of the great Travel that was upon them because of the mighty Power of the Lord which was made manifest in them for the bringing down of that which had been exalted against him and for the restoration of the oppressed Captive that deliverance might be known from the power of Satan and from the bondage of Corruption that we being set free wherein we were held might serve the Lord in Truth and Singleness of Heart and wait upon him and follow the leadings of his Spirit in the exercise of our Hearts and minds in Serving and Worshiping the Lord our God And so the God of Heaven hath revealed and made manifest the Way of Life and Peace the Way wherein Comfort and Satisfaction to the Soul is found the Gate of Mercy even the entrance to the everlasting Kingdom of Rest and Joy for evermore which although it be strait and narrow and a cross to the fleshly part and earthly ground and wisdom yet it is easie pleasent and delightful living in the Spirit and becoming little even as a Child for so must he become that enters in at the strait Gate to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God So we have found the way of everlasting Peace through the rich Mercy and tender Visitation of the Lord walking in the Spirit and living in that which mortifies the deeds of the Flesh being subject to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Here is rest to the Soul here is the sweet Visitations of the Lord known which are as the former and latter Rain to refresh the lowly in Heart and Poor in Spirit Here waiting upon the Lord the strength is renewed and here the Lord speaks Peace to People even as they are in Christ the Power of God growing up in him who is the Truth and the Life they are possessors of lasting Peace which God speaks not to the wicked which is the Portion of the upright in Heart and as the Lord hath made manifest the way of Peace Life and everlasting Happiness he hath also discovered the contrary even the way of misery darkness and destruction the way which is broad and many in the lusts of the Flesh take pleasure in it following the motions of the Flesh and the desires of the carnal mind resisting the motions of Gods good Spirit and hating the blessed Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and so spend away their precious time and in this state that is to say in the Flesh resisting the Spirit of the Lord they cannot serve God nor please him nor worship him in Truth though they may profess him in words and draw near him with their Mouth yet being in the Flesh contrary to the Spirit of Truth the Ear turned away from hearing of God's Law their Prayers are Abomination their plowing is Sin their sacrifice is as Cain's not accepted by the Lord no Peace from God no ture Rest no Satisfaction no beholding the Countenance of the Lord nor no assurance of the Eternal Inheritance which never fades away but an earnest of wrath pain misery anguish and trouble which will come upon all who live and dye in Disobedience of the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ And so we see the Way of Life to all that believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus and the way of death to all who live in unrighteousness and are not changed by the power of God and translated from Death to Life and from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the dear Son of God. And these things are of great concernment unto us and we see it is very needful to wait upon the Lord and to follow the motions of his Spirit that we may feel his Power to preserve us in his Will out of the evil of the World that so in the Power of the Lord our God we may war a good Warfare and finish our Course with joy And verily this a matter of great weight unto us even to have our hearts exercised towards the Lord in obedience to his Will in what he requireth of us that we may have a Conscience void of offence towards him And so the Day of the Lord God being come and his Eternal Power made known in many hearts by which many are raised to serve him and obey him yea to worship him according to his own Will and the leadings of his good Spirit We are even constrained by the Power of the Lord to meet together in his Name and Fear to wait upon him and to worship him and also to exhort one another in his holy Power as the Spirit of the Lord directs yea and so much the more as the day appeareth And this we find also to be according to the Scriptures of Truth and practice of the Servants of the Lord in former dayes who did not forsake the assembling of themselves together but met often and sometime in one place and sometime in another as they were directed in the fear of the Lord And they that feared the Lord spake often one unto another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a Book of Remembrance was written for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord in the day that I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him And this was in a time when the proud were called happy and they that wrought wickedness were set up and they that tempted God were delivered yet even in such a time did they that feared the Lord speak often together and also in the time when the Gospel of Christ was published by the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus many were brought into the obedience of the Truth and were gathered from the Jews Worship and way of service and they to wit the Jews could plead more justly for the Antiquity of their way of Worship and their order in their Worship then many who this day profess themselves to be Christians and a reformed Church and in that time did they meet together sometime in a Chamber sometime in an House and sometime in an upper Room as the Lord directed them and as they had opportunities and gathered Churches which met at Houses and waited upon the Lord and exhorted one another and might all speak one by one as the Spirit of the Lord led them that all might hear and all be comfored And we do not read that the Jews made a Law or the Romans either who at that time had the Principality that they should not meet above four together or if they meet five or above they should be fined Indeed the Jews who believed not were bad enough and persecuted the Saints from City and haled out of Houses they that professed the Name of Jesus and sometimes scourged them but they are evil examples to be followed and its pitty that any who profess themselves Christians should do the like to any that meet
THE MEMORY OF THE Righteous Revived Being A brief Collection of the Books and written Epistles of John Camm John Audland Those two faithful and honourable Servants of the Lord who were called to the work of the Ministry in the morning of Gods blessed day dawned in this Generation and with other Brethren bore the heat and burden of the day faithfully to the end and finishing of their Course being entered into the joy of their Lord. Together with several Testimonies relating to those two Faithful Labourers Published for the Service of Truth and Friends By Thomas Camm Charles Marshal Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars forever and ever Dan. 12. 3. The memory of the just is blessed Prov. 10. 7. The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Ps 112 9. London Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane in Shoredich and at the Three-Keys in Nage-Head-Court in Grace-Church-Street 1689. Thomas Camm's TESTIMONY CONCERNING John Camm and John Audland DEar Friends and Brethren in the fellowship of the eternal Spirit who are born again of the Immortal Seed my Life greets you all in the Lord and in his Love communicates what follows unto you wishing that all Grace and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ may forever be multiplyed upon the whole Israel of God. Several Years it hath lived upoâ— my Spirit to collect and gather 〈◊〉 the Books and Writings togeâ—â—â—â— with some of the Labour◠〈◊〉 Travels of John Camm and John Audland those two eminent faithful and truly honourable Servants of the Lord Jesus in the Work of the Ministry to which they were called and chosen in the morning and breaking forth of that blessed and everlasting day in this our Age and Generation I say this concern hath lived with me though hitherto hath been obstructed partly in hope that some other might have undertaken the same work whereby I might have been excused and partly through the Service and Travels the Lord hath measureably concerned me in on the behalf of his Truth and People in late years But now being it hath fallen to my lot in Truths Testimony to be called to suffer Imprisonment and thereby at present freed from some of the aforesaid Service and Travels and the said concern hitherto resting upon my Spirit I was made willing to set to the Work being partly helped by others as to gather and transcribe their Books and written Epistles so many whereof as we could meet with are inserted hereafter in their proper places so near as we could being several of them without dates As for their Labours unwearied Travels Exercises Fastings Watchings Buffettings Scornings and Perils many ways and upon several occasions in full I cannot relate but shall give the Reader a short hint of some part of them as they may be brought to my remembrance in the following Testimony which lives upon my Spirit to bear for the Lord in the behalf of them as made Instrumental in his hand through the strength of his holy and eternal Arm of Power to and in them revealed to the exalting of his own Glory and the publishing of his everlasting Gospel-glad-tidings to the Poor and Redemption to the Poor and Redemption to the Prisoner of Hope in which blessed Work his Strength girded and his Power supported them in all faithfulness to presevere to the finishing of their Course here and having fought the good Fight they are entred into his everlasting Joy and Rest where they are freed from their many Labours Tryals and Exercises and their Works follow them glory to God for ever John Camm as he was my Father according to the Flesh so was he also a spiritual Father and Instructor of me in the way of Truth and Righteousness the which through the operation of the Word of Life measureably revealed in me in my Childhood became effectually to my Confirmation in that blessed Way for his tender eare was great for the Education of me and the rest of his Children and Family in the Nurture and Fear of the Lord and as he was sharp and severe in reproving every appearance of evil yet with Wisdom Gravity and great Discretion the which appeared also in his encouraging and strengthing every appearance of God in his Children Family and all People being an especial example in his life and conversation The place of his outward Birth was at Camsgil within the Barrony of Kendal in Westmoreland which place hath been possessed by his Ancestors long before him As for his Parentage and Education I shall not say much more then that it was honest and of good report as any of that degree in that par of the Country as many can testfie as also that he from his Childhood was inclined to be Religious and sought after the best things and ever since I can remember he was one that joyned in society with them that were the most strict and upright in the performance of religious Duties and ordered their lives most according to Holiness and Righteousness He having seen beyond the national Priests and their empty lifeless Forms and so separated from them still pressing forward towards a further manifestation and revelation of the Way of Salvation which his Soul hungred and thirsted after and therefore he with many others who were under the same sence of hunger often met together amongst themselves and some openings from the Lord several of them had from which they could have declared excellent things having some sight or comprehension thereof yet wanted the inward possession of the Vertue Life and Power of what they declared of and in this state continued many days But the fulness of time being come wherein the Lord in his everlasting loving-kindness did cause his day to spring from on high and his Light to break out of obscurity and his glorious eternal Gospel to be preached again upon the Earth and particularly in this our Nation having heard the cryes of the Poor and the sighings of the Prisoners in the Pit even then the Lord called and anointed several for his Work and Service to publish this blessed day to bring Glad-tidings and proclaim the Year of Jubile And first and more especially he called forth and made choice of his dear Servant and faithful Messenger to the Nations George Fox and sent him into the North Country and particularly into Westmoreland near Kendal where there was a Field white unto the Harvest a People ripe to be gathered who as abovesaid were separated in measure from the Worlds Worship and empty dry Forms of Religion in many things and met together as aforesaid having several that were become Teachers amongst them but the chiefest John Audland and Francis Howgil
