the Scriptures of Truth yet I would not rest satisfied so but proved their Works and laboured to see vvhat lives they lived Whether their Words and their Works agreed in one yea or nay and vvhen I tryed both the chief Priests and the chiefest professors their Lives Works and Conversation I then saw that they are not vvhat they profest themselves to be so could not but for conscience-sake deny them For I saw them to be hypocrites lyars cozeners dissemblers how that a small thing vvould even easily provoke any of them to anger envy vvrath and malice and some to fighting being heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God So I could not but turn from them vvho have a Form of godliness but denies the power thereof as by their Fruits I know them For vvhosoever seeks to be justified by Christ and yet they themselves are found sinners is Christ therefore the Minister of sin God forbid For Christ comes to destroy the Works of the Devil he is manifest to take away sin for in him is no sin he that abibeth in Christ sinneth not So Friends and Neighbors see where ye all are doteing upon a people which cannot profit you at all nor help nor comfort but shall be a shame and a reproach And vvhen I vvas turned to the light of Christ J came to see the Priests deceit who will not that any of you should come to the light lest the people should see their Wickedness and so to turn from them And though both priests and professors have the Name of the Lord in their mouths and seems to take delight in drawing near to him with their lips yet their hearts are far from him So in vain they Worship God who live not the life of the Son of God but are alive unto sin For all whose VVords and Life and Conversation are not as becomes the Gospel of Christ are Hypocrites and falshearted ones whose VVords and VVorks are not one so are VVorkers of iniquity and doth not the truth both priests and people who live not unto Christ So when J had found out the wickedness of the priests and saw them so filthy J cryed out for sorrow being filled with sorrow and grief that J could not find a righteous man amongst them not one that could direct me into the right VVay nor was able to teach me the Knowledge of God though J ran from priest to priest and did write to several of the chiefest of them concerning my condition and have thought that the priests lips should preserve the peoples Knowledge and that the people should go unto them for Knowledge but miserable comforters are they all none of them could speak a VVord of Comfort to my soul so my weary soul did even mourn and cry out in pain for deliverance from under the power of death and hell and Satan So J found no way of deliverance while J followed the Priests though they cryed peace peace unto me and would perswade me to be in a good condition and the like so would have healed me deceitfully and would have daubed me with untempered morter crying peace peace where the Lord hath not spoken peace so my soul refused to be comforted by them and cryed out None but Christ None but Christ and yet there was none among them that could shew me where he is to be found So being weary in spirit J wandered with a sad heart and wounded spirit from priest to priest seeking rest for my weary soul but found none while J followed after them wo wo wo unto them may all people say that ever such priests was born who have made the hearts of the righteous sad by their lyes and by their lightness who stands up amongst the people pretending to teach them the way how that they may come to the Knowledge of God yet never was sent of God nor none of them unto this day that ever J knew of did ever direct people unto the right way to that of God in them where they might come to the Knowledge of God and so to know him whom to know is life eternal neither do they know it themselves so are not able to teach others nay they are so far from perswading people unto the good way that they stand up to resist it and set themselves against it Jf any who have found the right way and knows the Lord be moved of the Lord in bowels of compassion unto the people to go to the Steeplehouse to set before them the right way where God is to be found a way wherein they have found God the priests they cry to the people Away with them Deceivers Deceivers yet dares not stand to prove before the people who be the deceivers by plain Scripture so they are those which Christ said would neither enter into the Kingdom of God themselves nor will they suffer them that would to enter For that which may be known of God is manifest in them and God hath shewed it to them and blessed are they that are faithful Often-times J even wept bitterly when J considered these things and was even pressed to the ground with sorrow and heaviness when J could not find any satisfaction among no sort of people so fear surprised me pain took hold on me as upon a VVoman in travel trouble without and horror and wrath within for the wrath of God was revealed against me from heaven for disobedience to the pure light within me and J was even afraid of the judgements of God lest the Lord would cut me off and make me an example to all about me in that J continued so long following the priests after that he had shewed me how deceitful they all are and that no people should ever profit by them and that they are altogether useless Vessels in whom the Lord hath no pleasure but his wrath is against them and against all such who follow after them Yet after