THE Warnings of the Lord TO THE King of England AND HIS Parliament As they were Wrote and Sent By his Servant George Bishope Shalt thou Reign because thou closest thy self in Cedar Did not thy Father Eat and Drink and do Judgment and Justice and then it was well with him He Judged the Cause of the Poor and Needy then it was well with him Was not this to know me saith the Lord Jer. 22. 15 16. London Printed in the Year 1667. The Warnings of the Lord c. To thee CHARLES STUART King of England am I moved of the Lord to write and to Thee it is the Visitation of his Love through him whose travel hath been for Thee in the depth of my spirit that Thy Soul may be saved in the Day of the Lord Therefore hear that thy Soul may live and thy Dayes be prolonged in the Dayes of thy Pilgrimage FRIEND THou hast been a man of Sufferings and deep sorrows have passed over thee the Lord at length hath brought Thee into a Land of Peace and set thee upon thy Fathers Throne and bowed the hearts of the People under thee so and after such a manner as was beyond the thoughts of thee or any that thus it should be And now what remaineth but that thou love the Lord and fear before him all thy dayes that it may be well with thee and thy posterity after thee and for this purpose that thou heed his Principle in thee which shews the Evil the End and Compass of all thy Actions the thoughts of thy heart and thy secrets upon thy Bed that so out of and from Transgression thou mayest come and be led into the Kingdom of God which consists in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost and the Blessing of God may be on Thee and peace and rest within thy Borders For of this thou art not ignorant as having largely tasted of the Cup that man suffereth for sin and that Promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the North nor from the South but God is Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another who is come to set his King upon his holy Hill of Sion his Pâ—inciple in Man to reign for ever Unto which men shall bring the force of the Gentiles and their Kings shall be brought and the glory of Lebanon shall come the Fir-tree and the Pine-tree and the Box-tree men of all sorts together to beautifie the place of his Sanctuary who will make the place of his feet glorious and the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve it shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted and the Sons of those that afflicted it shall come bending unto it and all those that despised it shall bow themselves down at the soles of its feet and they shall call it The City of the Lord the Sion of the Holy One of Israel and whereas it hath been forsaken and hated so that no man passed through it he will make it an Eternal Excellency a Joy of many Generations it shall also suck the Milk of the Gentiles and the Breasts of Kings and it shall know that the Lord is its Saviour and Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob. In its dayes Judah shall be saved and Israel dwell safely and the Name by which it shall be called is The Lord our Righteousness and it shall no more be said The Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt but The Lord liveth which brought up and which led the Seed of the house of Israel out of the North-Country and from all Countries whither the Lord had driven them and they shall dwell in their own Land the Lord hath spoken it And the day is come wherein the Lord hath raised unto David a Righteous Branch and a King raigneth and prospereth that executes Justice and Judgement in the Earth whose Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion and his Kingdom that which shall not pass away in which Thou mayest Raign and Live for Ever Moved of the Lord God Almighty the maker of Heaven and Earth who hath seen thine Affliction and Adversity and delivered thee in much Bowels of Love am I thus to write whom the world in scorn calls Quaker but am known by the Name George Bishope Bristol the 27th of the 4th Moneth 1660. Give this to the King The Original of this was delivered into the Kings Hand at White Hall by Mary Saunderson To the King of England these are from the Movings of the Lord in Love and Pity to warn him to take heed how he hath to do in Banishing the Friends of Truth called Quakers or in making Laws against them or in Suffering such as do or in Signing such Bills or Yeelding to them or suffering them to Pass or to become Laws or to be Executed upon them so as that they are Banished this Land or Removed out of this Nation or Caused so to be or otherwise to Suffer FRom the Lord God of Heaven and Earth the Almighty am I moved to write and to Thee it is the Word of the Lord Signe them not nor Consent unto them For thou knewest the heart of a Stranger when thou wast an Exile in other Countries and wanderedst from one Nation to another People seeking rest and finding none and thine Enemies were great and many and thou wast disappointed in all thou undertookest and thou couldest not prosper nor was there a reasonable ground of Hope as to Man that ever thy Exilement should return especially so as it is now and so soon as now and so great and large as now even beyond the Glory of thy Progenitors yet this the Lord did for thee when thou wast low and little in thine own Eyes and when