A VISITATION OF LOVE, AND Gentle Greeting OF THE TURK, And tender tryal of his thoughts for God, and proof of the hearts of his Court, and the spirits of the people round about him, in his own Dominion, and the Inhabitants of the Earth that are borderers upon his skirts, in their declared Religious wayes.
And is a warning to all men that are in the corrupted wayes of sin and iniquity, to repent and turn to the living God, who dwelleth in the light, before the Rod of his Vengeance destroyes the evil doers of the Nations.
To which is annexed a book, intituled, Immanuel, the Salvation of Israel.
Written in the Will and Countenance of God, by a Servant of the Lord, who am called by scorners in England, Quaker, and was named in the flesh, JOHN PERROT.
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons at the signe of the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1660.
THen arose up certain of the Elders of the Land, and spake to all the Assembly of the people, saying, Micah the Morashite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah King of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Mountain of the House as the high places of the Forrest; Did Hezekiah the King of Judah and all Judah, put him at all to death? Did he not fear the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
This is recorded in the Book of the Prophisie of JEREMIAH, chap. 26.
A Visitation, Tryal, and Warning to repent.
I Am the light of the world, saith the Prophet whom God hath raised up like unto Moses, saying, I will raise them up a Prophet from amoug their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all which I shall command him; & it shall come to, pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him. He is the true light of the world, the true Prophet, which cometh in the Name of the most high God, that sent him a light into the world, to give light unto all Nations, that all Nations through him who is the light of the world, may come to believe and know the Almighty power of the Lord God, who is working a work in our days, at which the ears of many shall tingle: And in this his mighty and terrible day which is at hand, he is bringing to pass, to make many tongues, and languages, and people, and the people of many Nations, of one heart, and of one mind and soul, and to set up his Standard in Zion, and his salvation in Jerusalem: And such their Authority and Dominion will he establish, who seeks in the spirit of pure love and meekness, to see his Scepter of righteousness lifted over all the Heads of the ungodly, who are out of the fear of the eternal dreadful God of life, and everlasting power, working their own works, and establishing their own wills.
And with this voice do I cry unto thee O TURK, who are set over many Regions, that over many more thou mayst reign, until all the earth be subdued for thee, for evermore to stand under thy Authority, the Dominion of the Seed to be over the whole Earth; being sent of the Almighty God unto thee, and unto thy whole Nation, with the Message of everlasting Peace in my mouth, which if ye receive the Lord my God will be your rewarder in righteousness; and behold, thy honour shall be made [Page 4] greater, and thy borders enlarged, and great prosperity shall compass the dwelling of the desolate, the fatherless and the widows, and not one begging bread shall be in thy Dominion from the one end thereof unto the other; but all shall see the plentifull day of God, and the seed of the next generation shall bless the remembrance of thee, and their posterity for ever, even from one generation to another, shall declare thy memorial, which shall never be blotted out.
But if otherwise thou resist, and incline not thine ear unto counsel, but resist the Message of the Lord God of eternal life, and infinite power, behold I return, (if unto the Tombs of my Fathers) with my peace with me, which God hath given me and no man can take from me, and the hand of the dreadfull Lord God of Hosts will follow me, which Nations shall taste of, in sore displeasure, that resist my testimony of this Prophet whom I declare is the light of the world.
Whom I declare, that him who is the light of the world, all Nations may come to know, that all Nations may worship but one God, and have but one King and chief authority to rule and reign over them, and that by him who is the light of the world, you may be taught all things, as from the mouth of the Lord dayly, that no strength may exceed your power, as ye shall know the hand of the Lord to be with you, and no wisdom like unto your understanding as you take counsel of the Lord, and not of man, by which you shall see the utter overthrow and confusion, yea the everlasting desolation of all that shall conspire against you, and the whole strength and wisdom of man to be but as dust, and as a thing lighter then vanity in the air, that shal imbody themselves as Hosts, striving to work your overthrow.
And this in the remembrance of Gods Decree of loving kindness to the least in your Nation, is tendred to try your willingness to be everlastingly established.
Behold, behold I cry, the Prophet of the Lord, the light of the would draweth nigh your gates, and knocketh at the door of your hearts. Oh Turk! thou the greatest in strength (of the arm of flesh) and mightiest in power in that which (as grass) is subject to wither, beyond many people, yea, even all the Nations of the Earth.
Thou oughtest to know this one [Page 5] thing chiefly, that the dreadful Almighty God is King of the whole earth, and Lord of the Heavens also, with whom all nations are but as the dust of the ballance, and drop of a bucket, who measureth the Heavens as with a span, and holdeth the earth and the seas in the hollow of his hand, he is infinite in his Decrees, and his wayes past finding out; he hath overturned many Princes by his power, and overthrown Kings by his might, and made many nations heaps of desolation, and laid the pleasant places waste; forasmuch as the Lord of Hosts is jealous of his glory, which many have turned into contempt, even as the proud and lofty in heart have said, Is there a God over us, that we should fear to execute our wills upon any? And so have turned equity backward, and have not had regard unto the Commandements of God, and have frustrated his Law, and cast his holy Precepts behind their backs; and have devoured the man of low degree, and oppressed the fatherlesse and the widow, and have not had regard to the stranger which hath visited them in loving kindness, but rather, have sought to swallow up the innocent in his simplicity, with their horrid abominable cruelty.
And in this the glory of the Lord hath been defaced, and is defaced by all that walk in the crookedness of the imaginations of their own hearts, strengthning themselves in their own wayes, making Fences for their safegard in iniquity, and Bulwarks for their strength in unrighteousness, and yet calls upon the name of the Lord, as if God had regard unto the cryes of the wicked, who will punish the sinner in Zion, and reward the evil-worker in Jerusalem.
And therfore all nations ought to be awakened lest the sons of men are cut off in the corruption of their wayes. And thou above all Princes and Kings, as the greatest in all parts of the earth, oughtest to shine forth as the brightness of the Sun at noon day, and as the chiefest of all nations in example of righteousness, and purity of heart, which will crown thee with everlasting honour, far exceeding the honours of the Kingdoms of men, and cause thy name never to be forgotten from generation to generation, for ever, to be remembred after thee by all the Lords people, and servants of the living God; that thy [Page 6] sound also may strike a dread through all the dead Worshippers of Images in all quarters of the whole world; and then it will come to pass, that many will stand amazed at the excellency of thy beauty and renown, and those that hate thee shall be tormented because of thee, and gnash their teeth at thy prosperity, and lie down in restlesse pangs of perplexity.
And therefore for the glory of the Almighty Gods sake, and that with it thou mayest be established, and a holy seed after thee in perpetuall praise.
Arise and stand up, and shine forth in the excellency of meeknesse, and in the humblenesse, & patience, and forbearance of thy heart, and in this most noble and excellent understanding, and choicest wisdome, lissen for a season, and incline thine ear in due time to that in thee which is not of the Kingdomes of men; and behold from the Lord God, I shew thee the coming of the Prophet in a Parable.
Like as the glory of the Sun arising in the East in mighty irresistable power, dispersing and sending all the black clouds beyond the appearance of the West, where place cannot hide their blackness, as the Sun follows in his glorious flaming course, making all to pass a way as in shame and great fear.
Oh what can stand before the brightnesse of the DAY? is not all the first in a tottering frame when the glory of the most high breaks forth? Men of strength may wonderfully strive, and men of prudence dive deeply, but no man is hid from the day.
Neither knoweth he the wisdome of the whole World from whence the breath of the wind cometh, and out of what it breaketh.
No man hath descended into the deep to count the sands hid with the waters of the Ocean. Who then can fathome wisdom to understand that which the natural never saw nor thought of?
