so that his Name may be glorified and he honoured in your bringing forth much heavenly Spiritual Fruit from the heavenly Seed that Christ the heavenly Seeds-Man hath sown in your Hearts that so an Hundred fold of Holiness Righteousness Godliness Vertue and Piety from this heavenly Seed you may bring forth and increase in this Life-time and in the World to come reap Life Everlasting And give no occasion to your Adversaries neither in your Lives nor Words but that you may all serve God in the New Life shewing forth that you are new Men and that you are renewed in the Image of God and that you are born again of the Immortal heavenly Seed by the eternal Everlasting Word that lives and abides and endures for ever And that you do feed upon the heavenly Milk and Bread from above and that your Conversation is in Heaven and that you are cloathed with the fine heavenly Linnen which is the Righteousness of Saints which is Christ's the Heavenly and Spiritual Man's Livery by which his Servants are known by his Badge of Righteousness and distinguished from all the Servants of Old Adam Egypt Sodom and Babylon with their Badge of Vnrighteousness And so be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth And be valiant for the Truth c. and spread it abroad preach Christ and his Kingdom his Light his Grace his Truth to Men that all should walk in it and his dreadful Day upon all the Talkers of God Christ his Prophets and Apostles Words that do not walk in the same Power Spirit and Life Grace and Truth as they walked in I say Preach this to the Magistrates and amongst the Heathen-men and shew your seles to be quickned by Christ who have been dead in Sins and Trespasses but that you are now made alive by him and so shew forth his Light Life and Truth and that you are awakened to Righteousness and therefore shew it forth to them that are asleep in the Vnrighteousness So that the Lord's Glory and righteous Power Truth Light and Life may flow over all to his Glory over all for ever Amen And much I could write to you concerning these things but I have not been very well but blessEd be the Lord God his Everlasting Seed is over all which reigns from Everlasting to Everlasting and my Life is in it And therefore stand and live in the Lord's Name and Power which is against all manner of Vnrighteousness and in the Light which is against Darkness and all the Works thereof and in the Life which is against Death and over Death and all the Actors of it and in the Truth that is over all Evil and against all the Doers thereof within and without And so that in the Light Life Power and Truth of God and in his Holy Spirit you may live in Fellowship and in the Vnity of the Spirit which is your Bond of Peace yea even of the Prince of Princes Peace which the World cannot take away from you Swarthmore the 5th of the 9th Month. G. F. An Encouragement to all the Faithful Womens-Meetings in the WORLD who assemble together in the Fear of God for the Service of the Truth Wherein they may see how the Holy Men encouraged the Holy Women both in the Time of the Law and in the Time of the Gospel though Selfish and Vnholy Men may seek to Discourage them But go on in the Name and Power of Christ and Prosper FRiends Epist 320. You may read in the old World how one FAmily after another till Noah's time served the Lord God And then from Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob and their Wives and after Moses and Aaron had brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt and that they were come to be a great People Moses said I would all the Lord's People were Prophets Numb 11.29 And when a young Man said unto Moses Eldad and Medad do Prophesie in the Camp Moses desired that all the Lord's People were Prophets and he would have had Moses to forbid them But Moses ansered and said unto him again Would to God all the Lord's People were Prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them So Moses here who was Captain Governour and Judge over Israel was far from restraining any from Prophesying in the Camp but reproved his Envy that would have had him forbid them and did moreover encourage them by saying I would to God all the Lord's People were Prophets And surely all the Lord's People are made up of both Men and Women And the Lord having given his Law to the Children of Israel which was Holy Just and Good the Lord said I have poured out my Spirit upon the House of Israel So that by this Spirit they might understand his Law which was Spiritual Ezek. 39.29 Now in the time of the Law there were the Assemblies of the Women for all the Women that were wise of Hearth did work with their Hands about those holy Things which God had commanded And all the Women those Hearts stirred them up in Wisdom Assemblies of the Women under the Law these Women wrought about those holy Things that belonged to the Tabernacle and Sanctuary as you may see in Exod. 35. And likewise the Assemblies of the Women in the 38th Chap. and of the Womens assEmbling at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and in the Margent it 's said They assembled by Troops Now here you may see That the Women were in the Work and Service of God as well as the Men and they had their Assemblies For God had poured out of his Spirit upon the House of Israel to give them an Understanding both Men and Women to do that and make those things which God had commanded which were called holy things which were but Figares and Shadows of the Substance Christ Jesus the Holy One. Now Moses and Aaron and the Seventy Elders did not say to those Assemblies of the Women We can do our Work our selves and you are more fitter to be at home to wash the Dishes or such-like Expressions but they did encourage them in Work and Sevice of God in those things which God had commanded them in the time of the Law For God having pured his Spirit upon the House of Israel God give his Spirit to the House of Israel under the Law to give them an Understading to do those things which God had commanded them by which Spirit their Hearts were stirred up to do God's Work both Males and Females And in the time of the Law the Women were to offer up Sacrifices and Offerings as well as the Men upon God's Altar as you may see Hannah when she brought Samuel and offered him up to the Lord she brought him to the House of the Lord in Shiloh and when she brought him she took up with her three Bullocks besides Flower and Wine So see how she paid her Vows to the Lord and offered up her Sacrifices upon God's
Stripes we are healed Did not he suffer the Contradictio of Sinners who died for Sinners and went into the Grave for Sinners and died for the Ungodly yea tasted Death for every Man who through Death destroyed Death and the Devil the Power of Death and is risen For Death and the Grave could not hold him nor the Powers and Principalities Death could not hold Christ in the Grave with all their Guards and Watches could not hold him within the Grave but he is risen and is ascended far above all Principalities Powers Thrones and Dominions and is set down at the Right Hand of God and remaineth in the Heavens till all things be restored And he is restorign with his Light Grace Truth Power Spirit Faith Gospel and Word of Life so that you read of some that came to sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus And therefore all must bow at the Name of Jesus their Saviou in his Light Grace Truth Power Spirit and Gospel for he hath bowed for you if you rise with him and you must suffer with him if you will reign with him and die with him if you will live with him And all that are dead and buried with Christ and are risen with him they will seek those things that come down from above where Christ sits at the Right Hand of God and there you will seek those things which come down from above and not things which are below For those which seek those things that are below are the Talkers of God and Christ and the Prophets and Apostles words but they are not dead with Christ nor risen with him and therefore they do not seek those things that come down from Heaven where Christ sits at the Right Hand of God But they are them that seek the things that are above To seck those things which are above that are dead with Christ and risen with him they I say do seek those things which come down from Heaven where Christ sits at the Right Hand of God and they have not only sought them but have found them and received them and come to sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus a safe established and heavenly sitting in the heavenly Rest and Habitation in Christ Jesus who is the First and Last and over all from Everlasting to Everlasting Blessings and Praises over all be to the Lord God through him for ever Amen God is a God of Order The Eternal Living God of Truth he is a God of Order and is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace in all the Chruches of the Saints Now the Author of Confusion and not of Peace is the God of the World who abode not in the Truth because there is no Truth in him and when he speaks a Lie he speaks of his own for he is a Liar and the Father of it Now the Jews which did the God of the World's Lusts and them called Christians that do were in Strife Confusion and Disorder For the Jews they went out of the Order of Aaron and oses going from the Spirit of God poured out upon the House of Israel and so went from the Lord and his Law into Confusion and Disorder which the living God of Truth was not the Author of Also the Christians who go from te Light Grace Truth Power Spirit Gospel and Faith which Christ Jesus is the Author of they go from Christ and his Order who was not madee a Priest after the Order of Aaron but after the Order of Melchizedeck who was without beginning of Days or end of Life an Everlasting Order And such go into Strife and Confusion that go from Christ which Christ and God is not the Author of but the World's God who got into Man and Woman by Transgression and Disobedience of the Command of God who is the Author of Confusion Strife and Disorder in whom there is no Truth For what Order can there be in the World's God and amongst his Subjects in whom there is no Truth For in whom there is no Truth there is no true Order and they that abide not in the Truth Grace Light Spirit Gospel Faith and Word of Life they abide not in the Order of God and Christ And such will cry against the Order of the Truth Light Grace Spirit Gospel Faith and Word of Life which bring into the Order of Christ and the Order of the Living Eternal God of Truth who is a God of Order and delights in Order having Pleasure in them that live in his Sprit and Law of Life and the Gospel and its Order For Blessed is the Man that delights in the Law or Order of God it was so under the Old Covenant Much more Blessed is the Man or Woman that delights in the Law and Order of Love and the Law and Order of Faith and the Law and Order of Life and of the Gospel the Power of God And none keep the Law of Faith but who keep in the Faith which Christ is the Author of which wourks by Love And none keep the Law of Life but who keep in the Law of the Spirit and walk in it which is in Christ Jesus the heavenly and spiritual Second Andam who was before old Adam who under the World's God out of Truth in whom there is no Truth nor true Order but Confusion and Disorder And therefore all who come to God who is a God of Order must come bythe Grace Truth Light Power Gospel Faith and Anoitnting the Word of Life within and such come to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to delight in God and Christ's Order So you may see that God is a God of Order who called Aaron and Moses and they had an Order from God And Melchizedeck had an Order and Christ is after his Everlasting Order Christ'r Kingdom is Everlasting And Christ the Truth hath an Everlasting Kingdom that stands in Everlasing Righteousness and Power and Joy in the Holy Ghost yea an estableshed Kingdom that will never have an end and cannot be broken and no imperfect defiled nor corruptible thind enters into is And all Christ Jesus's Subjects of his Everlasting Kingdom that see it and enter into it are born again not of the Will of Man but of an Incorruptible Seed by the Word of God and have the Incorruptible Milk of the Word of God by which the grow from Babes to Men of God and have the Fine Linnen the Incorruptible Cloathing the Righteousness of Christ which is the Linnen which they do wear in Christs Kingdom So all Christ's Subjects of his Kingdom are known by their Birth and Cloathing and live in the Order of hiw Gospel of Love Lifew Light Grace and Truth and no Man comes into his Kingdom and Order but by the Light Grace Truth Faith Power and Spirit and Anointing and Word of Life within through which they know Christ and his Everlasting Kingdom that stands in Power and Righteousness and Joy in the Holy Ghost
