an Oration before the People who gave a shout and said it was the Voice of a God and not of a man and that the worms should eat him because he gave not the Glory to God By Faith it 's seen that it was great faithfulness and obedience unto the Lord in the Apostles that they gave up themselves to do the Work of God and laboured in the Truth to turn both Jews and Gentiles to Christ the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the World and to the Grace which hath appeared to all men which taught the Saints that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts they might live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World and come to know the saving of their Souls by the Grace through Faith and when the People did once believe they came to receive Grace for Grace and had Faith revealed in them from Faith to Faith which gave them Victory over the whole World and over the Transgression of it to be cleansed from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God and unto such the Apostles wrote Epistles exhorting them to continue in the Faith and to persevere in the Hope Watching and being Sober having the loynes of their minds girt about with the Truth unto these Salvation was come nearer than when they first Believed therefore they were to awake from sleep and rise from dead Works and to put off the deeds of the Night for the Darkness was past and the true Light shined and they were to put on the whole Armour of God to Arm themselves with the Armour of Light that they might withstand the evil Day and might be able to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil that they might offer their Bodies unto God a Living Holy Sacrifice acceptable unto God which was but their reasonable Service not fashioning themselves according to the Fashions of the World but to be renewed in their Mindes to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfed Will of God And they were not to adorn themselves with Gold or Silver or Pearls or Plaiting of Hair nor costly Array but with modest Apparel to adorn the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ Let not your adorning be with the putting on of Apparel nor wearing of Gold or Pearls ar broidered Hair but let it be in the hidden man of the Heart with a meek and quiet Spirit which with the Lord is of great price and their words were to be few and seasoned with salt that they might administer Grace to the Hearers that all things might be done in Order and decently for the setting forth the Glory of God and the Praise of his Grace by which they were called to be Saints By Faith it 's likewise seen that after the Apostles had once turned the People to the true Light and to know God shining in their Hearts to cause the Light to shine out of Darkness to give them the Light of the Knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ in which they received the Anointing which gave them an understanding to know all things so that they needed no man to teach them then they committed them to the Word of his Grace which was able to keep them from falling and left them to assemble themselves together in the Spirit to worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth and not to forsake the assembling themselves together as the manner of some was but to wait for the Promises and persevere in the Hope unto the end waiting for the appearing of the great God and his Christ then they left them committing them to the Grace which was able to keep them from falling and to the Spirit of Jesus which was able to build them up and â—o keep them from the world unspotted â—nd to hate even the garment spotted with the Flesh and to present them Holy unto God without spot or blemish or any such like thing which brought them 〈…〉 one another and to have Union one wâ—â—h another and not with the world for a Believer and an Infidel cannot concord then I say they left them and did not continue with them as the manner of Hirelings ever was to stay as long as they lived for great sums of Money with one People except they could get a greater Benefice with another whose day is as the cutting off Life from the Earth and going down to the Grave but the Apostles day was to do the joyful Work of God and to call many into the Light the way of everlasting Rest and Peace and Joy who when they had turned one People to the Light left them and wrote to them from another People unto whom they were gone to turn them to the same Truth and out of other Lands So they saluted the Saints and their Assemblies which they had gathered with the saluâ—ations of Peace and Love exhorting all to press forward to the Mark of the price of the High Calling in Christ Jesus namely to the full attainment of the fulness of an Holy and perfect Life that they might all be presented perfect in Christ and sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit and being partakers of the Divine Nature and escaping the Corruption which is in the world through lust and being partakers of the Faith they might give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure adding unto Faith Vertue and unto Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness brotherly Love and to brotherly Love Charity which is the band that keepeth perfect for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall and so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This I have given forth from the Innocency and uprightness of my Heart as moved of the Lord which I send abroad as a Testimony of the true Work of the true Faith and of its Effect it being a few of those excellent Truths which through Faith in the Light is given me to see and to believe and to witness forth the true Testimony of the Saints which justly and truly they through Faith witnessed forth to the Glory of God and it is to be Printed and sent abroad unto all People but most especially to all the English in America and the West-Indies and the Islands thereunto belonging which if in this I should finish my Testimony of Writing or Declaring the Truth of God yet this shall stand unto Generations to come and to this present Generation as a Testimony
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
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