despises his law and his statutes and counteth his subjects as slaves and bond-men Stand upon your feet and appear in your terror as an Army with banners and let the nations know your power and the stroke of your hand cut down on the right hand and slay on the left and let not your eye pitty nor your hand spare but wound the lofty and under foot the honourable of the Earth and give unto the great Whore double and give her no rest day nor night but as she hath done so let it be done unto her and give her double into her bosome as she hath loved blood so give her blood and dash her children against the stones and let none of the Heathen nations nor their Gods escape out of your hands nor their images nor idols but lay waste the fenced Cities and tread down the high Walls for we have proclaimed open War betwixt Michael our Prince and the Dragon Your Captains are mighty men and your leaders are skilled to handle the sword and they are riding on before you Arise worm Iacob and fear not but thresh the mountains to dust for God hath given thee the power of thy enemies to tread upon and they shal flie before thee shalt fall by thy sword there is none too strong for thee nor no inchantment against thee but thou art blessed blessed world without end Therefore all ye Lambs of my Father and ye Camp of the Lords Host wait upon him to fulfil his Will for he hath put into your hearts to make war in righteousness against the beast the false Prophet and cursed be every one that riseth not up to the help of the Lord against the mighty the Beast is mighty and the false Prophet is great and they keep the Nations under their power But O thou Beast and thou false Prophet you shall be tormented together thou Beast upon which the false Prophet sits whom thou upholds by thy Law and defends by thy unrighteous power thy power is limited and it shall betaken from thee and thou shalt be overcome and the Lamb shall get the victory and into the pit and lake of fire shall you be turned to have your resting place And thou false Prophet which hath deceived the Nations and scattered the inhabitants thereof and builded by fraud and daubed with untempered morter thy Judgment is past upon thy head already and the Decree of our God is sealed against thee thy smoke shal ascend for ever and ever and of thy sin there is no forgiveness nor of thy torment no remission Over you do we and shall for ever rejoyce and sing and over your God and your King the Dragon that old Serpent cursed be he and his memorial for ever Ye Lambs of the true Shepheards fold with whom my soul resteth whether ever I behold you outwardly yet my heart is with you and I am one of your fold and I lye down with you under the shadow of the rock upon the Mountain which the beast cannot touch where we are safe from all our enemies and am to you wel known to be read in your hearts in the Record of the Lambs Book of Life and known only to the world by the name of Edward Burrough Written at Dublin City in Ireland To the Camp of the Lord in England TO all the seed of Abraham who are Iews indeed and Israelites in whom is no guile who are of the true circumcision made without hands Who are of the off-spring of David and of the Church of the first-born who are the first fruits unto God Ye royal off-spring of the Rock of Ages who have come out of the everlasting washing My dear Brethren called Quakers who have eaten your bread with fear and trembling whom your Brethren hath cast out Oh how I love you my soul is knit unto you my heart and life breaths after you I am one with you in suffering and in joy ye are the choicest of the Flock ye are the fairest of all the children which is brought forth Oh my beloved ones though I be among the Tents of Kedar as without where the Voice of the Lord hath neither been heard nor known it you I forget not if I do let the tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth and let me never speak more in the Name of the Lord who is my life and the portion of my cup for ever Oh! what shall I say unto you none knows your beauty nor innocencie nor glory but them who are redeemed out of Kindreds and Nations and Tongues and People and Countries who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes For the name of my God and your God who is living and lives for evermore is in your foreheads you are his off-spring and the fruit that came out of the Eternal Womb begotten by the Eternal Word of life which lives for ever and are nourished at the eternal Table in the everlasting Mansion-house of my Father which is in Heaven None so fair none so beautiful none so glorious none so rich you are crowned with love for ever you are clothed with righteousness for ever you eat of the Tree of life which heals the nations and of the bread of life that nourishes you up for ever drinks of the living Waters which runs fresh beautiful and coole in it you are bathed and suppled and made white you are builded upon a Rock storms cannot move you tempests cannot make you afraid in this you have been and are like to be tryed Your Armour is righteousness on the right hand and on the left your City is free The Gates stand open day and night and a Wolf nor Lyon nor any beast can enter no not so much as a flying-Fowle Oh how goodly is thy Tents O thou seed of Iacob the Elect whom he hath chosen O how pleasant is your scituation The Tower of David Mount Sion stands sure and cannot be moved Oh! who is a people like unto you saved by our God that lives for ever His love is large he is kinde he is long-suffering he is faithful and keeps covenant and his Promises are Yea Yea He is the Amen the first and the last Come forth my dear brethren set forth his praise declare his name among the heathen publish his name among the Congregations let the earth be filled with his love and power that his Judgements may be declared and his Statutes that they sound in the ears of generations to come O ye that are convinced of the truth of our God wait in that which doth convince and keep your mindes to it love it and follow it whither it leads you and it will lead you to know the gift of God which leads to repentance from dead works to serve the living God who dwells in the immortal Light and take heed of looking back at the pleasures of sin you have formerly lived in but wait upon the pure light of Christ Jesus in patience that so you may see
