished by you for your own use), even the weapons which the bishops wrested out of the hands of the Papists, and which you have wrested out of the hands of the bishops, and they are no better in your hands than they were in theirs. They were good in their hands, so long as they had authority to make them forcible: and they have no more virtue in your hands, than what outward authority and power add to them. England was once overflown with this flood of reproaches; but now at length (this afflicted people waiting in patience on the Lord's will) they have much vanished, the earth helping the woman: and persons generally, who are any whit sober, and come to consider things in fear and meekness, find no such matter against them: no such opinions or practices or tenets,  but the truths of God received and held forth in his fear; their carriage and behavior meek and humble, void of turbulency, and contempt towards any, and they freer from designs against authority and orderly government, than any sort else whatsoever. This is well known in England, and it cannot be denied by the authorities and powers thereof, how we have still been like lambs suffering from all, not contriving, or so much as desiring, the hurt of any. The Lord knows the desire of our souls to be after truth and righteousness, and our expectations for the establishing thereof to be fixed on him alone, and not on any persons whatsoever, but as he pleases to appear in them, and work by them; and whatsoever happens in the mean time, is received as from his hand, who rules on high over all: so that our spirits do not so much as rise against any authority or instruments that persecute us; but we wait on the Lord our God, to advantage his truth, and bring about good to us thereby; and we pity and pray for all who know not what they do; blessing the Lord our God, who accounts us worthy to suffer for his name's sake, in bearing testimony at his command to any, though its should be but the least of his truths. Therefore take heed of going on in the hardness of your hearts, but know what a people (in the just judgment of God upon you) your lot has been to persecute; whose blood will stick the closer to you, and lie so much the heavier upon you, by how much the dearer they are to God.

And though you plead the safety of the people, as being the sovereign law; yet the Lord God knows whether you have aimed at the safety of the people among you in uprightness of heart, or whether you bring this in also as a further cover. There is a double safety the people may justly challenge from you. First, The safety of their consciences in a tender searching after truth, and further removing out of Babylon. Secondly, The safety of their estates, persons, and liberties, in this search. They did not fly from England to be persecuted by the prevailing part among themselves, but to enjoy freedom of conscience in inquiring after the Lord, his truth, and way of worship; and not to be tied and bound up in a form, exalted and established according to the opinions and result of the reasonings of the major part. Now whether you have preserved these liberties for them, and  really sought their safety; or whether you have persecuted, or made a prey of them for their conscience' sake (beyond whatever was done to you here in England, or beyond whatever they had been like to suffer, had they staid here in England), the Lord, in his day, will righteously judge. You have judged between cattle and cattle; and in that day you will see, that as his choice have been your out-casts, so your choice is rejected by him; and that as his spirit is the abomination of your eyes, so your formal way of worship is the loathing of his soul. Oh, that you had eyes to see it! that your hearts might not be utterly hardened against the Lord, his truths, and people, even to your utter and eternal destruction! Little do you see, poor deceived hearts, what a narrow step there is between you and the pit.

THE AUTHORITY AND GOVERNMENT WHICH CHRIST EXCLUDED OUT OF HIS CHURCH, etc.

MATTHEW 20:25-28.

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister: and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

HERE Christ cuts off that power and authority which grows up in the corrupt nature of man, which was ever and anon springing up even in the disciples. Here he wholly excludes it out of the church, and says expressly he would have no such thing among them; no such kind of greatness, no such kind of authority. Among the Gentiles there are great ones, there are princes; and these great ones, these princes, they lord it over the inferior ones, exercising authority and dominion over them; "but it shall not be so among you."

The Gentile-state was a shadow, even as the Jews' state was a shadow. The one of death, the other of life; the one of darkness, the other of light. The one was the image of Satan, the prince of wickedness; the other of Christ, the prince of  righteousness and peace. They were both veils, under which the two kingdoms were hid.

Now in the Gentile-state there were nations, princes, laws, governments, dominions, authorities, etc., but all in the fall, all in darkness, all in the transgression from the life. The whole state was corrupt, and there must be no imitation from hence, no likeness of any such thing in the kingdom of Christ, no such kind of law, no such kind of government, no such kind of authority, no such kind of anger with persons that transgress, no such kind of dealing with any, no such kind of detriment or hurt to any. There is nothing to hurt in the mountain of God's holiness; but there is a righteous scepter, a sweet scepter, a spiritual scepter, which reaches the spirit in the power of life, but touches not the outward man.

Two things are here excluded by Christ, from which all the mischief arises in the church (all the tyranny and oppression of men's consciences, and of their persons, estates, and liberties, for conscience' sake): first, greatness; secondly, the exercising dominion and authority by those that would be great therein.

Such a kind of greatness as is in the world, is the destruction of the life of Christ; and such a kind of dominion and authority as is among the nations, is the direct overturning of the kingdom of Christ. It sets up another power than Christ's, another greatness than Christ's, another kind of authority than Christ's; and so it eats out the virtue and life of his kingdom, and makes it just like one of the kingdoms of this world.

"It shall not be so among you." This spirit must be kept out from among you; this aspiring spirit, this lofty, ruling spirit, which loves to be great, which loves to have dominion, which would exalt itself, because of the gift it has received, and would bring others into subjection; this spirit must be subdued among Christ's disciples, or it will ruin all. The Lord gives grace and knowledge for another end than for men to take upon them to be great, and rule over others because of it. And he that, because of this, thinks himself fit to rule over men's consciences, and to make them bow to what he knows or takes to be truth, he loses his own life hereby; and so far as he prevails upon others, he does but destroy their life too. For it is not so much speaking  true things that does good, as speaking them from the pure, and conveying them to the pure: for the life runs along from the vessel of life in one, into the vessel of life in another; and the words, though ever so true, cannot convey life to another, but as the living vessel opens in the one, and is opened in the other.

Question: But how shall this spirit be kept out, or kept down, that it may not hurt the disciple in whom it arises; or if it do, that the hurt may remain to himself, and may not prejudice the church?

Answer: When this spirit begins to arise up in any, so soon as ever he perceives it, in that which discovers it, he is to fight against it; laying himself so much the lower, by how much he finds this evil spirit raising him up. He is to hearken to that which presents the cross to it, and so to come down, and subject himself in serving and ministering to those who are little in his eyes. Instead of reigning over them, let him lie beneath them: let him watch and know the life even in the meanest, and serve it; for that is his place. That which would rule is to serve; that which would be great is to be little; and the little one is to become a nation. That which is low is to rise; and you are not fit to rise with it, further than you can serve it, both in yourself and others. Therefore if ever you be aspiring, if ever you have a mind to rule, if ever you think yourself fit to teach, because of what you have received, sink down, lie low, take up the cross to that proud spirit, make it bend and serve, let the life in every one rise over it, and trample upon it; and afterwards that in you may arise which is fit to teach, yes, and to rule in the Lord: and so long as that has the dominion, you mayst be serviceable to the Lord, and to his truth and people; but if ever the other get up again, you must presently come down again, or the wrong spirit will get dominion over you, which with force and cruelty will rule over the life both in yourself and others. Thus, if a man be faithful to Christ, this evil, aspiring spirit, at its first appearance, may be dealt with, and kept down; but if it be cherished, given way to, and once let up, it will be hard bringing of it down afterwards. Therefore the disciples, or the church of Christ, are to watch over every such spirit, to beat it down, to testify against it, to turn from it, to lay it flat, to put it in its proper place; that is  beneath all, to minister to all, and so not to allow it to rise; see ver. 26. "Let him be your minister." This is his place, this is his work, by the authority of Christ. He that would be great, he that would rule, let him minister. Own him there; if he will lie low there, if he will be faithful there, you may have unity with him. But in that his aspiring temper, in his ruling, in his teaching by what he has gained, or what has been given to him formerly (if out of the present life) he is to be denied and turned from.

If this rule of Christ's had been kept to, antichrist's power could never have got up: nor the poor innocent lambs so often have been worried by the wolves. And, poor hearts! how simply do they come there, where they once tasted refreshment, to find wholesome advice, not suspecting what is got up there since, but give the dominion to a wrong thing, and so take directions from a wrong spirit, and betray their own simplicity.

Christ urges this upon his disciples from his own pattern, "even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but, etc." ver. 28. If any had right to be great, surely Christ; if any had right to exercise authority, surely Christ; if any was to be advanced because of any gift received, or because of any presence of the Spirit with him, surely Christ: yet Christ took not upon him this kind of greatness, nor did exercise this kind of authority; but he was a servant; he made use of the gift of the Spirit, of the power of life wherewith the Father filled him, to minister and serve with. He did never lord it over the consciences of any of his disciples; but did bear with them, and pity them in their infirmities. ("What! can you not watch with me one hour? The Spirit" said he "is willing, but the flesh is weak.") He did not hold forth to them whatever he knew to be truth, requiring them to believe it; but was content with them in their state, and waited till their capacities were enlarged, being still satisfied with the honesty and integrity of their hearts in their present state of weakness. Nor did he strive to reign over the world, or call for fire from heaven, when they would not receive him, or express indignation when they desired him to depart out of their coasts, or pray for twelve legions of angels when they came to betray him, and most unrighteously sought his life; but the life he had received of his Father he gave up as a ransom for his disciples,  yes, and for his enemies. Mark: he did not make use of what was given to him, to raise himself up above others, to make his word to stand for a law, and be received; but he waited till that was opened in his disciples, and in the people, which was able to receive his testimony; and he made use of his power of life, and the fulness of the Spirit, to enable him the more abundantly to serve, and to wait in patience for the fulfilling of the will of the Father. And though Israel was not gathered by him, yet was he meek, and patient, and at rest in the will of him that sent him; and instead of reigning over all, could serve all, and give that life (whose due it was to reign) "a ransom for many." ver. 28.

"His kingdom was not of this world," nor did he seek any greatness or authority according to this world, neither over the Jews, nor over the Gentiles, nor over his own disciples; but he served all, he sought the good of all: the life in him, which was to reign over all, yet here served all, suffered for all, and from all, and that was his way to his crown; who having finished his course, fulfilled his service, perfected his sufferings, is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high, where now he reigns over all, and is made a king by God in righteousness. And this is the pattern which all his disciples are to walk by. The more life they receive, the more they are to minister, the more they are to serve. They must not lift up themselves by their gifts; they must not hereupon lord it over others, or hold forth their knowledge or doctrines, and think to make others bow thereto; but wait in their service, till the Lord make way into men's hearts, and plant his truth there; and upon him also must they wait for the watering and growth of it.

Question: But is there to be no greatness, no authority among the disciples of Jesus, or in the church of Christ? Is every one to do what he will, to be subject to his own fancies and imaginations, to the inventions of his own corrupt heart? What a confused building will this be! Surely this will not long remain a Zion, but soon become a Babylon, even a heap of disorder and confusion.

Answer: There is to be no such kind of greatness, no such kind of authority; yet there is both a greatness and authority suitable to the state of disciples; suitable to that kind of kingdom whereof they are. There are laws, there are governments, there are governors, there is ruling, and there is subjection: but all in the Spirit; all suitable to that which is to be governed; but no government of, or according to, the flesh. As Christ's kingdom is not of this world, so the government of his church and people is not according to this world; but as that which gathers in his Spirit, and that which is gathered, is spiritual; so that which is governed is the spirits of his people, and they are to be governed by his Spirit, and spiritually, and not after a fleshly manner.

Thus Christ himself, though he ministered to his disciples, yet he also was their Lord and Master, and in the Spirit and life of the Father ruled over them. And thus the apostles and other ministers of Christ had likewise, in the Spirit, the care of the churches, and authority in the Lord, by his Spirit, to govern the spirits of his people: not to govern after a fleshly manner, by their own wills: not to prescribe to them in a lordly way, either what they should believe or practice; but, in the light and in the power of the Spirit, to make their way into every one's conscience in the sight of God, ministering to every one in the Spirit according to their capacity and growth, and waiting patiently for God to convey the food and nourishment, and to build their spirits up in the faith thereby.

"The spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets." Here is the government, here is the law of rule and subjection in the life. Every one feeling a measure of the Spirit in himself, is thereby taught to own and be subject to a greater measure of the same Spirit in another. He that has no measure of the spirit of God, he is not of God, he is none of Christ's: and he that has received a measure of the Spirit, in the same Spirit feels another's measure, and owns it in its place and service, and knows its moving, and cannot quench it, but gives way to it with joy and delight. When the Spirit moves in any one to speak, the same Spirit moves in the other to be subject and give way: and so every one keeping to his own measure in the Spirit, here can be no disorder, but true subjection of every spirit; and where this is lacking, it cannot be supplied by any outward rule or order, set up in the church by common consent: for that is fleshly, and lets in the flesh, and destroys the true order, rule, and subjection.

The apostles and ministers of Christ come from Christ with a message of life and salvation, with a testimony concerning the good-will of God, and his love to mankind; pointing out the way from death to life, from bondage to liberty, from wrath and destruction to peace and salvation. What they have seen, what they have felt, what they have tasted, what they have handled, what they have found redeem and deliver them, that they declare abroad to others, as they are moved, as they are sent, as they are guided and assisted.

Now that which they preach to is men's consciences in the sight of God. They open the truth which they know; they give their testimony in the moving, leading, and power of the Spirit, and leave it to the same Spirit to demonstrate it to men's consciences as it pleases. They are nothing, they can do nothing, they cannot convert any man to God; but the power that speaks by them, the same power works in other men's consciences at its pleasure. And here is the beginning of the government of Christ in the heart; when his truth carries conviction with it to the conscience, and the conscience is drawn to yield itself up to him, then he lays his yoke upon it, and takes upon him the guiding of it; he cherishes it, he cleanses it, he comforts it, he orders it at his pleasure; and he alone preserves it pure, chaste, gentle, meek, and pliable to the impressions of his Spirit. And as the conscience is kept single and tender to Christ, so his government increases therein; but as it becomes hard, or subject to men's wills, so another spirit gets dominion over it.

Therefore the great work of the minister of Christ is to keep the conscience open to Christ, and to preserve men from receiving any truths of Christ as from them further than the Spirit opens; or to imitate any of their practices further than the Spirit leads, guides, and persuades them. For persons are exceeding prone to receive things as truths from those whom they have a high opinion of, and to imitate their practices, and so hurt their own growth, and endanger their souls. For if I receive a truth before the Lord by his Spirit make it manifest to me, I lose my guide, and follow but the counsel of the flesh, which is exceeding greedy of receiving truths, and running into religious practices, without the Spirit. Therefore the main thing in religion is to  keep the conscience pure to the Lord, to know the guide, to follow the guide, to receive from him the light whereby I am to walk; and not to take things for truths because others see them to be truths; but to wait till the Spirit make them manifest to me; nor to run into worships, duties, performances, or practices, because others are led there; but to wait till the Spirit lead me there. "He that makes haste to be rich" (even in religion, running into knowledge, and into worships and performances, before he feel a true and clear guidance) "shall not be innocent:" nor the Lord will not hold him guiltless, when he comes to visit for spiritual adultery and idolatry. The apostles were exceeding tender in this point: for though they certainly and infallibly knew what was to be believed; yet they were not lords over men's faith, but waited till he who is lord of the faith, would open the way into men's consciences. They did not take upon them to be able to turn the key, to let in truth and conviction into men's spirits (as men in these days have been too apt to undertake); but directed them to him who had the key, there to wait for the conviction and illumination of their minds, and so to receive in, as they found him give forth to them.

"Let every man," says the apostle, "be fully persuaded in his own mind;" take heed of receiving things too soon, take heed of running into practices too soon, take heed of doing what you see others do, but wait for your own particular guidance, and for a full persuasion from God, what is his will concerning you. Though I know this to be a truth, yet do not you receive it, till God make it manifest to you; receive truth from his hand, stay till he give it you. Indeed the main matter in religion is to keep out the wrong part, the forward part; the bastardly birth from running into duties, catching of openings, and laying hold of promises; and to feel the heir born of the immortal seed, to whom all belongs; and that the other birth never afterwards get up above him, but be subdued and brought into subjection.

Again, says the apostle, take heed of doing any thing "doubtingly;" be not forward, be not hasty; wait for the leading, wait for the manifestation of the Spirit. Be sure you receive what you receive in faith, and practice what you practice in faith; for "whatsoever is not of faith is sin," being an error from  the principle of life, which is to guide; and thereby you lose ground, and dishonor Christ, and come under condemnation.

