IN the dayes of old, the Holy Men of God, (who was in­dued with the Spirit of God) did as they was acted and guided, moved and commanded by the Power and Spi­rit of God which dwelt in them, and here was their Rule: and also the Serpent as an Angell of Light, he acted and worked in his Instruments by the power of Darkness in opposition to the Spirit of God, the enmity being placed beiwixt the two seeds; and the more gloriously the true Light appeared in any age, Satan also reformed himself and appeared accordingly, in the shape, and form, and likeness thereof, as it is now to this day; but his was alwayes but the form and likeness of the thing but not the thing it self, his is the false Light, the other the true Light, and so the true Light all along discovered him and made him manifest to those in whom it ruled, but thus by his subtilty and deceit, he hath ever deceived the world and blinded the world, so that he might keep his kingdome who is the God of the world; as for example, Moses a servant and messenger of the most high God, to whom God had revealed and made known himself, when he and Aaron was sent unto Pharoah to require him to let Israel go free, for a sign unto him they cast down their Rod, and it became a Serpent, Exo. 10, 11, 12. and the Magici­ans of Aegypt they was brought, and by their sorceries and inchantments they cast down their Rods, and they became Serpents, and thereby Pha­roahs heart was hardned, and thy would not obey nor believe, and thus the devill imitated and opposed the truth, but Aarons Rods swallowed up their Rods, so that it was manifest, that he that was with them was grea­ter than he that was in the world.

