Joy your Joy and our Crown your Crown yea really I know it cannot be otherwise For if one of the members of the body do faint or fail or break or start aside it causeth a breach or defect in the whole body So likewise if one member do prosper in his measure be it never so small I know the whole body is strengthened refreshed and comforted and we know you all delight in us and rejoyce over us even as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the â—ride I do behold it in the Light of Righteousness and receive the benefit of it in the bright shining Countenance of our everlasting Father's Love and our souls do magnifie the Lord of Life and Glory and our spirits do sing for joy that ever we were found worthy of so high and honourable a Calling to bear the Name of our pure perfect Redeemer before the High and Mighty of the Earth and to suffer so long time under them for our pure living Testimony of the pure holy Life of Innocency Oh! praises praises to our God everlastingly world without end Amen Amen In a short time after our gracious Deliverance out of the Inquisition the Lord committed great Judgement to me to pronounce against the City saying That I must prophesie yet once more in his Name and give it out in writing The Cross seemed very heavy but I did not dare to look at it but was obedient to the heavenly Voice and writ the Prophecy O All ye Heads and Rulers Princes and Governours of Malta hearken to the Voice of the Lord. The 25th day of the sixth month called August the year 1662. near the tenth hour of the day the Word of the Lord came unto me saying Thou must prophesie yet once more in my Name to the Heads and Rulers Princes and Governours of Malta the aforesaid City and prophesie saying Thus saith the Lord God of power who made Heaven and Earth the Seas and all things that are therein and is the Preserver of all mankind especially of them that do believe in his Name My wrath is kindled against you and my Judgment is set up amongst you because of your hard-heartedness and unbelief I the Lord God who desire the death of no man but that all should return unto me and live in tenderness and love to your souls I cast in my Servants yet amongst you contrary to their wills and out of their own knowledge to go and forewarn you of the evil that I was bringing upon you with line upon line and precept upon precept of my undenyable Testimonies and unfailable Truths of the glorious and powerful Appearing of my blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ the Light of the World in thousands of my Saints and People in this the great and mighty Day of my Power for the destruction of Sin and Satan and all the works of darkness all manner of iniquity and uncleanness in this Nation and in all Nations and Counâ—ries throughout the whole Earth for all the Wicked shall be brought to Judgement that that which is pure may arise to rule in the hearts of people and I will overturn overturn in all places till I have restored Judges as at the first and Counsellours as at the beginning men of perfect hearts and upright spirits fearing my Name doing the works of Equity and Justice to every one without respect of persons like unto faithful Moses and righteous Samuel and will establish my beloved Son upon his Throne and he shall rule in his Princely Power and reign in his Kingly Majesty whose right it is over all and his own Spiritual Government shall be set up in all places Righteous Rulership and pure Worship in Spirit and in Truth and there is nothing that can prevent the Lord who saith If ye will not hear my Servant which speakeâ—h my Word whom you have proved almost these four years whose life hath been harmless and spotless in pure Innocency amongst you then will I bring Wo upon Wo and Judgment upon Judgment upon you till the living shall not be able to bury the dead my mouth hath spoken it and my zeal will perform it and every man's hands shall be upon his loins for pain for the day of Recompence is come But if you will hear my Servant which speaketh unto you in my Name and return in your minds to the Light in your Consciences which convinceth of all sin and wait upon me in pure silence holy fear dread and awe and deny all evil thoughts words and actions then will I pour out of my Spirit upon you and will make my wayes known unto you and will soon cure you of your diseases and heal you of your pain This have I written in obedience to the God of all Power whom I truly serve in spirit and in truth according to my measure O dear and noble Prince and People receive it from the Lord and not from me and prove the Prophecy in the Spirit of meekness as you are wise and sober-minded men without rashness or hastiness in the fear of the Lord God that gave you life and see whether I have prophesied in mine own name or in the Name of the Lord if in mine own name the things I have prophesied of will not come to pass but if in the Name of the Lord then they will come to pass daily one after another This have we prophesied ever since the time you call Christ's Resurrection as we have been moved of the Spirit of the Lord and delivered it to the Consul to take it to the Grand Master with the rest of the Heads and Governors The Consul threatened me with the Prison again The Lord said Fear not I am thy God And in a few dayes after the Lord uttered his Voice and manifested his mighty Power in great Thunder and Lightning so that it set on fire one of their Powder-houses being near a mile out of the City It was in the eighth month the eighth day of the month in the night according to their account and the wind of the Powder blew down another Powder-house a quarter of a mile from it but the Powder was preserved and it did great execution in the City as they say it blowed down five Houses and broke most of the Glass Windows of both Palaces and all the Merchants Windows in the City and the Magazine where the Merchants Goods were the Doors were blown out of the hooks and the Walls shaken and torn and the whole City was terribly shaken and the doors of the houses drew up so that great fear fell upon them all and we heard a great shreem in the City it was at midnight and they rung out their Bells and there was a great Glass Window in the Chamber where we lay over right our Beds-feet it was very thick Glass and much of it was broken to pieces and beat in on each side of our bed but the Lord did not suffer any harm to us the glory is his own The
darkness hath muttered some words over it which they call Consecration and after I had stood a season viewing this Idolatry with the indignation of the eternal God set up within my heart against the same I turned my back-part upon the Priest and his dead god and dumb Idols at the high Altar and in the holy Commandment of Life eternal my face was set towards the people and I beheld them a certain season in the power of God in which I stood I saw the multitude of ignorant People upon their knees also worshipping the dark inventions and Imaginations of their sottish Leaders and blind Guides and they know not what and in the Lord's time which mine eye had a circumspect heed unto I then spread forth mine arms and stript off my Vesture and rent the same from top to bottom in divers pieces and cast them from me with indignation and then I took my Hat off my head which was the uppermost covering of the outside of a man and cast the same under my feet and stamped upon these things and the nakedness appeared with the sack-cloath covering to their astonishment and then with a clear voice I sounded Repentance three times gave testimony as the sound of a Trumpet among them that the Life of Christ and his Saints was arisen from the dead and so passed away sounding the same words of the Lord's Message with Repentance through the streets as it were flying from the Idols temple and from Idolatry and Idolaters until I came to the Sea side and there was I moved to kneel down and pray and give thanks to the living Lord who had so wonderfully preserved me in doing his pleasure and good will on earth and he suffered no man to touch or do me harm And the next day following the Lord God gave opportunity accordingly as I had let the Ship-master know I believed would come to pass and it was so and all the Fleet did partake of the blessing but how many of them rewarded me men of my own Nation to whom I also continued a sign which they spake bitter things against the Lord my God saw the same and smote them with rebuke and astonishment in his displeasure who in his wise determinate Counsel ordained me for many dayes nights to be tryed on this wise and to fall among divers temptations afterwards the which as a mighty Host surrounded and beset me on every hand immediately after I had done his good will in his all-sufficient power and strength Thus the Enemy with his subtilty in a mystery was suffered to compass me about to steal away my peace and reward with my God in whom the same is hid and then I was in a blessed condition though sometime vailed for a little season and then the Fathers Countenance was hid from mine eye and therefore was I troubled Yet blessed are ye when you fall among divers Temptations saith one and verily they were even as thorns in my flesh yea as Messengers of Satan suffered to buffet me for a season even as the Servant of God witnessed who was wrapt up into the third Heaven What if I should somewhat testifie so was it with me lest I should be exalted above measure so that I was made to bow and fall upon my face and cry day and night to the Lord of Eternal Life that had respect to the tears of the Innocent and bowed the strength of his Arm to support the Lowly And so his Almightiness gave ear to the sighs and groans of my distressed