Friends I Could not be clear without the Tender of my true Love unto you both whose Labour of Love Service and daily Travels for the Lord's Truth in this Place will never be forgotten by a Remnant and the Lord's Reward I know is with you to whom belongs all Praise Honour and Glory both now and forever and for evermore Amen saith your Friend Thomas Freatwell Dear Friends Thomas Alice Curwen IN the Unchangeable and Everlasting Love of God do I dearly salute you both I have received a Letter from you which was very acceptable to me in the reading of which I was sweetly consolated and refreshed and your Love to us all I cannot nor I hope shall not forget Oh! the many precious Meetings and Opportunities which we enjoyed when ye were with us the Remembrance of which was precious but the glorious Presence of God which we enjoyed was much more precious Oh! the goodness of the Lord God is Unutterable who continues his Love to us daily and accompanies us with his living Presence at all Times and in all Places as we abide low in his Fear and are found faithful in his Work and Service Oh! my Soul's Desire is That I may be kept low before him forever And my Friends I hope your Prayers to the Almighty will be for the same The Lord's Truth doth prosper mightily and his Power is over this whole Island though the Devil doth Rage in his Instruments mightily even at this present time more than ever before as I think and such Threatning Times against the poor Innocent Lambs as have not been known and only because of the Prosperity of God's blessed Truth in this little Island But we fear not man but are greatly encouraged to go on in the Work of the Lord and be Valiant for God until Death for I am perswaded here is a little Remnant whose Trust is in the Lord that doth not regard any of their Threatnings and Unrighteous Laws which are lately made if they were ten times greater than they are and I believe We shall have the Victory through the Power of the Lord as we abide stedfast in the Unchangeable Truth of our God though many that are not faithful to the Lord God but let their Testimony fall who are the fearful and unbelieving may lose the Crown of Eternal Life And your Love to our Family was very large and I am right sensible of it in the Sence of which I am refreshed at this present and so in the same Love do I dearly salute you And so with my Love to all Friends I remain Your Loving Friend in the Everlasting Truth of God Robert Thorp An Epistle to Swarthmore Meeting DEar Friends at Swarthmore Meeting to whem is my true Love and I have an Honourable Esteem in my Heart for you all who keep to your first Love and retain your Integrity to this day which is a blessed Day indeed of the Breakings-forth of the blessed weighty Truth which we breathed for in the dayes of our Infancy Oh! what shall I say to stir up your pure Minds that ye may travail forward that none may stand still nor none may go backward for this is the Day of God's spiritual Israel's Travel God has made me a living Witness and therefore my dear Friends as one that has been nursed up there can I not at this time contain my self but in a living Sense of the dayes past when we waited together for true Israel's Hope And Oh! how is my Spirit bowed down in the weighty Power of the blessed Appearance of the Breakings-forth of the weighty Truth in the dayes of our Infancy in that Meeting which I so dearly love and truly honour in the Lord though the breakings out at first of the Power of the Living God was very Dreadful and very Terrible yet oh my Friends I cannot but ease my Spirit a little at this time being loaded with the Power of the Lord which causes me to write And oh what shall I say of the blessed heavenly Melody and the spiritual Songs yea the new Song that God hath put into our Mouthes Oh! endless Praises saith my Soul with you my dear Friends with whom I would be glad that I might sit down with you once more that we might sing together of the Mercies of the Lord and of his pure Judgments in this our day as poor David did And oh how am I affected in my Bowels for an Opportunity that we might be comforted together but I do not see my Service over that I may come to my Place of Abode in the oatward for I can truly say that I have not taken up another and I am as a Weaned Child at this time and the Desire of my Heart to God is That these few dayes I have to spend may be in his blessed Truth which is more to me than all the World therefore let none of you question in your Minds my coming home for when I have done the Will of God who am one of the least of the Lord's People I shall be willing to come into the North and sit down with you and wait upon the Lord who hath brought me thus far towards my Native Being and yet my way is shut up that I cannot come Home Oh my Dear Friends breath with me to the Lord for the Prosperity of this great Work which the Lord hath made me Instrumental in though but weak and little yet blessed be the Lord who appears strong and weighty in every needful time though in weak Instruments let his Name be purely Praised and had in Everlasting Reverence from Age to Age and from Generation to Generation saith my Soul which is Immortal and that for evermore So as I began in a Sence of the Love of God and in his weighty Power in that do I dearly salute you and bid you all Farewel and remain as one of God's Flock and that Family where we were begotten to God for which my Soul shall bless the Lord whilst I have a Day to live Huntingdon-shire the 29th of the 11th Moneth 1677. Alice Curwen My Dear and Well-beloved Friends Thomas Alice Curwen MY dear Love is to you both and by this you may know that we received your Letter from Barbadoes the which indeed was very acceptable to us and I was refreshed thereby I carried it to our General-Meeting at Oyster-Bay and it was read in the Men Womens Meeting and I know many were truly glad to hear of your Well-fare and the Prosperity of Truth My Dear Friends you are often in my remembrance and the remembrance of your Savoury Life is very pleasant unto me for I am a Witness with you That the Glory of the Lord often filled his Temple when we were together and the Lord 's Eternal Love is not wanting to his People that wait upon him in the Uprightness of their Hearts for he openeth of his pure Fountain and refresheth his own though many are the Exercises of his
ye are of God Oh Friends see that your Lamps be trimmed and that ye have Oyl in your Vessels for the Day of the Lord is near when he will pour out his Wrath upon the Heathen that know him not nor call not upon his Name in Righteousness and therefore Friends do we write unto you in a living Sense and in the Tenderness of our Spirits that ye may be exercised in the Gift of God every one in your several places and none to hide the Lord's Money in the Earth nor to account him a hard Master for indeed he is exceeding good unto all that in the Simplicity of their Spirits seek after him blessed be his Name forever and evermore And if it be your Freedom let Friends at New-York and at Flushen as ye see convenient see and read this Epistle in their Meeting for our dear and unfeigned Love is unto you all more than we can here declare And we cannot but return Praise and Thanksgiving unto the Lord who raised his own Witness in you to receive our Testimony though we be the least of many of the Lord's People and truly the Remembrance thereof is exceeding precious blessed be the Name of our God forever and for evermore We are here waiting for our Passage to Barbadoes and we desire you if you have a convenient Oportunity to let us hear from you and to write to Barbadoes for it is our Joy and the Joy of all that truly Fear the Lord to hear from one another and not only to hear but to feel one another in the Life and Power of God's eternal Truth So in the true Sense of the Love of our God wherein our true Comfort and Consolation stands we remain in the eternal Spirit of Truth which hath made us free from the Law of Sin and Death eternal Praises Praises forever and for evermore be rendred and returned unto the Lord God of our Life who is worthy forever and for evermore Amen in which we remain Your Friends in the Vnchangeable Truth of our God THOMAS ALICE CURWEN From Newport in Road-Island the 9th of the 5th Moneth 1676. To Friends at New-York in New-England FRIENDS IN that Love of our God which caused us to leave our Native Country and all that was dear and near unto us and come and visit you and in Obedience we came and we are well satisfied in the Lord and refreshed one in another as you your selves very well know and we wrote to you from Road-Island and earnestly desired to hear from you to Barbadoes which made us greatly to wonder that we did not receive one Line from you we did expect to hear from you in writing by Lewes Morris but indeed we can truly say That if our Exercise be great yet the Lord is with us who will not suffer us to be tryed but he also brings us through by the Arm of his holy Power and so the Righteous can Rejoyce Everlasting Holy Praises be unto the Lord our God forever and for evermore So that which is chiefly in our hearts at this time is That we may all serve the Lord in Fear and Rejoyce in Trembling and with the Holy Man of God we can sing of the Judgments of the Lord and also of his Mercies and so shall we all dwell together in the holy Fear low in our measures where we offer up unto God a living Sacrifice well-pleasing in his sight So mind our dear Love to Friends at the Gravesend and Long-Island and Oyster-Bay and let them know that the Love of our God which is shed