New Testament Circumcision is of the Spirit and of the Children of the New Covenant their Bodies are the Temples of the Living God and none are saved or justified by the Works and Righteousness of the Law in the Old Covenant but by the Faith of Christ and his Righteousness And so all the Figures Shadows and Types Christ the substance of all Figures and Types in the Old Testament and Covenant Christ the Substance is come and abolishes them and doth them away and he saith Behold I make all things new So the New Creature in Christ Jesus seeth the Old Things are past away and all Things are become New So the New Creature is the new Bottle that holds the new Wine he hath the new Garments and a piece of new Cloth must not be sewed in the Old Garment So the old Garments and old Bottle and old Wine must be kept distinct from the new Garments and new Cloth and new Bottles and new Wine So the New Covenant and New Testament is distinct from the Old Covenant and Old Testament The New and Living Way in the New Testament and New Covenant is distinct from the Way in the Old Testament and Old Covenant and the new Creatures in Christ Jesus that beholds all things are become new to them and see that the old Things are past away from them Here is a Distinction betwixt the new Creatures and the old Creatures that cry up the old Thing and live in them and the New that crieth up the New and liveth in them And in the Old Testament the outward Jews defended their Religion by Carnal Weapons and outward Armour but in the New Testament the Children of the New Covenant their Armour and Weapons are Spiritual not Carnal And in the Old Testament and Old Covenant there was a Tribe of Priests that offered up outward Offerings and Sacrifices but in the New Testament the Children of the New Covenant are called A Spiritual Houshold and a Royal and a holy Priesthood to offer Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ And in the Old Testament and the Old Covenant the Priesthood was made by the Law of a Carnal Commandment but Christ our High-Priest in the Testament was made after the Power of an endless Life And the High-Priest in the Old Testament entered into the outward Sanctuary called The Holy Place made with Hands which Priesthood and Sanctuary is abolished and done away by Christ But Christ in his New Testament is entered into Heaven it self now to appear in the Presence of God for the Children of the New Testament who do praise God through Jesus Christ their Mediator who makes their Peace betwixt them and God for he that sitteth on the Throne maketh all things new and reconciles to God The Temple built by Solomon The Temple of Solomon a Figure of Christ and his Church was partly a Figure of Christ and partly of his Church For when Christ suffered the Temple of his Holy Body to be destroyed and was raised again from the Dead John 2.19 then Christ raised up us the Christian Church which is the true spiritual House and Temple wherein God dwelleth 1 Cor. 6.19 And Isaiah the Prophet and also the Apostle speaking of Christ's Sufferings saith in Isa 53. and Acts 8.33 how that the Lord should make Christ his Soul an Offering for Sin Christ's Soul an Offering for Sin who poured out his Soul unto Death and the Prophet saith Who shall declare his Generation Yet the Prophet saith He shall see his Seed namely Christ and did not Christ see his Seed his faithful Apostles and Disciples And the Apostle saith For both he that Sanctifieth namely Christ and they who are Sanctified are all of one for which cause Christ is not ashamed to call them Brethren So then they are of his Seed which can preach Christ and can declare his heavenly and holy Generation And again he saith I will declare thy Name among my Brethren So here Christ calleth his Believers his Brethren Christ our Brother and again he saith Behold I and the Children which God hath given me are for Signs and for Wonders in Israel so they are now to all outward Professors without Possession Isa 8.18 and Heb. 2.11 And Isaiah saith The Lord himself shall give you a Sign namely the outward Jews Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his Name Emanuel Isa 7.14 Mat. 1.23 This Christ Christ the Emanuel the Emanuel God with us he was a Sign to the Jews and a Wonder when he came and he is a Sign and a Wonder to all outward Professors of the Scripture without Possession where he is revealed and manifest in his People for he saith Behold I and the Children whom the Lord hath given me are for Signs and for Wonders in Israel So where Christ the Son of God is revealed in his People and they come to be of his Seed Brethren and Generation and declare his Generation they are for Signs and for Wonders and for Gazing-Stocks to all the outward Professors of God and Christ and the Prophets and Apostles without the Possession of their Life and Spirit And the Apostle saith That Abraham was called a Friend of God James 2.24 We are the Friends of God if we keep his Commandments And Christ saith to his Disciples Ye are my Friends if ye do whatever I command Henceforth I call you not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But I have called you Friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you Here Christ called his Disciples sometimes Friends and sometimes Brethren as before as in John 15.19 and Heb. 2.11.12 And as many as received Christ to them he gave Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believed on his Name which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God John 1.12 13. These are they that declared the Generations of Christ And John saith Behold or take notice what manner of Love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God Beloved now we are the Sons of God therefore the World knoweth us not because it knew him not 1 John 3.1 2. Here you may see the World knoweth not God nor his Sons So it is no marvel if the World that lieth in Wickedness be haters of God and haters of his Son and Sons but greater is he that is in God's Sons and Daughters than he that is in the World by which they do overcome the World as in 1 John 4.4 And the Lord said to Job When the Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy Job 38.7 There was cause of Joy to hear that heavenly Harmony And God hath Anointed Christ with Oil of Gladness above his fellows Heb. 1.9 Moses was faithful in all his House as a Servant
which God hath clled me to that I am and in the Elect before the World began This is to go every where abroad amongst Friends who are of the Royal Priesthood which destroys that which made a separation from God From the Royal Seed goes the Royal Commandment The Royal Priesthood which Seed remains for ever from the Royal Seed to the Royal Seed which are the Royal Priesthood which have the Royal Law and Love to Friends and Enemies which is beyond the Love of the World and before it was That is the Royal Love where no Enmity can come FORGIVE us as we forgive them cry Papists cry Episcopal cry Presbyterians and Baptists and Independents these cry and say the Lord's Prayer Forgive us our Debts and Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and then like a Company of senseless Men without Understanding fall a fighting one with another about their Trespasses and Debts and never mind what they prayed as though they never looked for Forgiveness and to receive the things they praycd for Forgive us as we forgive That pray Forgive us Lord as we forgive them and fall a persecuting and imprisoning one another and taking their Brethren and Fellow-servants by the Throat about Religion which in their Prayers they said Forgive us as we forgive them and will not forgive but say their Prayers as the Pharisees did the Scriptures and did not this is he that must be cast into Prison until he pay the utmost Farthing and must not come out And this hath been their Work since the Apostles Days and is not here Law The Apostles and Christ did not bid that any should kill about their Words but that they should love Enemies but ye will kill about their Words who were killed for speaking them forth And so all Friends dwell in the Seed of God which is Heir of the Power of the World which is without End in that dwell and keep your Meetings that ye may all be Possessors ALL Religions will fight about Religions and Worship and kill like the Heathen about their Gods Jews Gentiles Papists Protestants of all Sects which are out of the Power of the Lord and the Spirit that the Apostles were in And so they are all out of the Royal Spirit Fighting Religions that hath the Royal Spiritual Weapons and out of the Royal Seed which saith Love Enemies which is the Royal Command to the Royal Priesthood And they confess they have not the same Power and Spirit of the Apostles so then its true for them to say We are not the spiritual Men we have not spiritual Weapons to fight withal if ye do not help us Higher Powers we fall For we hold our Traditions and that which we have is by Tradition is by the Earthly Powers For we are not made Ministers as the Apostles were by the immediate Spirit and Power and Gifts as the Apostles were therefore the Higher Power must help us and to them go we with our Packet of Letters as Saul did for we are not spiritual-weaponed Men as Paul was For in all these things are the Priests guilty THE Papists Common-Prayer Men Presbyterian Independents Baptists persecute one another about their Inventions which they have invented their Mass their Common-Prayer their Directory Persecuting Religions Church-Faith which they have made and framed their Inventions and Handy-works and not for the Truth For they know not what Spirit they are of that persecute and would have Mens Lives destroyed about their Church Worship and Religion for Christ said He came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them Now they that know not what Spirit they are of that will persecute and destroy Mens Lives and not save them we cannot trust our Bodies Souls nor Spirts into their Hands that know not what Spirit they are of themselves they are not like to be trusted with others that would destroy by a Law which the Disciples would have done by Prayer to command Fire to come down from Heaven to destroy them that would not receive Christ Which Sort Christ rebuked and told them that they did not know what Spirit they were of And now if they did not know what Spirit they were of do these which have persecuted about Church and Religion since the Apostles Days who would compel Mens Bodies Goods Lives Souls and Estates into their Hands by a Law or else make them suffer These are not the Ministers of Christ the Saviour that destroy Mens Lives and they know not what Spirit they are of and the Lives Bodies and Souls are not to be trusted in their Hand And ye that do persecute shall have no Resurrection to Life except ye Repent But they that do know what Spirit they are of themselves they are in the unrebukable Zeal and by the Spirit of God they offer up their Spirits their Souls and Bodies to the Lord which are his whose they are to keep them G. F. WE are of the Royal Seed Elect and Precious Epist 172. before the World began that which ever the Sodomites crucified grieved and vexed by their unrighteous ungodly Conversation who lived in Fulness and Pleasures and abundance of Idleness And we are of that Seed that cannot serve the Wills and Lusts of Men and bow and stoop to them who are a People redeemed out of Kindreds Kingdoms Peoples and Nations who are of the Houshold of God built up together a spiritual House whose Builder and Maker is God and do reign upon the Earth as Kings and Priests unto God whom we serve Day and Night The Houshold of God And are of the Seed that hath been slain from the Foundation of the World which the Princes of the World and Councels and the Great and Wise of the Earth crucified who lived in the Form of Godliness of the Saints Words but quench'd the Spirit in themselves and being that Birth born of the Flesh persecuted that which is born of the Spirit We are of the Seed the Anointed which the Powers of the Earth combine and take Counsel together against whom God we see sitting in Heaven The Royal Priesthood laughs them to Scorn We are the Royal Priesthood who offers daily to the Lord the Spiritual Sacrifice the Holy Generation and the peculiar People zealous of good Works cloathed with the Zeal of Christ against the bad Works and the Workers thereof Therefore of all Nations Peoples Sects Ways Professions and Talkers of Religion are we hated by them that are out of the Way and Power of God though they profess Scriptures Church-Worship and Ministry yet such have crucified Christ and the Lord of Glory We are they that witness the Promise of God fulfilled and that do witness that the Age is come wherein God would shew forth his exceeding Riches and Kindness which was wrought amongst the Apostles The Anointed of God We are the Anointed of God and his Prophets that he saith Touch not who are as the Apple of
