at Jerusalem and meet together and wait for the Power to endue them and being met together with one accord in one place mark again being met together there was a Gospel meeting according to the Commandement of the Lord And in that meeting the holy Ghost fell upon them and they spake as the spirit gave them utterance mark again they did not go forth before they had received the Power nor they did not speak before the Spirit gave them utterance but having received the Spirit and Power they then speak in the Spirit and went forth to declare the things of God in his Power and in the Spirit and Power which they had received they gathered Meetings distinctly both from Jews and Gentiles and they continue their Meetings and did not cease to meet after they had received the Spirit and Power and they were not only separated from the Jews and Gentiles as to their worship but they also received power to testifie against the worships which Jews Gentiles observed for Stephen testified against the Temple-worship and Paul against the Athenians Worship and this was their love to God his Truth and Worship and also love to the Souls of such as were ignorantly worshipping and herein they discharged a good Conscience towards God forasmuch as they labored to open the understandings of ignorant Worshippers by testifying against their Worships and as they met together and worshipped God in his Spirit and Truth so they kept their Meetings in his fear and did not forsake the assembling of themselves but with all diligence observed the Way and Order of the Spirit which they had received of God to meet together and to worship God in and their Meetings were formed and ordered of the Lord and by his appointment they were not formed ordered or appointed of man or by man but the Hand of the Lord was in the forming ordering and appointing of them and they that somtimes observed them and then departed from them they departed from the holy Commandment given of God and so it doth clearly appear that the Meetings of the holy People called Quakers are constituted ordained and commanded of God forasmuch as they answer to the Saints Meetings in primitive times being formed and appointed of God as their Meetings were and being also observed in the same Light Spirit Life and Power and so their Meetings are no new thing if truly examined and compared with the purity of Gospel times but their Meetings are of the first constitution and appointment of God amongst Christians and so hath the first place in Christian Practice Service and Worship for as they stand by the Appointment Commandment of God so they are more worthy to be observed then any Meetings that stand by the appointment and commandment of men and all that truly love God they do observe them as his Command and by keeping his Command they manifest that they love him and many that doth manifest their love unto God in assembling and meeting together according to his Appointment and Command and his Command is not grievous but joyous unto them for by observing and keeping his Command they have found him in his own Way and so keepe their Meetings unto God and not unto men and this is the glorious Light that is broken forth again through the Night of Apostacy and in which Gospel-meetings are ordered again as was before the Apostacy and the Everlasting Gospel is preached again as in the Apostles dayes and Christianity is known again as was amongst them and the worship of God is observed again in their Light Life and Spirit and the Way of Life and Peace is walked in as was by them and so all things are made new by the appearance of Christ in his Light and Power and yet nothing new in it self as to the ground but only made new by a separation and distinction from the old for all that man hath constituted ordained and set up as to Worship and Religion it is of the old nature and so old things but Christ makes all things new and yet in himself before all things and he hath brought forth that again which Darkness hath overspread since the primitive times which being so large a time kept under darkness it now appeareth new distinctly from the old and though this be new as to the appearance of it out of the old yet Christ who brings it forth in himself he is the beginning of all and so he is the first and good Old Way as in relation to foregoing Ages and also the last and new and Living Way in relation to succeeding Ages and he hath gathered a people to himself who walks with him as in the new and living Way and in him they meet and worship God and enjoys his Presence and having found the Lord in his own Way walking with the Lord in his own Leadingâ— they cannot walk in any other way nor meet to worship God in any other manner for there is but one way that leadeth unto God and in which he is worshipped and that is Christ the Light Truth and Life and that way being found all other ways are to be denied as leading from God that is the ground why such as have found the new and Living Way and walk in it cannot walk in the old and dead wayes which by the old nature of men are set up and prescribed but cleaveth to the Way which God hath prepared and appointed that they should