nor stood in his Counsel therefore have they not profitted the people nor turned them from the evil of their wayes neither are they brought to the knowledge of the Truth by which Freedom and Redemption is witnessed So their Preaching is vain and their Faith is vain and they remain in their sins which separates them from God and are dead while they live and are unrestored and unreconciled and have no assurance of their eternal wel-being And when any comes into a serious Consideration and unto a true sence of the sad state they are in and how they have lived and spent their time all their Life long Then Judgment and Wrath Condemnation and Pangs and the Sorrows of Hell conpasseth them about and then seeing themselves in the perishing state are even at their wits end yet these things they consider not in the time of their prosperity Wherefore all people every where who desire to come out of these Distractions and Confusions and Hurryings and Contentions about Faith and Worship and Ordinances and out of the Pollutions which the World lives in and to come into the Spiritual Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth To you I say that is the Spirit of Truth in you all in which God will be worshipped which reproves you of sin in your hearts and as you come into obedience to that it will bring you into the Spiritual Worship For the Spiritual Worship consisteth in Obedience to the Spirit and this is the everlasting Ordinance of God viz. Christ the Light the quickening Spirit for him hath God ordained of old to all that believe and work Righteousness for Salvation So all being exercised in the Light and with the quickning Spirit here you are exercised in the Ordinance of God and here the living Substance is known in which the Shadows Types and Figures end And here the Hand-writing of Ordinances is blotted out And here the Law ends which was contained in Ordinances mark that in Christ the everlasting Ordinance Concerning FAITH ANd the Living FAITH which gives the Saints victory over the World this cometh by hearing of the Word which is nigh unto you all even in your hearts and in your mouthes and as every one comes to hear and obey it you will thereby be begotten in the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints by which they wrought Righteousness and that is the Faith which giveth victory over the World and which worketh by love for the purifying of the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God and without this Faith it is impossible to please God for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin So search your selves and see whether you are in this Faith yea or nay or whether your Faith be not a dead Faith For that which doth not lead to work righteousness is a dead faith for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also yet by works only there is none justified and faith without works is dead for the Faith of Abraham wrought with works and by works Faith is made perfect So let not any deceive themselves with a fained faith or framed in the imagination for that is a vain faith and not able to save you Also beware that your Faith towards God be not taught by the Precepts of men for that will stand you in no stead neither will it give you victory over the Pollutions of the World nor purifie your hearts from sin Wherefore mind the Word which is nigh by the hearing of which Faith cometh even the Living Faith by which the Just live which was once delivered to the Saints and which we earnestly content for Concerning HOPE ANd the living Hope which maketh not ashamed but puryfieth the heart even as God is pure This is not witnessed nor known but through the tribulation patience in the experimental working and operation of the Spirit of Life in the inward parts and Word of Life For by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever are we begotten again unto a lively Hope which we have for an anchor both sure and stedfast in all our Tryals and tossings and hurryings which we meet withal in the World and amongst the hypocritical Professors thereof whose Hope will perish in the day when the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven upon all who hold the Truth in unrighteousness But he whose Hope is begotten by the operation of the Word and Spirit of Life even he it is that purifies himself even as God is pure So all who desire the Way of Life to knowe and to walk in the Path of Peace which the Worker of Iniquity knows not I say unto you all it is in the midst of the Paths of Judgment which Christ the Light the wisdom of God leads unto So every one the light in your own Consciences minde wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of the Fathers love hath enlightened you and as you Wait in it you will finde it checking and reproving you for sin and iniquity in the secret of your hearts and Consciences and as every one comes to be guided by this Light which is the way it will be an infallible guide unto you to lead you in the way of Righteousness and in the midst of the paths of Judgment and the worker of iniquity you will see judged in your own particulars daily and the Prince of this World will come to be cast out as you dwell in the Judgment and this is the way whereby Sion comes to be redeemed Wherefore dwell in that which judgeth the man of sin in your own particulars and joyn not to that Nature which would lead to work iniquity or unrighteousness but joyn to that which in your own particulars judgeth it and here the Cross you will know which the whole World are Strangers to and then the Old man will come to be weakened and to be put off with his deeds that the New man be put on which is created in Righteousness and true Holiness but this work is not wrought nor effected but though many Combats Trials and great Tribulations which formerly you were not acquainted with while you were lead captive at the Devils will and followed his lusts and the strong man armed kept the house then all was at peace but when the stronger is come the other must be bound and a spoil of his goods must be made and his heritage must be laid waste for the coming of the second Adam Christ Jesus the Light of the World is not to send Peace on Earth but a Sword and then you will hear of Wars and rumors of Wars see then that ye be not troubled for these are but the beginning of sorrow but the end is not yet So as every one are exercised with the Spirit of Truth in your own particulars which reproves you of sin this will lead you into all truth and to work Righteousness and will bring you to fulfil the Royal Law and
Reader that these things testified of him are true as many living Witnesses can seal to the same look over his own Writings and read over his several Epistles written to the Churches at several times and upon several Occasions which are gathered together and presented to thy vew and if thou hast any true spiritual sence in thee thou wilt feel and discern that such sweet and pleasant Streams must needs flow from a sweet and good Fountain knowing that one Fountain doth not send forth sweet and bitter Water therefore the Streams being sweet the Fountain or Well from whence they spring is sweet also and he having drunk deep draughts of the Water that Christ gives it became in him a Well of Living Water springing up into Eternal Life according to the saying of Christ our Saviour Whosoever shall drink of the Water that I give it shall be in him a Well of Living Water springing up into Eternal Life And that this was true in him is attested unto by one who had large experience of his Integrity and Holy Zeal for God who has been often in travels with him and still is a Labourer in the Lord's Vine-yard desiring and praying to Almighty God that the scattered Sheep may be gathered into the Fold of the good Shepherd That so there may be one Sheep-Fold and one Shepherd A. P. A TESTIMONY Concerning Josiah Coale AS concerning our dear Friend and Brother Josiah Coale I having had a certain knowledge of him and his Life from that Conversation we had many times together in the Service of the Lord and living Society of the Holy Spirit I have this Testimony to give of him That he was a Man indued with an heavenly and effectual Gift and therein was enlarged and increas'd as a Reward upon him after his sore Travels and Labour in the Gospel beyond Seas and he had a real love and estimation of his Brethren in the Service and Work of the Lord and delighted in their Fellowship and Communion being often refresht thereby His faithfulness was manifested to God and to his People amongst whom he laboured he was freely given up to improve his Gift in the Heavenly Calling wherewith he was called to spend and to be spent for the Gospel's sake wherein he had his reward counting nothing too dear of Life Relation or Estate to resign up in and for that Service wherein he manifested both his Commission and Power to be of God and not of man for the gathering out of Darkness false Wayes and Worships emty Professions and vain Traditions of men into the Light and Living way of Truth that therein they might serve and worship God in Spirit which admits of no confidence in the Flesh nor products thereof He was a Man of a tender spirit having a reverent esteem of his faithful Brethren and elders in the Truth and he had a tender care to preserve Unity and Brotherly Love as also the sence he had of his reward made him chearful in his Service and fervent in spirit and zealous in his Testimonies against all false and deceitful spirits which slight and dis-esteem Truth and lead into Apostacy from the Unity and Fellowship of the Gospel whose wayes do not tend to Peace but Strife and Self-separation He fervently preached the Cross of Christ and prest the necessity of obedience through it and unto watchfulness in the fear of God He preached Faith in the Power of God and the Righteousness thereof not to stand in the wisdom of man nor in lifeless Professions or traditional Opinions nor yet to consist in self acting and voluntary humility but in Spirit and Life from which living Obedience and Righteousness naturally spring by which Testimony and Preaching he was instrumental to affect the Hearts of many with the excellency of the Truth as it is in Jesus and turn many thereunto even from Darkness unto Light and from Satan's Power to God that they might both receive Remission of sin and Possession of Life Eternal And as he had freely received of Christ so he freely gave and as he was freely given up to spend and to be spent for the Lord so he spared not of his outward Substance in his Service his care being such to cut off occasions from such as seek them and so to keep the Gospel without charge as that he many times would not use his power and freedom which Christ allowed his Ministers in that case as mentioned in Luke Chap. 10. Verse 7. but with the Apostle Paul debased himself that he might not prove chargable to the Churches and indeed he went much a warfare at his own charges giving freely up both his Liberty and Life for the promotion of the Gospel of Truth both in this and other Nations through many Hazards and difficulties particularly of late years in this City of London wherein the blessed effects of his Labours Travels and Sufferings are felt and known by many And as he lived in and by the Faith of God's Elect so with him to live was Christ and to dye a Gain who being outwardly spent for the Gospel sake was inwardly renewed by the Vertue of the same whereby having conquered Death and the Grave he chearfully embraced his Dissolution and changed for a full and perpetual Injoyment of that Joy and Reward of Life and Glory which he had long an Earnest and Evidence of in himself and in the fulness of which his Soul now rests and lives for evermore Yea his life is felt in the heavenly Society and though he being dead yet speaketh in him in whom he died who is his Resurrection and Life for evermore G. W. A Short TETIMONY OF The Life Death and Ministry of that Faithfull Servant of the LORD Josiah Coale THough I knew him not from the beginning yet I knew him in that which hath neither beginning of Dayes nor end of Life which is the Eternal Power of God that by which he was separated from the World and made an able powerful and faithful Minister of the everlasting Gospel of Christ Jesus our Lord and which in all Travels Trials and Sufferings that did attend him made him more then Conqueror to the glorifying of the Name of the Lord in the sight of his Enemies and to the replenishing of his Soul with Divine Consolations In the Eternal Light I knew him and had often and sweet Fellowship with him therein to my great refreshment even in the gloomy and dark day of my early and deep Exercises and though he was a man free in his disposition and ready to help all through the tenderness of his spirit yet was he indued with sound Judgment to the discerning of spirits and giving no liberty to the Flesh but was dreadful in his Testimony against the Life Glory and Customes of the World being redeemed therefrom and made a Witness through Judgment of that pure Spirit of Glory which was before the World began which vails and darkens the beauty of Flesh and gathers into
the Cause of God in the Prisons of London Hartford c. This is a Salutation of my Love and Life MY dearly beloved Friends who are oft brought into my Remembrance and presented before me by the Spirit of the Lord with whom my Life is and unto whom the Love of my soul doth even flow forth and extend it self in the Vertue of that Life which is Infinite and Eternal and in the Spirit of Supplication my soul is daily pour'd forth unto the Lord before the Throne of his Majesty on your behalfs Beseeching and Desiring That he will so furnish and arm you with the whole Armour of his own Righteousness that you may be entire wanting nothing and that you may be enabled to stand and hold out unto the End in this day of Battel and Tryal and that as Valiant Souldiers of the Lamb you may endure all Hardships as seeing him present in the midst of you who is Invisible in the Faith of the Answer whereof I dearly salute you all And dear Friends in this you may all be enboldned and in this Consideration your Heads may be lifted up above all Sufferings even in the midst of them that the Cause in which you are engag'd and for which you suffer is a Righteous Cause of which we have the Witness or Testimony in our own Consciences and a more certain Witness cannot be and this Witness doth testifie That our Cause is the Cause of God who hath call'd us out of Darkness into his marvelous Light and hath made choice of us to bear Testimony to and stand Witnesses for his Name and Truth in this Day of his Spiritual Appearance and Manifestation or Revelation of the Son of his Love whose quickening Spirit we have receiv'd by which we are seperated from the World and by which we have been and still are constrain'd to bear Testimony against all Oppression and Cruelty and against all the Unrighteousness of this sinful World for which Cause these Sufferings come upon us and attend us But blessed be the Lord who hath call'd us with so Honorable a Calling and accounted us worthy to suffer for so Honourable a Cause as Our Testimony for his Blessed Name and Truth the Reward thereof which is great will be certain unto all who are found Faithful unto the End Wherefore my dear Friends towards whom my Bowels of Love even earn and my Life and Soul reacheth as you may feel who are sensible of Life I say unto you all in the Name and Fear of the Lord Lift up your Heads over and above all Sufferings both present and to come I say in the Faith look over them all unto him who is invisible who will out-last them all who alone hath Immortallity and dwells in the Light whose Presence is certainly with you and amongst you and will be so continu'd as you walk and continue with him in his Everlasting Covenant of Light in which he dwells Wherefore let your Life Delight and Habitation be in him for my Friends you whose Hearts are upright unto God know right well that the Lord hath not been at any time wanting unto you in any Exercise of what nature or kind soever in time past the consideration of which is a sufficient Encouragement to every one to cast their Care upon him and to resign up themselves unto him who takes Care for them And if the Enemy be permitted so far to prevail as to execute his Decrees made against us yet in this may we be all satisfied that it shall certainly work for good unto us in the End and shall make for the furtherance of the Glorious Gospel of Peace and for the Exaltation of the Worthy Name of the Lord by which we are call'd wherefore in Contentedness with the Will of the Lord in all states let every one rest resign'd up unto him and in the Gift of his own Spirit wait upon him to receive daily Refreshment from his Presence that you may be Water'd Refreshed and Consolated from day to day that so you may grow in his Grace and be kept fresh and living in his precious Truth to shine forth in the beauty thereof And let it be your great Care above all things to keep in the Enjoyment and Feeling of the Peace and Love of God in your own Hearts and in that you will have Content in all Conditions and live in Love and in Peace one with another and have perfect Charity amongst your selves and whatsoever tends to the contrary let it be condemned by the Light in the rise of it And bear with and for one another and watch over one another in Love and therein exhort one another and build up one another in the most precious Faith which gives you Victory over the World and over all the Persecuting Powers of Darkness and be a Strength and a Refreshing and a Comfort one unto another in your Persecuted Suffering State and Condition And God Almighty keep you all and refresh your hearts daily with his Love and renew your strength with the vertue of his Life that none may be weary nor faint in your Minds but that all may endure with Patience and Valour and Boldness and Courage in the Lamb's Spirit unto the End that in the End you may be Crown'd with the Crown of Immortal Life and Glory which never fades away which is the Daily-Prayer of him who dearly and entirely loves you all who are of an Upright Heart by which Love I was constrain'd to salute you all at this time with these few Lines and so rest in it From my outward Beeing near Bristol this 20th of the 1st Moneth 1665. Your Dear and truly Loving Friend and Brother Josiah Coale A Salutation of Love From the Spirit of Life Unto all Friends of TRUTH Who are in Exilement or Sentenc'd to Exilement for the Exercise of their Pure Consciences in the Service and Worship of God MY beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters who are expos'd to Exilement from the Land of your Nativity for the sake of your Testimony to the blessed Truth of God and who have been and are content to suffer the loss of all that were dear unto you in this present World for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and rather then to betray that blessed Testimony which God had committed unto you to bear for his Name and who have sufficiently manifested your fidelity unto the Lord and his blessed Truth even in the view of the whole World as a Witness against their False Antichristian and Idolatrous Worships which God by his Power will certainly throw down and bring to nought and who have bore Testimony in Faithfulness in and by your Submissiveness to an Exil'd Estate against that Antichristian spirit of Persecution which Raigns and Rules in the Hearts of all the Apostate False Christians whose Worship standeth in Subjection to the Precepts and Commandments of Men and in Bowing to Stocks and Stones and to the Works of Men's Hands and in other Outward
