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<DATE>2007-10-30</DATE>
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<NAME>Jonathan Blaney</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="W">F1905A</STC>
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<VID>172625</VID>
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<HEAD>A SHORT EPISTLE to FRIENDS To keep in the Power of GOD in their Peaceable Habitations, Over the TROUBLES of the WORLD.</HEAD>
<P>ALL my dear Friends and Brethren, who are gathered by the Light, Grace, and Truth, and Power, and Spirit of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to him the head over all, by whom were all things created, &s;o the Fir&s;t|born of every Creature, and the Fir&s;t begotten from the dead; follow him in his Re&s;urrection, that you all may be partakers of it and Life ever|la&s;ting, and may &s;it together in heavenly places in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who is over all, the Fir&s;t and La&s;t, and in him you have peace, who is not of this World, for in this World there is trouble; and the World did and doth hate Chri&s;t, yea and his Light, Grace, Truth, Power and Spirit; and therefore it is no marvel if the World do hate Chri&s;ts Members that do follow him in his Light, Grace, Truth, Power and Spirit, and &s;o with it receive him in them their Life and Salvation, and &s;o he that hath the Son of God hath Life; who is the Fountain that filleth all that wait upon him, with his heavenly ble&s;&s;ings and riches of Life from Chri&s;t the Rock and Foundation, that cannot be &s;haken, though the rocks and foundations of the World may be &s;haken, and cloven in pieces, and the Pillars of the Earth may reel and &s;tagger, and all Hypocrites and Sinners may fear, but they that fear the Lord, and wait upon him, &s;hall be as Mount Sion that cannot be removed, for the Lords Power is over all, by which he keeps his People to the day of Salvation.</P>
<P>And therefore all you that have this Keeper, the Power of the Lord through Faith unto the day of Life and Salvation, need none of the &s;lum|bering Keepers or Watchers; for the Lord was the Keeper of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> who neither &s;lumbered nor &s;lept, till <HI>I&s;rael</HI> for&s;ook the Lord, and then they &s;et up &s;lumbering and &s;leepy Watchers and Keepers, like the apo&s;tate Chri&s;tians, who have for&s;aken the Power of God to keep them, and then they are &s;oon &s;haken.</P>
<P>And therefore, Friends, you that do know the Power of God, in which the Kingdom of God &s;tands, you know your Keeper, through the Faith which Je&s;us Chri&s;t is the Author of, which &s;tands in his Power, and not in words; and &s;o your Faith &s;tanding in this Power it will keep you out of the words of mens wi&s;dom and above them.</P>
<P>And the golden Lamp in your Tabernacle all is to have to burn with the heavenly Oyl, which you have from Chri&s;t your high Prie&s;t, being returned to him, the great Shepherd and Bi&s;hop of your &s;ouls, who will bring you, his Sheep, into his &s;afe Fold, who gives unto his Sheep eternal Life, and his Sheep &s;hall not peri&s;h, neither &s;hall any pluck them out of his hand. Though men may pluck Hypocrites and Apo&s;tates one from another, but Chri&s;t &s;aith no man is able to pluck his Sheep out of his Fa|thers hand. And therefore all feel the Hand that hath brought you out of &s;piritual <HI>Egypt</HI> where Chri&s;t hath been crucified, to Chri&s;t, and in his new Covenant of Light and Life, as the <HI>Jews</HI> were brought out of <HI>Egypt</HI> in the old Covenant, which Chri&s;t hath aboli&s;hed, and makes all things new; &s;o that all may be grounded on him who was the Foundation of all the ho|ly Prophets and Apo&s;tles, and of all the holy men of God to this day.</P>
<P>And therefore con&s;ider who it is that abides in the Tabernacle of God, and dwels in his holy Hill, it is the Faithful and the Upright, which holy Hill is a &s;afe place for all the Upright.</P>
<P>As the Lord &s;aid, <HI>In the la&s;t dayes the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e &s;hould be e&s;tabli&s;hed on the tops of the Mountains, and &s;hould be exalted above the Hills, and all Nations &s;hould flow unto this &s;tabli&s;hed Hou&s;e:</HI> And here the Lord does teach his people that comes up to the Mountain of the Hou&s;e of the God of <HI>Jacob;</HI> &s;o all Mountains, Hou&s;es, Hills and Teaching will be &s;haken, but the Mountain of the Lords Hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the la&s;t dayes, as the Prophet &s;aid, which is the dayes of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Is not this the Stone that became a great Mountain, and fills the whole Earth, which &s;mote and broke to pieces the Iron, Clay, the Bra&s;s, Sil|ver and Gold which were as Mountains? And this Stone which becomes a great Mountain, and &s;ets up a Kingdom which &s;hall never have an end, Is not this the Kingdom of Chri&s;t, which Chri&s;t &s;aith, <HI>Except a man be born again he can neither &s;ee the Kingdom of God nor enter into it?</HI></P>