[Page 2]And also when Israel had sinned against God, and done that which is evill in the sight of God, the Lord God sent forth his Prophets and Mes­sengers to declare the word of the Lord amongst them, against sin, and e­vill, Ier. 20.9. pride, deceit and oppression, and all ungodlines, iniquities, disobe­dience, and rebellion, and they had Visions and Revelations, and the word of God dwelt in them, by which they was led, guided, and acted; & Satan he also wrought in his Instruments, Ier. 23. with a spirit of delusion, and he sent forth his Prophets with their visions and lying divinations, and false dreams, Ier. 5.30, 31. and they cryed peace, where the true Prophets cryed wo; and the people hearkned unto them, and set them up, and the Prophets prohe­sied falsly, and the Priests bore rule by their means, and the people loved to have it so; but what wil ye do in the end thereof saith the Lord, by the mouth of his Prophet Ieremiah, who declared against it freely, and said it was a horrible filthy thing, and he was persecuted and the true Prophets who dwelt in the Light and in the power of God; they saw them to be such as run, Ier. 23.21, 22, 32. ver. 30. Ier. 14. and the Lord never sent them, and therefore they profited not the people at all, and they stole the word from the r neighbor, and they spoke a divination of their own brain, and not from the mouth of the Lord, and say the Lord said, when he never spoke to them; and they were light and vain, and daubed the people up with untempered morter, and sewed pil­lows under their arm-holes, Ezek. 22.28. Ezek. 13.18. Ier. 20.9. Ieremiah 23. and healed the people slightly, crying peace, peace, where there was no peace, but they turned them not from their evil wayes, nor from their evil doings, and the Lord was against them, and the true Prophets of God (who dwelt in the Light) they saw them, and plainly and freely declared against them, then whether they would hear or forbear, and told them they built up Sion with blood, and Ierusalem with iniquity, and the heads judged for rewards, Mich. 3. and the Priests preached for hire, and the Prophets divined for money, and yet said the Prophet wil they leane upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord amongst us, as that none evill can come upon us? and they saw them to be such as seeked for the fleeces, and regarded not the flock, Ezek. 34. but fed with the fat, and cloathed with the wool, and made a prey upon the sheep, but the Prophets of the Lord did not spare them, but freely and publikely declared against them, and they was persecuted, and imprisoned, and destroyed, by those who upheld and sided with the false Prophets, Priests, hirelings, and deceivers, and they had then a way of worship unto God, with their new moons with their sab­boths, with their calling of Assemblies, and Prayers, and sacrifices, and Burnt-offerings, which was once prescribed by God unto Israel, but when their hearts was gone from him, so that they walked not uprightly before the Lord, then said he, who hath required these things at your hands to tread my Courts, Isa. 29.13. bring no more vain oblations, incense is abomination unto me, the new-Moons and sabboths, the calling of assemblies, I can­not away with, it is iniquity, even the solemn meetings, your new-moons, and your appointed Feasts my soul hateth, and when you spread forth [Page 3] your hands, I will hide mine eyes, when you make many Prayers, I will not hearken: your hands are full of blood, wash you, make you clean, cease to do evil, learn to do wel, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judg the fatherless, plead for the widdow, Isa. 1. chap. and saith the Lord, is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul, to hang down the head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloath and ashes un­der him; wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? is it not this the fast which I have chosen to break the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoak? Is it not to deale thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out, to thy house, when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh? Isa. 8.5, 6, 7. but this they did not do, therefore said the Lord, these people draw near me with their mouths, Isa. 13.26. and honour me with their lips; but their hearts are far from me; and thus the Devill deceived them, and blinded their eyes in that age, with a profession and form of worship, but their hearts he kept to himself; and this the Prophets saw in the light, and testified and declared against it, and left it behind them upon record, and when the time came that Christ was born, the Pharises, and Scribes, and chiefe Priests had the Letter, the writings of Moses and the Prophets, and they could tel by them where Christ should be born; and when Herod had assembled them together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born, they said in Bethlehem of Iudah, Mat. 2. for thus it is written by the Pro­phets, &c. so the Priests and Pharises then was the keepers of the Letter, and they had the types, and the shadows, and figures of Christ the sub­stance, and there they had a life, and thought in them to find eternal life, but would not come unto Christ that they might have life, but despised him, Iohn 5.19.40. and would not believe on him because he came not in the wisdome nor in the pomp nor glory of the world but testified against it, and they was gotten up into Moses chaire, but not into Moses life, for they tythed Mint and Annis and Commin, but omitted the weightier things of the Law, Iudgment, Mercy, and faith, which they ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone, for that was a time when Tythes was due, Mat. 23.2. ver. 23. for the Aaronicall and Leviticall Priesthood, to which, Tythes did belong, was not yet changed until Christ was offered up, and they was faire sayers, who said and did not; and the hypocrites, who was hopt above the Light, and so was the blind leaders of the blind, with their faire sayings, and there­fore said Christ beware of the leaven of the Pharises, Mat. 25.14. Mat. 16.6. Mat. 23.13. and they turned peo­ple from the Light, and denyed the Light, and so shut up the Kingdome of Heaven against men, and would neither enter in themselves, nor suffer others that would, but had gotten a wisdome and righteousness of their own, which blinded their eyes, and covered their sins, so that they could not see their sins, nor him that was the way, the truth, and the life, there­fore did he pronounce so many woes against them, and called them whi­ted [Page 4] Walls, and painted Sepulchers, who washed the outside, but was the generation of vipers and serpents within: and thus Christ, who was the Light, searched them, and judged them who appeared faire on the outside, but within full of uncleanness, but they could not hide themselves from the Light, therefore they joyned against it, and the Saduces, and the Pharises, and the chiefe Priests and Scribes, and the Herodians, and Pilate, and Herod, and the rude multitude, all joyned together against the life; and they consulted against him, and took counsell against him, how they might destroy him, Mat. 16.1. and the Pharises came to tempt him, and insnare him with questions; that they might get somewhat against him to bring him under their Law, but he fore-saw their deceitfull hearts, their plots, and confounded their intentions, and brought to nought their counsell; then they said, if we let this man alone, all men will go after him, and so they sought false witnesses and took Counsel against him, Iohn 11.47.48 Mat. 26.59. and Crucified him, and let Barrabus go free; and thus the devill blinded their eyes (in that age) with a strickt profession, and their own righteousness and wisdom, so that they could not see the Light and the Life, but persecuted it, and seeked the living in the dead Letter, but if they had known him, they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory, yet they was wise in their own eyes, and despised those that followed him, and said, none of the ru­lers believed on him, Ioh. 7.48.49. but an ignorant people that knew not the Law, that were accursed because they was the Publicans and sinners, and they them­selves was the greatest sinners, but they healed themselves up with their own wisdome and righteousness, and therefore said Christ, they that are whole need no Physician, but they that are sick; therefore he said, publicans and harlots should enter the kingdome before them, Mat. 9.11, 12. Mat. 21.31. Mat. 11.5. but the blinde, the deafe, the lame, the dumb, and the Leopardies came unto him, and be­lieved on him, and were healed, and the poor received the Gospel, but the Priests, and professors, or the Pharises, and Scribes, and Elders, and Ru­lers, could not believe on him, that he was the Messias, but looked for a­nother, and these was the most zealous in their profession, and builded the Tombs of the prophets, and garnished the Sepulchers of the righteous, and said, Mat. 23.29.30 if they had been in the day of their fathers, they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets, and yet those was the chiefe persecutors of Christ, the substance of those things which they upheld in the Law and the Prophets, therefore they was witnesses against themselves, and filled up the measure of their fathers wrath, and those professed Abraham, Iohn 8.39. Ver. 44. Mat. 23.33. Mark 15.15. and said Abraham was their father, and yet denyed Christ, whom Abraham foretold of, but Christ told them they were of their father the Devil, and his works they did and would do, and thus he judged them for all their zeale and profession, and said, how could they escape the damnation of hell: Then after he was sacrificed up, he appeared unto his Apostles, and sent them to preach the Gospell to every creature, and here they did not run because the Prophets run, nor take up a com­mand [Page 5] without them in the Prophets writings to do a thing, because the Prophets was commanded to do it, but they was also acted and guided by the same spirit and word of truth which dwelt in them, Iohn 14.16, 17. Iohn 16.7.8. which Christ be­fore he was offered up, had promised, that he would send the comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, which the world could not receive, which should lead them into all truth, and should reprove the world of sin, of righte­ousness, and of Iudgment, & then after they had received the holy-ghost, they went abroad preaching Christ, and shewing thereby the fulfilling the Law and the Prophets, which figured forth and prophesied of Christ, Acts 2. Acts 4. and this they declared in their Temples, and in their Synagogues, and they haled them out of the Temple, and out of their synagogues, and brought them before Governors, Rulers, and Magistrates, and the chiefe Priests, and their kinred, and the chiefest professors (which was the Pharisees) was the head acters therein, but nevertheless they went on boldly, being filled with the power of the Holy-Ghost, without the fear of man, obey­ing God rather than man, so they was not subject to the authority of man in that respect, but they was subject unto the Law of man so far as it was subject to the Law of God; and so they went on preaching C [...]rist, and many believed and were baptized, and received the Holy-Ghost and were converted, and it was so that the multitude that believed was of one heart, and one minde, and they was so far of one being exalted over another, or seeking themselves, that not any of them said, Acts. 4.32. that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, and the works of God went on in much power, the ministers being acted and guided by the Holy Ghost. And also Stephen a man full of faith and the Holy-Ghost, he declared a­gainst the Temple, which God had once commanded to be built, and said, Solomon built him an House, yet nevertheless, Acts 7. God that made the world and all things, therein dwells, not in Temples made with hands, as faith the Prophet, Heaven is my Throne, and Earth is my Foot-stoole, and where is the House that ye will build me? and where is the place of my rest? hath not mine hand made all things? and he judged them and said, ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and eares, ye do alwayes resist the Holy-Ghost, as did your Fathers so do ye, and they gnashed upon him with their teeth, and fell upon him and stoned him, and when Saul was converted and became Paul, Acts 26.17, 18. his message was for to turn peoples mindes from the Darkness to the Light, and then (saith Paul,) when it pleased God to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him amongst the hearhen, imediately I conferred not with flesh & blood, Gal. 1.15, 16. 2 Cor. 4.2. 2 Cor. 2.15. Acts. 1 [...].22 &c Acts. 17. chap. & here was Pauls call to the ministry, & they was made manifest to every mans conscience, & was a sweet savour unto God, both in them that believed, & them that perished and Paul declared against the temple, and told them that worshipped there they was too superstitious, & he went into their synagogues on sabboth days and reasoned with them, & they persecuted him, and haled him before ru­lers and there complained of him to be one that prophaned the temple, & [Page 6] a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazareans, Acts 24. Acts 22.22. Ephes. 5.8. & a pestilent fellow & a raiser of sedition, & many cry'd out away with such a fellovv, he's not worthy to live & thus they suffer'd by the zealous professors in those daies, but they whose mindes was turned to the light, they was translated out of darkness into the light, 1 Cor. 12, 13 1 Iohn. 3.14. Col. 3.9, 10. Rom. 6.6. 1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11 and became the children of light, and was baptized by one Spi­rit into one body, and had passed from death unto life, and had put off the old man, and put on the new, the old man being crucified with Christ, though some of them was drunkards, some swearers, some proud, some covetous, Idolaters, Adulterers, yet then they were cleansed, and washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, and here was the Church which witnessed the Spirituall Baptisme, into the Spirituall Body, of which Christ is Head, and they be­ing thereby set free from Sin, their Union and Communion was here, and the Bread which the Saints brake was the Communion of the Body of Christ, 1 Cor. 10.16. 2 Cor. 5.17. 1 Cor. 12.27. Iohn 2.27. 1 Cor. 1.18. and the Cup which they drank was the Communion of the Blood of Christ, and they was in Christ new Creatures, all members of one Bo­dy, and needed not that any man should teach them, because the anointing was in them, and to them the Cross was the power of God unto salvation, though to the Greeks foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling block; and in this Cross Paul rejoyced, Gal. 6.14. by which he was Crucified to the world and the world to him, and they was not conformed unto the world, but transformed by the renewing of their mindes, and had one Lord, one Faith, Eph. 4.4, 5.6. one Baptisme, one way, one Teacher, one Life, and one She­pheard, and one Priest over the houshould of God, and one God and Fa­ther of all, Phil. 3.20. being united by one Spirit into the bond of peace, and their conversation was in Heaven, and there was the Christians, and though there was a time that when Christ was preached after the flesh, Phil. 1.16, 17, 18. some prea­ched Christ through envy and strife, and contention, to add affliction to Pauls bonds, yet in all this he rejoyced that the name of Christ was spread abroad, for there was many that believed not that that was the Christ that suffered at Ierusalem, and was crucified, as Paul himself had not, and as there is many such to this day, and so it rejoyced him that the name of Christ was spread abroad, but after his name was spread abroad, and many believed that that was the Christ, 2 Tim. 3.5. then the Apostle declared against such who had the form, but denyed the life and power, and said, from such turn away, for as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses, so do they withstand the truth, being men of corrupt mindes, and reprobates concerning the faith, and said the Apostle, we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling-block, 1 Cor. 1.23.24. 2 Cor. 5.16. and the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdome of God, and said the Apostle, hence know we no man after the flesh; and though we have known Christ after the flesh, hence know we him no more but he that is in Christ is a new creature, old things are passed away, and all things become new, and they that are Christs have crucified the flesh [Page 7] with the affections and Lusts, Gal. 4.24. Col. 26, 27. 2 Cor. 13.5. 1 Iohn 5.10. Iohn 5 25. 1 Iohn chap. 3.5. 2 Pet. 1.4. 1 Iohn 4.11 chap. 5.19. and the Apostle preached Christ within the hope of glory, the Ministry which had been hid from ages and generati­ons, and they that could not witness Christ in them, was reprobates, and here it was not sufficient for them to say they believed Christ dyed for them, but he that believeth hath the witness within himself, and he that believeth is passed from death unto life, and he that believeth is born of God, and he that is born of God doth not commit sin, and those was they who was made partakers of Christs divine nature, therefore saith Iohn, as he is, so are we in this present world, and we are of God, and the whole world lyeth in wickedness, and they that are of God heareth us, and they that are not with us are against us; & then the Apostle Paul he spoke of false Apostles that was gotten transforming themselvs as the Apostles of Christ, 2 Cor. 11.13, 4.15. & no marvel saith he, for Satan himself is transformed as an Angel of light, therefore it is no great thing also if his Ministers be transformed as the Ministers of Christ, whose end shall be according to their works: and the Apostle Peter he fore-told of such who through covetousness with feigned words should make merchandise of the people; and Iude he spoke of such who go on in the way of Cain, 2 Pet. 2, 8. Iude 11. 1 Iohn 2.10, 1 [...] and after the error of Balaam for gifts and rewards, and saith Iohn it is the last time, and as ye have heard that An­tichrists shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time, they went from us, but they were not of us: Now the false Apostles was such, as under a pretence or profession of true Apostles deceived the ignorant, and brought in heresies, and so Antichrist is one (that under the profession of Christ) opposes Christ, and drawes from him in the life, though under a profession of his name and of faith in him; and thus Antichrist got up, even that man of sin, 2 Thes. 3, 4. that is exalted in man above all that is called God, sitting in the Temple of God as God, and saith he is God, and thus he decived them in that age as an Angel of Light in a form and likeness of Christ, but a false Christ, who bewitched them from the truth with a form and profession; and thus Antichrist hath raig­ned by the power of Darkness, ever since the Apostles dayes, over the world under a Gospel profession, yet I say not but that the Lord hath had a remnant in all ages to himself, who was zealous and faithfull in what they knew, but here hath been a long time of cruel darkness and igno­rance, and the Lord hath been a long time as a stranger in the earth, and they that were accounted to believe on God or Christ, looked at him as a God a far off in the heavens, without, far off, they know not where, yet they that said they believed that that was the Christ that dyed at Ierusalem, and that he dyed for their sins and rose again, and was sitting at the right hand of God, &c. as that which they called their Creed, so then they was baptized with water and called Christians, whenas before they were called Heathen, and did not believe that that was the Christ that suffered at Ie­rusalem, but now called Christians and believers, though they were no­thing changed from the heathenish nature, and this was at the first com­ming in of the profession of Christian faith and Religion into England, [Page 8] and those had the writings of the Prophets and Apostles, which is called Scripture, and so was the keepers of the letters, and that they took to be their rule to walk by, as they do now, but knew not that which gave it forth, to lead them unto the life, but had the Letter and the form, but could not walk according to it, being led and guided by a contrary Principle, to that which gave it forth, so they gave their own meanings and imagina­tions upon it, so then all that were called Christs, were of the Christian Church and faith, and so were counted believers; then they sprinkled the children of those believers, and by that were they entertained into their Church and faith, and thus came up Infants Baptisme, for which there is no Scripture nor example, either from Christ or his Apostles, and yet they cal this an ordinance of Christ, & thus they begin to ad their own traditions & imaginations, & all are by nature the children of wrath, and a littlewater on their faces doth not change them from that, Eph. 23.14. but they grew up in al man­ner of unrighteousnes, as drunkenness, swearing, lying, covetousness, adulte­ry Idolatry, pride wantonness, envy murder, deceit, fraud, and malicious­ness, the which was cast out of the Apostles Church, and they was washed from such things, and sanctified and regenerate into the new-Covenant, & reckoned such to be without, as now Englands Church is upheld by: then they had their two Sacraments (as they call them) for which word they have no Scripture, and Infants baptisme is one, and that which they call the Supper of the Lord, is another; and they had the carnall bread and wine, as the Priests and people hath now, and they give it to naturall carnall men and women, and the Apostle saith, he that eats and drinks this unwor­thily, eats and drinks his own damnation, not discerning the Lords body, And the naturall man receives not the things of God, because they are spiritually discerned: 1 Cor. 2.14. 