abroad in our Hearts reaches to the Seed and breathes for the Preservation of its Off-spring that we may be comforted in our Travails concerning you for we are very certain that our Testimony is true for the Lord for he rewards us an hundred fold into our Bosom for we have had great Service in this Island and the Lord hath given unto our two Talents two more for which our Souls bless the Lord Let all that feel his holy Power rejoyce with us for the Work of the Lord goes on and Prospers in this Island since our coming hither he is turning back the Wisdom of the Wise though they laid many Baits and Snares for the Innocent yet the Snares are broken and we are delivered and Truth prospers over the Heads of them that do oppose Everlasting holy Praises be unto the Lord our God who carries his Lambs in his Arms and prospers his own Work Here is a great openness in this Island and the Lord is working secretly in Peoples Hearts though they little know it who it is that smites them So dear Friends when you have read this Epistle which is a Salutation of our Unfeigned Love you may read it in your Meeting and let Friends at Gravesend Long-Island and Oyster-Bay see it for you are all as one to us whose Hearts are Upright to God Our dear Love to Matthew Pryer and his Family to Mary Willis and her Family and Alice Crabe and her Family and to John Dickson and his Family and to Friends about Flushen and Jamaco to Hugh Couperwhete and his Wife and though we cannot remember their Names yet in that Unchangeable Love that can never be forgotten in which the Lord refresht our Immortal Souls when we were together do we dearly salute you all and do bid you all Farewel And if it be in any of your Hearts to write a few Lines to us ye may write to London for we should be glad to hear from Friends at so great a distance and how things are but we do not know at present when we shall go Home but in the Will of the Lord we stand who hath given us good Success Holy Praises be to his Name forever and evermore saith your Friends From Oliver Hutton's at Barbadoes the 12th of the 12th Mon. 1676. Thomas Alice Curwen There was a Widdow-Woman in Barbadoes that had Negro's to her Servants who were convinced of God's Eternal Truth and I hearing of them was moved to go to speak to the Woman for their coming to our Meetings and when I did speak to her she did deny me and then I did write to her as followeth Martha Tavernor I Cannot pass by but in Love write to thee for in Love we came to visit thee and to invite thee and thy Family to the Meeting but thou for thy part art like him that was invited to work in the Vineyard and went not And as for thy Servants whom thou callst thy Slaves I tell thee plainly thou hast no right to reign over their Conscience in Matters of Worship of the Living God for thou thy self confessedst that they had Souls to save as well as we Therefore for time to come let them have Liberty lest thou be called to give an Account to God for them as well as for thy self So in thy old Age chuse rather as a good Man did that both thou and thy whole Family may serve
joyfully the spoiling of their Goods who were scoffed and mocked at and said That Bonds and Imprisonments were their portion and it was for their Testimony which they held as thou mayst read at large in the Scriptures of Truth who hast nothing now against us but concerning the Law of our God and there ye go about tocatch us as they of Old did Daniel but oh Priest read what became of these Informers and of those that informed against the three Children thou blind Guide which Christ cryed We against and said They were whited Walls and painted Sepulchres and wore long Robes and loved to be called of men Masters and that they loved the upper most Romes at Feasts and greetings in the Markets and further he said that By your Fruits your are known and so it is this day Wo unto you said he for ye lay heavy Burthens upon the People and ye shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men ye neither enter in your selves nor suffer others Therefore saith Christ Jesus Wo unto you And if thou ask how I know these things I tell thee plainly it is by the invisible Light which shines in my Heart which manifests all things as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth and this Light was in the beginning will be when all visible things shall have an end to which thou shalt be turned to give account of all thy Deeds done in thy Body all thy Life time and of all thy hard Speeches against the Servants of the living God therefore turn to it and let it search thy Heart and believe in it for this is my living Testimony for God that it will deceive no man but it will bring the hidden things of Esau to Light and believing in it and obeying it it will lead out of Sin Therefore Repent pray unto the Lord that he take thee not away in the midst of thy Sins lest thou go down into the Pit out of which there is no Redemption And as for our Names and Place of abode it is in Lancashire in a little Village called Beaklife in the Parish of Alldingham where we were haled to Prison by such a proud Priest as thee because we could not bow in this our day no more than they could do in dayes past but the Lord shortned that Priests dayes and we do witness Christs words fulfilled in this our day where he said That it should come to pass that the Devil should cast some into Prison But blessed be the Lord who has delivered us and we are at this day and time free of all the Goals in the World therefore do we warn thee that thou come not upon thy Neighbours in pretence of a Fine for us for we have to satisfie of our own and according to the Act ye are to fetch it where we live whose Names are here set down Thomas and Alice Curwen And that further We do declare what the Lord hath done for us in the inncency of our Hearts we Bless and Praise the Lord Oh my Soul bless thou the Lord that has witnessed that Scripture of Truth this day fulfilled in my Ears where Christ Jesus said That men should speak all manner of Evil against us for his Names sake and that falsly Rejoyce said he and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Oh Praises Praises saith my Soul with many Thousands more that God hath redeemed from Death to Life And to his blessed Name be Everlasting holy Praises and that for evermore saith a Friend in the Truth of God though the least of many Who am known unto men by the Name of Alice Curwen Huntingdonshire For the Priest at Godmanchester the 21st of the 11th Moneth 1677. Friend YEsternight I spoke to thee as thou passedst by thou wentst away laughing like the rest of thy Brethren making merry over God's Witness in thee which is the Grace of God which appears at this day as it did in the Apostles dayes and unto all them that believe in it and obey it it works the same effect everlasting Praises be sounded out unto the Lord our God at this day for his blessed Appearance saith my Soul who is come the second time without Sin to save them that believe Everlasting Holy Praises be sounded out aloud saith my Soul in secret unto the Lord for all his Mercies and that for evermore And truly Priest for I do not know thee by any other Name my Spirit is grieved when I do see any of you or where-ever I do meet with you that you should take upon you the charge of Peoples Souls and to teach them the Way of the Lord and in all my Travels I find no men so light and airy as you Priests are who wear your long Robes and by Christ's words as you may read in the Scriptures and by the Spirit of Truth which God hath manifested in my particular do I see you to be them which Christ cryed Wo against therefore is the Word of the Lord as a Sword in my Mouth against the Mystery of Babylon and the Merchants of her also for the Lambs War is begun and as it is written in the Scripture of Truth The Beast and the false Prophet makes War against the Lamb and his followers but God shall take the Beast and the false Prophet alive and cast them into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone forever and evermore and the Lamb and the Saints shall get the Victory And so my Soul blesses the Lord that I have lived to see this day wherein the Scriptures are fulfilled for it is the Lords day therefore I desire thee in love to thy immortal Soul to prise the day of thy Visitation for I could not be clear till I had eased my Spirit who am a Friend to thy Soul and truly loves all Men and Women also with that Love that God hath loved me withal Who am known by my Name Alice Curwen Huntingdonshire My Dear Friends Thomas Alice Curwen I With many more are glad to hear of the Arrival of John Grove his Ship and we hope you are all safe you are often in my Mind but more your Innocent Lives and Conversation amongst us which shewed clear also your great Labour of Love amongst us which will not be forgotten in the Hearts of the Faithful and I hope will not go without its Reward The Lord God of our Life preserve us in these Times of Troubles which are at this time amongst us of which I do believe you will have a full Account I am straitned for Time at present so cannot enlarge only my dear Love with my Childrens is to you both desiring that we may be all kept in his blessed Fear to our Lives end So my dear Friends Farewel Barbadoes the 7th of the 5th Mon. 1677. Your Loving Friend Elizabeth Griffin Dearly Beloved Thomas Alice Curwen YOur good wills towards me and my Wife when you were with us we cannot forget And truly
