A Plain Pathway OPENED TO THE SIMPLE-HEARTED, FOR THE Answering all Doubts and Objections which do arise in them against the Light and Truth in the Inward-Parts;  
BY WHICH Many are kept from Obedience, and so from Peace to their PANTING SOULS.  
By Stephen Crisp.  
Printed in the Year, 1668   

A Plain Pathway Opened, etc.  
Friends and People,  
I Have had a deep exercise upon my spirit concerning many who are come to feel something stirring and moving in their hearts (that is good) to bring them into a serious consideration of their course of life, and the inward state of their Immortal Souls; and when you have sometimes begun to turn your minds to this good thing that stirred in you, then have many doubts and objections arisen in you, lest you should be misled, deceived, or deluded; and lest this thing that inwardly strives with you should lead you into the Eronious way of the Quakers, (as the World's Teachers calls it) for they speak, and write of, and bear a constant Testimony to something that is in man, that calls upon him to repent, and to turn to the Lord; and under this very notion that ye have heard evil, and thought evil of that People; by the same rule you are apt to think evil of that which works in your own bosom to lead you out of Sin and Iniquity; and so ye are tempted to slight it, and to get some slighty name for it, to call it by, which Antichrists Minister's have many to afford you; as to call it, A Natural Light; A Common Gift of the Spirit, but not a Saving Gift; Conviction of a Natural Conscience; A Legal Work; yea, and many calls it, The Devils work to disturb the Soul of its Peace; and some, A Diabolical Light, etc. and thus when thou art brought to slight that good Principle (that strives with thee) under some such name, thou gets ease again, for a little while, and taketh liberty to act against it, and to do and say that which this Principle doth in secret condemn; and than it riseth again, and breaks thy peace, and brings trouble and anguish upon thy Soul? and then up comes many doubts on the one hand, and doubts on the other hand, and thy poor Soul is beset and encompassed with doubts, and fears, and jealousies; sometimes thou fears thou withstands the Truth to thy own destruction▪ and sometimes fears again its a delusion, and thou shalt be deceived; and besides thou finds many Learned men, and worldly-wise men, that tell thee, that there is nothing good in thee; and here thou art in a great strait, and labours under many sorrowful thoughts, and many doubtful disputations ariseth in thy mind; the Flesh now strongly warreth against that which comes to disturb it, and the Spirit strongly warreth against that which resists and rebels against it, and these two are contrary, & these contrary things are both in thee, and thou poor Creature must feel the struggling of them both; & by reason of thy darkness, and doubts, and fears, thou scarce knows (or at least with certainty) which is right: now, in this state and condition, how acceptable would a Messenger be, one of a thousand, to show unto such a one that hwich might deliver his Soul from going down into the pit, and save his live from the Destroyer; (Job 33.23.) And truly very many are in this straitened state in these days; for whose sakes I am drawn into a deep exercise many times, by day, and by night, and my cry to God is, that his glorious Power may more and more arise to open these doors that are shut and folded upon many such, and to bring forth the imprisoned spirits out of the Prisonhouse, and out of the Bondage of this Spiritual Egypt, where our Lord was and is crucified Spiritually; and that he may expel the clouds of darkness, in which the fears, and doubts, and questionings ariseth; and that he may make a clear way in a●l such for his Light to break forth out of obscurity, in which the Answer to those Doubts and Questions doth arise.  
