The ACCOUNT From WICKHAM (Lately published by, john Raunce and Charles Harris) Examined, and found False:  
And Warning thereof given to all such Wellmeaning Persons among the People called Quakers,  
As through Personal Affection, want of Consideration, or Weakness of Judgement have been betrayed, or may be in danger to be betrayed by them, or any other in the same dividing Spirit with them, and led aside from the Way of Truth, into a Separation from the People of God: For whose Recovery and Preservation this is written.  
By Thomas Ellwood.  
Printed in the Year, 1689.   

The Account from WICKHAM, (Lately published by john Raunce and Charles Harris) Examined, and found False:  
And a warning thereof given to all such wellmeaning Persons among the People, called Quakers, as through Personal Affection, want of Consideration, or Weakness of Judgement have been betrayed, or may be in danger to be betrayed by them, or any other in the same dividing Spirit with them, and led aside from the Way of Truth, into a Separation from the People of God: for whose Recovery and Preservation this is written.  
FOr your sakes it is, O ye much pitied Ones, more than for any Weight in the Account itself, or Worth in the Authors of it, that I have thus taken notice of it. For indeed as soon as I had perused it, I felt a compassionate Concern spring in my Heart on your behalves, and a direction in Spirit to open some passages therein, and relating thereto, to you, that ye might be preserved from being taken, or, if in any measure taken, might be rescued and delivered from the snare which the Enemy of your Souls, and of all Righteousness, hath made use of these men to set, to entangle, entrap and catch you by. And to the true Witness of the holy God, in every one of your Consciences, who retain any honest breathing after the Lord, and the way of Holiness, do I recommend this my undertaking, and the sincerity of my Intention herein.  
To begin therefore with the beginning of their Account, they say, The Differences amongst Friends in these parts, did not arise amongst ourselves, but were brought in by such, who have largely endeavoured to cause Division amongst us. Now I affirm, in the presence and fear of the holy God, and upon my own certain knowledge, that these men themselves were the chief Instruments of bringing the Differences in amongst Friends in these parts; and They with their Associates, have largely endeavoured, yea, and laboured hard for many Years to cause Divisions amongst us. The Lord knows this is true, and many of his faithful Servants in these parts know this is true; yea, and these men themselves also cannot but know this is true, which makes their Condemnation the greater.  
They say, It is a Comfort to us, that we can say in the presence of God, we have not been the cause thereof (but then, being conscious of their own guilt, they add, for a Salvo, these words) by bringing into the Church any new Doctrine, or any sort of unscriptural Discipline. Were I now to deal directly with them, I would not grant them that: But since the end of my present writing is for your Information, not to contend with them, that which I shall observe to you is, that were they indeed never so free from bringing into the Church any new Doctrine, or (as they term it) unscriptural Discipline, yet might they notwithstanding, by other ways and means, have been the Cause of the Divisions amongst Friends in these parts, as indeed they were. They traveled to and fro and traversed the Countries, gleaning up Stories and evil Surmises from such as were in the work of Division in other parts; and what they had so picked up, They privately whispered and insinuated into the minds of such simple ones whose Ears were open to them, filling them with fears, doubts and jealousies of an Apostasy entering among Friends, etc. whereby they begat in some a disesteem of many ancient Friends, and faithful Labourers in Truth's service, preparing and fitting them thereby to join with themselves, to oppose, in an ignorant Zeal, the Care and Counsel which, in the openings of Life, the God of Life conveyed, through his Servants, to the Meetings, for preventing that Apostasy which they said was entering. And having espoused the Cause of I. S. and I. W. who had headed a Separate Meeting in the North, they endeavoured to make a Party for them amongst the Friends of this Country, and for that end did bandy together, and having got I. S. over to Wickham, brought him to our Meetings to Preach over us, though he was known to be out of the Unity of Friends, and to be one of the chief Heads of the Division, to the great grief and heavy burden of many an upright tender hearted Friend.  
They add, that they have only stood for their own and others Liberty in Christ, that all might walk as they had received from Him, and not otherwise. But the Truth of the matter is otherwise. Neither their own nor others Liberty in Christ was infringed, nor were any desired to walk otherwise than as they had received from Christ. But they stood for a Liberty out of Truth, out of Christ who is the Truth, for a fleshly liberty, a self-willed liberty, a corrupt liberty, a liberty to mix in Marriages with such as were not of us. Scandalous persons were brought to our Meeting upon account of Marriage, and countenanced and abetted by these very men, and such others as they could get to join with them, against the mind and life of the Meeting. One Couple especially (whom I forbear to name, being unwilling to mark out particular persons) whereof the Man was not reputed a Quaker, and the Woman charged by her Neighbours with having lain with her own Father to the great scandal of Religion. Yet that Marriage these men promoted, and highly contended for, to the great grief and burden of Friends, whose Life stood against it, and to the great disquieting of the Meeting; I. R. alleging that the Man had been an Absenter from the public Worship for more than twenty Years, and that though he had not frequented the Quakers Meetings, yet he had not joined to any other People. And when that gave no satisfaction to Friends, he plainly told us, It must be passed; and that there was a necessity for it, otherwise things would be worse: which made it more uneasy to Friends to meddle at all with them. But after long debate, and many Months contending about it, having got the Woman to sign a Paper under the notion of condemning her misbehaviour (which Paper was then understood to be drawn up by C. H. for her, and was so favourably worded, that it rather seemed to palliate and excuse her Offence, than condemn it, pretending that her Father, when she lay with him, was sick unto Death, though it was known he was able to walk abroad) they carried on the Marriage with such an high Hand, that the most Friends could do to clear themselves of it, was to declare they did not consent to it, but only by way of condescension, for Peace-sake, permit it to pass, and that too with this caution, that they should not take each other in any public Meeting of Friends, but among their own Relations, that Friends might stand clear of them afterwards. To which, though I. R. and themselves agreed, yet were they afterwards brought to a public Monthly-Meeting of Worship, where they took each other in Marriage amongst Friends, and as Friends, I. R. being there to preach on that occasion. And when some Friends being grieved and offended thereat, arose and departed in Testimony against it, I. R. in reflection upon them, and to abet the Marriage, publicly said, Let him that is without Sin cast the first Stone: And this Couple soon after they were married there, went and were married again by a Priest: Plenty of Instances might be given of corrupt Marriages promoted and carried on by them over the Heads of Friends. But by this one it may appear what sort of Liberty they stood for, and what it is they call their Liberty in Christ. And it is to be observed, that the Contest between Friends and them about this Couple, was before any Marriage had gone to the women's Meetings, and was indeed itself the immediate Cause that Friends desired the women's Meetings might, for the future, be also concerned in Enquiring into People's clearness upon Proposals of Marriage. By which it may also appear how false and insincere these Men are, who would lay the rise and ground of the differences in these parts, upon Marriages going to the women's Meeting. But after that Friends (having been fain to use the help of the women's Meeting to examine that unhandsome Carriage of the fore-mention Woman towards her Father) found needful to desire and advise such as afterward came to propose Marriage, to lay their intentions first before the women's Meeting, it was truly lamentable to see (and hardly credible by any but those that did see) what shameless Marriages were obtruded upon the Meeting, and by these Men and their Party vigorously animated and backed against the Meeting, under pretence of Conscience in not going to the women's Meeting. The Instances whereof, too many to be here inserted, lie ready for a future Service, as further Occasion may be given for it. Ah, had these Men, and others whom they joined with, and who joined with them, stood only for their own, and others Liberty in Christ, had they walked as they had received from Christ, and not otherwise, they had not let up that Spirit of Loseness, nor made these Rents and Divisions in the Church of Christ, which they have, nor lost that Savour which once, in some measure, some of them had, to become, as at this day, unsavory-Salt.  
