Noble of this world, but more noble for your inquiry after the Truth, and love to it, the fame whereof hath sounded to the ears of some of us in this island, whom God hath made both his certain witnesses and messengers, through many and great tribulations: eternal, heavenly praises to his holy and powerful name, who lives and reigns over all principalities, and powers, and thrones, and dominions for ever!
I have had you, worthy women! often in my remembrance, with that honour which is not of this world; even then, when my soul has been in its purest retirements, not only from all visibles, but from their very ideas in the mind, and every other imagination; resting with the Lord in his own sabbath, which is the true silence of all flesh indeed, which profits above the formal Christian's bodily exercise. And in these heavenly sequestrations of soul, and true resignation unto the divine will of my Father, have I taken a most clear prospect of you, and every circumstance that may be fit for me to know:--your education, your quality, your dignity, the envy of the clergy, the fury of the rabble, and the strength and power of temptation, arising from all these considerations, if possible to smother your blessed beginnings; and as so many bands of soldiers, employed and commissioned of their great prince of darkness, to watch, and to hinder Jesus from rising in you. In a weighty sense of all which, my heart opens itself unto you in God's counsel, after this manner.
Be faithful to that you know, and obedient to that which God by the light of his Son makes manifest in your consciences. Consult not away the pure and gentle strivings of the Holy Ghost; drown not his still voice with the crowd of careful thoughts, and vain contrivances: break not the bruised reed, neither quench the smoking flax in yourselves. O! if you truly love Jesus, hear him: and since it hath pleased God in some measure, as with Paul, to reveal his blessed Son in you, consult not with flesh and blood, that are below the heavenly things; for that inherits not the kingdom of God: but with sincere Mary, from a deep sense of the beauty, virtue, and excellency of that life, that is hid with Christ in God, wait, out of all cumber, free from that running, willing, sacrificing spirit that is in the world, in the pure obedience, humiliation, godly death or silence, at the feet of Jesus, choosing the better part, which shall never be taken from you: and Jesus will be with you, he will shed his peace abroad in the midst of you, even that which flows from the crystal streams of life, that arise from under the throne of God.
Prepare, prepare to meet the Lord; for assuredly Jesus is risen, the faithful and true Witness; and he is come in ten thousands of his saints, to judge this fallen Christian world. He that was dead during the times, time, and half a time, is now alive, and lives for ever: nor shall hell, death, or the grave, get the dominion any more; but life and immortality shall spring as the morning without clouds. The set time of the Father is come; and all faces shall gather paleness, yea, and all knees shall smite and bow, and tongues shall confess to this his appearance; some to joy, others to misery. Ages and generations have not known him; the earth has been covered with violence, oppression, uncleanness, rewards, gifts, blood, wrath, malice, pride, covetousness: yet God professed, and Christ professed: a glorious church, a pompous worship, and as much religion (such as it was) as the world would hold. But O the idolatry! O the false witness! O the blasphemy and lying! O the profaneness of those, and these days! And why? Because their hearts thirsted after their carnal pleasures, more than after the living God. Their care was, and is after what they shall eat, and drink, and put on, the old heathen life, and not after the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof: that Jesus, the true Saviour, the immaculate Son of God, who, by doing his Father's will, faithfully and patiently, even unto death, left us an example, that we should follow his steps, and not live unto ourselves. And this is the most abominable idolatry,--that of the soul to any other object, than the Lord and God of the soul. This is to set up something as God, over all that is called God, debasing, slighting, grieving, and quenching the Holy Spirit in the meanwhile. O, how few think of this detestable idolatry! Here is the first commandment broken; how then can people expect to have eternal life? But all the commands are broken: for God did not only prohibit idolatry, which is worshiping another God; but worshiping the true God vainly, falsely, with a vain mind, after an unprofitable manner, which is an unsanctified frame of soul. And how hath Christendom taken God's name in vain, and worshiped God in vain! What good is come of the ages of worship? what lusts are overcome? what evil repelled? have not all manner of abominations reigned? has not the Truth been held in unrighteousness? and have not generations blessed God with their mouths, wherewith they have presently cursed men? have not violence, avarice, oppression, cruelty, pride, passion, wrath, envy, vain sports, pleasures and delights, filled the earth, under all the profession that has been made of Christ and God? Has he that has named the name of Christ, or that has called himself by that name, departed from iniquity? O no!--it may be truly said, that such have sought the Lord in vain Why? Because not as Jacob's seed, who was a plain good man, but of rebellious Esau's stock. You ask, and you have not; why? says James, "Because you ask amiss." They sought in a wrong nature to feed the lusts of the same. Though they ask, they never receive; and though they knock, it will never be opened unto them: such can never find; for all worship toward God must stand in the name and nature of Jesus, or will never pierce the heavens. It will be in vain, it will profit nothing. So that this command is also broken. To say nothing of the frequent use of the name of God, about every trivial thing in common conversation: "O God!" O Lord Jesus!" and such like; for which, among other things, the Lord God will pour out of the vials of his wrath upon the nations: O blessed are they that fear always, and remember that severe saying of Jesus, "That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36.
