A VOICE FROM THE Close or Inner PRISON, UNTO ALL THE Upright in Heart, Whether they are BOND OR FREE.  
LONDON, Printed for the Author, 1662.   

A Voice from the close or inner Prison unto the upright in heart, whether they are Bond or free.  
THe night of thick darkness, or ignorance, bondage and affliction is far spent; the day of Redemption, the welcome year of general Jubilee, and glorious liberty of the Sons of God is at hand; the Daystar of the lightsome Morning is already risen in the hearts of hundreds and thousands of Saints: Yea clouds of Angels, or ministering Spirits are impowered, and coming from the heavenly Temple, to proclaim and publish it by sound of Trumpet.  
By terrible things in righteousness will the God of Salvation now answer them that have waited on him: His swift messengers from above are commissionated to pour their Vials forth, and destroy the third part of all that grows in the earthly nature, or bodily form of things, as also of all creatures whose life is in a troubled boiling Sea; and many men must die by the bitter waters of affliction, who have not faith to sweeten them by the tree of Life, being cast into them: yea the very heavenly Lights themselves, whether that rule by day or by night, viz. Sun, Moon and Stars, must lose the third part of their lustre; and woe, woe, woe, to the Inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the other voices and trumpets that are for to follow.  
But oh ye meek ones of the earth, that have sought righteousness and meekness, who therefore have been, are, and shall be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger; the time is coming, and now is, when the Holy one of Israel shall beautify you with Salvation to the astonishment of earthly kindreds and people. You that have sown long in tears, the time of reaping the joyful harvest of all your labours, travels, hardships and sufferings, inward and outward, is at hand, and your joy is of that new nature, that no man can take from you.  
Oh ye that have long obscured yourselves in silence to seek the pearl of price, even the innocent, harmless, patiented, long-suffering suffering life (by the blood) of the Lamb, which as it lost its living lustre in earthly ease, power, and prosperity; so of late hath it shined forth to all beholders in burning fiery trials, and having discovered this inheritance of the Saints in light, have forsaken and sold all to purchase it. Behold the clear evidence of your matchless wisdom, and immortal state will soon appear, for all that's mortal will shrink and consume, in that fervent heat, whereby the old world's Elements or Foundations shall melt, and the heavens of visible worships themselves will pass away with a great noise; then will that which cannot be shaken or consumed remain; not impaired but improved in virtue, strength and power, convincing both apostate Professor and open Profane, between whom ye have suffered as fools gladly, that you have wisely chosen the better part, by keeping the word of Christ's patience without fainting.  
To you shall come the first Dominion, that stand as Towers or He-goats of the flock, having withstood all encounters both within and without against Satan and his instruments; enabled thereunto not by a sound of words, but by an Almighty power, whereby through weakness being made strong, and willing by resisting even unto blood, to overcome; you have not minded the conquest that saves Life in stead of losing it, but with a ready willing mind yielding to the loss of all in that war, wherein is no discharge.  
You that can stand still in this manner resigned and sincerely given up into the will and custody of your faithful Creator, without a double mind that consults to hear what flesh and blood can say, which cannot inherit that glorious kingdom of God, consisting in righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Ghost; nothing can hinder your admittance thereunto, whose union in death, and sufferings is so firm with Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; that over worldly distress and tribulations of all kinds, you are become more than Conquerors through him that loves you.  
The Captain of our Salvation hath led the way before us, and all you that have thus followed, the gates of hell itself can never prevail to hinder your interest in his reign and glory: Nevertheless Satan's winnowings and sift of you may be for some small time frequent and many, until by your finishing upon the Cross your Father's work, your hearts and souls become dry places, wherein though the unclean spirit of this world seeks its rest, yet finds none; and the Prince thereof, being thus judged hath nothing, when he cometh in you: for as there is no way to kill the fear of Death, but by loving it in order to an abiding life, so, no resurrection can be to life, but by dying to all on this side it; and in this Grave mystical or literal, wherein no man of the mere first or natural birth, which is of the earth earthly, ever lay, are always buried those carnal fears, vain hopes and false joys, which are Satan's various Engines of deceivable unrighteousness, to corrupt and beguile unstable souls, whose conversation still is only in the changeable glory of the first or second heavens, but are not yet taken up into the third, where the hidden Manna remains incorruptible within the Veil of all transcient ministrations, though pure and beautiful in their kind and season; there only stands the true tree of everlasting life for all that come to feed upon, even in the midst of the Paradise of God.  
