TO you all a Warning in the Name and Fear of God that you leave off your vain Thoughts, your chaffy, loose & unsavoury Words, and rebellious Practices against the Light of Jesus in your own Consciences, & that you dread any more to revile, backbite, disturb or slander his poor People, that have believed in him, and that follow him according to the Shinings of his blessed Light in their Hearts; speak not evilly of that you do not know, much less go you on to kick against those Pricks in your own Con­sciences, as Saul did, lest you become entirely hardened in your Gainsayings, and the Lord God cut you off in his sore Displeasure. O that you would consider your lat­ter End, and repent, you vain mortal Men; for you know not how soon that dismal Trump may overtake any of you; Are ye ready? are ye prepared? have you the Wedding-garment? are you of them that have suffered with him, being dead and buried to Self-will, Pride, Envy, Revenge, and the Lusts of this ungodly World, and risen with him in the Life, Glory and Rayment of the Resurrection? If so, where are your Fruits? If you are not, (as ye are not I affirm [Page 8] in God's Name) then where's your Authority for these Evil Fruits you bring forth, scoffing, mocking, jangling, disturbing and bawling against us, stirring up the Scum of the Multitude to abuse us: Consider before it be too late who is your Master in all these Things, and whose Ser­vants you are, in whose Name and Errand you go, and what Spirit sets you thus to work against so glorious a Principle, and so harmless a People, that not being con­tented with lifeless Worships, human Faiths, and meer tra­ditional Religions, cry to the God of Heaven to appear and operate in their Hearts, and teach them by his own holy Spirit, to be his Disciples and Children, according to his Promise, yea, though it cross the World's Life, Spirit, Customs and Fashions; and therefore cannot lon­ger serve God in the Oldness of the Letter, by meer Imi­tation, or after the Manner of the loose Christians of this World, only with outside Performances, but in the Newness of the Spirit, in the Immediate Leadings and Gui­dings of the holy Ghost, according to Rom. 8. 14. though they were never so much made a Reproach and By­word, and be encompassed about with Loss and Danger; I say, have a Care of resisting, reviling and disturbing these poor People, these Believers, these As­sertors, these Followers and Children of the Light of Jesus, begotten again of the everlasting Day of Righteousness, lest you treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath, and the Revelation of the righteous fierce Judgments of God, and your Portion be appointed you in that Day with the Workers of Iniquity forever.

And as I warn you to forsake your vain, frothy, en­vious and contentious Courses; so do I exhort you in God's Fear to unfeigned Repentance, and invite you in Love to the [Page 9] true Peace of Conscience, even that Conscience which is sprinckled from Unbelief, Hatred, Malice and all Ungodli­ness, which is only obtained by an humble and sincere walking in the Light of the Son of God, as 1 John 1. taking heed to, and not despising this holy and spiritual Appearance of Christ within, to dethrone Satan, and destroy Sin, and to bring in his own everlasting Righteousness, as the Jews did Jesus, whom they only knew after the Flesh, crying out, Is not this the Carpenters Son? this Fellow; and if thou art the Christ, or Son of God, show us a Sign, and tell who smites thee, and come off from the Cross, and save thy self: I say, cavil not thus at the Light of Christ in your Consciences, despise not his Sufficiency with your carnal Mind, neither turn his Grace, Mercy and Forbearance into a prophane Presumption and bold tempting of the living God; for then very woful will your End be; be­hold, read, ponder and meditate on the latter End of this poor Man! let his Case be both a VVarning and Visi­sitation to all that oppose the Light of Christ within, and the Children of it, that you may consider your latter End, find Mercy and be saved; when I read the Narrative of his dying Condition, Oh my Heart was much broken before the Lord, and I could not but reverently magnifie his glorious Power, Mercy and Truth, that had wrought so strange, so great, and so blessed a Work for his Names Defence, his Peoples Vindication, and I hope, for the poor Man's Soul too; O let him have the Glory forever; for who is like unto him in Heaven or in Earth, whose Goings are in the Deep, and whose Wayes are past find­ing out, but in his own time.

And truly Pity rose in my Soul towards all you whose Day is not over, & a secret strong Groan to God, that you might all see your Folly, and repent before you go hence and be no more seen.