Burdens and so fulfil the Law of God and in that you are a strength one to another and so in this feel the Salutation of my Love which is to you beyond declaring And to the Keeping and Protection of the Arm of the Lord I do commit you Amen So in the Peace and Life which hath no end I remain London the 2d Day of the 7th Moneth 1667. Your Faithful and True Brother Josiah Coale Let this be sent amongst the Friends in Holland To all People in JAMAICA Unto whom the MESSAGE OF Eternal Life is sent and amongst whom the Gospel is now preached FRIENDS Now the Everlasting Gospel of Peace and Glad-tidings is preached amongst you and the Word of Reconciliation reacheth forth towards you every one with Meekness receive it for it is able to save your Souls and to build you up and give you an Inheritance amongst the sanctified Ones For now is the Message of the Lord to be declar'd unto you and amongst you by True and Faithful Messengers whom he hath sent forth in his Name and endew'd with Power for that Service and hath made them willing for your sakes to give up their Lives that the Way of Life might be made known unto you and you might come to walk therein And their Message you are all to receive as you prize the Salvation of your Souls for they are Messengers of the New Covenant into which the Lord in this Day of his Glorious Appearance is gathering his People that they might be all taught of him and come to the Knowledge of him from the Least to the Greatest And Friends This Covenant of which I speak which they are Messengers of is Light and this Light lighteth every man that cometh into the World which if you give heed unto in your own Consciences you will find it reproving for the Deeds of Darkness and condemning sin in the Flesh and will lead all who are guided by it out of sin and will lead in the Way of Righteousness and in the Path of Peace and Way of True Holiness which is a Way that the World knows not who live in Iniquity Wherefore now all People The Day of your Visitation being upon you and the Lord striving with you by his Good Spirit in your Hearts and being also calling unto you by the Mouthes of his Messengers to Returns Now every one encline your Ears and hear what the Spirit saith in your inward Parts and prize the Day of the Visitation of the Lord's Love who after the long time that you have passed away in Rebellion and Disobedience against his Good Spirit should now be pleased to accept of you and to pass by your Transgressions past and the Sins of your Youth therefore I say Let the Rich Love of the Lord which is now manifested constrain you to Fear before him and to learn Obedience unto his Faithful Witness which he hath placed in your Hearts For Friends it concerns your Eternal Peace and now is the Day wherein you may come to the knowledge thereof before they be hid from your Eyes For truly Friends If you be not attentive unto that which will give unto you the knowledge of those things the time will come that they will be hid from your Eyes and then shall you cry out saying How have we hated Instruction and despised the Day of Healing And so Now the Day is wherein you may come to know and witness your Reconciliation made with the Lord by his Word of Power which is nigh you even in your Hearts and in your Mouthes which Word reconciles to God all who hear and obey it and it will also purge you from all Iniquity if you submit to the Working and Operation of it And this I testifie That no other Way can you come to know a being sanctified and reconcil'd to the Lord but by the Word of his Power and through your Obedience thereunto And this Testimony I send amongst you to the end that you might believe in the Light of the Son of God wherewith you are enlighttened And this Testimony will be further confirmed unto you by the Mouthes of these whom the Lord hath now sent amongst you and their Testimony is true of which I am a Witness for we have been all Baptized by one Spirit into one Body even the Glorious Body of him who is the Head And so we are all Eye-Witnesses of his Majesty and of his Glory and can give in our Testimony together That by the Mouthes of several Witnesses even so many as the Lord shall call the TRUTH may be confirmed to you that so you may no longer follow them who cry Lo here or Lo there For behold the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and comes not with Observations and all that enter into it must become as little Children for of such is the Kingdom of God which is now come with Power and is nigh unto you And Blessed and Happy are all they that come to know an Entrance administred into it for they are Heirs of that Inheritance which shall never fade away Written in Barbadoes this 18th of the 7th Moneth 1661. From one who is a Labourer in the Lords ' Vineyard called Josiah Coale An Epistle to FRIENDS IN New-England The First Epistle DEAR FRIENDS My Love which is sincere and fervent in the Lord's Truth which is as precious as ever in this Day of Tryal is freely and fervently extended to you For oft are you in my Remembrance in much tenderness and truly do I Respect you as such whom the Lord hath accounted worthy to bear his Name and which he hath made choice of to be a Peculiar People to himself and to be Witnesses for him in the mid'st of a Crooked and Perverse Generation And let your Holy Life and Chaste Conversation be such as may preach Righteousness unto all that if they speak Evil of you as of Evil-Doers you may have cause to Rejoyce having the Peace of God in your Hearts And Friends I am not unmindful of you neither are you forgotten by me For oft I am even amongst you in the Spirit of Love and Life in which my Desires and Prayers to God are and oft have been for you that you may grow and encrease and prosper and flourish in the precious living glorious Truth of God of which you are made Partakers and into which you are gather'd through the working of his Divine Power that so the Heavenly Image may be borne by you all that by your Good Example in Holiness and Righteousness many may be made to confess unto the Truth and be convinced of it and that to the Brightness of your rising in it many may be gather'd that so the Borders of the Sanctuary of the Most High may be enlarg'd unto the ends of the Earth For Friends You know full well that in the Power of God yea the Power of an Endless Life We whom the Lord sent unto you labour'd amongst you for the Exaltation
under the Chains of Death and Darkness in you and for the bringing forth of that Birth which is Heir of all things and must Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron and unto whom we who have been Labourers amongst you have reached with the Word of Immortal Life and with the Power of the Almighty to the raising of Life and bringing Immortality to Light in you by which you were then quicken'd unto Life who were sometimes dead in Sin and Trespasses And you know right well that by this Word of God and Power of an Endless Life you were more and more enlighten'd as you came into Obedience thereunto and your Understandings were open'd by which you came to see how you had been in times past captivated with Sin and Iniquity and had been led away with the Error of the Wicked into Envy Strife and Maliciousness and indeed into every Evil Work and then true Judgment and Condemnation took hold on that part in you by which you had been led into those things and the Way of Truth Peace Love Sanctification and Salvation open'd unto you by the Light and Spirit of the Lord by which your Understandings were quickned And the Invisible Eye was open'd in you by which you came to see your Teacher and as you enclin'd your Ear unto this Teacher and walked in this Light of God's Salvation O then how was the Appearance of Evil eschewed by you And how contrary to your Desires it was to see or hear of Strife and Debate and Contention amongst Brethren And how Love Peace and Good-will did then abound one towards another and towards all men desiring that all might come to know and be made Partakers with you of the same plentious Redemption And how gloriously and plentifully the Lord did then appear amongst you And how freely he did then shed abroad his Love in your Hearts and issue forth of the Vertue of his Life unto you by which your Hearts were enlarged and your souls refreshed and comforted so that you did run well without Weariness or Fainting Who hath hindred you or any of you that you should not continue in this Race in which Peace Love and Good-will did abound one unto another And what is the cause of the Strife and Divisions and Contentions that of late hath been amongst you Hath not the Evil One stepped in and drawn you into Reasonings and Consultations about Differences which hath been occasion'd by Dissenting-spirits and thereby vail'd the Understandings of some of you and so brought Night upon them and in the Night season sown the seed of Sedition amongst them Well My Heart is griev'd within me for your sakes and I am oft-times afflicted in spirit because of these things which have happen'd amongst you for indeed some there be that have made the Hearts of others sad whom God never made sad because of their unsoundness and unstedfastness in the Truth which in much simplicity fear and reverence was made known unto you by us who labour'd amongst you in the Word and Doctrine And truly Friends I cannot but Lament the lost estate of some amongst you which I am fully sensible is great and sad Oh that ever it should be said of such a People for whom the Lord had done such great things and unto whom he had so plentifully manifested himself and appeared that they should not retain their first Love and Integrity and Fervency and Zeal to the Lord and one towards another It s indeed sad to consider For have not I seen the Lilly blossom amongst you and the Vine flourish and the tender Grapes appear yes verily And this I further testifie That while you kept your first Simplicity and your first Faith and Love you were Beautiful and Comely and Lovely in the Eyes of the Lord and he took great Delight in you and exercis'd Judgment Mercy and Loving-kindness amongst you in which many did greatly Rejoyce and your Faith was every where spoken of amongst the Churches of Christ and many did greatly Rejoyce because of you for you were Honourable and lovely in the Hearts of the People of God every where and you were even a Crown of Rejoycing unto us who had laboured amongst you and travell'd for your sakes But alas A contrary spirit hath since entred amongst some of you with which we have not Unity nor Fellowship the Report of which hath brought Sadness upon the Hearts of many But those who have given place to the Envious-One must bear their own Burden for their Judgment and Condemnation slumbreth not but will swiftly come upon them Wherefore my dear Ftiends all Be you retir'd in your minds unto the Light by which you were first convinced of the Truth and which gave you then to see the Error of your Wayes and which led you into Love Peace and Good-will one towards another and towards all men and to eschew the appearance of Evil And as you all in this Light come singly to wait upon the Lord in your first Love Simplicity and Integrity you will plainly and clearly see what it is that hath entred and how it entred that hath been the cause of all those Tumults and Contentions and Divisions which of late hath happen'd and been amongst you and as it s seen with the Light and discover'd thereby unto you or any of you let it by the Life be judged from amongst you and therein wait that you may be purged from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit And be tenderly affectionated one towards another in the Truth not with a feigned Love or a feigned Affection for that God hates But let Love be without Dissimulation abhorring that which is Evil in all and cleaving to that which is Good And be Open-Hearted one towards another not Strange and Staightned and Simply and Honestly confess your Faults to each other and pray for one another and the Lord will have Mercy upon the Transgressors and will heal their Backslidings and blot out their Iniquities and will again love them freely and so you will re-gain the Favour Love and Good-will of God unto you and we shall again be comforted in you after these our Sorrows and Grief of Heart because of the Divisions and Spoilings that have been amongst you for our Joy is in your Prosperity and Well-being and our Rejoying is in your Comfort and Refreshment and Preservation and Safety Wherefore my Friends Keep your Eye alwayes upon that Mark which first you pressed after when you receiv'd the Truth and obey'd the Gospel and in that straight and narrow Way of Holiness which was then made known unto you every one still press towards this Mark and have perfect Charity amongst your selves as in the time of your first Simplicity And then you will feel the Lords wonted Goodness and Loving-kindness shed abroad in your Hearts and he will water you with the Dew of Heaven and will bless you with all Spiritual Blessings from above and he will then own you for his own
things were honest and of Good Report and by which the Truth might have been adorn'd how readily would you have been made conformable thereunto though you had deny'd your selves therein And then how did the Blessings of God with Peace and Unity one with another abound amongst you Well I hope and doubt not but that you are still like-minded in the same thing many of you and that you have the same Consolation abounding amongst you But if any be otherwise-minded I would have such know that the Truth is of the same worth as ever it was and of as great price with all who really walk therein as ever it was esteem'd by such and this God shall reveal unto them in his Day And if any retain not their first Love Zeal and Fervency but walk disorderly and not according to the Truth of the Gospel which was preached unto you by us in the beginning I say if we or any other shall walk amongst you not according to that Holy Order of the Gospel by which it may be adorn'd and shall refuse the Admonition of the Spirit of Meekness to be humbled for his disorderly walking have no Fellowship with such a one but let him be accounted as a Heathen and a Publican unto you that God may deal with him for his Iniquity according to his Deserts Yet nevertheless against an Elder receive not an Accusation except it be by the Mouthes of two or three Witnesses that nothing be done but that which may tend to the Edification of all and not to the Destruction of any And farther my Friends If any amongst you shall walk not as becomes the Gospel of Christ nor according to that savoury holy Order that the Truth hath led and doth lead into but by any unsavoury Actions or Motions whatsoever shall vary from the Simplicity and Purity of the Truth yet let not that become a Stumbling-Block unto any nor cause any to fall from the Faith which you have receiv'd and through which you have obtain'd Remission of Sins and Immortal Life For the Unfaithfulness or disorderly walking of some will not be a sufficient Excuse for others in the Day of the Lord when they are called to an account but every one who have tasted of the Power and Love of God and have receiv'd the Gift of his Spirit be faithful thereunto that you may improve your Tallent which is committed to you For every one must give an account for himself unto God and none can excuse you before him therefore I say Look not at the Haltings of others though it should be such who have seem'd to be as Pillers nor think to make that a Plea or an Excuse to decline from the Purity of the Holy Way of the Lord for although that may serve for an Argument amongst men yet that will not serve when God shall come to plead with such before whom all Hearts are open and all things naked and bare and he will give to every one a just Reward according to their Deeds Wherefore I say Let every one have an Eye unto the Lord in all things and mind their own state and how it stands betwixt them and the Lord and that will keep them from looking-out and consulting about the state of others who may vary from the Purity of the Truth for hereby the occasion of stumbling comes unto many But rather let the halting of such be as Dreadful Examples unto you to take Warning by that so you may be kept in Fear and Faithfulness in Watchfulness and Diligence lest you fall into the same Temptation and Snare of the Devil For my Friends Whither can any go to find Life Immortal Consolation and Satisfaction to their Souls if they should forsake the precious Truth of which we have born testimony in the Life and Demonstration of God's Spirit amongst you and through which many of you have found Rest to your Souls after many long and sore Travels Truly there is not another thing that can add unto your everlasting Consolation if once any of you should vary or slip aside from that And this I hope and doubt not but that many or most of you are perswaded and satisfied in Therefore continue therein and therein be unanimous in your Service and Obedience unto the Lord that by him his Good Spirit and Word of Grace you may be established forever And as concerning the state of Marriages You know the comely Order of the Church in the primitive Times before the Apostacy began and how the Apostle said If any be called being Married let him nor seek to be loosed nay though he or she had an Unbelieving Wife or Husband but let the Husband render due Benevolence to the Wife and likewise the Wife to the Husband And further By Commission from God he said Let not the Wife depart from her Husband And so say I unto you in the Name and Fear of the Lord Let none give place in the least to that spirit that would beget Inclinations in the Wife or Husband to depart one from another but let every man have his own Wife and every woman her own Husband For whatsoever Pretence or Covering that spirit that would separate them may come under yet it is a spirit of Fornication and it will lead out of the comely Order into the Disorder and into the Defilements and Pollutions of the World and into a Pit and a Snare And for such things sake the Wrath of God will be reveal'd and he will make such Examples of his Vengeance For as the Apostle said The Wife is bound by the Law so long as her Husband liveth and if she depart from him and Marry another Man she is an Adulteress and a Transgressor of the Law And therefore my dear Friends as I said before In that comely Order in which you may adorn the Gospel and be kept in Favour with the Lord and in Unity and Fellowship one with another in his Spirit of Life let all walk together and in your places and stations where the Lord hath set you and order'd you therein abide with him having the Loins of your Minds girt about with the Truth it self and be zealous for the Honour thereof and keep stedfast therein with the Lord in Fear and Faithfulnes in Fervency and Simplicity all being Examples one to another of Chastity and Holiness and Godliness of Conversation that you may also be as Lights unto the World answering the Witness of God in all that none may have any thing against you nor whereof to accuse you but only concerning your Obedience to the Law of your God then will you have strong Consolation in the Lord and great Boldness and Confidence towards him and also in the sight of all men and the Lord will encrease your Spiritual Substance and will also enlarge your Borders by daily adding to your Number such as shall be saved And so the Everlasting God keep you all and be with and amongst you and cause the plentious
