folly was made manifest and blessed be the Name of God Truth and the Power of the Lord is established over the heads of all the unclean in heart and so we deny thy gift But Robert there is another end in sending thy Contribution to Seven Churches as thou call'st them thou sayest that these might more fully discern the mind of thy Lord in this figure of Love and Amity to them in the reading thy Letter there was a belief that there was a mystery in thy imagination about these Seven Churches it is declared before that thou wast one of the first that run out in the imagination to the dishonour of Truth thou joyned to them that could not indure the Yoke and to the Ranters and after some small space of time when that Cloud of Darkness was blown over a second assault from the Bottomless-Pit ariseth through that Poetical Instrument John Perrot who set up and promoted the keeping on the Hat in Prayer and Supplication to God and that was not the only thing by which he sought to destroy and overturn the precious Truth of the Living God but it will stand for ever the second thing whereby this Instrument that was as thy fore-runner in this matter he wrote that Epistle for Unity and Amity and to take away the hedge of Opinions and so to unite all together in one this was the work of this nimble Poet and afterward when he could not effect his work to espouse and joyn us to the world that are in wickedness who were escaped from Sodom and were gotten to Soar the place of rest then himself after all his profession that he made of denial of this World and the Fashion thereof for a more enduring Substance yet at the last turned into the Earth and sought the preferment thereof and built again the things which before he had destroyed and so in that sinfull state laid down his body and so is a warning unto thee for if thou continue in that Apostising spirit in which thou went'st out from Gods Truth thou also wilt likewise perish but yet it is the desire of the Soul that thou mayst repent and come to Salvation and the glorious Salvation that we testifie of and are joyned together in is the pure Life and Power of Jesus Christ and blessed for ever be the Name of the Lord we abide therein and all those that did partake with us of the Grace of God in the Light of Christ Jesus and after a while drew back and fell from it we very well know Gods Soul harh no pleasure in them Therefore having received power from Christ we warn thee in the Name of the Lord to return to that which first convinced thee which was the pure Light and Spirit of Christ that thou mayst know it to clense and sanctifie thee and to lead and guide thee in the Everlasting Way of Holiness which will administer comfort to thee in the latter end We omitted of purpose the naming of those Persons which thou speakest of in thy Letter of direction to John Reynes because of our intention to make this Paper sent unto thee publick unto whom thy further request is to receive the Thirty pounds and therewith to provide a Dinner or a Supper thy words are which I chiefly do for the raising of my dear Friend Lazarus viz. the Love of God we are not unquainted blessed be the Lord for ever how the Love of God was raised up in our hearts we have in some degree spoken of it before but yet its needfull to say that the Lord in an acceptable day reach'd to our Souls to let us see that without Christ we were utterly undone and lost for ever and we had been long seeking him even through almost all Forms of Religion that had a Form of godliness amongst them but we could not find the Beloved of the Soul there for in those several Forms we come to know that Christ the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven his Countenance is more marr'd then any mans but when in the Ministration of the Gospel and by it alone we came to be acquainted with the pure Power of the Lord God we very well yet remember how that Power of God wrought in our Souls even to an utter loathing of all manner of sin and evil and it begat an everlasting love in our Souls to the Living God and to one another who by a visitation in his Spirit and Power had drawn us with the Cords of pure Love and this Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ this and this only is able to raise up the Love of God in man and also to preserve for ever that Love in the heart for by the Power therof are we preserved and therein do we rejoyce and our Joy can no man take from us But what love is that which is raised up in good fellowship as the World call it in eating and drinking is it not the love of such a god whose god is Bellies who mind earthly things to raise up the Love of the true God in the hearts of men and women but undoubtedly a Dinner or Supper in the outward will not raise up the Love of God in the heart that which sheds it abroad in the heart that alone can raise up pure Love to the pure God and this we are acquainted withal and we do believe that thou speakest thy own condition in those words viz. Which hath been long pining away through a tedions and sore famine of contention and strife even unto death Robert we very well yet remember when thy self with others departed from the Unalterable and Everlasting Living Holy Way of God what strife and sore contention did you and your Company make in our Meetings