1 Cor. 10.16. and the bread which the Saints breaks is the Communion of the Body of Christ, and the cup which the Saints drinks, is the Communion of the Blood of Christ; and here is the Communion of the Saints, and the Supper of the Lord to which, he that hath not on a wedding Garment is not admitted; but Englands Priests knows not what a wedding garment is, and thus they planted their church in England, and other places, and then Bishops was set up, and Archbishops; for which name there is no Scripture, and Deans and Priests, and Deacons, and Popes, and one ruled over another, and the Popes bore rule like Kings, but they found never a Pope in the Scripture, and the Bishops they bore rule by their means, & the Priests preached for hire, and the people loved to have it so, & thus Antichrist set up his King­dom, under a profession of the Gospel, & then tythes came up for to main­tain the Priests, contrary to any rule in the Gospel, & then Universities was set up, for to make ministers or priests (as they call them) for the which they have no rule in the Scripture; & thus they was set up by the wil and traditi­on of man, as they are stil upheld, as the false Prophets alwaies was, & then they had their long robes like the Pharises, but not like the Apostles, for from them they have no such example, then they set up these Idols Temples, [Page 9] which the blind and ignorant now call Churches, or the houses of God, for the which they have no example from the Gospell ministers, for God never commanded these to be built, and though Solomon built him one Temple, yet nevertheless when the substance came, Matthew 24. he prophesied of its downfall and destruction; and Stephen witnessed against it, & was stoned to death by those that upheld it; & Paul witnessed against it, & was persecuted by those that upheld it; as many of the servants & messengers of God are now persecuted in these Idols Temples, & haled out and abused, & stoned and imprisoned by those that uphold them now, though these was never ordained by God, and then they got up into their Pulpets, the chiefest places in the Synagogues (as they are now) and called of men Master, and Doctor, and had the uppermost Rooms at feasts, & greetings in the mar­kets (as it is now,) and then they stole the Apostles words, as the false pro­phets stole the word from their neighbour, so did [and doth] those; and put them into Chapter & verse, an [...] took a verse, and studied from it a di­vination of their own brain, and added to it, but not from the mouth of the Lord, and so doth the Priests now; but they run like the false Prophets, & the Lord never sent them, therefore they profit not the people at all, and then with feigned or studied words, through covetousness they made mer­chandise of the people, as they do now, and so made a prey upon the sheep as they do now, & began to seek about for great livings, and fat benefices, and left a lesser and ran to a bigger, so there was their beloved which they seeked for, as the false Prophets, which seeked for the fleece and regarded not the flock, but fed with the fat & cloathed with the wool, and made a prey upon the sheep (as they do now) and cryed peace to those that put into their mouthes, and called them beloved brethren, and Christians, but they that did not put into their mouthes, they prepared war against them, and brought a Law upon them, and haled them before Courts & Benches, as they do now, & thus they sought for their gain from their quarter, and ruled them with rigour, so that until within these late years, the Priests raigned like Lords over the people, contrary to the practise of the mini­sters of the Gospel, who made themselves servants to all, 1 Cor. 9.19. and though they did ordain Bishops, they did not ordain that they should live of others Estates, or takes the Tenthes of the increase of others labours, and live like Lords over the people, but said, a Bishop must be blame­less, the Husband of one Wife, vigilent, sober, and of good behavi­our, given to hospitality, apt to Teach, not given to Wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy Lucre, but patient, not a Brawler, not Covetous, 1 Tim. 3. one that ruleth well his owne House, not a novis, least being lifted up with pride, he fall into the Condemnation of the Divell: now try your Priests and Teachers by this rule, but they stood not to this who was ordained by the Pope, or by the wil of man, but was lifted up with pride and covetousness, and greedy of filthy Lucre, as they are now, and so came into the condemnation of the Devil, as they do now, and thus your priests [Page 10] old father planted their Church and so set every thing in form and tradi­tion, according to their own imaginations, and here is the ground and foundation of the faith and Church of England so called; and here is the old Fathers, and the old Authors that your Priests have so much talked of, and prated of their ancient Fathers, even the Popes and the Bishops: and though now in words they deny the Pope, and the Papists, and the Bishops and differ something from the Pope in judgement, yet are in the same forms Customes, and Traditions, and are upheld by the same Laws as they was, when they was in the Popes and Bishops Loynes, and thus Anti­christ hath long deceived the Nations, and ruled by the power of dark­ness, under a notion or profession of the Gospell and faith of Christ, and one generation hath gone, and another come, and have not known the Lord that bought them, but by the hearing of the ear, and as those that saw him knew him in whom he dwelt, bore testimony and declared of him, and thus the Priests could tell the people from the Records of the holy men of God, what God is, and what Christ is, and what faith is, and how Christ dyed for their sins and rose again, and that Christ is a Saviour and a Redeemer, and what the Apostles spoke and writ unto the Church free­ly, they get and speak unto the world for gaine and lucre, and so casts the childrens bread unto dogs, and so seeds and puffs up the dark mindes of men with ayry knowledg, what they have gotten into their brains from other mens words, and their own imaginations, and so made and makes the people believe, that they are the means ordained by God; now many may see by this what lyars they are, and how they came up and was ordai­ned, and whose rule, practise, or example they follow in this they do, and they wil be found the Ministers of Antichrist, Look into their owne Records which they call the Book of Martyrs. and such as have long shut up, and do shut up the Kingdome of heaven against men, and would nei­ther enter in themselves, nor suffer others that would, but so long as they had power would bind all unto themselves, and those that had any ap­pearance of Light, so that they came to see their deceit and seperate from them, they would scarce suffer them to live amongst them, but praised be the Almighty who hath so weakned their hands and shattered their foun­dation, and caused his light so to shine out of Darkness, to cause them to be so manifest, so that all people who love Light better than Darkness, may now see how ignorantly & blindly you have bin led, as strangers from the father of light, after the vain traditions, customes, forms, ordinances, and imaginations of man, with a vain profession and feigned faith, which you have gotten into the notion, but stil in you sins and iniquities alive in the first nature, under deaths dominion, still strangers from the God of life, and from Christ the Saviour and Redeemer of his people from their sins, and thus you lye under the power of Darkness and delusion of Anti­christ, Hos. 4.9. Isa. 9.10. both Priest and people, for like people like Priest, and so saith the Prophet, and your Leaders cause you to erre by their lyes and by their lightness, and though you be full of teachers yet you are lost for want of [Page 11] true knowledge, and are stil led captive in your sins and iniquities, after these who have gotten the form, but deny the life and power, ever lear­ning and never comes to the knowledg of the truth in your selves, only differing from the heathen in name and profession, judgment, or o­pinion, but still alive in the same nature, in the fall under the Curse, the children of disobedience, in whom doth rule the Prince of Darkness, and you must have a Law without to keep you in awe and feare of the same, as they have whom you account heathen, but the Righteous needs no Law, for because of transgression the Law was added, and you are fighting killing, and devouring one another, as they do whom you account hea­then, & you are Drunkards, & Swearers, and Lyers, as they are, & Scoffers, Gal. 3.19. & scornrs and Revilers, and Back-biters, and Whoremongers, and Adul­terers, and proud, and covetous Idolaters, and high minded oppressors, as they are, both Priest and people, and you are Idolaters, as they are, ea­ting, and drinking, and rising up to play, and you are envious, and mali­cious, suing, and rending, and tearing one another at the Law, both Priest and people, pulling down others to set up your selves, and you are dissembling, & cozening, & cheating, & defrauding one another of the earth, which is none of your own; & you are persecutots, & stoners, & strikers of the innocent children, & servants, & messengers of God, and what sin is there amongst those whom you account heathen, that is not amongst you, & doth abound, yea, those whom you account heathen may condemn you inmuch of their practise; Oh! be ashamed and blush you Priests and tea­chers of England, to see your Ministry and the fruits of your Ministry so laid open before you, and thus you are these who come neare the Lord with your lips and mouthes, but your hearts are far from him in the earth or else you would walk more uprightly; Math. 15.9. but saith the Lord in vaine do you worship me, teaching (for Doctrine) the Commandments of men, but I know some Pharisees and Priests will be ready to say, we are no drunkards nor swearers nor such like, but I say unto you, you are hypocrites, and your hearts are full of deceit, envy, wrath, and bitterness, covetousness, pride, and earthly mindedness, and selfe love, and selfe-wisdome, and persecu­tors, and the greatest oppressors of the truth, and Publicans, and Harlots shall enter the kingdome before you: Jesus Christ the Light marked out your fore-fathers, and found them to be such, though they was more strickt and zealous than this generation: and by the same Light you are found in their steps, and those things both Christ and his Apostles judged to be without, and condemned them out of the new Covenant, for there no unrighteous person can dwel, and there all wars are ended, and the swords beat into pruning hooks, and guns into plowshares, and there is no op­pression, nor selfe-exalting, Math. 20, 21. Isa. 54.13, 14. Rom. 8.1. but hee that would be the greatest must be the least, and in righteousness are they established, and they are far from op­pression, and the Lord alone is their teacher, and there is no need of an outward Law, for to them there is no condemnation who walk not after the [Page 12] flesh but after the Spirit, and there is no respect of persons, but all mem­bers of one body, of which Christ is head, serving one another in love, and here is the new Covenant, and the Children of the new Covenant who are washed and made clean by the blood of the new Covenant, but you are Aliens and strangers from this Covenant, who are in your notions and professions; therefore all you ignorant people who are led by these deceitfull Priests and Pharisees, and disdain to be wiser than your fore-fa­thers, now see who is your fore-fathers, and the originall of your Priests, and who is your example, for you are out of the life and practise of the Apostles and the Children of Light, and by their life are judged and con­demned, for they was mortified to that life which you live in; neither did the Ministers of the Gospell Baptise Infants with water; neither did they teach for hire, or stand up in the chiefest place in the Assembly; neither was they called of men Master; neither had they the long Gowns; neither did they respect any place more than another to teach or preach in, ex­cept for conveniency; Acts 20.17.18 20. for they teached in dwelling houses, and by the Ri­ver sides, or in any open place; neither did they give to the world Davids Conditions to be sung in a Meeter; neither did they give to naturall men and women, bread and wine, which you call a SACRAMENT; neither did they use to Church women, as you call it, and take money for it; nei­ther did they take a Text of other mens words, 2 Pet 1.21. and speak from it a divi­nation of their own brain; neither did they study what or how to preach, but spoke as they was moved by the holy Ghost; neither did they teach people the Letter was the Word, Iohn 1. or, that the Letter was the light, but they bore witness of God to be the Word, and Christ to be the light; nei­ther did they tearh people that they could never be free from sin while they were upon the earth; but they preached Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sinnes of the world, and to redeeme his people from their sin, and to set them in the glorious liberty of the Sons of God, that he might redeeme unto himself a pure Church, not having spot or wrincle, Eph. 5.26, 27. or any such thing, neither did they teach people that a house of lime and stone was the Church, or the house of God; neither was they set up or upheld by a Law of man, or came by the will of man, or stood in the will of man, Gal. 1. but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and from him they received their Message and Command; neither was they brought up in humane learning, at an University (as it is called) to learn Arts and Sciences and take degrees, from Sir to Batcheller, and from Batcheller to Master of Arts, from Master to Batcheller of Divinity, from Batcheller of Divinity, to Doctor of Divinity, and had so many severall Gowns, but the Pharisees loved these things, but the Ministers of Christ was not such, but most of them was ignorant, and unlearned in that wisdome and lear­ning, Mat. 13.11. but unto them it was given to know the mysteries of the Kingdome, but it was hid from the world, and the wise ones thereof; and now the wise ones of the world say, that is the meanes ordained of God, to come to the [Page 13] knowledge of the truth, and that is the originall, to wit, humane lear­ning, and deny all revelation or immediate inspiration, and say it is cea­sed, for all which they have no Scripture proofe, for the Apostles never taught this Doctrine, nor prescribed this way, therefore your teachers are such as bring another Doctrine, and climbe up another way, who are not to be received but shut out for thieves, and robbers, who shut up the Kingdome of heaven against men, Iohn 10.1. and wil neither enter in themselves nor suffer others that would, and the Ministers of the Gospel never prea­ched up Hebrew and Greek to be the originall, but they preached the word to be the originall, neither took tythes, Iohn 11. nor ever had a set mainte­nance, or so much a year, namely, forty, fifty, or sixty, or a hundred, or two hundred pounds a year, more or less, to abide in one place, neither sued any at the Law for any such thing, but all their care was to make the Gospel free and without charge, 1 Cor. 9.1 [...]. neither did they take of those that did not own them, as denyed them, but shaked off the dust of their feet, and so left them, neither had they an hour-glass to limit themselves by, or had a Clark to say Amen; but your Priests wil tel you now the Gospell is published, and the Churches are gathered and planted: Oh! with shame might they speak it, what Churches have they gathered, here I have be­fore laid down their Church the ground thereof, the gathering thereof, and the planting thereof, and what they are, and also the gathering of the Apostles Church, and the planting thereof, so that here you may see the difference betwixt the one and the other, the one a form and traditi­on and profession, the other the life, and power, and substance, and here also you may see what Englands Church, which Englands Priests have planted, now differs from the heathen, and now set Drunkards aside, set swearers aside, set lyars aside, set proud ones aside, set covetous ones aside, set raylers aside, set murderers aside, and whoremongers aside, set wild ones, prophane ones, and wanton ones aside, set quarrellers, and fighters aside, and hypocrites, dissemblers, and persecutors aside, and back-biters, extortioners, and lustfull ones, and such like aside, and then see where Englands Church is, which your Priests have made you believe they have planted, and let them eat no where but of their own vinyard, and it will make them go about to plant a better vineyard, or else to cast off their long Gowns, and fall to dig with a spade, for some of them have sometimes brought that place of Scripture to uphold their 40, or 50. or 100. or 200. l. by the year, where the Apostle saith, who planted a vinyard & eateth not of the fruit thereof? 1 Cor. 19.7. now according to this the vinyard must be plan­ted first, before they can eat of the fruit thereof, and set those aside that I mentioned as aforesaid, for the Apostles cast out suchweeds and wild plants out of their vinyard, and then see where their vinyard is, which they have plaeted, & let them only eat of the fruit thereof, and not rob others vinyards, and this is but equity according to Scriptures example, but they are such greedy Doggs as the Prophet Isajah declared Isa. 56. [Page 14] against in his time, and such ravening wolves and foxes, as they live all upon the spoyle, and the fruits of others labours, and those that hunts them out of their Vinyards, and Barns, and Flocks, and Heards; then they have a Law, even to devour them and their whole estates, and this is far from Gospel Ministers, nay, Jesus Christ the Light saw their fore-fathers and marked them out to be the ravening wolves, Mat. 7.15, 16. in sheeps cloathing, as these doth now appear to any, but those that love to have it so, for so long as you put into their mouthes, they cry peace, peace, and speak you fare, and calls you christians and beloved; but put not into their mouthes, then they even prepare war, then they have a Law for you to take treble da­mage from you, 2 Pet. 2.3. and so fulfils the Apostles words: Oh what a horrible fil­thy thing is here committed in the land! are not they plaine ravening wolves, that would devour hoth body and soul? Now you people of En­gland, consider where you are, and whom you follow, and whither you are going, and see now who is your fore-fathers, and see now how you have walked by tradition and form, and have been blinded by a vain profession and outside-worship and so have taken Antichrist for Christ, and the Mi­nisters of Antichrist for the Ministers of Christ, and have put Darkness for Light, and Light for Darkness, and your fear towards God hath beene taught by the precepts of men, Isa. 29.13. and they have taught for Doctrine the tra­ditions of men, as I have before proved, how many things they have led you in by tradition, without any Scripture proofes, though to you they have been Oracles of God, but now they are searched, by the light, they are made manifest to be vaine heathennish traditions, and thus the blind have led the blind along, and many of them into the ditch; but yet I say not but the Lord hath had his people in all ages, those who was zealous, and faithfull, and true in what they knew, but I know the Priests have been long utter enemies to God and his truth, and the tares have long covered the wheat, and in the time of ignorance God winked, but now the Light shines out of Darkness, and now is the separation, and ga­thering the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and to convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, because the Prince of the Ayre is judged, and now the Lord doth require all every whereto repent, and they that love the light will bring their deeds to the light, that the light may prove them whether they be wrought in God, and it is not to say you wil follow your forefathers, and go on the old way, for such are they that hate the light and despise it, and love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evill, and so having drunk old wine doth not straightway desire new, for they say the old is better; and those are they that cry up the old way, and cry away with new wayes and new Lights, and this is the condemnation of the world, Iohn 3.19 20. light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, Light is now to them who have alwayes been in darkness, and truth is new to them who have alwayes lived in deceit, but the light is the same, as [Page 15] ever it was, for it is unchangeable, and the truth is the same.

