A testimony for truth against all hireling priests and deceivers with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation to turn to the Lord before His dreadful judgments overtake them : also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes.

A testimony for truth against all hireling priests and deceivers with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation to turn to the Lord before His dreadful judgments overtake them : also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes.

Table of contents

Title page

§

A Testimony for Truth against all Observers of Times and Dayes.

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§

[Page] A Testimony for Truth AGAINST ALL Hireling-Priests and Deceivers: With a Cry to the Inhabitants of this Nation, to turn to the Lord, before his dreadful Judgments overtake them.

Also a Testimony against all Observers of Times and Dayes.

§

§

O Ye Priests and Bishops of this Nation, the Lord God that made Heaven and Earth is a Witness for me this day, I have no evil in my heart to any of you, but in Love to your Souls; and in the Bowels of tender compassion am I constrained to cry out against your Ungodly Gaines; for Gods day is come, and Wo to all the Workers of Iniquity.

O ye Bishops and Priests of this Nation, ye have for a long time covered your selves with the name of Christ's Ministers, but now your Covering is too narrow, and your Profession will not hide you; for the Light of Christ is risen, and with it you are judged and condemned, and seen to be Enemies to the the Cross of Christ, and Strangers to the Covenant of Promise; being in Cains way, who slew his Brother about Religion;Gen. 4. 8. and in Balaams way, who loved the Wages of Unrighteousness,Num. 22. [Page] Therefore I say, leave off your Deceit, and keep the People no longer in your dark Forms;Jer. 31, vers 31. 32, 33, 34. but let them have Liberty to Worship God in Spirit and Truth; For the time is come, that every man need not teach his Neighbour or his Brother, saying, Know the Lord; for every one must know him from the least to the greatest. Yea, Gods second Covenant of Light and Glory is made manifest, I will forgive their Sins, and remember their Iniquities no more; I'll be to them a God, and they shall be my People: O ye Blind Guides, Will ye seek to dissannul this? Will ye seek to stop the Lords Work in this the Day of his Power? Ye are but as Bryars and Thorns, who are setting your selves together against him, who is a consuming Fire, and is risen to consume you, and all your false Doctrine (if ye repent not.) Therefore I say again and again, Leave off your Deceit, and come to the Teaching of Gods Witness in your own perticulars: For this is the day that God is pouring forth of his Spirit, and his Sons and his Daughters do Prophesie;Jo. 2. 28. for there is no more room for Deceit. Why take ye Christs Words in your Mouths, and hate to be reform'd? Why talk ye of the Scriptures, and are err'd from the Spirit that gave them forth? Ye are gone from the Practice of Christ, and of the Apostle: Did ever Peter, Paul, James, John, or any of Christs Ministers, keep Curates to get money? did they ever Sue any man for Lambs, Piggs, Hens, or Geese? Did they ever hale any to the Courts, and to Prison? Nay, Was not this the Testimony of him that was called to the Ministry, Cor. 9. 16. (saith he) A Necessity is laid upon me to Preach the Gospel, and Wo be unto me if I Preach it not; I have coveted no mans Silver, nor Gold, nor Apparrel; but have Laboured with these hands, Day and Night, that I should not be chargeable to any Man? And was not this Christs Doctrine, Do [Page] Good to them that Hate you, Bless them that Curse you; if any Sue thee at the Law, and take away thy Coat, let him have thy Cloak also; he that smites thee on the one side, turn to him the other? Matthew 5. 39. 40. Oh! Blush for shame, and t [...]ade no more with the Scriptures; for they testifie against you, to your Condemnation, ye Hireling-Shepherds: Have you brought any Lambs to Christs Fold? Have ye brought any of your Hearers into the pleasant Valleys, where the Springs of Life are to be felt? Nay: Are they not wandring in the Imaginations of their own Hearts, and many of them dissatisfied, thirsting after the Bread of Life, but know not where to find it, while you are eating the Fat, and clothing your selves with the Fleece; and putting the Day of the Lord far from you, when many of Gods faithful Servants, whom he hath called to labour in his Vine-yard, are exercised with strong Cryes to the God that made Heaven and Earth, that he may turn away his Judgments, and revoak his destroying Angel, and spare this Nation, which otherwise will feel an heavy Stroke of Gods Hand▪ if they repent not. And though you live in Pride and Excess, spending your pretious time in Vanity and Pleasure, eating and drinking with the Drunken, and say in your hearts, The Lord delays his coming; but know, that for all these things ye must come to Judgment: For of a truth, ye Priests and People of this Nation, The Lord will turn your Feasting into Fasting, and your Mirth into Lamentation; he will fill you with Terror, and Amazement: Though you have had Plenty and Fulness, your Barns and Store-houses must become empty; because of these things I Weep, Sorrow hath filled mine heart, and mine Eyes run down with Water: What shall I say to prevail with thee, O England? Must thou needs be left Desolate? Where are thy Wise and Prudent? Where are thy Divines (so called?) There is a Seed raised, and a Birth brought [Page] forth, which will confound them all; the promised Seed is come, Christ is risen, and unto him must the gathering of the People be: For though the World cry out, No Perfection (and the Hireling-shepherds, No Redemption on this side the Grave) yet I say, There is a Birth brought forth, which will naturally do the Will of God, as ever man did his own will. But O ye People of this Nation, are ye willing to receive him? Are not your hearts filled with Pleasures and Delights? Are they not filled with Cares and Incumbrances of this present Life, while there is no room for your Christ: O Man and Woman, Is not every thing in thine Heart, and Christ in the Stable: O ye Inhabitants of this Nation, its hard for ye to kick against that which pricks you; for in the dread of God Almighty do I declare it, There's not another way, in which God will be Worshiped, but by the Light which shines in your inward parts; neither is there another Gospel to be Preache but this; Gods Power made manifest in the Heart. O ye Professors, my heart is a little enlarged to you, I being once with you in the same dark Profession: O how doth my soul breath for you in secret, that you may all come to the Substance, the one thing that is needful, and witness the Redemption of your souls, to serve the living God no longer in the oldness of the Letter, but in the newness of the Spirit; for you have a Form, but the Life and Power is wanting; you are crying up Scriptures, and crying up Ordinances, you are crying up Baptism and the Lords-supper, while you know nothing of the Faith which works by Love; And because of these things, saith the Apostle, many are sick and weak among you, and many are faln asleep, not discerning the Lords Body, 1 Cor. 11. 30. for you discern not the Body of whom Christ Jesus is the Head, nor the Gospel which is the Power of God unto Salvation; you discern not the Glad-tidings of Life and Salvation, which is freely tendered without Money or Price; Let every one that thirsteth come to the Waters, and he that hath [Page] no Money, let him come buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price, Isa. 55. 1, 3, 4. Why do you spend your Money for that which is not Bread, and your Labour for that which satisfieth not? Learn of me, saith Christ, heark [...]n diligently and your souls shall live; and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure Mercies of David. O England, thy Teachers have deceived thee; they have spoken Lyes unto thee, and the Divinatien of their own Brains, but not one word from the Mouth of the Lord; they have cryed Peace, peace, when sudden destruction was ready to enter into thy Bowels: Mic 3. 21. Thy Priests preach for Hire, thy Heads judge for Reward, thy Prophets divine for Money, and the People love to have it so, but what will ye do in the end thereof? Consider your wayes and your doings, and turn spedily unto the Lord by a true and unfeigned Repentance, before the Decree be sealed, which must never be revok'd again; Rev. 22. 11. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still, he that is holy, let him be holy still; And behold I come, saith Christ Jesus, to render unto every man according to his Works.

