by the Power is alwayes helped in the needful time and here the Righteous dwell safely under the Banner which is spread over them they do not depart from the Testimony of the Word of Life neither do they utter words as a Testimony out of the Life but lives and dwells in the Life as in their Habitation and they that do not dwell in this Habitation they utter words from a wrong motion but who keeps their Habitation in the Life the Life is in their Ministry and Testimony for such lives in the Word of Life and so preaches the Word of Life in its own power and the sound of that Word of Life and Power goes thorow death and darkness and reaches the true and faithful Witness and this is a joyful sound by which the Captive is made glad and this sound is gone forth into the World and the words of it to the ends of the Earth many that were in the Graves are raised up by it the dead hath heard the voice of the Son of God and lives for it hath quickned and given Life to as many as received the Testimony of it into their hearts and they that keeps it and abids in it they live by it and such cannot forget it nor the benefits they have received by it but estemes it and prefers it above all other things and so they do not let the benefits slip out of their minds but retains them in that from which they have received them and so they keep in the beginning and goes forward in the beginning for it clearly manifesteth that such as depart from the Way of Truth and from the holy Commandement given of God that they have not kept in the beginning but lost it and so have lost the sence of benefits which in the beginning they received and now makes merry above the Witness and grows wanton upon the Earth and what can the end of these things be but distress sorrow and misery for all that have known the Lord in any measure and have turned their backs upon him they cannot lie down in peace except they repent and therefore that all might mind their own conditions and not to resist and strive against that which seeks their eternal good but submit unto it with a lowly and humble mind that the vapours which darkens their understanding may be removed and the night vision cease and the Word of Life become precious to them as in the beginning for the Lord hath gathered a Flock which keeps together in his Light Life Power and Wisdom and he is their Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls and as they abide with him they cannot be scatter'd any more for the good Shepherd leads them and keeps them and the Bishop of their Souls overseeâ— them and takes care for them and the Pasture of his Life is their delight and well-being and so the Lord God exalts his everlasting Truth over all and his Work prospers against every assault that would lay it waste and in the pure Truth springs and spreads and triumphs and the Lamb and the Saints have the Victory and must have the Victory and the Victory they rejoyce and are exceeding glad for they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord and by many infallible proofs the Lord doth evidence that they are his and that the labour of true Labourers doth stand in his Councel and Wisdom and the Lord God is a Witness for them that they labour in his Service for as much as he makes them useful both to the gathering and confirming many and having such a certain evidence of the Lords Power with them they minde their Labour and service and though some which in the beginning was the fruit of their Labour be gone from that in which they then received their Testimony and now reckons their Labour and Service to be useless yet the Lord reckons their Labour and Service useful for himself and many that standeth as the seal of their Apostleship and Ministry and having the seal they continue their Labor in the work of God and cannot cease to publish the everlasting Gospel but goeth on with the Lord and the Lord with them and they are a blessing in his Hand for converting sinners from their way and for establishing the righteous in their goings and whosoever rises up to oppose the work of the Lord in the Gospel ministration they must certainly fall and wither as the mown grass for the good Seed is sown and many have received it into the ground and fruit is brought forth according to increase and the Lord God hath his honour and glory by it and this is the sweet savour which proceedeth from the Almighty to season the Earth for the Earth hath brought forth corruptible fruit which is unsavoury and now the Lord God is seasoning the Earth with the savour of his Life and the Testimony of Life spreads abroad that the Earth may be seasoned and the Everlasting Gospel is preached over the Beast and the Whore and false Prophet and many have received it into their hearts and walks according to the Truth of it and because of the good savour they are in love with it and so the Truth and Power of the Lord God judges down and goes over the head of the Serpent and the Lamb reigns and must reign and under his Government the Saints rejoyces A short Testimony unto Gospel Meetings and Fellowship c. THe Everlasting God having called and separated a people by the manifestation of his Light Spirit and Power from the ways customs and worships which are observed amongst such as be in the Fall and in the Apostacy he hath gathered them into a new and living Way and into a holy and spiritual Worship and in the leadings of his Spirit they follow him according to his Mind and Will and in his Wisdom and Counsel he orders them to meet together and to wait upon him in his fear not in the way nor after the manner as others do who know not his Mind and Will in what they do but as a distinct and separated people from all that meet according to the commandment of men they meet according to the Commandment of God and this is a meeting according to the Truth of the Gospel for the Saints in Primitive times did not meet to wait upon God and worship him amongst the Jews in their Synagogues and Temple but by the Light and Spirit were separated from their Worship and in the Light and spirit they met together in such places and at such times as the Lord ordered and appointed and they met distinctly and apart both from the Jews and Gentiles in their way and worship and did not meet or joyn with them to observe their practise as may be seen in the Scriptures of Truth for when Christ ascended he commanded his Disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with Power from on high so mark he commanded that they should tarry