state and had respect unto the voice of my mourning as a Dove or Pelican in the Wilderness and verily his Grace I found sufficient to save and preserve my Innocency in its sweet life of holiness to the Lord through all this and that which letted Salvation to his Name Amen So his strength is made perfect in weakness even so it is in truth in which I set to my seal of my right-hand that God is true in which Life I give thanks to his Name of Power and Defence the which over all Nations is to be exalted in the hearts of his Saints as in the ancient dayes yea and much more abundantly in the Light of his bright-shining Countenance in which his eternal and excellent Glory and pure dreadful Majesty for ever hath his holy habitation to whom be endless Dominion with Praises living and everlasting over all Amen Written in Newgate this 5th Month the 18th day 1662. where he suffereth Bonds together with many Brethren of Truth for one and the same Testimony of the Lord Jesus not for evil doing or speaking but against the same For we suffer because we cannot otherwise but meet together in the Name and Fear of God neither swear at all neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath Mat. 5. Jam. 5.12 D. B. A Copy of a Paper which was written in the Spanish Tongue and delivered the same day that I was upon the service directed as followeth viz. For the Governor and Inhabitants of Gibletore in the Kingdom of Spain BEhold behold the great day of God is come and of his wrath and of the wrath of his Lamb is come and the hour of his Judgements is come Wherefore Oh Inhabitants of the earth Repent Repent Repent and fear God and give Glory and Honor to him that made Heaven and Earth and the Fountains of Waters Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth And I heard another Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye partake not of her sins that ye receive not of her plagues These are the words of the Power of Christ that is contrary to the false Church Behold behold Plagues Plagues Plagues are coming upon the Church of Rome and upon her Heads in England and in all parts of the World And the Woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth and he saith unto me the waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are Peoples Nations Multitudes and Tongues c. These Words with a Paper in Latine with honest Words of Truth was delivered with many more Scriptures in their own Language that they may read understand repent and cease from Idolatry and from all Ungodliness that the Blessings of Eternal Life might arise through Judgements and have room among the Nations to the eternal glory and renown of the Lord God over all who is blessed for ever Amen A brief Account of their further Tryals and how God at last by his Almighty Power effected their Deliverance and brought them again into the Land of their Nativity THe second month the year 1662. at the time of their Feast called the Resurrection of Christ on the first day we spake to the Keeper to buy us some meat not knowing but we might have eaten it in the time of their Feast yet it had been laid upon us to fast most times when they did feast which did torment
to ask her Husband at home But what if she have a disorderly drunken husband and not Christ the Man the true Husband the true Lord how can he teach her seeing the Woman is to learn of her Husband in silence and to be under obedience and not to usurp Authority over the Man as also saith the Law which hath dominion over all that are under it in the transgression but the Spirit of Grace and Truth that 's poured upon Sons and Daughters teacheth us to deny the sin and guideth from the same and so maketh free from its Condemnation and from under the Law to be under the Grace and Truth that is in the one Seed Christ in the Male Christ in the Female the quickening Spirit the Lord from Heaven And those who are led and guided by this are not under the Law which saith the woman is not to usurp authority over the man as also saith the able Minister of the Mystery of the glory and riches of Eternity which is Christ the fulness in his Saints their hope of Life and Glory But the Woman is to be under obedience as also saith the Law yea but they that are led by the Spirit are not under the Law so are the Sons of God manifest yet under the Grace covered the same Grace with which the Man-Child the holy Child Jesus was covered and filled with the same and no other but that which did and doth save the Saints from sin and so from under the Law and its condemnation and not only so but also the same Grace which bringeth Salvation and appeareth to all men it teacheth them not onely to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts but also to live soberly and righteously in this present world And verily this Grace is in them which saves and justifieth them and it 's not of themselves it is the gift of God And such are the Servants of the living and true God that have their fruits and possess the same unto Holiness and not only so but the end of the same which is the pure manifestation of the Eternal Substance to wit Everlasting Life pâ—re clean Power which is the excellent Treasure in the Earthen Vessels as saith the holy Scripture 2 Cor. 4. But O ye Congregations of the dead ye gathered Churches of so many Names and Heads to you sounds my Voice saying What have ye done Oh! how guilty do ye appear before mine eye that 's single in the Lord's Light of despising Prophecying and quenching the tender Spirit of Glory which resteth at this day in and upon many Sons and Daughters and behold if ye can see how they â—o and have prophesied in the Name of the Lord and have fore-warned you of that which is justly come to pass upon you whilst many of you despised and wondred in the dayes of haughtiness and its prosperity among you But O my soul how hast thou been wounded in me whilst I have travelled and mourned over you And so you have been found despising that and quenching that Spirit of Grace which teacheth the Saints in Light and reproves for sin and testifieth against the World and its deeds because they are evil And this same Spirit strived long with you and in you and would have arisen up in its Authority Power and great Glory from on high had ye not preferred and exalted the spirit of this World in its proper place in you above the Just and Long-suffering which is but one and the same in male and female Oh! what have you done Can any of you yet smite upon your thigh and say so yet if ye can enquire enquire ye the Watchman's voice is the same it was and not otherwise viz. Return come yea return and come to the tender Spirit of holiness and of the gentleness of Christ and his yoke of Self-denial and the daily Cross they are the two great Ordinances which ye have left behind and so the Vail and the Darkness hath covered you but the true Israelites have Light in their dwellings and their habitations are in the best of the Land of the living Wherefore my spirit saith Return come and hearken to the Lamb's Voice and now see whether ye can follow Him or a stranger wheresoever he goeth that 's the true Prophet raised up like unto Moses and obey his Voice which savoureth not of this World for so his Kingdom and Servants are not Therefore beware lest your souls be cut off from the Land of the Living and ye perish in the outward observations by which the Kingdom cometh not among the Congregations of the dead where ye are yet seeking the living But I as a Brother even Joseph tel you yet again He is not there but is arisen from the dead from death to life who is the quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven over the Earth over all the Land Aegypt over the Land of Darkness the same Lord the same Spirit which hath done excellent things is exalted in the new Heaven and in the new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and let the Virgin-Daughter of Sion publish the same even from hence forth to all generations yea and my spirit is ready to say Amen There was one that saw a little Stone cut out of the Mountain without hands and he well retained his sight so long until in the Light of the living he saw the same which was so little wax so great that it became an exceeding great Mountain Verily the beloved City is manifest set upon a holy Hill it cannot be bid from them that see the Glory of God doth enlighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof and his Light is like unto a Stone most precious clear as Chrystal The Fountain is opened free come down from on high and thou shalt see if thou dost thirst for Springs of Life To the Light submit thy mind and cease from strife in the same to behold the Bride the Lamb's Wife from the false Church Dan. Baker A SALUTATION and INFORMATION to the whole Body of the Elect of God whether gathered or scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth O Ye Eternal and blessed Ones whose dwelling is on high in the fulness of all Beauty and Brightness Glory and everlasting Joy Happiness and Peace for evermore We who are poor Sufferers for the Seed of God in the Covenant of Light Life and Truth do dearly salute and imbrace you all according to our measures Blessing and Honour and Glory be given to our Lord God for ever of all who know him who hath counted us worthy and hath chosen us among his faithful Ones to bear his Name and to witness forth his Truth before the High and Mighty men of the Earth and to fight the Lord's Battel with his spiritual Weapons to the breaking down of strong holds high lofty looks and vain imaginations and spiritual wickedness in high places The Lord did give us a prosperous Journey hither and when we came to Legorn we were refreshed with