And by that same spirit that labours with you, am I moved to send this forth unto you all, as a word of Exhortation and Counsel in the Name and fear of the Lord God, by which as many as do rightly receive it, and make a true use and proof of it, shall find help and benefit; and shall know the mouth of the Questioner stopped, and the Answer of Peace witnessed to their Immortal Souls, in the Lords due time. And therefore, consider this, That every good and perfect gift cometh from above, from the Father of Lights and Spirits, who would not the death of a Sinner, but rather that he should turn and live; and therefore hath he out of his infinite love, and tender mercies to the Sons of Men, prepared a way to draw nigh unto them, even while they are in their Sins, which he doth not but thorough Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the New-Covenant, whom he hath freely given to be a Light unto the dark World; and that he should Englighten every one that cometh into the World, Joh. 1.9. of which number thou art one, whoever thou art, and art enlightened by Christ, though thou be yet darkness in thyself, as the Ephesians once were; yet the Light shineth in thy darkness, or else there would not be two contrary Natures and Seeds found working in thee as there is; and this Light wherewith thou art enlightened is the the Life of Jesus, Joh. 1.4. which he hath given a Ransom for man; and that was not Natural, as some foolishly imagine: for if it were Natural, it could not be a Ransom for man out of Sin; for the Sin to be Natural, and that which reproves it Natural, is contrary to the Apostle, who said, they two that warred in the Creature were contrary; and called the one Flesh, or Natural; and the other Spirit, or Spiritual; and Christ Jesus called that which should Reprove the World of Sin, The Spirit of Truth; and Antichrist and his Ministers calls it, A Natural insufficient Light, etc. But know this, thou that art enquiring, that that in thee which doth make manifest things to thee that are reprovable, that's the Light wherewith Christ Jesus hath enlightened thee withal, as the Apostle of Christ said in his Epistle to the Ephesians, chap. 5. v. 13▪ 14. and that Principle which leads thee to do or say such things as thou art secretly reproved for in thine own Conscience, that is the Darkness, and the Enemy of thy Souls Peace, which, who walks in, doth not know whither he goeth▪ for this doth minister a peace and pleasure to thee, and a delight to thy carnal mind for a season; yet the other, to wit, the Light, the Reprover hath power to take away peace from thee again, and to judge thee, and to make that which was sweet to thee to become bitter; and the darkness, nor lust nor vanity of thy mind cannot deliver thee from this stroke.  
Now, that thou might be resolved in such a state what to do, consider, thou that hast these struggle in thee about the Light in thy Conscience, whether it is true or no, or whether thou shalt own it or no, and art thinking in thyself what is best for thee to do; whether to go on stoutly against it, or to submit to it: I say, consider, if thou rebel against it, thou can never know whether it would lead thee; as it was said of old, Job 24. They that rebel against the Light, they know not the Way of it; so that if thou dost take that course to rebel, that will but increase thy ignorance of the Way that the Light leads in, and makes it more terrible to thee every time it doth appear in thee, till thou comest to that state spoken of, Job 24.17. That the dawning of the Day will be as the shadow of death; for the more thou rebels against it, the more dark thou wilt daily grow, and so the less able to resolve thyself in those doubtful things that fill thy mind; but as darkness increaseth in thee, so the power of it will bind thee down, as a Chain, and smother every good desire in thee; and thus by rebellion against the Light, do some men lose the very sense and knowledge of it, and grows past feeling, and strangers to it, though it be in them; for the custom of Sin taketh away the sense and the feeling of the burden of it; but to you I writ that are not yet come to this state of hardness of heart, but are brought daily into a sense of the burden of Sin; and that are ready to say, if you were but sure that were the Truth and way of God which shows you your Sin, you would follow it, and love it, and own it, but are kept off by doubts and questionings: Verily, I say unto you, before these doubts be resolved you must try this, as, to your sorrow you have tried the other, before you can be effectually informed; for Arguments will not do sufficiently in this case; therefore try and prove what this Principle can do for thee, when thou obeyst it, which ye know hath power to condemn you, and break your Peace when you disobey it: Why should ye always be shut up in unbelief, and in doubts, and so kept from trying and proving the Light, as well as ye have proved the Darkness, that so ye might reap the fruit of it to Salvation, as well as you have done the fruit of the other unto Condemnation? Oh, dear people, consider, ye cannot obey this Light of Christ Jesus in your Consciences, but by taking up a daily Cross to your own Wills, Lusts and Affections, for that is contrary thereunto; and