called out among brethren to office, to oversee a flock, as bishops, of the Lord's institution: these are not so taught immediately,' page 220.

And such

A. All bishops, overseers, and officers, that are of God, are taught immediately, by the same spirit and power that the apostles were in, and owned and allowed by them: for the holy ghost is immediate that gives them to oversee; and all who feel the grace of God, and turn it not into wantonness, feel that which is immediate. as have turned the grace of God into wantonness, and walk despitefully against the spirit of grace, and set up a heap of teachers after their own lusts, are gone from the immediate grace of God that brings salvation. And all the teaching of God, in the least degree, is immediate, which brings them to open parables, speak forth parables to the nature that is atop of the witness, that spirit is immediate; though they take a mediate parable or comparison, yet the spirit is immediate that gives them to understand the parable aright. And the gift that was in Timothy, that he was not to neglect, was immediate, whereby he came to discern on whom he was to lay his hands, and on whom he was not, and not suddenly to lay them upon any man. And that which brought Daniel to understand by writings in books, was immediate; and that which brings to understand the scriptures is immediate. 'I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy,' and that is immediate, and prophecy is not to be quenched in the daughter no more than in the son; it is one in the male and the female. And we do believe thee, and you all, who are apostatized from the apostles' doctrine, in the apostacy, ravened inwardly from the spirit of God, that ye are yet to learn the immediate teaching. So are the antichrists standing against the light which Christ Jesus hath enlightened every one withal that cometh into the world, the covenant of God in the heart, with which all people shall come to know the Lord, and be taught of God, that they need not say, Know the Lord.'

P. He saith, I conclude that immediate teaching did not only furnish men for a teacher's or minister's function, but mediate ways also,' page 211. And The Quakers think it a lie against God to say, the spirit is in the letter and scripture, and is given by it, and make a jangling about immediate teaching,' page 222.

A. No one is furnished for the work of the ministry of God, but who is in the immediate spirit of God, which is to minister to the spirit. And there is no one made a minister of God by the mediate, but by the immediate. For who hath the spirit of God, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, to sing in the spirit, or pray in the spirit, it is immediate. And all that are out of that are in the earthly, sensual, and devilish perishing knowledge, and that understanding must come to nought, and that wisdom must be confounded. And as for the word

function, it is thy own, and must come to nought. And the spirit is immediate that led the saints to give forth scripture. The spirit is not in the letter, but it was in them that gave it forth. And they that have not the spirit in them, that was in those that gave it forth, and are disobedient to that, are they that say the spirit is in the letter. And such say that immediate teaching is jangling, who are from the spirit that is immediate, ravened from it in their own particulars; such are never like to beget to God, but are the ministers of the letter, not of the spirit; and by that which the devil and they are out of, are they comprehended, who are in the jangling and in the lie.

P. He saith, 'Christ took up a Bible, and preached on a text. And as for uses, points, trials, and motives, you must go to Titus iii. 16.'

A. Christ who came to fulfil, took the book, and read, and said it was fulfilled. He did not take a text, as you do, and lay half a year in it, as some of you, and have ten shillings a day, more or less, for your pains; but he said it was fulfilled. And for that place in Titus, there is not a word of motives, nor points, nor trials, nor uses, as you pretend; though he who was in the faith did study to divide the word aright, in whom was the gift of God which was perfect. This is not like your divination of your brain, for money, which ye sell weekly; nor your taking a text, and laying half a year in it. And thou hast shown thyself and them to be novices.

P. He saith, Though the righteousness be wrought in us by the strength of Christ, and be found in us that are sanctified; yet as to justification of a person, Paul would not be found in it for a world.' See page 229.

A. The righteousness of Christ fulfilled in us,' and to be found in the righteousness of Christ, that was the thing the apostle strove after, in that which ended the law, not in his own righteousness. And that righteousness which is wrought in us by the strength of Christ, is Christ's, where sanctification is witnessed; this is Christ's, who is the end of the law, and in this was the apostle found, and this he stood for, which was out of the world.

P. And honour all men.' And the fifth commandment he brings ' for bowing the knee,' and saith, Putting off the hat is but a token of respect.' See page 234.

A. Honour all men,' that is, to have all men in esteem; all men are had in esteem, for Christ hath enlightened every man that cometh into the world,' that they might all through this light believe, and he that doth not is condemned. And that will bring all men that love it to seek the honour that comes from above; but if they hate the light, they seek the honour that is below, that is of the first Adam in the transgression, and that is the hat. But Christ, the light, that doth enlighten VOL. III.

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every man, &c. receives not honour of men; and the light of Christ which every man hath, &c. will not receive honour of men. Now he that receives the honour of men, is of the first Adam, from the light, in the transgression. Earthly Adam looks for honour of the earth; these are the marks of an unbeliever. And the fifth commandment doth not speak of bowing the knee. And for Jacob's bowing, and David's bowing to Saul, &c. there is a time the elder must serve the younger. And for Joseph and Abraham's bowing before the heathen, and the rest of bowings, which thou speaks of, in the scriptures of the Old Testament; Christ is come, to whom every knee must bow, and tongue confess to the glory of God;' and not the angels bowed down to, nor worshipped. So ye have shown whose ministers ye are that are crying up bending and bowing the knee; is not this like kissing of Baal, and bowing the knee to Baal? Now Christ is come, to whom every knee must bow. And as for master, ye have thrown yourselves into that transgression, and excluded yourselves from among the brethren; for Christ saith, 'Be not ye of men called master, for ye have one master, even Christ, and ye are all brethren.'

P. He saith,Swearing is a part of God's worship,' page 235. And Christ was far from overthrowing the worship of God.' And "it was the formal part of an oath, when the apostle Paul said, God was his witness.' See page 238.

