Chapter XLIX: Appendix: to VOL. I (17)

’I stand here as a witness for the God of heaven, I never
heard the voice of Christ, (as his follower,) till I was slain
and baptized, and lay as a little child under his heavenly
chastisements; as soon as ever my soul was brought to this in my
humiliation, O then the dreadful judgment was taken away, and the
book of life was opened unto me, and the Lord spake comfortable
to me, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: and I was
made a Christian through a day of vengeance, and of burning as
an oven, and the haughtiness and pride of man in me was brought
low. Now in this conformity to Christ’s death people may die
into life, and blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for
they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.
Away with all your own wills, and your pride, and haughtiness,
and your hypocrisy and deceit, and all dependency upon any
qualifications of your own; you must come to have your life
separated from you, else you will all perish. Those that will die
with Christ, and be willing to die for him, he is revealed as a
Saviour to them. He was before us in the days of his flesh, and
complied with his father’s will: he was nailed to the cross. The
Son of God, when he was come to the depth of his sufferings, what
was his cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This
was for thy sake, and my sake, and every man and woman’s sake
that do believe in him: he drank the cup which his Father gave
him to drink. If it was done thus to the green tree, what shall
be done unto the dry? He went before us, and when he cometh again
he will take up to himself, and take us from the filth of sin,
that we may be made new creatures.

’Now except we be born again we cannot enter into the kingdom of
God, and there is no becoming new creatures, till we be slain to
the old man. Thou must be slain to thy pride and haughtiness, and
the corruption of thine own will and all selfishness, thou must
have God to burn it up in thee: the Holy Ghost will destroy, and
burn up nothing in thee, but that which will bring an eternal
fire upon thy soul. Show me thou whom my soul loveth; where is
the path of life, the footsteps, of the flock of thy companions?
Why should I be as one that goes aside? Now every one that lives
at home in the bosom of self, take this with you, though you
profess the truth, and live in an outward conformity thereunto,
yet if you secretly indulge your corrupt wills, and live a
flesh-pleasing life, and consult with flesh and blood, and are
not rent off from your lusts, you cannot enjoy the Lord of life;
while I am at home in the body, I am absent from the Lord.

’The body of sin is a loadstone to draw you from the life of
God, and from glorying in the cross of Christ: this is flesh and
blood, and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
For the Lord’s sake, for your soul’s sake, and for the sake of
your eternal happiness, put not off this work, but pursue it,
and it will be perfected. See how Christ is revealed in you by
the Holy Ghost, and with fire. God will redeem you by the spirit
of judgment and burning; it is not ranging abroad in your minds,
but you must know Christ is in you except ye be reprobates; if
he hath set your eyes and hearts upon himself, and made you to
water your couch with your tears; if he hath broken your sleep,
so as you have cried out, ‘I shall be damned, and never come to
salvation;’ (this will be your cry, it was once my cry,) O let
not your eyes slumber, nor your eye-lids take any rest, till you
be sure the Lord is your God; if you find these qualifications,
you are on your way, otherwise you will be like a deceitful bow,
and never abide in judgment; if you reject the counsel of God
against yourselves, and refuse to be crucified with Christ, and
to be baptized with his baptism, you will never have life; but by
his baptism, and through the heavenly operation of his Spirit, if
thou hast faith in Christ’s name, thou shalt be married to him
in everlasting righteousness; salvation shall be brought to us,
and eternal life be bestowed upon us; even that life which is
hid with Christ in God, he will give to every poor mournful soul
that submits to his blessed will, and believeth in the Lord Jesus
Christ: this is not a faith of our own making, nor a garment of
our own embroidery, but that which the Lord hath given to us. O
happy man or woman, that obtainest this gift of God! O, who will
not lose their lives for this everlasting life? Who will not
die for this eternal life? Now the matter lies in the death of
your own wills; when you have done the will of God, then watch
that your own wills be slain, and that your cursed self take not
the jewels of God, and his bracelets and ornaments, and bestow
them upon self, and paint and deck cursed self: and take not the
members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot; if you
be dead to your own wills, you are risen with Christ, and shall
receive a resurrection to eternal life: crucify self, and set the
world at nought, and trample upon it, and all things of it, and
count them as dross and dung in comparison of Christ; that the
Father hath revealed to be our life, in the days of our sorrow
and mourning, in the day of our calamity, in the day when we
cried our hope is lost.

