that is in it neither a Wife nor an Husband nor any Possession or Enjoyment here below though never so great fair or promising For such say in their Hearts that commends them to God My beloved to wit the Truth is mine and I am his the fairest and chiefest unto me of Ten thousand And such it is in their heavenly and Spiritual Exercise that fit where the Spouse of old did which is under his Shadow and that with great delight and his Fruit is sweet unto their Taste And these are they that above all things Truth is precious unto that feel pertake possess and enjoy of the sweetness and preciousness thereof in their Hearts and Souls as I even at this moment of time with all the truly faithful and Obedient do to the Praise and glory of the most high God be it spoken Wherefore my Heart and Soul is broken and melted into true Tenderness before him which makes me to say again in answer to that weighty concern that seized upon my Spirit as I was waiting upon the Lord in my own dwelling House when such weakness of Body attended me that I was not able to go to a Meeting to write on this wise for the good of all I am thus concerned for in this my Epistle Oh the great Difference between a Convinced Estate and a Converted Estate between the Profession of the Truth and the Possession thereof and that chiefly because of the sweetness and comfort it affordeth unto the Souls of the Faithful So that I was truly willing in Obedience to the blessed requirings of the Lord my God on this wise to discharge my coscience and ease my Spirit in answer unto the movings and motion of his pure Holy Living Spirit that blessed be his Holy Name for evermore he hath made me with a large Remnant livingly sensible of desiring and heartily wishing that my endeavours hereby may be truly Effectual for the good of all that may be concerned in this my Testimony And now Friends unto you that are Parents and that have Children I have something to say both to you and your Children And in the first place the concern that is upon my mind and hath often and long remained Is to give you to understand a little of my own Experience and concern in Ordering and Framing up of my own Children that if happily it may tend to stir up those or such as may be short in their Duty towards their Children When it pleased the Lord to give me Children as Mercies from his hand amongst many more I have received from him as my Children grew up a concern many times very weighty the Lords knows seized upon my mind both upon my Bed and many other times what way I might betake my self to Train up my Children as did become the Truth and that might become a Blessing to them and a Comfort to us their Parents And accordingly I saw it my way as much as in me lay that as they grew up in years to mind and take diligent notice of their Natural Inclination or what it was they most naturally Inclined unto and when I saw any one of them to Incline to any thing in Word or Actions that under a serious Consideration was not like to prove if it was suffered to grow or increase either to be good for their Soul or Body for that which is not good for the Soul it cannot be good for the Body it greatly became my concern to restrain them from that when it was but little and small and when they were young so that it was both easie for me to do and them to get over And when I found any thing of stubbâ—rnness get up in them contrary to the Counsel and Advice I had given them I did not let foolish pity prevent due Admonition and Correction though I dearly and tenderly did and do love them all But some spoil their Children in letting them have their wills so much that they become disobedient â—nd rebellious and so give away their Power so much to the Will of the Child and lessen their Authority That as sometimes I have heard to the grief of my Soul Parents say to their Children Do such a thing they have replied I will not and whether ought the Child that doth not yet understand what 's good either for its Soul or Body to have its Will Or ought not the Parents rather to Constrain them to do what they know is good for them though they be stiff and stubborn That so what way or course in after-time their Children may take when they are from under their power the Parents may be clear of their Children in the day of their Account I say my great concern was many times how I might Train up my Children as did become the Truth chiefly in what might be good for their Souls relying upon Gods Providence for other things as he did see good And as they came up in their tender Years one after another in the Fear of God I laboured what in me lay not only by Advice and Counsel and timely Endeavours to restrain the wild and stubborn nature and keep them out of and from every thing that had an evil tendency in it but also what in me lay to beget Love in them to Truth and Friends and one to