that cursed nature, and shall turn it out, and shut it out of the house and so ye will come to see the candle lighted, and the house sweeping and swept. Then afterward the pure pearl ariseth; and then the eternal God is exalted. The same light that calls in your minds out of the world (that are abroad) the same turns them to God, the Father of lights. Here in the pure mind is the pure God waited upon for wisdom from above; and the pure God is seen night and day, and the eternal peace, of which there is no end, enjoyed. People may have openings, and yet their minds go into the lusts of the flesh; but there the affections are not mortified. Therefore hearken to that, and take heed to that, which calls your minds out of the affections and lusts of the world, to have them renewed: the same will turn your minds to God; the same light will set your affections above, and bring you to wait for the pure wisdom of God from on high, that it may be justified in you. Wait all in that, which calls in your minds, and turns them to God; here is the true cross: that mind shall feed upon nothing that is earthly; but be kept in the pure light of God up to God, to feed upon the living food, which comes from the living God. So the Lord God Almighty be with you all, dear babes, and keep you all in his strength and power to his glory, over all the world, ye whose minds are called out of it, and turned to God, to worship the Creator, and serve him, and not the creature. And the light of God, which calls the mind out of the creatures, and turns it to God, brings into a being of endless joy and peace and here is alway a seeing God present, which is not known to the world, whose minds are in the creatures, whose knowledge is in the flesh, whose minds are not renewed. Therefore all friends, the seed of God mind and dwell in, to reign over the unjust and the power of the Lord dwell in, to keep you clear in your understandings, that the seed of God may reign in you all; the seed of God, which is but one in all, which is Christ in the male and in the female, which the promise is to. Wait upon the Lord for the just to reign over the unjust, and for the seed of God to reign over the seed of the serpent, and be the head; and all that is mortal may die; for out of that will rise presumption. So fare ye well, and God Almighty bless, and guide, and keep you in his wisdom.'

G. F.

About this time friends, that were moved of the Lord to go to the steeple-houses and markets, to reprove sin, and warn people of the day of the Lord, suffered much hard

ship from the rude people, and also from the magistrates; being commonly pulled down, buffeted and beaten, and many times sent to prison. Wherefore I was moved to give forth the following paper, to be spread abroad amongst people, to shew them how contrary they acted therein to the apostles' doctrine and practice, and to bring them to more moderation. Thus it was:

'Is it not better for you, that have cast into prison the servants and children of the Lord God, for speaking as they are moved in steeple-houses or markets? Is it not better, I say, for you to try all things, and hold fast that which is good? Is it not of more honour and credit, to prove all things, and try all things, than to pluck down in the steeple-houses, and pull off the hair of their heads, and cast them into prison? Is this an honour to your truth and gospel your profess? Doth it not shew that ye be out of truth, and are not they that are ready to instruct the gainsayers? Hath not the Lord said, "He will pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh, and his sons and his daughters shall prophesy, and old men shall dream dreams, and young men see visions, and on his handmaids he will pour forth of his Spirit?" Was not this prophesy in ages past stood against by the wise, learned men in their own wisdom, and by the synagogue teachers? And were not such haled out of the synagogues and temple, who witnessed the Spirit poured forth upon them? Doth not this shew, that ye have not received the pourings forth of this Spirit upon you, who fill the jails with so many sons and daughters, and hold up such teachers as are bred up in learning at Oxford and Cambridge, and are made by the will of man? Doth not this shew, that ye, that are bred up there, and are made teachers by the will of man, and do persecute for prophesying, are strangers to the Spirit that is poured forth upon sons and daughters, by which Spirit they come to minister to the spirits that are in prison? The Lord hath a controversy with you, who are found prisoning and persecuting such as the Lord hath poured forth of his Spirit upon. Do not all your fruits shew, in all the nation where ye come, in towns, cities, villages and countries, that ye are the seedsmen made by the will of man, who to the flesh do sow, of which nothing but corruption is reaped in nations, countries, cities and villages? Ye are looked upon, and your fruits, and that which may be gathered, is seen by all that be in the light, as they pass through your countries, towns, cities and villages, that ye are all the seedsmen that have sown to the