that which leads to obey your Lusts, leads to disobey the Light; and that which leads to obey the Light, that crosseth the Lusts and vile Affections, which are at enmity with the Light, and must by it be judged and condemned; and that which leads thee to slight it, and call it by some slighty name, that's also an Enemy to it, and must be judged by it; and so, as the Light comes to rule over those things in thee, which are enemies to it, thou wilt know that it will lead thee contrary to thy corrupt nature; and as thou feelest the thing so in thyself, thou wilt come to be wiser than those Teachers that have called it a Natural light; for that which is Natural leadeth according to Nature, but that which is Spiritual, leadeth according to the Spirit, which Apostle said was contrary to the Flesh, and warred against it; and so that objection will, by thy obeying the Light, come to be answered, far better than words and arguments could have answered it; and so likewise the sufficiency of the Light thou wilt come to feel, if thou dost not oppose it, but give up to be guided by it; and wilt know that it is able to deliver thee when thou art tempted, as weil as to judge thee when thou hast yielded to the Tempter: for thou know'st already that it is able to condemn thee when thou sinnest against it; but thou cannot certainly know it sufficient to give peace, and to justify, till thou obeyest it: So then, the plain Pathway to the answering thy doubts about the Principle of Truth in the Inward-parts, is, by obeying of it, and yielding to it; for they that do evil they grow into hatred against it, and it judges them; as they deny to obey the Light, so the Light denies to justify them, and so coming justly under the condemnation of it, by reason of transgression they grow afraid of it: But alas, this doth but prove that it is sent of God, for it doth God's work, which is righteous; For to justify the Wicked, and to condemn the Righteous, both these are an abomination to the Lord; and so is it with his Witness in thy own Conscience, which God hath placed there to bear witness for him concerning all thy actions whether they are good or evil; and thou thyself, whoever thou art, whether high or low, rich or poor, professor or profane, shalt confess unto this, that this hath never condemned thee for that which was good, nor born witness against thee for that thou wast not guilty of.  
And therefore all you that have been hurried and tossed with doubts and questionings about the Truth, come hearken to the Counsel of God, at this time once more sounded forth unto you from his Spirit, by a Servant of his without you, and answered by the measure of his good Spirit within you, which hath the same voice and cry in you, for Obedience to what is made manifest of God in you; obey the Light, and ye shall see daily more of it, till it break forth as a morning unto thee, and till it shines unto a perfect day; yea, a day of gladness and rejoicing to thy poor distressed Soul.  
Oh, Arise thou that sits sorrowing, and thou that art crying out in secret, because of the bonds and fetters that are yet upon thee: Arise, arise, I say in the Name of the Lord God of Zion, who draws nigh to thee by his quickening Spirit, and hearken to his voice, who saith to the Prisoner, Come forth; and to the bowed down. Arise; and to the feeble ones, Put on strength, and follow me; I will confound your Foes, and break the strength of your Enemies, as I have done for my People, who have forsaken all to follow me, and obey me, so will I do for you: and if ye in uprightness walk before me, and keep my Conant, as they have done, no power or strength of the Enemy within or without shall be too hard for you. And when the Lord doth thus arise in your Souls, and stir up his own pure Witness, and his Arm awakens in you, and his pure Light breaks forth; oh, what consolation is it to you, and how have many of you seen your vain doubtings expelled, and a clear convincement hath prevailed upon your spirits concerning the way of God; and at such a time you have begun to resolve to follow the Lord in his pure Way of Holiness, thus opened unto you in the Light, though to the loss of all; and though it be to the bearing your part of the great reproach that lies upon them that loves him more than their lives; and at such a time there was felt a secret joy in a hidden ground in your Souls, and the seed of the Kingdom that had been long buried up, began to spring up in you, in which Seed your Souls felt some touchings of that Heavenly Life and Joy, which for the time exceeded all things that this World could afford; and whensoever ye come to feel this refreshing dew upon your Souls, then take heed and wait singly in the sense of it, keep your eye to the joy that is now set before you in Christ Jesus, the Seed; for if you let your mind; wander, and your eyes gad abroad, there be objects on every hand to lead you out from your Souls beloved, and to bring you to defile your hearts, and make yourselves an unfit place of residence for him who is holy and pure, and will not dwell, nor take delight in a polluted Temple; but will withdraw himself, as he did from Israel of old, and from their Temple, when it was polluted and profaned: And besides, when your minds are taken hold of