of Thy People there were none to deliver Thee and he heard thy Cryes and thy Groans and thy Sighes who wast a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief and Delivered thee and placed thee upon the Throne of these Nations and bowed them unto thee and hath kept them under so that no evil occurrent that could hurt thee hath fallen out unto thee since thou first put'st thy foot on the English Shoare upon thy Returne and on thy bended knees spakest unto the Lord and gavest thanks unto him that had done this for Thee Now in the sence of this it is good for thee to abide and remaine alwayes so the remembrance of the Lord will be near thee who hath done all this for thee and thy heart will be still tender to those who are in such a condition as thou wast and so far from putting others there even the Innocent of whom thou hast a Witness in thee that they are Innocent as to thee viz. the People of the Lord called Quakers to Banish and to do otherwise unto whom thou art now called upon which can never be blotted out that thou wilt not be at rest till thou hast relieved such as are in the condition of
these and so the Blessing of God will be upon thee as thou continuest to do to others as he hath done to thee and increase of kindness and largeness of Love wilt thou receive of him as thou measurest back again unto others unto his People as he hath measured unto thee and so thou remembrest the Lord. And this as I have said will be good for thee to do that it may be well with thee as to the Lord who is able to pull thee down as he hath set thee up and by a fire unblown to consume thee shouldest thou forget the Lord and all his Benefits which he hath shewed unto thee and his large loving-kindness beyond all that have gone before thee Now as to us Behold we are in the hand of the Lord and we feel his Arm and Power with us who will never leave us nor forsake us who put our trust in him and his Presence will be enough for us where-ever he suffers us to be sent or put or however to suffer who is Lord of Heaven and Earth whom we have proved and tried and found so to us all our dayes since we were a People and he hath born us through all hitherto and will do to the end all that abide with him and so we are not in consultation nor is this sent to bespeak any thing from thee besides the Will and Purpose of the Lord whose Will we are come to do and to glorify his Name in the world and to shew that he is with us as we shall be put to it to glorify his Name who hath delivered our Souls from the Pit and our Lives from destruction and hath caused us to hear the Voyce of Joy and Gladness so that the Bones that he hath broken do rejoyce and we rejoyce to do his Will in doing or suffering whatsoever is his Will we should do or suffer without whose sufferance we know nothing can be done unto us and we feel him who is the Rock of Ages who is able yea and will uphold us who trust in him But it is for thy sake I write and in Love to thee and tender Compassion as I am moved of the Lord that thou mayest not do the thing that may make him repent of all his kindness to thee-wards and provoke him to undo thee as he hath made thee up For certainly if thou shalt do this thing and seek to remove and root out and otherwise to suffer such a Body of many thousands of Families in these Nations of us who fear the Lord who are Natural English and have a Natural Right as much as any to reside and be in our Native Country and to enjoy our Liberties and Estates as to the Lord free whom thou foundest here when thou camest in thy Friends and suffering by them who were thy Enemies and who have not been nor are in Thought in Word or in Deed otherwise since thy coming in but desiring the welfare of thy Soul and Body which we do desire and of thy Dominions and are Peaceable in the Land as the Lord is Witness and that of him in thy Conscience this the Lord will take ill at thy hands and he hath moved me to tell thee so and will prove thy Ruine and it is better for thee to have all the World than the Lord thine Enemy and upon such an account as in the behalf of an Innocent People Suffering so by Thee And this we would not have on any hand as to thee may it so stand in the will of God and therefore hath he moved me to write thus unto thee whose pitty is to thee that thou mayest not do that which will cause his hand to be against thee And so in the Bowels of the Lord and even in Tears of Compassion to thy Soul and Body to thy Dominions and People do I write who have my Witness with the Lord and shall have in Thee that I seek thy welfare and that in this thing which will leave thee without Excuse in the Day of the Lord if thou hearken not For which cause even that it may be well with thee it is written in the Movings of the Lord through His Servant and Thy Friend who truly desires the Wellfare of thy Soul and Body in this World and that which is to come George Bishope Bristol the 2d of the 1st Moneth 1661 2 The Original of this was delivered into the Kings Hand by Mary Saunderson aforesaid To the King of England FRIEND THink it not enough for thee or sufficient or that it will excuse thee before the Lord that thou hast not Signed the Bill for the Banishment of his People Thy Self but hast appointed Commissioners for what they have done they did it by