all this though the Lord had shewed them to me J was somewhat rebellious and did not turn from them immediately after J was convinc't of their wickedness and saw that they was never sent of God and yet would fain have continued following after them though J knew J could not profit by them and notwithstanding all that the Lord had shewed me concerning them because J knew that my Kinred according to the flesh would be sore set against me and rise up against me and that J should suffer much from them so J would faine have followed them to please my parents and so J began to distrust and question what the Lord had shewed me J then being at that time a stranger to the life of God so knew not the Lords voice neither did J understand him oftentimes vvhen he spoke unto me in the spirit being carnal yet the love of the Lord vvas so much tovvards me that he gave me not over to a reprobate mind neither did he deal vvith me according to my stubbornness
but according to the multitude of his mercies so the long-suffering and patience of God led me to repentance and then J came clearly to see that it was the Lord indeed that appeared unto me and had set these things before me and not man that had so long called unto me though then J knew him not but when J knew indeed that it was the Lord that spoke unto me J then gave up all willingly and left off frequenting all sorts of people their Assemblies too sate alone in silence waiting in the silence of my spirit for the Lord and was as a travelling VVoman pained to be delivered yea J was almost quite gone and had even despaired of hope had not the Lord had compassion and been very merciful unto me who drew near and sustained me when the night of darkness was over me for it pleased the Lord while J was yet in patience waiting for him to reveal his Son in me who hath even appeared and is risen with healing in his Wings So now in him my weary soul after long travel is come to find rest and peace for evermore which no man can take from me if J be faithful to the end Blessing and praises and honor and glory and dominion and thanksgiving to the Lord God of Sabbaths and to the Lamb for ever and ever who hath given me the peace and the victory in measure over death hell and the grave praises to the Lord for his mercies fails not but are renewed every moment towards his servant and such as fear him who hath not left my soul in hell neither hath he suffered his holy one to see corruption but hath ransomed my soul from death and the grave into perfect liberty even to joy and gladness and all sorrovv and sighing doth flye avvay for the years of rejoicing is come praises endless praises and honor and glory to him that sitteth upon the Throne of Judgement and Mercy vvho takes avvay the sins of the vvorld and saves his people from their sins that they may praise him together vvith one accord in the land of the living vvho hath done vvonderfully for me that J even admire the goodness of God tovvards me in all his vvorks everlasting glorious praises and blessing to him for evermore vvhose right it is and vvhose vvorks praises him not unto me Lord not unto me but unto thee holy vvise God over all be all the glory and the honor Let all that know the Lord praise him above all for his mercies endureth for ever who now hath brought me into fellowship with the Saints in light Neighbors and Friends These things I write not unto you to have praise of you for I receive not honor from man but that ye may know and understand what God hath wrought and what he hath done for my soul that all might come to praise the Lord and to admire him who hath done great things in the Earth So this is a Warning unto every one of you That ye rest not satisfied in any thing short of Christ but that ye may all even turn to the light and believe in the light and walk in the light while ye have the light lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and so come short of the Grace of God So all be warned that ye put not trust in a false confidence in a false faith and in a vain hope and so ye get up into a false joy below Christ for the end of this is weeping mourning sorrow and lamentation so take heed how ye choose to follow your Priests lest ye also perish with them together being partakers with them in their sins so choose not to follow your own Ways neither lean not to your own understandings nor put no trust to your own Righteousness glory not in your own Wisdom and strength but now even all of you come to the Light Christ the Righteousness of God to put him on and so to put off your own righteousness that ye coming to the light and follow the light to have the righousness of the Law fulfilled in you that every one of you may prove your selves so search and try your own Ways and turn to the true light Christ Jesus who enlightneth every man that cometh into the World and see if ye can witness Christ in you Know ye not how Christ is in you except ye be reprobates I say if ye know not Christ formed in you if ye feel not the life of the Son of God moving and breathing in you towards God I say if Christ be not raised ye are yet in your sins if the dead rise not and so your Faith is vain and your Profession also For as many as receives Christ receives the Righteousness of God in him receives Gods Righteousness for Christ is Gods Righteousness and who hath not Christ their Righteousness is of themselves and so are ignorant of Gods righteousness who knows not the Light Christ in them who