Earth neither love nor live in the vain Lusts of the World Such shall abide in his holy Tabernacle such shall dwell in his holy Hill even they that walk uprightly that work righteousness and speak the truth in their hearts in whose sight a vile person is contemned but who honour them that fear the Lord. O my dear Friends I know experimentally that this is hard to Flesh and Blood that which is Born of the Corruptible Seed but that can never enter into the Kingdom of God That must be Crucified by Christ that hath Crucified Christ Blood requireth Blood Wherefore give that which is for the Famine to the Famine For the Fire to the Fire And for the Sword to the Sword Let all the sinful Lusts be famisht let the Stubble be burnt and the Corrupt yea and the Fruitless Tree that cumbereth the Ground be cut down and cast into the Fire Let the work of the Lord be done in you let him purge his Floor and that throughly that you may come out as pure as Gold Seven times tried fitted for his use that hath chosen you that you may bear his Mark and wear his Inscription Holiness to the Lord so you will be Vessels of Honour in his House Therefore I say let your Houses be swept by the Judgments of the Lord and the little Leaven of the Kingdom leaven you in Body Soul and Spirit that holy Temples you may be to his Glory This I know is your desire that are on your Travail to this Blessed Enjoyment Well you believe in God believe also in Christ the Light that hath visited you And if you truly believe you will not make haste You will not make haste out of the Hour of Judgment you will stay the Time of your Trial and Cleansing that you may be as I said as pure as Gold Seven times tried and so receive the Lord's Mark and Stamp his Image and Approbation that you may be his throughout in Body Soul and Spirit seal'd to him in an Eternal Covenant Dear Friends gird up the Loins of your Minds watch and hope to the end be not slothful neither strive despond not nor be presumptuous Be as little Children for of such is the Kingdom of God Dispute not neither consult with Flesh and Blood Let not the Prudence of this World draw you from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus Love and obey the Truth hide his Living Word in your Hearts though it be as an Hammer a Fire a Sword yet it reconcileth and bringeth you to God and will be sweeter to you that love it than is the Honey and the Honey-comb Fear not but bear the Cross yea without the Camp the Camp of this World's Lusts Glory and False VVorships But this know when the Enemy cannot prevail by none of these Stratagems if you resist him as the God of the World's Glory the Prince of the Air and the False Prophet then he turneth Dragon then he declareth open VVar then you are Hereticks Fanaticks Enthusiasts Seducers Blasphemers unworthy to live upon the Earth But in all these things rejoice and be exceeding glad for great shall be your reward in the Kingdom of the Father VVhat if your Parents rise up against you if your Brethren betray you if your Companions desert and deride you If you become the Song of the Drunkard and the Scorn and Merriment of the Vile Person Yea though the Powers of the Earth should combine to devour you let not your Hearts be troubled Shun not the Cross but despise the Shame and cast your Care upon the Lord who will be afflicted with you in all your Afflictions In the Fire he will be with you and in the Water he will not forsake you O let your Eye be to him whose Name is as a strong Tower the Sanctuary of the Righteous in all Ages that you may be able to say in your Hearts with David of old The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid Though an Host should encamp against me my Heart shall not fear though War should rise against me in this will I be confident One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his Pavilion he shall set me upon a Rock When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living Wait on the Lord be of good Courage and he shall strengthen thine Heart Wait I say on the Lord. O my dear Friends let it be your daily and hourly work to wait upon God How often does David speak of waiting upon God he felt the sweetness of it therefore retire into your holy Chamber Be still and the Lord will speak comfortably unto you Blessed are they that wait upon him whose Expectations are only from him For though the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint I waited saith David patiently upon the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry And this was his Testimony Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him to deliver their Soul from Death and to keep them alive in Famine For the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite Spirit David knew it therefore he could speak it O my dear Friends who are compassed about with many Tribulations the Lord God your Staff and Strength is near you to sustain you Have ye born the holy reproach of Jesus and despised the Shame of his Cross and did he ever desert you Be not cast down though to the Eye of Reason there seemeth none to help no not one to save Though Enemies within and Enemies without Encamp themselves about you though Pharaoh and his Host pursue you and great difficulties be on each hand of you and the dismal Red Sea be before you stand still make no Bargains for your selves let all Flesh be silent before the Lord and his Arm shall bring you Salvation Yea when you are ready to go down into the Pit that your Throat is dry with crying and your Eyes seem to fail with waiting his Salvation shall spring as the Morning because his Mercies are to all Generations and that the Seed of Jacob never sought his face in vain The poor Man cryeth saith David What poor Man was this He that is poor in his own Eyes that hath no Helper in the Earth but God This poor
