I going again next day with my Sister to see him finding him near to Death and being beside him in great brokenness of Heart to part with such a near Friend he as one sympathizing with us said We shall meet again in Eternity Then a little time after his Mouth was opened and in great power and tenderness with heavenly Expressions and Praises to the Lord and after some time again I went to him and told him I was come to take my leave of him but thought see him next day then he named me by my Name and said It is well with me and I have no disturbance in my mind He spake these words as a man at ease from whom the Lord had taken Sin away which is the sting of Death this being about the third hour in the Afternoon and he departed this Life that Night it being the 15th of the 7th Month 1690. And though his Body be gone to the Earth yet the Memorial of his Life and Spirit lives with us as it is written For the Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance and pretious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them and they live in that Life which is hid with Christ in God And indeed a Lamentation might be taken up for the loss of such an Instrument in the Hand of the Lord who had laboured and gathered many by that powerful Word of Truth which the Lord put into his heart unto God and also to the refreshing watering and consolating of the Heritage of the Lord in that meek lowly Spirit of Life and Love which very frequently did run through him and reached the Life in others for which I cannot but praise the Lord for the many Visitations of his Love in our Meetings but this bears up our Spirits that as the Lord hath begun so great a work in our day for his Truth and Name sake he will carry it on to his own praise and will not leave himself without a witness upon the Earth that from Age to Age and one Generation after another his own Works may praise him who is God and changes not to whom be everlasting Praise for evermore He was buried at Low-Ellington at the Burying-Place for the People of God the 17th of the 7th Month 1690. And was accompanied with many Friends of divers parts and Neighbours also being one well-beloved of the Neighbourhood and there was a living and serviceable Testimnoy foâ— God born that day by our Friend George Myers to the great satisfaction and refreshment of Friends and to the Convincing of others T. W. The Testimony of Miles Oddy concerning Robert Lodge AS concerning my dear Friend and Brother Robert Lodge I have had knowledge of him ever â—â—nce that day it pleased the Lord God in his Mercy and Favour to visit us and make his Power known and manifest himself both to him and me and many others in these parts and though he was very young even a Boy yet the Lord did wonderfully appear unto him in his great Love and God's eternal Power did mightily seize upon him and operate in him so that he was constrained thereby to open his Mouth and make mention of God's Eternal Power even when we were but a few and God's witness was much reached in several present with us blessed and praised be the Name of God for evermore The mighty Power of God did work wonderfully at that very time in the Hearts of those whom the Lord had touched and also made to believe but especially in the Heart of our dear Brother above-mentioned and thereby in the Lord 's due time was he fitted imboldened and raised up and made an Instrument in God's hand and a true and faithful Minister of Jesus Christ and sent forth by him to preach the everlasting Gospel into some parts of this Nation of England and in a short time into the Nation of Ireland where he met with many great Tryals and Exercises yet the Lord did mightily preserve him and attend him with his blessed presence What shall I say or write concerning this our dear Brother in the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Lord hath been now pleased to take away from us surely the loss is very great unto many of God's People but unto him great gain When I consider of the blessed and heavenly Opportunities and wonderful Appearances of God in by and through him many a time amongst God's People when met together my Heart is truly broken and tendred even as at this present time and this is my belief of him he was a man well-beloved of God and also of his People every where that had a true knowledge of him and the great Power of God did mightily attend him and his presence comfort him and many sweet and pretious Testimonies have sounded through him to the comforting refreshing of God's People in their Assemblies He was convinc'd of God's heavenly Way and pretious Truth thirty Years since and upward and hath born a faithful and living Testimony for God ever since not only in Words but in Life and Conversation and also in Sufferings both in this Nation and in the Nation of Ireland he was a man not subject to Passion that ever I did see but meek and gentle and of a healing Spirit Given forth the 18th Day of the 8th Month 1690. By Miles Oddy senior The Testimony of Thomas Hardcastle senior concernning Robert Lodge IN the tenderness and brokenness of Heart and in the remembrance of the goodness of the Lord am I made willing to give forth this Testimony concerning my dear Friend and Brother Robert Lodge In his young Years we travelled many Miles together and great was his Care at that day in much love to