old as may be read Isa. 1. and Isa. 66. 3. where the Lord told Iudah their killing an Ox their sacrificing a Lamb their offering an Oblation and burning Incense was as the slaying of a Man cutting off a Dogs neck offering Swines blood blessing an Idol And thus we saw for want of Righteousness and keeping the Commandments of the Lord and forsaking of our own ways and that which was evil our Religion was loathed by the Lord and we rejected in all our doings and left in desolation and barrenness for whatever we might pretend that true saying must stand A good Tree cannot bring forth bad fruit nor a bad Tree good fruit the Tree is known by its fruit And thus things opened wonderfully in us and we saw not only common sins which all consess so to be though they live in them but also the hypocrisie and sinfulness of the Professors of Religion even in their Religion which was performed out of the true Spirit of Grace and Life which in the Mystery is the Salt that every Gospel Sacrifice is to be seasoned withal according to the Example in the Figure and therefore were we commanded to withdraw and be separated in our Worship and wait to have our Hearts sanctified and the Spirit of our Minds renewed that we might come before him with prepared Vessels for we soon learned to see this that it must be true in the Substance as in the Figure all the Vessels of the Tabernacle was to be sanctified consecrated or made holy and therefore did we come out from among such in their Worship that lived in Uncleanness and pleaded for Sin which made unholy and met together and waited together in silence may be some times not a word in our Meetings for Months but every one that was faithful waiting upon the living Word in our own Hearts to know Sanctification thereby and a through cleansing and renewing of our Hearts and inward Man and being cleansed and made meet we came to have a great delight in waiting upon the Word in our Hearts for the Milk thereof which Peter speaks of 1 Pet. 2. 2. in our so waiting we did receive the Milk or Vertue thereof and grew thereby and was sed with the heavenly Food that rightly nourished our Souls and so we came to receive more and more of the Spirit of Grace and Life from Christ our Saviour who is full of it in whom the Fulness dwells and in the Power thereof we did worship the Father who is a Spirit and waited upon the Teachings of his Grace in our Hearts and he taught us thereby to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously godlily and soberly in this present evil World And so we came to know the true Teacher which the Saints of old did witness as saith the Apostle Titus 2. 12. and therefore wanted not a Teacher nor true Divine Instructions though we had left the Hireling-Priests and also other high-flown Notionists and sat down together in silence for that was our desire to have all Flesh silenc'd before the Lord and his Power both in our own Hearts and from without And as we thus came into true silence and inward stilness we began to hear the Voice of him who said he was the Resurrection and the Life and he said unto us Live and gave unto our Souls Life and this holy Gift which he hath given has been in us as a Well springing up unto eternal Life according to his promise and therefore hath it been our delight all along to wait upon it and draw nigh with our Spirits unto it both in our Meetings and also at other Times that we might both be taught and saved by it for by it the Saints were saved through Faith c. as Paul wrote unto them Ephes. 2. 8. Now from the Year 1653. as before hinted in which Year I was convinced of the blessed Truth and Way of Life Eternal unto the Year 1657. I was not much concerned abroad in Travels upon the account of the Truth save only to visit Friends that were Prisoners for the Truths Testimony but being mostly at home following my outward Calling I was very diligent to keep to our Meetings being given up in my Heart thereunto for I found great delight therein and many times when one Meeting was over and I at my outward Labour in which I was very diligent also I did in my Spirit long for the next Meeting-day that I might get to the Meeting to wait upon the Lord with the rest of his People And I can also with safety say that when I was there I was not sloathful but in true diligence set my Heart to wait upon the Lord for a Visitation from him by the Revelation of his Power in my Soul and as I waited in the Diligence Patience and Faith I can say this for the Lord and on his behalf with many more Witnesses we did not wait in vain he suffered not our Expectation to fail everlasting Glory and Honour and Praise to his worthy and honourable Name for ever The very remembrance of his Goodness and glorious Power in those days revealed and renewed overcomes my Soul And so then in diligence waiting and the Lord so in mercy visiting by his power in our Hearts my Soul was daily more and more affected with the Glory and Excellency and Sweetness of it and with the holy Dread with which it filled my Heart for that became pleasant and then my Spirit was bent to keep near unto it and to dwell in that holy Fear which the Father thereby placed in my Heart And then I came to see what David exhorted unto in the Second Psalm when he bid the Kings and Judges of the Earth be wise and. learned and further said Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling O the bowings of my Soul O the pleasant dread that dwelt upon my Spirit and the reverent tremblings that came over my Heart which filled it with living Joy as with marrow and fatness And then could I say in my heart with David will wash my hands in innocency and compass thine Altar O Lord. O the pleasant drawing near unto the Altar of the Lord and that not unprepared by many whose Hearts were filled and their Souls and Spirits anointed with the true anointing from the holy One which Iohn speaks off in his first Epistle which is the substance of what was figured out in that Ointment Moses was commanded to make Exod. 30. 25. which all the Vessels of the Tabernacle were to be anointed withal Now when my Heart was thus fitted filled and furnished as it was many a time in our holy Assemblies with many more I know that sat under the same dread and power with me for our Temple and Tabernacle in which we worshipped that were Children of the New Ierusalem was but one even the Lord God and the Lamb as Iohn saw Rev. 21 22. And so it was in this Power that we sat
