_Containing five several exhortations_: _first_, _general_, _reminding
this people of their primitive integrity and simplicity_. _Secondly_,
_in particular_, _to the ministry_. _Thirdly_, _to the young convinced_.
_Fourthly_, _to the children of Friends_. _Fifthly_, _to those that are
yet strangers to this people and way_, _to whom this book_, _and that
which it was preface to_, _in its former edition_, _may come_. _All the
several exhortations accommodated to their several states and
conditions_: _that all may answer the end of God's glory_, _and their own
salvation_.
And now, Friends, you that profess to walk in the way that this blessed
man was sent of God to turn us into, suffer, I beseech you, the word of
exhortation, as well fathers as children, and elders as young men. The
glory of this day, and foundation of the hope that has not made us
ashamed since we were a people, you know, is that blessed principle of
light and life of Christ which we profess, and direct all people to, as
the great and divine instrument and agent of man's conversion to God. It
was by this that we were first touched, and effectually enlightened, as
to our inward state; which put us upon the consideration of our latter
end, causing us to set the Lord before our eyes, and to number our days,
that we might apply our hearts to wisdom. In that day we judged not
after the sight of the eye, or after the hearing of the ear; but
according to the light and sense this blessed principle gave us, so we
judged and acted, in reference to things and persons, ourselves and
others; yea, towards God our Maker. For being quickened by it in our
inward man, we could easily discern the difference of things, and feel
what was right and what was wrong, and what was fit, and what not, both
in reference to religion and civil concerns. That being the ground of
the fellowship of all saints, it was in that our fellowship stood. In
this we desired to have a sense of one another, acted towards one
another, and all men; in love, faithfulness, and fear.
In feeling of the stirrings and motions of this principle in our hearts,
we drew near to the Lord, and waited to be prepared by it, that we might
feel drawings and movings before we approached the Lord in prayer, or
opened our mouths in ministry. And in our beginning and ending with
this, stood our comfort, service, and edification. And as we ran faster,
or fell short in our services, we made burdens for ourselves to bear;
finding in ourselves a rebuke instead of an acceptance; and, in lieu of
"Well-done," "Who has required this at your hands?" In that day we were
an exercised people, our very countenances and deportment declared it.
Care for others was then much upon us, as well as for ourselves;
especially of the young convinced. Often had we the burden of the word
of the Lord to our neighbours, relations, and acquaintance; and sometimes
strangers also. We were in travail likewise for one another's
preservation; not seeking, but shunning, occasions of any coldness or
misunderstanding; treating one another as those that believed and felt
God present; which kept our conversation innocent, serious, and weighty;
guarding ourselves against the cares and friendships of the world. We
held the truth in the Spirit of it, and not in our own spirits, or after
our own wills and affections.
We were bowed and brought into subjection, insomuch that it was visible
to them that knew us. We did not think ourselves at our own disposal, to
go where we list, or say or do what we list, or when we list. Our
liberty stood in the liberty of the Spirit of truth; and no pleasure, no
profit, no fear, no favour, could draw us from this retired, strict, and
watchful frame. We were so far from seeking occasions of company, that
we avoided them what we could; pursuing our own business with moderation,
instead of meddling with other people's unnecessarily.
Our words were few and savoury, our looks composed and weighty, and our
whole deportment very observable. True it is, that this retired and
strict sort of life, from the liberty of the conversation of the world,
exposed us to the censures of many, as humourists, conceited and
self-righteous persons, &c.; but it was our preservation from many
snares, to which others were continually exposed, by the prevalency of
the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, that
wanted no occasions or temptations to excite them abroad in the converse
of the world.
I cannot forget the humility and chaste zeal of that day. O! how
constant at meetings, how retired in them; how firm to truth's life, as
well as truth's principles; and how entire and united in our communion,
as, indeed, became those that profess one head, even Christ Jesus the
Lord.