Next they say, That which hath seemed to draw People to please Men, and to force them to practice things wherein they have not Faith, we have no Fellowship with, as knowing God owns it not. See here on how slight and uncertain a Ground they have laid the Foundation of their wretched work of Separation, which they have run, and have drawn others (more simple than themselves) into. That which they have taken such great Offence at, and declare they have no Fellowship with, they durst not say did positively draw people to please Men, or did realy force them to practice things wherein they had not Faith; but they say, that which hath Seemed to draw, and to force, etc. Had they indeed been any whit tender of the Honour of God, the Prosperity of Truth, the peace of the Church of Christ, the Salvation of Souls, could they (think ye) have made so great a bluster, have proclaimed such open War as they have done, and set up such open Ensigns of Opposition, and Flags of Defiance, against the Standard of the Lord of Hosts, as their Separate Meetings are, upon no sure Ground, no better Bottom, than an Apprehension that something Seemed to draw People to please Men, Seemed to force them to practice things, & c?  
So again, in their second Page they say, We clearly saw, That if their Orders were proposed on such terms, that all were to be rendered of a dark and bad Spirit that did not conform, then, etc. Here ye see, they cannot say that those things which they call Friends-Orders were proposed on such terms; but If they were. Accordingly they say, they did withstand them that in effect, did so propose them: They know if they had said they had been proposed directly or positively on such terms, they should have been immediately convicted of a direct and positive Lye. Therefore they use these shifting Expressions, to hide themselves and deceive you. In like manner they go on there, and say, We had great cause to be jealous, several things proposed were not from Heaven, but of Man. So here ye may see, they don't pretend to have had a certain Knowledge, a grounded Assurance that the things proposed were not from Heaven, but a jealousy only. And consider, I pray, what was this jealousy of theirs grounded on? a Foundation, ye will see, suitable to itself and to them. We had great cause, say they, to be jealous, several things proposed were not from Heaven, but of Man; for in their Birth into the Church they Seemed not to bear the Heavenly Image, neither shake hands with Holy Scriptures. Here's their jealousy, and the great Cause of it, a Seemed not to bear the heavenly Image. But sure it had beseemed them to have gone past Seeming, beyond jealousy, and to have had a certain, sure, indubitable, positive Knowledge of what they Seemed to be Jealous of, before they had made a certain positive Rent, Breach, Division, Separation from the Church of Christ, as they have done. Ah, how hath the Lord abandoned them to blindness, who have resisted his Light in the manifestations thereof, that they might discover their own Nakedness? The Lord make every one of you wise, to improve these discoveries of their Folly and Falseness, to the advantage of your own Souls, that hereby ye may see, and seeing eat that Seducing Spirit, which hath led them into these pernicious ways, and would through their means lead you in after them. And for your further Information and Satisfaction in this matter, I (who, I think, may reasonably pretend to know as much what has been done in the Meetings of this Conntry, as any other, having seldom been absent from them) do plainly and sincerely declare, in God's Presence and Fear, that I did never hear or know any of those things which they call Friends-Orders, proposed on such terms as they suggest, as that all were to be rendered of a dark and bad Spirit, that did not conform. But I do certainly know, the things they contend against, have been gently and tenderly proposed, and in a Christian Spirit recommended to the Witness of God in the Consciences of those, to whom they were proposed; and while there has not appeared a rugged, harsh, prejudiced mind, resolved before hand, in a heady will, to break the Order, and thwart the Proceeding of the Meeting; but Friends have found any measure of tenderness in the Persons concerned, though not come to so clear an understanding as, with satisfaction, to comply with what was proposed, the Meeting has condescended to their weakness, not desiring any should act without Sight, or without (muchless against) Faith. Of which I could give many Instances. But those who have been justly noted for dark Spirits, have been such as have declared they did not see, and yet have set themselves to oppose, revile and vilify that, which themselves confessed they had not a sight whether it was of God or not.  
To what I. R. and C. H. say concerning Endeavours to bury them alive, and take away their good Name, and destroy their Labours and Services for God and his Truth, little need, I think, be said, plain it is, and too apparent, that their Labour and Service, of latter years, have not been for, but against God and his Truth. And more their Friends, than they are aware of, have some been, who have endeavoured to destroy those Labours and Services of theirs, which (unless they repent of, and forsake) will assuredly destroy them. But for their being buried alive, I am (and always was) so far from desiring they should be so, that I wish, at least, they were now capable of being so. Ah, what Savour of Life can any of you taste? What fresh Spring can any of you find? What green Leaf can any of you see throughout their whole Account? The Lord give every one of you, who are in any degree Favourers of them, or inclining towards them, a true Savour of Life in yourselves, that ye may forsake the Tombs, and and not seek the Living among the Dead.  
