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Show 8S6 The Rife And Progrefs VoL. I. that is foundeft of all, viz. Cbrifl the Powtr of God, This ia the Kryof D~vid, that opens and none jhuu, a1Jd fo11ts, o'!'d uone can open: As the Oil to the Lamp, and the Soul to the Body, fo IS tha~ ~o the heft of Wo~ds. Which made Chrift to fay, .illy Words, t hq are Sp1nt, and t~ey ore L ife; that is, they are from LifC, and therefor~ they .make you :1hve, that receive rhem. lf the Difciples, that had lived With Jef~s, were ~o ftay at Jerufalem, rill they received it ; much more mufi we UM~t to rue1ve before we minifter, if we will turn People from Darknefs to L1ghr, and from Satan's Power to God. I fervently bow my Knees to the God and F3ther of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that you may always be li~e mtnded, that you r:nay ever wazt rcvere'!t't, for the Coming aod Open1ng of the Word of L1fe,_ and_fltte~~ upon It m your Miniftry and Service, that you may fer~'e God 111 hiS Spa It. And he it little or he it much it is well; for much IS not too much, and the leafi: is enough, if frcm the 'Motion of God's Spirir ; and without ir, verily, ne· ver fo little is too much, becaufe to no Profit. For it il the Spirit of the Lord immediately or through th( flfiniflry of his Servants that teacherh his People to profit; and to he fure, fo far as we take hidt along with us in our Services ; fo far we arc profitable and no farther. For if ic be the Lord that muft work all Things in us, for our Salvation, much more is it the Lord that muit work in us for t\le Conver· fion of others. If therefore h was once a Crofs to us to fpeak, though the Lord required itatourHands; let us never be fo to be[rlent, when he does not. It is one of the moit dreadful Sayings iR the Book of G?d, That b~ that adds to tbr Words of rhe Prophecy Of this Book, God wr/J add !O btm tbe Plagues written intbH Book. To keep back the Counfel of God! IS aster· rible; f or be tbnt taku away from the Words of tb~ Book of thu p,.~pbrcy, God fhalltakeawaybisPart out of tbe Book of Lif~. And truly, It has great Caution in i.t, to thofe that ufe the Name of the Lord, to be well afi'ured the Lord fpeaks, that they may not be found of the Number of thofe that add to the Words of the Tefiimony of Prophecy, which the Lord giveth them to bear ; nor yet to mince or dimini!h the fame, both being fa very offenfive to Gcd. Wherefore Brethren, let us be careful neither to out-go our Guide. nor yet loiter ~hind him; fince ~e th?t makes Hafte, may miiS his Wa.f, and he that ftays behind, lofe hts Gutdc. For even thofe that have recct· ved the Word of the Lord, had need wait for Wifdom, that they may fee how to divide the Word aright: Which plainly implieth that it is pollible for one that hath receh,ed the Word of the Lord, to mifs in the dividing :md ApPlication of it. which muft come from an lmparienc;: of Spirit, a~d a Self-working, which makes an unfound and dangerous Mixture ; and wtll · hardly beget a right·minded living People to God. I am earnefi in this above all Confiderations, as to publick Brethren~ well knowing how much it co~cerns the pe~fent and future State, and P~efervation of the Church of Chrtft Jefus, that has been gathered and butlr up by a Living and Poroerful Miniflry, that the Miniftry beheld, preferved, and continued in the Manife!btions Motions and Supplies of the J11me Life and Powr, from Tim.e to Time... . . And where-ever it ts (lbferved, that any do mmdler more from Gifts and Parts, than Lifr and Pou·er, tho' they have an lulightned and Doilrinal Underftanding, let them in Time be ad~ifed :md admonirhed for their Prefervation, hecaufe infenfibly fuch will come to depend upon a &ljSu. fficiencyJ to forfake Chriit the Living Fountain, and hew out unto the~felv~ s Ciflerm that will hold no Living W11ters: And by Degrees fuch wtll come to draw others from waiting upon the Gift of God in themfeh'c:S, an~ to feel it in others, in Order to their Str~ngth and R~frejhmenr, to walt upon them, and to turn from God to Man again, and fo make Shipwrack of the Faith once delivered to the Sairits, and of a good Confcience to .. wards God J1 which are only kept by that Divine Gift of Life, that begat the one, and awaken'd and fani\:ified the other in the