the Saints my love to that Testimony made me willing to stand by him in his Sufferings and to bear his Cross for which Testimony the World the Powers of darkness then ruling my Kindred and my Brethren the Quakers sold me into Aegypt by their many false reports yet there the Lord my God appeared to me and finding me in my Innocency wherewith he had clothed me hath ever fince become my exceeding great Reward Nov. 30. 1678. BY what I have formerly and now sent for England you may see how I have bin acted for many years Lately I have heard a Voice from Heaven saying Turn thy Sword into Plowshares and into Pruning Hooks stay at home Dress and keep clean the Garden of Eden thine own Heart that no root of bitterness spring up there I also now begin to feel an inclination to write out fair that which long since I have prepared and to present each of the seven Churches of Christendom with an Epistle I formerly intended them Then will many come to see beyond the Letter of that * Viz. the Gift of 210l. to the 7 Churches An. 1666. Action and not the sound of Words only nor from Mount Sinai but from Sion where it is written In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen and heard by all that have an Ear to hear what the Spirit saith at whose Voice of Love our Friend Lazarus will awake and rise out of his sleep In truth I thought the Epistles promised would soon have followed my Gift but in short time after I came to see that the day was not for Unity and Amity but for biting and devouring one another so that instead of raising our Brother Lazarus we had our hands every one against his Brother two against three and three against two which work tended to the Crucifying of the Lord of Life afresh but I hope the day is dawning that after Ages or next Dispensation will speak more reverently of Unity and Amity I have bin made contrary to my Nature a Man of Contention and strife to all the World one that at the command of the Lord hath sold my Coat made of Love and Good-will to all and bought a Sword with which I have fought a long and tedious Battel of about ten years standing against all Professors of Moses and of Christ which War I believe will go on throughout the whole World to the destruction of all Idols in all Religions and to the setting up of Christ Jesus God's Word in the Heart his Priest and Prophet King over all the Earth His Fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his Floor even all the Children of Light that they may offer to the Lord in a clean Vessel of His own an Offering in Righteousness Wherefore be ye clean pure Virgins that bring forth the Birth of God and bear the Vessels of the Lord. Thus all that are baptized into this one Spirit of Love to Truth and Righteousness stand as Saviours on Mount Zion with the Trump of God in their Hearts to judg and save the Mount of Esau not in a wrathful bitter Spirit but in the same loving-kindness wherewith God hath judged and saved us for so will the Kingdoms of this World become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall and must reign for ever and ever I confess formerly for a long time I have had Conscience of an Idol and contended only for one sort of People but now an Idol to me is nothing and my present state is to own that which is of God in any sort of Men and to become all things to that of God in all Men that is not of Sin that so I may reach save and unite in the Love of God all Men to each other in all Religions which Love shed abroad in our Hearts is God's Salvation to all Men even to the ends of the Earth I have here sent my Epistle to the Roman Catholicks that by this you may see the Patern of the rest which Patern I received some years since from the Mountain of God's Love not from Mount Sinai but from Mount Sion the Habitation of the Blessed the New Jerusalem who is Father and Mother Brother and Sister of all God's Children who are regenerate and born again of the Seed and Spirit of Grace God's Sons and Daughters At the revelation of which when I saw and considered the end of the Lord in that my saluting of the seven Churches my Heart did leap and skip within me like to a Roe or young Hart upon the Mountain of Spices I say in this Mountain of God's Love the sanctified Heart stands the Saviour Christ our Lord the Spirit of the Father who saves his People from their Sins the which sanctifies and redeems them from all Iniquity Who is who was and who is to come one and the same through all Generations from everlasting to everlasting An. 1677. And now I shall settle to write out fair what I have prepared for the remaining seven Churches That already sent I think hath no contention or strife in it if you see any thing of that Nature I pray take it out of the way My Mind is directed in this Testimony of the universal Love of God to the World to receive and treasure up as in Joseph's Store-houses all that which is of God in every Religion and to hand it forth in this time of Famine of Love to God and our Neighbour which is seen to break in as an overflowing Scourge over all Christendom not only in Egypt amongst the Prophane but amongst Professors of all sorts who account themselves the Sons of Jacob And what I see to be false and reprobate Silver the Inventions Traditions and Impositions of Men to return that back again as their own Money in their own Sacks And in so doing I hope none will be offended thereat You need not be careful or sollicitous in publishing what I send only when you feel your Mind in frame