and Assemblies to the wounding the hearts of many that did truely love and fear the Name of the Lord through which strife and contention of yours together with the Ranters to which you were joyn'd you made our otherwayes peaceable meetings to be a scorn to the World and thereby thou lost the pure Love of God that before did begin to be shed abroad in thy heart by the holy Spirit and now being gone from it and from the pure Light that leads to it thou wouldst buy the Gift of the holy Spirit with money in giving Thirty pounds to make a Dinner or a Supper for the raising up thy Friend Lazarus as thou call'st it but yet thou canst not be in friendship with the pure Love of the Living God whilst thou art out from the way that leads to it and we advice thee to turn to the Grace of God in which the Salvation is which blessed be the Name of God is become our Teacher and hath taught us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously in this present World in the beginning we had some knowledge of thee in this Grace of God in which the Love of God is for ever but not to be bought with money
thou wouldst give Thirty pounds for raising up of the Love of God in the heart and Judas received Thirty Pieces of silver for betraying Christ the Love of God so the Traders in Money for either buying or selling the Love of God are denied for they are both from one Root but we have learn'd to abide in the Living Vine that we may bring forth fruit unto our Heavenly Father who hath begotten us unto himself by the Gospel which is a sure stay to the mind whereby we are kept in perfect Peace we shall not meddle much with thy high words with which thou beatest the air but surely there is a belief that there was never yet such a president in the World before it is very observable to us the state of thy mind in this particular to advance so great a sum of Money and weighing the thing in the Ballance of Truth it is only to draw us back where thou art gone and joyn us again to the World but we have entered into our rest Thou wouldst have the Persons of those thou hast invited bid welcom and also to remember the spirits of them that were friends to the Bridegroom and so thy Feast is for the dead and living but these so compacted together thou callest the Church of the First-born and indeed they are the Church of the first-born of thy imaginations for there is no pattern of it before and thy Brain is the first that ever pointed out to or laid a foundation for such a Church or such a Congregation unless the Ranters and therefore those who are of the Church of the First-born truly so I mean those that are translated from death to Life from the power of Satan to the Power or the Living God and by the Spirit and power of Jesus Christ are born again whereby they come out of the old Birth or rather that Death which is in opposition to the pure Life of the Son of God and these now come to know the quickning Power of the Son of God in their Souls whereby they are made alive unto God and although they were in time past dead as well as others yet now behold by the Grace of God they live for evermore there abide in Christ the living Vine and are built on the sure foundation ye they are come to the Rock of Ages the tried Stone which the Master-builders of our Age hath refused but to us who believe in the true Light he is for ever precious and therefore the Lord for and in behalf of his Everlasting Truth calls for acquitting of our selves as men of God who love the Gospel of Peace and Salvation who have received mercy and wisdom from God in it whereby we can encounter with the Adversary of Gods Truth and Power although he get unto himself proud swelling words of vanity to make himself to be admired yet in the Name of God we deny him for we are not ashamed of the Truth which we received in the beginning for we come to know it is the Power of God to Salvation to as many as believe and continue in the pure unchangable Way Christ the Light and Life who is the same yesterday this day and for ever there is a presure and pure desire that is in the Soul that all the Flock that are come to partake of the unalterable and pure Wisdom and Life of Christ would for ever abide and continue therein the testimony of the Everlasting God is risen in the Soul there is no assured preservation as to God out of this Ark Therefore all that have been acquainted with the pure measure of the Gift and Grace of God keep and abide therein and then if the Storms come and the Floods arise thou art in that in which the safety is even in him which is the Beginning and the Ending he began the Work of God in our Soul he hath he doth blessed be his Name for ever carry it on in his own strength and by his own Arm are we delivered and preserved and we have learnt of the Spirit of Truth to trust in him and we have set to our Seal and we know him to be the chiefest of ten thousand and he hath made the upright the Virgins whose Lambs are trimed and have oyl in them who have waited for the Bridegroom of the Soul his Banner over them is pure Love every one to know a rest in that which hath no shadow in it how comfortable is it to that man or woman that is come to be stayed in their minds purely on the Living God for we have seen an end of all perfection under the Son but surely the