bring ye to know and remember your Creator in the dayes of your youth and it will reveal God's Power and Wisdom in ye whereby ye will be kept in true order So suffer not your minds to follow vanity neither walk in stubbornness towards your Parents nor others I warn ye in God's fear lest he shorten your dayes and cut ye off by his righteous Judgements but mind his fear and wait therein that ye may feel his Grace and be taught by it and be obedient unto it and then ye will feel the Mercy and Blessing of the Lord. And all ye that are Masters and Dames wait in the true Light that ye may feel Christ the Power and Wisdom of God to be your Master that so ye may rule in your Places in his Fear and Wisdom and lay no more upon your Servants than ye would be willing should be laid upon you if ye were in their places and conditions Mark that and forbear threatning them and be not hasty to turn them away if they be willing to abide with you but in Patience and Meekness shew them their Place and Service and therein teach them if they know it not and let them have for their Service that which is convenient just and reasonable that they may have no just cause to murmur or complain and keep out of covetousness lest that hinder you from giving them sufficient liberty who desire it for going to the Meetings of the People of the Lord and if in the Wisdom of God ye see freedom to turn any away give them sufficient warning that they may provide themselves other wayes for this is just and reasonable and be not hasty nor rash with them nor run into jangling with them but if ye have cause to reprove them let it be in the Fear and Wisdom of God in the Freedom and Authority of the Truth and that will reach unto the Witness of God in them so be not High-minded but fear and be patterns unto them in the lowly meek and quiet spirit and bear with the weak and forgive them that trespass against you and render not evil for evil to any but overcome evil with that which is good and live in that which overcomes evil that so the Truth of God may be exalted over all And all ye that are Servants live in the Fear of the Lord and wait in his Light and be obedient thereunto and also be obedient in your places unto those that are your Masters and Dames according to the Flesh not onely to the good and gentle but also to the froward serving them in Faithfulness and Uprightness of Heart doing what ye do for them as diligently faithfully and willingly as ye should do any thing to the Lord for this right in the sight of God and take heed that none of God's Creatures be lost or wasted under your hands through your neglecting them or slothfulness in your places do not falsly accuse any or speak evil behind any one's back thereby thinking to get the favour or love of any or upon any other account for that is evil and be as diligent in your places when your Masters or Dames are absent as when they are present for this is just and right and be not stubborn nor wilful neither use many words to your Masters or Dames and if you know not well how to perform your service aright then in true humility be willing to learn and take heed of High-mindedness and Pride or of being wise in your own eyes and when you have any spare time allowed ye being free from outward imployment see that ye spend it in the fear of the Lord in waiting upon him in his Light that so all vain talking corrupt Communication foolish jeasting and all vanity may be kept out of and give ye not way to that mind which is unstable which would be oft shifting and going from place to place for this is not right in the sight of God but wait in the Light that ye may be staid and setled in your minds and if ye see freedom in the fear of God mark that to go to another place then give your Masters or Dames sufficient notice of it and if any of you who know the Truth come to be moved of the Lord to go to any place in his service be faithful to the Lord and when your service which he required of you is done then return to your places again except it be otherwayes ordered in the Fear and Wisdom of God and be diligent in your places doing the same that ye would others should do unto you in the like condition and mind the Lord in all things and above all things and be faithful unto him and he will be your reward And all ye Fathers and Mothers and Children and Masters and Dames and Servants who have the Creatures of God to buy or sell or to Exchange live in the fear of the Lord that ye may feel his Wisdom to guide you in your trading and do not speak better or worse of the Creatures then you know them to be thereby to get the greater gain for that is Idolatry it arising from Covetousness but wait to feel God's Spirit to bridle your tongues and use but few words in your trading and if ye ask a question therein do it in simplicity and keep in the Light which is equal that when ye offer or ask a price for the Creatures it may be in equality and let that be your rule and not the price of the Market except that be equal that so ye may reach the equal principle one in another and then stand to your word and here your yea will be yea and your nay will be nay and so you will be kept in the Doctrine of Christ with his Light out of all Evil and ye abiding in the Light it will bring ye to do to every one as ye would be done unto and take heed that ye stir not up the impatient crooked disorderly Nature one in another with your words or actions but bear one with another and forgive one another and when ye tell each other of a fault do it in the Fear and Wisdom and Meek Spirit of God's Lamb that so ye may restore each other therein and when ye have any convenient time assemble your selves together in the Name and Fear of the Lord and wait every particular in the Measure and Gift of God in you which is given ye to profit withal and all wait together in the Light and believe in it that ye may be Children of the Light and therein watch unto Prayer and one over another and this will beget ye into unfeigned love and walking in the Light ye will have true unity and fellowship one with another and the blood which is the Life of Jesus Christ you will feel cleansing you from all Sin and so ye will come into the unity with God Also to feel his Word his Power and Wisdom in you by
