if you do them He that knoweth the Fathers Will and doth it not is worthy of many stripes John 13. 17. AND all you that are convinced of the Truth Way of God but do not resign up your Hearts in obedience to walk therein but still remain in the broad way of the World partaking with them of their Sins Idolatry and falfe Worship and though you see the Vanity and Evil thereof yet for by-ends and carnal self-interests to save your selves from Reproach and Suffering you joyn with them therein against the pure Witness of God in your own Consciences and if you continue partaking with them of their Sins how can you but expect also to partake of their Plagues except you haste out from among them and embrace and receive the Truth in the Love and Obedience of it Oh! come out come out from amongst them and be you separated and touch no more the Unclean Thing that the Lord may receive you unto himself and become your God and you become his People Oh! you that know the Fathers Will and do it not are you not worthy of many Stripes Oh poor Hearts shun not the Cross any longer neither be ashamed of the Reproach nor ashamed of the Lord and his People before Men but give up your Hearts to obey the Lord and his precious Truth and take up the daily Cross that crucifies unto the World and Worldly Things unto the Sin Wickedness Formal Worships Vain Customs Ceremonies Pride and Vanity thereof and follow the Lamb in the narrow Way of Holiness and be willing to Suffer with Christ and you shall Reign with him and love not your Lives unto Death and you shall have a Crown of Life Oh! how long hath the Lord been woing many of you day after day if not year after year and hath long waited knocking at the Door of your Hearts in his Grace to be Gracious unto you who desireth not that you should perish in your Rebellion and Disobedience Oh! that the sense of his Goodness Mercy and Patient forbearing towards you might overcome your Hearts and make you willing to resign up your selves to walk in the Way of Truth before the Lord cease striving with you who hath said His Spirit shall not always strive with Man lest the Day of your Visitation pass over your Heads Therefore come forward you that halt and linger behind in the Borders of Babylon and Subburbs of Egypt and come nigh you that stand afar off gazing to see what will become of us He that is not with me said Christ is against me he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad none can serve two Masters God and Mammon To those that are Newly Convinced of the Truth Ye were like Sheep going astray but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls He shall gather his Lambs in his Arms and carry them in his Bosom 1 Peter 2. 25. Isaiah 40 11. AND all you who are newly convinced of the precious Truth and Way of God and have in measure received Truth in the love and belief of it and have and daily do give up your hearts to obey the Truth and to walk in the Way of Righteousness and Path of Holiness Dear Ones unto you my Heart is open in the tender Bowels of my heavenly Fathers Love and happy and blessed of the Lord God are you if you do not faint nor grow weary in your Minds nor turn back again as some have done but persevere on to the End Oh! dear Babes whom the Lord mighty in Power hath by his out stretched Arm brought out of Egypt the Land of Darkness and House of Bondage and hath set your Faces towards Canaan the good Land of Liberty Light Rest and Peace Oh travail on travail on ye weak Ones in the strength of the Lord and drawings of his Light and look not back to Egypt again remember Lot's Wife and fear not the God of the World the Prince of the Power of the airy mind even that wicked Spirit that once had dominion in and over you and kept you Bond-slaves in darkness to Sin and Corruption though he the Enemy of your Souls Liberty Peace and Rest may pursue hard after you with his whole Host of Temptations Snares and Allurements both inward and outward and also a Sea of Troubles Straits Difficulties and Sufferings may appear in your Way both within and without and Mountains of Fears Doubts and carnal Reasonings on every side and also something in you ready to murmur complain and say Oh! that we had tarried still in Egypt and not set one step towards Canaan for the Way is so strait and the Path so narrow the Sufferings so hard and the Difficulties and Dangers so great and various that we fear we shall perish by the way and not get to our desired Rest therefore let us turn back again before we go any further Oh! fear not neither turn back but stand still from reasoning carnally and look not at the Straits Tryals Dangers Sufferings and Losses that may appear before you neither look at your own VVeakness Feebleness and Inability nor at the Strength and Temptation of your Enemy but look up ye little ones unto the Lord and trust you in the