People We are as it were a Song among a wild Generation and those Ranting Spirits are much as they were when ye were here they come in the like manner Ranting Roaring Singing and Dancing in t our Meetings it is the harder to bear because it casts stumbling-blocks in the way of the Simple for some of the World think they are of us and call them Quakers saying Look where they differ among themselves These Ranters were very Wicked at Oyster-Bay the last Meeting when the Meeting was near ended my Husband was taken violent Sick with a Vomiting and Gripes some of them hearing of it were very glad and said to me I should lose my Right Eye and my Right Arm and came near the Door where we were and where my Husband lay sick and cryed Wo Wo Wo to that Damned Story and Jezebel his Wife Friends are prety well over their Spirits in these Parts and generally well at Cravesend Oyster-Bay and Westchester there is much Affiction on Josiah Parnel his Family hath been much afflicted with Sickness My dear Friends I am glad to write to you now not knowing when I may have the like time again I being with Child and wanting but about six Weeks of my Account My dear Husband 's dear Love is to you both So not knowing how the Lord may be pleased to deal with me I dearly salute you and take my leave of you both in that Love which is of the Lords begetting Your True Friend Patience Story New-York in New-England the 10th of the 8th Moneth 1675. Salem in New-England the 22d of the 5th Moneth 1677. My Dear and Well-beloved Friends IN the Blessed Everlasting Truth of our God revealed and made manifest do I at this time dearly salute you My dearly Beloved in the Lord unto whom the Salutation of my Love abounds and with whom I have been well refreshed in that pure and heavenly Unity which makes us near unto the Lord and one to another even in that endless love which cannot be broken which nothing can separate from but it reacheth over Sea Land for it is unlimited neither can any Waters quench it Oh! read me here and feel me here even in that which Tongue cannot express nor Lips declare for truly in this are you dear and near unto me for as the Truth is dear and precious unto me so are they that dwell in it even in this blessed Truth which the Lord God hath been pleased to make a Remnant partakers of in this our Day and Age and hath caused us with them to taste of his heavenly divine Love which floweth from the Fountain of Endless Life in which we can feel one another and truly rejoyce tegether in the Spirit though separated in the outward and may not see one anothers faces any more in the Flesh yet as we dwell in that which is Immortal we shall enjoy one another in the Invisible Life which changeth not where there is Joy and Pleasure for evermore Oh! blessed and magnified be the Name of our God forever who is not wanting unto them that put their Trust in him but he supports and preserves in all Conditions and Tryals whatsoever And dear Friends for so you are to me in the Truth that changeth not for you are as an Epistle written in my Heart never to be blotted out and the Remembrance of you is a refreshing to me when I call to mind the blessed Society and Fellowship we enjoyed when we were together in which the Lord God of Heaven preserve and keep us forever unto the end of our dayes so shall we reap a good Harvest if we faint not and come to lay down our Heads in Peace and be at rest with the Lord when Time shall be no more Dear Hearts I have much to write unto you but being in haste time will not permit I being also but ill in Body I am willing to give you an Account concerning Margaret Brewster whom you know who came lately from Barbadoes in the Lord's Service to Boston where she performed it I being also with her in her Service and in her Sufferings except Whipping as also was Lydia Wright and Barbary Bowers and John Eston's Son also a Prisoner with us a Moneth And Dear Hearts I have met with many Tryals since I saw your Faces but the Lord hath hitherto preserved me through it all blessed be his Name forever I cannot now give you an account concerning my Mother and Brothers who were taken Captives by the Cruel Indians some Moneths but the Lord hath delivered them and they are here now with me So dear Friends being in great Haste I must take my leave of you committing you to the Care and Keeping of the Lord in which Everlasting Love I bid you Farewel my dear Friends Farewel who am Your True and Real Friend Mary Milles. Friends here in general their Love is to you I received your Letter with Gladness of Heart and desire to hear from you again From Flushen in Long-Island in New-England the 15th of the 7th Moneth 1677. Dear and Inwardly beloved Friends Thomas Alice Curwen YOu are both dear and near unto me as my own Life for I can truly say that I have been often Refreshed in remembrance of you feeling you in that dear Love and Life which proceeds from him who is our Life and length of our dayes in whom we live and have our Being who is our Strength in time of need when Tryals come and Exercises come we find him a God at hand and not afar off blessed and praised be his holy Name forever saith my Soul for his unspeakable Love by which he hath gathered us near unto himself and near one to another by the Arm of his endless Power which reaches over Sea and Land and reaches