whether as in a Cloud or Pillar of Fire fitting and preparing to such an end gently follow after it as it leadeth for they that are come into the Faith of God's Elect the second Covenant do not make haste but are entred into their Rest even into God's everlasting Sabbath of Rest where in the new Covenant of Grace in Matters Spiritual they cease from their own Works from labouring and toiling in the first Covenant of Works as He did from His. The Days approaching are evil to all Worshippers in the outward Court Lo here and Lo there where the Potsherds of the Earth will dash one against another and bring all into Confusion This is the portion of the Ungodly that have not the Birth of God in them In this time of Trouble will God build his Church and Temple the New Jerusalem in the sanctified Hearts of his People wherein he will place his Name for ever And as for those that worship God in the Spirit
of Truth such he will save and preserve as his Jewels in the hollow of his hand Wherefore to your Tents O Israel you that are circumcised in Heart and Ears enter ye into your Master's Joy the Love of God shed abroad in your Hearts the Ark and Tabernacle which God not Man hath pitched in all the Sanctified and be therein at Peace with that of God in all his Creation So will you come to the everlasting Sabbath of Rest which God hath prepared for all that love him and wait for his Appearance An. 1678. More Abstracts of Letters to particular Friends I Received yours which I accepted as an ample Testimony of your endeared Union with the Bridegroom of our Souls in which I greatly rejoice to meet you one in the footsteps of his Companions enquiring where He maketh his Flocks to rest at Noon as not willing to shade your self under any false Rest or Security but waiting in the Patience and Faith of the Saints till his Power of Grace from on high more abundantly shines forth and overshadows the whole Earth with the Glory of his Immanuel This Spirit of Love is the Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations and under the infinite spreading Branches thereof we may all of every Nation Sect or People sit down together the Wolf with the Lamb in safety and peace In the humble expectation and patient waiting of my Spirit for the full manifestation of this all-saving Grace I dearly salute you together with all Saints in whose Bodies as in the Clouds I see the Lord coming to reconcile all things to Himself through the death of Sin by nailing the Enmity to his Cross which is the Power of Love and by that Life swallow up Death into Victory As for my self it hath pleased the Lord to lead me through various Changes and Operations shewing me the Wonders of his Power Many years since I heard a Voice in the Wilderness preaching Repentance for the Remission of Sins and to prepare a Way for the Lord by putting off the Old Man with his deeds under which Dispensation of the Quakers as that of Elias and John I was baptized in that Cloud and there abode till Judgment was brought forth into Victory Afterwards being called up higher by receiving a double measure of the Spirit sate down in Heavenly Places with Christ Jesus whence I heard a Voice saying In whomsoever I saw the Spirit descending like a Dove and abiding viz. the Spirit of Meekness of Innocency and of universal Charity that this was and is the Son of God in whom He is always well pleased And Him not my self I preach for Salvation to the ends of the Earth Him who was before Abraham was and is now and for ever the same throughout all Generations From which root of Jesse did proceed the Salutation of me R. R. to the seven Churches of Christendom that all of every Form or Sect of People in the World might cease from Man and all other Idols look up unto Him and be saved I see the Multitude of all Sâ—cts standing at this day with Moses in the Mount each under their proper Attainments contending with one another and condemning all others both Persons and Things that suit not with their Laws and legal Discoveries of Truth every one in their Tribes highly pretending to the Glory of God but in truth only tending to crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame c. July 2. 1670. To another Friend WHerefore ye Sons and Daughters of Sion ye Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem blow ye the Trumpet of God say ye The Lord reigneth make ye a joyful Noise that the whole World and all therein may ring and sing forth his Praise whose Name Worship and Nature is one and the same most excellent yea whose Name is also Truth in the inward parts the Word in the Heart that whosoever walketh in the Truth and Light manifested in every Conscience of all or any Religion shall be saved To other Friends Dear Hearts I Lately saw you sent forth as Sheep amongst Wolves therefore be ye as wise as Serpents and as innocent as the Dove In the Power that sends you forth stand and for it wait then as any thing is to be done it will arise And when you are before those that would rule over your Conscience take no thought neither be at all careful what you shall speak for it shall be given you at that instant Thus will you come to witness the Lilly which is more glorious than Solomon Behold I go before you into Galilee of the Gentiles whither our Lord the Power is gone to gather all things into Himself for out of Egypt will he bring his Son But wait you at Jerusalem the Mother of us all for the Power which is the Father that begat us of his own good will and pleasure into which and by which the gathering of the People will be and not by Words or Sounds neither into Sects or Opinions but whosoever is Servant to the Power will be accepted of what Nation Kindred or People soever he be This is a true and faithful Saying blessed is he that can receive it such an one comes to cease from his own Labours and hath rest and peace in God to which I commend you and in it abide Your Brother R. R. These are the Days of Vengeance wherein none can live in Peace that cannot pass by an Injury love their Enemies and reward Evil with Good The END Pag. 11. lin 30. for were read was P. 16. l. 25. for our read your
