I going again next day with my Sister to see him finding him near to Death and being beside him in great brokenness of Heart to part with such a near Friend he as one sympathizing with us said We shall meet again in Eternity Then a little time after his Mouth was opened and in great power and tenderness with heavenly Expressions and Praises to the Lord and after some time again I went to him and told him I was come to take my leave of him but thought see him next day then he named me by my Name and said It is well with me and I have no disturbance in my mind He spake these words as a man at ease from whom the Lord had taken Sin away which is the sting of Death this being about the third hour in the Afternoon and he departed this Life that Night it being the 15th of the 7th Month 1690. And though his Body be gone to the Earth yet the Memorial of his Life and Spirit lives with us as it is written For the Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance and pretious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them and they live in that Life which is hid with Christ in God And indeed a Lamentation might be taken up for the loss of such an Instrument in the Hand of the Lord who had laboured and gathered many by that powerful Word of Truth which the Lord put into his heart unto God and also to the refreshing watering and consolating of the Heritage of the Lord in that meek lowly Spirit of Life and Love which very frequently did run through him and reached the Life in others for which I cannot but praise the Lord for the many Visitations of his Love in our Meetings but this bears up our Spirits that as the Lord hath begun so great a work in our day for his Truth and Name sake he will carry it on to his own praise and will not leave himself without a witness upon the Earth that from Age to Age and one Generation after another his own Works may praise him who is God and changes not to whom be everlasting Praise for evermore He was buried at Low-Ellington at the Burying-Place for the People of God the 17th of the 7th Month 1690. And was accompanied with many Friends of divers parts and Neighbours also being one well-beloved of the Neighbourhood and there was a living and serviceable Testimnoy foâ— God born that day by our Friend George Myers to the great satisfaction and refreshment of Friends and to the Convincing of others T. W. The Testimony of Miles Oddy concerning Robert Lodge AS concerning my dear Friend and Brother Robert Lodge I have had knowledge of him ever â—â—nce that day it pleased the Lord God in his Mercy and Favour to visit us and make his Power known and manifest himself both to him and me and many others in these parts and though he was very young even a Boy yet the Lord did wonderfully appear unto him in his great Love and God's eternal Power did mightily seize upon him and operate in him so that he was constrained thereby to open his Mouth and make mention of God's Eternal Power even when we were but a few and God's witness was much reached in several present with us blessed and praised be the Name of God for evermore The mighty Power of God did work wonderfully at that very time in the Hearts of those whom the Lord had touched and also made to believe but especially in the Heart of our dear Brother above-mentioned and thereby in the Lord 's due time was he fitted imboldened and raised up and made an Instrument in God's hand and a true and faithful Minister of Jesus Christ and sent forth by him to preach the everlasting Gospel into some parts of this Nation of England and in a short time into the Nation of Ireland where he met with many great Tryals and Exercises yet the Lord did mightily preserve him and attend him with his blessed presence What shall I say or write concerning this our dear Brother in the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Lord hath been now pleased to take away from us surely the loss is very great unto many of God's People but unto him great gain When I consider of the blessed and heavenly Opportunities and wonderful Appearances of God in by and through him many a time amongst God's People when met together my Heart is truly broken and tendred even as at this present time and this is my belief of him he was a man well-beloved of God and also of his People every where that had a true knowledge of him and the great Power of God did mightily attend him and his presence comfort him and many sweet and pretious Testimonies have sounded through him to the comforting refreshing of God's People in their Assemblies He was convinc'd of God's heavenly Way and pretious Truth thirty Years since and upward and hath born a faithful and living Testimony for God ever since not only in Words but in Life and Conversation and also in Sufferings both in this Nation and in the Nation of Ireland he was a man not subject to Passion that ever I did see but meek and gentle and of a healing Spirit Given forth the 18th Day of the 8th Month 1690. By Miles Oddy senior The Testimony of Thomas Hardcastle senior concernning Robert Lodge IN the