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or condemn one another; for he that did, spoke evil of the law, and condemned the law, and did not do it.' James iv. 11. For the law of God commands people to love one another, and not to persecute one another; yea, to love enemies. And the apostle saith, 'Love doth no ill to his neighbour.' And the apostle Peter saith, Honour all men, &c. and love the brotherhood.' So if they have honoured all men, then they have them all in esteem, as they are the creatures of God, whom Christ hath died for, and gave himself a ransom. And the apostle saith to the church of Christ, Though we walk in the flesh, yet we do not war after the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,' &c. 2 Cor. x. 3, 4. For we wrestle not with flesh and blood,' saith the apostle.' Ephes. vi. 12. And in this chapter you may see the saints' spiritual armour, and spiritual weapons. And so it is clear, the christians, in the apostles' days, did not use carnal weapons, and wrestle with flesh and blood; and their warfare was not carnal, in matters of faith and religion, in the church of Christ, and serving and worshipping of God.

And the apostle Peter saith, the elders were not to be lord's over God's heritage;' but that they might be examples in good life and conversation, and good doctrine; not by constraint for filthy lucre; but willingly, and of a ready mind.' 1 Pet. v. 1, 2.

And the apostle Peter saith, 'Of a truth I perceive, that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.' And this the apostle Peter said, when he went among the Gentiles, he by nature being a Jew. So if God doth accept, in every nation, all them that fear him and work righteousness, therefore, ought not all that have the mind of Christ, and profess true christianity, to be tender to such as fear God, and work righteousness? And are not all christians, that love Christ, to keep the command of Christ, to love one another, and to love enemies?' Then they cannot persecute, and spoil the goods, and imprison any, concerning church, faith, religion, and the worship of God. And God reproves and judges such as build up Sion with blood; for the Lord saith, that Sion, that is built up with blood, shall be ploughed up as a field, that is turned upside down.' Micah iii. 10. 12. Therefore you may see, such as build with blood and persecution, their work doth not prosper. For the body, or church of Christ, is edified, knit, and united, and built up together with the love of God. Ephesians iv. 16. Colossians ii. 19.

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POSTSCRIPT.

Do not all christians that profess christianity, say these words in the Lord's prayer, 'forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive our trespassers? And doth not Christ say, 'If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your trespasses; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.' Matt. vi. 12. 14, 15. So here you may see, all christians in Christendom pray to God conditionally, to be forgiven of God their trespasses against him, as they do forgive men their trespasses against them. And therefore, it behooves all christian people to be serious, and consider what they do, when they pray to God, that they do forgive others, as they would have God to forgive them. And if they do forgive, they will not hate nor persecute, but love.

G. F.

How God's people are not to take the names of the heathen gods in their mouths, nor follow their customs, nor learn their ways. By G. F.

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THUS saith the Lord to the house of Israel, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them, for the customs of the people are vain, &c. for they are altogether brutish and foolish. Their stock is a doctrine of vanities. Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.' Jer. x. 2.

Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, that know thee not, and upon the families that call not upon thy name; for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.' Jer. x. 10. 25.

Here you may see they that did follow the vain customs of the heathen, and learn their ways, and follow the doctrine of their vanities, are foolish and brutish, and such worship the gods that are made with hands, which made not the heavens and the earth, and all such gods the Lord saith shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. As you may see these that learned the way of the heathen, and followed their vain customs and doctrines of vanities, and were

foolish and brutish, and were dismayed at the signs of heaven; and these are such that eat up Jacob, the second birth, and seek to devour him, and consume him, and to make his habitation desolate. So the Jews, the children of Israel, were not to learn the ways of the heathen, nor their vain customs, nor to follow their doctrine of vanities, for they were foolish and brutish that did so. And the portion of Jacob, the second birth, is not like them, for the Lord is his portion. The Lord said to the children of Israel in the old testament, and old covenant, In all things that I have said unto you be circumspect, and make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.' Exod. xxiii. 13.

Now here you may see God's people were to make no mention of the names of other gods, namely, the gods of the heathen that were made with hands, neither were they to be heard out of their mouths; for he saith, The gods that made not the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from off the earth, and from under these heavens.' Jer. x. 11. And God's people were not to learn the way of the heathen, nor follow the vain customs of the people; for they are altogether brutish and foolish, and their stock is a doctrine of vanities. And therefore God's people in the old testament, were wholly forbidden such things; but they were to serve and to fear the Lord God.

