in the World to come Everlasting Life And this is a faithful Saying and worthy to be believ'd and accepted by all and it is believ'd by Thousands and the Truth of it seen and witness'd inwardly Glory to the Lord God for the same O the Glorious Powerful Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ which Thousands do enjoy in their Hearts and Souls Which doth give them perfect dominion over Sin and the Devil who is the Author of it O my dear Friends This is a Many-fold Reward for our Sufferings and I do sensibly say and affirm on God's Behalf That the Sufferings which do attend us in this World for the Truth 's sake are not worthy to be compared to the Glorious Power of the Lord which is already reveal'd in us who have steadfastly believ'd in him and freely have been given up to suffer with him and for him For as our Tribulations have been increas'd for his sake our Consolation in him hath much more abounded so that we can truly and sensibly say as those who suffer'd with him before us did say Greater is he that is in us then he that is in the World by whom we do overcome the World and the Devil who is the godd of it And he hath made us Conquerors through his Love Life and Power and so we can bring in our Testimony for him to his Glory and our own everlasting Comfort That he is able to save unto the utmost all that come to the Father by him So dear Friends every where be Valiant and Chearful in your Sufferings for the Pretious Living Truth and Way of the Living God in which you are come to know your souls Salvation and as good Souldiers of Christ Jesus endure Afflictions and rejoyce in them and through them and over them and Raign in the Lamb's Patience over all Persecution and Persecutors unto the End of your Dayes in this World For dear Friends It is those that endure unto the End that must inherit Everlasting Life and the Heavenly Joy and Divine Riches which is beyond what can be declar'd in words But if any man draws back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him saith the Lord God So all Friends prize your precious Time and press forward in the Truth that so you may grow more and more Spiritually-minded our of Earthly-mindedness for we brought nothing into this World and it is certain we can take nothing out so having Food and Raiment let us therewith be content for here we have no continuing City but though our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd yet have we an Inward Eternal Habitation in the Lord and though our outward Man perish yet do we know a renewing of strength in the inward Man day by day And our light Affliction which is but as for a Moment worketh unto us a far more and exceeding weight of Glory while we look not at the loss of Temperal Outward and Perishing Riches but at the gain of Spiritual and Eternal Riches which the Lord our God is aboundantly inriching us withal in this the Day of the Manifestation of his Great and Glorious Power and Wisdom in us So dear Friends we have no cause to be dicourag'd for we certainly know That the Lord God is with us and he will plead our Cause with all our Adversaries and he is stronger then them all and by his Strength we are upheld and made bold as Lions to meet together to Worship him as he hath commanded us And all our Enemies are not able to pluck us out of our Heavenly Father's Hand but as Christ hath said we do witness it to be true who said My Father is greater then all and no man is able to pluck my Sheep out of my Father's Hand So God Almighty 〈◊〉 you all my dear Friends and Heavenly Relations and Spiritual Kindred whom the Living God hath Redeem'd out of the World which lieth in Wickedness by his Almighty Power which hath wrought Mightily and Effectually in you for your Redemption out of sin and hath brought a Remnant to sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus where the Devil and Sin hath no place And he is daily increasing the strength of the least of his People who wait upon him in the Measure of his pure Light Grace and Spirit already made manifest and those that are Faithful in a little he doth make to inherit great Riches he bears his Lambs in his Arms and gently leads on those who are waiting upon him in the Way of his Righteous Judgments and those that do own him in the Way of his Righteous Judgments he doth shew Mercy unto and though they do know a time wherein they do sow in Tears yet they do not long abide in that Estate but he brings them to reap in Joy as it is witnessed at this day by Thousands who have known a time wherein the Hand of the Lord hath been heavy upon them because of Sin but he hath blotted out and forgiven those that have been brought unto true Repentance and a Forsaking of Sin by his Righteous Judgments and so Times of Refreshment are come unto those who have patiently born his Righteous Judgments and now such can sing forth the high Praises of the Lord in the Land of the Living in the Beauty of Holiness O the Beauty the Beauty that is in Holiness And without Holiness none can be accepted of the Lord God who is Holy for Holiness becomes his House and People forever And the Temple of God is Holy which Temple Faithful Suffering Friends are who have own'd him in the Way of his Righteous Judgments and have been cleans'd thereby in whom he hath appear'd as a Refiner with Fire and as a Fuller with Soap O Friends How precious is that Freedom and Liberty which Christ Jesus