TO ALL DEAR FRIENDS & BRETHREN In the Everlasting TRUTH & COVENANT OF THE Almighty Jehovah Blessed for evermore.
WE the Prisoners of the Lord, and for the Testimony of Christ Jesus, do bear in our remembrance with dearest Salutations of perfect love, all our suffering Brethren every where, and also the whole Flock of our Fathers tender Love, whom he hath elected and chosen in his own secret Counsel before the world began; Dearly and well beloved, our very Souls this day, are deeply affected with the Cause of God, and our persons at this time are engaged in these Bonds, for the Testimony of the same; and truly, in Soul, Body, and Spirit, are we offered up to the perpetual loss of all, that the Name of the Lord, and his saving Truth, may be testified unto, in faithfulness unto all the world; and in the Lord our hearts are resolved in the confidence of his Spirit, to suffer the greatest of Afflictions and Persecutions, rather than forfeit or loose, one grain of this so blessed a Testimony now trusted with us, and for whic [...], we now suffer these Bonds: And unto faithfulness herein, We find that the Lord our God, daily increaseth our strength and boldness, our patience and long suffering, and doubleth his Spirit of Power and Wisdom upon us, that we may never faint in Trial; and we labour to be armed in our inward man, with whatsoever may uphold us, and defend us in this day of our Afflic [...]ions; even that [Page 2] our faith and patience, our holiness and meekness, our long suffering, and love to enemies; and all Heavenly Vertues may be compleated in us, and possessed of us, till our God take Vengeance upon the wrath of our Adversaries, and deliver his (now) poor despised and oppressed people; for these Vertues are the armour with which we delight to be cloathed; these are our weapons with which we chuse to be defended, and this must be our final Vic [...]ory, when the faith and patience, the meekness and long suffering, and heavenly Vertues of Christ Jesus in us, have exceeded in measure, and superabounded in effect, all the unbelief and impatiency, the enmity and ungodliness, in all that hate us; Love shall overcome wrath and envy; Patience shall subdue rigorous Persecutors, and hatefull workers; the very God that dwells with us, shall condemn and confound the wicked one, with all his might, and power, and malice, and Persecution, cruel Imposition on tender Consciences, and Oppression and Injustice shall be no more: And this is that Victory, for which we spiritually War, and these and no other, are the weapons with which we do contend; and the Cause is God's in which we are ingaged, and for which we suffer this present day.
Brethren, we hope ye are all like-minded with us, and that this same Cause of God, his Truth and Righteousness is fixed before you, and is your aime and mark, and that it is alike dear and precious in your eye, and that ye are Armed with the same Armour of God's heavenly Vertues; It's the breathings of our life to the Father, that the whole Church of Chri [...]t, and every Member thereof may be kept faithful, to hold forth the holy Testimony of Jesus, by suffering in this great day of Trial. The Testimony of which, we have heard and learned, believed and received, from God the Father into all our hearts, is so precious to us, in it's evidence of Peace, and Comfort, and Justification, and Salvation, in Eternal life in our inward man, that we compare no afflictions, nor present sufferings of our outward man, to the price and vertue thereof. For we can say in the verity of our Souls, how ever it shall go with our outward man, in respect of Tribulations, and Persecutions, yet in our inward man, we possess the Peace, and Comfort, and Salvation of the everlasting God; and to bear forth the Testimony of this in our age to the world, even of that Love and Life, Mercy, Justification and Salvation which we have received, we can forgo Liberty, Life, and all: For this is our duty to which we are called, and the end for which we were born, to bear witness to the Truth, and for the holding forth of this witness, we are given up in Soul, Body, and Spirit, to suffer the loss of all, rather than to loose this Testimony-bearing to the view of the world.
Wherefore, we beseech and exhort all of you, that have tasted of the [Page 3] loving kindness of our God, That ye be faithful and valiant this day in the Cause of God; not fearing the fury of the ungodly, nor the threats of enemies, nor the terrors of this world, nor seeking to save your own lives; but in the faith and patience, pressing forward in the race of Righteousness, till Mercy, Peace, Justice, and true Judgment, run down as a stream, willing to suffer the loss of all, that Truth and Righteousness may live upon earth, and the worship of the true God be exalted, and all the contrary overturned, and this is the reward of all the Saints Afflictions. Be faithful in your Trials, let E [...]tates, Relations, Life, and all go, rather than the cause of Truth and Righteousness be diminished of it's Glory, by the unfaithfulness of any this day. Surely our hearts are zealous for this matter, and we are pressed in Spirit, to encourage all the Lords people to put on all holy confidence in this day, and to cast away all unbelief, doubtings and fears of this world, and to maintain the Truth of God's worship in the assemblings of his people together, in the strength and power of the Lord Jesus Chri [...]t; even to live in it, and to dye for it, to enjoy God's pure Worship, and to suffer the losse of all, if called thereunto.