Showers of his Love to descend amongst you and refresh and consolate you therewith that you may walk chearfully in his Presence and not with Bowed-down Souls but that every one may possess his Soul in Peace Amen And my Friends Although some things contain'd in this Epistle may seem strange unto many of you yet those whom they concern will not be ignorant of the ground of my thus writing and for their sakes I have written with Boldness and Plainness And so the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits Amen From the Common Goal in Kendal in Westmoreland this 29th of the 7th Moneth 1665. I am your dear Brother a Sufferer for the Testimony of the blessed unchangeable Truth and hate the Garment spotted with the flesh Josiah Coale An EPISTLE TO THE Flock of God WHO Are called to bear Testimony for the Name of the Lord at this Day through Sufferings Sent unto them for the building up of the Weak of the Flock in their Most Precious FAITH and for the strengthening of them in their Persecuted and Suffering Estate In which also for their Encouragement the Purpose of God in their present Sufferings is declared My Beloved Dear Friends WHOM the Lord God Almighty hath visited with his Everlasting Loving-kindness and unto whom he hath caused the Everlasting Day to dawn and the Son of Righteousness to arise and whom he hath called out of the World and separated from its Wayes Worships and Traditions and from the Defilements and Abominations thereof that you might be a peculiar People unto himself zealous of Good-works that he might make known unto you that Mystery of his Kingdom which hath been hid from Ages and Generations past that so you might stand faithful and true Witnesses for his Name and Truth and appear on his behalf in the Demonstration of his own Life and Spirit and that you might bear a faithful Testimony for that Blessed Everlasting and Unchangeable Truth which he hath manifested in your Inward Parts not only in Doctrine Life and Conversation but also by suffering for its sake whatsoever the Enemies thereof shall be permitted to inflict upon you that thereby you may be approv'd not only in the sight of God but also of all good Men. I say unto you my beloved Friends Prize your honourable and holy Calling wherewith the Lord Almighty hath called you and therein walk with God and think it not hard nor strange that he suffereth you so long to be try'd and exercised in Sufferings as you have been hitherto and are at this day for your Testimony sake but look over it all and lift up your heads above all for the Lord hath assuredly an End in it for his own Glory and for the Exaltation and Spreading abroad that Blessed Truth which we possess and live in and which we suffer for and also for the gathering into it many who are yet far off from him and Strangers unto him so that whatsoever come whether Bonds or Exilement or what Exercises soever we meet withal in this we may be satisfied That it shall make for the Furtherance of the Gospel of Christ and for good unto all who continue their Obedience in him unto the End and abide faithful unto Death Wherefore my dear Friends If the Lord see it meet further to permit the Enemy to sift and winnow us and that we must be further tryed nay if he should so order it that we must be a suffering People all our dayes yet let none be weary or faint in your minds For In the Lord JEHOVAH who is certainly with us there is Everlasting strength and he fainteth not neither is weary but he giveth power to the Faint and to him that hath no might he encreaseth strength And so let your Trust be in him and let that godly Resolution be put on by every one of you that was in Job who when God suffer'd Satan to smite and afflict him said Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee And indeed it 's far better to suffer Persecution with the People of God for good Conscience towards him then to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness out of which God hath call'd and redeem'd us And my Friends Consider Whither can any go or whether can any flee to escape Persecutions Certainly I know no place neither do I believe there is any professing Christianity except it be in the Tents of Wickedness For he that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution And if any to escape Persecutions and Sufferings should return to the Tents of Wickedness again out of which by the Power and Arm of God they are brought and should disert their Testimony which God hath committed to them to bear for his Name it would happen unto them as the Apostle said according to the old Proverb The Dog is turned to his Vomit and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire And the Hand of the Lord would find such out and the Terrors of the Almighty would certainly seize upon them and surprize them which would be manifold more grievous to be borne then all the Sufferings that man can possibly inflict upon them For it s a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God for out of his Hands no man can deliver but out of the hands of Blood-thirsty and Wicked Men God can and certainly in his own time will deliver all who trust in him Wherefore my dear Friends Put on Boldness and Courage in the Name of the Lord and stand valiant Witnesses for his Truth through all Sufferings which is the thing he hath call'd you unto that so you may answer the End for which he hath visited you and made known himself unto you For consider Was it in Loving-kindness and Compassion unto you that the Lord visited you and made choice of you to be Witnesses for him that his Name might be Glorified by you Or else Was it because he had such need of you that he could not Glorifie his Name without you Surely all who are of an understanding Heart will confess and acknowledge that it was only in Love and Mercy unto you that he thus made choice of you to suffer for his Name and to Glorifie himself thereby because he can work for the Glory of his own Name as he sees meet without you or any of you and can Magnifie his Power in the Destruction or Desolation of a Nation or People as in time past he hath done and is doing at this day though he takes no Delight therein and therefore he hath no need of you for that End but you have need of him So that its only in Love and Compassion towards you that he hath thus visited you and also that you might have strong Consolation in your Obedience unto him through all Sufferings which he hath called you unto And therefore my Beloved Friends Gird up the Loins of your minds and keep close to and stedfast with the
they called their Ordinances I saw there was nothing of God in it for they were but as a shadow vanity and nothing but how to come into the Way of Life to this I was still a stranger until the Lord in his Eternal Power sent the Ministers of the Word of Life who were anointed of the Lord and endued with Power from on high to preach the glad tydings of the Gospel to the captivated Seed and to minister to the spirits that were in prison whose voice I rejoyced to hear and whose Testimony I gladly received For they declared the Way of Life that it was in the midst of the Path of Judgment and the Witness of God in my heart did seal to the truth 〈◊〉 their Testimony and this I saw was the way that the Workers of Iniquity knew not For there is no judgment in their goings Then my soul cryed unto God for the pourings forth of the Spirit of Judgment that I might walk in the paths thereof and that the filth thereby might be purged away For I saw that my heart was polluted and that there was no Habitation for God which caused me to mourn in desolation and to wander in solitary places So as I waited in the Light of his Son which shined in my Heart and Conscience there he revealed his righteous Judgments and the just rejoyced therein yea he brought me into the valley thereof and there did he plead with me even by sword and by fire c. He poured the Cup of his fury upon me and made me drink of the dregs thereof yea the Cup of trembling he put into my hand and gladly did I receive it though it was in my belly bitter he oft-times sorely afflicted me and caused deep sorrow to compass me about and poured his indignation upon me Then said I I will bear it with patience because I have sinned against thee Yet many times I was strongly assaulted with the violent rage of the wicked one for he shot his fiery darts at me which often wounded my Soul Then I cryed unto the Lord in my distress and he comforted me with his precious promises which begat a secret hope in me or else I had fainted in the tribulation when his vials of wrath were poured upon me and the Enemy came in like a flood then was I ready to say in my heart I shall one day fall by the hand of mine Enemy yet I was still sustained by a secret hope so that I cryed unto the Lord That he would never let his Judgments depart until the Prince of this World was judged and cast out So he followed me with his righteous Judgments until I was near ready to faint Then I cryed again saying If thou wilt indeed bring me through thy Judgments and grant me thy Everlasting Peace If thou wilt destroy the Enemy of my Soul and give me rest from those that oppress me Then will I Teach Sinners thy wayes and Transgressors shall be converted unto thee yea I made many promises unto him that my life I would give up unto his service and that I would follow him whithersoever he would lead me yet oft-times I enquired of the Lord why I should be so afflicted more than others For I said in my heart Never mans sorrow was like my sorrow Then he answered me and said How shouldst thou declare my wondrous works unless thou see and know them So when I had born the indignation long even the time of his good pleasure when I had been long tossed with tempests even as a ship upon the Sea and had long been as a Pelican in the Wilderness and an Owl in the desert yea as a silly Dove without a mate then he remembred Jacob his servant and was pleased to speak comfortably unto me saying Oh thou tossed with tempests afflicted and not comforted Behold I will lay thy Stones with fair colours and though for a moment I have afflicted thee yet with everlasting loving-kindness have I visited thee and with many sweet and precious promises he compassed me about which at this time is unutterable and he put the Cup of Consolation into my hand yea he caused it to overflow for which my Soul did magnifie his Name and gave praise unto him in the land of the living unto which by the Arm of his Powers I was brought through the long and terrible Wilderness for he had regard unto his own Seed and brought it forth by an out-stretched Arm for he plagued Pharoah with his Judgments and destroyed the Egyptians in the Red-Sea of his wrath Wherefore I magnifie the God of Heaven who is Light and extol him above all Gods for the Proud he is able to abase with his Judgments and to exalt the Meek with his tender Mercies Thus have I drunk the bitter Cup of Gods fierce indignation the Ministration of the Law and of Condemnation which in its time was glorious the Just rejoyced therein until the Prophets Ministery came whereby the hope came in of a Redeemer from all sin the Law and Curse thereof And of deliverance from the Judgment and the Wrath which stayed me in the patience to bear the indignation under which I long had travelled through many tribulations until John's Ministry I came to see which was the greatest of all the Prophets which had gone before from the greatest unto the smallest For then the Way was made so strait the Path was made so plain that the coming of God's Son I saw in his great Power to raign whose Kingdom now is come with Power the Lamb is set on 's throne the least that in this Kingdom is he greater is then John So here the Mystery of the work of Regeneration is he that can read me herein may know where my dwelling is So when he had thus exercised me with his Judgments and filled my heart with his tender Mercies and enlarged it with his Loving-kindness so that the Way of his Commandments was delightful unto me and my life was not dear unto me for his sake then he spake unto me saying Thou must be my Servant to bring again the dispersed of Israel c. with much more which I judge is not expedient here to be expressed So to his service I gave up my life truly and whatsoever I had I accounted not dear for his sake for he gave me the promise of his good presence that it should never leave me nor forsake me but that he would accompany me therewith And he is faithful and keepeth Covenant and performs his word unto his Servant For he hath carried me through many Countries in which I was a Stranger and from one Nation to another People he hath led me and sometimes through many People of divers and strange Languages and his good presence never departed from me since I left the Land of my nativity but he is a constant Companion unto me and his Almighty power is with me through which I am able to do all things
all sufferings for these things last but for a moment and will pass away and be forgotten as they had not been and are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed in them who abide faithful for their reward will be everlasting and will endure for ever wherefore above all have an eye unto the Lord and have respect unto the recompence of reward and this will carry you through with chearfulness so that nothing will be dear unto you for his sake who hath shed abroad his rich Love in your hearts and the aboundings thereof I question not but the upright in heart feel daily For the Lord is not slack towards any of his faithful ones but is free and large in his Love and rich in his Mercies and freely extends it even as a River into the hearts of his chosen wherefore be replenished therewith you suffering Plants for this I testifie unto you in the Name of the Lord that the vertue of the Life of Holiness I thus hold forth freely towards you so that none needs faint under the Oppressor but may receive renewedness of strengh to bear yet a season And behold he in whom you have believed will be avenged on your Adversaries and will smite your Enemies in the hinder parts and they shall fall and none shall help them neither shall they rise again If you walk humbly with the Lord and reverence him above all who is the God of Life then shall you have rest from all your Enemies and your Portion shall be the Lord and your Kingdom shall be that which is not of this World which is an everlasting Kingdom and shall never have end So the Lord God of my Life keep you all in Lowliness and Faithfulness and true Humility before him for he who is the Holy One of Israel dwells with such and unto them his goodness extends but especially to them of a clean heart Farewel Written at the movings of the Spirit of the Lord the Eighth day of the Third Moneth 1662 as I was travelling in the Wilderness as without on Long-Island in America and pondering in my heart the things of God and his dealings in times past and also present then the Spirit of the Lord and the Power of the Lord overshadowed me and his glory filled the Temple and be shewed me things not now lawful to be declared J. C. To all who desire to know the Way to the Kingdom of Peace and Righteousness this to you is the Visitation of God THat which was in the beginning before the World was and is now made manifest which we have seen and which we have tasted of and which our hands have handled of the Word of Life and that which is revealed to us in secret of the Spirit of the Lord that do we declare openly even that which we are eye Witnesses of For the Word hath took flesh and dwelt amongst us and we have beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth And this is he who is appeared in Spirit and made manifest for this end that the works of the Devil might be destroyed and that by and through him the God of the spirits of all flesh might be revealed for want of whose knowledge the people perish and many in divers parts of the World as I have observed are in great perplexity and some even at their wits end because of the distractions and many cries that are in the World some crying this is the way and other some that is the way and all of them from the Light of the Son of God in their own hearts and Consciences which leads in the way of Life and Peace all who are guided by it and out of all confusion and destruction about Religion and Church-Ordinance and worship and such things about which the World is in heaps and confusion and are prescribing wayes and worships in their own fallen wisdom and would compel all to conform thereunto and so 〈◊〉 bind the Conscience of people to their wills which ought to be left unto the Lord to be exercised by his Power in matters of Worship and Obedience towards him and his Prerogative is to Rule there So that people must either disobey God or the Laws of corrupt fallen Man and whether is better judge ye And this is sad to see and consider because there hath been for so many Years by past so much preaching and so much profession of Liberty of Conscience and the like and that by men of all Professions as they have come into Authority one after another and many and seeming fair Promises have been made by them all that free Liberty of Conscience in things relating to God should be granted and allowed to people of all sorts for the breach of which Engagements with many other divers have already been rooted out and overturned and yet thereby men have not taken warning though besides warnings have oft been given them in render love to perform their Promises and Engagements in these things and all other though much consisteth therein as to their Establishment and on the contrary to their Ruination Neither have they Learned to give the same Liberty to others in things relating to the Conscience as themselves would desire to have and this is not to do as they would be done unto And therein they are short of fulfilling the Royal Law of God Wherefore let all people who are making Laws to compel mens Conscience consider how they are degenerated from God and how darkness hath covered them and hardness of heart hath seized on them so that they cannot have regard unto tender Consciences but in the pride of their hearts would be Lords over the Consciences of others Surely they are not guided by the same Spirit that the Apostle was in the primitive times who said Let every man be fully preswaded in his own Conscience and this was true Liberty of Conscience And notwithstanding all the Profession that there hath been and yet are in the World and the Talk of God and Christ and Redemption and Salvation by him yet now when the Son of God is come is there faith to be found on Earth or are people Redeemed from the Earth or saved from the pollutions of the World I tell you nay for all who err from the Light of the Son of God in them they are in the Alination and Degeneration and are strangers unto God and his Covenant of Peace and Reprobate concerning that Faith which gives the Saints victory over the World and so are drove out into the Earth not redeemed from it but are Bond-slaves to corruption and live in the pollutions of the World And in this state the whole World lyeth notwithstanding all their Profession and talk of Religion which is amongst them and so their fruits plainly manifest it and thereby it is clearly seen that their Teachers were not sent of the Lord neither have they had his Word
therefore if their Preachings and Teachings be the Perfect Rule for all men to walk by then the Scriptures are not indeed that Perfect Rule they containing in them such a small part of what they preacht and taught Again It cannot be understood That the Scriptures were the Gospel that was preacht to every Creature under Heaven for a great part of the People under Heaven never heard nor heard of the Scriptures But the Gospel was preached to or in every Creature under Heaven Col. 1.23 Therefore the Scripture is not the Gospel And again The Gospel that they preached was and is Everlasting But the Scriptures cannot be rationally understood to be Everlasting because they are things that are seen which are temporal therefore the Scriptures are not the Everlasting Gospel but the Power of God is Rom. 2.16 And what doth that saying of Moses avail to prove the Scriptures a perfect Rule for all men to walk by For if that Prophet was and is to be heard in all things then he is to be looked unto as a Guide and Commander and Ruler and if a Ruler then his Spirit by which he rules is the Perfect Rule above Scripture And as to his saying The Apostle confirms the Scripture to be a Perfect Pule by these words The Mystery that was kept secret since the World began is now made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets c. Answ What though that great Mystery was made manifest according to the Scriptures of the Prophets that doth not prove the Scriptures a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by for the Manifestation of that Mystery by the Scriptures of the Prophets was no more but their perswading or shewing them out of Moses and the Prophets concerning Jesus Acts 28.23 of whom all the Prophets bore Testimony For this Jesus concerning whom the Apostles by Revelation and Commandment of the Everlasting God perswaded the People was the Mystery that had been hid as the Apostle to the Collosians cap. 1. ver 26 27. declareth saying The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but now is made manifest c. Which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory Mark Is now made manifest So here was the manifesting of that Mystery by the Scriptures of the Prophets even by perswading them or shewing them out of the Prophets concerning Jesus so that the Apostle doth not affirm nor in effect affirm in the Scripture That the Scriptures are a Perfect Rule but simply declares That by the Commandment of the Everlasting God they made known that Mystery or preached Jesus by or out of the Scriptures of the Prophets who had testified of him that was to come and was then come according to their Testimony who is the Way the Mystery and the Word which all are to hear obey and keep But then saith J. N. This is that Rule that Christ directeth unto in Joh. 5.39 40. where Christ saith Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have Eternal Life and to take away all Objections as if it were only their thoughts and not really so he addeth these words And they are they which testifie of me and by way of Reproof because they did not so do he again saith You will not come to me that you may have Life by which he plainly sheweth that there was Life therein by dutiful Obedience by Faith in him so that here the great Prophet and Teacher of his People sendeth us to the Scriptures as a Rule through Faith to come to Life Answ How wilfully blind this man seems to appear or like one that would put out his own Eyes and others also to wrest and pervert the words of Christ in such a gross and shameful manner by tearing of them in sunder and mixing his own Imaginations therewith to make them look quite another way or to import another thing for that which J. N. argueth Christ confirmeth viz. Their thoughts of having Life in the Scriptures he indeed reproved as the words in themselves without wresting clearly signifie for some Translations render it thus Ye search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of Me and ye will not come unto Me Mark Ye search c. he tells them they did search but why because they thought to have Eternal Life in them which were but a Testimony of him who was the Life and he by way of Reproof to them for not believing on him in whom Life was and of whom the Scriptures which they searched did testifie said Ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life Mark his Me here spoken of that they would not come to for Life was not the Scriptures but Christ Jesus of whom the Scriptures testified so that he did not plainly shew That there is Life in the Scriptures as J. N. either wilfully or ignorantly affirmeth nor directs to them as A Rule to come to Life But reproves them because they did not come unto him for Life of whom the Scripture testified so that the most J. N. hath done by this Argument is even manifested his perverse crooked spirit by which he wrests and perverts the Scriptures and would set them in the place of Christ to give Life But what is the End of the crooked Serpent in this Work but to keep people from coming unto Christ the Power of God through which Life Eternal is received by all that follow and obey him who is the Truth whose Spirit of Truth will lead into all Truth as a certain Rule for all to walk by and in which Christ directed them to wait for as a Guide to walk by and the Apostle exhorted them to walk in the Spirit saying There is no Condemnation to such c. Rom. 8.1 Gal. 5.16 Asts 1.4 5. And all this the subtil Serpent doth under pretence of Promoting and not Perverting the right Way of God and Rule of Life but this serves not as before shewed to prove That Christ directed to the Scriptures as a Rule to come to Life but that he reproved them for that they would not come to him who was the the Life that they might have Life But then saith J. N. This Truth is confirmed in Paul's Epistle to Timothy chap. 3. vers 15 16 17. where the Apostle sheweth the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And from hence J. N. argueth That if the Scriptures are able to make us wise to Salvation through Faith that is in Christ Jesus then the Scriptures are a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other But the Scriptures are able to made us wise unto Salvation through Faith that is in Christ Jesus therefore the Scriptures are a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other Answ To which I answer That Argument is falacious for though the Scriptures are able to make wise to Salvation through Faith that is in Christ
