speak in the Spirit pray in the holy Spirit rule in the Spirit come together in the Spirit continue together in the Spirit conclude in the Spirit all your meetings reserve the Brethren that are fullest of the holy Spirit for the last in exercises that you may go home with a sweet relish of the presence of Christ with warmed refreshed hearts with an appetite to come again the next opportunity because you found Jehovah so graciously present the last time Oh! when Brethren dearly beloved and longed for shall I see your faces again in the great Congregation In the Lords best time in the time appointed of the Father my Father your Father to Him with the Lord Jesus and the holy Spirit be glory for ever Amen Salute every Saint in Christ Jesus The Lord the eternal God be with you and keep you every one in his bosome for ever Amen The 8 of the 12 Moneth 1653. Yours in the Lord to serve and love you unfeignedly Christopher Feake For the Saints and faithful Brethren in CHRIST meeting in Warwick-lane LONDON My dear Brethren in Christ THe prosperity of whose souls I ardently desire more and more Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all those spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ wherewith he hath and doth bless us the unworthiest of his sons and daughters Let me now write a few words unto you by way of exhortation to press forward toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus for I perceive that in the neglect of this duty Satan takes great advantage to keep up his tottering and sinking kingdom at this day If the Angels of all the Churches had been zealous in the prosecuting of those things of which they made a fair shew in the flesh and in face or appearance Undoubtedly the several Congregations had been the glory of the Nation in the midst of it as God was willing to be their glory in the midst of the Nation then had not the faces of the most intelligent and spiritual Saints waxed pale with grief to behold the apostacy of the most eminent leaders then had not the forceries and witchcrafts of this present world beguiled them ere they were aware then had not Satan filled their hearts and the hearts of so many of the Brethren to deal treacherously with the Lord Jesus and this glorious Cause which is in great danger to be deserted utterly as a thing of no value But they are the last times and therefore it is the less wonder to see men to be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures hunting feasting musick worldly pompe and pastime more then lovers of God having a form of godliness and denying the power of it from such those who are contrary minded must and will turn away namely such Christians as being full of the Spirit 1. Are not lovers of their own selves but of the Lord Jesus and of all the Saints 2. Not covetous but liberal laying aside as God hath prospered them honouring the Lord with their substance and with the first-fruits of all their increase doing good rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate 3. Not arrogant boasters but lowly and meek self-denying resigning up all to the wise disposal of their Father 4. Not promise-breakers or covenant-breakers but faithful not changing a good resolution or word though it be to their hurt 5. Not traitors to the Saints to Christs Interest to Gods Glory but zealous promoters of common justice of righteous laws 6. Not heady or rash wilful violent advancers of their own forms but praying waiting deliberating 7. Not lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God but lovers of God of Christ of the Saints of the Common-wealth and publick-good more then of all the pleasures delights honours powers and glory which the world can by any means administer to her admirers Oh take heed of mingling with backsliders and revolters you will gain nothing by acquaintance with them or dependence on them be contented with such things as you have if it be possible yea if you have but food and raiment be not sollicitous do not make a busling for places and preferments as do others lest you be brought into the temptations of serving proud imperious mens lusts and humours The word of command from our Captain-general by this his unworthy leader of one of his Companies is To your close order to your close guard and the watch-word is The Lord is coming watch and pray the Lord is coming watch and pray Give the word fellow-Souldiers throughout the Lords Host which is armed with invisible invincible spiritual weapons it will become in due time terrible as an Army with Banners Amen Finally my Brethren the time being short Oh! beg of the Lord that you may go forward towards Gospel-perfection that you may be full of spiritual knowledge experiences and acquaintance with God even the Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ Now let the word of Christ dwell richly in you As for faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and love to all the Saints if your souls flourish and prosper therein all will flourish then you will press onward you will be zealous not luke-warm you will admonish one another watch over each the other advise help one the other you will glorifie the Lord adorn the Gospel shine like lights in the dark world and put formal worldly hypocritical professors and Church-members to shame at the coming of Jesus Christ Salute every Saint especially those who are most helpful exemplary and diligent to promote the communion of Saints If there be any that will not obey the Law of Christ upon admonition in love note that man or woman by letter that I my help to heal them at this distance for I am with you in Spirit The Lord even the Lord that fanctifies and saves you be your portion for ever The 11 of the 12 Moneth 1653. Yours in the Lord with all I am Christoph Feake My Beloved in the Lord I Do again salute you as those to whom the Father of glory hath appeared in the face of Jesus Christ and to whom the holy Spirit hath already come as the Comforter to satiate the soul of the hungry and thirsty ones more or less My soul is still waiting upon the Lord for your good as knowing that all your fresh springs are in him as mine are otherwise we should soon lie down in sorrow But blessed for ever be the glorious Name of our Jehovah who in the superabundant riches of his grace hath made most precious provision in the Lord Jesus Christ for us and for all the Saints Verily Brethren the consideration of the willingness and large heartedness of our heavenly Father is enough to overwhelme our poor weak Spirits our frail hearts are not in any wise able to
