at our Meeting in the Orchard As I was going along into the Orchard the People told me That Paul Gwin the rude jangling Baptist was going to the Meeting But I bid them Never heed It was nothing to me who went to it When I was come into the Orchard I stood upon the Stone that Friends used to stand on when they spake and I was moved of the Lord to put off my Hat and to stand a pretty while and let the People look at me for some Thousands of People were there While I thus stood silent this Rude Baptist began to find Fault with my Hair but I said nothing to him Then he run on into Words and at last Ye wise men of of Bristol said he I strange at you that you will stand here and hear a Man speak and affirm that which he cannot make good Then the Lord opened my Mouth for as yet I had not spoken a Word And I asked the People Whether they ever heard me speak before or ever saw me before And I bid them ' Take notice what kind of Man this was amongst them that should so Impudently say That I spake and Affirmed that which I could not make good and yet neither he nor they ever heard me or saw me before Therefore that was a lying envious malicious Spirit that spake in him and it was of the Devil and not of God Therefore I charged him in the Dread and Power of the Lord to be silent And the Mighty Power of God came over him and all his Company And then a glorious peaceable Meeting we had and the Word of Life was divided amongst them and they were turned from the Darkness to the Light and to Jesus their Saviour And the Scriptures were largely opened to them and the Traditions and Rudiments and ways 1656. Bristol and Doctrines of Men were laid open before the People which they had been in and they were turned to the Light of Christ that with it they might see them and see him to lead them out of them I opened also to them the Types and Figures and Shadows of Christ in the time of the Law and shewed them That Christ was come and had ended the Types and Shadows and Tithes and Oaths and put down Swearing and had set up Yea and Nay instead of it and a free Ministry for he was now come to Teach People himself and his heavenly Day was springing from on high So for many hours did I declare the Word of Life amongst them in the Eternal Power of God that by him they might come up into the Beginning and be Reconciled to him And having turned them to the Spirit of God in themselves that would lead into all Truth I was moved to pray in the mighty Power of God and the Lord's Power came over all But when I had done this Fellow began to babble again and John Audland was moved to bid him Repent and fear God So his own People and Followers being ashamed of him he passed away and never came again to disturb the Meeting And the Meeting brake up quietly and the Lord's Power and Glory shined over all a blessed Day it was and the Lord had the Praise After a while this Paul Gwin went beyond the Seas and many Years after I met with him again at Barbado's of which in its Place From Bristol we returned to Edward Pyot's where we had a great Meeting and the Lord's Power was over all and Truth was declared and spread abroad and many were turned to Christ Jesus their Life their Prophet to teach them their Shepherd to feed them and their Bishop to oversee them After the Meeting was done I had some Reasoning with some Professors and the Lord's Truth and Power came over them Slattenford From Edward Pyot's we passed to Slattenford where we had a very large Meeting Edward Pyot and another Friend being still with me and a great turning of People there was to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and People were glad that they were brought to know their Way and their free Teacher and their Saviour Christ Jesus Wiltshire On the First-day following we went to Nathaniel Crips his House who had been a Justice of Peace in Wiltshire where it was supposed there were between Two and Three Thousand People at a Meeting and all was quiet And the mighty Power of God was manifest and People were turned to the Grace and Truth in their Hearts that came by Jesus Christ which would Teach them to deny all Vngodliness and wordly Lusts and to live soberly and godly in this present world So that every Man and Woman might know the Grace of God which had appeared to all Men and which was saving and sufficient to bring their Salvation This was to be their Teacher the Grace of God which would teach them how to live what to do and what to deny and would season their Words and establish their Hearts And this was a free Teacher to every one of them so that they might come to be Heirs of this Grace and of Christ by whom it came who hath ended the Prophets and the Priests that took Tithes and the Jewish Temple And as for these Hireling-Priests that take Tithes now 1656. Wiltshire and their Temples which Priests were made aâ— Schools and Colledges of Man's setting up and not by Christ they with all their Inventions were to be denied For the Apostles denied the true Priesthood and Temple which God had commanded after Christ had put an End thereto So the Scriptures and the Truths therein contained were largely opened and the People turned to the Spirit of God in their Hearts that by it they might be led into all Truth and understand the Scriptures and know God and Christ and come to have Unity with them and one with another in the same Spirit And the People went away generally satisfied and were glad that they were turned to Christ Jesus their Teacher and Saviour The next day we went from thence to Marlborough Marleborough where we had a little Meeting And the Sessions being in that Town that day they were granting forth a Warrant to send for me But one Justice Stooks being at the Sessions stopt them telling them There was a Meeting at his House yesterday at which were several Thousands So the Warrant was stopt and our Meeting was quiet and several received Christ Jesus their Teacher and came into the New Covenant and abode in it From hence we went to Newberry where we had a large Newberry blessed Meeting and several were Convinced there Thence we passed on to Reading where we had a large Reading precious Meeting in the Lord's Power amongst the Plants of God and many of the World came in and were reached and added to the Meeting and all was quiet and the Lord's Power was over all Kingston upon Thames We went from Reading to Kingston upon Thames where a few came in to