live without spiritual food than our temporal bodies can without temporal food He said That we did never hear Mass We said we did hear the voice of Christ he only had the words of eternal Life and that was sufficient for us He said We were Hereticks and Heathens We said they were Hereticks that lived in sin and wickedness and such were Heathenâ— that knew not God He asked about our Meetings in England And we told them the truth to their amazement And they asked Who was the Head of our Church We said Christ And they asked What George Fox is And we said He is a Minister of Christ They asked Whether he sent us We said No The Lord did move us to come The Friar said We were deceived and had not the faith but we have all virtues We said that faith was the ground from whence virtues do proceed They said If we would take their holy Sacrament we might have our liberty or else the Pope would not leave us for millions of Gold but we should lose our souls and our bodies too We said the Lord had provided for our souls and our bodies were freely given up to serve the Lord. They askt us If we did not believe Marriage was a Sacrament We said it was an Ordinance of God They askt us If we did believe men could forgive sins We said none could forgive sins but God onely They brought us that Scripture Whose sins ye remit in earth shall be remitted in heaven We said all Power was Gods he could give it to whom he would that were born of the eternal Spirit and guided by the same such have power to do the Fathers Will as I answered a Friar also in the City of Naples and they were silent the Power greatly working We asked them wherein we had wronged them that we should be kept Prisoners all days of our lives and said Our innocent blood would be required at their hands The Friar said He would take our blood upon him and our journey into Turky too We told him the time would come he would find he had enough upon him without it They said The Pope was Christ's Vicar and we were of his Church and what he did was for the good of our Souls We answered The Lord had not committed the charge of our souls to the Pope nor to them for he had taken them into his own possession glory was to his Name for ever They said We must be obedient We said we were obedient to the government of Christs Spirit The Friar said None had the true Light but the Catholicks the Light that we had was the spirit of the Devil We said Wo to him that calleth Jesus accursed Can the Devil give power over sin and iniquity then he would destroy his own kingdom He said We were laught at and mockt at â—f every one We said What did become of the mockers It was no matter He said We did run about to preach and had not the true Faith We said the true Faith is held in a pure Conscience void of offence towards God and man and we had the true Faith And he said There was but one Faith either theirs or ours and ask'd us which it was We said Every one had the true Faith that did believe in God and in Jesus whom he had sent but they that say they do believe and do not keep his Commandments are lyars and the truth is not in them He said it was true but he did thirst daily for our blood because we would not turn and urged us much about our Faith and Sacrament to bring us under their Law but the Lord preserved us They said It was impossible we could live long in that hot room So the next week-day they sate in Council but Oh how the swelling Sea did rage and the proud waves did foam even unto the clouds of Heaven and Proclamation was made at the Prison-Gate we did not know the words but the fire of the Lord flamed against it K. my life was smitten and I was in a very great agony so that sweat was as drops of blood and the Righteous One was laid into a Sepulcher and a great stone was roll'd to the door but the Prophecy was that he should rise again the third day which was fulfilled But the next day they came to sit upon Judgement again but I say in the true Judgment they sate not but upon it they got up unjustly above the Righteous and upon the same they sate a Child of Wisdom may understand and they brought many Propositions written in a Paper but the Friar would suffer the Magistrate to propound but few to us for fear the Light would break forth But they ask'd how many Friends of ours were gone forth in the Ministry and into what parts We told them what we did know They said All that came where the Pope had any thing to do should never go back again We said the Lord was as sufficient for us as he was for the Children in the fiery Furnace and our trust was in God They said we were but few and had been but a little while but they were many Countries and had stood many hundred years and wrought many Miracles and we had none We said we had thousands at our Meetings but none of us dare speak a word but as they are eternally moved of the Lord and we had Miracles The Blind receive their sight the Deaf do hear and the Dumb dâ— speak the Poor do receive the Gospel the Lame do walk and the Dead are raised He asked Why I look'd so whether my Spirit was weak I said Nay my body was weak because I eat no meat it was in their Lent He offered me a Licence to eat flesh I said I could not eat any thing at all the terrors of death were strongly upon me But three nights after the Lord said unto me about the eleventh hour Arise and put on your clothes I said When wilt thou come Lord He said VVhether at midnight or at Cock-crow do thou watch My Friend and I arose and the Lord said Go stand at the Door And we stood at the door in the Power of the Lord I did scarce know whether I was in the body or out of the body And about the twelfth hour there came many to the Prison-Gate We heard the Keyes and looked when they would come in They ran to and fro till the fourth hour and the Lord said he had smote them with blindness they could not find the way And we went to bed where I lay night and day for twelve dayes together fasting and sweating that my bed was wet and great was our affliction The tenth day of my fast there came two Fryars the Chancellor the man with the black Rod and a Physician and the Keeper and the Friar commanded my dear Friend to go out of the room and he came and pull'd my hand out of the bed and said Is the Devil so
great in you that you cannot speak I said Depart from me thou worker of iniquity I know thee not the Power of the Lord is upon me and thou callest him Devil He took his Crucifix to strike me in the mouth and I said Look here and I asked him Whether it were that Cross which crucified Paul to the World and the World unto him And he said it was I denied him and said the Lord had made me a Witness for himself against all workers of iniquity He bid me be obedient and went to strike me I said Wilt thou strike me He said he would I said Thou art out of the Apostles Doctrine they were no strikers I deny thee to be any of them who went in the Name of the Lord. He said he had brought me a Physician in charity I said the Lord was my Physician and my saving-health He said I should be whipt and quartered and burnt that night in Malta and my Mate too wherefore did we come to teach them I told him I did not fear the Lord was on our side and he had no power but what he had received and if â—e did not use it to the same end the Lord gave it him the Lord would judge him And they were all smitten as dead men and went away And as soon as they were gone the Lord said unto me The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death and the Life arose over Death and I glorified God The Friar went to my Friend and told her I called him worker of iniquity Did she said Sarah Art thou without sin He said he was Then she hath wronged thee But I say the wise Reader may judge For between the eighth and ninth hour in the evening he sent a Drum to proclaim at the Prison-Gate We know not what it was but the Fire of the Lord consumed it And about the fourth hour in the morning they were coming with a Drum and Guns and the Lord said unto me Arise out of thy Grave-clothes And we arose and they came up to the Gate to devour us in a moment But the Lord lifted up his Standard with his own Spirit of Might and made them to retreat and they fled as dust before the wind praises and honour be given to our God for ever I went to bed again and the Lord said unto me Herod will seek the young Child's life to destroy it yet again and great was my affliction so that my dear Fellow-Labourer in the Work of God did look every hour when I should depart the body for many dayes together and we did look every hour when we should be brought to the stake day and night for several weeks and Isaac was freely offered up but the Lord said he had provided a Ram in the bush Afterwards the Friar came again with his Physician I told him that I could not take any thing unless I was moved of the Lord. He said we must never come forth of that Room while we lived and we might thank God and him it was no worse for it was like to be worse We said if we had died we had died as innocent as ever did Servants of the Lord. He said it was well we were innocent They did also look still when I would die The Friar bid my Friend take notice what torment I would be in at the hour of death thousands of Devils he said would fetch my soul to Hell She said she did not fear any such thing And he asked if I did not think it expedient for the Elders of the Church to pray over the sick I said Yea such as were eternally moved of the Spirit of â—â—e Lord. He fell down on his knees and did howl and wish bitter wishes upon himself if he had not the true Faith but we denyed him The Physician was in a great rage at Sarah because she could not bow to him but to God only The last day of my Fast I began to be an