This is that pleasant lovely food that causes to hunger no more after carnal husky comforts of the old world, without which, man may live but not by bread alone, though spiritual meat, and Angels food, but by every word coming forth from the mouth of the living God, not as 'tis only written on paper, but on the fleshly tables of his heart, where God hath set the world, which being restored, or renewed by a right spirit within him, does become an inward Paradise, and in that is Christ the living Word, who makes to live for ever, yea outlive all storms as well as sunshines of this lower outward world, with a growing youth and beauty.  
But to such as have not yet gained this Crown incorruptible, and nevertheless are still lawfully striving for the mastery, by a holy temperance in all things; this time of general restitution, which is at hand, will much facilitate their course, because the brethren's accuser shall be bound in chains to his place, not only from bruising the outward man with trouble and torment, but also from seducing the inward man with his false glass or gloss, which he is wont to present before, as well refined, as gross self-lovers, thereby enticing souls who are not fixed upon their invisible rock of Ages, to those ensnaring treats and entertainments that are abundant in his airy principality.  
Behold also the time is come that the Bondwoman and her seed are to be cast out, the true Heirs or Children of the Free must now inherit, who have hitherto stood still in an obedient Childlike freedom, to be offered up as Sacrifices, yea, slain all the day long for the Lamb's sake, and led as sheep to the slaughter: For although the Sons of Concubines have been sent away into the world with gifts, whereby they have, as rich and full, published their own glory, rather than in the Cross of Christ Jesus; yet the more enduring Substance that fades not away, or the Inheritance, which can never be lost or alienated, belongs to those Freeborn Children of a greater than Abraham, who like Princes have wrestled and prevailed, because anointed with that spirit which suffers no foil, but by being in deaths often, and willingly receiving the sentence thereof in themselves, are grown too strong for the King of Terrors, and much more for all petty Kings or Rulers on earth, that must yield to him.  
You are the regenerate Generation of just and upright ones, who have days and nights in prisons, holes, or corners, made it your work to become true learners of your gentle Lord and Master, to be meek and lowly, and by bearing his easy Yoke, of selfdenying love, are become bound in Spirit, not to avoid, but freely embrace all others; bending your minds to that holy stillness and silence, wherein ye are instructed to commune with your own hearts, and by doing so have escaped the flattering enticements of the strange woman, whose ways are movable to hinder the simple in heart from pondering the path of Life: and having countermined the subtle evil one in all his secret coverts of the self-loving nature, and by renouncing all hidden leagues with the lustful bondage of corruption, have let the immortal oppressed seed of God in you go free; Behold, even in that true freedom of the Son, you are become free indeed.  
Free from all creature-intanglements, that would engage and anticipate your affections, and hinder your minds from making those continual ascents, and descents, which only concern the will and work of your heavenly Father. Free I say to follow the holy innocent, patiented Lamb of God wheresoever he goes, even into those untrodden paths of daily death to eternal Life, which uncrucified flesh may boggle at and account uneasy: and all this to no other end, than that by straitning yourselves by this fiery Baptism, and contracting yourselves within the narrow gate of self-denial, your hearts and souls may become the more enlarged in universal love to God, and good will to men, in true bowels of pity, mourning over the poor blind and their blind-leaders; as also willing to direct them both in all humility, to him that is ready to lead them as he hath you, by a way unknown till it be tried, and telling them with a brotherly kind of tenderness, that this glorious liberty wherein you are new made and freeborn, Christ hath purchased and obtained for them also, if they will but accept it in his obedience.  
O ye Freeborn Citizens of the New-Jerusalem, your time is come to awake and come out of the dust, where ye have lain long among the pots; put on your beautiful garments of praise, lay aside your sackcloth O ye slain, but now living Witnesses of Christ, who is the Truth and Life, and in this cloud that now arises of earthly trouble coming upon all Nations and Countries, previous to the much longer calm and quiet which will follow, ascend into the highest heavenly conversation while your enemies shall behold you, yea, ascend so as to descend no more, but for his sake whose voice draws and calls you up thither, even Christ who is your Life, who as he appears in you, so will you with him, not in a vain, but real glory, even that glory upon which there is a defence both night and day; a defence of Lambs from Wolves, but offensive to none, save only such as in stead of yielding or casting themselves into that gentle, warming, and nourishing heat of Divine Love, which should cleanse and purify them from enmity and all other uncleanness, do but kindle a fire of lustful wrath to devour their own souls, whereby they intended to consume others.  