any that took his Part leave that unto the Lord who will reward every one in Righteousness according to their deeds done in their Bodies And consider how far Christ was from seeking or desiring Revenge when they murdered him as concerning the flesh who said Father forgive them for they know not what they do Oh mind that Spirit and consider he was greater than thy Father and he was free from all Transgression and wherein thy Enemies did evil in any thing against thy Father or Thee and those that took your Part freely forgive them and render not evil for evil unto any man but overcome evil with that which is good O King this were the way for Thee to be established in peace and so to end thy dayes Oh that thy Heart were thus inclined that Mercy and Righteousness and Peace might be found to reign in Thee and that Mercy might Triumph over severity then might'st thou prosper and many of thy Enemies and also of those that are called thy Friends might be converted unto God and so ye might be united in true love one unto another and this were better than conquering by force And consider this there are many that acted against thy Father and Thee whom the Lord intends good towards though I know that several of them through Covetousness and Envy have done exceedingly wrong in many things Yet consider how Christ taught his to pray Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And I do verily believe that if they turn unto the Lord and truly humble themselves under his hand and believe in the Light of his Son and obey him that he will freely forgive them all their Transgressions But if thou resolvest to avenge thy self and those called thy Friends which have suffered and to keep under those which are now fallen under Thee by a heavy yoke either in matters of Worship or otherwise I know it will exasperate the spirits of many against Thee and it will raise up the desperate aggravating part in man and so the thing may kindle again in the murdering Spirit And the Lord may suffer it to break forth into blood which if it should it may be the sadest time that ever thou yet sawest for this I know and do stedfastly believe that after God hath tryed his People he will assuredly bring an overflowing scourge upon this Nation and many shall fall and perish by an eminent hand and judgement of the Lord except they repent speedily And verily there is but a little space given to prevent this great Judgement and Destruction because the Lord hath already born long and his patience hath been exceeding great and he hath sent many of his Servants and Prophets to warn this Nation and others and many thousands have believed us and are gathered into Peace with us notwithstanding they see a great Judgement to come upon the Earth and though many have believed us yet alas the far greater part hath either beaten or imprisoned or scoffed at or slighted and rejected us or the Testimony which we hold and some have spoyled our goods and imprisoned some of us to death and some of us have been killed for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God And so many in the Nations are waxed worse and worse And when the Lord hath smitten some they have revolted more and more and when he hath raised up others and given them prosperity they have then fed themselves without fear and forgot the Lord and waxed wanton against him Therefore seeing people will neither hear the Prophets of the Lord nor regard the Light of his Son in their Consciences which checks and reproves for sin and evil in secret nor turn to the Lord when he smites them nor regard his Truth when they have prosperity the Lord will leave striving with such a People and bring sudden destruction upon them and deliver his chosen as he did just Lot So we are given up to the Will of the Lord and do patiently wait for his mighty appearance to deliver us who have long been a suffering People who have suffered both by Parliaments Army Protectors and by those called thy Friends also yea we have suffered and been most cruelly entreated even by Rulers Priests and People Professors and Prophane because we could not joyn unto the evil in either but we have been made to reprove them for it and to exhort them unto that which is good and so we must yet do so long as we find the Lord requiring it at our hands though for it we be hated and persecuted unto death yet knowing that it is without cause on our part when we suffer we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ in all our sufferings and our lives are not dear unto us that we may finish our course with joy and our Testimony for the Lord which he hath given to bear though it be sealed with our blood for we certainly know that the Lord is our reward in whatsoever we do or suffer for his Names sake And now O King as thou expects the Blessing and Presence of the Lord with Thee in thy Government Fear and Dread his Presence by standing in awe of his living Witness the Light which he hath placed in thy Conscience to guide and direct Thee in all thy wayes that his wrath may be turned away from Thee that so this Scripture might not be fulfilled upon the People of this Nation God gave them a King in his anger and he took him away in his sore displeasure But if it should prove so I shall have peace for I am clear of thy blood in as much as in plainness I have let Thee see how things have been and how they may or shall be and wherein thy danger stands and how that Righteousness only establisheth the Throne And my desire is if it be the Will of God that thou mightest consider them in the Principle of Life and Wisdom and thereby come to be preserved and saved from that Destruction which in God's Eternal Light I see Thee in great danger of Thus in Innocency and Truth and in Uprightness and Sincerity of heart I have freely declared unto Thee what was laid upon me and it is in true tender and unfeigned love both to thy Soul and Body And that this is true God is my Witness and the Witness of himself in thy Conscience shall answer unto it unto which I leave and commend Thee from which thou canst not hide thy thoughts So to the Lord God of Life be Glory and Dominion and everlasting Praises over all to whom it doth belong Amen Given forth in Harwich Goal in Essex the 16. day of the 3d. Month called May 1660. Where I suffer for the Testimony of Jesus through the envy of the Devil who is the false accuser of the Brethren POSTSCRIPT THough this Treatise was more especially laid upon me to write it unto the KING and therefore to him was it directed
things in the Childs name mark that it shall forsake the Devil and all his works mark that the pomps and vanities of this World and all the sinful lusts of the flesh and that it should keep God's holy Will and Commandments now if you say they may forsake all these things and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments then will it not overthrow what you Teach your selves at other times and if People do not or cannot forsake the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked World and the sinful lusts of the flesh and keep God's Holy Will and Commandments then do you not cause them you call God-Fathers and God-Mothers to Promise and Vow lies and impossibilities in Childrens Names Now Answer these things in Plainness and Moderation without fleeing to your Carnal Weapons and be not like those that instead of answering have raged and persecuted those that have Queried them There are many things more appertaining to your Worship which I cannot own to be Right but I would see how you will get through these things and what satisfaction you are able to give concerning these few and then as the Lord moves you may hear of many things more which are to be Queried The 22 d. of the 4th Month 1660. From a Faithful Souldier of the Army of the Lamb which must get the Victory for whose Testimony I suffer in Lambeth-House George Fox the Younger THE Testimony of God To those Rulers Teachers and People of this present Age where the Headship of the Church is given to Man and to such as strive to have it so and to those that set themselves in the seat of God by taking upon them that which properly belongs to God and Christ who are one Wherein God's Controversie with them is plainly Demonstrated Opened and given by the Spirit of Truth which is made manifest in that earthen vessel which is