They speak, Page 1. Of what several Friends have suffered from such who have been contentious for the Form, and have made it the Measuring-Line; And Page 4. they mention Formality being made the measuring-Line of Fellowship and Unity. That any Friends have made the Form the measuring-Line, I neither know nor believe, but take it for a Slander. But if these Men think the Form ought not to be contended for, they are Ignorant. If they cannot distinguish between Form and Formality they are Weak. In every Dispensation. Truth hath always appeared in some Form, and that Form which God appoints for Truth to appear in, aught to be contended for (if any rise up to contend against it) so long as the Dispensation continues, to which that Form is adapted. Would these Men have a Religion without Form? Or would they have a Form not worth contending for? Consider, I entreat you, ye who have been at their Separate Meetings, Have they no Form? Do they pretend to none? Are they slid back into such a Choas of Confusion, that they are, or would be, as the Earth was, while Darkness was upon the face of the Deep, without Form? If they have no Form, they have no Order; and how then is the God of Order their God? If they have a Form, but such an one as they think not worth contending for, they had as good have none. If they have a Form which they do think worth contending for, nay, if they have contended, even unto Separation, that they might impose a Form of their own invention upon us, how can they, without the greatest Injustice, blame us for contending for the Form which, we believe, the Power of Truth has led us into? But making the Form the measuring-Line, is a Phrase of their own, not of Friends, by which they endeavour to cloud your understandings, and prejudice your minds against Friends. The Spiritual measuring-Line is the Spirit of God, by which the Spiritual-minded measure Spiritual things. And by this measuring-Line, They, that oppose the Form of Truth, are certainly known and discovered not to be acted and guided by the Power of Truth; And yet the Form is not made the measuring Line. Is there not a Form of sound Words, 2. Tim. 1 13? And if any, who profess Truth, should not only depart from the Form of sound Words, but should reject, despise, oppose, contend against it, would ye not blame, reprove, condemn such persons? But would ye have it from hence inferred, that ye make the Form the measuring-Line?  
They say, When the women's Meetings were set up, the People were told, that was set up to keep things sweet and clean, forgetting the fear of the Lord, which can only effect that work. Thus they pretend to exalt the Fear of the Lord, but it is that they might debase and destroy those means which the Lord hath made useful in his Church, for the stirring up of the pure Mind, and keeping in a Watchful state of Subjection to the Lord in his Fear, and reclaiming or calling back to the Fear of the Lord those, that by the Wiles of the Enemy may at any time be drawn from it, and for the denying and testifying against such as harden themselves against the Lord's Reproof, such as oasting his Fear behind their Backs, persist in Evil, and will not be reform, who by the judgement of Truth, arising in the heavenly Power in the Hearts of the Faithful, are to be swept out of the Family of God, as by the Besoom of the Lord. And is not that a proper way and means to keep things sweet and clean? Did Paul, think ye, forget the fear of the Lord; or knew he not, as well as these men, the virtuous Efficacy of it to keep sweet and clean, when he took so great Care and Pains to watch over the Churches for that end? When he gave particular direction for the aged Women to instruct and teach the younger, Tit. 2. 3, 4, 5. Was not the end of this to keep things sweet and clean? And might'not Hymenaes' or Alexander, or some other Apostate in that day, have cavilled with as much Reason as these men now do, and have said; the Apostle forgot the Fear of God, which can only effect that work? But the Children of Light, who abide in the Light, do, in and by the Light, see through and over all these empty Cavils. And in true and tender Pity, and Christian Compassion to your Souls, are these things briefly opened unto you; that ye may see, and seeing may believe, and believing may be saved from the snare the Enemy hath laid to catch you.  
And whereas I. R. and C. H. complain of some crying, Make no Bargain with that Spirit, and feed it with judgement, etc. And of Sitting with Hats on in the time of their Prayer, as a Testimony before all sorts of People against their Spirits; with much more of like kind, which ye may see in pag. 2. of their Account. This I say, is deceitfully written by them to beguile the simple, and make the Ignorant believe that these Carriages towards them were the Cause and Occasion of the Differences between Friends and them in these parts: for they immediately add, Now these things are repeated, that none may be so ignorant as to think we begun these Quarrels with our Neighbours, and Friends. Now the God of Heaven knows, and they know in their own Consciences, that in this they deal deceitfully. For the plain and naked Truth is, that these things appeared not in any of our Meetings in this Country, not a Hat kept on in the time of their Prayer, nor any open show of dis-union with, or dislke to their Testimony (how much so ever some of us were then grieved and burdened by them) until they had first joined themselves to the chief Authors and Fomenters of Division and Separation in other parts, abetting their Cause, espousing their Quarrel, and having made a Party for them amongst Friends in this Country, broke forth into an open Opposition to the way and order of Truth, and by their continual Strife and Contention, had done their endeavours to break our Meetings to pieces, and by their unruly and turbulent behaviour, had given unquestionable proofs, that they were departed from the Fellowship of the Gospel of Peace, and of Friends were become Enemies to Truth. And surely they had no reason to expect to be owned by Friends in their Preaching and Praying, after they or their party had published Friends to the World to be Apostates, Innovators, Introducers of Popery, and the like. As for the Papers they mention, advising Friends to make no Bargain with that Spirit, and feed it with judgement, etc. Those Papers declare what Spirit that was that was not to be bargained with, but fed with Judgement, namely, that which was gone out of Truth, and had led into Division and Separation; and if these men had not known themselves guilty, and, That they were joined to that Spirit, and to those that by that Spirit were led into Division and Separation in other parts, what need it have troubled them to hear such Papers read amongst Friends for a warning and caution to Friends to beware that they were not entangled by that Spirit? Why should these men have taken offence at the reading of such a Paper, any more than any other Friend in the Meeting where it was read, if they had not then been in the Strife, Contention and work of Division, and so felt a stroke reach them in the reading of these Papers, that were designed as a Caution to all?  
