For whose sake I have been moved in the Power of the Lord, to draw out this precedent Comparison, between the True Ministers and the false and pretended Ministers of Christ, wherein as in a Glass, the one and the other may see their Faces, whether they be truly Christ's or Anti christ's Ministers, whether called and sent of God, or whether of Man and by Man only, and run before they are sent; whether the Gospel they preach be that of Christ, or another Gospel of Anti-christ's setting up & decreeing, whether they are led by the Spirit of Christ or of Anti-christ; whether they be such as go forth upon Christ's Commission, Free­ly ye have received, freely give, or such as go forth in your own Wills, expecting Gain from your Quarters, making the Gospel chargeable, whenas Christ calls to come buy of him freely, with­out Price and without Money (ye make Merchandize of the Words of God) consider whether ye be Ministers of the Letter or of the Spirit; whether such as seek and rejoyce at the Increase of Christ's Kingdom, or such who labour to suppress it, and per­secute the Subjects of it; whether ye be such Disciples of Christ, who have learned to deny your selves, and take up your daily Cross, and follow him, or such Hypocrites, who in Words draw nigh him, but in your Works deny him before Men; whether there be not a more excellent Way then ye teach and walk in, which only the true Servants of Christ teach and walk in: I shall desire you in the Bowels of Love to your Souls, seriously and impartially, without Prejudice, to consider and weigh the Pre­mises, cleared and witnessed to by the Holy Scriptures, written by the Holy Men of God, the Prophets and Apostles, whom I hope ye will believe: And all ye who are erred and strayed from the Truth, consider your Foundation on which you stand, see whether your House be built upon the Rock, as never to be sha­ken, or on the Sand, subject by the Waves and Storms to be [Page 15] thrown down; wherefore consider your Wayes, bring your Deeds to the Light, to see whether they be wrought in God or nay, which if not, know, unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish with the Scarlet Whore, the great City Babylon, and be taken with the Beast and false Prophet, and cast into the Lake of Fire, seeing you will abide in Spiritual Babylon, and neglect the Call of God to come forth of her, ye shall partake of her Plagues with her: This is a Warning from the Lord to you, to consider your Wayes and your latter End, that ye may be gather­ed out of the World, that ye may not perish with the World; So ye of the Episcopal Perswasion, consider whose Ministers ye are, your Call and Commission, and whether in your Con­sciences you believe God is on your Side, & will Justifie you above all other pretended Ministers of Christ of any other Perswasion, and whether your Lives and Doctrines will plead for you or a­gainst you; God will not be mocked, who will deal righteous Judgment according to your Deeds. Ye Ministers of the Pres­byterian Perswasion, do ye think ye shall go away more Justified? are ye standing in God's Will and Call, or your own? are ye out of the Self seeking Spirit of Tything? seek ye not your Gain from your Quarters, and love ye not the Praise of Men before the Praise of God? and are ye Ensamples to your Flocks? have you learned to deny your selves, and take up your daily Cross, and follow Christ, and seek ye not Preheminence above your Brethren? examine and amend your Wayes, lest ye likewise perish. And ye the Pastors of the Independent Congregations, how firm is your stand­ing? are ye called by the Spirit of Christ to be his Ministers, or called by the Elders and People? have they a Discerning who have received the Anointing of the holy Ghost? have they Pow­er of laying on of Hands, to make Ministers of Christ, who have itching Ears, and heap up Teachers after their own Lusts? do you Ministers preach freely, expect no Hire? are ye low and humble, like Christ? preach you not in your own Wisdom of Words, as others? and deny you not, with others, Immediate Revelation, and the Spirits giving Utterance to the true Prophets of Christ, who speak in Power, and in the Evidence and Demon­stration of the Spirit? Consider wherein ye likewise differ from the true Ministers of Christ, his Gospel and Life, and reform. [Page 16] Ye Teachers of the Baptists and others, called Gifted Brethren, consider whether you have received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, to make you able Ministers of the New Testament; are ye taught of God first, and then as ye have seen and tasted and handled of the Word of Life, in the Leading and Moving of the Spirit of Truth, in the Power of the Lord, go forth to teach all Nations, bap­tizing them into the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and so speak and declare, as the Spirit gives Utterance, not seeking your own but Christ's, see ye be not found short also of the King­dom of Heaven, revealed and made manifest within, try your Spirits, whether they be of God or no.

But it will or may be objected by the Teachers of these several Perswasions, judge ye that none of us are called of God to be his Mi­nisters of the New Testament and Gospel of Christ; have none of us received the Anointing of the Holy Ghost, to preach in Christ's Name? and do not we by our Zeal for the promoting of the Gospel, and the Reformation of the Church, in our Lives and Doctrine, ac­cording to the Scriptures, and the Work of Conversion of many un­to God; witness our Call and Truth of our Ministry, as Pastors of particular Congregations and Churches, &c.