the Power and Wisdom of God hath wrought in us and for us O stand all in it forever and none suffer your selves to be again entangled with the Yoak of Bondage which the Enemy of your Immortal Souls once had you under O remember those bitter Dayes and Hours which we spent in Darkness when we knew not the Way of Life and Peace O remember how we did wander as Blind Men and could find no Comfort in all the Earth unto our Immortal Souls and then the Lord God of tender Mercy heard our Cries and Groans in secret and hath rewarded us Richly O let his tender Mercy be had in Everlasting Remembrance by all that have partaken of the same And all Friends Keep your first Love unto the Lord and his pure Living Way which he hath brought you into and none look back into the World and its glory which will Perish and come to an End But keep your Minds chast unto the Living God who hath shew'd you such great Kindness O let not the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Love of other things choak nor hinder the growth of the pure Seed of Life in
any of you nor let not the Storm or Heat of Persecution drive any of you away from the Lord God but all keep your Virginity unto the End And all Friends every where Keep your Meetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ who never fell nor chang'd and feel his Living Vertue in the mid'st of you keeping you Quick Fresh and Lively out of all Carelesness Dulness and Drousiness for these are Uncomly So all have a great Care to keep out of such things and all wait upon the Lord in the Comly Order that you may all be Refresh'd by him in your Meetings and that you may all have Cause to say Good is the Lord and worthy is he to be waited upon for he feeds the Hungry with Good Things And as all do diligently wait upon God in the Measure of his Holy Spirit which he hath given unto them to profit withal they will feel a true Hungering and Thirsting after the Righteousness of God to be made Partakers of it more and more and unto such the Blessing doth belong and God will deal bountifully with such for he delighteth in his People's Diligence And as it is written The Diligent Hand maketh Rich but the Sluggard shall be clothed with Ruggs whose Field grows over with Briars and Thorns And Man in such a State is Miserable and shall not be Crown'd with Honour which God gives unto the Faithful nor can he in that State dye in Peace with the Lord. Therefore all be Faithfal unto the Lord God in all things that when your dayes are ended in this World you may rest Eternally in the Bosom of the Lord as it is written Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they shall rest from their Labour and their Works shall follow them And Friends Our God who is the True and Living God he is Love as it is written of him and all People who do dwell in God they do dwell in unfeigned Love one unto another and also unto their Enemies as the Lord Jesus hath commanded In which Love of God we are raised up to Worship him and in it to watch one over another and to build up one another in Holiness and in it are we Comforted and Edified and are made of one Heart and Mind and made near and dear one unto another and truly tender one over another and careful one of anothers Good every way and in true Humility to Honour and Esteem one another and thereby led to be just and true in all our Words and Actions one to and concerning another and to and concerning all our Enemies in which we do seek the Eternal Good of all People and in which we do live in sweet Unity and pure Peace together as doth become the Family of God O how sweet is the Unity in God's Spirit of Love and Life in which the Bond of Peace is kept without BREACH For in the Spirit of Love and Life all Friends being kept which keeps all Upright Just and Pure the Bond of Peace cannot be broken So in this the Lord God of Heaven and Earth preserve you all my dear Friends unto whom my Love is dear and near in the Lord that so all your hearts may be full of the Pure Love of God which thinketh nor doth no evil unto any but doth good unto all that you may be known to be the Disciples of Christ who said Every Tree shall be known by its Fruit and said A Good Tree cannot bring forth Evil Fruit and he said The Good Man our of the Good Treasury of his Heart bringeth forth Good Things But he said The Evil Man out of the Evil Treasury of his Heart bringeth forth Evil Things Which are the Fruits of the Flesh begotten therein by the power of Darkness which doth Rule in the Hearts of all the Wicked and Ungodly upon the Face of the whole Earth Which Evil Things are Envy Malice Murder Oppression Injustice False-judgment Idolatry Strife Hypocrisie Defrauding one another in Words and Actions Evil Imaginations and Evil Thoughts and Evil Words Pride Covetousness Swearing Lying Drunkenness Whoredom Thieft Lightness Wildness Vain-Laughter Idle-Jesting Whispering False-accusing and Tale-bearing to sow Strife c. So all Friends who do make Profession of the pure Truth and perfect Way of the Lord and to be Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ the Patient and Innocent Lamb of God who did not Sin neither was Deceit at any time in any thing found in his Mouth See how you do follow him your Living Example and perfect Pattern I say Search all with the Heart searching Spirit of the Lord God and see that you stand out of all those before mention'd Evils c. For