called George Fox the younger HEarken O ye Kings and Give ear ye Rulers Teachers and People of all sorts who are striving against the Spirit of God in its workings The Lord's Controversie is great this day and few there be that rightly understand it Therefore are ye confounded broken and breaking one of another and cannot be healed until you return to and receive and obey that which will shew you with what God's Controversie is Therefore consider this The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding Job 32.8 Yea the life of the Immortal Word which is the Light of men John 1.4 giveth to understand the mind of the Eternal God Therefore to the Light which the Word hath enlightned you withal Take heed John 1.9 for that is the faithful Witness of God and to that in you all who shall hear the Testimony which God hath given me to bear shall I be made manifest for that shall answer to the words of the most High which I have to utter Therefore let all flesh be silent that Truth may take place and that the words of the Holy One may be heard and received Thus saith the Lord God My Controversie hath not been nor is not with man any further than as he is departed from me and joyned to and become one with the man of sin that wicked one the Son of Perdition who is exalted in man above me the Eternal God and opposeth me and sitteth in my Temple shewing himself to be God in taking upon him that which properly belongeth unto me for he commands and leads them with whom my Controversie is into whatsoever and whithersoever he pleaseth and they are become subjects unto his Kingdom so that they will not that I should Reign over them but they have taken Counsel of my Adversary who hath taught them also to take as it were my Honour which I will not give to another unto themselves and so they are become one with my Adversary And by his Power they also in many things have set themselves in my stead in taking upon them to do things which did properly belong unto me and they in thus doing have slighted and rejected the thing that I have done and thus the Abomination which maketh desolate standeth in the place where it ought not For which cause I will visit saith the Lord God And now You with whom God's Controversie is who have given the headship of the Church to man that you may further see your Error Mark and consider these things It did properly belong to the Mighty Eternal God to Ordain a Head for his Church and he unalterably Ordained one Head thereof which is Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickening Spirit Yea he gave him to be Head of the Body which is the Church the fulness of him that filleth all in all that he in all things might have the preheminence in whom all fulness dwells Col 1.18 19. Ephes 5.23 and 1.22 23. And by the appointment of the Father he giveth forth all the Laws and Ordinances which his Church that is the Congregation of the Righteous are now to observe and whosoever will not hear him in all things and follow his leadings and obey his voice are to be cut off For all Judgement is committed unto him John 5.22 27. But many of you who in several Nations are called Christians with whom the Lord's Controversie is great unto the dishonour of God You have taken upon you to Ordain other Heads of the Church then Christ and they shall give forth Laws and Ordinances for the Church to observe and they that will not hear your Heads and observe their Laws and Ordinances you will cut them off or Persecute them and in thus doing you have slighted and rejected the thing that God hath done and ye have set your selves in his stead And this is a great Cause of God's Controversie with this Age and until this abomination be removed and broken down God will remove and break down all in whomsoever it doth reside and all such as would uphold it whatsoever their names be called For whosoever will strive to uphold that Authority in themselves or others which properly belongs to God and Christ who are one shall not be able to stand in this the day of God's Controversie neither can the Nations be setled in true Peace until that be given up to Christ which properly unto him belongs and is his Right for though the Lord hath long born with great patience yet now the time hasteth that the Heir must be Possest of that which the Father hath given unto him and they that will not freely give up to him his due must be broken And now O England to Thee I speak mark this did not serve to end the Controversie of God with Thee when thou didst take the Headship of the Church from the Pope and gave it to the outward King Neither did that end God's Controversie with Thee when thou didst take it from thy King again and gave the Nature or Power of the Headship though not the Name
with you and give you up wholly to follow the deceit of your own hearts for the Lord will not alwayes strive with man But the day shall come wherein the Lord will withdraw himself from the Rebellious and he that is filthy let him be filthy still Oh Friends I see a day which will be terrible unto the Disobedient For when the Lord hath tryed his People and gathered the sincere hearted out of all Forms unto himself he will then sweep away the refuge that will not be gathered in the day of their Visitation with a mighty Destruction And the day hastens in which this shall be accomplisht by the mighty Arm and Power of the Lord which is now working in secret Therefore wait to be led and taught of him and heed not the Rage and Cruelty of man neither bow to his Perverse will but know that the Lord hath given bounds to the Sea that although it roar Rage and swell and cast up mire and dirt yet it cannot go beyond its bounds Therefore be Patient and commit your Cause unto the Lord and seek not to avenge your selves but leave it unto him who will avenge the Cause of his People And wait in the feeling of the Truth in your selves that so you may feel the pure Life of Christ to be a stay to your minds in all your Tryals and Temptations Oh poor hearts this is a precious thing to come to be sensible of the true stay and guide to the mind O keep to that which maketh your Temptations and thoughts manifest and believe and wait in that and then you will feel that to be a stay to your minds and you will feel the Lord's secret strength revealed in you enabling you to stand in whatsoever Tryal or Temptation he shall suffer to come upon you or to be presented unto you yea as you are faithful to the Power that he commits unto you you shall not be tryed beyond your strength but you shall feel the Lord supporting you and by his Power he will work your minds into contentedness with his will in all things And if you will follow the Power of the Lamb which is that which moves against Sin and taketh it away you will come to feel your hearts and minds drawn and Redeemed out of the Earth thereby and you will be made willing to give up and to part with all and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Now if your spirits come to be brought into this frame then whatsoever man can do unto you it will not be able to move you Oh! that you would wholly give up your selves to wait upon the Lord in the pure manifestation of his Spirit and cease contending and pleading for those things which the Spirit of the Lord requireth not at your hands Oh! that