hungry but was afraid to eat the Enemy was so strong but the Lord said unto me If thine Enemy hunger féed him if he thirst give him drink in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good I did eat and was refreshed and glorified God and in the midst of our extremity the Lord sent his holy Angels to comfort us so that we rejoyced and magnified God and in the time of our great tryal the Sun and Earth did mourn visibly three dayes and the horror of Death and pains of Hell was upon me the Sun was darkned the Moon was turned into blood and the Stars did fall from Heaven and there was great tribulation ten dayes such as never was from the beginning of the world and then I did see the Son of man coming in the Clouds with Power and great Glory triumphing over his Enemies the Heavens were on fire and the Elements did melt with fervent heat and the Trumpet sounded out of Sion and an Allarm was struck up in Jerusalem and all the Enemies of God were called to the great Day of Battel of the Lord. And I saw a great Wonder in Heaven the Woman cloathed with the Sun and had the Moon under her feet and a Crown of twelve Stars upon her head and she travelled in pain ready to be delivered of a Man-child and there was a great Dragon stood ready to devour the Man-child as soon as it was born and there was given to the Woman two wings of a great Eagle to carry her into the Desert where she should be nourished for a time times and half a time and the Dragon cast a Flood out of his mouth c. And I saw War in Heaven Michael and his Angels against the Dragon and his Angels and the Lamb and his Army did overcome them And there was a Trumpet sounded in Heaven and I heard a Voice saying to me The City is divided into thrée parts And I heard another Trumpet sounding and I looked and saw an Angel go down into a great Pool of water and I heard a Voice saying unto me VVhosoever goeth down next after the troubling of the waters shall be healed of whatsoever Disease he hath And I heard another Trumpet sounding and I heard a Voice saying Babylon is fallen is fallen Babylon the great is fallen And I looked and saw the smoak of her torment how it did ascend and I heard another Trumpet sounding and I heard a Voice saying Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for he that is mighty hath magnified you and Holy is his Name And from henceforth all generations shall call you blessed And I heard another Trumpet sounding in Heaven and I heard a Voice saying unto me Behold and I looked and I saw Pharaoh and his Host pursuing the Children of Israel and he and his Host were drowned in the Sea Dear Friends and People whatsoever I have written it is not because
it is recorded in the Scripture or that I have heard of such things but in obedience to the Lord I have written the things which I did hear see tasted and handled of the good Word of God to the praise of his Name for ever And all this time my dear Sister in Christ Jesus was in as great affliction as I in a manner to see my strong Travel night and day yet she was kept in the patience and would willingly have given me up to death that I might have been at rest yet she would have been left in as great danger wo and misery as ever was any poor captive for the Lord's truth for they did work night and day with their Divinations Inchantments and Temptations thinking thereby to bring us under their power but the Lord prevented them every way so that great was their rage and they came often with their Physician and said it was in charity I askt them whether they did keep us in that hot room to kill us and bring us a Physitian to make us alive The Fryar said The Inquisitor would lose his Head if he should take us thence and it was better to keep us there than to kill us The Room was so hot and so close that we were fain to rise often out of our bed and lie down at a chink of their door for Air to fetch breath and with the fire within and the heat without our skin was like sheeps Leather and the Hair did fall off our heads and we did fail often Our Afflictions and Burthens were so â—eat that when it was day we wished for night and when it was night we wished for day we sought death but could not find it we desired to die but death fled from us We did eat our bread weeping and mingled our drink with our Tears We did write to the Inquisitor and laid before him our Innocency and our Faithfulness in giving our Testimony for the Lord amongst them And I told him if it were our Blood they did thurst after they might take it any other way as well as to smother us up in that hot room So he sent the Fryar and he took away our Ink-horns they had our Bibles before We asked why they took away our goods They said It was all theirs and our Lives too if they would We asked how we had forfeited our lives unto them they said For bringing Books and Papers We said if there were any thing in them that was not true they might write against it They said They did scorn to write to Fools and Asses that did not know true Latine And they told us the Inquisitor would have us separated because I was weak and I should go into a cooler room but Sarah should abide there I took her by the arm and said The Lord hath joyned us together and wo be to them that should part us I said I rather chuse to dye there with my Friend than to part from her He was smitten and went away and came no more in five weeks and the door was not opened in that time Then they came again to part us but I was sick and broken out from head to foot They sent for a Doctor and he said We must have air or else we must dye So the Lord compelled them to go to the Inquisitor and he gave order for the door to be set open six hours in a day they did not part us till Ten weeks after But oh the dark clouds and the sharp showers the Lord did carry us through Death it self had been better than to have parted in that place They said we corrupted each other and that they thought when we were parted we would have bowed to them But they found we were more stronger afterwards than we were before the Lord our God did fit us for every condition They came and brought a Scourge of small Hemp and asked us If we would have any of it They said They did whip themselves till the blood did come We said that could not reach the Devil he sate upon the heart They said All the men and women of Malta were for us if we would be Catholicks for there would be none like unto us We said the Lord had changed us into that â—hich changed not They said All their holy Women did pray for us and we should be honoured of all the World if we would turn We said we were of God and the whole world did lye in wickedness and we denied the honor of the World and the glory too They said We should be honoured of God too but now we were hated of all We said it is an evident token whose Servants we are the servant is not greater than the Lord and that Scrpture was fulfilled which saith All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Upon a First day of the week we were fasting and waiting upon the Lord till the second hour after mid-day and the Fryars came and commanded us In the Name of the Lord to kneel down with them to prayer We said we could not pray but as we were moved of the Lord. They commanded us the second time Then they kneeled down by our bed side and prayed and when they had done they said They had tryed our Spirits now they knew what Spirit we were of We told them they could not know our Spirits unless their minds were turned to the Light of the Lord Jesus in their Consciences The English Fryar was wroth and shewed us his Crucifix and bid us look there We said the Lord saith Thou shalt not make to thy self the Likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath nor in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow to them nor worship them but I the Lord thy God only He was so mad he called for the Irons to chain Sarah because she spake so boldly to him She bowed her head and said to him Not only my feet but my hands and my neck also for the Testimony of Jesus His wrath was soon appeased and he said He would do us any good he could he did see what we did was not in malice the power had broken him down for that present They came to us often saying If you would do but a little you should be set at liberty but you will do nothing at all but are against every thing We said we are against nothing that is of God but would do any thing that might make for God's glory Many did think we should not have been heard nor seen after we were in the Inquisition but the Lord did work wonderfully for us and his Truth For they new built the Inquisition and there were many Labourers for a year and a half and the great Men came to see the building and we were carried forth with great â—ower to declare in the Name of the Lord Jesus not fearing the face of man the Lord was our strength But
