prayed and was heard in that he feared as the Author to the Hebrews writes Heb. 5. 7. but in this State of Watchfulness and the holy Fear of God they continually abiding stedfast in to such it is become Natural to dwell and abide there being rooted and settled in the Godly or Divine Nature of which they are made partakers as the Apostle writ see 1 Pet. 1. 4. See how Fulks renders this place in his Confutation of the Popish Translation at Rhâ—mes he renders the words Divine Nature Godly Nature Eternal Glory to him for the preservation of his People who daily wait upon him he gives them Wisdom Strength and Preservation he who keeps them never â—luâ—bâ—rs nor sleeps holy and mighâ—y is his Wisdom and Strength by which he redeems preserves and upâ—â—â—â— his People in doing that which is well pleasing in his sight Blessed are all those who diligently wait to be made partakers of the same they shall be upheld thereby through all Temptations Trials and the Buffetings and Winnowings of Satan out of his snares and over him in Christ the Elect Seed which bruiseth his Head and over all his several sorts of Agents for as the Apostle saith Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World by whom we overcome the World O my dear Friends All diligently wait on God in the Divine Light and Spirit of his Son that you may grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ more and more that you may be all firmly rooted and grounded in him as Trees or Branches of Righteousness the planting of the Lord God that you may bring forth much Fruit to the Praise and Glory of his name Christ the living true Vine said unto his Disciples of old I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman every Branch that beareth not fruit in me he taketh away and every Branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Abide in me and I in you As the branch cannot bring forth of itself except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the Vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered Joh. 15. 1 2 4 5. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my love If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you See John 15. 5 c. O my Friends These are the sweet and comfortable Sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ our Prince of Life Love and Peace Let them be duly weighed faithfully regarded and followed by you all who profess to be his Disciples that is Learners of him for as he saith Without him we can do nothing except we be joined to his gracious Spirit of Light Life and Peace we cannot please God but being joined to it it worketh in us to will and to do that which is well pleasing in the sight of the Lord God So we become his workmanship in Christ created in him unto those good Works which God hath ordained we should walk in that our Light may shine before men that they may behold our good Conversation in Christ constantly coupled with that godly fear wherein there is not only a hating of but also a coming out of and preservation from Pride Arrogancy and every evil way O my Friends This is that which is to be desired sought of God and diligently waited for this is the durable Riches that far excels all that can be mentioned besides it this is the Treasure that is to be laid up in Heaven according to Christs Command where neither Moth can corrupt nor Thief break through and steal Blessed are all they who diligently wait for the Increase and Security of this Treasure they shall never be forsaken of the Lord he whose the Earth is and the fulness of it who feeds the Ravens cloaths the Grass and takes care for Sparrows will take care and provide for them So all wait that your Faith and Confidence may be preserved confirmed and increased to his eternal honour and your enduring Peace and Comfort even so be it Amen Concerning good Conscience MY dear Friends something lies upon me to write to you in the tender Bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ the Prince of our Christian Peace Fellowship and Unity The matter before me is this I find that there are some persons professing Truth amongst us who not being faithful to the gracious Spirit and Light of our Lord Jesus Christ which they make profession of that are offended with the Method Manner and Form in which Friends Care of Gods Glory and the good one of another is manifest these persons talk much of Liberty of Conscience To which I say Liberty of Conscience rightly understood hath ever since we were a People been and still is owned amongst us but for any who profess to be followers of the Light Members of the Church which is in God to plead Liberty of Conscience for themselves without putting a difference betwixt good Conscience and evil this is an Unsound and Unchristian Plea for the Apostles of Christ distinguisheth betwixt good and evil Conscience yea shews that they are separated and divided the one from the other for they proceed from contrary Causes The Apostle said My Conscience beareth me witness in the Holy Ghost Rom. 9. 1. And again I have lived in all good Conscience unto this day For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World and more abundantly to you-wards See 2 Cor. 1. 12. He who had believed and received the Holy Ghost was made of a good Understanding by it his Will and Affections also being purified from Corruption thereby so that he did not only understand what was right and wrong but he also willed and took pleasure to act and do that which was and is well pleasing in the sight of the Lord And this he was enabled to do by the Power of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of Truth which according to the Promise of Christ leads his faithful Subjects by Degrees from Glory to Glory from one degree of Grace to another into all Truth And so are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus led in this our day Paul writing to Timothy saith Now the end of the Commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling 1 Tim. 1. 5 6. Again ver 18 19. he chargeth Timothy to hold Faith and a good Conscience which
