to do were but to exchange and avoid the torture of my body and admit in the room of it a torture upon my soul and spirit They who will adventure to rush upon and run down the counsel comfort and judgement that Conscience sets up and would keep up in them they little think what an hazard they run Paul could stedfastly behold the Council and tell the High-Priest that was President of it that God would smite him as a whited-wall when he had this defence to make I have lived in all good Conscience to this day Acts 23.1 2 3. This makes Councils that persecute slight and despicable torments sweet and easie Though without there be fightings yet inwardly there will be peace whereas if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things To have God and our own Consciences against us at once will not be countervailed by the friendship of this world that any obtain by stretching a good Conscience making shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience I have been sometimes awakned with the dread of that word Jer. 4.11 12. when a threatning is exhibited from the Wilderness and then to have God give sentence also against a People that is dreadful to have God against us our selves against us and many to one but we draw men against us too in such cases this is the worst of torments whereas all is rendred easie when we can say Psal 17.2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence If God be for us Conscience for us who then can be against us who can harm us We may reade in Cain Judas Spira and many others how fearful it hath been to undergo a wound in them A man may sustain his infirmities of other kinds but a wounded Conscience who can bear Object It s true I cannot quiet the clamours of Conscience as I would do but I find I am very ignorant and men tell me This I may do and that I may do very safely and I am bound to think of them better than my self and not to prefer before their judgment the dictates of my weak Conscience Answ It is a very dangerous thing to do any thing against the dictates of an erring Conscience provided thou knowest not at present that it is in this thing erring It is a question among many Whether the dictates of an erring Conscience do bind but sure I am that violence offer'd to an erring Conscience hath a direct tendency to terrifie him that doth any thing with a doubting Conscience He that doubteth is damned if he eat for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 Blessed is the man that condemneth not himself in the things that he alloweth Though thy Conscience may be erronious yet while thou knowest it not to be so it is the best friend thou hast under Heaven Take heed therefore by the force of others or the fear and treachery that is in thy self thou admit any violence done to it lest once stretching it beyond its staple it never do the offices of a good Conscience more to thee to counsel excuse witness toward thy peace more Object But I have seen other men accept of comply with and yield to that which my Conscience makes such a noise about and they good men too and yet they profess they have peace in it and why may not I adventure Answ For my part I durst not judge another mans Servant to his own Master he stands or falls Yet I have sometimes observed men who have adventured in this kind and though they have carried it with an high forehead and put a bold countenance on it yet there are times when one may discern them to have pale faces which may give intimation all is not well within such are under great temptation to keep up their credit till the Lord arrest them with a new Conviction as he did David with a Thou art the man and then they may as he be forced to cry out how long soever he had carried it stoutly All my bones are out of joynt Restore to me the joyes of thy Salvation and take not away thy Holy Spirit from me But suppose their Consciences do not smite them they may have a kind of peace that is but from security not the peace of God not the peace of the answer of a good Conscience by the bloud of sprinkling The Apostle tells us of a Conscience seared with a hot Iron 1 Tim. 4.2 Some sorts of violence done to Conscience are left by the Lord to the Devils curing who heals the smart of divers wounds by searing them but the cure is never the more desireable for all that It s with Conscience as it is with Cloth which sometimes the Fuller strains so much upon the Tenters till he break the very staple of it and then it s neither fire nor water will shrink it whereas being strained but in an ordinary way it would but though it shrink not you may be sure it will have no strength for service Take heed you offer not such force to Conscience lest you find it short of serving you as it should in time of need 3. If I cannot come at the good of Deliverance but I must betray or balk some Truth of God intrusted with me as a part of my Testimony I may not upon any terms touch with that Deliverance Every Truth of Christ committed to the care and custody of a Christian is of more worth and value than all his Comforts and Accommodations under the Sun And he that yields or betrays any Truth thus deposited as a pledge to his trust and care for the procuring any liberty to himself hath too hard a bargain of it You have an express direction Prov. 23.23 Buy the Truth and sell it not We are to buy it whatever it cost but not to barter it whatever it will yield That was a choice Spirit described 2 Cor. 13.8 We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth The Glory of God may be so deeply engaged and imbarqued in one Truth as all my external comforts may not be named in one day with it It hath been an expression very taking with me Isa 43.9 10. God hath his times wherein most eminently he is put upon it to vindicate his Truth the question is brought upon the stage and tryal of the world who must either yield and say It is truth or else must endure the test of God's Evidences who are his Saints Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord or his Son called his Servant whom he hath chosen who in the grand contest with all the powers of darkness hath by witnessing his good confession merited that name Rev. 3.14 The Amen the Faithful and true Witness a resemblance and proportion to him is every Christian required to keep in his being called forth to a witness-bearing to him As God values every Truth of his at an high rate especially in the day that it is to be spoken for
hearts for the inscriptions of the Spirit of the Living God and that the beauty of this Ornament be set in Majesty but doth frequently commend to me that observation which your last ere this some time since was hinting to me of the need we have who design such services to wait for power by the Spirit from on high to be his Witnesses and to expect according to his Promise That showers of the latter rain shall come down to furnish a people to bear his glory in the administrations of his House answering the Institutions of the New Testament although I am no way taken with that dilatory inference wherein some seem to stick as if upon the observation that Bryars and Thorns are come upon God's Houses in the joyous City and are likely to abide there till the Spirit be poured out from on high therefore it were best and our Interest till the manifest taking place of that promised dispensation not to put our hands to such Acts and Ordinances the beautious Majesty of which must needs be acknowledged to be very much wrapt up and concerned in the hoped issues of such a Glory stepping in There being blessed ends to be by us promoted in our present state by our dutiful obedience to every Institution of our King and through infinite Grace and Mercy are there such Gifts and Graces of the Spirit to be found on some as may yield help to sober humble enquirers to get over such stumbling-blocks and contribute toward their preparing in Body and Spirit as an adorned Bride to meet the Bridegroom who loves to find his keeping all his Commandements unrebukable and without spot to his appearing In which attire I earnestly desire your whole man Body and Soul and Spirit may be found ministring a practical convincing Argument by your standing compleatly perfect in the whole Will of God that there is as there indeed is a hidden excellency in fellowship with Jesus Christ in those wayes and appointments of his upon their souls who in Faith and Faithfulness are yielded up to him therein which hath admirable Vertue in it though at present not attended with those mighty Signs and Wonders by Gifts of the Holy Spirit the which were rather for the sakes of them who believed not than for such as through Faith are directed to judge of and close with such things answerable to their tendency by good pleasure to lead into the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ The Reason and Efficacy whereof lies not in any just proportion betwixt the thing commanded and the Mystery proposed to enjoyment no more than there did between washing in Jordan and Naamans clensing the cause of the scornful storming of his proud spirit but in the meer soveraignty of divine good pleasure who gives us a word of Faith to guide and prove our obedience and engage our humble expectation of his own presence who is Lord of Influences to conduct the Heirs of Promise into those secrets of his Pavilion by doors at the threshold