YOu have had many words from the Lord, many sweet invitations, tenders, embraces, and kisses from the God of the whole earth: You have been dandled upon his knees, and gently led by his right hand; but yet, with Jesurun, have you waxed sat, and kicked. They have been to you either words of contempt and reproach, or of momentary ex­cellency and good, like the morning dew, that by the glorious sun of outward good and prosperity, have wasted and consumed a­way. Yet behold one kiss more, one cord of love more, drawing you; peradventure the last word of good you shall have. I am at first to rebuke you, then to advise you. In the reprehension of you, I shall tell you what you are, viz. The executioners of Gods wrath and vengeance; you are men conversant in the lower-most parts of the earth, in hell, the place of Gods wrath; You are Gods sword, and it is in your hand to execute wrath upon the Heathens: You are skilled in the wasting Kingdoms, burning Cities, Towns [Page 2]and Villages, but not in the repairing the breaches that are broken down, nor closing the gaps that are made, nor raising up it ruines. The way of peace you have not known, you have declined the steps that lead to that blessed centre, the foundations of love and peace are not founded and bottomed in your hearts, therefore no marvel the buildings appear not: Love and goodness, meekness and gentleness, cross your designs of greatness, pomp, glory, safety and security: You cannot make salvation your walls and bulwarks; You cannot sing (the Day of the Lord is not yet come upon you) we have a strong City, and yet without gates: You cannot see Jerusalem inhabited as a Town without walls; You cannot march forth like the virgins of Zion in their dances; nor, with Noahs dove, return with an olive leaf in your mouth. You have, for many years, faced the Nation, with a sharp glittering sword in your hands, executing vengeance, but have not appeared in the majesty and brightness of God, and thereby gathered them up in­to him.

Object. But you may object, and say, Why, what can we do? have we a Will of our own thus to act forth that glory and bright­ness of God?

Answ. No, in no wise; It is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that sheweth mercy. But you pre­tend it is God that acts you, and carries you forth to act for the People, and to be a wall between them and ruine, and upon this account you break through all opposition, and answer what ever is objected against your actions, being in themselves (as you your selves confess) unlawful: You pretend you are not mercenary and servile in the work you do, but free and volunteer, and all is for God and the People, otherwise you would leave off. A company of hypocrites, and carnal Christians, you are, that plainly act the contrary. Hath not God, by a mighty hand of his own and through an unexpected way, made you this day the lords and rulers of the Nation, that all freely or forcedly pay tribute unto you, serve and bow to you? Is not the great Councel of the Nation your Coun­cel, your Election? Are not all their actings, and what ever is by them brought to the birth, that which hath been first begotten, and bred within you? Have not you prescribed a pattern for the removal of the King, and judgment upon his party, and the house of Lords to be useless, and they oppressing creatures? and have [Page 3]not the great Councel writ after it? Nay, are not you soared so high, that now we may truly say, If any of the people of the Na­tion are in captivity, if any Saint afficted, it is you that afflict and oppress them? either because you will have it so, or neglect the re­lieving of them, though you may and can. All your pretences, Oaths and Covenants have preached forth thus much to us; if the Lord should ever set us up in authority, O how would we relieve the oppressed, & help the fatherless! What a joy would we be to the righteous, and terror to the wicked? How would we have sepa­rated between the precious and the vi [...]e? And this have the people long expected from your hands, but behold oppression, ernesty and revenge, slaying the innocent and righteous ones, whom God would have kept alive. You have discovered the covering of Judah, and treacherously slain your friend and brethren, and given up Judah to the sword, and Israel to captivity: And in that day did the Lord of hoasts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth, and behold, joy and gladness, slay­ing oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, giving gifts and taking rewards; and thus your are feasted with the blood of the righteous, and drunk with their blood, until you fall and ne­ver rise again. Behold, Tythes, the great oppression of the Nation, with its treble damages recoverable of the People, if refused, though you rule, and your own consciences, with others, are against it, yet will you have it so: Who would have thought that you would have maintained such a company of Priests, whom God (as you know and say) hath spued cut of his mouth, and yet that you should sup­port their Diana, and nourish those dark places of the Land, called and reputed of many the two eyes of the Land, the fountain and seed-plots of all good learning, and become Doctors, Masters and Fellows in Babels arts and sciences, bringing stone, timber, and morter to the building that City and Tower, whose top may reach to Heaven. But this is a fruit of the blood of the Saints which you have shed, and a return of praise to the Holy One, who, in his descension upon men, was crucified by you: Nay, how can you suffer faithful members to be excluded the House, for professing and asserting the pure Divinity of God, no way mixt or compounded? That God is not three, but one, and not many gods, as you in your imaginations think: That there is no such thing in God (though to men) as Father, Son, and Spirit, but all one in God, though not in [Page 4] man, and is thereby onely distinct to men, and that to the darkness of men, not to the light of God within them, which reads God un­der another notion; for that Soul beholds him all love, excellency, and goodness, and this in all his ways, to all, in all, upon all, and that this God neither is or can be divided, not admitting a seam in his garment: Nay, what enmity is there in your spirits, or at least in your actions to Papists, not suffering them, or men in gross dark­ness, viz. the Prelates, who, being in the dark, and under cloudy dispensations of God, should therefore have the going forth of the morning among them, that they might be brought out of darkness into light, and won by that love and meekness, that is or should be in you, to them; yea, I say, not admitting them into the liberty and freedom with your selves: I know your hearts, you could many of you tolerate Papists and Prelates among you, but that the Nation look upon them under such a gross notion, that you, to please men, dare not do it, thinking hereby your repute and credit among men will fall to the ground, and be esteemed by many such your selves. And therefore, to retain and keep up your glory among men, will you break the rules of love, mercy, and goodness, and make shipwrack of your own and others consciences: Yea, you can command the People to fast, and restrain the Nation from work­ing on those days, annexing penalties (as formerly) to the breach thereof, thereby bringing in those legal and Mosaical Fastings, Jewish and National, which Christ, by a more pure and glorious ministration, hath abolished: Nay, let me discover what I know of you, viz. That many, if not the most of you, are wholy dead in your selves to fastings of that nature, your souls loathing it, but onely that the Nation may judg you to be religious, and zeal­ous to make every one your proselite, and not deem you to be for such an universal toleration of all sects and sorts of men in their re­ligion, until the day and pure glory of God break forth, causing all darkness to sly before it, yea, turning the Sun into darkness, and the Moon into blood, not admitting any thing, save this pure light, then to be, and converse among men: I say, for this cause do you thus dissemble with the Nation, and seem as if you accounted the peoples fastings a sacrifice that God accepts.

