AN EPISTLE To all FRIENDS That be Travelling towards the Holy CITY and REST that is in the Everlasting Life, that they may not Over-charge themselves, nor Burden themselves in their Journey.  
WITH A Visitation of Pure Love To all such as have Erred in their Hearts from the Holy Commandment, that to the Lord, who is is very Gracious and Merciful, with all their Hearts they may be Turned, and so be by him Saved.  
DEar Friends, that have a Love to the Lord in your Hearts, that would enter in at the Strait Gate and Narrow Way, that is holy and undefiled forever; but its End is Peace and Everlasting Life. They that will so fight the good Fight of Faith, like the good Soldiers of Christ, as to take hold of Eternal Life, they must not Over-charge their Hearts and Minds with the Affairs and Things of this Life; which if they do, they cannot please their Captain, that chooseth them to be his Soldiers: They must not Entangle themselves nor Load themselves with the many Things; for that will hinder them in the Way and Work of God, which Way is Holy, and Work Honourable and Glorious.  
So, dear Friends, this is the Work of God in all we do, or put our Hands unto, to believe in him, whom God hath sent a Light into our Hearts, to lead out of all that which would darken your Understandings, and shut the pure Eye, with which the Lord may be seen going before you, making your Way perfect and plain. This is he that is not of this World, that leads man out of the Evil of the World, in the Way of Righteousness; not to do his own Will, or seek his own Glory; for he that seeks the Glory of him that sent him, and doth his Will, he sanctifies all that stand therein: Him ye may trust, and believe in, and commit your Way unto, that he may bring it to pass; for the same is true, and there is no Unrighteousness with him: and so doing all your things in him (who is meek, and hath Salvation) they are done in the Name and Power of the Lord, which the Family of God and Household of Faith know to be their House eternal, to work all their Works in; and so they be done to the Praise and Glory of the Heavenly Father, and in the Victory over the World and its Spirit, and such in Welldoing shall not be weary, nor faint in their Minds; for their Faith stands in the Power, and the Power keeps open the Eye of their Understandings, and they see him that is true, with whom there is no Unrighteousness; And he is their Tower and strong Hold in the Day of Trouble, their Shield and their exceeding great Reward: And this is that Invisible and Holy One, who is full of Grace and Truth, whose Day of Glory Moses and Abraham saw; and it made them willing to deny themselves, and the Pleasures of Sin, that are but for a season, their own Country, and all Egypt's Treasures and Glory: And this is he whom we in our Day and Age have seen, or else we should have been weary by reason of Unreasonable Men, their Cruel Laws and Precepts they have prescribed, to weary us out, and make us deny our Just and Holy Principle, in which we be established as Mount Zion, that cannot be removed, and taught of the Lord in the Spirit and in the Truth, and in the Beauty of Holiness to worship the Lord, and not after the Precepts and Commands of men, by whom we have deeply suffered, who have been stirred up by the Hirelings and Deceivers of the Nation, that have turned about like the Wind, and have been given to change with the many Changes of Government; and they that do so, serve not the Lord Jesus, but their own Bellies: But He is become our Salvation, our Light, our Life and Glory; and as we in him abide, he makes us Triumph in every place; and he leads us into the strong City and Country, that hath Foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God; and we therein do Bless, and Laud, and Praise him that lives forever.  
