meeting I was moved to write a few lines, to be sent amongst Friends; the tenor whereof was thus:

DEAR FRIENDS, My love is to you all in the holy seed Christ Jesus; that bruises the serpent's head, and destroys the devil and his works; and who hath all power in heaven and earth given to him. Let every one's faith stand in him, and in his power, who is the author and finisher of your faith. To you who have been partakers of his power, and are sensible of it in this day of his power, which is over darkness and its power; by whose power the hearts of the king and rulers have been opened; and by which your outward prison doors have been set open for your liberty. My desires are, that all may be preserved in humility and thankfulness, in the sense of the mercies of the Lord; and live in the peaceable truth that is over all: that ye may answer God's grace, and his light and spirit in all; in a righteous, godly life and conversation. Let none be lifted up by their outward liberty, neither let any be cast down by suffering for Christ's sake; but all live in the seed (which is as wheat,) which is not shaken nor blown away by the winds and storms, as the chaff is. Which seed of life none below can make higher or lower: for the children of the seed are the children of the everlasting, unchangeable kingdom of Christ and God. In Christ Jesus, whom God hath given you for a sanctuary, God Almighty keep you, in whom ye have life everlasting, and wisdom from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits; that all may be exercised in it, and may practise this wisdom in holy lives and conversations; that this wisdom may be justified of all her children, and they exercised and preserved in it in this day of the power of Christ; in which all his people are made a willing people, to serve and worship God in righteousness and holiness, in the spirit and truth.

'Let none abuse the power of the Lord, nor grieve his spirit, by which you are sealed and kept to the day of salvation and redemption; but always exercise yourselves to have a "good conscience void of offence towards God and towards all men;" being exercised in holiness, godliness, and righteousness, in the truth, and in the love of it. All study to be approved unto God in innocency, virtue, simplicity, and faithfulness, labouring and studying to be quiet in the will of God. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him :" that he, who is over all, may have the praise for all his mercies and blessings, with which he hath refreshed his people, and by his eternal arm and power hath kept and preserved them to this day. Glory to his name over all for ever, Amen! Christ has called you by his grace into one body, to him the holy head; therefore, live in charity, and in the love of God, which is the bond of per

fectness in his body; which love edifies the body of Christ: which body and all its members are knit together, and increased with the increase of God, from whom they receive nourishment. For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, and have been made all to drink into one spirit; in which spirit the body and all its members have fellowship with Christ the head, and one with another. The unity of this holy spirit is the bond of peace of all the living members of Christ Jesus, of which he is the spiritual head, rock, and foundation. In the midst of his church of living members Christ exercises his spiritual prophetical office, to open to them the mysteries of his kingdom. He is a spiritual bishop to oversee them, that they do not go astray from the living God that made them; a shepherd that feeds them with bread and water of life from heaven, and none is able to pluck his sheep out of his hands. He is a priest that died for them, sanctifieth them, and presents them to God, who ruleth in their hearts by the divine faith, which he is the author and finisher of. His living members praise God through Jesus Christ, in whom they have life and salvation, who reconciles them to God, that they can say they have "peace with God through Jesus Christ:" and so praise God through him that was dead and is alive, reigns over all, and liveth for evermore, blessed for ever, hallelujah, Amen!

'Greet one another with a holy kiss of charity. Love or charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. It envieth not, vaunteth not itself, nor is puffed up, nor doth it behave itself unseemly. It rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Charity is not easily provoked, and thinks no evil, but suffereth long and is kind. Charity never faileth. I say, greet one another with this holy kiss of charity, and peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus, your life and salvation. G. F.

The 30th of the 3d month, 1686.'

I remained most part of this year in London, save that sometimes I got to Bethnal-green for a night or two, sometimes as far as Enfield and thereabouts amongst Friends, and once or twice to Chiswich, where an ancient Friend had set up a school for the educating of Friends' children; in all which places I found service for the Lord. At London I spent my time amongst Friends, either in public meetings, as the Lord drew me, or visiting such as were not well, and in looking after the sufferings of Friends. For though many were released out of prison, yet some remained prisoners still for tithes, &c. and sufferings of several sorts lay heavy on Friends in many places. Yet inasmuch as many who had been prisoners were now set at liberty, I felt a concern upon me that none might look too much at man, but might eye the Lord therein, from whom deliverance comes. Wherefore I wrote an epistle to Friends, as followeth :

FRIENDS, The Lord by his eternal power hath disposed the heart of the king to open the prison doors, by which about fifteen or sixteen hundred are set at liberty, and hath given a check to the informers, so that in many places our meetings are pretty quiet. My desires are, that both liberty and sufferings may be sanctified to his people, that Friends may prize the mercies of the Lord in all things and to him be thankful, who stilleth the raging waves of the sea, allayeth the storms and tempest, and maketh a calm. Therefore it is good to trust in the Lord, and cast your care upon him who careth for you. For when ye were in gaols and prisons the Lord did by his eternal arm and power uphold you, and sanctified them to you; unto some he made them as a sanctuary, and tried his people as in a furnace of affliction, both in prisons and spoiling of goods. In all this the Lord was with his people, and taught them to know that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; and that he was in all places, "who crowneth the year with his goodness." Psalm lxv. Therefore let all God's people be diligent, and careful to keep the camp of God holy, pure, and clean, and to serve God and Christ, and one another in the glorious, peaceable gospel of life and salvation; which glory shines over God's camp, and his great prophet, bishop, and shepherd is among, or in the midst of them exercising his heavenly offices in them; so that you his people may rejoice in Christ Jesus, through whom you have peace with God. For he that destroyeth the devil and his works, and bruises the serpent's head, is all God's peoples' heavenly foundation and rock to build upon; which was the holy prophets' and apostles' rock in days past, and is now the rock of our age; which rock, the foundation of God, standeth sure. Upon this the "Lord God establish all his people," Amen.

