THE Word of the Lord TO HIS CHURCH AND Holy Assembly Regenerated and born again of the righteous Seed which the Lord hath blessed To whom this is sent to be carefully and distinctly read in the fear of the Lord when they are met together in the Light of the Covenant of the most High God Blessed yea for ever blessed are they whose Names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life Printed in the Year 1666. The Word of the Lord to his Church etc. DEar precious Brethren and Sisters in the ever honourable peaceable birth of the Seed immortal which the Lord hath blessed grace mercy and peace be multiplied amongst you in the aboundings of the enlarged mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom feel the flow of the bowels of your brother whose life with all the relations and enjoyments of this world hath been and is freely given up to serve you Dear breathing hungry and thirsty babes of my heavenly Father Oh the deep of his compassions that opens in my heart to you Children Immortal born again in which bowels of tender love I exhort you all diligently to watch to the heavenly attendancies of the spirit of life in the Covenant of Light in the Lord our Righteousness that you may all feel his mighty power condemning sin in the flesh and quicken your spirits to live and reign through faith in his name that over the accuser of the Brethren you may stand and never more to be bowed down as some of you have been in years past through the mysterious working of the evil attendancies of your minds in which you will read me in what I write for you that fear the Lord & watch to his light you have a clear discovery in the true sensibility of what is good and what is evil and hear you have learned your condemnation but some that come forth with us after a regulation of their conversations in some outward observations according to the light for want of watchfulness are drawn by the mystery of iniquity and so go from us to rest in what they have done and delights their hearts in the knowledge more than the life that gives the knowledge and thus they eat the forbidden fruit and what ever is pretended in the service of God there is self-endedness in every undertaking and under the fainedst humi●ity a self-priding spirit is found as it is written I deck thee with my jewels but thou took my jewels and played the harlot and decked thyself and these are they that run and busies themselves to be helpful in the work of the Lord whom the Lord never sent and though they may conceit themselves they do a great deal of good and say in their own hearts I am wise and rich and sees and wants nothing which in the taste of the immortal birth which taste all things as it really is they are known to be blind na●ed and miserable and want all things and so is manifest that God never sent them therefore do they not profit the people at all and if they turn not to the light to wait for God to destroy the self-priding spirit in the gifted man that the birth may reign that makes self of no reputation but they abide where they are to feed of the tree of knowledge of good and evil from whence rises strife and contentions then shall they assuredly perish as the glory of the flower of the field and be consumed as the withering grass and shall be extinguished as the wandering Stars which fall down to the Earth whose lustre and glory shall be seen no more f●r the Lord will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea and all intruding births that offer up a sacrifice before the Lord which burdens the Children of the Royal seed what is before written it shall come upon them the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it to my great joy And all you dear Lambs of the Lord God Almighty who delights to hear the living voice of the spirit of the most high God amongst his people that so you may have the bread of life broken to you for which you hunger and until you have it your sorrows is known unto the Lord etc. and to withhold you from the enjoyment of what you hunger for great is the wrath of the enemy as before written as he leads some to their own destruction in a self-priding spirit in outward observation so doth he seek to destroy the innocent babes by his temptations and his secret and private accusations where he continually seeks to add affliction to the afflicted who live in the deep sense of their own misery notwithstanding all their obedience with life to death until they be sealed up with the holy spirit of promise in the free mercies of God in the Covevant of Light in the Lord thereto be established in the marriage union with Christ our Righteousness for ever And seeing you dear Lambs that abhors every evil way in love to the Lord who manif●steth his light which reacheth the sensitive part God in his Eternal Wisdom to hide pride from Man and that not any should boast and say stand by I am holier than thou that all may be buried in the sense of their own misery therefore hath he hid our life with Christ in God that all his Children may lie prostrate before the throne of his Grace and free mercy there to wait till he reveal the life to satisfy the soul according to the desire raised up in the light but oh dear Lambs how d●th the accuser rage and takes his advantage when you do not feel the life as sensibly satisfying your thirst as you are sensible in the Light what you thirst for oh how doth the accuser bow you down to undervalue what the Lord hath done for you and cause you to look constantly at your own weakness and at the temptations you meet with all and often accuses you that few is like unto you and that you will never be able to get over those besetments and evil attendancies of your minds and hear many lies mourning in secret bearing many heavy burdens through harkening to the accuser who violently assaults you and accuses you day and night before the throne of God and when any sparklings of the glory of the quickening spirit is manifest in you to raise you up to believe in the name of Christ where your life is hid Then the Accuser in great fury strikes you down and bids you take heed of presuming there is no such thing belongs to you as yet you must see such and such things overcome before you can expect such attainments of the free mercy of the Lord thus doth the enemy chain you in darkness and draws you into a self-striving spirit where many strives to enter the Kingdom and enters not for without Faith there is no entrance neither is it possible to please God therefore all Children born Immortal you can understand me