TENDER Counsel and Advice By Way of EPISTLE To all those who are Sensible of their DAY of VISITATION And who have Received the Call of the Lord By the Light and Spirit of his SON in their Hearts to partake of the Great Salvation wherever scattered throughout the World Faith Hope and Charity which overcome the World be multiplied among you By William Penn. The Second Edition LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street 1695. TENDER Counsel and Advice By Way of EPISTLE To all those who are sensible of the DAY of their Visitation c. My Dearly Beloved Friends WHO are sensible of the Day of your Visitation by the Light of the Lord Jesus in your Hearts and who have gladly received the holy Testimony thereof by which you have beheld the great Apostasy that is in the World from the Life Power and Spirit of God and the gross Degeneracy that is amongst those called Christians from the Purity Self-denial and holy Example of Christ Jesus and his Primitive Followers and how Pride Lust and Vanity reign and how Christendom is become a Cage of Vnclean Birds Who have mourned under the sence thereof and have cried in your Souls How long how long how long O Lord God holy and true will it be ere thou takest to thy self thy great power and reignest To whom the World is become a burden and the Vanities and Glory of it but vexation of Spirit Who despise the things that are seen which are Temporal for the sake of the things that are not seen which are Eternal Whose Eyes look through and beyond Time and Mortality to that Eternal City whose Builder and Maker is God Whose daily Cries and Travails are to follow Jesus in the way of Regeneration to live as Pilgrims in this World for the sake of that Glory which shall hereafter be revealed that can never fade away that you may attain unto the Eternal Rest of God To you my dear Friends to you it is that the God and Father of him that was dead and is alive and liveth for evermore Christ Jesus the faithful and true Witness who hath loved and visited my Soul hath now moved upon my Spirit to write and visit you with this Epistle Receive it then and with it the endeared Salutation of that Love and Life which are not of this World but overcome the World Great and frequent are my Travails for you that you may persevere and not faint but endure to the end that you may obtain that glorious Salvation and Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Yea for this are my Knees bended before the God of the Spirits of all Flesh that you may be entirely kept that you may so run as you may obtain and so fight as you may overcome that an Immortal Crown and Kingdom may be your Portion when all Sins and Sorrows shall be done away And that this you may do hear my Exhortation to you in the Spirit of Truth Dwell in the sense that God hath begotten in your Hearts by the Light and Spirit of his Son who is now in his Son in you reconciling you unto himself Watch that this blessed sense be preserved in you and it will preserve you For where the holy sense is lost Profession even of the highest Truths cannot preserve against the Enemies Assaults but the Gates of Hell will prevail against them and the Enemy's Darts will wound them and they will be carried again Captive by the Power of his Temptations Wherefore I say again live and abide in that Light and Life which hath visited you and begotten an holy sense in your Hearts and which hath made Sin exceeding sinful to you and you weary and heavy-laden under the burden of it And hath raised in you a Spiritual Travail Hunger and Thirst after your Saviour that he might deliver you that ye might be filled with the Righteousness of his Kingdom that is without end Dear Friends God hath breathed the Breath of Life in you and in measure you live for dead Men and Women do not Hear or Hunger or Thirst neither do they feel Weights and Burdens as you do The Day of the Lord is dawned upon you and it burneth as an Oven you know it and all Works of Iniquity are as Stubble before it You feel it so they cannot stand before the Lord His Judgments take hold of them and consume them O love his Judgments that with those of Old you may say In the way of thy Judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee With our Souls have we desired thee in the Night yea with our Spirits within us will we seek thee early For when thy Judgments are in the Earth the Inhabitants of the World will learn righteousness Part part with all My dear Friends that is for Judgment let him arise in your Hearts that his and your Enemys may be scattered That you may witness Him to be stronger in you then he that is in the World If the desire of your Soul be to his Name and the remembrance of him you will love his Judgments and abide there the days he alloweth for your purification Behold his blessed Visitation is upon you His Angel hath Saluted you and his holy Spirit hath overshadowed you he hath begotten holy desires in you I pray that they may never be extinguisht and that you may never faint Wherefore look to Jesus that is the Author that he may be the Finisher I Testify for God he has appeared to you yea he hath said to you as to Andrew Philip c. follow me And I say unto you follow him Come and see where he dwelleth do not lose Sight of him let him be lifted up in you and your Eye be to him Who whereever he is lifted up draweth all such after him And this is the reason why People are not now drawn after Christ because he is not lifted up in their Hearts he is not exalted in their Souls he is Rejected Opprest Crucified and Buried yea they have Rowled a Stone upon him and set Guards that he should not rise in them to Judge them But blessed are you whose Eyes have seen one of the days of the Son of Man Blessed are you at whose Doors he hath knocked to whose Heart he hath appeared who have received his holy Visitation who believe it is he and not another and therefore have said in your Hearts with Nathaniel of old thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel and with Thomas my Lord and my God O what have you my dear Friends to do but to keep with him for ever For whither should you go the words of Eternal Life dwell with him He is full of Grace and full of Truth and of his Fulness ye have received Grace for Grace And this is that Grace which bringeth Salvation to all that receive it
