that our Fellowship stood In this we desired to have a Sense one of another acted towards one another and all Men in Love Faithfulness and Fear In the feeling of the Motions of this Principle we drew near to the Lord and waited to be prepared by it that we might feel those Drawings and Movings before we approached the Lord in Prayer or open'd our Mouths in Ministry And in our Beginning and Ending with this stood our Comfort Service and Edification And as we run faster or fell short we made Burthens for our selves to bear our Services finding in our selves a Rebuke instead of an Acceptance and in lieu of Well done who has required this at your Hands In that day we were an Exercised People our very Countenances and Deportment declared it Care for others was then much upon us as well as for our selves especially the Young Convinced Often had we the Burthen of the Word of the Lord to our Neighbours Relations and Acquaintance and sometimes Strangers also We were in Travail for one anothers Preservation Not seeking but shunning Occasions of any Coldness or Misunderstanding treating one another as those that believed and felt God present Which kept our Conversation Innocent Serious and Weighty guarding our selves against the Cares and Friendships of the World We held the Truth in the Spirit of it and not in our own Spirits or after our own Wills and Affections They were bowed and brought into Subjection in so much that it was visible to them that knew us we did not think our selves at our own Dispose to go where we List or say or do what we List or when we List Our Liberty stood in the Liberty of the Spirit of Truth and no Pleasure no Profit no Fear no Favour could draw us from this retired strict and watchful Frame We were so far from seeking occasions of Company that we avoided them what we could persuing our own Business with Moderation instead of medling with other Peoples Vnnecessarily Our Words were Few and Savoury our Looks Composed and Weighty and our whole Deportment very Observable True it is that this Retired and strict sort of Life from the Liberty of the Conversation of the World exposed us to the Censures of many as Humourists Conceited and Self-righteous Persons c. But it was our Preservation from many Snares to which others were continually exposed by the Prevalency of the lust of the Eye the lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life that wanted no Occasions or Temptations to excite them abroad in the Converse of the World I cannot forget the Humility and Chast Zeal of that Day Oh! how Constant at Meetings how Retired in them how firm to Truth 's Life as well as Truth 's Principles and how Entire and Vnited in our Communion as indeed became those that profess One Head even Christ Jesus the Lord. This being the Testimony and Example the Man of God before mentioned was sent to Declare and Leave amongst us and we having Embraced the same as the Merciful Visitation of God to us the Word of Exhortation at this time is that we continue to be found in the Way of this Testimony with all Zeal and Integrity and so much the more by how much the Day draweth near And First as to you my Beloved and much Honoured Brethren in Christ that are in the Exercise of the Ministry Oh feel Life in the Ministry Let Life be your Commission your Well-spring and Treasury in all such Occasions else you well know there can be no begetting to God since nothing can quicken or make People alive to God but the life of God And it must be a Ministry in and from Life that enlivens any People to God We have seen the Fruit of all other Ministrys by the few that are turned from the Evil of their Ways It is not our Parts or Memory the repetition of former Openings in our own will and time that will do God's Work A dry Doctrinal Ministry however sound in Words can reach but the Ear and is but a Dream at the Best There is another Soundness that is soundest of all viz. Christ the power of God This is the Key of David that Opens and none Shuts and Shuts and none can Open as the Oil to the Lamp and the Soul to the Body so is that to the best of Words Which made Christ to say My Words they are Spirit and they are Life that is they are from Life and therefore they make you alive that receive them If the Disciples that had lived with Jesus were to stay at Jerusalem till they received it so must we wait to receive before we Minister if we will turn People from Darkness to Light and from Satan's power to God I fervently bow my Knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may always be like minded that you may ever wait Reverently for the coming and opening of the Word of Life and tend upon it in your Ministry and Service that you may serve God in his Spirit And be it little or be it much it is well for much is not too much and the least is enough if from the motion of God's Spirit and without it verily never so little is too much because to no profit For it is the Spirit of the Lord immediately or through the Ministry of his Servants that teacheth his People to profit and to be sure so far as we take him along with us in our Services so far we are profitable and no farther For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us and for our selves much more is it the Lord that must work in us for the Conversion of others If therefore it was once a Cross to us to Speak though the Lord required it at our Hands let it never be so to be silent when he does not It is one of the most dreadful Sayings in the Book of God That he that adds to the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God will add the Plagues written in this Book To keep back the Counsel of God is as Terrible for he that takes away from the Words of the Prophecy of this Book God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life And truly it has great Caution in it to those that use the Name of the Lord to be well assured the Lord Speaks that they may not be found of the Number of those that add to the Words of the Testimony of Prophecy which the Lord giveth them to bear nor yet to mince or diminish the same both being so very offensive to God Wherefore Brethren let us be careful neither to out-go our Guide nor yet loiter behind him since he that makes Haste may miss his Way and he that stays behind loose his Guide For even those that have Received the Word of the Lord had need wait for Wisdom that they may see how to divide the Word aright which plainly implieth that it
abroad through the Island Whereupon I with some other Friends drew up a Paper to go forth in the Name of the People called Quakers for the clearing Truth and Friends from those false Reports It was directed thus For the Governour of Barbados with his Council and Assembly and all others in Power both Civil and Military in this Island from the People called Quakers WHereas many scandalous Lies and Slanders have been cast upon us to render us odious as that We do deny God and Christ Jesus and the Scriptures of Truth c. This is to Inform you that all our Books and Declarations which for these many Years have been published to the World do clearly testifie the contrary Yet notwithstanding for your Satisfaction we do now plainly and sincerely declare That we do Own and Believe in God the only-Wise Omnipotent and Everlasting God who is the Creator of all things both in Heaven and in the Earth and the Preserver of all that he hath made who is God over all blessed for ever To whom be all Honour and Glory Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving both now and for evermore And we do Own and Believe in Jesus Christ his beloved and only begotten Son in whom he is well-pleased Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins Who is the Express Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature by whom were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him And we do Own and Believe that he was made a Sacrifice for Sin who knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth And that he was Crucified for us in the Flesh without the Gates of Jerusalem