Jerusalem as in Zachary 14.12 So the outward Jew had but one Temple in the whole World and there they went to Worship in it and the Priest had a Chamber in the Temple And when Christ came he ended the Priesthood he ended the Offerings and the Temple and the Worship therein of the outward Jews and set up another Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth For when the Woman of Samaria that came to Jacob's Well said unto Christ How that our Father 's Worshipped in this Mountain where Jacob's Well was and the Well was made before Jerusalem was or the Temple either for Jacob died in Egypt and after him his Sons came out of Egypt and builded a Temple in Jerusalem and so there they set up a place of Worship after the Well was made So Christ said unto the Woman The Hour is coming and now is that they that Worship the Father must Worship him in Spirit and Truth and not at Jerusalem nor at this Mountain is God worshipped For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth And then did Christ set up his Worship which was before the Popes Turks Common-Prayer Presbyterian Independant and other Worships were and the Worship that Christ Jesus set up was in the Spirit and in the Truth Now where is this Spirit and where is this Truth Is it not within People So as the Jew outward was to Worship in the Temple and there was but that one Temple commanded of God to be built which Christ came to end who set up his Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth So seeing the true Worship is in the Spirit and in the Truth and the Truth is within you in the inward parts the Spirit of God is within you you must not grieve vex nor quench it And so every Man and Woman in the whole World must come to the Spirit and Truth in their own Hearts by which they must know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and to feel the Spirit in their own Hearts and in the Spirit of Truth to Worship the God of Truth who is a Spirit So now as the Jew outward was to offer his Sacrifice in the outward Temple and no where else which Temple is now thrown down he is not a Jew who is one outward but he is a Jew who is one inward in the Spirit and in the Truth and so all ye Jews inward in the Spirit ye must worship in the Truth and in the Spirit And so the Jew inward can worship no where but in the Temple What Temple It is not a Temple that is made with Hands The Jews outward worshipped in the Temple that was made with Hands but the Jew inward his worship is to be in the Spirit and in the Truth and in a Temple not made with Hands So to worship in the Spirit and in the Truth is to worship in the Temple and no where else And so every Man and Woman in the whole World must worship in the Temple What Temple The Temple that is not made with Hands Where the Spirit of Truth is Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost that is to say the Holy Spirit And so every Man and Woman must be brought to Truth in their own Hearts and brought to the Spirit of God in their own Hearts This is the standing and perfect Worship and it will stand when all the Worships of old Adam are gone and when the Jews and Turks and Christians Worships that be not in the Truth are gone For this is a standing and perfect Worship the Spirit of God is Perfect And this is an Universal Worship and brings every individual Man and Woman to the Spirit of God in their own Hearts This makes no Sect but every one in the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace is in the Truth which the Enmity is out of And this Spiritual Worship is in the Spirit and Truth Christ Jesus the Spiritual Man the Heavenly Man which the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven set up above Sixteen hundred Years since And so every one is to be in it and to walk in the Truth and in the Spirit and to come to the Truth in their own particulars For that Spirit makes Sects which persecutes People for not following them but they are all to Worship in that Spiritual Worship which Christ Jesus set up and every Son and Daughter of Adam is to come to the Truth and Spirit in their own Hearts and so in that Spirit and Truth to Worship the God of Truth who is a Spirit for he seeketh such to Worship him And Christ persecuted none for not following his Worship but all are condemned by the Spirit in their own selves who grieves it and vexes and quenches it and all are Condemned with the Light and Truth that hate it who will not come to it but hate it So they all that Persecute about Religion run into Heaps and Sects and Darkness and are with the Light condemned And so none can Worship the God of Truth but who comes to the Truth in their own Hearts and none can Worship God who is a Spirit but who comes to the Spirit of God in their own Hearts which mortifies Sin and Evil which Spirit leads into all Truth So every one who is a Jew inward must Worship in the Spirit and Truth and every one must be brought to the Temple which is not made with Hands and to Worship in the Spirit which Christ set up who is the Spiritual Man Carnal Men may set up Worships who have not the same Spirit and Power the Apostles had And such leads People into Sects and Heaps and leads People out of the Spirit and persecutes one another about their Worships which is not the Way of Truth nor the Command of Christ but on the contrary to love one another So all that Worship in the Spirit and Truth comes to the Spirit and Truth in their own Hearts and loves one another and loves Enemies And so as the outward Jews Priests had Chambers in the Temple which Priests Chambers and Temple Christ hath ended So let Christ Jesus now have a Chamber in your Temple to sanctifie your Temple and cleanse your Temple that the Glory of the Lord may fill your Temple The Jews Priests were to cleanse the Temple and when they had cast the Rubbish out of it the Glory of the Lord filled their Temple And so Christ as I said before hath ended the Jews Priests Chambers and Temple And so all ye who are Jews inward in the Spirit let Christ your Priest have a Chamber in your Temple that he may cleanse your Temple and cast the Rubbish out of it which is come in by Transgression who doth renew you up into the Image of God as Adam and Eve were in before they fell so that the Glory of the Lord may fill your Temple And so as the
Jew outward had but one Temple to Worship in the Jew inward must not have two for then they make a Sect and goes from Truth in their own Hearts and from the Spirit of God And so to Worship in the Truth and in the Spirit is to Worship in the Temple So every Man and Woman come to this one Temple Where is this one Temple Where the Spirit is in the Heart and the Truth in the inward Parts And this is the Temple that is not made with Hands do you not know that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost And so this is the true Worship that Christ set up in the Spirit and in the Truth every Man and Woman in the whole World must come to it the Truth in their own Hearts that by it they may know the Truth and the God of Truth And by the Spirit they may know God who is a Spirit and so Worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth and this is the standing universal Worship that Christ the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven the Spirtual Man set up above Sixteen hundred Years since John 4. when he denied the Mountain Worship where Jacob's Well was and the Temple Worship of the outward Jews at Jerusalem where they went to the outward Temple Yearly to Worship And so every one are to Worship in the Spirit and come to the Spirit and Truth in their own Hearts and in that to Worship the God of Truth who is a Spirit as Christ commanded And so by the Spirit of Truth they come to Jerusalem which is above which cometh down out of Heaven from God So this is a true certain standing infallible and perfect Worship for Truth and the Spirit of God is certain infallible and perfect and so this Worship is a certain perfect Worship And so every one as I said before come to the Truth in your own Hearts and to the Spirit of God or else you cannot Worship the God of Truth who is a Spirit And every Man that Worships in the whole World who would find this Spirit and Truth they must go into the Temple And so in the Spirit and Truth Worship God who is a Spirit and this Spirit gives an Understanding to know God who is a Spirit and the Truth and to know the God of Truth who is to be worshipped in the Spirit and Truth who is God blessed for ever Amen G. F. FRriends To call Men Masters or Gracious Lord and putting off the Hat to them Epist 261. and the Man's Scraping with his Foot and the Woman's making a Curchey These Titles and Fashions not giving and observing doth not break the Law of Christ nor of God which respects no Man's Person but they are the customs of Nations which are vain and the great Manners and Civilities that lies among Christians is in saying You to one Man and the Man's putting off his Hat and scraping with his Foot and the Woman's bending her Knees and in these and such like things lies their Civilities their Honour and Manners and Well-Breeding as they call it But the right Manners is to keep People from evil Words which corrupts good Manners and God's Law and Christ respects no Man's Person And Man and Woman in their not Youing nor Scraping and Bowing are not unmannerly nor uncivil for Man was forbidden by the Angel to bow to him but to bow to God and to Worship him and to bow at the Name of Jesus who is called The Power of God and the Word of God for the Angel said to John he was his Fellow-servant So Servants were not to bow one to another and if they do is it not reproved by the Angel and reproved by Christ the seeking Honour one of another For how can you believe saith Christ that receive Honour one of onother John 5. So it is a mark that they are Unbelievers who receive Honour one of another and they are like the Pharisees that love the Praise of Men and are called of Men Master and like the Heathen that will be called Gracious Lords For saith he you are all Brethren and have one Master and Lord Christ Jesus and one Lord who is the Creator of all For all things were made subject to Man and Man subject to God all Creatures was to fear and dread Man and Woman but Man and Woman were to fear and dread God So all Christians are to have one heavenly spiritual Head Christ Jesus and heavenly spiritual Master and they all as Brethren are to serve and worship him And the Prophets and Apostles Thou'd God and Christ Kings and Princes and great Men and Women as you may see in the Scriptures and they were never offended at it And you never read in all the Scriptures of any that feared God that were offended at any for saying Thou to a single Person and standing with their Hats on unless it were the Pharisees that loved the praise of Men as it is said in the Book of Job If I give flattering Titles to Men my Maker would soon take me away And so all their flattering Titles and loving the Praise of Men and seeking Honour one of another it comes from that Ground that is out of Truth in the Image of the Beast and the Dragon who will be worshipped but the Angel would not be bowed down to by the Servant of the Lord he says God must be worshipped So they that Worship the Beast and the Dragon receive the Mark from the Dragon he Brands them and Marks them with his Spirit out of Truth and then he receives Honour from them and the vain Glory they give to him but they which are sealed with the Spirit of Promise they have their Father's Mark in their Fore-heads these Worship the Living God and are in his Image and his Likeness that he made them in the Beginning and in the Spirit of Christ Jesus and those are Christ's G. F. ALL Friends and People That is to be condemned in your selves which hath led you from Christ from God Epist 262. and from Vnity in the Light I say is condemned by the Light and must be executed and killed and stoned with the Living Stone and run thorow with the Living Sword and hammered down with the Living Hammer to pieces and burnt up with the Living Fire and so made an end of For that which leads into Loosness Whimsies Imaginations false Visions though it be condemned yet if it be not executed it is in danger to rise again and if it rise again and get over you it will be your Ruler if it get out of Prison and be alive and not executed For after a thing is condemned as Drunkenness Adultery Fornication or any manner of Loosness whatsoever or runnings out from the Spirit and Light if it be condemned and Judgment passed upon it if it be not executed there is danger of it's reviving For after a thing is Condemned and Judgment passed upon it it is to
