A Visitation in Love To those of the People called BAPTISTS with whom the Lords Spirit yet ceaseth not to strive that have not slain the Witness by making War and contending against the Light who although they may think themselves Rich and increased with much goods yet are found to be Wretched and Miserable Poor and Blind and Naked With Councel from the Lord that they without delay before a farther day of Misery and Calamity overtake them come away from all blind Leaders and unprofitable Teachers who keep them alwayes learning but never bring them to the knowledge of the Truth unto the spirit of the living God the everlasting Teacher of his People that so they may cease from all their own works and labours and stand still and wait to know and feel the Lords work wrought in them by the Arm of Gods Salvation Christ Jesus the Light of the world the only way to the Father That they may no longer feed on words and seek after that food that perisheth But that they may all come to feed on the Word of Life on that Bread which came down from God out of Heaven That they may know the fountain of Life set open in themselves that out of their bellies may flow forth rivers of living Waters to the refreshment of their immortal Souls and the Heritage of God By one who travels in Spirit for their Souls good and by the everlasting Light of the Son of God is come to see and know that though Johns Ministration once committed to him in its time was Excellent and Glorious and he the greatest born of a woman yet a greater than John is come and that the least in the Kingdome is greater than John J. A. LONDON Printed for Robert Wilson at the Black-spread-Eagle and Wind-mil in Martins le Grand 1660. IN LOVE A Visitation to those of the People called Baptists with whom the Lords Spirit yet ceaseth not to strive that have not slain the Witnesse by making War and Contending against the Light c. Truly Friends HAving wandred in times past from Mountaine to Hill to find pasture and refreshment for my soul which is immortal and will not be satisfied but with that Food which Perisheth not when it was the earnest desire of my very heart to be delivered from the bondage of corruption and to be brought into the Liberty of the Sons of God for which the whole Creation groans daily panting and breathing after the waters of life that in the living Truth of God I might be set free to serve the living God And in this though my desires were pure yet I labouring for the accomplishment thereof in my own strength and way in all my performances and duties as I judged in imitation of what others hath done and performed in dayes of old and months past in the Power of Gods Spirit But I being not in and guided by the same spirit all my labour was in vain it being not in the Lord though in never so like imitation from the Letter of Scriptures wherein I strove long to overcome but in vain is salvation expected from the Hills or from the Mountains but from him who is mighty to save the Arme of Gods Salvation the Word of God which is nigh in the heart and in the mouth In him alone I found everlasting strength which giveth Victory and Dominion over sin and corruption which lodgeth in the heart of every man by nature wherein he is a child of wrath Out of which estate I verily believe it is the desire of many souls amongst you to know Gods Salvation and Redemption and that you might yet at length after a cloudy and dark day which hath been over you come forth to the new and living way to the glorious Light of the Gospel which is the Power of God unto Salvation that you henceforth might serve him no longer in the oldnesse of the Letter but in the newnesse of the Spirit which is only accepted by the Lord In whom my soul hath often travelled and seriously weighed your condition of Bondage under such Elements as must passe away and be consumed with the Spirit of burning which must passe upon all flesh that shall be saved Verily touching you I have had often thoughts of heart who sometime were a people that in a measure and in some things did run well but who hath bewitched you I may say that begun in the Spirit that now ye should think to be made perfect in the flesh in which ye will certainly end unless you come in every particular to be witnesses in your selves of the new Birth in the new and living way Christ iâ— you the hope of Glory And all your Ordinances as you call them and performances shall not cover you nor stand you in stead in the day of the Lord when nothing but the covering of the Lords Spirit shall hide you from the wrath of the Lamb Truly Friends my bowells yearn towards you knowing that there is a right Seed in some of you that groans to come forth out of the prison from under the bonds of the cruel Oppressor the enemy of your immortal soules Oh! that you would yet at length learn to be wise unto Salvation and no longer lay out your money for that which is no bread but that you might all come to him who is the way the truth and the life Christ Jesus the light of the world through the Cross to the Crown from things that fade and perish even with the use thereof unto that which is everlasting and never shall fade away Verily I have felt and born the burden of your Apostacy which hath grieved the good Spirit of our God that on the 14th day of the tenth month 1659. in the time of the late revolutions as I was passing on my way towards London this was the Lords complaint touching you in these words They have betrayed me into the hands of Sinners when you had a day time and opportunity put in your hands to do service for the Lord but you like fools had not hearts to make use of it And I know that you are not in the way that shall prosper neither are your Sacrifices or services accepted by the Lord you being gone back from that pure principle that sometime called you to repentance and to come out of the world and are gone after your own inventions and Imaginations from the Letter which killeth and come not to the Spirit which giveth life You cannot chuse but confesse that that savour that sometimes you might be sensible to be in your services is gone from you and what meaneth your stay any longer in that place or thing where God is not to be found And of this be assured the more you strive in your vaine minds to build up that which God pluck down and disownes the farther you go from the way of rest and peace and unless you repent and return you shall lye down in sorrow yea the
