saying All this will I give thee if thou will 〈◊〉 down and worship me then safe will such be as dwell in the dayly â—rosse whereby the world is Crucified unto them and they unto the world that so the wicked one may have no part in them because they are passed from death unto life feeding of and being cloathed with that which is immortal and never perishes their life standing in an eternal root who have the Lord for their portion such cannot with Esau sell their birth-right for a messe of Pottage nor with Demas chuse this present world and forsake the way of truth for in them the temptation of the enemy hath no place they living in that immortal eternal principle of life which first convinced them of the evil of the world and the spirit of wickednesse in high places that accursed root which brings noâ— forth fruit unto God in which they were once branches but are now broken off that they might be ingrafted and for ever abide in another but whoever return into the old root and nature again will become as withered branches twice dead plucked up by the roots You therefore my dear friends that know a cutting off from the old root and a grafting again into the true Vine the light of life and word of the Lord God by which your hearts are in measure cleansed sanctified and purified from the pollutions of the world abide ye in that word for ever and goe not forth to look for or covet after another dispensation of life or glory nor seek not another Kingdome besides that which is revealed in the light which as ye abide in it an enterance will be administred into it from day to day and a growth into that state and condition which the high and lofty spirits which have left their habitations and are exalted above the root of life in themselves fall short of though they may have great swelling words of those things which they have not witnessed tasted nor handled of being vainly puft up in their fleshly minds and boast of things above their line or of the estate whereunto they have not attained But this I say unto you my dear friends goe not forth unto any of these exalted spirits in any of these glorious temptations which promiseth great things but there is a lye in that which may seem to be their right hand and therefore goe not forth but abide with the Lord for ever in the measure of his eternal truth which changeth not though many may turn from it nor waxeth not old but abideth the same for ever for there is your safety And as you abide in this and stand singly girt up in it here no deceitful spirits can come nor enter but they will be seen and judged whether they come from within or from without and whatever their covering or appearance may be yet being out of the vertue and savour of life their root and ground will be seen discovered and judged and so 〈◊〉 kept clean pure and holy in the eternal light and life of God in which 〈◊〉 live walk and will have dominion over all unclean and fallen spirit who are gone from their first principle and erred from the light of life which was sown in them And so you dear and tender plants of my heavenly Father abide ye in the true Vine the light of life which the Father hath sown in you that for ever ye may be rooted fixed and established in it and bring forth fruit to perfection that the root of bitternesse and every plant which your heavenly Father hath not planted may wholly be cut up and rooted out by the two-â—â—ged Sword the Axe of the Lord God that so the plant of righteousnesse may take root and grow up in you wholly to cover the earth as the waters covers the Sea that as you have born the Image of the earthly so now you may bear the Image of the heavenly and may become a praise unto the Lord in your generation a comfort strengthening and refreshing one unto another serving the Lord with a pure heart fervently and one another in love which is the end of all ministrations and the summe of the desire of our hearts concerning you and that for which our souls travels that the love of God may abound in you and the God of love peace and mercy be with you and establish your hearts in the everlasting Covenant of his light life and Salvation that in it ye may stand for ever and bear a living testimony for him and his truth upon earth And that so it may be with you all is the fervent Supplication of my soul in the spirit that giveth life by which the endeared visitation and salutation of my love first and last reacheth to you all Farewell From a Branch of Righteousnesse sprung forth of the Root of David known unto you in the eternal ground and root of life and amongst men by the name of HENRY JACKSON The first Copy of this was written in Warwick Goale in the latter end of the 10. Moneth 1663. Where I am a Prisoner for the testimony of Christ Jesus with my dear Brother before mentioned and many more of our dear friends in the truth For the dear Plants of God in the Southern Counties Essex Suffolk Norfolk Kent or elsewhere c. to be dispersed and sent amongst them as freedome and opertunity is Yarmouth common Gaol the fourth day of the eight moneth 1663. MY dearly beloved Friends who are sensible of the breathings of life in your selves and of the power of the everlasting Gospel of peace my unfeigned brotherly love flowes forth unto you from the immortall life which the God of my life hath manifested in my mortal body and with the salutation of this my reall love do I greet you all whom God hath called and chosen in these perillous times to be a peculiar people unto himself to shew forth his praise and not your own to declare his wonderous works and not your own to get honour and renown unto him in the earth and not unto your selves for he hath bought you with a price therefore are you not your own and he hath redeemed you from the corruptible by that which is incorruptible and therefore how should you continue in that which is corruptible to the satisfying your wills and the wills of corruptible men who are in the corruptible and in their unconverted estate fulfiling their own wills shewing forth their own praise declaring their own workes admireing and worshiping of them and getting honour and renown unto themselves in the earth honouring regarding and serving the Creatures more then the Creator even as we in the times of ignorance have done before the redemption before mentioned was witnessed or the election known which now many are made witnesses of glory be unto the most high for evermore Wherefore Friends answer ye the Lords end in calling of you and his end in purchasing of you and