Object. But you may peradventure say (through the hardness and obduracy of your hearts,) This is sedition, and a stirring up, and enraging the people against you.

[Page 5] Answ. Though I might, or could by means procure it, I would not lift up, or have a sword lifted up against you, nor a hand in wrath and indignation; The worst mischief I would do you, were it in my power, would be to create a heart of love and peace a­mong you, to engrave upon all your hearts, and upon the hearts of the whole Nation, an entire perfect union and agreement in God, and a beating of your swords into plow shares, and your spears into pruning hooks, and to learn war no more. I am for peace, but you are for war, and in times of peace shed blood; therefore hath the Lord prepared you a cup to drink, and you shall drink deep of it: Death shall swallow you up alive; and the grave shall open for you, and hell shall be your portion, because they that have killed with the sword, shall be killed by the sword, and they that have led into captivity, shall go into captivity: This is a sweet word, wait for the fulfilling of it. The Lord will destroy you all, the Lord will give you blood to drink, you shall drink and be drunken with your own blood. It is a mystery, and you, it may be, understand it not, and therefore admire it; Remember you not the voyce of the Church of old, In the way of thy judgments have we waited for thee, O Lord? Great is the mystery of godliness, thus it is:

You have shed the blood of thousands, thousands, you have have wasted Cities, Countries, &c, God hath provided a double portion for you, and both of judgment and destruction; The one is to destroy your flesh, to give it up to the sword: A second, to cut off two parts of you out of the land of the living.

First, The Lord will destroy your flesh, and make a great slaugh­ter among you, even of your reason, wisdom, judgment, credit, glory, repute, & all that is flesh in you, to lay your glory in the dust, to turn your wisdom into folly, to burn up your righteousness, holiness, to give you a new heart, to destroy that warlike, envious, and bloody spirit that is in you, to create peace in all your dwellings, and love in all your hearts, not suffering any thing of the earth to have a being among you, in no wise admitting flesh and blood entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. God is coming upon you as a thief, in the night of your beating your fellow servants, eating and drinking until you are drunk, and will plunder you of all you have, and cast you into outer darkness; you have a will within, and among you, that rules and reigns, this will the Lord steal from you in the night, and leave you none at all, but his will shall do all, and carry [Page 6]on all, and be in you all: And thus doth the Kingdom of God come, not with observations, saying, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there; for behold it is within you: and thus shall the Kingdom of God take place, and all Kingdoms bow, and come in to it. This is the onely King and Kingdom that shall be set up, and there shall be but one in all the earth: This is the time when God takes to him his great power and reign, and then shall you be ashamed of all your doings: And as you have cut off much of the unrighteousness of men, and gross corruption of the world; so shall the Lord, in this day, cut off all your righteousness, holiness, goodness, beauty, and comeliness, leaving you none at all, but you shall be the vilest a­mong men.