highest and tallest Cedar amongst you shall know that the Lord God is confounding the wisdom of the wise and all the likenesses and Images set up or practiced by men in their inventions and fallen wisdom is but abomination in the sight of the Lord though in your services you could speak even with the Tongue of men and Angells yet you being not in the right Spirit you find not acceptance with God but are barren and unfruitful unto God in all that you do And if you stand stil me thinks you cannot chuse but see from whence ye are fallen how low weak and carnall all your performances are imagining to your selves a life in things that are dead and will not come to him who hath the words of eternal life who was before Abraham was to that word which was in the beginning Christ Jesus the Light of the world the same yesterday to day and for ever He that was dead is a live and behold he liveth for evermore unto whom you must all come for Salvation as he is come a Light into the world there being Salvation in no other name under Heaven and this is the mighty Power of God unto Salvation and whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have Eternal Life And unless ye come unto the Light and follow it you shall for ever abide in darknesse and though it seem never so small and contemptible a thing in your eyes but as a grain of mustard seed by reason of your high profession which sometimes hath had esteem amongst men yet unto it you must all bow and yeild obedience if ever you expect Salvation to your immortal Souls there being not another way but this which will bring you down and teach you to become fools and deny your selves and to take up the daily Cross to the carnal mind that by it which is the power of God you may witnesse a death unto sin even in the root and ground from whence all the works of darknesse doe proceed This Light is the mavellous Light which will shew you all things that you have done and will lead you in the path of life And truly Friends to me it is a thing to be Lamented that you a professing people that have seemed so zealous for the way of the Lord as that you should now be so blind as to hate the Light and not to come to it to try the power and strength thereof what it will do for you at length after all your own Labours from which you must cease and in the silence of all flesh which is a hard work waite to hear the voice of the true Shepheard which will teach you to do the will of God Surely this I conclude that if you come not to the Light it is because your deeds are evil for it makes all things manifest even the hidden things of the heart brings the sinner to judgment through which Sions redemption is to be known what think ye friends that its dangerous to come to that Principle of God which teacheth to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to walk righteously soberly and godly in this present evill world which is the grace of God that bringeth salvation which hath appeared unto all men that light which enlightneth every man that cometh into world that Spirit which convinceth the world of sin and leadeth us into all truth is he that we testify of and perswade all men every where to take heed unto and follow And are you affraid of him and do you look for another because his Visage is marred more than any and do you fly the crosse because of the shame onelse what is it that makes you stand at such a distance from the way of life know yee not that the Kingdome is for the poor and hungry and that the fat and strong are for judgement and the rich are sent empty away Truely friends if that pure principle of God that somtimes breathed in you after Gods righteousness be so choaked and stifled in you through the deceitfulness of sin and the cares of this life with things that are carnall which feeds not the birth immortall that it ceaseth to strive and stir in you your case is lamentable you are but clouds without water carryed about of winds trees whose fruit witheâ—eth yea without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots the end whereof is for the fire of Gods wrath in the day of the revelation of his righteous judgements upon the workers of iniquity in which you are found without the Spirit of life and power under the deepest coverings of Antichrist wherein the mystery of iniquity lodgeth in those dayes of his reigne in the hearts of the children of disobedience even in the highest likenesses of words and conformity to the letter that he is even transformed into an Angell of Light to deceive many who comes not to the light of life and power of God which discovers and destroyes his Kingdome root and branch What aileth you is blindnesse happened unto you that you cannot see where you are and that it shall be more tollerable for Sodom and Gomorah in the day of judgement than for these that are called Jews but are not that have a name that they live but are dead in sins and trespasses see you not how through your deceit hypocrisie and unfaithfulnesse to Gods witnesse in you you have brought up your enemies on top of you that misery threatens your persons barrenness leanness is entred into your very souls so that fear the pit and the snare daily attends you that you are become weak and unstable as water that element that you have so much builded upon and are become a shame unto Religion by your abominable Apostacy from the wayes of truth and the paths of righteousnesse unto which you have sometimes had a Call and a Day to make it manifest but you would not come down to the foolishnesse of the Cross of Christ that so in him yee might have been more than conquerors over all your enemyes within and without but have chosen your own wayes and set up the abomination which maketh desolate and standeth in the place where it ought not and have made that which should be the Temple of the living God a Cage of unclean Birds the enemy having found the house as it were swept and garnished is returned again with seven worse Spirits than himself opposing the living truth of our God and that under a profession of God and of Christ of the Scriptures of Ordinances of the Words of the Prophets and Apostles yet hating envying reproaching and persecuting them that live the life of the Prophets and Apostles that in sincerity and godly simplicity serve the Lord God in the measure of his eternall Spirit which to you may seem a low thing that can pray when you will and preach when you will that have made such a great shew in the flesh in that wisdome which comprehends not the things of