walk in and therefore the holy People called Quakers who walk in the Light and Spirit cannot walk in the wayes or observe the worships in any Form or Profession which is made and set up by men as knowing that Christ Jesus is not their way nor that their worship is constituted and ordained of God and therefore they cannot meet with them nor walk with them nor worship with them but meets in the Spirit and walks in the Spirit and worship God in the Spirit who is a Spirit and this is a Gospel-Meeting and Way and Worship as in the Primitive times and all other meetings wayes and worships are constituted and set up since the primitive times and they are all to be denied and forsaken as having no life in them for though the Lord might once appear in Meetings Wayes and Worships which were of a lower degree then that which now he hath revealed and that the sender in heart did meet with something of God in such Meetings Wayes and Worships yet that doth not bind the Lord to a continuance in such meetings wayes and worships neither is it a sufficient ground for any to continue in them now the Lord hath appeared in a higher and greater Manifestation of Light for what any have met withal as from the Lord in lower Dispensations it was fourth drawing and bringing them higher not that God would fix himself in that dispensation or fix any unto it but only condescended unto low things to bring forward into higher and
by the Power is alwayes helped in the needful time and here the Righteous dwell safely under the Banner which is spread over them they do not depart from the Testimony of the Word of Life neither do they utter words as a Testimony out of the Life but lives and dwells in the Life as in their Habitation and they that do not dwell in this Habitation they utter words from a wrong motion but who keeps their Habitation in the Life the Life is in their Ministry and Testimony for such lives in the Word of Life and so preaches the Word of Life in its own power and the sound of that Word of Life and Power goes thorow death and darkness and reaches the true and faithful Witness and this is a joyful sound by which the Captive is made glad and this sound is gone forth into the World and the words of it to the ends of the Earth many that were in the Graves are raised up by it the dead hath heard the voice of the Son of God and lives for it hath quickned and given Life to as many as received the Testimony of it into their hearts and they that keeps it and abids in it they live by it and such cannot forget it nor the benefits they have received by it but estemes it and prefers it above all other things and so they do not let the benefits slip out of their minds but retains them in that from which they have received them and so they keep in the beginning and goes forward in the beginning for it clearly manifesteth that such as depart from the Way of Truth and from the holy Commandement given of God that they have not kept in the beginning but lost it and so have lost the sence of benefits which in the beginning they received and now makes merry above the Witness and grows wanton upon the Earth and what can the end of these things be but distress sorrow and misery for all that have known the Lord in any measure and have turned their backs upon him they cannot lie down in peace except they repent and therefore that all might mind their own conditions and not to resist and strive against that which seeks their eternal good but submit unto it with a lowly and humble mind that the vapours which darkens their understanding may be removed and the night vision cease and the Word of Life become precious to them as in the beginning for the Lord hath gathered a Flock which keeps together in his Light Life Power and Wisdom and he is their Shepherd and Bishop of their Souls and as they abide with him they cannot be scatter'd any more for the good Shepherd leads them and keeps them and the Bishop of their Souls overseeâ— them and takes care for them and the Pasture of his Life is their delight and well-being and so the Lord God exalts his everlasting Truth over all and his Work prospers against every assault that would lay it waste and in the pure Truth springs and spreads and triumphs and the Lamb and the Saints have the Victory and must have the Victory and the Victory they rejoyce and are exceeding glad for they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord and by many infallible proofs the Lord doth evidence that they are his and that the labour of true Labourers doth stand in his Councel and Wisdom and the Lord God is a Witness for them that they labour in his Service for as much as he makes them useful both to the gathering and confirming many and having such a certain evidence of the Lords Power with them they minde their Labour and service and though some which in the beginning was the fruit of their Labour be gone from that in which they then received their Testimony and now reckons their Labour and Service to be useless yet the Lord reckons their Labour and Service useful for himself and many that standeth as the seal of their Apostleship and Ministry and having the seal they continue their