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<DATE>2011-12-21</DATE>
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<NAME>Louis Goldberg</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>The Foot out of the Snare.</HI> OR, A Re&s;toration of the inhabitants of <HI>Zion</HI> into their Place, after their bewildered and lo&s;t E&s;tate by the Operation of a violent Power, and Authority, wrought in the Author by the Prince of Darke&s;s, under an Appearance of the brighte&s;t Light.</P>
<P>BEING A Brief <HI>Declaration</HI> of his entrance into that <HI>Sect,</HI> Called (by the Name of) QUAKERS.</P>
<P>With a &s;hort <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> relating what Judgment he was learned in, by the <HI>Mini&s;try</HI> of tho&s;e People.</P>
<P>Together with the Revelation of a <HI>Spirit</HI> in him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Al&s;o, what <HI>De&s;perate Delu&s;ions</HI> he was led into by yield|ding a &s;ubjection to the Teachings of a Seducing Spirit in him under a &s;hadow of the true Light; and how this Body of Deceipt came to be de&s;troyed.</P>
<P>With the manner of his Separation from them.</P>
<P>By me <HI>John Toldervy,</HI> then Servant to Col. <HI>Webb.</HI></P>
<Q><P><HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord-God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a Foundation a Stone, a tryed Stone, a precious Corner-&s;tone, a &s;ure Foundation: he that believeth &s;hall not make ha&s;te.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye &s;cornful men that Rule this People which is in Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>This thy Brother was dead, and is alive; was lo&s;t, and is found.</P></Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>J.C.</HI> for <HI>Tho. Brew&s;ter,</HI> at the Three Bibles, neer the We&s;t-end of <HI>Pauls,</HI> 1656.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>FRIEND,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_UPon a Pre&s;umption that thou art One, who&s;e Minde is (in &s;ome mea&s;ure) fitted for Infor|mation; and not of tho&s;e, who are Re&s;olved into Self, and Hardened again&s;t any Di&s;|covery which might effect to the enlightning of their Under&s;tanding, where their own Weakne&s;s, Fancy, and Imagination, hath formed it &s;elf in them: (which depraved Condition I &s;adly witne&s;&s;ed &s;omtime to have been mine own.) At which time, though any Per&s;on what&s;oever (yea, were it po&s;&s;ible to have been an Angel from Heaven that &s;hould have attempted me with any Information, contrary to my E&s;pou&s;ed and In|dulged Fancy and Imagination, I &s;hould have concluded &s;uch a Me&s;|&s;enger and Me&s;&s;age, unre&s;i&s;tably Accur&s;ed: And (through the depravedne&s;s of my Under&s;tanding) adjudged it to have been the Spirit
<PB REF="3">of God in me which had &s;o concluded. If this Di&s;cour&s;e &s;hould come into the hands of any &s;uch Per&s;on or Per&s;ons (as &s;uch there are too ma|ny) I expect but little Fruit upon their accompt; but they are by me pitied, for as much as their Bondage and Captivity is Great and much to be lamented, though the God of Truth can restore a &s;ound Minde, and a cleer Under&s;tanding unto &s;uch who by their own Righteou&s;ne&s;s, under a &s;eeming appearance of Self-Denial, have made them&s;elves Servants to other gods. And when this power of God is made known, that they might be Guided in one Wor&s;hip of one God living in them in|deed, they &s;hall admire and magnifie that gracious Arm by which they were made Free, as I do this day; and then this Di&s;cour&s;e will not be un&s;utable, or unplea&s;ing unto them. In the mean time, to &s;uch, who&s;e Minds are Free and not Entangled; I would give an Accompt briefly of the Matter, but chiefly the Occa&s;ion of this en&s;uing Di&s;cour&s;e, to|gether with my Intent and Scope therein: though the &s;ubject Matter doth relate principally to the Per&s;ons, who go under the Name of <HI>Quakers,</HI> (as being &s;o di&s;tingui&s;hed among&s;t men) and of the Effects which were wrought in, and by me, through the Guidance and Teach|ings of a Seducing Spirit in me, under a pretence of Light, yet is not my Scope to traduce the Per&s;ons, nor to incen&s;e the Powers or Autho|rities, Mini&s;ters, or People, again&s;t them: For I know many of whom they are not known, have abu&s;ed the Truth, by &s;eeking to Defend them&s;elves in that deceipt which that Spirit (that is of God in them) hath witne&s;&s;ed again&s;t; by which the generality of men, are (through their mi&s;guided Spirits, are already beyond mea&s;ure) bitterly incen&s;ed again&s;t them.</P>
<P>Touching the Occa&s;ion: It is not unknown to many; yea, I &s;ay, to many in and about this City of <HI>London,</HI> That I was in an eminent way, as a fir&s;t Fruits of tho&s;e who gave up them&s;elves to tho&s;e Wayes, and Teachings, wherein I profited not a little: nor went I on with a &s;low pace: But I confe&s;s, &s;uch was the fire of zeal which burned within me, that by it I was over-powered and hastily Acted forth without Knowledge: (I mean, &s;uch Knowledge as was according to God) but &s;uch as my Teachers held forth in &s;ome mea&s;ure I abounded in, (as the Di&s;cour&s;e it &s;elf will witne&s;s) but the tendency thereof in the General was to Folly and Madne&s;s; as I by &s;ad Experience witne&s;s in my mea&s;ure: But God, who is rich in Mercy, through his great Love wherewith he hath loved me, hath magnified the &s;ame in opening mine
<PB REF="3">eyes, and turned me from the Darkne&s;s, wherewith I was bewildered, and benighted; even to A&s;toni&s;hment and Admiration: Having opened my Mouth, and put a new Song into it of Prai&s;es to his Name, in de&s;pight of all tho&s;e cruel denountiations of Woe, and Plagues, which have been pronounced again&s;t me (even to Eternity) &s;ince my de|parture and Separation from them; by &s;ome of tho&s;e who could once have put me into their Bo&s;omes, whom I, neverthele&s;s, patiently bear within Love, having better Per&s;wa&s;ions towards them.</P>
<P>It having therefore plea&s;ed the Father to Re&s;cue and Deliver my Soul out of this deep Pit, and rai&s;ed me up, and &s;et me as a living Mo|nument of his Prai&s;e, beyond expectation. I dur&s;t not &s;hut up in Silence the marvelous Wiles, and deep Deceipts, and Devices, which the Enemy had upon me, through which I have been carried, and from whence through Mercy Redeemed, that I might tell to Others how bountiful|ly God hath dealt with me, remembring me in my low E&s;tate; for his Mercy endureth for ever.</P>
<P N="1"><HI>1.</HI> To which end therefore, that I might make known my Duty of Prai&s;e and Thanks to God, for the Riches of his Love towards me; as al|&s;o, to expre&s;s my tenderne&s;s towards my Brethren, my Companions in the Bond of Love, who are environed in the &s;ame Circle and Maze, kept in Bondage by their own mi&s;guided Spirits, &s;ubjected to Lawes and Or|dinances, Ceremonies and Traditions of their own Inventing; to which they are neverthele&s;s in &s;o great Subjection, as amounts to Eternal Death, and Wrath, and Firy Indignation upon the Breath thereof: Of which may be &s;aid, Who hath required the&s;e things at your hands?</P>
<P>May not this be a Word in &s;ea&s;on to &s;ome, by which they might be per&s;waded at lea&s;t to Debate the Matter with their own Souls, and to Con&s;ider where they are, and who requires the&s;e things wherein they are &s;o prepo&s;trou&s;ly Zealous; denying them&s;elves their Ju&s;t and Law|ful Liberty out of a &s;lavi&s;h Fear: but there is &s;uch a Re&s;olvedne&s;s, that I can &s;carce conceive that this might be &s;ucce&s;sful to many, yet the power of Truth can overturn all things which exalteth it &s;elf under a &s;hadow of Good, as being maintained by a Lye.</P>
<P N="2"><HI>2.</HI> That the Example of my Zeal, and Forwardne&s;s of Minde without &s;erious Con&s;ideration and Examination, taking all for Truth, affecting tho&s;e Notinal Apprehen&s;ions, which (in that Way) I was then per|&s;waded
<PB REF="4">with: (By which true Judgement became lo&s;t in me.) That I may in this, be as a Sea-mark, who&s;e poor Ve&s;&s;el was well-nigh Split up|on tho&s;e Rocks; and am now become as one to give warning that none do, (through the ha&s;tine&s;s of their own Minds) in their own Wills, under a pretence of God's Will, di&s;honor the Truth, by giving heed to &s;uch Se|ducings and Temptations: a&s;cribing that to God, and calling it His, when indeed it is the Effects of their own Fancy, through their own Weakne&s;s, and their own Imagination.</P>
<P N="3"><HI>3.</HI> That there may be a true and impartial Information held forth to every one to who&s;e Hands this Di&s;cour&s;e &s;hall come, of the true Ri&s;e, and Progre&s;s, of my Entrance into, and Separation from the People called <HI>Quakers,</HI> in order to the &s;ilencing of tho&s;e fal&s;e A&s;per&s;ions which have been ca&s;t, not only upon me, but al&s;o upon the aforenamed People them|&s;elves, by rea&s;on of me: And which is more e&s;pecially upon the Truth it Self, which through mi&s;repre&s;entation, and mi&s;under&s;tanding of things, hath much &s;uffered. The&s;e things Con&s;idered, I hope it will be under|&s;tood by all &s;ober-minded Per&s;ons, that I am in this Work, upon a great Duty, which I may not be at re&s;t, till it be effected: and the rather, be|cau&s;e herein, the Temptations and Wiles of Satan are Di&s;covered, and in mea&s;ure detected; which many being ignorant of, could not Believe, or Avoid: And although I mu&s;t, and do expect, That there will be &s;ent forth Floods after me, even to the very drowning of me, (if po&s;&s;ible) by Reproaches, Calumnies, A&s;per&s;ions, and whatever may be to render me, or make me Odious, (as divers have appeared in &s;uch-like very active towards me already,) but tho&s;e who profe&s;s the highe&s;t Truth, even the Perfection, and abounds therein, dares not, nay, they cannot appear in the Language of the Bea&s;t, of the Serpent, of the Deceiver: yet how|ever things be, I &s;hall abide where I am; therefore I count not any thing which I may &s;uffer valuable, in compari&s;on of that Peaee, I have in bearing this Witne&s;s, which is not anothers, but fulfilled in, and on my Per&s;on. So that I may truly &s;ay, (as in another Ca&s;e) <HI>What I have heard with mine Ears, and &s;een with mine Eyes, and felt with my poor tormented Body and Spirit; That I have te&s;tified, and do te&s;tifie, and my Witne&s;s therein is true.</HI></P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>To which, let me add a few Words by way of Caution to thee in the peru&s;al of what followeth.</HEAD>
<P N="1"><HI>1.</HI> That thou Con&s;ider what thou Reade&s;t, and under&s;tand things as they are: Al&s;o, be &s;erious in thy Ob&s;ervation, and be not light in Mind, nor ea&s;ily tickled with toyi&s;h Laughter at &s;uch Vanities as thou maye&s;t perceive to have attended me: But Watch and Pray, That thou al&s;o maye&s;t not be led into Temptation. For I a&s;&s;ure thee, That in the hour of my Temptation, I judged tho&s;e Madne&s;&s;es and Follies, great and &s;e|rious things, though now (through Mercy) I look upon them with a|nother Eye.</P>
<P N="2"><HI>2.</HI> De&s;pi&s;e not the Scriptures, wherein the Minde of God is &s;o preci|ou&s;ly and plentiou&s;ly Recorded; neither doat too much upon them, for therein the Deceiver will work in thee Subtilly, to the drowning of thy Under&s;tanding, by forming in thee Imaginations and comprehen&s;ions of things which are not, (I mean things which are not in the Coun&s;el of God) by which the Unbelieving and Di&s;obedient Minde will be kept nouri&s;hed in thee; therefore be not wi&s;e above what is written either in the Scriptures or in thy Self, le&s;t the Light of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> become a Rock of Offence, and a Stone of Stumbling unto thee; for both which were my Errors, by which I dearly &s;uffered.</P>
<P N="3"><HI>3.</HI> Watch unto Prayer, and be &s;taied in what is thy Obedience, that &s;o thy Under&s;tanding might be opened, and thou mayest be able to di|&s;tingui&s;h between things that differ: as &s;aith the Scripture, <HI>Try the Spirits whether they are of God:</HI> for there are, that have a great &s;eeming-&s;amene&s;s (at lea&s;t, a great &s;imilitude and likene&s;s of God) as when thou &s;halt be inwardly moved to Speak or Act: See that thou impute not that to God which is thine own, nor a&s;cribe not that to thy Self which is His; and by how much the more Difficult it is for thee to Di&s;tingui&s;h thy own Spirit in its Operations and Effects, from the O|perations and Effects of the true and faithful Spirit of the Lord; be &s;o much the more Humble and Lowly, and filled with Moderation, both towards thy Self, and others; until thou art Re&s;tored to a cleerer Sight.</P>
<P N="4"><HI>4.</HI> Be not ra&s;h in Judging nor Cen&s;uring; an Evil whereunto I my &s;elf was mo&s;t inveterately addicted, and is the univer&s;al Di&s;temper of the&s;e times; for un&s;avoury Expre&s;&s;ions being out of Charity, e&s;pecially
<PB REF="5">where it come &s;hort of Knowledge, &s;tands not in the Coun&s;el of God, though many glory therein; but they Acting from them&s;elves, and &s;o their work being their own, true Judgement will re&s;t upon them: the wi&s;dom which is from above, being pure and peaceable, and full of gentlene&s;s; yea, even to the Froward (otherwi&s;e, I &s;ay, otherwi&s;e what had become of me, and others, this day?) but the Word of Truth will Rebuke in his day, when the Eye&s;hall &s;ee as it is &s;een, beholding things as they are, and not as Fancied or Imagined to be.</P>
<P N="5"><HI>5.</HI> If thy Heart be &s;et Free, pray for the Author, that he may be kept by the power of God in Obedience to that Faith which is Salvation, who referring thee to the Di&s;courfe as it follows, bids thee <HI>Farewel.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>John Toldervy.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<P>WE who&s;e Names are hereunto Sub&s;cribed, being Certified of the Contents and Circum&s;tances of the Di&s;cour&s;e en&s;ning; and &s;ome of us having Peru&s;ed a Part, and o|thers the Whole of it, are fully &s;atisfied of the Truth of Things Reported in it; and do Recommend it as a Piece worthy to be Read and taken into Con&s;ideration by all &s;erious Chri&s;tians, as a &s;ad and very remarkable Providence of God to be Ob&s;erved of all tho&s;e who take plea&s;ure either in the knowledge of the gracious Works of God, or in the Di&s;covery of the Wiles and Subtilties of the Devil; And as a &s;ea&s;onable Warning-piece unto all others, that they be not taken in the like Snare: And if taken, that they may recover them&s;elves out.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Brooks</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Jacomb</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>George Cokayn</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Will. Adderley.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Goodwin</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Tombes</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Will. Jenkyn</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. Poole.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>The Foot out of the Snare.</HEAD>
