so to lead on from that which is below into that which is above and so to lead on from that which is below into that which is above and so to the greatest which is Christ the fulness who in the appearance of his Light and Life doth swallow up all lower Dispensations though as to time they might be of God and so many have seen the goings on of the Lord in his Light and in his Light have followed him from the lower into the higher and so are come to live and walk in that where his Presence remains and to as many as have so followed him and abides with him they know the place of his Rest and also knows their rest in him and so they know the Lord to live in them and walk in them and that he is their God and they are his people and in such a Meeting Way and Worship the Lord is found and he abides and continues there in his Love Mercy and Goodness therefore all below are to come up into it and all gone from it are to return if they would walk with the Lord for there is not another way wherein any doth walk with the Lord or the Lord with them but in his Light Life and Power and in that to meet and worship him according to his own Appointment and Command for as the Lord is gathering into himself all lower Dispensations and gathering in one such as have been scattered in them so all are to mind the Lords gathering that in the Light by which he gathereth they may come to be made perfect in one mark in one is the perfection which is Christ the Light and Life and Power and Wisdom of God in whose Light Life Power and Wisdom is the Gospel unity and Fellowship not in outward Forms and Professions and lower Dispensations but in the Light and Life of Christ Jesus who is above all and greater then all in his Light the Saints had Fellowship as the Scriptures testifie and in his Light the Saints have Fellowship in this day and so by one spirit they are all baptized into one Body and are one Body under the Government of Christ the head and this is the universal fellowship in the universal Light where the Spirits of just men are now known who are gone before and the spirits of just men now will be known by such as are to come and so a perfect unity in perfect Light of Christ by which Light the faithfull are bound in a bundle of Life and so in the unity of the Light and Spirit the Saints now meets and worships God and build up one another in their most holy Faith and edifies and comforts one another according to the practise of the holy men and women in times past and they keep the unity of the Spirit which unto them is the bond of Peace and though some may lose the unity by going from the Spirit and some that may profess the Truth be not in unity as not walking in the Spirit yet neither doth weaken or break the unity of such as lives and abides in the Spirit for the Spirit changes not though some that profess the Truth do not walk in it or some may withdraw and depart from it therefore the unity in the Spirit is certain and everlasting and it is the bond of Peace to all that live in it So all are to come unto this Light and Spirit in which the Saints meet and worship God and in which they have unity and fellowship with God and one another there is nothing below it will endure nor nothing exalted above that will stand for as the Light and Spirit is the beginning so it is the ending unto all that abides in it for all truth is only comprehended in the Light and Spirit of God and from thence received and there is not any other things or things in which true and lasting peace can be found but in a measure of that Light which comes from God as the Fountain they that have fixed themselves below the Light they must be dis-joyned from that unto which they are fixed and stand-loose from all things which they have made and set up in Worship and Religion and mind the Light which is only true to lead them forward into all truth for where any are fixed to things below the Light and will not be dis-joyned and separated from them by the Light they are â—entered in mortallity or the corruptible body which presseth down the Soul and whatsoever any may pretend as to their Meetings Wayes and Worshipps to be of God yet they are all formed and framed in the corruptible part and so are all corruptible offerings which have not the Savour of incorruptible Virtue therefore all Forms and Professions distinct from the Light with all their Meetings Worships and Worshippers they must all forsake their Meetings 〈◊〉 being in the corruptible part and as such where the living God is not to be found and all come to the Light and Spirit of God which openeth the eye and understanding and gives the knowledg of God and of his Way and Truth all to come unto that and follow it and live in it and so come to the Assemblies of the Righteous and to the Meetings of the First-born of God and with them to worship God in his Spirit and Truth and to have unity and fellowship with them in the Light which is their Guide and Way and so come to keep the holy Commandment given of God for until the holy Commandement of the Lord God be kept the mind remains in sin and transgression and there is none in that state which are in the Saints Worship and Fellowship and so they must come to the Light to be redeemed from the vanity of their minds because the Pure and Holy God is not worshipped with such a mind therefore the Light must be followed as a Leader to bring out of vanity into Truth and Purity and so to