Immanuel the Salvation of Israel

IMMANUEL The Salvation of ISRAEL.

The word of the Lord came unto me the twelfth day of the sixth Month, in the Year accompted, 1657.

Concerning the IEWES 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 Righteousness, 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 Bull and Mouth, neer Alders-gate, 1658.

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.

VVHether 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 stretching, and hath stretched forth his Arm over the South, and over the East, and over the West.

And behold it cometh to passe, 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 feareth him not; him that keepeth the Law of God which is written in his heart, (through the sanct [...]fica­tion 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 saying. 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.{2} 

And unto ye, Oh Jews is the same come, and before you, in the Name of the Lord coming unto you, do I see life and death, light and darknesse, in this the day of the Lord, which is dawn­ed 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 passe according to the Prophesie, in a day when it 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 separated 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 do 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, untill 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, for as many as come to believe) then the pleasure and ease of your corrupt carcases, which are to rot in the Graves and Sepulchres.

And therefore for the the Lord to regain his own Image which is lost in man through fall in the transgression, and to restore man unto the same uprightnesse, wherein 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 sin 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 Ierusalem; which brought a 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 grossly 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; sinne and unbelief; which is the cause why ye cannot rightly speak of the things of God, and understand the Prophets writings which were spoken,{4} and do stand as mysteries, yea deep mysteries to your thick hearts, your understandings being covered as with a thick cloud of darkness, (which now we the seed of Abraham, of the true Iew inwardly,{5} 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 Iew 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, to the whole world of mankind, which lay in sin and wick­edness.{6} 

And therefore ye Iews now in these dayes, ye ought not to speak of God, or to name his name in perversenesse, 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 Iesus at Ierusalem, 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 Arme 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 slay the wicked.

Now this is wisdome, to know and understand that birth, and nature of the wicked in you,{7} 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 understanding; making the Heavens new in you,{8} 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, Philistins, Egypti­ans, Aliens, the seed of the Iew, and the Generation of the Gentile) in him, Mountains, heaps of Stones, Sodom built, and Gomorrah fenced, Ierusalem trodden down, Zion and her 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.

Againe I say waite 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 minde, and with all thy soul, and thy Neighbour as thy self,) 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 to 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 Iacob, who by a mighty hand and cut-stretched arme, 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 unto you Oh ye Iews this is the word of the dreadfull Lord 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, Iesus 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 as a Blasphemer, and they said that God was their Father, yet were in their wilfullnesse so far blinded that they could not discerne, 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 judgement, that he hath lightned you all, with his true light which shineth in all your consciences 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 holyest of holyest, 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 have 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 in power), leading out of sin, the land of bondage and darknesse and in vertue, and in wisdome, and in counsel, and in judgement, not judging according to the seeing of the eye, or hearing of the eare, but with righteous judgement in spirit, who searches 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 iudge­ment 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 in their holes, and 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, Iesus 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 darkness, 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,{9} that knowing 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, and ye set at liberty in life and spirit to serve the Lord God 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,{10} that ye may be made unto him the praise of his name throughout the whole earth, ac­cording to his promise; that so ye may discern 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,{11}which is come and coming to open the eye of the blind, and to give the simple 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,{12} who is appointed for a way, 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; (Spirituall 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 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 your selves from salvation, by seeking yet cruelty and murder in your hearts, which your unbelief and wilfulnesse is the ground of.

How many signs would ye have? ye have heard how many were shewed unto Pharaoh, yet would not he let Israel go free, and will ye have,{13} or do ye seek greater then the Sun to be dark­ned, and the Moon not to give her light, and the Stars of hea­ven 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, whil [...]sty you have not that spi [...]i [...] 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 Pharaoh 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, (forasmuch as your unbelief is but his sin) un [...]ill destruction unto death as a flood overwhelms you, exept 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 hid, neither can ye in righ­teousnesse deny but that ye are lightned with the light of the world, which is Immanuel the light of the Gentiles, which al­so enlightneth the understanding of the Iews, {15} else could not the Iews unto this day understand that Moses was a Prophet of 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 year, 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 Iustice, which standeth over, and measureth all transgression, and therefore saith the Prophet,{16} Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? and bow my self before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? VVill the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams? Or with ten thousand Rivers of oyle? 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 [...] 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 Arminians and heathens also, they have their Images without, that is to say, beads, crosses, pictures, vessels, and herein the Iews 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 fi [...]e unto the Lord; for which cause God hath not regard unto your services{17} for your Fathers forsook the Fountain of living mercies in their dayes, and then he sp [...]ke by the mouth of his Prophet,{18} 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 corrupted way of sin and blind path of hard-heartedness and unbelief, and yet ye say ye worship 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,{19} 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, offence, and fall.

And with you in the same nature all the Protestants, Presbyte­rians, Independants, Baptists, Seekers, Ranters, and the rest called Christians in generall, 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 unlean 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 wordly 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 began in the north Islands to perfect his praise throughout the earth; and because the Lord hath redeemed us from Nations, Kindreds, Countries, tongues and people, we are despised of all Nations, both Iew and Gentile, and of the scornful people of our own Nation England, are called Quakers, who are the Servants of the Lord in spirit.

This is written by an upright tender lover of all souls Iohn Perrot.

Errata.

P. 8. l. 27. for iniquity read Inquiry, p. 24 l. 27. for urk read Turk.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES

1. Isa 41. [...] 25. Jer. 13.6. 7, 8. Jer 16.14, 15, 16. Ezek. [...] 41 to the end.

2. Deut. 20.14, 15.

3. Zach. 14 7.

4. Ezek. 17 2.

5. Hos 4.1.2:3:4:5.6, 7, 8, 9. Ier. 23.22. Ier. 31.22. Ier. 30 6

6. Ezek. 20 49.

7. Isa. 11.4.

8. Isa. 11.2 Eccles 3.11.

9. Isa. 28.

10. Hab. 18.1.13.

11. Isa. 42.7.

12. Isa. 35.8

13. Joel 2.31

14. Isa. 49.6. Isa. 60.1.13.19.

15. Isa. 42.6.

16. Mic. 6.6, 7.8.

17. Ier 2.3.

18. Isa 1.11 12, 13, 14.

19. Ezek. 14.4.