the Meeting some Professors began to jangle Whereupon I stood up again and answered their Questions so that they seemed to be satisfied and our Meeting ended in the Lord's Power quiet and peaceable This was the last Meeting I had in Scotland And the Truth and the Power of God was set over that Nation and many by the Power and Spirit of God were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour and Teacher whose Blood was shed for them And since there is a great Increase 1657. Scotland Dunbar and great there will be in Scotland For when first I set my Horses Feet upon the Scottish Ground I felt the Seed of God to sparkle about me like innumerable Sparks of Fire Not but that there is Abundance of thick Cloddy Earth of Hypocrisy and Falseness that is a top and a briary brambly Nature which is to be burnt up with God's Word and plowed up with his Spiritual Plow before God's Seed brings forth heavenly and spiritual Fruit to his glory But the Husbandman is to wait in Patience From Dunbar we came to Berwick Northumberland Berwick where we were questioned a little by the Officers but the Governour was loving towards us and in the Evening we had a little Meeting in which the Power of the Lord was manifested over all Leaving Berwick we came to Morpeth and so through the Country Morpeth Newcastle visiting Friends to New-castle where I had been once before For the Newcastle-Priests had written many Books against us and one Ledger an Alderman of the Town was very envious against Truth and Friends He and the Priests had said The Quakers would not come into any great Towns but lived in the Fells like Butterflies So I took Anthony Pearson with me and went to this Ledger and several others of the Aldermen desiring to have a Meeting amongst them seeing they had written so many Books against us for we were now come I told them into their great Town But they would not yield we should have a Meeting neither would they be spoken withal save only this Ledger and one other I told them Had they not called Friends Butterflies and said We would not come into any great Towns And now we were come into their Town they would not come at us though they had printed Books against us Who are the Butterflies now said I Then Ledger began to plead for the sabbath-Sabbath-day but I told him They kept Markets and Fairs on that which was the sabbath-Sabbath-day for that was the seventh day of the Week whereas that Day which the professed Christians now Meet on and call their Sabbath is the First day of the Week So when we could not have a publick Meeting among them we got a little Meeting among Friends and friendly People at the Gate-side where a Meeting is continued to this day in the Name of Jesus As I was passing away by the Market-place the Power of the Lord rose in me To warn them of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them And not long after all those Priests of Newcastle and their Profession were turned out when the King came in From New-Castle we travelled through the Countries Northumberland Bishoprick having Meetings and visiting Friends as we went in Northumberland and Bishoprick and a very good Meeting we had at Lieutenant Dove's where many were turned to the Lord and his Teaching After the Meeting I went to visit a Justice of Peace a very sober loving Man and he confessed to the Truth From thence we came to Durham Durham where was a Man come down from London to set up a Colledge there to make Ministers of Christ as they said I went with some others to reason with the Man and to let him see That to teach Men Hebrew Greek and Latin and the Seven Arts which was all but the Teachings of the Natural Man was not the Way to make them Ministers of Christ For the Languages began at Babel 1657. Durham and to the Greeks that spake Greek as their Mother-Tongue the Preaching of the Cross of Christ was foolishness and to the Jews that spake Hebrew as their Mother-Tongue Christ was a Stumbling-block And as for the Romans who had the Latin and Italian they persecuted the Christians and Pilat one of the Roman Governours set Hebrew Greek and Latin a top of Christ when he Crucified him So he might see the many Languages began at Babel and they set them a top of Christ the Word when they Crucified him And John the Divine who preached the Word that was in the beginning said That the Beast and the Whore have Power over Tongues and Languages and they are as Waters Thus I told him he might see the Whore and Beast have Power over the Tongues and the many Languages which are in Mystery Babylon for they began at Babel and the Persecutors of Christ Jesus set them over him when he was Crucified by them but he is Risen over them all who was before them all Now said I to this Man Dost thou think to make Ministers of Christ by these natural confused Languages which sprang from Babel are admired in Babylon and set a top of Christ the Life by a Persecutor Oh no! So the Man confest to many of these things Then we shewed him further That Christ made his Ministers himself and gave Gifts unto them and bid them Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth Labourers And Peter and John though unlearned and ignorant as to School-learning preached Christ Jesus the Word which was in the beginning before Babel was Paul also was made an Apostle not of Man nor by Man neither received he the Gospel from Man but from Jesus Christ who is the same now and so is his Gospel as it was at that Day When we had thus Discoursed with the Man he became very loving and tender and after he had considered further of it he never set up his Colledge Cleveland Yorkshire Holderness Hull Pomfret From Durham we went to Anthony Pearson's and from thence into Cleaveland and so passed through Yorkshire to the further End of Holderness and had mighty Meetings the Lord's Power accompanying us After we parted from Anthony Pearson's we went by Hull and Pomfret through the Countries to George Watkinson's House and visited most of the Meetings all up and down in these Parts Scalehouse Swarthmore till we came to Scale-house and so on to Swarthmore the everlasting Power and Arm of God carrying us through and preserving us After I had visited Friends up and down there-aways Yorkshire Cheshire Derbishire Nottinghamshire Nottingham I passed through the Countries into Yorkshire again and into Cheshire and so through other Counties into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and glorious Meetings we had the Lord's Presence being with us At Nottingham I sent to Rice Jones desiring him To make his People acquainted that I had something to say to them from the Lord. He came and told
House When thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thy own Flesh Do you keep this true Fast Then shall thy Light break forth as the Morning and thine Health shall spring forth speedily and thy Righteousness shall go before thee the Glory of the Lord shall be thy Re-reward Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall Answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am If thou take away from the midst of thee the Yokes the putting forth of the Finger and speaking Vanity And if thou draw out thy Soul to the Hungry and satisfie the afflicted Soul then shall thy Light arise out of obscurity and thy Darkness be as the Noon-day And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfie thy Soul in drought and make fat thy Bones and thou shalt be like a watered Garden and like a Spring of Water whose Waters fail not c. Now here is the practice of the true Fast the Lord requires of his People and they that observe this Fast the Lord saith When they call he will Answer And you may see what glorious and happy Comforts they do receive from the Lord that keep this true Fast but such as fast for Strife and Debate and smite with the fists of Wickedness to make their Voices to be heard on high and afflict their Souls for a day and bow down their Head as a Bull-rush and looses not the Bands of Wickedness and does not undo every heavy Burden and break off every Yoke and let the Oppressed go free and does not deal his Bread to the Hungry and clothe the Naked and bring the Poor to his House but hides himself from his own Flesh and cloaths not the Naked Such Fasts and Fasters the Lord doth not accept neither hath he chosen them But these appear to Men with their disfigured Faces and hanging down their Heads as a Bull-rush for a Day like the Hypocrites to fast as Christ speaks of in Matth. 6. And is it not the Command of Christ that in their Fast they should not appear unto Men to Fast And now you that would force us to shut up our Shops on Fasting-days or for a Day does not this Fast appear to Men and is not this the Fast that the Lord saith in Isaiah he doth not accept for he saith Is this the Fast that I have chosen a Day for a Man to afflict his Soul and bow down his Head as a Bull-rush c. Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the Lord Isai 58. And therefore all God's People are to keep the true Fast of the Lord from Debate and Strife and the Fists of Wickedness and that Fast that breaks the Bands of Wickedness and undoes every heavy Burden and breaks every Yoke and lets the Oppressed go free and deals Bread to the Hungry and cloaths the Naked and brings the Poor that are cast out to his own House So every one that keeps this true Fast their Health shall grow and when they Call the Lord will hear them and the Lord will be their Guide continually and satisfie their Souls in drought and make their Bones fat and shall be like a watered Garden and like a Spring of Water whose Waters fail not Now you that keep not this true Fast when you call upon the Lord on your own Fasting-days does the Lord Answer you and say Here I am doth the Lord guide you continually and is your Bones made fat by him and your Souls satisfied in drought and are you like a watered Garden and like a Spring whose Waters fail not But you that keep not this true Fast do you not want these Waters which fail not so your Souls are not satisfied in drought but your Bones are lean and you hear not the Voice of the Lord who saith Here I am and so you lose the Heritage of Jacob and ride not upon the High-places there but come under And therefore every Man and Woman shut your hearts against all manner of Evil whatsoever and trade not with Babylon's Merchants of Confusion but keep the Supernatural Day of Christ that is sprung from on high that is by believing and walking in the Light of Christ and being grafted into him and this will bring you to the true Fast from feeding upon any Evil and to the true praying in the Spirit as Christ and the Apostles have taught which Fruits of the Spirit is Love c. which Birth of the Spirit is not a persecuting Birth But he that is born of the Flesh will persecute him that is born of the Spirit because he will not follow the Birth of the Flesh with its weak beggarly Elements that entangles with its Yoke of Bondage and its observing of Days Months Times Fasts Feasts and Years which the Birth of the Spirit is to stand fast against in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made it free And do you not know that the very Turks keep their Sabbath on the Sixth Day and the Jews upon the Seventh Day and the Christians meet together on the First Day of the Week And that Day which the Turks keep the Jews and Christians Shops are open and that Day the Jews keep Christians and Turks Shops are open and the first-First-Days that the Christians keep both Jews and Turks Shops are open and so the Turk does not force the Jews nor the Christians to shut up their Shops on their meeting-Meeting-Days but lets them have their Liberty in the Turks Country And where do you read that ever the Turks forced any Christians to observe any of their Holy-Days or Fasts or Feasts And if not should not Christians be beyond the Turks in giving Liberty to all tender Consciences to serve God seeing Christ and the Apostles command not nor force People to observe Holy-Days or Times or Months or Years but should Pray always in the Spirit and Fast always from Strife and Debate from all manner of Sin and Evil and that will keep down the Fist of Wickedness and the Bond of Iniquity c. And why should not People that be of a tender Conscience have their Liberty to exercise their Consciences towards God that they may have a good Conscience always towards God and Man to that which God requires and to do unto all Men as they would have them to do unto them and to love their Neighbours as themselves seeing that there are so many debauched evil and seared Consciences as with an hot Iron have the Liberty in their loose Lives and Conversations and in their loose Words whose Tongues are at Liberty to Swear and Curse and their Spirits are at Liberty in Drunkenness and Uncleanness So let the Magistrates look and see how this evil seared Conscience hath its Liberty to be Exercised in all manner of evil things yea all Christendom over which is a great shame and dishonour to God and Christ and Christianity yea and Humanity And therefore why should not God's People have