revelation of Christ to the Soul is exceeding glorious in the manifestation of himself in his dwelling and abiding with them that love his Appearance it is a dry place to that Soul whatever the words are that is not in the feeling sence of the pure Life and mark unchangeable Power of the Lord God which keeps the heart entire and upright to God they are compassed about with Salvation that can rest alone in that which is everlastingly one and the same and all that are tost about with every wind every spirit although in the depth of confusion there is a Lamentation for them in the Soul of the upright what will become of them that after a long profession of Gods Truth yet not come to anchor and fix in that which is within the Vail Oh that all were come to be rooted and grounded whereby they might be no more removed from the unchangeable Power of the Living God But Robert thou hast given order that the persons of those that are invited may be bid welcom but rather the spirits of the Friends to the Bridegroom as thou call'st them be remembred But in case the Persons of those that are invited to the Feast which thou hast given Thirty pounds to provide a Dinner or a Supper do not appear how wouldst thou have their spirits remembred Must it be as the Papists remember those that are deceased of their Religion to say one or more Masses that they may be delivered out of Purgatory Or what otherwise is thy Festival mind to have the Spirits of them that are fallen asleep remembred Thou hast given a large some of money for a Dinner or a Supper to Feast together tell us in plain terms Dost thou mean to remember their spirits by drinking to them and so remembring them in a Cup of good Liquor as those Fellowships call it For thou hast given order that the persons but rather the spirits of those especial ones be remembred we must confess it is such an especial work and service and remembrance that we never yet heard of before therefore we had need to have an Interpreter one of a thousand Or wouldst thou like the Church of Rome first canonize and make them Saints and so remember them by putting up request and supplication to them If this or either of these and if not we are certainly distinct from thy Festival mind and spirit but undoubtedly it is a word of truth to thee thou art gone out from the pure Living Truth and Spirit of Christ and what dost thou think to be made perfect by the Flesh and in Feasting Thou appearest to have gotten into a large place but there is an answer riseth It is ease in the earthly sensual mind and will but they only shall be kept in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on God if any should not yet understand wherein our preservation is and wherein our strength lies we stand clear before the Lord it is not in works of righteousness which we have or can do or according to excellency of speech or words which we may have of our own or learn of others but according to and by his Grace are we saved and our comfort and consolation for ever remains as we are kept by the Power of God to continue in the Grace of God which is our Salvation and our minds blessed be the Lord for ever are stayed on him Immortality and Life is brought to light by the Gospel which is the Power of God and the saving health that is revealed by the pure Power of the Lord is come and blessed for ever be the Name of God we continue and abide therein we testifie in the Name of the Lord let the dangers trials or temptations be never so great we have nothing else to trust to or in but the alone Arm and Power of the Lord God which is our Salvation and we cannot be drawn aside from the hope thereof and so all people who ever they are that will partake of Salvation from God they must walk in the pure Light of the Lord in which the pure fellowship is known with the pure God and one with another and all that believe in the Light and are made children thereof and abide therein they have fellowship with us and we with them in that which never alters nor changeth but abideth the same for ever and upon this Rock Christ the true Light are we built and we know the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against them that are built thereon and here is our Rest for ever THE END
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all Sin So we find thee gone from the true Fellowship that remains unalterable for ever which is in the true Light and holy Spirit which blessed be the Lord for ever we are whom thou art got atop of in thy words baptised into one Body and have been made to drink into one Spirit It is no matter at all of what perswasion in Religion we were before we came to know him that takes away Sin but now we are let the Ranters say whatever they will in him that is true and the departure of all them that could not abide and continue with us to walk in the strait Way that leads to Life it shakes not our confidence at all for we bear witness for the Lord and our witness will stand and abide and cannot be prevailed against because it is for him yea and in him that we are come to that which all the Prophets bear witness of and the glory is come and he is known that hath established the Soul upon the sure Foundation and all the proud swelling words cannot shake us at all for we will not know thy words but we