and that he was Buried and Rose again the Third Day by the Power of his Father for our Justification And we do Believe that he Ascended up into Heaven and now sitteth at the Right Hand of God This Jesus who was the Foundation of the Holy Prophets and Apostles is our Foundation and we do believe that there is no other Foundation to be laid but that which is laid even Christ Jesus who we believe tasted Death for every Man and shed his Blood for all Men and is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World According as John the Baptist testified of him when he said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Joh. 1.29 We believe that he alone is our Redeemer and Saviour even the Captain of our Salvation who saves us from Sin as well as from Hell and the Wrath to come and destroys the Devil and his Works who is the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head to wit Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last That he is as the Scriptures of Truth say of him our Wisdom and Righteousness Justification and Redemption neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved It is he alone who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls He it is who is our Prophet whom Moses long since testified of saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People Acts 2.22 23. He it is that is now Come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true and he rules in our Hearts by his Law of Love and of Life and makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death and we have no Life but by him for he is the quickning Spirit the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven by whose Blood we are cleansed and our Consciences sprinkled from Dead Works to serve the Living God And he is our Mediator that makes Peace and Reconciliation between God offended and us offending he being the Oath of God the New Covenant of Light Life Grace and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Now this Lord Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man the Emanuel God with us we all own and believe in him whom the High-Priest raged against and said he had spoken Blasphemy whom the Priests and the Elders of the Jews took Counsel together against and put to Death the same whom Judas betrayed for Thirty Pieces of Silver which the Priests gave him as a Reward for his Treason who also gave large Money to the Souldiers to broach an Horrible Lie namely That his Disciples came and stole him away by Night whilst they slept And after he was Risen from the Dead the History of the Acts of the Apostles sets forth how the Chief-Priests and Elders persecuted the Disciples of this Jesus for Preaching Christ and his Resurrection This we say is that Lord Jesus Christ whom we own to be our Life and Salvation And as concerning the Holy Scriptures we do believe That they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God through the Holy Men of God who as the Scripture it self declares 2 Pet. 1.21 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost We believe they are to be Read Believed and Fulfilled He that fulfils them is Christ and they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 and are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And we do believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Words of God for it s said in Exod. 20.1 God spake all these Words saying c. meaning the Ten Commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai And in Rev. 22.18 saith John I testifie to every man that heareth the Words of the Prophecy of this Book If any man addeth unto these and if any Man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy not the Word c. So in Luke 1.20 Because thou believest not my Words And so in John 5.47 and John 15.7 John 14.23 John 12.47 So that we call the Holy Scriptures as Christ and the Apostles called them and Holy Men of God called them viz. the Words of God Another Slander and Lye they have cast upon us namely That we should teach the Negroes to Rebell A thing we utterly abhor and detest in our Hearts the Lord knows it who is the Searcher of all Hearts and knows all things and so can witness and testifie for us that this is a most Abominable Vntruth For that which we have spoken and declared to them is To exhort and admonish them to be sober and to fear God and
are too many and large to be inserted in this Place Now after I had cleared my Conscience at that Time to the Priests and People in those Parts near Swarthmore I went again into Westmorland Westmorland And a Company of Men with Pikes and Staves laid wait for me at a Bridge in the Way and they light on some Friends but missed me Afterwards they came to the Meeting with their Pikes and Staves But Justice Benson being there and many considerable People besides they were prevented from doing that Mischief they intended So they went away in a great Rage but did not hurt any Body 1652. Grayrigg I went from the Meeting to Grayrigge and had a Meeting there at Alexander Dixon's House where the Priest who was a Baptist and a Chappel-Priest came to the Meeting to oppose but the Lord Confounded him by his Power And some of the Priest's People tumbled down some Milk-Pales which stood upon the Side of the House the House being much crowded whereupon the Priest after he and his Company were gone away raised a Slander That the Devil frighted him and took away a Side of the House while he was in the Meeting And though this was an apparent and known Falshood yet it served the Priests and Professors to feed on for a while And so shameless they were that they Printed it in a Book Another Time this Priest came to another Meeting and fell to Jangling First he said The Scriptures were the Word of God I told him They were the Words of God but not Christ who is the Word and bid him prove by Scripture what he said Then he said It was not the Scripture that was the Word and setting his Foot upon the Bible he said It was but Copies bound up together Many unsavory Words came from him But after he was gone we had a blessed Meeting and the Lord's Power and Presence was preciously manifested and felt among us Soon after he sent me a Challenge to meet him at Kendal I sent him Word He need not go so far as Kendal for I would meet him in his own Parish So the Hour being set we Met and abundance of rude People were gathered there together besides the baptized People who were his own Members and they had intended to have done Mischief that Day but God prevented them Now when we were Met I declared the Day of the Lord to them and directed them to Christ Jesus Then the Priest out with his Bible and said It was the VVord of God I told him it was the VVords of God but not God the VVord His Answer was He would prove the Scriptures to be the God before all the People So I let him go on having a Man there that could take down in writing both what he said and what I said And when he could not prove it for I kept him to Scripture-Proof Chapter and Verse for it the People gnashed their Teeth for Anger and said He would have me anon But in going about to prove that one Error he run into many And when at length he saw he could not prove it then he said He would prove it a God So he toiled himself afresh till he sweat again but could not Prove what he had Affirmed And he and his Company were full of wrath For I kept his Assertions on the Head of him and them all and told them I owned what the Scriptures said of themselves namely That they were the Words of God but Christ was the Word So the Lord's Power came over all and they being confounded went away and the Lord disappointed their mischievous Intentions against me and Friends were established in Christ and many of the Priests Followers saw the Folly of their Teacher After this as I came through the Country visiting Friends Priest Bennet of Cartmel sent a Challenge to dispute with me Whereupon I came to his Steeple-house on the First-Day and there found him Preaching When he had done I spake to him and his People but the