Friends would you know where I am and how far I am grown in the Truth of our God I cannot well resolve my self by reason of the gross Darkness and the Straitness of the Way I seek Rest but I cannot find it I seek my Beloved but cannot find him I am often amongst those with whom God is not well-pleased although not yet overthrown amongst those that lust after Evil Things those that tempted Christ and those that Murmured though not yet through the Riches of the Patience and Goodness of God not destroyed of the Destroyer Sometimes I think I feel the Well springing up the Day of the Lord 's burning to burn like an Oven and the Leaven working and the Seed of the Kingdom no more the least of all Seeds the Grave opening and the Dead arising at the Voice of the Son of God And at other times as one that Dreamed and meer Stranger in Israel I am Hungry I am Thursty I am hardly filled yet I must needs acknowledge that sometimes I do meet with Manna and blessed be the Shepherd of Israel I sometimes drink and am resreshed at the Brook by the Way I still wait for the blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I see that Patience must have its Perfect Work that my Beloved must not be awakened until he please and that Times and Seasons are in the Father's Hand and am a Witness for him That he is Faithful who hath promised by what of his Promises I have already found to be Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus He doth not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoking Flax on whom I do wait to bring forth Judgment into Victory to kindle his Refiners Fire to consume the Dross and take away the Tinn and to answer to save so as by Fire that I may become a Vessel meet for the Masters Use Oh Travel for me Help me forward with your Breathings and that I fall not in the Wilderness From me Henry Byrch who was a Baptist-Teacher but now through the Mercy of the Lord am come to be taught of the Lord and in measure established in the blessed Truth of our God to the Praise Glory and Honour of the Lord our God who is God over all Heaven and Earth blessed forever and for evermore Amen saith my Soul and the Souls of the Righteous whom God hath redeemed from Death to Life to him alone be Glory forever and evermore Barbadoes the 9th of the 7th Moneth 1677. Dear Friends Thomas Alice Curwen YOur Letter I received and I was very glad to hear of your Well-fare and of your arrival safely in England and truly Friends I know you cannot easily be forgotten by me nor many good Friends in this Island for your faithful Service Pains and Travel whilst among us in the Service and Work of the Lord and the Desire of my Soul is That we may be all kept in a living Sense of his Holy Fear dwelling in our Hearts at all times for the Fear of the Lord is only that that keeps the Heart clean and preserves us in the greatest Tryals and Exercises that we meet withal that so continuing faithful to the end of our dayes we may receive our Reward from our Heavenly Father even the Salvation of our Immortal Souls So dear Friends I need not use many words unto you I could not well omit sending these two or three Lines though at present something sâ—â—itned in point of time Friends are generally in pretty good Condition though of late we were like to have had a further Breach here amongst us by reason of altering Men and Womens Meetings at the Bridge-Town but blessed be the Lord the Meetings at present are pretty well ordered and composed so that I am in good hopes that all Difference and Strife will cease and Truth will out-live all here are good Friends which I hope will keep down these Unruly Passions Heats that were usual and too often accustomed by some to rise amongst us My Wife desires dearly to be remembred to you So with my True and Unfeigned Love to you both I rest and remain Your Friend and Brother in my Measure of the blessed Truth John Todd Barbadoes the 4th of the 11th Moneth 1677. Loving Friends dear Thomas Alice WE do dearly salute you in the blessed Truth of our God and in the sence of the same do our Souls truly rejoyce and our Hearts are made truly Glad in that we feel one another in that blessed Life which keeps our Souls alive to God together and assunder And truly our dear Friends you have been often in our remembrance and in the sensible feeling of that blessed Life hath our Souls been truly refreshed in you though many Miles assunder yet can we truly say That oft-times our Hearts and Souls have been truly refreshed in you and the Sence of that Living Testimony you left behind you that oft-times lives in our Hearts Oh! blessed be the Lord our God for evermore that hath brought us to see this blessed Day in that we can feel one another in this blessed Life which keeps our Souls alive to God and tender one to another And so our dear Friends words are too short to tell of the goodness of God to our Souls as our Minds have been truly staid on him Oh! how hath his Love flown forth in our Hearts to the great Refreshment and Satisfaction of our Immortal Souls together and assunder We have known the Renewings of the Blessings and Mercies of the Lord unto our Souls Oh praised be the Name of our God forever and for evermore that he hath brought a Remnant to see this blessed Day of the flowings forth of his Love in our Hearts which makes us truly to rejoyce more than the Encrease of any Visible Thing And so our dear Friends how have we known the bedewings of the Lord as our Minds Hearts have been kept low before him and in the sence of the same we have been kept fresh and green and alive to God Oh! holy Praises be to the Name of the Lord our God forever for evermore And so our dear Friends having not much more in our Hearts to you at this time our dear Love is to you with the rest of Friends We remain Your dear Friends Brother and Sister in that blessed Truth of our God Stephen Richards Anne Barber Falmouth the 1st of the 3d Mon. 1678. Dear Friends Thomas Alice Curwen MY True Love dearly salutes you both and all True-hearted Friends that may enquire after me Since your coming away good Friends have been much wanting and things have been pretty high against me but I hope in the general it will not prevail and the Lord hath made me willing to bear but the Lord's hand of Power will preserve the Simple and Upright in Heart Amen saith your Friend in Brotherly Love Barbadoes the 2d of the 6th Mon. 1677. Ralph Freatwell Dear
Curwen the younger Thomas Cobb Thomas Curwen HIS TESTIMONY Which is in behalf of his Wife's Testimony which she did bear faithfully for God and for his Eternal Truth ever since she was Convinced and her Heart and Mind turned from Darkness to the Light of Jesus Christ and from Satan's Power to the Power of God who did serve the Lord in Fear and rejoyced with Trembling whilst Breath and Life remained And Blessed are the Dead that Dye in the Lord they do Rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them AND this I can say to the Praise and Glory of our God That she did Dye in the Lord for she did Praise and magnifie the Name of the Lord and was freely given up to dye and the Lord's Presence was with her which did carry her up above her Weakness in the Flesh and though she be dead and her Body return to the Dust yet her Spirit is alive where Hell Death and the Grave can never seperate us Glory to our God forever who is the God of the Living and not of the Dead and the Living Praise the Lord the Dead in the Grave of Sin cannot For the Wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life and blessed are they that know the Gift of God and have their Minds exercised in it or else it had been better for them they had never known it but as their Minds are exercised in the Gift of God they come to witness Redemption from Sin and Death and come to witness Eternal Life where the Redeemed of the Lord do rejoyce who are redeemed out of the Earth and have a Habitation in Heaven and the Redeemed do sing Praises and Halelujahs to the Lord God and the Lamb forever and for evermore over Death Hell and the Grave for he is risen whom the Grave could not hold Glory to our God forever to whom all Power is given both in Heaven and in Earth and he will rule all with his Iron Rod everlasting Praises forever be given unto his holy blessed Name the Lamb of God who was slain from the Foundation of the world by whom the world was made who was dead but he is alive whose Name is called The word of God who was in the World and the World knew him not And ye will not come to me saith Christ that ye may have Life who hath given us Life Breath and Being that we may live to his Praise and to his Honour and Glory forever who is worthy who is worthy forever and for evermore saith my Soul And this I can say concerning my dear and loving Wife who was dear and tender over me to serve me in any thing that might do me good either for Soul or Body and the Consideration of her endeared Love to me doth often times come very fresh into my Remembrance which doth break my Heart into much Tenderness which doth cause me to write these few Lines concerning God's Testimony which she did bear for his Eternal Truth And I can truly say She was given me of the Lord who was a Meet Help for me who did live Husband and Wife about Thirty Eight Years who was my true Friend and Companion in Tribulation who did keep the Word of Patience in the Day of Tryal and in the Hour of Temptation and did bear the Burthen in the heat of the Day without Murmuring or looking back to the Flesh-Pots of Egypt but did Rejoyce in Tribulation Know ye not saith the Apostle that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope and this Hope maketh not ashamed because we have obtained the End of our Hope which is Salvation to be