will know thy power and try that and there we find thee light weighing in the Ballance of the Sanctuary we are called to it to contend for the Truth mark once delivered blessed everlasting God thou hast comforted the hearts of thine in this who are kept by thy power that they shall never fall because they are built upon the Rock Christ and we knowing that thou art gone from the blessed Way and Truth of the Living God and thou wast one of those of the first rank that departed from the Way Everlasting and joyned with them that got up into the Imaginations yet them that were thy Leaders in that particular there was some degree of repenting and God being gracious to them there was a sense of sorrow upon their hearts of their sin in dishonouring the name of the Lord and in causing his truth to be evil spoken of for your sakes but Robert I never yet heard that thou came to a sence of what thou art departed from or in what state thou now standest but that which thou art departed from and we enjoy gives us light to see thy condition and what work thou art working in this thy liberal Contribution and in this as to us what is it more then the Enemy of the Soul did to Christ our fore-runner when he shewed him the glory of this World and saith All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me for now we being brought under as to outward things by the late Fire and thou being in fulness as to outward things it seems a sit time to lay thy snare to entrap our feet and by this means love as thou call'st it to overcome us who had whilst thou wer 't yet in London in that unclean spirit to which thou wast joyned denied thee and that spirit and thou so continuing we are still the same as we were when thou departed from us and say if thou continue where thou art Thy Money perish with thee for we have learned in all estates to be content and we know our God whom we serve is able and all-sufficient to provide for us it is our glory for ever that we come to know him that takes care for us and we know he makes provision according to our need and so we deny thy Sacrifice for it is the price of Blood as was hinted before for thou hast slain the pure tender innocent Life that was arising in thee the tender Bud it scarce ever came to blossom it was nipt the subtil Foxes spoil the tender Grapes that Birth thou speaks of was strangled before it was brought forth And all that are baptized and come to that Unction the Apostle speakes of which is true there is no lie in it the Soul even blesseth and magnifieth the Lord for ever that we are come to that pure Spring of Love and Life that satisfies the Immortal Soul and there is no Lye in it neither will it joyn or partake of a Lye in another therefore all that have been made partakers of it and come to know the worth thereof in some degree they had need walk humbly before the Lord for ever and prize his love and also stand in the watch lest through negligence or carelesness they giving not heed to the pure Light of Life which is the Gift of God in which the Wisdom which is from above is placed all that come to it and have kept their virginity have not been spoiled through vain deceit and a false flattering love that neither for fear nor favour of others but in singleness of heart are given up to the Lord to walk with him in the Covenant of his own Light and Life mark they need not strive after excellency of words for their Kingdom is not in that but they are come to know the Brest-plate of true Judgment the Judgment of the Living God is placed in it for ever and all them that dwell in the unalterable Truth of the Lord our Righteousness prize his mercy to you for ever Oh the excellency of the pure Power of the pure Life of the Son God and without all doubt the Virgins that follow the Lamb the Light whither he goes mark they have this treasure in earthen Vessels Oh ye faithfull ones that have kept your dwelling and have abode under the Wings of the Almighty exalt and magnifie for ever the alone precious glorious living saving strengthning Power of the Living blessed God your and our All is in it and without the preciousness of this in a setled stayed mind the want whereof and the neglect to attain the Wisdom that is from above that is for ever pure it is true in our dayes as in the dayes past The Sluggard the Sloathfull I in my Soul can desire there were none such they are clouthed in Rags mark the pure Life calls and cries out to the Lord that all and every one in the particular would labour and strive and watch to that so there might not one that profess the Name of the Lord be barren but all be acquainted with the Excellency of Gods Power and be enriched with it no one going before another but a standing in the unalterable Power of the Lord for the growth and comforting of the pure Life in all this is that we were made partakers of in the beginning we did we do inherit Life the preciousness whereof is beyond the utterance of all words and all the deceitfull ones that are gone out from the pure Appearance of the Lord and his pure Light and are made wise in many of the words of Truth yet are out and against the Power of Truth although they come amongst us with their lying wonders from day to day Robert as thou and thy Company did in the beginning but your sins remains and your