A General Epistle TO FRIENDS Every Where Written in obedience to the Requirings of the Spirit of Life from God Some of the things spoken to in this Epistle GOd's peculiar Love and Favour manifested to the People of God With a Salutation to them The manner of Gods bringing of us out of spiritual Sodom and Aegypt and his end therein Something of the old Serpents subtilty and cunning working with a way opened for all how to escape it that are convinced of the Truth Some wholsom Exhortations unto all who are come to the Way of God to continue stedfast in it and to be constant in their Obedience to Christ Jesus unto the end With something by way of Advice to beware of the Whores Cup and that ye receive not the Beasts Mark on your Foreheads or in your Hands Also concerning mighty things done by Faith A few words concerning Marriage And several other things relating to Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants A friendly Caution to all such who have transported or may transport themselves beyond the Seas into forreign Plantations Dear Friends and Brethren WHO are the called of God in Christ Jesus and witness the hope of your calling out of Darkness into his marvellous Light and are the Children of the Light and of the Day The dear and tender Salutation of my Love in the Light Life and Spirit of God reacheth to you all with fresh and fervent desires that you all may be kept faithful unto him who hath called and also made choice of you to serve worship love and obey him in your generation that you may be called the Trees of Righteousness of the Lords planting his Seed taking deep Root in you you will all bring forth fruit to the honour and glory of him who hath not only planted but often also watred you with his heavenly dew showers of plentiful Rain which purely and refreshingly hath fallen down upon you as no People else hath witnessed the like in our age or generation nor hath been known since the Apostles days glory to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth he hath made many Trees fruitful that now remain as lively fresh and green as ever altho some are not only withered but dead twice and pluckt up by the Root that were planted and have been watred with us often by our heavenly Father the Husband man both to us and them who did sow the same good Seed in them Grounds that prove evil as on that which is good Ground and that which he plants or sows in any mans heart is good and shews man what is purely good and of God from that which is contrary that all might come to love the good and hate the evil as its manifest from God by his immortal Seed or Word of Life within and that all might chuse the good and refuse the evil as either appear or is represented to any particular all are to love the good and hate the evil to chuse the good and refuse the evil to joyn to and be one with the good but to separate from reject and deny that which is evil and the pure Light of Christ in every Conscience as all take heed thereunto and wait therein will let them see and know how to distinguish betwixt good and evil under what disguise fair pretence or transformation of the Enemy soever it may appear to blind beguile or deceive the simple either to keep in the evil always from the good or to lead out and draw from the good after tastes of it into the evil again to make the latter end of such worse than their beginning I say and testifie in the Lord dear Friends as we all keep in and mind the glorious Light of the Son of God no such Darkness will ever again come over any of us as to call good evil or evil good to put light for darkness and darkness for light sweet for bitter or bitter for sweet for that cometh of Darkness from the Prince of Darkness and God of this World even the blindness that some are in who profess the light yet put darkness for it and call good evil and evil good and how can such know the good and acceptable will of God or good from evil then they were not like to chuse the good and refuse the evil And how were they like to obey the Light of Christ or walk in it that cannot clearly or truly distinguish betwixt Light and Darkness Christ or Belial May not such follow darkness in stead of light and Belial instead of Christ nay do they not walk in darkness not knowing whither they walk whose Minds thus are blinded by darkness And such to the Children of the Light and of the Day may be known by this Character that though they profess the Light of Christ and have been convinced by it yet they hate it and will not bring their deeds to it to be proved and tryed this Prover and Tryer that judgeth and condemns for sin and evil they cannot abide the coming of but would have their works and things tryed and proved by the Darkness which they themselves are in Which dear Friends I tenderly beseech you in the love of God to beware of and dwell in the Light of the Son of God forever mind it love and believe in it as much as ever you did since you turned to it and came to believe in it then I know you will be as willing to bring your deeds to it as ever you were and will be as ready to imbrace and follow the motions of it as you were at your first Convincement or the Candle of the Lord first shined upon your Tabernacles And I doubt not but a Remnant are so at this day although some are already turned aside from the Light into great Darkness and lost the sence