God manifest in the Light of the Covenant and sealed up to the Soul in the Blood of Jesus Oh come away come away out of all your thoughts desires doubts and unbelief which would turn you aside from the enjoyment of the dear love of God in Christ Jesus Let not any stand afar off because of your Littleness Lameness Blindness Weakness and Infirmities who cannot live at Peace until you be healed with the Blood of the Lamb. Arise arise you necessitated people in the Light of the Lord give up to the drawing Spirit of Life in the Light of Jesus Christ he will carry thee that cannot go in the Arms of his Compassions he will cause the Lame to walk and thou that art sensible of thy Blindness to recover thy sight yea he will heal thee of all thy Infirmities who in the Light waits as a little Child to be ordered and guided in the washing and sanctifying Spirit of the Lord Iesus who is become a Husband to the desolate Widow and a repairer of the Breaches and a restorer of the desolate Places in whom the Fatherless hath found mercy this day for his Names sake Oh! what shall I say of the unspeakable Love of God in Christ Jesus the Husband of the Bride the Lambs Wife Oh ye Sons of the glorious day read and feel in the deep tasts of the unsearchable Love. And you Hand-Maids of Glory drink of the inexpressible Ocean which flowes in the Light over all opposition This is the Son of the Fathers Love who hath been a Man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs He was Wounded for our Transgressions and by his Stripes are we healed and this is the Work of the Lord Let all Crowns be thrown down before him for he alone shall have all the glory besides him there is no other Therefore in the measure of him let every Son Daughter and Servant of God watch and diligently hearken to his Counsel and what ever the natural Man most inclines to when the Temptation besets you judge your selves look up to the Lord and resist the Devil with boldness in the first assault and the Lord God will give you Dominion over him and the Bond of Iniquity shall not have power over you and in his holy Authority every one stand in Dominion upon the Head of the first Man with all his excellency and glory that in the perfect freedom every particular Reign in the measure of the Light over every thought and desire that is contrary to the Will of God that in his eternal Will you Sons and Daughters of the most high you all dwell in the holy Faith which will evidence to you beyond your sight and will Arm you against all the fiery Darts of the Devil And you shall tread down Sathan under your Feet and in the triumphing Dominion through the Blood of the Lamb and Word of your Testimony you shall overcome and continually drink of the Rivers of pleasures which is the presence of the Lord Jesus our Light Life and Righteouness for ever for he is become our Husband and we are as the Wife of his Bosom in the delight of his glorious Love Let the Mourners in Sion rejoyce and the afflicted among the people be glad and fear the Lord. And let not any say the Lord regards me not who desires Salvation in uprightness of Heart for what ever thou hungers and thirsts for in his Life thou art the Heir of it and the Lord will satisfie thy Hunger with his refreshings for his Name sake And this is the Portion of them that are least in their own Eyes amongst the people the Lord hath spoken it And all you Inhabitants of the City of the great God whom the Lord hath prospered in your living Testimony in what he hath called unto blessed be the Lord God for you who retain the sensibility of your nothingness in self and so become poor with the poorest and Weak with the weakest and truly maketh self of no reputation but humbles it to the Cross and doth not serve self but the Lord and his people with all his Gifts and Ornaments with which he hath adorned you because of the savour of this Oyntment which you have in Christ causes the Souls of all the upright in Heart to praise the Lord for you Oh your stedfast valiant unwearied Travels Labours and Sufferings for the Lord causes the Hearts of his People to be enlarged with Hallelujahs and high Praises in the holy Assembles of his Saints you know your reward is with you and wo to them that devise mischief against you whom the Lord hath blessed Oh Sions Children from the least to the greatest love the Lord Jesus Christ and let not a thought of the Heart have any power that would draw from the Light Life and Love of the Lord Jesus let the day of the Resurrection arise upon you which will set your Souls in perfect love above all Unbelief and Infidelity Oh drink drink drink to the full satisfaction of your Souls of the Cup of his Salvation for it is freely handed to all that love him and thirsts for his Mercies and trample and tread down the self-working spirit that all be bound down in silence and kept in the Death that would move in any exercise to utter words rashly before the Lord but in the Resurrection Light Power Life and innocent Birth enter the Kingdom and Reign in the Dominion thereof Oh here my dear Friends let us comfort and consolate our Souls together for this is our beloved and we have waited for him and now is he come with power and great glory to deliver his Captives and establish them in his glorious freedom where the evil one shall not prevail against them and to Marry the Soul unto himself who hath waited for him as for the Morning and all in the Marriage union feel his Power abounding to lead in the daily Cross to stand over all that would draw from the sweet union that is in the footsteps of the Flock of his Companions who walk in the Light and stir up the gift of God in you in all faithful obedience to meet together in true watchfulness to wait in the Light And as your Hearts are filled with the Heavenly Power of the Lord and broken in the sence of the overcomings of his Life and moved in the forciable strength thereof in any exercise in your Families or in the Assemblies of his People quench not the Spirit of the Lord but be obedient and keep within the bounds of a broken Heart and a contrite Spirit which is a Sacrifice acceptable in his presence And all feel the love of God enlarging your Hearts one to another that the strong may bear the Burthen of the weak and in the pure Life of love you may grow fruitful Plants in the Vineyard which God's right-Hand hath Planted c. And as for our little Sister which is scattered amongst the people in the Nations that hath no Breast of
Birth Immortal which in you breathes through over and above all the Pomp Pride and Pleasure of the World to enjoy the fulness of Life in Christ who liveth forever with the Light of the Lord judge all your own thoughts and desires which would draw from the Light that in the Life of God you reign over all Doubts Fears Cares Representations of evil and hardships which would look you in the Face in this trying day which is now manifest to the sight of all people that fear the Lord all take heed of consulting with Flesh and Blood or suffering an evil Spie to go forth in the reach of your Sence reason to fore-see how you may pass through such tryals as may appear to your Sence if you hearken to these reasonings you go from the Light and so will be weakned in your spiritual Travel as Israel was in the daies of old So all dear Lambs and chosen Vessels in the Light of the Lord wait to receive his strength to tread down every motion that is out of the Life of the voice of Christ the high Priest over the houshold of God you all hear and feel who saith in his Light believe in the Name of the Lord and you shall see his mighty Works brought to pass while you stand still in Obedience and Peace with the Lord and he will clear your Innocency and smite the Hearts of them that devise mischief against you so shall you behold the Lord in his glory pleading your Cause with the raighty of the Earth whom he will make to confess and say it is in vain to afflict a People whom the Lord supports or to destroy whom the Lord God will save for as it hath been proclaimed in your Ears certainly it shall come to pass the Lord will try all that they may be known who are born of him for whom God will appear to carry through with joy whatever he calls unto and by his mighty Arm will bring deliverance unto us who cannot handle Sword nor Spear neither trust in the Arm of Flesh but in the spiritual Power and Life in the Light which he will exalt over all contrary to him so will he make his Name famous in the Earth because of his glory which he will reveal to cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea and all ungodliness will be buried in the deep and sink as a Stone to the bottom thereof and never rise agaâ—n over the Just but the Righteous shall rejoyce that the Lord reigneth their Strength and Life blessed for ever So all Brethren and Sisters lift up your Heads in the valiant Spirit of the Lamb which bears all things and endures all things that in his Light Life and Power every particular reign over whatever is contrary to him and rest in peace in a faithful resignation to the heavenly Will of the Lord and in his Name meet and his presence you will feel in the mid'st of you who will not suffer one hair of your Heads to perish but which is for his glory and as you abide faithful to him for the eternal comfort of our Souls for ever so in Faith and Patience in the Power of the Lord all in your own measures received of God stand stand still all in the pure unity with the Lord and with one another in his living Dominion rest in peace God will give you an answer of all your Prayers and Tears an expected end in refreshing your Souls with his Light and Power and Life forever in whom you shall sit under your own Vines and never more shall any make you afraid the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it through your Brother in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in Christ Farewell W. D. From York Castle the 4 th of the 9 th Month 1662. Dear Lambs and Babes LIft up your Heads in the Light and Life of God that you may keep the Word of his patience which will carry you up over and above all the afflâ—ctions you meet withall in this present World for the Lord is dear over you and your lives are pretious in his sight who hath called you to witness forth his glorious Truth this day through Tribulations and Afflictions to enter the Kingdom Oh be bold and valiant in the Patience of the Lamb and in the love of his own Life feel his vertue filling you that in the eternal unity you may grow Pillars in his Temple unmoveable to bear your faithful Testimony to the astonishment of the Enemies of Sion and the praise and glory of the God of our Strength Life and Righteousness over all who Reigneth and Ruleth for ever and the God of Life bless preserve and keep you in Unity and Love over all in his Life to Reign to his glory for ever Farewell W. D. From York Castle the 2 d of the 7 th Month 1662. Dear Suffering Brethren FOR the Testimony of the Name of the Lord the strength of the Almighty God is with you and the eternal Crown of glory shall rest upon your Heads that in your faithful Obedience refresheth the Flock of the living God Oh lift up your Heads you chosen Vessels in the Light of the Lord arise up in his Strength and Reign over every thought and whatever would streighten you of drinking in of the fulness of the vertue of God that you may alwaies be fall of the Power of the Spirit to water the Plants and build up the Feeble in mind and speak a word in due season to the Weary and Oppressed in Spirit that the Blind may see and the Lame walk and the tongue of the Dumb loosed to praise the Name of the Lord in the Assembly of his People that the glory of the Lord may be spread abroad in and through you his chosen Vessels whom the Lord hath called to be the first-Fruits amongst many Brethren The eternal glory of the Lord rest upon you and cover you saith your Brother and Companion in the Name of the Lord. W. D. From York Castle the 21 th day of the 8 th Month 1662. Dear beloved Brethren and Sisters IN the eternal love of the Lord Jesus Oh my dear beloved ones love the Lord Jesus and delight your Hearts in his Light Power and Life of our beloved who hath chosen you in his eternal love to make known his everlasting Salvation in the sight of all people that he may get himself a Name over all in carrying you in your faithful Testimony to the astonishment of all that know not God and exalting his glorious Name over all and spreading his renown to the ends of the Earth Oh be valiant my beloved Friends in resisting the thoughts of your own Hearts that in the eternal depth of the love of God in Christ you grow and abound to the eternal comfort of one another and the glory and praise of God over all blessed for ever and ever in which Farewell W. D. York Castle the 17 th of the 1 st Month 1662
in the Earth for his Seed sake and many that shall have their lives given them for a prey shall receive the Word of Eternal Life in that City and great shall be the number who shall submit to the Government of Christ and they shall bless the Lord for you that love not your lives to death for the Glory of God and gathering the Sons and Daughters of Men to the Knowledge of God by your holy lives and sweet walking in all holiness of Conversation Oh blessed be the day that ever you were born yea my Soul Glorifies God for you that ever you had a being you faithful Lambs in the City of London and else where scattered according to the Will God Though you now drink a Cup of great Affliction the day of Eternal Joy is sprung up to thee which none can take away an eternal Freedom shall be unto thee Oh Sion Kings shall come unto thee and Princes to the rising of this thy Glorious Day and all thy Enemies shall fall before thee and thou shalt be the Glory over all the Earth and the chosen Diadem in the Hand of thy God amongst the People who shall as much love thee as they now hate thee and esteem of thee as they now despise thee for thou Oh Sion art the Plant of the Lord the Tree of Righteousness in whom is the vertue of the mighty God of Heaven and the leaf of thy Tree shall heal the Nations and put an end to all their distractions the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Through one that dwells within thy Gates thou Glorious and Beautiful Sion Church of the first Born the Beloved Bride the Lambs Wife forever Blessings Glory and Praises Hallelujahs Eternal Honour and Renown be unto thy God and King who reigneth in thee and is exalting his Kingdom over all the Kingdoms of this World and of his Dominion there shall be no end W. D. From the Common Goal in Warwick the 12 th of the 6 th Meneth 1665. For the dear Daughters of Sion whom the Lord hath or shall suffer their dear and tender Husbands to be separated from them beyond the Seas or else-where for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. DEar Handmaids of Glory whom the Lord hath counted worthy to part with your dear and tender and beloved Husbands for the Name of the Lord assuredly many puts their Shoulders to help to bear the Burthen of your Tryals this day O the Tears and breakings of Heart that is poured forth before the Lord for your dear Husbands and you and your tender Children you are Families of many prayers and assuredly shall be known to be Families of many Mercies O dear Daughters of Sion be content with your Cup handed forth to you this day and bless the Name of the Lord that you are accounted worthy to be the first Fruits among the beloved Daughters What could the Lord do more for you then to count you worthy to suffer in this nature to give you such blessed Husbands that are set as glorious Lights in the face of all People Dear chosen beloved Daughters of Sion let it be seen you love the Lord Jesus more then your dear Husbands and stand over the affectionate Part and solace your Souls in the Love and Life of the Lord Jesus your eternal and beloved Husband and Comforter of your real Husbands and will make us all to rejoyce in whatever he calls us unto we diligently watching and judging our selves and resting in the Light and Will of God in which the Lord establish you you deâ—r beloved Daughters of Sion for whom breathes the Soul of your dear Brother daily to the Lord to strengthen you and your dear Husbands and all that love the Lord Jesus Christ In whom fare you well W. D. Warwick common Gaol the 10 th of the 8 th Month 1664. For my dear honorable Brethren who are or may be sentenced to be Transported to the Isles beyond the Sea for the Testimony of the Name of the Lord Jesus MY dear Friends in the suffering of the Lamb who liveth and reigneth forever and ever and shall overcome all his Enemies in the day determined that all his Enemies shall bow under the Soles of his Feet then shall all that oppress you call you the blessed of the Lord forever O my dear Brethren lift up your Heads in the Light and Life of Jesus for whom you suffer abide in his Light reign over your thoughts of either Wife or Children or whatever would trouble your minds for giving up freely in this your Testimony O you valiants among the People the first Fruits and the leading Champions the Lord is with you and Thousands and ten Thousands shall bless the Name of the Lord for your faithful Testimony which shall sound over Nations to the gathering the People and bringing in our little Sister who hath no Breasts to feel the Consolation of the life of our Beloved for whom we suffer this day O my dear Brethren triumph trimuph in the face of all your Enemies it shall be well with you wheresoever the Lord suffers you to be carried and as to your tender Wives and Children the Lord hath said to my Soul it shall be well with them the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon them forever and ever and with you to the comfort of the Isles that wait for his Law therefore in the peaceable power of the Lord go on you chosen Brethren of the suffering seed which the Lord hath blessed O happy men that ever you were born and blessed be the day that ever the Lord called you in his Power to stand faithful in what the Lord requires of you in which living Testimony you stream through the whole Body as a River of Oyle and vertuous refreshings whose memorial shall never perish but preach to Ages and Generations to the Glory of the Name of our God forever O go on with gladness with trimuph for it is to bring in the Seed from all the ends of the Earth that our Brethren may come from far and Sisters from the end of the World O mighty God cover thy faithful Servants with thy glorious Power and cause them and their Families to rejoyce in thy disposing of them forever and ever Amen My Life in the suffering Spirit go with you in the Name of the Lord forever my dear Companions in these bonds Salute you in the Love of the Lord. Farewel W. D. From the Common Gaol of Worwick the â—0 th of the 8 th Month 1665. The Word of the Lord to all Children born again of the Immortal Seed as the Salutation of the Bowels of the unlimitted Love of the Father flowing forth to you in the forcible Power of his own Life thorow your Brother and Companion in Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Jesus Christ. DEar and honourable Brethren and Sisters Oh how doth my Soul bless the Name of the Lord for you who stands faithful to God in your living
