Rocks were rent and the Clouds vanquished away and the Glory of the Lord filled his Sanctuary and he threw out the Buyers and Sellers out of his Temple and the Money-changers and overthrew their Seat then cloathed he himself with Zeal as with a Cloak for the day of Vengeance was in his heart and he sent forth his Sons and Daughters with his Word to run to and fro in the Earth and gave them hearts as the heart of a Lion and strength that turned away from none so that his day of Vengeance became proclaimed for he ordained strength in the mouths of Babes and Sucklings when he shut out the Wise and Prudent of the World This was the day in which God opened the door of Confusion unto the Diviners of the Earth and turned the Prophets and their Seers into madness so that to them all is become as the Vision of the night night is upon them they cannot divine fearfulness surprizes them they have changed their work and blesse themselves in their Railings and Envyings and Blasphemies against the chosen Heir because he is too strong for them and holds them bound in the bottomless Pit where they have now neither beginning nor end nor place to rest but have stirred up the smoak thereof to darken the Earth and to corrupt the Powers of it that they may lift up their last weapon for them and exercise their utmost and last Power and Strength and Victory for them but alas hath not the Lord our God in whom we believe and upon whom we wait and serve day and night broken their strength often times as it were but a burnt thread or Flax which had been burned in the fire hath he not rebuked the Powers of the Earth because of them and overturned the mighty from their Seats because of their hearkening to their deceits who have been as Catter-pillers of the Earth destroying both good and bad as far as they can reach and hath not the Lord taken us out of their Prisons and Bonds and Persecution of murder from time to time what valiant thing hath not the Lord done for his Chosen who believe in his Light that according as he hath purposed they may be ordered to bear the Image of his Son hath he suffered any thing to be done but that which makes for his own purpose have not sufferings confirmed and builded up many in the Faith when as they have been exercised in them for a moment as it were to prove them for good and then hath he not delivered out of them in Glory and great Dominion and hath he not done a double service this way in suffering these things have not thousands been convinced thereby and way made in many places and Towns for the Truth to enter hath he not manifested the deceit of this Generation of Priests there-through so that thousands never thought in their hearts to have seen nor that it had been in their hearts to have done so as they have done and if they have drank of our blood is it not that they may be overcome thereby and by Faith and Patience and have not they and their Rulers persecuted and imprisoned us to make us grow and encrease and be strong and established and multilied hath not the Lord done valiantly through all these things though the Evil-doers weaken their selves and destroy their own Souls daily thereby yea and valiant things will he yet do until he hath fully compleated his purpose for his Son shall Reign and he shall certainly overturn all that oppose his Work and every one that riseth against him in it it will be his own breaking in pieces for the Lord is making a short work who will finish it in Righteousness and wil make all serve for his own purpose either to save or to be destroyed Now seeing these things are so and that all hath wrought for good who should not Fear who should not Love the Lord who should not hold fast the beginning of their Considence unto the end and their Faith which God gave unto them when they first received the Light which brought into the Work and into the Power and Zeal for God and into the Worship to be bowed in all things unto the Lord and into the Silence and into the Meetings and Fellowship and Waiting upon the Lord Now when I consider the infinite Love and unsearchable Wisdom of God in all things that he suffereth and doth and how he turns all to his own end my heart is even broken within me and my bowels yearn after many that many might come to believe in the Light where they might see the unspeakable Love and Wisdom of God and for many doth my soul travel and seeks unto God with earnest desires and fervent Love which I have seen the Lord answering but for many who were once partakers in the Works that God began to work in the beginning of the day and of the love and mercies which God began to bestow I could even bewail my self and take up a lamentation over them and could pour down with mine eyes as a flood and make my place solitary because of the leanness of many souls and the faintness of many hearts How soon was the Lilly torn among the Daughters how faded their Beauty away and how was the singing of Birds amongst them so soon silenced how came their Spring to be turned into Winter and their Sun to set in the East their Morning turned into darkness their Sun was drawn over with darkness in the East their Morning came not forth in their haste they stumbled and while they were aspiring they fell their strength stood not in the Virgin therefore they fell and mingled with the earthly and that are them out their Beauty became as a fading flower because they trusted not in God their Saviour but forsook their first Love The young men liked the Lord well while they stood in his Innocency but when the Earth arose the eye looked not towards God Oh! that that liberty had been stopped and the sanctification come into then should the Scepter have been established and the Cross have been kept down that earing worm and the desire of the heart should have stood in the Lord who therein fulfilleth every desire in his own appointed time but hastiness destroyes many Oh the sorrow of the Just and the burdens which have come upon the upright because many have stumbled by the way and pierced their own souls through and turned the day of God into blackness to themselves whose Authority and Dominion is fallen in the Earth and their strength fallen by the way who have weakened their own hands and the Praise of the Work is given to another but all this hath the Lord suffered for the establishing his Chosen and the building up his Elect on whom his Spirit resteth so that things which appear strange the Lord turns them all to good and maketh the evil to be as an example that all may fear and be humble