Spirit you may be led into all Truth up to God and Christ from him who is out of the Truth Amen saith my Soul G. F. DEar Friends every where Epist 289. be faithful to God who hath been faithful and true to you therefore be you true to God and faithful Witnesses to him To be faithful Witnesses of Christ in time of Persecution and to Christ Jesus that now ye may all have Riches and Treasure laid up in store against a time of want storms and tempests that you amy stand for if you do not stand now you are as bad as such Professors who stood only when the Sun shined and crept out when it was fine and fair Weather but when a Storm or Tempest came then they ran creeping into their Holes and Corners and sculked into by-corners and fled by bace-doors who were ashamed or their Religion and what they Professed but when the Sun did shine then they showed their Enmity to the Righteous And therefore be you of the Faith of Dvid and of his Spirit who said I was Young and now am old I never saw the Righteous for saken nor his Seed begging Bread and the Lord to encourage his People saith In all their Af-flicions he was Afflicted and the Angel of his Presence saved them and Christ tells you It 's he that Suffers and is Persecuted when his Children are persecuted And so it 's for the Lord's sake that the JusT suffer by the Unjust and you read how such as suffer the spoiling of their Goods and Scoffing and Mocking yet they were not to forsake the Assembling themselves together as the manner of some was for they that suffer with Christ shall reign with him for the Lord may try you who hath blessed you with outward things whether your minds do stand with him or in the outward things G. F. DEar Friends Epist 290. Live in Love for that is of God and doth edifie the Body of Christ and keep in the Truth of God which the Devil is out of To live in Love and Peace with God and one with another and walk in Righteousness and then you will walk in Peace with God and one with another and walk in Holiness for that becomes the House of God and in Holiness you will see the Holy God among you And so that you may keep the Vnity in the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace and dwell in Love one with another for all Eyes in upon you and some watches for Evil but do you answer the Good in all in your Words and Lives This is the Counsel of the Lord God to you all and that you may be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World and as a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid so that all that do profess Christ and God may shew forth Christ and Godliness in Life and Word G. F. To all the Womens Meetings that are Belivers in the Truth FRiends Keep your Womens Meetings in the Power of God EpisT 291. which the Devil in out of and take your Possession of that which your are Heirs of and keep the Gospel-Order Man and Woman helps meet in the Image of God For Man and Woman were helps meet in the Image of God and in Righteousness and Holiness in the Dominion before they fell but after the Fall in the Transgression the Man was to rule over his Wife but in the Restauration by Christ into the Image of God and his Righteousness and Holiness again in that they are helps meet Man and Woman as they were in before the Fall Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Lord. Abraham did also obey the Voice of his Wife Sarah in casting out the Bond-Woman and her Son Dorcas a Woman was a Disciple So there was a Woman Disciple as well as Men Disciples and mind the Women that accompanied her And Wo-men are to take up the Cross daily and follow Christ daily as well as the Men and so to be taught of him their Prophet and fed of him their Shepherd and councelled of him their Councellor and sanctified by him who offered up himself once for all And there were Elder Women in the Truth as well as Elder Men in the Truth and these Women are to be teachers of good thins so they have an Office as well as the Men for they have a Stewardship and must give an Account of their Stewardship to the Lord as well as the Men. Deborah was a Judge Examples of amny good Women Miriam and Huldah were Prophetesses old Annah was a Prophetess and a Preacher of Christ to all them that looked for Redemption in Jerusalem Mary Magdalen and the other Mary were the first Preachers of Christ's Resurrection to the Disciples and the Disciples could not believe their Message and Testimony that they had from Jesus as some now adays cannot but they received the Command and being sent preach'd it So is every Woman and Man to do that sees him risen and have the Command and Message Daughters shall Prophesie as well as Sons So they are to be obedient that has the Spirit poured upon them Women are to Prophesie and Prophesie is not to be quenched Them that has the Testimony of Jesus are commanded to keep it whether Men or Women Priscilla and Aquilla were both Exhorters and Expounders or Instructers to Apollos So in the Church there were Women Instructers and Prophetesses and Daughters Prophetesses in the Church for Philip had four Virgins that were Prophetesses and there were Women Disciples in the Church and Women Elders in the Church as well as Men. So Women are to keep in the FGovernment of Christ and to be Obeyers of Christ and Women are to keep the ComelyOrder of the Gospel as well as Men and to see that all that have received Christ Jesus that they walk in Christ Jesus and to see that all that has received the Gospel do walk in the Gospel the Power of God which they are Heirs of for this is a Day for all to keep their Possession in the Gospel-Order who be Heirs with Christ of the increase of whose Government there is no end So the Foundation of our Womens Meetings is Christ to all them that be Heirs of him and of his Government And the ground of our Order of the Womens Meetings is the Gospel the Power of God which was before the Devil was and all that be Heirs of the Gospel which hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them which shines over him that hath darkned them and was before he was I say they are Heirs of the Comely Order of the Gospel and therefore I say take your Possessions of it and walk as becomes the Gospel and keep the Comely Order of it and in it keep your Meetings And here is the Ground and Foundation of our Womens Meetings Now Mothers of Families that has the ordering of Children Maids and Servants may do a great deal of Good
standing that by it they may be ordered and directed in his Holy Service and Business in his Holy Church which Christ is the Holy Head of as they are directed and ordered by the Lor's Power and Wisdom to praise and magnifie and glorifie him with Thanksgiving both in your mesn and Womens Meetings and all other Meetings in the Name of Jesus Christ for he is in the midst of them their Prophet Priest Teacber Shepherd Bishop and Counsellor opening with his heavenly Power feeding with his heavenly Food counselling with his heavenly Counsel sanctifying them to present them to the Holy God without Spot over-seeing them with his Holy Power and Spirit that God may have the Praise and the Glory through Jesus Christ in all and through all who is bleffed for ever So Friends are not to meet like a Company of People about Town or Parish-Business neither in their Mens nor Womens Meetings Frienas to feel the Pewt of God in their Meetings for the Affairs of Truth but to wait upon the Lord and feeling his Power and Spirit to lead them and order them to his Glory that so whatsoever they may do they may do it to the Praise and Glory of God and in Unity in the Faith and in the Spirit and in Fellowship in the Order fo the Gospel and the Devil and his Instruments cannot get into this Gospel which is the Power of God and that makes him rage and he would not have the Woman to have a share in it who first deceived the Woman and now would again nor the Men neither Nor he cannot get into the worship of God which is in Spirit and Truth which the Devil is out of and therefore keep your Possessions in the Power of God and your Habitations there within and in Christ Jesus who bruises the Head of the Serpent who is the Head of all false Orders and Disorders and has made the World like a Wilderness and he in his Instruments is against the Order of the Gospel and the Power of God that Men and Women should be in the Possession of and the Dignity thereof And this many spoke evil of in the Apostles Days and so they do now but the Power stands and the Order of it over his Head and his Instruments and Christ is the same to Day as Yesterday and so for ever and of the increase of his Government there is no End So all that be Heirs of Christ and of his Power and Righteousness are Heirs of his Government and they see there is no End of the increase of it And you may see how the Apostle after he had convinced People he brought them into Order of the Gospel and the Jews after they came out of Egypt they were brought into the Order of the Law of God And as the Christians come to believe in Christ then they are to come into the Order of the Gospel So as I was first moved of the Lord God G. F. moved first to preach the Gospel to go up and down the Nation to preach the Gospel then after the Lord moved me to go up and down to exhort and to write that all People might come into the Possession of the Gospel and the Order of it which is the Power of God which was before the Devil was which is not of Man nor by Man and his Word by which all things are upheld and ordered to the Glory of God And Christ is a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck So you may see there was a Heavenly Order in the Power and Spirit of Christ's Priesthood as there was of Aaron's of whose Order Christ came not And the Apostle saith to the Church Let all things be done decently and in order And this Order was in the Power of God the Gospel 1 Cor. 14. Afterwards to exhort to the walking in the Order of the Gospel where all Decency is And the Apostle saith Though he was absent in the Flesh yet he was present with them in the Spirit rejoycing and beholding their order to wit the Churches Order and their stead fastness in Christ And as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him So this was the Spiritual Order of the Gospel which the Apostle in Spirit beheld and does admonish them unto in whom their walking should be to wit in Christ the Spiritual heavenly Man and not to walk in Old Adam who was without this Spiritual heavenly Gospel-Order which is the Duty of all true Christians to walk in Christ and his Gospel-Order And it 's said in Psalm 37.23 The steps of a good Man is ordered by the Lord and that is by his Power and Spirit And in Psalm 50. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew forth the Salvation of God and whoso offereth Praises Glorifies me saith the Lord. So they that offers up Praises by the Spirit they glorifie God which all must keep to and not quench And all whose Conversation is ordered aright it is by the Power of God the Gospel for they are kept by the Power of God unto the Day of Salvation and this is the right Order and everlasting Order which all must keep and walk in by which all Conversations must be ordered aright that all may see their Salvation Christ Jesus who is the Head of the Church and who fees and receives him has Life Everlasting and through him they have Peace with God So all in him live and meet in whom you have Life and Peace that is Everlasting that none can take away which Peace is not this World's Peace And also the whole Church of Christ which are the Believers in the Light Children of the Light living Stones that makes up the Spiritual Houshold over which House Christ is the Head True Believers a Chosen Generation c. all such Believers Men and Women are a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation a Peculiar People that they should shew forth the Vertue of Christ that hath called them out of Darkness into his Marvelous Light So into him the Life to wit Christ Jesus by whom the World was made here in him they know their Election before the World began So a Royal Priesthood Christ's Church is called offering up Spiritual Sacrifices to God who is a Spirit and this Royal Priesthood has a High Priest made higher than the Heavens to wit Christ Jesus and this Royal Priesthood is not after the order of Aaron whose Order was proved by his Rods bearing Fruit laid over Night in the Tabernacle and in the Morning brought forth Fruit but your Order is proved by your Rods budding and bringing forth Fruit in the Morning of God's Day which are the Fruits of the Spirit through which Spirit you come to offer according to your Order which is in the Power of God the Gospel the Spiritual Sacrifices To offer up Spiritual Sacrifices c. the first Fraies of the Spirit to God who is a Spirit according