2. There is a second judgment (which is proper to you) and that you shall finde mentioned Zech. 13.7, 8. Awake, O sword, a­gainst my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones: And it shall be, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts thereof shall be cut off, and dye, but the third shall be left therein. Note the word, his hand shall be turned against the little ones: Two parts of you, and two parts of the Land and Nation, shall be cut off and destroyed: God hath used you in this work, you have wounded, destroyed, and slaugh­tered multitudes of people, Captains, mighty men, and nobles have you cut off in one day. Thus the Day of the Lord is begun, and you see it not; this is the day of Judgment, and you say, it is a­far off; Joel 3.12, 13, 14. Let the Heathen be wakened, &c. and Vers. 14. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision; for the Day of the Lord is neer, in the valley of cutting off. God hath rouzed up the Nation out of that careless and secure posture in which they lay: God is a disquieting the whole earth; multitudes in the valley of slaughter: people gather and aslemble to this de­stroying Angel; People muster their forces, and march along with this destroyer, they delight in blood: and thus the people are consumed for their parts, and destroyed out of the Land, and blood toucheth blood: And yet in these is the design of God carryed on, in a slaughtering the pride of all flesh, in putting a final period to the credit, repute, excellency, goodness, hopes, and comforts of man, blasting all that outward glory, because the Spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it; and now every man beginneth to be weary and a­shamed of himself and of all others, and doth hug and embrace [Page 7]to them a naked, pure, and divine God; yea, cry out, creatures have been our destruction, men have undone us: we have built our hope, joy, and peace upon the sands; O how have we bin deceived! O how vile is every man? how have we called good, evil, and evil, good? O how have we deified those, which had any good, holines, or righteous­ness dwelling in them? burying God, the goodnes and holiness wrapt up in that earth, and dwelling in those houses of clay; and heathen-like have changed the truth of God into a lye, worshipped and served the creature more then the Creator, God blessed for ever.

2. Now, as I have rebuked you, viz. that evil in you, am I, in the second place, to counsel you, and therein not I, but the Lord: And this is two-fold; 1. To cast off your filthy polluted garments, to wear your garments of blood no longer. 2. To become a white Army, clothed in white linnen, therein following the Prince of Peace.

First, Cast off your filthy polluted garments, shake your selves from the dust, strip your selves of your bloody garments; leave off contending, you have a long time been disciplined in war, to the ruine of your selves and others: And as you have ruined and killed others, so the sword of the Lord hath killed you, and stained your pride and glory, self-interest, self-preservation, the outward liber­ties of you and the people: You must dye to your outward peace and liberty, and lay down your lives, and thereby take it up again; yea, I mean, all you, that are the little ones of Christ, shall thus have power, as well as the man Christ, to lay down your lives, and take them up again. Come with me, my friends and dear hearts, come with me from the Lions den, from the fury, wrath, destruction, and violence that have dwelt in your borders; Come, beat your swords into plow shares, say to the people, We will no more oppress you, we will no more fight you: O my hearts, let the oppressed lord go free, you have taken the Lord captive for these many years, your God and King on high is your prisoner; he preaches peace to the Heathens, and compassion to the Nations, and yet you take him captive, and you preach blood, contention, and make laws to destroy every man that dislikes your government, it must be called treason, that you might thereby kill all that do oppose you. What still shed­ing of blood? Are you not wearyed in your vanities? When, when shall nothing binde but love?

Object. But if we should thus leave off sighting, our Liberties, [Page 8]and all that we have striven for to obtain these many years will fall to the ground, our righteous cause dye, and the people return either to their former bondage, or to Anarchy and Confusion, and the godly party become the prey of their and the Lords enemies.

Ans. In answer hereto, I could first tell you, (that which eve­ry man knows,) That though you rule, the people still remain in bondage, and the righteous souls are cut off, and many Saints af­flicted and persecuted for their zeal to God, and worshipping him according to their Consciences, which may sufficiently dis­cover your pretended zeal for God, and how little truth there is in it, but I forbear: And in answer to your scruple, know, That the way to the pure and upright Government of the great God, among and towards men, is, by Anarchy and Confusion. This doctrine is strange, yet true, That the only way God hath declared he will use in the promoting and carrying on that design of greatness and Majesty he is intended to advance in the world, is, by depopulating, defacing and wasting Kingdoms and People, and this design of God hath been actually carryed on among us. God hath hastened to this work of his in our days, and his Charet wheels have run swiftly this way. When we build a new house, if there be an old one in the room, we first pull that down, and make it a desolation, and then lay a sure foundation for a more glo­rious one: Thus doth God, Your house (saith he) shall be left unto you desolate. The people boasted in the Temple, God had a Tem­ple to build; Well, saith God, I will first destroy yours, desolation shall first attend your worldly, earthly Temple: God hath now a pure glorious House to build, a pure Government, to which the Nations must all bow, and bring their glory to: Now the Saints, that are under dark and cloudy dispensations, say, Come let us go­vern and rule, and we will rule for the Lord; but they, alas, by reason of their darkness, patch and peece up a Government, made up of the Laws and Statutes that our forefathers in their days (not partakers of our light, or rather the Lords in us) formed and made; and their Reformation is a retreating back to prestine purity, but not a going forward pressing after that purity and glo­ry, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor entred into the heart of man to conceive. For further testimony see Isai. 24. the whole Chapter, especially 20, 21, 22, 23 verses, Chap. 26.20, 21. Chap. 65.15, 16, 23. Zeph. 3.8, 9. where you may plainly read, that when [Page 9]the Lord will do his great work, when all shall confess to him, and every knee bow, when his glory shall be lifted up, and peace and love shall dwell in the hearts of men and women, and no hurting in Gods holy mountain, That destruction shall go before, and the high and lofty ones shall be brought low; a consumption will the Lord bring, and make a short work in all the earth.

