therein and if any Man take away from the words of the Prophesie of this Book God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this Book and this is your reward you add your Wisdom to the Prophesie of this Book and the Plagues written in this Book will be added to you and you take away from the words of the Prophesie of this Book in drawing the people from the anointing within them which the Father hath sent to be their Teacher according to the Prophesie of this Book to seek for the Kingdom of Heaven in carnal Observations you have set up contrary to the Prophesie of this Book and in the estate you here stand your names are taken out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this Book Repent ye Reprobates who reject the Counsel of Christ in you and give over deceiving the people and mind the Light in you that discovereth to you the evil of your Hearts and give up to be guided by it least you perish in your gain sayings Kiss the Son in obeying his Counsel which is the Light in you least you perish in the way for if his anger be kindled a little blessed are all they that trust in him W. D. Dear Friends ANd Children of the living God mind your watch every one in particular and dwell in that which is of God which is the Light that searches the Hearts and discovers the Seed of the Serpent and its ground and being and ministers to the Seed of the Woman which Seed is Christ who is the Fountain and Treasure House where you shall receive of his Fulness Wisdom and Power to stand against the Serpent in all his appearances so will his Head be bruised and the eternal pure Eye will be opened in you to know what is to be blest and what is to be accurst therefore every one in your measures stand faithful in the Counsel of God which is the Light the eternel Witness of his Spirit which witnesseth against all deceit in its ground where it appears I charge you all in the presence of the living God that you consult not with Flesh and Blood nor look not down at the Corruption as to discouâ—age you and cause you to distrust in the Mercies of the living God thou that dost thy Condemnation slumbers not for the Wrath of God abideth on the All dwell in that which is pure stand out of your own wills and thoughts but keep in that which is of God that witnesses against all deceit in its appearances and all hold fast your confidence which is the measure of Faith which is the Witness of the eternal Spirit so will all deceit be kept under and the Serpents head will be bruised and the pure holy Seed of God the righteous Babe who works no Iniquity and in whose Mouth is found no guile will be set at liberty raised up to reâ—gn King over all the Earth and to do the Will of God so shall your Souls enter within this holy City and you shall have right to the Tree of Life feeding on the Feast of fat things the eternal Riches of the free Mercies of God in the free Covenant of Life in the Lord Jesus and there you shall rest with the Lord forever where nothing shall enter that works Abomination or makes a Lie but that which is written in the Lambs Book of Life and this is the rest that 's prepared for the people of God where the workers of Iniquity shall never come All dear Friends joyn with the Seed of God that works no Iniquity and take heed of lending your Ears to the Counsel of the Serpent that would draw your minds to look out at Experiences which you have partaked of in the Dispensation of the Power of God in rendering Plagues upon the works of Iniquity wherein thou comest to witness in the Name of Christ Miracles wrought in thee and Devils cast out wherein thou wast in Bondage by their power and thou who comest to witness the Lord ministring to his tender Seed in opening to thy Soul the riches of his Love laid up in Christ Jesus and so comest to Prophesie in the Name of Christ but not abiding in the Counsel of the living God who would destroy the works of Iniquity and would cast out the works of Darkness and would lead through Prophesies and Openings to the Inheritance in Christ which will never fade away but in departing from the Counsel of the Lord you are bewitched with the Serpent that tells you you are some body now that hath tasted of the Power of God and secret pride gets in and others out of the Prophesies and Openings of what they see and do not wait 〈◊〉 they come to the Possession and there gâ—â—s in secret Pride and so becomes a wandering Staâ— flown up into the Air and the worker of Iniquity yet stands notwithstanding all your experiences that you can witness Devils cast out in measure in the Name of Christ and that you have prophesied in the Name he will say unto you I know you not ye workers of Iniquity to that in thy Conscience I speak lend thine Ear unto it it will rip thee up and search thy Heart and pass true Judgment upon the Head of the Wicked and will eternally witness me notwithstanding aâ—l thy experiences Therefore all dear Freinds all take heed that none of you come short of your rest but dwell in the pure Power of the living God which judgeth the Wicked and casteth out Devils dwelling in it it will dispossess the powers of Darkness and as â—e in his tender Love appeareth to the mind and lets you see into the Inheritance laid up in Christ dwelling in the Power you will be kept in the pure fear not to avish your selves out to speak of that you possess not but to wait low in his Will where you will be kept in a true sence of your conditions how the Seed is oppressed by the worker of Iniquity and so will be kept by the Power of the living God waiting on him in the Faith until you overcome by the Blood of the Lamb aâ—d the word of his Testimony then will the worker of Iniquity be destroyed and cast out and the Power and holy Seed of God raised up which can work no Iniquity but stand perfect in the Will of God and there you enter into the Rest prepared for you in Christ Jesus where nothing shall enter that works Iniquity and I shall be with you forever in the Lord And the Lord God Almighty be with you his dear â—abes and Children bless guide and keep you all by his eternal pure power clear and holy that you may be a peculiar People and holy Priesthood to give up your Souls and Bodies a living Sacrifice unto the Lord God Almighty that he may order you and guide you
their Works then shall the Children of the Lord be known and the Worker of Iniquity shall fall before them From a lover of your Souls who desires it to be the Lords Will it may not be laid to your Charge what you have done to him who writes his Name William Deâ—sbery My Dear Friends THat are convinced of the Blessed Truth all wait in the Light that you may truely Experience Christ in you Baptizing you with the Holy Ghost and Fire Rendering Vengeance upon all in you that knows him not and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and so you will come to witness you are of the number of the slain of the Lord and conformable to him in his Sufferings and Death and you that are in the sence of your miserable and lost estate wait upon the Lord weeping and seeking the Lord your God asking the way to Sion with your Faces thither-wards until the Lord cause your Souls to hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear his Voice live but not in themselves not to themselves but the Life you then live is Christ in you and you in him Oh blessed are you that witness what is here written for you are the true Members of the Body of Christ who abhor your selves and admire the Lord with all his Saints in whom he is admired Oh Praise the Lord all you his dear Children for his wonderful Works in leading you in his narrow Way and through his strait Gate which so few find the Lord keep you by his mighty Power that you may contend for the Faith and keep it which the Lord hath Delivered unto you his Saints that through Faith you may have Victory over your own Wills and over the World with all the Pomp Pride and Pleasure of it and so delight in the daily Cross to be the well seasoned savory People in all your Words and Works to Glorifie our Father which is in Heaven even so be it with you is the Prayers of your ever Loving Brother William Dewsbery W. D. Desired this to be sent amongst his antient Friends in Yorkshire to be Read in their Meetings This which is here written is to you that say you are in Commission to do Justice in the County of Northampton and profess your selves to be Ministers of Justice the Evil-doers to Punish and the Oppressed to set Free from under the power of those that oppress them THis the Lord God of Heaven and Earth requires of you as you will eternally answer before him that you faithfully walk according to what you profess and judge with righteous Judgment the Causes brought before you without respect of Persons for he that respects Persons commits Sin and is convinced of the Law as a Transgressor And this is required that when you are met together that you cause to be brought before you all that hath informed against me who to you is known by Name William Dewsbury that it may be proved what the Blasphemy is for which Thomas Pentellow in Wilbey said he sent me unto Prison on suspition of And it is required that you cause to come before you all that have given evidence against my Companions in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ whom you have cast into Prison with me Gather together as is required and see if your God whom you served that lead you to do what you have done will appear with you and justifie you in your Actions and clear you of Cruelty and Oppression which if your God cannot clear you obey him no longer as you have done in abusing your power to hide your Sin for if you do this Scripture will be fulfilled on you He that hideth his Sin shall not prosper This is required that you bring your deeds to the Light and if they be contrary to the Light let the Ancient of dayes who gives Judgment to the Saints of the most High judge you and your God that leads you to do the Works of darkness and while you have time turn to the Light of Christ that shows you the secret evil of your Hearts and wait in the Light on the Lord God in the way of his Judgments that if it be his good pleasure he may give you Repentance unto Life least you perish in your Disobedience But if you abuse your power as you have done in casting into Prison and there keeping them that believe in Christ whom you never yet proved had transgressed any Law no more then Pilat could prove against Iesus then by your Fruit you will prove your selves to be in the state of Cain who was a Vagabond and had no Habitation and dwelling in the onely true God and so persecuted the Righteous Seed as you have done and if you so continue no withstanding all reproof then read your Portion Proverbs 29.1 He that hath been often reproved and hardeneth his Neck shall suddenly be Destroyed and that without remedy he that hath an Ear to haer let him hear I whom to you am known by the Namâ— before-written was moved to send this to you which Truth you shall know when the day shall declare you have me Imprisoned for the Word of God and Testimony of Iesus Christ. W. D. Dear Friends and Brethren I did not know until this last night but that I should have been with you at the Yearly Meeting but it pleased the Lord to visit me with my antient Distemper which hath accompanied me many Years in Prison and since I was released the Distemper was so sharp upon me as to sence this last night that I did not know I should have lived to see another day but Crying to the Lord he ordered and cleared my way to go into the Country so I cannot be with you at this Yearly Meeting but desire the Lord to assist you with his blessed Power and heavenly Life to bring in the scattered ones to their everlasting Comfort and his Glory forever Amen And that it may be so with you is the Prayer of your loving Brother William Dwesbury London the 30th of the â—th Month 1688. An Index THe Word of the Living God to his Church Page 1. The Word of the Lord to thee Oliver Cromwel p. 4. The Mighty Day of the Lord is Coming pag. 8. Dear Friends Servants and Children of the Most High God pag. 16. To all Saints and Children of the Most High God pag. 21. Dear Friends mâ—et often together pag. 23. My Dear Friends this is the Word of the Lord pag. 24. The iscoverâ—y of the great Enmity of the Serpent pag. 26. To all you that rule in England pag. 57. A true Testimony from the Prisoners in Northampton pag. 67. A true Prophesie of the Mighty day of the Lord pag. 90. Christ Exalted pag. 115. The Mighty Day of the Lord pag. 156. Dear Friends Brethren and Sisters pag. 167. Dear Friends in the Name of the Lord Iesus Christ walk pag. 174. To all Nations Kindred Languages pag.
heaped up to your selves according to your own Lusts who cries Peace Peace to you in what you do while you put into their Mouths and now is the time come to the fulfilling the Scripture in you who have itching Ears and cannot indure sound Doctrine but turns from it to Fables which if you continue in your careless minds slighting this day of your Visitation and not like to retain God in your knowledge God will give you up to reprobate minds that profess you know God but in works deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate upon whom the Lord will get his glory in his righteous judgements and if the Lord in his everlasting love had not left a Seed in thee O England thou with all thy Teachers whom thou hast heaped up according to thy own Lusts would have become as Sodom but for his own Seed sake whom he hath blessed he will do good to the Inhabitants of England who stand faithfully in his Counsel to be guided by his Power and will scatter all those that stand in opposition to his righteous Seed Christ whom he is exalting in the Hearts of his elect and chosen People in England to rule for ever over all that stand in enmity to him this is the day the mighty God is giving all power unto his Son Jesus to whom every knee shall bow and all you proud stubborn self-willed lofty ones that hate the Light of Christ in you that witnesses against Sin in the secret of the Heart and Conscience and it reject and deny to be guided by it but turn to the counsel of your own Hearts and the Teachers you have heaped up according to your Lusts and with them sits at ease in the Flesh and turns the Grace of God into wontonness and forgets the loving kindness of the Lord who delivered you by the Arm of his mighty Power when Enemies compassed you on every side and gave you your lives for a prey when they were nigh unto Death and now you abuse your liberty to walk with your Teachers according to your Lusts and with them commit this filthy and abominable thing in the Land the Priests to Teach for Hire and the Prophets they divine for Money and you People love to have it so but what will you do in the end thereof which day you put afar off and do not regard but that you shall not be ignorant of the mind of the Lord and left without excuse in the mighty day of the Lords anger who hath sent his Servants and Children early and late to fore-warn you of the evil day that is coming upon you if you do not speedily repent and turn to the Lord but slight this day of your Visitation then shall the things now belonging to your Peace be hid from your Eyes and your end shall be according to the Word of the Lord I declare to you Thus saith the Lord All these my Enemies that will not that I shall Rule over them bring them hither and slay them before me and this is your portion you Enemies of Christ that hate his Counsel as before written he will you consume with the Breath of his Mouth and the brightness of his coming which will over-take you that sit at ease in the Flesh as a Thief in the night and in flames of Fire will render vengeance on you that disobey his Gospel and will give to every one of you according to the works done in the Body and you shall not escape from Israels Judge Sions King who will all his people deliver and you proud lofty Ones bring under by his mighty Power to the praise and glory of his righteous justice who alone is worthy God over all blessed for ever Amen Remember you are warned in your life time and prize this day of your Visitation while the Lord in patience and long-sufferance waits to be gracious and merciful to you if you speedily return to his Counsel which is the Light of Christ in your Consciences that shewes you Sin and wait in it for his Power to lead you to Repentance and to cleanse you from Sin and in the straight way of self-denial and the daily Cross you to guide in obedience to the Father of Light then will the Lord God be merciful to you and heal your backslidings and love you freely and blot out your Transgressions for his name sake which if you will have none of his Counsel but it reject as you have done and still commit this filthy and abominable thing in the Land the Priests to teach for Hire and the Prophets to divine for Money which is the practice of your Teachers you have heaped up to your selves according to your Lusts and love to have it so then your Portion you must own what the Lord hath spoken he will perform and you and your Teachers shall reap the fruit of your doings according as is declared and in that day I shall be remembred when you lie upon the Bed of sorrow who is clear of all your Blood who perish through your disobedience in that I have not hid the Counsel of God from neither Rulers Priests nor People And to the Light of Christ in all your Consciences I clear my Conscience in the presence of the living pure dreadful God who will perform according to his Words and the condemnation of the Evil-doers slumbers not the Lord will cleanse the Land of you and not any that rejects Christ the corner Stone shall Rule in England for the Lord will make it the glory of all the Nations of the World notwithstanding all that oppose him his own work he will carry on in it by the Arm of his mighty Power will he exalt Christ Jesus to be King in it to Rule the People according to his righteous Law and all that will not his Laws obey and their Crowns lay down at his Feet and to him their Knee bow in perfect obedience to his righteous Law written in the Heart and Conscience he will you break in pieces with his rod of Iron and dash in sunder like a Potters Vessel and not any shall escape that doth evil and bring the Curse upon the Earth which the Lord is making as the Garden of Eden the Mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it he that can receive it let him and hath an Ear to hear let him hear And whether you People in England hear or forbear in your Consciences I shall be for ever manifest and you shall eternally witness the Truth I have declared is to you the Word of the Lord God the day will declare it William Deusbery A TRUE TESTIMONY OF What was done concerning the Servants of the Lord At the General Assizes holden at NORTHAMPTON THE One and twentieth day of the fifth Month 1655. Where Edward Atkins sate Judge of Life and Death before whom was brought William Deusbery Ioseph Storr Henry Williamson Iohn Whitehead Marmaduke Storr Thomas Cocket and Francis
the week there was a Meeting where it was said there might be two Thousand My God was mighty in his Power to the glory of his Name If God will I may be at Justice Cripse's in Gloustershire the next third day and at Slettingford twelve Miles from Bristol the fourth day if God-will I may be at Bristol the sixth or the first day being the 18th of this Month further then as my freedom is in my moving in the Lord the presence of God keep you with me in his Life and all the Elect faithful to the end Amen W. D. Dear Friends IN the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ walk to reign over all contrary to the Light that in the Light and glory of God you may all shine forth living Witnesses of the Name of the everlasting holy pure God who hath looked on you in his tender love to gather you in the Everlasting Power of God to stand against all deceit blessed are you thaâ— are faithful in obeying the Light of Christ to foâ—low him in the Cross and straight way of self-denial you are my Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus our Captain over all he will Crown you with his Almighty Power to stand in Faith and Patience to follow him until every tongue that lifts up it self against you shall fall in Judgment withal that stumble at Christ Jesus our Life and Light who will gather a large People to himself in that Country many shall come in that is yet wandering upon the Mountains where they find no rest Blessed are all you that abide and walk faithful with the Lord whom he hath called and chosen in the Light to be the first Fruits what ever ariseth contrary to the Light within or without watch to the Light you will descern stay your Hearts on the Lord in the Light holding fast your Confidence in the Lord he will deliver you forth of all contrary to the Light and cause you to rejoyce in the daily Cross to the crucifying you to the World and the World to you and over the World will cause you to rejoyce withal its pomps and glory and evil therein you shall over it stand in the Power of God to his Praise and Glory even so be it with you all in the Almighty Power of God in whom my Soul salutes you that faithfully walk humbly before the Lord in Obedience to his Counsel the Light. DEar Lambs called in the Light to lye down in the safe Fold of rest in Christ our life in the tender bowels of love in him I beseech you that you be faithful in meeting together in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and diligently watch to know your own measure of Grace in Christ him to feel in you to judge your thoughts and every vain Imagination that over them you may reign and delight in the refreshing of his presence and all take heed of many words at all times let them be few but what is from the savory Spirit of Life in Christ the Light in him the blessing of the Lord rest on you all for evermore there to farewel with me in the everlasting love of the Father in Christ the Light Amen W. D. Given forth the 24 th of the 7 th Month 1658 at Leeth near Edenborough Scotland Let Copies of this carefully be written and sent to the Churches when they are met together in the Fear of God to be read amongst them Dear Friends BRethren and Sisters called in the Light to feel the Power of Almighty God burying self in the Death and raising up his own immortal Birth of himself in all your Hearts which hungereth and thirsteth after his Righteousness and cannot be satisfied but in the Light of the Countenance of the Eternal God of Heaven Grace and Peace be multiplied to you all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ the Light c. This to you all is the Word of the Lord God to watch diligently to the Light that you may see all the workings of the Enemy who would draw you from the Light and as the Lord discoveâ—eth him judge him in all his appearances with the Light that you may be kept out of all his Temptations that the Power of God you may all feel guiding of you that not any receive the knowledge of the Truth in the wrong ground as many have done who have received the knowledge of the Truth and for want of the watch to the Light the false birth in them raiseth its self with what is known and received in the day of tenderness and so hath run out in a drunken hard Spirit spending the Talent upon the lust out of Gods fear so hath grieved the Spirit of the Lord and burthened his dear People and hear is the ground of all that came out with us and go from us and are not of us who in the day of their coming forth were tender and at that time God manifested himself in measure but not watching to the Light the Enemy entered and the false birth rise in its strength and enriched it self with Gods gift then the Swine got the Pearl and turned again and all to rend so here is the ground of strife that hath been or ever shall be with all that came out in the acknowledgment of Truth and flee the true Judgment of God from his witness in their own particulars and through his People in whom he dwelleth All dear Children of God who love the Light prize the Mercy of the everlasting Father of Light who hath counted you worthy to wait upon him watch watch to the Light that the Judgment of the Lord may pass upon the first Man which is of the Earth that he may truely be buried into the one Baptism into the death that the birth Immortal you may feel generated in you by the working of the Immortal Word the true Birth which makes self of no reputation which humbleth self in the Cross and Thirsts and Hungers in you for the presence of the Lord or otherwise you cannot live fear you not you Children of my Father lift up your Heads in the Light of the Lord for the Bowels of the God of Heaven earns towards you stay your Hearts upon him in the Light and the Lord will rebuke the furious Enemy of your peace he will not break the bruised Reed neither will he quench the smoking Flax until he hath brought Judgment forth into Victory so let not any of you be bowed down any longer but all arise arise in the Light of the Lord God hold fast your confidence in the measure of the Light of Jesus and the Enemy of your peace he will rebuke and all unbelief and deceit he will throw down and raise you in the strength of his own Life to delight in the strait way of self-denial and the daily Cross where the Immortal Babe will receive the Crown of the Glory of the Lord and in the light of his Countenance shall be refreshed forever
seek to overcome with their subtle enticing words to draw them into singularity and self-separation that they may set them up with admiration and to carry on their own Interest they make use of those they overcome to seek all occasions with themselves to speak evil some both by writing and printing against those that God hath raised up to keep their Habitation and to stand unmovable upon the Foundation Christ the Light to discern and judge their subtle crafty wicked proceedings and to lay them open that they be such as intrude into a Ministry and runs when God never sent them therefore they do not profit the people at all for they go not in at the Door which is the Light to be led in conformity to Christ in his suffering and Death so come they to be ignorant of the saving gathering word of eternal Life because they in self-strivings climb up over the true judgment of God and in pride and fleshly wisdom pretends to enjoyments of high things in a self-boasting spirit some saying in their Hearts as it is written I see and know and am rich and want nothing when they are blind and miserable and naked and wants all things and must come again to the Light to bâ—y eye-salve of Christ that they may see and raiment to cover them or else their nakedness will forever appear For this birth which is generated in the Myâ—tery of Iniquity as before written it cannot live but in singularity and self-separation setting up self some times in visible Formes Gestures and Postures to be seen distinct from others as Clouds tossed to and fro to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever except they repent for God will make the Womb of this Births Conception to be the Grave whence again it shall return and there to be buried to its eternal consummation the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it through his Servant that hath and doth labour day and night according to the ability of the Grace I have received of the Lord for the restoration of all those that have been in danger of destruction through the snares and working of the Enemy as before written And amongst many some hearked to counsel and have been again restored in obedience to the Light but who rejected the counsel of God through his Servants and desperately goes on in a self-serving spirit though often reproved they harden their necks destruction hath doth and will come upon them and that without remedy Oh! How did my Bowels earn for the preservation of I. P. in what I could to have drawn and separated him from that spirit which gave forth the paper that propagated the keeping on the Hat in prayer and reflected judgment upon those that called upon the Name of the Lord with their Heads uncovered but after much counselling of him in tender love to have stopt that paper from going abroad but he would not be separated from that spirit that gave it forth Then I cleared my Conscience in the Word of the Lord which now in my freedom in God I declare to the Children of Sion what the eternal judgment was that did arise in my Heart in words to this purpose Iohn â—f then propagate what thou hast written in this paper thou wilt wound more Hearts and cause more trouble of spirit amongst the tender hearted People of the Lord then when the temptation entred dear I. N. who deeply suffered but the Lord restored him again by true repentance And as to my particuler it is not my nature to be found striving with thee or any upon the Earth but having declared the Truth to thee I will return to my rest in the Lord and let every birth live the length of its day and time manifest what is born of God for that Spirit that stands up in self-striving will weary it felf and dye and end in the Earth And this will certainly come to pass upon all that do not diligently wait in the Light to judg the out-goings of their minds and to be lead in true self-denial which is the Foot-steps where the Flocks of the Companions delight to walk every one serving one another in love seeking to restore one another with the Spirit of love and meekness forth of what any have done through the violence of Temptation or weakness Oh! Dear Friends feel the earning Bowels of the Lord through me to you all in which I beseech you that what hath come to pass in this day of great tryal and hour of Temptation you may all in dear love to the Lord of Life return to his Light to feel his Power restoring into a true understanding with him to walk in true self-denial where you will feel his Presence filling your Hearts and binding you up in eternal Unity of the Spirit and bond of Peace every one forgetting all things that are behind and not any one stand up in self-striving but in the tender broâ—herly love informing the Judgements of one another in the Light and Power of the endless life and in it submit to the low estate of one another serving one another in love which is the washing one anothers feet and here is Christ and his Disciples in eternal unity and powerful Dominion against whom every tongue lifted up shall fall in Judgment and every weapon formed shall not prosper but come to naught for the Mountain of the Lords House shall be more and more set upon the top of the Mountains and established over all the Hills and all the faithful shall more and more in eternal unity praise and magnifie his Name in the beauty of holiness who sits upon the throne and liveth and reigneth forever and ever And dear chosen Vessels who hath known and doe abide and keep your state with God in the perfecting power manifest in your inward man which truly buries self in the death and hath raised you up and sent you forth in the Resurrection and power of the endless Life which seeketh not any thing but to glorifie the Lord in all your travels and undertakings where-ever the Lord calls you Oh you blessed amongst the people what can be said of the goodness of the Lord that hath been and will be more and more manifest to you whose care and burdens labours and travels is known to the Lord and your reward is with him forever Dear Brethren though great be the wrath that withstands the work of our God which wrath worketh openly and mysteriously to lay burdens upon the innocent and to add affliction unto the afflicted In the Word of the Lord that ariseth in my Heart I declare they shall but weary themselves and all their hopes shall fail them and their expectations shall come to nought who wait for evil concerning you who love the Lord better then your lives and delight to wait to feel his Power at all times leading and ordering in the limits and bonds of the Spirit of the Lord c. I know there is of you my
Hearts day and night and dare not disobey him in what he makes known unto them though they hazard their Liberty and all enjoyments yea life it self so tender are they over the Glory of the Lord who hath given them victory over sin and all selfishness through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their Testimony no more to love their lives to death c. But Oh you Rulers though God hath stayed his Hand in a great measure that the sound of mortality is not so loud in the Ears as hath been yet how do you answer the end of the Lord seeing that few Prisons in the Nation but the Lords People are in them because of the exercise of their pure Consciences towards the Lord and other cruel proceedings in rending Husband from Wife and Wife from Husband and Parents from Children and Children from Parents and inhumanely banishing them out of their Native Country for these things and other wicked proceedings the Hand of the Lord is stretched out still and the pale Horse is on his way passing to and fro in the Nation and he that rideth thereon is Death smiting and cuting down with the Sword of Plague and Pestilence and if so be you proceed as you have done in executing these cruel Laws against the innocent then will the commission of the Rider of the pale Horse be enlarged and what flesh can stand before the pale Horse seeing the Rider thereon is Death as is recorded in the Scriptures of Truth Rev. 6.8 Oh my Bowels is moved within me for the calamity that will come upon the Nation if you Rulers continue your Persecution for the day of the Lord hastens that they that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the Maker thereof shall be as a Spark and he will blow up the flame in the fierceness of his wrath and who can stand in this terrible dreadful day wherein Christ shall be revealed in flames rendering Vengeance on all them that know him not and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ c. Further this I exhort all mind what you say and do who hath hardened their Hearts in a boasting Spirit and said we see no difference but these People we cast in Prison God cuts off in a common Calamity as well as others the sence of their sufferings causeth many a Cry and Tear to be poured forth before the Lord and the mighty God answered and said unto my Soul I have beholden the cruelty of Men how they have stowed my People up in Prisons and in the Ship where the infection was and them that hath been taken away their Blood shall be required at their Hands who cast them into Prison and as to all in general that fell in the common Calamity that feared my Name it was to stain the pride of the glory of all Flesh as well amongst my People as others that my People might wait in my Light to stand in a true preparation for the day of their dissolution therefore I take away my People in my everlasting loving kindness from the evil to come but the wicked I cut off in my Fury and they shall reap the fruit of their own doings and this is the substance of what the Lord hath said in taking away his People in this common Calamity therefore let the stout-hearted bend and no more boast themselves in loftiness of their minds to see the righteous taken away for if the judgment begin at the House of God and the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the wicked and ungodly and Sinners appear for yet a little while and the Lord will plead the cause of his People with terrible Vengeance he will manifest himself and the Rod of the wicked shall nor always lye upon the backs of the righteous but their long continued Afflictions will be accomplished in time therefore you meek gentle and peaceable quiet People who abhor every appearance of evil abide in the Word of Patience and pray for them that Persecute you that if it be the Will of God we may prevail with the Lord that their Eyes may be opened and their Hearts softned that they may break off from their evil doings and so escape the terrible vengeance as is before written wherein the Lord will break the Battle out of the Earth and establish purity and peace amongst a people called by his Name that as they have sowen in Sorrow and long-suffering they shall reap with Joy in this great and terrible day of the coming of our Lord which is nigh to be revealed wherein he will say to the wicked that hath imprisoned and afflicted his People Go ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and to his righteous Blessed suffering Seed he will say Come you Blessed of my Father enter into the Kingdom prepared for you before the Foundation of the Earth was laid so shall every one reap the fruit of their doings whether it be good or evil according to their deeds so shall be their reward from the Lord who is over all Blessed for ever Oh London London yea I say once more you Inhabitants of London whose lives was given you for a prey and you stand as Monuments of Gods Mercy to this day while many of your dear Relations Neighbours and Acquaintance were cut down with him that rid upon the pale Horse Oh that you would lay it to Heart who are yet living before the Lord and all turn to the Counsel of the Lord the Light and Manifestation of his Spirit in your own Consciences to guide you in all fear and dread of the Eternal God to wait upon him to feel the opperation of his holy Spirit to guide you in all your words and works that so you may be a good savour unto the Lord in your faithful Obedience to the measure of his Spirit that so he may take delight in you and take away the reproach that hath been cast upon you the Inhabitants of the City of London c. But if you People in the City of London do not prize the Mercies of the Lord but slight all his kindnesses and harden your Hearts and not regard the reproofs of his Spirit but delight your Hearts in pride pleasures pomp riches and glory in this present World and with so doing provoke the Eyes of the Glory of the Great God Oh then what shall I say unto you Inhabitants of London who thus requiâ—e the Lord notwithstanding all his Favours and boundless Mercies which he hath manifested to you in the sight of all People this day Oh if you do not speedily return to the Lord by repentance and break off from all your ungodly ways in obeying the sin-reproving Spirit of the Lord God in your own Consciences I must take up a Lamentation for you in the sence of the misery that I feel will come upon you for the Lord hath determined to bring you down and if you will not be intreated to hearken to
what I may whilst I have a being amongst the Sons of Men to the glory of his Name for ever And this is the state of the true Disciples of Christ that cannot feed of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge although in your Journey and Travels dear Vessels of the Lord you see the Tree of Knowledge to be good where it stands in its place but the Fruit is not good to eat and feed upon because Knowledge puffeth up but Grace maketh humble Therefore dear Brethren and Sisters born of God who cannot live in any enjoyment but as you enjoy the Life and Presence of God from whence every good and perfect gift comes And dear Lambs although some of you be in your own Eyes the meanest amongst the People of the Lord yea at sometimes your Trials is so great that you are ready to account your selves unworthy to be numbred amongst the People of the Lord and yet you dare not disobey him neither can you live without his presence Oh you dear Children of God! lift up your heads over all Temptations and Accusations of the Enemy for your Groans and Cries are entred into the Ears of the Lord God who in the Bowels of his Love and Mercies doth constrain me to proclaim the day of the tender compassion of the Lord to all you who are truly poor in your Spirits Oh blessed are you among the Children of Men for yours is the Kingdom of God. Therefore be not weary of waiting upon the Lord for in his own time he will turn your Sorrows into Joy and give to you the spirit of Praises for the spirit of Heaviness as he hath done to many who have endured the like Temptations Tryals and Sufferings under which you wait this day for Deliverance and the Lord will be the same to you therefore be of good comfort for as the Serpent was lifted up in the Wilderness so is the Son of Man lifted up in the Light and Covenant of Life to heal your Wounds and save you from Sâ—n and to give you Victory over the Enemy in all his appearances so that you thorow Faith in the Name of Christ make War in Righteousness and fighting the good Fight in keeping the Faith you will he made more then Conquerors thorow his Love that he will shed abroad in your Hearts which will cause you to speak of his goodness and praise his Name for all his Mercies And all dear Children of the Lord who do witness in measure that you are truely baptized into his Death â—nd so are made partakers of his Resurrection as is before written which is the Life that worships him according to his own Will and so is truly accepted of him watch and pray that you may be guided in the power of his Spirit in all your ways And be careful that not any be hasty to utter words before the Lord neither suffer any sighs or groans or any thing to be heard to pass thorow you but as you have the seal of the Spirit of the Lord that he requires it of you this I am commanded to lay as a charge upon you that so all Flesh may be truly silent before the Lord and not any voice to be heard but the living Spirit of the Lord speaking in his People which you that wait in the fear of the Lord and minds his leadings may truly know as it is written so doth his Children witness He that hath my Word saith the Lord let him speak my Word faithfully Is not my Word like a Fire and a Hammer that breaks the Rocks in pieces Therefore all mind to feel the Word of the Lord speaking in you that the pure burning Life of the Spirit may be tasted and felt in whatsoever you be exercised in that so you might be fully assured it is not your own work as Man speaking of God but the Lord alone uttering his own voice in the forcible power of his own Spirit in what you are exercised in whether it be to pray in Sighs or Groans or in words or to speak in Exhortation or Praises you are not to quench the Spirit of the Lord in this his day â—hat he is come and doth appear in giving divers gifts unto his People in his appearance as he did amongst his Disciples who waited at Ierusalem for the pourings forth of his Spirit from on high but they that were strangers to the work of the Spirit could not taste the Life that spake in them but said They were mad and full of new Wine c. but the Lord justified them it being the work of his own Spirit and although he gave unto them various gifts yet all in the unity of himself in which they sacrifice in returning to the Lord his own with advantage to the glory of his great Name as his Children doth at this day blessed be his Name for ever that forth of the Mouthes of Babes his praise is declared in their measures as it is with those of higher growth in the Lord and so do the faithful Labourers reap the Fruit for which they Travel that all the People of the Lord may be filled with his Spirit and in the exercise and leadings thereof become a Body of living Ministers and a Family of Prophets the strong leading the weak by the Hand and in tender Love building up one another in their most holy Faith which gives the Victory over the World to Reign in the Heavenly Dominion which causeth the Children of the most high in the Authority of the Lord to say to the greatest Persecutors Oh man do what thou hast power the God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of thy Hand but if he will not we are resolved in his strength to suffer what he permitteth Man to do and this is the holy resolution of all that are Born again and cannot hide your Heads in the time of Persecution because you are Born of the Royal Seed and have overcome the beggerly cowardly earthly-spirit through the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of your Testimony and no more to love your lives to Death And all dear chosen Vessels of the Lord seeing he hath manifested his Grace so largely to you with all diligence be obedient in walking answerably to his Love and Mercy received that as living Witnesses for God you may shine forth in the beauty of Holiness in all your ways and be careful in keeping your Meetings at the time appointed every one endeavouring to be the first at the Meeting that so not any give way to a careless spirit as some have done and so come to Meetings when others have been a considerable time together and so becomes a burden to the diligent and obedient Servants of the Lord and so the Meetings are not so profitable to your comfort as when you meet diligently at the time waiting in the fear of the Lord to feel his sweet Presence which will keep you awake in the Life of his own Spirit to