to praise the Lord and to be kept in a sensible feeling of his Power daily and that you may encrease in wisdom strength and power over God's Enemies The Blessing of the Lord God Almighty be with you and preserve you by his mighty Power unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Salute me to my Sister S. R. there is a tender Plant in her I do feel it to my comfort praises be to the Lord. I am in health I praise the Lord and do want nothing the Lord is my portion I cannot want he hath deckt my Table richly he hath anointed my head with Balm it runneth down the skirts of my cloathing Written in the Inquisition-Prison at the Isle of Malta by a sufferer for the Seeds sake Farewel at this time Amen Your dear Sister in the Lord Sa. Cheevers Another from K. E. to her Husband and Children with somewhat from both the Lord's Prisoners to Friends the which was taken with the rest of the Letters in the Inquisition and copied out for their Lord Inquisitor DEar Husband with my dear Children I beseech you together to wait in the patience having your minds alwayes staid upon the Lord Keep out of incumbrances for that is the Enemies opportunity to step in when the mind is gone forth to vail the pure and darken the understanding and so hinder you of the pure enjoyment of beholding the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Take no more upon you than you are able to perform in the Spirit of moderation and meekness for that is in the sight of God of great price See the Lord going before you in all your occasions that you may be prosperous in all your undertakings wait diligently upon the Lord to be seasoned with his Grace that you may come to a pure understanding of the mâ—â—ons of his Eternal Spirit and a true knoâ—ledge of the operation of his hands you will be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the heigth and deptâ— and length and breadth of the riches â— his Grace and Love towards mankind â— Christ Jesus our Lord Amen saith my spirit This is the Counsel of the Lord unto yoâ— I do often remember M. H. I do desire she may be brought up in the fear oâ— God and want for nothing that is convenient for her salute me to her dearly I have been very sensible dear Husband of thine and our Children and many dear friends more of your sorrowful souls mourning hearts grieved spirits troubled minds for us as being Members of one Body Christ Jesus being our Head we must needs suffer together that we may rejoyce together a true sorrow begets a true joy a true Cross a true Crown We do beleive it is our heavenly Fathers will and purpose to bring us back as safe to England as ever he brought us thence for his own glory though we are some of the least of Christ's Flock yet we do belong to the true Fold and our Shepherd hath had as great a care of us as he could have for any of his Lambs and hath brought us through great affliction praises be given to his glorious Name of us and you and all that know him for ever Though we are absent in body in the will of God from you yet we are present in spirit in the will of God with you and do receive the benefit of all your prayers daily and do feel the Springs of Life that do stream from all the faithful hearted to our great refreshment and strengthening After our money was gone the Lord Inquisitor with the rest in Authority put a great allowance in one of their servants hands for our maintenance because we could take no money our selves the Lord of Heaven did forbid us to meddle with any and he did send to know whether we did want any clothes he would send it to the Prison to us This was the large love of our God to us and we were made contented with that we had till the Lord God who is rich in mercy and full of all Grace and is never unmindful of any which trust in his Name of his everlasting love did send his faithful Messenger whose feet are beautiful and face is comely cloathed with a bright shining Garment from the Crown of the head to the soal of the foot and came in great power and strength indeed armed with the wholâ— Armour of Light and drest in the Majesty of the Most High and being commissioneâ— of the Higher Power went to the Lorâ— Inquisitor to demand our lawful liberty which would not be granted except we could get some English Merchants of Legorn or Messaena to engage 4000 Dollerâ— that we should never come into those parts again The Lord who alone is ouâ— Life and Redeemer moved our dear Brother to offer his own body to redeem ours but it would not be received then he offered to lay down his own dear and preciouâ— life for our liberty Greater love can nâ— man have than to lay down his life for hiâ— Friend the Lord will restore it into his bosom double his service can never be blotted out his Name is called Daniel Baker his outward being is near London a right dear and precious heart he is The blessing strength and power of the Almighty be upon him and his and overshadow them for ever Amen Greater comfort could never be administred to us in our conditions Glory honor and praise to our God for evermore Amen This is a dear and sweet salutation in that which never changeth fadeth away nor waxeth old from us whom the Lord hath counted worthy to bear his Name and suffer for his sake to all our Christian Friends Fathers and Elders Pillars of Gods spiritual House Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ O my dear Husband with our dear and precious Children Lambs of God and Babes of Christ begotten of the Immortal Seed of Light Life and Truth with us and all the whole Family of everlasting blessedness Pray for us believingly all things are possible with our God So my Darlings in the Arms of everlasting Love do I take my leave of you the blessing and peace of the Most High be upon you ever Amen Amen Oh my dear Husband praise the Lord that ever thou hadst a Wife that was found worthy to suffer for the Name of the Lord inasmuch as I can understand the moving of the Spirit of God My dear and faithful Yoke-fellow Sister and Friend is worthy to be embraced of all friends for ever the deeper the sorrow the greater the joy the heavier the Cross the weightier the Crown This was written in the Inquisition at Malta of us Katherine Evans Sarah Cheevers Malta 11th Month of the year 1661. From K. E. for two Friends DEarly beloved Brother in the everlasting Covenant of Light and Life do I dearly salute and embrace thee with thy dear Wife my beloved Sister and thy dear Children whom I dearly love in that which
of his Love or else we had fainted long ago Oh! let all who know the Lord praise and glorifie his holy Name for ever and ever Amen Dear Friends farewel in the Lord. From us who are in outward bonds in the City of Malta for the Testimony of JESUS Glory be to his Name for ever who hath counted us worthy We are in health at present blessed be God Ka. Evans Sa. Chevers Several other Writings to D. B. whilst he was in MALTA OH thou tender-hearted one whom our God and our eternal Father hath sent to relieve us his poor innocent Lambs in hard bondage and deep captivity which thou art an eye-witness of none can receive or discern it but those that do see it But our heavenly Father who hath respect to the rest of them that believe in his Name hath sent thee to be an eye-witness in some measure of what we have undergone Oh my dear precious and endeared one thou meek Lamb thou innocent Dove who dost bear the likeness beauty and brightness of that unspotted One that is come in the Volumn of the Book to do the Will of God We can give in our Testimony for thee that thou camest here in the Power Authority of the Most High to which the tall Cedars were made to bow and the strong Oaks to bend praises praises be given to our everlasting God for evermore Oh my dearly beloved Brother thy beauty shineth indeed thou art all glorious within and without thy Garments are perfumed with all delightsom scents We smell the sweet Odours thereof and do feel the fulness of Love and Life which runs from thy tender heart day and night to us and in the same Unity of Love do our hearts stream forth to thee as thou knowest full well Oh how have our hearts and bowels been melted for thee our heads and eyes have run with tears and our souls have been poured forth to our heavenly Father for thy preservation and we did truly labour to see thy face before thou camest Glory and praises be given to our Eternal Lord God Amen saith our spirits that he doth vouchsafe us so great a mercy as to behold the face of so precious a Friend We do beseech God to moderate us with his Eternal Spirit that we may alwayes be mindful of his mercies and never to let his benefits slip out of our minds We have been near death many times when we had none to come near us but those that preached death and destruction to us I have lain twelve dayes or more in a fast in strong travel night and day that my dearly beloved Yoke-mate would have been glad if the Lord would have taken me out of the body because of my great affliction Then the English Friar which was here came up and down to us and would say to my Friend She is ready to depart send for me and take notice what tormentt she will be in a thousand Devils will be about her to fetch her soul to Hell because she will not be a Catholick And after we were parted we were called to fast so that my Friend was so weak that she put on such linnen upon her head as she thought to lie in in her Grave We did eat but little in a month together when our money was almost done till we did know the mind of the Lord what to do Then thy did run to and fro like mad men and the Friars did come and say The Inquisitor sent them to tell us we might have any thing we would eat and they did say it was not possible that ever creatures could live with so little meat for so long a time together They did bring us meat and say the English Consul did send it It was a glorious Fast indeed the Lord did appear wonderfully in it praises be given to him for ever Amen We were very weak because the power did work so strongly I had no manner of food in my body five or six days together We did lie in our clothes because we had no strength to put them off nor one to make our bed Then we did speak to the Friar that we might come together but he said they had no such order if we would have a Physician we might And there we lay none knowing from morning to morning whether we were dead or alive We were kept quiet and still till the Lord's time was come they brought many things for us to eat Then the Lord said Thou mayest take as freely as if thou hadst laboured for it with