it You may make long Prayers like the Pharisees but what will it avail it being done without that in which the Saints had access to God So here your Praying and Worship and Separation or Gathering being without the Spirit what can it be but from self and in self And so like them spoken of in Iude 19. These be they who separate themselves sensual not having the Spirit And we desire you to read the 8th Chapter to the Romans and consider what you are to walk after as Christians and to be led by and to live after and with what you are to mortify the Flesh or the deeds of the Flesh if you own a Mortification needful to Salvation and whether you can be Christ's and not have his Spirit and whether you can be the Sons of God and not be led by his Spirit And whether you are Children but by Adoption And if by Adoption whether this Adoption is not by the Spirit And whether it was not the Spirit it self that bore witness with the Saints Spirits that they were the Children of God As verse the 16. And then consider what your Evidence is or whether ye have any or no You considering these things weightily will certainly find your selves at a loss while ye are denying the Spirits discovery or Revelation whatever Iames Barry may tell you of your being in a State of Grace And therefore ought all People to be turned unto the Spirit and Light of Christ Jesus in their Hearts and if your Minister do not direct and turn you thereunto he is no Minister of Christ nor will ever bring you to Christ your Saviour and then how can you be saved And if he turn you to the Light and Spirit of Christ then he must own the Revelation thereof in the Church or else he denies Christ in his Offices to teach his People who is both King Priest and Prophet in his Church and if he turn People to the Light then he must not Preach against it but if this be not a part of his Message that God is Light and Christ is spiritually the Light of the World and so a part of his work to turn to this Light he is no Minister of Christ. And for your Satisfaction read these Scriptures Paul a true Minister Acts 26. 18. speaking of God's sending him to the Gentiles said It was to open their blind Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God And 1 Iohn 1. 5. he said their Message which they had heard of him and declared was That God is Light So then they that turn People to the Light turn them to God and Christ as is further evident from Christ's own Words Ioh. 8. 12. Then spake Iesus again unto them saying I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life And Iohn the Baptist's Testimony concerning him who was the Eternal Word by whom all things were made was That he was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1. 9. And Christ commanded to believe in the Light Iohn 12. 36. saying While ye have the Light believe in the Light that ye may be Children of the Light c. So People are both to be turned to the Light and to believe in the Light and to walk in it or else whatever be professed People can be but Children of Darkness and such as know not whither they go And in Isa 42. 6. and Isa. 49. 6. you may see how God promised that he would give Christ for a Light c. so that they that deny and slight the Light deny Christ God's Light and Salvation And Eph. 5. 13. the Apostle saith That all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever doth make manifest is Light So that you may see what need People have to mind the Light or else they must be ignorant of their States and also of the Glory of God for in the Light is the Knowledge of God's Glory received as may be seen in 2 Cor. 4. 6. and also you may see where this Light is to shine For God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Iesus Christ. Much might be said in the Vindication of this Testimony for the true Light wherewith Christ hath lighted every Man but this may suffice to all that will believe the Scriptures and accordingly turn their Minds to the true Light of Christ that he may give them a right understanding to know him that is True according to 1 Iohn 5. 20. seeing Iames Barry in his last Paper seems to accuse us as if we would bring Texts of Scripture neither understood nor rightly applied therefore when he sends forth his Answer upon the back of our Vindication according to his promise let him give his Applications upon the fore-cited Scriptures which are quoted for the Proof of our Principles and as an Evidence against his and so let him prove us grand Hereticks as he said he would or otherwise let him leave off his boasting and cease from belying and abusing of us as formerly he hath done Written in Vindication of the Truth our selves and the rest of our Traduced Friends Dublin the 20th of the first Month 168â— Iohn Burnyeat Amos Strettell POSTSCRIPT JAmes Barry's Answer to two Letters sent him