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<DATE>2010-09-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<BIBNO T="oclc">9692163</BIBNO>
<VID>44015</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>A Short DESCRIPTION OF THE True Mini&s;ters and the Fal&s;e How they Differ in their Call, Mini&s;try, Doctrine and Fruits; that any that are de|&s;irous may know the one from the other.</P>
<P>Al&s;o, Something concerning the Apo&s;tacy, and Departing from the Faith and Power of God, which was in the Apo&s;tles dayes.</P>
<P>How the Woman fled into the Wilderne&s;s, where &s;he had a Place prepared her of GOD: The Fal&s;e Church and Antichri&s;t got up in Her &s;tead.</P>
<P>The Woman's Return Witne&s;&s;ed, with the Fall of Anti-chri&s;t and the Fal&s;e Church.</P>
<P>Something further concerning the True Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us, Te&s;tified by One that hath been a True Witne&s;s of all that he has here written.</P>
<P><HI>J. Ayn&s;loe.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke 9.1, 2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>He called his Twelve Di&s;ciples together, and <HI>gave</HI> them <HI>Power</HI> and Authority over all Devils; and he <HI>&s;ent</HI> them to preach the Kingdom of God, &amp;c. <HI>[But of the Fal&s;e Prophets its &s;aid]</HI></P></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Jer. 23.21.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I have <HI>not &s;ent</HI> the&s;e Prophets, yet they Run; I have <HI>not</HI> &s;poken to them, yet they Prophe&s;ied.</P></Q>
<P>Printed in the Year, 1672.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>AN EPISTLE TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>FRIEND,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>LEt it not &s;eem a &s;trange thing to thee, nor a &s;mall thing in thine Eye, that God hath appeared in the&s;e latter dayes in his large Loving-kindne&s;s unto the Sons of Men, to di&s;cover again that which hath been hid from Ages and Generations pa&s;t, by rea&s;on of the long and dark Night of Apo&s;tacy, which did cover all as a Vail over the Heart, &s;ince the Apo&s;tles dayes; in which the true Church hath been in the Wilderne&s;s, and the true Mini&s;ters not known; and the fal&s;e Church and fal&s;e Mini&s;ters got up in their place, and Antichri&s;t hath been wor&s;hipped, and the Bea&s;t and fal&s;e Prophet born rule; and all that time the Lord was as a Stranger in the Earth, and his Appearance by his Light and Spirit was known but to a very Few; &s;o that it was taken for granted by mo&s;t people, <HI>That Revelation was Cea&s;ed; and that no other Knowledge of God was to be looked for, then from the Scriptures;</HI> being Ignorant of him of whom the Scriptures te&s;tified <HI>Chri&s;t Je&s;us, the true Light, that ligh|teth every man that comes into the world, that all through the Light might believe:</HI> This <HI>Key of Knowledge</HI> being vailed from the people, and <HI>Humane Learning</HI> and <HI>Tradition</HI> in&s;tead thereof hath been admired and followed by the mo&s;t of peo|ple (in the Night of Apo&s;tacy) <HI>as the Only Way to the Know|ledge
<PB N="4" REF="3">of God,</HI> which is the Cau&s;e why people are &s;o ignorant of God and Spiritual Wor&s;hip; <HI>Crying up Lifele&s;s Forms for Religion, and the Inventions and Traditions of Men for True Wor&s;hip;</HI> with&s;tanding (as much as in them lies) <HI>the Powerful Appearance of the Lord,</HI> in this the Day of his Power, wherein he hath appeared to bring every thing into its right cour&s;e again; and hath rai&s;ed up (by his Power) Mini&s;ters and Witne&s;&s;es again, as in the Apo&s;tles dayes, induing them with Power from on High, <HI>That