This being the testimony and example the man of God before mentioned was
sent to declare and leave amongst us, and we having embraced the same, as
the merciful visitation of God to us, the word of exhortation, at this
time, is that we continue to be found in the way of this testimony, with
all zeal and integrity, and so much the more, by how much the day draweth
near. And first, as to you my beloved and much honoured brethren in
Christ, that are in the exercise of the ministry: O! feel life in your
ministry. Let life be your commission, your well-spring and treasury on
all such occasions; else, you well know, there can be no begetting to
God: since nothing can quicken or make people alive to God, but the life
of God; and it must be a ministry in and from life, that enlivens any
people to God. We have seen the fruit of all other ministries, by the
few that are turned from the evil of their ways. It is not our parts, or
memory, the repetition of former openings, in our own will and time, that
will do God's work. A dry doctrinal ministry, however sound in words,
can reach but the ears, and is but a dream at the best. There is another
soundness that is soundest of all, viz. Christ the power of God. This is
the key of David, that opens, and none shuts; and shuts and none can
open: as the oil to the lamp, and the soul to the body, so is that to the
best of words: which made Christ to say, "My words, they are Spirit, and
they are life;" that is, they are from life, and therefore they make you
alive, that receive them. If the disciples that had lived with Jesus,
were to stay at Jerusalem till they received it; much more must we wait
to receive before we minister, if we will turn people from darkness to
light, and from satan's power to God.
I fervently bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you may always be like-minded; that you may ever wait reverently for
the coming and opening of the word of life, and attend upon it in your
ministry and service, that you may serve God in his Spirit. And be it
little, or be it much, it is well; for much is not too much, and the
least is enough, if from the motion of God's Spirit; and without it,
verily, never so little is too much, because to no profit.
For it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately, or through the ministry of
his servants, that teacheth his people to profit; and to be sure, so far
as we take him along with us in our services, so far we are profitable,
and no further. For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us
for our salvation, much more is it the Lord that must work in us for the
conversion of others. If therefore it was once a cross to us to speak,
though the Lord required it at our hands, let it never be so to be
silent, when he does not.
It is one of the most dreadful sayings in the book of God, "That he that
adds to the words of the prophecy of this book, God will add to him the
plagues written in this book." To keep back the counsel of God, is as
terrible; "For he that takes away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life." And
truly, it has great caution in it, to those that use the name of the
Lord, to be well assured the Lord speaks; that they may not be found of
the number of those that add to the words of the testimony of prophecy,
which the Lord giveth them to bear; nor yet to mince or diminish the
same, both being so very offensive to God.
Wherefore, Brethren, let us be careful, neither to out-go our guide, nor
yet loiter behind him; since he that makes haste may miss his way, and he
that stays behind lose his guide. For even those that have received the
word of the Lord, had need wait for wisdom, that they may see how to
divide the word aright: which plainly implieth, that it is possible for
one that hath received the word of the Lord, to miss in the dividing and
application of it; which must come from an impatiency of spirit, and a
self-working, which makes an unsound and dangerous mixture, and will
hardly beget a right-minded living people to God.
I am earnest in this, above all other considerations, as to brethren in
the ministry, (well knowing how much it concerns the present and future
state and preservation of the church of Christ Jesus, that has been
gathered and built up by a living and powerful ministry,) that the
ministry be held, preserved, and continued in the manifestations,
motions, and supplies of the same life and power, from time to time.
And wherever it is observed, that any do minister more from gifts and
parts, than life and power, though they have an enlightened and doctrinal
understanding, let them in time be advised and admonished for their
preservation, because insensibly such will come to depend upon a
self-sufficiency; to forsake Christ the living Fountain, and hew out unto
themselves cisterns, that will hold no living waters: and, by degrees,
such will come to draw others from waiting upon the gift of God in
themselves, and to feel it in others, in order to their strength and
refreshment, to wait upon them, and to turn from God to man again, and so
make shipwreck of the faith once delivered to the saints, and of a good
conscience towards God: which are only kept by that divine gift of life
that begat the one, and awakened and sanctified the other in the
beginning.
