AN EPISTLE OF INFORMATION EXHORTATION AND CONSOLATION To all such as are distinguished by Names of Reproach and Ignominy Nevertheless retaining the Testimony of a good Conscience towards God and all men Containing also A Sober REBUKE for former Sloathfulness By John Onley a Servant of Jesus Christ London Printed for Francis Smith at Sign of the Elephant and Castle without Temple-Bar 1661. An EPISTLE of Information Exhortation and Consolation to all such as are distinguished by Names of Reproach c. TO all the Children of God through Faith and Obedience of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of what Sect and by what Name soever disgraced dignified or distinguished Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus With all Spiritual Wisdom Strength Valour Stability Patience Selfdenyal c. to you be continued multiplied and encreased that as on the one hand the Nobleness of our Extraction and most Magnificent Possession and yet greater and far more admirable Right in Reversion may make us elevate our Minds in the highest Region above that gross and earthly Body that the black Monarchy of the Prince of Darkness is erected in the poor blind World is benighted with and captivated by scorning and utterly contemning those earthly Pleasures and faint Conceptions the Earthly Mind is forming to it self to take Comfort from that shall shortly be ingloriously dash'd and precipited being Expiring Glories whilst we moving in our own Sphear beyond and above their Region may be without fear of being Let by their faint Opposition go safely on from strength to strength till we all appear before our God in Sion Yet on the other hand Considering how unworthily we have walk'd of this Vocation and unsutable to this Profession and unbeseeming the Children of so high a Father and Heirs of such a Glory though we were taken from Prison Death and Condemnation and raised undeservedly to such an Eternal weight of Glory yet have we grieved the Spirit of our God by our estrayings from him from the sight of which which I shall in a few words present to my self and you shame sorrow and confusion of face lies before us yet through a right use of it we may be bettered by it when we have seen it and have smarted for it 1. What a deal of Rust Dross and Corrupted matter hath contracted it self to us by our Motion through various Dispensations even to the provoking of the Lord to arise and shew his Displeasure against us by the Symptoms of some straits approaching near us that are the best and only Remedies for us as of old when Israel was in a waste howling Wilderness in a Land of Desarts and Pits and the shadow of Death she was then Holiness to the Lord but when to crown all their Sufferings with signal Mercies the Lord brought them into Houses that they did not build and Vineyards that they did not plant how quickly was those occasions of Praise turned into a dreadful Apostacy from the Father of those Mercies Shall we need to parallel our Conditions our former Egyptian slavery with God's eminent Deliverance by the out-stretched Arm of his Power and Providence with our yearnings of Spirit then after him is yet memorable and for our after-declinations we may it's probable have it so legible that we may run and read our Sin in our Punishment There is a Judgment begun and it will go round the Furnace is preparing and that Fire therein will be that Proving that will manifest the Verity of each man's building only the Refined Gold will remain and it 's the Dross alone we shall lose and by that Loss become Rich though the Sinners in Sion be afraid and fearfulness surprising the hearts of the Hypocrites our number being thereby lessened and much of that bulk we made a shew of in our selves being consumed yet shall we be not thereby weakned But Oh how mighty Oh how great Oh how strong shall we be by that Loss that Little and those Few that will be left standing by it self will exceed even it self as it stood in common with the rest why then should we stand afraid of that Poverty by which we become rich or that Loss by which we get gain 2. What a Stir and Commotion and Hurli-burly hath been raised in our Souls partly by false and contrary Interests we had espoused to our selves partly by our various Expectations Helps and Reliefs to secure them to us having plodded on in a heartless lifeless Profession in conjunction with a vigorous pursuit after overtaking of and being possessed with Rest as we thought in the World running in the way of Egypt after Asher and Jareb putting Confidence in an Aim of Flesh saying to the work of our hands Ye are our gods when in Returning and in Rest we should have been saved Quietness and Confidence should have been our Strength but we would not c. Therefore are we like to be left as a Beacon on the top of the Mountain our way hedged up with Thorns that we may no more find those Paths but reduced into the Wilderness a place of Desarts Pits Drought and shadow of Death that necessity and want of what we would have enjoyed might we had our wills may inforce us with the proud Prodigal to return to our Father thankfully accepting what we formerly lightly esteemed which his ever-to-be-magnified Grace still holds forth to us which now we begin to experience the worth of the Commotions in our Souls being stilled and our prodigal Expectations come to nought that formerly so clamored in our Souls that the Voice of the Lord could not be heard Oh how attentive watchful and diligent are we now for which formerly we took little notice of how home direct and facile