And they that will so run the Race that is set before them, as to obtain the Price, even this Inheritance that never fades away, and Kingdom that cannot be shaken, must cast off every Weight, and the Sin that doth so easily beset them; mark that, the Sin that easily besets, that must be cast off also, and every thing that brings a Veil or a Burden on God's Spiritual and Holy Day; that so the Just may be Ruler in you all, and as a Morning without a Cloud; or else ye cannot enter in at the Everlasting Door, and Gate of the Heavenly City and Holy Place, there to minister before the Lord in the Holy Robe and Garment of Righteousness, to do the Work of his Sanctuary and Tabernacle, that he hath set up and pitched amongst us: And this is that Gate where be the pleasant Things, and City, into which Job, whose Glory was fresh in him, with his Garment of Righteousness, that was to him as a Robe and Diadem, entered, where the Rock poured him out Rivers of Oil: For, Friends, where the Righteous dwell and reign, there is great Glory, and the Secret of God is upon their Tabernacle; there is Oil and a Treasure to be desired, which the Wicked One will consume and devour, if he be not watched against: But the Way to attain these things will be too strait and narrow for them who do not take up a Daily Cross, and walk in the Footsteps of the Flocks of the Companions, casting off the Weights and the Burdens, and the many things, which in the true Light that shines in the Heart, be seen to hinder the Eye to guide man's Feet out of all the Sin, that darkens him, into the Way of Peace; the Way and Everlasting Door will not be lifted up nor exalted in them, but be rather shut against them, who be in the Bond of Iniquity, and in that which brings the Veil and Gall of Bitterness over them; and such had need to Repent, and wait for his Judgements to put away their Sins and Iniquities from their Tabernacles, that hath put them far from the Lord, and made them to wander in a barren Wilderness, where no plain Way is, and in a Land of Fear, where no Peace is, like Cain, to whom the Lord has no Respect; for he was not of that Righteous One, as Righteous Abel was, in which Righteousness he had the Living Record in Heaven, and Witness, That he pleased God. So to such I say, Before ye pray, put away your Idols, and put down the Altars of Baal, and the Images of the Sun, that ye may know the Golden Altar, which the Apostles had right unto, thereupon to minister before the Lord; for it is raised and builded in the Fear and in the Name of the Lord. So Friends, wash ye in Innocency, that ye may compass this Altar of the Lord with your holy Offerings; for all that be round about him, do bring their Presents to him; and they that be afar off and in the out-most parts, be afraid of his Tokens; for he is a great King, in whose Hands be all the Corners of the Earth, and above all Gods is he that ought to be feared. So let the holy Hands be lifted up without Wrath or Doubting, and the Head uncovered, and lifted up without Spot; and the Offerings and Sacrifices being seasoned with Salt, and salted with Fire of the Word, being clean without the Blemishes and without the Corruption, which the Salt and the Fire taketh away, and being brought and offered in a clean Vessel, the Lord is well pleased, and smelleth a sweet Savour; and then the lifting up of the Hands, being washed in Innocency, becomes as a Morning or Evening Sacrifice acceptable to him: For, Friends, As the Prayers and Sacrifices of the Wicked are Abomination, even so the Prayers of the Righteous and the Cry of the Innocent is his Delight; and therefore Christ spoke a Parable concerning the Unjust Judge, that feared not God, nor regarded Man, nor doing of Judgement or Equity, and yet because of the Woman-Importuning him, lest by continual coming she should weary him, he would avenge her of her Adversary; and saith he, Shall not God avenge his own Elect, that cry to him Day and Night? yea, he will avenge them speedily: And this was Christ's End in speaking this Parable, That men should pray even continually without fainting. And again, by the same Spirit it is said, I will pour clean Water on them that be athirsty, yea, when the Poor and the Needy seek Water in a dry and thirsty Place, where there is none, I the Lord will open a Spring to them; I the God of Jacob will not forsake them; but will cause my River, whose Streams be pure as Crystal, and do make glad and refresh the Weary, to run in d●y Places, and upon all Hills and Mountains; there shall be Rivers and Streams, and like the Waters of Jordan in time of Harvest, overflowing all its Banks. So to the Afflicted and Grieved in Spirit for want of the Lord, and Power over the Destroyer of their Vine and of their Peace, I say, Do not quench the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication, when in the least Mea●ure and in the Will of God it moves, although but with Sighs and Groans, that in words cannot yet be uttered; for it always maketh Intercession, and teacheth us to call God Our Father, and submit to his Heavenly Will in all we desire and pray for; and all that do not thus call upon him, and ●eek him, they seek amiss, and ●o they obtain not; for s●ch would consume it on their Lusts: But the Prayer in the Faith goeth through the dark Clouds, and is of a saving Kind and Nature to all that be sick and weary of their Sins; it is like the Sword of Saul or Jonathan, that returned not empty from the Blood of the Slain and the Far of the Mighty; or the holy Hands of Moses, that were stayed up by Aaron and Hur in the same thing, whereby Amalek was smitten, and Israel in the cro●s and crooked Ways to smite the Weak and the Feeble; and he feared not God. So let all that be in Trouble call upon God in that Day, and he will redeem and deliver you out of the Hands of all your Enemies, that have been too strong for you, that ye may Prai●e him in the Land of the Living, and in the Glorious Liberty the Sons of God and his Daughters stand in: But without Faith it is impossible to please God, that is the Word, that in the Power of the Endless Life ariseth to you; But to the Evil Doers, that are not willing to be reproved for their Iniquity (when committed) reform or gained from it, but preceded from one Evil to a wor●e, by covering their Transgression and hiding their Sin, like Adam, or like Saul, in the Stubbornness and Rebellion which is as Witchcraft, by hiding it as a sweet Morsel in their Bosom; and although the Witness of God hath turned their Meat in their Bellies, yet in the Pride, and for want of Humility and Self Denial, that always goes before Honour, will they not lose their sweet Words, nor Bread of Deceit that was sweet to them; and such do not declare their Integrity as David did, who said, I will confess my Sin, and be sorry for my Sin: And they that hid their Sin shall not prosper, nor have Peace with God in that State, or true Joy and Delight in his People, to whom the Reproofs of Life and Smitings of the Righteous were as precious Balm: And the Apostle saith, Confess your Faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed or restored: So here is the Spirit of Corah, of Cain and Saul judged, and the Troubler of Israel, even the Accursed hid Thing in the Tent (that was goodly in the sight of the Evil Eye) digged up and east out. So Friends, if any have done amiss, come to Plainness, and to David's Mind, and Peter's Mind, that ye may be restored, and kiss the Son, and bow to him in the Way of his Righteous Judgements, which David loved more than fine Gold, and risen at Midnight to Praise God for.  
