so to lead on from that which is below into that which is above and so to lead on from that which is below into that which is above and so to the greatest which is Christ the fulness who in the appearance of his Light and Life doth swallow up all lower Dispensations though as to time they might be of God and so many have seen the goings on of the Lord in his Light and in his Light have followed him from the lower into the higher and so are come to live and walk in that where his Presence remains and to as many as have so followed him and abides with him they know the place of his Rest and also knows their rest in him and so they know the Lord to live in them and walk in them and that he is their God and they are his people and in such a Meeting Way and Worship the Lord is found and he abides and continues there in his Love Mercy and Goodness therefore all below are to come up into it and all gone from it are to return if they would walk with the Lord for there is not another way wherein any doth walk with the Lord or the Lord with them but in his Light Life and Power and in that to meet and worship him according to his own Appointment and Command for as the Lord is gathering into himself all lower Dispensations and gathering in one such as have been scattered in them so all are to mind the Lords gathering that in the Light by which he gathereth they may come to be made perfect in one mark in one is the perfection which is Christ the Light and Life and Power and Wisdom of God in whose Light Life Power and Wisdom is the Gospel unity and Fellowship not in outward Forms and Professions and lower Dispensations but in the Light and Life of Christ Jesus who is above all and greater then all in his Light the Saints had Fellowship as the Scriptures testifie and in his Light the Saints have Fellowship in this day and so by one spirit they are all baptized into one Body and are one Body under the Government of Christ the head and this is the universal fellowship in the universal Light where the Spirits of just men are now known who are gone before and the spirits of just men now will be known by such as are to come and so a perfect unity in perfect Light of Christ by which Light the faithfull are bound in a bundle of Life and so in the unity of the Light and Spirit the Saints now meets and worships God and build up one another in their most holy Faith and edifies and comforts one another according to the practise of the holy men and women in times past and they keep the unity of the Spirit which unto them is the bond of Peace and though some may lose the unity by going from the Spirit and some that may profess the Truth be not in unity as not walking in the Spirit yet neither doth weaken or break the unity of such as lives and abides in the Spirit for the Spirit changes not though some that profess the Truth do not walk in it or some may withdraw and depart from it therefore the unity in the Spirit is certain and everlasting and it is the bond of Peace to all that live in it So all are to come unto this Light and Spirit in which the Saints meet and worship God and in which they have unity and fellowship with God and one another there is nothing below it will endure nor nothing exalted above that will stand for as the Light and Spirit is the beginning so it is the ending unto all that abides in it for all truth is only comprehended in the Light and Spirit of God and from thence received and there is not any other things or things in which true and lasting peace can be found but in a measure of that Light which comes from God as the Fountain they that have fixed themselves below the Light they must be dis-joyned from that unto which they are fixed and stand-loose from all things which they have made and set up in Worship and Religion and mind the Light which is only true to lead them forward into all truth for where any are fixed to things below the Light and will not be dis-joyned and separated from them by the Light they are â—entered in mortallity or the corruptible body which presseth down the Soul and whatsoever any may pretend as to their Meetings Wayes and Worshipps to be of God yet they are all formed and framed in the corruptible part and so are all corruptible offerings which have not the Savour of incorruptible Virtue therefore all Forms and Professions distinct from the Light with all their Meetings Worships and Worshippers they must all forsake their Meetings 〈◊〉 being in the corruptible part and as such where the living God is not to be found and all come to the Light and Spirit of God which openeth the eye and understanding and gives the knowledg of God and of his Way and Truth all to come unto that and follow it and live in it and so come to the Assemblies of the Righteous and to the Meetings of the First-born of God and with them to worship God in his Spirit and Truth and to have unity and fellowship with them in the Light which is their Guide and Way and so come to keep the holy Commandment given of God for until the holy Commandement of the Lord God be kept the mind remains in sin and transgression and there is none in that state which are in the Saints Worship and Fellowship and so they must come to the Light to be redeemed from the vanity of their minds because the Pure and Holy God is not worshipped with such a mind therefore the Light must be followed as a Leader to bring out of vanity into Truth and Purity and so to Serve and Worship the Pure and Holy God with a pure and holy mind and with a sincere and upright heart and unto this all must come before their service and worship be accepted of God or before they can come to have true and lasting peace with him therefore let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts and turn to the Lord who would not the death of them that dye and so come out of all Forms and Professions below the Light and Life