So people take heed of obstinancy and wilful blindness, and love not to be deceived, for now the light plainly and clearly shines, and here your old way is plainly laid open, what it is, and from whence it is, and also your Priests, and though they be more refined within this late years than they was before it is because the Light is more broken forth within this late years, so that many is come to see their deceit, and declare against them, and now they are but the more subtiler and closer deceivers, Satan trans­formed into anothe shape more like the light, but still they have no par­ted with their great benefices, add Augmentations, or tythes, nor the chie­fest place of the Assembly, nor their long gowns, though they are almost ashamed of their colour, nor to be called of men Master, nor from seeking their gain from their quarter, nor from making a trade of other mens words, nor from their lying divinations, and saying the Lord saith, when he never spoke to them, nor from stealing the word into their mouth, and saying, heare the word of the Lord, when they never heard his voyce, nei­ther turns the wicked ones from their wickedness, nor the proud ones from their pride, nor the ungodly from their ungodliness, nor the prophane from their prophaneness, but are stil prophane themselves, and stil proud and covetous, and stil shelter themselves under the powers of the earth, as their fore-fathers the false Prophets alwayes did, and stil runs when the Lord never sends them, but ordained and set up, and upheld by the wil of man, therefore they profit not the people at all, but only hath gotten a higher notion to feed the notionists withall, and so makes more Phari­ses, hypocrites, and whited walls, and they are more whited over them­selves to deceive the world, but the pure light is so broken forth that they cannot hide themselves, and many sees the deceit of the Priests, and their folly is a manifesting even to all, so that none need to be deceived by them but the wilful, obstinate, and blind, who love to have it so, who love darkness rather than light, which is their condemnation, the light which reproves them for their evill deeds, and therefore they hate it, for every one that doth evil hates the light, and this is his condemnation, and no ignorance here is to be pleaded, and these are they that uphold the Priests and the Pharises, but all who have desires to see, may see; and now here is the Priests or the ministers (so called) of England laid open, with the church of England, with their form, profession, and outside worship, with their ground, and originall, and sandy foundation, and to be within, diffe­ring from the Heathen but in name, and form, and profession, therefore down it must, though the powers of the earth hath long upheld them, more than any other sect, so that they have continued so long, as they do not a little boast of, and thereby say they are of God, but let the Magistrate look to his office, and let the minister alone with his office, and then you shall see the professed ministers of England, to be the weakest of all sects and forms, but Antichrist hath had his limited time to raigne over the [Page 16] earth, but now the King of righteousness is risen with a sword in his hand, and by his mighty arm he wil overturn, overturn all until it come into his hand, Psal. 149.8. whose own it is, and he wil bind the Kings in chains, and the Nobles in fetters of iron, and he wil brake the powers of the earth assunder, and all who oppose him, Rev. 19.20. and the Beast and false Prophet shall be taken, and all that receive his marke, and worship his image, into the Lake shal go small and great, and there to lye forevermore; Mat. 31.42.44 and this is the stone which the builders have reject­ed, which now is become the head of the corner, and whomsoever falls upon it shal be broken, but on whomsoever it falls, it wil grind them to powder, & this is the Stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which strikes at the feet of the Image, & here is a blow to the foundation of the priests & church of England.

