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salem, for no unclean thing comes into this holy city or kingdom, all must be made clean with the blood of the Lamb.

And what became of Adam and Eve, who disobeyed the Lord? Were they not turned out of paradise, the garden of God, the garden of pleasures, into the earth?

And what became of the old world, who disobeyed and grieved the Lord's spirit? Did not the Lord bring a flood upon them, and destroy them all? Who saved righteous Noah and his family?

And what became of Nimrod, that mighty hunter before the Lord, and them that followed him? Did not the Lord say, Nothing will be restrained from them which they imagined to do;' and so the Lord confounded them, and scattered them abroad from Babel, upon the face of all the earth. Gen. xi. This was the fruit of them that followed their imaginations, and not the Lord and his spirit.

And what became of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness and filthiness? Did not the Lord destroy them and their cities by fire, and saved just Lot? Gen. xix.

And what became of the Jews, to wit, the house of Israel, and the house of Judah? Who rebelled against God's good spirit, who disobeyed the Lord, and persecuted his prophets, who went early and late to warn them of the judgments that would come upon them; but they neither regarded the Lord nor his prophets? Did not the Lord bring the heathen upon them, which carried them out of their own land, which flowed with milk and honey, into captivity under the heathen, in which nature they were gone into who rebelled against God and his spirit.

And what became of the Jews after they came again into their land, who rebelled against Christ, and cried up Cæsar, and crucified Christ, and persecuted his apostles? and did not Christ say, 'That their temple should be thrown down, and the city compassed about with armies, and the Jews scattered over all nations? And did not this come to pass after Christ was risen? And did not the Jews also rebel against Titus, when he came to besiege Jerusalem? So they did not only rebel against Christ, but rebelled against the heathen at last; and what became of them but destruction and calamity; who, under a pretence of worshipping God, and crying up the temple, and outward Jerusalem, and making an outward profession of the old testament, resisted the holy ghost, and rebelled against God's good spirit, and his son Christ Jesus, in their deceitful hypocritical profession, and living in idolatry, and spiritual and carnal whoredom and adultery.

And what becometh of the false prophets and beast, of the whore and all her harlots, that are whored and harloted from the spirit of God? must not they all have their end in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone, with the devil, the god of the world, and the prince of the

air, who rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience, that disobey God and his good spirit.

And the prince of the air makes many like the unclean fowls of the air with his foul airy spirit, by his foul air in whom he rules; and he is the ruler in all the children of the disobedient, which disobey God's good spirit, he rules in them with his airy unclean spirit, who blinds the disobedient with his dust and air; for dust is his meat, who is out of the truth, and abode not in it, in whom there is no truth; and all that disobey the holy spirit of the lamb, are his followers and subjects, and he in whom there is no truth, rules in them, who is the author of all sin, corruption, and darkness, whose end is in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone, and that of his followers; but the chaste virgins follow the lamb, and they that are led by the spirit of God, are the sons of God, and walk in the truth, and worship God in spirit and truth.' His truth is over the head of the devil, and he is out of it, and cannot get into it, for there is no truth in him, and therefore he and his followers are not like to get into the truth, that God's children worship God in.

G. F.

Several plain truths manifested and declared from the Spirit of God, and borne testimony to by Christ, the Apostles, and Scriptures of Truth.

I. Concerning Mount Sion.

II. A distinction betwixt wars and armour in the old testament

and the new.

III. Concerning Cain.

IV. Concerning uniformity, and conformity.

V. The authority of the church of Christ.

VI. Concerning exhorting and admonishing.

VII. Concerning such as cry against orders, &c. By G. F.

MOUNT SION was a hill higher than other hills, and it stands northwards in Jerusalem, and therefore is called Sion, that is, a watch-tower, because from this hill, (Sion,) from it one might see the Holy Land, and all the countries thereabouts; and upon this hill David built his city, and blew the trumpet: which Mount Sion and Jerusalem were types of the heavenly Jerusalem and Sion; for the Lord said, 'I have set my king or anointed upon my holy hill of Sion. Heavenly Sion is the hill, or mountain of God's holiness; beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion; let Mount Sion rejoice,' Psalm xlviii. For VOL. VI.

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God will save Sion; the salvation of Israel comes out of Sion, (to wit,) Christ, who is elect and precious, laid in Sion, but not in the outward hill, or Mount Sion; for Christ was born in Bethlehem, and David saith by prophecy, concerning Christ, 'Oh! that the salvation of Israel was come out of Sion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.' Psalm xiv.

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And again he saith, Let Israel rejoice in the Lord that made him, let the children of Sion be joyful in their king; for Sion shall be redeemed through judgment, and her converts through righteousness.' Is not this Sion God's people, and not the outward hill? For out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' Is not this heavenly Jerusalem, and heavenly Sion, that the word of the Lord and his law go out of, and not out of the outward hill Sion? In the last days, Isaiah saith, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of all mountains, and exalted above all the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.' Is not this heavenly Mount Sion, and heavenly Jerusalem? And Isaiah saith, The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high, he hath filled Sion with judgment and righteousness.' Sion is called a city of our solemnity, and Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.' Is not this heavenly Jerusalem, and heavenly Sion? But let the hypocrites or sinners of outward Sion or Jerusalem be afraid, which may be removed or broken, which heavenly Sion or Jerusalem cannot; for no unclean thing enters into it. O Sion! that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength: lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God.' So here are Sion and Jerusalem that bring good tidings.