We know you are not ignorant concerning this Cause of God, which we thus affect, and exhort you to be faithful in; It's no other than the Testimony of a pure Conscience towards our Creator, and that every person should follow Christ, and obey him, and walk in the light and life of his Spirit, which he hath revealed in the heart; & that God should be feared and worshiped in a clean Conscience, and that the Salvation of God may be testified of; This and no other is the Cause of God, in which our Souls and Bodies are ingaged, we know no Ca [...]se upon earth, worth our Afflictions and Sufferings, nor for which we will contend with any, save for the Salvation of God, and that his Justice and Mercy, his Truth and Righteousness, his Way and Worship may be Exalted upon earth, and all the contrary subdued by his mighty Power. This is the very cause compared, to which our mortality is not to be accounted, even that we may behold God's Salvation going forth in the Testimony of it to all Nations, and that Nations and Peoples, may injoy Justice and Truth, Liberty and Freedom, in the pure worship of the living God; This is the Cause that must live, [the Lord hath spoken it] though for it we may die; for our All is adventured upon the same.
But whilest our hearts are pouring forth daily Prayers towards God, and Exhortations towards you, that you may be faithful to give publick Testimony to the Name, Truth, and Salvation of God; our Souls also desire that you all may eat and drink of that spiritual food, which will cause your inward man to grow, and that your own hearts may be kept pure [Page 4] and undefiled in his Presence, and that the Seed of Life, with the fruits and blessings thereof may fill your own Souls; that while you are striving by patience and long suffering against your outward enemies, no inward enemy of evil lusts or affections, strife or divisions, or any thing of this world may enter into your bosoms to defile you.
Dearly Beloved alwaye [...] h [...]ve a special regard unto your standing as to God-ward, and what increa [...]e of Life, Love, Peace and Comfort, ye daily receive in your spiritual; man knowing, that by the inward vertue of the Fathers presence, the Peace and Joy of God in your inward man dayly receive [...] from him, by that must you stand in strength and dominion against all enemies within and without. Therefore, feel the Seed of God, and it's growth and incre [...]se in your own hea [...]ts, that you may have perfect Peace and Vnion with God in Spirit, while ye are hearing publick Testimony, by doing or suffering for his Truth and Name.
our hearts and Souls reach unto, and dearly Salute you all; for while we remember the Lord and his goodness unto us, we cannot forget you, no not the least babe and little one amongst you all, for what are we, or you, or all of us together, joyntly, or apart; but what we are in his life, love and peace, that endureth for ever? whose Mercies, Glory, Riches and Goodness, as so many sparkling Diamonds and Jems of Value, adorn our Crown and make it Glorious, and every one doth shine with Lustre and Beauty in the eyes of all that behold us; and whilest we are so Adorned, may we not say, our cloathings are white and fine, such as are in Kings Houses, and our attire no other than what becometh Princes? and what ever we have been it matters not, except to set forth the favour and goodness of him, that hath so raised us from the dunghil amongst the Beggars, to sit upon Thrones in Glory with Princes? and to shew how the Angel of Gods presence hath saved, and taken us from our begging state, at the Rich man's ga [...]e, like so many Lazaruses, bruised and wounded, from head to foot; and carried us into Abrahams bosom, where we are at Rest, praising our God, and our King of Riches and Mercy for ever.