And so the apostle warns believers, to take heed of drawing one another on too fast, or of judging one another in such things as some of them might have light in, others not. He that eats, not to judge him that did not eat; and he that did not eat, not to judge him that did eat. Yes, in matters of worship, he that observed a day, and kept a sabbath, not to judge him that observed not a day, or kept not a sabbath; for the Jews, which were truly converted, were yet hard to be drawn off from the observation of their sabbath, and could hardly bear with the believing Gentiles, who were never taught to keep their sabbath with them, but were taught to esteem every day, and sanctify it to the Lord. Rom. 14:5. And those who esteemed every day, and dedicated it to the Lord (ceasing from sin, and resting to him: for under the gospel we are not to set up a new type, but to enter by faith into the true rest, which is the substance of what the other signified) could hardly bear with them who observed a day. Even in the apostles' days, Christians were too apt to strive after a wrong unity and uniformity in outward practices and observations, and to judge one another unrighteously in these things. And mark; it is not the different practice from one another that breaks the peace and unity, but the judging of one another because of different practices. He that keeps not a day, may unite in the same Spirit, in the same life, in the same love with him that keeps a day; and he who keeps a day, may unite in heart and soul with the same Spirit and life in him who keeps not a day; but he that judges the other because of either of these, errs from the Spirit, from the love, from the life, and so breaks the bond of unity. And he that draws another to any practice, before the life in his own particular lead him; does as much as in him lies, destroy the soul of that person. ver. 15. This was the apostle's rule, for every one to perform singly to the Lord what he did, and not for one to meddle with the light of conscience of another (undervaluing his brother, or judging him because his light and practices differed from his, chap. 14:10.) but every one to keep close to their own measure of light, even to that proportion of faith and knowledge, which God of his mercy has bestowed on them.  And here is the true unity in the Spirit, in the inward life, and not in an outward uniformity. That was not necessary in the apostles' days, nor is it necessary now; and that eye which so dotes on it, overlooks the one thing which is necessary. Men keeping close to God, the Lord will lead them on fast enough, and give them light fast enough; for he takes care of such, and knows what light, and what practices are most proper for them; but for men to walk on faster than the Lord holds forth his light to them, this overturns them, raising up a wrong thing in them, and the true birth hereby comes to suffer, to shrink and be driven back. And oh! how sweet and pleasant is it to the truly spiritual eye, to see several sorts of believers, several forms of Christians in the school of Christ, every one learning their own lesson, performing their own peculiar service, and knowing, owning, and loving one another in their several places, and different performances to their Master, to whom they are to give an account, and not to quarrel with one another about their different practices! Rom. 14:4. For this is the true ground of love and unity, not that such a man walks and does just as I do, but because I feel the same Spirit and life in him, and in that he walks in his rank, in his own order, in his proper way and place of subjection to that. And this is far more pleasing to me, than if he walked just in that rank wherein I walk: no, so far as I am spiritual I cannot so much as desire that he should do so, until he be particularly led thereto, by the same Spirit which led me. And he that knows what it is to receive any truths from the Spirit, and to be led into practices by the Spirit, and how prone the fleshly part is to make haste, and how dangerous that haste is, will not be forward to press his knowledge or practices upon others, but rather wait patiently till the Lord fit them for the receiving thereof, for fear lest they should receive and practice too soon, even in that part which cannot serve the Lord. And this I can truly say concerning myself, I never found my spirit forward to draw any, either to any thing I believed to be true, or to any practice or way of worship I observed or walked in; but desired that the power and leadings of life might go before them, and was afraid lest men should receive things from my hand, and not from the Lord's. Yes, and this I very well remember, that when I walked in the way of  Independency (as it has been commonly called) I had more unity with, and more love towards, such as were single-hearted in other ways and practices of worship (whose spirits I had some feeling of in the true simplicity, and in the life) than with divers of such who were very knowing and zealous in that way of Independency, in whom a wrong thing in the mean time had got up, which had caused them to swerve from the life, and from the simplicity.

So that the true church government being in the Spirit, and over the conscience as in the sight of God, the great care must be to keep it within its bounds, that nothing else govern but the Spirit, and that the government be extended only unto that which is to be governed.

First, Care must be had that nothing govern in the church of Christ, but the spirit of Christ: that nothing else teach; nothing else exhort; nothing else admonish and reprove; nothing else cut off and cast out. Every minister in the church is to watch over his own spirit, that it intrude not into the work of God, that it take not upon it to be the teacher, the exhorter, the reprover, etc. And every member is to wait in the measure of the Spirit which he has received, to feel the goings-forth of the Spirit in him who teaches and governs; and so to subject not to man, but to the Lord; to receive from the Lord, to obey the Lord. Not to know any minister according to the flesh; but to receive and submit to what comes from the Spirit, in the Spirit. Not to know Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, but the Spirit ministering in them. Paul may err, Apollos may err, Peter may err (and did err, when he compelled the Gentiles to live as the Jews, Gal. 2:14. for which Paul withstood him to the face. ver. 11), and Barnabas also did err. ver. 13. But the Spirit cannot err; and he that keeps to the measure of the Spirit in himself, cannot let in any of their errors, if they should err, but is preserved. For the least measure of the Spirit is true, and gives true judgment; but he that receives ever so great a measure of the Spirit, yet if he keep not low therein, but lifts up himself because thereof above his brethren, may easily err himself, and draw aside others into his error.

Secondly, Care must be had that the conscience be kept tender, that nothing be received, but according to the light in the conscience. The conscience is the seat of faith; and if it be not  kept close to the light which God lights there, faith is soon made shipwreck of. Christianity is begun in the Spirit, which keeps out the fleshly part, with all its fleshly wisdom and reasonings about spiritual things; and as the beginning is in the anointing, so must the progress be. As the Spirit begins in the conscience, by convincing that, by persuading that, by setting up his light there, and leading the soul by that light; so that light must still be eyed, and according to its growth and manifestation in the conscience, so must the soul stand still, or go on.

The great error of the ages of the apostasy has been, to set up an outward order and uniformity, and to make men's consciences bend thereto, either by arguments of wisdom, or by force; but the property of the true church government is, to leave the conscience to its full liberty in the Lord, to preserve it single and entire for the Lord to exercise, and to seek unity in the light and in the Spirit, walking sweetly and harmoniously together in the midst of different practices. Yes, and he that has faith, and can see beyond another, yet can have it to himself, and not disturb his brother with it, but can descend and walk with him according to his measure; and if his brother have any heavy burden upon him, he can lend him his shoulder, and bear part of his burden with him. Oh! how sweet and lovely is it to see brethren dwell together in unity, to see the true image of God raised in persons, and they knowing and loving one another in that image, and bearing with one another through love, and helping one another under their temptations and distresses of spirit, which every one must expect to meet with.

If you are a Christian indeed and in truth, preserve your conscience pure and tender towards God; do not defile it with such religious practices, duties, ordinances, etc., as you do not feel the Spirit leading you into; for all such are idols, and exceedingly pollute you. And be tender also of your brother's conscience, and be not an instrument to draw him into any thing which the Lord leads him not into; but rejoice if you find him in simplicity of heart startling at any thing; for if he abide here faithful, his guide will in due season appear to him, and clear up his way before him; but if he be too hasty, he may follow a wrong guide, and that guide will never lead him aright towards  the kingdom, but entangle him further and further from it.

Oh! how many have run a whoring from the Lord! How many have first lost the guidance of his Spirit, and then drowned their life in religious performances! How many have drunk of the cup of fornication from the life, at the hands of the fleshly wisdom! How many have filled their spirit with New-Testament idols and images! How many have even hardened their hearts and consciences, by following the doctrines of men, their imaginary meaning of scriptures, and the imaginations and dreams of their own hearts! Is it not time for men at length to turn back towards the Lord, to wait for the visitation and light of his Spirit; from whom they have gone a whoring, and whom in all things they have grieved? And if ever any feel and enjoy the guidance of God's Spirit, their conscience must be kept tender to it, and ready to hear and follow his voice, who speaks in Spirit to that which is born of him, which infallibly knows his voice, and (being kept clear) cannot doubt concerning it. "My sheep hear my voice," says Christ: they know it, and the voice of the strange spirit they know not so as to follow it, but turn from it, both in themselves and others. But that which is not the sheep, but has only got the sheep's clothing, cries out, How shall we know the voice of the Spirit? We may be deceived. No, that which is born of God, that which is the elect of God, cannot be deceived. Wait therefore for the birth of the Spirit, to which the Spirit is given for a guide, who infallibly guides it out of deceit. All deceivers are out of this birth, out of this Spirit; perhaps in some birth or other framed from the letter, and living in the imitation of some practices and ordinances from the letter (under which cover they lie in wait to deceive), but strangers to the life and power, and to that wisdom which begets and bears to God. Thus the Jews erred, and deceived their proselytes before the coming of Christ: thus the Christians (in name) have generally erred all along the apostasy; and, indeed, for the generality, have not been true Christians, but only a persecuted remnant amongst them; whose life has been nourished and preserved, not by doctrines and observations which they have been taught by the precepts of men, nor by the knowledge which they themselves have gathered, but by a little bread daily handed to them from the Father of  mercies out of the wilderness; that was the thing which nourished their souls up to God, though many of them knew not distinctly what it was that nourished them, nor how they came by it.

Objection: But is not uniformity lovely; and does not the apostle exhort Christians to be of one mind; and were it not a sweet thing if we were all of one heart and one way?

Answer: Yes, uniformity is very lovely; and to be desired and waited for, as the Spirit of the Lord, which is one, leads and draws into one. But for the fleshly part (the wise reasoning part in man) by fleshly ways and means to strive to bring about fleshly uniformity, which ensnares and overbears the tender conscience; this is not lovely, nor spiritual, nor Christian. And the apostle, who exhorts Christians to one mind, yet does not bid them force one another into one mind, but walk together sweetly so far as they had attained; and wherein they were otherwise minded, God in his due time would reveal more to them. Philip. 3:15-16. He that has, to him shall be given. And the intent and work of the ministry (with the several ministrations of it) is to bring into the unity, Ephes. 4:13. as persons are able to follow: and not to force all men into one practice or way; that is the way to destroy the faith, and the true unity, and at best can introduce but a fleshly appearance of unity, in such a form of worship and godliness as eats out the power. And for being of one heart and one way, blessed be the Lord, this is in measure known and witnessed. The way is one; Christ, the truth of God; and he that is in the faith, and in the obedience to that light which shines from his spirit into the heart of every believer, has a taste of the one heart, and of the one way; and knows that no variety of practices, which is of God, can make a breach of the true unity. This is the one way, for every one to be subject to that light of Christ's Spirit which he has received from Christ; and every one keeping here, there is also one part kept in the midst of all the variety, and diversity of practices. And the unity being thus kept, all will come into one outwardly also at length, as the light grows in every one, and as every one grows into the light; but this must be patiently waited for from the hand of God (who has the right way of effecting it, and who alone can do it); and not harshly and cruelly attempted by the rough hand of man.

SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE STATE OF THINGS

relating to what has been, now is, and shortly is to come to pass; warning all People to look about them, and to wait on the LORD for the unerring Light of his Spirit, that they may know the Times and Seasons, and the Work which GOD is now about in the World, which is Great and Wonderful; and so may not be found Fighters against GOD, his Truths, and the Witnesses of this Age and Generation; more particularly Lamenting over and Exhorting ENGLAND. With a faithful testimony concerning the QUAKERS.

1. THAT the spouse of Christ, the true church which God built in the apostles' days by his Spirit, the church against which the gates of hell could not prevail; the church which was the temple of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth; the woman which was clothed with the sun, who had the moon under her feet, and was crowned with a crown of twelve stars, etc. — this church, at the close of the fight between Michael with his angels, and the dragon with his angels, fled into the wilderness, into the place prepared of God for her, Rev. 12:6. having two wings of a great eagle given her, that she might fly there to her place; where she was to abide, and be hid from the face of the serpent, and to be fed with the living nourishment from the hand of the Father all the time of antichrist's reign, which is said to be a time, times, and half a time, ver. 14. or one thousand two hundred and sixty days, as ver. 6. or forty-two months, as chap. 11:2. And she was accordingly gone out of sight, insomuch as the serpent could find her no more, but "went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17.

2. That the true church cannot come out of the wilderness, till the time of her abode there (the set time appointed by God) be ended, nor then either, but by the out-stretched arm of the  Lord. Ps. 102:13. She may mourn over her desolate wilderness-state, but she cannot fly out of it, without the help of the wings of the same eagle, which were given her to fly into it. The Lord must pity the dust of Zion, and, by his everlasting strength and compassion, raise up the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, or it can be restored no more. ver. 16. Rev, 21:3.

3. That the state of the people of God, all this time of the true church's absence, has been a state of captivity. The seed has been in bondage in Egypt, the dark land, in Babylon, the land of confusion (for such all the church buildings, order, and government have been in comparison with the true order and government of the church by the Spirit, which was known and enjoyed by the people of God, before this her flight); where they have been mourning under the chains of darkness, and lamenting over their mother; for Zion has been laid waste, and Jerusalem, the holy city, has been trodden under foot by the Gentiles; to whom the outward court was given, when God took down his building, and secured his temple, altar, and the worshippers therein. Rev. 11:2. And in this state God finds his people, when he comes to overthrow her (to bring death and mourning and famine and fire upon her. Rev. 18:8), and to redeem them; for then the voice goes forth from the spirit of the Lord, to the spirits of his people, "Come out of her my people; that you be not partakers of her sins." etc. ver. 4. Why, were the people of God in her till now? Yes, till the very hour of her judgment, and are many of them in great danger of staying there, even till they feel her plagues. They that sit down in any church building, taking it for Zion, before God's season of building his Zion, sit down but in Babylon, it is no other; though they who have drunk of the false woman's cup (new-mixed for them, and so are enchanted afresh into some new, fine-painted bed of her fornication) cannot believe it to be so.

4. That when God redeems his people out of Babylon, he brings them not immediately unto Zion (not immediately into a built city), but into the wilderness where the church lies unbuilt, where they are prepared and fitted for the holy land, and circumcised in spirit before their entrance. There is a long travel from  Babylon to Zion; wherein the hasty spirit, the rough spirit, the exalted spirit, the murmuring spirit; the self-will, self-worship, self-wisdom, knowledge, and righteousness (all which are of great price in Babylon) are cut down; and the spirit broken, emptied, made poor, deeply humbled, and so prepared for God's holy hill. When a Babylonish building or way of worship is discovered, man would eagerly have another ready, to put in the place of it so soon as it is pulled down. Thus man's wisdom would order it, but the Lord will not have it so; but there must be a season of desolation, of stripping, of nakedness, of being unclothed of all the purple and scarlet dye of Babylon. Rev. 17:4. A pulling off the ornaments of all the knowledge, worship, ordinances, duties, experiences, etc., which are held and practiced out of the pure life. And in this state of misery and sore distress, the Lord lays the foundation of the new heavens, and of the new earth, in the spirits of his people; which, when it is finished, then at length he says to Zion, "You are my people." IsAnswer: 51:16.

Observe therefore the error of the reformations since the apostasy. They have been still building too fast, and not waiting on God to be hewn and squared, and fitted for his building. The reformed churches have still been built of stones before they were made ready for the building. They have not waited their time of preparation in the wilderness, nor have they waited for God's building them up into a temple, nor for the time and season wherein it is God's pleasure to build. So that though they did well in separating from that which was corrupt and manifestly evil; yet they did not well in making haste into another way of their own forming, but should have waited for God's manifestation of the good, and for his leading of them by his Spirit into it. And by this means it has come to pass, that though there has been a pure thing often stirring towards reformation; yet by an over forward hastening to build, the good has been quenched, and the evil has again (under a new cover or form of worship) overgrown it, and then has been ready to revile and persecute the good in others: but this the eye which is overtaken with the appearing beauty of its building (having concluded it to  be according to the will of God revealed in the Scriptures) cannot discern.

5. That when Zion is rebuilt, when the church its heaven is again stretched forth (wherein she was seated before she fled into the wilderness, Rev. 12:1), those that are God's faithful witnesses (into whom the Spirit of life has entered, and whom he has caused to stand upon their feet) shall ascend up to heaven in a cloud, which their very enemies shall behold. Rev. 11:12. And this was done in the time of a great earthquake, wherein the tenth part of the city fell. ver. 13. The shaking at this time is very great in this nation; let them mark what will be the issue, and observe whether (notwithstanding all the seeming contrarieties) the Lord God does not so order it, as to bring a considerable part of Babylon down, and of the powers that uphold her.