the Lord Jesus in the light of his own Spirit found it a blessed imployment to be inquiring and hearkning where the signe of Gods presence was and upon which of the Congregations or assemblies I could finde the most glorious demonstrations of the power of godliness and where the Lord was pitching his Tents and revealing himself to his Beloved Ones This is also my work at this day to contemplate and consider what posture the Saints are now in and to watch that I may know where the glory of the Lord is revealed and where or from whence it will break forth at the approaching revolution In time past before the New Model was in being or extant in the world it was in the scattered Saints yet gathered together in several meetings kept in the City Army and Countries to finde out a right way from Babylon to Sion You remember what distress the Lords people were in at that time when that Tyrant had the North and West at his devotion when Essex his Army was beaten and degenerate when we were betrayed and forsaken by the old Souldiers of Fortune when the King and his Princes were victorious and rampant after the sacking of Leicester And when the new Model was despised in almost all mens eyes It was commonly called in reproach and scorn both by the King 's and Essex his souldiers The New Model save a small remnant of praying and believing Saints where was the presence of God then who could declare before whom the pillar of fire did shew it self as the token of Jehovah's presence It must not be forgotten but remembred with renewed thankfulness even at this day That it did break forth and manifest it self most gloriously from Nazeby-field even every day more and more Then the Lord began to use the new Army as One of the weak foolish despised Things of the world Then the Council of War used to aske counsel of God and God was with them wonderfully to direct them to bless them with victorious success abundantly Then the Head-quarters were famous and amiable even as the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts Then the Spirit of Glory and of God rested upon them and marched before them everywhere yea it was as a wall of fire round about them and the glory in the midst of them Zech. 2.5 And so it continued from year to yeer to the astonishment of the wicked and to the triumphant rejoycing of the righteous At length after some dangerous Temptations were overcome as the Armies trinkling and tampering with and for the King Queen and their Issue which afterward in their straits they bewailed in Windsor Castle the presence and Spirit of the Lord ingaged them also to execute judgement and justice upon the grand murtherer and persecutor of the Saints not to mention other strange and great enterprizes so as that the whore of Babylon and the Kings of the earth had cause to be exceedingly afraid Ireland was reduced also with a high hand especially at the beginning and the Lord was gloriously present still with the General and his Army onely some intelligent self-denying souls did discern plainly that divers Officers began betimes even too too early to minde the prey even before the work was done and it cost many of them very dear Let us remember also the expedition into Scotland and the high Appeal made by our Presbyterian-Brethren and the Army with their friends nights and dayes were spent in earnest prayer on both sides the Lord appeared in terrible Majesty at Dunbar About that time the Cause of Christ the Interest of Christ the work of God the downfal of Babylon and such-like language sounded from the Head-Quarters from the great Officers of the Army My soul was ravished to see and observe the spirit of prayer at White-Hall in those dayes among many of the chief Commanders as if they had loved none but Christ as if they cared for none but Christ and his Interest as if they would never have endured any King but the Lord Jesus or any Laws but his or any Ministers but his We who through grace were plain-hearted thought there were not such another people upon the face of the earth for love to Christ to the glory of Christ that he might be magnified and exalted as were the conducting and commanding part of the Army But Oh! Oh my Bowels my Bowels The gradual declension and defection since Worcester with what words shall I bewail it how have all the things of Christ been neglected how hath that most noble and glorious Cause of the Lord Jesus been forsaken by those who ought by manifold obligations to have promoted it to the utmost there was a price put into their hands and power was in their hands Oh this spirit of Baruch to seek great things for our selves when Jehovah saith Seek them not Behold that which is built God will pull down and that which is planted He will pluck up The Lord Jesus is making great hast to break in pieces all these Kingdoms both new and old and yet men are busie in seeking their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ I cannot but speak I must open my heart to some who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity my lise is not dear to me in this Cause If the Powers of the world and Rulers of the people have a minde to take away my Life as they have done my Liberty behold here it is in a readiness If the Lord give the word I am willing through grace not onely to be bound but to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus and for the Gospel of the Kingdom I am free to give directions to my worst enemies were they may make inquiry after all my wayes from my childhood to this day and if they finde I have committed any thing worthy of death or of bonds let them take their advantage but to keep me a Prisoner seven or eight moneths and not bring me to the place of hearing that I may know what my crime is and who are my accusers and the witnesses this is not fair dealing I am loth to aggravate things but the manner of the Romans was more according to justice expressed in Acts 25. Brethren I desire to keep in memory the Cause of our dear Lord so do you and know them who are of this Spirit through the Nation provoke one the other to wrestle with God to cry unto our Father If his children cry unto him he will not he cannot long forbear he will return and have compassion on the Remnant of his Heritage for mercy pleaseth him The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all your Spirits in the glorious ministration of Grace Mercy and Peace continually Amen From my house of bondage this 31 of the 6 month 1654. Yours for the Lord's sake to do or to suffer on your behalf Christopher Feake FINIS For the well-beloved CHURCH of Christ meeting in Colemanstreet Swan Alley My dearly beloved