Strength of his Arm for he is God all-sufficient for you therefore cast your care upon him and he will make a VVay for you through the Sea and divide the VVaters of the great Deep and make a VVay for you in the VVilderness and a Path through the Thickets and make the Crooked Strait before you and the Rough Smooth he will throw down the Mountains and remove away the Hills and lead you in a VVay you know not and in a Path you never before trod in and will make the hard things easie unto the VVilling and Obedient that turn not back again to their old Lovers but love Truth and Righteousness and follow on to know the Lord in his VVay all such he will give to drink of the Brook by the VVay and feed with Bread from Heaven whereby you shall be refreshed and your Strength renewed daily in which Strength you shall be able to travail on without fainting and to run and not be weary until you come to your desired Rest and see the Travail of your Souls and be satisfied with the Enjoyment of that you have travailed after So the Lord be with you and keep your Eye single unto himself that your Hearts may be full of Light that nothing may cause you to stumble and fall into the Snares of the Enemy who hath hindred many that once begun to run well oh mind and keep to that in your own Hearts which makes you truly sensible of your particular States and Conditions and in that sense daily wait upon the Lord diligently and patiently for the sweet Refreshings from his Presence and for the distillings of his Heavenly Dew that so the tender Plants of Righteousness and Lilly of Holiness may grow and spring
them they receive power through it to become the Sons of God for through his Grace doth he manifest his power in them that believe in the Light to the drawing of their hearts and minds out of the ungodliness and worldly lusts and to the teaching of them to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world and thus the free Grace of God bringeth Salvation to their Souls And so dear people thus you who come to believe in the Light to love and obey the Light in your own Consciences will come to feel and witness the work of the Lord God in your hearts the working and opperation of the Word of Life to the casting out of the Bond-woman and her Son which is not to inherit to the binding of the strong man and casting of him out yea the Old man with his deeds is to be put off and you renewed in the spirit of your minds and the new Man is to Eph. 4. 20 21 22 23. be put on who after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness to put him on and to bring him forth before all men the only begotten Son of God who is full of Grace and Truth Mercy and Love Pity and Compassion Purity and Holiness and Good-will towards all who loveth Enemies and doth good to them that hate him c. So coming to the Light Christ Jesus you come to the Substance to him in whom the Figures Types and Shaddows end in and so come to witness him in you who fulfils all Righteousness he who is the end of the Law for â—ighteousness sake unto them that believe in him and to be Circumcised in him with the Circumcision Col. 2. 11 12. made without hands by the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ which the outward Circumcision was a figure of and to witness the Baptism of Christ which is with the Holy Ghost and fire which John's Baptism with water outward was a true figure of and he bore Testimony unto Christ the Light of the world who said I must decrease but he must increase I indeed baptise you with water but he Christ Jesus who was before me shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire whose fan is in his hand and he shall throughly purge his floor the Wheat he shall gather into his Garner but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire So the outward water was but a type the outward washing a type of the inward washing and inward cleansing and inward purging and purifying by the Water of Life or the Blood of Jesus that cleanseth from all sin which is felt thus to work in them who believe in the Light and walk in the Light and they come to know that begotten in them that feeds upon the flesh of Christ which is the living Bread upon which the living Soul seeds and is the Substance which the Bread and Wine outward did figure out which the Manna that God gave the Israel of old in the Wilderness was a pure type of the heavenly Manna the living Bread vvhich the birth that is born of God feeds upon and lives thereby and grows up into Eternal life The day of gathering is come wherein the Lord God of everlasting bowels of Compassion is a gathering the despersed and seeking that which was lost and bringing back that which was driven away and healing that Ezek. 34. 