So dear Friends, to whom my Exhortation is, in Bowels of pure Love and Pity, desiring you in the Name of the Lord, to be reconciled to God, by putting away the Evil that brings the Curse to your House, and so separates the Soul from God and is blessed Life, out of which, as out of a great Deep, it should be watered and receive its Life, lest the Lord be angry with and departed from you, and so your House become desolate, as overthrown by Strangers, and ye perish from the Way, and the Day of your Visitation pass over you, the Clouds return after the Rain, and your Sun set in a perpetual Night of Desolation.  
So Friends, we had all need to be watchful and diligent in our holy Calling and Work, lest we, even we, who by him were quickened when we were dead, die again a second time, and so be plucked up by the Roots, and cut down, as they that cumber the holy Ground, that we may be a living People to his living Praise, who would not have any to be slothful in Business, or idle in his Marketplace and Vine-yard; but to be fervent in Spirit, serving God: And here none laboureth for the perishing Food, but for that which endures to Eternal Life; for he serves the Lord Christ, the Bread of God, that strengthens his Heart; and he seeks the Kingdom and Righteousness first, and the Heavenly Treasure before all other things, the One thing needful; and with Mary chooseth the better part: and so the Redeemed of the Lord do not labour in vain, or ●pend their Strength for nought; for they witness all other things added unto them (as the Lord hath promised) and every good Word of his doth he bring to pass, for he that clotheth the Lilies, and heareth the Ravens when they cry, he feeds and satisfies them; and the Eyes of all the Living, that look to him and wait upon him, do not fail; for he enlightens them and keeps them alive in Famine, & from the Scourge of the Tongue, even the Viper's Tongue and Noisome Beast, that would devour them in his secret Pavilion and Tent of the Lord, that is round about them pitched, in that doth he hid them till the Wrath of Man be over, and the remainder of Wrath will he restrain, and it shall praise him, and be to the Praise of his Grace and holy Power that saveth them: But the Eyes of the Wicked shall fail; and they shall be cut off that watch for Iniquity, and secretly cry, Ha', ha', so would we have it; their Expectation shall perish as their own Durg, and as the Untimely Birth of a Woman, & their Hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost; But the Righteous shall rejoice in the Lord, and glory in his Strength, and praise him in his Sanctuary, and in the goodly Tents of Jacob, and Dwelling-place of Israel forever and forever. Even so be it, Amen.  
O Friends, do you all examine yourselves and in the True Light, the just Measure and Balance of the Sanctuary, which the Lord loves and delights in; for his Mind is in it, and it is one with him: Do ye try yourselves whether Christ be form in you your Hope and Glory, and so brought forth from under the Clouds and deep Waters, that have been round about him; and whether ye be in the Faith, even in that living Faith that standeth in the living Power of God, and gives perfect Victory and Dominion over all the World and the Prince thereof; If ye be of the Household of Faith, then in the Power of God's Endless Life your House, in the Heavenly Place that is in Christ; we witness it so, as said the Holy Seed in former Ages, Thou h●st been our Dwelling-Place in all Generations; and he was made more to them then their Necessary Food, and more precious than the Golden W●dge of Ophir; and said they, We have a strong City, whose Wells be Salvation and Cates Praise; and here was the River of God and Wells of Salvation, whose Springs and Streams made them glad: And Friends, can ye in the Faith that is true and living, that was once delivered or given to the Saints, let down your Buckets, every one of you, into these Wells that be within the Walls of this Holy City of God, and draw of the Waters of Life, that the true Believer hath in himself, springing up, and keeping the Soul in Eternal Life; but if it be not so well with any, but Deadness and Leanne's is come upon them, and t●e Clouds be returned after the Rain, let such examine themselves, What the Cause is, and What it is that hath shut up their Sp●●ng and W●ll, that the Water doth not run and issue out to make them glad, as formerly; and if the Lord in his own Light be not lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness over all in his own House and Temple, then Examine and try your own Hearts, Unto what vain and perishing thing hath the Mind and Heart been lifted up or turned aside unto, and what Idol of Abomination that makes the Soul'd solate, and to want its former M●rcus, hath been preferred before him, even the Lord, who did in this our Age and Day work Wonders for us, as ever he did for Israel of old in the Land of Egypt, and in the Tabernacles of Ham, in bringing us out of the House of Bondage, and House wherein