Righteousness thereof you shall have all satisfaction in the fulness of the Love of God though separated one from another and let none of your Eyes look out at any that deny the Lord of Life before Men who in the profession of his Name came forth with us and goes forth from us because they are not of us for as I have proclaimed in your Ears many years ago so I proclaim it again in the word of his faithfulness who liveth for ever That all that profess the Light and Name of Jesus and hath an Eye to self in what they do and doth not follow him with a single Heart in his work of Regeneration before the trying day be over they will deny him and wither as though they had never made mention of him but all you Lambs that fear and dread the Name of the Lord and freely gives up to be governed by his powerful Spirit and in the least measure wait in the Light self to be buried down under this Judgment and your Souls raised in the Resurrection of Jesus and born again of the Seed of God which cannot depart from him but must follow him let the power of darkness over all the Face of the Earth do what it is permitted Oh the beholding of you Children of the immortal birth it is known to the Lord the earning of Bowels in the meltings and breakings of my Heart and I am streamed into you as a River in the unexpressible unlimited love and Life of my God and your God where feel and taste and let us solace in the invisible in-dwelling love of a tender Father where no vulterous Eye can behold nor any venomous Beâ—st shall enter to sting the beloved Babes begotten of the Father any more And dearly beloved Brethren and Sisters where ever the Lord orders you watch diligently that in the sweet reserved Spirit in the heavenly Wisdom you walk together in the loving meek holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus and in the nearest fellowship and familiarity with any one watch to the Light to be covered alwayes with his Spirit of Sanctification that you may stand before the Throne of the Lamb with the pure Garment of his own righteousness to the Glory of his great Name forever And in all your words and works be tender over one another in love in what you may and the strong bearing the burthen of the weak that the holy meek lowly healing Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ may rule in you all binding up your Hearts together in the eternal unity of the Spirit and bond of Peace where ever the Lord orders any of you his faithful Children that you with us and we with you may be as Sinews to the Loynes and Marrow to the Bones of one another in the meek lowly Spirit of Christ our Head and Life that in him we all may be manifest to the whole World to be the Children of the most High God through the aboundings of his vertue in and amongst us who are born again and is the Church of the first born the pure Bride of the Lamb of God who abhors to live in any thing that is not of his nature and in sincerity of Heart have given up our names to him and in his Glorious Majestical cominion tramples upon all false births feigned self-creating self-serving Spirits who are gone from the Innocent Life and make to themselves Pleasant pictures in a voluntary humility and smooth words and gestures and outward appearances to enter the affectionate part and betray the Innocent as with a Kiss but in the tryal of the day that is come upon all pleasant things and pleasant pictures they are found serving themselves and Iudases to the Innocent Life of those that are regenerated by the Power of the most High and redeemed from the Earth therefore to you that stand girt up in the Light Thought and Will of God to reign over all the pollutions of this World I write as to my Honourable Brethren and Sisters desiring you all to resign to the faithfulness of God that his al-sufficiency may preserve you out and over all the clouding thoughts of your own Hearts that in the pure discerning you may taste and weigh all Spirits of what nature they are in what Nation Country or Island soever you are ordered to go and lay not your Hands hastily upon any neither regard their feigned smooth words and behaviour but in the Life of the Lord Jesus wait that he may give you Ability in his pure Wisdom to make your passage in the invisible entrance through all outward appearances to try and taste what they are inwardly to God in the measure of the Heart searching Spirit you have received of the Father that so you may all be kept and preserved in the intire union in the sincere Life to reign over all false births in the dominion to walk with the Lord and one towards another in the eternal inâ—xpressible unlimitted pure holy chaste Love of our Father in the Lord Jesus who in his unlimitted Love laid down his Life for us and with his Blood hath redeemed washed and cleansed us that we might have access to the Throne of his Glory continually to offer up the living Sacrifice of Halelujahs and high Praises Glory and Honour unto the Lord God and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne our Light Life Strength and Righteousness Joy Peace Tranquility and everlasting Felicity over all God blessed forever of whose dominion there is no end And in his Glorious Powerful Resurrection and Dominion keep your state with God that his tender Bowels may be inlarged in you to all where you feel any true breathings and heavenly desires towards the Name of the Lord though in some outward things they may differ let not that shut up your Bowels but in the openings of the Spirit of the Lord in what you may Minister to the enlivening of that in them which the Lord hath begotten to hunger for him Oh I beseech you ease my Heart in this matter for I am in travel till all that hunger for the righteousness of God under what denomination soever be all gathered to the Light of Jesus there to receive an understanding to feel the Spirit of the Lord make a separation in condemning sin in the Flesh and quickning in Spirit in the Resurrection in the Powerful Life in Christ that so our little Sister that hath no Breast scattered among Languages Tongues and People in the Nations by your sweet and holy Conversations in the meek lowly and loving chaste Spirit of the Lord Jesus may be gathered in the Light and Life of â—esus with us to sit down at the table of our God to drink continually the Cup of Salvation in which work O my God bless thy Servants with thy prosperous presence where ever thou sends them and all you chosen Lambs comfort my Heart in what my Soul desires in this thing that as in the pure discerning of the Spirit of the
or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you But these your Merchants have no Scripture for their Merchandize which they sell to you enslaved Captives for so many Hundreds in the Year and is paid in the Nation or elsewhere For these Observations they tell you you must observe or else you cannot come to the Kingdom of Heaven though they are contrary to the Scripture as they are practised by them there is no Scripture that witnesseth their call to the Ministry by humane Wisdom Not many great not many Noble not many Wise after the Flesh. There is no Scripture that any that Jesus Christ sent forth made a Bargain with the People for so much a Year as these do that profess themselves to be sent of Christ. This is the call of the Ministers of Christ Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ neither of Man nor by Man but by the Revelation of Iesus Christ. I send you forth saith Jesus Christ as Lambs among Wolves into what Town or City ye enter enquire who is Worthy and if they receive you there abide eating such things as is set before you the Labourer is Worthy of his Meat freely ye have received freely Minister Those whom Jesus Christ commits the Word of eternal Life unto and calls them forth to declare it unto others the love of Jesus Christ which is sealed up to their Souls through his own Blood constrains them to give up themselves to death in witnessing forth the eternal Life they enjoy in Christ as it was it is the Love of Christ constraineth me to Preach the Gospel saith Paul But these your Merchants are they which have forsaken the right Way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the Son of Bezor who loved the Wages of unrighteousness And as there is no Scripture for their call to the Ministry by their humane learning nor making Bargains with the People for so much in the Year so there is no Scripture for these Observations they call the Ordinances of God as they are practised by them There is no Scripture that Christ or any that he sent forth did take a Child and sprinkled Water on its face and said in so doing they Baptized it into the Church of Christ. Suffer little Children to come unto me saith Christ and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God for whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little Child shall not enter therein he sets the Child as a type and a figure to shew forth to every one that they must become as a little Child depending upon the Will of God before they enter into the Kingdom of God he took them up in his Armes and put his hands on them and blessed them but that he sprinkled Water on their Faces and said He Baptized them into this Church thâ—â—e is no such Scripture Another Observation your Teachers tell you you must observe is hearing these studied Sermons in taking a part of Scripture and adding to it their wisdom calls it the Word of God which is contrary to the Scripture but they say They have Christ for an Example There was delivered unto him the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the Book he found where it was written The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to Preach the Gospel unto the Poor he hath sent me to heal the Broken-hearted to Preach deliverance to the Captives and recovering the sight of the Blind and to set at liberty them that are Braised to Preach the acceptable year of the Lord And he closed the Book and sat down and he began to say unto them This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your Ears and all bear him witness and wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his Mouth he was the substance of the Prophecy which was then fulfilled in him This is no ground for any to take the Saints words and add to it their wisdom and call that the Word of God. The Prophet that hath a Dream let him tell a Dream he that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully What is the Chaff to the Wheat saith the Lord Is not my Word like a Fire and like a Hammer saith the Lord that breaks the Rocks in pieces All to whom the Word of the Lord is committed can witness it to be as a Fire within them and as a Hammer that breaketh the Rocks in Pieces subjecting all in the Heart under the power of it self so it alone rules and guides him that he is what he speaks that if he had never seen any thing that the Saints have declared without him he had known what is manifest in him and he to whom the Word is thus made manifest is a true Minister of Christ who is called to speak the Word faithfully But these that call themselves your Teachers and make Bargains with you for so much in the Year they never witnessed the Word of the Lord in them as a Fire and like a Hammer that breaketh the Rocks in pieces so they never had any thing to have spoken of the Lord but as they have stoln it from the Testimony of the Saints so they speak a divination of their own Brain a Riddle to their own Hearts and whilst they speak to others themselves are Cast-aways And the Lord testifies against them Behold I am against the Prophets saith the Lord that steals my Word every one from his Neighbour Behold I am against the Prophets saith the Lord that use their Tongues and say He saith Behold I am against them that Prophecy false Dreams saith the Lord and to tell them and causes my People to err by their Lies and by their Lightness yet I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit the People at all saith the Lord And this fruit is made manifest of the Ministry that hath been in England Another Observation your Teachers tells you to observe which is contrary to Scripture as it is practised by them in singing of Davids Psalms in Metre taking Davids words who was a Man after Gods own Heart and putting words into the Mouths of poor Ignorant People to sing that which they never knew and so causes them to Blaspheme the Name of God saying Let us sing to the Praise and Glory of God as O Lord I am not puft in mind I have no scornful eye I do not exercise my self in things that be too high for me When they never knew any change wrought in their minds and so causeth the people to Lye. And causing them to sing Davids Prayers as O Lord Rebuke me not in thy wrath neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure for thine Arrows stick fast in me and thy Hand presseth me sore for my Iniquities are gone over my Head as an heavy Burthen they are too heavy for me to bear my Wounds stink
his Counsel the measure of his Spirit in you to guide you in his holy Fear that you may be Heirs of his living Mercies through your holy Conversations then will he come upon you in the fierceness of his Wrath and break you to peeces like Potsherds and get his Glory over all your Heads in the Revelation of his righteous Judgments wherein the Rider of the pale Horse shall execute the pleasure of his own will as he did the last Year upon thy Inhabitants Oh thou City of London so now art thou warned through the Constrainments of the Spirit of the Lord through him that could have no rest till he signified unto thee what is here given forth what the determination of God is Therefore Wo Wo unto the Wicked for it shall go ill with them But Oh blessed be the Faithful Lambs happy are you dear precious and blessed Vessels your Faithfulness to God in your watching waiting in the Light of the Son of Righteousness for whom you have stood as Pillars in the strength of the Almighty Ah your tenderness and love to God and one unto another in the days of great Calamity that hath been amongst you is recorded in the Book of Eternal Remembrance of the living God and in the Hearts of his Righteous Generation never to be forgotten Oh take your Crown of everlasting Blessings you innocent Lambs and Children of Light in the City of London Oh be valiant and keep your state with God that his pure saving sanctifying Spirâ—t may guide you all in purity of Life and Conversation and in the aboundings of the Pure Holy Love to God and one unto another the mighty Jehovah will shew himself for you in the day of great Tribulation you shall rejoyâ—â— when the wicked shall Howle yea you shall tryumph in the Pure Dominion of the Lord of Glory when the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all that forget God the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it Through your Brother in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience of the Lord Iesus W. D. Given forth in Obedience to the Lord the 10 th of the 3 d Moneth 1666. Blessed are all who are united to God in the Lord Jesus yea happy are the People that have the Lord for their God. A General Epistle given forth from the Spirit of the Lord to be Read in his Fear in the Assemblies of the Church of the First-Born gathered in these Northern-Countries and in all Countries and Islands where-ever the People of the Lord are scattered over the Face of the Earth Dear Friends CAlled in the Light of the Lord Jesus to stand living Witnesses for him upon the Earth amongst the Children of Men Oh! the Bowels of the Love of the Lord that is in my Heart to you that when I was nigh unto death to the sight of all that saw me as to the outward Man and scarce able to speak I was constrained to give forth the substance of what is now sent amongst you for a perfect discovery of your conditions seeing that many are called and few chosen and many convinced that are not converted therefore are these lines written that you may truly know whether you be born again and redeemed from the Earth yea or nay And in order thereunto let every Man and Woman search their Hearts with the Light of the Lord and it will truly manifest whether you be born again and so feed upon the Tree of Life or otherwise you rest in outward formal conformity to the Tturh and the heart in the Earth and that Spirit will turn against Truth and hath done And some others are drawn to delight their Hearts in the Gifts Parts and knowledge which the Lord hath given them more then in the Lord the Fountain from whence they come and so abuse the gift and feeds upon the fruit of the Tree of Knowledg which puffeth up and maketh Man wise in his own eyes and say in his Heart I am wise and rich sees and wants nothing when they are Blind miserable naked and wants all things and whatever any profess as to the Service of God that is in this condition they have an end to themselves in what they do which grieveth the Spirit of the Lord when Men and Women in a discoursitive Spirit takes upon them to declare the Truth when the Lord neither calls them nor speaketh by them so are the Children born of the Royal Seed burthened for such have turned against the Truth and the Children born of it whom the Lord hath and will ease in the day determined when all mouthes shall be closed in silence but who are opened by him and not any Voice be heard but his own Spirit speaking in and thorow his own Children born of him who alone seeks his Glory and not any thing for themselves which must be denied Therefore seeing the Enemies wiles are great and many let all dread the Lord and who have been led astray wait in the heart-searching Light to see the Mystery of Iniquity where it led them forth and return to the Light to judge down proud exalted self which hath turned against the Truth and bring into true Poverty and abhoring of self to wait at the Throne of Grace for the Lord to raise you up in the Resurrection which raised up Jesus from the dead and in this Life contentious Self is buried in death and the true unity is known where the Lord alone is exalted in purity joy love and peace in all his from the least to the highest growth and all Flesh abased before him who is worthy of all Obedience Praise and Glory for ever Amen And all dear Friends and Brethren that love the Light and rejoyce in the Judgments of the Lord to have subtil Self buried in the true Death that what gifts of the Spirit soever the Lord gives unto you and the Enemy tempt you never so strongly to puff you up in a self-priding spirit in what you have received of the Lord yet his fear is so minded by you which keeps you in a true sence of your nothingness and emptiness in your selves which causes you to wait in true self-denâ—aâ— for the daily assistance and renewing of your strength in the Resurrection of Life in the Lord Jesus and the more he manifests his Power with you the more empty and nothing you appear in your own Fyes And so is the true Birth known which makes Self of no repuration that the Lord may be exalted in his unlimitted power in manifesting himself in the poverty emptiness and nothingness of his people who are born of him that not any Flesh may glory before him but all in truth to say the Lord doth all in me and through me and the Lord shall have the Glory and I will sit in the dust at his feet with all my Brethren and Sisters to serve him and his People through whom we are raised up to sit in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus in
