AN Epistle to Friends IN THE TRUTH.  
Dear Friends,  
ALL Love one another in the Light and Life of Jesus Christ our Saviour, that forever you may be the Children of the Light; for in the Light you first received Living Authority and Power to stand against the Enemy of your Souls, and so'came to be true Believers in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and to fight the good Fight of Faith in the Lamb's War, and obtain the Victory over Hell and Death, as many as have obeyed the Lord, and been faithful to his Requirings; so that such are become Teachers of others in the Light, to direct and turn them to the Power of God. Now, dear Friends, Hold fast your Confidence here, in Believing in the Name of the Lord Jesus; be Truehearted in the Power, that you may be kept Blameless and Pure in the Light, always capable of the Teachings of the Lord: For Friends, it is the Lord alone that hath taught us to profit, and hath let us see his Way, as we have stood in his Counsel, and hath put our Enemies under us, and we rest sweetly and safely with great Delight under the Shadow of the Almighty; Glory to his Name forever, all Praises for evermore, who dwelleth on High, and hath given Spiritual Gifts to his Faithful Children, and is come through the Clouds in this Day with great Power, and is setting up his own Authority in the Earth, that every Tongue may confess and every Knee bow to it, and the Mighty Great God is with us in our Assemblies and Meetings, when we come together in his Name, in his Servic; his Presence fills our Meetings, and his Power empowers us for the Work he hath for us to do, he hath not failed us at any time, as we have stood in his Counsel, and been diligent in our places to do his Will; but as a mighty clear Fountain he hath opened unto us, and directed us what we should do in his Name.  
Therefore this is my Exhortaion to you, dear Friends, Cleave to your Services in your several Places, both Men and Women; let nothing daunt you, nor discourage you from performing your Duty to God in what you are called unto: You know the Power of God to be with you, who are faithful, to arm you and defend you against the Power of Satan, and all his ways, and devices, and turn whatsoever; the Lord is with you, and his Design is to arm you more and more with his Armour of Strength and Wisdom, and to encourage you, and make you Valiant in his Name, that you may be fresh and lively, to hear the lively Voice of your Captain and Bishop of your Souls, Christ Jesus: Oh! shall he not go on who hath so gloriously begun to Rule, and to take the Kingdom? What a Pattern hath he shown of his blessed Reign and Government out of his Holy Mount, even to the Admiration of those who behold it? Light, Light, a Day of Light and Glory is arisen and arising, the God of Heaven is setting up his Kingdom over all, and giving the Spirit of Right Government unto his Sons and Daughters, that they may be  and Learned, to walk in his Wisdom; and be grave and sober, as Patterns in their Places, to receive God's living Oracles from his own Mouth, to dispense them in every service, according to the End for which they are appointed.  
T●is is the Standard we are to be kept unto, and the Banner we are to fight under; for the Lord fights for us, who will not give his Glory to another, nor give away his Right to Reign; For who can put him down? And as we cleave unto him, who can disinherit us, as we keep to the Noble Principle of God in Humility, fixed in the Life of Immortality in Christ Jesus, where none can take our Crown, nor Hell or Death prevail against our Faith? But if we turn from this Holy Power of God, to set up our own Fancies instead of it, and resist the Power, then though we have been on God's holy Mount, and in his Garden, and have walked up and down in the midst of the Stones of Fire, and been set by God as covering Cherubs whilst standing in the Power and precious Life of the dear Lord Jesus; yet in exalting above the Power, and the Simplicity of it, this State is dangerous and falling, and the Power and Life abides forever, and will stand forever, and the Courts of Heaven will prevail; and what is done there will stand amongst the Faithful, and never be blotted out; for God is exalting his own Name above every Name that is named, and is still prevailing in his Heavenly Wisdom; and the Glory of his House is seen, that he is setting up, and the greater than Solomon is the Builder and Framer thereof, by that Eternal Word that built all Things in the Beginning, and the Instruments and Workmen in the Hand of the Lord are his Saints, and faithful Worshippers, who magnify his Name, and admire the Glory of his Presence; for when they come to present themselves before the Lord to be exercised in his Service, he gives them pure Wisdom, & doth not fail his grave and sober Ones who seek his Glory; but arms them, and defends them by his Power to stand his faithful Witnesses.  
They are no Dreamers who keep in the Power, nor silly Women to be captivated in Ignorance; but they go forth in the Strength of God, and are Conquerors for God, and triumph in the Holy Power, where Victory is obtained: These are the Elders and Servants of God in his Work and Service, in their Places; their Counsels he hath blessed, and their Hearts he hath strengthened every where to a holy Life and Government in themselves, and they are ready to do good unto others, daily waiting for the pure Openings of Life in the Cross of Christ: let none hurt these, nor discourage these in any of their faithful Services in the Truth, nor slight their work whom God hath chosen & found out for himself, and impowered with the Gift of his Wisdom, and fortified with his Strength; who return Praises to God, when they have reaped and done the Heavenly William.  