by Anthony Sharp which by way of Postscript was in his last Paper to us in the following Words viz. I do acknowledge my self indebted to your Scribe viz. Anthony Sharp in two most exquisite and polite Letters the which I hope to answer when I have little else to do So begging his Worships Patience may bear a little longer with my slowness in this Business I bid him Farewell J. B. For Answer Anthony Sharp being abused and belied in particular as well as we and our Principles in general when Iames Barry finds leisure to answer his Letters we shall leave Anthony Sharp to reply who doubtless therein will further manifest both him and his folly without either such delays or using such vain and scornful flouts improper to have come from the Pen of a Christian much less a pretended Minister Memorandum If any be desirous to see the several Papers that have past betwixt Iames Barry and Us the Originals may be seen with Amos Strettell at the Band and Hood in Back-Lane and true Copies thereof with Thomas Ashton at the Three Kidds and Gloves in Cavan-Street Dublin THE Holy TRUTH AND ITS Professors Defended In an Answer to a LETTER writ by Lawrence Potts Priest of Staplestown near Catherlough unto Robert Lackey a Parishioner and formerly Hearer of the said Priest Occasioned by his forsaking his Ministry and embracing the blessed Truth herein vindicated By Iohn Burnyeat and Iohn Watson Take Counsel together and it shall come to nought
which he doubts not but we will make good upon occasion Thou in answer say'st Thou knowest our Practice well enough Which if true and if so bad as thou endeavourest to make People believe of us why hast thou brought none of them to make good thy Charges against us And as for our Principles thou say'st Thou never heard'st we had any Then thou must needs be ignorant of our Way and Religion And therefore in thy speaking evil of it thou speakest evil of things thou understandest not and so art of that Generation spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 12. And as for our Faith and Principles they have been published to the World both by Words and Writing they have not been hid in a corner so that any that had a mind to concern themselves against us and yet as wise Men would not judge without an understanding lest like thee they should speak evil of the things they did not understand might easily be informed what our Principles are However we are a People that believe in the Lord Iesus Christ and that the Father sent him into the World to lay down his Life a Ransom for all Men that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have Eternal Life That he was Crucified without the Gates of Ierusalem and so became a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World And that after he had suffered and was buried God the Father Raised him again by his Eternal Spirit after which he shewed himself unto many Witnesses and then Ascended into Heaven and is Glorified with the Father with that Glory he had with him before the World was made And we further believe that he is the Light of the World and that he ought to be followed according to his own words Iohn 8. 12. and That he lighteth every Man that cometh into the World according to Iohn 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith he lighteth every Man all ought to believe in that they may be Children of the Light according to Iohn 12. 36. And so we believe in his spiritual Appearance according to his Promise who said He would pray the Father and he should send them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth according to Iohn 14. 16 17. and this was his own Spirit for he is the Truth and of this the Saints were Witnesses as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And thus was Christ in the Saints the Hope of Glory according to Col. 1. 7. And thus believing and witnessing the Truth of the Scripture we wait upon God for his Spirit that we may worship him therein according to the Institution of his Son Christ Jesus as in Iohn 4. 23 24. and that we may pray with the Spirit and sing with it according to 1 Cor. 14. 15. For the Apostle exhorted the Saints To be filled mith the Spirit Eph. 5. 18. and the Saints were to Pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. So our Faith stands in the Power of God which is that the Apostle laboured that the Saints Faith might stand in as thou may'st see 1 Corinth 2. 5. believing that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation according to Iohn 5. 