earnestly contend for But J. N. by this Assertion signifies that he is a Stranger to the Power of God in which true Faith standeth and therefore we may rationally conclude That he is also Reprobate concerning that Faith which Christ the Power of God is the Author and Object of Fourthly He saith It denyeth the Comforts of Faith for all Comforts that Faith can bring to the soul must be brought from the Promises of God according as they are laid down in the Scripture c. Answ Here J.N. absolutely limits God without any Ground or Reason or Warrant for so doing as though God who is the Fountain of all true Comfort could not convey true Comfort to the soul of a Believer by his Faith but he must first fetch it from the Scripture and so in effect the Scripture must be set above God or at least in the Place of God But what Scripture J. N. hath to prove this his absurd Affirmation I know not he hath produced none to prove that nor indeed any of the sad Consequences which he saith will follow the denying the Scriptures to be the Word of God and Perfect Rule c. we have only his bare word for it but whether that be of sufficient authority to enduce us to believe his Assertions I leave to the juditious Reader to judge seeing that Christ said to the Woman of Samaria That the Water that he would give should be in him that received it as a Well springing up to Eternal Life Joh. 4.14 again Joh. 7.38 39. said He that believeth on Me as the Scripture hath said out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water But this spake-he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive Mark Reader The Spirit that they should receive that believed on him and whose Faith stood in the Power of God was that Living Water that should be in them springing up unto Eternal Life or that should flow up in them through Faith and this Comfort their Faith did not fetch from Scripture but by their Faith was known to dwell in them as their Everlasting Comforter that was to abide with them forever even the Spirit of Truth according as Christ promised Jo. 14.16 17. so that to deny the Scripture to be the Word is not to deny the Comforts of Faith because that the true Comforter was known by Faith and is known by Faith to remain though the Scripture may be taken away and yet it doth not deny the Comfort of the Scripture neither unto those who have the understanding thereof Fifthly J. N. saith It destroyes the Support and Supplies of Grace to the soul in a time of Affliction c. and to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God is to deny the very Foundation and Well-spring of Comforts to the soul in Affliction which is brought out of the Promises in the Scriptures to the soul c. Answ This Assertion is like the former only the last part thereof somewhat more gross Blasphemy without any Scripture Argument to prove any part thereof only his own Assertion as in the rest though full contrary to the Testimony of the Prophet who speaking of the Affliction of the soul said When the Enemy shall come in like a Flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him That was the Support and Relief of the soul in the time of its Affliction according to the Prophets Testimony and the same Support the Children of Light do still witness whose Faith stands in the Power of God and whose Trust is in that Name which is a strong Tower And for his calling the Scriptures the very Fountain and Well-spring of Comforts c. It s gross Blasphemy and a Robbing of God who is a Spirit and who is the Fountain of all Good whose Spirit as before shewed is in them that believe as a Well springing up unto Eternal Life for the Scriptures no where call themselves the Fountain nor have the holy Men of God so called them but they testifie of him-who is the Fountain of all Good Neither are they in them selves any where called the Well-spring of Comforts but they testifie of the Spirit of Truth the Comforter that it shall be in them that believe a Well springing up unto Eternal Life so that J. Newman to make good his Argument if he could Blasphemously putteth the Dead Letter in the place of God and in the place of the Living Spirit Sixthly He saith It denieth the Knowledge of Acceptance with God for if the Scriptures be deny'd to be the Word of God then who knoweth what God will accept c and who knoweth what God counteth sin and wickedness c. Answ To which I answer This is in part answer'd already for Enoch c. had this Testimony That he pleased God Heb. 11.5 before the Scriptures were written and that Testimony was the Seal of Acceptance with God which I dare affirm every true Believer will acknowledge and this Testimony of Acceptance he did not receive from Scripture for there was none but he obtain'd it by Faith which the Word that was in the Beginning was the Author of as the Apostle said He that believes hath the Witness in himself 1 Joh. 5.10 by which it appears That the Knowledge of Acceptance or the Seal of being Well-pleasing unto God is not the Scriptures but the Spirit of Faith But that J. N. and others may see the Confusion that he runs into while he is fighting against the Truth I insert his own words in the 77th page of his Book and compare them with this Assertion he saith I shall freely own the giving forth of his blessed Spirit into the Hearts of his Children whereby they are directed into his Most Holy Will by the enlightening of their spirits by that Holy Spirit of Promise by which they know their Adoption and also by the same Spirit can own God to be their Father c. Thus far are his own words by which the Reader may easily judge whether or no J-N. doth not speak absolutely contrary to the Belief or Perswasion of his mind in saying If the Scriptures be deny'd to be the Word of God it denieth the Knowledge of Acceptance and who then knoweth what God accounteth sin and wickedness c. I say let the Reader but compare his Confession concerning the Spirit with his Assertion concerning the Scripture and he shall see his Contradition sufficiently for if the giving forth of the Spirit directeth into the Knowledge of the Most Holy Will of the Father then by the same Spirit what is contrary to that must absolutely be known also and how then can it be said that without Scriptures be owned to be the Word of God the Ground of the Knowledge of Acceptance with God is deny'd seeing that which manifests the will of the Father manifests that which is acceptable to him and thereby it s known And all this may be known by the Spirit
as J. N. confesseth to the wounding of his own Work And indeed What he hath acknowledged is to be known by the Spirit is even enough for any man to know or enough to give Satisfaction to every Soul who breathes after the Knowledge of Acceptance with God For what can give more satisfaction to a man then to know the holy Will of God by his Spirit and to know his Adoption and to know that God is his Father Certainly there is no cause for him that hath this Knowledge to question his Acceptance with God And this may be known without Scripture even by the holy Spirit of Promise as J.N. confesseth therefore to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God doth not deny the Knowledge of Acceptance with God and thus out of his own Mouth he is judged Seventhly He saith If the Scriptures be denied to be the Word of God c. then all men are left in the dark c. for no man is able to know that God will save any but by his Word which is contain'd in the Scriptures for this is the Word of Salvation or that which directeth to the Means by which we shall obtain Life c. Answ That none are able to know that God will save any but by this Word that I shall easily acknowledgd because it s the Word only that is able to save but that the Scriptures are this Word or alone able to save that I do not acknowledge but deny and J. N. hath produced no Proof for his Assertion but only his own Affirmation nor indeed can he although he boldly saith They are the Word of Salvation yet they no where say so of themselves but they testifie of the Word of Salvation and That it was sent unto the Children of Abraham and unto all amongst them that feared God Acts 13.26 Mark This was not the Scriptures that were sent amongst them but the Word of Salvation or that Word which is able to save Jam. 1.21 which the Apostle there besought the Children of Abraham to receive with Meekness calling it the Ingrafted Word or as some English Translations have it The Word that is grafted in you so this is the Word that is able to save the Word of Salvation the Word of Faith in the Heart c. which Word was in the Beginning the Author of the Faith of the Fathers by which Jacob knew that God would save even before Scriptures were written which made him say Gen. 49.18 O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation By all which it appears That to deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God doth not leave men so in the dark as J. N. affirmeth but that they are still in a capacity to know that God will save and also to see the Salvation of God which is promised to them that order their Conversation aright And whereas he saith That the Scriptures direct to the Means by which we shall obtain Life I Answer I shall easily acknowledge that for as I have before said they contain many true Testimonies of him who is the alone Leader unto Life and they are profitable for Doctrine for Instruction c. that people may be directed to Christ the Way which they testifie of and that they may be turned from Darkness to the Light which discovers the Darkness and that they may come to receive with Meekness the ingrafted Word or the word which is grafted in them by it to be taught and led unto the Possession of Life for this is the Means by which Life is obtain'd which the Scriptures testifie of and direct unto and for this Work we own the Scriptures to be profitable But this doth not run paralel with the Affirmation of J. N. in the 24th page of his Book where he affirmeth That Life was in the Scriptures for its one thing to say that there is Life therein and another thing to say they direct to the Means by which Life is obtain'd If John Newman asserted no other thing then the latter there had been no Controversie about this Point for so far we own the Scriptures But his Confusion sheweth what his spirit is oft-tmes contradicting and opposing himself as is usual with those that oppose the Unchangeable Truth But I perceive an Objection may arise in the Ignorant concerning this thing That if the Word which is able to save be grafted in people and be nigh unto all even in the Heart and Mouth why then are not all saved or why do not all see the Salvation of God or why did the Apostle Exhort them to receive it with Meekness if it were in them already I Answer though the Word or Spirit which is one was in them yet they being disobedient thereunto did not receive it or had not received it but had alwayes resisted it as the Apostle tells them Acts 7.51 and so were like unto those that Job spoke of saying They are of them that rebel against the Light who know not the Way of it c. Job 24.13 so that although the Word or Light or Spirit be in a people and they rebel against it or resist the reproofs and Instructions thereof or do dispite to the strivings thereof how can such be said to have received it for they only receive the Word and the Spirit that receive the Reproofs and Instructions thereof and in them it is known to be a Spirit or Prince of Peace and a Word of Life and Consolation and such know their Beloved to lye all might betwixt their Brests but although he be nigh even in the hearts of many they cannot be said to receive him while they rebel against him and therefore they are not saved but condemned by him For this is the condemnation that Light is come and men love Darkness rather then Light Joh. 3.19 and though he lighteth every man that comes into the World yet it s only they that receive him the Light that he gives Power unto Joh. 1.12 by which it appears that all that were englightned by him did not receive him so that the Light the Word the Spirit may be in people and yet they that received it but reject it in its Reproofs Counsels and Instructions and therefore they are not saved by it but condemned for which cause it was needful for the Apostle to Labour to turn them from Darkness to the Light wherewith they were enlightned to Exhort them to receive with meekness the engrafted Word or to submit unto the operation of the Word that was in them that by it they might be saved for none experimentally knows its ability to save but they who receive the Reproofs and Instructions of it and are Doers or Obeyers thereof and such are taught thereby as by the Universal Grace which hath appeared unto all men which bringeth salvation to order their Conversation aright through which they come to see the great Salvation of God Eighthly Now I come to the eighth sad Consequence that J. N. saith
Purity and Self-denial through the Sanctifying operation of the same I had intimacy with him above many but so mixt was his kindness with seriousness and his familiarity with a stay'd and examplary Behaviour as he was ever an honour to the Truth and therein a confirmer of his holy Testimony and weaker Brethren He was an incessant Labourer in the Gospel and Few more spent in its Service his Soul seem'd wholly bent to the Renowning of it and its Enemies he ever accounted his His Declaration was to the Ungodly World like an Ax an Hammer or a Sword sharp and piercing being mostly attended with an eminent appearance of the dreadful Power of the Lord to the cutting down of many a tall Cedar and to the making of many lofty Oaks to bow but to the Faithful and diligent who mind the things of Christ more then their own O the soft and pleasant Streams of Life Immortal that have run through him to the refreshing of those the Lord's Heritage yea 't was his life and joy to be speaking the Word of the Lord and not his own And many thousands doubtless rest behind who are living Testimonies to the Power Vertue and Efficacy of his Ministry but above all terrible was he to the Sowers of Strife secret Back-biters and such as rend the holy Body and separate from the Life Love and Fellowship of the Blessed Truth Who in their own selfish spirit set themselves over the holy Brethren by feignedness and deceitful appearances to the betraying of the Simple-hearted and ketching the Innocent in their Snares Yet was he ready to reach out an helping Hand to save the upright Hearted whose desires were to the Lord and the Fellowship of the Faithful He was Hardy Valiant and fixt not of those that shun the Cross or sell their Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage He baulkt no Danger for the sake of his blessed Testimony but ever met in the Lord's Armour by which he has many times overcome in England Holland Barbadoes Virginia New-England Mary-Land c. where through many difficulties he boldly preached the everlasting Gospel Christ in him the Hope of Glory He was a good Example as well for his Liberality as Faithfulness for as I am a Witness that the prosperity of God's Truth and dear Friends was above all things most in his Eye so was he alwayes cautious of making the Gospel chargeable to any but having some Estate of his own he freely imploy'd it in the Lord's Service counting nothing too dear for the Name and Service of the Lord. And thus having laboured his natural strength away in this heavenly Warfare for the promotion of the glorious Truth of the Lord and the advancment of its Interest and Dominion in the World for about twelve Years together he did with perfect understanding and in an extraordinary enjoyment of the Lord's Life Majesty and Presence to the refreshment of the Beholders on the 15th of the 11th Moneth 1668. he chearfully laid down his Mortal Body it being in the five and thirtieth Year of his Age that he might be perfectly cloathed on with Blessed Immortallity which is the Wages of the Work and the Eternal Recompence of his Temporal Tribulations And now is he truely ascended above and beyond every Trouble and Temptation where all Tears are wip'd away from his Eyes and upon Mount Zion does he stand amongst the rest of our holy Brethren and those Martyrs who kept the Testimony of Jesus in their day singing the Song of the Lamb for evermore Therefore shall his Memorial remain as a sweet Oyntment with the Righteous and time shall never blot him out of their remembrance for amongst the Worthies shall he be reckoned in the Generations to come because he loved not his Life unto Death but chos'd to pass through the many Tribulations which have given him an enterance into the Everlasting Rest where his spirit lives and remains with God for ever My Soul is often heavy and bowed down in the sence of the loss of these Valiants at this time of the day but herein am I satisfied that our God that raised them will fill up their places and daily bring forth by his Eternal Arm many noble Champions for his Glory who shall sound forth his Wonders to the Ends of the Earth and stand as Saviours upon Mount Zion to the Nations And therefore woes to the dark hellish sin-pleasing persecuting Priests Professors and Prophane of the whole Earth for the Lord God Omnipotent is taking to himself his great Power and he will Reign whose Kingdom stands in Righteousness and is an Everlasting Kingdom and of whose Government and Dominion there shall be no end W. Penn. AN EPISTLE TO THE READER As Concerning Josiah Coale HE did labour much in the Power of the Lord and did stand in the Power of the Lord against the spirit of the World and against all the Opposers of the Truth to his dying day yea within one Hour and a half of his death see his Testimony against the dark blasphemous spirit of Muggleton in the latter end of this Book and besides the several Opposers of the Truth of the several Sects in New-England Barbadoes Virginia Mary-Land and other Islands and the several Cruel and Inhumane Sufferings and Imprisonments by the chief Priests Professors and Rulers which would be to large to mention and would make a great Volumn that he suffered amongst them And also his sore Travels among the Heathen in America concerning the Truth and preaching the Gospel and when the cruel murdering Priests and Professors of New-England which Murdered and Martyr'd and Spoyled so many of the Goods of our Friends and burned some of them with their hot Irons and cut off the Ears of some of our Friends for the Truth and Gospel's sake These New-England persecuting Professors said to some that they did persecute Why did not our Friends come thorow the Heathen by Land from Virginia to New-England thorow the Wilderness on foot for they looked for Miracles but Josiah Coale and another was that very Time passing thorow the Heathen and the Wilderness from Virginia to New-England and the persecuting Professors of New-England then did not think that they were so near them that did pass thorow the Woods and Wildernesses which immediately came among them having passed thorow the Woods and wilde Wildernesses and thorow the danger of the Men-Eaters and wilde Beasts and venomous Creatures but when they came through much Hunger and Cold and Weariness through the Bogs and Waters into New-England they found worss entertainment among the New-England persecuting Priests and Professers then they had found among the wilde and venomous Beasts and Men-eaters yea they were worss to them and others of the Disciples of Christ as I said then the Heathen and Men-eaters who had passed thorow much danger of their lives and oft times were fain to cut down Chest-Nut-Trees for the Nuts for Food when they were hungry And nevertheless when these came immediatly