thee in the Pleasure of our God in whom I remain Thy dear Brother W. D. A General Epistle Dear Friends WHom the Lord hath in this his Glorious Day visited and in his Light plucked as Brands out of the Fire to wait upon him that his Great Work of Regeneration may be perfected in all of you to your Eternal Comfort and the Glory of the Name of our God forever c. And my dear Friends seeing many are Called and few Chosen many Convinced that are not Converted and many come forth with us and go forth from us that are not of us as by sad Experience hath been witnessed c. and from the deep Sense of this working of the Enemy I am constrained to send this Epistle amongst you knowing the Kingdom of God is compared unto Ten Virgins Five Wise and Five Foolish who had all Lamps and slumbred in the Secure Mind until they were awakened to enter in with their Lord then were the Foolish Virgins made manifest that though they had Lamps like the other yet wanting the Oyl they neither did or could enter c. Oh! dear and tender Friends let all Dread the Lord who make mention of his Name in the Light of Christ for this Parable is to you unto whom the Lord hath sent to preach to you and in you the Word of his Kingdom And this is upon my Spirit in the Word of the Lord to you all convinced of the precious Truth of our God turly to examine and search your Hearts with the Light of Christ Jesus that you may have a certain Knowledge how it is with you and how you escaped the subtil Wiles of the Enemy which have hindred so many from the Possession of the Life of Truth and that you may truly discern how the Enemy draws into the Foolish Conceitedness in the Out-side and Formal Profession of the Truth feeding upon the Knowing Part and so stoppeth the Hunger that should reach the Life and then in an Exaltedness saith I See Know am Clothed and want Nothing when they are Blind Naked Miserable and want all things and this is the State of all the Foolish Virgins who dwell in the Outward Court and place all their Confidence in the Form and Outside and Profession of Truth and so has lost the Sense of that Heavenly Hunger which must possess the Life hid with God or else it must mourn out its days in Sorrow Therefore all dear Friends watch diligently to the Heart-searching Light that this Mystery of Iniquity you may all discern that so the Enemy may not prevail against you to turn you aside either to the Right Hand or to the Left that whatever the Lord has convinced you of to be Evil you may wait upon him for Strength to preserve you out of it that so you may Answer God's Witness in the Regulation of your Conversation in the Uprightness of your Hearts so you may stand clear before the Lord that you are willing to do and suffer whatever the Lord should call you to and when you have done all this then be you watchful to the Heart-searching Light that the Enemy doth not draw your Minds to place your Confidence in the Work of Righteousness you have done as the Ground of your Hope and Calling in Christ and want Faith in him and so cause you to rest in your Services and so come short of the hidden Life enjoyed through Faith in the Light and Life of Christ our Righteousness I beseech you dear Friends Wait to know your Passage in this great Mystery where the Entrance is into the Straight Gate where all the Foolish Virgins though their Lamp in the Outward Profession be never so Glorious yet through Pride in their Attainments never entered into this Rest and here is the farthest that ever any come that make a Profession of Truth that go from us and are not of us So tender Friends that truly seek God's Glory and so love his Light that you are willing to give up Life and all to do his Will and when the Enemy would draw you to rest in what you have done and so take the Jewels of God and play the Harlot and deck Your Selves you Dreaâ— the Lord and in his Light you see more Light and you see That all that you have done is your Duty and your reasonable Service which you must do or otherwise you perish eternally and yet your poor Souls in the Light travail on in the Foot-steps of the Flock of the Mournful Companions who are weeping in Secret and inwardly seeking the Lord God to be Married unto him in that hidden Life which is hid with Christ in God and until you enjoy the Marriage-Union in deep Humiliation you wait in the Light for the Lord to create you to a lively Hope in Christ Iesus the Second Adam And you tender Children of my Father who can understand in your Heavenly Travail and Exercise of Spirit what is here written Lift up your Heads and stay your Minds in the Light of the Lord Jesus which ransacks your Hearts and doth not only keep you in Holiness of Conversation but makes you weary of living under the Dominion of your own Thoughts and Wills Therefore I beseech you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ watch to the Heart-searching Light that discerns your Thoughts and Intents and judgeth your Thoughts and all Fearfulness and Unbelief and wait in the Measure of the Light and Life that quickeneth your immortal Souls and hath begotten heavenly Breathings Hungerings and Thirstings to eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Lord Jesus Oh thou blessed Birth let not Streightness be upon thy Spirit for the Bowels of the almighty God earn towards thee which cannot be satisfied with any Thing but the pure Presence of Christ to reign in thy Heart and to exercise heavenly Authority in his Throne in thy Conscience Oh tender Babe born of the immortal Seed leâ—d not thy Ear to any of thine own Thoughts Doubts and Unbelief neither to the Accuser who seeks every way to discourage thee for trusting in the Name of the Lord but diligently incline thou thy Ear to the righteous Counsel which is the Light and Life The Lord will satisfie thy Hungry and Thirsty Soul with his everlasting Loving-kindness in Christ Jesus and will create thee to a lively Hope and marry thee to himself in his own Righteousness where thou wilt receive Dominion to reign over thy own Thoughts and thy own will and to walk in his Strength in the Word of Faith which will give thee Victory over the World within and without so will thy Heart be kept pure thy Conscience clean and thou cloathed with the glorious Garment a meek low and a quiet Spirit and so become the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus the second Adam and the Lord of Life and Glory and here is the Dwelling-place of all the Sons and Daughters of Sion Citizens of the new Ierusalem who walk
of the Lord goes before them Therefore let all dread and fear the Mighty God who have received any Gift to see that the True Birth possess the Gift which Birth makes Self of no Reputation that so the Lord of Life may exercise every one in the Improvement of their Gift to the Comfort of his People and his Eternal Glory and none go further then they have Assurance they are called of the Lord and his Heavenly Powerful Presence goes before them so will the Lord bless the Travel of every Soul and the Body be kept in the Pure Sweet Seaâ—oned and Savoury Life which edifieth the Body in the Love and Life of God which cannot be exprest and all that will not wait thus to be exercised as is here written but go out of their Places burthen the Life weary the Faithful and if they do not give over and submit to the Government of Christ to reign in them and wait in true Silence that they may speak no more of him but as he uttereth his Voice through them my Soul pitieth them for they will be as Wandring Stars and Darkness will come upon them therefore be Warned whose Consciences witness what is here written to be your Conditions c. And all tender Friends be very watchful and careful to keep your Meetings upon all Services on Truth 's Account both Sons and Daughters born of God that there may be no Confusion but a sweet Submission to one another in the Light and Life of Christ Jesus that as the Lord hath blessed your Meetings and Labour of Love for the Body's sake keep your Minds stay'd upon the Lord out of all Consultings with Flesh and Blood or any Strivings to appear to be any thing but what the Lord is in you to keep you all in Humility in a pure Subjection unto Christ that he may silence all the Councils fo Flesh in you and keep you in his holy dread and pure Fear to receive Wisdom from him to guide you to determine all Matters brought before you so that every one have your Eye to the Lord to eye his Glory in all your Words and Works so will Love abound and the Blessing of the Lord will be in the midst of you to guide you all in his pure Fear to do to every one as you would be done unto and watch over one another with a Pure Single Eye at all times that your Single Eye may be to the Good in one another and your Tenderness in the Love of God in all Humility to reach to the Measure of God to raise it up and thus will you stand in the Heavenly Nature Saviours upon Mount Sion to bring again them that stray and so restoring them with the Spirit of Meekness and here is Christ and his Desciples Washing one anothers Feet in all Humility and Heavenly Condescention one unto another the Strong bearing the Burden of the Weak and gently leading them forth out of that which burdens the Pure into the Light and Path of Life where the building up one another is in the most holy Word of Faith where we sit together in our Heavenly Places in Christ where Self is made of No Reputation but every one Serving the Lord casting down our Crowns before his Throne and with one accord singing the Songs of the Redeemed from the Earth all Glory all Honour all Praises and Thanksgiving Dominion be giving unto him who is found worthy to sit upon the Throne in our Consciences to feed us with the Brâ—ad that is sure and refresh us with the Water that never â—aileth so we that are many are made one Bread eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood where we have Life and that abundantly and we comforted together in our Heavenly Mansions in our sweet and pure Fellowship of the Gospel in Christ our Righteousness who is One his Name and Nature One in all his People and Salvation is unto us for Walls and Bulworks and here have we Peace in this Holy City New Ierusalem which the World knoweth not neither can they take it from us and here is no Strife nor Contention within her Gates but we witness the Promise of the Lord fulfilled I will make Ierusalem a Quiet Habitation In this City there is no more Curse but the Name and Image of God is written in the Foreheads of them that dwell therein that all that have to deal with them as they mind God's Witness in any Measure will confess These are the People of the Most High God born of the Righteous Seed which the Lord hath Blessed And in this Heavenly Government dear Brethren and Sisters all keep your Meetings and the blessed Persence of the Lnrd fill all your Hearts and inlarge his Love in you and amongst you to your mutual Comfort one of another and the Honour of his Great Name who is over all God blessed forever So will you dear Friends and Brethren comfort the Hearts of all Travelling Friends and Brethren who have not loved their Lives to Death to serve the Lord and gather you home into this Heavenly Rest the very Sense of their faithful Labours and Travels seeking nothing for Themselves but the Honour of God and your Establishment in this Rest it takes deep Impression upon my Heart both they that have finished who here did wear the Garments of Humility and now the Crown of Eternal Glory and my dear Brethren that are yet on this side the Grave who are labouring in the Service of the Lord in Faithfulness in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus dear Friends let your Hearts be affected as mine is that the End of their Labours may be answer'd in your Faithfulness in keeping your Meetings according to all the Exhortations that you have had through the Faithful Labourers and is expressed in this Epistle that you may grow up as an Holy Priesthood offering up the living and holy Sacrifice in your faithful Testimony and pure Unity of Spirit and Bond of Peace where my Soul is bound up with you in this Heavenly Rest in Christ Jesus our Light and Life over all exalted in us to Reign who is worthy forevermore in whom I rest Your Dear Brother W. D. London the 14 th of the 11 th Moneth 1675 Titus Oates's Certificate concerning William Deusbery and the Quakers Mr Whitfeald YOurs I Received in which mentions one Deusbery his name is William Deusbery a Quaker whom you would do well to Discharge He is no Iesuit nor like one I look upon it to be more discretion not to medle with any Protestant Dissenters in this day but bend our forces against the common Enemy of the Protestant Religion the Papist And endeavour to win by Arguments those that are Dissenters from us Sir here is a Certificate from some that hath known him these Twenty years and upwards who are Men of repute in their Generation and Protestants And I pray did you ever know that there was ever such a
Correspondency betwixt Iesuits and Quakers as might render them suspicious or did you ever know any Priests or Iesuits in their Meetings and there suffered to Preach c. For I know the Iesuits and the Quakers and there is such vast difference in points of Religion that it is as possible to reconcile Light and Darkness as to reconcile them though they may appear different from us yet I think they are no Murtherers as the Papist have been and are I have no more but that I am yours though unknown T. O. The 13 th of March 1678 9. An Exhortation to all People to prize their Time in making their Calling and Election sure before they go hence and be no more As it hath pleased the Lord God in his tender Mercy in his Heavenly Power in Christ to assist his tender Hand-maid Mary Sam and give her full Assurance of her Eternal Salvation who lived with her Grand-Father William Dewsbury at Warwick where he was and is Prisoner for the Testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ And there she departed this natural Life when she was the Age of Twelve Years and sixteen Weeks and in her Sickness declared to all about her what God had done for her Soul. A brif Account whereof Follows ALL People mind the fear of the Lord who created the Henvens and the Earth the Seas and Fountains of Waters and all turn your Minds to the Light of Christ Jesus in your own Consciences that reproves for Sin in the secret of your Hearts and this God requires of you all to search your Hearts thorowly with the Light of Christ Jesus which is the true Light that lighteth every one that comes into the World as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth Iohn 1.9 And as you are faithfull to the Light it will let you see how you have lived and spent your precious time that is gone over your Heads then will your Consciences be awakned with the Light of Christ and you will be made sensible of your careless sinful and miserable state and condition that you have lived in so will the Lord in great Mercy to your Souls set your sin in order before you and the Iniquity of your Heels will compass you about so will you be made sensible of your lost and perishing State and Condition that if the Lord did not look upon you in his Mercy in the Lord Jesus to give you strength to forsake every evil Way and Repentance for what you have done you would perish forever So from the deep sence of your own nothingness and the need of the help of Christ Jesus the true Light and blessed Saviour to whom you Cry and Pray continually That he would perfect his great work of Regeneration in leading you in the foot-steps of the Tribulated Companions who go weeping and seeking the Lord their God asking the Way to Sion with their Faces thitherwards no more to let your Eyes slumber in peace nor your Eye-lids have rest until you be assured the Lord is your God and that he hath blotted out your Sins and done away your Iniquities for his Name sake and hath accepted of you in his new and Everlasting Covenant of his Mercy in Christ Jesus So you that were afar off in your Rebellious Nature of which you are now ashamed through true Repentance and Obedience to the Light you are made nigh in the Blood of Christ which gives you full assurance of your Eternal Salvation and purgeth your Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God and whoever you are that come to witness this blessed Work of Regeneration wrought in your Hearts as before written in your being created to a lively Hope in Christ Jesus Mark you are to watch and pray that in the Exercise and Improvement of this Hope you may receive Strength to purifie your selves as he is Pure â—o comes all that are Worshippers of the Father to Worship him in Spirit and in Truth for such the Father seeks to Worship him and these are they whom he Perfects forever through the Sanctification of his Spirit So is this Scripture fulfilled in you He that doth Truth brings his Deeds to the Light that they may be manifest that they are wrought in God John 3.21 And these are his Children who walk in the Light and have their fellowship with the Father of Light in Christ Jesus their blessed Saviour and one with another in his humble meek pure and blessed Nature and so becomes his chosen Jewels and Citizens of Sion who walk in the Light of the New-Ierusalem as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth The Nations that are saved shall walk in the Light thereof And whatever any of you suffer who are redeemed from the Earth and have your Confidence in the Lord alone Christ takes as done unto himself as it is written Mat. 25.31 to the end of the Chapter When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory and divide the Sheep from the Goats when he hath set the Sheep on the right Hand and the Goats on the left then will he say to those on his Right Hand Come you blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World for I was hungry and you gave me Meat thirsty and you gave me Drink a stranger and you took me in naked and you clothed me I was sick and you visited me I was in Prison and you came unto me Then shall the Righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee hungry and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and clothed thee or when saw we thee sick and in Prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you in as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Then shall he say unto them on the Left Hand Depart from me ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels He gave them to understand why they must depart they had not done to him as those at the right Hand had done as you may read at large from Verse 41. to the end of the Chapter So all may see how Man's destruction is of himself in not regarding the Counsel of Christ Jesus the Light to guide them in a Humble Pitiful Compassionate Pure and Blessed Nature so they go into Everlasting Punishment but the Righteouss that are guided by his blessed Spirit as before written they shall go into Life Everlasting which is the Inheritance of all that walk in the Light faithful unto Death the Crown of Life they shall enjoy forever and for evermore as it pleased the Lord to give a full assurance to his tender Handmaid of her Eternal Salvation in his blessed Work upon her Spirit as the following
Field and confessed to the Truth and received it and after some time he did testifie to it and in 1653. he came into the North into Westmerland Cumberland and Lancashire and declared the Truth both in Steeple-Houses and Meetings and underwent great Sufferings Beating c. with the rest of Friends for the Truth and then after was Imprisoned at York and also at Northampton in 1654. And when I was brought up a Prisoner to Oliver Cromwell I got leave of him that brought me up to see him in that Prison and after that he Travelled up and down a great Part of the Nation declaring the Truth and went under great Sufferings with the rest of Friends who went in great hazard of their Lives declaring the Truth of Christ. And in his latter Days he was long Imprisoned in Warwick but after he was set at Liberty he came to Visit Friends at London where he bore a faithful Testimony for Love and Unity and against the Spirit of Division and after went back and finished his Course and laid down his Head at Warwick in Peace with the Lord in 1688. George Fox London the 16 th of the 10 th Month 1688. Here Followeth some Expressions of his amongst a few Friends near a week before his Departure this Life BEing met together rising from his Bed in great weakness of Body he said to them my God hath yet put in my Heart to bear a Testimony in his Name and blessed Truth and I can never forget the day of his great Power and blessed Appearance when he first sent me to Preach his Everlasting Gospel and proclaim the Day of the Lord to all the People and also he confirmed the same by Signs and Wonders and particularly by a Lame Woman who went on Crutches where I with my Dear Brethren George Fox nnd Richard Farnswarth were cast and as I cryed mightily unto the Lord in Secret that he would signally Manifest himself at that time amongst us and give witness of his Power and presence with us R. F. in the Name of the Lord took her by the Hand and G. F. after spoke to her in the Power of God and bid her stand up and she did and Immediately walked streight having no need of Crutches any more therefore Friends be faithful and trust in the Lord your God for this I can say I never since played the Coward but joyfully entered Prisons as Palaces telling mine Enemies to hold me there as long as they could and in the Prison House I sung praises to my God and esteemed the Bolts and Locks put upon me as Jewels and in the Name of the Eternal God I alway got the Victory for they could keep me no longer than the Determined time of my God and Friends this I must once again testifie to you in the Name of the Lord God that what I saw above thirty Years ago still rests as a Testimony to leave behind me That a Dreadful terrible Day is at hand and will certainly come to pass but the Time when I cannot say but all put on strength in the Name of the Lord and Wait to feel his Eternal Power to preserve you through the Tribulations of these days that approach very near in the sence of which I have often been distressed and bowed down in Spirit with Cryes and Tears to my God for the preservation of his Heritage and this I have further to signifie that my departure draws nigh blessed be my God I am prepared I have nothing to do but Dye and put off this corrupt mortal Tabernacle this Flesh that hath so many Infirmities but the Life that dwells in it transcends above all out of the reach of Death Hell and the Grave and Immortallity and eternal Life is my Crown forever and ever therefore you that are left behind fear not nor be discouraged but go on in the Name and Power of the Lord and bear a faithful and living Testimony for him in your day and the Lord will prosper his Work in your Hand and cause his Truth to flourish and spread abroad for it shall have the Victory and no Weapon formed against it shall prosper the Lord hath determined it shall possess the Gates of its Enemies and the Glory and the Light thereof shall shine more and more until the perfect Day so concluded in Prayers to the Lord with servent Breathings and Supplications for all his People every where but more especially for his dearly beloved Friends assembled together at the Yearly Meeting at London where he had intended to have been if the Lord had given him Health his dear Love was to all Friends that should enquire of him He departed this Life the 17 th of the 4 th Month at Warwick and was Buryed the 18 th 1688. This is the Word of the Living God to his Church he hath called and chosen out of the World to place his Name into order and guide in his pure Wisdom to his praise and glory who alone is worthy God over all blessed for ever THat in every particular Meeting of Friends Servants and Children of the most high God that there be chosen from among you one or two who are most grown in the Power and Life in the pure discerning in the Truth to take the care and charge over the Flock of God in that place and this is the Word of the living God to you who are chosen To watch over the Flock of God to whom I commit the charge and care to take the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready minde I charge and command you in the presence of the living God not to rule as Lords over Gods Heritage but rule in the Power of the Spirit in all purity to be Examples to the Flock and to see that order be kept in the Church in constant meeting together according to the Rule that hath been given forth once a week or more if it may be beside the First-day Meeting and to have a general Meeting with other Friends near to you once in two or three weeks as the Lord orders and makes way Be not slack and backward but faithful to the Lord in improving every opportunity for Friends to meet and to lay the charge and care of some Friends that is the most grown in Truth in every Town where Friends are scattered to see they meet together to wait on the Lord three or four hours as the Lord orders one night or two in a week and to watch over one another with a pure single Eye to see those that come amongst them walk orderly according to what they profess and if any walk disorderly for them to whom the care and charge is committed or any other which discerns them and is moved to speak to them to deal plainly with them in reproving them and ministring to the pure in the Conscience for the restoring of them and if they will not reform acquaint two or three
more that are the most grown in the Truth or you to whom the charge and care of the Flock is committed and you with the other that did speak to them in tender Bowels of love admonish them and with plainness of speech minister to the pure in the Consciences to raise up the Witness to judge and cut down the deceit that their Souls may be saved and their Nakedness covered but if they still walk in disorder when the Church is meet together reprove them openly and if they do not still reform but walk in their Filthiness when the Church is met together in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ charge them to depart from amongst you so cast them out and not have any union with them not so much as to Eat with them until they repent and turn to the Lord to walk in obedience to that which is pure if they do then receive them again but if they still walk in the Stubberness of their Wills and not bend to the pure in their Conscience keep them forth that not any filthy Person dwell in the House of God then will the blessing of the Lord God be with you And this is his Word to you to see that there be not any in outward Want in the Church and that all walk orderly in their Places and Callings and if any Root of bitterness spring up in any which causeth Strife in their minds one against another as soon as you know of it call such before you and examine the matter strictly and stand in the Wisdom and Power of God to guide you to judge the Cause and end it in Righteousness but if the Cause be hard for you to discern the measure you are grown to cannot discern betwixt the Parties I charge you and command you in the presence of the living God not to be hasty in the Cause come before you to order it in your doubtful and dark minds for what is not of Faith is of Sin but to send for some that is more grown in discerning to judge the Cause and end it in Righteousness then will Deceit be judged and Strife kept out and the Innocent set free to serve the Lord and your union will be in Christ Iesus where you will bring forth Fruit abiding in him and through his Blood you shall overcome the World in you and without and shall reign Kings upon the Earth In the Power of Christ you shall command the unclean Spirit in all his appearances within you and without and he shall submit to the Power of God in you dwelling in him who alone is Power and to whom all glory belongs for ever The eternal pure powerful and dreadful Spirit of the most high God rest upon you whom he hath chosen to watch over his Flock and his mighty Power open the pure eternal Eye in you to discern and separate between the Precious and Vile the Holy and the Unholy and furnish you with Courage and Boldness and pure Wisdom to rule in the Power of his Spirit to cut down all deceit and to wash the Disciples Feet in bowing to the pure in the least appearance and ministring to it to strengthen the desire raised up towards the Name of the Lord until Judgment be brought forth into Victory then will you have union together in that which is pure eternal begotten of God who reigns over all blessed for ever and Wisdom's justified of her Children W. D. Writ in the Year 1653. This is the Word of the Lord to thee Oliver Cromwell called Lord Protector THus saith the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to thee Oliver Cromwell Why dost thou slight my Counsel and harden thy Heart against it which I declare to thee by my Sons and Daughters and is witnessed in thy Conscience by my Word in thee which called on thee to trust no longer in the Arm of Flesh nor seek great things for thy self as those did I drove out before thee in my Wrath and destroyed in my Fury and the fearfulness of my Displeasure consumed them and hath given thee power into thy Hand who promised me in the day of thy Distress if I would deliver thee in that day and give the power over all that stood up against thee then wouldest thou take away all these Unrighteous Laws which is contrary to my Righteous Law in the Conscience which were made by those I drove out before thee that my Children should not be Persecuted any more by any outward Law but have free Liberty to declare my mind as I moved them by my Spirit and into thy power I have committed what thou requiredst of me that thou mightest perform thy promises to me and now I have tryed thee and in this day of thy Tryal thou hast proved unfaithful to me and to my People and no truth have I found in thee in this day as to perform thy promise to me but contrary to them all hast thou improved the power put into thy Hand to seek great things for thy self and hast set up thy self in the pride of thy Heart to rob me of my glory in taking upon thee to be Lord Protector of my People when contrary to thy fair words and promises thou by thy power Establishest those Laws by which my People always were and are Persecuted which Laws uphold this filthy and abominable thing in my sight the Heads thereof Judge for Rewards and the Priests Teach for Hire and thou with them leanest upon me and sayest Is not the Lord amongst us no Evil shall come upon us as the Wicked Generation did Mic. 3.11 And those Rebellious People I destroyed before thee who made those Laws thou hast Established contrary to all thy fair words and promises and to preserve thee in thy obstinate and wicked walking before me in setting thy self on high in seeking thy own glory thou trustest to the Arm of Flesh to protect thee in the ways thou livest in but since thou hast abused the power I put into thy Hand I have Corrected thee by the Arm of my Power to let thee see that all the Policy and Strength of men cannot deliver thee forth of my Hand and when thou wast nigh to Destruction I appeared as I had done in all the times of thy distress thy Lord Protector and in my tender Love to deliver thee by the Arm of my mighty Power when none could help thee that thou mightest fear me and lay thy Crown in the Dust before me and give glory to my Name in denying thy self and performing thy promise to me who am a dreadful God and will not be robbed of my glory but since I delivered thee still like proud Pharoah hardenest thy Heart against me and continuest in thy obstinacy in upholding these Unrighteous Laws thou promised me to take away but instead of performing thy promises in taking them away thou hast Established them by thy power by which my Children are Persecuted and the Hands of the Wicked are strengthen'd
against them and notwithstanding all thy Wickedness and Rebellious walking before me in love to thy Soul I have preserved thee to this day and still doth wait upon thee to be Gracious and Merciful to thee if thou wilt still return to my Counsel and diligently hearken to it the Light in thy Conscience which witnesseth against the pride of thy Heart and loftiness of thy Spirit and calls of thee to perform thy promises thou madest to me in the day of thy distress in speedily taking away the Unrighteous Laws by which my People are Persecuted that are guided by my Righteous Law in their Conscience that they be no more given up as Sheep to the Slaughter for declaring my Word and Mind to the People as they have been and are in this Nation but that they may have free Liberty and no more be Persecuted by any outward Law for declaring what I make known to them by my Spirit Which if thou dost return to me that I may guide thee by my Power as is declared then will I heal thy Backslidings and deliver thy Soul forth of the Pit of Corruption and bring it into my Banqueting-House where thou shalt drink of the Rivers of pleasure that is in my presence where thy Soul shall be for ever with my dear Children in the purchased Inheritance that shall never fade away and this shall be the Portion of thy Cup. I once more tender to thee if thou wilt speedily return while my Arm is stretched forth in this day of thy Visitation to imbrace thee and if thou wilt not hearken to my Counsel but like proud Pharaoh still hardens thy Heart against it and continue in thy Pride and Obstinacy as thou hast done know this my Spirit shall not always strive with thee but I will hasten the day of my Righteous Judgments upon thee and the Arm of Flesh which thou trusts and leanest upon to uphold thee and protect thee where thou art shall be to thee as the broken Reeds of Egypt that shall break to peices and Torment and Wound thee and I will get my glory upon thee in breaking thee down in my Wrath and fierce Displeasure and none shall deliver thee out of my Hand which will speedily perfect my Pleasure upon thee for the time is not long ere I accomplish what I have spoken except thou Repent and thou shalt know thy Destruction is of thy self and thy Blood shall be upon thy own Head and shall confess my Judgments to be true and righteous to all that hear of it that they may be warned by thee to fear and walk humbly before me in the day that I do this saith the Lord of Hosts The Word of the Lord I was commanded by him to writ to thee and after it was written was taken from me by one Thomas Pentlow called Justice of the Peace at the Town called Willby in Northampton-Shire yet notwithstanding in the love of God to thy Soul I am again ordered by him to make known his Counsel to thee that thou mightst not be Ignorant of his mind towards thee what he hath made known to me who am a lover of thy Soul and known to the World by name William Dewsbery Prisoner in Northampton Goal for the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ. From the Common Goal in Northampton the first day of the Tenth Month 1654. The Mighty Day of the Lord is comming in which Christ knocks at the door of the Heart of Kindreds Tongues People and Nations who desire to know the only true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent to be the Light of the World and Salvation to the Ends of the Earth to all that obey him but a stumbling Stone and a Rock of offence to all that resist his Counsel whom he will take in their own Craft and overturn in their own Devices to the shame and confusion of their Faces but they that believe in him shall never be ashamed This was given forth in the common Goal in Northampton the 7th day of the 11th Month 1655. by William Dewsbery there Prisoner for the Word of God and Testimony of Iesus THe mighty day of the Lord is comming to you People whose natural Birth and Generation was in the Northern Islands whom the Lord of Heaven and Earth hath placed where he hath suffered you to be scattered into Barbadoes Virginia New-England and other Islands there away and Countries elsewhere and to every Kindred Tongue and People and Nations in whom there is desires raised to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to be the Light of the World to guide the Feet of those that sate in Darkness into the Light and Way of Peace To you People the mighty Day of the Lord is coming and in his Power is appearing amongst you in raising desires in some of you towards his Name which desires cannot be satisfied with any outward Observations and Traditions of your Fathers but above them doth your minds rise in true Hunger and Thirst towards the living God for refreshment from his presence prize the Love of God to you in whom he hath raised desires towards him and look not forth at any that teaches to hearken to the Teachings of Men without who draw you to seek Christ and God without and to come to the knowledg of the Kingdom of God in outward Observations with which the knowledge of God comes not the Kingdom of God is within and as the Lightning is from the East to the West so is the coming of the Son of Man in his day whose appearance is within but you People in the day of Darkness and Ignorance that have been over the whole Earth have been deceived in looking forth at teachings of Men without and for the Kingdom of God to come in outward Observations that men have set up in their vain thoughts Wicked and carnal Imaginations of the Saints condition which is Recorded in the Scriptures of Truth but they not regarding the motion of the Spirit of God within which taught and guided the Saints they are Strangers to the Saints Life though they speak great swelling words of the knowledg of God and with them deceive the simple with the inticing words of Mans Wisdom and boasting in other Mens Lines made ready to their Hands but they themselves are natural bruit Beasts living without the fear of God in Pride Covetousness Dissimulation and Hypocrisie full of self-Love making their Bellies their God delighting their Hearts in the Creature enjoyments and visible objects and are Men-Pleasers having their Persons in admiration and them respecting for advantage and these Men who are Ignorant of the only true God you have followed to teach you to come to know God who hath drawn you to Worship an unknown God in the ignorance of your minds so have they destroyed your Souls and the Souls of many and you People perish for want of Knowledg Hosea 4.6 In being caused to err with
the Lies and Lightness of these false Prophets which the Lord is against who run when the Lord never sent them as the false Prophet did when the Lord sent his true Prophet Ieremiah to cry against them Ier. 23.32 All People who desire to know the living God let the time past be sufficient you have followed Men who have deceived you and cease from them and turn to the true Prophet whom Moses the Servant of the Lord declared the Lord God would raise up Deut. 18.15 his Elect and Chosen Servant to raise up the Tribe of Iacob and to restore the preserved of Israel whom he hath also given for a Light to the Gentiles and to be his Salvation to the Ends of the Earth whom Isaiah the Prophet declared the Lord would raise up to open the Fountain of Life and Salvation to all that Thirst Isaiah 55.1 2 3 and now witnessed with all that hearken to his Counsel who calls to every one that Thirsteth Come ye to the Waters and he that hath no Money come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price wherefore do you lay out your Money for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently to me and eat that which is good and let your Souls delight it self in fatness incline your Ear and come unto me hear and your Souls shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David all People no longer look forth the glad Tydings of the Gospel of the eternal Salvation is heard within in this day of the Lords Mercies wherein he is teaching his People himself as was declared by the Prophet Isaiah 54.13 and now witnessed with all the Children of Light whose minds are turned within to wait on the Lord for teaching and to establish them in the Covenant of Life and Peace who is performing his promise to all that wait on him which he declared by his Servant the Prophet Ier. 31.33 34. This shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel in those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their Hearts and write it in their inward Parts and will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People and they shall no more teach every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will be merciful unto their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more Therefore every one that desires to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent turn your minds within and examine your Hearts search and try your ways with the Light that Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withall that shews you in your Hearts what is Sin that Pride and Covetousness is Sin Lying and Swearing is Sin Dissimulation Cheating Couzning is Sin vain idle Communication foollish Jesting and Unbelief is Sin and these things you know in your own Consciences to be Sin by the Righteous Law of God in the Heart that reproves you for them in the secret of the Heart and Conscience there is your Teacher the Spirit of the Lord within which in this mighty day of his Power he is pouring his Spirit upon all Flesh according to his promise declared by the Prophet Ioel 2.28 29. And now witnessed with his Sons and with his Daughters who walk in the Light led and guided by his Spirit within which keeps the Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man Every one diligently hearken to the Counsel of the Lord the Light that witnesseth for God in the Conscience give up to be guided by it then you need no more be taught of Men neither shall your Teacher be removed any more into a Corner but thine Eye shall see thy Teacher and thine Ear shall hear a voice behind thee saying This is the Way walk in it when thou turns to the right Hand or to the left as was declared by Isaiah the Prophet Isa. 30.20 which is now witnessed and that is the living Word of God within that hath raised desires in you towards God every one in whom desires is raised wait in the Light and Power within that hath raised the desires and the Lord will then strengthen and give you power to wait on him in the way of his Judgments till the Carnal Earthly Sensual minds which hath lead you to delight in Lusts and Pleasures and created enjoyments below God be cut down and slain with the Word of God within which is a sharp and two edged Sword to slay down the first Man which is of the Earth earthly then will you come to witness to be the slain of the Lord and the sentence of Death upon the first Man who hath lead you from God with all the Wisdom Strength and Righteousness you had in him and in the Power of the Spirit you will be brought to the true sence of the Poverty of your Spirits to Hunger and Thirst after the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus the Light him to prize and love and self judge and deny with his Light and in his Light wait to dwell in his Power you to guide in every Word and Work in the Light where your union and fellowship will be with the Father of Light who will you keep that faithful in him abide and dwell in his mighty Power and Wisdom as he moves thee witness his mind in his pure Power to the confounding of the mighty Wise and Prudent men who is exalted in the wisdom of the World and Counsel of their own Hearts not regarding to be guided by the Counsel of God in Christ the Light. To you tender Babes and Children of the most high this is the Word of the Lord God in whom desires are raised towards his Name his Counsel mind in you and stand faithful in it according to his Word declared to you and consult not with Flesh and Blood in the Light and Life lift up your Heads and freely give up Soul and Body to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth that he may exhalt in you the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to guide you in perfect obedience to his Righteous Law written in the Heart for the exercise of the Conscience towards God and Man and fear not Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils who stands up to oppose the Lord in this mighty day of his Power wherein he is exalting Christ Jesus the Light to be King for ever In his Light be faithful to the Lord and though you be hailed before Rulers Governours and Kings for a Testimony against them take no thought what you shall say but keep within stand in the Counsel of God it shall be given you in the self-same hour my Heavenly Father will in you speak and his Enemies confound before his mighty Power in you and
midst of them and went his way Luke 4.16 28 29 30. And Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ not of man neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the Dead Gal. 1.1 He was a chosen Vessel unto the Lord to bear his Name amongst the Gentiles and Kings and the Children of Israel Acts 9.15 It was his practice to go to and fro to preach the Word of eternal life to the people in their Synagogues and Markets as the Ministers of Christ do When Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Iews Paul as his manner was went unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures Acts 1â— 1 2. When Paul went unto Athens his Spirit stirred in him when he saw the whole Citty given to Idolatry therefore disputed he in the Synagogue with the Iews and with the devout persons and in the Markets daily with them that met with him Then certain of the Phylosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoicks encountred him and some said what will this Babler say other some he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange Gods because he Preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection Acts 17.16 17 18. And all my Brethren this day with me that witnesseth Christ Jesus risen from the Dead and are sent to Preach Christ the Resurrection who hath enlightned every one that is come into the World that all may in his Light that from him comes that shews them Sin wait for his Power to cleanse them from Sin and raise them out of the fallen and dead estate by the power of his Resurrection to live in pure obedience to God. We are by those the World call their Ministers and Teachers withstood as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses But the Lord is making them daily manifest that all shall see their folly and by them be no more deceived 2 Tim. 3.8 9. And as the Heathen Phylosophers before written encountred Paul so hath these men encountred with us as before written for witnessing Jesus the Resurrection and the true Light that enlightneth every one that comes into the World. And as Tertullus the Heathen Orator accused Paul before Felix Acts 24.1 5. We have found this man a pestilent fellow and mover of Sedition amongst all the Jews throughout the World and a Ring-leader of the Sect of the Nazarens The same spirit that was in the Heathen Orator Tertullus that lead him to accuse Paul before Felix did Edward Bowles whom the people of the World call Minister and Teaches in the high place in York manifest to be in him who never had spoken to me when he by that dark spirit was lead to give in an Information against me and at the time when it was expected I should have the priviledge of the Law that Thieves and Murtherers had by it to be Tryed and my Accusers to appear face to face the said Edward Bowles did not appear to prove against me what was written in the Information neither a perfect Coppy of it would he or they that had it in keeping give to me when it was demanded least their works of darkness should be brought to light but what was brought to light when it was demanded of Edward Bowles This is a perfect Coppy that he wrote with his own hand as followeth It is informed that one William Deusbery a Ring-leader of the Persons calleâ— Quakers goes up and down the Country of York and is now in the West-riding thereof dispersing Principles prejuditical to the truth of the Gospel and peace of the Common-Wealth It is therefore desired that seeing no man is allowed publickly to exercise his gifts to a particular Congregation unless he be first tryed and approved that the said William Deusbery may not be permitted to go up and down from place to place Teaching until he receive Approbation of some Persons who shall be thought fit to judg how agreeable his Principle are to Truâ—â— and Peace This is the substance of what I delivered into Mr Payler but the particular words I cannot exactly remember but I believe they do not any thing considerably vary from this Paper E. B. This man whom Edward Bowles calls Mr Payler was the Fore-man of the Grand-Jury to whom he delivered the Information against me that they might deliver it to Hugh Windham who sat Judge of Life and Death at the general Assizes holden at York about the time of the thirteenth and fourteenth dayes of the first Month called March 1653. Upon the sight of the Information given in against me the Judge granted a Warrant in the open Court to the men that was in Commission to do justice in Yorkshire to apprehend me Which after that time I being at a place called Tholthorp about ten Miles from York in the North-riding thereof and many of the Servants of the living God with me waiting on him his Power to manifest to his glory and while we were together there came one George Mann in great rage two several times with an Iron Fork to satisfie his blood-thirsty minde the Lord with his Power did him chain and prevented his bloody intents to satisfie his will on me he went to Thomas Dickeson who was at a place called Kirby-Hall in Yorkshire and he accused me as Thomas Dickeson said before him that I said I was Christ upon which accusation he granted forth a Warrant on the twenty sixth day of the second Month called April And on the twenty seventh day I being with the Children of the Lord at Crake Iohn Lockwood called high Constable apprehended me with the Warrant before mentioned and the day being far spent he said to the Friends with me if they would ingage for my appearance the next day he would shew me that favour that I should stay with them that night I replyed these words that not any man should ingage for me neither desire I favour at the hands of men if thou hast power over the body do with it what thou hast power Then Iohn Lockwood said the day is far spent I shall not go with thee to the Justice to night until to morrow stay at thy Friends House Reply if thou say I shall stay here if the Lord please I shall be ready to go with thee where he gives thee power to have me so he went away and said he would send for me the next day and in the night season many of the Lords Servants and Children was with me waiting on him who is worthy to be waited on for he is good to the Souls that wait on him and to the Souls that seek him when much of the night was spent the Inhabitants of Crake in great rage and fury came to the Doors and Windows of the House like the Inhabitants of wicked Sodom crying and rushing at the Doors and said they would have me forth to dispose of me according to their wills for I should not be there and Iohn Lockwood high