Man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his Troubles Our Souls said the Righteous of old waited for the Lord for he is our Help and our Shield for ever Wherefore my dear Friends be not you discomforted for there is no new thing happeneth unto you 'T is the Antient Path of the Righteous For thy sake says David have I born reproach I am become a stranger to my Brethren and an Alien unto my Mother's Children When I wept and chastned my Soul with fasting that was to my reproach I made Sackcloth also my Garment and I became a proverb to them They that sate in the Gate spake against me and I was the Song of the Drunkards Save me O God for the Waters are come in unto my Soul And the Water Floods are ready to swallow me up They persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they grieve those whom thou hast wounded Do you not know this Dear Friends are not your Tears become a Reproach Your Fasts a Wonder your Paleness a Derision your Plainness a Proverb and your Serious and Retired Conversation a by-word Yea when the Lord hath Wounded have not they also grieved And when the Lord hath smitten you have not they mocked But this was David's joy the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He restoreth my Soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his Name 's sake he maketh me to lie down in green Pastures He leadeth me beside the Still waters Yea though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff they Comfort me Who was the Comforter preserver of Shadrach Mesach and Abednego that refused to obey the King's Command against the Commandment of God They would not bowe to his Image but rather chose the Fiery Furnace then to comit Idolatry or bowe to another thing then to the Living God Did not we cast Three Men into the midst of the Fire said Nebuchadnezzar Loe I see Four Men loose walking in the midst of the Fire and they have no hurt And the form of the Fourth is like the Son of God O my Friends the Fire obeyeth him as well as the Winds and Seas All Power is given to the Son of God who is given to you for your Salvation Well Shadrach Mesach and Abednego the King calleth out of the Fire and they have no harm though the Mighty Men that cast them into the Fiery Furnace were consumed The God of Shadrach Mesach and Abednego is magnified by the King's decree and Shadrach Mesach and Abednego are by the King highly Preferred Here is the end of faithfulness here is the blessing of perseverance God will bring honour to his Name through the Patience and Integrity of his People And it was this Son of God that preserved Daniel in the Lyons Den it was his Voice that David said divideth the Flames of Fire he rideth upon the Winds he sitteth upon the Floods The Voice of the Lord is Powerful the Voice of the Lord is full of Majesty They that trust in him shall never be confounded Blessed are they whose God is the Lord For he is a present help in the Needful time of trouble The angel of the Lord Encampeth round about them that fear him and he delivereth them O taste and see that the Lord is good Blessed is the Man that trusteth in him O fear the Lord for there is no want to them that fear him The Young Lyons shall lack and the Old Lyons suffer Hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Many are the Afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of them all for the Lord redeemeth the Souls of his Servants and none of them that trust in him shall be made desolate For which Cause my dear Friends cast away every Weight and every Burden and the Sin that doth so easily beset you Neither look at the Enemys strength nor at your own weakness but look unto Jesus the blessed Author of your Convincement and Faith The mighty One on whom God hath layd help for all those that believe in his Name receive his Testimony and live in his Doctrine who said to his dear followers of Old Be of good Chear I have overcome the World Fear not little Flock it is the Father's good pleasure to give you a Kingdom And they that endure to the end shall be saved I will not leave you Comfortless said he I will come to you he that is with you shall be in you This was the Hope of their glory the Foundation of their building which standeth sure And though sorrow cometh Over-night yet joy shall come in the Morning Ye shall Weep and Lament said Jesus but the World shall rejoyce and ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy and their rejoycing into howling And Loe I am with you to the end of the World Be ye therefore encouraged in the holy Way of the Lord wait diligently for his daily Manifestations unto your Souls that you may be strengthned in your inward Man with Might and Power to do the Will of God on Earth as it is done in Heaven O watch that you enter not into temptation Yea watch unto Prayer that you enter not into temptation and that you fall not by the temptation Christ said to Peter Canst not thou watch one hour Every one hath an Hour of Temptation to go through and this is the Hour that every one is to watch Jesus the Captain of our Salvation was under great Temptations he was sad unto Death he did sweat drops of Blood but he watch'd he pray'd he groan'd yea he cry'd with strong cries But through Suffering overcame And remember how in the Wilderness he was tempted but the Angels of the Lord ministred to him So they that follow him in the way of the Tribulations and Patience of his Kingdom God's Angel shall minister unto them all Yea he will keep them in the Hour of Temptation He will carry their Heads above the Waves and deliver them from the devouring Floods Wherefore finally my Friends I say unto you in the Name of the Lord Be of good chear Look to Jesus and fear not Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils But be Valiant for the Truth on Earth Love not your Lives unto the Death and you shall receive a Crown of Life and Glory which the God of the Fathers the God of the Prophets the God of the Apostles and the God of the Martyrs and true Confessors of Jesus yea the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ shall give unto all those that keep the pure Testimony of his Son in their Hearts and patiently and faithfully endure to the end Now to him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy To the only Wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power both now and ever Amen I am your Friend that sincerely Loves you and earnestly Travails for your Redemption William Penn. FINIS