is its entrance Now speak Lord saith the Soul and I will hear appear and I am ready lead and I will follow command and I will obey wee 'l never say more to the works of our hands Ye are our gods for in Thee alone the Fatherless findeth Mercy 3. What a large measure of Light Time Peace and Liberty have we had from the Lord beyond what former Times and it may be latter shall enjoy whereby through the faithful Improvement of which what manner of Persons might we have been not only in our own inward Injoyments and Fellowships but also to the poor blind World captivated by the Devil as also to those who hang in the Birth betwixt Heaven and Hell that see but like the half-cured Blind-man Men like Trees that fain would move toward Sion but through the weakness of their sight the false Representations of the Devil together with the Dust we by our Contentions have raised and darkned the way with that he knows not how hardly to set one foot forward in order thereto And yet Oh how too truly may we behold how we have hid our Talent in a Napkin put our Light under a Bushel whilst we industriously imployed our Wit and earthly Mind
in making provision for the Flesh merchandizing with the Commodities of this Life or else either exercising them in such a cold frozen heartless lifeless customary manner that we have neither felt tasted nor experienced that Strength Life Health and Nourishment we might have done nor by Example Doctrine and Conversation c. have we set others so much as we might have done in the way thereto or which is worse than if we had been born dumb We have by our time Light Knowledge c. but for the most part got such an opinionative Profession centring in certain external Institutions being by Christ appointed not for Rest but Motion which although some of which was perspicuous enough in the word yet others being of doubtful Interpretation have in the way that some have practised them found strong opposition We have so studyed and imployed our Abilities thereabouts that our participation of the Knowledge of Christ hath got from our hearts into our heads that instead of sweetning our Souls therewith and refreshing enlivening and uniting our Souls to every one in whom the Image of the Lord Jesus doth appear thereby upholding that admirable and ever blessed Communion of the Saints in the Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace we have as naturally consequent thereof so rent the seamless Coat of Christ so broken and divided the Saints in pieces so wounded and tortured the Consciences of the Tender so obstructed the Gospels Propagation so rejoyced the World making the Wicked to triumph erected such Trophies to the Devil's praise that many have been even Factors for Satan Fewellers for Hell labouring to bring in more matter for the Everlasting Burning under pretence of beating down Babylon c. Christ's Life hath been stifled and Sion crucified Oh what a potent deadly Engine of the Devil have we managed insensibly and by unobserved degrees promoted to many-headed Babel by such as would ascend into Heaven alone the language of whose Workmen the Lord is now confounding reducing them into one Common Calamity in order to their Re-unity The Lord give all his people a Sight a Sorrow a Repentance to Amendment with Pardon for this thing 4. How have we took up our aboad in the Wilderness saying in our hearts It 's good for us to be here Or upon the distrust of this Security removed but to the Suburbs of Sion from whence we might either with ease Retire at pleasure to the old Residence or enjoy them in Common together resting in those things as the End that by Institution was appointed but as a Mean thereto How violent hath been our motion after Air and Emptiness whilst the Eternal Pearl hath stood as a thing not worth the laying out our time strength and industry for the obtaining of How comfortable hath the Intelligence of our likelihood of enjoying the Worlds Felicity been unto our Souls whilst those Eternal Enrichments of the Kingdom of Glory have in their most powerful and lively Delineations made upon us such faint Impressions esteeming and rather choosing to abide in these dirty houses of Clay enslaved to the World our Souls imprisoned from God and in our earthly dark mind which is too much predominant pore up and down with the poor blind World after Rest and Felicity in those uncertain things that have it not in themselves Rather than with Noble Saint-like Resolutions contemn those childish Gew gaws that please but the sensitive and most ignoble part and raise up our Souls into the apprehension of and pursuit after and restless motion till we are possessed with those heavenly Treasures those durable Riches that give full comfortable and perpetual Satisfaction which till the Soul light upon and center in as its End of Motion Oh how sad and lamentable by accident how deceitful and damnable is every sublunary thing that we give our minds to that we might gain Rest and Comfort from 5. How little did we hearken after or take delight in the Appearance of the Harbingers and fore-runners of our Lord's Presence how little have we been affected with the approach of the Year and Day of our Deliverance with the Apprehensions and fore-thoughts of our purchased Possession and Eternal Unity and Communion with Christ and all Saints in Light yea when the Lord hath by the mighty Power of his Spirit in the Mouthes of some of his Servants brought these Things sweetly to our Ears with the danger of Negligence Key-coldness Formality and the love of this present World