Under this I conclude the whole world; All flesh hath corrupted it's way before the Lord, and the wisdome of the first man Adam is not regained; forasmuch as the restauration hath been hid from ages, which unto the desolate is tendered, that a broken wall may not remain without repair in a whole Nation.
And behold it is coming, it is coming, and with blessing thou wilt be blessed, and the seed of the whole Dominion, if thou stop not the course of blessing from thine own head.
Many generations before thee would have rejoiced to have seen this day which is coming towards thee of good things; if thou hearken to God, and despitest not the Messengers and Ministers of his word, but listenest with open ear to instruction, that thou mayest be established for ever, the Throne of righteousness to be the Lords, and thou the instrument in the Lords hand, whereby Iustice, Mercy and Peace may be established, and this know thee, That the Lord God of Heaven aad Earth, whose dread reacheth unto the ends of all Dominions of the earth, Jehovah the Lord of Hosts is his Name, can work without thee and beyond thee, and over the heads of all powers, who can change all hearts and affections in a moment, and in the twinckling of an eye; and make all affected onely with his own glory; but my God is the unspeakable Fountain of mercy, and long suffering, who is risen to prove and try many people, and behold he layes this work, and is laying it now at thy gates, & one that loves thy soul is sent unto thee, that canot flatter thee, but speaks the simplicity of truth unto thee, and not his own words, as a lying divination.
But this is truth from him that dwelleth with the truth, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, who is arisen to try thee that thou mayst be proved, whether in the pure tender love thou fingly standest, or in the obstinacy restest, as one sate down in a Chair of carved stone.
I say, Thus is the Lord God arisen to try thee, even as he is coming to make true proof of thy wayes, and to know therein whether thou art able to bear and endure, and pass a tryall of thy wayes, in which the Lord who regardeth onely an humble heart will altogether sift thee as unto the bottome, and prove thee, whether thou standest as the holy Fathers and Kings did in the dayes of old, as David, who with an humble heart received the reproof and judgement of Nathan, and many more, who were precious patterns unto thee, and Examples before thee.
May I be blamed in all this? doth not Wisdome belong to the mighty, and doth not counsel become the Kings Court, and understanding the chiefest pallaces? and hath God blessed me with his word, and shewed me his wonders which are coming to pass, and can I hide them from the King? Hath God put understanding in my heart, to understand the deep things which have been hid from ages, and shall I darken and make void the blessing with silence? Hath God shewed me the blessings of a people, and the curse of a Nation, and shall I bury this in the womb of obscurity, and not publish the revelation of God, & so through a careless heart come to be numbred among the cursed for ever?
Nay, nay, let all men shoot at me with their arrows, let their sword touch me, and let death compass me on every hand, rather than mine Inheritance of blessing I may loose from the hand of the Lord, and peace to my conscience for ever.
And verily in this I know the hazard of much, whilest in all I seek but the salvation of souls, and that thou with many mayest come to the receiving of the immortall Treasure of Wisdome; and can the spirits of men take offence at me in this thing? Can not I try the choicest in their wayes, as plainly as the greatest Apostates who have lost the state of Manhood, in whom brutishness is seated, and violence, as the chief Governor of the bodies of people? who have lost the first ear that could hear through the degeneration of him that begat them, and mankind springing from the same Root of Adams polluted nature? Yea without a Parable may I not plainly prove all Nations that stumbles, the honest part of thy inquiry? and cannot I reach unto Rome, Pope, and over the darkness and sottishness of all people? who blindly will speak and question things as to matter of evil consequences, calling them so in their inquiries, before they come to see the substance of the good which cometh only from God, and thereby in perverse ignorance calls the good evil, and are setters up of evil for good.
Should the love of God extend beyond measure, & compassion reach over a Nation, to touch idolatry with a tender visitation of putting a people upon enquiry, before wrath as an overflowing Flood doth overwhelm; and if the people of that Nation [Page 9] should rise up against the servant in that work, and slay him that the Master sent; would not such a people plainly appear to be fallen below the spirits of men? yea far below a beastly part which are naturally out of the sence of rewarding their kind, so unspeakably full of evil, and wickedly.
Many such things came to pass through the cruelty of the ungodly, forwhich cause God overturned, and utterly overthrowed the places of great renown, and made beautiful Palaces a howling Wildernesse, when in ages past their iniquities, Whoredomes and Murders were filled up.
But this I shew as to what hath been chiefly; now that which is to be, I write.
I cannot run from the Porch of wisdoms Gates, or fly from the door of her House; forasmuch as I would shew the greatest among men the entrance into her habitation, that that onely beautifull habitation may be known to be the Kings Pallace, where Infamy shall never touch the Head of his Dignity.
And here is Wisdome for the Emperor, to know the birth of the Imortall Seed in him; to know something of God brought forth unto Majesty and Dominion in him, which shall rule the Nations as with a rod of Iron.
Many parables might my life utter, and seal up the Mystrie in hidden sentences, and leave the sons of men in the same obscurity, groveling as in the night-season, and groping as in a black Dungeon, and after wearisome times to lye down in sorrows, and never able to come to know the light of the Day of God, which is more clear then Cristal, and the Wisdome springing from it, which is more excellent then Rubies, and more refined and precious, then pure Gold, which is the defence of Armies, and strength of Nations.
Oh how might the aged solace themselves in the meditation thereof? and the yonng men take pleasure in the exercise of the infinite vertue which is hid therein? which maketh all shine as a Diadem, yet hideth the comely parts from the eye of the vulterous, that the unclean may not see the face of the King: so that the prudent in a pure life can only draw nigh in the presence of wisdome, to stand justified in the Kings Court.
Oh that the greatest among men in anthority did but see my affection to the least in the Land! Oh that mine hand might touch his head: that he might suck of the Breasts of my Mother which bare me, that he might drink and live for ever, and have a dwelling-place over death, to see the powers thereof swallowed up into Victory!
Had I began my meditation in the dawning of the day, and written since the timely sun-rising, and continned to the hour of this season; yea, could I have pondered since he hour of my conception, and meditated in the Chambers of the Womb, and written since the hour of my birth, yet could not I speak of that which is, as it is, nor that which is to come in the infinite fulness as it is ready to break forth.
I may cry wisdom in the streets, and spread forth mine arms in the gates, and open my mouth in the pleasant Fields, and say,
Return O ye sons of men, return to the Lord God, whom the whole world hath for saken, and gone a whoring after other gods, and sought strange things, and planted themselves Trees in a wilderness, but behold, the fruits thereof the Lord hath no regard unto; for how is it that the sons of men are calling upon God with their mouth, whilst they profane his holy Name in their hearts.
God heareth not the prayers of the ungodly, and their cry in their early season is but as the barking of a dogge at midnight, and but as the skreech of a devouring beast seeking his prey in his wandering course at evening in the wilderness.
Verily I say unto all mankind upon the Face of the Earth, God is wearied, yea the Lord God is burdened, and his soul is laden with the sacrifice of the unclean; yea how can it be declared in this generation how the Lord hath waited for many generations to be gracious unto the sons of men; but their iniquities have turned aside his blessing; for thus it hath been even over the face of the whole Earth, the sons of men in all their wayes have spoken of Gods worship, and have worshipped in this place, and upon that Mountain, and in this Form, and in another Administration so called; but as soon almost as they are removed from their seats in their Temples made with hands, where they were worshipping the works of their own hands, and [Page 11] the imaginations of their hearts, they turn into lewdn ess, and lying, and swearing, and whoredom, and drunkenness, and robbery, and envy, and hatred, and murder, and scoffing, and scorning, and into the lust of uncleanness, and their sacrifice the Lord God requires not, until they have washed their hands of blood, and their hearts of iniquity, and their whole body of the pollution of their Life.