will not come to the light so will not submit to the righteousness of God but would establish their own righteousness yet will not such people speak against self-righteousness and against self-actings when as all their Righteousness and Works is of themselves How blind are these people who out of their own mouth hath condemned themselves wherein all they do is of themselves in their Will-Worship to be seen of men and would lay these things to our charge whom they call Quakers and saith that we altogether set up Works before Christ always perswades people to Works and to the keeping the Commandments and the like Answ This is false Though We perswade people to be followers of good Works and to the keeping of the Commandments according to Christs exhortation yet We do not turn people to Works before We turn them to Christ but We first exhort them to believe in the light so they are lyars for this is our Message To turn people from the darkness to the Light Christ who lightneth every man that they may have their works wrought in the Light Christ who works all our works in us and for us and he that loves the light brings his deeds to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God but what is this to them who are not come unto the light neither hath believed in the light have they not manifested their ignorance and that all their works of righteousness are of themselves and that they have no other righteousness who are not come to the light mark and take notice of this That all their deeds and works are onely of themselves wrought in darkness until such time as they come to be turned from the darknesse to the light for that which is not wrought in the light is wrought in darknesse So hovv can such escape the judgements of God vvho have so falsly accused us that have renounced our own Righteousness and hath vvillingly submitted to the Righteousness of
so God which is the way where Christ may be found that I may come to know him even as I am known of him and find him The Priests said That reading the Scriptures and godly Books as they called them and praying and following them and hearing them preach that this was the way where Christ is to be found So I did run from one Priest unto another to see if haply I could find Christ among any of them for several years together but did not vvhilst I followed the Priests so all my labour vvas in vain I spent my labour for that which is not Bread and my strength for that which could not satisfie yea I did read the Scriptures often bought the best books I could hear of and read them and prayed earnestly always but did not obtain nor prevail though I cryed and vvept much and the reason is because I sought unto a people that cannot profit for the Lord in a vvay vvhere he is not to be found in the vvay of the ungodly for God hears not sinners and the prayer of the vvicked is sin but the prayer of the righteoas is his delight and vvhile I remained servant to sin the Lord did not regard my prayer for it is his own that praises him unto whom his ears is opened alvvays vvhich he hears and hath regard unto So I see that the Priests are lyars vvho vvould be Teachers of others and yet knovvs not vvhat they say nor vvhereof they affirm vvho vvould perswade you to follow them and to uphold them in their covetous practises and tells people that hearing them is the right vvay and observing their traditions and customs is the right vvay and believing in a Christ vvithout you and looking for a Christ without you is the right vvay so are those vvhich Christ spake of should come in the last dayes saying Lo here is Christ and lo there is Christ but said he Believe them nâ—r nor go not after them for Friends that which may be knovvn of God is manifest in you so til you return to that of God in you the light ye are in the darkness out of the good vvay in an evil vvay in a vvay that is not good whatsoever ye and your Priests may say of it Neighbors and Friends I speak by experience what I have seen and known that speak I unto you in the Name of the Lord that ye may take warning betime for there is no other way to know Christ but in the light wherewith ye are enlightned so if you will own the right way where God dwells where he is to be found ye must then return in to the Light to that which may be known of God in you and be in love with the Light for God is Light he that loves the Light brings his deeds to the Light and comes to the light Christ Know ye not how that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates You that talk and prate and say ye believe in a Christ without you who are professing a God and a Christ without you and that he saves his people from their sins What is this to you who knows not that Christ is in you There shall ye find him if ever ye know him a Saviour to you who is come a light into the World that all men through him might believe This is he who suffered and dyed at Jerusalem and no other Christ I own I say What is this to you who are yet in your sins and doth not believe that ever ye shall be made free from sin while ye are here but that ye shall sin while ye live Have ye not learned this of your Priests for this is their Doctrine which they bring you from their Father the Devil and yet you be believe it and receives it So what is this to you for you to say Christ saves his people from their sins for ye bear vvitness against your selves that he is not your Saviour who are yet in your sins for ye deny the Work of God