and of the same seed and same birth begotten and brought forth by the immortall word of life which lives for ever doe send greeting and doe embrace you in the arms of our beloved who is and is to come God blessed for ever you who are called Quakers who are so not onely in word nor in shew but in life and in power whom God hath called and chosen to place his name in and to take up his habitation among above all the families of the Earth the Tabernacle of God is with you and his dwelling-place is among you and only among you is God known and his name is great in your Assemblies We who are of the same root and off-spring doth bring in our witnesse and doth set to our seale That God of a truth is with you and among you and he is the God of the living that answers by fire he is I am and there is none besides him the first and the last the beginning and the end of all things Praise him for ever yee redeemed of him lift up your heads your Redeemer is come clap your hands and shout for joy and let the everlasting praises of God be in your mouths for ever and ever Exalt ye his name above all Gods and glorifie him in the sight of all the Heathen and let his marvellous works stand upon Record from Generation to Generation Wonderfull hath his work been among you and that my soule knowes right well You that were scattered in the cloudy and dark day and were a prey for the wild beasts of the Forrest and were driven away as lost sheep in the wildernesse hath God gathered into the fould to lay down by the springs of living water in fat pastures for evermore Your bread is sure and your waters never failes a feast of fat things is made unto you of wines well refined the Lord is become the Lot of your inheritance and the portion of your Cup for ever Your Crowns have you laid down at the feet of the Lamb and your lives and liberties have not been dear unto you and let this never repent you for now the Lord will exalt you and Crown you with immortall glory The everlasting day-star is risen among you which gives light unto the Nations and the light of the Sun is as the light of seven dayes and there is no need of a candle in your dwelling but the Lamb is the light thereof faire as the Sun and clear as the Moon yea it is he which was dead and is alive and behold he lives for evermore Praise him all ye people praise ye him ye holy Host let all that hath breath praise him for ever Who can expresse his Noble acts and who can declare his wondrous works Oh my soule is ravished and my heart is overcome let me speak that I may be refreshed and let me declare his wonders among all people The Lord is our King our Judge and our Law-giver and our Rock of defence just is he in his Judgements who hath avenged us of our Enemies Mercy and Judgement meet righteousnesse and peace doth embrace each other Rejoyce for evermore ye Saints of the most High and tell it to your Children that they may tell it to another Generation what hath the Lord wrought among you and what hath his hand brought to passe Salvation is come and plenteous Redemption and the dead hath heard the voyce of the Son of God and liveth Let sorrow and mourning fly away and be ye comforted ye that have mourned and be ye refreshed ye that have been weary for God hath opened the everlasting fountain and the streams runs pleasantly which refresheth the City of our God He is come and his reward is with him even he for whom we have waited this is he who is our life our peace and our exceeding great reward the light of the world our Saviour but the worlds condemner our peace but the worlds torment glad tidings glad tidings the acceptable year is come Praise ye the Lord ye Sons and daughters of Sion beautifull is your dwelling place and aboundeth with pleasant fruit for you are digged and pruned and enclosed a Garden of lovely branches let the wonders of the Lord never be forgotten nor his works never passe out of your remembrance for he hath wounded and healed killed and made alive raised the dead and slain the living brought out of captivity and bound with chaines gathered and scattered brought low and exalted saved and condemned all this hath your eye seen and your ear heard and the Heavens and the Earth hath been burned as a scroule and the indignation of the Lord you have born But the winter is past and the summer is come and the Turtle Dove and the singing of Birds is heard in our Land O magnifie his name for ever you are made vessels of honour wherein the everlasting Treasure abideth which never waxeth old the voyce of the Bridegroom is heard among you and how can you have any more sorrow instead of weeping rejoycing and instead of heavinesse of heart fullnesse of everlasting joy the Lord hath fulfilled his promise and made good his word and his Law and Covenant is with you and from you doth the Law goe forth and the powerfull word of life and death soundeth out of your dwellings and you are Gods only witnesses to testifie of him in the presence of all Nations some of you by suffering and some by declaring Oh endlesse love and life and riches an eternall Crown is upon your heads and your suffering which hath not been a little is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is and shall be revealed I speak to you who hath an ear to hear my soule and heart is comforted in you in the midst of my burdens and sufferings who is separated from you outwardly yet joyned and united to you by the Spirit which is unlimited which all Nations doth comprehend yea I behold your beauty afar off and my heart is ravished with it and I am sick of love let his works praise him for ever which he hath wrought for his dwelling is with you in the light unto which no mortall eye can approach The new Jerusalem is come down from Heaven and no unclean can enter but you are made white with the blood of the Lamb and purged as silver and purified as gold in the burning and unto you an entrance is given and the way is prepared and the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready and the way of the Lord is pleasant to you and his commands are not grievous no unclean thing can passe over â— or no Lyons whelps can tread therein but it is called the way of holinesse where only the ransomed of the Lord doe walk even your mountain is established upon the top of all hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Sing praises for ever for the Kingdome of endlesse peace is come which passeth
