that spirit neither follow it which Ministers to others that which it hath not learned of the Father but hath the words without the Power and lives not in the Power of what it Ministers forth in words nor is not what it declares but is in the outward shews in the hypocrisie and feignedness and reacheth not the life of God but vails and covers it and that spirit is not of the Father but is to be denyed and judged and not received nor believed Again believe not that spirit neither follow it which is at liberty in the flesh and makes the offence of the cross to cease which is exalted out of the fear of the Lord in the liberty of the earthly which crucifies the life and darkens the eye and that spirit will boast of joy and peace and experience and knowledge and speak high words in the airy mind and that would lead you out of your conditions to glory above the cross till you be past feeling of the life and that spirit begets into feignedness and hypocrisie and into the love of the world which passes away and beware of that spirit for it is not of the Father but to be condemned Again Believe not that spirit neither follow it which is hasty and forward and rash for that goeth out of Gods counsel and betrayes the Just and strives to be greatest and to be above the weak and despises him and would be Master and not a servant and would rule and not be ruled in the meek lowly government of Christ and that spirit will judge out of thoughts rashly and unfavourily and condemn another in secret in what it self is guilty of beware of that spirit for it is not of God but to be judged with the life of God Again Believe not that spirit neither follow it which seeks it self to have praise of men and to be accounted and would beget into divisions and would have parties to it self and respects persons and glories in gifts and knowledge and parts more then in the Giver and admires men more then he that gives the encrease and feeds of the knowledge in that nature which is to be famished and glories in what hath been done by it as though it had not received power from the Lord and is exalted as though it bare the root not knowing that it is born of the root and that spirit spends its Treasure which it received in the Fathers house amongst Harlots and despises the poor and seeks occasion to glory over the weak that it may be renowned beware of that spirit I charge you all for it is not of the Father nor to be followed but to be condemned and resisted unto death Again Believe not that spirit neither follow it which preaches not from the measure of God received and to be manifest to it in you and approved by it only but speaks above the measure and reaches not to the measure of the grace of God that spirit leads after words and outward shews and cryes peace to the rich and judgement to the poor the word of God is not divided aright but heals up falsly and daubs with untempered morter and cryes peace where Gods speaks war and cryes war where God speaks peace and that spirit is a deceiver and a betrayer and feeds but the ear and not the life and darkens the counsel of God by words without knowledge and is not of the Father but of the world to be denyed and condemned Again Believe not that spirit neither follow it which is not subject to rule and order and is not meek and diligent and long suffering but heady and high and untoward seeking occasions against the Just and watches for evil that spirit will not bear reproof but is idle sloathful and careless and surmising evil and backbiting and conforms in appearance making a fair shew but is not unto God as appearing unto man and that would go and is not called and will not go when it is called and seeks for the praise of men more then God and that is fruitless ground and brings forth bryars and thorns in secret which choaks the seed of God beware of that spirit it is a lover of this world have no fellowship with it for it is not of the Father but a deceiver and is to be denyed Again Believe not that spirit neither follow it which is tossed and unsetled and is given to change and is not established with grace that is an Adulterer and hunts for the precious life and seeks by flattery to beguile the innocent that spirit is zealous for a moment but is soon overcome and is stony ground and brings not forth fruit to perfection but withers and its later end is worse then the beginning That spirit is exalted into presumption and in peace and cast into desparation and trouble and the double mind lodgeth in it and it is unstable in all its wayes is a ground for the seed of Satan and to it there is no peace from God and beware of that spirit for it is not of the Father but to be condemned Again Believe not that spirit neither follow it which is more zealous then knowing whose zeal is without true knowledge and stands in that which is corrupted that flourisheth for a moment but cannot endure for ever it hath no root in it self but is furious and passionate and not long-suffering that spirit knows not it self but would devour its adversary with bitterness and not gain'd by long suffering that is not the Spirit of the Father but must be denyed in all Again Believe not that spirit which draws back into the world into its lusts and liberty and fashions which passeth away that spirit forgets God and draws back for his soul hath no pleasure in it but is vexed with it