AN EXHORTATION TO FRIENDS, To keep in Remembrance, and prise the former Mercies, Blessings, Favours, and Deliverances, received from the Lord.  
With a Warning Also to beware of the Enemies Workings, by careless Security, and fleshly Ease, in this Day of so large Liberty, and Freedom given, or suffered to come to pass, upon the account of Meeting, worshipping, and Serving of God.  
By a Servant of Christ, John banks.  
All Things work together for Good to those that truly love God.  
LONDON, Printed, and Sold, by Andrew soul, at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane in Shoreditch, and at the Three Keys in Nags-Head-Court in Grace-Church-Street, over-against the Conduit, 1687.   

AN EXHORTATION TO FRIENDS.  
Dear Friends.  
MAny have been the Mercies, Blessings, privileges, Favours and Deliverances; that the Lord your God heretofore hath made you, rich Partakers, enjoyers, and living Witnesses of,( as you have stood faithful) ever since the time he called and gathered you; out of the World, by a Hand and Arm of mighty Power stretched forth.  
And first of all, let me put you in mind, it was his Love, Mercy, and Good-Will towards you, in so calling and gathering of you: And it hath been through his Fatherly Care over you, that you have been preserved until now: For ever prise the same, and put a Value thereupon, in all Humility, before him; even such, as because thereof he is worthy.  
And now, Dear Friends, you know the good End of the Lord in calling and gathering of you: To be a People to himself, was not onely, That you should believe in his Name, but that you should also suffer, for Truth and Righteousness: And a great Work the Lord hath wrought in you,( and also often for you) by and through the greatness of his Power, and holy Spirit of Life, in order to fit, prepare, and furnish you, and give you Strength, that you might run the Race set before you, without wholesomeness or fainting; where you met with many great Conflicts by the Enemy within, and deep Exercises, and hard trials without, so that that saying was fulfilled in you; Through many Tribulations sou must enter the Kingdom: And yet, notwithstanding the Danger, on every hand, that caused Fear and Trembling sometimes: And notwithstanding the Rod of the Wicked was laid heavy, and with sharp strokes upon your Backs; yet through all this, the Lord your God, by the same Arm of Power and mighty Strength, with which he gathered, brought you through, and over and beyond all these things, he hath wrought your Deliverance, and brought you to your desired Haven.  
And was not these the Mercies, Blessings, privileges, Favours, and Deliverances, that you received from his Hand, never to be forgotten: Many times, when little expected, neither inwardly nor outwardly; and in both respects, when your travail and Exercise was great; when a little Peace was given, and Ease from burdens felt; how sweet and precious was this unto you; and how did this tend to humble you before the Lord, and lay you low before him, to the renewing of your Acquaintance, Fellowship, and Communion, with him; and so one with and unto another near and dear.  
Always keep these things in your Remembrance, Dear Friends, that like unto so many good householders, you may be found bringing forth, out of the good Treasure of your Heart, things both new and old, and yet all sweet and savoury.  
Oh the unexpressible Love and Kindness of the most high, in this calling and gathering of you, in quickening and giving Life unto you, by his eternal Spirit and Power; and in causing his heavenly pure Light to shine out of the Darkness, to give you to see your way: Out of the same, in which waiting, Life you might witness more and more. And oh, his Love and fatherly Care, in feeding, refreshing, and nourishing of you; and causing his gracious Showers, to fall upon you his Plantation, that the Seed of Life and Righteousness might grow in you, in freshness and tenderness; that Drops might stand upon your Blade, because of the Moisture that is in the new Earth;( where Righteousness dwells) as Drops upon the Blade, that springs from the Seed that is sown: They that have Ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit saith unto the Congregation.  
Oh, the Love, Mercy, and Good-Will of your God, unto you, who have stood faithful in your Testimony-bearing, for him and his pure Truth: In the Day of your trial, how hath he born up your Heads, over all his and your Enemies, that you might not sink in the midst of Troubles: And how hath he filled your Cups, and maintained your Cause; and returned an hundred Fold of Joy and Peace into your Bosoms, even when the Body was in Prison, and the Goods spoyled, and Husband separated from Wife, and Wife from Husband, sometimes unto Death: Hath not the Lord, in and through all these things, been as a Husband unto the widow; and more to the Wife, than she could either ask or think; and as a Father unto the Fatherless Children; and in the time, when as to outward Appearance, you might have wept and mourned, because of your deep Exercises: Have not you even then been made to rejoice and give Praises unto God,( who did not only count you worthy to believe in his Name, but to suffer for Truth and Righteousness) and say with patient Job also, The Lord gives, and takes away, &c.( or suffers so to come to pass.) Blessed and praised be his holy Name, and great Power for ever more.  
Oh Friends! Let these things be had in Remembrance by you, while you have a Being.  
