Presence may go along with them and his Arm may defend them and his Glory follow after them to be their Re-reward And the Spirits and Life of all the Children of the Promise the Heirs of Eternal Salvation He upholds who give themselves up unto Him and to the Appearing of his Glory and the Light of His glorious Gospel which shines in their hearts that they may be unto Him as the Tower of Sion and the Bulwarks of Jerusalem in them hath the Star arisen which hath shined from the North and is broken forth in the Darkness of the Night and is shining towards the South it rises in the East it looks towards the West and there is no place for its going down The Lord hath Multitudes of People He gathers them as the Bands of the Earth He suffers the Nations to afflict them for a season He chastizeth with the Rods of Men that He may prove them all for His Glory And yet a little while and the Rage of the Heathen shall sink He correcteth his People for their Good and chastizeth them for their Peace-sake that He may build up his Nation which He hath visited and establish his Seed which he hath gathered and multiply his People Thy Throne O God endures for ever and the Scepter of thy Righteousness who lettest not Sufferings and Tryals to come upon the Seed which thou hath chosen and the People which thou hast visited to destroy them but to establish them that when thou hast tryed them as Gold they may be established and fitted for thy use that they may be humbled and all fear before thee and wait upon thee that thou mayest renew us all from day to day and night after night in thy Life to do thy Service to fit all thine to Glory and Praise and Honour immortal for thy great Name thou art spreading over all the Earth By Faith it was given me to see wherein the Worship of the true God consisteth and how He must be worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth which the Father seeks such to worship him as worship Him in the Spirit as worship Him in the Truth and in the true Light which enlighteneth every one in which none can see the VVorship but who come into the Faith and into the Humility and into the Fear and into the Waiting and into the Zeal for God which bows the heart before God and the heart being bowed then the Consideration is come into and the Inquirings into the Knowledge of Life and the sinking down to feel the Spirit which brings the Truth into Remembrance and also brings to be still and quiet and wait in stilness and quietness and silence then God is seen and felt and his Life which gives the Creature to feel after God who comes to be felt in his Life which enlighteneth the Creature and gives the Creature liveliness to wait for the renewing the strength and God reveals his Word his Power and his Requirings in the Creature which works in the heart and in the reins and runs through the mortal body and is weighty in operation to give Power and Dominion to the Creature to the end that it may have full power and strength to resist the Assaults of the Devil and to have its mind staid in stilness and quietness and silence and waiting for the Love and Vertue and Mercies of God which being felt then the Lord is admired and bowed unto this is VVorship to bow before the God of Heaven that all that 's in Man may be bowed down and submitted under the Life and Power then he worships he boweth down to the higher Power his soul abhors all defilements his thoughts are staid on God his heart is kept tender and open and he is refreshed in the Enjoyment of the Life and of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord and of his Power by which the Creature comes to admire the infinite Love and Mercies of God and the Riches of his Grace that after so long living in disobedience the Lord should reveal his Power and make known the Riches of his Grace to such a Creature that hath been as altogether unworthy but the Lord hath done it for his Seeds sake in Man which never consented to or took pleasure in sinning but hungred and thirsted after God and breathed after God and moved in the Creature towards the Lord even while the Creature was yet subject to vanity and for the Seeds sake the Lord is merciful full of compassion long-suffering and slow to Anger and blessed are all they that turn unto Him in the obedience of His Seed and in the Faith of His Son they shall see his Mercies know his Presence feel his Life Power and Spirit which bows and brings to worship God By Faith it 's seen that none are more sensible of the feeling of the Presence of the Lord than when they are still and quiet and wait in silence and stilness even when met together and when alone for by Faith many are come to see that the Lord is very near and that they feel his Presence when they wait upon Him and his Life breaks forth in his tender Love to the great refreshing of the soul and quickning of the Creature this takes away weariness and leanness from the soul and removes the multitude of vain Thoughts which have lodged in Man so that though they may often appear yet they become stilled as though they were not for when any thing appears contrary to the Will of God the Light is near and ready to administer Judgment upon it and to give the Creature to apply its mind to Judgment through which God redeems out of the Incumbrances and reveals his Noble Spirit of Life which stills the Thoughts and the Desires and Affections which would raise Lust and War in the flesh so that Man comes to wait out of himself and out of his own thoughts and imaginations in the Life the Promise it self where it feels the Riches of the Love and of the Mercies and of the Grace and of the Power which brings into the Glory and into the unspeakable Life and Love where the mortal body becomes filled with Immortality and Life which swallows up mortality in Victory and Conquest and Dominion and the delight of all mortal fading things and this hath made me bold and confident in the Lord of my Life to give up my whole strength for the witnessing forth the Truth through Faith which by Faith is received of God even through the Nations by Sea and by Land as the Lord requires which I account Eternal Salvation though for it I suffer many things but all is good and for good By Faith it 's seen how exceeding good it is to wait upon the Lord and to be still and silent before Him and in all things to eye Him and fear Him then the Incumbrances come to be taken away and the Darkness and Doubtings dissolved and Courage and Boldness for God received which