to your Order as I said before of the Gospel the Power of God For the Jew outward was to offer the first Fruits of the Earth according to the Order of Aaron but according to the Order of the Gospel you both Men and Women are to offer the first Fruits of the Spirit to God who is a Spirit over all blessed for ever And shew how the Lord has blest you in your Spiritual Fruits and how you have been Captives in Spiritual Egypt and how you were redeemed Much more I might Write concerning these things but they are hard to be uttered or to be born for there has so much Strife and Foolishness entred into the Minds of People and a want of the stilness and quietness in the pure Spirit of God in which things are revealed that hath been vailed in which things are opened that hath been hid and uncovered that hath been covered But wait all in the Dilligence in the holy Life by which the holy things are seen and received in which the holy Vnity and Fellowship is So no more but my Love G. F. To all my dear Friends Elect and Precious in America STand fast in the Faith which Christ Jesus is the Author of Epist 314. by his heavenly Ensign To stand fast in the Faith in your heavenly Armor and your Feet shod with the Preparation of the Heavenly Gospel of Peace and your Heads preserved with the Helmet of Salvation and your Hearts fenced with the Breast-plate of Righteousness and so stand feeling and seeing God's Banner of Love over your Heads manifesting that you are the good Ground that God's Seed hath taken Root downward in and springs upward in and brings forth Fruits in some Sixty and some Hundred fold in this Life to the Praise and Glory of God always beholding the Sun of Righteousness that never sets ruling the supernatural Day of which you are Children and the Persecutors Sun the heat of it which rises and sets again cannot scorch your Blade which it may do that Seed that grows on the Stony Ground And therefore be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and fear him And be Valiant for God's Truth that can break their Fetters their Goals and their Bonds in sunder and can make your Fleece to grow again after the Wolves have torn the Wooll from your Backs for the Rod of the Wicked shall not be always upon the Backs of the Righteous And therefore mind Christ who is the first and last who bruises the Head of him who is the Head of all Persecutors to wit the Devil And consider how all the Faithful in all Ages suffered from Righteous Abel to Just Lot and the Children of Isreal by Pharaoh and the true Prophets by the false and Christ and the Apostles by the vagabond Professing Jews out of the Possession and what rejoycing it was to them to suffer for the Lord Jesus and how it was given unto them not only to Believe but also to Suffer so it was the Gift of God to them not only to Believe but to Suffer and to bear them up in their Sufferings And consider how all the Martyrs and Saints have suffered since the Apostles days by the Heathens and false Christians and so there is no new thing under the Sun And therefore keep your Meetings in the Name of Jesus And keep your Meetings in the Name of Jesus whose Name is above every Name in whose Name you have Salvation and be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and sound his Name abroad and keep in the Truth and give no just Occasion to the Adversary for the Lamb must have the Victory and keep in the Lords Power that is over all and in his peaceable Truth in which you will seek the Good and Eternal Welfare and Salvation of all People And the Prophet Isaiah speaking of Christ says In all their Afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his Presence saved them so all Friends feel the Lord in all your Afflictions And the Apostle saith We our selves glory in you to wit in the Churches of God for your Patience and Faith in all your Persecutions and and Tribulations that you indure So here you may see the Saints are one anothers Joy in the Lord who doth uphold them in all their Persecutions Tribulations and Sufferings and therefore look over the Devil that is out of Truth that makes to suffer to Christ who bruises his Head and in Christ who is First and Last in him have you Rest Life and Peace And you see by Faith Examples of Faith Moses chose rather to suffer Afflictions with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season So by Faith he esteemed the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt And by Faith Moses forsook Egypt not fearing the Wrath of the King for he indured as seeing him who is invisible and so by Faith God's People now forsake Spiritual Egypt And by Faith the Mouths of the Lions were stopp'd and by Faith they indured Tortures not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection and by Faith they underwent all the cruel Mockings Scornings Bonds and Imprisonments and by Faith they underwent Stoning and Sawing asunder and were tempted and slain with the Sword and they wandered about in Sheep skins and Goats-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy c. Now all these lived in the one Faith by which they saw him who was invisible which is the Faith of God's Elect now which Christ Jesus is the Author and Finisher of which Faith upholds his People now as it did them against the Persecutors in Days and Ages past And hold fast the Hope which anchors the Soul which is sure and stedfast that you may float above the Word's Sea for your Anchor holds sure and stedfast in the bottom let the Winds Storms and raging Waves rise never so high And your Star is fix'd by which you may steer to the Eternal Land of Rest and Kingdom of God So no more but my Love to you all Swarthmore in Lancashire the 12th of the 12th Month 1675. G. F. To Friends in Barbadoes DEar Friends To whom is my Love in the Holy Truth Epist 315. my desire is that you may all be valiant for it against all Deceit that the Camp of God may be kept clean Faithful in their Testimenies and all may be faithful in your Testimonies of Light and Life against all those things which have come up in this Night of Apostacy from the Light Life and Power of God So look at the Lord and his Eternal Power which hath brought you out of the Night of Apostacy to his Eternal Praise and his Power hath preserved you to this Day The Lord with his glorious Power was with us in all our Assemblies at this Yearly Meeting he hath the Dominion and over all evil Spirits gave Dominion to his
Altar And other Places might be shewed of the Womens Offerings and Sacrifices And you may see Hannah's fervent Zeal to God and what a large Speech she made in magnifying and exalting the Lord in 1 Sam. 1st and 2d Chap. And so you may see the Offerings and Sacrifices of the Women were accepted upon God's Altar as well as the Mens But the hire of a Whore was not to be brought into the House of God for any Vow for it was an abomination to the Lord Deut. 23.10 Now Hannah's Husband and the other Womens Husbands Hannah's Offering that offered up their Offerings upon God's Altar were not offended at them nor did they say their Offerings were enough for them both but every one was to offer up their Peace-Offerings and Thanksgiving-Offerings themselves and other Offerings So here youmay see the Service and Work of the Women and how serviceable the Women were in their Assemblies in the time of the Law about the Tabernacle and Holy Things and how the Women offered upon God's Altar as well as the Men they had their Liberty But the hire of the Whore was to be kept out of God's House and not to be offered up upon God's Altar So ye may see man and Woman were meet helps in Paradise before the Fall and Death reigned from Adam till Moses and after Moses received the Law from God which went over Death and Sin that brought it who saw the State of Man and Woman in Paradise Men and Women in the time of the Law were meet helps again to one another in the Work and Service of the holy Things about the Tabernacle and Sanctuary and the Women had their Assemblies And it 's said in Joel 2. and in Acts 2. That the Lord would pur cut of his Spirit upon all Flesh in the last Days or Times So this Spirit being poured upon all Flesh in the Christian Times God poureth his Spirit upon all Flesh under the Gospel Sons and Daughters Hand-maids and Servants old Men and young Men that by the Spirit of God all these might have his Visions Prophesies and Dreams and this is his Spirit by which all should profit in the things that be Eternal and to serve God in the Spirit both Men and Women Sons and Daughters old Men and young Men Hand-maids and Servants and all offer up to God his Spiritual Sacrifices For all being dead in old earthly Adam Christ the heavenly Adam has tasted Death for them all and is a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World and he enlightens all and his Grace hath appeared unto all and his Spirit is poured upon all Flesh and his Gospel which is the Power of God is preached to every Creature under Heaven And now must not all receive the Grace and believe in the Light and receive this Gospel and walk and labour in it both Men and Women Sons and Daughters old Men and young Servants and Handmaids Yea I say the Gospel being preached to all Nations and to every Creature under Heaven old Men and young Servants and Handmaids Sons and Daughters I say then must not all these receive this Gospel and the Light and Grace And are they not all to walk in it and to offer up their Spiritual Sacrifices upon the heavenly Altar in the New Covenant and to walk in the New and Living Way and all to receive the Light of Christ which enlightens all and to become Children of Light and to feel the Blood of Christ to cleanse them from all Sin which they have in old Adam So as the Women were to offer in the old Covenant and in the time of the Law upon the outward Altar their Offerings and God poured out his Spirit upon the House of Israel that they might understand and do what he commanded them At which time they had the Assemblies of the Women which were not forbidden So now in the time of the Gospel and the Day of Christ which enlightens all and in the time of his Grace which hath appeared unto all Men to teach them and to bring their Salvation and in the time of his Gospel preached to every Creature and in the time of his pouring out of his Spirit upon all Flesh that they might understand and walk and live in his Gospel and by his Spirit offer up their Spiritual Sacrifices So in this the Time and Day of Christ the captain of our Salvation must not all these Labour in the Gospel and in the Word and in the Grace and in the Light and know and do God and Christ's Work and Service about his heavenly Tabernacle and Sanctuary Assemblies of the Women in the time of the Cospol c. Hath not every one their Service that are enlightened And his Grace that hath appeared unto them are they not Stewards of it And must not they have their Assemblies of the Women in the time of the Gospel and of the New Covenant and in the time of Grace and Light and Life as well as in the time of the Law and of the old Covenant And are not all to albour in that which tends to God'd Glory and Praise and Honour For which End he hath made them all and for which End he hath redeemed them and converted them and translated and sanctified them to make them VessEls of his Honour and of his Grace and Mercies And so now the End of all our Men and Womens Meetings in the time of the Gospel the Power of Christ being the Authority of them is That they might all labour in his Power and in his Grace and in his Spirit and in his Light to his Service and his Business in Truth and Righteousness So the Women in the time of the Gospel Light and Grace are to look into their own selves and Families and to look to the Training up of their Children for they are oft-times more amongst them than the Men and may prevent many things that may fall out and many times they may make or marr their Children in their Education So now they come to be exercised in the Grace of God and to admonish and exhort reprove and rebuke and to keep all their Families modest honest vertuous sober and civil and not to gibe Liberty nor indulge that which tends to Vice or Lasiviousness or any Evil or Idleness or Sloathfulness or the Fashions of the World which pass away and to stop all vain Words and idle Talking and Stories and Tales which are unproffitable but rather to turn their Ears to Godliness which they should be trained up and exercised in and not to fulfil the Lust of the Eye for that being satisfied brings the Pride of Life and then comes the Lust of the Flesh and this is not of the Father but of the World And if either Men or Women suffer such things they suffer that which defiles their Children and Families And therefore such things are to be reproved in Families and their Children to be stop'd from going