where the cross is made of non-effect and the false Liberty is walked in which murders the life that spirit is of the Devil and is to be condemned And now all friends of God every where who knows him and are known of him whom he hath gathered out of this untoward generation be diligent in your Callings and keep your meetings in faithfulness waiting upon the Lord that you all may receive of his fulness to be filled with it and may be nourished up unto himself as Trees of righteousness the planting of his own right hand to spread forth his name and glory as a people saved by him and to whom there is none like besides And this know and understand that spirit is not of the Father which confesseth not the Son to be come in the flesh who destroys the works of the Devil and takes away sin and that spirit it believe and follow which condemns sin and destroys it and takes it away and so gives peace with God in your own consciences and leads you into all truth and keeps you from all evil you that witness this the Son you know and the Father you know to dwell with
Generall Epistle AND Greeting of the Fathers Love TO ALL THE SAINTS Called and chosen to faithfulness in Christ Iesus the light of the World in which they believing and their faith standing in his power many suffers for his names sake And this is to all such as are found worthy to suffer and is an Exhortation to the strengthning of their faith whereby they may continue boldly witnessing to the end And this is a true testimony of the Father and of the Son Witnessed by us who are called of God in whom his power is made manifest London Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth neer Aldersgate 1657. To the Reader FOrasmuch as many who are partakers of the Fathers Love manifested in his Son in measure in whom these Epistles hath found greeting With the same Love in the upright hearted to which it is a sure Testimony of love from Life it self to the quickning strengthning confirmâ—ng and arming of all such as have in the Love Life and Power heard and received and believed the Truth as it hath been declared and is in Jesus in whom our Faith is standing which Faith worketh by the Love shed abroad in our hearts wherein we are reaching after each other in the sameness of Love which is the bond of our unity wherein we are called together to be joyned in the purity power and life of one Faith and Love therein to bear Testimony as we have in our measures recieved to and of the everlasting Truth wherein finding these Epistles of such manifold service to the whole Body both for instruction exhortation strengthening and forewarning whereby there is or may be a safe arming against all deceeâ—t and decivable spirits hence it is from the earnest love and desire stirred up in many here among us that are faithful whereby this they put in print that thereby the service may reach unto all who are worthy thereof in these Nations for to them is it sent who are called of God therefore in the fear of the Lord let every one of vs to whom this comes walk worthy of the Fathers love grace mercy and peace whereinto we are called in one body of which Christ is Head Sent from London the 2. of the 3. month 1657. A.D. AN EPISTLE To all the SAINTS whom God hath called TO all the Children of Light every where who feareth and loveth the Lord who are begotten of God and unto whom he is known in the spirit and in the truth this is a testimony of the Fathers love unto you Grace Mercy and Peace from him that lives for ever the God of Light and Life be multiplyed in you all that you may daylie be renewed in strength and girded with truth and armed with the whole Armour of God and may be kept by his Power until the day of Salvation to walk in the Government and subjection to Jesus Christ witnessing the power and presence of God in you and amongst you giving you power to fulfil his will in all things and that in all righteousness and out of all evil you may be led and preserved unto the end and in the end to shew forth the praises of God in this generation as a people called of him and redeemed by him for his glories sake even so Amen and Amen Dearly beloved be not ignorant but this know This is the Message which came unto you which is true and faithful and everlasting That the true God is light and in him is no darkness at all and this is the Message of Peace and Reconciliation and of glad tydings unto all that have sought the Lord which we received of him and you have heard and there is not another to be declared and all that have received it are gathered up to God and are in Covenant with him and one with another and are in that which reconcileth and joyneth unto Christ Jesus the Husband and second Adam who is the Lord from Heaven the Prince of Peace the Saviour and the deliverer who is made manifest in Power and condemneth the Transgressor and slayeth the Enmity and raiseth the life out of death and this is he who kills and makes alive even the God who is light who brings down one and sets up another who makes war against the mighty and gives Peace to the poor and besides him there is none he searcheth mans heart and tryeth the reins and knows the thoughts and every creature is manifest in his sight who gives to every one according to his doings and this is he who standeth in the Congregation of the righteous even in the midst of us sitteth Judge among