by any of the corruptable things in this changeable World, there will presently kindle a desiring, longing, and lusting after the enjoyment of those things, though contrary to the will of God; and then next the Reasoner and Consulter gets up in thee, and starts a question: May not I enjoy the Lord and this? May not I keep in the Way of Truth, and yet do this or that thing which my heart desireth? And though it be not perfectly according to the Truth made manifest in me; yet I will have my will, my lust, my desire satisfied but this one time, and that's not much, saith the Consulter; and this is but a small matter, there be others that do greater things than this; and such like reasonings enters the mind, and this grieves and vexeth that good and righteous tender Spirit that moved in thee, and brings a weight and oppression upon the pure in thee, and that withdraws itself again from thee, in which thy Light did arise unto thee, and so a night comes upon thee; for where the Serpent can bring any to make a question of obeying the Truth, he is as ready to frame an Answer, as to beget the Question; but his answer always comes with a Liberty and persuasion to disobey, as it did by Eve in the beginning; and when transgression is finished, than death enters upon thee with its dark power, and manifold sorrows peirceth thy poor soul; though the fruit was desirable to be eaten, yet now it is eaten, thou cannot come at li●e, to eat of that too, though thou desirest it; but art driven out, and kept out with a flaming sword that turns every way against thee: And here's now a ground laid for doubts and questioning of a higher nature than before, to arise in thee; for before thou doubted of the Truth itself, whether it were the Truth, but now having tasted of it, and received a convincement of it, and yet let forth thy mind from it after other Lovers, and thy ears after the voice of the Adulteress, and so caused the pure Light to withdraw from thee, thorough thy rebellion: now thou desirest thou might but see again what thou hast seen, and feel again what thou hast felt, but doubts and fears that thou shalt never see, nor feel, nor enjoy the like again: and now thou wishest, oh, that thou hadst stood in the cross to thy own will, and that thou hadst denied thyself, that thou might not thus have lost the sight and sense of thy Souls Beloved. And now thou seest, by woeful experience, whence doubts, and fears, and sorrows do arise, even thy joyming with the Enemy, who brings forth reasons against the obedience to the Light: And therefore now hearken to that which remains in thee, though darkness and sorrow doth encompass thee; yet there is something remains, which gives thee a sense of thy state and condition, and makes thee to know thy loss and want, hear the voice of this, and this will humble thee, and bring thee into true brokenness of heart, and contriteness of spirit; and as thou comes to know that state, than thou hast something to offer to the Lord of his own preparing, which will be far more acceptable to him then a multitude of words and performances and duties, (so called;) and as thou in the true lowliness of mind dost come before the Lord, and offers up this offering, God will hear in Heaven, and will answer the cry of the poor and needy Soul that cannot be satisfied without his presence; and he will remember his mercies of old (which never fail) for his seed sake which is not yet brought forth in thee: And when God doth again shine forth unto thee, and make his Power known, thou must expect it must be in judgement, because of the transgression thou hast gone into, that he may consume that in thee which led thee into the Sin, from his pure Law, which is Light, for Zion is redeemed by judgement: And therefore take heed lest thou be offended at his appearance; take heed that thou limit not the Holy One; but if his appearance be with more sharpness and bitterness to the carnal part then before, it is but just it should be so, It is the Lord, let him do what he will. he sees more cause now then before, by how much more thou hast sinned against his goodness; but bow to his Judgements, Bear his Indignation, (as Micah said) because thou hast sinned against-them, Mic 7.9. And as thou yeeds to his righteous Judgement, thou wilt know the coming to the midst of them in which the mercy is remembered and made manifest; and therefore the hasty and impatient, that flees the Judgement as soon as it gins a little to appear in them, they never find the true deliverance, but gets ease another way, which lasteth but for a moment; but they who comes to know a thorough work wrought in their Earth, and the Floor thoroughly purged, they come to know the true and lasting Peace to their Immortal Souls; and although this is not obtained by ease and liberty to the carnal mind, which must die, yet the end Crowns all that holds out to it, they are the saved ones, as Christ said, Mark 13.13. and they find the returning with shaves, as the Prophet said, Psal. 126.5, 6. They that sow in Tears shall reap in Joy: They went forth (said he) with weeping, and bearing precious Seed, but they shall return with joy, and bring their Sheaves: And as Christ said, They that forsake father and mother, wife and children, house or lands, yea, or their