still And what think you of this is it not high time for you to be awakened and look about you seeing the day is so far spent of your lives and you know not how soon the Lord may call for your breath out of your nostrils and what can ye in righteousness think will become of you seeing the Scripture saith As the Tree falls so it lyes and There is no Repentance in the Grave and If ye dye in your sins where I go ye cannot come saith Christ And if ye do but confess him to be a man of truth and these sayings true then ye may soon passe the sentence of eternal condemnation in your selves seeing that tribulation and anguish is to come upon every soul of man that doth evil even to Jew as well as Gentile And the Apostle in plain words without wresting saith Nothing that worketh abomination or maketh a lye must enter into the holy City And Paul saith Let no man deceive you with vain words for such as ye sow such shall ye reap Now see if your Priests be not the very men who are deceiving you with vain words who tell you that you can never be freed from sin yet say it shall go well with you They call you good Christians though ye do bring forth the Devils work Or which of you in or amongst you will deny to partake of that which they call the Seal of the Covenant though they are never so wicked and ungodly in all their words and actions Surely surely the Lord is highly displeased with these things Therefore is this Warning sent amongst you that you may come away from such a devilish Priesthood as preacheth up sin unto you for tearm of life that is till ye can sin no longer Surely they who made a Covenant with Hell and Death in the dayes of old were never more lead into the Mysterie of iniquity than these And thus the Devil hath his Kingdome by consent both of Priests and people Oh horrid wickedness is this that ever men should thus sell themselves unto the Devil for dishonest gain and filthy lucres sake to preach up sin unto people these are they who trample upon the Blood of the Covenant and say in effect that its uneffectual and unsufficient to purge the creature from all sin and uncleannesse but such people ye must cease from for they who were real and true Ministers of Christ said The wages of sin is death therefore laboured to bring people therefrom whose Ministry was powerful and effectual enough in that work to accomplish the same For Paul when he writ to the Romans amongst whom he had laboured to turn them from darknesse to light and such came to be turned from Satans power to Gods by whose power they came to be redeemed and made free from sin and so became Gods children And this was the fruits and effects of those who were sent of God and were not hirelings for such run and are not sent therefore saith the Prophet they profit not the people at all no more than yours do now for I say as you love and prize the salvation and redemption of your immortal souls consider these things Is the wicked man returned from his naughtinesse amongst you is not a Lyar a Lyar still a Swearer a Swearer still and so likewise all others whatsoever And if any should go to your Priests to be eased of his burden which come upon him by reason of sin what ease can he have seeing his Priest is a sinner as well as himself if not a worse and in effect will tell him he cannot be without sin while he is in the body of flesh and so by this means as you were born and conceived in sin so ye live and so ye dye And this is the fruits of your Ministry and yet you have the liberty of the reading of the Scriptures which saith and sheweth how that the true Christians are to be redeemed from their vain conversations and did witnesse a purging and redemption therefrom not with the blood of Bulls and Goats but with the Blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World Mark that people and see if ye are not wholly strangers to this thing and to the very end and coming of Christ who was made manifest in flesh to the end that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in all those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and to such there is no condemnation But unto you who are following your blind guides and are strangers unto this thing condemnation from the righteous God the Judg of all will for evermore be seated upon your heads except ye repent even on you who are strangers unto the Spirit of God and are walking in the flesh and are fulfilling the lusts thereof and are resolved so to do until your dying day in which thing I warn you to repent in Gods pure power and dread and turn unto the Lord God by forsaking the evil of your wayes which if you do not as sure as God hath set Sodom for an example of his eternal wrath and Judgment so sure will this come upon you if you slight this the day of your visitation which is now over your heads I say repent before it fall upon you and the night overtake you in which no man can work And this is a true and faithfull warning unto you all from the Lord God of love who desireth not the death of a sinner but that he would turn from his evil wayes and live and if you do this then blessed will you be for ever but if ye refuse then will you be left without excuse and I shall be clear of your blood before the Lord who required this of me to do and to say unto you which in faithfulness I have done without respect unto persons time or place as the free Spirit of God hath given me utterance thereunto without hatred or dissimulation at