and resist it in your selves and denies the end of Christ coming into the World which is to save his people from their sins who is come into the World a light and is manifest to destroy the Works of the Devil and sin is the Work of the Devil which Christ comes to destroy and you that say ye must sin while ye live ye bear witness against your selves that Christ is not yet come to you so ye are the servants of sin and are free from righteousness so what is Christ to you and what is your profession vvorth So whilest I followed the Priests I never knew the way how to come to Christ therefore I had no rest in my spirit day nor night from God while I followed the Priests but Wrath and Horror and Judgement pursued me for disobedience to that of God in my conscience and trouble on every hand on the right hand and on the left was sorrovv and vexation of spirit and my heart within me did faint for fear I vvas even at my Wits-end and had almost despaired of hope and of comfort had not God preserved me though I knew him not for I could find no assurance of the love of God to my soul while I follovved the Priests though then I could vvith the Priests talk of high attainments and could also with them and with professors sometimes boast of experiences and also of joy and peace sometimes when I was lifted up into the airie imaginations with them and so for a while I gloried in the flesh with priests people and made merry over the Witness of God in me then was Satan exalted above all that was called God in me and then both Priests and people did love me and and spake well of me for the World loves its own and the Devil who fills his children with mirth and joy with sports and pleasures and with the glory of this World he will suffer his servants to have a profession of the truth and to boast of God to be their Father and of Christ to be their Saviour and also to talk of faith and of righteousness and the like so that he can but maintain his Works in them which is To lye and to swear to be angry to envy and to hate and to be proud and covetous and to oppress to dissemble and to deceive and to defraud and to cozen to fight to rail and to be drunk to be heady and to be high-minded being filled with all unrighteousness which be the Works of the Devil as lust murder back-biting evil-speaking and all deceit vvhich are the Works of the flesh So I say If the Devil have but the heart and can but keep his Seat there he cares not then vvhat profession they be of he knovvs them that they are his though they may say they defie the Devil and all his Works whose minds Satan hath blinded that they cannot see his Works in themselves brought forth which
bears witness against them that they are of their Father the Devil whose Works they do yet with their mouth and with their lips and tongue will profess that they love God who have the high swelling Words of hypocrisie so have a zeal without knowledge holding a profession of God in hypocrisie until the day of sudden destruction from God fall upon them for their Wickedness to sweep them all into the pit of blackness for ever who are Workers of iniquity both Priests and people All-along while I followed the Priests there was something in me of God I see though I knew it not which did witness against all unrighteousness did reprove me if I did but swear or tell a lye which did not speak peace to me in those things but I was judged by that of God in me when I did any unrighteous thing so stood condemned in my self when I had but an evil thought of doing Wrong which was sufficient to have preserved me from all evil if I had but been obedient but being ignorant of it what it was gave no heed unto it but went on in a Way that is not good so did not believe in the light though I had the light neither was obedient to the light though the light did convince me So I had no peace from God though in the World I had peace and with the VVorld was at peace yet in Christ I had no peace while I was of the VVorld for that of God in me cryed against me Desolation VVo and Misery for God seeth not as man neither canst thou hide thy self in secret and he not see thee So I came to see that notwithstanding all the shew in the flesh I had profest of knowing the Lord I was but a hypocrite when I came in deed and in truth to search try my ways honestly and to prove my self in truth and in plainness then I did see that I was out of the VVay of truth knew not the truth though I had the Words of truth in my mouth so was ignorant of God so the peace which I had did then flye away it was as it were but for a moment the Worlds peace which the greedy Priests speak unto the people that stop into their mouths they cry peace peace when there is no peace from God where the Lord hath not spoken peace so would heal the hurt of the daughter of my people saith the Lord sleightly who daub with untempered morter for from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsly and deceitfully and all are given to covetousness both Priests and people So whilest I followed the Priests I see that I was but a fair sayer made clean the outside of the Cup and the Platter and appeared righteous outwardly unto man as Neighbors and Friends ye know who knew me after the flesh That I was as touching the righteousness of the Law blameless and had a zeal for God though not according to knowledge by fair Words professing the Substance but had not the Evidence the Seal of the Spirit of God to my Spirit so being ignorant