the praise and glory of God and by the word of his Grace your words may be gracious and in your Lives and Conversations ye may shew forth Righteousness Holiness and Godliness That so God Almighty may be glorified in you all and through you all who is above all blessed and praised for ever Amen London the 11th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. Several other Letters also I writ at this time to Friends in divers Forreign Countries from whom I had received Letters about the Affairs of Truth Which when I had dispatched the Yearly-Meeting being over and the Country-Friends for the most part gone out of Town I got a little way out of Town also being much spent with the Heat of the Weather South-street Throngs in Meetings and continual Business I went at first but to South-street where I abode some days And among other Services that I had there a great sense entred me of the Growth and Increase of Pride Vanity and Excess in Apparel and that not only amongst the People of the World but too much also amongst some that came among us and seem'd to make a Profession of the Truth And in the sense I had of the Evil thereof it came upon me to give forth the following Paper as a Reproof and Check thereunto THE Apostle Peter saith in 1 Pet. 3. of the Womens Adorning Let it not be mark Let it not be this is a positive Prohibition that outward adorning of plaiting the Hair and of wearing of Gold or of putting on of Apparel But let it be the hidden Man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of a great price for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves Here ye may see what is the Ornament of the holy Women 1685. South-street which was in the sight of God of a great price and which the holy Women who trusted in God adorned themselves with But the unholy Women that trust not in God their Ornament is not a meek and a quiet Spirit They adorn themselves with plaiting the Hair and putting on of Apparel and wearing of Gold which is forbidden by the Apostle in his general Epistle to the Church of Christ the true Christians And the Apostle Paul saith 1 Tim. 2.9 10. In like manner also that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Array but which becometh Women professing Godliness with good Works Now here ye may see what the Women were not to Adorn themselves with who professed Godliness They were not to adorn themselves with broidered Hair nor Gold nor Pearls nor costly Array for this was not looked upon to be modest Apparel for holy Women that profest Godliness and good Works But this Adorning or Apparel is for the immodest and unshamefaced and unsober Women that profess not Godliness neither follow those good Works that God commands And therefore it doth not become Men and Women who profess true Christianity and Godliness to be adorned with Gold or Chains or Pearls or costly Array with broidered Hair for these things are for the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life which is not of the Father And therefore all the holy Men and Women are to mind that which is more precious than Gold who are Redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Therefore as obedient Children to God not fashioning your selves according to your former Lusts in your Ignorance but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.14 15. Christ saith The Life is more than Meat and the Body is more than Raiment Luke 12.23 I read of a Moral-wise Philosopher who meeting a Woman with her Neck and Breast bare laid his hand upon her and said Woman wilt thou sell this Flesh and she replying No. Then pray said he shut up your Shop meaning her bare Breasts and Neck So they were looked upon as Harlots that went with their Necks Breasts and Backs bare and not Civil People even among the Moral Heathens Therefore they that profess the Knowledge of true Christianity should be ashamed of such things You may see a Book written by the very Papists and another by Baxter the Presbyterian against bare Breasts and bare Backs and them that shewed their Flesh Vncovered They that were but in an outward Profession did declare against such things and therefore they which are in the Possession of Truth and true Christianity should be ashamed of such things Read I pray you the Third of Isaiah and there you may see how that holy Prophet was grieved with the foolish Womens vain Attire and how he was sent by the Lord to reprove them And envious persecuting Jezabel her Attired Head and Bravery like a painted Harlot out of the Truth did not keep her from the Judgments of God when the Lord stirred up Jehu against her Doth not Pride go before a Fall and a haughty Mind before Destruction And God resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace to the Humble And Solomon saith The Lord will destroy the House of the Proud Prov. 15.25 For the Day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty c. and he shall be brought low Isa 2.12 and Mal. 4. Therefore take heed of calling the Proud happy for The Lord will scatter the Proud in the Imaginations of their own hearts and exalt them of low degree And you may read in the Revelations Chap. 17.4 and 18.16 of the false Church how she was outwardly decked but full of Abomination and came to a Downfal at last And therefore it is good for all that profess the Truth to use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever The Lord taketh pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with Salvation Psal 149.4 Therefore all that know the Truth as it is in Jesus are to be beautified and cloathed with this Salvation which Salvation is a strong Wall or a Bulwark against that Spirit that would lead you down into the Fall from God or into those things which the fallen Man and Woman delight in and beautifie or adorn themselves with And therefore all that profess the Truth be circumspect sincere and fervent following the Lord Jesus Christ who is not of this World in whom ye have Life and Peace with God South-street the 24th of the 4th Month 1685. G. F. After I had been some weeks in the Country at Southstreet and at and about Enfield in which time I had several Meetings with Friends I returned to London Enfield London And
together in the heavenly places in him And so are clothed with Christ Jesus the Sun who is the Mountain that filleth the whole Earth with his Divine Power and Light And so all his People see him and feel him both by Sea and Land so he is in all places of the Earth felt and seen of all his And Christ Jesus saith to the outward Professors the Jews I am from above ye are from below or beneath ye are of this World to wit that is beneath And so their Religions Worships Ways Teachers Faiths Beliefs and Creeds are made of Men and are below and of this World that changeth like the Moon and ye may see their Religions Ways Worships and Teachers they are all changeable like the Moon but Christ the Sun with which the Church is clothed doth not change nor his Church for they are spiritually minded and their Way Worship and Religion is spiritual from Christ who is from above and not of this World For Christ hath redeemed you from the World and their changeable Rudiments and Elements and old things and their changeable Teachers and from their changeable Faiths and Beliefs For Christ is the Author and Finisher of his Churches Faith who is from above and saith Believe in the Light that ye may become Children of the Light And it is given them not only to believe but to suffer for his Name So this Faith and Belief is above all Faiths and Beliefs which change like the Moon And God's People are an holy Nation a peculiar People a spiritual Houshold and Royal Priesthood offering up spiritual Sacrifice to God by Jesus Christ and are zealous of righteous godly good works and their Zeal is for that which is of God against the Evil which is not of God And Christ took upon him the Seed of Abraham he doth not say the corrupt Seed of the Gentiles So according to the Flesh he was of the holy Seed of Abraham and of David and his holy Body and Blood was an Offering and a Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World as a Lamb without blemish whose Flesh saw no Corruption And so by the one Offering of himself in the New Testament and New Covenant he has put an end to all the Offerings and Sacrifices amongst the Jews in the Old Testament And Christ the holy Seed was crucified dead and buried according to the Flesh and raised again the third day and his Flesh saw no Corruption Though he was crucified in the Flesh yet quickned again by the Spirit and is alive and liveth for evermore and hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him and reigneth over all and is the One Mediator betwixt God and Man even the Man Christ Jesus And Christ said He gave his flesh for the life of the World And the Apostle saith His Flesh saw no Corruption So that which saw no Corruption he gave for the life of the corrupt World to bring them out of Corruption And Christ said again He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal life for my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed And he that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him And he that eats not his Flesh and drinks not his Blood which is the life of the Flesh hath not Eternal Life Now as the Apostle saith All died in Adam Then all are dead Now all coming spiritually to eat the Flesh of Christ the second Adam and drink his Blood his Blood and Flesh gives all the Dead in Adam life and quickens them out of their sins and trespasses in which they were dead and so they come to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and so are living Members of the Church of Christ that he is the Head of and are clothed with the Sun the Sun of Righteousness the Son of God that never changes and have the changeable Moon under their feet and all changeable worldly things and inventions and works of mens hands and do see the People how that they do change from one Worship to another and from one Religion to another and from one Way to another and one Church to another and yet their hearts are not changed And the Letter of Scripture is read by the Christians like the Jews but the Mystery is hid They have the Sheeps-clothing the outside but are inwardly ravened from the Spirit which should bring them into the Lamb's and Sheep's Nature The Scripture saith All the Vncircumcised must go down into the Pit And therefore all must be Circumcised with the Spirit of God which puts off the Body of Death and Sins of the Flesh that came into Man and Woman by their Disobedience and transgressing of God's Commands I say all must be Circumcised with the Spirit which puts off the Body of Death and Sins of the Flesh before they come up into Christ their Rest that never fell and be clothed with him the Sun of Righteousness G. F. Kingston Towards the latter End of this Year I went down to Kingston to visit Friends there and stay'd some time at my Son Rouse's near Kingston While I Was there I writ a Paper concerning the Falling away foretold by the Apostle Paul 2 Thess 2.3 Which Paper was as followeth THE Apostle saith that there must be a Falling away first before the Wicked one and Man of sin the Son of Perdition be Revealed which betrayeth Christ within as the Son of Perdition betrayed Christ without And they that betray Christ within crucifie to themselves Christ afresh and put him to open shame Before the Apostles deceased this Man of Sin and Son of Perdition was revealed for they saw the Antichrist come and false Prophets and false Apostles and Deceivers come having a Form of Godliness but denied the Power thereof They saw the Wolves dressed in the Sheep's Clothing and such as went in Cain's Corah's and Balaam's way and Jezabel's and the Whore of Babylon the Whore of Confusion the Mother of Harlots and such as were Enemies to the Cross of Christ that served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies These Christ saw should come and said If it were possible they should deceive the Elect and commanded his Followers not to go after them And the Apostle said Turn away from such and Christ and his Apostles warned the Church of Christ of such And now in this day of Christ and his Gospel after the long Night of Apostacy from the Light and Grace and Truth and Life and Spirit of Christ Jesus the Son of Perdition the wicked One the Man of Sin is revealed again and the inwardly ravening Wolves in Sheeps clothing and the Spirit of Cain Corah Balaam Jezabel the Antichrists false Prophets and false Apostles and such as are Enemies to the Cross of Christ who serve not the Lord Jesus but their own Bellies and crucifie Christ to themselves and put him to open shame This Spirit have we seen in
that of Angels as the Scriptures of the Old Testament do in many places express as to Abraham Jacob c. The next was that of the Law by Moses which was also delivered by Angels as the Apostle tells us This Dispensation was much outward and suited to a low and servil State called therefore that of a School-Master to point out and prepare that People to look and long for the Messiah who would deliver them from the servitude of a Ceremonious and imperfect Dispensation by knowing the Realities of those Misterious Representations in themselves In this time the Law was written on Stone the Temple built with Hands attended with an outward Priest-hood and External Rites and Ceremonies that were Shadows of the Good Things that were to come and were only to serve till the Seed came or the more excellent and general manifestation of Christ to whom was the Promise and to all Men only in him in whom it was Yea and Amen even Life from Death Immortality and Eternal Life This the Prophets foresaw and comforted the believing Jews in the certainty of it which was the Top of the Mosaical Dispensation and which ended in John's Ministry the Forerunner of the Messiah as John's was finished in him the Fullness of all And God that at sundry Times and in divers manners had spoken to the Fathers by his Servants the Prophets Spoak then by his Son Chrâ—st Jesus Who is Heir of all things being the Gospel-Day which is the Dispensation of Sonship Bringing in thereby a nearer Testament and a better hope even the beginning of the Glory of the latter days and of the Restitution of all things yea the Restoration of the Kingdom unto Israel Now the Spirit that was more sparingly communicated in former Dispensations began to be Poured forth upon all Flesh according to the Prophet Joel and the Light that shined in Darkness or but dimly before the most gracious God caused to Shine out of Darkness and the Day-star began to arise in the Hearts of Believers giving unto them the knowledge of God in the Face or Appearance of his Son Christ Jesus Now the Poor in Spirit the Meek the true Mourners the Hungry and Thirsty after Righteousness the Peace-makers the Pure in Heart the Merciful and the Persecuted came more especially in Remembrance before the Lord and were sought out and blessed by Israel's true Shepherd Old Jerusalem with her Children grew out of Date and the New Jerusalem into Request the Mother of the Sons of the Gospel-Day Wherefore no more at Old Jerusalem nor at the Mountain of Samaria will God be worshipped above other places for behold he is declared and preached a Spirit and he will be known as such and worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth He will come nearer then of old time and he will write his Law in the Heart and put his Fear and Spirit in the inward parts according to his promise Then Signs Types and Shadows flew away the Day having discovered their Insufficiency in not reaching to the inside of the Cup to the cleansing of the Conscience and all Elementary services were expired in and and by him that is the substance of all And to this Great and Blessed End of the Dispensation of the Son of God did the Apostles Testifie whom he had chosen and anointed by his Spirit to turn the Jews from their Prejudice and Superstition and the Gentiles from their Vanity and Idolatry to Christ's Light and Spirit that shined in them that they might be quickned from the Sins and Trespasses in which they were Dead to serve the Living God in the Newness of the Spirit of Life and walk as Children of the Light and of the Day even the Day of Holiness For such put on Christ the Light of the World and make no more Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof So that the Light Spirit and Grace that comes by Christ and appears in Man was what the Apostles ministred from and turned Peoples Minds unto and in which they gathered and built up the Churches of Christ in their Day For which cause they advised them not to quench the Spirit but wait for the Spirit and Speak