29. Here we have given thee some account in short of our Faith Principles and Practice and proved them to be according to the Scripture whereby thou may'st see if Prejudice and Self-Interest do not blind thine Eye that Robert Lacky in turning from thy Teaching to Christ the true Light and his Teaching according to God's Promise under the New Covenant who said They shall be all taught of the Lord which according to our Principle we direct People to wait for it 's no unsafe way to Heaven nor as thou falsly accusest us a pursuing such ways as are directly contrary to holy Scripture which thou in some measure promisest thou wilt make appear but hast it yet to do Thou say'st Because thou art fully satisfied we cannot make this out therefore thou wilt shew him how he has incurred not only the Displeasure of God for the present but the Damnation of his Soul hereafter unless he repent and return by this his departure from the Religion he was bred in Ans. Thou may'st see thy Satisfaction is without ground as also thy confident presumption in thy passing such a Sentence upon him concerning his present and Eternal Estate And surely thy Iudgment herein is groundless rash and vain as all may see who have any true Christian understanding and discerning and do but observe what is brought forth under your Teaching in your Religion For we understand no Reason thou assignest for thy Iudgment but His leaving of your Religion which we have before proved he had good reason so to do And therefore neither he nor any other need be afraid of thy Threatning upon this account because from what is before written it is clear that there are great Defects in the Principles and Exercise of the Religion he was bred in if he was bred in yours and so not according to Christ's Institution as may be seen if compared with the Scripture and that there are no such Defects in the Religion he now embraceth but proved in the Principles and Exercise of it to be of Christ's Institution according to the Scripture And herein thy Challenge we have answered and endeavoured to make it appear both to thee and him according to thy demand But if thou hatest to be Informed it shall lie at thy own door and thou shalt answer for it thy self So it is plain he may have changed out of a Principle of Conscience and pure Love to God and his Soul and not out of Interest Humour Passion or Prejudice as thou seemest to accuse him And as for thy Assuring him upon thy Word that it is not for any temporal advantage that thou seekest to reduce him but only in love to his Soul as thou hast to all Mens as thou say'st Ans. We think he hath no reason to believe that thou and the rest of your Clergy have such a Love to the Souls of all Men as to be the only Reason of your coming amongst them to be their Teachers for your Practice which is a surer evidence than your Words speaks the quite contrary in that you do leave any People where you are to go to another place for an Augmentation and higher Preferment So that it 's evident it is not the good of People's Souls nor the Glory of God that chiefly moves you in this concern what-ever may be pretended to And so to the Consciences and Understandings of Wise Men we refer these things to be considered of with our Hearts desire to God for you all that he would open your Understandings and let you see the Errour of you Ways and
Truth Exalted IN THE WRITINGS OF THAT Eminent and Faithful Servant of CHRIST Iohn Burnyeat COLLECTED Into this Ensuing Volume as a MEMORIAL to his Faithful Labours in and for the TRUTH Prov. 10. 7. The Memory of the Iust is Blessed Psal. 112. 6. The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-Street 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER AS the Tree is known by its Fruits so I desire thee to Taste of these which are here presented to thee with a Serious and Unprejudiced Mind which are but Some of the Many Testimonies of the Love and Labour of the Deceased Author for the General Good of Mankind and particular Edification of the Churches of Christ that are Gathered in our Day by the Eternal Spirit in and among whom he was a Faithful Able and Successful Labourer The End of Books is the End of Preaching viz. Informing the Inquirer Stirring up the Careless Stopping the Gainsayer and Comforting and Building up those whose Faces are turned already Sion-ward and that are Attended with many Exercises in their Iourney to Everlasting Habitations And as the End is the same so where the Servants of Christ cannot come Books may that are the Testimony of their Care and Ministry for others They remain also with us and are a Memorial of those that writ them when they are Gathered to their Fathers and by them the Living often Converse with the Dead who yet Die not but Live in their Labours in the Children they beget to God in their Writings they leave behind them as Pledges of their Love and Care for the Flock and in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus with the Spirits of the Just To whom and to God the Judge of all the Dispensation of our Day has brought Thousands Blessed be his Eternal Name for ever These following Writings I Recommend