earthly things do indeavour so industriously to heap upon us The truth is The world knoweth us not because it knew not him it hateth us because it hated him And the news of his second coming is as troublesome to the Kings of the earth now in being whether they are the sons of ancient Kings as the Prophet speaks or late Usurpers and Tyrants as ever Herod was troubled at his first coming Mat. 2.3 and all Jerusalem with him Oh Beloved those appearances which are acceptable to the Saints are no waies welcome to the earthly powers those truths which are milk and honey to the children of Sion are gall and wormwood to the inhabitants of Babylon It 's no marvel nor urange at all that it is but a little little flock which will be found to remain faithful to that inward invisible pure spiritual interest of our dearest Lord which is now breaking forth through all these thick and tempestuous clouds Verily my Spirit is more and more heightned and quickned to look for most glorious and admirable vicissitudes Methinks my heart rejoyceth as if a cordial from heaven were conveyed to it to incourage me now in prison for this good old Cause Oh! what a pleasant sight to see the Whore of Babylon with the Kings of the earth with all her drunken Princes and her Wise men and her Captains and her Rulers and her Mighty men wearying themselves in new Counsels tiring out their Spirits in obviating the feared and suspected designes of the praying awakened Saints both in Cities and Countries Come dear Brethren this is not a season for you to be wearied and to faint in your mindes but let us look unto our Jesus the Author and the Finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and despised the shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God Brethren now it is a fit time for us to consider I say to consider the Apostle and high-Priest of our profession and to hold fast our profession let no man or devil get our Crown our very confidence hath great recompence of reward What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits unto me especially those blessings of the New-Testament-Ministration And what thanks can you render unto him who hath hitherto kept you by his mighty power from the present abominable apostacie Have you every one on a garment of fine linen white and clean which is the righteousness of the Saints And doth the Lord help you to keep your garments about you that no man see your nakedness then you shall walk with Christ in white when he comes for you are worthy But if on the contrary there should be a declining and departing from the living God in any degree through unbelief if there be a decay of love to the Father and a warm affection to the world and the great and the sweet things thereof in any of you in any among you what a sad consequence were that after all the open and professed declarations which have been observed by Angels and Men. But I hope better things though I thus write from that principle of Pastoral-love and care which the Lord hath put into me What shall I say methinks I am present with you in the midst of you observing what love peace gentleness sweetness of brotherly communion there is among you from the greatest to the least What inward spiritual joy manifest zeal what beauty of holiness what mutual edifying what praying in the holy Spirit what warm exhortations what gracious admonitions are stirring among you Yea but Brethren what if the Lord himself should suddenly come and stand in the midst where you are assembled together and view the posture of that little flock from which I am violently removed for a season for their tryal should he finde all things managed after his own heart would you be glad to see the Lord as the Disciples were John 20.19 20. read the place Might he not upbraid you with unbelief and hardness of heart should he finde nothing in you and among you worthy of admonition or reproof Tell me at this distance how could you behold him if you should see him in his glory and in his Fathers glory are you able to abide the day of his coming I fear there are very few Congregations of Saints in all the world that are tolerably prepared for the Bridegrooms coming Finally Beloved remember what I have spoken to you while I was among you from the word of the Lord the searcher of hearts knoweth I did and endeavoured to do all things for your edifying for the best advantage of your precious souls I was alwaies willing to bring forth out of my poor treasury things both new and old even such Truthes and Principles and Rules as I received of the Lord by the teachings of that holy unction and delivered unto you I kept back nothing that I could judge by the light of the Word and Spirit that it was profitable unto you and it was and is your part to search the Scriptures daily whether those things were and are so or not If I should see your faces no more if I were to be offered up I should not repent of what I have taught you and the poor sinful children of men whatever the Rulers of the darkness of this world do judge or say my heart doth not condemn me in the least all this time of banishments from the courts of the Lords house And blessed for ever be my Shield and Buckler I have great and sweet confidence towards him and the Lord being my Helper and Protector I do not for I have no cause to fear what man can do unto me The Lord make you and me faithful unto the death and fill us that are his in good earnest with joy and peace in believing onely let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one minde striving together for the faith of the Gospel My fellow-prisoner saluteth you Brethren pray for us strive in prayer for us that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men in the time appointed of the Father Salute most the most holy lively heavenly active Saints in this crooked generation The Lord be with you Yours as and because your are Christs Christopher Feake Brethren Beloved and longed for in the Lord THe High and Mighty One whose name is Jehovah our righteousness be your Protector for ever O! that he would look down from the Habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory and smile and shine upon every one of you in the Beloved The Lord Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us when we were yet sinners and ungodly when we were yet enemies in our mindes by wicked works to whom be glory for ever Amen Verily it is good to be
