deny us 2 Tim. 2. 12. And therefore let us take up a Resolution to follow him in this our Day in singlenesse of Soul and in our Innocency That we may be Blameless and Harmless the Sons of God without Rebuke in the midest of a Crooked and Perverse Generation among whom shine ye as Lights in the World Phil. 2. 15. giving no Offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed But in all things Approving our selves as the Ministers of God in much Patience in Affliction in Necessities in Distresses in Stripes in Imprisonments in Tumults in Labours in Watchings in Fasting by Pureness by Knowledge by Long-suffering by Kindness by the Holy Ghost by Love Unfeigned by the Word of Truth by the Power of God by the Armour of Righteousness on the Right hand and on the Left by Honour and Dishonour by evil Report and good Report as Deceivers and yet True as unknown and yet well known as Dying and behold we Live as Chastened and not Killed as Sorrowful yet alwayes Rejoycing as Poor yet making many Rich as having Nothing yet possessing all Things 2 Cor. 3. For ye see your Calling Brethren how that not many wise men after the Flesh not many Mighty not many Noble are called but God hath Chosen the Foolish things of the World to Confound the Wise And God hath Chosen the Weak Things of the World to Confound the Things that are Mighty and Base Things of the World and Things that are Despised hath God Chosen yea and Things which are not to bring to nought the things that are that no Flesh should glory in his presence And seeing it is so my Brethren I shall Earnestly Desire you in the words of our Apostle That you also who are Troubled rest patiently with us when the Lord Jesus shall be Revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Uengeance on them that know not God and that Obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be Glorified in his Saints and to be Admired in all them that Beléeve because our Testimony among you was Beléeded So that as you have Cause to Joy in us so we have great Cause of rejoycing in you that we yet stand fast in one Faith And the Churches of God have Cause to Glory in you for your Patience and Faith in all your Persecutions and Tribulations that ye endure which is a manifest token of the Righteous Judgment of God that ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which we also suffer 2 Thess. 2. And thus if any of us suffer as Christians let us not be ashamed but let us glorifie God on this behalf As for you my Brethren that are of Kent and other Places who have all your Livelihoods and some of you all that you could be Trusted for as you are Servers in of Stores and Officers in Ships and Seamen and Labourers in the several Yards appertaining to Shipping my trouble is great for you to hear of your deplorable and sad Condition in that Officers make such use of your Tenderness of Conscience in that you cannot Swear so barbarously to use you Refusing to let you have Supplies for the Relieving your poor Families yet be of good Comfort and Roul your selves upon the All-sufficient God For mine own part I cannot but be a fellow Feeler of your sad Conditions for the Case is mine own with one that is too Great for me to deal withal and for more then I am worth but wait we upon God and in his due time he will Relieve us And therefore let us Comfort our selves in the Lord and here what the Apostle speaks James 5. 1. who saith Go to now ye Rich men wéep and howl for your Miseries that shall come upon you your Riches are Corrupted and your Garments Moth-eaten your Gold and Silver is corrupted and the Rust of them shall be a Witness against you and shal eat your flesh as it were Fire Ye have heaped Treasure together for the last Dayes Behold the Hire of the Labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud Cryeth and the Cry of them which have reaped are entered into the Ears of the Lord of the Sabbath Ye have lived in Pleasures on the Earth and been Wanton ye have nourished your Hearts as in the Day of slaughter ye have Condemned and Killed the Just and he doth not resist you Be Patient therefore Brethren unto the Coming of the Lord And Consider that there is one in Power in Heaven above them and one in Earth that is his Vicegerent intrusted under him and set up by him to be a Terrour to evil-Workers and a Praise to them that do well who in due time may be made acquainted of it and give a Remedy in it In the mean time my Beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord To Conclude I shall impart unto you my Resolution freely and shall let you know as to my present Condition though I am in a Dungeon yet I had rather be there as through Mercy I can say I am with a clear Conscience then be in the Kings Palace with a clogged Conscience For mine own part I with others have had Tenders of Liberty upon Engaging as others did the which we dare not do least we ensnare our selves for now we are as to our Meetings in this Condition we have yet the Word of a King for the quiet Enjoyment of our Meetings the which we had from Breda and since Confirmed to some of our Friends by verbal Expressions as well as in the Act of Oblivion and in his Declaration for Ecclesiastical Affairs and that upon Condition which Condition is not yet nor God assisting never shall on our part be broken For as we have Publickly Declared our selves in former times under the other Powers to be a Peaceable People and utterly against both Swearing and Fighting as by my Declaration annexed at the End of my Fannaticks Mite is apparent the which through Mercy I shall Resolve rather to Die then in the least to violate And here some men are ready to say as once the Brethren of David did to him who Queried the Reason of Davids forwardness in the Work of God Whose Answer was Is there not a Cause 1 Sam. 17. 29. So must I say at this Day Is there not a Cause Is not the Israel of God now Defied by the Great Goliahs of our Times Therefore I must say as once Jeptha did in another Case Judg. 1 1. 35. I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot go back And when I am Solicited and Perswaded to betray the Cause of Christ and break his lawes by Complying with Engagements
