that are come to anchor and rest in the pure living power of the living God and cease from their works blessed be the holy Name of God some have attained by him to know the Saviour come to work in the soul the works that are acceptable unto God and standing in the unchangeable truth they are no more their own but setled upon the Rock the everlasting foundation where no change is no variableness nor shadow of turning whoever comes into that we speak of and dwells in it they are come to Mount Sion that cannot be moved doth not the unchangeable Power of the living God cause the pure minde to mount up above all earthly things and to converse in heaven and so they know this to be true in him that he the Lord hath made them a willing people in the day of his power truly they that abide in it they run the Race that is set before them and do not faint they walk in the way of Life and are not weary of following the Lamb of God that taketh away Sin wheresoever he goes mark our witness for God is his Standard is set up and his Salvation is revealed and the certain sound is gone forth and many have prepared themselves to partake of the Supper of the Lamb where the blessedness for ever is known we declare of no other Standard but this the unalterable power of the living God to be set up in the heart of man and woman whereby Salvation may be wrought and deliverance from Sin may be witnessed and the Name of God magnified for ever and we speak to the praise of his Name power from Christ is come into the hearts of many whereby they have overcome the devil For he that is in us is stronger then he that is in the world and we are joyned in the Covenant of light to walk with the Lord for ever there is a seal of love set upon the heart by his spirit the pure force whereof hath constrained many to give up and they are throughly perswaded that neither heights nor depths things present nor things to come or whatsoever can be named shall be able to separate them from the hope that is in Christ and that because they are kept by the mighty power of God which we have experience of is above and stronger then the power of the devil and in all our trialls and tribulations although never so many we speak in reverence of his holy Name we have no whether else to go nor any thing else to put our trust and considence in but the power of the living God and his Arm hath been made bare for our deliverance from that thraldome and bondage in which we were kept heretofore notwithstanding our belief until Christ by the Will of God was revealed in us to our unspeakable comfort and we cannot be removed from the hope of the Gospel which is the power of God to Salvation to as many as truly believe and know Christ to be made unto them by God Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption and our hope it reacheth within the Vail and blessed be God we are stedfast in him who is the same yesterday to day and for ever but many have turned aside from the way of Life and are snared in holes and some as in time past after they had tasted the good Word of God and of the power of the world to come yet have fallen away yet if possible it is the true desire of the heeart they may be restored and brought back into the Light of Life and fold of Christ where they may lie down in peace It is declared before how we came to be acquainted with thee at the first some of us very well yet remember the first occasion of seeing thy face it was in owning and also bringing on their way those first Messengers of the Gospel that came to us that brought the glad tidings of Salvation dear Edw. Borough and Francis Howgel then at that time thou didst appear to have dear and tender love to that Truth of Christ we profess and to our great comfort and consolation do enjoy and after it is yet remembred some of us visited thee when thou wast in Prison in Banbury with dear Richard Farnsworth and there thou didst bare a witness and restimony for the Living Way and Truth of God and at that time thou didst appear to have a dear love to and a tender respect for those People thou now call'st Quakers above any People in the World and as the only People and alone Way of God didst thou then own them not by the name Quakers as the World do didst thou then call them but as Friends of God and Friends to and with thy self in unity and oneness in the Spirit of Truth for our unity then was and all that love Righteousness amongst us they and they only continue and abide in unity in the holy Spirit of Truth which blessed be the Lord for ever is become a Guide and a Leader into all Truth But it is necessary to enquire what Principle thou art of in matter of Religion now we are not ignorant that after some small space of time that thou hadst been convinc'd and had in some degree taken up the Cross to thy will and wayes in which thou hadst full liberty in the Flesh before thou cam'st to believe in Christ the true Light who shews and makes manifest sin in the heart where-ever it is and to as many as receives him he gives and administers power from himself to overcome all the works of the wicked One but thou went out from us and from the fellow-ship of the Spirit of Truth into another spirit there is a testimony in the heart for the Lord that thou departed from the Spirit of