HEar, O Israel! This short Message and Testimony is to you, who have long made Profession of the holy Truth, yet have not known or witnessed the pure purging Power of it, throughly to cleanse, wash and sanctifie, and to set you free from sin, and the power and servitude of it, but have taken up a false Rest, and are sate down at ease in Zion, in a Profession of Truth, with a Name to live, whilst dead, dead as [...]o Holiness, dead as to the Life, Power of Truth, and di­vine Knowledge of the Mystery of Christ, Enemies to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, that should throughly crucifie you to the World, and the World to you, which raiseth up the Soul into the Life of Holiness; this you are Enemies unto in your Minds, by reason of wicked Works, so hold the Truth in Unrigh­teousness, and are crucifying that afresh to your selves, which should slay and crucifie you to the World and the Evils of it; but what will ye do in the end thereof? Though now [Page 4] for a Time you may live over & trample upon th [...] innocent Life, yet in the end it will be too h [...]avy for you, if ye will not bow and bend to it, and be willing to fall upon it, and be b [...]oken by it, it will at last fall heavy upon you, and will grind you to Powder; and this I have long seen and fore-seen in the Lig [...]t of the Lord, to be your state, many of you; the efore hear and fear, all ye Disobedient & Rebellious Ones, who have long professed me in words, saith the Lord, yet in wo [...]ks have denyed me, who honour me not, nor is my N [...]m [...] feared & sanctified in the mid [...]t of you, but my holy Spirit is & hath been long grieved by you; for you are a Rebellious House, sa [...]th the Lo [...]d, the [...]efo [...]e I delight not in you, nor are your Offerings pleasant or acceptable in my sight, as in days and years past, when they were as a sweet smell unto me, whilst you re­tained your love and sincerity to my Name & T [...]uth, and held fast your Integrity, and my holy fear was before you, and whilst yet kept and abode in it, it kept and preserved you out of many of the Evils of the World, which you a [...]e since again run unto, and into this must you c [...]me again, even to your first Love, and [...]o Repent, and do your first Works, if ever ye come into my favour again, and be owned and received of me, and that I again receive an Offering at your hands, with Ac­ceptance.

Hear therefore, O Israel! what the Lord by his Spirit may signifie unto you, Though very long hath the Lord bo [...]n with a people in this day, even as he bore long with Israel of Old, forty Years was he grieved & temp­ted with that Generation, who after that, He by a mighty hand, and an out stretch­ed Arm had saved them out of the Land of Aegypt, and had led them through the Red Sea, and brought them safe upon the Banks of Deliverance, where they sang his Praise, yet he afterwards destroyed them that believed not; whi [...]h things are written for our Admo­nition, that we grieve not the Lord in rebel­ling against his good Spirit, as they did, of which we had need to take heed, least we also come to fall in this Wilderness, through the same Example of Unbelief; for the Lord hath born long with a People and Generation in this our Day, and for whom he hath also done much, who have long p [...]ofessed him in words, some of them forty or near fifty years, but what Fruit is there brought forth by too to many of them, though he hath waited long, year after year, seeking and expecting Fruit, of whom he now grows weary, and the Day of his long-suffering and forbearance is come near unto an end, and that he will say, Cut it down, why cumbereth it the Ground? And this will be the lot & portion of many, unless they speedily Repent: Its Fruit that he [Page 6] expects and looks for, and he will not be longer put off or satisfied without Fruits that may honour him; for barely, a Profession of t [...]e holy Truth, without a holy Life, will stand no Soul of us in any stead at all, in the great Day of Account, but he will have an Improvement made by us of his own and what he hath committed to our Trust, and he that hath not improved his Gift, but hath been idle, sloathful and negligent in his Lords business in his Day and Time, this Gift or Talent will at last be call'd for by the Give [...] of it, and taken from him, and the Portion of that Servant will be in utter Darkness for­ever. He that hath an Ear to hear, let him hear this Word, The Lord is taking away thy Diadem, the Crown is falling from thy head, thy flourishing Beauty is passing away quickl, the heavenly Sun which thou rejoyced in for a time, now with-draws its shining, the Da [...]kness is now thickening upon thee; in stead of