In much sympathy with my fellow-members, my Spirit
hath for some years been deeply exercised on account of the state
of things in our society: And I have sometimes feared that wrong
things of late have grown fast among friends in a time of Peace
plenty and Ease. Surely if we let hurtful weeds grown, they check
the growth of good seed; So will wrong things, if we entertain them, check
our Progress in the narrow Way that leads to life: In that way, though
strait & narrow, there is liberty enough: And when we through a patient
coming to wear the Cross of Christ, come to experience the Liberty of the
blessed Truth, we may be then freed from that worst of all Burdens, the
world, and the idolatrous love thereof. ---- Oh that, if by here
leaving a few sentences of my earnest desire, as a call to the beloved
Youth of our day, I could prevail with many of them to come taste
and see how good the Lord is, to those who fully surrender their
hearts to his service; Then would your experience of his matchless
Love be sweet, and this language would often breathe forth, "Thy Ways
are ways of pleasantness, O Lord, and all thy Paths are Peace:" At
thy right hand are rivers of Pleasure, forevermore: For although
the Lord may see meet to hand unto you some of the Wormwood and
the Gall to partake of, Yet he will so sweeten the Cup to his little
Ones who are his sincere followers, that you will scarcely per-
ceive the Bitters: My soul in deep reverence can say, his Sweet
Peace for obedience for submitting to his requiring, has been sweeter than the
Honey