‘Thus it hath been with the holiest people on earth; it is not
by works of righteousness of thy own that thou canst be saved;
Christ comes to cut all these down, that thou mayest be ingrafted
into him, and justified by his grace. Do not make this matter of
talk, and say, I have heard this and that; but look into your
own hearts, and see what heavenly workings are there; what there
is of the power of the Lord Jesus, that hath made you to loathe
this world, and the inordinate love of the creature, that you may
enjoy all these things, as if you enjoyed them not. We cannot
when we are slain and crucified to this world, but say, my life
is in Christ, when we come to ascribe nothing to ourselves, and
all to Christ: here is a blessed harmony, broken hearts, melted
spirits, and yet joyful souls; poor creatures that were mourning
and sighing, and crying before the Lord in retired places, and
yet rejoicing in Christ Jesus, I am risen with Christ, I said,
my hope is cut off, I will lie down in thy will, O God; do what
thou wilt with me, it is in thy sovereign pleasure and free gift,
whether thou give me life or deny it to me: there must be a
resignation of ourselves to the will of God; it was so with the
Lord Jesus, and it is so with every true saint of God; you must
be humbled as little children before the judgment be taken away,
and the loving kindness of God sealed up to your souls; if you
seek this work of God, you will find it; if you seek it upon your
beds, in all your labours and concernments, in all your stations
and relations; if you press after the new birth, you must use
this world as if you used it not, and live a married life, as if
you were unmarried, for the fashion of this world passeth away.
This is not rantism.

‘But let me tell you, a new world comes by regeneration; a man is
not lifted up in his own mind, but laid low in his own eyes, he
waits for the wisdom of God to govern him, and he is as a steward
of the grace of God, to give to them that stands in need. When a
man is regenerated and born again, he is as contented with bread
and water, as with all the enjoyments of this world; what is the
matter? His own will is gone, and put down under his feet, and
whatsoever it is that gives life to all his vain desires and
affections, there is a harmony of all within, a man praising of
God, and blessing his holy name; there are no entanglements shall
draw away the heart from serving of God, and seeking his glory;
and if God shall call the husband from the wife, or the wife from
the husband, for the glory of his name, there is no whining and
complaining, and crying out, but giving them up, and a praising
and blessing God, when they are called to such an exercise; and
if they are not called to that, then they set their hearts to
glorify God in their several places and stations; then they have
a full content in a blessed resignation. Here their wills are
slain, but they praise God they have no desire, but Lord thy
will be done, always praising God, always having the fear and
the glory of God before their eyes. All the mischief is hatched
in pleasing men’s own wills: that is, the counsel of every heart
that Christ doth not govern. Will you live as the Quakers? Then
you must live contemptibly, the mistress and the maid are hail
fellows well met. No, every one must walk in humility, and live
in acquaintance with the God of heaven; she that is wrought
upon by the same spirit, must with all diligence behave herself
as becomes a servant of the Lord. Here is now a new world, and
the fashions of the old world are gone; all pride, haughtiness,
crossness, and trampling upon one another are all gone, all slain
through the operation of Christ.

‘What remains now, Christ is in me, and we are all one in
him; Christ laid down his life for thee and me; now he reigns
in me, and he hath prepared my body to die for the truth, as
his prepared body was laid down for my sin. It is a kind of
foolish profession, to make profession of Christ, and live in
covetousness, profaneness, sensuality, and the like; they that
are come to this heavenly birth, seek the things that are above,
thou canst do no other; make the tree good, and the fruit will be
good. You must be ingrafted into the vine of God’s righteousness;
O! slight not the day of your visitation. What was it to me to
read of any being born again, till I was slain, and knew the
heavenly baptism of Christ Jesus? Till I saw the flaming sword
ready to slay me in every way, in every turning. The light of
Christ convinced me of sin, and his righteousness justified me,
and those works were abominable to me, that hindered my soul’s
passage to Christ; Christ Jesus in marrying my soul to himself
seized upon me, and did work effectually in me: there is the
testimony of Christ in me, he hath sealed up my soul to the day
of my redemption. Here is a certain passage, and a certain way
which never any miss of, that lose their lives for Christ: if you
be not ready and willing to lose your lives for Christ, you shall
never come here; the gate is straight, and the way is narrow,
none come hither but those that die into an heavenly oneness with
Christ. O, friends, let us empty ourselves, that Christ may fill
us; let us be nothing in our own eyes, that we may be all in him,
and receive of his fulness.

‘Now I commend you to God’s witness, that you may remember
what hath been spoken among you; but consider, if you do not
hearken to it, it will follow you, and be a plague to you to all
eternity; if you will not yield up ourselves to Christ this day
that burns like an oven, this fire you must dwell with when out
of the body, there will be no quenching of this fire for ever;
but if you be so wise for your souls, as to resign yourselves
up to Christ, and come to him as little children, this will not
hinder your earthly concerns, though the world may account thee a
fool, yet thou hast that part of heavenly wisdom to do what thou
dost as unto God: thou carriest to thy wife, as in the sight of
God, that she may be sanctified to thee, and thou to her; and
thou carriest becomingly to thy children and servants, and thou
wilt abound in grace, and in every good work, which will be for
thine eternal welfare.