far and to what degrees my Letters have been acceptable unto you the Lords people and a part of the lot of his inheritance is best known to him whose eyes are in the midst of the golden Candlesticks as a flame of fire and whose prerogative it is to search the hearts and try the reins of the children of men But blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory who hath put me in the Ministery of the new Testament that he hath vouchsafed to his poor unworthy servant This grace of bearing testimony to his coming and his kingdom and hath superadded and heaped up incouragement upon incouragement so as that I shall not be left nor forsaken in this honourable Cause of his Son Jesus Christ and of his Gospel And I do further praise his glorious Name by this Epistle in this Congregation of his Saints for that he hath given me a room in his own bosome and in his holy place even in the holy of holies the place where his Honour dwelleth and where his glory shineth as also hath let me into the hearts and prayers of many of his choicest people who have received a good measure of that holy and divine unction whereby gradually they may come to know all things although I am also sensible of that dissatisfaction concerning me and my Cause which is upon the Spirits of divers godly people But do not we know that they are generally such as are contented to sit down on this side Jordan with the two Tribes and a half and their attainments and enjoyments are no higher then they were seven yeers since if so high neither do they desire they should be but my soul pities them I see those that were first are in danger of being the last and the last are in probability of being first And blessed are they who are not offended in Christ and at the Gospel of the kingdom As for you Brethren beloved and longed for great is my care for you great is my rejoycing over you I can say Through grace the Lord hath given me to have a natural â—â—re of your state and of your affairs and what I have written hitherto I have written with much seriousness of Spirit as in the sight of God and in sincerity as knowing that I am what I am through free mercy for your edifying Information is for your edifying exhortation is for your edifying reproof is for edifying if there be no matter for reproof to work upon if it finde nothing in you or any of you bless the Lord who hath kept you and that joy in uprightness and innocencie will be for your edifying If there be any among you conscious to any unworthy walking before the Lord his people and the world as who is not I am sure I am guilty of unworthy walking and miscarriages every day then let every such one lay his or her hand upon their heart and humble themselves secretly before the Lord and look to their steps Our God is a jealous God and a consuming fire and he searcheth Jerusalem with candles and espies and knows all your thoughts all your works and waies and words and walks Look to your hearts and spirits and affections and dispositions and ends and principles with all diligence Believe it Christ will make work among you if all be not found at the bottom my office and ministery which I have received in the Lord will bear me out in being instant in season out of season in representing what I judge to be the minde of Christ unto you from the oracles of God they being profitable for doctrine and for reproof correction and instruction in righteousness happy are the people who have the Lord Jehovah so neer unto them in all matters for their God as he is even unto you though I am nothing and desire to be accounted so so that Christ may be all in all so that you may make up the fulness of him that filleth all in all As for that fruit of righteousness and love which you have lately shewed forth in the presence of the Lord Jesus and his elect Angels for and in consideration of my sufferings formerly at Newgate-market and at the present and of all those necessary expences incident thereunto I do here testifie to the glory of the Lord and declaration of your readiness of minde that it was administred in seaâ—on and so hath not onely made a supply of that which should have been administred by others and was not but also is abundant by many thanksgivings unto God and as he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly so he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully for as you abound in this grace and other graces towards others so God is able to make all grace abound towards you Therefore my Beloved as ye have alwaies obeyed not as in my presence onely but now much more in my absence Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling yet let not the hope assurance of salvation eat up and devour your holy fear and trembling frame of spirit before the Lord but like the true inward circumcision worship God in spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Further I exhort you and urge you as from the Lord in whose name I write to do all things without murmurings and disputings let all your things be done in brotherly love let all passages be managed with meekness of spirit that concern a private interest but with holy zeal that concern the publick interest of our Lord and Law-giver and to this end the Lord give you all from the greatest to the least a spirit of wisdom to try things that differ and particularly to distinguish betwixt the glory of Christ and the honor of men that you may approve accordingly of that alwaies in all conferences which is most excellent for I tell you or rather the Lord That his glory must not now be given to another and they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes must have also a constant disposition to leave all to lose all at an hours warning for his sake the Gospels With many other words I could write unto you for my heart is inlarged but I must break off and commend you to the grace of that God who brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting Covenant and to the word of the Gospel which is able to build you up further and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith in Christ Jesus to whom with the holy Spirit be glory for ever Brethren pray for me and mine when you pray for your own souls The 1 of the 1 Moneth 1653. Yours in bonds for yours and the service of all the Saints CHRISTOPHER FEAKE POSTSCRIPT Brother Simpson salutes the Church in the Lord and desires continuation of prayers thanking you all for your kinde remembrance Dearly beloved Brethren