they may be In&s;truments in his Hand to turn many from Darkne&s;s to his Ble&s;&s;ed Light, that &s;hines in the Heart, to give the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Je&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> And many are gathered unto the Lord, and into the Wor&s;hip of the Spirit, and are taught of God, and bear their Te&s;timony to the Truth, as it is in Je&s;us; and God is &s;till adding to the Number of his Cho&s;en People, notwith&s;tanding all Oppo&s;ition, <HI>that the Excellency of the Power</HI> (by which he carrieth on his Work) <HI>may be &s;een to be of God, and not of Man;</HI> to him only be the Glory and Honour forevermore.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>J. A.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="description">
<PB N="5" REF="3">
<HEAD>A Short De&s;cription of the True Mini&s;ters, and the Fal&s;e; how they differ in their Call, Mini&s;try, Doctrine and Fruits; that any, who are de&s;irous, may know the one from the other, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<P>TRue Mini&s;ters are called of God, as the Apo&s;tles were: and God hath committed to them now the Word of Reconciliation, as the Apo&s;tles had; and they are now &s;ent of God, To preach Glad-tidings to the Poor, and Peace and Good-will unto men; To Proclaim the Day of the Lord to all that &s;it in Darkne&s;s, and under the &s;hadow of Death; Preaching to the Spirits in Pri&s;on, that the Pri&s;on-Doors may be opened, and the Pri&s;oner of Hope come forth out of the Pri&s;on-Hou&s;e, that the Clouds of Darkne&s;s may fall of, and the Bonds of Iniquity may be broken; that many may be turned from Darkne&s;s to Light, from Satan's power to God: And freely they have received, and freely they mini&s;ter; coveting no man's Silver, or Gold nor Apparrel, no more then the Apo&s;tles did. And they preach Chri&s;t Je&s;us, not them&s;elves; but the &s;ame Je&s;us that was Crucified without the Gates of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> that Ro&s;e again the Third Day, and A&s;cended up into Glory, and is at the Right-Hand of God, far above all Principalities and Powers, according as the Scriptures declare.</P>
<P>And they preach him as they have received him; for they did not know him by the reading of the Scriptures, no more then <HI>Paul</HI> did by reading of the Law; but as he is revealed in them: And their Eyes do &s;ee, and their Ears do hear, and their Hands do handle the Good Word of God, which they declare unto others: And God hath given them a Good Under&s;tan|ding, that they know him that is True, even Je&s;us Chri&s;t,
<PB N="6" REF="4">whom God hath &s;ent: And they have not laboured in vain, as tho&s;e who have beat the Air; but have been In&s;truments in God's Hands, to turn many from the Evil of their Wayes, to walk in the Light of the Lord; and are brought to know and dwell in that City, even the New <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> which is from above, that has no need of the light of the Sun by Day, nor of the Moon by Night, but the Lamb is the Light thereof.</P>
<P>And the true Mini&s;ters need no Humane Authority, to Au|thorize their Mini&s;try; for they have a Witne&s;s in every man's Con&s;cience: Neither are their Mouthes &s;topped with the Com|mands of men, neither are they afraid to appear for God in their publick Te&s;timony, in preaching the Everla&s;ting Go&s;pel, though Laws of great Penalties be made again&s;t them; but rather are made willing to adventure all, whatever is dear and near unto them in this World, then to incur the Di&s;|plea&s;ure of their Lord and Ma&s;ter, Je&s;us Chri&s;t, or to bring the Blood of any upon them; for they Labour Night and Day with the Lord, in the Travel of their Spirits, that they may be clear of the Blood of all men; going from Country to Country as they are moved (with their lives in their hands) that they may preach the Everla&s;ting Go&s;pel to all that dwell up|on the Earth.</P>
