A few Lines in true love to such that frequent the Meetings of the People called Quakers and love to hear the sound of Truth but are not yet come to obey the Testimony of it that they may also hear and learn to Read at Home With a Second Addition as a Confirmation of what the Lord requires at your Hands FRiends hearing several Testimonies and Exhortations daily sounded in our Ears concerning our Accustoming Habiting or Adorning our selves as becomes the Truth that we make profession of there is a little in my Heart in the love of God to you â—hat frequent the meetings of Friends and daily hear the sound and â—endency of Truth as it is by one and another of the Servants of the Lord spoken amongst us for this very end that all may give diligent â—eed to the faithful and true witness of God in them that by the Word and Power of God in them the Word Preached may be so â—ffectually received and mix'd with Faith in the appearance of the â—on of Gods love that thereby it may take place in your Hearts so â—s to separate your Minds and Desires from those things that the Truth is calling from and also give you a sense of what the Truth â—s calling to or otherwise all your outward hearing although it be â—he Servants of the Lord who do speak in the power and demonstraâ—ion of the Spirit of God will not do that work for you that God hath done for many of his Children and People except you will give diâ—igent heed to his faithful and true Witness in you which is always near to instruct you and if you will retire and listen to hear when you are in Meetings you will find what of the Testimony doth belong to your inward State and whether or no you are of that number that doth adorn your selves in those things which the Testimony doth condemn or whether you are justifiable in the sight of the Great God Friends suffer me to tell you there are some that frequently come amongst the People of the Lord that have not yet given diligent heed to the witness of God in them nor to the many Testimonies of the Servants of the Lord that comes amongst them but do sit carelesly as if they had no other concern but to Hear from one day to another and do not consider the good end of the Lord and his Faithful Messengers to them which is that all should hearken and so Hear and Obey that thereby their Souls may live to God in that Life that doth adorn the Testimony of Truth which they so often come to Hear And it is as a Lovely Song to many that are not yet come to sing the Song of the Redeemed from the Corruptible things but do seem to content themselves with hearing that there is Bread enough in our Fathers House but do not Partake and Eat so worthily as that their Souls may live more and more to God and less to the out-goings of that Mind which we see is gone into many vain and ungodlike things And may it not be said to such why do you love to Hear Do you not desire to be of that number that quakes and trembles at the Word of the Lord If any should say yea then let me tell you it was no less than the Word and Power of God that did first take place amongst the People of the Lord which made many to quake and tremble when it first struck at the lifeless Profession that many were in in a form of Godliness without a sense of that invisible Life and Power of God that raises and quickens the Soul by which it comes to be made capable of Worshipping and Serving the True and Living God aright in the newness of the Spirit and in the Truth for which end he hath given every one a Measure to improve and profit withal Therefore dear Friends let none that are convinced of the blessed Truth and comes amongst the People of the Lord set down as unconcerned or content with Hearing or Professing without desiring to be made Possessors of the vertue of that invisible Life and Power of God by which you may be made Partakers of those Glorious and Heavenly things that you so often hear spoken of which you can never do except you Retire Consider and Hearken to the Voice of the Lord at Home in your selves every one apart for the Promises are all yea and Amen to the Seed Christ and all that Hear and Obey the Word of Life in themselves their Souls shall live Then in obeying the Word of God which is the promised Seed that is to bruise the Head of the Serpent in you you will find it will lead you contrary to that ungodlike Life that too to many do live in and some under a Profession of Religion But the pure Religion is the same as ever it was and as you come to be acquainted with it it will keep you from the Spots of this ungodly World Vanities and Follies that are committed therein Friends are you not sometimes touched with a Sense of the goodness of God to you then what doth it call for from you doth it not call for Circumspection in adorning and demeaning your selves in that Moderation that becomes your Christian Profession Friends my tender desires are for you and I am concerned for you that you may see what it is that hath led out your Minds into many things that the Truth doth daily exhort you from and by that means you will come clearly to see the one thing needful which is to set at the Feet of Jesus where you may hear those gracious Words that proceed from his Mouth and hearken and hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches in this our Day which is calling for Purity and Holiness that ye may be as Gods peculiar People Therefore every one to an inward hearkening to hear that Voice that calls behind you saying This is the way walk in it which also calls us to be a People of one Heart and Mind in those things that will shew forth our Love to God and his blessed Truth and one to another in which we shall feel the Condescendings of his Heavenly Power to draw all that are truly Religious together and will make them desire to appear as Children of our one Heavenly Father whose care is still over us and his prolonged Mercies still held out amongst us for which I can do no less than bless the Lord in the renewed Sense of the same which I feel upon my Spirit at this time desiring that I with you and you with me may so in Faithfulness approve our Hearts to the Lord that not one amongst us may be found of that number that are drawing down the Judgments of God by a careless and disregardful Mind of the many Mercies that we have and do yet enjoy But rather let our approachings be in that in which we may stand in the Gap and interceed with the