Answer, However, the Lord under the former Dispensations in their Measures of the Spirit and the Manifestations thereof, while their Hearts and Eyes were single unto God, in seeking only his Glory, and not themselves, in their Ministry and La­bour in the Work of Reformation, according to what was re­vealed and opened unto them further of the Mind and Will of God (who worketh all his Works in Wisdom, Order and Sea­son, there being a Seed Time and an Harvest) did then in Faith­fulness dispense the VVord, as they had received it, that as many as the Lord should call might bring forth Fruit answerable, and so to grow from Faith to Faith, both Ministers and Hearers, unto the perfecting the VVork of Reformation in Life and Doctrine, learning to deny themselves, and take up their daily Cr [...]s [...] [...]o follow Christ, that they might bring forth Fruit unto God; the Church as by Degrees was driven into the VVilder­ness so by Degrees comes forth, to be Inhabitants of the [Page 17] New Ierusalem, descended from Heaven; so that the Lord ex­pects and requires a proceeding forward by Degrees, as Peo­ple are made capable to receive his VVord unto a more per­fect Reformation, to a through Reformation, in the Leading and Power of the Spirit of Truth, unto the perfect Man in Christ Jesus, the Head and Ruler of his Church, and the only Law-Giver in the Church, and therefore is now (through the Spirit) more and more revealing the Man of Sin, the Anti-christ that opposeth all that is called of God, that so in this Day of Refor­mation and Restauration of all Things, as at the Begin­ning, his Name and Truth and Kingdom may be ex­alted over all, so that the Lord of the Vineyard coming to ex­pect Fruit from the Labourers in the same, under the several Dis­pensations (wherein in Times of Ignorance he winked at di­vers Things) in the several Ages and Generations, and the Good he hath owned in the Episcopals, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, &c. and his Will was, that they should have gone forward (while his Presence in some Measure was with them) to a through-Reformation: But they taking up their Stations in Formalities, out of his pure Power, and hating and persecu [...] those who live in it, for this Cause God hath rejected them; so the Lord departing from them, they cannot profit the People at all, but are denyed of the Lord (to be sent of him) to be his Ministers, he having let out his Vineyard to others, of whom he expects and receives more Fruit; so that although the o­ther, under their several Dispensations, while Faithful unto what was manifest, did see some Fruit of their Labour; but now none unto God, the Lord being departed from them, he saith unto them, who hath required th [...]se Things of your Hands wherein you have polluted my Name, seeking of your own, more then Gods; therefore being now as such who having a Form of Godliness, deny the Power, the Apostle admonisheth to turn away from: So being such as having not the Spirit, are turned aside to Fables, Quenchers of the Spirit, and Despi­sers of Prophesie, speaking Evil of that you understand not; for spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and only such who are in the Spirit are able to judge of them: So that all such as are [Page 18] now out of the Dispensation of the Spirit, whereby in this Day (Blessed be his Name) the Lord is revealed and revealing in his Word and Truth unto a Remnant, walking and waiting in the Light of Christ Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life; those who are not Ministers of the Light and Life of Christ, are none of Christs Ministers in the Spirit; and such convert not any unto God, nor bring not to the Restoration, but are blind Leaders of the blind, and both fall into the Ditch, where they may lie long, crying, Lord help, without endeavouring to arise out by true Repentance and turning unto the Lord in his Light, that they may receive Life and Power to become the Children of God, and to be taught by him, for all his Children are taught by him, the Inspiration of the Almighty giving Wis­dom to those, who in the Silence of all Flesh draw nigh to him, and wait upon him, to learn of him who is meek and humble; and the humble he will teach the wayes wherein they should walk, whose wayes are wayes of Peace, and lead to everlasting Peace and Righteousness forever, when as to the wicked, and such as resist and reproach his Truth, despise his Word, and turn it behind their Backs, and hate to be reformed and converted unto the Lord, there is no Peace, saith my God.