<P>The Fal&s;e Mini&s;ters are &s;uch as are brought up at <HI>&V;niver&s;ities,</HI> and are Seven Years &s;tudying <HI>Philo&s;ophy, &amp;c.</HI> and are made Ma|&s;ters of their Arts; and from Humane Learning is their Mini|&s;try; and for their Gain is their Call; and are only &s;ent of Man, being Ordained by Man, and then have Licence to preach. They are onely Mini&s;ters of Traditions, and their own Conceptions on the Letter (not of the Spirit) having only a Form, but denying the Power; calling the Letter <HI>the Go&s;pel,</HI> and preferring the Letter before the Spirit, and putting it in the Spirit's place, calling it, <HI>the Word of God;</HI> &s;aying, <HI>There is no other Way to cone to the Knowledge of God;</HI> &s;o are boa&s;ting of another man's Lines made ready to their hands: and are &s;aying, <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord,</HI> when he never &s;pake to them, as the Fal&s;e Prophets did in the dayes of old; denying Revelation, or any Immediate Call from God, as the Apo&s;tles had, &s;aying, <HI>There
<PB N="7" REF="4">is no &s;uch thing to be looked for now; that was Extraordinary, and is Cea&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>And are &s;uch as are alwayes Teaching, and People never the better, bringing nothing to Perfection; &s;aying, <HI>There is no Freedom from Sin on this &s;ide the Grave:</HI> And Denying the Light (that convinceth of Sin) to be &s;ufficient to lead to Life and Salvation; calling it, <HI>Natural and In&s;ufficient;</HI> like the Un|believing <HI>Jews,</HI> who &s;aid, <HI>Is not this the Carpenter's Son?</HI></P>
<P>They &s;ay, <HI>That Sprinkling of Infants upon the Face is Bapti&s;m;</HI> &s;etting up that in the place of the <HI>Bapti&s;m of the Spirit.</HI> They call Bread and Wine <HI>the Lord's Supper,</HI> being ignorant of the Bread of Life, and the Communion of Saints in the Sancti|fying Spirit. And thus much, in &s;hort, concerning their <HI>Call, Mini&s;try</HI> and <HI>Doctrine.</HI></P>
<P>Now I &s;hall &s;hew their <HI>Marks</HI> and <HI>Fruits,</HI> Chri&s;t &s;aying, <HI>By their Fruits ye &s;hall know them:</HI> They are &s;uch as go in Long Robes, and have the Highe&s;t Place in the Synagogues, and are called of men <HI>Ma&s;ter,</HI> and have the Uppermo&s;t Rooms at Fea&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matthew <HI>23.</HI> Jude's E|pi&s;tle</NOTE> and have men's Per&s;ons in Admiration be|cau&s;e of Advantage.</P>
<P>They Preach for Hire, they have Gift and Rewards for their preaching, they can't afford it for Nothing having bought it for Money; they take Tythes, imi|tating the Prie&s;ts in the Law; they Sue men at the Law that cannot put into their Mouthes; they ca&s;t men into Pri&s;on for the Exerci&s;e of their Con&s;ciences; they &s;tir up the Magi&s;trates to Per&s;ecution, &s;aying, <HI>They mu&s;t Defend their Go&s;pel, or el&s;e it will Fall;</HI> u&s;ing the <HI>Carnal Weapon</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Outward Man.</HI></P>
<P>All which are contrary to the <HI>Scriptares of Truth,</HI> and <HI>Practices</HI> of the <HI>Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t,</HI> in former Ages, and in this Age: <HI>Their Weapons were not Carnal, but Spiritual, mighty through God, to the bringing down of the Strong Holds of the Man of Sin.</HI></P>
<P>They mu&s;t have <HI>Letters Patent</HI> from the <HI>Bi&s;hop,</HI> or &s;ome other Man, or Men, before they can or mu&s;t Preach; and then they Read or Preach by the <HI>Hour-Gla&s;s,</HI> at a certain Place or Time, as they are ordered by Men.</P>