of which the Children of this Worlds wisdom stumble either by sensual Formality sticking in the letter of things or by aiery Speculations rejecting the weakness and foolishness of Christ in his Institutions but Wisdom is justified of her Children All here are well love honour and salute you Yours in Soul-service To a Friend who after some Retirement was returning to pursue his Calling in Affairs of this World The Lord be your shade on your Right-Hand My very dear Brother I Perceive you are applying your self to something men call Business in the World and I have comfortable hopes that you have studied ere this hour that lesson Finally Brethren the time is short it remaineth c. For the fashion of this World passeth away Oh my dear Brother my soul is afflicted to observe the over-greedy Engagement of many whom I love and honour for their former eminency plunging themselves into business and there even drowning themselves in ruine and perdition losing the savour of their spirits the intimacy of their Communion with Christ in the Spirit and so grow dry careless prudent fearful omissive what not till there is hardly left so much as the uniform appearance of a soul that hath been the seat of such glorious discoveries and enjoyments as men have readily spoke of formerly It may well be asked of many now as the Apostle Where is the Blessedness ye spoke of Men discourse of their primitive applications of Truth and to it speak much and frequently of blessedness in the things of the Gospel it was blessed Praying and blessed Hearing and blessed Meeting and blessed Meditating because in all these they sought after and partook of blessedness But where is that now There is somewhat of Praying and Preaching c. but where is the blessedness of all these Is it not very much departed and what may be the cause is it not much from hence Men are gone deep into the spirit of the World and are grown carnal of the Earth earthy and savouring of the Earth and thereby losing their Love Zeal Faithfulness Insensibly but very dangerously I hope better things of you and that you both do and will watch your own Spirit and stir up others to take great heed to their spirits that they deal not treacherously Yours 7th 3d month 64. To an ancient Friend giving his Apprehensions concerning the multitude of Professors with some of his Experiences both in Bonds and Sickness Kind and very much respected THe posture of the Lord 's own People even of such who in dayes past with greatest intimacy and endearment went to the House of God in company hath of late years under these stupendous dispensations presented it self to me much after the similitude of a great Fleet of Ships outward-bound who set out of their Port beautifully equipped laden trimmed in consortship and under a very prosperous promising gale all spreading their very Top-gallant sayls to shew their celerity and make the best of their way A very beautiful and pleasant prospect to an eye delighted in such expeditions But having stood but a little way in this course out of sight of the Countrey from whence they set forth a dark night and dismal storm overtaking them they are dispersed all Sea-over a great number being mindful of the Port whence they came think they have a fair opportunity and plausible excuse to return again and draw up with design to adventure such storms no more Others and they not a few being confident and conceited of their own understanding do shape their course to and fro as the wind shifteth are cast upon Rocks and Shoals to the making shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience Many others fearing that course think yet by casting their Wheat and Tackling into the Sea they shall somewhat lighten their Ship and be the better able to weather it out and so dropping Anchors at the wrong end wish for day Few very few prefering the Interest of the
when they saw his anguish was exceeding great and their own was not very small The Interest of words meerly such can be of little signification while the things themselves spoken of are manifestly absent Perhaps we have spoken enough if not too much for our part now God is come to speak his part which requires much quiet attention the rather for that though it be very loud yet very mysterious and deep as are many of the Oracles of God those especially wherein he designs to manifest himself to his and not to the World I could for my own part also lay hold on the like exemption and silent retirement as most befitting my present state and frame altogether entangled and perplexed and presuming that you have at hand to help not only the presence of the great promised Comforter who can supply all your wants but also the secondary supplement of many worthy Ones who have received the Anointing and thereby the Tongue of the Learned to speak words in season From you we have hitherto received the accounts given of the gradual stâ—ps of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own Will in the several gradations wherein we have not been wanting as enabled to pour out our hearts before him who was able to help and are now enquiring why he hath appeared as being angry with the Prayers of his People covering himself with a Cloud that they could not get through If any distinct answer be given you may expect to hear of it In mean time that Isa 57.1 is before us as verified not only in the loose generation of Professors who seem greatly hardened and estranged from the Interest of their chiefest mercies but to true even among those who seem to be most tenderly touched with affectionate sense of present privations and pressures of all kinds right laying to heart and due considerations of such stupendous works of God both in their present weight and future warning is very rare and require extraordinary teaching and conduct that neither on one hand we despise or on the other faint when thus chastised by him Your cry for help hence must be returned with the same importunity ye also helping by Prayer to God for us who though at some personal distance are yet in some sort of Sympathy pressed if not above measure and beyond strength yet to the utmost degrees of what is hitherto received yet wisdom and strength are with him with whom we have to do who hath graciously put himself under promise that as the day is the strength shall be The Lord prepare us for learning harping singing the new song which is the peculiar melody of them redeemed from the Earth which admits of no interruption from Thundrings Earthquakes Tempests Voices though they proceed out of the Throne and are subservient to the Ends of it Yours heartily 4th of the 4th mon. 67. Another on the same occasion Garments of Gladness for the Spirit of Heaviness My dear Sister WHile there is a Spirit in Heaven influencing spiritual Believers upon Earth in their frail capacities that Word will have its verity among them though absent from one another in the body how great soever their distance and how dark soever their circumstances may be yet are they present in the Spirit joyning not only in rejoycing while order and stedfastness in the Faith are manifest but also in affliction and mourning where knowledge is imparted or though but supposed of the hand of the Lord touching and bruising especially in the most tender part and on spiritual occasions such hath been the fellowship of the Spirit through Grace I trust in my soul with you under the very heavy rebuke of the Almighty wherewith you have been exercised especially of late dayes on divers accounts both personal domestick in the Church of Christ where you walk in the whole Sion of God and as in the Nation it self having a right and relation to its welfare or desolations as I also am fully satisfied you have had with me in divers proofs that have been put upon my Faith and Patience as far as they have come to your cognizance and I hope the same Grace will not only teach us to be tender but mutually helpful each to other toward the understanding and complyance more fully with our Father's mind in these stupendous dispensations so as his ends upon us may be actually furthered in the promotion of the power and beauties of Holiness Unto which issues though godly sorrow working Repentance never to be repented of hath a very direct tendency and humbling our selves greatly under the mighty hand of God is the straitest step towards the best exaltation in due time Yet when I read the present temper and its tendency of my own heart and also observe in yours and others late lines upon this heart-breaking occasion to what excess of sadness fear discouragement and even dispondency we are apt to yield the Tempter advantage to triumph over us and hardly recover our selves to a jealous thought that there is any considerable danger in the excess on that hand but that it is a kind of vertue to refuse to be comforted I say in such observations my heart hath bin smitten with reproof and somewhat awakned to stand upon its watch against incursions on that quarter lest Satan should get an advantage on us who should not be ignorant of his enterprizes It 's true we have lost a Prince and great man in Israel this day But who was his Father 1 Sam. 10.12 was it not the Father of Spirits with whom the residue of the Spirit is and who can at his pleasure set a man over the Congregation Know we not where is the Lord God of Elijah is he not in Heaven and can do whatever he pleaseth Is not his Spirit in Promise Are not all the Promises of Christ Yea and Amen Doth not the time of the Promise draw nigh of that grand effusion of the Spirit of Elijah that shall raise the Witnesses revive the Works lift up the Standard break the Yoke have not some sprinklings of the Spirit been found up and down in our dayes and should it not be owned as a token for good and turned to us for a Testimony that the Harvest is not far off Are not these discouraging complainings of ours much of the same kind and go upon the same mistakes and may righteously issue in the same dismissions to us from further service as it was with Elijah in his fainting fit after he had acted in so full a gale of the Spirit just before that now he complains They have killed the Prophets c. and I even I am left alone and my life is sought also What am I better than my Fathers We know the Answer of God to him which I trust is true at this day There is yet a remnant according to the Election of Grace and Seed that shall serve him and shall be accounted with him for a Generation