tenderness and brokenness of Heart and in the remembrance of the goodness of the Lord am I made willing to give forth this Testimony concerning my dear Friend and Brother Robert Lodge In his young Years we travelled many Miles together and great was his Care at that day in much love to bring me to the knowledge of the Truth sparing no Labour nor Pains in much patience and good-will his endeavour hath been among us and the Power and Presence of God hath mightily appeared in and through him many a time and in Innocency his labour hath been and great have been his Exercises and Abuses that he received from unreasonable men but the Lord did uphold him and carry him on in his blessed Work and many heavenly Testimonies hath the Lord enabled him to bear and our Hearts many times have been comforted together and filled with Praises to his holy Name And this dear Servant of the Lord he was lowly in Mind tender in Spirit lovely in Behaviour his Ministry very precious and truly the Gifts and Graces the Lord bestowed on him were very large and in the same hath he finished and laid down and is gone to Everlasting Rest with the Lord forever and evermore This short Testimony is given forth in the love of God by him who is a Lover of Truth and Righteousness Thomas Hardcastle senior Katherine Winn's Testimony concerning Robert Lodge THe Memory of the Just and Travels of the Righteous are worthy to be kept in
largely signified the love of God to his Soul at that time He was in his Day a true Traveller in the Lord's Service and doubtless he hath received his Reward and though he be taken from us I doubt not but the Lord will raise many faithful Witnesses to bear a Testimony to his Name that he may have Honour to whom all Honour is due Alice Clarke A Testimony concerning our dear Friend and Brother in the Lord Robert Lodge WHo was a Yorkshire man and dyed in the Lord in the Year 1690. when he had fulfilled his Ministry and finished his Testimony who was often under great Persecution Sufferings and Spoiling of Goods which through the assistance in the Lord's Power he went through them all joyfully and many times had great Exercise with Backsliders Apostates and Prophane He was a man that laboured and travelled and had a great Care upon him for the Peace of the Church of Christ and his Government of Peace the encrease of which there is no end he travelled up and down in many places in England freely preaching the Everlasting Gospel of our Lord and Saviour and did turn many to it being a man much indued with the Gifts of God and being an Elder and Pillar in the Church of Christ he travelled with me up and down in Ireland jeopardied his Life among the Priests and Papists there in the Year 1669 where there were many large and pretious Meetings of the Lord's People and the Lord's Presence and Power was among us and them And when we had finished our Testimony there we came over into England and in it he travelled up and down visiting the Churches of Christ and turned many to the Lord and he dyed in the Lord in Yorkshire and is blessed and entred into his Rest and is ceased from his Labours and his Works follow him And much more might be writ of his faithful Labour in the Lord who was well known in the Church of Christ who preacht in his good Life and Conversation as well as in his Doctrine and was much beloved and he will be missed in the Church of Christ but the Lord can raise up more faithful Labourers in his Gospel to stand in his place Amen The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. An Epistle To FRIENDS Written from Chambrussel in the County of Armagh in Ireland the 24th of the 4th Month 1660. MY dearly beloved Friends with whom I have Unity in the unchangeable Love and Life in the Lord Jesus in whom we receive pure and living Consolation whereby the Seed is refreshed which breaths and thirsts after the Fountain of Love and Mercy which tenderly falls down upon the upright in Heart as Dew to the tender Herb whereby that which hath been in the want comes to be satisfied and filled with the living Vertue which comes from the presence of the Lord and in this my dearly beloved Friends I salute you in the Fountain of Love Life and endless Joy which is shed abroad in my heart which streams forth it self through me whereby the Seed is refreshed and in this feel me as you are felt in the measure of the unchangeable Life of God in which I rejoyce feeling you in that which is everlasting in which my Unity stands with you who are of a broken and contrite Heart who are kept in a feeling of the dreadful presence of God And therefore wait all Friends to feel the Power which raises the Seed immortal to which the Promise of Blessing is due which Seed the Lord is satisfying with the breakings forth of his Love in all them who in patience are kept waiting to feel the opperation of God's living Power for by the Power of God comes the Seed to be brought out of the weary Land which the Lord abundantly waters in all the Faithful who in faithfulness are kept near unto the Seed such come to receive of the