The people of God, all this time of antichrist's reign, have been a suffering people. The tender-hearted everywhere (whose souls could only bow to the Lord, who could not receive doctrines from men, or fall into worships and practices at the will of man) have lain open to church censures, as they call them, and to the magistrates' indignation, under the names of heretics, blasphemers, seducers, and disturbers of the peace, both of church and state: and indeed, so far as any have tasted of the true light and power of Christ, and have been called forth by him to be his witnesses, they could not but be disturber of the carnal peace and security of the anti-christian congregations against whom they witnessed. When the true church fled into the wilderness, the serpent cast a flood after her: she was reproached and blasphemed for a harlot, a strumpet, one that was not the lamb's wife, as she pretended. Rev. 12:15. For the dragon which persecuted her (having now gained her ground) had set up another woman for the true church, and had decked her richly, Rev. 17:4. insomuch as she was admired for her beauty by all the kings and inhabiters of the earth, ver. 2. but she which was indeed the true woman was trampled upon and despised, even by all the outward worshippers in the outward court all over the world. Rev. 11:2. And if  those of the synagogue of Satan could contend to be the true Jews, and the true church, even while the true church was standing, Rev. 3:9. no marvel though they carry it clear in their several forms and disguises in the time of her flight and absence, especially they appearing both in the place where she once was, and in her very dress: and here is the eye of God's Spirit, and of the wisdom he gives to his babes, tried, even to discern and fly from her there. Let her paint ever so often, change her dresses in every hour of reformation, come nearer and nearer into the likeness of the true church; yet that which is born of the truth espies her; and the young man whose ear is kept open to the voice of wisdom, which utters itself in the immortal seed, escapes her bed, and is not defiled with the great whore, nor with any of her women or daughters, who are born of her after her spirit, though they deny her, and seem much to differ from her according to the flesh. Rev. 14:4. Enter into the mystery of life (from out of the reach of the spirit of witchcraft), and read me here, that in the true eternal light of all the living, you may perceive the mystery of deceit and escape as a bird from the snare, and live. Now the true church being thus fled, what becomes of her seed? They must needs be scattered; they can no more be found in a body as before; there is now but a remnant left which "keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," and these the dragon applies himself still to manage the war against. Rev. 12:17. And the beast (to whom the dragon gave his power, Rev. 13:2. and upon whom the false church was found sitting even to the very last, Rev. 17:3.) did not only make war with the saints, but also overcame them: and this power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. ver. 7. of chap. 13. So that the holy city was to be kept down and trampled under foot by the false worshippers, under one form or appearance of church worship or other, all the time of the beast's reign. Rev. 11:2. And as the beast did kill them, so the woman that sat upon the beast drank their blood. Rev. 17:6. For mark; the dragon, the first beast, the second beast with the false church, are all in unity together, and drive on their war and design, under disguises, and  appearances of truths and church worship and discipline, against the Lamb and his followers; against every appearance of Christ in his truth and people. And every where, where he can get into any form without the power, there he manages his war by the form against the power. Thus in Popery, by crying up holy church, he knocks down all the springings-up of truth there; so in Episcopacy, by crying up that form, how did he knock down the buildings-up of the true life and power there also! And if he be driven out there, then he stands ready to enter into the next form, either of Presbytery or Independency, that he may not lack the advantage of a cover to keep his war on foot still against the saints and the truths of Christ: and here lies his strength; and the liker his form is to that which once was true, the better it serves to cover him; and he has better advantage of fighting under it against Christ, his truths and people, than under another which is not so like. But antichrist's reign who has taken the name upon him without the nature, and so persecuted the true nature, being covered with the name) is to have an end; yes, (blessed be the Lord) it is in part ended, and the Lamb's day is already begun, the out-stretched arm of the Lord's everlasting power is revealed, and revealing more and more: yes, Babylon is already discovered, her waters are dried up, her nakedness under all her covering is seen, her very life and spirit are struck at, her kingdom totters daily; the stakes also of Zion's tabernacle are strengthening daily, and the Lord is stretching out her curtains, and enlarging her territories: and the wrath issues out more and more from the throne, and dreadful woes and plagues are prepared for them, who are either upholding any old likenesses of what once was true, or setting up any new ones in this day of God's power, wherein he is redeeming and bringing forth the life itself.

Is it not plain that the beast (or antichrist who sat in the temple of God, ruling there as a beast by outward force, without the inward life and power. 2 Thes. 2:4.) had power given him to continue his war against the saints, till the very expiration of the forty-two months? Rev. 13:5. And was not this power given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations? ver. 7. Did not  the false church, or false woman, till the very end of this time (in one appearance or other, under some form of worship or other; sometimes in a grosser and more loathsome, sometimes in a finer and more taking dress), still go for the true church, being upheld by the kings and inhabitants of the earth, who all drank of her cup of fornication? Rev. 17:2. 4. Was not the holy city (or true church) trodden under foot all this while in every kindred, nations, etc., by the heathenish spirit of the anti-christian Christians therein, who made a great show of zeal and worship in the outward court? Rev. 11:2. For while the holy city is to remain unbuilt, he that will worship in it, must sink into its ruins, and lie desolate with it; but he that will be building before God's time, rejects the corner stone, which lies hid in the ruins of this city, and so builds up a Babylon, to which though he gives the name of Zion, yet it is not so in truth; but Zion lies underneath, in the dust, trampled upon, and set at nought, by him and his building. Now, shall the forty-two months never have an end? And shall the holy city never rise again from under the feet of the anti-christian professors and worshippers of the outward court? Shall the walls of Zion never be built more? Or is it to be expected, when the Lord begins to build her up, and bring her forth, that ever any of the false churches should own her? Oh, fear therefore before the Lord! every one entering into that in his own heart, which (being hearkened unto) teaches the fear, and breaks the pride, loftiness, and conceitedness of the high-imagining mind, which first builds up with apprehensions about church, religion, and worship, without the Spirit, and then is offended with that which cannot bow to those images. But be it known unto you, O nations and powers of the earth! that the Lord has raised up a people, whose knees can alone bow at the name of Jesus, and whose tongues can alone confess to him. And if Nebuchadnezzar's spirit should heat a furnace of affliction seven times hotter than it has yet been heated all this day of the cruel sufferings of God's dear people, and threaten all with it that will not bow to the image or form of worship which he sets up; yet this we know assuredly, that the Lord has begotten a seed which he can deliver, and which we do not  doubt but he will deliver, let antichrist's sea and waves roar ever so loud against them. But, however, bow to any image they cannot; for they have tasted of the living truth itself, which has made them free from such images and idols wherein they were before entangled; and the spirit of the Lord calls aloud to them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set them free, and not receive any more the yoke of bondage upon their necks, but to draw under the sweet, gentle yoke of his Spirit.

O England, England! how sad is your state! how great and mighty things has the Lord done for you! but you still overlook his hand, and are offended with the work of his Spirit, because it suits not with your fleshly desires and interests. O England, England! what will become of you? The Lord has kindled his fire, and you add fuel daily. The Lord is arisen to make inquisition for the sufferings and blood of his people; and you, instead of repenting of what you have done, are greedy of more. You have deeply drunk of the whore's cup of fornication, and that makes you thus thirsty after the saints' blood. You cry out against those that put the martyrs to death, as the professing Jews did against those that put the prophets to death; and yet persecute their spirit wherever it appears in further prosecution of the work of reformation at this day, even as the Jews did persecute the spirit of the prophets in Christ and his apostles. Oh, mourn to the Lord to open your eyes, that you may not thus stand any longer in his way! Let him bring forth his church, let him set up his truth, let him advance his people, and do not you go about to limit the Spirit of the Holy One in them. There is none of these will harm you, but bring blessings upon you. Let your governors keep within their bounds, and be a defense upon all people in their just rights and liberties, and see if from that day he do not bless you. But if there be one thing in the Lord's heart concerning his people, and another thing in yours; if he resolve to bring them forth to his praise, and to give them their liberty in their obedience to his Spirit, and you resolve they shall come under your yoke and bonds, how can you agree? Your wrath by this means must needs be kindled against each other, and that has most strength will  carry it. For as the day of your wrath is come, to see the people of God so increase, grow bold in his truth and power; so the day of his wrath is come, to see his people so reproached, hated, hunted, and persecuted, for his name's sake. Rev. 11:18. And take heed, lest upon that spirit which in this generation still continues persecuting, the sufferings, persecutions, and blood of all the saints and martyrs (shed all the time of antichrist's reign) be not required. The blood of all the prophets, from Abel to Zacharias, was required of that great professing generation of the Jews, who spake such great words of Moses and the prophets, but persecuted Christ and his apostles. Mat. 23:35. And the blood of all the souls that lie under the altar crying "How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?" They were bid to rest a little season, and then the blood of all that ever were slain since the apostles' days is to be required of that generation of professors, which are found, even to the very last, in the persecuting spirit. Rev. 6:10-11.

I do not write this to reproach any sort of professors; but in true love and bowels of compassion, that such among them as ever had any taste of God, and of his sweet, meek Spirit, but are now grown hard, and found smiting their fellow-servants, may (if it be possible) hear the Lord's voice, which yet tenderly calls after them, that they may not be cut in pieces, and receive their portion of wrath with Babylon. Mat. 24:49-51. Rev. 18:4. As for me, I am poor and weak (a worm, and no man), one who has been a mourner and wanderer in a strange land all my days; yes, I have been that fool, who though I have often been very near, yet still knew not the way to the city of my God. Eccles. 10:15. And at present I am very unworthy and unfit to be the instrument in the Lord's hand for the reclaiming of any man from his wanderings. Yet this I can, in truth and uprightness, say concerning the Lord's gracious dealings with me, that in the bowels of his mercy he has visited me, and turned my face toward his Zion: and his life and Spirit (as he pleases to keep me fresh and open) I know both my way and my leader; and also that which is mine enemy, which continually endeavors to  betray and devour me. And I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not. I know also what I have felt wrath and misery upon, and what the Lord has so long and so severely smitten in me, he will not spare in others. Oh! that men could hear, and avoid my bed of torment, which I suffered a most dreadful and terrible hell for many years (bear with me, for I cannot call it less), though without either guilt upon my spirit, or fear of wrath, being justified before God in my own conscience (till afterwards, under long continuance of misery and thick darkness, some guilt was contracted), and having a secret root of hope concerning good from God, if once I might appear in his presence to plead my cause there. Who can possibly believe the misery I endured (if it were related)! and yet it had not the least mixture of either of these in it for a long time. But after this, through the ignorance and thick darkness wherewith I had been long overwhelmed, not knowing what had been, and still was, present with me, the tempter by his subtlety got in, and led out my mind from what had visited and sought after me all my days, to wait and hope for some great appearance to set me to rights: and here my loss was very great, my soul being hereby removed far away from the present feeling of the spring of my life, and drawn to neglect the little dawnings of that light which shines more and more to the perfect day; having concluded in myself that no less would suffice to heal me, than its breaking forth in its full strength, even at noon upon me. Thus I despised the day of small things, and was seduced into a gaping after, and waiting for that, which is never so to be received: but the little seed of light being received, and finding good and honest earth, grows up therein even to perfection, and then knows and receives the light of the day in its full strength. And although there was such a savor of God left in me, that upon the first converse with this people called QUAKERS, I could own the voice of God in them, and set to my seal (as in the presence of God) that it was the true life and power of the Most High whereof they were born; yet I could not but despise it as a weak and low appearance thereof; yes, and started back from it, as being such a kind of dispensation of life and power as was to pass away; and the passing  away whereof from me had made me so miserable. And now I am as one born out of due time, and come lagging behind; feeling myself altogether unworthy to be numbered amongst them, or to bear a testimony to that truth and power of life wherein they flourish, and by which they are redeemed and bought out of the earth with the price of the living, immortal blood of Jesus, by which (together with the word of his testimony) they cannot but overcome all the powers of darkness (with all the powers of the earth, which stand in the darkness, and fight under the darkness), being taught thereby not to love their lives unto the death. But the scoffing, conceited professor will be ready to say, What! are those the only people? Others besides them are as dear to God as they. There are many in forms equal to them, and many out of forms far beyond them. Whereto I answer thus; Yes, there are so in the scale of man's judgment: but not so in the measure of the sanctuary. These are the only redeemed people that my soul knows of. There is a seed besides them, not yet gathered, but in Babylon, whom the Lord (in his due season) will gather into the same light, life, and power; but there is no other Savior but that light eternal which has given them life, and dwells in them; who is risen in them, come to them, and has taken them into himself; in whom they are, even in him that is true, who is the Son of God, the true God, and the eternal life, 1 John 5:20. who has poured forth his Spirit upon them, in which they minister and gather up to God those who have an ear to hear the voice of his Spirit. Beware, therefore, O you nations and powers of the earth, what you do against his people! for you cannot prevail by any enchantment against these whom the Lord has blessed; but the more you strive to vilify and suppress them, the more the Lord will magnify and exalt them. And the life which God has raised up in them must reign, do what you can against it. Oh abase yourselves, and kiss the Son, O professors and powers of the earth! that you be not cut off; for the Lord's hand is lifted up, and in his jealousy he will smite home for the sake of Zion; for his ear has heard the cry of the poor and needy, whom no man regards. Is Answer: 32:10-11.

A WARNING OF LOVE FROM THE BOWELS OF LIFE

to the several generations of professors of this age

That they may awaken, and turn towards the LIFE, to be truly cleansed and saved by its powerful, living Virtue, before the Storm of Wrath break forth, and the overflowing Scourge overtake them, which will sweep away the strongest and most well-built Refuge of Lies; and sink those souls even into the Pit of Misery, which are there found when the Storm comes.

HELD FORTH IN FOUR PROPOSITIONS, ASSERTIONS, OR CONSIDERATIONS, CONCERNING MAN IN HIS LOST STATE, AND HIS RECOVERY OUT OF IT

[1660]

PROPOSITION I

That MAN is fallen from GOD

THERE is an everlasting, infinite, pure fountain, and wellspring of life, from which all creatures came; from which their life, being, motion, virtue, and rest flow; in which they all have a place and standing according to their nature, estate, temperature, and course of operation in his eternal counsel, who made all, disposes of all, rules in and over all eternally; whose everlasting kingdom and dominion (which was before all, and will be after all) cannot be excluded by any power or dominion which arises after it; but only so far as itself has pleased, it has given way to that power of darkness, which is contrary to it; which how it sprang up, what it has to do, and how it is to vanish, is not for man's comprehension to fathom.

In this spring of life, man had an especial place and standing. The Lord had created and placed him supreme, under himself, over the works of his hands; gave him his kingdom here on earth under him, gave him his image to rule in, even a  sufficient measure of that eternal wisdom in which he formed him, to which he was to be subject himself, and by which he was to reign over and order all with delight, joy, and comfort in himself, to the praise and glory of him who formed all, and had given him dominion over all. Here was the sweet estate, the sweet peace, the sweet liberty, the sweet uniformity of all; all being kept and preserved in that life, virtue, wisdom, goodness, power, and love wherein they were made; the creatures naturally becoming subject to, serving and obeying man (man using them and ruling over them not in the tyranny, not in the lust, not in the vanity, not in the excess; but in the righteousness, in the love, in the meekness, in the moderation, in the divine wisdom, in the pure power and virtue of the life); man likewise naturally veiling to his Maker, walking in his light, living in his life, shining in his beauty, conquering and triumphing over all that might assault, in his strength, and continuing perfect and straight before him in purity and cleanness of the creature (not degenerated) towards his Creator and Preserver. Now what could man lack, having the spring of life so near him? What could he desire, in the purity, in the life, which the Father of life could have withheld from him? Had he asked in the Spirit, could the Father have denied him? And had he stood still a while in the life, out of the lust, could he have forborne asking in the Spirit? Had he not so suddenly been tempted to the tree of knowledge, surely he had eaten of the tree of life, and had lived for ever.

But man being in honor, lodged not one night (HE FELL THE FIRST NIGHT, read me who can), but became like the beasts that perish. He lost the divine image, and then had at best but the natural; but that depending upon the divine, the beauty thereof was lost too. He lost the eternal wisdom, he lost the spring, he lost the godhead, he lost that which was to reign over the creatures, and then he became but as the creatures; no, worse than the creatures. What he henceforth knows of God (as he stands in the degeneration) he knows naturally, like brute beasts (even by the natural exercise of his mind, with the faculties thereof, even as the beasts learn and know by their nature, after their kind); and in what he thus knows, he corrupts himself worse than the beasts. Let the Lord try him ever so much, ever so  often; drop down of the dew of heaven upon him, send him line upon line, precept upon precept, now a little and then a little, yet he still remains brutish, both in his understanding, receiving, and in his making use of it all. Still he forgets the truth, and loses himself in the image; gets a notion, an imagination, a comprehension of something into his natural part (which changes him not inwardly, but still he is the same in his root, ground, and nature), but the life, the eternal virtue, he is still estranged from, and so is brutish in all his knowledge and apprehensions of God and his truths; brutish in his worshipping of him, brutish in his belief and hopes, and his immortal soul perishes under all. Outward Israel was a true and full resemblance of him, who had many teachings, a pure law of worship and sacrificing, many prophets to reduce and restore them to the right path of holiness and obedience, but still they were erring in their hearts from the Lord, and his pure law of life; not knowing their owner, or their master's crib, so well as the ox or ass did theirs. IsAnswer: 1:3.

PROPOSITION II

That man, by all the imaginations that can enter into his heart, and by all the means he can use, or courses he can run, cannot return back to God again, or so much as desire it.

THE fall of man from God is such, that it has benumbed all his senses; yes, so bereft him of them, that he cannot feel his own estate. He is dead, spiritually dead; and can no more feel his death, his spiritual death, than a man naturally dead can his natural death. He is bewitched into a fool's paradise, where he has a new life, a new virtue, a new wisdom, a new kingdom, a new dominion (which is indeed but death); with which he is so transported, that he forgetts the old; and in this new spirit and estate cannot so much as desire after it. Men speak of the relics of the image which the first man had: Ah! poor deceived hearts! What relics of life are there in a dead man? What relics of purity in a man wholly degenerated and corrupted? No, no; the spiritual image, the divine image, the eternal life, the pure power and virtue is wholly lost; and there is nothing left, but what is captivated and destroyed through the degenerating power.  There is nothing at all of the eternal kingdom, of the spiritual image, of the divine life, to be found in fallen man, but a little seed; and that seed not so much as sown in the earth, as he stands in the degeneration; for the sowing of it is the beginning of the work anew. And now, who can read this riddle? The kingdom is within every man, and yet not so much as sown in any man, till the springing up of the eternal virtue, according to the eternal pleasure: no, the earth is not so much as prepared to receive the seed, until the Lord send his plough into the heart. So that it is impossible for fallen man to attain to so much as one true breathing or desire after God again; this must arise from the grace, from the mercy, from a new begetting (by the free gift) towards life, towards the divine image again; which was slain in man (and the impression of it on him wholly lost) ever since the foundation of the world in his heart, which God has set there, ever since he chose it. And, indeed, fallen man, degenerated man (would the Spirit of the Lord let him alone, and not disquiet him) likes his own estate well enough. The world being written in his heart, his thoughts and desires are centered there, and of themselves reach no further. Might he but have the enjoyment of the creatures without, and the enjoyment of such a kind of earthly knowledge and wisdom within, as he now aspires after, he would sit down in Egypt and Babylon, resting fully satisfied with Egyptian knowledge and wisdom, and with the Babylonish treasures (might he have enough of them); and never think of Zion, and the pure, holy land of life any more.