And lo I shew this unto the JEWS of all sorts, that the Jews also may come to be converted, and come to know the healing; They must all come to the cleansiug of the heart by blood, and the purifying of their consciences by the blood of sprinkling; which is not used (in this the mighty day of God, which is dawned) as an Ordinance of a carnal Commandment, but is come, and coming, as the substance of the eternal Decree of God concerning the redemption from all the former, and restauration unto the first, and as the fulfilling of the promise of an endless life.
And therefore be awakened all ye that have slumbered, and are slumbering in the night of your Fathers, who were in the rebellion against God, notwithstanding they had the Law and the Precepts of God, even as from the mouth of God: Oh how did your Fathers the Jewes rebel and tempt the Lord God, although his mercies unto them were the greatest! Yea I may say there was not a Nation that tasted of mercy as your fathers did, eat and drink of salvation from many Enemies, and deliverance from numberless afflictions; yet how was it from age unto ages? often in their streights they murmured, and when they were at ease they waxed fat through mercies, and kicked against God, until Shiloh came, the promise unto the Remnants of your Seed but he coming not according to your Fathers expectation, even as the wonders of God in all ages were wrought contrary to the expectations or imaginations of the hearts of men, and therefore they took counsel together, and put him to death: And thus the promise came unto many, for without blood there could be no remission of sins; although by the wilfulness of your Fathers in this matter ye have from that time been as a curse over the whole earth.
Neverthelesse for you there is a [Page 12] hope left, yea for you a promise remains, if yet ye return and enquire, and seek diligently as in the morning, and be found early, and earnestly striving as in the timely season, before the advantage of the day pass over your heads, and ye be left as in the place of blindness, where all your hope and expectation shall wither, and be made fruitless as a thing of nought.
And therefore I say, Not as you will have times and seasons, and Dayes and Worships, and Deliverances come to pass, shall it come to pass unto you, or be brought to pass concerning you; but as the Word of the Lord God is and hath been the same from Ages which reacheth also unto this Age, from the Dread of which the sons of men shall not escape, nor find a hidingplace to rest themselves, who walks in the wayes of uncleanness and doth traverse the paths of iniquity and unrighteousness.
And therefore wait for the word of the Lord God unto you, that you may come to know your motion in righteousness, that you may feel the vengeance removed which hath been long over your heads, that thereby you may come toknow the redemption in your dayes, and the restauration of God in the season of his appointed time; until which, in vain is all your Synagogue and Temple-worships, and Altar-Offerings. And therefore all people upon the face of the Earth, Jew and Gentile, Barbarian, Scithian, Bond and Free must all come to know that principle and measure of the gift of God, which is in bondage in them, to be made free by the powerfull operation of the work of the Lord through them, which thousands, and ten thousands for want of the good understanding are strangers unto, and therefore are found actors daily in enmity to the motions of it; and that is a dangerous state, in whom the God of this world (whom the Heathen worships) hath blinded the eye of their minds, mark, hath blinded the eye of their minds, whereby the whole world are but in the History, out of the understanding of the Mystery and Power of godlinesse, and life of the Prophets, and holy men of God of old.
I say therefore unto all flesh living, Keep silence, and listen to the word of the Lord God in silence, (mark) listen to hear the [Page 13] word of the Lord in spirit, in silence, when all reason and earthly consultations and disputings, and questionings in the mind, is cast out, in the bed, in the vineyards, in the secret closet, in the fields, and then it shall come to pass to your remembrance, that there is something in man which convinceth a man of the evil of his wayes, and that will shew a man the iniquities of his youth and the sinnes of his riper years, and bring all unto his remembrance in the fight of the Lord; and then it will be seen, that not any Sacrifice or Oblation hath blotted out any one sin out of the remembrance of God, when as man in his own Conscience is accused for all; yea, then is the sacrifice short of blotting out iniquity, and his prayers short of removing his transgressions: nay further, If a man should offer ten thousand Rivers of Oyl, and the blood of a thousand Bulls and He-Goats, and as many Rams, and were it the Fruit of his body for the sinne of his soul, it cannot purge the heart, or cleanse the spirit, and therefore not clear the conscience from the just accusation of God in the hidden parts of a mans mind, and secret meditations of his spirit; and if in this state a man perisheth, where is the refuge which he shall flie unto in the last hour? and in what standeth the hope of life everlasting? all sober hearts in this may read the danger of ignorance and peril of blindness in the lust of sinne and unrighteousnesse, out of the true understanding of the true worship and service of God.
And forasmuch as wisdom removeth the vails of darknesse, and openeth the path of iniquity, and leadeth to the Fountain of righteousnesse, and bringeth to the Well-spring of truth, I hereby hold forth the ground thereof, and from whence it springs, and how it comes to be received and stood in, to the honour of the living God, and beautifying the Face of the just, and renown of the upright.
The dreadfull God of Heaven and Earth, who is a spirit infinite, who is light, is the Vertue, Fountain and Treasure of wisdome, peace, and life everlasting. [Mark and read with understanding.] God who hath been a stranger unto the Inhabitants of the Earth, is light, who searcheth every heart, and tryeth the reins, and the hidden part of the bowels, hath sent his onely begotten Son a Light into the world, whose light shineth in the [Page 14] consciences of every man that cometh into the world; by which light in a mans conscience he is convinced and condemned for his wickednesse. This light convinceth a man in his own heart and understanding, of lying and swearing, and pride and envy, and persecution, and dissimulation, and murder and whoredome, and all unrighteousnesse, and uncleanness both of flesh and spirit.
This light is pure, which sheweth a man every unclean spot of his life; and unto this light in a mans conscience must a man turn in his mind, to be guided by it in his heart, which cometh from God who is light; and by it which cometh from God, who is the Fountain, a man will be led to the first principle of the good understanding, that is to say, unto the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdome, which Solomon the wise King spoke, which was not only his words but also it was his life, whereby he came to grow in the wonderfull Understanding and admired wisdome, which Regions round about were amazed at.
And unto this day the Lord God is the same to all that fear his Name in truth, and his loving kindnesse is not shortned, not his mercy and favour slackned, but as man hath slackned his steps in diligence, waiting upon the Lord in the fear and dread, and awe of his Name.
Therefore I cease not to cry, Fear, fear, dread and tremble, tremble before the Lord God of Hosts ye Sons and Daughters of Adam, be ye shaken as in a tempest, ye strong Oaks and tall Cedars, bow down ye lofty Hills and exalted Mountains; let the Rocks, and stony places of the Nations be rent, let al be made as a smooth place for the Lord God to execute his judgments in righteousnesse, that the Lord God alone may be exalted in majesty in every heart; let all knees bow, & every tongue confess his Dread and infinite Power, that under the Fountain, the Nations and People may stand, that the streams may issue and run down upon every head, and make glad every heart, with the oyl of annointing, the living, and pouring wisdome down as Floods, making way in the hearts of the sons of men, in counsel and prudence, to receive the Oracles of God as a portion of a plenteous Treasure, thereby to encrease in the vertue thereof, which shall cause a mans brightnesse to glimmer in the eye of his enemies, [Page 15] & make the Heathen wonder at the appearance thereof, & make the fool roar out when he feels his back smitten with the Rod of Prudence, which his younger in years bears in his right hand, ruling the heart in uprightnesse.
This is the Treasure, [Wisdome] whereof the Messiah is the Fountain, who hath revealed himself the light of the understanding of the heart of man, who is the seed made manifest, which was spoken of (after man fell into the degeneration & subversion) should come and bruise the Serpents head, to restore again that Image which was lost through mans disobedience.
