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to the Jews and Gentiles, unless they came and told them what condition they were in? or did all the Jews and Gentiles come and tell the apostles what condition they were in before they preached to them?

P. He saith, The light in man is imperfect, a weak, faint light,' page 97. Again, 'The light in the Gentiles is called a natural light,' page 88.

A. The light that every man hath that cometh into the world, is not an imperfect light, a weak, nor faint light, nor a natural light; but they who are weak, go from it, and faint, and hate it, and despise it, as Esau, and run into the earth. But those who believe it, have the light of life; and who receive it, become the sons of God. And the light in the Gentiles, which brought them to do the law, was spiritual, not natural; whom the apostle sets up to be the circumcision, and the Jew inward; and throws out the Jew outward, and circumcision both. And this brings to have 'praise of God,' which the Jews had not in the outward, and makes the Jew no Jew, and their circumcision no circumcision, and judges them, and all professors upon the earth that are from that that doth the law in their heart, and the Jew inward. And you are from that, who stand against the light of Christ that doth enlighten, &c.

P. He saith, if any hypocrite reign, his power is of God: and saints are to yield to the power, and it must be honoured, and have obedience from the saints, page 101. And so they that call them corrupt magistrates, are the filthy dreamers that Jude speaks of," page 102.

A. Such as are turned into corruption, and are hypocrites, are gone from the higher power, which the soul should be subject to, and it is gone over them; and so for the Lord's sake the saints cannot be subject to that power, but to the power that brings down the hypocrisy, and the corruptions in magistrates; and as they come to be clothed with the power of God, they are able to put a difference betwixt the precious and the vile; and that the saints own; those are a praise to them that do well. The Jews of old time, that feared God, that lived in the law of God, could not obey the heathen magistrates, bow to their gods, nor to their commands, nor their power or authority. Nor could the apostles bow to the authority of the Jews, to their ordinances which Christ came to put an end to, nor the power that held them up, nor that among the Gentiles, held up by the magistrates. For Christ was come to reign, who had all power in heaven and earth given to him. And since the days of the apostles the saints cannot bow to that which the pope, and kings, and queens set up in the apostacy, though they call it a supreme power that commands the things. But who are in the power of God, it destroys that which defiles the flesh, and the evil speaker, and that is the dignity which the saints own and live in, and speak not

evil of, but they who do so transgress the spirit of God, and go from it, and are such as Jude speaks of. Therefore have the martyrs, saints, and prophets suffered, since the days of the apostles, by the beast, the false prophets, and the great whore, which have been in the power of the devil that went out of truth: and that the saints were not subject to. But now Christ is come to reign, and the Lamb and the saints shall have the victory; and the higher power is owned, that is higher than all the transgressors upon earth, that reaches to the soul, and the transgressed principle of God in every man upon the earth; for the beast's power hath set up your tithes, temples, and colleges, and compelled men to worship it, which the saints could not do, and therefore have suffered by it, who have worshipped God in the spirit and truth, that the devil is out of; and such were in the higher power.

P. He saith, 'There is a kind of infiniteness in the soul; and it cannot be infiniteness in itself,' page 103.

A. Is not the soul without beginning, coming from God, returning into God again, who hath it in his hand, which hand goes against him that does evil, which throws down that which wars against it? And Christ the power of God, the bishop of the soul, which brings it up into God, and which came out from him, hath this a beginning or ending? And is not this infinite in itself, and more than all the world? P. He saith, The soul is a creature; and yet it is a noble power, and an essence, and is the appetite, fancy,' &c. Again he saith, he knows that the soul is a spiritual thing, and cannot be divided into parts and powers, as being one single entire essence,' page 107.

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A. The soul is in the death in transgression, so man's spirit is not sanctified while the soul is in death. And fancy, appetite, anger, pleasure, &c. which thou sayst are taken for the soul usually, and called the soul,' are they that war against it: thus thou divides the soul, which is one, into parts, and art ignorant of it, and yet thou hast said it cannot be divided! So thou art in confusion in Babylon. The soul being living, and the spirit sanctified, that diligent hearkening is come to where the counsel of God is stood in, his voice heard, his hand felt, that the soul comes up into, that comes from God; that is living and immortal, and gives a creature its feeling, and sensibleness to divine things: and so the covenant of God comes to be received wherein the soul lives to the bishop of it, which is immortal, and then that birth of the new creature is known, whereby the spirit of man is sanctified, and the God of the spirits of all flesh is known. Now where the power and life guides up to God the Father of life, that works down and directs the mind up to God, the immortal to the immortal, whereby light springs, Christ is known, and the soul praiseth God the saviour, who, in its low estate, hath regarded and reached down to it. Now where

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the light is hated, and that of God within transgressed, (that doth pertain to the righteous law of God, and answers it,) the spirit of man is not sanctified; and man's understanding being darkened, the higher power is denied, the soul comes into death, transgressing of the law is known, the witness is buried which should guide the mind, whereby the soul should live in the diligent hearkening. Hereby man comes to be defiled, and his spirit, and body, and mind, whereby he glorifies not God in his body, and soul, and spirit, and glorifies not the God of the spirits of all flesh. Hereby he comes to be an alien and a stranger to the life of God, and his ways and covenant. And thou sayst The soul is a spiritual thing, and yet a creature, an appetite, and fancy.' Every man that cometh into the world, though they be in the first Adam, have a light from Christ the second Adam, the bishop of their souls. So every one being turned to the light which Christ the second Adam hath enlightened them withal, they shall see the bishop of their souls, Christ the power of God, which is immortal, and brings the immortal soul into the immortal God. Christ is their sanctification, who sanctifies their spirits, and bodies, and brings the soul up into God, from whom it came, whereby they come to be one soul. For in the lusts of the world, and the affections of it, is the war against it, and there are the powers of wickedness. The soul must be in the higher power, higher than the flesh, which stains the man, spirit and body, and the powers of wickedness. So the light being turned to, man receiveth the spirit of God, which sanctifies him, the spirit of sanctification in Christ Jesus the sanctification and redemption. So every man that cometh into the world has a light from Christ Jesus, the way out of the fall, the second Adam, and receiving the light he receives his redemption and sanctification, whereby his spirit, body, and soul are sanctified.