Labor in the work of God and cannot cease to publish the everlasting Gospel but goeth on with the Lord and the Lord with them and they are a blessing in his Hand for converting sinners from their way and for establishing the righteous in their goings and whosoever rises up to oppose the work of the Lord in the Gospel ministration they must certainly fall and wither as the mown grass for the good Seed is sown and many have received it into the ground and fruit is brought forth according to increase and the Lord God hath his honour and glory by it and this is the sweet savour which proceedeth from the Almighty to season the Earth for the Earth hath brought forth corruptible fruit which is unsavoury and now the Lord God is seasoning the Earth with the savour of his Life and the Testimony of Life spreads abroad that the Earth may be seasoned and the Everlasting Gospel is preached over the Beast and the Whore and false Prophet and many have received it into their hearts and walks according to the Truth of it and because of the good savour they are in love with it and so the Truth and Power of the Lord God judges down and goes over the head of the Serpent and the Lamb reigns and must reign and under his Government the Saints rejoyces A short Testimony unto Gospel Meetings and Fellowship c. THe Everlasting God having called and separated a people by the manifestation of his Light Spirit and Power from the ways customs and worships which are observed amongst such as be in the Fall and in the Apostacy he hath gathered them into a new and living Way and into a holy and spiritual Worship and in the leadings of his Spirit they follow him according to his Mind and Will and in his Wisdom and Counsel he orders them to meet together and to wait upon him in his fear not in the way nor after the manner as others do who know not his Mind and Will in what they do but as a distinct and separated people from all that meet according to the commandment of men they meet according to the Commandment of God and this is a meeting according to the Truth of the Gospel for the Saints in Primitive times did not meet to wait upon God and worship him amongst the Jews in their Synagogues and Temple but by the Light and Spirit were separated from their Worship and in the Light and spirit they met together in such places and at such times as the Lord ordered and appointed and they met distinctly and apart both from the Jews and Gentiles in their way and worship and did not meet or joyn with them to observe their practise as may be seen in the Scriptures of Truth for when Christ ascended he commanded his Disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with Power from on high so mark he commanded that they should tarry
so to lead on from that which is below into that which is above and so to lead on from that which is below into that which is above and so to the greatest which is Christ the fulness who in the appearance of his Light and Life doth swallow up all lower Dispensations though as to time they might be of God and so many have seen the goings on of the Lord in his Light and in his Light have followed him from the lower into the higher and so are come to live and walk in that where his Presence remains and to as many as have so followed him and abides with him they know the place of his Rest and also knows their rest in him and so they know the Lord to live in them and walk in them and that he is their God and they are his people and in such a Meeting Way and Worship the Lord is found and he abides and continues there in his Love Mercy and Goodness therefore all below are to come up into it and all gone from it are to return if they would walk with the Lord for there is not another way wherein any doth walk with the Lord or the Lord with them but in his Light Life and Power and in that to meet and worship him according to his own Appointment and Command for as the Lord is gathering into himself all lower Dispensations and gathering in one such as have been scattered in them so all are to mind the Lords gathering that in the Light by which he gathereth they may come to be made perfect in one mark in one is the perfection which is Christ the Light and Life and Power and Wisdom of God in whose Light Life Power and Wisdom is the Gospel unity and Fellowship not in outward Forms and Professions and lower Dispensations but in the Light and Life of Christ Jesus who is above all and greater then all in his Light the Saints had Fellowship as the Scriptures testifie and in his Light the Saints have Fellowship in this day and so by one spirit they are all baptized into one Body and are one Body under the Government of Christ the head and this is the universal fellowship in the universal Light where the Spirits of just men are now known who are gone before and the spirits of just men now will be known by such as are to come and so a perfect unity in perfect Light of Christ by which Light the faithfull are bound in a bundle of Life and so in the unity of the Light and Spirit the Saints now meets and worships God and build up one another in their most holy Faith and edifies and comforts one another according