by the Spirit and Pray by the Spirit and Walk in the Spirit too as that which approved them the truly begotten Children of God born not of Flesh and Blood or of the will of Man but of the will of God by doing his will and denying their own by drinking of Christ's Cup and being Baptized with his Baptism of Self-denial The Way and Path that all the Heirs of Life have trod to Blessedness But alas even in the Apostles Days those bright Stars of the first Magnitude of the Gospel Light some Clouds foretelling an Eclipse of this Primitive Glory began to appear and several of them gave early Caution of it to the Christians of their Time that even then there was and yet would be more and more a falling away from the Power of Godliness and the Purity of that Spiritual Dispensation by such as sought to make a fair shew in the Flesh but with whom the offence of the Cross ceased Yet with this comfortable Conclusion that they saw beyond it a more glorious Time than ever to the true Church Their sight was true and what they foretold to the Churches gathered by them in the Name and Power of Jesus came so to pass For Christians degenerated a-pace into outsides as Days and Meats and divers other Cerimonies And which was worse they fell into Strife and Contention about them separating one from another then Envying and as they had Power Persecuting one another to the shame and scandal of their common Christianity and grievous stumbling and offence of the Heathen among whom the Lord had so long and so marvellously preserved them And having got at last the Worldly Power into their Hands by Kings and Emperors embracing the Christian Profession they changed what they could the Kingdom of Christ which is not of this World into a Worldly Kingdom or at least stiled the Worldly Kingdom that was in their Hands the Kingdom of Christ and so they became Worldly and not true Christians Then Humane Inventions and Novelties both in Doctrine and Worship crowded fast into the Church a Door being opened thereunto by the Grossness and Carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians who had long since left the Guidance of God's meek and heavenly Spirit and given themselves up to Superstition Will-worship and Voluntary Humility And as Superstition is Blind so it is Heady and Furious for all must stoop to its blind and boundless Zeal or Perish by it In the Name of the Spirit persecuting the very appearance of the Spirit of God in others and opposing that in them which they resisted in themselves viz. the Light Grace and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ but always under the Notion of Innovation Heresie Schism or some such plausible Name Though Christianity
until they were Consumed one of another who had turned against and judged that which God had wrought in them and shewed unto them So shortly after God overthrew them and turned them upside down and brought the King over them who were often surmising that the Quakers Met together to bring in King Charles when as Friends did not concern themselves with the outward Powers or Government But at last the Lord brought him in and many of them when they saw he would be brought in Voted for the bringing him in So with Heart and Voice praise the Name of the Lord to whom it doth belong who over all hath the Supremacy 1658. Reading and who will Rock the Nations for he is over them Now I had a Sight and Sense of the King 's Return a good while before and so had some others I writ to Oliver several times and let him know that while he was persecuting God's People they whom he accounted his Enemies were preparing to come upon him And when some forward Spirits that came amongst us would have bought Somerset-House that we might have Meetings in it I forbad them to do so For I did then foresee the King 's Coming in again Besides there came a Woman to me in the Strand who had a Prophecy concerning King Charles 's coming in three Years before he came and she told me she must go to him to declare it I advised her to wait upon the Lord and keep it to her self For if it should be known that she went on such a Message they would look upon it to be Treason But she said She must go and tell him that he should be brought into England again I saw her Prophecy was true and that a great Stroke must come upon them in Power For they that had then gotten Possession were so exceeding high and such great Persecution was acted by them who called themselves Saints that they would take from Friends their Copyhold-Lands because they could not Swear in their Courts And sometimes when we laid these Sufferings before Oliver Cromwel he would not believe it Wherefore Thomas Aldam and Anthony Pearson were moved to go through all the Goals in England and to get Copies of Friends Commitments under the Goalers Hands that they might lay the Weight of Friends Sufferings upon Oliver Cromwel And when he would not give Order for the Releasing of them Thomas Aldam was moved to take his Cap from off his Head and to Rend it in pieces before him and to say unto him So shall thy Government be Rent from Thee and thy House Another Friend also a Woman was moved to go to the Parliament that was envious against Friends with a Pitcher in her hand which she brake into pieces before them and told them So should they be broken to pieces Which came to pass shortly after And in my great Suffering and Travel of Spirit for the Nation being grievously burdened and almost choked with their Hypocrisie Treachery and Falsness I saw God would bring that a top of them which they had been a top of and that all must be brought down to that which did Convince them before they could get over that bad Spirit within and without For it is the pure Invisible Spirit that doth and only can work down all Deceit in People Now while I was under that sore Travel at Reading by reason of Grief and Sorrow of Mind and the great Exercise that was upon my Spirit my Countenance was alter'd and I looked poor and thin and there came a Company of Vnclean Spirits to me and told me The Plagues of God were upon me But I told them It was the same Spirit spake that in them that said so of Christ when he was stricken and smitten they hid their Face from him But when I had travelled with the Witness of God which they had quenched and had gotten through with it and over all that Hypocrisie which the Outside-Professors were run into and saw how that would be brought down and turned under and that Life would rise over it I came to have Ease and the Light Power and Spirit shined over all And then having Recovered and got through my Travels and Sufferings my Body and Face swelled when I came abroad into the Air and then the bad Spirits said I was grown fat and they Envied at that also So I saw that no Condition nor State would please that Spirit of theirs But the Lord preserved me by his Power and Spirit through and over all London and in the Lord's Power I came to London again Now was there a great Pudder made about the Image or Effigies of Oliver Cromwel lying in State Men standing and sounding with Trumpets over his Image after he was dead At this my Spirit was greatly grieved and the Lord I found was highly offended Then did I write the following Lines unto them and sent among them to Reprove their Wickedness and warn them to Repent Oh Friends what are ye doing and what mean ye to sound before aâ— Image Will not all sober People think ye are like mad People Oh how am I grieved with your Abominations Oh how am I wearied My Soul is wearied with â—ou saith the Lord Will I not be avenged of you think ye for yâ—ur Abominations Oh how have ye plucked down and set up On how are your Hearts made whole and not Rent And how are ye turned to Fooleries Which things in times past ye stood over Therefore how have â—e left my Dread saith the Lord O! Therefore Fear and Repent lest the Snare and the Pit take you all The great Day of the Lord is come upon all your Abominations and the swift Hand of the Lord is turned against them all The sober People in the Nations stand amazed at your Doings and are ashamed as if ye would bring in Popery G. F. About this time great Stirs were in the Nation the Minds of People being unsetled and much Plotting and Contriving there was by the several Factions to carry on their several Interests And a great Care being upon me lest any Young or Raw People that might sometimes come amongst us should be drawn into that Snare I was moved to give forth the following Epistle as a Warning unto all such All Friends every where keep out of Plots and Busling and the Arm of Flesh for all that is amongst Adam's Sons in the Fall where they are destroying Mens Lives like Dogs and Beasts and Swine goaring renting and biting one another and destroying one another and wrestling with Flesh and Blood From whence arise Wars and Killing but from the Lusts Now all this is in Adam in the Fall out of Adam that never fell in whom there is Peace and Life Ye are called to Peace therefore follow it and that Peace is in Christ not in Adam in the Fall All that pretend to fight for Christ they are deceived for his Kingdom is not of this World therefore his Servants
though they be Enemies to God to themselves and to me And I can say It is of the Lord that he is come in to bring down many unrighteously set up of which I had a Sight Three Years before he came in It is much he should say I am an Enemy to the King for I have no reason so to be he having done nothing against me But I have been often Imprisoned and Persecuted these Eleven or Twelve Years by them that have been against both the King and his Father even the Party that Porter was made a Major by and bore Arms for but not by them that were for the King I was never an Enemy to the King nor to any Man's Person upon the Earth but I am in the Love that fulfils the Law which thinks no Evil but loves even Enemies and would have the King saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be brought into the Fear of the Lord to receive his Wisdom from above by which all things were made and created that with that Wisdom he may order all things to the Glory of God by whom they were Created Whereas he calleth me A Chief Vpholder of the Quakers Sect. I Answer The Quakers are not a Sect but are in the Power of God which was before Sects were and witness the Election before the World began and are come to live in the Life which the Prophets and Apostles lived in who gave forth the Scriptures Therefore are we hated by envious wrathful wicked and persecuting Men. But God is the Vpholder of us all by his mighty Power and preserves us from the Wrath of the Wicked that would swallow us up And whereas he saith That I together with others of my Fanatick Opinion as he calls it have of late endeavoured to raise Insurrections and to imbroil the whole Kingdom in Blood I say this is altogether false to these things I am as a Child and know nothing of them The Postures of War I never learned My Weapons are Spiritual and not Carnal for with Carnal Weapons I do not fight I am a Follower of him who said My Kingdom is not of this World And though these Lies and Slanders are raised upon me I deny drawing of any Carnal Weapon against the King or Parliament or any Man upon the Earth For I am come to the end of the Law To love Enemies and wrestle not with Flesh and Blood but am in that which saves Men's Lives And a Witness I am against all Murderers Plotters and all such as would Imbrue the Nation in Blood for it is not in my Heart to have any Man's Life destroyed And as for the Word Fanatick which signifies furious foolish mad c. He might have considered himself before he had used that Word and have learned the Humility which goes before the Honour For we are not furious foolish or Mad but through Patience and Meekness have born Lies and Slanders and Persecutions many Years and undergone great Sufferings The Spiritual Man that wrestles not with Flesh and Blood and the Spirit that reproves Sin in the Gate which is the Spirit of Truth Wisdom and sound Judgment this is not mad foolish furious which Fanatick signifies But all are of a mad furious foolish Spirit that wrestle with Flesh and Blood with Carnal Weapons in their Furiousness Foolishness and Rage This is not the Spirit of God but of Error that persecutes in a mad blind Zeal like Nebuchadnezer and Saul Now inasmuch as I am ordered to be kept Prisoner till I be delivered by Order from the King or Parliament therefore have I written these things to be laid before you the King and Parliament that ye may Consider of them before ye act any thing therein that ye may weigh in the Wisdom of God the Intent and End of Men's Spirits lest ye act the thing that will bring the hand of the Lord upon you and against you as many have done before you who have been in Authority whom God hath overthrown in whom we trust whom we fear and cry unto Day and Night Who hath heard us and doth hear us and will hear us and avenge our Cause For much Innocent Blood hath been shed and many have been persecuted to Death by such as have been in Authority before you whom God hath vomited out because they turned against the Just Therefore consider your Standing now that ye have the Day 1660. Lancaster-Castle and receive this as a Warning of Love to you From the Innocent a Sufferer in Bonds and close Prisoner in Lancaster-Castle called GEORGE FOX Upon my being taken and forcibly carried away from Margaret Fell's House and charged with things of so high a Nature she was concerned as looking upon it to be an Injury offered to her Whereupon she writ the following Lines and sent them abroad directed thus To all Magistrates concerning the wrong taking up and Imprisoning of George Fox at Lancaster I Do Inform the Governours of this Nation that Henry Porter Major of Lancaster sent a Warrant with Four Constables to my House for which he had no Authority nor Order They searched my House and apprehended George Fox in it who was not guilty of the Breach of any Law or of any Offence against any in the Nation After they had taken him and brought him before the said Henry Porter there was Bail offered what he would demand for his Appearance to Answer what could be laid to his Charge But he contrary to Law if he had taken him lawfully denied to accept of any Bail and clapt him up in Close Prison After he was in Prison a Copy of his Mittimus was demanded which ought not to be denied to any Prisoner that so he may see what is laid to his Charge But it was denied him a Copy he could not have only they were suffered to read it over And every thing that was there charged against him was utterly false he was not guilty of any one Charge in it as will be proved and manifested to the Nation So let the Governours consider of it I am concerned in this thing inasmuch as he was apprehended in my House and if he be guilty I am so too So I desire to have this searched out MARGARET FELL After this Margaret Fell determined to go to London to speak with the King about my being taken and to shew him the manner of it and the Vnjust Dealing and Evil Vsage I had received Which when Justice Porter heard of he vapoured that he would go and meet her in the Gap But when he came before the King he having been a Zealous Man for the Parliament against the King several of the Courtiers spake to him concerning his plundering of their Houses So that he had quickly enough of the Court and soon returned into the Country Mean while the Jailer seemed very fearful and said he was afraid Major Porter would hang him because he had not put me in the Dark-House But when
