meerly Worldly and Carnal hath caused betwixt Prince and Prince And doth not this plainly shew that such a State or Church as hath brought so great a Curse over God's Creation where-ever it hath bin received is not Christ's Church whose Church and Kingdom is not of this World who loved his Enemies and came to save Mens Lives and not to destroy them So by their Fruits all Men may know the True Church from the False the Church of Christ from Antichrist's Church As I am a Priest of God after the Order of Melchisedeck who was of the Order of the Holy Ghost and born of the Spirit without Carnal Father or Carnal Mother I say as I am a Priest of God ordained by having Christ Jesus in me my Priest my Prophet my King I have something from God my Father to the high and mighty Men of the Earth in whose hands the Almighty God hath placed the Rule and Government of things Terrestrial as his Vicegerents in all the Earth to them I humbly make this Request First That they would look up unto him who bestowed on them this great Honour and Glory and acknowledg him God of Gods King of Kings and Lord over all Lords Allelujah Next that they would seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof which having found I most humbly intreat them to adore worship and serve the Lord our God therein and therewith which Worship only stands in the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Grace given to every one to profit withal which Worship the Omnipotent Lord God will accept and no other Service nor Worship but what proceeds from a pure sincere Heart to the Commands of Christ in Spirit the Word in the Heart And that none may be ignorant what this Kingdom of God is and wherein it doth consist and where it is to be found I most humbly offer and say The Kingdom of God stands not in any outward Observation of Man's prescription but is placed within every Man a Light to lighten the Gentiles and to be God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth which Light is called the Word in the Heart Christ the Vnction the Messiah the Anointed of the Lord which God in his great Love to the World hath given to and in every Man a Talent to profit withal that so every Man in it might work out his own Salvation the which as it is received and obeyed giveth power to repent and forsake Sin and leadeth into Truth and Righteousness and thereby we become the Sons of God being led by his Spirit This Talent in Scripture is also called by divers Names viz. The Grace of God which appeareth to and in every one teaching those that love his appearance to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts c. It is also called A Measure of the Spirit given to every Man to profit with also Truth in the inward Parts the Word in the Heart Christ the New Birth and New Creature God's Covenant of Light and Life to all the World who is the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World and so is God's Salvation to the Ends of the Earth the way to God and Godliness that whosoever believeth in him and followeth him faithfully shall have Life Everlasting Allelujah Read Deut. 30.11 c. with Rom. 10.6 c. Isa 42.6 49.6 57.10 54.13 60.3 Jer. 31.3 c. with Heb. 8.8 c. John 1.9 1 Cor. 12.7 Tit. 2.11 And this Light of Life the Kingdom of God within every Man is compared to many things in Scripture He is the Lamb of God not the Pope's Agnus Dei that taketh away the Sins of the World the Lord our Righteousness the Spirit of Truth that leads into all Truth and the one thing only needful is that we hear and obey the Spirit of Truth and our Souls shall live Allelujah This Kingdom of God is likewise compared to a grain of Mustard-Seed sown in the Heart of every Man by God the Seed of Abraham which Seed is Christ the Light of the World also the Kingdom of God is compared to Leaven placed in a Man's Heart sufficient to leaven the whole Lump from the leaven of Malice and Uncharitableness into a lump of Truth and Love to Righteousness which Leaven is the Bread from Heaven which nourisheth the Souls of true Believers into Eternal Life Allelujah Thus you see what the Kingdom of God is where it is to be found and the blessed Effects it produceth in all that receive God's Heavenly Gift and are found walking therein and when ye know and feel this Kingdom of God in the movings thereof to be within you in the next place my most humble request and advice is That you would thenceforth seek the Righteousness thereof and walk in the same all the days of your Life in which you will find Peace with God Joy in your own Spirits and good Will from and to all Men but as you do undervalue this Small Seed the true Light and Spirit of Grace the Gift of God and prefer this present evil World Man's Prescriptions Traditions and Impositions above it then a Woe and a Curse from God to your Souls and Bodies in your