of Life having Death over them and they feed thereon being out of the green and fresh Pastures of Life where once they fed with us gladly and accounted them good and precious which now seems but to them as the Manna did to the Children of Israel when they had eaten thereof and were full how did many of them forget the Lord and his works and murmured against Moses that was faithful in God's house and said Hath he brought us hither to destroy us And they said Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness which was also a questioning of Gods Power and Providence All which were the fruits and evil effects of Unbelief and their revolting and acksliding Hearts and the Lord said Israel hath cast off the thing that is good he saw it was angry and greatly displeased therewith and the Lord did forsake them and cast them off because they did forsake him and cast off the thing that was good and followed after that which evil and often did evil in the sight of the Lord and many ways God proved them and tryed them and did mighty things for them for his Names sake
door of entrance in with him be shut against you or you prepared for his entertainment the sloathful Servant being apt to delay the doing of his Duty to the Lord imagins that the Lord delays his coming then he doth that which he should not do and so causeth his Lord and Master that is full of Mercy and Love to be angry with him and reward him according to his Deeds Dear Friends therefore love the Cross of Christ whereby you will learn to take up your daily Cross and follow your Captain Christ Jesus the Captain of our Salvation that endured the Cross and despised the Shame and was made perfect through Suffering follow him in the Cross as you desire to have the Crown despise the Shame of the Cross and endure it and do not shun it for you will not be as David nor witness David's House to be as God's if you shun the Cross nor will you grow stronger and stronger as you ought if you are troubled at the shame of it you will never deny your selves much for Christ if you shun the Cross or be amazed at the daily taking of it up whilst 't is so with any convinced of God's heavenly Truth they will not shut out the world's Spirit Words nor Actions but will be lusting after the world's Words vain Fashions Wayes and not come out into a clear seperation from them nor be capable to bear witness against the World nor their Words Wayes vain Fashions and Actions that are contrary to the Lord and whereby his holy Spirit is vexed from day to day such amongst us that will not cross their own Wills and unbridled Tongues to speak Thou to any single Person high or low but give way to a worldly and fleshly Will and fleshly Desires will not be willing to follow the Lord and his Servants the Prophets and Apostles in their true Language which was used by them that writ and gave forth the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations and can such be now good or is their Religion good who have been long convinced and come amongst us that have not a Bridle for their Tongues nor do not know the Power of God's Truth professed by them to tame their Tongues Why are some in this estate anciently convinced but because they would not subject their worldly corrupt Wills to God's holy Power which would have made them willing so to do and would have made them willing to have left all for Christ and to have suffered the loss of all things though it had been never such a Darling-beloved for Christ's sake So let every one leave and forsake all which the Lord hath called you to forsake whether it be Father Mother Wise Children Lands or Livings and come to that whereby the laying down of a man 's own Life may be made easie which a Disciple of Christ ought to do when called of God thereunto And as you all keep in the Cross of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ you will be preserved in a pure seperation from the whole World that lieth in Wickedness and are Ungodly as the old World was which God destroyed by Water and you will be Preachers of Righteousness as righteous Noah was by a righteous Life and Conversation which will speak more expresly and have a louder cry in their Ears than Noah's building the Ark had although that had a speaking in it if the old World had not been dull of hearing and closed their Eyes they might have heard God's speaking Voice and have seen his Providence in it to preserve Noah and his Righteous Family though they were but few in number God saved them and preserved them in the Ark which Noah was a building before the Flood came and drowned the Ungodly old World and he will not spare the Ungodly World now but till their Sins be full and they ripe for a Deluge or Destruction and then it will come upon them and overtake them before they are aware thereof and now many are uncircumcised in Heart and Ear and will not be warned nor take notice of God's hand that is lifted against them Friends take heed of mixing with the wicked World now have no fellowship with them nor their works of Darkness for as you are the Children of the Light and of the Day what fellowship can any of you have with Darkness or the works of the whole World that lieth in Wickedness or how can you touch with them in their corrupt Communication Wayes or Worship or any of their unclean and polluted things but rather reprove and rebuke them