Priest would not stand the Trial but went his Way After he was gone I had a great deal of Discourse with the People And when I was come forth into the Steeple-house-yard and was discoursing further with the Professors and declaring Truth unto them One of them set his foot behind me and Two of them ran against my Breast and threw me down backwards against a Grave-stone wickedly and maliciously seeking to have spoiled me But I got up again and was moved of the Lord to speak to them Then I went up to the Priest's House and desired him to come forth that I might discourse with him seeing he had Challenged me But he would not at all come out or be seen So the Lord's Power came over them all which was greatly manifested at that Time There was amongst the Priest's Hearers one Richard Roper one of the bitterest Professors the Priest had and he was very fierce and hot in his Contention but afterwards he came to be Convinced of God's Eternal Truth and became a Minister thereof and continued faithful to his Death It was now about the beginning of the Year 1653 when I returned to Swarthmore And going to a Meeting at Gleeston Swarthmore a Professor there challenged a Dispute with me Whereupon I went to the House where he was and called him to come forth but the Lord's Power was over him so that he durst not meddle Then I departed thence and went and visited the Meetings of Friends in Lancashire Lancashire and so came back to Swarthmore again Swarthmore And great Openings I had from the Lord not only of Divine and Spiritual Matters but also of Outward Things relating to the Civil Government For being one Day in Swarthmore-Hall when Judge Fell and Justice Benson were talking of the News in the News-Book and of the Parliament that then was sitting which was called the Long-Parliament I was moved to tell them That before that Day Two Weeks the Parliament should be broken up and the Speaker pluck'd out of his Chair And that Day Two Weeks Justice Benson coming thither again told Judge Fell That now he saw George was a true Prophet for Oliver had broken up the Parliament by that Time About this Time I was in a Fast for about Ten Days my Spirit being greatly exercised on Truth 's behalf for James Milner and Richard Myer went out into Imaginations and a Company followed them This James Milner and some of his Company had true Openings at the first but getting up into Pride and Exaltation of Spirit they run out from Truth I was sent for to them and was moved of the Lord to go and shew them their Goings forth And they came to see their Folly and Condemned it and came into the Way of Truth again After some Time I went to a Meeting at Arn-side Arnside where Richard Myer was Now he had been long Lame of one of his Arms And I was moved
And I offered to prove that they were such Hirelings Then the Priests plucked me off from the Bass again and they themselves got all upon Basses under the Steeple-house-wall Then I felt the mighty Power of God arise over all though the People began to be a little rude and I told them If they would but give Audience and hear me quietly I would shew them by the Scriptures why I denied those Eight Priests or Teachers that stood there before me and all the Hireling-Teachers of the World whatsoever and I would give them Scriptures for what I said Whereupon both Priests and People Consented Then I shewed them out of the Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Micha Malachy and other Prophets that they were in the Steps of such as God sent his true Prophets to Cry against For said I You are such as the Prophet Jeremiah cried against Chap. 5. when he said The Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means which he called an horrible filthy thing And you are such as they That used their Tongues and said Thus saith the Lord when the Lord never spake to them And such as followed their own Spirits and saw nothing but spake forth a Divination of their own Brain and by their Lies and their Lightness had caused the People to err Jer. 14. And you are such as They were that sought for their Gain from their Quarter that were as greedy dumb Dogs that could never have enough whom the Lord sent his Prophet Isaiah to cry against Isa 56. And you are such as they were who taught for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread who sowed Pillows under Peoples Arm-holes that they might lie soft in their Sins Ezek. 13. And you are such as They that Taught for the Fleece and the Wool and made a Prey of the People Ezek. 34. But the Lord is gathering his Sheep from your Mouths and from off your barren Mountains and is bringing them to Christ the one Shepherd which he hath set over his Flocks as by his Prophet Ezekiel he then declared he would do And you are such as They that Divined for Money and preached for Hire and if a Man did not put into their Mouths they prepared War against him as the Prophet Micha complained Chap. 3. Thus went I on through the Prophets too largly to be here repeated Then coming to the New Testament I shewed from thence that They were like the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees of old such as Christ cryed Wo against Matth. 23. And that they were such false Apostles as the true Apostles Cried against such as taught for filthy Lucre and such Antichrists and Deceivers as they Cried against that minded Earthly things and served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies for they that served Christ gave freely and preached freely as he commanded them But they that will not preach without Hire Tithes or outward Means serve their own Bellies and not Christ and through the good words of the Scriptures and feigned Words of their own they made Merchandize of the People then as said I ye do now So when I had largely quoted thâ— Scriptures and shewed them wherein they were like the Pharisees loving to be called of Men Masters and to go in Long Robes and to stand Praying in the Synagogues and to have the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the like and when I had thrown them out in the sight of the People amongst the false Prophets Deceivers Scribes and Pharisees and shewed at large how such as They were judged and condemned by the true Prophets by Christ and by the Apostles I directed them to the Light of Christ Jesus who enlightens every Man that cometh into the World that by it they might see whether these things were not true as had been spoken Now when I appealed to That of God in their Consciences the Light of Christ Jesus in them they could not abide to hear of it they were all quiet till then but then a Professor said George What! wilt thou never have done I told him I should have done shortly So I went on a little longer and cleared my self of them in the Lord's Power When I had done all the Priests and People stood silent for a time At last one of the Priests said They would read the Scriptures that I had quoted I told them With all my Heart They began to read the 23d of Jeremiah and there they saw the Marks of the false Prophets that he cried against When they had read a Verse or two I said Take notice People but the Priests said Hold thy Tongue George I bid them Read the whole Chapter throughout for it was all against them Then they stopt and would read no further but asked me a Question I told them I would Answer their Question the Matter being first granted that I had charged them with viz. That they were false Prophets false Teachers Antichrists and Deceivers such as the true Prophets Christ and the Apostles cried against A Professor said Nay to that but I said Yea For you leaving the Matter and going to another thing seem to consent to the proof of the former Charge Then I Answered their Question which was this Seeing those false Prophets were adulterated Whether I did judge Priest Stephens to be an Adulterer To which I Answered He was adulterated from God in his Practice like those false Prophets and the Jews They would not stand to vindicate him but broke up the Meeting Then the Priests whispered together and Priest