Thou sayest no man since the fall of Adam can perfectly fulfil the Law of God in this Life and therefore cannot merit except it be wrath Reply For meriting the wrath it s thy own but Christ Jesus since the fall of Adam hath perfectly fulfilled the Law of God and there is Salvation in no other and the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit but by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified for the Commandment which was ordained unto Life wrought Death if thou can here thou may In thy sixth and seventh thou sayst that he that hath received a Ministry should wait on his Ministry and take heed to fulfil it and that every Soul must be subject to the higher Power and yeild obedience to every Ordinance of theirs if not contrary to Gods Word Reply Thou slanders us and rails upon us who hath received a Ministry from God and waits to fulfil it and thou receives such as come in their own Name who are made by the will of man and against such do we bear witness by the Power of God unto which our Souls is subject for Conscience sake and to every ordinance for the Lords sake which is not contrary to Gods Word Thou sayest thou art afraid that the Lord hath a controversie with the Church of England Reply Fearfulness surprizeth the heart of the Hypocrite and a controversie hath the Lord with you because of your iniquities misery is coming upon you fearful ones and unbelievers who are no Church of Christ but a Synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not but are a giddy-headed Church as thou confessest Thou sayest Make not the Light within a rule to walk by and yet saith follow the Light within and Teacher within what else Reply The Light discovers thee to be in confusion they that walk in the Light stumbles not and they who love the Light bring their deeds to it and believes in the Light but their deeds are evil who hate it and walk not in it and there is thy condemnation Thou sayest He that entreth not in by the door to wit a true and lawful call but climbeth up some other way the same is a Thief and a Robber and such are the Quakers but he that entreth in by the door is the Shepherd of the Sheep and such are your ancient Divines Reply Here thou as in other places art a false accuser and a perverter of the Scriptures your Divines are not the Shepherd there thou are a Blasphemer who would set up false Christs the true Shepherd laid down his Life for the Sheep and he is the Door and them whom thou slanderest enters in at the Door where no Thief nor no Diviner can enter nor no Hireling which the true Shepherd cryed against And as thou sayest Thou will speak something to our Principles first for judging Reply Thou hast judged us to be Deceivers and Seducers and false Accusations against the Truth thou hast brought and against some in particular naming that John Audland was a Child of the Devil and yet thou hast confessed thou never saw me nor heard me but thou hast not proved wherein which I charge thee to do publikely or own thy condemnation for thy slandring lying and backbiting thy saying that it is so doth not make it to be so and that which thou calls confutation confutes thy self but proves nothing against the Saints judging them whom they saw and discerned to be unlearned for when an Unbeliever came in or one that was unlearned he was judged of all and the thoughts of his heart made manifest and this honour have all the Saints to execute upon the Heathen all the judgments written and the Scripture we own and the Saints Life by which thou art judged and with the Light condemned who judgest and acts against the Saints with that mind that is for judgment The Second is that they are not true Ministers which are called by mans Ministers or by a mediate call from man and this thou goest about to confute by saying that Christ ordained Apostles and Disciples And the Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work of the Ministry and that there was Elders ordained in the Church and the like Reply These things proves nothing to thy mediate call or mans Ministry Christ is not born by the will of man and holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and no Prophesie came by the will of man Paul a Minister and Apostle not by the will of man and that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God and there is thy mediate call and mans Ministery which the Scriptures speaks not of what Christ did and the Saints did was by the Power of God and the Holy Ghost spoke to them no Voice of that is heard in thy mediate call or mans Ministry therefore denied by them who are guided by the Spirit of the Lord who receives not the Ministry of man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ and that 's not mans Ministry The Third is that we are to salute no man. Reply this is thy own and in thy confutatiou thou answerst thy self for the Saints Salutation we own and honour all men in the Lord which is more than the Heathen do but we have learned not to fashion our selves according to the World and to deny the customs of the Heathen and their flattering Titles and vain fashions which is without the fear of God who have mens persons in admiration because of advantage and respects mens persons and commits sin and a difference do we put betwixt the Saints Salutation and the vain fashions and customs of the Heathen which Israel was not to observe The Fourth is that the Scripture oughe not to be expounded and that expounding of Scripture is an adding to Scripture and if we add then God will add to as all the Plagues that are written therein and in thy confutation saith Christ expounded Scripture Reply He that adds the Plagues is to be added to him as it is written but thy other words is false and thy own it is your own Imagination of the Scripture which we deny wresting it as thou hast done and adding with thy Envious Spirit against the Truth but that Christ expounded the Scriptures was never denied by us and that he opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures we own and witness and the Spirit of Christ is one in all his Saints and for the lye let it return upon thy own Head. Thy Fift is That it is not lawful to use the title of Master to any and in thy confutation thou saith Christ was called Master and where it is said Be ye not called Masters for one is your Master even Christ thou sayest the meaning is not that it is unlawful to be called Master Reply thou shews thy self to be none of Christs Servant who
his hand and power against them that so turn their hand and power against his people for obeying him and exercising their Consciences towards him in waiting upon him and worshipping him according to that which he hath made manifest to them and such will be more inexcusable for persecuting now than the Jews were in former dayes for then the Saints met together and professed the Name of Jesus which the Jews did not say they believed in Besides it was in appearance such a new way and so different to the Law and manner of Worship which the Jews had that they had some seeming colour in their way but now for they that profess the Name of Christ and the Sicrptures of the New-Testament and the Saints Practice and Christ's Commands to be obeyed for these all things considered to persecute people for owning the Commands of Christ for practising the same things which they cannot but read the Saints practised and to hale people and commit them to Prison for meeting in the Name of Jesus to Worship God and to wait upon him yea and to be so far from cherishing such as to act the very parts of them that made havock of the Church and haled out both Men and Women and was exceedingly mad and caused some to Blaspheme and committed to Prison for the same things it doth appear to be great evil and to be even Sin against knowledge against their own Prefession as Christans and cannot be parallel'd with any of the Saints but with the Persecutors who hated and evilly entreated the Servants of the Lord in former Ages who never could accomplish their end though they caused many to suffer and now to put all out of doubt and to give all who opposeth the People of God in the way of God an absolute answer that they shall not be able to accomplish their end and therefore it would be far better to be quiet and to mind the Royal Law of Christ lest they by acting contrary do bring innocent suffering and Blood upon their own Heads and incur God's heavy Yoke of displeasure against them yea and a Fire be kinded in their own Bowels and a Worm which shall not dye and a dart strike through the Heart and Liver and so the end be as bitter as Worm-wood and as sharp as a two edged Sword these are Instruments of War which the Lord hath in his Quiver which is reserved for the Day of Battel when God pleads with all Flesh by Fire and by his Sword when the slain of the Lord shall be many when he will rain Snares upon the wicked Fire and Brimstone and grievous Tempests this is the Potion of their Cup But indeed we do desire the Conversion and Salvation even of our Persecutors and therefore to put all out of doubt as is before said that there is no prevailing against the Lord nor against the Sion of the Holy One in whom the Lord is We say the living God of Heaven and Earth hath made manifest unto us the Way to Life and called us to walk in it and united our Hearts together as many as live in his Power to serve him and to wait upon him and to meet together to Worship him in Spirit and Truth and we are perswaded to obey the Lord and believe in the Lord that he will strengthen us in his Way and Will unto the end For our strength is in the Lord and not of our selves who hath called us to follow him through good report and bad report and not to deny his Way because of sufferings but to endure in patience and let the Lord plead our cause in the Hearts of his Enemies Obj. And if any say Why will you not swear And why will you meet seeing there is a Law against you Ans For these two things we say We dare not disobey the Lord for fear of punishment or suffering outwardly and we meet together in the Name and Fear of the Lord Because the Lord God of Life requireth it of us that we should meet in his Name and Power and wait upon him and edifie one another in his Love and Life and in our Meetings waiting upon the Lord we have the presence of the living God of Life with us and the feeling of the vertue of his Love in our Hearts and he lifts up his Countenance upon us yea and comforteth us by his free Spirit whereby we know and are assured that it is according to the mind and will of the Lord and that he speaks Peace unto us And this being the real Truth let all the honest-hearted judge how we can in Conscience leave that which God requireth of us in obedience to which we have God's presence with us and do that which Man requireth of us contrary to the Truth in observing of which we should fall into Condemnation and feel God's anger and the Testimony of his Spirit against us to judge us which would be greater sufferings in the inward Man then all the outward sufferings which we may meet with for in these being faithful the Lord comforteth our Hearts 2. Again We meet together to wait upon the Lord because we fear the Lord God he hath placed his Fear in our Hearts and we know him to be great and mighty a great King above all Kings and a great God above all God s that is able to do whatsoever he will in Heaven and in Earth and in the Kingdoms of men and we know he is worthy to be Worshipped and to have the Heart given up unto him for he hath Power to change the Heart which Men by all their force cannot do and to give true and lasting Peace which the World can never take away and his Fear being in our Hearts we account him Lord and Ruler in our Consciences and worthy to be obeved in Heart Soul and Spirit And because we fear him more than Man we are bound in Duty to obey him for he hath power over both Soul and Body which Man hath not for Man can but kill the Body he hath not power to kill the Soul neither hath he power to redeem the Soul neither can Man convert the Soul by any force or penalty outwardly therefore Man doth but labour in vain for he can neither kill nor cure the Soul but the Lord whom we fear hath Power and is able to kill and to make alive And because we fear him more than Man therefore we chuse to obey him rather than Man and to meet in God's Fear And this being our Condition let the sober-hearted judge How can we deny the Lord who hath all Power and hath quickned us and redeemed our Souls from Death and go to obey Man contrary to Christ's Doctrine who hath no power over the Soul. Surely as we stand in God's Fear and Counsel we may not do this Evil and Sin against our God. 3. Again we meet together to wait upon the Lord because God hath made it manifest to us and perswaded