bring me to the knowledge of the Truth sparing no Labour nor Pains in much patience and good-will his endeavour hath been among us and the Power and Presence of God hath mightily appeared in and through him many a time and in Innocency his labour hath been and great have been his Exercises and Abuses that he received from unreasonable men but the Lord did uphold him and carry him on in his blessed Work and many heavenly Testimonies hath the Lord enabled him to bear and our Hearts many times have been comforted together and filled with Praises to his holy Name And this dear Servant of the Lord he was lowly in Mind tender in Spirit lovely in Behaviour his Ministry very precious and truly the Gifts and Graces the Lord bestowed on him were very large and in the same hath he finished and laid down and is gone to Everlasting Rest with the Lord forever and evermore This short Testimony is given forth in the love of God by him who is a Lover of Truth and Righteousness Thomas Hardcastle senior Katherine Winn's Testimony concerning Robert Lodge THe Memory of the Just and Travels of the Righteous are worthy to be kept in
SEVERAL Living Testimonies Given forth by divers Friends TO THE Faithful Labours and Travels Of that Faithful and Constant Servant of the LORD Robert Lodge Who was a true Minister of the Gospel of Christ a Valient Sufferer for the Testimony of a good Conscience one that held out to the end and is saved ALSO Two General Epistles written by himself long since to the Believers in Christ And are now Printed for their Edification and Refreshment The Name of the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance c. Printed for T. Sowle And Sold at the Crooked Billet in Hâ—llâ—â—â—â—-Loâ—e Shâ—â—â—ditch 1691. The Testimony of Peter Hardcastle concerning the Life and Death of Robert Lodge THis our Friend and Brother a Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ Robert Lodge I was acquainted with before we were gathered to be a Meeting to sit down in silence to wait upon God in his Light for he then lived near me with one related to me and we had much discourse about Religious matters and he saw the Errors of the Priests more clearly than I did and was serviceable to me at that time But after this it pleased the Lord to send his faithful Servants amongst us to Preach the everlasting Gospel and they directed our minds to the Light of it in our Consciences and many were convinced of the way to eternal Life and Salvation and thus were we gathered to be a Meeting to sit in the silence of Flesh waiting upon God in his Light And in process of time we being gathered in the Name of the Lord Jesus he made his Power known in our Meeting in an admirable manner to the renting of the Vail and breaking down the partition Wall and raising our Souls from Death unto Life which caused great Joy and Comfort in us and amongst us And by the Power and Spirit of Life after a little time our deceased Brother Robert Lodge was moved to go into Ireland to bear Testimony with other Brethren of the everlasting Truth and way of Truth and Salvation and having done his Service there at that time he returned again into England and travelled in many parts of it and went into Ireland again and travelled in both Nations to visit the Gatherings of the Lord's People and to stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance of the manifold Mercies and Favours and Loving-kindnesses of God which he hath made known unto his People in this our day after the long Night of Apostacy And the Prophecy of Daniel is fulfilled in this our Age where he saith Many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be increased and he saith also They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. And he was Instrumental in the hand of God to turn many to Jesus Christ God's Righteousness the sure Foundation and Rock of Ages which yields living Water unto the Soul and so his Testimony reached to the Witness of God in the Consciences of many and I have been many times sweetly refreshed under his Testimony and Ministry Oh the sweet Union and Society and Fellowship we have had together in the Gospel it breaks my Heart and tenders my Spirit at this time when I am writing these Lines I loved him before we were gathered and much more since because of his Sincerity and Truth in his inward parts for he kept his first Love and Habitation in the Truth And he was Instrumental also for building up in the holy Faith that the Spirit of Opposition and Separation might not get advantage to draw us from the Spirit and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ he was committed to several Prisons in this Nation and in Wakefield-Prison he wrote an Epistle to Friends and when he suffered Imprisonment or otherwise for the Testimony of the Truth he was kept in patience and rested in the will of God So he having kept the Faith and Patience of our Lord Jesus and dying in the Lord is at Rest his Body is in the Grave but his Spirit is with the Lord Jesus and with the Spirits of just and holy Men and Women who have served the Lord in their day according to his Will revealed unto them by his holy Spirit Praises Honour and Glory to the Lord God and the Lamb for evermore So I having known him so long a time and some of his Tryals and Exercises and faithfulness to God and his Truth I could not well but