coming away to Friends At last when he had so very few left he would come to Pardsey-Crag where Friends had a Meeting of several hundreds of People who were all come to sit under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching and he would walk about the Meeting on the first-Days like a man that went about the Commons to look for Sheep Now during this time I came to this Pardsey-Crag-meeting and he with three or four of his followers that were yet left to him came to the Meeting that Day and they were all throughly Convinced After the Meeting was done Priest Wilkinson asked me two or three Questions which I answered him to his Satisfaction and from that time he came amongst Friends to their Meetings and became an Able Minister and preached the Gospel freely and turned many to Christ's free Teaching And after he had continued many Years in the free Ministry of Christ Jesus he died in the Truth SCOTLAND I had for some time felt Drawings on my Spirit to go into Scotland and had sent to one Colonel William Osborn of Scotland desiring him to come and meet me and he with some others with him were come out of Scotland to this Meeting So after the Meeting was over which he said was the most-glorious Meeting that ever he saw in his life I passed with him and those others that were with him into Scotland having Robert Widders with me who was a Thundring man against Hypocrisy and Deceit and the Rottenness of the Priests The first Night we came into Scotland we lodged at an Inn and the Inn-keeper told us There was an Earl lived about a Quarter of a Mile off who had a desire to see me and had left word at his House that if ever I came into Scotland he should send him word He told us there were three Draw-bridges to his House and that it would be Nine a Clock before the third Bridge was drawn So finding 1657. Scotland we had time in the Evening we walked down to his House He received us very lovingly and said He would have gone with us on our Journey but that he was before engaged to go to a Funeral After we had spent some time with him we parted very friendly and returned to our Inn. Next Morning we travelled on and passing through Dumfreeze Dumfreez Douglass we came to Douglas where we met with some Friends and from thence we passed to the Heads Heads where we had a blessed Meeting in the Name of Jesus and felt him in the midst Leaving Heads we went to Badcow and had a Meeting there Badcow to which abundance of People came and many were Convinced amongst whom there was one that was called a Lady Convinced Highlands From thence we passed towards the High-lands to William Osburn's House where we gathered up the Sufferings of Friends and the Principles of the Scotch Priests which may be seen in a Book called The Scotch-Priests Principles Afterwards we came back again to Heads and Badcow Heads Badcow Garshore and Garshore where the said Lady Margaret Hambleton was Convinced who afterwards went to warn O. Cromwel and Charles Fleetwood of the Day of the Lord that was coming upon them On the First-day we had a great Meeting and several Professors came to it Now the Priests had frighted the People with the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation telling them That God had ordained the greatest part of Men and Women for Hell and that let them Pray or Preach or Sing and do what they could it was all to no purpose if they were ordained for Hell And that God had a certain Number which were Elected for Heaven and let them do what they would as David an Adulterer and Paul a Persecutor yet elected Vessels for Heaven So the fault was not at all in the Creature less or more but God had ordained it so Now I was lead to open to the People the falseness and folly of their Priests Doctrines and shewed them How the Priests had abused those Scriptures which they had brought and quoted to them as in Jude and other Places For whereas they said There was no fault at all in the Creature I shewed them that they who Jude speaks of to wit Cain Core and Balaam who he says were ordained of old to Condemnation the fault was in them For did not God warn Cain and Balaam and gave a Promise to Cain If he did well he should be accepted And did not the Lord bring Core out of Egypt and his Company And yet did not he gainsay both God and his Law and his Prophet Moses So here People might see that there was a fault in Cain Corah and Balaam and so there is in all them that go in their ways For if they who are called Christians resist the Gospel as Core did the Law and err from the Spirit of God as Balaam did and if they do Evil as Cain did is not here a fault Which fault is in themselves and is the Cause of their Reprobation and not God Doth not Christ say Go preach the Gospel to all Nations Which is the Gospel of Salvation He would not have sent them out into all Nations to preach the Doctrine of Salvation if the greatest part