<P>_I <HI>J. T.</HI> having for divers years been full of zeal after the things of God, by which zeal I was led forth with ex|ceeding love after the knowledge of Chri&s;t: to which end, I &s;ought after tho&s;e Ways and Means which I was per&s;waded to be mo&s;t u&s;eful for the &s;atisfying of my Judgment, &amp; clearing of my Con&s;cience, as Duties enjoyned, in order to my up|right and clo&s;e walking with God, and blamele&s;s life and conver&s;ation among&s;t men: To the &s;ame end, I was led forth, with much fervencie of &s;pirit, after the Teachings of tho&s;e whom I judged to be mo&s;t enlightned with that Spirit which was of God, and that were e&s;teemed of the prime&s;t Profe&s;&s;ors, to be very knowing and under&s;tanding of what the truth, (or &s;ub&s;tance and life) was. To which end, I laboured, were it po&s;&s;ible, (in that way,) to appre|hend what was pure, out of divers Opinions; that &s;o one knowledg, one minde, witne&s;&s;ed by one Truth (my Under|&s;tanding being well informed) might act me to live in uni|ty with God, by a holy and innocent life.</P>
<P>But after a time, in regard of much un&s;tablene&s;s I &s;aw
<PB N="2" REF="6">in divers Teachers by the diver&s;ity of their Opinions, and al&s;o much Confu&s;ion in many Societies who made a pro|fe&s;&s;ion to be gathered together by one Spirit pure of God, into one pure minde, and &s;o at unity with one pure God; it occa&s;ioned much trouble and di&s;quietne&s;s in me. Whereupon, con&s;idering &s;eriou&s;ly with my &s;elf, I &s;ought diligently what the cau&s;e &s;hould be of all this divi&s;ion, by which men profe&s;&s;ing the Truth were thus di&s;tracted in their own mindes.</P>
<P>Upon which, there was cleared to my under&s;tanding, Truth being but one, the mini&s;tration of righteou&s;ne&s;s which proceedeth from this Truth, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be the &s;ame; therefore, that which occa&s;ioned this Divi&s;ion, was the wi&s;dom of the fle&s;h, which continually was, and &s;till is, at enmity with Truth; God being not the author of confu&s;ion, but of peace.</P>
<P>After this, I found a little plea&s;ure in hearing of Mi|ni&s;ters, becau&s;e of the plea&s;antne&s;s of their di&s;cour&s;e, by the excellencie of their beautified language; but nothing &s;ufficient to edifie or learn me with knowledge: for in hearing I could not under&s;tand, in &s;eeing I could not per|ceive, that any thing I ever &s;aw or heard did proceed from a right under&s;tanding of the minde of God, there being &s;o many mixtures by what I apprehended in every thing &s;poken forth by all.</P>
<P>Whereupon, was I per&s;waded to &s;ee what might be learned from others who were out of the way of the&s;e profe&s;&s;ions: by who&s;e Doctrine (together with what I ap|prehended of my &s;elf) by the operation of a &s;pirit infu&s;ed into me, after a &s;hort time, there was made clear to my un|der&s;tanding what follows. But fir&s;t, I &s;hall declare the manner of my entrance into this belief.</P>
<P>Being thus per&s;waded, I began to be very inqui&s;itive af|ter &s;ome other people, that might accord with, and be in|&s;truments
<PB N="3" REF="6">of good to me, who&s;e life &amp; conver&s;ation might be one with their doctrine; both which being of God, might certainly confirm their unity with God.</P>
<P>So in a &s;hort time I became affected with tho&s;e people called by the name of Seekers: but afterwards hearing at a private hou&s;e two of tho&s;e called by the name of Qua|kers; and much ob&s;erving their di&s;cour&s;e, little was &s;po|ken, but all tending to the de&s;truction of every the lea&s;t &s;in. So by the &s;incerity of their di&s;cour&s;e, with the &s;obriety of their appearance, I was taken &s;omewhat affected with them: upon which, I was per&s;waded to make a further enquiry after that Sect; though to my wi&s;dom, notwith|&s;tanding what was &s;poke was again&s;t all &s;in, yet there was nothing declared of the my&s;tery of the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t. But upon a further enquiry in the ob&s;ervation of them, I &s;aw their order, their maner of teaching, and duties; and found, as was declar'd by them, as far as I perceiv'd, that all &s;pake the &s;ame things; their Mini&s;tery was one, all in one Order, united compleat in one Minde, whereby they were acted as one in their duties: whereupon, I concluded, that &s;urely the&s;e people were of God, &s;ent forth as witne&s;&s;es for him&s;elf, again&s;t all others, who took the name of God in their mouthes, and declared them&s;elves to be the Mi|ni&s;ters of Chri&s;t, though they were made Mini&s;ters of man, and &s;ent forth by man, who&s;e Doctrine &s;tood in the will of Man; and not under&s;tanding what the Word of life was, therefore uncapable of edifying the people; be|ing Mini&s;ters of the Letter, and not of the Spirit. Now &s;ince it was written, that the people of God &s;hould be of one &s;oul and one minde; God al&s;o being one, and his Name one; and the&s;e people declaring to be the &s;ame, who did live much witne&s;&s;ed by their humility, one pure life, al&s;o moved to &s;peak and act onely from a true and faithful be|ing of God manife&s;ted in them, by which they appeared
<PB N="4" REF="7">to be as Lights in the world, and all others, who were in a &s;ubjection unto divers Forms, in many things taking li|berty to them&s;elves, their lives appeared to be judges of them, as well as their outward declaration: yet in regard of much &s;trangene&s;s that I apprehended in their way, al|&s;o the extraordinary bold confidence they had in their judging, which gave no liberty for the ju&s;tification of any be&s;ides them&s;elves; I could not finde a &s;ufficient &s;atisfacti|on to comply with them.</P>
<P>A &s;hort time following, being at a private
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Of tho&s;e cal|led Seekers.</NOTE> Meeting, where after &s;ome time &s;pent by two or three, who were making enquiry what &s;hould be the meaning of the Spirit of God in two Scriptures, which &s;eemingly did appear to contradict each other; there comes into the Meeting divers &s;trange men; and in the mid&s;t of their di&s;cour&s;e upon tho&s;e Scriptures, there &s;tood up a man of the&s;e &s;trangers; and &s;ilencing of them, he began with an exceeding bold courage to &s;peak, crying aloud, in the&s;e words, or to this effect, <HI>Prai&s;es, prai&s;es be to the Lord God for ever, who hath hid the&s;e things from the wi&s;e &amp; prudent, and hath revealed them unto babes:</HI> giving them to know, that the dark clouds were veiled over the Sun, and with this darkne&s;s did they go about to comprehend the light; but the light did &s;ee the darkne&s;s, and the darkne&s;s comprehended it not. So repeating over tho&s;e Scriptures, he affirmed with confidence, that they meant that they &s;pake; and made tho&s;e plain to the under&s;tanding of many; affirm|ing, that tho&s;e who never came to live obedient to the Life which was of God in them, &s;hould never come to &s;ee what was meant by the holy Spirit, which moved tho&s;e who lived the life of God to &s;peak them forth: the words of the Wi&s;e were dark to &s;uch, who, by their di&s;|obedience, had lo&s;t their light. So Man having now lo&s;t his guide, being blind, he &s;eeks after Knowledge, by
<PB N="5" REF="7">the teachings of that minde which is darkned; and &s;o feeds upon that tree forbidden, of the knowledge of Good and Evil, not di&s;cerning: and beginning in <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> he pa&s;&s;ed thorow the whole &s;cope of the Scriptures, de|claring what was meant by them; and all things be|ing turned by him into Allegories, typifying or figuring forth what was to be fulfilled in man, before he came to be born of the Spirit, the &s;econd birth, without which there was no entrance into the Kingdom of God, (hea|ven) which was in man, according to that Scripture, <HI>I will dwell in them, and walk in them: they &s;hall be my people, and I will be their God.</HI> And &s;o declaring what was meant by the fir&s;t Adam, what by the &s;econd Adam; what the Fall was, what the cau&s;e of the Fall; what reigned after the Fall, what by Redemption out of this fallen e&s;tate; the way of this Redemption; the effects produced in the way; the In&s;truments by whom this Redemption was to be wrought; how it was to be done, and where, which was in the man, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Al&s;o, that the Scripture was not the Word of God, but it was what was &s;poken from the Word: by the Word was meant Life; and the Scri|ptures were a Declaration from this Word of Life: the Word was the &s;ub&s;tance from whence it was &s;poken; and this &s;ub&s;tance, the Word of Life, was the mea|&s;ure of God manife&s;ted in man, the gift of the Holy Spirit manife&s;ted in fle&s;h, made known in all, that there|by they might be guided to profit in that obedience re|quired of God; al&s;o, by which all the di&s;order in the Creation of man, made by the flouds poured forth in man in that time of God's di&s;plea&s;ure, occa&s;ioned by his fall from God into the Lu&s;t, was to be put into the &s;ame order they were at the fir&s;t, which was good: by which Word, the mountains were to be leveled, all hills were to be ca&s;t down, and the valleys were to be ex|alted;
<PB N="6" REF="8">crooked places were to be made &s;trait, and rough wayes to be made &s;mooth: every thing was to &s;tand in awe before him; the lofty minde was to be pulled down, and all high thoughts and imaginations were to be burned up: and the&s;e things being not done by the Word in you, the pure Witne&s;&s;es of God lie &s;lain in your &s;treets, the hou&s;e of darkne&s;s, the hou&s;e of bondage, tho&s;e Cities which &s;piritually have a relation to Sodom and Egypt: and I was &s;ent by God to declare again&s;t that in you, by which you are blinded, and &s;o the Witne&s;&s;es kept &s;lain: expre&s;&s;ing with a firm confidence, that &s;earching of the Scripture was not the way to finde out the knowledge of Chri&s;t; but the turning the minde to within, there to be taught by the mea&s;ure of God, the Law written in the heart: and &s;o &s;tanding in obedience to it, in time death being pa&s;&s;ed over all that &s;inned, Chri&s;t would be brought forth; which &s;in reigned from <HI>Adam</HI> till <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> even over all that had not &s;inned after the &s;i|militude of <HI>Adam</HI>'s tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion; <HI>Adam</HI> the earthly nature in man, which prevailed with him to be earthly minded, to love the Mammon of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s: which death reigned over the whole man, till <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> the &s;ervant of God, which gave the Law to the children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> the &s;eed of the Faithful; by which they were to be guided to the Angel of the Covenant, Chri&s;t, and &s;o witne&s;s the per|fection, which to know, &s;aith God, is life; vvhich life was manife&s;ted in him, and he &s;avv it the onely Begotten of God: and from vvhat he had &s;een, felt, heard, and under|&s;tood in him&s;elf, that vve al&s;o might have fellovv&s;hip, did he declare the&s;e things: concluding with a &s;trict Charge, in the Name of the living God, that we turn to him, the Rock whence we were hewn, as we re&s;pected our eternal peace: bearing record, that he, the God of life, &s;tood waiting ready to receive all that turn to him, and having
<PB N="7" REF="8">your faces Sion-ward, go on bearing your Cro&s;&s;es joyful|ly; for his reward is with him, and his work before him.</P>
<P>So after about an hours di&s;cour&s;e in things of this na|ture, all &s;poken with a firm confidence, mighty power|fully declared, with &s;o much &s;criou&s;ne&s;s that po&s;&s;ible could be, &s;uppo&s;ed to be far beyond whatever I &s;aw by any man; and u&s;ing tho&s;e words, Thee and Thou; barren of any Complement, or whatever might be taken in them to plea&s;e man, they departed.</P>
<P>Now upon the con&s;ideration of divers things, al&s;o the &s;trong Ingagement laid upon us, as we tendered our eter|nal happine&s;s, together with that bold undaunted confi|dence he had in the Truth of what was &s;poken: all my former Knowledge, my former Belief, my former Hope, (being &s;truck with a great Fear) was immediately da&s;hed in pieces, they being taken to be earthen Ve&s;&s;els, made by the Wi&s;dom which was begotten of the
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Self for the ju&s;tifying of Self.</NOTE> earthly Man; and then coming to under&s;tand that they were of tho&s;e People called by the name of Qua|kers, together with what formerly I knew of them, I became &s;trongly affected with them: divers al&s;o of the &s;ame Meeting at the &s;ame time, being po&s;&s;e&s;s'd with the like per&s;wa&s;ions.</P>
<P>Whereupon, much love acted me to follow them very zealou&s;ly; but in order to a more perfect clearing of my under&s;tanding, I remained a time before I complied with them, or made my &s;elf known to any one of them: in which time, meeting with one whom I formerly knew to be a very &s;erious true-hearted Man, who was converted to their Belief, and al&s;o &s;ubjected to their Obedience, who gave me to under&s;tand, that they were &s;ent forth to preach the Go&s;pel by the &s;ame Chri&s;t that the Apo&s;tles were; and, that the Per&s;on, that Son of God which died at <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> was not the Redeemer of Man from Sin;
<PB N="8" REF="9">but the Redeemer was in every particular Man, that Light by which he was given to &s;ee Sin, and enabled by it, if obeyed, to be redeemed from Sin: which Chri&s;t had redeemed them perfect, and now lived in them Lord of all things, by which they were made the Sons of God; and &s;o what was manife&s;ted unto them by that &s;ub&s;tance, from that &s;ub&s;tance were they moved to &s;peak, which was the &s;ame Holy Gho&s;t, by which the Apo&s;tles were endued, &s;ent forth, &amp; enabled to preach the Go&s;pel: and declaring of them much to admiration, how that &s;ometimes in the night they were immediately commanded by the eternal Spirit to go forth and preach the Go&s;pel, al&s;o by the like command, &s;ome of them were limited to fa&s;t from Food (as I remember) about twenty or more dayes together
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>And afterwards I knew &s;ome who fa|&s;ted</HI> 30 <HI>or</HI> 40 <HI>days.</HI></NOTE>; which was intended to make them willing and pliable to the will of God in the travel of their Spirit, before they came to the Land of <HI>Canaan,</HI> the re&s;t of the new created Being or Work of God in them. So he gave me to under&s;tand the next day of their meeting, and the place where, with earne&s;t invitation to be there.</P>