us that the Way in which we walk is according to his Mind and Will and we look not for direction in our Religion by Mans wisdom or will how we shall serve and worship God for we know its God alone by his Spirit that leads people in the Exercise of the true Religion as it is written I the Lord teacheth thee to profit and leadeth thee in the way in which thou shouldest go and lo we are content with our Religion which the Lord hath led us into and in the exercise of it we have Gods Blessing filling our Hearts with Love and Joy Peace and Satisfaction in which our Souls are comforted and we look not for another Religion contrary to that which we are in but our hearts are fixed waiting upon the Lord and we received it from the Lord and not upon any such terms as to continue in it till Man made a Law against it or speak against it and no longer but even as the Way of Truth was made manifest to us so to press on in it unto the end And we see the Ways and Religions of Men to be so changable sometimes one way and sometimes another that it appears to us as if Men received their Religion but till Orders of another sort of Men to the contrary And we see many people so ready to part with their Religion and take up another that gives us just ground to believe they found not the Presence of God with them in their Way and Exercise And so it s but loose with them and they can leave it upon occasion rather than suffer the loss of any thing for it and this makes us prize that which God hath made manifest to us the more because we receive Refreshment from the Lord in the Exercise of our Religion besides if we had been void of the true Religion till this day we should have been as unstable as others tossed about with winds of Doctrine and have known no true Rest to our Souls but it is well known that we were of the same mind that we are now in the time of the former powers and we received not our Religion from them neither but from the Lord our God neither was our Religion or we in the Exercise of it confirmed by any Law or Decree of theirs but on the contrary did suffer much hardship under them and by them whom they cherished at that time in the Religion which they allowed and they then said Theirs was the right Way and they Stockt and Prisoned many who were contrary to them And now others say they are in Way and useth force and such like to them that differ from them One said the Law is on our side and we are in the right the others say The Law is on our side and we are in the right and you must conform or suffer deeply We say None of these things can perswade our Consciences but come forth in the Power of the Lord as good Examples with spiritual Weapons if you will perswade us for we cannot with a safe Conscience leave our Religion which the Lord hath led us into by his own Power upon these things but must rather give up to suffer in the Will of the Lord for we know plainly it is God alone by his Power that doth bring people into the true Worship And this is according to the Scriptures of Truth and also to the Service which is now allowed for 't is said in the Collect for that which is called the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity Almighty and most merciful God of whose only Gift it cometh that thy faithful ful People do unto thee true and laudable Service Now then if it come only by the Gift of God that the faithful do true Service unto God then they that would force people from serving God according to his Gift given them would force them from the true and laudable Service of God and do make them act contrary to the Gift of God and unavoidably lead and force people from the true Worship of God into hypocrisie and a false feigned lifeless and heartless Worship in which the Lord takes no pleasure And so this being truly considered we can put it to the Consciences of all that fear the Lord to judge whether he can with a safe Conscience leave our Religion which God hath led us into and and the exercise of it according to the Gift of God by which only true Service is done to God in which also we find acceptance with God through Jesus Christ and go to a Religion in the will of Man contrary to the Gift of God by Force and Compulsion where we could not act affectionately with our Hearts nor yet find the Blessing and Presence of God with us acting contrary to the Gift of God Truly it is in our Hearts and Consciences as the Truth of the Lord that we may not falsly do it But if any should object and say Your Religion is but new or of a late standing Ours is a Hundred Years old or thereabouts since Popery was brought from having the upper-hand in this Nation for they forced but they were out of the way but ours is a Reformed Church 'T is answered That though the Name or Denomination by which we are distinguished from other people be but of late Years which was cast upon us by some that mocked us because of the Power of the Lord which caused many to quake and tremble yet the Life in which we live and the Truth which we profess is ancient and the Practice in which we are exercised in the Worship of God is according to the Truth and Practice of the Saints of old And so it might be said of the Saints and of Paul when he was converted and turned from the Jews Worship that it was a new Religion but it was the mighty Power of God that changed them though many in that day opposed them And so we say Force now with Prisons and carnal Weapons is of the same nature as it was formerly in the Papists and others for they said they had a Law and they were the true Church and they forced about Religion and killed many and now here is but the same Argument The Law saith so and so Therefore we see the same Nature forcing now as formerly as it 's said He that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now And for being of a Hundred Years standing this adds no strength to it at all for the Jews Religion was far more ancient and yet being in the Persecuting nature and resisting the Holy One and the Just though they professed God with their Mouth yet that would not cover them nor will it cover people now to profess God with their Mouth while they are found in the Nature Steps and Practice of them who Persecuted the Saints and Servants of God in Ages past And for that which is said That we are but of late
able many times to get on or of his Horse without help through all which the Lord brought him his faith being fixt in his power and his life and whole delight was in the prosperity of Truth and Righteousness in the Earth amongst the Sons of Men. He was a Man that was richly furnished with the gifts of the holy Spirit always patient in his great exercises and weakness of a noble Spirit and exceeding grave in his carriage and deportment profound in judgment and of a quick discerning a sharp reprover of the World and the Wickedness therein as also all deceitful Hypocrites with disorderly walkers who made profession of Truth but walked not according to the Rule thereof Unity of the Brethren was his joy and Souls delight and therefore whatever appeared to break the same his Sword was keen upon to Wound his Ministry was weighty and deep and very powerful not pleasant to the itching Ears that loves smooth words but reached to the witness of God and tended to the refreshment of the Seed of the Kingdom where it was growing and springing up in the Hearts of Gods People also to the weary tossed and afflicted he had often a word in season to their Consolations being very tender over the good in all he had openings and sights of many things to come and he would often say there would come a day of Famine and that in that day many that had made a great shew would but be like the stony Ground or the broken Bow in the day of Battel he would also often say that his other Son my Brother would be an Esau a rough Man and not love the Truth but be a Grief and Exercise to his Mother but she would have Comfort of her other Children all which is fulfilled when he grew near his end his weakness encreasing he had great joy as he always had in the company of Friends that were faithful of which many came to visit him and many times he would have been wonderfully opened with the Power of the Lord and overcome with the sence of his Love and Peace and a fresh Testimony thereof he would often bear to the great refreshment of Friends and his Family when he lay in great weakness upon his Bed. His great care in all his Travels was that the Gospel of Christ which he had to publish might be without charge for all he had or enjoyed of outward things was freely given up to the Service of Truth so that he was willing to lay out part of the same in his Travels also his Heart and House was open to entertain all Friends that came in Truths Service having a great Comfort therein he was a pattern of faithfulness in suffering for Truth 's Testimony though never much in Prison yet his Goods were often spoiled or taken away which he suffered joyfully in Truth 's Testimony against Tythes in which Testimony and all other relating to Truth he was ever firm and never shrunk in the least his frequent Exhortations was to all Friends and his Family to be valiant and noble for Truth and to keep their Faith in God's power and never to look out or consult with the Wisdom of the World. He did often call his Children and Family together and exhort them with much fervency of Spirit to fear the Lord and walk in holiness of Life as becomes the Gospel that they had believed in and would often pray to the Lord for us and bless us in his Name some Months before he died he would often call for me to be with him for he loved me entirely and it was my joy and delight to serve and obey him in all things and many times he would wonderfully extol the Name of the Lord and praise him for his goodness and great mercy counting his bodily weakness a happiness being sanctified unto him by that Word eternal which had sanctified his Soul and made him an honourable Vessel to the praise of his God under the sence of which he would say How great a benefit do I enjoy beyond many who have such a large time of preparation for Death being dying daily that I may live for ever with my God in that Kingdom that 's unspeakably full of glory my outward Man daily wasts and moulders down and draws towards its