out of the Evil that is in the World by which we have been crucified unto the World and its Glory and the many Sinful Customs and Fashions that are of it and in it and by which we have been led into a Holy Innocent Conversation And by and in this Faith we do live to God and in it are we brought to Love God Uprightly and to serve him with our whole strength For this Faith is his own Gift which hath wrought by Love in us Effectually to the purifying of our Hearts and Spirits which were defill'd with sin And in this Holy Faith is our Religion and Worship Pure and is of the Pure God and so is accepted by him and we have the Witness of this in our own Hearts And we do certainly know that we are of God by his Spirit which he hath given us And this is the one standing Faith which is God's Gift in which the Pure Standing Unchangeable Worship of God is again renew'd and set up among'st us as it was in the Apostles dayes Glory yea Glory be to the Lord God forever whose day of Light and Life is now again made manifest in and unto us as it was in the Apostles dayes and it shines Gloriously among'st us to our great Consolation O the Glory the Glory of the Lord God! O how doth it shine in the Assemblies of the Righteous Overcoming Refreshing and Melting the Hearts of the Upright and making them more glad then they that have great increase of Corn and Wine and Oyle And we can truly say The Lord hath dealt bountifully with us our Lot is fallen in a Fruitful Hill and we have a goodly Inheritance and this is our Inheritance The everlasting Power and Wisdom of the Lord our God whereby we are redeem'd out of the Evil that is in the World and through Faith in the same are upheld in Purity wherein our Peace and Joy is great at this day and no man can take it from us And my dear Friends I know the Lord God is daily encreasing your Faith who have been freely given up to suffer for Righteousness sake so that you can say with the Prophet Though there be no Flocks in the Fold and though the Fruits of the Earth be taken from you for your pure Obedience unto God yet can you not Murmur at it but do still Rejoyce in the Lord God of your Salvation and can cast your Care upon him knowing he doth care for you as a Tender Father for his Tender and Obedient Children And my dear Friends Though all the false Worshippers and Apostates upon the whole Earth should joyn together and seek to destroy our Testimony and pure Faith and pure Worship yet can they never do it But the Testimony and Faith and Worship into which we are gather'd by the Lord our God it shall stand and remain when all their Fighting Persecuting and Blood-thirsty Faiths and Religions and Worships and False Testimonies are gone and ended And we shall yet live to Praise the Lord our God notwithstanding all the Rage and Fury of our Enemies And though Sufferings may attend us for a little time yet will they be ended in the Lord's Time and he doth suffer us to be try'd but it is not in Enmity to us but in Love that we may be gather'd unto him out of all things which perish with the using and that we may know him to be our Strength and that he may shew forth his Vertue and Power in us in our Sufferings and that People who sit in Darkness and whose Hearts are set on Earthly Things may see that he hath redeem'd a People from the Earth who can suffer the Loss of all earthly Enjoyments rather then to deny their Testimony Faith and Religion which he hath call'd them into And by Friends Faithfulness herein is the Lord God Glorified and the Understandings of People opened and they come to see the difference betwixt those who do profess Christ in words and Faithful Friends who do enjoy him in Life and Power And so the Wise Man's House upon the Rock comes to be known from the Fool 's House upon the Sand that so those who are dissatisfied with the Dead Huskey False Worships that are in the World may know where to centre and sit down even with us who are become the Flock and Heritage of the Lord God And God's Worship in the Spirit and in the Truth which he hath set up among'st us and into which we are gather'd it must spread over the Nations and Kingdoms of the World and the Nations and Kingdoms of this World must become our God's and his Christ's as it is written This hath the Lord God Decreed and all his Enemies cannot reverse nor alter this his Decree And God will certainly throw down all the Fighting Persecuting Blood-thirsty Faiths and Worships and Religions upon the Face of the Earth which have been set up in the Fallen Earthly and Sensual and Divilish-wisdom of Wicked Men about which they have shed the Blood of many Innocent People who have been taught of God and therefore could not bow unto their Devilish Inventions And the Living Powerful Almighty Dreadful God before whom all the strength of his Enemies is but as a Thred of Tow in the bot fiery