12 13 14 9 16. which was sick and binding up that which was broken but the strong and the fat he is feeding with Judgment The Lord is a gathering people out of the Forms Shels and Shadows wherein many have long stuck and is bringing of them to the Substance and life it self out of the many Sects and heaps and divers ways into the one pure path into the one way of Life Light Peace Truth and Righteousness who by the one Spirit hath and is baptising them who believe in the Light 1 Cor. 12. 13 into the one body wherein the unity the oneness and the fellowship is witnessed blessed be his Name The way of the Lord is pure and Righteous and unchangable I am the Way the Truth and the Life saith Christ John 14. 6. Rom. 10. 8 John 12. 46. 8. 12. the immortal Word which saith Paul is nigh in the heart to be obeyed and done This is he the Light the Salvation of God the true Light that lighteth every man that commeth into the world who saith None can come unto the Father but by me I am come a Light into the world saith Christ that whosoever believe in me shall not abide in darkness but shall have the light of life Therefore dear people love the Light and believe in the Light while ye have the Light that so you may become children of the Light and become heirs of an Inheritance incorruptible that will never fade away There is no obtaining the Crown but through the Cross and this you will come to know who come to love the Light and to be taught of him and to learn of him who is meek and low in heart Mat 11. 29 and 6. 13. and 10. 38. and to follow him in the strait and narrow way that leads to life which few there be that find it and walk therein He that will be my Disciple saith Christ must deny himself and take up his dayly Cross and follow me This you will come to feel and witness if you be followers of the Light a dayly denying of self you will know a denying of your own wills your own desires your own thoughts your own affections your own words and works your own wisdom and righteousness and a daily taking up the Cross an hourly living in the Cross through which you must come to be crucified to the World its Vanity its Pomp Pastime and Pleasures Sins and Iniquities vain Words Psal 6. 14 Works Fashions Customs Inventions and Traditions so coming to be crucified with Christ unto the world and to be Baptised into death with him unto sin you will come to live with him unto God in the life of Righteousness in whom then you will find that Rest Satisfaction Joy Comfort and Peace which no man can give unto you So dear people who are seeking and desiring after the Lord God to find peace and comfort to your souls this I leave with you flee not from that which doth judg you in your own hearts for sin and evil and bring trouble upon you and sorrow upon you and woundeth and pierceth you in secret because of Transgression I say love that flee not from it for oh dear people how many is there that when they have been judged by Gods pure light in their hearts for their sins when trouble and sorrovv and distress hath seized on them because of their sins vvhich Gods Witness hath set in order before their eyes then have they run unto vain helps and run unto man for
of Love and Peace be with you and his Blessings rest upon you Farwel dear Friends William Bennit Eâ—monds-Bury common Goal this 25th of the first Month 1667. A Testimony to the True Light that lightens every Man that comes into the World The People that did sit in Darkness have seen a great and glorious Light and unto those that were under the Region and Shadow of Death is the Light of Life arisen and the Blessed Day sprung from on high and shineth in their Tabernacles and that which they have seen heard felt and tasted of the same they have and do bear Testimony unto though few there be that have received their Testimony For who hath believed our Report and unto whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed But come ye O House of Israel and let us walk in the Light of the Lord. THE Light revealed within is the narrow Way to Life Eternal and the Door into the Fold of Everlasting Rest The Light-is the Entrance into the fresh and green Pasture wherein the Lord feedeth his Elock and causeth them to lie down in peace and quietness out of the reach of the Beasts of prey The Light leads and draweth those that obey it out of Darkness and from under the region and shadow of Death into the Land of the Living there to dwell under the region shadow of Light and Life The Light breaks the Bonds of Sin in pieces and snappeth â—he Cords of Iniquity asunder and sets the Soul free from the Bondage of Corruption to serve the Loâ—d in the Life of Righteousness The Light draweth and leadeth those that believe in it and obey it out of the Alienation and Separation from God into the Everlasting Covenant of Life and Love where the Soul is in unity with the Lord The Light searcheth the Heart and operateth in the secrets of the Minds of those that obey it and like unto Leaven