Which is the Churches Girdle, highly priz'd Till cancred Malice in your Hearts did center) 'Gainst those that in the Light have kept their Ob ! may the God of Heaven hop your Way, I could not but recite thus much, of the Beginning and End of that Book, which is fo excellent, both for the Subject and Compofure, that one may fooner tranfcribe too little than too much; the whole being well worth the reading. 1685. In the fecond Month 1686, he had a Concern 1686. upon his Spirit, in a deep Senfe of the Enemy's working to fow Divifions, and endeavouring to lay waste the Teftimony of Truth, to write an Epistle to Friends; which he did very folidly and weightily, to ftir up Friends to Faithfulnefs, A a 2 1686. nefs, and to beware of the Eenmy's Wiles, and avoid that rending dividing Spirit, which . was then at work to caufe Divifion and Strife among Friends; which being fo seasonable and excellent, both for Matter and Stile, the whole is thought meet to be here inferted at large; and is as followeth : An EPISTLE to FRIEND S. DE EAR Friends, unto whom the gathering Arm of the Lord hath reached, and who have known, in your feveral Measures, a being gathered thereby into the heavenly Life, and are Witneffes of the preferving Power, by which ye have been kept faithful to the Lord, and regardful of His Honour: Unto you, in an efpecial manner, is the Salutation of my true and tender Love in the Lord; and for you, as for myself, are the Breathings and fervent Defires of my Soul offered up, in the one Spirit, unto Him who is your God and mine, that both you and I may be for ever kept in the fresh Senfe of His tender Mercies and great. Lovingkindness unto us, that therein our Souls may cleave firmly unto Him, and never depart from Him. For Friends, it is a trying Day, a Day of great Difficulty and Danger, wherein the Enemy Enemy is at work and very bufy, fetting his 1686. Snares on every Side, and fpreading his Temptations on every Hand: And fome, alas! have entred thereinto, and are caught and held therein, for whom my Soul in Secret mourns. And truly Friends, a great Weight hath been upon my Spirit for many Days, and my Mind hath been deeply exercised, in the Senfe I have of the Enemy's prevailing, by one Bait or other, to unfettle the Minds of fome, whom the Arm of the Lord had reached unto, and in some measure gathered to a refting Place: But not abiding in that pure Light, by which they were at first visited, and to which they were at first turned, the Understanding hath been vailed again; the Eye, which was once in fome measure opened, hath the God of the World infenfibly blinded again, and Darkness is again come over, to that degree, that they can now contentedly take up again, what in the Day of their Convincement, and in the Time of their true Tendernefs, they caft off as a Burthen too heavy to be borne. O my Friends, this hath been the Enemy's Work; therefore it greatly behoves all to watch against him, for it hath been for want of Watchfulness, that he hath got Entrance into any. For when the Mind hath been from off the true Watch, in a fecure and careless State, then hath he fecretly wrought, and prefented his fair Baits, his Allurements or Enticements by Pleasure or Profit, to catch the unwary Mind. And hence it hath come to pass that fome, who have come out fairly, and begun well, A a 3 1680. well, and have feemed in good Earnest to have fet their Hands to God's Plow, have looked back, and been weary of the Yoke of Christ, and have either lufted after the Flesh-pots of Egypt again, or turned afide into fome By - path or crooked Way in the Wildernefs, and thereby have fallen fhort of the promised good Land. But you, my dear Friends, in whom the Word of Life abides, and who abide in the Virtue and Savour thereof, ye know the Wiles of the Enemy, and the Power which fubdues him, and the Rock in which the Prefervation and Safety is. So that I write not these Things unto you because ye know them not; but the End of my thus writing is, to ftir up the pure Mind in all, upon whom the Name of the Lord is called, that we all may be provoked to Watchfulness against the Workings of the wicked One. Therefore, dear Friends, bear, I befeech you, the Word of Exhortation, though from one that is little and low (and through Mercy fenfible of it) and who hath not been accustomed to appear after this manner for the Wind, ye know, bloweth where it lifteth. ; Friends, call to mind the former Times, and remember the Days that are paft and gone, when the Day of the Lord firft dawned unto you, and His Power feized upon you. Ye know how weighty and retired the Spirits of Friends then were; how grave and folid their Deportment and Carriage; how few and favoury their Words, tending to edify the Hearers; how great a Fear and Backwardnefs was in them, to to enter into Familiarity with the World's 1686. People. O Friends, that was a good Day, and that was a safe State; for Fear begets Watchfulnefs, and Watchfulness is a Means to prevent Danger. Therefore all Friends, keep in the holy Fear, and therein watch against the Enemy, that he entangle you not, nor hurt your Spirits, by a too near Familiarity, and intimate converfing with the People of the World; for therein, I affure you, lies a Snare. For though it be both lawful and neceffary, and in fome Cafes alfo useful and ferviceable to the Truth, to converse with them that are without; yet if any Friend fhould adventure in a frank and free Mind, beyond the Limits of the pure Fear, to entertain Familiarity with the World's People, the Spirit of the World in them will feek an Entrance, and, if not diligently watched againft, will also get an Entrance, and bring a Hurt and a Lofs upon him or them into whom it fo gets. For being once entred, it will infenfibly work and dif pofe the Mind, into which it is got, to a Condefcention to and Compliance with the People of the World it converfes with, firft in one Thing, then in another, in Words, in Behaviour, &c. (little Things in Appearance, but great in Confequence) till at length an Indifferency gets up in the Mind, and the Teftimony of Truth by degrees is let fall. But while the pure Fear is kept to and dwelt in, the Watch is always fet, the Spirit is retired and weighty, and an holy Awfulness refts upon the Mind, which renders fuch A a 4 |