the gods unto him must all the gods of the earth bow and the Inhabitants of the earth must tremble before him and unto him every Tongue shall confess and the light in every man shall answer when he ariseth to judgement who is a swift witness to condemn or justifie all the children of men upon the face of the earth This is the God of truth whom we worship and who will be worshipped in spirit and in truth who is the God of Abraham and his seed for ever and with him there is no change nor shadow of turning and he hath made known his Name and his Power and his wonderful works in this his day and hath caused his voice to be heard in the earth and the dead hath heard and now liveth And his Name is exalted on high amongst all that fear him and obey his voice and he hath given his Son a Covenant of Light who lighteth every man that cometh into the world with the true Light of Life or Condemnation that all who receive him may come to the knowledge of the Father whom to know is life eternal And this is the Christ the Saviour in which we have believed and which we preach who is the Way the Truth and the Life the Foundation of God which cannot be moved the Word of God is his Name and there is no other Name given for salvation This is he that was dead and is alive and lives for evermore and there is no other to be looked for if any preach any other let him be accursed and if any bring any other Message let them not be received And all you who have believed in this Christ Jesus who is the Light of the world and who have received the knowledge of this God who is light himself and that searcheth your hearts I exhort you and warn you all in his presence that lives for ever to wait upon him and to fear before him and to walk with him for ever in uprightness of heart which is of great price in his sight and forget not his righteous Judgements which he hath made known least you wax fat through mercies and rebel against him and become disobedient and gainsaying and so be destroyed from being a people but be stayed upon the Lord and let your hearts be established with grace and be not tossed nor shaken with
and for well doing if in the wisdom of God you be guided and the Lord will be your reward and peace for ever lift up your head and rejoice in him and abide in his counsel ye that suffer herein for him and for his Names sake for your suffering is for a Testimony against all this Generation against the Idol Worships and ways which Gods soul loaths and which he will confound and against the Idol Teachers and false Prophets and Priests who preach for hire and make merchandise of souls against whom Gods wrath is kindled and upon whom his indignation will be poured and it is a testimony against the sins of Rulers and people which abounds in this generation till the measure of it be fulfilled through persecuting of you who warn them of the evil and bears witness against their evil deeds that God may be justified when he condemns them and he is risen against the Worships and Wayes and Teachers and people whose abominable iniquities hath overgrown the world and prophaneness hath gone forth from them through Nations Rulers and Teachers and people are all out of the way and given to vanity to covetousnes and Idolatry and the breath of the Lord shall consume you together all who doth oppress the Just Therefore Friends be patient and content under all tribulations and sufferings and feel Gods living presence near you to overshadow you and to be your hiding-place and know the life which the wickedness and cruelty of man cannot touch nor reach unto and dwell in the Power of the Lord which moves to bear witness for him and against all those abominations and that will keep you above all the afflictions which can be cast upon you and you will be on the top of your enemies and the Seed of the Serpent shall hardly bruise your heel Wo unto the Idol Worships and Temples and Teachers to all the Hirelings and Deceivers who feeds themselves and not the Flock which abounds in the world and in this Nation they must down into Perdition the Lord is risen against them all to pluck up the root that the branches may wither and his arm shall watch over them to overthrow them all and to make them desolate that the just may be delivered And all you that suffer anywhere imprisonment or finings or reproaches or any other thing because you cannot swear for conscience sake nor respect persons according to the vain customs of the Heathen but are redeemed out of the customs and superstitions of men which are of the world and are evil and not of God nor justified by him you suffer for righteousness sake and for Christs sake and are witnesses for God herein against the superstitions and wickedness and pride and high-mindedness of men and the Lord is with you if you be ruled in his wisdom and are faithful to him and he will lift up your head till his and your adversaries be confounded And I charge you all in the presence of the Lord who suffers for righteousness sake in these things or in any other who are moved of the Lord to bear witness of the truth and against the deceits of the world be not exalted in the flesh in your sufferings least you forget God Nor be not cast down into sorrow least ye be overcome of the Devil but dwell in the measure of the power and life of God which is above all and more then all and feel Gods living