of the Lord goes before them Therefore let all dread and fear the Mighty God who have received any Gift to see that the True Birth possess the Gift which Birth makes Self of no Reputation that so the Lord of Life may exercise every one in the Improvement of their Gift to the Comfort of his People and his Eternal Glory and none go further then they have Assurance they are called of the Lord and his Heavenly Powerful Presence goes before them so will the Lord bless the Travel of every Soul and the Body be kept in the Pure Sweet Seaâ—oned and Savoury Life which edifieth the Body in the Love and Life of God which cannot be exprest and all that will not wait thus to be exercised as is here written but go out of their Places burthen the Life weary the Faithful and if they do not give over and submit to the Government of Christ to reign in them and wait in true Silence that they may speak no more of him but as he uttereth his Voice through them my Soul pitieth them for they will be as Wandring Stars and Darkness will come upon them therefore be Warned whose Consciences witness what is here written to be your Conditions c. And all tender Friends be very watchful and careful to keep your Meetings upon all Services on Truth 's Account both Sons and Daughters born of God that there may be no Confusion but a sweet Submission to one another in the Light and Life of Christ Jesus that as the Lord hath blessed your Meetings and Labour of Love for the Body's sake keep your Minds stay'd upon the Lord out of all Consultings with Flesh and Blood or any Strivings to appear to be any thing but what the Lord is in you to keep you all in Humility in a pure Subjection unto Christ that he may silence all the Councils fo Flesh in you and keep you in his holy dread and pure Fear to receive Wisdom from him to guide you to determine all Matters brought before you so that every one have your Eye to the Lord to eye his Glory in all your Words and Works so will Love abound and the Blessing of the Lord will be in the midst of you to guide you all in his pure Fear to do to every one as you would be done unto and watch over one another with a Pure Single Eye at all times that your Single Eye may be to the Good in one another and your Tenderness in the Love of God in all Humility to reach to the Measure of God to raise it up and thus will you stand in the Heavenly Nature Saviours upon Mount Sion to bring again them that stray and so restoring them with the Spirit of Meekness and here is Christ and his Desciples Washing one anothers Feet in all Humility and Heavenly Condescention one unto another the Strong bearing the Burden of the Weak and gently leading them forth out of that which burdens the Pure into the Light and Path of Life where the building up one another is in the most holy Word of Faith where we sit together in our Heavenly Places in Christ where Self is made of No Reputation but every one Serving the Lord casting down our Crowns before his Throne and with one accord singing the Songs of the Redeemed from the Earth all Glory all Honour all Praises and Thanksgiving Dominion be giving unto him who is found worthy to sit upon the Throne in our Consciences to feed us with the Brâ—ad that is sure and refresh us with the Water that never â—aileth so we that are many are made one Bread eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood where we have Life and that abundantly and we comforted together in our Heavenly Mansions in our sweet and pure Fellowship of the Gospel in Christ our Righteousness who is One his Name and Nature One in all his People and Salvation is unto us for Walls and Bulworks and here have we Peace in this Holy City New Ierusalem which the World knoweth not neither can they take it from us and here is no Strife nor Contention within her Gates but we witness the Promise of the Lord fulfilled I will make Ierusalem a Quiet Habitation In this City there is no more Curse but the Name and Image of God is written in the Foreheads of them that dwell therein that all that have to deal with them as they mind God's Witness in any Measure will confess These are the People of the Most High God born of the Righteous Seed which the Lord hath Blessed And in this Heavenly Government dear Brethren and Sisters all keep your Meetings and the blessed Persence of the Lnrd fill all your Hearts and inlarge his Love in you and amongst you to your mutual Comfort one of another and the Honour of his Great Name who is over all God blessed forever So will you dear Friends and Brethren comfort the Hearts of all Travelling Friends and Brethren who have not loved their Lives to Death to serve the Lord and gather you home into this Heavenly Rest the very Sense of their faithful Labours and Travels seeking nothing for Themselves but the Honour of God and your Establishment in this Rest it takes deep Impression upon my Heart both they that have finished who here did wear the Garments of Humility and now the Crown of Eternal Glory and my dear Brethren that are yet on this side the Grave who are labouring in the Service of the Lord in Faithfulness in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus dear Friends let your Hearts be affected as mine is that the End of their Labours may be answer'd in your Faithfulness in keeping your Meetings according to all the Exhortations that you have had through the Faithful Labourers and is expressed in this Epistle that you may grow up as an Holy Priesthood offering up the living and holy Sacrifice in your faithful Testimony and pure Unity of Spirit and Bond of Peace where my Soul is bound up with you in this Heavenly Rest in Christ Jesus our Light and Life over all exalted in us to Reign who is worthy forevermore in whom I rest Your Dear Brother W. D. London the 14 th of the 11 th Moneth 1675 Titus Oates's Certificate concerning William Deusbery and the Quakers Mr Whitfeald YOurs I Received in which mentions one Deusbery his name is William Deusbery a Quaker whom you would do well to Discharge He is no Iesuit nor like one I look upon it to be more discretion not to medle with any Protestant Dissenters in this day but bend our forces against the common Enemy of the Protestant Religion the Papist And endeavour to win by Arguments those that are Dissenters from us Sir here is a Certificate from some that hath known him these Twenty years and upwards who are Men of repute in their Generation and Protestants And I pray did you ever know that there was ever such a
hath caused many a sorrowful Heart and given cause to the Enemies of God to rejoyce which hath been a greater Exercise and Trouble to me then all the sharp Persecutions and Imprisonments I have endured for the Word of God and Testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Therefore in the Bowels of the Love of God I beseech and entreat you all who have been or is concerned in what is before written let the Love of God so abound that in it all labour for Peace and Unity in Christ the Prince of Peace who in love laid down his Life for us when we were Enemies and called many of his Children in our Age to give up their Lives in the heaâ— of the Day Weeks Months and 〈◊〉 to gather Enemies unto the knowledge of 〈…〉 with God therefore wait for the heavenly Wâ—sdâ—m to bear one with another that if any who are Conscientious to God and Blameless in their Conversations having a concern upon their Spirit to declare in publick Assemblys the Truth to edifie the People I beseech you in the love of God that not any through disaffection shew at least any publick opposition but rather speak to the Party in private if there be any occasion for him to be spoken to so will the Enemy be prevented of casting a stumbling block in the way of tender spirited People that comes in love to be Comforted in the Meeting and in so doing it will cause Love and Unity to abound amongst Friends that in the Love of God all may be restored that hath been scattered and brought again into Unity to meet all together in the Everlasting Truth to feel the Healer of Breaches to reign who is the restorer of the Desolate exalted in his Kingdom in all your Hearts to offeâ— up a Peace-offering in passing by all Offences that have caused Dis-union and to bind you all up in the Unity of the Spirit and Bond of Everlasting Peace to meet all together who profess Gods Blessed Truth to Praise his Holy Name all as one and one as all while we are here in these mortal Bodies and forever when time here shall be no more even so be it with you all saith my Soul in the Name of the Lord to whom is my Prayers that all may be accomplished as above written until it be so with you I shall remain your exercised Brother in the Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation of our Lord Jesus Christ. William Dewsbury My dear Friends through the sharp Persecutions that was passed through in the heat of the day and many long Imprisonments being nineteen Years a Prisoner in this Town of Warwick and four of them being kept close Prisoner it hath pleased God to suffer my Health to be Impaired that many times I am forc'd to rest two or three times in going to the Meeting in the Town not being of ability of Body to travel as in Years past I do in the Love of God visit you with this Epistle desiring it may be carefully read in the Fear of the Lord in the Assemblies of his People that Peace and Eternal Vnity may be amongst you in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ Amen Given forth in the movings of the Peaceable Spirit and Word of Reconciliation in the Lord Iesus Christ to whom is my Prayers that all Convinced may wait to be made of the number of the Slain of the Lord and conformable to Christ in his Death that they may witness his quickening Power to raise them up in the Resurrection of Life to enter into the Gates of Sion to dwell in the City of new Jerusalem where Peace is within her Gates and Quietness amongst all that have their Habitation therein having Salvâ—tion for Walls and Bulwarks and are the blessed of the Lord preserved by him to the Honour of his Name forever Amen W. D. Warwick the 4th of the 10th Month 1686. These following Epistles were found in Manuscript without Dates To all you proud Priests that dare to add your Wisdom to the Testimony of Jesus KNow this as from him that he is come to lay open your Deceits and the Conjuring deceiving Inventions of your own Brains which you sell for so much in the Year to maintain you in Pride and Lust for to eat of the Fat and be cloathed with the finest of the Wool and so deceive the simple and lead them on in Blindness and Darkness in making people believe the Inventions of their own Brains to be the Word of the most high God as in taking part of the Testimony of the word Jesus and add to it the Inventions of their own Wisdoms branching it into Doctrines Reasons Uses Helps and Motives according as their fancies guides them and then takes the pure Testimony of Jesus to prove the truth of this their Conjuring deceiving Inventions though the Scripture tells you that no Prophesie is of any private Interpretation for the Prophesie came not by the will of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and saith Iohn in the Revelations I saw in the right Hand of him that sat upon the Throne a Book written within and on the back side sealed with seven Seals And I saw a strong Angel Proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and loose the Seals thereof and no Man in Heaven or in Earth or under the Earth was able to open the Book or look thereon now when Iohn saw that the mystery of Salvation was hid from all Creatures he wept much because none was found worthy to open the Book neither to look thereon And one of the Elders said to Iohn weep not behold the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah of the Root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and loose the Seals thereof and hath revealed his mind to his Servants that obey his Counsel to him be all Glory and Honour and Power for evermore Oh cease thou vain Man from adding thy Wisdom in opening the Seals in telling poor ignorant people what means the Scriptures by thy studied Sermons and Expositions which is the Invention of thy own Brains and putting words into the Mouths of poor ignorant people to sing Praises to the most high God for there is none can sing but the ransomed of the Lord and they return to Sion with joy and singing and everlasting joy is upon their Heads And the Apostle saith If any be Afflicted let him Pray if any be merry let him sing Oh therefore come down you vain proud Men that call your Traditions the Worship of God and causes the people to err by your Lies and by your Lightness And I sent them not neither commanded them therefore they do not profit this People at all saith the Lord Hear what the Lord saith unto you I testifie to every Man that hears the words of the Prophesie of this Book if any Man add unto these things God shall add to him the Plagues that are written
the Lies and Lightness of these false Prophets which the Lord is against who run when the Lord never sent them as the false Prophet did when the Lord sent his true Prophet Ieremiah to cry against them Ier. 23.32 All People who desire to know the living God let the time past be sufficient you have followed Men who have deceived you and cease from them and turn to the true Prophet whom Moses the Servant of the Lord declared the Lord God would raise up Deut. 18.15 his Elect and Chosen Servant to raise up the Tribe of Iacob and to restore the preserved of Israel whom he hath also given for a Light to the Gentiles and to be his Salvation to the Ends of the Earth whom Isaiah the Prophet declared the Lord would raise up to open the Fountain of Life and Salvation to all that Thirst Isaiah 55.1 2 3 and now witnessed with all that hearken to his Counsel who calls to every one that Thirsteth Come ye to the Waters and he that hath no Money come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price wherefore do you lay out your Money for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently to me and eat that which is good and let your Souls delight it self in fatness incline your Ear and come unto me hear and your Souls shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David all People no longer look forth the glad Tydings of the Gospel of the eternal Salvation is heard within in this day of the Lords Mercies wherein he is teaching his People himself as was declared by the Prophet Isaiah 54.13 and now witnessed with all the Children of Light whose minds are turned within to wait on the Lord for teaching and to establish them in the Covenant of Life and Peace who is performing his promise to all that wait on him which he declared by his Servant the Prophet Ier. 31.33 34. This shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel in those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their Hearts and write it in their inward Parts and will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People and they shall no more teach every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will be merciful unto their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more Therefore every one that desires to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent turn your minds within and examine your Hearts search and try your ways with the Light that Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withall that shews you in your Hearts what is Sin that Pride and Covetousness is Sin Lying and Swearing is Sin Dissimulation Cheating Couzning is Sin vain idle Communication foollish Jesting and Unbelief is Sin and these things you know in your own Consciences to be Sin by the Righteous Law of God in the Heart that reproves you for them in the secret of the Heart and Conscience there is your Teacher the Spirit of the Lord within which in this mighty day of his Power he is pouring his Spirit upon all Flesh according to his promise declared by the Prophet Ioel 2.28 29. And now witnessed with his Sons and with his Daughters who walk in the Light led and guided by his Spirit within which keeps the Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man Every one diligently hearken to the Counsel of the Lord the Light that witnesseth for God in the Conscience give up to be guided by it then you need no more be taught of Men neither shall your Teacher be removed any more into a Corner but thine Eye shall see thy Teacher and thine Ear shall hear a voice behind thee saying This is the Way walk in it when thou turns to the right Hand or to the left as was declared by Isaiah the Prophet Isa. 30.20 which is now witnessed and that is the living Word of God within that hath raised desires in you towards God every one in whom desires is raised wait in the Light and Power within that hath raised the desires and the Lord will then strengthen and give you power to wait on him in the way of his Judgments till the Carnal Earthly Sensual minds which hath lead you to delight in Lusts and Pleasures and created enjoyments below God be cut down and slain with the Word of God within which is a sharp and two edged Sword to slay down the first Man which is of the Earth earthly then will you come to witness to be the slain of the Lord and the sentence of Death upon the first Man who hath lead you from God with all the Wisdom Strength and Righteousness you had in him and in the Power of the Spirit you will be brought to the true sence of the Poverty of your Spirits to Hunger and Thirst after the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus the Light him to prize and love and self judge and deny with his Light and in his Light wait to dwell in his Power you to guide in every Word and Work in the Light where your union and fellowship will be with the Father of Light who will you keep that faithful in him abide and dwell in his mighty Power and Wisdom as he moves thee witness his mind in his pure Power to the confounding of the mighty Wise and Prudent men who is exalted in the wisdom of the World and Counsel of their own Hearts not regarding to be guided by the Counsel of God in Christ the Light. To you tender Babes and Children of the most high this is the Word of the Lord God in whom desires are raised towards his Name his Counsel mind in you and stand faithful in it according to his Word declared to you and consult not with Flesh and Blood in the Light and Life lift up your Heads and freely give up Soul and Body to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth that he may exhalt in you the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to guide you in perfect obedience to his Righteous Law written in the Heart for the exercise of the Conscience towards God and Man and fear not Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils who stands up to oppose the Lord in this mighty day of his Power wherein he is exalting Christ Jesus the Light to be King for ever In his Light be faithful to the Lord and though you be hailed before Rulers Governours and Kings for a Testimony against them take no thought what you shall say but keep within stand in the Counsel of God it shall be given you in the self-same hour my Heavenly Father will in you speak and his Enemies confound before his mighty Power in you and