Stephens came to me and desired that my Father and Brother and I might go aside with him that he might speak to me in private and the rest of the Priests should keep the People from coming to us I was very loth to go aside with him but the People cried Go George do Georâ—e go aside with him and I was afraid if I did not go they would say I was disobedient to my Parents So I went and the rest of the Priests were to keep the People off but they could not for the People being willing to hear drew close to us I asked the Priest what he had to say And he said If he was out of the way I should pray for him and if I was out of the way he would pray for me and he would give me a Form of Words to pray for him by I replied It seems Thou dost not know whether thou beest in the Right Way or no neither dost thou know whether I am in the Right Way or no But I know that I am in the Everlasting Way Christ Jesus which thou art out of And thou would'st give me a Form of Words to pray by and yet thou deniest the common-prayer-Common-prayer-Book to pray by as well as I and I deny thy Form of Words as well as it If thou would'st have me pray for thee by a Form of Words is not this to deny the Apostle's Doctrine and Practice of Praying by the
upon his Breast and confess'd What was written therein was Truth but said he if I should confess to it openly they would burn me So John Stubs and Henry Fell not being suffered to go farther returned to England and came to London again And John had a Vision that the English and Dutch who had joined together not to carry them would fall out one with the other And so it came to pass Having now stay'd in London some time I felt drawings to visit Friends in Essex Essex Colchester Cogshall So I went down to Colchester where I had very large Meetings and from thence to Cogshall not far from which there was a Priest Convinced and I had a Meeting at his House And so travelling a little up and down in those Parts and visiting Friends in their Meetings there-aways London I returned pretty quickly to London where I found great Service for the Lord For a large Door was opened and many flocked in to our Meetings and the Lord's Truth spread mightily this Year Yet Friends had great Travels and sore Labours the rude People having been so heightned by the Monarchy-Men's Rising a little before But the Lord's Power was over all and in it Friends had Dominion though we had not only those Sufferings without but Sufferings within also by John Perrot and his Company who giving heed to a Spirit of Delusion sought to introduce and set up among Friends that evil and uncomely Practice of keeping on the Hat in time of publick Prayers Now Friends had spoken to him and divers of his Followers about it and I had written to them concerning it but He and some others rather strengthened themselves against Friends therein Wherefore feeling the Judgment of Truth rise against it I gave forth the following Lines as a Warning to all that were concerned therein WHosoever is tainted with this Spirit of John Perrot it will perish Mark theirs and his End that are turned into those outward things and Janglings about them and that which is not savoury all which is for perpetual Judgment and is to be swept and cleansed out of the Camp of God's Elect. This is to that Spirit that is gone into Jangling about that which is below the Rotten Principle of the old Ranters and gone from the Invisible Power of God in which is the Everlasting Fellowship and so many are become like the Corn on the House-top and like the untimely Figs and now clamour and speak against them that be in the Power of God O consider the Light and Power of God goes over you all and leaves you in the fretting Nature out of the Unity which is in the Everlasting Light Life and Power of God Consider this before the Day be gone from you and take heed that your Memorial be not rooted out from among the Righteous G. F. Among the Exercises and Troubles that Friends had from without one was concerning Friends Marriages which sometimes were â—â—lled in question And in this Year there happened to be a Cause Tryed at the Assize at Nottingham concerning a Friend's Marriage The Case was thus Some Years before Two Friends were joined together in Marriage amongst Friends and lived together as Man and Wife about two Years Then the Man died leaving his Wife with Child and leaving an Estate in Lands of Copy-hold When the Woman was delivered the Jury presented the Child Heir to its Father's Lands and accordingly the Child was admitted Afterwards another Friend married the Widow And after that a Man that was Near of Kin to her former Husband brought his Action against the Friend that had last married her endeavouring to dispossess them and deprive the Child of the Inheritance and to possess himself thereof as next Heir to the Woman's first Husband And to effect this he endeavoured to prove the Child Illegitimate alledging The Marriage was not according to Law In opening the Cause the Plaintiff's Counsel did use unseemly Words concerning Friends saying That they went together like Brute Beasts with other ill Expressions After the Counsels on both sides had pleaded the Judge viz. Judge Archer took the matter in hand and opened it to the Jury telling them That there was a Marriage in Paradise when Adam took Eve and Eve took Adam and that it was the Consent of the Parties that made a Marriage And for the Quakers he said he did not know their Opinions but he did not believe they went together as Brute Beasts as had been said of them but as Christians and therefore he did believe the Marriage was lawful and the Child lawful Heir And the better to satisfie the Jury he brought them a Case to this purpose A Man that was weak of Body and kept his Bed had a desire in that Condition to Marry and did declare before Witnesses that he did take such a Woman to be his Wife and the Woman declared that she took that Man to be her Husband This Marriage was afterwards called in Question and as the Judge said all the Bishops did at that time conclude it to be a Lawful Marriage Hereupon the Jury gave in their Verdict for the Friend's Child and against the Man that would have deprived it of its Inheritance About this time the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were tendred unto Friends as a Snare because it was known we could not Swear and thereupon many were Imprisoned and divers Premunired Upon that occasion Friends published in Print the Grounds and Reasons why they refused to swear Besides which I was moved to give forth these few Lines following to be given to the Magistrates THE World saith Kiss the Book But the Book saith Kiss the Son lest he be angry And the Son saith Swear not at all but keep to Yea and Nay in all your Communications for whatsoever is more than this cometh of Evil. Again the World saith Lay your hand on the Book but the Book saith Handle the Word And the Word saith Handle not the Traditions nor the Inventions nor the Rudiments of the World And God saith This is my beloved Son hear him who is the Life and the Truth and the Light and the Way to God G. F. Now there being very many Frionds in Prison in the Nation Richard Hubberthorn and I drew up a Paper concerning them and got it delivered to the King that he might understand how we were dealt with by his Officers It was directed thus For the KING FRiend who art the Chief Ruler of these Dominions here is a List of some of the Sufferings of the People of God in scorn called Quakers that have suffered under the Changeable Powers before thee by whom there have been Imprisoned and under whom there have suffered for good Conscience-sake and for bearing Testimony to the Truth as it is in Jesus Three Thousand One Hundred Seventy Three Persons And there lie yet in Prison in the Name of the Commonwealth Seventy Three Persons that we know of And there have died in Prison