For how hath the Lord, by his great Power, gon before you as a King and Captain, to led you on, who have counted nothing near nor dear to part with, that in Faithfulness you might freely and fully follow him, as Caleb and Joshua did; and that through both the Fire and Water, and notwithstanding the Winds and the Tempests too: And how hath he also followed you with his Mercies, Blessings, and Favours, when great Spoil and havoc hath been made of your Goods, and of what the Earth brought forth and afforded unto you; yea, how hath the Lord caused these things to grow and increase again abundantly, so that you have had good Cause to say, You have been blessed in the Basket and Store; and though some have had but little and small, having Meat, Drink, and clothing, let such, therewith be content, for so learns the Teachings of the Grace, that is sufficient in all States and Conditions.  
Dear Friends, let these things, come often under your Consideration, when you lie down and rise up, go forth and come in; so shall you feel your Hearts and Spirits, wrought more and more into true Tenderness and broakenness, to consider, and lay to Hart what the Lord hath done in so little a time, since his heavenly Day dawned:( for may not I say to such as can red and understand) One hath chased a Thousand, and Ten put Ten thousand to Flight: The Work is the Lord's, the Praise and Glory thereof belongs unto him, to whom it is due, both now and for ever more, Amen.  
And now, dear Friends, hath the Lord, in his Love, Mercy, Kindness, and Good-Will to you, after a long time of your cruel Sufferings, great Tribulations, and deep Exercises, suffered, or caused a Day and Time of Ease, Freedom, and Liberty, to come home unto you, according to the Desire of your Hearts;( not to be expected as to outward Appearance) which hath freed you from your suffering Condition, both Body and Goods, in divers Respects, and in many Places: Which, although it doth not reach to free me from my Bonds, yet, the Lord knows, I am truly content with my State and Condition, and no more weary than I was the first Day I entered the same: And my Heart is glad, and my Soul rejoiceth, upon the account of what is already extended unto many Friends.  
One Hour of such a Day and Time, once, by many, would have been greatly valued, when Prisons were full, Houses and Shops broken up( Goods spoyled) and Meetings also greatly disquieted, by wicked Informers, and others; surely such a Day as now is, or as I said, one Hour of it, would have been greatly prized, as a Mercy from the Lord, and no doubt, but much desired by many( and also laboured for with much Care and Diligence by others.)  
And, dear Friends, is the Day and Time now come, and yet continued( how long, I shall leave to the Lord) of so large Liberty and Freedom, as I need not mention; and is it not prized by all as a great Mercy, Blessing, Favour, and Deliverance, being many Prison doors are set open, and Wife Louis her Husband again, and Children their Parents, and our Meetings continued unto us in a most peaceable manner: ( Praises to God on high for ever.) I say, is not this prized by all, I hope it is by many; and my Desire is, it might be by all; for what a great Pitty were it, that such a rich Mercy, Benefit, and privilege should by any be undervalued, or not considered and prized according to the Worth of it, and what is really in it, or what it may produce, if made right use of.  
But I fear, and have a Godly Jealousy( wherefore an Exercise hath attended me many Days, some Weeks, and Months, until at last I was made to writ,) That there is some that is so inconsiderate and unmindful of the Mercies of the Lord, that they rather requited him Evil than Good herein.  
Oh! let all take heed and beware, That because of the present Day and Time, of so large Liberty, Ease, and Peace, that none take more Ease, Pease, and Liberty unto yourselves, in Meeting, or out of Meeting, than becomes you professing Truth: No, no more you ought to take, than if it were a Day of great trial, and deep Exercise; for still you have an unwearied enemy to war with, that neglects no Opportunity that may make for his Purpose, by many Temptations within, and evil Counsellors without.  
And though it be not now a Time for him and his, to rage and roar, as though he and they would devour all at once, yet he will be creeping now in his cunning and subtlety more misteriously and hidenly to darken within, and to veil within, to hurt and hinder your Growth in the Truth within( by presenting some delightful Object without) and there is no way to have him discovered, nor to receive Power against him, but by waiting and watching with Diligence( and true Fear) in the pure light of the Son of God, of Righteousness and Glory; and therein Power is received, whereby the Power of Darkness is trod down, and kept under; so that he will be known to rule and reign, whose Right it is, who is God over all Heaven, and the whole Earth, blessed for ever more.  