to the practise of the holy men and women in times past and they keep the unity of the Spirit which unto them is the bond of Peace and though some may lose the unity by going from the Spirit and some that may profess the Truth be not in unity as not walking in the Spirit yet neither doth weaken or break the unity of such as lives and abides in the Spirit for the Spirit changes not though some that profess the Truth do not walk in it or some may withdraw and depart from it therefore the unity in the Spirit is certain and everlasting and it is the bond of Peace to all that live in it So all are to come unto this Light and Spirit in which the Saints meet and worship God and in which they have unity and fellowship with God and one another there is nothing below it will endure nor nothing exalted above that will stand for as the Light and Spirit is the beginning so it is the ending unto all that abides in it for all truth is only comprehended in the Light and Spirit of God and from thence received and there is not any other things or things in which true and lasting peace can be found but in a measure of that Light which comes from God as the Fountain they that have fixed themselves below the Light they must be dis-joyned from that unto which they are fixed and stand-loose from all things which they have made and set up in Worship and Religion and mind the Light which is only true to lead them forward into all truth for where any are fixed to things below the Light and will not be dis-joyned and separated from them by the Light they are â—entered in mortallity or the corruptible body which presseth down the Soul and whatsoever any may pretend as to their Meetings Wayes and Worshipps to be of God yet they are all formed and framed in the corruptible part and so are all corruptible offerings which have not the Savour of incorruptible Virtue therefore all Forms and Professions distinct from the Light with all their Meetings Worships and Worshippers they must all forsake their Meetings 〈◊〉 being in the corruptible part and as such where the living God is not to be found and all come to the Light and Spirit of God which openeth the eye and understanding and gives the knowledg of God and of his Way and Truth all to come unto that and follow it and live in it and so come to the Assemblies of the Righteous and to the Meetings of the First-born of God and with them to worship God in his Spirit and Truth and to have unity and fellowship with them in the Light which is their Guide and Way and so come to keep the holy Commandment given of God for until the holy Commandement of the Lord God be kept the mind remains in sin and transgression and there is none in that state which are in the Saints Worship and Fellowship and so they must come to the Light to be redeemed from the vanity of their minds because the Pure and Holy God is not worshipped with such a mind therefore the Light must be followed as a Leader to bring out of vanity into Truth and Purity and so to Serve and Worship the Pure and Holy God with a pure and holy mind and with a sincere and upright heart and unto this all must come before their service and worship be accepted of God or before they can come to have true and lasting peace with him therefore let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts and turn to the Lord who would not the death of them that dye and so come out of all Forms and Professions below the Light and Life and come to the Light and meet with those that meets in the Light and worships God in Spirit Truth and so come to keep the Ordinance of God and who are willing to come in the drawings and leadings of the Light and Spirit the Lord standeth ready to receive them and will in no wise cast them off as being yet the day of his Visitation Oh therefore let all come whilst the hand of the Lord is stretched forth to gather them and whilst his Arm is open to receive them let them come in the Light and in the Spirit and bow before the Lord and worship in his holy Temple that all who are drinking the cup of Fornication may come to the cup of Salvation and praise the Lord. And all that have been formerly donvinced of the everlasting Truth and for a time assembled with the holy Congregation and kept the holy Commandment given of God and now have lost their Guide and Way and forsaken the Assemblies of Gods chosen and departed from the holy Commandment and from the worship and ordinance of God and are gotten into created likenesses and are bowing and worshipping at there own Altar that they all may feel that again which first convinced them from which they are gone that by its Power it may cause them to return and so in the Light and pure Spirit to come again to the worship and ordinance of God that as they have departed from the ordinance of God and broken the Covenant and gone from the true fellowship so to return unto that again from which they are departed and gone and to return in submission and lowliness of mind and tenderness of heart that the Lord and his people may delight to receive them and may have pleasure in them Oh let all return from the barren Mountains and broken Costerns and return to the