Next, the true sabbath is neglected: for the gospel day is the spiritual sabbath, the day of redemption, deliverance, and salvation: they have sinned away this day, doing their own works, when they should have been at the true fast, the mystical abstinence, and humbled into the grave, doing the works of God: yet talk of being freed from under the law, and under grace, while they live without law, grace, Christ, and God in the world, being led, not by the Spirit of God,--no, that is enthusiasm, fanaticism, familism, Quakerism, &c.--but by their own wills, lusts, interests, and unregenerate appetites.
Rebellion has covered the earth, for there has not been an honouring of their father and their mother; for they have rejected the commands of their Father, casting his law behind their backs, not glorifying him as God their Father, when they knew him: and they have disregarded the advice of their mother, the true primitive church, that was redeemed with the precious blood of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, and that washed her and purged her, not leaving in her either spots or wrinkles. For thus he presented her to God his Father; so that she put off her old conversation, which was after the fashions and customs of this world, that she might be adorned with the robes of righteousness--fine linen, white, the mark of innocence--fitly trimmed for the delight of her beloved, her Jesus, her king, her lawgiver, her maker, and her husband too, in whose chaste embraces she lives, his unspotted dear spouse for ever. Now, what is a church; but the redeemed flock, family, household, or people of God? If then the church of Christ must be pure, the members that constitute that church must be pure also:--not by a vain and fictitious imputation; but a solid and real purgation, redemption, and salvation unto righteousness. For faith, in Abraham, was a righteous act of obedience in his soul; therefore God imputed righteousness unto him: and blessed are his spiritual offspring for ever, whose faith overcomes, and is not overcome of the world. For those are false faiths, forced and imaginary conceits, that cleanse not, which true faith doth; that works by that love which conquers the world, and loves God above all:--the highway to eternal life. So here, the world hath been in the breach of another command. They have dishonoured their father and their mother, and therefore have their days been few in the land of the living God.
But the Christian world, so called, hath been defiled by cruelty even to blood. "Thou shalt not kill," saith the Lord: little did some of the Jews think that they broke this law, when they killed the prophets, and stoned them that were sent unto them: but what said their children? Did they not speak after the same note? No: "had we lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have done as they did;"--and alas! they did worse. Where it is worth observing, that when the devil hath persecuted holy men to death, and that the way, (to wit, the death,) in which he hopes to bury all with them, is the way by which their doctrine and endeavours shine more conspicuoulsy and convincingly to others: he turns proselyte too, and says, there were good men also: and puts his followers upon setting up the lamentation for the loss of the pious men, which alas! he murdered; and of the words and exterior forms patches he up a visible religion; and then sits he as God, or like God, in the hearts of men and women. So that he will be visibly for religion, when he can no longer hinder; but this is to make him the greater deceiver, and to pass the more unquestioned and unsuspected.