It hath been the great joy of present and past ages to such, as by Faith, which is the evidence of things not seen (by the carnal eye or darkened understanding) could take a pleasing prospect of the New-creation-glory, as well as the restitution of the old before it is to pass away, the mystery whereof hath been always hid from the wise and prudent, in Christ, who reveals himself to babe and sucklings: These things were beautiful and lovely in their root, but much more as they grow manifest in the branch of righteousness, the very leaves of which shall heal the Nations, and recover all that are not incurable by reason of their fixed and irreconcilable enmity against him, that is unchangeable in his love and goodness: whereby a good time of refreshing shall come now, no less to answer the longing expectance of the weary oppressed Creature, which remains as yet subject (though not willingly) to bondage, then to raise and heighten the spiritual glory of such as are renewed in the spirit of their minds; an earnest of which redemption, both general and special, all you have received, who have willingly quit what is old, and are contented it should pass away, that you might be made new to all things, and all things new to you both within and without you.  
O you to whom this changeable world yields no content in its most alluring smiles or flatteries, nor terror in its frowns, but have still amidst all its variety, sought for the one true unchangeable being, and an unchangeable union with it; behold now all vails and cover will be worn away, the shadows must fly apace, and the true substance appear, so as every eye shall see him, though at present he comes in clouds, even he whom the earthly kindreds, and breed of but seeming Saints and sinners, have pierced; but they shall mourn because of him, who shall be admired in all them that wait for and believe in him.  
The force of Arms nor Armies, nor yet the carnal Policy or Grandeur of this world can any longer withstand that work, which now is to be wrought in the fight of all nations, not by might nor by power, but by the spirit of the Lord; which work is neither outward or inward singly, but both, even the one as well as the other, and therefore, room no further remains for craft or subtlety to practise and prosper; no enchantments against Jacob, nor divination against Israel shall hurt the remnant that is redeemed from the earth, & undefiled in the way; but the wicked shall be ensnared in the work of his own hands, and the righteous whom they plot against, even by standing still in pure obedience to the will of God, abstracted from all self-motions or desires, shall see the salvation of the Lord.  
Yea the Nations shall see it, and a mere man shall say, there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. But the Eagle-eyed Saints of the most High God, that do already see beyond all vails and cover that are not of the Spirit, can now say that Babylon is fallen, yea the Towers thereof are now fallen, she is sunk as a millstone in the Sea, she shall rise no more; even that Scarlet-coloured Whore that hath for so many ages together, intoxicated the Kings of the Earth with her filthy Cup of Fornication, and as well her Supporters, as her Merchants that were supported by her, are both ready to cry, Alas, alas, and stand aloof off from her, not daring, if desiring to give her any help, or show her any kindness or pity.  
'Tis blood of Saints she hath long had, and blood she shall have now to drink herself, for she is worthy, and that doubly filled unto her by such as are taught of God to shake their hands from holding her bribes, whether Gold or Silver, or any of her carnal delicacies, pleasures or preferments; but shall execute the Vengeance written, in that holy zeal for God's House against her false Temple-worships, that it shall even eat them up that do it, and cause them to cease from a desire of being, but in the Will of him that calls to work, and gathers his sanctified one's together from all quarters and corners, whither the winds of strife, and dissension of Sects and Parties hath carried them; for whose sake, the many Waters, or multitudes of People and Nations shall quickly divide and stand upon heaps, for the Ransomed to pass thorough the tumult and noise thereof, into that holy stillness and rest, both inward and outward, wherein they may lie down quietly, & none shall be able to make them afraid.  
Nor shall the single work of Vengeance upon the seed of Enmity be all that Christ hath now to do in the world, but his holy meek ones that have been his faithful servants in giving the word of their Testimony, crying aloud, and not sparing great or small, and therein have walked with God (not before him in the hasty wrath of man, nor stayed behind him or tarried longer in a severe ministration, than to see Justice and Mercy kiss each other) such I say shall be taken on, and translated to the more higher or more excellent way of love to Righteousness, Truth and Peace that passes understanding, and being enabled to sing the song of Moses, and of the Lamb, shall cease to strive any longer with men in an outward warfare, as having obtained the victory over the Accuser or evil-one within them; but in stead of maintaining Feuds and marks of distinction or enmity, shall imitate the good Samaritan, in pouring Wine and Oil into the wounds of any that refuse not to be healed: being big with desire to see all as entire by love, as they themselves are by patience, that the very whole race of mankind, if it were possible, might join with them in singing the new Gospel-Song of praise; Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will towards men.  
For as all flesh is grass, and the glory of man, consisting in the wisdom of words or thoughts, but as the flower of grass, the one withers and the other fades, so the living word of God, that lies deeper in the heart than both the other, abides for ever; and they whose union is perfect therewith, cannot but desire it for all else, even in his will and love that is the Saviour of the world, and will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth; so are they the true publishers or preachers in good works as well as words, of the everlasting Gospel to all Nations, who ere long shall bring all their honour to the Lamb, and the very wealth or forces of the Gentiles, must come freely to Christ's Church and followers.  