are settled under the Teaching of Christ Jesus their Saviour who hath bought them After I was clear of Wales I turned towards England again and came to a Market-Town betwixt England and Wales where was a great Fair that day and several Friends being at the Fair we went to an Inn and Friends came to us And after we had had a fine Opportunity with Friends we parted from them and went on our way The Officers of the Town took notice it seems of our being there and Friends gathering together to us and they began also to get together to Consult among themselves how to ensnare us though it was the Fair-time but before they could do any thing we were gone on our Journey and so escaped them From thence we came into Shropshire Shropshire where we had a large and precious Meeting And after we had had many Meetings in those parts we came into Warwickshire and visited Friends there Warwickshire Darbyshire Staffordshire White-Haugh At Captain Lingard ' s. and so came into Darbyshire and Staffordshire visiting Friends Meetings as we went At a place called White-Haugh we had a large blessed Meeting and quiet And after the Meeting was done we took Horse and rode about Twenty Miles that Night to one Captain Lingard's We heard afterwards that when we were gone the Officers came to have seized on us and were much disturbed that they mist us but the Lord disappointed them and delivered us out of their wicked Hands and Friends were joyful in the Lord that we escaped them At Captain Lingard's we had a blessed Meeting the Lord's Presence being wonderfully amongst us After this Meeting we passed through the Peak-Country in Darbyshire Darbyshire Peak Country Sunderhil-Green and after we had been at a Friend's House there we went on to Sunderhill-Green where we had a large Meeting Here John Whitehead came to me and several other Friends and then I passed through the Country visiting Friends till I came into Holderness We went to the farther End of Holderness Holderness Scarborough Whitby Malton and so passed down by Scarborough and Whitby and near Malton and then to York having many Meetings in the way and the Lord 's everlasting Power was over all At York I heard of a Plot York whereupon I was moved to declare against all Plots and Plotters both in publick and private and also to give forth a Paper against Plotting of which a Copy here followeth ALL Friends every where Keep out of Plots and Buslings and the Arm of Flesh for all that is among Adam's Sons in the Fall where they are destroying Mens Lives like Dogs and Beasts and Swine Goring rending biting and destroying one another and wrestling with Flesh and Blood From whence riseth Wars and Killings but from the Lusts And all this is in Adam in the Fall out of Adam that never fell in whom there is Peace and Life And ye are called to Peace therefore follow it and Christ is that Peace for all that pretend to Fight for Christ they are deceived and are in Adam in the Fall for Christ's Kingdom is not of this World therefore his Servants do not Fight Therefore Fighters are not of Christ's Kingdom and are without Christ's Kingdom for his Kingdom stands in Peace and Righteousness 1663. York And so Fighters are in the Lust and all that would destroy Mens Lives are not of Christ's Mind who comes to save Men's Lives Christ's Kingdom is not of this World it is peaceable and all that be in Strifes are not of his Kingdom nor any such as pretend to Fight for the Gospel The Gospel is the Power of God which was before the Devil or Fall of Man was or Fighters either which is the Gospel of Peace and they that pretend to Fighting and talk so for Fighting are Ignorant of the Gospel of Peace And all that talk of Fighting for Sion are in Darkness for Sion needs no such Helpers And all such as profess themselves to be Ministers of Christ and Christians and to beat down the Whore with outward Carnal Weapons the Flesh and the Whore are got up in themselves in a blind Zeal That which beats down the Whore which got up by the Inward Ravening from the Spirit of God the Beating down of the Whore must be by the Inward Rising of the Sword of the Spirit within All such as pretend Christ Jesus and Confess him and run into Carnal Weapons wrestling with Flesh and Blood throw away the Spiritual That are Wrestlers with Flesh and Blood they throw away Christ's Doctrine and Flesh is got up in them and they are weary of their Sufferings And such as would Revenge themselves be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as would be stricken on the one Cheek and would not turn the other be out of Christ's Doctrine and such as do not love one another and Love Enemies be out of Christ's Doctrine And therefore you that be Heirs of the Blessings of God which was before the Curse and the Fall was come to Inherit your Portions And you that be Heirs of the Gospel of Peace before the Devil was live in the Gospel of Peace seeking the Peace of all Men and the Good of all Men. And Live in Christ which comes to save Men's Lives out of Adam in the Fall where they destroy Men's Lives and live not in him For the Jews Sword outwardly by which they cut down the Heathen was a Type of the Spirit of God within which Cuts down the Heathenish Nature within So live in the Peaceable Kingdom of Christ Jesus and in the Peace of God and not in the Lusts from whence Wars arise And Live in Christ the Way of God who is the Second Adam who never fell and live not in Adam in the Fall in the Destruction where they destroy one another Therefore come out of Adam in the Fall into that Adam that never fell and so live in Love and Peace with all Men. And keep out of all the Buslings in the World and meddle not with the Powers of the Earth but mind the Kingdom and the way of Peace You that be Heirs of Grace and Heirs of the Kingdom and Heirs of the Gospel and Heirs of Salvation and Saints of the Most-High and Children of God whose Conversations are in Heaven that is above the Combustions of the Earth let your Conversations preach to all Men and your Innocent Lives that they beholding your Godly Conversation may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And all Friends every where this I charge you which is the Word of the Lord God unto you all Live in Peace in Christ the way of Peace in which seek the Peace of all Men and no Man 's Hurt as I said before In Adam in the Fall is no Peace but in Adam out of the Fall in him is the Peace So you being in Adam that never fell it 's Love that overcomes the Evil and not Hatred with Hatred nor
is the Author of ye will have Peace and Access to God But if ye look out from the Faith and from that which would keep you in the Victory and look after fleshly Things or Words ye will be brought into Bondage to the Flesh again and to the Law which takes hold upon the Flesh and Sin and worketh Wrath and the Works of the Flesh will appear again The Law of God takes hold upon the Law of Sin and Death But the Law of Faith or the Law of the Spirit of Life which is the Love of God and which comes by Jesus who is the end of the Law for Righteousness-sake this makes free from the Law of Sin and Death This Law of Life fleshly-minded Men do not know yet they will tempt you to draw you from the Spirit into the Flesh and so into Bondage Therefore ye who know the Love of God and the Law of his Spirit and the freedom that is in Jesus Christ stand fast in him in that divine Faith which he is the Author of in you and be not entangled with the Yoke of Bondage For the Ministry of Christ Jesus and his Teaching bringeth into Liberty and Freedom But the Ministry that is of Man and by Man and which stands in the Will of Man bringeth into Bondage and under the shadow of Death and Darkness And therefore none can be a Minister of Christ Jesus but in the Eternal Spirit which was before the Scriptures were given forth For if they have not his Spirit they are none of his Though they may have his Light to condemn them that hate it yet they can never bring any into Unity and Fellowship in the Spirit except they be in it For the Seed of God is a burdensome Stone to the selfish fleshly earthly Will which reigns in its own Knowledge and Understanding that must perish and in its Wisdom that is Devilish And the Spirit of God is grieved and vexed and quenched with that which brings into the fleshly Bondage and that which wars against the Spirit of God must be mortified by it For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other The Flesh would have its Liberty and the Spirit would have its Liberty But the Spirit is to have its Liberry and not the Flesh If therefore ye quench the Spirit and join to the Flesh and be Servants of it then ye are judged and tormented by the Spirit But if ye join to the Spirit and serve God in it ye have Liberty and Victory over the Flesh and its Works Therefore keep in the daily Cross the Power of God by which ye may witness all that to be Crucified which is contrary to the Will of God and which shall not come into his Kingdom These things are here mentioned and opened for Information Exhortation and Comfort to others as the Lord Opened them unto me in that day And in that day I wondred that the Children of Israel should murmur for Water and Victuals for I could have fasted long without murmuring or minding Victuals But I was judged sometimes that I was not contented to be sometimes without the Water and Bread of Life that I might learn to know how to Want and how to Abound Lancashire And I heard of a Woman in Lancashire that had Fasted Two and twenty Days And I traveled to see her but when I came to her I saw that she was under a Temptation And when I had spoken to her what I had from the Lord I left her her Father being one high in Profession Duckenfield Manchester And passing on I went among the Professors at Duckenfield and Manchester where I stay'd a while and declared Truth among them And there were some Convinced who received the Lord's Teaching by which they were confirmed and stood in the Truth But the Professors were in a Rage all pleading for Sin and Imperfection and could not endure to hear talk of Perfection and of an holy and sinless Life But the Lord's Power was over all though they were chained under Darkness and Sin which they pleaded for and quenched the tender Thing in them About this time there was a great Meeting of the Baptists 1647. Broughton in Leicester-shire at Broughton in Leicester-shire with some that had separated from them and People of other Notions went thither And I went thither also Not many of the Baptists came but abundance of other People were there And the Lord opened my Mouth and his Everlasting Truth was declared amongst them and the Power of the Lord was over them all For in that day the Lord's Power began to spring and I had great Openings in the Scriptures and several were Convinced in those Parts and were turned from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and his Power they did receive and by it many were raised up to praise God And when I reasoned with Professors and other People some were Convinced and did stand Yet I was under great Temptations sometimes and my inward Sufferings were heavy but I could find none to open my Condition to but the Lord alone unto whom I cryed Night and Day And I went back into Nottingham-shire Nottingham-shire and there the Lord shewed me that the Natures of those things which were hurtful without were within in the Hearts and Minds of Wicked Men. The Natures of Dogs Swine Vipers of Sodom and Egypt Pharaoh Cain Ishmael Esau c. the Natures of these I saw within though People had been looking without And I cryed to the Lord saying Why should I be thus seeing I was never addicted to commit those Evils And the Lord answered That it was needful I should have a sense of all Conditions how else should I speak to all Conditions And in this I saw the Infinite Love of God I saw also that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death but an infinite Ocean of Light and Love which flowed over the Ocean of Darkness And in that also I saw the Infinite Love of God and I had great Openings And as I was walking by the Steeple-house side in the Town of Mansfield Mansfield the Lord said unto me That which People do trample upon must be thy Food And as the Lord spake he opened it to me how that People and Professors did trample upon the Life even the Life of Christ was tramâ—led upon and they fed upon Words and fed one another with Words but trampled upon the Life And trampled under Foot the Blood of the Son of God which Blood was my Life and they lived in their airy Notions talking of him It seemed strange to me at the first that I should feed on that which the high Professors trampled upon but the Lord opened it clearly to me by his Eternal Spirit and Power Then came People from far and near to see me And I was fearful of being drawn out by them yet
Temples Priests and Tithes which God had never Commanded but to bring them off from all these things to Christ the Substance So I shewed them the True Worship which Christ had set up and distinguished unto them Christ the True Way from all the false Ways opening the Parables to them and turning them from the Darkness to the true Light that by it they might see themselves and their Sins and Christ their Saviour that believing in him they might be saved from their Sins After this we went to one Birdet's House where I had a great Meeting and this Old Priest accompanied me still leaving his Steeple-house For he had been looked upon as a famous Priest above Common-prayer-Men and Presbyters and Independents too Before he was Convinced he would have gone sometimes into their Steeple-houses and have preached For he had been a zealous Man in his Way And when they have Complained of him to Justice Hotham he would bid them Distrein his Horse for travelling on the Lord's Day as he call'd it But Hotham did that only to put them off for he knew the Priest used no Horse but travelled on Foot Crantsick Now came I up through the Country again towards Crantsick to Captain Purslo's and Justice Hotham's who received me kindly being glad that the Lord's Power had so appeared and that Truth was spread and so many had received it and that Justice Robinson was so Civil And Justice Hotham said If God had not raised up this Principle of Light and Life which I preached the Nation had been over-run with Ranterism and all the Justices in the Nation could not have stopped it with all their Laws Because said he they would have said as we said and done as we Commanded and yet have kept their own Principle still But this Principle of Truth said he overthrows their Principle and the Root and Ground thereof and therefore he said he was glad the Lord had raised up this Principle of Life and Truth Holderness From thence I travelled up into Holderness and came to a Justice's House whose Name was Pearson where there was a very tender Woman that believed in the Truth and was so affected therewith that she said She could have left all and have followed me Oram Thence I went to Oram to one George Hartise's where many of that Town were Convinced On the first-Day I was moved to go into the Steeple-house where the Priest had got another Priest to help him And a many Professors and Contenders were got together But the Lord's Power was over all and the Priests fled away and a great deal of good Service I had for the Lord amongst the People And some of those great Professors were Convinced and became honest faithful Friends being Men of Account in the Place The next day Friends and friendly People having left me I traveled alone declaring the Day of the Lord amongst People in the Towns Patrington where I came and warning them to Repent And as I traveled one day I came towards Night into a Town called Patrington and as I walked along the Town 1652. Patrington I warned both Priest and People for the Priest was in the Street to Repent and turn to the Lord. Now it grew dark before I came to the End of the Town and a Multitude of People gathered about me and I declared the Word of Life unto them And when I had cleared my self I went to an Inn and desired them to let me have a Lodging but they would not Then I desired them to let me have a little Meat or Milk and I would pay them for it but they would not So I walked out of the Town and a Company of Fellows follow'd me and asked me What News And I bid them Repent and fear the Lord. After I was gone a pretty way out of the Town I came to another House and I desired the People of that House to let me have a little Meat and Drink and Lodging for my Money but they would not neither but denied me Then I went to another House and desired the same but they refused me also By this time it was grown so dark that I could not see the High-way but I discerned a Ditch and got a little Water and refreshed my self Then I got over the Ditch and being weary with traveling I sate down amongst the Furz-bushes till it was day About break of Day I got up and passed on the Fields and a Man came after me with a great Pike-Staff and went along with me to a Town And he raised the Town upon me with the Constable and Chief-Constable before the Sun was up So I declared God's Everlasting Truth amongst them warning them of the day of the Lord that was coming upon all Sin and Wickedness and exhorted them to Repent But they seized on me and had me back again to Patrington about three Miles guarding me with Watch-Bills and Pikes and Staves and Halberds Now when I was come back to Patrington all the Town was in an Vproar and the Priest and Constables were consulting together So I had another Opportunity to declare the Word of Life amongst them and warn them to Repent At last a Professor a tender Man called me into his House and there I took a little Milk and Bread having not eaten for some Days before Then they guarded me about Nine Miles to a Justice and when I was come near his House there came a Man riding after us and asked me Whether I was the Man that was apprehended And I asked him Wherefore he asked And he said For no hurt and I told him I was So he rode away to the Justice before us The Men that guarded me said It was well if the Justice was not drunk before we got to him for he used to be drunk early Now when I was brought in before him because I did not put off my Hat and said Thou to him he asked the Man that rode thither before me Whether I was not mazed or fond But the Man told him No it was my Principle Then I warned him to Repent and come to the Light which Christ had enlightned him withal that by it he might see all his evil Words and Actions that he had spoken and acted his ungodly Ways he had walked in and his ungodly Words he had spoken and to return to Christ Jesus whilst he had time and that whilst he had Time he should prize it Ay Ay said he the Light that is spoken of in the third of John I desired him that he would mind it and obey it And as I admonished him I laid my Hand upon him and he was brought down by the Power of the Lord And all the Watch-men stood amazed Then he took me into a little Parlour with the other Man and desired to see what I had in my Pockets of Letters or Intelligence and I plucked out my Linnen and shewed him that I had no Letters So he said