the enmity which is against God and it slain in you daily that so you may see him that is the Saviour of the soul and take heed of rebelling against the Lord who hath given you a measure of his true light to lead you from sin if you love it unto righteousness from whence it comes even from the righteous Judge of all the world who judgeth every man out of the book of his conscience and so prize the everlasting love of God to your souls that you may see him who lives for ever And all Babes who are born again who have suffered the pangs of death and know the indignation of the Lord against sin and the terror of the Lord against the man of sin who have roared for the disquietness of your-hearts who have born the indignation of the Lord and are come to the giving forth of the Law where there is thundring and Earth-quakes and terror and great hail and fire and smoke even such as was not since the beginning in somuch that you could not hear his Voice and live nor see his face and live Stand still in patience and let it have its perfect work in you and bear the indignation ye that are in it if you endure the tribulation with patience hope you will see and a time of refreshment will come endure the cross that the mortal and earthly and carnal may be judged and the ground shaken and taken away and that you may see the liuing hope to stay your mindes upon And ye who are enliuened and doth witness the Law of righteousness set up in you which is a Schoolmaster and keeps in the fear stand in it and keep in the fear low in soberness and calmness and then you will see your hearts purified daily and the cursed nature judged which is out of its course and it bridled and subjected and the Law which is pure and holy and eternal which stands for euer in power and force against the transgressor to judge all Righteousness and so wait that you may see the Lyon tamed and the wilde Heifer yoked and the yoke of Christ born and the wilde colt tamed by him upon which never man sate before then and not till then is Hosanna sung And all wait in your measures dear Babes that the milk of the Word you may see and be nourished by it and grow up as living branches about the Table of the Lord And all you yong men and Virgins that know Virginity keep your Virgin you in whom the Prince of this world is judged and cast out and the righteous law of God revealed and given forth in which you stand and walk and hath peace from him who is the Law-giver and Judge who hath saved you from your iniquities and blotted out your sins for his own Name sake You who knows the living Water and Spirit of which you are born again and witnesses the birth which enters into the Kingdome of God where no mortal or unclean beast can come Keep in the life and power of God which limits all and chains all under that the life of the Son of God may live and speak in you and be bold In the dread of God stand and that which leads into slavery keep out And now being made partakers of his everlasting love walk worthy of his love and of the high calling whereunto you are called who hath created you in Christ Jesus unto holiness and righteousness for ever that to the praise of his grace which you are saved by by which you have obtained the remission of sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified So wait in the living Hope and the living Faith in which God is well pleased in which you ask and receive of him and are accepted of our heavenly Father And this Faith ye know which is a present power and a shield against all temptations and a Helmet and as a Fortress by which you are preserved safe standing in it and putting it on in the day of trial My dear Brethren of the everlasting Kindred and Heirs of the everlasting Promise wait all in patience having received an earnest of the inheritance that never fades away to the end abide in the Fathers counsel and at Wisdom's gate Ye know what I say I write not unto you because you know not the truth but because you know and are made free in your measures by him who is the Truth and the Way in which all our fathers and you also have obtained a good Report even of all the houshold of Faith and take heed of the glory of the World and look not at hardship for verily all the suffering is nor worthy to be compared to that glory which is revealed and to be revealed unto all that wait and abide in patience and faithfulness unto the end but be ye as good souldiers endure hardship that you may receive the end of your hope and the euerlasting prize and the purchased possession and the Crown of glory which God will give unto you in his own day which is coming on towards you if you continue in the hope in the faith and in the love unfeigned which thinks no ill by which and in which love we have Victory ouer the Grave Sin and Death which he hath freely shedabroad in our hearts unto whom be everlasting Praise for ever and ever To him which was dead and is aliue and liues for euermore the Mediator of the new Gouenant of life and peace in which we haue access freely to the Throne of grace and are accepted in him who is the condemnation of all the World who hate the light but your life the light of the world God blessed for ever and ever And all you Fathers and Elders and honorable Women who are not a few whose bones and sinews are filled with marrow and fatness who wait at the Altar of the Lord and knows the Merey-seat which hath ouershadowed you and the golden Vessel in which is the hidden Manna by which all the children of the Lord are fed round the Table of the Lord out of the euerlasting treasure-house of my Father Watch ouer the Flock of Christ Jesus in euery place and region and quarter where the Lord hath set you and gouern them in all wisdom and righteousness that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ may be adorned And take care of them willingly knowing this the Lord requires of you and hath called you unto and to nourish the plants and the young ones and the babes and that every one may know their place and watch and instruct in all wisdom and correct and reprove in the name and power of our Lord Jesus that no rebellious nor sloathfull may grow up nor be harboured among you but all in diligence may be kept in the fear of the Lord in their places that the Gospel of Christ Jesus be not evill spoken of nor the heathen blaspheme And therefore my dear brethren be diligent in the work of the