Serve and Worship the Pure and Holy God with a pure and holy mind and with a sincere and upright heart and unto this all must come before their service and worship be accepted of God or before they can come to have true and lasting peace with him therefore let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts and turn to the Lord who would not the death of them that dye and so come out of all Forms and Professions below the Light and Life and come to the Light and meet with those that meets in the Light and worships God in Spirit Truth and so come to keep the Ordinance of God and who are willing to come in the drawings and leadings of the Light and Spirit the Lord standeth ready to receive them and will in no wise cast them off as being yet the day of his Visitation Oh therefore let all come whilst the hand of the Lord is stretched forth to gather them and whilst his Arm is open to receive them let them come in the Light and in the Spirit and bow before the Lord and worship in his holy Temple that all who are drinking the cup of Fornication may come to the cup of Salvation and praise the Lord. And all that have been formerly donvinced of the everlasting Truth and for a time assembled with the holy Congregation and kept the holy Commandment given of God and now have lost their Guide and Way and forsaken the Assemblies of Gods chosen and departed from the holy Commandment and from the worship and ordinance of God and are gotten into created likenesses and are bowing and worshipping at there own Altar that they all may feel that again which first convinced them from which they are gone that by its Power it may cause them to return and so in the Light and pure Spirit to come again to the worship and ordinance of God that as they have departed from the ordinance of God and broken the Covenant and gone from the true fellowship so to return unto that again from which they are departed and gone and to return in submission and lowliness of mind and tenderness of heart that the Lord and his people may delight to receive them and may have pleasure in them Oh let all return from the barren Mountains and broken Costerns and return to the Lord whom they have grieved by departing from him and let them return to that which reconcileth and maketh peace that they may not wholly lose the benefit of former mercies nor the benefit of present and future Mercies but return to the Light and live in it where mercies alwayes aboundeth that as there was a beginning in the Truth of the Gospel so to return unto that which in the beginning did lead in the Gospel Way and Practise and so return to the Gospel Meetings and to the Gospel Minnistration and to the Gospel Fellowship and this whilst it to today and whilst the dore is open and whilst the Lord and his people are willing and ready to receive let it bear a weight upon every heart concerned for as much as everlasting peace and happiness consisteth in it Oh wander not longer in desert places nor feed no longer upon corruptiple thing but feel the Seed and Life and Vertue and with the Power of the Lord God judg down that spirit which is gotten up that the first-born which is gone into captivity may shew it self again and the Truth and order of the Gospel may be lived in again and the Ordinance of God kept again and Gospel fellowship come into again that all who are departed may return and find rest for their Soul Notingham 9th Moneth 1668. W. S. THE END
that was darkned and many came to see that their foundation was sandy and that their building could not stand safely and as the Lord was minded in this Morning of Light or springing of his Day so more Light brake forth from his fulness and the day more appeared and dangers came to be more clearly seen and when dangers were discerned in the Light there was a fear came upon many to behold them for as they saw their foundation to be sandy so they came to be sensible that it would fail and their building fall and that they could not stand in safety if they did there remain and in the sence of their danger they were made to cease from building and to cry unto the Lord for help for they came to see with the Light that was breaking forth that the Lord would overturn their foundation and building and though some had long been working building yet they were made willing to give it all up and to become nothing as to what they had done and being mindful of the Light which had opened their eye and made them sensible of their danger and waiting in fear and humbleness of mind the Lord revealeth a sure Foundation of his own laying and he called the scattered to come into it and as his voice was obeyed he stretched forth his Arm and gathered and with the strength of his Love he made many willing to be at his disposing and then he began to work upon their hearts by his Power and to frame their hearts according to the nature of his own Foundation for all were out of order until the Lord began to work by his mighty power there was not one stone framed fit for his Building but all were rough and could not be layed and compacted together and in this condition the Lord found the children of men in this day of his appearance he did not find them framed and so fit for building but he found them as such upon whom the Plain had not gone and for his Name sake he took the work into his own Hand and his work reached to the heart which was out of order and then many came to feel the Lord