sturdy Oakes that stand in pride of their own conceits but hath no Root so let them not speak of the Scriptures but bring them to the Witness to which they can witness of the Scripture so will the breath of the eternal Spirit of the living God speaking in you from the Power of the Lord that hath sealed his love to your Spirits raze up the Sandy Foundation so will the House and the sturdy Oakes and the tall Cedars fall and the Serpent in all his windings and twistings his Head will be bruised and all deceits overturned and your Souls preserved pure and clean and the Name of the Lord honoured who doth accompany the Witness of the Spirit with his own Power and abiding in his Power you shall reign Kings upon the Earth and the Lord God almighty be with you all you Sons and Daughters of the most high God and carry you all on in his eternal and mighty Power faithful unto the end that ye may receive the Crown of eternal Glory which is laid up for you in the Lord Iesus Christ and there you will fare well and I shall remain with you for ever in the Lord. W. D. DEar Friends meet often together in the Name and fear of the living God and take heed of Words see that the Witness speaks which will cut down your own wills and it will minister to the Witness in others to the slaying of their wills and take heed of watching over one another with an evil Eye to spy out one anothers weakness and declare it to others and discover their nakedness thou that art here art cursed Ham and the Wrath of God will be revealed upon thee but watch one over another with a pure single Eye and if thou see the pure in Bondage in any one by the deceit whisper thou not behind their back to others but let the Witness in thee which sees the deceit and suffers with the pure that is pressed down by it let it declare and witness forth the minde of the living God against the deceit and it will cut it down and the pure holy Seed will be set at Liberty and thy Conscience will be kept clean unto the Lord in discharging thy Duty and so will thy Captivated Brother or Sister be restored again forth of the Hand of the Destroyer and then thou wilt have union together in that which is pure for ever in the Lord And the eternal God of Power keep you all his dear Children in his pure Wisdom to walk faithfully with him and one with another and the blessing of the Lord God almighty be with you all for ever Amen William Deusbery MY dear Friends this is the Word of the Lord to you all whom my Father hath chosen out of the World in his eternal Love to make known his Power in you thus saith the Lord to you Look not back but Iudge that mind with my pure Word I have Enlightened your Consciences withal for the exercising of them towards me and towards men And I command you my Children stand in my pure Counsel and look up to me and I will accompany you with my Power and will make the way plain before you in bringing down that which is untoward in you and disobedient to my Will so my Ways will not be burdensom and my Commandments grievous to you my dear Children and this is my Word to you Cast off whatever I have let you see is offensive to my Will that so your Souls may rest in the Bosom of my Love that I may carry you on in the Arms of my eternal Power faithful unto the end and Crown you with glory which I have laid up for you in the Lord Iesus sleight not my Counsel but be valiant and bold for the glory of my Name saith the Lord God and be not hasty to utter words before me but let your words be few and savory at all times ministring Grace to all that hears you that my Name may be honoured in all you my dear Children in all your words and actions then I will accompany you with my powerful presence and will make you a terror to all evil doers One to chase a Thousand and Five to put Ten Thousands to flight so will I get my self a glorious Name in the manifestation of my Power in you my Sons and Daughters who stands faithful in my Counsel and walks in my Fear and your Souls shall be refreshed in the Fountain of my Love in the Lord Iesus where you shall reign for ever in my presence Meet often together to wait upon me in the fear of my Name and watch one over another in love and I will be with you my dear Children to order you in my pure Wisdom to the praise and glory of my great Name saith the Lord God almighty Written from the Spirit of the Lord to be sent abroad amongst Friends to be Read at their Meetings William Deusbery THE DISCOVERY Of the great Enmity of the SERPENT Against the Seed of the Woman which witnesseth against him where he Rules both in Rulers Priests and People whose hearts are now made manifest in this great day of the Lords Power wherein he is sending his Sons and Daughters in the Power of his Spirit to run to and fro to declare his Word Which Discovereth the state of England who according to her own lusts hath heaped up Teachers to her self that hath spoken smooth things to her calling her the beautiful Church and Spouse of Christ but in the day of tryal she is found in Enmity to Christ in his appearance in his Children and to be in the estate deluded from the Spirit of Truth Recorded in 2 Tim. 4.2 3. Which cannot indure sound Doctrine having itching Ears and turns them away from the Truth to Fables and now are Englands Teachers tryed she hath heaped up to her self and their Doctrine proved and their Ministry made manifest in the great Enmity they manifest against Christ in Persecuting the Bodies of his Saints them to destroy whom he hath sent to Preach freely his eternal Word for which they are Stoned Beaten and Imprisoned and many of Englands Teachers whom she upholds stirs up the People so to do Being deceived not regarding what is spoken that neither Fornicator nor Idolater nor an Adulterer nor Effeminate nor Abuser of themselves with mankind nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revellers nor Extortioners shall Inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. A true Testimony of him the World knows by name William Deusbery and in scorn calld Quaker who hath been by them Imprisoned in York Darby Leicester and Northampton where he is now kept in the common Goal for the Word of God and Testimony of Iesus Christ. Also his Call to the Ministry of the everlasting Gospel by the still voice of the Spirit of God and his mighty Power destroying with the flaming Sword the disobedient that would not stand in his Counsel and causing the Soul to submit to
Hands but they themselves are as natural bruit Beasts living without the fear of God in Pride Covetousness Dissimulation and Hypocrisie full of self-Love making their Bellies their God delighting their Hearts in the Creature enjoyments and visible Objects and are men-Pleasers having their Person in Admiration and them respecting for Advantage And these Men who are ignorant of the only true God you have followed to Teach you to know God who hath drawn you to worship an unknown God in the ignorance of your minds so have they destroyed the Souls of many and you People perish for want of Knowledge Hoseah 4.6 in being caused to err with the Lies and Lightness of these false Prophets which the Lord is against who run when the Lord never sent them as the false Prophets did when the Lord sent his true Prophet Ieremiah to cry against them Ier. 23.32 All People who desire to know the living God let the time past be sufficient you have followed Men who have deceived you and cease from them and turn to the true Prophet whom Moses the Servant of the Lord declared the Lord God would raise up Deut. 18.15 his elect and chosen Servant to raise up the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the preserved of Israel whom he hath also given for a Light to the Gentiles and to be his Salvation to the ends of the Earth whom Isaiah the Prophet declared the Lord would raise up to open the Fountain of Life and Salvation to all that thirst Isa. 55.1 2 3. and now witnessed with all that hearken to his Counsel who calls He every one that thirsteth come ye to the Waters and 〈◊〉 that hath no Money come ye buy and eat yea buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Wherefore do you lay out your Money for that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfies not Hearken diligently to me and eat that which is good and let your Soul delight it self in fatness Incline your Ear and â—â—me unto me hear and your Souls shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David All People no longer look forth the glad tidings of the Gospel of eternal Salvation is heard within in this day of the Lords Mercy wherein he is â—â—â—ching his People himself as was declared by the â—rophet Isa 54.13 and now witnessed with all the Children of Light whose Minds are turned within to wait on the Lord for Teaching to establish them in the Covenant of Life and Peace who is performing his Promise to all that wait on him which he declared by his Servant the Prophet Ier. 31 33 34. This shall be the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel After those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their Hearts and write it in their inward Parts and will be to them a God and they shall 〈…〉 adâ— they shall no more teach every Mâ—n his 〈◊〉 and every Man his Brother saâ—ing â—â—ow the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of 〈◊〉 saith the Lord for I will be mercifull to their â—â—â—ighteousness and their Sin and their Iniquity will I â—â—â—ember no more Therefore every one that desires to know the onely true God and Christ Jesus whom he hath sent Turn your minds within and examine your Hearts search and try your ways with the Light Christ Jesus hath enlighted you withal that shews you in your Hearts what is Sin that Pride and Covetousness is Sin Lying Swearing is Sin Dissimulation Cheating Coâ—sning is Sin vain idle communications foolish Jesting and Unbelief is Sin and these things you know in your Consciences to be Sin by the righteous Law of God in the Heart that reproves you for them in the secret of the Heart and Conscience there is your Teacher the Spirit of the Lord within which in this Mighty Day of his Power he is pouring his Spirit upon all Flesh according to his promise declared by the Prophet Ioel. 2.28 29. and now witnessed with his Sons and Daughters who walk in the Light led and guided by his Spirit within which keeps the Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men. Every one diligently hearken to the Counsel of the Lord the Light that witnesses for God in the Conscience give up to be guided by it thâ—n you need no more to be taught of Man neither shall your Teacher be removed any more into a Corner but thine Eye shall see thy Teacher and thine Ear shall hear a Voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it when thou turns to the right Hand or to the left as was declared by Isaiah the Prophet Isa. 30.20 which is now witnessed and that is the living Word of God within that hath raised desires in you towards God every one in whom desires is raised wait in the Light and Power within that hath raised the desires and the Lord will them strengthen and give you Power to wait on him in the way of his Judgments till the carnal earthly sensual Mind which hath led you to delight in lusts and pleasures and created enjoyments below God be cut down and slain with the Word of God within which is as sharp as a two-edged Sword to slay down the first man which is of the Earth earthly then will you come to witness to be the slain of the Lord and the sentence of Death upon the first Man who hath led you from God with all the Wisdom Strength and Righteousness you have had in him and in the Power of the Spirit you will be brought to the true sence of the poverty of your Spirits to hunger and thirst after the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus the Light him to prize and love and self-judge and deny with his Light and in his Light wait to dwell in his Power you to guide in every word and work in the Light where your union and fellowship will be with the Father of Light who will you keep that faithful in him abide and dwel in his mighty Power and Wisdom as he ye move to witness his mind in his pure Power to the confounding of the mighty wise and prudent Men who is exalted in the Wisdom of the World and counsel of their own Hearts not regarding to be guided by the Counsel of God in Christ the Light. To you tender Babes and Children of the most High this is the Word of the Lord God in whom desires is raised towards his Name his Counsel mind in you and stand Faithful in it according to his Word declared to you and consult not with Flesh and Blood but in the Light and Life lift up your Heads and freely give up Soul and Body to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth that he the Kingdom of Jesus Christ may exalt in you to guide you in perfect Obedience to his righteous Law written in the Heart for the exercise of the
the week there was a Meeting where it was said there might be two Thousand My God was mighty in his Power to the glory of his Name If God will I may be at Justice Cripse's in Gloustershire the next third day and at Slettingford twelve Miles from Bristol the fourth day if God-will I may be at Bristol the sixth or the first day being the 18th of this Month further then as my freedom is in my moving in the Lord the presence of God keep you with me in his Life and all the Elect faithful to the end Amen W. D. Dear Friends IN the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ walk to reign over all contrary to the Light that in the Light and glory of God you may all shine forth living Witnesses of the Name of the everlasting holy pure God who hath looked on you in his tender love to gather you in the Everlasting Power of God to stand against all deceit blessed are you thaâ— are faithful in obeying the Light of Christ to foâ—low him in the Cross and straight way of self-denial you are my Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus our Captain over all he will Crown you with his Almighty Power to stand in Faith and Patience to follow him until every tongue that lifts up it self against you shall fall in Judgment withal that stumble at Christ Jesus our Life and Light who will gather a large People to himself in that Country many shall come in that is yet wandering upon the Mountains where they find no rest Blessed are all you that abide and walk faithful with the Lord whom he hath called and chosen in the Light to be the first Fruits what ever ariseth contrary to the Light within or without watch to the Light you will descern stay your Hearts on the Lord in the Light holding fast your Confidence in the Lord he will deliver you forth of all contrary to the Light and cause you to rejoyce in the daily Cross to the crucifying you to the World and the World to you and over the World will cause you to rejoyce withal its pomps and glory and evil therein you shall over it stand in the Power of God to his Praise and Glory even so be it with you all in the Almighty Power of God in whom my Soul salutes you that faithfully walk humbly before the Lord in Obedience to his Counsel the Light. DEar Lambs called in the Light to lye down in the safe Fold of rest in Christ our life in the tender bowels of love in him I beseech you that you be faithful in meeting together in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and diligently watch to know your own measure of Grace in Christ him to feel in you to judge your thoughts and every vain Imagination that over them you may reign and delight in the refreshing of his presence and all take heed of many words at all times let them be few but what is from the savory Spirit of Life in Christ the Light in him the blessing of the Lord rest on you all for evermore there to farewel with me in the everlasting love of the Father in Christ the Light Amen W. D. Given forth the 24 th of the 7 th Month 1658 at Leeth near Edenborough Scotland Let Copies of this carefully be written and sent to the Churches when they are met together in the Fear of God to be read amongst them Dear Friends BRethren and Sisters called in the Light to feel the Power of Almighty God burying self in the Death and raising up his own immortal Birth of himself in all your Hearts which hungereth and thirsteth after his Righteousness and cannot be satisfied but in the Light of the Countenance of the Eternal God of Heaven Grace and Peace be multiplied to you all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ the Light c. This to you all is the Word of the Lord God to watch diligently to the Light that you may see all the workings of the Enemy who would draw you from the Light and as the Lord discoveâ—eth him judge him in all his appearances with the Light that you may be kept out of all his Temptations that the Power of God you may all feel guiding of you that not any receive the knowledge of the Truth in the wrong ground as many have done who have received the knowledge of the Truth and for want of the watch to the Light the false birth in them raiseth its self with what is known and received in the day of tenderness and so hath run out in a drunken hard Spirit spending the Talent upon the lust out of Gods fear so hath grieved the Spirit of the Lord and burthened his dear People and hear is the ground of all that came out with us and go from us and are not of us who in the day of their coming forth were tender and at that time God manifested himself in measure but not watching to the Light the Enemy entered and the false birth rise in its strength and enriched it self with Gods gift then the Swine got the Pearl and turned again and all to rend so here is the ground of strife that hath been or ever shall be with all that came out in the acknowledgment of Truth and flee the true Judgment of God from his witness in their own particulars and through his People in whom he dwelleth All dear Children of God who love the Light prize the Mercy of the everlasting Father of Light who hath counted you worthy to wait upon him watch watch to the Light that the Judgment of the Lord may pass upon the first Man which is of the Earth that he may truely be buried into the one Baptism into the death that the birth Immortal you may feel generated in you by the working of the Immortal Word the true Birth which makes self of no reputation which humbleth self in the Cross and Thirsts and Hungers in you for the presence of the Lord or otherwise you cannot live fear you not you Children of my Father lift up your Heads in the Light of the Lord for the Bowels of the God of Heaven earns towards you stay your Hearts upon him in the Light and the Lord will rebuke the furious Enemy of your peace he will not break the bruised Reed neither will he quench the smoking Flax until he hath brought Judgment forth into Victory so let not any of you be bowed down any longer but all arise arise in the Light of the Lord God hold fast your confidence in the measure of the Light of Jesus and the Enemy of your peace he will rebuke and all unbelief and deceit he will throw down and raise you in the strength of his own Life to delight in the strait way of self-denial and the daily Cross where the Immortal Babe will receive the Crown of the Glory of the Lord and in the light of his Countenance shall be refreshed forever
