and trouble removed which ye felt So he having drawn you out of the senceableness and feeling of the light and power of God your understandings became wholly darkned as unto the counsel oâ— God and then these things which the subtil enemy presentâ—d exceedingly pleased the affectionate part in you and some of you he perswaded to act such things as God never commanded any to act and so ye going from the light which never changeth and hearkning unto the subtilty which leads into changeablenessâ— here ye began to run into Sects and opinions and heaps and parties and devisions yea here is the ground and rise and beginning of all Sects and opinions in the world peoples going from the light and power of God which leads into the substance and into onenese of minde and hearkning unto the subtilty which leads but into the likenesse of Truth and into selfe-separation and devisions and changeablenesse of mind and when the Serpent had drawn you into several opinions and practices in your worship then he fed you with knowledge that so each of you might be able to plead and contend for your opinions and practices and then he begot a strong hot hasty will in you which hath been called zeal for God whereby he drew you into hot contentions one with another and so by little and little he raised up a secret envie and prejudice in you one against each other till at length some of you break forth into rage and scorne giving one another scornefull Names And thus the Mistery of Iniquity wrought in many of you untill the seed grew weak in you as to your feeling and became as a dead thing unto you being thus strangled in you by your going from the Power into those things that the power of God never moved or drew you to act but the Serpent which abode not in the power So then you were not sensible of such a burthen indeed as ye were once when the seed which God had begotten in you was more quick and livelie and then the subtiltie perswaded you that now you were right because you felt not such a burthen and trouble in your mindes as you once did and then a joy sprung in you for a time and then the subtiltie perswaded you that you were now entred into the work and service and worship of God and that he had given you some reward now because you were not sensible of such a burthen and trouble in your minds as ye were before you acted those things in your worship and thus the subtiltie beguiled some of you But this condition continued not long with you for Gods eternal witnesse which ye had as it were slain and made merry over it that arose and appeared in you again for the seeds sake and desturbed and broke that false peace and joy and preswasion that you were got into through transgressing and going from that which is pure of God in you and acting those things in the transgression which God never required at your hands and then with Gods witnesse the light you saw your selves wrong again and the light judged you for your forwardnesse and then you begun to loath those practices in your worship which before you delighted in and then something you came to feel stirring in you again which was not satisfied but breathed and groaned and cried unto the Lord and then you were in a fine tender condition again But then the subtiltie soon appeared in you again and presented some other new things unto you and called those which he had formerlie led you into old emptie weak and beggerlie things and thus he wrought in the subtiltie to draw you from hearkning unto that which made manifest your condition unto you and thus he hath drawn some of you into most of the Sects and opinions that be in the World and through them and thus in the subtiltie hath he wrought in you to save his head or life for he knew that if you had hearkned unto the truth of God as it appeared in you and had obeyed it that then Gods power would mightily have been made manifest in you whereas the seed immortal would have been raised up in you which would have bruised his head So take notice how the Lords love the Light hath followed you and checked and reproved you for your hastinesse and forwardness and hath shewed unto you the emptiness and deadness of all the profession and worship that ever you have run into And some times when you have been brought into lowliness and tenderness by the power of the Lord which hath smitten you then the Lord hath opened mighty things in you unto his seed which breathed and thirsted after his righteousness and could not be satisfied without it and then the Serpent hath wrought in you again in the subtilty to lead you from that which opened and from the pure and so lead you up in the boasting nature to hold forth those things in the fleshly Principle which the Lord opened unto his own seed and thus he hath kept you out of the life and power of truth and he hath filled some of you a with many strange imaginations and expectations concerning God and Christ and his appearance without you and so all along he hath strove to keep you from minding Gods appearance within you by drawing your minds into the visible changeable things and yet the Lord in love to his own seed hath spared you so mind the Lords long patience and forbearance which hath been great towards you for his Seed sake in you which breathes and thirsts after his righteousness and cannot be satisfied without his life and presence And truely friends my love is exceeding tender and large towards you in whom there is such a pure tender seed stirring and my desire is who have seen the emptiness of all profession without the life that you might come to witness the seed satisfied in you with the pure power and life and virtue of the living God which hath suffered long in you and hath not been satisfied by reason of your disobedience unto the light Therefore in tender bowels of love and compassion unto you I do freely declare unto you all the new and living way which hath been from the beginning which is Christ Jesus the true light which lighteth every one which cometh into the world whereby every one of you believing in the light may come to receive a particular satisfaction from Christ from whence the light doth come Friends the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall but you have transgressed and gone from the manifestation of Gods Spirit in your own particulars and so it is impossible for you for to profit in the things of God or come to receive a particular satisfaction until you come to own that and believe in that which you have transgressed and gone from which was given you to profit withall and to lead you into the substance which giveth