ABSTRACTS OF SOME LETTERS WRITTEN BY Mr. ROBERT RICH Treating mostly of Spiritual Matters Are here transmitted to Posterity and recommended to the sober and serious Enquirer FOR Promoting of Universal Love amongst all sorts of People without respect of Persons Parties or Sects Together with a friendly Letter of Dr. Jer. Taylor to the said R. R. in Answer to one of his Published by a Lover of RIGHTEOUSNES But an utter Enemy to Deceit and Wickedness in whomsoever J. P. LONDON Printed for Benjamin Billingsley at the Printing-Press near the â—â—â—al-Exchange in Cornhill 1680. The PREFACE I Having had the perusal of divers of Mr. R. Rich's Letters by reason of his late Decease found several things scattered up and down amongst them of a sublime and Divine Nature some of which I picked and culled out and now expose to publick view chiefly for the sake of those whose Hearts and Minds are set Sion-wards to be kept upon Record for their Posterity even the Generations of all the just and righteous Ones of what Nation Kindred Tongue or People soever they be For the sincere single and upright-hearted in whom there is no Guile who seek not the Praise of Men but the Glory of the Lord only were are and for ever will be acted and guided by one and the same Spirit of Purity Holiness and Self-denial throughout all Ages and Generations He that can receive the Testimony of this Truth as did the Apostle Peter of old and as do the Servants of the Lord now let him but withal let him know unless his Life and Conversation be harmless and blameless amongst Men all his Notion of Truth in words will but add to his greater Condemnation For he that talks of his Master's Will and is not a doer of the same must expect to be beaten with many stripes Wherefore my Advice is before any talk of or intermeddle with the Secrets or Mysteries of the Great GOD they first see Justice Righteousness and Love to Equity set up in their own Souls for till that be resolvedly and fixedly established within all Knowledg and Profession without will avail little For what doth the Lord require of thee O Man but to do justly to love Mercy and to walk humbly before Him Therefore let these things in which the Kingdom of God consists and not in Meats or Drinks Habits Times or Places which at best were but shadows of good things to come be first sought after and all other things needful will be added as hath been fully and truly experienced by one who hath learned not only to forgive Enemies but can with delight reward Evil with Good Which Lesson that the Reader may learn press after and attain unto is the desire of him who seeks the Good and Weal of all Mankind J. P. Mr. Rich's Letter to Doctor Taylor of the 9th of Feb. 1657. Together with the Doctor 's Answer SIR BEing in my Heart persuaded that there are many of late years which have suffered much in their Persons Estates and good Names of those People called Malignants especially some that were in the Ministry that were not only put out of their Livings but by an Act made uncapable of that Emploiment their Education best fitted them for viz. the keeping of Schools And altho perhaps some might suffer justly for their Offences yet I do believe many of them did suffer for the Testimony of a good Conscience not daring to make shipwrack of it nor to act against that Light or Knowledg which to them was made manifest from the Lord to be just and right Towards such have I great Love notwithstanding the different Dispensations Manifestations Operations and Administrations wherein we are cast knowing the Root and Ground to be from the one Spirit and that in my Father's House there are many Mansions in which as every one abides to act and do the things that are just and right they are accepted with him of what Nation Kindred or People soever whether Jew or Gentile they are all one in Christ Jesus God's Talent and Gift to the World who doth enlighten every one freely by his Grace both to will and to do of his good pleasure And therefore as a Testimony of that Love the Lord hath begot in my Heart to all Men especially to them that improve my Lord's Talent and who are of his Houshold and abide in the Faith that keeps clean the Heart which is held in a pure Conscience have I by this Bearer sent unto you Ten Pounds to bestow amongst them you know to be in want under that Form called Episcopal And this I feel to be well-pleasing to God and hath a Reward from him altho it should be condemned by Man So desiring you in this thing to act as Truth in the inward parts shall direct I commit you to the Grace and Love of God where I rest Your Friend and Servant R. R. The Doctor 's Answer SIR I Received from you by the hands of your Nephew a Letter and Ten Pounds to be given to such godly Ministers of the Episcopal Persuasion who are in want and suffer for the Testimony of their Consciences Sir I do in their