empty away My dear Babes and Lambs seed of the sincere Milk of the Word of Life that you may grow up in it and wax strong in spirit to praise the Lord and to glorifie him who is worthy Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might seek him earnestly call upon him continually let your whole Meditations be staid in him alway Seek him earnestly deny your own thoughts and words give heed to the Light bring all your deeds to it give up all that is contrary to be slain stand single empty naked before the Lord that you may be fill'd with the streams of his everlasting Love Oh my dear hearts our God is full of love stand not back press forward let nothing hinder you the Lord calls for you My Son give me thy heart The promise of our God is as large to you as to any if you can believe your straitness is in your selves For God is a full Fountain abundance of love runs forth to them that can trust him I can witness it in the barren Wilderness he caused streams of living water to break forth I cannot express it is so large therefore doth my soul thirst after you my dear ones the love of God is to you My dear Sisters I have you in my remembrance and do pray to my God and your God 〈◊〉 that you may be enlarged in your measures to praise the Lord and to be kept in a sensible feeling of his power daily and that you may encrease in Wisdom Strength and Power over Gods Enemies The Blessing of the Lord God Almighty be with you and preserve you by his Mighty Power unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Salute me to my Sister S. R. there is a tender Plant in her I do feel it to my comfort praises be to the Lord. I am in health I praise the Lord and do want nothing the Lord is my portion I cannot want he hath deck't my Table richly he hath annointed my head with Balm it runneth down the skirts of my cloathing Written in the Inquisition-Prison at the Isle of Malta a sufferer for the Seeds sake Farewel at this time Amen Your dear Sister in the Lord SARAH CHEVERS Another from K. E. to her Husband and Children with somewhat from both the Lords Prisoners to Friends the which was taken with the rest of the Letters in the Inquisition and copied out for their Lord Inquisitor DEar Husband with my dear Children I beseech you together to wait in the patience having your minds alwayes staid upon the Lord Keep out of incumbrances for that is the Enemies opportunity to step in when the mind is gone forth and to vail the pure and darken the understanding and so hinder you of the pure enâ—oyment of the beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Take no more upon you then you are able to perform in the Spirit of moderation and meekness for that is in the sight of God of of great prâ—ze See the Lord going before you in all your occasions that you may be prosperous in all youâ— undertakings wait diligently upon the Lord to be seasoned with his Grace that you may come to a pure understanding of the motions of his Eternal Spirit and to a true knowledge of the operation of his hands So you will be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the heigth and the depth and the length and the breadeth of the riches of his Grace and Love towards mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen saith my spirit This is the counsel of the Lord unto you I do often remember M. H. I do desire she may be brought up in the fear of God and want for nothing that is convenient for her salute me to her dearly I have been very sensible dear Husband of thine and our Children and many dear friends more of your sorrowful souls mourning hearts grieved spirits troubled minds for us as being Members of one body Christ Jesus bâ—ing our Hâ—â—d we must needs suffer together that we may 〈◊〉 together a true sorrow begets a true â—oy a true Cross a true Crown We do believe it is our heavenly Fathers will and purpose to bring us back as safe to England as ever he brought us thence for his own glory though we are some of the least of Christ's Flock yet we do belong to the true Fold and our Shepherd hath had as great a care of us as he could have for any of his Lambs and hath brought us through great affliction praises be given to his glorious Nâ—mâ— of us and you and all that know him for ever Though we are absent in body in the Will of God from you yet we are present â—n spirit in the Will of God with you and do receive the benefit of all your prayers daily and do feel the Springs of Liâ—e that do stream from all the faithful hearted to our great refreshment and strengthening After our money was gone the Lord Inquisitor with the rest in Authority put a great allowance in one of their servants hands for our maintenance bâ—bâ—cause we could take no money our selves the Lord of Heaven did forbid us to meddle with any and he did send to know whether we did want any clothes he would send it to the Prison to us This was the large love of our God to us and we were made contented with that we had till the Lord God who is rich in mercy and full of all Grace and is never unmindful of any which trust in his Name of his everlasting love did send his faithful Messenger