God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Thus they that come to be renewed up again into the Divine Heavenly Image in which Man was at first made will know the same God that was the First Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise to speak to them now by his Son who changes not Glory be to his Name for ever Many deep and precious Things were opened in those Meetings by the Eternal Spirit which searcheth and revealeth the deep Things of God And after I had finished my Service for the Lord in that City I departed thence into Glocestershire Glocestershire where we had many large and precious Meetings and the Lord 's Everlasting Power flowed over all From Glocestershire I passed into Wiltshire Wiltshire where also we had many blessed Meetings Slattenford At Slattenford in Wiltshire we had a very good Meeting though we met there with much Opposition from some who had set themselves against Womens-Meetings which I was moved of the Lord to recommend to Friends for the Benefit and Advantage of the Church of Christ That the faithful Women who were called to the Belief of the Truth The Service of Womens-Meetings being made Partakers of the same precious Faith and Heirs of the same everlasting Gospel of Life and Salvation as the Men are might in like manner come into the Possession and Practice of the Gospel-Order and therein be Meet-helps unto the Men in the Restoration in the Service of Truth in the Affairs of the Church as they are outwardly in outward and civil or temporal things That so all the Family of God Women as well as Men might know possess perform and discharge their Offices and Services in the House of God whereby the Poor might be the better looked after and taken care of the Younger sort instructed informed and taught in the Way of God the loose and disorderly reproved and admonished in the Fear of the Lord the Clearness of Persons propounding Marriage more closely and strictly enquired into in the Wisdom of God and all the Members of the Spiritual Body the Church might watch over and be helpful to each other in Love But after these Opposers had run into much Contention and Wrangling the Power of the Lord struck down one of the Chief of them so that his Spirit sunk and he came to be sensible of the Evil he had done in opposing God's Heavenly Power and confessed his Error before Friends and afterwards gave forth a Paper of Condemnation wherein he declared 1673. Slattenford That he did wilfully oppose although I often warned him to take heed until the Fire of the Lord did burn within him and he saw the Angel of the Lord with his Sword drawn in his Hand ready to cut him off c. Notwithstanding the Opposition was made at the Meeting yet a very good and serviceable Meeting it was for occasion was thereby administred to Answer their Objections and Cavils and to open the Services of Women in and for the Church And at this Meeting the Womens-Meetings for that County were established in the blessed Power of God After this I went to Marlborough and had a Meeting there Marlborough to which some of the Magistrates came and were civil and moderate Then passing on to Bartholomew Maylin's I had a very precious Meeting there and from thence went a little beyond Ore Ore where we had a blessed Meeting and very large as we had also soon after upon the Border of Hampshire Then turning into Oxfordshire Hampshire Oxfordshire Reading Buckinghamshire we visited Friends there and then went to Reading where we had a large Meeting and from thence passing into Buckinghamshire had many precious Meetings in that County After which we went upwards visiting Friends till we came to Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames where my Wife and her Daughter Rachel met me I made no long stay at Kingston but went to London where I found London the Baptists and Socinians with some Old Apostates were grown very Rude having printed many Books against us So that I had a great Travel in the Lord's Power before I could get clear of that City But blessed be the Lord his Power came over them all and all their lying wicked scandalous Books were answered Then after a while Essex Middlesex I made a short Journey into some parts of Essex and Middlesex visiting Friends at their Meetings and their Children at their Schools and returned soon again to London London And after I had had some Service there among Friends I went down to Kingston Kingston and from thence to Stephen Smith's in Surrey Surrey where was a very large Meeting many Hundreds of People being at it I staid in those parts till I had cleared my self of the Service the Lord had given me to do there and then returned by Kingston to London Kingston London whither I felt my Spirit drawn having heard that many Friends were had before the Magistrates and divers Imprisoned both at London and in other Cities and Towns in the Nation for opening their Shop-windows upon Holy-days and fast-Fast-days as they were called and for bearing Testimony against all such Observations of Days Which Friends could not but do knowing that the true Christians did not observe the Jews Holy-days in the Apostles times neither could we observe the Heathens and Papists Holy days so called which have been set up amongst those that are called Christians since the Apostles days For we were redeemed out of Days by Christ Jesus and brought into the Day which hath sprung from on high and are come into him who is Lord of the Jewish Sabbath and the Substance of the Jews Signs Now after I had staid some time in London labouring for some Relief and Ease to Friends in this Case I took Leave of Friends there and went into the Country with my Wife and her Daughter Rachel to Hendon in Middlesex 1673. Middlesex Hendon Hertfordshire Rickmansworth Aylesbury Oxfordshire Adderbury and from thence to William Penn's at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire whither Thomas Lower who married another of my Wife's Daughters came to us the next Day to accompany us in our Journey Northward After we had visited Friends thereabouts we passed to a Friend's House near Aylesbury and from thence to Bray Doily's at Adderbury in Oxfordshire where on the First Day we had a large and precious Meeting and Truth being well spread and Friends in those parts much increased in number two or three new Meetings were then set up thereabouts Now at Night as I was sitting at Supper I felt I was Taken yet I said nothing to any body of it then But getting out next Morning we travelled through the Country into Worcestershire Worcestershire Tredington Parish Armscot and went to John Halford's House at Armscot in Tredington-Parish where we had a very large and precious Meeting in his Barn the Lord 's
World Who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to him who will reward every Man according to his Words and Works ALL you bearing the Name of Christian Magistrates my desire is that you may all be found in Christ and not only have the Name but be made Partakers of his Divine Nature that ye may be not only Sayers of the Word but Doers of the Word not only Professors of Christ and Talkers of Christ but let Christ rule in your hearts by Faith and be Walkers in Christ For as Christ's great Apostle saith As every one hath received the Lord Jesus Christ so let him walk in him 1680. Kingston for in him there is peace And if all that do Profess Christ did Walk in Christ they would all Walk in Peace and be in Unity For the Apostle exhorted the Christians in his day to keep the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace yea of Christ the King of Kings Peace And all Christians who have the Scriptures and are not in this Spirit of Christ they are not in Unity one with another and so have broken this Bond of Peace which should knit and unite them together And likewise all that do profess the Truth of Christ should live in it for it is peaceable and the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace which if all Christians that do profess it lived in they would be at peace one with another and in the glorious Fellowship of the Gospel And also if all Christians kept in the Fear of God which is the beginning of the pure heavenly peaceable and gentle Wisdom which is easie to be entreated above that Wisdom which is earthly sensual devillish and destroying then there would be no difference and destroying about Matters of Religion I do declare the mighty Day of the Lord is Come and Coming and the Lord God is come to Teach his People himself by his Son Hebr. 1. whose Son Christ Jesus bruises the Serpent's Head that false Teacher that led Adam and Eve from God their Teacher So God will Teach his People by his Son who was the Teacher of Adam and Eve in Paradise before they fell and disobeyed the Lord and forsook him and followed the Serpent whose Head Christ does bruise and renews Man and Woman up again into the Image of God which Adam and Eve was in before they fell Glory and Honour be to God through Jesus Christ who hath called us by his Son into his glorious Image to serve and worship him in his Spirit and Truth which holy Spirit and Truth the Devil is out of and cannot come into it And now I desire all Christian Magistrates to take heed of Persecuting any though they differ from you in Matters of Faith Worship and Religion For Christ saith Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together till the Harvest and he forbad such as would be plucking up Tares The Reason was Lest they should pluck up the Wheat also for that Christ said should be his Angels work to separate the Tares from the Wheat Moreover Christ said They should go into everlasting Punishment that did not Visit him in Prison in his Members Then what will become of them that Cast him