and come to the Light and meet with those that meets in the Light and worships God in Spirit Truth and so come to keep the Ordinance of God and who are willing to come in the drawings and leadings of the Light and Spirit the Lord standeth ready to receive them and will in no wise cast them off as being yet the day of his Visitation Oh therefore let all come whilst the hand of the Lord is stretched forth to gather them and whilst his Arm is open to receive them let them come in the Light and in the Spirit and bow before the Lord and worship in his holy Temple that all who are drinking the cup of Fornication may come to the cup of Salvation and praise the Lord. And all that have been formerly donvinced of the everlasting Truth and for a time assembled with the holy Congregation and kept the holy Commandment given of God and now have lost their Guide and Way and forsaken the Assemblies of Gods chosen and departed from the holy Commandment and from the worship and ordinance of God and are gotten into created likenesses and are bowing and worshipping at there own Altar that they all may feel that again which first convinced them from which they are gone that by its Power it may cause them to return and so in the Light and pure Spirit to come again to the worship and ordinance of God that as they have departed from the ordinance of God and broken the Covenant and gone from the true fellowship so to return unto that again from which they are departed and gone and to return in submission and lowliness of mind and tenderness of heart that the Lord and his people may delight to receive them and may have pleasure in them Oh let all return from the barren Mountains and broken Costerns and return to the Lord whom they have grieved by departing from him and let them return to that which reconcileth and maketh peace that they may not wholly lose the benefit of former mercies nor the benefit of present and future Mercies but return to the Light and live in it where mercies alwayes aboundeth that as there was a beginning in the Truth of the Gospel so to return unto that which in the beginning did lead in the Gospel Way and Practise and so return to the Gospel Meetings and to the Gospel Minnistration and to the Gospel Fellowship and this whilst it to today and whilst the dore is open and whilst the Lord and his people are willing and ready to receive let it bear a weight upon every heart concerned for as much as everlasting peace and happiness consisteth in it Oh wander not longer in desert places nor feed no longer upon corruptiple thing but feel the Seed and Life and Vertue and with the Power of the Lord God judg down that spirit which is gotten up that the first-born which is gone into captivity may shew it self again and the Truth and order of the Gospel may be lived in again and the Ordinance of God kept again and Gospel fellowship come into again that all who are departed may return and find rest for their Soul Notingham 9th Moneth 1668. W. S. THE END
of God but are found to dishonour him by departing from him and taking liberty to satisfie the flesh with the affections and lusts and that is the birth of flesh and blood and of the will of man whatsoever may be pretended of the Birth of God or of retaining a measure of Light and Truth to wait upon God in their own particulars that spirit which so draweth back and causeth any to depart from the Way of Truth and from the holy Commandment given of God it is a false spirit and so an enemy to the true Spirit and those that follow it and live in it and though some may say That to withdraw and depart from that which they have sometimes observed in outward practice is not to withdraw or depart from the Truth but rather a growth and a going forward in it but that will not hold to be true if tried by the Truth it self and for want of such a trial many have wronged themselves for if there had been a true trial before there had been such a close joyning the matter would have appeared otherwise and the deceiveableness would have been seen under the covering and all that walked in the Light did see it and were preserved for Truth is unchangeable in all its wayes though in degrees it appears more glorious and being an immutable unalterable power it alwayes justifies its own work and order from one degree to another and they that really go forward in the Truth and retain it in their particulars to wait upon God they cannot possibly disesteem or dispise any practise which in the Truth is observed and in and by which they have often been refreshed for mark Where the carkass is thither will the Eagles resort and this in the beginning did draw to meet together with a willing mind for as the Word of Life was ministred by such as God appointed so the vertue of it caused resort unto it and the same thing being yet preserved and continued and also much increased according to the power and wisdom in which it did begin how can any lay a sufficient ground for their withdrawing or departing from it or how can any truly say that they are gone forward in the Truth or that they retain a measure of it to wait upon God in their own particulars for the Everlasting power of the Lord God doth yet continue amongst those that fear him and the Word of Life floweth and is yet ministred in the Assemblies of the Righteous and all the faithfull meeteth with it in a large and plentiful measure and it yeildeth the same vertue unto refreshment nourishment as in the beginning and keepeth the same judgment upon Transgressors and hereby it is manifest that the Power changes not nor the Word of Life ceaseth not but some are rather willing to cease from obeying the Truth and to depart from the holy Commandment given of God and so it had been better they had never known it unless they repent and return but such things are permitted to happen that they which are reproved may be