And though it be not now a time for him and his, to rage and roar as though they would devour all at once, yet he will be creeping now in his cunning and subtlety more I say, they have never, since they received mysteriously and hiddenly to darken within, that spirit I have described, been instrumental to hurt and hinder your growth in the truth, to convince any of sin, or gather any out of by presenting some delightful object without; the world to God; so it is plain such are none and there is no way to have him discovered, of his sending, nor preparing: no ministers nor to receive power against him, but by wait- of Christ, but of him that is opposite to Christ, ing and watching with diligence, and true fear, speaking from a dark power and spirit which in the pure light of the Son of God. Therein gathers into the darkness, out from the true power is received, whereby the power of dark-light, where people cannot see the true way. ness is trod down, and kept under; so that he will be known to rule and reign, whose right it is, who is God over all heaven and the whole earth, blessed for evermore.

Lord God of life, keep and preserve you all, rate me from the love of God that is in Christ my dear Friends, in your habitations of light, Jesus. So let all take heed, and keep low in there for evermore to live and dwell. the even way, the middle path, where no exLet all take heed and beware of the deceit-treme is, where you will be kept humble and fulness of the enemy's workings in the dark, meek. It is such the Lord teacheth to prize who from the beginning still wrought man's and value every mercy and favour they remisery by getting an entrance by his lies, ceive from him. contrary to the knowledge God gives by his It is very rarely those prize liberty and light and grace. He undoubtedly will now ease to the worth thereof, who never knew persuade to fleshly ease, careless security, bonds, trouble, and suffering: Yea, it is as worldly-mindedness, to seek self and its inter-rare in such, as for a man and woman to est, if the watch be not carefully kept. For want prize health and strength, who scarcely ever of this, darkness enters, deadness comes over knew sickness or weakness; or for those to them, and a spirit of slumber takes place, which prize the worth of bread, who never knew the is both a thief and a robber; and the Spirit of want of it. Truth not being minded, to lead and guide, the spirit of the world gets in, and draws, and leads into the earth and earthly things; and instead of labouring to be rich in faith and good works towards God, such labour chiefly how to grow rich in the world, that they may have great substance to leave, they know not to whom.

It is those chiefly, who have borne the heavy burthen of imprisonment and spoiling of goods, and have been straitly confined to the impairing of their health, who are ready to cry out and say, How deeply are we engaged unto the Lord for the enjoyment of this mercy of so large liberty and freedom.

Oh that you may never forget of the same, And all this darkness and insensibleness though I know the honest-hearted who have comes for want of waiting and watching with their eye to God, and love him, his truth and diligence in the light of Jesus Christ, the an-people above all, though never called to suffer, cient and standing principle of truth, and because the daily cross to the will and mind that leads out, is not borne and lived in.

And some, for want of a rightly prizing and valuing the present mercy, so largely enjoyed, suffer a high mind to rule them, which leads above the fear of God, and out of a sense and feeling of the pure truth in themselves, and so walk not orderly.

Dear Friends everywhere, as wise men and women, have a care in the fear of God, and in love to his truth, as those who are ordered and guided in his wisdom, that all people may see you are no more heightened, because of peace and liberty, than cast down in a day of trial but that all may behold your good conversation, coupled with fear, that you are as those bowed before the Lord, under a deep sense of his present mercy, not forgetting those heretofore received. For although the Lord may be pleased to make man instrumental in this or any other thing, it is unto him alone, who is the Author and Original of all good, that you are to return the praise, honour, and glory for ever; though we would not withhold that from man which is his due who is found doing well, which is acceptable with God, and worthy of commendation and praise by all his people, who desire their continuance therein. And dear Friends, as you are preserved before the Lord and all people, you will be of the blessed apostle's persuasion; who says, I am persuaded that neither life nor death, principalities nor powers; things present, nor yet that which is to come, shall be able to sepa

are ready often to say in their hearts; Though I have never been exercised as other of my friends, yet I cannot but be mindful of their suffering condition; and when they suffer, I suffer with them, and when they are freed, eased, or at liberty, I am made truly glad; so that I am engaged with them, to praise the Lord for such a favour.