<P>They de&s;pi&s;e <HI>Prophecying;</HI> and if any are moved to go into the Place of their Wor&s;hip, in the Time of their Wor&s;hip, to &s;peak
<PB N="8" REF="5">in the Name of the Lord, they call that <HI>A Di&s;turbance;</HI> calling to the <HI>Officer</HI> or <HI>Magi&s;trate, to take him or her away, and &s;ent to Pri&s;on;</HI> allowing none to &s;peak but them&s;elves, contrary to the Orders of the Churches of Chri&s;t; <HI>who might all &s;peak one by one.</HI></P>
<P>They are <HI>Changeable, as the Powers of the Earth change;</HI> and are <HI>Silenc'd if Man commands them;</HI> and take away their <HI>Gain, their Go|&s;pel cea&s;eth;</HI> and it the <HI>Magi&s;trate</HI> take away his <HI>Shoulder,</HI> and men were not <HI>Forced, few would put into their Mouthes.</HI></P>
<P>By the&s;e their <HI>Fruits, Marks, Doctrines, Mini&s;try</HI> and <HI>Call,</HI> they may very ea&s;ily be known who they are, by any that are de&s;irous to find them out: <HI>[For] the Light of the Lord is come and the Glory of the Lord is appeared, to di&s;cover every Fal&s;e Way and Thing, and no|thing is hid from his All-&s;eeing Eye; and he is making it known to tho&s;e that believe in his Light, and follow him in the Regeneration; for the Night is pa&s;t unto many, and the Day of the Lord is broken forth, in which Perfect Freedom is known from the Yoak of Bondage, Sin being fled away as the Morning Cloud; and the Glory of the Lord doth re&s;t upon his Ta|bernacle; and the Sons of the Morning Rejoyce together; and Prai&s;e waits for the Lord in</HI> Sion. But this is hard to be believed by mo&s;t of the Sons of men; Night having been their Habitation, and Darknes over them &s;o long, that they look not for any other &s;tate, willingly contented in that in which they are, in a <HI>Receiving</HI> of things they preach by a Report of others; &s;ome believing, <HI>That there is a God, becau&s;e the Scriptures &s;ay &s;o,</HI> having no de&s;ire of fur|ther Knowledg or Fellow&s;hip with Him; and that is the Ground or In-let to all Liberty in Sin and Fal&s;e Wor&s;hipping, every man's Way &s;eeming Right in his own Eyes, he being (or at lea&s;t, would be) &s;ole Judge in all things that pa&s;s in his own Mind, and would not admit of any other Judgment, or Judge, to be near him, for to reprove or condemn him for the Evil of his Wayes; <HI>but would go on without Controle, pa&s;&s;ing away his Precious Time in daily &s;inning again&s;t the Lord, taking no notice of any Reproof or Call from the Lord to for&s;ake the Evil of his Wayes:</HI> And the long continuance in this &s;tate hath prov'd very Dangerous, that many are got into a Belief, <HI>That it will not be otherwi&s;e with them;</HI> nor can they believe, <HI>That it is otherwi&s;e with any.</HI></P>
<P>Which Conclu&s;ion ari&s;eth from the Coun&s;el of their own dark Hearts, Darkne&s;s being as a Vail over the Heart, the Eye of the
<PB N="9" REF="5">Under&s;tanding being blinded by the God of this World; O! how &s;ad and lamentable is the Ca&s;e of all &s;uch! They would not that Chri&s;t &s;hould have any place in Heir hearts, or they come into Obedience unto him; but are like to the Unbelieving <HI>Jews,</HI> who &s;aid, <HI>We will not have this Man to Rule over us;</HI> and at la&s;t did chu&s;e a <HI>Barrahas,</HI> rather then a <HI>Je&s;us;</HI> and this is the &s;tate of many now call'd <HI>Chri&s;tians, who choo&s;e rather to have their Murdering Lu&s;ts, to live in them, then Chri&s;t Je&s;us the Saviour; and following the &s;pirit of Per&s;ecution, and Sin-plea&s;ing Doctrine for Term of Life, [rather] then the meek and &s;elf-denying Je&s;us, his Spiritual Appearance in the Heart, in their Self-denyal, and taking up the daily Cro&s;s, which &s;eems to them unpo&s;&s;ible to be done;</HI> choo&s;ing rather, <HI>to plea&s;e them&s;elves and others with a Talk thereof:</HI> and if that would &s;erve, Chri&s;t would have a great many that would follow him, the Way being broad, giving what Liberty to the Fle&s;h it de&s;ires, to the fulfilling of the Lu&s;ts of it. <HI>[But] the Way is Narrow that leads to Life, and admits of nothing that is of Self, or Fle&s;h, or any thing that tendeth to &s;uch Li|berty; but of a Birth born of the Spirit, who delights in Holine&s;s, and cannot live in Sin, who runs with Chearfulne&s;s, de&s;pi&s;ing the Shame becau&s;e of the Glory that is &s;et before it, Chri&s;t Je&s;us being the Mark of its high calling, believing God, that its Covenant is order'd aright unto it, and &s;ure;</HI> though it meet with many Enemies, Tryals and Hard&s;hips by the way, and Reproaches and Scoffs not a few, [even] from tho&s;e that are ready to &s;ay, as the <HI>Jews</HI> did, <HI>We have</HI> Abraham <HI>to our Father:</HI> yet this Birth Immortal, having receiv'd the Ble&s;&s;ing of the Dew of Heaven, is not di&s;couraged; though they that have the Fatne&s;s of the Earth for their Portion, make more Noi&s;e and greater Shew in this World, &amp; labour what in them lieth to &s;tir up Enemies again&s;t this Ble&s;&s;ed Innocent Seed, and to Per&s;e|cute all tho&s;e where its Apperance is. But this is my Te&s;timo|ny concerning it, <HI>They &s;hall never prevail, no Weapon formed again&s;t it &s;hall Pro&s;per, their &s;triving again&s;t it is to no Purpo&s;e, they only making them&s;elves Manife&s;t what &s;pirit they are of:</HI> For the Lord God Om|nipotent hath rai&s;ed it up in this the Day of his Power, that it may bear witne&s;s to his Name, through his Faithful Witne&s;&s;es; in who&s;e Hearts God hath rai&s;ed it up, by his own Mighty Power and Out-&s;tretched Arm, after a Long and Dark Night of Apo|&s;tacy, &s;ince the Apo&s;tles dayes, which &s;oon (after the Apo&s;tles)
<PB N="10" REF="6">did creep in; only having the Form without the Power, lo&s;t the Life of Religion, and Motion of the Spirit of Life in the Inward Man, which was to be Guide unto all Spiritual Wor&s;hip and O|bedience unto God, according to Chri&s;t's Saying, <HI>The Time co|meth, and now is, that he that wor&s;hippeth the Father, mu&s;t wor&s;hip him in Spirit and in Truth:</HI> This being lo&s;t by many &s;ince the Apo&s;tles dayes, and never known by others, hath been the great Cau&s;e, Ground and Ri&s;e of the many Sorts and forms of Religion, made in man's Will, and he giving way to his own Self-will, the E|nemy of his Soul did ea&s;ily prevail with him to be of that Form of Religion which mo&s;t &s;uited the Inclinations of his Heart, blinding the Eyes of his Under&s;tanding, and made him In&s;en&s;i|ble of the many inward Strivings of the Lord with him; and although Reproved in &s;ecret, yet not regarded, or at lea&s;t, not believed it to be the <HI>Grace, Light,</HI> and <HI>Spirit of God:</HI> &s;o that the Continuance of the Apo&s;tacy and Unbelief, that came in by it, were from one Generation to another, out of the Remembrance of the Appearance of the Lord, of his being near to man, or of Je&s;us Chri&s;t Within; they grew into the Subtilty of the Ser|pent, and having eaten of the forbidden Fruit, got unto him|&s;elf Coverings of his own making; <HI>&s;erving only him&s;elf, and his own Intere&s;t, that he could turn to be of any Form of Religion to &s;ave him&s;elf.