whilst ye seemingly live thus doth many of you consume yourselves substance and precious time And do ye think to live Dives his live and not dye his death Can ye think to sow to the flesh all manner of corruption all the dayes of your lives and not reap the same in the day of the Lord And do ye think as the tree falls it will not lye and as death leaves Judgement will not find and from Hell there is no Redemption Oh friends I can truly say my bowels ernes for ye who are called Nobles and are great in the earth above any sort of people that are without Also I know and feel that the witness of God lyeth near in very many of ye although the lofty and surly nature is not willing to bow nor sink down and become one with the witness which is meek and â—owly and calls upon ye in secret for purity in your inner parts Oh! let the consideration of Eternal Life constrain and even necessitate ye to turn in the eye of your mind to within and consider what ye shall do to be saved for verily the eye of the Lord is pure and runs to and fro thorow the whole earth and all that 's earthly and cannot behold your present iniquities Wherefore in the fear of the Lord cease to do evil and learn to do well and let the time past be sufficient least the Lord forthwith dash ye in pieces and sweep ye from the face of the earth and your memories utterly rot Therefore seek the Lord with all your hearts whilst he may be found for this is the day of your visitation but your day passeth away and the night swiftly cometh wherein no man can work yet a little while and the Light is with ye I say commune with your own hearts and be still and in the cool of the day when your lusts boilâ— not sink down willingly joyn and adhere to the measure of God in your consciences which is given to man to profit withall Oh take it for a leader for it is the true Light which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World that all men through Him might believe the same is a swift witnesse for the Lord against all the evil of your doings and cannot nor ever did consent to sin the same is truth leads into all truth was before the man of sin the house of Ham the stock of Nimrod the cunning hunter Ishmael the scoffer Lord Esau of the Mount bloody Cain or the Dukes of Edom were and is before all invention or the ridiculous Tythes about which many of you fight kill boast and rend many a bloody oath and when ye have all done it may be prove your ancester an ancient murtherer come into England with William of Normandy killed an English man and took his possession and as your selves sprang from blood rage and cruelty so in the same many of ye continue but beware that your latter end be not worse then your beginning great quantities of earth ye have and the Lords hand is in no wayes shortened towards ye But verily very many of ye spend it wholly upon your lusts and that 's not the end for which it was given but ye are to honour God with your substance and whatsoever he hath given ye he that defiles his body defiles the Temple of the Lord and him will God destroy Therefore whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do learn to do all to the praise and glory of God and do not Lord it over Gods heritage in the General nor in your own particulars for Christ is in ye except ye are reprobates and this know that no man was or ever shall be heir of two Kingdoms and God and Mammon ye cannot please and if ye truly serve the one the other with all his lusts ye must deny Mark all his lusts ye must deny and a death ye must feel upon your present lives that ye may come to know the birth which is immortal seek to know the Lord if it be but as a consuming fire to burn up and consume your lusts which separates between ye and your maker for he that envies is a murtherer ‖ For love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this present world there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love If any man say I love God and hate his Brother he is a lvar For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loves his Brother also 1 John 4. 7 12 16 18 20. and he that lusts after a woman hath committed adultery and I say unto ye all above men and all things swear not And to see a great man a good man is a rare thing even an ornament in his Countrey a strength to the righteous a sinew to the feeble a nerve to the oppressed a help to the helpless and of all men if ye could but see and trust in the truth as it is in Jesus how transcendently happy might ye be even in this life beloved of God and good men and all evil men maÌ„de to fear ye And I do believe many of ye cannot but see the hireling and his covetousness deficiency and deceipt and in some measure see the truth and the vessel to be good but to sea in it ye dare not go for if the greatest of ye deny the hireling his ungodly gain a war he will prepare and the waves will beat the billows boil and the stormes arise But help us Lord and we cannot perish although the greedy man may toss us from one Goal and Dungeon to another and if there in faithfulness to the Lord we lay down or lives yet we live for ever and have life Eternal And that 's much better then the airy title of Duke Lords Knights c. which put them all together will not buy a morsel of bread in this very life and in the life to come the Beggar as the King and his Nobles and Tophet is not prepared in vain and it is well if some of yee who are called Noble-men and cals your selves Christians be not found in the day of the Lord more ignoble to the now despised Christians then Festus Agrippa or Claudius Lycias were to Paul who were called heathens but were truely Noble to Paul and such Nobility I own who puts no man to death nor hurts no man tell the accuser and the accused comes face to face