loving-kindness of God and to pertake of his sweet Mercies which daily are felt to the glory of the Lord for ever Therefore my dearly beloved Friends wait in the Light the Power to feel that you may be kept safe in the Arms of the Lord's love that you may be shadowed over with the Power of the Most High God which is our strength and daily support wherein we feel the Spirit of the Lord lifting up a Standard against all the Enemies of the Seed So dear Hearts be stayed in the Light continually to feel the dreadful Power of God accompanying you unto which all your Enemies must become subject whose Power and Presence is felt wherein our Souls rejoyce who hath enlarged our hearts and filled us with the heavenly joy for in him we have Peace and Comfort therefore be not cast down at the sight of Affliction but all be watchful and deligent to feel the pure workings of the Spirit of Life whereby a change may be wrought in your Hearts and you raised above the Grave by the quickening Power of the Almighty God for in this is Comfort and Refreshment felt and Peace and pure Love which many Waters cannot quench and in this all wait to be knit up and united that the one Fountain of Love and Mercy may be every particulars satisfaction and reward So rest your Friend in the Truth Robert Lodge Let this be sent to Hardcastle-Garth and so to Masham A Salutation of Love from the Opening of the Springs of eternal Life unto the Flock of God in Bonds or elsewhere scattered upon the Earth but are one in the endless Life of God Greeting DEar Friends whom the Lord hath visited with the Day spring from on high and unto whom the Lord hath made known his Power and the Arm of his strength for your deliverance from the deep captivity that your Souls lay in in times past when there was none to help you nor to comfort you when you spent your days in mourning for want of the presence of the Lord and in that day did the Lord hear your groans and the sighs of your Spirits and he appeared for your comfort when you were comfortless and in that day the Lord made known his Judgments in you for the purging of the Dross out of you that way might be made in you for the sweet dispencing forth of his Mercies And since the Lord prepared you for himself by the work of his own Spirit how hath he let forth himself unto you to the making of your Hearts glad and to the overcoming your Souls with the strength of his love that hath made you to say in secret who is like to the Lord or what is to be compared with his love and when your hearts were thus disposed of by him for whom you had waited what was all the worlds glory to you for this was more to you than all whose hearts were opened in the sence of the want of him And now seeing the Lord hath done such great things for you it is the pleasure of your God to try
your love unto himself whether you can follow him to the loss of all things in this World yea or nay for such a Birth the life of God hath been long travelling for and now they are blessed that can say This birth is brought forth in which they can give up all for the enjoyment of the Lord who hath turned a Wilderness into a fruitful Land and a fruitful Land into barrenness in the inward and he likewise is able to make it so outwardly for them that believe and follow him in faithfulness unto the end So my well-beloved in the Lord who have felt his Judgments Mercies in your Hearts who by the same are ingaged to follow the Lord and hold forth your Testimonies for his righteous Name blessed you are as you abide in the overcoming love of God by which your hearts have been drawn after the Lord and after a further enjoyment of his Life who cannot be satisfied without the fresh breakings in of his Love into your hearts Oh blessed are you for ever however the Lord may dispose of you as to the outward man the Lord will be unto you as the shadow of a mighty Rock in a weary Land you are the begotten of himself by the Word of his Power he will nourish you by the vertue of his own life and by the sweetness of his own love and this being felt it makes all easie and delightsome whatsoever for there is nothing to be compared with this love of our God Therefore arise you Sons and Daughters of the Lord and shew forth the love that you bear to him that all may know whose off-spring you are and how highly you esteem of the goodness of God that you can forsake all for him and the light of his countenance which is more to you than all the world Oh Friends it is for your sakes that the Lord hath done great things already and yet will the Lord do greater things in the Earth for you as in the heavenly life you abide the Lord will arise for your help in the time of your distress and need And therefore fear not you the wrath of man nor the fury of the ungodly but in the life look unto the Rock of your Salvation and he will beautifie you with the Robes of Righteousness and with the Garments of Praises that all may see and confess to the glory of him that hath shined forth of Sion this day And dear Friends you that have felt the love of God in gathering