Object. But it may be said, and that by honest hearts, That An­archy and Confusion is that aspersion which the world casts upon the Saints, by reason of the changes the Lord makes in the Go­vernment of the Nation, and the people of God conceive themselves wronged in it; and will you own that which they disclaim?

Answ. I am against Anarchy utterly, as that which hath no Or­der and Government, and the dissolver of all Order; but yet as it leads to the setting up of a pure, righteous, and everlasting Go­vernment, I quietly and contentedly submit to it, and behold the strange and marvellous actings of the Lord in it, and there feasting my self with those dainties that are secretly involved in those black and dark dispensations, and in this confusion finde a sweet and blessed Order begun in me, and behold the Lord bringing it forth to the view of the world, that every eye may see him, and all shut their mouths at him.

2. That you would remain naked and sensless before the Lord and men, to be as helpless creatures: You could be content, many of you, peradventure to be naked before the Lord, but not before men; O then, say you, will the world trample upon us, and we shall be destroyed, and that without remedy, and make our selves a reproach and contempt to all Nations, when we shall thus freely and voluntarily resign up our selves, Wives, Children, City, Coun­try, and Nation into the Fathers hands; and so to have no Wife, Child, Servant, or Habitation; yea, no Husband, Parent, or Master, but what is in the Fathers resignment: To have no Keeper of the Vineyard, but the Lord, no Watchman, but the Watchman of Israel; to have no bulwarks, and no walls, but Salvation, Freedom, and Liberty from on high; to have a strong City, and yet without Gates: To be presented to the Lord and men as creatures undone, broken in their estates, glory, and re­pute, having nothing to live upon, but what the Ravens, by the Word of the Lord, bring morning and evening to them, behold­ing all the vessels of the earth broken to pieces, and not a potsheard [Page 10]left to take up coals withal. You must lose all, part with all, have nothing, be nothing to God, to the world: Have nothing, but what the barrel of meal, and cruse of oyl affordeth; a famine be­ing in the Land, upon the Prophet, Teacher, mighty men, and men of war, upon the Captains, and men of strength, and no bread but in the Lord, nor water, but in this living fountain.

2. My counsel is, That you would come forth clothed with pure and white linnen, with the man God, or the God-man in your arms, dressed with divine attire, clothed with embrodered garments, yea, of needle-work, of all curious workmanship; and this work is not yours, but the Lords, in which you are onely to wait until the Lord bring forth his name in you; in which day you shall go forth, bearing to men the meekness, quietness, peace, love, and goodness of God: as you did once administer to your brethren de­struction, misery, wrath, and judgment, and as you soar up into God; so shall you, in the majesty of this God, heal and cure the Nations, even by the leaves that this tree of life shall yeeld: and thus shall ye become men of another garb, men of another dress, and you shall be named by a new name, which the Lord our God shall name; new Jerusalem shall be written upon you, and there shall be no goings out, not a thought of man, not a word of man, that name shall be mentioned no more, unless as an abhorring to all the Israel of God: The earth shall cease to yeeld her fruit, man shall give forth no longer, he shall be emptiness unto the Lord, va­nity shall be written upon every thing that remains, and all things shall sound forth God, a trumpet shall not blow that cannot eccho forth the Lord; and this shall be the great conquest, and the great reward, That we our selves are conquered, and brought in sub­jection to the Lord: That whereas, after all our victories and suc­cesses, there still remained Creature and God, now there remaineth after this success and victory, God, and nothing of Creature: And whereas you were the fear of men, when you were gift with a sword; so now, you are swordless and manless, you are the love and good will of the people: and what you are, you are to the Lord, and for the Lord, not to, nor for your selves.

Object. But you may object and say, This is a happy time, were it in our days, were it to be fulfilled upon us, but the time is not yet.

Answ. All that dye, shall live, and all that live, shall dye: They [Page 11]that now have neither house, land, credit, profit, repute, glory, wife, childe, brother, and sister, but having had all, do now part with all, shall find all these in God; And they that have these, as you have in abundance, shall lose all, and be without all: You that cease from your own honor, shall enjoy far more in God, and cease as to your offices among men, shall obtain greater in God, and from a common Soldier, shall become a Captain, and from a Cap­tain, a General, and from a General, to be One with the great God of Heaven and Earth, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords: And for the time, behold it is at hand, Summer is neer, even at the door, for the Fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the Vines, with the tender Grapes, give a good smell; every crea­ture hath a sweet smell of God in it, God is written in lively cha­racters upon every creature in heaven and earth: There is in all these, more or less, a giving and resigning up to the sweet and gra­cious dispose of the Lord; As the Lord passes before them, so are they ashamed and confounded in themselves, for when he appear­eth, who can [...]an [...] ▪ By which you may know, the Day of the Lord draws neer, therefore say not, it is afar off, for it is neer, and shall overtake you, even ere you are aware, and your souls shall be made like the charets of Aminadah.

