A Compassionate INVITATION OF Christian Love TO All Tender-hearted People Testifying unto GOD's Free-Grace His Spirit 's Teaching and good End of Man's Creation By one that has tasted of the Goodness of the Lord WILLIAM ROBINSON London the 25th of the 2d Month 1692. LONDON Printed for Tho. Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-street 1692. A Compassionate Invitation OF Christian Love To all Tender-hearted People MY dear Friends and all tender-hearted People there is Love in my Heart to you all according to the measure of Grace received from the Lord and my Heart is truly enlarged at this Time and Season in the consideration of the Work of the Lord that he has begun in our day and how the Lord has reached forth a Hand of Help unto us to bring us on our way Oh! my dear Friends there is a Travel upon my Spirit that none of us may turn back again but that our Eye may be to that Arm that has gathered us into a belief that it can save us and preserve us if we keep to it that that brings to the Birth will bring forth in the Lord 's due time for we may remember the earnest Cries that has been put up unto the Lord in days past and in years that are gone that the Lord would be pleased to make known his way to us and we were ready to say we would walk in it And truly Friends the Lord has been very gracious to us he has brought us by a way we then did not know and a great Concern and Travel was upon our Souls to be delivered from the Bondage and Captivity that we was then under notwithstanding we had a Profession but there was still something longed after that is beyond all the Professions that are in the World even Life to our Souls Oh the longings of Souls that was in that Day when the Lord visited us let it never be forgotten And truly Friends these things are mentioned that all may be stirred up to watchfulness and to faithfulness to God and for no other end for we may say and that without boasting we have known the Terrors of the Lord and therefore we perswade Men to come to this godly Sorrow and to a bowed down state before the Lord for this we can say that the Lord wills not the Death of him that dyes but rather that he may turn to him and live Turn ye turn ye why will ye dye said the Lord Turn ye at my Reproofs I will pour out my Spirit upon you and make known my ways unto you Oh! that all People were but willing to walk in God's way and lay aside all that hinders that every thing that hinders may be brought down by degrees every Weight and every Burden may be removed and Sin that so easily besets Oh how easily are men perswaded and drawn away after this thing or the other thing not considering what the end of these things will be Surely if the end was rightly considered People might be more concern'd how to get out of these Besetments and Entanglements for we may remember that the wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ We would all men might come to this Gift of God he has given to us this is that we shall be called to an account for whether it amount to the degree of one two or five Talents comparatively that all People may be faithful to it the least measure the least appearance is of a saving nature if men will believe in it Oh what a tender regard the Lord had to a People in former times that were beset and under heavy Burthens how willing was the Lord to deliver them and bring them out from under Pharaoh that hard Task-master Was not this a lively Figure to his spiritual Israel in this our day he divided the Waters they passed through the Deeps he brought them into the Wilderness and Pharaoh and his Hosts were drowned And then they could sing and praise God for this Deliverance Now Friends there is an inward Warfare to be known there are inward Enemies to be met withal and we had need to know the same Arm of Power as they did to work in us and for us that we may come to serve God and worship God and love God with all our Hearts love his Truth love his Word and love his Appearance tho' God may appear in Judgment yet it is for a good end that we that know him trust in him and not in our selves nor in the Arm of Flesh but in God I will bear thy Indignation O Lord says one of old because I have sinned against thee and though thou kill me I will trust in thee Now Friends the way of his appearing is not to kill the Body but the Sin that dwells there the evil Affections the evil Desires that war against the Soul Oh what Warfare there has been and a Travel there has been that we might arrive at the good Land and that we might not faint in our Minds And truly Friends the Lord has given us a Brook by the way he has turn'd our Wilderness into a fruitful Field so that we many times can invite others to come and partake with us for we believe that God would have all men come to the knowledge of the Truth and be saved Now there has been a great deal of searching after outward Knowledge many have been very busie and diligent in seeking that to talk of and discourse of but the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Christ is a saving Knowledge and a sensible Knowledge to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent is Life eternal Come Friends try your Experience have you been made to cry out under the weight and burthen of Sin as one did when it was too heavy for him to bear Now People may see what a loathsome thing it is to have a Profession and Talk and Notions of good things and be out of the Life and Knowledge thereof for what benefit has a hungry Man or Woman in hearing tell of Bread if they do not partake of it We know that the Lord feeds the Poor with Bread but many are so high and rich in Notions they do not mind to come into a state of low degree nor the low and little appearance of Truth in their Hearts Oh! come Friends let us take notice of the day of small things and be faithful in a little or else we shall never be made Rulers over much And now Friends as we turn in our Minds we may find how the Lord reproved us for many things even things that were little taken notice of by some and made us to remember that Saying We must give an account to God for every idle word Now Friends here we can say was a good beginning when the Truth met with us and brought Judgment upon us we were made sensible what it was for and how we had been led