‘O, I beseech you people, for the Lord’s sake, wait for the light
of Christ to guide you; learn of him to be meek and lowly, then
happy are you; for he dwelleth with the humble, but he beholdeth
the proud afar off. This new birth, which is a true work, a
sincere and heavenly work, it will make you for ever. O make room
for Christ in your hearts, or else he is never like to dwell with
you; he loveth to dwell with the poor and humble and contrite
spirit, he abhors the proud, he will empty your souls, that he
may fill them.

‘And so I commend you to God. I have been long held in durance
under great weakness; and I was restless, till I could come up
to this great city of London, to preach the everlasting gospel
among you, and you see I am among you here; pray every one of
you turn inward; let not these words, passing through a mean
vessel, be as a bare empty discourse of truth to you, which you
only hear, and take no further care of your salvation. Take heed
of despising the light that shines in the midst of you, and be
pressing forward to the heavenly work that is laid in the power
of Christ Jesus, even through judgment into death, and then he
will give eternal life; the Lord confirm this, that it may rest
upon your hearts, that you may be dead to the things of the
world: we are not come to Mount Sinai, that genders to bondage,
but we are come to Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly, and church of the first-born which
are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. This is the inheritance of the
redeemed of the Most High, blessed be the name of the Lord; let
us rest in hope, till he bring us to humility and lowness of
mind, that he may clothe us with heavenly glory, according to his
promise, I will beautify my house with glory, saith the Lord.
This is the portion of a poor people, that cast down themselves
before the Lord, that he may lift them up, and be all in all to
them, in whose blessed presence they shall have joy, and rivers
of pleasures at his right hand for evermore.’

‘My God hath yet put it in my heart to bear a testimony to his
name and blessed truth, and I can never forget the day of his
great power and blessed appearance, when he first sent me to
preach the everlasting gospel, and proclaim the day of the Lord
to all people. Therefore, friends, be faithful, and trust to the
Lord your God; for this I can say, I never since played the
coward, but as joyfully entered prisons as palaces, and in the
prison-house I sang praises to my God, and esteemed the bolts
and locks upon me as jewels. And, friends, this I must once
again testify to you, in the name of the Lord God, that what I
saw above thirty years ago, still rests as a testimony to leave
behind me, that a dreadful terrible day is at hand, and will
certainly come to pass; but the time when, I cannot say; but all
put on strength in the name of the Lord, and wait to feel his
eternal power, to preserve you through the tribulations of those
days that approach very near. This I have further to signify,
that my departure draws nigh. Blessed be my God, I am prepared,
and I have nothing to do but die, and put off this corruptible
and mortal tabernacle, this flesh that hath so many infirmities;
but the life that dwells in it, ascends out of the reach of
death, hell, and the grave; and immortality and eternal life is
my crown for ever. Therefore you that are left behind, fear not,
nor be discouraged, but go on in the name and power of the Lord,
and bear a faithful and living testimony for him in your day. And
the Lord will prosper his work in your hand, and cause his truth
to flourish and spread abroad. For it shall have the victory, and
no weapon formed against it shall prosper.’

Thus fervent in spirit was W. Dewsbury in his latter end, and he prayed to God very earnestly for all his friends, especially those that were met at the annual assembly at London. And so he very piously departed this life at his house, in a good old age, in the month called June, in this current year. He was indeed a man of a remarkable zeal and perception. He spoke sometimes to young lads as to men, telling them that the blessing of the Lord would rest upon them if they lived a godly life: some of which being since come to man’s estate, have experienced the truth of his saying.

Two days before the decease of William Dewsbury, Rebecca Travers departed this life at about the age of seventy-nine years. She was a woman exceedingly well gifted; and spoke not only sometimes in public for edification of the church, but wrote also several books for the advancement of piety; in one of which she signified, that though she had been a reader of the Scriptures from a child of six years old; yet when by the power of the eternal gospel she was turned from darkness to light, the Scriptures then became much more plain to her, as not wanting interpretation. She was an excellent open-hearted woman, and took great care of the poor: she had several times been imprisoned for religion, but persevered constantly in the faith, and so piously entered into eternal rest.