place and center but my inward Man revives mounts upward towards its Place and Habitation in the Heavens in the sence whereof his Soul would often wonderfully magnifie the Lord. That very Morning that he departed this Transitory Life he called my Mother the Children and Family unto him gave us many good and seasonable Instructions to fear the Lord love his Way and Truth and walk in it with upright Hearts charging us to be kind and loving one unto another telling us that his Glass was run the time of his Departure was come he was to enter into everlasting Ease Joy and Rest charging us all to be patient and content with our parting with him as to the outward and so presently fainting passed quietly away into a sweet Sleep whereupon we were all so overcome with Sorrow and Weeping some of us aloud as one out of Sleep he was again a wakened and desired to be a little help'd up in his Bed speaking to this effect My dear Hearts you have wronged me and disturbed me for I was at sweet Rest you should not so Passionately sorrow for my departure this House of Earth and Clay must go to its place but this Soul and Spirit was to be gathered up to the Lord to live with him forever where we should meet with everlasting Joy so again taking his leave of every one of us and charging us to be content with his Departure lay down and we being troubled and reflecting upon our selves for the disturbance we had given him through our Impatience endeavoured Contentedness and in a little time he departed as to the outward but lives with us in the Spirit and being Dead his Life Preaches and is a sweet savour to the Lord and his People His Distemper was a Cough and Consumption And he departed this Life in 1665. being the seventh day of the Week and the next day was his Body laid in Friends Burying Place at Birk-rigg-Park he being the first that was Buried in that Place John Audland was Born in the same County not above a Mile from Camsgil his Parents and Kindred of good Repute who when he was but a Child was of a very ripe and quick wit of Understanding and Apprehension though somewhat inclineable to youthful Play execept which never addicted to any Vice about the Age of seventeen or eighteen Years the Lord inclined his Heart to Sobriety and reading the holy Scriptures and to be very Religious in what was then manifested so that he chose the Company and Society of the best and most Religious in that day and having a large Understanding and great Memory he became able in the Knowledge of the Scriptures and could
Mercy and loving Kindness of the Lord has not been answered behold sower Grapes and wilde Fruit was brought forth and what was the consequence of it Was it not the taking away the Hedge through which it was eaten up and breaking down the Wall thereof and it was trodden down Read see feel and consider and the Lord God Almighty visit you in your Habitations and secret Chambers in his holy dread with his searching Life and piercing Word of Power who in his tender infinite Love and Mercy long-Sufferings great Bowels to his Seed and Off-spring visited us in his pure morning aforementioned to give all the sence of their inward states as they are in his sight from whom nothing can be hid And now dear Friends the cause of the hindrance of the prosperity of the work of the Lord in the Souls of any hath not been from any cause in God or deficiency in his Light Power and Wisdom but from the Creatures going out of a capacity of receiving and enjoying the working Power of God in which Salvation is worked out by all that wait for it and joyn with it and cleave to it and not forsake it for I have learned of the Lord through many exercises unexpressible that after the Visitation of the Almighty to any Soul the Lord requires an inward worthy receiving his Love spiritual Watch to be kept in his holy Light in which all the workings and approaches of the destroying Adversary of the Soul is discerned and the enlightned and obedient mind is preserved and through the spiritual fence given in a tender waiting on the Lord in the inward part supplicating breathings ariseth to the living eternal God of Love and Compassion who beholding the want of the Soul descends in his Love and reaches forth his helping Hand to the broken and contrite Hearted and lifts up the bowed down Spirit with the liftings up of his holy spiritual Standard so the Temptation and Assaults of the Enemy is vanquished and overcomse and the Power of God is felt in thoe that descend with it in humility to be working on the Root as an Ax and on the Rocky as a Hammer and Chaffy as a Fire Now Friends when there is an abatement of the inward and spiritual care and a gradual lessening of the inward watchfulness then the mind becomes both unworthy and uncapable of the enjoyments of the Power of the Lord that begun and carryeth on the Work of the Lord so then the Enemy comes as not seen through the minds being out of the holy Watch in the Light the nature that was wounded comes to be healed again and ease given to that which should be destroyed so the Enemy perceiving where the weakness is and how and by what means he has gotten a little enterance he endeavours in all subtilty and vigilency by presenting matters and subjects to lead by degrees out of a watchful state and according to every degree of digression he brings over the once enlightned mind a proportion of darkness and deceiveableness of Understanding and insensibility of Spirit in the in ward feeling part of the subtilty of the Enemy of the Soul who thus works that with the declining there may be a proportion of benuming all the inward sences of Seeing Hearing and Feeling and then again he has Mankind in a state fit to work upon by drawing them out by his Power to act and bring forth that which he sees them most capable of and which there is the greatest inclination in their natures to go into hence Schisms arise in Judgments which the wrathful part in Man getting into he works by the way of a fierce management with a sort of Zeal but not according to Knowledge in which the power of the Enemy works up at last into a Schism and the Enemy is never wanting to present matters to the mind as just for the Creature to be blown up with which ends in dishonouring the Lord and his precious Truth and hurting and harming others until the Enemy has worked his end by such Instruments bringing them into an Alienation from the Life of God into a worse state then the tender day of God's Visitation found them in and so if not humbled under the mighty Hand of God and returning they are exposed to Shame and so dies away under the Wrath of God. Now dear Friends the Enemy of Sions Prosperity works variously according as he sees where he may get an entrance by proportionating his Snares to the inclinations of every one as before is hinted c. Where he sees an inclination in any to be taken with the earthly things there he works subtilly to captivate the mind and draw it out of the watchful tender spiritual state into a false Liberty both to the affections to the things acting and possessed and in the conversation amongst Men others into superfluities in Meat Drink and Apparel on themselves and houses and such their comforts stand most in outward things and by degrees are swallowed up of them and the Pleasures Lust and Delights below and so they dye to an inward Life of watchfulness and freshness which is preserved in fear and dread in keeping the holy Watch and in the spiritual Cross which Crucifies to the World and the World to it Now dear Friends here is our spiritual Incouragement viz. The same that through Death to Sin made us alive to God as we abide under the leadings and teachings of it keeps us alive to him in a growing increasing fresh flourishing state for as we delight in his eternal Law of Life we grow as Willows by the Water-courses of Immortal refreshings and Travel faithfully on in our spiritual Journey until we come to Sion the City of God and then are Enjoyers of the end of all our Tryals and Tribulations having overcome we see an enterance administred and that abundantly into the eternal Rest and Sabboth of our God. The Lord Almighty give all to enjoy this blessed Portion and goodly inheritance and let all see in this Age and the Ages to come all that which lets and hinders them taken out of the Way that the God of all our Mercies in whom is all our fresh Springs may have his Honour and Glory his Church and People through Ages the Comfort and Consolation Amen Amen C. Marshall A Testimony concerning the Precious Unity of the Spirit in Christ Jesus THe Unity of the Spirit is so precious a vertue and glorious a Qualification in all the Churches of Christ Jesus that whilest the people of the Lord did abide therein in every Age they were in a thriving flourishing sweet and glorious station for as long as they truely held the Head Christ Jesus and kept in Unity with him Unity and Amity was preserved amongst them in their several stations and services as Members of one Body c. Of which Unity David speaketh preciously and comprehensively saying Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in
his Power will descend wonderfully in an increasing manner and his Glory will shine his River of Life flow yea rhe Spring of the great deep will be broken up and the Windows of Heaven will be opened that you may be abundantly filled with Joy and Thanksgivings holy Renown and Songs of deliverance with spiritual high Praises ascending his Throne which will be as sweet Incense and a Sacrifice acceptable to our God. And here you shall spend the residue of your days in Dominion over both the Snares of the Enemy attending Prosperity and Liberty Adversity and Persecution seeing over all things that have their rise in Mortality and Time feeling Mortality swallowed up of Life immortal and so gathered to the general Assembly to the Church of the first born to the Spirits of just Men made perfect yea to the first and last God the Judge of all to whom be immortal high Praises and holy Renown for ever and for evermore But if the wonderful Blessings tender Mercies and following loving Kindnesses that the Lord God Almighty every way extends unto us in this Age be not duely reverently and obediently taken notice of but instead thereof any shall forsake and be unmindful of the Lords tender Mercies and thereby imbrace lying Vanities going out of the spiritual Diligence into a spiritual Idleness through which a spiritual Slumber overtakes and the Lamp thereby be inwardly neglected the spiritual Watch and Cross slighted and not duely regarded but the Earth and earthly things take up the exercise of the Mind and Affections Then I say instead of injoying what is above expressed Tribulation and Anguish will seize upon all such and the dreadful Judgement of the eternal God that lives for ever and ever will overtake all such unfaithfulness A dreadful Cup ye shall drink of from the Hand of God and distress from the rebukes of the Lord shall distress you and you shall be numbred amongst the people of his Indignation in his dreadful approaching day of signal pleadings with all Flesh that have corrupted its way before him and therefore hear fear and dread the holy Name of the Lord and whilest it s called to day bow before him and speedily return unto him least your day pass over and ye sleep the Sleep of eternal Death and Destruction and be separated for ever from his refreshing Presence in which is Life and from the glory of his divine Power Therefore all dear Friends every where retire inwardly see feel and understand the Counsel of the Lord which unto you springs all retire inward that are not there in great humility before the Lord that you may feel the blessed Work of God blessedly begun perfecting your inward man growing in the Root of Life and as you have professed the Knowledge of a spiritual Oracle before the Nations you may approve your selves in the sight of God following its Instructions in all things and go not without it lean upon the Lord and cry to him to gu de you with his