and the Salvation of your Souls are so very greatly concerned O Friends Be all as willing to follow and obey this Spiritual Divine Light as you are to profess it and talk of it for if there be not a Walking in it the Profession of it will be in vain For after the Light of Christ Within be known and Good and Evil made known by it if the Creature do not yield Obedience to it in forsaking the Evil and embracing following and doing that which is Good then his sin becomes more grievous to Almighty God than before for as 't is written In the time of Ignorance God winked but after the Gospel the Power of God is preached to and in the Creature which hath been subjected by Satan under sin in the Bondage of Corruption and by which the Creatures Heart and Soul is in some degree quickened and opened to know what God requireth of it If then it do not deny Self take up its Cross against the Devil and Self then its Opposition and Disobedience to the Divine Gospel-Light God accounts the Sin of stebellion which is as Witchcraft from which the Lord God of all our Mercies and Blessings deliver and preserve you Into this State of Misery were the foolish Galatians faln to whom the Apostle Paul wrote and after he had sharply reprehended them for their Backsliding and Unfaithfulness he travelled again on their behalf that Christ might be formed in them And as their Backsliding became matter of great Sorrow and deep Exercise to him the like hath befaln the ancient and faithful Labourers in the peaceable Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in our age for some for as he was sent to turn the People from Darkness to the Divine Spiritual Light of God and Christ from the Power of Satan who had imbondaged them in sin to God whose Power is Almighty breaking the Power of Satan down and delivering the Creature by its powerful working out of the bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Even so hath the Lord God Almighty and Merciful sent his faithful Servants in this Age to turn People from Darkness unto Light from the Power oâ— Satan unto God that through the working of the glorious Power of God in their In ward Man they might receive true Faith and Repentance and so might receive the Forgiveness of their Sins past in the name of Jesus Christ through the forbearance of God and not only so but also by the same power to know Redemption out of Sin from the Power of Satan who led them into it and so come into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God This glorious work of Restauration hath the Lord in his tender Mercy begun and effectually carried on in Thousands Glory be given unto him for the same and for all his tender Mercies for he is worthy But as it was in the Apostles days so is it in ours there were some then who after they had tasted of the Heavenly Gift and power of the World to come and thereby had known the beginning of the work of true Faith and Repentance and the Exercise of a good Conscience yet through their Slothtulness Negligence and multiplied Disobedience Rebellion they came to make Shipwrack of the Faith which God had given them and to put away a good Conscience which God by his powerful Spirit had wrought in them Of this sort the Apostle Peter writ saying It had been better they had never known the way of Truth than after they have known it to depart from the holy Commandment delivered to them But saith he it is come to pass according to the true Proverb The Dog is returned to his own Domit and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire Jude Peter writ of these and such like salse Apostles deceitful Workers saying They are Wells without Water Clouds without Rain carried about of Tempests wandring Stars to whom is reserved the Mist of darkness for ever Trees whose Fruit is witherâ—d without Fruit twice dead plucked up by the sâ—oâ—ts Such were they whom the Apostle Paul writ of saying Acts 20. 30. and 2 Pet. 2. 2. Men shall arise among your selves speaking perverse things and shall draw Disciples after them through whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of I say as it is was then so is it come to pass in our days diverse Persons who have come among us in a Profession of the Pure Unchangeable Divine Light of our Lord Jesus Christ who for some time did in some Measure know it and obeyed it they have turned into Rebellion against it and such have and do now make War against the Children of it who walk in it in whom the pure peaceable Fruits of it do appear And this some Men have done and do under the Profession of it and a specieus pretence of Love to it this is abominable Deceit yea the deceivableness of Unrighteousness which worketh in them which hath been wrought in them by Satan because they have not kept in true Love and Obedience unto the Spiritual Light of Christ the Son of God to which they were turned They have not kept in the Godly Fear not in true Humility therefore hath Satan the Prince of Darkness and King over all the Children of Pride darkned their Understandings adulterated their Affections and corrupted their Wills Thus by him they are prepared and used as Instruments for him against the Lord and his Divine Light Grace and Spirit under the Profession of the same Such by professing and using the words of Truth have and do deceive the Hearts of the Simple God Almighty hath Confounded the work of such in our Age we have seen it and do give Glory to him for the same We do believe that he will confound such Evil works and that the Instruments thereof will be eternally miserable if they do not find a place of Repentance which to see them find would be matter of great Comfort to us Several Persons have gone out of the Truth under specious Pretences of Greater Manifestations of God and Attainments and Growth in the way of Righteousness than they were come to whom they turned against And through those false Pretences they have drawn some tender-hearted well meaning Persons from the Divine Light and Fellowship in it into evil Imaginations and unrighteous Jealousies concerning the faithful Ministers of Christ and their Labour of Love for the Glory of God and the Peace Unity Preservation and Eternal Good of his People But the Lord God in Mercy hath given several who were thus hurt to see how the hurt came upon them and hath recovered them out of the Snare wherein they were subtilly taken blessed be his holy Name for the same and we hope that he will visit and restore such well-meaning Persons who are taken and yet held in such like Snares though some who are turned aside after Satan may grow worse and worse as others