Their charging Friends, pag. 2. with endeavouring to leaven the Minds of convinced People from House to House, to increase then Party, and to defame such as were not of it; is so exact a description of their own Courses, that I am persuaded there are few Families of Friends in this Country but can convict them of it; And I dare appeal to many of you, if ye have not found it so yourselves. Nay, does not I R. still continue to draw some Patients of his, to come to speak with him at his separate Meeting-place, that so he may engage them, who else would not come there, to help increase his number? But their charging Friends with writing, approving and printing Books against several whom they call ancient Friends by Name, wherein (they say) are several Falsehoods and Scandals, is so notoriously known, and has been so openly and unanswerably proved, to be the guilt of their own party, that it argues an extreme degree of hardness and impudence in them to mention it. Let them produce, if they can, any one Book to justify their Charge, before W. R. writ his foul Invective against Friends, under the Title of The Christian Quaker distinguished from the Apostate and Innovator, in five Parts. Which infamous piece, if my Memory fail me not, I have heard I. R. say remained some considerable time in his hand before it was printed; so that he could not be ignorant of it: Nay, he was a Promoter and Spreader of it, after it came abroad. Judge ye now, how great a piece of Deceit it is in them to blame Friends for that, which their own party first went into, and necessitated Friends to answer, in Defence and Vindication of the Truth and themselves.  
After the same manner they cry out of Envious Reflections, pag. 2. Base Reflections, and. Hellish Names, pag. 3. When as, besides what they utter by Word of Mouth in their Preaching and Discoursing, what Reflection, that is envious and base, is not to be found in their printed Books and Pamphlets against Friends? How full is that Book of W. Rogers, and other Books writ since by him, of abusive Language, bitter Words and base Reflections! What is there else in Bug's and Bullock's Writings! And for envious Reflections and Hellish Names, what Sheet of Paper ever contained more than those of Susan Aldridge! in forming of which how great an hand these very men had, is not unknown to some: But if ye look no further than the Account they have now published, there ye shall find they say, When the Womens-Meetings were first set up, many was so elevated with it, that they ran like Gehazi, etc. Gehazi ye know, was Servant to the Prophet that cured Naaman the Assyrian of his Leprosy; and when the Prophet had refused to take a Reward from Naaman for the Cure, Gehazi ran after him in the Prophet's Name, with Lies of his own inventing in his Mouth, on purpose, and to no other end but to get Money and Clothes of him, 2 Kings 5. Now for these men to say of any Friends, that they were so elevated with the Womens-Meeting, that they run like Gehazi, what base Reflection could they have cast! yet here ye fee they caft this base and envious Reflection upon many. What more foul as well as false Slander could they have vented or invented! Yet these men, ye see, in that very Paper, wherein they have thus basely reflected on others, are not ashamed to tax others with envious and base Reflections; whose Injustice here'in I represent to your view, and serious consideration, that ye may weigh, and duly consider what Spirit it is they were guided by in writing that Account: That so ye may not give yourselves up, through an affectionate fondness, to an implicit belief of what they say or write; but may examine and try them by the true measuring-Line, the Spirit of Truth, which uncovers their Deceit.  
They reject Truth's order upon pretence, pag. 2. that Several things proposed have not proved a Blessing to the Church, in such things, they were pretenended for, viz. to keep things sweet and clean. The truly-sensible Ones, the faithful and honest-hearted, know the contrary, notwithstanding the pains these men have taken, by their Oppositions, to prevent the Blessing, and make things unsavoury and unclean. But, I pray consider, what hath their Disorder done? how sweet and clean have things been kept amongst them? So far has their Division and Separation been from being a Blessing to the Church, that it hath proved a grievous Curse to many of them that have run into it; And hath led some of them utterly to part from the very profession of Truth, and sit down again under the preaching of a Parish-Priest? of which Examples might be produced in several parts. But, not to seek Examples far from home, what shattering work has been among them, since their Separation from Truth and Friends, even in their own Meeting at Wickham! One that was a bold Champion in their Quarrel, a great Contend for them against Friends and Truth's order, and went into the Separation with them, hath since turned Papist, and gone openly to mass. I forbear to name the Person, or publish (at present) the miscarriage which drove him from the, being unwilling to expose persons or things, unless necessitated thereunto. Another, that had got up to be a pert Preacher among them, hath of late deserted both them and his Profession, and is now said to hanker after the Baptists. Divers others of their party in that Town are gone off from the very Profession of Truth, and are gone to the Priest, or the Top-Knot, or both, as I have been credibly informed. The Lord make these Examples warnings to you, that ye may not tempt God, as some have done, and by him be given up to a reprobate sense.  
They strike also at the order of Truth, under the phrase of unscriptural Discipline, page 1. and of unscriptural Orders, page 2. as if they thought, and would have you believe the way and method of acting and managing the Affairs of the Church now, were as expressly set down, and plainly to be read in the writings of the new Testament, as the Discipline of the Church under the law was, in the wirting of the old: not considering, or not seeming to regard, the Difference between the Dispensations of Law and Gospel; whereof the one was expressly limited to a literal Prescript, the other left to the Direction of the free and unlimited Spirit of God, which is never absent from the true church, and by which the true Church ought to be, and is guided. They should do well to distinguish between unscriptural and Anti-Scriptural, between that which is contrary to the Scripture, and that which is not contrary to it, though not expressly and fully set down in it: And ye would do well to put them to speak their sense plainly in the case. If their meaning be, that the order and Discipline of the Church of Christ, is expressly, particularly, invariably and fully in term set down in the Scriptures of the New Testament, let them assert it, and they, or others, shall soon, by God's assistance, be made sensible of their Error. Or, if they will affirm, and undertake to prove, that the order, way, or method of managing the Affairs of the Church of Christ, now used amongst Friends, is contrary to the Scriptures of Truth, it shall not be long before they shall be convicted of Falsehood and Slander therein. In the mean time it will not be a miss to observe, what Scriptural Orders they have brought forth, either during their jangling Contention with Friends, or since their Separation from us. They, who so tartly twit Others with unscriptural Orders, should (one would think) be very exact in squaring their own Orders by the Letter of the Scriptures. How Scriptural their Practices are, in the case of Marriage, in their Separate Meetings, I refer to your own impartial Observations, who have been present at any of them. What they have laid down in their late printed Account, and which they say they desired, is, That the Men and Women might meet together, whilst we sat to wait upon God, and also whilst all Marriages were proposed, and that Men might take care concerning their Sex, and the Women of theirs, against the next Meeting; and then, if the Women had any mind to be together, about any other Matters, that they thought they could do best by themselves, they might take their Liberty, etc. I earnestly press you to consider, and wish ye would as earnestly press them to show where this Order which they propose is expressed in the holy Scriptures, Is there any plain Direction of such a method there? Is there any Intimation there that the Saints so practised? Have they any, either Precept or Precedent in the Scriptures of Truth for this Proposal of that, more than we have for our practice which they reject? They say, It is a Comfort to them that they can say in the presence of God, They have not been the cause of Division, by bringing into the Church any sort of unscriptural Discipline, and yet in the same breath (as it were) they propose the bringing in a Discipline no whit more Scriptural than they which that oppose? O Consider these things, I beseech you, all ye wellmeaning Ones, who have been and are in any measure beguiled by the fair Speeches and smooth Insinuations of these, and such like men. Bring their work to the Light of Christ, examine it by the Light, weigh it in the true Balance, try it by the true Touchstone, and take not every thing for Gold that doth a little glister.  