Eye and lead you by his Arm and so guide you in the way everlasting and this is his promise whilest you keep with him he will be with you never leaving nor forsaking you if you do not leave and forsake him his Presence and glorious Arm of Salvation shall surround you to the renown of his Name and consolation of his People Amen Amen C. Marshall The Several BOOKS EPISTLES Written By those Two Faithful Servants of the LORD John Camm and John Audland John Camm to O. Cromwell ON the last day of the first Moneth called March about two of the Clock in the Morning I was moved of the Lord to write these ensuing Lines and to lay before thee the cause of our coming hither to London Friend we came not to thee to Petition any thing from thee in the outward but in the tender Bowels of Love to exhort thee to mind thy own condition how thou standest in relation to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth who is Powerful and Pure and Holy who will not acquit the Wicked but will wound the hairy scalp of him who goes on in iniquity before whose Presence all stands naked and bare who knows and sees all the secrets of thy Heart thy out-goings and in-comings to whom thou must give account of all things done in the Body whether they be good or evil Therefore in love to thy Soul were we moved to come to exhort thee to stand in the fear of the Lord and in his Counsel and to mind the Light in thy Conscience which is puâ—e and oâ— God to guide thee in the great Affairs of the Nations for to keep in his fear is safe for dreadful and terrible will the day of the Lord be to all who are found out of his fear and acting in their own wills and bounding and limiting the Spirit of the Lord and walking contrary to the pure Law of God the Light in their Consciences And we knowing the Terrors of the Lord were moved to exhort thee in love to thy Soul for the righteous Seeds sake which lies in bondage every where under the oppressing nature that thou might'st be an Instrument in the Lords Hand to take off Oppression from of the necks of the â—eople and to remove their Yoke which hath been promised long and now the power is in thy Hand and thou must give an account to the Lord how thou hast Ruled for him for the mighty day of the Lord is come and is coming wherein all Faces shall gather blackness it is a day of Darkness of bitter Lamentation and Woe at whose Presence the Mountains shall melt and the Hills shall tumble down before him and all the tall Cedars shall bow and the strong Okes shall be broken down and the Roofs rent and the Earth shall remove out of its place it s a day wherein the Lord will plead with all Flesh with his Sword and with Fire In which day the Lofty shall be brought down and the Lord alone exalted which day we witness fulfilled in us in measure Praises Praises to the Lord God for evermore And therefore Friend we having this Testimony made manifest in us by the eternal Spirit of God we declare this unto thee that thou mayest not be found acting against the Truth for they who are guided by the Spirit of God will do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth By which Spirit we are gathered out of the World up to God and have escaped the Polutions of the World and by it we are brought in obedience to the pure Law of God which is written in our Hearts and his Spirit within us is our Teacher and so we deny all the teachings of Men who have not this Law and Spirit to guide them and for so doing we suffer by them who are not guided by that Spirit For my Sheep know my Voice saith Christ and they follow me and will not follow a Stranger and we know the voice of Christ
and the voice of a Stranger And by the Spirit of the living God are we gathered up together up to God to worship him in Spirit and in Truth and are of one Heart and of one Mind and of one Soul and have all one Teachers and peak all one thing And we being all taught of the Lord are far from Oppression though we be Oppressed and for the Truths sake was I moved of the Lord to lay this before thee that our Conditions may be known that the Truth may not suffer under the reproach of the Heathen who live after the Flesh and Persecute them who live after the Spirit A word more to clear thy mistake when we spoke unto thee that the Lord would make thee an Instrument in his Hand to establish the Gospel wherein thou apprehendest us that should be established by an outward Law that was not our desire nor we spoke no such thing but we witness the coming of Christ in his Kingdom is not by Might nor Power nor Pomp nor Glory from without nor by any Law which is in the will of Man but our desires were that there should be no Law upon Religion for it needs no Law to defend it for pure Religion and undefiled is this to loose the bands of Wickedness and set the Oppressed free and take off every Yoke And where pure Religion is exercised this is the Fruits and if thou be guided by the pure Light of God shining in thy Conscience and the righteous Law set up in thy Heart and the Spirit of God thy Teacher then there need none â—â— desire thee to take away those Laws that ensnare tender Consciences and so they who pretend Conscience and are not guided by the pure Law of God will be seen by those who dwell in the Spirit to have erroneous Consciences and so this Law will take hold of them and the righteous Law is upon the Transgressor and limits the carnal Mind and fleshly Will but doth not limit the Spirit but is at Unity with it And therefore Friend to thy Conscience I speak and witness this to be true in the Presence of God that as thou art guided by this pure Light in thy Conscience and this Law of the Spirit set up in thy Heart thou canst not deny us for we are none of those which dispise Government and defile the Flesh who pull down others to set up themselves but all unfruitful works of darkness we deny and seek to advance the Government of Jesus Christ alone and love all and have unity with all who are here and honour all Men in the Lord and have fellowship with those whose Conversation is as becomes the Gospel of Christ and they who Rule and Live here cannot suffer any outward Law to take hold on us who stand in obedience to the Commands of Christ for there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord sets free and commands obedience take heed how thou suffer any Law to limit that Spirit for they who are brought into the obedience of the Spirit are dear unto him as the Apple of his Eye and his care is over them and the Lord will free them from their Oppressors And thus were we pressed in Spirit to lay before thee our conditions and the conditions of our Brethren who are gathered into the eternal Unity where there is no Rent nor Schism that thou might not be ignorant of those things and to shew thee that our desire is not for any outward thing or self-advancing for all self we deny for we came contrary to our own will and we declare this unto thee contrary to our own will and if thou stand not in thy own will thou wilt hear us and own us in advancing the Lord Jesus Christ upon the holy-Hill of Sion that the Law might go out of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem and this we wait to see accomplished and his promise fulfilled in those who govern the Nations that the Kingdoms of the World may become the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ And thus we have laid our selves naked before thee in the Presence of God and cleared our Consciences to thee and leave it to that which is pure in thy Conscience to judge Take heed for he that is in high Places is subject to many Temptations This I was moved of the Lord to Write unto thee who is a Servant of the Lord and a lover of thy Soul called John Camm For E. V. and the rest of the Flock of God in and about Banbury DEarly beloved Friends and Brethren in the eternal everlasting Covenant of Love and Life doth my Soul dearly salute you all who in your Measures keep in the same Love and Life and grows up in your stature which is well pleasing to God Oh my dear Hearts in the Life and Power of God which casts down Sin and slayes the enmity and gives you Victory and Dominion over the World which keeps you and preserves in the hour of Temptation which shall come upon all men upon the Earth to try them but you abiding in the pure Eternal living Measure of God dwelling in his Life and Power which is your Rock and hiding place shall be kept out of the same which the Enemy hath laid to take your Souls and here is your safe dwelling place so the Lord God of Power in his Life and Power keep you all in your dwelling place which is the Lord that with the Measure of him you may be guided which leads up into the Land of Righteousness into the Holy City where the uncircumcised and the careless and disobedient cannot come so with Bowels of dear and tender love unto you all who are Children of my Father and kept in his work I bid you farewel in the Lord and in him I am your dear brother for evermore John Camm My Wife and little Thomas dearly salutes you who are faithful in your places farewel As for my outward health it is much like as it was I grow weaker in the outward man but in the Lord is my strength and my support continually Glory and pure Praises be unto him for evermore Amen J. C. John Camm's Letter the 5th day of the 11th Month 1654. to Friends DEarly beloved in our Head and Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ our dear love in him Salutes you all yea truly the same love runs out unto you all who wait upon the Lord and abide in your Measures that we are loved with all of our Father and we are your Epistles written in your Hearts not with Pen and Ink but with the Spirit of the Living God and then you who are guided by the Light which comes from Christ Jesus may read us daily and truly you are dear and precious unto us as you abide and dwell in your Measures yea truly ye are our very Lines and the Seal of
of all his goods and the Ministration of Condemnation which is Glorious in its time may be witnessed by you all that through it you may see your Enemies destroyed and the powers of darkness spoilled and Captivity led Captive and witness the gift given which is Christ in you the hope of Glory and where he is made manifest and comes to reign he throws down all Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickedness which is set up in high places exalting it self above all that is called God in you and he brings down the lofty from their seat brings into meekness and into the Fear of the Lord and redeems out of the World and makes a separation from it and so leads up to faith the Mystery which is held in a pure Conscience and this gives Victory over the World and without this it is impossible to please God. Now to the Light of Christ Jesus which he hath lightened you withal to that I direct you all that with it you may search and try your own Hearts and see your states and conditions and how you stand and what you can witness of the Life of God made manifest in you for it is the Life that distinguisheth and out of the Book of Life shall all be judged and therefore to the Light of Christ which he hath lightened you withal come that all may be judged by it which is contrary to the Life of God in you that so nothing may grow in your Gardens but the Plant of renown which is of the Fathers planting which Plant is pure and where it grows he delights to water it and dress it that it may bring forth more Fruit to the Praise and Glory of his Name and as this Plant grows up in you the Plants of self and of your own planting is by it made manifest and as it is loved and obeyed all that is of self is rooted up and destroyed and turned from and judged and condemned by that Plant of renown which is not of self but of the Lords right Hand planting and this is a plant of Righteousness and all who witness this Plant grow in their Gardens witnesseth a holy Life and a pure Conversation and Redemption from the filthy pollutions of the World and the heathenish Customs and vain Traditions and untoward