saying All this will I give thee if thou will 〈◊〉 down and worship me then safe will such be as dwell in the dayly â—rosse whereby the world is Crucified unto them and they unto the world that so the wicked one may have no part in them because they are passed from death unto life feeding of and being cloathed with that which is immortal and never perishes their life standing in an eternal root who have the Lord for their portion such cannot with Esau sell their birth-right for a messe of Pottage nor with Demas chuse this present world and forsake the way of truth for in them the temptation of the enemy hath no place they living in that immortal eternal principle of life which first convinced them of the evil of the world and the spirit of wickednesse in high places that accursed root which brings noâ— forth fruit unto God in which they were once branches but are now broken off that they might be ingrafted and for ever abide in another but whoever return into the old root and nature again will become as withered branches twice dead plucked up by the roots You therefore my dear friends that know a cutting off from the old root and a grafting again into the true Vine the light of life and word of the Lord God by which your hearts are in measure cleansed sanctified and purified from the pollutions of the world abide ye in that word for ever and goe not forth to look for or covet after another dispensation of life or glory nor seek not another Kingdome besides that which is revealed in the light which as ye abide in it an enterance will be administred into it from day to day and a growth into that state and condition which the high and lofty spirits which have left their habitations and are exalted above the root of life in themselves fall short of though they may have great swelling words of those things which they have not witnessed tasted nor handled of being vainly puft up in their fleshly minds and boast of things above their line or of the estate whereunto they have not attained But this I say unto you my dear friends goe not forth unto any of these exalted spirits in any of these glorious temptations which promiseth great things but there is a lye in that which may seem to be their right hand and therefore goe not forth but abide with the Lord for ever in the measure of his eternal truth which changeth not though many may turn from it nor waxeth not old but abideth the same for ever for there is your safety And as you abide in this and stand singly girt up in it here no deceitful spirits can come nor enter but they will be seen and judged whether they come from within or from without and whatever their covering or appearance may be yet being out of the vertue and savour of life their root and ground will be seen discovered and judged and so 〈◊〉 kept clean pure and holy in the eternal light and life of God in which 〈◊〉 live walk and will have dominion over all unclean and fallen spirit who are gone from their first principle and erred from the light of life which was sown in them And so you dear and tender plants of my heavenly Father abide ye in the true Vine the light of life which the Father hath sown in you that for ever ye may be rooted fixed and established in it and bring forth fruit to perfection that the root of bitternesse and every plant which your heavenly Father hath not planted may wholly be cut up and rooted out by the two-â—â—ged Sword the Axe of the Lord God that so the plant of righteousnesse may take root and grow up in you wholly to cover the earth as the waters covers the Sea that as you have born the Image of the earthly so now you may bear the Image of the heavenly and may become a praise unto the Lord in your generation a comfort strengthening and refreshing one unto another serving the Lord with a pure heart fervently and one another in love which is the end of all ministrations and the summe of the desire of our hearts concerning you and that for which our souls travels that the love of God may abound in you and the God of love peace and mercy be with you and establish your hearts in the everlasting Covenant of his light life and Salvation that in it ye may stand for ever and bear a living testimony for him and his truth upon earth And that so it may be with you all is the fervent Supplication of my soul in the spirit that giveth life by which the endeared visitation and salutation of my love first and last reacheth to you all Farewell From a Branch of Righteousnesse sprung forth of the Root of David known unto you in the eternal ground and root of life and amongst men by the name of HENRY JACKSON The first Copy of this was written in Warwick Goale in the latter end of the 10. Moneth 1663. Where I am a Prisoner for the testimony of Christ Jesus with my dear Brother before mentioned and many more of our dear friends in the truth For the dear Plants of God in the Southern Counties Essex Suffolk Norfolk Kent or elsewhere c. to be dispersed and sent amongst them as freedome and opertunity is Yarmouth common Gaol the fourth day of the eight moneth 1663. MY dearly beloved Friends who are sensible of the breathings of life in your selves and of the power of the everlasting Gospel of peace my unfeigned brotherly love flowes forth unto you from the immortall life which the God of my life hath manifested in my mortal body and with the salutation of this my reall love do I greet you all whom God hath called and chosen