in the Night Rev. 3.3 Behold I come as a Thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame Rev. 16.15 So now all may see that there must be a waiting and there must be a watching that ye may stand in the Evil Day that you may resist the Enemy of your Souls therefore put on the whole Armour of God that you may withstand the Evil put on the Armour of Light that you may be able to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil Rom. 13.12 So now all that come to know the Covenant of God and to walk in obedience to his Law that he writes in the heart and puts in the mind that every man need not say to his Neighbour and Brother Know the Lord for they shall all know him Jer. 31. Heb. 8. These I say must come to the waiting and watching in the Light which Arms against the Devil and his fiery Darts that you may come to be established in Righteousness for all the People of God shall be taught of God and established in Righteousness and far from Oppression Isa 54.14 15. Joh. 6.45 Now who comes to know this Promise fulfilled must come to know the waiting in the Light the Armour of God that ye may know an VNCTION from the Holy One by which ye may know all things as the Saints did I Joh. 2.20 27. who were anointed in their Souls by the Eternal Spirit and the Anointing which they had received of God abode in them which taught them all things so that they needed not that any man should teach them but as the same Anointing taught them all things which were true and of it is no lye and as it taught them they were to abide in Him And now all that come to wait and receive the Knowledge of these things need not any to teach them but all shall be taught of God and established in Righteousness so that they will not need any man to teach them Glory in the Highest A Visitation to the Called of God every where FRiends I consider the former dayes when God first made known unto us his Son to be a Light unto us to enlighten us and every one that cometh into the World which manifested unto us all that ever we had done and judged Transgression in us in all its appearances then we believed in it and had Grace for Grace manifested and Faith revealed from Faith to Faith so that the Light being believed in in which the Hope of Eternal Life came to be seen and laid hold on then was the Love strong which ran forth towards die Lord and his Truth and the breakings into true Tenderness and into the true Fear and Humility and the real-heartedness for God came to be seen and felt in which the bringing out of the World came to be seen and the true Zeal for God so that through obedience in the Faith to the Light nothing was too dear to be forsaken and parted withal and a true enquiring into the state and condition there was to see how it was between God and every Soul and then in the Light both Words and Actions came to be weighed and an enquiring into the Worlds wayes of Deceit and Words to deny them their Wayes and Words and their corrupt Language Oh! the heart-breakings that were in that day and the revealings of Secrets and the manifesting God's Power which begat into the true Cross and truly to cross that mind and nature which had transgressed both in thought word and deed So that the Lord arose in the Glory of his Majesty to shake terribly the Earth and to abase the flesh and lay low the glory of man as thousands can witness then earthly Enjoyments and Riches and Preferments came to be lightly esteemed on and cast off yea all of them that did let or hinder Then strong was the Love of God and mightily did his Power work to bring out of all things which were contrary to the Lord and to the rooting out every Plant which the Heavenly Father had not planted In this day Friends could ye wrong any Was not every one's care to be found innocent just upright and harmless having your Consciences exercised pure and void of offence towards God and man could ye then at all bow to the World or to their Wayes Worships Manners Words or Performances could ye then partake with them almost in any thing at all was not this a precious day and a day of Love could ye not endure all thing in this day and suffer all things and bear all things and was any thing too hard then to do or perform did not your Souls even hate all the corrupt delights of the Sons and Daughters of men in that day when the Zeal and Power of God broke forth could any temptation of the wicked ensnare you was not the Light present to judge and condemn every temptation and through its Judgement to deliver you Oh! the Beauty and the Glory of that day when God shook the Heavens and made the Earth to tremble and brake stony hearts at his pleasure and overturned Babylon as a thing of naught and brought forth many Sons and Daughters unto Glory my heart is broken within me when I call to mind this day wherein God did valiantly and wrought excellent things How were the hearts of many drawn after him how did their Love flow forth how were they gathered by God how quick was the Lord to execute Judgement and Justice and to set up his Truth in the hearts and to confound the wisdom of all flesh He gathered thousands in his Love to deny themselves and all their own Wisdom and Knowledge and to become as little Children yea as new Born Babes to wait at the breasts of Consolation that they might learn both what to do and what to speak yea in that day the Lord made of a little one a thousand and of a small People a strong Nation so that nothing was too hard for him to do When I saw it I was glad and trusted in the Lord who in that day fitted many to his Service and for his Honour and Glory for then he was swift in executing Judgement upon the World and in casting out the Prince of this World so that he setled many to wait upon him and it was their delight to do his Will for his Love constrained them and he was with them in their Assemblies and blessed them when they waited in stilness and silence then were their tears as a Fountain and the dropping down of their eye-lids as the dew of Heaven Oh! how precious it is to dwell in the tender Love of the Lord then they thought the time long until they were come together and they waited in silence until the Heavens dropped down dew and their Consolation came from God so that none waited in vain who waited in the Lord for the Mountains melted at his presence the Earth trembled the