working in them by his power and came to know that it was the Lord which they never knew before and as they came to know God by the work of his Power in their hearts so they came to stand in fear before him and not kowing what the Lord would do by such a manifestation and operation of his Light and Power they were brought to stand still in silence and to wait for the effect and then did he open the Treasures of his Love and shewed them his Salvation and also shewed them his Judgment seat before which they were to stand and they were made willing to appear before him and to be judged by him and he caused his Judgment to pass thorow them for the casting out of that spirit which wrought iniquity and for the killing of that life which had pleasure in unrighteousness and so his Judgments were found to be just and he was found to be righteous for he judged nothing but that which was contrary to the purity of his own Life and was the burthen of the immortal Soul and that is for judgment in all where ever it remains and so he began and prospered his work in the hearts of those that did abide the day of his coming and they can set to their seal that God is true and whilst the wicked stood in his sight he was terrible in his appearance and whilst corruption remained he was dreadful to behold for his Word was as a Fire and a Hammer upon the transgressing nature and so his Fame hath gone and his Hammer hath wrought for the purging of the conscience from dead works and for the raising and bringing forth of life and immortality and so by his Power he hath squared and framed the hearts of many and hath made them fit for his building and he hath fixed and united them to his foundation which is Christ the Rock and in him he hath fixed and united them one to another and so the building and foundation are joyned in one nature and the building is fitly framed and grows unto an holy Temple it doth not decay and fall but grows and prospers in the Light Life and Power and since the beginning the Lord hath enlarged it more abundantly and hath raised it into honour and glory and herein his works hath been seen from the beginning by all that have kept in the beginning whose eye have been to the Lord in that by which he first made himself known unto them and this is the foundation and building that standeth and will stand as being only the Lords for man hath been wholly excluded from the work that the excellency of the Power might appear to be of God and that he alone might have the glory in it and by it and so it is not the Wise nor Mighty nor Prudent of the world that brought to pass the things which now are witnessed by the Righteous but the Arm of the Lord hath done it and his Power is exalted in it and by it and his Power triumpheth over all contrary spirits that would lay his building waste many can now say as in times past We are God's Husbandry we are God's Building the Seed which is sprung up is of God and the Building is framed by him and he waters his Seed and bears up the Pillars of his Building and therefore his Seed and Building grows and prospers and triumphs in Victory and here the goings on with the Lord is known from the beginning for he hath led many by the hand and carried many in his Bosom and such have been with him from the beginning they have not run out of either hand or turned back again but have kept their Habitation in the holy Temple which the Lord buildeth and where his Honor dwelleth and so have always walked with the Lord and the Lord with them but who are deparred from the ministry of the Word of Life or utter words and not in the Life they are not alwayes with the Lord nor the Lord with them and so they are to mind the Light to be their stay and to stay their minds upon God and keep to the Truth as the Principle which instructeth in the right way that Life and Vertue may spring and Unity and Followship grow and increase for all that have kept to the Truth as the Principle they have been preserved by the Power of it and have escaped many dangers which others have fallen into for want of Watchfulness for he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not he keeps himself in the Power by which he is begotten and into that Power the wicked One cannot come to touch him and so the begotten of God is kept from the Wicked One by the Power which begets him and
this state will never stand as a perfect state before the Lord and it is with such as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but when he awaketh his soul is empty and this is the greatest deceiveableness in the highest mystery of iniquity for to be deceived in spiritual things as to the immortal Soul is the greatest deceiveableness and all from the Light which is the good and perfect gift of God are so deceived for as they are from the Light they are in darkness and in darkness they sleep and dream for they that sleep sleep in the night and in their sleeping and dreaming it is as if they were eating but mark when they awaken their Souls are empty and so all that goes from the Light and Life and falls asleep and dreameth they are deceived with their dreams and by such a dreaming vision many simple ones have been deceived and all that are turned aside from the Way of Life and are departed from the Assemblies of the upright in heart they are all deceived by a vision which had its beginning in sleeping and dreaming and all the perfection that is in it is but