YOu have a name that you live, you have the image and representation of God amongst you; you assume to your selves the name of the Churches of God, Chur­ches of the Gospel, of clear light, and yet live in the darkness and cloudiness of your own spirits: You have made flesh and forms your habitation, you have offered upon every mountain, and sacrificed under every green tree, and bowed to graven images: You have in truth so hug'd and embraced the outmost and lower­most dispensations of God, as you will not, nor durst not leave them for the enjoyment of a pure and naked God: You have known Christ after the flesh, and have eat and drunk with him in this fleshly way, you have seen the miracles that he hath wrought, and the wonders he hath done among men, and you by him have repent­ed, and turned from your own works of righteousness to the righ­teousness of God, as thus held forth unto you: And you have had much sweetness and comfort under all these, for the Lord hath lived in them: Now, saith the Lord unto you, Behold, I go to my Fa­ther, I withdraw from the creature, and ascend into my own glory, into my pure self; I leave the earth, I will abide no more in the Temple, I will forsake my dwelling place: Note the word, God doth sometimes leave his dwelling place; I have made my abode and dwelt in Water, Bread, and Wine, in the observation of [Page 13]days, in praying, fasting, reading, writing, preaching, hearing; I will now leave them all. O then sorrow fills your hearts, and you begin to weep and lament, seeing the flesh of Christ cruci­fied before you, hung between two theeves; but his Holy One can­not dye, nor see corruption, but his flesh is abased, shamed, disgra­ced; the Lord gives up those garments and vestures, wherewith he was clothed, to the moth to devour, to the enemy to make a prey of; and the worldly Christian parts his garments, and casts lots for them, and rejoyces in the spoil, and embalms the body of the Lord with sweet spices, though the soul and life is departed from it, yea, though it be but a meer carcass, the spirit of Christ leaving it, yet this poor man loves it as much as ever, delights and pleases him­self in it; and Christ being dead and buried, you go to his Sepul­chre, wherein he is layd, seeking for him, and Mary-like ask the Angels where your Lord is; they answer, He is not here, he is risen; why seek ye the living among the dead? You go to fasting and prayer, and enquire, saying, Did you see the Lord? No, say they, He is not here; He was here for three days, but he is risen and gone: Then you go from one Church to another, from society to society, and enquire, but he is not here, say they, he is risen: Then you go to the rudiments of the world, to elementary things, and they give you the same answer, saying, He was here, but he is risen, behold the linnen clothes and the napkin in which he lay; you may see his grave-clothes, his outward garments, his several and sundry appearances, but he is gone, he hath left them all: Then you begin to be afraid, you know not what to do, now you have lost your Lord, and there is nothing now remaining to take pleasure in, and to enjoy, but a few grave-clothes, some old cast­off garments; no place now to live in, but a desolate and forsaken house, a habitation for Dragons, and a Court for Owls, a place which the wilde beasts of the field have made their rest.

Object. But you may object, and say, We are a Church formed according to the pattern in the Mount, according to the Scriptures prescribed by Christ and the Apostles, and in obedience to these we walk and abide.

Answ. You are much below (even all the visible Churches on earth) that pure and primitive order in the Apostles days; you have not that pure infallible doctrine to deliver as they had, nor that clearness of the Spirit poured down upon you; the Holy [Page 14]Ghost not falling upon you in cloven tongues, as upon them: nor that oneness of minde, as to sell all, and lay it down at the A­postles or Churches feet; you have not so learned Christ, you cannot do greater works then ever Christ himself did, when he was upon earth, and that because Christ is ascended: Yours, at the best, is but an earthly, weak, erring, imperfect Ministry, a worldly San­ctuary, a Baptism of Water, not of the Spirit, that which (as John said) decreases, not increases; a doctrine which, because of the weakness of it, cannot go beyond Repentance, Faith, Hope, Baptisms, Resurrection of the dead, and eternal Judgment, with laying on of hands; All which are but milk for babes: yet you are always contenting and satisfying your selves with such a baby-condition, not going in your selves, nor suffering (without offence) those that would; nay, you will not move a step beyond these, but asperse, as erroneous and blasphemous, all such that pass through hope and faith to sight and enjoyment, through the Flesh into the Spirit, and it is unseemly to name the word perfection (as attain­able) among you. But further, were you as perfect and compleat in all things as the Apostles were, yet must you, with such a Mi­nistry and Church, cease, and give in, for behold, a greater then the Apostles and Prophets is here; here is one standing among you, whom you know and see not as yet, that will not own Paul, Peter, and John in this Apostleship, there being no manner of co-parner­ship in it; and that it may appear that the Apostolical Ministry and Doctrine was but to continue its time and age, doth Christ him­self, when upon earth, manifest as much to us, Matth. 28.20. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you alway, or every day, even to the con­sumption of this age; So the Greek reads it, [...], in the singular number, not in the plu­ral number, as in other places, where it is used for ever, the word is, [...], or [...]; and Peter bears witness hereto, 2 Pet. 3.12, 13. Looking for, and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, &c. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righte­ousness: Peter though an Apostle and Minister of the Churches, and to the world, yet he expected a more glorious Church and Mi­nistry, for you must not understand by heavens and elements is [Page 15]here meant those visible to us, as if they should be burnt up; or heavens and earth, to be that which you behold, and live in; but Churches and Ministry, Doctrines and teachings of and by men; Yea John will lead you to the knowledge of this, Rev. 21.3, 22, 23. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and God himself shall be with them, &c. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it. He is a weake man, and a weak Christian, that is under the Ministry of the A­postles, that hath any man to teach him, or is under any teaching of God by men. And my dear friends, and brethren, let me tell you without offence, that you are not under the second Covenant, but under a Covenant of the outward man, under the Compact of the Letter, untill you cease teaching one another, and preaching one to the other, but are taught of God onely: So runs the terms of that Covenant, observe it Hebr. 8.10, 11. In that Covenant, when persons are under it, they shall not say one to another, bro­ther, know the Lord; this is the voice of the Lord, that is not: This the Lord saith, that man saith; this is truth, that is error. No, in this Covenant you shall know God perfectly, fully, and clearly. O strange doctrine, and horrid blasphemy, will some of you, my brothren, say; but I will bear with the fruits of your darkness. And now I am to deliver to you; First, a word of ter­ror and judgment: and secondly of counsel and advice.