whose feet are beautiful and â—ace is comely cloathed with a bright shining Garment from the Crown of the head to the sole or the foot and came in great power and strength indeed armed with the whole Armour of Light and drest in the Majesty of the Mostâ—High and being commissioned of the Higher Power went to the Lord Inquisitor to demand our lawful liberty which would not be granted except we could get some English Merchants of Legorn or Messaena to engage four thousands Dollers that we should never come into those parts again the Lord who alone is our Life and Redeemer moved our dear Brother to offer his own body to redeem ours but it would not be received then he offered to lay down his own dear and precious life for our liberty Greater love can no man have than to lay down his life for his Friend the Lord will restore it into his bosom double his service can never be blotted out his Name is called Daniel Baker his outward being is near London a right dear and precious heart he is The blessing strength and power of the Almighty be upon him and his and overshadow them for ever Amen Greater comfort could never be administred to us in our conditions Glory honor and praise to our God for evermore Amen This is a dear and sweet Salutation in that which never changeth fadeth
with intention to come up to this Port and because we sufficieâ—tly have had experience that the carriage of that sort of people is ridiculous and is capable to bring dishonor to our Nation besides other ill-conveniences that may redound to them in particular and to the English in general We therefore will and require you to give a stop to the said Quakers from proceeding any further in their journey either to Constantinople or the present Court of the Grand Signior viz. the Great Emperor of the Turks or to any other place where our Authority extends shipping them away either directly for England or any other part which they shall chuse to imbarque And we do hereby require all Officers and Members of the Factory and Masters and Officers of Ships to be aiding and assisting to you herein And for so doing this shall be your Warrant For our loving Friend Anthony Isaacson Esquire Consul for the English Nation at Smyrna By his Excellency's command Paul Ricoat Secretary Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court at Pare of Constantinople the 19th day of July it should be August for we were not in Asia in the Month called July 1661. Winchels 4. And forthwith this Warrant was dispatcht with a Messenger from the Embassador's Court at Constantinople to Smyrna and behold the Merchants of the Earth and others that could not endure to hear of the sound of Truth received the same not with little gladness poor me wo and alas for them the end of which will not be peace but contrariwise wo and misery and they put the same Warrant in execution and sent a Turkish Janisary and a Drugerman that were Officers under the Consul of the English Nation and they came with Harmols viz called Porters with Cain's Weapons and fetcht us from our Lodging before the Consul and the man was courteous and moderate and had his car open then to what we in the reverence and fear of the Lord then said unto him which was his honor who then saw over and beyond that foolish Ceremony of the Hat neither did he burthen himself with the same as many unwisely do the clouding or veiling of the nobility of a good understanding which hath a more noble respect to Equity Justice and Judgement without respect of persons in them where it is set up in its proper and peculiar Authority than to such foolish ceremonies which are below men of Wisdom yet he desired that we might not take it ill as from him in his place of Authority in doing as he was obliged in the prosecution of the Warrant which summoned all Officers and Members of the Factory with Masters and Officers of Ships to be aiding and 〈◊〉 to surprize and banish two innocent naked harmless men that had neither Bow nor Sword nor any such like material or visible Weapon of War to resist evil as Paul and Barnabas had not against whom the hard-hearted Jews cryed out with the same voice Help men of Israel c. and such like stir there was and we let the Consul first know at our first coming that we owned his place of Authority and were ready to submit to any thing that was 〈◊〉 or equitable and at last in this thing we could not submit without suffeâ—ing forasmuch as in the uprightness of our heart and in the innocency of the same were we come so far to do the Will of God and to suffer for it as his hand permitted So with many other expressions I cleared my Conscience as also by Words Sufferings and Writings to the whole Nation there and the Consul seemed to be unwilling to use violence against us that at our departure prayd for them that hated us without a caus knowing not what they did we seeing it could not at that season be otherwise but what the Lord had permitted them to bring to pass not to their justification but as a Judgement among them from the living God who did not onely dispence the visitation of his Love and Salvation day by day among them but he