But when the Eternal stirs in him, when the pure Light opens at any time, then he has some little glimmerings of his estate, then he has some sense of his fallen condition, and some desire to remedy it. What does he then? Then he bestirs himself to get something to cover him, then he gathers stones, and makes mortar to build up a wall and raise a tower, that he may not lie open to the deluge of wrath; for, by this stirring of the life, he has some little taste and sight that he is not one with the life, but departed from it. The soul, being awakened by the opening of its own spring in it, begins to feel the lack of its spring. It lacks the true virtue, the true peace, the true joy, the true comfort and refreshment, the true rest, the true liberty, the true life, the true  light; and for lack of this, its estate is miserable; and in the stirring of the spring, it feels this misery; and in this feeling it groans, it mourns, it pants, it cries out, and the creatural, earthly spirit can have no rest because of it. What, therefore, does the creature do to still this cry? Why, it joins, as it were, with the soul; it uses all the means it can to attain that which the soul sees the lack of: it inquires after God, hearkens out after those that know him, studies the law, observes the statutes and ordinances, performs the duties, believes, prays, hopes, waits; no, what is it which the creature will not set upon in this distress (especially if the convictions of the eternal light pursue and follow him close) to still the cry of the soul, and to attain the price of the eternal inheritance, which is set before the soul; which the soul can never be at rest or satisfied without some assurance of, and progress towards? But all this will not do. Man, in all his own obedience, as well as in his disobedience, is shut out. "There is a flaming sword, which turns every way, to keep the way of the tree of life;" insomuch as man can, by no means, come at the way to the true life, nor enter into the strait and narrow path that leads thereto, but as he is cut to the heart, his life let out, and he dies, and comes into unity with that which slays him, and keeps the way from him. So that man, in his running to God, is thrust by; as well as in his running from him: in his willing and desiring after him he is rejected, as well as in his willing against him. "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." Mark: there is a birth of bloods, a birth of the will of the flesh, a birth of the will of man, John 1:13. all these will, all these run (some of them very hard); but they are all thrust by, and disregarded by the Lord, both in their willing and in their running. There are many found running the race, but one obtains the prize, which one is he that is born of God; to whom, when God gives the prize, he will say to all the other births (notwithstanding all their willing and running, their believing, hoping, praying, etc.), "Depart from me, I know you not," you are the fruit of a strange womb, not of my spouse, and so must not inherit my kingdom. And as all these will be cut short of the inheritance at last, so all that they do at present is loathsome to the Lord's soul. "The sacrifice  of the wicked is abomination; how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind." Prov. 21:27. His sacrifice, his worshipping of God, his praying, his reading of Scriptures, his meditating thereon, and of God and his works; his believing, hoping, waiting, fearing of threatenings, and applying of promises, etc., all is abomination. The wicked man, he whose heart is not circumcised by the Lord's eternal spirit, whatsoever he can, or does, sacrifice to God, the Lord loathes, and it cannot profit his soul.

Objection: Yes, when he does them in hypocrisy, so they are.

Answer: No, more than so. When he does them with an evil heart, they are much more abominable; how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind. But let him bring it with a good mind, with that which he calls the good heart, (for the circumcised heart, the heart of the true new birth, is only the good heart; not that heart which every false birth is apt to call good); let him bring it with that heart which he takes to be the upright heart; with an honest intention, so far as he knows; take his sacrifices at the very best, at the very purest he can attain to; yet then they are abomination.

And the reason hereof is plain and manifest. The fountain is unclean, the root in him is corrupt; and who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Make the tree good, and his fruit will be good; but while the tree is bad, the fruit cannot be good. Now can the holy God be pleased with that sacrifice which comes from the unclean spring? Can God own or approve that knowledge of himself, that faith, that love, that obedience, that integrity or uprightness, that industry or diligence, those prayers or breathings, which man pumps up out of the old cistern? No, all these must into the pit, with the common filthiness and pollutions of the earth; and when the Lord takes these aside from the several sorts of professors, what will be left in them? Oh, how many have builded up a wall, daubing it with untempered mortar, which will not stand in the day of trial, nor shelter them from the eternal flames! Oh, what yelling and roaring will there shortly be in such as by no means will be warned, but would be justifying of themselves in their false knowledge and practices, and reserving their fabrics of religion to the trial of the day! and the day will try them indeed; even to the bitter perplexity and  anguish of their hearts, when they come to see that there is now no way of escape; but they must lie down in the bed of eternal sorrow, misery, and torment; and in utter separation from that wherein they thought they had a large and unquestionable share.

PROPOSITION III

That all professions of God and of Christ upon the earth; all knowledge and beliefs whatsoever, with all practices of duties and ordinances of worship, save only such as proceed from, and are held in, the pure life, are but as so many fig-leaves, or deceitful plasters, which may skin over the wound, but cannot truly heal it.

THE wound of man is deep by the fall: he has really lost God, he is shut out of his commonwealth; yes, in that estate, he is altogether without hope (for the hope springs from God's visitation of him with his light, and from the living promise).

That which recovers man, is the eternal virtue, the endless power, the life immortal, the Christ of God.

Now, whatever knowledge man gathers (whether from the book of the creatures, or from the Scriptures, or any other ways) or whatever man professes, or whatever man practices out of this, it is but a cover of his own, but a formed thing; but his own image of truth, of knowledge, of faith, of love, of obedience, of worship; it is not the living truth, the living knowledge, the living faith, the living love, the living obedience, the living worship: and so it is but mortal, but fleshly; and when it comes before the eternal flames, it will not abide them, but vanish. "All flesh is grass;" all the knowledge, the faith, the love, the worship, the obedience, the righteousness, etc., which man (who is ignorant of the leadings and power of the life) can come at, is but grass; yes, the flower of it, the seeming beauty and goodliness of it, the very choicest of it in any sort of professors, is but "as the flower of the field:" it may make a fair show there, but when the Lord cuts it down with his sickle, and when his sun rises upon it with its burning heat, it will soon wither, and his fire will soon devour it, so that its very place shall be found no more. What will become of all the fruit that flesh has borne, when God makes bare, and cuts down the root? What will become  of all mortal knowledge of the Scriptures, mortal worship; the faith and obedience which has its root, growth, and spreading in the mortal part, when the Lord hews at it with his immortal axe? Do not deceive yourselves; there is nothing will stand but what is immortal, and that which is gathered into it, and so one with it. No knowledge, no faith, no love, no obedience, no worship, no hopes, but what spring from the seed, are gathered into the seed, and live in the seed. This will abide, when all that springs from man, and has its place and residence in the mortal part (and not in the true treasury) will come to an end, and disappoint all who have their hopes of the inheritance there.

PROPOSITION IV

That the living seed of eternal life, which God has hid in man underneath his earth, has in it the living virtue, which alone can heal man, and restore him to God.

THAT which heals of the death, is the tree of life, whose rind or bark, whose leaves, whose blossoms, whose fruit, whose boughs and branches, whose bulk or body, with the whole sap thereof, are all healing, and there is nothing else can heal. Let man catch all the knowledge that ever sprang from the life; if he could believe (I mean in the man's part) all that ever the life spake, if it were so that he could perform all that ever the life called for, yet this would not heal him at all: whereas the least virtue from the life, springing up into, and livingly retained in, the life's vessel, truly refreshes and heals. The seed in all its springings-up, and shootings-forth in the heart, lets out of its healing virtue. Let but in a reproof, a conviction, a judgment, a condemnation, which wounds that part which has erred from the life, yet even in that there is a secret, hidden healing of something else. The smitings of the righteous principle are as balm, and its reproofs an excellent oil. Your rod and your staff comfort me. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. In all the tearings, smitings, and rendings of the earthly part (with which the seed also suffers) and the faith in which these are received, is the present substance of the healing from the eternal virtue hoped for.

Now, who will be wise? Let him become a fool in the flesh. Who will be strong? Let him become weak in the man's part. Who will be saved by the eternal power? Let him cease from the man in himself. Whoever would be able, in the life, to do all things, let him sink into that in himself which is not, that it may bring to nought all things in him that are; that so it alone may be: and he by it being brought to nothing, will easily become all in it. This is the true way of restoration, of redemption; first to be lost, to be overcome, to be drowned, to be made nothing by that which is not; that that may come to BE in him, and he be quickened, raised up, and perfected in that, and so become possessor of the fulness. "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong;" but he that daily loses his strength, and his ability to know, or so much as to will or desire (even till at length he become nothing at all) in him is the corrupt at last destroyed, and the mortal swallowed up of the life. He, that feels the pure seed springing up, and by the growth of that is daily begotten, quickened, raised, justified, sanctified, circumcised, baptized, [is] fed in one part, and starved in another. When the work of begetting, quickening, raising, regenerating, justifying, sanctifying, circumcising, baptizing is finished in him, and he is thoroughly begotten into the life, quickened by the life, raised in the life, regenerated, justified, sanctified, circumcised, and baptized through the life, he shall have the kingdom, wear the crown, enter into the joy of his Lord, wielding the scepter of righteousness with his Lord in his kingdom for ever. Now this work is to be done in the heart, on this side the grave; for after death comes judgment for the things done in the body; and the tree is to be disposed of, according as it is found at its fall, either to the fire, or to grow and flourish in the land of life. Therefore be not slothful, but watch unto the movings of the living seed, that its work may be perfected; that it may arrive at its stature, and come to its full growth, and may finish its service and testimony, that so it may enter into its habitation, and receive you with it into its everlasting mansion, where every servant and constant sufferer with the seed shall be welcomed of its Father, and remain a partaker of their joy and fulness for ever.

ISAAC PENINGTON, THE YOUNGER

WHERE IS THE WISE?

Where is the Scribe? Where is the Disputer of this World? Has not God made foolish the Wisdom of this World? 1 Cor. 1:20

[1660]

THESE have always been the enemies and opposers of truth, and setters-up of false images thereof in all ages; the wise, the learned, the great disputants. To these truth has still been mean and contemptible, their eye has still over-looked it, and their imaginations have still out-run it, finding out something else in the stead thereof; for which they have been still able and vigorous to contend, and against the truth itself. And indeed how can the wise eye see that, how can the learned eye acknowledge that, which comes quite out of the way of its knowledge and learning, even in a path that it is not at all acquainted with? "Wisdom is justified of her children." Those that are wise to salvation, those that are learned in the Spirit, those that can dispute in the power of the life and demonstration of the Spirit, these know her habitation, and her out-goings, and can own her in every age and in every dispensation and coming-forth: but the wise and learned of this world are shut out of this wisdom, and in all their searches after truth cannot find her; and if at any time they do find and taste something of her, yet they cannot keep her; but the wisdom and learning and strength of the earthly part in them soon betrays and makes a prey of the simplicity that is in Christ, and of his pure gospel; which cannot be comprehended, nor will take up a dwelling-place with this wisdom, but brings it to nothing, tramples upon it, and keeps it down for ever, where it abides.

Three sorts of enemies, of the wise, the learned, the great disputants, Truth has always had. First, Of such as have denied the true form of knowledge and worship. Secondly, Of such as have owned the form, but withstood the power. Thirdly, Of such as have had a taste of the power, but afterwards erred from it; and so held that, which they had once a true taste of, in the unrighteous part, and likewise added to it by their own imaginations.

When Israel was in Egypt (that poor, illiterate company of  brick-makers) in bondage under that wise people, the Egyptians, with all their wisdom, could not own their God, or their worship; but their God was an unknown being to all that wisdom, Exod. 5:2. and his worship and sacrifice the abomination of their eyes. Exod. 8:26. And Jannes and Jambres, with other wise magicians, withstood the appearance of God; and Pharaoh and his people, with their wisdom, thought to have kept God's Israel from multiplying, Exod. 1:10. and to have held Israel still under their servitude, after the Lord was risen to stretch out his arm for their deliverance. Exod. 5:8-9. And how did all the wise nations still watch to make a prey of God's Jerusalem! how did they count the towers! how often did they think to divide the spoil! Judg. 5:30. IsAnswer: 33:18. how did Sennacherib and Rab-shakeh make her their own! and when the Lord did at any time give Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers, how did they think to keep her under for ever! The wise Assyrian, the Moabite, the Ammonite, the Edomite, the Philistine, the Amalekite, the wise Babylonian or Chaldean, thought to keep her under, as Pharaoh had done, even till their wisdom and knowledge perverted them also, IsAnswer: 47:10. and the prince of Tyre, who was wiser than Daniel, Ezek. 28:3. he also could insult over Jerusalem, and rejoice at her downfall and captivity. chap. 26:2.

But to come closer; come to Israel itself. That people, by all the wisdom it could gather from the law, by all the experiences it had had of God's power, by all the faith that was wrought in them upon deliverances, yet had not eyes to see, nor ears to hear, nor hearts to perceive; but were a people that did always err in their hearts, and did not understand the way of truth and peace. The prophets among them were still fools; yes, the spiritual man mad. Hos. 9:7. The priests were generally ignorant of the Lord (for though they had the ark of his presence, his tabernacle, his temple, altar, sacrifices, worship, etc., yet they did not know where he was, nor did inquire after him, but contented themselves with a form of knowledge and worship). And they that handled the law, knew not him who gave the law, and was the sole true interpreter of the law; but the pastors transgressed against him, and the prophets prophesied by another spirit. Jer. 2:8. They were wise, and did abound in their own meanings, guessings, and  gathered knowledge; but they knew not the truth, no, not of the letter according to the law, and according to that light which God sometimes caused to shine among them from his prophets. Hence it was that that people, with their rulers, their teachers, their priests, their prophets, were generally enemies to the prophets whom God raised up, hating, persecuting, imprisoning, stoning them, etc. The prophets of God (that spake his truth in his wisdom, in his life, in power, in the demonstration of his Spirit) they could not away with: these were fools with them; these were mad-men with them; 2 Kings 9:11. Jer. 29:26. these were poor, illiterate herdsmen and plowmen: they had learned men, that were brought up at the schools of the prophets, that could prophesy divine things, sweet things, that could open the law learnedly: these prophets and these priests the rulers cherished, and the people loved. Jer. 5:31, and 23:26-27. Ezek. 13:3, etc.

Yes, among that people, such as had a taste of the truth, as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram might have (for surely it was not a small matter that could so lift them up to oppose Moses and Aaron in that manner, and to stand out the contest with them even in the Lord's presence, Num. 16:18. but an apprehension of God's being on their side, from some appearance of his to them), and as Balaam had, whose eyes were opened to see the beauty of the tents of Jacob; yet these, through the prevalency of the fleshly lusts and wisdom, become enemies, and try always to prevail over Israel, even over the truth, and over the power. The Apostle Jude compares such to the angels that kept not their first estate. The angels that fell had a place and standing once in the truth; but they kept it not (they abode not in the truth) but fell from it, and so became devils, enemies to the truth from which they fell: so those that fall from the truth, from the power, from the living virtue whereof they once tasted, from the true wisdom which once appeared to them, and began to season and savor them, in their fallen wisdom they became the greatest enemies, the greatest accusers, the greatest opposers, and the stiffest maintainers of a false image of that truth which they once had some knowledge of, and some unity with. Thus it was in the Jewish state: now come to the apostles' days.

First, They had all the wise men of that age against them; all  the wise Greeks, all the wise Jews, the learned men, the able disputants of all sorts. The Greeks could not find wisdom in that knowledge of Christ which they held forth, nor could the Jews find power in it, 1 Cor. 1:22. and so one accounted it foolishness, the other stumbled at it. ver. 23. There were many sorts and sects of wise men among the Jews; but not one sort could own the truth, though they were looking for it, searching the Scriptures about it, and disputing concerning it. The very thing then in agitation and inquiry among them was, when the kingdom of God should come. The King himself directs them where it was, that they might know where to expect and wait for it, Luke 17:21. and in many parables opens it to them; but it was still hid from the eye of that wisdom wherewith they did strive to see, understand, and comprehend it. So that all the several sorts of wise men of that age, even those who were admirers of the law and the prophets, yet were strangers and enemies to the truth, because they joined to that wisdom, and to that learning and comprehension of the Scriptures, out of the sight whereof it came.