Truth that is a Guide to God to all that are lead by it and joyned to an unclean spirit and in that thou hast stood and in that spirit thou hast been a shelter and a harbour for them that are in the same apart from and in a separation from the Truth and the Spirit of it and there we find thee yet to continue Oh Robert when ever thou comes to have a true sence of what thou hast departed from the Word of Life answered He is gone from Christ the Hope of Glory the Fonntain of Life There is a cry in the Soul while this is writing What hast thou lost the beloved Son of God in whom he is well pleased Thou hast murthered and crucified the pure Life of Christ the Heir in thy self and hast taken the Government into the hand of the Polluted and in this state thou art speaking of the things of Gods heavenly Kingdom but notwithstanding gone from the Light in which true fellowship is for it is now with us as it was with the cloud of Witnesses that went before who said If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the
JUDAS HIS Thirty Pieces NOT RECEIVED BUT Sent back to him for his own Bag who hath betrayed the Lord of Glory and sold his Master and Crucified Christ afresh and put him to open shame and now liveth wantonly upon the Earth and hath killed the Just BEING Something by way of Answer to a Letter that was sent tó John Reynes Merchant of London from Robert Rich in Barbadoes which was for the Distribution of a certain sum of Money to seaven Churches as he calls them Wherein it is manifested wherefore the People that are the Lords in the Covenant of Light but by the World in scorn called Quakers cannot partake of his Gift as also in several passages is mixt a Manifestation in a way of Testimony what that blessed Truth of God is that they received and do injoy and for which they have heretofore and yet still suffer Robert Rich THere is a Letter come to our hands sent to John Reynes which bears thy name and is for the Distribution of a considerable sum of Money towards the relief of them that are in such capacity as the Letter in several passages of it makes mention wherein we find our Names amongst others assigned by thee to dispose of a part of it to such as are in need sickness or other kind of adversity whatsoever amongst us the People called Quakers so stiled by thee the consideration whereof together with the things contained in thy Letter caused us deeply to way these things before the Lord lest we should do any thing in this matter that might hurt the Truth or grieve the blessed Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ which we blessed be his Name have received whereby we are established for ever and we stood in fear before the Lord and were not hasty in this matter and some of them whom thou hast named in thy Letter were altogether unwilling that we should meddle with that assigned to us lest we should pertake of the accursed Thing which will be spoken to in its place and weighing things on every hand at last those that have subscribed the Acquittance did think it meet that we might at the present receive the Money and the only reason that prevailed with us to-take it in our hands was lest any that had been heretofore convinc'd of Gods Everlasting Truth but now turned from it as thou art and yet go under that name these receiving it might in this as in other things bring reproach upon the blessed Truth of the Lord God which to prevent we did secure the Money in our own hands until we might have an opportunity to sent it back to thy self Note The Money he sent was received by a Stranger by our approbation and after receipt was sealed up and the very same sent back to him that so the People who are the Lords for ever in the Covenant of Light yet by the World called Quakers might stand clear from the accursed thing which is the price of blood as we shall make manifest in due place Robert thou art not ignorant that our acquaintance at the first Note also This Robert Rich had a convincement and was a while among the people of God called Quakers but he soon turned from them for their way was to strait for him to walk in came upon the occasion of thy being convinc'd and submission to the Everlasting and Unchangable Way and Truth of the Living God and we have a Testimony and it lives in our hearts for that pure Way which blessed be the Lord we are established in although many as thy self have turned their backs upon it our God whom we serve and bow before he is Light unchangeably so and we bear witness in him is no darkness at all it is written in our hearts by the Finger of Gods Spirit that we shall never forget the kindness and love of God towards us who had waited and mourned in the secret of our Souls for the appearance of him who is the desire of all Nations yet to them that believe not in the true Light that John bears witness of His Countenance is more marr'd then any Mans but blessed be the Name of God for ever that we received the Light the Way to walk in we bear witness for the Lord it is everlastingly Pure and the unclean cannot walk therein it was to us it is so to all them that believe in the Light and abide in it it is an Everlasting Morning to the Soul and gives pure satisfaction and we are fully perswaded in the Light and Power of the Lord it is so we are