Authority of Thee and by thy Commission so what thy Commissioners have done Thou hast done and what Thou hast done thy Commissioners have done and so the Lord God looks upon it and will require it of Thee And now Friend let me a little reason with thee and give the Sufferers leave to speak concerning this matter What have the People called Quakers done unto Thee thy Soul or Body thy Crown or Dignity since they were a People and since thou hast had footing lately in this Nation that thou thus dealest with them What is their Offence what 's their Crime that they should be thus dispoiled of their Natural Right to reside and be in their Native Country and be thus dealt with contrary to Nature Hast thou not proved them and tried them and upon proof and trial hast thou found the least Spot or Iota in them of Rebellion as to Thee of Disaffection of Offence Have not Times tried them Have not Prisons Have not Sufferings Have not great and sorâ— Sufferings tried them when they so suffered and yet were without Offence as to God and Man Had a Spirit of Rebellion lodged in them a spirit of Revenge or Dissatisfaction as to Thee Alas what could be expected but that as Men who perfectly understand their own Liberty and knew how as Men to engage for it they should rather dye and put all to the hazzard at one Shock to end their Sufferings either on or in the Earth then to be continually Offered up as it were They their Wives Children and Relations Estates and Families to the unlimitted rage and wickedness of Men and to the changableness of Dayes which hath alwayes hung over them after this manner to do with them what they pleased And yet they have a Witness with the Lord and also among Men that had they stood it out as men as they might have done unto which they were courted and that not a little Thou had'st hardly if at all at least with more difficulty have set foot on this Nation but they refused choosing rather to leave the issue to the Lord as to their Liberty which seemed as to men more then probably gon as to what should befall them then to take part with thine Enemies against thee
and fear or for any thing of that Nature I say again do I thus write but in tenderness to thee For when the Lord cometh to reckon this will be hard for thee And this I know assuredly from the Lord and I have his VVord for it who hath moved me to write and he hath moved me to write that thou mayest yet with-hold the Execution of Suffering upon them which if thou dost not but shalt suffer these things to be the Lord will be thine Enemy and he will withdraw from thee as he hath been with thee and will let loose that against thee which he hath hitherto kept from thee and thou wilt be made desolate George Bishope Bristol the 6th of the 3d Moneth 1662. To the King of England these To the KING of England these FRIEND THere is but a Minute between thee and the breaking forth of the fierce Anger of the Lord against thee if thou Release not presently his People who sorely suffer by thee in noysome Goals and that unto Death Moved of the Lord I am to write this to Thee who am Thy Friend who truly Loves Thee George Bishope Bristol the 5th of the 10th Moneth 1662. This was wrote when multitudes of Friends were Imprisoned especially in Newgate London where many died through the Inhumanities of the Goal being so many put together that there was not room to lodge one by another on the Ground and Infection grew through want of Room and Liberty Shortly after the Delivery of which an Order was granted by which these in Newgate London had their Liberty To the King and his both Houses of Parliament This is the Word of the Lord. Friends YE stand in a slippery place whilest ye take upon ye to meddle with his Dominion who lives for Ever For the Conscience he hath placed in Man as his particular Witness and his Seat through all Generations who hath given the Earth unto the Children of Men. So see what ye do in this particular for if ye set free that which only can be bound by him and not make Men to suffer for their freedome of Conscience you are upon a â—oot which will preserve you for ever and perpetuate your station to all Generations for herein the Lord will be with you and preserve your station whilest you stand with him and he being with you who can be against you For his Presence makes the Earth to tremble and the Isles to be afraid and the Mountains to leap and the little Hills to skip and the Sea to be driven back whilest he makes a way for his Ransomed to pass over Therefore fear and tremble before the Lord God of Hosts who divideth the Sea and it is driven back who maketh the Waters to stand as upon heaps who declareth to man his thought The Lord of Hosts is his Name And let his Dread be upon you so you will be kept and his particular Rule will be in your Conscience and his Dominion set up who is Lord of all and so ye will be preserved from intrenching on his Soveraignty when he as Soveraign rules in you and from encroaching on his Prerogative when it is your Prerogative to rule with the Lord and from being at a stand what is his Will when in you his Will Rules and the Blessing of God will be upon you whilest you Rule with God and your Rule is his Will For here hath been the Undoing of Men in all Generations and that which hath Ruined Kingdoms and Nations