God that ye may reign in the dominion of the same over all the evil Lusts of the Flesh which would arise in your hearts to war against the Spirit of Holiness and so would hinder your Sanctification This of a truth Friends you ought to take heed unto even the Spirit of Holiness and Power of the Lord our God which in this latter Age he hath largely manifested for to sanctifie his People that so your hearts may be kept clean and preserved according to Christ's Command out of the surfeiting with the Cares of this Life and from being overcome with and drowned in the Pleasures and Vanities of this World that you may never lose the excellency and glory of these heavenly things which God the Father in the bountifulness of his loving kindness hath been pleased to manifest with which all the glory of this present World is not to be compared And so my Dear Friends you that feel the Lord and his goodness in your hearts Walk Circumspectly as before him with Reverence and Godly Fear in the holy Awe that you may not provoke him at any time nor grieve his holy Spirit by which you are Sealed but with tenderness of heart and pureness of mind wait upon him at all times So will your Peace spring up as a River and your Righteousness be multiplied as the Waves of the Sea and so over all the choaking Cares of this Life and drowning Pleasures of this present vain World you will be preserved to have a being in the power of that life which is without end In which as there is a dwelling faithfully you will all grow and increase in the dominion over all hurtful Lusts that war against the Soul in your own particulars And also there will be a growing over all hurtful Spirits that have entred since the beginning whose Life is in the Fall and not in the pure Redemption nor in the redeeming Power that brings out of the Fall And so to the Lord God Friends be ye all faithful in your places that you may be a blessing in your Generation in those Countries and Places where ye dwell that the Nations may be seasoned that your savory life may sweeten the People And Friends have an eye to the Glory of God and the Honour of his Truth in all your undertakings I even command you in his fear it being upon me by his Spirit that the Lord's name may not be blasphemed among the Heathen through your unfaithfulness For truly my love being great towards you I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie and therefore am constrained to use great plainness as having a sense of your state And therefore be ye provoked unto Love and to good Works in a faithful obedience and serving of the power for it s in that that all accepted And lay aside all Wrath and Clamour and evil Speaking with all bitterness and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls And in the power of that dwell and it will divide aright between the Pretious and the Vile and so will cut off all that is not of God not regarding what may be professed where the living vertue is wanting This pure living Word is your Preserver that keep faithful in it and will keep you from all deceiveableness and lying Spirits which are not of the Father but of the World and from the God of the same in the dark power beguiling the unstable Soul through his lying Signs and Wonders in the power of darkness without living vertue And this Word which you have received will live in your hearts and minister daily of its own vertue into your Souls for their refreshment if you keep faithful unto the same But if the Thorny Cares of this life and the choaking Pleasures of this vain World take root and place in your hearts then the freshness is lost the issue of living vertue is stopt the ministring word and power is with-drawn the Fountain again is sealed up and the dry Winds and the scorching heat comes and dries up and causes to wither the green Blade before the Corn comes to perfection So that the harvest and time of gathering never comes Therefore O my Friends be faithful unto the Lord and be not drawn aside from the stedfastness of the Gospel neither on the one hand nor on the other but step in the straight path of Life Peace and Salvation which the Lord hath prepared for your feet that the Weak may be strengthned and the Lame recovered and none turned out of the way For truly there is much upon you I feel it in this matter even you that feel the Lord in any measure that you all be vigilant and diligent in your places that you may be a strength unto the Weak And therefore am I moved once more to warn you now you even you that know the Lord To take heed unto the power of the Lord God in your hearts and with that keep down the earthly worldly Spirit that so you live over it in the Spirit and Power of the Lord may draw more unto you or else I feel it you will not only be guilty of your own Blood but the Blood of others also which stumble at your unfaithfulness who have been call'd and accounted as the first Fruits unto God and unto the Lamb in those parts of the World in this blessed day of the Lord in which he hath appeared and gathered by his power and also doth preserve and nourish by the vertue of the same all that he hath gathered whose trust and confidence is in him And so My Friends this may give you to understand that I am safely arrived in England and am perfectly well every way And Friends here are generally well Meetings very large and the Truth in good esteem among many People who are not yet of us And great openness in all places where I have been in the hearts of all People and great desires to hear the Truth for it is of good Report This from Me who remain Your Friend and Brother J. B. The END 1671. In our going down to Virginia we were in great danger and had like to have been Castaway with a North-west Storm 1672. 1673. 1674. 1675. 1676. * * The Earl of Arran This was Amos Strettel's Marriage As at large may be seen in George Bishop's two Books entituled new-New-England judged * * Iohn Smith Witness Thomas Smith Iohn Kelson Thomas Cole