<P>Now that I might have the Coun&s;el of God in what I did, as touching my uniting with them, when I came home I went to Prayers; and being mightily carried forth in that Duty, very often before the time of their meeting, I looked upon it as a &s;ign which did make mani|fe&s;t the good plea&s;ure of God in my clo&s;ing with them: &s;o at that meeting, three of the chiefe&s;t of them being Speakers, who&s;e matter and manner of preaching was more taking unto me than all the former, but e&s;pecially the powerful operation of their Prayer, all which effe|ctually wrought upon me: whereupon, my minde being e&s;tabli&s;hed, I was moved to make a confe&s;&s;ion of my &s;elf, concluding, with the owning of them in the pre&s;ence of
<PB N="9" REF="9">all the people: upon which, I became &s;ubject to the teachings of a Spirit in my &s;elf, (the which being believed to be the Chri&s;t of God, the Redeemer from &s;in) I was fully per&s;waded, that if denying any thing in the lea&s;t that it required, I could not be redeemed; and &s;ince that the Truth was made manife&s;t, if di&s;obeyed, no remedy, I &s;hould be eternally damned.</P>
<P>Wherefore, as I re&s;pected my Salvation, this Redeemer was to work me, and to di&s;po&s;e of me according to his will; and whatever I willed, was not to be done, but to be cro&s;&s;ed by my being &s;ubject to this Redeemer. Upon which, there aro&s;e a great Controver&s;ie in my Spirit, of what &s;tood in the will of man, and what did not: &s;aid one Spirit, This is in the will, when it was not: on the contrary &s;aid a|nother Spirit, (as to the &s;ame thing) this is not in the will: and &s;o through fear I &s;hould always yield a &s;ubjection un|to that Spirit by which I was limited and brought under bondage to do many things in my will again&s;t my will: whereupon I became a de&s;troyer of the will of God, as touching that Liberty which was allowed me in the u&s;e of my Members either to &s;peak or to act; al&s;o in the u&s;e of tho&s;e Creatures made for the &s;ervice of Man; and &s;o as tho&s;e former weakne&s;&s;es which reigned in me through the darkne&s;s of my under&s;tanding, came to be de&s;troyed, my under&s;tanding, being not then well enlighened, greater weakne&s;&s;es (as to the not enjoyment of my &s;elf) did ari&s;e; al&s;o as one imaginary being in me came to be overthrown, there was begotten the like Be|ing in another &s;hape, and by it was I wrought upon to believe many things, (by me undenia|ble) and al&s;o led forth, and acted from one thing unto another, according to what followeth:</P>
<P>So believing that what was manife&s;ted of God in man, was the Light of Life which was one with him&s;elf, as it is
<PB N="10" REF="10">written, <HI>I and my Father are one:</HI> by which was given un|to Man a &s;avory di&s;cerning of what was Good and what was Evil, what was darkne&s;&s;e, which darkne&s;&s;e was to be expelled by this light, there remained therefore no|thing for the Man to do, but to &s;tand in the Will of that which was pure in him, and &s;o by it he became a Judge of what impurity or the Law of Sin would act him in, which &s;in, the occa&s;ion of Death, was to be &s;wallowed up in victory, that &s;o only the light of life which is inno|cent, might live; there being nothing in Man for Death: even as a King, over-ruling all in &s;ubjection unto him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Whereupon was concluded, that Man was the Cau&s;e of all this di&s;traction and confu&s;ion in him&s;elf, and &s;o ab&s;tracted from this confu&s;ion, was that being which made an appearance of holine&s;&s;e in the minds of all pro|fe&s;&s;ed religious People, &s;ubjected under divers Forms, Ordinances and Ceremonies, which is a vapour it &s;elf, and mu&s;t die, as the Ordinances were &s;haddows and are cea&s;ed: but Man having lo&s;t the kernel, the &s;ub&s;tance which giveth nouri&s;hment and &s;atisfies, he feedeth upon the dry husk, and being not refre&s;hed with the true Bread and Water of Life, he remaineth alwaies &s;eeking, and never comes to know what is true; alwaies feeding and never &s;atisfied until he comes to under&s;tand where the Bread of Life is to be found, which is in him&s;elf, ac|cording as it is written, <HI>I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one:</HI> and &s;o eternal life living in us, there needs no more thir&s;t, there needs no more hunger after Knowledge: <HI>this is eternal life, to know God and Je&s;us Chri&s;t whom thou ha&s;t &s;ent.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ince there is much My&s;terie recorded in Scripture, it is concluded, that the knowledge of tho&s;e My&s;teries is to know the Will of Chri&s;t, and &s;o the way to &s;alvati|on:
<PB N="11" REF="10">yea, it is believed, that the knowledge of the Scri|ptures, is to know God and Chri&s;t: though it is &s;poken concerning Chri&s;t, <HI>I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life:</HI> And again it is written, <HI>the Word is nigh you, in the mouth, and in the heart;</HI> &s;o that the Way, the Truth, and the Life is in us: that which giveth Salvation. But &s;aith
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Judas<HI>'s love being removed from Christ by the &s;educements of the Deceiver, his under|&s;tanding became lo&s;t, and &s;o his minde was driven out from God into the Earth.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Judas, How is it that thou wilt manife&s;t thy &s;elf unto us, and not unto the World?</HI></P>
<P>But this Conclu&s;ion al&s;o, proceeds from the evil one transformed in Man, he being &s;cattered, very confu&s;ed, and darkned in his under&s;tanding, covered as with a vail; and &s;o Satan, as an An|gel of Light, moveth and leadeth forth to divers Duties, which are his own, for the upholding of his Reign in Man. Al&s;o feeds Man with Wi&s;dom and variety of plea&s;ant Language, called Gifts, in perfor|mances for the upholding of his Duties: by which &s;in being &s;haded over, he is ju&s;tified; many being called failings; but perfection is not to be attained in this life, but in another life (hereafter:) though it is written, <HI>Except Chri&s;t be in you, ye are Reprobates.</HI> having rent the garments of righteou&s;ne&s;s, ye are acur&s;ed, being hipped up above the Truth, and trampling the Blood of the Cove|nant, the life of the Innocent in the du&s;t: &s;o that if the Au|thor and Fini&s;her of our Faith be living in us, there is perfection; but if not, perfection is not, faithfulne&s;s be|ing cea&s;ed.</P>
<P>Now the World was under&s;tood to be the Garden of <HI>Eden,</HI> in which Man was placed at the fir&s;t, and &s;till is; and the Trees of this Garden all living beings, proceeding out of the Earth, living in and upon the Earth; all which having their being of God, the life of all things, by &s;om|what of him&s;elf, that proceedeth forth of the Earth,
<PB N="12" REF="11">God the Life, who created all the Life, from whence is re|ceived the increa&s;e of all.</P>
<P>It was al&s;o under&s;tood that Paradi&s;e was in Man, where his delight &s;hould be, where his minde &s;hould be &s;tayed at unity with God, who made choice to take up his Habita|tion and abode there him&s;elf, with his increa&s;e, the Fa|mily of Love, and beloved Ones, who were to be kept, nouri&s;hed, and refre&s;hed by Man 's living obedient unto the will of God in the &s;ame &s;implicity of Love, and &s;o at unity with this Family of Love, the Seed of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P>Then was this under&s;tood to be the &s;tate in which all men were created, and is now al&s;o the cau&s;e of his fall.</P>
<P>All men were made of nothing, and &s;till are; as one Ge|neration pa&s;&s;eth away, another Generation &s;ucceedeth, by God the Author of all: and &s;o, as one increa&s;e by him was brought to their end, another increa&s;e was produced forth of him&s;elf, according as it is written, <HI>I kill, and I make a|live.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore in the fir&s;t Creation of Men, they were made pure and holy, without &s;in, in the likene&s;s of that God, who was their Maker, perfect; for where no &s;in was, there was perfection.</P>
<P>But Man, when he came into a growth in the World, he &s;aw the excellency of that Provi&s;ion (of that Fruit) pre|pared of God to be a nouri&s;hment (or refre&s;hment) for him; he began of him&s;elf, by hearkening to the weaker (be|ing in him the fle&s;hly minde) to be di&s;contented with that allowance which was &s;ufficient for his u&s;e, and plea&s;e the Creature him&s;elf, rather than God that made him, and by whom he lived; which Nature, re&s;pected him&s;elf beyond that pure Nature which is of God, given in to him, by which the Creation of God was to be pre&s;erved in its or|der, according as it is written, in the Church of God, <HI>The head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Chri&s;t, the
<PB N="13" REF="11">head of Chri&s;t is God:</HI> Which Church is in Man, as it is written, <HI>Ye are the Temples of the living God.</HI> Now the wo|man being the &s;illie&s;t and weake&s;t part, al&s;o that which de&s;ireth mo&s;t to be dallying with &s;uch things in which it might take delight, le&s;t &s;he &s;hould defile her &s;elf, and di&s;|honour her head the man, by alluring of him to commit Fornication with her; &s;he is to be kept in &s;ubjection by him, as he is taught by the Word; which Word Chri&s;t, the Light of Life, is given to declare what the will of God is; but man, having given way to the weaker being, &s;he is become the Head and Ruler of all: it was plea&s;ant, and &s;he de&s;ired, and that cau&s;ed the Man to ta&s;te; for he willed, and that cau&s;ed the Sun to be darkned; his light, which was given to di&s;cover the will of God, to be clouded by the begotten will of man, yielding &s;ubjection to weak|ne&s;s. Now the Sun being darkned, could not an&s;wer the end for which it was given: &s;o the will of God be|came lo&s;t by, and unknown to man; he having created to him&s;elf an Image, falls down, and wor&s;hips it, by a con|tinual &s;lavery to the things of this world, &s;erving divers Gods and divers Lords, by which he hath brought him&s;elf under the cur&s;e of God, having &s;lain the witne&s;&s;es that were given in him from God. Wherefore, at the Re&s;ur|rection the Book of Con&s;cience &s;hould be opened, out of which the witne&s;&s;es &s;hould be rai&s;ed to life, and &s;o man by whom they were &s;lain, &s;hould by them receive condem|nation; but &s;uch who bare te&s;timony of the fir&s;t Re&s;ur|rection, which is man being &s;ubjected unto that which &s;hewed him any &s;in, the true and faithful witne&s;&s;es would be rai&s;ed to life, by which he might &s;ee the lea&s;t &s;in; and they ruling in him here, &s;hould be the ju&s;tifier of him hereafter, the &s;econd death having no power.</P>
<P>Again, it was further under&s;tood, that man, in his own will, by his own wi&s;dom, his minde being driven out into
<PB N="14" REF="12">the Earth, forth of Paradi&s;e into &s;lavery, by the flaming Swords of tho&s;e Spirits &s;ent from God, &s;eeking after Knowledge, begets in him&s;elf Children of Fornication, from whence proceedeth divers Languages; <HI>Babylon</HI> being built up in him, by which confu&s;ion he is acted to do tho&s;e Services required by the Whori&s;h Woman, that well-favoured and beautified Harlot, who&s;e Ornaments appeared glorious, and be&s;pangled with tho&s;e Jewels that had the greate&s;t Gli&s;ter, who&s;e brightne&s;s was tran|&s;cendent for Purity, by which they appeared excellent to all the &s;pectators: All which, being but as a gilded Picture without &s;ub&s;tance; even as Wind, carrying the minds of men to and fro by their airy imagination; gi|ving them to believe that it is the Spirit of God, though ab&s;tracted from the diver&s;ity of Languages, proceeding from tho&s;e Beings, or Children of Fornication begotten in him by him&s;elf, through the Allurements of the Whori&s;h woman. So man being thus darkned in his under&s;tanding, what is fancied (or &s;uppo&s;ed) to be true by that which de&s;ireth Knowledge in him, becau&s;e he hath lo&s;t his &s;a|vory di&s;cerning, he buildeth upon it as confident, and &s;o the weakne&s;s in him, and his own imagination, is judged by him to be the Spirit of God.</P>
<P>Now man being exalted into &s;uch a high degree by the pride of his own heart, and not re&s;ting contented in that place which he was Created in by God, he thereby brought Condemnation upon him&s;elf; and this was done by every particular man, being acted by, and made &s;ub|ject to, tho&s;e things, which he was made by right of Crea|tion, Lord of.</P>
<P>Here man being led forth in a &s;ubjection to vanity, his Food is a vapour or du&s;t not able to keep life, therefore no remedy; having corrupted him&s;elf, with an incurable Di&s;ea&s;e, he mu&s;t die, he mu&s;t die: except by a &s;ubjection
<PB N="15" REF="12">to the teachings of that Law written in the heart, Chri&s;t be rai&s;ed from the dead, there to live and reign in Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s and true Judgement, as at the beginning; and &s;o having purcha&s;ed an everla&s;ting inheritance through a perfect Obedience, there is no death of that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>I Shall now declare divers of tho&s;e effects which this Change wrought in, and upon me: At my fir&s;t entrance into this way, before I came to a right under&s;tanding of what was true.</P>
<P>Said they, <Q>Having owned the Truth, ye need not that Man teach you any more: if you never &s;ee our faces a|gain, there is that in you by which you may be taught.</Q> Which was taken to be the Life, the holy Seed of God rai&s;ed out of Death by that which was &s;poken from the Life in them.</P>
<P>So immediately in the Ob&s;ervation of them, though confidently &s;uppo&s;ed it was by a Command from the Life in me, I became &s;ubjected to divers Ceremonies: As, not to Ma&s;ter any man: Not to pull off the Hat to any man: Not to &s;peak the word You, but in&s;tead thereof, Thee and Thou: Not to u&s;e any Complements or Greetings to any; believing, That Bowing to a man, was a Wor&s;hipping of him: Not to direct my Minde in Drinking to any, as familiarly is u&s;ed among&s;t Friends, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Al&s;o, by the &s;ame per&s;wa&s;ion was I wrought upon to pull off tho&s;e Points I wore at my Knees, my Band&s;trings, Hatband, Buttons that I judged were unnece&s;&s;ary on my Coat; &s;ome of which I brake to pieces, and threw away; others I made a &s;peedy di&s;po&s;al of, with many other things; burned divers Books that were Divinity, judging that they were what was &s;poken from the teachings of the Devil in tho&s;e that write them; &s;ome made away; others brake in pieces and threw away. Having a bu&s;ine&s;s in my Charge,
