the name, strength and power of the God of heaven, arise, arise, thou child of the covenant, and come forth, and shew thyself, and work in thy Father's vineyard; break through, ah! thou breathing, panting birth, and in thy Father's strength break every bond and chain, that hath held thee under: Arise, Zion, and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Arise, Zion, and thresh the mountains, and beat the lofty hills to dust; for into thy hand hath and will the mighty God, the great Jehovah, put a sharp threshing instrument. And so, dear Friends, in this thing, let every one be careful to walk in the even path of life eternal; in which path every eye will be single, and the whole body will be full of light; here every one will see and know the time when to speak, and when to be silent: for the true birth's life is in the will and power of the Lord, and at his time and requirings [those who cherish it] bring forth sacrifice, not to their own nets, nor will ever seek an interest of their own amongst any, but honour God alone, and be as worms before the Lord. But it is not so with the false birth; its life is not in meekness, but in the contrary so here all may know the motions of the one from the other: where the true motion of life is, the mind is brought into stillness, to wait on the Lord, and there the will of God comes to be sealed to the understanding.

And, all Friends every where, keep diligently your meetings; for our meetings were set up by the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and in his counsel they now stand; and the Lord requires us now to meet as boldly, as constantly and as diligently as ever, without any regard to what man can do unto us; because we know we meet not in refractoriness to any

man on earth, but purely in obedience to the living God, who doth require it of his people; and whatever draws from meetings, in part or wholly, draws from God, and is an antichristian spirit, let it appear when, and where, and in what vessel soever; and God's infinite power and dread will tread that spirit down for ever. Therefore, dear Friends, let none forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some was in the apostles' days, and also is in our days; and if any do thus for fear, or for saving their estates or worldly goods, and so fear to come forth to confess the name of the Lord before men, that will prove an evil snare to as many as go into, and keep in it; for this is a way to bring a curse upon themselves and all they have. And where any depart from meetings to save an outward estate, and do not give up to the power of the immortal God, to divide them from that spirit [of fear,] the outward, for which they have left the Lord, may be rent from them, or they from it; and then, when such shall lose that, and their peace with God also, what a miserable, horrid state will that be! This will be the state of all them that sell their birth-right for a mess of pottage. And, Friends, this I know, and therefore in the name of the Lord declare it, God doth and will appear mightily in the assemblies of his people, and arise in them, in the magnificence of his Eternal Power, to the astonishment of the heathen that know not God, and to the gathering many lost sheep.

And Friends, these are the ends of our meetings, to wit; our daily edification, through the manifestation and workings of his Eternal Power in our hearts, in our assemblies: and therein and thereby for God we give a testimony against all the false professions, and false worships in the whole world; and stand as a city

set upon a hill, to gather to the Lord the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Jacob: and at the report of the Holy Ghost descending in our assemblies, as in ages past, shall many gather to them, and be pricked to the heart, and be turned from the evil of their ways, and be brought to the mountain of God's holiness, now to be exalted in and over the tops of all mountains.

And Friends, where any have been visited with God's everlasting day springing from on high, and [after having] made open profession and confession of God's everlasting truth, have erred from the holy commandment, have made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience, and thereby have gone into the evil spirit, or into any iniquity in their dealings and commerce with the sons and daughters of men, or into any evil whatsoever; that have or do cast a stumbling-block in the way of the weak, or have caused the dear, and precious, and honourable name of the Lord to be blasphemed amongst the heathen, and his truth and people to be reflected upon; to all such I say, in the name of the Lord, return unto the holy light of righteousness from which you have erred, there to wait for the arising of the power of the living God, to heal your backslidings; that ye may know the free love of God to come over all again, and feel a testimony arise in you against anything you have committed, that hath caused his dear name to be blasphemed, and his truth and people to be reproached, and the hearts of any to be hardened; which testimony you are to bear as publicly as the transgression has been: according to the nature of the offence against God, his truth and people, even so must the testimony go out against it, in the fear and dread of the Lord God, and in brokenness of heart

F

and spirit before him and where the backsliders in heart and conversation do not thus return, in the name of the Lord I declare, that the day hastens, wherein the hand of the Lord God will find all such out, and they shall be made an astonishment to themselves and to others; for the living God hath determined to clear up the innocency of his truth and people. And where any such do not return into a sense of what they have done, in their backslidings from the Lord, and declare against themselves, to the clearing of truth, then is it the duty of the people of the Lord, who keep their garments unspotted, after they have dealt with such tenderly, according to the order of the gospel of peace, to give a testimony against all such persons and practices, that are out of, and against the truth and this testimony is to go forth according to the nature of the offence, that the house may be cleansed, and all kept pure and sweet; and that all may be clear of the iniquity, and of the blood of all men. And so, dear Friends, in the light of righteousness let us all keep our habitations, in a continual watchful state; then we shall grow, as the willows by the water-courses, and be preserved out of all the snares and wiles of the enemy, in the light of righteousness; in which the arm of the Lord God preserve us all to the end of our days; that every day we may perfect holiness in his fear, to the glory of the Most High God, and comfort of every faithful follower of the Lord.

Given forth in obedience to the requirings of the Lord, through one who is a travailler for Zion's redemption,

1672.

CHARLES MARSHALL.

THE

WAY OF LIFE REVEALED

AND THE

WAY OF DEATH DISCOVERED:

WHEREIN IS DECLARED

MAN'S HAPPY ESTATE BEFORE THE FALL, HIS MISERABLE ESTATE IN THE FALL, AND THE WAY OF RESTORATION OUT OF THE FALL, INTO THE IMAGE OF GOD AGAIN, IN WHICH MAN WAS BEFORE THE FALL.

ALSO

THE BY-PATHS, CROOKED WAYS, WILES, SNARES AND TEMPTATIONS OF THE ENEMY OF MAN'S SOUL DISCOVERED, WHO GOETH ABOUT AS A ROARING LION, SEEKING HOW HE MAY ENSNARE AND DEVOUR THOSE WHO ARE IN ANY MEASURE ESCAPING OUT OF HIS WAYS OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.