First, Terror, and Judgement; I am to tell you, the Lord hath cursed the Figtree, he hath caused your gifts to wither, you tree yeelds no more fruit, your root is without sap, your teachings without life, your ministrations affording no peace; either, I say, none at all, but dejection and casting down; or else peace tempora­ry, because of the uncertainty of your doctrine, peace mixed with enmity and breakings out; and a love with feare, when perfect love casts out fear, for fear hath torment; A Saint and yet a sinner, when he that is horn of God sinneth not. You shall call in this old Church-way, and not be heard, cry, and the Lord will turn from you; you shall sly at the rebuke of one, though you are a thou­sand, at the rebuke of five shall ye slye, untill you be left as a bea­con upon the top of a mountain, and as an Ensigne on a hill. The Sun shall go down over the Prophets, and the day shall be dark o­ver them; Emptiness and a shadow shall be written upon all that you [...]. This Sun and Moon of yours shall be ashamed, when the [Page 16]Lord shall reign in mount Zion. The Lord is sending leanness a­mong you, and a famine not of bread, and a thirst not of water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord, and you shall wander from Sea to Sea, from Church to Church, from Society to Society, from Prea­cher to Preacher, from man to man, from brother to brother, from doctrine to doctrine, and shall not finde the Lord: you your selves shall shortly see this fulfilled upon you; you shal burn your books and writings, you shal see this mountain of yours forsaken; and thus judgement shall follow you, and a fire shall be kindled among you, and burn you up. And the Lord to make out tokens of his indig­nation against you, how he hath left you, as you have left him, and his glory, hath in these our daies visibly discovered it, by a giving you up to the weakness and folly of your own hearts, which hath produced and effected in you, the betraying and shedding innocent blood, even the blood of those whom you formerly honoured; strengthning the hands of their oppressors, adding affliction to affli­ction, which the spirit of God calleth cruelty. In the day that the strangers carried away captive his, even Jacobs forces; and foreig­ners entred into his, even the righteous gates, and casts lots upon them; even thou wast as one of them, thou stood'st in the cross­waies to cut off those that did escape: But the day of the Lord is near, as thou hast done, shall it be done to thee; the reward shall return upon thine owne head, this innocent blood have you shed, even you, or most of you, that call your selves the Churches of God. As I do not own their boasting in, or gathering to themselves an arm of flesh, and by a warlike way to endeavour to free them­selves, and establish righteousness in the Land: So I cannot but testifie against the bloody, unchristian-like thoughts, and actions that hath been manifested in you to them. And who should have thought, that no sooner could liberty be given you, which once were so enslaved, and captived in and for the practise of your Re­ligion, that for so doing, you daily suffered, or in continual leopar­dy; I say, that you should seek to enslave and embondage others, whom you professedly honour as righteous; some to God, and o­thers of them to men, save in this action. But sweet and good is the hand of the Lord in this, that he might thereby make a discove­ry of you to the World. Now I shall shew you a few Reasons of the judgements of the Lord thus falling upon you.

1. Because the Temple of the Lord, not the Lord is your glory. [Page 17]Every thing that God welleth in, you fall down to, and so fall down to Angels, Saints, Men, Ordinances, Ministers, and Officers, when these, at the best, are but Gods habitation, garments of the earth, and decaying vestures wherewith God cloathes himself. You are satisfied that you are a Church member, that you are of such and such a Congregation, that you have such a Pastor, that you have sub­mitted to such an Ordinance, or Ordinances. O this doth tickle you, I know it when I walked among you; Nay, it further appeares, by those mean and low thoughts you have of those that are not of your Order; some of you can hardly pray with them, others not own them as brethren, and the rest charging them with disobedience, in not walking up to those withered, dead, and decayed things, that you seek to keep alive.