into Prison where he is made manifest in his Members Oh lay these things to heart A Day of Judgment will come Vengeance and Recompence upon every one according to their Works And Christ said to his Disciples who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them that would not receive him He turned him about and rebuked them and told them They did not know what spirit they were of for he came not to destroy mens Lives but to save them And therefore let all the Magistrates and the Priests in that which is called Christendom consider who have destroyed Mens and Womens Lives since the Apostles days because they could not Receive their Religions Ways and Worships or Conform to them which they have made and set up Have they known what Spirit they have been of Are they not all reproved by and come under the Judgment of Christ Therefore let all Persecution be laid away concerning Religion and let Love bear the sway to overcome Evil and Enemies and let Patience over-sway Passion in all such doings that all may retain the heavenly Reason and the pure Understanding that your Moderation in true Christianity may be known to all Men. For have you not the Turks Jews Tartars Indians and Atheists Eyes upon you and upon Christendom And therefore be in Unity and let not the Name of God and Christ be blasphemed amongst them by means of any that bear the Name of Christians So that God may be glorified by all and in all through Jesus Christ who is over all who calls all to Peace who is blessed for ever And now I would have you to be as Noble as the Bereans and search the Scriptures of Christ and the Apostles where-ever he or they did give any Command to Imprison Banish Persecute or put to Death any that would not receive or conform to them or that were contrary-minded to them in Religion or differ'd from them in Matters of Worship Again I desire all Christian Magistrates to search both Scriptures and Chronicles and see what was the End of all Persecutors and what Judgments came upon them What came to Cain who was the first Persecutor for Matters of Faith and Sacrifice Did not he become a Runnagade a Vagabond and a Fugitive in the Earth What became of the Old World that grieved God and Noah a Preacher of Righteousness What became of Sodom that vex'd Just Lot What became of Pharaoh that persecuted God's People in Egypt though the more he persecuted them the more they grew What became of Ahab and Jezabel that persecuted the Lord's Prophets And what became of Haman that would have destroyed the Jews What became of the Jews and Jerusalem that persecuted Christ and the Apostles What was the End of all these Are they not become Vagabonds in the Earth and driven away from their native Country Therefore I beseech you in the Love and Fear of God be so Noble as to search both Scripture and History and let not your divine understanding be clouded What will become of the Beast and Whore spoken of in the Revelations with their false Prophets that have drunk the blood of the Saints Martyrs and Prophets of Jesus must they not all go with the Devil who is a Murderer Destroyer an Enemy and Adversary of Mankind into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone And ye may be sure that Spirit that stirs you up to Persecution let it be in whomsoever it will is not of Christ and of his Lamb-like Nature who takes away the Sins of the World not the Lives of Men. Paul was a Persecutor and a Haler to Prison before he was converted to Christianity but never after And therefore are not all
that of Angels as the Scriptures of the Old Testament do in many places express as to Abraham Jacob c. The next was that of the Law by Moses which was also delivered by Angels as the Apostle tells us This Dispensation was much outward and suited to a low and servil State called therefore that of a School-Master to point out and prepare that People to look and long for the Messiah who would deliver them from the servitude of a Ceremonious and imperfect Dispensation by knowing the Realities of those Misterious Representations in themselves In this time the Law was written on Stone the Temple built with Hands attended with an outward Priest-hood and External Rites and Ceremonies that were Shadows of the Good Things that were to come and were only to serve till the Seed came or the more excellent and general manifestation of Christ to whom was the Promise and to all Men only in him in whom it was Yea and Amen even Life from Death Immortality and Eternal Life This the Prophets foresaw and comforted the believing Jews in the certainty of it which was the Top of the Mosaical Dispensation and which ended in John's Ministry the Forerunner of the Messiah as John's was finished in him the Fullness of all And God that at sundry Times and in divers manners had spoken to the Fathers by his Servants the Prophets Spoak then by his Son Chrâ—st Jesus Who is Heir of all things being the Gospel-Day which is the Dispensation of Sonship Bringing in thereby a nearer Testament and a better hope even the beginning of the Glory of the latter days and of the Restitution of all things yea the Restoration of the Kingdom unto Israel Now the Spirit that was more sparingly communicated in former Dispensations began to be Poured forth upon all Flesh according to the Prophet Joel and the Light that shined in Darkness or but dimly before the most gracious God caused to Shine out of Darkness and the Day-star began to arise in the Hearts of Believers giving unto them the knowledge of God in the Face or Appearance of his Son Christ Jesus Now the Poor in Spirit the Meek the true Mourners the Hungry and Thirsty after Righteousness the Peace-makers the Pure in Heart the Merciful and the Persecuted came more especially in Remembrance before the Lord and were sought out and blessed by Israel's true Shepherd Old Jerusalem with her Children grew out of Date and the New Jerusalem into Request the Mother of the Sons of the Gospel-Day Wherefore no more at Old Jerusalem nor at the Mountain of Samaria will God be worshipped above other places for behold he is declared and preached a Spirit and he will be known as such and worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth He will come nearer then of old time and he will write his Law in the Heart and put his Fear and Spirit in the inward parts according to his promise Then Signs Types and Shadows flew away the Day having discovered their Insufficiency in not reaching to the inside of the Cup to the cleansing of the Conscience and all Elementary services were expired in and and by him that is the substance of all And to this Great and Blessed End of the Dispensation of the Son of God did the Apostles Testifie whom he had chosen and anointed by his Spirit to turn the Jews from their Prejudice and Superstition and the Gentiles from their Vanity and Idolatry to Christ's Light and Spirit that shined in them that they might be quickned from the Sins and Trespasses in which they were Dead to serve the Living God in the Newness of the Spirit of Life and walk as Children of the Light and of the Day even the Day of Holiness For such put on Christ the Light of the World and make no more Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof So that the Light Spirit and Grace that comes by Christ and appears in Man was what the Apostles ministred from and turned Peoples Minds unto and in which they gathered and built up the Churches of Christ in their Day For which cause they advised them not to quench the Spirit but wait for the Spirit and Speak by the Spirit and Pray by the Spirit and Walk in the Spirit too as that which approved them the truly begotten Children of God born not of Flesh and Blood or of the will of Man but of the will of God by doing his will and denying their own by drinking of Christ's Cup and being Baptized with his Baptism of Self-denial The Way and Path that all the Heirs of Life have trod to Blessedness But alas even in the Apostles Days those bright Stars of the first Magnitude of the Gospel Light some Clouds foretelling an Eclipse of this Primitive Glory began to appear and several of them gave early Caution of it to the Christians of their Time that even then there was and yet would be more and more a falling away from the Power of Godliness and the Purity of that Spiritual Dispensation by such as sought to make a fair shew in the Flesh but with whom the offence of the Cross ceased Yet with this comfortable Conclusion that they saw beyond it a more glorious Time than ever to the true Church Their sight was true and what they foretold to the Churches gathered by them in the Name and Power of Jesus came so to pass For Christians degenerated a-pace into outsides as Days and Meats and divers other Cerimonies And which was worse they fell into Strife and Contention about them separating one from another then Envying and as they had Power Persecuting one another to the shame and scandal of their common Christianity and grievous stumbling and offence of the Heathen among whom the Lord had so long and so marvellously preserved them And having got at last the Worldly Power into their Hands by Kings and Emperors embracing the Christian Profession they changed what they could the Kingdom of Christ which is not of this World into a Worldly Kingdom or at least stiled the Worldly Kingdom that was in their Hands the Kingdom of Christ and so they became Worldly and not true Christians Then Humane Inventions and Novelties both in Doctrine and Worship crowded fast into the Church a Door being opened thereunto by the Grossness and Carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians who had long since left the Guidance of God's meek and heavenly Spirit and given themselves up to Superstition Will-worship and Voluntary Humility And as Superstition is Blind so it is Heady and Furious for all must stoop to its blind and boundless Zeal or Perish by it In the Name of the Spirit persecuting the very appearance of the Spirit of God in others and opposing that in them which they resisted in themselves viz. the Light Grace and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ but always under the Notion of Innovation Heresie Schism or some such plausible Name Though Christianity