from that which the Magistrate's Sword is against which eases the Magistrates who are for the Punishment of the Evil-Doers So People being turned to the Spirit of God which brings them to mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh this brings them from under the occasion of the Magistrate's Sword and this must needs be one with Magistracy and one with the Law which was added because oâ— Transgression and is for the Praise of them that do well So in this we establish the Law and are an Ease to the Magistrates and are not against but stand for all Good Government Then Geo Middleton cried Bring the Book and put the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to him Now he himself being a Papist I asked him Whether he had taken the Oath of Supremacy who was a Swearer But as for us we could not Swear at all because Christ and the Apostle had forbidden it Some of them would not have had the Oath put to me but have let me have my Liberty but the rest would not agree to that For this was their last Snare and they had no other way to get me into Prison for all other things had been cleared to them But this was like the Papists Sacrament of the Altar by which they ensnared the Martyrs So they tendered me the Oath and I could not take it Whereupon they were about to make my Mittimus to send me to Lancaster-Jail But considering together of it they only engaged me to Appear at the Sessions and so for that time dismist me Then I went back with Margaret Fell to Swarthmore and soon after there came Col. West to see me Swarthmore who was at that time a Justice of the Peace He told us He told some of the rest of the Justices that he would come over to see me and Margaret Fell but it may be said he to them some of you will take Offence at it I asked him What he thought they would do with me at the Sessions And he said They would tender the Oath to me again Now whilst I was at Swarthmore there came William Kirby into Swarthmore-Meeting and brought the Constables with him I was sitting with Friends in the Meeting and he said to me How now Mr. Fox you have a fine Company here Yes said I we do meet to Wait upon the Lord. So he began to take the Names of Friends and them that did not readily tell him their Names he committed to the Constables hands and sent some to Prison The Constables were unwilling to take them without a Warrant whereupon he threatned to set them by the Heels But the Constable told him He could keep them in his Presence but after he was gone he could not keep them without a Warrant The Sessions now coming on I went to Lancaster Lancaster and Appeared according to my Engagement There was upon the Bench that Justice Flemming that had bidden Five Pounds in Westmorland to any Man that would apprehend me for he was a Justice both in Westmorland and Lancashire There was also Justice Spencer and Col. West and Old Justice Rawlinson the Lawyer who gave the Charge and was very Sharp against Truth and Friends but the Lord's Power stopt them The Session was large and the Concourse of People great Lancaster Sessions and way beinâ— made for me I came up to the Bar and stood there with my Hat on they looking earnestly upon me and I upon them for a pretty space Then Proclamation being made for all to keep Silence vpon pain of Imprisonment And all being quiet I said twice Peace be among you Then spake the Chair-man and asked If I knew where I was 1663. Lancaster Sessions I said Yes I do but it may be said I my Hat offends you that 's a low thing that 's not the Honour that I give to Magistrates for the true Honour is from Above which said I I have received and I hope it is not the Hat which ye look upon to be the Honour The Chair-man said They looked for the Hat too and asked Wherein I shewed my Respect to Magistrates if I did not put off my Hat I replied In coming when they called me Then they bid one Take off my Hat After which it was some time before they spake to me and I felt the Power of the Lord to arise After some pause old Justice Rawlinson the Chair-man asked me If I did know of the Plot I told him I had heard of it in Yorkshire by a Friend that had it from the High-Sheriff Then they asked me Whether I had declared it to the Magistrates I said I had sent Papers abroad against Plots and Plotters and also to you as soon as I came into the Country to take all Jealousies out of your Minds concerning me and my Friends For it was and is our Principle to declare against such things They asked me then If I knew not of an Act against Meetings I said I knew there was an Act that took hold of such as met to the terrifying of the King's Subjects and were Enemies to the King and held dangerous Principles but I hoped they did not look upon us to be such Men for our Meetings were not to terrifie the King's Subjects neither are we Enemies to him or any Man Then they tendered me the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy I told them I could not take any Oath at all because Christ and his Apostle had forbid it And they had had sufficient Experience of Swearers I told them first one way then another but I had never taken any Oath in my Life Then Rawlinson the Lawyer asked me Whether I held it was unlawful to Swear This Question he put on purpose to ensnare me for by an Act that was made such were liable to Banishment or a great Fine that should say it was Vnlawful to Swear But I seeing the Snare avoided it and told him That in the time of the Law amongst the Jews before Christ came the Law commanded them to Swear but Christ who doth fulfil the Law in his Gospel-time commands not to swear at all and the Apostle James forbids Swearing even to them that were Jews and that had the Law of God So after much other Discourse had passed they called for the Jailer G. F. committed to Prison and committed me to Prison I had about me that Paper which I had written as a Testimony against Plots which I desired they would read or suffer to be read in open Court but they would not So I being Committed for refusing to Swear I bid them and all the People take notice that I suffered for the Doctrine of Christ and for my Obedience to his Command Afterwards I understood the Justices did say that they had private Instructions from Col. Kirby to prosecute me notwithstanding his fair Carriage and seeming Kindness to me before when he declared before many of them That he had nothing against me There were several Friends besides Committed
after they had brought in their former Verdict he would not dismiss them though they desired it but told them He could not dismiss them yet for he should have business for them and therefore they must attend and be ready when they were called And when he said so I felt his Intent that if I was freed he would come on again So I looked him in the Face and the Witness of God started up in him and made him blush when he looked at me again for he saw that I saw him Nevertheless hardening himself he caused the Oath to be read to me the Jury standing by And when it was read he asked me Whether I would take the Oath or no Then said I Ye have given me a Book here to kiss and to swear on and this Book which ye have given me to kiss says Kiss the Son and the Son says in this Book Swear not at all and so says also the Apostle James Now said I I say as the Book says and yet ye Imprison me How chance ye do not Imprison the Book for saying so How comes it that the Book is at Liberty amongst you which bids me not swear and yet ye Imprison me for doing as the Book bids me Why don't ye Imprison the Book Now as I was speaking this to them and held up the Bible open in my hand to shew them the place in the Book where Christ forbid swearing they pluckt the Book out of my hand again and the Judge said Nay but we will Imprison George Fox Yet this got abroad over all the Country as a By word That they gave me a Book to swear on that commanded me Not to swear at all and that the Bible was at Liberty and I in Prison for doing as the Bible said Now when the Judge still urged me to Swear I told him I never took Oath Covenant nor Engagement in my Life but my Yea or Nay was more binding to me than an Oath was to many others For had they not had Experience how little Men