made manifest and that the Lord may be magnified in stretching forth his Arm for the recovery of such who in their simplicity have been turned aside and though some may think that they are gotten above the Assemblies of the Righteous and the ministration of the power which is the Gospel and that they are now more large and universal in their love yet that power which they dispise as a thing below them will bruise the head of that spirit which hath lift them up and all that abide in that power will live the longer life and the love which is in the Light where the Righteous have their fellowship it will remain when all the pretended universal love is gone for the love which is universal is in God and that love is pure and cannot joyn to any impure thing to have unity or fellowship with it for if it were so then there is no distinction between righteousness and unrighteousness but there is a distinction for as much as righteousness is always justified and unrighteousness alwayes condemned and so it is as possible to joyn the East and West together as to joyn righteousness and unrighteousness in unity and fellowship and who walks in the Light in which is the universal Love of God they cannot have fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness but is made to reprove them and so the Light is the same now as in the Apostles dayes and they that live in it are of the same mind as they were and they could not have fellowship with unfruitfull works of darkness but reproved them and the Apostles were in the universal Love of God and God never loved Esau therefore all such had need consider what they are gone from and what they are joyned unto lest they so long withstand the Lord until the day of visitation pass over for it is certain that all such as have forsaken the Assemblies of the Righteous and disesteemes or rather dispises the ministration of the Gospel that they have filled themselves with high imaginations surfets with their own fulness and so they Ioath the Life and Vertue which is sweeter then the hony comb and with their own fulness they grow wanton and makes themselves merry above the Witness and so with the flesh are committing whoredom and uncleanness but that which is begotten in an unlawfull bed must not inherit the Kingdom of God that birth is not the Heir of Life nor cannot have an inheritance with the Saints in Light mark it is the Saints in Light which inherits it is their lot only which falleth into that ground and there is none can pertake of their goodly heritage but who are born of the same Life for those that are full and wonton and in their fulness and wontonness joyns to a harlot they have no part in the Kingdom of God and of Christ but as they sow to the flesh so of the flesh they must reap corruption and this is a grief unto the righteous that any who had a beginning in the Light and Spirit should go back again into the flesh and in that state to think they are perfect and that their perfection is of a higher degree then those who keeps in the Light and Spirit where they did begin for that measure of Light and Spirit which was first manifest from God to spread abroad his Truth in this day it was and is perfect it was and is his good and perfect gift it came from him as from the Father of Light with whom is no variableness or shaddow of turning then that which is variable and turning is not the gift of God and they that are varied and turned from the Assemblies of the righteous and from the Ministration of the Gospel they are gone from the gift of God that is perfect and the highest degree of their perfection is perfect surmisings and perfect prejudice and perfect enmity and
that was darkned and many came to see that their foundation was sandy and that their building could not stand safely and as the Lord was minded in this Morning of Light or springing of his Day so more Light brake forth from his fulness and the day more appeared and dangers came to be more clearly seen and when dangers were discerned in the Light there was a fear came upon many to behold them for as they saw their foundation to be sandy so they came to be sensible that it would fail and their building fall and that they could not stand in safety if they did there remain and in the sence of their danger they were made to cease from building and to cry unto the Lord for help for they came to see with the Light that was breaking forth that the Lord would overturn their foundation and building and though some had long been working building yet they were made willing to give it all up and to become nothing as to what they had done and being mindful of the Light which had opened their eye and made them sensible of their danger and waiting in fear and humbleness of mind the Lord revealeth a sure Foundation of his own laying and he called the scattered to come into it and as his voice was obeyed he stretched forth his Arm and gathered and with the strength of his Love he made many willing to be at his disposing and then he began to work upon their hearts by his Power and to frame their hearts according to the nature of his own Foundation for all were out of order until the Lord began to work by his mighty power there was not one stone framed fit for his Building but all were rough and could not be layed and compacted together and in this condition the Lord found the children of men in this day of his appearance he did not find them framed and so fit for building but he found them as such upon whom the Plain had not gone and for his Name sake he took the work into his own Hand and his work reached to the heart which was out of order and then many came to feel the Lord working in them by his power and came to know that it was the Lord which they never knew before and as they came to know God by the work of his Power in their hearts so they came to stand in fear before him and