rested also too much upon their Watry Dispensation instead of passing on more fully to the Fire and Holy Ghost which was his Baptism who came with a Fan in his Hand that he might throughly and not in part only purge his Floor and take away the Dross and the Tin of his People and make a Man finer than Gold Withall they grew High Rough and Self-righteous opposing further attainment too much forgetting the Day of their Infancy and Littleness which gave them something of a real Beauty in so much that many left them and all visible Churches and Societies and Wandred up and down as Sheep without a Shepherd and as Doves without their Mates seeking their Beloved but could not find Him as their Souls desired to know Him whom their Souls loved above their chiefest Joy These People were called Seekers by some and the Family of Love by others because as they came to the knowledge of one another they sometimes met together not formally to Pray or Preach at appointed times or Places in their own Wills as in times past they were accustomed to do but waited together in Silence and as any thing rose in any one of their Minds that they thought Savoured of a Divine Spring so they sometimes Spoke But so it was that some of them not keeping in Humility and in the Fear of God after the Abundance of Revelation were exalted above Measure and for want of staying their Minds in an humble Dependance upon him that opened their Vnderstandings to see great things in his Law they run out in their own Imaginations and mixing them with those Divine Openings brought forth a Monstrous Birth to the Scandal of those that feared God and waited daily in the Temple not made with Hands for the Consolation of Israel the Jew inward and Circumcision in Spirit This People obtained the Name of Ranters from their extravagant Discourses and Practices For they interpreted Christ's fullfilling of the Law for us to be a discharging of us from any Obligation and Duty the Law required instead of the Condemnation of the Law for sins past upon Faith and Repentance and that now it was no Sin to do that which before it was a Sin to commit the slavish Fear of the Law being taken off by Christ and all things good that Man did if he did but do them with the Mind and Perswasion that it was so Insomuch that divers fell into Gross and Enormous Practices pretending in excuse thereof that they could without Evil commit the same Act which was Sin in another to do thereby distinguishing between the Action and the Evil of it by the Direction of the Mind and Intention in the doing of it Which was to make Sin Super-abound by the aboundings of Grace and to turn from the Grace of God into Wantonness a securer way of Sinning than before As if Christ came not to take away Sin but that we might Sin more freely at his Cost and with less Danger to our selves I say this ensnared Divers and brought them to an utter and lamentable Loss as to their Eternal State and they grew very troublesome to the better sort of People and furnished the looser with an occasion to Prophane It was about that very same time as you may see in the ensuing Annales that the Eternal Wise and Good God was pleased in his Infinite Love to Honour and Visit this benighted and bewildred Nation with his Glorious Day-spring from on High yea with a most sure and certain sound of the Word of Light and Life through the Testimony of a Chosen Vessel to an effectual and blessed purpose can many thousands say Glory be to the Name of the Lord for ever For as it reached the Conscience and broak the Heart and brought many to a Sense and Search so what People had been vainly seeking without with much Pains and Cost they by this Ministry found within where it was they wanted what they sought for viz. The right way to Peace with God For they were directed to the Light of Jesus Christ within them as the Seed and Leven of the Kingdom of God near All because in All and God's Talent to All. A Faithful and True Wâ—â—ness and Just Monitor in every Bosom The Gift and Grace of God to Life and Salvation that appears to all though few regard it This the Traditional Christian conceited of himself and strong in his own Will and Righteousness and overcome with blind Zeal and Passion either dispised as a low and common thing or opposed as a Novelty under many hard Names and opprobrious Terms denying in his ignorant and angry Mind any fresh Manifestation of God's Power and Spirit in Man in these days though never more needed to make true Christians Not unlike those Jews of Old that rejected the Son of God at the very same time that they blindly professed to wait for the Messiah to come because alas he appeared not among them according to their Carnal Mind and Expectation This brought forth many abusive Books which filled the greater sort with Envy and lesser with Rage and made the way and progress of this Blessed Testimony Straight and Narrow indeed to those that received it However God owned his own Work and this Testimony did effectually Reach Gather Comfort and Establish the Weary and Heavy Leaden the Hungry and Thirsty the Poor and Needy the Mournful and Sick of many Maladys that had spent all upon Phisitians of no Value and waited for Relief from Heaven Help only from above Seeing upon a serious Tryal of all things nothing else would do but Christ himself the Light of his Countenance a Touch of his Garment and Help from his Hand who cured the poor Womans Issue raised the Centurions Servant the Widows Son the Rulers Daughter and Peter's Mother and like Her they no sooner felt his Power and Efficacy upon their Souls but they gave up to obey him in a Testimony to his Power and with resigned Wills and faithful Hearts through all Mockings Contradictions Beatings Prisons and many other Jeopardies that attended them for his Blessed Name Sake And truly they were very many and very Great so that in all Humane Probabiliâ—â— they must have been swallowed up Quick of the Proud and Bosterous Waves that swelled and beat against them but that the God of all their tender Mercies was with them in his Glorious Authority so that the Hills often Fled and the Mountains melted before the Power that filled them working mightily for them as well as in them one ever following the other By which they saw plainly to their exceeding great Confirmation and Comfort that all things were possible with him with whom they had to do And that the more that which God required seemed to cross Man's Wisdom and expose them to Man's Wrath the more God appeared to help and carry them through all to his Glory Insomuch that if ever any People could say in Truth Thou art our Sun and our Shield our
Religion to the Simple and Babes and brought thy Deeds to Light How is thy Habitation fallen and become the Habitation of Devils How is thy Beauty lost and thy Glory withered How hast thou shewed thy End that thou hast served God but with thy Lips and thy Heart far from him and thou in the Hypocrisy How hath the Form of thy Teaching declared it self to be the Mark of the false Prophets whose Fruit declares it self for by their Fruits they are known How are the Wise Men turned backward View thy Ways and take notice with whom thou hast taken part That of God in thy Conscience will tell thee 1652. Swarthmore The Ancient of Days will reprove thee How hath thy Zeal appeared to be the Blind Zeal a Persecutor which Christ and his Apostles forbad Christians to follow How hast thou strengthened the Hands of Evil-doers and been a Praise to them and not to them that do well How like a Mad-man and a Blind-man didst thou turn thy Sword backward against the Saints against whom there is no Law How wilt thou be gnawed and burned one Day when thou shalt feel the Flame and have the Plagues of God poured upon thee and thou begin to gnaw thy Tongue for Pain because of the Plagues Thou shalt have thy Reward according to thy Works Thou canst not escape the Lord 's righteous Judgment will find thee out and the Witness of God in thy Conscience shall answer it How hast thou caused the Heathen to Blaspheme and gone on with the Multitude to do Evil and joined hand in hand with the wicked How is thy latter End worse than thy Beginning who art come with the Dog to bite and art turned as a Wolf to devour the Lambs How hast thou discovered thy self to be a Man more fit to be kept in a place to be nurtured than to be set in a Place to nurture How wast thou exalted and puffed up with Pride And now art thou fallen down with Shame that thou comest to be covered with that which thou stirredst up and broughtest forth Let not John Sawrey take the VVords of God into his Mouth till he be Reformed Let him not take his Name into his Mouth till he depart from Iniquity Let not him and his Teacher make a Profession of the Saints VVords except they intend to proclaim themselves Hypocrites whose Lives are so contrary to the Lives of the Saints whose Church hath made it self manifest to be a Cage of Vnclean Birds You having a Form of Godliness but not the Power have made them that be in the Power your Derision your By-word and your Talk at your Feasts Thy ill Savour John Sawrey the Country about have smelled and of thy unchristian Carriage all that fear God have been ashamed and to them thou hast been a Grief In the Day of Account thou shalt know it even in the Day of thy Condemnation Thou wast mounted up and hadst set thy Nest on high but never gottest higher than the Fowls of the Air But now thou art run amongst the Beasts of Prey and art fallen into the Earth so that Earthliness and Covetousness hath swallowed thee up and thy Conceitedness would not carry thee through in whom was found the selfish Principle which hath blinded thy Eye Thy Back must be bowed down always for thy Table is already become thy Snare G. F. This Justice Sawrey who was the first Persecutor in that Country was afterward drowned I writ also to VVilliam Lampit who was the Priest of Vlverston and thus it was upon me to write unto him THE Word of the Lord to thee O Lampitt who art a Deceiver surfetted and drunk with the Earthly Spirit rambling up and down in the Scriptures and blending thy Spirit amongst the Saints Conditions who hadst a Prophecy as thy Father Balaam had but art erred from it as thy Father did One whose Fruit hath withered of which I am a Witness and many who have known thy Fruit have seen the End of it that it is withered and do see where thou art in the blind World a blind Leader of the Blind a Beast wallowing and tumbling in the Earth and in the Lust one that is erred from the Spirit of the Lord who art of old ordained for Condemnation Who art in the Seat of the Pharisees art called of Men Master standest Praying in the Synagogues and hast the Chief Seat in the Assemblies a right Hypocrite in the steps of the Pharisees and in the way of thy Fathers the Hypocrites which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against Such with the Light thou art seen to be and by the Light art Comprehended which is thy Condemnation who hatest it and will be so Eternally except thou Repent To thee this is the Word of God for in Christ's Way thou art not but in the Pharisees as thou may stread Mat. 23. and all that own Christ's Words may see thee there Christ who died at Jerusalem cried Wo against such as thou art and Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever The Wo remains upon thee and from under it thou canst never come but through Judgment Condemnation and true Repentance To thee this is the VVord of God To that of God in thy Conscience I do speak which will witness the Truth of what I write and will Condemn thee And when thou art in thy Torment though now thou swellest in thy Vanity and livest in Wickedness remember thou wast warned in thy Life-time when the Eternal Condemnation is stretched over thee thou shalt witness this to be the VVord of the Lord God unto thee And if ever thy Eye should see Repentance thou would'st witness me to have been a Friend of thy Soul G. F. Having thus cleared my Conscience to the Justice and to the Priest of Vlverstone who had raised the first Persecution in that Country it was upon me to send this VVarning in Writing to the People of Vlverstone in general COnsider O People who be within the Parish of Vlverston I was moved of the Lord to come into your Publick Places to speak among you being sent of God to direct your Minds to God that you might know where you might find your Teacher that your Minds might be stayed alone upon God and you might not gad abroad without you for a Teacher for the Lord God alone will Teach his People and he is coming to Teach them and to gather his People from Idols-Temples and from the customary Worships which all the World is trained up in And God hath given to every one of you a Measure of his Spirit according to your Capacity Liars Drunkards Whoremongers and Thieves and who follow filthy Pleasures you all have this Measure in you And this is the Measure of the Spirit of God that shews you Sin and shews you Evil and shews you Deceit which lets you see Lying is Sin Theft Drunkenness and Vncleanness all these to be the Works of Darkness Therefore mind your Measure for