me to interrupt me but when he saw that he could not stop me then he drove the People away And when I saw the People most of them gone I stept down and thought to have gone forth after them but he got to the Door and shut the Door to keep me in Then I went round an Alley to get to a second Door but he got over the Seats and shut that Then I made for a third Door he also got to that before me and shut that and so made their Meeting-house a Prison and kept us in with a very few People that got not away till the People was gone and then let us forth So we came to our Inn again And after some time several of their Elders came to us to dispute with us on purpose to keep the younger People away as some of them confessed and when we came to Discourse with them they would seem to charge us with breach of the Sabbath in coming to their Meeting that day We took the Bible to us and said Come first prove a Sabbath-day under the Gospel-Dispensation and then prove our practice this day to be a breach of it if you can and vindicate Paul who disputed every Sabbath-day in the Synagogue c. and then prove by Scriptures your practice this day and shew Where any Christians drove the People away from hearing the Truth for they had granted we spoke nothing but Truth and made their Meeting-house a Prison And so we shut them behind the unbelieving Iews who gave liberty to Paul and Silas And they were confounded and could not tell how to vindicate their doings and so went away Then after they were gone came into our Chamber many younger People and we opened many things to them relating to the Way of Truth and cleared things up from the Scriptures and they were mightily satisfied And when the old dry Professors saw that the younger People were affected they sent in a Constable to Command all to depart but they answered and said They were House-keepers many of them and therefore he had nothing to do with them so they would not go So we continued still opening the Scriptures unto them and they were affected Then the Inn-keeper being one of their Elders came and took the Candle away that we might not see to read in the Scriptures and so left us in the dark then the People went away being displeased So the next Morning I. S. and I took our Journey Westward and our Friends that came to Accompany us returned home to Road-Island And we went from Hartford to New-haven then to Milford and then to Stratford and to Fairfield and to Norwich then to Stanford and so to Greenwich where we met with Friends and there we appointed a Meeting The Priest of that Town in his Pulpit had preached against Friends and often had boasted how he would Dispute with the Quakers if any came there so when the Meeting was appointed the People came with a great expectation of what the Priest would do But in the Morning he rode away to Stanford to a Magistrate and sent a Constable with a Warrant to apprehend us who came at the beginning of our Meeting and took us and carried us away to the Magistrate at Stanford The People being displeased many of them followed after us to Stanford and our Friends also to see what they would do and when we came there many People was gathered about the House for it was but two miles between the Towns but after a little time we were called into an inner Room where the Magistrate lay upon his Bed he not being very well And when we came in there was none with him but two Priests the Priest of Greenwich and the Priest of Stanford nor none was to be suffered to come in but the Constable and one man of Stanford that was a Merchant as they said he went in and out when he pleased So the Magistrate asked us many Questions and we answered him and he discoursed with us long in many things and we answered him for he was very moderate Then after a long time one of the Priests put in a Question then I said If we must Discourse of Divine Things we did desire to be more publick for the People were without desirous to hear Then the Magistrate said to the Priests Master Iones and Master Bishop I desire you to go into the Publick Meeting-House with these men and there Discourse with them before the People for said he they are sober rational men So we accepted kindly of the proffer and rose up and went forth and the Priests came after us displeased But when we were forth of the Door among the People we called upon the Priests to go up with us as they were desired and so we went up and they and the People also And when we were setled in their Meeting-House and many People then the Priests put it upon us to begin and so we began with them first about their Wages and so went on to our Call which they put upon us And so about the Light which they denied and so about Election and Reprobation and free Grace They affirmed the Grace of God had not appeared to all men and that Christ did not dye for all men Several hours we spent but the Discourse is drawn up in a Book in Manuscript and therefore shall forbear it here for it is large And so the next day we had a Meeting at Greenwich but the Priest came and we had a great Discourse which is in the said Book And the first day following we had a Meeting about six Miles from thence and then being clear of these Parts We took Boat and went over unto Long-Island to Oyster-Bay and met with Iohn Cartwright and so did visit Friends upon the Island I. W. and I went over to East-Iersey and did visit Friends there and had several blessed Meetings And returned back again to Long-Island and had several Meeings And then being clear of those Parts Iohn Cartwright and I came to New-York in order to get a Passage for Maryland and we set Sail from New-York the first day of the ninth Month 1672. but set Sail at Sandy-hook out to the Sea the third day of the same and met with rough Weather but the sixth day of the same we got in at the Capes of Virginia and on the ninth of the same Month we came to Anchor in Pertuxon-River in the Province of Maryland and so got up within a day or two to Iames Prestons but the North-west-wind blew so hard that we could not get up the first day And then we did go through Friends in that Province as the Lord made way And G. F. and Friends that were with him who came over Land together were gone down to Virginia and he also did travel over Land to North-Carolina and there found some Friends and returned back again over Land to Virginia and so came up the Bay again to Maryland