Nor is it enough, that we have known the divine gift, and in it have
reached to the spirits in prison, and been the instruments of the
convincing of others of the way of God, if we keep not as low and poor in
ourselves, and as depending upon the Lord, as ever: since no memory, no
repetitions of former openings, revelations, or enjoyments, will bring a
soul to God, or afford bread to the hungry, or water to the thirsty,
unless life go with what we say, and that must be waited for.
O that we may have no other fountain, treasure, or dependence! That none
may presume at any rate to act of themselves for God, because they have
long acted from God; that we may not supply want of waiting, with our own
wisdom, or think that we may take less care and more liberty in speaking
than formerly; and that where we do not feel the Lord by his power, to
open us and enlarge us, whatever be the expectation of the people, or has
been our customary supply and character, we may not exceed or fill up the
time with our own.
I hope we shall ever remember, who it was that said, "Of yourselves you
can do nothing;" our sufficiency is in him. And if we are not to speak
our own words, or take thought what we should say to men in our defence,
when exposed for our testimony; surely, we ought to speak none of our own
words, or take thought what we shall say in our testimony and ministry,
in the name of the Lord, to the souls of the people: for then, of all
times, and of all other occasions, should it be fulfilled in us, "For it
is not you that speak, but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you."
And, indeed, the ministry of the Spirit must and does keep its analogy
and agreement with the birth of the Spirit: that as no man can inherit
the kingdom of God, unless he be born of the Spirit; so no ministry can
beget a soul to God, but that which is from the Spirit. For this, as I
said before, the disciples waited before they went forth; and in this our
elder brethren and messengers of God in our day, waited, visited, and
reached to us; and having begun in the Spirit, let none ever hope or seek
to be made perfect in the flesh: for what is the flesh to the Spirit, or
the chaff to the wheat? And if we keep in the Spirit, we shall keep in
the unity of it, which is the ground of true fellowship. For by drinking
into that one Spirit, we are made one people to God, and by it we are
continued in the unity of the faith, and the bond of peace. No envying,
no bitterness, no strife, can have place with us. We shall watch always
for good, and not for evil, one over another; and rejoice exceedingly,
and not begrudge at one another's increase in the riches of the grace
with which God replenisheth his faithful servants.
And Brethren, as to you is committed the dispensation of the oracles of
God, which give you frequent opportunities, and great place with the
people among whom you travel, I beseech you, that you would not think it
sufficient to declare the word of life in their assemblies, however
edifying and comfortable such opportunities may be to you and them: but,
as was the practice of the man of God before mentioned, in great measure,
when among us, inquire the state of the several churches you visit; who
among them are afflicted or sick, who are tempted, and if any are
unfaithful or obstinate; and endeavour to issue those things in the
wisdom and power of God, which will be a glorious crown upon your
ministry. As that prepares your way in the hearts of the people, to
receive you as men of God, so it gives you credit with them to do them
good by your advice in other respects; the afflicted will be comforted by
you, the tempted strengthened, the sick refreshed, the unfaithful
convicted and restored, and such as are obstinate, softened and fitted
for reconciliation; which is clinching the nail, and applying and
fastening the general testimony, by this particular care of the several
branches of it, in reference to them more immediately concerned in it.
For though good and wise men, and elders too, may reside in such places,
who are of worth and importance in the general, and in other places; yet
it does not always follow, that they may have the room they deserve in
the hearts of the people they live among; or some particular occasion may
make it unfit for him or them to use that authority. But you that travel
as God's messengers, if they receive you in the greater, shall they
refuse you in the less? And if they own the general testimony, can they
withstand the particular application of it in their own cases? Thus ye
will show yourselves workmen indeed, and carry your business before you,
to the praise of his name that hath called you from darkness to light,
that you might turn others from satan's power unto God and his kingdom,
which is within. And O that there were more of such faithful labourers
in the vineyard of the Lord!--Never more need since the day of God.
Wherefore I cannot but cry and call aloud to you, that have been long
professors of the truth, and know the truth in the convincing power of
it, and have had a sober conversation among men; yet content yourselves
only to know truth for yourselves, to go to meetings, and exercise an
ordinary charity in the church, and an honest behaviour in the world, and
limit yourselves within those bounds; feeling little or no concern upon
your spirits, for the glory of the Lord in the prosperity of his truth in
the earth, more than to be glad that others succeed in such service.