as Walls and Bulwarks And now we can say to the Praise and Glory of our God That now is Salvation nearer than when we first believed And when a measure of the Spirit of Grace was manifested to her and she did feel the Operation of it working in her Heart and was led and guided by it Oh! how she did improve her Talent for the Lord and for one Talent he gave her more and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ did teach her to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Soberly and Righteously and Godly in this World and she did grow in the Grace of God from Strength to Strength and from Grace to Grace and her Affections were not on things below but on things above for her Treasure was in Heaven where neither Rust nor Moth could corrupt nor Thieves break through and Steal and the Lord was her Portion who is the Portion of the Righteous And when she was got into the highest Form of Profession she was very Zealous in her Way and Form that when the Truth came she was ready to receive it who did receive it with great Joy and Gladness of Heart and said Now I have found him whom my Soul loves which was my Desire which the blind watch-men could never know in reading of the Scriptures of Truth She had much comfort in reading of David's Psalms which was much Refreshment to her to sound forth Praises to the Lord and she did sing with the Spirit and with Understanding and she was almost alwayes Praising the Lord and magnifying his holy and blessed Name and when she could not speak she put her Hands together and did lift them up unto the Lord and did Praise the Lord in her Heart And when the Lord did send her forth to preach the Everlasting Gospel she did not reason with Flesh and Blood for the Lord's Power and Presence was with her wherein she did sound forth his Praises to the Nations and did declare of the Wonderful Works which the Lord had done for the Sons and Daughters of Men And she was not ashamed to confess the Name of the Lord before men who was brought several times before Magistrates and Rulers and was cast into Prison and was set in the Stocks and brought to the Whipping-Post for her Testimony which she had to bear for the Lord and for his Eternal Truth for she did follow Christ Jesus fully who was the Captain of her Salvation and did make War in Righteousness with the Beast and the False Prophet and her Captain did never fail her in time of Need but did go before her and did tread down her Enemies as Ashes under her Feet and the Lamb did get the Victory Glory to our God forever who did plead the Cause of the Innocent and did put a Word in her Mouth in every needful time and the Lord was with her and his Eternal Arm and Power did cover her Head in the Day of Battel And she did often pray to the Lord and said Lord let me injoy thy Presence and I desire no more and the Lord did hear her Cry and did answer her Desire for the Love of God was so large unto her which is more than I can express Glory and Everlasting Praises be unto the Lord. And she had great
the Lord it was opened in my Heart by the invisible Power of the living God the vertue of which I felt and the Springs of Life being witnessed I was moved to write of the Dealings of the Lord with me and of my Travels and of my Testimony in writing since I went from my outward Being and what I had received from Friends in writing of the good Success and Blessing and Presence of the invisible God who moves in secret and is now come to reward his People openly Everlasting Holy Praises be breathed forth and sounded out unto the Lord our God for all his Mercies for they are manifold at this day therefore doth my Soul in secret bless his holy Name who alone is worthy And whilst I questioned in my Mind Why I should write fearing the Subtilty of the Enemy and also not minding to keep Copies of several Papers that had been written yet as I waited patiently to see my Clearness it was said in the secret of my Heart What thou hast kept write but I fearing said within my self Why should it be known and the Answer was For the Encouragement of them that hereafter may put their Trust in the Lord and then I was made willing to write as followeth IN the year 1660. I hearing of the great Tribulation that the Servants of the Lord did suffer in Boston in New-England of cruel Whippings of Bonds and Imprisonments yea to the laying down of their natural Lives four Friends being Hanged there for their Testimony to God's blessed weighty Truth against a Wicked Generation which remains there until this day I at the hearing of their Patient Sufferings my Heart was broken and my Spirit deeply affected with Admiration of the Goodness of the Lord who bears up the Spirits of them that truly fear him and are willing to give up all that is near and dear and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he leads and my Spirit was comforted in the blessed invisible Power but it was said in the secret of my Heart That I should travail in that Nation and see that Bloody Town of Boston at which my Heart was exceedingly broken and I cryed unto the Lord with many Tears and said O Lord what shall become of my little Children and of my poor Husband he being then in Prison for Tythe and I mourned many dayes in a sense of my Inability yet at that time I could truly say Thy blessed Will be done let me enjoy thy Presence and keep me in thy Heavenly Power and I desire no more so the thing was weighty upon me but I kept it unto my self not knowing how it would be brought to pass considering in my mind the Lord might try me whether I would give up or not and as I found a Willingness the thing was made easie and the Burden taken away whereupon I thought the Lord would accept my Willingness and it was hid from me for a season but I can truly say in my measure and that to the Praise of God that I hid the Word of the Lord in my Heart until it was as a Fire in me till I had declared it and I then told it to my Husband the Power being fresh in me and the Love of God filled my Heart in which I had true Unity with Friends in New-England and I told my Husband That the Lord would deliver him out of Prison and that we must travail in another Nation together and there bear a Testimony to God's blessed Truth which is broken forth in this Day of his Power wherein he is making his People willing And though we were then and are at this day the least of many of the Lord's People yet his Strength hath been manifested in Weakness for which we have cause to bless his holy Name whilst we have a day to live So the thing rested in my Heart many Moneths and Years and then the Lord delivered my Husband out of Prison in which time my little Children were grown up all except the youngest which the Lord took away from me then the Springs of Life opened in me and the time was come that I might no longer hide it in my Heart but make it known to Friends which after I had done so in opening my Heart a little to some Friends the thing seemed harder to me to get through than before in which time I was in a great strait but the Lord appeared and it was said secretly that If I did go I should feel my Reward from the Lord in my own Bosom then I having this Testimony sealed in my Heart I laboured with my Husband day and night to know his Mind because it was much with me that we were to Travail together but he did not yet see it to be required of him at that time but gave me Liberty in Obedience to the Invisible Power though the thing was hard because it was shewed me at first that we should Travail together but the Lord made me willing to leave all that was near and dear to me and I went on my Journey towards London and after some time had with Friends there I made Preparation to go to Sea and having got my Bed and Clothes on board the Ship it pleased the Lord in whom was and is my Trust to send my Husband to go along with me and so we took shipping together and were thirteen Weeks in our Passage from London to Road-Island belonging to New-England and I can truly say I did not know what I might do for all there were in an Uproar Killing and Burning and Murdering and great Distress was upon the Peoples Minds and I said in my Heart The Lord that hath brought me out of my Native Country lead me whither thou wilt let me but enjoy thy Power and feel thy Presence and I desire no more So we stayed a few dayes in that Island and were refreshed with Friends and we heard of a new Law that was made at Boston against the People of God called Quakers which Law was as followeth viz. It was ordered at their Court at Boston and the Authority thereof That every Person found at a Quakers Meeting shall be apprehended Ex Officio by the Constable c. by Warrant from a Magistrate or Commissioner and shall be committed to the House of Correction and there to have the Discipline of the House applyed unto them and to be kept to work with Bread and Water for Three Dayes and then released or else shall pay Five Pounds in Money as a Fine for such an Offence to the Collony and all Constables neglecting their Duty in not faithfully executing this Order shall incur the Penalty of Five Pounds upon Conviction And then it opened in us in the Springs of Life That We must travail thither and break in upon their new Law in which we were willing to bear our Testimony with the rest of Friends to God's blessed weighty Truth against this Generation that remain there unto this day that so with