Lord whom they have grieved by departing from him and let them return to that which reconcileth and maketh peace that they may not wholly lose the benefit of former mercies nor the benefit of present and future Mercies but return to the Light and live in it where mercies alwayes aboundeth that as there was a beginning in the Truth of the Gospel so to return unto that which in the beginning did lead in the Gospel Way and Practise and so return to the Gospel Meetings and to the Gospel Minnistration and to the Gospel Fellowship and this whilst it to today and whilst the dore is open and whilst the Lord and his people are willing and ready to receive let it bear a weight upon every heart concerned for as much as everlasting peace and happiness consisteth in it Oh wander not longer in desert places nor feed no longer upon corruptiple thing but feel the Seed and Life and Vertue and with the Power of the Lord God judg down that spirit which is gotten up that the first-born which is gone into captivity may shew it self again and the Truth and order of the Gospel may be lived in again and the Ordinance of God kept again and Gospel fellowship come into again that all who are departed may return and find rest for their Soul Notingham 9th Moneth 1668. W. S. THE END
of God but are found to dishonour him by departing from him and taking liberty to satisfie the flesh with the affections and lusts and that is the birth of flesh and blood and of the will of man whatsoever may be pretended of the Birth of God or of retaining a measure of Light and Truth to wait upon God in their own particulars that spirit which so draweth back and causeth any to depart from the Way of Truth and from the holy Commandment given of God it is a false spirit and so an enemy to the true Spirit and those that follow it and live in it and though some may say That to withdraw and depart from that which they have sometimes observed in outward practice is not to withdraw or depart from the Truth but rather a growth and a going forward in it but that will not hold to be true if tried by the Truth it self and for want of such a trial many have wronged themselves for if there had been a true trial before there had been such a close joyning the matter would have appeared otherwise and the deceiveableness would have been seen under the covering and all that walked in the Light did see it and were preserved for Truth is unchangeable in all its wayes though in degrees it appears more glorious and being an immutable unalterable power it alwayes justifies its own work and order from one degree to another and they that really go forward in the Truth and retain it in their particulars to wait upon God they cannot possibly disesteem or dispise any practise which in the Truth is observed and in and by which they have often been refreshed for mark Where the carkass is thither will the Eagles resort and this in the beginning did draw to meet together with a willing mind for as the Word of Life was ministred by such as God appointed so the vertue of it caused resort unto it and the same thing being yet preserved and continued and also much increased according to the power and wisdom in which it did begin how can any lay a sufficient ground for their withdrawing or departing from it or how can any truly say that they are gone forward in the Truth or that they retain a measure of it to wait upon God in their own particulars for the Everlasting power of the Lord God doth yet continue amongst those that fear him and the Word of Life floweth and is yet ministred in the Assemblies of the Righteous and all the faithfull meeteth with it in a large and plentiful measure and it yeildeth the same vertue unto refreshment nourishment as in the beginning and keepeth the same judgment upon Transgressors and hereby it is manifest that the Power changes not nor the Word of Life ceaseth not but some are rather willing to cease from obeying the Truth and to depart from the holy Commandment given of God and so it had been better they had never known it unless they repent and return but such things are permitted to happen that they which are reproved may be made manifest and that the Lord may be magnified in stretching forth his Arm for the recovery of such who in their simplicity have been turned aside and though some may think that they are gotten above the Assemblies of the Righteous and the ministration of the power which is the Gospel and that they are now more large and universal in their love yet that power which they dispise as a thing below them will bruise the head of that spirit which hath lift them up and all that abide in that power will live the longer life and the love which is in the Light where the Righteous have their fellowship it will remain when all the pretended universal love is gone for the love which is universal is in God and that love is pure and cannot joyn to any impure thing to have unity or fellowship with it for if it were so then there is no distinction between righteousness and unrighteousness but there is a distinction for as much as righteousness is always justified and unrighteousness alwayes condemned and so it is as