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
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
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
ye are of God Oh Friends see that your Lamps be trimmed and that ye have Oyl in your Vessels for the Day of the Lord is near when he will pour out his Wrath upon the Heathen that know him not nor call not upon his Name in Righteousness and therefore Friends do we write unto you in a living Sense and in the Tenderness of our Spirits that ye may be exercised in the Gift of God every one in your several places and none to hide the Lord's Money in the Earth nor to account him a hard Master for indeed he is exceeding good unto all that in the Simplicity of their Spirits seek after him blessed be his Name forever and evermore And if it be your Freedom let Friends at New-York and at Flushen as ye see convenient see and read this Epistle in their Meeting for our dear and unfeigned Love is unto you all more than we can here declare And we cannot but return Praise and Thanksgiving unto the Lord who raised his own Witness in you to receive our Testimony though we be the least of many of the Lord's People and truly the Remembrance thereof is exceeding precious blessed be the Name of our God forever and for evermore We are here waiting for our Passage to Barbadoes and we desire you if you have a convenient Oportunity to let us hear from you and to write to Barbadoes for it is our Joy and the Joy of all that truly Fear the Lord to hear from one another and not only to hear but to feel one another in the Life and Power of God's eternal Truth So in the true Sense of the Love of our God wherein our true Comfort and Consolation stands we remain in the eternal Spirit of Truth which hath made us free from the Law of Sin and Death eternal Praises Praises forever and for evermore be rendred and returned unto the Lord God of our Life who is worthy forever and for evermore Amen in which we remain Your Friends in the Vnchangeable Truth of our God THOMAS ALICE CURWEN From Newport in Road-Island the 9th of the 5th Moneth 1676. To Friends at New-York in New-England FRIENDS IN that Love of our God which caused us to leave our Native Country and all that was dear and near unto us and come and visit you and in Obedience we came and we are well satisfied in the Lord and refreshed one in another as you your selves very well know and we wrote to you from Road-Island and earnestly desired to hear from you to Barbadoes which made us greatly to wonder that we did not receive one Line from you we did expect to hear from you in writing by Lewes Morris but indeed we can truly say That if our Exercise be great yet the Lord is with us who will not suffer us to be tryed but he also brings us through by the Arm of his holy Power and so the Righteous can Rejoyce Everlasting Holy Praises be unto the Lord our God forever and for evermore So that which is chiefly in our hearts at this time is That we may all serve the Lord in Fear and Rejoyce in Trembling and with the Holy Man of God we can sing of the Judgments of the Lord and also of his Mercies and so shall we all dwell together in the holy Fear low in our measures where we offer up unto God a living Sacrifice well-pleasing in his sight So mind our dear Love to Friends at the Gravesend and Long-Island and Oyster-Bay and let them know that the Love of our God which is shed abroad in our Hearts reaches to the Seed and breathes for the Preservation of its Off-spring that we may be comforted in our Travails concerning you for we are very certain that our Testimony is true for the Lord for he rewards us an hundred fold into our Bosom for we have had great Service in this Island and the Lord hath given unto our two Talents two more for which our Souls bless the Lord Let all that feel his holy Power rejoyce with us for the Work of the Lord goes on and Prospers in this Island since our coming hither he is turning back the Wisdom of the Wise though they laid many Baits and Snares for the Innocent yet the Snares are broken and we are delivered and Truth prospers over the Heads of them that do oppose Everlasting holy Praises be unto the Lord our God who carries his Lambs in his Arms and prospers his own Work Here is a great openness in this Island and the Lord is working secretly in Peoples Hearts though they little know it who it is that smites them So dear Friends when you have read this Epistle which is a Salutation of our Unfeigned Love you may read it in your Meeting and let Friends at Gravesend Long-Island and Oyster-Bay see it for you are all as one to us whose Hearts are Upright to God Our dear Love to Matthew Pryer and his Family to Mary Willis and her Family and Alice Crabe and her Family and to John Dickson and his Family and to Friends about Flushen and Jamaco to Hugh Couperwhete and his Wife and though we cannot remember their Names yet in that Unchangeable Love that can never be forgotten in which the Lord refresht our Immortal Souls when we were together do we dearly salute you all and do bid you all Farewel And if it be in any of your Hearts to write a few Lines to us ye may write to London for we should be glad to hear from Friends at so great a distance and how things are but we do not know at present when we shall go Home but in the Will of the Lord we stand who hath given us good Success Holy Praises be to his Name forever and evermore saith your Friends From Oliver Hutton's at Barbadoes the 12th of the 12th Mon. 1676. Thomas Alice Curwen There was a Widdow-Woman in Barbadoes that had Negro's to her Servants who were convinced of God's Eternal Truth and I hearing of them was moved to go to speak to the Woman for their coming to our Meetings and when I did speak to her she did deny me and then I did write to her as followeth Martha Tavernor I Cannot pass by but in Love write to thee for in Love we came to visit thee and to invite thee and thy Family to the Meeting but thou for thy part art like him that was invited to work in the Vineyard and went not And as for thy Servants whom thou callst thy Slaves I tell thee plainly thou hast no right to reign over their Conscience in Matters of Worship of the Living God for thou thy self confessedst that they had Souls to save as well as we Therefore for time to come let them have Liberty lest thou be called to give an Account to God for them as well as for thy self So in thy old Age chuse rather as a good Man did that both thou and thy whole Family may serve