visited them also with the strokes of his displeasure even unto death and destruction And surely he smote and took away of the chiefest and others of them daily And verily my heart often cryed and besought the Lord for them in secret more especially though I was constrained not to cease uttering my voice openly among them and for them while they sought my hurt as many of them I know by the Witness of God in them may remember And so we were sent away as Prisoners or rather as Lambs driven from the Dens of Lyons or from the barren Caves of ravening Wolves whose Nature wooried them Now we had spoken for a passage by a Dutch ship to have gone from thence to Constantinople but before the ship departed Smyrna the Warrant came to the Consul's hands which thou mayest see came not from either them called Turks Jews Heathen Greeks or Barbarians but even from the men of our own Nation Alas alas yea wo and alas for them So the Reader may see what a stir there hath been in the Region of Asia against the appearance of Truâ—h and its innocency in plainness to expel and banish it together with its Message and Messengers out of their coasts or borders and not to have any entertainment or at least to come within the extent of their Authority whatever becomes of them let them go where they will c. So as in effect they say We will not have this man the Light Truth Temperance Innocency its Life and Wisdom from above to rule or have its preheminence over us in our Consciences We will rather chuse to live in the practice of our own evil hearts and ways and therefore thus to their own hurt they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways and as for the Word of the Lord we have no delight in it Lo they have rejected the Word of the Lord and what Wisdom is in them And such the holy perfect and upright man saw rebel against the Light and said They are of those that rebel against the Light they know not the wayes thereof neither abide in the paths thereof And so with consent they joined together to banish Truth its Message and Messengers of Peace which provoked them to jealousie that believe not who scorned us as fools and what else not honestly considering how that God is provoking the Nations to jealousie and wrath with a foolish people as in the ancient days Deut. 22. was prophesied And such besought our Lord and Master even Jesus to depart out of their Coasts or Borders who loved and fed their Swine upon the Mountains even the Gadarenes besought him to depart who saith He that loveth Father or Mother or what else more than me is not worthy of me and Father and Mother and such Relations are of of more honourable esteem than many Swine And to his Disciples he also saith
unto me in a dream and said There were two English Friends in the City which did plead for our liberty in our behalf and he had taken all fear away from them and made them bold And in a little while after the Magistrates sent for us forth and askt us whether we were sick or whether we did want any thing and were very tender to us and said we should write to England and bid the Scribe give us Ink and Paper he said he would but he was so wicked he did not They did not tell us of any English that were there but there was one Francis Steward of London a Captain of a Ship and a Fryar of Ireland which came to the City together for what we know and they did take great pains for us and went to their Ruler and the Inquisitor and to several Magistrates and Fryars and the new English Consul with them and wrought much amongst them that all were willing to let us go save the Inquisitor they said and he said He could not free us without an Order from the Pope But we had many heavy Enemies besides which vvould not be seen but they obtained the favour to come and speak with us which was a great thing in such a place They sent for us to the Court-Chamber and the English Consul askt us if we were willing to go back to England We said if it were the Will of God we might The Captain spake to us with tears in his eyes and told us what they had done for us but could not prevail It is this Inquisitor said he the rest were made free you have preached among these people he said We told him we were called upon the Testimony of our Conscience and the truth that we have witnâ—ssed forth among them we should stand to maintain with our blood He said if they could get us off he would freely give us our passage and provide for us and he Vessel was his own We cold him his love was as well accepted of the Lord as if he did carry us He offered us money he savv the Lord vvouldâ— not suffer us to take any He took our Names We told them they took us out of our way and put us into the Inquisition and bid us changâ— our minds and we could not the Lord had changed us into that which changed not if they would burn us to ashes or chop us as Herbs to the Pot. The Fryar said We did not work which was false we had Work of our own and did work as we were able We told him our Work and Maintenance was in England And they said it was true He said We would not accept of the Inquisitors Dyet We did not know who did prepare for us we