An EPISTLE FOR THE Strengthening and Confirming OF FRIENDS, in their Most Holy Faith.  
FRIENDS,  
ALL abroad every where, think it not strange concerning the fiery Trial, which is but to try you; for is it not written, Every man's work must be tried? neither think the time long; neither look at Sufferings, nor at the Potentness of those that cause you to suffer; but look to the Lord, that is able to deliver: Did the Lord ever leave or forsake his People in a suffering Condition, that stood for his Name, or gave up themselves freely to whatever the Persecutors could do: For there were Informers, and Laws, and Decrees made in Ahasuerus' time, but the Lord frustrated them; & those that stood for the Name of the Lord came over all at last, when the Lord saw their Faithfulness, and the trial of their Faith. Haman was an Informer, and said unto King Ahasuerus, There is a certain People scattered abroad, and despised among the People in all the Provinces of thy Kingdom, and their Laws are divers from all people's, neither keep they the King's Laws, therefore it is no● for the King's profit to suffer them so; if it please the King let them be destroyed, and he would give so much Money, as you may read in Esther 3. 9 and this was but for want of poor Mordecai's bowing to him: So the King granted this great Informer's Request, to destroy all the seed of the Jews that were within his Provinces: But read on in the third and fourth Chapters of Esther, and see what came to pass in a little time; the Jews were delivered, and the Informer went to the Gallows: Now if Haman had been quiet, it is a question, if he had been destroyed, or not; for the Adversaries lifting up themselves against the Lord's Remnant never lengthens their days: For when the Faithfulness of his People, and Uprightness of their Hearts to him are seen, he soon brings Deliverance; they need not find the Lord a way out to deliver.  
Therefore all Friends every where, give up all you are and have, and wait to find a Godly Resolution springing up within you; and say, The God whom we serve is able to deliver us; if not, we are resolved to Serve and Worship the Lord. In Nebuchadnezer's time (as you may read in the 3d of Daniel) how there were Informers; in the 8th verse, Certain Chaldeans came to accuse the Jews: in the 10th verse, Thou, O King, made a Decree, That they that would not fall down and worship the Image, at the sound of the Music, should be cast into the Burning-Fiery-Furnace; and so they go on, and tell the King, There were such three Men, which regarded him not, neither served his Gods, nor worshipped the Image that he had set up: Then the King, in his Rage and Fury, commanded the men to be brought before him; and he asked, If these things were true, That they served not his Gods, nor worshipped the Golden Image which he had set up; now if so be they would be ready at the sound of the Music, to fall down and worship the said Image that he had made; but if not, in the same Hour they should be cast into the midst of the Burning-Fiery Furnace: Now their Answer was, The God whom they served was able to deliver them; but if not, we will not Bow: And he did deliver them to his own Praise and Glory, but they that cast them into the Fire were slain with the Flame; but Shadrah, M●shach, and Abednego came out of the Furnace without harm, which did astonish the King; and he blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego. Now Friends, if such a Work should be brought forth through your Faithfulness, would it not make your hearts glad, that God should be so honoured by your Faithfulness? For if these men had shrunk and bowed, the Lord's Power had not been so manifested: For the Faithfulness of Friends puts an opportunity into the Lord's Hand to make his Power known. For, Did not the Lord raise up Pharaoh to make his Power known; when Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt. Pharo●h with his Host followed in great haste, and pursued them to the Red-Sea, thinking to have destroyed them ●ll; and some began to Murmur against Moses, why he would bring them thither, to be destroyed; yet Moses his Faith was in God, and he bid them but Stand still, and see the Salvation of God, and the Egyptians, whom they had seen that day, they should never see again: and so it came to pass; for Israel had a Way through the Sea, but Pharaoh and his Host were drowned, and not a man escaped. Now Friends, if those that were with Moses should have drawn back to Pharaoh in this seeming Distress, thinking to go to Moses again when the Danger was over, had they not run from their Safety to their Destruction?  
So now Friends, none to draw back again, neither to be slack in keeping your Meetings; For he that draws back, the Lords Soul has no Pleasure in him; and the Back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: And therefore Friends, be of a Noble Mind, and valiant for the Truth upon the Earth; the Noble Seed brings to be of a Noble Mind.  