you out of the world and in preserving you unto this day let the kindness of the Lord and the compassion that he hath shewed to you be an ingagement upon your hearts to walk with the Lord in faithfulness that as the Lord hath watered your Souls with the streams of life and pure love from day to day and from time to time he might still continue the same to you unto the end of your days that your blossom thereby may not wither but be kept beautiful in the Eyes of the Lord that his delight may be in you to do you good to rejoyce over you in his love as it hath been in times past that by the same we might grow further in love with him and be more and more affected with his glory that however it be permitted to fall out concerning these Bodies we may be the Lord's and he the lot of our Inheritance Then shall we be constrained to say Our lot it fallen in good Ground And therefore you render Babes be not discouraged nor amazed at the face of things for mighty is the Lord who is with us and glorious is his Arm that doth compass us about this day and pure is the Food that the Lord is feeding the tender spirited withal which makes us undervalue all the world and its glory because our hearts are ravished with the love of God which wonderfully is made manifest this day glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever who breaks in upon us by the force of his love daily so that our Souls are become as watered Gardens through the thowring down of his Blessings wherewith my Soul is visited at this time and in which I do visit you all in the life of God in Bonds or elsewhere who are called to bear witness for the Lord in this trying but not destroying day that the purpose of our God may be fulfilled and his determination compleated that the works of the Lord may bring him praise in the Gates of the wicked who alone is worthy of Glory and Honour for ever and ever saith my Soul From a Friend to all the upright hearted People of God that wait for the building of distressed Sion known by the Name of Robert Lodge Given forth at the House of Correction in Wakefield the 9th Day of the third Month 1665. A Testimony concerning the Life and Death of our dear Friend and Brother in the Lord John Stubbs HE received the Lord's Truth in 1653. at Carlile and forsook much for it and did Travel with me in the Lord's Service up and down in England And he was a Schollar and an excellent Writer and a notable Minister of the Gospel of Christ and went through many Sufferings and Hardships for the Gospel's sake and after he and William Caton for declaring the Truth at Maidstone in Kent the Magistrates and wicked Priests and Professors caused them to be set in the Stocks and Whipt and put out of the Town about 1652 in Oliver Cromwell's days and he having been a Baptist did convince some of them and turned many to the Lord And after he and Samuel Fisher who had been a Baptist and a Parish-Priest travelled to Rome through those dark Countries and they having cast some of our Friends into the Inquisition all was shut up but only they had some Service for the Lord with some Cardinals and the Jews and some Monks and Fryers and such like and they confest it was the Truth but if they should confess it openly they would burn them And about the Year 1660. he and some other Friends had it in their minds to go to the East-Indies and the East-India-Company would not let them go in their Ships and they got an order from the King to let them go and they would not obey it And then they went into Holland to get passage there for the East-Indies and they also denyed them and then they took Shiping and went as far as Egypt to 〈…〉 the East-Indies by Caravâ—â—◠〈…〉 where the English Consul banished them out of Egypt and then they came to England again after they had had some Service for the Lord in several places And John Stubbs the Lord let him see that the English and the Dutch would go to War one with another which not long after came to pass And about the Year 1670. he Travelled with with me to Barbadoes and also he went to new-New-England where he laboured in the Grace of God and had a good Service for the Lord and from thence he went to Barbadoes again freely preaching the everlasting Gospel of Christ and then he came into England and when he had fulfilled his Ministry and finished his Testimony he dyed in the Lord and is at Rest and Peace with him and is blessed and ceased from his Labours and his Works follow him And he departed this Life near London about 1673. He was a wise Man and sought the Peace of the Church of Christ and was a good Example he preacht in good Life and Conversation as well as good Doctrine and was zealous and never turned from the Lord from his first receiving of him but bore all his Sufferings and Reproaches faithfully for the Name of Jesus who was one of his Followers and was many times exercised with Apostates and Prophane and had Tryals by false Brethren but the Lord in his Power gave him Dominion over them all blessed be his Name for ever Amen The 13th of the 9th Month 1690. G. F. THE END