of Men had been ordained for Hell Was not Christ a Propitiation for the sins of the whole World for those that become Reprobates as well as for the Saints He died for all Men the Vngodly as well as the Godly as the Apostle bears witness 2 Cor. 5.15 Rom. 5.6 And he enlightens every Man that cometh into the World that through him they might all believe And Christ bids them believe in the Light But all they that hate the Light which Christ bids all believe in they are Reprobated Again The Manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every Man to profit withal But they that vex quench and grieve it are in the Reprobation and the fault is in them as it is also in them that hate his Light The Apostle saith The grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us saith he that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2.11.12 Now all those Men and Women that live Vngodly and in the Lusts of the World that turn this grace of God into Wantonness and walk despitefully against it and so deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ that bought them the fault is in all such that turn the grace into Wantonness and walk despitefully against that which would bring their Salvation and save them out of the Reprobation But the Priests it seems can see no fault in such as deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ that hath bought them such as deny his Light which they should believe in and his grace which should teach them to live godly and which should bring them their Salvation Now all that believe in the Light of
Gospel-Order established amongst us is not of Man nor by Man but of and by Jesus Christ in and through the Holy Ghost And this Order of the Gospel which is not of Man nor by Man but from Christ the Heavenly Man is above all the Orders of Men in the Fall whether Jews Gentiles or Apostatized Christians and will be when they are gone For the Power of God which is the Everlasting Gospel was before the Devil was and will be and remain for ever And as the Everlasting Gospel was Preached in the Apostles days to all Nations that all Nations might come into the Order of it through the Divine Power which brings Life and Immortality to Light that they who were Heirs of it might inherit the Power and Authority of it So now since all Nations have drunk the Whore's Cup and all the World hath Worshipped the Beast but they whose Names are written in the Book of Life from the Foundation of the World who have worshipped God in Spirit and Truth as Christ commanded the Everlasting Gospel is to be and is preached again as John the Divine foresaw it should to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People And this Everlasting Gospel torments the Whore and makes her and the Beast to rage even the Beast that hath Power over the Tongues which are called the Original to order them by which they make Divines as they call them But all that receive the Gospel the Power of God which brings Life and Immortality to Light they come to see over the Beast Devil Whore and False Prophet that hath darkned them and all their Worships and Orders and come to be Heirs of the Gospel the Power of God which was before the Beast Whore False Prophet and Devil were and will be when they are all gone and cast into the Lake of Fire And they that be Heirs of this Power and of this Gospel they inherit the Power which is the Authority of this Order and of our Meetings Every Man and Woman that be Heirs of the Gospel are Heirs of this Authority and of the Power of God which was before the Devil was and which is not of Man nor by Man These come to inherit and possess the joyful Order of the joyful Gospel the comfortable Order of the comfortable Gospel the glorious Order of the glorious Gospel and the everlasting Order of the everlasting Gospel the Power of God which will last for ever and will out-last all the Orders of the Devil and that which is of Men or by Men. And these shall see the Government of Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him and of the Increase of his glorious righteous holy just Government there is no end but his Government and his Order will remain for he who is the Author of it is the First and the Last the Beginning and Ending the Foundation of God which over all stands sure Christ Jesus the Amen After I had travelled amongst Friends through most parts of the Nation and the Monthly-Meetings were settled being returned to London London I stay'd some time there visiting Friends Meetings in and about the City While I was in London I went one day to Visit him that was called Esq Marsh who had shewed much Kindness both to me and to Friends and I happened to go when he was at Dinner He no sooner heard my Name but he sent for me up and would have had me sit down with him to Dinner 1668. London but I had not freedom to do so There were several Great Persons at Dinner with him and he said to one of them who was a great Papist Here is a Quaker which you have not seen before The Papist askt me Whether I did own the Christening of Children I told him There was no Scripture for any such Practice What! said he Not for Christening Children I said Nay I told him the one Baptism by the one Spirit into one Body we owned but to throw a little Water on a Child's Face and say that was Baptizing and Christening it there was no Scripture for that Then he asked me Whether I did own the Catholick Faith I said Yes but added That neither the Pope nor the Papists were in that Catholick Faith for the true Faith works by Love and purifies the Heart and if they were in that Faith that gives Victory by which they might have Access to God they