Basket and in your Store but walking in the Righteousness of God's Kingdom you will know how to give God his due and to please him in things Spiritual and Temporal If you leave the Conscience of your Subjects to God alone for him to rule and guide which is God's due then will God give to Caesar his due viz. the Hearts of his Subjects to obey their Soveraigns in all things Temporal Natural and Civil then will Unity and Concord spring up Righteousness Peace and Love will kiss each other And then God will give his Blessing bless us in our Bodies and in our Souls in our Basket and in our Store in our Wives and in our Children in what we eat and what we drink and in whatsoever we set our hands unto both Prince and People Rulers and Ruled all blessed and happy and so will all the ends of the Earth fear the Lord our God bless and magnify him for ever Allelujah The Contents hereof I most humbly and heartily recommend to your most holy Father the Pope of Rome and his Clergy as they will answer it at the Day of God's Tribunal that they communicate these Matters to the Emperor and to all other Kings Rulers and Princes over whose Souls God I hope by his blessed Spirit of Grace hath made them Overseers who being born of the Spirit and having Christ Jesus the new Man in you the only begotten Son of God the Father in you go and preach Him to and in all the World a Saviour to all that believe in him and that follow him who is the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that comes into the World Yet know that no Man can preach truly to the converting of Souls neither can turn any from
by what other name known or distinguished even all that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted of him and dearly Beloved by me even all that in sincerity and uprightness of Heart walk in the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith they are enlightned even so Amen Allelujah Most Reverend Arch-Bishops right Reverend the Bishops with others the Reverend Doctors and Fathers of our Church I humbly beg leave of you to enquire Whether setling Ministers in Parish Churches and compelling all to hear them to Preach and to Pray first came in by the Command of Christ and by his Command so continue or came this in in the dark Night of Apostacy by Man's command whilst the false Church the Whore and false Prophet ruled after the True Church of Christ was fled into the Wilderness Tithes Also I query Whether Tithes set out in every Parish Church were done by a Command or Law of God or by a Law of Man And if you receive them as from a Command of God to the Levitical Priesthood then are you to maintain all the Poor the Fatherless and Widows out of them that there may not be a Beggar in England as there was not in Israel And if you receive them as from a Law of Man then Whether a forced Maintenance by Man's Law be a suitable and proper Maintenance for the Ministers of Christ Jesus who receive freely from him the Things of God and so they give and dispense freely those Things without Mony and without Price not for filthy Lucre-sake but of a ready Mind and only to them they sow Spiritual Things of them they reap Carnal and not by a Law of Compulsion but by the Law of Love only which is Christ's Law and Command to his Disciples and Followers Allelujah Preaching in Churches And whether all the Ministry placed in every Parish to Preach and to Pray are sent of God as Aaron was read Exod. 4.5 12.15 Deut. 4.5 And as all Christ's Ministers are and ever were Commissionated Assisted and Instructed by his Holy Spirit when and what they shall Preach and when and what they shall Pray but 't is not so with Ministers made by a Carnal Commandment of Man that receive their Commission from Man only Such run with Balaam after Gifts and Rewards who preach for Hire and seek for Gain from their quarters such I declare are no true Ministers of Christ neither can ever any such as have not Christ in them profit the Souls of People at all for all God's People are taught of him and great is their Peace Allelujah Doth not David say O God thou hast taught me from my Youth up And the Meek God doth teach And Job who was no Israelite but an Edomite saith He did teach from the Hand of the Lord and that he was taught by immediate Revelation and Inspiration of the Almighty And Isaiah saith That in God's Mountain which is his Spirit he teacheth of his ways and that all God's Children are taught of him and that God had anointed him to Preach which Unction is Truth in the Inward Parts and no Lie and teacheth the Way of God truly which teaching of God's Spirit is the way to God wherein no Man can err though a Fool. And Jeremiah saith In those days of the Spirits teaching I will make a New Covenant saith the Lord for I will write my Law in their Hearts and put my Spirit in their inward parts and