A collection of the several books and vvritings, given forth by that faithful servant of God and his people, George Fox, the Younger

A Visitation of Love unto all People, (in whose hearts there are any true honest tender desires, be∣gotten towards God and his Righteousness) In what Sect, or Opinion, or Profession soever they be, who are not in the Light; especially unto such who have felt something of the workings of the Life and Power of God in them, and yet notwith∣standing have been led by the subtilty of the Ser∣pent, from the Life and Power of God, into many Sects, and Opinions, and Forms, which are with∣out the Life and Power of God; and herein the subtil workings and devices of the Serpent, whereby he deceives the hearts of the simple, is clearly made manifest.

Friends,

GOd, the higher Power, unto whom the soul is to be subject, he only hath immortality, and dwel∣leth in the Light; and he is Light: And he hath freely given his Son into the world, (by whom the world was made) for a Covenant of Light; and he is the true Light, which lighteth every one that cometh into the world, that all men through him might believe; who is the VVord of God, in whom is Life, and that Life (mark) is the Light of men; and the pure Grace of God, which bringeth Salvation (by which the Saints are freely justified) hath appeared unto all men; yea, the the Eternal God of Truth hath appeared unto you in his Son Jesus Christ, the true Light, and with this Light hath God made manifest unto you your sin and evil

deeds, and with the measure of the Light of his Son (in you) sometimes hath he appeared in his mighty Power, whereby he hath smitten you for your sins and evil deeds, and he by his Power hath broken you into tenderness, and brought you down into lowliness for a time, and then by his unresistible Power thus work∣ing (in you) did beget a holy Seed, from whence pure desires and breathings after God hath often arose (in you) which seed could not, nor cannot be satisfied with∣out Gods living presence; Now ye, not standing in the Power which convinced you, and smote you, and broke you into tenderness, and brought you down, and then begot a holy Seed in you; from whence a pure unfeigned love to God hath oft sprung (mark) you not minding the workings and movings of this Power in you, nor waiting in it for to receive counsel, you en∣tered into reasonings and thoughts, which the subtil∣ty (which is the Devil) presented in you; and so ye hearkned not to Gods voice (the power which had wrought so in you) but you entred into reasonings with the subtilty (which abode not in the power) and this begot a questioning in you what that should be, which had so appeared in you, and broken you into such a tenderness, and had wrought such a sudden change in you, which you were not able to resist; And ye going into the reasonings in your minds; thus you turned from the pure Power of God, and then sin (which se∣parateth from Gods presence, which he by his Power worketh in you, had in measure smitten and brought down in you) arose again, and got the Dominion in you, and so you going thus from the Power wherein ye should have waited to have been preserved in the ten∣derness, ye soon lost the tenderness and fear, which the Power had wrought in you; and then hardness of heart soon grew in you again, and then the Seed which

God had begotten in you (which cannot be satisfied without his presence) that began to be sorely oppres∣sed in you, by the sin (which separates from Gods presence) which got up more and more in you, through your turning from the Power which ye once felt ma∣nifested and working in you against sin: And then a grievous weight or burden came upon the Righteous Seed in you; and then it began to groan and cry to God from under the burden and weight of iniquity that was upon it, and then the Light appeared more brighter in you again, (for the Seeds sake which suffer∣ed in you) and shewed you that you were wrong; then the Light judged you for the wrong, and then trouble came upon you, and encreased in your minds; and then the Serpent, the Subtilty, the Devil (which a∣bode not in the Truth) he appeared likewise in you, and begot a hurrying and a confused noise in your minds, and then presented many things unto you, and stirred you up to do them, that so he might draw ye from hearkening unto the Light (wherein you should have waited to have heard and known God's Voice and Counsel, and to have seen and heard what God had required at your hands) and thus the Subtilty, which is the Devil, who was a murderer from the be∣ginning, and abode not in the Truth, sought to draw you from the Light (which is the Truth) that so he might murder the Righteous Seed, which God had begotten in you, (unto which Seed the Pro∣mises are) Now your minds being drawn from the Light, which convinced you of sin, you entred further into sin, and then you could not find any power for to resist sin, because you went from the Light which shewed you your sin, wherein ye should have waited to have received power against sin, and then the Seed suffered in you, by the sin which ye were entred into

