Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A59384
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Several living testimonies given forth by divers friends to the faithful labours and travels of that faithful and constant servant of the Lord, Robert Lodge ... ; also, two general epistles, written by himself long since to the believers in Christ, and are now printed for their edification and refreshment.
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1691
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Wing S2782; ESTC R32654
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15,397
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56
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your love unto himself whether you can follow him to the loss of all things in this World yea or nay for such a Birth the life of God hath been long travelling for and now they are blessed that can say This birth is brought forth in which they can give up all for the enjoyment of the Lord who hath turned a Wilderness into a fruitful Land and a fruitful Land into barrenness in the inward and he likewise is able to make it so outwardly for them that believe and follow him in faithfulness unto the end So my well-beloved in the Lord who have felt his Judgments Mercies in your Hearts who by the same are ingaged to follow the Lord and hold forth your Testimonies for his righteous Name blessed you are as you abide in the overcoming love of God by which your hearts have been drawn after the Lord and after a further enjoyment of his Life who cannot be satisfied without the fresh breakings in of his Love into your hearts Oh blessed are you for ever however the Lord may dispose of you as to the outward man the Lord will be unto you as the shadow of a mighty Rock in a weary Land you are the begotten of himself by the Word of his Power he will nourish you by the vertue of his own life and by the sweetness of his own love and this being felt it makes all easie and delightsome whatsoever for there is nothing to be compared with this love of our God Therefore arise you Sons and Daughters of the Lord and shew forth the love that you bear to him that all may know whose off-spring you are and how highly you esteem of the goodness of God that you can forsake all for him and the light of his countenance which is more to you than all the world Oh Friends it is for your sakes that the Lord hath done great things already and yet will the Lord do greater things in the Earth for you as in the heavenly life you abide the Lord will arise for your help in the time of your distress and need And therefore fear not you the wrath of man nor the fury of the ungodly but in the life look unto the Rock of your Salvation and he will beautifie you with the Robes of Righteousness and with the Garments of Praises that all may see and confess to the glory of him that hath shined forth of Sion this day And dear Friends you that have felt the love of God in gathering you out of the world and in preserving you unto this day let the kindness of the Lord and the compassion that he hath shewed to you be an ingagement upon your hearts to walk with the Lord in faithfulness that as the Lord hath watered your Souls with the streams of life and pure love from day to day and from time to time he might still continue the same to you unto the end of your days that your blossom thereby may not wither but be kept beautiful in the Eyes of the Lord that his delight may be in you to do you good to rejoyce over you in his love as it hath been in times past that by the same we might grow further in love with him and be more and more affected with his glory that however it be permitted to fall out concerning these Bodies we may be the Lord's and he the lot of our Inheritance Then shall we be constrained to say Our lot it fallen in good Ground And therefore you render Babes be not discouraged nor amazed at the face of things for mighty is the Lord who is with us and glorious is his Arm that doth compass us about this day and pure is the Food that the Lord is feeding the tender spirited withal which makes us undervalue all the world and its glory because our hearts are ravished with the love of God which wonderfully is made manifest this day glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever who breaks in upon us by the force of his love daily so that our Souls are become as watered Gardens through the thowring down of his Blessings wherewith my Soul is visited at this time and in which I do visit you all in the life of God in Bonds or elsewhere who are called to bear witness for the Lord in this trying but not destroying day that the purpose of our God may be fulfilled and his determination compleated that the works of the Lord may bring him praise in the Gates of the wicked who alone is worthy of Glory and Honour for ever and ever saith my Soul From a Friend to all the upright hearted People of God that wait for the building of distressed Sion known by the Name of Robert Lodge Given forth at the House of Correction in Wakefield the 9th Day of the third Month 1665. A Testimony concerning the Life and Death of our dear Friend and Brother in the Lord John Stubbs HE received the Lord's Truth in 1653. at Carlile and forsook much for it and did Travel with me in the Lord's Service up and down in England And he was a Schollar and an excellent Writer and a notable Minister of the Gospel of Christ and went through many Sufferings and Hardships for the Gospel's sake and after he and William Caton for declaring the Truth at Maidstone in Kent the Magistrates and wicked Priests and Professors caused them to be set in the Stocks and Whipt and put out of the Town about 1652 in Oliver Cromwell's days and he having been a Baptist did convince some of them and turned many to the Lord And after he and Samuel Fisher who had been a Baptist and a Parish-Priest travelled to Rome through those dark Countries and they having cast some of our Friends into the Inquisition all was shut up but only they had some Service for the Lord with some Cardinals and the Jews and some Monks and Fryers and such like and they confest it was the Truth but if they should confess it openly they would burn them And about the Year 1660. he and some other Friends had it in their minds to go to the East-Indies and the East-India-Company would not let them go in their Ships and they got an order from the King to let them go and they would not obey it And then they went into Holland to get passage there for the East-Indies and they also denyed them and then they took Shiping and went as far as Egypt to 〈…〉 the East-Indies by Caravâ—â—◠〈…〉 where the English Consul banished them out of Egypt and then they came to England again after they had had some Service for the Lord in several places And John Stubbs the Lord let him see that the English and the Dutch would go to War one with another which not long after came to pass And about the Year 1670. he Travelled with with me to Barbadoes and also he went to New-England where he laboured in the Grace of God and had a good Service for the Lord and from thence he went to Barbadoes again freely preaching the everlasting Gospel of Christ and then he came into England and when he had fulfilled his Ministry and finished his Testimony he dyed in the Lord and is at Rest and Peace with him and is blessed and ceased from his Labours and his Works follow him And he departed this Life near London about 1673. He was a wise Man and sought the Peace of the Church of Christ and was a good Example he preacht in good Life and Conversation as well as good Doctrine and was zealous and never turned from the Lord from his first receiving of him but bore all his Sufferings and Reproaches faithfully for the Name of Jesus who was one of his Followers and was many times exercised with Apostates and Prophane and had Tryals by false Brethren but the Lord in his Power gave him Dominion over them all blessed be his Name for ever Amen The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. THE END