to his own wherein we have true Fellowship one with another in the Spirit of Truth where the World knows us not for therein doth his Worship stand and such doth the Lord seek to worship him that worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth blessed be his holy Name who is God over all blessed be his holy Name forever and for evermore who hath filled our Hearts with his living Presence which doth engage us more and more to follow him and to lean upon him for his Judgments are pure and he delights to abound in Mercy And so in that Everlasting Love which our Heavenly Father hath loved us from the beginning I do dearly salute you both for you have often been in my Remembrance since we have been seperated as outwardly and have been often with you in that blessed Truth wherein our Unity stands which endures forever which will live over all and out-last all the invented Worships which the Devil hath begot many into but their Day is almost over for they are all in Confusion and all in Heaps but blessed be the holy and sacred Name of the Lord forever who has preserved a Remnant to stand in their
upon the Lord and if ye be called before Magistrates the Lord will put a word into your Mouthes that they shall not be able to gainsay And if it be so that ye suffer joyfully the Spoiling of your Goods ye shall come to witness That the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness of it and they that Fear the Lord shall want no no good thing neither for Soul nor Body And if it be so that the Devil cast into Prison fear it not but in Patience possess your Souls for the Lord will bring thorow for we speak what we know for the Lord has delivered us out of Prison inwardly and outwardly and his Presence has been with us in all our Troubles and he has made us to sing in Prison and in the Stocks Praises be to the Lord God and to the Lamb forever sayour Souls But Friends we do not write this to make our Sufferings known but to encourage all to abide patiently that ye may come through as Gold purified for the Wicked are but like Waters and their Persecution is but like a Wave of the Sea and though they rise never so high yet it is our Faith in God That he that hath put a Limit to the bound of the Sea and hath said unto it Thus far shalt thou pass and no further and there shalt thou stay thy proud Waves Oh Friends bless the Lord with us for it is a Day of fulfilling Therefore O let Truth spread in every Particular let it take Root downward and grow upward and bring forth Fruit to the Praise and Glory of our heavenly Father And this we have to say That every Plant that he hath not planted shall be pluck't up and every Plant that his right hand hath planted he watereth it that it may bring forth more Fruit and in this is our heavenly Father Glorified and Well-pleased that we bear much Fruit Everlasting Praises be unto the Lord our God forever and evermore So with our Unfeigned Love we take leave of you and remain Your Friends in that which never alters nor never changes but remains forever do we Salute you all and bid you all Farewel Thomas Alice Curwen For the Mayor of Plymouth in Devonshire Friend Richard Tomes VVE do read in the Scriptures of Truth that in the Apostles dayes there was a noble Festus amongst the Magistrates Therefore do I write unto thee that thou be not stired up against a peaceable People that meets together singlely to worship God in Spirit in Truth for God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit in Truth and until People turn to the Spirit of Truth which is the Light within with which he hath lighted every one that comes into the World and he that hates this Light has it and though they may kick against it yet it stands a faithful Witness for God and whatever People may profess they never worship the living God acceptably for we know at this day that God hears not Sinners no more then he did in the dayes of Old and that the Prayers of the Wicked are abomination to him as well in this day as in times past but he that fears God and doth his Will them he hears and the Will of God is done in hearing and obeying the Light and by this did they witness in dayes past their Hearts to be Sanctified and this is it that we meet together for and we are but yet learning the Lord's Prayer and as we are willing to wait that the Will of God may be done in Earth as well as in Heaven the Lord has blest us and we shall spread over the face of the Earth and though Balaam and Balack would rise up to Curse Israel at this day yet this Testimony is in my Heart for God That he hath blest us and no man can Curse that which God hath blest And as we keep the Word of his Patience the Lord God will keep us in the Day of Tryal which shall certainly come upon all that dwell on the Earth and know not a Habitation in the God of Jacob for the Day is come which many would have seen wherein the Lord is bringing mighty Things to pass who reveals his Secrets to them that truly fear him the same which was in the Apostles dayes wherein the Everlasting Gospel was preached which is the Power of God unto Salvation and if any preach any other Gospel let them be accursed And this Gospel is a wonder to you and is hid from you and therefore ye perish in your Sins which separate you from the Living God and doth hinder good things from you who live