harboznai, and their companions, the Apharsachites, the pensioners, the old enemies of the Jews that had risen against them in Artaxerxes's time, they said unto the Jews in Darius's time, Who commanded you to build Jerusalem, and make up the walls? And they asked the elders of the Jews their names, that they might certify them to the king Darius? But the Jews answered and said unto them, that they were servants of the God of heaven and earth.' So these enemies of the Jews wrote a letter to Darius, concerning them against the building of Jerusalem and the temple; and Darius caused search to be made in the records of Babylon, and he found the proclamation and decree of Cyrus, which he gave unto the Jews to build Jerusalem. Ezra v. 6.

And then Darius made a decree, and sent it to Tatnai the governor, and to Shetharboznai, and their companions the Apharsachites, who had been the enemies of the Jews, and bade them, 'let the house of God alone, let the governors of the Jews and elders build a house in its place.' And so this Darius made a decree, that of the king's goods, and even of the tribute, they should assist the Jews, and not hinder them in their building; and whosoever did alter this decree or word, let the timber be plucked down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon, and let his house be made a dunghill for this.' And Artaxerxes said, 'I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, &c. in my realm, they should go up to Jerusalem with Ezra;' and said, 'Whosoever will not obey the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him; whether it be unto death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.' Ezra vii. 13. 26.

So according to the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia, the Jews finished Jerusalem, and the house, in the sixth year of Darius. Ezra vi. 14, 15. Now here you may see what strict laws and decrees these kings made against these heathen informers, pensioners, and their company, who would have hindered the Jews, when they went out of captivity, from building Jerusalem and the temple, contrary to Cyrus's command. Ezra i.

But you may see here that these kings stopped the Jews' enemies and evil doers, that would have destroyed the Jews; and these decrees, laws and ordinances were for the praise of them that do well. But these informers and pensioners said to the king Artaxerxes, Jerusalem was a rebellious city, and was hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they had moved sedition.' In Ezra iv. from the 8th to the 19th. And though these enemies of the Jews, and heathen pensioners and informers, whose wicked words did prevail with Artaxerxes for a time, yet you see that king Artaxerxes gave a strict commandment, with these punishments, against them that should hinder the Jews; as in Ezra vii. 12, 13. 26.

And likewise Darius, in chap. vi. 11. So that according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia, Jerusalem and the temple were built. Ezra vi. 14.

So you may see, though Artaxerxes had made a decree, which did stop the Jews from building until the second year of Darius, upon the information of those heathen pensioners, who called Jerusalem a bad rebellious and seditious city, and hurtful to kings,' as in Ezra iv. 12. 15; yet in Ezra vii, Artaxerxes makes a decree for the encouragement of the Jews to go up to Jerusalem and build the temple; and whosoever disobeyed the law of God, and the law of the king, judgment was to be executed speedily upon them, whether unto death, or banishment, or confiscating of goods, or imprisonment.' So this was a torment to those pensioners the informers, who had not their wills upon the Jews, who had formerly got a decree of the king against the Jews to hinder them from building; the same king makes another decree, 'for them to assist the Jews; that whosoever would not do the law of God, and the law of the king, judgment was speedily to be executed upon them, whether it be unto death, banishment, confiscation of goods, or imprisonment,' as it is said before. Now here, as the apostle saith, the law was good in its place, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well;' as in 1 Tim. i. 8, 9. and 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14.

So here you may see none of these laws were made against religious people for meeting together to serve and worship the living God, that made them; for the law of God and the king were for the punishment of evil doers, that would have destroyed God's people; for God nor Christ never made a law for punishing people for serving and worshipping him; but God's law was to protect his people from murderers and man-slayers, &c. (and the punishment of such evil doers,) which was for the praise of them that do well; and serve God, and worship him in spirit and truth. Yea, Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes' decrees stopped those heathen informers, and pensioners, and enemies to the Jews, that wrote to the king against the Jews, to hinder them from building the city. So the law is good in its place, if it be used lawfully; and they that use it lawfully, put a difference between the precious and the vile, and them that serve God, and them that do not, which law is for the punishment of such evil doers as the apostle speaketh of, 1 Tim. i. 1 Pet. ii.

But the apostle doth not say, it is for punishing people concerning religion, and for serving and worshipping God in the spirit and truth; for Christ and the apostles have given forth no law, nor ordinance, nor decree, to punish people, or to banish people, or to imprison people, or pluck down the timber of their houses, to set up gallows to hang peo

ple, and put them to death, and make a dunghill of their house, or spoil their goods, and make confiscations of their goods. No, Christ nor the apostles never gave forth such a law or ordinance, for the punishing of people for serving and worshipping of God that made them, or to punish such that differed from them in faith and matters of religion. For Christ said, he came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. So he is an example of meekness and patience.

The king of Assyria, the Lord did not suffer him to carry away the ten tribes into captivity, for the account of religion, or the not conforming to his religion; for the ten tribes of the Jews they had left all the commands of the Lord their God, and did not regard God, nor his law, nor his prophets. 2 Kings xvii.

And the two tribes of the Jews, the king of Babylon did not carry them out of Canaan into captivity, because they were not subject to his religion, though they had forsaken the Lord, and his law and religion, that he had taught them, and regarded neither the Lord nor his prophets.

And the informers they did not inform Artaxerxes against the Jews, upon the account of not being of their religion.