spiritual Mirth and Gladness, a Day of Sorrow, Mourning and Lamentation; in st [...]ad of a Girdle, a Rent, instead of well set Hair, Baldness, and instead of a sweet Smell, behold a stink; and thy Name shall be for a perpetual Shame and Reproach amongst the H athen, be [...]ause ye have not sanctified the N [...]me of the holy One, but have greatly pol­luted it in this Land; therefore I will make ye a Scorn, a By-word & a Hissing to Nations, [Page 7] and Women shall rule over thee, & strangers shall come up and eat your Bread, and shall possess your Habitations, and the Lord will call in others to the heavenly Banquet, the Supper of the Lamb, and who are more worthy than ye, & they shall enter into the Ma [...]riage Chamber, & pertake of the heavenly Dainties, and they shall come from the East and from the West, and shall enter in, & shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob in the Kingdom of God, and Ye who have accounted your selves the Children of it, shall be th [...]ust out for your Disobedience; for there are fl [...]st at shall be last, and last that shall be first; and as ye were in times past, when little in your own Eyes, and in a bowed sence befo [...]e the Lo [...]d, you were th [...]n reproach d, sco [...]ned, mocked and derided of the World, and such as knew not God, for your Plainness, your Ch [...]istian Modesty, your Seriousness, Sobriety, Gravity and Moderation, your Self denyal, holy and harmless Conversations, and serious Deport­ment, and good Behaviour and Testimony a [...]i [...]st the World, and the Evi [...]s and Fashions of it, which your Mind [...] wer [...] fa [...] drawn out of in that Day; and because ye could not fashion your selves after the former Lusts, whilst in your Ignorance, nor walk as other Gentiles, that knew not God, in the vanity of [...]heir Minds; for th [...]t c [...]s [...], how wer [...] ye hated, reproached and re [...]iled, fo [...] the Truths [Page 8] sake, while ye thus stood the Cross; but now on the contrary, since the Offence of the C [...]oss is ceased with many, to my grief, and many mo [...]e, I now speak even with sorrow of heart, and not to upbraid you, may it not now be said, and that truely, That ye are now become a Scorn to Fools, and a Reproach justly among the Heathen, for your evil doing, and for your disagreeable Practices to what the innocent harmless Quakers use to be found in, witness your Persecution, by Imprisoning, Fining, and taking away Goods from your innocent Neighbours & Brethren, who for Conscience sake could not conform to you.

And now, that your Evil, Ʋn-C [...]ristian and Ʋn-Quaker-like Deeds and Corruptions, both in Principle & Practice, are brought to light, and which cannot now longer be hid, but they must come forth to publick view, and t [...]eir Covering, who have not the Truth purely for their Covering, is stripping of [...] them, and their Nakedness, and the Shame of it must and will appear to the view of all. And now in­stead of looking at the hand of the Lo d in it, and humbling of themselves under it, and owning it to be just upon them, for their Hy­pocrisie and great Unfaithfulness, instead of this lay all the blame upon others, excusing [...]emselves, & blaming and accusing of others wi [...]h it, and say, Its this Man or the other hath done it, and brought this Dishonour and Reproach [Page 9] to Truth; and its not w [...], but G. K. and those in the Sep [...]a [...]on, who [...]ave b [...]ok [...] Ʋnity with their B [...]et [...]re [...], [...]ut will not [...]w [...] that they h [...]ve done any thing that hath ju [...]l [...] b [...]ought the Dis­l [...] our, but wipe their Mouthes, and say, T [...]y have do [...]e no Evil. Yet this I must tell, a [...] am certainly perswaded of it, That had y [...]u bu [...] con [...]inu [...]d f [...]ithful, and retained your fi [...]t purity and love to God and his Truth, as ye we [...]e once in, this [...]hen had not happened, nor should G. Keith, or any other, [...]en suffered thus to lay open & ex [...]osed you to the world, which you have all along much endeavoured to [...]ide your Evils and Fil [...]hyness from, but now, that which hath been long hid and kept secret is made manifest, and brought to light, for as Christ said, There is nothing hid, that shall not be revealed, nor covered, that shall not be un­covered, and that which hath been spoken in secret shall be proclaimed upon the House top; and since you have lost that which once made you a good savour in your Neighbour­hoods and Families, a [...]d that reached the Witness of Truth in many hearts, having lost this, you will be le [...]t as destitute, as naked, and as bear as ever People was left, without timely and sincere Repentance.

