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Show t'6z .An A 'P 'P E N 'D I X to , VoL .. l. . . . Ch '{\' Dl to them, and Chtift is Gods Everlaftt.ng No. XVI. Confctences, wht~t be hn E~d of fuchl Te Jmcircumcifed in Heart and btr, ~ Day. 0 what wt t e Gb ·f/ M did our Fashm, fo do y<,. And Yet y< do nlways r<jijl tb< Holy f J!i 'b d {:hildten of God, but love and call your feh•es the Seed 0 ' 4 tun an C H R 1 5 ·r the Son of the Liv~ ~huf(tJiurdQ~ ,a;:~~;::~, !~~~fn~bi~ Lye can b~ told rhan ihis? And 10~ · · amon them rh:u work, and make a Lye: If ~~!~ ~~b~~1t!u~~~ ~efhD:Yo~f the~r ~ifhation, and come to the Truth; and by+~~; ~at~ea;·c,~;~~T,~~i:~~rf!~ r;:t~n~~'~h~~~yd~}~f:;. tr~ ~iifed.ik0h'Ga~ottha~hhl~!ailled for Hi~fetf, the Hearts of' the Sons and ace • .,,,c f Men. the Fir!\ and La!\ Living Ttmpi< of God,. E•my Bea!\ Dau~~ter!,?er unclean Bird has taken up their Dwelling there, mfomu~h ~~a~ J~ ha/been like a Stranger to the nobtelt Part of the Workmanfhtp of His own Hands. . w· m · A And though the Lord has not left Himfelf wahout nne es t.n any g~; et the were fo few, and moft of them, !hough accepted accordmg to thetr I) yd Work yet tO n1ort as to the Mam Work, that .a Remnant can fay, w~~na~he Lord firlt opened the Eyes of their Underfbnding, the W~rld lay in a rear Heap of Wickedncfs1 Vanity, and Confufion: All fo~l~wmg. the Defi~ of their own He:ms, to gratify the Luftsof the fame, ~tvmg vamly and wantonly upon rhe Earth: Yea, the ~hole Earth l~oked hke one. great \Vildernefs full of Briars and Thorns, BIIds and Bealh of. Prey. . And wh;n God poured om of the Spi_rit of Judgmen~ and of Burm~g u~on us, not only mall. in~ us fenfible of H1s Holy Terrors tn and for our felves, but of that Day oi fiery Trial he would fuddenly overtake the ~orld withall: Uur Fact:r gatbered Palenef$, trnd our. Knees [mote togtlhet:. Our Hearrs faiMted: Our Lips quiver'd and our Bellies trembled: .AnJ. all tbar we migbt R.eft in t!Je Day of Trouble. . . But while we were under the Ltghtmng :md Thunders, and great Earth~ quakes, Wars, and Rumours of Wars, fuch as had not been fince the Foun~ dation of the World, as to us. For the Sun became Ja~_kneJ, tmd .tbt .Mo~n 'WtU turned into Blood, and none of the Slarr of tbt:o l\r~br appuud, wh1le our Agonies took (hong Hold upon us, and we were Ill the Extremity of our Pains : 0 the Gazing-Stock th~t we were mad~ t~ all, yea, SpeE\:a~les to God Angels and Men: Some fatd, we were bewitcHed: Others,.that.we "YJere fi~ongly poffeffed of the Devil:. All ~ftonifht: /'!rents beaung and difowning of their Children : Children 1nfulnng over rhetr P_arents : ft1tt/!.trr evilly entreating of their Servant~: Servantr.abufing o_f thelt Majlerrl" Th; Hujband ufing Violence to the Wife: The Wife becommg ftrange and unrlatural to her own Hnjband: And all moft crueJly vexed, ~buf.ed ~nd ~ormebted by the Magifi:rares, through the Wicked and. U~weaned lnfiig~uons of the Ptiefts of all Sorts, by ]ailr, Dungeons, Wh1ppmgs, Suulu, Prllorys,, Plnlldtts, &:c. 0 the ~alamity! 0 the bittet Di!\refs ol that Day! And.thoUJlh we were but few m that Day, and very low, poor, ·and even defptcable tn ·our own Eyes; yet were we exceeding Strong and Valia~t in the LJrd "Jeho-- vah, our E'verlnfling·Srrength. For our Inward·Man datly renewed~ and we greatly loved one another: But never till now did we. truly kno~v what CHRIST was, either in Conception, Birth, Reproac'lit:.r,)SII.Jferingr,- Dear~, RifurreOion, or llfcenfion' a Myftery to the whole Chriftiun World at thiS Day who are not turned to the Light of Jefus in tht:ir own Confciences. A~d as in the Holy Watch we kept, not beingfi:agger'd at, the Reproaches of the Men of this World, but wjth ltfoju cbufing rhem, rather than the Treafures and Pleafures of Eopr, wbe1e our Dea1 Lord lay ·crucified, We exceedingly grew iil the Grace and Favour of God,. and we We~ very Jelider by any wand ring Thought, much more by any evtl Aa t6 gnevc,lhJs Holy Spjrit, or Btihe oJ RighuoufnefS, born in our felves, whom we dCfired· {ho~ld Reign, be in~ overcome with Joy that He waS bOrn that. brought Ufe w~tb. Him to our tmmortal Souls. And after we had (laid at lrrt~f<itltJ tlu:CI~f VoL. I; The AuTHoR's L1 FE. of our God and King, to receive His ~nftruClionst CqmmiffiQn, and Autho .. 