that are found therein And keep true and faithful to the Lord God who called you out of the World and seperated you from the Kindreds of the Earth to stand for God and to be living Witnesses against the Devil and all his works and you are called of God to stand with the Lamb and his faithful followers against the Devil never more to joyn with the Devil or take part with his prophane ungodly Followers in their Sins and Trespasses nor in their Wrongs Oppression and Cruelty nor contribute any strength to them stand clear and in a pure and spiritual seperation from all that which God's holy Spirit and Light condemns and judgeth to be evil and contrary to the Light Spirit and Grace of God give not way to that to save the world or its Favour temper not with the Snares nor Baits of this World but in the hour of Temptation keep low waiting upon the Lord God who knows how to save deliver you and mightily to succour you when you are tryed and to preserve you out of the power of your old Adversary or any of his Snares Baits or Temptations God hath by his Light let you see what you ought to chuse and what you ought to refuse chuse the good cleave to the good whatever you may go through or suffer for so doing chuse Lise that you may live forever and how sew or many soever your dayes may be in this World refuse the evil and the wayes of Death and Destruction whatsoever hath not the mark of Truth upon it as to Way Worship or Religion refuse it and enter into no Consultation with the Devil or his bad sensual Reasoning which he will fill them with that desire and consult wayes to conform in this or the other thing relating to Faith Religion and Worship which never was nor is of the Lord and when the Wind bloweth high Rain fall and Sea rage and foam then especially look carefully and diligently to your standing and look to Christ Jesus the everlasting Rock that is higher than you and higher than the Heavens and who is the author and finisher of your Faith all steadfastly look to him trust in him fear him and think upon his Name and still remember that the Lord God by a mighty Hand and Arm stretched forth brought you out of Egypt spiritually Do not forget that we were once Bonds-men in Egypt nor how the Lord
and for Israels sake he cut Rahab wounded the Dragon divided and made a way in the Sea a good and safe Passage for them in the Journey which the Lord led them on in he carried them on Eagles Wings and rebuked Kings and subdued strong Nations before them but when they rebelled then he turned to be their Enemy and fought against them whom he had often saved and had been afflicted with them in their Afflictions So dear Friends you that are gathered to God by his gathering Arm of Love and Power keep with the Lord and forsake him not whatsoever you may suffer for his Names sake therein the Lord will appear to your joy and will afflict them that afflict you for your obedience to God and the keeping your Consciences pure and good in his sight Let not a revolting or rebellious Heart be found in any one of you such cannot continue or abide with the Lord whose hearts are evil and rebellious out of them cometh not good things their hearts are defiled with evil filled with it and bent to do wickedly and they cannot cease from sin And how hath the Devil loaded some with Iniquity that do yet profess the same Light and Way of God with us How do they manifestly appear Children that are corrupters or corrupt Children endeavouring to corrupt the Minds of the Professors and other People by the seeds of Corruption which they have sown and printed for them to feed upon and it s the evil Seeds-man that sows corrupt or evil Seed What Instruments soever are by him made use of in that work mark them and avoid them as Instruments of Unrighteousness Oh Friends as you love your eternal Rest and Peace with God watch against and shut out the seed of the Serpent and his evil Seeds-men that sow it abroad by the Light of the Lord which shines in your hearts and hath given you the knowledge of God you may discern and see clearly the old Serpent's cunning in his Agents what high swelling words soever in their vain minds they may come with amongst you or print for Food to the uncircumcised and the unclean Be ye stedfast always abounding in the work of the Lord unto which you are called of God be not beguiled any one of you by the Serpent's cunning wait low in the pure Simplicity and that will give knowledge and understanding of the wiles and cunning working of the creeping Serpent And now is the seed of God risen to break the head of the Serpent and to tread under foot his power and authority which he hath got in man and women by disobedience and their rebellion against God whereby man in the beginning was subjected to vanity and not willing but by a salfe hope the Devil had begotten in them which was the cause of their being beguiled the begetting of that false hope that they should be as Gods knowing good and evil and as if they should not dye notwitstanding their transgressing the Command of the Lord which the Serpent's deceitful and beguiling Doctrine subjected them into the belief of Therefore take heed that none of you be beguiled as the Serpent beguiled Eve and draw you from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus It seems the Believers which the Apostle writ to had a godly simplicity and