This lamentation for the murdering of the prophets, admiration of their works, and building and adorning of their sepulchres, baffled the judgment of weak and simple people; but especially deceived the multitude; and rendered the crucifixion of Jesus more easy and tolerable:--Stephen followed, then James, and soon after that time the bitter persecution of the Christians. But by that time, kings received Christianity; ease and plenty flowed in; who so pompous, magnificent, gaudy, worldly, as Christian bishops, their churches, officers, and people? Self-denying Jesus lost in the crowd; the true life of religion expired, and zeal extinguished; divisions arisen, and one bishop against another, even to death:--nothing but flattery, hypocrisy, and conformity could well tell how to live in the 4th, 6th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, and so to our days. Now, the rivers of blood spilled by Jews and heathens become a great swelling sea by Christian, or rather antichristian persecutions: now it is, that all councils and synods are convened in design, held in faction, and broke up in self-interest. No liberty of conscience in those days; no one must dare to buy or sell civilly, or spiritually, but they must first have the mark of that church and state: O monstrous degeneracy! Here is Christ again crucified in the streets of Sodom and Egypt, in the hearts and lives of the sons and daughters of men. So that here are not only thousands of martyrs of Jesus; but Jesus the Lord, once more martyred, the true and faithful Witness:--and they have in all ages hired, and set soldiers, who are killers by profession, to watch against his rising. Now is the church in the wilderness,--the place of obscurity and shelter: this was the winter season, the time of sackcloth and ashes: now all were merry, sending gifts one to another, in their revels and masquerades over the slain witness of the Lord:--here is the bloodiest, and therefore the most woful of all murders.
But this is not all, they proceed to the next commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." And this they have fearfully broken; for Christendom, so called, hath committed adultery most notoriously; and consequently broken God's holy law. For alas! alas! has she not forsaken the everlasting fountain, the spring of immortal life, that is pure for ever, and hewn out to herself cisterns that will hold no water? Has she not deserted her first love, and her first works? And has she not flung herself into the embraces of another lover, whereby she has divorced herself from the living God, and joined to an apostate spirit, by whom numerous is her unclean issue, and many are her abominations that she has brought forth, even such of them, as were neither known to Jew or heathen? This is she that hath committed fornication with all the powers upon the earth, whom she hath bewitched to her cup and to her bed.
But the day of the terrible vengeance of God is come and coming, in which she and her gallants and merchants shall come to judgment: and the remnant of the true woman's seed, that has been sojourning as poor pilgrims in the desolate wilderness with her, are come forth, leaning on the breast of her Beloved, to whom she has been, though a poor and banished, yet a faithful spouse, during this long and tedious reign of antichrist, the whore, beast, false prophet, and dragon, which is the devil. And because her dear husband is King of kings, and Lord of lords, and has all power in heaven and earth, and that it becomes her to be, if his wife, a glorious queen; therefore hath he ordained, that she shall no more sit as one desolate and forsaken, clothed in sackcloth, which is the garment of heaviness: but shall be crowned with the stars, clothed with the sun, and the moon shall be under her feet; that is, the changeable world, with all its temporary glory, shall be her footstool. Then must she needs be exalted above the whorish woman, whose highest throne was but the true and heavenly woman's footstool. In this day, Judah shall dwell safely, and Israel shall be glad.
But we must not stop here, for the priests have been like troops of thieves by the highway side, that have robbed by consent, and like priest, like people. For first, it has been the practice of the clergy of all lands, to insinuate themselves by their policy and flatteries, into the favour of the princes of this world, and thereby procured to themselves large taxes on the people; not only to their better maintenance, but to their being upheld in worldly pomp and grandeur, and the amassing of base treasures to them and their temporal kindred, for which there is neither precept nor example in Holy Scripture,--unless it be, that the false prophets were wont to prepare war of old against such as refused to put into their mouths, that is, to incense the civil magistrate against them as enemies to the government, his religion established by law. O! but the false Christian has herein transcended all former ages. How many millions have they got, not for feeding, but starving the souls of millions! And that which greatly aggravates their sin, is their forgery; alleging the authority of heaven by a mere counterfeit commission; impiously using God's name, to palliate their design; and by the credit his excellent name has with the works of his hands, to obtain to themselves an almost infinite wealth.