give this short Testimony concerning him Peter Hardcastle senior Thomas Whitton his Testimony concerning the Life and Death of Robert Lodge THat the Memory of the Just may be had in Remembrance and the Travel of the Righteous in future Ages not forgotten this Testimony I have to bear for our dear Friend Robert Lodge who is now gone whose Exercises and Travels are at an end and I doubt not but that he is at rest with the Lord He was a man whom I knew above this thirty Years even from his Youth who received the Truth in his tender Years in a large measure and the Lord hath made him a very serviceable Instrument in his hand for gathering many to the Way of Life out of the ways of the World and that in his young Years both in this Nation and also in Ireland as many can testifie and not only so but the Lord hath as I may truly say made him a Son of Consolation amongst his People to the watering and refreshing of many weary Souls his Travels in Spirit I knew being one of the same Meeting even for the hindmost of the Flock and his sympathizing with those that travelled for the same I also knew him in the helping on the Work of the Lord and when that Life and Power of God rose in him in a Meeting to the opening his Mouth the Lord hath made his Words as the Balm of Gillead to the broken hearted Much might be said of his Service in and for the Truth in his day and toward the closure thereof he laboured with and for the young Friends that they may come up in the Footsteps of those who are gone before and at Rest with the Lord with many and frequent Supplications to the Lord for them that they might walk as becomes the Truth in their Generation The time of his Sickness was short but about three or four days and about three or four days a little ill before I going to see him asked him how he did and how it was with him he gave me account of his Distemper and Infirmness and did question his recovery of the same But saith he the Lord knows my Heart and that I have served him and it hath been of more account to me the gaining of one Soul than all my Labours and Travels So I have great cause to believe he was in a good sence of the Recompence of his Reward so leaving him very weak that night and
remembrance and left upon Record to future Ages in which I am concerned according to my little measure in a short Testimony for our dear Friend and well-beloved Brother Robert Ledge who is now deceased and his Travels at an end but many are in being who have reaped the benefâ—â—… thereof his lot fell to be in our parâ—… in the time of my Convincemenâ— and I being a Woman of a deject Mind he was the first that evâ—â—… reached me with Words of Comforâ— which were so printed in my hearâ— and ingraven in my mind that it nâ—ver yet was raced out but often wâ—… a strengthening to me through mâ—… Exercises and a confirmation of the love of God to my Soul It was afterwards my happiness to be of the same Meeting where many were the Spiritual Comforts I received by him he proclaimed Liberty to the Captives and spoke comfortable words to the Mourners in Sion his Words were as healing Medicines as Gillead's Balm to many wounded and weary Souls and that which he planted was frequently watered by him O the watering Seasons we have had that Fountain whicâ— frequently opened in him that Rivers and Streams thereof that were conveyed by him to many a thirsty travelling Soul did fill our Hearts with unutterable Joy and unexpressable Gladness which causeth a Lamentation to be taken up by us for want of such a be-dewing Instrument and loving Nursing-Father he was a Son of Consolation a planter indeed and also a waterer of the Lord's Plantation and frequently accompanied with the living presence and power of our heavenly God which gives the increase He was a sympathizer with innocent Friends in Joy and in Sorrow he could mourn with those that mourned and rejoyce with those that rejoyced yet his care was over the weak and hindermost of the Flock and we are bowed in Spirit For want of him for his presence could greatly have been desired by us and needful for us but he is dissolved and I believe is now with Christ which for him is far better and it is our hope which bears up our Spirits that the Lord will raise up Instruments to carry on his own Work to his own praises and he giveth and he taketh blessed be his Name for ever The time of his Sickness being short at which time I had been weak and but little recovered I had word if ever I thought to see him I might venture to go the next day I went with my Brother to visit him and found him very weak he looking up and saw me full of Sorrow with a pleasant Countenance yet in much brokenness cheerfully said What Woman we must meet again we must meet again in Eternity And sitting by him he gave me an account of his Distemper and of the exercise of his mind and the dealings of the Lord with him and said The Lord knoweth I never was Commissionated by him to go any way or to do any thing but I have willingly answered him and the Lord who hath been my Rock and Refuge my Shield and Buckler and a Sanctuary to me hath been with me all along to this very day With many such Expressions and in much brokenness and tenderness of Spirit he rendred Thanksgiving unto the Lord and being weak he seemingly fell asleep and I retiredly sat by him and that Life wherein we had often