did hear with much attention until two men came to me and said they had order from Edmund Iohnson called Mayor to take me away and with violence drew me forth and had me before the said Edmund Iohnson who commanded his officers to put me in Prison before he did me examine which was done and the next day the man that put me in Prison brought me forth before the Mayor and William Billers another of the Rulers of the Town who did me examine and not finding any thing against me commanded Robert Brewin Keeper of the common Goal to put me out of the Town and strictly charged me to depart forth of their Coasts with many threatnings what they would do if I again into the Town did come but the threatnings of man was not regarded into the Town I did return in obedience to the command of the Lord to finish the Testimony of Jesus I was to witness to the Consciences of the Inhabitants of the Town of Leicester Then in obedience to the Spirit of Truth I journyed into Northamptonshire and in a Town called Wellingborrow and there aways many did receive the word of Life with much gladness of heart And at a time as I was going along the Street in that Town near the House of Thomas Andrews whom the people of the the World call their Teacher he to me did speak these words Give over deceiving the people least the Plagues of God fall upon thee the answer to him was if thou sayst I deceive the people make it appear wherein I deceive them he replyed thou tells them there is no original Sin I required of him didst thou hear me say so to that he made no answer then these words was to him declared thou must either prove what thou accusest me of or own thy condemnation upon thy false Accusation he fled away and did make no answer About the time which was near three weeks after I was ordered of the Lord to return again to Wellingborrow and hearing there was a Meeting in the Steeple-house where Thomas Andrews was who had me falsly accused as is formerly written for the Truths sake into the Steeple-house I did go and in silence did stand till the man called their Teacher had done then I declared the word of the Lord to the people who did hear peaceably and afterwards I spake in particular to Thomas Andrews to prove what he had â—alsly accused me of in saying I deceived the people and there make it manifest before the people or to own his condemnation upon his false accusation but to what was required no answer he did make but away fled Then Henry Smith who in that Town dwells out of the Steeple-house haled me into the yard where the Truth to the people was declared who did here stand peaceably to hear till William Baw called high Constable did take hold on me and had me away into the Market-place amongst the people and said he would bring evidence against me for Blasphemy so he had me as Prisoner to and fro in the Market-place with so doing he made disturbance among the people but when he could not prove what he had falsly accused me with he let me go who at that present time went from amongst the people to a Friends house and came no more forth amongst the people in the Market that day The next day being the twenty eighth of the tenth Moneth called December Richard Dennit being Constable of Wellingborow came to the Friends House where I was and took me forth by vertue of a Warrant that had no name but for one who is commonly called Quaker and had me with it before Thomas Pentlow called Justice at Wilby in Northamptonshire who did me examine but would not read me any Law I had transgressed but made a Mittimus and sent me to the common Goal in Northampton on the twenty nineth day of the tenth Moneth called December 1654. A Copy of the Mittimus I was denied by Iohn Snart Keeper of the Goal and also the men that were in Commission to do Justice when it was of them desired in open Court at the general Sessions holden at Northampton the tenth day of the eleventh Month by those whose names are Iohn Clark Iohn Parker called Sergeant at Law George Benson Iohn Mansil Iohn Brown who there did sit in Commission to have judged the Cause in righteousness between me and mine Accusers but when the Mittimus was read where the charge against me was written not any appeared to prove what the Blasphemy was for which they committed me to Prison in suspition of neither they to me read any Law that any thing charged against me had it transgrest but again to Prison did me commit to answer at the Assizes holden at Northampton the tenth and twelfth day of the first Month called March 1654. And three times I was there brought before Matthew Haile who did sit Judge of Life and Death to answer what might be objected against me and the last time I before him was brought Hugh Windham was with him who then was in Commission with him to have judged the Cause in righteousness between me and my Accusers and though not any Accuser appeared against me to prove me the transgressor of any Law neither would these that sat to judge my Cause any Law to me read that any evidence given in against me was the transgression of but they me committed to Prison where I had been amongst those arraigned for Fellony and Murther So under all these Lies and Aspertions false Accusations I suffer and instead of being cleared of them when I was brought before those that were in Commission to judge with righteous judgement more Accusations were laid upon me by them which was done by I. Parker at the general Sessions before written and Hugh Windham at the general Assizes before mentioned which both did accuse me in the open Court before the people that I was a Seducer and when I required them to make manifest wherein I did seduce any they would not answer to what then was required and a Coppy of the ground of the Evidence they pretend they have against me they denied to be given me in all places where they have proceeded against me as is formerly written least their works of darkness should come to light and their folly made manifest and Truth cleared of the Lies and false Accusations with which they blind the Eyes of many and cause them to stumble at the ways of Truth in speaking evil of the things they know not as is manifest in what is written So for the Truths sake I bear Testimony of and it to clear from all Lies and Aspersions cast upon it which hath caused the simple to stumble at the way of Truth and that they no longer be turned aside by the lying spirit who every way seeks to murther and destroy the Truth from the Earth in Persecuting the Bodies of the Saints and shutting them up in Prison under
the names of Blasphemers Deceivers Seducers and Disturbers of the Peace so make Lies their refuge as that Persecuting spirit ever did in all Ages To stop the lying Mouth and for the Simple sake that desire in the truth of their Hearts to know the leadings of the Spirit of Truth in the way to know the only true God I here publickly declare to the Inhabitants of England and to all that dwell upon the Earth what I was in the fallen estate and how the Lord raised me up by the arm of his mighty Power and carried me on through the great work of regeneration that all may know the Truth I am sent to bear Testimony to the Consciences of those that dwell upon the Earth is not any Seducing nor contrary to the Truth of the Gospel but is according to the Truth as it is in Jesus He that hath an Eye to see let him see and an Eâ—re to hear let him hear The first Birth I Was conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity and in that state lived and delighted in pride and pleasures lightness and vanity as all do in that nature untill I was about eight Years of Age though before that time when I did live in vanity the Light in my Conscience did witness against me and caused some trouble in me but I departed from the Light and so followed the counsel of my own Heart that lead me into vanity to live without the fear of God And about the time when I was eight Years of Age of my natural birth the Word of the Lord came unto me I created thee for my glory an account thou must give to me for all thy words and actions done in the Body which word enlightned my Heart and opened the Book of Conscience in me where all was written I had done in the Body ever since I had any remembrance and when I had read my condition how I had lived without God who created me for his glory the Word of the Lord then came unto me Shall the Axe boast it self against him that heweth therewith or shall the Saw magnifie it self against him that shaketh it as if the Staff should shake it self against him that lifteth it up or as if the Staff should lift up it self as if it were no Wood and by the Power of the Word of the Lord that spoke in me my understanding was enlightned and my Conscience bore witness that it was my condition I had lifted up my self against the living God in living without his fear who created me to live in obedience to him but I had lived in disobedience to him untill that day so deep sorrow seized upon me and I knew not what to do that I might get acquaintance with the God of my Life who created me for his own praise and glory then I ceased from my vain conversation which I had lived in and began to read the Scriptures and Books and mourn and pray to a God I knew not where he was but expected him without looking up towards the Firmament where my carnal imaginations told me he was and as I had heard those the World calls Ministers whom I went to hear whose words did witness with my carnal imagination of God they said he was above the Skies calling it Heaven but I felt the hand of the Lord within me executing justice upon the wicked in me and what way ever I turned to seek him in observations thither the flaming Sword turned which was placed against me to keep the way of the Tree Life and execute the righteous justice of God upon me So I stood before the Throne of the Lamb reading in my mournful estate the sentence of condemnation that passed upon me from the glory of his presence and in this condemned estate I continued and through the ignorance where God was what his Worship was I strove to satisfie his justice in outward observations imitating what the Saints did sometimes in Fasting and Praying which was the practice of Cornelius and others of the Saints of the most high God as I found recorded in the Scripture of Truth But notwithstanding all my strict walking in observations in which I was seeking the Kingdom of God I found him not but the flaming Sword cut me down so my sorrow increased for I found none in my condition that I could declare it to Then it pleased the Lord to order my Friends in the flesh to put me to keep the Sheep where I was retired from company so my minde was kept in my mournfull estate where my great ease was in mourning to a God I knew not nor none could tell me where I should get acquaintance with him in the place where I was in the outward being in a Town called Allathorp nigh Pocklington in Yorkshire but hearing of a people about Leeds that walked more strictly in profession of the name of God then any did where I was I had no rest in my spirit till my Parents in the flesh sent me thither to be an Apprentice not regarding what Calling so I might be amongst those that feared the living God that I might be acquainted with the God of my life who had created me for himself and the desires the Lord raised up in me were answered when I was thirteen years old of my naturall birth I was bound an Apprentice to a Cloath-maker in a Town called Holdbeck near Leeds and as I hard so it was there was much speaking of God which they called preaching and professing him in words from the letter of the Scripture what the Saints had spoken forth so intimating the Saints practice in their carnall wisdom seeking the Kingdom of God in outward observations as I had done before I came there but when I met with none that could tell me what God had done for their souls in redeeming them from the body of sin which I groaned under and separated me from the presence of God though I walked strictly with them in their outward observations running to hear one man after another which they called Ministers yet I found no rest nor peace to my weary soul but the flaming sword the righteous Law of God cryed in me for a perfect fulfilling of the Law of God and did meet with me where-ever I was that I could finde no peace in that worship of God the world hath set up as in receiving the bread and wine which they told me was the seals of the Covenant which was long ere I durst receive it because I saw not my selfe prepared for the evil of my heart stood before me and when I was to receive it I sought the Lord to keep me by his Power that I might receive it worthily and when I did receive it my desire was the Lord would seal up his love to my Soul but I found nothing sealed up to my soul with it Then much
Lord God and great shall be the peace of my Children and â—his here declared the Scriptures witness and I witness the Scriptures fulfilled in me praises praises Hallelujah and eternal praises be unto the Lord God almighty who hath taken unto thee thy great Power to sit upon thy Throne and to the Lamb for evermore It being charged on me my Imprisonment to be just until I give a reason of the hope of my calling and that I am unwilling so to do To stop the lying Mouth of the false Accusers and to clear the Truth from the lies laid on it as is before written and in love to the Souls of the People that they the Truth may know as it is in Jesus Here I have declared the work of the mighty God in revealing his Son in me who led me on my journey through the dark World where I passed through great tribulations as formerly written until I came to the end of the World over it to rejoyce in the Power of my God 1 Cor. 10.11 upon whom the ends of the World are come whom the whole World that lies in wickedness hates and persecutes but to the pure single Eye that is not of the World I lay this before which is written that all which it minds may see the Truth I bear Testimony of is not any Popish Tenet though I was questioned concerning them at the general Assizes holden at Northampton the tenth and twelfth dayes of the first Moneth called March 1654. neither is it Seducing nor Blasphemy nor prejudicial to the Truth of the Gospel or peace of the Nation but according to the truth of the everlasting Gospel and sound peace of the Nation for which Testimony I am still kept in Bonds in the common Goal in Northampton numbred amongst the Transgressors in the low Prison with these arraigned for Fellony and Murther waiting in rest and peace till the Sufferings of the righteous Seed be fulfilled And all you that are Enemies to the Truth of God persecuting it under the names as formerly written calling the preaching of the Truth seducing this I declare and confess unto you in the presence of God after the Way you call Seducing do I worship the Lord God of my Fathers and witness fulfilled what is written in the Law and the Prophets he that can receive me let him W. D. Dear Friends whose minds are turned to the effectual Light that comes from Christ all mind your own measure and be content in what the Lord hath committed to you with the Light judge that which would draw your minds to look forth at others conditions and in impatiency to covet what the Lord hath given to them before it be manifest to you be faithful every one in your own measure and in patience wait in the Light for the unlimitted Spirit of Christ your Life to open the Seals of the Book and make known unto you the mystery of eternal Life which he will daily reveal in you that are faithful in your own measures to follow the Lord in what he makes manifest to you whom he hath called into his Vineyard at the nineth and eleventh hour be faithful to the Lord in walking in obedience to him in the Light he will make a short work in the Earth for his Seeds sake and your Reward shall be Rest and Peace in the presence of God in Christ with those that came into the Vineyard the 3d and 6th hour and laboured the heat of the day God almighty be with you his chosen Servants and Children and all in your measure keep in his eternal power bold valiant and faithful unto the end and crown you with eternal glory in Christ one Judge Lord and King God over all blessed forever Amen To all you that Rule in England from the highest to the lowest whom the Lord hath intrusted with power to see the Peace be kept and to judge the Cause of the People He hath given you Power their Causes to judge with Righteous Judgement the Evil-doers to Punish and the Righteous set Free out of the Hands of those that oppress them This is the Word of the Lord God to you THat you lend not your Ears to the counsel of your own Hearts or to the counsel of any without you that tempt you to draw your minds from the pure Counsel of God which is the Light that comes from Christ Jesus and calls on you in your Consciences to judge with Righteous Judgment as you will eternally answer before the pure powerful dreadful God take heed of abusing your power he hath intrusted you with in establishing any Law which is contrary to Scripture and the righteous Law of God in the Conscience as those did whom the Lord drave out and destroyed before you in his wrath and overturned in his fierce displeasure which if you uphold those Laws they made in their will or any other which is contrary to the righteous Law of God in the Conscience and rule according to those Laws and exercise the power committed to you to bind the Laws upon the Consciences of the Children of the Lord whom he hath chosen out of the world and made them his Jewels to fear an Oath in obedience to the righteous Law which saith Swear not at all which if you by these unrighteous Laws take advantage against the righteous Seed concerning the Law of their God them to ensnare under your power that you on them may satisfie your wills This I declare to you from the eternal God of Heaven and Earth it is hard for you to kick against the pricks for what is done to his people he takes it as done to himself and better a Milstone were hanged about your neck and you cast into the Sea saith Christ then to offend one of these little ones that believeth in his Name and obeys his Command who saith Swear not at all and now is manifesting his power in his People that all them may know between those that Swear and them that fear an Oath which if you them that fear an Oath oppress this knowâ— the Lord God will plead their Cause as he did the Cause of all his people in all Ages and destroyed those that oppressed them as in the time of Pharaoh and in the time of Nebuchadnezar and in the time of Hamon in the raign of King Ahasuerus and in the time of King Herod whom he smote in his righteous Judgments and consumed him with Worms Acts 12.23 for persecuting his people and robbing him of his glory the righteous justice of God he manifested upon the Enemies of his People is left upon record you to fore-warn that you touch not his chosen anointed People nor do his Prophets no harm for whose sakes he Kings rebukes and all that oppress them as is recorded in Scripture of truth And you Rulers of England who promised to the Lord God if he would deliver those that oppressed his people into your hands and
Ellington whom the World in scorn calls Quakers who have been and is in Bonds for the Truths sake and as near as remembred the substance of what the Judge who made a Goal Delivery of all the Transgressors of the Law did express to the Servants of the Lord that was brought Prisoners before him whom no breach of Law was proved against and also as near as remembred here is declared the substance of what the Servants of the Lord did express so long as they were permitted to declare the Truth which did stop the Mouth of all that did object any thing against it and though the Judge could not gainsay the Truth declared by them nor Read them a Law that they had transgressed yet were they not suffered to have the benefit of the Law that Murtherers and Felons had that their Accusers might appear face to face and they have a Tryal and speak for themselves to clear the Truth from false Accusations cast upon it and them but we are again committed to Prison as the following Lines make manifest With a true Discovery of the Persecution of Iohn Huckin Michael Pâ—ttâ—sâ—â— and Thomas Goodayre who is Imprisoned in Northampton for the Truthâ— sake wherein the great enmity that is in Thomas Andrews Priest of Wâ—llinâ—orrow and Thomas Pentlow of Wilby c alled Justice and also of the Magistrates of Northampton made manifest Also the Word of the Lord to the Rulers and Judges and all that Plot against the righteous Seed the World in scorn calls Qâ—akers ABout the time of the eleventh hour of the one and twentieth day of the fifth Month the Goaler called William Deusbery Ioseph Storr Henry Williamson Iohn Whitehead Marmaduke Storr Thomas Cocket and Francis Ellington and he set them all together at the Bar before the Court the Judge looked upon them and after a little silence said to the Goaler Are these Prisoners the Goaler answered yea my Lord the Judge said to the Goaler do you use to bring Prisoners before the Court in this manner you deserve to be Fined ten Pound for bringing them before the Court cover'd the Goaler answered if you command me I shall take off their Hats then the Judge gave command and the Goalers Man took them off which being done the Judge having knowledge given which was William Deusbery spoke to him as followeth Judge Atkins said to William Deusbery what art thou here for William Deusbery answered The Mittimus will express what I was committed for but a Copy of it I am denied by the Keeper of the Goal I. A. What is thy name W. D. Unknown to the World. I. A. Let us hear what that name is that the World knows not W. D. It is known in the Light and not any can know it but him that hath it but the name the World knows me by is William Deusbery I. A. What Country-Man art thou W. D. Of the Land of Canaan I. A. That is afar off W. D. Nay it is near for all that dwell in God is in the holy City new Ierusalem which comes down from Heaven where the Souls is in rest and enjoys the love of God in Jesus Christ in whom the union is with the Father of Light. I. A. That is true but are you ashamed of your Countrey is it a disparagement for you to be born in England W. D. Nay for the Truths sake I am free to declare according to the Knowledg of the World my natural Birth was in York-Shire nine Miles from York towards Hull I. A. You pretend to be extraordinary Men and to have an extraordinary Knowledg of God. W. D. We witness the Work of Regeneration to be an extraordinary Work wrought in us by the Spirit of God. I. A. But the Apostles wrought with their Hands in their Callings W. D. They had Callings in the World some were Fishermen Paul a Tent-maker but when they were called to the Ministry of Christ they left their Callings to follow Christ where he led them by his Spirit to Preach the Word and I had a Calling in the World as they had and in it did abide until the Father revealed his Son in me and called me from my Calling I had in the World to Preach the eternal Word he had made known to me in the great Work of Regeneration I. A. Why didst thou not abide in thy own Countrey and Teach People in them Parts W. D. There I did stay until I was called from thence to go where I was led by the Spirit of the Lord and as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons and Daughters of God and they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his I. A. You say well for we must in charity conclude that every one in this place hath the Spirit of God in them but how do you know that you are guided by the Spirit of God W. D. They that have the Spirit of God are known by their fruits and he that believeth in Jesus Christ and is guided by his Spirit hath the witness in himself I. A. That is true yet notwithstanding I see by your carriage that what my Brother Hails did at the last Assizes in requiring Bonds for your good behaviour he might justly do it for you are against Magistrates and Ministers W. D. Make that manifest wherein we are against them I. A. Said to Robert Guy Clark of the Peace What have you against these men R. Guy Here is an Information given in upon Oath by Mr Robert Beeton that William Deusbury on the twenty nineth of December 1654. did go into the Church in Wellingborrow and stood with his Hat on in the time of Sermon and Prayer and after the Minister had done he spake these words The Priests preach for hire and the People love to have it so But what will you do in the end thereof with other railing words which made disturbance amongst the people I. A. What have you against Storr and Williamson not any one spoke openly against them I shall take course that those that have disturbed the Ministers before I go forth of the Town that they shall be indicted W. D. It is the Liberty of the Law of this Nation that any which is brought Prisoner before those that sits to judge their Cause may speak for themselves the truth to witness against the false information given in against them and that Liberty I take to manifest the ground and cause of my going into the Steeple-house at Wellingborrow As I was going in the Street Thomas Andrews called Minister of that Town called to me with these words Give over deceiving the People lest the Plagues of God fall on thee I replyed these words Doest thou say I deceive the People make it manifest wherein I deceive them Thomas Andrews said Thou saidst there is not any Original Sin I replied Didst thou hear me say so to which he would not answer but fled away I being falsly accused by Thomas Andrews
here that I have been of evil behaviour or have broken any Law of this Nation I am here present to answer it and to give in Bonds for my liberty I. A. You have transgressed the Law in that you came to the Bar with your heads covered because it is a contempt to Authority F. E. There is no Law in this Nation requires any such thing as putting off the Hat if there be any I desire it may be read that so before the Country I may be convinced by the Law before Bonds be required I. A. I shall deal favourably with you for I shall take your own Bond to appear at the next Assizes F. E. First prove me a Transgressor of the Law for the righteous Law of God saith Where there is no Law there is no Transgression and there is no Law in England that requires the putting off the Hat therefore it is not a Transgression therefore I desire that I may have the benefit of an English man which is not denied to any Felon here amongst us for I have to this day stood alwayes faithful to the Common-wealth and have not forfeited my liberty but have hazarded my life and estate to procure Freedom which now I am deprived of I. A. If you will not put in Bond for your Behaviour which I think is very reasonable take him away F. E. For my behaviour if there be any here that can accuse me I would have you Country men to speak any of you if not let all the poor people in Wellingborrow and the Towns there-abouts and the poor in Nothamton which I have for these fifteen or sixteen years imployed in Carding Spinning Dying and Weaving of Wooll speak what my behaviour hath been towards them or others For I have until they cast me into Prison imployed more poor people in work about Wooll then any one man in this Countrey doth yet notwthstanding what I have done and do may not I have the benefit of the Law as all Malefactors here have I. A. Goaler Take him away Judge said to Thomas Cocket Is your name Cocket Thomas Cocket said yea And he spake to Iohn Mansell and Iohn Brown that committed him to Prison and sat on the Bench with the Judge What have you to accuse me of I am here ready to answer the Law but they would not answer him a word neither did they or any other openly accuse him of any thing and though he hath been kept in Prison fourteen weeks and hath appeared at two general Sessions and at these Assizes where not any Accuser appeared to his face or evidence read to prove him the transgressor of any Law the Judge would not examine his Case nor hear him speak but commanded the Goaler to take them all away two or three times and would not let them speak for themselves Yet Marmaduke Storr said to the people take notice all people how we are deprived of the priviledge and liberty that the Law of this Nation allows in that we may not be heard speak and have a legal Trial which is granted to Felons and Murtherers Then they were with-drawn and he who is called William Deusbury turned to the Court and spoke as followeth to the Judge With what measure thou meetest to us it will be measured to thee again and the Lord God of Heaven and Earth will judge between thee and us and will give unto thee and every one of you according to the works you have done and in that day you shall know whai is now declared is the Truth the Lord hath spoken it in whom we trust and he will us deliver Soon after the Court did rise and the Goaler took them away whose names are formerly written to Prison again where he saith they must be kept until the next Assizes if they will not enter Bond for their good behaviour and appearance at the next Assizes though not any evil behaviour hath been proved against any of them by the Law of this Nation neither when they were committed to Prison from the time when they have been brought forth at the general Sessions and Assizes as what hath been formerly written makes manifest and at the general Sessions holden the fourteenth day of the fourth Month Iohn Whitehead Marmaduke Storr and Thomas Cocket was by those that then sat in Commission to do Justice sentenced to be kept in the house of Correction and there to be wrought hard and not to have any meat brought to them which those called Justice at that time said was their due Punished according to Law as Vagabonds and notwithstanding fix weeks after they were thus sentenced which they said was their punishment prescribed by Law they brought them forth at the Assizes in order to a further Tryal and alledged nothing against them but they were again committed to Prison amongst the servants of the Lord whose names are before written which were brought before Judge Atkins who did not read any Law to them they had transgresed but in the open Court said that common fame did repute them to be dangerous persons and said that common fame was a good Accuser but not a good Trier yet all that he tried their Cause with was the common fame for not any legal Tryal they had least the enmity and injustice of those that committed them should have been brought to light and tho he made a Goal-delivery of all Murtherers and Felons that had transgressed the Law yet those he could not find had transgressed the Law by any thing that could be informed against them because they were evil spoken of tho not any evil proved against them but according to the common fame of the people Judge Atkins sentenced them to Prison again where they are to be as he saith until the next Assizes and their Friends and acquaintance are not suffered to see them or to speak with them so in this day the Scripture is fulfilled as it was in former times by those that judged the righteous Seed by the common fame of the people who cryed release unto us Barrabas and Crucifie Iesus and though Pilate could not read any Law that Iesus had transgressed and in his Conscience knew that he was a just man yet to do the people a pleasure he harkened to their common fame which was that he would deliver him up to be Crucified and Pilate contrary to the Light in his own Conscience delivered him up to them to be Crucified Luke 23.22 23 24 25. and now in this day is the same righteous Seed the Lord hath blessed Jesus the Son of the living God persecuted in his Saints whose bodies are cast into Prison by those that judge for man accâ—â—ding to the common fame of the people who ever persecuted Christ the Lord of life that saith in as much as you have done it to the least of these my Brethren you have done it unto me Mat. 25 40 The Discovery of the Persecution of Iohn Huchin and Michael Patteson JOhn Huchin
being moved of the Lord the twenty fourth day of the fourth Month being the first day of the week to go to the Steeple-house in Wellinborrow where the Priest Thomas Andrews and the people were meet together he there peaceably standing in silence the Priest commanded those he called Officers to take him forth of the Steeple-house which was done at his command before half of the Sermon as it s called was ended and by one Henry Henfnan called Church-warden was he had forth to an Alehouse and set watch over him until the Priest had done then the Constable sent to tell him that if he would not come at their Steeple-house in the afternoon that he should be set free he replyed that he should not make such a promise to them for he knew not what the Will of the Lord was to do with him but after a season they let him go And about nine days after Thomas Fox Constable came to his Masters shop where he was working and took him forth without shewing any Warrant or order for his so doing and carried him before Thomas Pentlow called Iustice and though not any evidence came against him that he speak one word in the Steeple-house or made any disturbance there yet the said Thomas Pentlow did send him to the common Goal in Northamton Michael Petteson living in the Town before written being moved of the Lord the first day of the week being the first day of the fifth Month to go into the Steeple house in Wellingborrow and there in silence stood peaceably until the Priest Tho. Andrews had done and people going away then he was moved of the â—ord to ask Thomas Andrews this question Friend canst thou witness this to be the Word of the Lord that thou hast spoken here before the people but the Priest instead of answering to the question he commanded the Officers to take him away and then Iohn Brown Constable took him forth and had him to an Alehouse and set watch over him and the next day the Constable abovesaid carried him with the other Friend before written before Thomas Pentlow aforesaid without shewing him any Warrant and when he was brought before him no Accuser appeared to prove that he had transgressed any Law neither did he read him any Law that he had transgressed but the Priest Thomas Andrews sitting by Thomas Pentlow did move that a Mittimus might be made to send him and the other Friend to the House of Correction for he said the Goal was not Punishment enough for them but Thomas Pentlow not answering him in that did make a Mittimus and sent them to the common Goal in Northampton where they are for a Testimony against the unreasonable proceedings of these unreasonable Men in patience waiting until the Lord deliver them by the Arm of his mighty Power This is said before that of God in all Consciences that all may judg what Spirit guides these Men that hath proceeded against those two before mentioned for while they lived in Pride Pleasure Scornfulness foolish jesting and mocking spending whole nights and days in running after Fidlers Dancing and spending their precious time in Wantonness and Vanity the one of them above Twenty two Years and the other above eighteen Years and all the time that they lived in Vanity they did go to the Steeple-house which the Priest calls a Church and he did own them as his hearers and did not speak to any to hinder them or to take them away but after the Lord in the riches of his love sent the Messengers of his Truth whom the World in scorn call Quakers whom they did hear the fourth day of the tenth Month 1654. that Word which they then heard delivered was to them Power and Life that did their Understandings enlighten and Consciences awaken wherein they did read in the Book of Conscience the evil of their doings until that time they see they had lived without the fear of God and the power of the Spirit which shewed them the evil of their Hearts constrained them to depart from it and to wait on the Power of the Lord to guide them in obedience to the measure of Light received and in obedience to the Light and Power of God they were moved to go into the Steeple-house as before written and though one of them spoke not one word and the other Propounded but one question to the Priest after he had done which is not the breach of any Law of this Nation yet notwithstanding they cast them into Prison as what is before written makes manifest He that hath an Eye to see let him see and an Ear to hear let him hear A Discovery of the Ground and Manner of the Persecution of Thomas Goodayre who is Imprisoned in Northampton by the Magistrates of that Town UPon the thirteenth day of the fifth Month in the Year 1655. he was moved of the Lord to come to Northampton to visit some of his Friends which were cast into Prison there by the Magistrates of that County and when he came there he went to the Prison door but could not be suffered to see his Friends for the Goaler had received order from those called Justices that none should come at them who are in scorn called Quakers which he went to visit and as he was going from thence along the Streets of that Town he met the Mayor and several others some of which are called Aldermen and he was moved to speak to them these words or to this effect Men see what is the fruits of the Ministry of this Nation and what it hath brought forth for Persecution and Wickedness abounds and he declared that those who say they are Christian Magistrates and do Persecute the Innocent are Heathens and know not God and he told them that they could not produce one Scripture to prove that ever any Christian Magistrate did Persecute any Man as those had done that cast his Friends in Prison then one of them called an Alderman stroke off his Hat in the Street and said he would learn him better manners then to stand and talk before the Mayor with his Hat on and some of them spoke to the Mayor to bind him to good Behaviour and the Mayor and the Aldermen consented together and required Sureties for his good Behaviour or else they said he should go to Prison but he told them that he was bound to good Behaviour by the righteous Law of God and he refusing to find Sureties they did immediately send him forth of the Streets to Prison without Mittimus or further Examination and did not make known to him any National Law that he had transgressed neither hath he to this day had any further Examination or Tryal but is content to rest in the Will of God in whom his confidence is who will deliver him out of the Hands of all wicked and unreasonable Men. TO all you Rulers and Judges of the Earth who combine together against the Lord and against his
Anointed and lay your Plots in the deep and fetch your counsel out of the bottomless Pit that you may ensnare the righteous Seed whom the World in scorn calls Quakers who in love to your Souls do you warn as you will eternally answer before the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to give over Plotting against the Righteous and inventing evil devices against the Innocent for in the eternal Light you are seen and in your secret works of darkness you are discovered and all you that will not take warning now when the Lord calls you to turn to his Light but his Counsel rejects and continue in the evil of your doings To you this is the Word of the Lord All your Plots and Counsels shall not prosper against the Righteous for he that sits in Heaven doth laugh the Lord shall have you in derision for not any Plot shall prevail against Israel nor unrighteous Counsel stand before Zions King who will break you with the rod of Iron and dash you in pieces like a Potters Vessel that plots against him to oppose him in his appearance In the Hearts of his Saints for in what you do to the least of those you do it to me saith Christ and better a Milstone were hanged about your Neck and you cast into the bottom of the Sea than to offend the least of those that believe in my Name From the Spirit of the Lord that will not always strive with Man you are once more warned now while you have time prize it and turn to the Light of Christ in your Consciences which lets you see the secret evil of your Hearts and wait in the Light for the Power of Christ to destroy the plotting wicked inventing minde and to guide you in the strait and narrow way of self-denial and the daily Cross in perfect obedience to the Law of God least you perish in your disobedience for the Lord God of Israel is arising in mighty Power to plead the Cause of his persecuted oppressed People and to scatter all their Enemies that plot against them as Dust before the Wind for they that plot against the People of God and for them digs a Pit shall fall into it themselves for not any Weapon formed against them shall prosper for all shall know the mighty God is with Israel his People and that the King of eternal glory dwells in Mount-Sion who is the strength of his people and of his Dominion there shall be no end and in that day all both high and low rich and poor that slight the comfort of the Lord and continue in enmity against him and his appearance in the Hearts of his Saints then will you know what hath been and is declared to you from the righteous Seed is to you the Word of the Lord God He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear Witnessed by the righteous Seed whom the World in scorn calls Quakers who are in the common Goal in Northampton for the Truths sake REad with understanding in the fear of the Lord this is the Word of the Lord to you Dear Friends Servants and Children of the most high God whom he hath called out of the World be faithful all of you in his Counsel to wait for his Power you to guide in all your thoughts words and works in his pure fear in obedience to his Will I charge you in the presence of God be valiant for your freedom in your dwelling in the Power of God that he may be your Arm against the fiery Darts of the Devil him to resist in his appearance in all his Wiles who goes about like a roaring Lyon to devour you every way seeking to get into you your minds from the pure to draw into the vibsile things your affections there to captivate your wills to satisfie in created and perishing objects as in the knowledge of the Truth in the fleshly wisdom to feed with the Swine upon the Husk the Form and Image of what you have enjoyed or of what you see in the Light and Vision and doth not enjoy it in the Possession but spake in the airy drunken spirit Words without knowledge with them sits decked a painted Beast above the Cross and thou whose condition this is art the foolish Virgin that appears in the ouâ—ward formality in the sight of Men with a Lamp like the wise Virgin but not dwelling in the Power of God wants the Oyle of joy and gladness in the power of his love which the wise Virgins have in their Lamps that dwell in the pure Light and Power of God which keeps all the affections in order to the Spirit of Truth and bridles the Tongue not to utter words before the Lord but in the silence on him to wait till his Spirit move his mind to declare from the living Power what the Soul possesses and enjoys in Christ the Husband of the wise Virgin who is the Bride the Lambs Wife I charge and command you all in the presence of the living God who make mention of his Name examine your Hearts search them and try your ways with the Light that comes from Christ which will discover all your conditions in the Book of Concience there you will see how you stand in the presence of God wherein the state of the foolish Virgin in the airy Spirit feeding upon words spoken in the Light and Viâ—ion there boasting in pride of what thou possessest not and through the subtilty of the Devil is turned from the pure Power to flee the Cross and so make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience or whether you be in the state of the wise Virgin that in the pure Light waits and dwells in the Power which chastiseth that which would your Garments defile keep daily in the Cross and then the Soul is kept pure and clean to follow the Lamb with boldness whithersoever he goes and enters with him into the rest prepared for the People of God where thou the foolish Virgin shalt not come until thou from thy folly and fleshly wisdom return to the pure Light with it to judge and in it to wait for his Power Christ Jesus the Fountain of wisdom thee to guide in faithful obedience to the Father of Light. All dear Children of the Lord be valiant bold and faithful that in the pure Light Power and Life of God you may all stand in the day of tryal which the Lord will bring upon you all that make mention of his Name for power shall be given to the Beast his Horn to exalt even to the host of Heaven for the cleansing of the Sanctuary that all painted Beasts that are enemies to the Cross that hath defiled the Sanctuary of the living God in coming before him amongst his Saints and Children for from among them shall they come trembling before the power of the Beast when he utters his voice for all to come to his Image him to worship then shall all you Children of the most high God whom