</HI> [Thus] Painted <HI>Jezebel</HI> got up, and the Fal&s;e Church did begin to flouri&s;h, with her <HI>Fal&s;e Teachers, Fal&s;e Doctrines</HI> and <HI>Fal&s;e Wor&s;hips;</HI> Then &s;he held forth a Golden Cup, full of Abo|minations, unto all Nations, Kindreds, Tongues and People; and they drank of the Wine of her Fornication, and were drunk with it; and then the Fal&s;e Church got up, and Fal&s;e Prophet began to ride upon the Bea&s;t, and they made War with the true Woman, and the Remnant of her Seed that remain'd upon the Earth; and they prevailed for a time: and the Woman, the true Church, fled into the <HI>Wilderne&s;s,</HI> where &s;he had a Place prepared her of God, and the Man-Child was caught up to God, and there &s;he remained as a Widow alone, and as a Dove without a Mate, (according as it is written) until the time of her Mourning and Widdowhood &s;hould be accompli&s;h'd: and all this while the <HI>Har|lot,</HI> the fal&s;e Church, bore Rule both within and without: and all that would not receive the Mark of the <HI>Bea&s;t</HI> and of <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI>
<PB N="11" REF="6">on their Fore-heads, and on their Right-hand, &s;hould be put to Death, or &s;hould not be &s;uffered to Buy or Sell.</P>
<P>Then was &s;et up <HI>Outward Force, to Compel all to bow to their Wor|&s;hip;</HI> for the Power and Spirit of the Lord, that was in the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> days, was lo&s;t, that made peoples hearts tender, and gather'd them to God, into his Spiritual Wor&s;hip, and the Form without the Power was &s;et in its place, and &s;o fell &s;hort of the Power and of the Order that was in the Spirit: <HI>Then Humane Learning, Arts and Inventions got in the Powers Place, thinking to &s;upply what was wanting, which an Immitation of the true Church, and the Order that was in the Apo&s;tles dayes could not do.</HI></P>
<P>But finding their &s;hortne&s;s, both in Doctrine and Conver&s;ati|on, that Sin and Evil had Dominion over them, and that (erring from the Spirit) they could not be without &s;in; then they &s;et it up, as a Foundation Doctrine, <HI>That no man could be without Sin and Corruption on this &s;ide the Grave;</HI> and this they have de&s;ended as well as they could, by Word and Writing: but where that fell &s;hort, they made their Inqui&s;ition, Fire and Faggot, and Strong Pri&s;ons, to make it out with the re&s;t of their Fal&s;e Doctrines and Practices, re&s;olving their Tryal by <HI>Outward Force and Compul&s;ion.</HI> and if any Eye were in mea&s;ure opened, to &s;ee beyond any of their Dark Doctrines or Ceremonies, and &s;o could not bow unto them, <HI>then were they branded with the Name of Hereticks;</HI> and if they would not put out that little Sight which God had given them, and become as Blind as they were, <HI>then they Per&s;ecuted them, and put them to Death.</HI></P>
<P>This hath been the Practice of the Fal&s;e Church for &s;everal Hundred Years, and Examples thereof were before, and in Queen <HI>Mary's</HI> days, and &s;ince. But now the Time is come, <HI>That</HI> Babylon <HI>is come up in Remembrance before the Lord, and as &s;he has done unto others, &s;o will the Lord do unto her&punc; for, Strong is He that is ri&s;en to judge her:</HI> And he hath made an Entrance into her Borders, and is lay|ing wa&s;te her plea&s;ant Pictures, and di&s;covering her Whoredoms, and drying up the <HI>Tongue</HI> of the <HI>Egyptian-Sea,</HI> &s;o that many begin to &s;u&s;pect her, and others do &s;ee <HI>&s;he is but an Harlot,</HI> not with&s;tan|ding her being cover'd with <HI>Scarlet-coloured Robes;</HI> [&s;o] &s;he &s;hall not deceive the Nations much longer; and as &s;he had a time of Ri&s;ing, &s;o mu&s;t &s;he have time to Fall; and &s;urely the time is at
