The CASE of such PROFESSORS. As have known the WAY of TRUTH, and are turned aside from its holy Testimony to save Themselves; OPENED and LAMENTED.  
With some wholesome Warnings and Admonitions, tending to restore and turn them again to the Lord, that they may be saved by Him, both from the Evil of Sin and Punishment.  
DEAR HEARTS,  
What Lamentation shall I take up for you? and wherewith shall I sufficiently Bemoan you, who were visited in the springing forth of God's Day, and have clearly seen the Way of Truth, and felt somewhat of the Power of God, which once made your Hearts Tender, and caused the Strong Man to bow himself, so that you began to be pliable unto God's Will, and did love his Precepts, but now are turned from the Light, and wandered out of that Way which you know to be true, and have lost the Feeling of the Power of God, and have your Hearts hardened with the Deceitfulness of Sin, and overcharged with the Cares of this Life, and your Wills at liberty like a Bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke, running on contrary to that of God in you? I say again, What Lamentation shall I take up for you? surely if my Head were Waters, and mine Eye a Fountain of Tears, I could not sufficiently bemoan you; for I do plainly see that Destruction and Misery is in your way, because the Lord's good Spirit is daily grieved with you, and his Soul takes no pleasure in you that draw back from the Path of Life and Truth, and those to whom you fly, under whose Shadow you seek to shelter yourselves, cannot at all deliver themselves not you from the Wrath to come, upon all that are Disobedient to the Gospel of Christ; neither do they at all care for you, though they Flatter with their Lips, yet have they an Eye to see that you who are Treacherous to your own Principles, will easily become Treacherous to them; so that your Condition is exceeding Sad, for in your present State, you are an Abomination to God, to his Saints and Angels, and a Scorn to Fools, and a Hissing and Derision to the subtle Adversary that hath caught you in his Snare: Therefore consider your State, and let me a little expostulate with you in the name of the God of Heaven.  
What can be done for a People that he hath not done, and been ready to do for you? hath not Line been upon Line, and Precept upon Precept, here a little and there a little, that ye might understand and lay it to heart? Have not God's Servants and Prophets been frequently sent amongst you, to whom God hath given witness by his own Light in your Consciences? Moreover, hath he not smitten you with the Word of his own mouth, and caused you to feel and dread his Power? Hath he not also come in the Spirit of Meekness, and with yearning Bowels of Love besought you to return when ye began to stray from him? Hath he not also been ready to forgive your Trespasses, and to heal your Backslidings, and can you justly charge him and his Servants with Blame if you perish? Did not he once appear unto you altogether lovely, and with him there is no alteration nor shadow of changing? O then consider what hath blinded your eye, and why do you turn aside from following him? do you not therein despise your Birthright as Esau, and betray the Just as Judas did? O woe is me for you that have let go Eternal Life, and laid hold on this present World, for you have made a miserable exchange; and the Earth that you think to save is reserved unto Fire, and that which pertaineth thereunto, and can delight therein, shall be burnt up, and where will you then hid yourselves, when the Terrors of Death Everlasting compass you about, who (as Cain) have Murdered the Just, and must be Banished from the Presence of God for ever? And what good will all those earthly Treasures wherein you have delighted, do you in that day? shall not all the World's Friendship then have an end, and one Tempter to Wickedness shall curse another, because they have been the occasion of their Misery, out of which Gold cannot redeem, nor all the World's Riches, Glory, and Power, ransom one Soul? Therefore be ye awakened, all you who have not yet Sinned unto Death, but through Distrust, slavish Fear, or the Lusts of your own Flesh, are vailed, and do either stand still, or are turned away backward, for you may be renewed, unto Repentance, who have any sense of your out-running, or grievous Sin in back-sliding, if you be at all smitten, and do grieve for the same, there is hope concerning you; Therefore hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it, and if there remain any bowels of Tenderness, or any spark of Love to God, if it be but so much as makes you in secret to sigh for want of him, then arise and come away, linger not in Darkness (where Satan hath Dominion) any longer, lest you wholly murder the Just and join to Idols, for why should you wander in the blackness of the Night, till in the End yoursteps take hold on Hell, out of which there is no Redemption? Therefore I say again, be ye Awakened, and do not trifle away the precious Time, lest the Door of Mercy be quite shut against you; and take heed of giving any more way to an evil heart of unbelief, which saith, the Lord delays his coming, and thinks him slack in fulfilling his Promises, for that (together with the worldly Wisdom wherewith the Serpent mixes) is the ground of all Apostasy from the Life, and the principle Chain wherewith Man is held from returning to God, because unbelief hinders from beholding his glorious Power, and from enjoying the most precious Treasures of his Kingdom; and then the worldly Wisdom not being capable of discerning the Invisible things of God which he hath ordained to our Glory, draws down the mind to save self, and lay hold of this present World, which ye can in no wise please, and have his Love and Friendship, but ye do displease God and lose his Love and Friendship: Therefore seeing you cannot serve God and Mammon, Come forth and be ye separate from all their Idolatries, Profaneness, and Will-Worship, and if they pursue you with Reproaches and Persecutions, look not at them, for such light Afflictions are but for a moment, and do work for us, a far more weighty Crown of Glory, which God will certainly give unto all them that be Faithful to the End; But it is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living and long provoked God, if wilfully you disobey his Light in your own Consciences, and rebelliously forsake him, because be hath Power to cast into Hell, where the Wicked and all they that forget God, shall be tormented perpetually.  
What can I say more unto you, but with yearning Bowels of Love, exhort you to search and try your Ways,- and turn again to the Lord, who would not your Destruction, but delights rather to pardon than punish you, because he loves you as his Creatures, and as you return to the Lord, when you see Briars and Thorns, grievous Wolves and hungry Eagles in your way to devour, be not dismayed at all, but with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord, who is a consuming Fire, and he will make your way through them, and you shall see all vanish as a Shadow that stands in opposition to you in God's Work and Way; For the end of all things is at hand; and the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdoms of our God and of his Christ; and they which have Suffered with him, shall Reign with him, saith the Spirit of the Prophet; but they that have denied him before men, shall be denied by Him at, his appearing in the Glory of his Father, and the holy Angels with him, to give a Reward to every Man as their Works be: Therefore consider, that if you for Earthly things deny the Truth of God, how it will grieve you in that day to stand a far off and see the Lord's Innocent People (who have not loved their Lives unto Death, but freely given up all, that they might overcome through the Blood of the Lamb, and the Word of their Testimony) receive a Kingdom and Crown which fades not away, whilst you are bereft of all that wherein you delighted, and are compassed about with Terror, and covered with Shame and Contempt, which is the just reward of all who deny the Lord that bought them, who have put him to open Shame by distrusting his Power, and turning from him in the sight of his Enemies.  
These things bearing a weight upon my Spirit, and because I do both desire to be clear of the Blood of all Men, and do entirely love their Souls; I have in this manner communicated them, because I am a Sufferer in outward Bonds, amongst the Lord's Valiant and Faithful People, called Quakers, who (though we have been Despised and Reproached by the Wise Professors of this Generation, yet) are not of them that draw back to Perdition, but press on to the End of our Race, wherein I say, Fellow us as we follow Christ.  
Lincoln Castle, the 16th. day of the 7th. Month, 1662. John Whitehead.   

London, Printed for Robert Wilson, at the Black-spread-Eagle and Windmill, in martin's Le Grand, 1662.