all Therefore live or dye my peace is and will be with the Lord for ever And now if any should say amongst you What shall I do to be saved Why unto such I say in the tender bowels of Gods love turn unto the Light of Gods own son which shineth in your darknesse even in your dark hearts and receive it love it follow it and obey it with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength and then power will be ministred unto you whereby ye will become the Sons of God and to be born of him which birth sinneth not but in it there is power over the man of sin which hath born rule in the first birth which was according to the flesh in which none can please God forasmuch as it lusteth against the Spirit continually and will do until it be wholly crucified with the lusts and affections thereof If ye come to receive the Gift of Gods Grace and Spirit in your own hearts a measure of which
some of these Papers might come to the hands of those who may in like manner be inflictors of such misery upon others that so if there be but any remorse or place of repentance left in them that they may yet repent of their evill for it is very great for though the man whom I served was approved and received a Member of an Independant Church in those parts yet he was unconverted as to the Lord which shewed their light and discerning but little worth for indeed I never saw any change or alteration in the man at all But I shall return unto the thing intended by me which is to speak of the goodnesse and love of God unto my soul that so all those who might be like-minded with me might not come to despair in any condition whatsoever they may fall into if they do but love and fear the Lord he will bring them out of the sixth trouble and also the seaventh in the end For when I was out or this hard servitude I could not for all that return to or own that dark and devilish worship whatever did become of me for then I was come to a riper understanding and growth both in years and knowledge in which I saw and confessed unto a hand of Divine Justice against that people and also to a hand of Divine providence in bringing me there where I heard and understood both outward and inward that the Sword of the Lord was drawn against the wicked in this Nation of England and also I did observe in that day how that the Parliament party did and would most of all prevail because that there was something raised up in them against the grosse Popery and Idolatry and wickednesse which was then on soot in the Nation which thing was the cause I did indeed mostly affect them then beyond any other people though they were called Puritans in derision But in a short time the chiefest of those people who were amongst us lost their first integrity soon especially when the Lords hand had given their Brethren great rest and victory from their enemies and so soon turned that little liberty they had gotten to a wrong end and made use of it as an occasion to the flesh by which means they became as much in bondage as ever every one seeking his own and not anothers good which thing I did in that day observe though few knew that it was so with me but outwardly I did in that day frequent and indeed loved those most who were the most honest amongst men But it being so in the main that nothing but rioting drinking singing and dancing was amongst the best of men I knew not what to do but to be one of them which I judged better of the two than to return unto the Romish stuff for my very soul did abhor it therefore I did rather choose to labour with my hands and so get my bread with painfulnesse than to return or make my self known unto my nearest relations any way for I said in my heart their sorrow is over concerning me But in the midst of all this my soul in secret did mourn after a holy life of love but could not see it born up in any living amongst whom I did converse or had any thing to do with And as in relation to my own condition I did often lament it in secret and would often say unto the Lord Hast thou created me thus to destroy me for I saw how that I was still ingrievous bondage unto sin and lead thereunto at the Devils will and I felt in my self how that the wages of sin was death because of the terrours of the Lord that came upon my soul by the reason of it and whilest that I was in this state my grief was more than could be uttered or indeed seen by any for I would often seem to do away sorrow with laughter lightnesse and vanity yet still in the very midst of all this I continued seeking in my heart a man of love or a people in whom one might put confidence which thing I was drawn unto by the good which was of God in my own heart and as God did raise it me so in the end he did answer it to me outwardly by sending one of his dear servants into those parts whose name was Elizabeth Harris who soon answered that which was breathing after God in me by which means I came with many more to be informed in the way and truth of God having a seal in my heart and soul of the truth of her message which indeed I had long waited for And then when I had found this beloved life and people I was like a man over-joyed in my heart not onely because that I heard that God had raised up such a people in England but also because I saw the sudden fruits and effects of it both in my own heart and in others insomuch that in a short time we became all to be as one entire family of love and were drawn together in his life which was