because of them comes the Wrath of God upon those who do continue in them and do not believe in Christ and follow him who leads out of them and destroyes them For no Vnclean Thing can inherit God's Kingdom But Glory to the Lord God He hath Redeem'd a Remnant from such of the before mention'd Evils as they were guilty of who now know a Pure Peaceable Rest and a quiet Habitation in him in whom he workes to Will and to Do of his own Good Pleasure and he is daily Redeeming those that wait upon him in the Wayes of his Righteous Judgments And so all who do profess the Truth and live and walk contrary to it and thereby cause the Way of Truth to be Evil-spoken of and harden the Hearts of Unbelievers against it and so shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men not entring themselves but by their Evil Example hinder others If they do not Repent while they have time and amend their wayes and walk orderly as becomes the Gospel heavy will the Judgments of God fall upon them in the End And all such who have once known and Professed the Way of Truth and in some Measure and for some time have walked in it but now are turn'd away from it into the Ungodliness again like the Dog to his Vomit and the Sow that was wash'd to the wallowing in the Mire and now are grown so hard-hearted that they can speak Evil of the Way of Truth and oppose it and hate contemn scorn and reproach those who live in it and suffer for it My Soul pitties them Miserable is their Condition O that it were in their Heart to seek a Place of Repentance then it may be the Lord might shew Mercy unto them But if they do go on in Gainsaying as Core did then had it been better for them that they had never been born for Everlasting Torment and Anguish will be the Reward of their wicked work And dear Friends and Brethren and Sisters every where This Testimony am I mov'd of the Lord God to bear for your Consolation viz. That this is the True and Living Faith wherein we stand who have believ'd in the Lord Jesus Christ the true Light and have follow'd the Leadings of his Blessed Holy Spirit which hath led us
Direction And let not your Fleshly Affections be drawn out by the Enemy of your immortal souls to encourage your Children in Wildness nor any Unrighteous Word or Action but still in the Wisdom of the Lord God watch over them and shew your Dislike unto the Evil in your Children and seasonably in the Wisdom of the Lord Reproving and Correcting them for the Evil and Admonishing them to that which is Good not in Rashness nor Fretting but in that weighty Spirit of the Lord God which will keep your own minds Cool and Temperate and that will not harden your Children's Hearts nor provoke them to Wrath against you And Friends Strive not so much to get great Riches in this World for your Children as to bring them up in the Fear of the Lord God for if they come into the Fear of the Lord God and Serve him though you have little to leave them yet will the Lord God provide for them and if they do not Love Fear and Serve God much outward Riches will do them no good but they will be hurt by it as we may see many are at this day who had outward Riches left them by their Parents who were not train'd up by their Parents in the pure Fear of the Lord God but contrariwise in Pride Sports Plays Games Vain words Lightness Wildness Swearing Lying and Drunkenness c. and so growing up in Wickedness which took root in them in their Youth They spend their outward Riches left unto them by their Parents upon their Ungodly Lusts and so Grieve and Dishonour the Lord the more thereby and so it had been better for them that they had never had it And all Friends every where Keep in the Pure Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ which will keep you all Meek and truly Lowly and Humble in Heart and Mind that your Adorning may not be that of putting on of Rich or Costly Apparel but that it may be the hidden Man of the Heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a Meek Pure and Quiet Spirit which with the Lord God is of great Price And be you not nor your Children Conformable unto this World and its Fashions and Customs and Manners which are Corrupt and Vain and Changeable and aboundantly Sinful in Riotousness Gluttonny Drunkenness and Superfluity of Apparel while they suffer the Poor to lie languishing in the Streets for want of a Supply of those things which are needful And this is a crying Abomination in England and many other Parts of that call'd Christendom which is a great Shame to the Bishops who are call'd Reverend Fathers in God a Name very unfit for their Unmerciful Ungod-like and Unchrist-like Nature For God is Love and those that dwell in him they dwell in Love and Love doth feed the Hungry and clothe the Naked with a Garment So the Bishops Priests and Rulers and Rich and Fat and Wanton People who suffer their Poor Neighbours yea and their own Church-Members to suffer want of Food and Raiment while they are Eating and Drinking and clothing in excess without the Fear of God have not a Habitation in God who is Love nor in Christ Jesus So be not you like unto them but keep in the Wisdom of the Lord in putting on your Apparel and in all things else that you may preach forth Righteousness in the whole course of your Life and manner of your Conversation And all dear Friends every where who have been call'd by the Lord God out of the worships of the World which