in this matter for unto you this is directed in the simpathizing spirit where your burdens is mine and your sorrows is my sorrows when I behold how the enemy chains you down and how the red Dragon in the greatness of his rage is ready to devour the tender birth which hath no life but in the Righteousness of God in Christ the sense of your exercises weights and burdens causes mine eyes to be as a fountain of tears to water the Altar of God when I approach the throne of his Grace in the sensibility of all your misery to wrestle with the Lord my God in the strength of the life which hath delivered my soul out of the thraldom where you are bound and the Lord is prevailed withal for you and he hath commanded me in the word of his faithfulness in this day that his spirit is poured upon me to preach the Gospel to you that is poor in your spirits and to entreat and beseech you to judge sin and self and lend not your ears to the accuser or to any evil attendancy that would hinder you as little Children to enter the Kingdom or for looking up in the light to lay hold on the life through faith in the name which in the unlimited power and soul saving sanctifying spirit of the Lord Jesus which will supply all your wants for he is as free to save you as he is to convince you of the need of his Salvation Oh the Lord persuade you of the truth of these words that I may be eased in the travel of my soul for you who st●nd mourning at a distance and will not come that you may have life oh be entreated in true watchfulness in the light to judge all your doubts thoughts fearfulness and unbelief and what ever would hinder you from laying hold of the soulsaving Power of the Lord of Life Oh let not the locks of the beloved be any more bedewed with the drops of the night which is your doubts and resistances of his love but all you necessitated people that are born of the Seed that cannot live without the Light of the Countenance of God and in the secret of your hearts abhors all self-seeking and self-serving that you may serve the Lord in uprightness is the pressure of your spirits and your daily breathe unto the Lord Oh open your ears and hear the Proclamation from the Throne of the Glory of the unlimited love and mercy of the God of your Salvation who hath commanded me once more in the demonstration and power of his spirit to exhort ye all in the light of his own Covenant to come away to the Fountain of life let not the excusing Man be harkened unto in this day of God's invitation but every one in the sense of your necessities draw near and look all to the God of living mercy for as the Serpent was lift up in the Wilderness so is the Son of Man lifted up this day therefore come away come away in the simplicity of your spirits and resign freely to be ordered by him who saith who ever comes unto me I will in no wise cast off and he will cure you of all your maladies he will cause the lame to leap and you that hath been blind to see his love extending unto you and he will bind up your broken heart's and he will comfort the mourners in Zion and he will lift up the bowed down heads and he will consolate the afflicted and set free the Captives and he will wash the stains off all your Garments and he will dry up all the Ishues that hath putrified and will cause the dumb to speak and the solitary to sing the high praises of our God he will be the Husband of the desolate Widow and an entertainer of the stranger in his great distresses and a Father he will be to the immortal birth that hath no comfort but in his presence therefore I beseech you and dearly entreat you who hath any sensibleness upon your spirits of the need of the help of the Lord our God Oh stand not at a distance in unbelief oh be persuaded to commit your souls and bodies to the orderings of the Lord Jesus where your help is laid up for you and all that truly wait and believe in his Light and Life shall see the Windows of Heaven opened and the Sluices of the River of pleasure drawn and the Floodgates of mercy set wide that every one that 's born again may find more strength life soulsaving power joy and peace in the Light and Covenant of Life in the Lord Jesus then there is strength in the power of Darkness to draw us from him Therefore dear Brethren and Sisters be not doubtful be not doubtful but believe over above and beyond all whatever appears within or without that would draw you from your steadfast standing in the Light Power and Life of Jesus that so through faith in his name you may say to the Mountains be removed and it shall be so yea in this faith resist the Devil he will fly away and you shall tread down Satan and trample upon all wicked thoughts and evil attendancies of your minds as ashes under the soles of your feet yea the accuser of the Brethren that accused you before the Throne of God will be cast down and you shall reign over him in the Light and Life of the Lord of Glory and so become the free born Sons and Daughters of the ever living God members of the Church of the first born who are redeemed from the Earth and on whom the ends of the World is come that in newness of Life through faith you may live which will make an entrance through all that would veil into the holy City new Jerusalem where there is no curse neither is the Gates shut day nor night for there is no night as you in the powerful word of faith reign over your dark thoughts doubts and accuse which did benight you but now fight the good fight of faith the enemy will be kept forth of your habitations and you will see your right to the Tree of Life which stands in the midst of the Paradise of God there to feed and grow Pillars in the Temple of the Lord and shall go no more forth but as you have received Christ so to walk in him and as you are overcome with the glory of his pure love and constrained in the overcoming life to offer up sacrifice of prayer exhortation or praises in the Assemblies of the People of the Lord or in your own Families you are to be faithful for the least mite of the returns of his own spirit is acceptable to him so every one minister according to the aboundings of the manifold Grace of God and let not any from this liberty be hasty to utter words before the Lord lest they be found intruders and have their reward with them as is before written in this Epistle who are the troubles of the Heritage of God where ever they come yet notwithstanding what they do let not the dear Children of the Lord be unfaithful when you are moved in the forcible power of the Word of the Lord which is as a fire and