A SALUTATION of my Endeared Love in God's holy Fear and Dread, and for the clearing of my Conscience, once more unto you of that City of Bristol, amongst whom my Soul hath some Years traveled under many a dreadful Exercise, which hath made my Bones to shake, and my Heart to tremble before the great God of Heaven and Earth, who will yet further bring his notable Day, wherein all Flesh shall Tremble before him.  
ANd now in the sense of the great Love of God that hath been extended unto you of that City continually, first, in sending of his Servants amongst you, and endued them with Power from on High, that it wrought effectually upon many, whereby many are brought out of Egypt's Darkness, and through the Red-Sea spiritually, and could sing to the Lord, as Moses and the Children of Israel did, when the Lord had wrought wonderfully for their deliverance, and by a high Hand and a wonderful Power brought them forth: And blessed be the Lord God Almighty, and honoured be his worthy Name, and the right Arm of his strength, there are many living Witnesses of these things in this our day: Oh, dear Friends! forget it not, but dwell low in the sense of your deplorable states that you were in, when first the Lord reached unto you, and opened that Eye in you, that let you see you were undone forever, if the Lord did not arise for your Deliverance, when many cried out, for a Saviour, or else I perish forever. Oh Friends! what was too dear for us to part with in that day for the Lord? Truly can my Soul say, That all that ever my Eyes beheld, was nothing to me in comparison to my Soul's Redemption; Oh! it was precious in my Eve, and to this very day the living remembrance of it dwells fresh upon my Spirit at this time, and my Heart and Soul loveth the Lord, and blesseth his worthy Name forever, and for evermore. And now the Lord is remembering the Covenant that many made with him in the days of their distress: Oh! remember, remember to pay your Vows to the Lord; and look into your Hearts this day, and with the Light of the Lord search and see, whether you are in Covenant this day with the Lord or no? If you are, surely you are not this day to serve yourselves, but the living God, that made you for a purpose of his own Glory, and redeemed you with his precious Blood.  
And now consider, you that are at ease in your Zion, and eating, and drinking, and wearing what seemeth desirable in your own Eyes, notwithstanding the Honour of the Lord lies engaged, and your Souls in great danger, and the Servants of the Lord distressed in your behalf: Oh! for the Lord's sake, and for your own Souls sake, that will perish, if you do not speedily Repent, and arise and strip yourselves, and shake yourselves from these things, and come away, while the Call of the Lord lasteth; Oh! linger not, for the Day of the Lord hasteneth mightily, let nothing hinder you, make no excuses any longer, lest you be excluded out of God's Kingdom, and the Door be shut against you; Oh! think upon it, before the Midnight Cry come, wherein not one Day more will be afforded to work for the Lord: Oh then! Wife nor Children, Lands nor Live, Husband nor Trade, Gold nor Silver will redeem one Soul; then that doleful Sentence will be sounded, Depart, ye cursed workers of Iniquity, into everlasting Torment, prepared for the Devil & his Angels. Oh the sense of these things lie very heavy upon my Spirit, and truly bows my Heart in Reverence before the Lord, and Morning and Evening is my Heart afflicted, insomuch that I can say, as the Prophet said, Oh! that my Head were as Water, and mine Eyes as a Fountain of Tears, that I might Weep day and night, for the Unfaithful, that my Spirit might be eased: For truly, Friends, though I am the least amongst many Thousands of the Lord's People, and a weak Instrument, yet my Soul is concerned this day, and my Prayers to the great God of Heaven and Earth are, That he would be pleased again to arise, and utter his Voice, and thunder his Alarm from his holy Habitation, and make the Hearts of People to tremble before his wonderful Power, and that he will yet afford a Day, and try them again, and that his Trumpet may once more sound an Alarm, to the awakening of their Consciences out of that Spiritual Slumber, wherein many are sleeping & dreaming it is well with them, and that they are Rich, and Fat, and Full, and need nothing; when their State is miserable, and wretched, naked and bare, and undone forever, if they do not speedily Repent, and return with their whole Hearts, and cry to God for Mercy, and that he will pardon their Iniquities, and heal their Back-slidings. Oh back-sliding Israel! return, return, before it be too late, for the Lord hath long born with thee, Oh thou City of Bristol! as the Testimony livingly sprung in my Heart a little before thy Distress came upon thee, I was constrained to say, Oh, thou City of Bristol! a