And the blessed effects produced by duly prizing the mercies and favours received from the Lord are, walking worthy of his love manifested to us, and valuing the same, which engageth the Lord to give us more abundantly thereof, and constrains us to love him again, and to double our diligence. These are so far from taking more liberty to themselves, because of the liberty that is given, that they find themselves the more engaged to meet often amongst God's people in all their meetings, not only for worship, but men and women's meetings to do service there for him, his truth and people. But ease and liberty, not made right use of, bring forth little but idleness and unprofitableness, which render men unfit to do service for God.

Dear Friends, in the name of the Lord go on, and let none sit down by the way, but in faithfulness follow your Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, who never leaves nor forsakes those who follow him, that you may have good cause to say, as those who have made right use of the day of God's love and mercy, in giving ease and liberty, as well as when exercised in and under suffering, "come what will come, the will of the Lord be done."

Sion's redemption being through judgment, love it still, and dwell in a sense of it to the end, and the enemy shall never prevail against you; dwelling in Him to whom all judgment is committed, both in heaven and in earth, in Christ, the light, the life, and the quickening spirit.

And all who make not use of this day's the enmity, and of twain to make one new mercy for that end and purpose wherefore man. the Lord hath suffered it to come to pass, Then was the day of weeping, and mournwhich is to engage and establish his faithful ing, and trembling; then did the earth tremble people, it will rise up in judgment against them. at the presence of the Lord. The way of Brethren and sisters everywhere, all be awakened unto righteousness to serve the living God, as you ought to worship and serve him, which is with all your hearts, your might and your strength, and with all you have and do enjoy, which is the Lord's. The Lord God of Israel keep and preserve you faithful in serving Him and one another in love, for the increase of life and unity amongst you; is the supplication and travail of my soul unto the Lord on your behalf, into whose blessed and Fatherly protection I commit you all; to be kept where safety and preservation is for evermore.

A

Who am your friend and brother, in the living and precious truth, though a sufferer in outward bonds, for the testimony of Jesus, and of a good conscience.

From my prison-house, in Carlisle, in
Cumberland, the 8th day of the
Seventh month, 1687.

JOHN BANKS.

Dear Friends, in a sense of the tendering love of God, let me ask you, who delivered and saved you, who hath kept and preserved you until now? Surely you can say with my soul, the Lord alone by his own power and strength; which he hath never failed to show for those that trust in Him. Therefore trust therein, and keep thereto, unto the end, and you shall be eternally happy.

And as you have known the travail of your souls, in passing from death to life, and out of darkness into light, which is the path that the younger generation who are coming up must tread in, you can tell them by experience, for their encouragement, that the Lord will never leave them nor forsake them, if they follow OF him in the way of his judgments, which, he GOD, BUT MORE PARTICULARLY, IN CUM-mixeth with mercy, and which must be owned

GENERAL EPISTLE ΤΟ THE FLOCK

BERLAND.

and loved, to bring down self, and whatever would exalt itself above the pure witness. You can tell them, that when your hands did hang down, and your knees smote one against another; so that sometimes your hearts were fearful whether they should ever be lifted up or strengthened again; yet having faith, and being taught by the grace of God to have patience also to wait the Lord's time, he has

Dear Friends and Brethren, Look to the rock from whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye were digged; that is to say, never forget from whence you came, no more than to what degree you are attained; what you were when the Lord first visited you; and what you still are of yourselves, without the assistance of his power; hold this fast in your remem-appeared to lift up the weak hands, and brance, and it will greatly tend to humble you, and keep you little and low in your own eyes, in true self-denial: so shall the Lord alone be exalted, and his glorious power extolled over all.

It was the Lord who visited us with the dayspring of his love from on high, by the shining forth of his glorious light, in a land of darkness, a country where there was a famine, not of bread nor water, but of the preaching of the Gospel; and brought us to a country, where light and life are, and that flows with milk and honey. Forget not the way of your soul's travel; and you that have not known it yet, must tread the same path, before you can come to be sharers with those who have so done; who have known what it was when they entered on their journey, or the beginning of the work, to drink a bitter cup, even the cup of judgment, to bring down and burn up all that was contrary; and as a sword to slay

strengthen the feeble knees, and make the fearful heart strong by the might of his power.