Another thing then the Will of God hath been their Rule which God being against and that thing against God a VVar hath been and God being the stronger they have come to nought For Who would set the Briars and Thorns against me in Battel saith the Lord I would go thorow them I would burn them together So then the Interest of Kings and Nations of Governments and Rulers of Kingdoms and People and their Peace and Prosperity is the Will of God and to do that which is well-pleasing to him that so it may be well with them and their Posterity after them and the Earth may give forth its increase and God even our God may bless us and give us every good thing And so your Prosperity I wish who am moved of the Lord thus to write unto you and whose Word it is George Bishope Bristol the 14th of the 12th Moneth 1662. The Contents of this was Printed and Delivered at the Door of each House of Parliament to tbe Members and also to the King To the King of England These FRIEND BY thy late Declaration thou hast set thy self upon the Stage of the World and all Eyes are upon thee to see what thou wilt do and it concerns thee to endeavour the uttermost of what thou hast spoken and if thou wilt who shall let thee For Liberty of Conscience being allowed to all Professions of Religion without restriction as it is a thing most Natural so it will prove most conducing to the Peace and safety of thy Dominions and in order to the Preservation of thy Renown to all Generations and thy Welfare for ever And this I am moved of the Lord to write unto thee that he expects this at thy hands seeing that through all Professions of Religions which kept thee out he brought thee in upon thy Declaration from Breda of Liberty of Conscience to all Professions of Religion which on thy part thou hast enjoyed that is to say Thy full settlement on the Throne of thy Fathers beyond that of thy Progenitors and should be on theirs besides it is the due homage and subjection thou owest to him who is Lord of all whose is Conscience as his particular Dominion who is Lord of Conscience And this I have further to say to thee from the Lord That on this foot stands thy Welfare and Prosperity for ever for under the deepest Obligation that can be thou art to God and Man in this Particular To God who hath done all this for thee beyond thy hopes whose Lordship it is To Man who hath suffered it to be in hope of this and upon thy Promise whose is the Right Now for thee to vary or decline from this to both or either will render thee the most miserable of Men as to God who sees in secret the thoughts and intents of thy heart who will give unto thee according to thy Deeds as to Man who will not believe thee and thy Faith and Reputation being lost in such a weighty matter as this what wilt thou do in the day when sorrows and distress shal attend thee every where and Despairation lead the forlorn of all thy Undertakings And this I would not have the Lord is my Witness for my Love is truly to thee and therefore as moved of the Lord do I write for such will be the Concomitants of thy Variation from this It is the Word of the Lord And so the Lord God Eternal open thine Eyes and let thee see in this
thy Day the things that belong unto thy Peace It is the Prayer of him who is in due sence of thy Condition and of what is near for the hour is great And so I am clear of thee thus far in the sight of the Lord whose Prosperity I wish George Bishop Bristol the 22th of the 11th Moneth 1662. The Original of which this is a Coppy was delivered into the hand of the King at White Hall by Elizabeth Baily it being wrote and sent upon his Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience which was after he came from Breda into England To the King and his both Houses of Parliament once more am I moved of the Lord to write and indeed bear with me and let it not seem grievous unto you what I have to say for it is in Love FRIENDS THe Lord hath determined to keep his Throne in the Consciences of Men and whosoever they are that shall seek to put him out there those will the Lord put out and they that endeavour to Justle him there them will he Justle and they shall know that he is The Lord. Therefore my Dear Friends in Bowells of Love I beseech you have not a hand in any such thing lest his wrath break out against you and his fury take hold of you and there be no Remedy For from the Lord God of Hoasts have I received it and whatsoever may come of it as to me for so doing which I leave to the Lord I must be faithful unto you and testifie it yea woe would be unto me if I did it not if you do so so it will be it is the Word of the Lord. Therefore my Dear Friends I again beseech you in the tenderest expression of Love that possible can flow from a heart that is well affected to you whose welfare I desire strike not at the Rock of Ages in this lest he dash you to pieces It is the Word of the Lord. And so I have finished what I have to say to you in the name of the Lord. George Bishope Bristol the 14th of the 1 st Moneth 1662 â— Copies of the Original of this word for word were delivered the King and the Speakers of both Houses written and Sealed by Mary Jones To the King and both Houses of Parliament Thus saith the Lord. MEddle not with my People because of their Conscience to me and Banish them not