A VISITATION OF LOVE unto all PEOPLE In whose hearts there are any true honest tender desires begotten towards God and his righteousness In what sect or opinion or profession soever they be in which is not in the Light Especially unto such who hath felt something of the workings of the life and Power of God in them and yet notwithstanding hath been led by the subtilty of the Serpent from the life and power of God into many Sects and opinions and forms which are without the life and Power of God and herein the subtil workings and devices of the Serpent whereby he deceives the hearts of the simple is clearly made manifest And this is written in tender Love unto all of you who feel something stirring in you that is not satisfied with all the words that ever you have heard from man or woman nor yet with all the practices and performances that ever you have practiced and performed in all the Sects and opinions and Profession that ever you have been in And here the pure and living way is declared whereby every particular who returns to this way and believe and wait in it shall come to receive a particular satisfaction unto that in them the seed which never yet they could witness satisfied in all the Sects and opinions they have been in which is out of Christ the light which is the new and living way By a labourer in the power of Truth which doth make free for the deliverance and freedom of the Righteous Seed George Fox the younger LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1659. A visitation of love unto all people in whose hearts there are any true honest tender desires begotten towards God and his Righteousnesse in what sect or opinion or profession soever they be in which is not in the Light Friends GOd the higher Power unto whom the soul is to be subject he only hath immortality and dwelleth in the Light and he is Light And he hath freely given his Son into the world by whom the World was made for a covenant of Light and he is the true Light which lighteth every one that commeth into the World that all men through him might believe who is the Word of God in whom is Life and that life marke is the light of men and the pure grace of God which bringeth salvation by which the Saints are freely justified hath appeared unto all men yea the Eternal God of truth hath appeared unto you in his Son Jesus Christ the true Light and with this Light hath God made manifest unto you your sin and evil deeds and with the measure of the Light of his Son in you sometimes hath he appeared in his mighty power whereby he hath smitten you for your sins and evil deeds and he by his power hath broken you into tenderness brought you down into lowliness for a time and then by his unresistible power thus working in you did he beget a holy Seed from whence pure desires and breathings after God hath often arose in you which seed could not nor cannot be satisfied without Gods living presence Now ye not standing in the power which convinced you and smote you and broke you into tendernesse and brought you down and then begot a holy Seed in you from whence a pure unfained love to God hath oft sprung marke you not minding the workings and movings of this power in you nor waiting in it for to receive counsel you entered into reasonings and thoughts which the subtilty which is the Devil presented in you and so ye hearkned not to Gods voice the power which had wrought so in you but you entred into reasonings with the subtilty which abode not in the power and this begot a questioning in you what that should be which had so appeared in you and broken you into such a tendernesse and had wrought such a suddain change in you which you were not able to resist And ye going into the reasonings in your minds thus you turned from the pure power of God and then sin which separateth from Gods presence which he by his power worketh in you had in measure smitten and brought downe in you arose again and got the dominion in you and so you going thus from the power wherein ye should have waited to have been preserved in the tendernesse ye soon lost the tendernesse and fear which the power had wrought in you and then hardnesse of heart soon grew in you again and then the seed which God had begotten in you which cannot be satisfied without his presence that began to be sorely oppressed in you by the sin which separates from Gods presence which got up more and more in you through your turning from the power which ye once felt manifested and working in you against sin And then a grievous weight or burthen came upon the righteous seed in you and then it began to groan and cry to God from under the burthen and weight of iniquity that was upon it and then the Light appeared more brighter in you again for the seeds sake which suffered in you and shewed you that you were wrong then the Light judged you forthe wrong and then trouble came upon you and encreased in your minds and then the Serpent the subtilty the devil which abode not in the truth he appeared likewise in you and begot a hurrying and a confused noise in your minds and then presented many things unto you and sturred you up to do them that so he might draw ye from hearkening unto the Light wherein you should have waited to have heard and known Gods voice and council and to have seen and heard what God had required at your hands and thus the subtilty which is the Devil who was a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth sought to draw you from the Light which is the truth that so he might murther the Righteous seed which God had begotten in you unto which seed the promises are Now your minds being drawn from the Light which convinced you of sin you entred further into sin and then you could not find any power for to resist sin because you went from the light which shewed you your sin where in ye should have waited to have received power against sin and then the seed suffered in you by the sin which ye were entred into exceedingly and trouble increased more and more in your mindes this hath been the condition of some of you and then the subtilty drew you into reasonings consultings what to do that so the burthen which you felt and the trouble in your mindes might be removed So ye hearkning unto the subtilty he then presented several things unto you to be done some of which once were commanded by God to be done by them unto whom the command came and so the subtilty perswaded you that ye must do those things likwise before ye could have peace and witness the burthen