<P>And therefore, Friends, all you that do know his Kingdom that &s;tands in Power, in Peace and Joy in the holy Gho&s;t, over the power of the evil, and all the unclean Gho&s;ts which keep them in their fir&s;t birth, and lead them into all evil, as the holy Gho&s;t leads them into all Truth.</P>
<P>And &s;o dear Friends and Brethren, that know this Rock, this Stone, this Foundation, the Hou&s;e of God, that is &s;tabli&s;hed upon the Lords Mountain, above all other hou&s;es, hills, mountains and teachings in the World, where God doth teach his People, and &s;tabli&s;h them upon Chri&s;t Je&s;us the living Rock and Foundation and living Way: And &s;o though there may be troubles without, and troubles within, yet if you wait upon the Lord he will renew your &s;trength.</P>
<P>And the Children of God they are &s;et for Signs and Wonders; for as it is &s;aid, <HI>Lo the Children that thou ha&s;t given me they are for Signs and Wonders.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore, Friends, keep your Habitation in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, in whom you have Peace; for all the rude Talkers, and vain Di&s;puters and Janglers, which cankers and ru&s;ts, goes out of the peaceable Truth; and that that is torn, and will dye of it &s;elf, mu&s;t not be fed upon, but the Life mu&s;t be fed upon, and that which gives you Life eternal.</P>
<P>And the Lord did not build his <HI>Zion,</HI> and his outward <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> with Blood, in the old Covenant, for they that did build their <HI>Zion</HI> and <HI>Jeru|&s;alem</HI> with Blood, made their <HI>Zion</HI> a Field, and their <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> an Heap; &s;o if this practice was forbidden in the old Covenant, much more in the new, who think to build <HI>Zion</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> with Blood and Iniquity, for &s;uch has not been <HI>Zions</HI> Children, nor <HI>Jeru&s;alems</HI> that is above, who &s;hed mens Blood concerning Religion Church and Wor&s;hip; for Chri&s;t re|buked &s;uch that would have had mens lives de&s;troyed, and told them, <HI>They knew not what Spirit they were of;</HI> &s;o they that do not know what Spirit they are of, they are not like to build up Gods <HI>Zion</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></P>
<P>For Chri&s;t &s;aid, he came to &s;ave mens Lives, and not to de&s;troy them; for the Worlds God was the de&s;troyer of mens Lives, which Chri&s;t came to de&s;troy him and his works, and to &s;ave mens Lives and Souls al&s;o. And &s;o, dear Friends, let the love of God which is &s;hed abroad in your hearts, ca&s;t out all fear; and keep in the Name of Je&s;us, in which you are gathered, which is above every name under the whole Heaven, in whom you have all Life and Salvation, and his Pre&s;ence among you, who&s;e Name is a &s;trong Tower, and Chri&s;t is a Rock to hide your &s;elves in, and his Spirit to cover you, which is a Covering &s;ufficient enough for you, and wo will be to them that are covered, but not with his Spirit, they may fly to the Rocks and Mountains to cover, and hide them, which will not be Sufficient, for the Rocks will rend, and the Mountains will be re|moved, &s;uch may run down into &s;piritual <HI>Egypt</HI> for &s;trength, where Chri&s;t was crucified, like the <HI>Jews</HI> in the old Covenant that ran into outward <HI>Egypt</HI> from his Spirit, but all was in vain.</P>
<P>And therefore tru&s;t in the Lord, who has pre&s;erved you by his glorious Light and Power to this day, that you may be &s;ettled upon the Seed Chri&s;t Je&s;us, which is over all that within and without that is contrary to it, and brui&s;eth the head of the Serpent, that hath been between you and God, &s;o that in Chri&s;t the Seed you have Peace with the Lord God, life and dominion, and Election, and Salvation, who Redeems out of the Cur&s;e, and fear of men, or that makes the Arm of fle&s;h his &s;trength, and not the Arm of God; and therefore the Arm of the Lord being your &s;trength, Chri&s;t your Rock and Salvation, then you need not fear what man can do unto you; for all Gods Children are dear and tender to him, whom he hath begotten again by the Word of God to be Heirs of his Kingdom, he feeds them with Life eternal, and the Milk of his Word, which Word lives and abides and endures forever, and is alwayes full and plentious of Milk to nur&s;e and nouri&s;h up all God's Children to eternal Life, to inherit his Kingdom, and the World which is everla&s;ting, which Chri&s;t is the Ruler of, the heavenly &s;piritual man; and therefore they that be in him, mu&s;t be New Creatures; for all the Old Creatures are in old <HI>Adam.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore my De&s;ires are, that you may all be &s;ettled in Chri&s;t Je|&s;us, who was dead, and is alive again, and lives for evermore, a Prophet, Councillor, a Prie&s;t, Bi&s;hop and Shepherd, a Circumci&s;er and Baptizer, a living Rock and Foundation forevermore, the Beginning and Ending, the Fir&s;t and La&s;t, the Amen; &s;it down in him, and he in you, in whom you have peace with God;</P>
<CLOSER>Amen.</CLOSER>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>G. F.</SIGNED> <DATELINE>Swarthmore, <DATE>the 6th of the 12th Moneth 1678.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
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