Arise ye in the name and power of the Lord Jesus! Behold how white the
fields are unto harvest, in this and other nations, and how few able and
faithful labourers there are to work therein! Your country-folks,
neighbours, and kindred, want to know the Lord and his truth, and to walk
in it. Does nothing lie at your door upon their account! Search and
see, and lose no time, I beseech you, for the Lord is at hand.
I do not judge you; there is one that judgeth all men, and his judgment
is true. You have mightily increased in your outward substance, may you
equally increase in your inward riches, and do good with both, while you
have a day to do good. Your enemies would once have taken what you had,
from you, for his name's sake in whom you have believed; wherefore he has
given you much of the world, in the face of your enemies. But O, let it
be your servant, and not your master! your diversion rather than your
business! let the Lord be chiefly in your eye, and ponder your ways, and
see if God has nothing more for you to do: and if you find yourselves
short in your account with him, then wait for his preparation, and be
ready to receive the word of command, and be not weary of well-doing,
when you have put your hand to the plough; and, assuredly, you shall
reap, if you faint not, the fruit of your heavenly labour in God's
everlasting kingdom.
And you, young convinced ones, be you entreated and exhorted to a
diligent and chaste waiting upon God, in the way of his blessed
manifestation and appearance of himself to you. Look not out, but
within: let not another's liberty be your snare: neither act by
imitation, but by sense and feeling of God's power in yourselves: crush
not the tender buddings of it in your souls, nor over-run, in your
desires and warmness of affections, the holy and gentle motions of it.
Remember it is a still voice that speaks to us in this day, and that it
is not to be heard in the noises and hurries of the mind; but is
distinctly understood in a retired frame. Jesus loved and chose
solitudes, often going to mountains, gardens, and sea sides, to avoid
crowds and hurries: to show his disciples it was good to be solitary, and
sit loose to the world. Two enemies lie near your states, imagination
and liberty; but the plain, practical, living, holy truth, that has
convinced you, will preserve you, if you mind it in yourselves, and bring
all thoughts, inclinations, and affections, to the test of it, to see if
they are wrought in God, or of the enemy, or of your ownselves: so will a
true taste, discerning, and judgment, be preserved to you, of what you
should do and leave undone. And in your diligence and faithfulness in
this way, you will come to inherit substance; and Christ, the eternal
wisdom, will fill your treasury. And when you are converted, as well as
convinced, then confirm your brethren; and be ready to every good word
and work, that the Lord shall call you to: that you may be to his praise,
who has chosen you to be partakers, with the saints in light, of a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, an inheritance incorruptible in eternal
habitations.
And now, as for you that are the children of God's people, a great
concern is upon my spirit for your good and often are my knees bowed to
the God of your fathers for you, that you may come to be partakers of the
same divine life and power, that have been the glory of this day: that a
generation you may be to God, a holy nation, and a peculiar people,
zealous of good works, when all our heads are laid in the dust. O! you
young men and women, let it not suffice you, that you are the children of
the people of the Lord; you must also be born again, if you will inherit
the kingdom of God. Your fathers are but such after the flesh, and could
but beget you into the likeness of the first Adam; but you must be
begotten into the likeness of the second Adam, by a spiritual generation,
or you will not, you cannot, be of his children or offspring. And
therefore look carefully about you, O ye children of the children of God;
consider your standing, and see what you are in relation to this divine
kindred, family, and birth. Have you obeyed the light, and received and
walked in the Spirit, which is the incorruptible seed of the word and
kingdom of God, of which you must be born again? God is no respecter of
persons. The father cannot save or answer for the child, or the child
for the father; but in the sin thou sinnest thou shalt die; and in the
righteousness thou doest, through Christ Jesus, thou shalt live: for it
is the willing and obedient that shall eat the good of the land. Be not
deceived, God is mocked. Such as all nations and people sow, such they
shall reap at the hand of the just God. And then your many and great
privileges, above the children of other people, will add weight in the
scale against you, if you choose not the way of the Lord. For you have
had line upon line, and precept upon precept, and not only good doctrine
but good example; and which is more, you have been turned to, and
acquainted with, a principle in yourselves, which others too generally
have been ignorant of: and you know you may be as good as you please,
without the fear of frowns and blows, or being turned out of doors, and
forsaken of father and mother, for God's sake and his holy religion; as
has been the case of some of your fathers in the day they first entered
into this holy path. And if you, after hearing and seeing the wonders
that God has wrought in the deliverance and preservation of them, through
a sea of troubles, and the manifold temporal, as well as spiritual,
blessings that he has filled them with, in the sight of their enemies,
should neglect and turn your backs upon so great and near a salvation,
you would not only be most ungrateful children to God and them, but must
expect that God will call the children of those that knew him not, to
take the crown out of your hands, and that your lot will be a dreadful
judgment at the hand of the Lord: but, O that it may never be so with any
of you! The Lord forbid, saith my soul.
