in every one; and this law the Jews, and the prophets, and John, were to perform and do: none knows the giver of this law but by the Spirit of God, neither can any truly read it or hear its voice, but by the Spirit of God; he that can receive it, let him. John, who was the greatest prophet that was born of a woman, did bear witness to the light, which Christ, the great heavenly prophet, hath enlightened every man that cometh into the world withal, that they might believe in it and become the children of light, and so have the light of life, and not come into condemnation; for the true belief stands in the light that condemns all evil, and the devil, who is the prince of darkness, who would draw out of the light into condemnation. And they that walk in this light come to the mountain of the house of God, established above all mountains, and to God's teaching, who will teach them his ways. These things were opened to me in the light.

And I saw the mountains burning up and the rubbish, and the rough and crooked ways and places made smooth and plain, that the Lord might come into his tabernacle; these things are to be found in man's heart. But to speak of these things being within, seemed strange to the rough and crooked, and mountainous ones; yet the Lord saith, "O Earth, hear the word of the Lord;" the law of the Spirit crosseth the fleshly mind, spirit and will, which lives in disobedience, and doth not keep within the law of the Spirit. And I saw this law was the pure love of God, which was upon me, and which I must go through, though 1 was troubled while I was under it, for I could not be dead to the law, but through the law which did judge and condemn that which is to be condemned. I saw many talked of the law who had never known the law to be their schoolmaster, and many talked of the gospel of Christ, who had never known life and immortality brought to light in them by it. You that have been under that schoolmaster and the condemnation of it, know these things (for though the Lord in that day opened these things unto me in secret, they have since been published by his eternal Spirit, as on the house top). And as you are brought into the law, and through the law to be dead to it, and witness the righteousness of the law fulfilled in you, ye will afterwards come to know what it is to be brought into the faith, and through faith from under the law, and abiding in the faith, which Christ is the author of, ye will have peace and access to God. But if ye look out from the faith, and from that which would keep you in the victory, and look after fleshly things or words, ye will

be brought into bondage to the flesh again, and to the law which takes hold upon the flesh and sin, and worketh wrath, and the works of the flesh will appear again. The law of God takes hold upon the law of sin and death; but the law of faith, or the law of the Spirit of life, which is the love of God, and which comes by Jesus (who is the end of the law for righteousness-sake) this makes free from the law of sin and death. This law of life fleshly-minded men do not know, yet they will tempt you, to draw you from the Spirit into the flesh and so into bondage; therefore ye, who know the love of God and the law of his Spirit, and the freedom that is in Jesus Christ, stand fast in him in that divine faith which he is the author of in you, and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage; for the ministry of Christ Jesus and his teaching, bringeth into liberty and freedom; but the ministry that is of man, and by man, and which stands in the will of man, bringeth into bondage and under the shadow of death and darkness; and therefore none can be a minister of Christ Jesus but in the eternal Spirit, which was before the Scriptures were given forth, for if they have not his Spirit they are none of his. Though they may have his light to condemn them that hate it, yet they can never bring any into unity and fellowship in the Spirit, except they be in it; for the seed of God is a burdensome stone to the selfish, fleshly, earthly will, which reigns in its own knowledge and understanding that must perish, and in its wisdom that is devilish. And the Spirit of God is grieved and vexed, and quenched with that which brings into the fleshly bondage, and that which wars against the Spirit of God must be mortified by it; for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other. The flesh would have its liberty, and the Spirit would have its liberty, but the Spirit is to have its liberty and not the flesh. If therefore ye quench the Spirit and join to the flesh, and be servants of it, then ye are judged and tormented by the Spirit; but if ye join to the Spirit and serve God in it, ye have liberty and victory over the flesh and its works. Therefore keep in the daily cross, the power of God, by which ye may witness all that to be crucified, which is contrary to the will of God, and which shall not come into his kingdom. These things are here mentioned and opened for information, exhortation and comfort to others, as the Lord opened them unto me in that day; and in that day I wondered that the children of Israel should murmur for water and victuals, for I could have fasted long without murmuring or minding victuals.

But I was judged sometimes, that I was not contented to be sometimes without the water and bread of life, that I might learn to know how to want and how to abound.

And I heard of a woman in Lancashire, that had fasted two and twenty days, and I travelled to see her; but when I came to her I saw that she was under a temptation, and when I had spoken to her what I had from the Lord, I left her, her father being one high in profession. And passing on I went among the professors at Duckenfield and Manchester, where I staid a while, and declared truth among them; and there were some convinced, who received the Lord's teaching, by which they were confirmed and stood in the truth. But the professors were in a rage, all pleading for sin and imperfection, and could not endure to hear talk of perfection and of an holy and sinless life. But the Lord's power was over all, though they were chained under darkness and sin, which they pleaded for, and quenched the tender thing in them.