thy hands I will sanctifie it to thee through the Cross And he said unto Sarah she should eat of the fruit of her hands and be blessed And we did eat and were refreshed and glorified the Lord We did cry mightily unto the Lord night and day that we might not eat nor drink to offend him we would rather dye The Lord was well pleased with our Sacrifice and did increase our strength and administred comfort to us honor and glory be to his blessed Name for ever In the lowest of all our conditions we were kept a top of all the mountains so that they could not make us shrink or bow one jot or tittle to any of their Precepts or Commands Yet the Friars have commanded us in the name of their god to kneel with them in prayer The time is too little for me to disclose the twentieth part of the terrible tryals but whensoever we were brought upon any tryal the Lord did take away all fear from us and multiplied our strength and gave us power and boldness to plead for the Truth of the Lord Jesus and wisdom of words to stop the mouthes of the gainsayers that they would be made to say We spake Truth they could never say otherwise But they would say We had not the true Faith but we had all Virtues Oh dear heart if it be our Eternal Fathers good pleasure to carry thee away without us we do beseech our heavenly Father to bless and give thee a prosperous return and to feed thee with the fulness of the blessing of the powerful Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Amen And we do believe we shall not want thy prayers nor the prayers of all the Faithful that we may keep faithful to the end so that our God may be glorified his Church and People may be refreshed and rejoyced and we may receive our Reward with the rest of the Lord's Lambs Our Life is with the for oh thou art full of Love thou tender-hearted one who hast offered up thy sanctified body and purified life in obedience to the Lord for us poor afflicted Lambs with thee and companions in tribulations trials and persecutions and in perils at Sea and perils by Land Oh thou precious Lamb of God great is thy reward in Heaven great will be the Well-spring of joy that will arise in thee in thy Journey Oh thou happy one indeed whom the Lord our God hath made choice
which liveth and abideth for ever and fadeth not away In the same I commend thy dear tender Lambs to be preserved according to the unsearchable Wisdom and Counsel of thine own heart to thy everlasting Renown and Glory and their Eternal comfort and joy and felicity with thy Saints and Angels in the Light of thy Countenance and in everlasting remembrance in the powerful and Eternal Kingdom of Immortality if I be no more in this World when this body is gone to its place according to thy Eternal Purpose and Decree in thy Eternal Counsel so be it saith my spirit yea and Amen saith my soul which blesseth and magnifieth thy Eternal Name inasmuch as thou hast so far fulfilled thy living Word of Prophesie and not only so but much more also in the desire of my heart in the behalf of thy dear tender suffering and long-suffering Seed of thine own Bowels for which be innumerable Praises Wisdom Salvation Glory and Dominion to thy holy Name Amen Amen MY right dearly well-beloved Friends of Eternal Life of the Church of the first-born of the living God which is the Pillar and ground of Truth of which Christ Jesus our Lord is the alone and only Head Peace be unto you in him who is arisen in his pure immortal Life and hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Word of his Power and his Eternal Gospel of Peace which is not hid from us but it 's clearly manifest in us by his coming who ariseth with healing in his wings Glory Dominion living endless Praises Immortal to his Name now and for evermore and let all the upright in heart with my precious life say Even so Amen Dear suffering and long-suffering Lambs ye know that as I came in the eternal Love and Peace of Immanuel God's Lamb to visit and serve you and minister to your necessities the which in the same Life and Peace and in the integrity and uprightness of heart and in its pure innocency my God knoweth and behold I call your Life that 's manifest in you in which is our perfect Unity as Members of one Body to bear me record That I have endeavoured in the good will of my God to perform the same and verily the hand and blessing of Almighty God is with me and hath blessed me and so my reward is with me and my work hath been manifest before me even in the Light of his Countenance that liveth for ever and this Scripture is fulfilled in me also The Father worketh hitherto and I work So my dear Friends I have honestly and nakedly before the Lord cleared my Conscience so far concerning you on your behalf which is my reasonable service and so I leave the same to the liviâ—g Testimony of the Lord Jesus which you hold and for which I am satisfied and in the behalf of the whole body of God's Elect you have so long suffered So the Eternal God of Power Dominion and Glory of Heaven and Earth consolate support and strengthen you to the end that your Testimony may be finished with joy to his everlasting praise to whom only it belongs and so my Spirit in the Light and Life Immortal saith Even so Amen Farewel dear Lambs I am your true Brother D. B. Joseph was not made known to his Brethren the first time though his Bowels yearned towards and over them till at last he could no longer forbear crying out with tears saying I am Joseph your Brother and little Benjamin the youngest he dearly loved you know This 5th day of the Week and the 30th of the 11th Month 1661. So farewel and feel the Well-spring of Life When my face you do not see Wait in the Eternal Life and then remember me This and many other Papers was communicated to each others hands which are seen meet not to be added hereunto with the jeopardy of my life and what else did attend us but magnified and for ever blessed be the living Lord and his Goodness Wisdom and Salvation who prospered his Work and Workers in his own Life of lasting Righteousness through and over self over all that which must dye and go to its place Amen DANIEL Here followeth somewhat relating to the Travel and Service of D. B. which he hath freedom to give forth for the Truth 's sake and Friends satisfaction THE intent of the Spirit of the Lord within my heart and mind stirring me up to write somewhat concerning my travel from my Native Country Kindred and Father's House being freely given up to serve the Lord his Truth and People in the Power and Gospel of God I having no imposition or necessity at all laid upon my Conscience as from any mortal man but certainly it was a pure necessity from the living God of Heaven Earth many of his faithful Servants Messengers Sons and Daughters that were and are as dear and precious to me as my own life may bear me record on the Lord's behalf unto the truth of what I write on this wise and surely in the Counsel everlasting the thing was hid from me then whether ever I should return to my Native Country or not However in the love and favour of God and in his fear set up within my heart was I given up with my body also offered as a living Sacrifice which was but my reasonable sacrifice to give a sound to the Nations afar off of the mighty Day of our God and his blessed Truth the Light of Jesus manifest in every Conscience in which Light we have most assuredly believed unto salvation And verily the Power and pure Presence of his Eternal Strength was with me through many hardships trials and tribulations the right-hand of the hiding of his Power did sweetly guide strengthen support me even as it did and doth his Lambs whom he so sends forth as among Wolves in his Dove-like Innocency harmlesness and wisdom which are as wise or rather wiser than the Serpents And this Scripture have I well witnessed fulfilled whilst travelling from one Nation to another People as my Father did in the ancient dayes And on this wise with three more Brethren so freely given up with one consent in the behalf of the Gospel everlasting that is now preaching again to the Nations Tongues and Kindreds We set forward the 16th of the third Month and we sweetly parted with our right dearly beloved Friends Brethren Fathers and near Relations that were flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone and from all our outward Acquaintance and Native Country in the Will Love and Spirit of our God in the same day from Gravesend we set forth and at the end of forty four dayes we arrived at Legorn in Italy where we gave a certain sound of our innocent Service and Message of Salvation and of its Life and Blessedness coming upon the Nations as a weight either to condemnation or justification as the same is received or rejected among them And thus as we had opportunity among
