in the form of a serpent tempted the woman to break the command; and so he will go on to the ending, to tempt men to break every command of the Lord and to be against his visitations; for the old serpent, called the devil, is like unto a serpent I have heard of in foreign nations, who when he sees a man coming towards him, will twist himself round, and spring at him, and if the man runs straight on he will surely overtake him, and sting him to death; and the only way to shun these serpents is, to turn a different way from him, for the serpent having a shell on his back, prevents him from turning out of the straight forward way he began to spring from, as he cannot turn every way like man.

Here is the perfect likeness of the devil, which we may discern from the beginning, how with envy, hatred, and malice, to be at enmity against God, was strongly in the devil, and of course against man whom the Lord had created; whose first arts were to deceive the woman with lies; next, to fill Cain full of malice, envy, and hatred, against his brother, to be his murderer. And if we trace the Scriptures through, we may see in the same likeness, he hath pursued man in all ages, always to set the evil against the good; and with deceit he hath worked in men that they might not believe in the Prophets, or in any visitation that came from the Lord. In this manner he hath gone on to this day, in the same likeness he began with, and this likeness we may see in man to this day. But now I shall come to an observation, and shew how a man may turn out of the serpent's way, as we shall find through the Scriptures, in all ages some have done. Noah turned out of his way when he believed in the LORD and built the ark, Abraham turned out of his way when he relied upon the word of God and obeyed his command in offering up his son;

for he was led into bye paths that he himself did not understand; and yet, relying on the promise of GOD, by the strength of his faith he shuned the serpent's spear. And this was done by his relying on the words of the Lord. And the same we may see from Moses, and all the Prophets through; how they turned out of his way by a strong faith, trusting and relying upon the Lord, and obeying his commands; the same, we may see from Daniel: for though the serpent worked in man, to cast Daniel into the den of lions, yet it was by faith he shunned the sting, and was preserved; because, he turned out of their way, to obey the commands of the Lord. The same we may see from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; how the devil worked in men to sting their conscience, to make them rebel against God, by threatening them with a severe death; and yet, by a strength of faith, they turned out of the way of the serpent, and were preserved. So if men trace the records of the Bible through, they may discern, in the likeness I have compared, the serpent to, hath been the devil's working in man from the beginning; but many have turned out of his way, and shunned his spear by their FAITH in the LORD. Now I shall come to the reasoning of men we find in Jeremiah 26. when he told the people what the Lord had said, concerning them; the priests said unto the princes, and to all the people: "this man is worthy to die, for he hath prophecied against this city.'

Here the Serpent worked strong in them to put Jeremiah to death; but, his faith was strong in the LORD: and therefore he repeated to them again the words he had spoken before, which caused many to turn out of the serpent's way, for they said unto the priests, "this man is not worthy to die, for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our GOD." Then rose up

certain of the elders of the land, and spake to to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah, the Morasthite, prophecied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps. Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, put him at all to death? did he not fear the Lord, and besaught the Lord? and the Lord repented of the evil he had pronounced against them, thus might we procure great evil against our souls. Here was the different reasoning of men; and, if we look to what followed, we may see their different ends: how those that wished to put Jeremial to death went on like the beginning and despised all the words that the Lord had spoken by him, till they brought upon theirselves all the threatenings the Lord had pronounced against them. But if we look to the Prophet Daniel, we shall there see, how the Lord preserved those that feared the words of the Lord, and who wished not to put the Prophet to death; for, after they were carried into Babylon, as the Lord spake by the mouth of the Prophet, there we find the wonderous works the Lord did for them who believed, and relied upon his word, and turned out of the way that the others had followed; for these brought a heathen king to acknowledge the God of Heaven, and who made a decree, that in every dominion of his Kingdom men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the LIVING GOD and standeth for EVER, and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the END. Here we see how these turned out of the serpent's way, by trusting and relying on the words of the Lord, knowing he was able and willing to save them that trusted in him. Now here the BIBLE stands as a LOOKING-GLASS for all men to look into the different

conduct of the past ages, and see what destruction followed them who did not believe the words of the Lord, and who, like Cain, were filled with envy against their Brethren-the Bible sheweth us their end: and the Bible sheweth us what the Lord did for them that believed in HIM and relied upon his words. And here from the past let us look to the present; and let men look into their own hearts, to see whose likeness they most resemble; whether there be that reasoning in them that was in the people I have mentioned in the 26. chap. of Jeremiah, who were afraid they might bring evil upon themselves, if they persecuted the Prophet of the Lord: and the same reasoning we may find in the 2. Chronicles, 34. chap. when king Josiah, who was a good man, read the Book that was found of the law given by Moses, he rent his clothes, and sent his servants to the Prophetess, that was in Jerusalem, to enquire of the Lord concerning him, and she answered: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, tell ye the man that sent you to me, thus saith the Lord, I will bring evil upon this place, because they have forsaken me; and as for the King of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord; thus, saith the Lord God of Israel, beIcause thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words, thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evils that I shall bring upon this place; the same we may see of Ninevah, when Jonah was sent with threatenings to them, they believed the words of the Prophet, and repented of their evils; for which reason, the threatenings did not come in the days of those that turned out of the way of the evil; but afterwards, when they grew hardened, the threatened judgements came upon them. AND NOW I GIVE THIS WARNING TO THE

NATION THAT THEY MAY

TAKE AN EXAMPLE FROM THE PROPHECIES THAT STAND IN THE SCRIPTURES. And let them discern from the Gospel, what our Saviour said would be his different answers to men when he came as the BRIDEGROOM, to welcome the wise virgins, that were waiting for his coming; and when he cometh as the Lord that returneth from his journey to reckon with his servants: let them discern the 25 chap. of St. Matthew, and see the different answers that will be given; and it is said, as the days of Noah and Lot, so will the coming of the Son of Man be; now here, let men discern how Prophecies were mocked in their days;. then they must know Prophecies will be mocked to the END; but, let them discern who are those that shall be welcomed into the joy of their Lord, to inherit the Kingdom, as it was prepared for MAN at FIRST. Do not the Scriptures assure us, it is the wise that will be waiting for the Bridegroom? and the servants that are waiting for the return of their Lord? but now I shall reason with men; how could they be waiting without a warning? or how could the coming of the Lord be like the days of Noah and Lot, without prophecies be given? Noah was warned of the deluge, and ordered to build the ark; but his WARNING was despised by the people till the deluge came upon them, and their repentance came too late; and the same we may see of Sodom and Gomorrah, they were warned, and they mocked the warning till the threatened destruction came upon them. Then as these things stand on record for the end, I wish men to examine theirselves in whose likeness they now appear; whether they are like the Bereans whom St. Paul called noble, because they searched the Scriptures to know if they testified of the things he had been preaching unto them? or whether they are like the Jews