the more Earnestly and Pleasingly to thy Solemn Perusal Serious Reader because they are very little Controversial they chiefly Refer to Practice to an Holy and Divine Life and Walking with God The First is an Account of his own Convincement the Path he trod-in to Peace with God out of a Wicked World where the Heavenly Call found him It is Sweet Lively Instructive and Perswading to others to Try as he did and to Embrace the Holy Truth Then follows a Relation of his Travels and Ministry in these Nations and beyond the Seas as Luke presented the Churches with the Acts or Travels of the Apostles in their Infancy A Pleasant and Seasoning Lecture both for the Young who love to hear of Voyages to Excite them to seek the Lord his Way and Kingdom and to Journey towards the New and Heavenly Ierusalem and to Quicken those more Aged to shake off their Dust the Earth that is too Apt to Contract and Stick upon them in the Daily Attention they give to their Temporal Affairs and to Lift up their Eyes and see the Fields how White they are to Harvest and how few Labourers there are to Take it in and what need there is of an Holy Care and Oversight of those that are already Gathered especially Considering how many Eminent Ones of late are Taken from us His Next Writings are Epistles of divers sorts to several Places and upon different Occasions containing Divine Truths and Strong Perswasives to Faithfulness Love Holiness and Perseverance in the Way of God Revealed to them in the Light of Iesus Christ the Great Light of the World that Enlightens every one that comes into the World Those that have any Spiritual Savour will Taste a Sweet Savour in them and God will Witness to them as he is wont to do to the Labours and Writings of his Servants in the Hearts of those that with Seriousness shall peruse them His last Two Tracts in this Book saving Two Epistles that by coming too late are misplaced are in Defense of the Truth against some Opposers of it and the only Controversy in the Book The Soundness of his Answers and Moderation of his Spirit in delivering of them are no small Commendation to the Truth he defends whose Faithful Servant he was for it shews the Power it had over him how well he knew what he writ and that he was not only a Professor but a Possessor of the Living and Saving Faith that was once deliver'd to the Saints and is now again Restored by the Operation of the same Holy Spirit I shall Conclude with saying That as the Author was one of the Most-Eminent of the Second Stock of Ministers the Lord Anointed and Sent forth in this his Glorious Day and was so Generally Witnessed in his Services in the Hearts of his People It is tenderly hoped that those who loved him will prize his Remaining Testimonies and be Good Examples to their Families in Reading such Edifying Labours of the Brethren that their Children and Servants may be brought up and Instructed in the Religious Tradition of our Day according to the Testimony of the Blessed Truth in the Inward Parts Unto which they are all left and the holy Teachings and Guidings of it and Thou Reader likewise that leads into the Way of Holiness and into the Path of Endless Peace ON IOHN BURNYE AT ' s Book GO Little Book speak out the Praise Of him that did thy Author Raise An Eminent Apostle of our Days May He that Blest him Bless thee too That thou the Way of Truth may shew To the Vain Gentile and Benighted Iew Thee Who spake through him can speak by And make thy Readers Hear and See The Saving Truths of thy Divinity A TESTIMONY Concerning the Life and Death OF OUR Dear Friend and Brother in the Lord John Burnyeat HE was a faithful Friend and Brother and an able Minister of Christ Jesus who freely preacht the Everlasting Gospel and laboured to keep it without Charge who was a True Apostle of Iesus Christ and preacht him Freely both by Sea and Land He received the Truth in 1653. in Cumberland and died in the Lord in Ireland in the Year 1690. after he had stood those great Troubles Storms and Trials there and was a great Strength to Friends in the time of their late great Sufferings He stood it out when many were Ruined and fled to England for Succour and remained till after King William came in and King James went out of Ireland And then he went up and down Visiting Friends Meetings that were gathered in the Name of Jesus And after he had intended to come for England but there he died in the Lord and is Blessed and Rests from his Labours and his Works follow him He travelled and Preacht the Gospel in Ireland Scotland Barbadoes Virginia Maryland New-Jerseys Long-Island Road-Island and up and down in New-England and had many Disputes with many Priests and Professors that opposed the Truth but the Lord gave him Dominion over all and to stop the Mouths of the Gainsayers and he turned many to the Lord