'London, the 25th of the 7th month, 1686.'

G. F.

Divers other epistles and papers I wrote this year, whereof one was by way of exhortation to Friends to keep in unity in the truth, in which there is no division nor separation:' thus,

'Dear friends and brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ,

'IN whom ye have all peace and life, in whom there is no division, schism, rent, strife, nor separation: for Christ is not divided, and there can be no separation in the truth, nor in the light, grace, faith, and holy ghost, but unity, fellowship, and communion. For the devil was the first that went out of the truth, separated from it, and tempted man and woman to disobey God, and to go from the truth into a false liberty, to do that which God forbade. So it is the serpent now that leads men and women into a false liberty, even the god of the world, from which man and woman must be separated by the truth, that Christ the truth

may make them free, and then they are free indeed. Then they are to stand fast in that liberty in which Christ hath made them free, and in him there is no division, schism, rent, nor separation; but peace, life, and reconciliation to God and to one another. So in Christ male and female are all one; for whether they be male or female, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, they are all one in Christ. And there can be no schism, rent, or division in him, nor in the worship of God in his holy spirit and truth, nor in the pure and undefiled religion that keeps from the spots of the world, nor in the love of God that beareth and endureth all things, nor in the word of God's grace, for it is pure and endureth for ever. Many, you see, have lost the word of patience, and the word of wisdom, that is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated. Then they run into the wisdom that is below, that is "earthly, sensual, and devilish," and very uneasy to be intreated. They go from the love of God that beareth all things, endureth all things, thinks no evil, and doth not behave itself unseemly; then they cannot bear, but grow brittle, are easily provoked, run into unseemly things, and are in that, that vaunteth itself, are puffed up, rash, heady, high-minded, and fierce, and become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; but this is contrary to the nature of the love of God. Therefore, dear friends and brethren, dwell in the love of God; for those who dwell in love dwell in God, and God in them. Keep in the word of wisdom, that is gentle, pure, and peaceable and in the word of patience that endureth and beareth all things; which word of patience the devil, and the world, and all his instruments can never wear out: it will wear them all out; for it was before they were, and will be when they are gone, the pure, holy word of God, by which all God's children are born again, and feed on the milk thereof, and live and grow by it. My desires are, that ye may all be of one heart, mind, soul, and spirit, in Christ Jesus, Amen. G. F.'

Soon after this, finding those apostates whom the enemy had drawn into division and separation from Friends continued their clamour and opposition against our Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings, it came upon me to write another short epistle to friends to put them in mind of the evidence and seal they had received in themselves by the spirit of the Lord, that those meetings were of the Lord and accepted by him,' that they might not be shaken by the adversaries. I wrote as followeth :

My dear friends in the Lord Jesus Christ.

All you that are gathered in his holy name know that your meetings for worship, your Quarterly Meetings, Monthly Meetings, women's meetings, and Yearly Meetings, are set up by the power and spirit of the Lord God, and witnessed by his spirit and power in your hearts: and by the

spirit and power of the Lord God they are established to you, and in the power and spirit of the Lord God you are established in them. The Lord God hath with his spirit sealed to you that your meetings are of his ordering and gathering, and he hath owned them by honouring you with his blessed presence in them; and you have had great experience of his furnishing you with wisdom, life, and power, and heavenly riches from his treasure and fountain, by which many thanks and praises have been returned in your meetings to his holy, glorious name. He hath sealed your meetings by his spirit to you, and that your gathering together hath been by the Lord, to Christ his son, and in his name, and not by man. So the Lord hath the glory and praise of them and in them, who hath upheld you and them by the arm of his power against all opposers and backsliders and their slanderous books and tongues. For the Lord's power and seed doth reign over them all, in which he doth preserve his sons and daughters to his glory, by his eternal arm and power, in his work and service, as a willing people in the day of his power, without being weary or fainting, but strong in the Lord, and valiant for his glorious name and precious truth, and his pure religion; that ye may serve the Lord in Christ Jesus, your rock and foundation, in your age and generation, Amen.

London, the 3d of the 11th month, 1686-7.

G. F.

A little after it came upon me to write something concerning the state of the church and the true members thereof; as followeth:

Concerning the church of Christ being clothed with the sun and having the

moon under her feet.

They are living members, living stones, built up a spiritual household, the children of the promise, and of the seed and flesh of Christ; as the apostle saith, "flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone." They are the good seed, the children of the everlasting kingdom written in heaven, who have put on the Lord Jesus Christ. They sit together in heavenly places in Christ, are clothed with the sun of righteousness, Christ Jesus, and have the moon under their feet. Revel. xii. So all changeable things that are in the world, all changeable religions, changeable worships, changeable ways, fellowships, churches, and teachers in the world, are as the moon; for the moon changes, but the sun doth not change. The sun of righteousness never changeth, nor sets, nor goes down; but all the ways, religions, worships, fellowships of the world, and the teachers thereof, change like the moon. But the true church, which Christ is the head of, which is in God the Father, and is called " the pillar and ground of truth," whose conversation is in heaven; this church is clothed with the sun, Christ Jesus her head, who doth not change, and hath all