they shall teach no more every Man their Neighbour for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest Allelujah And Jonah preached what he received from the Mouth of the Lord and what the Lord taught him And Micah a true Prophet of the Lord saith That in the time of the Spirit 's Reign and Government the Mountain of the Lord shall be established on the top of the Mountains and many People shall flow to it and shall say of God He will there teach us of his Ways and we will walk in his Paths for the Law shall go out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem which Jerusalem and Zion is no earthly Building made of Wood and Stone but the New Jerusalem is the sanctified Heart the new Heart and right Spirit a City whose Maker and Builder is God Father and Mother Sister and Brother of all God's Children Allelujah And did not John the Baptist whose Baptism was from Heaven teach his Disciples how and what to Preach and how and what to Pray saying As ye go preach the Kingdom of God is at hand And God the Father taught Holy Jesus his Son to preach deliverance to the Captives all those that truly repent the acceptable Year of the Lord. And as his Father taught him so taught he his Disciples saying Go ye into the High-ways and Hedges and tell the Blind the Lame and the Halt even all that are small and little in their own eyes all that are heavy laden with Sin let such come and buy Eye-salve buy the sincere Milk of the Word without Mony and without Price And did not Holy Jesus preach often in the Temple and Synagogues of the Jews and did he not weep over them who were so hard-hearted towards him that when he would have gathered them together as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings yet they would not be healed nor covered under the Wings of the Cherubims that attend the Mercy Seat of God from under whose Wings of Grace and Love ariseth healing to all that are weary of their Sins And Holy Jesus also saith As my Father taught me I speak and do and as his Father taught him so taught he his Disciples the New and Everlasting Covenant How that by his Light and Spirit all God's People should be taught of the Lord and that great should be their Peace and that those who would be his Disciples must learn of him to be low and meek in Heart and to take up the daily Cross to their own Wills which made him to deny his own Will to do the Will of the Father as you may read Luke 22.42 John 4.34 5.30 6.38 Heb. 2.4 10.10 Phil. 2.13 And this Obedience to the Will of the Father Christ the Word in the Heart is our Sanctification Justification Redemption and Glorification Allelujah And all such alone as are taught of God Speak and Preach as Men having Authority and not as do the Scribes and Pharisees that have nothing else to teach them save the dead Letter and their own Interpretations thereupon Thus when Jesus had breathed on his Disciples and given them the Holy Ghost he saith Go ye and teach all Nations baptising them into the Name Nature and Power of Christ's Spirit not with material Water for that is John's Baptism but with Fire which is the Holy Ghost the only one true Baptism which washeth and cleanseth the Soul Regenerates and begets the New Man Christ in us all such who have their Hearts and Consciences washed and
can hold forth the blessing of Peace and Establishment to the World and I am perswaded God hath fitted you for such a Work as this therefore I beseech you suffer a word of Exhortation Be faithful to the Testimony of the Lord with which he hath inspired you stand forth in the Name and Power of that Spirit which dwells in you lay by all carnal Ends and self Interests and come forth in the nakedness and simplicity of the Love of God in which you will breath out the blessing of Peace amongst us O let not Sion be built up any longer with Blood nor her Mourners wander about in the Defarts to seek for shelter and safety let the searchings of your Hearts and the yearnings of your Bowels be for the Breaches and Divisions that are among the People of God 'T is You that the great expectation of many of the Lord's People in this Nation is now towards Our Wounds Breaches in the Circumstantials of Religion are too wide and extensive for a formal outward and literal Ministry to heal and cement We have languished in Divisions too long already under these Physicians 't is only a Spirit-Ministry with evidence demonstration and power that proceeds from an innate Principle of the Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts that can compose all our Differences satisfy all Parties and Interests and settle us upon a sure Foundation of Peace Rest and Happiness If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfil ye the Joy of the People of God in these Nations that ye come forth with the like Mind and Spirit in your Ministry