MY hearts desire and prayer to God for you all is that as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so you may walk in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving for otherwise Satan will get an advantage against you and prevail upon you so as to put you to shame and me also in the sight of this present evil old world Oh! how will it tend to the glory of our God and Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ for you to remain unmoveable and unshaken in the midst of all the present temptations both on the right hand and on the left considering that the subtil old Serpent hath doubtless a most mischievous designe against you as you are the Temple and Habitation of the living God Oh! how shall we rejoyce together when we meet to bless and to praise the Lord for preserving us unto his heavenly kingdom notwithstanding the strong endeavours of all adversaries to keep us asunder to scatter us and so to rejoyce and glory in our desolation But our God will come and will not keep silence yea he will come with vengeance and make a most wonderful discovery of that notorious falsehood and hypocrisie of that prodigious perfidiousness whereof this adulterous generation is so deeply guilty before the Lord and his people In the interim possess your souls with patience watch and pray lest you also enter into temptation lest you also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness Remember it is Jehoâ—ah your righteousness who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Great are my hopes many are my fears concerning you and especially concerning those among you who shall think within themselves when they hear this You are more fearful or he is more fearful then he needs to be we shall do well enough let such an one think if any such there be that such thoughts nourished and cherished in his heart are certain symptomes of an uncertain Spirit and of a treacherous heart Oh consider consider what relicks of unbelief what remainders of lusts what members of the old man are yet unmortified in the best of us Who made us to differ from the World Oh lean lean upon your Beloved that hath made a difference between you and those poor creatures that are yet in their blood yet in their sins Are you not believers are you not Disciples of the Lord are you not Saints by calling have not you every one seen the Lord have not you as others beheld as in a glass with a face unveiled the glory of the Lord then Brethren why are we not transformed from glory to glory why are our hearts narrow cold heavy why are our Spirits carnal earthly and staggering why do not our souls mount aloft Great is my boldness in writing as it used to be in speaking to you I have a great interest in you and among you I have a great part a large share in the good or evil that befals you your comforts are my comforts also your discomforts are my discomforts also Oh that I might warm your hearts at this distance by the power of God! setting these expressions of love and truth strongly and effectually upon all your hearts How doth the inward pulse of your hidden man beat what secret workings walkings and communications in the inmost holy place Do you can you set your feet upon the necks of your wost enemies the cursed corruptions of your nature Verily Christians if you do not grow into intimate acquaintance with the Almighty if you attain not to holy familiar communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ you will be of little use in the publick service of the Lambe against the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet Beg with ardent supplication to live and to be kept under the glorious ministration of the Spirit Do not so minde the work within doors as to neglect the work abroad Do not give up your strength and the might of your Spirits for the carrying on the publick work of Christ abroad to the disadvantage of the concernments of your souls but as I have formerly advised you touching the graces and the gifts of the Spirit so I perswade as to this matter carry on the great affairs within and without In conjunction and in proportion But remember as I have told you often Therefore doth the Lord dispatch the business of your salvation and particular happiness giving you a full assurance of eternal life that so his people having their own inheritance secured to them for ever they may be capable of serving the Lord Jesus in their generation upon the most noble account Now my Beloved I shall conclude with a few words unto you as you are assembled together in the Name of the Lord ponder your paths study the duty of your relations Consider what families you live in and what eyes are upon you let the believing Husband endeavour to gain the unbelieving wife and the believing wife the unbelieving husband by a holy wise loving dutiful conversation both in word and deed let parents and children that fear the Lord carry themselves as becometh the Gospel so masters and servants that was the great care of the Apostles in the primitive Churches Study the Epistles that were sent to all the Congregations You have lately testified your love to me beyond my expectation accept of this and such-like tokens of my love to you Oh that I might finde you when my God brings me among you a people mightily improved in holiness and purity in brotherly kindeness and love in self-denial and heavenly mindedness in zeal and spiritual magnanimity in every grace in every gift walking in the most excellent waies of truth and peace that God in all things might be glorified by us through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever Amen This Epistle and Salutation is sent in much affection unto you From my prison-house this 4 of the 1 Moneth 1654. From your faithful shepherd through grace still in bonds for Christ Christoph Feake POSTSCRIPT My fellow-prisoner and my yoke-fellow salute you and we earnestly desire a continual mention in prayers and supplications before the Lord withal desiring that the Lord may be magnified in the Congregation for all the loving kindnesses and tender mercies wherewith he hath crowned us since we were made the prisoners of Jesus My dearly Beloved BEhold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! If the Lord Jesus will confess us to be such before his Father and the holy Angels yea and before the faces of our proudest adversaries What ground of joy unspeakable and full of glory will be hereby administred unto us even in the midst of all those reproaches and slanderous reports that the men of the world who minde