more a Quaker than the Priest that printed it but was one of their own People But notwithstanding this wicked Slander by which the Adversary designed to defame us and turn Peoples Minds against the Truth we held forth many in Lincolnshire received the Gospel being Convinced of the Lord 's Everlasting Truth and sate down therein under the Lord 's heavenly Teaching Yorkshire Warnsworth After this I passed in the Lord's Power into Yorkshire and came to Warnsworth and went to the Steeple-house in the Fore-noon but they shut the Door against me Yet after a while they let in Thomas Aldam and then shut it again and the Priest fell upon him asking him Questions At last they opened the Door and I went in and as soon as I was come in the Priests sight he left Preaching though I said nothing to him for he was in a great Maze and asked me What have you to say and presently Cried out Come come I will prove them false Prophets in Matthew But he was so Confounded he could not find the Chapter Then he fell on me asking me many Questions and I stood still all this while not saying any thing amongst them At last I said Seeing here are so many Questions asked I may Answer them But as soon as I began to speak the People violently rushed upon me and thrust me out of the Steeple-house again and lockt the Door on me And as soon as they had done their Service and were come forth the People ran upon me and knockt me sorely with their Staves threw Clods and Stones at me and abused me much the Priest also being in a great rage laid violent Hands on me himself But I warned them and him of the Terrible Day of the Lord and exhorted them to Repent and turn to Christ And being filled with the Lord's refreshing Power I was not sensible of much hurt I had received by their Blows In the Afternoon I went to another Steeple-house but the Priest had done before I got thither So I preached Repentance to the People that were left and directed them to their inward Teacher Jesus Christ. Balby Doncaster From hence I went to Balby and so to Doncaster where I had formerly preach'd Repentance on the Market-day which had made a Noise and Alarm in the Country On the First-day I went to the Steeple-house and after the Priest had done I spake to him and the People what the Lord God had Commanded me And they were in a great Rage and hurried me out and threw me down and haled me before the Magistrates and a long Examination they made of me and much Work I had with them And they threatned my Life if ever I came there again and that they would leave me to the Mercy of the People Nevertheless I declared Truth amongst them and directed them to the Light of Christ in them testifying unto them That God was come to teach his People himself 1652. Doncaster whether they would hear or whether they would forbear After a while they put us out for some Friends were with me among the rude Multitude and they stoned us down the Streets And there was an Inn-keeper that was a Bayliff came and took us into his House and they brake his Head that the Blood ran down his Face with the Stones that they threw at us So we stay'd a while in his House and shewed the more sober People the Priest's Fruits Then we went away to Balby Balby about a Mile off and the rude People laid wait for us and stoned us down the Lane But blessed be the Lord we did not receive much hurt The next first-Day I went to Tickhill Tickhill whither the Friends of that Side gathered together and there was a Meeting and a mighty Brokenness by the Power of God there was amongst the People I went out of the Meeting being moved of God to go to the Steeple-house And when I came there I found the Priest and most of the Chief of the Parish together in the Chancel So I went up to them and began to speak but they immediately fell upon me and the Clark up with his Bible as I was speaking and struck me on the Face with it so that my Face gushed out with Blood and I bled exceedingly in the Steeple-house Then the People cried Let us have him out of the Church And when they had got me out they beat me exceedingly and threw me down and threw me over an Hedge And afterwards dragged me through an House into the Street stoning and beating me as they dragged me along so that I was all-over besmeared with Blood and Dirt. And they got my Hat from me which I never got again Yet when I was got upon my Legs again I declared to them the Word of Life and shewed them the Fruits of their Teacher and how they dishonoured Christianity So after a while I got into the Meeting again amongst Friends And the Priest and People coming by the House I went forth with Friends into the Yard and there I spake to the Priest and People and the Priest scofed at us and called us Quakers But the Lord's Power was so over them and the Word of Life was declared in such Authority and Dread to them that the Priest fell a Trembling himself and one of the People said Look how the Priest trembles and shakes he is turned a Quaker also So when the Meeting was over Friends departed and I went without my Hat to Balby about Seven or Eight Miles Balby And Friends were much abused that Day by the Priest and his People Insomuch that some moderate Justices hearing of it Two or Three of them came and sate at the Town to hear and examine the Business And he that had shed my Blood was afraid of having his Hand cut off for striking me in the Church as they called it but I forgave him and would not appear against him In the beginning of this Year Yorkshire West-Riding 1652 great Rage got up in Priests and People and in some of the Magistrates in the West-Riding of Yorkshire against the Truth and against Friends insomuch that the Priest of Warnsworth procured a Warrant from the Justices against me and Thomas Aldam which was to be executed in any part of the West-Riding of Yorkshire ☜ At the same Time I had a Vision of a Bear and Two great Mastiff-Dogs that I should pass by them and they should do me no hurt and it proved so 1652. West-Riding For the Constable took Thomas Aldam and carried him to York and I went with Thomas Aldam Twenty Miles towards York and the Constable had the Warrant for me also and said He saw me but he was loth to trouble Men that were Strangers but Thomas Aldam was his Neighbour So the Lord's Power restrained him that he had not Power to meddle with me And we came to Lieutenant Roper's where we had a great Meeting of many
became very sober Men and good Friends in the Truth And great Blessing and Praising the Lord there was amongst them and great Admiration in the Country Out of Sussex I traveled through the Country till I came to Reading Reading where I found a few that were Convinced of the Way of the Lord. There I stay'd 1655. Reading till the First-day and then had a Meeting in George Lamboll's Orchard and a great part of the Town came to it A glorious Meeting it was and a great Convincement there was that day and the People were mightily satisfied Thither came Two of Judge Fell's Daughters to me and George Bishop of Bristol came with his Sword by his side for he was a Captain After the Meeting many Baptists and Ranters came privately reasoning and discoursing but the Lord's Power came over them The Ranters pleaded That God made the Devil But I denied it and told them I was come into the Power of God the Seed Christ which was before the Devil was and bruised the Head of him And he became a Devil by going out of Truth and so became a Murderer and a Destroyer So I shewed them That God did not make the Devil for God is a God of Truth and he made all things good and blessed them But God did not bless the Devil And the Devil is bad and was a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning and spoke of himself and not from God And so the Truth stopt them and bound them and came over all the highest Notions in the Nation and Confounded them For by the Power of the Lord God I was manifest and sought to be made manifest to the Spirit of God in all that by it which they vexed and quenched and grieved they might be turned to God as many were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God and were come to sit under his Teaching London After this Meeting at Reading I passed up to London where I stay'd a while and had large Meetings and then went into Essex and came to Cogshall Essex Cogshall And there was a Meeting of about Two Thousand People as it was judged which lasted several hours and a glorious Meeting it was for the Word of Life was freely declared and People were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ their Teacher and their Saviour the Way the Truth and the Life Near Colchester On the sixth day of that Week I had a Meeting near Colchester to which many Professors and the Independent-Teachers came After I had done speaking and was stept down from the place on which I stood One of the Independent-Teachers began to make a Jangling which Amor Stoddart who was with me perceiving he said to me Stand up again George for I was going away and did not at the first hear them But when I heard the Jangling Independent I stood up again and after a while the Lord's Power came over him and his Company and they were confounded and the Lord's Truth went over all And a great Flock of Sheep hath the Lord Jesus Christ in that Country that feed in his Pastures of Life On the First-day following we had a very large Meeting at another place not far from Colchester wherein the Lord's Power was eminently manifested and the People were very well satisfied for they were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ's free Teaching and they received it gladly Many of these People had been of the Stock of the Martyrs As I passed through Colchester I went to visit James Parnel in Prison but the Cruel Gaoler would hardly let us come in or stay with him Very Cruel they were unto him The Gaoler's Wife threatned to have his Blood and in that Jail they did destroy him 1655. Colchest as the Reader may see at large in a Book printed soon after his Death giving an Account of his Life and Death and also in an Epistle printed with his Collected Books and Writings From Colchester I went to Ipswich where we had a little Meeting Ipswich and very rude but the Lord's Power came over them After the Meeting I said If any had a desire to hear further they might come to the Inn And there came-in a Company of Rude Butchers that had abused Friends but the Lord's Power so chained them that they could not do Mischief Then I writ a Paper and gave it forth to the Town warning them of the Day of the Lord that they might Repent of the Evils they lived in and directing them to Christ their Teacher and Way exhorting them to forsake their hireling-Teachers We passed from Ipswich to Mendlesham where Robert Duncon lived Suffolk Mendlesham in Suffolk where we had a large Meeting that was quiet and the Lord's Power was preciously felt amongst us Then we passed to a Meeting at one Captain Lawrence's in Norfolk where it was judged Norfolk were above a Thousand People and all was quiet Many Persons of Note were there and a great Convincement there was for they were turned to Christ their Way and their Teacher and many of them received him and sate down under him their Vine Here we parted with Amor Stoddart and some more Friends who intended to meet us again in Huntingtonshire About the Second Hour in the Morning we took Horse for Norwich Norwich where Christopher Atkins that dirty Man had run out and brought dishonour upon the blessed Truth and Name of the Lord. But he had been judged and denied by Friends and afterwards he gave forth a Paper of Condemnation of his Sin and Evil. So we came to Yarmouth yarmouth and there stayed a while where there was a Friend one Thomas Bond in Prison for the Truth of Christ There we had some Service for the Lord and some were turned to the Lord in that Town From thence we rode to another Town about Twenty Miles off where were many tender People and I was moved of the Lord to speak to the People as I sate upon my Horse in several Places as I passed along We went on to another Town about Five Miles from thence and set up our Horses at an Inn having travelled Five and forty Miles that Day Richard Hubberthorn and I. There were some friendly People in the Town and we had a tender broken Meeting amongst them in the Lord's Power to his Praise We bid the Hostler have our Horses ready by the Third Hour in the Morning for we intended to ride to Lyn about three and Thirty Miles next morning But when we were in Bed at our Inn about the Eleventh Hour at Night came the Constable and Officers with a great Rabble of People into the Inn and said They were come with an Hue and Cry from a Justice of Peace that lived near that Town about five Miles off where I had spoken to the People in the Streets as I rode along to search for two Horsmen that rid upon gray Horses and in gray Cloaths an House
Vnconsecrated Bread and VVine in a safe Place with a sure VVatch upon it and let Trial thus be made VVhether the Consecrated Bread and VVine would not lose its Goodness and the Bread grow dry and mouldy and the VVine turn dead and sour as well and as soon as that which was Vnconsecrated By this means said I the Truth of this matter may be made manifest And if the Consecrated Bread and VVine change not but retain their Savour and Goodness this may be a Means to draw many to your Church If they change decay and lose their Goodness then ought you to confess and forsake your Error and shed no more Blood about it for much Blood hath been shed about these things as in Queen Mary's Days To this the Jesuit made this Reply Take said he a piece of New Cloth and cut it into two pieces and make two Garments of it and put one of them upon King David 's Back and the other upon a Beggar 's and the one Garment shall wear away as well as the other Is this thy Answer said I Yes said he Then said I by this the Company may all be satisfied that your Consecrated Bread and VVine is not Christ Have ye told People so long that the Consecrated Bread and VVine was Immortal and Divine and that it was the very and real Body and Blood of Christ and dost thou now say it will wear away or decay as well as the other I must tell thee Christ remains the same to day as yesterday and never decays but is the Saints heavenly Food in all Generations through which they have Life He replied no more to this being willing to let it fall for the People that were present saw his Error and that he could not defend it Then I asked him Why their Church did persecute and put People to Death for Religion He replied It was not the Church did it but the Magistrates I asked him Whether those Magistrates were not counted and called Believers and Christians He said Yes Why then said I Are they not Members of your Church Yes said he Then I left it to the People to judge from his own Concessions Whether the Church of Rome doth not persecute and put People to Death for Religion Thus we parted and his Subtilty was comprehended by Simplicity Now during the Time that I was at London I had many Services lay upon me for it was a Time of much Suffering And I was moved to write to O. Cromwell and lay before him the Sufferings of Friends both in this Nation and in Ireland There was also a Talk about this time of making Cromwel King Whereupon I was moved to go to him and warned him against the same and of divers Dangers which if he did not avoid I told him He would bring a