another And so as they grew up in years did encourage them to go to Meetings And I hope I may say without offence my Endeavours with the Blessing of God hath wrought a good Effect in my Children to this day I bless the Lord for it and I never durst put them forward to Play as some do and when they had a Capacity Educated them in reading the Holy Scriptures and Friends Books And always had and have a care to keep them out of the vain Fashions of the World neither could I ever suffer them to go to see or behold any Sport Game or Pastime or Play that tends to nothing but stirring up of the vain light mind and letting loose the wild Nature and corrupting of Youth And it was my great Care and concern to be a good Example before them and unto them according to the Counsel I had often given them And hence it is where this Care in Carriage and Behaviour in Parents before their Children is a wanting though such Parents may profess the Truth it tends to drive their Children farther from it and hardens their Hearts and so they grow wild and wanton proud and high minded and as they get up run to Sports and Plays and to Drinking and Tippling amongst the wild Rabble as I have seen to the grief of my Soul in Towns and other places and going to Cock fights and Bull-baitings and to stand amongst wild rude People spying a Fool and Mounte-bank acting Folly and Madness upon a Stage or Rope against which God's Anger at sometimes by eminent Judgements hath been manifested As for Example and Proof at a certain time when a Person had
Estate and a Converted Estate For the Hearts Souls and Spirits of those that are turn'd to God in Righteousness and so truly Converted and changed and have known a Passing from Death unto Life the way I have shewed you they are Broken-hearted Lowly-minded and in their Souls and Spirits there remains a true Tenderness and such are concerned to set a watch before their Lips daily that they may not offend with their Tongues and not only in Words but in Actions and that they may live the life of Truth they make profession of And it 's such that grows in Grace and Saving knowledge and that prosper in their Gifts given unto them of the Free-giver who fear him always and that to his Praise and Glory and their remaining Comfort and Souls sweet Satisfaction And therefore is it that the Hearts of the truly Converted are sitted and prepared by the power of God to offer Offerings and Sacrifices unto him that find Acceptance with him But the Hearts of the Convinced that live in Disobedience and are not willing to bear the daily Cross nor come under Judgement are not so but are hard and their minds high not Subject to the Yoke of Christ nor willing to bear his burthen and yet can satisfie your selves in coming as the People come and fit as God's people sit in their Meetings and Assemblies and like to hear thy Words as the Lord said by the Prophet but will not do them and thou art unto them saith the Lord as a lovely Song as one that hath a pleasant Voice and can play well upon an Instrument and they shew forth much love with their Mouths but their hearts go after their Covetousness Therefore let these things be as Warnings unto you all that only remain in a Convinced Estate and bear Profession of the Truth short of the Possession thereof and take warning betimes receive Counsel and give ear to instruction and own reproof for it is the Way of Life before Death seize upon you that will stay no Man or womans time nor leisure to Repent and Amend their wayes and doings least that day and Hour come upon you as a Thief in the night that you like the foolish Virgins are not aware of And then you finding your selves not sitted and prepared to go hence be made to cry upon your Death-Beds when time that you had is spent in forgetfulness of God and the many warnings you have had Lord open to us But if you put off the day and time of the amendment of your ways and doings untill then you know aforehand what will be the Answer you must have given you First The Door of Mercy will be shut against you that have not loved Judgement in your Life-time and the Answer will be Depart from me I know you not I Called and Cried but ye would not hear and therefore you shall call and cry but I will not Answer Oh! how long has the Lord Called and Cried and Knockt at the Door of your Hearts and striven with you by his good Spirit as by an Immediate Hand who would often thereby have retained you from your backslidings and unfaithfulness and Disobedience who hath not been severe in marking what you have done amiss and therefore you have presumed upon his patience and long-suffering Do so no more that 's Christs Lesson And sometimes when because of the Long-suffering of God to you ward it hath entred your Hearts to consider how just it might have been with him to have Cut you off long ere now in his wrath for your