Flame he is risen to execute his Judgments upon the Old Red Draggon the Devil who hath made the Nations like the Raging Sea throwing forth Mire and Dirt and hath set People to devour one another about Religion Faith and Worship like Wolves Lions and Dogs And the Lord God will certainly Plague him and Bind him and REDEEM the Nations from under his Accursed power And the Great Whore who hath been drunk with the Blood of the Saints who have kept the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophesie Her will God judge and the Beast and False Prophets and all whose Hands and Hearts are defiled with shedding Innocent Blood the Wrath Indignation of the Lord God will be heavy upon them And God will certainly Waste Consume and Confound with his Righteous Judgments the Stock and Root of the Wicked and Ungodly and will Rout Wickedness and Ungodliness out of the Nations of the Earth and will plant the Nations with Righteousness Holiness and Purity that so he may be Exalted over all the Works of his Hands And the Lamb Christ Jesus the Prince of Life and Peace who comes not to destroy mens Lives but to save them He must have the Victory over the Dragon Beast Whore and False Prophets whose Work hath been and still is to destroy both the Souls and Bodies of People And all Nations that come to be sav'd must walk in the Light of the Lamb Christ Jesus in which Light we do now Raign with him over all Deceit and over all the false Worships in the World notwithstanding our outward Sufferings for our Raign is Spiritual and Inward AND all Friends who are newly convinced or such who may be Young
Direction And let not your Fleshly Affections be drawn out by the Enemy of your immortal souls to encourage your Children in Wildness nor any Unrighteous Word or Action but still in the Wisdom of the Lord God watch over them and shew your Dislike unto the Evil in your Children and seasonably in the Wisdom of the Lord Reproving and Correcting them for the Evil and Admonishing them to that which is Good not in Rashness nor Fretting but in that weighty Spirit of the Lord God which will keep your own minds Cool and Temperate and that will not harden your Children's Hearts nor provoke them to Wrath against you And Friends Strive not so much to get great Riches in this World for your Children as to bring them up in the Fear of the Lord God for if they come into the Fear of the Lord God and Serve him though you have little to leave them yet will the Lord God provide for them and if they do not Love Fear and Serve God much outward Riches will do them no good but they will be hurt by it as we may see many are at this day who had outward Riches left them by their Parents who were not train'd up by their Parents in the pure Fear of the Lord God but contrariwise in Pride Sports Plays Games Vain words Lightness Wildness Swearing Lying and Drunkenness c. and so growing up in Wickedness which took root in them in their Youth They spend their outward Riches left unto them by their Parents upon their Ungodly Lusts and so Grieve and Dishonour the Lord the more thereby and so it had been better for them that they had never had it And all Friends every where Keep in the Pure Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ which will keep you all Meek and truly Lowly and Humble in Heart and Mind that your Adorning may not be that of putting on of Rich or Costly Apparel but that it may be the hidden Man of the Heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a Meek Pure and Quiet Spirit which with the Lord God is of great Price And be you not nor your Children Conformable unto this World and its Fashions and Customs and Manners which are Corrupt and Vain and Changeable and aboundantly Sinful in Riotousness Gluttonny Drunkenness and Superfluity of Apparel while they suffer the Poor to lie languishing in the Streets for want of a Supply of those things which are needful And this is a crying Abomination in England and many other Parts of that call'd Christendom which is a great Shame to the Bishops who are call'd Reverend Fathers in God a Name very unfit for their Unmerciful Ungod-like and Unchrist-like Nature For God is Love and those that dwell in him they dwell in Love and Love doth feed the Hungry and clothe the Naked with a Garment So the Bishops Priests and Rulers and Rich and Fat and Wanton People who suffer their Poor Neighbours yea and their own Church-Members to suffer want of Food and Raiment while they are Eating and Drinking and clothing in excess without the Fear of God have not a Habitation in God who is Love nor in Christ Jesus So be not you like unto them but keep in the Wisdom of the Lord in putting on your Apparel and in all things else that you may preach forth Righteousness in the whole course of your Life and manner of your Conversation And all dear Friends every where who have