Beginning. Nor Vox.. I;, OJ the People calfd Quakers. Nor is it enough, that we have known the Divine Oifr and in it havt reached to the Spinu i11 Prifon, and been the lnfiruments 'of the Convin· cing of others, of the Way of God, if we keep not as low and poor in our fel ~e~, and as depending u_pon the Lord,. as e\'er: Since no Jliemory, no Reperzrtons of former Openmg1, Revslanons or Enjoyments, will bring a Soul t? God, ~r afford Bre11d to the Hungry, or fVaur to the Thirfty, unlefs Ltfe go wuh what we fay, and that mull be waited for. 0 that we may have no other Fountain, Treaf11re or Dependence! Th.:J.t none may p~efume at any Rate to all of themfelves for God, becaufe they have 1onga.B:ed from God; that we may not fupply W.1nt ofw.:J.iting with our o"!n W1fdom, or think that we may ttke lefs Care, and more Liberty in fpeak1ng than formerly ; and that where we do not feel the Lord by his PoIIJer, to open us and enlarge us, whatever be the Expectation of the Pea. ple, or has been our cuftomary Supply and Chara8er, we may not exceed or fill up the Time with our own. · I hope we fha1l ever remember, who it was that fald, Of yo11r filves you ctm do nothing: Our Sufficiency is. in him. And if We are not to fpeak our own Words, or take tho11gbt what we fhould fay to Men in our Defence; when expofed for our Teftimony, futely we ought to fpeak none of our Dum Words, or td.( tb!Jugbr wbat.\'Ve fhall fay in our Teftimony and Miniftry, in the Name of our Lord, to the Souls of the People; for then of all Times, and of an other Occafions, fhould it be fulfi lled in oUS, f or iris nor youthar fpellk, but th( Spirit of my Farber t hat fpea/(.eth in you, . . And indeed, the Minitlry of the Spirit, muft and does keep itsAn•logy and J!gretmtnt, with the Birth of the Spirit, that as no Man can inherit the Kingdom of God, un!rfs he he horn of the Spirit, Co no Miniftry can beget a Soul to God, but that which is from rbe Spirit. For this, as I faid before, the Difciples waited before they went forth ; and in this, our Elder Brethren, and .i't1ejfengers of. God in our Day, waited, vifired and re.rcbed u:r. and having begun in the S(irit, let none ever hopeorfeek robe made perfetl i1t tbe Fkjh: For whar is theFiefo to the Spirit, or the Ch11ffto the Wheat? And if we keep in the Spirit, we fhall keep in the Unity of it, which is the Ground of the FeUowfoip. For by Drinl:.ing into thjlt one Spirit, we are made one People to God, and by it we are continued in the Unity of tho Faith and the Bond of Peace. l\To envying, nD Biuern~ji, no Strif e, can have 'PlacC with us. We !hall watch alw3.ys for Good, and not for Evil, one over another, and rejoyce exceedingly, and not begrudge at one dnorber'r In ere aft in the Riches of the Grace with which God replenithsth his faith· ful Servants. And Brethren, as to you is committed the Difpenfation of the Oraolet of Ciod, which give you frequent Opportunities, and great Place with the People among whom you travail, I bef~ech ,YOU th~t you Wo:'ld not think it fufficient, to declare the Word of L1fe, 10 theu Atrembhes; however edifying and comfortable fuch Opportunities may be to you and them : But as was the Praaice of the Man of God, before mentioned, in great Me;fure, when among us, inq_~ire the State of the feveral Churches. you vifit ; who among them. are affitflcd or jick, who. are Tempud, . and. tf a· ~are lln/ttitbfMI or objlmatt; and endeavour to ifi'ue thofe Th1ngs 1n th~ ifJom and Power of God, which will be a glorious Croron uf.on your lUr· ry. As that prepares your W.1y in the Hearts of the Peop e, to receive u as Men of God, fait gives you Credit with them to do them Good by J r Advice in other Refpefts, the Affiitled will be comforted by you, the· 'l)fnpted firengthened, the Sick refrefhed, the Unfaithful convi~:d ~nd reloted, and fuch as are obftinate, foftned and fitted for ReconcJh:t.tton, which is clinching the Nail, and applying and fa!lning t~e g~neral Tefi1mo· ny, by this parricula; Care of the fe~er~l Branches of lt, 1n Refe~ence to them more immethate~y concerned 1n tt. . For though Good and Wife .llten, and Eider. tpo, may refide m fuch Pia· ces, who are of wonh <\nd. Imporrante in the general, and 1n other Places ; yet it does not always follow, that thoy may have the Room they defcn;~ |