Disobedience No doubt but sometimes you have made Vows and Promises in Your selves You would do so no more as heretofore you had done And after all this for want of watchfulness over the outgoings of your minds and for want of taking true heed unto the shinings of the pure Light of Jesus Christ that discovered your State and Condition to you as it was and for want of keeping the fear of the Lord before your Eyes the Enemies of your Souls with his old Baits in the fair proffers of them you have again Eutred his Temptation and so have sinned and rebelled against and contrary to the striving of his good Spirit the Spirit of Truth and Contrary to his pure Counsel the Light wherein the true power is received to resist the wickâ—d one in all his Devices who believe therein and keep thereto which pure Light will for ever be the Condemnation of those that do not love it and that are not willing to bring their deeds to it that they may be manifest whether they are wrought in God or no for all the Children of the Light and of the Day bring their Deeds to it And besides the many Visitations of Gods Love to you by an immediate Hand by the strivings of his good Spirit in your Hearts or at the Door of your Hearts O the Labour Travel and Exercise of God's Servants Ministers and Messengers with which they have been attended and weightily concerned many times both in Body and Spirit in their Testimonies in Love good will and true Tenderness for the good of your immortal Souls And yet notwithstanding the Lords great and large Love to you First in calling you by his Grace out of the World and the ways and dead Worships and Forms of it and in it and his giving you a knowledge of his Will and Mind thereby that you might learn Obedience accordingly and notwithstanding the striving of his Holy Spirit in order to bring you thereunto together with the great Labour Travel and Pains that the Servants of Christ have been willing to take and Travel many Hundreds of Miles over Sea and Land through Difficulties and various Exercises willingly leaving behind them whatsoever is near and dear unto them or never so good and lawful in it self for the good of your Souls with the rest of God's People yea in love to all People in and through all which the Love of God has been and is largely held forth unto you And yet notwithstanding all this and much more that might be mentioned hath it not proved the unhappiness of too many of you Professing the the Truth that are not come to possess the same because of your unfaithfulness that you have requited both the Lord and his Servants Evil for Good and have chosen your own way and followed the Counsel of your own Hearts Lusts being unconverted and spoken Peace to your selves in a polluted rest And are not some of you too much like those the Lord speaks of by the Prophet Ezekiel when he said Son of Man the Children of thy People are still talking against thee by the Walls and in the Doors saying one to another and every man to his Brother I pray you let us hear the Word that cometh forth from the mouth of the Lord Which although as I have hinted they confessed unto and seemingly liked to hear yet they were not willing to
do accordingly And when this cometh to pass and it will saith the Lord they shall know there hath been a Prophet among them Methinks it sounds in my Ears as though they spake mockingly or in derision Scorn or dislike against the Prophet and it were well if this proved not the Estate and Condition of too many Professing Truth in our day But I fear and have a Godly Jealousie and have seen and felt to much of it in my Travels and various Exercises that there are too many that undervalue and dis-esteem the Labour and Travel of Gods Servants Ministers and Messengers yea the very Ancient and Elder Brethren as well as the Younger except they appear as these that are very Wise and Eloquent though in the Life and Power and by a proud disdainfull Lordly Spirit that is of an Earthly Savour are often busying themselves and Whispering and tatling and talking against Faithful Brethren that have born the burthen in the Heat of the Day And if you can but espy any Failure or Weakness as you think in or by any of them though but one of a Thousand as to what you will take Liberties to your selves to do and yet Justifie your selves therein though readily Judge and Condemn them Do not you think thereby to Cover your Iniquity and Disobedience For I must tell you in Love and true Tenderness you will find your selves greatly mistaken deceived by the Enemy of your Souls who through his Subtilty perswades you to believe his Lyes and that in the day and time of your Account For according to the Deeds done in your own Bodys or by your selves so must your reward be whether they be good or evil Why talked the People that sat as God's People did against the Prophet in his Time Was