own lives f●r my sake, shall have an hundred fold in this time, and in the World to come Life Everlasting: Forsaking and Self-denial hath always been the way to Life, and to true Blessedness, and is the way unto this day. And therefore all you who have wandered in your own ways, and have not yet learned to deny yourselves of what is contrary to the Witness of God in your Consciences, but have desires, and that strong ones too, to keep and hold that still which the Light in you doth reprove, and yet have desires of Life and Peace too; and so are in many doubts and straits about these things; to you all this is the Counsel of the Lord, and the cry of his pure Spirit; Come out of the Babylonish confusion of your own thoughts, and touch not that which is unclean, and the Lord will receive you; and what God by his pure Spirit hath called unclean, let no man presume to call clean, and to join to it, lest they be found fight against God, and nourishing, and keeping that alive which God hath appointed to die and be destroyed; ye cannot serve two Masters, nor partake of the Table of the Lord and the Table of Devils. Oh, feed not that birth that hungers after evil things, and delights in them; but what is for famine, let it be famished; and what is for the Sword, let the two edged Sword that goeth out of the mouth of the faithful and true Witness cut it down, (Rev. 1.16. and 3.14.) and so thou may see the Giants in the Land slain before thee by one that is mighty to deliver, and to bring thee out of this Spiritual Egypt with a high hand: but this thou cannot come to witness, but by diligent following him, and if thou willingly yields to his gentle drawings when thou feelst them in thy heart, thou wilt find them to he effectual and profitable to thy Soul, and the more thou follows him, the more thou wilt feel his goodness break in upon thee for thy encouragement, and the less thou wilt doubt of his love and mercy in leading thee still farther, even unto the end, and unto that Rest which will satisfy thy Soul.  
Therefore lay aside all Consultations that are against thy Obedience to the Gift of God in thy heart, which reproves Sin in thee; and give not way to vain and needless doubts about it, but as thou findest that thou hast been condemned and judged in thy disobeying of it; now try and prove whether by taking up thy daily cross, and obeying of it in thy words and actions, and in all things, if thou dost not find the answer of sweet peace and joy; and when thou shalt find it so, then will there be no more room for doubts and questioning against thy obeying of it; but as any questions or doubts doth arise in thee, or shall be cast in thy way by any without thee, thou wilt feel the answer of it in thyself to thy refreshing, and so thou wilt come to witness the effectual operation of it daily in thy Soul to work thy change and translation out of thyself into itself, and so thou wilt come not only to know the Light in thee; for that one may do and perish, (For this is the Condemnation, that Light is come, and not loved) but thou wilt know that thou art in the Light, and walkest there with God, and in the holy Fellowship, where thou feelst the Lord near thee in his Light, and his Reward is with him: and so coming to walk and dwell in the Light, thy conversation is now in Heaven, as the Saints of old was, and thy unity is witnessed with the Father and the Son, as theirs was, who said, If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light, they had fellowship with him; and if any said they had fellowship, and walked in Darkness (which all Sinners do, for Sin is the work of it) such, they said, were Liars: And such as walks in the Light, as he is in the Light, such comes to know the Blood that cleanseth and washeth from the Sin, and from all unrighteousness; and such as feels this work wrought in them are brought into such a knowledge of the blood of Christ, that they need not doubt about it, nor have no occasion to raise a question, where it is, or what it is, nor what the efficacy of it is; for having the work and witness of the Blood in them, this forthwith resolves all doubts that would arise; and so likewise those that comes to know the Light in all things to be their Guide to lead out of Darkness, and Sin, and Imperfections, and to bring into the Innocent and Blameless Conversation which becometh Saints, and so come to know their footsteps directed before the Lord, such have done doubting and questioning about Perfection; for such sees that which is perfect to be come, and they from the belief which they have of attaining it, are labouring to conform themselves unto that rule, and endeavouring after it not as the carnal Professors, (who say they labour after a Conquest over their Sins, with a belief they shall never attain it while they live;) but they so run that they may attain, and have the true hope in them, which they that have, are purifying themselves as he is pure, that is their hope, as John said, He that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself as God is pure, that so, Even as he was in this present World, so they may be also: and so here the Substance will come, and will cause the shadow to flee, and will answer all thy Doubts and Questions far beyond what Arguments can do.  