Blessed be the Lord God for his great Wisdom, in managing his own blessed work by his own Power & Defence; for he hath gathered many precious Meetings of his People; and as his Power and Work prevaileth amongst them, he makes them to know their Places and Services in the Body; thus he hath wisely appointed our Men and Woman's Meetings to be kept in his Life and living Authority, to keep Unity, and to keep out the Enemy and his Work from being owned amongst us, but testified against in the Power of the dear Lord Jesus, to the stopping of the mouths of our Blasphemous Enemies, who watch for Evil, and to charge Wickedness on the Truth and the Friends of it; therefore do we stand for God, and witness for him against the Evil & disorderly Walking in any who profess Truth; and such things are and aught to be inquired into; and such Wisdom the Lord doth guide and is guiding his Faithful Children in, that they may have in a Readiness wherewith to stop the mouths of their Slanderous Enemies upon all Occasions: So that the weighty Service of these Meetings is known to them who are exercised therein; and what a blessed Presence of God does go along with such Meetings, there are many Witnesses; for the Power being kept unto, it is impossible there should be formality, or Form without Power in any of our Meetings whatsoever, but clear Life and the Dominion of the Lord Jesus himself, the Teacher and Lawgiver.  
And such Meetings are the chief means to keep out Formality, or Form without Spirit and Power, and to keep out the unclean Apostatising Spirit; for that which goes from the Power of God apostatises into Evil: but in meeting to wait upon God we know was the good Exhortation in the Beginning, and the Holy Spirit of Life and Power came upon us, and filled our Hearts, and strengthened our Souls to Salvation; it is a Heavenly State, and State above all other States in this Life, when we approach unto the Lord in all our Meetings, to wait upon him, out of the Exercise and Cumber of other matters, to be solaced and delighted together with the Presence of God only, comforted and strengthened one in another, the most Pure Heavenly State to the Faithful of all States & Conditions here, and the freest to enjoy the Lord's pure Presence; thus it is in all our Meetings and Comings together in the Lord, a perfect Bulwark against the Devil and his Kingdom; and the Increase of his Government will more and more be known here, until we come to that Everlasting Meeting in Christ Jesus when Time shall be no more.  
And the Faithful in all Meetings and Places will do faithfully, and the Presence of the Lord Jesus is with them over all; but the Disobedient have not (nor can have) their Lot in this Matter, until they come into Faithfulness, and then they will know, that the God of Power and Life, Heavenly Virtue and Wisdom, is with his People in all their Meetings, of which there will be a great Increase.  
And all Good Spirits will bless the Meetings of the faithful, and not reflect upon them; but will see upon every necessary Occasion relating to Truth, what Need there is of meeting to wait upon the Lord for Wisdom and Counsel from him, that every Decision may be by the Counsel of the Lord alone opened in his Servants, to judge for Jesus Christ, unto whom all Judgement is committed, whose true Judgement will rest upon the beloved faithful People, that so it will wholly be the Measuring of God in all things in all, to his Glory forever and evermore.  
Ah dear Friends, salute one another with this holy Kiss in the pure holy Life, Counsel, Spirit and Wisdom of Jesus, that your Lips may forever praise that God who hath brought such great and mighty Things to pass, in this Day of his Power: My Tongue cannot express these Mighty Wonderful Things the Lord is doing for his People, and the Glory he is revealing: Oh this Mighty, Ancient, Blessed Power of God, which we have so largely tasted of; Honour be to his Name for evermore, who hath thus loved us, to pour his Spirit upon us, and give us to live to behold such a Glorious Day as this: Oh! arise, and shine forth more and more, dear Hearts, and come out of all that's visible, to be united in the invisible Power of Jesus, that we may behold one another here, in that Love that is everlastingly Pure and Chaste forever.  
The Apostasy came in in the Primitive Times, by going from the Spirit of the dear Lord Jesus, and then they became Proud, Conceited and Selfended, and set up themselves, and their own Corrupt Judgements, and became Formal and Corrupt in all their Meetings and Counsels, abusing the Power of God, setting up their own Wisdom and Formal Spirit against it, and so departed from that primitive Purity that shone forth in the Apostles & their Councils: So here was mere Formality indeed, and the blessed ancient Services of the true Apostles contemned, and their Work despised; thus came in the Apostasy, and the Earth got in, and the Earthly Dark Spirit; but they that kept to the Power, were kept in the Good Order, atop of the Apostasy, and did not fall nor apostatise.  
And so now, they that keep to the Power of the Lord Jesus, it is the same, the Care and Oversight of all is committed to them, and not to the Apostatising Spirit, that goes from the Power: So in the Power is the Government and Good Order of Jesus preserved amongst us, and the Counsel of God we find with us continued with a daily growth of Power and holy Wisdom; so that Righteousness and Holiness is running down like a mighty Stream; and what we have the sense of, we are confirmed in, in the same blessed Principle that first convinced us, and wrought mightily in us; and our Hearts are to God without Guile or Straightness, that we may entirely serve him in all things, and not ourselves; this is become the Delight of a chosen Remnant, who cannot forget his ancient Mercies sealed to our Hearts; and we know by what Means and Power we stand and abide faithful to the Lord, to keep out the Enemy from amongst us, to be clear and sound in the Judgement of the Lord Jesus, that to nothing we may adhere or join to, but to the same Eternal Power and Spirit of God we first begun in; and here is our blessed Union and Fellowship preserved in the Strength of the dear Lord Jesus.  
Unto which that all may be kept waiting for Heavenly Wisdom, Teaching, Counsel, Instruction and Direction in all Counsels, Meetings, and upon all Occasions, is the true Desire of him, who is your Dear Brother and Fellow-Labourer in the Work of the Gospel, Christopher Taylor. Written at Waltham in Essex, the 8th of the 11th Month, 1675.