possible to joyn the East and West together as to joyn righteousness and unrighteousness in unity and fellowship and who walks in the Light in which is the universal Love of God they cannot have fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness but is made to reprove them and so the Light is the same now as in the Apostles dayes and they that live in it are of the same mind as they were and they could not have fellowship with unfruitfull works of darkness but reproved them and the Apostles were in the universal Love of God and God never loved Esau therefore all such had need consider what they are gone from and what they are joyned unto lest they so long withstand the Lord until the day of visitation pass over for it is certain that all such as have forsaken the Assemblies of the Righteous and disesteemes or rather dispises the ministration of the Gospel that they have filled themselves with high imaginations surfets with their own fulness and so they Ioath the Life and Vertue which is sweeter then the hony comb and with their own fulness they grow wanton and makes themselves merry above the Witness and so with the flesh are committing whoredom and uncleanness but that which is begotten in an unlawfull bed must not inherit the Kingdom of God that birth is not the Heir of Life nor cannot have an inheritance with the Saints in Light mark it is the Saints in Light which inherits it is their lot only which falleth into that ground and there is none can pertake of their goodly heritage but who are born of the same Life for those that are full and wonton and in their fulness and wontonness joyns to a harlot they have no part in the Kingdom of God and of Christ but as they sow to the flesh so of the flesh they must reap corruption and this is a grief unto the righteous that any who had a beginning in the Light and Spirit should go back again into the flesh and in that state to think they are perfect and that their perfection is of a higher degree then those who keeps in the Light and Spirit where they did begin for that measure of Light and Spirit which was first manifest from God to spread abroad his Truth in this day it was and is perfect it was and is his good and perfect gift it came from him as from the Father of Light with whom is no variableness or shaddow of turning then that which is variable and turning is not the gift of God and they that are varied and turned from the Assemblies of the righteous and from the Ministration of the Gospel they are gone from the gift of God that is perfect and the highest degree of their perfection is perfect surmisings and perfect prejudice and perfect enmity and
this state will never stand as a perfect state before the Lord and it is with such as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but when he awaketh his soul is empty and this is the greatest deceiveableness in the highest mystery of iniquity for to be deceived in spiritual things as to the immortal Soul is the greatest deceiveableness and all from the Light which is the good and perfect gift of God are so deceived for as they are from the Light they are in darkness and in darkness they sleep and dream for they that sleep sleep in the night and in their sleeping and dreaming it is as if they were eating but mark when they awaken their Souls are empty and so all that goes from the Light and Life and falls asleep and dreameth they are deceived with their dreams and by such a dreaming vision many simple ones have been deceived and all that are turned aside from the Way of Life and are departed from the Assemblies of the upright in heart they are all deceived by a vision which had its beginning in sleeping and dreaming and all the perfection that is in it is but as a vapour that flyeth in the Air and the Souls of such are empty who have received the vision and are sleeping and dreaming in it therefore all to be awakened who are sleeping and dreaming in the night and turn to the Light and Day which they have dispised that they may come to see that their Souls are empty whilst they are surfiting with their own fulness so come to be undeceived by the manifestation of the Everlasting Truth and be recovered out of the Snare in which they are taken and it is only the consideration of the Soul and love unto it that presseth to the manifestation of these dangers and also to the manifestation of Truth that such as are fallen into them may not always be entangled with them but come to the Light and Spirit again in which they did begin that by the Light Spirit Power of the Lord God their Captivity may return for Jacob is in morning and Israel in heaviness whilst the Captivity remains and the Lamb is slain though pretended to be followed and the Lord of Life is crucified and the universal Love of God is straitned this is not a state wherein Jacob can rejoyce and Israel be glad but that which in this state rejoyces and is glad it is appointed for heaviness and a day of sorrow oh that there might not be a resister of the Power of God or a withstander of his Arm by which he doth valiant things for that spirit which hath drawn from the Way of Truth and hath brought in surmisings