Shame and Ruin upon himself and his Posterity He seemed to take well what I said to him and thanked me Yet afterwards I was moved to write unto him more fully concerning that matter About this time the Lady Claypool so called was sick and much troubled in Mind and could receive no Comfort from any that came to her which when I heard of I was moved to write unto her this following Letter Friend BE Still and Cool in thy own Mind and Spirit from thy own Thoughts and then thou wilt feel the Principle of God to turn thy Mind to the Lord God from whom Life comes whereby thou mayest receive his Strength and Power to allay all Blustrings Storms and Tempests That is it which works up into Patience into Innocency into Soberness into Stilness into Stayedness into Quietness up to God with his Power Therefore mind that is the Word of the Lord God unto thee that the Authority of God thou mayst feel and thy Faith in that to work down that which troubles thee For that is it which keeps Peace and brings up the Witness in thee which hath been transgressed to feel after God with his Power and Life who is a God of Order and Peace When thou art in the Transgression of the Life of God in thy own particular the Mind flies up in the Air and the Creature is led into the Night and Nature goes out of its Course and an old Garment goes on and an uppermost Clothing and thy Nature being led out of its Course it comes to be all on a Fire in the Transgression and that defaceth the Glory of the First Body Therefore be still a while from thy own Thoughts searching seeking Desires and Imaginations and be stayed in the Principle of God in thee that it may raise thy Mind up to God and stay it upon God and thou wilt find Strength from him and find him to be a God at hand a present Help in the time of Trouble and of Need. And thou being come to the Principle of God which hath been transgressed it will keep thee humble and the humble God will teach his way which is Peace and such he doth Exalt Now as the Principle of God in thee hath been transgressed come to it that it may keep thy Mind down low to the Lord God and deny thy self and from thy own Will that is the Earthly thou must be kept Then thou wilt feel the Power of God which will bring Nature into its Course and give thee to see the Glory of the First Body And there the Wisdom of God will be received which is Christ by which all things were made and Created to be thereby preserved and ordered to God's Glory There thou wilt come to receive and feel the Physician of Value who cloaths People in their right Mind whereby they may serve God and do his Will For all Distractions Unruliness and Confusion is in the Transgression which Transgression must be brought down before the Principle of God which hath been Transgressed against be lifted up whereby the Mind may be seasoned and stilled and a right understanding of the Lord may be received whereby his Blessings enter and are felt over all that is contrary in the Power of the Lord God which raises up the Principle of God within and gives a feeling after God and in time gives Dominion Therefore keep in the Fear of the Lord God that is the Word of the Lord God unto thee for all these things happen to thee for thy Good and for the Good of those concerned for thee to make you know your selves and your own Weakness and that ye may know the Lord's Strength and Power and may trust in him Therefore Let the time that is past be sufficient to every one who in any thing hath been lifted up in Transgression out of the Power of the Lord For he can bring down and abase the Mighty and lay them in the Dust of the Earth Therefore all keep low in his Fear that thereby ye may receive the Secrets of God and his Wisdom and may know the Shadow of the Almighty and sit under it in all Tempests and Storms
Power of God and we are Heirs of Christ who have inherited him and his Everlasting Kingdom and do possess the Power of an Endless Life Knowing this our Portion and Inheritance this is to take off all Jealousies out of your Minds and out of the Minds of all People concerning us That all Plots and Conspiracies Plotters and Conspirators against the King and all Aiders or Assisters thereunto we always did and do utterly deny to be any of us or to be of the Fellowship of the Gospel or to be of Christ's Kingdom or to be his Servants For Christ said His Kingdom was not of this World if it were his Servants would fight And therefore he bid Peter Put up his Sword for said he he that taketh the Sword shall perish by the Sword Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints to bear and suffer all things knowing as we know that Vengeance is the Lord's and he will repay it to them that hurt his People and that do wrong to the Innocent Therefore cannot we avenge but suffer for his Name 's sake And we do know that the Lord will judge the World in Righteousness according to their Deeds and that when every one shall give an Account to him of the Deeds done in the Body then will the Lord give every Man according to his Works whether they be Good or whether they be Evil. Christ saith he came not to destroy Men's Lives And when his Disciples would have had Fire to come down from Heaven to have consumed them that did not receive him he told them They knew not what Spirit they were of that would have Mens Lives destroyed and therefore he rebuked them and told them That he came not to destroy Men's Lives but to save them Now we are of Christ's Mind who is the great Prophet whom all ought to hear in all things who saith to his If they strike thee on one Cheek turn the other and render to no Man Evil for Evil. This Doctrine of his have we learned and do not only confess him in Words but follow his Doctrine and therefore have and do we suffer all manner of Reproaches Scandals and Slanders and spoiling of Goods Buffetings and Whippings Stripes and Imprisonments for these many years and can say The Lord forgive them that have thus served us and lay not these things to their Charge And we know that the Jews outward Sword by which they cut down the Heathen outwardly was a Type of the inward Sword of the Spirit which cuts down the inward Heathen the raging Nature in People And the Blood of Bulls Lambs Rams and other Offerings and that Priesthood that offered them together with other things in the Law were Types of Christ the one Offering and of his Blood who is the Everlasting Priest and Covenant Christ our Life and Way to God and who is the great Prophet and Shepherd that looks to his Flock and the Head of his Church and the great Bishop of our Souls whom we witness come and he doth oversee and keep his Flock For in Adam in the Fall we know the striving quarrelling unpeaceable Spirits are in the Enmity one with another and not in Peace But in Christ Jesus the Second Adam that never fell is Peace Rest and Life And the Doctrine of Christ who never sinned is to love one another and who be in this Doctrine hurt no man in which we are in Christ who is our Life Therefore it is well for you to distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile between them that fear God and serve him and them that do not and to put a difference between the Innocent and the Guilty and between him that is Holy and Pure and the Ungodly and Prophane for they that do not so bring Troubles Burdens and Sorrows upon themselves And this we write in Love to your Souls that ye may consider these things for they that hate Enemies and hate one another we cannot say they are of God nor in Christ's Doctrine but are Opposers of it And such as wrestle with Flesh and Blood with Carnal Weapons are gone into the Flesh out of the Spirit They are not in our Fellowship in the Spirit in which is the Bond of Peace neither are they of Vs nor have we Vnity with them in their fleshly state and with their Carnal Weapons For our Unity and Fellowship stands in the Gospel which is the Power of God before the Devil was the Liar and the Murderer the Man-slayer and the Envious Man Now Christ's Mind and his Doctrine being to save Men's Lives we who are of Christ's Mind are out of and above these things And our desire is 1664. Lancaster Castle that in the Fear of the Lord ye may all Live that in that ye may all receive God's Wisdom by which all things were created that by it all may be ordered to God's Glory This is from them that love all your Souls and seek your Eternal Good Being now a Prisoner in Lancaster Castle a deep sense came upon me of a Day of sore Trial and Exercise that was come and coming upon all that had been high in Profession of Religion And I was moved to give forth the following Paper as a Warning unto such NOw is the Day that every one's Faith and Love to God and Christ will be Tried and who are Redeemed out of the Earth and who are in the Earth will be manifested and who is their Master they serve and whether they will run to the Mountains to Cover them Now will it appear who are the Stony Ground who are the Thorny Ground and who are the High-way-Ground in whom the Fowls of the Air take away the Seed and the Thorns and Cares of the World Choke and the Heat of Persecution scorches and burns up your green Blade For the Day trieth all things Therefore let not such as forsake Truth for saving the Earth say that your Brother Priest only serveth not the Lord Jesus Christ but his own Belly and mindeth Earthly things for such themselves also do the same and do hug and embrace Self and not the Lord. Now it will be made manifest who is every ones God and Christ and Saviour and their Love will be manifest whether it be of the World or the Love of God for if it be the Love of the World it is Enmity and the Enmity will manifest it self what it is and the Day will Try every Spirit and his Fruits Therefore all my dear Friends In the Everlasting Seed of God live that is over all the House of Adam and his Works in the Fall and so dwelling in the Seed Christ that never fell in him you all have Vertue and Life and Peace and through him ye will overcome all that is in the Fall G. F. I writ also another Short Epistle to Friends to Warn them to keep out of that Spirit that wrought in John Perrot and his Company against the Truth Dear Friends DWell in
abroad through the Island Whereupon I with some other Friends drew up a Paper to go forth in the Name of the People called Quakers for the clearing Truth and Friends from those false Reports It was directed thus For the Governour of Barbados with his Council and Assembly and all others in Power both Civil and Military in this Island from the People called Quakers WHereas many scandalous Lies and Slanders have been cast upon us to render us odious as that We do deny God and Christ Jesus and the Scriptures of Truth c. This is to Inform you that all our Books and Declarations which for these many Years have been published to the World do clearly testifie the contrary Yet notwithstanding for your Satisfaction we do now plainly and sincerely declare That we do Own and Believe in God the only-Wise Omnipotent and Everlasting God who is the Creator of all things both in Heaven and in the Earth and the Preserver of all that he hath made who is God over all blessed for ever To whom be all Honour and Glory Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving both now and for evermore And we do Own and Believe in Jesus Christ his beloved and only begotten Son in whom he is well-pleased Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins Who is the Express Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature by whom were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him And we do Own and Believe that he was made a Sacrifice for Sin who knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth And that he was Crucified for us in the Flesh without the Gates of Jerusalem and that he was Buried and Rose again the Third Day by the Power of his Father for our Justification And we do Believe that he Ascended up into Heaven and now sitteth at the Right Hand of God This Jesus who was the Foundation of the Holy Prophets and Apostles is our Foundation and we do believe that there is no other Foundation to be laid but that which is laid even Christ Jesus who we believe tasted Death for every Man and shed his Blood for all Men and is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World According as John the Baptist testified of him when he said Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Joh. 1.29 We believe that he alone is our Redeemer and Saviour even the Captain of our Salvation who saves us from Sin as well as from Hell and the Wrath to come and destroys the Devil and his Works who is the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head to wit Christ Jesus the Alpha and Omega the First and the Last That he is as the Scriptures of Truth say of him our Wisdom and Righteousness Justification and Redemption neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we may be saved It is he alone who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls He it is who is our Prophet whom Moses long since testified of saying A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People Acts 2.22 23. He it is that is now Come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true and he rules in our Hearts by his Law of Love and of Life and makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death and we have no Life but by him for he is the quickning Spirit the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven by whose Blood we are cleansed and our Consciences sprinkled from Dead Works to serve the Living God And he is our Mediator that makes Peace and Reconciliation between God offended and us offending he being the Oath of God the New Covenant of Light Life Grace and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Now this Lord Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man the Emanuel God with us we all own and believe in him whom the High-Priest raged against and said he had spoken Blasphemy whom the Priests and the Elders of the Jews took Counsel together against and put to Death the same whom Judas betrayed for Thirty Pieces of Silver which the Priests gave him as a Reward for his Treason who also gave large Money to the Souldiers to broach an Horrible Lie namely That his Disciples came and stole him away by Night whilst they slept And after he was Risen from the Dead the History of the Acts of the Apostles sets forth how the Chief-Priests and Elders persecuted the Disciples of this Jesus for Preaching Christ and his Resurrection This we say is that Lord Jesus Christ whom we own to be our Life and Salvation And as concerning the Holy Scriptures we do believe That they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God through the Holy Men of God who as the Scripture it self declares 2 Pet. 1.21 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost We believe they are to be Read Believed and Fulfilled He that fulfils them is Christ and they are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 and are able to make wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And we do believe that the Holy Scriptures are the Words of God for it s said in Exod. 20.1 God spake all these Words saying c. meaning the Ten Commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai And in Rev. 22.18 saith John I testifie to every man that heareth the Words of the Prophecy of this Book If any man addeth unto these and if any Man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy not the Word c. So in Luke 1.20 Because thou believest not my Words And so in John 5.47 and John 15.7 John 14.23 John 12.47 So that we call the Holy Scriptures as Christ and the Apostles called them and Holy Men of God called them viz. the Words of God Another Slander and Lye they have cast upon us namely That we should teach the Negroes to Rebell A thing we utterly abhor and detest in our Hearts the Lord knows it who is the Searcher of all Hearts and knows all things and so can witness and testifie for us that this is a most Abominable Vntruth For that which we have spoken and declared to them is To exhort and admonish them to be sober and to fear God and