a hammer that breaks the R●cks in pieces and lays all in the dust before the Lord within you be you faithful and keep in the bounds and limits of the pure savoury spirit of Life that so we may all be as a Family of Prophets and as Assemblies of living Ministers from the highest stature to the least babe born again Immortal of the seed of God in whom the spirits of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets and every Member in the pure life will know their service in the body the strong leading the weak by the hand and in all attainments of the gifts of God denies and girts up self to serve one another in pure love which is known in the inward Man the washing one another's feet and here is Christ and his Disciples and the Lord really known to be one and his name one which binds up in the Eternal Unity of the Spirit and bond of peace being all clothed with the Wedding Garment sitting at the Table of the Lord eating his flesh and drinking his blood so we being many are one bread in Christ the bread of Life and he binds us up in the one Garment his own Righteousness where there never was rend nor never will because our head who commands and governs the Members of his body is the Prince of Peace and therefore Peace he gives unto us which the World knows not neither can they take it from us let every one read that can understand their lot to be in this Inheritance and there to abide to the end of their days that an Eternal Crown of Glory may remain with them here and for ever when time shall be no more And all you my honourable Brethren and Sisters in the Lord who travel in the strength of his pure peaceable Spirit to gather the scattered of the House of Israel the Glorious Presence of the Almighty God prosper you in your undertake who often leaves the ninty and nine that kept their state with God and in the unwearied spirit labours to bring in the souls that is driven away and when they will submit to the Word of the Lord oh how do you bear their burdens and brings them again with joy and triumph with the host of Heaven who rejoices more over one that was lost but now found and brought again then over the ninty and nine that need no repentance for you with me knows assuredly they that turn a sinner from the error of his ways saves a soul from death and hides a multitude of sins therefore shall you shine as Stars in the Firmament of Heaven abiding faithful in gathering many souls to God Righteousness in whom feel my life with you in the forcible unity in this spirit of our beloved Oh the Lord increase the number of you dear pre●ious ever honourable Brethren and Sisters in whom this pure peaceable spirit of our beloved reigns my soul blesses the name of the Lord for you that ever you had a being amongst the Children of Men for you are the Chosen of the Lord from the least to the highest stature for to stand saviours upon mount Zion this day wherein the Lord is making up his Jewels whom he hath prepared to endure the trial of this suffering day which ten years ago I was sent to proclaim in your ears that all might prepare to meet the Lord when it should speak forth itself as in some measure it hath done and now doth to awake all to walk in newness of life to reign over the spirit of this world and all the pomp and glory thereof and so to dwell in the established life there to be hid in the hollow of the hand of the Almighty God as in a munition of Rocks in this dreadful and terrible day of the Almighty God wherein all hearts will fail but whose confidence is in the Lord alone and waits in the Resurrection of the Royal seed to be kept out over and above all things that would provoke the eyes of his glory that so in close union every soul may be kept in the bosom of the Lord of life the husband of the bride the Lamb's wife for whom the eternal everliving glorious majesty God over all hath determined to appear as he hath done so will he more and more for the help of his helpless People whom he hath chosen to trust in him before the Sons of Men and hath given victory to overcome in washing their Garments and making them white in the blood of the Lamb therefore stand they before the throne of God praising him day and night in his holy Temple over all the wrath and cruelty of Men therefore all Chosen of the Lord look up to the Lord who will plead our cause in the face of all People for Michael the great Prince spoken of by Daniel the Prophet will stand up and deliver them whose Names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life Oh let us trust in Him and give up all to Him for he will astonish the People as much as ever he did in any Generation when he arises in his dreadful vengeance to plead the cause of his own Church which he will preserve and who finish in the way their faithful Testimony the Crown of Glory is their reward for ever but a remnant there is who shall see the Lord bring to nought all the wicked devices of the enemies of God in this Nation whom he will pour his vengeance upon that they shall curse the day that ever they afflicted the Innocent of the holy God whose confidence is in the Lord alone yea it makes my eyes to be watered with tears in the deep sense of the great Calamity that will come upon those that seek to destroy the People of the most high God Oh vengeance terrible vengeance from the Lord our God will be poured forth that shall cause all hearts to fail that withstand the rising of his Glory and they shall gnaw their tongues for pain in the anguish of their souls until they set free the Redeemed of the Lord and give them liberty to serve their God in the Land of their Nativity And this my God hath commanded me once more to declare unto you dear suffering Lambs of my Heavenly Father for he is mighty to save and will not let any sufferings come upon us but he will give us ability to rejoice through over and beyond all that the power of da●k●ess can do for he will cause the Earth to shake and the hearts of the People to fail and all Nations shall know he is our God who will manifest his power txo the sight of our enemies that not any weapon form against us shall ever prosper or tongue lifted up but it shall fall in Judgement which the Lord will perform in his own time the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Through your Brother and Companion in the Kingdom of patience and tribulation in the Lord Jesus where my life is bound up with you for ever Given forth from the Spirit of the Lord in the common Goal in Warwick the 27. day of the fifth Month 1666. William Dewsbury THE END