clear up the sincerity and inward value and excellency of those Virtues or Graces of Christ which are his own and his admirable workmanship in their Souls These pass up and down among men as meer delusions from the Devil and hypocrisie in the professors of them And now it is the interest of the Lord's honour and the vindication of the operation of the Spirit that these be put upon some tryal that may search their very root and bottom discover their foundation to the neck When God speaks of his Workmanship and Image in Job Satan undertakes if he could hâ—ve the stripping him of all his outward accommodations touch all he hath and he would curse him to his face That attempt failing he is confident that if he might have the torturing of him the touching and tearing his bones and his flesh he would curse him to his face and if he durst assert his confidence of his success in such an enterprize to the face of God may we think much of his confident imposing his suggestions on the projects and conclusions of his children He did attempt the green Tree and it s no marvel if he do the Dry. Now while he would bear God if possible and doth bear the World in hand so confidently that he hath instruments of Cruelty that would whip and kick the new-creature in any man to nothing and herein make God a Liar as in the former and an Imposture as in this the Lord delivers the dearly beloved of his Soul into the enemies hand though with sufficient restrictions Take him Torturer try him to the bottom and when all comes to all when he is tryed he shall come forth as Gold Job 23.10 And though till his word of deliverance came to his Josephs the word of the Lord tryes them while their feet are hurt with fetters and they be laid in irons Psal 105.18 19. They pass through fire and water yet he brings them into a wealthy place Psal 66.10 11 12. Men and Devils shall know that the Faith Love Zeal Patience Courage Holiness c. wherewith he hath endowed them have that of Truth Virtue and Worth in them as doth undeniably constitute them more excellent than their neighbours and that an excellent Spirit is found in them so as none of these tortures numbred up Rom. 8.35 to the end is able to separate betwixt them and their love to God and uprightness with and before him 3. Sometimes the Lord doth by these Tortures take occasion to heighten the honour of his own Power Arm and Influence which are day by day administered to bear up his children when it is manifest they have no external props to stay them up but are out of weakness made strong This brings out a more evident acknowledgement That the power of Christ rests upon them 2 Cor. 12.9 God is in them of a truth 1 Cor. 14.25 It s true as long as times and providences hold to keep off pains from the body chains from the legs stripes from the back famine from the belly other props and principles may be presumed to bear one up but when there is no fruit in the Vine no flock in the Field no herd in the Stall none shut up nor left yet then to rejoyce in the Lord to glory in tribulation to accompt it all joy to fall into divers of them and they great ones this is convincing that such are kept and kept up by the mighty Power of God underneath such must needs be everlasting arms What convictions came upon the two great Monarchs by the great support the three Worthies and Daniel ch 3. and ch 6. had from the Lord to yield their bodies to torment The former because they would not joyn with false worship the other because he would not cease practising the true they gave glory to the God of heaven and upon all occasions confess that an excellent Spirit was found in them 4. Sometimes the Lord brings about this end by it he hereby brings forth a more plain and naked discovery of the wickedness that is in the world through lust Many times men come in upon Dominions and the exercise of Power and Authority with most plausible insinuations protestations and declarations of their design and temper as if no other than the disposition of Lambs were in them whereon they raise a name and repute of benefactors Luke 22.25 or merciful Lords and reckon it no small part of their interest and business to raise and maintain in the spirits of people the supposition of some indelible marks of the nature and majesty of a Deity is stamped upon them and sutably to get a reverence of them as most sacred when many times to open and undeceive the minds of poor souls held in such blind devotion the Lord lets them alone and exposes the bodies of his dearest ones to their cruelty that no man may glory in men above what is written but that coming to a plain discovery of men and things in their own evidence as Psal 36.2 the sons of men as well as the children of God may breath after the Lords arising to rule the earth and become the Governor among the Nations Thus we see for high ends and unto glorious advantage some are tortured The Second Enquiry put is Why but some men would be gratified and if God be so honoured why not all tortured A few Reasons may be considered here also 1. There are but some tortured because God is pleased to accompt but some worthy to bear and wear the glory of being thus used for his Name-sake There are some of whom the Lord saith They shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Who are counted worthy to walk in white Why they who are come out of great tribulations and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb Rev. 7.14 Though there be some points of honour of which it may be said this honour have all the Saints Psal 149.9 yet it holds not true in this that we speak of they who had the first stripes for the Name of Christ rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name Acts 5.41 They have marks of distinguishing favour who bear in their body the marks of the Lord Jesus Gal. 6.17 Alwayes carrying about in their body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the Life of Jesus may so much the more be magnified and manifested in their mortal flesh 2 Cor. 4.10 11. 2. All are not tortured because the Lord sees all of his Servants have not power to bear such tryals as all men have not faith so all good men have not the like strong faith though they may have the like precious Faith Their Faith may carry them to Heaven who yet may not have that degree and strength of Faith to carry them through Tortures to heaven not that they who have most have any thing to boast of above others as being better than they the differance
is only in bestowing mercies which are distributed variously even as the Spirit will 1 Cor. 12.11 yet still a proportion of tryal is measured out sutable to their strength 1 Cor. 10.13 for he knows our frames and in measure doth debate with us and as the day is so our strength shall be Deut. 33.25 and even as there are children young men and Fathers in Christ 1 John 2.13 so have these their tryals as they can and that they may be able to bear them 3. All are not tortured because all are not called to be tortured the Lord hath other imployments for some that shall as sufficiently prove their faithfulness and improve their strength as if they had been tortured Some of the Saints may as really honour God in a Meeting as others of them may on a Gibbet every member hath not the same office Rom. 12.4 1 Cor. 12. throughout not the same imployment shall not by the same manner of doing or dying glorifie God John 21.19 God seeks for a man to stand in the gap and make up the hedge Ezek. 22.30 Every man is not looked for in that place of danger it 's good to be where God looks for a man 4. All are not tortured because the Lord will be magnified in distributing the tryals of the body of Christ otherwayes than he did the tryals of their Head its true the tortures that were laid on him were to meet on him alone he was to tread the Wine-press alone and of all the people there was none to help him they that thought they could drink the Cup he was to drink or be baptized with his Baptisme did not understand themselves He looked and there was none to help he wondered there was none to uphold therefore his own Arm brought him help c. But now in the fellowship and similitude of Christs sufferings assigned to the body although there be a compleatness of suffering