And now unto the appearance of his grace, that is to say, the light wherwith every man is lightned which cometh from the Messiah, they must be turned, which shines in their consciences, which (as I have said) doth shew a man in spirit and in secret his sinnes and the reward and wages thereof, wch is death everlasting to all that dye and perish in their sinns: And this light in a mans conscience will keep his heart pure, and in pure fear, out of the offence, as he is led by it, & it will lead into patience, temperance, meeknesse, chastity, charity, peace, and all vertues, so that every day of a mans years, shall add to the understanding of his heart, until all the gloominesse of the former time, and darknesse of the night be driven away by the dawning of the day, & day-star arising in the heart, & the revelation of the Son of righteousnesse in the glory of his light and life.
And much more of the beauty and vertue then I do mention it will lead unto, as unto quietnesse and setlednesse, out of strife and hard contentions, fighting aud quarrellings, or raising of tumults or seditions, or heresies, or sects, or many Opinions, to the dividing of Nations, but will unite all, and make all of one heart and of one mind, to establish Authority, & set the supream in his Seat of Dominion to rule in righteousnesse, and establish his Seed for ever, and will lead all into subjection to Authority, and all unto the knowledge and Understanding of the true Power of Authority, and Office of Magistracy in the place thereof, which is, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well.
How might this be spoken of! Oh how might it be declared! No Scepter so glorious, no power so strong, no Dominion so [Page 16] certain & stable, as his who walks in the light, by it to be redeemed from under every curse of God; (mark) I say, Redemption and blessing stands onely to the Seed, and the Seed is the light of the world. He that hath an ear, let him hear.
And to this Seed in man must man come, that is to say, to the light wherewith he is lightned, that the Seed may live, unto which the promise of Life and blessing is; for not unto Seeds, as unto many, was the promise made unto Abraham, but unto thy Seed; in which God spake a parable to the whole world; so that mankind in the blindnesse hath stood, out of the knowledge of the Promise, and that unto which the Promise was made, and therefore far from receiving the blessing which is with the Promise unto the Seed.
This is the sum. Man must know the Light in his conscience to rule him, else he is as a wild Ass, unruly, without a brdile in his mouth, or curb to his way, and knows no restraint to the wickednesse of his heart, but is ready to run swiftly in the open passages of mischief, and rushes on fiercely in wickednesse, as a fed Horse in the battel, having not in his heart the regard of God, or his soul, and so he murders Abel the just Seed in him, and that lets out a mans heart to murder the just man upon the earth without him, as if blood were of no price or value, or as if it should never more be required by the Lord at the hands of the guilty and blood-thirsty.
I say, A man must know a guide in spirit, the light in his conscience to rule his mind and heart, that by the light in his conscience he may witnesse and know what the abundance of his heart is, and so see whether everlasting blessing or cursing is to it; for thus it is, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and so doth every member of the body act, whether good or evil.
Let all hearts ponder this thing, and know, That Gods blessings are not to the wicked, murderers, blood-thirsty, Whoremongers, covetous, lustful-hearted, abominable beastly natured; but his heavy curses, and vengeance and judgements and plagues hangs over the heads of the ungodly and corrupt walkers; and behold, the day cometh which shall burn as a Furnace seven times over-heated, and as an oven filled with burning flames, and all the proud, and all the Adulterers, whores and whoremongers, envious and wicked-hearted, the Drunkard and all [Page 17] manner of the ungodly, shall be as straw in the drought of Summer, and shall be consumed in perplexity and horror; many then shall seek a hiding place, but shall not find any.
And the wicked Kings and Princes of the Earth shall arise unto that great judgment, and shall feel the terrors of Hell, and Wrath and Woe from the Lord God of Hosts, to compass them on every hand, and the recompence of fools shall be the reward of the unrighteous, who have sinned out their time in pleasure and delight in corruption.
Had I the tongues of many Orators, and the hands of many swift writers, I could not express the misery and infinite endless horror of Gods fierce Wrath and Vengeance, which shall overtake the wicked as a snare; and how the Lord God will be avenged of all those that have slaughtered (mocked or reviled their neighbors, or the man of a meek heart) his Prophets and Messengers, as in all ages they were persecuted as hereticks and seducers.
And therefore a warning to the whole Earth is sounded forth; Repent, repent, repent, the mighty day of the Lord God of Hosts is at hand, a day of howling draweth nigh and the hour of bitter lamentation cometh to pass, and thousands, and ten thousands shall roar and lament, and curse the day that ever they were born, and yet not find ease of their misery; behold, behold, Gods jealousie even already burns like fire, and who can quench the flames?
Come forth, come forth, oh ye sons of men, who have had ease in the flesh for many years, & have sported your selves in the pleasure thereof, and made your hearts gross in uncleanness, and fatted your selves with fraud and with the slaughter of your innocent Neighbor; repent, and turn from your sins, let the Elders of the Nations lament themselves, and the inhabitants of the earth rent their hearts, whilest the Lord God is warning and visiting you, before his judgements in sore displeasure as an overflowing irresistable flood overtakes the people, and sweeps the Nations as with a beasom of utter destruction, and scatters the wicked as the dust and chaff of the high-wayes, as in a tempest of a mighty Wind, with the breath of his mouth, and there be not a resting place upon the face of the earth left for the [Page 18] sons of men to inhabit, because of their abominations and trangressions, which God will repay with vengeance.
Remember Sodom, and call to minde the destruction of Gomorah,
Nineveh also was warned, and Nineveh repented, and was spared in the dayes of Jonah, and be it known unto you, this also is the day of your visitation, written forth according to the commandment of God, and the motion of his word from on high.
And therefore whilest ye have time, prize it, that as wise, ye may learn wisdome, and live, and not as fools, hate instruction, and persh.
I say unto thee O Turk, the Great One, I am not come into thy Coasts to hide knowledge from thine eyes, or understanding from thine heart, but in love to visit thee with the Message of a goodly Treasure, which never failed to strenghen my Fathers in a strange Land, or to nourish their seed in a Wilderness, or to give courage to them in weakness to vanquish the mighty force of their Enemies, that thou mayest come to the same, to drink of the same, and eat of the same, to be nourished with the same, unto the same life & dignity which the Lord giveth, which excelleth the honour of all mortall flesh, which the Lord God will stain, that his honor, and such as he honors, may be onely honorable.
Lo, I declare the substance of all things, that thou mayest apply thy heart in diligence to the fear of the Lord, that thereby thou mayest know the operation of the substance in thee, that with the vertue, power and life thereof, thou mayest come to prophesie upon thy Throne, as David did upon his Throne; and judge in Wisdom in thy Pallace, as Solomon did in his Pallace and Court, unto whom a heart of understanding was given, that he judged the people aright, and sought not for counsel, or instruction, or advice from man, but had the word from the Lord, of Counsel, of Prudence, and of pure judgement; so that his Courts was bounded with Peace as with an Iron Band, and fenced as with a Fort of Brass, untill Solomon committed idolatry, and then was an adversary stirred up against him. Behold the Lord God will work mighty wonders by thee, and thorow thee, if thou takes counsel of him with an upright sober heart, upon [Page 19] thy bed; God is a Spirit and in spirit the Lord God will inrich thee, if thou keepest thy minde to the Light in thy conscience, to be ruled by it, that thou mayest rule and govern according to it, all that are thy Subjects, the inhabitans and people that are within the compass of thy Dominion.