But this is not all the robbery I charge Christendom with; for they have both priest and people been confederate with the grand robber, the devil, in robbing God of his honour, and prerogative, which is the hearts and affections of the sons and daughters of men. For when the great Creator made his first settlement upon man and woman, he gave them the earth here, and the heaven hereafter, for their inheritance, and that, to them and their heirs for ever: providing always, that they gave this acknowledgment to their great Lord, that their hearts should be his, a small and reasonable chief rent. But they rebelled, and so forfeited their right, and came under the curse, from whence Christ came to deliver their offspring: some were restored;--it was his work to do so, and to build up the waste places. But not many ages after, an apostasy comes,--not as at unawares, or by chance; it was foreseen, its beginnings, continuance, and end. During this apostasy, the devil has sat as God, and therefore is called the God of this world, and prince of the power of the air, that rules--where?--in the saints? in the sanctified?--no such matter: where then? in the hearts of the children of disobedience, that obey not the truth as it is in Jesus.
Thus hath God been robbed of his honour, propriety, and prerogative, and they have been given to another than the only true and living God. Some have made over their hearts to worldly honour and preferment; others to earthly riches; others to pleasures; others to uncleanness; others to their outward and temporal comforts:--O! many ways there are to forget the Lord.
But the robbery ends not here:--man loseth his own soul:--and what can he give in the dreadful day of account in exchange for his poor soul? People have sold their birthright for a mess of pottage: they have robbed themselves of their own peace; and of their eternal inheritance with God, when time shall be no more.--Which leads me to the next commandment, as amply broken as any of the rest, namely, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." For, alas! there has been no true one borne by Christendom since the primitive days:--and how should she? since she has slain the faithful and true Witness, and crucified him in her streets: nay, and done her endeavour to root out all his friends and brethren, yea, if possible, to extinguish the very life of the Son of God in all that live upon the earth. Nor could she compass all these tragical designs, had she not made use of false witnesses. For she has been occasioned to hire people to swear lies, in all ages, against the witnesses of Jesus, as the Jews did to Jesus and his disciples.
When did she imprison, banish, kill; but under the notion of schismatic, heretic, blasphemer, enemy to God, Christ, and holy church, with the like pretences? Is not this to give false witness against innocent neighbours? But this is not all which proves the breach of this commandment; the whole life of Christendom does it too amply and too lamentably. For are they not false witnesses, who affirm things they never saw, and make profession of things they do not know? If so, when did Christendom see, taste, and handle of the word of eternal life, which she verbally professeth, which is as a fire, an hammer, an axe, a two-edged sword, the word of regeneration, of reconciliation, and of patience, an holy light, and lamp to the soul. Which brings me to the last head, being the substance and matter of it, namely, the blasphemy and lying of Christendom so called.
This great beast rose out of the filthy sea, the corrupt ages of this world, long after the primitive times;--hath heads, which is, perfection of wit and policy;--and ten horns, that is, mighty power;--has had and yet hath the name of blasphemy written upon all his heads; that is, a profession of God in words, whilst he is denied in works;--the grand destructive atheism of the world: it is the blasphemy of all blasphemies, to call God Father, when born of the devil. What! to entitle the pure God to such an impure offspring? to live in the vanities and pleasures and lusts of this world; and yet to say, "Is not God our Father, and is not the Lord on our side?" No, he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, much more to own the children of sin, or to have communion with them: "What hast thou to do to take my name into thy mouth; that hatest to be reformed? though thou criest, I will not hear and though thou callest, I will not answer. Behold, I will make them known to be of the synagogue of Satan, that say, they are Jews, and are not." And this is the greatest of all lies, the lie that is in the right hand, the place of greatest strength and esteem,--religion and worship:--to say they are Christians, and are not; to profess Christ in the history, and crucify him in the mystery. To confess to his outward coming, and resist his inward appearance in themselves; to keep the day of his external birth, while they make merry over him, slain and crucified in their own heathenish hearts; rebelling against his light in their own consciences,--which is Christ's day to them, and Christ is God's everlasting day--O what will be the end of such! "Ye uncircumcised in heart and ear, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as did your fathers, so do ye;" and yet call yourselves the seed of Abraham and children of God, but love and choose a murderer and Barabbas, rather than Christ, the Son of the living God. Oh! what more abominable lie can be told than this? And will not all such, be shut out among them that work and make a lie? if they embrace not the day of their visitation, and come to the Truth; and by it be made free from every evil way.