would not tell the People of a Purgatory after they were dead So I undertook to prove That neither Pope nor Papists that held a Purgatory hereafter were in the true Faith For the true precious Divine Faith which Christ is the Author of gives Victory over the Devil and Sin that had separated Man and Woman from God And if they the Papists were in the true Faith they would never use Racks Prisons and Fines to persecute and force others to their Religion that were not of their Faith For this was not the Practice of the Apostles and Primitive Christians who witnessed and enjoyed the true Faith of Christ but it was the Practice of the Faithless Jews and Heathens so to do But said I to him seeing thou art a great and leading Man among the Papists and hast been taught and bred up under the Pope and seeing thou say'st There is no Salvation but in your Church I desire to know of thee What it is that doth bring Salvation in your Church He answered A Good Life And nothing else said I Yes said he Good Works And is this it that brings Salvation in your Church a good Life and good Works Is this your Doctrine and Principle said I Yes said he Then said I neither Thou nor the Pope nor any of the Papists know what it is that brings Salvation Then he askt me What brought Salvation in our Church I told him That which brought Salvation to the Church in the Apostles Days the same brought Salvation to us and not another Namely The Grace of God which the Scripture says brings Salvation and hath appeared to all men which taught the Saints then and teaches us now and this Grace which brings Salvation teaches To deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live godly righteously and soberly So it is not the good Works nor the good Life that brings the Salvation but the Grace What! said the Papist Doth this Grace that brings Salvation appear unto all men Yes said I. Then said he I deny that But I said All that deny that are Sect-makers and are not in the Universal Faith Grace and Truth which the Apostles were in Then he spake to me about the Mother-Church and I told him The several sorts of Sects in Christendom had accused us and said We forsook our Mother-Church The Papists charged us with forsaking their Church and they said Rome was the only Mother-Church The Episcopalians taxed us with forsaking the old Protestant Religion and they said Theirs was the Reformed Mother-Church The Presbyterians and Independents
again bidding the Justices make an End of it there and not trouble the Assizes any more with me So I was continued Prisoner chiefly as it seemed through the means of Justice Parker who in this Case was as false as envious for he had promised Richard Cannon of London who had it seems Acquaintance with him That he would endeavour to have me set at Liberty and yet he was the worst Enemy I had in Court as some of the Court observed and reported Other of the Justices were very loving and promised That I should have the Liberty of the Town and to lodge at a Friend's House till the Sessions Which accordingly I had and the People were very civil and respectful to me Between this time and the Sessions having the Liberty of the Town for my Health's sake I had some Service for the Lord 1674. Worcester Prisoner with several People that came to Visit me For at one time there came Three Non conformist Priests and two Lawyers to discourse with me and one of the Priests undertook to prove That the Scriptures are the only Rule of Life Whereupon after I had plunged him about his Proof I had a fit Opportunity to open unto them The right and proper Vse Service and Excellency of the Scriptures and also to shew that the Spirit of God which was given to every one to profit withall and the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and which hath appeared to all men and teacheth them that obey it to deny Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World that this I say is the most fit proper and universal Rule which God hath given to all Mankind to rule direct govern and order their Lives by Another time there came a Common-Prayer-Priest and some People with him and he asked me If I was grown up to Perfection I told him ' What I was I was by the Grace of God He replied It was a modest and civil Answer Then he urged the Words of John If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us And he asked What did I say to that I said with the same Apostle If we say that we have not sinned we make him a Liar and his Word is not in us who came to destroy Sin and to take away Sin So there is a Time for People to see that they have sinned and there is a Time for them to see that they have Sin and there is a Time for them to Confess their Sin and to forsake it and to know the Blood of Christ to cleanse from all Sin Then the Priest was asked ' Whether Adam was not perfect before he fell and whether all God's Works were not perfect The Priest said There might be a Perfection as Adam had and a falling from it But I told him There is a Perfection in Christ above Adam and beyond falling and that it was the Work of the Ministers of Christ to present every man perfect in Christ and for the Perfecting of them they had their Gifts from Christ And therefore they that denied Perfection denied the Work of the Ministry and the Gifts which Christ gave for the Perfecting of the Saints The Priest said We must always be striving But I told him It was a sad and comfortless sort of striving to strive with a Belief that we should never Overcome I told him also that Paul who cried out of the Body of Death did also Thank God who gave him the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ So there was a time of Crying out for Want of Victory and a time of Praising God for the Victory And Paul said There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus The Priest said Job was not perfect I told him God said Job was a perfect Man and that he did shun Evil and the Devil was forced to confess that God had set an Hedge about him which was not an outward Hedge but the invisible heavenly Power The Priest said Job said He chargeth his Angels with Folly and the Heavens are not clean in his sight I told him That was his Mistake for it was not Job said so but Eliphaz who contended against Job Well but said the Priest What say you to that Scripture The justest Man that is sinneth seven times a Day Why truly said I I say there is no such Scripture and with that the Priest's Mouth was stopped 1674. Worcester-Quarter-Sessions Many other Services I had with several sorts of People between the Assizes and the Sessions The next Quarter-Sessions began on the Twenty Ninth Day of the Second Month and there I was called before the Justices The Chair-man's Name was Street who was a Judge in the Welsh Circuit and he mis-represented me and my Case to the Country telling them That we had a Meeting at Tredington from all parts of the Nation to the terrifying of the King 's Subjects for which we had been committed to Prison That for the Trial of my Fidelity the Oaths were put to me and having had time to consider of it he aâ—ked me If I would now take the Oaths I desired Liberty to speak for my self and having obtained that began first to clear my self from those Falshoods he had charged on me and Friends declaring That we had not any such Meeting from all parts of the Nation as he had represented it but that except the Friend from whose House we came and who came with us to guide us thither and one Friend of Bristol who came accidentally or rather providentially to assist my Wife homewards after we were taken they that were with me were in a sense part of my own Family being my Wife and her Daughter and her Son-in-Law And we did not Meet in any way or manner that would occasion Terror to any of the King's Subjects for we met peaceably and quietly without Arms and I did not believe there could any one be produced that could truly say he was terrified with our Meeting Besides I told them we were but in our Journey the Occasion whereof I now again related as before Then as to the Oaths I shewed why I could not take them seeing Christ hath forbidden all Swearing and what I could say or sign in lieu of them as I had done before Yet they caused the Oaths to be read to me again and afterwards read an Indictment also which they had drawn up in Readiness having a Jury ready also Now when the Indictment was read the Judge asked me If I was Guilty I said Nay for it was a great Bundle of Lies which I shewed and proved to the Judge in several particulars which I instanced asking him if he did not know in his Conscience that they were Lies He said It was their Form I said ' It was not a true Form He asked me again Whether I was Guilty I told him Nay I was not Guilty of the Matter
nothing that is Unclean shall enter into the Kingdom of God and prize your Time while you have it lest the Time come that you say with Sorrow We had Time but it is past Oh why will ye die Why will ye chuse your own Ways Why will ye follow the Course of the World and why will ye follow Envy Malice Drunkenness and foolish Pleasures Know ye not in your Consciences that all these are Evil and Sin and that such as act such things shall never enter into the Kingdom of God Oh that ye would Consider and see how you have spent your Time and mind how ye do spend your Time and observe whom ye do serve for the Wages of Sin is Death Do not ye know that whatsoever is more than Yea and Nay cometh of Evil Oh ye Drunkards who live in Drunkenness do ye think to escape the Fire and the Judgment of God! Though ye swell in Venom and live in Lust for a while yet God will find you out and bring you to Judgment Therefore love the Light which Christ hath enlightened you withal who saith I am the Light of the World and who doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World One loves the Light and brings his Works to the Light and there is no occasion at all of stumbling the other hates the Light because his Deeds are Evil and the Light will reprove him Thou that hatest this Light thou hast it Thou knowest Lying is Evil Drunkenness is Evil Swearing is Evil Whoredom Theft and all Vngodliness and all Vnrighteousness is Evil Christ Jesus hath given thee Light enough to let thee see this is Evil. And this Light if thou lovest it will teach thee Holiness and Righteousness without which none shall see God but if thou hatest this Light it is thy Condemnation And thus are Christ's Words found to be true and fulfilled among you You that hate this Light set up Hirelings and Idols-Temples and such Priests as bear rule by their means and such Shepherds as hold up such things and such as are called of Men Masters and have the chiefest Place in the Assemblies whom Christ cried Wo against Matt. 23. And such as go in the way of Cain in Envy and after the Error of Balaam for Wages Gifts and Rewards These have been your Teachers and these you have held up But who love the Light are taught of God and the Lord is coming to teach his People himself and to gather his from the Hirelings and from such as seek for their Gain from their Quarter and from such as bear Rule by their Means The Lord is opening the Eyes of foolish People that they shall see such as bear Rule over them But all whose Eyes are shut are such as the Prophet spake