arm to stay your hearts to watch to his own in you to refresh you continually And resist the Devil on every hand with the Armour of Light and Truth that your life may be preserved in Dominion over all things even the life which is not of this world in you may not be vailed nor overcome for to enjoy the life of God with you is enough if you pass through the fire and through the water it keeps you and carries you above all this I witness and it is more then all outward freedom or liberty or riches and treasure of this world and walk herein in boldness and faithfulness and patience as you have us for an example in Christ Jesus who are in Jeopardy every hour often in trials and sufferings and dangers and loves not our lives unto death for the Testimony of Jesus which we hold and that his Name and Truth may be exalted in the earth but as the Lord moves are carryed through Nations among Lyons and devourers such as seeks our life for their prey and yet the Lord is with us our Defence and Arm and Preserver above all Therefore look you at the Lord in all afflictions and distress and know his reward with you that your burden and yoke may be easie and not hard for his presence makes all things joyful and know that it is for the Name of the Lord and for his honor and for his Kingdom which God will set up through suffâ—ring for this cause are ye called to suffer and your life nor liberty nor any other thing is not to be measured nor compared herewith So unto every one of you I am moved to write and to warn you all 〈◊〉 the fear of God be content and long suffering and patient and finish your Testimony with rejoycing if ye seal it with your blood and dwell with the Lord in his holy habitation of Peace out of respect to time or places or things and give up your selves that his will in you may be fulfilled And think it not strange though you have fiery tryals neither be moved at any suffering without you or troubled in spirit neither let it break your peace nor fellowship with God by any impatiency or murmurings or temptations for then will your sufferings be grievous to you and the Enemy within and without will have ground against you to overthrow you and know it is that which ever was in all ages and no new thing the Seed of God suffered by the seed of evil doers and the wicked alwayes strengthned their hands in cruelty against the righteous and laid heavy burdens upon the just and caused the innocent to groan under them for a time till iniquity was fulfilled that they might be broken and the oppressed delivered and alwayes the Lord exalted his Name by the suffering of his people as we have a cloud of Witnesses of our Forefathers that went before who did bear witnesse to the Name of the Lord through faithful suffering so it is no strange thing hath happened unto you but that which is common to all the Saints who enters the Kingdom through tribulation blessed are you if you be faithful unto the end that you may leap the reward of your works of your sufferings and patience even the Crown of Life that never fades away so the Lord God of Life preserve you And all Friends every where I am moved to warn you Dwell in love and unity and fellowship one with another in the Light and in the Spirit of the Father and fulfil the Law of Christ and bear one anothers burden and suffer with one another that none be oppressed among you in any thing whilest others are free but that the burden of all things and the care of all things in relation to the truth be equal among you according to every ones freedom and as every one is moved of the Lord so to administer to one anothers necessities as members of of one body to the honouring of the Head and spreading of the truth that there be no complaining but equality and justness and the Government of Christ ruling among you and his wisdom in all things feed no excess nor the lustful devouring mind in any neither suffer the distressed to perish for want but reach one to another in love and like mindedness suffering for one another and all caring for the truth above all things that God may dwell among you and be known that he is in you of a truth And in this the wisdom of God guide you all Amen This is diligently to be sent among Friends to be read among them and to be sent from one to another as they are moved by a Companion in tribulation to all the Saints every where Edward Burrough The End
is in Christ Jesus in which the Father is well pleased and let the Light of the world guide you in all things that your works may be wrought in God never to be condemned nor you to suffer loss knowing this first That none are justified by him but them that are led and guided by him and to whom he is a Saviour he is also a Teacher and he is given to teach in all the wayes of Truth And now let your fellowship be in the power and life of God and know not one another in words onely and in shews and in outward appearance but witness one another in the spirit and in the truth and have communion there in breaking the bread of life that Christ Jesus may be seen to be the head in you and you Members to serve him and one another all receiving wisdom from the head and vertue and vertue from the Vine Christ Jesus that you may abound in love mercy and peace and all the fruits of righteousness unto the Father and dwell in the fear and counsel of God and be subject to his will not