Presence may go along with them and his Arm may defend them and his Glory follow after them to be their Re-reward And the Spirits and Life of all the Children of the Promise the Heirs of Eternal Salvation He upholds who give themselves up unto Him and to the Appearing of his Glory and the Light of His glorious Gospel which shines in their hearts that they may be unto Him as the Tower of Sion and the Bulwarks of Jerusalem in them hath the Star arisen which hath shined from the North and is broken forth in the Darkness of the Night and is shining towards the South it rises in the East it looks towards the West and there is no place for its going down The Lord hath Multitudes of People He gathers them as the Bands of the Earth He suffers the Nations to afflict them for a season He chastizeth with the Rods of Men that He may prove them all for His Glory And yet a little while and the Rage of the Heathen shall sink He correcteth his People for their Good and chastizeth them for their Peace-sake that He may build up his Nation which He hath visited and establish his Seed which he hath gathered and multiply his People Thy Throne O God endures for ever and the Scepter of thy Righteousness who lettest not Sufferings and Tryals to come upon the Seed which thou hath chosen and the People which thou hast visited to destroy them but to establish them that when thou hast tryed them as Gold they may be established and fitted for thy use that they may be humbled and all fear before thee and wait upon thee that thou mayest renew us all from day to day and night after night in thy Life to do thy Service to fit all thine to Glory and Praise and Honour immortal for thy great Name thou art spreading over all the Earth By Faith it was given me to see wherein the Worship of the true God consisteth and how He must be worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Father seeks such to worship him as worship Him in the Spirit as worship Him in the Truth and in the true Light which enlighteneth every one in which none can see the VVorship but who come into the Faith and into the Humility and into the Fear and into the Waiting and into the Zeal for God which bows the heart before God and the heart being bowed then the Consideration is come into and the Inquirings into the Knowledge of Life and the sinking down to feel the Spirit which brings the Truth into Remembrance and also brings to be still and quiet and wait in stilness and quietness and silence then God is seen and felt and his Life which gives the Creature to feel after God who comes to be felt in his Life which enlighteneth the Creature and gives the Creature liveliness to wait for the renewing the strength and God reveals his Word his Power and his Requirings in the Creature which works in the heart and in the reins and runs through the mortal body and is weighty in operation to give Power and Dominion to the Creature to the end that it may have full power and strength to resist the Assaults of the Devil and to have its mind staid in stilness and quietness and silence and waiting for the Love and Vertue and Mercies of God which being felt then the Lord is admired and bowed unto this is VVorship to bow before the God of Heaven that all that 's in Man may be bowed down and submitted under the Life and Power then he worships he boweth down to the higher Power his soul abhors all defilements his thoughts are staid on God his heart is kept tender and open and he is refreshed in the Enjoyment of the Life and of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord and of his Power by which the Creature comes to admire the infinite Love and Mercies of God and the Riches of his Grace that after so long living in disobedience the Lord should reveal his Power and make known the Riches of his Grace to such a Creature that hath been as altogether unworthy but the Lord hath done it for his Seeds sake in Man which never consented to or took pleasure in sinning but hungred and thirsted after God and breathed after God and moved in the Creature towards the Lord even while the Creature was yet subject to vanity and for the Seeds sake the Lord is merciful full of compassion long-suffering and slow to Anger and blessed are all they that turn unto Him in the obedience of His Seed and in the Faith of His Son they shall see his Mercies know his Presence feel his Life Power and Spirit which bows and brings to worship God By Faith it 's seen that none are more sensible of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord than when they are still and quiet and wait in silence and stilness even when met together and when alone for by Faith many are come to see that the Lord is very near and that they feel his Presence when they wait upon Him and his Life breaks forth in his tender Love to the great refreshing of the soul and quickning of the Creature this takes away weariness and leanness from the soul and removes the multitude of vain Thoughts which have lodged in Man so that though they may often appear yet they become stilled as though they were not for when any thing appears contrary to the Will of God the Light is near and ready to administer Judgment upon it and to give the Creature to apply its mind to Judgment through which God redeems out of the Incumbrances and reveals his Noble Spirit of Life which stills the Thoughts and the Desires and Affections which would raise Lust and War in the flesh so that Man comes to wait out of himself and out of his own thoughts and imaginations in the Life the Promise it self where it feels the Riches of the Love and of the Mercies and of the Grace and of the Power which brings into the Glory and into the unspeakable Life and Love where the mortal body becomes filled with Immortality and Life which swallows up mortality in Victory and Conquest and Dominion and the delight of all mortal fading things and this hath made me bold and confident in the Lord of my Life to give up my whole strength for the witnessing forth the Truth through Faith which by Faith is received of God even through the Nations by Sea and by Land as the Lord requires which I account Eternal Salvation though for it I suffer many things but all is good and for good By Faith it 's seen how exceeding good it is to wait upon the Lord and to be still and silent before Him and in all things to eye Him and fear Him then the Incumbrances come to be taken away and the Darkness and Doubtings dissolved and Courage and Boldness for God received which