Souls for his dishonest gain Oh! who is able to reckon up their deceipts or the number of the innocent that hath and are at this day deceived by them but the Soul which sins shall dye the death for the potter hath power over the clay and though he hide himself in the remotest part of the Garden he will find him out and a vessel of dishonour he shall be and yet after they have sinned he desireth not the death of a sinner although he be dead in sins and trespasses but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live For as I live saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner Mark of a sinner but the persecutor and he whose tongue is at liberty who defileth his body which is the Temple of the Lord him will God destroy although he be the fattest Bull in Basan or the mightiest Cedar in all Lebanon he is but clay in the hands of the Potter and a vessel of dishonour he will make him But he that liveth in his fear and standeth in his councel and is obedient to the Fathers Commands which are all possible and in no wise grievous him he makes a vessel of honour and he is to him as the apple of his eye Be Holy be Perfect be Just in all your doings all men and let all Mark all that are athirst come and buy milk freely and take of the water of Life without money and without price Oh! Come all and it is in vain to invite them that are predestinated from all Eternity to be damned What I say unto one I say unto all watch and those that are decreed to Hell need not watch but the Lord willeth that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and he is not like Pharaoh who willed the people to make brick without straw Oh! the Creator doth not so for a measure of himself he hath given to every man to profit withal Mark to all so that if he require the full tale of brick he doth Justly and his doings are Just and he is equal in all his wayes and let not him that is formed though a subject or a King say to him that hath formed Why hast thou made me so But come unto him or look unto him all the ends of the earth and be saved and the Gospel hath been preached to every creature under Heaven and it is he that knowes the Fathers Will and doth it not which shall be beaten but it is impossible that he can do it who never knew it but knowledge is a delitious fruit and pleasant to the eye upon which the reprobate feeds and whom I will I haâ—den but first he willeth that all men should be saved or else he might have said except Judas except Pharaoh except Esau except Pilate the Priests friend but Gods enemy Christ knew from the beginning who should betray him Mark he knew it but he did not wil him to do it for if he had it could not have been called treachery in Judas Nay he willeth not the death of a sinner but he willeth that all the ends of the earth should look unto him and be saved that is his Will and purpose for which purpose he hath and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World that all men through him might believe and be saved Mark and note that he willeth all men I say he did not except Judas Pilate and Pharaoh if they were alive and had not sold themselves to do wickedly for which cause they were given up to a reprobate minde but there is and was some that will not come unto him that they may have life Wherefore such are ordained to condemnation of old but they that come unto him he will in no wise cast off and whom he loves he loves to the end and he that loves him keeps his Commands and he that keeps them not is of the Devil and he that is of the Devil hath no part in him for God and Belial are not one in any one thing neither do they live together and where Jerusalem is Babylon cannot stand and where the Light with which every man is enlightened bears Rule there is no darkness at all and when it is disobeyed if heeded the darkness may be felt Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated before either of those two children had done good or evil Yea the thing Jacob he loved and the thing Esau he hated before either of those two children were begotten or born after the flesh and those two seeds he onely loves and hates at this day and see that there be not a Cain nor an Esau be among ye but let the worm Jacob be cherished for it loves the Light and is the heritage of God but let murtherous Cain although he hath been Prince of the whole City and all hath been called by his sons name and Lord Esau of the mount come under for though there was a time when the seed bowed Jacob's got past and let the elder serve the younger for he sold his Birth-right for his belly Mark he had it A Birth-right or a Right-birth but he sold it and afterwards sought it with tears It was not the earth he wept for although he sold his Birth-right or Right-birth which was immortal for that which was earthly divelish and sensual The great God who created Heaven and Earth willeth that all man-kind should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved and willeth not the death of one soul of his whole handy-work and the work of his own hands he cannot destroy and that is the infallible and true light the Son of the Father who enlighteneth every individual man and woman that commeth into the World that all through him may believe and be saved it is the particular sins of every particular man and woman that is the cause of death reprobation and câ—ndâ—â—nâ—tion and that soul which sins shall die but for the word Original fin I do not find it in the whole Scriptures but is a contrivance of the false Prophets like unto their baby-baptism but he that believes in the Light of Christ which he is enlightened with and brings all his deeds to the light and dwells and abides in the light and hath the hope in him He purifieth himself as he is pure and the wicked one cannot touch him Again and again I say if a certain and set number from all eternity be predestinated to be saved and damned What doth the hireling preach for or for what hath he his hire I am sure the decrees of the living God are yea and Amen and unalterable And there is another vaine sort of people who are as ignorant as they who say that the Scriptures is the word of God and Mathew Mark Luke and John the Gospel and that the Latin Greek and Hebrew is the Original as for the word which the Scriptures of truth truly declares of he was in the