you would now mind to obey the pure requirings of the Life of Jesus in your selves and that would bring you into lowliness of mind and meekness of spirit into true love to God and one towards another and not only to love your friends but even to love your enemies also and to forgive and pray for them that despightfuly use you and then you would indeed bear the Image of the Lamb and witness his Kingdom set up in you and this would bring you in patience to wait until he arise to plead the cause of his People and to avenge himself on his and their enemies and to make the Kingdoms of this world his and the People subject to his Government which shall certainly be aceomplished in its Season and the day draweth nigh So the Lord God Almighty manifest himself more and more unto you all in whose hearts there are any true sincere honest desires to know and do his Will and who are willing to follow him as he appears to lead and draw you and the Lord of Life manifest his strength unto you and gather you by the Power of his Christ into the everlasting Covenant of Life Rest and Peace This is the sincere desire of my Soul whose bowels yearn towards you whose souls are breathing and thirsting after the endless Life of Righteousness And this is Message of true love unto you in which it is sent forth among you according to the instructions of the Almighty yea for your sakes is this written whose Souls are panting after the Lord in what form or society soever you be in who are willing to follow the leadings of his Life and to submit to his will as it comes to be made manifest unto you and many of you in whom there be such honest desires I see are now in a bewildred condition in this cloudy and dark day which seems to approach not knowing well what to do or which way to take or where to find rest or safety by reason of the want of the knowledge of a true guide to your minds I say for the informing of your understandings and for the strengthening of those desires in you which are sincere towards the Lord was I drawn forth in much tenderness and bowels of unfained love to write unto you that you might be brought to be sensible of the gift of God in your selves and to know what that is that is to guide your minds and in what you are to wait to receive the true Teachings that so your minds may come to be stayed upon the Lord and that may be gathered into his Name wherein the true help and safety is and that you may avoid whatsoever would be a hinderance unto your growth in the simplicity of the Truth Therefore I exhort and warn you to take heed of following your own thoughts and imaginations any longer but freely give up to be led by that Principle of Life which cannot consent to Sin but appears to call and draw you out of the same You need not fear that that will deceive you but whatsoever would draw you from that Life that is the Deceiver And hearken not any longer to such Teachers as are greedy of filthy lucre for such make a prey of you and cannot profit you at all And take heed of hearkening or joyning to such Teachers or People as will turn to and comply with any worship or thing that may be for their advantage as they account and that they may save themselves from sufferings for such are Luke-warm and the Lord will spue them out and their shame and filthiness shall appear and they shall become loathsom both in the sight of God and man Therefore avoid them And as there are few Teachers amongst the Professors whom I believe for Conscience sake dare not turn back and lick up that which they formerly were made to vomit out and deny so also there are many that would willingly turn to any thing for their bellies if they might be received that will not now be accepted of and these that see they cannot keep their places by their turning they will appear zealous especially in secret against those things that they
Designs Oh England England How oft hath the Lord God smote thy Rulers and Mighty and Proud men how oft hath he laid their Honour in the Dust Yea how oft hath he Overturned and Confounded thy Mighty men even thy Men of War with thy Princes Nobles and Captains of Thousands Hundreds and Fifties O how oft hath he Overturned thy Governments and Changed thy Governours But how few of them have so regarded the Out-goings of the Lord in all these things as they ought to have done And how few of them have rightly Weighed and Considered the Causes for which the Lord hath brought or suffered so many Changes in the Land Or have those who saw the Causes that provoked the Lord of Hosts thus to Act lalaboured so to remove them as they ought to do or might have done Nay assuredly they have not for the Lusts of this World and the Pride of Life hath blinded the minds of most and such who have seen what their Duty was the honour of this World and that cursed Self-interest hath stopped and hindred most of them from doing those things which they saw they ought and which they had opportunity also to have done Oh! how have the new Governours in almost every Change of late cryed out of the Tyranny and great Oppression of those whom they did Succeed And how have most of them Vowed unto God Declared to and Promised the People That they would remove the Burdens and Oppressions that the fore-going Rulers had Laid and Continued upon them But alas very few of them have regarded their Vows Declarations and Promises either to God or Man but in Treachery and Deceit have they gone on serving themselves and their own Lusts and not the Lord nor their Generation faiâ—hfully For although many of them have been very large in Promises and Good Words whereby they have long sought to Deceive the hearts of the People yet it is but very Little that hath been done for their true Liberty because that wicked Spirit which seeketh to make it self great by the Ruine of others hath Ruled and doth yet Rule in the hearts of many Rulers this is of the Devourer and Destroyer who cannot forgive Enemies but cryes out of Rebellion and Treason labouring to exasperate the Spirits of others that so occasions may be gotten if possible against them thereby to bring them under and keep them in Bondage Oh England England Such is thy Sad Estate and Condition that several of thy Rulers are and have been as roaring Lyons even greedy to Devour and many of thy Teachers have been and yet are like Troops of Robbers robbing and spoyling of many of thine Inhabitants Oh! How have most of thy Priests Temporized and Daubed with every Power as they have come up in the many Changes How have they encreased Envy Wars and Destructions amongst thy Rulers and People How have they one time Cryed up and Prayed for the same Thing which at another time they have Cryed down and Prayed against Oh! Who shall ever believe them Their god is their Belly and who is it that many of them would not joyn unto if thereby they might be upheld in Pride Idleness and Fulness How oft would they Change again and again And what Idolatry is there that many of them would not run into for their Bellies sake Ah poor Nation Are they not yet striving to kindle a Flame within thy Bowels Hath not the Lord divided them And are they not labouring with all their might to Divide and Rend thy Inhabitants yet more and more Yea surely and it is just with the Lord to suffer it to be so because of the