[Page 10] This Man I have known many Years, being One that he hath often opposed in publick Meetings; his main Stroak was against the Doctrine of Christ, the true Light, in lighting every Man that comes into the World, with a di­vine and saving Light; the Sufficiency and Universality of this to Salvation, he constantly and resolutely with­stood, not furiously, madly and frothily, like outragi­ous Mockers, as some still too evidently and frequently shew themselves against us, but with great external Sobri­ety, and Gravity, as well as Zeal, reasoning after his Manner, and not bawling against us; nor was his Con­versation scandalous, but honest and exemplary in world­ly things towards Men, for ought that I ever heard up­on Inquiry: So that his present Convictions, as they were not the effect of any affrighting Discourse, Insin­nuations or Besetments of ours in his Sickness, neither could they be interpreted to be any Trouble for a disso­lute Life, in which he might be thought to condemn himself generally and confusedly, nor yet did his Remorse only arise from the Way of his Oppposing us, as if he still retain'd his Judgment; but the very Ground of the whole Trouble, and Exercise of Spirit, for which he was willing to see any of us, and utter the foregoing pathetical Expressions, was his gainsaying us, the People cal­led Quakers, in the Way of our Faith and Worship, and so much his own Words testifie. Let all take heed of the reviling Thief's State upon the Cross, least they enter not into the Paradise of God forever.

And now, my dearly beloved Friends and Brethren, who have hearkned to the holy Reproofs of this instruc­ting Light of Jesus in the Conscience, and by it been re­deemed from the Wickedness of this World, and taught [Page 11] in deep and heavenly things, and made through your cheerful Obedience, to partake in measure of the great Salvation of God, though it hath been through very ma­ny bitter Exercises, and deep Tribulations of Body and Spirit. O! what Cause have you to keep Covenant with the Lord, to abide in your heavenly Habitation, in a living faith, stedfast hope and constant Patience to the End, casting your Care upon him, and commiting your Cause and Concerns to him, who is not only able, but willing and ready to succour you, and maintain the Glory of his own famous honourable Name, deeply concern'd in you. O! let us dwell with him for ever, that his holy Spirit may more & more enliven us, his Power strength­en us, and his great Wisdom conduct us through the Work of our Day: 'Tis true That many are the Troubles of the Righteous, but blessed be our God forever, he will as certainly deliver out of them all.

And though we want not the Evidence of his holy Spirit, that his own right Arm gathered us, and that we are his People bought by his Blood, redeemed by his Power, and made partakers of his divine Life; yet it ought to be no small Evidence of the Lord's goodness; and therefore, both matter of Comfort and confirma­tion to us, that he hath constrained a Testimony to his own blessed Light within, and us his poor dispised People (that have believed in it, and above all the Fa­milies of the Earth, contended and Suffered for it) out of the Mouth of an old and constant Opposer of both, and that upon his dying Bed too, when no fears nor Flat­teries, no gains nor Temptations from men justly can be thought to have prevail'd upon him: But the powerful Workings only of that very Light he had so long resist­ed [Page 12] this smit him in secret; this made his dying bed unea­sy, & proved its own sufficiency upon him, by awakening his Conscience opening his U [...]derstanding, breaking his Heart, & drawing very plain, tender & sincere Confessi­on from his Mouth; O blessed be the Name of our God forever! who is a God, Glorious in Holiness, fearful in praises, working Wonders for them that commit their cause to him.

And whatever were his Provocations to us, I can say it, in the fear of God, my Heart was much more filled with Pity then displeasure towards him, and this very repentance is both an effectual Answer of my Prayers, and a plain Accomplishment of my Prophecy, with some more of my Brethren; for as I often earnestly and more then ordinarily, of late desired of the Lord, this poor Man's Convincement and Repentance, and that with an unusual tenderness of Spirit, even when he was strong in his Gain-saying; so have I frequently told him, in the Name of God, and presence of many People, at our Meetings, (when he came on purpose to withstand us) that God would plead with him, by his righteous Judgments; and that the time would come, he should be forc'st to confess to the sufficiency of that Light, he then opposed; and to acknowledge that God was with us, of a Truth, all which blessed be the Name of the Lord is fulfilled, by the Foregoing Nara­tive; where he confesseth himself a Saul, desires forgive­ness, testifies to us, that we are the Lord's People, and prayes for our increase. Thus hath our God vindicated his glorious Name.