Testimony for the Honour of his Everlasting Truth Friends are generally well in Health blessed be the Name of the Lord forever and for evermore So having this opportunity I was willing to write these few Lines Friends you are dear and near unto me and the Springs of Love and Life do often flow sorth unto you more than Tongue or Pen can express So no more but Your assured Friend and Brother in the Truth of our God Matthew Pryar And as Opportunity presents let me hear from you Friends have suffered pretty much at Boston since you were there Margaret Brewster of Barbadoes hath been sorely Whipt and many Friends more and here are a great many Friends come over to Delaware and I fear that there is great need of Faithful Labourers in these parts No more but my dear Love to you both Matthew Pryar Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen IN that Love of God which is Everlasting and Endless in all his dear Babes and Children whom he hath begotten by his Immortal Word do I salute you and you are often in my Remembrance although far seperated as to the Outward yet near in that which is Invisible and Immortal in the Life of Innocency in which Life you were made instrumental in the Hand of our God to comfort me and hold me up in a living hope when I was well nigh overwhelmed with Sorrow but Praises are given by me unto our God that lives forever who hath given me Patience to wait his time and a Contented Heart that into what Estate and Condition I may be brought I hope I shall be contented Dear Friends I do own dearly your Labour of Love and in the sense of the same do bid you Farewel Who am your Friend in the Truth Francis Colley Flushen in New-England the 15th of the 8th Moneth 1677. DEar and Well-beloved Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen ' whom I love in the Truth and as my Love was dear to you when you were with us so it remains now when we are seperated and my Heart is truly knit unto you in Unfeigned Love and as you were a Comfort and a Strengthning in my great Weakness when you were with me which I cannot forget though far seperated but I do say The Lord reward your Labour of Love into your Bosoms for the Lord hath of his abundant Love raised me from a weak estate that I may yet remain in the Land of the Living to declare his Praise and to signifie my endeared Love to my Brethren and Sisters and to bear a Living Testimony for my God against the Wrong Spirits that burden the Seed of God So my dear Friends I have not much to acquaint you with only that which was fore-seen That Bad Spirits are working their own Destruction So in that Love which I began I do take my leave and remain Your Friend and Sister Mary Tyllton Gravesend in New-England the 15th Day of the 8th Moneth 1677. Antego the 19th of the 4th Moneth 1677. Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen MY true love is to you both desiring your Everlasting Well-fare and Well-being in God's Everlasting Truth that is broken forth amongst us blessed be his Name forever who does daily engage us with his Love and gives us a living Experience of his Mercies and Goodness who feeds our Immortal Souls and keeps us fresh and green and bears up our Heads in the time of great and deep Exercises and Tryals which we do meet withal Everlasting Praises and Glory be to his Name forever so that we can say of a Truth Good is the Lord to all that wait upon him and chuse him to be their chiefest Beloved who indeed is the chiefest of Ten Thousand to his little Remnant that has none in Heaven but only the Lord Jesus Christ nor none on Earth in comparison of him And so desiring we may forever wait in singleness upon the Lord that he may keep us and preserve us in the sense of his Love breathing and crying unto the Lord one for another in the blessed Seed and Gift and holy Spirit that the Lord hath blessed through all Ages and Generations Everlasting Praises be unto his holy Name forever Oh Friends your Faithfulness the Lord hath made me in my measure sensible of wherein my Soul is comforted being Members of the one Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head and Leader that goes before his People and leads into the green Pastures of Life which the World cannot give us nor take from us JASPER TREGOUSE Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen I Received your Lines and your Friend R. J. and cannot but accept kindly of your Remembrance of me in the Lord and was refreshed in them and your true Love therein as I have also been in your Company in several good Meetings by God's Power refreshed for which let him have the Praise forever and your tender and dear Advice in the Truth is owned and I desire your Remembrance of me in the Lord may be continued and that I may be preserved through all Tryals to God's Praise and worthy of his Mercies and Loving-kindness which is large and incomparable And dear Friends your Labour of Love in and Service for the Lord is not to be slipt out of Remembrance in many Hearts in this Island but is still very fresh and green and your Reward I question not is in your Bosom and will be with the Lord who was and is the exceeding great Reward of his Servants both in others and in this Age who were willing to forsake their Country and Kindred at his Requirings So dear Friends in the Salutation of that Love which exceeds all other I remember you and desire to be remembred by you And if you see G. F. mind me to him I have him in due Respect and Honour though I am as one of the least of the Thousands of Israel yet of true Jacob's stock the Stem is felt through the Goodness of Jacob's God whose Presence is better than this World's Glory Your Friend and Brother in measure of God's Power JOHN BARKER Barbadoes the 1st of the 5th Moneth 1676. Dear Thomas and Alice Curwen TO whom is my dear Love desiring these precious Seasons may never be forgotten wherein we have been sweetly watered and refreshed together but that the Glory of all may return to him in whom all our fresh Springs are Your Service for God amongst us I believe will be owned forever and a Testimony thereof is fresh in the Hearts of a Remnant in this Island and a sad and bitter Condition are many reduced to who opposed your Testimonies and so have come to wither and blast as is wofully manifest by Henry Jones at this present who is gone out of the Unity into the Enmity and heaped up a parcel of dirty stuff in writing against Friends and some others there about stand by him I think none but such as are out of the Practice of meeting with their Families I write the less of