the earth and your being at much ease in the flesh having more then heart can wish many of ye not having the least sympathy with Jacobs troubles being as ye think safely wrapt up in fig-leaves having on a phylactary of the best make yet the dreadful God of hosts will fall in among ye at unawares on every hand if ye speedily repent not and lay to heart the sufferings of the innocent and forthwith relieve the oppressed your latter end will be worse then your beginning where is that spirit of tendernesse that was once among ye that dearly loved mercy and justice have ye turned the love of God backwards Oh! ye have given him just cause utterly to forsake ye have ye sold your selves to do wickedly and instead of growing from strength to strength and from grace to grace ye have turned the grace of God into wantonnesse and oppression swearing and for swearing vowing and not performing all which the Lord our God hates and let not the most lofty Ceader of ye all be deceived the Lords arm is not shortned and asuredly he will visit for these things What hath victories treasures and spoyls so puffed ye up that ye quite forget your selves your poor brethren and because ye have overcome the oppressors do ye therefore oppresse but the same Lord lives as ever and that 's our assurance that he will make all his enemies his foot-stool appease that in your selves which would be angry and honestly consider if ye do not uphold the enemies of God and Gods people at this day yea I know there was a spirit amongst ye once that would have grieved in your very hearts and have thought it your very shame that the people of God should have lain rotting in Goals even to death for not swearing or putting off a hat and for not putting into the hirelings mouth which ye all may and I do believe for the most part do know that he is even your own implacable enemy do not all go along with them like fools to the stocks till a dart strikes sheer through your livers I say there was a time when the hireling and his Jewish and Popish trumpery was all sentenced and the brand of the conquerer and other Tyranies vowed to be taken off but ye are for-sworn and the Lord will not hold them guiltlesse that have so often called God to witnesse and not performed as some of ye have done although you may say in your hearts he defers his coming because judgement is not speedily executed therefore the wicked are set in their heart to do evil and my friends I am sure the blood of the innocent shall never cease to cry till such time that the seed of God be delivered and fully discharged from their deadly prisons and nasty holes where many of the most pretious Saints of the Lord are thronged where some already have sealed their Testimony with their blood and several others are languishing even at the brink of death and all this and much more is suffered to gratifie the hireling that irreclameable relique of popery May not all that are wise in heart plainly see that the Priests of this Land war with flesh and blood and for principalities and powers and their weapons are indeed carnal and not spiritual who no longer then their mouths are cramed and filled they prepare war and murders men for their bellies and have had the blood of several already Oh cruel gluttony and most accursed appetite that nothing can stanch or satisfie but blood Oh let them have blood to drink and let the whores cup be filled brim full with the indignation and dregs of the wrath of the Almighty God If we were the wolves as the hirelings sayes we are and they the sheep or Lambs I am sure all people will confesse with me that it is not the nature of sheep and Lambs to devour and kill the wolves but the wolves did of old as these do now kill the sheep and devour the innocent Lambs I have read and doe believe that the good Shepherd laid down his own life for the Sheep but I do not read that he ever took away the life of any So my dear Friends honestly consider who ye are for and who ye uphold for verily if ye lay down your lives and perish for and with their deceipt I am bold in the Lord God to declare it unto you all from the highest to the lowest that they are falling and mine eye sees it and it is impossible for ye to defend or secure them from the just name of Antichrists false prophets deceivers greedy dumb dogs who can never have enough but still seeks for his gain from his quarter mark that he seeks it as the false Prophets did of old for there is few or none that are not forced yea very few that brings his gain to him but himself or some one for him seeks all the quarters of the field till he finds the poor brow-sweating husband-man who eats the bread of carefulnesse all the year long no sooner he finds him or his corn or hay but he presently tels out the tenth sheaf or tenth Cock and so sets his thiefs mark upon it and calls it his own Compare him