Friends, as touching my last Paper which I fent, with the other of B. D's to your Monthly Meeting, in which was some things hard to [Page 01] he rightly understood by you, especially since I am ag [...]in with drawn from you, being warn­ed of God so to do, and that I may keep Truth clea [...], and my Testimony thereunto, however censured and looked upon by you, the great thing with me, is, and hath been, [...]o app [...]ove my h [...]art to God, and to speak the Truth uprigh [...]ly, without partiality o [...] re­spect to any Mans Person, and whilst I am kept there, I heed it little who comm [...]nds, o [...] who discommends me; for not he who commendeth himself, or whom another com­m [...]nds, but whom the Lord commends, that is approved; I say, that I may be the more Intelligible, and prevent and take off, what in me lies, those evil and hard Constructions which very [...]ptly and readily you may put upon wh [...] I there writ, as concerning P [...]ng and Exposing, as hath been of late, both by on [...] side and the other, which I shall explain, and give you my sence, thus, That I have and c [...]n honestly and safely testifie against such m [...]r of Exposing as hath been of late by b th, as that which ought not to be amongst [...]hren, who are to dwell together in Unity; y [...] if the Lord will make use of, or permit an [...]ument to lay open & expose a People for their U [...]faithfulness, and f [...]r their trea­ [...]ous d [...]ling with him, who shall then with­ [...]d the Lor [...] in what he doth, who doth whatsoever he will? and though men cannot [Page 11] see it so, yet whatsoever the Lord doth, is well, and he is and will be g [...]o [...]ified o [...]er all; and if he be not glorified in mens Salvation, he will be glorified in their Destr [...]ction, as he was upon hard hearted P [...]aroa [...] and his [...]eople when he w [...]ught that mighty [...]eliverance for Israel; for the Scripture saith co [...]ning Pharoah, For [...]s s [...]me purpose have I raised thee up, that I may show my Power in thee, and that my Name might be declared thro [...]ghout all the Earth. Thus you may see, in one sence we m [...]y safely condemn such manner of exposing, dividing, [...]ending and tearing Member from Member, as that which ought not to be among Brethren, as the Apostle mentions in one of his Epistles, T [...]ese things, my Brethren, ought not so to be; so say I, Br [...]thren ought not to differ, f [...]ll out, and be at strife, but all ra her dwell together in Love and Amity, being all of the same Mind, and [...]f the same Judgment; and this is very aimable, and a comely thing for Brethren thus to dwell together in Unity; but if that a People who have professed them­selves to be in the gre [...]test Unity of any People besides, and all to believe the same things, professing the one Faith, one Lord Jesus Christ, and one Hope of their Calling, if this People, or a part of them shall be found in Error, & certain men from among themselves shall arise, and sha l teach and assert things contrary to sound D [...]ctrine, and shall continue [Page 12] and persist to maintain such corrupt and erro­neous Principles and Doctrines, o the infect­ing and corrupting of one another, so far as to the Denying of our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and if for this their great Dege­neracy, and contemning of the Word and Testimony of Jesus, God shall immedia [...]ely concern & raise up some from amongst them­selves, to correct, reprove, reprehend, and sharply to testifie against the same, in the zeal an [...] fervency of their Spirits, and also to with draw from their Fellowship and Com­munion; and whether it be not right and justifiable in the sight of God so to do, I leave to the Wise in heart to judge.

Thus you may plainly see I have and can freely condemn the Printing, Exposing, Se­perating & Dividing one from another in the Church of Christ, and amongst Brethren, that it ought not to be, but in that other sence, as I have told you, if the Lord doth it for [...] good end and purpose, to make manifest Hypocrites and evil Workers, who live in Error, and to search out the hidden Workers of Darkness, and the Hypocrites in Zion, and who pro ess themselves to be Jews, and are not, but do lye, and for the laying open H [...]esie and Error, that hath long lain undis­covered, that so those that are approved of him may be made manifest; and if he will raise up some from amongst our selves to do this [Page 13] Work, which you account so ill a Work, yet in this sence, as the Lord doth it, in order to effect and bring to pass his own Purpose, I may not condemn it, it being the Day that I have much wished for, that those that are approved might be manifest, and no place found where the Worker of Iniquity might hide his head; and the Day is come a [...]d com­ing that wi [...] find them out of all the dark Places and lurking Holes.