been call'd by the Lord God out of the worships of the World which are vain into his own pure Worship which is in Spirit and Truth continue stedfast with the Lord in all things I tenderly beseech you as mov'd by him Oh Friends You that have been moved and commanded by the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to with-draw your selves from the false Teachers who are set up by men and not by the Lord God whose Work hath been and yet is to preach up War Strife and Persecution and to set People one against another to destroy one another O keep your Testimony pure unto the End that so you may all receive a full Reward of the Lord God O Friends you know what War the Priests have prepar'd against us since the time the Lord in his tender Mercy let us see their Deceit and call'd us out from among'st them and constrain'd us to forbear putting into their Mouthes What Havock and Spoil have they made of our Goods and imprisoning of our Bodies divers until Death But O how hath the Lord born up a Remnant who loves him and fears him as upon Eagles Wings And hath made us to bear joyfully the spoiling of our Goods and the imprisonment of our Bodies Glory yea Glory unto his Holy Blessed Vame forever So all be valiant for the Lord God and his Worship which he hath call'd us into and have an Eye unto the Recompence of Reward which the Lord God hath in store for those who continue in Well-doing unto the End So the Lord God Almighty strengthen you all with his Mighty Power in your inward Man and let not an Evil Mind of Vnbelief spring up in any to distrust the Lord concerning outward things For he who feeds the Ravens and clothes the Grass and takes Care for Sparrows he hath provided for us and doth and will provide for us if we do abide in Faithfulness unto him he will not suffer us to want that which is good for us that all the Faithful are fully satisfied in And many have deep Experience of his Fatherly Care over them which hath begotten a depth of Love in their hearts unto him by which they are made strong in the Faith to follow him through the greatest Hardships And so we know him a God near at hand Mighty to Save and do endure Afflictions with Chearfulness because we do inherit his Mighty Power by which we are made Conquerers over Hell and Death and all the Rage and Fury of Man And all dear Friends in England and else-where who have been and yet are under great Sufferings in the Spoil of your Goods and Imprisonment of your Bodies for your Pure Obedience to the Living God in meeting together to Worship him in Spirit and Truth Happy are you and great is and will be your Reward if you continue in Well-doing unto the End O Friends Rejoyce in the Lord who hath given you Ability to suffer for his Glorious Name 's sake knowing that it is not only given unto us to believe in Christ Jesus but also to suffer with him and for his sake and if we do suffer with him we shall also Raign with him But if any should refuse to suffer with him they cannot Raign with him For said Christ he that denies me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven And he said Whosoever doth forsake Father or Mother Wife or Children Lands or Living for my Name 's sake he shall receive in this World Many-fold and
in the World to come Everlasting Life And this is a faithful Saying and worthy to be believ'd and accepted by all and it is believ'd by Thousands and the Truth of it seen and witness'd inwardly Glory to the Lord God for the same O the Glorious Powerful Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ which Thousands do enjoy in their Hearts and Souls Which doth give them perfect dominion over Sin and the Devil who is the Author of it O my dear Friends This is a Many-fold Reward for our Sufferings and I do sensibly say and affirm on God's Behalf That the Sufferings which do attend us in this World for the Truth 's sake are not worthy to be compared to the Glorious Power of the Lord which is already reveal'd in us who have steadfastly believ'd in him and freely have been given up to suffer with him and for him For as our Tribulations have been increas'd for his sake our Consolation in him hath much more abounded so that we can truly and sensibly say as those who suffer'd with him before us did say Greater is he that is in us then he that is in the World by whom we do overcome the World and the Devil who is the godd of it And he hath made us Conquerors through his Love Life and Power and so we can bring in our Testimony for him to his Glory and our own everlasting Comfort That he is able to save unto the utmost all that come to the Father by him So dear Friends every where be Valiant and Chearful in your Sufferings for the Pretious Living Truth and Way of the Living God in which you are come to know your souls Salvation and as good Souldiers of Christ Jesus endure Afflictions and