Dear Friends, we write unto you all, that you may partake with us of the same life, glory, rest and peace, and not only drops and sprinklings of the same, but full measure, heaped up, and running over. For you are our witnesses, that we, with the rest of our Faithful brethren, have not withheld from you, the whole Counsel of God revealed to us, and in us, according to the good pleasure of our Lord and Master; neither have we [Page 5] kept back from declaring to you his Mind, and the mysteries of his Kingdom, yea, his hidden mysteries; (which have been hid in God since the world began) and that in season, and out of season, at all times and places, as he hath given us opportunities, and required us so to do; and that not in words, which man's wisdom teacheth, (lest thereby we should make void the Cross of Christ), but in plainness and simplicity, that God's Witness in every Conscience might answer us, and we unto every Conscience might be made manifest in God's fight, as we know we are this day, and we have our reward, from the Lord of the Harvest that sent us forth; and this adds to our comfort in this day, that we were faithful unto our God in what he committed to our charge: And now, what is o [...]rs, and our Brethrens reward, and Crown of rejoycing, but this, That you stand faithful in this time of Trial? for you know we have not been like unto those who have begotten into the airy Spirit, that so you might be alwayes kept in the uncertainty, ever learning, but never get ability to learn and perform what you have been taught; for what we have received from Christ, by vertue of his Resurrection and Assention, is perfect, and hath been Ministred unto you, for the perfecting of you all, with the rest of the Sanctified ones in Christ Jesus, until you all come to a perfect man in Christ, even unto the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ. For which we pray, and desire of our God and Father for you all.
Let your Meetings be in God's fear and Counsel, as at other times, never heeding what man can do unto you; but still be you all followers of that which is good, and then, who can, or shall harm you? Keep in the Love to, and unity with that of God in all: Let the witness of God in all answer your words and actions, rendering to none evil for evil, but overcoming the evil with the good; so shall you be known to be the servants of the Living God, and followers of the Lamb as dear children. And be terrified in nothing, as from any of the sons of men, that can befall you; for all your hairs are numbred, and not one shall fall, without Gods Providence; neither shall the wrath of the wicked be unbounded; but what ever turns not to his praise, that he will restrain, and the Day of your Deliverance hastneth: only look not you out, but keep close unto the Lord, with your eyes only towards him, and not upon, or unto any temporal, or visible thing; but alone unto the Lord God of Life, and unto the measure of himself made manifest in your own hearts; for unto That you were directed at the beginning, and in It is your safety and preservation unto the end.
[Page 6]And Dear Brethren, the Lord God Almighty, who is our alone Salvation, having laid the thoughts of the Cause of our sufferings near unto the Secrets of his own Soul, uttereth his Voice out of Sion, to you his Children, in his City Jerusalem, saying, S [...]and up ye babes of my blessings, and you sons and daughters of my love, Gird, Gird on Strength in this day of my battel; for loe, My Banner is over you, My Standerd is with you, My Ensigne is displaid amongst you, and My everlasting Power and Omnipotency attends you: And it shall not fail you, I will not leave you in the day of Adversity, nor forsake you in the time of Captivity; for I have Chosen you, I have Called you, I have Purchased you, after the travail of my Soul for you; And Blood, even the everlasting blood of the Covenant of my life was paid as a Ransome for you; and now you are no more your Own, but Mine; and I cannot be Hid, nor Separated from you, but as I am faithful, I will be with you; as you have had me your God in all your Tribulations and sufferings, wherein I did bear both you, and your Griefs, and all your Afflictions in the yearning Bowels of my Tenderness; which yet I will Break, I will Break, I will Break, more infinitely open unto you, which shall melt, and dissolve you, and make you stream to me, as I am in flameing streams of love and life towards you; I will reach you in your Holes; Bolts, nor bars of Brass or Iron, nor walls like Mountains shall shut me from you; but in your Denns and Dungeons I will come in among you, and walk in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am the Comforter of your Hearts, and the Rejoycer and Gladder of your Spirits, in all the times of your needs: And whilst the Yoak is upon your Necks, and the oppressive Burdens upon your Backs, and I bearing both you, and your Burdens over the Raging Seas, that are angry at my Voice, and troubled at the Breathings of my life: I will trouble the Hosts of the Philistims, their Horses shall fail them, their Chariots shall not stand in any stead unto them, for I will Break the Wheels and the Axeltrees, and they shall fall, they shall fall, they shall fall, I the Jehovah of Israel, the mighty God of little Jacob have spoken it, & it shall surely come to pass, and you shall be delivered by the Hand of my Power saith the Lord. And therefore sing you Lambs, and Reioyce you my little tender babes in that I have Travelled for you, and born and brought you forth unto the day of my glory, in the Glory and the Excellency thereof, to witness my Name of Power, which will scatter all the chaff that is heaped up as Mountains against you that you, whom I have planted may prosper as a fruitful Vineyard, That the abundance of the fruits of blessedness, in the power of my Righteousness, may be brought forth in you, to your Joy, and mine Honour, even for ever.