As to state affairs, there now appeared a wonderful agitation in England, since it was reported that the queen was big with child. And the endeavours for introducing popery, besides the encroaching upon some rights and privileges, caused such a stir, that William the third, prince of Orange, and stadtholder, (or lord deputy,) of Holland, &c. was intreated and invited by the English Protestants, to come to their assistance. This at length he did, and came over with a fleet, and a considerable number of forces. What was the issue of this expedition, is very amply described by other pens, and not properly my province to relate; wherefore I think it sufficient to my purpose to say, that the prince after some difficulty at sea, came into England; where having many adherents, the king, many of whose forces deserted him, resolved to go to France, whither the queen with the young child was gone sometime before. Accordingly he went over, where he was well received by the French king, who provided him a court at St. Germain’s. In the meanwhile the prince of Orange came to London, and was saluted there by the great ones as the deliverer of England. The lord mayor of the said city, with the aldermen and the sheriffs, having congratulated him, the prince sent for some of the members of former parliaments to come to him, and signified to them that he had desired them to meet to advise him in the best manner how to pursue the ends of his declaration in calling a free parliament, for the preservation of the Protestant religion, the restoring of the rights and liberties of the kingdom, and settling the same, that they might not be in danger of being again subverted.

In answer to this, thanks were given to the prince for his care and pains in defence of the people, their religion, and laws. And all things took a favourable turn for him.

In Holland a good while before a paper was published in print, called, ‘A Copy of a Letter written by a Quaker at London to his Friend at Rotterdam.’ In which forged letter were mentioned several things that were not altogether untrue, and the prince’s going over to England, was also in a manner predicted. Who was the author of the said letter, I could never learn, but of this I am fully satisfied, that he was no Quaker; for it never was their way to ridicule princes, and to characterize them with ridiculous denominations, as in the said letter we find mentioned, of James of Great Britain, Mary of Modena, William of Orange, and Mary of England, his wife. This was no more the language of Quakers, than the following expressions that are found in this letter. ‘The Spirit hath inspired me to tell thee, I should not be able to declare my opinion, before the Spirit shall have revealed it to me. If the Spirit doth dictate it to thee, go and speak with him. Dentsch hath had a revelation, and the Spirit hath assured him,’ &c. This foolish language betrays itself, and serves for a palpable evidence, that it never proceeded from the pen of any of the people called Quakers. But perhaps the author of that letter knew a secret of state, whereof, (to remain unknown,) he would acquaint the world in a ridiculous way; that under the cloak of being a Quaker, he should best continue undiscovered, and that by this device the letter would spread the more, as indeed it did; for it had a very quick vent.

THE ELEVENTH BOOK. 1689-1702.

1689.

I proceed now to the year 1689, in the beginning of which the peers of the realm, &c. offered the administration of the government to the prince of Orange, which he accepted of. Not long after he called a convention of the commons; for a parliament it could not be named, since in England none but a king has power to call a parliament. In the meanwhile the prince had caused the princess his consort, to come over from Holland, into England; and at length the convention, after many great debates, came to this resolution, that the throne was vacant; the consequence of which was, that the prince and princess of Orange were declared by the names of William the third, and Mary the second, king and queen of England, &c. and according were afterwards crowned. A large relation thereof is to be found in several books. By the way I will only say, that the coronation was performed by the bishop of London, the archbishop of Canterbury having refused to act in that solemnity; at the performance of which the king and queen were asked by the bishop, ‘Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in parliament agreed to, and the laws and customs of the same?’ To which the king and queen having answered, ‘I solemnly promise so to do;’ the bishop asked, ‘Will you to your power cause law in justice and mercy to be executed in all your judgments?’ Answer was made, ‘I will.’ The next question was, ‘Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the law of God, the true profession of the gospel, and the Protestant Reformed religion established by law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them, or any of them?’ To which the king and queen answered, ‘All this I promise to do.’ After this they laying each of them their hands upon the book of the gospel, said, ‘These things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.’ Under these punctual and nice questions was more hidden than some would think. For the king having answered so as hath been said, could not now free any from paying tithes to the clergy, without violation of his oath.

Not long after William and Mary were thus made king and queen of England, they were also in Scotland declared king and queen of Scotland. And somebody in Holland denoted the year of his being made king in this manner: ‘VVILheLMVs tertIVs angLIæ VInDeX.’ Not long after this a war was proclaimed against France, and the late king, James, supported by the French king, went over to Ireland, from whence in process of time he was driven away by king William, after the bloody battle near the river Boyne; but that not belonging to this history, I will not detain my reader with a relation thereof.