his light in us to wait upon him in the stillnesse and quietnesse of our spirits like so many people which desired nothing but the pure teachings of Gods Spirit in which we were often refreshed together and one in another And when this I had found and clearly understood how that that which judged me and condemned my soul for sin from my youth up untill that day I say when I came to see that this was the very way to God I was as a man that had found that which his soul loved and then had I had ten thousand Crowns I could have laid them all down at the feet of them who then went forth to declare such good and glad tidings of peace and good-will which was freely extended unto all the Sons of men then happy man was I if that I could but have served or have been any way serviceable unto such of those who went forth to declare who were ministring servants in the hand of the Lord to us whose pure life I loved and honoured in them above all and then I was not onely made willing to have forsaken father or mother and all outward Inheritance and favour of men but also to have laid down my life for the Lords sake such was the love that was raised in me that I had rather have been a Prisoner with the deepest sufferer in the greatest sorrow and counted it more happinesse so to be than with the Princes of this world in their greatest joy and dignity And this was of the Lords own begetting in me though few saw it then And this I can tell thee Reader whoever thou art by true experience that if thou find but such a thing in thee which bringeth a remorse upon thee by reason of sin and draweth thy heart into tendernesse and pitty unto the oppression and captivity which is upon all creatures which they lye under by reason of sin in which and by which
men are degenerated from God I say that if thou find and feel but such a thing in thee prize it above all for it is of the very life and restorer of all things by which Moses was acted in the dayes of old when he did forsake the pleasure of sin for a season and chose rather to partake of the suffering and afflictions of the afflicted than to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter for it was that in which he wrought the wonders of God and will also do the like in thee if thou obey love and follow it it will be thy guide leader and preserver and teacher in all states and conditions whatsoever through which and in which thy immortal soul will come to be saved and so satisfied for I will tell thee plainly that except man comes to be acquainted with something in himself which is more glorious than all visible and transitory things without him he can never come to forsake all for the Lords sake For this I have seen and experienced through deep travail and sorrow how that if I had not had something in my own self which was more desireable and amiable than all things I could never have been made willing to have forsaken all things else besides it but enjoying the life and presence of my Creator in my own particular all was well enough without me though in hunger in cold and in nakednesse or prisons or bannishment or travails both by Sea or Land I did still find satisfaction and refreshment in the enjoyment of Gods presence and this I say not because another hath said it but because my soul hath found it so in the time of need even since the time that my God separated me outwardly from my Brethren in Virginia who were more neer and dear to me than all my outward kindred because they were such as did the will of my father since which time something of my travail may be seen in my following discourse very briefly of my travels outward but of my travels and sorrow inward in all those travels and prisons I shall leave it to the upright in heart to feel for truly I may in the truth of God say how that the dayes of my sorrow and fastings passed the number of my remembrance Besides the many assaults which the cursed Popish spirit of Inchantments Sorcery Witchcraft did make against me to destroy me cannot be given to be understood by Tongue Pen Ink nor Paper but by those who have undergone the like tryal with me for this I testifie in the Lord and shall leave upon record under my hand how that a deeper spirit of Necromancy and deceit is not upon the face of the whole earth to be found so deep in working in the mistery of iniquity as it is amongst them and this is the testimony which I give for the Lord God of life against them which shall stand for ever For as to my very outward they have sought my death and destruction by this means and I have been almost strangled in the night and day season by that cursed spirit of Witchcraft which hath sought to stop my mouth thereby to have deprived me of my natural breath which thing they would certainly have done had not the Lord preserved me and rebuked them for they have often come into my Prison with many hundred sorts of shapes and likenesses and have sought every way of Inchantment against me and had it been so that it had been possible for them to have prospered against me to the utter destruction of me they would have done it but when the Lord had suffered them every way to try me then he wholly rebuked them and sent his ministring Angels to comfort me every way as those poysoning spirits had every way assaulted me in which day of his everlasting love he sealed up my soul in his everlasting Covenant of love for ever for which cause I cannot forsake the Lord whatever betides