that so interposeth eclipseth and hindreth the Influences of these things from our Souls that they can take neither Life Strength nor Refreshment therefrom How formally sleepily and forgetfully have we given them Entertainment as things we were not concerned in or had no need as yet to trouble our selves about yea even in that very Institution by which Christ in what he hath done is a doing and will speedily do for his Saints is exhibited and represented How little have we been refreshed strengthened and made watchful to the Day of his Appearance many rather eating and drinking Condemnation to themselves first obstructing and shutting out its Operation from their Souls by their own Unpreparedness and then go away and report that God was not there to be found c. 6. How seldom have we come with hungry and thirsty Souls to and after the Bread of Life whereby we might have experienced the Word of the Lord to have been more reviving and delightful to our taste than Honey and the Honey-comb or any temporal Food to the outward man and more satisfactory enriching and desirable than Gold yea than much fine Gold Oh how oftner rather have we so filled and glutted our Appetites and Affections with Fleshly Provisions being rich full and satisfied before-hand with the World that the Word of the Lord hath been but as an empty sound which we have only lent our Ears to going away poor empty miserable blind and naked though we see and knew it not 7. How common hath it been with us to spend much of our time in discourse of the World our Imployments therein and trading therewith our Gains and Losse thereby which after News from Heaven our Title thereto and Interest therein our thriving or losing in and about those Means of Grace that are Assistants thereabout in breathing forth our Experience of God's Love in praising the Lord for his admirable Love to us-ward when we were in our Blood in the estate of Wrath Death and Condemnation shut out from the Presence of God into Prison Captivity c. that then by the precious Blood of the Son of his Love He should not only ransom and redeem us therefrom but by the Power of his Word and Spirit call us into the insight thereof and Everlasting Rest Peace and Comfort thereby being brought into the Arms and Bosom of himself and made Heirs of Eternal Glory also in magnifying his Mercy to us-ward in restraining the Power of Unreasonable men from exercising
their Cruelty upon us who would have devoured us quick whom yet the Lord would not suffer but was a brazen Wall round about us that we might have gone freely about the work of our God without molestation to have enlightned the eyes of the poor blind World enlivened warmed and strengthened the weak Saints confirmed the Feeble and rejoyced in and with the Strong in laying in all strength together with one heart and one shoulder to bear up increase and strengthen the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus rejoycing with the Strong and Honourable and weeping with the Poor and Miserable c. beating with the Weak and Feeble and as Members of one Body joyned together and compacted by that which every Joynt supplyeth according to the Effectual working in the measure of every part making increase in the Body unto the Edifying of it self in Love Oh! how negligent have we been in these necessary heavenly Duties bearing the name of Churches Saints and Christians when to the Life of Christ we have been almost strangers 8. How little have our hearts been rent our souls grieved and we sighed and cryed pouring out our souls before the Lord for the Abominations committed in these Nations not being inferiour if not exceeding the Wickedness of Sodom for and on which God rained down from Heaven Fire and Brimstone and made an utter desolation thereof How is the Name of our God every day blasphemed his Laws and gracious Precepts derided and his People shamefully entreated and as Mr. Baxter said of the Times some late years past That it was as much as a Mans Estate at least was worth to hear Saints Rest pag. 251. Part 2. a Sermon abroad when he had none or worse at home to meet for Prayer or any godly Exercise and that it was a matter of Credit and way to Preferment to revile at and be enemies to those that are most Consciencious and every where safer to be a Drunkard or an Adulterer than a painful Christian and that multitude of humane Ceremonies took place when the Worship of Christs Institutions was cast out So by reason of the abuse of the King's Indulgence of about Thirty Persons whom in that we had no compliance with nor knowledge of together with the over-violent activity of his Majesties subordinate Ministers in executing of his Proclamation against us though we believe they know in their own Consciences we are free from the first and consequently not concerned in the last with their negligence in not executing his Proclamation against Debauchery and Prophaneness such into many places having free liberty to act Villany It 's come to that passe that if a few sincere Christians meet together in the fear of God to build up one another in their most holy Faith to exhort comfort confirm and strengthen each other in the Wayes of God according to the Command of Christ and the Example of the Primitive Saints to which Work the Lord having promised and God's People sweetly experiencing his Presence We must be presently apprehended and carried to a Justice and so to the Jayl yea some of us threatned for reading the Scriptures in our Families when if we would swear game be drunk and lie at an Alehouse