amongst us and in the Power of the same Love preserve the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace I know there is wisdom and largeness enough in the Love of God to accomplish these noble Ends and the witness of this upon your Hearts must necessarily strengthen your Faith in this Ministry for certainly that Love so ample that can redeem the World when and where 't is witnessed by the Spirit will appear large enough to cover all our Infirmities abate all our Contentions and quiet all the Clamours that abound among us If thus you can appear and stand forth this day as indeed Priests unto God and true Ministers of Christ Jesus you shall worthily be called The Healers of our Breaches and the Restorers of our Paths to dwell and walk in with love and pleasantness one towards another In which Spirit of Universal Love and good Will I Rest a Friend to you and the Souls of all whilst I am and when I am no more R. R. To all Teachers Preachers and Dispensers of the Word and Sacraments under the Dispensations of those called Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists ROBERT RICH a Servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God which Gospel was promised and preached by the Holy Men of God ever since the Foundation of the World was Laid as in the Scriptures of Truth you may read Gen. 3.8 15. 12.1 3. with Gal. 3.8 Deut. 30.11 12 13 14 15. Rom. 10.6 8. Jer. 31.31 to 35. with Heb. 8.8 to the end Isa 52.7 with Rom. 10.15 Isa 61.1 with Luke 4.18 9.6 Mark 16.15 2 Cor. 4.4 6. 2 Tim. 1.10 1 Pet. 1.12 25. In the power and strength of which Gospel the Word in the Heart or Love of God shed abroad in our Hearts doth R. R. send Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah TO you that are Regenerate and born again of the Spirit who have Christ Jesus the New Man in you and are Members of his Body Spiritual through Sanctification of the Holy Spirit of Grace you in him and he in you made perfect in one to you Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplied from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Allelujah In the Year 1656 feeling the Birth of God in me by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven which Spirit of Light begat Christ Jesus the New Man in me by whom I obtained Reconciliation and Peace with God and good-will towards his Creation Which Spirit of Love moved me in the Year 1666 to send to the People called Presbyterians Thirty pounds to be distributed amongst their Poor that were in Need Sickness or any other kind of Adversity The like Sum I also sent to them called Independents As likewise to those called Anabaptists to be distributed to the Poor that were amongst them Not as Judas that betrayed his Master into the hands of Sinners for Thirty pieces of Silver but from one that witnessed the Resurrection from the Dead one who had long crucified the Lord of Life in my Self and by many and often Transgressions had slain the Witness of God his Holy Spirit of Grace and Light which oft cried in me Why wilt thou die Return to me the Light and Life of the Soul and thou shalt live At length I hearkened to the Voice of the Son of God in me in obedience to which Voice my Soul came to live in whose Life I have Rest Peace and Joy in the Lord my Saviour Allelujah Thus by the Incarnation or indwelling of the Life of Christ Jesus in my mortal Flesh I came to inherit Life Eternal by and through him that is the Regeneration the Resurrection and the Life Allelujah By which Spirit of Grace and Revelation of Christ in me I came to see what Peter saw Acts 10.34 35. Matth. 16.17 That of all Nations and Religions those that feared God and acted righteously towards Man are accepted with him Also by the same Revelation of God's Spirit I understood the great Love of God to the World that in all Ages and Times he hath sent and given his only begotten Son his Spirit of Light to be the Life of the World his Everlasting Covenant of Light and Life wherewith every one is enlightned both Jew and Gentile that cometh into the World that so all Men might be saved by believing in him and by following of him who is the Way the Truth the Life and God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth Allelujah As you may read Isa 42.6 49.6 Deut. 30.11 to 15. Jer. 31.31 c. with Rom. 10.6 8. Heb. 8.8 to the end John 1.4 9. 8.12 12.46 2 Cor. 4.4 6. Which Spirit of Light Life and Truth in the Inward Parts the Word incarnate in the Heart moved on the Face of my Deep and shining on my Tabernacle which Tabernacle God pitched in me in whose Light I saw Light which gave me freedom to look into all manner of Opinions and Religions which Light opened my Understanding so as to know Good from Evil Right from Wrong and Truth from Error In which Spirit of Light I read many Books writ by Presbyterians Independents