And again, the many doubts and disputations that have arisen about the Resurrection, as thou comest to be faithful in the daily Cross, that doth slay and crucify that nature in thee that hath resisted the Truth, and held the Seed in bondage; as that comes to die, and to be bur●ed down in the true Baptism into Christ's Death, thou wi●t feel the Pure to spring up in thee, and thou wi●t be made a partaker of the new Life, and the true Resurrection, which is Christ, and all that are in him are in the Resurrection, and in the Life; for he said, I am the Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth on me, though he were dead. yet shall he live; and this living to God, in the Spirit of this ●●n, is the first Resurrection, which whomsoever comes to witness, the second death hath no power over them, but they come to know the thing as it is in Jesus, and their doubts are all answered about that also; for he that knows a death and Resurrect on af●er this manner, To be dead to Sin, and to be risen with Christ Jesus in the new Life, even while they are in this earthly Tabernancle, before it is d●ssolv●d, such will never question their appearing at the Judgement Seat of God after it is dissolved, but do believe it with joy and gladness; and hath a fervent hope concerning the Resurrection of the dead, and have their expectation unto God in that matter, that he will, according to his Promise, raise them up at the last day, and will give unto every Seed his own Body, even as pleaseth him; and the Creature is not careful then about such foolish questions and doubts, as to inquire what manner of body God will give them, but leaves it to the Lord in full faith that he will raise them up, according to the Scriptures: and so here all thy doubts will flee away, and are answered with that that was before them, as it comes to rule in the Creature, and Death that is the root and ground of them comes to be swallowed up in the Victory of the Life.  
And so, as thou seels thy part in this Resurrection, all the doubts and fe●rs of thy own condition will he answered effectually, which cannot otherwise be answered, but by that good Spirit of God that strives with thee, which, when it doth prevail with thee, and thou becomes subject to it, than it witnesseth for thee; for that there is a state in which there is a danger of falling away, thy daily experience teacheth thee to thy sorrow; and besides, Christ said. Every Branch in me that beareth not fruit must be cut off; and the many examples in Scripture of them that departed from the Faith, and made shipwreck of it, and turned with the Dog to the vomit, and the Sow to the mire, doth sufficiently prove it; and if thou dost stand, it is by Faith, and thou must take heed, and so mayst thou come to the Crown, and Seal, and Assurance, and an Establishment in the Kingdom, where thou shalt no more go forth, but shall have thy Souls desire answered.  
And when thou comest to know this state, and to receive this White Stone that hath the Name within, thou wilt then be without doubt or fear, given up in the will of God to do and to suffer all things, according to his blessed will: and here is the true and perfect Rest to thy Soul whoever thou art, that art now labouring in the Iron Furnace of thy own thoughts and doubts, in the which the more thou givest thyself up thereto, the darker thou art, and the fuller of doubts; for they will beget and multiply one another; and the more thou reasons against obeying Gods Witness in thy heart, the less able thou art to obey it, but the little strength which God gives thee, thou confults it away, and then when thou wouldst be strong thou becomest feeble; and when thou wouldst in some measure obey, thy own consultations stands in the way, and hinders thee; and the more thou increasest in knowledge in this state, the more thou increasest thy sorrow and condemnation; so that sometimes thou art ready to wish thou had never known so much of Truth; and sometimes wishes thou knew more concerning such a Point, or such a Doctrine, or such a Scripture, or such a Mystery, and art apt to think, because thou art yet ignorant in some things relating to Truth, therefore thou art the more excusable if thou be disobedient: but all, poor soul, consider, the way to know more is to be obedient to a little v●●ch thou hast received, and then that mist and fog of thy own u●f●thfulness will vanish away from before the eye of thy mind, for it is that which hinders good things from thee, and makest thee go daily with a burden upon thy shoulders, and a guilt upon thy Conscience, and thou canst not, in no case of thy necessities, come before the Lord with an open face, but art covered still with thine own iniquities; and in this state thou knowest neither Sabbath, nor new Moon, nor Holiday to the Lord; but all labour, toil and travel, and wearisomeness of spirit, till many even comes to wish an end of their days, and yet are in great fear that the end will be worse too. Oh, how my Soul pities you whose state this is, and I have a great sympathy with your sorrows, and in bowels of tender love am I drawn forth to reach out a hand to help you, as one that hath obtained mercy to know deliverances, and to witness the way of it, and have the testimony