A. Christ, who said God was a spirit, and would be worshipped in spirit, and in the truth, said, 'Swear not at all,' who was the oath of God that ended oaths; but said, in all your communication, let your yea be yea, and nay, , nay, for whatsoever is more cometh of evil.' And the apostle, who abode in the doctrine of Christ, was so far from swearing, that he saith, Above all things, my brethren, swear not at all, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath.' Neither did any of the apostles; though men that were in strife swore, and their oath ended the strife among them. And they swore by the greater, that is the true oath; but Christ, in whom is the peace, the covenant of peace, where souls come to be one, and hearts one, who are the true burthen in him, are in the oath of God, the end of all oaths. For God, when he could not find a greater, swore by himself that did not change, concerning his covenant with men that doth not change, in which men come to have peace with God.' And so men swear by the greater, whose oaths end their strife and controversy. But God, who could not find a greater, swore by himself concerning his son, the covenant of God, which ends the strife among men, and between God and man, and is the peace on earth, and good will towards men.' Now the swearing of the angels, the swearing of the priests, the swearing of Jacob, and Joseph, and David, and Solomon, Christ is the end of all

these, the oath of God, in whom their faith stood; and to whom all the angels must bend and bow, to him that saith, Swear not at all.' But your swearing now is not like to the Jews, for they swore by the Lord, not by the book of the prophets' writings; neither did they swear by the tables in which the law was written. Neither did the apostles nor the saints swear by the epistles, nor Christ's words, after they were written and recorded. Now this is worse than the Jews, for they were to swear by the Lord, from whom the law came; they were to swear by the Lord of whom the prophets learned, and not by the tables, nor by the prophets' words. The heathens were to swear by Moloch, and to swear by Baal, and kissed Baal; and the children of Israel were to swear by the Lord, not by any writings or declarations of the prophets, or Moses. Neither do we read that the saints swore by the Epistles, or the Revelations, or Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, and kissed the book. For the true christians that witnessed Christ, the end of the prophets, the end of Moses, a greater than Solomon, him by whom the world was made before it was made, before Abraham was, who reigns over the house of Joseph, and Jacob, to whom the angels must bow, saith, 'Swear not at all.' This is my beloved son,' saith God, hear ye him.'

P. He saith, A believer hath both the rise and furtherance of his faith and evidence from what is written. And if the scripture be a dead letter, and the word in the heart be one with the scripture, then that in the heart is dead,' page 246. Let them tell the world how the scripture is the declaration without contradiction, and yet the word in the heart.' See page 247.

A. The scripture as it lies, and is in itself, is a dead letter; but as the word is felt in the heart that gave it forth, then it is its own words. Now to them that are from the word within, to the dead mind, the dead letter. And so the words themselves give not life, but as the words are raised up within, as they were in them that gave them forth: and that is it which gives life, and that sees the scriptures, and the fulfilling of them; and then that knows the scriptures that cannot be broken, and in that, the word Christ, the words end. And that is it that gives life to all people, and saves the soul, which the letter doth not, as it is in itself, without that which gave it forth, and that is not dead. And the author of a believer's faith is Christ, and he is the giver of it. And if he have all that is written, and be not in the light Christ, who is the author of his faith, he wants the foundation of God that stands sure, Christ Jesus, that all the fathers and holy men of God rested in, who were in the faith before any scripture was written; in him stood their faith, the foundation of God, Israel's glory, the light of the Gentiles; this is that which fulfils all scriptures, and ends the faith, the salvation.

And the ministers of the word took in hand to set forth in order a declaration of the things wrought among them, who had a perfect understanding from the very first, of what Christ both said and did.' And so this declaration was given forth to be read, believed, fulfilled, and people to enjoy the thing it speaks of, that which the apostles preached to Jews and Gentiles, the new covenant, the one offering, the blood of Jesus Christ, him the end of the first priesthood, that Abraham and David saw, Moses had the type of, and the prophets wrote of. Now, they who enjoy him that these all spoke of, saw, and preached, have the end, the comfort of the scriptures. And here is the declaration seen and known, and here is the substance possessed, and here are the words of God, and here is the word of God that fulfils the words, which word was before the words, in which word the words end, and are all summed up in.

P. For to say Christ and faith are not to be found in scriptures,' he saith, I hope no humble saint will pin his faith upon this,' &c. And 'they crying up thee and thou to a particular,' &c. See page 247. A. Christ was before the scripture was written; and Christ is life, (not found in a dead letter,) and he is the end of the scriptures, and the substance of them: many had the scriptures, and could not find faith in them, nor Christ, nor life. And Christ told the Pharisees he was the life, the scripture testified of him, but they would not come to him that they might have life,' who is the end and substance of the scriptures, by whom the world was made.' And as for the words thee and thou, they who are stumbling at them, show they have never learned their accidence nor Bible. So, short of the language of the spirit, that teacheth to speak sound words that cannot be condemned, who are ignorant of the literal knowledge.

P. He saith, The scriptures were breathed forth by the spirit of God; but we receive the spirit another way than they did that gave forth the scriptures. And the scriptures were given forth immediately: but thus the scriptures come not to us, nor the understanding of them. We have books, and canons, and printed translations in the mother tongue, page 248.

A. Notwithstanding all your books, and canons, and if ye have all the scriptures printed in all the languages of the world, and have not the same immediate inspiration that gave them forth, ye understand not the scriptures. And we do believe you, that ye have not an immediate inspiration as they had, nor receive the spirit as they did that gave forth the scriptures, who are ravened from it. But whoever knows the scriptures of truth, it is by the same spirit that gave them forth: with and by this are the scriptures of truth, the excellent words, known again to what state and condition they were spoken.