A General Epistle TO ALL FRIENDS Who are Convinced of the TRUTH With a Word of Exhortation to Friends To be diligent in keeping their Mens Womens Meetings for the Service of Truth With a Testimony to the same Also an Invitation to all that come to our Meetings to hear the Truth declared not to rest in hearing but to come into Obedience thereunto that so their Souls may be saved By Samuel Cater LONDON Printed by Andrew Sowle and are sold at his Shop in Devonshire New-buildings near Bishops-Gate 1680. A General Epistle TO ALL FRIENDS WHO ARE Convinced of the Truth MY Dear and Well-beloved Friends every where who are the Called and Chosen of the Lord to confess his Truth amongst men and to bear his Name in Righteousness in the midst of this Crooked and Perverse Generation amongst whom the Lord hath planted us who know not the Lord neither are they acquainted with the Operation of his Hand neither can they perceive what the Lord is now a doing who hath begun a great Work in the Earth which none can know whilst they hate the Light and live in Darkness and rebel against God's good Spirit from such the Vision is shut and unto them the Book is sealed and the Sun is set and Night and Darkness is upon them But unto you that fear the Name of the Lord on you the Son of Righteousness is arisen according to the Promise blessed be the Name of the Lord our God by which you come to see the Way of the Lord which the Wayfaring man Travels to the Kingdom of God by which Light and holy Spirit of Truth the Lord is revealing his secrets to them that fear him and making known the great Mystery of Life and Salvation to all them that are turned unto him and in their Hearts and Souls more desire the encrease of the Knowledge of the Lord than any thing this World can or doth afford And to obtain this their Desire they are made freely willing to forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children House and Land and all that is near and dear to them in this World that they may obtain Peace with God through Jesus Christ while in this World and in the World to come Life Everlasting Oh! blessed of the Lord are you and shall you be forever who continue in this Mind who see a shortness and an Emptiness in all things without the Enjoyment of his Fulness who feeds the Hungry Soul with Bread from Heaven and gives of the Water of Life to them that thirst for it through which the Lord refreshes the weary Soul and strengthens the weak in their Journey who are Travelling Heaven-wards Oh! my dear Friends and Fellow-Travellers in this holy Way of the Lord which God through the Riches of his abundant Grace and Goodness hath made known unto our Hearts and Souls unto you it is upon me in the Name of the Lord to write to you all in the tender Love of my God and your God whose powerful and pure Springs of divine Virtue at this time overcomes my Heart and refreshes my Soul by which my Heart is tendred before the Lord and my Soul refreshed in my Bonds in him and in his pure Life which even at this time moves upon my Heart to write unto you in the tender Life and Love of our God in which I have cause to believe it will be received by all that are in the same in which I dearly salute you all from the least stirrings of this pure Life to the greatest Growth therein for in this Life and Love of God is our Unity forever which was before Death was and shall be the Fortion of a Remnant when Death and Darkness shall be no more And now unto you my Dear and Elder Brethren who have kept your Habitations in this pure Life and grow up in it as Trees of Righteousness whose Fruits are holy and Leaves healing and whose Life is in the pure Love of God in which you have been made serviceable unto the Nations and a Blessing in the Hand of the Lord unto the People for by you many have been turned unto the Lord and into the Right Way that were travelling in a Wrong Way and the Weak and Feeble by you have been strengthened in the Way of God who hath made you as Pillars in his House and Overseers over his Flock who do it Freely of a Willing Mind for which you are worthy of double Honour for your Work 's sake which is not the Honour of Men by any Flattery or outward Applause but the Honour which cometh from God alone in the pure Order of Life in Honour preferring you before who are so in the Truth who have been as Ensamples to the rest and your Admonitions and Counsels have been Grave Sound and Weighty unto the Younger in the Truth and are of a good Savour and blessed Service to all that keep their Habitations in the Truth and retain the Savour of Life and bow to the Law of God which is pure and Spiritual But as for them that have cast off their first Love and have lost Charity which is the Bond of Peace it is not to be heeded what they say who are gone from the Simplicity of the Gospel of Christ Jesus into Craft and Subtilty they are gone from the Root and although they may make a flourish for a time yet a Withering will come upon them and they shall be made to know that Gods Love is unto you that have and do keep your Habitation in the Truth and also must acknowledge it if ever they return unto him from whom they have fallen And now all dear Friends Brethren and Sisters every where who are turned to the true Light of Jesus Christ and believe therein in it wait upon the Lord continually that by it you may always see your way in which you ought to walk and feel God's Power to preserve you inoffensively before the Lord and that you may be Harmless towards all men for in this pure Light Wisdom's Posts come to be known whereby all are to wait for Counsel and Instruction that attend daily upon God and come to receive the Wisdom that is above the Wisdom of the World which is needful for every one to know which Wisdom causeth the Face to shine and the Hearts of them that receive it to rejoyce in the Lord who is the Fountain from whence it comes for by it the Lord directs and guides in his own Way that is Well-pleasing unto him and in which our Hearts and Souls receive and enjoy true Peace with God which none can take away from us blessed be his holy Name Also in this the Lord prepares and enables all that receive it and depend thereupon and are guided thereby to bear a faithful Testimony for the Lord in Times of Tryals Exercises and Sufferings for although the Lord suffers his Children to be tryed through manifold Tryals and Exercises which attend us for his Name and