in these perillous times to be a peculiar people unto himself to shew forth his praise and not your own to declare his wonderous works and not your own to get honour and renown unto him in the earth and not unto your selves for he hath bought you with a price therefore are you not your own and he hath redeemed you from the corruptible by that which is incorruptible and therefore how should you continue in that which is corruptible to the satisfying your wills and the wills of corruptible men who are in the corruptible and in their unconverted estate fulfiling their own wills shewing forth their own praise declaring their own workes admireing and worshiping of them and getting honour and renown unto themselves in the earth honouring regarding and serving the Creatures more then the Creator even as we in the times of ignorance have done before the redemption before mentioned was witnessed or the election known which now many are made witnesses of glory be unto the most high for evermore Wherefore Friends answer ye the Lords end in calling of you and his end in purchasing of you and
of heart and minde walk ye in the daily crosse unto that part and nature which would crucifie the Son of God afresh and cause you to build again those things which you once destroyed by getting up into a fleshly liberty and exaltation which is not the liberty of the Sons of God who have dominion over that part which would cause the offence of the crosse to cease for such as give way unto that though they have begun in the Spirit yet will end in the flesh and though they once might partake of the virtue of the root of life yet afterwards degenerate from it and bring not forth fruit unto God but both branch and fruit perishes so against that friendes all are to watch which would lead out into fleshly liberty or into any exaltation of flesh or spirit above the daily crosse of Christ how glorious soever it may appear to the outward eye yet a snare of death there is in it and the vertue of the pretious life will withdraw it self from such as follow it though they may flourish as a green bay-tree in the profession of truth yet the vertue of the root of life having withdrawn it self their leaf will shortly wither and they become as corne that groweth on the house top that brings not forth fruit to perfection And therefore my dear friends the word of exhortatation which ariseth in my heart unto you all is dwell low in the fear of the Lord God and in humility of heart walk with him in the measure of that grace ye have received of him for that is safe for you all and to him that hath shall be given that he may have in abundance but unto him that hath not profited in that which he hath even that which he hath shall be taken from him Watch you therefore my dear friends that a daily profiting you may know in that tallent which is committed unto you for there is no profiting in or by another nor by what another hath received of it but by abideing in that which ye have received of God in your own perticulars that you may feel that grow and increase in you and you in it untill it have wholy leavened you into its own proper vertue and nature and thereby an entrance is and will be administred unto you more and more into that which is eternal even into the kingdome and life of our Lord Jesus Christ and you will feel an habitation in that and and a sitting down in it which indeed is exceeding pretious and will countervaile all your sufferings labours and travels for it And that you will feel raised up in you which serves God as naturally and does his will unto which his commands are not grevious but joyous nor is his yoke burthensome but this brings forth fruit naturally unto God for indeed it is of him and from him and not of this world but born from above and seeks those things that are eternal and to be unto God in deed in truth and in righteousnesse and though this brings forth the workes of God outwardly before men and stands singly given up in body soul and spirit to serve him in all things and to do his will that therein the Father may be glorified yet it doth not seek to appear before men nor to be approved by men in any thing but to answer the Lord in all things and to stand approved in his sight and unto his witnesse in every conscience and this is the son of God for ever and heir of the Kingdome and a plant of the right hand of the God of Heaven which naturally bringeth forth fruit to the praise of the Lord of the vineyard who hath planted and watered it And so dear friends feel this in you all raised up begotten and brought forth for this will the Lord God cherish as a Father his onely begotten and this shall receive the rain in due season even the former and latter rain the dew of Heaven and the fatnesse of the good ground shall daily water and nourish this in the root and in the branch and though the briars and thorns may seek to smother this yet the fire of the Lord shall consume them and every plant that the Father hath not planted which seeks to hinder the growth of this the axe of the Lord shall cut them up so that the leaves of this shall never wither nor its blossomes perish the scorching heat in the Summer nor the stormy blasts in the Winter shall have no power over it because it is rooted in an eternal ground of life and watered with the dew of of Heaven which causeth it to flourish and blossome in due season and bring forth fruit to perfection to the