Power thereof So under all thy profession is most cruel oppression every one oppressing one another according unto their power from the highest unto the lowest so that the cry of the oppressed Seed within the Hearts of thy Inhabiters O England and those that are oppressed in outward oppressions in thee hath entered into thr Ears of the Lord God of Sabbath and he is coming in Power to set the oppressed free and to bring them to Sion which in the eternal Riches of his Love he made known to me where Sion was according unto the desires he had raised up in my Heart and the Word of the Lord came unto me saying I will gather my People out of all Forms and Observations and out of all Kindreds Tongues and Nations and I will pour my Spirit upon them and purge away their filth with the Spirit of Iudgment and of Burning and I will write my Law in their Hearts and put my Spirit in their inward Parts and they shall not depart from me but shall be bound up in union with me in the free Covenant of Life in the Lord Jesus and one with another in the one Spirit so shall the Lord be one and his People one and this is Sion the City of the living God to whom all the promises of the Lord are according unto the Scripture of Truth wherein they need not to Teach every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least unto the greatest for I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness and their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more And this is the holy City the New Ierusalem which Iohn bare witness of wherein there is no Temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof And the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the Light of it and the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and honour unto it and the Gates of it are not shut at all by day for there shall be no night there and there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither that works abomination or makes a lye but they that are written in the Lambs Book of Life and all that walk in the Light of Christ within which Light exerciseth the Conscience and leads into the holy City the New Ierusalem where the true Worshippers of the Father are who worship him in Spirit and in Truth and are come out of the night and need no Candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall raign forever and ever And this is the true Church in God Sion which shall become the praise of the whole Earth and from whence the Law shall go forth according unto the promise of the Lord and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem Then shall Righteousness run down with a mighty stream and Oppression shall cease And this glory of the Lord which he hath made known unto me shall be made manifest to the Inhabiters of England if you will hearken diligently to the Counsel of the Lord which is the Light in your Consciences and in it wait on the Lord to be guided by his Power I waited in the Counsel of my God in the Calling where I was placed until the Year 1652. and in the eighth Month of the Year as it is accounted of men the Word of the Lord came unto me saying The Leaders of my People causes them to err in drawing them from the Light in their Consciences which leads to the anointing within which the Father hath sent to be their Teacher which would lead them into all Truth to seek the Kingdom of God in Observations where it is not to be found So my People perish for want of Bread Freely thou hast received freely give and minister and what I have made known unto thee in secret declare openly Which Word constrained me by the Power of it to leave my Wife and Children and to run to fro to declare to Souls where their Teacher is the Light in their Consciences which the Lord hath given unto every one a measure to profit withal for the exercise of the Conscience towards God and Men and waiting in the Light for the Power of Christ he would lead them up to the living Fountains of Water where their Souls would find refreshment in the presence of the Lord and their Bread should be sure and their Water never fail as the Lord hath made manifest to my Soul and to worship him in Truth at New Ierusalem to sing Hallelujahs and Praises among the redeemed Sons and Daughters of God in the beauty of holiness unto the Lord God that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore To you Rulers of England whose names will be honourable if you will honour the Lord in obeying his Counsel which is the Light in your Consciences that he may guide you in all your ways to you I am moved to write Thus saith the Lord God Almighty I will overturn overturn overturn until I have given it unto him whose right it is as you have seen the Power of the Lord manifest on many that were in the place where you are who all professed the Name of Christ but they would not obey his Counsel the Light in their Consciences but walked after the counsel of their own Hearts and improved their power for their own ends and dissembled with God and the Countrey but our righteous God hath overturned them to their everlasting shame and contempt Now if you will not obey the Light in your Consciences to rule in the Power of the Spirit to break every Yoak of unrighteousness and put every filthy and abominable thing out of the sight of the Lord that the oppressed may be set free but you will cause both small and great to worship the Image of the Beast in forcing them to obey the Heathenish and Unrighteous Laws made by Nebuchadnezar's nature proud flesh who set up himself a King to oppress all under his power and set up whom he would to Rule and Raign with him over others in Tyranny Cruelty and Oppression in all unrighteousness which Beast received a deadly wound with a Sword by the little Horn spoken of in Daniel before whom three Horns fell and the Horn had Eyes to see what they should do the Light in their Consciences and a Mouth which speaketh great things what they would do for the glory of God whose look was more stout then their Fellows I beheld the same Horn made War with the Saints of the most high God and prevailed against them as it is fufilled Many of them
in the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Repent Repent now while you have time put away the evil of your doings turn to the Lord and hearken diligently unto his Counsel the Light in your Consciences which lets you see the evil of your doings loving the Light and giving your selves up to be guided by it it will lead you to Life hating it and disobeying it it is your Condemnaâ—ion This is the day of your visitation prize it least you perish in the mighty day of the Lords anger which will speedily come upon the Children of disobedience To the pure Light in your Consciences I speak which witnesses against the evil of your doings and will witness me eternally when the Book of Conscience is opened Howl and Weep all you that live in pride and pleasure and Drunkenness Gluttony Lust and Uncleanness Lightness and Vanity idle Communication foolish Jesting and Laughter which is madness and folly cursed Speaking Lying Couzening Cheating Swearing for which cause the Land mourns you live without the fear of God Eating and Drinking and rising up to Play to please your selves your Belly is your God your end is Destruction who mind Earthly things hear the Word of the Lord and fear ye fruitless Trees which cumber the ground and defile the Flesh the Lord will cut you down and cast you into Hell For the Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all that forget God and this is your Portion in the estate that you are in own it for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loves and makes a Lye shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Repent Repent and prize your time and turn unto the Lord and mind the pure Light in your Consciences which lets you see the evil of your Hearts loving it and obeying it it will lead you forth out of all unrighteousness to eternal Life hating it and disobeying it it is your Condemnation This is the day of your Visitation prize it least you perish in the day of the Lords anger which is coming upon the Children of disobedience in this Nation and elsewhere for the Lord will make the Earth as the Garden of Eden and hath begun his great and strange Work in this Nation and is making up his Jewels and gathering his Wheat into his Garner Sons and Daughters up unto himself and will bundle up you Tares and cut down you fruitless Trees and cast you into the place prepared for you who defile the flesh cumber the ground and walk contrary to the righteous Law of God the pure Light in your Consciences to which Light I speak which will eternally witness me when the Book of Conscience is opened To all you who have professed your selves to be the Ministers of Christ and walk contrary to the Doctrine of Christ in having the chiefest places in the Assemblies standing praying in the Synogogues and having uppermost rooms at Feasts Greetings in the Markets and of men called Masters as the Scribes and Pharisees did which Christ cryed Wo against and every one of you seeking your gain from your Quarters as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent Isaiah the true Prophet to cry against them And you hold up the horrible filthy thing committed in the Land in bearing rule by your Means as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent Ieremiah the true Prophet to cry against them And you seek for the Fleece and cloth your self with the Wool and feed with the Fat and make a prey of the People as the false Prophets did which the Lord sent Ezekiel the true Prophet to cry against Thus saith the Lord I will require my Flock at their Hands and cause them to cease from feeding my Flock neither shall the Shepheards feed themselves any more for I will deliver my Flock from their Mouths that they may not be meat for them Now is the Lord gathering his People from under your Power which you have made a prey of and you make the People to err and bite with your Teeth as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent Micah the true Prophet to cry out against them and you cry Peace as they did and he that puts not into your Mouths you even prepare War against him and this is fulfilled by your going to Law with poor People for your Wages and others in raising Persecution against every one that will not obey you in your vain Traditions wherein you steal every one the Word of the Lord from his Neighbour in taking a part of Scripture and adding unto it your wisdom and so speak of the Saints conditions which you cannot witness fulfilled in your selves a false vision a divination and deceit of your own Heart and so causes the People to err by your Lyes and by your Lightness as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent Ieremiah the true Prophet who knew the Word of the Lord to be as a Fire and a Hammer to cry against them and all the Saints that know the Word of the Lord knows it to be a Fire and a Hammer in them in transforming them by its power From under the powers of Darkness into the glorious Light and Liberty of the Sons of God. See you how you dawb up the People with untempered morter seeming Vanities divining Lyes unto them saying Thus saith the Lord as you may find it written in such a place of Scripture which was spoken by the Lord in them which gave it forth And thus you steal the Saints words to speak of when as the Lord never spoke by you as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against them and now he hath raised up his Sons and Daughters who obey his Counsel to cry against you And this I declare unto you from the Lord Night shall be upon you that you shall have no Vision but shall be ashamed and confounded yea you shall all cover your Lips for there shall be no answer of God. Wo wo unto you you Murtherers of Souls whose Blood hath cryed unto the Lord God Almighty and he is coming in Power to require their Blood at your Hands who have shut the Kingdom of Heaven against Men as the Scribes and Pharisees your fore-Fathers did in telling people The Light of Christ which enlighteneth every Mans Conscience in which Light he is to wait for the Power of Christ to guide him out of every evil way to walk in Purity and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord You tell them it is the Light of a natural Conscience and you will not enter into the Kingdom your selves to be guided by the Light in your Consciences which would lead you into the Kingdom
the lusts thereof but you must be Perfect as your heavenly Father is Perfect You regard it not but hearken unto the counsel of your own Hearts which draw you to look at the words of Paul where he saith I find a Law in my members warring against the Law of my minde so ye wrest the Scripture to your own destruction for your encouragement to live in the Flesh and say none must be free from the body of Sin while he is here in the body And thus you deceive your selves and all whom you draw from the Light in your Conscience which cries for a perfect fulfilling of the Law of God within for the Soul that sinneth it shall dye Though Paul did complain of a body of Sin it was in his growth and it was his burden which made him cry O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me And he witnessed it put off The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death for Christ is made manifest to destroy the work of the Devil and not to destroy the Law to save Man from the condemning power of the Law while he lives in transgression of it for the Law hath power over the fleshly Man so long as he lives But he came to fulfil the Law and all the Saints bear witness of it in their measure some witness it fulfilled others wait following the Lamb daily in the Cross till they come to the fulfilling of it that the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Therefore mind the Light in your Consciences diligently hearken unto it and it will smite your glorious Image of Forms and Observations and break it to peices and will rend off all your glorious Coverings of your outward Profession and will let you see the Wo. is unto them that are covered and not with the Spirit of the Lord. To the Light in your Consciences I speak which will eternally witness me if you hearken unto it to be guided by it you will never find rest in outward Forms and Observations but in putting off the body of Sin through the obedience of the Spirit that the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in 〈◊〉 in walking no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit For they that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and the body is dead in regard of Sin but the Spirit is alive unto Righteousness And this you must witness or else all your Religion is vain and your Souls will perish To you Inhabiters of England How long will you drink of the Cup of Abominations the Wine of the Fornication of the Whore which hath made you Drunk and all Nations to lay out your Money for that which is not Bread to the Merchants of Babylon who fill unto you the Cup of Abominations in drawing you from the Light in your Consciences which is given unto every one of you a measure to guide you up to God to seek for the Kingdom of God in Observations and Christ saith it is not in Observations but within so they keep you in Captivity in Babylons Kingdom under the power of Sin Hell and Death To every particular Inhabiter of England I write Come out of Babylon all Forms and Observations and Traditions which are set up by the will of Man Now is Babylon come in remembrance before God and the vials of wrath must be poured upon her and upon her Merchants for by their Sorceries are you Inhabitants of England and all Nations deceived and in her is found the Blood of the Prophets and Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth Haste haste come out of her least you partake with her in her Sins and so partake with her in her Punishment which will speedily come upon her for the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it return within every one in particular examine your Hearts and mind the Light in your Conscience and it will always let you see where your Hearts are and what they delight in for it is the Heart the Lord requires he will no longer be Worshipped in Words Forms and Observations but in Spirit and in Truth and in sincerity in the inward part Therefore every one be faithful in taking heed to the Light in your Consciences which the Lord hath given to every one a measure to profit withal for the exercise of the Conscience towards God and Men in minding your watch to wait in the Light in measure it will bring to Judgment all the powers of darkness in you and the righteous Law of God will cry through your earthly and carnal Hearts till Judgment be brought forth into Victory and your wills will be brought in subjection unto the Will of God to wait on him for refreshment from his presence who satisfieth the hungry with good things And take heed of consulting with Flesh and Blood for that leads into Pride and Disobedience into Hell and Destruction mind the Light in your Conscience which is the sure word of Prophecy that you cannot be deceived taking heed unto it as unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-Star arise in your Hearts diligently hearken unto it and you shall eat that which is good and your Soul shall delight it self in Fatness There is your Teacher within you the Light in your Consciences loving it and obeying it is your Life hating it and disobeying it is your condemnation To that pure Light in your Consciences I speak which will eternally witness me when the Book of Conscience is opened in you Now you have time prize it in waiting on the Lord in the Light to make your Calling and Election sure in putting off the old Man and his deeds and putting on the Lord Iesus Christ in righteousness and holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord in so doing you shall escape the Wrath of God which is coming upon the Children of disobedience in this Nation and else where for the Lord will make the Earth as the Garden of Eden and hath begun his great and strange Work in this Nation which shall make the Ears of them that hear to tingle wherein he is exalting the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus which Kingdom shall break down all the Kingdoms of the World and shall fill the whole Earth For the mighty day of the Lord is coming that shall burn as an Oven and all you that are Proud and all you that do wickedly shall be Stubble and the day that cometh shall burn you up saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall leave of you neither Root nor Branch But unto you that fear the Name of the Lord shall the Sun of Righteousness arise
with healing in his Wings and ye shall go forth and grow as Calves of the Stall And ye shall tread down the Wicked and they shall be as Ashes under the soles of your Feet in this day that I do this saith the Lord Wherein he is now gathering his Elect together his scattered Sheep that have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day and will bring them from the People and gather them from the Countries and will bring them to their own Land and I will feâ—d them upon a good Pasture and upon the high Mountains of Israel shall their Fold be and there shall they lie in a good Fold and in a fat Pasture shall they feed upon the Mountains of Israel and I will raise up for them a Plant of renomn and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the Land neither bear the shame of the Heathen any more but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid Thus shall you know that I the Lord your God am with you and that the House of Israel is my People saith the Lord God. England here I have cleared my Conscience in declaring to thee what the Lord hath made known to me of his love and mercy he will manifest to thee if thou wilt hearken diligently to his Counsel the Light which is in the Conscience of every one and wait upon him to be guided by his Power and all you that disobey the righteous Law of God the Light in your Conscience you shall be swept away with the Beesom of his Wrath and your place shall be no more for the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it and whether you hear or forbear I am clear of the Blood of all Men in making known to you what the Lord hath revealed to me he that can receive it let him W. D. A Word from the LORD TO all Saints and Children of the most high God whom he hath called and chosen out of the World and all their Customs Fashions Worships Forms ' Observations and Traditions which are set up by the will of Man to wait upon him in the Light the Counsel of Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation every one in your measure stand valiant Souldiers and be not discouraged neither at the Enemy within nor without lift up your Heads and behold your King Jesus Christ who is present with you to dash in pieces and destroy all your Enemies for you Stand faithful in his Counsel and walk in his Power every one in your measure and be bold in the Lord for you are the Army of the Lord God Almighty his mighty Host whom he hath chosen out of the World to make known his eternal Power in to sound out his eternal and powerful Word which shall make the Ears of all the Inhabitants of the Earth that hear to tingle and at the sound and hearing thereof shall their Hearts fail and paleness shall gather into all Faces in the mighty day of the Lords Power which is begun in this Nation wherein he is exalting the Kingdom of Jesus Christ our King who is riding on in his Majesty and mighty Power conquering all the powers of the Earth in the Hearts of his Saints and will overturn and dash in pieces all the Powers in this Nation and all the World over that will not submit to his Scepter to be guided by his Counsel the pure Law of God which is the Light in the Conscience Now is he coming with Ten Thousands of his Saints to Judge the World and to give to every one according to their deeds and the Kingdoms and Dominions and the greatness of the Kingdoms under the whole Heavens shall be given to the Saints of the most high God and all Nations shall serve and obey him Rejoyce rejoyce ye Saints and Children of the most high God stand fast in the Counsel of Jesus Christ the Light in you and walk in his Power and you shall walk as Kings upon the Earth and shall sing the new Song that none can sing but the Hundred forty four Thousand and all whose minds are redeemed from the Earth who stand before the Throne of God day and night singing Hallelujahs and Praises to the Lord God omnipotent who is taking to him his great Power to sit upon his Throne and to the Lamb for evermore From the Spirit of the Lord Written by one whose name in the Flesh is William Deusbery called Quaker with the People of the World who live in their perishing nature CHRIST EXALTED AND Alone worthy to open the Seals of the Book And the Scriptures owned in their place A true Testimony of him as is manifested in Answer to a Book Intituled The Quakers Apostacy from the perfect Rule of Scriptures Given forth by Iohn Timson of Great Bowden in Leicestershire And the Deceits and Blasphemies he charges upon the Quakers is turned upon his own Head and he found guilty of what he reproaches them with in what is written for the simples sake and Truth to clear from false Accusations and Lies cast upon it And the Ten QVERIES he saith he vindicateth and would Print but four of them they are all published with the Answers that he charges to be confused dark and deceitful that the Answers may witness for themselves against what is charged upon them He that hath an understanding in the Light read and judge Search the Scciptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me And ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5.39 40. Iesus saith unto him I am the Way and the Truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me John 14.6 Iohn Timson THE Book thou hath Printed is seen with the Light that returned an Answer to thy first Queries and for the Truths sake and it to clear from the Lies Slanders and Aspersions cast upon it in the Light here is writ to witness against the falshood and untruth which thou hast charged us withal that answers thy Queries which to that of God in all Consciences who it minds will give them to discern that what thou hast charged against the People who in scorn are called Quakers is false and on thee is returned as the Lines following make manifest wherein is writ what thou hast charged them withal and to clear the Truth an Answer thereunto is returned In thy Preface as thou calls it which thou presents to the Reader thou hast not much of it exprest before thou begins falsly to accuse us charging us with drawing People aside and intangling them with dark Diabolical snares c. And thou sayst the Answers thou received to thy ten Queries were so obscure deceitful and confused that it constrained thee to Reply To which thou sayst an Answer thou hast received c. And hath now undertaken to give the sence
must increase whose Baptism we own according as is Recorded in the Scripture of Truth and since he ascended there is no Scripture doth witness his sending any to Baptize with Water Paul who was sent after he ascended what he did in the liberty given him his liberty he knew when he circumcised Timothy and Baptized Crispus and Gaius and the Household of Stephanus besides I know not that I Baptized any other saith Paul for Christ sent me not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel not with wisdom of words least the Cross of Christ should be of none effect 1 Cor. 1.16 17. And Iohn who bore record of the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 14.6 saith I saw an Angel in the midst of Heaven having the everlasting Gospel to Preach to them that dwell in the Earth and to every Nation and Kindred Tongue and People John did not say he did fly through the midst of Heaven Preaching the everlasting Gospel and Baptizing with Water we know Iohn was faithful in his Testimony of Jesus Christ who is now revealed and the Angel is come and the Gospel Preached and the Shadows done away And Bread and Wine were the Supper of the Lord in the Dispensation of time a Figure of his Death which were fulfilled when he had suffered and rose again and now he is known to stand at the Door and knock if any Man hear my voice and open the Door I will come in and Sup with him and he with me saith Christ Rev. 3.20 And we being many are one Bread and one Body c. 1 Cor. 10.17 and know the Wine renewed in our Fathers Kingdom Christ the Substance we now witness Shadows and Figures done away he that can receive it let him And the Churches set up by the will of Man we deny and the fixed Ministry set up over them by the will of Man that watch for the Fleece bear rule by their means and seeks their gain from their Quarter these we deny Ieremiah 5.31 and Isaiah 56.11 And those in scorn called Quakers do watch over the Flock of God every one as the Lord them calls and not for filthy Lucre as the Priests that bear Rule by their means do neither by constraint but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 5.2 in obedience to the Spirit of the Lord as he them move and thy Slanders thou hast not yet proved our Consciences do witness it that what thou hast accused us with is a Lie and not the Truth And thou further sayes that William Deusbery in a lying Paper as thou calls it which is entituled A true Prophecy of the mighty Day of the Lord already risen in the North of England c. In which Paper he makes it his work to slander the Ordinances of Gospel worship under the notion of outward Observations which Christs Kingdom comes not in Luke 17.20 and thus he accounts of all the Ordinances and Institutions prescribed by Christ himself in the Apostolical Churches and accounts all the strict observing of outward Forms of worship is but imitating the Saints practices in their Babilonish and Heathenish wisdom all these outward Forms are the outward Court without the Temple Pag. 1.2 Reply The Lie will be found in thy own Mouth in calling that a lying Paper a true Prophecy it is of the mighty day of the Lord and for thy saying William Deusbery makes it his work c. as before written thy Charge is false and the Truth is witnessed against vain Man who in his dark mind seeks the Kingdom of God in Observations where it comes not Luke 17.20 neither shall men say Lo here or lo there he called by name as before written doth witness they are not the Ordinances of Christ according as is declared of them they will be found and made manifest to the shame and confusion of their Faces who in their own wisdom imitates the Saints practices in Forms which they did practice in Life and Power in the Dispensation of time they served their Generation in the manifestation of the Spirit according to the Will of God. And whereas thou sayst in Pag. 4. it is more clear that he prophanely compares the holy Ordinances and Institutions of the Lord to that great Image set up by Nebuchadnezars proud nature spoken of by Daniel and that that Image was but a Tipe and Figure of this which now shines gloriously in Forms and Observations And thou sayst that in his speaking to the Anabaptists and Independents he tells them they have set up a finer Image in the Gospel Ordinances as they call them and what other Ordinances thou sayst doth these or you set up but what was practised in the Apostolical Churches thus you may see how this Impostor doth reproach the holy things of God. Reply Blush for shame who sayst William Dewsberry compares the holy Ordinances and Institutions of our Lord to that great Image c. Holy Ordinances and Institutions of the Lord is not rhere exprest by him where thou sayst he then so compares he witnesses against the Image you have set up in your minds of the Truth as you conceive where you are in confusion that doth you divide into Forms and Observations as before written to look for the Kingdom of God to come and though you call them the Ordinances of Christ you denying Christ the Light you to guide in the daily cross you are in the same nature wherein Nebuchadnazar cast the Lord Servants into the fiery Furnace because they witnessed against his Image so do you who walk in your imaginations and deny Christ the Light cause the Servants of the Lord that walk in the Life and cannot bow to your Image but witness against it to be haled out of your Meeting Places beaten stoned whipt stockt imprisoned which are the fruits of Nebuchadnezâ—rs nature as is manifest this day amongst those against whom he witnesseth and who is the Impostor and reproaches the holy things of God the fruit makes manifest he that hath an Eye to see let him see And further thou sayst that he in the height of his insolent rashness and madness saith thus The Word of the Lord came unto me saying I will gather my Peopel out of all Forms and Observations and out of all Kindreds Tongues and Nations and I will pour out my Spirit upon them And this thou sayst he writes in a different Character as if it were all Scripture by this you may see is proved what I have accused them with in denying the Ordinances and Administrations of the Gospel Churches true and yet this impudent Lyar tells me it s a lying slander they would render me a Lyar for telling them the Truth but it seems they can rather and with more ease deny the Accusation then prove themselves Saints and stand to it thus when they are pincht they will say and unsay and any thing to evade Rashness and Madness is thy own in speaking evil of that thou knowest not the day
will declare the Lord will gather his People together according as it s declared Revelations 5.9 And the Lye and false Accusâ—tion will still rest on thee for charging William Deusbery as before written and the impudent Lyar he will not be found when the Lord will separate between the precious and the vile then shall it be known who walk in outward Forms and deny Christ the Light and those that live in the Light Life and Power of Christ them to lead in the daily cross which keeps them in a pure Life and holy Conversation and thy false Accusations doth not us pinch neither do we any thing to evade but witness the Truth against thy false Accusations and in patience do finish our Testimony in sufferings and all with us that in the Light walk are in the Ordinances of the Gospel Church and witness the everlasting Gospel where all types shadows and figures are done away which thou so much cryes up and the Lord will throw thee and all down and a day of tribulation shall come upon thee and thou shalt not escape except thou repent And whereas thou revilest us for saying that the Spirit is the only rule of Faith and Life Ioh. 16.13 which thou sayst that promise was made directly to the twelve Reply Who art thou that limits the holy One the promise of his Spiriâ— is to all who wait on him in the manifestation of his Spirit according to the Testimony of Scripture 1 Cor. 2.7 8 9. the manifestation of his Spirit is given to every one to profit withal for to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom to another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another the Gifts of Healing by the same Spirit c. And for thy unsavory words which in reproach calls us proud Worms that vilifie and diminish from the Scripture c. Reply Pride is thy own we do not vilifie nor diminish the Scriptues we witness them a true Testimony of Christ the Life and who in his Light walk know the Truth of the Scriptures as it is in Jesus Eph. 4.201 And whereas thou saist in confession to what was declared to thee that Abel Enoch and Noah had Faith before the Scriptures were written to which thou quotes Heb. 1.1 God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son and thou saist before there was any thing commited to writing the Lord did more visibly reveal his Will by Voice Visions Angels c. But since he hath committed his whole Will unto writing by the Prophets and Apostles these former manners are ceased and thou saist to look for the same discoveries still by Voice Vision or Inspiration is madness we run into Reply Thou vain Man who dare to say the Lord hath ceased making himself known to his People by Voice Vision or Inspiration holy men of God did speak and do speak as Inspired by the Spirit of God and moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And the Lord hath promised in the latter days I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh Ioel 2.28 29. Acts 2.17 18. Ier. 31.33 34. Heb. 8.9 10 11. Isa. 54. â—3 All the Children of the Lord who are led by his Spirit doth witness these Scriptures fulfilled and knoweth the Lord is faithful according to his promise who will recompence into thy Bosom thy just reward for speaking evil of his Truth and whil'st thou deniest the manifestation of his Spirit which the Lord manifests to his People as is Recorded in the Scripture of Truth thy pride and confusion thou hast made manifest and neither knowst Moses Ministry nor the Apostles which thou in a busie mind speaks of in thy dark understanding which leads thee to fill thy Book with false Accusations as in thy 10th Page where thou saist we do not make any clear difference between the outward Declaration and the Word of Faith. Reply For the Simples sake as we have declared the Truth we do declare it which is witnessed with all the Children of Light the Word of Faith is in the Heart and in the Mouth and who are guided by it their Hearts are kept pure Faith purifies the Heart Acts 15.9 whether they have the outward Declaration yea or nay and they that have the outward Declaration and though they read it if they mind not the Word which is Life and Light which gave forth the Scriptures they do not live according to the Scripture for they are without Faith who are not guided by the Word Faith comes not by a bare reading the outward Declaration Faith is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 given to his Children who diligently hearken to his Word which is Life and the Life is the Light of Men. And for thy charging us with contradictions confused Nonsence bitter Censures and Shuffles and how notorious false it is wherein we say that not any do know the Scriptures by the outward Declaration Reply To the Light of Christ in all Consciences we appeal let the Righteous judge a natural Man knows not the things that are of God though he read the outward Declaration for they are spiritually discerned 1. Cor. 2 14. and none is found worthy to open the Seals of the Book but the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda c. Rev 5.3.5 and then thou deniest Gods speaking to his People by Voice Vision or Inspiration and saist they run into madness that expect any such thing here thou art found in the Contradictions confused Nonsence bitter Censures and Shuffles and notorious Falshoods which thou hast fasly charged us withal and it is turned upon thy own Head and proved out of thy own Mouth that while thou art making a shew in words to maintain the Scripture Authority thou deniest both the Dispensation of the Spirit of God in Christ the Light and the Scriptures which bare Testimony of him as is manifest in the Reply to what thou hast writ in the Sixth and Eighth pages And whereas thou in the Eleventh Page callst us deceivers and saith to those thou callst thy Friends we have them abused by the deceit and cheats of our own Hearts c. Reply Deceit and Cheats thou art proved to be in and what thou endeavors to do in the deceit of thy Heart against the Truth thou wilt see thy hope fail thee and not a Blessing but a Curse upon thy endeavors which to thy Face is proved in what is before written to be contrary to the Dispensation of the Spirit and Scripture for which the terror of the Lord shall take hold on thee for thy uttering words without knowledg and speaking evil of the things thou knowest not as in the Twelth Page And whereas thou appeal'st to them thou callst thy Friends how their Hearts have been heated and warmed by Power of the Word and Sacraments c. Which is now
and all in the new Covenant do know the Law of God written in their Hearts and the Witness or Testimony of Jesus within 1 Iohn 5.10 bearing witness with their Spirits that they are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 and this declared is neither deceitful nor knavish which is the unsavory words thou chargest on us let the Truth of God in all Consciences judge to whom they belong the Scriptures we are not against they bear Testimony of Christ the Light whom we witness the way to the Father Mat. 11 27. None knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him by the revelation of the Spirit of God is the things of God known to his People 1 Cor. 2.9 10 13. Rom. 8.11 16. according as is recorded we witness the Scriptures fulfilled in Christ the Light who is our Life Col. 3.3 4. And whereas thou queries did ever any read of the Law and Testimony in the Heart and that the Law and Testimony in the Heart is the Law of the new Covenant Reply Who hath read the Scripture in the fear of God hath read what the Lord hath promised as declared Isa. 8.16 Bind up the Testimony seal the Law among my Disciples and Ier. 31.33 This shall be the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel in those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts Heb 8.10 11 12. and the Law written in the Heart we witness and the Lord faithful in performing according to his Promise in the new Covenant And thou goest on in Page 19 and 20 calling us Impostors and Pervertors of the new Covenant and to be in Idle proud Fancies and itching Humors of our own Brains in our Apostate Condition Reply We in the Light can bear thy reproach and have witnessed the Truth that it may stand a witness against thy revilings and in the Lord we rest who will make manifest whether thou or we be the Pervertors of the new Covenant and guilty of what thou chargest us with And whereas thou in the 22d Page says that William Deusbery tells us that the mighty day of the Lord is appeared in the North of England and is rising towards the South and shall over-spread this Nation and all the Nations of the World c. what the mans fancy and design is in bruiting and making such a noise of the appearance of the mighty day of the Lord judge ye I am sure he hath sufficiently discovered his own folly in blazing abroad such Dreams of his own lying Heart c. Reply In thy 2d Page thou hast enlarged thy self concerning that Book calling it a lying Paper c. and the Truth is witnessed in answer to thy charge and this in answer to what is here written Fancies Bruitishness Folly Dreams and Lyes William Deusbery denies the Truth he hath declared as the Lord hath him moved in Faithfulness to the Souls of all People that they be not found the sloathful Servants putting the Day of the Lord afar off in this his Day wherein the Hour of his righteous Judgment is come Rev. 14.7 to all that wait on him the Truth is declared that all men may prepare in the Light the Lord to meet and no longer in sloathfulness remain least he come upon them as a Thief in the Night and if the Day of the Lord do not arise over all the World and the Kingdoms of the World became the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ and the Lord perform not as is declared then say the Lord hath not spoken by me who is known to the World by name William Deusbery And in the 22d Page thou sayst we have set our selves in the Throne of Christ judging the whole World. Reply Thy Accusation is false self we deny to Christ we are subject who sits on his Throne and is come and coming in his Saints to judge the World Iude 14 15. 1 Cor. 6.2 and 2.5 And in the 23th page thou sayst why do not we command the Dead to rise and appear before us and many other unsavory words are there exprest Reply A wicked and Adulterous Generation shall seek after a sign and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the Prophet Jonah Mat. 16.4 And whereas thou chargest Howgill and Burrough as thou callst them with pernitious Blasphemous Opinions Reply Thy Accusation is false they are faithful Men serving their Generation in the Light Ministers of Christ in whom is witnessed the God-head dwelling Bodily Col. 2.9 and in him we are one in God they that joyn to the Lord are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 he that can receive it let him And whereas thou in the 29th Page saist that the Revelations of Christ that are according to Scripture are either Texts of Scripture expressed or rational Deductions Consequences and Conclusions that naturally flow from particular passages of Scriptures and not any other Revelations can be pleaded for a Rule Reply Thy dark mind is shut out from knowing the Revelations of Christ and though thou sayst that answer that was returned to these words was not to purpose it stands a witness against thee and will be found to purpose in the Light when thy reward thou shalt have for all thy unsavory words exprest in thy Book And in the 33th Page where thou falsely accuses us that we will allow of no Laws of God nor Scripture but the Revelations and Edicts of our own bewitched Hearts c. And when thou hast reviled us with false Accusation as before written thou beseechest those thou callst thy dear Friends to be serious in their Thoughts of what thou hast written in discovering our deceits and blasphemies denying the Rule that all things are to be tryed by and make themselves the absolute rule and we must not question what they say though it be never so insolent and to be abhorred of all sober Christians c. Reply Thou hast brazened thy Face to slander the Truth of God with Lies and Blasphemies which is the Foundation of all Heresie and there thou art found and thy Accusation is false Christ the Rule that all things is to be tryed by we own and deny our selves and to the Light of Christ in all Consciences we appeal whether thou or we deny the Rule thou that saist the Revelations of Christ are either Texts of Scripture expressed or rational Deductions Consequences c. as before written or we who witness Christ the true Light revealed by the Fâ—ther 〈…〉 knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Mat. 1â— 27 Luke 10 22. Let all that are in Christ with sobriety in the Light judge And for the rest of thy Slanders in the 37â—â— and 38th Pages where thou saist these miserable Worms un-Covenant themselves and un-Christ themselves as if they cared not for Grace and Mercy in standing before God denying the Scripture c. And in the
40th Page thou saist of those in scorn called Quakers thou can safely say they deny the benefit that comes to the Church by Christ's suffering in that Flesh that he received from the Virgin Mary or else deny it to bâ— a real Body of Flesh and so make it but a Type and a Figure of Christ in the Saint who are his true real Body which he now suffers in and by his suffering makes satisfaction for them making the Death of the Cross of none effect Reply The miserable Worms that un-Covenant themselves and un-Christ themselves who denies Christ the Light thou art found to be one who in thy dark mind art working Abomination and making Lies which thou hast published to the World in thy Books and thy place thou maist read â—s is Recorded Rev. 21.27 And the rest of thy Accusations Recorded in the 40th Page we witness against and for the Simple sake declare as followeth that benefit came to the Church by Christ's suffering in that Body God gave which was born of the Virgin Mary and with one Offering hath Christ perfected for ever them that are Sanctified Heb. 10.14 And these are his Saints in whom he is now revealed who are his Body Eph. 1.23 which now suffered by thee and all that are of the Murdering Generation who bore false witness against Christ when he was in that Body which they Crucified at Ierusalem and thou hast manifest thy self to be of the same Murdering Generation who hath publishâ—â— to the World thy false witness against the Innocent to perfect thy evil intent towards the Body of Christ if the Lord prevent thee not but thou shalt know the Lord faithful that thou and all that forms your Tongues against him shall fall in judgement Isa. 54.17 And what is charged upon thee in Answer to thy Reply to the Answer to the third Question that thou sets at nought the Corner Stone and prefers the Testimony of him before him limitting the eternal Son of God as thou hast in what is Printed in the 55. Page where thou speakst of the Scripture that they are designed of God to be the only Instrument and Vessel of his Spirit to convey the knowledge of Christ as Redeemer to lost Man and without them Christ is not known at all to any saving ends Reply Who art thou that dare thus utter Words vvithout knovvledge Christ is known where the Father reveals him to be the Souls Life vvhether they have the Scripture yea or nay according to the Will of God he makes known his mind to his People who wait upon him in his fear and the secrets of the Lord are with those that fear him Psal. 25.14 And the Spirit of the Lord is witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God O Man repent least the Lord cut thee off and thou perish in thy gain-sayings And further thou hast written in Reply to what was returned in Answer to the Question before mentioned the most of thy false Accusations are answered in what was returned to the former part of the Book and all thy false Accusations and Reproaches denyed with the Light and for the Simples sake there is returned in Answer to thy Questions which thou hast propounded 1. Qu. Where read we of a perfect Law of God in the Heart and where is it made the Rule and Ground of the Saints Obedience Ans. the Law of God is perfect Psal. 19.7 and is the Rule to which the Saints are to walk in obedience to and to be guided by Psal. 119.12 and the Law to be in the Heart is proved Psal. 40.8 I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within my Heart 2. Qu. Whether the Law in the Heart be under another Covenant distinct from the perfect Law of God declared in Scripture 3. Qu. What vve are to understand by the Lavv of God in the Heart vvhich is the same vvith Scripture vvhether the 10th Commandements vvritten in Tables of Stone only or all those positive Precepts of Gospel-Worship and Obedience conjoyned vvith them also Ans. To thy 2d and 3d Questions in the old Covenant the Lavv vvas vvritten in Tables of Stone vvhich Lavv having a shadovv of good things to come and not the very Image of the things can never vvith those Sacrifices vvhich they offered Year by Year continually make the comers thereunto perfect Heb. 10.1 And vvhen he came vvho saith Lo I come to â—o thy vvill O God he taketh avvay the first that â—e may establish the second ver 9. by vvhich vvill vve are sanctified thorow the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all ver 10. and by one Offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified whereof the holy Ghost is a Witness to us as he said before This is the Covenant that I will make with them saith the Lord I will put my Laws in their Hearts and in their Minds will I write them ver 14 15 16. Ier. 31.33 4. Qu. Whether the Law in the Heart without the use of Scriptures make any Evangelical discoveries of the Person Natures and Offices of Christ as he is Redeemer of lost Man Ans. Thy feigned Words we wave the Truth we witness the Law in the Heart witnessed in the New Covenant Christ is known to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Tim. 6.15 And the faithful High Priest Heb. 2.17 3.1 4.15 5.6 7.26 10.21 who hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father c. Rev. 1.6 5. Qu. Whether all shall be saved that have the Law of God written in their Hearts by virtue of the New Covenant or any be saved that live to Years of discretion that know not Christ as the Scriptures testifie of him in order to his coming to the World to save sinners Ans. All are saved who are guided by the righteous Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ which sets them free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 And what Years soever any live unto they have no discretion to know Christ as the Scriptures testifie of him but they who in his Light wait upon him to be guided by him for who hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8.9 And for the rest of thy Aspersions and Revilings thou hast writ calling us Deceivers that fear the Authority of man or else we would deny Christ himself Reply Christ we do not deny but him we own who respects no Mans Person Rom. 2.11 and in him no fear of Man is and we in him Reign over thee and all the authority of the power of Darkness that stands in opposition to Christ the Son of God to whom every Knee must bow Phil. 2.10 the day shall declare it And in what thou hast replied to the Answer to the fourth Question which thou chargest to be untrue to say That Man in the fall as he stands in the state of corrupt nature hath not therein any Light