exceedingly; and trouble increased more and more in your minds, (this hath been the condition of some of you) and then the Subtilty drew you into reasonings and consultings what to do, that so the burden which you felt, and the trouble in your minds might be re∣moved: So ye hearkning unto the Subtilty, he then pre∣sented several things unto you to be done, some of which once were commanded by God to be done by them unto whom the Command came; and so the Sub∣tilty perswaded you, that you must do those things likewise, before ye could have peace, and witness the burden and trouble removed, which ye felt; So he ha∣ing drawn you out of the sensibleness and feeling of the Light and Power of God, your understandings be∣came wholly darkned, as unto the Counsel of God, and then these things which the subtil enemy presen∣ted, exceedingly pleased the affectionate part in you, and some of you he perswaded to act such things as God never commanded any to act; and so ye going from the Light (which never changeth) and hearkning unto the Subtilty (which leads into changeableness) here ye began to run into Sects and Opinions, and Heaps, and Parties, and Divisions; yea, here is the ground and rise, and beginning of all Sects and Opinions in the world, peoples going from the Light and Power of God, which leads into the Substance, and into one∣ness of mind, and hearkning unto the Subtilty, which leads but into the likewise of Truth, and into self-se∣paration and Divisions, and changeableness of mind; and when the Serpent had drawn you into several Opinions and Practices in your VVorship, then he fed you with knowledge, that so each of you might be able to plead and contend for your Opinions and Practices; and then he begot a strong, hot, hasty will in you (which hath been called Zeal for God, whereby he drew you

into hot contentions one with another, and so by lit∣tle and little he raised up a secret envy and prejudice in you, one against each other, till at length some of you brake forth into rage, and scorn, giving one ano∣ther scornful Names.

And thus the Mysterie of Iniquity wrought in many of you, until the Seed grew weak in you, (as to your feeling) and became as a dead thing unto you, being thus strangled in you, by your going from the Power, into those things that the Power of God never moved, or drew you to act, (but the Serpent, which abode not in the Power) So then you were not sensible of such a burden indeed, as ye were once sensible of, when the Seed which God had begotten in you, was more quick and lively, and then the Subtilty perswaded you, that now you were right, because you felt not such a bur∣den and trouble in your minds as you once did; and then a joy sprung in you for a time, and then the Sub∣tilty perswaded you, that you were now entred into the VVork, and Service, and VVorship of God; and that he had given you some reward, because you were not sensible of such a burden, & trouble in your minds as ye were before you acted those things in your VVorship; and thus the Subtility beguiled some of you: But this condition continued not long with you, for God's eternal VVitness (which ye had as it were slain, and made merry over it) that arose and appeared in you again, for the Seeds sake, and disturbed and broke that false peace, and joy, and perswasion, that you were got into, (through transgressing [and going from] that which is pure of God in you, and act∣ing those things in the Transgression, which God never required at your hands) and then with God's witness, the Light, you saw your selves wrong again, and the Light judged you for your forwardness,

and then you begun to loath those Practices in your worship, which before you delighted in, and then something you came to feel stirring in you again, which was not satisfied, but breathed, and groaned, and cryed unto the Lord; and then you were in a fine tender condition again; But then the Subtilty soon appeared in you again, and presented some other new things unto you, and called those which he had former∣ly led you into, old, empty, weak and beggerly things, and thus he wrought in the subtilty, to draw you from hearkning unto that which made manifest your Con∣dition unto you; and thus he hath drawn some of you into most of the Sects and Opinions that be in the World, and through them, and thus in the subtilty hath he wrought in you to save his head, (or life) for he knew that if you had hearkned unto the truth of God as it appeared in you, and had obeyed it, that then God's Power would mightily have been made manifest in you, whereas the Seed immortal would have been raised up in you, which would have bruised his head.

So take notice how the Lord's love, the Light, hath followed you, and checked, and reproved you for your hastiness and forwardness, and hath shewed unto you the emptiness and deadness of all the profession and worship that ever you have run into.

And sometimes when you have been brought into lowliness and tenderness; by the Power of the Lord which hath smitten you, then the Lord hath opened mighty things in you unto his Seed, which breathed and thirsted after his Righteousness, and could not be satisfied without it, and then the Serpent hath wrought in you again in the subtilty, to lead you from that which opened, and from the pure, and so lead you up in the boasting Nature, to hold forth those things in the fleshly Principle which the Lord opened unto his

own Seed; and thus he hath kept you out of the Life and Power of Truth, and he hath filled some of you with strange imagimations, and expectations con∣cerning God and Christ, and his appearance with∣out you; and so all along he hath strove to keep you from minding Gods appearance within you, by draw∣ing your minds into the visible changeable things, and yet the Lord in love to his own Seed hath spared you; so mind the Lords long patience, and forbearance which hath been great towards you, for his Seeds sake in you, which breathes and thirsts after his Righte∣ousness, and cannot be satisfied without his life and presence.

