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<DATE>2008-11-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B080922.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">B3846A</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">45789169</BIBNO>
<VID>172482</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 3 -->
<HEAD>An EPISTLE to FRIENDS</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>DEAR Friends every where, who &s;uffer Bonds for the Go&s;pel's-&s;ake, which is the Power of God.</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>It is an Honour which the Lord doth Honour you withal, in that he account you worthy thereof; wherefore rejoyce therein, becau&s;e God hath Honoured you with &s;o high a calling in that it hath been His good plea&s;ure to call you thereunto, which is for your good, yea, for your be&s;t good: For the&s;e things Dear Friends are for the Tryal of your Faith, and Patience, and that you may be purified, and made clean from all Impurity and filthine&s;s, both of Fle&s;h and Spirit, that you may be made more precious than fine Gold, which hath often pa&s;&s;ed through the fire, to which <HI>Sion's</HI>-Sons are comparable, and a man comes to be made more precious than the Gold of <HI>Ophire.</HI> God knoweth what is be&s;t for us, and therefore it will be good for us to bear with Patience what he in his Divine Wi&s;dom &s;eeth meet to &s;uffer to come upon us, for the Tryal of our Faith and Patience, that our Faith may be more precious than the Gold which peri&s;heth.</P>
<P>Let us be content to follow Chri&s;t whither&s;oever it be, and think no &s;ufferings too much to &s;uffer for his Name &s;ake, who &s;uffered Death for us all, yea for the wor&s;t of men, even the Rebellious and ungodly, that he might bring us unto God, in which, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>God commended his love to us, in that while we were yet Sinners Chri&s;t died for us;</HI> Was not this love indeed? Doth not the Rich love of God appear towards us herein? And if he honours us by calling us to &s;uffer Tribulation for his Name &s;ake; Let us a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves, it is for our profit, and Advantage, and not that thereby we &s;hould come to lo&s;s, and be de&s;troyed.</P>
<P>Wherefore lift up your Heads, and be glad in the Lord, and &s;trong in the Power of his might, yea let the weak hands be &s;trengthened, and the feeble knees confirmed; who are of a fearfull Heart, be &s;trong, fear not; for God will cau&s;e the&s;e exerci&s;es to work for good to us in the End, by holding out, and continuing to the End in the Faith and Patience, by our doing as God hath, and &s;hall give us to believe we ought to do with Pa|tience. Hereby &s;hall we obtain victory over the World, and over him who Rules in the di&s;obedient ones, who are of this World, by him who is not of this World, &amp; hath Cho&s;en us out of the World, and be made through the great love of God to us in him Conquerors, and more than Conquerors &s;uch come thereby to be, who are Redeemed from tho&s;e who get the better one of another by warring and contending one with another, with their Carnall Weapons; who after they have done all that they can in that way of Warring and contending, do many of them end their days in &s;orrow; but who are made Conquerors through Chri&s;t, who hath loved them, &amp; ta&s;ted Death for them; their end comes to be happy, the Peace and joy of God being their portion, in which they are ble&s;&s;ed forever.</P>
<P>So <HI>DEAR FRIENDS,</HI> think it not much becau&s;e of the fiery Tryals which you are come to be tryed withal, as if &s;ome &s;trange thing had happened unto you, for the&s;e things are no otherwi&s;e than it was among&s;t tho&s;e many Ages and Generations &s;ince, who were the called and Cho&s;en of the Lord, who then rejoyced and were glad in the Lord therein, when they were per&s;ecuted for Chri&s;t's &s;ake, yea in that God did reckon, and account them worthy thereof, and for who&s;e &s;ake they &s;uffered joyfully the &s;poyling of their goods, knowing that they had laid up for them in Heaven, a better and more Indurable Sub&s;tance, Riches and Trea&s;ures, which far exceeded tho&s;e Earthly Trea&s;ures they &s;uffered the &s;poyling of, which no Robbers nor &s;poilers could Rob nor &s;poil them of, wherefore <HI>rejoyce in the Lord,</HI> and again I &s;ay Rejoyce, becau&s;e with them by your being Faithful unto the Lord God your maker unto the death, you &s;hall be &s;harers and partakers of the&s;e Heavenly Trea|&s;ures, which will never decay, and &s;o come to receive a Crown of life which fadeth not away.</P>