stedfastness in the Truth of God but afterward were in some danger to be drawn from it but Eve had not been so beguiled if she had minded to keep Gods command counsel and not hearkned to the Serpent So hearken not to the doctrine or voice of the Serpent which leads from God into Transgression and to death from the Life of God and to lose the Image of God which Adam and Eve were deprived of though once beautified therewith And so Gods Image may be lost now by them that are come into it and have born it and the beauty of Holiness that any one had may be lost if there be not a keeping in that Power which brings into it and preserves the faithful in it The heavenly Creator in the new Creation createth us in Christ Jesus unto good works and he restores his People to God in his Image which is after God in Righteousness and true Holiness so we become holy as the Lord our God is holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is Perfect and so we are a chosen Generation and a royal Priesthood to God and are prepared of him to offer an Offering acceptable and well-pleasing in the sight of God and come to know how to please God in all things and to hearken to his voice and obey his Voice that is better than Sacrifice or the sat of Rams which some content themselves with even a bare Profession of the Truth and Knowledge of but do not obey it nor walk in it but rather cause the way of Truth to be evil spoken of opening the Mouthes of Adversaries to blaspheme that holy Name by which we were called and who know the Truth but act contrary to the guidance of that Spirit of Truth which led them into the Truth and the Way wherein they should go and so go into the Apostacy and to turn back again into Aegypt which all ought to beware of for we were not brought out of the Apostacy or delivered out of Aegypt either to look back or go back again Did not the Lord by a very mighty hand stretched out Arm bring us out of Egypt spiritually as really as he did the Children of Israel out of outward Egypt in the days of old And how did God wound and overthrow our Enemies though strong and potent not by any might or power carnal but by his own holy Spirit and Power which he made known in our hearts and which we received from him Hath not this conquered and overcome many of your Enemies that oppressed you which you groaned under and were sorrowful because of till deliverance came And cannot many of you say that the right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass and that the right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly And cannot you say the Lord was on your side and now is the same and that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the World Although dear Friends you have many Enemies yet to encounter with fear not neither be at all dismayed only look to the Lord and believe in him and love and trust in him fear not man nor put no trust in Princes nor in any Arm of flesh and if the wicked bend their Bow and shoot their Arrows at you who are innocent in your Minds and of a peaceable Life matter it not but look to the Lord that Innocency and a peaceable Mind still may be found in you all leave your cause to the Lord to plead who in his own due time will plead your cause execute judgment for you the Lord can if he please soon break the Bow of the Wicked and turn their
Arrows against themselves and make all their Weapons they form against you unprosperous and cut off their expectation that seek your Ruin and Destruction And as Innocency is found in you and you preserved in a godly and peaceable life you will never envy them that oppress you nor chuse any of their ways but will mind Gods good old Way Truth and Life and will not walk in the way of the Wicked Ungodly men nor sit in the seat of the Scornful Proud and Arogant which leads to Death and Destruction if you see many in that way let not that be an occasion for you to stumble at or to forsake the way of the Lord which is narrow and leads to Life Peace and Rest that is Everlasting wherein you have learned to trust in the Lord to stand resign'd up to his will in the most perilous times when they come and wherein you have learned to love the Lord and one another with that love which is shed abroad from God in your hearts and is unfeigned in which dear Friends forever dwell and shut out all Deceit Hypocrisie and Dissimulation which doth render them black amongst us that have not put away or are not purged from such things and so doth Envy Wrath or Malice where-ever it is which is all for the fire and to be purged away that you may pray in the Spirit of the living God by which you were all quickened quench it not neither grieve it nor rebel against it for that hinders the heavenly joy and comforts of the Spirit when Tribulation ariseth because of the Word Let not any of you be found without true joy and comfort when you may have need enough of it and behold many weeping and wailing for want of it for certainly it will be woful and miserable for that man or woman that is without the comfort and joy of the holy Spirit when no comfort and lasting joy will be found in any visible created thing which this World can afford mens hearts already begin to be astonished and to fail them for fear because of the things that are coming to pass for not only the Powers of the Earth but the Powers of the Heavens shall be shaken