Truth 's sake yet his Loving-kindness he will never with-hold from those that truly trust in him And this dear Friends the Lord hath made us living Witnesses of whereby a Remnant can say through a good and comfortable Experience of the Lords Mercy and Goodness unto our Souls and Hearts even as in dayes past In all our Afflictions he is Afflicted And the Angel of his Presence saveth us And therefore have we cause to love the Lord who hath heard our Cryes for by his Arm he hath gathered us and by his Power he hath and doth preserve us and in his holy Light which is the Way of Life and Salvation the Lord is leading and guiding of us unto his holy Hill and everlasting Rest which is the Lot and Portion that the Righteous in all all Ages desired and sought after whom God visited with the Day of his Mercy in which their Souls rejoyced as Christ said of Abraham He saw my Day and was Glad And how greatly did Zacharias Elizabeth and Mary rejoyce and praise God when he visited them and Simeon and Hannah with many more when the Lord visited them with the Day spring from on high they rejoyced in it and spoke of it unto all that looked for Salvation which Day was Christ coming and appearing unto them for in him and by him are all things received that the Honest and Upright-hearted that fear God can desire for he is the Seed of the Promise that bruises the Serpents Head and overcomes Death and brings Life and Immortality to Light in the Soul that waits for it for on him the Help is laid who saves to the uttermost all that believe and obey him for in him all Fulness dwells And now all Tender-hearted Friends whom the Lord hath visited your Souls as he did his Servants and Hand-maids in days past with the Day-pring from on High this is the word of Exhortation that lives upon my Heart unto you Oh! wait upon the Lord to see the Work of God by Jesus Christ wrought and made known in all your Hearts that what is not of him you may see overcome by him and brought down by his Power into the Death that so you may all that are convinced by the Truth witness a dying unto Sin and come to live unto Righteousness through him and having put off as concerning your former Conversations the old Man with his Deeds and having parted with your own Righteousness which is the Pharisees Clothing and put on the Righteousness of Christ Jesus which is the Saints Clothing you are thereby prepared to shew forth the Praise of God whilst you are here and also shall thereby be prepared to enter into his Glory where your Souls shall rest with the Lord and pertake of that Feast that he hath prepared for all that deny themselves and follow Christ and forsake their own Wills and obey the Will of God for you are they that have the Wedding-Garments and having Oyl in your Lamps by which your Light shines before men whereby God is glorified for his Light doth not only shine in your Hearts whereby it becomes your Guide but it also shines through you unto others that are yet in Darkness whereby Christs words come to be fulfilled who said to them that believed in him Ye are the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth for all that receive his Light and Grace into their Hearts they are to Season the Earth by their Savoury Lives and Upright Conversations by which we do reach to the good in all and judge them that live in the Evil Conversation whereby they shall be made in the Day of Visitation to confess That the Lord is with us of a Truth who hath called us to bear witness thereunto and to confess his Name before men although for it we do suffer as the Servants of God did in days past who have said That it is not given to us only to believe but also to suffer And the Apostle saith Yea and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution which we see is now fulfilled in a Remnant who love the Lord withal their Hearts for there is many that profess Christ Jesus that suffer nothing for him but those that leave the Glory of the World and the Sin-pleasing Pleasures of the Flesh and follow Christ they must and do suffer under them that live in it and them that leave the Teachings of Corrupt and Carnal men and wait to be taught of God they must suffer and they that bear a faithful Testimony against Idolatry and the Superstitious Wayes and Inventions that the Priests and People have invented in their dark Imaginations who make void the Command of Christ through their Traditions as their fore-Fathers the Pharisees did the Law of God so do they now the Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth and they that Worship God therein they must and do suffer by this Generation as the People of God did under the Scribes Pharisees and Persecutors in dayes past who persecuted Christ and called him A Deceiver and A Blasphemer and who persecuted the Apostles calling them Vain Babblers and such as turned the World Vpside down and drew People from their Temples and were not subject to their Law Which is the Cry of the Priests now against those whom God hath brought forth in a Testimony against them as the Upholders of Diana's Temple did with all their Crafts-men who were in a Rage against the Apostles and cryed one unto another Sirs You know that by this Craft we have our Living and if we let these men alone all men will follow them and then our Craft will come to nothing much like the way of the Proud Covetous and Envious Priests Now concerning the Servants and Messengers of the Lord unto whom God hath made known his Light and his Truth which was before they were and shall be when they shall be no more for God is arisen and is going on in his mighty Power and by the strength of his own Arm he will overturn all that stand in the Way of his Truth and that oppress his Seed and offend his little Ones that believe in his Name for whose sake the Lord is arisen to plead the Cause of his afflicted Ones for by strength shall no man prevail For because of Oppression of the Poor and the Sighing of the Needy the Lord will arise for Deliverance and bring down the lofty City Babylon and lay her Honour in the Dust and her Merchants shall mourn and her Lovers shall lament and bewail her for the Misery that shall come upon her in the Day of the Lord determined Which Day is dawned in the Light of which a Remnant see the Vision is near to be fulfilled that was seen of Babylon's Torments and her Merchants Misery that shall come upon her and them that Trade with her in which Day the Righteous shall rejoyce in the Lord who hath saved and redeemed them out of