me Now though tryals remain yet on every hand yet my God knoweth I can never leave him nor forsake him nor decline from his living testimony in my heart neither in life nor death but must and shall say unto all love fear dread and honour and obey the Lord above all who is worthy to have for ever all the glory honour and praise even him who is God over all blessed for ever and ever Amen And this is the end why my God separated me from my fathers house in the time of my infancy that I should be a true and faithfull witnesse against that spirit of persecution murder and envy in whomsoever it be And seeing the Lord hath thus long preserved me out of many eminent dangers I know he will do the like for ever as he hath spoken it unto my soul that he will never suffer his faithfulness to fail concerning me therefore I shall never be moved and if it were not so my soul would long ere now have sunk under the floods of deep sorrow which yet come upon me without ceasing rowling over my head the Lord rebuke them as I know he will do for his name sake even he who hath heard me out of the Whales belly and answered my request once and again in the day of need for which I say my soul magnifie blesse and praise his holy name for ever Charles Bayly Written in Newgate Prison in Bristol the first of the third Month. 1663. AND now the Magistrates of this Nation through whose hands I have passed thus from Prison to Prison may see what they have done if it be so they are not yet quite heart-blind in the persecuting of a man so unreasonably as they have done who hath been so far drawn forth as in relation to the very natural part as to render his life and body for one of their naturall Countrey men who had been in long captivity in Rome out of their Nation even one who was not himself a natural English man though born in it I say surely following Generations might well say the Heathen in America would not have thus rewarded a man upon the return of such a service as this done for any one of their Nation I am sure they would not have done it And what right can any man expect to have at or of the hands of such men who are thus lead by a spirit of wrong judgement as for to persecute in such a nature their friend in the stead of their enemy especially such a man as hath in this sort jeoparded his life to witnesse against the Popish Religion and not onely so but hath undergone all and much more than the aforesaid miseries rather than to embrace and own it Of these things and concerning these things I shall in the uprightnesse of my heart leave it and commit it unto God the judge of all for to judge of this matter between us A true and faithfull Warning unto the Inhabitants of Bristol as a loving visitation of Gods tender
into Tophet where the breath of his nostrils shall for ever kindle up the unquenchable fire of your endlesse torments except ye repent with speed the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and it shall surely and shortly come to passe in a time and hour when you shall not be aware of it for as the lightning comes from the East and swiftly passeth unto the West so shall the day of your destruction be except you amend Amend therefore and cease preaching unto others until you come your selves to be converted and changed from that corrupt cursed nature of wickednesse which lodgeth within you O ye hypocrites are you not or at least may you not be asham'd to get into a high place amongst people and speak against sin and iniquity seeing you your selves are not purged from it May not that saying be justly turned upon you which the Apostle Paul spake saying Vnexcusable art thou O man whosoever thou art that judgeth seeing that no man was to judg another whilst he himself was guilty of the same thing O ye deceitful workers first pluck out the beam out of your own eyes and then may you come for to see the clearer in others conditions Until then this is a sure and certain warning unto you all to cease from the evil of your wayes and repent for as sure as God lives if you go on in your stiff-neckednesse and hard-heartednesse against him his righteous Judgments will assuredly overtake you And this I have written as one that feareth the Lord and trembleth at his word in which I cannot respect the persons of any but must reprove the sins of all whether in Kings Princes Rulers or Judges Priests or people of what sort or condition soever that thereby they may take warning and repent O England England many have been thy Warnings and precious have been thy Visitations to those who have prized them and glorious hath been the day of Gods love unto those Who have believed our report and to whom the Arm of the Lord hath been revealed which hath led them out of darknesse into his marvelous light therein to live and to walk safe out of the snare of the crafty Fowler hireling Priest and deceivers which thou O England hast embraced as it were anew after thy long day of blood sorrow and anguish O consider this O ye Heads of the Nation to what end and purpose did the Lord empty the power of this Nation from vessel to vessel and from man to man was it think ye that it should settle again in this bogg and reliques of confused Popery nay surely nay this was not the end of the Lord concerning thee but his end and purpose concerning thee was and is that the Son of his own bosome should be raised over all in thee to Reign as he hath appointed and decreed which decree is impossible