upon the blind persecuting Professors in New-England these Professors were in as much Unbelief as ever they were before as it may appear more at large in the Record of New-England's Persecutions And also this Josiah Coale's Labour and Travels in Holland and in the Low Countries concerning the Gospel of God and his Truth where ever he came he did bear his Testimony against that spirit that did oppose the Truth and he did live to see much of it over-thrown And also when this Josiah Coale was weak the Power of the Lord was fresh in him and a little before he died I spoke to him that the Friends that were with him might go forth of the Room for I had something to say to him and when they were gone I asked him if that he was clear or whether any thing did lie upon him to write to Friend in England or any other Parts of the World beyond the Seas to Friends and he said that he was clear of writing to them and how that the Lord by his Power and Majesty had carried him through England and other Nations and so he had nothing to write but desired his love might be remembred to all the Friends and said that one thing did lie upon him He did understand that I had a Book in answer to Muggleton and that when he was gone Muggleton and his Company would boast against him wherefore he desired that I would put a few words of his last Testimony against Muggleton in my Book and I bade him to write them out for I was to go to see a Friend hard by and would come to him presently again and at that time as he was sitting in his Chair by the fire he spoke them forth in the Power of the Lord God as fresh as if he had ayled nothing and a Friend took it in writing which Testimony is inserted in the latter Part of this Book as is before noted After this was done Josiah Coale desired me to pray that he might have an easie passage and when I came to him again he was sitting by the fire as before in the Power of the Lord and full of it and after seeing him to begin to be haevy I bade him to go and lie on the Bed which he did and with Friends help rose up again and sate on the side of the Bed and Friends sate about him and heal'd him and I went to him and heal'd him and he was full of the Power of the Lord and his Seed and Life that was over all and so in that he departed away in the Arms of Friends as he sate on the side of his Bed and had a very easie passage through the Life in which he remaines His Age when he died was 35. Years and two Moneths and he was in the Service of the Lord preaching his Gospel about twelve Years and did convince many to the Lord's Truth and brought many from the vain Rudiments of the World to the Gospel You may see some of his Epistles and Writings in this following Book which he left in writing being carefully copied out and placed together which is but some of what he hath written and spoken Gorge Fox A few Lines concerning Josiah Coale IS dear Josiah gone yes he is gone He 's gone from us in the Eternal One Where he from all his Labour is at Rest I' th Bosom of the Father who is forever Blest Ah Valiant Champion for God's Truth so pure Thy Name 's as precious Oyntment thy Memory shall dure In upright Hearts from them nothing can hide Thy Worth thy Faithfulness shall still abide To their Refreshment though thy Body 's laid I' th Bowels of the Earth yet as thou said God's Majesty was with thee and the Crown Of Immortal Life is on thee and that will renown Thy Name to Generations yet unborn When they shall hear Josiah did adorn The Gospel of our Lord by Doctrine that was sound Within his Native Land ye he was found In forraign Islands spreading forth the Fame Of his beloved Lord and that his Name Might be advanced thought no Travel long Let God be Magnified that was his Song His Travels they were sore within and eke without His Recompence was large yes there 's no doubt Now he shines as a Star of no small magnitude Who by the Power of God hath convinc'd a Multitude Many are the Children he hath gathered To the Knowledge of the Lord and Christ their Head He rightly did divide the Word of God Gave Milk to Babes but Fools are for the Rod He sweetly comforted the Meek Ah he was strength unto the Weak But terrible he was to the Stout-hearted Who verily was smote before they parted The Workers of Iniquity by him Were trampled under foot the man of sin Was sorely wounded by his powerful Hand The Hypocrites before him could not stand But by the Power of God he did them slay But now alas he 's gone he 's gone away And we who lov'd him though our Loss is great Yet being fix'd in God we are compleat There meet we with his Spirit who gather'd is Into the Mansion of Eternal Bliss Praised be God and Magnified be He Who never waxeth old nor chang'd can be M. F. THE CONTENTS OF HIS EPISTLES 1 AN Epistle to Friends in the Prisons of London Hartford c. pag. 33. 2 An Epistle to Friends Exiled or sentenced to Exilement p. 37 3 An Epistle to Friends in Holland p. 44 4 An Epistle to all People in Jamaica p. 47 5 The 1st Epistle to Friends in New-England p. 51 6 The 2d Epistle to Friends in New-England p. 54 7 The 1st Epistle to Friends in the Province of Maryland p. 57 8 The 2d Epistle to Friends in the Province of Maryland p. 63 9 An Epistle to the Flock of God p. 71 10 The first general Epistle to Friends p. 80 11 The second general Epistle to Friends p. 85 12 The third general Epistle to Friends p. 90 13 The fourth general Epistle to Friends p. 95 THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOKS 1 AN Invitation of Love to the Hungry and Thirsty p. 3 2 A Salutation to the Suffering Seed p. 7 3 To all the Babes in Christ c. p. 15 4 A Warning to the King and both Houses of Parliament p. 21 5 England's Sad Estate Lamented and her Abominations Discovered p. 28 6 The Whore Vnvail'd or the Mystery of the Deceit of the Church of Rome reveal'd p. 53 7 A Testimony concerning that faithful Servant of the Lord Richard Farnsworth p. 117 8 A Song of the Judgments and Mercies of the Lord p. 131 9 A Vindication of the Light Within against the Darkness Error and Blasphemy of John Newman in his Book entituled The Light Within c. p. 369 10 A Testimony concerning Lodowick Muggleton p. 343 11 What he spoke a little before his death p. 344 To all Dear Friends OF TRUTH Who are Sufferers at this day for their TESTIMONY to the TRUTH And for
Performances without the Inward Leadings of the Spirit of the Lord and in this Antichristian-spirit by which they have been exercised in the aforesaid Idolatrous Abominations they have been Killing Destroying and Devouring one another about those things which are their own Inventions set up in their own Wills which they would have all to conform to and have long imposed it one upon another by Penal Laws and thereby have enforced many who fear'd Man more then God to conform contrary to what they were perswaded in their own Consciences to worship the Image set up by them yet a Remnant there was alwayes whom God preserved and rais'd up by his Power to stand faithful Witnesses against their Idolatrous Worships and Traditions whose Blood this Antichristian-spirit in the Beast and false Prophet that carries the Whore hath always drunk and many Faithful Martyrs of Jesus in times past have seal'd their Testimony against this false Church of Apostate Christians in which this Antichristian spirit rules even with their very Lives though they did not see nor understand the things that are now seen and understood by many yet blessed be the Lord they were by his Power and Spirit so furnished and sustained and so filled with Love to God and his Cause and with Zeal against the false Church and her Antichristian Impositions and Idolatries that they loved not their Lives unto death but laid down their Lives with Chearfulness as a Testimony against them and so through Faith have obtained a Good Report amongst us who are now following the Lamb in the same Foot-steps of the Flock And so my Beloved Friends Seeing that now in fulness of time God hath rais'd us up by his Power according to his Purpose and Determination and Fore-knowledge to be faithful Witnesses for his Name and Truth and to the Power of his Appearance in our Hearts and to bear Testimony against the aforesaid Superstitions and and Idolatrous Impositions which are practis'd at this day amongst them that know not the only true and living God nor Jesus Christ whom he hath sent a Light into the World I say my Friends These things are sufficient to engage our Hearts unto the Lord follow him unto the end through all Trials and Exercises of what nature or kind soever that for the future may come upon us for our Testimonies sake For my Friends We know right well that God hath not been wanting unto us in any Tryal or State whatsoever if we have not been wanting in or Obedience unto him but hath been alwayes present with us and hath oft caus'd his Love to abound unto us and in us being shed abroad in our hearts by his good Spirit so that for joy of Heart we could even sing Praises to the Name of the Lord in the midst of our Sufferings and Afflictions so that we have no Cause to be discourag'd at the Sufferings which attend us nor at the Threats and Frowns of Wicked Men who hate and persecute us without a just Cause but we have rather great Cause of encouragement to persevere and go on bearing forth our Testimony for the Lord through all Sufferings if it be Death it self knowing the Reward thereof to be so exceeding great and having this Confidence in our selves That none of these things shall be able to move us nor to seperate us from the Love of God which we have in Christ Jesus Nay but rather shall confirm us for as the Apostle said It is an evident Token to us of Salvation but to our Adversaries of Perdition and that of God And so my Beloved Friends You who are already Exil'd and sent into forreign Parts of the World for your Testimony 's sake I doubt not but you experimentally know in an especial manner the Largeness of the Extent of God's Love unto his People in a Suffering Condition you having been in measure exercis'd therein beyond many others though I doubt not but have the Testimony of God's Holy Spirit that many are as freely given up in the same Faith for the same Testimony to partake with you outwardly of the same Sufferings as they do inwardly sympathize with you therein if the Lord see it meet for the Honour of his Name so to suffer them to be exercised Yet nevertheless All who have been and are faithful to God in their Places have and do enjoy so much of the Peace and Presence of God as is fully satisfactory unto them so that in the Unity of the Spirit of Life which from God we have receiv'd and by which we are seperated from the World and its Wayes and Works of Darkness and by which we are rais'd up to be faithful and true Witnesses for God and against the Traditions of men by which they have made void God's Commandments I say in this Spirit we do sympathize and partake with you both in Suffering and in Rejoycing and have a real Sence upon our hearts and spirits of your Estate and we are not unmindful of you but do heartily pray That Grace Health Mercy and Peace together with all Spiritual Blessings in Christ our Lord may be continually multiplied and encreased amongst you that the Aboundings thereof you may know unto your great Consolation that so being thereby watered and refreshed you may grow in the Grace of God and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus and may feel his Life to encrease in you and so to strengthen you that you thereby may be able to teach others also and to instruct them in the Way of Life and Salvation that so your Sufferings and Exilement may make for the Furtherance of the Gospel of God and for the spreading of his Blessed Glorious Truth through the Nations and for the gathering into it them who are yet afar off from God and Strangers unto him that so the Witness of God in all Consciences being answer'd by you both in Life Conversation and Doctrine you may be a good savour unto God both in them that believe and also in them that perish that the Justification of Life in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ you may all feel and witness and that will be your alone Satisfaction in all Conditions and therein my Love doth dearly salute you all And in this my Dear Friends pray one for another and walk together in Love and be of one Mind and Practice in all things that appertain to the Worship of God and to your Testimony for Him and against the World and its Wayes and Worships and live in Peace one with another and build up one another in your most precious Faith and watch over one another in the Spirit of Love and Meekness and let there be no Straightness nor Strangeness one towards another but be Open-hearted and Tender one to another And if any thing appear amongst any of you which tends to the Hurt of any Particular or to the Truth in general in the Spirit of Meekness let it be spoken to them and in the same Spirit let
it be receiv'd and that will keep down all that may arise to make any Dissention to cause any straitness or strangeness amongst you and so you will be kept in the unity of the Truth which will be a good savour amongst all people and in that the Lord will take Delight to dwell amongst you and to do you good and in that God Almighty be with you and bless you and water you with the Dew of Heaven and cause the Showers of his Love to descend upon you that you may be refreshed and kept alive in the Truth therein to live according to God in the Spirit and not according to men in the Flesh but in that by which you are judged according to men and by which you are crucified unto the World and therein your Joy Peace and Comfott will be Everlasting And so dear Friends Let nothing enter that would deprive you of your Peace and Comfort lest you lose the Reward of your Sufferings but keep in Lowliness and Watchfulness and in true Humility of mind and spirit for therein is Safety And it s the Humble that God teacheth and supporteth And without his assisting Spirit of Grace we can do nothing that will add to our Comfort or Consolation and therefore whatever our state be we have daily need of an Assistance from him and of the renewing of our strength by him by whom alone we are able to do all things and in him nothing is too hard for us for it s through him that we are more then Conquerors and by Faith in him we stand and that gives Victory over the World And in that my Dear Friends all live and walk and thereby you will have free access to God and will meet with us at the Throne of Grace and Ocean of Life and there the Minister of the Sanctuary is seen alwayes near at hand administring unto every one according to their necessity who will give Ability and Strength sufficient to endure all things and to answer his Requirings in all things and will also keep down and under all which would arise to exalt the mind above measure in the time of enjoyment of the Reward that is receiv'd through Sufferings and hereby you will be preserv'd out of all the Snares of the Enemy And in this my Love is dear to you all and to the whole Flock of God in all Parts of the World and to this Spirit of Grace I do commit you all and resign you up to be govern'd and protected thereby for by it I was at this time moved to write these Lines to you in which I doubt not but it will be received by all whose hearts are sincere towards God And in that God Almighty be with your spirits Amen London this 28th of the 11th Moneth 1665. I am your Dearly Loving Brother in the Patient Long-Suffering Spirit of the Lamb. Josiah Coale Let this be read amongst Friends who are Ezil'd or sentenced for Exilement when they are met together in the Fear of the Lord. An Epistle to FRIENDS In Holland MY Dearly Beloved Friends I ofttimes remember you make mention of you in my Prayers to the Lord since I outwardly saw your Faces and my Love in the Lord is unfeigned to you in which I have for your Good travel'd amongst you and in which at this time I dearly salute you as those whom God Almighty hath reached unto and visited that you might have Acquaintance with him and that you might be made Partakers of his Endless Love in his Son Christ Jesus and therewith might love one another as he hath loved you who hath forgiven you your Trespasses that you might take Example thereby to Forgive one another that so you may have the Mind of his Spirit of Love and be like him in this present evil World and that you might bear his Image amongst the Children of Men and stand as Witnesses for him and appear on his behalf in that Life through which you will answer the Witness of God in the Hearts of all People that so you bring Honour and Glory and Praise to the Name of the Lord who hath visited you To whom all Glory belongs forever Amen My Beloved Friends Prize the Mercies of the Lord with which he hath visited you and walk worthy of his Love which hath been additionally manifested through the many tender Visitations which he hath sent unto you by his Servants whom he hath moved from time to time to come amongst you with the Message of Life as Dispencers of his Word of Reconciliation for your Consolation and Comfort And every one in your own particulars feel the Measure of the Meek Spirit of the Lamb that your minds may be daily exercis'd thereby in the Cross to all that is contrary to the Nature thereof that so your Hearts and Souls may be season'd therewith and the contrary kept down and bow'd under it And as all are exercised with this Spirit of the Lamb you will more and more grow into its nature through the refreshing Vertue which therein and thereby you will daily receive and this is alone that which presents all a Good Savour unto God and in this you know we have labour'd among'st you and therein you will feel my Love and Life which is in that which is not of this World and therein the Fellowship of the Children of Light stands which is a Mystery to the World and in that Love Unity Peace Meekness and Gentleness will encrease amongst you which are excellent Vertues and amiable to behold and that which is Passionate or Hasty and Unsavoury shall not have a place amongst you but you will all be Examples of good one unto another And also Your Life and Holy Chaste Conversation will preach unto the World by which they that are without shall be convinc'd and made to confess That God is in you and in this you will be a Good Savour unto God and he will take Delight to manifest his Presence and Blessings amongst you and to multiply his Mercies unto you and will water you daily with the Dew of Heaven through which you will be kept in the Freshness of the Life of the Blessed Unchangeable Truth for the Lord waits to be Gratious unto all them that wait upon him for the Teachings of his Spirit of Grace and are taught thereby and such he enricheth with the Riches of his Grace through which they live unto him and in that all are a strength one unto another and a Refreshment and Comfort to each other And so my dear Friends In that God Almighty keep you and be with you and water you daily with the Dew of Heaven that you may grow thereby and dwell all in Watchfulness in the Light and keep in the weighty Truth the true Foundation that the Understandings of all may be kept clear and open that none may be beguil'd of their Peace nor Crown of Life And all watch over one another in Love and bear ye one anothers