O ye followers of the Lamb whithersoever he goes, who have girded up the loins of your mind, in true sobriety and hope to the end of all things which is at hand; hasten to come forth of all Sects and Parties, wherein the cunning adversary hath beguiled and detained you, tempting to retain unbrotherly distinctions between members of the same Body, which is but one, whose hope also, calling, Lord, faith, baptism is but one. Live therefore as if ye were all of him, and he all to you, as well as in all else beside you, though some indeed are worthy but of single, as others are of double honour: Join ye hands and hearts, to countermine the Seducer, and at once convince the world whose disciples you are by loving one another.  
Come ye off with one consent out of all particular byways or forms, to the power and life, even the true end of the Commandment, which is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: ye have too long sown the changeable wind of strife and contention among yourselves, and reaped the whirlwind of fierceness and cruelty one upon another; learn ye at last to sow besides all waters, or people, and so send forth your affections like the feet of the Ox for labour, and the Ass for bearing burdens; learn, oh diligently learn to preach the everlasting Gospel to all Nations, in fewer words and better works of universal love, and brotherly kindness, than the mere hireling could ever practise.  
'Tis but a little, yea very little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry, who hath already broken down the partition wall between God and man, between man and man, between Jew and Gentile, and hath by his own precious blood, made of one blood all Nations, who are his offspring, before the whotish spirit of this world claims them, and a division of them, as the false Mother did of the child unto Solomon: behold a greater than Solomon, hath bounded all habitations, to the end that none might invade or violate others, or cover the enlargement of their own dominion: The earth is the Lord's not ours, but as we are his, and being so, all things are ours, and become subject to us, without force or striving.  
When we dwell in love, we dwell in God, for God is love, that's his white Name and pure Nature, whereby we are to know him, as also to be known of him, and each to other, whether among brethren or strangers, for this being in the heart, strife of tongues, and division of language will abate quickly.  
This is that which makes most , not the upper but the lower seat, whether at the feast of fat things, which Christ makes, or in the Synagogue which consists not of Satan's followers, who are the outward Jew's only, but inward ones, circumcised in heart, seeking their praise not of men but God, who sees in secret, but rewards openly, but does first train up his sons and daughters in the form of servants, before he makes them Lords of all.  
The greatest favourites to the King of kings, subject their inward man to him only, but their outward to every one that treads upon and bruises it, by which suffering and no otherwise, they come to reign, in this manner, by conviction, taking them captive whose captives they were: As their Captain leads, so do they follow, under his skirt and banner displayed, the motto whereof, as it was written in his blood, so are they content it should be in their own, viz. Love your Enemies.  
Oh what pen can write, or tongue express the transcendent joy, the surpassing glory of such conquests, that are begun in self-hatred, & conclude in universal love to the whole Creation of God in which kind of ascent we gain, as by descent into the lust we lost the true dominion; and as the true knowledge failed in the one, and the false or deceitful spread itself in stead thereof, as a painted face or covering over all flesh; so in the other, will all false vails vanish or wear away, and the true real knowledge of the glory of the Lord, cover the earth as the waters cover the sea: yea, new Names will be given to all things when they become new, and their natures intuitively known by this redemption, after their long burial and obscurity in or by the bondage of corruption.  
What strength, power, or wisdom is of value, that springs not to a new Life, or appearance by death of the old? and that which does, what can master it? being too strong for death, it prevails against the very gates of hell: and who would not love death for the resurrections sake to a new life, wherein the clog of flesh and blood that can never enter, much less inherit the kingdom that consists in righteousness, peace and joy, is wholly put off, whereby the soul becomes clothed upon with a new spiritual house from above, that is not too straight, but large enough for entertainment, (and that not for a night as a wayfaring-man, but even perpetual) to the King of Glory.  
Let us therefore bid farewell to the old house of clay and all its sensual supporters; the fools Paradise of full barns, and earthly plenty, must never bend the mind to any longer linger or delays in this Sodomitical old world; the bread of a Father's house is now a loud call from husky vanities, the continued diversion whereof cannot but be very burdensome to any soul that hath fed at wisdom's table, and tasted her mingled wine of the kingdom, that glads the heart both of God and man.  
An End is now proclaimed of all perfection under the Sun, and nothing is now of value but that Commandment, and keeping it, which is exceeding broad; of no less breadth than between Heaven and Earth; for 'tis the seed of Jacob's Ladder that reaches both, and not only gives light, but strength also in the angelical life, to ascend by Faith, and descend by Love even at pleasure.  