to the false prophet which is spoken of in Mich. 3. read the whole Chapter and see if there be any more difference then there is betwixt a thief and a ravenous Lawyer or a Judge whose hands and affections may be full of bribery and yet hangs a thief Friends lay aside prejudice and honestly Judge Ye may remember that Moses said a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me him shall ye hear in all things mark and truly consider the word all he doth not say him shall ye hear in some things onely but him shall ye hear in all things and it comes to pass that he that will not hear this Prophet shall be cut off Now that Prophet who was the Promise the Vow and Oath of God commands in express words saying Swear not at all though it was said by them of old thou shalt perform thy Oaths to the Lord but I say swear not at all and I am sure he that goes about to inforce any one to swear by any Oath obeys not that Prophet and is to be cut off and that Prophet strictly and positively commands his Ministers saying Be ye not of men called Masters without the breach of which command and title of Master the hireling is not compleat For when a youngling goes first to Oxford to learn the trade of Devination they call him a fresh-man and continues for three years or thereabouts by the name of an undergraduate and then he takes the degree of Batchelour but yet he may not preach except it be by that which they call Ex Gratia and in other four years time he commonly takes the degree of Master and then he hath authority to say what he pleaseth for an hour together and
which was and hath for a long time been slain is made alive and the mighty God of the oppressed is arisen in great strength so as he will slay all that live in pleasure fulness and wantonness and very many shall the slain of the Lord be and those who refuse to hear the Prophet in all things shall be cut off and terrible will our God be to all the workers of iniquity for assuredly the wicked and all those that forget God shall be turned into Hell And I looked and lo a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion and with him â—n hundred forty and four thousand having his Fathers Name written in their fore-heads and they sung as it were a new song before the Throne and before the four beasts and the Elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty four thousand Which were Redeemed from the earth These are they which were not defiled with women for they are Virgins These are they which follow the Lamb whethersoever he goeth These were Redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in them there was found no guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God And I saw another Angel flie in the midst of Heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and people saying with a loud voice Fear God and give Glory to Him for the hour of his Judgment is come worship Him that made Heaven and Earth the Sea and the Fountains of waters And there followed another Angel saying Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City because she made all Nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her Fornication And the third Angel followed them saying with a loud voice If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in his fore-head or in his hand The same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shaâ—l be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they shall have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name And I heard the Angel of the waters say Thou art Righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast Judged thus For they have shed the blood of the Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy And I heard another out of the Altar say Even so Lord God Almighty true and Righteous are thy Judgements for they are the spirits of Devils working miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the earth and of the whole World to gather them to the battel of the great day of God Almighty And I saw as it were a Sea of glass mingled with fire and them that had gotten the Victory over the Beast and over his Image and over his mark and over the number of his names stand on the Sea of glass having the harps of God and they sung the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Just and True are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and give glory to thy Name For thou only art Holy for all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy Judgements are made manifest Even so be it Amen Come Lord Rev. 14. 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Rev. 16. 5 6 7. and 14. Rev 15. 2 3. Given forth in the 4th Month 16â—8 By E B. THE END A VVORD To those old Creatures who are old in iniquity and in the fallen state yet deny falling away who say once in Christ and ever in Christ when as it may be they are at the very same time in a very great rage disputing and pleading for sin Term-of-life I Say to such unprofitable talkers who are willing and by their own consent do contract with Hell and Death who stretch themselves forth in big swelling words and think themselves it may be much better because they are crowded into gathered Churches as they call them and it may be of a truth can say something of an antient and past experience moving or appearance of God to and in them whereupon their big word and wide-mouthed-boast is when the poor Souls or rather proud Pharisees are at the very top of their vaunting to wit once in Christ and ever in Christ such I many times am moved ask Whether they are obeying the Command doing the Work Will of Christ at this time now and ever Mark Once