this Adversary to Man and Woman and God's Order and Government and Teaching and Christ that does bruise his Head is the Head of all his People that fits under his Teaching and under his Order and Government which they are to walk in So the same Spirit is risen that rose against Noah in the Old World yea it is seen what the Sons of God run into then even that which grieved God by following that Spirit which led from God which led Adam and Eve also from God But Noah was preserved in the Ark over the Floods when the Old World was drowned but all God's People are preserved in Christ Jesus over the Floods of the World and that Spirit that led Adam and Eve into the Fall and to feed upon that which made them think they should be wiser than God had taught them I say they are preserved in Christ Jesus the Ark over all the Floods of the Adversary and from the Judgments that God brings upon him and them that follows him And as Noah was preserved in the Ark over the outward Floods that drowned the Old World so will God's People be preserved from the Fire and Brimstone that is prepared for the Wicked and the Devil and his Angels And the same Spirit is risen now that led Nimrod to build Babel a City to preserve him and them after the Flood but God did confound Them and their Work And so he will do all such Builders For you see how God did confound all the Jewish Builders yea the Wise Master Builders who rejected Christ the Corner-Stone and his Order and his Government and his Counsel And the great City Babylon which this Spirit and its Followers has built since the Apostles is come into remembrance with God which the same destroying Spirit has built that led Adam and Eve from God and from the Order he placed them in So this same Spirit which hath led Man and Woman from the Order the Apostles were in strives to lead People from it now where it is risen And the same Spirit that led Cain to kill Abel who afterwards built a City and the same Spirit that led Adam and Eve from the Command of God in Paradise leads from it now but God will lay Cain's City waste and there is no Lodging in it for the Saints who seek another City whose Builder and Maker is God And the same Spirit is risen now that arose in Pharaoh and in Corah Dathan and Abiram in Pharaoh to oppose the People and stop them from going out of Egypt and walking in the Law of God in which they might worship God which Law of God was Good Just and Holy and went over all Transgression and Sin which led into Death that it might reign and not the Lord and his Law And that Spirit that led Corah Dathan and Abiram who thought Moses took too much upon him and busied himself too much pretending that the People were Holy so would not have them go further but there to have made a stop and set down according to its Will But see how they were stopp'd and what became of Pharaoh how he was sunk in the Sea and the other into the Earth And what became of them that opposed Aaron in his Priesthood The Spirit of Coran risen now to oppose the Servants of the Lord. their Rods did not bud yet they would have been Teachers and Ministers but had not the Fruit in the Tabernacle in the Morning that they might see how to deal their Bread to the hungry and therefore they whose Rods did not bud God's Fire consumed them for they have nothing to offer to God but manifest Presumption and Rebellion And see the end of such And the same Spirit that rose against the Prophets in the Jews who resisted the Holy Ghost and rebelled against the Spirit is risen now and is the same Spirit that deceived Adam and Eve in Paradise which led the People from God and his Law and his Prophets But what became of these Jews and what was their end Some to the Fire some to the Sword and some to Captivity as you may read And those that rebelled against Moses and Joshua and Caleb wandred in the Wilderness till they perished and came not to the good Land And therefore keep under Christ Jesus's Teaching To keep under the Teaching of Christ who is the Prophet God has raised up like Moses whom all should hear and obey And the same Spirit is risen now that rose against Christ and the Apostles And Christ called them Serpents and of their Father the Devil the Destroyer the Adversary who had deceived Adam and Eve by his false Teaching and envied their Happiness and led them from God So you may see how these Jews high and low were gone from God and his Law and his Command by hearkning to and obeying this Spirit which had led Adam and Eve to disobey God's Command and therefore they would not receive his Son nor his Order nor Doctrine And what became of all these Jews was not their City laid waste and they scattered over all Nations and they destroyed of the Destroyer who had denied Christ their Saviour that wept over them and would have saved them from Destruction And such as came to John and was baptized by him and rejoyced in his Light for a season and many that followed Christ and said he was a Prophet yet at last these turned from him that descended and ascended and he told them that rejoyced in John's burning Light for a season God's Mind was not abiding in them and that they had not seen his Shape nor heard his Voice at any time and that they received Honour of Man but knew not Christ the heavenly Man that received not Honour of the earthly Man who received their Favour one of another And such as said he was a Prophet when he said They must eat his Flesh the heavenly Bread that came down from Heaven they forsook him for their Minds turned downward to feed upon that which was below And the same Spirit is risen now The same Spirit that rose against the Apostles is risen now that rose against the Apostles as you may see in their Epistles in the Romans Corinthians and in Peter Timothy Titus Jude and John Some got the Form of Godliness and denied the Power and some were Enemies to the Cross of Christ the Power of God others were getting another Gospel than the Power of God which brought them under the Curse others were speaking the things of God in the Words that Man's Wisdom taught them others their Faith was standing in Words and not in the Power of God others their Faith was standing in Paul and Apollo's which should have stood in Christ Which grieved the Apostles for their Faith should have stood in Christ whom they preached Others with good Words and fair Speeches deceived the Hearts of the Simple And therefore all they which preach'd Faith and made shipwrack of
be not blasphemed And likewise Titus was to exhort the young Men to be sober-minded and here you may see the Apostle which did forbid one sort of Women to be teachers which were Usurpers of Authority which both the Law and the Gospel forbids yet the Law and Christ and the Apostles in the Gospel incouraged the Honourable Women to Preach and to Teach For Christ sent the faithful Woman to declare and preach his aged And to be teachers of good things and honourable and faithful Women to Prophesied and Teach and to be teachers of good things as before That is his Charge to them in general Then he comes to Particulars charging them that they should teach the young Women to be sober and discreet chast and good and to love their Husbands and their Children that the Word of God be not blasphemed So these to be were as Mothers to the younger Women and were publick Women in their publick Services and Charge that was committed to them And a Bishop and an Elder or a Deacon was to order and rule well his own House and to have his Children in subjection with all Gravity For if a Man know not how to rule his own House And to rule well their own House how shall he take care of the Church of God So every Man and Woman is to teach instruct and order their own Children and Families as the Jews did in the old Covenant then much more they should Train them up in the new Covenant which exceeds the old so that in all things they might give thanks and praises to God that in all things the Lord might be glorified in all their Families So all Christian Families are concerned in these Particular Services before they come to the General Service to wit to be Overseers and Ministers faithful Men as Fathers and faithful Women as Mothers and Teachers of good things and the young Men and Women as Brethren and Sisters in purity And so let none spoile their Families with bad Lives And to keep their Tongue under the Bridle and unruly Tongues with letting the Poison of Asps be under their Tongue by which they spoile and corrupt their Families which begets into a loose and bad Language but that is to be bridled by the Word of God for a soft Tongue breaketh the Bone the Tongue of the Just is as choice Silver and the Tongue of the Just is Health and useth Knowledge aright and a wholsome Tongue is a Tree of Life and who keepeth his Mouth and his Tougue keepeth his Soul from Trouble And after that Solomon had spoken of a Vertuous Woman he saith And the Law of Kindness to rest in their Tongne In her Tongue is the Law of Kindness and her Children riseth up and calls her Blessed and her Husband also praises her He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear And therefore all is to keep in this Law of Kindness and there your Candle doth not go out by Night and your Virtue will flow for the Hoary Head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness and Better is he that rules over his own Spirit than he that takes a City for he that hath no rule over his own Spirit is like a City that is broken down without Walls then the security and strength is gone And to rule over their own Spirit And therefore let every one keep his own little City with the Spirit and Power of God by which you have Power over your own Spirit and then the Power of God is your strength and keeps you safe in it that be led by the Spirit of God And so that all Men and Women may exercise their Talent their Gift that God hath given them in the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World that is the Light in Christ that they may become Children of the Light and grafted into Christ and walk as Children of the Light and of the Day And that all may profit in the Manifestation of the Spirit that God hath given them and be led by the Spirit that you all may be the Sons and Daughters of God in this day of his New Covenant and New Testament wherein God poureth forth of his Spirit upon all Flesh which none is to grieve vex nor quench nor rebel against but obey it And the Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared unto all Men to teach them to live Godly Righteously and Soberly All to be faithful Stewards of the Grace of God and to deny Ungodliness and Unrighteousness And therefore all are to be Faithful Stewards of this Grace of God which teaches them and brings them their Salvation For the Apostle saith As every one hath received the Gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God that the God of all Grace and Christ by whom it comes may be glorified in all his People who gives unto them freely the spiritual and heavenly Gifts And the Gospel of Peace and glad Tidings God and Chrift hath sent to be preached to every Creature under Heaven And all you that have received it by which Life and Immortality is brought to Light in you by which you see over him that hath darkned you by the Everlasting Gospel the Power of God and are come to be Heirs of this Everlasting Gospel the Power of God so you are Heirs of the Everlasting Order of the Gospel for the Power of God is the Order and Authority of all your Meetings This Everlasting Gospel the Power of God is an unlimitted Order and this Glorious Order of the Gospel the Power of God is beyond the Order fo Aaron God's Order is beyond the Or-of Aaron and beyond all the Orders of the Heathen And the Power of God cannot be limitted though it may limit that which is contrary to it and out of the Truth So our Order and Government is of Christ and his Gospel and in his Light and Holy Spirit and we are Heirs of it Being Heirs of Christ and grafted into him by Belief and all his Sons and Daughters do know his Glorious Liberty and their rest in him The Liherty in Christ is a glorious Liberey For we have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we can cry Abba Father for the Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ And now Friends as I said before Train up all your Children in the Fear of God in his New Covenant of Light and Grace Friends to train up thier Children in the Fear of God that they may know Christ who is their Baptizer and Circumciser and he sprikles your Consciences and Hearts with his Blood to cleanse you from all Sin and the Lord writes his heavenly Law in their Hearts that they may obey it and do it For doth