to be altered or changed but shall and must be accomplished not only in this Nation but over all Nations and in all Nations and people of the earth shall this his glorious work be compleatly finished for he hath sworn by himself saying it shall be so that he shall reign over all the Kingdomes of the world forasmuch as I have appointed him to be heir of all things both in Heaven and Earth They that have an ear let them hear and blessed will be that eye which seeth and that heart which understandeth the things which belong to their everlasting peace before they be hid from their eyes and there be no place found for their Repentance And this I shall further say in the Spirit of the Lord concerning thee O England what the Lord intended should be thy lot 't was that thou shouldest be the first fruit unto God in this latter day that so thou mightst become a glorious example unto other Nations giving light unto them who yet sat in darknesse and in the Region and shadow of death that such I say might have received light from the glorious Sun of righteousnesse which the Lord raised in the midst of thee in thousands and this the Lord hath already in measure done Glory be to him for ever O! might not my soul take up a Lamentation over a foolish people saying O how are your hearts becom blind O inhabitants of England in whom the voyce of the Turtle is plentifully heard as in the Spring time after this dry long Winter which hath been in thee amongst whom it is on every hand said and confessed that the Lord liveth who hath brought his Seed out of the North and caused the beauty of its life to appear surpassing the glory and beauty of this present world And plentifully hath the word of his own life been declared and is still spoken forth in thee and yet for all this like an inchanted people ye turn your backs upon it and fly unto your hireling Priests whereas thou mightst have received the word of the Lord plentifully and freely at the hands of his precious Servants then wouldst thou have no need of the teachings of men nor to have gone into the Idol Masse-houses there to have taken the words of David and others to have sung but in the Spirit of the Lord ye would have all been gathered by it through which ye would have been ever praising the Lord in the land of the living Neither would you have needed to have gone to your Priests to have taken bread and wine at their polluted hands which feedeth but the natural and will corrupt but you would have been come to the High-Priest and Shepherd of your souls and have received living bread at his hands as your daily food and nourishment O England might not well my soul say that thou hast changed beauty for ashes and hast chosen chaff instead of wheat so that instead of well set hair thou hast baldnesse for if it were not so thou neededst not to have gone to the Idol-houses now for to hear a compounded parcel of words called Common Prayer read by a wicked man but instead thereof thou hadst been filled with the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication which the Lord would have showred down upon thee without measure which thing some few who are despised in thee do witnesse to the everlasting comfort of their immortal souls And also thou mightst have had a free Ministry instead of hirelings even you who might have fed on living bread at the Table of the Lord instead of taking it at your Communion-Tables which the Popes ordained for you who might have been baptised with the Holy Ghost and with fire by which ye would have been cleansed who might have walked in the light of the Lord instead of walking in the dim sparks of your own kindling who might have been satisfied with Gods presence instead of being enquiring in your minds where and what God is who might have been purged washed and made clean from sin by the blood of the Lamb instead of a vain hope as you are in now that
these distinctions of Parishes Church-yards and Churches shew us I say from whence had you your foundation and others for these things and if the Popes were not prove it otherwise and in so doing you will satisfie many for many of the people in this Nation are jealous as well they may how that the Popes and their Counsels were the first Coustituters and Ordainers of these things 3. Whether or no you do own such a thing as that God will teach his people himself if so then why do not you let the people alone unto the Lord to be taught of him and cease taking these great sums of money under a pretence of doing that which only and properly belongs unto the Lord Give in your answers in plainness hat so thereby we may prove whether you are approved Ministers of Christ but if you cannot prove your selves so to be then it will be time yea and high time for people to draw off from you and cease giving their money for that which is not bread and spending their time any longer about you 4. Seeing that the Scripture saith Whatsoever is not of faith is sin then whether or no ye do not sin and cause the people to sin by going about to compel them by a Law to conform unto that which they are not perswaded in the Faith to be according to the mind of God for if they were perswaded in their own hearts as the Apostle said they should be then what need would there be of your compelling of them and whether or no it being so it will not be your great sin thus to go about for to make the people sin by a Law seeing that it is so that though one man should be