as an Act of Justice now if thou let Bonds be laid no more upon the Consciences of the people of God but as before written they may serve their God in free liberty of his Spirit thou wilt then find a hiding-place in this terrible day of Vengeance which will be manifest in England and so to the astonishment of all the World for not any Man that lives contrary to God but he shall roar under the heavy Judgments of the fiery wrath of the Lamb of God whom the Father will reveal in Flames rendering Vengeance upon all that know him not and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ for God will make England as the Garden of Eden and Wickedness shall not reign therein then shall it be a blessing to all Nations and thou shalt know assuredly he is faithful and true who hath revealed these things to his Servant that desireth thy everlasting felicity and happiness in thy obedience to Christ Jesus the Light who lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and now is the Father revealing him to Judge every one according to the deeds done in the Body c. W. D. Dear Friends and Sisters BOrn of the birth of the immortal Seed of the most high God who hath not any Life but in his presence nor refreshment but in the Light of his Countenance you are the Children of the day-spring which is from on high lift up you Heads in the Light of the everlasting Covenant in it feel the drawings of the love of the Father whose Bowels earns towards you who hath remembered you in all your Retâ—rements Mournings Crys and Tears in the days when you were weeping and seeking the Lord your God seeking the way to Sion with your Faces thitherwards now in the acceptable day of the Lord in the Light hath he gathered you that you might satisfie the thirst of your Souls and the hunger of you Spirits in the Ocean and Fountain of Life which is opened for you all to drink yea drink abundantly of the infinite Mercies of the Eternal God oh feel the earnings of his Bowels that when you were Enemies he gave his only Son for you and now he spreads his Arms forth in this day of acceptance to imbrace every Prodigal and set free every Captive and purge every Conscience and wash every Garment of those that cannot live but in his pure Life Oh the strength of the Bowels and Mercies of the God of all Compassions who hath resisted the proud and given Grace to the Humble who hath opened his Ear to the Cry of the Poor and hath heard the Groans of the Needy and hath prepared his Table and richly furnished it with the fatness of his House that all that cannot live without him may in his Light return and wait upon him and he will imbrace you in the Marriage union in Christ Jesus in whom he will Cloath you with the wedding Garment of his own righteousness in the power of his love you all his dear Children to sit down and eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ which will fill you with vertue and cause you to grow fruitful Branches in the Vineyard of God in whom the Father will crown you with the Glory of his pure Liâ—e and cloath you with the Garment of Innocency and beautifie you with the excellency of his Majesty to grow in eternal Unity to finish your Testimony in faithfulness to the Lord God in his Light over all blessed forever And all you chosen Jewels of the Lord whom he hath made up in this his powerful Day to stand living Witnesses of his glorious Name in the sight of all People and Nations of the World whom the Lord calls to bear your Testimony in the glorious Resurrection of his Life which he hath raised up in 〈◊〉 in his Light as moved of the Lord arise in his 〈◊〉 every one to clear your Spirits with boldness in his Innocent Life let no difficulty stand before you in the Majesty of the Power of God tread down Sathan under your feet that would let or hinder any of you that are truely constrained of the Lord to declare his Name in any Country Nation or Island where the Lord God leads for the mighty God will prosper you that retain the sence of your poverty as in self that his powerful Life may stream forth in the glory of his own brightness to the enlightning of the People that have sat in Darkness that in the path of Life they may walk to the Praise of the Mighty God. And all you called of God from the least to the highest growth wait in the Power of the endless Life of the most high to cover you in it be valiant to keep your Meetings in the Name of the Lord that every one may feel the streams of the Fountain of Virtue in Christ the Light refreshing you all and filling you his Vessels with the Vertue of his heavenly Life And when the Living God fills you with the overcoming Power of his Love and moves any of you in the broken Heart and contrition of Spirit to offer up the Sacrifice of Prayer or Praises or any other exercise in the Congregation of his holy People This is laid upon me in the Name of the Lord to lay it upon thee whoseever thou art that thou quench not his Spirit let the Lord God glorifie his name thorow thee let not thy mind look out from the Lord as to mind the presence of any of his there for streightning of thee in thy obedience to God and in thy faithfulness thy Talent shall be increased so look not at thy weakness but at Gods strength and at thy clearness before the Lord and this in the Name of the Lord I lay upon every particular Soul to wait in singleness for the Lord to exercise thee with clearness in his sight in every motion and breathing of thy Spirit in the measure life received of God for he is come to silence all Flesh and set Israel free in the strength of his Life to deliver his Captives and to cause the Fetters to fall off that which hath been bound to lift up the Head which hath been bowed down in Israel and to loose the Tongue of the Dumb to cause the Mouths of the Babes to praise him and the Tongues of the Sucklings to speak forth his wonderful works So arise you that have groaned for a day of freedom and you that have been as Vessels ready to burst for want of venting and have said in your Hearts I fear I shall not be born so hast thou gone in mournfulness of thy spirit as a child disobedient to thy God but let it be so no more least thy Talent be taken from thee So all Children keep your Eye with God and with clearness answer him in every motion in his everlasting Power then will the Lord cause his Light to shine in the brightness of his glory which will stop all forward and
the gathering the Brethren from far and the Sisters from the ends of the Earth who shall bless the Name of the Lord for ever for you that endure in faithfulness unto the end the Crown of glory shall rest upon you forever The eternal God in his everlasting Power keep you in the deep Life of his Son in unity to finish your Testimony to his Glory Farewel W. D. Given forth in Newgate Prison London the 13 th day of the 12 th Month 1661. Dear Lambs keep in the unity in the Life and Power of God and let your words be few W. D. Dear Friends THe Eternal God of rest and peace is amongst you in him Rule over all that would draw from the everlasting Power and peace in God his peace be with you in his Light Power and Life to establish you that in the first love you grow in unity and in it reign to the endless praises and glory of the God of peace and the comfort of one another forever Even so be it with you saith my Soul in the Name of the Lord. Farewell W. D. London Newgate Prison the 12 th day of the 12 th Month 1661. Dear Brethren and chosen Vessels of my Father HOw do you comfort my Heart in your faithful obedience to the God of our Salvation lift up your Heads you blessed Lambs of the holy God dwell in his love and delight your Hearts in the Light of his Countenance continually and in the Life of the Lord let your love abound one towards another that in the strength thereof you may comfort one another in these trying days and with the Light judge every thought that would streighten you for drinking in the fulness of the vertue of God that so you may all fill your Hearts with gladness and keep the word of his patience till the time determined God will work your deliverance with all his Elect to his praise and glory forever Fare you well your Brother W. D. 25 th day 11 th Month 1661. Dear Brethren GReat is the charge that is committed to you as to your watchfulness over your own Hearts and the great people amongst whom you are placed Oh you Brethren walk in the unity in the Life of God it will be the great comfort of them chosen Jewels of God in that place the strength of the Life and Love of God will wait to cover you it will flow through you in the unity as a River to water the Garden of God and cause it to grow full of the fruit of the Spirit which is Love Joy Goodness Peace against which their is no Law so â—hall your names be honorable in Israel and many shall bless and praise the Name of the Lord for your watchfulness meekness and lowliness and tender love in the Power of God to build the decay'd Walls of Sion and repair her desolate places to the rejoycings of all that love the Lord our God. His Powerful Presence be with you and bind you up as one in his Life in all your undertakings for the comfort of Sion and the Blessing of the Almighty God be with you and rest upon you to his Glory forever Your Brother W. D. From Newgate Prison the 5 th day of the 9 th month 1661. This was writ and directed to several Friends in Bristol Dear Friends in God ALL in the measure abide that in the unlimitted power and life in his Kingdom you stand to keep your dominion in his heavenly authority these trying days wherein Husband is called to forsake Wife Wife Husband Parents Children and Children Parents and other Creature-enjoyments for the Testimony of the Name of the Lord so all you Families of God that are or shall be called to bear your Testimony prize the mercy of the Lord who hath made you his chosen Jewels and the first-fruits amongst many Brethren to fulfil the measure of the sufferings that is yet behind in the name and power of the Lord Jesus arise whether Husband Wife Parents or Children in bonds or out of bonds and take to you the sharp threshing Instrument which is the Power of God that you may thresh inwardly all the Mountains of thoughts fears or unbelief representation of all hardships and every desire and imagination that would draw from a peaceable rest in God in the Name of the Lord I lay it upon you be valiant for your Freedom and with the powerful Instrument of God thresh and bruise down the Mountains as chaff and dust and thresh upon the head of the great red Dragon the old Serpent the Devil and spare him not and be not afraid of encountering for mighty is the Lord that hath called you to conquer him so keep his head under with the threshing Instrument bruise down and keep under all that would disquiet you or draw you from your rest that so in peace in Christ you all may abide in a pure resignation to the will of the Father that in the Habitation of peace in his Kingdom you in his dominion reign over above and atop of all below the Light so wiâ—l your joy flow as a River your triumph and dominion in the authority of God over all the Mountains of this World within and without in the Mountain of the holy Life in Christ to reign admire and souâ—d out in the low minde and holy fear the new song with triumph over the Devil and his Angels and the accuser of the Brethren which you will see cast down and you shall tread upon him and bruise him under and all that would joyn with him with the sharp threshing Instrument the mighty Power of God which you have received in Christ the Light and in all things you do one for another let love abound in the Innocent Life in God doing as you would be done unto in the sight of God and you that are servants in Families which be in sufferings I lay it upon you be faithful that the good savour of God be found amongst you to the praise of the Lord and you that are out of bonds in what you may be assistant eveâ—y way as the Wisdom of God leads bearing one anothers burthens to fulfil the Law of Christ who is taking to him his great Power to reign forever even the strength of the mighty God be with you and lift up all your Heads in his Authority to stand and to keep the word of his Patience to finish your Testimony to the praise and glory of his Name over all blessed forever of whose Dominion there is no end in which you dear Lambs may feel me and read me in the Life which is hid from the World but known to you in the secrets of God where our eternal Joy and Triumph is for ever whatever becomes of the outward Man in the Will of God farewell yea farewell in the Name of the Lord. W. D. Given forth in Newgate Prison London the 3 d day of the 1 st Month 1661 62. Dear and chosen Vessels IN the
Consolation her broken Cisterns hath failed her What shall we do in this day she shall be spoken for which is come upon us though at present she cannot draw near but Mourns at a distance and Cries in secret for want of the enjoyment of the God of our Saâ—vation Oh let your Bowels open to her and let your Hearts breath unto the Lord that he may seal his Counsel unto her and cause her to walk in the Light of the Lord with us whom he hath raised to be the first Fruits amongst many Brethren to bear his glorious Testimony over and above the Heads of all the wrath of the Children of Men that withstands the Appearance of God who will cause them to bow before his Glory in the day he will clear the Innocency of his beloved people which shall smite the Hearts of them that know him not neither by Sword nor Spear nor strength of the Arm of Flesh but with the breath of his Mouth and the brightness of his comming which shall spread his Fame over the Nations to gather our Brethren from far and Sisters from the ends of the Earth yea the mighty shall bow to his Scepter and the Nations that are saved shall walk in his Light with us whom he hath made as dear unto himself as the Apple of his Eye and though a Woman may forget her sucking Child yet the Lord will not forget any that fear him but he will lead through all Tribulations with Joy in his heavenly Power untill we have finished our Course with gladness to the glory of the Name of the Lord forever And this is the Portion and the Lot of thy Inheritance thou beautiful Bride the Lambs Wife against whom every Tongue that is lifted up shall fall into Judgement and the Weapons formed against thee shall not prosper for the Lord hath made thee a burthensome Stone to the Nations and the praise of the whole Earth and the desires of the people shall be to the Name of the most high God who dwells in the midd'st of thee and hath displayed his Banner of Love over thee and hath turned his fury away from thee and never any more shalt thou want the fresh Springs of Life who loves the Light and bathes thy Soul in the Ocean of his inexpressible Mercies The Lord will keep thee in the safety of his Power and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against any of the Sons and Daughters who waâ—â— in the Light of thy City O Ierusalem in whom there is no more Curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb is in thee and his Servants doth serve him and they do see his Face and his Name is written in their Fore-heads and there is no Night there neither need of Candle nor Light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them Light and they do Reign forever as the Lord hath spoken Through your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Iesus W. D. Given forth in York Castle the 19 th of the 1 st Month 1663. Let this be sent abroad to be read in the fear of the Lord in the holy Assemblies of the Church of the first born where she is scattered to the ends of the Earth The Breathings of Life To God's Spiritual Israel Through A faithful Follower of the Lamb in the Regeneration and Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation and now a Sufferer in Bonds for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus known to the World by the Name of William Deusbury DEar Children and Chosen Vessels of the Eternal Everliving God whom he hath plucked as Brands out of the Fire and hath manifested his heavenly powerful operating Spirit to lead you in his holy fear to wait upon him in the way of his Judgments which hath buried and 〈…〉 in the Death that you could not find â—ny Comâ—ort or Satisfaction unto your hungry thirsty Sâ—â—ls but in lying down in true subjection to the Judgments of the Lord manifest in the Light until the Lord broke in upon you when your wills were subjected with his tender love and bowels of free mercy which caused the Dead to live the Lame to walk the Deaf to hear and the Dumb to speak forth the wonders of the Lord. Oh you dear Companions in the Tribulations and Patience of Jesus when I remember you my heart is broken and as a man overcome with the Compassions of the Lords love that flows out towards you in which my Soul exhorteth you to dread the Lord and fear continually before the heavenly Majesty of our God and be faithful upon your watch that the Enemy which you know goes abroad as a roaring Lion to devour you that he may be trampled upon and never get Entrance to stain your pure Garments which you know never could be washed but in the blood of the Lamb And all take heed of giving way in the least measure to what you know would intangle you in any bondage do not rely upon your own strength though you have and do reign in the glorious dominion standing in the Light yet if there be the least hearkning to the Enemy to tamper with him though you may think you may be able to subject the disposition of nature he works upon if he draw you from the Light you will be insnared and distress and sorrow will come upon you as an Armed man and under Gods Judgments you must lye until the Lord raise you up again in the renewings of his mercy in the Light of his own Covenant Therefore dear Children of the Immortal birth I cannot but say once more unto you Watch watch with all circumspection and diligence stand faithful upon your watch that in the Light of the Lord the eye of discerning be kept open in you that you may discern the Mysterious workings of the subtil Enemy of your souls peace And take heed of taking any liberty to your selves in any thing but what you know stands approved in the Light Power and Life which hath so freely manifested it self in regenerating and renewing you in the spirit of your minds let your souls continually prize the Light and the Sin-condemning power to love it above all things that you may stand in the Marriage-union in the power which destroys the works of the Devil and keeps the Soul in pure freedom to walk with the Lord rejoycing in the daily Cross where Self is crucified and the Soul set free in the pure Liberty in the love and life of the most High to magnifie and praise his name in the beauty of holiness forever and ever Oh beloved ones look not at Self nor at any storm or tempest that ariseth through temptation or tryals of what nature soever as to vail you from beholding of the lovely countenance of Jesus the beloved of our Souls Oh lift up your heads all that love the Light for the Lord our God in the bowels of everlasting compassions will draw near you more and more and