are vain into his own pure Worship which is in Spirit and Truth continue stedfast with the Lord in all things I tenderly beseech you as mov'd by him Oh Friends You that have been moved and commanded by the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to with-draw your selves from the false Teachers who are set up by men and not by the Lord God whose Work hath been and yet is to preach up War Strife and Persecution and to set People one against another to destroy one another O keep your Testimony pure unto the End that so you may all receive a full Reward of the Lord God O Friends you know what War the Priests have prepar'd against us since the time the Lord in his tender Mercy let us see their Deceit and call'd us out from among'st them and constrain'd us to forbear putting into their Mouthes What Havock and Spoil have they made of our Goods and imprisoning of our Bodies divers until Death But O how hath the Lord born up a Remnant who loves him and fears him as upon Eagles Wings And hath made us to bear joyfully the spoiling of our Goods and the imprisonment of our Bodies Glory yea Glory unto his Holy Blessed Vame forever So all be valiant for the Lord God and his Worship which he hath call'd us into and have an Eye unto the Recompence of Reward which the Lord God hath in store for those who continue in Well-doing unto the End So the Lord God Almighty strengthen you all with his Mighty Power in your inward Man and let not an Evil Mind of Vnbelief spring up in any to distrust the Lord concerning outward things For he who feeds the Ravens and clothes the Grass and takes Care for Sparrows he hath provided for us and doth and will provide for us if we do abide in Faithfulness unto him he will not suffer us to want that which is good for us that all the Faithful are fully satisfied in And many have deep Experience of his Fatherly Care over them which hath begotten a depth of Love in their hearts unto him by which they are made strong in the Faith to follow him through the greatest Hardships And so we know him a God near at hand Mighty to Save and do endure Afflictions with Chearfulness because we do inherit his Mighty Power by which we are made Conquerers over Hell and Death and all the Rage and Fury of Man And all dear Friends in England and else-where who have been and yet are under great Sufferings in the Spoil of your Goods and Imprisonment of your Bodies for your Pure Obedience to the Living God in meeting together to Worship him in Spirit and Truth Happy are you and great is and will be your Reward if you continue in Well-doing unto the End O Friends Rejoyce in the Lord who hath given you Ability to suffer for his Glorious Name 's sake knowing that it is not only given unto us to believe in Christ Jesus but also to suffer with him and for his sake and if we do suffer with him we shall also Raign with him But if any should refuse to suffer with him they cannot Raign with him For said Christ he that denies me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven And he said Whosoever doth forsake Father or Mother Wife or Children Lands or Living for my Name 's sake he shall receive in this World Many-fold and
and Weak in the Faith God hath put something into my Heart to write unto you for your Establishment in the perfect Way of the Lord. And this is God's Counsel unto you all Let your Faith remain firm and stedfast in Christ Jesus the true Light and Life of men and all wait upon God in that Measure of his Blessed Light and Spirit which he in his tender Mercy hath given unto you to profit withal that therein you may all grow into a living Sence and Knowledge of God which hath been lost by Transgression that you may all come to be renew'd up into the Pure Spiritual Heavenly and Divine Image of God in which man was made in the Beginning A Noble Vine wholy of a Right Seed So all wait to know your Birth of the Immortal Incorruptible Seed which is the Word of God which Lives and Abides forever which Word Seed Light and Life is to be found receiv'd and enjoy'd within People And Blessed are they who do believe in it and continue stedfast unto the End in them it doth take root and bring forth Fruit aboundantly unto the Praise and Glory of God and unto their aboundant Joy and endless Comfort So all you that have been bound down in sin by the great Enemy of your immortal Souls and who have known great Distresses Anguish and Sorrow because thereof Wait you all diligently upon God in the Light which doth shew unto you your present condition and therein you will receive Power from God who is Light over Sin and the Devil who is the Author of it and so will come to feel and know Christ the true Seed in you to bruise the Old Serpent's Head yea his whole strength and power in you to waste and destroy and he will bring you out of the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons and Daughters of God and so you will come to know that God and Christ is greater in you then the Wicked-spirit call'd the Devil who will certainly bind him and cast him out and take from him all his Armor wherein he trusted But for the Accomplishment of these great and weighty Matters You must all wait upon God with much Diligence and Patience and let the Pure Judgments of God freely take hold of all that is Unrighteous and contrary to God in you that so the Pure Powerful Quickning Word of Eternal Life may freely operate and work mightily