everlasting glory and renown of the Lord of the Vineyard over all who is blessed for evermore And so dear Plants of my heavenly Father recieve ye my words in the word of life from whence they were written and therein also may you read feel and receive the thing I testifie of and exhort unto even the engrafted word which is able to save your souls that by it you may have power over that whether in your selves or in others which would draw you from the root of life or word engrafted in your own particulars for that is your enemy and to be watched and warred against which would draw you from that in whatever appearance it may come unto you in that as an Angel of light to draw you from the light of life revealed in you or from the present sensible feeling of your own particular estate and conditions in it into something before or behind which may seem glorious unto the eye that is abroad saying Lo here or there is the Kingdome of God in this or that or the other observation and thereby seek to raise up a covetting or longing desire to be in another state or condition in a higher or more glorious state or dispensation then what you are grown into by the light of life the manifestation of Gods spirit which is given unto you to profit withall but I say unto you goe not forth but abide with the Lord in that which ye have received of him that by it a growth and enterance may be administred unto you into the Kingdome in deed and in truth for the Kingdome of God comes not by observation of this or that or the other thing nor yet stands it in high words or guilded and coyned expressions but in judgement and mercy in peace in truth and in righteousnesse and happy are they that enter it through judgement and righteousnesse and sit down in it in the peace that endures for ever and goes no more forth to the right hand nor to the left for the things that are behind also may the enemy tempt you withal to draw back your minds from the Lord into the glory of Egypt the thing which you have once turned your backs upon even the fading enjoyments of this present life
A VISITATION OF LOVE To the tender Plants of Gods VINEYARD Given forth by HENRY JACKSON Also two Generall Epistles given forth by WILLIAM CATON LONDON Printed in the Year 1663. A visitation of LOUE unto the tender plants of Gods Vineyard DEar and tender plants of my heavenly Father the salutation of my love dearly doth greet you all in the spirit that giveth life by which you are brought afresh to my remembrance even at this present time in these my present bonds for the word of God and the testimony of Christ Jesus and that not without living breathings ariseing in my heart unto the Lord for you that the God of all life vertue and living refreshment may daily water and nourish you with his heavenly life love and vertue causing you to abound in all the fruits of righteousnesse to the everlasting praise of his great and glorious Name that so you being fully rooted fixed and established in the root of life the stem and off-spring of David may grow up as plants of righteousness and flourish as Willows by the water courses that your branches may never wither nor your fruit perish but that the vertue of your leaf may be for the healing of the Nations and your fruit may remain in the winter stormes and tempests to the everlasting praise and glory of the Lord God of the vine-yard who hath planted and watered you and who also hath and will give an encrease unto all you who exalt not above the root nor lift up your selves against the other branches but abides in the true vine and keeps your place in the ground and root of life into which the Father hath implanted and grafted you that ye never may be plucked up nor cut off as withered and unfruitfull branches but that the vertue of the root of life may put forth it self through you and in the vertue and life thereof you may grow up fructifie and abound in all the fruits of righteousness thankesgiving and praise to the everlasting glory and renown of the Lord of the vineyard who is God over all blessed for evermore And dear and tender plants this is with me further to signifie unto you that it was purposed in my heart to have visited you in the bowels of eternall love with my dear and honorable Brother and companion in the Lord W. D. But Sathan hath hindred us who in Ages and Generatiâ—â—s past sought to withstand the servants of the most high God and even â—â—w also worketh mightily in the hearts of unreasonable and wicked men â—eeking to stirre up wrath against us and to cast our bodies into prison thereby intending to let and hinder the work of the Lord and to stop the wells of Iacob by depriving the heritage of the Lord of those pretious and refreshing oportunities which our God hath afforded us in our holy assemblings and comings together to wait upon him to be strengthned and refreshed by him and to build up strengthen and comfort one another in the most holy saith even with the same strength vertue and consolation wherewith we our selves are strengthned comforted and refreshed of our God And glory be to the Lord God for ever concerning this I am fully assured that the expectation of the wicked one herein shall be frustrated and that the God of all comfort and consolation hath and doth answer the request of our soules concerning you who abide faithfull to him in the light of his everlasting covenant in that he will manifest his heavenly vertue with you