Lord for this the Land of our Nativity and Country in which we dwell for which dear Friends let us increase the number of true Breathings tender and fervent Supplications such as may find acceptance with the Great God who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and ought to be the only Ruler in every one of our Hearts To whom belongs all Honour Glory Reverence and Godly Fear and to him let it be given at this time and for ever Amen A. F. My Friends THese foregoing Lines were intended you some time since but I was not willing hastily to publish them till now having good Confirmation by the Testimony of the Spirit of God that runs as in a Current or Stream of Life through many of his faithful Servants by which you and I may understand that this is his Will and the present concern of many that are convinced of the blessed Truth and comes amongst us that they may all walk in the Truth and according to the Righteous Testimony of it in their own Hearts that still the Testimony of Truth may be preserved in the purity and sweetness of it by all you who do profess it and have believed in the Spiritual Appearance of Christ Jesus in your Hearts who said I am come a Light into the World he that believeth in me shall not abide in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life And blessed be the Lord many can testify he that hath promised is faithful to perform By which we know the true Light hath not only broken forth but the Sun hath also risen and in its clearness shined that Discoveres unto Man what is good and makes known the Exceptable Will of God which is that Man should do Justly love Mercy and walk Humbly with God whose all-seeing Eye beholds all things both the Evil and the Good And therefore you that have believed in the Light take heed to the Light that you may be the Children of the Light and of that blessed Day that many through the Divine Discovery of it hath and will find themselves concerned to do good and communicate of those Spiritual Blessings that they do receive from the Hand of the Lord who through the Riches of his Love doth communicate to his Children and People that wait upon him such inward Comforts that doth refresh them by which they have been often made to say it is the Lord that opens the Depths and causes the Brooks to run by the way And therefore in a living Sense thereof let us all be of a ready Mind as dear Children to Communicate and also to Receive one from another that which the Lord may see convenient by any Hand to distribute amongst us that may tend to Edification Strength or Confirmation in that measure of the samemost holy Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and which in some degree hath been delivered â—o us in this our Day by which many can bear witness to the truth of â—hat Saying As the Wind bloweth where it listeth even so is every one born of the Spirit into which Spirit the Lord hath gathered many notwithstanding there are many Enemies to Truth through the subtle working of the one Enemy of Mans Happiness and all Righteousness who goes about as he always did seeking whom he may devour having many subtle Devices by which he hath drawn many from that true regard to the Lord their Maker in which their Preservation doth consist for which indeed Dear Friends we have all cause to seek the Lord not only for our selves but also one for another that all those whom God hath called and given Faith to believe in the dispensation of his Grace and Power in our Hearts may be preserved under the safe conducts of it through this the Pilgrimage of our sojourning here towards that everlasting Rest which many People are desirous to enter and of which the Lord hath given some an Earnest in this our Day by which they are incouraged to go forward in that way which leads to Everlasting Life which way is Christ Jesus who appears in us to us and amongst us for that very End that she might restore Man and Woman into a state of Happiness and Felicity again with God their Maker who made Man for a purpose of his own Glory although Man hath sought out many Inventions with pretence to glorify God But we may see that Mans pretended ways have greatly tended to the Dishonour of the Righteous God that made him and hath put his Spirit in him for that very end that Man might be taught by it to deny Ungodliness through his Subjection to it or otherwise what is all Mans saying or doing in pretence to honour God while they do live in Unrighteousness and do unjustly one by another which we do too often see is insident to Man in his fallen Nature And therefore in this consists all Man's Happiness in Believing and Receiving him whom God hath ordained a means for their Recovery by which they may be brought into a state of Union and Communion with him again And therefore all you who have believed in the blessed Appearance of Christ Jesus in your Hearts let it be your Business and chiefest Business to walk according to the Convictions of it that by the measure of the Spirit of God received you may be able to resist that Anti-christian Spirit which is against God and an Enemy to all Righteousness and as you come to be inward and commune with your own Hearts and be still you will find what is most consistent with and agreeable to the nature of Godliness and what is most against the nature of God who is Love and they that dwell in Love are found in that which is good and most agreeable to his Will who is the Author of all good And hear you will come to find the plain path way as you come to receive