They add, that they desired Our Meetings might consist of qualified chosen Friends, from each particular Meeting, and not be filled up with Youths, and Girls, and Strangers from other Countries, to busy themselves, to head and make Parties among us, and then carry Tales form place to place, to increase difference. Surely none, whether, Strangers from other Countries, or others, should head and make Parties in Meetings, or carry Tales from place to place: yet this, I certainly know, was their practice in our Meetings, while they continued amongst us, and by that means the Difference was much increased in these Parts. But if they would have Strangers (by which I suppose they mean Friends) of other Countries wholly excluded from our Meetings, I say Distance of place, or remoteness of outward Habitations; ought not to make any such Distinction among us. None are Strangers to us, to our Meetings, or to the service of Truth in our Meetings, who are not Strangers to that divine Life and Power, but dwell in it, and are subject to it, by which we have been gathered to be a people to the Lord, and our Spirits engaged to his service. The Spirit of Christ is an universal, free, unlimited Spirit, and both teaches us how to behave ourselves towards Friends that come from other Countries, to sit, in the Unity of the same Spirit, with us in our Meetings and them how to behave themselves amongst us. But I fear these men are no more just in this cavil than in the former. Don't they, think ye, when they go into other Countries, help fill up the Meetings of their own Party? Ask them if they have so done, and busied themselves to head and make Parties, and help make Division, where Meetings have not been actually divided. And whether Strangers from other Countries, such as are confederated with them in their wicked work of Separation, come not to their separate Meeting in this Country, I appeal to your own observation and knowledge, who sometimes resort thither. Judge you then of their Sincerity in making this Cavil. And as to their other Cavil about Youths, and Girls, filling up our Meetings, if thereby they mean that the Meetings consist of such,' its false: If they mean not so, but only that some young ones are sometimes there present, 'tis idle. The Meetings, it is well known, consist of the most ancient, grave, weighty Friends, of either Sex, in the Country. And if any young people, or old either, that have been little amongst us at our other Meetings, and whose deportment and behaviour hath not answered their Profession, have stepped in, such have been taken out, and desired to withdraw. But if they except against all that are young in Years, merely because they are young, their exception is to be excepted against as not according to Truth; And I question whether they obseve their own methods in the separate Meetings they have set up. But if they do not, it is then without question that they urge these things, not from a conscientious tenderness, and with a sincere mind, but as a ground of Contention and occasion of Quarrel. So also they say, they desired that our Meetings might consist of qualified chosen Friends, from each particular Meeting. But I pray now, do their separate Meetings consist of such qualified chosen persons. Ye that have been amongst them, deal faithfully with yourselves, and if ye find them false in these particulars, urging those things in pretence, which they do not practise in reality, suffer not yourselves to be deceived by them. As for our Meetings, they do consist of qualified Friends, from each particular Meeting, such as are chosen by him who best knows their Qualifications, God, who qualifies them for the service he engages them in, and enagages their Spirits in an holy Concern to undertake the work he qualifies them for. But is it not strange that these men, who seem ready to startle at the very Name of Form, and cry out so fearfully against Imposition, should on a sudden so far forget themselves, as thus to contend for Form in choosing the Members of their Meeting, and impose upon all others, that should not be chosen and qualified as they think fit, to absent themselves from those Meetings? What Confusion do these Men run into?  
Now, having told us what they desired, they go on to tell us what they have disliked, as that when Persons have declared, that they could not go to the women's Meeting with their Marriage, for Conscience sake, several have declared to this effect, That the authority of judgement concerning such Consciences belonged to them, and that they had power to judge Spirits and Consciences, and that they had not only power to desire, but to require Marriages before the women's Meeting, and that they could have no Unity with, neither stand Witness to any Marriage, but what went first to a distinct Woman's Meeting, and that such ought not to proceed in Marriage, but wait till the Cloud was over; telling them, it was not Conscience, but Stubbornness and Wilfulness; and would say, They knew it by an inward Sense, without any outward Demonstration, Thus they fill your Ears with noise: and endeavour to prejudice your minds with Reports of what they say others have said, whose Sayings perhaps they may have misreported, or perverted their meanings in giving their own Sense of others words; for, if ye observe it, they do not say several have declared these very words which they have there set down, but this in Effect, which depends upon their Construction of the words spoken, the true Sense of which too cannot be so clearly understood, without knowing the Occasions and Circumstances of the Discourse; Yet even as these Men have related them, they will not sinned, upon a due Examination, any great advantage accrue unto their Cause, not will you, I hope, find cause of Offence, from any of these foregoing Expressions. As for the authority of judging concerning Conscience, which I take to be the main thing here they carp at, before it can be rightly understood, with relation to be the present Case, the occasion and intention of the Words must be considered. A Couple that profess Truth, lay their Intention of Marriage before a Meeting of Friends, The intent of their doing this is, not barely and only that their Intention may be made known, but that the Friends of that Meeting, if no just cause of Obstruction appear, may own them, join with them, Act for them, and stand by them in the carrying on and consummating of their Marriage. Now if this Couple shall refuse to proceed in that Method, for the accomplishing their Marriage, which the Meeting uses on the like Occasions, and shall pretend a Conscientious scruple for such Refusal, hath not that Meeting Authority to inquire into the Grounds and Reasons of such a pretence, and upon that Inquiry, power also to judge of the Sincerity or Insincerity of such a Pretence or Plea of Conscience, so far as concerns their own Satisfaction, in order, to their owning or not owning, acting for or not acting for, joining with or not joining with, standing by or not standing by such Persons in their present Procceeding? How else shall a Meeting be capable to act with judgement and Safety? shall a Meeting of Friends be obliged to acquiesse, and submit to every bare Plea of Conscience from others, contrary to the firm Persuasion of their own Consciences; and not be allowed a Liberty, Ability, Capacity, Authority to Examine, Try, Judge a Plea of Conscience, whether it be sincere or no, especially in a Case wherein themselves are to be concerned? Worse then would the Condition of a Meeting be, than that of a single Person We have been told indeed by some of them, when we have asked, of the Parties refusing, a reason of their refusing to let their Proceedings be looked into by the women's Meeting, that we ought not to ask them such Questions; but that, when they have declared it to be matter of Conscience to them, we ought to be satisfied with that Answer, without enquiring further. But this has not answered our Consciences, nor our Understandings. We believed that, in a Case wherein they desired us to be concerned, we might reasonably desire to be further satisfied th●● so. Their excepting against any Friends, saying, (if any did say) they had power to judge Spirits, shows how short they are of the state of the Spiritual Man, who, the Apostle testifies, judges all things, 1 Cor. 2. 