from the Lord, and yet will say the good words, but not do them? and have not you been often warned of this?

And Ezek. xxxiv. there ye may see the evil shepherds, which Ezekiel was to prophesy against, Thus saith the Lord unto the shepherds, woe be unto the shepherds of Israel, that feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the flocks? ye eat the fat, ye clothe ye with the wool, ye fill them that are fed, but ye feed not the sheep; the weak have ye not strengthened, the sick ye have not healed, neither have ye bound up the broken, nor brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with churlishness and with rigor have ye ruled them, (mark here the false prophets' evil works who left the true work) and the sheep were scattered without a shepherd and when they were dispersed they were devoured of all the beasts of the field; my sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, my flocks were scattered throughout all the earth, and none searched nor sought after them; therefore as I live, saith the Lord, surely because my flock was spoiled, and my sheep were devoured of all the beasts of the field, having no shepherd; neither did my shepherds seck my flock, but fed themselves, and not the flock; thus saith the Lord behold I come against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hands; [mark,] and cause them to cease from feeding of the sheep, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more, [mark, feed themselves,] I will deliver my sheep from their mouths, [mark, from the shepherds' mouths,] and they shall no more devour them:' so here is seen the marks of those shepherds that devour God's people; come try yourselves ye shepherds, now a days are not these marks found upon you?

For thus saith the Lord, behold, I will search out my sheep, and seek them, and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day, seek them, and I will bring them out from among the people, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, and I will feed them in a good pasture, in their own fold, and there they shall lie in a good fold, and in fat pasture, and I will feed my sheep, and bring them to their rest, saith the Lord, and I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and I will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and will feed them with judgment;' and this is the Lord's work, by his power, which many can witness, blessed be his name for ever; for the Lord doth judge betwixt sheep and goats: so the Lord is our shepherd, and we shall not want; and the Lord saith to the false shepherds, seeing it is a small thing unto you to eat up the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture, and to have drank of the deep waters, but you must trouble the residue with your feet, and my sheep eat that which ye have

trodden with your feet, and drink that which ye have fouled with your feet; therefore, thus saith the Lord God unto them, behold I, even I, [mark,] will judge between the fat sheep, and the lean sheep, because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the weak with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; therefore, I will save my sheep, says the Lord, and they shall no more be spoiled, or a prey unto you; and I will judge betwixt sheep and sheep, and I will set up a shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David, and he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I will be their God: here you may see the Lord God is drawing and gathering his sheep to Christ Jesus, the true shepherd, that lays down his life for his sheep; and this many do witness, that have been scattered, and been made a prey upon by the mouth of the false shepherds, that have fed themselves, and have been wandering from mountain to mountain in this cloudy dark day; but the Lord hath sought them that have been lost, and bound them up that have been broken, and strengthened the weak, and hath brought many to the one fold, into his pasture, to the one shepherd, Christ Jesus, and is bringing others to him; therefore, try yourselves, ye pastors, whether ye are not found in the steps of those false shepherds' ways and steps, which the true prophets cried against.

And Christ saith, 'none can come unto me, except the Father draw him;' and the truth of this we witness, blessed be the Lord forever: ' and as a company of thieves wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent, for their work is mischief.' Was not this so in Hosea's days, as you may see in Hosea vi. 9. And was it not so in the days of Christ against him? and is it not so now? read in Matt. xxvii. how early they got up in the morning to work mischief, for when morning was come they rose up together, the chief priests and elders to take counsel together to put Christ to death: and hath not this spirit and practice been found amongst ye priests and professors now a-days against Christ's followers?

And in Amos vii. see what rage the high priest Amaziah, was in against Amos, and informed king Jeroboam against him, saying that, ' Amos hath conspired against thee, O king;' and warned Amos to be gone into the land of Judah, and prophesy there, and prophesy no more at Bethel, which was the king's chapel and court: and then Amos the herdsman said to the priest Amaziah that, he was no prophet, but a herdsman, and a gatherer of figs.' Here you may see the wrath and rage of the high priest against the servant of God, as they do now a-days.

And in Micah ii. 11. 'If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine, and of strong drink, he shall even be a prophet for this people.' These were the prophets that VOL. V.-4

pleased people then, and are they not them that do so now? and such like prophets are not like to turn people to God more now than then.

And in Mic. iii. see the chapter throughout, and measure yourselves by those priests and prophets, and see if you be not found in their steps, 'they hatch good,' saith the prophet, and love the evil, they pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones; they eat also the flesh of my people, [mark, men eat,] they flea off their skins from them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron, then shall they cry unto the Lord, but I will not hear them; he will hide his face from them, because they have done wickedly in their works.' Now here you may see these wicked workers could cry unto the Lord; they had a profession then, as many in their practice do now.

But, thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that deceive my people, and bite them with their teeth, [mark,] and cry peace, (this is a strange peace,) but if any man put not into their mouths, [mark,] into their mouths, they prepare war against them;' and have not we seen this scripture fulfilled, and daily fulfilling among the priests of Christendom, so called?

Therefore, night shall be unto you for a vision, and darkness shall be unto you for a divination, and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.' [Mark,] ye that are found in these steps; is not the sun gone down upon you all, and doth not then dark night follow? read your condition, and try yourselves.

