TO FRIENDS IN IRELAND, And elsewhere; A Mournful Word to the merry-hearted in Zion; with a word of Comfort to her Bowed down Mourners.  
Written in great Excercise of Soul and Spirit in obedience to the LORD.  
By THOMAS UPSHER.  
woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.  Luke 6. vers. 25. 
Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor Jesting, but giving thanks.  Ephes. 5. vers. 4. 
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Matth. 5. vers. 4. 
These are they which came out of great tribulations, and have washed their Robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.  Rev. 7.14. 
Printed in the Year 1699.   

A mournful Word to the merry hearted in Zion, with a Word of Comfort to her Bowed down Mourners.  
FRIEND'S that profess the selfdenying way of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, (who was a Man of sorrows, and deeply acquainted with grief,) and yet are of a jolly spirit, and of a merry heart, who can laugh and jest at pleasure, saying, There is no harm in it.  
I have this to say to you, whether you will hear or forbear, that the Lord is displeased with you, and calls for Mourning and Weeping in secret places, instead of Laughter and Jesting in Company. And I must needs tell you, that if ever you were rightly bowed, and humbled in a sense of your lost and undone states, and were made to lament and mourn in the sight and feeling of your wretchedness, you have too soon quitted that Exercise; you have not passed often enough through the fire, neither have you been baptised enough with the Waters of many tribulations. You have not drunk sufficiently of the Cup of trembling at the hand of the Lord, and therefore you must come down from your pleasant and delightful Seats, and be humbled as in Dust and Ashes before the Lord of Hosts, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem; and you must pass through it again, and again, till all your dross is taken away, and all your light chaff be burnt up. O Friends, you are those that are at ease in Zion, and have taken up a rest too soon, and now the Lord is about to disturb you, and rouse you up out of your false security; Blessed are those that are willing to come forth to Judgement at the sound and Alarm of the Trumpet of his eternal Word, for I proclaim in the Lord's power that the time hastens and draws on apace; that Judgement shall eminently and searchingly begin at the House of God, in his Sanctuary, amongst his people that are peculiarly called by his name; and the unfaithful, the Hippocrite, and Rotten-hearted, shall tremble with the shaking horror of his searching Judgements. And you that are jolly spirited, merry hearted, and that take liberty to laugh, joque, and jest at pleasure, the very Pillars of your House shall tremble, you shall weep and mourn in solitary places, and strew your tears in secret Corners.  
Therefore take warning I pray you, and be humbled before the Lord, and cry mightily to him night and day, that he may take vengeance speedily upon that idle and airy Spirit, from whence springs these things that are contrary to the mournful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. O I entreat you watch and pray, yea, cry mightily to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, that he may crucify and utterly slay this Nature in you, which hath often lead you to forgetfulness of God, and hath vailed and darkened you many times.  
Is it not think you very sorrowful to consider how a great many in a little time after they have come out of a good Meeting, where they have been under a sense of the Lords power, and have been reached with a tendering Visitation, fall to idle, silly, needless discourse, and it may be to laughter and jesting, which I declare is as contrary to what they were before as darkness to Light; and tell them of it, they will say, they think no harm; Well I tell you there is harm in it, you hurt yourselves and others, and you lay a stumbling block in the way of the weak; you are bad Examples, you give occasion to them that are without; for tho' they may seem to be pleased with your Company and Conversation, they will slily ridicule and slight you as to Religion, and will, as I have heard some say, such an one is as merry as we; for all his serious Principles he will jest, and laugh, and joak, and speak at large, as well as we.  
These things are not of a good savour; how do you think this will answer the End of your holy calling, which is to be the salt of the Earth, as Lights in the World, as a City set on a hill that cannot be hid. Trees of Righteousness bringing forth much fruit to the glory of God, fruits of self-denial, heavenly fruits, while you are on Earth, giving a manifest Testimony that you are true followers of the Lamb through great tribulations. I would have you consider Christ's Words in the 6th. of Luke, woe to you that laugh now for you shall-weep and mourn; And also the Apostles Words, Ephesians 5th. where he speaks of Fornication, Covetousness, Uncleanness, and Filthiness; telling them these things do not become Saints, neither foolish talking, nor jesting, but rather giving of thanks. And consider Christ Jesus your Captain and Saviour, of whom it is said he was never seen to laugh, but had often been seen to weep.  