Secondly, For such as did own Christ after the flesh, such as were convinced by his miracles (as Nicodemus and many of the honester sort of the Jews were), yet Christ did not commit himself to them. John 2:24. He knew this faith and this owning of him which was founded upon the wisdom and ingenuity of the creature, would fail; and so he would not own it in Nicodemus, but bids him look after the new birth, John 3:2-3. nor in such as followed him up and down, upon this or any other fleshly account, but sometimes withdrew, and hid himself from them, Luke 5:16. John 6:14-15. and sometimes preached doctrines which stumbled them, and made them withdraw from him, John 6:66. And so in the apostles' days, there were many could get the form, and gain advantage thereby to the fleshly wisdom, to withstand the power. 2 Tim. 3:5. 2 Cor. 11:13.

Thirdly, There were such as had tasted of the heavenly gift, and of the powers of the world to come, and yet fell away. Heb. 6:4-6. There were such as denied the Lord that bought them. 2 Pet. 2:1. Such as fell from the love of the truth to the love of their vomit, and of the mire of the world again. ver. 22. 2 Tim. 4:10. Such as had a standing in the church's heaven (like the  angels which fell), but kept not their habitation, but were swept down from thence to the earth by the dragon's tail, Rev. 12:4. these are the noblest champions (in the earthly wisdom, and for a corrupted estate and false image) of all the rest.

Now as the prophets of God among the Jews had these enemies, and as the apostles also had these enemies, so all along the apostasy these enemies have been rife. The witnesses have a wise sort of direct opposers among the Papists, a wise sort of secret underminers among the Protestants, and also another wise sort of such among themselves as had some taste of the truth, but departed from the power of it into the earthly wisdom, into the earthly understanding; and this last sort fight more furiously and more vehemently against the truth, and are more subtle to assault it, and grapple with it, than the other two. Oh! there is no such bitter, deadly enemy to Christ and his Truth, as he who once had some taste of the virtue of it, and is now turned from it into the earth, into the wisdom and love of the world, and yet still holds some of the notion of that truth (whereof he once felt the power) in the earthly part.

To come yet closer. There is in every man, not thoroughly sanctified, that wisdom which is not of God; that wisdom from which God hides his precious truths; which wisdom lies ready to catch every discovery and revelation of truth to him, that it might improve it, and grow rich and wise by it. Now this wisdom cannot attain to the knowledge of any of the things of God: neither can this wisdom keep the true knowledge; but whatever this wisdom catches, it presently corrupts. The true wisdom, the true light, the true knowledge of Christ, is like the manna in the wilderness; it daily comes down from heaven, and must daily be gathered fresh. The true light springs from the life; and it must be held in the life, in the vessel which the life forms, in the new bottle, in the new understanding; not in the fleshly part, no, not in the natural part: for as the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 2:14. so neither can he retain them. The old storehouse, into which earthly things were gathered, must be burned up, and not made a treasury for the things of God; but the new understanding, which is given by him that is true, 1 John 5:20. which new-forms and preserves, and is all  in the natural. Sink out of the earthly part, and read me, that you may be able to say within yourself, and concerning yourself, Where is the wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the disputer?

The wise part, the knowing part, the reaching part in every man, will be putting forth its hand to gather of the tree of life; but what has it ever been able to gather? I know men may gather notions of any kind, of any sect, of any sort of profession, of any appearance or dispensation; but who is able to come near the life, to touch the power, the truth, the everlasting spring, or any stream or drop of water that issues from it? And he who has a true touch or taste thereof given him, can his wisdom add to it? No, can he so much as retain it? David had a true sense and experience of this, who cried out, "Oh continue your loving-kindness to them that know you, and your righteousness to the upright in heart." Indeed if he like not to retain the thing itself in his knowledge, he may improve the notion, and bend that to the temperature and disposition of the earthly part in himself and others; but this is not truth, but a dead image, or a dead remembrance of what once was truly living. Oh! how does the soul that is begotten of the divine breath, that is born of the living power and virtue, depend upon God for his continual breathings! There is nothing that has so much from God, and yet nothing is so little able to live without him. If he withdraw from it, it presently hangs down its head: no, if he do but so much as hide his face, it is troubled: and all the fulness, which it immediately before had from God, is not able to keep up its life one moment; but it pants, and fails, and flags, and withers, until a new supply of refreshment be administered to it. And he that knows this in any measure will not wonder at the distress and misery of such for lack of God's presence; and at their cryings-out after the spring of their life (even as the hart brays after the water-brooks), though they should have fulness of all outward things, yes, and also fulness of knowledge in things of religion, even concerning all conditions and estates. The thing that I lacked in my great misery, it was not outward knowledge, it was not experience of God's mercy and goodness; but this I lacked, the issuings-forth of his fresh life, and livingly to know where to wait for it, and livingly to know it when it appeared: for it was  still near me all the time of my darkness, and did preserve me, and appear unto me; but I livingly knew it not, but thought I would be wiser than others: for I saw many deceived, and so I would not own it in such a way as it then appeared in me, lest I also should be deceived like others; but waited for such an appearance as could not be questioned by the fleshly wisdom. And he that waits for that, and so despises the day of small things, cannot but refuse the little seed; and so, not being received into his earth, it can never grow up in him into a great tree; whereby the glory of the kingdom will be hid from him, and he shut out of it, when others enter into and sit down in it. Therefore, he that will be wise, let him become a fool, that he may be wise; let him receive that for his light, his king, his guide, which man's wisdom never did, nor never will, own. He that ever looks to enjoy the Comforter, let him receive the Reprover, the Convincer of sin, and wait for his law of judging him throughout the whole course of his sinful state and nature, passing along with him through the whole condemnation, until he arrive with him at the justification of the life, which the fleshly wisdom, nor any of his knowledge of the things of God (as they are held in the fleshly part) must never arrive with him at.

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

The wisdom of this world is precious in the eye of the world; and the wisdom of God in his poor, weak, despised earthen vessels is still foolishness with them; but the Lord so orders it, that he still justifies his despised wisdom in his despised vessels, and makes the wisdom of the world appear foolish to all the single and upright-hearted, who thirst after and wait for the revelation of his truth. Now two ways especially the Lord makes the folly of this world's wisdom appear.

First, In that by all their wisdom they cannot find out the true knowledge of God. 1 Cor. 1:21. "The world by wisdom knew not God." Though there be an exceeding desire kindled in them to know God; though they take all the ways that heart can imagine to attain their desires; though they study and meditate ever so hard; though they get ever so many arts and languages; no, though they read the very Scriptures ever so diligently; though they labor in the very fire; yet what they get, what they  gather, what they understand, what they comprehend by this wisdom, it is all but "very vanity." Hab. 2:13. It reaches not the immortal, it nourishes not the immortal, it satisfies not the soul, it refreshes not the seed; but only feeds and pleases the earthly part, the earthly understanding, the earthly mind, the earthly desires and affections; even the man's part, the man's spirit, the man's nature; which, though elevated and raised ever so high, is still but earth.

Secondly, In that all their wisdom cannot teach them to come down to, to submit to, to come into God's way of having their wisdom crucified, and that raised up in them which might receive the truth. This they can never learn in the fleshly wisdom. They may indeed come thus far, even to see that there is no way of entrance but by death; and to seek death (that they may enter into the life), but they cannot find it. The seed of Jacob, in his seeking, misses not; but this seeker never finds; to this asker it is never given, and to this knocker it is never opened: and that is it which makes this wisdom in every appearance, in every sort of profession and sect of professors, so rage at the seed of Jacob, even because it finds itself still shut out of the life, into which an entrance is administered to the seed. And how can that which would eagerly desire the kingdom, not but rage against that which takes the inheritance from it? How can every sort of professors but strive to slay the heir, that the inheritance may be theirs? Were it not for the living seed, and the living power and virtue, which breaks forth in them and among them, the religion and worship of the first birth might pass for current; but this is it which darkens the glory of all professions and professors upon the earth, even that living thing which God has begotten in his people, and his living presence with it, and blessing upon it. At this all the zealous sacrificers, teachers, and professors, out of the life, rage and are mad, and would break the cords and bands wherewith this strives to bind them unto God's altar.

Now look over all ages: Could the wise heathens stoop to God's dispensation to the Jews? Was it not foolishness and abomination to them? Or could the wise Jews stoop to the law within, to the word in the heart (although directed thereto by Moses, Deut. 30:14.) to learn there to do justly, to love mercy,  and to walk humbly with their God? Mic. 6:8. Could they wait there to have their hearts circumcised by that word of power, and so to be washed and made clean? No, were they not drowned in the outward sacrifices, temple, incense, new-moons and sabbaths, and such kind of observations, and could not hear the truth of the Lord as it was delivered by Moses, nor as it was opened by the prophets. IsAnswer: 1:11. So that this people, seeking to know the Lord from the letter by this wisdom, could never come to the knowledge of him; but the place of his light and wisdom was hid from them.

Again, when Christ came, and the kingdom was preached, and the everlasting way of redemption and salvation made manifest, could the wise eye in the Greeks, or the wise eye in the Jews, see it? Did not the Greeks shut themselves out by a wisdom above the letter (as they thought), and the Jews by a knowledge and wisdom which they had gathered out of the letter? How wise were they from the letter to reason against the King of life? "This man cannot be of God, for he is a breaker of his sabbaths. He is a Nazarite, and can any good thing come out of Nazareth? He says the Son of man must be lifted up; but we read that Christ abides for ever. He is against God's temple, against God's day of worship, gives his disciples such scope and liberty, as neither the Pharisees nor John gave their disciples; but reviles our strict and godly teachers and expounders of the law, calling them hypocrites, blind guides, etc. And mark with what a rough, severe spirit he reproves them; whereas they call him master, and speak mildly and gently to him." Oh! what Jew in that nature, in that wisdom, in that spirit, could but find matter and occasion of stumbling at Christ, even from the law and the prophets!

And as they stumbled at the true Christ, so have all the generations of wise men since the apostasy, all the learned men generally (their councils, synods, convocations, and assemblies) stumbled at the true church, looking for some such like building as had been in the apostles' days, and not understanding or observing how the Lord took down that building (as it had been set up in the world), and how he prepared a place in the wilderness for his true church, unto which he gave her wings to fly. Rev. 12. And how afterwards the false woman, or false church, got up in her stead, who, with a golden cup of fornication, bewitched the kings and inhabiters of the earth, Rev. 17:2. even peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, ver. 15. so that they mistook her for the true church, and went into her bed of whoredoms. Which of all the learned men, which of all the councils of the Papists has seen this? No, which of the Protestant councils or convocations or assemblies, has beheld the state of the true church? No, have not every sort and sect of the Protestants endeavored to build up some image or likeness of the true church; not so much as suspecting that she was fled into, and was to abide in, the wilderness for a time, times, and half a time? Oh, what darkness has covered the earth! Oh, how has God befooled the wise of every sort! the wise men of every age! the wise Protestants, as well as the wise Papists! the wise Independents and Baptists, as well as the wise Episcopalians and Presbyterians! and how blind and sottish are nations, and peoples, that still they think to find out the truth by having a synod, assembly, or convocation of the wise men gathered together! Indeed they are the fittest to rear up an image to please the earthly part of man, and the earthly powers and interests with; but truth never came in by that way, but the wise and learned have still been shut out from it, and have proved enemies to it. And whosoever comes out of the apostasy from the Spirit and from the truth, to the Spirit and truth again, shall find nothing so great an enemy as the wisdom in himself, and directions from the wisdom in others: for that which God leads is a simple, a weak babe, a child to the wisdom of the world; and he leads it in a path which is wholly out of the line of this world's wisdom, and knowledge of the Scriptures, as the path God chose in Christ's and the apostles' days was out of the line of the Jews' knowledge of the Scriptures. Such is the recovery out of the apostasy: it is hid from all the fleshly-wise men of this age, even as the entrance into the truths of the kingdom was hid from all the fleshly-wise men of that age. Happy is he who ceases from striving after the knowledge and comprehending of the things of God in this world's spirit and wisdom, and waits in the humility and fear of the Lord, first to be made a fool, that afterwards he may be made wise unto everlasting life.

LETTERS OF ISAAC PENINGTON

LETTER TO HIS FATHER

AH! DEAR FATHER,

Why do you so often give me occasion of mourning before the Lord, on account of hard and unrighteous charges from you! How often have I solemnly professed, that there was never any desire in me, or endeavor used by me, to draw you to this way [of religious profession]. All that is in my soul is this, that you might have the true knowledge of Christ, that you might indeed hear his sayings, and do them, and not set up your own or other men's imaginations and invented reasonings, instead of the sayings of Christ.

Now, though I am not for ways or opinions, but only for Christ, the substance, the living power of God in the heart; yet, because you stumble at these things, and, through prejudice, refuse the living testimony of God concerning Christ, the Rock, building upon that which you have imagined concerning the Savior, in love and pity to your soul, I cannot but say something; for who knows but God may, at length, give you repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, and to the disclaiming of the way of error.

My father lays down three reasons why he cannot believe this way to be of God.

1. God's way is a way of love, peace, and unity.

Answer. If my father had that eye which can see the things of God, and did apply himself to look therewith, he might see that peace, that love, that unity, among this people, which other men do but talk of; but if he take things by the report of the enemies both to God and to them, he shall be sure to hear and believe bad enough. They have no war with any thing but unrighteousness; and with that they cannot have peace, no, not in their dearest relations. They love the souls of their enemies, and think no pains or hazard too great for the saving of them. Being persecuted, they bless; being reviled, they entreat, and pray for their persecutors. They are at unity with whatever is of God; but with the seed of the serpent, they cannot be at unity: they know the "generation of vipers" in this present age, and can witness against them under their several painted coverings, as freely as ever Christ and his apostles did against the Scribes and Pharisees. For the spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees is now in the world; and the spirit of Christ and his apostles is also in the world; and they cannot but fight, each with their proper weapons: the one with their stocks, whips, fines, prisons, etc., the other with the spiritual armor of Christ. Thus the one of these wrestles with flesh and blood, fights with the creature, hurts that; the other loves the creature, seeks the saving of it, and fights only with the power of darkness, which rules the creature. Now which of these are the ministers of Christ? These that stir up the magistrate to afflict the body, or these that use the sword of the Spirit to wound the conscience?

And this peace, this love, this unity, they attain, not by their own strivings after it, but by receiving it from above. Indeed all our religion lies in receiving a gift: without which, we are nothing, and can do nothing; and in which, nothing is too hard for us. Yes, being kept in that, up to God, we can do all things, we can believe all things, we can suffer all things. Never was there a generation brought forth weaker in themselves, more foolish, more ridiculous to the fleshly wisdom, more exposed to sufferings from the world and worldly professors; yet, being kept faithful to Him that has called us, we sometimes feel strength and wisdom, even such as the most zealous in the worldly ways  of religion have not an ear to hear the relation of.

2. God's way is a way of humility.

Answer. If they had not been broken and humbled by God, they could never have entered into this way; which is that which the lofty, fleshly part abhors. Nor is this a voluntary humility; but a humility which crosses and breaks the will all the day long. You judge at a distance, and with that which is not to judge, but to be judged.

3. That God is a God of order, not of confusion.

Answer. Blessed be the Lord, who has recovered some of the true churches' order for us; and delivered out of the confusion of antichrist. We know order in the light, order in the Spirit, order in Christ, the truth; but that which man in his wisdom, calls order, is but antichrist's order, which, with God, is confusion. To have man's spirit speak and God's Spirit stopped, this is the order of all the anti-christian congregations and churches; but to have man's spirit stopped and God's Spirit speak, this is the order of Christ's church; and this order we know, and rejoice in, finding that raised in us, which teaches us to "cease from man," and his voice [as man] is not at all "accounted of;" but the voice of the living God is heard, known, loved, and obeyed, by that which he has quickened in us, and made to live to himself. The Lord is judging that which loved man's meanings and inventions, all that the human part in us could gather from the Scriptures, and is nourishing that which is of himself, that which can receive no food but from his hand.

My father does not believe that Mr. Gurden (as the world calls him), or any other godly man, does persecute them for their consciences.

Answer. I know no godly man can persecute. The lamb never did worry the wolf. But the grossest persons will not acknowledge that they persecute for conscience; but accuse those whom they persecute, for evil-doers, and say they suffer as evil-doers. Cannot my Father see the narrowness of this covering? — Would the Scribes, and Pharisees, and zealous among the Jews, confess that they put Christ and Stephen to death for conscience? Did they not put them to death as evil-doers, as blasphemers, as  speaking against the holy temple of God, the laws and ordinances of Moses? Ah! —, the children of wisdom were never justified by that wisdom wherewith you judge of things. The Scribes and Pharisees were as confident that Christ and his disciples were deceivers, and that they brought up a new way of religion contrary to Moses, as any can be that these people are deceivers, and that their way is new. The scene is turned; the same things that were then are now; and the eye of that spirit is as blind now as it was then: it cannot see its own deceit.

The last part of the letter consists of very harsh and unrighteous charges, mixed with bitter expressions, which I shall pass over – only I confess it is somewhat hard to one part of me, that my own father should deal thus with me.