appointed to the whole of which the Apostle speaks Col. 1.24 and though there be a common spirit of fellowship and simpathy of bearing one anothers burdens through which they are all baptized into one body yet is there distribution made of them into the various parts each member having that assigned him which infinite wisdom sees proper for him so that none may boast against others as if he had no need of them though Paul had laboured and suffered more than all yet he had not suffered all and could not say to the weakest I have no need of thee 5. Lastly All are not tortured because the Lord will roll away the reproach and remove the usual stumbling-block which Satan raiseth up to the turning the weak out of the way of the Lord namely That the enquiring after and profession of Jesus Christ doth indispensibly necessitate and bind over unto all manner of hardships such can never be in reasonable expectation of good day more but must bid adieu to all creature comforts and espouse the quite contrary extremities its true A dying to a denying nay a hating of all our lower comforts is required to be learned in the beginning of their way who will be his Disciples But whether they shall be actually put upon that tryal and really deprived of them is left to be disposed of in the brest and good pleasure of him who knows what part of the wrath of men and suffering of Saints will praise him and the remainder he will restrain the absolute conclusion therefore of stumbling Sinners and discouraging Saints as if their bread would fail and as a Lion he would break all their bones are hence to be expelled as having no just ground to be insisted on as real obstructions to our following the Lord. Tempted Souls are apt to get their spirit quite worn out with a fearful expectation of the most fiery tryals when as it may be the Lord hath appointed no such thing at all for them and in their following on in this way they have met with little or nothing of what they feared A few Practical Inferences here shall close up the Point Vse 1. Is it so that God hath appointed but some to be Tortured not all it then yields some stay against those surprizing amazements that are apt especially in such dayes as these to seize upon the spirits of people who are looking toward Zion with their faces thither-ward most good people are looking upon Penal Laws and Statutes made and making against them if they hold on in such a profession as they have made hitherto of Christ Jesus all must be banished all must be sold as slaves all must be impoverished imprisoned or the like Why then saith a poor creature what shal I do I can never lie in a nasty prison being used to a soft bed fresh air good diet Saith another I shall never endure another clymate to have lash and labour that have been bred up in a Land and State of fulness I can never live if I am forced to such hunger and poverty as the Laws do threaten me Why Soul do not reason thus thou knowest not what supplies of strength the Lord may furnish thee withal if he call thee to such a condition Out of weakness many have been made strong But besides thou shouldst not fret thy self with such an expectation thou knowest not that any part of this shall be thy portion Yes yes will such object I am sure if any man in the town or countrey it will be me such and such have particular enmities to me c. Why yet thou knowest not but the Lord may preserve thee in his way from such rage of men and strife of tongues thou mayst be of them whom God reserves Baruch cryed out Wo is me now for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow c. Jer. 45.3 perhaps of the heavy and dangerous service he was called upon to go where Jeremiah could not ch 36.5 6. he feared ruine and tortures inevitably yet God had wayes to hide him v. 26. and to give and secure him his life for a prey ch 45.5 Moses had many dreadful objections and discouragements against going upon that thankless difficult hazardous message God sent him on Exod. 3.10 What am I vers 11. they will say what is his Name vers 13. They will not believe me nor hearken to my voice ch 4.1 I am not eloquent of a slow speech and of a slow tongue vers 10. Send by whom thou shouldest send v. 13. All springing from fear of the issues of the undertaking and of the miscarriage in it which when it came to be put in practice there was not one of the feared things occurred in his path though some other tryals did Unbelieving fear of these dreadful consequences of following God is very fruitful in forming Lions in the way as if there were no avoiding of them or no restraint designed by that Arm which setteth bounds to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou go and no further there shall thy proud waves be
hitherto saith David 2 Sam. 7.18 It traceth out and owneth the footsteps of divine good-will in every little thing and much more when it sees such salutations Life is a mercy Liberty a mercy exemption from Tortures a great mercy Deliverance out of them a greater mercy Hence the Soul is compassed and compasseth his God about with songs of Deliverance 2. None knows how to improve a Deliverance how to use it when he hath it as a Believer If he have Life on this side Death Liberty on this side Bonds Ease on this side Torment he is taught to acknowledge and reckon he is not his own in it 1 Cor. 6.19 20. but must use it to the glorifying God in soul and body which are his None is under such obligations none hath such objects and opportunities to make an high improvement of them as he hath who by believing looks into them others bestow them on their lusts 3. None as he knows what account he must give to God for such Deliverances as he must reckon for every idle word and all the deeds done in the body so he must yield an account of all his receipts whatever they be and therefore must so receive and improve as one that must be judged by the Law of Liberty and hence durst not say of any Mercy as they Our tongues are our own who is Lord over them Psa 12.4 On these accompts and others that might be mentioned the Believer hath reason to know deliverance the worth that is in it and his duty about it more than any other Now as none can deal with deliverance as they so is it a very high duty incumbent on such to receive deliverance at the hand of God then to accept deliverance is his duty and to give it such acceptance and entertainment in Truth as he expressed in Complement and in a strain of Oratory Rhetorick Acts 24.2 3. the terms only changed the Believer may thus express himself to the Lord Seeing I enjoy great quietness great deliverance great preservation and that very worthy deeds are done to such a worm as I by thy Providence I accept it alwayes and in all places my dear Father with all thankfulness None do and can give it such acceptable entertainment as the Believer of whom we treat The matter therefore thus stated and considered he doth not he durst not refuse such deliverance For if he should not thus receive it 1. He were in this refusal a meer destroyer of himself a thing abhorrent to godliness he were I say accessary of the violence done upon himself Saul is as guilty of his own death if his Armour-bearer thrust him through as when he falls upon his own Sword If Life Liberty or any Mercy may be had in God's way the refusal of it is the destroying our selves so far as that Mercy extends Though we are required to hate Father and Mother and our own Lives in a sence yet it is far from the intendment of the Spirit we should carelesly run them upon hazard no such know their bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit and they ought to use them well for his sake who dwells in them He that abuseth the Temple of God him will God destroy 2. Such a refusal of Deliverance when it may be had in the Lord's way is a manifestation and an act of the highest ingratitude and unthankfulness to the Lord that can be thought on To scorn or set at nought his favours is very much beneath the ingenuity of a Believer who ought to imbrace all occasions to shew forth the high praises of the Lord which are due unto his Name Blessed are such as dwell in the Lord's House they have frequent such occasion to be praising him and it is comely for the upright 3. Should he not accept Deliverance when it may be had in the Lord's way it would be found an act of high violence and injustice towards others who may be involved and concerned equally with themselves Some have Wives and Children or other Relations in the flesh now as if he provide not for his own and especially for them of his own houshold he were worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 So if he draw them into sufferings from whence he might have deliverence in a way honourable and acceptable to the Lord he is accessary of their misery their wrong will be upon him More of this kind might be spoken but I fear too much of it is ready to be alledged on the common principle which is fruitful in such kind of reasonings Save thy self spare thy self this harm shall not come unto thee as Mat. 17.22 I shall only draw this Consideration into sutable Improvement in a few Inferences 1. If this be so then may we take up this Instruction That Godliness and the profession of it doth not inevitably run and necessitate a Christian upon the hazard and loss of every thing he hath or induce him to cast away all