in the other to cast me into Prison where I am at present a sufferer in the patience and good will of God And thus with as much brevity as I could have I declared something of the hard measure which I have sustained and received at the hands of unreasonable men in and about 3 yeares time since I Landed at this City upon my return from Virginia after my sore Captivity there and truely had it not been by reason of the many and various reports which are concerning me amongst many I know I should have been still willing to have concealed the grief of all this within my own bowels yea and notwithstanding all these things besides the Lord alone which might have induced me to this matter I should certainly have concealed it And now after all this in which through which the Lord hath tryed my poor soul by the common enemy if he should try me at or by the hands of dearest friends as Job was shall I be angry with him or repine at it God forbid in whose good will I rest until he arise and plead my Cause Charles Bayly Written in Newgate Prison in Bristol the 13 of the 3 Moneth 1663 A true and faithfull Relation of some of the sufferings tryals sorrows and travels of the Seed and Spirit of God for the creature and now of the creature in with the same Seed and Spirit manifest through an earthen vessel known by name C.B. SUrely had I the Tongue of the Eloquent and the Pen of a ready Writer it would be hard for me to declare the grievousness of my hard travels and sorrow which I have undergone since I was but 12 or 13 years of Age in which time my deep travell and sorrow began it being so that in my tender years I had been tenderly brought up about the Court of England my natural Parents belonging thereunto who were Roman Catholiques in which Religion they carefully brought me up sparing neither cost nor pains for any thing which might tend unto my edification and bringing me up in that way But my God intending to make me an instrument in his hand for his own work did raise up something in my soul of a child which was of himself which caused a secret dislike in my heart of that Idolatrous way of worship in so much that I could never heartily embrace the same which thing hath caused tears to be shed for me by my own friends then who dearly and tenderly loved me according unto the love as Parents bear unto their Children and it being so it raised a great discontent sometimes in them to arise towards me which was the first ground and original cause of my sorrow though I did not know what that was in my self which caused me for to dislike it both in way and worship which since I found to be the light and gift of Gods grace in my soul which was nigh me and in me at all times and places a sure and living Witnesse against all sin and evill whatsoever And from that time forwards I was ever seeking for to separate my self from my natural Parents and the wars coming on in England did enlarge my opportunity for to fulfill my intended purpose it being so that most of the Court Officers were dismissed of their outward beings in and about London where I had my natural birth and bringing up untill about the Age before mentioned and it being so I did begin to wander about not being kept at School nor at Board as formerly I had been But my Parents being willing to have me to their own natural Countrey which was France I passed thither with one who was Extraordinary Embassador sent from the King of France called the Prince Deicourt who loved me and kept me by him some time for his Interpreter whilest he was in England but still something there was in me which could not be satisfied to feed at the Table of Princes nor to be in their love and favour without the love and favour of God which made me still in a restlesse condition which caused me for to return out of France without the consent and knowledge of my outward friends or relations And coming to England at Graves-end as I was intending to passe for London I met with one Brad-street who was commonly called a Spirit for he was one of those who did entice Children and People away for Virginia he fell into discourse with me and I being tender in years he did cunningly get me on Board of a Ship which was then there riding ready for to go to those parts and I being once on Board could never get on Shoar untill I came to America where I was sold as a bond-slave for seaven years in which time it would be too hard for me to shew in every particular the hardship and misery that I did undergo in that time of hunger cold and nakednesse beatings whippings and the like for many times was I stripped naked and tied up by the hand and whipped and made to go bare-foot and bare-legged in cold and frosty weather and hardly cloaths to cover my nakednesse besides the soare and grievous labour which I was continually kept at during which time my poor soul would be often bemoaning it self every way concerning my soar captivity and misery and something I can indeed say did in secret answer and refresh my tender soul in the feeling of which I could in truth of heart say I did forgive my then persecutors And when grief would be ready to swallow me up I would consider how that that which did then befall me was surely for my good and would rather judge my self than others beleeving that I indeed did deserve it and much more for my disobedience though of a truth it was very grievous and hard for me to beat as to the very natural what I did and surely had not the secret hand of Gods love upheld me I could never have supported my burden there being such an alteration with me when I came to eat my bread in the Ash heap whenas before I had been in the presence of Princes and also the alteration both of food and every thing else for instead of a well stringed Lute in my hand I had hard labour and my daily exerci e was beyond the common manner of Slaves for mine was often night and day I say had it not been the very hand and love of God which had supported me my very outward man would have been laid in the dust as several of my then fellow Labourers were in a most sad and deplorable condition which thing I desire may not be laid to their charge who were the Authors of it I say the Lord forgive them for that which they did to them and me for I am sure the poor creatures had better have been hanged than to have suffered the death and misery they did which thing I should not in this place have spoken were it not so but that
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
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