reached one another did spring venly Expressions and pure Praises to the Lord for his many Deliverances and great Preservations and the continuance of his living presence and the opening of the Fountain of his Life and Love unto us to this very day and time with heavenly Supplications unto the Lord for the continuance of his Loving-kindness and tender Mercies to his whole Heritage every where his Exercise continued for a considerable season as if he had been in a Meeting with much brokenness of Heart and tenderness of Spirit as a man filled with heavenly and divine matter which very much broke my Heart with his Son Nathan then by him which I hope will never be forgotten by me And after this he weakened very fast it being about the third hour of the day he did speak little more to me yet signifying his gladness of my recovery and also of my company and that all was well with him and falling into a Slumber and Rest more sweet and comfortable as we thought than his usual Sleep had been to him at other times in much quiet and great meekness he departed this Life about the first hour that Night And though he be dead his Works live to praise the Lord and great was the Work of his Day in turning many from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to the living God he bore the burthen in heat of the day and was a true Traveller for Sion's sake his Life was comfortable his latter end happy he lived the Life of the Righteous and his latter end was like his And it is the fervent desire of my Heart the Lord will be pleased in love to his whole Flock and for his own Honour and great Name sake to raise up serviceable Instruments in his Work such work-men as need not be ashamed of their work but can rightly divide the Word of Truth such Labourers in his Vineyard as may gather many Sheaves into his Barn and Lambs into his Fold as this our deceased Brother did in the days of his Youth and in his tender years he thought not his Life dear to venture both by Sea and Land in this Nation and elsewhere and was instrumental in the Lord's hand to pluck many as Lambs out of the Wolves mouth and Brands out of the Fire which are as Monuments of the Lordâ—s mercy this day to praise him And as his Body decayed and strength failed great was his Travel and many his Supplications to the Lord on the behalf of young Friends that they might rise in their Day and Age to serve and honour him in their Generation O the Travels with the sweet flowing streams of Love reached to us by him can never be forgotten O the melodious sound that heavenly Harmony the eccho of Life which often sounded through him made the Morning-Stars to sing and the Saints to shout for joy O what can I say of him I am not able to express or utter the excellency of the Work of this the Lord 's worthy but hopes it will be done by others better accomplished for such a Work than I but in the discharge of what hath lain upon me according to my little measure in this short Testimony to leave to Posterity and for the encouragement of a future Age to keep in the Line of Life and walk in the Path of the Just where heavenly Felicity is to be attained and enjoyed and Spiritual Pleasures lived in which the Almighty in his unchangeable Love hath been pleased to continue from Age to Age and by a mighty hand reached from one Generation to another that in every Age his own
your love unto himself whether you can follow him to the loss of all things in this World yea or nay for such a Birth the life of God hath been long travelling for and now they are blessed that can say This birth is brought forth in which they can give up all for the enjoyment of the Lord who hath turned a Wilderness into a fruitful Land and a fruitful Land into barrenness in the inward and he likewise is able to make it so outwardly for them that believe and follow him in faithfulness unto the end So my well-beloved in the Lord who have felt his Judgments Mercies in your Hearts who by the same are ingaged to follow the Lord and hold forth your Testimonies for his righteous Name blessed you are as you abide in the overcoming love of God by which your hearts have been drawn after the Lord and after a further enjoyment of his Life who cannot be satisfied without the fresh breakings in of his Love into your hearts Oh blessed are you for ever however the Lord may dispose of you as to the outward man the Lord will be unto you as the shadow of a mighty Rock in a weary Land you are the begotten of himself by the Word of his Power he will nourish you by the vertue of his own life and by the sweetness of his own love and this being felt it makes all easie and delightsome whatsoever for there is nothing to be compared with this love of our God Therefore arise you Sons and Daughters of the Lord and shew forth the love that you bear to him that all may know whose off-spring you are and how highly you esteem of the goodness of God that you can forsake all for him and the light of his countenance which is more to you than all the world Oh Friends it is for your sakes that the Lord hath done great things already and yet will the Lord do greater things in the Earth for you as in the heavenly life you abide the Lord will arise for your help in the time of your distress and need And therefore fear not you the wrath of man nor the fury of the ungodly but in the life look unto