Though it doth indeed require him to prepare his stuff for removing to stand crucified in his affections unto them and ready to make surrender of them whenever the Lord needs them as was said of the Colt or is pleased to call for them yet it also directs to an excellent way of receiving enjoying and using them buying as if he bought not having and using all these as not abusing them 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. Do not therefore take up hard thoughts of Godliness because of the Doctrine of Self-denyal the Cross at entrance or the Tryals and Tribulations that are appointed to attend the Professors of it 2. Hence it will also follow That false and wrong Principles are not to be accompted good because persons do upon them run all they have upon ruine As there is a kind of respect and pity kindled in tender and ingenious hearts toward a people who suffer under the profession of principles that have an appearance of Holiness in them So doth a kind of stedfastness to those principles and resolution to run all things to ruine on them very much tend to raise admiration and applause to such a people and their profession whereas on the contrary I desire you to take this as a standing Rule ☞ That the goodness of a Principle is not to be tryed and determined by the resolution of the Sufferer but the resolution of the Sufferer by the goodness of his Principle Good-men may be very weak under good Principles and Bad-men may be very heady and resolute under bad principles and this well considered would lead off our eyes from gazing on and having mens persons in admiration upon one hand when we see them stand or being apt to judge them and their cause if we see them insident in hours of temptation to shake and totter I confess its very beautiful and desireable to see stedfastness of Soul as the off-spring of Truth fixed there in Gospel-evidence and the contrary hereunto hath given not a little advantage and
Jabesh-Gilead for the Funeral-love they had shewed to one who had been the Lords Anointed 2 Sam. 2.5 6. Blessed be ye of the Lord that you have shewed this kindness to your Lord even unto Saul and have buried him and now the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you and I also will requite your kindness because ye have done this thing The blessing he gives them shews his acceptance to the uttermost the occasion thus There was a day when the men of Jabesh-Gilead were in unspeakable distress by means of the hard terms offered them by Nahash the Ammonite 1 Sam. 11. 1 2. they could have their peace upon no other terms than by espousing an irreparable mark of reproach and infamy on themselves and all Israel and in this nick of extremity Saul puts his life in his hand and rescues them seasonably and wrought a very great deliverance This kindness of Saul to them they were never in a capacity to requite till the day that the body of their Lord and instrumental Saviour was hanged on the Wall of a Garison of the Philistines as a mark of like reproach and ignominy on the whole Interest of God In such a day of death and danger when the body of their Lord and his dear Children is hung a stinking in the face of the Sun now is a time to prove and improve the kindness and ingenuity of their spirits toward their Lord and Israel by putting their lives in their hands and doing what they could to fetch him off from and give a check to that reproach of the enemies of the Lord on his Name and Interest They attempt it they succeed and bring off these dead bodies and mark it they came to Jabesh and burnt them there and took their bones and buried them and fasted seven dayes 1 Sam. 31.11 12 13. They not only buried but burnt them there which was the manner of Royal Funerals compare it with 2 Chron. 16.14 They laid Asa in a bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kind of spices prepared by the Apothecaries art and they made a very great burning for him See Jer. 34.5 With the burnings of thy Fathers the former Kings which were before thee so shall they burn odours for thee This perfumed Royal Funeral you see hath acceptance and recompence with David And shall Jesus Christ who laid down his life to take away the curse and reproach from us and hath set us free from wrath to come which we can never requite now call for a proof of our kindness and thankfulness by doing what we can to rescue the honour of his Name and Interest that is now exposed to contempt and to bestow a more perfuming funeral on it and lamentation over it than without danger we durst do and shall we stand upon the hazard and cost of it and in so doing shall not we lose the blessing of David The Lord shew kindness and truth unto you Nay shall not the men of Jabesh-Gilead rise up in judgement who did what they could to cover the shame and recover the honour of a wicked Prince who fell for his iniquity as if he had never been anointed and shall we refuse or come short of perfuming this service to the King of Glory who is put to an open shame in his Name and People God forbid This honourable act will find acceptable resentment and recompence from Christ as that did from David and as kindness to the dead hath alwayes done on ingenious spirits Ruth 1.8 2.20 Blessed be he of the Lord who hath not left off his kindness to the living and the dead But let us see how Christ doth manifest this his acceptance of such attempts 1. Christ is ready to shew forth his acceptance of this kindness by his being so willingly ingaged to plead the cause and vindicate the innocency and integrity of such a People as do what they can for him many are the ill instructions at home and the ignominies abroad that will be raised upon such an account But of this we may have assurance he stands ingaged to make good that word 1 Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed As Christ stood not upon his own vindication when his Father's honour was in his eye but he committed his cause to him who effectually hath brought it about So should not we stand upon our own vindication when the Name of Christ lies at the stake See Psal 35.5 6. Commit thy way to the Lord c. And he shall bring forth thy Righteousness as the light and thy Judgement as the noon-day We see how effectual he doth it in the Text concerning this poor Woman in all her ignominies and hard speeches that she met withal and no less will he shew it at this day to be the high title of his honour Thus saith thy Lord the Lord and thy God who pleadeth the cause of his people Isa 51.22 He will thorowly plead their cause Jer. 50.34 and execute Judgement for them bring them forth to the light and their eyes shall behold thy Righteousness Micah 7.9 Marvellous have been the Lord's wayes and methods of asserting the integrity of his people from the midst of the clouds of ignominy 2. Christ sheweth his acceptance by ordering the issues of all the provision that a people makes for his Name and Glory that it proves the directest provision they can possible make for themselves and their best interest The liberal man deviseth liberal things and by liberal things shall he stand Isa 32.8 That course which the generality of people conclude according to rules of Providence is the way to ruine them proves the most effectual means to establish them of this Psal 112. gives a full testimony The good man is there brought in gracious full of compassion shewing favour and lending dispersing giving to the Poor and yet in all respects making the fullest provision for his own best blessedness in so doing That of Christ is the Paradox to prudent Professors in perilous times which they can by no means resolve He that will save his life shall lose it and he that will lose his life shall save it How evidently is this made good in the good Name of persons Men have generally reasoned that to cleave to such a Profession or Testimony or People hath been the high-way to be disgraced for ever whereas the Lord hath manifestly built up the Houses of such as it s said of the Midwives Houses in Egypt We reade in the first and last verses save one of Heb. 11. concerning the Worthies That by Faith they obtained a good report though they received not the Promise It was matter of reproach to them that they should imbrace and cleave to certain Promises from generation to generation owning them as their Interest which yet brought not forth in their day the great things they testified of and professed that as Pilgrimes and Strangers they