This New Commandment of Love is the still voice of the great Shepherd, whose sheep hear him, and know it from the loud voice of a stranger, and by following him that loves them, they cannot only go in, but out also, and find pasture. They know their time to retire, as also to go forth, and in both, they desire to honour, serve, and please him, not themselves, for 'tis their meat and drink to do his will, but not their own.  
O ye true selfdenying, crucified, and (in spirit) already risen Christians, bear with the fond expressions of a Brother, whose bonds are grown easy with wearing, who hath had his midnight sighs and songs, in some hope that the fear of death and hell are conquered by an acquaintance with that love which can visit both without danger, even in that life, which can abide devouring fire, and dwell with everlasting burn.  
Where is it that he would not go to meet the true fraternity folded up together in the unity of the spirit, even the bond of lasting peace and love, married or joined to Christ their head and husband, who is Lord of all, whether male or female, bond or free? yea thrice happy and worthy are all ye to be sought out, who in pure chastity have kept the bed undefiled during the night of apostasy, wherein the adulterers and adulteresses of this world, either by frowns or flatteries have too much prevailed to seduce or affright the unstable.  
What should hinder harmony of spirits, where a fellowship in sufferings is freely owned, even with strong & weak for his sake whose divine love makes us debtors to the wise and unwise, and as ready to share the penny to him that comes in at the eleventh or last hour, as that came at the first of the Lamb's warfare; this not being the day of vain-glorying, or self-arrogance, to any that have led or born the brunt either in doing or suffering, since the pride of the one is as much accursed as of the other; nay, if any glorying be at all, let it be in the Cross, whereby the world, and all its honour or esteem is crucified to us, and we to it; but if any will be greatest, let him be the minister; or he that would be accounted chief, for any hazard, travel, or hardship, performed or undergone without fainting or reluctancy, let him be the servant of all; desire of Lordship or Dominion, is as little comely in the Jewish as in the Gentile world; and as its exercise is uneasy to be born by Saints from Sinners, so no less by Sinners from Saints, but least of all by Saints over each other, unless it be in that abiding Love, that refuses to rule but in form of a fervant, and even hides itself with Christ in God from a worldly kingdom.  
The true Nobility by heavenly birth and breeding in Christ's School of long-suffering and fiery trials, appears most by stooping low, not climbing on high, which is the property of the Thief that would be robbing both God and man of their due: for, as Love only that can bear subjection is most fit to reign, so doth it show itself by descending first, yea, below itself, into that Life which must period and conclude, before it ascends where it was, or higher than at first. But why need words to multiply? though the Lord hath been forsaken and his holy Mountain (where is no dividing or destroying) forgotten by some that prepare a Table for this or that Troop, and furnish the drink-offering to that number; yet behold they are now newborn, that could freely traverse the world, to seek unity with Indians, Barbarians, Turks, Jews (so called) and Papists as well as Protestants of all sorts and sizes.  
Unity, I say, in Spirit, not of this world, or the god thereof, even the false deceiver (that maintains his wicked Principality in the hearts of men by his engine of the selfish nature) but of the true holy One, that tastes death in every man, as well as for him, and yet sees no corruption; whose light shines in the very darkest of mankind, though they comprehend it not; but when that Light, which is the same also of them that love and live in it, shines by good works, as it ought, before mere men, that as yet remain in darkness, than they may be induced to glorify the heavenly Father of Spirits, and Lights of all degrees or measures, as well that rule by night as by day, or of seven days together gathered into the glory of one.  
'Tis love, even love universal that hath imbreathed, and its beauty enamoured the souls of some that are but few of many, whereby they do as it were burn with holy desires to live in union with all mankind, yea with the whole Creation, and not an Ox or an Ass, or any other Creature, that groans and travels together in pain till now, but as it waits for, so it rejoices in, this glorious liberty of the sons of God, who will ere long be better known among the sons of men than heretofore, even by going forth, and growing up as Calves of the stall, not to be marked out for slaughter as they have been, but by treading down the wicked things and persons like ashes under the soles of their feet, when the Lord shall by fire and his spiritual sword plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord, rather than of his People, in whom he shall be admired, will be very many; because now the weapons of the Saints warfare will appear daily not carnal, but more and more spiritual, enabling them to single out and encounter those spiritual wickednesses in the high places of their own hearts and others, thereby bringing down the mighty from their seats, and exalting them that are of low degree; and all this without any destroying in that holy mountain of God where they converse, which in this respect is lifted up above all others, and will suddenly fill the whole earth.  