Twenty together day after day or stand in a Market an hour or two together to hear the Apostles of the Devil and Factors of Hell about and on the Market-Cross with their Ungodly Songs and Speeches and idle shameful Deeds and Gestures to provoke to vanity both Hearers Speakers and Singers shall have free Liberty when if in the same place as some with grief of heart can witness one doth but say Repent of this Folly and turn to the Lord His Day is at hand he shall have company about him presently to lag him forth of Town as not sufferable therein Which had it been amongst Pagans and gross Heathens we might have the less marvelled but to see it amongst those that profess in words to be Christians Oh! what Lamentations bitter Cryes Sighes and Tears and heart-rendings doth this call for what Humiliations Watchings Fastings Prayings Speakings often one to another and to the Lord to forgive to strengthen uphold and comfort his People in this day and to Inform counsel and direct the King with the Magistrates of this Nation in the performance of that which may bring down a Blessing therewith and a Settlement of Peace with Truth thereby and that they may see in what the Strength and Safety of a Nation stands in In the performance of Righteousness Justice and Equity breaking every heavy Yoak and letting the Oppressed go free in setting free the Gospel and the VVord of the Lord the Profession and Professors thereof that hath so long been confined within the narrow limits of some mens particular Apprehensions that it may run and be glorified and prevail and prosper in its own single Evidence and that the Lord would cause them to see the Hamon-like Designs that some purpose against all the Sons of Sion that refuse to bow to the Pride of their Hearts and that the Innocency and Righteousness of the Lords People may be brought to light in despight of those wicked Ones who seek to impeach and darken it that so their Covering may not prove like that of Judah's In looking to their Armour and making up the Breaches and fortifying of the Walls staying on Horses and trusting in Chariots because they are many and in Horsemen because they are very strong and then joy and be glad slay Oxen and kill Sheep eat Flesh and drink Wine thinking all secure when they should rather call to Mourning to Weeping to Baldness and to girding with Sackcloath if the Glory of the Lord and the saving strength of himself be not the Foundation thereof Isa 22.8 14.31.1 Oh! how little have we been sensible of affected with and imployed about these things though the Lord hath neither been a Wilderness nor a Land of Darkness to us but planting us a Noble Vine a holy a right Seed walling us about suffering no man to do us harm yet have we degenerated into a strange Plant our Silver become Dross our Wine mixt with Water c. Therefore the Day of Visitation is come it is come we shall know it We have dealt treacherously with the Lord we have begotten strange Children now shall a Moth devour them with their Portions for the Lord is arisen in the fury of his Jealousie being provoked through the abuse of his Mercy to lash us to himself and correct us for our out-goings from his Grace and hath prepared his Furnace in Jerusalem and his Refining Pot in Sion in which two parts may be consumed and a third brought through the fire being thereby made meet for our Masters praise we may serve him with one consent Wherefore dearly beloved Brethren you who Fellow-Citizens and of the Houshold of God Members one of another One Body of which Christ is the Head Children and Heirs Heirs of God yea
Joynt-heirs with Christ and all Strangers and Pilgrims here on Earth having no continuing City but are looking after one that hath a foundation whose maker and builder is God c. Let 's lay aside our dividing Principles and formal lazy key-cold Profession and Unchristian-like Imployments and with one Consent make exact and speedy search into those things in which we have grievously offended and pour forth our souls before the Lord Repenting and humbling our selves and that with all speed Peradventure we may prevail to a diversion of God's intended Judgments against us if not that then they may be of excellent use to us for when we have once seen the want of that which when we had we saw not the worth of nor had no hearts to use It will then be more precious in our eyes more desirable and delightful to our souls Should the Lord scatter us abroad into other Nations to wander up and down amongst Mountains Desarts Dens Caves and Desolate places of the Earth destitute afflicted and tormented yea from Sea to Sea from North to South running to and fro to seck the Word of the Lord and shall not find it Oh how precious would the Communion the Company the Fellowship of those be then notwithstanding circumstantial difference with whom now we have been at Irreconciliable Variance how delightful that Presence of the Lord that once we enjoyed in his Sanctuary how piercing and lively would the fence of those former neglected Mercies come fresh and bleeding in our memories how satisfactory would the Word of the Lord be to our hungry starved empty Souls then how vivifying and comfortable to our Hearts though now being full we loath the Honey and the Honey-comb how little should we value a weeks time then in the performance of that which a dayes time now hath wearied us in how near would our Hearts be brought to God our Affections to Heaven and from the World how un-interrupted the course of our Faith and dead and crucified to the Pleasures of this Life