without Christ to do any thing acceptable to God c. Which thou goest about to prove the contrary and saist there is the Light and use of reason and understanding faculties though corrupted And further thou says This Light of corrupt reason as before exprest presents to the conscience good and evil c. Reply In the Light thou art seen to be in the corrupt Fountain from whence all these corrupt words hath come which thou hast Printed in thy Book and thy words are not true Corrupt reason of Man doth not present to the Conscience things good and evil a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit Mat. 7.18 There is nothing makes manifest Darkness but Light Ephes. 5.15 which all men in the Fall is gone from out of the way and there is none that doth good no not one Rom. 3.9 10 11. c. And the natural Man receives not the things that are of God nor can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned 1. Cor. 12.14 And all the Righteousness of Man in this state is as a filthy Rag and a menstruous Cloath Isa. 64.6 And this is the state of Man in corrupt Nature And the Light that convinces Man of this dark and corrupt Estate he is in is the Light of Christ that convinces the World of Sin Righteousness and Judgment Iohn 16.8 So we that were sometimes Darkness are now Light in the Lord Ephes. 5.8 And who walk in the Light there is no occasion of stumbling â— Iohn 2.10 And whereas thou saist Thou knowst we Lie as thou hast made it manifest Reply It is not so thou hast not yet made manifest and Lie that we have spoken by any truth thou hast declared And thou goest on as in thy 89th Page thou saist The rational Soul of Man corrupted is called the Candle of the Lord which we invent to be Christ which is false we deny that the corrupt Soul of Man is the Candle of the Lord or Christ. And further thou saist It was thy intended work to go thorow all the Answers to the ten Questions but for want of thy Paper which thou saist we detained from thee contrary to our Promise In which thou saist not true for the promise was to thee thou should have a Copy of thy Paper which thou sent to us when it was ready for thee which was not then written neither was any time set down of thy having it and as way was made a Copy according to our promise came to thy Hands And in the close of thy Book thou goest on aâ— thou begun saying we deny Scripture as to the 〈…〉 were intended and reproach the Ordinances of the Lord Jesus which the Scriptures Teach under the 〈◊〉 of Heatheâ—ish Worships c. which is 〈◊〉 to in the Truth declared a witness to stand against all the Reproaches that thou hast cast upon the Truth of the living God and the God thou art pleading for cannot crown thee with honour in the day wherein the living God will exalt his Son and clear the Innocency of his People then shall the God whose worship thou art defending be confounded and Confusion and Shame shall stop thy Mouth and if this come not to pass as declared then say the Lord hath not spoken by me And in that thou call'st thy Postscript in the end of thy Book the things therein thou falsely accusest us with and calls them the Rocks which we are to manifest how we shall escape which is clearly made manifest in what is written in answer to thy Book Only this where thou saist we make no difference between the visible professing Church and the Pagan World all may be saved alike if they will c. Reply They that make a visible Profession of Christ and deny to walk in the Light of his Spirit are of the World that lies in Wickedness 1 Iohn 5.19 Mat. 7.21 as well as them thou call'st the Pagan World and not any can be saved by what they do in their own wills all that is done in that nature is abomination to God as is plain in to Answer what thou hast writ in Pag. 70. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that shews mercy Rom. 9.16 which he makes manifest in the riches of his Grace in Christ the Light who leads all that obey him in the strait way of self-denial and the daily Cross in obedience to the Will of God which is our sanctification And he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are one Heb. 2.4 1 Thes. 4.31 He that can receive it let him For the Truths sake that the Simple be not turned out of the way by the false Accusations Reproaches and Aspertions thou hast cast upon it what is before written in Answer to thee the Truth doth clear and the Answer to thy ten Questions which thou chargest to be deceitful that they may witness for themselves against what thou hast cast upon them that all that desire to know the Truth may them read The Questions and Answers are as followeth 1. Qu. Whether the writings of the Scriptures are a Declaration of the holy Will and Mind of God that necessarily oblige the Servants of God that profess him to believe and observe whatever is revealed therein to be believed and done and whether the Scripture alone be a perfect Rule of Faith and Life unto all of years amongst us yea or nay Ans. The Scriptures is a true Declaration of the things believed amongst the Saints and a true Testimony of Jesus Christ but not any do them know neither can believe what is written therein only by the outward Declaration and Testimony of Scripture but by the Word of Faiâ—h which is in the Heart and in the Mouth which is the Word of Faith which we Preach Rom. 10.7 8. 2. Qu. Whether any other Revelations and Observations not to be found in the Scripture be binding to the Consciences of those Persons that have the benefit of the Scripture or whether such Revelation or Dictates within a Mans Heart and Soul be as binding to the Conscience and to be urged to a Mans self or others as the Scriptures are Ans. The Revelations of Jesus Christ is according to Scripture which Revelation binds up the Testimony and Seals the Law in the Hearts of his Disciples and what Dictates is in the Conscience or Heart of Man contrary to the Law and Testimony is not to be regarded but disowned and judged with the Light which comes from Christ the Saints Life who guides them in a pure Life and holy Conversation according to Scripture Isa. 8.20 3. Qu. Whether any thing besides the Scripture is constituted of the blessed God to reveal Christ as Redeemer and Saviour to the Spirit of miserable lost Man to bring Man unto happiness or whether corrupt Man without the knowledge of Scripture may ordinarily attain unto Salvation yea or nay Ans. No Man can come to the Son any other way but whom the
Father draweth by the power of his unlimited Spirit and never any shall know the Father but he to whom the Son reveals him and he that thinks to attain the way to eternal Life by reading the Letter of the Scripture and regards not the Light that comes from Christ that witnesseth for God in the secret of the Heart and Conscience he deceives himself for the mystery of eternal Life is Sealed up in the sealed Book from all the Sons and Daughters of Men and none shall ever know it by the outward Testimony of Scripture but by the Inspiration of the Spiriâ— of Jesus Christ the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah who is found worthy to open the Seals of the Book And is the Way the Truth and the Life to all that in his Light wait his Power them to guide in faithful obedience to the righteous and perfect Law of God written in the Heart for the exercise of the Conscience which keeps them void of offence towards God and towards Men according to Testimony of Scripture Acts â—4 1â— 23.1 4. 〈…〉 Light of Conscieâ—â—â— which is 〈…〉 Fall be the remains 〈…〉 Beliques lesâ— of the first Adam in reference to the Covenant of works or whether her common to all from the Redemption of the second Adam as flowing from the Covenant of Grace or how else I desire you would clearly express your thoughts in this Ans. Man in the fallen estate hath not any Light as the remains of the first Adam in him to guide him to do any thing well-pleasing to God as he stand in the state of corrupt Nature for all his Righteousness is as â—ilthy Rags and as a menstruous Cloth the Light that convinceth Man and Woman of the evil of their Hearts and discovers the filthiness of all their own Righteousness is the Light that comes from Christ the true Light that lighteth every Man that comes into the World Iohn 1.9 And this Light is not common to Man by nature it is the great gift of God his Grace that hath appeared and teacheth all that are guided by it to deny all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Godlily and Soberly in this present evil World and all that walk contrary to the Light this is their Condemnation the Light Iohn 3.19 5. Qu. Whether the end of God in giving and continuing this â—ind of Light to all Men in the World was not to be 〈◊〉 and câ—rb to the exorbitant lusts of so corrupt 〈◊〉 as Man and so made subserviant to God in the Government of the World in order to the peace and continuance of the same and to leave all without excuse Or what beside this the end of God was that this kind of Light should be minded and improued according to the power of Man by what he is from Creation 〈…〉 or Redemption in order to eternal happiness and the 〈◊〉 this Light in all Men shall be the only condemnation of the World. Or whether this Light be the Gospel or Christ or his Spirit or whether it be a Light either equal with or inferiour to or of a different kind with the Scriptures Ans. The Light which comes from Christ is given of God to guide the Creature out of its own strength and power to Christ the mighty Power and Wisdom of God the Creature to guide with Moderation in the use of all Creatures and to order and govern the Creation to the Praise and Glory of God And this Light is of the pure Nature of God and leads to Christ the Everlasting Gospel And this is the condemnation of the World that hate the Light which comes from Christ because they believe not in him Iohn 1.8 6. Qu. Whether the Light of Conscience the Light of Scripture the Light of Providence the Light of Grace ought noâ— to be prest upon all to reform them and draw them up to a higher pitch of Christian Obedience according to the written Word of the Lord Ans. Thou by all who are in the Light is seen to be in thy Wisdom querying after many Lights but 〈◊〉 is formerly written in answer to thy 4th Question there is but one true Light Christ who lighteth every one that comes into the World and all his Ministers turns the Minds of People froâ— Darkness to Christ the true Light in it to waâ—t on him for his Power to destroy the Power of Satan and to lead in the strait narrow way of self-denyal and the daily Cross which is the way into the Kingdom of God who ever will be my Disciple saith Christ be must deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me Luke 19.23 7. Qu. Whether a Sinner condemned by the Law is made just before God unto Eternal Life by an inherent Power within or work of Sanctification or whether by the Satisfaction and Suffering of Christ in Mans nature and behalf rested on by Faith Ans. The Creature whose Conscience is awakened by the Light the Righteous Law of God in the Heart which shews it its sinful state and stands condemned before the Throne of God for disobeying the Light shall never be justified by any self-Righteousness for it is uncleanness in the Sight of God for justification is through Faith in the Lord Jesus but this Faith which layes hold on Christ for justification is not attained by any Power the Creature hath of its self neither can any know it who receive honor one of another Iohn 5.44 How can ye believe who receive honor one of another and seek not the Honor that comes from God only Faith is the Gift of God given to the Children of Light who wait in the Light on the Lord in the way of his Judgments Isa. 26.8 till judgment be brought forth into Victory that the Creature be brought into true Poverty of Spirit forever to perish without free Redemption in the Lord Jesus which the Father in his appointed time reveales the Son to the Soul that stands condemned befoâ—e him and by the Arm of his mighty Power creates it to a lively Hope and he that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure so whom he justifieth he sanctifieth and he that saith he is justified and liveth in Sin deceiveth himself for Faith purifieth the Heart and purgeth the Conscience from dead Works to 〈…〉 witnessed in the 〈…〉 of Scripture Heb. 9.14 8. Qu. Whâ—ther the Person or Essence of Christâ— or his Spirit dwellâ— in any upon Earth or whether by his Gifts and Graces only or whether all those that have Christ in them must forsake all outward teaching of Men and 〈◊〉 the Scripture be but a dead Letter and of no use otherwise then Christ within doth witness unto them Answ. He that knows not Christ to be in him is a Reprobate for he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is 〈◊〉 of his and he that is guided by the Spirit of Christ needs not any teaching of Man for you shall not need to teach one
Hands but they themselves are as natural bruit Beasts living without the fear of God in Pride Covetousness Dissimulation and Hypocrisie full of self-Love making their Bellies their God delighting their Hearts in the Creature enjoyments and visible Objects and are men-Pleasers having their Person in Admiration and them respecting for Advantage And these Men who are ignorant of the only true God you have followed to Teach you to know God who hath drawn you to worship an unknown God in the ignorance of your minds so have they destroyed the Souls of many and you People perish for want of Knowledge Hoseah 4.6 in being caused to err with the Lies and Lightness of these false Prophets which the Lord is against who run when the Lord never sent them as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent his true Prophet Ieremiah to cry against them Ier. 23.32 All People who desire to know the living God let the time past be sufficient you have followed Men who have deceived you and cease from them and turn to the true Prophet whom Moses the Servant of the Lord declared the Lord God would raise up Deut. 18.15 his elect and chosen Servant to raise up the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the preserved of Israel whom he hath also given for a Light to the Gentiles and to be his Salvation to the ends of the Earth whom Isaiah the Prophet declared the Lord would raise up to open the Fountain of Life and Salvation to all that thirst Isa. 55.1 2 3. and now witnessed with all that hearken to his Counsel who calls He every one that thirsteth come ye to the Waters and 〈◊〉 that hath no Money come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Wherefore do you lay out your Money for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfies not Hearken diligently to me and eat that which is good and let your Soul delight it self in fatness Incline your Ear and â—â—me unto me hear and your Souls shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David All People no longer look forth the glad tidings of the Gospel of eternal Salvation is heard within in this day of the Lords Mercy wherein he is â—â—â—ching his People himself as was declared by the â—rophet Isa 54.13 and now witnessed with all the Children of Light whose Minds are turned within to wait on the Lord for Teaching to establish them in the Covenant of Life and Peace who is performing his Promise to all that wait on him which he declared by his Servant the Prophet Ier. 31 33 34. This shall be the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their Hearts and write it in their inward Parts and will be to them a God and they shall 〈…〉 adâ— they shall no more teach every Mâ—n his 〈◊〉 and every Man his Brother saâ—ing â—â—ow the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of 〈◊〉 saith the Lord for I will be mercifull to their â—â—â—ighteousness and their Sin and their Iniquity will I â—â—â—ember no more Therefore every one that desires to know the onely true God and Christ Jesus whom he hath sent Turn your minds within and examine your Hearts search and try your ways with the Light Christ Jesus hath enlighted you withal that shews you in your Hearts what is Sin that Pride and Covetousness is Sin Lying Swearing is Sin Dissimulation Cheating Coâ—sning is Sin vain idle communications foolish Jesting and Unbelief is Sin and these things you know in your Consciences to be Sin by the righteous Law of God in the Heart that reproves you for them in the secret of the Heart and Conscience there is your Teacher the Spirit of the Lord within which in this Mighty Day of his Power he is pouring his Spirit upon all Flesh according to his promise declared by the Prophet Ioel. 2.28 29. and now witnessed with his Sons and Daughters who walk in the Light led and guided by his Spirit within which keeps the Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men. Every one diligently hearken to the Counsel of the Lord the Light that witnesses for God in the Conscience give up to be guided by it thâ—n you need no more to be taught of Man neither shall your Teacher be removed any more into a Corner but thine Eye shall see thy Teacher and thine Ear shall hear a Voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it when thou turns to the right Hand or to the left as was declared by Isaiah the Prophet Isa. 30.20 which is now witnessed and that is the living Word of God within that hath raised desires in you towards God every one in whom desires is raised wait in the Light and Power within that hath raised the desires and the Lord will them strengthen and give you Power to wait on him in the way of his Judgments till the carnal earthly sensual Mind which hath led you to delight in lusts and pleasures and created enjoyments below God be cut down and slain with the Word of God within which is as sharp as a two-edged Sword to slay down the first man which is of the Earth earthly then will you come to witness to be the slain of the Lord and the sentence of Death upon the first Man who hath led you from God with all the Wisdom Strength and Righteousness you have had in him and in the Power of the Spirit you will be brought to the true sence of the poverty of your Spirits to hunger and thirst after the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus the Light him to prize and love and self-judge and deny with his Light and in his Light wait to dwell in his Power you to guide in every word and work in the Light where your union and fellowship will be with the Father of Light who will you keep that faithful in him abide and dwel in his mighty Power and Wisdom as he ye move to witness his mind in his pure Power to the confounding of the mighty wise and prudent Men who is exalted in the Wisdom of the World and counsel of their own Hearts not regarding to be guided by the Counsel of God in Christ the Light. To you tender Babes and Children of the most High this is the Word of the Lord God in whom desires is raised towards his Name his Counsel mind in you and stand Faithful in it according to his Word declared to you and consult not with Flesh and Blood but in the Light and Life lift up your Heads and freely give up Soul and Body to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth that he the Kingdom of Jesus Christ may exalt in you to guide you in perfect Obedience to his righteous Law written in the Heart for the exercise of the
and Consciences in the fear of the living God search your Hearts with the Light which is the Counsel of God that convinceth you in your Hearts and Consciences that Lying is a Sin Swearing is a Sin Covetousness a Sin Pride a Sin Drunkenness a Sin and Gluttony a Sin Whoredom and Vncleanness a Sin Cozening Cheating and Dissimulations are Sins Tyranny Cruelty and Oppression and Murther are Sin◠〈◊〉 â—hich fore-mentioned cries to the God of Heaven for Vengeance which if you do not walk in obedience to the Grace of God the Light which discovereth them to guide you out of them As the Lord God destroyed the old World who received not his Counsel so will the Lord God of Heaven and Earth break in upon all you People scattered in all Nations Kindreds Tongues and Languages for his eternal Decree is gone over you all who walk in your wicked wayes he will break you down and dash you in pieces and you shall become an abhorring to all flesh Therefore prize your time while God preserves you for the Day of your Visitation is come wherein the God of Heaven visits you and exhorts you in the power of his Spirit to return to him which if you diligently hearken to his Counsel the Light which sheweth you your evil wayes and convinceth you of your Sins as before written and wait on him in the Light to lead you out of all Idolatry and every sinful and evil way then will the only true God give you power over your sinful and unclean nature and he will teach you his Wayes and lead you in the Paths of Righteousness and save you out of all your Idolatrous wayes you have walked in and will establish you in eternal Rest and Peace with all his Children that walk in obedience to his Counsel the Light which convinceth of Sin in the secrets of your Hearts and Consciences in which Light he is gathering of his People out of all Nations Kindred Languages and Tongues and People into his own Kingdom in the Light with him to walk who is now establishing his Kingdom in the Earth which Kingdom shall break down all other Kingdoms and their Dominion take away and destroy to the end Then shall the everlasting God be known in the Earth to destroy the Image that will not submit to him and to establish all those that walk in the Light in his everlasting Kingdom to dwell and there to praise his Name alone who is worthy over all God blessed for ever Hear and Fear all Nations Kindreds Tongues Languages and People Repent and Turn to the only true God in hearkening diligently to his Counsel the Light that convinceth of Sin in the secrets of your Hearts and Consciences that ye be not cut off in the dreadful and terrible Day of the fierce Wrath of the everliving God wherein he will destroy all Idolatry out of the Earth and perform according to his Word here to you declared and none of you shall escape which disobey his Counsel the Light and you shall certainly know the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it what he will bring upon all Nations Remember you are warned in your Life-time in this Day of your Visitation if you slight it your destruction is of your selves and your Blood is upon your own Heads From the Righteous Seed of whom it is written It shall be no more said the Lord liveth that brought us forth of the Land of Egypt but the Lord liveth that hath raised up his Seed and brought it forth of the North-Countrey Jer. 23.7 8. Forth of the Northren Countrey called England from the Seed of God there risen that shall spread over all the Nations of the World. W. D. Dear Friends and Brethren CAlled and Chosen of God to wait upon him in his Light every one in particular feel the Power and Life of God exercising you in his Service whatever he calls unto when the Lord fills the Heart of any of you with his Presence and in his Life moves thee quench not the Spirit I am commanded to lay it upon thee whosoever thou art from the least to the highest growth All dear Friends wait to be kept in the Bond of the Spirit obedient to its motions to cease and stay when it moves not as well as to begin any exercise when it moves And dear and tender little Babes as well as strong Men retain the pure in every particular and let not any thing straiten you when God moves And thou faithful Babe though thou stutter and stammer forth a few words in the dread of the Lord they are accepted and all that are strong serve the weak in strengthning them and wait in wisdom to give place to the motion of the Spirit in them that it may have time to bring forth what God hath given And dear Brethren feed the Lambs and loose the Tongue of the Dumb that Praises may arise in and amongst you all to the glory of God that in him you may be a well-spring of Life one to another in the Power of the endless Love of God in which the Lord God keep you all W. D. From York Tower the 10 th day of she 12 th Month 1660 Dear Brethren and Sisters IN the Church of the first born of the royal Seed of the most high God grace mercy and peace be multiplyed in and amongst you to whom God revealed what he determined and is now manifesting that every one in the Light and Life of God might stand single out and over the snares of those whom God lays aside as the broken Reeds of Egypt that his own Name might be trusted in and his mighty Arm alone seen and felt in leading and preserving his People to his glory as witnessed this day blessed be the God of our strength and safety ALL dear and chosen Vessels of God whether in Bonds or out of Bonds This is to you the Word of the everlasting God in the everlasting Light and Life stay your Minds and lift up your Heads and be strong in the Name of the Lord and fear not the Wrath of Man for it is limitted and shall turn to the praise of God forever who is making up his Jewels this day and gathering his Wheat inâ—o his Garner and the Sheep of his Pasture into the safety of his Power that he may lead them and save them with his out-stretched Arm to the confounding of the Heathen that know not God. DEar Friends gird up the Loins of your minds and in the Faith and Patience in Jesus stand still in the Light and see the Salvation of God this day who hath caused the Mountains and Hills that withstood his glorious arising to melt like Wax and to vanish as the untimely Fruit he hath divided the Waters and turned them on heaps and hath made way through them for the ransomed ones to walk in his service where he hath called he hath made the weak as strong as David before whom the uncircumcised hath fallen
grow to the eternal praise and glory of the powerful God of Vertue that his Name be magnified in and amongst you over all God blessed for ever his powerful presence more and more fill you and overcome you that the strength of his Love and Wisdom may govern you and build you up in the Life of Love Farewel Let Copies of this be sent all abroad in the Meetings of the Church of the living God. W. D. Given forth the 28 th of the 6 th Month 1661. at Beckrins Park in Bedfordshire Dear beloved Friends OF the noble Seed born of the Birth of the excellent Life in Christ the Son of the most high God in his Eternal Power wait to keep your estate with God in the measure of his Life to feel his Almighty presence leading through every condition to the establishing the Soul in his eternal Wisdom to walk with him that not any take their flight in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day but in the midd'st of the Winter Storms whether in the inward or outward Man or both seek not to flee in the least measure from the Light and Power of the Lord to get any ease but as it is handed in God for wo to them that take their flight in the Winter or on the Sabbath day And when you are in the Winter or in the Sabbath doth the Enemy work to get entertainment to cause you to flee from the leading Power of God which if he prevails in the Winter your flight is into Unbelief and Dispairing thoughts Hardships and Difficulties to cause you to Faint and draw back to Perdition But all dear faithful Vessels of the Lord to whom his Power is known in the Light all of you wait on the Lord in the middst of the stormy Winter the Lord hath and will keep you in the Word of his Patience in which he hath made you his chosen Jewels to stand in his mighty Power which hath caused his Renown to sound over the Earth in leading of you even unto Blood others to the spoiling of their Goods some Imprisoned even until Death in the meekness and patience of the Lamb of God who in tender Bowels hath remembred you and answered the Cries and Supplications of his people that have been poured forth in the behalf of you faithful Sufferers for the Name of the Lord who in measure hath caused the fierce Winter storms in the outward many times to cease that a Sabbath of rest in measure you may come to enjoy c. Dear chosen renownable Children of the most high God which not any Winter storms could move from your stedfastness in the Lord This is laid upon me to write to you that all diligently watch to the Light of the Lord that the Enemy do not enter with his Temptations as to cause any to take your flight on the Sabbath day into security which will draw into a customary Formality and into an easeful mind that will vail and darken the understanding and cause dryness and barrenness in the inward Man which will quench the first Love and cause the Innocent to suffer and bring a greater exercise then all the storms that have been indured from the hard-hearted Children of Men c. In the Name of the Lord all stand armed against the subtil Enemy of your Souls Peace with the Light judge him in the Power of God trample and tread down Sathan under your Feet that in the pure humble Spirit of Life in Christ you all be kept and grow in unity in the depths of the Love of the Father that his Vertue and Life abound in you to bind you up in eternal oneness with himself and one another to serve the Lord with singleness of Heart in faithful obedience in the Cross that the Crown of the glorious Dominion may rest upon you to the glory of the Name of the Lord for ever Farewel your Brother W. D. Given forth in Newgate Prison London the 11 th day of the 12 th Month 1661. Dear beloved Brethren and Sisters BOrn of the noble Birth of the God of our strength in whom my Soul rests with you in the Life of God oh let us in true humility be glad in him and strong in the Power of his Love and Life in these trying daies to keep our Habitations in God that in our faithfulness to him comfort may flow to all the Babes Lambs and Children of our Father through all who know his loving kindness abounding in the secrecy of the depth of his Love in the new Covenant of Light which stands in his own faithfulness all that wait in his fear will feel your strength renewed from day to day in the Resurrection of his Glory Power and Dominion with him to dwell and reign over self and tread down Sathan under your Feet in the Unfathamabâ—e depth of the Love and Life in God that his own Vertue may stream it self into every Vessel more and more to make these transcendant excellencies to appear to be of God in the brightness of his glory to shine forth in the strength of his Incomprehensible Love and tender feeling Compassions to the strengthning the weak and feeble minded and enlivening that which is ready to die that in the feeling enjoyed Life in Christ the Babes and Children of the Lord be raised in eternal unity to grow up in the Heavenly Dominion of the Lord God of our Righteousness him to obey with boldness in the strait way of self-denial and daily Cross in faithfulness unto the end and watch one over another with a single Eye building up one another in the holy Faith opening your Hearts in the free Spirit of God to them that are in need that ye may bear the Image of the Heavenly Father who relieveth the Hungry and easeth the Burthened and maketh glad in refreshing his in the time of need giving liberally and upbraideth not even so be it with you in the Name of the Lord saith your Brother and Companion in the Lord Jesus Christ Farewel W. D. Given forth in Newgate Prison London the 16 th day of the 12 th Month 1661. Dear suffering Brethren ANd Companions in the Tribulations and Kingdom of Patience in Christ Jesus in him Watch and Pray and believe in his Name that you may keep the Word of his Patience in the Will of God quietly lye down in your present Sufferings for the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ who numbers the daies of your Sufferings and when they are accomplished will plead the Cause of his People in the day he will be revealed in flames of Fire rendering Vengeance upon all that know him not and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ then shall your Innocency with all the Elect be cleared in the sight of all people and you shall shine as the Morning Stars in the Power of God to enlighten the people of the Nations through the brightness of the glory of God that shall rest upon you to
Birth Immortal which in you breathes through over and above all the Pomp Pride and Pleasure of the World to enjoy the fulness of Life in Christ who liveth forever with the Light of the Lord judge all your own thoughts and desires which would draw from the Light that in the Life of God you reign over all Doubts Fears Cares Representations of evil and hardships which would look you in the Face in this trying day which is now manifest to the sight of all people that fear the Lord all take heed of consulting with Flesh and Blood or suffering an evil Spie to go forth in the reach of your Sence reason to fore-see how you may pass through such tryals as may appear to your Sence if you hearken to these reasonings you go from the Light and so will be weakned in your spiritual Travel as Israel was in the daies of old So all dear Lambs and chosen Vessels in the Light of the Lord wait to receive his strength to tread down every motion that is out of the Life of the voice of Christ the high Priest over the houshold of God you all hear and feel who saith in his Light believe in the Name of the Lord and you shall see his mighty Works brought to pass while you stand still in Obedience and Peace with the Lord and he will clear your Innocency and smite the Hearts of them that devise mischief against you so shall you behold the Lord in his glory pleading your Cause with the raighty of the Earth whom he will make to confess and say it is in vain to afflict a People whom the Lord supports or to destroy whom the Lord God will save for as it hath been proclaimed in your Ears certainly it shall come to pass the Lord will try all that they may be known who are born of him for whom God will appear to carry through with joy whatever he calls unto and by his mighty Arm will bring deliverance unto us who cannot handle Sword nor Spear neither trust in the Arm of Flesh but in the spiritual Power and Life in the Light which he will exalt over all contrary to him so will he make his Name famous in the Earth because of his glory which he will reveal to cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea and all ungodliness will be buried in the deep and sink as a Stone to the bottom thereof and never rise agaâ—n over the Just but the Righteous shall rejoyce that the Lord reigneth their Strength and Life blessed for ever So all Brethren and Sisters lift up your Heads in the valiant Spirit of the Lamb which bears all things and endures all things that in his Light Life and Power every particular reign over whatever is contrary to him and rest in peace in a faithful resignation to the heavenly Will of the Lord and in his Name meet and his presence you will feel in the mid'st of you who will not suffer one hair of your Heads to perish but which is for his glory and as you abide faithful to him for the eternal comfort of our Souls for ever so in Faith and Patience in the Power of the Lord all in your own measures received of God stand stand still all in the pure unity with the Lord and with one another in his living Dominion rest in peace God will give you an answer of all your Prayers and Tears an expected end in refreshing your Souls with his Light and Power and Life forever in whom you shall sit under your own Vines and never more shall any make you afraid the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it through your Brother in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in Christ Farewell W. D. From York Castle the 4 th of the 9 th Month 1662. Dear Lambs and Babes LIft up your Heads in the Light and Life of God that you may keep the Word of his patience which will carry you up over and above all the afflâ—ctions you meet withall in this present World for the Lord is dear over you and your lives are pretious in his sight who hath called you to witness forth his glorious Truth this day through Tribulations and Afflictions to enter the Kingdom Oh be bold and valiant in the Patience of the Lamb and in the love of his own Life feel his vertue filling you that in the eternal unity you may grow Pillars in his Temple unmoveable to bear your faithful Testimony to the astonishment of the Enemies of Sion and the praise and glory of the God of our Strength Life and Righteousness over all who Reigneth and Ruleth for ever and the God of Life bless preserve and keep you in Unity and Love over all in his Life to Reign to his glory for ever Farewell W. D. From York Castle the 2 d of the 7 th Month 1662. Dear Suffering Brethren FOR the Testimony of the Name of the Lord the strength of the Almighty God is with you and the eternal Crown of glory shall rest upon your Heads that in your faithful Obedience refresheth the Flock of the living God Oh lift up your Heads you chosen Vessels in the Light of the Lord arise up in his Strength and Reign over every thought and whatever would streighten you of drinking in of the fulness of the vertue of God that you may alwaies be fall of the Power of the Spirit to water the Plants and build up the Feeble in mind and speak a word in due season to the Weary and Oppressed in Spirit that the Blind may see and the Lame walk and the tongue of the Dumb loosed to praise the Name of the Lord in the Assembly of his People that the glory of the Lord may be spread abroad in and through you his chosen Vessels whom the Lord hath called to be the first-Fruits amongst many Brethren The eternal glory of the Lord rest upon you and cover you saith your Brother and Companion in the Name of the Lord. W. D. From York Castle the 21 th day of the 8 th Month 1662. Dear beloved Brethren and Sisters IN the eternal love of the Lord Jesus Oh my dear beloved ones love the Lord Jesus and delight your Hearts in his Light Power and Life of our beloved who hath chosen you in his eternal love to make known his everlasting Salvation in the sight of all people that he may get himself a Name over all in carrying you in your faithful Testimony to the astonishment of all that know not God and exalting his glorious Name over all and spreading his renown to the ends of the Earth Oh be valiant my beloved Friends in resisting the thoughts of your own Hearts that in the eternal depth of the love of God in Christ you grow and abound to the eternal comfort of one another and the glory and praise of God over all blessed for ever and ever in which Farewell W. D. York Castle the 17 th of the 1 st Month 1662
63. To all the Faithful in CHRIST Who Have stood in his Counsel the Light to be led in the Foot-steps of the Flock of the Companions and to all that profess the Light of Christ to be their Guide To you I write these following Lines to be seriously weighed in the weighty and ponderous Spirit wherein you may discern a Discovery of a false Birth in some that came forth with us as to own the Light in their Iudgments and go forth from us in rejecting the stroak of the pure judgments of God through the working of the mystery of iniquity and so become as the untimely Birth that doth not see the Sun in his glory nor the beauty of Sion who hath passed through death unâ—o life in her comely unity in the Spirit and bond of peace He that can receive it let him nâ—w in the cool of â—he day when Counsel may be hearkened unto and rightly understood in the Truth as it is in Iesus DEar Friends called and chosen of God in the Eternal Light and Power of the most high who have been and are his living Witnesses from the beginning of the dawning of his powerful and glorious day of his dreadful appearance which hath caused the Earth to shake and the Keepers of the House to tremble in this day of your visitation from on high And all you that in true watchâ—ulness wait on the Lord in the measure of his life you are sensible of what he did hath done and doth in the ordering of his dear and tender Children as in the subjection both of the inward and outward Man in every exercise of the Spirit as in exhortation prayer or praises which the most high God hath and doth accompany with his blessed presence in which he hath made all that hath kept their Habitations in the powerful life of the first Love to stand as Saviours upon Mount Sion to gather the scattered of Israel and to bring again the dispersed of Iacob And this is the work of all that are truly sent of the Lord to labour in his Vineyard who seeks not their own things neither sets up nor serves themselves with what the Lord hath given unto them but alone seeks the glory of God and serveth him with uprightness of Heart in the exercise of all the Gifts and riches of his Grace with which he hath cloathed them to the perfecting of his Praise and Glory and the comfort of his Heritage forever therefore do they shine as the Stars in the Firmament of Heaven in turning many Souls to Righteousness in which they enter into the heavenly Habitation of the most high God where it is known the Lord to be one and his Name one and there alone stands the union of all the flock of the Companions who have been truly baptized and buried with Christ in his Death where we could not cover our naked Souls with a Fig-leaf Garment of our own works or with any self-created gesture or posture of the outward Man but in true obedience to the Light waiting in the sence of our misery crying out of the great Deep to the God of mercy who in his appointed time in his tender compassions he casts the Skirts of his Garment over us and said unto us live In which Life we in eternal unity bear our Testimony to all the World in the Light of his Covenant sitting and feeding together at his Table cloathed with the wedding Garment where there never was noâ— ever shall be any rent but eternal harmonious joyful unity in the everlasting felicity where every Child of this Inheritance as moved of the Lord casts in their Mite in the returns of his Spirit offering up the Sacrifice of high praises to the most high God over all blessed forever Dear and tender Friends This ariseth in my Heart to exhort all that are convinced of the Truth that every one with diligent watchfulness search your own Hearts with the Light and in it know your own estates and seriously know your own conditions and that you may certainly understand what Spirits you are on and to have the seal of the Spirit of God demonstrating to you in full assurance that you walk with him in true self-denial according to your measures in uprightness of Heart with all the flock of the Companions as before written then will the Lord give you a sound and perfect judgment to weigh and try all Spirits and taste the breath from whence the words proceed and not to lay your Hands hastily upon any whatever they pretend but in that which tries and weighs your own spirits in coolness and singleness of Heart try and taste what Spirits they are on that comes amongst you in this day wherein many comes forth with us as to the owning of the Truth in their judgments and regulates the outward Man in some outward gestures like to the Children of the Truth and some have felt the stroak of the Judgment of the Lord which hath caused them to forsake some things which formerly they delighted in and in some measure of Zeal have born a Testimony to the Light enduring both stripes and imprisonment both in this Nation and some beyond the Seas while they stood in the Fear of the Lord who for his Names sake hath delivered them from the Winter Storms that they suffered under but they for want of watchfulness the Mystery of Iniquity hath wrought and drawn them from the Light into the pride of their Hearts to deck themselves with the jewels and gifts of the Spirit God gave unto them when they were humble before him but they departing from the redeeming judgment of God the Beast gets the deadly wound heal'd again and instead of giving glory to God for their deliverance they in this time of some measure of rest take their flight on the Sabbath day upon the Mountains of their high Imaginations and Sacrifices upon the high places and doth not regard to make their peace with Christ in them their Elder Brother and so to bring their gift to the Altar in the humble meek Spirit which gathers into unity and answereth to the witness in every Conscience but though they pretend zeal and Obedience to God in what they do they being gone from the Light they neither regard the Glory of God nor the good of his People for all that they now do is wrought in a self-serving Spirit where they enter into the mysterious working of the deceit of their Hearts to set up and cover themselves with a voluntary humility and feigned love gathering all the eloquent and inticeing words of mans wisdom with which they make a flourish in a discoursative spirit speaking high words of that they never did know to get entrance upon the affection of the tender hearted ones that are afraid to judge any but themselves with others that look more at high words then to feel from whence they came or to know the end for what they are spoken and these they