Yea, the Lord hath often wrought your deliverance, and done wonderful things for you, beyond what you then could see, so that you have been ready to say, I hope I shall never meet with such exercises, trials and temptations as heretofore. Yet if anything of self was set up, to glory above what was meet, because of what the Lord had done for you; hath not the only wise God seen it good, after all this, to try and prove you again, both without and within, that you might be kept truly humble and low before him, always depending upon his power, and on nothing of your own. Hath he not seen meet to try your faith and patience, and for a time hath hid his face from you; and given you but little either of spiritual bread or water; insomuch, that because of your weakness and faintness, the enemy hath been very busy to tempt you to despair

of the sufficiency of the power and mercy of the Lord, or to turn you aside from the way of truth, using all his subtlety to keep you from calling to mind how the Lord heretofore brought you over mountains and high hills, and levelled them all before you. And your hopes sometimes have been so faint, that some of you have been ready to say, with one in the days of old, "Lord, hast thou forgotten to be gracious!"

Dear Friends, whom my soul loveth in all true tenderness, and unto whom I am inseparably joined; in the unity of the spirit, my heart is full of love and life, which flows from the living Fountain; with desires for your eternal good. That you ancient ones, whose time cannot be long here, may finish in that in which you began, in freshness, and true tenderness, and receive the crown, that so it may be well with you for evermore.

And that you who are younger in the truth, and also in years, may not please yourselves with long life, nor yet with worldly preferment; but wait with all diligence and true fear, to feel the work of the converting, hearttendering power of the great and mighty God,

And yet has not the Lord, after all this and much more, renewed your hope and strength again, and by the glorious appearance of his heavenly Sun, hath broken forth and shined in your hearts, clearly discovering to you the enemy's wiles and working, with all the mists and darkness he brings in with him, and driv-to work a true change in you, in body, soul, ing away the same, through the power that is and spirit; that so it may be well with you, received in the light, even the light of life. when death looks you in the face. Thereby you see what hath been the cause of And my dear ancient Friends, be careful your being so exercised, so long after your that you never forget, nor depart from your convincement; and after you have known first love and tenderness; and all you younger many deliverances, and watering-showers, and who have not so fully known it, wait diligently fruitful seasons; yet now are brought to judg-for it, that you may know the blessed effects ment and the sentence of condemnation; that all which is of self, in which the enemy works to the hurt of the soul, may be slain with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, and consumed with the fire of the Lord.

of it, as the ancients have done, that through the fear of God placed in the heart, and an awe and dread of offending the Lord, you may come to say with them; Oh! that I may never speak a word, nor do any action that may Thus hath the only wise God taught you grieve his good spirit, nor break my peace by his holy Spirit, and thereby you have with him. May I neither eat nor drink to exlearned experience and spiritual skill, how to cess, nor wear anything in apparel contrary come to his judgment seat, that you might to the pure truth, neither be found in any car. come to his mercy seat also; that so you riage or behaviour, in conversation or com might know the way of your soul's travel, munication, that may give any occasion, or from death to life, through weeping and whereby truth may suffer. This was and is mourning, to joy and gladness, through pov-the desire, and cry of all the faithful, and of erty and weakness, to feed at the table of the those that truly fear the Lord, and have Lord; and come to have your strength daily known what the first love is, and the blessed renewed, to sit in heavenly places in Christ effects of it. Jesus, in that rest prepared of God in Him, where his glory shines in your dwellings, which will make you to shine as the stars of heaven, as you keep your station in inward watchfulness and waiting in the light.

When the mind is stayed there, it is immoveable, for its stay and strength is the sure rock and foundation of God, his great and glorious power, out of which, both the water and honey proceed. O the divine sweetness that is in it! Who can set forth the greatness, the goodness, and excellency thereof?

You know, dear brethren and sisters, that our souls many times when together, have been made rich partakers of the same, in the enjoyment of the life-giving presence of our God, and made near and dear one to another; when we have been so filled with the wine of his kingdom, that tears of joy have often run, which have far exceeded the tears of our sor

row.

VOL. II.-No. 2.