of Gods righteousness as I said before which is by the Faith of the Son of God knowing this That without righteousness no man can enter into the Kingdom of God so I went about to establish my own righteousness looking for a righteousness without me that I might appear righteous unto man being ignorant of the righteousness of faith which saith on this wise as it is written Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heaven That is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deepe That is to bring Christ again from the dead But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it that is the Word of Faith which we preach said the Apostle who was a Minister of God But unto this Word I was not obedient while I followed the Priests neither knew I it though it was near for none of the Priests from the least even unto the chiefest did ever direct my mind unto the Word of Faith which is nigh in the mouth and in the heart to take heed unto as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in my heart So they are the false Prophets and Deceivers who is come in sheeps clothing making merchandise of souls for dishonest gain And these are they vvhich Christ said should come in the last dayes vvhich John saw was come in his dayes vvhich all the World vvondered after and that all the World is gone after them so they run yet never was sent of God to turn people from darkness to the light vvho divine for money and speak a Divination of their ovvn brain and not from the mouth of the Lord. So I sought to find the living among the dead vvhile I sought unto the Priests so followed a people which cannot profit and wandered from Mountain to Hill to find the living even from one sort of Priests and people unto another that had the greatest shew of godliness one sort said Lo here is Christ and another sort of professors said Lo here and glad would I with all my heart to have found him among them that I might come to find a rest for my weary soul but Christ I found not among any of them though I did find that some sort of professors could talk much more of Christ with their lips then others could do and had his Name in their mouth oftener then others having many good Words vvhereby they do beguile souls even with the enticing Words of mens Wisdom pretending much towards Christ but are as vain and wanton as they vvho have not so great a shew in Words towards Christ and though in Words they profess that they know him yet in Works they do deny him so are the greatest Deceivers of all vvho have the greatest shew of godliness when their Works are as bad and their lives too as them who have no shew of godlinesse at all for Christ said Ye shall know them by their fruits so vvhen I came to prove them and to try them by their fruits I did find them to be as bad as others vvho have not so great a shew of righteousness so it is not every one that saith Lord Lord nor proud boasters in another mans line of things made ready to their hand vvho steal their Words from their Neighbor that shall enter into life but he that doth the Will of God for they make themselves manifest that they are without God and without Christ as by their Fruits I knew them then to be deceitful Workers though vvith fair speeches and good Words they deceive the simple and so blinds the minds of them that believe not in the light And though I did like the chief Priests and the chief Professors Words then vvell so far as they was according to
me and then I called unto my Brother William and bad him let me into the House and he told me that he durst not let me into the House I asked him Why He said That his Father had sent all his children and servants to bed that he went throughout all the House himself to see that all the doors was locked and bolted against me and did charge them all that if I did come not any of them to let me into the House if they did any of them he said that he would turn them also out of the doors with me So William told me these things and that he durst not let me into the House so unto this day I remain a sufferer for righteousness sake and truly I believe that I should not have put pen to paper in reference as to all my sufferings from my natural Father had I not heard how he hath reported it that I ran from him and the like So for the right informing all peoples understandings as to the truth of this matter I have briefly in few Words declared something of what hath been done by him towards me and of what Words passed between us but I might have intimated much more of his rage and cruelty sore usuage of me but that I am against laying open nakedness and have onely cleared my own innocency as touching false reports of running from my Fathers House and the like as also his own Family and others can witness against him to the contrary for me if they wil but testifie So let him consider and look back and see what he hath done against the innocent that seeks not his own who seeketh no revenge but suffereth all things endureth all things and envieth not but in the peace which the World cannot give nor take away rests satisfied in his Fathers love from above and so refers his cause unto him that seeth in secret who rewardeth openly and taketh vengeance For vengeance is mine saith the Lord So I have boldness towards God in all my sufferings and tribulations yea verily I have the answer of a good conscience towards God and man herein Gods Witness in me even the Spirit of truth which bears witness to my