of heart and minde walk ye in the daily crosse unto that part and nature which would crucifie the Son of God afresh and cause you to build again those things which you once destroyed by getting up into a fleshly liberty and exaltation which is not the liberty of the Sons of God who have dominion over that part which would cause the offence of the crosse to cease for such as give way unto that though they have begun in the Spirit yet will end in the flesh and though they once might partake of the virtue of the root of life yet afterwards degenerate from it and bring not forth fruit unto God but both branch and fruit perishes so against that friendes all are to watch which would lead out into fleshly liberty or into any exaltation of flesh or spirit above the daily crosse of Christ how glorious soever it may appear to the outward eye yet a snare of death there is in it and the vertue of the pretious life will withdraw it self from such as follow it though they may flourish as a green bay-tree in the profession of truth yet the vertue of the root of life having withdrawn it self their leaf will shortly wither and they become as corne that groweth on the house top that brings not forth fruit to perfection And therefore my dear friends the word of exhortatation which ariseth in my heart unto you all is dwell low in the fear of the Lord God and in humility of heart walk with him in the measure of that grace ye have received of him for that is safe for you all and to him that hath shall be given that he may have in abundance but unto him that hath not profited in that which he hath even that which he hath shall be taken from him Watch you therefore my dear friends that a daily profiting you may know in that tallent which is committed unto you for there is no profiting in or by another nor by what another hath received of it but by abideing in that which ye have received of God in your own perticulars that you may feel that grow and increase in you and you in it untill it have wholy leavened you into its own proper vertue and nature and thereby an entrance is and will be administred unto you more and more into that which is eternal even into the kingdome and life of our Lord Jesus Christ and you will feel an habitation in that and and a sitting down in it which indeed is exceeding pretious and will countervaile all your sufferings labours and travels for it And that you will feel raised up in you which serves God as naturally and does his will unto which his commands are not grevious but joyous nor is his yoke burthensome but this brings forth fruit naturally unto God for indeed it is of him and from him and not of this world but born from above and seeks those things that are eternal and to be unto God in deed in truth and in righteousnesse and though this brings forth the workes of God outwardly before men and stands singly given up in body soul and spirit to serve him in all things and to do his will that therein the Father may be glorified yet it doth not seek to appear before men nor to be approved by men in any thing but to answer the Lord in all things and to stand approved in his sight and unto his witnesse in every conscience and this is the son of God for ever and heir of the Kingdome and a plant of the right hand of the God of Heaven which naturally bringeth forth fruit to the praise of the Lord of the vineyard who hath planted and watered it And so dear friends feel this in you all raised up begotten and brought forth for this will the Lord God cherish as a Father his onely begotten and this shall receive the rain in due season even the former and latter rain the dew of Heaven and the fatnesse of the good ground shall daily water and nourish this in the root and in the branch and though the briars and thorns may seek to smother this yet the fire of the Lord shall consume them and every plant that the Father hath not planted which seeks to hinder the growth of this the axe of the Lord shall cut them up so that the leaves of this shall never wither nor its blossomes perish the scorching heat in the Summer nor the stormy blasts in the Winter shall have no power over it because it is rooted in an eternal ground of life and watered with the dew of of Heaven which causeth it to flourish and blossome in due season and bring forth fruit to perfection to the everlasting glory and renown of the Lord of the Vineyard over all who is blessed for evermore And so dear Plants of my heavenly Father recieve ye my words in the word of life from whence they were written and therein also may you read feel and receive the thing I testifie of and exhort unto even the engrafted word which is able to save your souls that by it you may have power over that whether in your selves or in others which would draw you from the root of life or word engrafted in your own particulars for that is your enemy and to be watched and warred against which would draw you from that in whatever appearance it may come unto you in that as an Angel of light to draw you from the light of life revealed in you or from the present sensible feeling of your own particular estate and conditions in it into something before or behind which may seem glorious unto the eye that is abroad saying Lo here or there is the Kingdome of God in this or that or the other observation and thereby seek to raise up a covetting or longing desire to be in another state or condition in a higher or more glorious state or dispensation then what you are grown into by the light of life the manifestation of Gods spirit which is given unto you to profit withall but I say unto you goe not forth but abide with the Lord in that which ye have received of him that by it a growth and enterance may be administred unto you into the Kingdome in deed and in truth for the Kingdome of God comes not by observation of this or that or the other thing nor yet stands it in high words or guilded and coyned expressions but in judgement and mercy in peace in truth and in righteousnesse and happy are they that enter it through judgement and righteousnesse and sit down in it in the peace that endures for ever and goes no more forth to the right hand nor to the left for the things that are behind also may the enemy tempt you withal to draw back your minds from the Lord into the glory of Egypt the thing which you have once turned your backs upon even the fading enjoyments of this present life