all that be there be yet the Servants of Sin, even many of them loving and pleading for the Hard Master, the Cruel Lord and Strange King, whom they serve. It was the Lord, I say, who in Mercy broke Israel's Bands, and he in Mercy hath broken our Bands and Fetters, and the heavy Yoke of Sin, that was of the Devil, and loaded us and oppressed us; and as he after a wonderful manner broke the Yoke of Israel's Oppressors in the days of Mid●an, when he mightily oppressed them, so he in tender Mercies hath taken the Yoke from off us, and burst the Clouds, and Bands and Chains of Darkness, and from off our Hearts hath he rend them by the Rising of the Day of his Power, and the Exaltation of his holy Mountain, that entered and were drawn over us in the sin and transgression, these has he done away in Christ Jesus, and made us to go upright: And Friends, this is true in him, and truly witnessed by us, as we in him do abide; and we ought to give all Diligence to search and examine ourselves, Where we be, whether we have a Name to live and Profession only, or in the holy and divine Nature, out of which we can do nothing wellpleasing; neither can we be made Partakers of the exceeding Great and Precious Promises, but as in him we abide to whom they be all made sure.  
And so after all this Grace and Mercy, showed of the living Father of Mercy unto us in this his unspeakable Gift, Christ Jesus, we had need to be vigilant in walking worthy of his Merties, in rendering to the Lord as from him we have received, even our Souls and Spirits to him, and all our Members a living Offering and Sacrifice, and Servants to Righteousness, which is but reasonable; seeing when we had sold our ●elves for nought, and being filled with our own Devices, and held fast with the Cords of our own Sin, than he with a Frice redeemed us; and this the time of our Misery was the time of his Love; and when there was no Intercessor or Day's man, than did his own holy Arm bring Salvation, and get him the Victory. So we be not our own any longer, or to please ourselves, but the Lord.  
And all you that have known the Resting place, which remains forever because it is not polluted, and the Bed of Love that is green, and so truly honourable and undefiled; you that have known the fresh and large Pasture, and the gathering of the true Shepherd, and his puttings forth into it, who hath brought you nigh the Shepherd's Tent-prize ye this his Mercy; and be not like Israel of old, who were unmindful of their Pocked at begat them, and did lightly esteem God their Saviour, who had fed them to the full with the Bread of Heaven, but they waxed sat, & kicked against him; moreover, he brought them unto a good Land, wherein was no want of any good thing that was in the Earth to possess; Houses they builded not; Vine-yards and Olive-yards, and Wells and Fountains of Waters they planted not and digged not; and so for want of remembering the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the Land of Egypt, and House of Bondage and Slavery, who remembered them in their low Condition, when they cried to him in their Afflictions he helped them; for his Mercies endure forever. And so, is not this our State, whom the Lord hath brought out of spiritual Sodom and Egypt, where the Witness was slain in us, and where the Vine most dear, and the pleasant Plant could not grow nor prosper, by reason of the cruel Lord and strange King, that ruled over us before we knew the King of Saints (who bond the Kings and Nobles in Fetters of Iron) to be the Lord our Righteousness, whose Service is perfect Freedom, and Work Honourable and Glorious; and they that are in his work, and are become his Workmanship, can say, His Praise endures forever? But was not Israel for this his Ingratitude disinherited, and plucked up by the Roots, from the good Land which the Lord had promised and sworn to their Fathers, if they took heed to his Commandments, his Laws & Statutes, that he set before them, they should inherit forever. But even as he did to the House of Ely (the Priest of the Lord) for their Disobedience to him, so did he to them whom he had said, should walk before him forever, afterwards said, Now be it far from me; for I will do a thing to the House of Ely, the Ears that hear thereof shall tingle: For them that honour me, I will honour; but them that honour not me shall be lightly esteemed: And was not the Word of the Lord (spoken by Samuel) justly fulfilled on them, That they should be cut off▪ and such as remained of the House of Ely shoul● come and crouch for a piece of Bread? So Friends, we have been by the Lord brought into a good and spiritual Land, and heavenly Place, which is the Glory of all Lands and Places; and with the piritual Rock and Bread of Heaven have we been watered and fed; and the Vine-yard we planted not, and Wells we digged not, have sprung up to us, and we rejoiced over it greatly, as Israel of old rejoiced over their Well in the Wilderness, saying, Spring up, O Well; sing ye to it: And thus was it with them