And all People, Consider whom ye follow, what Teachers ye learn of, whether of such as are truly sent of God, or of such as go forth in the Will of Man, and are not of God; beware of being seduced and mis-lead, hearkening to the Voice of the false Shepherds, such as go before they are sent, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, when the Lord hath not spoken to them, nor doth by them, but they speak their own Words, composing their Sermons in their own Wills and Wisdom, or what they gather from others, not what they have learned and experienced of the word of Life in themselves, and so not in the Love to the Souls of others, desiring others should have Fellowship with them, in the constrainiag and moving of the Spirit of Grace, and as that gives Utterance, according to the Wisdom which is from above, so speak and declare (in the Power of God) the Words of Life, as they have received freely, so freely to give thereof, not speaking what they have seen, and tasted, and [Page 19] handled of the Word of Life, and so are not true Guides in the way of Life, which from a certain Knowledge & Belief they can not declare of, being but a divination of their own Brain, which all false Teachers Preach. Now People you have had the true and the false Ministers both characterized, whereby ye may be helped to know and distinguish the one from the other, and so in the Light which gives the true Understanding, ye may be able to make a true Judgment, and so as the Lord gives you a Dis­cerning, chuse to hear the true Teachers, and turn from the false, which the Lord requires of you; not to hearken and give Countenance to such, which are blind Leaders of the blind, De­ceivers and Seducers, which wax worse and worse, which run in the way of Balaam expecting gain from their Quarters, having a form of Godliness and deny the Power, from such turn away; but be ye Hearers and Obeyers of God his true and faithful Ministers who seek not what is yours outwardly, but you, to communicate a Gift to you, that ye may be Partakers of their Joy, and may have Fellowship together with them, with the Father and the Son, and to be one in the Lord, of the one Faith, and one Baptism, and one Bread, having Spiritual Communion with the Lord, as to drink w [...]th him the Fruit of the Vine in the Fathers Kingdom, that so your Joy may be full, knowing truly in whom ye believe, and whose voice ye hear, and that it is the Words of Life which they preach, having the Witness in your selves, who are taught of God, and need that no man teach you, saving as the Annointing teacheth you, which the Lord Jesus promised to send to lead us into all Truth: So go not forth but wait in the Light of Christ, for the manifestation of his Power and wis­dom to work your Redemption out of Sin, for without his Power and Wisdom in you, you can do nothing that is good, but by it the true Believer is strengthened to do all which God requires of him, in which he knows Peace, & such come to know those who are truly sent of him, to be Overseers in his Church, and are to watch over you, his Flock, for good, and such as must give an account, to God that they may do it with Joy and not with Grief, and such will be worthy of double Honour, who labour in the word and Doctrine, seeking the praise of God, and not [Page 20] the Praise of men, and only to approve themselves to every mans Conscience in the Sight of God, that what they speak is not of them­selves, but from the Lord, & so as the word of God they receive it in faith and obey it, and so are not hearers of it only, but doers of it also, wherein they are justified; so the just live by faith (which is the gift of God) in the Son of God, and so hear only his voice within them, and from his Ministers sent by him, and are not ashamed to hear them, but are swift to hear, and slow to speak; but as the Spirit opens the mouth and giveth Utterance to de­clare of the Things they have seen and heard and have tasted of, so all may Prophesy, as they receive the gift to Edification of others; God having Promised in the Latter Days to Pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh, that Sons and Daughters Servants and Hand-maids may Prophesie; yet all are not Prophets, but only such on whom the Spirit of Prophesie is poured forth; so all are not Ministers Evangelists and Apostles, but only such whom the Lord sends, and who go forth in the Spirit of our God, and in the Leading and Guidance thereof, to what Persons, Na­tions or People the Lord shall send them; so how beautiful are the Feet of them who bring Glad Tidings of Salvation; and blessed are they that come in the Name of the Lord, and in hearing of them there is Joy, and Comfort and Peace, whenas the false Guides lead to Destruction, and their VVayes are VVayes of Death, and their End Everlasting VVo and Misery; wherefore Friends, beware whom you hear, and what you hear; for there have been and are many false Teachers and Deceivers gone forth into the VVorld, which (as Christ long since forewarned) if pos­sible should deceive the very Elect; but saith he, Go not forth, the Word is nigh which we preach, saith the Apostle, the Word of Faith in your Hearts and Mouthes, that who give Heed thereto, as to a Light shining in a dark Place, until the Day dawn, and the Day-Star arise in their Hearts, shall never be deceived, nor have any Occasion of stumbling; for they that stumble stumble in the dark, because they see not, and know not whether they are going, and so fall into the Ditch.

Wherefore Friends, in a Discerning of the true Teacher, all coming to witness your being taught of God, cry to him still, that [Page 21] he would direct you in his Wayes, wherein he would have you to walk, that ye may not go astray from his Commandments, but walk in them; and so keep close to the Word of Life, reveal­ed and made manifest in you, that ye should walk thereby, and be led into the sure Pathes that lead unto Life; and stop not your Ears against this Word, but be diligent Hearers and Followers of it, in the Love of it, then will ye not be ashamed to make Pro­fession of it, and Confession unto it, in bearing your Witness for it, but will have a Testimony for it against all the false Ministers and Professions; and so as your Lives answer thereunto, ye will glorifie your Maker, singing a Song of Sion, and witness you Re­deemer liveth, who hath called you out of the false VVayes and Forms, and chosen you unto himself, to place his Name in you, and to be his peculiar People, zealous of good Works, and that Men may see your good Works wrought in Christ, and may glorifie your Fa­ther in Heaven; so will ye be Christ's Disciples indeed, learning of him to deny your selves, and take up your daily Cross, and follow him, so his Truth will be witnessed unto by you, who live and walk in it, and hereby through Faith shall ye overcome the World, your Adversaries be made ashamed, and their Mouthes stopped, and they shall have nothing justly to say against you, who otherwise are ready to blaspheme the Holy Name whereby we are called; so in the Separation from the false Teachers, in wait­ing upon the Lord in the Light, ye will come to know your Teacher which shall not need to go into a Corner, but will preach on the House Top.