The captives returne, or, The testimonys of John Danks of Colchester, and Elizabeth Danks, his wife, to the mercy and goodness of God,: in calling them back to his everlasting truth, after their ont-runnings [sic] and seperation from the same. : Also being warnings to those that still continue in enmity and seperation from the pretious truth and from the people of God, that they may returne while the Lord calls and while the day of their visitation continues. : With a short testimony to the truth by way of preface / written by John Furly, junior.

The PRAEFACE To the READER.

Friendly READER,

SInce the dawning and breaking forth of Gods glorious day, and revelation of his blessed truth, after a long night of darkness, many have been the devices of the enemy of mankind, through his subtile and divers workings, to hinder the knowledg of the glory of it from the Sons of men; and the adversaries of it have been of divers sorts: But it being against the Truth, they have been con∣founded in their work; so that we have seen it fulfilled, that no weapon formed against the truth hath prospered. And tho some from among us (by going from the power of truth which once reached to them) have come to suffer loss, and, in that lost estate, have accused us of falling away from what we first were, and, in the Spirit of enmity, have rose up and wrot against us; yet the Lord sometimes bath reached to such again; and made them beare testimony to the truth, & against their own out-runnings, that where they have been an occasion of stumbling, by any thing acted or brought forth by them in that state of separation from God and his people, they might, as much as in them lyes, remove the same by bearing witness against the fruits of that Spirit which then acted them while they stood up pretendedly for the truth in a Spirit that was out of it. Now this having been the state

of this person Iohn Dankes, he found it as a necessity upon him to bear testimony against that book of his, publisht under the name of Christodulus Ecclestone (long since answered by VV. G.) that if it hath or may come to the hands of any who may thereby have let in, or may be strengthened in prejudice against the truth and the friends or it that have abode faithful to it, the prejudice may, as far as in him lyes, be removed, and this his testimony be as publik as his aforesaid book, which is the reason of the printing of it, and also that it might be a warning to others that either have or hereafter may run into the same Spirit of prejudice and enmity against the truth and those that live in it, not to appear so openly, and so rashly to accuse us of apostacy, while themselves are the apostates: For let such know assuredly, that tho their pre∣tences may be specious in their own eyes (as his were) they must come to judgment, and it wil one day prove as a load too heavy for them to bear.

And now thou to whom this may come, who hast had, or still mayst have desires to be satisfied in our principles and dost incline to the path in when we walk, its worthy thy consideration (tender Reader) how many wayes truths and our adversaries have appeared and that not onely through open, but private enemies; and how their Charges against us have been directly contrary one to the other. One sort of them upbraiding us with holding doctrines not consistant with the Scriptures of truth; while other of them, being bett∣er informed of our principles, say they are good, but that we are not now the same in principle as at the beginning (where as that is onely their ignorance of our principles then.) Others, that have rose up against us from amongst us bearing testimony to our being the same in principle, alledge

that we are not so in life and conversation. Thus I say, it's worthy the honest readers serious consideration, how our opposers accusations have been divers, as also, how that those latter that have gone out from us, being, as the apostle said, not truly of us, doe yet generally bear testimony to the truth of our principles, in particular to that divine Spirit, Grace or Light of Christ Jesus that discovers sin and iniquity and the sufficiency of it so salvation to all that obey it. And there∣fore, my advice, in these few lines, to those that are in∣quiring after the Lord, is, Let not these Contradictions and aspersions, that we have met with all, either from without, or from such as for a season have walked among us (but through not keeping judgment to the Line, have started a side like a broken bow) deter thee in thy sincere desires af∣ter the Lord; but incline thy mind to the divine principle of life in thy selfe, which will cleanse thee from that which hath made thee destitute of Gods presence, as thou keeps to it, and removing that which hath hindred good things from thy soule, will give thee a sence of the divine being, and keep thee a clean and holy habitation for himself through thy pilgrimage in this Earthly tabernacle, untill thou finish thy cours, and thy race here be run, and thou enter into thy rest and haven of Everlasting blessedness, not heed∣ing the occasions which, through the wiles of the enemy ei∣ther in thy self or from others without, may be offered thee to return, nor regarding those that may fall on the right hand or on the left, for offences will come, but woe to them by whom they come, but blessed are they (saith Christ Jesus) who are not offended in me: that this may be the portion of all whom the Lord hath or may yet visit by his power (that is now going forth for the visiting of the nations) is my

soules desire, who, tho I have here reprehended that spirit that watches for advantages, and there-from takes occasion to Cast stumbling blocks in the way of the simple, am far from justifying those that give the occasion of stumbling, but do advise all to walk as becomes the Gospell professed by them.

JOHN FURLY. Junior.

Colchester this 6^th Moneth. 1680.