one of you a Reward according to your Works you which have the Letter which speaks of Christ but now ye are persecuting that which the Scripture speaks of so your Fruits make you manifest Therefore every one Sheriff Justices Constables c. see what ye do possess Consider what ye do possess and what a Profession ye are now in that all these Carnal Weapons are now set up against the Innocent yea against the Truth Which shews that ye have not the Spiritual Weapons that they are not among you and that ye want the Counsel of Gamaliel yea ye want the Counsel of such a Man among you who said Let the Apostles alone If it be of God it will stand if it be not it will come to nought But ye may see your selves on the Contrary in the Spirit of them that came with Judas with Swords and Staves from the Chief-Priests against Christ still it is against Christ where he is made manifest Paul while Saul went against him though he professed a Christ that was to come and the Jews professed a Christ that was to come Yet Paul persecuted him where he was manifested in his Saints So ye profess a Christ that is come but persecute him where he is manifest You that have the Letter the High-Places the Synagogues you persecute him where he is made manifest in his Saints as the Jews did They who were in the Letter out of the Life persecuted them that were in the Life of that which they profess in the Letter So now do you persecute them that are in the Life and are your selves Strangers to it as your Fruits make appear You have numbred the People of God amongst Transgressors but have you prisoned any of the Rogues and Transgressors you speak of you have prisoned the Innocent and let the others go free G. F. When I had sent abroad the fore-going Papers concerning the Watches that were then set up to Intercept and Stop Friends in their Travels in the Work of tho Lord so great a sense came upon me of the Darkness and Vail that was over the Priests and Professors of Christianity that I was moved to give forth the following Paper as An Awakening Warning to them BLindness hath happened to the professed Christians of the Letter now a days as Blindness happened to the Jews who professed the Letter but owned not the Life which the Letter speaks of As the Christians now to whom this Blindness hath hap'ned who profess the Scripture but own not the Life which the Scripture speaks of For against the Life the Jews stood who profest the Letter of the Scripture but they were Blind they gathered Counsel against the Life they were in an Vproar when the Babe was born in Bethlehem Herod and all the Chief Priests And Herod sought to destroy all the young Children in Bethlehem yet missed the Babe Herod that Fox though he slew John and put him to death And you may here see how the Literal Professors did stand up not for the Truth but quite against it Furthermore the Chief-Priests consulted together how they might take Jesus by Subtilty and put him to death mark by their Subtilty The Professors of a Christ that was to come they preached of a Messias of a Christ of a Saviour but denied the Life when he was made manifest The Chief-Priests and the Council gathered together they profest his words and the Chief-Priests who were gathered together with the Council said That his Disciples had stolen him away by Night and gave large Monies to the Souldiers to declare this Likewise in the day when the Children of Israel were in Egypt and they with their Children began to spread and multiply Come said the Egyptians Let us deal wisely with them to Afflict them and tax them Which held until the Lord overthrew their Oppressors and brought out his Seed by his mighty Power from under the Oppressor and exalted his Son above all though the Heathen raged and the People imagined vain things and he made his Power known that all might see that there was no God upon the Earth but himself This Power now hath brought forth the Work of the Lord Many who be turned to the Light Christ have received the Power of God and are thereby become the Sons of God Now this Birth that is born of God are all the Powers of the World joined together to Crucify to put to Death those Jews in the Spirit as they did put Christ to Death in the Flesh formerly This is the Birth that all the Wicked World is enraged against and mad at Against this they set their Watches this Birth brought forth by the Mighty God of Jacob who rides upon the High-places of the Earth This is the Birth that the profest Christians without the Life in our Days and Age rage against and lay out all their Wisdom about Are not the Chief-Priests and Wise Men of the Earth consulting together how they might destroy this Birth Is not this the Birth that is banished out of your Hearts you that profess the Scripture and are Talkers of it but do not own the Light and Life which the Scripture speaks of as the Jews would not and so will not have Christ to Reign over you as they would not Do you not hale out of your Synagogues and before Magistrates Do you not herein fulfil Christ's Words who said to his Disciples They should be haled out of the Synagogues and before Rulers Do you not Persecute them from City to City Do you not almost fill your Prisons with them And now set your Watches that none should go to Visit them whom ye have put into Prison Is not this an Vnchristian Spirit How can you for shame say You are Vpholders of Truth Or how can you for shame say that Truth hath been profest among you Yet we say We Grant that you have talked of it And how can you for shame say The Gospel shines among you when you will not own it the Life of it when you call it Error and the evil Seed Yea the very Truth yea the very Life of Truth ye have blasphemed against now as the Jews did against Christ calling him a Devil you now call it Error and the Evil Seed and stand up against it and turn the Sword against it As it was in the days of the Jews who turned the Sword against Christ so it is in these days of the Professed Christians of the Scripture but out of the Life that gave it forth as it was with the Jews outward in the Flesh who were not the Jews in the Spirit And is it not a shame to all the Ministers of the Gospel as they are called that they can find no better Way to maintain that which they call the Truth and their Gospel than by Carnal Weapons Stocks and Prisons and Whips Watches and Wards and Powers of the Earth Were these the Apostles Weapons Carnal Watches and Wards Stocks and Prisons and haling out
of the Synagogues when they came to speak Judge your selves what an Antichristian Spirit you have Never talk of defending Truth with that which is against Truth For are you not setting up the Rabble of the World against it Do they not Join with you with Swords and Staves against it And is this the Life of Christians Is not this the Life of Error and of the Evil Seeds-man Surely ye would find Work enough if ye were in the Fear of the Lord to turn your Swords against the Prophaneness the Oaths and Wickedness that is in your Streets and High-ways How do they ring like Sodom and give a sound like Gomorrah But they are become a Prey in this your Age that Reprove in your Gate Sin Wickedness and Prophaneness They are become your By-word Against them your Councils are gathered and them you cast into Prison and hale them out of your Synagogues and cast them likewise into Prison that write against it and speak against it and set your Guards to stop and hinder any from Visiting them whom you cast into Prison and give them the Names of Vagabonds and Wanderers Was ever the like heard in the days of the Heathen against the Apostles who witnessed the Gospel Did they set Guards and Watches in every Town in every City to take the Disciples the Brethren the Believers that heard that the Apostles were cast into Prison and came to see what they wanted Shew ye not as much Rage and Fury now in your Age as was in those that were in that Age And how can you talk of the Gospel and of defending the Gospel when you are setting Guards and Watches against it and are defending that which stands against it and the Lambs of Christ are almost torn to pieces amongst you who are like Wolves for the Lord hath now sent his Lambs amongst Wolves And have not you profest the words of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles as the Jews had long profest the Scriptures the words of Moses and of the Prophets that prophesied of Christ that was to come and stood against him when he was come as you do in this Day of his Reign and in this Day of his glorious Gospel who are persecuting the Messengers of it imprisoning them persecuting them in your Streets and High-ways and now setting up your VVatches against them who bring you the glad Tidings of Peace to your Souls whose Feet are beautiful a Top of the Mountains Mark a Top of the Mountains that against which the Mountains rage and swell but God will make them to melt the Sun is risen which will make them to melt And God will cleave the Rocks and Mountains asunder and make the Hills to bow perpetually for his Son he will exalt and his Glory he will give to him and not to another Therefore be awakened ye Rulers of the Earth and take Counsel of the Lord and take not Counsel together against him Make not your Bonds strong and set not your selves in Battel against him for ye will be found but as Briers and Thorns before him which the Fire shall consume Therefore be awakened all ye that be Talkers of the Scripture and that gather your selves together by your Multitudes and Meetings and have had your Teachers but not having the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures the Lord God of Glory the Father of Spirits will scatter you all your Bonds will not hold you together who are out of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace The Threshing Instrument is gone forth which will beat the Hills to pieces Sion is risen to Thresh out of the holy Mountain is the Trumpet sounded Stand not up against the Lord for all Nations are with the Lord as the Drop of a Bucket He that measures the VVaters in the hollow of his Hand and weighs the Earth in Scales the Lord of Hosts is his Name who is now risen and rising to plead the Cause of the Innocent who is exalting his Son and bringing his Sheep to him Now are they seen and known that feed upon wind that are lifted up given up to believe Lies who report and say Report and we will report it Now are they seen who have a Form of Godliness but the Power is denied by them so Christ is denied the Power it self is denied for Christ is the Power of God And the Power being denied by you that have a Form of Godliness that have the words of the Scriptures the Gospel is denied for the Gospel is the Power of God And thus it is among you that have the Knowledge and VVisdom that is sensual earthly and devilish Doth it not appear so Let your Gaols and VVatches witness your