it You may make long Prayers like the Pharisees but what will it avail it being done without that in which the Saints had access to God So here your Praying and Worship and Separation or Gathering being without the Spirit what can it be but from self and in self And so like them spoken of in Iude 19. These be they who separate themselves sensual not having the Spirit And we desire you to read the 8th Chapter to the Romans and consider what you are to walk after as Christians and to be led by and to live after and with what you are to mortify the Flesh or the deeds of the Flesh if you own a Mortification needful to Salvation and whether you can be Christ's and not have his Spirit and whether you can be the Sons of God and not be led by his Spirit And whether you are Children but by Adoption And if by Adoption whether this Adoption is not by the Spirit And whether it was not the Spirit it self that bore witness with the Saints Spirits that they were the Children of God As verse the 16. And then consider what your Evidence is or whether ye have any or no You considering these things weightily will certainly find your selves at a loss while ye are denying the Spirits discovery or Revelation whatever Iames Barry may tell you of your being in a State of Grace And therefore ought all People to be turned unto the Spirit and Light of Christ Jesus in their Hearts and if your Minister do not direct and turn you thereunto he is no Minister of Christ nor will ever bring you to Christ your Saviour and then how can you be saved And if he turn you to the Light and Spirit of Christ then he must own the Revelation thereof in the Church or else he denies Christ in his Offices to teach his People who is both King Priest and Prophet in his Church and if he turn People to the Light then he must not Preach against it but if this be not a part of his Message that God is Light and Christ is spiritually the Light of the World and so a part of his work to turn to this Light he is no Minister of Christ. And for your Satisfaction read these Scriptures Paul a true Minister Acts 26. 18. speaking of God's sending him to the Gentiles said It was to open their blind Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God And 1 Iohn 1. 5. he said their Message which they had heard of him and declared was That God is Light So then they that turn People to the Light turn them to God and Christ as is further evident from Christ's own Words Ioh. 8. 12. Then spake Iesus again unto them saying I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life And Iohn the Baptist's Testimony concerning him who was the Eternal Word by whom all things were made was That he was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World John 1. 9. And Christ commanded to believe in the Light Iohn 12. 36. saying While ye have the Light believe in the Light that ye may be Children of the Light c. So People are both to be turned to the Light and to believe in the Light and to walk in it or else whatever be professed People can be but Children of Darkness and such as know not whither they go And in Isa 42. 6. and Isa. 49. 6. you may see how God promised that he would give Christ for a Light c. so that they that deny and slight the Light deny Christ God's Light and Salvation And Eph. 5. 13. the Apostle saith That all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever doth make manifest is Light So that you may see what need People have to mind the Light or else they must be ignorant of their States and also of the Glory of God for in the Light is the Knowledge of God's Glory received as may be seen in 2 Cor. 4. 6. and also you may see where this Light is to shine For God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Iesus Christ. Much might be said in the Vindication of this Testimony for the true Light wherewith Christ hath lighted every Man but this may suffice to all that will believe the Scriptures and accordingly turn their Minds to the true Light of Christ that he may give them a right understanding to know him that is True according to 1 Iohn 5. 20. seeing Iames Barry in his last Paper seems to accuse us as if we would bring Texts of Scripture neither understood nor rightly applied therefore when he sends forth his Answer upon the back of our Vindication according to his promise let him give his Applications upon the fore-cited Scriptures which are quoted for the Proof of our Principles and as an Evidence against his and so let him prove us grand Hereticks as he said he would or otherwise let him leave off his boasting and cease from belying and abusing of us as formerly he hath done Written in Vindication of the Truth our selves and the rest of our Traduced Friends Dublin the 20th of the first Month 168â— Iohn Burnyeat Amos Strettell POSTSCRIPT JAmes Barry's Answer to two Letters sent him by Anthony Sharp which by way of Postscript was in his last Paper to us in the following Words viz. I do acknowledge my self indebted to your Scribe viz. Anthony Sharp in two most exquisite and polite Letters the which I hope to answer when I have little else to do So begging his Worships Patience may bear a little longer with my slowness in this Business I bid him Farewell J. B. For Answer Anthony Sharp being abused and belied in particular as well as we and our Principles in general when Iames Barry finds leisure to answer his Letters we shall leave Anthony Sharp to reply who doubtless therein will further manifest both him and his folly without either such delays or using such vain and scornful flouts improper to have come from the Pen of a Christian much less a pretended Minister Memorandum If any be desirous to see the several Papers that have past betwixt Iames Barry and Us the Originals may be seen with Amos Strettell at the Band and Hood in Back-Lane and true Copies thereof with Thomas Ashton at the Three Kidds and Gloves in Cavan-Street Dublin THE Holy TRUTH AND ITS Professors Defended In an Answer to a LETTER writ by Lawrence Potts Priest of Staplestown near Catherlough unto Robert Lackey a Parishioner and formerly Hearer of the said Priest Occasioned by his forsaking his Ministry and embracing the blessed Truth herein vindicated By Iohn Burnyeat and Iohn Watson Take Counsel together and it shall come to nought