It is to be feared some of you will harden your hearts, and put at least a silent slight upon this Warning and Counsel; But such shall know assuredly in a day of distress and bitter adversity, (which shall certainly be their portion) that these say are not idle tales, nor yet such little matters as some would make them; tho' while they are far and full, and in a day of prosperity they may kick against Reproof, and puff up their hearts in wantonness against this tender advice.  
Methinks, some will be ready to say, What wouldst have us Melancholy, Morose, always reserved and shut up from innocent Communication? I answer no, for that would be an extreme on the other hand: that which I am deeply concerned to speak against, is Laughter, foolish Talking, and Jesting, and such like. And that which I am speaking for, is Temperance, Sobriety and Moderation, with watchfulness over our Words, Actions, Deportment, and behaviour, at all times, and in all places, upon all occasions, remembering the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ, That we must give an account at the day of Judgement for every idle Word we shall speak.  
I do tell you again in much assurance, that the great God of the Spirits of all flesh calls for mourning at your hands, and happy shall they be that answer his Call in time.  
And now I am under a necessity to remind you of the late Prophecy of that ancient eminent and faithful Messenger and Minister of Jesus Christ, William Edmondson, in Dublin, at this half Years Meeting: The substance of which was, That a dreadful day of distress was hastening on apace, and should surely come, in which the Lord would dung the Ground in this and other Nations, with the Carcases of Men, and that the Lord would shake the fair and lofty Buildings of many, with their pleasant things that they have delighted in. And this will surely come to pass as ever it was spoken; Therefore Friends be not of an unbelieving Heart, O surely that Council is good to you, which the Lord by the Prophet Amos gave to Israel, when he threatened them with fore Judgement, which was on this wise: Thus will I do unto thee O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God O Israel, Amos 4.  
But my Heart mourns. Ah I am dissressed in my Soul, my bowels are pained within me for the sake of those that will have their own Will; and go on their old Road, let the Servants of the Lord say what they will as his Ambassadors and Ministers: But I am satisfied there is a Remnant that will embrace this Warning and Council, and forsake, leave off, and turn their backs upon these foolish things, and thankfully come and drink a bitter Cup of Condemnation and Judgement for their By-past-Jests, Laughter, and wantonness of speech and behaviour: And they shall come to mourn for all these things, by which they regardlessly passed away much precious time, and are greatly behind hand in their days work of Salvation, which is to be wrought in fear and trembling, Phil. 2. vers. 12. Not in Laughter and Jesting, and they shall mourn and lament because of their misspent time, and they shall be diligent to redeem it, and they shall redeem it.  
And the Lord will make these brave and honourable Men and Women in his Work and Service, and will make them shine in his comeliness in the life of Righteousness and self-denial, and their last days shall be their best days, the nearer they grow to their Grave, the nearer they shall be to the Lord, and the clearer shall be their assurance by his Spirit of his eternal love to them.  
Finally my Friends, to whom I am writing in the bowed downness and grief of my Spirit, I pray you, I beseech you with beseechings, take warning; take the Council, and Advice of a poor Servant of the Lord; haste and come away out of these foolish customs and practices, and touch with them no more for ever, then shall my sorrowful Soul rejoice in the Lord for your sakes, and you shall reap the peace and advantage of it to your poor immortal Souls, when life and time, with all these lower Comforts shall fail you.  
So to the Light and Spirit of Truth I commit you, which will readily show you in yourselves those things that are contrary to the life of Christ, and will give you power against them if you be faithful to its blessed and holy discoveries: And it will enable you to shine forth in sobriety, gravity, humility, and temperance, in all things to the Glory of the everlasting God, and the promotion of a selfdenying life, then shall it be well with you, whatever Judgements, Calamities and Miseries, come upon the Children of disobedience.  
And now a few Words of Comfort to those that are bowed down Mourners in Zion, who are faithful to the Lord, but are deeply afflicted with Temptations, Trials and Buffet many ways, which makes them to fear, they shall not hold out to the End. Dear Friends, I can call you dear, for so you are to the Lord and to my Soul, and I will surely show you what the Lord has shown and sealed to me in the Word of life, which is on this wise.  