prejudice and enmity it must come under the power of the Lord to be judged condemned who have any tenderness remains in their hearts towards God or any simple love to his Truth and People let all give up that spirit to be judged as their greatest enemy and not to run in that spirit from the Judgment Seat for then it will fall heavy upon them in the latter end and the Lord will be clear in that he hath waited to be gracious and hath not ceased to visit by many faithful Warnings for though the night vision did create and bring forth a manifest opposition to the Truth and Power of God yet the Truth and Power of God spreads abroad and prospers and all the Whirlwinds passeth away and the Children of Light yet lives in the still and quiet day and the Lord blowsupon that spirit which blows against his Truth and it is going into its air and all that it carrieth up with it will be driven about as clouds of darkness but the Righteous rejoyces and are glad in the Lord for their Foundation standeth sure and their Building unshaken and it is the same Foundation upon which they now stand as in the beginning it is unalterably so and the Lord is with them as in the beginning and they love his Word as in the beginning and have unity and fellowship in the Light as in the beginning and that which was in the beginning is their food and cloathing and they shine in the glory of righteousness which is their Garment and so they have kept the beginning and prospers in that which was in the beginning which is the same to day and for ever and there is no end of its goodness and they that are gone away as if God was departed from the Assembles of the Righteous they are departed from God in themselves and so have lost the sence and feeling of him in that way by which he appeareth with the Faithful for his Power and Glory is more abundanly seen in the Assemblies of his People and they that cannot see him and find him there it is they that are departed from God but God is not departed from those that love him and worships him and that is their joy and Crown of rejoycing that they are counted worthy to serve the Lord and to feel his Presence and notwithstanding there hath appeared great oppositions not only in a way of outward Persecution but also in several other ways and manners and sometimes from such as once in measure bad received Truth and made a profession of it yet the Lord hath carried on his own work and Truth hath prospered from the beginning by which it is manifest that God is not departed but is the same unto all and with all that wait upon him for there could be no prosperity if God was departed but there is prosperity yea a great increase and many tender plants are springing and budding and many are grown to be Trees of Righteousness of the Lords planting and in the strength of the Lord they stand as Pillars in his House and there is no decay nor want in the Family all the Garners are rich with store and their Land is a Land of plenty and all that are departed out of the House are gone into Famine and are decayed as Branches that wanteth nourishment from the Root and herein the great and universal Love of God is manifest to his People who hath caused his Light to shine in their hearts 〈◊〉 also drawn their hearts to joyn unto it so that it is become 〈◊〉 most precious thing by them to be desired and as they have been faithfull to it from the beginning so it still remaineth with them and spreads abroad its power more fully and largly and though some might be drawn away in the beginning who were convinced and felt the power yet as their hearts are joyned to it again they are come into prosperity for the Lord hath caused their Captivity to return and Captivity being returned the pure Plant increases with the increase of God and that is the increase in which is prosperity all being gathered into the Light and Power of God they are all fruitful Branches of a Living Root and so all that obey the Light
are united in one and every one in their measure grows in Grace and Godliness and in that all stands in the beginning and as they wait upon God in that which first convinced them they are preserved out of the Net of the Fowler and from the deceit of the Deceiver and this is marvellous in the eyes of many this day for by the preservation that many have witnessed by cleaving to the Power they certainly know that there is not another thing sufficient for that work and so they keep their faith in it as in the greatest and in the very time when darkness came upon some to draw them back then there was no whither else for them to go but to that which from the beginning had preserved for they were come to assurance that he was the Son of God in whom they believed and they knew that he had the word of Eternal Life and so they could not forsake him and depart from him to go to another but continued in his Love according to his Command which if all had done so there had not been a going away and departing but the Serpent beguiled as he beguiled Eve and though he aimed to deceive the very Elect yet it was not possible because their Foundation was sure and they were faithfull to it and upon the Foundation they yet