it for any other thing than speaking the Words of the Lord What do some in our day speak and talk one to another against the Servants of Christ for as though in their account if every one appears not in their Testimony as an Eye or a Hand they must have no place in the Work of God but are cut off and thrown away in thâ—ir Judgement Is it now any more than in the Prophets time Is it for any thing else but because those that have the Word now must speak it in Faithfulness unto all that such is spoken against And are they counted Enemies therefore by some As Paul said that bâ—essed Apostle in hiâ— time Oh! when will your minds Châ—nge when will your Hearts be rent and tendâ—r'd to the humâ—ling of you under the Consideration of those tâ—ingâ— And not so to abâ—se your own Mercies or the Mercies and laâ—ge loving kindnesses of the Lord thus held foâ—th and continued unto you why is Wit why is Wisdom in the Man's part Wealth and the Strength of mans Reason so much accounted of and such so Esteemed and others more simple under valued And why is the Simplicity of the Gospel so trodden down and run over by too many in the overliness Do noâ— you see and will you not Consider how the Lord has and will confound the wisdom of the Wife and bring to nothing the understanding of the Prudent ones who exalt themselves thereby For he giveth more grace to the humble and will exalt the Man of low Degree and such shall be Abased The blessed Apostle came not with enticing Words of Mens wisdom neither the words that Mens Wisdom teacheth but in the Demonstration of the Power and Spirit of God So they that exalt themselves though never so high in words excellent speeches and Scholastick Terms and though they be never so much cried up the Lord will as he has done Cast down such as by woful Experience too much it is to be seen by those that by a light airy spirit notwithstanding their words have floated above the pure simplicity of the Gospel So all keep low and there is safety What do some under a Profession of the Truth though out of the Possession thereof and Life and Practice of the same think themselves so secure that because of Ease Peace and Liberty though but outward have and do so continue there is no such need of Diligence and Faithfulness towards God and as though it were afforded that they might seek themselves and serve themselves and make use of their time to grow Rich and Great in the World and as though this Day would still last to such unfaiâ—hful ones Oh I tell you Nay you decâ—iâ—e your selves therein For God hath determined to Visit this Nation and the People thereof as by a Râ—d and a Scâ—â—rge because of the sins aâ—d Abominations thereof For his Soul is vexed and his Holy Spirit is grieved even into Wrath and fere Displeasure And you that make a Proâ—ession of his Name and not in Truth and Righteoâ—sness who sow to the Flesh and not unto the Spirit do not think to escape the Judâ—ement without a timely Repentance for you are neither one with that of God in your selves nor in Unity with his People and in the Execution of his Righteous Judgement upon this Nation you will be found in the Outer Courâ— to be trodeâ— unâ—â—r the foot of the Gentiles And yet notwithstanding whatsoever the Lord sees good to bring to pass in the Earth as he always had he hath still a way and place to preserve his faithâ—ul Ones as in a City within the Gate within the Door whose Walls is Salvation or as those that know Salvation for Walls and Bulworks So stay not behind in carelesness neither abide any longer in the outer Court though seemingly you may enjoy Ease peace and fulness for a time Trouble and Perplexity will overtake all such So make good use of the time the Lord in love and mercy may yet afford you and strive with diligence and fear to get within the Wall into the Inner Court that is into the Life into the Power into the Possession of the Truth you make Profession of or else you will be left behind liable to be destroyed by the Dâ—stroyer and devoured by the Dâ—â—ourer Then you shall remember that I with many of God's faithful Servants have given you a Faithful Friendly Warning Now through all these things you may see that are serious and Considerate the great and vast Difference between a Convinced Estate and a Converted Estate and between the Profession of the Truth barely and the Possessor thereof For the Professor of the Truth in words out of the Life and Practice is dry barren and empty and unsensible of Life in their Souls out of the Faith that gives Victory Wells without Water Clouds without Rain minding Earthly things more then heavenly Reprobate Silver shall men call them who because of their Extraordinary love to and gaping after the World in too much love thereunto more than to God his Truth and People or for the good of their own Souls For if some that profess the Truth were but