O Land though fruitful thou hast been,

thy Glory must decay;

The thing thy Heart takes pleasure in,

must wither like the Hay.

O England, wilt thou still forget,

God's Kindness unto thee?

A little time is left thee yet,

that happy thou may'st be.

But if perversly thou go'st on,

then mark what I do say;

I do thee tell ere it be long,

the Lord will bring a day,

Of bitter Howling unto thee,

of Anguish, and of Smart;

In which the Deceit thou shalt see,

that lodgeth in thine Heart.

A Testimony for Truth against all Observers of Times and Dayes.

[Page]

OYe that live in Pleasures and Vanities, and spend your pretious time in Sin and Transgression, as Carding and Dicing, Drunkening and Feasting, in pretence of keeping Christs-Day: O my Friends consider where you are, and what you are a doing: Are you indeed come to Christs-day? or are you not rather in the Night, wherein gross Darkness surrounds you about? You are making provision for the flesh to satisfie the Lusts thereof: O starved souls, lean, dry, and barren! you are making provision for the flesh whilst your Souls lie in Death and Darkness, unredeemed to God: Alas my Friends! to what purpose is your Feastings, to what purpose is your Observations of Dayes and Times, so long as the Babe lieth in the Manger, and the Seed of Life is unredeemed to God? Ah Friends, If ever you would be Witnesses of Christs Day, and of his Glory, which he is now revealing, ye must all come to the Light, which you are enlightened by, as the Apostle said, We have a more sure Word of Prophesie, unto which you do well to take heed, as unto a Light which shineth in a dark place, until the Day-dawn, and the Day-Star arise in your hearts, Pet. 2. 19. Now Friends, if the Day-star were risen in you, there would be no need of observing Dayes and Times, there would be no keeping a day in Twelve Moneths, but every day would be a holy Day, so that Gods Glory would fill his Temple: But if the Day-Star be not risen in you, then ye are in the Night and in Darkness, [Page] and he that walks in Darkness knoweth not whether he goes: and thus the Parable comes to be opened, and the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations, comes to be revealed, even by him who was found worthy to open the Book which was sealed with seven Seals, Reve. 5. 5. who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, whose Everlasting Day is dawned, and his Glory is risen; he hath filled our hearts with Praise and Thanksgiving, Glory, Honour, Everlasting Praise, saith my Soul, be unto him forever.

Judith Boulbie.

THE END.

Information about this book

Title statement

A testimony for truth against all hireling priests and deceivers with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation to turn to the Lord before His dreadful judgments overtake them : also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes.

Boulbie, Judith.

Edition statement

1665

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A28876

ID [STC]

Wing B3828

ID [STC]

ESTC R29048

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

10802399

ID [OCLC]

ocm 10802399

ID [VID]

45965

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This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A28876)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 45965)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1416:13)

Source

— A testimony for truth against all hireling priests and deceivers with a cry to the inhabitants of this nation to turn to the Lord before His dreadful judgments overtake them : also a testimony against all observers of times and dayes., Boulbie, Judith., Boulbie, Judith. A testimony against all observers of times and dayes..

Extent

7 p.

s.n.,. [London :: 1665?]. (Signed at end: Judith Boulbie.) (Imprint suggested by Wing.) (Reproduction of original in the British Library.)

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