not kowing what the Lord would do by such a manifestation and operation of his Light and Power they were brought to stand still in silence and to wait for the effect and then did he open the Treasures of his Love and shewed them his Salvation and also shewed them his Judgment seat before which they were to stand and they were made willing to appear before him and to be judged by him and he caused his Judgment to pass thorow them for the casting out of that spirit which wrought iniquity and for the killing of that life which had pleasure in unrighteousness and so his Judgments were found to be just and he was found to be righteous for he judged nothing but that which was contrary to the purity of his own Life and was the burthen of the immortal Soul and that is for judgment in all where ever it remains and so he began and prospered his work in the hearts of those that did abide the day of his coming and they can set to their seal that God is true and whilst the wicked stood in his sight he was terrible in his appearance and whilst corruption remained he was dreadful to behold for his Word was as a Fire and a Hammer upon the transgressing nature and so his Fame hath gone and his Hammer hath wrought for the purging of the conscience from dead works and for the raising and bringing forth of life and immortality and so by his Power he hath squared and framed the hearts of many and hath made them fit for his building and he hath fixed and united them to his foundation which is Christ the Rock and in him he hath fixed and united them one to another and so the building and foundation are joyned in one nature and the building is fitly framed and grows unto an holy Temple it doth not decay and fall but grows and prospers in the Light Life and Power and since the beginning the Lord hath enlarged it more abundantly and hath raised it into honour and glory and herein his works hath been seen from the beginning by all that have kept in the beginning whose eye have been to the Lord in that by which he first made himself known unto them and this is the foundation and building that standeth and will stand as being only the Lords for man hath been wholly excluded from the work that the excellency of the Power might appear to be of God and that he alone might have the glory in it and by it and so it is not the Wise nor Mighty nor Prudent of the world that brought to pass the things which now are witnessed by the Righteous but the Arm of the Lord hath done it and his Power is exalted in it and by it and his Power triumpheth over all contrary spirits that would lay his building waste many can now say as in times past We are God's Husbandry we are God's Building the Seed which is sprung up is of God and the Building is framed by him and he waters his Seed and bears up the Pillars of his Building and therefore his Seed and Building grows and prospers and triumphs in Victory and here the goings on with the Lord is known from the beginning for he hath led many by the hand and carried many in his Bosom and such have been with him from the beginning they have not run out of either hand or turned back again but have kept their Habitation in the holy Temple which the Lord buildeth and where his Honor dwelleth and so have always walked with the Lord and the Lord with them but who are deparred from the ministry of the Word of Life or utter words and not in the Life they are not alwayes with the Lord nor the Lord with them and so they are to mind the Light to be their stay and to stay their minds upon God and keep to the Truth as the Principle which instructeth in the right way that Life and Vertue may spring and Unity and Followship grow and increase for all that have kept to the Truth as the Principle they have been preserved by the Power of it and have escaped many dangers which others have fallen into for want of Watchfulness for he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not he keeps himself in the Power by which he is begotten and into that Power the wicked One cannot come to touch him and so the begotten of God is kept from the Wicked One by the Power which begets him and
at Jerusalem and meet together and wait for the Power to endue them and being met together with one accord in one place mark again being met together there was a Gospel meeting according to the Commandement of the Lord And in that meeting the holy Ghost fell upon them and they spake as the spirit gave them utterance mark again they did not go forth before they had received the Power nor they did not speak before the Spirit gave them utterance but having received the Spirit and Power they then speak in the Spirit and went forth to declare the things of God in his Power and in the Spirit and Power which they had received they gathered Meetings distinctly both from Jews and Gentiles and they continue their Meetings and did not cease to meet after they had received the Spirit and Power and they were not only separated from the Jews and Gentiles as to their worship but they also received power to testifie against the worships which Jews Gentiles observed for Stephen testified against the Temple-worship and Paul against the Athenians Worship and this was their love to God his Truth and Worship and also love to the Souls of such as were ignorantly worshipping and herein they discharged a good Conscience towards God forasmuch as they labored to open the understandings of ignorant Worshippers by testifying against their Worships and as they met together and worshipped God in his Spirit and Truth so they kept their Meetings in his fear and did not forsake the assembling of themselves but with all diligence observed the Way and Order of the Spirit which they had received of God to meet together and to worship God in and their Meetings were formed and ordered of the Lord and by his appointment they were not formed ordered