of That have Eyes and see not but are foolish upholding such things Therefore poor People as ye love your own Souls consider the Love of God to your Souls while ye have time and do not turn the Grace of God into Wantonness That which shews you Vngodliness and worldly Lusts that should and would be your Teacher if ye would hearken to it for the Saints of Old witnessed the Grace of God to be their Teacher which taught them to live Soberly and Godly in this present World And ye that are not sober this Grace of God hath appeared unto you but you turn it into Wantonness and so set up Teachers without you who are not sober not holy not godly Here you are left without Excuse when the Righteous Judgment of God shall be revealed upon you all who live Ungodlily Therefore to the Light in you I speak and when the Book of Conscience shall come to be opened then shall you Witness what I say to be true and you all shall be judged out of it So God Almighty direct your Minds such of you especially as love Honesty and Sincerity that you may receive Mercy in the time of Need. Your Teacher is within you look not forth It will Teach you both lying in Bed and going Abroad to shun all Occasion of Sin and Evil. G. F. As the foregoing was directed To all the Inhabitants of Ulverston in general so it was upon me to write also to those more particularly that did most constantly follow W. Lampitt the Priest there And unto these I writ thus THE Word of the Lord God to all the People that follow Priest Lampitt who is a blind Guide Ye are such as are turned from the Light of Christ within which he hath enlightned you withal Ye are such as follow that which Christ cried Wo against that goes not in Christ's Way but in the Pharisees Way as ye may read Matt. 23. which our Lord Jesus Christ cried Wo against He is the same yesterday to day and for ever but him ye own not while ye follow such as he cried Wo against though under a Colour ye make a Profession and Lampitt your Priest makes a Trade of Christ's and the Saint's Words as his Fathers the Pharisees did make a Profession of the Prophets Words and of Moses his Words Wo was unto them who had not the Life so VVo is unto you who have not the Life that gave forth the Scriptures as your Fruits have made manifest For when the Lord hath moved some to come amongst you to preach the Truth freely you have knock'd them down beat and punch'd and haled them out of your Assemblies Such a People serves thee O Lampitt to make a prey upon and these are thy Fruits O let Shame Shame strike thee and you all in the Faces who make a Profession of Christ's Words thou and they and yet are Stoners and Strikers and Mockers and Scoffers Let all see if this be not a Cage of Vnclean Birds spoken of in the Scriptures which they who had the Life of the Scriptures spake of And such a Company of People thou deceivest and feedest them with thy Fancies and makest a Trade of the Scriptures and takest them for thy Cloak But thou art manifest to all the Children of Light for that Cloak will not cover thee but thy Skirts are seen and thy Nakedness appears And the Lord made one to go Naked among you a Figure of thy Nakedness and of your Nakedness and as a Sign amongst you before your destruction cometh that you might see that you were Naked and not covered with the Truth To the Light in all your Consciences I do speak which Christ Jesus doth enlighten you withal It will shew you the Time you have spent and all your Evil Deeds you have done in that Time who follow such a Teacher that acts contrary to this Light and leads you into the Ditch And when you are in the Ditch together both Teacher and People remember ye were warned in your Life time And if ever your Eye come to see Repentance and you obey the Light of Jesus Christ in you you will witness me to have been a Friend of your Souls and
me that Question and I told them No for all that God made was good and was blest so was not the Devil And he was called a Serpent before he was called a Devil and an Adversary and then he had the Title of Devil given to him And afterward he was called a Dragon because he was a Destroyer The Devil abode not iâ— the Truth and by departing from the Truth he became a Devil and so the Jews when they went out of the Truth were said to be of the Devil and were called Serpents Now there is no Promise of God to the Devil that ever he shall return into Truth again but to Man and Woman who have been deceived by him the Promise of God is that The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head shall break his Power and Strength to pieces Now when these things were opened more at large to the satisfaction of Friends those Two who had let up the Spirit of that Ranting Woman were judged by the Truth and one of them viz. Joseph Hellen run quite out from Truth and was denied by Friends But George Bewly was recovered and came afterwards to be serviceable to Truth We passed from Loveday Hambley's to Francis Hodges Falmouth Penryn Helstone near Falmouth and Penryn where we had a large Meeting and from thence we went to Helstone that Night where some Friends came to visit us and the next day we passed to Thomas Teage's where we had another large Meeting at which many were Convinced for I was led to open the state of the Church in the Primitive Times and the state of the Church in the Wilderness and the state of the False Church that was got up since and to shew that now the Everlasting Gospel was preached again over the Head of the Whore Beast and false Prophets and Antichrists which had got up since the Apostles days and now the Everlasting Gospel was received and receiving which brought Life