THIS IS ONELY TO GOE amongst FRIENDS TO all the seed of Abraham who are Jewes indeed and Israelites in whom is no guile who are of the true Circumcission made without hands Who are of the off-spring of David and of the Church of the first born who are the first fruits unto God yee Royall off-spring of the Rocke of Ages who have come out of the everlasting washing my deare Brethren called Quakers who have eaten your bread with feare and trembling whom your brethren hath cast out Oh how I love you my soule is knitt unto you my heart and life breathes after you I am one with you in suffering and in joy ye are the choycest of the flock yee are the fairest of all the children which is brought forth Oh my beloved ones though I be among the Tents of Kedar as without where the Voyce of the Lord hath neither been heard nor known it you I forgett not if I doe let the tongue cleave to the Roofe of my mouth and lett me never speake more in the name of the Lord who is my life and the portion of my Cup for ever Oh what shall I say unto you none knows your beauty nor innocency nor glory but them who are redeemed out of Kindreds and Nations and tongues and People and Countries Who follow the Lambe whithersoever he goes For the name of my God and your God who is liing and lives for evermore is in your foreheads you are his off-spring and the fruit that came out of the eternall womb begotten by the eternal word of life which lives for ever and are norished at the eternall table in the everlasting mansion-house of my father which is in heaven none so faire none so beautifull none so glorious none so Rich you are Crowned with love for ever you are cloathed with righteousnesse for ever you eat of the tree of life which heales the Nations and of the bread of life that nourishes you up for ever and drinks of the living waters which runs fresh beautifull and coole in it you are bathed and suppled and made white you are builded upon a Rock storms cannot move you tempests cannot make you afraid in this you have been and are like to be tryed your Armour is righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left your City is free the Gates stand open day and night and a Wolf nor Lyon nor any Beast can enter no not so much as a flying Fowle Oh how goodly is thy Tents O thou seed of Jacob the Elect whom he hath chosen O how pleasant is your scituation the Tower of David Mount Sion stands sure and cannot be moved Oh who is a people like unto you saved by our God that lives for ever His love is large he is kind he is long-suffering he is faithfull and keeps Covenant and his Promises are Yea Yea He is the Amen the first and the last Come forth my dear brethren set forth his praise declare his name among the Heathen publish his name among the Congregations let the Earth be filled with his love and power that his Judgements may be declared and his Statutes that they sound in the eares of Generations to come O yee that are convinced of the truth of our God wait in that which doth convince and keep your minds to it and love it and follow it whether it leads you and it will lead you to know the gift of God which leads to repentance from dead works to serve the living God who dwells in the immortall light and take heed of looking back at the pleasures of sin you have formerly lived in but wait upon the pure light of Christ Jesus in patience that so you may see the enmity which is against God and it slain in you daily that so you may see him that is the Saviour of the soule and take heed of rebelling against the Lord who hath given you a measure of his true light to lead you from sin if you love it unto righteousnesse from whence it comes even from the righteous Judge of all the world who judgeeth every man out of the Book of his conscience and so prize the everlasting love of God to your soules that you may see him who lives for ever And all Babes who are born again who have suffered the pangs of death and know the indignation of the Lord against sin and the terrour of the Lord against the man of sin who have roared for the disquietnesse of your hearts who have born the indignation of the Lord and are come to the giving forth of the Law where there is thundring and earthquakes and terrour and great haile and fire and smoke even such as was not since the beginning in so much that you could not hear his voyce and live nor see his face and live Stand still in patience and let it have its perfect work in you and bear the indignation ye that are in it if you endure the tribulation with patience hope you will see and a time of refreshment will come endure the Crosse that the mortall and earthly and carnall may be judged and the ground shaken and taken away and that you may see the living hope to stay your minds upon And yee who are enlivened and doth witnesse the Law of righteousnesse set up in you which is a Schoolmaster and keeps in the fear stand in it and keep in the fear low in sobernesse and calmnesse and then you will see your hearts purified daily and