That you are his Peculiar and Choice Jewels, and he hath a very tender regard to you, and as you have your Eye to him, and cleave to his Spirit in your Hearts, he will surely keep you as the Apple of his Eye, and he will not suffer the devourer to destroy you; and tho' at times you may be tossed with tempests, and deeply afflicted and hardly beset on every hand, and may seem for a time as if you were forsaken of the Lord, and you may be ready to doubt whether ever he will appear to your Joy and Comfort again: And tho' it may be so that you think your Condition not to be equalled, and are like poor David who said in his distress, after he had seen the great deliverance of the Lord at several times, I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul. Yet the Lord God of his sure mercies gave him to see the desire of his Soul at last, and delivereth him out of all distress. Even so will the Lord do for you, whose minds are stayed upon him, and truly trust in him, and therefore let patience have its perfect Work, and endeavour to be content with the deal of the Lord, for he knows best what is best for you: And have a great care you are not instrumental for want of Patience to increase your Exercise. For I know by my own Experience, that when the Lord brings the Soul into the fiery Furnace, which is the Spirit of Judgement and burning, Isa. 4. then the Enemy he works to make it uneasy and restless under the purifying Judgements of the Lord; And than if it be not watchful it grows impatient, and here a cloud of Exercises and Doubtings comes over it, and sometimes is almost brought to the Gates and Jaws of Despair. And thus a hultitude of unprofitable Afflictions has come upon some for want of Patience and for want of being resigned and given up in all things to the Will of God, to trust their All in his hands being faithful and diligent in his Work.  
Again, sometimes the LORD is pleased to hid his Face for a moment, for the exercise of the Soul, according to his great Wisdom for its good; Then the Enemy he works again to bring into impatience, and if he prevails, than he labours in the next place, to set the Soul at work for itself without the LORD, to get enjoyments of its own, and kindle sparks of Fire, by the heat and Struggle of its own Spirit. And now again abundance of exercises follows upon this, for these emty Flashes holds not long; when the Soul comes to be sensible it lies down in sorrow, and sometimes the LORD is pleased to suffer it to dwell, as in a Land of Drought for a season, and now is ready to be cast down into great discouragements again: And all this is for want of true patience, and a free and constant giving up of the will to the will of GOD, and to become as Clay in the Hand of the Potter, Read Isa. 50. vers. 10, 11.  
And therefore this is the word of Advice, which I tenderly give unto all such, as are in deep exercises of Affliction, upon your Souls account.  
Wait often upon the LORD, not only in Meetings but out of Meetings also, that you may feel his Power to subject your Wills to his Will, and in every thing to be resigned to his dispose and deal, and then Hard things will be made Easie, and Bitter things will be made Sweet: And in the LORD's time, through many Tribulations, you shall come forth as Gold Seven times Refined, and your Warfare shall be accomplished, and your Iniquity pardoned, and you shall dwell for ever in that City, where the Inhabitants shall not say I am Sick, but the People that dwell therein shall be all Righteous, and the LORD shall be your everlasting Light, and their GOD their Glory, and the days of your Mourning shall be ended, for Sorrow and Sighing shall flee away.  
And then you Bowed down one's of many Afflictions, you shall lift up your Bowed down heads, and by living experience sing that blessed Song of Zion, That the LORD GOD eternal hath turned your Captivity as the streams of the South, and has done great things for you, whereof you are glad, he hath turned your barren Wilderness and desolate Desert, into an holy and heavenly Paradise, where you Eat of the Tree of Life, and Drink of the Water of Life freely.  
I can say my Heart overflows with love to you poor afflicted Souls every where, and I do sympathize with you according to my experience, and do pray to the LORD for you, that you may have Patience, and be resigned into the hand of the LORD, subject to his will in all things; and then never doubt but he that has laid the Foundation, will in his own time lay the Top-Stone also, I say this flows forth in a Spring of pure Love to you.  
From one, who (though young in Years) have passed through many deep Exercises, and have seen the wonderful deliverances of the LORD, in many great Temptations, and have as much reason as any man living to keep humble, and low, and watchful, before the LORD, all the remainder of the days of my Pilgrimage.  
Thomas Upsher. Dublin 15th of the 3d Month, 1699.   
The End.