Love to the Captives: OR, The love of God to the World;  
Who so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, to be the light of the World, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life, and no man cometh to the Father, but by him, (who is the Redeemer of the Captives.)  
Given forth for their sakes, who desire to turn to the Lord, or to see a return out of Captivity, declaring the way to God, and where power against sin may be received, that your souls may no longer be held under the snare of the Devil, nor you be made a prey upon by Deceivers, but come away to the light, which is the power of God unto Salvation; and he that believes shall be saved, and he that believes not shall be damned.  
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel,  Luke 2.30, 31, 32. 
Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the World, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life, that was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,  John 8.12. and 1.9. 
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; for every one that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God,  John 3.19, 20, 21. 
february 11th  
London, Printed for Giles Calvert, 1656.   

LOVE to the CAPTIVES, etc.  
REturn, 
Hos: 14: 1. Joel: 2: 12. Mall: 3: 7. Isa: 5: 13.  Return, O Captivated People, and see how you are fallen from innocency, oh how great Captivity are you in? how darkness hath overspread the wise men; and pride and covetousness hath stolen away the hearts of the great-men, and oppression is greatly exalted in the Rulers, 
Hos: 4: 8. Prov: 13: 10. Obed: 3.  and instead of protection to the innocent, there is a Cry, away with him, to prison he must go! Oh, what a fence is here made against equity, Truth faileth, there is no room for it in the streets! and if oppression can keep out equity, it shall not enter, and this is done against the Lord, 
Isa: 59  and he is displeased with it; Therefore while it is called to day, harden not your hearts, but turn to the Lord who hath all this time spared you, 
Heb: 4: 7. Prov: 28: 13.  and gave thus long time, and yet hath not utterly consumed you; and his long sufferings towards you, 
Lam: 3: 22. Rom: 2: 4.  have been to have drawn you to repentance, that you might awake out of your self-security (wherein you have been lulled a sleep) and arise from the dead works, 
Ephes: 5: 14. john 5: 25.  and hear the voice of the Son of God and live: behold him, his witness is in your consciences; calling you out of the evil of the world; it hath been in you, in the years past, and in the days long ago, and when you have committed evil, it was a present witness against you, sometimes letting you see evil before you acted it, 
Ephes: 7: 13.  and that you should not have acted evil, and have judged and condemned and brought trouble upon you for your evil do, and sometimes when you have run rashly into the evil; not taking advice of the Lord what you should have done, but have rushed into iniquity, as a horse rusheth into the battle; yet when you have done thus, if you in moderation did but consider what you had done, this witness, the light of Christ in your Consciences, 
Luke 2: 32. John 1: 4.  let you see you were wrong, and that you should not have touched the unclean, nor have acted in sin and uncleanness, and then you have been judged and condemned, 
2 Cor. 6.17. Rev. 18.4.  by the witness of God in yourselves, which hath smitten you inwardly, for the evil of your do, and yet you returned not unto the Lord, to be guided by his witness, 
Hos. 6.1.  though it hath thus dealt with you, and if you had obeyed it, it had been your power to have led you out of evil, 
1 Cor. 1. 1●.  and from under his power, who subjects to the evil, and it would have led you into God's righteousness, where you should have found peace and rest to your souls: But O you silly people! you have slieghted the day of your visitation, and neglected to obey the counsel of the Lord, and have not minded the teachings of his power, the light in your Consciences, which is the Saints teacher; 
Isa 30.20.21. John 6.45.  but you have sought after God in your own ways, and have not found him, because you have not sought aright, nor walked in the obedience of the light, the witness in your Consciences, which condemns all evil, 
Jo. 3.19 etc. and 1.2.36.  which if you had, you had ceased from your own works and ways, and it would have led you into the one way, which is Christ, who is the light of the world, and lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and no man cometh unto the Father but by him, the way, the light, the truth, 
John 14.6.  and there is no other way or name by which any can be saved, but by him who is the light, unto whom you have not yielded true obedience, nor given your hearts; but captivity yet remains upon you, and the Captivator is entertained, who hath led, 
Psal. 5.5. Acts 8.21.23.  and doth lead you in evil, and yet you lean upon the Lord while iniquity is standing, and the bands of it strong in you, and your thoughts and desires is to enjoy the Kingdom of God; but they that take not up the Cross, 
Rom. 1.16. 1 Cor. 1.18.  (that is the light which condemns all evil, which is the wisdom and power of God in them that are saved) shall not enjoy the Crown, for the Crown is obtained through the Cross, which leads out of the evil, to serve God and deny Self, and self-works, 