bitter against us for Righteousness sake in-so-much that we stood in great hazard of our lives many a time we did feel their slaying Instruments drawn so that we had even the sentence of death in our selves but the Lord prevented them and preserved us and great was our travel of soul night and day the glory is the Lord's whose mighty Power did the work everlasting praises honour and dominion over all to our pure holy and perfect Lord God world without end Amen Now for the satisfaction of all Friends concerning our deliverance out of â—he Inquisition this is a true and brief Relation Three quarters of a year before Daniel Baker came to Malta the Consul for the English came to us and said the Inquisitor sent him to know if we would be Catholicks yea or nay We answered we were true Christians He said if we would be Catholicks we might dwell at Melita or go to England We said we were the Servants of the true and living God One of the Magistrates said we were not Christians neither had we the Cross of Christ We answered we were Christians and had received the Spirit of Christ which made a Christian and he that had not the Spirit of Christ was no Christian and we had the Cross of Christ without the Cross there was no Salvation the Cross of Christ is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth He said If we would not be Catholicks we must suffer long Imprisonment by the Popes Order That was not true I had an Answer in my Conscience against it And in a little time after they told us if we would kiss the Cross we should be freed out of Prison and go to the Consul 's till a convenient passage did present to carry us for England for the Pope had sent word they should take it into their consideration and set us free for England without doing any violencce as we heard and we did believe it because we had a more sure word of Prophecy than did use to proceed out of their mouthes we told them we could not kiss the Cross to get our liberty neither did we desire our freedom on any such terms but we looked every day when they would call us forth to kiss the Cross and we did pray and cry mightily to our Eternal Father to prevent them in it and to preserve us out of it for the Tempter was very strong within and without so that I took little rest for many dayes and nights seeing the great danger it would plunge us into for I saw the painted walls and the Crosses set before me but the gracious God of power who did appear in our Afflictions and revealed his Will to me in a Night-Vision saying Touch not taste not handle not but wait diligently upon me you have two things yet to work over before you can be set at liberty We knew the Cross was one but we knew not what the other was The next time the Consul came he told us that the Inquisitor said If any one would engage for three or four thousand Dollers to be paid if ever we came thither again we should be set at liberty but he said no more of the Cross but the Obligation was the second thing that we were to work over but I could never see nor dare desire any man to be engaged for us because I do know all Decrees Laws Tyes Bonds and Chains and Precepts of men must be broken through the righteous Decree of our mighty Lord God and upon the same consideration we were made willing to wait till the Lord should break this Chain also that no other dear Friend or Lamb of God might suffer for the same thing no God forbid Then it pleased the Lord to send Daniel Baker who in obedience to the God of Heaven did offer up body for body yea life all for our liberty but could not be heard but the Inquisitor said If any would engage for the payment of three or four thousand Dollers to be paid if ever we came there again we should have our liberty but otherwise we must die in the Prison for that was the Pope's Law but we knew it was left to his consideration so we told them we could not engage nor desire any to engage for us because it was out of the Covenant of God and our yea was yea and our nay was nay and we did not believe that ever it was the mind of God that we should return thither again So Daniel departed in the Love of God and they sent to England to Friends and to other Islands to the English Merchants for some to engage for us that we might have our liberty but the Merchants sent word they were not willing to answer their unreasonable demands for the payment of so many thousand Dollers if in case we returned thither again There were many that did seek for our liberty that were not of us because they knew our cruel and strait bondage and terrible afflictions and were willing to engage what was reason but because our just and wise God would make his Power known for his own honour he would not suffer any thing to prevail for our Deliverance insomuch as we could understand but what he wrought by his invisible Power in the hearts of our Enemies It was given into my heart half a year after Daniel came thence that if I could speak with the Inquisitor he would grant us our liberty and in a little time he came to the Inquisition-Court-Chamber and we heard of it and desired to speak with him which he granted us and we told him we had wronged none we had defrauded none neither was guile found in our mouthes but we had suffered innocently almost four years for Conscience-sake and we knew they had no peace in our sufferings So the Inquisitor was very courteous to us and promised our liberty in a few dayes and he said he would send for the Consul and get him to engage for five hundred Dollers to be paid for us if ever we came again in case the Consul did deny it he would send to Rome to the Pope for an Order to set us at liberty without an Obligation So we were contented to wait the Lord's time who had often promised us That we should have our liberty in a day when we thought not of and at an hour when we were not aware and good was the Word of the Lord and faithful in all his Promises About two weeks after the Inquisitor came to the Inquisition with his Lieutenant and other of the Magistrates and a Consul for the English and he sent the Proctor of the Court to call us forth before them and when we came he told us the Consul would engage for the payment of five hundred Dollers if ever we returned thither again We not knowing at present whether it was the mind of our heavenly Father that the Earth should help the Woman yea or nay yet waiting
speak The Lord said formerly and doth say now Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image or the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath c. Cursed be thy Images and thou that teachest people to fall down to worship them Thou sayest this is Moses Law He that despiseth Moses 's Law dyeth without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy that trampleth under foot the blood of the Covenant and counteth it an unholy thing wherewith he was sanctified and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace Thou art he Malachi the Lord saith thou art a cursed Reprobate Depart from me thou worker of iniquity I know thée not Thou sayest thou wouldst chain our arms because we could not bow at thy commacd We said our necks with our whole bodies for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God which we give forth among you we were ready to seal it with our blood glory be to the Lord God Almighty who called and counted us worthy to suffer for his Name-sake and gave us power over thee thou crooked Scorpion if thou hadst known that Power that did restrain thy hands and thy feet from shedding our blood thou wouldst have known whose Servants we were but thou art in the Reprobation with Cain Judas and bloody Herod thou wouldest have us call thee a holy Father and thou sayest Whosoever sins ye remit on Earth they should be remitted in Heaven and yet thou saidst none could be assured of their Salvation in this life and thou asked us about a Purgatory we knew no such place The Scripture speaks of a Hell and a Heaven in which the souls of the Righteous should enter into when they depart â—he body where is joy and rest for evermore but the souls of the wicked into everlasting torment Thou saidst thou couldst prove a Purgatory in Maccabees we know no such place but we know it speaketh of a woman that had seven sons which because they could not forsake the Law of the living God their tongues were cut out Art not thou a lyer didst not thou say thou wast a Remitter of sins and a saviour of souls and yet they must dye in their sins and go to Purgatory Oh thou blind guide thou art to be denied dost not thou see thy own confusion If any sin against God you then give a Pardon but if any offend you Oh the Rackings Halterings Strapado's Chains Bolts Irons your cruelty doth exceed what we do testifie you have sold your selves to work wicked Abominations you wear defiled garments to deceive the simple-hearted and say there is virtue in them and think it an honour for them to kiss your defiled garments The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter days there should be seducing spirits teaching lyes in hypocrisie the Doctrine of the Devil to abstain from marriage and meats which God hath created for the preservation of the Creation but if a man commit Adultery with a woman and come and confess to you you will pardon him Oh horrible Blasphemy there is none can forgive sins but God only If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world When Nathan came to David to tell him of his sins the faithful Witness in his own Conscience which did convince him he was a sinner made him cry out I am the man that hath sinned against the Lord. Nathan was a true Prophet of the Lord to convince of sin but not pardon sin If Noah Daniel and Job were in that City they should save but their own souls alive for their own righteousness Oh! how do you dare to pervert the holy Scriptures which by so many infallible Testimonies were given forth by the Spirit of the living God For the Scriptures are of no private interpretation but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost and they are profitable for Doctrine Uses and Reproofs that all whose minds are turned to the measure of the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation that hath appeared in all to teach and lead out of sin and to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and godly in this present evil world they come to have the Scriptures fulfilled in them as they were in them which gave them forth for they lived in the life of the Scriptures their lives and what they did declare was Yea and Amen and they were guided by one Spirit and they spake one and the same thing as the Light did