Christ which is great encouragement to all that love Truth and Righteousness and that do desire the prosperity of the Truth and of one another therein to keep them in the meek and quiet Spirit and take heed of striving with them that are in the opposition lest you hurt your selves and thereby burthen the tender Life in your selves in which pure tender Life you shall out-live all Opposition and that will dye and wither for all that have not Nourishment from the Root which is Christ will dye of it self which we have seen from time to time And therefore all dear Friends go on and keep your Meetings in the Name and Fear of the Lord that you may still feel his Power and Presence amongst you and then it is no matter what any say against you unto whose Power I commit you all who desires your Prosperity as my own who can and do testifie that I have been truly refreshed with the Power and Presence of the Lord both in Mens and Womens Meetings by and in which Power the Lord hath laid a necessity upon me to bear my Testimony That they are set up in the Power and Wisdom of God and blessed are they that keep them in the same and they that oppose them oppose the Work of God and will come to loss by it S. C. AND now dear People who come into our Meetings from time to time and hear the Truth declared and are convinced in your Judgments by it and your Understandings closes with it and many times your Consciences are awakened by the powerful preaching of the Word of Life in which your Hearts are tendred and the Eye of your Understandings then being opened you thereby see your selves and feel something of the Preciousness of the Truth declared but for want of bowing thereunto withal your Hearts and Souls and giving up to be led and guided thereby the Enemy prevails again whose work it is to darken the Mind and close the Eye which God by his powerful Truth begun to open whereby you may come to see the Way to Rest and then comes the Savour of the Virtue which you felt whilst you were hearing the Truth and whilst the Tenderness remained upon you to be lost whereby the Apostles words come to be fulfilled Man hearing the Word and doth it not is like unto a man beholding his natural Face in a Glass and presently goeth away and forgetteth what manner of man he was so do many that hear the Truth forget or neglect to obey the same without which no true and lasting Comfort can be enjoyed Dear People I do not write in this manner to accuse any of you or because I would have you leave coming to our Meetings no the Lord knows but to clear my Conscience as a Friend to your Souls I beseech you to lay hold of the Scepter of Gods Mercy while it is held forth unto you and come away to the Feast while the Door is open Oh! how have I seen both in City and Country some that have come to our Meetings in the time of Truth being declared their Minds bowed and their Hearts broken before the Lord so that I have been ready to conclude That surely this Man or Woman must needs cleave to the Lord with all their Hearts and obey his Truth which now they are so much affected with but it hath too often proved otherwise whereby Christ's words have been fulfilled who sayes That after the Word is received with Joy the Enemy comes and takes the Word out of their Hearts and some for the love of the World and some for fear of Persecution the good Seed that begun to put forth comes to be choaked and thereby they are made Unfruitful But the Honest receive the Seed which is the Truth into their Hearts and give up the strength of their desires unto it they are made Fruitful unto God by it and the Lord blesses them in it and gives them Peace of Conscience in this World and Assurance of Glory in the World to come which is more precious and profitable than all that can be parted withal for his sake Oh! that you therefore may come to be found Doers of the Will of God and not Hearers only is the Desire of my Soul for you all for this is the Day of your Visitation in which the Lord is calling of you and striving with you to gather you unto himself that so you may come to be made pertakers of his Everlasting Riches that fadeth not away which is the Portion I desire for your all and which is the Feast you have been often invited unto in the Name of the the Lord by his Servants and Messengers Oh! come away for the Lord hath furnished his Table and if you make Excuses and will not come unto him by turning unto his pure Light and Grace which leads unto him and obey the same unto which you have been directed by his Servants the Lord will be Displeased and you through your own Neglect will be shut out and a People the Lord will have that shall pertake of his free Mercies So dear People prize your Time whilst you have it and whilst the Lord is striving and Christ is knocking by his Convincements by his Light in your Consciences open unto him that he may come in unto your Hearts and that you by his Power may be prepared and enabled to serve the Lord whilst you are in this World that you may rest with all his Redeemed Ones when Time shall be no more here then shall my Desire be answered in writing to you in this manner which is my true Desire for you all who am Your True Friend Samuel Cater Elye Prison where I am a Sufferer for my Obedience unto the Lord under the Corrupt Wills of men because I cannot for Conscience sake disobey the Command of Jesus Christ nor joyn with the Priests in their Carnal and Dark Way of Worship the 6th Moneth 1680. 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