these things work not the Righteousness of God but where ye lie in the bottom though covered over with a Profession of the Truth yet ye will eat as a Canker Therefore Friends we beseech you to stand in Awe and in the Fear and Dread of the Lord God and sin not for we have known the Terrors of the Lord against Sin in our own Particulars and also his Mercies blessed be his Name forever and ever And therefore we beseech you in the Love of God that ye wait together to feel God's weighty Power that so the ground Work ye may know and the top Stone laid in the true Self-denyal that so as Lambs of one Fold ye may feed together in the low Valleys Everlasting Glory and Honour be unto the Lord our God for all his Mercies for they are exceeding great unto the Children of men in this Day of God's Salvation which is now broken forth and is largely manifested and the Voice of the Lord is heard which Voice shakes the Earth terribly and even removes it out of its place and not only the Earth but the Heaven also And the Lord is gathering in both Professors and Prophane Everlasting Blessing be to our God the Work of the Lord prospers Therefore Friends that ye may all be diligent and Helpers on of this great Work as Moses and Aaron and Hurr that so Miriam's Curse ye may escape So the Lord God Almighty who separated us from our Native Country and from our dear Relations the Lord of Hosts is his Name he hath found us Worthy with the rest of his Messengers to bear a Testimony unto his blessed Unchangeable Truth Therefore Friends to the keeping of him who keeps his Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps we do commit the keeping of our Souls and Spirits with yours also who are of the Family of God though we be far seperated and cannot behold the faces one of another but in the Mystery of the Fellowship which is the Power of God where the World knows us not we bid you all Farewell From us your Friends in the blessed Truth of God in our measures Thomas Alice Curwen Friends here are generally well and here is an increase daily for a Priest comes to our Meetings and People of all sorts come so that here is good Service for God and the Truth increases for the more the Enemy seeks to hinder the increase of Truth the more it spreads Therefore blessed will all they be who abide faithful in the Truth And we earnestly desire to hear from you in Writing for our Dear Unfeigned Love is more than we can express Thù for Friends at Road-Island in New-England Barbadoes the 11th of the 9th Moneth 1677. DEar Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen whom I truly honour in the Lord My Soul is truly comforted in the remembrance of you and in the feeling of that Heavenly Life by which you are supported in God's Service amongst us my Spirit doth rejoyce and Praise the Lord our God in your behalf who hath been very bountiful in visiting of his Seed by sending of his faithful Servants and Ministers amongst us to declare God's Way which is Life among whom ye shall be numbred Dear Friends this is a Salutation of my unfeigned Love and honourable Esteem which lives in my Heart of you in the blessed Truth of God And Dear Friends I am not a little comforted that ye have thought me worthy of a few Lines from you which I have received and do desire that ye may bteathe to the Lord our God for my Preservation in the pure Truth which is more to be desired than all the World and the Glory of it And so dear Friends I shall conclude this with my dear Love in the Truth to you both and remain Your Loving Friend in the Truth John Readman An Epistle to Nathaniel Sylvester and his Wife at Shelter-Island the 6th of the 4th Moneth 1676. FRIENDS IF the Truth make us free then are we free indeed so let none grieve the Spirit of Truth that the Power of the Lord may be felt which keeps all in good Order and brings the Mind into true subjection to do the Will of God and not our own Wills and therefore this is in our Hearts as a Salutation of our Love That you who are Parents may stand in the Truth of our God as Pillars and watch over your Children in the Fear of the Lord and keep them to Plainness of Speech and not only you to them and them to you but to all people that so the pure Cross they may come to know which is the Power of God that it may rule the Mind and this will bring them as they stand and wait in the Simplicity of it to see and put away all their Needless Attire and so they will grow as tender Plants and this is our Love in the Simplicity of our Hearts that ye may stand over them in the Fear and Wisdom of the Lord as Pillars or else how will ye answer the Lord who sees the secrets of all Hearts we do leave it to that of God in you to judge THOMAS ALICE CURWEN To Friends in Gravesend in Long Island FRIENDS IN the Sense of God's infinite Presence and holy Power in which our Life is preserved and in which our Unity stands with the Father and the Son and one with another do we salute you as we abide faithful to the Lord and in his blessed Truth a Measure whereof ye are Witnesses of and therefore it is in our Hearts in remembrance of God's living Presence in which we were well refreshed when we were together and therefore to stir up your pure Minds and to put you in remembrance of the blessed Presence of the Lord for ye are Witnesses how good the Lord is Oh Dear Friends the Lord even filled our Cup and made it for to overflow which broke our Hearts before the Lord and one to another yea he even caused his living Presence to be manifested amongst us to our great Satisfaction Everlasting Holy Praises be returned to his blessed Name forever and for evermore for his Mercies are exceeding great And now Friends in a living Sense of the Lord's Presence do we write unto you that ye may feel in reading hereof the Springings of that Life in which we write unto you that so as Epistles in one anothers Hearts we may be read and known of all men Oh dear Friends abide in the Vine Christ Jesus that so ye may bring forth precious Fruit to God and this is a Christian's State indeed for the Day of the Lord is come very near and all that bear not this holy Fruit are nigh unto Cursing Therefore do we dearly desire that you and all the rest of our dear Friends with whom we have been well refreshed in God's blessed Truth may so walk as to adorn the same and be Possessors of it that so they that fear not God seeing our Light shining may confess that
all know me saith the Lord from the greatest to the least for I will write my Law in their Hearts and put my Fear in their inward Parts saith the Lord God Almighty Therefore Oh Priest I tell thee plainly 't was to a Feast that thou wast invited and the Lord is sending out into the High-wayes and Hedges to call in all and even to compell them that will not come that so his House may be filled that so all may be lest without excuse as he was that had not on his Wedding Garment who was Speechless for the Day is come that that whcih is seen in secret must be declared openly And therefore in the invisible Light we are moved to write unto thee seeing thee in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ which lighteth every man that cometh into the World which hath long shined in Darkness but now the commanding Power of the Lord is gone forth and he hath commanded Light to shine out of Darkness and it shines in Peoples Hearts and will shine more and more untill the Perfect Day for which a Remnant can bless the Lord and sing Praises to his Name and unto the Lamb for evermore who was slain from the Foundation of the World but is now alive and lives forever and evermore and rules in the Hearts of the Upright And therefore in the invisible Light as I was waiting upon the Lord my Heart was truly opened to write unto thee seeing thee to be one of them that shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men that will neither enter in themselves nor suffer others Therefore saith Christ Jesus Wo unto you ye Whited Walls ye Painted Sepulchres ye Blind Guides and indeed you are so and lead the Blind and a Pit of Darkness is before you Therefore is our Advice unto thee and to all whom it may concern That ye turn to this invisible Light and as you wait in it and abide with it it will preserve your Hearts and Minds to God and ye shall not fall into the Pit And if thou enquire of us What is our Way We tell thee plainly Christ Jesus the Light of the World who said I am the Way the Truth and the Life he that believeth in me out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water And He even Christ Iesus the Power of God is the Original and not Hebrew Greek and Latin which the Jews set over his Head when they Crucified him as it is in these dayes and as is said before he is our Way and he is the Hope of our Glory and we are not ashamed to confess him before men for if we should not confess him before men but be ashamed of him as too too many are then he will not confess us before his Father in Heaven Therefore Oh Priest we warn thee that thou cease giving thy Meanings to the Scriptures Thou mayst read thy Doom in the Revelations He that Adds or Diminishes God will add unto him the Plagues written in that Book THOMAS ALICE CURWEN An Epistle written to Friends at Thickets and Clifts Meetings at Barbadoes the 20th of the 1st Moneth 1676. TO you Friends of the Thickets and Clifts Meetings and to all whom it may concern in the Love of God that truly opens our Hearts do we write unto you to stir up the pure Mind and to raise up that Love that brought us unto you even the Love of God that first begat us by the Word of his Power that we should be as the first Fruits unto God and this makes us to Cry many a time in the secret of our Hearts both in Meetings and out of Meetings Oh! how great is thy Loving kindness O Lord Oh that the World knew it