A king having now mounted the throne, the convention was turned into a parliament; and then this august assembly made it their business to restrain the forcing of conscience; and an act passed for exempting Protestant dissenters from the penal laws, by which some dissenters, and especially the Quakers, had suffered and been persecuted many years. Yet care was taken to keep that law in force by which Papists were excluded from sitting in parliament. And those penal laws, of which mention hath been made heretofore in due place, were now restrained, except the test act, properly required for serving in high offices, and to keep out the Papists. The aforesaid act gave also liberty to dissenters to keep religious meetings, provided the doors were not locked, barred or bolted, during the time of such meeting. But none of these dissenters were freed from paying tithes, or other church duties, so called, to the clergy, nor from being cited before bishops’ courts. But this liberty of keeping public meetings was not allowed to Papists; for all that would participate of the said liberty, were required to take the oath of allegiance; yet to comply with the people called Quakers, who for conscience-sake scrupled to take any oath, this act enjoined that they should subscribe the following declaration:

‘I _A. B._ do sincerely promise and solemnly declare, before
God and the world, that I will be true and faithful to king
William and queen Mary; and I do solemnly profess and declare,
that I do from my heart abhor, detest and renounce, as impious
and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes
excommunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of
the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects,
or any other whatsoever. And I declare that no foreign prince,
person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have any
power, jurisdiction, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority,
ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm.’

Besides this they were obliged to subscribe also another, with respect to their orthodoxy, and for excluding Socinianism.

‘I _A. B._ profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ
his eternal Son, the true God, and in the holy Spirit, one God,
blessed for evermore: and do acknowledge the holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.’

And lest any Papist might make use of this declaration, there were required sufficient Protestant witnesses that the declarer was a Protestant dissenter. Besides no congregation or assembly for religious worship was permitted or allowed by this act, until the place of such meeting should be certified to the bishop of the diocese, or to the archdeacon of the archdeaconry; or to the justices of the peace at the general or quarter-sessions of the peace for the county, city, or place, in which such meeting should be held, and registered in the said bishop’s or archdeacon’s court respectively, or recorded at the said general or quarter-sessions: for which the register or clerk should not take greater fee or reward than sixpence.

By this we now see the religion of the Quakers acknowledged and tolerated by an act of parliament; and themselves released from all persecution for performance of their public worship, and their refusal of the oath of allegiance. This was a work reserved for that great prince king William, who being born in a country where force upon conscience was abrogated, when a Protestant government was settled there, now also according to his ability introduced the like Christian liberty in England: but to release from the payment of tithes was beyond his reach, how unreasonably soever the clergy acted in this case; whereof about this time a notable instance was published in print, of one John Bishop, a countryman at Wortham, from whom for two years tithes there had been taken, horses, kine, and sheep, to the value of about seventy-six pounds, according to the estimate of impartial persons, though rated by himself at eighty-three pounds. And yet the priest, Thomas Thurlow, had declared upon his oath, that he believed that the tithes of every year’s growth of the said Bishop, did amount one year with another, to three pounds seventeen shillings and sixpence; but the charges were reckoned so high, and the rating of the distrained goods was so very much beneath the real value, that the loss thereby sustained was exceeding great.

In Barbadoes, in the West Indies, where the inhabitants were marshalled to bear arms, the Quakers, notwithstanding what had been ordered in their favour by king James, continued yet under hard sufferings, of which more in the sequel. They now that were thus oppressed, sent over a petition to the king, wherein they set forth how they were molested, and prayed for relief; which had such effect, that the king issued forth the following order:

‘_At the Council at Whitehall, Dec. 12, 1689._

‘Present the king’s most excellent majesty in council.

‘Upon reading a petition of the people called Quakers, inhabiting
the island of Barbadoes, setting forth, that because the said
Quakers could not bear arms, nor take an oath in any case, they
have suffered much by virtue of an act made to settle the militia
in the said island; as in the petition hereunto annexed, is more
at large expressed; his majesty in council is graciously pleased
to refer the matter of the said petition to the examination
of James Kendal, esq. his majesty’s governor of Barbadoes for
the time being, who is to give the petitioners such relief in
relation to the militia, as to him shall seem just and reasonable
to answer their particular circumstances, and to make report
thereof to his majesty.

RICHARD COLLINGE.’

1690.

This year deceased Alexander Parker, sometimes mentioned in this history, being a man not only of a godly life and conversation, but also of a godly mien and grave deportment. In the following year, viz. that of 1690, Robert Barclay also departed this life, a man of eminent gifts and great endowments, expert not only in the languages of the learned, but also well versed in the writings of the ancient fathers, and other ecclesiastical writers, and furnished with a great understanding, being not only of a sound judgment, but also strong in arguments, and cheerful in sufferings. Besides, he was of a friendly and pleasant, yet grave conversation, and eminently fitted for composing of differences; and he really lived up to what he professed, being of an unblameable deportment, truly pious, and well beloved of those he conversed with. And in this happy state it pleased God to take him away out of this vale of tears, into a glorious immortality, in the prime of his age, having not lived much above half the life of a man, as it is commonly accounted, viz. in his 42d year, on the third of October, at his house at Ury, in Scotland, where he died of a sickness, which did not last long, yet he signified with a good understanding, that it was well with him as to his soul.