of his Kingdom and for the publishing and spreading of his Everlasting Truth and for the sake of this our Lives nor Liberties were not dear unto us wherefore be ye every one like-minded with us in the same thing And in your places where the Lord hath set you therein adorn the Truth so will you be a good savour unto God and he will take Pleasure and Delight in you and will do you good by multiplying his Mercies and Blessings in your Hearts and so you will witness a growth and encrease in the Encreases of God And so all Friends Wait upon the Lord in the Gift of his Spirit that you may feel him to administer unto you of his Heavenly Riches and Consolation that no one may have cause to complain of Poverty or Weariness but every one know him in you in whom the Fulness dwells that you may by him be upheld in all times of Tryal and be administred unto in all times of want that so you may be carried on with Chearfulness to run the Way of his Commandments And God Almighty keep you by his own Power that therein you may be firmly joyn'd and united together a Family of Love and a strong Body and a spiritual House fitly framed and compacted that there may be no Rent nor Division but that you may be one in him who is the Head and in this I can promise you the Blessings of God and that by his Spirit And so bear one with another in Love and let the Strong help the Weak and by so doing you will preserve Peace And the Blessing of the Lord be with you and rest upon you forever Amen London the 1st Moneth of the Year 1667. This is a Salutation of Pure Perfect and Never-dying Love from your Dear and Truely Loving Brother Josiah Coale An EPISTLE to FRIENDS IN New-England The Second Epistle DEAR and Everlastingly Beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters whom my Heavenly Father hath visited with the Day-spring from on High which he hath caused to dawn unto you and by his Out-stretched Arm of Power hath gather'd you out of the Egyptian Darkness into the marvellous Light of the Son of his Love that therein you may come to have an Inheritance amongst them that are sanctified and become Heirs of Eternal and Everlasting Salvation in and through Christ Jesus the First-born from the Dead who is now brought forth into the World and reveal'd in us whom all the Angels must worship I say my dear Friends Seeing the Lord hath thus visited you with his Love and thus reached unto you see that you walk worthy of his Love And every one in your holy Callings wherewith you are called of God therein abide with him and feel the Gift of his good Spirit of Grace which from him you have receiv'd at all times to exercise your minds that so out of all the Snares and Temptations of the Wicked One you may thereby be led kept and preserved that the Enemy may not prevail to hurt you or to deprive you of your precious Treasure or to make a Spoile of you or in the least to diminish that Precious Life which God hath raised and manifested in you and given you a feeling of But all and every one wait that you may grow therein and become daily more and more a good savour unto God that you may know him to take delight in you and to dwell amongst you and in the midst of you and to administer unto you according to your Necessities that there may be no want unto you in the Day of Tryal but that you may be throughly furnished unto every good Word and Work that in all Tryals and Temptations whatsoever that may come upon you you may feel your Strength Hope and Confidence to remain that so you may be supported and carried through with Chearfulness unto the End for its such only that shall be saved And above all things my Friends and Brethren have perfect Charity amongst your selves and let the Love of God dwell in your Hearts and rule there and in that watch over one another and in the Spirit of Love and Meekness exhort and beseech one another as the Lord moves and let no one go beyond the Word of the Lord nor yet without it for that will burden the Seed in others but watch in the Light for the Movings of the Life it self and as that is felt to stir or move in you or any of you wait to know the Mind and Intent of the Spirit 's Motion whether it be for your selves to treasure up or whether it be to give forth unto others and this Discerning and Understanding you will all come to know and receive as you wait in Stilness out of the Reasoning Part for if the Reasoning Part enter that will darken the Understanding and then you will not know what to chose and what to refuse nor what to do or what to leave undone Therefore dwell in the Simplicity and single Subjection unto God's Holy Spirit of Life the Meek Lamb's Spirit and there is the Gate of true Wisdom and the Door of Understanding and in that you will edifie one another in Love and the Bond of Peace will be known amongst you And for this End have we travell'd and labour'd amongst you whom the Lord sent forth in his own Name and Power for the turning of you from the darkness of Ignorance unto the Light and Knowledge of God's Everlasting Power and for the building of you up in your most pretious holy Faith that therein and thereby you might come to have victory over all that 's contrary And to this day I am oft travelling in Spirit amongst you and in my Prayers to God I daily make mention of you and my spirit breathes unto God and is pour'd forth unto him for your preservation growth and prosperity in the pretious living Truth and that you may be crown'd with Victory Life and Dominion over all which would hinder you from running this good Race that is set before you that so none amongst you who have tasted of the Love of God and have known the Way of Life may fall short of the Mark or of the Inheritance incorruptible which fades not away So the Lord God Almighty be with you and keep you and place his Fear in your Hearts yet more and more that you may no more depart from him or from the feeling of his Life and Presence but that you may always live in him who is God blessed forever and may be found of him in everlasting Peace Amen London 21 1st Moneth 1665. This from your dear Brother who truly loves you and the whole Flock of God in all Places JOSIAH COALE To the Flock of God Gather'd out of the World in the Province of MARYLAND The First EPISTLE MY Dearly Beloved Friends with whom and amongst whom I have travell'd in times past for the Redemption of the Suffering Seed which lay groaning in Bondage and was held in Captivity
and will dwell in the mid'st of you and amongst you for which the earnest Desire of my Soul is unto the Lord and in my Prayers I do oft make mention of you unto my God and your God that his Arm of Power and Salvation may alwayes be with you and that you may be thereby kept Pure and Unrebukeable and Spotless unto Himself in his sight from this time forth and forever Amen And Friends It was the fervent and sincere Desire of my Heart to have seen you this Year having a confident Perswasion and Assurance in me That if the Lord had so order'd it it would have been for your Good and Benefit and that I should have been Refreshed with you and amongst you as in times past And in order to it I wholy fixed and applyed my Heart to the Lord for some certain dayes to search his Counsel in the thing until he fully and clearly satisfied me that it must not then be in whose blessed Will I rest and am content yet am not wholy without hopes but that in Due Season it may yet be And in the mean time I leave you and commend you to God who is able to keep you and do more aboundantly for you then you can ask or think to whom be Glory forever Amen Written in Essex this 5th of the 7th Mon. 1664. I am your Dear Brother in the Tribulation Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Josiah Coale Let Copies of this be sent amongst Friends every where in the Province of Maryland and be read amongst them in their Assemblies in the Fear of the Lord. To the Flock of God IN MARYLAND GREETING The second EPISTLE MY Dear Friends Brethren and Sisters who are called and sanctified in Christ Jesus and with whom and amongst whom I have travell'd both in Body and Spirit for the Resurrection of that Birth which is Immortal through which you might become Heirs of Eternal Salvation and of the Kingdom Everlasting which is not of this World My soul and bowels even daily earn towards you and you are even daily presented before me and brought into my View and Remembrance by the Spirit of the Lord by which I am oft constrain'd to present my Supplications and Prayers to the God of my Life for you and on your behalfs beseeching and desiring him that he will keep and preserve you in the Unspotted Life of the Lamb and that Grace Mercy and Peace together with Spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord may be multipy'd and encreas'd amongst you My beloved Friends Keep your station in the Holy Place every one who know it and in your Holy Calling wherewith you are call'd of God therein abide and walk with him that therein you may all adorn the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And Friends You certainly know That the Living Blessed and Everlasting Truth it self which sanctifies throughly both in Soul Body and Spirit and which sets free from the Bondage of Corruption all who continue in it hath been freely made manifest amongst you Therefore I charge you all as you will answer the Lord Every one see that you live and walk in the Purity thereof And you likewise know the Way of Life and Salvation and of Holiness in which no unclean thing can pass see therefore that you continue therein that so whensoever your Lord comes you may be found of him in Peace and cover'd with his Righteousness For you have all need of Circumspection and Watchfulness and Diligence because the Adversary of your Soul's Peace is very subtil and lodgeth very near to every one and waits to devour and lurkes to destroy and will lose no Opportunity if possible he may beguile any of you as he did Eve in the beginning But as you all watch in the Light of God's Salvation which he hath caused to shine unto you the Adversary will thereby be discover'd unto you in all his Twindings and Appearances And my Friends This Light in which you have believed is the true Touch-stone by which all spirits may be tryed and all Motions in whom soever they arise may hereby be known whether they be of God and tend to that which is consistant with the Honour of Truth and your own Peace or whether they savour of the Flesh and tend to the satisfying of the Lusts thereof For the Lusts of the Flesh and of the Eyes and the Pride of Life are not of the Father but of the World which passeth away And where or in whomsoever these or either of these are found and discover'd by the Light which makes all things manifest they are therewith to be condemned and by you to be denied that so you may be every one kept out of the Snare of the Devourer and out of the Net of the mighty Hunter For If you live after the Flesh you shall dye for the Lusts thereof when they are conceiv'd bring forth sin and the Wages of sin is death But every one who through the spirit mortifies the Deeds of the flesh such shall live to God in the Newness of Life and such will adorn the Gospel of God And so my dear Friends You are called to Liberty but not to serve your selves therefore use not your Liberty as an Occasion to the Flesh lest thereby you be ensnared neither use it as an Occasion of stumbling unto others but every one in the Fear of the Lord stand fast in that glorious Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free And beware of being again entangled with the heavy Yoak of Bondage and of being brought into Captivity with that which in measure you had Victory over For you that have passed from Death to Life know right well and I need not tell you through what Difficulties Hardships and Exercises you obtain'd that precious Liberty in the Truth which you are brought unto And you also know what it cost you to purchase the Possession of that measure of Life and Truth which is manifested amongst you therefore let none sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage neither let any perishing Object become a snare or divert you from your Simplicity and Sincerity in the Truth But every one walk worthy of the matchless Love of God which hath extended its self unto you that so the daily Multiplyings and Abounding thereof you may know and witness in your hearts that through it you may Grow and Increase and be Enriched and that God Almighty may take delight to dwell amongst you And my Friends The savoury holy Order that the Truth led into in the beginning and in which the primative Christians were exercis'd you are not ignorant of and I hope not unmindful of it neither And you likewise know what Fervency and Fear and Zeal towards God the Truth wrought in your Hearts when you first receiv'd the Testimony thereof And what a Godly Resolution was put on by many and there was not another thing accounted of by many of you in comparison of his Blessed Truth And whatsoever
City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid you will appear fresh in the Beauty of Holiness as the Heritage of God in its flourishing state in which my Unfeigned Love is dear to you all who are faithful to God and in this I do salute you all without respect of Persons for dear are you to me and precious and every Member of the true Church of Christ in all Regions and Quarters of the Earth And God Almighty keep you and preserve you all unto his Heavenly Kingdom Amen London this 12th of the 3d Moneth 1663. I am your Dear Brother in the Patience and Tribulation of the Son of God in whom we rejoyce daily Josiah Coale AND Friends This know that for the sake of the residue of our Seed which is yet ungathered is my Life freely sacrificed up into the Hand of the Lord and ready and willing am I to lay it down for the Testimony of God's Blessed Truth which he hath given me to bear if thereunto I am called For Bonds and Afflictions attend me daily and I may say We are hear in Jeopardy of our Lives daily So let your Prayers to God be for me that I may be kept unto the End to finish my Testimony with Joy and in all things to bring Glory and Honour to the Name of the Lord who is over all Blessed forever J. C. An EPISTLE To Friends The Second general EPISTLE FRIENDS ALL who are convinced of the Truth of the Evelasting Gospel and have believed the Report that hath been given amongst you concerning the great Salvation of God and who have been perswaded in your Hearts and Consciences by the Light and Spirit of the Lord that it is your Duty unto God to meet together to wait upon him and to worship him in Spirit and in Truth and have been drawn by this Spirit of Truth to the performance of this Religious Duty I say my Friends You know right well that Gloriously and Plentifully the Lord did appear amongst you in your Assemblies when you first began the Exercises thereof and he made his Power known amongst you and thereby wrought in your Hearts mightily and effectually to the bringing down and subjecting of that which had darkened and vail'd Life and Immortality from your sight and view and by which you were made Strangers thereunto And this same Power of God through the effectual working and operating of it did raise Life and bring Immortality to Light in you so that you were no longer as Strangers unto it but were brought into acquaintance therewith and your hearts and souls were aboundantly Refreshed and Consolated therewith and through the arising thereof and thereby you became more fully confirmed in your first Faith which was begotten in you by the Word and then a Godly Zeal and Resolution more fervently arose in your hearts to continue this Practise and perform this Duty of Assembling your selves together which at first you believed you ought to do and then did the Lord so eminently appear amongst you that by his Spirit he sealed unto you your Acceptance with him in the performance of this Duty and then you farther saw and believ'd That whatsoever Suffering should come upon you for the continuance of this Religious Exercise yet you ought to persevere and continue therein and to hold fast the Profession of your first Faith and also the practise of the thing which you believed to be your Duty unto God And you right well know That many Tryals and Sufferings have attended you since you first began to contend for this Faith and to make a Profession thereof and to practise the thing which you believed was your Duty unto God but the Lord was alwayes with you and assisted you with his Spirit and Power in the mid'st thereof even all who were singly resign'd up unto him and did persevere and continue in their due Obedience unto him and he never left nor forsook such in any Tryal or Tribulation but alwayes ministred unto them in the mid'st thereof according to their necessities and this I know the Witness of God in all the Upright in Heart shall seal unto And now my dear Friends Brethren and Sisters the Consideration and Remembrance of these things are sufficient to encourage every one and to stir them up and provoke them to hold fast their Godly Resolution which they put on in the beginning and to persevere and continue in all Faithful Obedience in this Duty while they have Liberty and Opportunity so to do And if for your Faithfulness and Obedience therein the Devil be suffer'd to cast you into Prison and to Exile you for the Gospel's sake Yet the Lord will be with you there he hath said it and will perform his word so that you need not fear what Man can do unto you for the Lord will support and comfort you in the midst of all your Sufferings as in times past but if any draw back or fall from their first Stedfastness and forsake the assembling of themselves together for fear of Sufferings and Pesecutions and think thereby to escape the Penalty of the unrighteous Laws of men then will the Lord take no pleasure in such but will withdraw his Love and Presence and his wonted Goodness will he withhold from such and instead of Peace there will be Trouble unto them and Sorrow instead of Joy and instead of Plenty and Fulness of the Riches of God's Grace there will be Poverty and Emptiness and Want and Barrenness instead of Fruitfulness For He with whom we have to do can turn a Fruitful Land into Barrenness for the Iniquity of them that dwell therein And indeed it is better to dye for the Cause of God then to live out of his Favour Wherefore my Dear Friends All dwell and watch in the Light our first Principle that the subtilty of the Enemy may be discover'd thereby in all his Assaults and Alurement and keep in a state resign'd unto the Lord out of all Reasonings and Consultations with Flesh and Blood for they let in Temptations and thereby you may be snared but as you stand singly given up to follow the Lord through all Tryals and Sufferings that may come upon you for the Gospels sake there will be nothing wanting unto you that appertains to the Peace and Comfort and to the Joy and Salvation of your Souls And Friends This I have seen in the Light of God's Truth and Salvation and this hath been long upon my Heart to declare unto you That if any are any whit wavering in their Minds they may be fore-warned that if the Enemy should so far prevail with any as to put them upon seeking out a Way to escape the present Sufferings which attend the Flock of God as Imprisonment Exilement c. yet I say unto you and you shall find it to be true that the same Enemy will find out another Way to bring such wholy to conform to his Worship and Image set up or else will bring a
are of the Election of Grace and of the true Shepherds Fold whom it hath pleased my heavenly Father in his Love Life and Spirit to gather out of the World and to sepatate from amongst men to be the first fruits unto Him and to the LAMB in this Day of his Power and glorious Appearance and hath manifested his Power and reveal'd his glorious Arm of Strength in and amongst you and hath made known his blessed sweet refreshing Presence in the midst of you whereby you have been refreshed comforted and strengthened in the midst of many Trials Tribulations and Temptations which have been suffered to come upon you for the trial of your Faith since you were a People unto him and you know right well that he hath not been wanting unto you in any state or condition that you have been brought into as you abode faithful unto him And the mighty things which he hath done for you and the great delieverances which he hath brought unto you in the time when you were in great distress surely cannot be forgotten by you but is worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance And the things which you have seen of this kind and the endless loving-kindness of God unto you therein manifested is and I hope will be for ever sufficient to engage you to walk with the Lord in singleness and uprightness of heart that in all tryals of what nature or kind soever that you meet withal for the future time you may hold fast your testimony for him and your Faith and Confidence in him and be nothing daunted in your minds hearts nor spirits but in all things give up unto the Lord and resign up your Cause unto him alone and he will certainly plead for you in the hearts of your Enemies and they shall assuredly know that his controversie is very great with them for your sakes For he hath regard unto your sufferings and the Cryes and deep Groans of his Oppressed suffering Seed is continually before him and he is near to bring deliverance unto all who in patience and contentedness wait upon him and that trust in him with an upright and with a perfect heart Wherefore I say unto you all my beloved Friends Lambs and Babes of God be patient and therein wait upon God for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh and the day of a great deliverance is at hand wherein he will do and bring to pass such things which cannot be believed by many though they should be told unto them Therefore murmur not against the Lord in any wise because of these things which are come to pass and happened unto us nor because of the greatness of the rage of the Adversary for it is because he hath but a very short time and though you have born long and suffered much in divers kinds and the oppressive yoke of Antichrist is not yet removed nor taken away yet I say my Friends Fear not nor faint not in your minds but endure to the end in the Faith and Patience of Jesus and when the things determined shall be accomplished and the measure of iniquity shall be filled up then shall the day of a great deliverance come unto you and your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation the praise of the whole Earth And then shall the Lord God Almighty be known to reign in the Kingdoms of Men and his Glory shall spread forth its self to the ends of the World and be declared of throughout all the Nations of the Earth and the Knowledge of God shall cover the Earth as the waters cover the Sea These sayings are faithful and true and things that must shortly come to pass and be fulfilled the Lord hath spoken it and blessed are all they who believe and obey the Word of the Gospel and wait for the fulfilling of these things Wherefore my dear Friends dwell low in God's Fear and in his Covenant of Light into which you are gathered and wait to receive his pure Divine Heavenly wisdom to order you and be you ordered thereby and that will keep you out of all extreams so that none will be lifted up above what is meet because of the Promises of God nor yet be cast down because of the threatnings of the Enemy that so you may neither turn aside to the right hand nor to the left but that you may walk on in the even way which is the path of peace and feel the Eternal Life which is of God to remain and abide in you so will you be kept fresh and lively in the beauty of Truth and Holiness and shine as Lights to the World For you are the Salt with which the Earth must be seasoned and with which all things must be salted to make it savory unto God and acceptable unto him For as the state of the World is in which they now lie they are unsavoury unto God and not at all a pleasant smell neither hath he any delight in their Sacrifices for even their prayers are abominable unto him and their solemn Assemblies he hath no pleasure in but his soul even loaths and abhors them and he will certainly work a Reformation is the Earth and he will beat down Babylon with a mighty blow and will bring a great desolation upon her and amongst her Merchants shall the noise of a great howling be heard and all her delicacies shall come to nought and all her costly attire the works of cunning Workmen shall be consumed for she is come into remembrance before the Lord and as she hath loved blood so must she have blood to drink for the Cup of God's Fury is already filled into the hands of the Saints of the Most High to pour out unto her And as she hath lived deliciously and glorified her self so much torment and sorrow must she have given unto her yea she shall have doubled unto her according to all her works and then shall the Saints Prophets and holy Apostles rejoyce over when God shall have avenged us on her And now my beloved Friends this I say unto you in and by the Spirit of the Lord That the time hastens and draweth nigh in which these things must be brought to pass yet nevertheless the things decreed and determined of the Lord must first be accomplished So that although the power of darkness hath been long working and doth still work as it were in a prevalent manner by which sufferings and tribulations are brought upon us yet I say it is by the permission of the hand of the Lord that these things are so and he hath an end in suffering it so to be and that for his own glory and who shall say him nay for so doing or reason with him about matters of so deep concernment seeing his way is hid from man and is not known unto any but only them unto whom he reveals it But this my Friends I know from the Lord That he hath an intent and purpose of good unto us thereby and