the Reproofs for that which is against God by which you will also find by good and sound Experience that the Reproofs of Instruction is the way to Life and this is the universal Love of our God to all Mankind that thereby they may come under the peaceable government of his Son our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus to whom in true love let me recommend you that we may all be partakers of the blessed Benefits Death and Sufferings of our Lord who gave himself a Ransom that he might Redeem Mankind from all Iniquity and Disobedience by which he did violate his Law and incur his Displeasure but through Christ in the Riches of his Love he hath and doth call all Men every where to Repentance and that they may Repent with that Repentance that can never be Repented of And therefore all you to whom the Call of the Lord hath reached and are in some measure made sensible of his good Will therein but have not yet so obeyed as to know the work of Sanctification Salvation and Redemption out of that state of Alienation in
which there is a Separation in all Mankind from God and from the comfortable Enjoyment of his pure Divine Presence in which there is Life administred to the Soul Take you special Notice of the daily Call and Invitation of the Spirit of God that is wonderfully extended to you and doubtless in you for that very Reason that you may all be gathered near to the Lord to whom with many more that are sensible of his Love and do daily demonstrate the same by their faithful Service to and amongst you with whom according to that measure of the Grace and Spirit of God received I do find my Spirit drawn forth with and in the uniting property of it thus to demonstrate that my true Desires with theirs are for all Israel that they may be Saved in the Day of the Lord which is approaching and it is nothing less my Friends than the Love of God that hath inlarged my Heart to you knowing that you will find it no less than Meat and Drink as you come to do the Will of God whose Will is Mans Sanctification Wherefore it behoves all Men to seek the Lord and make their Peace with him that therein they may be preserved when the Lord shall suffer Trouble to come upon the Wicked and Rebellious for resisting the Spiritual appearance of Christ Jesus in their Hearts to whom I pray we may all be gathered in him settled and on him established who is the Rock of Ages and sure Foundation of all the Righteous Generations from Abel to this very day and blessed be the Lord there are some in our day through a measure of true Experience can give this Testimony that there is no other place of safety But as our hiding place is in the Lord in all Storms and Tempests of what kind soever and not only so but that we may also see the many dangers that Man is liable to in times of Fair Weather And therefore Dear Friends let me tell you for you Incouragement it is a blessed Benefit and will be to all as they retire in Humility and in the Love of God dwell which is a place of Safety where you may daily drink of the Streams of that never-failing Fountain which can never be drawn dry but doth and will run to refresh the Inhabitants of the Rock that being refreshed we may all be still enabled to walk in the way of Righteousness which brings Peace and gives an Assurance of the Love of God for ever in which Love you will feel his Power to be as a strong Tower from the Assaults of the Enemy Into which Love let every one haste to be gathered and then it will not only Edify but build up all the Lords People to be as a strong House to retain his Glory in which hath and shall shine through all Blackness and Darkness till the Light thereof go forth as as a Lamp that Burneth which being fed with Oyl never goeth out with which Oyl I pray all our Lamps may be furnished our Lights burning that the Glory of our God may still be shining in and over all the Assemblies of his People hear and every where For it is the possession of it must weigh down all the profession in the World without it And therefore Friends to God who is the giver of every good and perfect gift let me recommend you to ask in Faith of him that you may all receive from him that thereby we may all be filled as with the new Wine of the Kingdom with which the Lord is filling the new Bottles that are prepared to receive from his Bountiful Hand by which he hath and will communicate from Vessel to Vessel till all be filled and every thirsty Soul replenished by the virtuous incomes of it through which they must acknowledge it is the Lords doings and it is and will be marvelous in the Eyes of all who are the Beholders of it with that invisible Eye that God hath opened to behold his Glory far surpassing all the glory of this fading World Therefore dear Friends be not satisfied with Hearing but come now and behold him who is near you and will tell you all that ever you have done is not this the Christ the Messiah or Son of the Living God or Saviour of Mankind yes verily this is he believe in him fall down and worship him who will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And all other Worships will be as vain Oblations before him And therefore all seek the Lord retire to your Closets and wait upon him and in your Spirits wherever you are gather to him who is always near you even in you and always present with you which is a great priviledge you will find it so as you come to be acquainted with him as it is left upon Record Acquaint thy self with the Lord and be at Peace into which Peace I pray the Lord to gather and preserve all his Faithful Children together that as so many shocks of Corn we may all be ready to be bundled up and gathered into the Lords Gardner who hath said he will burn up the Chaff with unquenchable Fire Written in true Love by your Friend and Sister who desires your Prosperity in the blessed Truth A. Fisher London Printed by T. Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holy-well-Lane Shoreditch 1694.