Therefore now all people who are captivated under the Priests, turne your minds within to the Light of the Lord Jesus, which reproves you in secret when you tel a lye, or use any deceit, which shewes you your evill deeds, and that your hearts are not right towards God for all your du­ties and shorship and profession, and that which cals for uprightness of heart and an holy life, and a change, and reformation, and a newness of life, hearken unto this, it is the free grace of God unto your souls, and teacheth freely, and by this you wil come to profit, for it teacheth godli­ness, and godliness is great gain, so that you will not need to spend your moneys for that which is not bread, 1 Tim. 6 6. Isa. 59.1, 2. nor your labor for that which profiteth not, nor to be led captive by your blind guides, ever learning, and never come to the knowledge of the truth, but stil in blindness and darkness, for you have a teacher within which is a more sure word of prophesie, 2 Pet. 1.19. to the which you do wel to take heed unto, as to a Light shining in a dark place, untill the day dawn, and the Day-Star arise in your hearts; this is the measure of the grace of God, even the free gift of God, which God hath given you to profit withal, which wil accuse you or excuse you before the throne of God, to which I now leave you, having discharged my conscience concerning you, and so I proceed to the rest of forms.

Now within these late yeers the Light of Christ beginning to stir in peo­ples hearts, so that many come to see themselves in much darkness and ignorance of these things which they read of in the Scripture, and also the corruption of the Priests and Teachers, and what Reprobates they were concerning the faith, and that they profited not the people at all, but they had heard them so long, and still blind and ignorant, so that many come to see their folly, yet their minds not being directed to the light, which showed them this, and should have led them out of this con­dition, upon which they should have waited for direction to have found the way of truth, but they run without to the Letter in their own wils and wisdome, and so would find out a way by their own wisdome and imagina­tion, and so went out to search the Scripture, but with a wrong eye, giving their own meanings and interpretations upon the Scripture, and one cries this is my opinion, and another cries this is my opinion, and another cries this is my judgment, and thus they are confounded and divided into [Page 17] their severall judgments and opinions, yet all still in one life and one Nature, but onely confounded and divided in their judgments of what the Prophets meant, and Christ meant, and what the Apostles meant, but it is as a Book sealed, both to the learned and unlearned, and none is found worthy but the Lamb to open the seals, Isa. 29.11. who is the light wherein lies the Ministry; so this is the cause why they whose mindes are from the light, are so divided and scattered in their judgments and opi­nions, and one sets up a form in his imagination, and another sets up a Forme in his immagination, and one runs abroad into the world with his wisdome, and he wil go preach up his form and judgment to be the truth, and another he wil cry down that form for de­lusion, anp preach up his form for a truth, and so many deceivers and false Spirits are entred into the world, and one cries, lo here is Christ if you can believe and be baptised you shall be saved; so they that can say that is the way, and that they believe Christ dyed for them, then they must be dipped in the water, and that they call baptising of them, and then they are of their Church, and then they call themselves Saints, though they are stil in the old nature, and so in the fall, and in their sins, and corrupti­ons, and it is not the washing away the filth of the flesh that doth change them; but because they are come out from the Priests, and turnd into ano­ther judgment and profession, they think themselves Saints, Acts 19.6. and they read the Scripture of laying on the Apostles hands, and then the disciples received the Holy Ghost; and so those formalists and selfe-actors layes on their hands, but there wants the Holy Ghost, and thus they act, and form and imitate, and make the form or likeness of a Church; and they read of washing the feet in the figure, and so they dote upon the Letter, Iohn 13, 5. 1 Cor. 5.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. and wash one anothers feet; and they read of delivering up to Satan, one for forni­cation; for the destruction of the flesh in the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in the spirit Paul discerned it, for saith he, though absent in body, yet present in spirit, I have judged already as though I were pre­sent, concerning him that hath done this deed; and so those formalists & imitators, if any differ from them in judgment, they wil also deliver him up to Satan as they imagine, taking the Apostles words, though they can­not tax him for any thing; but his judgment differing from them, but they want the power; and here they are the Magicians, like Iannes and Iam­bres, opposing the truth, and those are they that are called Baptists; and another form, they are more spirituall in their judgment, and they hold a spirituall baptisme, and not a water baptisme, and as many as hold with them, are of their Church and faith, and thus they are devided into several forms and Churches, and so have several names, and there are se­verall judgments of one thing, under one name, and here is the confusion of Babylon, with their severall sects, judgments, and opinions, and every one professing the name of the Lord, and stealing the words of the Pro­phets, Christ, and his Apostles, and saying the Lord saith, when he never spoke to them, and here the difference from another, onely in profession, judgment or opinion, but stil in Babylon, and Babylons fashions, customes [Page 18] and traditions, and fellowship, manners, and breeding, which is all hea­thenish, and at enmity with God, being in the fall, and thus they stand in the first nature, in pride, in covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, fleshli­ness and lustfulness, and idle words, vain talking, foolish jesting, and e­vil communication; and to be short, stil alive in the worlds nature, stran­gers to the holy God, and so under deaths dominion, and here I compre­hend all forms, sects, judgements, and opinions, by the light which slayes Death, and takes away its Dominion unto its selfe, to whom it belongs, and doth see them and judge them to be out of the light, in Darkness and so in confusion, one clashing against another, with their judgements and opinions, and here is the disputes of this world, and the one cries, Lo, here is Christ in this form, and another cries, so here is Christ in this form, and none else, when as Christ is within his Saints, and theirs is a false Christ which they have set up in their imaginations, and here is the false Pro­phets and false Christs that are gone out into the world, who have decei­ved many,

And hereis the ground of forms, a setting up a likeness of a thing, a figure or image of a thing, Reve. 13. but not the thing it selfe; and here is the beast and the image of the beast, which all the world worships, and wonders after; even Satan as an Angel of light, in his several shapes, forms, and likenesses to deceive the simple, and here is the form without the life and power, and here is the building upon a sandy foundation, which all must come down, Luk 6.49. Mat. 19.20. who here the words, and talk of the words, and are say­ers of the words; and hear is him that saith he hath kept the command­ments and Ordinances, and yet his heart from God after other lovers, who is searched and found out by Christ the Light, and here is the Spirituall Babel with its foundation, and Babels building, and Babels builders, and here is the Image whose head is gold, whose breast is silver and thighes of brass, Dan. 2. and legs of iron, and feet part iron and part clay, but now is he come and made manifest, who strikes at feet of Image, who is called the stone cut out of mountaine without hands, even Jesus Christ the son of God; now after all this profession of his name and of faith in him, but now he findes none in the earth who hath revealed himself in the poor despised ones of the world, and those which have been counted the blind and ignorant, and as you have read the poor receive the Gospel, the world was made by him, but the world knew him not, he came unto his own and his own received him not, Iohn 1. Acts 2.16, 17, 18, 19. but as many as receives him, to them he gives power to become the Sons of God, to whom that promise is fulfilled which was promised in the dayes of old, by the father, that in the last dayes he would poure forth his Spirit upon all flesh, and his sons and daughters should prophesie, and the young men see visions, and if you wil receive it, this is the Elias which was for to come in the Spirit as he came in the flesh, even the life and power of what hath been so long pro­fessed, which the Lord hath now manifested in his servants and hand­maidens, [Page 19] whom he hath now sent forth abroad, Mat. 22.2, 3. freely to call into the Supper of the Lord, even the marriage of the Lamb, and to preach his name no more after the flesh but after the Spirit, and to preach him with­in the hope of glory, the Ministry which hath been hid from ages and generations, and they that will be his disciples must deny themselves and take up his Cross and follow him, through evil report, and good report, through persecution and through death, and who are faithful un­til death must receive a Crown of life, and reigne with him for evermore in his Kingdome, of which there is no end neither beginning, over which he is made heire and King, blessed be Jehovah, sing Haelalujah to his name all ye that know him.