Conversation which the heathenish World lives in which knows not God And therefore dear Friends my desire and Prayers to God is for you all yea my Bowels earns for you that you may grow up into the Life of God yea God is my witness I desire nothing more of you then to hear of your Welfare in the Lord and your growing up into the Image of God that you may come to witness the Glory of the first Resurrection that you may know as you are known and that you may know your selves redeemed out of the Curse and to know us and others in that which is Eternal which is not of this World but redeems out of the carnal up into the Eternal out of the World and in that wait to see the corruptible put off and incorruption put on every one of you in particular that the old Man may be put off and the new Man put on which is shapen in Righteousness and true Holiness and where this isl injoyed and fulfilled the Fruits of it will appear and the Life and conversation will witness it and therefore truely my desire and Prayers to the Lord is for you that yon may not be deceived with an outward knowledge comprehension of the Eternal Truth of God without you while you are not come into the pure Life and so rests in the shadow and in the form short of the substance and of the Life and therefore I exhort you all in the Name of the Lord and in the Bowels of tender love unto your Souls that you all of you live up according to your Measures that God over all may reign in you and be Glorified which is the desire of your Friend who is a Servant of God and of his Truth witnessed by you and known unto the World by the name of John Camm My Wife Salutes you all in the Lord Farewel The 20th day of the 2d Month 1655. From Preston Patrick in Westmoreland to Friends in Bristol An Epistle of John Camm's to Friends TO all my dear Friends Brethren and Sisters in the eternal Fellowship begotten again to a lively hope by the immortal Word of God and born of the immortal Seed which is but one in which our Union stands forever unto you all I say whose outward Being and Residence is about Preston Hutton Grayridge Kendal Vnderbarrow Powbanke Swarthmore and the upper-end of Lancashire and to all the reft of the Babes and Lambs and the Plants of my heavenly Fathers planting Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ be multiplyed upon you all who abide faithful and walk as becomes the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to your own measures which you have received from him that he may be gloryfied by his own And now dear Brethren and Sisters I Exhort you and Warn you or rather I Beseech or Intreat you that every one of you walk worthy of your Calling whereunto you are called for Holy is he that hath called you and he hath called you unto Holiness without which none shall ever see God and take heed that none turn his Grace into wontonness and trample upon the Blood of his Covenant and so dispise the day of their Visitation but prize the time for it is precious and while you have the Light walk in it and strive to make your Calling and Election sure for many shall strive and shall not be able because they strive amiss and take heed that none of you come short of your Crown in sitting down by the way and getting into the comprehension prehension before the Life and there you build in the Air without a Foundation and is gone away from the corner Stone and you and your building shall perish together and therefore all to take heed to the Measure of Life received that in it you may be found in the day of the Lord which will be a sure hiding place for you in the Day of his fierce Wrath when he comes with ten Thousands of his Saints to take Vengeance upon the wicked and upon all you that hold the Truth of God in unrighteousness but all you who fear the Name of the Lord and walk up unto him in a pure Godly Conversation the Son of righteousness to you is risen with healling under his Wings and the day of glad Tidings is come unto you and the Winter is past and the Storms and the Showers is over and gone and the spring time is come and the Flowers appear upon the tender Grass and the Voice of a Turtle is heard in our Land Glory and Praises be to the Name of the Lord for evermore who hath loved you and washed
you in the Blood of his Son and made you a kind of first Fruits unto God to walk up to the Praise and Glory of his Name who hath called you where your strength and rest is forever And therefore all dear Brethern and Sisters in the Eternal Covenant of Life stand fast unmoveable unshaken in the Rock of Ages which never changes but abides for evermore there is your Shield and there is your Refuge there is your Castle where the Enemy cannot storm you nor the wild Beasts devour you in the living Measure of the living God where the living is refreshed with the fresh Streams which flows out from the Eternal Fountain of Love which refresheth the City of God which City you are as you abide in your Measures for you are the Temples of the Holy Ghost but if any Man defile his Temple him will God destroy for no unclean thing can dwell with him And therefore I exhort you all that you be faithful to the Measure of Light which is pure it being the guide of your minds will lead you out of all impurity and uncleanness for he that is the Light is the Messenger of the Covenant and by his Light shining in you he is come into his Temple to sit as a Refiner and as a Fuller to purifie the Sons of Levi. Now the Light which comes from Christ Jesus being the guide of all your minds leads you up into Unity with him from whence the Light comes and there we are one for evermore and cannot be separated Now the Light shining in the Conscience it maks manifest all the dark ways and rips up Man and discovers all deceit and judges it so that which lies betwixt the Light which shines in the Conscience and the Soul comes to be judged and cast out and so the dead comes to hear the Voice and the Graves comes to be opened and the quickning Spirit to be witnessed and the Light and the Soul comes to be joyned and here the Lord comes to be praised by the living for its the living that praises him for the dead and they that go down into the Pit cannot praise him and all they who are in death who knows not Redemption by the Light to them this is a Mystery and the sealed Book that neither the Learned nor unlearned can read in the disobedient and dark nature which is shut out from God forever but to you who follow the Lamb in the Regeneration through the Tribulation this to you is unsealed and you are made witnesses of the Sufferings and Death and Resurrection of Christ in you which is the hope of your Glory and to you it is given to know the Mysteries but to others it is a Parable and must not be revealed to them for blessed be the Name of the Lord it cannot be known but in the pure Life as it s lived in and here the wisdom of the wise is confounded and the Counsel of the Prudent is brought to nought by the Eternal Counsel and Wisdom of our God Glory to his Name for evermore And now my dear Brethren and Sisters as one with you in the Eternal Covenant of Life according to the Measure of Grace received from God I write unto you as a Brother and a Servant of the living God having received the like precious faith with you I say I write unto you to stir up your pure minds or to put you in remembrance of the Grace of God to you as one who desires the good of your Souls as my own and the recovery of the Image of God and am a Sufferer with you for the Seeds sake but waits in Patience until the day of deliverance of it from the bondage of Captivity which the Lord is bringing to pass in this his day of Power and now Death and Hell must give up their Dead for Death is now come to be swallowed up of Victory and all who abide faithful to the end shall witness the Sting of Death taken away the which in measure I witness and now wait ready to be offered up being in weakness of the outward Body but in much peace and quiet in the inward praised be the Lord forever and not knowing that I shall ever see your Faces any more in the outward but steadfastly believes to meet you and to be joyned to you in the Unity of the Body whereof Christ Jesus is our Head where the Bond of peace and love is kept and where all Sorrows and Troubles is done away and for this cause was I moved to write unto you these few Lines as an Epistle to be read and witnessed in the Hearts where you may read me continually in the Measure of God which is but one in which we own know and read one another where the World knows us not And now to the Lord God and to the Word of his Grace I commit you which is able to keep you and preserve you pure and spotless and undefiled and will present you blameless unto the Lord if you abide in it and will give you an inheritance amongst them that are Sanctified and therefore be faithful unto the end for he that endures unto the end shall be saved but he that turns back my Soul taketh no pleasure in him saith the Lord and therefore bold and valient be for the Truth upon Earth following the Captain of our Salvation Christ Jesus the high Priest of our Profession who endured the Cross and despised the shame and sate down at the right Hand of God the Father forever and hath led Captivity Captive and hath given to us the Comforter the Spirit of Truth which the World cannot receive but leads us into all Truth who are giuded by it and is the Worlds condemnation This lay upon me to write unto you being weak upon my Bed in Compassion and love to all your Souls who desires the Growth of every Plant of my Heavenly Fathers planting that they may bring forth Fruit to the Glory of his Grace for herein is he glorified that ye bring forth much Fruit So in the Eternal unchangable ever living and never failing Love of God in that I bid you all farewel And in that am I knit and united unto you and death cannot be able to separate us for in that Love there is Union for evermore and so I subscribe yours in that and known to the World by the Name John Camm This was given forth at Bristol when he lay in great weakness upon his Bed on the Year 1665. John Audlands and John Cam's Letters To all dear Friends who love the Light in about Bristol Dear Friends YOu whose minds are turned towards God by the pure Light of God to wait upon the Lord in his Fear Grace Mercy and Peace from God be multiplyed in you and amongst you that you may grow and abound in the pure Life of God growing up every one of you in particular in your own measure having your minds stayed upon the Lord to