Brethren that need not be written unto in lines of this nature but to all who hath or may have their mouths opened in the true motion of the Spirit of God and hath not yet overcome and escaped the danger where many have received loss as before written with a godly jealousie over you in tender bowels I beseech you watch and pray that in the Light and Power of God you always be kept And when any motion of the Spirit of the Lord ariseth in you to exercise the Gift God hath given you first search your Hearts and see that you be at peace with Christ in you your elder Brother that in the sense of your peaceable union with him your Hearts be truly broken and your Spirits truely humbled and abased before the Throne of his glory in which power bring your gifts to his Altar and keep within the bounds of the Spirit then shall your Sacrifices whether it be Exhortation Prayer or Praises answer the witness of God in all his People and God will accept of your faithfulness in the returns of his own Spirit to his glory forever And whatever the Lord doth in you or with you rejoyce not over much in Spirits being made subject but rather rejoyce in the power that keeps self in the Death that your names you always behold written in the Lambs Book of Life then will you be full of vertue as branches in the Vine of Gods righteousness whose leaf shall never wither but you shall be always Faithful and your leaf shall be for the healing of the Nations and an Eternal Judgment shall rest and abide in you in the pure discerning of all the unstable wandering Spirits that are as before written which is the Stars that the great Dragon draws after him from the heavenly Light and throws them down again to the Earth because through pride they kept not their estate in the meek humble Spirit of the Lord of Glory Oh my dear Brethren in the unity and bonds of the meek humble Spirit of our God my Soul blesseth the Name of the Lord for you and your faithfulness is as marrow to the bones of the feeble and as sinews to the loynes of the weak therefore let us in the true motion of the meek peaceable Spirit of the almighty God go on in his service and let us wrestle with the most high in the prevaling power of his own Spirit for the bringing again the captivity of Sion that they that have mourned before our God with us in years past may be restored and brought from the Mountains where they are scattered into the Light and Fold of rest with us to lye down in the Shephards Tent where we find safety in the heat of the day and in the hollow of his hand he will keep us untill the indignation be over past Therefore you valiants amongst the people who in the meek humble Spirit shines as the Angels of Glory every one be faithful in the power of the most high God in whom you shall stand as Saviours upon Mount Sion in your living Testimony which causeth the dead to hear the living Voice the Lame to Walk the Blind to See the Dumb to Speak forth the high Praises of the mighty God which shall cause the Ears of them that know not God to tingle and the Hearts of the righteous to rejoyce and forever glorifie the Name of the Lord that hath kept you humble little and low as to self but mighty powerful prevailing in the pure peaceable eternal Dominion of which there is no end Where my Soul rests who hath now given forth what hath for some time lain upon me to clear my Conscience to all that ever have tasted in any Measure of the good Word of God and the Power of the World to come that they may certainly know whether they abide in the Vine of Gods Righteousness yea or ndy Therefore Let them that hath an Eye to see let them see or an Ear to hear let them hear or an Heart to understand let them understand what the Spirit saith to the Churches in the eternal Judgment and Word of Truth through Your Brother and Fellow-Labourer in the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ Farewel W. D. Send this with care abroad to be read in the Fear of God in the Assemblies of the Church of the first Born. The Word of the Lord to his beloved City New Ierusalem come from God cloathed with the excellency of the Glory of his Love and is the Bride the Lambs Wife with the flowings of the tender compassionate Bowels of the Lord Jesus to all the Mourners in Sion and the Afflicted desolate People who wait for his comming as for the Morning and hath not satisfaction in any thing but in the enjoyment of his sweet and comfortable Presence OH Ierusalem thou beloved amongst the People who art become the beautiful Bride the Lambs Wife Oh how did he seek thee in the day of thy Divorcement when thou wast weeping in the barren Wilderness as a desolate Widow who had not any to comfort thee when thy greatest Mournings and breakings of Heart were thy greatest comfort And the more thou drunk the Tears that was shed for the want of him was thy greatest satisfaction Oh the weary daies thou had'st upon the Earth because thy Languishing Soul knew not where to meet with thy beloved neither did'st thou know how to walk in the steps of the Flock of thy Companions who was comforted with his Presence whom thy Soul wanted then was he near unto thee though thou knew it not enlivening the desires that were towards his Name And in the acceptable day he sent forth whom he had ordained to declare unto thee the glory of his Love in the Light of his own Life in which he hath covered thee this day as with a Wedding Garment and in it thou appearest comely in his sight and acceptable in his Presence And for thy sake oh Ierusalem thou City of the Living God what hath been endured How many Innocent Lambs have suffered its hard to be expressed to bring gald-tidings unto thee of him whom thy Soul thirsteth after How have the Striplings sent out in Gods Authority run to and fro in the Earth willing to spend and be spent in all services of Love to perswade thee to forsake all that hath intangled thy mind and hindred thee from the innocent Life of thy Beloved Thy mighty Men with many of the Sons and Daughters of glory have sealed their living Testimony with their Blood in the patience and sufferings of the Lamb of God that thou mayst be affected with the excellency of the glory of him whom thy Soul desireth And now the Lord God requireth of every particular Son and Daughter of Sion To Watch and Pray that not any enter into Temptation and all that have any stain upon their Garments come to the Fountain which is opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in which is the Heart-breaking love of
God manifest in the Light of the Covenant and sealed up to the Soul in the Blood of Jesus Oh come away come away out of all your thoughts desires doubts and unbelief which would turn you aside from the enjoyment of the dear love of God in Christ Jesus Let not any stand afar off because of your Littleness Lameness Blindness Weakness and Infirmities who cannot live at Peace until you be healed with the Blood of the Lamb. Arise arise you necessitated people in the Light of the Lord give up to the drawing Spirit of Life in the Light of Jesus Christ he will carry thee that cannot go in the Arms of his Compassions he will cause the Lame to walk and thou that art sensible of thy Blindness to recover thy sight yea he will heal thee of all thy Infirmities who in the Light waits as a little Child to be ordered and guided in the washing and sanctifying Spirit of the Lord Iesus who is become a Husband to the desolate Widow and a repairer of the Breaches and a restorer of the desolate Places in whom the Fatherless hath found mercy this day for his Names sake Oh! what shall I say of the unspeakable Love of God in Christ Jesus the Husband of the Bride the Lambs Wife Oh ye Sons of the glorious day read and feel in the deep tasts of the unsearchable Love. And you Hand-Maids of Glory drink of the inexpressible Ocean which flowes in the Light over all opposition This is the Son of the Fathers Love who hath been a Man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs He was Wounded for our Transgressions and by his Stripes are we healed and this is the Work of the Lord Let all Crowns be thrown down before him for he alone shall have all the glory besides him there is no other Therefore in the measure of him let every Son Daughter and Servant of God watch and diligently hearken to his Counsel and what ever the natural Man most inclines to when the Temptation besets you judge your selves look up to the Lord and resist the Devil with boldness in the first assault and the Lord God will give you Dominion over him and the Bond of Iniquity shall not have power over you and in his holy Authority every one stand in Dominion upon the Head of the first Man with all his excellency and glory that in the perfect freedom every particular Reign in the measure of the Light over every thought and desire that is contrary to the Will of God that in his eternal Will you Sons and Daughters of the most high you all dwell in the holy Faith which will evidence to you beyond your sight and will Arm you against all the fiery Darts of the Devil And you shall tread down Sathan under your Feet and in the triumphing Dominion through the Blood of the Lamb and Word of your Testimony you shall overcome and continually drink of the Rivers of pleasures which is the presence of the Lord Jesus our Light Life and Righteouness for ever for he is become our Husband and we are as the Wife of his Bosom in the delight of his glorious Love Let the Mourners in Sion rejoyce and the afflicted among the people be glad and fear the Lord. And let not any say the Lord regards me not who desires Salvation in uprightness of Heart for what ever thou hungers and thirsts for in his Life thou art the Heir of it and the Lord will satisfie thy Hunger with his refreshings for his Name sake And this is the Portion of them that are least in their own Eyes amongst the people the Lord hath spoken it And all you Inhabitants of the City of the great God whom the Lord hath prospered in your living Testimony in what he hath called unto blessed be the Lord God for you who retain the sensibility of your nothingness in self and so become poor with the poorest and Weak with the weakest and truly maketh self of no reputation but humbles it to the Cross and doth not serve self but the Lord and his people with all his Gifts and Ornaments with which he hath adorned you because of the savour of this Oyntment which you have in Christ causes the Souls of all the upright in Heart to praise the Lord for you Oh your stedfast valiant unwearied Travels Labours and Sufferings for the Lord causes the Hearts of his People to be enlarged with Hallelujahs and high Praises in the holy Assembles of his Saints you know your reward is with you and wo to them that devise mischief against you whom the Lord hath blessed Oh Sions Children from the least to the greatest love the Lord Jesus Christ and let not a thought of the Heart have any power that would draw from the Light Life and Love of the Lord Jesus let the day of the Resurrection arise upon you which will set your Souls in perfect love above all Unbelief and Infidelity Oh drink drink drink to the full satisfaction of your Souls of the Cup of his Salvation for it is freely handed to all that love him and thirsts for his Mercies and trample and tread down the self-working spirit that all be bound down in silence and kept in the Death that would move in any exercise to utter words rashly before the Lord but in the Resurrection Light Power Life and innocent Birth enter the Kingdom and Reign in the Dominion thereof Oh here my dear Friends let us comfort and consolate our Souls together for this is our beloved and we have waited for him and now is he come with power and great glory to deliver his Captives and establish them in his glorious freedom where the evil one shall not prevail against them and to Marry the Soul unto himself who hath waited for him as for the Morning and all in the Marriage union feel his Power abounding to lead in the daily Cross to stand over all that would draw from the sweet union that is in the footsteps of the Flock of his Companions who walk in the Light and stir up the gift of God in you in all faithful obedience to meet together in true watchfulness to wait in the Light And as your Hearts are filled with the Heavenly Power of the Lord and broken in the sence of the overcomings of his Life and moved in the forciable strength thereof in any exercise in your Families or in the Assemblies of his People quench not the Spirit of the Lord but be obedient and keep within the bounds of a broken Heart and a contrite Spirit which is a Sacrifice acceptable in his presence And all feel the love of God enlarging your Hearts one to another that the strong may bear the Burthen of the weak and in the pure Life of love you may grow fruitful Plants in the Vineyard which God's right-Hand hath Planted c. And as for our little Sister which is scattered amongst the people in the Nations that hath no Breast of
Consolation her broken Cisterns hath failed her What shall we do in this day she shall be spoken for which is come upon us though at present she cannot draw near but Mourns at a distance and Cries in secret for want of the enjoyment of the God of our Saâ—vation Oh let your Bowels open to her and let your Hearts breath unto the Lord that he may seal his Counsel unto her and cause her to walk in the Light of the Lord with us whom he hath raised to be the first Fruits amongst many Brethren to bear his glorious Testimony over and above the Heads of all the wrath of the Children of Men that withstands the Appearance of God who will cause them to bow before his Glory in the day he will clear the Innocency of his beloved people which shall smite the Hearts of them that know him not neither by Sword nor Spear nor strength of the Arm of Flesh but with the breath of his Mouth and the brightness of his comming which shall spread his Fame over the Nations to gather our Brethren from far and Sisters from the ends of the Earth yea the mighty shall bow to his Scepter and the Nations that are saved shall walk in his Light with us whom he hath made as dear unto himself as the Apple of his Eye and though a Woman may forget her sucking Child yet the Lord will not forget any that fear him but he will lead through all Tribulations with Joy in his heavenly Power untill we have finished our Course with gladness to the glory of the Name of the Lord forever And this is the Portion and the Lot of thy Inheritance thou beautiful Bride the Lambs Wife against whom every Tongue that is lifted up shall fall into Judgement and the Weapons formed against thee shall not prosper for the Lord hath made thee a burthensome Stone to the Nations and the praise of the whole Earth and the desires of the people shall be to the Name of the most high God who dwells in the midd'st of thee and hath displayed his Banner of Love over thee and hath turned his fury away from thee and never any more shalt thou want the fresh Springs of Life who loves the Light and bathes thy Soul in the Ocean of his inexpressible Mercies The Lord will keep thee in the safety of his Power and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against any of the Sons and Daughters who waâ—â— in the Light of thy City O Ierusalem in whom there is no more Curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb is in thee and his Servants doth serve him and they do see his Face and his Name is written in their Fore-heads and there is no Night there neither need of Candle nor Light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them Light and they do Reign forever as the Lord hath spoken Through your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Iesus W. D. Given forth in York Castle the 19 th of the 1 st Month 1663. Let this be sent abroad to be read in the fear of the Lord in the holy Assemblies of the Church of the first born where she is scattered to the ends of the Earth The Breathings of Life To God's Spiritual Israel Through A faithful Follower of the Lamb in the Regeneration and Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation and now a Sufferer in Bonds for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus known to the World by the Name of William Deusbury DEar Children and Chosen Vessels of the Eternal Everliving God whom he hath plucked as Brands out of the Fire and hath manifested his heavenly powerful operating Spirit to lead you in his holy fear to wait upon him in the way of his Judgments which hath buried and 〈…〉 in the Death that you could not find â—ny Comâ—ort or Satisfaction unto your hungry thirsty Sâ—â—ls but in lying down in true subjection to the Judgments of the Lord manifest in the Light until the Lord broke in upon you when your wills were subjected with his tender love and bowels of free mercy which caused the Dead to live the Lame to walk the Deaf to hear and the Dumb to speak forth the wonders of the Lord. Oh you dear Companions in the Tribulations and Patience of Jesus when I remember you my heart is broken and as a man overcome with the Compassions of the Lords love that flows out towards you in which my Soul exhorteth you to dread the Lord and fear continually before the heavenly Majesty of our God and be faithful upon your watch that the Enemy which you know goes abroad as a roaring Lion to devour you that he may be trampled upon and never get Entrance to stain your pure Garments which you know never could be washed but in the blood of the Lamb And all take heed of giving way in the least measure to what you know would intangle you in any bondage do not rely upon your own strength though you have and do reign in the glorious dominion standing in the Light yet if there be the least hearkning to the Enemy to tamper with him though you may think you may be able to subject the disposition of nature he works upon if he draw you from the Light you will be insnared and distress and sorrow will come upon you as an Armed man and under Gods Judgments you must lye until the Lord raise you up again in the renewings of his mercy in the Light of his own Covenant Therefore dear Children of the Immortal birth I cannot but say once more unto you Watch watch with all circumspection and diligence stand faithful upon your watch that in the Light of the Lord the eye of discerning be kept open in you that you may discern the Mysterious workings of the subtil Enemy of your souls peace And take heed of taking any liberty to your selves in any thing but what you know stands approved in the Light Power and Life which hath so freely manifested it self in regenerating and renewing you in the spirit of your minds let your souls continually prize the Light and the Sin-condemning power to love it above all things that you may stand in the Marriage-union in the power which destroys the works of the Devil and keeps the Soul in pure freedom to walk with the Lord rejoycing in the daily Cross where Self is crucified and the Soul set free in the pure Liberty in the love and life of the most High to magnifie and praise his name in the beauty of holiness forever and ever Oh beloved ones look not at Self nor at any storm or tempest that ariseth through temptation or tryals of what nature soever as to vail you from beholding of the lovely countenance of Jesus the beloved of our Souls Oh lift up your heads all that love the Light for the Lord our God in the bowels of everlasting compassions will draw near you more and more and
the Glory of my Name forever Therefore in my Life stand faithful in resistance of every evil Thought or whatever would cause you to murmer or desire any thing but what you know will advance the Glory of my Name and the Exaltation of my Truth over all that riseth up against it in your being truly subject to the measure of my Light and Life that will not let any seek a Pre-eminence or esteem amongst Men neither let Self-striving nor Self-serving have power in any but in true Humility Love and Meekness watch one over another and let the strong take the weak by the Hand that you may all gently in Love Meekness and holy Fear dread my Name and serve one another that your Love may be manifest unto me saith the Lord your God and one unto another in the naked simplicity of your Spirits then will I make my Dwelling amongst you and with you and my dreadful and glorious Presence you shall all feel mightily in you and amongst you moving in the exercise of my Spirit to the Renown of my Name and the Comfort of one another and I will Crown you with heavenly Blessings and the Glory of my Powerful Life and you shall praise my Name forever that I made you my Jewels and counted you worthy to suffer for the Testimony of my Name I will go before you through all the Waters and Floods of Afflictions and I will appear with you before all the Counsels of the Sons of Men and my saving Power shall compass you about in your hot and sharp Afflictions all you who have your Confidence alone in me the LORD your GOD. Therefore trust in my Name ye my dear Children and cast all your care upon me And if any of you joyfully suffer the Spoiling of your Goods I will supply with what is needful for you and yours And if any of you seal your Testimony in the Word of my Patience with your Blood I will take care of your tender Wives and Children or Parents for whom your Souls have been poured forth in Prayers unto me for their good Therefore hear my Word which is sounded unto you from the Throne of my Grace and eternal Glory Rejoyce not too much in Spirits being made subject but throw down your Crowns before me that there be not a Self-seeking Self-serving Spirit in the Family of my People but all feel the Birth Immortal raised up in the Resurrection of my Life in you all which truly makes Self of no Reputation so that all Loftiness be laid low and all Haughtiness bowed down in every one that I the Lord God in you all may be loved obeyed and exalted who is taking and will take to me my greaâ— Power to exalt the Meek upon the Earth and reign over all the Pride of the Children of men that is exalted above my Witness in their Conscience that so my Sons may be brought from far and my Daughters from the ends of the Earth in the sight of all People whom I will make to confess in Subjection to my Power That you are the beloved People of the most high God and of the righteous Seed which the Lord hath Blessed and not any Weapon formed against you shall prosper but come to nought which will be hastened for your Comforts and certainly performed according to what is here declared to your Eternal Joy and you shall assuredly know the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it The Word of the Lord before expressed came to me in the Prison-House in Warwick the 13 th day of the first Month 1664. which constrained me to send it to be read amongst you dear faithful and suffering People of the Almighty God in whom I remain your Brother and Companion in Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Iesus Christ. W. D. Oh thou beloved Seed of God in London Hartford Bristol Redding and Colchester with all in other Places where the Power of Hell and Darkness is begun to make War in the fierceness of his Wrath and great Fury as though he would destroy and utterly lay waste ALL you dear Children born again of the Royal Seed who is raised up in the Power of the most High to bear the Name of the Lord in the Earth and to shine forth in the lively Image of his own Nature amongst the People in your loving the Lord Jesus better then all the World and the created objects and enjoyments therein and in this day of your great Trial you are found faithful in the Name of the Lord to withstand all the Power of Hell and Darkness and to make War in Righteousness neither with Sword nor Spear but in the Word of the Patience of the Lamb of God who overcame and was made perfect in sufferings Oh you chosen Vessels whom the Lord â—ath counted worthy to stand in the heat of the Trial in the excellent noble Life to bear your Testimony with the hazard of the loss of your estates and Liberty even to Banishment yea to lay down your lives if the Lord require it at your Hands to the comforting and incouraging of all your dear Brethren whose eyes are upon you and their Prayers and Breathings to the Lord for you that he may carry you on with boldness and sweeten your Passage until in faithfulness you have finished what is determied of the Lord in drinking of this Cop he is handing unto you that he may make you manifest to be his dear and chosen Jewels to the perfecting of the praise and glory of the Name of our God over all blessed forever Oh you valiant Brethren and beloved Sisters cloathed with the excellency of the glory of the incomprehensible God lift up your Heads in the Name of the Lord trample upon all the fear of Man and upon aâ—l the Representations of hardships of parting with dear and tender Wife or loving Husband or with your dear and tender Children which lyes near to the Hearts of loving Parents Oh how doth the compassion of a Father flow forth towards them and the earning of the Bowels of a tender and loving Mother towards the dear and tender Children when the Trial looks in the Face of being separated from them and to see their Faces no more Dear chosen Vessels of the most high God let not any of these things enter into you as to trouble or weaken your Testimony for the Lord who hath commanded me to write unto you to cast your care upon the Lord and be faithful in standing approved before him in your faithful Testimony he will be more then Wife to Husband or Husband to Wife or Parents to Children or Children to Parents yea he will instruct our Children with his Spirit and teach them his Fear though they should be in the Hands of their Enemies so that our Children shall not want the thing that is good for them The Lord hath sealed his Counsel to me which I here declare unto you Parents of tender Children whose Trial is
Testimony for him in the pure meek peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus with the hazard of the loss of all outward substance dear and tender Wife and Children and beloved Husband and tender Children to be rent from their dear beloved Parents and also with the hazard of your Liberty and Transportation out of your Native Country and not at all love your lives to death to seal your Testimony with your Blood in the Word of his Patience if the Lord require it at your Hands and when you have done the Will of God in what is before written your love is so large to the Lord Jesus that you abhor loath and detest and trample upon every appearance of the arrogant self-pridâ—ng and self-inriching boasting Spirit in what you have done or suffered for the Testimony of the Truth of our God and in true watchfulness and pure attendancy to the Light and Counsel of the Lord Jesus you are always kept in a true sensibility of your own nothingness cloathed with the Garment of everlasting humility where you sit at the feet of Jesus as Mary did chusing the good part that shall never be taken away casting your Garments of all self-righteousness upon the ground that Jesus may tread upon them and the cumbred disposition of Martha that would complain of the innocent Life or that would have any eye to self and rob him of his Glory and for this you Children of the most high is your daily waiting that the Lord Jesus may take you up into him and cause you to rejoyce and sing Hosanah to the highest and to bless him that comes in the Name of the Lord to cover you with his own righteousness and marry you to himself as his chosen and beloved Bride in his own faithfulness and give you perfect Victory in overcoming through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of your faithful Testimony in the pure meek holy healing Spirit of the Lord our righteousness in whom you shall be as Pillars in the Temple of our God and shall go no more forth but shall grow as Trees of Righteousness in the midd'st of the Street of the City of our God bringing forth acceptable Fruit to him in due season and your Leaves shall be for the healing of the Nations where-ever the Lord suffers you to be cast for the Testimony of his glorious Name yea the Prisoners of hope will be refreshed at the sound of your coming and the Mourners will rejoyce in your arising for the Tongue of the learned shall be given unto you all in your measure to speak a word in due season to every condition for you and all the Companions that can read and understand in the true experience your state as here written shall stand as Saviours upon Mount Sion which can never be removed because yoâ— have not any eye to self in what ever you do but it is your delight to be ordered by the holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus and in your resignation into his pure will you shall be translated more and more into the angelical glory and by your holy conversations words and works which hath the love of God stampt upon them you become Preachers of the mind of God to the Nations and as ministring Angels shall reap in his harvest to the gathering our Brethren from far and our Sisters from the ends of the Earth and all the Nations shall confess that you are the Children of the most high God the righteous Seed whom the Lord hath blessed and the Hearts of the People shall be changed in the day determined by the Power of the mighty God who turns the Hearts of men as a River of Water and the People of the Nations in the Earth shaâ—l more strive in their fervent desires for you suffering Innocent Lambs to live amongst them then they now strâ—ve and endeavour to send you away from them the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it through your Brother in the Lord Jesus whose life hath been of no esteem to serve you with my faithful Brethren who in true self-denial through the almighty Power of God indured the heat of the day that you might be gathered and established to indure the tryals which were of the Lord determined of which I was sent in years past to proclaim in your Ears and in the same word which speaketh thorow me to you of which neither jot nor tittle shall fall to the ground till all be fulfilled I declare to you this day Therefore dear and honourabâ—e Brethren and Sisters from the highest growth to the lowest stature in Jesus let not any consult with Flesh and Blood but all in the perfect Light and Life of Jesus lift up your Heads that your Souls may be inlivened with his quickening vertue in that eternal Hunger which nothing can satisfie but the Lord of Glory in this day of separation between the precious and the vile between the true birth and the false birth as it was in the days of old when they confessed unto him and followed him beyond the Seas but when the Lord said Except ye eat my Flesh and drink my Blood you have no Life in you All that were the false birth that stood as the high-way ground stony and thorny ground Hearers foolish Virgins that had no Oyle in their Lamps they said this is an hard saying and who can bear it and they went back and left the Lord of Life and followed no further Then the Lord said to the Children born of the true birth will you go away also They answered nay thou hast the words of eternal Life and whither shall we go Oh dear Child canst thou leave the Father that begot thee or canst thou â—eed of any thing but the bread he hath prepared for thee Though thou mayst be beset and compassed about as Bees with the Enemies of thy Souls peace that would hinder thee from walking with thy God yet can they keep thee from him nay assuredly thou hangest upon him as a Child upon a Father Though thou be as a little Babe thou abhors all things that would hinder thee from following the Lord Thou saist of thy riches of this World thou shalt be no snare to me and to the tender Wife weep not for me give me up for I must forsake thee when the Lord requires me neither regards the Crys and Tears of the mournful Children thou comfortest them in what thou mayst but thou freely leavest them for the Glory of thy God and thus is it with Wife concerning tender Husband and Children concerning their dear Parents in this day of rending one from another Assuredy I cannot but commiserate your condition and simpathize with you being sensible of the earnings of Bowels whilst I have been drinking this cup for many years And now Oh ye Babes born of the royal birth you are the chosen Jewels let no care be upon your Hearts for any thing in this World for you seeking Gods Kingdom and the
Righteousness thereof you shall have all satisfaction in the fulness of the Love of God though separated one from another and let none of your Eyes look out at any that deny the Lord of Life before Men who in the profession of his Name came forth with us and goes forth from us because they are not of us for as I have proclaimed in your Ears many years ago so I proclaim it again in the word of his faithfulness who liveth for ever That all that profess the Light and Name of Jesus and hath an Eye to self in what they do and doth not follow him with a single Heart in his work of Regeneration before the trying day be over they will deny him and wither as though they had never made mention of him but all you Lambs that fear and dread the Name of the Lord and freely gives up to be governed by his powerful Spirit and in the least measure wait in the Light self to be buried down under this Judgment and your Souls raised in the Resurrection of Jesus and born again of the Seed of God which cannot depart from him but must follow him let the power of darkness over all the Face of the Earth do what it is permitted Oh the beholding of you Children of the immortal birth it is known to the Lord the earning of Bowels in the meltings and breakings of my Heart and I am streamed into you as a River in the unexpressible unlimited love and Life of my God and your God where feel and taste and let us solace in the invisible in-dwelling love of a tender Father where no vulterous Eye can behold nor any venomous Beâ—st shall enter to sting the beloved Babes begotten of the Father any more And dearly beloved Brethren and Sisters where ever the Lord orders you watch diligently that in the sweet reserved Spirit in the heavenly Wisdom you walk together in the loving meek holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus and in the nearest fellowship and familiarity with any one watch to the Light to be covered alwayes with his Spirit of Sanctification that you may stand before the Throne of the Lamb with the pure Garment of his own righteousness to the Glory of his great Name forever And in all your words and works be tender over one another in love in what you may and the strong bearing the burthen of the weak that the holy meek lowly healing Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ may rule in you all binding up your Hearts together in the eternal unity of the Spirit and bond of Peace where ever the Lord orders any of you his faithful Children that you with us and we with you may be as Sinews to the Loynes and Marrow to the Bones of one another in the meek lowly Spirit of Christ our Head and Life that in him we all may be manifest to the whole World to be the Children of the most High God through the aboundings of his vertue in and amongst us who are born again and is the Church of the first born the pure Bride of the Lamb of God who abhors to live in any thing that is not of his nature and in sincerity of Heart have given up our names to him and in his Glorious Majestical cominion tramples upon all false births feigned self-creating self-serving Spirits who are gone from the Innocent Life and make to themselves Pleasant pictures in a voluntary humility and smooth words and gestures and outward appearances to enter the affectionate part and betray the Innocent as with a Kiss but in the tryal of the day that is come upon all pleasant things and pleasant pictures they are found serving themselves and Iudases to the Innocent Life of those that are regenerated by the Power of the most High and redeemed from the Earth therefore to you that stand girt up in the Light Thought and Will of God to reign over all the pollutions of this World I write as to my Honourable Brethren and Sisters desiring you all to resign to the faithfulness of God that his al-sufficiency may preserve you out and over all the clouding thoughts of your own Hearts that in the pure discerning you may taste and weigh all Spirits of what nature they are in what Nation Country or Island soever you are ordered to go and lay not your Hands hastily upon any neither regard their feigned smooth words and behaviour but in the Life of the Lord Jesus wait that he may give you Ability in his pure Wisdom to make your passage in the invisible entrance through all outward appearances to try and taste what they are inwardly to God in the measure of the Heart searching Spirit you have received of the Father that so you may all be kept and preserved in the intire union in the sincere Life to reign over all false births in the dominion to walk with the Lord and one towards another in the eternal inâ—xpressible unlimitted pure holy chaste Love of our Father in the Lord Jesus who in his unlimitted Love laid down his Life for us and with his Blood hath redeemed washed and cleansed us that we might have access to the Throne of his Glory continually to offer up the living Sacrifice of Halelujahs and high Praises Glory and Honour unto the Lord God and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne our Light Life Strength and Righteousness Joy Peace Tranquility and everlasting Felicity over all God blessed forever of whose dominion there is no end And in his Glorious Powerful Resurrection and Dominion keep your state with God that his tender Bowels may be inlarged in you to all where you feel any true breathings and heavenly desires towards the Name of the Lord though in some outward things they may differ let not that shut up your Bowels but in the openings of the Spirit of the Lord in what you may Minister to the enlivening of that in them which the Lord hath begotten to hunger for him Oh I beseech you ease my Heart in this matter for I am in travel till all that hunger for the righteousness of God under what denomination soever be all gathered to the Light of Jesus there to receive an understanding to feel the Spirit of the Lord make a separation in condemning sin in the Flesh and quickning in Spirit in the Resurrection in the Powerful Life in Christ that so our little Sister that hath no Breast scattered among Languages Tongues and People in the Nations by your sweet and holy Conversations in the meek lowly and loving chaste Spirit of the Lord Jesus may be gathered in the Light and Life of â—esus with us to sit down at the table of our God to drink continually the Cup of Salvation in which work O my God bless thy Servants with thy prosperous presence where ever thou sends them and all you chosen Lambs comfort my Heart in what my Soul desires in this thing that as in the pure discerning of the Spirit of the
Holy God you trample and reign over the greatest subtilty which in the Mistery of iniquity transforms it self as is before written that so you may in the service of Love in the meek healing compassinate Spirit of Jesus gather all the tender hearted forth of all Sects Forms and Opinions with all that hath strayed from the foot-steps of the Flock of the Companions in the Light of the Lord with us to walk in faithfulness all their days until their change come that if it be possible that not any may be lost who hunger after righteousness and hath their Faces set towards Sion That so in the heavenly Harmony all that have truly sought the Face of God may in his pure Light Life and Dominion walk together with us in the unlimitted Bowels of Love in the Lord Jesus to the confounding of all Sion's Enemies who in the time determined of our God shall come bending to the Soles of the Feet of the afflicted suffering Lambs of my Father who Love the Lord better then your Lives and your Neighbour as your self yea and they that withstand you shaâ—l in the day determined of God confess it is in vain for any to strive to bring to pass their evil intents upon a People beloved of God whom he will carry through by his Almighty Power and save with the Arm of his Salvation for every Tongue lifted up against you shall fall in judgment and all Weapons formed against you shall not prosper but come to nought and you shall see the mighty salvation of God for your joy which the Lord will hasten more and more to the astonishment of all that withstand the rising of his Glory and you shall certainly know this is to you the Word of the Lord God declared thorow your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Jesus Christ. Farewel W. D. From the Common Goal in Warwick sent forth at the command of the Lord the 8 th of the 3 th Moâ—eth 1665. Blessed are they that overcometh through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their Testimony and love their lives no more to Death The Discovery of Mans return to his first Estate by the Operation of the Power of God in the great work of Regeneration And a Word to the Back-slider who hath tasted of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come and hath turned from the Grace of God into wantonness and gone back into spiritual Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is crucified Also a discovery of mystery Babylon and her Merchants And a word to the hard-hearted unbelieving Iews Professors who profess Christ in words but stumble at his Light in their Consciences to theiâ— own Destruction With a Word to all Saints who have set their Faces towards Sion to seek the Lord their God and to those that are waiting therein to worship him in Spirit and Truth And a Word of Consolation unto the travelling Child that yet sits in Darkness being deeply afflicted and wounded in Spirit through ignorance of Salvation in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus the Light. All Men and Women behold and see in what Estate you were Created ANd God said let us make Man in our Image God created Man in his own Image and in the Image of God created he Him Male and Female created he them And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress and keep it and the Lord God Commanded the Man saying of every Tree in the Garden thou mayest freely eat but of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the death The Serpent was more subtile then any beast of the Field which the Lord God had made he said unto the Woman ye shall not surely die for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil And when the Woman saw the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant unto the Eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took the Fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her Husband with her and he did eat And the Eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig-leaves together and made them aprons And they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his Wife hid themselves from the Presence of the Lord among the Trees of the Garden and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou And he said I heard thy voice in the Garden and was afraid and because I was naked I hid my self And he said who told thee that thou wast naked hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat and the Man said the Woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat And the Lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou hast done the woman said the Serpent beguiled me and I did eat And the Lord God said unto the Serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all Cattel and above every Beast of the Field upon thy Belley shalt thou go and Dust shalt thou eat all the Days of thy Life And I will put Enmity betwixt thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel And the Lord God said Behold this Man is become as one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his Hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live forever therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken And he drove out the Man and placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life Every Man and Women behold and see how you are fallen from the estate and condition you were created in you were created in the Image of God to delight alone in him but you are fallen in obeying the counsel of the Serpent and are driven out of the Presence of God into the Earth and there your minds are feeding upon the dust of the Earth created oâ—jects which will perish some delight in Father and Mother some in Wife and Children some in Houfe and Lands some in Money and Gold some in Meats and Drinks some in Raiment what they shall put on some in Lusts and Pleasures in Wantonness vain idle Communication foolish Jesting and Laughter which is Madness and Folly and some in Honour and Preferments in this World wherein their Hearts are lifted up in Pride and Exaltation above others
shall reign with him who suffer with him and they that are dead with him shall live with him it is the dead that hears the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live arise thou that sleepest in the dust of the Earth securely in thy earthly serpentine Wisdom thy mind feeding upon the dust of the Earth created objects which will perish arise stand up to Judgment that Christ may give thee Life this is required of thee O Man to do justly love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God examine thy Heart and deal justly with thy own Soul There is a Light in thy Conscience which Light is of Christ minding it it will let thee see the mystery of Iniquity that lodgeth in thy Heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked and this Light in thy Conscience which discovers unto thee the evil of thy Heart is of the eternal Word of God and was from the beginning according as it is written in the outward Testimony of the Truth In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God and the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made in him was Life and the Life was the Light of men and the Light shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehends it not Every one arise out of your earthly wiâ—dom and mind the Light in thy Conscience and wait on the Power of the Lord in it and it will bring thee to Judgment before the Throne of the Lamb where the righteous Law will be opened in thy heart that will cry through thy earthly heart for Righteousness and Judgment and the Book will be opened in thee where thou shalt see all written that thou hast done in the Body and shall give an account for every idle word and receive thy reward for what thou hast done and thy reward is Wrath and Condemnation which will pass upon thee from the Presence of the Lamb for thy disobedience and breaking of the righteous Law which must be fulfilled and what way soever thou turnest to get Life in outward Forms and Observations the flaming Sword which is the righteous Law that goes out of the Mouth of the Lamb it will turn every way and meet thee and cut thee down and cast thee into Hell where there is Weeping and Wailing for want of the presence of God and thou canst do nothing to pacifie the Wrath of God which is gone out against thee Now wouldst thou hide thy self as Adam did when he appears in thy Heart thy Fig-leafed Garment of Prayers Tears Forms outward Observations according unto thy comprehension of the Letter will not cover thy Nakedness it served to cover the Nakedness from the sight of Men but now when the Lord appears in thy Heart thou canst not stand before him now comes Cain in thee to be driven from the Face of God to be a Fugative and a Vagabond in the Earth notwithstanding all his Sacrifice and Esau in thee Repâ—obated never to have the Blessing though he seek it with Tears and the bond Woman and her Son cast out and the first Adam now slain with the sharp Sword that goeth out of the Mouth of the Lamb and art made to give up thy Soul to God whose it is to do with thee what he will if he destroy thee forever he may and if he save thee from eternal Death it is his free Love now art thou Baptized with Christ into his Sufferings and Death where thou liest sealed down under the eternal Judgment of God and there perisheth for ever for any power or help thou hast in thy self and this is the Administration of Moses where thou liest condemned for ever under the righteous Law without any help or hope until the Administration of the Prophets that prophesie of a Christ that hath satisfied the righteous Law of God for thee who art lost and condemned under the power of the Law of Moses and now there is a secret hope raised up in thy Soul and thou lookest up from under the condemning power of Moses for a Saviour and the Prophets are until Iohn and of all that were born of Women there was not one greater than Iohn for he is a burning and shining Light that lets thee see the filthiness of thy Heart and the Law shines in its purity to condemn the earthly Man in thee but he streghthens the hope in thee that was raised up by the Prophets to see the beauty and excellency of Jesus Christ which ravishes thy lost condemned Soul that thou art willing to sell all for him the Scripture now being fulfilled in thee who witness this From the days of Iohn even until now the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force now is every Mountain and Hill laid low in thee and crooked ways made strait and the rough way in thee made smooth and thou waitst in the Wilderness and lost condition of thy self for the Salvation of God to be manifest to thee in Jesus Christ and in the appointed time of the Father the Son of Man comes to thy Soul as a Thief in the Night as the lightning from the East to the West so is his appearance in thee and causes thy dead Soul to hear his Voice which witnesses to it eternal Life freely through his own Blood and thy Soul hears his Voice and by the Word of his Power is made to live and art sealed up by the holy Spirit of Promise the Spirit of God bearing witness with thy Spirit that thou art his Child now comest thou to witness the second Adam to be a quickning Spirit and Isaac the promised Seed to be heir for ever and that the wages of sin is death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life and that by Grace thou art saved through Faith in the Lord Jesus not of works least any should boast and he that hath hope in him purifies himself as he is pure and the Love of Christ constrains thee now who can witness this work of Regeneration manifest in thee to follow him whithersoever he goes no more to obey him for Life as thou didst when thou wast without seeking him in Forms and Observations but now the Love and Life thou enjoyest in Christ Jesus constrainâ— thee to deny thy self and take up thy cross daily and follow him Now art thou come into the beginning to live in the Lord guided by the powerful word of Faith the Light that shines in thy Heart which is the Light of the City New Ierusalem to which thou art come to Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth and all that are come to walk in the Light of the City New Ierusalem are the true Israel of God that are taught of God to whom the New and everlasting Covenant is made