The old pagan Saxons, in their idolatry, brought in the names of the days after their gods; and these called christians have retained them to this day; and yet they say the scripture is their rule, for their faith and practice, and yet their practice is quite contrary to the scripture, and the command of God. The first day of the week, the idolatrous Saxons worshipped the idol of the sun, from whence came Sun'sday or Sunday. The second day of the week they worshipped the moon, from whence came Monday or Moon's-day. The third day they worshipped the idol of the planet, which they called Tuisco, from whence came Tuesday. And from their idol Woden, came Woden's-day, called Wednesday. And from their idol Thor, came Thursday. And from their idol Friga, came Friday. And from their idol Satur, came Saturday. And the heathen called Mars the god of battle, and from thence they called the first month March. And Venus they called the goddess of love and beauty, and from thence they called the second month April. And Maja a heathen goddess, called Flora and Chloris, were called the goddesses of flowers; unto Maja the heathen idolaters used a sacrifice, from thence was the third month called May; and upon the first day of May they used to keep Flora's feast to the two goddesses of flowers, to wit, Flora and Chloris. Flora was a strumpet in Rome, that used on the first day of May to set up a may-pole at the

door to entice her lovers; from whence came may-poles to be first observed. And from the heathen goddess Juno, is the fourth month called June. And in honour to Julius Cæsar, a Roman emperor, they called the fifth month July. And the sixth took its name August, in honour to Augustus Cæsar. And September, October, November, and December, are called from the Latines. And one Janus, a king of Italy, was for his wisdom pictured with two faces, and whom they honoured as a god, and from this name Janus was the eleventh month, called January. And Saturnus, Pluto, Februs, were called the gods of hell, whom the heathens said had the rule of the evil spirits there; and from Pluto, Februs was the twelfth month called February.

Now here you may see how the christians call the days, and many of the months, after the heathen gods and goddesses, and not after the scriptures, which in the beginning called them the first, second, third, fourth, &c. and called the months, first, second, third, &c. to the twelfth.

And the Lord commanded the Jews, his people, as is said before, "In all things I have said unto you be ye circumspect, and make no mention of the names of the other gods; neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.'

Now all you that profess christianity, how do you obey the Lord, and are circumspect, who make mention of the names of other gods and goddesses, and are so often heard out of the mouths of you and your children; and to keep them up in the memory, both in your mouths, and children's mouths, ye put them in your Almanacs, lest ye should forget them; and yet you say the scripture is your rule, and yet disobey both the command of God, and the holy scriptures of truth, and are often angry with, and deride the people of God, whom you in scorn call Quakers, because they do not call the months and days after the heathens' gods and goddesses, but do call them according as the holy men of God in the scripture of truth have first called them, and cannot call them after the idolatrous heathens' gods and goddesses, nor mention their gods' and goddesses' names, as you do, without the breach of the command of God, as in Exod. xxiii. 13. and the scriptures of

truth.

The Lord saith, I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered.' Zach. xiii. 2. And the Lord saith, 'I will take away the names of Baalim, out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.' Hos. ii. 17.

G. F.

A testimony for God's truth: First, concerning new and heavenly Jerusalem, and Jerusalem from below.

Secondly, concerning Christ, the great mountain that fills the whole earth.

Thirdly, how man and woman was created in the image of God, and to be meet-helps one to another.

Fourthly, how every one ought to improve the talent God gives them, to his glory, and their eternal happiness. By G. F.

THE apostle writes to the church of Christ, and saith, ‘Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. All Jerusalem's children are born of the spirit, and led by the spirit of God. And as many as receive Christ, he gives them power to become the sons of God; even to them that believe in his name. And whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and they that believe in the light, the life in Christ, do become the children of light, as in John i. 12. and xii. 36. and 1 John v. 1.

And now in this heavenly light, power, and spirit, they come to be heavenly Jerusalem's children, that is from above. For such as hate the light, and do evil, are condemned by it, and they that have not the spirit of Christ are none of his; but all the true christians, in the new covenant, and new testament, in Christ Jesus, to whom Christ hath given his life, which is his light and his power, them that believe in it, and receive him, do become the children of light, and the sons of God; so they are heavenly Jerusalem's children, born from above, of the spirit and the light.

The apostle saith to the converted Hebrews, 'Ye are come unto Mount Sion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first born, which is 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 hither Jerusalem's children were come then, while they were upon the earth.

The children of God, that were born of the spirit, and the children of the light, they were come hither in the apostles' days, they were come to that heavenly Mount Sion, that looks over the whole world. For natural Sion, the watchtower, looked over into Canaan; but this heavenly Sion, spoke of in the new testament, which is the joy of the whole earth, looks over all the earth, and in this joyful Sion, Christ the elect and precious was laid. 1 Pet. ii. 6. And Christ the deliverer comes out of this Sion. Rom. xi. 26. And the children of heavenly Jerusalem, which is the city of the living God, they see the innumera

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