And herein thou shalt come to bear me testimony in the Spirit of Light (as thou turns thy mind to the Light which shews thee thy sins) that will cleanse thy heart, and purifie thy minde from the thoughts and motions of sin and evill, and redeem thy soul and spirit from corruption, and restore thee as in the day of the first Adam, in innocency, out of hurt and abuse, unto that state which God Almighty blessed, and all the creatures thou wilt come to have Dominion over, and the Earth subdue, and many will bless the day of thy birth, if Gods Seed in thee comes to live, that thy Seed may replenish every Island and Continent of the Earth; Thou knowest not Gods work what he is about to doe; if thou hearken, and obey, and with one heart, and with one consent thy Nobles and Nation sayes Amen, Let the work of the Lord be done. I say then, If thy Ancients, and thy honourable men, and the Mothers of many children in thy Coasts, with the man of low degree, turns from the evil of their walking, and corruption of their wayes, unto the Light in all their consciences, to stand in righteousness for the renown of the Lord, even the jealous God of his glory, as they come to honour and worship in spirit, them will he crown with dignity, and cause their fame to spread; and make the frame of thy Dominion to be the pattren of his mighty work, until the whole Earth be subject unto the same dreadful authority and power; and behold, this is the good which I shew thee, and the evil I have not hid from thy heart, that thou mayest not meditate it upon thy bed; but have opened both, and therefore choose thee whether; my conscience to thee in the sight of the Lord God I have cleared (touching this matter) in tender pure love to thy soul, and prosperity of thy Nation in every quarter thereof.
Finally, Take this for thy standing place, that thou mayest never be removed, Stand in the Light, as thy heart comes to be turned to it, and thou shalt know, that as thou stands in it, wisdome will never depart thy habitation, and the deepest counsel, thy secret Chamber, [Page 20] which will establish thee in thy Throne, as it did Solomon the wise King in his Throne.
But as thou hast sinned with thy lips, so thou must come to the mourning of a broken heart, that God may be honoured in the humility of thy soul and spirit, and thou thereby come in mercy to be exalted in his Kingdom of peace, plenty, and prosperity; Remember Nebucadnezzar the King, unto whom Daniel the Prophet prophesied, and shewed him the interpretation of hard things, chap 4.
Now I come to question a few things, that the worth of Wisdome may be noted, which giveth alwaies the answer of true things, and such as none other can stand against, to overturn, or gain-say.
Query 1. God looked upon the earth, and behold, all flesh had corrupted his way before the Lord upon the earth. Now I do ask, In what can the truth and true worship of God be rightly holden? and who are the sons of men that are not in the corrupted wayes? and what is that which they have attained unto, which will lead out of the corrupted wayes? and are not all Nations living in lying, and swearing, and whoredome, and pride, and envy, and murder, and drunkenness, in the corrupted wayes?
Query. 2. By what is it that God tryeth the wayes of men? and what makes the truth and error, the corruption and incorruption of all wayes manifest to man, whereby man comes to have assurance beyond all the traditions of his forefathers, that he is in the true way, a faithfull servant of the Lord, or that he is out of the true way of God, a servaut of Satan, through the lust of corruption in sin and transgression?
Query 3. What is the equal measure in man, which when the hand of the just measureth, giveth unto every man full due, and keepeth not back the due from his Neighbor, neither can oppress any, but giveth unto his Enemies just weight and full measure also, and loveth his enemies, and rewardeth his enemies good for evill, shewing by his good, that his conversation is just, and his Religion not in vain?
Query. 4. Whether is it love or wrath, [Page 21] patience or rashness, humbleness or pride, temperence or immoderacy in life and gefture towards acquaintance or stranger, the good or the evil, that establisheth the Prince or the King upon the Throne? and what is the good that leads unto the good order of the best part? and how ought a man to follow it to be established in righteousness and in peace to the end? And whether if a man knows not the good in him to guide him, is not his foot subject to slip, and he to fall?
Query. 5. Whether would my owning of one Prophet in vertue, before another Prophets life, avail me any thing if I had not received the spirit of the Prophets? And how can the confession of any Prophets Name, shew thereby that a people is of the Truth? And what if any man should own God in words, and all the Prophets in words, and the Messiah in words what would that avail any man if he were not in the same pure way which the Prophets stood in, and knew something in him which is of the nature of God?
Query 6. Will not that which trieth all people and Nations, try all Elders and Prophets also in all nations, and give testimony unto all people fearing God, whether they are of God, yea or nay? And is not this also the testimony of false Prophets, to say it shall come to pass according to the words of their Prophesie, and it comes not at all to pass, but they speak presumptuously, as saith the Lord unto Moses concerning the false Prophets? And doth not this give testimony of a true Prophet, when the word of the Prophet cometh to pass according to his Prophesie, that the Prophet shal be known to the people that the Lord hath truly sent him?
Query 7. The Messiah was the promise of God from the beginning, and he was manifest in the flesh in spirit; but how doth he now bruise the Serpents head? and what part in man is that which is the Serpent? and who hath felt the power and operation of the other Seed in his heart to bruise the Serpents Head without which there is no Salvation?
Query 8. What and how is the world set in mans heart (as saith Solomon) whereby a man cannot find out the beginning or the end of the work of God? And how comes the mystery of the [Page 22] writings of the Prophets, which speaks of the Kingdome and glory of the living God tobe known & understood in spirit and life, as they were given forth.
Query 9. Let me ask of the Prophets in Asia, and enquire of those that prophesie in Africa, what is the interpretation of my vision; & let the Emperour enquire of them one by one, lest they dream a Divination of their own heart, and consent together in falshood, and so deceive thee, and but mock him that uprightly enquireth, that the Emperor may have the understanding of the Times.
In my Vision I saw seven Trees planted in seven places, and the ground of six of them (where they grew) was of one nature, and each Tree had his Fence about him; and I saw many Workmen labouring to raise the defence higher; they began to labour when it was a little light, & the night shortly overtook them all that they could not work any longer; so that they saw not good of the works of their hands, and therefore they sate down and slept in sorrow.
And it came to pass that there arose a Star, which while the Workmen slumbered, it shewed me, that the first Tree was full of Moss, and withered without shooting a leaf, & so waxed rotten; and I heard one say, that notwithstanding it should remain for a season, untill a fire be kindled.
The second sprouted out some certain leaves, and it grew into two bodies from one root, the one was more green & fresh in colour then the other; and it came to pass that a wind blew, and they dashed each other, but the green part stood longest, although her leaves falled therewith, and the body waxed dry at the Root.
The third prospered for a little season, but much heat parched the branches thereof, and that also decayed.
The fourth had a time of prosperity, but the Winter-season blowed cold winds over her boughs, insomuch that the rind therof peeled away, so that the body was left naked, and it with red standing.
The fifth grew by a pleasant Brook, & the Waters thereof refreshed her Root, but the ground being not good to retain the moisture although that she buded and blossomed, yet it came to pass [Page 23] that a wind from the north, gently blew over it, and many of the blossoms were blasted, and the rest that remained, although they came to grow towards the goodness of Fruits, yet afterwards there came a rushing wind from the rising of the Sun, and they all fell in an untimely season.
The sixth grew mightily, more tall and lofty then all the other five, and was the most of all beautified with the largest leaves, and delightful coloured blossomes, which covered her large quick spouting boughs, but imediately her root became a nurse of rottenness.
And I saw an Ax blade in the hand of a certain Shepherd, and Io he looked over all the six, and said, This is because of their unfruitfulness, and yet a sorer thing must come to pass; and he turned unto the seventh Tree, which was planted in a low valley, unploughed, and behold her body bowed, and she stooped unto him that had the Ax blade in his right hand, & he took a member of that Tree, without hurt to the body, and he made therewith a Helve for the Ax, and fastened it thereunto. And he turned again towards the sixth Tree, and smote it that it fell to the ground, and so he passed to the Fences of all the other five first, and made breaches upon them, that they may all utterly become a desolation for ever.