the cursed nature judged which is out of its course and it bridled and subjected and the Law which is pure and holy and eternall which stands for ever in power and force against the transgressour to judge all unrighteousnesse and so wait that you may see the Lyon tamed and the wild Heifer yoked and the yoke of Christ born and the wild Colt tamed by him upon which never man sate before then and not till then is Hosanna sung And all wait in your measures dear Babes that the milk of the word you may see and be nourished by it and grow up as living branches about the Table of the Lord And all you Young men and Virgins that know virginity keep your virgin-you in whom the Prince of this world is judged and cast out and the righteous Law of God revealed and given forth in which you stand and walk and hath peace from him who is the Law-giver and Judge who hath saved you from your iniquities and blotted out your sins for his owne name sake You who knowes the living water and Spirit of which you are born again and witnesses the birth which enters into the Kingdome of God where no mortall or unclean Beast can come Keep in the life and power of God which limits all and chaines all under that the life of the Son of God may live and speak in you and be bould in the dread of God stand and that which leads into slavery keep out And now being made
partakers of his everlasting love walk worthy of his love and of the high calling whereunto you are called who hath created you in Christ Jesus unto holinesse and righteousnesse for ever that to the praise of his grace which you are saved by by which you have obtained the remission of sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified so wait in the living hope and the living faith in which God is well pleased in which you ask and receive of him and are accepted of our heavenly father And this faith ye know which is a present power and a shield against all temptations and a Helmet and as a Fortresse by which ye are preserved safe standing in it and putting it on in the day of triall My dear brethren of the everlasting kindred and heires of the everlasting promise wait all in patience having received an earnest of the Inheritance that never fades away to the end abide in the fathers counsell and at wisedomes gate Yee know what I say I write not unto you because you know not the truth but because you know and are made free in your measures by him who is the truth and the way in which all our fathers and you also have obtained a good report even of all the houshold of faith and take heed of the glory of the world and look not at hardship for verily all the suffering is not worthy to be compared to that glory which is revealed and to be revealed unto all that wait and abide in patience and faithfullnesse unto the end but be yee as good souldiers endure hardship that you may receive the end of your hope and the everlasting prise and the purchased possession and the Crowne of glory which God will give unto you in his owne day which is coming on towards you if you continue in the hope in the faith and in the love unfained which thinks no ill by which and in which love we have victory over the grave sin and death which he hath freely shed abroad in our hearts unto whom be everlasting praise for ever and ever to him which was dead and is alive and lives for evermore the mediator of the new Covenant of life and peace in which we have accesse freely to the Throne of Grace and are accepted in him who is the condemnation of all the World who hate the light but your life the light of the World God blessed for ever and ever And all you fathers and Elders and honourable women who are not a few whose bones and sinewes are filled with marrow and fatnesse who waite at the Altar of the Lord and knovves the mercy-seat vvhich hath overshadovved you and the golden vessell in vvhich is the hidden Manna by vvhich all the Children of the Lord are fed round the Table of the Lord out of the everlasting treasure-house of my father Watch over the Flock of Christ Jesus in every place and Region and quarter vvhere the Lord hath set you and govern them in all vvisedome and righteousnesse that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ may be adorned and take care of them vvillingly knovving this the Lord requires of you and hath called you unto and to nourish the plants and the young ones and the babes and that every one may knovv their place and vvatch and instruct in all vvisedome and correct and reprove in the name and povver of our Lord Jesus that no rebellious nor sloathfull may grovv up nor be harboured among you but all in diligence may be kept in the fear of the Lord in their places that the Gospel of Christ Jesus be not evill spoken of nor the Heathen blaspheme And therefore my dear brethren be diligent in the vvork of the Lord so much the more as you see the day is approached and the Harvest is great and the Vineyard of the Lord is great and large and but fevv labourers yea the Lord is enlarging his borders and spreading forth his everlasting truth and stretching forth his eternall arm over the Nations and opening the treasures of Heaven and bringing raine out of his treasury to vvater the Earth that hath been parched and dry and to make his plants to grovv And so all vvait that you may see the povver and presence of the Lord in all your Assemblies and see that there be no strife nor contention nor exaltation amongst you but all in meeknesse and quietnesse and long-suffering and forbearance even as the Lord hath spared and forborn you one submitting unto another even as you have heard and received vvhen the vvord of the Lord came first unto you and he that vvill be the greatest shall be the