or appointed of man or by man but the Hand of the Lord was in the forming ordering and appointing of them and they that somtimes observed them and then departed from them they departed from the holy Commandment given of God and so it doth clearly appear that the Meetings of the holy People called Quakers are constituted ordained and commanded of God forasmuch as they answer to the Saints Meetings in primitive times being formed and appointed of God as their Meetings were and being also observed in the same Light Spirit Life and Power and so their Meetings are no new thing if truly examined and compared with the purity of Gospel times but their Meetings are of the first constitution and appointment of God amongst Christians and so hath the first place in Christian Practice Service and Worship for as they stand by the Appointment Commandment of God so they are more worthy to be observed then any Meetings that stand by the appointment and commandment of men and all that truly love God they do observe them as his Command and by keeping his Command they manifest that they love him and many that doth manifest their love unto God in assembling and meeting together according to his Appointment and Command and his Command is not grievous but joyous unto them for by observing and keeping his Command they have found him in his own Way and so keepe their Meetings unto God and not unto men and this is the glorious Light that is broken forth again through the Night of Apostacy and in which Gospel-meetings are ordered again as was before the Apostacy and the Everlasting Gospel is preached again as in the Apostles dayes and Christianity is known again as was amongst them and the worship of God is observed again in their Light Life and Spirit and the Way of Life and Peace is walked in as was by them and so all things are made new by the appearance of Christ in his Light and Power and yet nothing new in it self as to the ground but only made new by a separation and distinction from the old for all that man hath constituted ordained and set up as to Worship and Religion it is of the old nature and so old things but Christ makes all things new and yet in himself before all things and he hath brought forth that again which Darkness hath overspread since the primitive times which being so large a time kept under darkness it now appeareth new distinctly from the old and though this be new as to the appearance of it out of the old yet Christ who brings it forth in himself he is the beginning of all and so he is the first and good Old Way as in relation to foregoing Ages and also the last and new and Living Way in relation to succeeding Ages and he hath gathered a people to himself who walks with him as in the new and living Way and in him they meet and worship God and enjoys his Presence and having found the Lord in his own Way walking with the Lord in his own Leadingâ— they cannot walk in any other way nor meet to worship God in any other manner for there is but one way that leadeth unto God and in which he is worshipped and that is Christ the Light Truth and Life and that way being found all other ways are to be denied as leading from God that is the ground why such as have found the new and Living Way and walk in it cannot walk in the old and dead wayes which by the old nature of men are set up and prescribed but cleaveth to the Way which God hath prepared and appointed that they should walk in and therefore the holy People called Quakers who walk in the Light and Spirit cannot walk in the wayes or observe the worships in any Form or Profession which is made and set up by men as knowing that Christ Jesus is not their way nor that their worship is constituted and ordained of God and therefore they cannot meet with them nor walk with them nor worship with them but meets in the Spirit and walks in the Spirit and worship God in the Spirit who is a Spirit and this is a Gospel-Meeting and Way and Worship as in the Primitive times and all other meetings wayes and worships are constituted and set up since the primitive times and they are all to be denied and forsaken as having no life in them for though the Lord might once appear in Meetings Wayes and Worships which were of a lower degree then that which now he hath revealed and that the sender in heart did meet with something of God in such Meetings Wayes and Worships yet that doth not bind the Lord to a continuance in such meetings wayes and worships neither is it a sufficient ground for any to continue in them now the Lord hath appeared in a higher and greater Manifestation of Light for what any have met withal as from the Lord in lower Dispensations it was fourth drawing and bringing them higher not that God would fix himself in that dispensation or fix any unto it but only condescended unto low things to bring forward into higher and
THE Everlasting Truth EXALTED BEING A plain Testimony unto the Manifestation Growth and Prosperity of TRUTH ALSO Some Dangers opened and discovered in the not receiving Truth or having received it departing from it ALSO A short Testimony unto Gospel Meetings and Fellowship with a tender Invitation unto all that are afar off to come and unto all that are departed and gone away to return William Smith Printed in the Year 1669. The Everlasting Truth Exalted c. AFter the long Night of Apostacy had overspread the Earth and the gross Darkness of it covered and remained upon the people and that none could be found among the Sons of men to lead and deliver out of it then did the Lord manifest himself from Heaven and the Light began to spring as the morning and to give light to such as sat in darkness and under the shadow of death and though many travelled in pain as being soarly opprdssed by the power of darknes yet when the Lord did manifest his Light and his Love in it there were not many could believe that it was