And he again said, Even so must it be unto many Oaks and Cedars, and wild Apple Trees, in the Woods, and Wildernesse of the Forrest of the Regions of the Earth. And [...] he returned to the seventh Tree, and digged about it, and pruned it, and it bare Fruit to his pleasure. And he again uttered his word, and said, This is to spread, and I will dig a well by her, and make her field pleasant, and a refreshing River shall compass her banks, that my flocks which I have in secret places may openly feed as one Herd within the compasse of this Fence which I have framed, and will build it round about, that no Thief may reach to tast of her fruit.
And I saw it, and blessed the Lord, and magnified the Name of the Most high God.
Query 10. Is there any pure Religion upon the Face of the Earth, but where the people doth do unto all men as they would men should do unto them, which the light in a mans conscience teacheth to do? And is not all profession of pure Religion and [Page 24] holiness without that pure peaceable practise, any other than abomination and rottennesse in the account of the holy, just God?
Query 11. God blessed me in the womb, and sanctified me in the day of my birth, who hath separated me from the land of my natural nativity; and now how if my love is constrained to be more towards the Seed in the Turk then unto the flesh of Englands Inhabitants? ought I therefore the more to be cursed by my own Nation, or lesse blessed by thy Nation? Or am I faulty to stand against iniquity in the gate, to stop the flood of wrath which is ready to enter in as through a gap? or may I be blamed in wrestling, that blessing may over-spread the length and breadth of thy Dominion?
Query 12. I would not offend the just, or trouble the righteous, yet I enquire of the wise men of thy Court, whether is it against the Law of God, and life of the holy men, to try all things, and hold fast that which is good? and how shall any know the good simply as it comes from the Fountain, so as to be plainly distinguishable from that which is but a shew in hypocrisie? is there any thing that makes manifest, or that can make manifest truth in a mans spirit, and seal it to his heart, beyond the traditions of men or the perswasions of women, besides the light in a mans conscience, which convinceth him of his sins?
Now I querie concerning that which will discover such in the Closet of a mans heart, who are in other Nations, to be a people walking in the pure Religion: there is a stone to try all mettals by.
Query 13. And what is the Touchstone of tryal of all Nations? What is that by which Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac and Iacob walked, who walked by a Rule before Moses was, to whom first the Law in Tables of stone was given? what was the Rule before the Prophets or the Scriptures, and the Law in Tables, by which the Holy men of God had the witnes & testimony of the truth and Kingdom of God, which if the Scriptures and the writings of the Law given in tables of stone, had been always hid from this generation, & the prophets writings from the people of this age, yet might the seed have the same testimony by [Page 25] the same thing which Abel and Enoch had of God, and which Gods servants now have.
Query 14. Hath thy Nation the Faith of living after death? if they have not, I am then answered before I aske; but if they have that Faith, I then enquire, whether is it better to die as a stranger among men for conscience sake, and be received as an everlasting sojourner with the Lord in the endlesse day of blessing, then to be the most acquainted and beloved amongst men, and after the time of man to perish worse then the beasts of the field? And what is honour or profit of riches in this life, to be for ever miserable in the life to come?
Query 15. It was the great sin of the Jews in the dayes of old, in making Idols of Gold, and Silver, and Stone, and Wood, and Men, and Prophets, and of their own strength; it was also their sin in having the Law and the Commandments, and yet walked with loose hearts, worshipping only with their lips and mouth, and in spirit and minde, were strangers to God, the eternal spirit: And is it an evil for me to say, Enquire and see, and search in thy own borders to find out if such a thing, or the resemblance of this thing be not within the compasse of thy Dominion.
Post-script.
[Page 26] Friend, Thus the Lord God gently tries thee, who is jealous of his glory, and yet further will he search thy heart, and try thee as gold, if thy countenance turns unto purity; yet thus far thou mayest not be jealous of any other thing to hurt thee; for behold, God hath turned my face towards the Jews scattered in thy borders, and hanging upon thy skirts, that they may be turned in spirit unto Shiloh, that in peace they may for ever rest in the Dominion, out of all heart-burnings, or evil surmizes, in the best content, not by constraint onely, but of a willing mind and heart in the sight of God.
And the Lord God of truth knoweth the uprightnesse of my heart, that I deceive thee not with flatteries, whose servant I am in dread and fear, and not my own.
JOHN PERROT.
The End
Immanuel The Salvation of ISRAEL.
The Word of the Lord came unto me the twelfth day of the sixth Month, in the year accounted, 1657. concerning the Jews and scattered Tribes of ISRAEL, As I was waiting upon the Lord in spirit, in Legorne in Italy, which in the Name of the Lord I give forth to be copied, and sent throughout the World.
Written by a lover of Righteousnesse, a mourner over the scattered Tribes, a seeker of the lost, that the Remnant may be saved, J. P.
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons at the signe of the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1660.
[Page 1] The word of the Commandment of the Lord to his Servant concerning the scattered Jews in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France Holland, and the rest of the Regions, and every Island throughout the Earth and the Seas, to write these words following to them all.
WHether you will hear, or forbear, this is the word of the Lord God unto all you scattered Jews throughout the whole Earth, God of a truth is arisen to gather unto himself his peculiar Seed, from the four winds of the Earth, that Jacob may possesse and inhabit his inheritance, and the Seed of Israel the Holy Land.1
And according to the Prophets, he hath began at the North, and is streching, and hath streched forth his Arm over the South, and over the East, and over the West.
And behold it cometh to pass, and is at hand, and not as a day afar off, but even nigh unto the door, that the Lord will separate of all Nations, both Jew, and Gentile, the just from the vile, him that feareth God, from him that feareh him not; him that keepeth the Law of God which is written in his heart, (through the sanctification thereof by the power of the Lord ruling in his conscience, mind, spirit and life, from him that in words which professeth God, and his Law and Statutes, and ordinances, and yet walks in his life and daily practices, contrary to the Law written in the heart, which God spake unto Moses saying2, The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it, See, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil.
And unto ye, Oh Jews is the same come, and before you, in the Name of the Lord coming unto you, do I set life and death, light and darknesse, in this the day of the Lord, which is dawned. [Page 2] unto a measure of the Remnant, even in this day which is light and not darknesse, wherein the promise of God is fulfilled, and it came to pass according to the Prophesie, in a day when it3 was neither night nor day, neither dark nor light, but in the evening it was a little light.
And not as from the traditions of my forefathers, or the generations of men in the corrupt and polluted nature, in the degeneration from God, and alienation from the Covenant of life and promise: (who confessed the Messiah as this generation doth, to be come in words, with their corrupted tongues, and polluted lips, but in their works, and by their practise and life, make his coming void, and of non-effect unto them) neither by the reading of the Scriptures came I to know that he was come as he is come, but by the spirit of the Lord, by which I was chosen in the womb, and sanctified in the day of my birth, by which also I am seperated from the Land of my natural nativity, and brought unto the feeling of sorrows in a strange Land for your sakes) I come to know, and now to declare unto you, that Immanuel, who is God with us, who is the light of the world, the Messiah in the power of God, who is a spirit, is come reigning in spirit in the hearts of his people, over whom, and in whom he rules as King, treading down, and trampling upon all principalities and powers, making the Earth new, and the Heavens also, warring against all which is contrary to his own pure nature, in many, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet, and then will he give up the Kingdome to the Father, that God may be all in all.
And for this cause also, even for your sakes (who are of most men despised in heart) I pass as one desolate, and despised, and hated and mocked of many, and many more of the nation of my naturall birth would gladly have my blood; yet am I not forsaken of him that sent me with his message unto you of salvation, and everlasting glad tidings of Redemption.
And now he that hath an ear, let him hear, and a heart to perceive, let him understand.