least but all in meeknesse and lovvlinesse of mind serve one another in love even as you have received and the everlasting God of life and povver be vvith you all and make you grovv in the living povver and virtue of God to order all things in his vvisedome as good stevvards of the manifold mercies of the Lord vvhich you are made partakers of that he alone may be glorified throughout all the Churches of Christ Jesus every vvhere And to you my dear brethren and fellovv-labourers unto vvhom the vvord of Reconciliation is committed and are in the vvork and Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and are made partakers of the everlasting Gospel of peace vvhich unto you is given to declare Lift up your voyces blow the Ttumpet sound an Alarum out of the holy mountain proclaime the acceptable year and the day of vengeance of our God Gird on your sword upon your loines put on the tried Armour and follow him for ever who rides upon the white Horse and is cloathed with the same who makes War in righteousnesse Ride on ride on my beloved brethren and fellow souldiers make all plain before you thresh on with the new threshing instrument which hath teeth beat the mountaines to dust and let the breath of the Lord scatter it make the Heathen tremble and the uncircumcised fall by the sword the Lord of Hosts is with us and goes before us Spare none neither Ox nor Asse neither old nor young kill cut off destroy bath your sword in the blood of Amaleck and all the Aegyptians and Philistins and all the uncircumcised and hew Agag to pieces break the Rocks cut down the Cedars and strong Oakes make the Devils subject cast out the unclean spirits raise the dead shut up in prison bring out of prison cast in your nets lanch into the deep divide the Fish gather the good into vessels cast the bad away bind the Tares in bundles cast them into the fire the Angel with his sharp sickle is come the Angel of the everlasting Covenant is come thrust in your sickles reape the Earth the word of God is come that divides let all flesh keep silence divide the word rightly feed the Lambs and Babes fill the hungry stop the Lyons mouths feed the fat and the strong with plagues and judgements declare his
understanding and of glory which no mortall eye can behold and of life which no flesh can live in Oh my beloved come up hither and I will shew you what God hath done for you he hath rebuked the Sea and driven back the floods of waters which compassed you about and he hath scattered your Enemies with a whirlwind and he hath given you to feed upon the flesh of Kings and of Captaines Can you call to mind the doings of your God and his marvellous works brought to passe and not cry out in praises for evermore O drink and be refreshed and eat and be satisfied for ever and let your soul delight it self in fatnesse the planting of the Lord you are and his own purchased possession he hath separated you from the womb and hath called you out of kindreds and ye are the Royall seed of the off-spring of the Lord Almighty and all Nations shall call you blessed And O thou North of England who art counted as desolate and barren and reckoned the least of the Nation yet out of thee did the branch spring and the Star arise which gives light unto all the Regions round about in thee the Son of Righteousnesse appeared with wounding and with healing and out of thee the terror of the Lord proceeded which makes the Earth to tremble and be removed out of thee Kings Princes and Prophets did come forth in the name and power of the most High which uttered their voyces as thunders and laid their swords on the neck of their Enemies and never returned empty from the slaughter Though I be as by the waters of Babylon in a strange Land and as a Pilgrim and stranger destitute but not forsaken as dying but behold I live yet if I forget thee let my right hand forget her cunning and let my name be blotted out of the Book of life O how I love the holy seed which in my eye is precious no man can hinder my boasting of thee for I am sealed among you in the Record of Eternall life to be read among you in the light where I am known to you and where my unity stands with you in the love and life which never changes and you are my Mother and my Brother and Sister who doth the will of my Father Our God is a consuming fire and his habitation is compast about with dread and terror The Heathen shall see and fear and the inhabitants of the Earth shall tremble our God is everlasting burnings and it is tempestuous round about his Throne and he Raignes for evermore and though thou be despised and set at naught and counted as the off-scouring of all things and the scorn of the Heathen yet thy King Raignes upon Mount Sion and if he utter his voyce all flesh shall tremble and before him thy Adversaries shall fall and thy persecutors shall be confounded for thou shalt never be forgotten of thy God but with his arm will he defend thee and compasse thee about and thy seed shall be encreased and thou Jerusalem shalt be made the praise of the whole Earth for among you is laid the sure foundation and the tryed stone Christ Jesus the light of the world upon whom you have believed which unto the Nations is a stumbling-stone but unto you precious bring in your testimony and set to your seale is there salvation in any other but in him who is the light of the world nay there is no redemption wrought but by him nor no deliverance but through him his is the Kingdome the power and the glory and he is become all in all and you are no more of this world but are of the chosen Generation and of the Royall Priesthood a people Redeemed unto whom there is none like among the thousands of Israel and Judah whose God is the Lord