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P. He saith, The binding of satan shall not be by a personal reign of Christ in a body.' He saith, The Quaker denies the light written in Scripture:' and saith, When ye pretend most love to Christ within, and light within, ye deny the Lord that bought you; and the high talk of a light within, goes out for ever into utter darkness.'

A. Who own the light within,' and 'Christ within,' and are come into it, own the Lord that bought them, Christ, and no other; and they that receive not this within, are reprobates, without him, yet talk of him as the devils, false prophets, and deceivers. And they that go from the light within, go into utter darkness, and stumble, and do not know whither they go, and want the garments, the Lamb's clothing. And so, he that believes in the light within, hath the witness in himself,' abides not in the darkness, nor in the condemnation, but hath the light of life. And the light within that shines in the heart, gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.'

And who know satan bound, and the false prophet, antichrist, beast, and mother of harlots taken and cast into the fire, know Christ to reign, and know his bodily presence; they know his flesh, and are of his flesh and of his bone, and his spirit, and mind, and power, who hath all power in heaven and earth given to him; they are over the devil, over the antichrists, false prophets, beast, and mother of harlots, reign above their power, triumph, and tread upon their power; and this is known by the light within. And now doth Christ reign in his saints, and the paradise of God is known, and Eden, where all things are sanctified, and blessed, and good; where there is no curse, but blessing. And he that went out of this, earthly Adam, transgressed and disobeyed, which brought the death upon all his posterity. But who are come in through the obedience of another, the second Adam, Christ Jesus, who became the curse, and took away the curse, who is the sanctification, and brings the blessing and redemption, (by and through whom are many entered into the paradise of God,) have the right to the tree of life. And they are not come into this who are yet in the disobedience. The unbeliever, liar, reviler, whoremonger, and adulterer, hate the light, in the disobedience, and cannot touch the tree of life, for the sword turns every way upon them.

And as for all thy hard expressions and revilings in thy book, they come from the disobedience, over which the sword is that keeps it in awe, over whom goes the higher power, and that cannot touch nor taste of the tree of life in the paradise of God, in the Ancient of days. Thou shalt feel my words to be truth.

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Robert Simpson, Robert Parnell, John Andrews, Thomas Ewen,
Bryan Hanson, and Richard Moon, in their book called, The,
Church of Christ in Bristol recovering her veil.'
Their princi-
ples follow.

It is a true word to you: you are recovering the veil more than the life and substance, that takes away all veils, as your principles in your book make manifest.

P. You say, 'Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. And also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things, and draw many disciples after them. And they went out from us: it is manifest they are not of us.' 1 John ii,&c. A. You have brought these words to show your ignorance; for the apostles saw such as should 'depart from the faith,' and the false pro

phets and antichrists, that Christ said should come, John saw were come, and went forth from them before the apostles' decease. They went forth from the church, and departed from the faith, in which faith the church had unity, and this they apostatized from; they have had the sheep's clothing, and so got up an imagined church with a veil on it, in the apostacy. And these were they that drew disciples after them, who caused the way of truth to be evil spoken of;' and the 'seducing spirits, and the doctrine of devils,' have been up since the days of the apostles, which they saw come in before their decease; and such went from the faith, in which is the unity.' And thus they are in the enmity, destroying, persecuting, and prisoning one another about religion, church, doctrine, and scriptures, and Christ's, the prophets', and apostles' words; which shows they are out of unity with God, and with the scriptures, and there you are; and out of the faith that works by love,' by which they should heap coals of fire on the heads of all the adversaries. And so this is the dawning of the day, the ending of the night of apostacy; you who are of the skirts of the great whore are seen, as you have manifested yourselves by the tale you have told to the world in your book, who style yourselves, the Church of Christ,' which is made up by the letter. How want ye the life the saints lived in, that gave forth the scriptures! Oh! ye want the covering of the spirit of the Lord God. And now being departed from the faith, ye are the false spirits and false prophets that Christ said should come, that would get the sheep's clothing, but be inwardly ravening wolves, whose fruits should declare them;' which John saw were come, which went forth from them, which led the world after them; and the false apostles, and satan's ministers and messengers, which the apostle saw come up before his decease. These, since the days of the apostles, have been the guides and leaders of the world, and teachers, and gatherers of people into names, into heads, into horns, whereby one hath been against another; they have gathered people out of peoples, and brought people to a head, and not to Christ, and yet all have professed themselves Christians. So they have had the sheep's clothing, but inwardly ravened from the spirit of God, and so have been wolves, tearing the lambs to pieces, yea, and many goats and beasts too sometimes, whose fruits have sufficiently declared them since the days of the apostles, and in this nation. And these have deceived the world, and have been the wrestlers against flesh and blood, strikers at the creature; such as have departed from the faith,' ravened from the spirit, gone forth from the apostles, had the sheep's clothing, have been the teachers and gatherers into sects, and names, and heaps; and every one will cry, his church,' his church,' and all against the light which comes from Christ, in which the church stands.

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