of God but are found to dishonour him by departing from him and taking liberty to satisfie the flesh with the affections and lusts and that is the birth of flesh and blood and of the will of man whatsoever may be pretended of the Birth of God or of retaining a measure of Light and Truth to wait upon God in their own particulars that spirit which so draweth back and causeth any to depart from the Way of Truth and from the holy Commandment given of God it is a false spirit and so an enemy to the true Spirit and those that follow it and live in it and though some may say That to withdraw and depart from that which they have sometimes observed in outward practice is not to withdraw or depart from the Truth but rather a growth and a going forward in it but that will not hold to be true if tried by the Truth it self and for want of such a trial many have wronged themselves for if there had been a true trial before there had been such a close joyning the matter would have appeared otherwise and the deceiveableness would have been seen under the covering and all that walked in the Light did see it and were preserved for Truth is unchangeable in all its wayes though in degrees it appears more glorious and being an immutable unalterable power it alwayes justifies its own work and order from one degree to another and they that really go forward in the Truth and retain it in their particulars to wait upon God they cannot possibly disesteem or dispise any practise which in the Truth is observed and in and by which they have often been refreshed for mark Where the carkass is thither will the Eagles resort and this in the beginning did draw to meet together with a willing mind for as the Word of Life was ministred by such as God appointed so the vertue of it caused resort unto it and the same thing being yet preserved and continued and also much increased according to the power and wisdom in which it did begin how can any lay a sufficient ground for their withdrawing or departing from it or how can any truly say that they are gone forward in the Truth or that they retain a measure of it to wait upon God in their own particulars for the Everlasting power of the Lord God doth yet continue amongst those that fear him and the Word of Life floweth and is yet ministred in the Assemblies of the Righteous and all the faithfull meeteth with it in a large and plentiful measure and it yeildeth the same vertue unto refreshment nourishment as in the beginning and keepeth the same judgment upon Transgressors and hereby it is manifest that the Power changes not nor the Word of Life ceaseth not but some are rather willing to cease from obeying the Truth and to depart from the holy Commandment given of God and so it had been better they had never known it unless they repent and return but such things are permitted to happen that they which are reproved may be made manifest and that the Lord may be magnified in stretching forth his Arm for the recovery of such who in their simplicity have been turned aside and though some may think that they are gotten above the Assemblies of the Righteous and the ministration of the power which is the Gospel and that they are now more large and universal in their love yet that power which they dispise as a thing below them will bruise the head of that spirit which hath lift them up and all that abide in that power will live the longer life and the love which is in the Light where the Righteous have their fellowship it will remain when all the pretended universal love is gone for the love which is universal is in God and that love is pure and cannot joyn to any impure thing to have unity or fellowship with it for if it were so then there is no distinction between righteousness and unrighteousness but there is a distinction for as much as righteousness is always justified and unrighteousness alwayes condemned and so it is as possible to joyn the East and West together as to joyn righteousness and unrighteousness in unity and fellowship and who walks in the Light in which is the universal Love of God they cannot have fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness but is made to reprove them and so the Light is the same now as in the Apostles dayes and they that live in it are of the same mind as they were and they could not have fellowship with unfruitfull works of darkness but reproved them and the Apostles were in the universal Love of God and God never loved Esau therefore all such had need consider what they are gone from and what they are joyned unto lest they so long withstand the Lord until the day of visitation pass over for it is certain that all such as have forsaken the Assemblies of the Righteous and disesteemes or rather dispises the ministration of the Gospel that they have filled themselves with high imaginations surfets with their own fulness and so they Ioath the Life and Vertue which is sweeter then the hony comb and with their own fulness they grow wanton and makes themselves merry above the Witness and so with the flesh are committing whoredom and uncleanness but that which is begotten in an unlawfull bed must not inherit the Kingdom of God that birth is not the Heir of Life nor cannot have an inheritance with the Saints in Light mark it is the Saints in Light which inherits it is their lot only which falleth into that ground and there is none can pertake of their goodly heritage but who are born of the same Life for those that are full and wonton and in their fulness and wontonness joyns to a harlot they have no part in the Kingdom of God and of Christ but as they sow to the flesh so of the flesh they must reap corruption and this is a grief unto the righteous that any who had a beginning in the Light and Spirit should go back again into the flesh and in that state to think they are perfect and that their perfection is of a higher degree then those who keeps in the Light and Spirit where they did begin for that measure of Light and Spirit which was first manifest from God to spread abroad his Truth in this day it was and is perfect it was and is his good and perfect gift it came from him as from the Father of Light with whom is no variableness or shaddow of turning then that which is variable and turning is not the gift of God and they that are varied and turned from the Assemblies of the righteous and from the Ministration of the Gospel they are gone from the gift of God that is perfect and the highest degree of their perfection is perfect surmisings and perfect prejudice and perfect enmity and