whose Saviour is the Prince of Righteousnesse who covers your heads in the day of battel and smites your Enemies in the hinder parts and wounds them in the forehead And now my beloved let his name be had in remembrance for evermore and let his praises be declared throughout Ages to come and walk you worthy of his everlasting love wherewith he hath loved you more then your brethren let his name be exalted by righteousnesse by purity and by a blamelesse life and bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse and peace and let your light shine forth into the world and your good works abound plentifully for you are as a City set on a hill and as a lighted candle to shine abroad and are created unto good works Let faith hope love and Unity be encreased among you and let mercy and judgement and equity flow down and be establisht for ever never to be removed Let joy and long-suffering and meeknesse and temperance spring out and be you perfect as your heavenly father is perfect Stand upon your watch Tower and be not shaken nor drawn aside to follow any other Gods nor to bow to any other Image nor joyn your selves to strangers and mingle not your seed with the adulterous Generation nor take not nor give not in marriage with them but keep your selves from the Idols of the Heathen be not defiled with them but abide in your strength you know where it lyes by which you may work good and be preserved from evill and you need not that any man teach you for you are taught of God and are far from oppression Ye Children of light worship your God for ever who is light and in whom is no darknesse at all who is the same and changes not whose mercy endures for ever Be followers of the Lamb as undefiled Virgins and let your soule scorn the glory of Babylon and Aegypt for ever for you are not your own but are bought with a price no more to serve your selves but the Lord God of Israel for ever Put on your Armour and gird on your sword and lay hold on the spear and march into the field and prepare your selves to battel for the Nations doth defie our God and saith in their hearts Who is the God of the Quakers that we should fear him and obey his voyce Arise arise and sound forth the everlasting word of War and Judgment in the ears of all the Nations sound an Alarum and make their ears to tingle Our Enemies are whole Nations and multitudes in number of a rebellious people that will not come under our Law which ariseth up against us and will not have our King to Raigne but tramples his honour under foot and dispises his Law and his â—tatutes and counteth his subjects as slaves and bondmen Stand upon your feet and appear in your terror as an Army with Banners and let the Nations know your power and the stroke of your hand cut down on the right hand and slay on the left and let not your eye pitty nor your hand spare but wound the lofty and tread under foot the honourable of the Earth and give unto the great Whore double and give her no rest day nor night but as she hath done so let it be done unto her and give her double into her bosome as she hath loved blood so give her blood and dash her children against the stones and let none of the Heathen Nations nor their Gods escape out of your hands nor their Images nor Idols but lay wast the fenced Cities and tread down the high walls for we have proclaimed open War betwixt Michael our Prince and the Dragon Your Captains are mighty men and your Leaders are skilled to handle the sword and they are riding on before you Arise Worm Jacob and fear not but thresh the mountaines to dust for God hath given thee the power of thy Enemies to tread upon and they shall fly before thee and shall fall by thy sword there is none too strong for thee nor no inchantment against thee but thou art blessed blessed world without end Therefore all ye Lambs of my father and ye Camp of the Lords Host wait upon him to fulfill his will for he hath put it into your hearts to make War in righteousness against the Beast and the false Prophet and cursed be every one that riseth not up to the help of the Lord against the mighty the Beast is mighty and the false Prophet is great and they keep the Nations under their power but O thou Beast and thou false Prophet you shall be tormented together thou Beast upon which the false Prophet sits whom thou upholds by thy Law and defends by thy unrighteous power thy power is limited and it shall be taken from thee and thou shalt be overcome and the Lamb shall get the victory and into the pit and lake of fire shall you be turned to have your resting-place And thou false Prophet which hath deceived the Nations and scattered the inhabitants thereof and builded by fraud and daubed with untempered morter thy judgement is past upon thy head already and the Decree of our God is sealed against thee thy smoke shall ascend for ever and ever and of thy sin there is no forgivenesse nor of thy torment no remission Over you doe we and shall for ever rejoyce and sing and over your God and your King the Dragon that old Serpent cursed be he and his memoriall for ever Ye Lambs of the true Shepheards fold with whom my soule resteth whether ever I behold you outwardly yet my heart is with you and I am one of your fold and I lye down with you under the shadow of the Rock upon the Mountain which the Beast cannot touch where we are safe from all our Enemies and am to you well known to be read in your hearts in the Record of the Lambs Book of life and known only to the world by the name of Edward Burrough Written at Dublin City in Ireland To the Camp of the Lord in England LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the signe of the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1656. FINIS