Now as long as you remain under these dispensations, the Lord in, and under these, should only be your glory, 1 Cor. 1.31. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Object. But some of you will say, Though indeed we are under all these administrations, yet we glory not in them, if we may be said to know our own hearts, we are commanded so to do by God, and we dare not sleight any injunction from the Lord.

Answ. I know it is here you stick, you cannot get off it. O it is a command of God and you dare not omit it. To which I reply.

First, That when God had an outward Tabernacle and Temple, Church, and Ministery, as under the Law, he was very exact with the people in the observation thereof, a Pin must not be left out, nor a Naile out of its place: but Looke that thou make them after the patterne which was shewed thee in the mount, Exod. 25.40. And this day shall you observe for ever in your generations, Exod. 12.14. And this the tenth day of the first month, vers. 3. And the seventh year should be a Sabbath to them, and the fiftieth year, a year of Jubile, Levit. 25.4, 11. There must be no swerving from the observation of these.

Secondly, When the Lord leaves this house, and will build ano­ther, Cloathed with greater glory, he tyes not his people to the outward observation of things: he is not now as formerly exact in them: Doth not command them to be baptized with water, but in­to the Spirit. Christ tells them, They shall be baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire; commands that they be baptized into the Name of Father, Son, and Spirit: viz: into the power and glory [Page 18]of these three, and yet one, into a clear knowledg and understand­ing of these: And for the Supper, doth not enjoyn them to the strict and absolute observation of it, nor when; as under the law, such a day shall you observe the Passeover: but now, As oft as you do it, do it in remembrance of me, not telling them how oft they should do it. But how long must this eating bread and drink­ing wine last? during your continuance in the dark, until the Lord comes, and be a feast of fat things in the spirit and life to you, un­til he be revealed from Heaven, consuming this dross and earthly knowledg within you; and then shall you drink no more of this fruit of the Vine, but drink it new in the Kingdom. You used signs and tokens of his death, &c. had many letters representing him, but now he is come, what need these? he is come himself, even his sweet self; nay, further, as the Lord did not then binde his peo­ple to outwards, so were they used by the Apostles, as in them they might become all to all, stoop to them, and speak them in their own language, and as children to deal with them.

3. Those Churches, with their glory, ministry, and all, were to dye and wither away, apostatize and fall back, and this for time, times, and half a time, as the Scripture plentifully witnesseth, and the holy City under foot: and when Christ cometh, shall he finde faith on the earth? And this should be until the Kingdoms of this world become the Lords & his Christs, and God take to him his great reign, yea, till the Tabernacle of God shall be with men, and a new Heaven and Earth appear, and God make all things new: and this is the Church, and the Ministry, which, the Scripture tells you, shall be set up after the Apostatizing days: Therefore, dear hearts, binde not your selves, where God hath not bound you; be free in what the Lord hath made you free.

2. A second Reason, why the judgment of the Lord shall from Heaven fall upon you, is, because you, by reason of your narrow thoughts and apprehensions, keep the Lord Jesus prisoner, will not permit him to go any where, or dwell in any, save your selves: You are offended if the Lord break forth in a further manifestation of Glory to others, not of your rank and order; Lord, saith the Presbyter, here thou must abide, this is thy dwelling place, ne­ver remove from hence: And here, saith the Independent; And here, saith the Anabaptist, &c. Do you think that he that hath [Page 19]the key of David, that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, will become your prisoner? No, no, his glory he will not give to another. The Lord, if he rend the vail of this fleshly Temple, and pass through it into the highest Heavens, you will serpent-like wait for this man-childe brought forth by the woman, viz. weakness, that you may devour it; and therefore you cry out, Lo here is Christ, and lo there, and question people, saying, Are you a member of a visible Church, of what society? and so lessen that comfort and peace (or at least endeavor it) that poor souls have in God, by reason they are not joyned to your soci­eties: But in all their afflictions he is afflicted; the Lord in this weak brother, or sister, is afflicted, and beareth all he beareth: and thus you imprison and afflict the Lord himself.

3. Because it is your shame to live upon a naked God, to have the Kingdom of God onely within you; you are unwilling to leave outward bread and wine for God the bread and water of life: and he that is ashamed of God, of him shall God himself be ashamed. What say you? shall we by men be accounted no more praying, fasting men, hearing and preaching men? no more to weep and mourn, but all tears to be wiped from our eyes? to observe no Sab­bath, but the Lord God, and to call him holy, a delight, honorable? not to think our own thoughts, nor speak our own words? O this is your shame, namely to leave the water in the cisterns, and that run in the channels, for that great river and fountain whose streams make glad the City of God: It is to you a greater shame to be at your fathers house with the fatted calf, then in the Coun­try to feed swine, and to eat their husks: therefore he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they shall all fail together.

II. A second word, and that of advice and counsel.

First, That you would assemble your selves to the Supper of the great God: and this saith the Angel, the Messenger of God, that stands and abides in the glory of God, Rev. 19.17. And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun, and cryed with a loud voyce, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather your selves together unto the Supper of the great God: The Lord invites you, the great and mighty God woos you by his Messenger, by another appearance of his: My advice is, That you would go, tarry not; and that you may understand the Supper what it is.