It is the Work of the Power and Prince of the Air and of Darkness, and that evil Spirit, where it gets Place and Rules, to do what Hurt it can amongst the tender Plants of God's Plantation, to stop and hinder the Work of God; as that rending Spirit of Separation in and by those that entertained it; hath used all its cunning Craftiness, by creeping in the Dark to hurt and spoil within, and so make Breaches and Separations without, by such wicked Instruments as is fitted by it: For it's plain and evident, which may greatly tend to confirm all Friends against it, and to convince those that are of it, That this Spirit and Power, that they pretend to be the Spirit of Truth and Power of God, is not the Spirit of Truth, nor the Power of God: For though such be Peachers by it, and from it, they never have been instrumental since they were of it( I believe, and am fully persuaded, and have often considered) to convince any of Sin, or gather any out of the World; only their Work has been, and still is, to deceive the simplo gathered, and to prevail upon the Wise and Rich, which is grown to love Ease and Pleasure more than God, his Truth and People, and are got into a false Liberty, and Looseness attends them, because they love not to bear the across, and live in self-denial; and because they that are of that Spirit, loves and likes Ease and Liberty so much to the Flesh and carnal mind. This present juncture of time might have seemed, or served to have wrought their Work in, but that they have already so far manifested themselves what Spirit they are of( to all whose Eyes are open) by flying and hiding themselves in the time of Persecution, and keeping Friends out of their Meeting-Houses, like other Persecutors: So that now they can do little more Harm, though they creep here and there; for that Snake-Spirit hath shot its Sting both Head and Tail, and spent the greatest of its Strength, so that any Child of God now may tread upon it, without Hurt or Danger.  
So, dear Friends, how can it otherwise be, but all those Things, rightly considered, shall greatly tend to confirm your Faith against it, never any more to touch with it( nor them that are of it) and also open the Eyes of others, taken as in a Snare, and hurt by it, to break the Snare and come forth from them that are of that Spirit, that such may be restored and healed: As many as have escaped, let them prise God's Love therein for ever.  
I say, they never, I believe, since they received that Spirit I have described, been Instrumental to Convince any of Sin, or gather any out of the World to God; so it's plain such are none of his sending, sitting, nor preparing: No, no Ministers of Christ, but of him that is opposite to Christ, speaking from a dark Power and Spirit gathers into the Darkness out from the true Light, where People cannot see the true Way.  
For the Work of the true Ministers of the everlasting Gospel, was and is, and was and is still made so instrumental, to gather from and out of the Darkness into the true Light and Life, and so into the heavenly Power, the heavenly Man( that was before the Power of Darkness was) Christ Jesus the Power of God, there to sit, live, move, and have a Being; where this earthly, dark, separating, envious rending Spirit cannot reach nor come, for it hath its Power from below, out of the Pit of Darkness, where its Habitation and Dwelling-Place is; Out of which the Lord God of my Life, keep and preserve you all, my dear Friends, in your Habitations of Light, Life, and Power, there for evermore to live and Dwell.  
I say, let all take heed and beware of the Deceitfulness of the Enemies Workings in the Dark, who from the beginning still wrought Man's Misery, by getting an entrance upon him by his lies, contrary to the knowledge God gives to the Sons and Daughters of Men by his Light of Grace( of his Will and Mind), who undoubtedly will now persuade to fleshly Ease, careless Security, worldly Mindedness, to seek Self and its Interest( if the Watch be not carefully kept) which for want of, hence it is Darkness enters such, and Deadness comes over them, and a Spirit of Slumber and Dead-sleeping takes place, which is both a Thief and a Robber; and so the Spirit of Truth not being minded, to led and guide, the Spirit of the World gets in, and so moves, and draws, and leads into the Earth and earthly Things, and instead of labouring to be rich in Faith and good Works towards God, such labour chiefly how to grow Rich in the World, that they may have great Substance to leave to they know not who.  
And all this loose Darkness and Insensibleness comes to artend a Man or a Woman, though Truth may be professed, for want of waiting and watching with Diligence in the Light of Jesus Christ, the ancient and standing Principle of Truth, and because the daily across to the Will and Mind that leads out, is not born and lived in.  
And some, for w●●● of a right prising and valuing the present Mercy, so largely enjoyed, 〈…〉 high mind to rule them, which leads too above the Fear of God, and out of a sense and Feeling of the pure Truth in themselves, and so walk not orderly.  
So, Dear Friends, every where, as wise Men and Women, old and young, have an Eye about you, in the Fear of God, and in love to his Truth, as those that is ordered and guided in his Wisdom, that all People may see you are no more hightened, because of Peace and Liberty, no more than cast down in a Day of trial: But that all may see, beholding your good Conversation, coupled with Fear, that you are as those that are bowed before the Lord, under a deep and true sense of this his present Mercy,( not forgetting those heretofore received:) For although the Lord may be pleased to make Man instrumental, or work upon his Heart to answer him in this or any other thing, it is unto him alone, that is the Author and Original of all Good, that you are to look and return the Praise, Honour, and Glory for ever; though we would not with-hold that from Man neither that is his due, which is found in doing well, which is acceptance with God, and worthy of Commendation and Praise by all his People, who do hearty pray and wish, to continue all, or any one of such, that is so found unto the end of their Days.  