[Page 7] Ah Brethren, our very Hearts and Souls are overcome, and ravished, whilst we consider the endless love, and everlasting riches of the favours and mercies of our FATHER towards us; and what he hath ready in his Hand to deal bountifully unto us; yet but a little, but a little, and he will give it, and make the emptiest Vessel as an over-running River, whose Banks cannot contein the Streams for fulness. It is his love, his love, even his endless everlasting Love that over-powers us, which is not conteinable within us, but must run, and flow, from the Movings of the great Oceans, as the swiftest streams into your tender bosomes, that you may he refreshed in us, in which the Answer will return into our Bowels, and our Joy will thereby be augmented, and increased: And we trust in the pure living sense of all, our hearts shall be always full of the praise of our God, who in all his blessed works, is worthy of all Honour, and everlasting Thanksgiving, and Glory, even of us, and all his Saints and Children for evermore; who, in him, are yours to serve, both Him, and You, in doing and suffering, whatsoever is his good pleasure concerning us: And in him, everlasting Blessings and Peace be multiplied to you all. Amen.
- E.B.
- J.C.
- J.P.
The Cogitations of my heart have been many, deep, and ponderous, some Moneths, Weeks and Dayes, concerning his People, which he hath raised to bear TESTIMONY unto his Name, in this the day of his Power: And Intercession hath been made often for them to the Lord, and a patient waiting to know his Mind concerning them for the time to come, which often I received Satisfaction in, as to my self; but yet still something I was drawn by the Lord to wait for, that I might comfort and strengthen his Flock by an assured Testimony. And while I was waiting out of all Visible things, and quite out of the World, in my Spirit, and my heart upon nothing but the Living God, the Lord opened the springs of the great Deep, and overflowed my whole Heart with Life and Love, and my Eyes were as a Fountain, because of tears of Joy, because of his Heritage: Of whom he shewed me, and spake unto me, in a full fresh living Power, and a holy full Testimony; so that my heart was ravished therewith, with Joy unspeakable, and I was out of the Body with God, in his Heavenly Paradise; Where I saw, and felt things Unutterable, beyond all demonstration, or speech. At last the Life closed with my Understanding, and my spirit listened unto him; And the everlasting God [Page 8] said, Shall I hide any thing from them that seek my face in Righteousness? Nay, I will manifest it to them that fear me: I will speak, Do thou listen, and publish it amongst all my People, that they may be Comforted, and thou Satisfied. And thus said the Living God of Heaven and Earth.
Upon the 28th. of the 3d. Month, 1662.
The Sun shall leave its shining Brightness, and cease to give light to the World; and the Moon shall be altogether Darkness, and give no light unto the Night; the Stars shall cease to know their Office, or Place; My Covenant with Day and Night, Times and Seasons shall sooner come to an end, than the Covenant I have made with this People (into which they are entred with me) shall End, or be Broken, and my Word is Unchangeable; yea, though the powers of Darkness, and Hell combine against them, and the Jawes of Death open its mouth, yet I will deliver them, and lead them through all; I will Con [...]ound their Enemies, as I did in Jacob, and Scatter them, as I did in Israel, in the dayes of Old; I will take their Enemies, and I will hurle them hither, and thither from me, even as stories are hurled out of a Sling; and the memorial of this Nation, which is holy unto me, shall Never be Rooted out, but shall Live through Ages, as A cloud of Witnesses in Generations to come. I have brought them to the birth, I have brought them forth, I have swadled them, and they are Mine; I will nourish them, and carry them as on Eagles wings; and though Clouds gather against them, I will make my way Through them, and though darkness gather together on a heap, and Tempests gender, I will Scatter them as with an East wind, and Nations shall know they are My Inheritance, and they shall know I am the Living God, who will plead their Cause withall that Rise up in Opposition against them.
These Words are Holy, Faithful, Eternal, Good, and True. Blessed are they that Hear and Believe unto the End. And because of them no strength was left in me for a while; but at last, my Heart was filled with Joy, even as when the Ark of God was brought from the house of Obed Edom, when David danced before it for Gladness, and Israel shouted for Joy.