writing and hearing of the sweet and precious Name of the Lord Jesus It is most pleasant to ponder and to meditate upon the mystery of God even the Father and of Christ When once we have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof when we are by means of walking with the holy One become spiritually minded then Oh then we suck sweetness out of bitterness and can turn water into wine then we finde meat in the eater then we enjoy liberty in bonds and life in death then we feel the Lord blessing when men are cursing Christianity is a mystery throughout yea the managing of the most easie and obvious affairs in the Churches of the Saints is to be in a mystery All your things are to be spiritually ordered It 's a most glorious sight to me to see every debate every consultation every resolution all your ordinary matters beautified and adorned with that holy gravity and seriousness of language gesture method with that sweetness of love humility mutual condescention with that meekness of wisdom in the Elders of attention and reception and consent in the Brethren that may render you amiable to the Lord Jesus and his elect Angels being in the midst of you formidable to wicked men and the evil Angels that observe you and watch for your halting and would rejoyce to espie among you any uncomliness or absurdity this would be an excellent means to help you to set the Lord alwaies before you to have fresh and new thoughts of Gods Omnipresence of Christs walking in the midst of the golden Candlesticks this used to over-awe my disorderly Spirit when I was among you I hope I shall learn as Timothy how to behave my self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God in this short time of banishment better then formerly I believe the Lord intends a manifold benefit by my absence to you and many others as well as to my own soul I rejoyce exceedingly in spirit to consider We do not live in the declining age of the Church but in that season when the Lord will adde abundantly more of his Spirit then in many generations formerly Wherefore let me beseech you to gird up the loyns of your minde put on your sandals walk climbe up to the top of Pisgah look over Jordan behold the Land of promise the Land of rest the Land flowing with milk and honey look beyond the downfal of Babylon the marriage-supper of the Lambe the great battel of Armageddon look beyond the victory over the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet to the binding of Satan look beyond the binding of Satan to the coming down of the new Jerusalem to the spiritual glory of the City whose name is Jehovah-Shammah to the peaceable reign of our Solomon there remaineth a rest for the people of God Believe and live to enter into that rest Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you the Lord make you all mighty in the Scriptures wiser then your teachers wiser then your enemies and then nevertheless the more humble and lowly and lovely in the possession of your attainments The Lord fill the great vessels and the small vessels brim-ful of grace and peace and truth and love and spiritual understanding in a word fill you with his Spirit as with new wine the Lord make you drunk with his Spirit Oh that every one in the Congregation had a high Spirit for Christ a mighty Spirit for Christ I would to the Lord you had each of you the Spirit of David's Worthies in a spiritual sence that a few of you even two or three of you were able to break through the host of the Philistines for our Davids sake Be of good comfort There is work to do for the Lords young Disciples that are in their first love and their love to their Saviour and his interest will be tried There is business also for the Lords old Disciples that have been tried already and have overcome let them continue faithful to the death and they shall receive a crown of life a crown of righteousness which the Lord is preparing for them that love his appearing Brethren I have received your Messengers with gladness and we do mutually refresh each other the Lord be with your Spirit I shall further enlarge my thoughts the next opportunity pray and strive in prayer for a poor worthless creature the Lord is good to me in abundance I long to appear with joy in the great Congregation From my captivity in Windsor the 15 of the 1 Moneth 1653 4. Your faithful Shepherd in bonds Christoph. Feake Dearly Beloved in the Lord Jesus THe desire of my Soul on your behalf is this That the Lord would so communicate himself to you that ye might be like the Saints at Rome in Pauls time full of goodness filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another and in that case I should rejoyce with you all abundantly for my chains and bonds would be lighter and easier to me by many degrees Whereas now I must ingenuously confess before the Lord and unto you that the care that cometh upon me daily because of you is more unto me then all the cruel mockings and scourgings with the tongue yea even then my bonds and imprisonment which I indure at this day The honour of our dear Lord is so much concerned in your walking and comunion together in your sweet gentle meek and holy behaviour in the ordering and managing of the affairs of Christs spiritual Kingdom through him set up by you that still at every turn you come into my thoughts How do they walk do they walk orderly do they please God do they edifie one another in love have the adversaries no cause to speak reproachfully hath their adversary the Devil no advantage to speak against them do they pray in the holy Spirit Is there a high and a mighty Spirit for God and for Christ and for his Cause in the midst of them Ah! Brethren I think with my self how shall I finde you when I come unto you again Have you increased with the increasings of God are you more and more strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man do you live by the faith of the Son of God I would to God I might finde you less luke-warm and more zealous for the Lord then when I left you more in the Spirit and less in the flesh and in self and in this world Do none of your eyes begin to dazzle at the glory and splendor of the Court as do the eyes of others Come Brethren a day in the Lords Courts is better then a thousand in any Princes Court upon the face of the Earth and for my part I had rather be a door-keeper or sit at the threshold of the Lords House then to dwell in the Tents or Palaces of wickedness It may be the Lord hath called me aside for a short space for this very purpose to tempt you