to shine For he was an Instrument of Good to many making a Difference saving some with Fear pulling them out of the Fire hating even the Garment spotted by the Flesh being found in that pure and undefiled Religion of Visiting the Fatherless and widows in their Affliction and through the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ keeping himself Unspotted from the World and therefore knew how to Save upon Mount Zion and Judge upon Mount Esau. Much might be written concerning him for we know the very Desire of his Heart and Bent of his Spirit was that God through his Son might Reign in the House of Jacob and the Kingdom might be the Lord's He abhorred the Appearance of Gathering to himself and had Self of no Reputation therefore the Lord honour'd him with his Divine Presence and made his Company althô dreadful to the Back-sliders yet very desirable unto many especially those who knew his Integrity and Zeal for the Exaltation of the Name and Truth of God in whose Hearts he was highly esteemed for his Works sake which shall follow him althô he be at Rest from his Labour being got to his desired Haven where the Wicked cease from troubling where the Weary be at Rest. And there the Prisoners rest together they hear not the Voice of the Oppressor for the Accuser of the Brethren is cast down Temptations cannot prevail an Over-coming is known by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony who have not loved their Lives unto Death And To him that overcomes saith Christ Iesus will I grant to sit with me in my Throne as I also overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne he shall not be hurt of the Second Death but with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and with all the Faithful in the Kingdom of God without ceasing sing Praises unto him who sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever-more who is Worthy O the great Loss we have of him How can we but Lament Yet it is his Everlasting Gain For he shall never Return to us but we may go to him And that Word of Life in which his Life was hid yet remains for our support which as we are careful to keep to will preserve us as it has done him to Enter into that Mansion of Glory the Lord hath in store for all the Faithful He was Dear unto us in the Lord with whom our Souls were bound up in God's Everlasting Covenant And thô his Body is gone to the Dust yet our Souls rejoice with many more in that we enjoy his Spirit and are come to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of Sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel where our Ioy is full and our Spirits bowed and subjected to the Will of God where our Peace flows and the Life arises that fills our Hearts with Praises that Ascend as sweet Incense to the Lord God and to the Lamb who is blessed for evermore The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way Psal. 37. 23. And they that be Wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. 3. Broughton in Cumberland the 22th of the 2d Month 1691. Margaret Fawcet Jane Wilson Margaret Head Jane Hall Mary Wilson Mary Bowman Sarah Fallowfield An Account by Way of Testimony concerning our Dear Friend and Brother Iohn Burnyeat WE will leave to others the Account of his Birth and Convincement that were his Neighbours and Kindred and shall speak of him only as some of us knew him from an Intimate Fellowship in divers Services for above Twenty Years He was a Choice and Seasoned Vessel of Christ the special Workmanship of his Power and Wisdom by which he was effectually qualified for the Ministry of his Everlasting Gospel throughly furnished may We say to every good Word and Work God called him unto Deep and Large in his Gift reaching what was seasonable to every State in Judgment sound free in Utterance Zealous for Holiness severe against Unsound and Dividing Spirits Most tender to Penitents and returning Prodigals affectionate to the Brethren und careful over the Flock of God that they might Answer their Heavenly Call and grow in the Truth Of a grave and steady Temper yet sweet Hardy in his Constitution and Undaunted and Unwearied in Mind He was the Father of many Children in Christ who through his Ministry were begot again to a Living Hope and the Builder up of more through the same in the pretious Faith of God's Elect. For this he often Travelled through this Nation and sometimes Scotland and the Plantations in America but Ireland in a more peculiar manner both at his first Entrance upon his Ministry and of latter Years where he Married and chiefly resided and where he laid down his Head in Peace with God and Love to his People and good Will to all men being about the 59th Year of his Age and is entred into Eternal Habitations to praise the God of his Mercies in the Living Family of the Spirits of the Just for ever He was indeed