rejoyce in them and through them and over them and Raign in the Lamb's Patience over all Persecution and Persecutors unto the End of your Dayes in this World For dear Friends It is those that endure unto the End that must inherit Everlasting Life and the Heavenly Joy and Divine Riches which is beyond what can be declar'd in words But if any man draws back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him saith the Lord God So all Friends prize your precious Time and press forward in the Truth that so you may grow more and more Spiritually-minded our of Earthly-mindedness for we brought nothing into this World and it is certain we can take nothing out so having Food and Raiment let us therewith be content for here we have no continuing City but though our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd yet have we an Inward Eternal Habitation in the Lord and though our outward Man perish yet do we know a renewing of strength in the inward Man day by day And our light Affliction which is but as for a Moment worketh unto us a far more and exceeding weight of Glory while we look not at the loss of Temperal Outward and Perishing Riches but at the gain of Spiritual and Eternal Riches which the Lord our God is aboundantly inriching us withal in this the Day of the Manifestation of his Great and Glorious Power and Wisdom in us So dear Friends we have no cause to be dicourag'd for we certainly know That the Lord God is with us and he will plead our Cause with all our Adversaries and he is stronger then them all and by his Strength we are upheld and made bold as Lions to meet together to Worship him as he hath commanded us And all our Enemies are not able to pluck us out of our Heavenly Father's Hand but as Christ hath said we do witness it to be true who said My Father is greater then all and no man is able to pluck my Sheep out of my Father's Hand So God Almighty 〈◊〉 you all my dear Friends and Heavenly Relations and Spiritual Kindred whom the Living God hath Redeem'd out of the World which lieth in Wickedness by his Almighty Power which hath wrought Mightily and Effectually in you for your Redemption out of sin and hath brought a Remnant to sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus where the Devil and Sin hath no place And he is daily increasing the strength of the least of his People who wait upon him in the Measure of his pure Light Grace and Spirit already made manifest and those that are Faithful in a little he doth make to inherit great Riches he bears his Lambs in his Arms and gently leads on those who are waiting upon him in the Way of his Righteous Judgments and those that do own him in the Way of his Righteous Judgments he doth shew Mercy unto and though they do know a time wherein they do sow in Tears yet they do not long abide in that Estate but he brings them to reap in Joy as it is witnessed at this day by Thousands who have known a time wherein the Hand of the Lord hath been heavy upon them because of Sin but he hath blotted out and forgiven those that have been brought unto true Repentance and a Forsaking of Sin by his Righteous Judgments and so Times of Refreshment are come unto those who have patiently born his Righteous Judgments and now such can sing forth the high Praises of the Lord in the Land of the Living in the Beauty of Holiness O the Beauty the Beauty that is in Holiness And without Holiness none can be accepted of the Lord God who is Holy for Holiness becomes his House and People forever And the Temple of God is Holy which Temple Faithful Suffering Friends are who have own'd him in the Way of his Righteous Judgments and have been cleans'd thereby in whom he hath appear'd as a Refiner with Fire and as a Fuller with Soap O Friends How precious is that Freedom and Liberty which Christ Jesus the Power and Wisdom of God hath wrought in us and for us O stand all in it forever and none suffer your selves to be again entangled with the Yoak of Bondage which the Enemy of your Immortal Souls once had you under O remember those bitter Dayes and Hours which we spent in Darkness when we knew not the Way of Life and Peace O remember how we did wander as Blind Men and could find no Comfort in all the Earth unto our Immortal Souls and then the Lord God of tender Mercy heard our Cries and Groans in secret and hath rewarded us Richly O let his tender Mercy be had in Everlasting Remembrance by all that have partaken of the same And all Friends Keep your first Love unto the Lord and his pure Living Way which he hath brought you into and none look back into the World and its glory which will Perish and come to an End But keep your Minds chast unto the Living God who hath shew'd you such great Kindness O let not the Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Love of other things choak nor hinder the growth of the pure Seed of Life in