Then shall the seer be ashamed, and the soothsayer confounded, yea, they shall cover their lips; for they shall have no answer from God." And is not this one of the doctrines of your faith, that there is no hearing God's voice now a days, nor no answer from God; so that you may cover your lips and be ashamed, and say the sun has gone down upon you, and your day is dark upon you: but Micah saith, truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord; and of judgment, and of strength, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and unto Israel, his sin,' &c. And are not such things to be declared against now, by them that are full of the power and spirit of God now in Christendom, as he declared against then. And saith he, they build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity' and may it not be said, that Christendom is built up with blood and persecution, and with iniquity? now is not your Zion and your Jerusalem all on heaps, and like a forest that is barren, who plead for sin and imperfection to the grave?

The heads thereof judge for reward,' saith Micah, 'the priests thereof teach for hire, the prophets thereof prophesy for money, yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, is not the Lord amongst us, no evil can come upon us? therefore shall Sion for your sakes be ploughed up like

a field, and Jerusalem shall be an heap, and the mountain of the house, as the high place of the forest.' And now try yourselves, ye priests and prophets, do not ye teach for hire, and prophesy for money? and do not you think that your Sion must be turned up like a field with God's plough, and your Jerusalem be as a heap, and the mountain of your house like the high place of the forest barren, you being found in the steps of those priests and prophets, if you believe Micah to be a true prophet, do not you think those things will come upon you, that he declared?

And in Zeph. iii. 4. where he saith, her prophets are light and wicked persons, her priests have polluted the sanctuary, and they have wrested the law. Now measure yourselves with these, and look into your actions, that profess yourselves ministers of the gospel, and see if this lightness and wickedness be not found amongst you, and that your sanctuaries are not corrupted? and do not you plead for [term of life,] a body of sin and death, and cast the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus behind your backs, which makes free from the law of sin and death.

And in Zach. xi. 17. 'Oh idle shepherds that leave the flock, the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.' See here is God's judgments denounced upon the idle shepherds that leave their flocks. And in the 8th verse, it is said, 'three shepherds did I also cut off in one month, and my soul loathed them, and their souls abhorred me.' Here is the end of such shepherds as abhor the Lord, and yet pretend to keep his sheep. Now try yourselves, you priests of Christendom, see if your right eye be not darkened, and your arm dried up, and then how can you see? And in Mal. ii. the priests' lips should have preserved knowledge, and they should have sought it at the Lord's mouth; but now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you, if ye will not hear it, nor consider it in your hearts to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts; I will even send a curse upon you, and will curse your blessings, yea, I have cursed them already;' mark, because ye do not consider it in your hearts; therefore, what are your blessings good for, if they be cursed?

'Behold, saith the Lord, I will corrupt your seed, and cast dung upon your faces, and you shall be like unto it ;' [mark,] like unto dung, which the Lord will cast upon you; and therefore, all ye priests consider this command, and take it to heart, who have left the work of God, whose lips should have preserved knowledge, if ye had sought his law from his mouth; but you say, now a-days, there is no hearing his voice; then no receiving his law from his mouth, to wit, the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath made a priest higher than the heavens, whom all people must seek their knowledge from, and salvation from, for he is their treasure: here ye may see what judgments came

upon the Jews and their prophets, shepherds, priests, and pastors; and what misery they brought the people into, and what judgments God sent his prophets to denounce against them, and to disown them, and what misery he brought them into, that spoke and run, and used their tongues, and stole God's words from their neighbour, when the Lord never spoke to them, nor sent them: and these were such as taught for hire, and for filthy lucre, and handsful of barley, and for pieces of bread, and were the flatterers and daubers with untempered mortar; and filthy dreamers, and followed the divination of their own hearts and brains, and followed their own spirit, seeing nothing, and strengthen the hands of the wicked, and saddened the righteous, seeking for their gain from their quarter, where they have got their quarter, there they are seeking for their gain; speaking peace to people whilst they put into their mouths, but if not, they prepared war against them, and these turned against the Lords' prophets, and cast his law behind their backs, and cast off the Lord, though they might get the form of words, of the law and of the prophets, yet out of the life these were all judged, by the Lord, and his prophets that spoke from the mouth of the Lord; therefore such cannot be owned now that be found in their steps in Christendom, and that are found in their practices, if they own God and his prophets that declared against them, as you may see in the prophets of the old testament, and therefore try yourselves by these scriptures.

And now let us see in the new testament what sort of preachers Christ and the apostles cried against, and what sort they owned and sent forth.

Christ said, Woe unto the scribes and blind pharisees, which made clean the outside of the platter, and appeared beautiful outwardly, but inwardly were full of bribery, and excess, and dead men's bones, and filthiness.' Now these were high professors that had a beautiful outside, and shined like a cup or a platter on the outside? and did not many of these professors outstrip many of the professors of Christ's words now a-days in the outside?

Again, Christ speaks to the multitude, and his disciples, and tells them how they shall know the false teachers with their marks; 'They bind heavy burdens, grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders,' here is one mark, but they themselves will not bear them with one of their little fingers; they will not move that which they lay upon others, and that is contrary to the law; for all their works they do to be seen of men, they make their phylacteries broad, and make long the fringes of their garments;' here is another mark, (by their garments) and doing what they do to be seen, which these in our days may try themselves by, whether these marks be not found upon them.

'They love the chiefest place in feasts, and to have the chiefest place