greatness of their Abominations which are daily encreased Ah poor Land How art thou overspread with Wasters and Spoylers who like Caterpillars devour thy Pleasant Fruit. Oh! the Whoredoms and Idolatries that are daily committed and acted in thee Who can Declare them Oh! thy Chief City thy Chief City that Bloody City Can its Abominations be Parallel'd in the Earth Surely it hath exceeded Sodom in Wickedness The Lord is very Angry with a great part of its Inhabitants and his Vengeance is nigh to come upon them Wo unto you Whoremongers Drunkards Gluttons Swearers Cursers Blasphemers Cheaters and Idolaters Wo unto you Proud Wanton and Prophane Vain Persons Wo unto you Mountebanks Stage-Players Bear-Baiters Gamesters and all manner of Abominable Workers and you that Build up Towers Scaffolds and vain Heathenish Representations and such like and make and garnish Images to draw Peoples minds after Idolatry and for your cursed Gain and Lusts in pretence of Honouring your King Oh! How are People drawn into Gazing and Wondring after these Abominations It grieveth the Righteous Soul to behold such great Wickedness Oh! You Wicked and abominable Workers Devourers of the Creation The Lord God will meet with you in a time when ye are little aware of Him He 'l Stain your Pride Vain Glory and Idolatry and give you your Portion amongst Devourers except you speedily Repent and your Abettors Strengthners and Helpers forward of such Ungodliness that do it knowingly and Delighters therein The Lord will not acquit you He 'l smite you for these things and that right soon Oh! Ye Idolatrous People Do you think that the Lord God of Pitty and Patience suffered your King to hide himself from his Enemies in an Oak for that end that ye might Devour his Creatures in making an Idol of it Is this the use you make of that which you say was God's Mercy towards you Is not this the way to turn those things that might have been Mercies to you into Plagues and Judgements Oh! How do you Dayly provoke the Lord against Your selves and your King Oh! You Wicked Workers How dare you make Representations of Destruction and Ruine How dare you make a Sport of such things Verily your Provocations are great wherewith you provoke the Just God And it will be Just with him to bring Ruine Desolation and Destruction upon you and your City Verily great is the Judgement that is nigh you and your sins draw it on you apace Do you think that the Lord cast out Back-sliders Hypocrites and Vnfaithful men to set up and establish Idolaters and open Prophane Persons Nay surely Therefore Tremble ye Wicked Workers and Howl ye Prophane Idolaters for the Mighty and Terrible day of the Lord is near to break out upon you Thus saith the Lord God I 'le Scatter I 'le Scatter I 'le Split Divide and Separate I 'le Break and Dash to pieces and none shall be able to Gather Bind up or Ioyn together For mine Anger is kindled and my Jealousie shall burn till I have devoured mine Enemies saith the Lord. Therefore ye People of Enland that yet live in wickedness who have not wholly sinned out the day of your Visitation To you I now speak You that feel the Lord yet striving with you O Return Return speedily unto the Manifestation of his Spirit whereby he
of God the Light by the Gift we are brought to bring forth these fruits which are contrary to those which the Spirit of Error leads the Children of disobedience to bring forth Gal. 5.22 23. For although we the Children of Light are accounted to be in Delusion and Errour Gal. 5.22.23 yet it is but by you who bring forth the Cursed fruits which the Spirit of Errour leads you to bring forth so in the Light Life and Power of God we stand over all false Accusations and Reproaches and Persecutions and in the patience of Gods Lamb we bear them all and our love goes forth to your Souls who wilfully oppose your selves and we declare unto you that the long-sufferings of the Lord towards you is to draw you to Repentance Rom. 2.4 and I have directed you to that which will shew you what you ought to repent of Therefore consider your wayes speedily all you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 for verily this I declare unto you in the presence of the Lord that if you go on and continue in stubbornness and Rebellion against the Pure God and despise his love and reject his counsel and still refuse to hearken to the Light of his Son in your Consciences which reproves you for Sin and is freely given to you to lead you out of Sin unto God if you wilfully do not resist it Mark when the measure of your iniquity is filled up then will he arise upon you at unawares in his fury Wrath Indignation Mat. 24.50.51 and his eye shall not at all pitty you but he will bring his Plagues and Righteous Judgements upon you which shall consume you both root and branch if you will not be gathered in the day of his long patience and forbearance which is the day of your Visitation wherein you may come to know the things belonging to your peace if you do not wilfully resist the Power that is offered and committed unto you But if you resist the Power then the Lords righteous Judgements will assuredly come upon you and you will receive to your selves Condemnation and if you continue in your wickedness until the day of your visitation be past then shall the Light in all your Consciences which hath oftentimes shewed unto you your evil deeds arise and witness to the Judgements of God that they are just Zek. 2.7 so whether you will hear or forbear Remember you are warned in your Life time By a Friend to your Souls and a Lover of the Creation of God GEORGE FOX the Younger A few Queries to such Professors as stumble at the Light the Word the Kingdom and Spirit of God within and tell People that none can be free from Sin in this Life and yet say that they own the Scriptures 1. Qu. ARE not all by Nature Darkness and doth not the Light shine in Darkness yea or nay 2. Qu. Can any come to see themselves to be Darkness but with the Light which shineth in the Darkness yea or nay 3. Qu. Is there any way to come out of Darkness and Death and to receive Life and to be made Children of the Light but by believing in and following of Jesus Christ the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World yea or nay 4. Qu. Must not all be turned from Darkness to Light and from Satan's Power to the Power of God before they can receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified yea or nay 5. Qu. Can any come into the true Faith which purifies the heart and gives victory over the world without which none can please God but by hearing the Word of God yea or nay 6. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the Word of God and is not Christ the Light the Author and Finisher of the true Faith which saves and justifies yea or nay 7. Qu. And is not the Word nigh in the Mouth and in the Heart that men may obey it and do it and is not Christ the Light the Word that Prophet which all that hear him not are to be cut off yea or nay 8. Qu. And is it not Christ the Word which discerns and reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart and is not he the ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul and is not he the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and is sufficient which hath appeared unto all men and is not he the Word of God's Grace which is able to build up and keep from falling which People are to be commended unto yea or nay 9. Qu. And is not God Light and is not the shining of him in the hearts of People which gives them the knowledge of himself in the face of Jesus Christ yea or nay 10. Qu. And is not Christ the Light the hope which purifies as God is pure which Anchors and stayes the Soul to be known within are not People tossed like a Ship in a tempest without an Anchor till Christ the Hope be felt within to stay and Anchor them and is not Christ within the Hope a Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations and are not all they in the reprobate state who know not Christ within them yea or nay 11. Qu. And is not God's Kingdom Light and is it not like a little leaven that is hid in Meal and as a grain of Mustard-seed that is sown in the Earth and like a Pearl hid in the Field or like good Seed sown in the Field both on stony thorny high-way and good ground and is not the world the Field where the Seed of the Kingdom is sown and is not the world in mans heart so is not Gods Kingdom within men yea or nay 12. Qu. And is not the manifestation of the Spirit given to every man to profit withal and do any worship the Father of Truth aright but those that worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth and is not the Light the Truth yea or nay 13. Qu. And is not Christ the Light that Word which reconciles to God and is it not he that must open the understandings of men before they can understand the Scriptures and are not People in Errour and in jangling and strife about the Scriptures till Christ the Light the Spirit of Truth the Power of God from whence Scriptures were spoken be known and owned to guide and lead them yea or nay 14. Qu. And is not this the Cause of so many Sects and Opinions and Divisions as are and of such strivings as are about Scriptures and Religions because People know not or own not the Spirit of Truth from whence Scriputures were spoken forth to lead and guide them and is it not like that People should run into Sects and Opinions and Divisions and Strife if they know not or own not the Spirit of Truth to guide and lead them and if the Spirit of Truth were known and owned to
enâ—oy it and if they do not then the preservation of the People of God you say is lost and all good Government will cease and the People will be made a Prey upon and so the three Nations will be ruined at once and therefore seeing such things are like to come to pass if a Parliament chosen by the People be not upheld some of you have said you will assert their Cause to the last drop of your blood Answ Friends It 's good to be zealously affected in a good Cause and it 's good that the zeal be according to knowledge and it 's precious to have the zeal moderated with the Wisdom of God Therefore I exhort you in that Life and Wisdom which is of Christ my Master who came not to destroy mens lives but to save them that you would mind the Dread and Fear of the Lord God which is the beginning of Wisdom therefore be moderate and in coolness consider these things which I shall declare unto you which in waiting upon the Lord he by his Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding opened in me concerning the chusing of Parliaments by the Voices of the People and I know that you who truly desire the good of God's People and that Mercy and Justice might be established by righteous Laws whereby Equity and Justice might bâ— done unto all without respect of persons may clearly see with God's Witness in you which will answer to my words That you are not like to see your desires fulfilled by a Parliament that 's chosen by the Voices of the People mark the reasons Because the greater part of the People that are admitted to chuse Parliament men are such as do not truly desire the good of God's People whatever they may profess in words therefore it being in their Power to chuse whom they will among themselves as it is because most Voices carry it they will chuse such men as are like minded with themselves that 's plain and according to the Scriptures for the World love their own as saith John and now for proof that the greater part are not such as desire the good of the Lord's People I would have you consider how that the Scripture saith That the flock of Christ is a little flock and Christ saith Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it but broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction and many there be that walk therein and though Israel be as the sand of the Sea yet but a remnant shall be saved Now if ye believe these Scriptures then may you see that a Parliament that is chosen by most voices are not like to act for God and the good of his People and it hath been the complaint of the soberest and honestest men in several Counties when they should have chosen Parliament men that they could not chuse such a man as they judged would act singly for the good of the People of God and the Country because they were over-voted by the wild disaffected People who sometimes have been stirred up by their Priests to vote for such a man as the Priests knew would act for their covetous oppressing self-interest and in some places some great proud men who desired to be in Authority have feasted the People and sent Gifts to them with flatteries thereby striving to get the People to vote for them promising them to stand for their Liberties when it hath been but to serve their own self-ends and thus the People have been deceived and if at any time in some Counties and Places the honest sober People have chosen some honest-men to serve in Parliament yet there being so many in the Parliament that have sought their own Honour and Gain that such men as were honest and would have made just Laws and have acted for Equity and Liberty they have been hindred because what is done in Parliament is done by most voices also and the honest party in the Parliament having been the lesser party have been over-voted also The Light in your Consciences will witness that these things are true And whereas it is said That it is England's Birth-right that the People should chuse their own Law-makers I answer Then many thousands of men in England have been wronged of and kept long from their Birth-right for such as are not Free-men of some Corporations or have not Free-land of their own are not permitted to chuse Parliament men mark that though they be far more honest and understanding men than many that are Free of such Corporations and have such Land so that it 's but a part of the People that must chuse Law-makers And further he that hath Free-land worth forty shillings by the year in several Counties he may give his Voice in several Counties where his Land lyeth for several Parliament men when as he that hath Land but in one County cannot have the same priviledge though he be a far more honest man and he that 's a Free-man of that Corporation that finds a Parliament man or men and hath Free-lands in the Country also he may chuse both in the one and other but he that is not Free of such a Place he may not have the like priviledge though he be more honester than the other And this arose from the same ground that negative Voices arose from and it hath been the Manner