About having comfort in me, and wishing me more comfort in my son, I must needs say this. There is a part which God has struck at, and is destroying, and I have no comfort here, and that is able to yield little comfort to any one else. — If I were in any formal way of religion, I might be a comfort to my father (for he could be gratified with that, or at least bear with that); but because the Lord has seized upon my heart by the power of his Truth, and I can bow to none but him (no, not to my most dear father), now I am no comfort. I am sure I have had little comfort all my days, in seeing my father's course of religion, which I ever could testify of, as not being of God (yes, my late dear mother would often bewail it to me); and many times have I poured out my soul before the Lord. — Yet hear my words, O my father, hear my words. Oh! pierce into the nature of things. Set not up shadows instead of the truth. Wait for the gift. Receive the true love, the true peace, the true unity, the true humility, (which lies not in the will of the creature, but destroys it), and we shall soon know one another, and have comfort in one another.

I.P.

14th of 12th Month, 1658

APPENDIX A

Additional Testimonies for Isaac Penington

The Testimony of WILLIAM PENN, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

As the memory of the just is blessed, so to me there seems a blessing upon those that have a right remembrance of them: wherefore, to the memory of this just man, my dear friend and relation, Isaac Penington, I do, with a sincere and religious affection, dedicate this ensuing testimony.

And first, give me leave to say something of his manly capacity: the best comes after.

He was well descended as to his worldly parentage, and born heir to a fair inheritance; his education was suitable to his quality among men, having all the advantages the schools and universities of his own country could give him, joined with the conversation of some of the knowingest and considerablest men of his own time. But his natural abilities, the gifts of his Creator, they excelled: he was a man quick in apprehension, fruitful in conception, and of a lively wit and intelligence, all adorned with an extraordinary mildness: that as other men are wont to show their pregnancy by sharpness, he manifested his with an engaging sweetness.

His father's station in public business gave him pretense enough to share of the world's greatness; but, which brings me to his better and religious capacity, he, with blessed meek Moses, refused the Egyptian glory of the world, and chose rather a life dedicated to an inquiry after God, and holy fellowship with him and his despised Israel.

Very early did the Lord visit him with a more than ordinary manifestation of his love; and it had that good effect upon him, that it kept him both from the evils, and vain worships of the world; and he became the wonder of his kindred and familiars for his awful life, and serious and frequent retirements, declining all company that might interrupt his meditations; and by giving himself over to a life of mourning and pilgrimage, he was as unpleasant to them, as the world was to him. Nor did this sorrow flow from a sense of former vice; for he was virtuous from his childhood; but with holy Habakkuk, from the dread he had of the majesty of God, and his desire to find a resting-place in the great day of trouble. Nothing in these exercises gave him ease or comfort, but the smiles of God's countenance upon his soul; and that it was he thirsted after with a perpetual solicitation; first,  "How shall I appear?" and then, "Oh that I may appear before God!"

His inward exercises and enjoyments being of a very peculiar nature, made him take but little comfort in any of the religious societies then known to him. He was as one alone; for he saw so much of that uncircumcised and uncrucified flesh (which is as grass) profess the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom; I mean people but under ordinary convictions, that had never known Jacob's troubles, nor the fear and trembling with which the true salvation is wrought; and that the spirit and abilities of man took up so great a part and share in religious duties among them, and the spirit of the Lord so little, if any at all; that he felt them of little or no use to him. On the contrary, he was often burdened with them, and pressed in spirit to lay open their carnal state under a Christian profession; and though they held the notions of the truth, it was not in the precious and experimental sense of the holy virtue and life of the truth; insomuch that he found it his duty to endeavor to break their false peace, and bewilder their lofty wisdom and profession; rather approving of a state of humble doubting, than hypocritical confidence; and that waiting for the Lord's coming in spirit, without sin, to the salvation of the soul, that people may truly know the Lord and his work, and from thence speak forth his praise to others, than profess the enjoyments of other saints, that had been obtained through great tribulations, when they had never known any such thing in themselves, and so had no true sense of God's inward work, nor the true sacrifice of God's preparing to offer to him, which only is accepted with him.

This drew reproach upon him, as a man singular and censorious, from the worldly professors; particularly the clergy (that common eclipse between God and the souls of people); yet those that with him waited for the consolation of Israel, and the coming of the Son of man in power and great glory, they found him out, valued and honored him, and sweet was their fellowship to him; who boasted in nothing more than that they had nothing to boast of, while the Laodicea of their age thought she lacked nothing: and in that emptiness they waited to be filled of him that fills all things at his coming and kingdom, that they might be the witnesses of his resurrection and appearance. Some of them died before that blessed time came; some saw it, and were glad, and with good old Simeon departed in peace: and others lived to see the glory of that blessed day both dawn and break forth upon them, to their admiration and comfort; among whom my dear father-in-law, Isaac Penington, was not the last, nor least of note.

About the year 1657, it pleased the Lord to send him a Peter to  declare to him, that the time of the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit, and breaking forth of the heavenly work of God in the souls of men and women was come; and many Aquilas and Priscillas came after, who instructed him in the way of God more perfectly. And however he was advanced above many in his knowledge of scripture, and had formerly received many heavenly openings of truth's mysteries in the soul; yet did the Lord's way of appearance disappoint his expectation; and when the light broke forth in his heart, which his sincerity longed for, he found a great mixture, and that he had much to lose and part with, before he came to be that blessed little child (that new and heavenly birth) which inherits the kingdom of God; which made him cry, "Narrow is the way, and strait is the gate, indeed, that leads to life."

But to the glory of the living God, and praise of this just man's memory, let me say, neither his worldly station, the most considerable of any that had closed with this way, nor the contradictions it gave to any former conceptions, nor the debasement it brought upon his learning and wisdom, nor yet that reproach and loss that attended his public espousing of it, did deter him from owning, and cordially embracing of it; but with a humble and broken spirit, he fell before this holy appearance of Jesus, that true light of men, whose power and life he felt revealed in him, to the saving of his soul; and boldly owned and confessed this spiritual coming of the great Messiah, that was able to teach him all things: to his Name his knee truly bowed, and the scripture was in him fulfilled; with Nathaniel he cried, "you are the Son of God! you are the king of Israel!" Now he saw clearly between the precious and the vile in himself, between that which was truly of God, and that which was merely of man, in his former exercises; and he was not stiff nor stout in defense of his own building, and former conceivings: no; but sold all for the pearl, and became willingly a poor man in spirit, that so he might enter into the kingdom of God. Thus parting with all he had not received of God, he received a new stock from heaven, wherein God prospered him; the dew of heaven rested upon his branch and root, and he grew rich and fruitful in all heavenly treasure; "full of love, faith, mercy, patience, and long-suffering; diligent in the work of the Lord, and exemplary in his duty to God and men." Insomuch, that I may say he was one of a thousand; zealous, yet tender; wise, yet humble: a constant and early comer to meetings, and watchful and reverent in them: one that ever loved power and life more than words; and as for that he waited, so would he be often deeply affected with it, and made to utter such testimonies as were greatly to the help of the poor and needy, the weary and heavy-laden, the true sojourner  and traveler to the eternal rest and city of God. To this his writings as well as ministry tended, as his ensuing worthy labors will abundantly witness; wherein it will be easy for the reader to observe his peculiar and mighty love to the great professors of religion in these kingdoms, whom carnal apprehensions, or unjust prejudices, have hindered from closing with the blessed truth, as it is known and felt amongst us; and his fervent labor to remove those obstructions, with such tenderness, yet great clearness, that I may venture to style him their apostle; for as in almost every meeting, so in every book, the bent of his spirit was towards them, that those who made a more than ordinary profession of God, not without some ancient touches of the divine grace, and experience of God's visitation, though much extinguished with human and worldly mixtures, might come to know what that was they once tasted of, how they lost it, and which is the way to recover the living and full enjoyment of it, even the inward knockings and appearance of Jesus the Savior, to the salvation of their souls: and I pray God they may answer his love (for he was much spent on their account); that so his ministry, writings, travels, and tears may not be matter of charge and evidence against them in the day of their judgment.

As his outward man grew in age, his inward man grew in grace, and the knowledge of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; for the excellency of which, he had justly counted all things else but as dross and dung: for it was observable among them that rightly knew him in his declining time, when the candle of his natural life burnt dimmer, his soul waxed stronger, and, like a replenished lamp, shined with greater luster; and truly he had a double portion of the spirit upon him, and was anointed with judgment and zeal for the Lord, which appeared in two eminent respects.

First, that he was very urgent that all those who knew any thing of the heavenly gift of ministry unto others, would always wait in their several exercises to be endued with matter and power from on high, before they opened their mouths in a testimony for the Lord; and that at all times, as well out of meetings as in them, they might live so near the Lord, as to feel the key of David opening the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom, and by experiencing the depth of the heavenly travail, and the trials, deliverances, and consolations of it, with that dominion and victory that in the end, by perseverance, are obtained, they might be as true saviors on Mount Zion, the salt and lights of the world, thoroughly furnished to every good word and work, and master-builders in God's house; that "a pure and living stream of ministry might be continued and conveyed to the generations to come; that they  might not only hear, but taste of, what we have known of the word and work of life and redemption in our age." Herein he was very careful.

But his excellency in the second respect, was his fervent love to the heavenly union of brethren; and whatever struck at that, though under ever such specious pretenses, he no sooner perceived it, and the subtle but mischievous workings of it, than with deep wisdom he detected, and with his whole might encountered and opposed it.

And though by nature he was suffering to a degree of letting his mercy to others almost wound his own soul, yet so deeply did his love to the Lord and his people, and to that comely order God had settled them in, engage his soul, that he was as bold as a lion, yes, as warlike as a champion, against that spirit that went up and down to sow jealousies, to smite and reflect upon the holy care of the brethren, carnally interpreting their tender love and great pains, as if what was done by them were not intended to the edification of the body, but exaltation of some particular persons over it. This ingratitude and injustice his soul abhorred, and often mourned for such as were so seduced; as if it were the design of those that had from the beginning laid out themselves in the service of God and his people, to bring them at last to a blind and unwarrantable subjection, that they might the better exercise dominion over them. This evil eye he helped to put out; and, in his opposition to this wandering and destroying spirit that leads out of the love and unity of brethren, he approved himself a valiant of Israel, a Phineas for the God of his salvation; and the rewards of heaven were poured into his bosom; for his holy ministry manifestly increased in life and power, and his peace flowed as a river, and many were the witnesses of his enlargements. Let those that have lost their first love, and are gone from their ancient habitation, "rage, and imagine vain things," if they will: surely the travails and testimonies of this blessed man will be a witness against them that will not easily be silenced, and a burden upon their backs that will not be easily taken off. But because he desired not their destruction, but prayed earnestly to the last for their return, let not me, while I am writing of his character, fall short of his compassions; no, I pray God also with my whole spirit that they may repent, be contrite in heart, and faithfully return; at which, if the angels in heaven, certainly the spirits of the just that dwell in heavenly places, will abundantly rejoice too.

These two cares were chiefly and almost continually before him. Thus he drew near to the grave, and I now draw to an end; but because this service is never to be done again, let me say, that as he was a light in the church, so he was a blessing to his own family: "A  most chaste and loving husband, a very tender and prudent father, and a just and kind master." I will add, "and a good neighbor, and a most secret and firm friend;" of all unapt to believe ill, but never to report it, much less to do it to any: a man that ruled his tongue, swift to hear, slow to speak: but, when he did speak, he was serious, yet sweet, and not uncheerful. What shall I say, but that great and many were the gifts God honored him with, and with them he truly honored his profession. — Being thus fit to live, he was prepared to die, and had nothing else to do when that summons was served upon him, which was in the sixty-third year of his age; at what time it pleased the Lord he fell very sick, under a sharp and painful distemper, which hastened his dissolution: however, the anguish of that bitter exercise could give no shake to internal peace, so well established before it came; but he died, as he lived, in the faith that overcomes the world; whose soul, being now released from the confinements of time, and the frailties of mortality, is ascended into the glorious freedom and undisturbed joys of the just, where, with his holy brethren the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs of Jesus, he forever blesses and praises the God and Father of the righteous generations by Jesus Christ, God's Lamb, and our heavenly Redeemer; to whom with the Father be all honor, glory, might, majesty, and dominion, through all the ages of his church, and forever. Amen.

WILLIAM PENN

Westminster, the 12th of the 12th month, 1680-81

The Testimony of GEORGE WHITEHEAD, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints. Ps. 116:15

THAT the Lord God, who is the Father of mercies, is truly good unto all that wait for him, and diligently seek after him, has been signally manifested and experienced in our days, as in former ages; and that he fails not to answer the desire and travail of that soul that has sincerity towards him, however it be for a time clouded and bewildered under various professions and notions: sincerity and honesty of heart in inquiring after the knowledge of truth shall not be disappointed, nor miss of its blessed end. I hope I shall not need to write an apology for this man's many writings; but let the sincere meaning and honest intent thereof, and the lines of true sense and good-will therein, speak forth the Christian mind and spirit of the author. Nor is it altogether proper for me to apologize in such a case, having not read all these his books and writings now to be exposed to public view, though some of them I have at times formerly conversed with, as opportunities have admitted:  which, as I have perceived the testimonies and instructions thereof to be both savory and experimental, so I charitably believe and hope of the rest. But in this I can be more general and absolute concerning the person; that he was a man that sincerely sought after the knowledge of the Lord God and his holy truth; and that accordingly the Lord did vouchsafe graciously to answer the sincere desires of his soul in due time, to the settling of his mind, and staying his soul in a secret sense and feeling of his living truth, power, and spirit, to his confirmation in that most precious and living faith which was once delivered unto the saints in light: and as God opened his heart to the tender reception of his holy truth and gospel of peace, and embracing the faithful messengers thereof; so he wrought both immediately by his spirit, and instrumentally by his messengers, for his confirmation in that light and grace, from which he had often before received many true discoveries, sights, and openings; having also often heard the sound of that divine breath, or spirit of life, which moved in his heart, before the immortal birth thereof was brought to light, or the man-child (for which his soul travailed) was brought forth into the world. He was not willing to obscure his divine discoveries, nor to put his candle under a bushel, nor hide his talent in the earth; but was industrious on the Lord's behalf, in telling and showing to the sons of men what discoveries he had made to him of the way of life and salvation, from one degree to another. His inward exercise of mind, and attention upon our Lord Jesus Christ in his light, were serious, and his conduct innocent; for he knew the presence and blessings of God were only to be enjoyed in such a condition. The remembrance of his zeal for the holy truth in the improvement of his gift is never to be extinguished, nor the record of his integrity and faithfulness ever to be obliterated: his tenderness and compassion towards the misled captives were such, that he was not lacking in his industrious endeavors for their deliverance out of their darkness, and spiritual blindness of thraldom. He earnestly labored with the barren professors under various notions, and the fleshly Christians of our times, to invite them to the true light, life, and spirit of Christianity, that they might not stick in their empty forms, and literal professions, short of the power of godliness. For his eye was to the principle of life, the true seed wherein the blessing is, and to the spiritual, immortal birth, that breathes to God, and receives life, nourishment, and strength from him, and lives to him, as knowing that the fleshly birth must not inherit the promise, nor the son of the bond-woman be heir with the son of the free. He truly esteemed of the Holy Scriptures, and seriously and frequently conversed with them: his  eye being to that divine light and spirit of Christ Jesus, which opens them, and gives the true understanding and experience of them; for he preferred the true and spiritual knowledge of the Holy Scriptures before all literal knowledge and under standing, exalting the spirit above the letter, the power above the form, the substance above the shadow; as knowing that the Holy Spirit and Power was the foundation and cause of scriptures, and form of godliness. His patience and innocency have been well known, even towards such contentious and prejudiced professors as evilly requited his labors of love (for their good) by perversely exposing him in print: but he well knew that truth and innocence would outlive all envy and evil-mindedness. It was given to him not only to believe, but also patiently to suffer for the name of Christ; he patiently suffered by reproaches, contradictions of evil men, persecutions and imprisonments. I cannot forget the sweet communion and society in the truth which we have often had together, especially of latter years; being fully satisfied, that it was a real earnest of that glorious communion we shall eternally enjoy together in rest and glory, where the precious and sincere soul is entered with the Lord and all his saints and angels, and spirits of just men made perfect, who are written in heaven, having obtained a part in Christ Jesus, the resurrection and the life, where the second death has no power. And to this glorious end and rest from our labors, others of us yet surviving are traveling and hastening; glory and triumph for ever!

Now, serious reader, in love to the truth and your soul, I would leave this caution with you in relation to the books and writings of this our deceased friend and brother, that if you meet with any thing therein which you do not understand, censure it not; be not prejudiced in any case, but wait till the Lord come, who reveals secrets, and unfolds mysteries. And if any thing (especially of what was early written, as in a time of infancy) seems doubtful, or not so clear to your understanding, let it have such charitable construction as becomes a Christian spirit towards an industrious, honest-hearted, and well-meaning servant of Christ in his lifetime, who was and is ever blessed of the Lord, and now gone to his rest from his labors; the general tenor and import whereof clearly evince his pious endeavors for the good of the children of men, and proclaim his Christian design and industry to promote truth and righteousness in the earth, pure religion, and Christianity in spirit and life among men. The Lord of the harvest send forth more fruitful laborers into his harvest and vineyard! for the harvest is great.