that unruly lose Spirit and Mind they were gone into being some of them filled with Prejudice they had written a Book which they brought in Manuscript to the Meeting and urged to have it read But I told them we had the Papers there and they might lay down their Objections they being there and we would Answer them But that would not serve but the Book they would read and we sate in quietness till they had done And when they had done I reached for it and by my memory did go over the Heads thereof and did clear G. F. and Friends in our godly Care and Intents and opened the Service and Benefit of such Things which they did Cavil at and shewed Friends the Advantage that was therein both to the Truth and them and withal reprehended their Slanders and Falshoods with which they had hurt the Minds of several young and newly-convinced Friends and so opened unto them how it was the same Spirit that of old led those that opposed the Apostles and endeavoured to bring a slight and begit a disesteem in the Minds of the Believers against them that watched over them for their good and so endeavoured to lead them into a fleshly Liberty to shun the Cross c. And when I had cleared my self and informed Friends of the truth of Things that then by them had been objected against Friends in general were satisfied and saw the Mistakes which they had let into their Minds through the Insinuation of those three men that had been chiefly concerned in the writing of the Book and in the Opposition And so the Lord's Power broke in upon the Meeting and Friends Hearts were broken and great meltings in the Power there was amongst us and so in the same we blessed the Lord and praised him and prayed unto him and they were bowed and went away And so Friends were comforted and the Seed and Life reigned over all everlasting Glory and Honour and Praise be given to him for all his Mercies and Preservations for he is worthy for evermore And so when all our Meetings were over and Friends in the heavenly Power and Seed comforted and the bad Spirits and their evil Work confounded and brought under as in the Minds of the Simple-hearted that were like to be hurt and betrayed by them and so a coolness and calmness amongst Friends I was clear And then took my Journey with some Friends that did accompany me and went to Flushing and down to Gravesand and when I had visited Friends there I went to New-York and had a Meeting and then took shipping for Maryland there and set Sail the the 23 d of the eighth Month 1671. We met with a sore Tempest a West-north-west-wind that blew so hard we could carry no Sail for some days but at last we got into Virginia and then sailed up the Bay and got to Pertuxon River in Maryland the fifth day of the ninth Month and there I landed with my Companion Daniel Gould who came with me from Road-Island and did travel with me that Winter We visited Friends in Maryland and I went down to Virginia to visit Friends there and found a freshness amongst them and they were many of them restored and grown up to a degree of their former Zeal and Tenderness and a great Openness I found in the Country and had several blessed Mettings And then I did advise them to have a Mens-Meeting and so to meet together to settle things in good order amongst them that they might be Instrumental to the gathering of such as were yet scattered and stirring up of such as were cold and careless and so to the keeping of things in order sweet and well amongst them And thus having cleared my self in the Love of God I committed them unto the Lord and the Word of his Grace and so took Boat again for Maryland and got well thither at last but met with strong Winds and rough Weather and some danger and so spent some time more in Maryland till the Spring And in the 2 d Month I appointed a Meeting at West-River in Maryland for all the Friends in the Province that I might see them together before I departed for I was determined to go as soon as I could after that Meeting And when the time appointed came and Friends from all Parts began to come George Fox with several Brethren came from Iamaica and landed at Pertuxon and from thence came streight to the Meeting And there were Friends from all Parts of the Province where they dwelt and we had a very large Meeting which did continue for several days and a Men and Womens-Meeting for the setling of Things that Men and Womens-Meetings might be established in the Province according to the blessed Order of the Gospel of Christ Jesus which Friends by the Power thereof were gathered into in most places And G. F. did wonderfully open the Service thereof unto Friends and they with gladness of heart