away one time after another and that Saying oftentimes did arise If the Blind lead the Blind they shall both fall into the Ditch Now Friends that we may never forget the love of our God herein that has reached to us Oh the great Concern that has been upon many and the Cries and Bemoanings that was in secret to the Lord that his hand might not spare nor his eye pitty until Judgment was brought forth into Victory We have cried to the Lord sometimes to bring us through Judgment that we might know a Victory and Freedom from Sin and Satan and also cry'd that others might come to be thus concern'd for I see many People very loose and unconcern'd and many days have passed over their Heads in a Profession and yet not truly concern'd as to Godward and Heavenward nor so as to yield Obedience to the Gift of God that will tell them all that ever they have done though it has made many to say Is not this the Christ Oh that all People would come to consider what Experience they have of the Work of Truth in their Hearts Truly Friends and People I could be glad to see my native Country-Men and Women to come to know the Work of the Lord for I do believe and therefore speak it that Christ Jesus who is the Truth is at work as he said I work and my Heavenly Father works also How work may some say It is by his Spirit and Power for he has Power so to do in Peoples Hearts a stony Heart is not made a Heart of Flesh without him who truly makes it so he who has all Power in Heaven and Earth committed to him can do whatsoever he pleases but truly this doth not please fallen Man that is out of the Truth so to come to please God the way is too narrow and too strait for them where the love of this World is not easily parted with nor the Delights and vain Fashions of the World not willingly layed aside nor indeed can they be laid aside or overcome without coming to the Light of Christ within to know his appearance within he is the Physician of value and the chief Corner-stone and the true Foundation that every one ought to have their Faith built upon or otherways they will want a Foundation and we know he that builds a House and has not a good Foundation to build upon he comes to Loss and suffers Loss and so hath many a one for want of Experience how to build they have been apt to trust to the Building of others and to the Knowledge of others in that they should see to and for themselves For Faith is the Gift of God to Mankind and Men ought to receive it so in themselves and know a growing in the Obedience of Faith from Faith to Faith that so they may come to arrive at the Haven of Rest and Peace with God It was said that there is no Peace to the Wicked therefore ought all men to fear before the Lord and know his righteous Judgments to be set up in their Hearts that through Judgment they may come to learn to fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Duty of Man Oh that all men would love Judgment that every thing that has offended the Lord and grieved his righteous Spirit may be judged out that clean Vessels we may be in the House of the Lord for the Vessels of God's House are holy Vessels Holiness is written upon them Oh! that holy Principle of Truth that has been and still is at work has made them such clean Vessels purifying them purging out the old Leaven of Malice and Sin and has made many as a new Lamp to the Lord that has thus been at work by his Spirit to bring Men and Women out of the Fall out of the Disobedience and out of the Trasgression and this is Christ Jesus that works this Work he is the second Adam the Lord from Heaven become a quickening Spirit he is the Way the Truth and the Life he is that great Prophet that Moses spoke of and told us that we should hear in all things and whosoever will not hear this great Prophet must be cut off from amongst the People for we know that by hearing and lending an Ear to the voice of the Serpent came Death even that Death that the Lord said should come in the day that Man eat of the forbidden Fruit and so we also know to the Praise of God and his Truth be it spoken that by hearing the Voice of Christ Jesus that speaks from Heaven comes Life to be known again and witnessed and partaken of for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength and He gives Strength and Power to his Children to overcome and then to him that overcomes will I give to inherit all things I will be his God and he shall be my Son saith the Lord of Hosts But the Fearful and Unbelieving the Abominable and the Lyar is not to be numbred with God's Children but in the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21. 7 8. Now my dear Friends you that have travelled this way and have been exercised this way towards the Lord and towards his Kingdom which is not of this World you know how it has been what a Care there has been upon many lest they should miscarry and lest they should be mistaken for it may so come to pass if we sit down at ease and in a careless Mind let us remember there is a great Work to be done there are many Weights and Burdens to be done away Sin is a great Weight and a Burden and as a Partitian Wall that cannot be broken down but as we come to the Truth and know that to work in us and for us and set us free for we may remember the words of our blessed Lord to a People in former days If you know the Truth the Truth shall set you free and if the Son who is the Truth make you free then are you free indeed This is a Freedom indeed But said they we were never in Bondage to any man Ah! that all People did but know what great Bondage Sin is surely they would desire to be released out of such Bondage and Slavery if they had any regard to their poor Souls they would desire to be the Lord's Free-men and Women they would not plead for Sin and for its continuance any longer for it hath reigned too long if People were but sensible and well awake out of it Awake to Righteousness and sin not says the Apostle and awake thou that sleepest arise from the Dead and Christ will give thee light And we can have Life that is everlasting Life no where else but many People and too too many has had a Life in Sin to their great Sorrow and Lamentation and truly Friends Sin is always Cause of Sorrow it is Truths Enemy and Man and Womans Enemy also If this great Enemy of