and Custom of England to call and chuse many wise men after the flesh and many mighty and Noble men so called to be Parliament men that so we see the calling and chusing of Parliaments in England hath been exactly contrary to God's calling and chusing Read 1 Cor. 1.26 and therefore such Parliaments are not like to act for God and the good of his People but against them But that which God hath called and chosen shall confound and bring to naught the Wise and the Mighty and the Noble things so called of the World and this the Lord will bring to pass that so no flesh may glory in his presence Read 1 Cor. 1.27 28 29. And likewise the chusing of Parliament men according to the Custom of England which is called its Birth-right stands in respect of persons and not in equality for the rich covetous oppressing men who oppress the Poor they have the only power to chuse Law-makers and they will chuse to be sure such as will uphold them in their Oppression and the poor man that is oppressed though he have no power allowed him to chuse yet he must be subject to the Laws which they make who are his Oppressors or else he is accounted a Rebel so what right think ye is the Oppressed like to have when his Oppressors chuse the men that are to be Judges of his Cause and thus the rich men oppress the poor and draw them before their Judgement seats as they did in Jamâ—s his dayes Jam. 2.6 These things being considered ye may see the unequalness and partiality that hath been
fetched over some of our Friends to the Meeting but the Officers would not suffer them to go over but charged them in the King's Name to come back and carried them before the Magistrates who commanded that they should forthwith be set in the Stocks and they were so and there were kept for some hours And thus the Magistrates of that Town encouraged the rude People against Us by their unjust proceedings Now it is usual with the Magistrates of that Town to suffer such as come to their Steeple-house-worship to come or go over the water upon the first Day of the Week And about a Month before on the first Day of the Week the MAYOR being informed that some of our Friends were coming over he with some other Officers of the Town went down to the water-side being bent against the Innocent but when the Boat came on shore it appeared that they were other People who were going about their occasions and when they saw the Mayor they said unto him We made bold to come over he answered them It was well enough I thought said he you had been QUAKERS and thus did he manifest his partiality in the sight of many in that Town so notwithstanding the Rulers cruelty in causing about forty of our Friends to be forced back and setting two in the Stocks as afore-mentioned we that were in the Town peaceably assembled our selves together in the fear of the Lord to wait upon him and for near about the space of two hours I had liberty to Preach the Gospel to the People being filled with the Power of the Lord but within a short time after the space afore-mentioned there came a great company of rude Sea-men with others of the Town and the house being filled before with peaceable People these rude ones could not easily get in but when they saw that they could not get well to me because of the press of People some of them then cursed me bitterly biding that they call the Pox and Plague upon me others crying out hang him Rogue hang him and another conspiringly said Let us get a Halter which is a long Rope and therewith pull down the House upon the Rogues others cryed out The King is coming now who will hang or banish you all it being a little before his coming Now when I heard and saw this great ungodliness the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon me and I was filled with his unresistable Power in which I was made to utter these words saying Wo wo unto the Rulers and Teachers of this Nation who suffer such ungodliness as this and do not seek to suppress it then went some of the multitude and accused me to the Magistrates who presently came and commanded the chief Constable and some others to fetch me out who forthwith pressed in and in the King's Name commanded me to go with him and so he brought me out of the House into the Street where the Rulers stood amongst the rude multitude then he that was MAYOR said hastily Which is he which is he some answered This is he pointing towards me then said the MAYOR to the Constables Take him and put him into Prison then said I to him if I have done any thing worthy of death or bonds I shall not refuse either but I desire Thee to shew me what Law I have transgressed if thou be able which thou oughtest to do before thou sendest me to Prison that I may know for what thou sendest me thither he said I should know that afterward but he would neither let me know my Accusers nor could he shew me any Law I had broken neither would he tell me for what cause he sent me to Prison nor did he at all examine me but commanded the Constables to take me away so I was forthwith haled to Prison without a Mittimus And Robert Grassingham whose outward being was at Harwich being at the Meeting out of which I was haled he innocently in tender love went along with me to Prison and as he went in the street he seeing the rude multitude thronging me said to the Constables You ought to see the Peace kept and not to suffer the rude People to abuse the Prisoner or words to this effect So some time after I was imprisoned there was a Mittimus sent to the Goalor signed by Miles Hubburd Mayor Anthony Woolward and Daniel Smith wherein I was falsly charged with causing a tumult in that Burrough and disturbing the Peace thereof and thus they sought to cover their Persecution by false accusing of the Innocent whom the Lord acquits but the rude cursing tumultuous Peace-breaking People whom they had let up and strengthned by their unlawful proceedings had nothing done unto them but were let go free yet all this did not satisfie their persecuting Spirit but they further proceeded in their cruelty and accused both me and Robert Grassingham to the PARLIAMENT Now as for R. G. I know nothing that they could pretend against him except they were displeased with his going with me to the Prison as afore-mentioned nor did they in the least charge him to his face with any thing but the MAYOR some time before that did say unto him in the hearing of several Friends If I could but get you out of the Town then could I deal well enough with the rest of the QUAKERS but the Lord hath a Seed in that Town which fears not the rage of man though one of their Brethren through the cruelty and unlawful proceedings of those Rulers be taken From them at present So the PARLIAMENT upon the receiving of their false Information issued forth an Order for the bringing up of R.G. and Me A true Copy thereof is as followeth Munday May the 21th 1660. The House being informed that two QUAKERS that is to say George Fox and Robert Grassingham have lately made a disturbance at Harwich and that the said George Fox who pretends to be a Preacher did lately in his Preaching there speak words much reflecting on the Government and Ministry to the near causing of a a Mutiny and is now committed by the Mayor and Magistrates there Ordered That the said George Fox and Robert Grassingham be forthwith brought up in Custody and that the Sheriff of the County of Essex do receive them and give his assistance for the conveying of them up accordingly and delivering them into the charge of the Sergeant at Arms attending this House Ordered That the thanks of this House be given to the Mayor and Magistrates of Harwich for their care in this business William Jessop Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament So after they had kept me ten nights in Harwich Prison the Sheriff of Essex with several armed men came for me with the Order afore-mentioned so a great company of men with Halbards fetched me out of the hole wherein I was put which was not four Yards long nor so broad as long and these men would not suffer me to speak with the