Men and Women that be Heirs of this Power of God it is their Possession and Portion and they are to labour in their Possession and Portion and to do God Almighty's business and Service in the Possession of the Power of God the Gospel which is a Joyful Glorious Everlasting Order And here is the Authority of our Men and Women's Meetings and other Meetings in the Name of Jesus the Gospel of Christ the Power of God which is not of Man nor by Man and in this they are all to Meet and to Worship God and by this they are all to act and in this Power they have all Fellowship a Joyful Fellowship a Joyful and Comfortable Assembly And so this is the Day in the Eternal Light that all are to take their Possessions of the Gospel and its Order that Power of God which they are Heirs of And all the Faithful Men and Women in every Country City and Nation whose Faith stands in the Power of God the Gospel of Christ and have received this Gospel and are in the Possession of this Gospel the Power of God they have all Right to the Power in these Meetings for they be Heirs of the Power which is the Authority of the Mens and Womens-Meetings So here is God's Choice and not Man's by his Power of his Heirs and they have all Freedom in this Gospel the Power of God to go to the Meetings the Men to the Mens and the Women to the Womens for they are Heirs of the Power which Power is the Gospel not of Man nor by Man but from Heaven sent by the Holy Ghost and received in the Holy Ghost which hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and they see over Enmity and before it was by the Light and the Life and Immortality which is brought to Light in them So the Devil the Author of Enmity cannot get into this Authority and Power nor Order nor Fellowship of the Gospel nor Life nor Light nor the Fellowship in the Holy Spirit nor into the Vnity of the Faith which gives Victory over him that hath separated Man from God by which Faith they have Access to God and into the Vnity of this Faith the Serpent cannot come nor into the Worship of God in Spirit and Truth into this Worship the Devil cannot come nor any Enmity So I say that the Serpent the Devil is out of the Fellowship of the Gospel out of the Vnity of the Faith and out of the Order of the Gospel and out of the Worship in Spirit and Truth And they that be in this be in Vnity over him And therefore as I said before let every one's Faith stand in the Power of God the Glorious Gospel and all to walk as becomes the Gospel and the Order of it and as every one hath received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him and let him be their Lord and Orderer For they that do preach the Gospel of Christ Jesus it is to the Intent that all might come to be Heirs of the Gospel and into the Possession of it and to be Heirs of Christ and of his Government the Encrease of which there is no end who is over all in his Righteousness and over all in his Light Life Power and Dominion And therefore know one another in his Power his Gospel which is the Authority of your Meetings And know one another in Christ Jesus who is able to restore Man out of the State of the Fall into the Image of God as he was in before he fell and into that Power and Dominion that Man had before he fell and into himself that never fell where they shall go no more forth And here is the Rock and Foundation of God that stands sure And Friends be Tender to the Tender Principle of God in all and shun the Occasion of Vain Disputes and Janglings both amongst your selves and others for that many times is like a blustering Wind that hurts and bruises the tender Buds and Plants For the World though they have the Words yet they be out of the Life and the Apostle's Disputing with them were to bring them to the Life And those Disputes that were amongst the Christians about Genealogies and Circumcision and the Law and Meats and Drinks and Days those came to be the worst sort of Disputers whom the Apostles Judged for such destroyed People from the Faith And therefore did the Apostles exhort the Churches That every ones Faith should stand in the Power of God and to Look at Jesus which was the Author of it and there every Graft stands in Christ the Vine quiet where no blustring Storms could hurt them and there is the Safety And there all are of one Mind one Faith one Soul one Spirit Baptized into one Body with the one Spirit and made all to drink into one Spirit one Church one Head that is Heavenly and Spiritual one Faith in this Head Christ who is the Author of it and hath the Glory of it one Lord to order all who is the Baptizer into this one Body So Christ hath the Glory of this Faith out of every Man and Woman and God through him hath his Glory the Creator of all in his Power the Gospel that hath brought Life and Immortality to Light in them and their Faith standing in it they know the Immortal God and Serve and Worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth by which they are made God's free Men and Women from him that is out of the Truth And now Friends all you that have been Ancient Labourers and have known the Dealings of the Lord these Twenty Years more or less as I have often said to you to draw up what you can of that which the Lord hath carried you through by his Power the Passages and Sufferings and how by the Lord ye have been supported from the first So that the Lord may be Exalted by his Power now and in the Ages to come who hath been the only Support Defence and Stay or his People all along over all to himself to whom be all Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen Who deserves it in his Church throughout all Ages from his living Members who return the Praise to the living God who lives and reigns over all blessed for ever who is the Life and Strength and Health and Length of the Days of all his People And therefore let there be no Boasting but in the Lord and in his Power and Kingdom and that keeps all in the Humility And Friends In the Lord's Power and Truth what Good you can do for Friends that be in Prison or Sufferers as to the Informing of them or helping of them Every one bend your selves to the Lord's Power and Spirit to do his Will and his Business and in that all will have a fellow-Feeling of one anothers Conditions in Bonds or in what Trials and Tribulations soever you will have a fellow-Feeling one of another having one Head and one
Children of the Light Therefore ye that are the Believers in the Light and are become the Children of the Light walk in Christ your Way Life and Salvation Kingston the 5th Month 1683. G. F. Before I left Kingston something further opened in me which I was moved to write and send forth amongst Friends and it was as followeth Dear Friends MY Love is to you all in the holy Seed that reigns over all And my desire is that every one both Male and Female may feel the Seed Christ in you which is Heir of the Promise of Life Eternal so that ye may all grow up in Christ Jesus your Head and be built upon him the Rock and Foundation that God hath laid which stands sure over all Rocks and Foundations in the World That ye may eat and drink of this Spiritual Rock the Spiritual Water and Food so that ye may truly and inwardly say that your Rock and Foundation and Bread of Life and Water of Life is from Heaven and your Bread and Water is sure and that ye know his voice that feeds you and that leads you into the Pastures of Life which are always fresh and green In this your Affections are set on things that are above and seeking that which comes down from above above that which is from below where Christ sits at the right Hand of God making Intercession for you and is your Mediator making Peace betwixt God and you and is your heavenly Bishop to oversee you that ye keep in his Light Life and Power that ye do not go astray from his heavenly Fold and Pasture but he your Shepherd may feed you in it Who is your Prophet to open to you the fulfilling of the Promises and Prophecies himself being the Substance That ye may live in him and he in you yea and reign in your hearts and there to exercise his Offices his Prophetical and Priestly and Kingly Office who is heavenly and spiritual That ye may know the Three that bear Witness in the Earth viz. The Spirit the Water and the Blood which is the Life of Christ which cleanseth from all sin and the Water that washes you and refreshes you and the Spirit that baptizes you and circumcises you and leads you into all Truth And that ye may come all to drink into one Spirit and keep the Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of the heavenly Peace So being led by the Spirit of God ye are his Sons and Daughters and by his Spirit will come to know the Three that bear Witness in Heaven viz. the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost These are the Three Witnesses that are in Heaven that bear record of all things for he is God in the Heaven and God in the Earth And therefore I desire that ye may all feel his Love shed in your hearts and in it live in Love above the love of the World which is Enmity and in that you will keep in the excellent Way For Love edifies the Body of Christ and builds his Church up and keeps out of the Enmity for it is above it and brings and keeps all in true Humanity and in the true Divinity and to be courteous and kind and tender one towards another And to shew forth the nature of Christ and true Christianity in all your Lives and Conversations so that the Blessings of the Lord may rest upon you as ye all live in the Seed of the Gospel the Seed of the Kingdom of God in which all Nations are blessed And in that ye will all have a Care of God's glory And there is the Hill or Mountain where the Light shines to the answering the Witness of God in all and the Salt that is a good Savour to the witness of God in the hearts of all And that Savour and Salt being kept in it doth not come under the feet of men So my Love to you all in Christ Jesus whom God hath given to be a Sanctuary for all his People who is from above and not of this World in whom you all have Life Peace and Salvation And in him God Almighty keep and preserve you all to his Glory Amen And as you all live in the peaceable Truth of God it keeps you under and within his protection But they that make a Profession of the Scriptures of Truth and yet live out of the Truth in the Spirit of Strife Vnquietness and Discontent in a contriving plotting ravenous destroying Spirit which is of the Devil and not of God that Spirit is judged out of the Truth and to be of him in whom there is no Truth whose Portion is in the Lake and in the Fire that burns Kingston the 27th of the 5th Month 1683. G. F. Having visited Friends at and about Kingston London I returned to London for it being a Suffering time with Friends there I had not freedom to be long from the City Being come back I went to the Meeting at the Peel Peel-Meet which but a little before the Justices and Constable had broken up and had carried themselves very roughly But that day the Meeting was in the House and quiet and a glorious Meeting it was blessed be the Lord. On the First-day following I went to the Meeting at Gracious-street When I came there Grac-Meet I found three Constables in the Meeting-house who kept Friends out so that we met in the Court. After I had been some time in the Meeting I stood up and spake to the People and continued speaking a pretty while Then one of the Constables came and took hold of my hand and said I must come down I desired him to be patient and went on speaking to the People but after a little time he pluckt me down and had me into the Meeting-house I asked them if they were not Weary of this Work and one of them said Indeed they were They let me go into the Widow Foster's house which joined to the Meeting-house where I stay'd being hot When the Meeting was ended for one prayed after I was taken away the Constables asked some Friends Which of them would pass their words that I should Appear if they should be questioned about me But the Friends telling them They need not require that for I was a man well known in the City to be one that would neither fly nor shrink They came not to me but went their ways 1683. London Sav. Meet and left me at Liberty and I heard no further of it The same Week I was at the Meeting at the Savoy which used to be kept out and disturbed but that day it was within doors and peaceable and a precious Meeting it was The First-day after Westm Meet it was upon me to go to the Meeting at Westminster where used to be great disturbances But there also the Meeting was within doors that day and it was very large The Lord's Power was over all there and kept all quiet and still for though there
harmless and separate from Sinners and is a Priest made higher than the Heavens This is the Priest that gives power to all that receive him to become the Sons and Daughters of God And Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of all the Sons and Daughters of God which is free but Jerusalem that is below is in bondage with her Children And they that are the Children of Jerusalem that is above do not look down at Jerusalem that is below but they look at Jerusalem that is above which is their Mother Christ said Neither at Outward Jerusalem nor in the Mountain of Samaria should God be worshipped but God should be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth for he is a Spirit and such he seeks to worship him John 4. This is the Worship that Christ set up above Sixteen hundred years ago And therefore the Idolatrous Jews must never think to Offer their outward Offerings and Sacrifices nor set up their outward Worship at Jerusalem in the holy Land of Canaan more For Christ by the Offering up of himself once for all for the Sins of the whole World hath ended all the Jews Offerings and changed the Priesthood and the Law by which it was made and hath blotted out the Hand-writing of Ordinances which commanded both Priests and Offerings and triumphed over them And so he is the Offering and Sacrifice of all the Children of the New Testament and New Covenant and heavenly new Jerusalem that is above and he is their Prophet that openeth to them and Shepherd that feeds them and Bishop that oversees them and Priest that died for their Sins and is risen for their Justification and sanctifies them and presents them to God So he is the one Mediator betwixt God and Man even the Man Christ Jesus Kingston the 9th of the 10th Month 1687. G. F. Guilford After this I went from Kingston to Guilford to visit Friends there and stay'd three days with them and had a large and very good Meeting there on the First-day of the Week After which I came back to Kingston again Kingston and tarried there about Two Weeks longer visiting the Friends and having Meetings amongst them both at their Publick Meeting-house and in their Families Many things I writ while I was now at Kingston amongst which the following Paper was one GOD so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish mark not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 And again he saith He that believeth on the Son of God hath mark hath everlasting Life ver 36. So these Believers have Everlasting Life while they are upon the Earth And he that believeth on Christ is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already and the wrath of God abideth on him And He that heareth Christ 's word and believeth on God that sent him hath mark hath everlasting life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from death the death in the first Adam to life the life in Christ the second Adam John 5.24 And that Meat which Christ doth give endureth unto Everlasting Life as in John 6.27 And the Water that Christ doth give shall be in him that drinks it a Well of water springing up into everlasting life John 4.14 Christ said to the Jews Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me And ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5.39 40. Here ye may see the Eternal Life is to be found in Christ and not in the Scriptures which testifie of him the Life Christ's Sheep that hear his Voice and know and follow him he gives unto them Eternal Life and they shall not perish neither shall any pluck them out of his hand They shall not pluck Christ's Sheep to whom he hath given Eternal life out of his Eternal hand Christ said to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead mark though he were dead yet shall he live mark live though he were dead and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Believest thou this Martha said Yea Lord John 25.26 This is the true and substantial Belief which they that do believe shall not perish but have Everlasting life John saith This is the Record That God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son 1 John 5.11 The Life was manifested and we saith he have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that Eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 1 John 1.2 So these were the Believers that had Eternal Life in the Son of God and shewed it unto others He that hath the Son hath life saith John and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5.12 Christ saith Every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Matth. 19.29 And the Wicked that do not receive Christ shall go into everlasting punishment but the Righteous into everlasting life And the true Servants of God have their fruits unto holiness and their End is everlasting life For the Wages of Sin is death but the Gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And such have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Therefore I desire that God's People may endure all things that they may obtain this Salvation which is in Christ Jesus with Eternal Glory a Glory which is Eternal For Christ being made perfect became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him And this Eternal Salvation is above an External Salvation for they come to receive an Eternal Inheritance and live in the possession of the everlasting Gospel of Joy Comfort Peace and Salvation having eternal and everlasting life in Christ Jesus which shall never die Kingston the 6th of the 11th Month 1687. G. F. Another Paper I writ there Concerning the Stone spoken of by Daniel Chap. 2. which became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth shewing that thereby was set forth the Kingdom and Power of Christ WHen Christ the Stone that became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth had broke to pieces the Head of Gold and the Breast of Silver and the Belly of Brass and the Legs of Iron and the Feet part Iron part Clay which were the four Monarchies to wit the Babylonian and Mede the Persian the Grecian and the Roman and had ended the outward Jews Typical Kingdom Daniel saith In the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed Dan. 2.44 Christ saith All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Matth. 28.18 And he saith My Kingdom is not of this