O ye Victorious Army of the Lamb, who on white horses, as Emblems of Peace and Love, and in linen white and clean, (which betokens the innocence and righteousnesses of Saints) have followed him that is now gone forth conquering and to conquer; glorious is and will be the triumph, by the death of the Cross, over all created excellencies, as well as impure defilements, by abandoning the adulterous spirit of this world: O ye that witness the conquest of desire to any carnal pleasure, which tends but to stupefy the immortal soul of man, and bring it into the sleeps or slumbers of eternal death; great is your wisdom in determining to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, and in standing always delivered up to death for Jesus sake, that the life of Christ might the more be manifest in your mortal flesh; great is your power and authority in the world, as you appear already risen with Christ, by seeking those things that are above; as ye are living witnesses of the first Resurrection mystical, so you tell the world that the literal is not far off: and therefore, what Prisons or Inquisitions can longer hold you, what outward Chains can bind you that are inwardly free? who is it that will harm you, that are followers of good, but eschew the evil in every appearance?  
O ye that have chosen the most solitary paths that an earthly pilgrimage could yield, therein to meet your Beloved, whose love is better than wine, that does but refresh and exhilerate for a season, and then the natural man that is served, becomes as heavy as before 'twas tasted, but the pleasure of your love and espousals with the Lamb knows no end, it grows in you, and you in it, with such divine increases, till it swallows up words and thoughts, as those narrow mediums which are far below, and too straight for the expression of that loving life which is incapable of any confinement, but enlarges itself freely in and unto all that entertain it.  
You that have conquered the great and last enemy, and that by yielding daily to it; what other enemies, but either are or will be at peace with you? because you fear not them, but love and fear him that commands all hearts and hands; yea, the very stones of the street, and beasts of the field will be in league with you, not to offend but defend you; though because your munition of rocks, and wall of fire is never wanting, all other help from without is wholly needless, and such as offer it, do rather express their own love than your desire of any guard or regard, but what always comes from heaven before you call or ask it.  
Your Wisdom is from above; What Serpent can beguile you? you are redeemed from the Power of all things below; What Scorpion or deadly Poison can hurt you? ye are passed the Fear of Pain, no Tyrant can torment you; yea, you have passed thorough Sorrows, Sighs, and Tears beyond them, you are neither to be exalted or abased by any thing which Flesh can give or take; your Life, Peace and Joy is endless, because your Love is stronger than Death.  
Who will not bend or yield to you, and take hold of your skirts, O ye inward Jews, circumcised in heart, and be called by your New-name? for all your Names are given by Him, whose Name is One, that no man knows but he that hath it; Your Language one, and not divided; Your Church but one, and not rend in Schisms, Sects or Divisions; And therefore not Carnal, but Spiritual, unknown, invisible to the World, but well known to Christ your Head, and one another.  
O ye that admit no Buyers or Sellers in your inner Man, the Lord's Temple, but are freed from Cares and Cumbers of this World, having sold all your Possessions personal, to gain the real; and therefore have not spent your Money for that which is not Bread, and does not satisfy, but laid it all down at the great Apostles feet, with a free willing mind, to quit all single selfish property that is from beneath, for that universal equal Liberty that is from above; and as well to distribute or communicate your Wealth of good Works to an Enemy or poor Stranger, as unto a Friend or Brother: What man or sort of men under the Sun, when they see you walk by this Principle, but will desire your ruling with, if not over them? You are the Governors of Judah that rule with God, because God rules in you, and always checks the entrance of any other, that is strange or foreign, to his All-pure impartial Spirit; you that have learned of Shiloh the prosperer, to heal Breaches, and restore Paths to dwell in; What People, Nation or Language will not ask your Help to new lay their Foundations, renew their Landmarks, to rebuild the waste Places, and Desolations of many Generations?  
All Government in things spiritual you yield to Christ only in things temporal, to Him and the Nations, whereof he is as well King as of Saints; yea, the Heathen are his Inheritance, and the utmost parts of the Earth are his Possession. You are so far from that degenerous practice of Plotting either by fraud or force, against the Life of Prince or Peasant, that you follow his steps that saves the Life both of man and Beast; yea, abhorring the very Thoughts of any Contrivance, to impose the most apparent Good against, or without Consent of such, for whom it is pretended; and because you are already free in Christ's Freedom, you choose to die rather than be imposed upon by your own Consent, to derogate from Him who hath made you free indeed. In this Spirit you stand always armed with the Armour of Light and Righteousness for all essays, whether to do what is lawful, or suffer what the Captain of your Salvation determins to be expedient for your nearer Fellowship with him: You are linked fast together in a holy Band of Union, which is inward Brotherly-love, rather than any outward Confederacies, and by being continually in the pure Simplicity, and keeping a good Conscience towards God and all men, you cannot but carry all things of Satan's Work down before you, not so much by force as by conviction, breaking in pieces all Leagues that are made with Death or Hell, and such as would maintain them; refusing Peace while and wheresoever the Whoredoms and Witchcrafts of the well or ill-favoured Harlot remain, but seeking it with all men, even of all degrees, High and Low, Rich and Poor; for ye deny Leagues of Amity with no Person or Nation, that will admit the King of Peace to reign in or over them, although his Titles, (Authority and Power) given him by the Father, and his Name above other Names, be not in that manner or Scripture-language known, as to yourselves.  