and sits like them but do not forsake your Sins nor own the Cross of Christ so as to live in it and so you give occasion to the World to speak evil of the Gospel of Christ now to such I say from the Lord Depart ye Workers of Iniquity terrible and dreadful is the day that shall come upon you wo unto them that cover with a Covering but not of the Spirit of the Lord Fear the Lord and tremble before him and prize your time while it is called to day for the Lord is near and if he find you eating and drinking with the Drunken he will cut you assunder and give you your Portion with Hypocrites But all my dear Friends dwell in the Power of the Lord and let not your minds be stained but keep single and stand uncovered that so you may discern all those that are covered and reign above them in the eternal living Truth of God to his praise for evermore Praises and Honour to our God for ever who is worthy for all is falling before him My dear Friends the Harvest here is great even all the Fields are white and all the dumb Dogs and idle Shepherds Drones and Loiterers runs quakes trembles and flyes before us but the Sword of the Lord is in the hands of the Saints and this Sword divides hews and cuts down Deceit and so way is made for the pure Seed to arise and raign above all which conquers all Praises be to the Lord for evermore Dear Friends the Work of the Lord is great and many are Convinced of the living Truth and I really see the Lord will raise up to himself a pure and a large People to Serve and Worship him in Spirit and in Truth Farewell My dear Brother and fellow Labourer Edward Burrough Salutes you all in the Lord and the everlasting God of Power keep you all pure to his everlasting Praise All ye Saints of the Lord Praise ye the Lord and Magnifie him for ever Your dear Brother in the Truth John Audland John Audland his Epistle to Friends from Chester City the 5th of the 5th Month. DEar Friends and Brethren in the Eternal Truth of God Members of the same Body partakers of the unsearchable Riches of the love of God which love endures for evermore Oh! my dear hearts press on in the strait way forgetting those things that are behind Every one of you in perticular mind to dwell in the pure fear of the Lord which will keep you pure and single to stand in his counsel that so you may reign above the Earth and rejoyce over the heads of all your Enemies walking in the Light of the Lord And dwell in the Light and with it you will see and know all the wiles of Satan who would lay snares Innocent and in the power of the Lord stand that you in his power may have Victory My dear Friends what I declared to you when I was present with you the same do I now write to you and in the Spirit I am present with you and therefore in the Name of the Lord and in his fear put on boldness put on courage put on strength every one in your measure stand and be faithful in the Work of the Lord as his Witnesses against all the World for unto this are you called to cast off every weight and burthen and to run with patience the race before you the way is strait and narrow no unclean thing must enter nothing that defiles must enter unto this are you all called to put off the old Man with his Deeds to die daily to forsake the World to deny all to lay down your lives and to take up the Cross of Christ daily and have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness God is pure he calls to purity Oh! my dear Hearts as you abide faithful you are my joy in the Lord my Prayers are for you God is my Witness I make mention of you daily to the Lord my dear and tender Plants of God as you grow and increase in the Increase of God my joy will increase Oh! stand stedfast as faithful Servants every one upon your watch that you may pertake daily of the Joy of the Lord and walk worthy of the Love which the Lord hath manifested unto you watch over one another in Love in Bowels in tenderness in compassion to that which is pure and rule over all deceit tread upon it and reign over it dwell in discerning every one and suffer not that to speak which is not of God but all wait in Love and walk in Love and the Body edifies it self in Love and the God of Peace and Love keep you pure to his eternal Praise to all the honest in heart I speak walking in the pure Light of the Lord that you may have Dominion over all the Earth and earthly minds And so such I say who are convinced by the Light of God but doth not walk in the Light How will you escape The Lord is dreadful his Terrour will surprize all Hypocrites the witness of the Lord is against all such and his Judgments will take hold upon you his hand you cannot escape I say to such as I have often told you yea I have told you Weeping such are Enemies to the Cross of Christ and by him are you to be Slain who refuse him and will not have him to Reign over you and therefore by the Dreadfulness of the Lord I charge you to walk in Obedience to that which is committed to you that every one of you may deny those things which the Light in the Conscience bears witness against And I charge you give no evil Example in your Walkings nor in your Meetings in your Meetings be watchful bear Reproof patiently examine your selves let the Light search you and you will see Reproof is to you who doth not walk in the Light and in your walkings be watchful have no fellowship with the world for that which is of the world and you that have fellowship with the world cannot bear witness against the world And therefore come out be seperate touch no unclean thing and fear the living God who searcheth all Hearts and his reward is with him to give to every one according to his deeds But to all you that are faithful the Joy of the Lord is your strength the Arm of the Lord is with you the Sickle is in your Hand thrust in the Sickle for the Earth is ripe the Press is full the Fat 's overflow the Glory of the Lord is appearing to shake terribly the Earth Glory to him for evermore Farewel All my dear Hearts my Bowels run out freely to you I am with you daily in that which will never Wither The Lord God of Power keep you pure every one in your Measure to his eternal Praise my Love is to you all and remember me dearly to all Friends every where Your dear Brother a servant of the Lord and in him can we never be
Then further thou saith it being in September George Cowlishaw being asked by the said Coppinger if there had been none of those People called Quakers at Bristol he answered no now this is false some of us who is so called was then at Bristol and here I shall take many People to witness against thee for we had Meetings then in Bristol the tenth day of the Mouth called September we had a Meeting at the Fort the thireenth day of the same Month a Meeting at the Red-Lodge in Bristol and at both Meetings there were several Hundreds of People and likewise a Meeting at Fieltin the fifteenth day of the same Month and the seventeenth day we had a Meeting at Bishford and Hundreds went out of the City of Bristol to that Meeting the nineteenth day we had another Meeting at the Red-Lodge and several other Meetings we had in about Bristol in the same Month called September which will all bear witness against thee that thy slander is false and thy Oath false who saith we were at Bristol in September which he hath said on his Oath we were not and here I have proved thy information false again it is full of confusion who saith that Coppinger said that none came so near him as the Quakers and that he met with two in London of his own order and yet he saith to the Informant if that he loved his Religion and his Soul he should not hear them and yet saith they came near him and was of his own order which is false we deny such Lyers and their Order and here he is proved to be in confusion let all that can discern judge Again the man that took the Oath as thou sayest said that Coppinger was one of the Franciscan company and had taken upon him the Order at Rome or Italy here the Informant hath made himself guilty of and liable to the Law in such cases provided who was privy to him who said he had taken up that Order and did not discover him but let him go and then accuseth those that are Innocent which bear the Name of Quakers Now here thou art made manifest to be a false Accuser and a Slanderer I have proved that we came to the City of Bristol in the Month called July before the Fair and likewise that we were at those Meetings before-mentioned and several other Meetings we were at in and about Bristol in the Month called September and this Oath before-mentioned being the ground of a Warrant given forth by the Magistrates of Bristol and several of our Names therein expressed we who had been at Bristol whose names were there mentioned came all forth of Westmoreland near unto Kendal none of us having never been out of the Nation but we lived and walked in and at our own Habitations as that Country can bear witness to our Places and Beings and here your Lyes and Slanders are made to appear and utterly denyed and William Prynne here thou art clearly detected who slanderest the Innocent living in the Spawn thou speaks of the Poison of Asps being under thy Tongue and spuing out thy Venom against the harmless and thy Informant is proved to be guilty in not discovering the man he speaks of which he hath on his Oath said that he confessed to him he had been at Rome and taken upon him the order of a Fryer of the Franciscan company Now here let all people take notice of the dealings of the Magistrates who gave out a Warrant against the Innocent whom they cannot justly prove any thing against whereof they do accuse them and yet lets him go free who concealed the said Coppinger which on his Oath declared that the said Coppinger confessed himself to be one of that Order and we deny all of his Order who lives in lyng and confusion or any such to speak amongst us for we know the Voice of Christ from the Voice of the Stranger so the Devil being the Father of Lyes and a Lye being thy Foundation thou art taken with a Lye in thy Mouth and so adds Lye unto Lye and builds one Lye upon another and then thou cryes against thy own Lyes for thou canst prove no such thing by us as thou accusest us of saying that the Quakers use inchanted Potion Bracelets Ribbands Sorcery and Witchcraft which is false and thou like the raging Sea casts up thy mire and dirt O! thou full of all mischief and Enemy to all Righteousness I charge thee or any of thy Companions of the same Order who lives in lying to prove any such thing by us and make it appear publickly as thou hast accused us or let thy Mouth be stopped and own thy condemnation and confess thy deceipt and call in thy filthy Paper and take shame to thy self for know this that the Lord God will plead with thee for all thy hard speeches and justly by him shalt thou be rewarded and we utterly deny and do bear witness against all such filthy wayes and practises of all such Frogs as thou mentions and against thee who prints Lyes as I have already proved and Lyars must be cast into the Lake and here I have found thee and proved thee in the intoxicated giddy-headed condition thou speaks of who art already deceived and need be deceived no farther and thou art fallen into the Pit thou digged and they for whom thy Net was spread being Innocent are escaped and thy folly is unmasked and thou art clearly detected and proved to be in error in thy very Foundation and so all thy building is made void and if thou cannot begin upon better evidence let thy Mouth for ever be stoped and let shame cover thy Lips and repent of the evil of thy wayes lest the Wrath of the Lord break out against thee and there be no remedy to the Light in thy Conscience I speak and remember that thou are warned Friend thy Spirit is savoured and tryed and now this is the end of thy zeal who art become a Persecutor of the Life which thou hast professed in words and now thy zeal appears without the knowledge of God and so there is many unsavoury speeches in thy Paper put forth by thee William Prynne which worth the mentioning are not but thou hast manifested the end of thy Profession who appears now to be one of those giddy headed English men thou speaks of and as touching leading silly Women Captive laden with sin and led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth to thee this home shall I return who appears to be in this state learning alwayes and silly for how many years hast thou been learning and now dost resist the Truth with thy unclean Spirit as Jannes and Jambers did the Children of Israel which was comming out of Egypt with their corrupt Spirits So with what Measure thou measurest it shall be measured to thee again good weight running over pressed down And Friend in the day of