This is that great iniquity which has profaned the holy place,--that cursed abomination, which stood so long till it hath made desolate the place which God hath sanctified for himself,--the hearts of the sons and daughters of men; the first and last living temple of God: every beast of prey, every unclean bird has taken up their dwelling there, insomuch that God has been like a stranger to the noblest part of the workmanship of his own hands.
And though the Lord has not left himself without witnesses in any age; yet they were so few, and most of them, though accepted according to their day and work, yet so short as to the main work, that a remnant can say, When the Lord first opened the eyes of their understanding, the world lay in a great heap of wickedness, vanity, and confusion: all following the desires of their own hearts, to gratify the lusts of the same, living vainly and wantonly upon the earth:--yea, the whole earth looked like one great wilderness, full of briars and thorns, birds and beasts of prey.
And when God poured out of the Spirit of judgment and of burning upon us, not only making us sensible of his holy terrors in and for ourselves, but of that day of fiery trial he would suddenly overtake the world withal, our faces gathered paleness, and our knees smote together, our hearts fainted, our lips quivered, and our bellies trembled: and all, that we might rest in the day of trouble. Habbakkuk 3:16.
But while we were under the lightning and thunders, and great earthquakes, wars, and rumours of wars, such as had not been since the foundation of the world, as to us--(for the sun became darkened, and the moon was turned into blood, and none of the stars of the night appeared,)--while our agonies took strong hold upon us, and we were in the extremity of our pains; O! the gazing-stock that we were made to all, yea, spectacles to God, angels, and men. Some said, we were bewitched; others that we were strongly possessed of the devil; all astonished: parents beating and disowning their children: children insulting over their parents: masters evilly entreating their servants: servants abusing their masters: the husband using violence to the wife: the wife becoming strange and unnatural to her own husband: and all most cruelly vexed, abused, and tormented by the magistrates, through the wicked and unwearied instigations of the priests of all sorts, by gaols, dungeons, whippings, stocks, pillories, plunders, &c. O the calamity! O the bitter distress of that day! and though we were but few in that day, and very low, poor, and even despicable in our own eyes; yet were we exceeding strong and valiant in the Lord Jehovah, our everlasting strength. For our inward man was daily renewed, and we greatly loved one another: but never till now, did we truly know what Christ was, either in conception, birth, reproaches, sufferings, death, resurrection, or ascension; a mystery to the whole Christian world at this day, who are not turned to the light of Jesus in their own consciences.
And as in the holy watch we kept, not being staggered by the reproaches of the men of this world, but with Moses choosing them, rather than the treasures and pleasures of Egypt, where our dear Lord lay crucified; we exceedingly grew in the grace and favour of God, and we were very tender, by any wandering thought, much more by any evil act, to grieve his holy Spirit, or Babe of righteousness, born in ourselves, whom we desired should reign; being overcome with joy, that He was born who brought life with him to our immortal souls. And after we had staid at Jerusalem, the city of our God and King, to receive his instructions, commission, and authority, abroad we went, upon the pourings out of his Spirit. And we went in the name and power of our God, to declare of his judgments, and to tell of his terrible day, to call all to repentance, and to prepare to meet the Lord, to make ready the way of our God; who was coming to lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, to examine, sift, and winnow the sons and daughters of men; to judge in righteousness, who will not be deceived by vain shows of religion: for he is a jealous God of his honour; and his glory will lie give to no man, neither will he acquit the guilty, or punish the innocent.