And now that his name is spreading abroad, and his message declaring by the mouth of his faithful messengers; those who have long talked of his name, and so long professed his name knows him not, neither believes on him, but are found hypocrites, and dissemblers, and blind leaders of the blind; whited walls, and painted Sepulchers, but within full of un­cleanness, hypocrisie, and deceit, even the generation of vipers and Ser­pents, and those will not receive the message, but makes light of it, and saith, they believe on a Christ at Jerusalem, and now in the heavens far off they know not where, and they cry, he hath done all for us, and hath satisfied for our sins, and they shal not be imputed to us say they; and they cry out this is a new Light, and a strange Light, and we know not whence it is, but they say they wil keep to the old Rule, the Scriptures (which they call the word of God, and the old way) though they be meer stran­gers to the life of the Scriptures; but it is that the Scripture might be ful­filled upon them, as Christ saith, for judgemet am I come into the world that they which see not might see, Iohn 9.39. and that they which see might be made blind, as their forefathers professed Abraham and Moses, and said, we know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow, we know not whence he is, Iohn 9.29. and they said, God was their Father, but Jesus Christ answered them and said, Iohn 8. If ye were Abrahams children ye would do the works of Abraham, and he also said, If God were your Father then would you love me, for I proceeded forth and came from him, but saith he, ye are of your Father the Devill, and his works you do and will do; and thus are the Pharisaicall professors of these times, marked out to be in the steps of their fore-fa­thers, for this is the same Christ that suffered at Ierusalem, but they are blind and cannot see, neither (indeed) do believe the Scripture, nor walk according to it, but are in the old and broad way of the world, wherein their fore-fathers walked, and led many to destruction, but if these did believe the Scripture, they would believe on this light which is come into the world, which the Scripture bares testimony of, even the Spirit of truth which the world cannot receive, and some of them scoff and scorn, and revile, reproach and slander, and rayle at the messengers of Truth, and some strike them, and stone them, and buffer them, and stock [Page 20] them, and whip them, and imprison them, and despitefully use them, yet they are made able through the power of him that hath sent them, for to go on in boldness, Mat. 22.4, 5, 6. but those persecutors are not found worthy, Therefore the Lord wil send forth his Armies and destroy these murderers and burn up their City: and these are they that have professed to be his near kindred, friends, and acquaintance, but now are found strangers who prophesied in his name, and in his name done many wondrous works, and yet they must depart for works of iniquity, he knows them not; now read your selves you wicked ones, you murderers, you rude multitude, you Priests, you Pharises and professors, you formalists, selfe-actors, and im [...]tators, for now all joyne hand in hand, and Gog, and Magog joyns in Battel a­gainst the Lamb, and Pilate and Herod is made friends, and you chiefe Priests and Pharises who are the professors of these times, and you Ru­lers, and you rude and bruitish ones, and you formalists and sectaries now at the comming of Christ in the Spirit, even the substance of what you have long talked of, all joyned together in one, who formerly have been at great division and wars among your selves, but now you are made friends, and muster up all your strength against the substance, even Jesus Christ, whom you (as your fore-fathers did) call a blasphemer, a sedu­cer, a deceiver, and a devil; and now the rude multitude they stand up for their Priests, and they fall upon the messengers of Christ when they come into their Synagogues, and they hale them out of their Synagogues, and strike them, and buffet them, and despitefully use them, and stone them, as their fore-father ever did, and the Priests they seek to Rulers & Magistrates, and hales them before them, and they persecute them and imprison them, as their fore-fathers ever did, and the pharises and anci­ent hypocriticall rotten professors, they side with the Priests, and goes about railing, and evill speaking of the truth, learning and insensing peo­ples mindes against it, with their lyes and slanders and reproaches to present it odious to all people, and also fauning, and crouching, and see­king to Magistrates, to act in their wills and persecute, as their forefa­thers alwayes did against the same seed, and likewise the formalists and sectaries do the same, and thus they that were after the flesh alwayes per­secuted them that were after the spirit, Gal. 4.29. and yet these are ready to cry out what hard hearted Jews was those that crucified Christ, and persecuted his Apostles, and if they had been in those dayes they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of Christ and his Apostles, when­as they are now found the same generation of persecutors, persecuting the righteous seed, and so they fil up the measure of their fathers wrath, that upon them might come all the righteous blood-shed from righteous Abel until now.

And now the Priests and the Baptists can agree, and they joyne toge­ther, and the Priests calls them honest men, and the Baptists calls them Gentlemen of Divinity, and the Baptists and Independents, they joyne [Page 21] together, and the Independants, and the Presbiterians, they joyne toge­gether all against the life and power, which the Lord hath now manifes­ted in his Sons and Daughters, and hath sent them to declare and lay o­pen their hypocrisie and deceit, which they have long covered with a Gospell-like profession, but now all their coverings are found too narrow before the Light which is come now into the world, to convince and re­prove them of their sin, of their righteousness, and of their judgment; and therefore now they have enough to do to joyne together with all their strength and wisdome, to put out this light, and so they endeavour to sew their tares in peoples hearts, and all the wayes they can invent to destroy the work which now is begun, and as Iannes and Iambres with­stood Moses, so do they withstand the truth, according to the prophesie of the Apostle, being men of corrupt mindes, and reprobates concerning the saith, which I have much experience in severall meetings which I have had with the teachers of the baptized people, which shall follow in order after­ward.

But the more they strive in their wills and wisdomes, the more doth the work of the Lord prosper and go on, and flourish by his mighty power, and outstretched arm, and their shame, and folly, and down-fall the more appear, and when they have done all they can, they shall be glad to lay down their grounds, and bow unto this truth which they now so oppose, and every tongue shall confess it though to their condemnation, who do now oppose and gain-say it, wo unto such, they shall perish in the gain-saying of Core, And the time shal come, Luke 13.25. that when the master of the house shall have shut the dore, they shall knock and shall strive to enter and shall not be able, all who now oppose and reject the Counsell of the Lord and will not hearken now they are called.

And thus the LORD will exhalt his SONNE in his SAINTS, when his ENEMIES shall bee his Foot stole, and be made to bow be­fore him.

And thus doth all Sects, Judgements, and Opinions, joyne in one a­gainst the Life and Substance, they being all sprung from one Root, so make up all one Image, whose head is Gold, Breast of silver, whose Thighes is Brass, and Legs of Iron, and feet part of Iron and part of Clay; and the Stone cut out of the Mountain without hands, which strikes at the feet of the Image.

Now the head of the Image which is of gold, & those that have had a light shining into them, and have had a sight of many things, & have seen the emptiness of many forms, and have gotten the thing in their compre­hension, & have a notion above others, of much of that which is now wit­nessed & possest in life by the faithful, & there have been exalted & got­ten up a life therein, and a false rest, but have lost the light which once shined into them, by catching the thing in their Comprehension, and so got it in the notion, but did not obey nor suffer the death of [Page 22] the Cross, and the breast of the Image which is of Silver, and the thighes of brass, are the rest of the sects, and opinions, and forms, and likenesses; which are more glorious one than another, for as I said before; Satan can imitate every appearance of the true Light, in his forms, shapes, and likenesses, and the more glorious the light appears in any creature, so doth he refine himself, and appear more glorious to deceive the simple; so that many (by the light of God stirring in them) have come to see the deceit and emptiness in one form, and how they have been deceived there­in, then presently the deceit appears in another more glorious shape or form, and calls that the truth, and the creature stil looking without from the Light, within it is insnared there, again stil painted with the Scripture words, and then the creature thinks its a Saint in that form, whenas its but a painted Sepulcher, stil in the old nature; and under the power of the same deceit, but the Cross tryes all, for there all forms and professions misses and comes short, so that many a creature hath passed through many forms, and hath thought it self a Saint in every form, but coming, yea, but to see the Cross which they are to take up before they can be the Dis­ciples of Christ, and there have stumbled and cryed out, it is hard and straight, and goes away sorrowfull, I know this is witnessed and answered in many consciences, for here every mans faith and works comes to the tryall, and so to some the preaching of the Cross is foolishness, and to some a stumbling-block, but unto them that believe and take it up, it is witnessed the power of God unto salvation, and such rejoyces in it with Paul, who are crucified to the world and the world to them, upon whom the ends of the world are come, but it would be an easie thing to the flesh if that was all, 1 Cor. 10.11. to turn out of one profession into another, and out of one form and judgement into another, but the way to life is through death.

And the Legs of the Image, which is of Iron, is the Beast, or the power of the Beast, upon which these stand, where lies their strength; and the feet of the Image, which is part of Iron and part of Clay, are the Priests and Pharises, joyned to the powers of the earth, which upholds them, for but for that, as I said before, they are the weakest of all forms, and so they are the part of clay, and the power that upholds them, is that part of Iron which is the strongest of the mettalls; and the watcher, or the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which strikes at the feet of the Image, is the King of righteousness, Rev. 19.11, 12, 13, &c. Rev. 17.12, 13, 14. even he that rides upon the white horse, out of whose mouth goes a sharp sword, whose name is called the word of God, who comes to strike at the powers of the earth, even the Kings of the earth, who have given their power unto the Beast, and joyne in war against the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome, and he will overturn all untill it come into his hand whose own it is, Rev. 19.20. Rev. 21.1. and the Beast and the false Prophet that hath thus deceived the nations, and all that receive the mark of the Beast, and worship his Image, shall be taken and cast into the lake that burneth for ever, which was of old prepared for them, and he wil create new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righte­ousness, [Page 23] where there shal not be war any more, but he shall reigne in peace with his Saints for evermore. Oh blessed are all they that fight in this Ban­ner, and here lay down their lives, they shall take them up again with an everlasting Crown, and reigne for evermore, singing Halelujah to their king, to whom be all praise, honour, power, dominion, and thanks for evermore, Amen: And thus shall this great Image be broken to pieces, by the Stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which wil become a heavy mountain, even a burdensome stone to all nations, but upon this Mountain shall the true Church stand, as a City set on a Hill, Mat. 5.14. that can­not be hid: and thus I have laid down the ground and end of all sects, forms and professions, with a blow to this great Image, with a weapon which is not carnall but spirituall, he that can receive it let him.