are united in one and every one in their measure grows in Grace and Godliness and in that all stands in the beginning and as they wait upon God in that which first convinced them they are preserved out of the Net of the Fowler and from the deceit of the Deceiver and this is marvellous in the eyes of many this day for by the preservation that many have witnessed by cleaving to the Power they certainly know that there is not another thing sufficient for that work and so they keep their faith in it as in the greatest and in the very time when darkness came upon some to draw them back then there was no whither else for them to go but to that which from the beginning had preserved for they were come to assurance that he was the Son of God in whom they believed and they knew that he had the word of Eternal Life and so they could not forsake him and depart from him to go to another but continued in his Love according to his Command which if all had done so there had not been a going away and departing but the Serpent beguiled as he beguiled Eve and though he aimed to deceive the very Elect yet it was not possible because their Foundation was sure and they were faithfull to it and upon the Foundation they yet stand and are not moved and the Truth is precious in their eye and the testimony of it lovely in their hearts and they are not weary of serving the Lord for his power carries them as upon Eagles Wings and such are not born of flesh and blood and of the will of man but of God and as Heirs of God they inherit Life and Immortality and so they rejoyce in their way and in their portion and in this good ground their lot is fallen and they have a goodly heritage yea a heritage above the Earth and the glory of it for in the Seed and Life they have found the heavenly Treasure and the Pearl of great price and as their affections are set upon things above so they do not mind to be in love with things below and abiding in the Light and Truth they have a sure Dwelling and a quiet Habitation and so in that which is immortal they live with the Lord and one another and are refreshed in the Lord and one in another and these are Children which of his own Will he hath begotten by the Word of his Power mark by the Word of his Power these are begotten and they love the Word of his Power which hath begotten them and it is Milk unto them as Babes and Meat as strong Men and they know the vertue and power of it and cannot depart from it and by faith in the power they obtain victory and so they keep the faith and do not make shipwrack of it and by faith they stand and from the beginning they have kept in the way that is good and have not cunningly devised Fables but by the manifestation of Truth have approved themselves unto God and these are they which of his own Will he hath begotten by the Word of his Power who love the Word of his Power that hath begotten them and by the Word of his Power he upholds them it is that they lean upon and cleave unto in all their trials distress and tribulations and it hath been and is their strength from one degree of godliness unto another and from one degree of faith to another and so from degree to degree they have followed the Lord in humbleness of mind and he hath and doth give his Grace unto them and exalts them into honour and they are honourable and beloved in his sight and though some that came out with them be gone from them yet the Truth is the same and they are the same in the Truth for as they have kept in the Truth from the beginning so they have not wavered nor changed but in all things have been found faithfull wherein Truth hath been concerned and many whose dear and precious lives have been given up as a Testimony to it and many whose sufferings and tribulations doth yet remain for the Truth sake and it is no less in such as now depart from the testimony and turns against it then a trampling upon the Blood and Sufferings of the Faithfull and so a trampling under foot the Son of God and doing dispite to the Spirit of Grace and such are gone from the Grace of God in themselves and so runs into the liberty that pleaseth the vain mind which cannot bear the yoke and in that Sea of liberty in vanity the flesh is pleased and from that Sea cometh all the great swelling words of vanity in the likeness of Truth but the Sea is bounded beyond which it cannot pass and in that which bounds the troubled Seas the faithfull are preserved from being swallowed up and they that are fallen into this Ocean they are fallen from the Rock Christ Jesus who is the beginning and ending the first and last and so they are gone from the chief corner stone the Elect and precious upon which the Building is fitly framed and groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord so mark the Building is fitly framed upon the Rock and not upon the Sea and upon the Rock the Building standeth and groweth unto an holy Temple and so the Power of the Rock raiseth the Building which is framed upon it and there is a perfect union between the Foundation and Building and a perfect union in the Building for it is framed and compacted by his hand who is Lord of all so it is united and no where out of order for that which is out of order is not framed and compacted in the Building which stands upon the Rock and though it may appear as framed compacted and builded yet it is not united to the Foundation but the Lord hath pleasure in his own Building as being his own work and it grows to be an holy Temple and he fills it with his Presence and Glory and besides this Foundation which God hath laid there is no man can lay another nor no man can build another Building to be an holy Temple for him therefore all foundations and buildings which man hath layed and builded must come to nought for it is only his own Work that must stand and remain and so he hath been building upon his own Foundation and he hath framed a Building according unto his pleasure and he causeth the Building to grow unto an holy Temple for himself to walk in and so he walks in the Temple and dwells in the Temple which is holy and this is his own Work from the beginning For when the Lord appeared to make known his Truth in this day there was no building framed but all in several Forms and Professions scattered and he beheld it and his eye pitied and then was his Love manifest to the scattered and with his Light he opened their eye