And Friends, it is convenient that Trials come, that the Chaff may be separated from the Wheat, for they who are of this noble Seed will not be Treacherous nor False-hearted, but have a faithful Respect to the Honour of God forever.  
And observe in Daniel's day, how that they could not bring him to suffer, but concerning the Worship of his God (so they can find nothing against us but concerning the Worship of our God, for which Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever) so a Decree was made, that whosoever asked a Petition either of God or Man, for thirty days, save of the King, should be cast into the Den of Lions; and Daniel was constant to pray to the Lord three times a day, with his Window open towards Jerusalem, as his manner was: Now Daniel might have shut his Window, and forbore to pray to his God for so many days; but then how could the Lord have appeared in his Deliverance, if he had not kept to his Worship as his manner was, by which the Name of the Lord came to be exalted: And he that made the Decree, Commanded all to call upon the God of Daniel. So that you may see always it was Faithfulness and Constancy that brought Honour to God, and Deliverance to themselves, and Destruction upon the Adversaries.  
So Friends, stand in the Fear and Dread of God, and you will become a Dread to all Nations: what need you fear any but the Lord God, that made Heaven and Earth? What, will a Living Man be afraid of a Dead Man? So you th●t are alive in Christ Jesus, what need you fear them that are dead in Adam, in Sin and Transgression, a body of Sin and a body of Death? What need a living Body be afraid of a dead Body?  
So Friend's, be of a valiant Mind; they who are of the noble Birth, will be of a valiant Mind, and I know will give their Appearance for God, who hath appeared for us, and in us, and among us: Many comfortable and peaceable Meetings we have enjoyed, wherein we have been refreshed together, and satisfied together, and our Hearts made glad together▪ in the enjoyment of the Goodness of our God; which is (I know) not wanting in this suffering Time.  
Now in the consideration of these things Friends, hold up your heads; for God he will be our Deliverer: I dare be bold to speak in the Name of the Lord, That the Lord will bring a Calm; for, was the Old World so rude and cruel as this Generation? they let Noah build the Ark, and did not go about to make a Spoil of his Work, though they were against him, and called him, Old Fool, yet they let him alone with his Work.  
But this Generation will not let the Lord's People work the Works of God, nor Worship Him whom the Ark was a Type of.  
And if the Lord overthrew the old World for their Wickedness, and their slighting of Noah's warning of them; what will he do to this Generation, that not only rejects the Warnings of them that are called and chosen of God to work his Works, but seek to destroy them? I say, how can the Lord hold his Hand, but let it fall heavy upon those that have dealt thus cruelly with his People; seeing he overthrew those that never dealt so cruelly?  
So Friends, let your confidence be in the Lord God that made Heaven and Earth; trust in his Arm; let him be your Shield; he will set up a Standard for you, that all Nations of the Earth shall never be able to pull down; for the Lord never leaves nor forsakes his Heritage: Or where was there ever any that suffered for God, but their Enemies fell before them? Though they sought to ruin the Lord's People, yet the Pit they had digged for others, themselves fell in●o it; and it will never fall otherwise to them that think to destroy the Lord's Heritage.  
Friends, let none think that the Beast's worship shall spread again, neither shall People wonder after him, as they have done; neither shall the great Whore spread her Skirts over Nations, as she has done, neither sh●ll she be heard to make her boast; for the Lord hath and will confound her, with those that have committed Fornication with her: And his own Name, and Power, and Kingdom he will set up over all the Names and Kingdoms upon the Earth.  
Two things the great Whore has boasted should never come upon her, yet she shall meet with them both; that is, loss of Children, and Widowhood.  
It is observed in the North part of the Nation, what sort of men they are that are Infomers, the most part of them are either High-way-men, or such as have been a reigned for Felony, or such as are come out of Goals, or idle Fellows that have spent their Estates, if they had any; and now would live upon the spoil of other honest Men's Estates: Now it is thought strange, that Justices of Peace and Wise men of the Country, should disoblige the sober People, to gratify such men as are here mentioned; it is not for their Honour I am sure.  
Written the 10th of the 11th Month 1670. Leonard Fell  
THE END.