World John 18.36 And Christ is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist Col. 1.15 16 17. Here ye may see All things Consist by Jesus Christ and all things were Created by Christ and for him whether they be things in Heaven or things in Earth visible or invisible they were Created by him and for him yea Thrones Dominions or Principalities or Powers these were all created by him and for him So Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 And the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Chap. 1.5 And out of his Mouth goes a sharp Sword with which he shall smite the Nations and he shall rule them with a Rod of Iron As the Vessel of a Potter shall they be dashed in pieces who do not obey him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords This is Christ by whom all things were made who doth rule the Nations who saith I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending the First and the Last So he is over all Nations and above them all Now we must understand this Rod of Iron by which Christ who is the First and Last doth rule the Nations is a Figurative Speech of Christ who is Ascended into Heaven and is at the right hand of God yet all Power in Heaven and Earth is given unto him and All things were created by him and for him So then they are Christ's and he hath power over all things for all are his So as the Scripture saith By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice Prov. 8.15 But if they abuse his Power and do not do Justice as is decreed by Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the First and the Last they must feel and know the weight of his Rod of Iron by which he will rule such as abuse his Power and do not do Justice that is decreed by him who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him and rules in the Kingdoms of Men. Kingston the 11th Month 1687. G. F. Several other things I writ while I was now at Kingston for my Spirit being continually exercised towards God I had many precious Openings of Divine Matters and divers places of Scripture both in the Old Testament and in the New relating to a state of Regeneration and Sanctification c. were brought to my remembrance by the holy Spirit some of which I committed to writing and were as followeth THey that Touched the dead were unclean and were to be cleansed by the Water of Purification Numb 19. And they which touch the dead Doctrines or Faiths and let them in burden the pure and defile and make themselves unclean until the Spring of the Water of the Word do arise and wash and cleanse them for all the Dead in Adam in the Fall are Vnclean and they must be washed by Christ in his Blood and Water of Life who quickeneth and makes alive A Dwarf might not come near to Offer upon God's Altar but he might eat ot the holy Bread that he might grow Levit. 21.20 c. So the New-born Babes may eat of the Milk of the Word that they may grow thereby and increase And he that had any Blemish might not come near to Offer upon God's Altar neither might any thing be Offered upon God's Altar that had any Blemish or was Vnclean Lev. 21. And it is said The Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous Psal 1.5 But God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty Psal 82.1 The Camp of God was to be kept Clean and Holy All that which was unclean or defiled was to be kept out of God's Camp in the Old Testament And in the New Testament all that is defiled and unclean must be kept out of God's Kingdom the new and heavenly Jerusalem that is from above All was to pass through the Fire even of those things that would bear the Fire and to be purified by Fire and Water before the People might come into God's Camp Numb 31. So all must be Circumcised and Baptised with the Holy Ghost and with Fire and be cleansed with the Blood of Christ and washed with the Water of the Word before they come into the Kingdom of God and into heavenly Jerusalem The Apostle Paul saith We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven that mortality might be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5.1 2 4. Here is WE in the Earthly House of this Tabernacle which We are they that have received Christ and are become the Sons of God and New Creatures and Children of the Light that do believe in Christ's Light who have an Eternal House in the Heavens where Mortality is swallowed up of Life in which House from Heaven they will not groan And Peter said I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me 2 Pet. 1.13 14. So Peter knew he must put off this Tabernacle shortly but as long as he was in it he did stir up the Saints to their duty in holiness that they might remember it after he was deceased The Apostle Paul saith The first Man is of the Earth Earthly mark Earthly 1 Cor. 15.47 And as we have born the Image of the Earthy we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly mark the Heavenly ver 49. And We have this Treasure in earthen Vessels c. 2 Cor. 4.7 And I live said he yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 who is the Life of all God's People And Christ said to the Jews That the Dead are raised even Moses shewed at the Bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob for he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living for all live unto him Luke 20.37 38. So None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord 's For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Rom. 14.7 8 9. For all died in Adam and Christ by the Grace of God tasted death for every Man that they might come out of the death in Adam to
Thistles and sharp Rocks and Mountains and never be hurt nor never wear out their Shooes but their Feet are always beautiful upon the Mountains Moses a Captain the Servant of the Lord said unto the People of Israel I have led you forty years in the Wilderness your Cloths are not waxen old upon you and thy Shooe is not waxen old upon thy foot Deut. 29.5 Here ye may see the Jews in the Old Testament their Cloths and their Shooes did not wax old But they who are Christ's followers whom he shooeth with his Everlasting Gospel of Peace and Cloatheth with his fine Linnen his Righteousness and Arms with his Arms and Armour they are cloathed shod and armed with that which will never decay nor wax old nor canker nor rust nor corrupt nor grow blunt Now all whether Christians or Jews or Gentiles that hate the Light of Christ and close their Eyes and stop their Ears to it are not like to see Christ their Ensign and Captain of their Salvation but are blind And as there is no outward Captain would List a Company of blind and deaf men and cloath and arm them with outward Armour so such as are blind and deaf whose Eyes are closed and Ears stopped to the heavenly Light of Christ he is not like to cloath them with his fine Linnen and arm them with his heavenly and spiritual Armour nor are they like to be spiritually and heavenly disciplined and to see and know his holy and spiritual living Camp nor to follow him while they are deaf and blind and hate his Light which is the Life in Christ the heavenly Ensign and Captain of their Salvation For it is the Light that shines in the heart which gives the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus who is the Ensign and Captain of Mens Salvations and who hath brought and doth bring many Sons unto glory Praises Honour and Glory be unto the Lord over all who liveth for ever Amen Gooses the 14th of the 2d Month 1690. G. F. London A Week after this I return'd to London and after a little stay there Kingston went down to visit Friends at Kingston where I stay'd not long London but came back to London and remained there in the Lord's work Yearly-Meeting till after the Yearly-Meeting which was in the Fourth Month this Year in which the wonted Goodness of the Lord was witnessed and his blessed Presence enjoyed and his heavenly Power livingly felt opening the hearts of his People unto him and his Divine Treasures of Life and Wisdom in and unto them whereby many useful and necessary things relating to the safety of Friends and to the honour and prosperity of Truth were weightily treated of and unanimously concluded After the Meeting was over I writ the following Paper to Friends to be added to the Epistle which from the Yearly-Meeting was sent into the several Counties ALL Friends every where that are alive to God through Jesus Christ and are living Members of Christ the holy Head Be still and stand still in the Lord's Camp of Holiness and Righteousness and therein see the Salvation of God and your Eternal Life Rest and Peace and in it you may feel and see the Lord's Power is over all and how the Lord is at work in his Power and ruling the Nations with his Rod of Iron and is breaking in the Nations the old leaky Vessels and Cisterns to pieces like the Potter's Vessels that will not hold his living Water of Life who are erred from the Spirit But blessed be the Lord God of Heaven and Earth 1690. London Yearly Meeting who by his Eternal Arm and Power hath settled all his People upon the living holy Rock and Foundation that stands sure whom he hath drawn by his Spirit to his Son and gathered them into the Name of Jesus Christ his only begotten Son full of Grace and Truth who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him Whose Name is above every Name under the whole Heaven and all his living Members know there is no Salvation given by any other Name under the whole Heaven but by the Name of Jesus and he their Salvation and their living Head is felt in the midst of them in his Light Life Spirit Grace and Truth and his Word of Patience Wisdom and Power who is his People's Prophet that God hath raised up in his New Testament and Covenant to open to them and their living Shepherd that hath purchased redeemed and bought them with his precious Blood And Christ the living One feeds his living Sheep in his living Pastures of Life and his living Sheep know their living Shepherd's voice with his living Bread and Water and follow him and will not follow any of the World's Hirelings nor Thieves nor Robbers nor Climbers that are without Christ the Door And likewise Christ's living Children know Christ the Bishop of their Souls to oversee them with his heavenly and spiritual Eye that they may be preserved in his Fold of Life and go no more forth And also they know Christ their holy Priest that by the Grace of God tasted Death for them and for every Man and is a Propitiation for their Sins and not for their Sins only but for the Sins of the whole World and by the one Offering up of himself he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And such an High-Priest becomes Christ's Sheep in his New Covenant and Testament who is holy and harmless and separate from sinners and is made higher than the Heavens who is not made a Priest after the Order of Aaron with his Tithes Offerings c. but he makes an end of all those things and hath abolished them and is made an High-Priest after the Power of an endless life who ever liveth to make Intercession for his People and is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God through him Who is the one holy Mediator betwixt God and Man and who sanctifies his People his Church that he is Head of and presents them to God without spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing and makes them an holy royal Priesthood to offer up spiritual holy Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ who is King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords in the Earth So an holy heavenly King who hath â—all power in Heaven and Earth given to him and rules in all the hearts of his Sheep and Lambs by his holy divine precious Faith that is held in all the pure Consciences of his People which holy Faith Christ the holy One is the Author and Finisher of By which holy Faith all the Just live and in which holy divine and precious Faith all the Just and holy Ones have Unity and by it they do quench all the fiery Darts of Satan and by this holy divine and precious Faith they have access to the pure God in which they do please him And Christ
who is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens in his New Testament and New Covenant is a Minister of the Sanctuary and true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitcht and not Man And therefore all the Lambs and Sheep of Christ must feel this holy Minister in their Temple and Sanctuary who ministers spiritual holy and heavenly things to them in their Sanctuary and Tabernacle For all the Tabernacles and Sanctuaries that are built or pitcht by Man Men make Ministers for them and such Ministers are of Men and by Men with their worldly Sanctuaries and Tabernacles of Mens pitching by Mens hands And now all Dear Friends and Brethren every where that are the Flock of Christ Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Therefore let us all keep this heavenly Feast of our Passover in his New Testament and Covenant not with Old Leaven neither of Malice nor Wickedness but let all that be purged out with the sour old leavened Bread that all may become a new Lump and so keep this heavenly Feast of Christ our heavenly Passover with the unleavened Bread mark with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth My desires are that all the Flock of Christ every where may keep this heavenly Feast of Christ our heavenly Passover with his heavenly unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth Amen G. F. I stay'd in Town between Three Weeks and a Month after the Yearly-Meeting was over and then went into the Country first to Tottenham-High-Cross Tottenham-High-Cross Ford-green Enfield where was a Meeting on the First-day of the Week which I was at and then went to Edward Man's House at Ford-Green near Winchmore-Hill and on the First-day following went from thence to the Meeting at Enfield where the Lord gave me many precious Openings to declare to the People Afterwards moving to and fro amongst Friends thereabouts I visited the Meetings at Chess-hunt Chess-hunt Waltham-Abbey Enfield Tottenham Winchmore-hill Hartford Waltham-Abbey Enfield Tottenham and Winchmore-hill frequently the Lord being with me and opening many deep and weighty Truths divine and heavenly Mysteries to his People through me to their great Refreshment and my Joy After some time I went to Hartford to visit the Friends there and was at their Meeting on a First-day And having something more particular upon me to the Ancient Friends of that place I had a Meeting with some of them the next day and imparted to them what the Lord had given me for them Ware Then passing thence to Ware I made a little stay amongst Friends there and was at their Meeting After which returning Edmunton Tottenham London amongst Friends about Edmunton-side and Tottenham and taking Meetings as I went I came back to London in the end of the Seventh Month. I remained now at London 1690. London till the beginning of the Ninth Month being continually exercised in the Work of the Lord either in Publick Meetings opening