he and so they received him not though he came unto them for their good But to as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name which were born not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the will of man but of God and so the Love of God is manifested in sending his only begotten Son into the World to be a Light unto the World that all in him might believe and receive Life but that which is born of Flesh and Blood and of the will of man doth not believe that the Light is he whom God sendeth and therefore receives him not in his Light when he makes himself manifest for that nature expecteth some higher or greater appearance of Christ then in his Light but as John bare witness of Christ to be the true Light so his appearance is not to be expected after any other manner or in any other thing for whatsoever is contrary to that which is true is false and there is but one thing true or Truth it self and that John testifies to be the Light with which Christ enlighteneth every one that comes into the World and as the Light is true or Truth it self so the expectation is to be drawn off from all other things as being false and the mind is to turn to the Light as being only true and though it seem as a low or little thing in its manifestation yet there is nothing which in it self is true besides it and therefore most worthy of all things to be loved and obeyed in the least appearance of it for who dispises the day of small things cannot come to the day of glory where the Son ruleth and here many have suffered loss as to the benefit which in the Light they might have received and enjoyed for not loving and obeying the appearance or breaking forth of the Light in a small measure it doth not go on in such unto a perfect day but being despised as a small thing or a thing of no value it draweth into it self again the manifestation and then none can see the way unto God nor walk in the Path of Life for the Light being dispised and so withdrawing it self there is nothing but darkness remains to be the Guide and such as walks in darkness knows not whither they go because darkness hath blinded their minds and this hath been an occasion of stumbling unto many who have not loved the Light but despised it for in darkness they stumble and many times fall but in the Light which is the plain Path there is no stumbling and they that do not walk in that Path but dispises it and stumbles at it they walk in the broad way and in that way they cannot have peace for they that despise the day of small things they dispise that by which Peace cometh and none can have peace whilst they despise that by which it comes for they that would have peace with God must receive and entertain the Light and not dispise it and though it may appear but as a little thing yet peace is found in the least appearance of it as it is loved and obeyed but the high and softy cannot bow unto it the birth of Flesh and Blood and of the will of man expects some higher and greater thing and when the Light manifests it self by reproof in the Conscience there is not submission but rather dispising for the broad way is more delightfull to that birth then the narrow and therefore it is that the broad way is filled with many walkers and so many may see the Morning and not come to see the perfect day for if the Light in its manifestation be not loved and obeyed there is not a going forward in the Truth nor any growth and increase witnessed and so the Light hath manifest it self in many and they have seen the darkness by the manifestation but not loving and obeying the Light that it might become their Teacher and Leader they still abide in darkness and are not redeemed and delivered and that is the thraldom and bondage where many yet remains who have been visited with the day-spring from on high they do not love nor obey the Light when it springs and manifests it self unto them and so they keep themselves in their own sorrow and misery by loving and obeying darkness for if the Light be followed in love as being only true there is not an abiding in darkness but a coming to the Light of Life and so Christ said I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not abide in darkness which thing is true in him and in all those that follow him for in the appearance of his Light the darkness passeth away and the power of it groweth weaker and then comes redemption and deliverance out of Darkness unto those that love and obey the Light and so they come out of the pollutions and defilements into that which is pure and holy and righteous and these are only the people which are found to the praise and glory of God for who have been visited and do not obey the Lord they are not found to his praise and glory but are sound in that by which God is dishonoured and who have tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come and have seen many great and wonderfull things and afterwards go from the Light and lose their stedfastness they are not found to the praise and glory of God but dishonoureth his Name and Truth and People for they that sometimes did own the Light to be true or Truth it self and for a season rejoyced in it and as Disciples took up the Cross to follow it and now are grown weary of walking in the narrow way and so are gone back and follows no further they cannot be found to the praise and glory