spirit that I suffer for well doing and who shall then condemn me And because I cannot for conscience-sake worship the beast nor follow the blind guides any longer I am persecuted and forsaken of Father and Mother and of Brethren and Sisters and of Kinred too and these things have they done unto me that the Scriptures might be fulfilled according to Christs Words who said Ye shall be hated of all men for my sake and marvel not if the World hate you for it hated me before it hated you if ye were of the World the World would love you for the World loves its own but because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you because ye are not of the world even as I am not of the world said Christ to them that followed him in the regeneration who turned people from the darkness to the Light Christ And he that forsaketh not Father and Mother Brethren and Sisters Husband Wife or children and his own life too for my sake and the Gospel said Christ he cannot be my disciple and he that taketh not up his Cross and followeth not after me he is not worthy of me but every one that hath left Father or Mother Brethren or Sisters Husband Wife or Children or House or Lands for my Names sake and the â—ospel let him rejoice that he is counted worthy to suffer it said the Lord Jesus Christ for he shall not lose his reward but shall receive an hundred-fold in this life and in the world to come everlasting life So it is evident That whosoever will â—ive godly in Christ Jesus must suffer For he that departs from iniquity makes himself a prey to the wicked and to the unrighteous and sinners So Friends think it not strange I run not with you to the same excess of riot into all uncleanness and filthiness and sorrow not for me for the sorrow of the World works death so speak not evil of the things ye know not least ye speak evil against God and though I am counted as the off-scouring of all things unto this day and hath not whereon to lay my head being forsaken of Father and of Mother and counted as one not worthy to live nor to inhabit under them who could not have so much as a servants place under them for I told my Father before he put me from him That I was willing to abide with him and to serve him faithfully and to labour with my hands in the thing that is good yet would he not suffer me to inhabit under him but in all this what evil have I done So I have comfort towards God notwithstanding all his cruel usuage of me and though Father and Mother hath forsaken me yet the Lord hath not forsaken me neither left me comfortless but hath been with me in all my afflictions to support me and though they through the hardness of their hearts hath had no pitty on me but I was even cast out for righteousness sake as though I had been some great transgressor Where are my Accusers If I have done evil let them bear witness of the evil but if well for cleaving unto the Lord why are they so offended in me I could even desire that the Lord would not reward them as they have rewarded me who are even without natural affections and without any pitty towards me yet the Lord hath had pitty because his mercies fails not who in his favour hath redeemed me and hath had compassion when no eye pittyed for he hath said it Thou hadst a little strength and hast trusted in me therefore I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Thou hast hated iniquity and loved righteousness therefore walk before me and be thou perfect and I will help thee I will be with thee and go before thee all the Way that thou shalt go So in the Arms of his everlasting Love doth the Lord carry me and in his hand doth he hide me that so in the pure love of God I might remain under the shadow of his Wings for evermore and in his Name to trust which is a strong Tower for the righteous to flye unto for God hath given me an entrance into the eternal inheritance with the Saints in light Surely I have made a good choice blessed be the Name of the Lord for evermore who hath put it into my heart as to choose the good Way and the fear of the Lord wherein dwelleth righteousness So I am perswaded in my heart to cleave unto the Lord my God with my whole heart that the Lamb of God I may follow wheresoever he goes though I dye with him bearing his reproach for through Christ that strengthens me I am more then a Conqueror and have in measure conquered Death
Hell and the Grave and through Faith have overcome the World so hath right to eat of the Tree of Life glorious praises to God for ever whose Works now praises him And though I am become a stranger unto my Fathers House and to my Kinred also and hath not whereon to lay my head yet God hath prepared an House for me and hath brought me into his House of Love even into everlasting Dwellings a spiritual house to worship him in hath he even prepared eternally in the Heavens which remaineth for ever and he will never shut me out of his House but he hath given me within his House and within his Walls a place and a Name better then of Sons and of Daughters an everlasting Habitation and a Name that shall not be cut off praises endless praises to God in the Highest This hath the Lord done for his Names sake and how can I forbear to tell of what God hath done for my soul If I should not confess his wondrous Works before men to tell of his wonderful Works it had bin better for me never to have bin born Who hath even filled me with the Riches of his glory in Christ Jesus who hath taken me out of the Olive-Tree which