Luke 9.23, 24 & 14.26. Matt. 10. Phil. 2.13. Exod. 14.13.  and self-willing, and self running, and wait upon God who giveth both to will and to do, whose own power doth his own work: And O that you could but stand still, and see this power, the light (which leads into righteousness) break forth in you, to lead you out of captivity, then would you cease from your own works, and from your own willings and run, and from exalting self, and setting up your own devices, invented in your fallen wisdom, wherein your imaginations is highly exalted, above the knowledge of God, and there the wicked one hath his seat, 
2 Thes. 2.4. Rev. 13.8.14. 2 Cor. 11.14.  and Anti-christ is exaled above all that is called God, and sitteth in the Temple of God, and saith he is God, and so deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, who is transformed into the likeness of the truth itself, and is a leader of the children of disobedience, in all manner of deceivableness of unrighteousness, and keeps you in captivity; 
2 Thes. 2.10. Isa. 5.13.  and into much profession you are led, and many likenesses and invitations are acted, and many sects, and forms, 
Eccles. 7.24.  and opinions ran into, though the life and power of God is lived out of, yea it may be not one of a thousand that are acquainted with it, or that dare own them, who witness it forth as it is in Jesus, who are ready to seal to their testimony with their bloods; 
2 Tim. 4.3.  and though you reject the power and testimony of this pure life, yet you have heaped up Teachers to yourselves, and they have your praise, and are exalted by you, though I know, and if you did but examine your own hearts, the light of Christ in you would let you also see and know, 
Jer. 23.21.22, 32.  that they have not profited you, but the bands of iniquity yet is strong in you, and them who you have so set up, and do exalt and praise to be rare Teachers, many of you do not understand what they say, nor they themselves whereof they affirm, but many of you are in such sottishness, that when you are hearing these you so allow of, 
1 Tim. 1.7.  that sleep overcomes you, yea, in the very time of your pretended worship, and some of your your hearts run a whoring after the things and lusts and pleasures and vanity of the world; 
Ezek. 6.9. Hosea 4.11.  imagining or coveting, what to have to eat or drink, and to put on to your bodies, and inventing how to get money to satisfy your lusts with, 
1 Tim. 6.10.  and how you should take pleasure enough in your own beloved's, or deceitful lovers, which your adulterous hearts delights in; and thus you poor blind people are held captive, and though you draw near unto God with your lips, and profess his name with your tongues, 
Mat. 15.7, 8, 9  yet your hearts is far from him; and thus have you delighted yourselves in vanity, following the wicked one, who hath stolen away your hearts, which runs a whoring from the living God, delighting in the ceatures more than in the Creator, and thus you spend your time in vanity, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, 
Rom: 2: 5.  and thus in your pretended solemn meetings and best duties as you esteem of them, you even add sin unto iniquity, your minds running a whoring from God, yea, when pretended to serve and worship God, and in the captivity where you are, where iniquity is lived in, it cannot be otherways, for where the light is not your guide, there your wills is at liberty, and the wicked one subjecting you to vanity, and the light in which your minds should be stayed, is rejected, and so in vain is your worship, and your drawing near unto God with your mouths, 
Psal. 66: 18.  while iniquity is regarded in your hearts, and the light of Christ rejected, 
Isa. 58.  which should lead you out of captivity, and break the bands of iniquity; And this I know that in time past, (when the night was upon me, and my soul held captive, and the creature made a servant to sin and corruption) I followed after such men as you have set up to be your Teachers, yea, I followed them day after day, long together, and never found any satisfaction to my soul, by what I heard them speak, though some praise of men I got thereby, yet misery encompassed me, yea, often day and night I sought after the Lord, and that in tears, and my soul desired after the Lord; but their teachings was so dirty, and their words so deceitful, and so contrary to the life and power of God, that instead of awakening me to the Judgements of God, 
1 Cor: 15: 34. Ephes. 5 4. Rom: 8: 20.  they lulled me asleep, and that in the very time of being to hear them, and though I was a constant hearer of them several years together, yet vanity and pride increased, and the vain mind and wicked thoughts were at liberty in the tim s of their speaking, and I followed them till misery overtook me, and the light in my Conscience shown me the evil of their do, and the vanity of their words, and before I heard the everlasting Gospel, the light truly declared of, I saw by the witness of God, in the Priests and people great wickedness, and myself to be one amongst them, and knew no way to recover out of it, until the Lord revealed his power; and while I was a follower of the Priests, I, instead of going to the Steeplehouse, have been made to go and lament my condition in a secret place, yea, from amongst men; (in a word) to seek the Lord, and to bewail my soul that was overwhelmed with iniquity, and desired in tears to know the Lord, but the way I never found by the wisdom of man, nor had known it to this day, if the Lord Jesus had not revealed himself to me in his marvellous light, which often appeared to me when I knew it not; I speak the truth I lie not, God is my witness who knows the secrets of all hearts, who is the righteous Judge, who will reward every man according to his deeds; 