did receive our meat as we had freedom in the Lord. Then he said We had suffered long enough and too long but we should have our freedom in 〈◊〉 days and that they would send to the Pope for an Order And there were many English ships that way but the Captain saw it was a very hard thing so that it grieved him to the heart He prayed God to comfort us and he went away and we do beseech God to bless and preserve him unto everlasting life and never to let him nor his go without a blessing from him for his love he did venture himself exceedingly in that place But after he was gone they arose up against us with one accord the Inquisitor came up into a Tower and lookt down upon us as if he would have eaten us and they did try us for our lives again and did shut up our doors many Weeks we could not tell for what at length the Inquisitor came into the Tower again and Sarah was moved to call to him to have the door opened for us to go down into the Court to wash our clothes Then he gave command for the door to be opened once a Week and in a little while 't was open every day But great was our affliction indeed and she told him if we were the Popes Prisoners we would appeal to the Pope and he should send us to him But them in the prison with us especially the Fryar were mortal Enemies to us but yet they would have fed us with the choicest of their meat and would gladly give us whole Bottles of Wine if we would receive it and were greatly troubled because we did refuse to eat and drink with them and did persecute us exceedingly but the Lord did visit them with his dreadful Judgements the Fryar was tormented night and day his body did perish the Doctors and Chyrurgions did follow him a long time And there were two or three English Ships there came into harbour and Sarah saw the coming of them in a Vision of the night and there was great pleading for us that we saw but she heard a Voice saying We could not go now So we were made willing to wait the Lords time Then they sent for us forth when the Ships were gone and askt us if we would be Catholicks And we said we were true Christians and had received the Spirit of Christ and he that had not the Spirit of Christ was none of his The English Consul told us of the Ships and said they would not let us go unless we would be Catholicks and that we must suffer more imprisonment yet and said he did what he could for us One of the Magistrates shewed us the Cross We told them and said We did take up the Cross of Christ daily which is the great Power of God to crucifie sin and iniquity So we told them that one of their Fathers did promise us our liberty We did think that Fryar was too tender-hearted to stay among them he did take a great deal of pains for us the Captain said we told him he would never have cause to repent it the blessing of God would be upon him for any thing he should do for us for we were the Servants of the living God and he promised us our freedoms in a little time This following I received from them in other Papers to Friends D. B. O Dearly beloved Friends Fathers and Elders and Pillars of Gods Spiritual House and Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ in the measure of Love and Life of our God do we salâ—te you all and do embrace you in that which is Eternal and we do greatly rejoice and glorifie the Name of our Heavenly Father that he hath counted us worthy to be partakers of the death and sufferings of his blessed Son with you though we be the least of Gods Flock yet we are of the true Fold whereof Christ Jesus is Shepherd and he hath had as tender a care over us as he hath had of any of his Lambs which he hath called forth in this the day of his Power and hath carryed us through and ever as great afflictions as most of our Brethren and sufferers for his Name both in
the Lord of Life to them after I had offered up my body and to lay down my life for these poor innocents my dear friends and so with my voice I saluted them in the Lord's Truth as they stood at the prison-Grates with these words in the behalf of the general Assembly of the Saints in light to wit The whole Body of God's Elect right dearly owneth your Testimony and you are a sweet savour unto the Lord and his people And forasmuch as one of these poor afflicted Lambs replied and said on this wise as if it was a trouble to them that they could not be more serviceable Then my heart being melted and my bowels of pity mercy and compassion being moved I said That it was a wonderful mercy of the Lord in as much as they were preserved in their own measure of Truth and pure innocency for which my heart praised the Lord for what mine eye saw which right dearly affected my heart and we were well refreshed at that season in the sweet presence of our living God albeit our bodies were at a distance but so as we could behold each others face through the Prison bars of Iron in the Inquisition Now for so much as in the Wisdom of God it is seen meet that the fore-mentioned and following Writings which came from their hands might appear to publike view that thereby every Member of the one Body may have a right understanding and