not for Conscience sake satisfie his covetous and unrighteous desire but chose rather to suffer than to come forth by yielding to such a horrid oppression yet were we willing to have given him to the full value of all the things we made use of in the Chamber and it being the highest room in a lofty Tower and all the Windowes open it was not fit for men to Lodge in by reason of the Wind and Rain beating in until we had gotten them Glassed without any charge to the Sergeant and we had so little of his in our Chamber that we offered this to wit that if two reasonable men would prise the things we would pay him for them and give him the Things also or if he would not stand to that then we would give him two shillings and six pence a week for the time we had been there We also told our Keepers that if we denyed to give them any thing that they could recover by Law the Law was open but they ought not according to their own Law to keep us upon that account but to tutn us out and then take their course at Law And so we demanded our Liberty several times but notwithstanding all this the Sergeant detained us still And the day before the PARLIAMENT Adjourned our Names in a List with other Prisoners in his Custody was given in to the Parliament who notwithstanding their Act of Indempnity and Oblivion and their former Order for our being forthwith Released and set at Liberty they made another Order That it should be Referred to the Kings Privy Counsel to consider of us and to give such Order touching us as to our Liberty or to continue under constraint as they should find Consistent with the Publick Peace and the mean time we are to remain in the Sergeants Custody so by this Order we are still detained and nothing is yet done by the Privy Council touching us Now let the Reader consider how unreasonably and contrary to Law we have been used who have been kept seventeen Weeks in this Prison and never brought to any examination Besides the time that I was kept in Harwich Now if the PARLIAMENT had rightly weighed and considered the matter when they Ordered the thanks of the House to be given to the Mayor and Magistrate of Harwich for their care in that business touching us truly they might have found more cause to have reproved them for their folly than to have given them thanks For if it had been true that we had made some Disturbance at Harwich as it is said in the Order for our Release yet if the Magistrates of Harwich had rightly understood their duty and if they had not been blinded with the mad zeal of Persecution they might have seen that it belonged to their place to have ended the matter of a disturbance and not to have troubled a Parliament with such a frivilous thing But it is certain that Persecutors in all Ages were blind And what a thing is this cannot three Justices of the Peace so called nor a Parliament determine in the matter of a Disturbance if it had been so that we had made one which we did not but that such a thing â—s that must be turned over to the Kings Privy Council to be considered of or is it because they would keep the innocent in Prison and are ashamed to bring them to an examination having nothing justly to charge them withal I leave this to be answered by that of God in all who shall read this And seeing there have been many false Reports touching the cause of our imprisonment and also that some of our enemies have reported that we may come out of Prison if we will it was upon me to publish the manner of our Imprisonment and of our being kept and by whom that the truth of the matter may plainly be seen which being truly considered People may see that it is even now as it was in the Prophets dayes of old For Judgement is now turned backward and Justice standeth afar off Truth is fallen into the Streets and Equity cannot enter yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Evil maketh himself a prey and the Lord hath seen it and it displeaseth him because there is no true Judgement Isaiah 59.14 15. and as they did in the dayes of Amos even so do this Generation yea They now turn Judgement into Wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the Earth they hate him that rebuketh in the Gate and abhor him that speaketh uprightly Therefore will the Lord break forth like fire Amos 5. Lambeth-house the 21st of the 7th Month 1660. G. F. HIS FAITH Touching Four Particulars DEMONSTRATED I. Concerning Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World II. Concerning Justification III. Concerning the Resurrection IV. Concerning Everlasting Glory and Eternal Misery Written for the satisfaction of some tender consciencious Persons who had heard false Reports of Him and others of his Judgement touching the things above Written First AS concerning Iesus Christ that was supposed to be Joseph the Carpenter's Son who as concerning the Flesh was Crucified and put to Death at Jerusalem between two Thieves upon the Cross at Mount Calvary I do believe he was the Son of God and that that very Body that the Souldier pierced was the very Body that was prepared by the Father for Christ the true Saviour to come in to do the Will of the Father that sent Him And I do believe that by the Grace of God he tasted Death for every man that as many as believe in and obey him whose Soul was made an Offering for sin might have Eternal Life through him who gave his precious Life a Ransom for many Secondly I do believe that no man can be Iustified by the Works of the Law nor by any VVork of his own but He or She that is Iustified in the sight of God it is freely by his Grace through Faith in Christ Iesus who creates such unto Good VVorks which God hath ordained that they that are justified should walk in Now God through his Free Love hath made Me a Witness of true Iustification And I testifie in the Lord That it is not my Works that Iustifie me but it is the LORD alone who worketh my Works in me and for me according to his own good pleasure who loved me before I loved him and manifested his Love to me in the Covenant of Light whereby he drew me after himself and gave me strength to obey and follow him in the manifestation and drawings of his Love which whilst I did reject I was justly condemned of the Lord and could not witness Iustification in that State although I sought it and talked much of it as many Professors now do but GOD who is rich in Mercy and Love shewed me how he had given me Power and Ability to receive his Truth in the Love of it through which I am now Saved and Iustified Thirdly Touching the Resurrection It is a