City of the Mercies of the living God, he hath highly favoured thee; thou hast had a Day and a Time, wherein thou mightst have Enriched thyself with the Treasures of God's Kingdom, and mightst have grown strong in the Lord, and in the Power of his Might, whereby thou mightest have stood in a living Testimony for the Lord, with one consent, as one Man; But now behold, the days of thy Distress are at Hand, and thy Calamity like an armed Man; and now who can bemoan thee, or who can interceded the Lord for thee? Or who can say to the Lord, Why hast thou suffered these things to come to pass? because it is in his Justice he hath done it. And blessed be his Name forever, he is fulfilling the Prophecies of his Servants, whom he hath sent early and late to proclaim his dreadful Day in that City, and Year after Year, and Month after Month, hath the Mind and Will of the Lord been declared, and Messenger after Messenger, insomuch that many a full Stomach loathed the Honeycomb, and all that seemed to received it, made not a right use of it; for the Lord's end, in sending his Servants in days past, was, that his People might be fitted and prepared, that a Judgement, or a Destruction should not come upon his Children at unawares, but that they should believe the Testimonies of his Truth, and take warning by it, and amend their Lives, and be bowed in Spirit, and humbled under the great God of Heaven and Earth, that your Prayers in this state might ascend unto the long provoked God, whose Anger is waxed hot, and nothing will appease his Anger, but true Repentance, and that with speed, and true brokenness of Heart: Oh! is this your state? Or are you this day trampling upon the Testimonies of Truth, and upon the Sufferings of your dear Brethren and Sisters, that are Sufferers this day for the Testimony of Jesus, and are cruelly used? Oh! can you forget these things? Come, put your Hands to the Work, and your Shoulders to the Burden, and cry mightily unto the Lord to spare a little, and give a little time to renew your strength in him, that you may do something for the Lord, though but at the last Hour; for surely Friends, the last Hour to many is very near; and the long invited, if they miss of this Hour, they will never have another Hour to work for the living God; and therefore is my Soul concerned, and my Heart pained within me, and shortness of time is much before me, and therefore I beg it of you, that you will lay it to Heart, before it be too late, and consider how soon the Lord can call for your Breath; for our Lives here are likened to the Flower of the Field, as the Lord said to his Prophet, when he said, What shall I cry? Cry, All Flesh is Grass, and the Glory thereof as the Flower of the Field: And I pray, how soon is that withered, and the Beauty of it comes to nought? And seeing it is so, why will People run the hazard of their poor Souls, for that which will augment to their perpetual Misery, World without end.  
Oh! the Lord grant me my Request, and bow his Ear to my Prayer, for I am very earnest with the Lord, and my Heart is pained within me in your behalf: Oh! it is you, it it you that should have been as Pillars in the House of the Lord, that the weakest might have leaned upon you, that your Courage and Valour might have apppeared in the light of the Weak, that they might have been encouraged by it, that the Strong and the Weak might have gone up together to the Mountain of the House of the Lord, where the Lord would have taught you of his Ways, and you might have walked in his Paths, and he would have fortified you with Might, Courage, Strength, and Valour, and your Bow would have abode in his strength, so that you would have grown strong in the Lord, and in the Power of his Might, which he would have given unto you in a bountiful manner, had you wholly given up yourselves, and all that God Almighty had given you, and gave way to that noble Spirit that was in Joshua and Caleb, who were resolved to follow the Lord, they and their Families. Oh Friends! I can hardly write what ariseth in my Heart, as touching this matter; but in the fear of the Lord I have this to say, Your Eyes should have seen the Wonders of the Lord in a miraculous manner, as they did that thus leaned upon the Lord, and trusted in his strength, and believed in him, and then all things were possible; and by obeying of the Command of the Lord the Walls of Jeriche fell, but if they had reasoned with Flesh and Blood, or thought the Instruments too mean, or consulted with reasoning, they had never seen the Power of the Lord to do his Work, neither shall any now this day, that reason with Flesh and Blood: No, no; first learn Obedience, give up to obey the Lord, and then your Eyes shall see the blessed Work of the Lord to be fulfilled in its due time; for he is God Almighty, and All sufficient, therefore let every Heart confide in his Power.  