Satan they cannot give up them unto Satan who through the power of God are brought as you are from under Satans power 2ly I have seen that the curses of them that pretend to excommunicate you are but like the curses of Shemi that cursed David or the curses of of prophane Publicans who when they are troubled at you will curse you for the good counsel you give them when you exhort them to the fear the Lord and to forsake the evil of their waies 3ly I cannot see that they can excommunicate you out of that which many of you never were in I mean their Church or its fellowship but suppose you had been in it what evil can they lay to your charge by reason of which they should deliver you unto Satan of which they not being able to convince you ought not thâ—refore according to that which they professe to be theâ—â— Rule excommunicate any of you 4ly They should first make proofe of their Ministry through bringing people thereby from under Satans poweâ— and by bringing you first into fellowship before they had gone about to have excommunicated you out of that which many of you never have been in And though at first they may pretend love unto your souls but hoâ— do they manifest it seeing when you refuse to come at their call they presently after their manner will deliver you over unto Satan is this then love let the wise in heart judge But methinks I have seen them as men in an old decayed ruined ship at sea that was ready to perish who cryed to some that were in a safe harbour to come to their ship for safety and pretended much love unto them but they in the harbour being wise would not come into their rotten ship for many good reasons whereupon they in the ship grew angry and pretending to force them into the ship but did presently throw them into the sea before ever they got them into the ship thus their treachery appeared who pretended love but were filled with envie Is it not thus with them that goe about to draw you from your safe harbour at which many of you through mercy are arrived who while they pretend they would force you out of love to your souls into their Church fellowship do in their haste before they get you so farre deliver you so much as in them lyeth unto Satan oh who would therefore put confidence in such men for surely they are of them who rather seeks your's then you and had rather share your Estates then have your society therefore well said the Apostle Turn away from such and in the same spirit according to my measure say I Turn not again unto such least while you turn unto them you turn from following the Lamb and come then through the Lambs power to be excommunicated out of the fellowship with the Saints in light and come thereby to be delivered unto Satan which God forbid And Friends however of this I am assured and can assure you that by all their power whether Ecclesiastical or Civil they shall not be able to excommunicate you out of that Church which is in God nor out of the fellowship of the Saints in light neither shall they by their power whether Ecclesiastical or Civil deprive you of your peace and comfort in the Lord while you abide faithful Let this therefore be your comfort in the height of your sufferings when they cast you out of their Synagogues and say Let the Lord be glorified and when they spoil your goods and cast your bodies into prison and say they will make you examples that others may fear oh be not ye troubled at any of these things for the Lamb â—hom ye follow will not leave you comfortlesse for if you be in prison he will be with you if you suffer hunger he will feed you if you suffer the spoiling of your goods for the testimony of his eternal truth he is heir of all things and he hath all power in his hand who cloatheth the Lyllies and feedeth the Ravens and what will he not provide for you his followers that make warre in righteousnesse through faith under his banner of love yea yea my beloved friends he will reward you into your own bosomes though for the present you suffer such buffetting and beating such imprisonment and spoiling of your goods and such cruel usage in many respects and he will not suffer the rod of the wicked to rest alwaies upon your lot Therefore be of good chear in the midst of these your sufferings which now you are to follow the Lamb through who through sufferings was made perfect and now sits at the right hand of his father in the highest heavens where they that now suffer upon earth for his names sake shall reign with him in glory and immortality for ever and ever Wherefore comfort ye one another with these things in the midst of these your present sufferings which are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed when the Lamb and such as now follow him through suffering shall have the victory with which God of his infinite mercy crown you all my dear Brethren and Sisters and blesse you all with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in the son of his love the Captain of our salvation to whose safe custodie and protection I commit you all and remain Your dear Brother and Companion in tribulation and yet in bonds for the testimony of Iesus WILLIAM CATON Another EPISTLE To Friends DEar Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ I salute you in the bowells of tender love Dear Friends all keep low in the life that the living vertue you all may feel to nourish the tender Babe of God and all be tender over the principle of God in your own particulars and that will lead you to be tender over one another and all keep in the pure wisdome of God and watch one over another with a single eye and you that are strong bear the weak and come into onenesse onenesse of mind for there the blessing is so dear hearts I am filled with the streams of Gods eternal love and my streams of love floweth towards you all So friends sink down into the life and power of God that you may be preserved pure and clean that nothing may arise which would break your peace with God that you may be preserved in unity with him and one with another that pure love may spring up one to another in which love you will be all refreshed and be as a watered Garden feeling the well within from whence the living streams flowes forth and this keeps all broken and tender so all that which is hard rough untoward or pievish is kept out yea all that which would make a rent is seen and comprehended and with the light of Jesus Christ judged and you by the word of power reconciled unto God and one to another and let your meeting be in that so will you all feel the presence of the living God amongst you and there are we knit together in one and in that am I with you and near you all and feel you who are in the life and power of truth where the presence of the Lord is felt where we reign and trample upon all that which would lead from the truth So dear friends keep within and stay your minds in the light of Christ that you may grow up in the soundnesse to be of a sound mind not soon shaken but seek the rock Christ to stand upon dwell in that which changeth not that in the onenesse you may be kept for the Light of Christ changeth not to all that which is in the changing is not of Christ who changeth not And to that measure of life I commit you all which at first convinced you which begot love and tendernesse in you towards God and towards one another Ah friends in that keep so shall you feel peace RICHARD SCOCHTHRAâ— Given forth in the time of his Imprisonment at Bridewell for Gods unchangeable trurh who since finished his Testimony who travelling in the service of the Lord laid down his Earthen Tabernacle about the year 1661 far from his naâ—â—ve Coâ—â—try in the Island Zant. The End