in you as a Fire Hammer and Sword that so by it you may be perfectly set free For there is not any thing else that can make free from sin And this is an Eternal Record and True Living Testimony which the Eternal and Engrafted Word of Life which doth Reign in my Heart and in the Hearts of my Faithful Friends doth bear unto you and unto all People upon the face of the whole Earth And whosoever doth Write Print or Speak against the Word Spirit Light and Life of God and Christ within Man and Woman and do say That it is not able to destroy all sin nor able to lead into all Truth nor able to uphold Man and Woman in it They are all Lyars Deceivers and False-witnesses and their Words Writings and Testimonies herein are not of God nor for him but are absolutely of the Devil and for him whose Kingdom stands in Sin which Christ is come to throw down and wholy to destroy So let none believe them in those things for if they do they will be undone by it And so all keep out of all the Shadows and Figures which do not make the Heart and Conscience perfect in the Sight of God And all keep to Christ the Immortal and Eternal Husband and know him to Baptize you with his Spirit and Life which doth burn up the Corruptions And this is the one standing Baptism of which the Apostle did testifie and the one Faith of which he did testifie is to believe in Christ the Light and Life and Word and Power of God who said There is one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God over all through all and in you all So who are come to witness this have no need of outward Shaddows and Elements which are but beggarly in comparison of the Life and Substance So in Christ the Substance Life and Light all are to come to sit down in the Heavenly Places knowing his Flesh and Blood which comes down from Heaven feeding upon it which gives Life and this is the Lord's Supper with which he feeds his Faithful Followers by which they are made strong to resist the Devil and to overcome him So in and with this the Lord God preserve you all and by it strengthen you in your Inward Man that you may follow the Lord God with Chearfulness that you may walk in the Way of the Lord valiantly and never be weary of it nor faint in the hour of Temptation which is suffered to come upon you for the tryal of that precious Faith which the Lord God hath in a measure given unto you but all look unto him who is the Giver of Faith by which the Just lives in Dominion over the Tempter So let none look down at the Temptations of the Devil for that will weaken and do hurt But all when you are tempted look up unto Christ Jesus the great Power and Wisdom of God who is given unto us by the Father to take away all Sin and to lead into all Truth who in the dayes of his Flesh as the Apostle said was tempted in all points like as we are but he did not sin And so it is no sin to be tempted by the Devil unto any wickedness whatsoever but the sin is to consent with the Mind unto him and so to joyn to him and so by him to be led to think or speak or act that which is evil in the sight of the Lord God but out of all this Christ Jesus doth redeem and he is able to preserve and uphold you in Purity and Holiness in all things For he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to the Father by him and that is to free from all sin and of this the Apostle was a true Witness who writ thus of him And though the Devil may go about you like a Roaring Lyon ever seeking which of you he may devour whom the Lord hath redeemed from him yet be ye not hereby Affrighted Discouraged nor cast down in your Minds nor despair of overcoming him you tender and contrite hearted Ones but resist him in the Faith and be stedfast and Christ will succour and uphold you So all look unto him from whom your help comes Given forth by the Spirit of God in the sixth Moneth 1671. through a Try'd and True Witness of those things which he hath here written for the Edification and Comfort of all who are turn'd from Darkness unto Light from the power of Satan unto God And what is here written may be of some service unto those who are yet Strangers from God and his Way and Worship which is Pure I am a Sufferer for Righteousness sake a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus Christ the Light and Life of men at Maidston in Kent in England And my Heart's Desire is that all People might come to believe in Christ Jesus the true Light and so be redeem'd by him from Sin and so from the Curse which is due unto it and from the Devil who is the Author of it that so they might be blessed Eternally And as the Holy Apostle said I do say God would have all men to come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be sav'd But Christ said unto the Wise-men of the World great Professors Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life but ye will not come unto me that you might have Life And as it was then so it is now People will not come unto Christ the Great Power and Wisdom of God to be redeem'd from Sin by him and so to have Eternal Life in him and so many die in their Sins And he said If ye believe not that I am he you shall die in your Sins and whither I go ye cannot come No Unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of God and there is no Repentance in the Grave and all who die and perish in their Sins their Destruction is of Themselves and the Lord God is clear William Gibson THE END