and to prove you and to see what is in each of you and what the workings of your Spirits are and to let you know by experience that the wisdom of God in appointing guides and leaders to your use and edifying is that which cannot but be acceptable to the sober serious and stedfast Saints As for mine own condition I desire to deal plainly with you Blessed be my God and my gracious Father my lot is falsen to me in a pleasant place and I have a goodly heritage as for personal contentment it is very great I am doing my Fathers work and will I am suffering for the Gospel of the Kingdom I am learning to be more conformable to Christ my Head in learning obedience by the things that I suffer It is absolutely the best estate for the present that my heavenly Father can put me into The words of Manoah's wife to him are sweet unto me If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would as at this time have told us such things as these so I say If the Lord were not pleased with our sufferings in this Cause if this service for Christ-were not acceptable but unacceptable unto him he would never have revealed himself so graciously and so gloriously unto us as he hath done he would never have filled us with so sweet peace and joy in believing but our hearts would have condemned us if he had left us so that through rich mercy I am not careful what men think of us what their opinions are how they carry â—hemselves in speaking evil of things they know not It is sufficient and abundantly sufficient to us that our comforts abound and increase they diminish not I tell you Brethren the very confidence that God hath put into us by his Word and Spirit hath great recompence of reward There are two things that do I am perswaded work for our good 1. The malice of our enemies that scorn us and backbite us and judge us busie-bodies and evil doers and disturbers of the peace c. saith the Lord to us Your enemies speak falsly and the more they curse the more I bless and will bless Verily this is sweeter then honey And then secondly There are a company of faithful souls who in the light of God do understand the present Cause of Christ and that we are sufferers upon that acount and so they wrestle and will not let the Lord go unless he bless us poor prisoners with special and sutable blessings Verily I bless the Lord night and day in remembrance of the prayers of the Saints who understand the times next unto my blessing his name for the glorious intercession of our faithful and merciful High-Priest Finally Brethren farewel live in love follow those things that make for peace and whereby one may edifie another do not grieve one anothers Spirits by any uncomly expressions in words or behaviour Grieve not the Spirit of Christ but study the happiness of the whole body and glorifie the Lord by an holy sweet meek and gentle profitable conversation I salute you every one once more in our dear Redeemer Imitate those who walk most like Jesus Christ and we shall meet again with joy and our joy shall no man take from us Amen From my Prison-lodging the last day of the 3 week of the 1 moneth -- 54. Yours next unto my being Christs desirous of your best good Christoph Feake Dear Brethren THe superabounding satisfaction wherewith the Lord hath condescended to inrich a poor empty creature calls aloud upon me to magnifie his Goodness toward me If I should tell you a feigned story of That which I have not seen nor felt nor experienced in my self the Lord would finde me out and make me an example to those that should come after of his severity and strict dealing with me but in very deed I do plainly perceive that the Lord hath purposed to shew me more of his glory Indeed a great part of my care will be concerning You to whom I am as neerly related in the fellowship and service of the Gospel as ever notwitstanding this distance and therefore shall not cease praying for you as I have begun that you may every one adorn the glorious Gospel of the blessed God and walk worthy of the Lord who hath called you unto his Kingdom and Glory And I would that you should understand Brethren and believe that the things which have befallen me have come to pass rather for the furtherance of the Gospel then otherwise and I hope some if not many of the Brethren in the Lord Jesus will grow confident by my bonds and will be much more bold to speak the word without fear considering especially that the Lord hath made a most sweet addition to my former joy and comfort in the Holy Spirit so that I may say boldly The Lord is my Helper I will not fear what man can do unto me I know I shall ere long come again and continue with you all for your furtherance and the joy of your faith that your rejoycing in Christ Jesus may be more abundant for me by my coming to you again Dear Brethren Innocency and Independency make the highest and the mightiest Spirits and let the Princes the Priests the Captains who are so busie in bolstring up the cursed whore of Babylon know it for a Truth that the Lords Hidden Holy Ones will in the might of the Spirit of Jehovah shout down the walls of the Babylonish Jericho though they are as high as Heaven they shall come tumbling down Amen Hallelujah Oh! that I might be one of the teeth of that sharp threshing instrument which the worm Jacob shall ere long be transformed into and so help to thresh the High and Mighty Mountains of the Earth and to beat them small and to make the Hills as chaff I do very much hope when I come again I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel more then ever Wherefore I beseech you to be at peace among your selves to admonish the disorderly in abundance of tenderness in love to comfort the feeble-minded to support the weak to visit the fatherless and widows that are widows indeed I thought to have spoken with some concerning whom it was needful to look into their condition but the wise God prevents me for the present that I may hereafter have more light from his word to guide me in difficult affairs Pray forme that in this retirement I may attain better to understand then ever hitherto how to behave my self in the Church of God in the house of the living God Oh! it 's sweet to be sensible of a growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be glory and dominion now and for ever Amen From my pleasant country-house this 31 of the 11 Moneth 1653. Your