And now concerning the CHURCH which is now gathering and redee­ming, not by the wil of man, nor by the wisdome of many, but by the wil and power, and spirit of God, which according unto his promise he hath poured down upon his Sons and Daughters now in these latter dayes, by which we are carried abroad in the power of the Almighty, now to declare abroad his powerfull Truth, which the Lord hath decreed shall prevail upon the hearts of the people, which is glad tydings of great joy, unto them that receive it, but unto the stubborn and stiff-necked and re­bellious, tydings of wo and misery, and though the messengers of the Gospell are by some rejected, reviled, reproached, scoffed, and scorned, stocked, stoned, and imprisoned, and despitefully used, slandered, and abused, yet nevertheless, blessed be the name of the Lord, there are some found worthy and do receive with much joy the messengers of the Gospel, Rom. 10.15. so that they know how beautifull are the feet of those that bring glad tydings, to the reviving the just witness for God, and raising up to life the dead, and so the living comes to know and praise the Lord, and so the just comes to reign, and the wicked comes to be judged, and the minde comes to be turned from the darkness to the light, to which we do preach in every creature, and to the same are made manifest, and known to them who do like to retain it in their mindes, and from whence we come, and the testimony which we do declare; but they that do not receive it, to them we are not known, and therefore are by them esteemed as deceivers, and deluders, vagabonds, and wanderers, and the like; yet at all this we do not wonder, for we read the servant is not greater than his lord, for if they have called the Master of the House Belzebub, how much more those of his houshould, and if they had known him, Mat. 10.24, 25 they would not have cruci­fied the Lord of glory, yet nevertheless we have a witness in every Cons­cience, both in them that believe, and in them that perish, unto which we do clear our consciences, and leave all without excuse by the same, which wil answer for us in the mighty day, though to the condemnation of those that hate it, wherein we have our great joy above all our sufferings, but as many as receives this, to them he gives Power [Page 24] to bccome the Sons of God, and those are they who are led and guided by the one spirit of Truth, which the world cannot receive, even the Comfor­ter, of whom you have heard should come, by which they are seperated out of the world, & redeemed out of the rudiments & polutions therof, their fashi­ons, their customes, their words, their ways, their manners, their breeding, their fellowip, love and friendship, their honor and glory, and their wor­ship, and so are become strangers to the world, and so are hated of the world, because they are not of the world, and the enmity stands betwixt the two seeds; but while they was of the world the world loved them, but now they are gathered out of the world, and seperated from the world, and testifies against the world both in words and actions, there­fore the enmity is raised in the world against the righteous seed, and those are they upon whom the ends of the world are come, to whom it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdome, though to the world in Parables; and those are they that are come with a mighty arm and power, to turn the world upside down, whom the Lord hath gathered, and is a gathering out of the world by his owne Spirit of Truth and Love, to walk in the way of Truth, even the way of Holiness, where the Ransomed of the Lord doe walk, and serve and worship him in spirit and in truth, and such is the Father seeking to worship him, Iohn 4.23, 24 in whom he is, in doing his own ork, e­ven to destroy the old Creation, and create new Heavens and new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness, and those are they that are the new crea­tures in whom this new work is witnessed, in whom the Father hath mani­fested his Son, that in the likeness of sinful flesh he might condemn sin in the flesh, and to bind the strong man, and cast him out of his house, and spoyl his goods, and so to destroy the works of the Devil, and to cut down the Man of Sin, even that son of perdition who is exalted above all that is called GOD, sitting in the Temple of God as God, and saith he is God; this is he by whom the world is deceived, who is the God of the world, e­ven the Prince of Darkness, who rules in all the Children of Disobedi­ence, and so said Iohn in the light, the whole world lies in wickedness, and unto this doth Christ come with a sword for to make war with him, and to take and bind him, and cast him into utter darkness, and so to take his Kingdom from him, and to rule himself in righteousness.

And this is the King of the SAINTS, who is now come to redeem unto himself a pure people, and to wash them and clense them from their sinnes by his BLOOD, and so to wash away all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit, and this is the Baptism by which they are received into his Church and Faith, and here is the effect of his BLOOD wrought in MAN; and thus he doth and will manifest his mighty power, to purifie, and clense, and make Man a fit Temple for himself to dwell in, and thus is GOD with us, manifested in Flesh, and thus are the Saints Bodies made the TEMPLES of the HOLY GHOST, and thus is the word [Page 25] of Life and Reconciliation witnessed, to the raising up the Soul to Life, and reconciling the Soul to GOD, and those are they that are begot­ten and born again of the Immortal Word which dwelleth and abideth for ever, and here is the Houshold of God, the Houshold of Faith, and the Houshold of Love, 1 Iohn 1.1. who speak the things which they have heard and seen, and tasted of the good Word of Life, which was in the beginning, and those are the children of Light who are gathered out of the darke Forms, Judgments, and Opinions, into the life and power of godliness, to walk in the Light of Life, wherein they are gathered and united by the one Spirit of Love and Life, into one body, of which Christ is head: and here is the true Church which the Lord is a gathering, and washing, and cleansing, and purifying by his Spirit, that he may redeem unto himself a pure Church, not having spot or wrinckle, or any such thing, whose insides are washed and made clean through the Word, Iohn 15. by which they are reconciled into the love and union which springs from the Life of God, and here is the Vine and the Branches, and here is the communion of the Church, all feeding upon one Bread, all drinking upon one cup, this is Christ the Life of the Saints, and as many as are bap­tized into this Church, partake of this communion, and those are they which have denied themselves, and have borne the Cross of Christ, by which they are crucified to the world, and the world to them, who are gathered into one Covenant of Life, where all are Fellow-Servants, under one MASTER, who serve one another in love and meeknesse: and here is the true Humility in the HEART wrought, and here is the true washing of feet without Hypocri­sie, which some are imitating without for LIFE, but falls short, for the heart the Lord requires.

And thus is the Church of Christ gathered by one spirit, and by the same circumcised and baptised into one Light, and Life, and Power, where all dwell as MEMBERS of one BODY, of which CHRIST is the HEAD. And here is the blessed Union and Communion in one, and here God is worshipped in Spirit and in Truth, and as CHRIST is spiritual, so is his Body, and so is his Ordinances; and here are the true Christians, not those that onely have the Notion of those things, but they that wit­ness, and possess this in Life, and they that believe hath the witness within themselves, and they that believe, have passed from death unto life, and the life which they now live in is by faith in the Son of God, which faith is without respect of persons, who are the new creatures, who are in Christ Jesus, to whom there is no condemnation, who walk not after the FLESH, but after the SPIRIT, Gal. 5.23. for against such there is no LAW, for they are translated out of that NATURE for which the LAW was added, [Page 26] and are set free by the Law of the Spirit of Life, and are made partakers of the Divine nature of Christ, Rom. 8.2. 1 Iohn 4.17. by which they are made Christians, and therefore saith Iohn, as he is so are we in this prasent world, and such now witnesses the effect of the blood of Christ wrought within them, and the end of his coming, and the benefit of his Death, who are dead with him, and risen through the death of the Cross, and these are they that have esca­ped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Son of God with­in them, Christ within the hope of Glory, or else no hope of Glory, for they that cannot witness him so, 2 Cor. 13.5. Iohn 17.23. are in the Reprobation, so saith the Apostle, and here is the Son in the Saints, and the Father in the Son, and thus are all made perfect in one, and here is the true Church, where there is but one Teacher, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptisme, one Light, one Life, and one way, one Shep­herd and one Sheepfold, and one Priest over the houshold of God, and one hope, and one language, one family, and one God and father of all; and they that cannot witness this, are Strangers to Christ, and Strangers to his Cross, and Strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel.

And this is the work which the Lord now hath begun, and is carrying on by a strong arm and mighty power, to redeem unto himselfe a pure Church, and blessed are they that hearken unto his voyce; Here all you Formalists, Imitators, and selfe-acters are shut out; here all you proud ones are shut out; here all you lustful ones, fleshly ones, and carnal ones are shut out, and all you that are conformed like unto the world in their fashions, in their customes, in their words, in their ways, in their worships and tradi­tions, in their love and in their fellowship, who are seeking the glory, and honor, and riches of this world, you are the children of this World, under the Dominion of the GOD of the WORLD, whose Kingdom is of this World: Here all you are shut out, who live at ease in your plea­sures, and live want only upon the earth in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, Iames 5.5.6. and the pride of life; you are the Children of Babylon, you kill the just, and he lies slain in the streets, but here you all are shut out of the new Covenant of Life in the dark world, under deaths dominion, of what profession and judgment soever, Alians and Strangers to the Covenant of Promise, for they that are not with us, are against us, and our union and society is in the light of life, Mat. 12.30. but you must all suffer the death of the Cross to the life, which you now live in, before you can witness this Redemption; for those that live with Christ are crucified with him, therefore so it is, they that wil take up life, must first lay down life, for the way to life is through death; therefore you must be stripped of all your old covers naked and bare, that your deceit and shame may appear, which you have so long covered with your own righteousness, but now you must suffer the shame of the Cross, if you would have part in Christ, and all your old wisdome, knowledg, and notions, which you have gotten into your comprehensions, by your conceivings of the Scripture Letter, wherin hath bin your life and [Page 27] pride, and exaltation, must all come to the death of the Cross, that no flesh should glory in his presence; but I say unto all you Professors, Forma­lists, Notionists and Disputers, and Wise ones of this World, if you will not take up and imbrace this Cross, Publicans and Harlots shall enter the Kingdome before you; therefore, not many mighty, nor many noble, nor many wise after the flesh are called, but he hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, 1 Cor. 25.26. to the end. and the weak to confound those that are mighty, that no FLESH should glory in his PRESENCE, but CHRIST is made over unto us Wisdome, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, that they which glory might glory in the Lord, and this I witness in my measure the things which I have seen, and heard, and felt, and tasted of, the good Word of Life, which was in the beginning, the same do I declare, and am known and read by the children of Light. And now I shall proceed to severall passages that I have had with the people called Baptists, in seve­verall meetings, that their deceit and delusion may be laid open to the simple hearted.