the Way of Truth to People and building up and establishing Friends therein or in other Services relating to the Church of God For the Parliament now sitting and having a Bill before them concerning Oaths and another concerning Clandestine Marriages several Friends did attend the House to see to get those Bills so worded that they might not be hurtful to Friends In this Service I also assisted attending on the Parliament and discoursing the Matter with several of the Members Having stay'd more than a Month in London and much spent my self in these Services I went out of Town to Tottenham Tottenham Ford-Green and sometime after to Ford-Green near London at which Places I continued several Weeks visiting Friends Meetings round about there at Tottenham Enfield and Winchmore-Hill Tottenham Enfield Winchmore-hill In this time several things came upon me to Write whereof One was an Epistle to Friends in the Ministry and was as followeth ALL Friends in the Ministry every where Ford-Green to whom God hath given a Gift of the Ministry and who use to Travel up and down in the Gift of the Ministry Do not hide your Talent nor put your Light under a Bushel Nor Cumber your selves nor entangle your selves with the Affairs of this World For the natural Soldiers are not to Cumber themselves with the World much less the Soldiers of Christ who are not of this World but are to mind the Riches and Glory of the World that is Everlasting And therefore stir up the Gift of God in you and Improve it and do not sit down Demas-like and embrace this present World that will have an end lest ye become Idolaters But be valiant for God's Truth upon the Earth and spread it abroad in the Day-light of Christ you who have sought the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and have received it and preached it which stands in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost As Able Ministers of the Spirit sow to the Spirit that of the Spirit ye may reap Life Everlasting And go on in the Spirit plowing with it in the purifying Hope and threshing with the Power and Spirit of God the Wheat out of the Chaff of Corruption in the same Hope For he that looks back from the spiritual Plow into the World is not fit for the Spiritual and Everlasting Kingdom of God and then he is not like to press into it as the Faithful do Therefore you that are awakened and are come to Righteousness and to the Knowledge of the Truth keep your selves awakened in it then the Enemy cannot sow his Tares in your Field for Truth and Righteousness is over him and before he was So my desires are that all may fulfil their Ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ hath committed to them and then by the Blood or Life and Testimony of Jesus you will overcome the Enemy that opposes it within and without And all you that do preach the Truth do it as it is in Jesus in Love And all that are Believers in Jesus 1690. Ford-Green and receivers of him he gives them Power to become the Sons of God and so Joint-heirs with Christ whom he calleth Brethren and he gives them the Water of Life which shall be a Well in them springing as a River up to Eternal Life that they may water the spiritual Plants of the living God So that all may be spiritual Planters and spiritual Waterers and may see with the spiritual Eye the Everlasting Eternal God over all to give the Increase who is the Infinite Fountain So my desires are that you may be kept our of all the beggarly Elements of the World which is below the spiritual Region to Christ the Head and may hold him who bruiseth the Head of Enmity and was before it was So that ye may all be united together in love in your Head Christ and be ordered by his heavenly gentle peaceable Wisdom to the Glory of God For all that be in Christ are in love peace
and his Marshal to the Meeting and were Convinced for the glorious powerful Day of the Lord was exalted over all and many were Convinced that day at that Meeting There were at that Meeting Two 1655. Whetston that came out of Wales who were Justices of Peace their Names were Peter Price and Walter Jenkin who came both to be Ministers of Christ I went from thence to Sileby to William Smith's Sileby where was a great Meeting to which several Baptists came and one of them a Baptist-Teacher was Convinced and came to sit under the Lord 's Teaching by his Spirit and Power This Baptist said he had Baptized Thirty in a day From thence I went to Drayton my Native Town Drayton where so many Priests and Professors had formerly gathered together against me but now never a Priest nor Professor did appear I asked some of my Relations Where were all the Priests and Professors now They said The Priest of Non-Eaton was dead and there were Eight or Nine of them seeking to get into his Benefice They will let you alone now said they for they are like a Company of Crows when a rotten Sheep is dead they all gather together to pull out the Puddings and so do the Priests for a fallen Benefice These were some of their own Hearers that said so of them But they had spent their Venom against me and the Lord delivered me by his Power out of their Snares Then I went to Badgley Badgley where there was a great Meeting from many parts many came far to it and many were Convinced and turned to the Lord And they that were Convinced came under Christ's Teaching and were settled upon him their Foundation and their Rock From thence I passed into Nottinghamshire Nottingham-shire Darbyshire and had large Meetings there and so into Darbyshire where the Lord's Power came over all and many were turned from the Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and came to receive the Holy Ghost And great Miracles were wrought in many Places by the Power of the Lord through several In Darbyshire James Nailer met me and told me Seven or Eight Priests had challenged him to a Dispute I had a Travel in my Spirit for him and the Lord answered me and I was moved to bid him Go on and God Almighty would be with him and give him the Victory in his Power And the Lord did so insomuch that the People saw the Priests were foiled and they cried A Nailer a Nailer hath confuted them all After the Dispute was over he came to me again praising the Lord. Thus was the Lord's Day proclaimed and set over all their Heads and People began to see the Apostacy and Slavery they had been under to their Hireling-Teachers for Means and they came to know their Teacher the Lord Jesus who had bought them and purchased them and made their Peace betwixt God and them While we were here Friends came out of Yorkshire to see us and were glad of the Prosperity of Truth After this I passed into Warwickshire through Friends Warwickshire Worcestershire Birmingham visiting their Meetings and so into Worcestershire and had a Meeting at Brummingham as I went where several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. At length I came to one Cole's House in Worcestershire near Chattan 1655. Near Chattan This Cole had given an Independent-Preacher a Meeting-place and the Independent came to be Convinced and after he was Convinced he laid aside his Preaching Whereupon the Old Man Cole gave him an hundred Pounds a Year I had a Meeting at that Meeting-place and a very great Meeting it was insomuch that the Meeting-place would not hold the People and many were turned to the Lord that day Afterwards when the time of Trials came this Independent did not stand to that which had Convinced him but turned back Whereupon the Old Man took away his 100 l. a Year from him again But this Old Man Cole himself died in God's Truth Now I heard that at Evesholme the Magistrates had cast several Friends into Prison in several Prisons and that hearing of my coming they made a pair of high Stocks So I sent for Edward Pittaway a Friend that lived near Evesholme and asked him the Truth of the thing and he said It was so Then I went that Night with him to Evesholme Evesholme and in the Evening we had a large precious Meeting wherein Friends and People were refreshed with the Word of Life and with the Power of the Lord. Next Morning I got up and rid to one of the Prisons and visited Friends there and encouraged them Then I rid to the other Prison where there were several Prisoners and amongst them one Friend that had been a Priest but was now become a free Minister of Christ his Name was Humphrey Smith So when I had visited the Friends at both Prisons and was turned away from the Prison to go out of Town I espied the Magistrates coming up the Town to have seized me in Prison But the Lord frustrated their Intents that the Innocent escaped their Snare and the Lord God's blessed Power came over them all But exceeding Rude and Envious were the Priests and Professors about this time in those Parts Worcester I went from Evesholme to Worcester and had a precious Meeting there and quiet But after the Meeting as we came down the Street towards our Inn some of the Professors fell to discourse with Friends and were like to have made a Tumult in the City and as we went into the Inn they all cluttered into the Yard but I went among them and got them quieted The next day I walked forth into the Town and had a great deal of Discourse with some of the Professors concerning Christ and the way of Truth One of them denied That Christ was of Abraham according to the Flesh and that he was declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit But I proved from Rom. 1. that he was of the Seed of Abraham being made of the Seed of David according to the Flesh and that according to the Spirit he was declared to be the Son of God Afterwards I writ a Paper concerning it Tewksbury From Worcester we went to Tewksbury where in the Evening we had a great Meeting And there came in the Priest of the Town with a great Rabble of rude People and the Priest boasted That he would see whether he or I should have the Victory I turned the People to the Divine Light which Christ the heavenly and spiritual Man had enlightned them withal that with that Light they might see their Sins and that they were in Death and Darkness and without God in the World 1655. Tewksbury And with the same Light they might see Christ from whom it came their Saviour and Redeemer who had shed his Blood for them and died for them and who was the Way to God
the Truth and the Life Here the Priest began to Rage against the Light and denied it for neither Priest nor Professor could endure to hear the Light spoken of So the Priest having railed at the Light went away and left his rude Company amongst us but the Lord's Power came over them though Mischief was in their Hearts Leaving Tewksbury we passed back through the Country and came to Warwick Warwick where in the Evening we had a Meeting at a Widow-woman's House whither many sober People came together and a precious Meeting we had in the Lord's Power and several were Convinced and turned to the Lord. After the Meeting was done and I was walking out a Baptist in the Company began to Jangle and the Bayliff of the Town with his Officers came in and said What do these People here at this time of the Night So he secured John Crook and Amor Stoddart and Gerrard Roberts and me but we had leave to go to our Inn all that were Strangers and to be forth-coming in the Morning The next Morning there came many rude People into the Inn and into our Chambers desperate Fellows but the Lord's Power gave us Dominion over them Gerrard Roberts and John Crook went up to the Bailiff to speak with him and to know What he had to say to us He said We might go our ways for he had little to say to us Then as we rid out of Town it lay upon me to ride to his Hâ—â—se to speak to him and to let him know That the Protector having given forth an Instrument of Government in which Liberty of Conscience was granted it was very much that contrary to that Instrument of Government he would trouble peaceable People that feared God The Friends went with me but the rude People gathered about us with Stones And one of them took hold of my Horse's Bridle and brake it but the Horse drawing back threw him under him Though the Bayliff saw this yet did he not stop nor so much as Rebuke the Rude Multitude so that it was much we had not been slain or hurt in the Streets amongst them for the People threw Stones and struck at us as we Rode along the Town When we were come quite out of the Town I told Friends It was upon me from the Lord that I must go back into the Town again and if any one of them felt any thing upon him from the Lord he might follow me and the rest that did not might go on to Dun-Cow So I passed up through the Market in the dreadful Power of God declaring the Word of Life to them and John Crook followed me Some struck at me but the Lord's Power was over them and gave me Dominion over all And I shewed them their Vnworthiness of the Name of Christians and the Vnworthiness of their Teachers that had not brought them into more Sobriety and what a shame they were to Christianity Having cleared my self I turned back out of the Town again and passed to Coventry but when we came thither Coventry we found the People closed up with Darknâ—ss I went to a Profâ—ssor's House that I had formerly been at 1655. Coventry and he was drunk which grieved my Soul so that I did not go into any House in the Town but rode into some of the Streets of the Town and into the Market-place and I felt the Power of the Lord God was over the Town Duncow Then I went on to Duncow and had a Meeting there in the Evening and some were turned to the Lord by his Spirit as some also were at Warwick and Tewksbury before-mentioned We lay at the Duncow that Night and there we met with John Cham a faithful Minister of the Everlasting Gospel In the Morning there was gathered together a Rude Campany of Priests and People who behaved themselves more like Beasts than Men for some of them came Riding on Horseback into the Room where we were But the Lord gave us Dominion over them Leicestershire Warwickshire Badgley From thence we passed into Leicester-shire where we had a great Meeting again at the place where I had been taken formerly And after that we came back into Warwickshire to Badgley Here William Edmundson a Friend that lived in Ireland having some drawings upon his Spirit to come over into England to see me met with me and by him I writ a few Lines to those few Friends that were then Convinced in the North of Ireland as followeth Friends IN that which Convinced you Wait that you may have that removed you are Convinced of And all my Dear Friends dwell in the Life and Love and Power and Wisdom of God in Vnity one with another and with God and the Peace and Wisdom of God fill all your Hearts that nothing may rule in you but the Life which stands in the Lord God G. F When these few Lines were read amongst the Friends in Ireland at their Meeting the Power of the Lord seized upon them all that were in the Room Swannington Higham Northamptonshire Bedfordshire Hertfordshire Baldock From Badgley we passed to Swannington and Higham and so through the Countries into Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire having great Meetings and many were turned to the Lord by his Power and Spirit When we came to Baldock in Hertfordshire I asked If there was nothing in that Town no Profession and it was Answered me There were some Baptists and a Baptist-woman sick John Rush of Bedfordshire went along with me to visit her and when we came in there were many People in the House that were Tender about her And they told me She was not a Woman for this World but if I had any thing to comfort her concerning the World to come I might speak to her So I was moved of the Lord God to speak to her ☞ and the Lord raised her up again to the astonishment of the Town and Country Her Husband 's Name was Baldock This Baptist-woman and her Husband came to be Convinced and many hundreds of People have been at Meetings at their House since Great Meetings and Convincements there were up and down in those Parts afterwards and many People received the Word of Life 1655. Baldock and sate down under the Teaching of Christ their Saviour When we had visited this sick Woman we went back to our Inn and there were Two desperate Fellows fighting so furiously that none durst come nigh them to part them But I was moved in the Lord's Power to go to them and when I had loosed their Hands I held one of them by one Hand and the other by the other Hand and I shewed them the Evil of their doings and reconciled them one to the other that they were loving and very thankful to me so that People admired at it From thence I passed through the Country to Market-street Market-street Albans London where God had a People and so through Albans to London where