Testimony for him in the pure meek peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus with the hazard of the loss of all outward substance dear and tender Wife and Children and beloved Husband and tender Children to be rent from their dear beloved Parents and also with the hazard of your Liberty and Transportation out of your Native Country and not at all love your lives to death to seal your Testimony with your Blood in the Word of his Patience if the Lord require it at your Hands and when you have done the Will of God in what is before written your love is so large to the Lord Jesus that you abhor loath and detest and trample upon every appearance of the arrogant self-pridâ—ng and self-inriching boasting Spirit in what you have done or suffered for the Testimony of the Truth of our God and in true watchfulness and pure attendancy to the Light and Counsel of the Lord Jesus you are always kept in a true sensibility of your own nothingness cloathed with the Garment of everlasting humility where you sit at the feet of Jesus as Mary did chusing the good part that shall never be taken away casting your Garments of all self-righteousness upon the ground that Jesus may tread upon them and the cumbred disposition of Martha that would complain of the innocent Life or that would have any eye to self and rob him of his Glory and for this you Children of the most high is your daily waiting that the Lord Jesus may take you up into him and cause you to rejoyce and sing Hosanah to the highest and to bless him that comes in the Name of the Lord to cover you with his own righteousness and marry you to himself as his chosen and beloved Bride in his own faithfulness and give you perfect Victory in overcoming through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of your faithful Testimony in the pure meek holy healing Spirit of the Lord our righteousness in whom you shall be as Pillars in the Temple of our God and shall go no more forth but shall grow as Trees of Righteousness in the midd'st of the Street of the City of our God bringing forth acceptable Fruit to him in due season and your Leaves shall be for the healing of the Nations where-ever the Lord suffers you to be cast for the Testimony of his glorious Name yea the Prisoners of hope will be refreshed at the sound of your coming and the Mourners will rejoyce in your arising for the Tongue of the learned shall be given unto you all in your measure to speak a word in due season to every condition for you and all the Companions that can read and understand in the true experience your state as here written shall stand as Saviours upon Mount Sion which can never be removed because yoâ— have not any eye to self in what ever you do but it is your delight to be ordered by the holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus and in your resignation into his pure will you shall be translated more and more into the angelical glory and by your holy conversations words and works which hath the love of God stampt upon them you become Preachers of the mind of God to the Nations and as ministring Angels shall reap in his harvest to the gathering our Brethren from far and our Sisters from the ends of the Earth and all the Nations shall confess that you are the Children of the most high God the righteous Seed whom the Lord hath blessed and the Hearts of the People shall be changed in the day determined by the Power of the mighty God who turns the Hearts of men as a River of Water and the People of the Nations in the Earth shaâ—l more strive in their fervent desires for you suffering Innocent Lambs to live amongst them then they now strâ—ve and endeavour to send you away from them the Mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it through your Brother in the Lord Jesus whose life hath been of no esteem to serve you with my faithful Brethren who in true self-denial through the almighty Power of God indured the heat of the day that you might be gathered and established to indure the tryals which were of the Lord determined of which I was sent in years past to proclaim in your Ears and in the same word which speaketh thorow me to you of which neither jot nor tittle shall fall to the ground till all be fulfilled I declare to you this day Therefore dear and honourabâ—e Brethren and Sisters from the highest growth to the lowest stature in Jesus let not any consult with Flesh and Blood but all in the perfect Light and Life of Jesus lift up your Heads that your Souls may be inlivened with his quickening vertue in that eternal Hunger which nothing can satisfie but the Lord of Glory in this day of separation between the precious and the vile between the true birth and the false birth as it was in the days of old when they confessed unto him and followed him beyond the Seas but when the Lord said Except ye eat my Flesh and drink my Blood you have no Life in you All that were the false birth that stood as the high-way ground stony and thorny ground Hearers foolish Virgins that had no Oyle in their Lamps they said this is an hard saying and who can bear it and they went back and left the Lord of Life and followed no further Then the Lord said to the Children born of the true birth will you go away also They answered nay thou hast the words of eternal Life and whither shall we go Oh dear Child canst thou leave the Father that begot thee or canst thou â—eed of any thing but the bread he hath prepared for thee Though thou mayst be beset and compassed about as Bees with the Enemies of thy Souls peace that would hinder thee from walking with thy God yet can they keep thee from him nay assuredly thou hangest upon him as a Child upon a Father Though thou be as a little Babe thou abhors all things that would hinder thee from following the Lord Thou saist of thy riches of this World thou shalt be no snare to me and to the tender Wife weep not for me give me up for I must forsake thee when the Lord requires me neither regards the Crys and Tears of the mournful Children thou comfortest them in what thou mayst but thou freely leavest them for the Glory of thy God and thus is it with Wife concerning tender Husband and Children concerning their dear Parents in this day of rending one from another Assuredy I cannot but commiserate your condition and simpathize with you being sensible of the earnings of Bowels whilst I have been drinking this cup for many years And now Oh ye Babes born of the royal birth you are the chosen Jewels let no care be upon your Hearts for any thing in this World for you seeking Gods Kingdom and the
Holy God you trample and reign over the greatest subtilty which in the Mistery of iniquity transforms it self as is before written that so you may in the service of Love in the meek healing compassinate Spirit of Jesus gather all the tender hearted forth of all Sects Forms and Opinions with all that hath strayed from the foot-steps of the Flock of the Companions in the Light of the Lord with us to walk in faithfulness all their days until their change come that if it be possible that not any may be lost who hunger after righteousness and hath their Faces set towards Sion That so in the heavenly Harmony all that have truly sought the Face of God may in his pure Light Life and Dominion walk together with us in the unlimitted Bowels of Love in the Lord Jesus to the confounding of all Sion's Enemies who in the time determined of our God shall come bending to the Soles of the Feet of the afflicted suffering Lambs of my Father who Love the Lord better then your Lives and your Neighbour as your self yea and they that withstand you shaâ—l in the day determined of God confess it is in vain for any to strive to bring to pass their evil intents upon a People beloved of God whom he will carry through by his Almighty Power and save with the Arm of his Salvation for every Tongue lifted up against you shall fall in judgment and all Weapons formed against you shall not prosper but come to nought and you shall see the mighty salvation of God for your joy which the Lord will hasten more and more to the astonishment of all that withstand the rising of his Glory and you shall certainly know this is to you the Word of the Lord God declared thorow your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Kingdom of Patience in the Lord Jesus Christ. Farewel W. D. From the Common Goal in Warwick sent forth at the command of the Lord the 8 th of the 3 th Moâ—eth 1665. Blessed are they that overcometh through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their Testimony and love their lives no more to Death The Discovery of Mans return to his first Estate by the Operation of the Power of God in the great work of Regeneration And a Word to the Back-slider who hath tasted of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come and hath turned from the Grace of God into wantonness and gone back into spiritual Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is crucified Also a discovery of mystery Babylon and her Merchants And a word to the hard-hearted unbelieving Iews Professors who profess Christ in words but stumble at his Light in their Consciences to theiâ— own Destruction With a Word to all Saints who have set their Faces towards Sion to seek the Lord their God and to those that are waiting therein to worship him in Spirit and Truth And a Word of Consolation unto the travelling Child that yet sits in Darkness being deeply afflicted and wounded in Spirit through ignorance of Salvation in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus the Light. All Men and Women behold and see in what Estate you were Created ANd God said let us make Man in our Image God created Man in his own Image and in the Image of God created he Him Male and Female created he them And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress and keep it and the Lord God Commanded the Man saying of every Tree in the Garden thou mayest freely eat but of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the death The Serpent was more subtile then any beast of the Field which the Lord God had made he said unto the Woman ye shall not surely die for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil And when the Woman saw the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant unto the Eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took the Fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her Husband with her and he did eat And the Eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig-leaves together and made them aprons And they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his Wife hid themselves from the Presence of the Lord among the Trees of the Garden and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou And he said I heard thy voice in the Garden and was afraid and because I was naked I hid my self And he said who told thee that thou wast naked hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat and the Man said the Woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat And the Lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou hast done the woman said the Serpent beguiled me and I did eat And the Lord God said unto the Serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all Cattel and above every Beast of the Field upon thy Belley shalt thou go and Dust shalt thou eat all the Days of thy Life And I will put Enmity betwixt thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel And the Lord God said Behold this Man is become as one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his Hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live forever therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken And he drove out the Man and placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims and a flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life Every Man and Women behold and see how you are fallen from the estate and condition you were created in you were created in the Image of God to delight alone in him but you are fallen in obeying the counsel of the Serpent and are driven out of the Presence of God into the Earth and there your minds are feeding upon the dust of the Earth created oâ—jects which will perish some delight in Father and Mother some in Wife and Children some in Houfe and Lands some in Money and Gold some in Meats and Drinks some in Raiment what they shall put on some in Lusts and Pleasures in Wantonness vain idle Communication foolish Jesting and Laughter which is Madness and Folly and some in Honour and Preferments in this World wherein their Hearts are lifted up in Pride and Exaltation above others
shall reign with him who suffer with him and they that are dead with him shall live with him it is the dead that hears the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live arise thou that sleepest in the dust of the Earth securely in thy earthly serpentine Wisdom thy mind feeding upon the dust of the Earth created objects which will perish arise stand up to Judgment that Christ may give thee Life this is required of thee O Man to do justly love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God examine thy Heart and deal justly with thy own Soul There is a Light in thy Conscience which Light is of Christ minding it it will let thee see the mystery of Iniquity that lodgeth in thy Heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked and this Light in thy Conscience which discovers unto thee the evil of thy Heart is of the eternal Word of God and was from the beginning according as it is written in the outward Testimony of the Truth In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God and the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made in him was Life and the Life was the Light of men and the Light shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehends it not Every one arise out of your earthly wiâ—dom and mind the Light in thy Conscience and wait on the Power of the Lord in it and it will bring thee to Judgment before the Throne of the Lamb where the righteous Law will be opened in thy heart that will cry through thy earthly heart for Righteousness and Judgment and the Book will be opened in thee where thou shalt see all written that thou hast done in the Body and shall give an account for every idle word and receive thy reward for what thou hast done and thy reward is Wrath and Condemnation which will pass upon thee from the Presence of the Lamb for thy disobedience and breaking of the righteous Law which must be fulfilled and what way soever thou turnest to get Life in outward Forms and Observations the flaming Sword which is the righteous Law that goes out of the Mouth of the Lamb it will turn every way and meet thee and cut thee down and cast thee into Hell where there is Weeping and Wailing for want of the presence of God and thou canst do nothing to pacifie the Wrath of God which is gone out against thee Now wouldst thou hide thy self as Adam did when he appears in thy Heart thy Fig-leafed Garment of Prayers Tears Forms outward Observations according unto thy comprehension of the Letter will not cover thy Nakedness it served to cover the Nakedness from the sight of Men but now when the Lord appears in thy Heart thou canst not stand before him now comes Cain in thee to be driven from the Face of God to be a Fugative and a Vagabond in the Earth notwithstanding all his Sacrifice and Esau in thee Repâ—obated never to have the Blessing though he seek it with Tears and the bond Woman and her Son cast out and the first Adam now slain with the sharp Sword that goeth out of the Mouth of the Lamb and art made to give up thy Soul to God whose it is to do with thee what he will if he destroy thee forever he may and if he save thee from eternal Death it is his free Love now art thou Baptized with Christ into his Sufferings and Death where thou liest sealed down under the eternal Judgment of God and there perisheth for ever for any power or help thou hast in thy self and this is the Administration of Moses where thou liest condemned for ever under the righteous Law without any help or hope until the Administration of the Prophets that prophesie of a Christ that hath satisfied the righteous Law of God for thee who art lost and condemned under the power of the Law of Moses and now there is a secret hope raised up in thy Soul and thou lookest up from under the condemning power of Moses for a Saviour and the Prophets are until Iohn and of all that were born of Women there was not one greater than Iohn for he is a burning and shining Light that lets thee see the filthiness of thy Heart and the Law shines in its purity to condemn the earthly Man in thee but he streghthens the hope in thee that was raised up by the Prophets to see the beauty and excellency of Jesus Christ which ravishes thy lost condemned Soul that thou art willing to sell all for him the Scripture now being fulfilled in thee who witness this From the days of Iohn even until now the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force now is every Mountain and Hill laid low in thee and crooked ways made strait and the rough way in thee made smooth and thou waitst in the Wilderness and lost condition of thy self for the Salvation of God to be manifest to thee in Jesus Christ and in the appointed time of the Father the Son of Man comes to thy Soul as a Thief in the Night as the lightning from the East to the West so is his appearance in thee and causes thy dead Soul to hear his Voice which witnesses to it eternal Life freely through his own Blood and thy Soul hears his Voice and by the Word of his Power is made to live and art sealed up by the holy Spirit of Promise the Spirit of God bearing witness with thy Spirit that thou art his Child now comest thou to witness the second Adam to be a quickning Spirit and Isaac the promised Seed to be heir for ever and that the wages of sin is death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life and that by Grace thou art saved through Faith in the Lord Jesus not of works least any should boast and he that hath hope in him purifies himself as he is pure and the Love of Christ constrains thee now who can witness this work of Regeneration manifest in thee to follow him whithersoever he goes no more to obey him for Life as thou didst when thou wast without seeking him in Forms and Observations but now the Love and Life thou enjoyest in Christ Jesus constrainâ— thee to deny thy self and take up thy cross daily and follow him Now art thou come into the beginning to live in the Lord guided by the powerful word of Faith the Light that shines in thy Heart which is the Light of the City New Ierusalem to which thou art come to Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth and all that are come to walk in the Light of the City New Ierusalem are the true Israel of God that are taught of God to whom the New and everlasting Covenant is made