Be it known unto you all, That God hath more regard to your souls then that you should perish in your sins, and your souls is more precious in his eye (for which he hath ordained life everlasting, [Page 3] for as many as come to believe) then the pleasure and ease of your corrupt careases, which are to rot in Graves and Sepulchres.
And therefore for the Lord to regain his own Image which is lost in man through fall in the transgression, and to r store man unto the same uprightness, where in man was created which was the promise of God unto man in this wise, the seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head.
Behold unto you it is given forth and declared, for the redemption and restauration of the seed, the Messiah came, and now is coming the second time without fin unto salvation, even he cometh now in spirit and in power, who was the Rock whom your Fathers in the Wilderness forsook; and the light of the world whom your Fathers slew at Jerusalem, which brought a grievous curse upon you of being a people troden upon by all the world, and not onely so, but the most lamentable thing and curse which is over you, for which cause my soul mourns for you, that such cruel hard-heartedness, distrust, doubt, jealousies and unbelief, coveting, fraud, deceit, dissimulation, and Hypocrisie hath vailed your hearts, and grossely darkned your understandings.
Oh that is the worst of all! that is the greatest curse, in how much throughout ages, the Iews have been given over unto vile affections, hard-heartedness, sinn and unbelief; which is the cause why ye cannot rightly speak of the things of God, and understand the Prophets writings which were spoken, and do stand as mysteries, yea deep mysteries4 to your thick hearts, your understandings being covered as with a thick cloud of darkness, (which now we the seed Abraham, of the true Jew inwardly5, do walk by the light thereof as a Pillar of fire by night) and therefore said the Lord by his Prophet, for want of knowledge my people perish.
The Prophets they prophesied of the Messiah to come in spirit, in a mystery to the whole world Jew and Gentile, so that when he came he was not received but by the Remnant in them dayes, as he is received now in these dayes; but unto whom the spirit of wisdome and understanding was given, to read and understand that which the Prophets spake forth in Parables, [Page 4] to the whole world6 of mankind, which lay in sin and wicked
And therefore ye Jews now in these dayes, ye ought not to speak of God, or to name his name in perversnesse, whilest ye hate to be reformed in your hearts, minds and spirits, but ye ought to hear the Message of the Lord God, and to ponder it in your hearts, that you may see how farre ye are yet from the Promise, being not come in truth, in spirit and in life, unto the condition thereof fulfilled and made up in you, untill which ye cannot justly expect the fulfilling of the promise unto you in the substance.
For whilest you are in your sins, as your Fathers were in their sins in the day that they slew Jesus at Jerusalem, you cannot but as men in the flesh, look with any other than an eye of flesh, for a God of flesh to come among you, and to save you by the Arm of flesh. Oh blind and sottish, of dull ears and dark understandings! and so could not your Fathers, neither can you now as you stand, see him that cometh to ransome the seed in spirit and in power.
Behold none other but Immanuel the Messiah which is God with us the light of the world that is come unto us, and is passing through the whole world, who will smite the earth with the Rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay7 the wicked.
Now this is wisdome, to know and understand that birth and nature of the wicked in you, and to feel the power of that breath in you, thereby to taste of the pangs of that slaughter in you, and then ye will witness the Messiah come in you in spirit, and in wisdome, and in a deep and quick understanding8, making the Heavens new in you, and the earth new in you, as Solomon saith, God hath set the world in mans heart, wherefore man cannot find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end thereof; he that hath an ear to hear, and heart to understand, may now come to discern and read (Nations, Kingdoms, Countries, Armies, Philistines, Egyptians, Aliens, the seed of the Jew, and the generation of the Gentile) in him, Mountains, heaps of Stons, Sodom Built, and Gomorrah fenced, Jerusalem trodden down, Zion and her [Page 5] Daughter in bondage, and her seed in great Captivity, lamenting as in solitary places, left and forsaken as in a wildernesse, and as a Virgin Daughter in a strange land altogether left comfortlesse, the poor, the widow and the fatherlesse, the blind, the halt, and the maimed, all left without pity; I say, search your hearts in secret, and see if this be not truth, the light of Immanuel, answering in all your consciences and hidden parts.
Again, I say wait upon God, with your minds staid upon the light in all your consciences, and thereby God will shew you, even by the coming of his son Iesus the Messiah the light of the World, the fulfilling of the Law and of the Prophets in you, (that is to say, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and thy Neighbour as thy selfe,) this is the sum and substance of all, which the light in all your consciences if ye follow it in your minds, will perfectly lead to the fulfilling of; and then ye will know that Immanuel the light of the World, came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill the Law; that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit; which is according to the leadings of the light in all our consciences, and this is from the Lord both to the Iew and the Gentile.
Furthermore to the scattered Tribes of the house of Israel, this is the word of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who by a mighty hand and out-stretched arm, by the hand of Moses his Prophet and Messenger unto the seed in Bondage in great Captivity, brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: Even vnto you Oh ye Jews this is the word of the dreadfull Lo [...]d God of Hosts, and as a sign unto you, and among you, and in you, it shall stand unto the end of your dayes, if you perish in unbeliefe and in your sins; that the Messiah is come, Jesus whom your Fathers slew through unbelief and hard-heartednesse in their dayes, who slew him for saying in words, that which they themselves did own concerning themselves in the substance, according to their profession, that is to say, he declared that he was the Son of God, and therefore they put him to death [Page 6] as a Blasphemer, and they said that God was their Father, yet were in their wilfulnesse so far blinded that they could not discern that their words in manner of the declaration, tended to the same thing, and was of the same nature, and this shall stand the sign thereof unto the end, if ye perish in unbelief to your perpetuall judgment, that he hath lightned you all with his true light which shineth in all your conscences, which sheweth you in secret the deceitfulnesse of your hearts, and convinceth you in your minds, of lying, cheating, coveting, envy and of all sin and unrighteousnesse, (which is not according to the Law of God, written in your hearts, this sign) the light in your consciences shall never dye in you, which all your burning Lamps, and washings, and Altars, and vails, and holiest of holiest, and all the other ceremonies were but signs and figures and shadows of this everlasting signe and substance, which shall perpetually stand to justifie you if you love it, and follow it, and walk according to it, or to condemne you for evermore if ye hate it, and walk contrary to it.
And be it also known unto you, that if you expect another Messiah then him that is come (which is Immanuel, God with us in spirit and in life and power) leading out of sin, the land of bondage and darknesse, and in vertue, and in wisedome, and in counsel, and in judgment, not judging according to the seeing of the eye, or hearing of the eare, but with righteous judgment in spirit, who searcheth every spirit, and the bottome of every heart with his light in every conscience; ye are but Seekers unto this day for flesh to come, yet farther to be an ease unto your flesh, and to purchase more ease and liberty for your flesh, in which state ye already stand, even in the ease and lust of the flesh, which God Almighty by the coming of his Son will destroy, for because of sin and iniquitie, and men living in the ease and lust of the flesh, the Lord God will hasten judgement upon the earth.