in the pleasure of the Flesh and drink up Iniquity as the Ox drinks Water but now in the Latter Dayes the Lord is pouring forth his Spirit upon all Flesh his Sons and upon his Daughters and they do Preach and Prophecy in his Name and in his Name do wonderful things and it is a great Wonder to all the World who lies in Wickedness and therefore the People perish for want of Knowledge for the Lord would have gathered you in this Day as he would have gathered Jerusalem in the dayes of old but they would not be gathered and therefore they were left Desolate and the same is coming upon you if you do not speedily Repent for Jerusalem was destroyed who would not be gathered and then Lamentation Wo and Misery did fall upon them and remains upon them till this Day but the Lord hath gathered a Remnant into Covenant with himself wherein Jacob doth rejoyce and Israel doth dwell safely And therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed though many be Jacob's Troubles and the Afflictions of Joseph which is now as was in the Dayes of old and they that suffer for him they shall reign with him forever and for evermore and fit at his right Hand in his Throne of Grace and in his Kingdom of Glory forever and for evermore where we shall Sing and Rejoyce with the Lord God and the Lamb forever the Lamb that was slain in us in Sodom and Aegypt while the World had a Foundation in us who was dead but is now alive whose Name is called the Word of God which was in the Beginning as the Scripture doth declare 1 John 1. This was for the Priest of Ives Joshua Herning the 19th of the 10th Moneth 1677. I could not be clear in the sight of the Lord untill I had written a few Lines unto thee seeing thee come into our Meeting with the Constable and his great Staff and I heard thee say That thou wast an Informer I tell thee plainly it were better for thee to be a Hang-man for they do but execute others that by their Law are condemned to dye but many Informers have brought shameful Death upon themselves and Ruin upon their Families as it is on Record Indeed we confess we are a Suffering People at this day as they were that went before us who took
Exercise with the Priests of this Nation and other Nations and Islands beyond the Seas and did go in the Fear Dread of the Lord to several Priests Steeple-houses and the Lord was with her and gave her Dominion who went in the Name of the Lord and she did not matter how Great they were nor how High they had builded Babel for she was over them all in the Fear and Wisdom of God for she was a Dread and a Terror to the Wicked where-ever she came For the Wicked could not stand in Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous She did discover the Seat of the Beast and the Whore who doth sit upon the Waters with a Golden Cup in her Hand full of Abomination which all the World wonder after who have the Mark of the Beast in their Hand and in their Fore head And she had a true Sense of the Priests spirit and did know and discover them let them come under what Pretence they would for she did esteem the Lords Truth above all would not have neglected any Opportunity whereby she might have been serviceable for the Lord for it was her Meat Drink to do the Will of God who did receive her Reward in a large measure for there are some that received thirty fold and some sixty but she did receive an hundred fold in this Life and in the World to come Life Everlasting for it was much Joy and Gladness of Heart to her in meeting to meet with the Lord and his People in the blessed Unity of the Spirit where the Lord is Worshipped and the Lord did fill her Cup to the overflowing to others who would never have eaten her Morsel alone but would have others to have eaten and drunk with her which was to the great Refreshment and Edifying and Building up of others in the Faith of the Elect for her Cry was to the Lord That all who were called might be elected and chosen Vessels of Honour for the Lord for her Joy was full in the Lord and she did sound forth Living Eternal Praises to the God of her Life and did Magnifie his great Name while she did live in her Earthly Tabernacle which she did give freely up to be laid in the Dust and the Heavenly Tabernacle of Grace was with her which God had pitched and not Man and the Lord put a New Song in her Mouth which none could sing but the Redeemed of the Lord wherein she did often in secret breathe forth Praises to the Lord for the Lord's Presence was with her wherein she could not contain her self but she breathed forth Praises to the Lord which did refresh the tender Plants of the Lord when she had no Words to speak But when she did speak she did speak from the Mouth of the Lord and did blow the Trumpet in Sion and did sound forth an Alarm in the Holy Mount which made the Inhabitants of the Earth to tremble for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah did roar out of Sion and the Trumpet did give a certain sound whereby many were awakened and their Minds turned from Darkness to the Light and the Day did spring from on High which did give Light to them that had long sitten in Darkness and under the Shadow of Death whose Feet were guided in the Way of Peace who was instrumental to bring many from under the Wo whose Feet were set upon the Rock and she did not despise the Day of small things