as a vapour that flyeth in the Air and the Souls of such are empty who have received the vision and are sleeping and dreaming in it therefore all to be awakened who are sleeping and dreaming in the night and turn to the Light and Day which they have dispised that they may come to see that their Souls are empty whilst they are surfiting with their own fulness so come to be undeceived by the manifestation of the Everlasting Truth and be recovered out of the Snare in which they are taken and it is only the consideration of the Soul and love unto it that presseth to the manifestation of these dangers and also to the manifestation of Truth that such as are fallen into them may not always be entangled with them but come to the Light and Spirit again in which they did begin that by the Light Spirit Power of the Lord God their Captivity may return for Jacob is in morning and Israel in heaviness whilst the Captivity remains and the Lamb is slain though pretended to be followed and the Lord of Life is crucified and the universal Love of God is straitned this is not a state wherein Jacob can rejoyce and Israel be glad but that which in this state rejoyces and is glad it is appointed for heaviness and a day of sorrow oh that there might not be a resister of the Power of God or a withstander of his Arm by which he doth valiant things for that spirit which hath drawn from the Way of Truth and hath brought in surmisings prejudice and enmity it must come under the power of the Lord to be judged condemned who have any tenderness remains in their hearts towards God or any simple love to his Truth and People let all give up that spirit to be judged as their greatest enemy and not to run in that spirit from the Judgment Seat for then it will fall heavy upon them in the latter end and the Lord will be clear in that he hath waited to be gracious and hath not ceased to visit by many faithful Warnings for though the night vision did create and bring forth a manifest opposition to the Truth and Power of God yet the Truth and Power of God spreads abroad and prospers and all the Whirlwinds passeth away and the Children of Light yet lives in the still and quiet day and the Lord blowsupon that spirit which blows against his Truth and it is going into its air and all that it carrieth up with it will be driven about as clouds of darkness but the Righteous rejoyces and are glad in the Lord for their Foundation standeth sure and their Building unshaken and it is the same Foundation upon which they now stand as in the beginning it is unalterably so and the Lord is with them as in the beginning and they love his Word as in the beginning and have unity and fellowship in the Light as in the beginning and that which was in the beginning is their food and cloathing and they shine in the glory of righteousness which is their Garment and so they have kept the beginning and prospers in that which was in the beginning which is the same to day and for ever and there is no end of its goodness and they that are gone away as if God was departed from the Assembles of the Righteous they are departed from God in themselves and so have lost the sence and feeling of him in that way by which he appeareth with the Faithful for his Power and Glory is more abundanly seen in the Assemblies of his People and they that cannot see him and find him there it is they that are departed from God but God is not departed from those that love him and worships him and that is their joy and Crown of rejoycing that they are counted worthy to serve the Lord and to feel his Presence and notwithstanding there hath appeared great oppositions not only in a way of outward Persecution but also in several other ways and manners and sometimes from such as once in measure bad received Truth and made a profession of it yet the Lord hath carried on his own work and Truth hath prospered from the beginning by which it is manifest that God is not departed but is the same unto all and with all that wait upon him for there could be no prosperity if God was departed but there is prosperity yea a great increase and many tender plants are springing and budding and many are grown to be Trees of Righteousness of the Lords planting and in the strength of the Lord they stand as Pillars in his House and there is no decay nor want in the Family all the Garners are rich with store and their Land is a Land of plenty and all that are departed out of the House are gone into Famine and are decayed as Branches that wanteth nourishment from the Root and herein the great and universal Love of God is manifest to his People who hath caused his Light to shine in their hearts 〈◊〉 also drawn their hearts to joyn unto it so that it is become 〈◊〉 most precious thing by them to be desired and as they have been faithfull to it from the beginning so it still remaineth with them and spreads abroad its power more fully and largly and though some might be drawn away in the beginning who were convinced and felt the power yet as their hearts are joyned to it again they are come into prosperity for the Lord hath caused their Captivity to return and Captivity being returned the pure Plant increases with the increase of God and that is the increase in which is prosperity all being gathered into the Light and Power of God they are all fruitful Branches of a Living Root and so all that obey the Light
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