Wherefore, O ye young men and women! look to the rock of your fathers:
there is no other God but him, no other light but his, no other grace but
his, nor spirit but his, to convince you, quicken, and comfort you; to
lead, guide, and preserve you to God's everlasting kingdom. So will you
be possessors as well as professors of the truth, embracing it, not only
by education, but judgment and conviction; from a sense begotten in your
souls, through the operation of the eternal Spirit and power of God; by
which you may come to be the seed of Abraham, through faith, and the
circumcision not made with hands; and so heirs of the promise made to the
fathers, of an incorruptible crown. That, as I said before, a generation
you may be to God, holding up the profession of the blessed truth in the
life and power of it. For formality in religion is nauseous to God and
good men; and the more so, where any form or appearance has been new and
peculiar, and begun and practised, upon a principle, with an uncommon
zeal and strictness. Therefore I say, for you to fall flat and formal,
and continue the profession, without that salt and savour by which it is
come to obtain a good report among men, is not to answer God's love, or
your parents' care, or the mind of truth in yourselves, or in those that
are without: who, though they will not obey the truth, have sight and
sense enough to see if they do that make a profession of it. For where
the divine virtue of it is not felt in the soul, and waited for and lived
in, imperfections will quickly break out, and show themselves, and detect
the unfaithfulness of such persons; and that their insides are not
seasoned with the nature of that holy principle which they profess.
Wherefore, dear children, let me entreat you to shut your eyes at the
temptations and allurements of this low and perishing world, and not
suffer your affections to be captivated by those lusts and vanities that
your fathers, for the truth's sake, long since turned their backs upon:
but as you believe it to be the truth, receive it into your hearts, that
you may become the children of God: so that it may never be said of you,
as the evangelist writes of the Jews in his time, that Christ, the true
light, "came to his own, but his own received him not; but to as many as
received him, to them he gave power to become the children of God; which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God;" a most close and comprehensive passage to this
occasion. You exactly and peculiarly answer to those professing Jews, in
that you bear the name of God's people, by being the children, and
wearing of the form of God's people: and he, by his light in you, may be
very well said to come to his own, and if you obey it not, but turn your
backs upon it, and walk after the vanities of your minds, you will be of
those that received him not; which I pray God may never be your case and
judgment. But that you may be thoroughly sensible of the many and great
obligations you lie under to the Lord for his love, and to your parents
for their care: and with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your
strength, turn to the Lord, to his gift and Spirit in you; and hear his
voice, and obey it, that you may seal to the testimony of your fathers,
by the truth and evidence of your own experience: that your children's
children may bless you, and the Lord for you, as those that delivered a
faithful example, as well as record of the truth of God unto them. So
will the grey hairs of your dear parents, yet alive, go down to the grave
with joy, to see you the posterity of truth, as well as theirs: and that
not only their nature, but spirit, shall live in you when they are gone.