regarded an Oath and how they had Sworn one way and then another and how the Justices and Court had forsworn themselves now And I told him I was a Man of a tender Conscience and if they had any sense of a tender Conscience they would consider that it was in Obedience to Christ's Command that I could not Swear But said I if any of you can Convince me that after Christ and the Apostle had commanded not to swear they did alter that Command and commanded Christians to swear then ye shall see I will swear And there being many Priests by I said If ye cannot do it let your Priests stand up and do it But not one of the Priests made any Answer O said the Judge all the World cannot Convince you No said I how is it like the World should Convince me for the whole World lies in Wickedness but bring out your Spiritual Men as ye call them to Convince me Then the Sheriff said and the Judge said the same That the Angel swore in the Revelations I replied When God bringeth in his First-begotten Son into the World he saith Let all the Angels of God Worship him and he saith Swear not at all Nay said the Judge I will not dispute Then I spake to the Jury telling them It was for Christ's sake that I could not swear and therefore I warned them not to act contrary to that of God in their Consciences for before his Judgment-seat they must all be brought And I told them that as for Plots and Persecution for Religion and Popery I do deny them in my Heart for I am a Christian and shall shew forth Christianity amongst you this day And it is for Christ's Doctrine I stand More Words I had both with the Judge and Jury before the Jailer took me away In the Afternoon I was brought up again and put among the Thieves a pretty while where I stood with my Hat on till at length the Jailer took it off Then the Jury having found this New Indictment against me for not taking the Oath I was called to the Bar And the Judge asked me What I would say for my self I bid them Read the Indictment for I would not Answer to that which I did not hear The Clerk read it and as he read the Judge said Take heed it be not false again but he read it but in such a manner that I could hardly understand what he read But when he had done the Judge asked me What I said to the Indictment I told him At once hearing so large a Writing read and that at such a distance that I could not distinctly hear all the parts of it I could not well tell what to say to it but if he would let me have a Copy of it and give me time to consider of it I should Answer it This put them to a little stand but after a while the Judge asked me What time I would have I said 'Till the next Assize But said he What Plea will ye now make Are you Guilty or Not Guilty I said I am Not Guilty at all of denying Swearing obstinately and wilfully and as for those things mentioned in the Oath as Jesuitical Plots and Forreign Powers I utterly deny them in my Heart and if I could take any Oath I should take that but I never took any Oath in all my Life The Judge said I said well But said he The King is sworn the Parliament is sworn I am sworn and the Justices are sworn and the Law is preserved by Oaths I told him They had had sufficient Experience of Men's Swearing and he had seen how the Justices and Jury had sworn wrong the other day And if he had read in the Book of Martyrs how many of the Martyrs had refused to Swear both within the time of the Ten Persecutions and in Bishop Bonner's days he might see that to deny Swearing in Obedience to Christ's Command was no new thing Then he said He wisht the Laws were otherwise I said Our Yea is Yea and our Nay is Nay and if we transgress our Yea and our Nay let us suffer as they do or should do that Swear falsely And this I told him we had offered to the King and the King said It was reasonable So after some further Discourse had passed Lancaster Prison they committed me to Prison again there to lie till the next Assize and Col. Kirby gave order to the Jailer To keep me Close and suffer no Flesh alive to come at me for I was not fit he said to be discoursed with by Men. Then was I put up into a smoky Tower where the Smoke of the other Prisoners came up so thick that it stood as Dew upon the Walls and sometimes the Smoke would be so thick that I could hardly see the Candle when it burned and I being locked under Three Locks the Vnder-Jailer when the Smoke was great would hardly be
back with me John Stubbs having further Service there stayed behind We were Two Nights at Sea In one of which a mighty Storm arose that put the Vessel in great Danger it rained and blew so hard But I saw the Power of God went over the Winds and Storms he had them in his hand and his Power bound them And the same Power of the Lord God which carried us over brought us back again and in his Life gave us Dominion over all the Evil Spirits that opposed us there Liverpool We landed at Liverpool and went to the Mayor's House it being an Inn. And after we had staid about a Quarter of an Hour in the House we went to a Friend's House about a Mile out of the Town where we staid a while and then went to Richard Johnson's Whence departing the next day Lancashire Cheshire we passed to William Barnes his House and so to William Gandy's visiting Friends and having many precious Meetings in Lancashire and Cheshire We bore towards Bristol and when we came into Gloucestershire Gloucestershire Nailsworth we met with a Report at Nailsworth which was spread about that Country That George Fox was turned Presbyterian and that they had prepared a Pulpit for him and set it in a Yard and that there would be a Thousand People there the next day to hear him I thought it strange that such a Report should be raised of me yet as we went further on from one Friend's House to another we met with the same We went by the Yard where the Pulpit was set up and saw it and went on to the Place where Friends Meeting was to be next day and there we stay'd that Night Next day being the First-day of the Week we had a very large Meeting and the Lord's Power and Presence was amongst us Now the occasion of this strange Report according as I was informed was this There was one John Fox a Presbyterian Priest who used to go about Preaching and some changing his Name as was reported from John to George gave out that George Fox had changed his Religion and was turned from a Quaker to be a Presbyterian and would Preach at such a Place such a day This begat so great a Curiosity in the People that many went thither to hear this Quaker turned Presbyterian who would not have gone to have heard John Fox himself By this means it was Reported they had got together above a Thousand People But when they came there and perceived they had a Trick put upon them 1669. Gloucestershire and that that was but a Counterfeit George Fox and understood withal that the real George Fox was hard by at Friends Meeting there came several Hundreds of them to our Meeting and were Sober and Attentive I directed them to the Grace of God in themselves which would Teach them and bring them Salvation And when the Meeting was done some of the People said They liked George Fox the Quaker's Preaching better than George Fox the Presbyterian's Thus by my providential Coming into those parts at that time was this False Report discovered and Shame come over them that were the Contrivers of it It was not long after this that this same John Fox was complained of in the House of Commons for having a Tumultuous Meeting in which Treasonable words were spoken Which according to the best Information I could get of it was thus This John Fox had formerly been Priest of Mansfield in Wiltshire and being put out of that place was afterward permitted by a Common-Prayer-Priest to preach sometimes in his Steeple-House At length this Presbyterian-Priest presuming too far upon the Parish Priest's former Grant began to be more bold than welcom and would have preached there whether the Parish-Priest would or no. This caused a great Bustle and Contest in the Steeple-house between the Two Priests and