but was alwayes bringing up the hindermost of the Flock as Jacob did and she would have stooped for the least Grain for the gathering of the Seed out of Egypt where it did not grow which was under Pharaoh's hard-hearted Task-masters and was opprest as a Cart was prest with Sheaves And her Conversation was as becometh the Gospel for her Children and many more were Convinced by her Wise Walking before them in the Wisdom of God for she had a great Care of her Off-spring to bring them up in the Fear of the Lord and did often breathe to the Lord for them and the Lord did hear her Cry and did answer her Desire and I can say to the Praise and Glory of our God that the Lord hath had Regard to them and hath done wonderfully for them who hath gathered them home unto himself out of the Vain Conversation of the World and hath placed his Fear in their Hearts For a Mother may forget her Sucking-Child but the Lord doth not forget them Oh! what Cause have we to return Praise Honour and Glory to the Lord forever who is worthy forever and for evermore And in all Places and Countries where-ever she came she exhorted Friends To have a Care of their Children to bring them up in the Fear of the Lord so that from one Generation to another the Lord's Truth may spread and cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea and that the Lord's Testimony may not fall and that his great Name may be exalted over all to the Praise and Glory of our God forever For she was singly given up to do whatever might be for the Prosperity of God's Eternal Truth Her Labour and Travail was very great wherein she did spend her self and was spent for the Seed's sake that did suffer under great Oppression And she did preach the Gospel freely without Money and without Price for the Gospel was to be preached freely Therefore away with all Hirelings who preach for Hire and divine for Money who keep People alwayes learning and never come to the Truth For she did desire no man's Gold or Silver or Apparel for she had the Lord for her Portion and she desired no more for her Habitation was in Heaven and her Dwelling was in Eternity where she did live and move and had her eternal Being For no other Foundation can any man lay than that which is already laid which is Christ Jesus the Rock of Ages the Foundation of many Generations which she did build upon not Hay nor Stubble nor Gold nor Silver nor Precious Stones for all these will burn when the heat of Persecution comes but she did witness a spiritual House made up of Living Stones and the Top-Stone was laid which is the Ground and Pillar of Truth for she had finished up her Testimony and laid down her Head in Rest and Peace with the Lord. And she did exhort Friends in her Travail in the Service of the Lord To Mind their Latter-End and be ready and prepared for Death for when Death comes you may have enough to do to dye that ye be not like the Foolish Virgins who had no Oyl in their Lamps against whom the Door was shut But now the Lambs War is accomplished and the Lamb hath got the Victory who hath made War in Righteousness and hath overcome and gotten the Victory over the Beast and the False Prophet the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World who was slain from
these things work not the Righteousness of God but where ye lie in the bottom though covered over with a Profession of the Truth yet ye will eat as a Canker Therefore Friends we beseech you to stand in Awe and in the Fear and Dread of the Lord God and sin not for we have known the Terrors of the Lord against Sin in our own Particulars and also his Mercies blessed be his Name forever and ever And therefore we beseech you in the Love of God that ye wait together to feel God's weighty Power that so the ground Work ye may know and the top Stone laid in the true Self-denyal that so as Lambs of one Fold ye may feed together in the low Valleys Everlasting Glory and Honour be unto the Lord our God for all his Mercies for they are exceeding great unto the Children of men in this Day of God's Salvation which is now broken forth and is largely manifested and the Voice of the Lord is heard which Voice shakes the Earth terribly and even removes it out of its place and not only the Earth but the Heaven also And the Lord is gathering in both Professors and Prophane Everlasting Blessing be to our God the Work of the Lord prospers Therefore Friends that ye may all be diligent and Helpers on of this great Work as Moses and Aaron and Hurr that so Miriam's Curse ye may escape So the Lord God Almighty who separated us from our Native Country and from our dear Relations the Lord of Hosts is his Name he hath found us Worthy with the rest of his Messengers to bear a Testimony unto his blessed Unchangeable Truth Therefore Friends to the keeping of him who keeps his Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps we do commit the keeping of our Souls and Spirits with yours also who are of the Family of God though we be far seperated and cannot behold the faces one of another but in the Mystery of the Fellowship which is the Power of God where the World knows us not we bid you all Farewell From us your Friends in the blessed Truth of God in our measures Thomas Alice Curwen Friends here are generally well and here is an increase daily for a Priest comes to our Meetings and