according to the promise of the Lord This is the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more and in this City there is no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it which are borrowed Lights outward Dispensations and teachings of men for the Glory of the Lord God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof and the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the Light of it and the Kings of the Earth bring their Glory and honour unto it and there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie but they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life and the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there for the Lord God giveth them Light and they shall reign for ever and ever Halelujah to the Highest To all revolted Souls who have departed from the Counsel of the Lord and are made drunk with the Wine of the wrath of the Fornication of the Whore bewitched with the Mother of Withcraft to return into Spiritual Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is Crucified WHoever thou art in whom the righteous Law of God Jesus Christ the Light in thee hath cryed through thy earthly Heart for righteousness and judgment and there thou didst stand arraigned before the Throne of the Lamb where the Book was opened in thee and written therein all the deeds thou hast done in the body and the sentance of wrath and judgement passed out of the Mouth of the Lamb on thee for every idle word and all that thou hast done and in this thy condemned Estate thou runnedst too and fro to hide thee from the wrath of the Lamb in reforming thy ways and strictly observing what thou wast convinced of to be the Will of God but what way soever thou turnedst in thy Obedience towards God to get Life thither the flaming Sword turned that proceeded out of the Mouth of the Lamb and cut thee down and cast thee into a Hell whoâ—e thou layest weeping and wailing under the wrath of God sealed down under his eternal judgment for evermore for any help or power thou hadst in thy selâ— until Jesus Christ manifested eternal Love and Mercy freely to thy poor lost condemned Soul and raised thee up to a lively hope and sealed thee up in the Covenant of Life with his own Blood Now after the witnesses hath sealed up their Testimony the Beast which is thy will that ascends out of the bottomless pit of thy deceived Heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked hath made War against the Witnesses and slain them and they lie dead in the spiritual City of Sodom and Egypt where our Lord is Crucified and thou art made Drunk with the Wine of the Wrath of the Fornication of the Whore and bewitched with her Witch-Crafts who now tells thee whom he loves he loves to the end and to the Pure all things are pure thou art no more under the Law but under Grace and all things are alike that when thou disobeyest the pure Law which once had power over thee and it witnesseth against thee secretly crying in thy Heart use thy liberty but nor as an occasion to the Flesh thou regardest not the Counsel of the Lord but hearkens to the Mother of Harlots in thee and causes thee to wrest the Scriptures to thine own Destruction and tells thee the Law hath no power over thee thou art under Grace it is but the Law in thy members that Wars against the Law in thy mind the acting of the humanity which acts in its place that the Grace of God may appear more gloriously God sees no Sin in thee for it is no more thou but Sin that dwells in thee and the former misery thou wast in under the Wrath of God for the disobeying of the righteous Law thou now treadest under thy Feet and lies slain in spiritual Sodom and Egypt in thy Heart yet not put in Grave but lies in thy sight and lets thee see the evil of thy doings and vexes and torments thy earthly and carnal Heart in the midd'st of all thy Joy but the Whore in thee tells thee that the former trouble thou wast in it was through ignorance of God but now thou art grown up to a higher stature in Christ to see nothing but love in whatsoever thou doest and now thou knowest nothing but to eat and to drink and be merry for the Children of the Bride Chamber cannot mourn while the Bridegroom is with theus time was thou didst mourn but it was when the Bridegroom was not with thee but now the Winter is past and Summer come and singing of Birds is heard in thy Land and now wash thy face and anoint thy Head with Oyle that thou appear no more before Men as thou didst when thou wast a Pharisee now to be a friend to Publicans and Sinners and become all to all that thou mayest win some and whatever thou dost it is God that acts thee for thou art not stronger then he to resist him and if he would have it other ways how couldst thou hinder it so it is as it must be and it cannot be otherwise thus the subtle Serpent winds into the mind of Man and causes him to wrest the Scriptures to his own destruction to draw back into perdition Wo wo unto thee thou back-slider in Heart who chargest God who is purity it self to be the Author of Sin and the actor of thee in all thy filthy and unrighteous walking and hast turned the Grace of God into Wantonness and takest liberty to Sin because Graâ—e abounds and makest the coming of Christ who came to fulfil the Law to destroy it through the evil of thy Heart that when the righteous Law cries in thee for purity and condemns thee for thy unrighteous walking then thou pretendst to fly to the free Grace in Christ to save thee from the power of the Law but thou shalt find the Law hath power over the fleshly Man as long as he lives and the fleshly Man that now guides thee is under the Law until it be destroyed through Faith in Christ Jesus For he came not to destroy the Law but to fufil it and the Saints witness it though thou wrest the words of Paul when he declared his condition before he came to
all take your full delight in his joyful presence and all in pure love walk together the glory of the most high God rest upon you and your beloved Families and Children whom the Lord hath blessed you with And all the People shall confess in the day determined that you with the rest of the faithful are the righteous Seed that the Lord hath blessed to whom the wicked shall bend and come under to the power which is our Life forever who feel the Life in the Infallible passage and secret Salutation in God where my Soul imbraces you in the eternal Fountain of love and taketh her solace in the dear and near Union where there can be no Separation but everlasting fellowship one with another forever where my Soul goeth with you in the eternal welfare Dear Brethren and Sisters whom my Soul loves and gives glory to God that ever you had a being in this World to glorifie the Name of the Lord in your Generation with him who remains your Brother W. D. Warwick Common Goal the 2 d day of the 5 th Month 1665. The Word of the Lord to all the Inhabitants in England from the Highest to the Lowest that they mey know his Determination and so be entreated to break off from their Sin in true Obedience unto him that they may escape in the day of his dreadful appearance when no flesh shall stand before him TO all Rulers Teachers and People in the Nation of England and to all the Inhabitants in these Northren Countries in which the mighty Jehovah Lord God omnipotent over all hath determined to raise up his righteous Seed to the exaltation of the glory of his great Name to the fulfilling of the Scriptures of Truth as is Recorded in Ieremiah the 23. Chap. and 7. and 8. verses It shall no more be said the Lord liveth that brought us out of the Land of Egypt but shall be said the Lord liveth that hath raised his Seed and brought it forth of the North Countrey and out of all the Nations where it is scattered and this I have to declare to you all in the Authority of the Word of his Holiness The Lord will manifest according to the determination and purpose of his mind unto a poor people that fear before him and seek the Lord with strong cries and tears day and night that if it be the Pleasure of the Lord all the Inhabitants in England and else where in these Northern Countries might break off from all the evil of their doings in a true resignation to the Light of Jesus that reproves for sin in the secret of their Consciences that so the Lord may turn his fury away and spare the People of the Land of our Nativity that not any be found sealed up to destruction in that day wherein it shall be said Let him that 's filthy be filthy still and let him that 's holy be holy still Oh sad will it be to them who hath neglected the day of the Visitation of the Lord God to their Souls and have not their Consciences washed and their Hearts purified in the Blood of the Lamb for they shall cry but not be regarded and call to the Lord but he will not hear them because the Decree of the Lord will be sealed against all that reject the Counsel of the Lord and the tenders of his Mercy and sport away their precious time in leud and wicked ways amongst the Workers of Iniquity whose condemnation slumbereth not the Day of Gods Vengeance will come as a Thief in the night great destruction will come upon them all that reject the Government of the Soul-saving sanctifying Spirit of the Lord Jesus in this day he is making up his Jewels and putting a difference between them that serve him and them that serve him not and between them that swear and them that fear an Oath Oh what shall I say concerning the People of the Land of my Nativity Oh my Bowels my Bowels are moved within me for her Inhabitants from the highest to the lowest with all in these Northen Countries and in the tender compassion I cannot be silent but in the force of the Spirit of the Lord exhort all who yet witness not redemption from their vain conversations turn turn why will ye die for the Lord God will not be mocked he is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity Oh reject not his Counsel neither kick at the reproofs of the Lord for the day of his Patience will not extend for ever neither will his Spirit always strive with man for he is jealous of his Glory Oh turn turn all People and diligently hearken to the Counsel of God the Light of his own Spirit that reproves you secretly in your Hearts and Consciences and look up to the Lord with the eye of your minds in true watchfulness and dependency upon the Lord that he may save you from your iniquities that you may find peace with God whatever befal you in these days of great calamity which is upon the Face of the Earth Oh People if you reject God's Counsel and harden your necks against the reproofs of the Spirit of the Lord. Oh what shall I say unto you seeing there is no minding the Fear of the Lord but every one doth what seemeth good in your own Eyes Oh the pity that 's to you from one that cannot help you but in the sence of your misery that rejects Gods Mercy saith in my secret mournings for you Oh that my Eyes were as a Fountain of Tears that I might water thy Altar Oh Lord day and night that if it were possible thou mightst be prevailed withal and change thy purpose concerning this stiff-necked and hard-hearted People that reject thy Counsel in the Land of our Nativity But notwithstanding all this simpathizing Bowels as one who hath received favour at thy Hands Oh Lord I leave all with thee spare thy People Oh Lord and inable them to go thorough the trial of the day and sweeten their passage and the Cup they are to drink who fear before thee and tremble at the Word of thy Holiness even so be it with them oh Lord. Once more I cannot but exhort all People look about you yea from the highest to the lowest and who hath not desperately sold themselves to do wickedly take a view of the Lords dealings with the People of the Land how he hath shaked the rods of his many Judgments over the Nation which did smite upon many and they were mown down as grass which caused many that feared the Lord to wrestle with him with strong crys day and night that he would stay the hand of the destroying Angel and the Lord heard his poor People and stayed his Hand in a great measure waiting to see if the People of the Land would mend their ways and the Rulers therein would give over persecuting imprisoning spoiling and banishing his poor People who fear before him and serves him in uprightness of their
the glory of his Name and the comfort of one another which will cause you to prize the opportunities God gives to you not knowing how soon you may be deprived of them c. And be tender one over another and watch over one another with a pure single eye and every one see the Beam cast out of your own Eye before you go to spy a Moâ—e in others And if any Brother or Sister offend you that know speak to them privately in all tenderness to restore them and this know Whoever turns a Sinner from the error of his ways saves a Soul from Death and hides a multitude of Sins But if they will not hear take two or three more and speak to them again in the spirit of meekness waiting and seeking the Lord for their recovery but if they will not hear but persist in wickedness then acquaint the Church whom the Lord in his Wisdom will order to deal with them for his own glory And in all things you do I dearly beseech you do unto others as you would be done unto your selves that so you may all in your measures stand as Saviours upon Mount-Sion to the glory of the Lord in the power of his own Spirit which will cause the Whisperer Bcakbiter False-accuser and Tale-bearer to be clensed away and cast out of the House of the Lord that so in the good order of the Holy Spirit of our God we may all live that he alone in his Dominion may reign in us and amongst us whose Government is upon his Shoulders and all the Crowns of the Gory of Man cast down at his Feet that he may be exalted in ordering every member of the Body in their place and service to his everlasting Praise and Glory Even so dear Father carry on thy work in all the Churches of the Saints scattered over the face of the Earth that in the Eternal unity they may be established in the Lord being one and his Name one and all the contrary swept away with the Breath of thy Mouth and brightness of thy coming So come Lord Jesus take to thee thy great Power and reign in thy Authority in and amongst thy dear Children to the astonishment of the Nations and all people that are not born again and to the Exaltation of thy own Name and Kingdom over all who is worthy to reign blessed for ever and of whose Dominion there is no end And all you faithful Labourers in the Gospel of Christ who in true innocency travel in his Strength and seeks not any thing for your selves in what you do but to Glorifie the Lord in establishing his People in the living Unity in his own Spirit Oh blessed are you amongst the People my Soul Praises the Lord for you and blesseth his Name that ever he raised up such a Spirit in you that in all the greatest riches of the Spirit God gives to you yet you remain truly poor in your selves and in deep humilty become Servants to his People for the Lords sake and being poor you make many rich in that which will abide fresh and green in the Winter Storms and will not fade away in the Terrible Blasts which will come for the trial of his People and cause all Hearts to fail but what is born of his own nature Oh dearly beloved Brethren feel my Bowels of enlarged love which floweth to you in the Love and Life received and enioyed thorow death where there is no variableness nor shaddow of change I remain your Brother in the Word of his Patience to endure the Suffering according to his determination with all that love the Lord better then their lives W. D. Warwick the 14 th of the 10 th Month My dear Friends IN these trying days be not afraid of what Man can do whose Breath is in his Nostrils and lock up to the al-sufficiency of the Almighty God to stay your minds in him who hath counted you worthy to Suffer for him In all humility walk faithfully before him unto the end he is your reward and will give unto you a Crown of Life forever even so be it with you in the Name of the Lord is the breathing of my Soul for you whom my Soul loves and keep your Meetings in the Authority and Life of the meek and patient Spirit which wares out and overcomes all things that is not of its nature Read this in the fear of the Lord amongst Friends W. D. Warwâ—ck the 5 th of the 3 d Month 1671. For my dear Brethren George Whitehead A. Parker and Brethren concerned in the General Meeting My dear Brethren IN the Love of the Lord my Soul in the endeared Life of God is with you if the Lord had set my face to have been with you I should have been present in Body but I am ordered otherways having much upon me while the Door is open therefore my breathing to the Lord is that he may cover you in that Assembly with his Glory and heavenly Wisdom as I believe he will to the comfort of his People that so all Hearts may be gladed in feeling his pure Power and heavenly Refreshing in you My dear Brethren in the Light and Life of God whom my Soul loves and remains Your dear Brother in the Vnity of the Spirit of our dear Father who hath called us by his Name W. D. Bristol the 7 th day of the 3 d Month 1673. My dear Brethren Friends are generally in a sweet state with God in this City and where I have passed both to my comfort and yours in the Lord blessed be his Name forever Dear Brother IN the Covenant of Life in Christ our head my Soul salutes thee and simpathizeth with thee in thy exercise in thy Bonds with breathings to the Lord to sweeten all our ways what he calleth us unto with his living Presence to the perfecting of his glory forever Amen Dear George Fox I have been through many Counties in the North Countrey and the comfortable Persence of the Lord did manifest it self in all the Assemblies of his People to all our comfort in him our Head and Life blessed forever All was very peaceable and great Resort to Friends Meetings of all sorts of People and not any opposition but all Meetings parted in peace And it would be too tedious to mention the names of them that minded their Love to thee through all the Counties where I Travelled but generally all the Ancient Friends in Cumberland Northumberland Byshopprick and York-shire Darby-shire Notingham-shire Leicester-shire and in this Town desired to have their dear Love remembred to thee and the deep sence of thy Labour and Travel is fresh upon their Spirits which causeth many Prayers to be poured forth before the Lord if it be his good Will and Pleasure to give thee strength of Body and Liberty to Travel amongst them to their great comfort as in the days of old and years past but in the Will of our God our Souls rests with