kept by it it is the mighty Power of God to Salvation to us who believe in the true Light there is a treasure in him for all that are in want oh that the Nations that are yet in darkness and blindness of mind were awakened that they might come to partake with us of the true treasure it enricheth them that have been poor outcasts that had no rest that had no rest for the weary Soul we bear a witness and hold forth a true testimony although the backsliding in heart be grieved thereby that Christ Jesus the Lord from heaven is come that delivers and saves from sin it is the Comfort and Consolation of them that have been in the travail and led into Captivity under the sore bondage of the cruell Enemie of the Soul to know the Deliverer come it is so blessed be the holy Name of the Lord for ever we testifie of the true Translation known and come into which we have a part in we know the pure Power of the Son of God taking place in our hearts and it hath overcome the power of the wicked one and this is more to us then ten thousand worlds and because of the savour of his good ointment do ye Virgins love the Lords Christ and cry Hosanna to him I mean all who receive the truth in the love of it and have kept their habitation in God he hath been he still is a stay and strength to the Soul whereby they are preserved that they do not faint in their minds notwithstanding the several trials and temptations that they have been exercised in and with and here we come to anchor here for ever is our Rest if Enemies rise on the one hand or the other either from the world who persecute because of the Name of God and our worshiping him in Spirit and Truth or those Enemies that once were convinc'd and saw the gate that is narrow and the way that is streight and have taken offence at the good way of the Lord yet mark to us that abide it is sealed for ever it is a pleasant way it was in times past to those that walkt in it it is to us who love the pure path in it they did we doe finde and inherit life everlasting we said we were come to Anchor and Rest for ever there is a consent in the soul it is a durable Rest to all them
thou wouldst give Thirty pounds for raising up of the Love of God in the heart and Judas received Thirty Pieces of silver for betraying Christ the Love of God so the Traders in Money for either buying or selling the Love of God are denied for they are both from one Root but we have learn'd to abide in the Living Vine that we may bring forth fruit unto our Heavenly Father who hath begotten us unto himself by the Gospel which is a sure stay to the mind whereby we are kept in perfect Peace we shall not meddle much with thy high words with which thou beatest the air but surely there is a belief that there was never yet such a president in the World before it is very observable to us the state of thy mind in this particular to advance so great a sum of Money and weighing the thing in the Ballance of Truth it is only to draw us back where thou art gone and joyn us again to the World but we have entered into our rest Thou wouldst have the Persons of those thou hast invited bid welcom and also to remember the spirits of them that were friends to the Bridegroom and so thy Feast is for the dead and living but these so compacted together thou callest the Church of the First-born and indeed they are the Church of the first-born of thy imaginations for there is no pattern of it before and thy Brain is the first that ever pointed out to or laid a foundation for such a Church or such a Congregation unless the Ranters and therefore those who are of the Church of the First-born truly so I mean those that are translated from death to Life from the power of Satan to the Power or the Living God and by the Spirit and power of Jesus Christ are born again whereby they come out of the old Birth or rather that Death which is in opposition to the pure Life of the Son of God and these now come to know the quickning Power of the Son of God in their Souls whereby they are made alive unto God and although they were in time past dead as well as others yet now behold by the Grace of God they live for evermore there abide in Christ the living Vine and are built on the sure foundation ye they are come to the Rock of Ages the tried Stone which the Master-builders of our Age hath refused but to us who believe in the true Light he is for ever precious and therefore the Lord for and in behalf of his Everlasting Truth calls for acquitting of our selves as men of God who love the Gospel of Peace and Salvation who have received mercy and wisdom from God in it whereby we can encounter with the Adversary of Gods Truth and Power although he get unto himself proud swelling words of vanity to make himself to be admired yet in the Name of God we deny him for we are not ashamed of the Truth which we received in the beginning for we come to know it is the Power of God to Salvation to as many as believe and continue in the pure unchangable Way Christ the Light and Life who is the same yesterday this day and for ever there is a presure and pure desire that is in the Soul that all the Flock that are come to partake of the unalterable and pure Wisdom and Life of Christ would for ever abide and continue therein the testimony of the Everlasting