behalf return my humble thanks to God who hath put it into your Heart to do so good so charitable an Action for the relief of his afflicted Servants And I return hearty thanks to You also and do very much rejoice in that Piety and godly Sincerity of your Spirit by which you endeavour by your Love unto the Brethren to testify your Love and Duty to our dearest Lord. I see you are no respecter of Persons nor Opinions but that you enquire after the Power of Godliness and I am very much delighted to consider that you make a charitable Judgment of your Brethren who are under another Dispensation As long as the Understandings of Men differ there will be variety of Judgments but the Work of God and of Religion goes forward while we have but one Heart and one Spirit Sir I hope you will have great cause to rejoice when you shall hear that God is glorified on your behalf and that you by your liberal Alms cause humble Thanksgivings to be made to God For my own particular I shall by God's assistance do the Office of a faithful Steward in the ministring of your Liberality and I pray God to accept it at your hands and to reward it sevenfold into your Bosom Sir I humbly take my leave and rest Your very affectionate Friend and Servant in the Lord Jesus JER TAYLOR Feb. 13. 1657. This following is a Preamble of a Letter R. R. writ to the Earl of Windsor Jan. 10. 1662. My Lord FOr some time I scrupled and durst call no Man Lord or Master which proceeded from Tradition received from Elders from the Letter of the Scripture which saith Call no Man Master But having since that in my self felt a more sure Word viz. the Image or Talent of God to wit Truth in the inward
parts by and through which I see and know how to give to God those things which belong to him and unto Cesar likewise his due For as with my Soul I own God only to be my Lord and Teacher so over my outward Humanity for divers respects I can as truly call Man my Lord and Master also c. An Abstract of a Letter R. R. wrote to an endeared Friend of his called a Quaker 1657. Dear Heart HOw is it that I hear in thee a Voice of weeping Rachel mourning for her Children Wottest thou not that I must go about my Father's business and that for this end I came into the World to bear witness to the Truth Was not my self and many more innocent ones cast out from amongst them and sold into Egypt Many dark things laid to our charge which we never said nor did I would not have thee one with them in their Work to fight their Battels either to justify the wicked or condemn the innocent lest thou partake with them in their Judgments as Jehosaphat did in siding and making a Confederacy with Ahab who daily impose upon their Brethren and will not let them go free to act what the Lord requireth of them O Jerusalem Jerusalem how oft have I sought to find Love in thee towards thy Brethren and when it fled how oft have I pursued after it I believe I might have been received again into fellowship amongst them but then I must first have turned the Truth of God into a Lie and spoke evil of those things I knew to be good denying the Testimony which I knew the Lord gave me to finish and so have betrayed Jesus which thing I shall never do so long as the Breath of the Almighty is in me nor call any Man Master of my Light and Spirit save God only And if now at length the Lord hath seen the Oppression of his People and is coming to plead their Cause or hath raised up any to be a Rod or Scourge to whip out of his Temple those that have bought or sold the Innocent for a thing of nought what am I that I should resist or judg evil of them that do his Will Or if any be commanded of the Lord to feast Haman why should Mordecai be offended thereat For my part I have long seen wherein the Liberty and Freedom of the Son consisteth and that this is he that loves his Enemy that rewards evil with good and doth not salute a Brother only this is He that is Heir of all things and must reign tho at present his Face be more marred than any Man's and blessed is he that is not offended in Him but is made conformable in all things to Him he must reign also But he that judges his Brother in Meats or Drinks or any other outward thing that contends more for his own Traditions than the Commands of God that will not let his Brother go free to worship God where and how he requireth I say this is the Son of the Bondwoman which must be cast out and shall not inherit I am not troubled to see the Lord coming to plead the Cause of the Innocent and to make a separation betwixt the two Seeds who have served the Lord and who have served their own ends and blessed are they who with joy can stand the Trial. O dear Heart enter thou not into their Secrets nor say a Confederacy with blood-thirsty Men who have usurped Authority over the measure of God in their Brethren and with Herod have slain the Man-child begot in many and would not hear his Testimony nor suffer his Voice to be uttered As the Lord lives their Nakedness shall be no longer hid and what hath long lain secret must now be preached upon the House-top and herein the Innocent can and will rejoice I am Bone of their Bone and Flesh of their Flesh who are innocent and of an upright Heart with the Lord in what is made manifest such a one is as my Father and Mother Sister and Brother Another to the same Person 1658. O That thou wert not one with them that have condemned their innocent Brethren in Meats and Drink c. all which are but shadows of good things and must perish