To all the Churches of Jesus Christ, called to be Saints through the immortal seed which dwelleth in you, and shall be with you for ever. Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  
Dear beloved Brethren,  
WE hope it is on our hearts to live and die with you, as those that are joined to the Lord, and each to other by the will of God, members of that one body, built up through that one everlasting spirit, a holy Tabernacle for the living God. Neither is it the least part of our joy to be serviceable unto you, who are our joy, and the delight of our dear Jesus. Surely we have been made in much sense to say to the Lord, our goodness extends not unto thee; but if as a few poor worms we may be useful to thy excellent ones, to help them on to the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls, it shall be enough unto us: And for this we would labour night and day, warning every one of you, striving with you, and together with you with God for you, that every one of you may be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. This design and honest desire of our souls, hath brought us together from far to ●it before the Lord in this place, where we have been taking upon us to speak to God, though dust and ashes. Yea, we have been encouraged to spread before your Father and our Father, the several weights that lie upon you and us. Wherein we have not been without hope, the Father hath not taken advantage through our confessions to condemn us in his presence, or to upbraid us, but hath smiled upon us notwithstanding. And though we have been ready to cry out, we are cut off from before thine eyes, yet hath he heard the voice of our supplication. And it is no small addition to our comfort, while we think of it, that while we carried the yokes and burdens of whole Zion, and have been as the souls under the Altar, crying, How long Lord, holy and true, why doth this Chariot wheel make so ●●ng tarrying? the Lord hath lightened us while we have thus looked unto him. Neither shall we be ashamed to say to you, Rejoice oh Daughter of Zion, behold your King, he cometh in righteousness and in peace, to give an expected end. We have told our Father and your Father, that we could not be satisfied with life for ourselves, peace for ourselves, white robes for ourselves, unless Zion also might be made partaker of the salvation of God. And in this we hav● had some faith, and some revivings have attended our souls in the hope of his mercy; and now as we have been faithful for you to God, so we would now be faithful for God to you. We have been arraigning the abominations of Zion b●fore the bar of the most High; we have been crying for Justice from the throne, upon every sin, for strength and light to purge out every persisting impenitent sinner, as enemies and traitors to the crown and dignity of our Lord Jesus. More particularly, we have been spreading out our hands before the most High, and have made confession of those reigning abominations in our own souls, and in the Churches that light spirit, living short of the true light and sense of God's Majesty in his Churches, and among his Saints; from whence proceeds that vanity and carelessness which doth so much attend them. We have bewailed that wretched worldly spirit, that plucks down the Saints from their excellency, and leaves such blackness upon them, which renders them so uncomely in the eyes of men. We have bewailed that coldness and deadness that is upon ourselves, and upon the Churches. That formality in holy duties, that indifferency, that Laodicean spirit that is fallen in upon us, while we have be●n ●ry●ng, Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it, let the counsel of the Lo●d come, that we may know it; and all this wh●le h●ve been drawing iniquity with the cords of vanity, having been in a great measure as without the sense of the work, so without the true travail of soul, which this work should put us into. For these things our souls have been bowed down: And some have been made to cry out, O● that our heads were a 〈◊〉, and our yes were us rivers of tears, that we m●ght weep f●r the in●quity of the daughters of Zion. Behold for this our souls have been in distress, our bowels have been ●●oubled, our hearts have been turned within us; we have taken off our ornaments, we have been breaking and bleeding, and have been crying out for more sighs, because the crown is fallen from Zions head by reason of her iniquity. We have been bewailing personal iniquity, congregational iniquity▪ national ●niqui●y, family iniquity, closet ●niquity; we have by search found poor Zion as it were without soundness, from the crow● of the head to the sole of the f●●o●full of bruises and putrified sores. And now we call upon you that tremble at the word of God to come unto us; take heed, oh take ●●ed of being unsensible of poor Ja●ob● trouble; take heed of stretching your siluiss on your b●ds of Ivory, of drinking you wine in bowls, in cha●ting at the sound of the viol, anointing you● s●lves with the chief Spices, a●d forget that J●s●ph is in affliction, your poor nat●on, your poor families, your poor Churches, your own poor skulls are in distress, heaven and earth seems to frown▪ trouble within, and terror without; these things are come upon thee, and who shall comfort thee? Oh c●me down, sit in the dust, call your solemn assemblies, proclaim fasts, and weep bitterly before the Lord f●r all your abomination: You have but as it were played with God you have not trembled in his presence, you have been wa●ton before him, having been without the terror of his Majesty, therefore you have confessed, and have delighted to word it out with the Lord, but alas, you have no sooner gone away, but you have forgot what manner of men and women you were, and thought no more on your prayers. Oh how often have you mocked God; but oh be not deceived, God