out of the Nation because of their Conscience for if you do I will send my Plagues upon you and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Written in Obedience to the Lord by his Servant George Bishope Bristol the 25th of the 9th Moneth 1664. The very Day that the next were sent out of Newgate London in order to Banishment the long sore Plague brake out in London over against the House of one of those who that day was sent from Newgate aforesaid into Banishment whose Name is Edward Brush who was sent to Jamaico To the King of England These FRIEND THou goest the wrong way to work and that which in the End will prove thy Ruine Thou shouldst not deal thus with us who are not thine Enemies but in thought and deed desire thy welfare How many Women in a manner art thou making Widowes and their Children Fatherless How art thou shipping them off their Native Country and rendring them as the worst of Men and the most miserable of Mankind who in no other thing are offensive to thee or do transgress thy Lawes then as to their Conscience to God in relation to his Worship who will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and such Worshippers the Father seeks to worship him How art thou going to undo thousands of Families in this Nation because of their Obedience to him who dare not do otherwise lest they should displease him that gives them their Being How art thou rendring thy Dominion Monstrous and thy Rule among men very unreasonable who wilt not do unto other men what thou wouldest be done unto thy self who wouldest not be so done unto as thou dost to others thy self Thou knowest the heart of a Stranger and hast been an Exile thy self Thou knowest what it cost thee and how ill thou tookest it at their hand that thus did to thee though they pretended a Cause wherefore they so did it How comes it to pass that thou hast so soon forgotten thine Old Estate which not long since thou wast so displeased with that thou art putting Innocent Men and thy Friends without a Cause as to God on that which Thou and thy Lawes call Transportation and Banishment I am grieved in my heart for thee because I have loved thee and desired in my heart thy wellfare I could weep for thee day and night if so be thereby thou mightest be made sensible I am under a deep load of affliction and am even ready to sink for thy sake in consideration of what is coming upon thee I am in great bitterness for thy Day I am even distressed with sorrow because the Mighty God is coming against thee and he whose is Conscience and the dominion thereof who will be worshipped as he pleaseth not as thou wilt is brandishing his Sword against thee and will lay thee desolate Therefore yet let my words have enterance into thine Eares and what I speak unto thee prove of Effect stay thy Steps and withdraw thine hand from us meddle not with us lest the Anger of the Lord break forth upon thee and there be no remedy I am not as those who hide things in corners and withhold from thee what are the thoughts of my heart but as one who would have it as well with thee as thou canst desire thy self who would have all evil turned from thee and that length of Dayes and Prosperity might attend thee for Ever So have I written and in nothing could I prove my faithfulness so unto thee then in so doing for I am sensible of the Lords Anger against thee for this thing and his Fury which will take hold of thee if thou shalt not desist and therefore as at all other times since thy Return I have taken the Opportunity both by Writing and otherwise to signifie unto thee what I have seen from the Lord as to this thing which for ought I ever heard thou hast friendly received so in this being weighed in my spirit and in deed distress and sorrow for thee I could no less being moved of the Lord and required of him then to discharge my self once more to thee desiring for thy sake that what I have here written may have place with thee that the Anger of the Lord burn not so against thee that there be none to quench it And so I commit what I have said to the Lord to do by it and me whatever may seem good in his sight who have no other end in all this but in Obedience to the Lord to clear my Conscience as to thee who know nothing of an outward Sword or any such thing when I so speak but only the displeasure of the Lord which I am sure is near thee who can create thee trouble as he thinks fit which I would not have upon thee and therefore have I written who am Thy Friend though a Sufferer at thy hands George Bishope Bristol the 23d. of the 2d. Moneth 1665. The Original of this was delivered into the Kings Own Hand by Mary Jones To the King of England these To the King of England This is the Word of the Lord. THink not because I have given thee dominion over the Dutch that thou shalt escape my hand if thou continue to send away my People whom thy Lawes have condemned to be Banished their Native Countrey For if thou doest I will send my Plagues on thee and thou shall know that I am the Lord. Written in Obedience to the Lord by his Servant George Bishope Bristol 16th 4th Moneth 1665. This was wrote a little after the first Engagement with the Dutch wherein Opdam their Admiral was blown up and the Original thereof the King received in James Park from the the hand of Elizabeth Baily THE END