a Man of an Excellent Spirit and Divine Understanding from God and deep in the Knowledge of the Heavenly Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and also of the Depths Wiles and Subtil Workings of Satan wherein he lies in wait to beguile the Children of Men and the Lord many times opened him in his Heavenly Wisdom to declare of them that those who had regard to God and the Peace of their own Souls might be preserved out of Satan's Snares He was an able and powerful Minister of the Gospel of Salvation a Strengthener of the Weak and an Incourager of the Upright and Sincere-hearted to continue to the end But he was indeed dreadful to the Hypocrites and Rebellious and all the Opposers and Gainsayers of the Truth A skilful Marks-Man yea one of the Lord's Worthies of Israel a Valiant in the Camp of the Lord and an Undaunted Warrier in his Holy Host and his Bow abode in strength and Wisdom was given him to direct his Arrows to the very Mark so that the Sturdy were wounded the Meek were comforted the Tender in Spirit refreshed And was by the Lord made Instrumental to wound that Self-separating and Dividing Spirit thad had for want of Watchfulness in the Divine Light and Faithfulness to God's Spirit and Truth in the inward parts prevailed over some who notwithstanding in a disguise and under specious pretences endeavour to sow the Seeds of Dissension Discord Separation and Division among the Gathered of God And the Lord blessed his Labours greatly and so preserved him in a Holy Conversation and in a meek tender bearing healing Spirit that he promoted both
you may grow in and be guided by it in your further Travels in the Heavenly Journey towards the blessed Heavenly Canaan which is still before you as the Price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus And therefore observe the true Mark and still press forward towards the same as the Apostles and ancient Saints did And take heed I intreat you unto your selves and the exercise of your Minds lest your Eye inwardly be drawn forth to look at another Mark for if you do then will not the Price be the same that was theirs who was faithful unto Death and so continued unto the end and obtained the Crown Therefore be you all watchful to keep the Enemy of your Souls out of your Hearts that he may reign who is your Friend for ever who seeks your good and brings Life and Peace unto your Souls under whose Government and peaceable Dominion you will find Rest and Pleasure for your inward Man And now my dear Friends since it is the Lord's Truth you have received and his Holy Power that you have felt in these Countries even as his People in other parts dwell you with it and in it with careful Minds that you may therein live unto God as such that have a part in the first Resurrection that you may reign for ever and ever over the Power of the Second Death And all take heed of the mysterious Workings of the wicked one who works in Deceit by Guile in every transformed Appearance to draw the Mind out of the pure Center in the true Power to the Likeness and Image which hath no Life in it where there can be no stedfastness nor true reigning over the Will that is unruly and foolish Therefore my dear Friends keep your Watch every one in your own Hearts continually that you may not be betrayed from that pure Life that yields vertue unto your Souls and nourisheth up to Eternal Life For I know that the wicked one in his deceitful Workings you have been acquainted with and his evil Design the Lord by his Power in his Light hath discovered unto many of you so that you by the same have escaped his hurtful Snares and yet lives in that which must reign at last over all And therefore keep your Habitation in the Power that is unchangeable wherein you may live for ever without fading for the Power fades not but abides in its Glory for ever so that the first is the last the Root and Off-spring Blessed are they that have kept their first Love and have stayed in their Righteous Habitation into which the Power did redeem them they do still witness a growing from Grace to Grace from Strength to Strength and from one degree of Holiness unto another until they come to be purely like him who is their Redeemer who shall change them and bring them from Glory to Glory till they bear the Image of the Heavenly Man and be like him that is altogether glorious who is putting of his Glory richly upon his Church which is his People in this Day And therefore you that have received the Spirit of the Lord and are acquainted with it do you follow it in all its pure leadings with faithful Hearts for it will certainly lead all the Faithful to know an increase of Glory And take heed of the Spirit of the World which is not of God but leads from him that Spirit where it prevails causeth to wither and sade and brings Barrenness upon