<PB N="16" REF="13">the Redeeming part of an E&s;tate for my Mother, lately lo&s;t by the death of my Father, which thing was very fair|ly proceeded in, and very po&s;&s;ibly in a &s;hort to have been effected, among&s;t other of tho&s;e &s;educed per&s;wa&s;ions, which &s;ubtilly, under a pretence of &s;elf-denial, accompli&s;h|ed its ends upon me, I was engaged &amp; effectually prevailed upon, utterly to withdraw from this bu&s;ine&s;s; by which now my Mother and many little ones, lieth much under the &s;ufferings of my de&s;erted obedience: but the workings of this power was &s;o predominant upon my Spirit, that I re|fu&s;ed the lea&s;t acknowledgement, much le&s;s performance of duty to any. Now</P>
<P>In my former pro&s;ecuting of this bu&s;ine&s;s, having di&s;po&s;ed of what Moneys I was provided with, for the charges of my proceedings, and being nece&s;&s;arily en|forced, I adventured (though unwarrantably) for my pre|&s;ent &s;upply, without con&s;ent, to take the &s;um of 40 <HI>s.</HI> a|bout me, in ca&s;e I &s;hould have had occa&s;ion to make u&s;e thereof, before I received any return from my Relations, being far di&s;tant from <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P>But a &s;hort in&s;tant following, being per&s;waded in this way, as I was re&s;trained from proceeding in this bu&s;ine&s;s, &s;o al&s;o I was engaged to make known what I had done; otherwi&s;e than I intended (which was privily to re&s;tore it as I had taken it forth) which I did; re&s;toring the &s;ame which I had received, not having made any u&s;e thereof.</P>
<P>Now among&s;t other things which this change of minde wrought in and upon me, and by which fir&s;t I became famous in the general di&s;cour&s;e of men, e&s;pecially among&s;t tho&s;e of whom I was known, this bu&s;ine&s;s was a chief; by which, through the not under&s;tanding of the thing, divers conclu&s;ions have been conceived, otherwi&s;e than the Truth; by which, many abu&s;ive reproaches have been unju&s;tly ca&s;t upon me: but what I &s;peak, cannot
<PB N="17" REF="13">in the lea&s;t be gain-&s;aid, known unto tho&s;e whom it did concern.</P>
<P>A &s;hort time after my compliance with that Spirit which entred in me by the ob&s;ervation of their practice declared to be from the teachings of the Spirit, Chri&s;t in them; My Ma&s;ter having been at the Wells, came home; &s;o out of that re&s;pect I had to what was good in him, and al&s;o that love I bare towards his eternal re&s;t with God, I was moved to go to him pre&s;ently, and inform him of my Re&s;toration from the depth of tho&s;e delu&s;ions, which I was &s;erviceable in, by the mini&s;tery of tho&s;e Teachers, who were blinded in their under&s;tanding, not knowing the my&s;tery of godline&s;s: upon which, I really &s;uppo&s;ed that he would have been prevailed upon by me to frequent our Meetings, that if may be the &s;ame Mini&s;tery &s;poken from the Life, by which the Life was rai&s;ed in me, might effect the &s;ame end in him, unto his Salvation; &s;o coming to him, I wrote a Scroll, took him by the Arm or Cloak, and bade him Sit down <HI>William Web;</HI> not bowing, not pul|ling off the hat, not Ma&s;ter, for then I denied that title to him, though related to him a Servant, as afterwards I de|nied all relations, from the words of one, He that liveth in the Light will &s;ee no difference: after which, I &s;pake the&s;e words, <HI>How does thy body do?</HI> for, as may be ob&s;erved, we made a &s;eparation between the Body and the Spirit. Now the ob&s;ervation of my carriage, with the &s;trangene&s;s of that expre&s;&s;ion <HI>Body,</HI> moved him to &s;peak the&s;e words: <HI>John, what is the matter? where is the Servant's Obedience? where is the Ma&s;ter's honour?</HI> The an&s;wer (as I remember) was thus: 'My Ma&s;ter was the faithful Spirit in me. So I gave him to under&s;tand, <Q>That I had heard the Mini&s;ters of the everla&s;ting Go&s;pel, by whom I was converted to the faithful obedience, by which I &s;hould finde Life; de|&s;iring of him (as he re&s;pected his eternal happine&s;s) to
<PB N="18" REF="14">come among&s;t us, that &s;o, what is true might be made manife&s;t to, and in him: For (&s;aid I) from the Lord do I declare, that all the Mini&s;ters of the&s;e times (or that were not of us) are the Mini&s;ters of the Devil; and in particular, <HI>Feak,</HI> that Mini&s;ter, whom he heard, was of the Devil, who&s;e Mini&s;tery was Death.</Q> So being &s;top|ped, by much di&s;like in him of what was &s;poken, I was di&s;mi&s;&s;ed by him at that time.</P>
<P>A while after this, when he and his Company were at Dinner, I was moved by that Spirit in me, to go and Dine w^t^h them: now becau&s;e it was again&s;t my will, I concluded that this moving was indeed from the Lord; which &s;ervice was intended by the Lord, to make known unto him, that he willed there &s;hould be no Difference between Man and Man: So I went into the Room where he was, took me a Stool, and &s;ate down at the Head of the Table; which being done, I applied my Minde to my Bu&s;ine&s;s. Then was asked me &s;ome Que&s;tions forth of the Scripture con|cerning the Duty of the Servant, which was An&s;wered in the ju&s;tifying of my &s;elf, as to that Deed: giving him to know, That I was the Servant of the living God, and he was not; therefore I had more right unto the Greatures than he had: So having fini&s;hed my work, I departed.</P>
<P>Now I was, with exceeding love, out of re&s;pect unto my eternal Salvation, formerly fixed with a re&s;olution to be taught by the Light in me, and &s;o never to &s;in any more; upon which I became very punctual in every word and every Deed: Al&s;o, having received a &s;trict Charge, with the re&s;t, That nothing &s;hould be Spoken or Acted, but what might be eternally witne&s;&s;ed; whereupon, when any Cu&s;tomers came to deal with me, I dur&s;t not ask them, What they wanted? believing that tho&s;e Words could not be eternally witne&s;&s;ed; for they knew what they came for: Then when that was required which they came
<PB N="19" REF="14">for, I dur&s;t not make in the price of it but one word; and if by them tempted to more, becau&s;e of what was expect|ed of advantage to them&s;elves by a cheaper Rate, I &s;hould be provoked to look &s;ternly, with wrath and envie, out of the extream hatred I bare towards that Spirit which moved them to &s;peak more than was needful: and &s;o by this, and that Spirit by which I was limited to tho&s;e words, Thee, and Thou, and not pulling off my Hat, without any civil re&s;pect in my Carriage, I was made un|fit for that Service, by which was intended a way for my livelihood. Al&s;o, divers of tho&s;e Commodities we dealt in, having honourable Names, and other having &s;uch Names which I judged were not meet; I was commanded and enjoyned by this Spirit in me, to give unto them fre&s;h Names, believing that tho&s;e Names did proceed from the invention of Man, and they &s;tood in the Fall, as did every thing that was invented and made by Man, and &s;o u&s;ed by Man, that was not ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ary: Al&s;o, it was be|lieved that all tho&s;e things before &s;poken of which I was limited from, &s;tood in the will of Man, and they came in the Fall.</P>
<P>I was farther per&s;waded not to eate any thing that I loved, believing, that what did &s;et a Difference of any Creature, &s;tood in the Will; for he looked upon all things, and behold it was good; therefore it was of Man that gave a re&s;pect to any thing above other; &s;o by degrees at the la&s;t, I was wrought upon to eat nothing but Crums, pickings of Bones, when fini&s;hed by others; with &s;uch Food that was de&s;tructive to my health, it being contrary to pure Nature: Al&s;o, I was limited from eating of the Creature what was needful to the &s;atisfying of Nature, &s;o that I was made extream poor, &amp; &s;o changed, as though I were not the &s;ame man; fa&s;ting &s;ome weeks from eating little more than Nature would have required to eat in
<PB N="20" REF="15">one day. Going along Cheap-&s;ide, I &s;aw Cabbage-&s;tocks, with broken leaves of Colworts, which were thrown a|way by the Market-women: at which &s;ight I was en|joyned by a command of this Spirit in me, to gather them all up, and carry them home; which being done, I was commanded in the like nature, to dre&s;s them, and the next food I did eat, to eat them.</P>
<P>The &s;trangene&s;s of this alteration being &s;o great, divers Friends came to &s;ee me, intending by di&s;cour&s;e, to work me to a con&s;ideration of my condition, by a better inform|ing of my under&s;tanding; but Rea&s;on being de&s;troyed, nothing took place in me, but I judged them to be in the dark; and, that what was &s;poken from them was fle&s;h, their mindes and under&s;tandings being alienated from the Commonwealth of <HI>I&s;rael:</HI> my Ma&s;ter al&s;o, with his Part|ner, and others of the Family, when di&s;cour&s;ing with me, all what was &s;poken by them was judged to be from the evil one in them, who&s;e I believed they were.</P>
<P><Q>Now (&s;aid they) coming to live the life of the Scri|ptures, you will finde the meaning of them, they being fulfilled by you, to be opened to your under&s;tanding by the life in you, and &s;o they will be found another thing than what formerly they were;</Q> but at this time, not ha|ving received that knowledge that I was to wait for, the birth, &s;uch a time, out of my own wi&s;dom, my own know|ledge and imagination, going to read the Scriptures, I found &s;uch a &s;trange alteration in many things, contrary to what formerly I did believe, that I was taken affected with it: upon which I was per&s;waded to read over the whole Scriptures; and in reading, that which de&s;ired knowledge in me, prevailed upon me to &s;earch out the meaning of di|vers things; which &s;eeking de&s;troyed my former under|&s;tanding, and gave me to believe another meaning: then did I really conclude, That I was taught by the word in me,
<PB N="21" REF="15">the &s;ame word which the holy men of God, that &s;pake forth the Scriptures had living in them, by which they were inabled to &s;peak them forth; upon which I was in|joyned by a &s;tronger phan&s;ie, &s;uppo&s;ed to be the Spirit of Chri&s;t, to &s;pend all my time, that po&s;&s;ible I could gain, night and day, to learn knowledge by the teachings of the Holy Gho&s;t in me: by which in a &s;hort time I did really believe, that there was not any thing expre&s;&s;ed, but I had the perfect knowledge of: in the end, words and letter did &s;ignifie to my apprehen&s;ion divers meanings. Thus fancy and imagination acting together, I was be&s;otted, and made perfect drunk in my under&s;tanding, by the airy Spi|rit gotten in from without, by which I became like unto a di&s;tracted man.</P>
<P>Having this per&s;wa&s;ion in my &s;elf, that all knowledge contained in the Scriptures was revealed unto me, I was really po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a confident belief, that Chri&s;t Je&s;us that died at <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> was a figure of me, and that I was the true Chri&s;t, that Angel &s;poken of in the <HI>Revelation,</HI> which was to flie through the mid&s;t of Heaven, declaring the everla&s;ting Go&s;pel to all Kindreds, Nations, Tongues, and People.</P>
<P>There was al&s;o revealed unto me by the teachings of that Spirit in me, which gave me the knowledge of the Scriptures, that the di&s;&s;olution of all things would be at the end of &s;ixty three yeers; in which time, by my Mini|&s;tery, and the re&s;t of our Teachers, the Jews were to be called, with the Gentiles, who had lo&s;t the knowledge of the Go&s;pel immediately after the Apo&s;tles dayes, from which time until now, that God rai&s;ed his Spirit to Life in tho&s;e of us, both Jews and Gentiles have lain in blind|ne&s;s, &s;erving the God of the World, the Prince of dark|ne&s;s, and without the knowledge of the true God in the world. Wherefore all, both Mini&s;ters and people, that
<PB N="22" REF="16">were &s;ince a &s;hort time after the Apo&s;tles dayes, they having bowed down to the Gods of the Earth, and &s;o wor&s;hipped the Gods of the Heathen; the God of Gods, who is the Lord of all, had condemned them, and their gods eternally: Wherefore now the Candle of the wick|ed was to be put out, by the everla&s;ting Go&s;pel, &s;poken from the eternal Life in us; by which, tho&s;e that were e|lected to Salvation, &s;hould have the Life rai&s;ed in them, who&s;e brightne&s;s, as it was revealed, &s;hould &s;wallow up all that was for Condemnation; &s;o the eternal Life living in them, there was Salvation.</P>
<P>It was al&s;o believed, That I &s;hould live to the End, and then Chri&s;t, which died at Jeru&s;alem, was to meet me in the Mount of God, which was in a multitude of bright Clouds, where I was immediately to be transformed in|to a Cele&s;tial Body, all Spirit; where that Chri&s;t and I &s;hould &s;it Judges of all that ever had a Being in the World.</P>
<P>Wherefore now, it being &s;o, that I was to be the Mini&s;ter in the hand of God, for the converting of tho&s;e who were Elected to Salvation, to the true knowledge, by which e|ternal life was to be found; my minde was informed, that though I had the perfect knowledge of the Scripture, it was not &s;ufficient for this work: And, al&s;o I was per|&s;waded, There was a greater Revelation to be made ma|nife&s;t in me, than there was in Chri&s;t, or the Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>Whereupon I was enjoyned, that I &s;hould &s;pend all the time that po&s;&s;ibly I could, in waiting for Revelations from Heaven: which I did, according to the teachings of this Spirit in me; hearkening diligently, with my minde fixed upwards towards Heaven, in expectation to hear &s;ome voyce from thence: Whereupon, the fir&s;t time I really &s;up|po&s;ed I heard many excellent voyces, which made an ex|ceeding &s;weet, and plea&s;ant Melody: Upon which I be|lieved
<PB N="23" REF="16">they were Spirits &s;ent from God, to make known unto me, the greatne&s;s of that joy there was in Heaven be|cau&s;e of me; by which appearance, being over-ravi&s;hed, I was firmly re&s;olved to be pliable to that Spirit which moved me in this way of waiting.</P>
<P>So a &s;hort time following, there appeared to me two Spirits in the likene&s;s of a Man's &s;hade; which appari|tions were believed to be Angels &s;ent from God to mini&s;ter unto me; from whom did proceed, to my acceptation, at that time, excellent things concerning God, and Chri&s;t that died at <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> al&s;o concerning the Angels, and the excellency of that place called Heaven.</P>
<P>Following this, there came many &s;uch-like Spirits that were all taken to be Angels; at which &s;ight, there was a voice &s;pake in me, which gave greetings to tho&s;e appariti|ons; upon which, there was an&s;wered by them, <Q>That within twenty five dayes, perfection &s;hould be &s;tabli&s;hed in me, and &s;o I &s;hould be made perfect, entire, wanting nothing, the whole work of God having been made manife&s;t; then &s;hould I &s;uffer the likene&s;s of that Death and Re&s;urrection, which was real by him that died at <HI>Ieru&s;alem;</HI> after which, I &s;hould be &s;ent forth to preach the Go&s;pel; and then <HI>Michael</HI> the Archangel &s;hould be living in me, by whom I &s;hould be carried to and fro, throughout the World, and enabled to preach the Go&s;pel.</Q></P>
<P>After this time, for the&s;e twenty five dayes, when the Spirit in me willed me to go private, which was &s;ometimes in the day, and almo&s;t all the&s;e twenty five nights, I dur&s;t not deny the movings, as I re&s;pected my Salvation; yea, I do verily believe I did not re&s;t one night with another, above one hour in a night, all the time of the&s;e twenty five dayes; mo&s;t of which time, I had the company of the&s;e appariti|ons, according as I was moved to de&s;ire them by that Spi|rit
<PB N="24" REF="17">which was in me: for when I was moved by that Spi|rit to de&s;ire them, they would come: and when that mov'd me to require their departure, they would depart: and con&s;tantly when they came, they brought with them ex|cellent Mu&s;icks, which alwayes kept over my head, and followed me according as I moved: the apparitions making merry among&s;t them&s;elves, dancing, leaping and flying about the room, according to the mu&s;icks of tho&s;e Spirits which continually plaid over my head.</P>
<P>I &s;hall now declare &s;ome things that were acted by my orderly &s;ubjection to the teachings of this Spirit in me, and tho&s;e apparitions in the time of the&s;e twenty five dayes.</P>
<P>There was not a day or night, but many &s;trange actions were performed; but I &s;hall &s;peak of &s;ome few, by which may be judged what the re&s;t were.</P>
<P>The &s;econd or third night I was commanded by that Be|ing in me, to &s;tay up all night: &s;o about mid-night, five of the&s;e apparitions, with tho&s;e Spirits which made &s;uch plea&s;ant melody came, as I was waiting for revelations: one of which Spirits (as they were flying about the room) came and over&s;hadowed my face, as though a vail, and &s;pake to me, telling me in my ear, <Q>That three of the &s;even plagues had been poured forth upon me; and be|cau&s;e of my diligent obedience in all things required by the Spirit in me, two were not, and the other two were yet to come; and, that after my re&s;urrection from the dead, I &s;hould make choice of twelve that were chiefe&s;t Speakers among&s;t us, to be my Apo&s;tles: &s;o parting from me, they went all to dancing.</Q> About an hour after, as I was &s;tanding before the fire, I heard &s;omthing that made a noi&s;e: upon which I heard a voice &s;peak in me, &s;aying, <HI>Babylon is fallen, Babylon is fallen;</HI> which was &s;ignificant to my under|&s;tanding, that all in me which formerly reign'd, was thrown
<PB N="25" REF="17">down, being da&s;hed in pieces by the coming of Chri&s;t; and turning round, I &s;aw that the fire being much burned, fell down: then being weary of &s;tanding, (having not &s;ate that night) I went to &s;it down; &amp; going to &s;it, I was commanded by one of the&s;e Spirts that I &s;hould &s;tand, for God was then pre&s;ent in the room. Whereupon, after about an hours &s;tanding, looking for a revelation, I was over-&s;hadowed as before like as with a vail, and commanded from a voice, immediately to pull off my &s;hoes off my Feet, for the place where I &s;tood was holy ground: and as God ap|peared to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in the Bu&s;h, &s;o God appeared now unto me in this revelation, giving me to under&s;tand, That the appearance of God unto <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was a figure of this ap|pearance unto me. Whereupon, I pulled off my &s;hooes; and being &s;truck with an exceeding fear, much trembling, I pulled off my hat al&s;o, and laid it down: at which time, I was &s;en&s;ible of very much cold, it being an exceeding cold night: &s;o immediately there came an extream warmth all over the room, and thence it &s;ei&s;ed upon my Feet, and with a tingling heat it rai&s;ed it &s;elf upwards, till over my Legs, and there re&s;ted a little time, infu&s;ing a heat into my legs; then did it ari&s;e by degrees, little and little, until at la&s;t my whole Body was encompa&s;&s;ed with warmth, as though a great heat had been infu&s;ed in me by a violent compul&s;ion. All which time, I trembled ex|ceedingly, but dur&s;t not move from that place I &s;tood in. Al&s;o the tunes of the Spirits were changed into a great &s;inging or hi&s;&s;ing, much like to the noi&s;e of thou&s;ands of Bees; and the apparitions danced: &s;o a voice &s;pake, cal|ling me by my name, telling me, <Q>That I was <HI>John</HI> the be|loved of him&s;elf, as <HI>Iohn</HI> was the beloved of Chri&s;t; and he, that <HI>Iohn,</HI> was a figure of me.</Q> So after &s;ome time &s;pent, I could not contain, but &s;peak of my own accord the&s;e words, <HI>Ye are the Angels of the living God:</HI> concluding
<PB N="26" REF="18">with the owning of what was by them revealed. But in the &s;peaking of the&s;e Words, I &s;tammered, out of fear: upon which, there flew one of the&s;e apparitions by me, and told me, <HI>That I had bla&s;phemed.</HI> What the cau&s;e was, I could not tell; but I &s;uppo&s;ed it to be, becau&s;e I &s;pake the&s;e words in my own will, before I had a true moving from that Being in me: for I believed, that in doing of any deed, or &s;peaking of any word that &s;tood in my own will, I did bla&s;pheme; judging, That what &s;pake, moved, or acted in man, that had not a patient working, with a joynt concurrence of the whole man, was wrought in the will, and &s;o imperfect, a bla&s;t which peri&s;heth in its act, and &s;o eternally not to be witne&s;&s;ed; by which the whole man is defiled. Upon which, all the Spirits and the plea&s;ant noi&s;e vani&s;hed away, and were not; al&s;o, the warmth infu&s;ed in me, and encompa&s;&s;ed about me, was taken away in the &s;ame nature as it came. Then was I &s;truck with a great fear, not knowing what this meant: upon which, as my manner was, when committing of any offence, as I was moved by the Spirit in me, I lay down upon the ground, with my face clo&s;e to the floor, which was believed to be the greate&s;t humility I could expre&s;s: and after a &s;hort time of my wallowing and tumbling upon the ground, I was moved by that Spirit in me to lie &s;till on my belly with my face flat on the ground; which being done, immediately came the like warmth on the floor under me, as before; and from thence aro&s;e a great &s;team, which encompa&s;&s;ed me over, and then &s;ei&s;ed upon me as before, infu&s;ing a heat through my whole body: then was I by that Spirit in me moved to ri&s;e up; but &s;up|po&s;ing it was not a true motion, I did not obey; upon which, came all tho&s;e apparitions which were without, and with them tho&s;e Spirits which made &s;uch excellent melody. Then did that power in me move me to &s;tand up as before;
<PB N="27" REF="18">upon vvhich I fell a vveeping; and much love vvrought up|on me, to remain longer in that place of Humility; judg|ing my &s;elf as unworthy of that Union and Love with God, which before I was a partaker of: then came one of tho&s;e Apparitions to me, who gave me to under&s;tand, that all what I was, having been offered as a Pledge, according to the Will of the Pure in me, had wrought in God that affection which formerly he had towards me, upon vvhich I vvas rai&s;ed upon my Feet by the povver of that Spirit in me; my Hands, my Feet, and Body, moved, and acted in their Order, vvithout the lea&s;t motion or con&s;ent of motion by me: then vvas I highly elevated in my Spirit, and com|manded by a voice in me, to Dance vvith tho&s;e Appariti|ons; vvhich I did the remaining part of that night; and by the povver of that Spirit in me, yielding my &s;ubjection, vvas I to&s;&s;ed to and fro, and mounted up and dovvn in the ob&s;ervation of tho&s;e Spirits by vvhom I vvas accompanied, as though I had been a Spirit my &s;elf.</P>
<P>It may be ob&s;erved, That about this time it was &s;o with me, That what I looked upon, I &s;hould be &s;earching after knowledge, in relation to it; making enquiry, the cau&s;e of its Being, the way by which it came to have a Be|ing, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> For, I was per&s;waded, That the Knowledge of all things was to be Di&s;covered and made known to me: &s;o that a while after, my prying &s;o much after Knowledge, did infu&s;e &s;o much Spirit in me, that I could not look up|on any thing, but I was tormented in my Spirit at the &s;ight thereof; and many times had &s;uch burnings in my Body, as may be likened to the heat of live Coals, by which, for many nights, I could not have the lea&s;t re&s;t.</P>
<P>Having refrained from Food about a day and a half, I was moved, though limited by the Spirit in me for a lon|ger time, to go and eare: So having made a &s;earch for the like Food that u&s;ually I did eat, and finding none, but in the &s;tead thereof a great Roa&s;t of Beef; I was at a lo&s;s;
<PB N="28" REF="19">upon which there aro&s;e a great Conte&s;t in my Spirit what I &s;hould do; &s;aid that Spirit which re&s;pected me for the &s;a|tisfying of Nature, Eate of the Beef: &s;aid the other Spi|rit by which I was limited, No; I am the Lord: &s;aid the former, Nay, but eate; &s;ince there is no other, there is a &s;ufficient ju&s;tification: Whereupon the Ca&s;e being well examined, after a time Judgement was determined upon that Spirit by which I was limited: So I did take and eat while &s;atisfied, with much moderation: All which time being much di&s;quieted, and &s;trongly moved to give over.</P>
<P>This Deed being now fini&s;hed, I went into the Hall, where, after two or three turns, I &s;ate down, and ca&s;ting my Eyes upwards, I was taken with a &s;trong Fancy that I &s;aw Heaven open, from whence proceeded a great bla&s;t of Fire &s;omwhat like unto Lightning: at which &s;ight (be|ing really per&s;waded it was a di&s;covery of tho&s;e Plagues which were to be poured forth upon me, becau&s;e of the former Di&s;obedience) I was &s;truck down by that power in me, as though a dead thing had fallen; upon which, im|mediately there was an extream burning within me, like unto the heat of a fiery hot Furnace, which remained a little more than about half a quarter of an hour. About three hours following this, there was a private Meeting of our People, whither I was moved to go, though much con|trary to my Will; but being in a great fear, I dur&s;t not deny, but went: &s;o after I had been there about half an hour, I was moved, by the power of that Spirit in me, to &s;hake; which manner of &s;haking I had long waited for; believing they were Effects, in order to the rooting out and perfect de&s;troying of that Being in me, which was of the Devil: So it being ob&s;erved, that I was moved to &s;hake, the Command was, Give way: which &s;ignified, that I &s;hould not limit the Work of the Lord in me upon that which was for Condemnation: &s;o I gave way; upon
<PB N="29" REF="19">which, the &s;trength of that Spirit by which I was moved to &s;hake, grew, &s;o that what &s;trength I had in me of my &s;elf, was not in the lea&s;t &s;ufficient to &s;ubdue the workings of the other Spirit in, and upon me, who&s;e power wrought &s;o in me, being &s;pread like unto an infu&s;ed &s;ub&s;tance into all Parts and Joynts of my Body, that my whole Man was &s;o &s;haken, torn, and rent, that had I not by a great &s;trength been enabled, I could not have contained: Al&s;o, it did work in me, as though I had taken a &s;trong Purge, by which I was clen&s;ed exceedingly, in working forth of me an extream Foam: So having fulfilled its Will, it cea&s;ed of it &s;elf. Now as the Air is rent by the fiercene&s;s of the Spirit, by which is cau&s;ed a hideous and ratling noi&s;e, called, Thunder; and &s;o the whole Heavens become clen|&s;ed of all filthy vapours, or corrupted &s;ub&s;tance, natural|ly de&s;tructive to all Beings: &s;o was it believed, that the corrupted Spirit in me, was rent and torn by that Spirit which is my Life, by which the Heavens in me, was clen&s;ed. Then was I po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with the&s;e per&s;wa&s;ions, That this was one of tho&s;e two Plagues which was to be poured forth upon me; and that the occa&s;ion of this Plague, was, becau&s;e of the denial of my Lord and Ma|&s;ter, in the pre&s;ence of the Jewi&s;h Spirits in me, out of re|&s;pect to my own Liberty, the &s;atisfying of Nature with that Food which was di&s;allowed.</P>
<P>After this, (as I remember) the following night, I was Commanded to &s;tay up all that night, and wait for Reve|lations: but having refrained from &s;leep divers nights be|fore, I could not wait according to the requirings of the Spirit, becau&s;e of extream drouzine&s;s: whereupon, I made interce&s;&s;ion to tho&s;e Apparitions, to take re&s;t for that night: &s;o upon Promi&s;e of attending there the next night, I had liberty; but going up &s;tairs, a voyce &s;pake in me, and willed me to go down: but then I &s;uppo&s;ed it to be from one of the Spirits which I left behind me in the
<PB N="30" REF="20">Room: &s;o out of great fear, I was enjoyned to &s;tay up all that night, and dur&s;t not &s;leep, but wait for Revelations: and having waited a &s;hort time, I could not po&s;&s;ibly re|frain longer from re&s;t: then was I per&s;waded to go again&s;t the Will of the Spirit in me: but in going, it &s;pake again, and Commanded me to go in the Shop; which I did: and having waited there about half an hour, wre&s;tling &s;trongly again&s;t &s;leep, I moved (of my &s;elf) to go up again into the Chamber; but going up &s;tairs, another voyce &s;pake be|hind me, and Commanded me to return back again: then was I Commanded by that in me, to lie down and humble my &s;elf, for I had Bla&s;phemed: which I did; wallowing, and tumbling upon the ground: Then heard I another voyce, &s;aying, <HI>Nicodemus</HI> is in thee, the betrayer of Chri&s;t in the night: Then &s;orrow &s;truck me to the very heart, and I was extreamly troubled: &s;o after I had layen about an hours time upon the ground, I was moved by that Being in me to ri&s;e; but as I was ri&s;ing, I was commanded to lie down again: Anon after, I was moved to ri&s;e, as before: but when ri&s;ing, I was commanded to lie &s;till: and &s;o by contradictions of this Spirit in me, was I thus acted divers times: in the end, it was plea&s;ed to rai&s;e me on my Feet, it &s;elf moving and guiding of my Body by its own power, like as before: So this night being &s;pent, I was in the morning commanded to light a Fire with dead Coals and Sticks, (that a Miracle might be made known to be wrought by me;) being really per&s;waded, that like as Fire did proceed from the Lord upon the Altar, in the &s;ight of <HI>Mo&s;es, Aaron,</HI> and the Children of <HI>I&s;rael:</HI> So from the Lord, in me, &s;hould there proceed that Vertue vvhich &s;hould infu&s;e a heat into tho&s;e Coals and Sticks, by vvhich a Fire &s;hould be kindled; now being confident I &s;hould ef|fect the vvork: yea, had I been Ma&s;ter of the vvhole world, I &s;hould have ventured all, vvith a value of no vvorth, upon the performance of this Deed: having laid all things in