received Advice in such necessary Things as were then opened unto them and all were comforted and edified And then when all was over and we all clear and all sweet and pleasant among Friends we departed and went down to the Clefts some by Water and some by Land and there we had a large Meeting of both Friends and other People And when that was over we departed some went down to Virginia and some stayed in Maryland And George Fox Robert Withers George Pattison and I with several Friends of the Province took Boat and went over to the Eastern-shore and there had a Meeting on the first day and on the second day we began our Journey through the Woods to go over Land to new-New-England And took Horse at Iohn Pitts at the Head of Tredaven-Creek and did go through the Woods above the Heads of Miles-River and Wye-River and also headed Chester-River and lay two Nights in the Woods viz second and third days at night And on the fourth day we came to Saxifrax-River and did swim our Horses and went over our selves in Boats or Canowes And so rode on to Bohemia-River and there did cause our Horses to swim and went over our selves in Canowes And then came to a Plantation called Augustines and there we stayed a little and about three in the Afternoon we set forwards and some of us got to Delaware to Newcastle and got Lodging for we were sore wet with the Rain but Ro. Withers and George Pattison lay in the Woods all night their Horses being tired Next morning they came to us at New-castle We stayed there that day and next day we got over the River And when we were over we could not get an Indian for a Guide and our Dutchman we had hired would not go without an Indian so we were forced to stay there that day And the next day he rode about to seek an Indian but could get none to go and so late in the Evening there came some over from the other side
from the Town and we hired one and so began our Journey early next Morning to travel through that Country which now is called New Iersey and we did suppose that we travelled that day near forty Miles And at the Evening we got to a few Indian Wigwams that is their Houses for we saw no Man nor Woman House nor Dwelling that day for there dwelt no English in that Country then We lodged that Night in an Indian Wigwam and lay upon the Ground as themselves did and next day we travelled through several of their Towns and they were kind to us and helped us over the Creeks with their Canowes and we made our Horses swim at the sides of the Canowes and so travelled on And towards the Evening we got to an Indian Town and when we had put our Horses to Grass we went up to the King's House who received us kindly and shewed us very civil Respect But alas he was so poorly provided having got so little that Day that most of us could neither get to eat nor drink in his Wigwam but it was because he had it not So we lay as well as he that was upon the Ground only a Matt under us and a piece of Wood or any such thing under our Heads So next Morning early we took Horse and travelled through several Indian Towns and that day at Night we lodged in the Woods And so the next day being the fourth day we got to an English Plantation to a Town called Middle-Town in East-Iersey where there was a Plantation of English and several Friends and so we came down with a Friend to his House near the Water-side and he carried us over in his Boat and our Horses also to Long-Island And we got to Friends at Gravesand that Evening and next day we took our Journey to Flushing on Long-Island And the next day being the seventh day of the Week we took our Journey to Oyster-Bay and came there that Evening and several Friends from Gravesand and Flushing with us for the next day their Half-years-Meeting did begin which was the cause of our so hard travelling And besides we did understand that those that had been so troublesome the Half-years-Meeting before when I was there in opposing the Order of Truth and reflecting so upon G. F. would then be an Exercise to Friends therefore George Fox did endeavour the more to get to the Meeting Which we did very seasonably and it was of great Service to the Truth and great Comfort to Friends for they were greatly under when we were come and some of the chief of them began to fawn upon G. F. So we had our Meetings very comfortably first and second days publick for Worship third day for our Mens and Womens-Meetings for Business about the Affairs of the Church as usually before Then on the fourth day we had a Meeting with those dissatisfied People for G. F. would not suffer the Service of our Men and Womens-Meetings to be hindered by such a matter And so on the fourth day as many Friends as had a desire to be there did come and the Lord's Power went over them and Friends were much satisfied And he that was the chief Instigator of that Mischief to wit George Dennis who came from London and his Wife not being well owned there by Friends he now began to disown the matter and would have cast it upon others and have willingly appeared clear to G. F. but that I did prove under his own Hand that he was a chief Actor at the Half-years-Meeting before and read the Book in our Meeting whether we would or no. And so things being fastened upon him the Lord's Power went over his deceitful Spirit and they were all bowed and