lead them for the Light is a perfect guide into all truth and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart of every one and is a discerner of spirits it shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not The Light will discover every deed of darkness it is the faithful and true Witness of God which he hath given to every one a measure to profit to convince to reprove to instruct to condemn to justifie And those that receive the Light in the love thereof to them he doth reveal his everlasting loving-kindness and make known the Mysteries of his Truth and Counsel The willing and obedient shall eat the good of the Land but those that refuse and rebel the Sword of the Lord shall devour The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and his zeal will perform it Every one that loveth the Light will bring their deeds to the Light that they may be approved of the Light that they are wrought in God for to the Light of Christ all must come and whatsoever hath been done in secret shal be made manifest when the Book of every ones Conscience shall be laid open then shall every ones heart be made manifest by the Light and shall receive every one according to their deeds done in the body they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but they that sow to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord who is the Light of the World that lighteth every one that cometh into the World that all men through him might believe He is the true Light and Life of men God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting This Life is in the Son he that hath the Son hath Life O Friends and People of all sorts turn in your minds to the Light within which will shew you your conditions and how you have been seeking a Saviour without in the many wandrings from hills to mountains crying Lo here and Lo there when he is nigh you calling you to return to him that your sins may be pardoned and you reconciled
Worship or Mosco and I being entered thereinto many people gathered together therein also the Priests of Mahomet before whom I was called and caused to sit down And then it was demanded of me Whether I would turn unto the Turks Religion I answered I could not turn unto them but they pressed me very much and said they would give me great things and I should not need fear what the Christians could do unto me Nevertheless I answered I could not turn unto them for all the World yet mightily did many strive with me with an ardent affection and would have had me hold up one finger as a sign of owning them and one bid me say Christ is bad I answered I knew him to be good and I was his Servant Then some of the chief of them were displeased very much and said If I would not turn to their Religion I should die I answered I should rather die than turn unto them It was answered I should then die So they gave order to the Executioner for as I understand they execute presently after Sentence who haled me away to the place where it was expected I should have been burnt to death with Camels dung and so sate me down upon the ground where the Lord preserved me over the fear of men though I was as a Sheep prepared for the slaughter And thus it came to pass whilst some appeared very violent the Lord raised up some others amongst them whom he made instrumental in his hand for the preservation of my life And there came an antient tender man a Turk and of great reputation unto me and said Whether I would turn from my Religion or not I should not die Then they brought me before them again who asked me Will you turn I answered Nay They then recorded it in a Book that I was no Roman Catholick but of another Religion for I had denied the Roman Catholicks unto them yet owned I was a Christian After this they were much broken down in their spirits as men whose strength failed and then the aforesaid Antient man took me and ordered his servants to conduct me to his house where he friendly entertained me but within about four or five dayes time there came a Guard of Horsemen which I understood the Friars had hired to bring me before the Bashaw of Gaza for as it was told me the Friars in Jerusalem had pre-informed the said Bashaw against me whom they looked upon to be their chiefest friend in all these parts who desired me to be brought before him and swore he would kill me in his own person and with the aforesaid Guard of armed men I was brought in two dayes unto Gaza where Sampson formerly dwelt where I remained about five days in which time it was said I should go before the Bashaw but it came not so to pass for he being informed by some Turks of the wicked proceedings of the Friars towards me whereupon he gave order that the Friars should pay an hundred Dollers unto those men which had informed him of their bad dealings towards me and further those men which brought me to Gaza he ordered they should convey me back and from thence the Friars should cause me to be brought to Jerusalem who were the great opposers of my coming thither In this said City I was in a friendly manner both visited and received by many both Turks Greeks and Armenians The Greeks and Armenians being professed Christians were raised unto much love to me they understanding I owned my self a Christian and chused rather to die than to turn from my Religion And the Turks were raised to a loving moderate enquiry being I suffered and went through great things yet differed from all others The Jews in them parts were moderate towards me likewise According to the afore-mentioned Order I was brought to Jerusalem but being come thither the Friars laid wait for me and by their appointment I was taken and brought to their Convent where at first they seemingly shewed love unto me and one confessed there was now an evident sign that I was a good Christian for I was come through Persecution and Sufferings and those things which had been spoken of me to the contrary were manifest to be untrue I answered It was he and his brethren which had persecuted and caused me to suffer and withstood my coming to Jerusalem He said The English a Friar like himself had informed them by writing against me which caused them to do what they had done unto me and desired I would now pass those things by seeing I was come in such a miraculous manner for it was the Lord's work said he to carry me through and I might praise God I was preserved The next morning there came a Friar unto me and asked me If I would become an obedient child and go to visit the Holy Places as he called them according to their customs I answered Nay I should not visit them He said Whereas others give great sums of money to see them I should see them for nothing I answered Nay I should not visit them in their manner for in so doing I should sin against God He said they would honour me as much as ever they honoured any English-man that ever came thither if I would conform unto them I said Nay I should not conform and as for their honor I mattered not for it Then he became wrath and said They would make me an example to all English-men that should come thither I said I chose rather their dishonour than their honour He then seeing he could not prevail over me with his temptations he in anger passed from me and in a short time came again and called me to divers of his Brethren the chief among them asked me If I would visit their Church and the holy Sepulchre and Bethlehem and the rest of the holy places as other Pilgrims did I said at the present I had no business to visit them and in their manner I should not visit them at all that is to say worship them Then one of them said How could I be a Servant of God and would not go to visit the places where the holy men of God dwelt I answered That they under pretence of doing service to God in visiting the places where the holy men dwelt they did oppose that Way and resist that Life which the holy men of God lived and walked in One of them said What did I preach unto them I said I would have them turn from those evil practices they lived in else the Wrath of the Almighty would break forth upon them or words to that effect They further said If I would not go to visit the places before-mentioned would I give the 25. Dollers as is the manner of those that visited them for said they the Turks must be paid whether I would visit them or not but if I would visit them then they would pay it for me I said I would not have them to pay it for me but if the Turks had a Law to compel me to pay 25. Dollers when I visited not the places as those did pay that did visit them I said that Law was unequal and I should chuse rather to suffer the penalty of the same in breaking it than to give 25. Dollers to fulfil it After this the Popish Friars brought me before a Turk in Authority in that place who asked me divers Questions and soberly received Answers therunto and soberly discoursed with me about the Worship of the Christians and also asked me the ground of my coming to Jerusalem I answered him The Lord God of Heaven and Earth had appeared unto me and commanded me to come thither and in obedience unto him I was come and further in the power of the Lord I declared the great and tender love of God in visiting them and his great and compassionate mercies that he would gather them in this the Day of his gathering And this was that which lay upon me from the Lord to declare unto them whether they would hear or forbear And thus my dear Friends I cleared my Conscience whether they would hear or forbear wherin I found great peace with the Lord who in my many tryals was not wanting unto me but magnified his glorious Name in going along with me and preserving me to whom is all the glory due for evermore Amen Geo. Robinson THE END