Nor do I insist on this so much, as if we had been hitherto barren of the like instances that might encou­rage [Page 13] us; for a great Volume would not contain what we could say of the Living and Dying Testimonies given by great and harsh Oppossers to this blessed Way of God we are turned unto: But forasmuch as this Man was so lately, and so publickly a Gainsayer, and so gene­rally known of those that frequent our Meetings to have been such; And for that it was his own desire as well as that the Case is extraordinary, and that the Lords Ho­nour, and many mens Souls are concerned; Therefore is this published: And I pray God, with my whole Soul and Spirit, that it may be a Warning to all Op­posers, of what sort soever, That they gainsay not themselves into eternal Destruction (for none of their Weapons shall ever prosper, the Lord hath said it,) But that they may turn unto the Light of Jesus in their own Hearts, and follow the Reproofs and Instructions of it, whose Ways are Ways of Purity, and all his Paths are Peace; for he visits the Creature, to lead out of Sin, which is the only cause of trouble: And my desire fur­ther is, that we who have believed therein may keep Covenant, stand our Ground, and not again turn into folly. O! have a care of a slothfull Mind, that which can sit at home and censure, but is not diligent in the work of the Lord; Let us go on and press forward, towards the Glorious Recompence, and this keeps in the universal Spirit, out of murmurings and grudgings, and herein shall we prosper and be preserved forever; and let this be the Godly use we make of this great ob­ligation which the Lord hath now eminently laid upon us, to watch and persevere that we may hold out to the end, and give no just occasion to any to speak evilly of this Blessed Way of the Lord that hath so signally been [Page 14] born witness to, even by such as have spoken evilly of it when they come to Dye; As this Narrative (though briefly, yet fully) proves.

And as to the Persecution that now threatens, you know this, it comes all from the same Root, and he that drew a Testimony from this Opposer (and Persecu­tor, as he confesseth he was) will in due time give wit­ness to his holy Way, and you his People; from the Consciences of your Persecutors, as you know full-well he hath frequently done in divers places of this Nation; therefore never heed it, neither be ye moved at it, but be of good cheer, for the shout of an Immortal King is amongst us, who is the only Sacred Majesty, dread So­veraign, King, Prince and Lord of Conscience, and no mortal Man whatever; for he only can be Lord of Con­science who is greater then Conscience, and Author of Conscience; but that, no man is, because Conscience is the chiefest part that constitutes that man, therefore no man can be Lord of Conscience; And be it known to all Powers on Earth it is this great Lord that hath reacht to your Souls, even Israels God; wherefore keep you with him, hearken to his holy Voice, and obey it diligently unto all Holiness, and all shall go well with you in the end; Say unto the Righteous, it shall go well with them; but say unto the Wicked, it shall go ill with them; this God gave his Prophet in charge of old; and it stands true to our Day, and shall while a good and a bad Man live upon the Earth.

You know, my Brethren, in whom you have believed, and have good Experience of his Power and Faithful­ness: Call to mind his noble Acts, and valiant Deeds, his great Salvation in all Ages; how sure, how ready, [Page 15] how willing and how able he hath been to deliver our Ancestors, and you know he is the same now at this Day, trust there forever; for he is greater in you, then he that is in the World, and I know assuredly that all these Things shall work together for good, to them that keep in the Faith, The royal Faith, the victorious Faith, that Faith that stands all Tryals, and surmounts all Temptations, and through patient suffering triumphs over Rage, Dark­ness and the Grave: 'Tis this exceeding precious Faith, that makes the good Christian, the good Man, the good Subject, and keeps Man's Conscience void of Offence towards God and all Men; and as we keep it, of Right may we say, The Lord is our Light, whom should we fear; The Lord is the Strength of our Life, of whom should we be afraid? O! those that flee before Informers, and run at the Sight of Perse­cuters (yea, though an Army of them) either never had or have departed from this Noble Faith, which is pure Confidence in God, and intire Resignation to his divine Will; come what will come, Christ will not have one Coward in his spiritual Army: Fear not what man can do unto you, was a great Part of his Instruction to his Disciples, the Pilgrim Preachers of his holy Gospel to the World; but Consulters with Flesh and Blood, those that use base Stratagems to save themselves, that will not abide the Day, but slink from the shock of Sufferings, and hide in stormy times, they betray God's Preroga­tive, Conscience's Liberty, fling up the Cause, and bring a Spot upon conscientious Separation; such shall become an Abhorrence and utter Detestation in the Sight of the pure jealous God, and all good People.

My Brethren, I hope that few or none of these will be found amongst us; howbeit, these things may be per­mitted [Page 16] for a winnowing, that many may be proved, that so their Integrity may be the better manifested; for a sin­cere, holy and self-denying people God will have to de­light himself in: Blessed are they whose God is the Lord, and whose Trust is in him forever; for they shall never be moved; into his blessed Care and Protection, with my self, do I commit you all; and the Lord of Heaven and Earth preserve us all in his holy Fear, Love and Patience to the End, Amen.