the Rock of your Salvation and he will beautifie you with the Robes of Righteousness and with the Garments of Praises that all may see and confess to the glory of him that hath shined forth of Sion this day And dear Friends you that have felt the love of God in gathering you out of the world and in preserving you unto this day let the kindness of the Lord and the compassion that he hath shewed to you be an ingagement upon your hearts to walk with the Lord in faithfulness that as the Lord hath watered your Souls with the streams of life and pure love from day to day and from time to time he might still continue the same to you unto the end of your days that your blossom thereby may not wither but be kept beautiful in the Eyes of the Lord that his delight may be in you to do you good to rejoyce over you in his love as it hath been in times past that by the same we might grow further in love with him and be more and more affected with his glory that however it be permitted to fall out concerning these Bodies we may be the Lord's and he the lot of our Inheritance Then shall we be constrained to say Our lot it fallen in good Ground And therefore you render Babes be not discouraged nor amazed at the face of things for mighty is the Lord who is with us and glorious is his Arm that doth compass us about this day and pure is the Food that the Lord is feeding the tender spirited withal which makes us undervalue all the world and its glory because our hearts are ravished with the love of God which wonderfully is made manifest this day glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever who breaks in upon us by the force of his love daily so that our Souls are become as watered Gardens through the thowring down of his Blessings wherewith my Soul is visited at this time and in which I do visit you all in the life of God in Bonds or elsewhere who are called to bear witness for the Lord in this trying but not destroying day that the purpose of our God may be fulfilled and his determination compleated that the works of the Lord may bring him praise in the Gates of the wicked who alone is worthy of Glory and Honour for ever and ever saith my Soul From a Friend to all the upright hearted People of God that wait for the building of distressed Sion known by the Name of Robert Lodge Given forth at the House of Correction in Wakefield the 9th Day of the third Month 1665. A Testimony concerning the Life and Death of our dear Friend and Brother in the Lord John Stubbs HE received the Lord's Truth in 1653. at Carlile and forsook much for it and did Travel with me in the Lord's Service up and down in England And he was a Schollar and an excellent Writer and a notable Minister of the Gospel of Christ and went through many Sufferings and Hardships for the Gospel's sake and after he and William Caton for declaring the Truth at Maidstone in Kent the Magistrates and wicked Priests and Professors caused them to be set in the Stocks and Whipt and put out of the Town about 1652 in Oliver Cromwell's days and he having been a Baptist did convince some of them and turned many to the Lord And after he and Samuel Fisher who had been a Baptist and a Parish-Priest travelled to Rome through those dark Countries and they having cast some of our Friends into the Inquisition all was shut up but only they had some Service for the Lord with some Cardinals and the Jews and some Monks and Fryers and such like and they confest it was the Truth but if they should confess it openly they would burn them And about the Year 1660. he and some other Friends had it in their minds to go to the East-Indies and the East-India-Company would not let them go in their Ships and they got an order from the King to let them go and they would not obey it And then they went into Holland to get passage there for the East-Indies and they also denyed them and then they took Shiping and went as far as Egypt to 〈…〉 the East-Indies by Caravâ—â—◠〈…〉 where the English Consul banished them out of Egypt and then they came to England again after they had had some Service for the Lord in several places And John Stubbs the Lord let him see that the English and the Dutch would go to War one with another which not long after came to pass And about the Year 1670. he Travelled with with me to Barbadoes and also he went to New-England where he laboured in the Grace of God and had a good Service for the Lord and from thence he went to Barbadoes again freely preaching the everlasting Gospel of Christ and then he came into England and when he had fulfilled his Ministry and finished his Testimony he dyed in the Lord and is at Rest and Peace with him and is blessed and ceased from his Labours and his Works follow him And he departed this Life near London about 1673. He was a wise Man and sought the Peace of the Church of Christ and was a good Example he preacht in good Life and Conversation as well as good Doctrine and was zealous and never turned from the Lord from his first receiving of him but bore all his Sufferings and Reproaches faithfully for the Name of Jesus who was one of his Followers and was many times exercised with Apostates and Prophane and had Tryals by false Brethren but the Lord in his Power gave him Dominion over them all blessed be his Name for ever Amen The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. THE END