And in the feeling of it we can truly say as one did Oh! that all the Lord's People were Prophets that they might speak one by one that all might be comforted and that the Lord would enlarge Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem then there would be no complaining for want of Power but the Lord would open even the Windows of Heaven and pour out Blessings upon you that ye shall not have room to hold it in but the Overflowings of it you would feel in your own particulars and when you were thus filled you would bless the Lord you would cry unto others to come away taste feel how good the Lord is for his Mercies endure forever to them that fear him and wait upon him And therefore Friends we beseech you think it not hard to keep your Meetings apart for the Blessing of the Lord is as truly witnessed in Meetings apart both in Men and Womens Meetings and though Women be the Weaker yet he hath laid Help upon one that is Mighty Oh! Praises Praises saith our Souls forever for evermore who feel his Power in our Hearts at this time And therefore do we write unto all that may be concerned in it That ye beware of that Spirit that was in the Children of Israel in the days of old for the Lord knows right well before whom we stand who knows the Innocency of our Hearts and Spirits that we judge no mans Person nor hint at no Particular the Lord knows but we have heard some say That it was well in the Beginning when there was not so many Meetings and we say the same But Friends consider we beseech you all for our Spirits are bowed down in a Sence of the Work of the Lord in this Island and therefore ye that have known good dayes in your Infancy rest not there but come to your Growth to a Young mans state and to an Old mans state for according to the manner of men in Twenty Years time we come to our Growth much more in the Work of the Lord can we come to teach others And therefore look not back as the Children of Israel did who fainted in their Minds because of their long Travel but take heed of that Spirit that would not have many Meetings nor to have Truth to spread for the Enemy lies near that would betray the Simplicity Therefore thus saith the Lord in our Hearts this day as he did unto Moses in dayes past Speak unto the Children of Israel that they go forward for this is the Day of the Lord's Appearance spiritually he is bringing out of Aegypt by a strong Arm and blessed is every one that helps on the Work and puts his Shoulder to it So faint not Friends in your Minds nor be not weary for the Work is the Lords and he will carry it on it shall Prosper and God prospers it in this Island Everlasting Praises be unto the Lord our God can our Souls truly say who feel the Work of the Lord to Prosper and therefore we say again Let none faint in the Day of Tryal for that 's a Testimony that their Strength is small And therefore Friends be Bold and Valiant for God's blessed Truth and take no thought but wait
upon the Lord and if ye be called before Magistrates the Lord will put a word into your Mouthes that they shall not be able to gainsay And if it be so that ye suffer joyfully the Spoiling of your Goods ye shall come to witness That the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness of it and they that Fear the Lord shall want no no good thing neither for Soul nor Body And if it be so that the Devil cast into Prison fear it not but in Patience possess your Souls for the Lord will bring thorow for we speak what we know for the Lord has delivered us out of Prison inwardly and outwardly and his Presence has been with us in all our Troubles and he has made us to sing in Prison and in the Stocks Praises be to the Lord God and to the Lamb forever sayour Souls But Friends we do not write this to make our Sufferings known but to encourage all to abide patiently that ye may come through as Gold purified for the Wicked are but like Waters and their Persecution is but like a Wave of the Sea and though they rise never so high yet it is our Faith in God That he that hath put a Limit to the bound of the Sea and hath said unto it Thus far shalt thou pass and no further and there shalt thou stay thy proud Waves Oh Friends bless the Lord with us for it is a Day of fulfilling Therefore O let Truth spread in every Particular let it take Root downward and grow upward and bring forth Fruit to the Praise and Glory of our heavenly Father And this we have to say That every Plant that he hath not planted shall be pluck't up and every Plant that his right hand hath planted he watereth it that it may bring forth more Fruit and in this is our heavenly Father Glorified and Well-pleased that we bear much Fruit Everlasting Praises be unto the Lord our God forever and evermore So with our Unfeigned Love we take leave of you and remain Your Friends in that which never alters nor never changes but remains forever do we Salute you all and bid you all Farewel Thomas Alice Curwen For the Mayor of Plymouth in Devonshire Friend Richard Tomes VVE do read in the Scriptures of Truth that in the Apostles dayes there was a noble Festus amongst the Magistrates Therefore do I write unto thee that thou be not stired up against a peaceable People that meets together singlely to worship God in Spirit in Truth for God is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit in Truth and until People turn to the Spirit of Truth which is the Light within with which he hath lighted every one that comes into the World and he that hates this Light has it and though they may kick against it yet it stands a faithful Witness for God and whatever People may profess they never worship the living God acceptably for we know at this day that God hears not Sinners no more then he did in the dayes of Old and that the Prayers of the Wicked are abomination to him as well in this day as in times past but he that fears God and doth his Will them he hears and the Will of God is done in hearing and obeying the Light and by this did they witness in dayes past their Hearts to be Sanctified and this is it that we meet together for and we are but yet learning the Lord's Prayer and as we are willing to wait that the Will of God may be done in Earth as well as in Heaven the Lord has blest us and we shall spread over the face of the Earth and though Balaam and Balack would rise up to Curse Israel at this day yet this Testimony is in my Heart for God That he hath blest us and no man can Curse that which God hath blest And as we keep the Word of his Patience the Lord God will keep us in the Day of Tryal which shall certainly come upon all that dwell on the Earth and know not a Habitation in the God of Jacob for the Day is come which many would have seen wherein the Lord is bringing mighty Things to pass who reveals his Secrets to them that truly fear him the same which was in the Apostles dayes wherein the Everlasting Gospel was preached which is the Power of God unto Salvation and if any preach any other Gospel let them be accursed And this Gospel is a wonder to you and is hid from you and therefore ye perish in your Sins which separate you from the Living God and doth hinder good things from you who live in the pleasure of the Flesh and drink up Iniquity as the Ox drinks Water but now in the Latter Dayes the Lord is pouring forth his Spirit upon all Flesh his Sons and upon his Daughters and they do Preach and Prophecy in his Name and in his Name do wonderful things and it is a great Wonder to all the World who lies in Wickedness and therefore the People perish for want of Knowledge for the Lord would have gathered you in this Day as he would have gathered Jerusalem in the dayes of old but they would not be gathered and therefore they were left Desolate and the same is coming upon you if you do not speedily Repent for Jerusalem was destroyed who would not be gathered and then Lamentation Wo and Misery did fall upon them and remains upon them till this Day but the Lord hath gathered a Remnant into Covenant with himself wherein Jacob doth rejoyce and Israel doth dwell safely And therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed though many be Jacob's Troubles and the Afflictions of Joseph which is now as was in the Dayes of old and they that suffer for him they shall reign with him forever and for evermore and fit at his right Hand in his Throne of Grace and in his Kingdom of Glory forever and for evermore where we shall Sing and Rejoyce with the Lord God and the Lamb forever the Lamb that was slain in us in Sodom and Aegypt while the World had a Foundation in us who was dead but is now alive whose Name is called the Word of God which was in the Beginning as the Scripture doth declare 1 John 1. This was for the Priest of Ives Joshua Herning the 19th of the 10th Moneth 1677. I could not be clear in the sight of the Lord untill I had written a few Lines unto thee seeing thee come into our Meeting with the Constable and his great Staff and I heard thee say That thou wast an Informer I tell thee plainly it were better for thee to be a Hang-man for they do but execute others that by their Law are condemned to dye but many Informers have brought shameful Death upon themselves and Ruin upon their Families as it is on Record Indeed we confess we are a Suffering People at this day as they were that went before us who took