the Truth exalted over all Glory to the Lord for ever Amen Then after this we stayed a little upon the Island and did go back to have some Meetings and returned again to Oyster-Bay and there set Sail for Road-Island the 29 th of the third Month and arrived at Road-Island the thirtieth of the same and there stayed till the Yearly-Meeting which began the eighth day of the fourth Month which was the sixth day of the next Week following and at that General Meeting there were many Friends from most Places in New-England where Friends dwelt and abundance of other People came into our Publick Meetings And we had Meetings for eight days together every day a Meeting some publick and others Men and Womens-Meetings for setling the Affairs of the Churches in the Order of the Truth that all things might be kept sweet clean and well And when all was over and the Service of the Meetings finished I took my Journey Eastward to go through the Meetings in the Eastern Parts of new-New-England and with me went Iohn Cartwright and George Pattison and several other Friends to accompany us and we left G. F. upon the Island and he went to Providence and the Narraganset Country So we took our Journey towards Sandwich where we had a blessed Meeting and were comforted and richly refreshed in the blessed Presence of the Lord 's holy and blessed Power that was with us and did open and enlarge our hearts And when we had spent some time with Friends there we left them and travelled on by Plymouth and Duxbury and had a Meeting at Marshfield and another at Scituate and the Lord was blessedly with us And at Scituate some of the Elders of their Church came to our Meeting where were abundance of People in an Orchard and stood up and made opposition so I ceased speaking to the People and joyned with them in Dispute But the People were so displeased at the Interruption they made that they signified their dislike and would have them have stayed till I had done upon which they said they would forbear then and come again So they went away and after their own Meeting was over they came again and several Friends stayed with me and a great Company of People came with them And then we went into our Meeting-house which before would not hold the Multitude and there began to Dispute and after some time spent they always endeavouring to make Friends appear to be in the Errour I said unto them before the People If I must be disputed with as an Heretick and your Church esteemed as a true Church I am willing we should come to the Rule Christ hath left and thereby be tried and that is by our Fruits and if you can prove the Fruits of your Church to be agreeable to the Fruits of any antient true Christian Church I shall yield otherwise I must hold my Testimony against it as a false Church c. But they were mighty unwilling to joyn with me in that Discourse But I urged the proof of our Practice by Scripture especially in such a great Point as that and so went on to reckon up the Fruits of their Church which was to fine and take away Goods for not coming to
and while they were below in Virginia and Carolina we travelled among Friends in Maryland and had blessed Service Upon the first day of the eleventh Month we had a Meeting at Iohn Baldwin's at South-River where were many Friends and other People who were come together upon the Occasion of a Dispute which one Henry Pierrepoint had challenged us unto who was a kind of a Fifth-Monarchy-Man The first thing we had to prove which he had assumed was That the Scriptures were the only Rule to try all things by in matters of Faith and Doctrine About which we had a great Discourse and we proved That the Patriarchs had Faith and a Rule for Faith before any Scriptures we have were written and shewed what was their Rule We spent several hours in Dispute about the other three things which he had affirmed but there is a Book in Manuscript which is an Answer to them all therefore shall omit any further mentioning of it here So after some time spent in visiting Friends from Meeting to Meeting where many People came in at several places and the Lord's Power opened us and we were comforted and the Consciences of People reached G. F. and the other Friends returned and Iohn Cartwright took shipping for Barbadoes G. F. and I were some time together and we were up at an Indian Town at the Emperour's House where he had ordered the Indians both Men and Women to be there at his House to wit the antient and grave the young People were at another Wigwam G. F. spoke unto them by an Interpreter for the space of four or five hours I suppose it was nigh five hours and they were very still and quiet and very attentive and delighted as we did perceive to hear And when the time was over and we clear they shewed us kindness and were going to hang a Kettle on the fire to boil Fish for us to eat as they told us but we could not stay having a great way to go by Water and it was late So we came away to the Water-side and some of them accompanied us till we took Boat so we came down the River again to Friends and spent some time more in travel and labour in that Province And Iames Lancaster George Pattison and I took a Journey to visit some People that was Convinced up Potomick-River but we did Ferry over Pertuxon-River and then travelled through the Woods on