it was their usual manner to exhort you and to stir you up to that obedience of assembling your selves together And when did you meet together to wait upon God and your hearts kept stayed upon him but that you received your expected end Wherefore let the remembrance of these things encourage you to continue in this well-doing while you have a being and Liberty so to do And though there were such in ages past whose manner was to forsake the assembling of themselves together and some such there are at this day also Yet my Friends let not them be your example to walk by but every one to walk as you had and have them for examples amongst you who begat you into the Truth and by whom the Way of Life hath been made known unto you and be ye Followers of them even as they were and are of Christ For this my Friends I say unto you There are some sprung up amongst us who have in effect laboured to disswade Friends from their usual way and manner of meeting and assembling together with whose spirit and proceedings therein we have not unity but must in the Spirit of Christ Jesus the Lamb of God give testimony against them and forewarn you not to receive that spirit which goeth about to divert you from your usual way and manner of assembling together in which you have had the comfort of the presence of the Lord and received the Justification of Life and thereby your growth hath been much added unto So that certainly my Friends that Spirit which would turn you aside from this godly practise of assembliug together is a dangerous spirit and is not of God whatsoever it pretend or though it cover it self with never so fair expressions Wherefore my dear Friends have Salt within you to savour withal and keep your first Love and your first Faith through which you received life eternal and hold fast your first simplicity and your former integrity and gad not abroad to change your ways but meet together in the Name and Fear of the Lord as your wonted manner hath been so shall you find the presence of God with you in your Assemblies as in the days past and his wonted goodness and love you will feel which will warm your hearts and refresh your souls by which you will be kept living unto him and a good sauour and be to the praise of his Name who is God over all blessed for ever Josiah Coale To all the Babes in Christ AND CHILDREN of LIGHT Who are young in the Truth and but of late convinced of it A Tender Salutation and Exhortation MY beloved Friends Babes and Lambs of Christ with whom I have travelled for the bringing forth of the Birth which is immortal and which is the right Heir of the everlasting Kingdom of God and for the redemption and freedom of the Seed which is incorruptible from under the dark power where it hath been held and lain in bondage and in captivity that it might come forth into its freedom and Glorious Liberty to serve the Lord and to sacrifice in Righteousness unto him I say for the Redemption and Freedom thereof have we laboured and travelled together whom the Lord sent forth amongst you in his own Name and Power and Authority and therein and therewith have we reached unto you and the Spirit of Life from God through us hath breathed upon the Slain in you and entred into the Witness and raised the Dead incorruptible and now the Dead being raised in you and the Living True and Faithful Witness being felt by you wait every one that thereby you may come to be changed and wholly translated that you may become wholly a right Seed that as touching your former Conversation the old Man may be put off and you may be wholly made conformable unto the Death and Sufferings of Christ that so you may live with him and live to God through him and that you may be redeemed from the vain Conversation of the World and fashioned according to the working of his Power like unto the Son of God That as you have born the Image of the Earthly and been made conformable unto the Fashions and Customs of this present sinful World so henceforth you may bear the Image of the Heavenly and be made conformable or subject unto the working or operation of the Heavenly Divine Power of God with which he hath reached unto you and visited you that in all things our Lord Christ may be your example who made himself of no Reputation but humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross and is sate down at the Right-hand of the Majesty on High making intercession for them that come unto God by him and so is become the Authour of eternal Salvation unto all them that believe and obey him that he in all things may have the preheminence And so my dear Friends as I said unto you let him be your example to walk by of whose Spirit you have received a measure to be a Guide Rule and Counsellour unto you and none vary from the leadings thereof in any wise nor by any means for then you wander or go into darkness and so lose your way of peace and then trouble will come in upon you and desperation will be ready to get up in your minds or contrariwise a spirit of conceitedness will carry away the mind into a motion or profession of the Truth out of the Life of it and will lead thee to talk of former experiences when thou hast lost the thing by and through which thou gainest that experience which thou once hadst and which thou now talkst of and so thou wilt grow into a form and profession of Truth without the power and life of it and this is not a Sacrifice acceptable or agreeable unto the mind of God but contrariwise altogether disagreeable unto his mind and holy Spirit and his Soul hates it and hath no pleasure therein Wherefore my dear Friends dwell and watch in the Light of the Son of God unto which from the darkness you have been turned that therein every one may be kept in a true and clear sence and discerning of his own present state and standing and there the Power of God is felt which goes over that which would drive into unbelief or desperation in the time of trouble And this same Power or God will also keep down the aspiring mind that would be exalted above the Cross and would intrude into things which is not revealed of God and would be puft up therewith and glory therein all such glorying is vain And this is the Enemy that would not have Christ to reign over him neither will it be subject to the higher Power but will despise the Authority of God and speak evil of Dignities And this must be slain for this spirit hath not the mind of Christ neither would walk as Christ did nor have him for its example but would be
that in this present Visitation he taketh away the Righteous from the Earth as well as the wicked therefore the wicked cannot discern betwixt him that serveth God and him that serveth him not according to that saying of Daniel viz. None of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand c. But they are ready to conclude and many do conclude that the Righteous are not Righteous and that the Just and Innocent are not Just and Innocent But because they have slighted the Day of Gods love unto them in which his Hand was stretched forth to gather them he hath so brought it to pass and takes away the Just as well as the Unjust that thereby their Eyes may be blinded that they may not see a difference and that their years may be stopped left they should hear his Word and that their hearts may be hardned as Pharaoh's was lest they should understand the way of Life in which the just walketh and be converted thereunto and healed and yet in all these thing iniquity cannot he charged upon the Lord because he willed not their destruction but did strive with them long and gave them space to repent but they repented not therefore their destruction is of themselves for when he would have gathered them they would not therefore I say it s of themselves that they are left so desolation yet there is a remnant in the midst of thee Oh England whose day is not yet over and them he will spare and will gather them to himself and they shall see the path of Life and hear the voice of the Bridegroom of their souls and understand the things that belongs to their everlasting peace and shall be glad and rejoyce in his great Salvation Written by a Servant of the Lord. JOSIAH COALE The Whore Unvailed Or the Mystery of the Deceit of the CHURCH of ROME REVEALED BEING A brief Answer to a Book Entituled The Reconciler of Religions or A Decider of all Controversies in Matters of Faith Written by a professed Roman Catholick who subscribes his name A. S. in which he endeavoured to prove the Church of Rome to be the True Church But what his Arguments therein produced are worth for his purpose may here be seen in this following Treatise Also his Reflections upon the Principles of the People called Quakers Answered With a brief Discovery of the true Church in which the Doctrine of Perfection is Vindicated by sound Scripture Arguments Whereunto is added the 14th Chapter of A. S. his Book in which he declares the Protestant or Sectarian Ministers not to be true Preachers nor sent of God which I thought meet to publish herewith that the Sectarians or Episcoparians may Answer for themselves O thou that dwellest upon many Waters aboundant in Treasures thine End is come and the Measure of thy Covetousness Jer. 51.13 For out of the North there cometh up a Nation against her which shall make her land desolate and none shall dwell therein chap. 50.3 And a mighty Angel took up a great stone like a milstone and cast it into the Sea saying Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all Rev. 18.21 Printed in the Year 1667. To the Reader Reader ALthough the Author of the pretended Reconciler of Religions did in the conclusion thereof seem to Challenge an Answer to all Particulars therein laid down according to the Chapters and Numbers thereof yet I did not look upon his Challenge to be any Obligation to me to proceed according to his Directions neither indeed was it needfull or necessary that I should answer his desire therein for it would have required more time then I was willing to spare for that work and more labour then I was willing to bestow about it because there is an easier way which I have taken to do the Work as effectual as though I had gone through with every particular there inserted For when the Foundation of a Building is Raced the whole Building will fall as effectually as though a man should begin at the top and pull down all one Stone after another and with a great deal less labour it is done So for my commodity I have observed that Rule in answering the aforesaid Book by Racing the Foundation of the Contents thereof or answering the chief Heads by which he therein endeavoured to prove the Church of Rome to be the True Church upon which all the rest of his Book hath its dependancy and those Heads or Particulars being confuted the rest must of themselves needs fall or of necessity be of no validity and so not worth spending Ink and Paper about upon consideration of which I doubt not but the Reader will find as good satisfaction in what I have hear written concerning the Church of Rome as though I had answered all his particulars particularly And so to the Grace of God do I commend thee J. C. The VVhore Unvail'd c. GReat is the controversie at this day throughout Christendom concerning the way of Worship and Salvation and great is the confusion that is about Faith and Religion c. even amongst all professing Christianity and many and cruel are the murthers that have been acted by them one against another about Faith and Worship since the Apostacy began and since people forsook the right way and went in Cains way and in Balà ams Jude ver 11. For then persecution began amongst the profest Christians and not before and when the right way was forsaken then people went into Envy and then they withstood the truth even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses and then they began to be scattered from the holy Mountain of the Lord where nothings hurts nor destroys to the barren mountains where they have been destroying one another and there in the dark and cloudy day of Antichrist's reign they have been worshipping the many headed Beast that then arose and also the Dragon that gave power to the Beast to make War with the Saints and they who have been worshipping upon one mountain they have cryed salvation is here And they who have been worshipping another head or upon another hill they have cried that salvation was to be found there For the seven Heads of the Beast are seven Mountains upon which the Whore sits that drinks the Blood of the Saints And so they fell out one with another about the way of Salvation upon these barren Mountains unto which people are in looking for Salvation the strife and the envy hath been And there people hath been killing one another about the way and themselves all out of the way in an Antichristian destroying persecuting spirit as their fruits declare for the Spirit of Christ never led the true Christians to persecute any about Religion neither doth any who are in the right way kill and destroy mens lives about Religion Nay they that do so are not true Christians but of an Antichristian spirit for I testifie in
the Name of the Lord and for God that the Spirit of Christ doth not nor never did admit or allow of persecution or of destroying mens lives about Worship and Faith towards God neither are any of them true Christians whatsoever they profess that are found so doing For it is not a bare profession of Christ and of zeal for his cause and crying up Ordinances c. that makes people true Christians or that gives them acceptance with God or will make them well-pleasing unto God But that which makes a man a true Christian is his obedience unto that Spirit which baptizeth into the true Faith by which Righteousness is wrought Heb. 11.33 and into Christ who is the Author of faith and will bring him to have the mind of Christ as the true Christians had and will make him partaker of his divine nature and will teach him to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and to do to all men as he would they should do unto him which is according to the Law and Prophets that Christ came to fulfil And indeed there is nothing that can bring a man into this true Christian state but only the working and operation of the Spirit of Christ in his inward parts which all ought to obey and submit unto For the persecuting Jews who were uncircumcised in heart and ears and did alwaies resist the holy Ghost they professed as great Zeal for God and his Cause as the Apostate Christians now do and they look'd for the coming of the Messiah of whom all the Prophets prophesied and professed they would Adore him and Reverence him c. and said That if they had been in the dayes of their Fathers they would not have slain the Prophets Mat. 23.31 who prophesied of the coming of Christ and so they had seemingly a great Zeal for God and his Truth But alas a Murdering spirit was found in them for notwithstanding they professed That they would not have kill'd the Prophets yet they kill'd the Son who was the end of the Prophets And although the Prophets signified the Time when Dan. 9.24 and the Place where the Messiah should be born Mic. 5.2 yet when he was come according to the Prophets which they profest these Professing Jews would not own him nor receive him John 1.11 because he reprov'd their Hypocrisie and their Murdering spirit John 8.40 but they Crucified and Slew Him And this is the very State of the Apostate Christians this day For who is there now amongst them but will profess as great Love to Christ as the Jews in Christ's dayes did to the Prophets who prophesied of him and who is there now among'st them but will say Had we been in Pilate's dayes 〈◊〉 would not have crucified Christ nor delivered him up to be crucified as the Jews said of the Prophets yet notwithstanding their so saying they do as the Jews did for now in this day of his spiritual appearance which they profess they look for and expect they are found persecuting of him in his Members under the sam̄e pretence that the Jews persecuted him in their day viz. as a Blasphemer c. And so the Persecutors were in all ages blinded by the godd of the World who was a murtherer from the beginning and though they could see the iniquities of their fathers and predecessors in persecuting and killing the Prophets yet the envy of their hearts was such that they could not see their own iniquities in persecuting and slaying the Son who was greater than the Servants whom their fathers slew so as I said before it is not a profession of Christ and his Ordinances or zeal for his cause that makes people true Christians neither is God Worshipped upon any of those mountains where the persecuting and destroying one another is but the Worship of God consisteth in obedience to that Spirit of Truth which condemns all those works of darkness and cruelty and in his own Mountain of Holiness where nothing hurts nor destroys Isa 11.9 And such is the Father now seeking to worship him that will worship him there and is now gathering his Sheep from off the barren Mountains upon which the Whore sits where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day of Anchrist's reign and where the Wars and Fightings are even to his own Holy Mountain where they shall learn war no more Isa 2.4 And this is the work that the Envious and Murtherous one opposeth and bestirs himself with all his force and might in his Instruments of Cruelty and Men of War arming of them with all kind 〈◊〉 weapons that possibly he can form to fight against this Appearance and Work of God for so it hath been that since we who are reproachfully called Quakers were raised up to be a people to bear Testimony for the Name of the Lord and of the working of his Spirit and Power we have alwayes been even as a Butt for all the Archers of Babylon even from every Mountain to shoot at and our sufferings have not been only in our persons and estates as the spoyling of our goods and scourgings and cruel mockings and imprisonments many unto death as this Nation to her anguish must be made to know but even all sorts of Babylons Merchants or they that trades in every part of her or within her Subburbs have oft made it their business to write and print against us endeavouring thereby as much as in them lay to render us odious to our own Nation and to Nations about us under pretence that we were Papists and Jesuits and that we propagated Jesuitical Principles c. but they being almost if not altogether weary of that work finding it to be to no purpose for the truth which we profess hath still got ground and flourisheth through all these things now at last the Papists or Jesuits themselves who I perceive have a secret hope of a day once more in this Nation they begin to put out their heads and to print against us and so both Protestants and Papists even every head and horn of the Beast after whom the whole World wonders are found pushing against the Lamb and the Saints Rev. 17.14 For of late a certain Pamphlet accidentally came to my hands written by a perfect Roman Catholick who subscribed his name A. S. in which he seems to shew himself sensible of the great distractions that are throughout the whole Christendom about the true way of worship and concerning the true Church and first states a Question viz. which is this Church c. and afterwards makes it his business to prove the Church of Rome to be this true Church and that by divers Arguments by him stated in a Syllogistical manner And I also finding the Author of the aforesaid Pamphlet therein smiting at the People of God called Quakers and endeavouring to render them odious by affirming they are led by a deluding spirit c. I found my self somewhat concerned to return a brief reply