but the Body is Christ For my part my Hat to me is no more than any other part of my Apparel and I find I may without sin shew the Love I have in my Heart to any by putting off my Hat and that it is to me all one as if I gave my hand and signifies the same thing Yet I would not have all others to follow me in this but first to examine themselves and so let them eat and drink left they eat and drink their own damnation Neither dare I judg any that can love his Enemy or do good to the good and to the bad or that can become all things that is not evil in the sight of God to all Men to save all I am persuaded such do well to follow the Lord when he leads into these things I dare not judge such to be Men-pleasers or to be one with the wicked in their evil but rather judg such an one to be an Example to all the Children of God as being most like our heavenly Father For my part I have great reward with the Lord for bearing my Testimony against this Spirit of Imposition which hath been as high as Heaven but my hope is the Lord will bring it down as low as Hell and in this Faith have I rest An Abstract of a Letter written by R. R. to R. M. a Quaker ONe of you being offended at my speaking a few words in your Meeting said He knew my Spirit to be in opposition T o whom I replied If it be so framed ought not I to be faithful to what it requires Certainly the Majesty of true Love and Meekness would have born what I had to offer and not have been offended truly a little Christian Patience and some of that Perfection talked of would have taught you this Lesson And you might know this that he that is the Light of the World is set as well for the Fall as for the Rise of many in Israel But you have long dwelt here usurping Authority to condemn those God hath justified Through such carnal reasoning as you have brought against me hath the first appearance of Truth in all Ages been opposed by the Builders and Masters of Assemblies in all Sects who are so right in their own eyes that they can hardly acknowledg Truth that comes after them to have been before them as John did John 3.30 this Self-denial being too great a thing for him to do that sticks in form or that is born of a Woman such with Rachel cannot live except they bring forth Children in their own likeness There are many innocent meek and tender-hearted amongst you that are and shall be willing in the day of his Power to follow him in his Resurrection
through the fellowship of his sufferings despising the shame of being cast out of your Synagogues and of being disown'd of their Mother's Children who in Patience and great Tribulations will follow the Lamb and possess his Crown And these are the true Tribe of Joseph or Jesus that are fit to make Princes in all Lands And whereas one of you asked me Whether I would have you one with the World and turn Drunkards Cheaters c. I replied Canst thou not see a middle Path to walk in betwixt these two Extremes of open Prophaneness and close spiritual Wickedness in high places nor put a difference between the true Christ that filleth all and is the First-born in every Creature and the false Christ that is only here or there in that Mountain or in this secret Chamber covered over with appearing righteous before Men yet inwardly ravening and with Simon Magus in the bitter Spirit giving Wormwood with Gall to drink pushing with the side and shoulder and piercing all those innocent Ones that can call neither you nor no Man Master of their Spirits save God only nor receive your Mark nor yet the Number of your Name And is not this the Abomination that maketh desolate and standeth in the holy Place the Heart where Love and Innocency should dwell And Proselytes thus begot and made tho appearing never so righteous whether such be not seven-fold more the Children of Hell than before let the wise in Heart judg Well my Friends when you come to understand how an Habitation may be built for the Devil by your Anger Wrath Backbiting evil Surmises c. and by your hearkening to and following after Men observing of Days and appointed Meetings together with other Traditions and outward Observations which the Power of Love leads not to but are begotten and continued either by the Letter or else Man's vain Philosophy or Example in which having once lost your Guide viz. the pure and single movings of the Lord as by a great and strong Wind ye are whirled about and left to your own Thoughts and Imaginations where the Lord is not felt so you run again into those outward Observations where once his presence was and there are struck blind as the Assyrians Egyptians Israelites c. were and as Saul was that ye utterly lose the Door and Way that leads to Life Read that can understand And here in this Spirit is the silly Woman led captive ever learning and talking of Truth Light and Love to Enemies and brotherly Kindness Meekness Gentleness and of patient bearing and suffering of all things but never able to come into the things talked of no nearer than in shew or in self-imagination and outward appearance only And in Truth I have been oft made to cry out amongst you how that I saw Christ must suffer and that he must die or disappear and then afterwards rise and enter into Glory Which thing I now see you have not rightly understood And if these my words seem to you as a Dream yet why are you angry with me for my Dream's sake But these things I leave to the Judgment of the Great Day near at hand wherein many will be smitten with Sickness VVeakness and the