<PB N="12" REF="7">hand, and her <HI>Overthrow</HI> is witne&s;&s;ed in many Hearts; and as it hath been within, &s;o mu&s;t it be without. And this hath been the Ground of the many <HI>Te&s;timonies</HI> that have been born again&s;t her in this Day and Generation, wherein the Lord hath appear'd in his Might and Power, beyond what hath been in times pa&s;t, and re|vealed him&s;elf unto many by his <HI>Light</HI> and <HI>Spirit,</HI> and hath made known the <HI>Way of Life and Salvation,</HI> as in the Apo&s;tles days; and the <HI>Man-Child</HI> is come down from God again; and &s;he that fled into the Wilderne&s;s, and was Childle&s;s, is now coming out, lean|ing upon the Brea&s;ts of her Beloved, according as it was written of her, <HI>Rejoyce thou Barren, that did&s;t not bear, and break forth into Joy, thou Virgin, Daughter of</HI> Jeru&s;alem; <HI>for more &s;hall be the Chil|dren of the Barren, then of the Married Wife;</HI> and this is the Lord's bringing to pa&s;s, that he may take away her Reproach. For many have brought forth (though a fal&s;e Birth) while &s;he has been bar|ren; <HI>for none could give her Children but the Lord;</HI> &amp; he is wiping away her Tears, and the Time of her Mourning is coming to an end; and now the <HI>Woman</HI> doth appear, which <HI>John</HI> &s;aw in the Spirit, <HI>to be clothed with the Sun, having the Moon under her Feet,</HI> and now is as a <HI>Bride</HI> preparing for her <HI>Husband;</HI> and &s;he is the <HI>true Church,</HI> the <HI>Bride,</HI> the <HI>Lamb's Wife;</HI> to her I bear my Te&s;timony, to be known, and in being again; and a Son of this Woman I profe&s;s my &s;elf to be, and of none other, of her <HI>Faith</HI> and <HI>Doctrine,</HI> of her <HI>Life</HI> and <HI>Practice;</HI> who hath no Power upon the Earth to take her part, to defend her Faith and Doctrine; <HI>but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is her Defence, Covering and Shield for evermore.</HI></P>
<P>And thus in Faithfulne&s;s have I wrote the&s;e few things, as the Lord put them into my heart, for the &s;ake of tho&s;e that are inqui|ring after <HI>Sion,</HI> with their Faces &s;et thither ward; that all Stum|bling-blocks may be removed out of the way of the Simple; and that in Singlene&s;s of heart every one may clo&s;e in with that holy Appearance of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, in the inward of their hearts, by his Light &amp; Spirit; and that none may re&s;i&s;t the <HI>Day of their Vi&s;itation,</HI> but ha&s;te out of <HI>Babylon</HI> and <HI>Egypt,</HI> from the <HI>Fle&s;h-Pots &amp; Garlick,</HI> towards the Land that flows with <HI>Milk</HI> and <HI>Honey,</HI> where there are Vineyards ready planted, and Wells ready dig'd, the free Flowings forth of the Father's Love unto their Souls.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="testimony">
<PB N="13" REF="7">
<HEAD>Something further as a Te&s;timony concerning the True Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>THat there are True and Faithful Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, as were in the dayes of the Apo&s;tles, in this Day and Ge|neration, that do I witne&s;s, and bear Te&s;timony unto in the Name of the Lord; who are Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, and have mini&s;tred the Spirit and Spiritual things unto many; who have not fed them&s;elves with the Fat, but have fed the Lambs of Chri&s;t; having the Word of Reconciliation committed to them, and have not been &s;lack in dividing it aright; judging that which was for Judgment, [but] tender in Love and Compa&s;&s;ion towards the Poor and Needy; lending a Hand to the Helple&s;s, and tur|ning many to the Light and Power of God, which aboundeth in them&s;elves; being as Trumpets in the hands of the Lord, giving a certain Sound, that many have heard and believ'd through their Word.</P>
