before, were taken away, and died in the faith, before that flood of destruction came upon the wicked old world.

"The Lord called Lot out of Sodom, before he destroyed and consumed it, and the wicked there.

"Christ said, 'It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem :' and he said, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings! and ye would not,' Luke xiii. 33, 34. And he said to the Jews, "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation,' Luke xi. 49-51. And he said to the Jews, 'Behold your house is left unto you desolate,' Matt. xxiii. 34, &c. Christ told his disciples, that the temple at Jerusalem should be thrown down, and there should not be one stone left upon another, that should not be thrown down, Matt. xxiv. 2. Also, that he must go to Jerusalem, and 'suffer many things of the Jews, elders, and chief priests, and be killed, and raised again the third day,' Matt. xvi. 21. And Christ said, 'When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know the desolation thereof is nigh.' He foretold, that the Jews should fall by the edge of the sword, and should be led away 'captive into all nations; and Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles,' Luke xxi. 20, 24. Here you may see, how Jerusalem was often warned by Christ, and how often he would have gathered them, but they would not,' before they were scattered over or into all nations, their houses left desolate, and their temple and Jerusalem besieged with armies, destroyed, and thrown down. And though the disciples and apostles of Christ did meet, with the elders and church, at Jerusalem, after Christ was risen, yet Eusebius reports in his Ecclesiastical History, that the Christians at Jerusalem had a vision, or a revelation to depart out of Jerusalem. Being forewarned also by Christ, that when they should see Jerusalem compassed with armies, its desolation was nigh; and that the temple should be thrown down, and not one stone left upon another; it is said, that the Christians did depart out of bloody Jerusalem, before it and the temple were destroyed by Titus, the emperor, who besieged it with his armies. He was of the Gentiles, and destroyed the temple and Jerusalem, as Christ had fore-spoken to his disciples, because of the wickedness of the Jews, and the innocent blood that they had shed in it. So the Lord called his people out of bloody Jerusalem, before he destroyed it. And it is said, that Titus destroyed the temple and Jerusalem about fortytwo years after Christ was crucified, and risen again; and that with so great a destruction, that the Jews never built the city again, nor the temple (as Sodom was never built again, nor the cities of the old world). But the Jews for above these thousand years have been, and are a scattered people in all nations to this day; and Christ (whom they crucified) and his doctrine, is preached, and set over them; and the Gentiles, whom they hated,

have received, and do receive him and his doctrine, and praise God for it through Jesus Christ. Amen.

"God called his people out of Egypt, after he had poured out his ten plagues upon the Egyptians; when he had destroyed the first-born of Egypt, then the Lord brought his people out of Egypt. And after the Lord had clearly brought his people out, he destroyed Pharaoh, and all his hosts and chariots.

"John says, he heard a voice, saying, 'Come out of her, my people, (to wit, out of Babylon, the false church), that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues; for her sins have reached to heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities,' Rev. xviii. 4, 5. Here ye may see that God called his people out of spiritual Babylon, before he destroyed her, and cast her down, to be utterly burnt with fire, ver. 8, 9, 21.

"Was not Nebuchadnezzar's empire thrown down and ended by Cyrus and Darius, who were of the seed of the Medes, before Cyrus and Darius gave forth their proclamation for all the Jews to go into their own land, out of Babylon's captivity? And was there not a prophecy of Cyrus, 'that he should subdue nations, and that the Lord would loose the loins of kings before him, and break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, and open the two-leaved gates; and that the gates should not be shut?' And the Lord said, 'This is for Jacob, my servant's sake, and for Israel mine elect, Isa. xlv. Was not this fulfilled in Cyrus's and Darius's time? For did not then the Jews go out of captivity into their own land,' Ezra i. 2-4; vi. 1, 12; Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 13. Was not this prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled when the children of Israel came out of Babylon? Were not the Assyrians, that carried away the ten tribes, subdued? and the Babylonians, that carried away the two tribes, were they not subdued in the days of Cyrus and Darius, in whose days the 'loins of kings were loosed, and the two-leaved gates of brass and iron were opened?' and had not Israel and Jacob their liberty by them in their days, to go into their own land?