G. W.

London, the 28th of the 6th month, 1680

The Testimony of SAMUEL JENNINGS, concerning that faithful Servant of the LORD, and our dear Friend, ISAAC PENINGTON, whom GOD has lately removed from us, and fixed in his Eternal Rest

Strong and powerful is that excellent arm of the Lord, which has been revealed and made bare in this our day; and very effectual has been the operation of it for the gathering of many into a nearness to the Lord, and leavening of them into the nature of its own purity; amongst whom God has numbered this our dear friend, and dignified him with that honor. And since God has impressed upon our souls such a sense of him, I could not be clear, in respect of my duty to God, and love to him, to shut it up only in my own bosom, without giving this public testimony of him. Although I know I can add nothing to him, as to his immediate enjoyment, yet let it be as an evidence of the esteem I had of him when with us, and of his memorial, now removed from us, which God will perpetuate among the righteous, when the name of the wicked shall rot.

As to the innocency of his life in general (which is the most evident token of the indwellings of truth and sincerity), I have this to say upon my own observation of it, I know none that did exceed him; for in that, God made him an adorning to the doctrine of the gospel. To mention particularly those divine gifts wherewith he was eminently endued, would be too large, yet I cannot wholly omit them; wherefore I shall first mention that which had the first and chiefest place with him; namely, his deep travail, labor, care, and desires for the prosperity of that weighty and blessed work, which God is carrying on in the earth; to wit, the gathering of lost man to himself, and bringing him to know salvation in him; in which labor God blessed him with success, and gave him the tongue of the learned to speak a word in due season, fitly comparable to apples of gold in pictures of silver; and by the force of this word he reached to many, to the turning of them from the evil of their ways; which remains as a crown upon him, and shall cause him to shine as a bright fixed star in the firmament of God for ever. And how many living witnesses are left behind, of the use and service that God made him to be of to them, who are deeply affected with the sense of their loss in him, yet dare not complain, because the Lord has done it! Oh, how has my soul, with many others, been comforted with him, in the communion we have had together with God, when the Lord has opened his mouth in wisdom, and caused his doctrine to drop as the rain, and his speech to distill as dew on the tender plants!

O my dear brother! (or rather to many of us were you, in God, a father) my soul is often pained, in the sense of your absence, for our sakes: yet greatly comforted and satisfied in God for your sake: for our loss, though great, does not equal your gain. Oh, how often have you been opened, and your spirit sweetened, and in that sweetness drawn forth to minister to those that were Israelites indeed, when your words were softer than oil, sweeter than honey, and more refreshing than the purest wine; but to the wicked and deceitful as penetrating arrows. And although it was so contrary to his nature to touch with strife (being of so meek a spirit), yet God, that guides the meek in judgment, did sometimes concern him in a dreadful yet true testimony against all that would divide in Jacob, and scatter in Israel. Yet how entire was his love to all those who had a right value of, and abode in, the unity of the pure truth, against all the contemners and invaders of it! How affectionately and reverently have I heard him speak of those, who were the messengers of glad tidings to us, and publishers of that peace which he is now in the certain possession of, as the reward and end of the just and upright! but especially great were his regard to, and esteem of, those who have faithfully borne the heat and burden of the day; whose arrows the Lord directed to the wounding of the man of sin, and who yet remain as a bow that abides in its strength, and wax yet stronger and stronger: those he did account (as indeed they are) worthy of double honor. And although, through the infirmity of his nature, and weakness of his constitution, he was made unfit for much hard and public travel; yet his constant practice did declare he had a vigorous and active mind, truly bowed to the service of truth, as may appear by the many private and seasonable visits he made by writing, unto those whom he had no other opportunity of being helpful to; and much service he had of this kind, beyond what many were sensible of. Many young and tender and distressed ones will lament their loss in him, who was so easily touched with a feeling of their exercise, from the sense and remembrance he had of his own; and was very ready, and also fit, to contribute something to their relief: for as he was once a man of sorrows, and well acquainted with grief, so this benefit did he reap by it, to learn experience by the things he suffered; and all the tribulation he met with did but make way for the superabounding of his consolation through Christ.

What he was in his family, and especially to his dear and tender relations, (whom he left weeping behind him, though not without hope,) I shall not need to say much of; knowing they themselves cannot be without a larger testimony than mine concerning the matter: only this I shall say, I would to God there were more so fit for our example in each relation.

Having thus far sincerely discharged my duty in giving this testimony, I am willing to confine myself to as much brevity as I can; though much more might be truly said of him, and it is hard to say so little. Yet, for further satisfaction to any concerning him, that are desirous of it, I refer them to his writings, now published together, for common benefit: only let me give the reader this advice, that as God gave him wisdom to divide his word aright, so do you read it in the same wisdom to receive it aright; for in that only, can you take a right measure of him, or have true fellowship with him. I have only this to add, as a caution to all, that as truth has many enemies, so this our dear friend, for truth's sake, has some also; concerning whom I have a feeling that they will be ready to grudge and take offense at this our innocent and justifiable practice, to preserve the remembrance of the faithfulness of those who have faithfully finished their course, and, through the power of Christ, have had victory over the last enemy. There can be no other ground for this, but envy or ignorance; and therefore, to prevent so ill an effect (let it spring from whom it will), let such know, that it was once not only allowed, but commanded of God, to write the dead blessed that die in the Lord, as well as to esteem them so. And since it is undeniably the mind of God "that the just shall be had in everlasting remembrance;" what can be more effectual to it, than by our written testimony to commend their memorial to our posterity, that they may glorify the God of their fathers, and, after their example, walk in his way; in which the Lord, who gathered us into it, preserve us to the time of our death, that, with the worthies of the Lord that are gone before us, we may receive the crown of life.

SAMUEL JENNINGS

The Testimony of THOMAS ZACHARY, for ISAAC PENINGTON

Ah! my dear and ancient friend! what shall I say of you? You have been a long traveler, even from your youth, through Egypt and Babylon, and therein desolate, seeking rest, but finding none; till the Lord God, the Shepherd of Israel (who heard your bemoanings), found you out, and gathered you by his Shepherd's crook out of and from all the barren mountains, and wild, obscure places, wherein you were wearied and lost; even in the wilderness did the Lord allure you, and bring you out to his own flock, to hear and know his own voice from the voice of all strange spirits, and to feed among his lambs in the pastures of life; whereby you grew strong in the living word of power, and had wherewith to minister of the words of life plentifully to others, through the divine presence and overflowing life of the Father  in you and with you; whereby many have been awakened, strengthened, and comforted in the Lord alone, and the very joy of God's salvation has reached to the mourners of Israel. Ah! a true laborer have you been in God's vineyard; and sowed, in much brokenness of heart, and tears, the precious seed of God's kingdom, and waited in the faith and patience for the coming up thereof, and have seen the desire of your soul answered; and now is your work, labor, and travail over; and as you have sowed in the Spirit, you are now reaping of the Spirit, life everlasting, and are released out of this strait and troublesome world, wherein you wert long a stranger and sufferer, and had no resting-place in it; for you earnestly sought for a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God alone; and now you have found it, and are gathered into it, inheriting your own mansion of peace, rest, and joy, which the God of the just has provided for you.

Oh, blessed and praised be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is not the God of the dead, but of the living! and from the living ascend heavenly praises and hallelujahs to him for ever and ever.

THOMAS ZACHARY

The Testimony of AMBROSE RIGGE, of the Life and Death of ISAAC PENINGTON

THE Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and the fountain of love and life is open in my soul, and freely flows towards all my dear brethren and fellow-laborers in the great harvest of our Lord and Master, who are yet in the body; and the renewed remembrance of them whose earthly tabernacles are dissolved, and have put on immortality, is often with me in endeared love; in which at this time I behold dear Isaac Penington, in lasting union with us, though absent in body; whose work and labor of love in his day are not forgotten of God, nor his people. He was brought to the true fold in an early hour of the gospel day, as it broke forth in our times, and a rest was prepared for him in a weary land; and the Lord heard the cry of his soul in the deep, and prepared a deliverer for him, out of the great sea of waves, troubles, and uncertainties; and he came to the rock with joy when he saw him, and he built upon him, and was established and fortified against every storm and tempest of the boisterous seas, which lifted up themselves against him; and they were not a few, nor of small consequence: his trials were great, both inward and outward, in which he quitted himself as a valiant champion in the Lamb's war. The Lord was with him, and delivered him out of all his troubles, and filled his cup, and often caused it to overflow, to the refreshment of many; and freely he dealt  his bread to the hungry, and his cup he handed to the thirsty: many widows and fatherless were relieved by him; his life flowing forth as a fountain most clear, both to the freed and imprisoned seed: a man of a contrite and humble spirit, in the innocency of a little child, by which he had entrance into the kingdom of immortality; where he now rests, out of the reach of the oppressor. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; his life was a pilgrimatory passage to eternity. — Who can say he oppressed them, or was chargeable to them; though part of his outward substance he lost for the truth's testimony? He was a man filled with the power and spirit of the Lord; who, both in word, writing, and conduct, gave testimony to the world that he sought a city whose builder and maker was God. He was a faithful witness for the saving truth, against all bad spirits and unsound members, unmeet for that body which God has now prepared to do his will: and his manuscripts left behind proclaim him a witness against all false hirelings and their unrighteous practices and deceitful doctrines, whereby the earth both is, and has for ages been corrupted; and the minds of young and old filled with unsound principles and beliefs in the weighty things relating to another world; and give a true and lasting testimony to the strait and narrow path of life and righteousness. He was endowed with wisdom to discover the living child's mother, and give her the possession; for the spirit of a discerning and of a sound mind was in him, and the secrets of the Lord were upon his tabernacle. His upright Christian spirit rendered him lovely to the upright, and formidable to the wicked. My heart is full of tender love to his life, who died in the Lord, and his works follow him; and therefore does my soul believe him blessed with the righteous in his death. He was a man of a retired spirit, and little minded the things of this life; but loved justice, and delighted in mercy. The products of his life were the fruits of the Spirit of Truth, therefore he is recorded among the living as one of the Lord's worthies, whose remembrance shall live to generations to come. His testimony he kept to the end, and finished his course with joy; so, on his behalf, let the living praise the Lord, as does my soul at this time; even so for ever.

AMBROSE RIGGE

Gatton in Surry, the 22nd of the 10th month, 1679

The Testimony of ROBERT JONES, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

IN the remembrance of my dear friend deceased, I had something lived with me, to give in as in a way of testimony, according to the knowledge and sense I had of him. He was a man very tender in  spirit, and of a broken heart before the Lord, as I often had a living sense thereof; the sense of the power of an endless life being often upon him, which did affect many, breaking them down in great tenderness. His testimony for the Lord and his blessed truth was very sound and weighty, to the reaching the consciences of many. His labor in writing was in great tenderness, to the gathering of the scattered, to the building up of the convinced, and to the comfort and consolation of the broken-hearted; for great were the bowels of mercy in him, even to all, especially to such who had breathings in their hearts after the Lord, and the way of his holiness; his travail was greatly for such; and by his tenderness in the Lamb's spirit he had an influence upon many, by reaching to the good in them; for his bowels were moved for them. Well! his reward is with the Lord for ever. In his family he was a man of knowledge, and of true watchfulness, that all those that were under his care might be kept savory in all things; being as a weaned child from the world, and those things that perish with the using. His moderation in all things was well known to many. What shall I say? He was a man wholly devoted in his heart to serve the Lord his God; yes, I am persuaded it was his delight to do his will. I have had knowledge of him near twenty years, especially in suffering; for it pleased the Lord so to order it, that our lot fell together in prison several times; and I may say it was well it was so; for being made willing by the power of God (that did attend him) to suffer with great patience, cheerfulness, contentedness, and true nobility of spirit, he was a good example to me and others. I do not remember that ever I saw him cast down or dejected in his spirit in the time of his close confinement, nor speak hardly of those that persecuted him; for he was of that temper as to love his enemies, and to do good to those that hated him; having received a measure of that virtue from Christ, his Master, that taught him so to do. Indeed I may say, in the prison he was a help to the weak, being made instrumental in the hand of the Lord for that end; with much more than at present I shall express. Oh, the remembrance of the glory that did often overshadow us in the place of confinement! so that indeed the prison was made by the Lord to us (who was powerfully with us) as a pleasant palace! I was often, with many more, by those streamings of life that did many times run through his vessel, greatly overcome with the pure presence, and overcoming love of our God that was plentifully shed abroad in our hearts. If I should look back, and call to remembrance my knowledge further of him, I could write much; but this short testimony, readily springing up in my heart, was with me to give forth in the behalf of  my dear friend. And this further I have to add; indeed when I heard of his departure, it came near me; but considering how it was with him, being fully persuaded he was fitted for his change, in the will of the Lord I was satisfied, counting his state happy; having faith in God that he had laid down his head in peace, and entered into endless glory, where sorrow shall be no more; having done the work his Master (Christ the Lord) gave him to do. He kept the faith to the end, and has finished his course with joy, leaving a good savor behind him. With his spirit my soul has union. At the writing hereof, my heart is broken into tenderness, and mine eyes run over with tears. Oh! let us follow after him in faithfulness, fulfilling what is behind of our testimony for the Lord and his truth, being faithful to the death, as our brother that is gone before us was (who has left a good example behind him); so will the crown of life be our portion for ever! That it may be so with my own soul, and with the souls of all my tender brethren and sisters everywhere, is the cry of my heart to the Lord my God; and I hope it will be so till time shall be no more with me in this world.

ROBERT JONES

The Testimony of THOMAS EVERDEN, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

CONCERNING our dear friend and brother Isaac Penington, I have a testimony rises in my heart.

I, with many thousands more in this our age, day, and generation, have cause to admire, bless, praise, and magnify the name of the Lord God of heaven and earth, in that he has so largely manifested himself in the hearts of male and female, to the tendering their hearts, and enlightening their understandings; and to the gathering them out of the empty professions, and by-ways, and crooked paths of this world, and to the purifying and sanctifying their hearts by his powerful word; and giving them a good understanding in the knowledge of himself, and the deep mysteries of his heavenly kingdom; and enabling many of them, in the openings and motion of the same life and power, to speak and write, to the answering unto the witness of God in many, and for the joy, comfort, and establishment of others. I can truly say, dear Isaac Penington was one of that number; for after full seven years travail and deep exercise of mind among the empty professions, and that God had showed me mercy in drawing a little nearer to me, and shining by his glorious light into my conscience, whereby I came to see the formality of professors, and the emptiness of all forms and professions that stood in man's will, and the vileness of my own heart, and the necessity of being saved and sanctified; and that there was no other way, but  through and by the light of Christ Jesus, that had wrought thus powerfully to convince me; then did some of this good man's writings come to my view, which answered to the light, life, and truth, which was raised of the Lord in my heart, as face answers face in a glass; I can truly say, to my joy and comfort and consolation and establishment in the truth. So that the life and testimony of him were and are truly precious to me, and to all the faithful; and he shall be had in everlasting remembrance, who, in the time of his life, was a true subject in the kingdom of Jesus, and a faithful laborer in his vineyard, and a sufferer for the truth, in the patience of the Lamb: whose delight was to devote himself to retiredness, and to wait upon God, to feel his powerful love to abound in his tender heart (this he accounted his greatest glory and riches); by which he was made entirely to love, and have a good esteem of, his faithful brethren in the truth; and was a man of peace and love to all, and greatly delighted in the love and unity of the brethren; and where the contrary appeared, it grieved his tender heart. And glad I am that it was my lot to be with him the two last meetings that he was at; the first of which was in the city of Canterbury, I being at that time very weak in body; and it lay upon me from the Lord to go to the meeting, where I found him, together with Friends, waiting in silence upon the Lord; and when I had sat down with them, oh, the mighty power of the Lord God that descended upon us! so that I could say the fountain of the great deeps was opened! and oh, the powerful, pleasant, and crystal streams, how did they abundantly flow into our hearts! And his cup was made to overflow, to the watering and refreshing of the tender-hearted; so that God did make me a witness of the seal of his testimony, with many more, at those two last meetings, as at some other times, where the life and power of God did abound in him, and sweetly flow from him. And fully satisfied I am that the Lord has taken him in a good time, and from the evil to come; and that he has laid down his head in rest and everlasting peace with the Lord, where he is "at rest from his labors, and his works follow him;" and is in a full and perpetual enjoyment of life and glory. And although his body be in the dust, yet his life speaks, and his name is precious, and shall be had in everlasting remembrance.

Farewell, dear Isaac! bless'd man of peace and love;

You are with glorious rest of God above.

And this upon my heart the Lord has sealed;

For by his Spirit to me it is revealed.

THOMAS EVERDEN

The Testimony of CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR, for ISAAC PENINGTON

Blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of all his holy ones, from the beginning of the world until now; who has kept all his by his mighty power and terrible name; who, in all ages and generations, and under all ministrations and dispensations, have feared and served him; glory be to his name for ever. And he has been a God of eternal love unto them, and it has been his banner spread over them, and is at this day, and has been in all ages, and they have faithfully served him, and offered holy offerings unto him, in his pure fear and reverence, from the sense of his living and pure streaming love; and the blessing of God has been and is with them, and his glory he still puts upon them, that they may bring forth unto him; and in the end, when they have faithfully served the Lord in their day and generation, they may return to their long home, and be at rest with God for ever, their portion for evermore.