that makes truly Rich and everlasting happy and Truth in the inward parts the Lord loves and every one to speak the Truth from his Heart to his Neighbour and to his Friend watching over one another for good in Truth and Uprightness then there will be no treacherous dealer in the Assembly nor none that lies in wait to hurt the Poor and Harmless nor none to Exalt themselves above their measure in the knowledge which puffeth up and despiseth the Lowly and the Poor such will the Lord God throw down therefore all fear before the Lord and none be high-minded if any man boast he beareth not the Root every one keep in the Pure life in the true love and fellowship of the Gospel of Peace and all look to the Author and the Finisher of your Faith which in Truth stands in the Power of God then you all keep your Habitations your walking is in steadfastness and your going comes to be established Let all be warned and awaked for the Lord is at hand who will bring every mans work to the tryal and happy for evermore are all they who are found faithful when they are weighed in the Ballance of Equity and true Judgment Sow in Patience press on in the way of Righteousness serving the Lord with one consent calling upon his Name with one accord keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace so will you rejoyce in the Lord alone who is the Succourer of the Poor and the Refuge of the Needy in the Day of distress Let all that know him praise him and fear him and in singleness of heart wait upon him whose Mercy endureth for evermore Let nothing draw you from your holy calling and stedfast waiting upon the Lord nor separate you from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Light our Life and our Redeemer So the Lord God Almighty multiply his Grace Mercy and Love his Life Light and Power in you and amongst you that you may be grounded rooted builded established and in the everlasting Covenant of Life find Peace where you may rest in the City of God whose Gates is Praise and hath Salvation for Walls and Bulwarks where no Weapon can prosper that is formed against you glory and honour and living Praises be unto the Lord our God from all who know him now and for evermore I am your Friend who truly desireth after your Prosperity in the Life that shall never dye John Andland To Friends in Westmorland who Love the Truth and in Cumberland Bishoprick c. An Epistle to Friends DEarly beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ Brethren and Sisters in the Eternal Spirit Members of the Body of Christ Grace Mercy and Peace from our God be multiplied in you that every one of you in particular may grow in your measure and encrease in the unsearchable Riches of our God Oh! ye Plants of Gods renown planted into the true Vine by the true Husbandman dear and precious are you to us as you abide in the Vine and grow in the Vine there you are our joy and we are refreshed continually in the Unity of the Spirit for in it are you present in us and we in you in our Hearts are ye written by the Spirit of the Living God and we read you daily our Life is one our Joy is one our Sufferings are one and our Victory is one Oh! Dear Hearts our love reacheth you and our Bowels are shed towards you our Hearts are broken when we know of your faithfulness and stedfastness in the work of the Lord waring against all Deceipt and watching every one in your measure to be serviceable in the calling whereunto you are called we speak the Truth in Christ we lye not it is like precious Ointment shed abroad in us which gives a sweet smell unto us that we are much refreshed by it to know of your faithfulness and boldness to know of your labour and carefulness and tenderness towards one another in the Lord it is like Balm upon our Head in rememberance of you our hearts are broken and we rejoyce to behold your order in the Lord dwelling and abiding in him who is our Head and therefore in the Name of the Lord Jesus do we exhort charge and command you every one to abide in your measure in the true Vine and to dwell and walk in the Light which is Eternal by which you will judge all double minds who talk of the Unity of the Light but do not walk in the Light and abide in the Unity such are not of the Body who do not abide in the Vine but you who do abide in the Vine try all such and have no fellowship with unfaithful Workers for such are unfruitful who do not abide in the Vine such are they who mind earthly things who are Enemies to the Cross of Christ who walk not in the Light with the Light of God all such are seen abiding in it you will separate the clean from the unclean and true Judgment from the Life which is pure will be given upon the impure none can judge but he that is pure thou that judgest another and dost the same things thou art for Judgment let all Flesh be silent before the Lord God and dwell all in the Life of the Son of God in which you will comprehend all busie minds and forward minds who abide not in the Life who are not to judge but to be judged with the Life so in the Life dwell every one and there you have all one Life and we are with you in the Life which was before the World was in that which was before time which in time was made manifest which brings up out of time in that have we Unity and there we behold you ye faithful Ones ye Sons and Daughters of the Lord unto whom the Promise is made manifest which is Yea and Amen to the Seed which Seed is but one unto which shall all Nations bow and they that set themselves against you shall surely fall before you the Lord hath blessed you and you are blessed by his own right hand hath he planted you and the shout of a King is heard amongst you and his Voice is terrible to the Nations and dreadful to the Heathen round about cursed are they that curse thee happy art thou O Israel a People saved by the Lord the Lord of Hosts is with you and there is no Inchantment against you no Weapon formed against you shall prosper the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Therefore in the Name of the Lord and in his fear abide every one for the Voice that is heard amongst you gives Alarm to the Inhabitants of the Land and because of the Man-Child that is born in you are the Nations troubled rejoyce for evermore ye Saints of the most high God for Power is given you to be avenged of all your Enemies yea even to War against the Beast and to make the Whore Desolate the Fire that is kindled
for their way of Worship it being ancient and they which differed from them their way was but new in appearnce I say the Jews might plead for their Way far more groundedly than many now especially people who neither Live in their Way of Worship according to the Jews under the Law no not yet according to the Saints in the Primitive times And those that profess themselves Christians and yet persecute the Innocent they are far more guilty than the Jews were inasmuch as they both profess more Light and also walk so quite contrary to their own Profession yea and to the example of Christ whom they profess and the true Christians who said Love your Enemies pray for them that persecute you not persecute them that pray for you Neither had the Saints such Weapons to bring people into their Church as is now used but spiritual Ones mighty through God and went forth in his Power this brought People to be of one Heart and one way and to serve the Lord with one mind which force with carnal Weapons will never accomplish to bring people to be of one way Obj. And as it s said But some will yeild and then we will rejoyce in that Ans 'T is answered That 's a bad Work to force People and compel them to deny that which God hath made manifest to them to be Truth and the greater is their Sin that so do 'T is said that Saul compelled some to blaspheme against the Name of Jesus when he raged so against them but he afterwards confessed it as a great Sin And though some did so or do so yet that is no confirmation to the Persecutors that they are in the Way of God no nor yet a true Testimony against the persecuted that they are not in the Way of God neither doth it truly convert men at all Indeed force and compulsion may make some men conform to that outwardly which otherwise they would not do but that is nothing of weight their Hearts are never the better but are rather worse and more Hypocrites than before for force doth but make Hypocrites at the most for it is God alone by his Powerful Word of Life operating in the Hearts of People that changeth them and reneweth them in the Spirit of their minds and brings them into the true Service and Worship even to draw near him with their Hearts and to Worship him in Spirit and Truth and it 's out of man's power and that which God doth not require of men at this day to force by penalties and carnal Weapons to this or that Worship and is absolutely against the Practice of the Saints and the Spirit of Jesus as also against Christ's Royal Law which is Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do ye unto them Now let every man make it his own case He saith his way is the way of God and anothers is not Well then would he be forced to leave his own way and to go to the other which he is not satisfied of to be occording to the mind of God especially when nothing is offered to convince his Conscience or perswade his mind and understanding but Force and Compulsion Surely no man would be so dealt with in his own case Obj. But if it be said We have Power and a Law and we are wise and learned men and we would not be forceed from our Religion but we would force people to ours Ans This hath no weight in it at all for you ought to put your selves in the same capacities as them you deal with are and to consider your selves in their condition they are as strongly it may be more perswaded in their Consciences by the Spirit of God that their Way is right than you are of yours Well then weighing these things would you be forced Would you have others to deal so with you if you were in their condition and they in yours Let God's Witness answer in all Consciences and see if these ways of forcing in matters of Conscience to God wards be not quite contrary to the practice of the Saints and to the Royal Law of Christ Obj. Besides though it be said But we judge we are in the right and our way is the true way Ans It 's answered You may be mistaken many hath that have had thoughts their way was right and while you have not the infallible Witness of God's Spirit with you to testifie to your way peradventure you may err as the former Forcers have done and then you cause people to Sin if you could force them to Blaspheme and to deny as Saul did for if he that turneth a Sinner from the error of his way who hath erred from the Truth doth save a Soul and hide a multitude of Sins then they that force people from the Way of God and cause them to err doth bring Souls into death and so bring Innocent Blood upon themselves yea the Blood of Souls which will be a great weight in the Day of God's account Obj. But if it be further said How then How must we do there is so many ways that People might be brought to one way to serve God Ans Do what God requireth of you and no more and then we shall never suffer by you nor under you Do justly love mercy and walk humbly with your God this is better than the fâ—t of Rams 't is better than all the outward Sounds and Ceremonies and bodily exercise while the heart is far from the Lord And if you judge you are in the right and your way is right come forth then with spiritual Weapons mighty ones in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and let us see you shine forth in his Image let this be your covering your white Robes even the Righteousness of Christ which is the Righteousness of the Saints and let us see your meekness patience gentleness and good example your readiness by word and deed to convince Gain-sayers in the Power and Gospel of Christ your love to Enemies your selfdenial your subjection to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Oh this would reach our hearts then God's Witness would answer to you and this would answer the good part in all and this is the way to bring people to be of one mind in the Truth this is God's way this is the way the Saints walked in this is the way we love and desire and this also would be of good report amongst all good people but the contrary force and compulsion with a hasty froward proud envious Spirit with Staff and Club and carnal Weapons and Stocks and Prisoning of People against whom there is no occasion but concerning the Law of their God and matters which are really of Conscience to God-wards We say this will never be justified by the Lord nor effect the end neither nor be of good report amongst sober People nor answer the good part in people And moreover the Lord God of Life will turn