15. Consider, I entreat you, wherefore was the Gift of Discerning Spirits given to the Church, as we read it was, 1 Cor. 12. 10. If it was not to be used in the Church? And wherefore were the Saints exhorted, 1 john 4. 1. To try the Spirits whether they were of God or no, if they have not received from God ability to Try, and power, upon Trial, to judge, whether those Spirits are of God or not; at least so far as relates to their own satisfaction, in receiving or not receiving, joining or not joining or not joining with them? If any Friend, being sensible that a Couple was clouded and muddled in their minds (as some have been in our Meeting by the Oppositions and Gainsaying of these Men and their Party) and thereby made uncapable at present of seeing what the Lord required of them, should advise them not hastily to proceed in Marriage, but wait till the Cloud was over, what hurt was there in that to any? If it were said to some, that their Refusal proceeded not from Conscience, but from stubbornness and wilfulness; What then! was that impossible to be true? Or impossible to be known? or, being true, and being known, was it unfit to be spoken? If any knew it by an inward sense, they had the better ground to speak it on. And though it is not probable any Friends expressed themselves as these Men have set it down, viz. by an inward sense without any outward Demonstration; yet I do not believe that to be impossible. And if these Men hold otherwise, ye would do well to put them to speak plainly, that you and all may see how far they are degenerated. However, this is certain, that in those controverted Cases which came before the Meeting in this Country, during this Disturbances that these Men made there, whatever inward sense any Friends had of the Stubbornness, wilfulness, and insincere Pleas of Conscience made by any whom they abbetted, the Lord never suffered us to want Outward Demonstration thereof also, sufficient to confirm that inward sense, and convict the Opposers.  
They proceed in discovering their Dislike, saying, Also we have not liked to send Men from the Country to the Yearly-Meeting, to sign Papers against Ministers of the Gospel for Nonconformity. For my part, I never knew any sent for that purpose, nor any Papers signed at the yearly-Meeting against any Ministers of the Gospel for Nonconformity. These are but false Insinuations, by which they endeavour to fill your minds with prejudice against Friends, that thereby they may bind you the faster to themselves. But the Lord I hope, will break their Bands of Iniquity, and open your Understandings to see and discern between Truth and Falsehood, that ye may reject the one, and cleave to the other. Therefore take not their Stories upon trust, but examine and try them. Here, ye see, they suggest as if Friends of the Country were sent to the Yearly-Meeting to sign Papers against Ministers of the Gospel for Nonconformity. This is false. Those Friends that go from the Countries to the Yearly-Meeting, go, as in the general Love of God, so on the general Service of Truth, to communicate the general state and condition of Friends in the several Counties they go from, and to consider and advise together, in the openings of Life and heavenly Counsel from God, how to be serviceable one to another, and to the whole body, in procuring Liberty Ease & Relief to those Members that are in Sufferings by Persecution, or Labour under Necessities and Wants, whether in this Nation or any other; And to be Instrumentally helpful to open the way, as the Lord opens their Hearts and Understandings thereunto, that Truth may have a free and open passage, to be propogated and spread in other Nations, either by Books or Preaching, as the Lord shall stir up the Spirits of his Servants thereunto; whereby the Body edefies itself in Love. But these Meetings, I know, this sort of Opposers have long disliked and reproached; nor are they, in reality, for any settled Meetings for Business, either Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly, but such as themselves may direct and govern, Now as for what they suggest of signing Papers against Ministers of the Gospel for Nonconformity, as I know of none such ever signed there, so there having been but one Paper, that I remember, signed at the Yearly-Meeting against any that pretended to be Ministers, I suppose in this Cavil they aim at that. That was a Testimony signed in the year 1677. against I. S. and I. W. who were gone from the Unity of Friends, into a Separate Spirit, and had countenanced an open Separation in the North, long before. And having been charged by Friends in the North with many things contrary to the Testimony of Truth, after many Meetings had between Friends and them thereupon, a Meeting was at length by joint consent of both Parties, appointed to be held at Draw-Well in Yorkshire, in the 2 d. Month 1676. which Meeting lasted four days, and thereupon a full hearing of the Charge against them, and their Defence, they were found faulty in the most material things laid to their Charge (as by the Narrative of the Proceedings of that Meeting, signed by above twenty Friends that were present, doth appear) And after a deep Travel of Spirit for them, that they might be brought to a sense of their Gild, they seemed at length in some degree bowed, and produced a Paper, in order to give Satisfaction to Friends, containing a Condemnaiion of themselves, and of that Spirit by which they had been misled. But quickly after (being blaimed, as was said, by some of their own Party, and encouraged to persist in their former Opposition) they denied their own Paper of Condemnation, using Falsehoods and Equivocations to avoid the force of it (as with relation to I. S. I myself from a personal conference which I had with him at I. R's House, do certainly know) and their great Agent W. R. who not only was one of that Meeting at Draw-Well, but was said to have assisted them in drawing up that Paper of Condemnation for them, did afterwards expressly say, It was but a Rattle to please Children; which evidenced the Naughtiness of their hearts, and the insincerity of their dealings, who afterwards concerning their work of Opposition, Division and Separation, they were tenderly admonished thereof in an Epistle from several Friends at London in the 3 d. Month 1676. But they rejecting the tender Love of Friends towards them, and hardening themselves against the good advice in that Epistle given them, went on in their dividing Work, I. S. Travelling the Countries, and spreading the Division and Separation further. Whereupon Friends felt a necessity upon their Spirits at the Yearly-Meeting 1677. (above a year after) to give forth a public Testimony against them, and against that dividing Spirit they were then led by. That all Friends might be warned of them, that no more might be deceived by them, and that the Meeting might be clear in the sight of God, who had laid that concern weightily upon it. For your sakes it is, O ye beguiled ones, whom my Soul both pities and seeks, that I have given this short, but plain account of this matter, that ye may have a right understanding of things, and not to be misled by misreports and mis-representations of matters, to the hardening of you against the Work of the Lord, and the hurting of your own Souls.  