God whereby yee have gained it may be praise of men the which you would fain keep up above the Crosse of Christ But down you must bring all your glory and excellency under the feet of the Lamb if ever you expect to be crowned with him in glory everlasting in that Kingdome which is not of this world that consists not in meates and drinks not in words but in power in Righteousnesse Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost unto which the Light will shew you the onely way which shineth in the darknesse which is in the heart of man giâ—eth us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ What think you of your Arguments Disputations and literall knowledge of the way of truth and the way of life what sins doth it give you victory over and what stands it you instead in the day of tryall is not all the excellency and glory thereof but a barren empty thing that refresheth not nor comforteth your immortal soules which onely with that bread of life which came down out of heaven are satisfied Try your selves have you that Life in you which is to be felt and handled in the presence of the Lord or else it is but a thing in notion that you feed upon which starves your soules I know you cannot but be sensible that you have lost that in your selves which sometime in a measure gave you the sence and savour of the things of God in the dayes of your infancy when the Lord was plucking down the lostinesse of man before you went about to set up a building after your own inventions and imaginations which will come to nothing It being not upon the Rock of Ages the foundation of many Generations as moved and directed thereunto by his eternall Spirit And now I believe as you deale faithfully and honestly with your own hearts you cannot but see and confesse that by all your hard labour study and performances of duties as you may call them from the letter of Scriptures and use of your ordinances you cannot again recover that which you have lost of the savour of life but grow dead yea wax worse and worse though it may be more frequent in your ordinances than ever you cry but God hears you not neither doth he regard the work of your hands which are abominable in his sight your sacrifices being not offered up in Abels nature from the new birth find not acceptance with God but are wholly adulterated from the present teachings of his Spirit as if the Scriptures were given forth to stop his mouth for ever so that you have lost your judgements and understanding in the things of God and know not the voyce of the true Shepheard from a Hireling a Wolf that comes to you in sheeps cloathing and shall never come againe to find that which you have lost nor to the knowledge of God and of Christ whom to know is eternall-life but as you come out of all your own wayes wills and worships unto the everlasting Light of the Son of God in your selves which will shew you the way to the Father and let you see how far wide you are of the straight and narrow way that leadeth unto the Kingdome of God unto that pure principle of God that will shew you all that ever yee have done must you be reduced which will bring you to the beginning of Gods Creation that the state of a little child you may come to know waiting in the filence of flesh to hear the Fathers voyce which will lead you to do his will in every particular that no longer your own wills but the will of God may be done in earth as it is in heaven that righteousnesse and truth may be made manifest in your mortall bodies which is Christ in us the hope of glory who is come to do the will of the Father in us And this is he that we have waited for and we know him to be our Saviour because he saveth us from our sins and not because he told the woman of Samaria all that ever she had done do we believe but because his wonderfull works done in us declare him to be the Son of God whose manifestation is to destroy the work of the Devill in the Creature and so set him free in Soul Body and Spirit to serve the Lord God of the Spirits of all flesh Come down from selfe-conceitednesse and all the Mountaines that you have set up and account it not much to be ashamed of all your hope which is but dead and to account all as dung and drosse that you may yet at length win Christ whose love is better than wine and though the world hates and scornes him yet he is the fairest of ten thousands and unto his Light in you must yee be turned from the darknesse if ever you expect to see his appearance and behold his glory to the comfort of your soules who is now appearing the second time without sin unto salvation what will it profit you to talk of his Reign and come not to the Kingdome wherein his power and glory is revealed that in the heart where Satans seat hath been you may witnesse all his and your soules enemies subdued and destroyed that you may know the Kingdoms come whereof Christ Jesus is the King and Law-giver unto whom the Father hath given all Power and Authority in heaven and earth unto whom all principalities and powers must how Stand no longer about needles questions but come to know Gods work wrought in your selves that the heir of life may be brought forth that your soules may inherit substance that you may eat his flesh and drink his blood and be guided by his Spirit who is the Son of God for ever that your souls may be satisfied that this is the man Christ Jesus whom ye have waited for and that you may see his salvation and say that this is he and that you look not for another of whose Power Kingdom and glory there shall be no end And now friends to you that yet retain some integrity and have longing desires after the way of Gods salvation it s the Lords Councell that you delay not but come away from all your blind guides and leaders which cause you to erre and wait upon the Lord to know the teachings of his pure Spirit which will bring you to the endlesse Fountain of life and to feed on that bread which will nourish your soules up unto everlasting life and dwell no longer in the tents of the wicked though never so fairly covered least your Talents be also taken from you and given to others And believe it it is far better to suffer persecution with the people of the Lord for righteousnesse sake than to enjoy the pleasures of sin in this world for a season which will end in sorrow and do not reject the light and make war against Gods witnesse as some have done and perished in their gainsaying least