remembrance and left upon Record to future Ages in which I am concerned according to my little measure in a short Testimony for our dear Friend and well-beloved Brother Robert Ledge who is now deceased and his Travels at an end but many are in being who have reaped the benefâ—â—… thereof his lot fell to be in our parâ—… in the time of my Convincemenâ— and I being a Woman of a deject Mind he was the first that evâ—â—… reached me with Words of Comforâ— which were so printed in my hearâ— and ingraven in my mind that it nâ—ver yet was raced out but often wâ—… a strengthening to me through mâ—… Exercises and a confirmation of the love of God to my Soul It was afterwards my happiness to be of the same Meeting where many were the Spiritual Comforts I received by him he proclaimed Liberty to the Captives and spoke comfortable words to the Mourners in Sion his Words were as healing Medicines as Gillead's Balm to many wounded and weary Souls and that which he planted was frequently watered by him O the watering Seasons we have had that Fountain whicâ— frequently opened in him that Rivers and Streams thereof that were conveyed by him to many a thirsty travelling Soul did fill our Hearts with unutterable Joy and unexpressable Gladness which causeth a Lamentation to be taken up by us for want of such a be-dewing Instrument and loving Nursing-Father he was a Son of Consolation a planter indeed and also a waterer of the Lord's Plantation and frequently accompanied with the living presence and power of our heavenly God which gives the increase He was a sympathizer with innocent Friends in Joy and in Sorrow he could mourn with those that mourned and rejoyce with those that rejoyced yet his care was over the weak and hindermost of the Flock and we are bowed in Spirit For want of him for his presence could greatly have been desired by us and needful for us but he is dissolved and I believe is now with Christ which for him is far better and it is our hope which bears up our Spirits that the Lord will raise up Instruments to carry on his own Work to his own praises and he giveth and he taketh blessed be his Name for ever The time of his Sickness being short at which time I had been weak and but little recovered I had word if ever I thought to see him I might venture to go the next day I went with my Brother to visit him and found him very weak he looking up and saw me full of Sorrow with a pleasant Countenance yet in much brokenness cheerfully said What Woman we must meet again we must meet again in Eternity And sitting by him he gave me an account of his Distemper and of the exercise of his mind and the dealings of the Lord with him and said The Lord knoweth I never was Commissionated by him to go any way or to do any thing but I have willingly answered him and the Lord who hath been my Rock and Refuge my Shield and Buckler and a Sanctuary to me hath been with me all along to this very day With many such Expressions and in much brokenness and tenderness of Spirit he rendred Thanksgiving unto the Lord and being weak he seemingly fell asleep and I retiredly sat by him and that Life wherein we had often reached one another did spring venly Expressions and pure Praises to the Lord for his many Deliverances and great Preservations and the continuance of his living presence and the opening of the Fountain of his Life and Love unto us to this very day and time with heavenly Supplications unto the Lord for the continuance of his Loving-kindness and tender Mercies to his whole Heritage every where his Exercise continued for a considerable season as if he had been in a Meeting with much brokenness of Heart and tenderness of Spirit as a man filled with heavenly and divine matter which very much broke my Heart with his Son Nathan then by him which I hope will never be forgotten by me And after this he weakened very fast it being about the third hour of the day he did speak little more to me yet signifying his gladness of my recovery and also of my company and that all was well with him and falling into a Slumber and Rest more sweet and comfortable as we thought than his usual Sleep had been to him at other times in much quiet and great meekness he departed this Life about the first hour that Night And though he be dead his Works live to praise the Lord and great was the Work of his Day in turning many from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to the living God he bore the burthen in heat of the day and was a true Traveller for Sion's sake his Life was comfortable his latter end happy he lived the Life of the Righteous and his latter end was like his And it is the fervent desire of my Heart the Lord will be pleased in love to his whole Flock and for his own Honour and great Name sake to raise up serviceable Instruments in his Work such work-men as need not be ashamed of their work but can rightly divide the Word of Truth such Labourers in his Vineyard as may gather many Sheaves into his Barn and Lambs into his Fold as this our deceased Brother did in the days of his Youth and in his tender years he thought not his Life dear to venture both by Sea and Land in this Nation and elsewhere and was instrumental in the Lord's hand to pluck many as Lambs out of the Wolves mouth and Brands out of the Fire which are as Monuments of the Lordâ—s mercy this day to praise him And as his Body decayed and strength failed great was his Travel and many his Supplications to the Lord on the behalf of young Friends that they might rise in their Day and Age to serve and honour him in their Generation O the Travels with the sweet flowing streams of Love reached to us by him can never be forgotten O the melodious sound that heavenly Harmony the eccho of Life which often sounded through him made the Morning-Stars to sing and the Saints to shout for joy O what can I say of him I am not able to express or utter the excellency of the Work of this the Lord 's worthy but hopes it will be done by others better accomplished for such a Work than I but in the discharge of what hath lain upon me according to my little measure in this short Testimony to leave to Posterity and for the encouragement of a future Age to keep in the Line of Life and walk in the Path of the Just where heavenly Felicity is to be attained and enjoyed and Spiritual Pleasures lived in which the Almighty in his unchangeable Love hath been pleased to continue from Age to Age and by a mighty hand reached from one Generation to another that in every Age his own