in Christ and ever in Christ and I am sure he that for ever abides in Christ must now and ever do the Will and Commands of Christ and they are not grievous nor unholy neither can that man which is impure imperfect or unholy observe obey or do them in the love and belief of them and He now and ever Redeems and saves his people from their sins note that for he which sinneth is of the â—evil Yea though he be but proud and covetous and as full of persecution as too too many professors are which is of the old creature and such are not new creatures nor in Christ Jesus now and ever neither are they purified as he is pure who is the substance the one onely one thing needful who is the beginning and end of all things himself without beginning or end who is not afar of but nigh at hand and a ready helper unto all them who fear him whâ— is the root oâ— â—esse the Promise come the Truth the Oath and admits not of any swearing whatsoever that 's his Command and it is not grievous for his yoke is easie and his burthen is light in and by whom I see light who sayes Swear not at all And he doth not reap where he hath not first sowen For he doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World Male and Female Bond and Free Scythian and Barbarian and a measure of himself is given to every man continually to profit with all note to every man He was not so selfish as many of ye are who are in this and that and the other form I do not say all who do seclude alâ— that are not with ye in your set dayes bread wine and Baby Baptism out of the Everlasting Kingdom which was before your fables were But he that is in Christ iâ— a new creature Mark he is he doth not say he was or he shall be and so warm himself by his own coals by onely saying the Righâ—eousness of Chriâ—t the Righteousness of Christ is sufficient But I say he which confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy Mark that
upon him that for many dayes and nights he could not forbear quaking and trembling the Divels trembled I â—n â— in most dreadful horror that many people wondred at him who though he had food looked as if he had been almost famished and could not die until his flesh rotted away in many places and he most gastly to behold he often uttered horrible words from the pit of darknesse at last dying in a sad and miserable manner terrible to the beholders James Munden Priest of Burton having some Queries delivered to him by Francis Taylor he said he would go and fetch a warrant to have him before a Justice that day but the Justice not granting it he sent the Queries back to Francis Taylor and when his wife came unto him she in a rage tore the paper of Queries and said to him that as she did tear that paper so the Devils should tear his soul in hell hereafter a bad answer to the Queries and other times she abused friends in their meetings and her children threw stones at them Not long after this Priest was suddenly strook dead and never spake word more though he had been preaching two several times that day or rather deceiving the people words and the wages of unrighteousness being cursed to him he died in debt and left his wife and children in poverty and misery Also a young man of the same Parish and a follower of the same Priest being very bitter to friends and sought occasion against his own brother Upon him also the Judgements of the Lord came and after he had been speechlesse for a time hee roared and howled in a loud and hideous manner being in a distracted condition and had many to hold him he shortly after died and many were amazed at him Edward Ireland a tithing-man dwelling in South Periot who scoffed at friends and persecuted them with much cruelty and took some out of there houses and carried them before some called Justices and in the eleventh month 58. he went to Blanford Sessions with Jeremiah French the Priest of South Periot who went there to lay in false information against John Gundry who was cast into prison by Jeremiah French the said Ireland also having a hand in it and at that Sessions Iâ—hn Gundry was brought forth and so fined fourty shillings to the Protector and fourty shillings to the Priest but Ieremiah French and Edward Ireland rode away from Blanford towards South Periot before those called Justices had really fined Iohn Gundry or remanded him to prison again and yet as they rode homeward through Evershot Edward Ireland boasted that Iohn Gundry would be sent to prison again who came home to his house but within two days the Lord strook him dead suddenly in his house which struck a dread in many which had a hand in persecuting the Lords people but especially one Richard Farnham who had also been a great persecuter of the Lords people in that place who came in to see Edward Ireland at the cry of the people and when he came into the house he fell down as dead and many of the people there ran about him and did shake him up and did strive much about him so he recovered life again but the dread of the Lord lay upon him that he was sick for a time after and then for a short season the Lords people had rest from their persecutors Dâ—VOâ— When I was prisoner at EXETER a Murtherer being condemned to die was brought into the Chamber to us and his hands unbolted and a naked knife in his hand and so left with us but the Lord preserved us from any hurt by him and he was afterwards hanged for killing a man with a knife The Mayor of Tiverton in Devon-shire by whose order many friends had their goods spoiled and taken from them and many were put into prison was about the fourth or fifth month in the year 1658 cut off by the hand of God in a miserable manner his bowels