But after this breaking forth of ours, and publishing our message to the world, especially to professors; the Scribes and Pharisees take the alarm, they finding their call, qualification, and credit, and, which is most of all in their eye, their maintenance, brought into question, and their whole kingdom shaking: man-made ministry, being proved insufficient; forced maintenance antichristian; and that no man could know, much less preach, divine things without divine revelations, and inspirements; and that no man was a true Christian, much less a true minister, that was not born of water and the Spirit, the fire and holy Ghost. They raged greatly, dispatched their Sauls to Damascus, to the rulers of the nation, crying, "help, help, our religion is lost, and the kingdom of Christ will go down; behold great deceivers, and seducers, and false prophets; antichrists are risen, as was prophesied of, to come in the last days: now they are come, bestir yourselves, make laws, catch them, whip them, imprison them, banish and burn them."
And truly, they lay in wait for blood, and several of us were tried for our lives, for blasphemers, haled out of their synagogues for our pure testimony's sake, some crying, "Knock the rogues down ;" "They are witches," said others; "Devils," said others; "We have a law, and by our law they ought to die."
They never wanted false evidence to produce, as well as that we were frequently made offenders for our true and savoury words, whether in reproof or exhortation uttered, with our lives in our hands, in obedience to the heavenly vision. No justice, no mercy: if we escaped the multitude, the magistrate had the stocking, imprisoning, or whipping us; if we escaped the magistrate, the multitude, at the instigation of the priest, fell like so many greedy wolves or hungry tigers upon us, beating and kicking and dragging us, till some part of our flesh has been like a jelly, often breaking our heads and bones; and some they have murdered by the like barbarous usage: we not daring all this while either to fly the place, or return them one railing accusation; committing our lamentable cause to God alone, to plead our innocency; having no helper in the earth.
Nor were these things all our sufferings, or the depths of our tribulation. By no means; for the sharpest of our trials were from men of a religious profession, whose hearts contrived mischief, and their tongues and pens uttered it with all manner of slander and contradiction; insomuch that when we were not in the hands of the magistrates or multitude; we were almost perpetually employed in disputations and conferences, personal or by writings. On which occasion, the world loving its own, we had great difficulty and wrong; such perversions of our words and sayings, such flouts and jeers, such interruptions and noises, as would have been abhorred of sober heathens.
However, we bore it all, through the holy patience of Jesus; and in the end of these encounters, with Ephesian-like beasts, we rarely missed of some gained to the faith. And finding at long run, that they could neither wrangle, slander, nor persecute us out of that testimony we had borne for the living God, and perceiving that the multitude began to flag, and would no longer be the instruments of their cruelty, taking notice of our great increase, notwithstanding all these oppositions; as also seeing that some of their own kindred and acquaintance were converted, whom they always confessed to be more religiously addicted than themselves, and that this change augmented both their virtue, and their tender love to their kindred; many gave over this way of proceeding; and some moderate respite we had for a time. But persecution by fits;--that is, as at any time the clergy has prevailed with the civil magistrate: and because most, if not all, other ways of nonconformity hide and slink, using their politics for self-preservation; and that we cannot desert our standard or testimony, (since it were to be accessory to the prevalence of darkness,) therefore hath suffering been our lot above all other nonconformists; as our nation can witness.
But, blessed be the name of the everlasting God, he hath been as a pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by day, and a rock in a weary land, and a pure spring by the way-side; and has sustained us by the invisible cordials of his own love, life, peace, and joy; and in the ark of his eternal testament preserved us; making good to us what he promised of old,--That the old lions should be hungry, and the young lions lack their food, and the youth should faint; but they that waited upon the Lord, and trusted in their God, should renew their strength: and no good thong would be withheld from them; they should walk, and not be weary; they should run, and not faint. Yea, he often compassed us about with many and precious promises, and great was our resolution for the Lord; that with Habakkuk we could say, "Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the God of our salvation: the Lord God is our strength, and he will make our feet like hind's feet, and he will make us to walk upon the high places;" and that hath he done many a time to our astonishment. For he hath given us power from on high to bind kings in chains, and nobles in fetters of iron, to tread upon the necks of our enemies, and to possess the gates of them that once hated us. O, I could write a volume of the judgments and mercies and faithfulness of the Lord; who hath kept us, increased us, confirmed us, protected us, and comforted us to this very day: for which thousands are the souls and spirits, that day and night in white linen, the raiment of the first resurrection, bow and reverence, honour and praise, glorify and exalt him, that sits upon the throne, and the Lamb who is worthy for ever!