and highest Profession we were but as sounding Brass and as a tinkling Cymbal c. Holiness and Love to God are but two Names for one Thing Love to God and to Man are like Soul and Body that are separated no way but by death Sin is hardly known in its secret Root till Men have tasted the bitterness of the Fruit. In a word I have long seen that envious Wisdom what-ever it pretends is not from Above but is earthly sensual and devilish and that where envy and strife is upon a Religious Account there is Confusion and every evil Work That which killeth Love killeth all Grace and Holiness and killeth Souls that which quencheth Love quencheth the Spirit a thousand-fold more than the restraining of our Gifts of Utterance doth That which banisheth Love banisheth God that which is against Love is against the Design of Christ in our Redemption and therefore may well be called Antichristian the White Devil is a Love-killer as well as the Black he is as mortal an Enemy to Love who backbiteth another and saith he is prophane or he is an empty Formalist or he is a Lukewarm temporizing complying Man-pleaser as he that saith he is a peevish factious Hypocrite Believe it it is Apostacy to fall from Love your Souls die when Love dieth To preach without Love to any that differ from your Sect O what a loathsome Sacrifice is it to the Lord of Love When the Papists had murdered so many hundred thousands of the Albigenses and Waldenses who would have thought but that they had done their Work When the French Massacre had murdered thirty or forty thousand and dispatcht the Leaders of the Protestant Party who would have thought that they had but strengthened them When the Duke d' Alva had done so much to drown the Belgick Protestants in Blood he little thought he was but fortifying them Queen Mary's Bishops little thought that their English Bonefires were but to light Men to see the mischief and badness of their Cause and like firing of a Beacon to call the Land to take them for the Enemies of Mankind When the Irish had murdered two hundred thousand they little thought that they had but excited the Survivery to a terrible Revenge I will come no nearer but you may easily do it your selves If we bite and devour one another we shall be destroyed one of another c. These and the like faithful and true Sayings the Book is full of which are well worth the reading with due Consideration had thereon And as Mr. Baxter intimates That he which suffers for his Religion sheweth he hath the better Religion than those that cause Sufferings And our patient Martyrdom and Suffering by them may tend at last to open their Eyes and turn their Hearts and save their Souls for the Blood of Martyrs hath ever bin the Seed of the Church which Seed hath ever encreased the number of the Sufferers Many other good Instructions and Directions both to Ministers and People hath he in this Book set forth for uniting in Love and Amity different Perswasions into one Principle of Love well worth the taking notice of And now my dear Brethren as I am a Priest unto God by having Christ Jesus the Eternal Spirit of Truth in me I am thereby enabled to hold forth an Exhortation to all of you which in the Bowels of the extensive Love of God towards you I earnestly pray you may receive I know there is amongst you a Worthy Righteous and Sober People who I can bear you record have a Zeal of God according to the several Administrations of your outward Forms and Worships whereby you are distinguished Nevertheless I have a few things against you namely That you have the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ amongst you with respect of particular Persons outward Forms and carnal Observations Hence arise all those Strifes and Contentions those bitter Revilings and evil Censures that have abounded amongst you both towards each other in your divided Forms and also toward all others that are not concerned with you as under your distinct Attainments But I testify and declare to you and to the whole World That if any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature and as many as walk according to this Rule of the New Creature Peace be upon them as upon the Israel of God and in every Nation Sect Form and Opinion He that feareth God and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him 'T is neither here nor there in this nor that neither in the Mountains of Form and Worship that you have raised to your selves nor at Jerusalem that God will be now worshipped but every where in Spirit and in Truth is the Worship that he accepts Give therefore the Spirit of God his due Scope and Latitude to blow where when and how it listeth in every Man 'T is the great Controversy that God hath with the World at this day That he alone may reign in the Consciences of Men by the just Measure of his own Light in every one And till this