* * * * *

This year Stephen Crisp wrote an epistle of tender love and brotherly advice to all the churches of Christ throughout the world, in which he exhorted them more particularly to charity; and since therein several remarkable duties are held forth and recommended, I cannot well omit to insert a copy of it here, which is as followeth:

‘Dearly beloved friends and brethren, gathered out of the world
by the eternal arm and power of the mighty God, to bear his holy
name in your generation; my love and life in the fellowship of
the universal spirit salutes you all, and my prayer to God is,
you may be kept steadfast and immoveable in the grace of God,
and in the communion of his holy Spirit, that ye may bring forth
fruit in abundance, according to the abundant mercy and grace
bestowed upon you, to the glory of God, and to your mutual joy,
comfort, and edification.

‘And that you may so do, let your eye be kept daily to the
Lord, and behold and take notice of the wondrous works that he
hath wrought in you, and for you, since the day ye were first
quickened by his immortal word, and stirred up to seek after
him, and to wait upon him: how good and gracious he hath been
to you, in bringing you from the barren mountains, where your
souls languished for the heavenly nourishment; where you knew
not the Lord, nor one another, but were without a comforter, or
any to sympathise with you in your mournings; Oh, how hath he
pitied your groanings, and had compassion on your sighings, and
brought you into acquaintance with those that were in the like
exercises; and then he taught you to believe on him that was able
to help you: and those that were thus taught of the Father, and
felt his drawing cords of love prevailing upon them; these came
to Christ their Saviour, and in him began to feel an unity one
with another, in the faith you had received in him; whereby you
believed he would give you of his spirit to teach and guide you
in the way of truth, righteousness, and peace; and thus was the
foundation of your holy communion laid, and a lively hope raised
in each particular soul, that he that had begun this blessed work
would carry it on; and this hope made you that were not ashamed
to make a public profession of his name before the world; but
cheerfully to take up his cross, and deny yourselves of your
former pleasures, friendships, and delights of this world: this
hope hath been your support in many sharp trials, and bitter
combats you have had with the enemy of your souls’ peace within,
and with the enemies of God’s holy way and truth without; and
in all your conflicts you have found him nigh at hand, to put
forth his power on your behalf, as you have depended upon him
for assistance; and by these experiences of his goodness, your
faith hath been strengthened; and by the same word of life that
quickened you, many more have been reached unto, so that you have
seen a daily addition of strength in the particular, and also an
addition to your number, to your great comfort and encouragement;
and many have come to wait upon the Lord among you; and
many are daily inquiring the way to Zion, with their faces
thitherward. These things are worth your remembrance and serious
considerations, that you may look upon these great mercies as
obligations upon your souls, to walk humbly before the Lord, and
to be devout and fervent in your testimony, for that God that
hath done thus great things for you.

‘And, friends, consider of the great works that this mighty arm
of the Lord hath brought to pass in the general, as well as in
the particular; how many contrivances have been framed, and laws
and decrees made to lay you waste, and to make you cease to be a
people, and how have the wicked rejoiced thereat, for a season,
crying, ‘Ah, ah! thus would we have it; they are all now given up
to banishments, to imprisonments, to spoils and ruins; now let
us see if that invisible arm they trust in can deliver them.’
Oh friends! how hath your God been your support in the midst
of all these exercises! and when he hath pleased, how he hath
quieted the sharpest storms, and turned back the greatest floods
and torrents of persecution that ever you met! and how hath he
confounded his and your enemies, and brought confusion upon
the heads of them that sought your hurt! Were not these things
wrought by the power of God? Did your number, your policy, your
interest, or any thing that might be called your own, contribute
any thing to these your great preservations and deliverances? If
not, then let God have the glory, and acknowledge, to his praise,
these have been the Lord’s doings, and are marvellous in our eyes.

‘Again, dear friends, consider how the wicked one hath wrought
in a mystery among yourselves, to scatter you, and to lay you
waste from being a people as at this day; how many several ways
hath he tried, raising up men of perverse minds, to subvert and
to turn you from the faith, and from the simplicity that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord; and to separate you from that invisible
power that hath been your strength, and to separate you one from
another, and by subtle wiles to lead you into a false liberty
above the cross of Christ; and sometimes by sowing seeds of
heresy and seditions, endeavouring to corrupt the minds of whom
they could with pernicious principles; but oh, how have their
designs been frustrated, and the authors thereof confounded and
brought to nought: and how have you been preserved as a flock
under the hand of a careful shepherd, even unto this day, which
ministers great cause of thanksgiving unto all the faithful, who
have witnessed the working of this preserving power in their own
particulars.