consuming within him and as one Fowler of the same Congregation and fellowship with him and of the same Town told a friend it lay upon him to go to see the Priest and to acquaint him that it was the hand of God upon him for his cruel usage of those people called Quakers One of the Constables of EXETER a notorious Professor hanged himself in his own house The Bridewel-keeper who had done very much wrong to friends who were under his custody and to others that came to visit them in prison making several lies against them soon after hanged himself by his bed side It is reported that many of the Professors in Exon have hanged and drowned themselves since first that place begun to persecute the people of God As Thomas Salthouse and Miles Halhead were travelling towards Plymouth in obedience to the Lord were apprehended at Honington and sent to EXETER by a guard of Musqueteers from thence to TAâ—NTON with a sealed letter a guard to Colonel Buffet who as he was enioyned by the said letter wrote another to send them from Tything to Tything until they came to their own Countries but the officer that had the passe and was to be their convoy to the next Tything had not gone above a mile until he fell down in the mire and could not stand upon his feet although they lefted him up thus the Lord made way for their enlargements and manifested his Righteous Judgements upon the Persecutors of the innocent so the Justice seeing the hand of the Lord against their formed weapons and instruments employed against the servants of the Lord released them The first that rose up against the people of God in this County was one Thomas Pentlow called Justice that in two years space committed 9 of the servants of the Lord to Prison and not one of them was proved transgressors either of the Law of God nor the Nation and some of them kept above a whole year in Prison and immediately after the beginning of his persecution the Lord smote him with an incurable disease in his body that he never went forth as formerly he did many times but lay roaring night and day near two years and when he lay thus in torment he committed every one of the people of the Lord to Prison that was brought before him though not any Law was transgressed and never repented to the day of his death Next one John Brown called Justice committed one Henry Williamson to Prison for going into Kettering Steeple-house though he never spoke one word but stood peaceably all the time and as soon as the Priest had done the people dragged him forth by the hair of the head struck him on the head face with their Bibles and he never speaking one word and John Brewa was an eye witness to this barbarous usage of him and never reproved the rude people for it but committed him to an Ale-house with a charge that none of his friends should come near him and
be kept from his Wife and six small children and from his trade and employment to the ruining of him and his Family Just seven dayes after the Lord strook his Wife with death made 7 or 8 children of his motherless and in one week his Family were all disperced and his children put forth and his house left desolate to this day So our God is known by his executing Judgement and the wicked are trapped in the works of their own hands and thus in all ages hath the Lord been known and it is left upon record and in this age all the children of the light see the Lords footsteps praises be to him for ever Also one Wyat living at bugbrook a great professor for many years hearing that a Neighbour living in the same Town owned Truth and began to go to Friends Meetings he wrote a whole sheet of paper against the Truth of God and most blasphemously belyed the people of God which he in scorn called Quakers and sent this his Letter to his Neighbour aforesaid and challenged him or any of his Friends to give him an answer unto it but in a few weeks after before a friend could return him an answer the Lord answered him by taking away his life Also one John Palmer whom the World calls Quaker sent a book which was set forth by a friend to a Priest living three miles from Harborrow and desired him to read it the Priest was troubled at what was written in the book and said that he would write another to confute it and while he was writeing against the truth the Lord struck him with death suddenly that he died and never finished that work Also one Thomas Hensman one who was Warden so called of Willingborrow and when any friends were moved to go to the Steeple-house he would be alwayes ready at the command of the Priest there to hale them forth of the Steeple-house and he did once at the desire of the Priest swear falsly against one Elihu Hunt that she disturbed the Priest when she did out ask him one question after he had done and by his swearing Thomas Pentlow committed her to Prison presently after the Lord smoâ—e the said Thomas with an uncurable disease and when he lay upon his death-bed he declared to Neighbours that nothing troubled him so much as swearing and persecuting the said Elihu and wished that he had never had a hand in it and at the same time died Henry Wood of Bury in Lancaster riding to Manchester market Priest Bradsham rod up to him and called him knave and took away his hat At Boâ—ton the said H. Wood was much misused had his hair pul'd off his face by T. Tislesly Dol Hodgkin was strook by the Priest of Wakefield and had like to have been killed with a hammer by a black-smith YORK Priest of Warsworth strook and punched G. Fox The same Priest took away Thomas Rawlinsons hat LONDON Priest Griffin of Bred-street strook Robert Ingram sorely over the head with a Cane many blows