People We are as it were a Song among a wild Generation and those Ranting Spirits are much as they were when ye were here they come in the like manner Ranting Roaring Singing and Dancing in t our Meetings it is the harder to bear because it casts stumbling-blocks in the way of the Simple for some of the World think they are of us and call them Quakers saying Look where they differ among themselves These Ranters were very Wicked at Oyster-Bay the last Meeting when the Meeting was near ended my Husband was taken violent Sick with a Vomiting and Gripes some of them hearing of it were very glad and said to me I should lose my Right Eye and my Right Arm and came near the Door where we were and where my Husband lay sick and cryed Wo Wo Wo to that Damned Story and Jezebel his Wife Friends are prety well over their Spirits in these Parts and generally well at Cravesend Oyster-Bay and Westchester there is much Affiction on Josiah Parnel his Family hath been much afflicted with Sickness My dear Friends I am glad to write to you now not knowing when I may have the like time again I being with Child and wanting but about six Weeks of my Account My dear Husband 's dear Love is to you both So not knowing how the Lord may be pleased to deal with me I dearly salute you and take my leave of you both in that Love which is of the Lords begetting Your True Friend Patience Story New-York in New-England the 10th of the 8th Moneth 1675. Salem in New-England the 22d of the 5th Moneth 1677. My Dear and Well-beloved Friends IN the Blessed Everlasting Truth of our God revealed and made manifest do I at this time dearly salute you My dearly Beloved in the Lord unto whom the Salutation of my Love abounds and with whom I have been well refreshed in that pure and heavenly Unity which makes us near unto the Lord and one to another even in that endless love which cannot be broken which nothing can separate from but it reacheth over Sea Land for it is unlimited neither can any Waters quench it Oh! read me here and feel me here even in that which Tongue cannot express nor Lips declare for truly in this are you dear and near unto me for as the Truth is dear and precious unto me so are they that dwell in it even in this blessed Truth which the Lord God hath been pleased to make a Remnant partakers of in this our Day and Age and hath caused us with them to taste of his heavenly divine Love which floweth from the Fountain of Endless Life in which we can feel one another and truly rejoyce tegether in the Spirit though separated in the outward and may not see one anothers faces any more in the Flesh yet as we dwell in that which is Immortal we shall enjoy one another in the Invisible Life which changeth not where there is Joy and Pleasure for evermore Oh! blessed and magnified be the Name of our God forever who is not wanting unto them that put their Trust in him but he supports and preserves in all Conditions and Tryals whatsoever And dear Friends for so you are to me in the Truth that changeth not for you are as an Epistle written in my Heart never to be blotted out and the Remembrance of you is a refreshing to me when I call to mind the blessed Society and Fellowship we enjoyed when we were together in which the Lord God of Heaven preserve and keep us forever unto the end of our dayes so shall we reap a good Harvest if we faint not and come to lay down our Heads in Peace and be at rest with the Lord when Time shall be no more Dear Hearts I have much to write unto you but being in haste time will not permit I being also but ill in Body I am willing to give you an Account concerning Margaret Brewster whom you know who came lately from Barbadoes in the Lord's Service to Boston where she performed it I being also with her in her Service and in her Sufferings except Whipping as also was Lydia Wright and Barbary Bowers and John Eston's Son also a Prisoner with us a Moneth And Dear Hearts I have met with many Tryals since I saw your Faces but the Lord hath hitherto preserved me through it all blessed be his Name forever I cannot now give you an account concerning my Mother and Brothers who were taken Captives by the Cruel Indians some Moneths but the Lord hath delivered them and they are here now with me So dear Friends being in great Haste I must take my leave of you committing you to the Care and Keeping of the Lord in which Everlasting Love I bid you Farewel my dear Friends Farewel who am Your True and Real Friend Mary Milles. Friends here in general their Love is to you I received your Letter with Gladness of Heart and desire to hear from you again From Flushen in Long-Island in New-England the 15th of the 7th Moneth 1677. Dear and Inwardly beloved Friends Thomas Alice Curwen YOu are both dear and near unto me as my own Life for I can truly say that I have been often Refreshed in remembrance of you feeling you in that dear Love and Life which proceeds from him who is our Life and length of our dayes in whom we live and have our Being who is our Strength in time of need when Tryals come and Exercises come we find him a God at hand and not afar off blessed and praised be his holy Name forever saith my Soul for his unspeakable Love by which he hath gathered us near unto himself and near one to another by the Arm of his endless Power which reaches over Sea and Land and reaches to his own wherein we have true Fellowship one with another in the Spirit of Truth where the World knows us not for therein doth his Worship stand and such doth the Lord seek to worship him that worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth blessed be his holy Name who is God over all blessed be his holy Name forever and for evermore who hath filled our Hearts with his living Presence which doth engage us more and more to follow him and to lean upon him for his Judgments are pure and he delights to abound in Mercy And so in that Everlasting Love which our Heavenly Father hath loved us from the beginning I do dearly salute you both for you have often been in my Remembrance since we have been seperated as outwardly and have been often with you in that blessed Truth wherein our Unity stands which endures forever which will live over all and out-last all the invented Worships which the Devil hath begot many into but their Day is almost over for they are all in Confusion and all in Heaps but blessed be the holy and sacred Name of the Lord forever who has preserved a Remnant to stand in their
Testimony for the Honour of his Everlasting Truth Friends are generally well in Health blessed be the Name of the Lord forever and for evermore So having this opportunity I was willing to write these few Lines Friends you are dear and near unto me and the Springs of Love and Life do often flow sorth unto you more than Tongue or Pen can express So no more but Your assured Friend and Brother in the Truth of our God Matthew Pryar And as Opportunity presents let me hear from you Friends have suffered pretty much at Boston since you were there Margaret Brewster of Barbadoes hath been sorely Whipt and many Friends more and here are a great many Friends come over to Delaware and I fear that there is great need of Faithful Labourers in these parts No more but my dear Love to you both Matthew Pryar Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen IN that Love of God which is Everlasting and Endless in all his dear Babes and Children whom he hath begotten by his Immortal Word do I salute you and you are often in my Remembrance although far seperated as to the Outward yet near in that which is Invisible and Immortal in the Life of Innocency in which Life you were made instrumental in the Hand of our God to comfort me and hold me up in a living hope when I was well nigh overwhelmed with Sorrow but Praises are given by me unto our God that lives forever who hath given me Patience to wait his time and a Contented Heart that into what Estate and Condition I may be brought I hope I shall be contented Dear Friends I do own dearly your Labour of Love and in the sense of the same do bid you Farewel Who am your Friend in the Truth Francis Colley Flushen in New-England the 15th of the 8th Moneth 1677. DEar and Well-beloved Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen ' whom I love in the Truth and as my Love was dear to you when you were with us so it remains now when we are seperated and my Heart is truly knit unto you in Unfeigned Love and as you were a Comfort and a Strengthning in my great Weakness when you were with me which I cannot forget though far seperated but I do say The Lord reward your Labour of Love into your Bosoms for the Lord hath of his abundant Love raised me from a weak estate that I may yet remain in the Land of the Living to declare his Praise and to signifie my endeared Love to my Brethren and Sisters and to bear a Living Testimony for my God against the Wrong Spirits that burden the Seed of God So my dear Friends I have not much to acquaint you with only that which was fore-seen That Bad Spirits are working their own Destruction So in that Love which I began I do take my leave and remain Your Friend and Sister Mary Tyllton Gravesend in New-England the 15th Day of the 8th Moneth 1677. Antego the 19th of the 4th Moneth 1677. Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen MY true love is to you both desiring your Everlasting Well-fare and Well-being in God's Everlasting Truth that is broken forth amongst us blessed be his Name forever who does daily engage us with his Love and gives us a living Experience of his Mercies and Goodness who feeds our Immortal Souls and keeps us fresh and green and bears up our Heads in the time of great and deep Exercises and Tryals which we do meet withal Everlasting Praises and Glory be to his Name forever so that we can say of a Truth Good is the Lord to all that wait upon him and chuse him to be their chiefest Beloved who indeed is the chiefest of Ten Thousand to his little Remnant that has none in Heaven but only the Lord Jesus Christ nor none on Earth in comparison of him And so desiring we may forever wait in singleness upon the Lord that he may keep us and preserve us in the sense of his Love breathing and crying unto the Lord one for another in the blessed Seed and Gift and holy Spirit that the Lord hath blessed through all Ages and Generations Everlasting Praises be unto his holy Name forever Oh Friends your Faithfulness the Lord hath made me in my measure sensible of wherein my Soul is comforted being Members of the one Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head and Leader that goes before his People and leads into the green Pastures of Life which the World cannot give us nor take from us JASPER TREGOUSE Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen I Received your Lines and your Friend R. J. and cannot but accept kindly of your Remembrance of me in the Lord and was refreshed in them and your true Love therein as I have also been in your Company in several good Meetings by God's Power refreshed for which let him have the Praise forever and your tender and dear Advice in the Truth is owned and I desire your Remembrance of me in the Lord may be continued and that I may be preserved through all Tryals to God's Praise and worthy of his Mercies and Loving-kindness which is large and incomparable And dear Friends your Labour of Love in and Service for the Lord is not to be slipt out of Remembrance in many Hearts in this Island but is still very fresh and green and your Reward I question not is in your Bosom and will be with the Lord who was and is the exceeding great Reward of his Servants both in others and in this Age who were willing to forsake their Country and Kindred at his Requirings So dear Friends in the Salutation of that Love which exceeds all other I remember you and desire to be remembred by you And if you see G. F. mind me to him I have him in due Respect and Honour though I am as one of the least of the Thousands of Israel yet of true Jacob's stock the Stem is felt through the Goodness of Jacob's God whose Presence is better than this World's Glory Your Friend and Brother in measure of God's Power JOHN BARKER Barbadoes the 1st of the 5th Moneth 1676. Dear Thomas and Alice Curwen TO whom is my dear Love desiring these precious Seasons may never be forgotten wherein we have been sweetly watered and refreshed together but that the Glory of all may return to him in whom all our fresh Springs are Your Service for God amongst us I believe will be owned forever and a Testimony thereof is fresh in the Hearts of a Remnant in this Island and a sad and bitter Condition are many reduced to who opposed your Testimonies and so have come to wither and blast as is wofully manifest by Henry Jones at this present who is gone out of the Unity into the Enmity and heaped up a parcel of dirty stuff in writing against Friends and some others there about stand by him I think none but such as are out of the Practice of meeting with their Families I write the less of
these things because I believe William Mullnex may give you a fuller account Dear Friends your honourable Service and innocent Behaviour amongst us cannot be forgotten by a Remnant in this Island who would be glad if the Lord saw meet once more to see you but in the mean time I desire we may be bound up together in that one Spirit which partakes of the Dew from Heaven and keeps alwayes green and fresh blossoming and bringing forth Fruit well-pleasing to the Lord. And the Desire of my Heart is that in your Breathings to the Lord I may not be forgotten who love and honour in my Soul all true-hearted and right-begotten Friends who have the right Image yea the Father's Image stamped upon them and with such I hope to be one forever So no more at present but mine with my Wife 's dear Love to you both I remain Your Friend in the nearest Relation Edward Wright Barbadoes the 18th of the 12th Moneth 1679. Dear Friends Thomas and Alice Curwen MY dear and well-beloved Friends in God who hath begotten us to himself in his blessed Truth and so one to another in which my Soul and Spirit doth salute you both Having still in my Heart your faithful Labour and Courage in which you travailed amongst us here to the refreshing of the Honest-hearted and lives fresh in the Hearts of the Upright Oh! how did the Lord make you as a Nursing-Father and Mother to the tender weak Lambs of God! and laboured to gather in the straying Sheep which were wandring from the Flock labouring to bring them into the Fold again where Rest is truly known for in the Out-goings and Wandrings there is a Spirit that is seeking for Liberty but not that of God but that which will not bow to Christ's Yoke in which your Spirits had a sore travel whilst here amongst us and all the Valiant to this day do feel the same yet as we keep to the Lord we do find Victory over all the Contrary Opposing Spirits and the Lord's Power and Living Presence is with us to our great Refreshings and Spiritual Comfort of the little ones who keep low in his Fear and are made willing to follow him through whatsoever he will carry them so that we can say It is very good to keep near to the Lord that we may feel him to bear us up continually in Tryals Troubles and Afflictions in which we are made to Rejoyce more than in the Increase of Corn Wine or Oyl to God's Praise and Glory and to the Comfort of our Souls and to the carrying on of his great Work which he hath begun and will carry on by his Faithful Upright Single-hearted Ones The Lord raise up more Faithful Ones that may stand up for God and plead God's Cause against all that shall oppose it as he did faithful Moses and Joshua in the day of Israel's Rebellion that like the good Spies may give a good Report of the good Land and so encourage but not discourage any but are willing to help forward the hindmost of the Flock and encourage the foremost so that we may all come to travel on to the Land of Rest that we may all come to praise God together with one Heart and one Mind and bless him together forever saith my Soul Barbadoes the 12th of the 3d Moneth 1676. Elizabeth Gretton THE People of God called Quakers being met together in the Fear of the Lord to worship God and to feel the Presence of the Lord whereby we might strengthen and edifie one another to the Praise and Glory of our God who is worthy forever and after we had been some hours in the Meeting there came in a Constable called Constable Noyse and a Merchant called Benjamin Gibs with their Aid having a Warrant from Simon Broadstreet in his Majesty's Name as they said to break up our Meeting some Friends desired them to read their Warrant which was to this effect That they were to bring every Person found at a Quakers Meeting then a Friend said This Warrant is to bring such Persons as are found at a Quakers Meeting to the House of Correction Alice Curwen answered This Warrant takes not hold on us we are the Meeting this Warrant is to bring such Persons as are found at a Quakers Meeting So the Constable stood pretty moderately but Benj. Gibs turned about to a Friend in the Ministry and said Come ye are Blasphemers we will not stand to sac the Devil Worshipped Then Benj. Gibs being asked What he heard us say His answer was He had not heard us speak one word though before he had called us Blasphemers and said They would not stand there to see the Devil worshipped Alice Curwen in the Fear of the Lord kneeling down to Prayer was violently haled along the Room and down Stairs to the House of Correction Flushen in New-England the 6th of the 12th Moneth 1677. Thomas Curwen The Sufferings of Thomas Curwen which he hath suffered for Conscience sake towards God which was for the Testimony of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy the Word of God who have Contended with several Priests concerning my Testimony for the Tythe ever since I was convinced of the Eternal Truth of God who doth Witness the Law changed and the Priesthood changed also that took Tythes under the Law which was an Offering in the time of the Law before Christ came but now Christ Jesus is come and I do witness him come who is the one Offering who was sacrificed and offered up once for all who hath Fulfilled and put an End to all Tythes Types Figures and Shadows and Offerings under the Law of a Carnal Command but now I do witness Glory be to God forever Christ Jesus come who is the Power of God unto Salvation who is a Priest forever without Beginning or End of Days who is Alpha and Omega forever and therefore I cannot pay Tythes Concerning my Sufferings and Persecution by Thomas Shaw Priest of Aldingham in Fornis in Lancashire IN the year 1652. about the 14th day of the 7th moneth I had a Mare taken away worth 6 l. also in the year 1654. I had a Cow taken away worth 2 l. 10 s. and in the year 1656. I had two Cows taken away worth 8 l. and in the year 1658. I had the most part of sixteen Acres of Corn taken away which was worth at least 30 l. whose Bailiffs and Servants came forcibly brake into the Barn and also in the year 1660. about the 10th day of the 11th moneth I had a Horse taken away worth 4 l. or there-about And these Goods took Priest Shaw from me besides Eleaven Years Imprisonment and then shortly after he ended his dayes in great Wo and Misery to the sight of all the World that did know him for the Lord laid his Judgments upon him who was struck into a Palsie that he was not sensible what he did or said And then another with his Horns began to push and make War