Royal Prerogative be setled upon Him there will never be Peace on the Earth but Men shall rend tear and devour one another and those that lead into Captivity must themselves go into Captivity herein will the Patience Love and Charity of the Saints be exercised and encreased Allelujah Wherefore let your Moderation be known to all Men the Lord is at hand Be not O be not found smiting your fellow Servants in the day of his Appearance The Spirit of God which hath sealed you to the day of Redemption is a tender Spirit O do not grieve it in your selves nor endeavour to quench it in others If thus you can come forth amongst Men you shall be a blessing in your Generation a Light to them that sit in darkness and a Refreshment to the Mourners of Zion who languish in the Breaches and Divisions that have bin made upon her Inhabitants In which Universal Spirit of Love to Truth and Righteousness I Rest a Friend to you and the Souls of all Men in any Sect or Opinion of Religion whatsoever whilst I am and when I am no more Robert Rich. An Epistle for the most pure Amity and Unity in the Spirit of Life and Love of God in all sincere-hearted Souls amongst the People called QUAKERS And as to them so unto all or any other Sort or Sect of People that own and follow the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith every one is enlightned ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah IN the Year 1666 feeling the Babe of Grace the Word in the Heart to wax strong in the Love of God shed abroad in my Heart I sent to the Poor of your People Thirty pounds which after some of your Leaders had received to wit John Bolton Gerad Roberts and Amos Stoddard and given under their hands accordingly 't was denied to be received and about a Year after returned to me again with many
acknowledg Can you yet be so vainly confident as to perswade your selves that nothing of this Evil shall come near your Borders whilst the Arrows of God's Judgments fly so thick in the World and stick so deep in the Hearts and sides of all both Civil and Religious Interests Are you and your Imposing Tribe the only Men that must escape when the whole World is to be set on Fire yea the very Heavens of Professors are to be burnt up and nothing to be left alive in us but what can lie down in those Flames Is there nothing think ye in or amongst your People that is for Judgment Or is this a time for you to build and raise a Name to your selves when God is destroying to contend for outward Rule and Dominion over others when God is pleading his own Royal Prerogative to sit in judgment over the Consciences of your Brethren when the Judg stands at the Door Or are ye so regardless of the prints and footsteps of the Almighty in his present Providences that ye say in your Hearts with that Evil Servant The Lord delays his coming and fall to smiting your fellow Servants with the Tongue and Fist of Wickedness wounding and reproaching them with your bitter and severe Censures thinking with the evil Husbandman therewith to kill and slay the Heir the Seed of God in Man that must rule and reign Surely my Friends the tempestuous Storms of Wrath and Indignation that you see falling upon the World do earnestly call for a more mild and sober Spirit amongst you than this Let therefore your Moderation be known to all Men the Lord is at hand If you would be a blessing to the World in your Generation learn first to judg and condemn your selves Cast off your Judging Censuring and Imposing Spirit and give the Witness of God in every one its just Right its due Scope and Latitude and usurp not Authority over it Take not upon you to be Lords over God's Heritage let the Bowels of your Love and Tenderness be drawn out and extended towards the measure of God in all Men of every Religion in forbearance and forgiveness to the whole World follow Peace in the Spirit of Love with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God Give Christ his Prerogative in Spirituals He must and will have it Give Caesar his due in Temporals who may of undoubted right challeng it Thus if you can commend your selves to God and the World ye shall be the Joy of this Generation all good Men will be drawn out in an earnest imitation of your Purity while the violent and wicked shall stand mute and be struck dumb at your modest Patience and Meekness you shall never want either inward Peace or outward Freedom but ye shall enter into Peace and Rest in your Beds each one walking in his Uprightness This my dear Friends is the Testimony in which I long to meet you and which will justly provoke the hearty embraces of Your true Friend in Love to serve you R. R. To the Birth of God in all the Sanctified the Church of the First-Born whose Names are written in Heaven who are born again not of the Will of the Flesh but of God's Holy Spirit You to whom