"And here in England, was it not observed, that most of the honest and sober people were turned out of the army, and their commissions, offices, and places taken from them, because they could not join with others in their cruelty and persecuting? And others laid down their commissions themselves, and came out from amongst those persecutors, before they were overthrown and brought to confusion. All that are wise, see these things, and learn by such examples and way-marks to shun such bogs. The righ teous are safe, that keep in Christ, their everlasting sanctuary, that changes not; in whom they have rest and peace with God. Amen." G. F.

Kingston, the 29th of the 12th Month, 1686-7.

CHAPTER XIII.

1686-1687.-The first and the second Adam compared-the two seeds distinguishedGeorge Fox is daily exercised in London in services relating to the church, visiting the sick or afflicted, and writing in defence of Truth, or refuting error-true prayer distinguished from the practice of the Papists-visits his son-in-law William Mead-a distinction between the true offering, and sacrifice, and the false, under the old and new covenant-a general toleration and liberty being now granted, George Fox writes a word of counsel and caution to Friends, to walk circumspectly in a time of liberty-how redemption by Christ is known and witnessed-repentance must precede the reception of the gospel, baptism, &c.— a paper showing wherein God's people are to be like him-the right way to Christ-the kingdom of God is to be measurably known in this life-George Fox is benefited by being three months in the country-has much service in London again at Kingston writes a paper, showing how the Jews, by disobedience, lost the Holy City and the Holy Land, designed as a warning to Christians-everlasting life through, and in, Christ, to be received and witnessed in this life-the stone cut out of the mountain signifies the kingdom and power of Christ-a miscellaneous paper, being a collection of Scripture passages respecting regeneration, sanctification, &c.

WHILE I was at Kingston, one day, as I was meditating on the things of God, some particular observations arose in my mind, concerning the first, and the second or last Adam. As that

"THE first man Adam was made on the sixth day of the week; and Christ, the second Adam, was crucified on the sixth day of the week.

"The first Adam was betrayed by the serpent in the garden of Eden ; Christ our Saviour, the second Adam, was betrayed by Judas in a garden near Jerusalem.

"Christ arose from the dead on the First-day of the week; and they that believe on him are entered into Christ, their Rest; the Christians meet together to worship God on the First-day of the week; and on the Firstday of the week it was that God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light. The Jews' rest was on the seventh-day of the week, which was given to them as a sign of the eternal rest of the Lord, sanctifying them, after they came out of the land of Egypt; for before that time the Lord had not given to man and woman his outward Sabbath-day to keep, neither in the old world, nor after in Abraham's time, nor in Isaac's, nor in Jacob's time; until the Jews came out of Egypt to Mount Sinai in the wilderness. Then the Lord gave the law and his Sabbath, as a sign in the old covenant, of Christ the Eternal Rest in the new covenant; and they that believe do enter into Christ, their Rest.

"Adam, the first man, is the root from whence we all spring naturally; and Christ is called the last, or second Adam, because he is the beginning and root of all that are spiritual.

"The first Adam was made a living soul; and Christ, the last Adam, is a quickening spirit.

"Christ by the grace of God tasted death for every man, that they night all come into favour with God; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'"

I wrote also a paper there, concerning the two seeds, distinguishing the seed wherein the blessing is received, from the seed which the curse remains upon. Of which the following is a copy:

"THE Lord said to Abraham, 'In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,' Gen. xxii. 18. And thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand, which is upon the sea-shore, and as the dust of the earth, that cannot be numbered,' chap. xiii. 16; xv.

5;

xxii. 17.