whether together or assunder as outwardly and open the spring of eternall life in you and therein make you as a well-spring of living refreshment one unto another And though he hath permitted the adversary so far to prevaile against us or to exercise his rage on us as to cast our bodies into prison is he did the very dearest Saints and servants of the God of Heaven în thâ— dayes past yet herein also I am fully confident that the wrath of men shall be turned to the praise of our God and the remainder thereof he will restrain and so concerning this I am fully satisfied and rest in peace in the will or rather permission of our God believing assuredly that this also shall work for our consolation that the depth of the riches of Gods love unto us ward may more abundantly be made manifest both in the preservation and deliverance of us in his own appointed time untill which we rest in the will of our God being singly given up that that may be done by us and fulfilled in us In which rest yee with us my dear friends for though in bodily presence we are seperated from you and letted from visiting of you for a little season yet in spirit we are with you in the bowels of eternal love our hearts are enlarged towards you much more then what is needfull to be expressed in lines of this kind seeing in the word of the Lord God you may read us and feel us near unto you and with you all even as in an epistle written in your harts to be seen and read by you all Wherefore in that receive ye a visitation of tender love from him that travels in spirit although outwardly in bonds for your preservation growth and prosperity every way in Gods pretious truth by which you were at first convinced for there is not preservatian growth nor any true prosperity in or by another then in that which hath been declared of unto you from the beginning even the light of Christ Jesus the word of the gospel of truth by which at first your hearts were opened and turned towards the Lord and repentance given unto life never to be repented of and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and fervent love begotten in your hearts one towards another by which word of the Gospel my heart is enlarged unto you in an abundant manner and therein also let me inlarge my self a little by writing a few lines unto you in simplicity and truth though you need it not who are taught by the anoynting that dwelleth in you in all things and your hearts established in righteousnesse yet seeing all aâ—e not come so farre that are convinced of the truth of God bear with me a little ye that are strong if I write a few words in generall by way of caution or to put you afresh in remembrance O you dear and tender plants of my Father that ye be watchful at all times and take heed of that which would exalt you above your root or draw you into highnesse and loftinesse of minde above the feeling of the daily crosse kept over and above the earthly or flâ—shly part for that is to be beat down and kept in subjection or else it will cause you to wither and dry up at the root if that be nourished and cherished in you which the Lord God hates and resisteth but he giveth grace to the humble wherefore my dear friends in lowlinesse
his end in redeeming of you which may be answered by your faithfulnesse unto the Lord and in so doing every one will have his reward with him for every one that answers the Lords end for which the Lord called him comes to enjoy his presence comes to be filled with love life joy and peace and such do really shew forth his praise and declare his wonderous works to the bringing of honour and renown unto him and not unto themselves but they that are unfaithfull and disobedient though called they do not answer the end for which they were called and therefore doth not the Lord so reward them through his dwelling with them through filling them with love life joy and peace as he rewards the other that are faithfull but on the contrary they who are called and are not faithful as to answer the end for which they are called they I say are filled with sorrow and unbelief with trouble and anguish and condemnation pursues them from that which called them which they being unfaithful unto it ministers not consolation but condemnation it speaks not peace but warre c. And this being alwaies present with them to put them in mind of their neglect of their unfaithfulnesse of their disobedience and of their unworthinesse they are alwayes disquieted and tosticated in themselves and in such the murmurer and unbeliever hath place and such are very unfitting to bear crosses tryals and sufferings for all these will adde to the trouble which they were before possessed withall so that very many inconveniences do ensue where the end for which God called a people is not answered by them that are called therefore my dearly beloved friends be mindeful not onely of the end for which you are called but of answering the same that the Lords delight may be to do good unto you who are his peculiar treasure and live all in his eternall power and spirit that you may know the Lord and his eternall truth to be on your sides when furious men rise up against you then need you not be afraid of what they can do unto you for hath not the Lord oftentimes already suffered many of you to be tried through the fury of the wicked which at sundry times hath been high against you but how hath the Lord turned it backward and how hath he