foot over Land till we came to them and stayed a few days and had a Meeting or two and then returned back again to Pertuxon and on to the Clifts where we left Iames being very weary Then next day George and I travelled to West-River and were there at their Meeting And next Week we got a Boat and went over the Bay to the Easternshore and went up Miles-River to Friends and from thence we went to meet with G. F. to speak with him having some Intentions to take shipping and to go for England with one Iohn Ore a Friend a Master of a Katch that did belong to some Friends at London And when we had been with G. F. a little time we returned to Miles-River to our Boat and after a little time went away to go over the Bay towards West-River and through some exercise with contrary Winds At last we got over and after a little time spent there with Friends we departed and went down by the Clifts where we met with G. F. come over the Bay And stayed but little there but went on towards Pertuxon where we took shipping and set Sail out of Pertuxon-River the 25 th day of the second Month 1673. and came out at the Capes of Virginia to the Sea on the sixteenth day of the same Month. And when we had sailed but a few days in a Morning early we espied a Fleet of Ships behind us about four and twenty and then we stopt a little supposing them to be an English Fleet that sailed out of the Capes from Iames-River two or three days before us And when some of them came up to us they told us it was the same Fleet. So we stayed and went in company with them till we came about the Bank of New-found-Land and then we met with foul Weather which did part us one from another so that we no more got all together again We were six that got together again in our Company and kept together until we came into the Bay at Galloway in Ireland where we arrived the 24 th day of the third Month 1673. And then from Galloway I travelled to Limmerick and so to Charlefield to Mallo and to Cork and to Bandon and as far almost as Baltimore visiting Friends and having Meetings and then returned back to Cork and then took my Journey to Youghill and so on to Tallagh and to Kilcomin and to Waterford and so on into the County of Wexford having Meetings in all these places and the Lord 's good Presence with us to our comfort Glory and Honour and Praise to him for ever And then I came up through the County of Catherlough and the Queens County and so on into the County of Westmeath having Meetings all along and visiting Friends and there George Pattison left me and took his Journey for Dublin and from thence to London but I took my Journey for Caan and when I had seen Friends and had a Meeting or two I took my Journey for the North the County of Ardmagh and the County of Antrim and those parts and did visit Friends and had many precious Meetings and the Lord was with us and his gracious Presence was our daily comfort to him be the Glory for ever And when I had spent some time in the North of Ireland in the Service of the Truth I took my Journey for Dublin And after some Meetings there I took my Journey into the County of Wicklow and so through the Province of Munster a second time and also through Friends in Leinster and in the North so that I did travel through most Meetings a second time in that Nation And then being clear of the Nation I took shipping at Belfast the 25 th day of the tenth Month 1673. and the 26 th we set Sail out of the Lough and arrived at White-haven in Cumberland in England the 27 th of the same Month and stayed about three Months in Cumberland for the most part And then I took my Journey out of Cumberland towards Newcastle visiting Friends and their Meetings as I went along And from Newcastle I went on into Bishoprick and through their Meetings and so on into Yorkshire and through Cleveland and to Whitby and Scarborough Malton and York and had many precious Meetings And so went up to Massom and from thence Robert Lodge and I with Iames Hall took our Journey towards London to the Yearly-Meeting in the Year 1674. and there stayed some time labouring in the Word and Testimony which God had committed unto me in that City And
And then will you feel the holy Dew abide upon your Spirits throughout your Age that will preserve you from withering your Leaf from fading and so your Fruit shall be ripe in due season and not be untimely brought forth in that which will not endure For that in which we have believed will endure for ever The Heavenly Power which God hath revealed in our Hearts and made manifest for a standing Foundation that 's sure for ever upon which as you all abide stedfast the Gates of Hell with all the power of Darkness shall not prevail against you but you shall be able to withstand him and keep your Habitations in the Dominion thereof and dwell in Peace upon the Rock of safety in the midst of all Storms and sing for joy of Heart when those that forsake this Rock shall howl and lament for vexation of Spirit For the Lord God will bring his Day and his Power over all and upon all that fly to any shelter or seek any other defence that have once known his Truth and he will be unto such as a Moth and as Rottenness and their Strength he will waste and their Garment and Clothing he will destroy and their Beauty and Glory he will cause to fade though they