is wild by nature and now hath he grafted me contrary to nature into a good Olive-Tree so in my measure I am come to know him that was from the beginning yea I am in him that is true who is the true God and eternal life being planted into Christ that I may bring forth Fruit unto God who in times past was an alien and a stranger to the Life of God but am now through the grace of God no more a stranger but a Fellow-Citizen with the Saints and of the Houshold of God being built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone in whom all the Building fitly framed together growth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. Therefore all Friends and Neighbors having tasted that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion towards them that trust in him I cannot but even in bowels of compassion beseech you even to return unto the Lord with your whole heart that ye may love him with all your heart ye who hunger after righteousness ye who would eat of the bread of life come in to the light even ye who are ready to die pine away w th hunger for want of bread turn in hither for in my Fathers house is even Bread enough for all that is hungry indeed that ye may freely eat of live for ever if it were not so I would not invite you but seeing and feeling that it is even so I cannot but beseech you So every one that is a-thirst come and take of the Fountain of the Water of Life freely whosoever will and buy Wine and Milk without money and without price so spend not your money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfies not my Father giveth you the true bread and whosoever eats thereof shall live for ever and be satisfied and the Fountain of the Water of Life is set open that whosoever is a-thirst may freely drink and be filled And the Bread of God is he that cometh down from Heaven who lightneth every man that cometh into the World that all men through him might be saved who filleth the hungry with good things but the rich he sends empty away So all Friends believe in the light come unto the light least ye dye in your sins for the Lord hath no pleasure that ye should dye in your sins but rather that ye should turn from your evil Ways and live unto him that so ye might know the Way of life from the VVays of death As ye come to own the light of God in you as ye love it it will teach you the right VVay wherein dwelleth righteousness a wise man vvill first seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof that he may come to knovv the Lord and find rest and peace in him vvhich the vvorld cannot give So Friends if ye would know those things and come to have rest and peace in Christ Jesus then ye must come to the light wherewith ye are enlightned Therefore all mind the light of God in you which shines into your hearts for the light is your vvay if ye love it so if ye choose to follow the Light Christ this is he that reveals the Father whom no man knovvs but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him this is he in whom the vveary comes to find rest and peace So as every one comes into the obedience of the light he comes to see the Kingdom of God and hath right to enter into the Kingdom and if yee vvait in the light but a vvhile in patience ye shall see that the Kingdom of God is come nigh Know ye not that the Kingdom of Heaven is within you So all in the light wait for the Kingdom of God to be revealed in you which stands not in vvords but in righteousness and in the truth so if even ye knovv the Kingdom of God ye shall know it within you a holy Kingdom holy and everlasting into which nothing that maketh a lye or is unclean shall enter For blessed and holy are they that are counted vvorthy to enter therein vvhich have not defiled themselves with VVomen Novv therefore Friends as ye desire the salvation of your souls wait in the light even in the holy and just principle of God in that vvhich is holy which convinces of sin and of unrighteousness and lets you see your sins and all that ever ye have done if ye vvill but hear and incline your ear and as ye own the light to be taught of the Lord there shall ye come to know Christ the Saviour of your souls who is come to save his people from their sins and to seek and to save that vvhich is lost So here is the vvay of the Lord in the light even the true and living vvay but if ye draw back after the Priests ye have rejected the Lord to be taught of the Lord so ye cannot escape the damnation of Hell so shall never witness to be taught of the Lord in the measure of light who have done despite to the Spirit of grace so it is like ye shall never know Gods salvation profess what you can in words of knowing him or his salvation For God is light and he is not known but in the light so they that are not in the light who knows not the light are in darkness even until now and so knows not the vvay of the Lord for darkness comprehends him not nor his light and they that be in the darkness knows not whither they go nor at what they stumble because that darkness hath blinded their eyes Therefore all Friends and Neighbors ye that have known me after the flesh I beseech you in Christs