flesh. Mark, and of this take ye notice, who are of that birth, that is born of the flesh, and so ye sow to your own, persecuting him that is born of the Spirit, who sows to the Spirit, and of the Spirit reaps life eternal; such ye, who Sow to the flesh, cast into prison. Do ye not hale out of the synagogues, and persecute and beat in the synagogues, and knock down? Are not these the workers of the flesh ? Have not many been almost murdered and smothered in your synagogues? And have not some been haled out of your synagogues, for but looking at the priest, and after cast into prison Doth not all this make manifest what spirit ye are of, and your fruits to be of the flesh? What pleasures and sports in every town are to be seen among your flocks that sow to the flesh, and are born of it! Whereas the ministers of the Spirit cried against such, as sported in the day-time; and such as ate and drank, and rose up to play; and such, as lived wantonly upon earth in pleasures; and such, as lived in fulness of bread and idleness; such as defile the flesh: such did God overthrow and destroy, and set them forth as examples to all them that after should live ungodly. But are not the fruits of this reaped in every town? Cannot we from hence see, that here is sowing to the flesh? Again, what scorning, scoffing, mocking, derision and strife! What oaths, drunkenness, uncleanness and cursed speaking! What lust and pride is seen in the streets! These fruits we see are reaped of the flesh. So here we see the seedsman, him that sows to this flesh, of which nothing but corruption is reaped; as the countries, towns, cities and villages make manifest. But the ministers of the Spirit, who sow to the Spirit, come to reap eternal life; these discern the other seedsman, who sows to the flesh, and of the flesh reaps corruption. For the day hath manifested each seedsman, and what is reaped from each is seen; glory be to the Lord God for ever! The ministers of the Spirit, which be born of the Spirit, sons and daughters, which have the Spirit poured forth upon them, and witness the promise of God fulfilled in them, by the Spirit of God preach and minister to the Spirit in prison in every one, in the sight of God, the Father of Spirits. God's hand is turned against you all, that have destroyed God's creatures upon your lust; and God's band is turned against you that have wronged by unjust dealing, and defrauded, and have oppressed the poor, and have respected the persons of the proud, (such as be in gay apparel); and lend not your ear to the cry of the poor. The Lord's hand and arm against you all is turned, and his righteous judgment and justice upon you

all will be accomplished and repaid; who shall have a reward every one according to his works. Oh the abomination and hypocritical profession that is upon the earth, where God and Christ, Faith, Hope, the Holy Spirit, and truth is professed; but the fear of God, and the faith that purifies and gives victory over the world, not lived in! Doth it not appear, that the wisdom that rules in all those, whom the seedsman that sows to the flesh, sows for, and who are born of the flesh, is from below, earthly, sensual, and devilish, and their understanding brutish, and their knowledge natural as the brute beasts? For men and women in that state have not patience to speak one to the other of the scriptures, without much corruption and flesh appearing, yet they have a feigned humility, a will-worship, and righteousness of self; but they own not the light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God; which light being owned, self, and the righteousness of self comes to be denied. Here is the humility that is contrary to the light, and that is below and feigned: here is the wisdom that is from below, earthly, sensual, and devilish; for people can scarce speak one to another, without destroying one another, prisoning and persecuting one another, when they speak of the scriptures. Now, this is the devilish wisdom, murdering and destroying: this is not the wisdom that is from above, which is pure and peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits. Here all may read each seedsman, which hath each wisdom: he that sows to the flesh, and is born of that, hath the wisdom that is earthly, sensual, and devilish; he that sows to the Spirit, a minister of the Spirit, hath the wisdom from above, which is pure, which is peaceable, which is gentle, which is easy to be intreated; the wisdom by which all things were made and created. Now is each wisdom discovered, and each seedsman; the day, which is the light, hath discovered them.' G. F.

As the foregoing paper was sent forth amongst the world's people, to let them see from whence their imprisoning and persecuting, cruelty and violent dealing sprang; so I was also moved to give forth the following epistle to friends, to stir them up to be bold and valiant for the truth, and to encourage them in their sufferings for it.

of

All friends and brethren every where, now is the day your trial, and now is the time for you to be valiant,

and to see that the testimony of the Lord doth not. fall; for now is the day of exercise of your gifts, of your patience, and of your faith now is the time to be armed with patience, with the light and with righteousness, and with the helmet of salvation: and now is the trial of the slothful servant, who hides his talent, and will judge Christ hard. Now, happy are they that can say, the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, and he gives the increase; and therefore, who takes it from you? Is it not the Lord still that suffers it? For the Lord can try you as he did Job, whom he made rich, whom he made poor, and whom he made rich again; who still kept his integrity in all conditions. So learn Paul's lesson, in all states to be content; and have his faith, that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God, which we have in Christ Jesus. Therefore be rich in life and in grace, which will endure, ye who are heirs of life and born of the womb of eternity, that noble birth, that cannot stoop to that, that is born in sin and conceived in iniquity, who are better bred and born; whose religion is from God, above all the religions that are from below, and who walk by faith, by that which God hath given you, and not by that which men make, who walk by sight, from the mass-book to the directory such are subject to stumble and fall, who walk by sight and not by faith. Therefore mind him that destroys the original of sin, the devil and his works, and cuts off the entail of Satan, viz. sin; who would have by entail an inheritance of sin in men and women from generation to generation, and pleads for it by all his lawyers and counsellors. For though the law did not cut it off, which made nothing perfect; yet Christ being come destroys the devil and his works, and cuts off the entail of sin; this angers all the devil's lawyers and counsellors, that Satan shall not hold sin by entail in thy garden, in thy field, in thy temple, thy tabernacle. So keep your tabernacles, that there ye may see the glory of the Lord appear at the doors thereof. And be faithful; for ye see, what the worthies and valiants of the Lord did attain unto by faith. Enoch by faith was translated: Noah by faith was preserved over the waters in his ark: Abraham by faith forsook his father's house and religion, and all the religions of the world: Isaac and Jacob by faith followed his steps. And see how Samuel, with other of the Lord's prophets, with David, by faith were preserved to God, over God's enemies! And Daniel and the three children by faith escaped the lions and the fire, and preserved their worship clean, and by it were kept over the worships of the world.