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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wit_n	witness_n	word_n	45	3	3.4490	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40209	A journal or historical account of the life, travels, sufferings, Christian experiences and labour of love in the work of the ministry, of ... George Fox, who departed this life in great peace with the Lord, the 13th of the 11th month, 1690, the first volume.	Fox, George, 1624-1691.; Penn, William, 1644-1718.; Fox, Margaret Askew Fell, 1614-1702.	1694 (1694)	Wing F1854; ESTC R3344	917,676	824

Redeemer their Mediator and come to feed upon him the Bread of Life from Heaven Many were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his free Teaching that Day and all were bowed down under the Power of God 1657. Radnorshire so that though the Multitude was so great that many sate on Horse-back to hear there was no Opposition made by any And a Priest sate with his Wife on horse-back and heard Attentively and made no Objection but the People parted peaceably and quietly with great Satisfaction many of them saying They never heard such a Sermon before and the Scriptures so opened For the New Covenant was opened and the Old and the Nature and Terms of each and the Parables were explained and the State of the Church in the Apostles Days was set forth and the Apostacy since laid open and the free Teaching of Christ and the Apostles was set a top of all the hireling-Teachers and the Lord had the Praise of all for many were turned to him that Day Lemster I went back from thence to Lemster where there was a great Meeting in a Close many hundreds of People being gathered together There were a Matter of six Congregational Preachers and Priests amongst the People and Thomas Taylor who had been a Priest but was now become a Minister of Christ Jesus was with me I stood up and declared about three Hours and none of the Priests were able to open their Mouths in Opposition the Lord's Power and Truth so reached them and bound them down At length one Priest went off about a Bow-shot from me and drew several of the People after him and there set a preaching to them So I kept our Meeting and he kept his But after a while Thomas Taylor was moved to go to him and spake to him and he gave over and then he and the People he had drawn off came up to us again and the Lord's Power went over them all At last a Baptist that was Convinced said Where 's Priest Tombs how chance he doth not come out This Tombs was Priest of Lemster Hereupon some went and told the Priest and up comes he with the Bailiffs and other Officers of the Town And when he was come they set him upon a Stool over against me Now I was speaking of the heavenly divine Light of Christ which he Enlightens every one that cometh into the World withal and turning them to it to give them the Knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus their Saviour When Priest Tombs heard this he cried out That is a Natural Light and a made Light Then I desired the People to take out their Bibles and I asked the Priest Whether he did Affirm that that was a Created natural made Light which John a Man that was sent from God did bear witness to and did speak of when he said In him to wit in the Word was life and that life was the Light of Men Joh. 1.4 Dost thou affirm and mean said I that this Light here spoken of was a Created Natural Made Light And he said Yes Then said I Before I have done with thee I will make thee bend to the Scriptures Then I shewed by the Scriptures that the Natural created made Light is the outward Light in the outward Firmament proceeding from the Sun Moon and Stars And dost thou Affirm said I that God sent John to bear witness to the Light of the Sun Moon and Stars Then said he Did I say so I replied ' Didst thou not not say it was a Natural Created Made Light that John bore witness unto If thou dost not like thy Words take them again and mend them Then he said That Light which I spake of was a natural created Light I told him 1657. Lemster He had not at all mended his Cause for that Light which I spake of was the very same that John was sent of God to bear witness to which was the Life in the Word by which all the natural Lights as Sun Moon and Stars were made In him to wit the Word was Life and that Life was the Light of Men. So I directed the People to turn to the Place in their Bibles and I recited to them the Words of John how that In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made So all natural created Lights were made by Christ the Word In him was life and the life was the light of Men And that was the true light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And Christ saith of himself John 8.12 I am the light of the World And bids them Believe in the light John 12.36 And God said of him by the Prophet Isaiah ch 49.6 I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth So Christ in his Light is saving And the Apostle said The light which shined in their Hearts was to give them the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And that was their Treasure in their earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.6 7. When I had thus opened the matter to the People the Priest cried to the Magistrates Take this man away or else I shall not speak any more But said I ' Priest Tombs deceive not thy self thou art not in thy Pulpit now nor in thy Old Mass-house but we are in the Fields So he was shuffling to be gone and Thomas Taylor stood up and undertook to make out our Principle by Christ's Parable concerning the Sower Matth. 13. Then said the Priest Let that Man speak and not the other So he got up into a little Jangling for a while till the Lord's Power catched him again and stopt and confounded him Afterwards a Friend stood up and told him How he had sued him for Tithe-Eggs and other Friends for other Tithes for he was an Anabaptist Preacher and yet had a Parsonage at Lemster and had several Journey-men under him And he said He had a Wife and he had a Concubine and his Wife was the Baptized People and his Concubine was the World But the Lord's Power came over him and them all and the everlasting Truth was declared that Day and many were turned by it to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and Way to God And of great Service that Meeting was in those Parts The next day Thomas Taylor went to this Priest and reasoned with him and came over him by the Power of the Word From this place I travelled on in Wales Tenby having several Meetings as I went till I came to Tenby where as I rode up the Street a Justice of Peace came out of his House and desired me to alight and stay at his House and I did so On the First-day the Mayor