The Priest of Heburn strook Jo. Sley several times over the brest And those things have happened for the Admonition of the children of those who have persecuted the innocent without cause and are written for the encouragement of such as may hereafter be persecuted for the testimony of Jesus that they may look unto him and be saved who hath delivered us out of six troubles and in seven he will not forsake us A Catologue of some few of the fighting Priests PRiest Shaw of Aldingham beat Anna Clater Priest Roulands of Areloth beat Robert Cooper because he would not speak to him Priest Willon of Kerby struck Luke Benson till he broke a thick cane therewith Priest Bennet of Cartmel came out of an Ale-house being in drink beat Richard Raper and boasted that he beat him and struck up his heels Priest Brook of Cartmel-fell came drunk into the house where Thomas Rollison dwelt beat him violently would have cast him into the fire Priest Wait of Gargrave stood by while his wife burnt eighteen sheets of paper holding it to the face of William Waâ—kinson to burn him with but the Priest never so much as reproved her or restrained her Priest Dorton of Shape being drunk drew his Tuck at Daniel Tompson in the street as he passed but being horsed he fled and escaped he beat Richard and William Stray pulled them by the hair luged his ears and came to William Strayes house with his tuck to seek him and threatened his wife therewith Priest Ripling of Crosby came rideing into the meeting where the people of God was meet and rid through them with violence Priest Nichols of Acton beat James Parnel and broak his head against a stall Priest Warwick of Aspeater beat John Grave and his wife and shed the blood of Jonah Person at a meeting Priest Burton of Sedburg beat John Blackling and pulled him by the hair of his head in his high place He also beat Richard Speight and John Hall as is said at Huperam Chappel Priest Cowleden of Langsterdale beat Edward Edwards and shed his blood upon the high way Also he beat Iames Tenart Priest Atkinson of Granton beat Bernard Addisom in the high-way and broke his staff over his face Priest of Marrick beat Christop More and also he beat Ioseph Longsdale in Richmond market-place for reproving him for it Priest More of Richmond beat Christoph. More with a flayl insomuch that its like he had killed him if help had not come Priest Confit of Barton beat Dor. Tod for coming to visit his wife I Christo Iron upon a first day was coming from a meeting of Friends and comming along the High-way I lighted of one Parson Feak of Standrop in the county of Durham who did rageingly fall upon me and did beat me and so passing along the way and my mouth never opened nor one word said he came again and gave me a great blow and made me stagger and struck off my hat and had a Rapier-staff that he had at Steeple-house which he drew a part forth of the Scabbard but put it up again and thus the Parson did to me and not one word and thus we parted This same Feak beat Thomas Taylor Christopher Atkinson and Thomas Aâ—ery coming along the high way coming from Ravensworth Castle Priest Feak of Staindrop beat Christo Atkinson trailed him at the horse side by the hair of the head by the high-way and his wife behind him bunched him on the face Lewis Floid Priest of Otteringam did tear William Dewsbuâ—ies hair off his head and struck him as they passed together near Oteringam in much rage and fury Thomas Andrews Priest of Wellingborow laid violent hands on Anne Ellington and drew her to the fire to have caused her to have burned a letter she carried to him and bruised the sinnew of her arm Priest Tho. Shaw of Aldingham beat James Lancaster for speaking to him in private he also beat Miles Falhead and shed his blood Linc. Flecher Priest of Dean in Cum bad the people fight for the Gospel and caused Thomas Stubs to be extreamly beaten Mathew Bakeâ— a great High Priest who said that Adam before he fell had a dark light of nature in him that shewed him sin c. A friend in the truth bid him prove it but he could not his lyes being laid upon him he got up in a great rage and struck F. Ellington As Rob. Chintin was going to a meeting Priest Fortrey asked him why he run after other mens wifes there being a woman or two before going towards the meeting and with many other obscene unclean words rayled at him and beat him with his staff so that for a moneth or more his hanâ— was Iame. Thomas Curtis of reading being in the Steeple-house there asking Priest Web a question was sorely pulled by the hair of the head by the priests adherents The aforesaid Curtis was also abused and smote by the priest of Causham until the Mayor himself came and took him forth of the Steeple-house Priest Feak of Stanethrop beat Christopher Jones of Barnard Castle Priest Jenkins with four men to whom he gave bond to save harmlesse for whatsoever they did who by false warrant seized upon and drove away 100 sheep and other Cattel from Captain John Elliot his shepherds wife owning one sheep and desiring to have it one of this priests men knocked her down and broak her head in two places and for some time she lay for dead continuing deaf unto this day the aforesaid Captain Eliots wife being there also the priest bid one of his men knock her down and kill her and he would bear him out at which command one of them struck her on the breast with a great staff which might have killed her but she having a young child which did suck preserved her but the child sucking the putrified milk took a vomiting and died and this is murther in the sight of God and men And no murtherer nor striker shall inherit the Kingdom THE END