<P>They have not &s;ought them&s;elves, but the Glory of God, and the Good of all People; and God hath been with them, and made them &s;ucce&s;sful, and to &s;ee the Travel of their Souls, and be glad: And God hath given them Power to lo&s;e on Earth, and it is lo&s;e|ned in Heaven; and to bind on Earth, and it is bound in Hea|ven: And they have Power over Unclean &s;pirits, and their Poi|&s;on cannot hurt them: Their Weapons are Spiritual, mighty through God, to the pulling down of the Strong Holds of the Devil; they War not with Fle&s;h and Blood, but again&s;t the Spi|ritual Wickedne&s;s in the High Places of the Heart; their Sword is the Sword of the Spirit; their Armour is the Armour of Light; their Brea&s;t-plate is the Brea&s;t-plate of Faith; and their Hel|met is that of Salvation; and having put on the whole Armour of God, are furni&s;hed again&s;t all the Powers of Darkne&s;s: They preach not but as they are moved by the Spirit and Power of God, being ordered of him, when to Speak, and when to be Si|lent: They &s;erve not them&s;elves and their own Bellies, but the
<PB N="14" REF="8">Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and his Followers; not &s;triving who &s;hould be Greate&s;t, but &s;erving one another in Love. Into this Mini|&s;try was I called of God, in the year 1657. and ever &s;ince the Lord hath continued me in that Work and Service that he &s;et before me, requiring of me no more but <HI>Faithfulne&s;s in that I had receiv'd;</HI> and through great Tryals, Tribulations and Exerci&s;es hath he pre&s;erv'd me Faithful unto this day; Glory to God. Peace on Earth, and Good will towards Men, <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<HEAD>Po&s;t&s;cript. <HI>SOme may &s;ay,</HI> There are &s;everal &s;orts of Profe&s;&s;ions, who have Mini&s;ters, and all of them hold forth &s;ome of the&s;e Doctrines, or have &s;ome of the&s;e Marks, and bring forth &s;ome of the&s;e Fruits; do&s;t thou conclude them all to be Fal&s;e Mini&s;ters?</HEAD>
<P>To which may be An&s;wered, They that are not again&s;t us are with us, as Chri&s;t an&s;wered tho&s;e that came to com|plain of &s;ome that preached, and walked not with them.</P>
<P>But the&s;e have all appeared again&s;t the Lord and his People, in this the Day of his Spiritual Appearance, and have joyned together either in Word or Deed, Pub|lick or Private, as one Man, making up one Great Image; Head, Gold; Brea&s;ts, Silver; Thighs, Bra&s;s; Feet, part Iron, part Clay, to with&s;tand the Little Stone, cut out of the Mountain without Hands; but it hath and will prevail again&s;t the Image: And the&s;e are the Sons of one Woman, differing only in Speech and Complexion, ha|ving all one and the &s;ame Nature, as Experience hath &s;hewed: For all have Per&s;ecuted, and &s;tirred up to Per&s;e|cution, and the mo&s;t from tho&s;e that had the greate&s;t
<PB N="15" REF="8">Profe&s;&s;ion, as largely may appear by the Sufferings of the People of the Lord (called <HI>Quakers</HI>) both in this Nation and el&s;e-where; &s;everal of them being Impri&s;oned by the <HI>Prie&s;ts</HI> till Death, and others put to Death in <HI>New-Eng|land,</HI> only for the Exerci&s;e of a Pure Con&s;cience: Such things the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t never did, neither do; but were and are &s;o done unto. The&s;e, with &s;everal other Rea&s;ons, makes me conclude them all to be Fal&s;e Mini|&s;ters.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>John Ayn&s;loe.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>THE END.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="9">
<PB REF="9">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