Sleep of Death because they discerned not Love to be the Lord's Body and could not patiently wait for the Resurrection thereof but have set up other Idols in their Hearts instead of him yet as for the innocent harmless merciful meek loving and kind hearted amongst you and of every Nation such shall obtain and inherit the Blessing of Peace Plenty and Rest which none can disturb but not till the last Enemy or Enmity which is the Sting of Death be destroyed and put underfoot Thus by the Life of Love Death loseth its Sting the Grave its Victory the Law its Strength and all resigned to the Conquest of Love unfeigned Then are the Kingdoms of this VVorld become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ and he alone reigneth Go ye with all Sects and learn what this meaneth Oft-times many amongst you in much contempt have asked me Whom I have coverted and where the Fruit of my Ministry is To whom I now answer That my Work is with the Lord having delivered up my Kingdom unto him my self can do nothing but as Love moveth so I either go or come speak or am silent And I am not sent to call the Righteous or to gather into Sects or Opinions nor is it the ground of my rejoycing to have a Multitude follow me or to flock about the outward Court or that Devils themselves are made subject no I know no true Happiness nor a Kingdom everlasting in these things neither see I any reason to prefer one Sect above another only such whose Names are written in the Book of Love and by it are gathered into the Life thereof those to me are most choice and precious My Ministry is neither Lo here nor Lo there I am not so sent to preach but as a Light to the Gentiles and to open Mysteries interpret Dreams and hard Sayings that have lain hid ever since the World that lies in the Apostacy began that so the blind in Heart may see the things that belong to their Souls Peace and VVelfare that so every one in all Forms may sit under his present Attainment as his proper Vine and drink VVaters of Life from his own Cistern without the least spot or defilemenr of Enmity in their Feasts of Charity both with the Lord and with one another And who will be offended at the foolishness of this Preaching except it be the Scribes and Fair-sayers in every Sect that are highly exalted in themselves and in others because of their Gifts both in praying and speaking and in their Zeal earnestness and fervent working of their own Spirit where sits that painted and well-favoured Harlot upon all Waters or Sects speaking as with the Tongue of Men and Angels the Words of Truth and of the Fame of Life and Love but from that Principle which leadeth into the Chambers of Death in all which things the Good Man not being at home nor endowing with Power from on high great Abominations Murders and Adulteries are committed in Spirit and Heart as in the matter of Peor in the days of Balak and Balaam Figures of this untoward Generation whose Ear being once opened heard the words of God and with the single eye saw and knew the secret Counsel of the Most High but afterwards falling into a Trance mark into his own Imaginations he then opened the double Eye for he had two and this saw Evil and loved the Wages of Unrighteousness yet nevertheless what he had once seen with the single Eye he could talk of as you do and so speak of exceeding high and great Mysteries as one having all Knowledg mark that puffs up so could speak of the Seed of God its beginning and end and of the Light or Way through which it passeth and that it should
be glorious and inherit the Blessing and could wish his last end in it Mark O Balak and Balaam who are but one from thy own Mouth and Practice is thy Condemnation Thus Man's Spirit the Witch of Endoâ— being raised to its height and received into the Consciences of others and upheld there first began the Apostacy and in this Spirit doth the Apostacy still stand and subsist even to this very day in every Sect and if any one of them could obtain their Will they would be as great as the Pope and make all others bow and come in to them else neither buy nor sell nor live in Love and Peace with any But this bitter envying is not so with the God-like and true Christians such bless and not curse Nothing will be acceptable but what proceeds from the Root of Jesse and is the Off-spring of the pure Movings of Love all else is but as the Offering of Cain and as the Repentance of Esau which must be rejected and cannot inherit the Blessing And now Joseph being delivered out of Prison and the deep Pit wherein his Brethren had put him where he passed through divers Trials and Temptations both of Soul and Body I say being now risen with Christ and made Lord over that Earth which held him can with boldness speak what he hath seen and heard And considering how contrary to my Life which was Peace and good Will to all I have been acted in Strife and Contention for near these seven years ever since the difference first brake forth betwixt G. F. and J. N. the which I call my strange Work as to Man and to my self But the Lord who doth in Heaven and Earth what he pleaseth in that day shewed me that was the least able for this Work of War of all my Brethren Many things that began to appear and to wax strong which were for destruction and the one thing needful viz. Love in Truth even amongst Brethren much neglected so as the Lord commanded I sold my Coat of Peace and good Will to all and bought a Sword the which I girded upon my Thigh and in the strength of God's