continue not in such a state and carry such corruption about you as will render you utterly incapable of doing any other than raising a stench on the things of Christ. Whatever you have to do about them the purity of this Confection is such as the least evil owned and allowed will diffuse its malignity through it to the vitiating the whole and rendring it of none effect A little such leaven will sowre the whole lump Dead Flyes cause the Oyntment of the Apothecary to stink so doth a little folly c. This is notably illustrated in the case put Hagg. 2.11 14. where is shewed that there is much more force and malignity in a little evil to corrupt much good then there is in much Religious Service of such a People to leave an impression of goodness on things otherwise void of it Look to it that you be very clean who bear the vessels of the Lord in this Service lest you defile this undertaking for the Lord clean hands and a pure heart are indispensibly requisites in this affair Caution 2. Take heed according to what Rules Instructions or Dispensatory you compound this Imbalm I hinted before how exactly careful God was in the Composition both of the Oyl and Pouder that were to perfume his Tabernacle Exod. 30.23 c. No less is he jealous of the present things under consideration Take we heed therefore of false Rules and Principles as namely 1. Take heed how you admit of humane Wisdom and Prudence the consultings of flesh and blood to dictate and give rules in these matters It is very fruitful in multiplying inventions evasions expedients distinctions which indeed have a shew of Wisdom but its frequent that the Serpents subtilty is foisted in in the place of the simplicity of Christ to call any man Master in this matter is very dangerous 2. Take heed you mistake not by seeking the Cheapest instead of the Chiefest way of this Perfuming It 's indeed our wisdom and understanding to set down afore-hand and cast the cost Luke 14.28 31 c. lest having begun you be not able to finish but then it must be brought to this issue vers 33. Whosoever he be that forsaketh not all that ever he hath he cannot be my Disciple Nothing less than all one hath even his whole Living every thing on this side Heaven must be made up in the account if the Lord hath need of it to be laid out on it Caution 3. Admit not Custome common Fame nor common Fear to be your Counsellours These and the like Cautions must be persued But I had rather Conclude with a few Counsels 1. If you do any thing excellent for Christ do it early So did this good Woman both in the Text and at the Sepulchre Many stay their hands from works of this kind till they see what others who are accounted more eminent will do they think it imprudent and to savour of rashness and singularity to be presidential and exemplary but this will one day be found the excellency of Christian activity in works of this nature That they tarry not for men nor wait for the sons of men Micha 5.7 We may in this case allude to that passage 2 Sam. 19.12 Ye are my Brethren ye are my Bone and my Flesh wherefore are ye then the last to bring back the King Many are so late and lingring in works that concern Christ's Glory of this kind putting it off from one time to another till their spirits sink to the work and the things themselves as was said of Lazarus stink in their nostrils 2dly Consider the Royal Extract Descent and Original of this Cause and Interest the Imbalming of which with these sweet Odours you are exhorted to It 's the off-spring of a King of a great King The Wise men were liberal in presenting him with Frankincense and Myrrhe whom they understood to be King of the Jewes though laid in a manger Mat. 2.11 And Jehu had so much generosity when he had done the judgements of God upon Jezebel as to give order 2 Kings 9.34 Go see now this cursed Woman and bury her for she is a Kings Daughter Shall a cursed Woman have a becoming burial because she is a Kings Daughter and shall not the blessed Cause of the King of Kings be better respected though it be thrown to dogs and be meat for them it deserves better for his sake to whom it stands related in Royal Progeny He that as was said was judged by the Wise men of the East worthy of a present of Frankincense Gold and Myrrhe at his birth being born King of the Jewes and of a costly bed of Spices by honourable counsel at his funeral being Crucified as King of the Jewes deserves upon the same account an honourable treatment when any of his things come under clouds and suspition by the men of the times Some Kings indeed were so evil as debarred them from Royal Funerals Jer. 22.18 19. 2 Chron. 21.19 20. But Christ deserves better usuage If you would have your hearts ingaged to this honourable work lay to heart the merit of it at your hands 'T is both nearly related to you and hath done unspeakable worthy things for you while it was in its flourishing capacity and condition It 's very near and natural to you that are Saints as David said Ye are my Brethren ye are my bones and my flesh It is the very Womb wherein we were warmed and broughâ— forth in that state of Saint-ship under the profession whereof we stand Of Sion it shall be said This and that man was born in her Reciprocations of love to such Relations and of endeavours if it were possible to requite them 1 Tim. 5.4 would engage to do our utmost at their Funeral as Joseph imbalmed his Father who tendered him dearly and lamented his supposed death exceedingly Gen. 37.34 35. So would a Mothers Grave because a Mothers be extraordinarily bewayled Psal 35.14 Many that bury an only Child or first-born will spare no cost about it This say they is all the Portion I have to pay it What was said of the men of Jabesh might here be repeated they thought they could do no less to the remembrance of a Father in Israel who had done so well for them or the Exhortations to the Daughters of Israel to weep over him who clothed them in Scarlet with other delights who put on Ornaments of Gold â—pon theiâ— Apparel 1 Sam. 1.24 much more in a â—piriâ—ual sense hath this Interest of Christ deserved at your hands Oh! be not ungrateful at suâ—â— an opportunity as this you may never have the like â—o express yoâ—r ingenuity if you elapse this 4thly Press afâ—er larger participations of a Royal Spirit if you would do any excellent thing at this Funeral Where there are any sparks of true Nobility they will vent themselves this way whereas spirits of a base and sordid complexion will shrink in such a time of cost and hazard as this
gives Power to the faint and our strength is in the Name of the Lord that made Heaven and Earth who doth and will do much by Babes wherefore say not I am a Babe a Child c. but rather say Here am I send me that God who was Jacob's God who fed and led him all his life long he hath been and is the God of the Seed of Jacob to this day that hath led us thus far also through a vast howling Wilderness and sustained us and not suffered us to deny his Name Oh this God is our God let him be our guide even unto death The Fathers that were before us alas what were they and the Prophets do they live for ever no they were weak as we and died as must we but when the Lord had work for them to do he gave Anointing for it and then they could say they were full of Might and Power by the Spirit of the Lord to shew Israel their transgression and the House of Jacob their sin So we through Christ can do all things he strengthning us Look then to the Lord that gave the former rain and will give the latter also in its season according to his Power And my dear Brother Be not discouraged your work seems cutting short also day by day by many things though what you may live to see or suffer I know not neither do I know how meet it may be to mind you of a motion I made to you about two years since on the like occasion about remembring the poor Flock I have travelled and laboured amongst if God cast your lot in these parts but hoping you will mind what may be your Duty in this matter I shall say no more but the Will of the Lord be done be of good courage and God shall strengthen your hearts His Sister was troubled seeing him so weak which occasioned him to say Oh! be ashamed Sister of such a demeanor cannot you let a poor Believer go to Heaven Oh! did you but stand on the threshold and see what preparations God hath made for such a poor worm as I am you would never be afraid of Death more Oh! honour Christ much I think he is coming near to honour me though I know not yet that my Sentence is come out from him yet I speak not as if I had hankering thoughts to stay Oh! when shall I see the day We shall sing at parting and not mourn as now blessed be God for ever that he hath not let the Righteous to be ashamed nor Wicked men to triumph over them for my sake Ah! did they know what God hath pardoned in me they might be apt to triumph more than now they can If there seems any importunity from any Friends for any thing to be mentioned of me when I am gone speak moderately of me I beseech you but if any thing hath been seen in me worth learning let it be offered with much humility or rather I think let my Works praise me in the Gate but I limit not His Sister asked Will you drink Yea Sister saith he Have you any of the best spiced Wine He then grew faint and could speak no more at that time Afterwards being asked how he did He said All his bones were as it were out of joynt And added God hath reserved this Proof of my Ministry viz. in much painfulness until these few years last past having been little acquainted with Sickness before He then asked If it were day A Friend answered The night was far spent the day was at hand even a morning without clouds to which you seem hastening To which he replied Yes as a very clear shining after rain Being asked a while after How he did He with his eyes lifted up answered Nevertheless I am still with him he holds my soul in life will guide me by his Counsel and afterward receive me up to Glory A Friend that dwelt upon the place coming to him and speaking Religiously He replied There was much talk of Religion in the World but few had attained to acquaintance with the powerful inward part of it and then minded that much of the power of Religion indeed was comprehended in that word