Man and Womans Soul were but conquered and brought down then Truth would reign and Righteousness would reign but now these two cannot reign together in one Heart Righteousness and Unrighteousness cannot dwell together in one Soul the one is a man's Friend the other is his Enemy for a Man's Enemies are they of his own House Oh that I could perswade Men and Women to break off from their Sins or be an Instrument in the Truth to direct others thither also for the Lord promised to dwell in Peoples Hearts they that were of a clean Heart and feared the Lord he promised the Son of Righteousness should arise with healing Virtue under his Wings that was to heal those that wanted healing from this deadly Wound for all Nations have been wounded by it and it is a deadly Wound too without this healing Virtue be known Let us a little enquire into it how it comes to have a place in Man's Heart how it comes to be seated there it is not because it ought to be there but many loves to have it there take a Delight in it and it has got such a Root in them that they will plead for it and for its continuing as long as they live and more than so as if it were unpossible to be delivered out of it but blessed be God a Deliverer is come out of Zion to turn away Ungodliness from Jacob then Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad because a Saviour is known they shall call his Name JESUS for he shall save his People from their Sins not in their Sins but from their Sins to be a People saved by the Lord. And these may indeed be called God's People because He has saved them and redeemed them There is none that can be truly called God's peculiar People and God's Children but those that receive him in his spiritual Appearance for to as many as received him to them he gave Power to become the Sons of God For as People cannot by all their Learning and Reading and all as they can do of themselves get Power over Sin so of themselves they cannot truly come to the Sonship and yet we may see there is a possibility through the Power that Christ gives to come to that Estate Now I hope we may also believe that it is as possible through this Power not without it to overcome Sin as it is to come to the Sonship seeing the overcoming of the one is the way to the other and the saving from one that is Sin that Power that saves also entitles to the Sonship and without all question it is as possible for Christ to save his People from their Sins as to give them an Inheritance with the Saints in Light and as easie because he gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works I would have all People come to believe that all things is possible with God that cannot lye and He has said Be ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy and without Holiness no man shall ever see the Lord That is to his comfort This is a very weighty thing to be consider'd for I hope all men would be saved and therefore all men ought to consider what it is that shuts Men out of the Kingdom of God and keeps them out it must needs be granted that it is Sin This is that that with-holds Good things from sinful men that they cannot enter for Sin cannot enter that is certain There is no unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of God But it is as certain there is a Rest and a Kingdom prepared for the People of God this we will all grant But now to say or think that none can be or are prepared for this Kingdom will be great Folly then what was they prepared by but by the Power of God the Word of God which is one and nigh in the Heart And I hid thy Word says David in my Heart What to do that I might not sin against God And the Preparation of the Heart if it be prepared aright is of the Lord. Now Friends God prepares the Heart while we are in these Bodies that must needs be Well then we may say as it was said Let not Sin reign in your mortal Bodies These mortal Bodies Sin is not to reign nor dwell in them it is to be purged out that we may know the Leaven of the Kingdom that we may come to be Heirs of the Kingdom of God that Christ may come to rule and reign in us whose Right it is for there is no one has Right to rule in Man but he and as we know him to rule and have the Dominion of his Rule and Dominion there shall never be an end the Power and Rule of the Wicked one must come to an end where any come to be Witnesses in their own particulars of the Reign and Government of Christ Jesus who said Learn of me I am meek and lowly in Heart and you shall find Rest to your Souls He gives Peace to all those that truly learn of him and follows him in the Self denial and these can give the Praise of his own Works to him that has wrought such a Good Work in them and for them for the Gospel has been preached and is preached in our day for this end that all People might truly fear God and give Glory to his Name for the hour of his Righteous Judgments is come and is set up in the Hearts of many People to judge and condemn Sin in the Flesh in the Heart of Man where it has lodged and doth yet lodge and will continue there if the Judgments of the Lord be not known to break in and to be submitted unto for the strong man armed has kept the House long but when a stronger than he comes and is entertained he binds the strong man spoils his Goods and casts him out Now this strong man is the Enemy of all Righteousness is an Enemy to all Good and is that Spirit that rules in the Children of Disobedience and while he has ruled his Goods have been at Peace and What is his Goods but Sin and Wickedness Men and Women have been at peace with these Goods in their Errings and Strayings from God like lost Sheep and yet they have been at Peace such a Peace as it is it serves many People that takes liking to the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and Pride of Life But now this Peace will not last it will soon come to an end there is a Judge that stands at the Door of our Heart and knocks he will soon break this Peace for he never sends Peace to People in that state and in that condition for we have his own Testimony for it I came not says he to send Peace on Earth but a Sword What Sword but the Sword of the Spirit which cuts down Sin Now we may read how God