and to speak evil of the things they know not but yet I write not these last words to shame you but because I in my very soul desire you may not stumble and fall and shew your shame and break your bones Therefore again I warn you not to believe reports When I am brought before Councils of State or Courts of Justice and there be found any evil in me why I should be thus dealt with even worse then blasphemers and felons and other malefactors are dealt with in Prison and that in several respects then it will be time enough for you to censure and judge and condemn but to this day after seven moneths imprisonment I have not been brought to the place of hearing neither accusets not witnesses have passed upon me My heart doth not condemn me nor the Lord who is greater then my heart and knoweth all thinâ—s I have boldness before him and should I fear what man can do unto me Therefore judge nothing before time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsel of all mens hearts and his judgement will be according to truth Amen Come Lord Iesus come quickly From my watch-Tower in this house of bondage called Windsor Castle this 28 of the 6 Moneth 1654. Your servant for Christ's sake willing to do or to suffer according to the will of God Christopher Feake To all that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints who have fellowship with the Father and his son Jesus Christ and with one another Precious Souls HAving tasted in some measure the sweetness of communion with God and also of fellowship one with another we cannot but commend the same to all Saints as a thing worthy to be desired coveted embraced and promoted by them to the utmost in their generation And when other ways of Communion one with another are denied them then this of writing with Ink and Paper each to other hath been ever found of singular use and comfort to them and been practised by the Saints in all ages even from the Apostles times down to these of ours wherein we now live whereby they do still encourage comfort counsel exhort stir up quicken and provoke one another to love and to good works and to a holy humble heavenly sincere upright and unblameable conversation in the midst of a crooked perverse corrupt deceitful and adulterous generation And we amongst others having sound no small refreshment by these Letters which were occasionally written unto us by our dear Pastor when he was through the malice and instigation of Satan the old uccusor of the brethren rent and torn from his Congregation and from his other dear relations we know not for what cause unless it were for his faithfulness cordialness and constancie to the Lord Jesus and his Saints and unto their Cause and Interest or for bearing his testimony against the sins and evils of Apostates Backsliders and Treacherous dealers that so ignobly deserted their Colours and are revolted and gone or for witnessing to the Truths of the kingdom and coming of the Lord Jesus the king of Saints and the king of Nations to rule and to raign in righteousness and in judgement in the earth according as he hath spoken thereof by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began we have often earnestly desired for our own farther comfort and edifying and for the like benefit and refreshing to other Saints that these his Letters to us with many others which he hath written might be made publike to the end that as the Lord hath and doth comfort us in all our tribulations so we might hereby be a means under him of comforting others with the same comfortâ— wherewith we our selves are comforted of God and that those who have the gift of discerning of spirits in any measure may judge whether these things that are written being no other in effect then such as from time to time have been spoken and preached to us by this faithful though despised servant of Christ be the breathings of the holy Spirit of God or the inspirations and suggestions of the devil and of evil angels as unreasonable men have calumniated and aspersed him Say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a devil said they of Christ Now if they call the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold Yet saith Christ Be not deceived God is not mocked the Blasphemy and the words spoken against the holy Spirit they shall never be forgiven unto men neither in this world nor in that which is to come However saith he to his disciples Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councils and ye shall be brought before governours and kings for my sake FOR A TESTIMONY AGAINST THEM But when they shall deliver you up take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak For IT IS NOT YE THAT SPEAK but THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER WHICH SPEAKETH IN YOU Matth. 10.20 c. It is the Spirit of your Father saith Chrisst which speaketh in you For the blessed return of which Spirit of the Father from on high and for the glorious effusion of it upon all flesh let the sons and daughters and servants and handmaids of the Lord to whom it is promised ever pray and they shall finde every day more and more that it will break forth mightily to the confounding of that spirit of the World that is risen up in opposition and contradiction to it for this spirit must fall but the Spirit of Christ must arise and the Priests and Souldiers can no more suppress it or keep it under then they could the body of Jesus from its resurrection In the mean time let it suffice unto us that Christ knows the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not Christians and are not for Christ and are not for the Ministers of Christ and are not for the Spirit of Christ and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2.9 and are of their father the devil and the lusts of their father they will do who was a murderer from the beginning and ABODE NOT IN THE TRUTH who is also a lyer and the father of lyes Joh. 8.44 Signed by appointment and in behalf of divers others of the Congregation who have subscribed the Original copie Thomas Allen. John Luxford Robert Davie Stephen Rookeby POSTSCRIPT Reader TAke notice that the two last Letters to the Church are placed out of order because they could not be obtained in due time and therefore are to be read as the two first Letters from Windsor though printed last A short WORD To the faithful REMNANT who are of one SPIRIT in the present Truth and Cause of Christ I Alwayes since I understood the nature of the controversie betwixt Antichrist and