is given the White Stone and the New Name that none knows but he that hath it who as living Stones are laid in the Walls not of the Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her Children but of the New Jerusalem that is Above in the Heart and Throne of God which is Free and is the Mother of us all To you however you are divided or where-ever ye are lodg'd and held in the Clifts of the Rocks in Dens and Caves of the Earth or secret places of the Stars under all your divided Tribes ROBERT RICH sendeth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting Allelujah Dear Brethren BEing moved in my Spirit in the Year 1666 to salute the Seed of God the Seed of the Promise in all Men and in particular the Seven Churches of Christendom namely the Roman the Episcopal Protestant the Presbyterian the Independent the Baptist the Quaker and the Church of the First-Born to each of them I gave Thirty pounds to be distributed amongst the Poor of their People as a sign of my dear Love to the Seed of God in all which I saw lay crucified dead and buried in some and in others risen and reigning into Life that is Eternal That which principally moved me to this general Salutation was the sad and serious apprehension of the Straits and Limits by which I saw the Seed of God held in Bondage and these several sorts of Professors to value themselves and also condemn one another in reference to those Modes and Methods of Worship and Obedience in which they are divided and distinguished My Salutation intended a cheek to this unkind severity amongst them and according to the inward Testimony from God upon my Spirit if possible to let them understand that our gracious God is no respecter of Persons Sects or Opinions but of every Nation those that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted of him and that all those that walk in the Light of the Lord wherewith he hath enlightned them are saved Allelujah In the Heavenly Revelation of this Blessed Vision wherein I felt and found my self in a through Reconcilement to all Sorts and Sects of Men I have begun and now finished my Epistles to these Seven States of Christians which I recommend to the Children of Light to read and to consider what the Spirit saith to the Churches And because in the Travels of this Testimony upon the Soul I have met with several Celestial Pilgrims journying towards Sion with their Faces thitherward by whose sprinklings in many of their Books and Papers I have bin often refreshed and comforted I cannot but commend both their Names and Labours to the sober Enquirers after Truth as well knowing that though these Witnesses are dead and gone yet their Spirits and Testimony remain and still speak to us At this time I read many Books writ by the Divine Spirit in which I took great delight some few whereof I find freedom to expatiate on First Cebes the Theban Philosopher his Table writ in Greek since translated into English who lived Anno Mundi 3553 which Table was hung up in the Temple of Saturn This Table consisted of three Parks or Inclosures at the Gate of the first stood the shape of an Old Man called Life's Genius afterwards True Instruction which I understand by interpretation to represent the Light and Grace of God which appeareth to and in every one This Light or Life's Genius taught and instructed all how they should lead their Lives according to those Rules he directed both to avoid temptations to Vice and to imbrace all those Divine Vertues that lead to Beatitude I have read the Imitation of Christ writ by Thomas of Kempis Also Cardinal Cusanus his first
Regularities of the most magnified Authors and reverend Fathers are capable to accomplish this Reconciling Work Nay the Sacred Oracle of the Scripture it self is so far short of obtaining this blessed End that all different Parties do endeavour with the greatest industry imaginable by warping and winding the Text not only to suit it to the occasion of their present Differences but also thereby to justify their mad blind and uncharitable Zeal towards each other What Remedy then is left us in this Distress Is there no Balm in Gilead Yes certainly for although the extent of our Wounds and Breaches are too wide and great for the most ample Wisdom and Righteousness of Man to heal and cement there is yet largeness enough in the eternal and universal Love of God to accomplish this great Work and to make his Jerusalem a Praise upon the Earth And 't is my dear Brethren by the ample and large manifestations of this Universal Love shed abroad in your Hearts that this great Design of God must be accomplished and oh how the Consideration of this Glorious Work in and by you to be brought forth doth draw out my Spirit towards you Awake awake then put on thy strength O Sion put on thy beautiful Garments O Jerusalem thou Holy City stand