<PB N="31" REF="20">their order, as directed by that Spirit which moved me to the work, I was moved to blow with my mouth; but in &s;hort, blow I did, try one way, then another way, and blowed as &s;trong that po&s;&s;ible I could; expecting &s;till, that from my Life, the Lord, there &s;hould heat proceed with my breath, to the lightning of the fire: but in the end, not being able to effect the thing, I was extreamly troubled, that I the Chri&s;t of God &s;hould fail in the per|formance of the fir&s;t miracle, &s;ince &s;o many miracles were wrought by him that was a figure of me. Then went I private into the Cellar, and there hearkned to within my &s;elf for a command from the Spirit in me, to de&s;ire the apparitions: which being given, they were de&s;ired, and &s;o came. Then was made known unto them how im|perfect my performance was in that Service required of me. Upon which was an&s;wered, That I was not yet per|fect: but however, it was the purpo&s;e of God, that I &s;hould be &s;erviceable in the healing of the lame, the &s;ick, the blinde, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;ouls, as Chri&s;t did heal the imperfect parts of the vi&s;ible body; and that all the vi&s;ible miracles wrought by him, did &s;ignifie what was to be effected mi|raculous in the invi&s;ible part of every man that &s;hould be &s;aved by my Doctrine: and &s;o they departed.</P>
<P>Seldom a night after this, for about a week, but I &s;taid up mo&s;t part of all the night, and divers &s;trange things effected by me, or tho&s;e apparitions, every night: &s;o that having de&s;troyed the cour&s;e of nature &s;o much, in not ta|king of re&s;t, that for a time following, when I came to have liberty to re&s;t, I could not, though never &s;o de&s;ired. Once, when &s;triving, &s;trugling, mounting, flinging, and throw|ing in a conte&s;t again&s;t &s;leep, I was immediately taken by the power of that Spirit in me, and ca&s;t up again&s;t the wall; and when &s;etled upright, and clo&s;ed to the wall, there was infu&s;ed in me &s;uch a fre&s;h &s;upply of life, like unto a mighty &s;tartle, that all drowzine&s;s was de&s;troyed, and I was a fre&s;h as could be.</P>
<PB N="32" REF="21">
<P>The day following this night, was the fir&s;t day of the week: &s;o betimes in the morning, I was moved to go to the place of our Meeting, and there wait until the time of meeting; and, as it was u&s;ual, not purpo&s;ing to come home till the evening; and al&s;o, much nece&s;&s;itated I was moved to eat before I went; &s;o having cut a piece of Bread, about a fourth part of a peny-loaf, I began to eat: but when having eaten about half, I was command|ed to eat no more, but lay the re&s;t by till the next day: &s;o it being undeniable by me, I did obey; and it was my food the following day. Then did I make to the Meeting, where I &s;pent my time while the people were gathered to|gether: in which time, as I was walking in the Garden, a Fly flew in my face; which thing being ob&s;erved, I was moved to examine, what it &s;hould mean; &s;o by the coun|&s;el of this Spirit in me, <HI>I</HI> was confidently per&s;waded that it was a Me&s;&s;enger from God, the Life in him being believed to be of God, and from that life was he moved to flie in my face; by which was meant a giving me to under&s;tand &s;omething that was required of me by God. From that time was <HI>I</HI> guided by Flyes in many things; being very certain, that they were moved by God in them, to make known what was his will to me.</P>
<P>Then vvhen the Company came, <HI>I</HI> vvas commanded to &s;hevv a humility in me beyond any of theirs, as Chri&s;t did &s;hevv a humility in him beyond any of his Apo&s;tles. Whereupon <HI>I</HI> vvas commanded to pull off my Band, and then vvas <HI>I</HI> moved to make knovvn unto the people the or|der that God required in the Creation, vvhich vvas to ga|their up the &s;mall &s;ticks that vvere &s;cattered in the Garden, and lay them by them&s;elves; and the dry leaves that vvere under the Trees, by them&s;elves; and the &s;mall &s;tones that vvere &s;cattered in the Walks, by them&s;elves; and the pieces of Brick, (as <HI>I</HI> remember) if not, &s;ome &s;uch-like, by them&s;elves.</P>
<PB N="33" REF="21">
<P>Now, in the time of this &s;ervice, I gave over &s;ometimes by the per&s;wa&s;ion of divers Friends; but when given o|ver, I &s;hould be commanded, by the fir&s;t Fly that I &s;aw, to the &s;ervice again. Afterwards, being ob&s;erved by one who was a Chief of us, he came to me, and took me by the hand, per&s;wading me to give over, and go along with him, and hear what was &s;poken by him that was &s;peaking to the people; &s;o I gave over. Then when the time of our being there was ended, it was al&s;o required by him, that I &s;hould go with him where he intended to &s;pend his time till the Afternoon; which I did: but in the way as we were going, I was mov'd to gather up &s;tones as before; and as I was gathering, I &s;aw two white round &s;tones lie one by the other, at which &s;ight I was po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a confident belief, by the information of this Spirit in me, that tho&s;e &s;tones came from Heaven, and it was given un|to me to finde them: then was my minde informed by that in me, that the one &s;ignified <HI>E&s;au,</HI> and the other <HI>Jacob;</HI> &s;o I was moved to throw the greate&s;t of them away, and onely pre&s;erve the le&s;&s;er: it was al&s;o given me to under|&s;tand, that this le&s;&s;er did not onely &s;ignifie <HI>Iacob,</HI> but the white Stone &s;poken of in the <HI>Revelations,</HI> which was &s;ent as a token from Chri&s;t in Heaven to me; and &s;o long as I kept that &s;tone I had unity with God; but if lo&s;t, I &s;hould be di&s;-united. So when we came to that place we in|tended to go, which was a Garden-hou&s;e, we &s;ate down in the Garden: but after a time, I was moved to do the former work again, where I gathered up &s;tones and coles, &s;ticks and broken corkes, or what I &s;aw &s;cattered on the ground. So by and by comes into the Garden one whom I much loved, that was of us; and looking him in the face, I was confident in my &s;elf, I &s;aw death in him: upon which, as I remember, I told him that he was accur&s;ed from God, &s;eeing of him much changed; I was really per&s;waded by this Spirit in me, that he had &s;lain the Wit|ne&s;s,
<PB N="34" REF="22">and there was no remedy he mu&s;t die eternally; the plagues of God would be poured forth upon him in this life, and in the life to come.</P>
<P>A &s;hort time after this, as I was at re&s;t, about mid-night, in a &s;lumber between &s;leep and wake, I &s;aw a vi&s;ion of Spirits in the room, by which I was &s;tartled exceedingly, and &s;ate up, being &s;trongly moved to ri&s;e; but being much drow&s;ie, and de&s;irous of more &s;leep, <HI>I</HI> lay down again, and fell a&s;leep pre&s;ently, and then into a dream, that the Chamber-floor &s;unk under me, and that <HI>I</HI> was loo&s;ed down upon tho&s;e boards that &s;unk under me, through the boards of every Chamber, till <HI>I</HI> came into the Cellar, which is five &s;tories high; upon which <HI>I</HI> waked, and &s;ate &s;till a little in&s;tant: then was <HI>I</HI> taken with a &s;trange fancy, that the bed was &s;inking under me; upon which <HI>I</HI> moved my body, and in moving <HI>I</HI> was po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a fierce com|mand by the Being in me, to ri&s;e, and make all the &s;peed that po&s;&s;ible <HI>I</HI> could into the Kitchin; which being done, <HI>I</HI> was guided by the power of that in me, to turn round; and in turning round, <HI>I</HI> &s;aw a light playing upon the wall, at which &s;ight <HI>I</HI> was moved to &s;tand &s;till, and look &s;ted|fa&s;tly upon it, &s;o, as <HI>I</HI> &s;tood looking upon it, it cea&s;ed: then was <HI>I</HI> po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a great fear, not knowing what that &s;ignified; (but &s;ince <HI>I</HI> conceived, the occa&s;ion was the brightne&s;s of the fire) and in the time of this fear, going to &s;it down, <HI>I</HI> was moved to &s;tand: immediately upon which, <HI>I</HI> was taken with the &s;ight of Linens that lay a &s;oaking in water, intended by the Maids as a preparative in order to the clean&s;ing of them; &s;o <HI>I</HI> was moved to look as &s;tedfa&s;t upon them that po&s;&s;ible <HI>I</HI> could: upon which, there came a &s;peedy command from this Being in me, that <HI>I</HI> &s;hould lay them in a better order than they were, with this information, that God is the God of order; and re|membring, that Chri&s;t denied not the lea&s;t &s;ervice willed of his Father, <HI>I</HI> was the more &s;peedier &s;ubjected to the
<PB N="35" REF="22">obedience of this moving; &s;o the readine&s;s of my will to that &s;ervice required, was accepted of, as though the deed had been effected, and <HI>I</HI> was &s;et free: immediate upon which, <HI>I</HI> was guided to look &s;tedfa&s;t upon another object, which was not in that order as <HI>I</HI> judged it &s;hould have been: then the like command as before, injoyned me that <HI>I</HI> &s;hould effect that &s;ervice which related to the order of tho&s;e things, though far more different from that bu|&s;ine&s;s properly doth re&s;pect a man, than the former: but in regard of my &s;peedy conde&s;cention to the bu&s;ine&s;s, <HI>I</HI> was freed from the performance, as before: then was <HI>I</HI> moved to fit down, and look &s;tedfa&s;tly in the blaze of the Candle, in expectation to be directed in &s;ome &s;ervice, by the moving of the blaze to and fro, or by the &s;parkles that proceeded forth of it; &s;o the blaze of the Candle moved to and fro, and the &s;parks were many: but being not able to apprehend what the meaning of the Life &s;hould be, by which it was moved to and fro, and occa&s;ioned to &s;parkle, <HI>I</HI> was tormented in my &s;elf, and &s;tamped, and flew up and down the room like a mad man. By and by, when a lit|tle quieted, <HI>I</HI> came to the fire-&s;ide, and was moved to look in the fire, in expectation to receive &s;ome di|rections to &s;ervice by the flame or &s;parks of the fire: &s;o after a time being tired by looking in the fire, I ca&s;t my eyes upwards, and &s;eeing &s;omething &s;wim upon a great Kettle of water over the fire, I was taken at the fight thereof, to &s;ee what it was; and as I &s;tood looking upon the water, I was po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a command from that Spirit in me, upon the account of Salvation, that I &s;hould put my right hand in the pan of hot water; (giving me to know, that the heat thereof &s;hould not &s;ei&s;e upon me:) but (through fear) &s;tanding a little in&s;tant before I performed the command, (as in the twinkling of an eye) I ca&s;t my &s;ight off the water, and &s;eeing &s;omething, (as I conceived) falling towards the ground, I looked back again to &s;ee what it was, and found it to be a black thing like unto a
<PB N="36" REF="23">great Fly, (which then I took to be a Fly,) whereupon I was taken from the former Service, and Commanded by that in me, to look as fierce as po&s;&s;ible I could upon that Fly; then was Lenjoyned, by the &s;ame being in me, to hold my right Leg to the Fire, and ob&s;erve &s;trictly the direction of that Fly, to the burning of it: &s;o the Fly moved from the &s;ame place it was, and &s;tood upon the Harth, above a quarter of a yard off the Fire: Now this per&s;wa&s;ion being firmly wrought in me, That did I not Obey this Com|mand, I &s;hould be eternally damned; I went &s;peedily clo&s;e to the Fire, and there held my Right Leg, with both my Hands, the &s;ame di&s;tance off the Fire, as it &s;tood: &s;o the Fly began its work, thus, moving &s;omtimes neerer the Fire, &s;omtimes farther off; &s;omtimes turning the one &s;ide, &s;omtimes the other; &s;omtimes round, and &s;o to the &s;ame place again, &amp;c. So, by the &s;trength of that Command in me, was I made plyable to guide my Leg, in the imita|tion of every moving by the Fly: And having &s;pent about a third part of an hour in this Service; all which time ve|ry &s;en&s;ible of the heat that proceeded from the Fire bur|ning in my Leg, in turning round by the direction of the Fly, I lo&s;t the &s;ight of him; and then was I freed to go from the Fire. Afterward it was made known unto me, by that in me, That this was the other of the two Plagues. Then going to &s;ee what work was made by the Fire in my Leg, I was taken with a &s;trong per&s;wa&s;ion, That the &s;ame Spirit in me, by whom I was moved to burn it, would, by the power of him&s;elf, heal it; &s;o that for &s;everal dayes I dur&s;t not make it known to any man, though it was bur|ned from the Knee to the Foot; and then was the time come of my Perfection, as was made known to me by the Apparitions: &s;o about noon of the &s;ame day, being about my imployment, I was moved to give over; but not obey|ing the motion pre&s;ent, there came divers Flyes and re&s;ted upon that Bu&s;ine&s;s I had in hand; by which I was per|&s;waded,
<PB N="37" REF="23">I had offended in not readily Obeying: &s;o ha|ving left my employment, I was moved, by the power of that in me, to Wra&s;tle and War with my &s;elf three times, which I did, like a mad di&s;tracted man: and when it was done, it was given me to under&s;tand, that this was a pre|paration again&s;t my Suffering; and it had a re&s;pect to that Agony which Chri&s;t was in before his Death. Then was I moved to &s;tand &s;till; and having &s;tood a little in&s;tant, I was directed by this Spirit, To look about me: and as I was looking, I &s;aw a Needle &s;tuck in my Sleeve; which Needle I was moved to take in my Hand, and thru&s;t both Ends through my two Thumbs, which I did with what &s;peed po&s;&s;ibly I could: fir&s;t, the one End to the Bone of the one Thumb; and afterwards, the other End to the Bone of the other Thumb: and there being no pa&s;&s;age for the Needle through the Bones, the Needle was bent in the clo&s;ing of my Thumbs together: Then was I commanded &s;peedily, that I &s;hould &s;tand upon a Box, by the Wall, a|bout half a yard off the Ground; which being done, I was directed to turn my Back to the Wall, and &s;pread my Hands one upon the other, with the Needle remaining in my Thumbs, &s;o wide that I could, and &s;o lift my Arms over my Head, and then to &s;train my Arms and Body as high as po&s;&s;ible <HI>I</HI> could, with the Backs of my Hands joy|ned to the Wall. All which being done, I was to liken a Death upon the Cro&s;s: &s;o I gave way to a Drouzine&s;s (as though I was a dying) and by and by I fell down upon the Ground, as though dead: But, before I lay as in the Grave, I was moved to &s;pread over me Shavings of white Paper that lay by on the Floor; (by which was meant the Covering of me with white Sheets:) then to tye a Hand|kerchief about my Head: &s;o in regard of my &s;peed, (and not heeding, but making as though I were dead,) in the tying of my Handkerchief, I tore much of my Hair off: This being done, I lay upon my Back minding nothing,