Fruits in every Town Your VVisdom is earthly sensual and Devillish so you have a Knowledge and VVisdom but not that which is from above for that is pure and gentle and so is not your knowledge But to know Christ is Life Eternal Now your Fruits have manifested that you are not of this and so out of the Power of God which is the Cross of Christ For you are found in the VVorld out of the Power of God out of the Cross of Christ persecuting So that which doth persecute and send forth VVritings and Decrees to stop all and take up all and set VVatches and prepare Bonds to stint the Lord to Imprison and persecute and suffer none to go to visit them This shews you are not Christians but stand against a Christian's Life which is to love your Enemies Where is your Heaping up Coles of Fire your Love to your Enemies who are thus persecuting your Friends He came to his own and his own received him not Here is a turning the Sword against the Just. Do you shew here a Christian's Life or your selves Christians who are filling your Gaols with the Christians in the Spirit you that be in the Letter in Shadows as the Jews in the Letter did put the Jews in the Spirit into Prison Is not this the Fruit in our Days of the Christians in the Letter to put the Christians in the Spirit into Prison And doth not this shew that your Decrees which you have sent forth proceed from Death who thus Act against the Life and them that be in it which the Scriptures were given forth from Is it not here as it was with Saul when he went to persecute to hale to Prison and bind all that he could find calling upon that Name who were Christians in the Life the Spirit such as now you are persecuting because they are in the Life though you profess their Words Are not your Decrees gone forth from the same Spirit of Envy against the same Spirit of Christ they were in Is it not manifest to all that fear God and to the sober-minded and honest-hearted People that see your Practices your Decrees your Letters to stop to molest to hinder to Imprison them that are moved of the Lord to do his Will or to go to
and see if they could get a full Discharge for her that she might enjoy her Estate and Liberty without Molestation This was somewhat difficult at first to get but by diligent Attendance on it they at length obtained it the King giving Command to one called Sir John Otway to signifie his Pleasure therein by Letter to the Sheriff and others concerned therein in the Country Which Letter Sarah Fell going down with her Brother and Sister Rous carried with her to Lancaster and by them I writ to my Wife as followeth My Dear Heart in the Truth and Life that changeth not IT was upon me that Mary Lower and Sarah should go to the King concerning thy Imprisonment and to Kirby that the Power of the Lord might appear over them all in thy Deliverance They went and then they thought to have come down but it was upon me to stay them a little longer that they might follow the Business till it was Effected which it now is and is here sent down The late Declaration of mine hath been very serviceable People being generally satisfied with it So no more but my Love in the Holy Seed G. F. The Declaration here mentioned was a Printed Sheet writ upon occasion of a New Persecution stirred up For by that time I was got back out of Leicestershire to London a fresh Storm was Risen occasioned as it was thought by that Tumultuous Meeting in a Steeple-house in Wiltshire or Gloucestershire mentioned a little before where a Contest happening between a Presbyterian-Priest and the Priest of the Parish with their Hearers on either side the Common-Prayer-Book was Cut to pieces and other great Disorders committed 1670. London From which it was said some Members of Parliament took Advantage to get that Act passed against Seditious Conventicles which soon after came forth and was turned against us who of all People were free from Sedition and Tumult Whereupon I writ the Declaration before mentioned shewing from the Preamble and Terms of the said Act That we were not such a People nor our Meetings such Meetings as were described in that Act. Beside that Declaration I writ also another short Paper on the occasion of that Act against Meetings opening our Case to the Magistrates as followeth O Friends Consider this Act which limits us to Five that but Five may Meet Is this To do as ye would be done by Would ye be so served your selves We own Christ Jesus as well as you both his Coming Death and Resurrection and if we be Contrary-minded to you in some things is not this the Apostle's Exhortation to Wait till God hath Revealed it Doth not he say What is not of Faith is Sin And seeing we have not Faith in things which ye would have us to do would it not be Sin in us if we should do contrary to our Faith And why should any Man have Power â—ver any other Man's Faith seeing Christ is the Author of it When the Apostles did preach in the Name of Jesus and great Multitudes heard them and the Rulers forbad them to speak any more in that Name did not they bid them Judge Whether it were better to obey God or Man Would not this Act have taken hold of the Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples for they Met often together And if there had been an Act or Law made then That not above Five should have met with Christ would not that have been an hindring him from Meeting with his Disciples And do ye think that he who is the Wisdom of God or his Disciples would have obeyed it If such a Law had been made in the Apostles days That not above Five might have met together who had been different-minded from either the Jews or the Gentiles Do ye think the Churches of Christ at Corinth Philippi Ephesus Thessalonica or the rest of the Gathered Churches would have Obeyed it O therefore consider For we are Christians and partake of the Nature and Life of Christ. And strive not to Limit the Holy One for God's Power cannot be limited and is not to be quenched And do unto all men as ye would have them do unto you for that is the Law and the Prophets This is from those who wish you all well and desire your Everlasting Good and Prosperity who are called Quakers who seek the Peace and Good of all People though they do Afflict us and cause us to suffer G. F. Now as I had endeavoured to soften the Magistrates and to take off the Sharpness of their Edge in the Execution of the Act so it was upon me to write a few Lines to Friends To strengthen and encourage them to stand fast in their Testimony and bear with Christian Patience and Content the Suffering that was coming upon them This I did in the following Epistle ALL my Dear Friends Keep in the Faith of God above all outward things and in his Power that hath given you Dominion over all The same Power of God is still with you to deliver you as formerly for God and his Power is the same and his Seed is over all and before all and will be when that which makes to suffer is gone And so be of good Faith in that which Changeth not for whatsoever any doth against the Truth it will come upon themselves and fall as a Milstone on their Heads And if so be that the Lord do suffer you to be Tried let all be given up and look at the Lord and his Power which is over the whole World and will be when the World is gone And in the Lord's Power and Truth Rejoice Friends over that which makes to suffer in the Seed which was before it was for the Life and Truth and the Power of God is over all And all keep in that and if ye do suffer in that it is to the Lord. Friends the Lord hath blessed you in Outward Things and now the Lord may Try you Whether your Minds be in the Outward Things or with the Lord that gave you them Therefore keep in the Seed by which all Outward Things were made and which is over them all What! shall not I pray and speak to God with my Face towards Heavenly Jerusalem according to my wonted Time And let not any one 's Dalilah shave his Head lest such lose their Strength neither Rest in its Lap lest the Philistines be upon you For your Rest is in Christ Jesus therefore Rest not in any thing else London the 12th of the 2d Month 1670. G. F. On the First Day of the Week next after the Act came in force I went to the Meeting at Grace-Church-Street Gracious-Street-Meeting where I expected the Storm was most likely to begin When I came there I found the Street full of People and a Guard set to keep Friends out of their Meeting-house I went thereupon to the other Passage that goes out of Lombard-Street and there also I found a Guard but the Court was full of People
Jamaica and had a Meeting there We passed from Flushing to Gravesands Gravesands about Twenty Miles and there had three precious Meetings to which many would have come from New-York but that the Weather hindred them Then being clear of this Place we hired a Sloop and the Wind serving we set forth for the New-Country now called Jersey And passing down the Bay JERSEY Conny-Island Natton-Island Stratton-Island Middletown-Harbour by Conny-Island and Natton-Island and Stratton-Island we came to Rich. Hartshorn's at Middletown-Harbour about Break of Day in the Morning on the 27th of the Sixth Month. Next day we rode about Thirty Miles in that Country through the Woods and over very bad Boggs one worse than all the rest the Descent into which was so sleep that we were fain to slide down with our Horses and then let them lie and breath themselves before they could go on This place the People of the Country called PVRGATORY We got at length to Shrewsbury in East-Jersey East-Jersey Sâ—rewsbury and on the First-Day of the Week had a precious Meeting there to which Friends and other People came far and the blessed Presence of the Lord was with us The same Week we had a Mens and Womens Meeting out of most parts of New-Jersey They are building a Meeting-Place in the Midst of them and there is a Monthly and General Meeting set up which will be of great Service in those parts in keeping up the Gospel-Order and Government of Christ Jesus of the Increase of which there is no End that they who are faithful may see that all who profess the holy Truth do live in the pure Religion and walk as becometh the Gospel While we were here at Shrewsbury an Accident befell which for the time was a great Exercise to us There was one John Jay a Friend of Barbados who came with us from Road-Island and intended to accompany us through the Woods to Mary-land He being to Trie an Horse got upon his Back and the Horse fell a running and cast him down upon his Head and brake his Neck as the People said They that were near him took him up Dead 1672. Jersey-Shrewsbury and carried him a good Way and laid him on a Tree I got to him as soon as I could and feeling on him concluded he was Dead And as I stood by him pitying him and his Family I took hold of his Hair and his Head turned any way his Neck was so limber Whereupon ☜ throwing away my Stick and my Gloves I took his Head in both my Hands and setting my Knees against the Tree I raiâ—ed his Head and perceived there was nothing out or broken that Way Then I put one Hand under his Chin and the other behind his Head and raised his Head two or three times with all my Strength and brought it in I soon perceived his Neck began to grow stiff again and then he began to rattle in the Throat and quickly after to breath The People were amazed but I bid them Have a good Heart and be of good Faith and carry him into the House