Friends let not any of you be found an evil or sloathful Servant that shall say in his Heart My Lord delays his coming and so put his Day afar off to let Night again over you You may remember what Sorrow and Heaviness we endured when we were Children of the Night and covered with thick Darkness and what Joy came in the Morning of God's glorious Day as it dawned in our Hearts did not many then sing for Joy of Heart and experimentally could say The singing of Birds was come But the evil and sloathful Servant that saith in his Heart My Lord delays his coming cannot sing out of any sence of heavenly Joy in his Heart and therefore frets and smites his fellow Servant and eats and drinks with the Drunken such become the Companions of the evil and sloathful Servant he delights not to be a Companion to them that fear the Lord and are diligent in his Work nor will not say to the workers of Iniquity Depart from me I will keep the Commandments of my God but rather joyns with the workers of Iniquity and is one with them in breaking the Commands of God and rebelling against him and its just with the Lord to suffer Night to come over such again that have been called to serve the Lord in his House but are evil and sloathful Servants not good not diligent nor watchful but are found bad negligent and unwatchful and unsensible of God's presence and the coming of the Lord which draweth nigh Oh! keep in the Spirit and Power of the Lord God and that will preserve you all fervent in love to him and one another and diligent in the Lord's work whereunto you are all called with a holy calling to watch war against the Devil and whatsoever is of him let it have no place in you nor let not the Devil ever enter your Hearts any more and if he do not to dwell there but feel you the Arm and Power of the Lord to cast him out keep him out that he may never work in you any more nor have any Lordship or Rule in you or over you then I am sure you will be ready in Heart and Mind to follow that which is good and resist the Devil and all his badness which is so beloved of the World and then you will be prepared to avoid every appearance of Evil and will give no place to it but will keep faithful to God over it and then you will be made capable in the Spirit of Love and a sound Mind to reprove such as are light vain and of a loose behaviour and shun the Cross of Christ not indulge that Nature Spirit that keeps some high and unsubjected and in disobedience to the Lord God and for this cause some are weak and sick amongst us and some fallen asleep had they but taken up the daily Cross and kept therein there would never have appeared that Self love Weakness Sickness and Sleepiness that is in some that are amongst us that would be accounted wise Virgins and indeed have come long enough among us to have been found such at this day but are not but are weak as in the time of their first Convincement and as if they had not waited upon the Lord with us they so faint and have so little strength to stand in the day of Tryal or hour of Temptation that it appears their strength is but small I say in the Lord if they that now faint in the time of Adversity had waited upon the Lord in diligence and sincerity of Heart doubtless they would have had more strength and received more Power from God than they enjoy or feel and would have grown more in the Grace and Knowledge of God than they have done and would not have been so sick at their Stomachs as some are that they cannot digest wholsom Food but slight and dis-esteem it whereby some Members suffer and indeed it hurts the whole Body when any of the Members thereof suffer especially as the Apostle said then when many were Weak and Sick amongst them and some fallen asleep for want of subjecting themselves to that Spirit and Power which would give all strength if they kept in it and preserve all in God's saving health and with a good Stomach to that which is good and for Food if they did wait for it and keep in the Spirit and Power of the Lord God this would rouze up and awaken all careless and sleepy Virgins that want Oyl in their Vessels and Lamps who have not their Lamps trimed nor are ready when the Bridegroom comes Beware ye sleepy foolish Virgins lest Mid-night Sleep come quite upon you so that the Cry of the Bride-groom's coming be before you are prepared for him or the
Religion neither do believe that God ever required those Forcers to force any into their Church nor require them whom the Compellors summons to come amongst them These methods will not do to convince Conscientious Persons of any differing Religion to come to that House of Wood and Stone Now dear Friends you may perceive the Beast would have all small and great to worship him how doth he seek to compel People to worship him and receive his Mark either on their foreheads or in their hands and the cry is Who is like unto the Beast and who is able to make war with him And none will be able to deny his worship and refuse his mark but the faithful tribulated Saints of the most High that abide with Michael our Prince of Peace who will stand with and by the Children of his People the sealed Ones that have his mark on their foreheads and utterly reject the Mark of the Beast and deny it whatsoever they may suffer for so doing So beware of the Mark of the Beast freely reject and deny the worshipping of the Beast and