And those decrees or laws that Darius and Artaxerxes made, were not against those informers, and pensioners, and such like heathens, because they would not be of their religion; but that they and others would have hindered the Jews from building their city, &c. when they went out of captivity.

And therefore all you consider, that have or do punish, or persecute people about religion, faith, worship, and serving the living God, what became and was the end of all them that persecuted the prophets, Christ, and his apostles, and all the martyrs since the apostles' days. And what do ye read is the end of the beast, whore, and dragon, that killed and drank the blood of the martyrs, prophets, and saints, spoken of in the Revelations?

And therefore, let all that profess christianity, learn of Christ, who teacheth you to love one another, and love enemies, and commands you to let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest, which is the end of the world, and then he will send his angels, which will separate the wheat from the tares.' Matt. xiii. 30 to 41.

G. F.

A distinction between true liberty and false. By G. F.

GOD pouring out of his spirit on all flesh, both on sons and daughters, handmaids and servants, &c. all are to walk in the liberty of this holy, pure, peaceable, gentle spirit of God, that keeps in humility, and in tenderness and kindness, and leads into righteousness, godliness, and holiness, and into modesty, sobriety, virtue, and chastity, and into things that be of a good report. In this holy spirit of God is the pure holy liberty, the fruits of which, are love and peace, &c. And this holy pure spirit of God leads out of strife, contention, hatred, malice, and envy, and all unrighteousness, and ungodliness, and false liberty of the will and the flesh, and the inordinate and loose affections that are below. And if the will and the flesh and inordinate affections have their loose liberty, they set the whole course of nature on fire with the unruly will and tongue, which is to be limited, kept down, and mortified with the holy spirit of God; in which spirit is the unity kept, which is the bond of peace, in the church of Christ among all true christians, that are called the household of faith,' and ' of the son of God,' who is over his house.

And the holy, divine, pure, and precious faith, which is the victory, and purifies the heart, Christ is the author and finisher of; and the mystery of this faith is held in a pure conscience; by which faith all the faithful have access to God, and in it do please God. And in this faith all the household of God have unity and liberty, who are called the household of faith.' Now this pure holy spirit of God he pours upon all flesh, and the holy divine faith cannot admit nor join to any loose or false liberty, to the will of the flesh, or inordinate affections, or to that which is immodest, or not virtuous, or unchaste, or uncivil, or of an evil report; or to any thing that is unreasonable, or unjust, or ungodly; for such things are to be mortified by the holy spirit of God, which the unity and liberty are in. And the holy divine faith purifies God's people from such things, and gives victory over them, which faith works by love; and the pure conscience hath its liberty, which it is held in, and in it all the faithful are in unity, in which they know they please God. And this is the faith of God's elect, by which the just do live, which gives them victory over the devil and his works, and that which is unjust and unrighteous, and purifies the hearts of such as be defiled by it, from that which defiles it. And Christ Jesus enlightens every man that comes into the world, which light is the life in Christ the word, by whom all things were made. And the grace of God, which brings salvation hath appeared to all men. Now in this light and life of Christ, and in this grace of God, which brings salvation, is the true VOL. VI.

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liberty, and brings to stand fast in the true liberty in Christ the light and life, who makes them free, from all bondages and false liberties; for all liberties out of the spirit of grace, and light, and life of Christ, are bondages; for light cannot have unity with the spirit of darkness, the works of darkness. And the light of Christ gives both understanding and knowledge of all false liberties out of Christ Jesus, and cannot join with them in those liberties which are out of the light and grace of Christ, no more now than the apostles and church in the primitive times could with such in their days.

The Jews who opposed Moses and the prophets in their ages, and spake against them, who were great professors of the scriptures, did not come into the unity and liberty of the holy ghost the prophets were in. The holy prophets of God were subject one to another in the spirit of God; but the professing Jews that erred from the spirit, and rebelled against it, were not subject to the spirit of the prophets, and so were neither in the liberty nor unity in the spirit of God. And when Christ came, who was conceived by the holy ghost, &c. and holy men of God who spake forth scriptures, as moved by the holy ghost; the Jews who professed all these scriptures, that were given forth from the holy ghost, opposed Christ and the holy men, and resisted the holy ghost: these did not come into the liberty of Christ Jesus, and the liberty or communion of the holy ghost. And all those in the apostles' days, that made an outward profession of christianity, which the apostles and the churches were troubled withal, and some of the seven churches were troubled with also, which were as raging waves of the sea, which foamed out their own shame, and casting up their mire and dirt, in Cain's way of envy, Corah's way of gainsaying, and in the error of Balaam, from the spirit of God; wells without the water of life, trees without holy fruit, twice dead, dead in Adam, and made alive, dead again, and plucked up by the roots; that cannot grow in the life of Christ, and are become synagogues of satan; puffed up with high swelling words of vanity, and have fair words and good speeches, but wandering stars, from the firmament of God's power, not fit for the innocent to steer by to the heavenly Jerusalem, no more than the outward mariners to steer their course by the outward wandering stars to an outward port. And such as the apostle calls fierce despisers of them that are good, incontinent, covenant breakers, having a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, which were and are to be turned away

from.

Though such as these before mentioned, in the apostles' days, and now, may profess liberty for a cloak, to cloak their evil spirit, and its fruits; yet all such actions are not according to Christ, and the grace of God; for the grace of God has no union with fierce despisers of them that are