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 ●●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

and he would do it And whereas he says We refused to give Sureties He asked only George Fox for Sureties who replied He was an Innocent Man and knew no Law he had broken But he did not ask Tho. Lower for any as if it had been Crime and Cause enough for his Commitment that he came out of Cornwall And if we were at a Meeting as he says in his Mittimus he might have proceeded otherwise than by sending us to Jail to answer the Breach of the Common Laws though yet he shewed us no Breach of any as may be seen in the Mittimus So we thought fit to lay before you the Substance of his Proceedings against us hoping there will more Moderation and Justice appear in you towards us that so we may prosecute our intended Journey George Fox Thomas Lower But no Enlargement did we receive by our Application to the Lord Windsor so called And although Thomas Lower received several Letters from his Brother Dr. Lower who was one of the King's Physicians concerning his Liberty and one by his Procurement from Henry Savil who was one of the King's Bed-Chamber to his Brother called the Lord Windsor to the same Effect yet seeing it related only to his Enlargement not mine so great was his Love and Regard to me that he would not seek his own Liberty singly but kept the Letter by him unsent So we were continued Prisoners 1673. Worcester-General-Quarter-Sessions till the next General Quarter-Sessions of the Peace At which time divers Friends from several places being in Town did speak to the Justices concerning us who spake fair to Friends and said we should be discharged For many of the Justices seemed to dislike the Severity of Parker's Proceedings against us and did declare an Averseness to ensnare us by the Tender of the Oaths Some Friends also had spoken with him that was called the Lord Windsor who likewise spake them fair so that it was the general Discourse that we should be discharged We heard also that Dr. Lower had procured a Letter from one Col. Sands at London to some of the Justices in Favour of us Some of the Justices also spake to some Friends to acquaint us that they would have us speak but little in the Court lest we should provoke any of the Bench and they would warrant we should be discharged We were not called till the last Day of the Sessions which was the Twenty First of the Eleventh Month 1673. And when we came in they were stricken with Paleness in their Faces and it was some time before any thing was spoken insomuch that a Butcher in the Hall said What! are they afraid Dare not the Justices speak to them At length before they spake to us Justice Parker made a long Speech on the Bench much to the same Effect as was contained in the Mittimus often mentioning the Common Laws but not Instancing any that we had broken adding That he thought it a milder Course to send us Two to Jail than to put his Neighbours to the loss of two hundred Pounds which they must have suffered if he had put the Law in Execution against Conventicles But in this he was either very Ignorant or very Deceitful for there being no Meeting when he came nor any to Inform he had no Evidence to Convict us or his Neighbours by When Parker had ended his Speech the Justices spake to us and began with Thomas Lower whom they examined of the Cause of his Coming into that Country of which he gave them a full and plain Account Sometimes I put in a Word while they were Examining him and then they told me They were upon his Examination but that when it came to my turn I should have free Liberty to speak for they would not hinder me but I should have full time and they would not ensnare us When they had done with him they asked me an Account of my Travel which I gave them according as is mentioned before but more largely And whereas Justice Parker to aggravate the Case had made a great Noise of There being some from London some from the North some from Cornwal and some from Bristol at the House when I was taken I told them That this was in a manner all but one Family For there was none from London but my self none from the North but my Wife and her Daughter none from Cornwall but my Son-in-Law Thomas Lower nor any from Bristol but one Friend a Merchant there who met us as it were providentially to assist my Wife and her Daughter in their Journey homewards when by our Imprisonment they were deprived of our Company and Help When I had spoken the Chair-man whose Name was Simpson an Old Presbyterian said Your Relation or Account is very Innocent Then he and Parker whispered a while together and after that the Chair-man stood up and said You Mr. Fox are a Famous Man and all this may be true which you have said but that we may be the better satisfied will you take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy I told them They had said They would not ensnare us but this was a plain Snare for they knew we could not take any Oath However they caused the Oath to be read and when they had done I told them I never took Oath in my Life but I had always been true to the Government That I was cast into the Dungeon at Darby and kept a Prisoner Six Months there because I would not take up Arms against King Charles at Worcester-Fight and for going to Meetings was carried up out of Leicestershire and brought before Oliver Cromwel as a Plotter to bring in King Charles And ye know said I in your own Consciences that we the People called Quakers cannot take an Oath or Swear in any Case because Christ hath forbidden it But as to the Matter or Substance contained in the Oaths this I can and do say that I do own and acknowledge the King of England to be lawful Heir and Successor to the Realm of England and do abhor all Plots and Plotters and Contrivances against him and I have nothing in my Heart but Love and Good-will to him and all Men and desire his and their Prosperity the Lord knows it before whom I stand an Innocent Man And as to the Oath of Supremacy I deny the Pope and his Power and his Religion and abhor it with my Heart While I was speaking to them they cried Give him the Book And I said The Book saith Swear not at all Then they cried Take him away Jailer and I still speaking on they were Vrgent upon the Jailer crying Take him away we shall have a Meeting here Why do you not take him away That Fellow meaning the Jailer loves to hear him preach Then the Jailer drew me away and as I was turning from them I stretched out my Arm and said The Lord forgive you who cast me into Prison for Obeying the Doctrine of Christ