<PB N="38" REF="24">like as in a &s;leep:) and having lain there about three quar|ters of an hour, in imitation of three dayes, (the time of Chri&s;ts being in the Grave) I was immediately, by the power of that Spirit in me, rai&s;ed on my Feet, and Com|manded, with all the &s;peed that po&s;&s;ibly I could, to make to that place, where the Mini&s;ters, that were of us, with divers more, were; and give them knowledge of what was done: and then to make choice of &s;ome of them to be my Apo&s;tles; and &s;o &s;peedily to go abroad into all the world and Preach the Go&s;pel. So I took my Cloak, and ran forth, in expectation to flie by the power of <HI>Michael</HI> the Archangel, which was believed to be then in me, (accor|ding as before was promi&s;ed:) but being then di&s;appointed of Ability to flie, I was much troubled: upon which, there came a &s;pecial command, that I &s;hould pull off my Shoes; which I did in&s;tantly: (and turning my Cloak under my Arm, I threw my Shoes in my Cloak) and &s;o made away with all the might I could: (and verily, I am per&s;waded, were I now to run for a Kingdom, I could not make two thirds of that &s;peed I did then.) Now the Hou&s;e being in Moor-fields, and the path-way to the Hou&s;e being of a little compa&s;s, I was cau&s;ed to leap over the Railes, and al&s;o run over much Linen that lay Whiting upon the Gra&s;s, becau&s;e of the fiercene&s;s of my &s;peed. So,</P>
<P>When I came to the place, I gave them to under&s;tand, That Chri&s;t (meaning my &s;elf) was Ri&s;en from the Dead, &amp;c. &s;hewing the Holes that were made in my Thumbs with the Needle: upon which, I was looked up|on with a &s;trange ha&s;ty look; and charged to be &s;ilent, for I was in Darkne&s;s; the Witne&s;&s;es of God were &s;lain in me. So there being many there, and all of them judg|ing me with one Con&s;ent, I was &s;ilenced: Upon which, they &s;pake lovingly to me; and bad me to &s;it down; and put on my Shoes: which being done, I made known un|to them, that my Leg was burned, and the way by which
<PB N="39" REF="24">it came to be burned; then was there care taken by them for the healing of my leg: but in regard it had been kept unknown before, it was much corrupted, and (as I remember) about a quarter of a year before it was cured; much of which time <HI>I</HI> was con&s;trained to keep my Bed; and &s;o, not having the Liberty of my Bo|dy, my Spirit was kept the &s;tiller, and the means of my Recovery out of that &s;ad Condition which I was in, was the more effectual.</P>
<P>Now being incen&s;ed by what was &s;poken from them, and the &s;trangene&s;s of their Spirits towards what moved in me to &s;peak or to act, that I was in darkne&s;s, the light by which I was enlightned, being put out, &s;o that I had not a &s;avory di&s;cerning of what was good, and what was e|vil; and al&s;o, when &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idering of divers acti|ons, which I was &s;ubjected to by the teachings of this Spirit, that they were de&s;tructive to my being, I was the more concerned in what was given me to under&s;tand by them.</P>
<P>Then was I in a &s;ad condition, not knowing what I &s;hould do, that I might be redeemed from this body of &s;in, and death.</P>
<P>So I was directed by them to wait a time, and keep in my minde, not giving heed unto any thing but what had a re&s;pect unto my nece&s;&s;ary imployment: which I endea|voured to do, but could not for a time, being &s;o full of this Spirit, by which I was tormented day and night, through the &s;trength of imagination upon things without me, and al&s;o by the power of it &s;elf in me, and many times with extream fiery burnings in my Spirit.</P>
<P>So in labouring to keep in my minde, this Spirit in me came to be &s;ilenced in his motions, and weakned of his &s;trength; by which his union with tho&s;e Spirits without me, was &s;eparated: and &s;o I was freed from their Com|pany, being re&s;i&s;ted, they flew away.</P>
<PB N="40" REF="25">
<P>Now for a time this body of &s;in remained living in me, by which I was tormented as before &s;poken; and then, being not fed with my &s;ervice, the &s;trength of that Sub|&s;tance, which is my Life, having rai&s;ed a war again&s;t him, utterly de&s;troyed, burned up, and confumed his whole Be|ings, (as is declared following.)</P>
<P>About two months after, it was given me to under&s;tand, that I was in a delu&s;ion: as I was going along the &s;treet, I met one that was of us, who told me, That <HI>he had re|cieved a Letter forth of the Country from a Friend that was a Teacher:</HI> &s;o he asked me the Que&s;tion, <HI>Whether he were be&s;t to open it the next meeting, (which was on a private day) or forbear until the fir&s;t day:</HI> &s;o it was an&s;wered in the clo&s;e of our di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>Do as thou wilt.</HI> But when parted, there was a voice &s;pake in me, &s;aying, <HI>Do as thou art moved;</HI> which &s;trongly tempted me to go back again, and un&s;peak that word <HI>Wilt,</HI> and place in the &s;tead thereof <HI>Moved,</HI> being per&s;waded that I had offended in &s;peaking that word, be|cau&s;e the will of man was to be de&s;troyed.</P>
<P>The next day being called to Dinner, I refu&s;ed, in regard I had eat &s;omething that day before: whereupon there aro&s;e in me an exceeding joy, which I was not able to &s;ub|due; the cau&s;e was conceived, becau&s;e of my obedience to the Pure in me, The &s;ame day in the Afternoon, go|ing to a Meeting, I was moved to eat two &s;mall Apples that I had in my pocket; but fir&s;t I waited a time, that a patient, gentle, and pure Spirit might guide me in the eating of them: then, when going to eat them, I was per|&s;waded, that two was too much at once, believing, that that Spirit which moved me to eat &s;o much, was a De|vourer of the Creation: &s;o I re&s;olved to eat but one, and retain the other to di&s;po&s;e of to a Friend at the Meeting: upon which there aro&s;e the like joy in me as before; then did I conclude, that &s;urely the Lord was well plea&s;ed with me, becau&s;e of the tenderne&s;s that I had towards the Pure
<PB N="41" REF="25">in me: for in regard of the de&s;parate ca&s;e I was in, I was tender of every thing that I &s;peak or acted.</P>
<P>So the following day about the evening, immediately there &s;prang forth of me thoughts, &s;o fa&s;t as one could fol|low the other, without the lea&s;t moving by me to think any thing, (then began the de&s;truction of the body of &s;in) and &s;o tho&s;e thoughts remained, flying abroad in the Air every moment, &s;o fa&s;t as could be, while about two or three dayes: and then immediately as before, concerning Thoughts, there aro&s;e a &s;peaking in my minde, &s;o fa&s;t, as one word could be expre&s;&s;ed after another: &s;o tho&s;e Thoughts and Speaking in my minde continued every mo|ment of time (as I remember) about two months; and all along as time went away, that Being which thought and &s;pake &s;ink'd deeper in my minde, till in the end they were &s;wallowed up in victory: but from that time of a about two months, they began to cea&s;e a little, about one or two hours at divers times in a day, and &s;o as time came on, they cea&s;ed by degrees, while at la&s;t I could have re|mained an hour or two together without any thing in my Minde, or the lea&s;t Thought; and in the end, &s;ometimes a whole day, with very few Thoughts, or any thing in my Minde: then came I to witne&s;s a Redeemer from that bo|dy of &s;in that lived in me.</P>
<P>Now in the whole time of this &s;peaking in my Minde, and flying abroad of my Thoughts, I laboured according to the teaching of my own Spirit, to keep in my Minde, for the de&s;troying of the&s;e Thoughts and Speaking; &s;o by the power of that which was low in the Mind, the Meek &amp; the Humble, like as a Lamb and a Lion, gentle and &s;trong, was the &s;trength of this &s;in &s;ubdued; and by that Light which &s;aw it, was there a fire kindled, by which it was de&s;troyed and burned up, and the a&s;hes blown away like chaff before the winde.</P>
<P>In all this time of the war, every Member were Ene|mies
<PB N="42" REF="26">again&s;t me, whatever my Minde was taken with, ei|ther in &s;eeing, in hearing, in &s;melling, in ta&s;ting, in feel|ing, what was minded by any of my Sences, this evil One in me, would be rai&s;ing of Thoughts in things of the like Nature.</P>
<P>So almo&s;t a years time having been &s;pent among&s;t the&s;e people, with exceeding zeal in their way, acted forth from &s;uch a Love that may not be expre&s;&s;ed, and very &s;trict in the performance of every of the&s;e Ceremonies before &s;poken, when being, through rich Grace &amp; abundant Mer|cy, in &s;ome mea&s;ure re&s;tored unto the like enjoyment I had, before I knew any thing of them, through a great provi|dence, the Lord was plea&s;ed to enlighten my Under&s;tand|ing, by the manife&s;tation of what was according to him&s;elf in me, compared with what was given forth from him&s;elf, recorded in his Scripture, (the manner of which is declared following) &s;o that weakne&s;s which ruled and reigned in me, and by which I was &s;ubjected to the performance of tho&s;e Ceremonial Practi&s;es, being made known by the Truth which abides for ever, I was freed from the former Obedience, by which as a &s;lave I was kept in bondage, through much deceit, covered with a voluntary Humility, wor&s;hipping therein I knew not what. Whereupon, there was occa&s;ioned a bitter envy in them again&s;t me; &s;o that with greate&s;t violence they took to them&s;elves that power of judging me to be a <HI>Judas,</HI> a Betrayer of the innocent; and that wherein I was &s;eparated from them, therein was I joyned unto an Harlot, which Harlot they denied: giv|ing me to know, That the Plagues of God would conti|nually follow me: which Condemnation I mu&s;t own; for I was turned out to among the wilde Bea&s;ts, in the broad way, which way did lead unto eternal Death.</P>
<P>The&s;e, and many &s;uch-like terrible judging Expre&s;&s;ions, were made known unto me, by a noi&s;e from a Chief of them: but fora&s;much as the &s;ame Nature lived in me for
<PB N="43" REF="26">a time, by which I was not onely acted to judge all men that were not of us, to be reprobated from the knowledge of the Truth, and &s;o accur&s;ed from God, with what judg|ment followeth tho&s;e who are in &s;uch a condition; but I abhorred the very &s;ight of Men: &s;o that I knew the ground in him from whence this judging of me did ari&s;e. Where|fore I was minded to let pa&s;s what was &s;poken, judging better things of him, and that through the weakne&s;s of his Under&s;tanding, out of a &s;implicity of Love to the Truth, and good intents towards me, was he thus moved to &s;peak of me.</P>
<P>Now all this time of my being among&s;t this people, I dur&s;t not declare any thing of my minde unto any, but tho&s;e of us, or hearken unto any thing &s;poken by any, which bear Te&s;timony again&s;t any thing practi&s;ed by us: &s;o that I came not to &s;ee what might be offered from any, as an Objection again&s;t tho&s;e Ceremonies looked upon as &s;ub&s;tantials in performances.</P>
<P>But afterwards, &s;eeing a Friend at the Meeting (which was of us) whom I had not &s;een for a time; who&s;e under|&s;tanding was enlightned touching many things which for|merly he was &s;ubjected unto, though not known unto me: So after &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages between us, he began to &s;peak &s;om|thing concerning tho&s;e words, Thee and Thou: intending to bring me to under&s;tand, what that was in me, by which I was guided to the performance of them: and being wary le&s;t I &s;hould apprehend in him a di&s;like, touching the u&s;ing of them, and &s;o occa&s;ion a di&s;turbance in me; he brought his Di&s;cour&s;e &s;o about, that it was required I &s;hould give an Information of what was manife&s;ted in me, touching the Evil that lay in the not performance of them; though not by way of Que&s;tion: So having examined with my &s;elf, I gave him An&s;wer, That the word You, did re&s;pect more than One; But the words, Thee and Thou, were the true Engli&s;h words; &s;o that that minde by which
<PB N="44" REF="27">the words were removed out of their places, was the pride in Man, which Nature &s;tood in the Fall; and therefore it was not to be fed: but as though in a pretence of holding a contrary Argument, He Di&s;cour&s;ed with me for the word You, and not the words Thee and Thou; e&s;pecially in &s;ome ca&s;es. One ground of his Argument was, <HI>Give no offence to Iew nor Gentile, nor the Church of God, all which kept the Peace, to tho&s;e that could bear them, the words Thee and Thou; but to tho&s;e that could not, the word You.</HI> So after &s;ome time of Di&s;cour&s;e upon the&s;e words, he &s;pake in the &s;ame kind, as though by contraries, concerning taking off the Hat, and civil Re&s;pect between man and man, with the re&s;t of tho&s;e things refu&s;ed by us: but there being not a &s;ufficiency in me to An&s;wer what was &s;poken by him; I told him, That I was Convinced in my &s;elf, and &s;o I was moved from the Lord in what I did, but could not make out to his under|&s;tanding what was my Convincement. Then he gave me to under&s;tand, <Q>That he did not witne&s;s a Command for the u&s;ing of tho&s;e Ceremonies, though formerly in his own Will, out of imitation, they were practi&s;ed by him: but when he witne&s;&s;ed a Command, then he &s;hould Obey.</Q></P>
<P>Now being di&s;quieted, in regard of his perfect Separa|tion from the Unity of Spirit, which formerly he owned with us, we parted at variance: but after his departure, be|ing di&s;&s;etled as touching them, by what was &s;poken from him, I went privately, and examined with my &s;elf, how I came to take them up, and what it was that upheld their reign in me: &s;o finding that my will was the fir&s;t cau&s;e, I went to divers that were of us, and contrary to my mind, I held an Argument, as though I owned tho&s;e things, which formerly with them I denied, that I might learn from them what Rea&s;on or Ground they could declare, to the de&s;troying of my pretended Judgement: &s;o after ex|amining the Scriptures, &amp; much di&s;cour&s;e, I found not only &s;ome inclination of their Belief in re&s;pect of them, but