will not be mocked. It appears already how God takes it at your hands, and now once more you have sent us hither, and once more our father hath smiled upon us, for we have begged him to save us yet this once more, and truly we tr●mble. If it should be as at other times, what will the Lord do in the end thereof, the hope that is in Israel concerning this th●ne li●● in your putting from you that accursed thing. Oh now if you would pursue this pride, this worldliness, this coldness and slothfulness, your personal neglects, your family neglects, the Lord might yet be entreated to return and have mercy upon us, that we might be healed. Oh that now these things might ●e laid to heart. How d●th the world as a canker eat out your affections to the Lord Jesus, eat out your time, your strength, your zeal, while you have been asleep in the lap of this Dali●●h, your locks have been cut off, and you are but as other men; that whoever beholds you may say what singular thing do ye? now then lay to heart these crying abominations of Zion: the general complaint in almost all the Epistles, the world is too beautiful; Satan hath shewed them the Kingdoms of the earth, and this hath Bewitched them, and their minds are much, oh too much alienated from the Lord. Oh brethren the lot is fall●n upon this as a troubler of Israel, and that for which you have fallen before your enemies, bring it out now, and stone it before the Lord; yea raise up such a heap upon it, as it may never appear more; that God m●y make this Valley of Ach●r a door of h●pe. This iniquity hath been apparently written upon your foreheads, witness your remissness i● meetings, your neglect of the poor Sain●s, and of the Ministers of Christ, whose daily complaints and addresses are living monuments of this reigning abomination; your cruelty to servants, children, exacting all their labours, but take no time to counsel them, instruct them, to show them that are without Christ that miserable estate wherein they are, that their souls may be the better for you, and they bound to bless God on your behalf. And to commune in the Lord with them that are in Christ, that their souls might be comforted, edified, and encouraged to walk with God in their places. This hath made professors families so dry, useless, & unprofitable, Saints communion so little tending to edification. This ●in eats out all that divine sweetness of regenerating and sanctifying grace. We have mourned in that we have had so great a hand in this trespass, in not bearing so faithful a testimony against it in our miyistry, but slavish fear of being accounted selfish or the like, hath stopped our mouth until the mouth of this iniquity hath almost devouring the poor Churches of Christ. Oh we would not consult with this flesh any longer, but in our places (and desire by these to provoke all the ministering brethren every where also to be faithful to the Lord and their poor Churches, to bear a faithful testimony against every evil way that is hated and abhorred of God, what censure soever they may meet with all from men. That of slothfulness, carelessness, another reigning evil; from these two as the root springs many other dangerous hurtful practices the great hindrances of our works in our Families the Churches and our own Souls. And because they are evils rooted deeply in the heart, it is hard to get them out. And we have by experience found, how well they are able to bear with testimony against them, with Reproofs and Counsels, and yet lie close, they are Sermon-proof and Epistle-proof; so strong that they have wrested all weapons out of the hands of Saints and Ministers that have been form against them: Now we desire we may no longer rest in a testimony of words, but proceed to take some effectual course that sin or sinners may be purged out of the house of God. In order to this, we desire the Churches that they would set some day or days apart wherein they may bewail these iniquities and pollutions of Zion before the Lord, and to bring their souls into a through sense of them also, that the ministering brethren would without respect of persons bear their constant testimony in their ministry, and from house to house night and day, warning every one to flee from those abominations; that at least they may deliver themselves from the blood of souls, having declared to them the whole counsel of God. And if still it be persisted in, and plain proofs of it in the ways and works of the professors of Christ, we leave it as the Churches special duty to pursue it, by dealing with it until sin or sinner be purged away. We shall leave it to the Lord, and those with whom the Lord hath entrusted with his Oracles to be further opening and alleging those things whose words we desire may be heeded. Another ●vil we had thought to have spread before you; for want of opporunity we shall now omit, yet desire you may lay it to heart, look over again our former Epistles, and that from Chard we have laboured in vain, that which hath been brought forth hath been to so little purpose. And now brethren, our hope is in your obedience; in those things we hope we shall rejoice in you; nay we do rejoice in our hope of you; in this hope we commit you to the Lord, and to the word of his grace, who is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified. We remain  
Yours dearly to love in, and ready to serve you for Christ Jesus, 

Thomas Collier,  
Nathaniel Strange,  
Thomas Glass.   From the meeting of the Messengers of the Churches in Tiverton, this 18 day of the 7th month 1657. signed by us, in their names, and by their appointment.  
We have appointed our next meeting at Dorchester, and desire the Churches to send their Messengers to be there the 2d day (at night) of the 2d week of the 3d month (vul.) May 1658.   

London, Printed for Thomas Brewster, at the three Bibles in Paul's Churchyard, 1657.