<P>It was by &s;ufferings Chri&s;t Je&s;us the Captain of our Salvation was made perfect, wherefore being called of the Lord thereunto, as was the Apo&s;tle of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, Let us therein rejoyce even as he did, when he &s;uffered for his Lord and Ma&s;ter's &s;ake Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who &s;aid to the Saints at <HI>Colo&s;s; For whom, for Chri&s;t's &s;ake he &s;uffered, who now rejoyce in my &s;ufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the Afflictions of Chri&s;t in my Fle&s;h for his Bodie's-&s;ake which is the Church; with whom if we &s;uffer with him by continuing Faithfull unto the end, we &s;hall come to reign for ever, who is &s;it down at the right Hand of Power; wherefore who have &s;et your Hands to the plow look not back you that have made a good beginning, continue, and hold on therein, pre&s;&s;ing forward to the &s;aving of your Souls.</HI></P>
<P>And you who are at Liberty, <HI>viz.</HI> who are not Thrown into Pri&s;ons and Holes for the Te&s;timony of your pure Con&s;ciences towards God, what ever you may &s;uffer, be Faithfull in your Te&s;timony for him in your Meeting together to wait upon him; and in making mention of his Name in Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and in every good word and work; be ye firm, and &s;tedfa&s;t in your Te&s;timony for the Lord, that as thereby you have know the Lord pre&s;ent with you in the mid&s;t of you, to your Soules great Comfort, refre&s;hment, and Satisfaction, you may know him &s;o unto you even to the end, and &s;o be your God forever.</P>
<P>And you <HI>My Dear Friends,</HI> who are in Bonds for the Go&s;pel &s;ake, be patient in your Sufferings, according to his Holy and Heavenly Will, not otherwi&s;e de&s;iring your Liberty nor Enlargement therefrom, but pray and de|&s;ire it may be according thereunto; that &s;o in the appointed time of the Father, you may be &s;aved, and deliver|ed by him, out of the Hands of all that hate you; and out of the Hands of all his, and all your Enemys; by that Horn of Salvation, which he hath rai&s;ed up, and ordained, and appointed in order thereunto; that we might &s;erve him without fear, in Holine&s;s, and Righteou&s;ne&s;s before him, all the days of our life, dwelling in the Love and Goodwill of the Almighty towards all people, not de&s;iring the Ruin or De&s;truction of any of them, that you may be like unto your Heavenly Father, who is Good and Kind unto all, even unto the unholy and unthankfull, even unto the wor&s;t of men, in &s;ending his Rain upon them, and in cau&s;ing his Sun to Shine upon them; Oh! Let your Light &s;o Shine forth, that by their beholding the &s;ame, they by your good works which they &s;hall behold, may Glorify God on your behalf; So will the Eyes of the Righteous Lord, who Loveth Righ|teou&s;ne&s;s and Truth in the Inward parts, be over you for good, who&s;e Eyes run to and fro, to &s;hew him&s;elf &s;trong, for them who believe and tru&s;t in him; according to who&s;e holy and heavenly mind and will herein and in all things, my prayers are for you, that you may be found to do, that he may delight in you forever.</P>
<P>To whom I do commit you, with my &s;elf, to be pre&s;erved and kept, as to a Faithful Creator: Hoping, Pray|ing and De&s;iring, that we may &s;o pa&s;s the time of our &s;ojourning here, that when Time &s;hall come to an end with us, Re&s;t and Peace in Eternity with him may be the Portion of our Souls forever.</P>
<P>So de&s;iring that the Ble&s;&s;ing of the Mo&s;t High God, Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or of Heaven and Earth, may re&s;t upon you, I cea&s;e at pre&s;ent from writing unto you, but not from Love, in that which is Pure and Everla&s;ting; In which I remain</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Dear Friend and Brother, who are the Called, Cho&s;en and Faithful of the Lord, whom he hath &s;et apart for him&s;elf: <HI>EDWARD BOURNE.</HI></SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>Worce&s;ter</HI> City-Pri&s;on, where I &s;uffer Bonds for the Te&s;timony of a Good Con&s;cience towards God; <DATE>the 20th of the 10th Moneth, 1682.</DATE></DATELINE>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P><HI>Let this</HI> Epi&s;tle <HI>be read in the fear of the Lord in the A&s;&s;emblies of the Righteous every where, both in Bonds &amp; at Liberty.</HI></P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
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<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. Bringhur&s;t,</HI> at the Sign of the Book in <HI>Grace-Church-&s;treet.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
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