to him and I have been very well as to any matter of Sickness until this Sickness came upon me And dear Mother I would have thee remember my love to my dear Sisters Relations and Friends and now I have nothing to do I have nothing to do A Friend answered Nothing Mary but to dye Then she said to her Mother I desire thee to give me a little clear Posset drink then I will see if I can have a little rest and sleep before I dye When the Posset drink came to her she took a little and desired her Mother to give her a little drink to wash her Mouth Then she said to her Mother I have a swelling behind my Ear but I would not have any thing done to it nor to my sore Throat nor Mouth for all will be well enough when I am in my Grave Then she asked what time a day it was it being the latter part of the day her Grand-Father said the Chimes are going Four she said I thought it had been more I will see if I can have a little rest and sleep before I dye And so she lay still and had a sweet rest and sleep and then she awaked without any Complaint and in a quiet peaceable â—rame of Spirit laid down her head in peace when the Clock struck the fifth hour of the 9th day of the 2d Moneth 1680. We whose Names are under-written were Eye and Ear Witnesses of what is before expressed as near as could be taken and does not much vary from what she declared as the Substance though much more sweet and comfortable Expressions past from her but for brevity-sake are willing this only to publish who stood by her when she drew her last Breath William Dewsbury her Grand-Father Mary Sam her Mother Jone Deusbury her Aunt Hannah Whitthead a Friend Dear Friends IN the Light of Christ to wait upon him to renew you in the Spirit of your minds to serve the living God. My dear Friends mind your Calling unto which you are called to wait in the Light to retain God in your Knowledge to feel the work of Regeneration perfected in you that you may truly learn to take up the Cross daily and to feel the heavenly Power manifest it self in the Light to raise you up in the Life that makes self of no Reputation and dryeth up the Tongue of the Egyptian Sea and bringeth all Flesh to true silence in you before the Lord then will not any be hasty to utter words before him but all in true Watchfulness and Prayer wait for the heavenly Inspiration of his holy Spirit to overcome your spirits and to sanctifie you in making you obedient to the Heavenly Government of Christ Jesus in you who will lead you forth of your own thoughts and wills in a humble subjection to his blessed Light Life Thought and Will which will order you in all faithfulness to walk with God in your Families to be good Examples by your good Conversation that so you may set up a Throne in the Consciences of your Children and Servants and all with whom you have to do in having all your words and works seasoned with the good savour of the Spirit of the Lord that he may give you an assurance that the Church of God is in every particular Family and that you are his dwelling-Place amongst the Children of Men then will the Angels of his Presence pitch their Tents about you in the day when this Scripture shall be fulfilled as it is written Pour forth thy Vengeance O Lord upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon all the Families that call not upon thy Name And dear Friends be watchful in Prayer always that you may enjoy the heavenly Life to exercise you in all faithfulness strive to exceed in Humility and Carefulness in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to meet together that he may exercise guide and order you in all Services upon the account of the blessed Truth of our God that in the meek spiritual Life and Love you be subject to serve the Lord and one another in all love and tenderness of Heart in doing unto others as you would have them do unto you then will the Lord take delight in you and make you manifest to be his chosen Jewels and Saviours upon Mount Sion in repairing the Breaches and restoring the Desolate in bringing back again in the Bowels of Love those that have been driven away or turned aside either to the right hand or to the left in the hour of Temptation and daies of Tryal Oh you meek humble minded spirited People of the Almighty God lift up your heads and keep your minds staid upon the Lord to help you to keep your Habitations of Peace within the Gates of Sion where Salvation we have for Walls and Bulwarks whose confidence is in the Lord alone in whom I beseech you live in the endeared Love of Christ Jesus who gave his Life to Redeem us to himself and gave strength to his Redeemed ones to forsake Wife and Children to give up our lives daily in Tumults Stripes Blood-shed with cruel Sufferings both in Prison and when at Liberty for to bring Enemies out of enmity in the Light to be in union with God Oh be intreated to seek the Lord to subject all your minds to this Love of God in Christ Jesus to rule in you then will the desire of my Soul be answered in your restoring and gathering to God as is before written who will then build you up in the unity of the Spirit and bond of Peace which will enable you with Patience and meekness to weary out and overcome whatever is contrary to his pure peaceable and blessed nature the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Through your Brother and Companion in the Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation in the Lord Iesus Christ. W. D. Warwick Goal the the 10 th day of the 12 th Month 1680. A General Epistle to be Read in the Fear of God. In and amongst the Assemblies of his People My Dear Friends IN the Light of the Lord all Watch and Pray that you may receive Power through Faith in the Name of Christ to Reign over your own Thoughts and Wills then will you Delight in taking up the Daily Cross to the Mortifying of the Earthly Members That your Conversations may be as becometh the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which will make you Manifest to the Witness of God in every Conscience that you are the Salt of the Earth that have kept your State and Habitation in God and doth retain the Sweet Savoury Spirit of Life which Seasons all your Words and Works and Ministers Grace to all with whom you have any concern to the Exalting Gods Blessed Truth over all that Watch for Evil which will cause their Eyes to fail and frustrate their Expectations for ever Amen And Deaâ— Friends I beseech you be Faithful upon all Accounts for the Service of the
Blessed Truth of God to meet together in his Holy Fear that you may receive the Holy Inspiration of his Spirit to Exercise you in what Service God is pleased to call you unto whether in Prayer to God or in Exhortation to Build up one another in your most Holy Faith to raise up the Life in all thâ— every one that 's Overcome with the Powerful and Hâ—avenly Motions cast their Mite into Gods Treasury and give him his own Advantage so will you feel the Encrease of his Government in you that are Faithful in the true Measure of Light and Life more and more he will give unto you to the Edifying of one another in love So will you become Epistles written in one anothers Hearts with the Pure Spirit of the Living God which will bind you up in the Unity of the Spirit and Bond of Peace and what Exercise soever is met withal whilst you are in the Mortal Body Pray to the Lord to keep you in the Life of his own Spirit that Patience may have its Perfect work that if you be Smitten on the one Cheek turn the other Cheek to the Smitter also and if you be Reviled Revile not again but in deep Humility and Patience Wait in the Pure Meek and Peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus who was made perfect through Sufferings So are his Dear and Chosen Jewels who bear his Name in Righteousness and have their Eye to the God of their Help and their Confidence in the Lord alone Oh ye Blessed of the Lord be Glad in his Name who will not let any of you Suffer whose Confidence is in him alone any more then he will give Strength to Bear and will Sweeten the Cup of your Tribulation with his Blessed Presence which will cause your Hearts to Rejoyce and Sing in all your Tryals and will give you your Portion forever with the Blessed Assembly that Iohn Spoke of in the seventh of the Revelations a number that no man could number that had passed through the Great Tribulation and washed their Garments and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Holy Templâ— and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them and Feed them and lead them to the Living Fountains of waters where God will wipe away all Tears of Sorrow from their Eyes forever And this is your Portion you dear Children of the living God who in true Love to him have waited upon him in the Light of Christ to be Buried with him in his Spiritual Baptism and made conformable to him in his Sufferings and Death And in the deep sense of your present strait being made Conformable in Measure to our Lord and Saviour you Cry as he did upon the Cross my God my God why hast thou forsaken me when he bore the Sins and Transgressions of his People Even so do you his Dear Children in your Measure passing through the Great Tribulations being made of the Number of the Slain of the Lord. Here is first a passing through the Great Tribulation and to be made of the Number of the Slain of the Lord and being truly Humbled into his Blessed Will in the deep sense of the poverty of Spirit there Wait upon the Lord until he Create you to a lively Hope and give you a Possession of his Blessed Life that is hid with Christ in God and so marry you to himself in his own Righteousness which he gives you for to be your Wedding Garment And now this Love of God constrains you to walk in all Strict Observations that are Required of you to be done but no more to Lean upon them for Life but have now all your Obediences accepted of God through Faith in the Light Life and Name of Christ in whom you now are the Righteousness of God for ever in giving up freely to be guided by his Spirit in Faithfulness to the end Oh you ever blessed and happy People Who doth witness fulfilled in you what is here written Lift up your Heads and rejoyce in the Lord and in the Almighty Power of his Humble Meek and Pure Spirit which makes Self of no Reputation but through your Obedience to Christ Jesus the true Light in whom you come to Witness the Lord to be One and his Name One and you that never had Power to believe in his Name until he gave you Power to believe you are One in the Lord for ever And here is the Joyful and Eternal Unity with the Father in the Son and one with another in the Love of Christ which bought us with his â—lood which the gates of Hell can never Prevail against And all you my Ancient Brethren and Sisters that have Obtained this Blessed Dominion and Everlasting Inheritance I Bless God for you whom I do believe will take care to answer the Desire of my Soul as before-written For the Comfort of the Young and Tender Babes for whose sake I had this Concern upon my Spirit to lay before them the true Passage into the Footsteps where the Tribulated Companions have Travelled that are Married to the Lord of Life and have upon them their Wedding-Garment that they may not come Short that are upon their Travel towards the same Inheritance in Christ the true Light as before exprest And I dearly beseech you whom God hath Sealed up with his holy Spirit to your full assurance of Gods Everlasting Love in Christ Jesus that you Watch over the tender and tribulated ones and in what possible can be done to strengthen their Faith that they may come into the heavenly Unity with the Father in the Son and sit down with all them that have been made Conformable to Christ in his Sufferings and Death that in the heavenly Resurrection blessed and everlasting Peace they may sing Hallelujah and high Praises to the Lord their God over all the wrath that 's in the Children of Men which will come to an end and vanish away like Smoke before you whom the Lord hath called in meekness and Patience to bear his Name in Righteousness in the Sweet Savory Spirit of Jesus Christ over all Blessed forever Amen In which the Lord keep you all with my Soul Faithful unto the end is the Breathings of the Spirit of your Brother and Companion in the Kingdom of Patience and Tribulation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And further I have this to communicate to my Friends and Brethren that what hath come to pass these late Years for want of Watchfulness to be Guided by the Spirit of the Lord Love hath been quenched in many that Offences have entred and Separation followed which hath deeply wounded my Spirit who hath endeavoured to the utmost of my Power in the Love of God to prevent such Proceedings and so have I done in many Years past in preventing Papers ready to be Printed from being Published that were of a tendency to quench the Love of one
by his eternal and pure Wisdom according to the Counsel of his own Will and his Name alone may be honoured in you in his ordering of you who alone is worthy of all Honour Glory and Power and Praise for evermore W. D. THis is the Word of the living God to you his dear Children all be Faithful on your watch in the Light wait to dwell in the Power of the Living dreadful God and in it stand armed against self in all its appeareance that in the mighty Power you may tread upon your own Heads that Christ Jesus may be Head in you all that you in him may reign Kings upon the Earth to trample upon the Earthly Spirit in all its appearances in you and without you I charge you and command you in the Presence of the Living God consult not with Flesh and Blood which draws into disobedience and unbelief and fills you full of hard thoughts of God I charge you lend not an Ear to that wicked Spirit but diligently incline your Ear to the Counsel of Jesus Christ and in him all walk faithfully according to the measure of Light to answer the charge and care that 's laid upon every one in your measure and meet often together in the Name and Power of the Lord to wait in the silence of your Spirits by his mighty Power to Manifest it self in you and watch one over another with a pure single Eye and let no hard thoughts lodge in your Brests one towards another I charge you and command you in the Presence of the living God judge them out with the Light and when you see any draw back be faithful in ministring to the pure in them to raise up â—he Seed to restore them again and then forgive one another your offences which is done one to another as Christ Jesus hath forgiven you and be tender affectioned one towards another and exhort one another in love to the Building up in your most holy Faith that you all may rejoyce together in the eternal unity in that which is pure begotten of God and God Almighty be with you his dear Babes and Children and you in it keep in the unity of the Spirit and bond of Peace where I am with you my dear Hearts saluting you all in the Bowels of eternal Love. W. D This was I moved write the 7 th of the 10 th Month when I was in Wellinâ—gborow in Northamtonshire where the Lords Work is great in gathering his Children together there awayes and in Leastershire and in Buckinghamshire Dear Friends ANd Children of the everlasting God and Father of Light and Life all in his Light wait for his living Power to manifest it self in you to guide you in every thought word and action in obedience to his will that you may all shine forth in the brightness of his Glory in a pure Conversation that so you may every one of you be Lights to the dark World that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Heavenly Father who hath in his tender love plucked you as Brands forth of the Fire and hath looked on you in Mercy and hath counted you worthy to be Witnesses of his great and glorious Name for which sake he hath chosen you unto himself that you might be a People to his praise and glory every one of you in your measures to bear his Name in righteousness this is the Word of the Lord to you all that every one of you be Faithful in your Measure that as you have received Christ Jesus so to walk in him in giving your selves to him that he may guide you by his Power I charge you and command you all in the Presence of the living God to be faithful upon your watch and in the pure Light wait believing in the Name of Jesus Christ to save you from all hard thoughts of God and all unrighteousness and to establish your Souls in righteousness and peace where you will all be united together in the unity of the Spirit and Bond of Peace God Almighty be with you and in his Eternal Power keep you all bold valiant and faithful unto the end that you may all sit down in the eternal rest prepared for you in the Lord Jesus where I am with you all that are faithful forever in the Lord whose Prayers to God is that not any of you draw back to perdition but that you all wait in the Light believing in the Name Christ Jesus to the saving of your Souls And the power of the dreadful God rest upon you all and establish you in his Love and Life that you may rejoyce forever in his Presence and there I am with you in the eternal Unity W. D. Dear Friends BE not troubled at the Lords disposing of us in suffering the Devil to cast us into Prison for with you we are in the Liberty of the Spirit in the eternal unity which cannot be separated I have declared to you of the Lords ordring of us to his Praise and Glory On the 10th day of the 11th Month Iofeph Storr my fellow Prisoner and I was carried forth of the Prison to the Sessions which was holden at Northhamton there was Iohn Parker that did fine my Brother Thomas Aldam and more called Justices who were in great enmity against the Truth But the Wittnesses that had sworn against me as they said for Blasphemy did not appear against me the Lord smit them with terror the lying Spirit durst not appear then they were confounded in that they charged against me And there was many Friends appeared in much boldness for the Truth one Justice Crutt and Iames Nagill who is great in the outward where there dwellings are in Bickering Park in Bedfordshire and one Edward Hackney an Atturney at Kettency in North-hamtonshire there had not been above three Meetings with me yet the enmity of Iohn Parker and these with him required Bonds-men of me to be bound for me for they said I had writ strange Papers to the Lord Protector if I would not find Men to be bound for me I should to Prison again I then required of them to read me a Law I had transgressed but they would not answer but called for Bonds-men I answered there shall not any be bound for us hear is our Bodies do with them what you have power to do they commanded the Jaylor to take us away we were not suffered to speak any more but taken and put into Prison and a Copy of our Mittimus we cannot have but was denyed both of the Jaylor and of the men called Justices when it was demanded of them in the open Court but the wrath of man turns to the Praise of God for the Truth of God was much spread abroad that day and a mighty thirst was raised up in the Hearts of many towards the Name of the Lord Praises forever be to him whose ways are past finding out he takes the wise in their own Craft and overturns them in their