‘Also, my friends, it is worth your considerations, to behold
how that by this invisible power so many faithful watchmen
are raised up upon the walls of your Zion; that in most of
your meetings there be men and women, upon whom God hath laid
a concern to be taking care for the good of the whole; and to
take the oversight upon them, to see all things kept in good
and decent order, and to make due provision for the comforting
and relieving the necessities of the needy and distressed; that
nothing be lacking to make your way comfortable; and these have
not been, nor are brought under this charge by any act of yours,
but God hath raised up pastors and teachers, elders and deacons
of his own election and choice, and bowed their spirits to take
upon them the work and service to which they are appointed, for
the Lord’s sake, and for the body’s sake, which is the church;
to whom it may truly be said, as in Acts xx. 28. “Take ye
heed to the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers,” &c. And such ought to be hearkened to in the
discharge of their trust, as those that must give an account to
him that called them, and gifted them for their several works and
services in the church.

‘And by these ways and means hath the Lord established among you
a heavenly government, and built as it were a hedge about you,
that ye may be preserved from generation to generation, a people
fitted for the glory that is, and shall daily more and more be
revealed among and upon the faithful, who delight in that power
that called them to be saints, and to bear a profession for the
holy name of God, against the many names and ways that men in
their changeable minds have set up, that the name of the Lord
alone may be exalted.

‘And, dear friends and brethren, I intreat you, that the
consideration of these great and weighty things which God hath
wrought for you, and among you, may have that deep and weighty
influence upon your souls, that ye may find yourselves engaged to
answer the love and mercy of God in your lives and conversations,
and in all you have to do in this world; that ye may show forth
the honour of God in all things, that the light which hath shined
in you, may shine forth through you unto others, who yet sit in
darkness; that all men may know by your innocent and harmless
conversations, and by your close keeping to the Lord, that ye are
a people who are assisted and helped by a supernatural power,
which governs your wills, and subjects them to his blessed
will; and that guides and orders your affections, and sets them
upon heavenly and divine objects, and that gives you power to
deny your own private interests, where they happen to stand in
competition with the interest of truth; for these, and these
only, will be found the true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who can deny themselves, take up a cross daily, and follow him in
the guidance of his regenerating power; which brings death upon
itself, and crucifies the old nature, with its affections and
lusts, and raiseth up a birth in you, that hath a holy will and
desire to serve the Lord, and do his will in the earth; and such
as these are instruments in the hand of God for him to work by,
and to do works of righteousness, of justice, of charity, and all
others the virtues belonging to a Christian life, to the honour
of God, and for the comfort and benefit of his church and people.

‘And all you, dear friends, upon whom the Lord hath laid a care
for his honour, and for the prosperity of the truth; and gathered
you into the good order of the gospel, to meet together to
manage the affairs thereof; take heed that ye have a single eye
to the Lord, to do the Lord’s business in the leadings of his
Spirit, which is but one, and brings all that are given up to
be governed by it, to be of one mind and heart, at least in the
general purpose and service of those meetings; although through
the diversity of exercises, and the several degrees of growth
among the brethren, every one may not see or understand alike
in every matter, at the first propounding of it; yet this makes
no breach of the unity, nor hinders the brotherly-kindness, but
puts you often upon an exercise and an inward travailing, to feel
the pure peaceful wisdom that is from above to open among you;
and every one’s ear is open to it, in whomsoever it speaks, and
thereby a sense of life is given to the meeting, to which all
that are of a simple and tender mind join and agree; but if any
among you should be contrary minded in the management of some
outward affair, relating to the truth, this doth not presently
break the unity that ye have in Christ; nor should weaken the
brotherly love, so long as he keeps waiting for an understanding
from God, to be gathered into the same sense with you, and walks
with you, according to the law of charity. Such a one ought to
be borne with and cherished, and the supplications of your souls
will go up to God for him, that God may reveal it to him if it be
his will; that no difference may be in understanding, so far as
is necessary for the good of the church, no more than there is in
matters of faith and obedience to God; for, my friends, it is not
of absolute necessity that every member of the church should have
the same measure of understanding in all things; for then where
were the duty of the strong bearing with the weak? Then where
were the brother of low degree? Where would be any submitting to
them that are set over others in the Lord; which all tend to the
preserving unity in the church, notwithstanding the different
measures and different growths of the members thereof; for as the
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets; so are the
spirits of all that are kept in a true subjection to the spirit
of life in themselves, kept in the same subjection to the sense
of life given by the same spirit in the church; and by this means
we come to know the one master, even Christ, and have no room for
other masters in the matter of our obedience to God: and while
every one keeps in this true subjection, the sweet concord is
known, and the oil is not only upon Aaron’s head, but it reach
the skirts of his garment also; and things are kept sweet and
savoury, and ye love one another from the greatest to the least
in sincerity, and, as the apostle saith, without dissimulation;
and this love excludes all whisperings of evil things; all
backbiting, tale-bearing, grudging, and murmuring; and keeps
friends’ minds clean one towards another, waiting for every
opportunity to do each other good, and to preserve each other’s
reputation; and their hearts are comforted at the sight of one
another; and in all their affairs, both relating to the church
and to the world, they will be watchful over their own spirits,
and keep in the Lord’s power, over that nature and ground in
themselves that would be apt to take an offence, or construe any
word or action to a worse sense than the simplicity thereof, or
the intention of the other concerned will allow of.