the receiving of his Antichristian Mark for if any man worship the Beast or receive his Mark on their forehads or in their hands they shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God and be judged and condemned of him and the Cup of the Lords Fury shall be poured forth for them to drink without any mixture of his mercy or favour Therefore you Children of Light and of Gods day who have known that â—ay so far to dawn in your hearts as to have a discovery of the Whore Beast false Prophet and false Church and have warred in the Lambs warfare against the Beast in any measure and in the Light of the Lamb have seen and denyed the Whore and her golden Cup still maintain your War in the Lambs Spirit and Power against the Beast and let your hatred be against the Whore her Cup as much as ever for the whore and her cup is no better now than when you first saw her and began to hate her and burn her flesh with fire and her cup is the very same now however she may guild it I know God hath shewed and will more manifest to you the My stery of the great Whore that sits upon many Waters Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and he is willing to preserve you and will keep you from adhering to her or the beast on which she rides and that carries her if you will hearken still unto the Lord and obey him he will defend you from the cruelty of the great red Dragon Whore Beast and false Prophet and will take the Beast and with him the false Prophet and give them to the burning slame He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear And remember how freely the Lord hath made you to drink of the Waters of Life and how that water hath been in you as a Well springing up to Life eternal and how can any of you that have known the waters of a full Cup from God given unto you and to your great satisfaction have drunk thereof return again to the foul and muddy Waters that have no clearness nor life in them Such as keep in the sence of that Life and Waters of it which Christ hath given us I know will never again meddle with the corrupt foul muddy Waters which the Whore and false Church gives to her Children but the Bread and Water of Life which you have fed upon and drunk of at the Table of the Lord the Children of the great Whore know not and therefore their cry hath been Come to the Church receive the Sacrament if you do you must pay for it and if you do not you must pay the more and be cited to appear at Courts which they call Courts Spiritual but how carnally they act in keeping of them and in proceeding against them that for Conscience sake towards God cannot pertake with them let all that fear God judge Oh! dear Friends fear not the Wrath of man though his heart be lifted up never so much in manifest Oppression and threaten to act it upon you but still know you and believe that the remainder of mans wrath God will restrain and disappoint the Wicked cast not away your Confidence but wait patiently upon God and he will restrain the Wrath of the Wicked Persecutors that they will be confounded in their ungodly Proceedings and not be able to effect their vile purposes Depart not from the Faith which God hath given you the Mystery of which is held in a pure Conscience stand fast in it then I doubt not but such will quit themselves in this day through the Lords aid and assistance from all the Snares that now are or hereafter may be laid to catch and hurt the innocent and betray the simple So in the peaceable pure wisdom and power of the Lord keep over all the treacherous dealers who set a trap to catch men and who are full of deceit and flattery and will speak you fair sometimes as well as at other times shew their Teeth ready to devour you or eat you up with the wisdom and power of the Lord God keep out of them and over them for their delight is in Mischief to oppress a man and his house but the Lord seeth and knoweth all the intents and purposes of the Wicked with all their wicked works and will reward them accordingly Do you see Clouds to appear and arise remember it is said of Christ That he cometh with the Clouds and then should be a time of great Trouble and how it should be a day of Darkness and Clouds and thick Darkness and that covereth the Earth and Nations for so is the day of the Lord to the Wicked it s a day of gloominess and darkness but not light Now to behold Christ in the Clouds how comfortable and glorious is it but more glorious comfortable to see him expelling of them and causing the shadows of Death and Darkness to vanish away which they do and must do as the Son Christ Jesus the Substance comes into Peoples hearts and is revealed in them You that witness Christ so come see him in the clouds and how he breaks thorow the clouds driveth all away that he may cause his day to dawn more in clearness And Christ said Behold I come as a Thief in the night blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked men see his shame it is not safe in a storm for men to be naked without their garments that should cover them when distress cometh And now a stormy Wind bloweth dear Friends be ye all watchful and clothed with the garments of Praise which God promised to give his People instead of the spirit of Heaviness and it will be a great Wo upon all them that have not the Spirit of the Lord to câ—ver them with in this present Storm and when distress of Nations