in the hearts which have received and been subject to his light?

And now what hinders, but that ye also should lift up your heads, and see the coming of the Son of man in the clouds wherein he comes, and partake of the redemption, virtue, and power of his appearance? What are the clouds wherein he comes? Is his coming outward? Or are the clouds outward? Or is his coming inward and spiritual in ten thousands of his saints? Did not Enoch see that he was to come so to judge the world? Doth he not come to be glorified in his saints? Are not they to judge the world?— they in him, he in them? Oh! read aright; read with the Spirit, and with the understanding which is thereof; and then the truth of the letter will be manifest and shine in you. There is nothing stands in your way, but want of a spiritual eye to see his spiritual appearance in others (and so to wait for it in yourselves), even the eye of faith, which sees the invisible power and glory, as the Lord openeth it, and maketh manifest to it.

Now, this I have to say to you, in true sense and understanding: Come down to the Gentile's light, come down to that which God hath dispensed to the Gentile, as well as to the Jew; which is the word (or commandment) nigh in the mouth and heart. This hath been the lowest of all, despised by all; and this is in the heart of God to exalt over all; for it is above all. The lowest in its descent from the Father; the highest in its ascent to the Father. This is the thing which man ran from, when the veil came over him; which all the shadows of the law were to point out and signify. And as man is brought again to this, life springs in him, and the powerful redemption of the eternal word is witnessed by him. Yea, he that hears the voice of this, though he were ever so dead in trespasses and sins, shall feel life spring in him, and the covenant of life inwardly revealed, which, by the pure faith and obedience, is the entrance into, and the abiding in. And this is the one truth, the one pure, eternal word and way to the Father, which was from the beginning, and remains the same unto the end. This

is the door, at which all hitherto have entered into life, at which all do still enter, and there is no other. Blessed for ever is he, who hath made it so manifest and plain in this our day; and blessed are they that see it, and enter into life at it!

A VISIT

Of tender and upright love

TO SUCH AS, AMONG THE MANY PROFESSIONS AND WAYS OF RELIGION, RETAIN ANY MEASURE OF SINCERITY OF HEART,

AND TRUE DESIRES AFTER The Lord.

THE main thing in religion is to receive a principle of life from God, whereby the mind may be changed, and the heart made able to understand the mysteries of his kingdom, and to see and walk in the way of life; and this is the travail of the souls of the righteous, that they may abide, grow up, and walk with the Lord in this principle; and that others also, who breathe after him, may be gathered into, and feel the virtue of, the same principle.

But there is one that stands in the way to hinder this work of the Lord, who, with great subtlety, strives to keep souls in captivity, and to prejudice them against the precious living appearances of the redeeming power of the Lord.

One great way whereby he doth this is by raising up in them a fear lest they should be deceived and betrayed, and instead of obtaining more, lose that little of God which they have. With this I was exercised long; and still, when life stirred in my heart, then this fear was raised in me; so that I durst not in judgment close with what, secretly in spirit, I felt to be of God, it having a true touch of his quickening, warming, convincing, enlivening virtue in it.

Now, that this snare may be escaped by such as breathe after the Lord, oh! let them wait, mourn, and cry to him, that he would write his pure fear in their hearts, and teach

them when to fear, and how to fear, and what to fear; and in that (or as that is brought forth in them) they shall see that they have more cause to fear their present state, than to fear that which, in the quickening warmth and virtue of God, comes to make a change in their present state; yea, they shall then see how the enemy now causeth them to fear, where no fear is; and keepeth them from fearing, where the fear is. For what is the ground of fear now? This is the great thing that they should fear, lest they should not hear the call of the Spirit of the Lord out of Babylon; out of that part of Babylon out of which they have not yet travelled; and lest they should not hear and mind the call of his Spirit unto Zion, the holy mount of God, towards and unto which he leadeth his people, in this day of the revelation and manifestation of his glorious love and power.

Oh! therefore, my friends, ye that long after the Lord, ye that desire to feel the power of his truth, wait for the principle of life from him to be revealed in you, and the pure fear which is therefrom, that ye may feel the Lord thereby and therein (even in and through that principle) writing his fear, his pure fear, his holy fear, his powerfullypreserving fear, in your hearts; that ye may know the way to him, the seed (which is the way), may come and join to him therein, and never depart from him. The fear of the Lord, from the principle of his life, will, without fail, effect this in you as ye receive it from the Lord; but the other fear, the fear which the enemy begets, will not do it; but will be a bar and sore stop in your way, till the Lord, by his holy power, through his tender mercy, remove it from you.

And now answer me one question uprightly, as in God's sight, from whom it is in my heart to propound it to you.

Are you come to Zion, or are ye travelling thitherward rightly and truly? Have ye ever known any of the travellers that ye have been acquainted with, that could in truth say, that they were come to Zion? The Christians, in the primitive times, were come to Zion, and they were ac

quainted and dwelt with God and Christ there; and knew Jerusalem, the heavenly building, the city of the living God. Oh! where are ye? Nay, are ye yet come out of Babylon? Do ye yet know the wilderness, the intricate passages therein, wherethrough God alone can lead the soul? Oh! depart ye, depart ye from your present stations (in the leadings of God's Spirit), unless ye can say, in the true, unerring light, that they are your rest, your soul's true rest, even the everlasting kingdom, which the primitive Christians received, and into which they found entrance, which could not be shaken.

And, friends, let me tell you one thing further (for my heart is at this present opened to you by the Lord), that as the soul, in its travels, comes to Zion, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is witnessed, which makes free from the law of sin and death. And then there is no more such a crying out of the body of sin as there was before: but a blessing of him who hath delivered, and daily doth deliver, from it: yea, the body of sin is known and felt to be put off, and Christ put on in the stead thereof. For, my friends, there are several states witnessed by the soul, in its true and sensible travels towards the holy land. As for instance:

1. There is a state of Egyptian darkness and bondage, in which the power of death reigns and rules in the heart, subjecting it to sin and death. And here the soul is in the grave, and under death, captivity, and bondage, in the midst of all its professions of religion, and talk of God and Christ, and reading scriptures, and observing ordinances and duties, &c.

2. There is a wilderness state, wherein the strength of captivity is somewhat broken, and the heart drawn to mind. the leadings of life, and to follow after the Lord through the trials, through the preparations, through the several exercises, which the Lord seeth good to exercise it with.

And here the mercy and goodness of the Lord is experienced, and the deceitfulness and treachery of the heart. This is the place of humiliation and breaking, wherein the soul daily feels how untoward and unaccustomed it is to the

theben to fear, and how to fear, and what to fear; and ss that is brought forth in them) they shall see

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