Command drew it and therewith spared neither small nor great yet my chief Aim ever were against Agag the fat and fairest the King and Head of that bitter Spirit Amalek which would not suffer them to pass peaceably through his Land whom the Light guided out of their received Traditions and notwithstanding their Talk of Light and Love such soon selt and found the Dragon's Power and Herod viz. G F. with his Men of War to stand in the cross Ways ready to cut off all the Innocent that would not own him King and call him Master receive their Mark and Number of their Name against which Spirit the Sword of the Lord hath been sharp and will most certainly chop the same in pieces as Herbs for the Pot. And though this was War indeed yet forasmuch as the ground and root thereof had the Command of God and Love to Truth such Weapons are Spiritual I say it was a War in Heaven Well Friends Joseph hath been with the Lord in the Deep and hath there seen his Wonders wherefore receive these things kindly and friendly from his Treasury they may prove a supply to you in this Day of Famine not of Bread but of the Loving-kindness of the Lord towards one another And be not offended at what is spoken tho it tend to the throwing down of Man into the Dust yet if God and his Grace be hereby exalted give up Self to the Death of the Cross It is good to die with the Lord tho Flesh and Blood see not this Neither be you troubled nor offended at him that declares these things tho he seems sometimes to appear as a Man walking on the Sea which is rough foaming and tempestuous Joseph is now out of Prison and hath no more Conscience of an Idol to him no Idol is anything neither Paul nor Apollos no nor Christ after the Flesh he knows no more neither their Circumcision nor Baptism nor any outward thing nothing but Grace that works by Love I have no dependence nor Worship nor Fear nor Care for any thing save that I worship the only alone true LORD GOD who is Love any thing acted out of that I value not And I clearly see that such a People the Lord will bring forth as the praise of his new Creation that in the quietness and stilness of their Spirits which is Jacob's Ladder do patiently wait for the immediate Movings of Love which is Joseph's Cup wherein he prophesied freely resigned to the Will of God in all things relying on his Grace for their only Guide and not so much as lift up a Tool or make any Noise or Complaint in his Work nor with Vzzah hold up a hand of Fear or Care that it should fall or that his Will should not be accomplished and brought to pass in its due time and season No Friends those that have hitherto attained are not of them that look back to see what others will do but have pressed on to the Mark Christ the Love of God in their Hearts his Stature and Fulness where they see their Souls saved and have learned always to pray Thy Will be done whose Will is their Sanctification Salvation and Glorification c. An Abstract of some of R. Rich's Letters to G.F. J.C. and several others IT is written of Jeroboam that he set up two Calves much like Thee Thou and the Hat putting also a necessity of bowing down to them and worshipping as ye do saying These are thy Gods which brought thee out of Egypt that so the Kingdom might not return to David which is the Love of God I urge not this by way of Censure as rashly judging any even the meanest appearances which God draws out the Spirits of his People in but rather to shew you the Idolatry of such Limitations which in these outward things you lay upon the boundless variety of that unspeakable Spirit of Truth for I have heard some of the chief Rulers amongst you say That if any return to the Hat again meaning putting it off in Salutation then all their Profession is lost as if this or such like were the God that redeemed them And indeed who is there upon the Face of the whole Earth that fears God and worketh Righteousness if he receive not your Mark of Thee and Thou and the Hat may be accepted or owned as a Brother amongst you And what is your Form of Words in Thee and Thou but a customary Singularity in Speech another Mode of speaking than is commonly used which no way respects the Truth of what is spoken Pray tell me is not Truth where understood the Language of Canaan in what Speech or Dialect soever exprest Or did the Disciples of Christ in their Declarations of Truth to every Man in his own Language refuse the Dialect either of the Medes Persians Egyptians or
I might have said much more in return to thine but that I see and know that Words and Declarations tho never so true unless the Life it self speak them and go along with them have but little strength And I could also tell thee that to forsake your Form yea and to speak against it too were not to forsake Truth as thou chargest And is it not strange that you should so complain of my disturbing your Meetings in a Song or few words of Truth when as your selves have gone to others assembled even with railing Accusations calling them Dumb Dogs Liars Hirelings Baal's Priests c. yet cannot bear with such as come to admonish you O that the time were come that those who desired Liberty of Conscience would give it to others I know you cannot believe the Truth when told you nor cease from reproaching judging and condemning it neither will you let the Innocent go free to serve the Lord according as their Light shall lead them till the Judgments you have pronounced against the Innocent fall upon your own Heads For I know that the Lord hath