despising the cross which is the power of God which slayes the birth that is born of the flesh which is not heir of the Promise but walk in the Cross dayly that your understanding may be kept open to try and discern all spirits whether they be of God and believe not every spirit for lying spirits may arise among your selves and go forth from the light who is not in the truth but in the feignedness and hypocrisie with false visions and lying imaginations handling the word of God deceitfully and corrupting and perverting the pure way of God having the form but not the power having left the power and gone from the light and such utters the words of truth without the life and is but as the chaff to the wheat and they are to be denyed and resisted and not joyned to least innocency and simplicity be betrayed and your faith made void and so you be destroyed from the life of God and death surprize you and darknesse enter into your dwellings and so unbelief and doubtings and murmurings and lustings after evil arise in you and you be perverted from the Worship of the true God and grieve his righteous spirit by bowing to Idols and following of other Lovers and so the true God which hath brought you out of Egypt and made manifest his power in you be forgotten and the faith of his Son made shipwrack of and your later end be worse then the beginning and the Name of the Lord be dishonoured by you and then wo unto you his wrath shall suddenly break out against you wherefore hear and fear and hearken unto the Word of the Loâ—d he hath caused his Light to shine forth and his voice to be heard he hath proclaimed his Name amongst you and hath caused his marvelous light to approach when you set in darness in the Land of the shadow of death when you were lost he sought you and when you were driven away and scattered he found you and brought you home when you were in your blood and no eye pittyed you he had mercy upon you and bound you up and healed you when you were dead he said unto you Live and it was so when you were led captive by the devil under the power of death he break the chains and set you free and when there was none to help to save his own arm brought deliverance and salvation and the way of life and peace he set before you And now all this hath his own Arm accomplished that you should be a praise unto him for evermore now if you walk in the way which he hath set before you and keep his Covenant which he hath made with you and fulfil his will and walk in righteousness in love and unity in meekness lowliness humbleness and in soberness and watchfulness and in fear of his Name then shall his presence never forsake you nor his outstretched arm cease to defend and preserve you but he shall go before you and be your reward and he shall be your God and you shall he his people and you shall dwell in him and he shall be your hiding-place and he will be to you a Father and you shall be his children and his blessing and peace shall remain in your habitations for ever and ever but if any of you turn aside for a thing of naught after vanity and deny the way of righteousness and forget the Lord and kick against him and follow the way and counsels of your own hearts and worship other Gods and joyne your selves to strangers and commit adultery with other Lovers and make the cross of Christ of non-effect and turn from the Light of Christ within you and fulfil your own wills and the desire of your own minds and go out of the fear of the Lord into the liberty of the flesh which is not the liberty in Christ Jesus and so seek your selves and strive for mastery to be one above another and so surmize evil one against another and the bond of Peace be broken and vain contention and strife appear then shall the Rod of God smite you and his wrath be suddenly kindled against you and you shall not prosper but his countenance shall be hid and the terrors of the Lord and lamentations shall possess you and peace shall flee far from you and such shall be cast out of the Camp of the Lord and shall have no part in the Inheritance but the blessing shall depart and the curse shall enter till utter destruction yea and if any of you deny the Lord unto whom his way is made manifest he will deny you and you shall have no part in him but vengeance in flames of fire will he render upon the disobedient manifold more then if his love and way of peace had not been made manifest to you and the Light of the world is your condemnation for evermore if you turn from it And in the presence of the living God I warn you all Believe not that Spirit neither follow it which brings any other Message then what hath been declared from the beginning believe not him which cryes Lo here or lo there is Christ without you or that draweth from the measure of Christ within you to hearken to or to be taught by any other thing for that Spirit is not of the Father which preacheth any other Christ then he that is the Light of the world and lighteth every man that cometh into the world and which bringeth any other Message then that God is light in himself and hath given his Son a light into the world and this is the true Testimony of the Father and of the Son and he that testifieth any other Message is to be judged and denyed he is not a worshipper of the true God but out of the truth and in the error and a deceiver and being deceived Again Believe not