* * * * *
I shall conclude this account with a few words to those who are not of
our communion, into whose hands this may come; especially those of our
own nation.
* * * * *
Friends, as you are the sons and daughters of Adam, and my brethren after
the flesh, often and earnest have been my desires and prayers to God on
your behalf, that you may come to know your Creator to be your Redeemer,
and Restorer to the holy image that through sin you have lost, by the
power and Spirit of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he hath given for the
light and life of the world. And O that you, who are called Christians,
would receive him into your hearts! for there it is you want him, and at
that door he stands knocking, that you might let him in; but you do not
open to him; you are full of other guests, so that a manger is his lot
among you now as well as of old. Yet you are full of profession, as were
the Jews when he came among them, who knew him not, but rejected and
evily entreated him. So that if you come not to the possession and
experience of what you profess, all your formality and religion will
stand you in no stead in the day of God's judgment.
I beseech you ponder with yourselves your eternal condition, and see what
title, what ground and foundation you have for your Christianity: if more
than a profession, and an historical belief of the gospel. Have you
known the baptism of fire, and the Holy Ghost, and the fan of Christ that
winnows away the chaff in your minds, the carnal lusts, and affections;
that divine leaven of the kingdom, that, being received, leavens the
whole lump of man, sanctifying him throughout in body, soul, and spirit?
If this be not the ground of your confidence, you are in a miserable
state.
You will say, perhaps, that though you are sinners, and live in daily
commission of sin, and are not sanctified, as I have been speaking, yet
you have faith in Christ, who has borne the curse for you, and in him you
are complete by faith, his righteousness being imputed to you.
But, my friends, let me entreat you not to deceive yourselves, in so
important a point, as is that of your immortal souls. If you have true
faith in Christ, your faith will make you clean; it will sanctify you:
for the saints' faith was their victory of old: by this they overcame sin
within, and sinful man without. And if thou art in Christ, thou walkest
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, whose fruits are manifest.
Yea, thou art a new creature: new made, new fashioned, after God's will
and mould. Old things are done away, and, behold, all things are become
new: new love, desires, will, affections, and practices. It is not any
longer thou that livest; (thou disobedient, carnal, worldly one;) but it
is Christ that liveth in thee; and to live is Christ, and to die is thy
eternal gain: because thou art assured, that thy corruptible shall put on
incorruption, and thy mortal, immortality, and that thou hast a glorious
house, eternal in the heavens, that will never wax old or pass away. All
this follows being in Christ, as heat follows fire, and light the sun.
Therefore have a care how you presume to rely upon such a notion, as that
you are in Christ, whilst in your old fallen nature. For what communion
hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial? Hear what the beloved
disciple tells you: "If we say we have fellowship with God, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." That is, if we go on in a
sinful way, are captivated by our carnal affections, and are not
converted to God, we walk in darkness, and cannot possibly in that state
have any fellowship with God. Christ clothes them with his
righteousness, that receive his grace in their hearts, and deny
themselves, and take up his cross daily, and follow him. Christ's
righteousness makes men inwardly holy; of holy minds, wills, and
practices. It is not the less Christ's, because we have it; for it is
ours, not by nature, but by faith and adoption: it is the gift of God.
But, still, though not ours, as of or from ourselves, (for in that sense
it is Christ's, for it is of and from him,) yet it is ours, and must be
ours, in possession, efficacy, and enjoyment, to do us any good; or
Christ's righteousness will profit us nothing. It was after this manner
that he was made to the primitive Christians, righteousness,
sanctification, justification, and redemption; and if ever you will have
the comfort, kernel, and marrow of the Christian religion, thus you must
come to learn and obtain it.