They express their Dislike also of Contentious Books sent, as they say, on the Country's Charge; And all those contentious Papers that have been sent abroad to be read in Meetings, teaching People hellish Names against their Brethren, and to stir them up to deny the Testimony and Prayers of such whom (say they) we believe the Lord hath gifted for that Service. But they should be remembered, that it was their own Party began their Contention in Print, and have carried it on as vigorously as they could, till the work grew heavy to them; and now these two, as two fresh Heads, starting up in the room of the old, begin to renew the War in Print. If they dislike contentious Books and Papers, that teach People Hellish Names, why do they not openly show their dislike of W. Roger's his contention's Books and Papers? Of Francis Bugg's contentious Books? of jessery Bullok's cententious Books? Of Susan Aldridge her contentious Papers, which are stuffed with such base Reflections and hellish Names, as sufficiently manifest from whence that Spirit came that gave them forth: Yet these (so great is their Partiality and Injustice) they can dispense with well enough. These, or so many of them as they think suitable to their Service, they can secretly scatter and spread abroad, and yet (which shows the falseness of their Spirit) cry out against contentious Books and Papers that teach People hellish Names.  
As for being stirred up to deny the Testimony and Prayers of such whom these men say they believe the Lord hath gifted for that Service; they need not lay that upon any Papers. Certain it is that the holy God, who hates Hypocrisy, and loathes Dissimulation, hath by his immediate Power stirred up the Spirits of many faithful Friends, in these as well as in other parts, to deny the Testimony and Prayers of this Hypocritical Generation, who to the World have published Friends to be Apostates, Innovators, Introducers of Popery, Idolaters▪ setters up of Images Idol-Prophets, a treacherous Company, possessed with the Spirit of Belial, mercenary judges, self-seeking slavish Drudges led by Satan, with much more such filthy stuff; and yet (for some evil ends or other) will thrust into our Meetings, and attempt to offer their unacceptable Gifts amongst us, and be very angry too, if they are not received and owned by us. Hear, O Heavens, and give Ear O Earth! Was the like ever known in any Age or Nation! Can a Parallel be found in the Records of Time, since man had a being upon the face of the Earth, that ever any men that had branded a People with such infamous and unchristianizing Marks and Names, and had actually separated from them, did fix themselves among the same People, to join in worship with them, did bow the Knee at the Prayers of those whom they had so stigmatised with the most odious Brands, and force upon such their own Preaching and Praying, with envions' Reflections on them, if they not comply with, and bow thereto! yet thus hath this party dealt with Friends. They have openly branded them with the most infamous Marks, Characters and Names. They have persisted in the defence thereof, and rather than acknowledge any Evil they had done therein, they have chosen to rend off and separate from us, thereby making themselves a distinct People from us, as one of their own party (a small, but busy Agent in the work of Division and separation in these parts) said openly at a Conference between Friends and them in Wickham some Years ago (in my hearing, I. R. and C. H. being present) that They and We are 〈◊〉 really two distinct People, as London and York are two distinct Cities. All which notwith standing, these men would fain be Preaching and Praying among us, would fain have us receive their Peaching, and stoop to their Prayers; And they themselves bow to, and seem in outward appearance to own and join with the Prayers of those, whom they have thus exposed, reviled and vilified, and separated from. O horrible Hypocrisy!  
They add yet one dislike more, which is of such Preachers that instead of Preaching the Gospel, spend (they say) most of their time in base Reflections, etc. This is so notoriously known in these parts to be their own practice, that I am persuaded there are few, if any, that have frequently heard them, but know this to be their own Gild.  
These are the Reasons they have thought fit to publish, for which (with many more not published, (for they love Reserves) and would willingly be thought to have more behind) they say, Many Friends (meaning themselves and separate Party) have rather chosen to meet apart, whereby they might peaceably enjoy the true end of their Meeting &c So that their meeting apart, as they term it, is here declared by themselves to be their own Choice. They do not say, God hath drawn them to it, nor that Friends have driven them to it: but that they themselves have Chosen it; which is an Observation fit to be considered by all those, who, though favourably Opinioned concerning them, are not baptised into the same Spirit of prejudice and hardness with them. They have chosen to meet apart; which is a acquaint Phrase they have also chosen to cover their Separation. O that they could come to mourn apart also, over him whom they have pierced by that and other ungodly Practices! But though they have thus chosen to meet apart, that they might (as they pretend) peaceably enjoy the end of their Meetings; and, as in their 8th page is expressed, have withdrawn to such places, where they might be at quiet, to enjoy the liberty of their Consciences; yet, so restless is their Envy, that they will not let these whom they have thus parted and withdrawn from, be at quiet to enjoy the liberty of their Consciences, and enjoy peaceably the end of their Meetings: but ever and anon they resort to their Meetings, whom they say they have withdrawn and parted from, to make Disturbances, and stir up Contention and Strife there. They pretend they withdrew from our Meetings, and chose to meet apart, because they could not have their liberty to Preach and Pray among us, without being denied and testified against. And yet now that they are withdrawn, and have set up Meetings apart, as they say, according to their own Choice, they will not yet be quiet, nor let others be quiet neither; but so natural is Strife and Contention to them, for all their feigned pretences to Peace, that not satisfied with their own Choice, they still thrust into our Meetings, which they have withdrawn and parted from, and will force and impose upon us their Preaching and Praying, which by experience they know we cannot receive; as if they did it on purpose to provoke, and draw forth a Testimony against them, which might cause some disturbance in our Meetings, which they might improve to the advantage of their Party. Judge now, O every impartial Soul, whether their thus doing can proceed from a Christian and peaceable Spirit, which they so much pretend to? or whether this Practice of theirs doth not plainly speak, that they are not really, and indeed Lovers of Peace, but seekers of occasions of Strife and Contention; not willing to let others enjoy that quiet, which themselves pretend they separated for.  