an Oration before the People who gave a shout and said it was the Voice of a God and not of a man and that the worms should eat him because he gave not the Glory to God By Faith it 's seen that it was great faithfulness and obedience unto the Lord in the Apostles that they gave up themselves to do the Work of God and laboured in the Truth to turn both Jews and Gentiles to Christ the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the World and to the Grace which hath appeared to all men which taught the Saints that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they might live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World and come to know the saving of their Souls by the Grace through Faith and when the People did once believe they came to receive Grace for Grace and had Faith revealed in them from Faith to Faith which gave them Victory over the whole World and over the Transgression of it to be cleansed from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God and unto such the Apostles wrote Epistles exhorting them to continue in the Faith and to persevere in the Hope Watching and being Sober having the loynes of their minds girt about with the Truth unto these Salvation was come nearer than when they first Believed therefore they were to awake from sleep and rise from dead Works and to put off the deeds of the Night for the Darkness was past and the true Light shined and they were to put on the whole Armour of God to Arm themselves with the Armour of Light that they might withstand the evil Day and might be able to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil that they might offer their Bodies unto God a Living Holy Sacrifice acceptable unto God which was but their reasonable Service not fashioning themselves according to the Fashions of the World but to be renewed in their Mindes to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfed Will of God And they were not to adorn themselves with Gold or Silver or Pearls or Plaiting of Hair nor costly Array but with modest Apparel to adorn the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ Let not your adorning be with the putting on of Apparel nor wearing of Gold or Pearls ar broidered Hair but let it be in the hidden man of the Heart with a meek and quiet Spirit which with the Lord is of great price and their words were to be few and seasoned with salt that they might administer Grace to the Hearers that all things might be done in Order and decently for the setting forth the Glory of God and the Praise of his Grace by which they were called to be Saints By Faith it 's likewise seen that after the Apostles had once turned the People to the true Light and to know God shining in their Hearts to cause the Light to shine out of Darkness to give them the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ in which they received the Anointing which gave them an understanding to know all things so that they needed no man to teach them then they committed them to the Word of his Grace which was able to keep them from falling and left them to assemble themselves together in the Spirit to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth and not to forsake the assembling themselves together as the manner of some was but to wait for the Promises and persevere in the Hope unto the end waiting for the appearing of the great God and his Christ then they left them committing them to the Grace which was able to keep them from falling and to the Spirit of Jesus which was able to build them up and â—o keep them from the world unspotted â—nd to hate even the garment spotted with the Flesh and to present them Holy unto God without spot or blemish or any such like thing which brought them 〈…〉 one another and to have Union one wâ—â—h another and not with the world for a Believer and an Infidel cannot concord then I say they left them and did not continue with them as the manner of Hirelings ever was to stay as long as they lived for great sums of Money with one People except they could get a greater Benefice with another whose day is as the cutting off Life from the Earth and going down to the Grave but the Apostles day was to do the joyful Work of God and to call many into the Light the way of everlasting Rest and Peace and Joy who when they had turned one People to the Light left them and wrote to them from another People unto whom they were gone to turn them to the same Truth and out of other Lands So they saluted the Saints and their Assemblies which they had gathered with the saluâ—ations of Peace and Love exhorting all to press forward to the Mark of the price of the High Calling in Christ Jesus namely to the full attainment of the fulness of an Holy and perfect Life that they might all be presented perfect in Christ and sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit and being partakers of the Divine Nature and escaping the Corruption which is in the world through lust and being partakers of the Faith they might give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure adding unto Faith Vertue and unto Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Love and to brotherly Love Charity which is the band that keepeth perfect for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall and so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This I have given forth from the Innocency and uprightness of my Heart as moved of the Lord which I send abroad as a Testimony of the true Work of the true Faith and of its Effect it being a few of those excellent Truths which through Faith in the Light is given me to see and to believe and to witness forth the true Testimony of the Saints which justly and truly they through Faith witnessed forth to the Glory of God and it is to be Printed and sent abroad unto all People but most especially to all the English in America and the West-Indies and the Islands thereunto belonging which if in this I should finish my Testimony of Writing or Declaring the Truth of God yet this shall stand unto Generations to come and to this present Generation as a Testimony