This was a time when nothing was valued like the truth; and it is so still, with all who love truth and righteousness. No hardship, no scoffing, no scorn, no reproach for the name of Jesus, no suffering, no spoiling of goods, nor imprisonment of body, neither principalities nor powers, things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate such from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All these, and much more than I am able to express, were the effects of your first love and true tenderness that was begotten in you thereby. Keep to it, live in it, and never depart from it, nor forget it; that so you may continue unto the end, in that in which you have begun; as those whom the Lord in his love and by his power, hath thus far preserved, so shall you be everlastingly happy, when time here shall be no more.

Dear Friends, were we the wisest, the great

9

est, the mightiest, or richest among the sons and daughters of men? Most of us were such as were accounted foolish, weak, mean and contemptible, like the Jews in the days of the prophet Nehemiah, who were called feeble by the enemies of God, and of his people, who mocked and laughed them to scorn, and said, What do these feeble Jews? not knowing what work the Lord hath determined to do by them in answer to the prayer of the prophet.

there is nothing that I have, that is so near and dear to me, but I can freely part with it for the Lord and his worthy name's sake, for all I have and do enjoy is the Lord's; so can his redeemed say with a good understanding, not only their souls and bodies, but all they have and do enjoy, are his.

Blessed and happy are all they, whose godly resolution this is, who are thus redeemed by his power; hold fast and continue your godly resolution unto the end, in true faith; and look not out, nor give way to the reasoning part; but keep near the Lord and rely upon the sufficiency of his power; that by waiting and

Then you will be strong and courageous, bold and valiant for the truth upon earth; for he, for whose name's sake you suffer, has sufficient in store to reward all your losses, crosses, trials and sufferings, both here, and eternally hereafter; and assuredly will not withhold it from you, as you stand faithful unto him in your testimony unto the end; unto which, the Lord by his own power, preserve you all, Amen.

He hath done great and wonderful things in this his day, through the might of his own power, by those whom he hath called and chosen out of the world, though counted weak and feeble, yet made strong, through his re-watching therein, you may receive strength. newing of their strength. Here is encouragement given by our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, for all true believers and faithful followers of him, through many tribulations: "Behold," saith Christ, "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you: notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." What remains for you then to say; Oh saith the truly humbled, what manner of love is this wherewith the Lord my God hath loved me, and visited my soul? And most especially, in a day when I was an enemy in my mind to him by wicked works. I am constrained to love him again, and to fear him always, that I may in no wise offend Him, so good and gracious a God, so dear and tender a Father, who hath dealt so kindly with me, not according to my desert, for I was unworthy that his love should reach unto me.

And such were we. Yet, notwithstanding all this, and much more, hath the Lord, with whom there is no respect of persons, loved us

Dear Friends, I being well stricken in years, cannot promise long time to myself in this world, and I was willing, in answer to the motion of God's blessed spirit, to send this epistle abroad amongst you, as a token of my entire love and tender care over the flock of Christ; wishing that grace, mercy and peace, in and through Him, may be multiplied and increased amongst you, and that brotherly love and unity, in the one spirit of life may continue, and abound more and more, and that in all your meetings and families, you may be blessed with heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus.

From your friend and brother, in the covenant of light and life.

JOHN BANKS.

Given forth at Meare, in Somersetshire,
the 23d day of the Fifth month, 1698.

freely, in a time never to be forgotten. Oh! A TRUE TESTIMONY CONCERNING MY FAITH

be humbled, and laid low before him, under the sense of his love, that our hearts may be often broken, and tendered thereby; for if the love of God doth not work this effect, nothing can. But all who, in true fear, dwell in a sense of what the Lord hath done for them; the secret cry of their soul is, Oh! I can never do enough for the Lord, to answer his love, and the knowledge of his blessed truth he hath given me, and the divine sweetness and abounding thereof, that I have many times felt to spring afresh in my soul, in waiting upon him.

Wherefore such a one is made often to say,

IN CHRIST.

I BELIEVE in that same Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for remission of sins, and the salvation of my soul, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, made a good confession before Pontius Pilate, and was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem; was dead and buried, and rose again the third-day, and ascended into glory, far above all heavens," that he might fill all things, according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; for which I have a godly and reverent esteem.

I also believe in Him, as to his appearing