gathered together He being in the midst of them they may as well deny Christ as deny his heavenly Order of his Gospel and his Heavenly Spiritual Government And all them that deny the Men and Womens Meetings People are to come into the possession of what thay profess in the New Covenant in the Restoration out of Death and Darkness by Christ and in his Gospel of Light and Life they may as well deny the Preaching of the Gospel if People shall not come into the Possession of that which is Preach'd and Practice it For the Faithful Men and Women that are restored into the Image of God by Christ Jesus as Adam and Eve were in before they fell they were meet-helps in Righteousness and in the Image of God and in Christ Jesus yea they were meet-helps one to another and Christ makes them as Kings and Priests to Reign upon the Earth over the Serpent and the Devil the Destroyer in the Power of God which was before he was in which is the holy Order And they do that offer the Spiritual Sacrifices to God and are his heavenly Witnesses stands for God and Christ and his Righteousness in his Light and Life They that do offer Spiritual Sacrifices are to stand up for God and Christ by which they are grafted into Christ and so by and in his Power Light and Life stands over Death and Darkness and the Prince and Power of it and in it Reigns over him And so doth Praise God and his Son that liveth for ever and sings Hallalujah Swarthmore the 10th Month 1679. G. F. An Epistle to Friends for them to read MY Dear Friends The peaceable Truth live in Epist 361. which you have received from Jesus your Saviour and that by the Grace and Truth that is come by him into your Hearts No bringing forth good Fruits but by abiding in Christ you may all abide in Christ and grow up in him from whence it comes For as Christ saith Except you abide in me ye cannot bring forth Fruit. And there is none that abide in Christ but who abide in his Light Grace and Truth And Christ saith Without me ye can do nothing who is the Heavenly and Spiritual Man without Christ we can do nothing the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him So without this Truth and Grace and Light and Power and Spirit of Christ Jesus which you receive from him you cannot abide in him This brings you to abide in him and to have his Presence to strengthen you so that through him you may do all things which he commands and requires of you And now The Grace and Truth that comes from Christ brings to Christ the Rock and Foundation Dear Friends to the Light and Grace and Truth in your Hearts you were turned at the first and now as you do all walk in the Light and are established in the Grace and Truth in your Hearts Minds and Souls it brings you to Christ the heavenly spiritual Rock and Foundation and to build upon him with the Light Grace and Truth that comes from him and then you will see such as Christ speaks of that did profess him and preach him but did not abide in his Light Grace and Truth so not in Christ Jesus and such Christ will not know that do not abide in him with his Light Grace and Truth from whence it comes For the Grace And the Grace and Truth that cometh from Jesus makes inward Christians Truth and Light that cometh by Jesus this makes inward Christians and the Jews inward who have the Praise of God though may be not of Men. And the Apostles in their Days they had to do with several sorts of People some that preached Christ of Envy and some of Contention and some of Good-will notwithstanding the Apostles rejoyced that Christ was preached But then after a time when many had gotten the Form of Christianity and Godliness and denied the Power thereof he exhorted the Faithful that kept their Habitation in Christ Jesus to turn away from such And yet such went under the Name of Christians else they could not have the Form of Godliness And likewise Such as have the form of Godliness but deny the Power of it are to be turned away such as got the good Words and fair Speeches with which they deceived the Hearts of the Simple these were got to be Preachers among the Christians And the heady high-minded and fierce Despisers these had the Form of Godliness though they denied the Power of it which they were turned from So they that lived in the Light Grace and Truth and the Power and Spirit of Christ were to turn away from such that had the Form of Godliness and denied the Power And such as these that had the Form of Godliness and denied the Power were come farther than such as taught for Doctrine the Rudiments and Precepts of the World and Doctrines of Men or the professing Jews and Gentiles that stood against the Name of Christ which were altogether Unbelievers of the very Form of Godliness of the New Covenant And likewise such that were doting about Questions and Strife about Words The vain Talkers were the Persecutors of the Church in the Apostles days and so are now vain Janglers and Disputers Men of corrupt Minds and those that were unruly and vain Talkers many of these were Teachers which were Troublers of the Churches in the Apostles days And those that Peter and Jude cried against that were come so far as Balaam to Prophesie and Cain to hear the Voice of God and a Corah which came out of Egypt many of these got up to be Teachers having high swelling Words which the Apostle judged amongst the fallen Angels and the old World and Sodom who were turned to be Mockers And such-like as these were they that separated themselves being sensual having not the Spirit And so it seems these did set up Separations from the Apostles and Saints in their Days And the Apostle declareth how the Lord saved his People out of the Land of Egypt and afterwards destroyed them that believed not Angels left their first Habitation and the Angels that kept not their first State but left their own Habitation he hath reserved in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day And so these which went under the Name of Christians that had been convinced and had got a Form of Godliness and Christianity that kept not their first State in the Light and Grace and Truth and by it their Habitation in Christ Jesus they came under the Chain of Darkness And therefore Friends you see how the Apostle was troubled with the false Apostles and Satan's Messengers that got among the Corinthians and how they despised the Apostle And likewise what was got up among the Romans and Galatians and in the Days of John as he manifests in
's sake and so it is the Gift of God with his Eternal Spirit and Power that doth uphold us in all our Sufferings which hath made so many to finish their Testimony for the Truth in Goals and Prisons and not to love their Lives to the Death but love God and Christ Jesus above their Lives and all outward things as Practice and Experience have declared it And now dear Friends To be faithful to the end be faithful in Christ Jesus to the end that you may all have the Crown of Life and that Peace from Christ Jesus which the World and all the Apostate Spirits from the Truth cannot take away from you I say neither the World with their outward Persecutions and spoiling of Goods nor the Apostate Spirits from the peaceable Truth with all their Lies and Defamations and their filthy scandalous Books and evil Tongues though they be like the raging Waves of the Sea casting up Mire and Dirt whose Folly is manifest to all that hear and see them yet all this cannot disturb the Peace of the Righteous And all the restless unquiet unruly Murmurers and Complainers that are filled with false Jealousies and are the wandering Stars who are wandered from the Witness of the Lord in their own Hearts such their Judgments do not linger nor their Damnation doth not slumber though they may be suffered for a time to try God's People And now Friends you know envious Cain was a Sacrificer as well as Abel but out of the Faith and Righteousness who Murdered his Brother Abel he may be said to have been a Type of Judas who was a partaker of the Ministry yet betrayed his Master And you read that Ishmael and Esau were circumcised as well as Isaac and Jacob but Esau hated Jacob and would have slain him and Ishmael scoffed at Isaac and so he that is born of the Flesh persecuteth him that is born of the Spirit and that Birth is not Heir with the Seed of the Promise though it may come into the outward Form and outward Profession And likewise you read of Corah Dathan and Abiram and their Company and their Rebelling against the Lord and his Servants Moses and Aaron and of their false Liberty but what became of them in Numb 16. you may see And likewise how that the Jews after the Lord brought them out of Egypt made themselves a Calf of their Jewels and Ear-rings as in Exod. 32. Psalm 106.19 The Jews made a Calf in Horeb and worshipped the Golden Image and forgot God their Saviour who had done great things in Egypt and wonderous things in the Land of Ham and murmured in their Tents and hearkened not to the Voice of the Lord And therefore God overthrew them in the Wilderness and they came not into the promised Land And you read how the Jews run into false Liberty in the Days of Baalam and joined with Baal-Peor Examples of Apostates of old Times and how the Anger of the Lord was kindled against them and what a destruction he brought upon them who had turned against the Lord and his faithful People as in Numb 25. And likewise how often the Jews murmurred against Moses and Aaron and what a destruction came upon them in the Wilderness that none of that old Stock the Lord brought out of Egypt that dishonoured him though they had seen his Glory none entred into the Land save Caleb and Joshua but they perished in the Wilderness for their Murmurring and Rebelling and therefore take heed of Murmurring and Rebelling against the Lord and his Spirit but in all things learn to be content And also you read in Judges how often the Jews forsook the Lord and what Judgments came upon them and also how the Jews turned against the Prophets and imprisoned and persecuted them And in the Days of the Kings as in the Chronicles how David and many of the Prophets and the Righteous suffered But what became of them that made them suffer And likewise in the Days of Christ and his Apostles how did they fuffer by the professing Jews And there were many Comers and Goers in the Days of Christ that could say Lord Lord But such do not enter into the Kingdom of God except they do the Will of God And you read how the Apostles and the true Church were troubled with false Christians and false Brethren whom Paul writeth against in many of his Epistles and Peter and John and Jude and John in his Revelations And therefore all Friends dwell in the Seed Christ Jesus in whom ye cannot be deceived who bruises the Head of the Serpent who is the Head of all Deceivers and the Head of all Enmity and false Ways Worships and Religions and the Head of all false Liberties But in Christ Jesus in whom all Nations are blessed is the true Liberty in him all stand fast so far as he hath made you free and in him all walk as ye have received him to the Praise and Glory of God In whom you have all Eternal Life Peace Rest and Salvation and in him the Lord God Almighty preserve you all in Love Vnity and Fellowship Who is able to support you and supply you with his Eternal Hand and Power with what you do need in all your Sufferings and Trials Amen G. F. To Friends at the Yearly Meeting in York DEar Friends Who are turned to the Light Epist 395. and are the Believers in the Light which is the Life in Christ my Desires are To be established upon Christ the Rock That you may all be established upon him your Eternal Rock and Foundation and grow up in Christ Jesus the Second Adam by his Light Grace and Truth that is come from him for you know Christ had many Enemies and his Disciples and Followers and Moses in the time of the Law such as turned their Backs on the Lord Christ and his Followers have many Enemies and erred from his good Spirit and rebelled against it they turned against the Lord and Moses and Aaron and they went from the Fellowship of the Law of God and his Spirit and then Destruction came upon them Such Jews were they that rebelled against Christ and his Apostles and yet were great Professors of the Old Testament And such that were called Christians that got the Form of Godliness and the fair Speeches and good Words but denied the Power thereof and so the Order thereof Such as these separated themselves and erred from the Spirit and the Faith and so from the Unity of the Faith and the Fellowship of the Spirit of God Such were and are to be turned away from by all them that are in the Faith and the Spirit of God and all the Spiritual Witnesses in the Tabernacles of God testifies against such though they may make a great Profession of Christ and the Apostles Words but deny the Power and err from the Spirit and the peaceable Truth Such cannot be the true Worshippers of God in the
Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him Of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ that I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death Which every true Christian should be of the same mind as this Holy Apostle was So here you may see the Apostle exhorts People to Suffer with Christ and for him but not as Murderers Thieves Evil-doers and Busie-bodies in other Mens matters And as David saith Depart from the evil and do good seek peace and pursue it keep thy Tongue from evil and thy Lips from speaking guile For the wicked have set their Mouths against the Heavens and their Tongues walk through the Earth But be not as the Horse and the Mule whose Mouth must be held with the Bit and the Bridle And David saith I will take heed unto my Ways that I Sin not with my Tongue I will keep my Mouth with a bit while the Wicked is before me And this is good Advice that God's People be not ensnared by the Wicked's Snare And therefore it is good for all God's People to be careful and wise that none do suffer as Busie-bodies in other Mens matters or as Evil-doers c. but let their Sufferings be foi Righteousness sake and with Christ that they may reign with him And keep out the Athenians Spirit spending their time in hearing and telling of News which the World is full of in whom your Trouble is But in me ye have Peace saith Christ And therefore as every one hath received Christ so walk in him and let your Conversations be in him Amen And blessed are they who suffer for Righteousness sake and in whose Hearts there is no Enmity And blessed are they that dwell in the Love of God that can bear all things and are in the Wisdom of God which is pure and peaceable For Troubles Afflictions Sufferings Imprisonments spoiling of Goods and many Perils do attend God's People by the World that lieth in Wickedness And therefore it is good for all God's People to keep in Christ their Sanctuary in whom they have Eternal Rest and Peace And also God's People are exercised now as in days past with Trials and Perils by false Brethren as the Church of Christ was in the Apostles day such as went from the Chruch in Cain's Trials by false Brethren Corah's and Balaam's Way as the Apostle saith Fierce Despisers false Accusers of those that are good and you may read in 2 Pet. 2. throughout of such as forsook the right Way and of many following their pernicious Ways by reason of whom the Way of Truth was evil spoken of And so it is now as it was in the Apostles days And the Apostle saith to the Church You have heard say that Anti-christs should come even now are there many Anti-christs They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out from us that they might be manifest they were not of us 1 John 2.18 19. Christ did forewarn his Disciples of these Anti-christs and false Prophets that they should be in wardly Ravening Wolves and by the Fruits of their Trees they should be known to be of the Nature of the Wolf and not of the Lamb Such as these went from the Church in the Apostles days into the World and such as these are gone from the Church of Christ now into the Spirit of the World their evil Spirits are tried as in 1 John 4. And the Sufferings and Perils by false Brethren have been more Grief many times to the Church of Christ than open Persecution for they cause the Way of Truth to be evil spoken of that turn from the Way of Righteousness like the Dog to the Vomit or the Sow to the Mire And in the Way of Righteousness Christ Jesus God preserve all his People from all the biting devouring Dogs and greedy Swine And you read how Righteous Abel suffered by his false Brother Cain The Righteous suffer by the Vnrighteous and did not Ishmael persecute his Brother Isaac And would not Esau have destroyed his Brother Jacob But God prevented him And was not Ishmael and Esau in an outward Profession of the Circumcision And how often did the Jews that were brought out of Egypt by the Power of the Lord turn against Moses and Aaron and other Elders and so turned against the Power and Spirit of God that brought them out of Egypt whom the Lord destroyed in the Wilderness and they never came to see the Land of Promise And how often did the Jews turn against the holy Prophets of God after they came into the Land of Canaan and what was their end when they had rebelled against the good Spirit that God gave them to instruct them And were not these holy Prophets the Jews Brethren whom they killed and imprisoned and presecuted And was not Joseph sold into Egypt and persecuted by his Brethren but God was with him and preserved him And so he will his faithful People And did not Moses say unto the Children of Israel A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up of your Brethren him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you Deut. 18.15 Acts 3.22 and 7.37 Now when God had raised up this Prophet Christ the Prophet Christ Jesus you see many of the Jews would not receive him nor believe him nor many would hardly hear him though they were called Brethren but they Mocked him and Persecuted him and Blasphemed him and the Chief Priest gave Money to Juaas one of his Disciples to betray him And what became of all the Jews and of Judas that betrayed and persecuted Christ and the Prophets And what became of all those false Apostles and Anti christs that went in Cain's Corah's Balaam's and Jezabel's Way And will not all of the same Spirit in our Age that hath gone and goeth in the same Way or Path have the same End yea their latter End will be worse than their Beginning and to be as the Synagogue of Satan who maketh them to Accuse Slander and Revile God's Righteous People from whom Christ will save and deliver his People who bruises the Head of the Serpent and against such Synagogues of Satan the Wrath of the Lamb is turned And in Christ the Lamb of God the Saints have their Rest and Peace and can Sing Hallelujah Bednal-Green the 14th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. A General Epistle DEar Friends Go not out from your Habitation Epist 402. but keep in your heavenly Habitation in the Spirit of Grate and Truth and the Gospel the Power of God To keep our Habitation in Christ Jesus and the holy Divine Faith you will feel in your
an Example to Parents and the Arke of God for not restraining his Children from Evil And again if that they must be left to themselves why did the Prophets and the Apostles say That they must not quench nor vex nor grieve nor rebel against the Spirit of God nor turn the Grace of God into Wantonness nor walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace but walk in the Spirit and in the Truth and in the Light and to love it and not to hate it for they that do not love the Light but hate it are condemned by it and so grow in the Condemnation and are not in the Justification of Life The Lord God commanded Abraham to Circumcise himself and his Children and Servants that were bought with Money and were born in his House He was to bring all his Males into this Covenant of outward Circumcision and the Lord said That Soul shall be cut off that is not Circumcised he hath broken my Covenant of outward Circumcision as you may see Gen. 17. Here you may see Abraham was to teach and instruct his Family and Servants and he was not to keep any Man or Servant that was Uncircumcised in his Family Now you that profess the New Covenant True Circumcision are not you and all your Children and Servants to be Circumcised with the Spirit of Circumcision And do not they that have not the Body of Death and the Sins of the Flesh cut off by Circumcision go down into the Pit and not into Paradise and the kingdom of God And therefore may not such Uncircumcised by the Spirit hurt the Families of true Christians in the Light Therefore consider Abraham was not to suffer and of his Children and Servants that were bought with his Money or born in his House to be Uncircumcised in the Old Covenant This care the Lord laid upon him in his Family in the Old Covenant Therefore consider you that profess the New Covenant of the Spirit of Circumcision what Care lies upon you in your Families of Teaching and Instructing your Servants and Children and to bring them to the Spirit of Circumcision And now do not say but you are all warned in your Life-time and therefore prise your time while you have it that you spend it to the Honour and Glory of God The 9th of the 5th Month 1686. G. F. An Epistle for them that are learned in Christ to read and understand THe Lord saith Epist 410. In this Mountain shall the Lord of Host make unto all People a feast of fat things c. And he will destroy in this Mountain the Face of the Covering cast over all People and the Veil that is spread over all Nations And he will swallow up Death into Victory and the Lord God will wipe away Tears from off all Faces Isai 5.26 27. 1 Cor. 15.54 Rev. 21.4 Is not this Mountain Christ Christ filleth the whole Earth that filleth the whole Earth where this Feast of fat things is And doth not Christ through Death destroy Death and the Devil the Power of Death and so takes away the Veil and Covering that is spread over all Nations that they may be covered with the Spirit that he pours upon all Flesh And the Apostle saith Moses put a Veil over his Face that the Children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is to be abolished for their Minds were blinded For until this Day remains the same Veil untaken away in the reading of Moses and the Old Testament the Veil is upon their Hearts which Veil is done away in Christ and when they shall turn to the Lord the Veil shall be done away as in 2 Cor. 3. So here you may see the Veil that was spread over the Hearts of People The Veil over Peoples Hearts done away by Christ is done away by Christ and all they that are turned to the Lord with open Face behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even by the Spirit of the Lord. And the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed his People and dwell amongst them who hath made their Robes white in the Blood of the Lamb And this is the Days of Christ whom God gives for a Covenant of the People to establish the Earth Sing O Heavens and rejoyce O Earth and break forth into Singing O Mountains for God hath comforted his People and hath Mercy upon his afflicted And Christ saith to the Prisoners Go forth unto them that are in Darkness shew your selves and they shall feed in Pastures For he that hath Mercy on them shall lead them and by the Springs of Water shall he guide them Isai 49. For God gave Christ for a Covenant to the People for a Light to the Gentiles to open the blind Eyes to bring out the Prisioners out of Prison and them that sit in darkness out of the Prison-Houses Isai 42.2 6 7. Rev. 7.15 16 17. So we that do witness this do praise the Lord God through Jesus Christ Behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People Rev. 21.3 This is the Day of the New Covenant which People enjoy in Christ Jesus The Lord saith I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave I will redeem them from Death O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13.14 And the Apostle saith O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. So here you may see the Grave had its Victory Christ gives Victory over Death and the Grave and Death hath its Sting which is Sin But the Strength of Sin is the Law But Christ gives us the Victory who makes an end of Sin the Sting of Death as in Dan. 9.24 And who through Death destroys Death and the Power of Death and is the End of the Law for Righteousness sake to every one that believes and so are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ Rom. 7.4 And Christ saith unto the Jews Verily verily he that hears my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life Mark Everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but hath past from Death unto Life Then they have past from the Sting of Death which is Sin And as John saith we know that we are past from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren for he that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death John 5.24 1 John 2.44 So if they were past from Death to Life then they were past from Death and his Sting which is Sin through Jesus Christ who destroys Death and makes and End of Sin And again Christ saith to the Jews Verily verily