have been as a beautiful Flower in the head of the fat Valley yet will fading come upon them even dryness at the Root and withering and decaying upon the beauty of their Blossoms And therefore let all keep unto that and in that which will not decay come to nothing nor never be turned into Darkness but abide in its vertue and glory in and by which the Lord hath visited you and through which his Day hath dawned upon your Souls the Morning whereof you have known bright and clear as without Clouds in which you have seen the Son in his Glory to appear unto your Souls with his Heavenly healing warmness and vertue Now Friends this is that which for ever is to be kept too that the Day may be known to increase in the light and glory of it in its own clearness without mixture not mixing with it your own Wisdom Thoughts or carnal Imaginations which do prove such Clouds where they are suffered to arise that they bring Darkness over the understanding and make the Day cloudy and dark and so occasion wandering and to some turn the very Eye-lids of the Morning into the Shadow of Death And through such things hath the Enemy so prevailed over some that he hath brought them again into the Night of Everlasting Darkness and Confusion ere they have been aware whither he would lead and thus as a Man void of Understanding over whom the Whorish Woman hath prevailed and so led down to the Chambers of Death have many followed those Steps that have taken hold on Hell where Misery is sure to be met withall Dear Friends that which preserves from these Dangers is that Arm and Power which God revealed in the beginning by which as we are Witnesses he redeemed our Souls out of many afflictions And therefore let it be every ones care to wait for a clear and sensible feeling of that same Power in its own pure Nature to spring in all your Hearts every Day and then will your delight be so in it and your acquaintance in a clear Understanding will be so with it that you will never be deceived so as to take any other for it Then to your comfort will your Heavenly Peace spring under the Power and Government of him that is the Prince of true Peace and so will your Hearts be made truly glad and weighty and ponderous and not to be carried about with every Wind For in this is the true and sure Establishment of the Soul with Grace in the Covenant of Life for ever and these are they whose Peace is of a standing nature who are not given to change But this I have always observed that where there is an uncertain Spirit or Mind though in some states into which at times they may come they may have Peace and feel some Refreshment yet for want of constancy and stedfastness which is preserved through a true watchful and diligent attendance upon that which doth not change which is sure for ever they lose their Habitation and their state of Peace and come to be tossed in their Minds and afflicted in their Spirits and also are the occasion of tossing affliction and distress unto others who not being aware may sometimes be in danger to suffer with them when they fly from the Word that should uphold as it was with Ionah in the days of old And therefore it is good for every one to have their Hearts established with Grace and in the Grace wait for a settlement that under the pure teachings thereof they may be preserved from going into those things that will procure Woe and so shall every ones State in that which is good be more and more constant and then will there be a growing and going forward and not backward For that which doth occasion any to linger or draw back is Carelesness Unbelief and Disobedience and in such the Lord's Soul doth take no pleasure And therefore in that which doth not change all live by which all changeable and mutable Thoughts and Imaginations and Desires will be judged down and the spring of Life over all will slow and the First will be the last for in that the Beauty and Glory doth stand for ever And all that abide not in it to grow in the vertue thereof whatever they have been at the best will be but as a fading Flower in the head of the fat Valley as it was with Ephraim the Lord will take no delight in them but reject them and cast them out as such whose Beauty is gone whose Gold is become dim and whose Wine is mixt with Water And so as reprobate Silver shall they be esteemed even of Men because the Lord hath rejected them So the Lord God keep and preserve you all in that which was from the beginning and will endure unto the end that in that ye may flourish and grow as the Lilly of the Valley and the Tree by the Rivers of Water This is the desire of my Soul for you all who truly love you in the love of God wherein I remain one with you and am London the 10th of the 3d Month 1677. Your Brother in the Truth J. B. Let Copies of this be sent to new-New-England Virginia Maryland and Barbados Upon the 2d of the 10th Month 1677. ONE Oliver Morross an Informer came into a Meeting in Mahuntleth in Mountgomery in Wales where Iohn Burnyeat in the fear of God was speaking unto the People and Preaching the Gospel of Peace and Salvation unto them for their good as he had received from the Lord the said Oliver Morross Informer with several Constables and many other Rude People came twice into the Meeting to break up the Meeting and made a great disturbance But