and Immortality to Light that they might see over the Devil that had darkned them And the People received the Gospel and the Word of Life gladly and a glorious blessed Meeting we had for the exalting the Lord's everlasting Truth and his Name After the Meeting was done I walked out and as I was coming in again I heard a Noise in the Court and coming nearer I found the Man of the House speaking to the Tinners and others of the World's People and telling them It was the Everlasting Truth that had been declared there that day and the People generally confessed to it From thence we passed to the Land's End to John Ellis's house Lands End where we had a precious Meeting and there was a Fisherman one Nicholas Jose that was Convinced and he spake in Meetings and declared the Truth amongst the People and the Lord's Power was over all I was glad that the Lord had raised up his Standard in those dark parts of the Nation where since there is a fine Meeting of honest-hearted Friends and many there are come to sit under Christ's Teaching and a great People the Lord will have in that Country From thence we returned to Redruth and the next day to Truro Redruth Truro where we had a Meeting Next Morning some of the Chief of the Town desired to speak with me and I went to them amongst whom was Col. Rouse 1663. Truro A great deal of Discourse I had with them concerning the things of God and in their Reasoning they said The Gospel was the Four Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John and they called it Natural But I told them the Gospel was the Power of God which was preached before Matthew Mark Luke and John or any of them were printed or written And it was preached to Every Creature of which a great part might never see nor hear of those Four Books so that Every Creature was to obey the Power of God for Christ the Spiritual Man would Judge the World according to the Gospel that is according to his Invisible Power When they heard this they could not gain-say for the Truth came over them So I directed them to their Teacher the Grace of God and shewed them the Sufficiency of it which would teach them how to live and what to deny and being obeyed would bring them their Salvation And so to that Grace I recommended them and left them Then returned we through the Country visiting Friends and had Meetings at Humphrey Lower's again and at Thomas Mount's And afterwards at George Hawkins at Stoke we had a large Meeting Stoke to which Friends came from Lanceston and several other places and a living precious Meeting it was in which the Lord's Presence and Power was richly manifested amongst us and I left Friends there under the Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching Example In Cornwall I was Informed that there was one Col. Robinson a very wicked Man who after the King came in was made a Justice of the Peace and became a Cruel Persecutor of our Friends of whom he sent many to Prison And hearing that they had some little Liberty through the Favour of the Jailer to come home sometimes to visit their Wives and Children he made a great Complaint thereof to the Judge at the Assize against the Jailer Whereupon the Jailer was fined an Hundred Marks and Friends were kept very strictly up for a while After he was come home from the Assize he sent to a Neighbouring Justice to desire them to go a Fanatick-hunting with him So on the Day that he intended and was prepared to go a Fanatick-hunting he sent his Man about with his Horses and walked himself on Foot from his Dwelling-House to a Tenement that he had where his Cows and Dairy were kept and where his Servants were then milking When he came there he asked for his Bull and the Maid-Servants said They had shut him into the Field because he was Vnruly amongst the Kine and hindred their Milking Then went he into the Field to his Bull and having formerly accustomed himself to play with the Bull he began to fence at him with his Staff as he used to do But the Bull snufft at him and passed a little back and then turning upon him again ran fiercely at him and struck his Horn into his Thigh and heaving him upon his Horn threw him over his Back and so tore up his Thigh to his Belly And when he came to the Ground again he gored him with his Horns and would run them into the Ground in his Rage and Violence and roared and licked up his Master's Blood The Maid-Servant hearing her Master Cry out came running into the Field and came to the Bull and took him by the Horns to pull him off from her Master The Bull without hurting her put her gently by with his Horns but still fell to goring of him 1663. Cornwal and licking up his Blood Then she ran and got some Work-men that were at Work not
Christ as he commands are in the Election and sit under the Teaching of the grace of God which brings their Salvation But such as turn this grace into Wantonness are in the Reprobation and such as hate the Light are in the Condemnation Therefore I exhorted all the People to believe in the Light as Christ commands and own the grace of God their free Teacher and it would assuredly bring them their salvation for it is sufficient Many other Scriptures were opened concerning Reprobation and the People were opened to see and a spring of Life rose up among them These things soon came to the Priests Ears for the People that sate under their dark Teachings began to see Light and to come into the Covenant of Light So the Noise was spread over Scotland amongst the Priests That I was come thither and a great Cry was among them that all would be spoiled for they said I had spoiled all the honest Men and Women in England already so upon their own