in the Day of their Espousals; then their Hearts were glad because of the Lord, whose Right-Hand was exalted, and whose Holy Arm had got him the Victory (in bringing them out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea) and a perpetual Name of Praise, of Fame and of Glory, as it is at this Day. But let all dear Friends and People consider, but especially those whose Hearts be not steadfast with the Lord, who deal faisly in his Covenant, and secretly turn back in their Hearts into spiritual Egypt and Sodom, that black Sink and Sea of Iniquity: I say, let us all consider, that have known the Lord and fear before him, by their Example, who after all these Signs, and Wonders, and Mighty Hand, and Outstretched Arm, and Great Judgement showed to them in the Red Sea upon their Enemies and Persecutors, who said, Let us pursue them, and overtake them, and satisfy ourselves upon them: But after this, they not remembering these his Mercies, but soon forgot his Word; they waited not for his Counsel, but ran a Whoring after their own Inventions, and lifted up their Eyes to the Idols of the People that knew not God, which made Moses (that Holy and Just Man) to say, Do ye thus Requite the Lord, O foolish People and unwise? Is not he thy Father? Even so it may be said to many that have known the Truth and Way of he Living God, and were glad when they had found it, and walked therein for a season, who have been greatly benefited by it every way, whilst in it they stood; but as it was in the Apostles days with some, even so have they turned again, like the Dog, and like the Sow once washed to wallow in the Mire: And be not these the foolish People and unwise, even like the foolish Galatians, that were bewitched from the Spirit, who do thus requite the Lord, who hath long spared them, and waited on them to do them good, and to be gracious to them, expecting his Long-suffering (that they have not duly prized) should have led them to Repentance, and they have turned, and not have died, but have been made Vessels of Mercy meet for the Bowels of Love and Mercy; For, O Friends, how great are the tender Mercies and the Lovingkindness of the Living Lord, that he doth daily extend towards his living Children, even in and through that true Light, that out o● Darkness hath shined in their own Hearts, and doth daily open to them, that obey it and follow in the Love to it, in the Self-denial, which this Light calls for in all that come to God through it; it opens to them the Bosom of the Father, that Abraham and all the Holy Followers of God, that walk in Love, as dear Children after him do lie in and giveth them the Light of him, and the Knowledge of the Glory of him; and as he over-came Abraham's Heart and Moses' Heart and Mind, to follow him that is invisible, with the Eye open, looking strait on before them, being atop and above all the Amazements, Fears & Terrors of the Wicked, his Snares and Allurements being all seen; and ye know, the Net being seen, the End and Desire of the Fowler and cunning Hunter is all in vain. So dear Friends and Brethren, in the Name of the Lord, all keep your Eyes open to him, from whence comes your Salvation, lest ye be taken in the Pit of the Wicked; for if the Night comes, and Darkness blinds the Eye (by which Moses in his Day, and we in our Day do see him that is invisible) we wander then in Crooked Ways and Bypaths, wherein at best we do but warm at the Light of the Fire that our own hands have made and kindled; then is Darkness put for Light, and Light for Darkness: But the lasting and perfect Peace of God to keep the Heart, is not known, as they do know it whose Hearts and Minds be stayed on the Lord, out of, and clean above the World, and things that therein are.  
So dear Friends in every place, that call on the Name of the Lord, though but with Sighs and Groans that in words cannot be uttered nor declared; stir up yourselves, and let the Loins of the pure Mind, that seeks nothing but the Living Lord, be girded up, and stand, stand on your holy Watch continually, that the head and chief Cornerstone ye may see lifted up above all t●e Billows, Temptations and Raging Waves of the Sea. So the Lord and his holy Power be amongst you all, in and over you all, Amen.  
So Friends, in the Heavenly Power and Seed feel and feed on the Height, Depth, Length and Breadth of the Love of the Everlasting God,  
I rest in Peace with the Lord (whom I do love above all other things) your Brother, praying in the holy Spirit (where the true Faith is known, that stands in the Power) to my God and your God, your Father and my Father, to show Mercy and Lovingkindness always to your Souls with his Heavenly Riches and Treasures, & spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus; which is, and forever shall be the Reward, Lot, Inheritance and pleasant Portion of all that love Equity and Righteousness, so as to hate every False Way, Deceit, and the thing that is Evil in the Sight of the Lord.  
The 2d Month, 1674. Humphrey Wollrich.  
THE END.