forth thou Virgin Daughter clothed with the strength of the Divine Majesty and proclaim the Glory of your Principles by the beauty of your Practices to the World There is Majesty enough in that Love which fills and feeds your Souls to confound the Cruelty of all your Opposers to shame and astonish the World into silence and stilness and of this let us be confident that how-ever the over-flowing Tides of common Calamities blown up by the raging breath of formal and carnal Interests may swell as a Flood upon the World yet no Weapon that is form'd against Love to Truth and Righteousness shall prosper the Heathen may rage and the People may imagine a vain Thing The Kings of the Earth may Plot Conspire and take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed yet the Lord hath set his King upon his Holy Hill of Zion and he shall and doth Rule and Reign in the midst of his Enemies Let it therefore appear to the World whose Subjects ye are whose Banner ye are under and what Motto it bears which is Glory to God in the Highest on Earth Peace and good Will towards Men. O how beautiful will those feet be upon the Mountains which are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace How beautiful are thy Feet with Shooes O Princes Daughter Cant. 7.1 How amiable and pleasant will your Lives and Testimonies be among Men when you come forth in the largeness of that Love Meekness and Humility in Forbearance and Forgiveness which are the proper Ornaments and most natural Instances of a true Gospel-Profession In the Name of God arise then and shew your selves in his strength to be that in Power and Life which the World are only in Pretence and Notion let it be known by the lively and active demonstrations of the Spirit of God in you That greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World Your Principles I am sure are more noble extensive and generous do but draw them forth and shew them to open view and you will be a Blessing in your Generation The several Tribes and Languages shall fasten on your Skirts and say We will go along with you for the Lord is amongst you Nay even the Kings of the Nations shall shut their Mouths at this appearance of God in you Isa 52.14 15. For that which had not bin told them they shall see and that which they had not heard they shall consider As Pharach said of Joseph Where is there a Man in whom the Spirit of God is Gen. 41.38 c. Finally my Brethren Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might put on the whole Armour of God for your Work and your Warfare requires it and ye know that nothing below that can enable you to finish this your Testimony Ye wrestle not against Flesh and Blood neither are the Weapons of your Warfare Carnal but mighty through God to subdue every high Thought and vain Imagination All those Principalities and Powers and those spiritual Wickednesses in high Places which have captivated the Royal Seed of the Promise and exalted themselves against the free Breathings of the Spirit These my dear Friends are the powerful Enemies over which ye must be more than Conquerors through him that loves you and when in the strength of this Love you have subdued the World calm'd and quieted that wild and furious Spirit of Wrath that is let loose among Men and prepared the way for the Kingdom of God and of his Christ to be establish'd in us and amongst us what remains but that in a holy denial of your Selves and Services your Gifts and Graces your Love and Enlargements your Faith and Patience your Sufferings and Perseverances you offer up the Son of the Promise and cast down these your Crowns at the feet of Him that sits upon the Throne joining in Consort with the Celestial Quire of Saints and Angels in the Sacred Hymns of Divine Praises and Allelujahs Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power to the Lord our God Rev. 19.1 to 10. Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be the glory of all thy wondrous Works Sing Zion shout O ye Inhabitants of the New Jerusalem Judges 5.1 to 14. Awake Deborah awake awake sing to the Lord Arise Barak take the Harps of God in your hands ye Heavenly Victors and in your most strenuous Notes sing aloud with Moses and the Lamb upon your Chrystal fiery Floods Rev. 15.2 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy Ways thou King of Saints who will not fear thee O God and glorify thy Name for thou only art Holy all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy Judgments are made manifest And again Allelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth and is manifest to be All in All all Vnity in all Variety Thus to ascribe to God All in all and to the Creature-Nothing is the top-Stone of God's Building to which we cry Grace Grace Allelujah For His is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Allelujah THE END