They did so and set him by the Fire but I bid them Get him some warm thing to drink and put him to Bed After he had been in the House a while he began to speak but did not know where he had been The next day we passed away and he with us pretty well about Sixteen Miles Middle town to a Meeting at Middletown through Woods and Boggs and over a River where we swam our Horses and got over our selves upon a hollow Tree and many hundred of Miles did he travel with us after this To this Meeting came most of the People of the Town and a glorious Meeting we had and the Truth was over all blessed be the great Lord God for ever Middletown Harbour After the Meeting we went to Middletown-Harbour about five Miles in order to take our long Journey next Morning through the Woods towards Mary-land having hired Indians for our Guides for I determined to pass through the Woods on the other side of Delaware-Bay that so we might head the Creeks and Rivers as much as was possible So on the Ninth Day of the Seventh Month we set forwards Indian Towns and passed through many Indian Towns and over some Rivers and Boggs And when we had ridden about Forty Miles we made us a Fire at Night and lay by it As we came among the Indians we declared the Day of the Lord to them Next Day we travelled fifty Miles as we computed And at Night finding an Old House which the Indians had forced the People to leave we made a Fire and lay there at the Head of Delaware-Bay DELAWARE-Bay Upper-Diuidock The next Day we swam our Horses over a River about a Mile at twice first to an Island called Vpper Dinidock and then to the Main Land having hired Indians to help us over in their Canoos This day we could reach but about Thirty Miles and came at Night to a Swede's House where we got a little Straw and lay there that Night Next day having hired another Guide we travelled about Forty Miles through the Woods and made us a Fire at Night by which we lay and dried our selves for we were often wet in our Travels in the day-time The next day we passed over a desperate River which had in it many Rocks and broad Stones very hazardous to us and our Horses From thence we came to Christian-River Christian River where we swam over our Horses and went over our selves in Canoos but the sides of this River were so bad and miery that some of the Horses had like to have been laid up From thence we came to a Town called Newcastle 1672. N wcastle alias New-Amsterdam heretofore called New-Amsterdam and being very weary and inquiring in the Town where we might buy some Corn for our Horses the Governour came into the Street and invited me to his House and afterwards desired me to lodge there telling me he had a Bed for me and I should be welcom So I staid there the other Friends being taken care of also This was on the Seventh Day of the Week and he offering his House for a Meeting we had a Meeting there the next Day a pretty large one for the Chief of the Town and indeed most of the Town were at it Here had never been a Meeting before nor any within a great Way of it but this was a very precious One and many of the People both Men and Women were tender and confessed to the Truth and some received it blessed be the Lord for ever On the Sixteenth of the Seventh Month we set forward again from hence and travelled as near as we could compute about Fifty Miles that Day Bohemia River Saxisrax River through the Woods and over the Boggs heading Bohemia-River and Saxifrax River At Night we made us a Fire as we used to do
the Jews Therefore also said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the Foundation of the World may be required of this Generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this Generation Luke 11.49 50 51. And Christ said to the Jews Behold your Houses shall be left unto you desolate Matth. 23.34 c. And Christ told his Disciples that the Temple at Jerusalem should be thrown down and there should not be one stone left upon another that should not be thrown down Matth. 24.2 And Christ said to his Disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many thâ—ngs of the Jews Elders and Chief Priests and be killed and be raised again the third day Matth. 16.21 And Christ said When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with Armies then know the desolation thereof is nigh And he foretold that the Jews should fall by the Edge of the Sword and should be led away Captive into all Nations and Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles Luke 21.20 24. Here ye may see how Jerusalem was often warned by Christ and how often he would have Gathered them but they would not before they were scattered over or into all Nations and their Houses left desolate and their Temple and Jerusalem besieged with Armies and destroyed and thrown down And though the Disciples and Apostles of Christ did Meet with the Elders and Church at Jerusalem after Christ was risen yet Eusebius reporteth in his Ecclesiastical History That the Christians at Jerusalem had a Vision or a Revelation to depart out of Jerusalem And they being fore-warned also by Christ that When they should see Jerusalem compassed with Armies its Desolation was nigh and that the Temple should be thrown down and not one stone left upon another 'T is said that the Christians did depart out of bloody Jerusalem before it and the Temple were destroyed by Titus the Emperour who besieged it with his Armies who was of the Gentiles and destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem as Christ had fore-spoken to his Disciples because of the Wickedness of the Jews and the Innocent Blood that they had shed in it And so the Lord called his People out of bloody Jerusalem before he destroyed it And it is said that Titus did destroy the Temple and Jerusalem about Two and forty years after they had Câ—ucified Christ and he was risen again and that with so great a destruction that the Jews never did build again the City Jerusalem nor the Temple as Sodom was never built again nor the Cities of the Old World But the Jews for above these Thousand years have been and are a scattered People in all Nations to this day and Christ whom they Crucified and his Doctrine is preached and set over them and the Gentiles whom they hated have Received and do Receive him and his Doctrine and do praise God for it through Jâ—sus Christ Amen And God called his People out of Egypt after he had poured out his Ten Plagues upon the Egyptians when he had destroyed the First Birth of Egypt then the Lord brought his People out of Egypt And after the Lord had clearly brought his People out of Egypt then the Lord destroyed Pharaoh and all his Hosts and Chariots And John saith that he heard a Voice saying Come out of her my People to wit out of Babylon the false Church that ye be not Partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues for her sins have reached to Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Rev. 18.4 5. Here ye may see that God did call his People out of spiritual Babylon before the Lord destroyed her and cast her down to be utterly burnt with fire ver 8 9. and 21. Was not Nebuchadnezzar's Empire thrown down and ended by Cyrus and Darius who were of the Seed of the Medes before Cyrus and Darius gave forth their Proclamations for all the Jews to go into their own Land out of Babylons Captivity And was there not a Prophecy of Cyrus That he should subdue Nations and that the Lord would loose the Loins of Kings before him and break in pieces the Gates of Brass and cut in sunder the Barrs of Iron and open the two-leav'd Gates and that the Gates should not be shut And the Lord said This is for Jacob my Servant's sake and for Israel mine Elect Isai 45. And was not this fulfilled in Cyrus's and Darius's time For did not then the Jews go out of Captivity into their own Land Ezra 1.2 3 4. and ch 6.1 and 12. and Isa 44.28 and 45.13 And was not this Prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled when the Children of Israel came out of Babylon And were not the Assyrians that carried away the Ten Tribes subdued and the Babylonians that carried away the Two Tribes were they not subdued in the days of Cyrus and Darius in whose days the Loins of Kings were loosed and the two-leav'd Gates of Brass and Iron were opened and so had not Israel and Jacob their Liberty by them in their days to go into their own Land And here in England was it not observed that most of the honest and sober People were turned out of the Army and their Commissions Offices and Places taken from them because they could not join with Others in their Cruelty and Persecuting And Others laid down their Commissions themselves and came out from amongst those Persecutors before they were overthrown and brought to Confusion All that are Wise see these things and learn by such Examples and Way-marks to shun such Bogs And the Righteous are safe that do keep in Christ their everlasting Sanctuary that changes not in whom they have Rest and Peace with God Amen Kingston the 29th of the 12th Month 1686 7. G. F While I was at Kingston one day as I was meditating on the Things of God some particular Observations arose in my mind concerning the first and the second or last Adam As that THE First Man Adam was made on the Sixth day of the Week and Christ the Second Adam was Crucified on the Sixth day of the Week The first Adam was betrayed by the Serpent in the Garden of Eden And Christ our Saviour the second Adam was betrayed by Judas in a Garden near Jerusalem Christ arose from the dead on the first-First-day of the Week and they that do believe on him are entred into Christ their Rest The Christians do Meet together to worship God on the First-day of the Week and on the First day of the Week it was that God said Let there be Light and there was Light The Jews Rest was on the Seventh-day of the Week which was given to the Jews as a Sign of the Eternal Rest of the Lord sanctifying them after they came out