are united in one and every one in their measure grows in Grace and Godliness and in that all stands in the beginning and as they wait upon God in that which first convinced them they are preserved out of the Net of the Fowler and from the deceit of the Deceiver and this is marvellous in the eyes of many this day for by the preservation that many have witnessed by cleaving to the Power they certainly know that there is not another thing sufficient for that work and so they keep their faith in it as in the greatest and in the very time when darkness came upon some to draw them back then there was no whither else for them to go but to that which from the beginning had preserved for they were come to assurance that he was the Son of God in whom they believed and they knew that he had the word of Eternal Life and so they could not forsake him and depart from him to go to another but continued in his Love according to his Command which if all had done so there had not been a going away and departing but the Serpent beguiled as he beguiled Eve and though he aimed to deceive the very Elect yet it was not possible because their Foundation was sure and they were faithfull to it and upon the Foundation they yet stand and are not moved and the Truth is precious in their eye and the testimony of it lovely in their hearts and they are not weary of serving the Lord for his power carries them as upon Eagles Wings and such are not born of flesh and blood and of the will of man but of God and as Heirs of God they inherit Life and Immortality and so they rejoyce in their way and in their portion and in this good ground their lot is fallen and they have a goodly heritage yea a heritage above the Earth and the glory of it for in the Seed and Life they have found the heavenly Treasure and the Pearl of great price and as their affections are set upon things above so they do not mind to be in love with things below and abiding in the Light and Truth they have a sure Dwelling and a quiet Habitation and so in that which is immortal they live with the Lord and one another and are refreshed in the Lord and one in another and these are Children which of his own Will he hath begotten by the Word of his Power mark by the Word of his Power these are begotten and they love the Word of his Power which hath begotten them and it is Milk unto them as Babes and Meat as strong Men and they know the vertue and power of it and cannot depart from it and by faith in the power they obtain victory and so they keep the faith and do not make shipwrack of it and by faith they stand and from the beginning they have kept in the way that is good and have not cunningly devised Fables but by the manifestation of Truth have approved themselves unto God and these are they which of his own Will he hath begotten by the Word of his Power who love the Word of his Power that hath begotten them and by the Word of his Power he upholds them it is that they lean upon and cleave unto in all their trials distress and tribulations and it hath been and is their strength from one degree of godliness unto another and from one degree of faith to another and so from degree to degree they have followed the Lord in humbleness of mind and he hath and doth give his Grace unto them and exalts them into honour and they are honourable and beloved in his sight and though some that came out with them be gone from them yet the Truth is the same and they are the same in the Truth for as they have kept in the Truth from the beginning so they have not wavered nor changed but in all things have been found faithfull wherein Truth hath been concerned and many whose dear and precious lives have been given up as a Testimony to it and many whose sufferings and tribulations doth yet remain for the Truth sake and it is no less in such as now depart from the testimony and turns against it then a trampling upon the Blood and Sufferings of the Faithfull and so a trampling under foot the Son of God and doing dispite to the Spirit of Grace and such are gone from the Grace of God in themselves and so runs into the liberty that pleaseth the vain mind which cannot bear the yoke and in that Sea of liberty in vanity the flesh is pleased and from that Sea cometh all the great swelling words of vanity in the likeness of Truth but the Sea is bounded beyond which it cannot pass and in that which bounds the troubled Seas the faithfull are preserved from being swallowed up and they that are fallen into this Ocean they are fallen from the Rock Christ Jesus who is the beginning and ending the first and last and so they are gone from the chief corner stone the Elect and precious upon which the Building is fitly framed and groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord so mark the Building is fitly framed upon the Rock and not upon the Sea and upon the Rock the Building standeth and groweth unto an holy Temple and so the Power of the Rock raiseth the Building which is framed upon it and there is a perfect union between the Foundation and Building and a perfect union in the Building for it is framed and compacted by his hand who is Lord of all so it is united and no where out of order for that which is out of order is not framed and compacted in the Building which stands upon the Rock and though it may appear as framed compacted and builded yet it is not united to the Foundation but the Lord hath pleasure in his own Building as being his own work and it grows to be an holy Temple and he fills it with his Presence and Glory and besides this Foundation which God hath laid there is no man can lay another nor no man can build another Building to be an holy Temple for him therefore all foundations and buildings which man hath layed and builded must come to nought for it is only his own Work that must stand and remain and so he hath been building upon his own Foundation and he hath framed a Building according unto his pleasure and he causeth the Building to grow unto an holy Temple for himself to walk in and so he walks in the Temple and dwells in the Temple which is holy and this is his own Work from the beginning For when the Lord appeared to make known his Truth in this day there was no building framed but all in several Forms and Professions scattered and he beheld it and his eye pitied and then was his Love manifest to the scattered and with his Light he opened their eye