not onely so but also a sensible feeling not onely of the trials and sufferings in part of these innocent Lambs but also of the consolations of each other as fellow-Members of the infinite Body of which Christ Jesus the Lord is both King and Head in whom be endless dominion and pure glory and eternal salvation Amen And so I being as it were constrained to publish the acceptable Words that sound and savor of pure innocency and clear truth for the Elect's sake in the same Love and Life I am the more free hereunto even as a Child that differs but little from a servant as I am in the Father's Love Power and Grace of Life fitted to serve the undefiled Life of the least in the Kingdom of Blessedness and to administer comfort or what else I have received from the Eternal Fountain or Fulness for the use or service of either Body Mind Soul or Spirit of my own Flesh or Family seeing no man ever hated his own Flesh and he is worse than an Infidel that provideth not for his own Family especially them of his own House This is a sweet Salutation to God's Elect Church in England and Ireland RIght dear precious and Heavenly ones whose Beauty shineth bright and at whose Name the hearts of the Heathen do tremble We who through the everlasting Mercies of our God are Members of the same Body and are held in strait Captivity and hard Bondage for witnessing forth the same Testimony and Covenant of pure Light Life and Truth of our God with you dear and faithful ones indeed We here in the same Covenant of pure Love and Bowels of tenderness do dearly salute and embrace you all glorifying and praising our Eternal Father for you all who hath counted us worthy to partake of the fellowship and sufferings for the Bodies sake with you in tribulations fiery trials manifold temptations fastings watchings heats and colds and cruel threatning and persecutions perils by Sea and perils by Land standing in jeopardy of our lives year after year and looking every hour day and night for many Weeks together when we should be brought out to Execution but though Proclamation was made and they came up to the very Caâ—e with a Drum and Musquets to fetch us out to destroy us yet the Lord God of everlasting strength who in the deepest of all dangers and greatest extremity when all hopes were past did but blow upon them with the breath of his nostrils and they did flye as dust before the Wind for which we do entreat all Friends to glorifie our God on our behalf for never did the Lord our God work greater deliverance for any than he hath done for us from time to time who are the least and weakest for what we know that ever the Lord our God sent forth in so great weighty a Work but all things are possible with him who made and created all things it is he alone which carrieth on his own work by his own mighty Power and the glory shal be his own for evermore Amen Oh our dearly beloved Friends did you know but the third part of the afflictions the Lord our God hath carried us through you would say The Lord hath wrought as great a Miracle in our preservation as ever he did in raising Lazarus out of the Grave And in the greatest of our afflictions we could not say in our hearts Father would thou hadst not brought us here but cryed mightily to our God for power to carry us through whatsoever should be inflicted upon us that the Truth of our God might not suffer through our weakness And the Lord did hear us and answered us in righteousness and carried uâ— on with all boldness and made our fore-heads as Flint and our Brows as Brass in the faces of our Enemies that whensoever we were brought forth upon trial all fear was taken away that we stood as Iron-Gates and Castle-Walls in the faces of our Enemies so that they said we would fain be burned but we answered No we would not willingly be burned but if our Heavenly Father doth call us to suffer in that kind for his Name sake he will give us power to go through it and we have great cause to believe it for our Lord God never called us to do any service for him but he gave us power and made way for his own Work glory and praise be to his holy Name for ever Dearly beloved friends marvel not why Israel is not gathered in all this time it is not for want of labour nor travel nor grief nor pain fasting nor mourning nor weeping nor love to their souls but it is because of the great oppression For here are a willing people but they dare not until the Lord make way for them Truly Friends we have not been idle since we saw your faces nor have we had much ease to the flesh but do travel night and day for Sion's prosperity and perfect joy and for the reparation of Jerusalem and her pure praise though our sorrows are deep and our afflictions grievous yet we do wait with patience to reap the peaceable fruits of righteousness and enjoy the benefit of our uprightness Praises be to our God for ever he hath kept us by his power and holiness that our Enemies have not one jot or tittle against us but for the Truth of our God and that we could not join with them so they would not suffer us to have one line of refreshment but stript us out of all so that we could not