according to the promise of the Lord This is the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more and in this City there is no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it which are borrowed Lights outward Dispensations and teachings of men for the Glory of the Lord God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof and the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the Light of it and the Kings of the Earth bring their Glory and honour unto it and there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie but they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life and the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there for the Lord God giveth them Light and they shall reign for ever and ever Halelujah to the Highest To all revolted Souls who have departed from the Counsel of the Lord and are made drunk with the Wine of the wrath of the Fornication of the Whore bewitched with the Mother of Withcraft to return into Spiritual Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is Crucified WHoever thou art in whom the righteous Law of God Jesus Christ the Light in thee hath cryed through thy earthly Heart for righteousness and judgment and there thou didst stand arraigned before the Throne of the Lamb where the Book was opened in thee and written therein all the deeds thou hast done in the body and the sentance of wrath and judgement passed out of the Mouth of the Lamb on thee for every idle word and all that thou hast done and in this thy condemned Estate thou runnedst too and fro to hide thee from the wrath of the Lamb in reforming thy ways and strictly observing what thou wast convinced of to be the Will of God but what way soever thou turnedst in thy Obedience towards God to get Life thither the flaming Sword turned that proceeded out of the Mouth of the Lamb and cut thee down and cast thee into a Hell whoâ—e thou layest weeping and wailing under the wrath of God sealed down under his eternal judgment for evermore for any help or power thou hadst in thy selâ— until Jesus Christ manifested eternal Love and Mercy freely to thy poor lost condemned Soul and raised thee up to a lively hope and sealed thee up in the Covenant of Life with his own Blood Now after the witnesses hath sealed up their Testimony the Beast which is thy will that ascends out of the bottomless pit of thy deceived Heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked hath made War against the Witnesses and slain them and they lie dead in the spiritual City of Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is Crucified and thou art made Drunk with the Wine of the Wrath of the Fornication of the Whore and bewitched with her Witch-Crafts who now tells thee whom he loves he loves to the end and to the Pure all things are pure thou art no more under the Law but under Grace and all things are alike that when thou disobeyest the pure Law which once had power over thee and it witnesseth against thee secretly crying in thy Heart use thy liberty but nor as an occasion to the Flesh thou regardest not the Counsel of the Lord but hearkens to the Mother of Harlots in thee and causes thee to wrest the Scriptures to thine own Destruction and tells thee the Law hath no power over thee thou art under Grace it is but the Law in thy members that Wars against the Law in thy mind the acting of the humanity which acts in its place that the Grace of God may appear more gloriously God sees no Sin in thee for it is no more thou but Sin that dwells in thee and the former misery thou wast in under the Wrath of God for the disobeying of the righteous Law thou now treadest under thy Feet and lies slain in spiritual Sodom and Egypt in thy Heart yet not put in Grave but lies in thy sight and lets thee see the evil of thy doings and vexes and torments thy earthly and carnal Heart in the midd'st of all thy Joy but the Whore in thee tells thee that the former trouble thou wast in it was through ignorance of God but now thou art grown up to a higher stature in Christ to see nothing but love in whatsoever thou doest and now thou knowest nothing but to eat and to drink and be merry for the Children of the Bride Chamber cannot mourn while the Bridegroom is with theus time was thou didst mourn but it was when the Bridegroom was not with thee but now the Winter is past and Summer come and singing of Birds is heard in thy Land and now wash thy face and anoint thy Head with Oyle that thou appear no more before Men as thou didst when thou wast a Pharisee now to be a friend to Publicans and Sinners and become all to all that thou mayest win some and whatever thou dost it is God that acts thee for thou art not stronger then he to resist him and if he would have it other ways how couldst thou hinder it so it is as it must be and it cannot be otherwise thus the subtle Serpent winds into the mind of Man and causes him to wrest the Scriptures to his own destruction to draw back into perdition Wo wo unto thee thou back-slider in Heart who chargest God who is purity it self to be the Author of Sin and the actor of thee in all thy filthy and unrighteous walking and hast turned the Grace of God into Wantonness and takest liberty to Sin because Graâ—e abounds and makest the coming of Christ who came to fulfil the Law to destroy it through the evil of thy Heart that when the righteous Law cries in thee for purity and condemns thee for thy unrighteous walking then thou pretendst to fly to the free Grace in Christ to save thee from the power of the Law but thou shalt find the Law hath power over the fleshly Man as long as he lives and the fleshly Man that now guides thee is under the Law until it be destroyed through Faith in Christ Jesus For he came not to destroy the Law but to fufil it and the Saints witness it though thou wrest the words of Paul when he declared his condition before he came to
the fulness of stature in Christ to thy own Destruction I see a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and brings me into Captivity into the Law of Sin which is in my Members but he gave not up himself to be a Servant of Sin as thou doest it was his burden that made him to cry Oh wretched Man that I am who will deliver me from this body of Death and he waited in the Faith until he was freed Rom. 8.2 For the Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit He witnessed Christ come in him to fulfil the Law and so do all the Saints now according to their growth some witness the Law fulfilled in them and others are waiting in the Faith patiently following the Lord daily through the Cross until the Law be fulfilled But thou art departed from the Counsel of the Lord thy God and causest his Name to be evil spoken of and hast made the Hearts of his People sad as they did that the Apostle speaks of For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is Destruction whose God is their Belly and whose Glory is their Shame who mind earthly things These Scriptures are fulfilled in thee which the Apostle mentions And while they promise them Liberty they themselves are the Servants of Corruption for of whom a Man is overcome of the same is he brought into Bondage for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end of them is worseâ—â—ith them then the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them but it is happened unto them according to the true Proverb the Dog is returned to his own Vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire And thou mayst read what will be manifest to thee from the Lord. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries He that despised Moses Law died without Mercy how much sorer punishment suppose ye shalt thou be thought worthy of who hast trodden under foot the Son of God and hast counted the blood of the Coveant wherewith thou wast sanctified an unholy thing and hast done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and we know him that hath said Vengeance belongs unto me I will recompence saith the Lord It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first work in minding that light of Jesus Christ in thee before whom thou once stoodest condemned for that thou now livest in Prize the time and give up to be guided by the counsel of the Lord in thee the light of thy conscience that discovers every vain thought wait on the power that is present with the light and it will dash Babylons children against the stones which is Sin in its conception so will thy carnal mind be brought to the Cross daily and thy Heart will be purged with the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning kiss the Son in obeying his Counsel the Light in thee least thou perish in the way for if his anger be kindled a little blessed are they that trust in him The discovery of Mystery Babylon to all enslaved Captives in Babylons Kingdom who are made Drunk with the Wine of the Wrath of he Fornications and bewitched through the multitudes of her Inchantments FRiends Babylon is within you the Mother of Harlots is within you and bewitches you through the abundance of her Sorceries and the Beast is within you that riseth out of the bottomless Pit of the deceived Heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked and the Beast which all the World wanders after is your wills that makes War against the Lamb of God in you which is the Light that makes manifest the evil of your Hearts and your wisdom is the great Whore that sits upon the Beast that ariseth out of the bottomless pit of the deceitful Heart and she finds out many deceitful inventions to preserve the beastly will alive having a golden Cup in her Hand full of the Abominations of the Earth and this golden Cup is your outward professions glorious comprehensions and conceivements of God and Christ imitating what the Saints did in power according as they were moved by the operation of the Spirit of the most high God and 〈◊〉 â—mitate the Saints practice by your wisdom There is nothing but confusion in the Kingdom of Babylom so come you to be divided into so many particular Forms as Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists and divers others that are in outward worships painted over with glorious words and yet you whose wills guide you are painted Beasts bewitched with the Mother of Harlots notwithstanding all your outward professions and glorious observations they are but the golden Cup and within you are full of the abominations of the Earth as self-love covetousness lust and uncleanness hastiness frowardness backbiting slandering hardheartedness cruelty and oppresion grinding the Face of the Poor impatiency and unbelief and the Fear of the Lord is not before your Eyes and thus you lie inslaved Captives in the Kingdom of Babylon refreshing your Hearts in the Creature enjoyments which will perish some in Father and Mother some in Wife and Children some in House and Land some in Money and Gold some in self Wisdom delighting in themselves some in Honour and Preferment in this World and when there is enjoyment of these visible Creatures then there is content and when they are taken away there is trouble the mind always plodding contriving and acting every way to get of the Creatures what the Heart lusts after and he that gets the most is the highest exalted so every one is exalted above another and there is nothing but Tyranny Cruelty and Oppression among you you Sons and Daughters of Babylon And in her was found the Blood of the Prophets and of the Saints and all that were slain upon the Earth The Merchants of Babylon are your Teachers who draw you from your guide which is the pure Light of Christ in you to seek the Kingdom of God in Observations without you contrary to the mind of Christ the Kingdom of God comes not with Observations neither shall they say lo here
of you mind the Light which is of Jesus Christ in you that judgeth the unrighteousness of your Hearts give up to be guided by the pure Light in you which is your Teacher the Counsel of Jesus Christ and it shall bring Judgment forth unto victory and whatever he makes manifest to you to be his Will Wait on the Lord in his Counsel and he will give you Power to obey and when you have obeyed his Will take heed of departing from the Counsel of the Lord which is within you to hearken to the counsel of your own Hearts which will draw your minds to look back at your Obedience and the experiences you have passed through so will the Beast which received a deadly wound with the Sword the righteous Law that goes out of the Mouth of the Lamb in you his deadly wound will be healed and sits a painted Beast above the Cross of Christ working lying wonders in your Hearts and imitating the operation of the Power of God who is purifying his Sons and Daughters with the Spirit of Judgment and the Spirit of burning and the Beast in you that tasted of the Power of God when he received his deadly wound under the Justice of God now can imitate the same in deceit and cause Fire to come down from Heaven in the sight of Men imitating the operation of the Spirit of burning and so deceives himself and all that dwell upon the Earth he is made manifest to all that dwell in the Heavenly Light in their Hearts All Friends mind your watch for the Adversary the Devil goes about like a rearing Lion seeking whom he may devour abide in the Counsel of the Lord which is the Light in you and you will discern between the Beast which is Anti-christ in his lying wonders and the Lamb Jesus Christ in the operation of his power so you will come to try the Spâ—rits whether they be of God yea or no all that are guided by the Beast have their Life in speaking and acting in outward operations what they once experienced and what they comprehend to be Truth speaking that they enjoy not and is exalted in pride the Heart returned into the Earth But thou that art guided by the Lamb the Light in thy Conscience the righteous Law crys through thy earthly Heart and brings it to judgment and thou canst find no life in the operation of the Power of God nor in thy obedience but whilst the Presence of the Lord is with thee in it and when thou hast done the Will of God in obeying what he hath made known unto thee thou seest thy self to be an unprofitable Servant and hast need of patience that thou mayest receive the promise where thy life is hid with Christ in God to save thee freely for his Names sake or else thou perishest and to carry thee on by his mighty Power or else thou fallest so thou hast nothing to Glory in but in the Lord. And as they that are guided by the Beast which is Anti-christ speak of the Truth a riddle to their own Hearts not knowing the Power and Life of what they speak adding to the Word of the Lord and the plagues and curse of God will be added unto them But thou that art guided by the Lamb Jesus Christ thou knowest when the Word of the Lord is committed to thee If any have my Word saith the Lord let him speak my Word faithfully is not my Word like a Fire saith the Lord and like a Hammer that breaketh the Rocks in pieces Thou canst witness the Word of the Lord to be as a Fire and as a Hammer to break the Rocks in pieces in thee and bring down all in thee in subjection to its self and it alone rules in thee and thou that canst witness the Word of the Lord thus manifest in thee thou art a true Messenger of the Lord let not the deceit stop thy Mouth for the Word the Lord calls thee to speak shall perfect his work for which it is sent All Friends stand fast in the Counsel and Will of God be faithful in following the Lamb daily through the Cross and none be discouraged in Temptations be content look up to the Lord to keep you in the Hour of Temptations for it is no Sin to be temped but to yield to the Tempter and when the Lord delivers you from the power of the Tempter watch that your will get not from under the Cross â—ut sink down into the Love of God and every one be content in what the Lord hath made manifest to you and be faithful according to your Talents and more will be communicated to you and none look forth at others conditions for if you do the Enemy will cause you to stumble and you will come to a loss in your own condition wait patiently in the Counsel of the Lord the Light in you for he is making a short work in the Earth that you that come into the Vineyard at the eleventh Hour shall receive as much as they that came in at the third Hour and have Laboured in the heat of the day All ye Children of the Lord lift up your Heads behold your King riding in Majesty and Power upon the wild Ass Colt which is your wild nature subjecting it to himself that you may enter with him through the Gates of the City into new Ierusalem where there enters nothing that worketh Abomination and maketh a Lie but what is written in the Lambs Book of Life and there you shall dwell in the Banquetting House of the Lord forever feeding upon the Feast of Fat things rejoycing in the Eternal Love and Mercy to your Souls in the free Covenant of Life in the Blood of Christ who is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings God Blessed forever who is riding on in Majesty and in Power conquering and to conquer all the powers of darkness in the Hearts of his Saints that they may reign as Kings upon the Earth to the Praise and Glory of our God who is taking unto him his great Power to reign in his Saints for evermore to whom alone be all Honour Glory Power and Eternal Praises for ever W. D. To Richard Thomas at Hartford for him to communicate to all that are there and at London and else-where as way is made to be sent to them that are to be Transported for the Testimony of the Name of the Lord. DEar Friends and blessed of the Lord forever you whom the Lord hath chosen to be the Valiant ones amongst his People in this your great Tryals oh blessed be the Name of the Lord for you and your dear Wives and Relations that gives you up freely for to bear your Testimony in the face of all People Oh the dear Bowels who can express that flow to you who in your faithfulness are as a stream of Vertue to the refreshing all the Heritage of our God
the glory of his Name and the comfort of one another which will cause you to prize the opportunities God gives to you not knowing how soon you may be deprived of them c. And be tender one over another and watch over one another with a pure single eye and every one see the Beam cast out of your own Eye before you go to spy a Moâ—e in others And if any Brother or Sister offend you that know speak to them privately in all tenderness to restore them and this know Whoever turns a Sinner from the error of his ways saves a Soul from Death and hides a multitude of Sins But if they will not hear take two or three more and speak to them again in the spirit of meekness waiting and seeking the Lord for their recovery but if they will not hear but persist in wickedness then acquaint the Church whom the Lord in his Wisdom will order to deal with them for his own glory And in all things you do I dearly beseech you do unto others as you would be done unto your selves that so you may all in your measures stand as Saviours upon Mount-Sion to the glory of the Lord in the power of his own Spirit which will cause the Whisperer Bcakbiter False-accuser and Tale-bearer to be clensed away and cast out of the House of the Lord that so in the good order of the Holy Spirit of our God we may all live that he alone in his Dominion may reign in us and amongst us whose Government is upon his Shoulders and all the Crowns of the Gory of Man cast down at his Feet that he may be exalted in ordering every member of the Body in their place and service to his everlasting Praise and Glory Even so dear Father carry on thy work in all the Churches of the Saints scattered over the face of the Earth that in the Eternal unity they may be established in the Lord being one and his Name one and all the contrary swept away with the Breath of thy Mouth and brightness of thy coming So come Lord Jesus take to thee thy great Power and reign in thy Authority in and amongst thy dear Children to the astonishment of the Nations and all people that are not born again and to the Exaltation of thy own Name and Kingdom over all who is worthy to reign blessed for ever and of whose Dominion there is no end And all you faithful Labourers in the Gospel of Christ who in true innocency travel in his Strength and seeks not any thing for your selves in what you do but to Glorifie the Lord in establishing his People in the living Unity in his own Spirit Oh blessed are you amongst the People my Soul Praises the Lord for you and blesseth his Name that ever he raised up such a Spirit in you that in all the greatest riches of the Spirit God gives to you yet you remain truly poor in your selves and in deep humilty become Servants to his People for the Lords sake and being poor you make many rich in that which will abide fresh and green in the Winter Storms and will not fade away in the Terrible Blasts which will come for the trial of his People and cause all Hearts to fail but what is born of his own nature Oh dearly beloved Brethren feel my Bowels of enlarged love which floweth to you in the Love and Life received and enioyed thorow death where there is no variableness nor shaddow of change I remain your Brother in the Word of his Patience to endure the Suffering according to his determination with all that love the Lord better then their lives W. D. Warwick the 14 th of the 10 th Month My dear Friends IN these trying days be not afraid of what Man can do whose Breath is in his Nostrils and lock up to the al-sufficiency of the Almighty God to stay your minds in him who hath counted you worthy to Suffer for him In all humility walk faithfully before him unto the end he is your reward and will give unto you a Crown of Life forever even so be it with you in the Name of the Lord is the breathing of my Soul for you whom my Soul loves and keep your Meetings in the Authority and Life of the meek and patient Spirit which wares out and overcomes all things that is not of its nature Read this in the fear of the Lord amongst Friends W. D. Warwâ—ck the 5 th of the 3 d Month 1671. For my dear Brethren George Whitehead A. Parker and Brethren concerned in the General Meeting My dear Brethren IN the Love of the Lord my Soul in the endeared Life of God is with you if the Lord had set my face to have been with you I should have been present in Body but I am ordered otherways having much upon me while the Door is open therefore my breathing to the Lord is that he may cover you in that Assembly with his Glory and heavenly Wisdom as I believe he will to the comfort of his People that so all Hearts may be gladed in feeling his pure Power and heavenly Refreshing in you My dear Brethren in the Light and Life of God whom my Soul loves and remains Your dear Brother in the Vnity of the Spirit of our dear Father who hath called us by his Name W. D. Bristol the 7 th day of the 3 d Month 1673. My dear Brethren Friends are generally in a sweet state with God in this City and where I have passed both to my comfort and yours in the Lord blessed be his Name forever Dear Brother IN the Covenant of Life in Christ our head my Soul salutes thee and simpathizeth with thee in thy exercise in thy Bonds with breathings to the Lord to sweeten all our ways what he calleth us unto with his living Presence to the perfecting of his glory forever Amen Dear George Fox I have been through many Counties in the North Countrey and the comfortable Persence of the Lord did manifest it self in all the Assemblies of his People to all our comfort in him our Head and Life blessed forever All was very peaceable and great Resort to Friends Meetings of all sorts of People and not any opposition but all Meetings parted in peace And it would be too tedious to mention the names of them that minded their Love to thee through all the Counties where I Travelled but generally all the Ancient Friends in Cumberland Northumberland Byshopprick and York-shire Darby-shire Notingham-shire Leicester-shire and in this Town desired to have their dear Love remembred to thee and the deep sence of thy Labour and Travel is fresh upon their Spirits which causeth many Prayers to be poured forth before the Lord if it be his good Will and Pleasure to give thee strength of Body and Liberty to Travel amongst them to their great comfort as in the days of old and years past but in the Will of our God our Souls rests with
in the Light as he is in the Light and so are Partakers of his Divine Nature and as he is so are we in this present World bearing his Name in his righteous Power guiding us in his Light Thought and Will which keeps us in the Heavenly Fellowship with the Father in the Son and one with another in him So all my dear Friends Brethren and Sisters who do witness proud ambitious Self buried in this Heavenly Baptism in Conformity to Christ in his Death and you made alive through Faith in Christ our Light and Life as you have received Christ so walk in him in all Humility and godly Fear and true Watchfulness that your own Thoughts Will and Unbelief have no Dominion over your Spirits but every Minute of Time as they appear through Faith in Christ the perfect Light and Life keep your Dominion and reign over them And thus in Christ being victorious over all Self in you you will reign as Kings in the Authority of the glorious Truth of God over all the Power of Darkness without you So whatever you suffer for the Testimony of the Name of Christ he takes it as done unto himself and better a Milstone were hanged about their Necks and they cast in to the Sea then hurt or offend the least of you my Brethren and Sisters who are regenerated and born again and your Confidence is in the Lord alone So in all your Sufferings whether spoiling Goods or imprisonments or whatever your Trials be from the Sons of Men that you meet withall for your Testimony in the Blessed Truth of God let nothing Discourage you but judge all your own Thoughts and in the Glorious Light and Life in Christ Jesus rest in Peace in the pure Contentation within the Gates of Sion where your Faith and Patience will so abound in you that you shall weary out all your Persecutors and the Blessing of the Aâ—mighty God will be upon your Families who are rent one from another to fulfil the Sufferings of the Body and you shall wear your Crowns who thus patiently wait in a Quiet Mind and Resigned Will And in the Word of the Lord I declare it to all you who suffer Imprisonment as is before written That all the Wrath of the Power of Darkness shall not be able to keep you an Hour longer then the King of Eternal Glory hath determined for the Renown of his Glorious Truth on Earth and your Comfort forever Therefore let Patience have its perfect work for in Peace are we to Conquer and in Quietness to Prevail over all that resist the rising of the King of Glory who liveth in us who hath been Dead but now Alive in whose Life keep your Habitation in the Word of Faith which is in our Hearts and in our Mouths and this is the Word of Faith we preach unto you and which you are to contend for against all Evil Attendances both within and without for by this Word of Faith are the Armies thaâ— would alienate your Souls from the Enjoyment of the Lord within you beaten back and overcome and the Mouth of the Roaring Lyon stopt and all the Fiery Darts of the Devil both within you and without you quenched therefore as the Valiants of Christ Jesus in his Name and Nature contend for the Faith which is delivered unto us his Saints for this is our Victory that overcomes the World even our Faith as it was with our Brethren of old in Ages past I have fought a good Fight I have kept the Faith henceforth is laid up for Me a Crown of Eternal Glâ—ry And here iâ— our Fellowship with the Father in the Son and one with another in him and all dear Brethren and Sisters in this Word of Faith keep your Meetings both valiantly and faithfully that so none of you be found forsaking the assembling of your selves as the manner of some is who are out of the Word of Faith but as the Lord hath counted you worthy to be his Dwelling-place on Earth and his Tabernacle amongst the Children of Men Prize every Oportunity the Lord affordeth you to meet together in his Powerful Holy Name with the Loins of your Minds girt up with the Word of Faith in you which will empty you of Self and cloth you with the Garment of deep Humility and fill you with the Riches of his Everlasting Love and Endless Mercies for God dwelleth with the Humble but the Proud he beholds afar off So without Faith in the Name of Christ and a Humble Spirit the In-dwelling Presence of the King of Eternal Glory you cannot enjoy Therefore I charge you in the Name of the Lord Hearken not to any Suggestions within you nor Counsels without you that would draw you to sleight or forsake meeting together in the Name of the Lord Jesus but let every particular Member know your Service in the Body that by your Faithfulness others be encouraged to meet with you to wait in the Light to feel the Living Refreshings of the Lord and when you are refreshed with the Income of God's sweet Presence be watchful that not any utter words rashly before the Lord to spend your Talent in a forward Spirit to satisfie the Lust that would appear further then the Lord would have them as some have done which has brought them under a great Vail of Darkness and have lost their Way and returned with Sorrow to the burdening the Hearts of the Righteous but Tender Plants wait to know and truly discern between the Milk of the Word and the Words for the Milk of the Word is a Sweet Stream in the Refreshing to the Nourishment of this heavenly Birth that it may grow thereby and some the Enemy hath drawn to speak forth that which they in a retired Silence were to feed upon and grow up in its Nature Therefore dear Friends wait in the Light that the Word of the Lord may dwell plentifully in you as it is written so are we Witnesses If any have my Word let him speak my Word faithfully is not my Word like a Fire and a Hammer that breaks the Rocks in pieces which sealeth up the Testimony God calleth unto in the Heart of his Disciples Therefore all be very circumspect in this weighty Matter that whatever you feel of the Refreshings of God in you that you do not let any thing come forth either in Words or Sounds or any Noises but what is brought forth in the Authority of this Living and Powerful Word then will the Blessing of the Lord attend what is brought forth be it much or little either in Words or Hymns or Joyful Sounds do not quench it but answer the Lord in the Authority of the Word of Eternal Life and the Sons and Daughters of the Lord who are thus exercised will not burden any but it will be a Stream of Refreshing in the Hearts of all the Righteous thus will every Vessel be preserved in the Life of Truth and not go but as the Presence
to him and I have been very well as to any matter of Sickness until this Sickness came upon me And dear Mother I would have thee remember my love to my dear Sisters Relations and Friends and now I have nothing to do I have nothing to do A Friend answered Nothing Mary but to dye Then she said to her Mother I desire thee to give me a little clear Posset drink then I will see if I can have a little rest and sleep before I dye When the Posset drink came to her she took a little and desired her Mother to give her a little drink to wash her Mouth Then she said to her Mother I have a swelling behind my Ear but I would not have any thing done to it nor to my sore Throat nor Mouth for all will be well enough when I am in my Grave Then she asked what time a day it was it being the latter part of the day her Grand-Father said the Chimes are going Four she said I thought it had been more I will see if I can have a little rest and sleep before I dye And so she lay still and had a sweet rest and sleep and then she awaked without any Complaint and in a quiet peaceable â—rame of Spirit laid down her head in peace when the Clock struck the fifth hour of the 9th day of the 2d Moneth 1680. We whose Names are under-written were Eye and Ear Witnesses of what is before expressed as near as could be taken and does not much vary from what she declared as the Substance though much more sweet and comfortable Expressions past from her but for brevity-sake are willing this only to publish who stood by her when she drew her last Breath William Dewsbury her Grand-Father Mary Sam her Mother Jone Deusbury her Aunt Hannah Whitthead a Friend Dear Friends IN the Light of Christ to wait upon him to renew you in the Spirit of your minds to serve the living God. My dear Friends mind your Calling unto which you are called to wait in the Light to retain God in your Knowledge to feel the work of Regeneration perfected in you that you may truly learn to take up the Cross daily and to feel the heavenly Power manifest it self in the Light to raise you up in the Life that makes self of no Reputation and dryeth up the Tongue of the Egyptian Sea and bringeth all Flesh to true silence in you before the Lord then will not any be hasty to utter words before him but all in true Watchfulness and Prayer wait for the heavenly Inspiration of his holy Spirit to overcome your spirits and to sanctifie you in making you obedient to the Heavenly Government of Christ Jesus in you who will lead you forth of your own thoughts and wills in a humble subjection to his blessed Light Life Thought and Will which will order you in all faithfulness to walk with God in your Families to be good Examples by your good Conversation that so you may set up a Throne in the Consciences of your Children and Servants and all with whom you have to do in having all your words and works seasoned with the good savour of the Spirit of the Lord that he may give you an assurance that the Church of God is in every particular Family and that you are his dwelling-Place amongst the Children of Men then will the Angels of his Presence pitch their Tents about you in the day when this Scripture shall be fulfilled as it is written Pour forth thy Vengeance O Lord upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon all the Families that call not upon thy Name And dear Friends be watchful in Prayer always that you may enjoy the heavenly Life to exercise you in all faithfulness strive to exceed in Humility and Carefulness in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to meet together that he may exercise guide and order you in all Services upon the account of the blessed Truth of our God that in the meek spiritual Life and Love you be subject to serve the Lord and one another in all love and tenderness of Heart in doing unto others as you would have them do unto you then will the Lord take delight in you and make you manifest to be his chosen Jewels and Saviours upon Mount Sion in repairing the Breaches and restoring the Desolate in bringing back again in the Bowels of Love those that have been driven away or turned aside either to the right hand or to the left in the hour of Temptation and daies of Tryal Oh you meek humble minded spirited People of the Almighty God lift up your heads and keep your minds staid upon the Lord to help you to keep your Habitations of Peace within the Gates of Sion where Salvation we have for Walls and Bulwarks whose confidence is in the Lord alone in whom I beseech you live in the endeared Love of Christ Jesus who gave his Life to Redeem us to himself and gave strength to his Redeemed ones to forsake Wife and Children to give up our lives daily in Tumults Stripes Blood-shed with cruel Sufferings both in Prison and when at Liberty for to bring Enemies out of enmity in the Light to be in union with God Oh be intreated to seek the Lord to subject all your minds to this Love of God in Christ Jesus to rule in you then will the desire of my Soul be answered in your restoring and gathering to God as is before written who will then build you up in the unity of the Spirit and bond of Peace which will enable you with Patience and meekness to weary out and overcome whatever is contrary to his pure peaceable and blessed nature the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Through your Brother and Companion in the Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation in the Lord Iesus Christ. W. D. Warwick Goal the the 10 th day of the 12 th Month 1680. A General Epistle to be Read in the Fear of God. In and amongst the Assemblies of his People My Dear Friends IN the Light of the Lord all Watch and Pray that you may receive Power through Faith in the Name of Christ to Reign over your own Thoughts and Wills then will you Delight in taking up the Daily Cross to the Mortifying of the Earthly Members That your Conversations may be as becometh the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which will make you Manifest to the Witness of God in every Conscience that you are the Salt of the Earth that have kept your State and Habitation in God and doth retain the Sweet Savoury Spirit of Life which Seasons all your Words and Works and Ministers Grace to all with whom you have any concern to the Exalting Gods Blessed Truth over all that Watch for Evil which will cause their Eyes to fail and frustrate their Expectations for ever Amen And Deaâ— Friends I beseech you be Faithful upon all Accounts for the Service of the
Blessed Truth of God to meet together in his Holy Fear that you may receive the Holy Inspiration of his Spirit to Exercise you in what Service God is pleased to call you unto whether in Prayer to God or in Exhortation to Build up one another in your most Holy Faith to raise up the Life in all thâ— every one that 's Overcome with the Powerful and Hâ—avenly Motions cast their Mite into Gods Treasury and give him his own Advantage so will you feel the Encrease of his Government in you that are Faithful in the true Measure of Light and Life more and more he will give unto you to the Edifying of one another in love So will you become Epistles written in one anothers Hearts with the Pure Spirit of the Living God which will bind you up in the Unity of the Spirit and Bond of Peace and what Exercise soever is met withal whilst you are in the Mortal Body Pray to the Lord to keep you in the Life of his own Spirit that Patience may have its Perfect work that if you be Smitten on the one Cheek turn the other Cheek to the Smitter also and if you be Reviled Revile not again but in deep Humility and Patience Wait in the Pure Meek and Peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus who was made perfect through Sufferings So are his Dear and Chosen Jewels who bear his Name in Righteousness and have their Eye to the God of their Help and their Confidence in the Lord alone Oh ye Blessed of the Lord be Glad in his Name who will not let any of you Suffer whose Confidence is in him alone any more then he will give Strength to Bear and will Sweeten the Cup of your Tribulation with his Blessed Presence which will cause your Hearts to Rejoyce and Sing in all your Tryals and will give you your Portion forever with the Blessed Assembly that Iohn Spoke of in the seventh of the Revelations a number that no man could number that had passed through the Great Tribulation and washed their Garments and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Holy Templâ— and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them and Feed them and lead them to the Living Fountains of waters where God will wipe away all Tears of Sorrow from their Eyes forever And this is your Portion you dear Children of the living God who in true Love to him have waited upon him in the Light of Christ to be Buried with him in his Spiritual Baptism and made conformable to him in his Sufferings and Death And in the deep sense of your present strait being made Conformable in Measure to our Lord and Saviour you Cry as he did upon the Cross my God my God why hast thou forsaken me when he bore the Sins and Transgressions of his People Even so do you his Dear Children in your Measure passing through the Great Tribulations being made of the Number of the Slain of the Lord. Here is first a passing through the Great Tribulation and to be made of the Number of the Slain of the Lord and being truly Humbled into his Blessed Will in the deep sense of the poverty of Spirit there Wait upon the Lord until he Create you to a lively Hope and give you a Possession of his Blessed Life that is hid with Christ in God and so marry you to himself in his own Righteousness which he gives you for to be your Wedding Garment And now this Love of God constrains you to walk in all Strict Observations that are Required of you to be done but no more to Lean upon them for Life but have now all your Obediences accepted of God through Faith in the Light Life and Name of Christ in whom you now are the Righteousness of God for ever in giving up freely to be guided by his Spirit in Faithfulness to the end Oh you ever blessed and happy People Who doth witness fulfilled in you what is here written Lift up your Heads and rejoyce in the Lord and in the Almighty Power of his Humble Meek and Pure Spirit which makes Self of no Reputation but through your Obedience to Christ Jesus the true Light in whom you come to Witness the Lord to be One and his Name One and you that never had Power to believe in his Name until he gave you Power to believe you are One in the Lord for ever And here is the Joyful and Eternal Unity with the Father in the Son and one with another in the Love of Christ which bought us with his â—lood which the gates of Hell can never Prevail against And all you my Ancient Brethren and Sisters that have Obtained this Blessed Dominion and Everlasting Inheritance I Bless God for you whom I do believe will take care to answer the Desire of my Soul as before-written For the Comfort of the Young and Tender Babes for whose sake I had this Concern upon my Spirit to lay before them the true Passage into the Footsteps where the Tribulated Companions have Travelled that are Married to the Lord of Life and have upon them their Wedding-Garment that they may not come Short that are upon their Travel towards the same Inheritance in Christ the true Light as before exprest And I dearly beseech you whom God hath Sealed up with his holy Spirit to your full assurance of Gods Everlasting Love in Christ Jesus that you Watch over the tender and tribulated ones and in what possible can be done to strengthen their Faith that they may come into the heavenly Unity with the Father in the Son and sit down with all them that have been made Conformable to Christ in his Sufferings and Death that in the heavenly Resurrection blessed and everlasting Peace they may sing Hallelujah and high Praises to the Lord their God over all the wrath that 's in the Children of Men which will come to an end and vanish away like Smoke before you whom the Lord hath called in meekness and Patience to bear his Name in Righteousness in the Sweet Savory Spirit of Jesus Christ over all Blessed forever Amen In which the Lord keep you all with my Soul Faithful unto the end is the Breathings of the Spirit of your Brother and Companion in the Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And further I have this to communicate to my Friends and Brethren that what hath come to pass these late Years for want of Watchfulness to be Guided by the Spirit of the Lord Love hath been quenched in many that Offences have entred and Separation followed which hath deeply wounded my Spirit who hath endeavoured to the utmost of my Power in the Love of God to prevent such Proceedings and so have I done in many Years past in preventing Papers ready to be Printed from being Published that were of a tendency to quench the Love of one
towards another And when â—effery Bullocks Papeâ—s were published in Print which would appear to the Reader of a tendancy as to the breach of Unity which would cause the Enemies of God to Rejoyce it did so wound my Spirit that for many Week they that saw me did not expect that I would continue long in the Body But God in his Mercy restored Strength in his Appointed time And when I did hear that some in the West did intend to Publish in Print against some Friends I bore my Testimony against such proceedings and told one that did favour what was intended that I would have my Hand cut off before I would exercise it in such undertakings And desired him to speak to W. R. that he would not proceed in publishing any thing of that nature for if he did it would be a prejudice to Truth and would produce very sad Consequences that would follow and my Spirit would be deeply wounded as it is this day through these Proceedings that voluntarily through want of Love casts away the Judgment that is given to the People of the Saints of the most High God to keep all sweet and savoury amongst us into the Hands of the Enemies of God as an inlet for them to come unto the midst of us to sit as Judges and trample upon us So to Clear my Conscience of all False Reports cast upon me as that I have Encouraged what is brought forth as before written and to satisfie all Friends in God I have Laboured according to the Ability God hath given me to prevent the publishing all things of that Nature as afore-said and have Endeavoured with all concerned that I could meet with to have a care of watching for Evil lest they provoke one another to wrath and so quench the love But rather look at the good one in another and in the Love of God Minister to preserve them forth of any weakness they did see lay near to attend them that so the pure Holy Spirit of Life and Love that first gathered us into it self to be a People in God and in his blessed Authority to raign over what was and is contrary to his blessed Nature may again restore where it is wanting in the Universality of its blessed Power to make up the Breaches and to restore the Desolate ones in causing every one that Professeth the Blessed Truth of God to love their Neighbour as themselves and so to do unto all as they would have others to do unto them that so all concerned in the Exercise in the Measure of the Grace of God in Christ that seeks the peace of his People may stand as Saviours upon mount Sion to the Honour of the Name of the Lord our God and the Eternal comfort of all that love not their Lives unto Death to serve the Lord and his dear and chosen People in the Meek Patient and Peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. In which the Lord keep you all with my Soul that in his pure and Peaceable Dominion we all Reign and throw down our Crowns before his Throne and all unanimously Sing all Glory Honour Praises Thanksgiving and Dominion be given to him who is found worthy to sit upon his Throne in all our Consciences Christ Jesus the true Light and hope of our Glory even so be it with all that Professeth his Blessed Truth Saith my Soul in the Name of the Lord. W. D. From Warwick the 8 th day of the 3 d Month 1682. MY Dear Faithful suffering Brethren and Sisters in Bristol Gloucester and elsewhere for the Word of God and Testimony of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Oh lift up your Heads you Blessed of the Lord whose dayes are prolonged to see this blessed day which was sounded in your Ears above twenty Years by past and have counted you worthy to receive this blessed Crown of his suffering Spirit for all you that freely resign to suffer for his Name in true sincerity shall reign forever with him in eternal glory therefore in the Name of the Lord I beseech you all convinced of Gods blessed Truth do not lend your Ear to any counsel in you or without you that would cause you to fly Sufferings and so deny the Suffering Jesus before Men for if you do you know it is written then he will deny you before his Heavenly Father c. But all you chosen Jewels that so loves the Lord that you dare but do as Godly Daniel did walk with your God as at other times with the hazard of both Estate Liberty and Life Oh Blessed blessed be the day that ever the Lord Crowned you with this blessed frame of Spirit in receiving Jesus to be your guide even so the Lord keep you and lead you to the living Fountains of living Water which in the Light is always opened in you give not way to your own thoughts but in the Light Judge them down as fast as they appear then will you be kept out of the streightness of your own Bowels in the Heavenly enlargedness in the Light Thought and Will of God whose thoughts are good and not evil to give you all an expected end in answering all the desires he hath raised up in you to do his will Therefore arise in the pure Peaceable Spirit of the Lord cast your care upon him he will arm you with Patience to endure the Tribulation which will cause the Beholders to admire as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth Behold the Patience and Faith of the Saints which will overcome all that withstand the rising of his Glory who is the God of our help over all blessed forever Where is the Rest of your tribulated Brother in the Kingdom of Patience in Christ Iesus W. D. Warwick the 17 th of the 5 th Month 1682. My Antient Friend Edward Nightingal WHom the Lord counted worthy to receive his Blessed Truth with many in that City and County when the Lord sent forth his Servants and called me to forsake Wife and Children and to give up my Life daily into his Will to endure Stripes and Bruises in many Tumults with the rest of my faithful Brethren who loved not our Lives to Death for your sakes to gather thee and all that received the Truth that you might enjoy the Presence of the Lord and amongst many others we counted thee worthy to receive his Servants that meet together in the heavenly Unity in the Truth for which both thou and I with many of the Servants of God was put into Prison as many of his Servants are this day c. And the blessed Presence of God kept and doth keep them that truly fear his Name in sweet Unity and Peace in himself and one with another to their everlasting Comfort and to the confounding the Enemies of God to behold their stedfast standing and entire union to bear their faithful Testimony in whatever they were or are called unto for the Truth of God which did not only confound Gods