satisfaction now the manifestation of the spirit doth shew unto you your runings and willings and actings and strivings that ye have been in whereby ye could never obtain satisfaction unto that in you which breathes to do the will of God now you must mind that which makes manifest these things unto you and as you take notice of that which is the light and waite in it you will come to feel it drawing you into stilness and coolness and quietness of spirit and then with the light you will come to discern the subtilty and the motions thereof which hath oft beguiled you by drawing you from quietness and stilness into the Airy imaginations whereby he hath tossed and unsetled your minds and as you waite in that which doth make manifest which is the light and believe in it you will come to feel something arising in you in power to judge and condemn the subtilty as that stirs in you to draw you from waiting upon God and then you will come to know and feel the spirit of Judgement and burning placed in you to purge you and as you waite in the judgement in patience and stilness you will come to hear the still voice that is spoken of in the Scriptures saying This is the way and shewing it unto you and when you see the way as you waite in that which shewes it unto you then you will come to hear the command in power saying unto you walk in it and then you will come to know your Teacher which cannot be removed into a corner and so here the path of the just ye will all come to know and witness in your selves which is the shining light which shineth more and more until the perfect day for as you all waite in that which calls for stilness and silence to the flesh and the motions thereof ye will come then to see more light and so ye will come to witness what David spoke to be true who said to God in thy light shall we see light and then the just which hath been long oppressed and burthened in you will begin to spring and as you believe and waite in the light your minds being staid in it you will come to feel Gods living power working and opperating in you condemning and removing that in you which hath oppressed and burthened the just and so by Gods pure power as you waite and continue in it you will come to feel and witness the just holy seed raised up in you from under that which did oppress and burthen it and here you will feel the captive come out of captivity by the Gospel which is the power of God and the prison door set open and the prisoners set at liberty and then as you waite in the light you will come to feel Gods pure power ul presence and life and virtue running through you which will refresh the seed which is tender and give satisfaction unto it and so as you all waite low in the fear of God watching in the light that nothing may get up in you to boast and glory which is not of God you will then feel your love exceedingly encreased towards the pure living truth of God and your whole delight will be to walk in the truth in righteoâ—â—â—ess and holiness without wch no man shall see the living God as you all walk in the light obeying it you wil come into the pure fellowshâ—p and Communion and unity of the Saints and then you will feel the life which is the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you purging and purifying you from all sin and so as every one of you abide in the faith feeling it standing in the power of God that will purifie your hearts and give you victory over the world and then you will come to receive a particular satisfaction from Christ the power which is the Author and ground of the Saints faith and you will feels Gods spirit and power and life as you dwell in it drawing and leading you into whatsoever he requireth you to do and as you all waite and are still in that which doth discern the thoughts and the intents of your hearts and makes them manifest unto you you will clearly come to discern the sub ilty and the motions thereof which would draw you to act such things as the Lord doth not require you to act So all take heed to that which discerns the thoughts and intents of your hearts for this is a measure of the word of life which is quick and powerful and as you all waite in it you will feel it to be so for you will feel it dividing the precious in you from the vile and this is the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls So this is not written to feed the carnal mind in any but it is written for your sakes who are truely breathing and thirsting after Gods righteousness and cannot be satisfied without it that so you may all come into the true light wherewith you are enlightened and that you with it may come to see how you have been tossed and tumbled up and down by the subtiltie of the Serpent in those things which could never give you true peace nor satisfaction and that now through believing in the truth and obedience of the spirit you may all come to witness a particular satisfaction and that you may come to feel the pure image of the holy God restored in you even his everlasting righteousness his power his wisdom his life and glory raised up in you to have Dominion and to rule over all the earth and to subdue it that so the pure God of life and vertue might be glorified in your mortal bodies and that you might all come to feel and witness an everlasting habitation of rest and peace in him who is worthy of all honour and praise and thanksgiving and Dominion for evermore Amen Now some of you who have been ancient Professors will say to us if we should joyn to you we must lay down all then that ever we have professed and what have we been Professors so many years and yet have to begin all again have we known nothing of God all this time this is hard say they To this I answer friends if you come to joyn to the truth you must then lay down and leave and forsake all that which you have held up and practiced in your own wills which you were never led or required to hold up or practice by the spirit of truth but I do know and own that there was a pure living Principle of God oft stiring in you in your Profession by which Principle of God you oft saw that you were wrong and that you did that which was not well pleasing in the sight of God in your Profession for that Principle of God in you the light Judged and condemned you for many of your actions which you acted and sometimes the Lords witness brought you into a tender low condition and then opened