stead to be reconciled to God and even now while ye have yet a little time in the body hast to meet the Lord in the manifestation of the Spirit of Light from God For that which may be known of God is manifest in you and God hath even shewed it unto you So here is your vvay to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent if ever ye come to know him vvhom to know is life eternal For there is no other vvay but by that of God in you So if ye will indeed own the right vvay the good vvay vvherein dvvelleth righteousness then come in to the light Christ vvho lightneth every man and even novv while ye have the light believe in the light that ye may be the children of the light and vvalk in the light as he is in the light that the blood of Christ may clense you from all sin and then if ye abide in the light ye shall continue in the Father and in the Son so shall ye have Fellowship vvith the Saints in light vvhom the VVorld knovvs not of vvhom the VVorld is not vvorthy that henceforth ye may no more knovv me after the flesh onely but in the spirit as ye come to be faithful unto the Lord in your measures of the light of Christ where ye may feel me and read me and knovv me vvho am unknovvn unto the VVorld yet vvell knovvn to the children of light vvho in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ doth continue and abides vvith God and vvalks in the light as he is in the light For the children of light hath Fellovvship one vvith another in the light which unites their hearts together in one But vvith the unfruitful VVorks of darkness vve have no Fellovvship and here in the light in the truth though ten thousand times ten thousand yet all one in the light even in Christ Jesus who walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit So Friends by this I shall know that ye love me and that ye love the Truth as many as can receive my Testimony and keeps my Fathers Commandments For the Testimony is not mine but his who hath chosen me to bear vvitness of him unto many but if I bear vvitness of my self my vvitness is not true there is one that beareth witness and I know that the witness that he witnesses is true for I can of my own self do nothing yet through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things For I seek not my own but the things of Jesus Christ that I may do the will of God who hath chosen me out of the VVorld to follow him in the regeneration where the VVorld seeth me not nor knows me not therefore the World hates me and scorns me VVhy because I am not of the VVorld so the VVorld cannot receive my sayings they hear me not because they are not of God for I receive not Testimony from man but these things I speak that ye might believe the truth not by way of boasting to exalt self or to puff up for all boasting is excluded and self-ends condemned with the Light of Truth so a VVitness in my measure I stand eternally against all selfishness for self is of the Devil and all proud boastings which Christ comes to destroy But These things Neighbours and Friends I write unto you that ye may come to know where rest and true peace is and not to exalt self that ye might praise me but these things I declare to the end That ye may all be awakened towards God that ye might be saved and believe what good things God hath in store for them that fear him loveâ— his appearance and believing in the light ye may have life and that every weary soul may be comforted and â—ome to find rest as he comes into the obedience of the light that the righteous God oâ—er all might have his glory who is the Author and Finisher of every good Work the first and the last God blessed for evermore So all friends in the love of the truth receive this into your hearts with meekness and fear which was given me from the Lord in the spirit to write as a Testimony from the Lord to my Nation Countrey and People for the Seed of Gods sake throughout all the VVorld where this may come was I moved of the Lord God from the love of the Spirit which are the very breathings of my soul for my Nation Countrey and People that they might be saved and hid in the day of the Lords wrath but my desire is That the wicked one in you may be destroyed and what soever worketh unrighteousness and deceit unto which I say Wo that ye may be separated from all unrighteousness therefore keep your selves to that of God in you that the wicked one touch you not and from all idolatry and so will the old man with his deeds come to be put off when the Just comes to liberty when Christ comes to have the preheminence and rules whose right it is So Friends take unto you the whole Armor of God even the Armor of Light as it comes to be put on ye will be able to resist all the fiery darts of the Devil I say As there is a watching and a waiting in the light of Christ Jesus for the teachings of God in the Spirit the lusts of the flesh and fleshly confidences withers and vanishes away and the hidden man of the heart comes to be felt and witnessed as there is an abiding in the Crosse of Christ so ye come to dye unto sinne and to be crucified to the VVorld and to live unto God Therefore all waite that yee may have Bread to feed upon which gives life to the Soule which is nourishment and health to every weary Soul who comes to feed upon the living Immortal Bread which comes downe from GOD out of Heaven shall live for ever And blessed for evermore they are who hunger after this for they shall be satisfied As many as comes to eat of this Bread and receives it into them they shall grow up as Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord. So let every one that nameth the Name of CHRIST depart from Iniquity and follow the Light and believe in the Light while ye have the Light that ye may be established in Righteousnesse and Truth Thomas Rawlinson FINIS