Enemies but many were Convinced and received the Truth in the Love of it in beholding the Unity of faithful Friends to their everlasting Comfort and the Honour of the Name of the Lord forever which caused my Soul with the rest of the faithful Labourers to praise the Name of the Lord in blessing the Travel of our Souls and giving us to see the Fruit of our Labour â—n hâ—s Vineyard and the Peace and Unity of his People But of late I have heard that thou my antient Friend Edward Nightingal and Iohn Cox with some other in that City doth meet in a Separating spirit from the rest of Friends in that City which casts a Stumbling-block in the way of many And instead of gathering People to receive the Truth you scatter and drive them away and giveth great advantage to them that watch for evil and is of a bad savour and a Wounding of the Spirits of them that truly fear the Lord I can truly say that your meeting in that Separating spirit which is such an evil savour in the Nation hath been and is more Affliction to me then all Persecutions and Imprisonments I have endured unto this day Therefore I intreat and beseech thee my Antient Friend Edward Nightingal with all that meet in the Separation from the rest of Friends in the City to turn your minds to the Light of Christ in you that will let you see you have not done well and with it judge that which hath led you to Separate from meeting with Friends and return to meet with Friends in the City in the sweet Concord Love and Unity in the Life of the Blessed Truth as in the days of old and Years past of which I am a witness with the rest of faithful Friends that in all our Meetings whether in the Prison or in the City we never wanted the sweet appearance of Christ our Life in us and amongst us according to his Promise and our Comfort then and so is it now with all that meet in his Name and Unity with his People as we did in those days which was many Years before the Enemy could get any enterance to make a breach amongst them that make Profession of Gods blessed Truth and to draw some into a self Separation as he hath done you and too many elsewhere For I do assure you it is the work of the Enemy of your Souls for you should not have Separated but have kept your places amongst Friends and not have taken offence because Friends see there might be some service for Truth in meeting twice on the First Day it is very like in that City some that had a Love to Truth might get an opportunity to come to one of the Meetings It is very much to me how you let the Enemy get over you as to cause you to Separate from Friends which if you had kept your places in meeting with Friends you in time might have seen a Service in meeting twice a day as well as they For you may be sure that Separation neither restores any to love the Truth neither gathers any to God but rather scattereth and driveth away some that was gathered in Love to Truth by the painful and faithful Labourers that was truly sent of the Lord as is before written Therefore in the earnings of tender Bowels of the Love of God to you I once more beseech you that you in Humiliation wait in the Light of Christ he will let you see how the Enemy led you from the Light out of your places when you Separated from Meeting with Friends and in yeilding obedience to the Light it will bring you into your places again to meet with Friends to your Comfort and the Honour of the Name of the Lord according to the Counsel of the Lord in my Heart here sent unto you But if you reject the Council of the Lord which in his Love I am moved to send these Lines unto you then shall I Lament your Conditions because of the evil consequence your Separation will produce to your sorrow and wounding many God would not have Wounded for which you must give an account And before you lay down your Heads in peace you will remember me who hath not hide from you the Counsel of the Lord. W. D. Warwick the 21 st day of the 11 th Month 1684. A General Epistle to Friends from that Ancient Servant of Christ William Dewsbury MY Dear Friends and Brethren who are called forth of the World and pluckt as Brands out of the Fire by the Heavenly Power of God and hath Convinced you of his Everlasting Truth in the Light of Jesus Christ My dear Friends as have you received the Truth in some measure watch and pray and Believe in the Name of Christ that his Power you may feel in the Heavenly Inspiration of his blessed Spirit to lay Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet that all that is not Obedient to the Light of Christ may be kept down and buried in the Heavenly Baptism under the Sentence of Death as it was and is with all the Children of God who have received the Sentence of Death in our selves that we may have no confidence in our selves but alone trust in the Living God which will keep you all in the sweet seasoned savory Spirit of Life in all your Words Tradings and Dealings amongst the Children of Men then will you be manifest and known to all People to be the Salt of the Earth who retain the savour of the Heavenly Life in the Blessed Truth in you that every one according to your Measure may be felt upon all occasions continually streaming forth in the savoury Spirit of Life to the Comfort of your own Families and the City of God who over all is Blessed forever And my dear Friends I desire all to be watchful that not any come short of what is required of them both Rulers of Families and Parents of Children while you have a day to be with them call your Families together to wait upon the Lord in the fear of his Name certainly the Lord will answer the end of your endeavours in causing the savoury Life to stream through you to season your Servants and Children that the Church of God may be in every paâ—ticular Family and Habitation of his People Great is tâ—e concern upon my Spirit for the Children of all that profess the blessed Truth of God that all Parents may stand iâ— their places to bring up their Children in the fear of the Lord while they are in their Minority and tender Years and under their tuishion not to be too indulgent to them in suffering the Spirit of the World to rule in them to have their own wills and to do those things which are not according to the Truth of God and to connive at their Children instead of reproving of them and crossing the Spirit of the World in them and causing them to be content with such things as is
hath caused many a sorrowful Heart and given cause to the Enemies of God to rejoyce which hath been a greater Exercise and Trouble to me then all the sharp Persecutions and Imprisonments I have endured for the Word of God and Testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Therefore in the Bowels of the Love of God I beseech and entreat you all who have been or is concerned in what is before written let the Love of God so abound that in it all labour for Peace and Unity in Christ the Prince of Peace who in love laid down his Life for us when we were Enemies and called many of his Children in our Age to give up their Lives in the heaâ— of the Day Weeks Months and 〈◊〉 to gather Enemies unto the knowledge of 〈…〉 with God therefore wait for the heavenly Wâ—sdâ—m to bear one with another that if any who are Conscientious to God and Blameless in their Conversations having a concern upon their Spirit to declare in publick Assemblys the Truth to edifie the People I beseech you in the love of God that not any through disaffection shew at least any publick opposition but rather speak to the Party in private if there be any occasion for him to be spoken to so will the Enemy be prevented of casting a stumbling block in the way of tender spirited People that comes in love to be Comforted in the Meeting and in so doing it will cause Love and Unity to abound amongst Friends that in the Love of God all may be restored that hath been scattered and brought again into Unity to meet all together in the Everlasting Truth to feel the Healer of Breaches to reign who is the restorer of the Desolate exalted in his Kingdom in all your Hearts to offeâ— up a Peace-offering in passing by all Offences that have caused Dis-union and to bind you all up in the Unity of the Spirit and Bond of Everlasting Peace to meet all together who profess Gods Blessed Truth to Praise his Holy Name all as one and one as all while we are here in these mortal Bodies and forever when time here shall be no more even so be it with you all saith my Soul in the Name of the Lord to whom is my Prayers that all may be accomplished as above written until it be so with you I shall remain your exercised Brother in the Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation of our Lord Jesus Christ. William Dewsbury My dear Friends through the sharp Persecutions that was passed through in the heat of the day and many long Imprisonments being nineteen Years a Prisoner in this Town of Warwick and four of them being kept close Prisoner it hath pleased God to suffer my Health to be Impaired that many times I am forc'd to rest two or three times in going to the Meeting in the Town not being of ability of Body to travel as in Years past I do in the Love of God visit you with this Epistle desiring it may be carefully read in the Fear of the Lord in the Assemblies of his People that Peace and Eternal Vnity may be amongst you in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ Amen Given forth in the movings of the Peaceable Spirit and Word of Reconciliation in the Lord Iesus Christ to whom is my Prayers that all Convinced may wait to be made of the number of the Slain of the Lord and conformable to Christ in his Death that they may witness his quickening Power to raise them up in the Resurrection of Life to enter into the Gates of Sion to dwell in the City of new Jerusalem where Peace is within her Gates and Quietness amongst all that have their Habitation therein having Salvâ—tion for Walls and Bulwarks and are the blessed of the Lord preserved by him to the Honour of his Name forever Amen W. D. Warwick the 4th of the 10th Month 1686. These following Epistles were found in Manuscript without Dates To all you proud Priests that dare to add your Wisdom to the Testimony of Jesus KNow this as from him that he is come to lay open your Deceits and the Conjuring deceiving Inventions of your own Brains which you sell for so much in the Year to maintain you in Pride and Lust for to eat of the Fat and be cloathed with the finest of the Wool and so deceive the simple and lead them on in Blindness and Darkness in making people believe the Inventions of their own Brains to be the Word of the most high God as in taking part of the Testimony of the word Jesus and add to it the Inventions of their own Wisdoms branching it into Doctrines Reasons Uses Helps and Motives according as their fancies guides them and then takes the pure Testimony of Jesus to prove the truth of this their Conjuring deceiving Inventions though the Scripture tells you that no Prophesie is of any private Interpretation for the Prophesie came not by the will of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and saith Iohn in the Revelations I saw in the right Hand of him that sat upon the Throne a Book written within and on the back side sealed with seven Seals And I saw a strong Angel Proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and loose the Seals thereof and no Man in Heaven or in Earth or under the Earth was able to open the Book or look thereon now when Iohn saw that the mystery of Salvation was hid from all Creatures he wept much because none was found worthy to open the Book neither to look thereon And one of the Elders said to Iohn weep not behold the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah of the Root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and loose the Seals thereof and hath revealed his mind to his Servants that obey his Counsel to him be all Glory and Honour and Power for evermore Oh cease thou vain Man from adding thy Wisdom in opening the Seals in telling poor ignorant people what means the Scriptures by thy studied Sermons and Expositions which is the Invention of thy own Brains and putting words into the Mouths of poor ignorant people to sing Praises to the most high God for there is none can sing but the ransomed of the Lord and they return to Sion with joy and singing and everlasting joy is upon their Heads And the Apostle saith If any be Afflicted let him Pray if any be merry let him sing Oh therefore come down you vain proud Men that call your Traditions the Worship of God and causes the people to err by your Lies and by your Lightness And I sent them not neither commanded them therefore they do not profit this People at all saith the Lord Hear what the Lord saith unto you I testifie to every Man that hears the words of the Prophesie of this Book if any Man add unto these things God shall add to him the Plagues that are written
hasten his peculiar People through the Tryals according to the determination of his own will for the Glory of his Name and the eternal Comfort of the righteous Seed which the Lord hath blessed that so he may establish Peace in the Earth and Purity and Holiness amongst the Children of Men which will be the end of all these Tribulations therefore wait in the Faith and Patience you chosen Vessels of the Lord anâ— be faithful in obedience as at other times with the Loyns of your minds girt up to the Lord in his unlimitted Power to rest and reign in a quiet still mind giving up both Goods and Life fâ—eely casting all your care upon the Lord who will answer the expectation of his People and work a mighty deliverance neither by Sword nor Spear but by his own out-stretched Arm in the day of his dreadful and terrible Vengeance which he is hastening upon the Earth that shall cause all Hearts to fail that know not God the Wicked shall confess to his righteous Judgments and the Righteous shall bow before him and the Heathen shall know he is our God and that we have not trusted in his Name in vain for he will judge righteously upon the Earth and give unto every Man according to the Deeds done in the Body then wo wo wo to the Proud and Wicked it shall go ill with them Ah but you dear Suffering Innocent People of the Lord lift up your hands and rejoyce for the Lord is dear over you as the apple of his Eye and great is the reward of the faithful 't is you shall reap the Fruit of your doings and shall rejoyce when the Wicked shall Roar and Howl in the sence of his fierce Wrath for he will get himself a glorious Name in consuming his Enemies with the breath of his Mouth and the brightness of his Coming even so hasten thy Work O Lord it s the breathing of my Soul with all thine that thy dear Children may be delivered from all their Oppressors that in thy Power and Life they all be kept by thee to the perfecting thy Glory forever where is the Rest of your dear Brother W. D. Dear Children of the living God LIft up your Heads in the Light of the Covenant of God and Reign in his Life and Power over all that would draw your minds from staidness in his fulness and give God a Sacrifice of Soul Body all he hath given you In the word of his patience to stand valiant when you are called of God let not Demas's nature be obeyed in any to forsake God and imbrace this present evil World. Dear Children as you have received Christ the Light Life and Power of the Father so let us walk in faithfulness to finish our Course to the Glory of our God who is now bringing to pass what he hath revealed to his Servants that we may shine in the Glory of the Word of Faith and Patience in Jesus Christ our Life in whom we do and shall enjoy all things needful in whatever is endured for his Name sake Oh be bold and valiant in Christ you in his Word and Life and Patience shall Reign forever to brâ—ng a Blessing upon all the Earth the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it through his Servant W. D. My dear beloved Brethren ANd blessed Companions in the Tribulations Kingdom and Patience in the Lord Jesus Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplyed in and amongst you to perfect you in the Dominion of the Almighty God to keep the Word of his Patience in faithfulness quietly to rest in that Will of God that the weighty Seed of God in you stand in pure liberty to keep you all in the Life and Power of Truth that every one of you may have the Seal of the Spirit of God in your own Hearts that you suffer for the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ then whatever is done to you he takes it as done unto himself and will judge your Cause in Righteousness to the Confusion of the Faces of them that afflict you in this his day wherein he wilâ— bring forth his Praises over all the Earth to the astonishment of the Nations and People that know not God c. Oh my dear Friends the Lord recompence into your Bosoms an Hundred fold for your faithfuâ—ness to the Lord in which you have caused his Renown to sound over the Land to the comfort of the Hearts of the Upright you have largely consolated and made glad my Heart in these my Bonds and caused my Soul to rejoyce with high Praises unto my God in whom I behold the Travel of my Soul and am satisfied in my return to the Prison-House bearing the Sheaf with joy Stand faithful Witnesses for the Almighty God blessed forever even the Lord God of eternal Power keep you in the savory Life together in Love and Unity and Faithfulness unto the end and in all things your words to be few and in the fear of God So saith my Soul in the Name of the Lord Farewel Your dear Brother W. D. FRiend thou who wast in the Place of the Mayor in Terrington the Thirtieth day of the seventh Month with the others that say with thee they are in Commission to do Justice the day before mentioned you abused the Power committed to you and turned your Swords against the Innocent whom you wounded inasmuch as you could In the fear of God consider what you have done is this the Fruit of your Fasting and Humbling your selves as you say when you have done to Smite with the Fist of Wickedness and instead of entertaining Strangers you use them so Barbarously as was made manifest when I was with you this is not to Rule for God an account you must give to the Judge of Heaven and Earth Oh Men How will you stand in that day when it shall be said unto you I was Sick and in Prison and you Visited me not Hungry and you gave me no Meat Naked and you Clothed me not a Stranger and you took me not in The day is near to this account you will be called with the Lord of Life and Glory and though you say When did we see thee in Prison or a Stranger and took thee not in the answer to you as is Recorded in the Scripture of Truth Inasmuch as you did it not to the least of those that Believed in my Name you did it not to me saith Christ of whom the Scripture Testifies Oh Men while you have time prize it and sleight not the day of God's Mercy and come unto him and diligently encline your Ear to his Counsel the Light in your Consciences that lets you see the evil of your Hearts and your unjust proceedings against Innocent Men and wait in the Light that will shew you as is written that the Lord may give you Repentance unto Life that you perish not in the day of his fierce Wrath wherein he will recompence to every one according to
give you power over them you would take away all Laws that burthened the Consciences of his people and they should have free liberty to worship him in Spirit and in Truth according to his Law written in their own hearts and according to your desires the Lord appeared while you in his counsell stood and gave all into your power according to the desires of your own hearts and now is the time of your tryall wherein the Lord is trying you all this day whom he hath put power into your hands which if you now forget the Lord God who appeared to you when you were little in your own eyes in the day of your distress and deny to perform your Promises you made to the Lord when he delivered you out of the hands of those that sought your lives but contrary to all your Promises abuse your Power you are intrusted with to build up again what you seem'd to destroy which cost the price of so much blood in establishing Laws which are contrary to Scripture and the righteous Law of God in the Conscience and by them think to scatter the power of the holy people and to weary out the Saints of tlle most high God in turning Judgment backward and keeping Justice afar of that Truth falleth in the Streets and Equity cannot enter so he that departeth from Evil maketh himself a prey to your wills and the Lord God seeth it and is displeased with you that there is no Judgment for his People Therefore to you this is the Word of the Lord that abuse your power you are intrusted with in perverting judgment as before-written thus saith the Lord God The Pit you dig for my people ye shall fall into it your selves and my people I will deliver by the Arm of my mighty power and according to your deeds I will to you repay and recompence fury and vengeance to you my Adversaries and will you sweep away with the Beesom of my wrath except you repent and your blood shall be upon your own heads and you shall not escape but come to your End and none shall help you He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear And be fore-warned now in this day of your Visitation wherein the Lord hath to you sent you to forewarn of the evil that is a coming upon you that you may speedily to him return and lay your Crowns in the dust at the Feet of Jesus Sions King and in his Counsel stand which is the Light in the Conscience that in you witnesseth against every vain thought and wicked imaginations and in the Light wait his Power you to guide to perform your Promises and to take away all Laws contrary to Scripture and the righteous Law of God in the Conscience that the righteous Law of God may be your Guide which is the Guide of all the Children of God then will the Lord God of Heaven and Earth be with you and with the Arm of his mighty Power destroy all that Plot or rise up against you before whom he will make the unrighteous Powers of the Earth to shake if you abide faithful in his Counsel and will make you a terrour to the Evil-Doers and a praise to them that do well and will bring you into the eternal Peace and Rest he hath prepared for his People but if you reject his Counsel and cast his righteous Law behind your backs as you have done and follow the counsel of your own hearts all that have an Eye to see read and understand Prov. 29.1 He that hath been often reproved and hardeneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy And in that Day I shall be clear of your blood who in love to your Souls hath not hid the Counsel of God from you which he hath made known to me that you may be left without excuse in the day of the Lords Anger when he doth perform what he hath spoken Then shall I be remembred whom the World knoweth by Name William Deusbery and by some of you that profess to minister justice cast into Prison and there kept in the common Goal in Northampton for the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ. From the Goal in Northampton the 25 th day of the 4 th Moneth 1655. O England England over all in thee I lament who Persecutes the Sons and Daughters of the most high God he hath to thee sent thee to forewarn of the evil day that is coming upon thee O That thou in this day of thy Visitation did know the things belonging to thy Peace which the living God tenders to thee in this day of his mercy wherein he waits on thee to be gracious unto thee and to make thee the glory of all the Nations of the World and in all thy Straits for thee appeared and in his mighty Power hath destroyed all that did secretly Plot and Rise up against thee to establish unrighteous Laws and them bind upon the Consciences of those that feared the Lord in thee and walked humbly before him according to the measure of Light received and now hath he appeared in the day of his mighty Power in thee O England to exalt the Kingdom of Christ in the Hearts of his Saints and hath sent them to Preach his everlasting Gospel in thee to turn the minds of the People from Darkness to Light which comes from Christ in it to wait for his Power to guide out of all Sin and Uncleaness into union and fellowship with the Father of Light which many of you People in England seemed to desire above all things and content to give up your lives to withstand them that did appear to bind any unrighteous Law upon you and by it to take advantage against you concerning the Law of God which you professed to love and to delight in your liberty in it more then in your nearest and dearest Relation or Life or any outward enjoyment and all you in that day who were faithful to the Lord according to the measure of Light manifest in you the Lord God did appear for you and in his mighty Power hath scattered those that stood up in enmity against you to bind Laws upon your Consciences which is contrary to Scripture and the righteous Law of God in the Heart and the Lord hath given you power over all those your Enemies and now have you free liberty which they cannot take from you to worship God in Spirit and in Truth according to the desires you seemed to manifest in the day you cryed to the Lord when you were in distress and now is the Lord come to visit you in his tender mercy and hath sent his Ministers to Preach his eternal Word freely without Money or Price in season and out of season to reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine which many of you People in England who promised the Lord to worship him in Spirit and Truth now his counsel reject and turns to the Teachers you have
known to the Lord in these things c. Oh feel the Seed of Abraham in its Dominion in you which is the Bride the Lamb's Wife and in true love to him doth offer up the dearest Isaac into the Will of God that a perfect Sacrifice our God may have Soul Body and all that we have in this day He hath called us to be the first Fruits unto the Lamb and in our Testimony in this our Tryal we are called to preach to all Nations Kindred Tongues and People in their own Language for the Witness in all their Consciences will feel us and give them to understand that we are not of this World but are the Redeemed of the Lord whom he hath called in the Patience of the Lamb to suffer for to gather the Seed that is scattered in the Earth that our Brethren may be brought from far and our Sisters from the outmost parts of the World who cannot come until we have drunk this Cup of which I was sent to declare to you in years past and now to your comfort I declare when it is finished according to the pleasure of the Lord which he is hastening and will cut short in righteousness for the Seed sake then wo wo to the Enemies of Sion for our God will plague them and cause them to cast all their glory down before him and they shall come bending to the soles of the Feet of his People and shall conâ—ess that you are the Children of the most high God the righteous seed which the Lord hath blessed and this certainly will come to pass the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Through your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Patience of the Lord Iesus Farewel W. D. Given forth in the the County Goal of Warwick the 26 th of the 6 th Month 1664. This for Dear Friends in London and them that are Aboard the Ship in order to Transportation or elsewhere all abarod DEAR and Valiant Children of the most High your faithful standing in the meek Spirit to bear your Testimony for the Lord in what he calls you unto is a sweet perfume in the Presence of the Lord and a great refreshing to the Hearts of his People Therefore abide in the pure meek Spirit and receive your blessed reward you faithful Lambs the blessed Crown of Glory is yours forever Oh feel the earning of Bowels towards you and the breakings of Heart that is before the Lord for you Oh can we remember you and not our Eyes water with Tears in compassionating of you in the simpathizing Spirit that indears and unites us one unto another in our God to whom my Soul breaths Oh Lord sweeten the passage of thy People and make their Cups pleasant thou suffers to be given them to drink that thy mighty Power may be manifest in all them that love not their lives to death to do thy will this day and plead their cause in hastening their deliverance to the confounding of all Sions Enemies and the renown of thy great Name forever and ever Dear Brethren and Sisters in the meek Spirit of our God my Life goes and abides with you with the forcible love of the whole Church of the first born Oh lift up your Heads and let not the fear of the Sickness or any Representation of any Evil enter you but all in staidness in the Light Life Thought and Will of God which is perfect in it self and abiding as is written God will keep every one of you in perfect peace all your days in every condition and will keep you in sweet peace and unity one with another to the praise and glory of the Name of our God whose presence is with you and will sweeten your passage in whatever you are to go through to the Praise and Glory of the Name of the Lord forever who will arise more and more and plead our Cause in the sight of a mighty People whom he will make to conâ—ess that you that are faithful are the Children of the most High God the righteous Seed that the Lord hath blessed and it will be well every way with all the faithful and suffering People and the blessing of God shall be upon us and our Children forever that love the Lord Jesus this day And the hundred forty four Thousand shall stand upon Mount Sion where some of the number is already established and they shall sing the new Song that not any shall learn but those that are redeemed from the Earth who shall make the Ears of all the Enemies of God to tingle and their Hearts shall fail and paleness gather into their Faces for dreadful will be the vengeance of the Lord upon Sions Enemies and great fearfulness shall surprise them they shall run to and fro like Vagabonds as Cain did and not know where to hide their Heads for where ever they are the Lord will find them out and banish them from place to place until he hath gotten his glory upon them in laying all low that withstands his arising for he will dash the potsheards of the Earth to pieces and they shall lament and cry out and gnaw their Tongues for pain when you faithful beloved ever honourable Children that endure unto the end shall Shout and Sing Praises and Magnifie the Lord and say Oh how righteous are thy Judgments Oh thou King of Saints for thou hast pleaded our cause and turned our Sorrows into everlasting Joy and hast over-thrown all thy Enemies that withstand the rising of thy Glory that a door may be opened to gather our Brethren from far and our Sisters from the ends of the Earth Therefore will we Sing of thy Goodness with Praises Praises Hallelujahs and high Praises for thou art worthy over all forever and ever Amen My dear Companions with me Salutes you all in the dearest love of our God where neither Sea nor Land can seperate but in the bowels of love will we imbrace one another in the chast Life where no Vulters Eye can behold our Joy and Felicity in the Lord our God In whom fare you weâ—l fare you well saith the Soul of your dear Brother in the Name of the Lord forever both you that are for Transportation and you that stand in a faithful Testimony in that City where the Lord hath sent his destroying Angel to execute the pleasure of his will. And in the tender Bowels of the Love of God I desire you all in this Gloomy Dismal Dark Day that 's come upon that City put you on the shieâ—d of Faith and in the Light of the Covenant stand single before the Lord to be cloathed with the Garment of Eternal Salvation that you may reign over all fearfulness and unbelief that every particular may stand as Saviours on Mount Sion in the midd'st of a desolate People for this is the Harvest of the great God in that City wherein he is Reaping Threshing and Winnowing the Chaff from the Wheat and making a short work
in the Earth for his Seed sake and many that shall have their lives given them for a prey shall receive the Word of Eternal Life in that City and great shall be the number who shall submit to the Government of Christ and they shall bless the Lord for you that love not your lives to death for the Glory of God and gathering the Sons and Daughters of Men to the Knowledge of God by your holy lives and sweet walking in all holiness of Conversation Oh blessed be the day that ever you were born yea my Soul Glorifies God for you that ever you had a being you faithful Lambs in the City of London and else where scattered according to the Will God Though you now drink a Cup of great Affliction the day of Eternal Joy is sprung up to thee which none can take away an eternal Freedom shall be unto thee Oh Sion Kings shall come unto thee and Princes to the rising of this thy Glorious Day and all thy Enemies shall fall before thee and thou shalt be the Glory over all the Earth and the chosen Diadem in the Hand of thy God amongst the People who shall as much love thee as they now hate thee and esteem of thee as they now despise thee for thou Oh Sion art the Plant of the Lord the Tree of Righteousness in whom is the vertue of the mighty God of Heaven and the leaf of thy Tree shall heal the Nations and put an end to all their distractions the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Through one that dwells within thy Gates thou Glorious and Beautiful Sion Church of the first Born the Beloved Bride the Lambs Wife forever Blessings Glory and Praises Hallelujahs Eternal Honour and Renown be unto thy God and King who reigneth in thee and is exalting his Kingdom over all the Kingdoms of this World and of his Dominion there shall be no end W. D. From the Common Goal in Warwick the 12 th of the 6 th Meneth 1665. For the dear Daughters of Sion whom the Lord hath or shall suffer their dear and tender Husbands to be separated from them beyond the Seas or else-where for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. DEar Handmaids of Glory whom the Lord hath counted worthy to part with your dear and tender and beloved Husbands for the Name of the Lord assuredly many puts their Shoulders to help to bear the Burthen of your Tryals this day O the Tears and breakings of Heart that is poured forth before the Lord for your dear Husbands and you and your tender Children you are Families of many prayers and assuredly shall be known to be Families of many Mercies O dear Daughters of Sion be content with your Cup handed forth to you this day and bless the Name of the Lord that you are accounted worthy to be the first Fruits among the beloved Daughters What could the Lord do more for you then to count you worthy to suffer in this nature to give you such blessed Husbands that are set as glorious Lights in the face of all People Dear chosen beloved Daughters of Sion let it be seen you love the Lord Jesus more then your dear Husbands and stand over the affectionate Part and solace your Souls in the Love and Life of the Lord Jesus your eternal and beloved Husband and Comforter of your real Husbands and will make us all to rejoyce in whatever he calls us unto we diligently watching and judging our selves and resting in the Light and Will of God in which the Lord establish you you deâ—r beloved Daughters of Sion for whom breathes the Soul of your dear Brother daily to the Lord to strengthen you and your dear Husbands and all that love the Lord Jesus Christ In whom fare you well W. D. Warwick common Gaol the 10 th of the 8 th Month 1664. For my dear honorable Brethren who are or may be sentenced to be Transported to the Isles beyond the Sea for the Testimony of the Name of the Lord Jesus MY dear Friends in the suffering of the Lamb who liveth and reigneth forever and ever and shall overcome all his Enemies in the day determined that all his Enemies shall bow under the Soles of his Feet then shall all that oppress you call you the blessed of the Lord forever O my dear Brethren lift up your Heads in the Light and Life of Jesus for whom you suffer abide in his Light reign over your thoughts of either Wife or Children or whatever would trouble your minds for giving up freely in this your Testimony O you valiants among the People the first Fruits and the leading Champions the Lord is with you and Thousands and ten Thousands shall bless the Name of the Lord for your faithful Testimony which shall sound over Nations to the gathering the People and bringing in our little Sister who hath no Breasts to feel the Consolation of the life of our Beloved for whom we suffer this day O my dear Brethren triumph trimuph in the face of all your Enemies it shall be well with you wheresoever the Lord suffers you to be carried and as to your tender Wives and Children the Lord hath said to my Soul it shall be well with them the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon them forever and ever and with you to the comfort of the Isles that wait for his Law therefore in the peaceable power of the Lord go on you chosen Brethren of the suffering seed which the Lord hath blessed O happy men that ever you were born and blessed be the day that ever the Lord called you in his Power to stand faithful in what the Lord requires of you in which living Testimony you stream through the whole Body as a River of Oyle and vertuous refreshings whose memorial shall never perish but preach to Ages and Generations to the Glory of the Name of our God forever O go on with gladness with trimuph for it is to bring in the Seed from all the ends of the Earth that our Brethren may come from far and Sisters from the end of the World O mighty God cover thy faithful Servants with thy glorious Power and cause them and their Families to rejoyce in thy disposing of them forever and ever Amen My Life in the suffering Spirit go with you in the Name of the Lord forever my dear Companions in these bonds Salute you in the Love of the Lord. Farewel W. D. From the Common Gaol of Worwick the â—0 th of the 8 th Month 1665. The Word of the Lord to all Children born again of the Immortal Seed as the Salutation of the Bowels of the unlimitted Love of the Father flowing forth to you in the forcible Power of his own Life thorow your Brother and Companion in Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Jesus Christ. DEar and honourable Brethren and Sisters Oh how doth my Soul bless the Name of the Lord for you who stands faithful to God in your living
guide them forth of it in the Light to have union and fellowship with the Father of Light in Christ to whom you are come to be your Wisdom and he will establish your Souls in righteousness and peace that give up your selves to be guided by him Dear Friends Let the love of God that hath pluckt you as Brands out of the Fire and hath counted you worthy to be as the first Fruits of the Lamb constrain you to be faithful upon your watch to wait in the Light of Christ to dwell in his power that in it you may grow up in his Life and pure discerning to know the Deceit in all appearances and the Beast in his lying Wonders who keeps all in a Form of Truth that lends an Ear to him but out of the Life but in the Light of Christ you may know him he leads into a Form of words when the Life speaks not so the Soul doth not enjoy what the Mouth speaks and the Beast which is the Will is at Liberty from under the Yoke and out of the Cross painted with the Saints words and with you sits deckt a painted Beast above the Cross of Christ working lying Wonders in â—â—rming Sights and Groans when the pure Seed of God is not regarded which is in Prison the sighing and groaning of that the Lord hears and he will deliver that which Sighs and Groans to him for deliverance with groans that cannot be uttered and the Deceit also will work violently in you whose minds are turned from the pure Light to form and immitate the true Power that did pass through you from the Life but being faithful in your watch in the Light of Christ you may know him in his deceitful working in the mind he leads out of the Fear of God into a formality to appear before men so into Pride and Emulation which is to be thrown down and condemned with the Light of Christ. This is the word of the living God to you his dear and chosen Children in the Light all meet often together and take heed of lending an Ear to the Adversary the Devil who goes about like a roaring Lyon to tear you from the Light and to Sow the Seed of Enmity to watch over one another with an evil Eye to spie out one anothers weakness and to declare it to others behind their backs and to lay open their infirmities and discover their shame and uncover their nakedness thou who practises this art turned from the pure Light into Hams cursed nature which the wrath of God is to and is to be condemned with the Light of Christ in which thou must wait and own the condemnation upon that nature and to blind and pluck out that evil Eye and to open the pure single Eye to judge the deceit and guide thee in Obedience to the Light least thou perish in thy disobedience Dear Friends in the pure Light Power and Life dwell and take heed of speaking words in the sight and visions of the Truth when you are not in the Life and Power all mind the Union in the Power which will be manifest in all that wait in the pure fear in the silence of your Spirits in the Light for the living Power of Christ to declare it self in you and even through you to the praise of his Name who is worthy for this is the Word of the most high God to you his Sons and Daughters whom he hath chosen in his eternal love to watch over one another in love with a single Eye as over your own Souls and if you see any of the Children of Light through the Subtilty of the Devil prevailed against and turned from the Light take heed of laying open their infirmities to discover there Shame in uncovering there Nakedness to others but thou that discovers their conditions in tender Bowels of love minister to the pure in the Conscience to raise up the Witness to restore them again with the Spirit of Meekness then wilt thou save their Souls from Death and hide a multitude of Sins and here is Christ and his Disciples serving one another in love washing one anothers Feet in ministring to the pure to wash away the filthy nature and bearing one anothers burthens so fulfilling the Law of Christ who did bear the Burthen for us when we were Enemies he died for us and in fulness of time hath manifested his mighty power in you in raising up his Seed that you might be of the first Fruits in him to grow Trees of Righteousness in his Vineyard to bring forth Fruits to the praise and glory of his great and glorious Name who alone is worthy God Blessed forever God Almighty be with you his dear and chosen Children and his powerful and dreadful Spirit accompany you in all your ways and his eternal Power establish you in Vnity of the Spirit and Bond of Peace that in it yâ—u may stand over all the World and the troubles thereof within you and without you in his Power stand fast and unmoveable in the will of God where I am present with you saluting you in the Bowels of tender love in the eternal Vnity W. D. Dear Pretious and Beloved Friends CAlled in the Light of the Lord to stand living witnesses for God in the midst of a crooked wicked perverss and untoward Generation Dear Friends all in the Light and pure meek Spirit of the Lord enter into the Chamber of Rest which God hath prepared for you in his unlimitted Power to dwell there to stay your Minds and keep your Confidence and hold fast your Faith that so the door may be shut that not any thing enter which would cause feebleness of mind faintness of Spirit or in the least measure would cause you to stagger at the promises of the Lord who hath promised he will never leave us nor forsake us that what tryal soever any of us be called unto who love the Lord and have given up our names unto him he will not suffer one hair of our Heads to perish but what shall be for the Glory of his Name and the Comfort of our Souls forever as many of us are witnesses of the faithfulness of our God in making our passage pleasant through all Tryals and Suffering that hath been unto this day which is now manifesting it self as was proclaimed amongst you in times past Therefore I beseech you all dear Friends put not the day of the Lord afar off for a general Tryal will go on all that make mention of the Name of the Lord that it may be known who are truly born of God and who are not that so his pretious Jewels may be made up which doth and shall more and more shine forth in the brightness of his Glory being established in his Light Life and Love which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against because the Lord is the strength of all that is born again and for their sakes he is making a short work in the Earth and to