restrained the wickednesse of the wicked by his mighty power from being executed upon you even to your own admiration and hath not the Lords end in this been to engage you through his infinite mercy so much the more unto him who oftentimes suffered the fury of the ungodly to break forth a little yet not for the destroying but for the trying his people and how near have we found him unto us even as a rock of defence to fly unto in our greatest straites difficulties and temptations and what free accesse have we had unto him through his eternal spirit in our selves when by Jayles houses of correction force of Armes and the like we have been hindred from having accesse one unto another or for meeting together in the outward yet by those things before mentioned we could not be hindred from meeting together in the Lord I mean in the eternal spirit when the fury of the wicked hath been as the rageing of the Sea and having then the testimony of the Lords eternal Spirit in our selves that we had answered the Lords end in his calling of us in that we had faithfully shewn forth his praise and brought honour and renown unto his Name upon earth Oh! what joy and peace that did bring unto our soules and how did we rejoyce in the Lord when he covevered our heads as in the day of battell even untill that the fury of the wicked came to be abated so oftentimes you know have we seen the eminent hand of our God stretched out for our deliverance which hath hitherto preserved us to our great admiration therefore let us who have had such experience of the faithfulnesse of our God endeavour to be like unto him even faithfull as he is faithfull And now forasmuch as that in these perillous times we cannot well serve our God in that way in which he required us to walk without being in jeopardy of bonds and imprisonments or to have other sufferings imposed upon us by reason of our meeting together to wait upon the Lord and it doth therefore so much the more concern us to feel the drawings of our God by his eternal Spirit to our meetings that when we are met we may so much the more enjoy his presence in our meetings to the refreshment of our soules and then if we suffer for waiting upon him he will not leave us comfortlesse in that suffering which for that cause comes upon us and this is the word of trueth unto you neither will it be grievous to us while we keep in that through which we enjoyed him in our meeting for in that may we enjoy him in our sufferings and then it will be better to be one day in a prison with the Lord then a thousand else where without the enjoyment of his presence in which we have found as you know much joy and peace much comsort and consolation and therefore have we cause to hazard our liberty through our keeping of our meeting though we be accounted by men offenders for so doing rather then through the neglecting of them we should become offenders in the light of the Lord through whose mercy we are come to know the benefit of them to the end we might prise and frequent them and not slight nor neglect them for it is certain if we neglect them we shall not reap any benefit by them but if we frequent them according to the manner of the faithfull then will the Lord be with us at them and amongst us in them and then his end in bringing of us into the practise of such meetings will be answered to his glory and our comforts Again as concerning swearing what was the Lords end in giving us to see the evil of this was it not that we should keep clear of it and bear our faithful testimony against it as against a hurtful evil which is direct contrary to the doctrine of Christ and seeing we have known the terrours of the Lord God against this evil and have therefore perswaded others from it how can we therefore in any wise consent unto it as to do it though we should therefore lose both our liberties and estates for surely the Lord hath an end in convincing us of it in shewing us the evil of it and if we keep clear of it and bear a faithful testimony against it unto the end then the Lords end in convincing us of the evil of it will be Answered who knew before what would come upon us by reason of our testimony against it And if God had not suffered this as a snare in the hand of our enemies there would have been something else
as there are besides things many which they take up as occasions agâ—inst us as covers for their wickednesse and these things are not without the Lords permission who will try his Jewells as Gold that is seven times purified and the more that we keep our Consciences void of offâ—nce towards him and man the more precious we shall be in his sight but if we should love our Liberties our Estates or Lives more then him who hath said Swear not at all and for the saving of these should swear conttary to his command we should not onely neglect answering his end in forbidding of it but incurre his displeasure against us and while through doing that which he forbids we may think to save our Liberties estates and lives we might even in a moment loose them all for we know they are uncertain therefore let us answer the Lords end in shewing us the evil of this also and in being faithful in this and in all other things we shall find life riches and liberties which the world can neither give us nor take from us Moreover Friends as concerning your Return again to the Steeple-houses and unto which some would force you at this day but alas shall