But much of that wonderment, suffering, and reproach is over; the rigour of our enemies abated; and the blessed Light and Truth in the conscience becomes valuable in the esteem of many, and the sincere followers of it greatly respected; and that by persons of very great quality. And though the laws, oaths, and other customs of our country restrain men of authority from entirely falling in with us, or conferring any secular employments upon us; yet have they with great importunity sought to us in their own personal and family concerns, and reposed all trust and confidence in us. And blessed be the Lord, who hath kept us in the way of integrity, and has so marvellously turned the hearts of the great ones of the earth, insomuch, that we can say, when those who would be thought as the heavens, have sought our destruction, "the earth," mere worldly great men, have often helped "the woman," and saved us from the raging envy of the scribes and pharisees: blessed be the name of the Lord our God! Who is a God like unto him?
And furthermore, this know: now that God hath made this passage in the land of our nativity; and cast his firm anchor of hope in the souls of many thousands in this island, he will suddenly break in upon the nations about us; and all these distresses, that now are in the bowels of Europe are to prepare the way of the Lord. God will thin the people: he will pinch, pine, and wither countries; and into confusion shall Europe run more and more: and when their distress is complete, then shall they cry early and earnestly after the Lord. And welcome, O beauteous! shall the feet of them be, that bring glad tidings to the weary, and the distressed; and when Europe is brought so low as to see there is no helper in the earth, then shall heaven be in request; and to heaven shall her inhabitants look; and from thence shall He come into their hungry souls, whom they have looked for.
And this is the word of the Lord that lives in my soul to you: the Lord whom you look for, shall suddenly come to his temple,--even your hearts. O prepare, prepare! make ready; watch unto his appearing in you, to make you a fit habitation for his holiness to dwell in. Let him have your whole hearts; let the mangers be for the beasts, and not for the Babe of glory, whose very birth brings glory to God on high, peace on earth, and good will towards men. Yet sorrow goes before, and will gird all nations; for in that day, when they shall see whom they have pierced, all kindreds, tribes, and families shall mourn, as one would sorrow for one's first-born, and be in bitterness as for one's only child--and with such shall it be well; for to them will it be not only a day of visitation, but redemption.
But woe unto the idle shepherds in that day, who have fed themselves and not the flock; who have run, and God never sent them; and cried," Thus saith the Lord," and God never spake to them; and that have preyed upon the flock, and prepared war against those that in conscience could not put into their hireling mouths; that have been the great emissaries of the false prophet; and to all that commit sin with greediness, and will have none of the Lord, nor of the knowledge of his ways. But with the priests and rulers of this world, that have drank deep draughts of the blood of the saints, and martyrs of Jesus,--from the eyes of such shall repentance be hid in that day, and their tongues will be scorched with the heat thereof; and they will utter blasphemies against the Most High, and their end will be eternal perdition.
And,"Behold I stand at the door and knock," saith the Lord God, I am ready to be revealed. It shall not be said, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge: but thus saith the Lord, Every soul shall bear his own burden, and for the iniquity that he hath done, shall he die; unless he die to sin by unfeigned repentance: for my swift witness, who is faithful and true, is arising, and by him will I plead with all flesh.