And truly friends my love is exceeding tender and large towards you in whom there is such a pure tender Seed stirring, and my desire is (who have seen the emptiness of all Profession without the life) that you might come to witness the Seed satisfied in you (with the Pure Power, and Life, and Virtue of the Living God) which hath suffered long in you, and hath not been satisfied by reason of your disobedience unto the Light.

Therefore in Tender Bowels of Love and Compas∣sion unto you, I do freely declare unto you all, The New and Living way which hath been from the be∣ginning, which is CHRIST JESUS, the true Light which lighteth every one which cometh into the World, whereby every one of you believing in the Light, may come to receive a particular satisfaction from Christ, from whence the Light doth come.

Friends, The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall, but you have transgressed and gone from the manifestation of Gods Spirit in your own particulars, and so it is impossible for you ever to profit in the things of God, or come to receive

a particular satisfaction, until you come to own that, and believe in that, which you have transgressed and gone from, which was given you to profit withall, and to lead you into the substance, which giveth satis∣faction.

Now the manifestation of the Spirit doth shew un∣to you your runings, and willings, and actings, and stri∣vings that ye have been in, whereby ye could never obtain satisfaction unto that in you which breathes to do the Will of God; now you must mind that which makes manifest these things unto you, and as you take notice of that (which is the Light) and wait in it, you will come to feel it drawing you into stilness, and coolness, and quietness of spirit; and then with the Light you will come to discern the subtilty, and the motions thereof, which have oft beguiled you, by drawing you from quietness and stilness, into the Airy imaginations, whereby he hath tossed and unsetled your minds; and as you waite in that which doth make manifest, (which is the Light) and believe in it, you will come to feel something arising in you, in Power to Judge and condemn the subtilty, as that stirs in you to draw you from waiting upon God, and then you will come to know and feel, the spirit of Judgement and burning, placed in you to purge you, and as you wait in the Judgement in patience and stil∣ness, you will come to hear the still voice that is spoken of in the Scriptures, saying, This is the way (and shewing it unto you) and when you see the way, as you wait in that which shewes it unto you, then you will come to hear the Command in Power, saying unto you, walk in it, and then you will come to know your Teacher which cannot be removed into a corner; and so here the path of the just ye will all come to know and witness in your selves, which is the shining Light

which shineth more and more, until the perfect day; for as you all wait in that which calls for stilness and silence to the flesh and the motions thereof, ye will come then to see more Light, and so ye will come to witness what David spoke to be true, who said to God, In thy Light shall we see Light, and then the just (which hath been long oppressed and burthened in you) will begin to spring, and as you believe and wait in the Light, your minds being staid in it, you will come to feel God's Living Power working and opperating in you, condemning and removing that in you, which hath oppressed and burthened the just, and so by God's pure Power, (as you wait and continue in it,) you will come to feel and witness the just holy Seed raised up in you, from under that which did oppress and burthen it; and here you will feel the captive come out of captivity by the Gospel, which is the Power of God, and the Prison door set open, and the Prisoners set at Liberty; And then as you wait in the Light you will come to feel God's pure Powerful Presence, and Life and Virtue runing through you, which will refresh the Seed, which is tender, and give satisfaction unto it; and so as you all wait low in the fear of God, watch∣ing in the Light, that nothing may get up in you to boast and glory which is not of God, you will then feel your love exceedingly encreased towards the Pure Living Truth of God, and your whole delight will be to walk in the Truth, in Righteousness and Holiness, (without which no man shall see the Living God) and as you all walk in the Light obeying it, you will come into the Pure Fellowship, and Communion and Unity of the Saints, and then you will feel the Life, which is the Blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you, purging and purifying you from all Sin: and so as every one of you abide in the Faith, feeling it, and standing in the Power

of God that will purifie your hearts, and give you victory over the World, and then you will come to receive a particular satisfaction from Christ the Power, which is the Author and ground of the Saints Faith, and you will feel God's Spirit, and Power, and Life as you dwell in it, drawing and leading you into whatsoever he requireth you to do; and as you all wait and are still in that which doth discern the thoughts and the intents of your hearts, and makes them mani∣fest unto you, you will clearly come to discern the Subtilty and the motions thereof, which would draw you to act such things as the Lord doth not require you to act.

So all take heed to that which discerns the thoughts and intents of your hearts; for this is a measure of the Word of Life, which is quick and powerful, and as you all wait in it, you will feel it to be so: for you will feel it dividing the precious in you from the vile; and this is the Ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls.