stand and are not moved and the Truth is precious in their eye and the testimony of it lovely in their hearts and they are not weary of serving the Lord for his power carries them as upon Eagles Wings and such are not born of flesh and blood and of the will of man but of God and as Heirs of God they inherit Life and Immortality and so they rejoyce in their way and in their portion and in this good ground their lot is fallen and they have a goodly heritage yea a heritage above the Earth and the glory of it for in the Seed and Life they have found the heavenly Treasure and the Pearl of great price and as their affections are set upon things above so they do not mind to be in love with things below and abiding in the Light and Truth they have a sure Dwelling and a quiet Habitation and so in that which is immortal they live with the Lord and one another and are refreshed in the Lord and one in another and these are Children which of his own Will he hath begotten by the Word of his Power mark by the Word of his Power these are begotten and they love the Word of his Power which hath begotten them and it is Milk unto them as Babes and Meat as strong Men and they know the vertue and power of it and cannot depart from it and by faith in the power they obtain victory and so they keep the faith and do not make shipwrack of it and by faith they stand and from the beginning they have kept in the way that is good and have not cunningly devised Fables but by the manifestation of Truth have approved themselves unto God and these are they which of his own Will he hath begotten by the Word of his Power who love the Word of his Power that hath begotten them and by the Word of his Power he upholds them it is that they lean upon and cleave unto in all their trials distress and tribulations and it hath been and is their strength from one degree of godliness unto another and from one degree of faith to another and so from degree to degree they have followed the Lord in humbleness of mind and he hath and doth give his Grace unto them and exalts them into honour and they are honourable and beloved in his sight and though some that came out with them be gone from them yet the Truth is the same and they are the same in the Truth for as they have kept in the Truth from the beginning so they have not wavered nor changed but in all things have been found faithfull wherein Truth hath been concerned and many whose dear and precious lives have been given up as a Testimony to it and many whose sufferings and tribulations doth yet remain for the Truth sake and it is no less in such as now depart from the testimony and turns against it then a trampling upon the Blood and Sufferings of the Faithfull and so a trampling under foot the Son of God and doing dispite to the Spirit of Grace and such are gone from the Grace of God in themselves and so runs into the liberty that pleaseth the vain mind which cannot bear the yoke and in that Sea of liberty in vanity the flesh is pleased and from that Sea cometh all the great swelling words of vanity in the likeness of Truth but the Sea is bounded beyond which it cannot pass and in that which bounds the troubled Seas the faithfull are preserved from being swallowed up and they that are fallen into this Ocean they are fallen from the Rock Christ Jesus who is the beginning and ending the first and last and so they are gone from the chief corner stone the Elect and precious upon which the Building is fitly framed and groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord so mark the Building is fitly framed upon the Rock and not upon the Sea and upon the Rock the Building standeth and groweth unto an holy Temple and so the Power of the Rock raiseth the Building which is framed upon it and there is a perfect union between the Foundation and Building and a perfect union in the Building for it is framed and compacted by his hand who is Lord of all so it is united and no where out of order for that which is out of order is not framed and compacted in the Building which stands upon the Rock and though it may appear as framed compacted and builded yet it is not united to the Foundation but the Lord hath pleasure in his own Building as being his own work and it grows to be an holy Temple and he fills it with his Presence and Glory and besides this Foundation which God hath laid there is no man can lay another nor no man can build another Building to be an holy Temple for him therefore all foundations and buildings which man hath layed and builded must come to nought for it is only his own Work that must stand and remain and so he hath been building upon his own Foundation and he hath framed a Building according unto his pleasure and he causeth the Building to grow unto an holy Temple for himself to walk in and so he walks in the Temple and dwells in the Temple which is holy and this is his own Work from the beginning For when the Lord appeared to make known his Truth in this day there was no building framed but all in several Forms and Professions scattered and he beheld it and his eye pitied and then was his Love manifest to the scattered and with his Light he opened their eye