Wherefore, woe to all the inhabitants of the earth, that have cast my law behind their back, and grieved my Holy Spirit; that have taken counsel and not of me, and that have forgotten me days without number; that have lived wantonly upon the earth, and consumed their days in pleasures; that have multiplied sacrifices unto me, but have not hearkened unto my word; that serve me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me; that offer unto me incense, and yet oppress the Holy One of Israel with their iniquities:--my soul loathes your assemblies, and your sacrifices are an abomination unto me. O, repent! repent! why will you die? Turn unto me that I may give you life: obey the light of my Son in your hearts, and ye shall yet live before me.
And all you that separate yourselves from the multitude, in whom my Spirit has been stirring, but have quenched it with your own stirrings, and have made a fire of the sticks that you have gathered; and that compass yourselves about in the sparks of the fire that you have kindled, (which is not the fire that comes from heaven,) behold, "This shall you have at my hand; you shall all lie down in sorrow." Isaiah 1:11.
Wherefore, hear and live: my sacrifice is in mine own Spirit; whose motions do thou wait for, in the silence of all flesh; and give up thyself in obedience unto the same, and I will touch thy heart with a coal from my own holy altar; and a living sacrifice shalt thou offer unto me on my sabbath day, in which thou shall rest from thy own works, and therein shall my soul be delighted, and thou shalt rejoice before me: for with me, the Lord, is everlasting wisdom, strength, and refreshment.
This is the ancient way of the Lord!--this is the path of our God. To you I write, worthy and great women, that you may walk in it, and be of that number, which at this day, (wherein one cries, "Lo here," another, "Lo there,") may lay hold on the skirt of the true Jew, the spiritual circumcision,--revealing himself, it may be, but as a day of small things at first in your souls,--that you may see Him, the only Rock to build upon, that your peace may be great in the Lord, when troubles are round about you. For by this shall the begotten of God be known, and eminently discovered in the days of universal calamity:--tranquility, patience, faith and perseverance, shall conspicuously shine in their very countenances.
Something rose in my heart to write to you of my own convincement; with what entertainment I received from kindred, acquaintance, rulers, &c. the many circumstances belonging to my conversion and travail, which, though inferior to your quality, might not be ungrateful or unserviceable to you: but I see it is not to be this season. Besides, I have been very large already; yet all along in obedience to the love and life of my God in my soul, being herein acted beside all regard to worldly method, phrase, or contrivance, unworthy of them that take in hand to write of divine things at the will and appointment of God.
I commit and commend you to the Word of Jesus, nigh in your hearts, in the holy watches of it, to be kept and preserved, that the evil one touch you not; and that this holy Word, which is Christ, the Son of the living God, may be brought forth in you, have room in your hearts to live and grow; till you are replenished therewith. A great mystery it is,--but very true, and to the children of light very plain;--that he that brings us forth into the regeneration, is brought forth in us, the church is born of Christ, and Christ is born of the church: wherefore the apostle wrote to the Galatians, that he travailed in birth again till Christ was formed in them. And what is this virgin church but so many virgin members, that being overshadowed by the holy Ghost conceives, and in the fulness of time brings forth this glorious man-child, that is to rule the nations. Wherefore, in that pure virgin life, live; where the sweet overshadowings of the holy life of Jesus are felt, that you may continually bring forth fruits to the honour and glory of the name of the Lord: which is the way to your eternal peace.
I have but one thing more, and I take my leave of you at this time;--and that is,--remember the poverty, simplicity, self-denial, patience, and the cross of Jesus:--I beg of you, by all that is dear and sacred to you:--shrink not at his baptism, neither so much as tamper with any latitude, that would evade his bitter cup. Let not his vinegar and gall be unpleasant, nor his crown of thorns troublesome: and last of all, let not his nails and spear be terrible to you; for they that will not forsake him in his agonies, but be companions of his tribulations, and cheerfully lay down their life, and die with him to the world,--they, and none else, shall rise with him in the newness of life; and ascend with him to his Father, by him to be glorified with that glory, which he had with his Father before the world began.
Unto which kingdom, God Almighty conduct you, through this earthly pilgrimage, Amen!
Yours, in that love and life, which reigned before sin and death had a being.
W. Penn
1. 1.. Penn, Travels, pages 167-192.