So, dear Friends, keep your Hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the Issues of Life; for we all well know, that the People that live most Chaste, keep nearest to the Lord, and they that are nearest, hear most of his Counsel: And truly Friends, the time is at hand, when all shall be distressed for the Lord, and the most Faithful will not spare of the heavenly Oil, than it will be too late for any to go to buy. Oh! it often riseth in my Heart, that yet a little time, and Time unto many will be no more, for which my Soul is more concerned than for any outward Suffering; for surely Friends, it is in my Heart to believe, that the great God of Heaven and Earth, who hath been long provoked, and tried many waves, and shaken his Rod over this Nation many a time, and nothing will prevail, therefore will he arise in his Strength, and go through this Nation, and will plague the Inhabitants thereof, he will bring Terror and Amazement upon them, that none shall be able to deliver out of his Hand; for he hath long called, and they have not regarded; he hath long held out his Hand, and they have not laid it to Heart, and therefore will their Calamity come at a day unawares; and because they have not regarded the Call of the Lord, when they cry aloud to him, he will not regard them; Oh! then blessed eternally, and happy for evermore will all them be, that have obeyed the Lord in their Day, and have not their Portion with the Wicked.  
So with my endeared Love unto you, and that beyond utterance, Desiring and Praying for your Soul's Prosperity, I remain your Loving Friend, Elizabeth Stirredge. The 2d Day of the 1st. Month, 1683.  
For the Friends that have been slack in their Duty towards the Lord, in this day of Trial, wherein they should have doubled their Diligence unto the Lord, that the Lord and his Truth might have been honoured, as it was by his Servant Daniel, who believed in his God, when the Enemies of the Lord were made to confess, that he was the Servant of the Living God.   

TO you that have been Professors of the Truth of God in the City of Bristol, a weighty concern hath been upon me, in the fear of the Lord to warn you that have made a profession of God and Christ, and to be Christ's greatest Friends, that you may take heed, that you be not found this day his greatest Enemies to his Cross, which is the Power of God unto Salvation; for if we that have made a profession to wait upon God and Christ in the pure silence of all flesh, at the Heavenly Jerusalem, to be endued with Power from on High, should now break Christ's Commandments, and should not obey him in his requirings, then how shall we know his Doctrine and Life? then how shall God's Ensign be set up to the Nations, and his Standard of Righteousness to the People? How shall they be gathered unto the Brightness of his Rising, and to his great and Glorious Appearance, from off the barren Mountains, and dry Hills, where they have been seeking the living amongst the dead, and scattered up and downn as Sheep without a Shepherd, if we that have known the Lord do not glorify him as God, and let our Light shine to the Nations? For though the Candle of the Wicked is often put out, yet it is not so with the Righteous, who keep in the Just man's path, which is a burning & a shining Light; for it burns up all the combustible matter that lies in their way, and shines round about them to expel all darkness, and to make manifest every appearance of Evil, that we may shun it; and it shines more and more (unto them that obey it) unto the perfect day, and then such can look into the perfect Law of liberty, the Ark of God's Covenant, and not be destroyed nor consumed; for it is the pure in Heart that shall see God and live, but the Wicked shall not be able to abide the notable day of his coming, neither shall they be able to stand in Judgement with him; for when God speaks, all flesh must keep Silence before him; O therefore, prepare, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, and bring thy works beforehand to Judgement, lest thou and thy works be burnt up together? For Zion must be redeemed through Judgement, and her converts clothed with Righteousness, for with the Spirit of Judgement and the Spirit of Burning, will the Lord purge away the filth of the daughter of Zion, and he will have a clean People, zealous of good Works; for Faith without works is Dead, as the Body is dead without the Spirit; and that Faith which doth give victory over the World, is the true Faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen; therefore did the Apostle exhort them in his day, to come up in the true Faith, and to put on the whole armour of God, that they might be able to stand against all the Wiles of the Devil, in the evil day, and so having done all to stand with their loins girt about with Truth, and so having on the breast plate of Righteousness, and their feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, and above all, taking the shield of Faith, wherewith they might be able to Quench all the fiery darts of the Wicked; for the travel of the Righteous in all Ages, was that they might know and witness the true passage through the great Tribulations within, & the Enemies of the Lord subdued in their own Houses; and then they did not question God's sufficiency in bringing