the Soul and Darkness and Death and then the Glory is lost and the Image of the Heavenly then is not born nor no Man in that is Heir of the Heavenly Inheritance Therefore it doth behoove all to look to their standing in that wherein the Heirship is that none may come short of that Crown which Paul said was laid for him and all them that loved the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the God of Love and Peace keep you all in his Love Fear and Wisdom that your Dwellings for ever may be in his Peace which the World cannot take away nor rob you of that so with the rest of his Heritage you may shine in the Light of his Glory and dwell in the Richness of his Kingdom for ever and ever Amen Bristol the 9th of the 10th Month 1675. This is the Desire of my Soul for you all whom I truly love and in the Life Salute wherein I am your Friend and Brother J. B. Taunton the 7th of the 2d Month 1677. My dear Friends in Cumberland UNto you my Love and Life reaches and purely flows forth in that which Lives for ever wherein I do in the Innoceney and Life of Righteousness truly Salute you all whom the Lord hath raised and called to be a part of the first Fruits unto himself in this day of ours wherein the Glory of his hidden Life he hath Revealed unto a Remnant even that which from the Wise and Prudent of this World is still hid and from such as turn back into that Wisdom it comes again to be Vailed so that the Light of the Glory of it they lose again though they had a view thereof And therefore blessed are all who keep their Habitation in that Power which never Changeth nor Decays the Glory of the Heavenly things will be still in their view by which their Hearts will be enlarged towards the Lord both in Love unto him and a Living People to his Honour in all things that his Name may be Exalted and the Testimony of his Truth in its own pure Nature in every thing kept up according to its Brightness and Glory as by the power thereof we were raised up in the beginning as the life of Holiness grew in us dear Friends that which quickned and raised us from the Dead in years past through which we Live unto God and as we keep in the same we shall for ever be accepted by him and be well pleasing in his sight but out of that you know none shall be regarded by him though ye might do much for he did not regard them in the days of old for all they could do that did not keep in the Life of Righteousness though they might go far even to the covering of the Altar with Tears And therefore as I said that by which you were first quickned and raised is that in which for ever we must be accepted so that every one is to mind and wait for an increase and by experience of the growth of that wherein there is a coming upwards from a Child's State to a farther growth and still it is in the same Nature without degeneration from that which was first and so the first is witnessed to be last and ye grow more and more into the fulness of Christ in whom all fulness dwells And therefore my dearly Beloved in all your Meetings upon the Truth 's account have an eye unto and wait for an Injoyment of his Blessed and Heavenly and Heart-breaking Power
and so retire and spread their Cause before the Lord who is the living God Remember the King of Old who commanded silence and said Answer him not a Word and so returned to the Temple and to the Altar of the Lord and spread the Cause before him and confessed the weakness of the Daughter of Sion to bring forth and also his Faith in the sufficiency of God's Power when he said Thou art able to Save c. Oh! my dear Friends Live up to the Lord in your Spirits and be Faithful and keep your Peace with him in the inner-Man and mind your Unity with his Spirit and take heed of that which would obstruct your Fellowship with his Life let no Fair Pretences over you Prevail that may have any tendency to bring your Spirits into Bondage or any straitness over your Hearts for that Bondage will prove the greatest Slavery and this I do believe you right well know And now my Dear Friends all of you minding your inward Freedom and your Spiritual Ease in the Freedom and Liberty given you of God through Christ your Saviour you will have a Dwelling and Habitation filled with Glory Riches and Comfort over which the Enemies Cloud cannot come and in that you will see through to the end of all that would either Darken or bring Distress And so you will see how good it is to trust in the Lord and to rely upon his Power and be given up freely into his Will And so dear Hearts my Love is truly unto you all and in the Love with which I have anciently Loved you and in which I Love you as much as ever do I very dearly Salute you all you tender Suffering Children and with my Soul and Spirit desire that God in Mercy and Kindness may bless you with Spiritual Blessing in Christ Jesus and enrich your Souls with the Divine Fatness of his House and Pleasure of his Life that you may have Joy every day and delight every Morning in your Bosoms that so your Strength may be renewed and your Ability so encreased that you may be able to bear what is upon you till the Lord see good to Work your Deliverance and case you of the yoak and Burthen that you bear Which the Lord in Mercy take off if it be his pleasure is the desire of Your Friend and Brother in the Fellowship of the Sufferings and Tribulation and also of the Consolation which we are called unto through Christ Jesus our Lord. I. B. The Copy of an Epistle sent to Friends at Bristol in the time of their Sufferings Written at Eaglesfield in Cumberland the 1st of the 6th Month 1682. Cork the 25th of the 10th Month 1682. Dear Friends IN the Everlasting Covenant of Life and Peace and in the pure spring of Divine Love in the same do I remember you and in Spirit reach unto you and very dearly salute you all who in the Faith that gives the Victory do remain and stand stedfast and so keep your Habitations and Dwellings in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus your Redeemer who hath redeemed you out of the Wickedness that is in the World unto himself and so into his own Power and Nature which is righteous that you might become the Righteousness of God in him and so be restored into the Image Nature and State in which Man was Created by him that made all things good and Man in his own Image that he might delight in Man and that Man might honour and glorifie him Now this Work of Restauration you know God hath sent his Son to effect and accomplish in Man and for Man that again Man might honour his Creator and become the delight of his Maker whose delight is to dwell in the Habitable parts of the Earth even among the Sons of Men. And therefore that you may be his Delight and that he may take Pleasure in you do you all keep in that which hath Renewed or doth Renew and change the Heart and Spirit of the mind that in the Newness thereof you may serve and honour and glorifie him from whom the renewing Power and Word doth come that so the new Creation the new Heavens and Earth may be known wherein Righteousness doth dwell and that you may have your Conversation there and so shine as Lights among this crooked and perverse Generation in whose Heaven and Earth Unrighteousness doth dwell And therefore will the Lord as the Apostle said not only shake the Earth but the Heavens also that that which cannot be shaken may remain And truly I do believe that many ones Heaven will be shaken before this searching winnowing trying Day be over that 's growing on upon the Nations and People for the Heavens of many are grown over and covered with Darkness and thick Clouds and the Glory thereof is gone and the brightness and stedfastness thereof is lost not a Star to be seen except a Wanderer out of its course out of the Covenant that hath greatly lost its Light and so in the Clouds of Darkness driven to and fro by the variable uncertain Winds that are and may be suffered to blow to shake that which is shakable and remove that which will not endure that that which cannot be shaken may remain and the Glory of that may appear which will endure Dear Friends God hath manifested that which is sure for ever and will endure and stand and last and you have known the power of it and as you keep in the holy sense thereof you will be stedfast constant and firm in your Minds and not soon shaken nor removed from your Habitation and stedfastness in the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Lord which is the power of God which is above all Powers Thrones and Dominions and will stand and cannot be shaken For it s above Iohn's Ministration the Gospel Power and Kingdom is and he that 's least there is greater than Iohn and is come to that which is surer than a Reed that may be shaken with the Wind though it be not broken yet it may be shaken And therefore they that would dwell there and not come on to Christ the Rock that cannot be shaken their Dwelling is not safe their Habitation will be thrown down and their House made a Desolation Methinks I see it so in our Days upon such that have sitten down short of the Eternal Substance that ended all Shadows Iohn's as well as those that were before him And therefore dearly Beloved you that have known the Eternal Substance the living Power of the Lord Iesus Christ manifested in your Hearts by which you have been quickned raised up and made alive unto God keep to the Power in your Souls and mind its living in you that you therein may live unto God and so abide a living People through your Age God's living Witnesses in your Day without Alteration and so be such as have not only been Hearers of the Word but Doers also and so such whose House is built upon