account the worst were left to them Upon this they gathered great Assemblies of Priests together and drew up a Company Articles of Curses to be read in their several Steeple-houses and that all the People should say Amen to them Some few of these I will here set down the rest may be read in the Book before-mentioned of The Scotch Priests Principles The first was Cursed is he that saith Every Man hath a Light within him sufficient to lead him to Salvation And let all the People say Amen The second Cursed is he that saith Faith is without Sin And let all the People say Amen The third Cursed is he that denieth the Sabbath-day And let all the People say Amen In this last they make the People Curse themselves for on the Sabbath-day which is the Seventh-day of the Week which the Jews kept by the Command of God to them they kept Markets and Fairs and so brought the Curse of God upon their own Heads And as to the first concerning the Light Christ saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light and he that believeth shall be saved he that believeth shall have everlasting Life He that believeth passes from Death to Life and is grafted into Christ And ye do well said the Apostle that ye take heed unto the Light that shines in the dark place until the day dawn and the Day-star arise in your Hearts So the Light is sufficient to lead unto the Day-star And as concerning Faith it is the gift of God and every gift of God is pure The faith which Christ is the Author of is precious divine and without Sin And this is the faith which gives Victory over Sin and Access to God in which faith they please God But they are Reprobates themselves concerning this faith and are in their dead faith who Charge sin upon this faith under pain of a Curse which faith gives victory over their Curse and returns it into their own Bowels There were a Company of Scots near Badcow Badcow who challenged a Dispute with some of our Scotch Friends for with me they would not dispute so some of the Scotch Friends met them at the Market-Place The Dispute was to be concerning the Sabbath-day and some other of their Principles before-mentioned And I having gotten their Principles and Assertions shewed the Friends where they might easily be overthrown and a Scotch Friend a Smith overthrew them clearly There were two Independent Churches in Scotland of which many were Convinced But the Pastor of the other was in a great Rage against Truth and Friends They had their Elders who sometimes would exercise their Gifts amongst the Church-members and would sometimes be pretty tender but their Pastor speaking so much against the Light and us who are the Friends of Christ he darkned his Hearers so that they grew dark and blind and dry and lost their Tenderness And he continued preaching against Friends and against the Light of Christ Jesus calling it natural At last one Day in his Preaching he Cursed the Light and fell down dead in his Pulpit The People carried him out and laid him upon a Grave-stone and poured Strong-Waters into him which fetched him to Life again and they carried him home but he was Mopish After a while he stripped off his Cloths and put on a Scotch Plod and went into the Country amongst the Dairy-women and when he had staid there about two Weeks he came home and went into the Pulpit again Whereupon the People expected some great Manifestation or Revelation from him but instead thereof he began to tell them what Entertainment he had met with how One Woman gave him Skim'd Milk Another gave him Butter-milk and Another gave him good Milk So the People were fain to take him out of the Pulpit again and carry him home He that gave me this Account was one Andrew Robinson who was one of his Chief Hearers and came afterwards to be Convinced and received the Truth And he said He never heard that he recovered his Senses again By this People may see the Vengeance of God which came upon him that cursed the Light which Light was the Life in Christ the Word And it may be a Warning to all others that speak Evil against the Light of Christ Now were the Priests in such a Rage that they posted up to Edenborough to O. Cromwel's Council there with Petitions against me And the Noise was That all was gone for several Friends were come out of England and spread over Scotland Sounding the Day of the Lord and preaching the everlasting Gospel of Salvation and turning People to Christ Jesus who died for them that they might receive his free Teaching After I had gathered up the Principles of the Scotch Priests and the Sufferings of Friends and had seen the Friends in that part of Scotland settled by the Lord's Power upon Christ their Foundation I went up to Edenborough Lithgow and in the way came to Lithgow Where lodging at an Inn the Inkeeper's Wife who was blind received the Word of Life and came under the Teaching of Christ Jesus her Saviour At Night there came in abundance of Souldiers and some Officers with whom we had much Discourse and some were rude One of the Officers said He would obey the Turk 's or Pilate 's Command if they should command him to guard Christ to crucify him So far he was from all Tenderness or Sense of the Spirit of Christ that he would rather crucify the Just than suffer for or with the Just whereas many Officers and Magistrates have lost their Places before they would turn against the Lord and his Just one Edenburg Leith When I was come to Edenborough and had stayed there a while I went from thence to Leith where many Officers of the Army came in with their Wives and many were convinced Among those that came Edward Billing's Wife was one She brought a great Deal of Coral in her