Fire from heaven, falling upon the present army and the churches: or, Two words from the Lord to both·: Held forth to the understanding of those, that make not flesh their arm, and whose hope the Lord is, that cease from man (a piece of earth) whose breath is in his nostrils. As also to the terror and astonishment of all those, who lean upon the broken staff of Egypt, and trust in horses, and strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and joy in the shadow of men; and cry to themselves, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. / By a man of their councel.

The Epistle general, To all the Kings Party, with the Bi∣shops, Priests, Presbyters, Indepen∣dents, Anabaptists, Seekers, &c. To men of all sects, of all degrees, of all conditions where and what∣soever.

Dear Hearts,

IF the Lord rend that vail of flesh, wherewith you are covered, what is herein spoken shall be plain and easie to you; it shall be yours, as well as mine: It contains in it a fire that will try every mans work, it refines and purifies the Sons of Levi, that all their offerings may be in Righteousness: You may behold in it the voyce that cries, All flesh is as grass, and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the field. It preaches forth the Love of God, and drives poor creatures to an abhorring of themselves in their murdering, de∣stroying and revengeful way, That the Wolf may lye down with the Lamb, and the Lyon eat straw with the Ox, and no hurting in all the holy Mountain. I have to do in this book with the Army and Churches, which contains a great part of the Nation, and the Sentence of the Lord passed against both, and Judgment begun at the House of God. I have presented it to your view, that you may know the design of God in these latter days, viz. to plead with all flesh, and throughly to purge his floor. Ye that are men of several forms, dressed with several attire, different and various in Religion,

may yet unite, and be one in the Spirit and Power of Jesus, when he shall come stealing upon you, and plunder you of all that you now, or have, gathered to your selves, and lead you from one dispensation to another, from strength to strength, and from glory to glory, until you eat bread, and drink wine now in the Kingdom of God. The Lord is in your darkness, and provides for you in the wilderness. Therefore, first, to you that are the Royal Party, know this, The King is an Image of God, a lively figure of the King of Kings; but you in your darkness are enthralled to the Idea and outward form, yea to the weakness and imperfection of it, and thereby kept from that truly Noble and Royal Spirit, that freely flows from the Lord (the represented) to all the Royal Priesthood. You so much deifie the soveraignty of a man, that only bears forth what of God is given in, that you rob the Lord, the mighty, not giving and bowing to that All-might, though the curse is threatned, and before you ex∣ecuted on those that make flesh their arm: Yea, this Power, when sometime exercised against the Child Jesus, is by you justified, and no room in the Inn when he is brought forth among you. And to you the Bishops and Priests, who are a dark figuring out of the true Bishop and over-seer of the soul, yet you feed your selves, and not the Flock, preaching and praying in a formal customary way. stinting your selves and others in all your duties, going not in your selves, nor suffering those that will, endeavoring to quench the spi∣rit that rises up in opposition to those tyes and bonds that leads it captive. And to you the Presbyterian Party, that, to be more ex∣cellent then your fathers, make long prayers, having great shews of Reformation, and greater zeal, and larger actings for God, then those before you; yet sit down satisfied with your selves, having thus painted over the Sepulchres of your fathers, and with them assemble your power and authority to stop that River of God which flows to the sons of men, if not running in your channel. Yea, you of the Independent Party, to write a fairer Copy then all these, se∣parate from their society, as unclean and unholy, and yet assuming to your selves the priviledg of an outward holy seed, and all that spring from your unholy holy loins, to be interessed with your selves in these promises, though the Lord hath pronounced Judgment a∣gainst all outward and carnal marks and distinctions, as thereby differencing the Lords People, disclaiming all right not derived from that truth and glory within you, which is truth, and needs not

that any man teach you. And you the Anabaptists, to make a stricter separation then these before you, begin from and of your selves to set up that carnal & outward way which God hath thrown down, and to set up John the Baptist in the room of Christ, though he tells you his Ministry and Doctrine must decrease, and Christs increase; yet will you sit down under the cloudiness and twi-light of John, and not assemble to the Day and Morning, Christ, who is risen upon the earth: Yea, though the Spirit, by the fore-mentioned Messenger, tells you, This is not the Reformation, but a figure of it, and after him cometh he whose san is in his hand, and throughly purge his floor; yet do you sit down on this side Reformation, not approaching to that House made without hands eternal in the Hea∣vens: Yea, others of you, passing through all these, arrive at a seek∣ing what hath been, and not reaching forth to that which is before. Some of you are content with the borders of Canaan, and think not of entering in and possessing the good Land, expecting Moses, that angered the Lord at the waters of strife, a Minister of weakness, to lead you to your Rest; and not Jesus, who is a Saviour and De∣liverer from being captive to any thing below God whatsoever: and therefore stay on this side Jordan, not believing the waters shall divide, and be cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, born by the Melchisedec of God: Therefore all of you whatsoever that are working in your six days under sundry and several dis∣pensations, tiring and wearing out your selves in your own vanities, shall lie down in sorrow, and be bitten by the Serpents in the Wil∣derness, until you pass over into the Lord your Canaan, and Day of Rest, where you shall all of you rest from your labours, and your works follow: And this Day of the Lord is coming upon you, it is near at hand, even at the doors; the fulness of the Gentiles co∣ming in, and all Israel shall be saved. And in this Day, who so will not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, upon them shall be no rain, there shall be a famine in all their dwellings, a drying up of all their gifts, parts, excellencies, righteousness, praying, reading, preaching; yea all that they have be taken away: For the Day of the Lord is up∣on all the proud, and upon all that are lifted up, and upon all that being taken up into this high Mountain, a figure of the true, say, Come, let us build three Tabernacles, let us never move from this station, let us never go beyond Moses his legal and carnal admini∣strations,

let us retain what we have, and seek not to attain what we have not. O let not this mind be in any of you, lest the Day of the Lord come upon you, and your oyl being out of your lamps, and you not ready, are shut out of doors, and cast into the fire that burn∣eth, and never goeth out. The sinners in Zion are afraid, Who shall dwell with devouring fire? Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The clean hands and upright heart: Therefore cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; wait under your dis∣pensations, enquire under your old fabrick, and in the desolations thereof for him that shall make all things new, and then shall I be

Yours, new in the Kingdom.