‘And whereas it may often fall out, that among a great many,
some may have a different apprehension of a matter from the rest
of their brethren, especially in outward or temporal things;
there ought to be a Christian liberty maintained for such to
express their sense with freedom of mind, or else they will go
away burdened; whereas if they speak their minds freely, and a
friendly and Christian conference be admitted thereupon, they may
be eased, and oftentimes the different apprehension of such an
one comes to be wholly removed, and his understanding opened, to
see as the rest see; for the danger in society doth not lie so
much in that, that some few may have a differing apprehension in
some things from the general sense, as it doth in this, namely,
when such that so differ, do suffer themselves to be led out of
the bond of charity, and shall labour to impose their private
sense upon the rest of their brethren, and to be offended and
angry if it be not received; this is the seed of sedition and
strife that hath grown up in too many, to their own hurt.

‘And, therefore, my dear friends, beware of it, and seek not to
drive a matter on in fierceness or in anger, nor to take offence
into your minds at any time, because what seems to be clear to
you, is not presently received; but let all things in the church
be propounded with an awful reverence for him that is the head
and life of it; who hath said, “Where two or three are met in
my name, I will be in the midst of them.” And so he is, and may
be felt by all who keep in his spirit; but he that follows his
own spirit, sees nothing as he ought to see it. Therefore let
all beware of their own spirits and natural tempers, as they are
sometimes called, but let all keep in a gracious temper; then are
ye fit for the service of the house of God, whose house ye are,
as ye keep upon the foundation that God hath laid; and he will
build you up, and teach you how to build up one another in him,
and as every member must feel life in themselves, and all from
one head; this life will not hurt itself in any, but be tender
of the life in all; for by this one life of the word ye were
begotten, and by it ye are nourished, and made to grow into your
several services in the church of God. It is no man’s learning,
nor artificial acquirements; it is no man’s riches, nor greatness
in this world; it is no man’s eloquence and natural wisdom, that
makes him fit for government in the church of Christ; unless he,
with all his endowments, be seasoned with the heavenly salt, and
his spirit subjected, and his gifts pass through the fire of
God’s altar, a sacrifice to his praise and honour; that so self
be crucified and baptized in death, and the gifts made use of
in the power of the resurrection of the life of Jesus in him;
and when this great work is wrought in a man, then all his gifts
and qualifications are sanctified, and they are made use of for
the good of the body, which is the church; and are as ornaments
and jewels, which serve for the joy and comfort of all who
are partakers of the same divine fellowship of life in Christ
Jesus our Lord; and thus come many to be fitted and furnished
to good works, which are brought forth in their due seasons,
for edification and building up the weak, and for repairing the
decayed places, and also for defence of them that are feeble,
that hurtful things may not come near them.

‘Oh friends! great is the work the Lord hath called you to, and
is fitting you for, who innocently wait upon him; and the Lord
hath opened my heart unto you, and laid it upon me to exhort
and beseech you to have a care that ye quit yourselves as ye
ought, in what God requires of you; and for the more particular
expressing what lies before me in the matter, I shall set down
a few particular observations for your benefit and advantage;
and my soul’s desire is, that my labour of love may have a good
effect in all your bosoms, that God may be honoured thereby. And,
friends, ye know the chief business, to which ye are called in
your particular men and women’s meetings, is under these two
heads, justice and charity; the first, to see that every one hath
right done him; and the other, to take care there be nothing
lacking to the comfort of the poor, that are made partakers of
the same faith with you.