Life Then the Spirit took me up and I heard a voice behind me Ezek. 3. 12 saying Blessed be the Glory of the Lord from his place Here was the Work of the Spirit in which God is glorified for it is his own Work that praises him and glorifies his great Power and excellent Name And all the while my Breath is in me and the Spirit of God Job 27. 3. is in my Heart my Lips shall not speak wickedness nor my Tongue utter deceit my Righteousness I will hold fast and will not let it go my Heart shall not reprove me as long as I do live It appears the Spirit of God in his Heart was able to preserve him and is it not now the same as ever it was from everlasting to everlasting God blessed for ever The Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of the Job 33. 4. Almighty hath given me Life This he experienc'd hath given me Life he knew both what the Spirit of God had done and what it was then a doing a state beyond all Lifeless Forms and Shadows that are in the World And I will pour upon the House of David and upon the Zech. 12. 10. Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn for him It is not in vain then to wait for the motion of the Spirit to supplicate the Lord but many vex it and grieve it in themselves and others also it may be said they crucifie to themselves afresh the inward appearance of the Lord of Life and Glory And it shall come to pass after those days saith the Lord Joel 2. 28. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie If the Lord has said it great reason for men to believe it and wait for it and not to be offended at it for who shall stop the Mouths of those the Lord opens Woe to the rebellious Children saith the Lord that take Isa 30. 1. Counsel but not of me that cover with a Covering but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin Here is a Woe pronounced to the rebellious Children and that from God that cannot lye they had taken Counsel but it was ill Counsel it was such Counsel as to be rebellious and truly such Counsel is taken by the greatest part of Mankind But the Lord would have People to take Counsel of himself and be covered with his Spirit for they that are covered with Profession and with the words of other mens Experiences be but like the Fig-leaves or Fig-tree that bore no Fruit it was blasted and withered and so will all be that add Sin to Sin Therefore it is high time for all to come to Repentance and amendment of Life not to talk so very much of it but to come to it and live in the self-denyal of all false things and false ways and ill words that offend the Lord. Saith the Lord Behold my servant speaking of Christ Isa 42. 1. whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles The Spirit of the Lord was poured upon him without measure and the Lord delighted in him and would have all People to behold him that they may receive a Measure of his Spirit whereof Christ testified saying He shall take of mine and give it unto you and the least Measure of it if taken heed unto is sufficient to make a man an upright man For I will pour Water on him that is thirsty I will pour Isa 44. 3. my spirit upon thy seed and my Blessing upon thy Off-spring A very large Promise and in this Gospel-day we ought to look wait and hope for the fulfilling of it here is the free Love of God to the Children of Men that hunger and thirst after Righteousness they shall be filled they shall know the pouring forth of God's Spirit from Generation to Generation As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit which is upon thee and my Words which I Isa 59. 21. have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Many are the Promises of God to the Children of Men which are yea and amen in the Seed which is Christ this Seed that bruises the Serpent's Head and delivers the Soul When the Enemy shall come in like a Flood the spirit Isa 59. 19. of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him How full is the Scriptures of Truth and how many times over the Lord has said and promised to pour out of his spirit and the wonderful Effects that it would bring forth for the Sons of Men both in former Ages and also in our Age. I have set down some few of them here in great love to my Native Country that all might believe and see them as recorded in the Scriptures though one of the least whom God has reached to yet by his Grace I am a Believer believing that it is not in vain to wait upon God for the fulfilling of these many precious Promises that are left us in the holy Scriptures I shall set down a few more and for no other end but that People may endeavour to reap the real Benefit thereof Jesus saith Verily I say unto thee except a man be born of John 3. 5. water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God This new Birth here spoken of is not that Birth which is after the Flesh but the Birth which is after the Spirit which no one can know but by the Holy Spirit and he that believes therein as the Scriptures have said Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water But this John 7. 3. spake he of the spirit which they that believed in him should receive Now let us try our Belief if true then we shall know the Promise true also for the Promises of Christ and of the Spirit which he said he would send is to be expected or otherwise our not believing nor expecting of them hinders us from partaking thereof as it doth all them that do not expect the appearance of Christ in Spirit For the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers Joh. 4 23. shall worship the Father in the spirit and in the truth God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Now let all the Worshippers in the World see what they worship for Christ said of the Temple-worshippers And to such as said in this mountain ye worship ye know not what and truly we may see by Christ's own words that all the Worshippers in the World that do not come to the Spirit are no true