of God in my heart to witness forth the coming of the Saviour to the poor and needy Souls, to the relieving of them, and comforting of them; and my Souls desire is, that your bonds might be broken, and your Souls might escape; but this I say, in the Name of the Lord, to you all, there is no way for your deliverance but your giving up in single obedience to that faithful and true Witness of God which stirs and moves in thee against thy sins; and therefore wait thou to feel thy mind and will subjected thereunto, that thou mayst feel thyself to be one of those willing people, in this the day of God's Power; and cease from thy reasonnings against thy obeying the Truth, and from saying thou cannot, thou wants power, and when God gives thee Grace than thou wilt obey, for these say are in vain; for though it is true none can obey the Lord but by his Grace and Power given unto them, yet he hath made his Grace, even that which bringeth Salvation, to appear unto all men, as in Titus 2.11. and it hath appeared unto thee, and in thee to whom I writ, and is a Reprover in thee, and thou must turn to that that smites thee, and then thou turns to the Grace of God; for it's his Grace that strives with thee to lead thee out of the evil that it reproves in thee, and so out of the World that lies in the evil, up to God from whence the Grace cometh; for whosoever doth give up to the drawings of the good Spirit of God that moves in them, and in obedience thereto do deny themselves of their own wills, and lusts, and evil desires, and pleasures, such wants not power, but feels him near them that works the willingness first, and then the deed according to his pleasure, and so the glory comes alone to be his; and then thou knowest the Mystery of the Cross, and how it is the Power of God, which all that rejects the Cross complains for want of: And so, so long as thou livest in the Cross thou livest in the Power, and thy obeying is easy, and all things are possible to thee thorough it; and as long as thou art daily dying to that which is corruptible, thou feelest the more Life, and Joy and pleasure in that which is Everlasting, and thy desires grow more and more fervent, after a full and perfect enjoyment of it, in the pure unity of Spirit: And those desires growing strong in thee, it grows a lighter thing to thee to part with that which hinders, though it be thy bosom sins, thy Delilahs and Darlings, yet all must go for the love thou hast to Truth; and such only as have this love, and continue in it, are counted worthy to be Heirs of the Kingdom of God; for so long as any thing be hugged and loved besides the Lord, if the Lord should manifest his Love to thee, thou would play the Harlot, and abuse his Mercies, and cleave to thy old Lovers, as Israel of old did, that was after the Flesh: and therefore, think it not strange to be brought thorough manifold trials, that thereby thou mayst be purged and prepared as a Bride for the true Husband Christ Jesus; for there is many that desires acquaintance with him, but are not fitted for him; they must be washed first, and trimmed first, and must put off the vile Raiment first, and must come to know the white Linen put on; and while this work is doing, what need of patience and quietness of Spirit is there; what need of subjection to the workings of that holy Spirit in all things, that thou may not be setting limits and bounds to that which must bond and limit thee in all things; nor say in thine heart, if my trials were but so, or my exercises so or so, I could then bear them; but rather submit in all things willingly to do and suffer, and to be tried and exercised, even as it please the Lord to order, or suffer thee to be tried; and in all his deal say, with the good man, It is the Lord, let him do what he will with thee; and whosoever gives up thus to him, though he slay them, yet shall they live; though he wound them, yet he will heal them again: Therefore learn patience and stillness of mind, for by taking thought thou can add no thin● 〈◊〉 ●his work: I Remember Israel of old, who were commanded to stand 〈◊〉 to see the Salvation of God in their greatest straits, and they were a figure unto thee; and now in the Light read thy figure, and wait for the Substance, the true Seed, that it may bring forth peace and rest to thy Immortal Soul, and may set up righteousness in thy Earth; which is that I travel after, on the behalf of all distressed and afflicted Souls every where, to whom I am a Friend and wellwisher, as one knowing their trials, straits, doubts and besetting; and also, thorough the rich love of God in Christ Jesus, do witness the delivering, answering and satisfying-Life made manifest and revealed in its own Eternal Light, which lighteth every man; and in true desire that you may all know the same, and in discharge of my duty towards God and my Generation, have I sent forth this word of Counsel and Exhortation, and do remain in my Rest with the Lord, being thus far clear of the Blood of all men, whether they hear or forbear; and though in Bonds for the Gospel's sake, yet the Lords Freeman, waiting in patience and full assurance for Zion's full Redemption.  
ipswich County-Goal this 3d Month, 1668. Known by the name, Stephen Crisp.  
THE END.