Of this number was dear Isaac Penington; a worthy man in his generation, dearly beloved of his God, and preserved by him; so that many can say how dear he was unto them while he lived amongst them! And though dead, he yet lives and speaks in those pure and holy testimonies he has borne unto truth, both in word and writing; so that many hearts can testify and bear witness that he was truly sent of God to publish his most blessed and holy name; for he was a tender-spirited man, and dear to the Lord, and near unto his heart, where he tenderly lived and breathed, that in all things he might do his sacred will. Ah! dear Isaac Penington was a man near and dear unto my soul, as he was unto many others, because of his inward tender-spiritedness! And methinks I feel him still in the course of his life, since I have of late years more especially known him. He was a man truly endued with humility; and when we have been together, and he would open his heart unto me, it would so answer my own life, and the exercises of my own condition, that my heart would be so affected with joy, that with melting bowels of God's eternal love we have often met and saluted each other; and I may say, dear brother Isaac Penington, you live indeed, and my soul lives with you. And what happiness is it, that though dear and tender friends may be outwardly parted, yet are they dearly united together in the Lord Jesus! And my soul at this time is overcome, melted, and broken within me, at the dear remembrance of you. Oh! dear Isaac lives, and his life is with us, and not separated from us. And I pray God that every one who now professes the holy name of God may live as he did, in the singleness of their hearts; entirely, above all things, pressing to be united unto the holy power of God alone! His cries were daily to God,  that all truth's professors might be really possessors of eternal life; and his ministry was accompanied with a holy, heavenly zeal, in the opening life of God's eternal power and wisdom; so that the true birth within would many times leap at the sweet salutation of his life; and the tender power of God, that spoke through him, would preciously raise the life in others to a sweet harmoniousness, livingly to praise God: for what he innocently and humbly aimed at, both in his words and writings (I can testify with many others), was God's pure glory. An entire innocent man he was, without guile in his heart; a true Nathaniel indeed; a lovely instrument in God's hand to the turning many to righteousness, both by word and writing; a true friend to all that waited for God's salvation everywhere; and such who labored under inward exercises and travails of soul, he travailed with and for, and ministered unto many such, both by word and writing, that they might come to be led by the spirit of true sanctification, and know God's salvation.

About thirty years since, as I remember, in the North of England, I met with a book of Isaac Penington's, which had this scripture following, as the subject whereof he treated: Job, 38:2. "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" This scripture, and the matter of his discourse upon it in that book, at that time I was affected with; for at that time, I, with others, had precious openings of many heavenly things; being then sensible that no man could be a minister of Christ Jesus without the work of regeneration wrought in his own heart; and not only so, but he must be sent of God to publish the everlasting gospel, in the alone evidence of his power and Spirit, without the mixture of his own will, and observing his own time when to speak, and also to be silent; so that we believed and were convinced it was to be a spiritual ministry, and to be dispensed in the motion and evidence of the same Spirit, otherwise it was "a darkening of counsel by words without knowledge." This was my condition, with many others at that time, because we spent many precious openings upon our own wills, and the wills and lusts of others.

Now this I bring to signify that dear Isaac Penington, in those days, had precious openings of truth, and was a man waiting for the kingdom of God, to be further instructed therein, and came to attain the end of his divine breathings and heavenly desires. And those that honestly, in the fear of God, read his writings, may see how clearly he has writ concerning the things of God's kingdom; that so both small and great, professors and profane, may, as in a glass, see their conditions; and those that as yet have not repented, may consider betimes, and repent, lest they perish.

CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR

The Testimony of MARY PENINGTON, concerning her dear Husband ISAAC PENINGTON

WHILST I keep silent touching you, O you blessed of the Lord and his people! my heart burns within me. I must make mention of you, for you was a most pleasant plant of renown, planted by the right hand of the Lord, and "you took deep rooting downwards, and sprang upward." The dew of heaven fell on you, and made you fruitful, and your fruit was of a fragrant smell, and most delightful. Oh, where shall I begin to recount the Lord's remarkable dealings with you! He set his love on you, O you one of the Lord's peculiar choice, to place his name on! Wast not you sanctified in the womb? Your very babish days declared of what stock and lineage you wert. You desired after "the sincere milk of the word, as a new-born babe," even in the bud of your age. Oh, who can declare how you have traveled towards the holy land in your very infancy as to days! Oh, who can tell what your soul has felt in your travel! Oh, you was gotten to be in the mount with the Lord, and his spiritual Moses, when the princes and elders saw but his back-parts, and feared and quaked to hear the terrible thunderings in Mount Sinai. The breast of consolation was held out to you early, and you sucked your fill, till the vessel could no longer contain; for you could not in that fulness "see God and live" in this tabernacle: so that you besought the Lord to abate this exceeding excellent glory, and give you such a measure as was food convenient. Oh, the heavenly, bright, living openings that were given to you many years past! His light shone round about you, and the book of the creatures was opened to you; and his mysteries (made known to holy men of old, who spoke them forth as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost) were made known to you to discern. Such a state as I have never known any in, in that day, have I heard you declare of. Oh, this did it please the Lord to withdraw and shut up as in one day, and so leave you desolate, and mourning many a day; weary of the night and of the day; poor and naked; sad, distressed, and bowed down. You refused to be comforted, because it was a time of night, and not day; and because he that was gone was not come. His time of manifesting his love was not at hand; but he was as a stranger, or one gone into a far country, not ready to return; and you would accept of no beloved in his absence, but testified that he your soul longed for was not in this or that observation, no, nor opening; but your beloved, when he came, would sit as a refiner's fire, and would come with "his fan in his hand, and thoroughly purge his floor." No likeness, or appearance, or taking sound of words, or visions, or revelations, would you take up with, instead of him that was  life indeed. Oh, the many years you putt your mouth in the dust, and went softly, and bowed down, and had anguish of soul, weeping and groaning, panting and sighing! Oh, who can tell the one half of the bitterness of your soul! Because substance was in your eye, all shadows did fly away from before you. You could not feed on that which was not bread from heaven. In this state I married you, and my love was drawn to you; because I found you saw the deceit of all notions, and lay as one that "refused to be comforted" by any thing that had the appearance of religion, till HE came to his temple, who is "truth, and no lie." For all those shows of religion were very manifest to you, so that you wert sick and weary of them all. And in this my heart cleft to you, and a desire was in me to be serviceable to you in this desolate condition: for you were alone and miserable in this world, and I gave up much to be a companion to you in this your suffering. Oh! my sense, my sense of you and your state in that day, even makes me as one dumb; for the greatness of it is beyond my capacity to utter.

This little testimony to your hidden life, my dear and precious one, in a day and time when none of the Lord's gathered people knew your face, nor were in any measure acquainted with your many sorrows, and deep wounds and distresses, have I stammered out, that it might not be forgotten that you were in the land of the living, and your fresh springs were in God, and light was on your Goshen, when thick darkness covered the people. But now that the day is broken forth, and you wert so eminently gathered into it, and a faithful publisher of it, I leave this bright state of yours to be declared of by the "sons of the morning," who have been witnesses of the rising of that "bright star of righteousness in you," and its guiding you to the Savior, even Jesus, "the first and the last:" they, I say, who are "strong, and have overcome the evil one," and are fathers in Israel, have declared of your life in God, and have published it in many testimonies here to the glorious saving truth, that you wert partaker of, lived and passed hence in, as in a fiery chariot, into the eternal habitation with the holy saints, prophets, and apostles of Jesus.

Ah me! he is gone! he that none exceeded in kindness, in tenderness, in love inexpressible to the relation as a wife. Next to the love of God in Christ Jesus to my soul, was his love precious and delightful to me. My bosom-one! that was as my guide and counsellor! my pleasant companion! my tender sympathizing friend! as near to the sense of my pain, sorrow, grief and trouble as it was possible. Yet this great help and benefit is gone; and I, a poor worm, a very little one to him, compassed about with many infirmities, through mercy let him go without an unadvised word of discontent, or inordinate grief. No, further;  such was the great kindness the Lord showed to me in that hour, that my spirit ascended with him in that very moment that his spirit left his body; and I saw him safe in his own mansion, and rejoiced with him, and was at that instant gladder of it, than ever I was of enjoying him in the body. And from this sight my spirit returned again to perform my duty to his outward tabernacle, to the answer of a good conscience.

This testimony to dear Isaac Penington is from the greatest loser of all that had a share in his life.

MARY PENINGTON

This was written at my house, at Woodside, the 27th of the 2nd month, 1680, between 12 and 1 at night, while I was watching with my sick child.

The Testimony of ALEXANDER PARKER, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

HAVING seen and read many lively and fresh testimonies of several of my dear brethren, concerning our dear friend and brother Isaac Penington, deceased, I did satisfy myself with what was written by them, being so full and large, and answering my own sense, that I did acquiesce in my own mind, not intending to appear in public in this matter; but of late hearing a testimony read, written by his dear wife M.P., it did so revive the remembrance of him, that the sense of that love and endeared affection which I always had for him, did so work in my mind, that I could not be clear without casting in my mite amongst the rest of my brethren, having known him from the early days of his convincement of the blessed truth, in which he lived, and for which he suffered; and in the faith of which holy truth he finished his course.

The first time that I saw his face was at Reading in Berkshire, in the twelfth month, called February, 1656. And though at that time he had not the outward garb and appearance of a QUAKER, yet did mine eye behold an inward beauty and hidden virtue of life in him; and my soul, in the bowels of the love of the truth, did cleave unto him, and I could have embraced him in the sense thereof; but in those early days we were cautious, and laid hands on no man suddenly. He did not hastily join in society with us; but for some time did reason about many things. Though he owned the principal doctrines of truth, yet the instruments that declared it, and their way and manner, seemed very contemptible to him, until he heard that faithful servant of God G.F. (who was the first man that proclaimed the gospel of life and salvation amongst us), at a meeting at J. Crook's, in Bedfordshire, at the time called Whitsuntide, in the year 1658; at which meeting the mystery of iniquity was so opened, and the mystery of the gospel of peace so plainly manifested, that he was fully satisfied; and from that  time he gave up himself to the obedience of truth, and took up the cross, and became a disciple and follower of Christ, and suffered with us for the name and testimony of Jesus, and bore the scoffings and reproaches of the ungodly with much patience, accounting it his riches: and in much love did he embrace and receive the messengers and servants of God into his house; where were many precious meetings, and many were convinced and brought into the way of life, amongst whom he was a good pattern, and a help unto them; and when they were bowed down in spirit, and afflicted in mind, he was a great help and comfort to such, having himself traveled through various and deep exercises, through which the Lord brought him, and established him in righteousness. He was a man of a quick apprehension; and when any spark did arise from the coals of God's altar, it quickly kindled in him a flame of holy zeal for God and his truth; even in the morning of his convincement, and in the fresh openings of life, many living testimonies were given forth by him, as in his writings may be seen, to which the reader is referred. His heart and soul were much drawn forth unto the professors of religion of all persuasions, having a deep travail for them; and in much bowels of love and tender compassion did he entreat and beseech them to turn to the true light, that they might be converted and healed. But few did regard his deep travails for them; which doubtless will rise in judgment as a testimony against them. And I do desire, that those whose day is not over may yet consider, and take a further view into his writings, and search into their own hearts, that, with the light of Jesus that shines there, they may come to a true sight of their sins, and so to a godly sorrow, which may work repentance unto life, that they may find mercy with the Lord, and peace to their immortal souls. In all his writings and declarations he still pointed to life, and pressed all to mind the power of godliness, and not to settle or content themselves in the letter or form of religion. This, oh! this, was the very bent of his mind; and the strong cries of his soul to the Lord were, that all might partake of life, even the life of Jesus, in their mortal bodies, which he, through the death of the cross, was made a partaker of; in which life he lived unto God, and was a lively pattern of humility, walking uprightly, in innocency before the Lord. He was a man weaned from the world, and redeemed from the earth, his mind being daily exercised in things of a higher nature, drinking daily of the water that Christ gives; which was in him "a well of living water, springing up unto eternal life," which filled his vessel, and caused his cup to overflow. Much might be said of this good man; but words are too short to signify the depth of his inward life. I write not these things to  exalt or set up man; but to exalt and magnify the grace of God, which was in him; which was sufficient for him; by the power of which he was carried on through all his troubles and exercises; by which he was taught to deny ungodliness, and all the evil lusts of this wicked world; and to live righteously, soberly, and godly in this world; in which godly life he persisted to the end of his days. And as he lived in the Lord, even so he died, laying down his head in peace, and lives with the Lord in the enjoyment of his love, where there is "joy and felicity for ever," and his memory is sweet and blessed. Oh that every one that professes the holy truth "may so run, that they may obtain the crown of eternal life!" This is the travail and the earnest desire of him who seeks the good of all mankind.

ALEXANDER PARKER

London, the 5th of the 2nd month, 1681

The Testimony of JOHN PENINGTON, to his dear and deceased Father ISAAC PENINGTON

Give me leave also, in a few words, to express my sense of him (seeing I have been no small sharer in the loss), a man that had known the depths of Satan, and had a stock to lose before he could embrace truth in the simplicity of it; yet came forth in clearness: which is the more remarkable, inasmuch as few came near him in those bright openings and piercing wisdom he was endued with in those days; whereby he struck at all the false foundations and professions, and saw their shortness, and the very thing they lacked. — So that when I have taken a view of his former writings, and beheld the glory he once had, and withal reflected on his present condition, on his poverty, on his nothingness, on his self-denial, and self-abasement; how little he esteemed all his former knowledge, and sights of the heavenly things themselves, in comparison of the more excellent knowledge he afterwards received, and how he could be a fool for Christ's sake; the thing has affected me, and not a little, many times. Oh! he was not one that could deck himself, or desired to appear before men, or his very brethren; but ever chose to be more to the Lord than to men. And when any have been deeply reached through his tender, yet searching lively testimony, oh, how great was his care that none might look out too much at the instrument, or receive truth in the affectionate part! He was also a meek man, and very loving; courteous to all; ready to serve his very enemies and persecutors; of whom some, from an ill opinion of him, were gained to love and esteem him. And wherever he entered into a friendship with any, he was constant. Whatever provocations he might afterwards receive from any of them, he could  not let go his hold; but ever retained a good-will towards them, and an earnest desire for their welfare. I have also observed, where he has been engaged on truth's behalf to rebuke any sharply, who were declining from their first love, and deviating from the truth, as it is in Jesus, it has been with so much reluctancy and averseness to his natural temper, as I never discerned the like in any; and herein I am not alone. So that it may be safely said he never used the rod, but with bowels to reclaim; and in the love was drawn to smite what the purest love could not allow to go unrebuked. What he was in the church of God for exemplariness, for deep travail, for sound judgment, and heavenly ministry, I know not a few are very sensible of. And have not I seen his cup many times overflow, and him so filled, that the vessel was scarce able to contain! Oh, it was delightful to me to be with him (as it was often my lot) in his service on truth's account! And my cry is, that I may walk worthy of so dear a parent, so unwearied and earnest a traveler for mine and other's eternal well-being, and so faithful and eminent a laborer in God's vineyard; who is now gone to his rest in a good day, having first seen the effects of the travail of his soul, and been satisfied in the Lord. But he has left us, his children, behind, for whom he has often prayed, and besought the Lord with tears, that we might walk in his steps, and our father's God might be our God, and that the blessings of our father's life might descend upon us. And we are still, after much weakness, upon the stage of this world; which, that it may be so rightly improved, that we may walk worthy of the manifold visitations we have had from him in particular, and many faithful laborers in general, is the incessant desire of (him that hopes with thankfulness to the Lord, to reverence his memory, as well as that he honors him in the relation of a dear and tender father).

John Penington

The 9th of the 3d month, 1681

P.S. It pleased the Lord to remove him from us, and take him to himself, on the eighth day of the eighth month, 1679, between three and four in the morning, at one of my dear mother's farms in Kent, in the parish of Goodnestone, called Goodnestone-Court. They had been among their tenants in that country, and in their return home spent some time here; but the day appointed for my dear father to return, he was visited with this sickness, whereof he died, having lain just a week. His body was conveyed thence (some of his relations and London friends accompanying it) to London, thence into Buckinghamshire to his own house, and so to the burying-place of friends belonging to Chalfont-meeting (called Jordan's); where he was honorably buried, being accompanied by some hundreds of friends and neighbors.

Table of Contents

The Testimony of GEORGE FOX, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

The Testimony of THOMAS ELLWOOD, concerning ISAAC PENINGTON

The Way of Life and Death Made Manifest, and Set Before Men

The Scattered Sheep Sought After

Babylon the Great Described

The Jew Outward: Being a Glass for the Professors of this Age

The Axe Laid to the Root of the Old Corrupt Tree

To the Parliament, the Army, and all the Well-affected in the Nation, who have been faithful to the

A brief account of Some Reasons why the Quakers cannot do some things, and forbear doing some things

Some Considerations Proposed to the City of London, etc.

Some Considerations Proposed to the Distracted Nation of England

To the Army

A Question proposed to the Rulers, Teachers, and People of England

An examination of the Grounds or Causes which are said to induce the Court of Boston, to make that L

Some Considerations concerning the state of Things, etc.

A Warning of Love from the Bowels of Life to Professors

Where is the Wise, where is the Scribe? etc.

Letters of Isaac Penington

APPENDIX A — Additional Testimonies for Isaac Penington