Thy business I fhall follow, with all the diligence and difcretion I can, and by the first give thee an account, after it shall please the Lord to bring me safe to London. All my brethren are well, and prefent thee with their dear love, and the rest with thee that love JESUS, the light of the world, in thy family. Thou haft taught me to forget thou art a princess, and therefore I use this freedom; and to that of God in thee arn I manifeft; and I know my integrity. Give, if thou pleaseft, the falutation of my dear love to A. M. de Hornes, with the inclofed. Dear princefs, do not hinder, but help her: that may be required of her, which (confidering thy circumftances) may not yet be required of thee. Let her ftand free, and her treedom will make the paffage easier unto thee. Accept what I fay, I intreat thee, in that pure and heavenly love and respect in which I write fo plainly to thee. Farewel, my dear friend, and the Lord be with thee. I am, more than I can say, Thy great lover and respectful friend, WILLIAM PENN. I refer thee to the inclosed for paffages: we visited Giftall and Hooftman, and they us; they were at one or two of the meetings at Amfterdam. Vale in æternum, For ANNA MARIA DE HORNES, ftiled Countess of HORNES. Jefus be with thy fpirit. Amen. Eloved, and much efteemed for the fake of that love which is raised in thy heart to the eternal truth of God; the increase of which I earnestly defire; that thou mayeft be more than conqueror, through the powerful workings of that divine love in thy foul, which which cafteth out all falfe fear, and overcometh the world. In this eternal love it is that I love thee, and would be loved of thee: bleffed are they that hold their fellowship in it. It is pure, harmlefs, patient, fervent, and conftant: in fine, it cometh from God, and leadeth all that receive it to God. Indeed it is God, and they that live in love, live in God. If we keep and abide in him that hath visited us, we shall always feel his love as a fountain; and wonderful are the effects of it. O it can lay down its life for its friend!' It will break through all difficulty, and hath power to conquer death and the grave: this tranfcendeth the friendship of the world, and the vain-glorious honour of the courts of this world. This kindness is inviolable: our pureft faith worketh by this love. O the tenderness of that foul in which this love liveth and hath place! the humility and compassion that always keep it company! And who can livelily enough defcribe the lovely image it giveth, the attracting and engaging converfation it hath but it is difcerned, and greatly valued, by the children of love, who are born of it, which all the children of light are. What shall I fay? It is the great command, and it keepeth all the commands; love, pure and undefiled, it fulfilleth the law and gofpel too: bleffed are they that feel any of this love shed abroad in their hearts. With this love it is that God hath loved us; and by the power of this love Chrift Jefus hath died for us, Yea, it is this love that quickeneth us to Jefus, that inflameth our fouls with pure and ardent love to him, and zeal for him: yea, it is this holy love, that forfakes father and mother, fifter and brother, husband, wife, and children, houfe and land, liberty and life, for the fake of Jefus that leaveth the dead to bury the dead, and followeth Jefus in the narrow way of regeneration that can trust him in the winds, and in the earthquakes, in the fire, and in the waters; yea, when the floods come in, even unto the foul, this defpondeth not, neither murmureth, And And as it cannot defpair, fo it never prefumeth : yea, it can triumphantly fay, What fhall be able to feparate me from the love of God that is in Chrift Jefus? Shall principalities or powers? Things prefent, or things to come? Shall life or death? O no, neither time nor mortality. My dear friend, let this noble plant of paradife grow in thy heart. Wait upon the Lord, that he would water it, and fhine upon it, and make an hedge about it; that thy whole heart may be replenifhed with the heavenly increafe and fruits of it. O that thou mayeft grow, in thy inner man, in wifdom, ftrength, and a pure understanding; in favour with God, and with all people that are in the fame nature and image! For the world only loveth its own. I hoped not to have been fo quick upon my last long letter; but God's pure love (that hath redeemed me from the earth, and the earthly nature and fpirit) moved fervently upon my fpirit to vifit thee once more, before I leave this land. I deferred it to this extremity; and being not clear to go hence, I fend thee my Chriftian falutation, in this pure love that many waters cannot quench, diftance cannot make it forget, nor can time wear it out. My foul reverently boweth before the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that it would pleafe him to preferve thee. Fear him, and thou needeft not fear, for the angel of the Lord encampeth about those that trust in his name. The angel of his eternal prefence guard thee, that none of the enemies of thy foul's peace may ever prevail against thee! Perfeverance and victory be thy portion in this world, and a crown of endless glory be thy reward in that which is to come. Amen. Since my laft (being the day next after the date thereof) we had a meeting with Galenus Abrahams and his company the fuccefs thou mayeft perhaps fee fuddenly in print, and therefore I fhall defer the narrative: only, in general, our dear Lord, our staff and ftrength, was with us, and truth reigned over all. That That night we went to Leyden, where we visited fome retired persons. Thence, next day, to the Hague, where alfo we had a little meeting. O the luft and pride of that place! Thou camest into my mind as I walked in the ftreets, and I faid in myself, Well! fhe hath chosen the better part.' O be faithful, and the Lord will give thee an eternal recompence! Thence we came to Rotterdam, where the Lord hath given us feveral heavenly opportunities in private and publick. We are now come to the Briel, and wait our paffage. The Lord Jefus be with you that ftay, and with us that go, that in him we may live and abide for ever. Salute me to my French friend; bid her be conftant. I wish thy fervants felicity; but thine as mine God Almighty overshadow thee, hide thee under his pavilion, be thy fhield, rock, and fanctuary for ever. Farewel, farewel. own. 20 Thy friend, and the Lord's fervant, Briel, 8th month, 1677. W. P. Next morning the packet-boat arrived, and about ten we went on board, having first taken our folemn leave of those friends that accompanied us thither. We immediately fet fail, with a great number of paffengers: but, by reafon of contrary and tempeftuous weather, we arrived not at Harwich till the third day about the 7th hour. Whence, next morning,' I writ this following falutation and account to the friends of Holland and Germany, to return with the boat. 21. 8. 1. 1 22. 8. 2. 23. 8.3. r 24. 8. 4. A let A letter from Harwich, to friends in Holland and Germany, containing the paffages from Holland to England. Let this be fent to the friends in High and Low Dutch-Land. My foul magnifieth the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour, who hath rebuked the winds and the feas, and made us to drink of his falvation upon the great deeps! yea, we could not but praise him in the tempeft, for all things are full of his majefty. Bleffed is the eye that feeth, and the heart that dependeth upon him at all times. There is not another God; he is the Lord alone that the holy ancients trufted in, and were not confounded. What fhall my foul render unto the Lord? We are full of his mercy, he hath made us witneffes of his care. We can fay, in righteoufnefs, they are bleffed whose God is the Lord, and that ferve all the day long no other master than our God. Friends, this is an endeared falutation to you all in High and Low-Dutch-Land, in the deep and fresh fenfe of the Lord's preferving power. O that you may abide in that fenfe of him which he hath begotten in you, and in the reverent knowledge of him, according to the manifeftation which you have received of him, in the light of his dear Son: that you may be faithful, and fervent for the Lord; that his glorious life and power may break through you; and these lands, long, dry, and barren as the wilderness, may fpring and bloffom as the rofe. For what have we to do here, but to exalt him, that hath visited and loved us; yea, faved us in great measure? Ah, he is worthy! my fpirit reverenceth him, my heart and foul do bow before him: eternal bleffings dwell for ever with him. Dear friends, my love floweth to you as a fountain. God, even my God, and your God, hath made you dear |