People of all sorts come so that here is good Service for God and the Truth increases for the more the Enemy seeks to hinder the increase of Truth the more it spreads Therefore blessed will all they be who abide faithful in the Truth And we earnestly desire to hear from you in Writing for our Dear Unfeigned Love is more than we can express Thù for Friends at Road-Island in New-England Barbadoes the 11th of the 9th Moneth 1677. DEar Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen whom I truly honour in the Lord My Soul is truly comforted in the remembrance of you and in the feeling of that Heavenly Life by which you are supported in God's Service amongst us my Spirit doth rejoyce and Praise the Lord our God in your behalf who hath been very bountiful in visiting of his Seed by sending of his faithful Servants and Ministers amongst us to declare God's Way which is Life among whom ye shall be numbred Dear Friends this is a Salutation of my unfeigned Love and honourable Esteem which lives in my Heart of you in the blessed Truth of God And Dear Friends I am not a little comforted that ye have thought me worthy of a few Lines from you which I have received and do desire that ye may bteathe to the Lord our God for my Preservation in the pure Truth which is more to be desired than all the World and the Glory of it And so dear Friends I shall conclude this with my dear Love in the Truth to you both and remain Your Loving Friend in the Truth John Readman An Epistle to Nathaniel Sylvester and his Wife at Shelter-Island the 6th of the 4th Moneth 1676. FRIENDS IF the Truth make us free then are we free indeed so let none grieve the Spirit of Truth that the Power of the Lord may be felt which keeps all in good Order and brings the Mind into true subjection to do the Will of God and not our own Wills and therefore this is in our Hearts as a Salutation of our Love That you who are Parents may stand in the Truth of our God as Pillars and watch over your Children in the Fear of the Lord and keep them to Plainness of Speech and not only you to them and them to you but to all people that so the pure Cross they may come to know which is the Power of God that it may rule the Mind and this will bring them as they stand and wait in the Simplicity of it to see and put away all their Needless Attire and so they will grow as tender Plants and this is our Love in the Simplicity of our Hearts that ye may stand over them in the Fear and Wisdom of the Lord as Pillars or else how will ye answer the Lord who sees the secrets of all Hearts we do leave it to that of God in you to judge THOMAS ALICE CURWEN To Friends in Gravesend in Long Island FRIENDS IN the Sense of God's infinite Presence and holy Power in which our Life is preserved and in which our Unity stands with the Father and the Son and one with another do we salute you as we abide faithful to the Lord and in his blessed Truth a Measure whereof ye are Witnesses of and therefore it is in our Hearts in remembrance of God's living Presence in which we were well refreshed when we were together and therefore to stir up your pure Minds and to put you in remembrance of the blessed Presence of the Lord for ye are Witnesses how good the Lord is Oh Dear Friends the Lord even filled our Cup and made it for to overflow which broke our Hearts before the Lord and one to another yea he even caused his living Presence to be manifested amongst us to our great Satisfaction Everlasting Holy Praises be returned to his blessed Name forever and for evermore for his Mercies are exceeding great And now Friends in a living Sense of the Lord's Presence do we write unto you that ye may feel in reading hereof the Springings of that Life in which we write unto you that so as Epistles in one anothers Hearts we may be read and known of all men Oh dear Friends abide in the Vine Christ Jesus that so ye may bring forth precious Fruit to God and this is a Christian's State indeed for the Day of the Lord is come very near and all that bear not this holy Fruit are nigh unto Cursing Therefore do we dearly desire that you and all the rest of our dear Friends with whom we have been well refreshed in God's blessed Truth may so walk as to adorn the same and be Possessors of it that so they that fear not God seeing our Light shining may confess that
all know me saith the Lord from the greatest to the least for I will write my Law in their Hearts and put my Fear in their inward Parts saith the Lord God Almighty Therefore Oh Priest I tell thee plainly 't was to a Feast that thou wast invited and the Lord is sending out into the High-wayes and Hedges to call in all and even to compell them that will not come that so his House may be filled that so all may be lest without excuse as he was that had not on his Wedding Garment who was Speechless for the Day is come that that whcih is seen in secret must be declared openly And therefore in the invisible Light we are moved to write unto thee seeing thee in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ which lighteth every man that cometh into the World which hath long shined in Darkness but now the commanding Power of the Lord is gone forth and he hath commanded Light to shine out of Darkness and it shines in Peoples Hearts and will shine more and more untill the Perfect Day for which a Remnant