Isa 59.13. Rom. 2.6.  and every man's deeds shall be witnessed in the presence of the Lord, by the light of his Son in their consciences; And all people consider in your beds, and in your secret closerts examine yourselves, and let the light in your consciences manifest your conditions to you, (which light is present at all times, letting you see you should not commit evil) and then you will see that you know but little of the life and power of God, though in words you have made a large profession of his name, and this is it which the Lord requires of you, that you obey the light of his Son in your consciences, that's the light which lets you see the evil of your do, and a measure of it you have every one received, and obedience to it God requires, 
John 1: 9 1 Cor. 12: 7. 1 Sam: 15.22. Matt: 11.27.  and doing this its better than Sacrifice; and all that comes unto God its in this light, and no man knows the Father, but them to whom the light reveals him, and so all your profession of God, which is out of the light, is but vanity and iniquity, and while pride and lusts is obeyed in the professor, there is the hypocrite, the thief and the robber, running before Christ, professing his name, 
job 15: 31. Mal. 4.1. james 4: 6. Matt: 23. john 10: 8. Isa. 1: 12. Deut: 4: 30, 31  being out of his life, God requires not this at your hands, but obedience the Lord requires, and the breaking off iniquity is that which is well pleasing unto God; And now is the day that the Lord calls unto you, and if ever you find redemption or recovery out of iniquity, it must be by the light, else you are lost for ever; and know this that you cannot enjoy two Kingdoms, if you enjoy the love, and delights, and pleasures of the world, (which are enmity with God) you partake not of the joys of the Kingdom of God, 
james 4: 4.  you cannot serve God and Mammon; if you are servants to sin, you are not servants to God, and to whom you yield your members servants to obey, 
Matt: 6: 23. 1 Io: 3: 6: 8. Rom: 6: 16. john 3: 16.  his servants ye are, whether of sin unto death, or righteousness unto life, and now the love of God appears towards you, that your nakedness may be covered, and your pollutions done away; O that you would but consider how the Lord hath waited on you to be gracious unto you, who hath given his Son a light, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, 
Isa: 42: 6. john 3: 15,  and this was the love of God to sinners, who hath given his Son, that in him you might have life, and this is the Lords mercy to you, and your blessing if you receive him, who is not of this world: And in your return to the Lord would my soul rejoice, and when shall the day be seen, that you seek no more your own honour or delights, but the honour of the Lord? 
john 5: 44.  and if you come to see and possess this, than you will see all flesh to be as grass, and the glory of it to be as the flowers of the field, 
Isa. 40.6, 7, 8. Isa: 52: 7. Rom: 10: 15.  which soon withereth and passeth away; then will be seen how beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings to the meek, and then will you see how your souls have been captive, and that in the light is the pure liberty, and blessed are they that receive it, and walk in the love of it, for there is no occasion of stumbling, though it be a stumbling stone and rock of offence to the world, 
Rom 9: 32, 33 Psal: 56: 9: 16 & 62: 2. & 94: 22. Heb: 11: 38.  yet it's the defence and strength of the saints and servants of God, of whom the world is not worthy, though by the world they are accounted as the offscouring of all things, yet their reward is in the Lord God Almighty, who is over all the world; And this I lay upon you all, 
Isa: 56: 11. Ier: 5: 31: & 23: 21: 22, 32 Ezek: 22: 28. Ezek: 34. Mica: 3: 5: 11. Mal. 2. Matt: 15: to 20 Matt: 6: 5. & 23. 2 Tim: 3. 2 Pet: 2: 13. 14, 15. Iud: 11: 16. Lu: 13: 3: 5.  as you will answer it before the Lord at the day of your account, that you take heed you hold not up such as you know have deceived you, or as the Scriptures witnesseth against to be deceivers, lest you partake of their sins, and so must partake of their plagues; (and by their fruits you shall know them) so see that you come out from amongst them, and be you separate and touch no unclean thing, that the Lord God may receive you, and you may see forgiveness of sins, and iniquities blotted, and so obey the life of the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world, and if you hate your part in him, your sins remains upon your heads, and God is clear of your blood, and hath no delight in the death of a sinner, but calls to the wicked to repent, that they may find mercy; and his witness that reproves for evil is in you, and calls to repentance; and if you repent not, you perish; and this is in love to your souls, though it may appear folly to your wisdom, to which I do not send it, nor do I look to be owned by it, but commend it to that of God in your Consciences.  
Given forth in the Common Goal of Saffron-Walden in Essex, the 1. day of the 11. month, 1656. By a sufferer for the Testimony of Jesus. G. R.  
Learn to know the Spirit of God, with it to try all things, and hold fast that which is good.   
FINIS.