Epistle 292

Dear friends,--Be faithful in the power of the Lord God, in what you know, and then the Lord will preserve you; that you may answer the witness of God [1 Jn 5:9] in every man, whether they are the heathen, that do not profess Christ, or whether they are such as do profess Christ, that have the form of godliness, and are out of the power [2 Tim 3:5]. And keep your meetings, you that know the power of the Lord, and feel it, that in it you may have unity with God, and one with another.

The Lord God hath a seed in those parts, who shall be heirs of his grace that brings salvation, which grace is it that teacheth [Tit 2:11f], in which grace they sing praises to the Lord. So, now you who are come to the dawning of the day, and to the ending of the night of the apostacy; happy and blessed are you, who are come to see these things, to see the hidden mysteries of God revealed, and his glorious riches to the Gentiles [Col 1:26f], through the power of an endless life [Heb 7:16].

And you that are and have been faithful, spread the truth abroad, ye that know it; and feel that which makes free [John 8:32]; let not principalities and powers separate you from the love of God, which you have in Christ Jesus [Rom 8:38f], who hath all power in heaven <42> and earth given unto him [Mat 28:18], mind his reign, his teaching, his kingdom, which hath no end [Luke 1:33]; for God hath some to be brought out from amongst those heathens, if you be faithful among them, answering the witness of God in them; for as the Lord saith, 'I will give him for a covenant to the Gentiles [Isa 42:6];' and those are called heathens.

Therefore keep your meetings, and dwell in the power of truth, and know it in one another, and be one in the light, that you may be kept in peace and love in the power of God, that you may know the mystery of the gospel [Eph 6:19]: and all that ever you do, do in love; do nothing in strife [Phil 2:3], but in love, that edifies the body of Christ [Eph 4:16], which is the church [Col 1:18]. So as any are moved to go amongst the heathen, in the power and love of God, to preach the gospel, (which is the love of God to them,) bring them to the power of God; to that God, which is the God of the stones, which they make idols of, and the God of the trees, earth, brass, silver, iron, and gold [Dan 5:23], which they make gods of; and that he is the living God; for those are dead gods that are made with men's hands. . . .

He is the living God, that made the heaven and the earth [Gen 1:1], and the clouds, and causes the springs to break out of the rocks, and divided the great sea from the earth, and divided the light from the darkness, by which it is called day, and the darkness night [Gen 1:4f], and divided the great waters from the earth, and gathered them together: which great waters he called sea, and the dry land earth [Gen 1:9f]: he is to be worshipped that doth this. He is the living God, . . . who hath promised he will give Christ Jesus for <43> a covenant of light and peace to you, who are called Gentiles [Isa 42:6] and heathens.

And now is the day approaching to you, (this covenant of light,) by which you shall come to have peace with the Lord God, the king of the whole earth. This is the King of kings, and Lord of lords [Rev 19:16], in whose hand is the breath of all mankind [Job 12:10]: this is the God of the spirits of all flesh [Num 16:22], who hath made all nations of mankind of one blood, to dwell upon the face of the earth [Acts 17:26]. And God having divided the sons and daughters of Adam, and scattered them up and down the face of the earth [Gen 11:8f], being in the transgression and sin, led away with the god of the world [2 Cor 4:4], the wicked one, the devil, that abode not in the truth [John 8:44], who causes people to destroy one another, and murder one another about earthly things: this is the prince of darkness, that rules in all the hearts of the children of disobedience [Eph 2:2]; disobedient to that which is righteous in them, which discovers the unrighteous actions and words from the righteous.

And Christ, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven [1 Cor 15:47], saves men from sin; who is the prince of peace [Isa 9:6], and of life [Acts 3:15], and the covenant of God, who brings men to have peace with God [Rom 5:1], and one with another [Mark 9:50], who destroys the devil [Heb 2:14], the author of strife: this is Christ the second Adam, which brings the sons and daughters of Adam into reconciliation with God again, and destroys sin, and finishes it, and makes reconciliation for sin and iniquity [Dan 9:24].

G. F.