not he that sitteth in the Heavens laugh at their folly for doth not the least amongst you know that was not the Lords end in bringing you out of them I mean that you should return to them again neither needed you have suffered upon this account by that generation that continues in them if God had not determined to have tryed you out of them and that by the suffering which comes and will come upon you for not repairing to them yet neverthelesse if you would rather answer the Adversaries will by your returning to them again then the Lords end in calling you out of them then you might suddenly free your selves from suffering upon this account but I doubt not out you are otherwise minded yea resolved to answer the Lords end in his calling you out of them notwithstanding your Adversaâ—â—â—s present threatnings forcing and compellings which is not of from by nor through the Spirit of the Lord God therefore in the Spirit with patienec must you bear what the Lord suffers to come upon you upon this count for I testifie unto you it is not for the destroying of any though it may tend to the proving of many Wherefore my dear friends let none be discouraged nor terrified at what the Lord suffers to come upon you by reason of your meetings by reason of your not swearing by reason of your not going to their publick worship or by reason of any other particular thing as in relation to the truth of our God for while suffering comes upon you onely by reason of the truth you need not be ashamed of it neither will the Lord leave you comfortlesse in it for he is ready to succour such as for conscience sake suffer by reason of these things even as thousands who have found it by experience can testifie In the mean time comfort ye one another in the bowels of love and be ye tender affectionated one to another and regard not the present threatnings of men nor look not at the present tribulations but regard the truth in your selves and look unto the Lord and hear what he saith and if he speak peace be not ye troubled though men speak and prepare war against you but hold ye alwaies fast the word of Gods power and patience which is able to preserve and keep you in all your sufferings and tribulations even unto the day of salvation and unto this do I commit you all my dearly beloved friends as unto that which is able to save you all to the utmost so the peace and blessing of the Almighty be with upon and among you all for evermore I suppose many of you have heard of my bonds how that after God of his mercy had delivered me out of a mighty violent storm at Sea I was cast in here where they in Authority have shewed themselves to be worse to me and the friends with me then the Barbarious people of Melita was to Paul and them that were with him who shewed them no small kindnesse for they received and lodged them courteously but these that are called Christians shewed themselves to be barbarous rather then courteous in that they broke up our Meeting with many Souldiers and afterwards committed us to prison and in stead of shewing us much kindnesse they have been so cruell to us as that sometime it was difficult for us to get water and bread and so were farre from courteously entertaining of us or with honouring of us with many honours as the Barbarians did them before mentioned howbeit the Lord is with us and their cruelty hath been little to us for we know that our God will in his own due time deliver us out of their hands when our testimony is sufficiently born amongst them but of this I am very sensible that with the baptisme of suffering under this spirit of persecution in the Nation many are to be baptized into the fellowship of the Gospell with the Saints in light and blessed and thrice happy are they and will they be that continue faithfull unto the end for they shall be saved Farewell in the Lord in whom I remain Your dear friend and Brother WILLIAM CATON My fellow Prisoners salutes you all This for Friends to be read in their Meetings Yarmouth the 14. of the 11. Moneth 1663. DEar Friends Brethren and Sisters who are called to follow the Lamb whâ—thersoever he goeth my very soul greeteth you all with the salutation of my unfeigned and entire love in and through the eternal spirit which the God of our strength and comfort hath sent into our hearts through which I am made to share with you not only of your sufferings which you meet withall through your following of the Lamb but also of your consolation which you find in the midst of your suffering and truly my heart rejoyceth in this fellowship with you and my soul claims a part with you of all your sufferings and consolations which you meet withall in this your return to Zion and my heart is affected with the dealings of the Lord with you and with his infinite love and mercy unto you and often doth my spirit intercede unto him with strong sighes and groans which cannot easily be uttered on your behalf whom he loveth though the world hate you whom he hath respect unto though the world despise you whom he careth for though the world trample upon you whom he hath brought into fellowship with himself and with his Saints in light though the world excommunicate you wherefore then should any of you be afraid of their threatnings or regard their excommunications which in my heart I have considered of and pondred upon And this I have seen in the light of the Lord that they that cannot bring people from under the power of