required to do a thing by the express command and movings of God if another should go about to do the like and not be required of the Lord to do it it would be sin unto him I speak in relation to the worship of God and if it be not so prove the contrary by plain Scripture without wresting if you can 5. Whether according to the Scriptures ye own that every one hath the manifestation of the Spirit given them to profit withall If you say you do then tell me why do ye or indeed how durst ye go about as ye do to limit the same in people and to appoynt them how much they shall hear and how long you shall pray and speak unto them as you do by an hour-glass and tell me whether there can be blasphemy in a higher nature than this for to limit the Spirit of God to so many words spoken in such and such a form time and place O blush and be ashamed for these things and repent if you cannot clear your selves from being the very men who are guilty of these things as I know you cannot at all 6. VVhether or no you your selves would not have the free liberty and exercise of your Consciences towards God freely to do what you in your selves are perswaded for to be of God in your own hearts why will ye not allow the same liberty unto others seeing that the Scripture saith that every one must give an account of themselves to the Lord and every man must dye for his own iniquity and whether or no it can truly be said a man is a Christian indeed until he come unto this life to wit to do unto all men as he would all should do unto him and whether the contrary may not be said unto all who are contrary minded that is to say no Christians whether it be found in you or any other whatsoever they profess themselves to be upon the face of the earth 7. And if it be so that you cannot at all clear your selves from the guilt of these things which are here queryed of you but are found guilty of them then whether or no a man may not in the Spirit of sound judgment without offence to God or just men call you hireling Priests false Prophets blind Leaders of the blind and say you that are leaders and those that are led by you will all fall into the pit of Perdition if you continue to go on in the pernicious way you are going in And whether or no one may not justly charge you to be Ministers of the Letter and not of the Spirit seeing that ye can limit your selvs to so many words made ready unto your hands of other mens lines which was not nor is not the way or manner of the Ministers of the free Spirit of God which cannot be limited unto times words manners persons nor places but in whom he will when he will and where he will he speaketh as long as it pleaseth him that sends it 8. An Answer of these things will be exspected from some of you being I am made an offender by some of you for speaking somthing of these latter queries and remain still in the Prison of Bristol a sufferer for the Truth of God and a witnesse against all false Teachers and hireling Priests for ever and so I shall conclude with this Query VVhether or no it may not be properly said that such who take Tythes under a pretence of a Gospel Ministry hold neither a Law nor Gospel seeing that the Gospel maintenance was to be free and as under the Law Levy only was to have a maintenance out of it for his service and the rest was for the maintenance of the father lesse and widows and strangers which you Priests in England are so far from that you take it all your selves and much more where ye can get it which is a great evil in you seeing that Tythes properly belonged unto the Lord in the time when they were required of the Jewes but the Law being changed the commandment must needs be disanulled and I am sure you cannot find a new one for it since unlesse it be the Popes Charles Baily THE END The Postscript THe Servant of the Lord is gentle and doth not strive and wrestle with flesh and bloud about outward things and outward Observations but hath the wisdome from above that is first pure and then peaceable and easie to be entreated and when he hath given forth his Testimony for God he leaves it to the witnesse in all consciences by that to be believed and until that be raised in the Conscience for him he is content to lye down in the suffering life having learned of the Lamb of God that pleads not his own cause but committeth it to God But men of strife will have Oathes and Protestations to bind and confirm their power and Authority over the Conscience because they are wrestling with flesh and bloud and with carnal weapons and their strength of binding is only by the power of the Law which Christ the Oath and Covenant of God hath put an end to in them that believe in his name that was made a Priest by the Oath of God that could not swear by a greater than himself as men verily swear by the greater and by the word or voyce of the Oath is the blessing confirmed in him that promised it to Abraham and his Seed saying surely blessing I will blesse thee and multiplying I will multiply thee which in the changeable Priesthood could not be in that they could not continue by reason of death but by the two immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lye the change might rest on him that was not made a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment but the power of an endlesse life where the Priesthood being changed the Law is also changed therefore saith Christ Swear not at all c. Let him that readeth understand R. B.