Rocks were rent and the Clouds vanquished away and the Glory of the Lord filled his Sanctuary and he threw out the Buyers and Sellers out of his Temple and the Money-changers and overthrew their Seat then cloathed he himself with Zeal as with a Cloak for the day of Vengeance was in his heart and he sent forth his Sons and Daughters with his Word to run to and fro in the Earth and gave them hearts as the heart of a Lion and strength that turned away from none so that his day of Vengeance became proclaimed for he ordained strength in the mouths of Babes and Sucklings when he shut out the Wise and Prudent of the World This was the day in which God opened the door of Confusion unto the Diviners of the Earth and turned the Prophets and their Seers into madness so that to them all is become as the Vision of the night night is upon them they cannot divine fearfulness surprizes them they have changed their work and blesse themselves in their Railings and Envyings and Blasphemies against the chosen Heir because he is too strong for them and holds them bound in the bottomless Pit where they have now neither beginning nor end nor place to rest but have stirred up the smoak thereof to darken the Earth and to corrupt the Powers of it that they may lift up their last weapon for them and exercise their utmost and last Power and Strength and Victory for them but alas hath not the Lord our God in whom we believe and upon whom we wait and serve day and night broken their strength often times as it were but a burnt thread or Flax which had been burned in the fire hath he not rebuked the Powers of the Earth because of them and overturned the mighty from their Seats because of their hearkening to their deceits who have been as Catter-pillers of the Earth destroying both good and bad as far as they can reach and hath not the Lord taken us out of their Prisons and Bonds and Persecution of murder from time to time what valiant thing hath not the Lord done for his Chosen who believe in his Light that according as he hath purposed they may be ordered to bear the Image of his Son hath he suffered any thing to be done but that which makes for his own purpose have not sufferings confirmed and builded up many in the Faith when as they have been exercised in them for a moment as it were to prove them for good and then hath he not delivered out of them in Glory and great Dominion and hath he not done a double service this way in suffering these things have not thousands been convinced thereby and way made in many places and Towns for the Truth to enter hath he not manifested the deceit of this Generation of Priests there-through so that thousands never thought in their hearts to have seen nor that it had been in their hearts to have done so as they have done and if they have drank of our blood is it not that they may be overcome thereby and by Faith and Patience and have not they and their Rulers persecuted and imprisoned us to make us grow and encrease and be strong and established and multilied hath not the Lord done valiantly through all these things though the Evil-doers weaken their selves and destroy their own Souls daily thereby yea and valiant things will he yet do until he hath fully compleated his purpose for his Son shall Reign and he shall certainly overturn all that oppose his Work and every one that riseth against him in it it will be his own breaking in pieces for the Lord is making a short work who will finish it in Righteousness and wil make all serve for his own purpose either to save or to be destroyed Now seeing these things are so and that all hath wrought for good who should not Fear who should not Love the Lord who should not hold fast the beginning of their Considence unto the end and their Faith which God gave unto them when they first received the Light which brought into the Work and into the Power and Zeal for God and into the Worship to be bowed in all things unto the Lord and into the Silence and into the Meetings and Fellowship and Waiting upon the Lord Now when I consider the infinite Love and unsearchable Wisdom of God in all things that he suffereth and doth and how he turns all to his own end my heart is even broken within me and my bowels yearn after many that many might come to believe in the Light where they might see the unspeakable Love and Wisdom of God and for many doth my soul travel and seeks unto God with earnest desires and fervent Love which I have seen the Lord answering but for many who were once partakers in the Works that God began to work in the beginning of the day and of the love and mercies which God began to bestow I could even bewail my self and take up a lamentation over them and could pour down with mine eyes as a flood and make my place solitary because of the leanness of many souls and the faintness of many hearts How soon was the Lilly torn among the Daughters how faded their Beauty away and how was the singing of Birds amongst them so soon silenced how came their Spring to be turned into Winter and their Sun to set in the East their Morning turned into darkness their Sun was drawn over with darkness in the East their Morning came not forth in their haste they stumbled and while they were aspiring they fell their strength stood not in the Virgin therefore they fell and mingled with the earthly and that are them out their Beauty became as a fading flower because they trusted not in God their Saviour but forsook their first Love The young men liked the Lord well while they stood in his Innocency but when the Earth arose the eye looked not towards God Oh! that that liberty had been stopped