So, with little more, I shall conclude, de­siring the Lord, if it be his Will, to turn your hearts to him, and to work a true Reforma­tion and change in your Minds, that so the thick Vail of Darkness and Error, that is over many of your [...]earts, may be effectually rent off a [...]d taken away, and that you may come to know the holy Covering of God, and to put on the Lord Jesus [...]hrist, and to be cover­ed with his Righteous Power and Spirit, and then I know you will not be found naked, but might be able to stand before the Son of Man.

Now as to any amongst you who m [...]y be conscientiously conc [...]rred, as to me, if any such there be, I am able to give a further or more full and satisfactory Account of my lea­ving you again, if desired; and as to my go­ing to and f [...]o for my own satisfaction, which ye [...]ender so ill, and as being now worse than before, and that it [...]espeak [...] me and us of an unstable Mind, and wavering too and again, [Page 14] for my late condescention in coming so near you (as I was willing to come as ne [...] to you as the Truth would possibly admit) and that in love, for the Bodies s [...]ke, the [...]hurch; but how I am the worse for so doing, I m [...]y t [...]ll you, and what my Experience hath been since I c [...]me last amongst you, or rather that you came to us in your appointed time, for I n [...]ver did [...]e my way clear to come to you; indeed I can own, in one sence, I am not the better for my being last with you; and though it was not long that I was with you, yet I now think it was long enough, and shall truly and honestly declare my experience, and how I found it in that tim [...], which thi [...]g I kept secret to my self, but I minded it well, and how the Lord was to me in that time, and whether I enjoyed him [...]w amo [...]gst you, so as I did before, when in the S [...]peration, as knowing what he h [...]d been unto me then; and this Experience I have, and am now free to tell it, That the nearer I came to you, the Lord he with-drew himsel [...] th [...] further from me, and I wanted those Soul refreshing Com­forts that I had from him before; and as I with-drew my self ag [...]in from [...]ou, the Lord immediately drew near to me ag [...]in, and then my Love and Zeal began to s e [...] en & increase more to him, which (w ile near to [...]u) began to [...]tten and decl ne, because I w [...]s not to sit down with you in an evil secu [...]e state, nor [Page 15] could I sit down with you in the state I saw you in, nor was it ever in my heart so to do, as knowing certainly, if I did, the Lord would wholly with-draw himself from me, and shut up, and with-hold his wonted goodness from me, and whom my Soul was still concerned for, that I might not loose him, [...]or do that which might give him cause ag [...]in to hide his face. These things I made Observation of betwixt the Lord and my own Soul. Also, a a little before I left you, the Lord set it clearly before me, your unpro [...]table state, and where you are, and what your lot and po [...]tion will be, and mine also, if I continued with you, so as to sit down and have fellowship with you in that dark evil corrupt state, which the Lord knows, and my Soul knows, you are now sitten down in, and he hastened me much be­fore I left you, as Lot out of Sodom, To haste, and flee as for my Life, and to save my sel from such a Generation as are out of the Faith of the L [...]rd Jesus Christ, which I can now with greater boldness affirm, than I could before, having had the advantage to hear and se [...] the second time again for my self, and which was the main & great cause of my being amongst you the second time, that so I might have a more perfect kn [...]wledge of these things, and like the Noble B [...]raeans, desired to find and se [...]rch out, whether th [...]se thing [...] were alt [...] ­gether so, as the Cry and Report hath been; [Page 16] And why should any blame me for this, or re­sent so ill, my coming and going to and fro, as being under a Soul concern? I wish that many amongst you, that are settled on their Lees, were in like manner so concerned, and that I could see many going to and fro; for it said, In the latter days they shall ran to and fro, and Knowl [...]dge shall increase. A [...]d seeing I came to seek th [...] good amongst you, (had it been to be found) and not to spy out your liberty in Christ, and bring you into Bondage, yet was willing to spy out whether ye h [...]ve indeed the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; and finding that you have it not, am wa [...]ned to with-draw, and have no fellowship with such as cannot bear to have the Lord Jesus Christ preached amongst you, the which ad­vantage I have had by my being last with you, seeing plainly, that its not as you have en­deavoured to make People believe, viz. [...]hat its not for the Testimonies sake, that ye deny these in the Seperation, but for this dividing Spirit, and for reviling and exposing; But this [...]over is now stripping off, and will not longer hide you, but you must now appear as yeare, and that ye are of those that love not the Lord Jesus Christ, as your doings have and do ma­nifestly declare.