and to God's Spirit and to the Grace and Truth in your hearts that comes by Jesus Christ that with it ye may search your hearts And so do not grieve nor vex nor quench God's good Spirit in your hearts and walk not despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it into Wantonness and yet make a Profession of God and Christ in Words 1677. Amsterdam when your hearts are afar off and living in Pleasures and wantonly upon the Earth sporting your selves killing the Just and Crucifying to your selves Christ afresh and putting him to open shame And so dishonouring God and Christ and Christianity and making a Profession and a Trade of the Scriptures keeping People always Learning that they may be always paying Therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils and look unto the Lord all ye ends of the Earth and be saved for the Lord God of Heaven and Earth is come to teach his People himself by his Light Spirit Grace and Truth and to bring them off all the World's Teachers And God hath raised up Christ Jesus his Prophet whom People should hear and saith This is my beloved Son hear ye him and Christ saith Learn of me I am the Way the Truth and the Life and no Man comes to the Father but by me And there is no Salvation by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus who saith I am the good Shepherd and have laid down my Life for my Sheep and my Sheep hear my voice and follow me and will not follow the Hireling For Christ feeds them in the Pastures of Life that will never wither And God hath anointed Christ Jesus to preach if you will hear him and God hath given Christ for a Counsellor and a Leader if you will be Led and Counselled by him and God hath given Christ for a Bishop to Oversee you and a King to Rule you if you will be Overseen and Ruled by him And you that will not have Christ to Rule over you who never sinned nor Guile was found in his Mouth you may read his Sentence in the New Testament upon such And is not Christ a sufficient Teacher whose Blood was shed for you and tasted Death for every Man And doth not Christ say to his Ministers Freely ye have received freely give And the Apostle saith We covet no Man's Gold Silver or Apparel but Laboured with their Hands and kept the Gospel without Charge Have they that are called Ministers amongst you done the same and kept this Command of Christ Jesus Let them be Examined and Examine themselves And have you not trimmed your Outsides but look within with the Light and Spirit of Christ Jesus and see if your Insides be not black and foul For Christ Jesus who doth Enlighten every Man that cometh into the World with the Life in himself who is the Word he saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light and with the Light ye may see all the Evil Deeds ye have done and all your ungodly Deeds that ye have acted and committed and all your ungodly Words you have spoken and all your ungodly Thoughts ye think that ye may turn from them and turn to Christ from whence the Light comes who is your Saviour and Redeemer who hath given you a Light to see your Sin and how that you are dead in Adam that with the same Light you may see Christ the quickening Spirit who makes you alive to God and saves you from your sin But if you hate the Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and Love the Darkness and the Prince of Darkness more than the Light or the Life in Christ whose Deeds be Evil and because it will Reprove you Christ tells you This Light will be your Condemnation John 3. And therefore be Warned now in your Day and while you have Time turn to the Lord and do not quench the Spirit of the Father by which he draws to his Son nor hate the Light of Christ for if you do you hate the Life in Christ and so remain under Condemnation from God and Christ with the Light who now speaks to his People by his Son as he did in the Apostles Days so the same God that was the Speaker by the Prophets to the Fathers and Speaker to Adam and Eve in Paradise And happy had Adam and Eve and the Jews and all Christians been if they had kept to this Speaker and not have followed the Serpent that false Speaker and his Instruments And now God is the true Speaker by his Son who bruises the Head of the Serpent the false Teacher who is the Head of all false Ways and false Prophets and false Churches and false Religions and Worships And so God and Christ is bringing People to the pure and undefiled Religion that will keep them from the Spots of the World and into the new and living Way Christ Jesus and to the Church in God which Christ is the Head of as he was in the Apostles Days and to worship God in the Spirit and Truth which Worship Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since And therefore must all People come to the Grace and Spirit of Truth in their own hearts to know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and in the Spirit and Truth to worship and serve and honour and glorifie the Living God who is over all and Worthy of all Blessed for evermore Amen And ye Magistrates and Officers read this in all your Assemblies and cause all your Priests to read it in their Churches that they and you and all People may hear and fear the God of Heaven as you will Answer it at the Great and Terrible Day of Judgment and Vengeance of the Lord God Almighty And this is in Love to your Souls and for your Temporal and Eternal Good Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. 1677. Harlingen in Friezland An Epistle concerning true Fasting true Prayer true Honour and against Persecution and for the true Liberty in Christ Jesus To pag. 438 and that all may have a care that the Apostle hath not bestowed his Labour in vain upon you in your observing of Days Months Times Feasts and Years and of coming under the beggarly Elements and the Yoke of Bondage again and of bringing and forcing People into them WHere did ever Christ or his Apostles Command any Believers or Christians to observe Holy-Days or feast-Feast-Days and let us see where it is written in the Scriptures of the New Testament in the Four Evangelists or the Epistles or the Revelation that ever Christ or his Apostles gave the Christians any such Command that they should observe the Time called Christmas or a Day for Christ's Birth or that they should observe the Time called Easter or Whitsuntide or Peter or Paul's or Mark or Luke's Days or any other Saints Day Now you that profess your selves to be
worship God in Spirit and in Truth which Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years since So all Men and Women must come to the Spirit and Truth in their hearts by which they must know the God of Truth who is a Spirit and then in the Spirit and Truth they will Worship him and know what and who they Worship And also the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Temples that with the Spirit they may know â—â—at their Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost And the Lord is come to bring his People off all the World's Crosses and Pictures and Images and Likenesses to know that the Power of God is the Cross of Christ which Crucifies them to the World and brings them up into the Likeness and Image of God as Man and Woman was in before they fell and so to Christ that never fell And this Work of Christ must all know in their hearts by the Light of Christ Jesus who is the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World It is called the Light in Man and Woman and the Life in Christ the Word and Christ saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And the Light lets you see all your Evil Actions that you have done and committed and your ungodly Ways you have walked in and your ungodly Words and Thoughts and now if you do hate this Light and love the Darkness and the Prince of it more than this Light which is the Life in Christ the Prince of Life and will not come to it because your Deeds be Evil and it will reprove you Christ tells you This Light is your Condemnation And then what is all your Profession good for when you remain under the Condemnation of the true Light in which you should believe and so become Children of Light and out of Condemnation And therefore every one must believe in the Light if they do receive Christ Jesus and as many as receives him he gives them Power to become the Sons of God So he that hath the Son of God hath Life and they that have not the Son of God have not Life and then if you have not Life what good doth all your Profession of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations do you any more than the Jews Scribes and Pharisees that would not receive Christ the Life upon whom God brought his overflowing Scourge And therefore do you take heed of that for your Strength will be no better than theirs if you have not God and Christ's supporting Power when God's Scourge comes upon you and you are filled with Horrours and Fears But my desires are that you may all Repent even from the Highest to the Lowest and not grieve nor quench nor vex nor rebel against God's good Spirit in you nor walk despitefully against the Spirit of Grace nor turn from it unto Wantonness which would teach you and bring your Salvation Which if you do how can you escape the over-flowing Scourge of the Almighty and the Wrath of the Lamb But my desires are that you may all obey God's good Spirit of Truth which will lead you out of all Evil into all Truth and reprove you for your Righteousness and for your own Judgment and Sin c. and it will bring you to cleave to that which is good and forsake that which is evil and to turn to the Lord who will receive you in his Mercy and Kindness By which Means you may escape the over-flowing Scourge in the Day of Vengeance which dreadful Day is coming upon all Evil-doers And this as a Warning to you both for your Temporal and Eternal Good and for you to Read it in your Assemblies and your Priests to Read it in their Churches so that all People may hear and fear as you will Answer it at the Terrible and Dreadful Day of Judgment Amsterdam the 19th of the 7th Month 1677. G. F. For the Embassadors that are Met to Treat for Peace at the City of Nimmeguen in the States Dominions To pag. 448 CHrist Jesus saith Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Matth. 5.9 so all Christian men are to forsake Evil and do Good and seek Peace and follow it if they will love Life and see good Days 1 Pet. 3.11 for God hath called all true Christians unto Peace 1 Cor. 7. and therefore all Christians ought to follow this Peace which God calls them to and they should let the Peace of God rule in all their Hearts which is above the Peace of this World that is so soon broken For the Apostle Commands the Christians to let the Peace of God rule in their Hearts to which all Christians should be subject Now the Practice of this should be among Christians that profess Christianity and this Peace is above that which Christ takes from the Earth Rev. 6. which is the Peace of the Wicked And the Apostle saith to the Christians Be at Peace among your selves 1 Thess 5. Now all Christians should obey this Command and be at Peace among themselves and not in Wars and Strife And further the Apostle exhorts the Christians to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace so this Vnity and this Bond of Peace should be kept and not be broken by all that bears that Noble Name Christian and they should keep the Unity of the Spirit of Christ in the Bond of the Prince of Princes and King of Kings and Lord of Lords Peace which is the Duty of all true Christians to keep In which they may honour Christ in bringing forth the Fruits of Peace which is Love and Charity For the Apostle tells you The fruits of the good Spirit is Love Joy and Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness c. Gal. 5. And the Apostle exhorts the Christians and saith If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceable with all Men and this should be the Endeavour of all Christians For it is no honour to Christ that Christians should war and destroy one another that do profess the Name of Christ who saith He came to save Mens lives and not to destroy them For Christians have Enemies enough abroad without them and therefore they should Love one another as Christ commands who saith By this ye shall be known to be my Disciples if ye Love one another For Christians are commanded to love Enemies therefore much more one another And Christ saith As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you Continue ye in my Love John 15.8 and By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye Love one another John 13.35 But if Christians do war and destroy one another this will make both Jews Turks Tartars and Heathens to say That you are not Disciples of Christ. And therefore as you love God and Christ and Christianity and its Peace All make Peace as far as you have power among Christians that