sâ—me having put away concerning Faith have made shipwrack Again Chap. 3. ver 9. The Mystery of Faith is held in a pure Conscience The Apostle Peter writes to the Believers thus viz. Having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of Evil-doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good Conversation in Christ 1 Pet. 3. 16. Concerning evil Conscience THE Apostle writes thus Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to the seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lyes in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron 1 Tim. 4. 1 2. Now the Prince that begets and upholds this evil Conscience hardened and seared is the Devil who abode not in the truth in whom there is no truth he is that Prince of the power of the Air who works in the hearts of the Children of Disobedience as the Apostle saith This is he who leads into the fleshly Liberty from the Cross of Christ into the fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul and drowns such men in predition who become Enemies to the Cross of Christ This Liberty is not to be given way unto nor to be pleaded for by any true Christian this is not the Liberty of the Sons of God which he hath promised to restore them into who believe in Jesus Christ and take up their daily Cross and follow him giving and taking Liberty to this evil Conscience brings into corruptible Bondage yea it vassalizeth the Creature Soul and Body to Satan and if this Liberty be continued in it brings everlasting destruction both upon Man and Woman Paul writ to Titus saying Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their Mind and Consciences defiled they profess that they know God but in Works they deny him See Tit. 1. 15 16. Again the Apostle writing to the Hebrews saith Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience c. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised and let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good Works not forsaking the Assembling our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another c. See Heb. 10. 22 23 24 25. Oh my dear Friends All tenderly consider that the great work of God in and through Christ is to put away this evil Conscience and to work in man a good one yea to redeem out of all corrupt sinful fleshly Liberty which Liberty embondageth the Creature under Satans power as I said before Now Christ the patient and innocent Lamb of God was sent by the Father to take away the Sins of the World which John Baptist in his Eternal Light saw and testified of and in the same Divine Spirit and Light of Christ Daniel the Prophet saw and testified of saying He shall finish Sin and Transgression and shall bring in everlasting Righteousness Blessed are all they who in Faith and Patience wait to see this great Work carried on and finished in the appointed season of the Father O my Friends Seriously consider how enclinabâ—e apt and prone Men and Women are after they are come to some degree of the knowledge of God and of Christ and of the daily Cross to hearken to the Serpents voice who deceived Eve who leads into this ungodly Liberty who by his Transformations hath deceived some in our Age after they knew God and Christ as aforesaid and he has promised them Liberty and great things as he did Eve and has brought them into misery as he did her and through this his accursed work a Root of Bitterness is sprung up in some which is in danger to defile many which God through his tender Mercy put a stop unto confound and drive backward This is the earnest desire of my Soul The Apostle Peter writes against the fleshly Libertines with which the Church was exercised in his day which became matter of much Travel and Grief to the faithful Apostles of them he thus writes viz. These are Wells without Water Clouds that are carried with a Tempest to whom the mist of Darkness is reserved for ever for when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the Lusts of the Flesh through much Wantonness those that were clean escaped from them who live in errour While they promise them Liberty they themselves are the servants of Corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought into Bondage c. See 2 Pet. 2. 16. to the end Dear Friends Something more is upon me to write concerning Conscience The Apostle writing to the Church at Corinth speaketh of the Idolatry of the Gentiles viz. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto Idols we know that an Idol is nothing in the World for though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be gods many and lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge for some with Conscience of the Idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an Idol and their Consciences being weak are defiled But meat commendeth us not to God for neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat not are we the worse But take heed lest by any means this Liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak for if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the Idols Temple shall not the Conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are sacrificed to Idols c. Read 1 Cor. 8. 4. to the end of the chap. Observe here that some with Conscience of the Idol did eat things sacrificed unto it and their Consciences therein and thereby were defiled The Christians who knew there was no other God but one were warned by the Apostle that they should not sit in the Idols Temple at Meat with those who eat their meat unto the Idol lest their so doing should embolden those ignorant Idolaters to persist in their Ignorance and Idolatry for though some might say they did not eat it to the Idol as the Idolaters did but for strength and sustenance to the outward man yet this would not answer the Counsel of the Lord in the Apostle nor the Light of Christ in their own Souls but they were to abstain from eating with them at such Sacrifices thereby to prevent emboldening them therein And in chap. 10. ver 20. take his Testimony against this sort of Idolatry in these