About this time there was a great meeting of the Baptists, at Broughton in Leicestershire, with some that had separated from them, and people of other notions went thither, and I went thither also; not many of the Baptists came, but abundance of other people were there. And the Lord opened my mouth, and the everlasting truth was declared amongst them, and the power of the Lord was over them all; for in that day the Lord's power began to spring, and I had great openings in the Scriptures, and several were convinced in those parts, and were turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, and his power they did receive, and by it many were raised up to praise God. And when I reasoned with professors and other people, some were convinced and did stand; yet I was under great temptations sometimes, and my inward sufferings were heavy, but I could find none to open my condition to but the Lord alone, unto whom I cried night and day. And I went back into Nottinghamshire, and there the Lord shewed me that the natures of those things, which were hurtful without, were within in the hearts of wicked men. The natures of dogs, swine, vipers, of Sodom and Egypt, Pharoah, Cain, Ishmael, Esau, &c. the natures of these I saw within, though people had been looking without. And I cried to the Lord, saying, Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils? and the Lord answered, That it was needful 1 should have a sense of all conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions? and in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also, that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light

and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness, and in that also I saw the infinite love of God, and I had great openings. And as I was walking by the steeple-house side, in the town of Mansfield, the Lord said unto me, That which people do trample upon must be thy food. And as the Lord spake he opened it to me, how that people and professors did trample upon the life, even the life of Christ was trampled upon, and they fed upon words, and fed one another with words, but trampled upon the life; and trampled under foot the blood of the Son of God (which blood was my life,) and they lived in their airy notions talking of him. It seemed strange to me at the first, that I should feed on that which the high professors trampled upon, but the Lord opened it clearly to me by his eternal Spirit and power.

Then came people from far and near to see me and I was fearful of being drawn out by them; yet I was made to speak, and open things to them. There was one Brown, who had great prophecies and sights upon his death-bed of me. And he spake openly of what I should be made instrumental by the Lord to bring forth. And of others he spake that they should come to nothing; which was fulfilled on some that then were something in shew. And when this man was buried, a great work of the Lord fell upon me, to the admiration of many, who thought I had been dead; and many came to see me for about fourteen days time; for I was very much altered in countenance and person, as if my body had been new moulded or changed. And while I was in that condition, I had a sense and discerning given me by the Lord, through which I saw plainly, that when many people talked of God and of Christ, &c. the serpent spake in them; but this was hard to be borne. Yet the work of the Lord went on in some, and my sorrows and troubles began to wear off, and tears of joy dropped from me, so that I could have wept night and day with tears of joy to the Lord, in humility and brokenness of heart. And I saw into that which was without end, and things which cannot be uttered, and of the greatness and infiniteness of the love of God, which cannot be expressed by words. For I had been brought through the very ocean of darkness and death, and through the power and over the power of Satan, by the eternal glorious power of Christ; even through that darkness was I brought, which covered over all the word, and which chained down all, and shut up all in the death. And the same eternal power of God, which brought me through these things, was that which afterwards shook the nations,

of

priests, professors and people. Then could I say I had been in spiritual Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, and the grave; but by the eternal power of God I was come out of it, and was brought over it, and the power of it, into the power Christ. And I saw the harvest white, and the seed of God lying thick in the ground, as ever did wheat that was sown outwardly, and none to gather it; and for this I mourned with tears. And a report went abroad of me, that I was a young man that had a discerning spirit; whereupon many came to me, from far and near, professors, priests, and people; and the Lord's power brake forth; and Í had great openings and prophecies; and spake unto them of the things of God, and they heard with attention and silence, and went away, and spread the fame thereof. Then came the tempter, and set upon me again, charging me, that I had sinned against the Holy Ghost; but I could not tell in what. And then Paul's condition came before me, how, after he had been taken up into the third heavens, and seen things not lawful to be uttered, a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him again. Thus by the power of Christ I got over that temptation also.

In the year 1648, as I was sitting in a friend's house in Nottinghamshire (for by this time the power of God had opened the hearts of some to receive the word of life and reconciliation), I saw there was a great crack to go throughout the earth, and a great smoke to go as the crack went; and that after the crack there should be a great shaking: this was the earth in people's hearts, which was to be shaken before the seed of God was raised out of the earth. And it was so, for the Lord's power began to shake them, and great meetings we began to have, and a mighty power and work of God there was amongst people, to the astonishment of both people and priests.

And there was a meeting of priests and professors at a justice's house, and I went among them. And there they discoursed how Paul said, "He had not known sin, but by the law, which said, Thou shalt not lust:" and they held that to be spoken of the outward law. But I told them, Paul spake that after he was convinced; for he had the outward law before, and was bred up in it, when he was in the lust of persecution; but this was the law of God in his mind, which he served, and which the law in his members warred against; for that which he thought had been life to him, proved death. So the more sober of the priests and professors yielded, and consented that it was not the outward law, but the inward, which shewed the inward lust which Paul spake of after he was con