down their outward Enemies; for such that have given up their Souls & Bodies to serve the Lord, can trust him with the lesser as well as the greater; for of how much more value is the Soul than the Body? for the Body is but for a little moment of time, and is cut down and returns to the dust from whence it came; but the Soul passeth into the never ending day of Eternity, where the Souls of the Righteous shall forever live with the Lord in everlasting Joy and Felicity, but the Wicked in everlasting Woe and Misery! Oh, therefore, what great need have we, while we are in these Earthly Tabernacles, to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance, and to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling, that our calling and election may be made sure with the Lord; for what have we to do whilst in the Body, but to fear God, and keep his Commandments, which is the whole Duty of man; and blessed be the Name of the Lord, can a Remnant say, When he doth enlarge our Hearts, that his Commandments are not grievous, but joyous, and his way a way of Pleasantness, and all his paths Peace! O, therefore, you that would be counted Friends of God, and Disciples of Jesus Christ, come away (whilst the call of the Lord lasteth) into faithfulness, and leave your Nets and Entanglements in this Life, which keeps you a fishing after the things of this World, which do perish in the using, & take up the daily Cross of Christ, as the true Disciples did, and follow him, that he may make you Fishers of men; for those that will be Christ's Disciples must deny Self, and take up the daily Cross of Christ, and follow him through the great Tribulations, wheresoever he leads them; then such may be made Instruments in the hand of the Lord, when they are converted to strengthen their weak Brethren, and to teach Transgressor's his Ways, that Sinners may be converted to the Truth; for the Lord did not call us into his Vineyard to stand Idle, but to work, and especially at this time of day; now the Name of the Lord is so much profaned amongst the Heathen, by some that have left their public Testimony to save Self, and have not done as holy Daniel did, notwithstanding the King's Decree, he worshipped his God as at other times, with his Windows open towards Jerusalem; but if Daniel had reasoned with Flesh and Blood, That the same God that could hear in public, can hear in private; and so shut up for fear of man, till the King's Decree was over, where had Daniel's Deliverance been, and God's All-sufficiency seen? Oh, therefore, what have you been a doing in your secret Chambers for the Lord, that it cannot yet appear on the house top, but are ready to say within yourselves, That you have not left your Testimony for the Truth, but do meet often together in his fear? O! arise, arise, & come away; for your Rest is polluted, for the Lord loathes your solemn Assemblies, and rejects all your Sacrifices, because it is not of his own preparing; therefore it is an Abomination in his sight, & it is no more than the cutting off a Dog's neck, or the offering of Swine's Blood; for the Lord is jealous for his own Names sake, which you should have honoured in the fight of the Heathen, if you had possessed what you have professed; for what excuse can you make with the Lord, O ye Rich men of the Earth! when the Lord shall enter into Judgement with you, for his great Name's sake, which you should have sanctified in the sight of the People; for it was not sufficient for the poor Woman, when she was healed by Christ's Virtue, of her bloody Issue, (which all the Physicians of no value could not do) to slip away, and not make known his Power; but she was made, at the call of Jesus, to come and reverence him in the sight of the Multitude, and to confess unto his Power, which was beyond the sight of all Visibles; and those that followed him no further than for what they could see in his visible Appearance, or to receive from him, to serve their own ends in the outward, and not only and alone for eternal Life, could not with all their thronging and pressing of him, fetch one drop of Virtue from him, to the saving of their Souls. Oh! therefore take warning, and answer the end of the Lord with his own this day, or else it will be more tolerable for the Professors of the times, (except you Repent, than for you) which never saw their way to wait upon the Lord in the silence of all flesh, without they had an outward Teacher: And what if the Lord should enter into Judgement with you, and require their Blood at your hands; for there are many honest-hearted amongst them, that if they knew the Truth, they would walk in it, and gladly receive it; and the day is at hand, that they that do not gather with Christ, with the Whirlwind of his Wrath, they shall be scattered; and then shall the gathering of the People be unto him, from the East, West, North and South, and from the four Winds of Heaven, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom, and the Children of the Kingdom, that have lived in disobedience be cast out; for those that have been first, may be last, and the last first  
