And as I believed in the light of the Lord, and thereby and therein was comprehended and resigned, his pure power, love and life broke in as formerly, which greatly refreshed; then the sun shined upon my tabernacle, and I bowed before the Lord, blessing and praising his holy, glorious name; then he instructed me, and his pure Spirit and power opened in me the way of preservation, and that was, to centre down into true humility. So then my soul began to be as the dove that found a place for the soles of her feet. Yet did the enemy continue to tempt by his allurements, and so laid his baits and snares, that if at any time I was drawn to look abroad, and went out to view, as Dinah did, I was in great danger of being defiled: for I found, if at any time I went out from this pure, preserving power of God, that had wrought in my soul through inexpressible travail, and let in the spirit of the world and reasoned, and thereby beheld a beauty in any fruit but what was brought forth by the Tree of Life, then came over me a wound, a stain and defilement. And if at any time the enemy prevailed in the inward ground, to cause any cleaving to his temptations, through the lusts of the flesh, or the lusts of the eye, then was I afraid, because of horror and inward wrath; and then the power of the Lord, in love to my soul, wrought mightily, to sanctify and cleanse it again. This inward exercise I passed through, when no friend nor intimate acquaintance knew thereof. Oh! I remember the nights of bitter sorrow that I passed through, when no defilement could be discerned by any, I walking blamelessly among men. For such was the great love of God to my soul all along, in those days of inward travail and exercise, that judgment followed presently upon the outgoing of my.mind: and as I

kept single to the Lord, and upright in heart, not joining unto any iniquity, I found the Lord near at hand in many exercises that happened in our city and elsewhere. Also [during] the working of the power of darkness in James Naylor, and the runnings forth of John Perrot and others, God let me, a young lad, see through all those subtle workings and transformings, and by a secret hand preserved me. Of those things and trying times I have not much upon me to leave in writing at present; known unto the Lord they are, the ends, the causes, and permission, and letting loose of the enemy; and what therein hath been in secret opened by the Lord, the Opener and Revealer, is left. God hath willed the keeping low of his people in every generation; and he hath, by his power secretly struck at every thing that hath a tendency to rob him of his honour. He delights in the humble, and dwells with the broken-hearted and contrite in spirit; and in this state is safety and preservation to us in this age, and will be the safety [of all] in succeeding ages. And now, through these exercises at which I have hinted, in short, I have learned from the beginning of the work of restoration and redemption, that every one's preservation is in pure inward retiredness unto the Lord; and in his pure fear, awe and dread to keep low; feeling after his soul-redeeming, soul-preserving, holy power, which quickens and enlivens; and as it is abode with and in, keeps alive in its own pure nature and quality, over the world, its spirit and defilement.

And further, I have a sense upon my spirit, beyond utterance, of the potent workings of the enemy, in and through the generations of mankind, to accomplish his end, viz., that after the Lord God Almighty hath appeared in any age, in the free dispensings of his love unto mankind, and the breakings forth of his

power, and the making bare of his arm, in order to restore man into covenant with Himself; then, I say, hath the enemy appeared with all his power, mightily, subtly, gradually, and hiddenly, to undermine and anticipate the work of God; and his great end hath been, by different and manifold snares, to draw first into a lessening of the estimation, in the visited people, of the power and appearance of God, in this day, age, and generation in which it is manifested; and subtly to [lead] the mind, by his transformings, into an estimation of the manifestation that hath been, or into a strange affectation of what may or is to appear; drawing the mind out of a due regard unto that manifestation which alone works the eternal welfare of the creature. This was the case [with Jerusalem of old] to whom it was said, "if thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace."

So this I have learned of the Lord, and therefore leave it, both to friends unto whom it may come in this age and generation, and unto God's people in the following generations of the world more fully hereof [may be seen] in my general and particular Epistles to Friends, and in the book called The Way of Life Revealed, &c.

CHAPTER II.

His call to the work of the ministry-Exercises consequent thereon-His concern to visit Friends throughout England-Names of the places visited—Remarks relative to this engagement - Providential escape from drowning.

AFTER many years travail of spirit, as before in short is hinted, in the year 1670, and the thirtythird year of my age, God Almighty raised me up by his power, which had been working in my heart many years, to preach the everlasting gospel of life and salvation; and then a fresh exercise began: for the enemy tempted me to withstand the Lord, to look to my own weakness of body and spirit, and insufficiency for such a great work. And such was the prevalency of the enemy of my soul, that had not the Lord God, in his inexpressible love, stood by me, borne with me, and helped me, I had perished, after all, through disobedience. For when the power of God fell upon me, and a few words were required of me to speak in the assemblies of the Lord's people in Bristol, I reasoned they were a wise people, and how could it be I should add to them; also, that I might hurt myself; that imagination might be the ground of such requirings, and that many wise men therein might look upon me as forward, and so judge me; and I thus reasoned through some meetings, until I was in sore distress. When those meetings were over, wherein I had been disobedient, then great was my burden. Oh, then

I was ready to engage and covenant with the Lord, that if I felt the requirings of his power again, I would faithfully give up in obedience unto him. Yet when I was tried again, the same rebellious mind would be stirred by the power of the enemy: then hath the Lord withdrawn the motions and the feeling of his power, and all refreshment with it, and hid his face. Then was I in great sorrow, having a sense of others feeding on the bread of life in our meetings, and drawing the water of life, but my soul was without [refreshment] great bars [were] over [me,] and as it were, a sealing down under darkness; I beheld the displeasure of the Lord, and was bowed down. and in great affliction; my soul cried to the Lord to try me again with the breakings in of his power, and to give me a clear, demonstrative knowledge of his requirings, and I would obey him. Then the Lord God of life heard my cry again, and opened my heart that had been fast shut. And when I began to feel the warming power of God stirring in my inward man, I was glad on one hand, but very sorrowful on the other hand, fearing lest I should be rebellious again and so hard was it for me to open my mouth in those meetings at Bristol, that had not the Lord caused his power so to be manifest in my heart, as new wine in a vessel that wanted vent, I might have perished. But the Lord had regard to my state, and knew the people's state, among whom I was gathered, and also first brought forth among: and when, through the great and wonderful love and power of my God, I had broken through, the enemy's snares were manifest; for which my soul praised the Lord God of my life; and I have been, and often am broken in the sense of his goodness to me when a child, nay, as a worm. And in the sense thereof,