<PB N="45" REF="27">a real convincement in my &s;elf. And &s;o after a &s;hort time, through the Mercy of God, I came to &s;ee, not onely a death of that extraordinary, imaginary, and devili&s;h Spirit, by which I was &s;o extreamly deluded; but al&s;o the weakne&s;s of that in me, which through a Cloak of Righteou&s;ne&s;s debarred me of my living and conver&s;ing with men, as I had done formerly in the way of my livelihood: and now I affirm, from the Truth of God, manife&s;ted in me, that through a &s;lavi&s;h Fear, that I was in bondage unto, I was, as others are, kept in tho&s;e Delu&s;ions; and that there is no more &s;in, in the not u&s;ing of the&s;e Ceremonies, than in the u&s;ing of them; provided, that wi&s;dom guides.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<P>MUch time hath bin &s;pent &s;eriou&s;ly in the Examination of every particular herein declared; but the &s;trange|ne&s;s thereof might occa&s;ion many &s;erious Minds to que&s;ti|on the Truth of it: but I &s;olemnly affirm, in the pre&s;ence of the Eternal God, before whom all things are manife&s;t, that with a clear Under&s;tanding in the &s;ence of my Di|&s;tre&s;s, while under tho&s;e Temptations and powers of De|ceit, I have endeavoured to make known the Truth in &s;in|cerity of Minde. And the God of Truth beareth me wit|ne&s;s, That (to my knowledge) I lye not in any thing &s;poken: al&s;o, much of this might be ju&s;tified by many Eye-Witne&s;&s;es. True, it is matter of Admiration, and al&s;o, greatly might it be admired, that the goodne&s;s of God &s;hould &s;o far exceed the depths of Satan, and the powers of Darkne&s;s, as that the deceitful workings of this evil One &s;hould be made manife&s;t, and that by the di&s;co|very of his Grace, through his abundant Love, which al|wayes rejoyceth in Mercy, after &s;o great an Apo&s;tacie from him&s;elf, he &s;hould re&s;tore his own Heritage to the place of their abode, and &s;ettle the Under&s;tanding, the Minde, and Affections of his lo&s;t Creature, upon the
<PB N="46" REF="28">Foundation-Rock, which will abide when all things el&s;e mu&s;t peri&s;h. Prai&s;es to his Name for ever; and all who&s;e Mindes are united to the upright and faithful Obe|dience, and &s;taid therein, let them &s;ay with me, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
<P>Now &s;ince the Lord hath appeared &s;o mightily towards me, in re&s;toring from the Death, and in rai&s;ing out from the Grave, the Light of him&s;elf, by which my Under|&s;tanding is better e&s;tabli&s;hed than before; it may be judged acceptable, and de&s;irous, to know what the Founda|tion of my Faith is now.</P>
<P>I &s;ay, The Scriptures they do di&s;cover the Minde and Will of God, and they are profitable to the edifying of all, under what e&s;tare or condition &s;oever: but the Will of God is in part made manife&s;t in all, not only by what hath been learned from that Di&s;covery of Truth in the Scri|ptures, but where the Scriptures is not.</P>
<P>And by this invi&s;ible Law written in the Hearts of all Men, are Men convinced of every &s;ecret Temptation, which lu&s;teth in them to evil (if giving heed unto it:) and as this Law-giver in us, is &s;piritual, &s;o that Mini&s;tration of Righteou&s;ne&s;s in us, is &s;piritual; and that Obedience which it requireth, is in Spirit and in Truth; by which, tho&s;e that give heed unto it, are, and may be guided, out of all the Works of the Fle&s;h, above the Law, into a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that Covenant which giveth Life, and &s;o witne&s;s a new Birth, born of the Spirit: (without which, there is no entrance into the Kingdom, as &s;aith the Scripture, <Q>Ex|cept a Man be born again, of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot &s;ee the Kingdom of God</Q>) and then will tho&s;e Covenants be made manife&s;t, and fulfilled, which &s;aith, <HI>Unto &s;uch who fear my Name, &s;hall the &s;on of righteou&s;ne&s;s ari&s;e with healing in his wings: and he &s;hall turn the heart of the children to their fathers, and the heart of the fathers to their children: And ye &s;hall be all taught of God from the greate&s;t unto the lea&s;t; &s;o that you need not &s;ay one to another, Know the
<PB N="47" REF="28">Lord. And I will write my law in their hearts, and place my fear in their inward parts, that they &s;hall not depart from me,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Now where the righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Law is fulfilled, there is God made manife&s;t; and &s;o far as that Obedience which it requireth, rules in man, &s;o far have they Unity with God.</P>
<P>But yet, I do not &s;ay, That the Scriptures are in the lea&s;t to be di&s;e&s;teemed, but great is the advantage of the&s;e who have them to a&s;&s;i&s;t in the wayes of God, which guide to God.</P>
<P>For much was the profit of the Jews before the Gen|tiles, in that the Oracles of God were committed unto them, the Law &amp; the Prophets being made known to and among&s;t them, which the Gentiles had not: but now far greater is the benefit, or if di&s;obeyed the ju&s;t Condemna|tion of tho&s;e, who have the Scriptures more plain to the e|difying of them, in the Way, in the Truth, in the Life, which is of Chri&s;t, and leads to him&s;elf, than ever the Jews had before Chri&s;t was manife&s;ted in the world.</P>
<P>But &s;urely greater deceit was never made manife&s;t, than is now; the unclean thing having bewitched and darkned the Under&s;tandings of Men &s;o mightily. True, it hath been his bu&s;ine&s;s alwayes to remove the Obedience re|quired by God of Man, and &s;o di&s;quiet their peaceable enjoyment, that he might ingraft a rebellious Nature, in or upon that Tree which God hath made, on purpo&s;e to bring forth the Fruits of him&s;elf to make known his name in: but now the &s;ubtilty of his workings are far more admired by them in whom he hath taken place, than ever before: for when before the will of God was &s;o plain|ly di&s;covered in the Scriptures, to the view of the world, as it hath been &s;ince Chri&s;t and the Apo&s;tles dayes, much of that hold for his deceit which he hath now, was not.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e who lived by the Faith of the Son of God,
<PB N="48" REF="29">who&s;e Habitation was with Chri&s;t in God, who were ex|alted in heavenly places in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who witne&s;&s;ed Revelations, in whom was e&s;tabli&s;hed the Life of Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s, that new Name, Immortality, which abideth for ever: tho&s;e, I &s;ay, &s;peaking forth my&s;teries which men by wi&s;dom cannot know, though not my &s;teries to the &s;im|ple, who lived or doth live in the wi&s;dom of God: but men in their own wi&s;dom, even &s;en&s;ual men, who have not the Spirit, going about to comprehend tho&s;e things which they enjoy not, they drowned their under&s;tanding, and darkned their &s;ight; and &s;o the eyes of their Mindes being blinded, they of them&s;elve wre&s;t the Scriptures to their own condemnation.</P>
<P>But to my under&s;tanding, (and great is my mi&s;take, if the Spirit of God doth not bear me witne&s;s herein) where the minde is &s;taid in that Truth which is manife&s;t plainly in and unto all men, and be guided thereby in faithfulne&s;s, and re&s;pecting nothing before that Obedience which is required by it, &s;urely therein God will be glorified, for his Grace hath appeared to all men, and he requireth no more than what he hath given, onely Grace for Grace; and he that abides herein, needs not de&s;ire to dive beyond him|&s;elf, thinking thereby to apprehend that knowledge which is acceptable, though in the &s;ight of God accur&s;ed; but in time he will witne&s;s a Comforter which will lead him out of the Spirit of this world, into the beginning, where all Truth is made manife&s;t: and when in joying the &s;ame Spi|rit, and living in the &s;ame Life, which the upright and true Servants of the Lord hath done, then will tho&s;e my&s;teries of God which are hid from the fle&s;hly wi&s;dom, be made known, Life and Immortality being rai&s;ed to Light, and &s;o being &s;taid in a &s;ound minde, the glory of the Lord will be &s;een to the peace of his: and &s;urely if the Lord plea&s;e to reprove, convince, and correct the wandrings of &s;uch as are gone a&s;tray from him, and have exalted them&s;elves
<PB N="49" REF="29">upon the Mountains, (being lifted up above all what is called God) and guide them to wait thus upon him&s;elf, there needs no fear, but the ble&s;&s;ing which he hath re&s;erv|ed for his Cho&s;en, even the eternal re&s;t with him&s;elf, &s;hall be their reward.</P>
<P>Whereas it hath been &s;poken, That I was not right principled in the way of the Quakers, (&s;o called) and that I had not a clear under&s;tanding of what their Mini&s;tery held forth: I &s;ay, deceit &s;peaks in tho&s;e who thus report of me: for before I was per&s;waded to comply with them, I had a right Knowledge of their Belief and Practi&s;e; but the occa&s;ion by which I became to be lo&s;t in my Under|&s;tanding, and &s;o di&s;tracted and confu&s;ed in Mind, may be ob&s;erved in divers particulars before &s;poken: yet for the Truth &s;ake I &s;hall di&s;cover the thing more plainer.</P>
<P>But fir&s;t I &s;hall &s;peak a little of what condition I was in before I came among&s;t them.</P>
<P>Having been very zealou&s;ly affected in divers wayes be|fore, there was begotten in me much fle&s;hly wi&s;dom, in w^c^h my hope did much re&s;t, (believing it was the my&s;tery and wi&s;dom of the holy Spirit revealed unto me) by which I was per&s;waded, that the true wor&s;hip of God, was a true endeavouring to live up to that Obedience w^c^h the outward Law required, &amp; wherein I failed of what this Law requi|red, (that Doctrine I was learned in continually laboured to per&s;wade me, that) Chri&s;t which died at <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> had perfected for me; and &s;o I was not under the Covenant of Works, but under the Covenant of Grace.</P>
<P>Yet neverthele&s;s, all this time I could not enjoy a true peace, but was greatly di&s;&s;atisfied with my Condition; &s;ometimes being per&s;waded that I was out of the Faith, a Reprobate, a Ca&s;t-away, being out of the Election; and other times, when covered over with deceit, I &s;hould glory in my condition.</P>
<P>Now, when being fully per&s;waded, by what I learned
<PB N="50" REF="30">from the&s;e People, (before named) that the Truth indeed was to be found in us, which Truth was made known by the Light in us; which Light, as it was &s;piritual, (if fol|lowing it) it would guide out of all the works of the fle&s;h, to the wor&s;hipping of God in Spirit and in Truth; I was then to begin a new Religion, and to lo&s;e all that ever I learned before, all that Wi&s;dom, that Knowledge, Faith, Hope, Love, Zeal, <HI>&amp;c</HI> which before I hoped in, and &s;o to wait out of my own Thoughts and Imagination, as in Obe|dience to the Mini&s;tration of Condemnation, (which was to pa&s;s upon all that which was of fle&s;h) by which the Spi|rit was to be renewed; and as Death pa&s;&s;ed upon the one, Life was to be re&s;tored unto the other, until a new Birth was brought forth, from which would proceed the Mini|&s;tration of Righteou&s;ne&s;s unto Holine&s;s, the end of which, (as &s;aith the Scriptures) is eternal Life.</P>
<P>My Under&s;tanding being now thus opened, I was po&s;|fe&s;&s;ed with much Joy in the &s;en&s;e of that Love I had re|ceived, and was in hopes to enjoy; and on the other &s;ide, I was incen&s;ed with much Fear, le&s;t I &s;hould be carele&s;s, and &s;o lo&s;e my way in the Wilderne&s;s, before I came to the Land of <HI>Canaan;</HI> and al&s;o, le&s;t I &s;hould die before I witne&s;&s;ed the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>Whereupon, <HI>I</HI> was re&s;olved to give all diligence that my Calling and Election might be made &s;ure; but being na|turally of a very ha&s;ty forward Minde, and my Re&s;o|lution in part, being a Covenant of my own, there was &s;peedily begotten in me an extream fiery Zeal, &s;o that (in the general) I was ha&s;tily carried for the before the true Light, by which in a &s;hort time I became lo&s;t in my Un|der&s;tanding; and then, being to &s;eek in the wilderne&s;s, the Di&s;puter was rai&s;ed to Life, and &s;o exalted it &s;elf mightily, pleading the cau&s;e of his people: upon w^c^h, there was pro|claimed a de&s;perate War; in w^c^h divi&s;ion the Enemy which was for Condemnation, (having darkned the Light of the
<PB N="51" REF="30">Sun) formed it &s;elf in the &s;hape of a true Light: and &s;o de|ceit having gotten the power to bear rule in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> my mind was led forth out of the true Obedience, (as is before re|lated) by which the &s;imple became exceedingly deceived; but when, after it had fini&s;hed his cour&s;e, and I was re|&s;tored to a right Under&s;tanding, it is known that no weapon formed again&s;t the Ju&s;t did pro&s;per, but my Life was as a clear Light, in the &s;ight of tho&s;e among&s;t whom I was known, being guided in that Obedience, which was profe&s;&s;ed by tho&s;e people among&s;t whom I was.</P>
<P>This may reprove the Gain-&s;ayer; for my witne&s;s therein is true.</P>
<P>Such who may be di&s;&s;atisfied with any thing contained herein, might judge of me, otherwi&s;e then they ought, be|cau&s;e of tho&s;e hands by whom what I have written is coun|tenanced: I therefore declare, that before any of them had the lea&s;t knowledge of my purpo&s;e, I had writ of my &s;elf, (being per&s;waded it concerned me as a Duty, chiefly for tho&s;e Rea&s;ons before &s;poken) but when after &s;ome con&s;i|derable time that this di&s;cour&s;e was wholly perfected, I was per&s;waded in what I have done, that &s;o &s;uch &s;erious mindes as might que&s;tion the Truth of any thing contained in it, might the better receive a &s;atisfaction.</P>
<P>Since my &s;eparation from the&s;e people, there hath been di&s;per&s;ed abroad concerning me divers &s;candalous and fal&s;e abu&s;ive reports, by which, where it hath taken place, <HI>I</HI> am pre&s;ented as a lewd per&s;on, changed from whatever it is known <HI>I</HI> have been: but unto the Truth am <HI>I</HI> made manife&s;t; by which Truth in me, and in all tho&s;e that thus have &s;poken and do &s;peak again&s;t me, am <HI>I</HI> ju&s;tified: which Truth is, and will be the Condemnation of what is believed or &s;poken touching me untruly. True, &s;ince it plea&s;ed the Father to make known the excellency of his power in the rai&s;ing out of nothing this body, that the I|mage of him&s;elf, among&s;t other of his works, might
<PB N="52" REF="31">therein appear compleat, both in Body and in Spirit, to the glory of him&s;elf, and to the prai&s;e of his Name: <HI>I</HI> &s;ay, &s;ince the beginning of this Creation of God, a di&s;obe|dient Mind hath appeared in me, again&s;t that Will, &amp; that Grace, which God hath, as his Law, made known in, and to me; and <HI>I</HI> have among&s;t others many times rejected the offers of Grace by the pre&s;umptuous re&s;olvedne&s;s of my own peremptory will: &s;o that <HI>I</HI> cannot ju&s;tifie my &s;elf, yet am I bold wherein I am made free in the &s;ight of God, being witne&s;&s;ed by the Spirit of Truth. Fal&s;e reports and good reports mu&s;t pa&s;s, but my Witne&s;s liveth for ever. I know, and have heard of many which were of them that were convinced in them&s;elves of much delu&s;ion they lay under; and &s;o their Under&s;tandings being enlightned, they were reformed in their Judgements; but not one of the&s;e have I known or heard, that have not received from them the like Judgement, and &s;candalous untrue reports, that have been given forth concerning me. Wherefore, by right according to their Law, though fal&s;e, I mu&s;t come under the &s;ame Condemnation with them. But herein is my Peace, the Word of Truth bearing me witne&s;s again&s;t all deceitful Lyes.</P>
<TRAILER>The end.</TRAILER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