the many Writings of his own which remain upon Record will speak forth to those who are of a true spiritual understanding what he was yet notwithstanding all these things were in my mind and divers other Considerations which occasioned me to defer the publication hereof so long as till now yet being I could not be so clear in my duty towards God and my Brother in neglecting to give forth this my Testimony concerning him and in suffering so precious a Testimony as his last was wholly to be put in oblivion I have with freeness and cheerfulness of heart undertaken it And when it pleased God to manifest his Eternal Power in the heart of the aforesaid R. F. it is well known unto many how effectually it wrought in him insomuch that although he was before a man of great abilities and parts and knowledge accounted of among men even excelling many of his equals yet he was content and willing in obedience to the Power of God to become a Fool to the World and to be stript and emptied of his own wisdom and knowledge which stood in the state faln from God and his Power and to suffer the loss of all worldly reputation and favour and the pleasures and delights thereof that he might win Christ Jesus and be found his Servant clothed with the Righteousness of Faith preferring the simplicity that is in Christ beyond all worldly wisdom and honour whatsoever and his Sufferings for the sake of Christ beyond all worldly reputation and so great was the change that was wrought it him that he became a wonder amongst many and the Word of God and his Power was great and mighty in him and through him in which he was sent forth by the Lord who had manifested himself unto him to preach the Everlasting Gospel to the Poor and to declare of that great Power of God of which he was made a Witness and of the Effects of its operation and so powerfull was his Message and Testimony that many were begotten into a firm belief thereof and believing the Report were turned from Darkness to the Light of Jesus with which they were enlightned and from Sathans power unto the Power of God which wrought mightily in their hearts to the changing of their minds and affections from things that are below towards things that are above all that is fading and corruptible and to the bringing of Life and Immortality to light in them And although they were atttended with many foul temptations because of their obedience to the Truth and Light of the Spirit of Grace and brought in many distresses in their passage from Death unto Life yet was he so experienced in the Depths and Subtilties of Sathan and also in the Dealings and Goodness of God in such conditions and estates that he had obtained the tongue of the Learned and could as oft times he did speak words in Season to the strengthning of the weak and refreshing of the weary and to the reviving of that which was near ready to faint So that he was in the Lords Hand even as a Father to the fatherless and as eyes to the Blind and feet to the lame and the eye that truly saw him blessed hm and the ear that heard him gave witness unto him for through the Power of God which enabled him he delivered the Poor and the needy and built up many that believed in their most precious Faith and confirmed them therein And went about from place to place through the Land of his Nativity turning many from Darkness to Light and confirming the Churches and doing good And his Service was very great for the Lord in his day for he was so furnished with Heavenly Wisdom and Understanding through the Grace of God and also so seasoned thereby that his Patience Meekness and Humility exceeded many And although God had so endued him with Heavenly Vertues and Abilities exceeding many yet was he not pufft up therewith neither sought to exercise Lordship over those that were weaker and younger then himself but gave place unto any that had the least Gift of God to exercise so that through the Spirit of Meekness and Humility with which he was adorned he was exceeding lovely and beautiful and the hearts and souls of many were affected therewith who in simplicity thirsted after Righteousness and such waited for him as for the Rain upon whom his Doctrine so dropped Yet nevertheless he was terrible to the Worker of Iniquity and the Sword of his Mouth was very sharp for the Word of God was therein and when he had to do with any who opposed the Truth and Way of Life and Salvation which we profess and walk in as oft-times he had his Weapon was very sharp to them and they were not able to resist the Wisdom of the Spirit by which he spoke for thereby he confounded their wisdom and broke their Weapons in pieces so that they were oft ready to Blaspheme God because of the plague that it was to them and a Conqueror he was over the Beast and false Prophet against whom he made War in Righteousness in and though the Power of the Lamb in whose Spirit he finished his Testimony and Course in the Faith And as the Enemies of the Truth of God were many and in divers shapes that this valiant Souldiers of the Lamb had to encounter withal so he was alwayes furnished with Armor and Weapons fit for the Work and Service in which he was exercised by which he was enabled to encounter with and Conquer all But at last that his Armor and Weapons might be proved to be sufficient to encounter with the Enemy of Truth in all kind of Appearances and Transformations it was his lot with me and divers others of the Servants of the Lord to be engaged against the Enemy of Truth who had transformed himself into the likeness of an Angel of Light and under a seeming pretence of appearing on the behalf of God and his Cause c. and against Formality and Traditions begun strongly to oppose the Truth of God and the Ministry thereof in and through his Servants and Messengers who have approved themselves as the Ministers of God and as his Embassadors and to cry against our Assemblies and manner of Worship and our Exercise therein as only Formal in which we have always found the glorious Presence Power and Majesty of the Lord amongst us refreshing comforting and strengthening of us even according as our Hearts Souls can or could desire so that we were engaged to justifie the Lord in opposition to that gainsaying spirit of delusion by which many were beguiled led away after Satan to their hurt And in our Testimony for the Lord and against that self-separating gainsaying Spirit the Power of the Lord did greatly accompany and assist us and was as greatly with us as in any service that he had called us unto The sincere and upright in heart who have kept their first Love and their first Faith
therein that the Cause of God may not be betrayed by any through their declining from that godly Practice and duty that the Enemy may not be encouraged thereby to vaunt against the Remnant that are faithful to oppose them therein also but rather through your faithfulness and stability the enemy may be discouraged in his Enterprises and put to flight that you may be Conquerors over him and may tread Satan under foot and may reign with the Lamb for ever And my Friends consider the faithfulness of many of the Servants of the Lord who loved not their lives unto death who are gone before who preached and made known the Truth and way of Life to you how they laboured and traveled amongst you in the Name and Strength of the Lord to beget you unto God and to build you up in the most pretious Faith and how they exhorted you time after time to that godly practice of Assembling together and how they gave Example and President therein as well as Exhortation thereunto Nay have not divers of them laid down their Lives not counting them dear to them for that very Practice of Assembling together Yea certainly they have so some in Prisons and some otherwise Oh therefore my Friends this Duty of Assembling together ought not to be slighted nay hath not the present Liberty that we do enjoy in our meeting together cost the Lives of many was it not with the blood of many of them that bore the same Testimony which we bare that this present Liberty hath been purchased and ought not this Liberty then to be prized and made a right Use of I am jealous with a godly Jealousie that all who are concerned do not rightly weigh ponder and consider these things but I desire all to consider it and let not that Testimony fall by the negligence of any which hath been sealed with the Lives of so many of Gods Servants and Messengers whose Knowledge and Understanding in the Way and Mysteries of God was not inferiour unto any that are left behind and yet they chearfully offered up their All for that Testimonies sake Therefore my Friends be diligent and faithful to the Lord walking in his Covenant of Life which will be a true Guide unto you and an Instructor and will keep your Desires fresh towards the Lord and your Love one towards another so that you will be constrained to Come together and to wait together upon the Lord to receive refreshment from his presence which you will see and feel in the middest of you as your hearts are kept in his Fear and enter not into consultation with Flesh and Blood nor into reasonings which will say Thou needest not go to Meetings because thy Teacher is present in all places and so will draw thee into negligence of meeting with the Children of Light for if thou gave heed unto such reasonings thou wilt soon find thy Love will wax cold towards the People of God and thou wilt lose the sence of the Teachings of the Lord who is present in all places for although he be in all places present yet hath he ordained and appointed that his People should Assemble themselves together to wait upon him and to worship him and hath given the promise of his Presence unto such that do so But if any draw back from answering his requirings his Soul will have no pleasure in them and such will dye as to God and will become as dry and withered Branches and their Love will decay and wax cold and they will not have a sight nor a sense of the Omnipresence of the Lord nor of his Teachings though they may talk of it as multitudes do at this day who are altogether strangers thereunto further than by hear say And therefore once more I say unto you all Be faithful to the Lord in your several measures and stations where the Lord hath set you and be diligent in that godly Practice of Assembling your selves together in which a Testimony for the Lord is born which many have laid down their Lives for and let none make their blood of no effect by slighting Meetings the present Liberty for which hath been purchased through the shedding their blood but let all meet together and being met wait upon the Lord in faithfulness that you may feel the Springs and Fountain of Life opened amongst you and in the midst of you that you may be refreshed and strengthened and may grow and be enabled to encounter with your Souls Enemy in all his appearances and may put him to flight and may tread Satan under foot and reign as Kings on Earth and as Conquerors to the praise of his Name who hath called you that he may take delight to dwell amongst you and to do you good who over all is worthy God Blessed for evermore By a Companion of those who hold the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ and suffer for the same Josiah Coale A SONG Of the Judgments Mercies OF THE LORD Wherein the things seen in Secret are declared Openly Being A Brief Demonstration of the Secret Work of the Almighty in me his Servant Given forth at the Movings of the Spirit of the Lord and is to go abroad throughout the World With a Hearty Salutation of Pure and Unfained Love flowing from the Innocent Life 〈◊〉 in a few words to all the Souldiers of the Lambs Army though out the Nations and also to the Suffering Seed every where With a few Words by way of Information unto such who may have desires in them to know the Way to the Kingdom of Peace and Righteousness which we 〈◊〉 and are Heirs of through Christ Jesus our Lord which to the◠〈◊〉 the Visitation of God I Will sing of the Judgments and Mercies of the Lord and declare his wondrous Works unto all people that the Inhabitants of the Earth may hear and fear and reverence the Lord who is holy When I walked in the way of the Wicked and knew not the Path of the Just when I lived in Transgression against God and knew not his holy Law to walk therein then oft-times did fear surprise me and terror seized upon my heart for I saw that the way in which I walked was the way that led to destruction then as I considered the way of the World I saw they were all gone astray and though they had a Profession of God yet acquaintance with him they had not neither was he to be found in their Assemblies Then my Soul languished after the Knowledge of him and after the Knowledge of the Way of Life yet still was I captivated with vanity and the deceitfulness of sin stole away my heart But the good Spirit of God still strived in me to come out of the wayes of the World whose Worships I had long seen to be but as the offering of Swines-blood and in my heart I could not joyn with them but had a testimony in me against their wayes and that which
Jesus yet it doth not follow according to the sequel of the major that the Scriptures the Faith in Christ Jesus being left out as J. N. hath done are a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other because it s through that Faith which is in Christ Jesus that they are able to make wise c. which Faith he makes no mention of in his Assumption and Conclusion that they are a Perfect Rule c. by which the Falaciousness of his Argument appears And indeed its necessary that all should understand how the Scriptures are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith c. for the Scriptures here spoken of and which Christ spoke of when he said Ye search the Scriptures c. cannot be otherwise understood then the Scriptures of the old Testament because the other was not then written And those Scriptures of the Prophets were they that testified of Christ who is the great Salvation of God And God said by the Prophet He had given him a Covenant of Light to lighten the Gentiles to be for Salvation to the Ends of the Earth And the Prophets likewise shewed the time when and the place where this Messiah should be born and brought forth in that Body which was prepar'd for him in which old Simeon beheld the Salvation to wit The Light of the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel so that the Scriptures of the Prophets containing in them so many clear and infallible Testimonies of the great Salvation of God and of the time and place of the Appearance thereof they were able through Faith in Christ to make him wise or to give an Understanding that he was the great Salvation of God that was then appear'd according to the Testimonies of the Prophets which from a Child he had known And so on this wise coming to the Knowledge of the great Salvation of God by Faith in him he in the same Faith did doubtless follow him as a Sheep that knew his Voice that so he might receive Life Eternal which he gives to his Followers and become an Heir of that Salvation which through Faith in Christ he was made wise unto and so coming as a Sheep to be a Follower of the true Shepherd he own'd him for his only Guide and his Spirit as the only Zule to walk by and to speak by whose Preaching was thereby even with words that it self taught 1 Cor. 2.13 And this is that Perfect Rule which cannot be corrupted as the Scriptures may as J.N. confesseth and so cannot be said to be a Perfect Rule if corrupted And indeed J.N. is one that greatly corrupts them as he states them thinking thereby to prove them a Perfect Rule even as before shewed The next Argument to prove Scriptures a perfect Rule is That if the Scriptures be given by Inspiration and are profitable for Doctrine for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all Good Works then the Scriptures are an Absolute and a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other but the Scriptures are c. therefore c Answ That the Scriptures though not all Scriptures were given by Inspiration of God I shall grant and that they are profitable as aforesaid I shall acknowledge but that they are therefore an absolute and a perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other as J.N. affirmeth that I do not acknowledge but deny because that may be profitable to man in order to the persecting of him to all Good Works which may not be an absolute and perfect Rule for him to walk by and none other as for instance One man may be profitable to another in teaching and instructing of him by the Spirit of the Lord to walk in the Light and Spirit of the Son of God which the Father hath sent into the Heart that so by that Spirit and the Power of it he may be able to deny all Unrighteousness and be furnished thereby perfectly to perform all Good Wooks herein I say one man may be profitable to another and yet it cannot therefore be said That that man who is so profitable c. is an absolute and perfect Rule for all men to walk by and no other for it were ridiculous so that although the Scriptures be profitable as aforesaid it doth not at all follow as J. N. concludeth that they are therefore a Perfect Rule and no other But that Word Light or Spirit of Truth in the inward parts from whence the Scriptures proceeded and which by the Scriptures we are instructed to walk in to hear and obey which cannot be corrupted as the Scriptures may that is the alone absolute and perfect Rule all men ought to walk by and none other as saith the Scripture Nehemiah 9.20 I gave them my Good Spirit to instruct them And this is that Rule or Leader which Christ directeth to Even the Spirit of Truth which will lead into all Truth Joh. 16.13 the same the Apostle directeth to saying Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh Mark What more Perfect Rule can be then that which keeps from the fulfilling the Lusts which bring forth sin for if the Lusts be not obey'd and fulfilled the sin is not acted therefore said the Apostle He that abideth in him sinneth not by all which it appears that J.N. hath not proved that the Scriptures are a Perfect Rule and none other Neither do the Scriptures any where testifie of themselves as a Perfect Rule excluding all other But frequently bear Testimony unto that one antient standing RULE which was from rhe beginning from which the Scriptures were given forth and which they direct unto Again saith J. N. pag. 26. For further Confirmation of this Truth I shall add some few Arguments more that the New Testament Way is a Perfect Rule for all men to walk by and none other Answ This wholly alters the Case for it is not the New Testament Way being a Perfect Rule c. that we are contending against neither will his proving the new Testament Way to be a perfect Rule at all prove the Scriptures to be a perfect Rule except he could first prove the Scriptures to be the New Testament Way which he is never able to do for it s declared in the Scriptures called the New Testament That Christ who is God's Covenant of Light said I am the Way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14.6 Abide in me c. cap. 15.4 And my Sheep bear my Voyce and they follow me and I give to them Eternal Life Joh. 10.27 28. Another New Testament Way or Perfect Rule then this for men to walk in and by I no where read of in the Scripture of Truth but this Way as the New and Living Way which leads to the Holiest of all is frequently borne witness of in the Scriptures which as before I have said contain many Testimonies concerning this Just