[Page 20]1. The flesh and blood of the mighty men of the earth, the power and authority of the rulers of the world, which are bound in chains, Rev. 19.18. That ye may eat the flesh of Kings, and the flesh of Captains, &c. Ezek. 39.18, 19. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the Princes of the earth, of Rams, of Lambs, &c. And ye shall eat fat, until ye be full, and drink blood, until ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sa­crificed for you: You shall fill and satisfie your selves with the judgment of the Lord upon the great and high-looked men of the earth. You shall see the Day of the Lord upon all flesh, upon all might and power; you shall see all the pride of the earth stained and defaced, and this shall be your joy and rejoycing: And it shall then be said, Behold, the man, the woman, that gave not the glory to God; Behold, end see, every thing, that is not pure God, defaced, hath lost its life, its blood, runs to the Rocks and Mountains, there to hide themselves. O blessed Feast! O sweet Supper! no­thing remaining but the Holy One; Iniquity hath here an end, and the terrible one is here brought low.

2. This Feast is the flesh of the Whore, an eating of her, and a burning her with fire: You know in the burnt-offerings under the Law, the flesh, and the fat, and all, was to be burnt, and nothing to remain: so nothing is to remain in this burnt-offering, but the Lord: For by Whore, I understand to be any thing, or person what­ever, that you love and delight in, and go to bed to, save the pure and individeble God; any of those Lovers that give us our bread and our water, our wool and our flax, our drink and our oy [...], what­ever it be, that refreshes us inwardly, or outwardly, save God: Do you joy and delight in Forms, in outward Dispensations and Administrations? Nay, do you delight in Christ as after the flesh? Do you feast your selves with the fleshly presence of Christ? This shall be burnt up with fire: And do you eat it up, and let not ought remain? There is a Strumpet within you, your wisdom, which is your snare, your knowledg, reason, and will, which will cause you to fall. O let all be burnt up, yea, this will of yours, let it not re­main until the morning, and it shall be a sweet swelling sacrifice unto the Lord; let your will be terminated in God, let your rea­son be the Lords reason, and your judgment, his; let this affect you, and the zeal of the Lords house even eat you up.

Secondly, Let me advise, that you go and return to your first hus­band, [Page 21]you were first espoused to the Lord, well, have but one hus­band, stray not from this man of knowledge any longer, be not a stranger at home; though you have played the harlot, yet will your husband receive you. Seek the Lord, and David your King, and fear the Lord and his goodness now in these latter daies, Hos. 3.5. This is the first thing you must do, when you are come out of bon­dage, and out of the Land of Aegypt, when delivered out of the strange land, ask for the Lord, seek him out, never leave untill you have found him, even him whom your soule loveth; You must seek the Lord God, and then Zion. If you know God perfectly, you will know men as they are; but this is the reason, men and Saints are so much deceived; because they first seek the Church, and then Lord, men, and then God. But were you fully and prefectly acquainted with God, you would know men and things distinctly; O you would easily learn to distinguish between the light of God, and the darkness of men, between the emptiness and vanity of men, and things, and fulness that is in God. God is that blessed key that opens the door to every creature, giving a perfect and distinct knowledge of them: creatures shall be no more then creatures to you. Did you know the Lord by these espousals of his, were this the mariage day to you, it would work out all strangenes that is in your souls to this God, Hos. 2.17. For I will take the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembred by their names. They shall no more call God, my Lord, but my husband, vers. 16. There is not such a discovery, such an intimate understanding of se­crets between the master and servant, as between the husband and wife. The servant knows nothing, but as it relates to his dutie and obedience, as it relates to the servitude he is under. Well, saith the Lord, I will free you of this bondage, you and I will not be strangers but familiar friends. It shall be no more I and you, but you and I one; we will have one table, one house, one heart, one minde, and by the effecting this work, I will doe it.

First, I will first bring you into the wilderness, I will have you a­lone, your lovers shal no more remain before me; you shall be where there is no path, no way, no Church, no Temple, no company: O, then saith God, you will be glad of company, then society with me will be your delight; will in that day step in, and shew my self, and then shall you freely come in worshipping and serving of me.

Secondly, The Lord will in this day reveale and discover himself [Page 22]in a full and glorious manner. Your vailes shall then be rent, and your coverings removed; then shall ye say, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, This is the invisible One, whom no man have seen, nor can see, whom flesh and blood hath not revealed: this consuming fire is he, this everlasting burning is our husband. O, then shall you loath your selves for all your abominations; you shall then cease crying up that fleshly knowledge, wisdom, understan­ding, teaching, and hearing, which you now so much strive after, that it shall be an abhorring to you. Isai. 66.23, 24. And it shall come to pass, that from one new Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not dye, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an ab­horring to all flesh. You shall go forth out of this holy City, and you shall look for the Praying, Fasting, Preaching, and Reading men and women, for all the carnall worshippers, and you shall see no­thing but the carcasses of these men remaining, and they shall stink in your nostrils, and be an abhorring to you; For, Behold the Lord creates new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall be remembred no more.