and the sanctification come into then should the Scepter have been established and the Cross have been kept down that earing worm and the desire of the heart should have stood in the Lord who therein fulfilleth every desire in his own appointed time but hastiness destroyes many Oh the sorrow of the Just and the burdens which have come upon the upright because many have stumbled by the way and pierced their own souls through and turned the day of God into blackness to themselves whose Authority and Dominion is fallen in the Earth and their strength fallen by the way who have weakened their own hands and the Praise of the Work is given to another but all this hath the Lord suffered for the establishing his Chosen and the building up his Elect on whom his Spirit resteth so that things which appear strange the Lord turns them all to good and maketh the evil to be as an example that all may fear and be humble
before him and assuredly every one that hath tasted of the day and hath not kept the Faith nor walked unspotted of the World even hating the Garment spotted with the flesh they shall bear their own burdens and the Truth is clear and in it there is no insufficiency though some have forsaken their first Faith and not kept to their first Love But unto all ye precious Sons and Daughters who have kept the Faith and grown up since the begining of your first Love in the abundance of the Power and Vertue of the Lord unto you doth the Salutation of my Love reach and my Life springs forth and streams towards you which nothing can hinder for the Lord hath enlarged me in his Life and Power so that my Soul flows forth in the abundance of his Love towards you to be felt and known of all the Faithful for my life and strength is given up for the Service of the Lord and cannot be separated from you but must be known and felt though to the outward separated to the Work of the Lord yet in that which is alwayes near wherein the Lord doth bless his Work and prosper his Truth wherein I lye down in the Faith and Love giving up and being given up in all things to the Work of the Lord having the earnest desire of my Soul that we may all give up with one consent in Faith and Love to do the Will of the Lord and not to stagger or be dismayed at any thing whatsoever shall come to pass in the Earth we may witness forth the Truth boldly as we have already done bearing all things suffering all things and enduring all things joyfully for the Lord is merciful and will suffer nothing to come upon any but what will make for good and to fit them unto glory as all abide-faithful unto him and in this I bid you all farewel for my Love is with you and my life reaches you in the Salutation of Peace and Love having you often in my Remembrance And all ye who have tasted of the beginnings of the Work of the Lord unto whom the Light in some measure hath appeared yet the coming forward hath been but slowly unto you I say let the Light search that you may see wherein your hinderance stands and what it is that lets for in the true Light and Love and Faith of it there is no insufficiency no weakness no straitness for the straitness is in your selves and of your selves and stands in that which opens the eye to look into the pleasure of the delights of the Sons and Daughters of men and of earthly things which when they are looked into something likes them takes delight and seeks to advantage it self in them and this is the snare and hinderance which being given place unto then the Just suffers and so that which should strengthen and build up in the Power that ministers Judgment yea through Judgment must the Just be raised therefore arise be awakened shake your selves of the Encumbrances and of the Earth that the Virgin-Seed may be raised which will keep your minds staid on God and bring ye into the one Life where ye may feel true satisfaction in the enjoyment of the Lord and the Temptations ye may be redeemed out of and may see the Ground from whence they do arise namely the mind nature which hath not God to be its full delight but would delight it self in something else and when this mind is up then it 's easie for the Enemy to come and enter in with his Enticements and Allurements to entangle the mind and lead the Creature into the Cloud of Error and in that thing to which the Creature hath been most addicted will the Enemy most appear to bring it into remembrance which when it rises if it be savoured or liked the Enemy hath his advantage to ensnare But the Virgin-Seed delights in God alone and is throughly satisfied in the enjoyment of the presence of God the Lord and this is that in which the Judgment stands and the Power which wil keep out of the snare of the wicked unto which all must come before ye can grow into the plenteous Redemption be made Heirs of Eternal Salvation the Blessings of his Peace which establishes man in his growth and liveliness to grow up as the Corn in the night season and to be like the Trees bringing forth their pleasant fruits which who brings them forth becomes encouraged and receives confidence in God but such as bring not forth the pleasant fruits that which should be their encouragement becomes their Judge and rejects them in their purposes and so the growth in the Life they fall short of And all ye sons and daughters ye young men and women in whom the Virgin-Seed is arisen which delighteth in God and hath its full delight in God in which the Power Life stands to keep unspotted of the world it 's safe for us to keep in Union with the Virgin for she is the Lambs Wife and maketh her self ready for the appearing of the Lamb unto whom we have joyned in our youth and she is become the Wife of our youth therefore let none deal treacherously with the Wife of his youth but let the Virgin-Seed have the flower of her dayes in delighting her self in God and in doing his Will I say let none do violence to his Virgin but dwell in Unity with her and to be delighted in God with her and to make ready with her that all may be prepared against the Lamb comes for he that rejecteth