Having opened, I think, the most, or most material Passages, which in their Account they assign for the Grounds of their Offence, and Reasons of their Separation, and thereby answered the End of my present Undertaking, which was to undeceive you, by exposing their Falseness and Folly to your views, that none of you may be further betrayed by them, for want of sufficient Information and warning; I shall not at present take much notice of the remaining Fragments of their Pamphlet as perhaps, but for your sakes, I had not now concerned myself with it at all What they talk of their desire, that all that is amiss might be forgiven, removed and buried while they omit the inseparable Condition of Forgiveness, viz. Confessing and Forsaking, shows rather their want of Forgiveness, than their desert of 〈◊〉 or fitness for it. And when they say, they are as ready to forgive as to be forgiven, it is a sign they are conscious that themselves are guilty of those ungodly Reproaching they mention just before, and would fain persuade the Innocent to make themselves guilty too, that, without further reckoning, they might discount one with another. But the work is weightier than they are aware of. And they are gone far indeed from a right sense, if they do not understand, that Who go out by Transgression, must come in by judgement. If they are sensible they need Forgiveness from others, they ought to seek it in the right way and proper course, whether those others, who they think need forgiveness from them, are sensible of any such need on their parts, and desire it, or not. For if they apprehend others fall short of doing their duty, that will not justify, nor excuse these men from falling short of doing theirs. Now as the right way of seeking Forgiveness is a true Repentance of the Evils desired to be forgiven: so the proper Evidences of the Truth of such a Repentance, are a free and sincere Acknowledgement of those Evils, an hearty and godly Sorrow for them, and an utter forsaking of them. And now that these men have thus intimated their desire of being forgiven, if they shall not pursue these right and proper means thereto; it will thence the more plainly appear to all, that in this, as well as in the rest of their work, they are void of Sncerity, Truth and Honesty. But till they, and their Party, have given Evidence of their Repentance, they have no reason to expect any other Answer to their feigned offers of Peace, than that which, they say, hath been frequently given them, viz. That they are joined to a wrong Spirit, and no peace is to be made with them, while they remain joined to that wrong Spirit. From which as I heartily desire they might be disjoined; so I certainly know, that whosoever makes Peace with them in that wrong Spirit, and while they continue joined to it, will certainly break his peace with God.  T. E.  

In the 5th Page of their Account they have printed a Letter, sent to the second days Meeting in London, on the 13th of the 5th Month 1687. signed by Joshua Kinch, etc. requiring an Answer by the 26th of that Month. To which an Answer was returned from the same Meeting on the 25th of the same Month. But since they had not Ingenuity or Plainness enough, to publish the Answer together with the Letter, pretending they had no satisfying Answer; the Answer itself is herewith now published, for the satisfaction of such as from their dark Insinuation, might think there had been no Answer at all given thereto.  
Friends, john Barnard, Isac Hemings, joshua Kinch,  
WE have read a Paper signed by you, which you directed to this Meeting for an Accommodation & reconciling Differences, preventing separate Meetings, and reuniting those to us that are separated from us in the Country, etc. And we having well weighed the Contents, and considered from whom it comes, viz. from and on behalf of such as have rendered us to the World to be Apostatised from the Truth, Innovaters and Setters up of a Lordly Dominion in our own wills over the People of God, Introducers of Popery, and but one Step from it, etc. It gives cause of Marvel that after making & spreading such Charges against us, and before you have taken them off again, you should make Propositions of a more strict Unity and Correspondency with us than is at present. If you had come forth with an Acknowledgement that we were not such, and had come to unfeigned Repentance, for your falsely charging us to be such, it had appeared Rational. But to desire reconciliation with us before this be done by you, seems very unreasonable and unsafe for you and for us. For if we are defacto such as you have rendered us, it's not fit for you to declare an Unity with us while such. If we are not such as you have rendered us, it's fit you should take off the approby cast upon us, and acknowledge your just Condemnation before we can with safety declare Unity with you; and for your▪ saying, if the Separation proceeds to be Public it will lie at our Doors, what do you mean, the Evil of it will lie at our Doors? if so it seems there is an Evilinit, and therefore you ought to avoid it, for provocation to an evil is no excuse for an evil in the sight of God, if you think the work be good (as our separation from the World's Worships because of Apostasy and Innovations was) why then do you seem to make terms to evade and prevent it.  
As to your complaint of Reflections & Exclusions in our public Meetings, we say when you have condemned all those Slanderous & abusive Reports which you have publicly cast upon us in the face of the World, and manifested the Love of God dwelling in your Hearts towards us as Brethren, you shall find us as ready in the same Love to receive you as Brethren without any reflecting upon you for what is past, and be very glad to appear as Sheep of one Sheep-fold under our own Shepherd Christ Jesus, for which end we were called.  
But while yond do retain those Sentiments of us which you have helped to spread and publish against us, it is not possible for you to have a Christian Unity with us: or that Love and Life can freely flow forth, from the one to the other, in the fellowship of the Gospel.  
Nor have we reason to Judge that you are sincere in your inclination to such an Unity as in the Truth can be received: For that you seek to impose upon us a subjecting ourselves to the Ministry of some Men, who are known to us by good evidence to be men of evil and vicious Practices, whom we could not for that reason receive as Preachers among us.  
And there are among us, have had experience how some of you have been so far from Concurring to detect some of those Men, when sufficient evidence hath been produced against them, That you have rather seemed to covet them.  
And as we never could admit the pretended Ministry of such among us who lie under those Scandals, so since you seem to have owned this Separation to be an ill thing (which we do readily agree to) and therefore neither can we admit the Authors and Abettors of such Separation from our Friends and Brethren elsewhere, so as to Receive their Testimony here, else we should become partakers of that evil which we justly condemn, and you yourselves would appear to avoid.  
And we are well satisfied that you cannot justly charge Friends with excluding or preventing any, who have been owned Ministers among us, who are not of the one or other sort abovementioned; which are the true Reasons why they could not be admitted of, and not because of any mere Nonconformity to any outward orders or Impositions, as is unjustly and untruly affirmed by you.  
Signed on behalf of the Second Day's Morning Meeting, by Richard Richardson▪ 25th of the 5th. Month 1687.  
THE END.