poured out upon you a deep Spirit of Slumber which hath so blinded your Eyes and hardened your Hearts that in seeing you should not see neither perceive the Truth in things that differ And there is yet a Treasure a Dispensation of Grace where you have as yet by reason of your Self-exaltation and bitter Spirit seen but little into the which some have seen felt and handled To this you must all stoop and bow tho never so high before you find Peace and Rest to your Souls or be free from vain Contention and Strife R. R. to M. B. and other Quakers THis I have to say unto thee or rather to G. F. who hath begot many of you into his Image That you no longer tempt any of the innocent Lambs of Christ to withdraw from the leading and teaching of the Unction of God which is Christ to follow the Letter or your Teachings or Traditions wherein you must and shall perish in the dark Wilderness of your own Imaginations for the Lord hath sworn in his Wrath that you who call your selves Good old Friends and the Israel of God who have so falsly accused condemned and bitterly persecuted your innocent Brethren for those things the Lord hath and doth justify shall never inhabit the good Land I know G. F. is raised of God for this very end to try refine and purify many as Pharaoh was and tho many fall in the Trial under his Power yet many will be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God I likewise see that daily more and more will fall off from that Body and that some that separate from them will with Daniel stand in their Lot and follow the Lord in the Spirit of the Lamb more fully than they have done whilst they that oppose shall stand with Lot's Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt continuing their preaching up Truth in Words without Power whilst others baptize with the Holy-Ghost and with Fire Thou writest of my going to the Steeple-house To which I answer Blessed are those that have Rest Peace and Satisfaction in themselves for they that look forth are like to find but little in this the day of God's searching Jerusalem with Candles wherein he will stain the Pride and Glory of all Flesh R. R. in Answer to some Friends not Quakers YOu judg me to be a Ranter and to hold their Principles I can truly say I have been but little acquainted with that People or with their Principles I would not be thought to be an Advocate for the loose and licentious Practices of any sort of People much less for Them who from the itching ☜ Notions of Liberty have run without their Guide into the excess of all Riot and Prophaneness who while they greedily catch at the Bait are caught with the Hook till a Dart strike through their Liver and they are led with the Fool to the Correction of the Stocks and there plagued with their own Iniquities I desire this may be shewn to Mr. Bacon as to all others who seem to stumble at my Love to this dark Beelzebub this mad ranting Crew THe time is coming and now is that we shall not know and own each other as we are of one Sect or outward way but as the Grace and Principle of God appears in each other the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts and where this is witnessed thither will the Upright resort and gather If you see any dividing among the Religious Parties take you notice of that I know every one must divide till all unite in the Word in the Heart My Love flows to all that in uprightness of Heart serve the Lord in any Form For as all Forms are alike to me so is the Substance the Power of Godliness also and altho Uprightness God accepted in all Forms and suffered all Sects to walk in them yet now calleth all Men to reject the evil in each Form and to wait on Him to be their Teacher from henceforth and for ever J. N. and J. P. tho dead yet speak who declared they were to cease from words even of Truth spoken from the comprehending part of Man's Understanding and from thus speaking in set Meetings and so to give way for a greater Glory viz. the Spirit 's teaching leading and speaking in the Saints Also they declared that they had received greater Wounds from the House of their Friends than from the House of their Enemies And I can assure you they who meddle with the Quakers had need be fenced within and without with the whole Armor of God Truth and love to Righteousness David â—s Sling and Stone and enabled to use both hands the left as well as the right the Wisdom of the Serpent as the Innocency of the Dove And truly till the Spirit of Love and Reconciliation be brought forth wherewith every Christian shall willingly leave each other to the guidance of God's holy Spirit of Grace in that Form or Way they are persuaded to walk in the Strife which is occasioned by outward Traditional Observations will never cease And I have this further to declare to all the World to Jew Gontile Barbarian and Christian tho I know it will be an Offence and Stone of stumbling to G. F. and all Masters of Assemblies in every Sect who prescribe impose and would have Dominion over the Faith of others that the Eternal God who wills not the death of any Sinner hath sent his dear Son Emanuel his Light and Spirit of Grace into the World his everlasting Covenant a Divine Law writ in every Man's Heart that whosoever believeth in Him and followeth Him shall have Eternal Life And this Divine Law and Word in the Heart is the Ensign to gather together all things into Himself and to present every Man perfect in God being thereby sanctified justified and saved from their Sins To which Word