You know who it is that hath made you to differ From other men; and therefore for his sake only (and never else) you differ With them: but because God in Christ is already reconciled to the world, your great Work is to reconcile the world to God, and as you find that Difference ended, you let fall all others; yea, rather than you can strive or contend, that are the Lord's Servants, you serve them that call you Masters, not desiring so much to rule with, or over Princes, as to sub-serve the meanest of their Subjects; for you count it no honour to see heads bare, or knees bowed to you, but to go about doing good, and yet obscuring yourselves from them to whom you are as Benefactors, treading his steps that did so, and who long since rejoiced in the habitable Parts of God's Earth, whose delights were with the sons of men; And therefore while many that talk and pretend much of common good, but do indeed seek their own more than the things of Jesus Christ, you do even naturally care for the State of others, and employ yourselves without hope of any Reward, but in the Kingdom of God, to heal the Sick, relieve the Poor, end Quarrels or Contentions, make Enemies Friends, and convert Souls to him, that hath offered himself as a Ransom for, and a Saviour unto all, and yet came to call not the Righteous, but Sinners to Repentance.  
O ye living Witnesses of Christ's Kingdom, and Instruments in his hand to reduce the Kingdoms of this World in quiet free Subjection to him, not by the Battle or confused Noise of the Warrior, and Garments roul'd in Blood, but by such kind of burn and fiery Trials, as will neither mix and confound, or consume the precious with the vile, but only separate each from other, and leave both to him that judgeth righteously: What can hinder you from taking the Kingdom? for unto you Saints of the Most High God, is it given, and greatness of the Dominion under the whole Heaven; take it within and cover yourselves, and all without will quickly appear given unto you; take it within by force against yourselves, and all without shall be given you by consent; for when you are not your own, all is yours, because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.  
Behold, our King of kings comes lowly, he that hath been long under, must now reign over all; and who will not meet Him with a Palm Branch, and cry Hosanna to the Highest: He that was dead does now begin to appear risen in his meek lamblike holy Ones, and shall die no more, but be for ever admired in them, because they have believed on Him, whose Faith will now appear not Fancy or Notion, but the clear Evidence of things not seen, by such as say they see more than others; the Mystery of God that hath been declared to his Servants and Prophets will be revealed suddenly, because well nigh finished, and the seventh Angel is about to sound his Trumpet; yea, the Vision that hath been long waited for, will tarry no longer, but appear plain upon the fleshly Tables of all pure hearts, and they that run so as to obtain, may read it.  
The high way of the upright to departed from evil, will now be free from the prevailing Power of the great Robber, and the peculiar way of holiness so well known, and cleared from stumbling-Blocks of Babel's Merchants laying therein, that the poorest Traveller of Wayfaring-man, though a Fool for Christ's sake, yet shall not err therein; because the Anointing that instructs him in all things, is his inward Teacher, which being the Truth and no lie, and so understood as well as an obedience yielded thereunto, his Bread is sure, his Waters cannot fail though his outward Teachers be removed to corners.  
The crooked Ways also of all humane converse in general shall be made straight, and the ruff Places of learning or teaching Knowledge, of any kind in particular, shall be made plain; for the mear Hireling and Deceiver must be excluded from bearing rule in all Studies, Arts, or Sciences, as well as vulgar Trades or Callings, by the coming of Elias, who is already born, that will prepare the Way of the Lord in all things and persons, so as Uprightness, Honesty, and that kind of Self-denying-Love, or Charity that seeks not its own in any thing, but the common Good of others must take place among the Sons of men, whose Deal each with other are to be regulated by the Lord's Standard, and Balance of the Sanctuary; for out of Zion shall the Law go forth, and the Word of the Lord which will call all Nations from Jerusalem.  