1iry, abroad we went upon the Ponrmgs 0111 of HU Holy Spirit. And we went in the Nan:'e and. Power of our God~ to declare of His Judgments, and to tell of HJs Ternble Day, co call all to Repentance, and to prepare to meet the Lord, to m~ke 1eady _the Way of our God; who was coming to lay Judgtntnt to tbe Lme, and Rtgbteollfntf.J to tin Plummet; to examine, fift, and winnow the Sons and Daughters of Men: To Judge in Righteoufnefs, who will not he deceived by vain Shews pf Religion: For he is a Jealous God of His Honour; a11d His Glory will He give to no Man, nei .. ther will He acquit the Guilty, or punifh the Innocenc. But after thia bre.tking forth of ours, and publi(bing our Meffage to the \V orld, efpecially to Profefi'ors; the Scribes and Pharifees take the Alarm, they finding their Call, !Lua/ifictltion, and Credit, and which is mofi of all in their Eye, their M.aintenqnte, brought in QJieftioQ, and their · whole Klu~dom fllaking: A-1t~~1 tMade Miniflry, being proved infufficient; forced .Af.nmcnance i1ntichri}lion; ~nd thu no Man could know, much lefs preach, Diviue Tbints wirhoJJt Divine I<evelarions, and lnfpirements: And that no Man was a True Chtifti:w, much lefs :1 True Minifter, that was not born of Water and t~e Spirit, the Fise Jnd Holy Ghoft : They ra~ed greatly, difpl_tch'd their S(lil{l to D4ma{cm, to the Rulers of the Nanon, crying, Help, Help, or Religion is loil, :1nd the Kingdom of Chrifi will go down ; behold great Deceivers and Seduc~rs, and falfe Prophet's; Antichrifts an; 1ifcn, as WJI prophefied of, to come in the lafi Days': Now they are come, beftir your fe1ves, make Laws, catch them, whip them, imprifon them, b.Inifh and burn them. And truly, they lay in wait for Blood, :tn4 f~vepl of·us were tried for our Lives for Blafphemers, haled out of their Synagogues for our pure: Teftimonies fake, fome crying, Knock tbe Rolues down: They art Witches, bid others, Devilr, fiiid orhe1s, We have a L.:~w, and by our LafiJ tbcy ought to Die. They never wanted falfe Evidence to produce, as well as th3t we were frequently made Offenders for our True and Savoury Words, whether in Re· proof or Exhortation utter"d, with our Lives in our Hands in Obedience to the Heavenly Vifion. No .Tufiice, no Mercy: If we efcaped the Multitudr. t~e Mttgiflrate ~ad the Stocking. imprifoning, or Whi(?ping us; if w~ e_fcaped the Magiflratt, the Multitude at the lt~ig.Jtion of the Priejls fell hke fo many greedy Wolves or hungry Tygers upon us, beating and kicking and dragging of us, till W!tJe Part of oqt Flefh has been like a Jelly, often breaking our Head~ and Bones; af)d forne they have murdered by the like barbarous Ufa~e: Not daring all this while either to ftie the Place, or r~ turn them one r.Jiling Accul~tion; committing our lamenrable Caufe to God alone, to plead our Innocency, having no He;lper jn the Earth. Nor were tllefe Things all our Sufferings, or the Depths of our Tribulae· tlcns : By n() Means; for the fbarpeft of Qur Trials were from Men of a Religious Prof~lflpn,, whofe Hearts contrived Mifchief, and their Tongues anP Pens urrer'd u wtth all Manner of Slander and Contradielion · infomuch that when we "Verc: not in the H~nds of r,he Magiftrates or Mul;itude; we were alm~~ perpemally ~mploycd in Difpptations and. Conferences Perfonal, or ~y ~rumgs : On whtch Occafion the World lov1ng its own, we l;lad great D1fficuhy Jnd Wrong; fucb Pervedions of our 'Vords and Sayings fuch Flouts and Jeers, fuch lnter~uptions and Noifes as would have bee~ abhorr'd of faber He,ubens. ' However, we Por~ it all t~rough the H_oly Patience of Jefus; and in the End of thefe Encounters, wah Epbrfian-bke-Beaflr, we rarely mift of fame gained to the Faith: And finding at long Run, that they could neither wrangle, flander, nor perfecute us out of that Tefiimony we had bom for the Living God, and perceiving that the Multitude began to .ftagg, and would no longer be the Inftrumems of their Cruelty, raking Notice of our great Increafe notwithftanding all thefe Oppofitions; as alfo feein_g tha~ Iome of their own Kindred and Acquaintance were convened, whom they always t8~ No. XV!· ~ |