Upon the thirtieth day of the first Month called March, in the yeare 1655. I was atone Ashens house in Fenstanten, in Huntingtonshire, where I was freely declaring the Truth of God to the people that came there to­gether that day, as I was taught and moved by the Spirit of Truth, by which the holy men of God spoke forth the Scripture as they was moved and there came severall of the people called Baptists into the Roome a­mongst us, amongst whom was one of their Teachers, called Richard El­ligood, who after a while stood up in his wil and wisdome to accuse me, and said that I said that God did not respect any forms, and yet, saith he, you use the form, and so use that which God hath no respect to; but his first words was, Sir (if you please) I wil speak something to what you have said; to which I made answer, here needs no complements, and then he runs on as aforesaid, to which accusation I replyed was false, and bid him prove what form I used, and he said the Letter, and I replyed, he that takes the Letter to talk of without the life and power, such sets up a Form and makes a Form; but this would not satisfie his filthy wisdome, which darkned his understanding, but because I spoke words which are mentio­ned in the Scripture, by the same spirit that spoke forth the Scripture, by which I challenge the Scripture, from him and all such who have gotten it to talk of, but denies the life, and are strangers to the life and power, therefore with his contrary spirit tasked me with a Form, which by his lo­gick and deceitfull art would have proved, but could not, but his deceit was laid open to the people, and many declared against him, for a form is this, as I said before, the likeness of a thing, but not the thing it self, as they have the likeness of a Church, which they have imagined from the Letter, with their Elders, Pastors, and Teachers, but not the Church it [Page 28] selfe, and so they imitate the Scriptures, but live not in the life of them that spoke forth the Scriptures, neither are acted or guided by the same spirit that gave forth the Scriptures, and so wants the life and power, and those are the formalists that makes forms and likenesses, to deceive the simple, as the devil hath the form of an Angell of Light, but not the life and power, who appears to rule in those formalists and selfe-actors, but the day doth make him manifest, and therefore he rages: and then this Elligood denyed that I had the same spirit that gave forth the Scripture; and he said the Spirit might be tryed by the Letter, for he said, many false Spirits are entred into the world, and I asked him by what did the Apo­stle know that false spirits were gon out into the world; and he replyed and said, by the Spirit of God; then I replyed and said, if by the Spirit of God the Apostle knew that there was many false spirits gone out into the world, then by the Spirit of God he tryed false Spirits, and knew false spirits from the true; and here his deceit was laid open to the people, and he judged out of his own mouth to be a lyar, and to be guided by a false spirit, who would try the living by the dead; and again he said, that one Spirit could not try another, for by that judgments the evil Spirits might try the good Spirits; to which I replyed, by the Spirit of God all other spi­rits are tryed, and also that by the Light darkness is discovered, but Dark­ness cannot comprehend the Light, neither discover the Light; and here again his blindness and ignorance, and deceit, was much discovered to the people, although he fed himself and would have shufled it off by his consequences and filthy logick, but it the more laid open his deceit, and presently the said Elligood was found with another lye in his mouth, for he said that I said the thing should be proved by every mans spirit, which was a very lye, for I said that the baptisme of the spirit was the substance of the outward baptisme, the which he denyed and bid me prove it, and I said I spoke to the witness in every mans conscience, which his dark mind could not comprehend, but with his dark mind wrested my words, and therefore said that I said it was witnessed by every mans spirit, but his spirit was a lying-spirit, there tryed and made manifest to the people, and his blasphemy against the Spirit of God, Isa. 5.20. in calling truth error, and error truth, and putting Darkness for Light, and Light for Darkness, because the God of the world hath blinded his eye, and many witnessed against him, for his filthy Spirit was odious to many of the hearers; then after­ward he again said, that I was a deceiver, and his proofe was that I was not obedient to the command of Christ to be baptised, and I told him I was baptized, but he said with water, and he said that were a command of Christ to be baptised with water, and I bid him show me that Scripture, but he could not, Acts 10.47, 48 but brought a Scripture in the Acts, where the Apostle commanded some to be baptised; and this by his filthy logick and conse­quences he would have made a command of Christ, but he could not de­cevie the Light which did him try and make him manifest to the shame [Page 29] of his profession, but he could not bring one Scripture to prove it to be a command of Christ to baptize with water, and then he shuffled to that Scripture where the Apostle said, Be ye followers of us, even as we are fol­lowers of Christ, and then he said Christ was baptised, but he confessed it was to fulfil all righteousness, and I said, he was also circumcised, and he said that was not for example, then not the Baptism, for both was to fulfil all righteousness, to which end, he the substance came; but Christ him­self baptised not with water, neither do they read that the Apostles was baptized with water; then who is their example? and how do they follow the Apostles in that, seeing they are baptised, and the Apostles was not; then he fled from that, being there routed, and said they might be Disci­ples before they could take up the cross of Christ, and I replyed, with Christs words, that they might take up his cross before they could be his Disciples, which he denied, and said, that wicked men upon that account might take up the cross of Christ, and that Christ required wicked men to take up his Cross, and I said, it was so, he did them require so to do, for by taking up his cross they come to deny their wickedness, for they that bear his cross live not in wickedness; but this Elligood said, that wicked men could not take up his cross, for he said reproaches and outward suffe­rings was the cross of Christ (for his names sake,) but this was not the cross by which PAVL was crucified to the world, and the world to him; and saith PAVL, (where hee was speaking concerning wickedness and unrighteous ones, to the Corinthians,) Such were some of you, but you are now cleansed, &c. 1 Cor. 6.9.10, 11. And here wicked ones and unrighteous ones tooke up his CROSS, which to them was the Power of GOD unto Salvation, though to the GREEKS foolishnesse, and to the JEWES a stumbling Blocke; amongst whom this ELLIGOOD is found, who is a Stranger to the CROSS of CHRIST, who saith, Reproaches and outward sufferings is the CROSS of CHRIST, when as the CROSS of CHRIST makes Disciples, and they must bee Disciples be­fore they can suffer Reproaches or Persecution for the Name of CHRIST, and must depart from iniquity before they bee a Prey to the World for CHRISTS sake, for the World loves its owne, and they that take up the CROSS doe depart from iniquity, which is before Reproaches or Persecution is suffered for the Name of CHRIST: And here ELLIGOOD is found the Lyar, who said, Wicked men was not called to take up the Cross of CHRIST, when as all are wicked before they take up this Cross; and here ELLIGOOD is found to bee no Disciple of CHRIST, who is such a Stranger to the Cross of CHRIST, who is a Lyar, and so are not the Disciples of CHRIST, for the Lyar is of the DEVILL, and therefore is ELLIGOOD.

[Page 13]Then I knowing him to be one of the Baptists Teacher, I took out some queries, which (not long before) I had sent them, but no answer to them had I received, and I would have read them openly that the people might have heard, and also he that was one of their Teachers; but as I was rea­ding, he not having power over his own wil could not bridle his tongue but disorderly run into many words, so that the people could not under­stand, and I spoke to him for it, and he said he had not time to stay, and further said that he was not of the society of these Baptists at Fenstanton, and yet he came with them, and from them, and then I replyed that he owned them to be the Church of God, and this he did, and then if he was not of their society, he was shut out of the Church; and then he would have shufled off with his consequences, and said he dwelt far off, and then I replyed with the Apostles words, though absent in body yet present in spirit, and the multitude that believed was of one heart and mind, and here was the Society of the Saints, Acts 4.32. and he being out of this society is shut out of the Church, and then he would have made it have stood by his lo­gick, which only is to make a false thing seem true, but it the more laid open his deceitful heart, and shame to the hearers, who severally witnessed against him, to speak nothing but deceit, and then saith he you call the Apostles words deceit, because he had often stolne the Apostles words to make his deceit seem truth, by covering it with the Apostles words, and this is a more subtile deceit, and then in his wil he called me deceiver, the which he was to prove, and all the people was silent, and there he uttered severall lies, and laid open himself to be the deceiver, as I had told h [...]m, in going about to prove me a deceiver, he would the more lay open his own deceit, and prove himself to be the deceiver, and the people did plainly see it so, and witnessed with me against him, for he did so utter forth his folly and deceit, that he made himself odious to many that was there; and at last he shufled away, under pretence he had far to go, but the judgments of God he cannot escape, for his damnation slumbreth not who is an opposer of the truth of God,

Then there was one Phillips, an old man of the Baptised Party, in ano­ther Roome, who in scorn and wrath stood up and said they knew the first Principle of Religion before I was born, because one of my Quaeries to them was, what is the first Principle of Religion? so I replyed to the old man if they knew it, they should have answered, and then presently as he was running on in many words, he swore as he lived and breathed, and Christ saith, Sweare not at all, and here he was found not come to the first Princi­ple of Religion, Mat. 5.34. but out of the Doctrine of Chirst, and so hath not God, so I told him of his swearing, and he would have shufled it off, but he could not, 2 Iobn 9. and I told him, He that seems to be Religious and brideleth not his tongue his Religion is vain, and therefore he might own his Religoin to be vain, who could not bridle his tongue, and then in his wil he shufled off and said he would not confess his sin to me, Iam. 1.26. for I could not forgive sin, in scorn [Page 20] he spoke, then I said wo unto him that hides his sin and covers his iniqui­ty, but he shufled away in much confusion of face, as they wil all appear, as by the Light they come to be searched and tryed, their coverings wil be found too narrow, and their nakedness will appear to their great shame, and confusion of face, and they will be made to bow to the truth, and lay down their Crowns at the feet of Iesus, for he is risen and reigns in his Saints, to whom the Nations must bow, and every tongue confess to their condemnation who do oppose him, but here now by the single eye, you may see the emptiness of these forms, and what a blind hypocrisie this is of them, to wash the outside, but leaves the inside full of uncleanness, and so the inside defiles the outside.