Now, my friends, by what you have read, you may perceive that God has
visited a poor people among you, with this saving knowledge and
testimony, whom he has upheld and increased to this day, notwithstanding
the fierce opposition they have met withal. Despise not the meanness of
this appearance: it was, and yet is, we know, a day of small things and
of small account with too many; and many hard and ill names are given to
it; but it is of God, it came from him, because it leads to him. This we
know, but we cannot make another to know it, unless he will take the same
way to know it that we took. The world talks of God, but what do they
do? They pray for power, but reject the principle in which it is. If
you would know God, and worship and serve God as you should do, you must
come to the means he has ordained and given for that purpose. Some seek
it in books, some in learned men; but what they look for is in
themselves, (though not of themselves,) but they overlook it. The voice
is too still, the seed too small, and the light shineth in darkness; they
are abroad, and so cannot divide the spoil: but the woman that lost her
silver, found it at home, after she had lighted her candle, and swept her
house. Do you so too, and you shall find what Pilate wanted to know,
viz. Truth. Truth in the inward parts, so valuable in the sight of God.
The light of Christ within, who is the light of the world, and so a light
to you, that tells you the truth of your condition, leads all, that take
heed unto it, out of darkness into God's marvellous light. For light
grows upon the obedient; it is sown for the righteous, and their way is a
shining light, that shines forth more and more to the perfect day.
Wherefore, O friends, turn in, turn in, I beseech you: where is the
poison, there is the antidote. There you want Christ, and there you must
find him; and blessed be God, there you may find him. Seek and you shall
find, I testify for God. But then you must seek aright, with your whole
heart, as men that seek for their lives, yea for their eternal lives:
diligently, humbly, patiently, as those that can taste no pleasure,
comfort, or satisfaction in any thing else, unless you find him whom your
souls want to know and love above all. O it is a travail, a spiritual
travail! let the carnal, profane world, think and say as it will. And
through this path you must walk to the city of God, that has eternal
foundations, if ever you will come there.
Well! and what doth this blessed light do for you? Why, first, it sets
all your sins in order before you: it detects the spirit of this world in
all its baits and allurements, and shows how man came to fall from God,
and the fallen state he is in. Secondly, it begets a sense and sorrow,
in such as believe in it, for this fearful lapse. You will then see him
distinctly whom you have pierced, and all the blows and wounds you have
given him by your disobedience, and how you have made him to serve with
your sins; and you will weep and mourn for it, and your sorrow will be a
godly sorrow. Thirdly, after this it will bring you to the holy watch,
to take care that you do so no more, and that the enemy surprise you not
again. Then thoughts, as well as words and works, will come to judgment,
which is the way of holiness, in which the redeemed of the Lord do walk.
Here you will come to love God above all, and your neighbours as
yourselves. Nothing hurts, nothing harms, nothing makes afraid on this
holy mountain. Now you come to be Christ's indeed; for you are his in
nature and spirit, and not your own. And when you are thus Christ's,
then Christ is yours, and not before. And here you will know communion
with the Father and with the Son, and the efficacy of the blood of
cleansing, even the blood of Jesus Christ, that immaculate Lamb, which
speaks better things than the blood of Abel; and which cleanseth from all
sin, the consciences of those that, through the living faith, come to be
sprinkled with it, from dead works to serve the living God.
* * * * *
To conclude; behold the testimony and doctrine of the people called
Quakers; behold their practice and discipline; and behold the blessed man
and men, at least many of them, that were sent of God in this excellent
work and service; all which is more particularly expressed in the annals
of that man of God, which I do heartily recommend to my reader's most
serious perusal; and beseech Almighty God, that his blessing may go along
with both, to the convincement of many, as yet strangers to this holy
dispensation, and also to the edification of God's church in general: who
for his manifold and repeated mercies and blessings to his people, in
this day of his great love, is worthy ever to have the glory, honour,
thanksgiving, and renown; and be it rendered and ascribed, with fear and
reverence, through him in whom he is well pleased, his beloved Son and
Lamb, our light and life, that sits with him upon the throne, world
without end. Amen.
Says one that God has long since mercifully favoured with his fatherly
visitation, and who was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and call;
to whom the way of truth is more lovely and precious than ever, and that
knowing the beauty and benefit of it above all worldly treasures, has
chosen it for his chiefest joy, and therefore recommends it to thy love
and choice, because he is with great sincerity and affection,
Thy soul's friend,
WILLIAM PENN.