Phil. 1.21 For me to live is Christ not only to live on or to Christ but to live Christ in all we speak or act is a high work Lord let my soul saith he into the sight and joy of it yet more and more The same person enquiring of him How it was with him in this hour He said Blessed be God he hath washed away my sins and spoke peace to my soul and thereby obliged me to follow him while I live and much more to go to him when I die Then said O Father shall I not now go hence but return into a world of so many snares and dangers again And further tells the Person aforesaid That he was very sensible of great respects received from her and her Relation And said For a full recompence to you all I desire when ever you come to such an hour as I am now approaching to you may meet with the same Comforts that through Grace I now find A Brother coming from far a day or two after to visit him being brought in suddenly upon him seemed a little displeased saying His Spirit was not now able to bear any sudden thing without over-setting That Brother asking him how he did He answered Never better in my life But adds Think it not to be passion or words of distraction for though I am very weak in body yet God is very near to me He also then said to a Friend sitting by on the occasion of turning in his bed by reason of weariness Ah! this is not our rest it is polluted but there remains a rest to the People of the Lord and his rest shall be glorious After this he had a day or two that seemed to be hopeful to his Recovery in which season little was said to him or by him being desirous to let his spirits rest from exercise in order thereunto if so were the Will of the Lord. But his Pains returning and a Friend asking how he did He answered It had been a night of exercise to him inward and outward To which it was answered That exercises were appointed by the Lord both for body and spirit but how are you sustained under them To which he answered I am graciously born up still and kept in peace under all Being asked if he had yet any hint how the Lord might do with him as to this dispensation he was now under as to life or death He replied He had nothing in that matter he could call divine teaching but by laying all circumstances within his view in the present case together he thought he must go hence at which poor flesh was ready to shrink and murmur It was answered That must and would do so while in its present being it naturally seeking self-preservation and avoyding and shrinking at
mixtures of this kind which are apt to steal in insensibly upon spirits influenced either with the Fear or Love of Creatures in this staggering and back-sliding hour of temptation wherein men's politick and prudential contrivances to preserve themselves from danger hath abundantly weakned and wasted the Courage if not the Conscience of Testifying Duty It 's of no small advantage I find by blessed experience to be giving daily diligence in observation how nearly and firmly the great Concerns of the Lord's Glory in his Works and Wayes are related to the Lord Jesus in his raised and exalted capacity and how directly the weight of them all rests upon his shoulders who is mighty to bear and with what infinite wisdom and according to what an exact platform of eternal counsel all these seeming Meanders and Laborynths of exteriour transactions are managed according to the integrity of his heart and the skilfulness of his hand who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working In the Faith and Hope of this the Soul of a Beleever hath gracious invitations and engagement to return to its rest knowing that in quietness and confidence is its strength and are as the secrets of a Presence-Chamber for it till these calamities be over-past and though it look on but cannot interpret signs in Heaven and on the Earth perplexity distress of Nations the Sea and Waves roaring through approaching woe to the Inhabiters of the Earth and of the Sea yet it can acquiesce in the infallible knowledge of that Interpreter one among a thousand who is concerned in all these things engaged by Covenant and resolved in absolute Will to bring about in the best time and way the Ends of his Glory and its blessedness in a most sweet harmony and conjunction This saying to the righteous It shall go well with them and commanding their fluctuating tempestuous souls into a calm is yet very far from inducing them to that carnal security and idleness wherein tyred Professors are apt to wrap and bless themselves concluding we must leave publick things to Providence and retire into a closset-converse with our selves and the Lord things good in themselves but usually abused into the generating of a private selvish narrow frame of Spirit unfit to serve God in our generation by Converting Sinners Edifying Saints or saving themselves from an untoward and adulterous generation by a faithful testimony That the contrary hereunto may be your blessed lot namely largness of Heart like the Sand on the Sea-shore accompanied with cleanness of hand and a Spirit clensed by the Blood and set free by the Spirit of the Gospel is the earnest desire for you of him who is Yours assuredly These Parts yield little only fresh gazing on a new Blazing-Star in the East and divers talks of the beautiful Star in the West few think of the Star of Jacob that bright Morning-Star they who overcome shall have him as a certain fore-runner and prognostick of a Morning without Clouds they must be up early who look to be visited with the comfortable beams of it Even so Amen 1st of the 2d month 65. Another to the like effect Supplies of every good thing from the Shepherd and Stone of Israel Dear Heart IT is in my desire for you that you may obtain the favour of a marked Mourner securing you from approaching Plagues and reserving you for expected Salvation among the Palm-bearing throng who only are competent to learn the new song as one of the One hundred forty four thousand that are redeemed from the Earth And though you are fed with the Bread of Affliction and Waters of Adversity and that also by measure and stealth yet you may not want the satisfactory sight and hearing of a Teacher that may guide you into all Truth as it is in Jesus keeping you upright in this staggering day when so many reel to the right hand and to the left I confess sometimes I have hopeful expectations of seeing some such effect as this oâ— all these slidings some of them of understanding sâ—all fall to try them and to purge and make them white even to the time of the end but yet It is a fearful thing thus to fall into the hands of the Living God My lye that promotes his Glory makes me no whit less a sinner or my doing evil that good may come thereby I think I was hinting to you last time the Caution the Lord hath ministred to me by Prov. 25.26 A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring detrimental and infectious to all that have any thing to do with him The accompt that you give of the Wall of the Daughter of Sion much-like his Neh. 2.13 which was once such an inviting prospect Psal 48.12 13. would engage to that Out-cry Lam. 2.18 19. but that there is hope in her end That her Children shall return though now they are not her dead men shall live together this dead body shall arise A review therefore of her from the munition of Rocks sutable to that Landschip Isa 33.20 c. is becoming the Children of the King but especially hath it been of use to me to feed upon that discovery made of the temper of his heart who is principally interested and concerned in all these mutations He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set Judgment in the Earth Isa 42.4 The youths shall faint and grow weary and young-men utterly fail they who stand upon their youthful vigour and greenness may and shall give way but he who hath such engagements with him and for him as vers 5 6. he waits without weariness and expects without impatience till his enemies be made his footstool A fellowship through faith in in his Spirit will furnish to a similitude in his patience to a being armed with the same mind that was in him Rests Yours dearly To a Friend upon the death of a Zealous Faithful and therefore Persecuted Servant of the Lord. Where is the Lord God of Elijah My true Friend IT comes to my lot to take you now by the hand though you may justly and earnestly challenge and expect it from a righter and more instructed heart and hand who being under deep pressures and considering there is a time to be silent especially when put to shame as well as a time to speak is not easily drawn forth to any thing of this nature till he can recover a little strength waited for to comfort others with the same comforts wherewith himself hath been when he hath been comforted himself of the Lord dreading especially under such a dispensation to utter any thing rashly knows that to speak his troubles will add little to the allaying of yours and that as Vinegar upon Nitre will be the singing songs to an heavy heart his own or others wisheth therefore his present silence may have no worse interpretation than the seven dayes silence of Job's Friends who answered him not a word