God is risen in the Soul there is no assured preservation as to God out of this Ark Therefore all that have been acquainted with the pure measure of the Gift and Grace of God keep and abide therein and then if the Storms come and the Floods arise thou art in that in which the safety is even in him which is the Beginning and the Ending he began the Work of God in our Soul he hath he doth blessed be his Name for ever carry it on in his own strength and by his own Arm are we delivered and preserved and we have learnt of the Spirit of Truth to trust in him and we have set to our Seal and we know him to be the chiefest of ten thousand and he hath made the upright the Virgins whose Lambs are trimed and have oyl in them who have waited for the Bridegroom of the Soul his Banner over them is pure Love every one to know a rest in that which hath no shadow in it how comfortable is it to that man or woman that is come to be stayed in their minds purely on the Living God for we have seen an end of all perfection under the Son but surely the revelation of Christ to the Soul is exceeding glorious in the manifestation of himself in his dwelling and abiding with them that love his Appearance it is a dry place to that Soul whatever the words are that is not in the feeling sence of the pure Life and mark unchangeable Power of the Lord God which keeps the heart entire and upright to God they are compassed about with Salvation that can rest alone in that which is everlastingly one and the same and all that are tost about with every wind every spirit although in the depth of confusion there is a Lamentation for them in the Soul of the upright what will become of them that after a long profession of Gods Truth yet not come to anchor and fix in that which is within the Vail Oh that all were come to be rooted and grounded whereby they might be no more removed from the unchangeable Power of the Living God But Robert thou hast given order that the persons of those that are invited may be bid welcom but rather the spirits of the Friends to the Bridegroom as thou call'st them be remembred But in case the Persons of those that are invited to the Feast which thou hast given Thirty pounds to provide a Dinner or a Supper do not appear how wouldst thou have their spirits remembred Must it be as the Papists remember those that are deceased of their Religion to say one or more Masses that they may be delivered out of Purgatory Or what otherwise is thy Festival mind to have the Spirits of them that are fallen asleep remembred Thou hast given a large some of money for a Dinner or a Supper to Feast together tell us in plain terms Dost thou mean to remember their spirits by drinking to them and so remembring them in a Cup of good Liquor as those Fellowships call it For thou hast given order that the persons but rather the spirits of those especial ones be remembred we must confess it is such an especial work and service and remembrance that we never yet heard of before therefore we had need to have an Interpreter one of a thousand Or wouldst thou like the Church of Rome first canonize and make them Saints and so remember them by putting up request and supplication to them If this or either of these and if not we are certainly distinct from thy Festival mind and spirit but undoubtedly it is a word of truth to thee thou art gone out from the pure Living Truth and Spirit of Christ and what dost thou think to be made perfect by the Flesh and in Feasting Thou appearest to have gotten into a large place but there is an answer riseth It is ease in the earthly sensual mind and will but they only shall be kept in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on God if any should not yet understand wherein our preservation is and wherein our strength lies we stand clear before the Lord it is not in works of righteousness which we have or can do or according to excellency of speech or words which we may have of our own or learn of others but according to and by his Grace are we saved and our comfort and consolation for ever remains as we are kept by the Power of God to continue in the Grace of God which is our Salvation and our minds blessed be the Lord for ever are stayed on him Immortality and Life is brought to light by the Gospel which is the Power of God and the saving health that is revealed by the pure Power of the Lord is come and blessed for ever be the Name of God we continue and abide therein we testifie in the Name of the Lord let the dangers trials or temptations be never so great we have nothing else to trust to or in but the alone Arm and Power of the Lord God which is our Salvation and we cannot be drawn aside from the hope thereof and so all people who ever they are that will partake of Salvation from God they must walk in the pure Light of the Lord in which the pure fellowship is known with the pure God and one with another and all that believe in the Light and are made children thereof and abide therein they have fellowship with us and we with them in that which never alters nor changeth but abideth the same for ever and upon this Rock Christ the true Light are we built and we know the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against them that are built thereon and here is our Rest for ever THE END