their Hearers on either side in which Contest the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book was Cut to pieces and as it was said some Treasonable Words were then spoken by some of the Followers of this John Fox the Presbyterian-Priest This was quickly put in the News-Book and some malicious Presbyterians caused it to be so worded as if it had proceeded from George Fox the Quaker whenas I was above Two hundred Miles from the place when this Bustle happened But when I heard it I soon procured Certificates from some of the Members of the House of Commons who knew this John Fox and gave it under their Hands that it was John Fox who had formerly been Parson of Mansfield in Wiltshire that was complained of to the House of Commons to be the Chief Ring-leader in that Vnlawful Assembly And indeed this John Fox was an Ill Man for when some that had been Followers and Hearers of him came to be Convinced of Truth and received the Truth in their Inward Parts and thereupon left following him he coming to some of their Houses to talk with them about it and they telling him He was in the Steps of the False Prophets preaching for Hire and Filthy Lucre and was like them whom Christ cried Wo against and the Apostles declared against such as served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies and telling him Christ said Freely ye have received freely give and therefore he should not take Money of People for Preaching especially now times were so hard He Replied God bless Preaching for that brings in Money let times go how they will And fill my Belly with good Victuals and then call me false Prophet or what you will and kick me about the House when ye have done if ye will This Relation I had from a Man and his Wife who had been formerly his Hearers whom this John Fox with others caused deeply to suffer For he and some other Presbyterian Priests using to resort to a Widow-Woman's House who had the Impropriation and took the Tithes of the Parish she told them There was a Quaker in that Parish that would not pay her Tithes and asked Counsel of them what she should do with him They advised her To send Workmen and cut down and carry away his Corn which according to their Counsel she did and thereby Impoverished the Man But to proceed After this Meeting in Gloucestershire was over we travelled through that County Bristol till we came to Bristol where I met with Margaret Fell who was come to visit her Daughter Yeomans there I had seen from the Lord a considerable time before that I should take Margaret Fell to be my Wife And when I first mentioned it to her she felt the Answer of Life from God thereunto But though the Lord had opened this thing unto me yet I had not received a Command from the Lord for the accomplishing of it then Wherefore I let the thing rest and went on in the Work and Service of the Lord as before according as the Lord led me travelling up and down in this Nation and through the Nation
de Bemise Disp fol. 71. Irenaeus affirmed That all forcing of Conscience though it was but a forbidding of the Exercise which is esteemed by one or another to be necessary to Salvation is in no wise right nor fitting He also affirmed That through the diversity of Religions the Kingdom should not be brought into any disturbance Constantius the Emperour said That it was enough that he preserved the Vnity of the Faith that he might be excusable before the Judgment-seat of God and that he would leave every one to his own Vnderstanding according to the Account he will give before the Judgment-seat of Christ Here-to may we stir up People said he not Compel them beseech them to come into the Unity of the Christians but to do Violence to them we will not in any wise Sebast Frank Chron. fol. 127. Augustinus said Some disturbed the Peace of the Church while they went about to root out the Tares before their time and through this Error of Blindness said he are they themselves separated so much the more from being united unto Christ Retnaldus testified That he who with Imprisoning and Persecuting seeketh to spread the Gospel and greaseth his hands with Blood shall much rather be looked upon for a wild Hunter than a Preacher or a Defender of the Christian Religion I have for a long season determined said Henry the IV. K. of France in his Speech to the Parliament 1599. to Reform the Church which without Peace said he I cannot do and it is impossible to Reform or Convert People by Violence I am King as a Shepherd said he and will not shed the Blood of my Sheep but will gather them through the Mildness and Goodness of a King and not through the Power of Tyranny and I will give them that are of the Reformed Religion right Liberty to live and dwell free without being examined perplexed molested or compelled to any thing contrary to their Consciences for they shall have the free Exercise of their Religion c. Vid. Chron. Van de Underg 2. deel p. 1514. Ennius said Wisdom is driven out when the Matter is acted by Force And therefore the best of Men and most glorious of Princes were always ready to give Toleration Euseb in his Second Book of the Life of Constantine reports these words of the Emperour Let them which err with Joy receive the like fruition of Peace and Quietness with the Faithful sith the restoring of Communication and Society may bring them into the right Way of Truth let none give Molestation to any let every one do as he determines in his Mind And indeed there is great reason for Princes to give Toleration to disagreeing Persons whose Opinions cannot by fair means be altered for if the Persons be Confident they will serve God according to their Perswasions and if they be publickly prohibited they will privately Convene and then all those Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which are Arguments against the permission of Conventicles are Arguments for the publick permissions of differing Religions c. they being restrained and made miserable endears the discontented Persons mutually and makes more hearty and dangerous Confederations The like Counsel in the Divisions of Germany at the first Reformation was thought reasonable by the Emperour Ferdinand and his excellent Son Maximilian for they had observed that Violence did exasperate was unblest unsuccessful and unreasonable and therefore they made Decrees of Toleration The Duke of Savoy repenting of his War undertaken for Religion against the Piedmontans promised them Toleration and was as good as his Word Also it is remarkable that till the time of Justinian the Emperour Anno Domini 525. the Catholicks and Novatians had Churches indifferently permitted even in Rome it self And Paul preached the Kingdom of God teaching those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence and no man forbad him and this he did for the space of two years in his own hired house at Rome and received all that came to him NOW O KING seeing these Noble Testimonies concerning Liberty of Conscience of Kings Emperours and others and the Liberty that Paul had at Rome in the days of the Heathen-Emperour our desire is that we may have the same Liberty at Dantzick to Meet together in our own hired Houses which cannot be any prejudice either to the King and the City of Dantzick for us to meet together to wait upon the Lord and pray unto him and to serve and worship him in Spirit and Truth in our own hired Houses seeing our Principle leads us to hurt no Man but to Love our Enemies and to pray for them yea them that do persecute us And therefore O King Consider and the City of Dantzick would you not think it hard for others to force you from your Religion to another contrary to your Consciences And if it be so that you would think it hard to you then do you unto others as you would have them do unto you do not you that unto others which you would not have men do unto you for that is the Royal Law which ought to be obeyed And so in Love to thy Immortal Soul and for thy Eternal Good this is written G. F. POST-SCRIPT BLessed be the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy And remember O King Justin Martyr's two Apologies to the Roman Emperours in the Defence of the persecuted Christians and that notable Apology which was written by Tertullian upon the same Subject which are not only for the Christian Religion but against all Persecution for Religion Dear Peter Hendricks and John Claus and J. Rawlins and all the rest of Friends in Amsterdam Friezland and Rotterdam to whom is my Love in the Seed of Life that 's over all I Received thy Letter with a Letter from Dantzick I have written something to you to the King of Poland which you may translate into High-Dutch and send it to Friends there to give it to the King or you may print it after it be delivered in Manuscript which may be serviceable to other Princes So in haste with my Love And the Lord God Almighty over all give you dominion in his Eternal Power and in it over all preserve you and keep you to his Glory that you may answer that of God in all People Amen London the 13th of 9th Month 1677. George Fox I continued yet in and about London some Weeks the Parliament sitting again and Friends Attending upon them to get some Redress of our Sufferings which about this time were very great and heavy upon many Friends in divers parts of the Nation they being very unduly prosecuted upon the Statutes made against Popish Recusants Though our Persecutors could not but know that Friends were utterly against Popery having born Testimony against it in Word and Writing and suffered under it But though many of the Members of Parliament in either House were kind to Friends and willing to have done something for their Ease yet having much
by which you will feel his blessed and refreshing Presence among you and in you to your Comfort and God's Glory And now all Friends All your Meetings both Mens and Womens Monthly and Quarterly and Yearly c. were set up by the Power and Spirit and Wisdom of God and in them you do know that you have felt both his Power and Spirit and Wisdom and blessed refreshing Presence among you and in you to his Praise and Glory and your Comfort So that you have been a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid And although many loose and unruly Spirits have risen betimes to Oppose you and them both in Print and other ways but you have seen how they have come to Nought and the Lord hath blasted them and brought their Deeds to Light and made them Manifest to be the Trees without Fruit and Wells without Water and Wandering Stars from the Firmament of God's Power and the Raging Waves of the Sea casting up their Mire and Dirt And many of them are like the Dog turn'd to his Old Vomit and the Sow that was washed turned again to the Mire And this hath been the Condition of many God knoweth and his People And therefore all to stand Stedfast in Christ Jesus your Head in whom you are all one Male and Female and know his Government and of the Encrease of his Government and Peace there shall be no End but there will be an End of the Devil 's and of all them that be out of Christ and do Oppose it and him whose Judgment doth not linger and their Damnation doth not slumber And therefore in God and Christ's Light Life Spirit and Power live and walk that is over all and the Seed of it in Love and in Innocency and Simplicity and in Righteousness and Holiness dwell and in his Power and Holy Ghost in which God's Kingdom doth stand All Children of New and Heavenly Jerusalem that is from above and is free with all her Holy Spiritual Children To her keep your Eyes And as for this Spirit of Rebellion and Opposition that hath risen formerly and lately it is out of the Kingdom of God and Heavenly Jerusalem and is for Judgment and Condemnation with all its Books Words and Works And therefore Friends are to live and walk in the Power and Spirit of God that is over it and in the Seed that will bruise and break it to pieces In which Seed you have Joy and Peace with God and Power and Authority to Judge it and your Unity is in the Power and Spirit of God that doth Judge it and all God's Witnesses in his Tabernacle go out against it and always have and will And let no Man live to Self but to the Lord as they will die in him and seek the Peace of the Church of Christ and the Peace of all Men in him for Blessed are the Peace-makers And dwell in the pure peaceable Heavenly Wisdom of God that is Gentle and Easie to be entreated that is full of Mercy all striving to be of one Mind Heart Soul and Judgment in Christ having his Mind and Spirit dwelling in you building up one another in the Love of God which doth edifie the Body of Christ his Church who is the holy Head thereof So Glory to God through Christ in this Age and all other Ages who is the Rock and Foundation and the Emanuel God with us Amen over all the Beginning and the Ending in him Live and Walk in whom you have Life Eternal in whom you will feel me and I you All Children of New Jerusalem that descends from above the Holy City which the Lord and the Lamb is the Light thereof and is the Temple in it they are born again of the Spirit So Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of them that are born of the Spirit And so they that come and are come to Heavenly Jerusalem are them that receive Christ and he giveth them Power to become the Sons of God and are born again of the Spirit So Jerusalem that is their Mother And such do come to Heavenly Mount Sion and the innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and are come to the Church of the Living God written in Heaven and have the Name of God and the City of God written upon them So here is a New Mother that bringeth forth a Heavenly and a Spiritual Generation There is no Schism nor Division nor Contention nor Strife in Heavenly Jerusalem nor in the Body of Christ which is made up of living Stones a Spiritual House And Christ is not divided for in him there is Peace Christ saith In me you have Peace And he is from above and not of this World but in the World below in the Spirit of it there is Trouble therefore keep in Christ and walk in him Amen G. F. And Jerusalem was the Mother of all the true Christians before the Apostacy and since the outward Christians are broken into many Sects and they have gotten many Mothers But all they that are come out of the Apostacy by the Power and Spirit of Christ Jerusalem that is above is their Mother and none below her who doth nourish all her Spiritual Children Read at the Yearly-Meeting in London 1691. G. F. Reader please to note That these following Papers and Epistles some of which being mention'd in the Journal page 452 c. and there omitted are found meet to be here inserted and are as followeth A Warning to the Magistrates and People of the City of Oldenborg Friends HAve you not seen and felt the Judgments of God upon your City the Lord sending Lightning from Heaven Amsterdam that destroy'd and burnt it And as I passed thorow your City on a First-day of the Week which you call your Sabbath To pag. 448 I saw some drinking and Soldiers playing at Shuffle-board and others with their Shops open and Trading when they should have been Waiting upon God and Worshipping him And your People were light and vain without any sense of God's Judgments or Repentance O therefore Repent lest the All-seeing God who sees all your Actions and is over all do bring swift Judgment upon you in his Wrath and Fury and Indignation And so Repent and lay away all manner of Evil and Wickedness and Ungodliness and Vnrighteousness for the Day of the Lord will come upon all that do Evil and the Workers of Iniquity and this mighty Day of the Lord will find them all out and will burn as an Oven and burn up all the Proud and Wicked and neither leave them Root nor Branch And therefore all ye Magistrates Priests and People search in your selves to find out the Cause and what Wickedness and Evil it has been you have Committed that has brought the Wrath and Vengeance and Judgments of God upon you and upon your City in burning of it And therefore all Return and come to the Light of Christ in your hearts