had not trod with our feet in dayes past Yet hitherto hath his bountiful Provision and tender Care over us exalted it self in a distinguishing manner and many times to our admiration so as hitherto our Bread hath not failed but hath been given to us in due season and our Waters have been sure so that knowing how little we are yet fitted to bear as a Father pittieth his Children in their low estate he hath not proved us with hunger or with straights nor called us up to approve our selves his Witnesses in necessities in distresses c. but our lot hath rather been to partake of the fat and sweet and soft insomuch as if he put that Question to us to be resolved according to that express literal sense of it When I sent you forth on the Services and Sufferings that attend your Testimony and you knew not whither you went Lacked you anything We must answer Nothing Lord but in that respect have in hand or we trust in some degree of sweet satisfaction we have all and abound and are full by the favour of him who giveth us all things richly to enjoy and is we would humbly hope teaching us in whatsoever state we are therewith to be content So that at many of the strange preventions of loving-kindness even in things of this sort we are often made with admiration to cry out What is this to us Lord Is this after the manner of men O God! Is this a Prison If we should have sought a Prison in a Prison these six or seven years Have we yet found it Whatever others in the same fellowship of bonds with us have found we must say for our parts That as we have escaped the Sword and we hope the Polutions of the Adversary so we have found great Grace in the Wilderness for his People his Chosen The which we mention not only that we may praise the Lord together while ye observe that we receive not nor accept not so thankfully your Present in respect of need through that unspeakable gift and care of his who hath hitherto continued the Bread of the day in its day but that herewithal we might take hold of an apt occasion to take you by the hand and lead you with a little the more encouragement up and down in those wayes of the Lord wherein we must sing Great hath been the goodness of our God even in the experiences that we have passed practically through in the Doctrine and Profession whereof we had been trained up in our years of plenty and prosperity so that we must say The Land that we have been sent to spy out even in the straitest passages of it as far as our Father assigned us to follow him in is a very good Land and if we rebel not against the Lord but abide with him those very circumstances that at a distance seem like sons of Anak and walls reaching up to Heaven apt to eat up the Inhabitants are well able to be overcome and will be found Bread for us while we stand and feed in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the Name of the Lord our God so that these Serpents at a distance from which we are apt to flee are found to believing but a rod and that a rod of God too when taken in the hand And could we come forth to you in Truth and Evidence as wise and right improvers of the sensible experiments we have actually found tasted seen and handled hitherto of this sort and that the savour of these excellent things had not been diminished in these souls of ours through too much an in observent careless earthly disposition bringing us down from our advantages of excellency we might speak more loudly to you than now we can Oh! taste and see that the Lord is good blessed are they that put their trust in him The Lions among whom we dwell do want and suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord lack nothing that is good In the midst of their sufficiency they are in straits while in the straits designed to wear out the people of the Saints of the most high there is a provision made of sufficiency be ye therefore strong and very strong and very couragious and God shall strengthen your hearts And now for a thankful acknowledgement though it may not be interpreted as any requital of your holy liberality What shall we farther say than that we do as we are able bring the matter in our requests and thanksgivings unto him who is able to make all Grace abound toward you All-sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness which causeth in us thanksgivings unto God And this we beg on your behalf not as if we desired a gift or that it should be so again done to us knowing that there are many watery faces everywhere requiring Bread to be cast upon them as under far greater necessity than our selves But as hâ—ving perswasion and some small experience what a great recompence it is in such case to have the mouth and hand opened from the hearts being enlarged with those expatiating Graces and Vertues of the Spirit of the New Testament that constitute a true largeness of heart like the Sand on the Sea-shore and to encrease that greatness that is proportionate to the large discoveries of believing doing suffering-Grace and Preparations for expected Glory In order to it we desire for you all and intreat you to press and pursue after 1 Greater advances toward newness of heart the old heart will be as old bottles and an old garment that will not comport with the new Wine which is yet in the Cluster and a blessing in it though men attempt to destroy it And this is not only a newness of state but a newness also of frame by means whereof the inner-man may pass under experimental renewings day by day even the renewings in the Spirit of your minds by which the Truths Wayes and Works of the Lord the King may have an intimate access and abundant enterance into your own souls and you into them in their vertue dominion and power 2 Greater approaches in a way of heavenliness and nearness to the Lord at distance from the spirit of this evil World where the World is set in the heart the God of this World will be quickly filling it narrowing and enclosing it for earthly service and this not only in men of Earth who have their portion in this life but also in those that are by the Blood of Christ delivered from the gross pollutions of this prâ—sent evil World through lust but yet much concerned in the business cares and intricating-affairs of its many things which though lawful in themselves to be diligently prosecuted yet as lying under the influence and advantages of the Prince of it having a notable tendency to bring souls down from their excellency and to eat out insensibly the liveliness and sweetness of our spirits longer and further than the Victory that overcomes it in the vertue of the Cross of Christ by which we are crucified to it and it to us be kept up on fresh exercise 3 Right waitings for and waitings on the Spirit of Promise who is of power to quicken dry bones raise dead Witnesses and do great things in and for us which shall not be resisted nor need not be assisted with might and power though for a time the work about it may be made to cease with force and power We shall say no more at present but with the representation of our oblieged respects to every one of you as if known by Name leaving you in the blessed arms of our Beloved we remain 22th of the 9th mon. 67. Your Brethren waiting for the Consolation of Israel POST-SCRIPT IF any inquire what might occasion so much severity as to detain the Author so many years and until death a Prisoner It may suffice to insert here for the Readers satisfaction That in the state of his case left under his hand setting forth the illegality and unrighteousness of proceedings against him He concludes it thus If it should be suggested Perhaps he is a Ring-leader This true Character of the Person may alleviate jealousies of that kind He was born at Plymouth of mean yet honest Parentage is not by Kindred or any Alliance related to any Person or Family of any Note at all was not bred up to Learning at any University or sent any where to Travel for Education or Experience but contrariwise brought up and kept diligently by his Parents to Work in the poor yet honest Trade of a FVLLER never lived out of that Town a Month together all his life except in a Journey some Weeks on occasion about sixteen years since to London besides what he under-went by constraint in Prison Never in the former Wars was enlisted in any Troop or Company under Pay and in the Trained-Bands of the Town where he served never was accounted worthy of Promotion to so much as a Corporal nor in the Corporation whereof he was a Member ever advanced so high as a Constable never bettered his Estate one farthing by all the propitious advantages that might have given him opportunity for so doing nor is conscious to himself of the least desire of adding to what he hath by any present or future advantages that any favourable overtures of the times may tempt him with never was advanced to or improved in any Place or Office of Trust or Profit Civil Military or Ecclesiastical save only for some few weeks unknown to him and against his will he was Mustered a Chaplain to the Fort but quickly got himself discharged of that again Never was concerned in nor truly charged with any Plot Mutiny or Tumult giving the least disturbance or occasion of Fear or Jealousie This one thing then only can remain to give colour to such proceedings That about eighteen years since he being convinced of his Duty to the Lord by evidence of Scriptural Light joyned himself in an holy Covenant to walk in all the Ordinances of the Lord blameless to the best of his Light and Power in fellowship with a poor and despised People FINIS