worketh the Heart and Mind into its own nature frame and quality The Light is Pure Holy and Undefiled and hath no unity with the least impure Thought Word or Work but Judgeth and Condemns it The Light is Meek Contrite Lowly and Humble condemns that honour that is corrupt and is from below and standeth in respect of Persons and it seeketh the honour of God only The Light Baptizeth self into Death slayes the Boaster puts Flesh to silence that God may speak in his Temple who is not to be denied the Mouth to speak by The Light is the heavenly Treasure in the earthen Vessel that brings honour and glory unto God The Light hath no fellowship with Darkness he that saith he is in the Light and hath unity with the Light and yet loveth and walketh in Darkness lyeth and the Light hath no room place or entertainment in his heart The Light teacheth those that love it to love Enemies its fruit is Love no Envy no Malice no Hatred no Bitterness no Enmity no Prejudice no Discord no Backbiting no Reviling no evil Whispering proceedeth from the Light the Light condemns it all and that ground from whence it springs The Light hath no unity with any unfruitful works of Darkness but reproves them The Light teacheth to render Good for Evil and to forgive Enemies and to pray for Persecutors and to have love and good will to all People and to seek and desire the Eternal good and wel-fare of all Souls he that hates and envies his Enemies abideth not in the Light Envy is of the Evil-one he that saith he walketh in the Light and hates his Brother lyeth and errs from the Truth The Light teacheth to love God with thy whole heart and thy Neighbour or Brother as thy self He that saith he loves God and hates his Brother is a Lyer he that loveth him that begetteth doth also love those that are begotten of him Love thinketh no Ill to Enemies much less to Brethren The Light leadeth his Children into Love Peace and Unity with God and one with another in the Life of Righteousness oh the unity the unity of Brethren in the Light Love and Life of God is exceeding precious and comely it s compared like to precious Oyl poured on the Head that runs down on the Beard even Aarons Beard that went down to the skirts of his Garment and like the dew of Hermon and like the dew that descended upon the Mountain of Sion where the Blessing is and where the Lord maketh unto his People a Feast of fat things The Light teacheth and maketh to be of one Heart of one Mind of one Soul and in all those that walk in it begetteth one consent to serve and worship the only wise God in the one Spirit and one Truth The Light giveth a good Understanding a clear Discerning a sound Judgment The Light leadeth not into strife and contention nor into rents divisions and parties nor into a particularity and self-separation from the Body nor into self-conceitedness nor into high airy notions nor into a climing up in imaginations after high discoveries and so slight the day of small things and neglect thy obedience to the present gift through an expectation of something greater to come yet unrevealed and such like Lucifer mounts high in their Conceits and Imaginations but will fall to the side of the Pit but the Light condemns all this and judges that Spirit that leadeth thereinto which Spirit soweth Discord among Brethren which is Abomination and that Spirit leadeth some to speak evil of Dignities and to dispise Dominion and to rebel against the Order and Government of the Lamb The Light judgeth that Spirit that setteth up and keepeth up out of the comly descent order of Truth that thing that tends to strife and breaking unity among Brethren The Light teacheth those that love it to seek and endeavour for Love Peace and Unity among Brethren with all Self-denial The Light teacheth to take away the occasion of stumbling in thy Brothers way The Light teacheth to be very wary and careful of giving Enemies advantage to strengthen themselves against Truth and the Wicked occasion to reproach it and those that live in it The Light teaches to live and walk in a holy godly Life and blameless Conversation as becometh the Gospel of Truth and as becometh Saints of the Most High The Light in those that love it crucifieth the Flesh with the lusts and affections thereof and teacheth those that love it how to possess their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour The Light crucifieth the Heart unto the World and worldly things and redeemeth the Mind from the Earth and earthly things and teacheth to use the World as if thou usedst it not The Light draweth the Mind out of the many things where all offend into the one thing needful which giveth not nor receiveth an offence but judges the offences and that ground from whence they come The Light is Supernatural and is to over-rule the Naturals and to keep them within the bonds of the Government of Truth