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Now, do ye think that this was the outward Jerusalem, or outward hill? for Christ was born in Bethlehem, a chief corner stone, elect and precious, laid in Sion; but it doth not say in the outward hill Sion. Isaiah speaks by prophecy, Isa. li. He will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee, even in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Sion, thou art my people.' Here you may see that Sion is God's people; and how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings glad tidings, that publishes peace, that brings good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Sion, Thy God reigns,' when the Lord shall bring again Sion, to wit, his people; for the outward moun

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tain, with the outward hill, was not removed. And the redeemer shall come to Sion, and unto them that are turned from transgression. Isa. lix. and Rom. xi. And this redeemer is Christ. And Isaiah saith, Who hath seen such a thing, and who hath heard such things? Shall a nation be born at once? For so soon as Sion travailed, she brought forth her children.

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Now, here you may see the wonder of Sion's travail, which was not the great hill, nor watch-tower in Jerusalem. And Zachariah saith, The Lord shall yet comfort Sion,' that is, his people. Zach. i. And Zachariah saith, Shout thou daughter of Sion.' And again he saith to Sion, 'Let not thy hand be slack.' So Sion was and is God's people.

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And Micah saith, ' In the last days, &c. the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established above all the mountains, and it shall be exalted above all the hills.' So, here is God's heavenly mountain, or watch-tower, which is above all hills or mountains, and people shall flow unto it, and many nations shall come, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.'

Here God is the teacher of his people, and nations; for these last days are the days of Christ, in his new covenant or testament, where the Lord goes forth from heavenly Sion, the mountain of the house of God, established above all mountains, and the word from heavenly Jerusalem, that is above old Jerusalem, which was the word of faith (the apostles preached) in people's hearts and mouths. Rom. x. Micah iv. Isa. ii.

The Jews, in the old testament, they had the law given to them at the outward hill, Mount Sinai, who had the outward hill north in Jerusalem, called Mount Sion, and read the outward law in outward Jerusalem; but the mountain of the Lord, or heavenly Mount Sion, which is called the mountain of the house of the Lord, is established on the top of all the mountains, and exalted above all the hills, so that all nations may see it and flow unto it. And Obadiah saith, Upon Mount Sion shall be deliverance, &c. and saviours shall come upon Mount Sion, to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.'

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And the apostle saith, Rom. ix., "As it is written, behold, I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.' And Peter saith, 1 Pet. 2, Behold I lay in Sion, a chief corner stone, elect and precious, and he that believeth on him, shall not be confounded; to all that believe in him he is precious, but unto them that are disobedient, he is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, who stumble at the word, the stone which the builders disallowed, (viz. the outward professors,) the same is made the head of the corner of God's house,' whose house God's people are, and in this

Sion, the chief corner stone, which is laid in Sion, was not laid in the hill called Sion, in outward Jerusalem; for Christ, the chief corner stone, was born in Bethlehem, as is said before.

And the apostle writes to the church in his epistle to the Hebrews, and said, 'They were not come to the Mount Sinai, where they received the law, but ye are come to Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; and they were come to the general assembly, the church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling,' &c. See that ye refuse not him that speaks from heaven; if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven, whose voice shakes not the earth only, but the heavens also, but if ye hear the voice of Christ and follow him, ye will receive his kingdom that cannot be moved nor shaken.

And now, all ye Christians, that profess Christianity, are ye come to Mount Sion? or are ye under the law which came from Mount Sinai, not Mount Sion? which law commanded tithes, offerings, sacrifice, oaths, and swearing, with outward tabernacle, sanctuary, and temple, and priests' lips to preserve people's knowledge, commanded by the law in the old testament. And if ye be come to Mount Sion, and heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, then you see the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect; and they that are come here, their names are written in heaven; and such are come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, who speaks from heaven, whose voice shakes the heavens and the earth, that are to be shaken, that those things that cannot be shaken, may remain. Heb. xii. And John said, Rev. xiv. 'He saw a lamb stand on Mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty-four thousand, having their father's name written in their foreheads; which were redeemed out of the earth, and from amongst men, and they followed the lamb; and in their mouths were found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God; and they sung a new song, before the throne, and no man could learn that song, but the hundred forty-four thousand which were redeemed,' &c. Then surely this was spiritual, this was heavenly Sion, and not earthly, which the hundred and forty-four thousand stood upon, which were redeemed from the earth, and so from earthly Sion, and earthly Jerusalem, and all those earthly things; that followed Christ the Lamb, and was with him after he was risen, before the throne of God. G. F.

Gouses in Essex, the 13th day of the 2d month, 1683.

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