hath made her self ready and the way of the Lord is pleasant to you and his commands are not grievous no unclean thing can passe over nor no Lyons whelps can tread therein but it is called the way of holinesse where only the ransomed of the Lord do walk even your mountain is established upon the top of all hills and all Nations shall flow unto it Sing praises for ever for the kingdome of endless peace is come which passeth understaning and of glory which no mortall eye can behold and of life which no flesh can live in Oh my beloved come up hither and I will shew you what God hath done for you he hath rebuked the Sea and driven back the floods of waters which compassed you about he hath scattered your enemies with a whirlwind and he hath given you to feed upon the flesh of Kings and of Captaines Can you call to mind the doings of your God and his marvellous works brought to passe and not cry out in praises for evermore O drink and be refreshed and eat and be satisfied for ever and let your soul delight it self in fatness the planting of the Lord you are and his own purchased possession he hath separated you from the womb and hath called you out of kindreds and ye are the Royall seed of the off-spring of the Lord Almighty and all Nations shall call you blessed And O thou North of England who art counted as desolate and barren and reckoned the least of the Nations yet out of thee did the branch spring and the Star arise which gives light unto all the Regions round about in thee the Son of Righteousness appeared with wounding and with healing and out of thee the terror of the Lord proceeded which makes the earth to tremble and be removed out of thee Kings Princes Prophets did come forth in the name and power of the most High which uttered their voyces as thunders and laid their swords on the neck of their enemies and never returned empty from the slaughter Though I be as by the waters of Babylon in a strange land and as a Pilgrim and Stranger destitute but not forsaken as dying but behold I live yet if I forget thee let my right hand forget her cunning and let my name be blotted out of the book of life O how I love the holy seed which in my eye is precious no man can hinder my boasting of thee for I am sealed among you in the Record of eternal life to bee read among you in the light where I am known to you and where my unity stands with you in the love and life which never changes and you are my mother and my brother and sister who doth the will of my Father Our God is a consuming fire and his habitation is compast about with dread and terror The Heathen shall see and fear and the inhabitants of the earth shall tremble our God is everlasting burnings and it is tempestuous round about his throne and he reignes for evermore and though thou be despised and set at nought and counted as the off-scouring of all things and the scorn of the Heathen yet thy King reigns upon Mount Sion and if he utter his voice all flesh shall tremble and before him thy adversaries shall fall and thy persecutors shall be confounded for thou shalt never be forgotten of thy God but with his arm wil he defend thee and compass thee about and thy seed shall be increased and thou Ierusalem shalt be made the praise of the whole earth for among you is laid the sure foundation and the tryed stone Christ Jesus the light of the world upon whom you have believed which unto the Nations is a stumbling stone but unto you precious bring in your testimony and set to your seal is there salvation in any other but in him who is the light of the world nay there is no redemption wrought but by him nor no deliverance but through him his is the Kingdome the Power and the glory and he is become all in all and you are no more of this world but are of the chosen generation and of the royal Priesthood a people Redeemed unto whom there is none like among the thousands of Israel and Iudah whose God is the Lord whose Saviour is the Prince of Righteousness who covers your heads in the day of Battel and smites your enemies in the hinder parts and wounds them in the fore-head And now my beloved let his name be had in remembrance for evermore and let his praises be declared throughout Ages to come and walk you worthy of his everlasting love wherewith he hath loved you more then your brethren let his name be exalted by righteousness by purity and by a blameless life and bring forth the fruits of righteousness and peace and let yout light shine forth into the world and your good works abound plentifully for you are as a City set on a hill and as a lighted candle to shine abroad and are created unto good works Let faith hope love and unity be increased among you and let mercy and judgement and equity flow down and be established for ever never to be removed Let joy and long-suffering and meekness and temperance spring out and be you perfect as your heavenly father is perfect Stand upon your watch Tower and bee not shaken nor drâ—w 〈◊〉 aside to follow any other Gods nor to bow to any 〈◊〉 Image nor joyn your selves to strangers and mingle not your seed with the adulterous generation nor take not nor give not in marriage with them but keep your selves from the Idols of the heathen be not defiled with them but abide in your strength you know where it lies by which you may work good and be preserved from evil and you need not that any man teach you for you are taught of God and are far from oppression Ye children of light worship your God for ever who is light and in him is no darkness at all who is the same and changes not whose mercy endures for ever Be followers of the Lamb as undefiled Virgins and let your soul scorn the glory of Babylon and Aegypt for ever for you are not your own but are bought with a price no more to serve your selves but the Lord of Israel for ever Put on your Armour and gird on your Sword and lay hold on the spear march into the field and prepare your selves to battel for the Nations doth defie our God and saith in their heart Who is the God of the Quakers that we should fear him and obey his voice Arise arise and sound forth the everlasting word of war and judgment in the ears of all Nations sound an Alarum and make their ears to tingle Our Enemies are whole Nations and multitudes in number of a rebellious people that will not come under our law which ariseth up against us and will not have our King to reigne but tramples his honour under foot and