And so, Friends, being kept and preserved( as I have said) before the Lord and all People, you will be kept of the blessed Apostles persuasion; who says, I am persuaded that neither Life nor Death, Principalities nor Powers; things present, nor yet that which is to come, shall be able to separate me from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus. So let all take heed, although all things here name, that is past, or at least some of them you have been tried with or in that, that which is present do not heighten above what is meet, for if so, you see what it will separate from; but keep low in the even Way, the middle Path, where no extreme is, where you will be kept humble and meek; and its such the Lord Teacheth, prising and valuing every Mercy and Favour you receive from him: But who can or doth so prise any thing to the worth of it, and to have such an Esteem thereof, as those that have known the want of the same.  
For its very rare in these to prise Liberty, Freedom and Ease, to the worth thereof, so as to have that Esteem of it which it deserves, that never knew what Bonds, Tronble and Suffering were: Yea its as rare in such, as for a Man and Woman to prise Health and Strength, that scarce ever knew what Sickness, and to be attended with Weekness has been; or for those to prise the worth of Bread that never knew the want of it.  
Yea, its even those chiefly, that has born the heavy burden of suffering Imprisonment, and spoiling of Goods; and has been so straitly kept to the impairing of their Health, that is ready to cry out and say, how deeply are we engaged unto the Lord for the enjoyment of this Mercy of so large Liberty and Freedom.  
Oh that you may never forget nor be unmindful of the same, though I know, the honest hearted and well minded, that has their Eye to God, and love him, his Truth and People above all, though never called to suffer, they are ready often to say in their Hearts; Though I have never, or seldom have been exercised as other of my Friends, yet I cannot but be mindful of their suffering State and Condition; and when they suffer I suffer with them, and when freed, eased, or at Liberty: Oh! I am made truly glad, so as that I am engaged, with them, to praise the Lord therefore, in the receiving of such a Mercy, Blessing and Favour.  
And the blessed Effects produced by all those that prise the Mercies and Favours they receive from the Lord, is wherein God's Love is manifested to them, they prising and valuing the same, it engageth the Lord to give them more abundantly to partake thereof, and constrains them to love him again, and if possibly, to requited the Lord with doubling of their Diligence, as those that are so far from taking more Liberty unto themselves, because of the Liberty that is given, that they sinned themselves the more engaged, to meet often amongst God's People in all their Meetings, not only as to Worship, but Men and Womens Meetings set up and ordained by the Power of God, for to do service there for him, his Truth and People; for Ease and Liberty, not made right use of, brings forth littie but Idleness and Unprofitableness, and no way fit to do Service for God.  
For it's only those that keeps out of the extreme heights and Depths( too high and too low) that has the Profit, and truly reaps the Benefit of this Day of Freedom and Liberty: And that in truth, it is to them a sweet and comfortable Mercy and Favour, amongst many received from the Lord, and such is deeply concerned to prise it, that they may be sensible of the End wherefore the Lord hath suffered it so to come to pass, which is as all in Faithfulness waits upon him in the close Retiredness of their Mindes, they may receive that from him, whereby they may grow strong in him, through the might of his Power, in Faith and Patience, in Boldness and Courage to sinisn in that in which you have begun, for its Faithfulness unto the End that crowns all.  
And so, dear Friends, in the Name of the Lord go on, and none fit down by the Way, and in Faithfulness follow your Captain the Lord Jesus Christ, that never leaves nor forsakes those that so follow him, that you may have good Cause to say, as those that hath made right Use of the Day and Time of God's Love and Mercy, in giving Ease and Liberty as well when exercised in and under Suffering ( come what will come, the Will of the Lord be done.)  
And all who make not use of this Days Mercy, as I have said, and for that End and Purpose wherefore the Lord hath suffered it to come to pass,( which is to engage and establish his faithful People) the end thereof will rise up in judgement against them.  
So, dear Friends, Brethren and Sisters every where, all be awakened unto Righteousness to serve the Living God, as you ought to worship and serve him, which is with all your Hearts, Might and Strength, and with all you have and do enjoy that is the Lord's, who are redeemed unto him by his Power: The Lord God of Israel keep and preserve you faithful, on this wise serving of the Lord, and one another in Love, for the increase of Life and Unity amongst you; and that while you have a Day to live, and an Hour of Breath to draw, is the Supplication and Travail of my Soul and Spirit unto the Lord for and on your Behalf, into whose blessed and fatherly Protection I commit and command you all, to be kept and preserved where Safety and Preservation is for evermore.  
From my Prison-House in carlisle in Cumberland, the 8th. Day of the 7th. Month 1687. Who is your Friend and Brother in the Truth that is living and precious, though a Sufferer in outward Bonds, for the Testimony of Jesus, and of a good Conscience. John banks.  
Let this be red in the Fear of the Lord and with Understanding, in the Meetings and Families of Friends.