how desirous to be dissolved how pained to be delivered how watchful for our Redemption and Day of our Lord's Appearance how attentive to our main work preparing our wedding Garment how quick in our motion and steady in our expectation looking right on moving regular in our Journey turning neither to the right hand nor to the left c. Should we then be when the Lord with a Witness hath discovered and uncovered our Covering which He is now about and hunted us out of our Rests that were polluted and would have destroyed us with a sore destruction and scorched us with the fire of our own kindling and made those sparks we incompassed our selves about with and walk'd in the light of like those Oaks we have desired of which we are now ashamed going away from them the Lord having rejected that Confidence which we put in them How admirably lovely and desirable will Christ his Truth and Kingdom be when it stands in competition with Goods Liberty Wife Children and it may be our own Life also when we shall be brought to that parting-point to receive Him singly or reject Him wholly Then will be the time to see the worth of that which whilst other things stood betwixt we saw not the full glory of Oh then let 's not fear nor be dismayed at that which if rightly used we shall be such gainers by but rejoyce and leap for Joy in that Day when men shall hate us imprison us separate us from their Company and speak all manner of evil of us falsly and take away our Goods our Houses and Lands and Liberties from us c. For if we stoop under the Cross and deny our selves and forsake Houses Brethren Sisters Fathers or Mothers VVife or Children or Lands for the Name sake of Christ we shall receive un hundred fold and shall inherit Everlasting Life Matth. 19.29 Only let 's be careful to suffer as Christians not as Thieves Murderers busie bodies in others matters self-revengers c. for which we shall have a double punishment but if as Christians let 's not be ashamed but glorifie God on this behalf and commit the keeping of our souls in wel-doing as to a faithful Creator Considering Him that could have called for the Host of Heaven to have rescued Him and avenged Him of his Enemies yet endured the Cross despised the shame and the Contradiction of Sinners against Himself and is set down at the right-hand of God expecting till his Enemies be made his Footstool And let us not envy the Prosperity of them that know not God that laugh whilst we weep and sing whilst we mourn for they have received their Consolation and are in the flower of their Kingdom but ours is in Reversion which when we come to the possession of out Sorrow shall be turned into Joy our Tears to Praise our Poverty to Plenty and we shall come to Sion with Songs and Everlasting Joy upon our heads Sorrow and sighing shall flee away when we shall be made an Eternal Excellency the Joy of many Generations For behold the Lord will take out of our hand the Cup of Trembling even the Dregs of the Cup of Fury we shall no more drink but it shall be put into the hand of them that afflict us that have said to our souls Bow down that we may go over And we have laid our body as the ground and as the street to them that went over when he hath purged away our Dross and performed his whole work upon us He will extend Peace to us like a River and Judgment shall dwell in the VVilderness and Righteousness remain in the fruitful Field and the work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever Which when we see our hearts shall rejoyce and our bones flourish and we shall discern the difference betwixt them that serve God and them that serve Him not though now the Proud are called Happy c. The hand of the Lord will be known toward his Servants and his Indignation toward his Enemies when he shall render his Anger with Fury and his Rebukes with flames of fire For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all the Proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be as Stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch 〈◊〉 in flaming Fire will He take Vengeance on all that know not God and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ For behold He cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Wherefore let us enter into our Chamber and shut to the doors till the Indignation of the Lord lie over-past and bear it with patience for we have sinned and gird up the loyns of our mind and be sober and hope to the end and take up the Cross and walk on with patience lifting up our hands that hang down and making strait paths for our feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way and run with patience the Race set before us not being mindful of that Country from whence we came out though we may have opportunity to return Remember Lots Wife but desire a better that is an heavenly And God will not be ashamed to be called our God for he hath provided for us a City and let us not draw back lest the Lord take no pleasure in us for he that seeks to save his life shall lose it whilst he that seeks to lose it shall find Let 's not then cast away our Confidence that hath great Recompence of Reward for we have need of Patience that after we have done the Will of God we may receive the Promise For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry whose Reward is with him and his Work before him to give to every one as his deeds shall be In the Expectation of which and waiting therefore I am and remain Your Brother in the Faith Patience and Tribulation of the Gospel John Onley 3d day of the 3d Month 1661.