can bless the Lord and sing Praises to his Name and unto the Lamb for evermore who was slain from the Foundation of the World but is now alive and lives forever and evermore and rules in the Hearts of the Upright And therefore in the invisible Light as I was waiting upon the Lord my Heart was truly opened to write unto thee seeing thee to be one of them that shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men that will neither enter in themselves nor suffer others Therefore saith Christ Jesus Wo unto you ye Whited Walls ye Painted Sepulchres ye Blind Guides and indeed you are so and lead the Blind and a Pit of Darkness is before you Therefore is our Advice unto thee and to all whom it may concern That ye turn to this invisible Light and as you wait in it and abide with it it will preserve your Hearts and Minds to God and ye shall not fall into the Pit And if thou enquire of us What is our Way We tell thee plainly Christ Jesus the Light of the World who said I am the Way the Truth and the Life he that believeth in me out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water And He even Christ Iesus the Power of God is the Original and not Hebrew Greek and Latin which the Jews set over his Head when they Crucified him as it is in these dayes and as is said before he is our Way and he is the Hope of our Glory and we are not ashamed to confess him before men for if we should not confess him before men but be ashamed of him as too too many are then he will not confess us before his Father in Heaven Therefore Oh Priest we warn thee that thou cease giving thy Meanings to the Scriptures Thou mayst read thy Doom in the Revelations He that Adds or Diminishes God will add unto him the Plagues written in that Book THOMAS ALICE CURWEN An Epistle written to Friends at Thickets and Clifts Meetings at Barbadoes the 20th of the 1st Moneth 1676. TO you Friends of the Thickets and Clifts Meetings and to all whom it may concern in the Love of God that truly opens our Hearts do we write unto you to stir up the pure Mind and to raise up that Love that brought us unto you even the Love of God that first begat us by the Word of his Power that we should be as the first Fruits unto God and this makes us to Cry many a time in the secret of our Hearts both in Meetings and out of Meetings Oh! how great is thy Loving kindness O Lord Oh that the World knew it And in the feeling of it we can truly say as one did Oh! that all the Lord's People were Prophets that they might speak one by one that all might be comforted and that the Lord would enlarge Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem then there would be no complaining for want of Power but the Lord would open even the Windows of Heaven and pour out Blessings upon you that ye shall not have room to hold it in but the Overflowings of it you would feel in your own particulars and when you were thus filled you would bless the Lord you would cry unto others to come away taste feel how good the Lord is for his Mercies endure forever to them that fear him and wait upon him And therefore Friends we beseech you think it not hard to keep your Meetings apart for the Blessing of the Lord is as truly witnessed in Meetings apart both in Men and Womens Meetings and though Women be the Weaker yet he hath laid Help upon one that is Mighty Oh! Praises Praises saith our Souls forever for evermore who feel his Power in our Hearts at this time And therefore do we write unto all that may be concerned in it That ye beware of that Spirit that was in the Children of Israel in the days of old for the Lord knows right well before whom we stand who knows the Innocency of our Hearts and Spirits that we judge no mans Person nor hint at no Particular the Lord knows but we have heard some say That it was well in the Beginning when there was not so many Meetings and we say the same But Friends consider we beseech you all for our Spirits are bowed down in a Sence of the Work of the Lord in this Island and therefore ye that have known good dayes in your Infancy rest not there but come to your Growth to a Young mans state and to an Old mans state for according to the manner of men in Twenty Years time we come to our Growth much more in the Work of the Lord can we come to teach others And therefore look not back as the Children of Israel did who fainted in their Minds because of their long Travel but take heed of that Spirit that would not have many Meetings nor to have Truth to spread for the Enemy lies near that would betray the Simplicity Therefore thus saith the Lord in our Hearts this day as he did unto Moses in dayes past Speak unto the Children of Israel that they go forward for this is the Day of the Lord's Appearance spiritually he is bringing out of Aegypt by a strong Arm and blessed is every one that helps on the Work and puts his Shoulder to it So faint not Friends in your Minds nor be not weary for the Work is the Lords and he will carry it on it shall Prosper and God prospers it in this Island Everlasting Praises be unto the Lord our God can our Souls truly say who feel the Work of the Lord to Prosper and therefore we say again Let none faint in the Day of Tryal for that 's a Testimony that their Strength is small And therefore Friends be Bold and Valiant for God's blessed Truth and take no thought but wait