The Pen or Tongue of Men and Angels cannot declare the Glory of the Restitution of all things, to their first Innocence and Purity; muchless of that new Creation which will follow it, when the old is subjected by Fire to him; that as he was the first Maker of all in the Beginning, so is the New-maker of all in the End, for He is the same yesterday, to day and for ever; but before that passes away which is not perpetual or abidiag, his Sovereign Power will appear in saving it to the uttermost, whereof 'tis capable; and thereby let the more numerous part of Mankind know something of an earthly happiness, that have refused the heavenly, though they have been called to the latter, as well as have lost (though possessed of) the former; and likewise cause those few to inherit Incorruption, who being chosen thereunto (in him that saw no corruption) have according to their good deeds done in the body, desired their corruptible part to put it on, and their mortality to be swallowed up of immortal Life, rather than (in doing evil) of eternal Death.  
An earthly (I say or temporal) happiness that's real, not that only seems so, by letting lose the selfish nature to feed upon any thing forbidden that perisheth, but by bridling it, and so preserving mankind in that abstinence and forbearance, which may prepare them to sustain that fiery trial which the Cherubims and flaming sword, that is previous to the enduring supplies and substance that never fail, from the Tree of Life, which Christ is to every one that waits upon, and believeth in him.  
For the time is at hand when open iniquity shall stop her mouth, and wickedness have no longer place upon the house top, but be driven from corner to corner, and from one Nation to another, till at last it find no room in the world. But justice, equity, righteousness, and temperance shall spread itself among all people, as that common salvation of all men, which, though now the great multitudes that live more like beasts than men, seem to render as a thing impossible, yet those redeemed one's from the earth and among men, in whose mouths is found no guile, that witness a life of faith, above (though not contrary to) that of reason and morality in the best of mere men, do already see it more than probable.  
The knowledge of the Lord's glory covering the earth as waters cover the sea, leaves no room for ignorance on the one hand, or for a false vain appearance of knowledge or glory on the other; but when the fear of the Lord shall be acknowledged as the beginning of wisdom by all that desire it, not for their own sake, but of Christ in whom the treasure thereof is hidden, as well as for the good of their neighbour; then will men understand, that Wisdom dwells with Prudence, and finds out the knowledge of witty inventions, which are to be subject and subservient to his ends only, that freely teaches the ploughman, and instructs him to discretion, both to sow and reap, as well as to thresh and bruise the breadcorn: yea the mysteries of both Kingdoms, even of grace and nature, shall disclose themselves, that have hither to been locked up and hidden from the self-seekers of both or either; such mysteries as will in a manner astonish the world, and make poor brainsick mortals that have been long captive to vain traditions and false methods of knowledge of many kinds, to be like them that dream, when they shall after much wand'ring be returned to some clearer prospects of what they labour after, than the wise and prudent could ever attain, who for building of Babel's Fabrics in the Antichristian world, have hitherto had pre-eminence.  
But time would fail to tell what is now in the Womb of Providence, and of that Nation which shall be born in a day, ready to come forth and be sown among the people in all parts of the world, where they now lie scattered under various trials, which tend but to wash and whiten the garments of their outward conversation, whereby they may be better known, as well as by their inward principle of life, in the blood of the Lamb, to the end that by the honour of his livery, and marks of dying or mortification in their bodies, and Christ being risen in their spirits, they may be also better trusted by those that have hitherto esteemed them deceivers of men, while they have been true to him, and walked as he walked, who was in the world without guile, and yet reported to have had a Devil.  
Oh let not my Lord Esau be longer angry with the younger brother, that hath supplanted him both of birthright and blessing, since thereby he does but wrong his own soul: For Saviour's must now come upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau, but the Kingdom shall be the Lord's.  
Even the Kingdom that is everlasting, to which all others must give place, and that speedily, for the Lord is nigh who hath his fan in his hand, having determined to sift the nations with a seive of vanity, and to screen the People, or separate the chaff from his true seed; yea it shall come to pass, that in all the land saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third part shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part thorough the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them, I will say, it is my People, and they shall say, the Lord is my God.  
This word of Prophecy is sure, and will now be sooner understood than in former ages, because its fulfilling and accomplishment in all Nations, but especially in England, as the first fruits of righteousness to God, and pattern to others, seems very near at hand.  
All which is witnessed by a Prisoner of hope, that is learning of his heavenly Master in every state to be content: and therefore to lose his old acquaintance, kindred, country, name and nature, in suffering travels, by seeking all new, to the end he may be found no more in lustful anger, but in love without dissimulation, to the worst of enemies as well as the best of friends, and so to blunt the Sword of wrathful Ministers, not by shunning or resisting, but in patiented meekness quietly yielding thereunto, that either in life or death as the Lord shall choose, he may by faith get victory over himself and the world.  Remaining still a Servant of Christ Jesus, and a hearty well-willer to his whole Family, new-named of him in the earthly as well as in the heavenly Nature. 
THE END.