Now consider, search and see, ponder it and lay it to heart, that you may know what you have waited for; that you may understand whether you have waited and sought for the true thing to come to pass, that henceforth ye may seek aright, else you may all waite till your limbs fails you, and your eyes perish [Page 7] in their holes, end in the end you fail of the expectation and fulfilling of your vain conceptions, and blind imaginations; wait therefore in spirit in humility of heart, that Immanuel the light of the World, Jesus the Messiah, by whom ye are lightened, ye may come to know and feel the power of his light in your consciences, by it leading you out of all your sinnes and iniquities, which is Satans bond, the Devils chain of darknesse, linking you together in hard-heartednesse, and binding you in the lusts, ceremonies, customes, and traditions of blindness and ignorance, thereby ruling in your minds and spirits, that knowing9 him, ye may also know by him the breaking of the bonds of Hell, and the disanulling of the Covenant, which is made with death, & ye set at liberty in life and spirit, to serve the Lord God10 of life who is a spirit (and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity or countenance sinners in their evil wayes) in the uprightness of your hearts and integrity of your souls, that ye may be made unto him the praise of his name throughout the whole earth, according to his promise, that so ye may descern and feel the curse removed and taken from you, which for many ages past, hath stood upon the heads of the generations of your forefathers, and remains unto this time upon you, untill the eye of your minds which the God of this world hath blinded, be opened by the Messiah, which is come and coming to open the eye of the blind, and to give the simple11 an understanding to discern the day of redemption, and to be made partaker of his hour of salvation, which is held and hid in a mystery, who is appointed for a way12, and to be a high way for the ransomed of the Lord, such as the wayfaring men, though fools shall not erre therein.
Oh how do I mourn! Oh how do I travel as in pain and great grief and sorrow for your sakes O ye Iews! reading, seeing and feeling, that darknes which is over your hearts, even the same which was, and is in Egypt (Spiritual Sodom and Egypt) even such thick darkness as may be felt.
Oh why do ye yet in your hearts seek murther? Why say and contend ye for more blood? Seeing the slaughtered Lamb is already come, whom you say is to come, and not yet come; for if he were to come, whom I declare in the name of the Lord [Page 8] is already come, behold your generation are to be his slaughterers, and the shedders of his innocent blood, for the fulfilling of the Prophets, that by the offering of his blood once for all, he may for ever perfect them whom God sanctifies, read Isa. 53. Chapter, which is fulfilled, and see how far you put our selves from salvation, by seeking yet cruelty & murder in your hearts, which your unbelief and wilfulnesse is the ground of.
How many signs would ye have? ye have heared how many were shewed unto Pharoah, yet would not he let Israel go free, and will ye have, or do ye seek greater then the Sun to be darkned, and the Moon not to give her light, and the stars of heaven13 to fall? and is not this manifest unto thousands? And cannot you yet read within? Will you say that you believe all that the Prophets have written? Or can you say so, and speak truth, whilest you have not that spirit by which the Prophets writ forth the Scriptures? Or could your Fathers understand the writings of the Prophets, who wickedly persecuted and slew the Prophets? Nay, nay.
Behold this is the word of the Lord unto you all, Iesus the Messiah hath cast his Rod before Pharoah, the Prince of darkness in you, and it is become a serpent which woundeth you in secret (I speak unto you that have any sense or the least feeling of God) and it devours your rods, yea and will eat your life, and will bring all the plagues of Pharaoh upon you, (for as much as your unbelief is but his sin) untill destruction unto death as a flood overwhelms you, except ye repent, that God may be intreated for you.
And know ye that God hath been long suffering, and now sheweth his mercy in this visitation of his love unto you, shewing you the Messiah which is come, and hath lightened you, and is the light of the Gentiles also, that he may be the salvation of God unto the ends of the earth.14
Of a truth from this ye cannot be hid15, neither can ye in righteousnesse deny but that ye are lightned with the light of the world, which is Immanuel the light of the Gentilies, which also enlightneth the understanding of the Jews, else16 could not the Jews unto this day understand that Moses was a Prophet of [Page 9] the Lord, for he was and is the same, even the word from the beginning, which God said unto Moses is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, which shewed him the Law to be nigh, and not to be sought for from a strange Land, by which the children of Israel were condemned for their sins, so that the guilt thereof stood upon their heads from year to yeare, as in like manner the guilt of your transgressions stands unto this day upon your heads, which your sacrifices cannot clear you in your consciences from, for it is impossible that the carnall things can make satisfaction unto infinite justice, which standeth over, and measureth all transgression, and therefore saith the Prophet, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? and bow my selfe before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams?17 Or with ten thousand Rivers of oyl? Shall I give my first borne for my transgression, the fruits of my body, for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee O man what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee? but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
In this ye are all concluded with the great idolaters of the earth, and with the Arminans and heathens also, they have their Images without, that is to say, beads, crosses, pictures, vessels, and herein the Jews in the nature are also one with them, who have their synagogues, and vessels, and Offerings, and knows not him whom you imagine you make offerings unto, and these are offerings of strange fire unto the Lord, for which cause God hath not regard unto your services; for your Fathers forsook the fountain of living mercies in their dayes18, and then he spake by the mouth of his Prophet, saying who hath required these things at your hands? your solemn meetings are abomination unto me.
And ye are now in the same footsteps of your forefathers in the corrupt way of sin, and blind path of hard heartedness and unbelief, and yet ye say, ye worship19 God aright; and furthermore this is your great sin and dangerous evil, as other professions, have their abominable Idolatries in the shew without, your Idols are set up in your hearts, and ye put the stumbling block of your iniquity before your face; read diligently with true understanding, Isa. 8.14,15. and marke your stumbling offence20 and fall.
And with you in the [Page 10] same nature all the Protestants, Presbyterians, Independants, Baptists, Seekers, Ranters, and the rest called Christians in general do worship, although you and they are all divers in the Traditions of your and their Fathers in the manner of the practising your services, yet in the substance, you are but one, that is to say, Cains nature ruling in you all, who offered a sacrifice and killed the just in him; he killed just Abel without him, and that nature which murdered Abel without him slew the just within him, and so your severall words, and diversities of opinions, which stands but in the shadow, is not at all that which makes a difference, in the ground and substance, being all but in one nature of transgression, and way of the ungodly in unrighteousness; and you cannot one stain or spot another, or take glory unto your selves over another, seeing the best of all your sects upon the face of the earth, are but speckled beasts, and parti-coloured birds, and not one of you all are come into the way of the promise of God, which is come to pass, wherein the ransomed of the Lord shall onely walk, and no unclean thing can tread therein.
And as for us who are the remnant of God, and his seed gathered to his honour, praise, infinite, endlesse, everlasting glory; all ungodliness and worldly lusts our life abhors, and we are the redeemed of the Lord, through the purchase of the blood of Immanuel, the light with us, and in us, by which we are kept in the pure fear of the Lord God eternal, to spread his name among you, unto whom also the promise is, that the seed shall be gathered.
God hath begun in the north Islands to perfect his prais throughout the earth; and because the Lord hath redemeed us from Nations, Kindreds, Countries, tongues and people, we are dispised of all Nations, both Jew and Gentile, and of the scornfull people of our own Nation England, are called Quakers, who are the Servauts of the Lord in spirit.
This is written by an upright tender lover of all souls,
John Perrot.
THE END.
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Isa 41. 25. Jer. 23. 6, 7, 8. Jer. 16. 14, 15, 16. Ezek. 20. 41. to the end. ↩︎
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Deut. 30. 14; 15. ↩︎
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[...]ch. 14. ↩︎
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Ezek. 17. 2. ↩︎
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Hos 4 1, to 9. Jer. 23. 22 Jer 31. 22 Jer. 30. 6. ↩︎
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[...]k. 20. ↩︎
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[...]sa. 11. 4. ↩︎
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Isa. 11. 2. Eccle. 3. 11 ↩︎
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Isa. 28. ↩︎
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Hab. 1. 13. ↩︎
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Isa 42. 7. ↩︎
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Isa. 35. 8. ↩︎
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[...]oel 2. 31. ↩︎
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Isa. 49.6. ↩︎
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Isa. 60. 1. 3. 19. ↩︎
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Isa. 42. 6. ↩︎
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Mic 6. 6. 7. 8. ↩︎
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Jer. 2.3. ↩︎
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Isa. 1.11,12,13,14. ↩︎
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Ezek. 1 ↩︎
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