Oh, therefore, while you have an hour to work in his Vineyard, be diligent in his Work; for cursed is every one that doth the Work of the Lord negligently! Oh, therefore, while the last hour lasteth, be diligent, that you may be clothed with the Wedding Garment of Righteousness, and behold the Lord and live; for the long suffering day of the Lord is almost at an end with many, and the day of his Judgements near to be poured out upon the Rebellious; then the Rebellious in Israel may say, Oh, that we had given up our all, and trusted the Lord in difficulty, that we might have seen his great sufficiency, and his holy Arm made bare for our Deliverance; then will many be ready to cry out like old Israel, We will go up to the Land which the Lord promised us: Oh! than it will be too late; for what was the answer of Moses to them? Go not up for you would not go up in the Lord's time, and therefore he is departed from you; and now if you go up, your Enemies shall prevail over you. Oh! therefore, you that have been called by the Name of Israel, do not reason away your strength, as Samson, and they did, and give it into the hands of strangers, and then let your Oppressors rule over you; but be tender of the Glory of God, and have true charity over the seed of God in your own Bosoms; and than you shall be far from Oppression; for the Lord hath long waited to be gracious, and his tender Compassion sails not to his People; nor there is no occasion to be offended in the Truth, whatever hath happened amongst some that have professed it: Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Truth is clear in itself, and without variableness, or shadow of turning, and more desirable to the Faithful than ever it was; for the more we wait upon God, the more our strength is renewed in him, and as we grow up in the Faith, and wait for the blessed Appearance of our Lord Jesus, when he doth appear, we can see him as he is, and appear with him in Glory, and grow up from strength to strength, and from one degree of Grace to another, till we come to the fullness of the Statute, that is to be attained in him; and he is glorifying his People more & more, and clothing of them with his own Righteousness, so that the Upright in heart can say, O Lord! thou art our Righteousness, and by thy Name do we acknowledge thee; and because thou hast washed us, therefore have we a part in thee, and thou in us; and worthy, worthy is our God to be waited upon, and to be had in everlasting Remembrance of all his Saints that are about him, and to be reverenced and worshipped in the beauty of Holiness, in the Assemblies of his People; for his Glory is far above & over all the glory of Egypt, to those that see him as he is in his invisible Appearance. And so, the desire of my Soul is, that all the Lord's People may be gathered into the Covenant of Life and Light, and grow up in the Life and Power of Holiness, which is beyond all Declarations of Words, and shall remain when Words may cease, and Declarations may have an end; but the Word of the Lord endures forever.  
So I remain your Loving Friend, Prisoner to Bridewell, for Truth's Testimony. Dorcas Dole. The 30th Day of the 3d Month, 1683.   

O Lord! by a high Hand, and a stretched out Arm didst thou bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and made a Highway for thy ransomed one's to pass over through the great Deep, & swallowed up their Enemies quick, that pursued after them, so that they sung thy Praise upon the Banks of Deliverance: but O Lord! how soon did they forget thy great Name and glorious Deliverance, when they met with other Difficulties, for the trial of their Faith, as if thy Arm was shortened that it could not save them, or thy Ear heavy that thou couldst not hear them: O! help thy People in this day, that we may take warning by their Fall, and follow thee fully through all Difficulties, that thou mayest honour thy great Name in us, in making known thy great Sufficiency in the sight of the Heathen. O Lord! let us not look back again into Egypt, for Graves to bury thy holy Seed in bondage, but raise us up more and more in the Resurrection of thy Life and Power, that the second Death may have no Power over us: O! thou that never slumberest nor sleepest, who wast Israel's Keeper, and Jacob's Preserver in Straits and great Difficulties, watch over thy People for good, and help us to Watch and Pray continually unto thee, in the motion of thy eternal Spirit; for of ourselves we can do nothing, but when thou dost enlarge our Hearts in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, we are able to perform an acceptable Sacrifice unto thee; for it is the Breath of Life which thou dost breathe upon our Souls, which makes us in the living sense of thy quickening Power, to return unto thee that which is thy due, all Honour, Praises & true , for unto thee it doth belong, and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne from me, and all that know thee. O! therefore fill our Hearts and Souls with thy living Presence, that our Souls may still live to Praise thee; for thou art worthy to have all Praise, Honour and Renown, from the rising of the Sun to the setting of the same; Amen.  
D. D.   

☞ The Way to Health, long Life and Happiness: Or, A discourse of Temperance, and the particular Nature of all things requisite for the Life of Man; very necessary for all Families. The like never before published. Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle, at the Crooked-Billet in Hollway-Lane, in Shoreditch.