So this is not written to feed the carnal mind in any; but it is written for your sakes, who are truely breathing and thirsting after God's Righteousness, and cannot be satisfied without it; that so you may all come into the true Light wherewith you are enlight∣ned, and that you with it may come to see how you have been tossed and tumbled up and down by the Subtilty of the Serpent, in those things which could never give you true peace nor satisfaction; and that now through believing in the Truth and Obedi∣ence of the Spirit, you may all come to witness a par∣ticular satisfaction, and that you may come to feel the pure Image of the Holy God restored in you, even his everlasting Righteousness, his Power, his Wisdom, his Life and Glory raised up in you, to have Dominion,

and to rule over all the earth, and to subdue it; that so the pure God of Life and Virtue might be glorified in your mortal Bodies, and that you might all come to feel and witness an everlasting habitation of Rest, and Peace in him; who is worthy of all Honour, and Praise, and Thanksgiving, and Dominion for evermore, Amen.

Now some of you who have been antient Professors, will say to us, If we should joyn to you, we must lay down all then that ever we have professed; and what, have we been Professors so many years, and yet have to begin all a∣again? Have we known nothing of God all this time? this is hard.

To this I answer, Friends, if you come to joyn to the Truth, you must then lay down, and leave, and forsake all that, which you have held up and practised in your own wills, which you were never led or requi∣red to hold up or practice by the Spirit of Truth; but I do know and own, that there was a pure living Prin∣ciple of God, oft stirring in you, in your Professions; by which Principle of God, you oft saw that you were wrong, and that you did that which was not well-pleasing the sight of God in your Profession; for that Principle of God in you, the Light, judged and condemned you for many of your actions which you acted; and some∣times the Lord's Witness brought you into a tender low condition; and then opened things unto the Seed in you, but you not taking heed to the Light, to be the guide and stay of your minds, you continued not long in that condition, but you consulted with the Subtilty (which drew you from God's Witness) what you should do, and so waited not in that, which brought you into tenderness to receive God's Counsel in that; but you took Counsel of the Serpent, and your own Hearts, and so ran into things which God never required at your

hands, and therefore God had no regard unto your Worship, because it was not in the Spirit, and in the Truth, you not being guided therein by the Spirit of Truth; So unto that which was in the Beginning you must all come, which is Christ the true Light, who hath enlightned you; and you must learn of Him, who is the Light of Life, the VVord, and the Power, by which all things were made, and are upheld, and you must be subject unto the measure of Him in you; and this his Measure, if you submit to it, that will bring you to cease from your own wills and works, and to wait in silence and patience, to see and feel Christ the Power of God, to work all your works in you, and for you; and if you own the Light, that will plainly shew unto you how God formerly appeared unto you, and how you went from his appearance; so the Light will own that which God opened unto you at any time, but it will deny and condemn your own imaginations, which you mixed with that which God opened unto you; and so unto this Witness of the Lord you must all come, and be∣lieve, and wait in that, which will separate the precious from the vile, before that can be satisfied in you which breaths after God.

So my tender love and compassion is unto that in you which is not yet satisfied, but doth truly hunger and thirst after the Life and Power of Truth; and my Soul doth travel for freedom and satisfaction of that Seed, and I suffer with it, and bear many things for its sake, for I have true Unity and Fellowship with that in you, and I know it, and am known of it; but I cannot have Unity with many of your Practices, which ye have been in, because they have caused the Seed in you, (with which I have Unity) exceedingly to suffer; you not being guided and led into them by the Spirit of Truth; and so against all such Practices I do bear wit∣ness

in the Spirit of Meekness, and I labour in the Spi∣rit of Love, to turn Peoples minds unto the manife∣station of the Spirit of Truth, which is given to every man wherewith to profit.

So all People, feel that, and mind that, and hearken unto that which oft riseth in your hearts, against Lust, against Covetousness, against Pride, against vain and needless words and thoughts, and against all evil in its appearance; and as you all mind this Principle which moves and stirs in you, against all evil, you will feel it divide your good words from your bad words, and good thoughts from bad thoughts, and good deeds from bad deeds; and that which divides betwixt these, and shews you the difference of them, this is the Word which Mo∣ses and Paul wrote of, which is nigh in the mouth, and in the heart; Yea, this is the Word of Reconciliation, which reconciles to God; this is the ingrafted Word, which is able to save the Soul.