In this seed all nations and families of the earth are blessed; but not in the seed of evil-doers and of falsehood, nor in the seed of the adulterer and the whore, Isa. i. 4, and lvii. 3, 4; for the seed of the wicked shall be cut off,' saith the Lord, Psal. xxxvii. 28. The Lord said to David, 'That his seed should endure for ever,' Psal. lxxxix. 36. And again it is said, Psal. cii. 28, The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.' Here is a distinction between the two seeds ; for the seed of evil-doers, of the adulterer, and of the wicked, shall be cut off; and so it is not blessed. But Christ bruises the head of the serpent, and his seed which he soweth in them, that disobey and transgress God's command, and rebel against God's good Spirit. This wicked seed of the serpent is cursed, and is an enemy to the Seed in whom all are blessed; but Christ bruises the head of this cursed seed of enmity, and destroys the devil and his works; and in his seed are all blessed, and all are in unity in this seed. All the children of the seed are the children of the kingdom of God, and of Christ, and are blessed with faithful Abraham. Whoever arc of the saving, divine, precious faith, are of Abraham, walk in the steps of the seed and faith of Abraham, and are blessed with him, yea, of all nations, and all the families of the earth.

"And the Lord said to Abraham, Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards shall they (to wit, God's seed) come out with great substance,' Gen. xv. 13, 14. Here ye may see, that which afflicts God's seed, he will judge, and did judge; for he destroyed the first-born of Pharaoh, and overthrew him and his host.

"A holy man said, 'Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed or remnant, we had been as Sodom,' &c., that is, destroyed. But in the Seed, which destroys the devil and his works, and bruises the head of the serpent and his seed, are all nations and families of the earth blessed.

"Christ, according to the flesh, was of Abraham and of David, for he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, in which seed all nations and families of the earth are blessed. So they that are of his seed, are of the generation of Christ; are 'flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone.' Now, all nations and families of the earth must be in this holy Seed, if they have the blessings and are blessed. And 'out of the mouth of this Seed's seed shall not God's word depart;' but shall remain

and abide in the mouth of this Seed's seed, in which they are blessed, Isa. lix. 21. So it is not the first-birth's talking of the words of Christ, the Seed, in whose mouth the word of God doth not abide; that makes an outward profession, like the Jews who killed and persecuted the prophets, and crucified Christ, the Seed, and substance of the law and prophets, which the Jews professed in words, but they denied Christ, the Seed and Life. And all Christians (so called) that profess the Scriptures in words, and are not in the Seed, Christ, are in the confusion, and are like the Jews; and so, neither Jews nor Christians are blessed, except they be in Christ, the Seed of Life.

"But though Christ is said to be of the Seed of David, and of Abraham, as his generation is declared by Matthew and Luke; yet Christ was not born of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. For he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin, and supposed to be son of Joseph, but was the Son of God. His name was called Jesus, because he should 'save his people from their sins;' and Emmanuel, God with us. Christ took not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham (as I said before) and so 'was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,' Rom. i. 4. So the generation of Christ is a mystery. Christ saw his Seed or Word grow up in his disciples; and Christ in you, the hope of glory,' the apostle calls 'The mystery, which hath been hid from ages and generations; but now is made manifest to the saints,' or sanctified ones, Col. i. 26, 27. 'Whom we preach; warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,' ver. 28. For in Christ, the second Adam, all are made perfect and complete; and in Adam in the fall, all are deformed and made imperfect; so out of Christ all mankind are imperfect and deformed: let them paint, and dress themselves with the sheep's clothing, and with the form of godliness, of the prophets', and Christ's, and his apostles' words ever so much; yet if Christ be not in them, they are incomplete, imperfect, deformed, reprobates. But the apostle tells the church of Christ, 'Ye are complete in Christ, which is the head of all principality and power,' Col. ii. 10 (for he hath all power in heaven and in earth given to him, Matt. xxviii. 18). So all the saints are made perfect and complete in Christ Jesus; blessed be the Lord God over all for ever, through Jesus Christ. Amen, Amen." G. F.

Kingston, the 15th of the 1st Month, 1686–7.

Quickly after this I returned to LONDON, and continued there a month in the service of the Lord; being daily exercised either in public meetings, or more particular services relating to the church of Christ; as visiting such as were sick or afflicted, and writing books or papers for the spreading of truth, or refuting of error. As it was a time of general liberty, the Papists appeared more open in their worship than formerly: and many unsettled people going to view them at it, a great talk there was of their praying to saints, and by beads, &c., whereupon I wrote a short paper concerning prayer; as follows::--