Now you being turned to this Word, even to that which discerns the thoughts and intents of your hearts, as ye wait in this, let the Subtilty appear never so subtilly to draw your hearts after any thing, or into any Pra∣ctice, which the Lord requireth not of you, then this Word, which is the Power, it will make it manifest unto you, and it will stop you from entring into any such Practices, if you wilfully resist it not; and believing and waiting in this Word, it will not suffer you to speak any hasty unsavoury words, or word, and then ye will come to be truly sensible of a bridle to the tongue, with∣out which all Religion is vain; and this Word, ye taking it to be your guide, it will bring you into savoury sound words, seasoned with the Grace of God; and so as your words, and actions, and lives, come to be ordered by this Word (Christ the Power of God) they will reach unto the Witness of God in every one where ye come; and if ye

will hear this Word, and regard it, and not resist it, it will work true Faith in you, by which you will feel your hearts purified from sin, and ye will feel it giving you Victory over the World, within and without; and if ye keep in this Faith, ye will not make haste, for ye will feel the Eternal Light (which is the Life of the Word) calling and drawing you out of the hasty nature, into soberness, stilness, and quietness, and meekness of Spirit, and so ye will feel your strength renewed in the Lord, as ye all wait upon him in his Light; and all believing in the Light, ye will not come into condem∣nation; and as ye all wait in that which discerns and reveals the thoughts and the intents of your hearts (which is the Word of Power) this also will divide be∣tween your good thoughts and your bad thoughts, and the good motions and the bad motions, which you will see stirring in your minds; and if you hold fast the Word of Truth, it will preserve and keep you out of the bad thoughts and motions, and it will joyn you unto the good, and ye will come to feel the operation of the Spi∣rit, and Life, and Power of God in you, to shake, and overturn, and work out that ground (which hath been in you) from whence the bad words, and bad thoughts, and bad motions have arose, which have burdened the oppressed and tender Seed in you, which you never could witness satisfied with all that ever you have per∣formed; but as ye all believe, and wait in this unchang∣able measure of God, you will come to feel the burden taken off the Seed; and ye will come to feel and wit∣ness more true durable peace and satisfaction in one hours waiting upon God, than ever you felt and wit∣nessed in all the words that ever you have heard from any man or woman in all your lives, or in all your Practices, that ever you have practised (before you were brought to wait upon God in his Gifts, which he

hath given you to profit withal) although in those things which we have practised, I know ye have had a great joy appearing in you for a time, but it was not durable nor lasting; for when God's true and faithful Witness, (the Light) appeared and shewed you how that God never required those things at your hands, which you had practised, then your joy and peace withered and came to an end, which you appeared sometime to have in those Practices; and if at any time ye came to feel some little peace, and joy, and refreshment, through what God opened to the Seed in you, when by his Po∣wer ye were brought into some tenderness, ye soon lost this also, by going from that which brought you into the tenderness; But as you all come into the Obedience of the Spirit, and abide in it, this will bring you into the seasoned Life, and then ye will come to feel and wit∣ness pure peace, and joy, and refreshment, and satisfaction, which will last and abide for ever with you, if ye abide in the Spirit; and then ye will be made willing to lay down and deny all that which ye have been acting, which ye never were led and guided to act by God's Pure Holy Spirit; and to deny all such also, as would draw you to act that which God requireth not at your hands.

So take heed of such as daub with untempered morter, and heal deceitfully, who will speak peace, when there is no true peace, (but the pure Witness of God condemns) for such, with good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple, keeping them ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth; and these through covetousness and feigned words, make mer∣chandize of poor People, for they have a Form of Godli∣ness, but they deny and resist the Power, and therefore from such turn away.

And all mind that, and feel that, and be subject un∣to

that, which for sin condemns sin in the flesh, and then you will feel the Spirit of Judgement, and Burn∣ing, and Righteousness, through which the Seed is re∣deemed, which Seed is Heir of the Kingdom of God; So all wait in the meek, lowly, quiet Spirit, that ye may come to witness this Holy Seed, which delights to do the Will of God, (by the power and Life of God) rais∣ed up in you, satisfied, and brought forth out of capti∣vity.

And look not out, nor strive after great and high things beyond your measures (for that puffs up, and leads into confusion and dark imaginations) but all wait and be still in the measure of God's Light manifested in you, that so you may come to feel him revealing his secrets and mysteries unto the Babes, which cannot live or be satisfied without him.

God is making known that, and stirring that in the hearts of People (throughout the World) which doth and shall confound and overturn all the Wisdom of this World, and the subtilty of the Serpent (from whence all the Worlds Wisdom arose) and therefore the hand of the Lord will be terrible and heavy upon the disobedient, who disobey and transgress that which he hath put into their Hearts, (whereby he is opening a mighty under∣standing in the People) But the everlasting Blessing, and Peace, and Joy, and Glory of the Lord over all shall a∣rise, and rest upon all those that joyn to, and believe in, and obey that Word which is nigh, in the mouth, and in the heart.

By a Labourer in the Power of Truth (which doth make free) for the Deliverance and Free∣dom of the Righteous Seed. George Fox, the younger.