and to prove Faithful and Loyal to our Head and Soveraign our Supream our King our Lord and Master Jesus Christ whose Laws teach the best Loyalty to our Earthly Kings and purest love to our Princes nay to our very enemies I say to my Brethren Imprisoned and the rest yet at Liberty I shall give the advice of the Spirit recorded in James 5. 9. 10. Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold the Husband-man waiteth for the precious Fruits of the earth c. Be ye also patient stablish your Hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nie and let us not be weary in well doing for in due time we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6. 9. the which reaping time is that which fills up my Inventory and will make a mends for all and raise my total Sum to a considerable value For as I am a Trades man my Estate as to Temporals amounts but to a small value as Imprimis My Houshold Goods and wearing Apparil being very little and very mean and therefore of l. s. d. very little worth Item In my Shop and Ware-house what is left by the hand of oppression is l. s. d. scarce worth valuing So also as I am a Christian my condition in gross is this not l. s. d. worth setting down Imprimis My footsteeps watched and my Actions weighed by an unjust weight and ballance and mete by a false measure by which means is produced false Reports Opprobious Speeches cruel Mockings Scoffings Jeerings and Deridings false Accusations and Evil Surmisings and my whole Trade Heaven-wards Arraigned Judged and Condemned as utterly Lawlesse and unlawful and my Commodities sent me from thence Counterfeit and Carnal Adulterated and Abominable Sinful and Schismatical Wavouring and Unstable Whimsical and Giddy Fantastical and Fannatical Formal and Faithlesse Papal and Prophane by all which it may evidently appear that as to my present Estate and Condition among men I have l. s. d. very little comfort And to speak in the Words of our Apostle If in this Life onely we had Hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable but now is Christ risen from the dead 1 Corinthians 15. 19 20. And therefore Item In the Resurrection Day They that have done good shall arise of the Resurrection of Life John 5. 39. For if we have been planted into the likenesse of his Death we shall also be in the likenesse of his Resurrection And Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 5. 9. So also is the Resurrection of the Dead it is sown in Corruption it is raised again in Incorruption it is sown in Dishonour it is raised in Glory it is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power it is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body And as we have born the Image of the earthly so also shall we bear the Image of the Heavenly 1 Cor. 15. 43 44 49. And thus shall we be recompenced at the Resurrection of the Just Luk. 14. 14. This shall we have after we have lived in Reproach Infamy and Ignomy This shall we have if we Worship not the Beast nor his Image neither Receive his Mark in our Foreheads nor in our Hands though we have been Villified and Undervalued Railed at and Reproached Buffetted and Whipped Banished or Imprinsoned nay though we shall lose our Lives provided it be only for the Witness of Jesus and the Word of God we shall have our part in the first Resurrection And blessed and holy is he that hath Part in the First Resurrection on such the Second Death shall have no Power but we shall be Priests to God and to Christ and shall Reign with Christ a Thousand years Rev. 20. 4 5 6. For he must Reign till he hath put all Enemies under his feet And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall also the Son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be All in All 1 Cor. 15. 25 28. For it is a faithful saying That if we be Dead with him we shall also Live with him if we Suffer we shall also Reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 10 11. Therefore Item in the Harvest Crop abundance of Plenty for in due time we shall Reap if we faint not And whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6. 7 8 9. And he that goeth on weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again and bring his Sheaves with him For they that sow in Tears shall reap in Joy Psal. 126. 56. Thus Weeping may endure for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning In the Morning of the Resurrection Sorrow and Mourning shall vanish away as the dew before the Morning Sun for God shall wipe away all Tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Rev. 21. 4. And the Lamb that is in the midst of the Throne shall lead them unto living Fountains of Water and God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes Rev. 7. 17. Yea He will swallow up Death in Victory and the Lord God will wipe away Teares from all faces and the Reproach of his People shall be taken away from off all the earth for the Lord hath spoken it And it shall be said in that Day This is our God we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation Isa. 25. 8 9. For in his Presence is fulness of Joy and at his Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore Psal. 16. 11. Thus our Present Sufferings are not worthy to be compared with that Glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. For our Light Aâ—â—â—iâ—…ions which are but for a Moment worketh for us a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory whilest we look at the Things that are not seen and not on the Things that are seen for the Things that are seen are Temporal but the Things that are not seen they are eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17. And now my Brethren seeing it is so that there comes so much and such great benefit to us by our Sufferings let us Chearfully go on in Gods Way continuing Faithful to the Death that so we may attain the Crown of Life And let us follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth though to the Cross that so we may attain the Crown we shall be great Gainers by it And if we make that Use of our Sufferings that God intendeth our Faith our Patience our Joy our Love our Peace and all will be tryed strengthened and much bettered And in Conclusion we shall reap the benefit of it so as
A Fannaticks Letter Sent out of the DUNGEON OF THE Gate-House Prison OF VVESTMINSTER TO ALL His Brethren in the three Nations at liberty and also in the several Goales and Dungeons therein that are under all the Principles of the Doctrines of Christ Heb. 6. 1 2. By HENRY ADIS a Baptized Believer undergoing the Name of a Free-Willer and also most ignomineously by the tongue of Infamy called a Fannatick or a mad man Gal. 5. 1. Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free and be not entangled again with the yoak of Bondage LONDON Printed by S. Dover for the Author and are to be Sold at Book-Sellers Shops 1660. A Fannaticks Letter Sent out of the DUNGEON OF THE Gate-House Prison OF VVESTMINSTER c. Dearly and well beloved Brethren in the Lord IT is the desire of my Soul that Grace Mercy Truth Peace Love Gentlenesse Goodnesse Faith Meeknesse and Temperance to you be multiplyed with all long-suffering and knowledge Brethren When I enter into a serious consideration of what the flock of God gone before endured in their dayes not onely by cruel Mockings Deridings and Evil Speakings but also by Whipings Imprisonments Buffettings Banishments and painful Deaths Patiently Chearfully Readily and Willingly And all this that they might keep a good Conscience towards God in order to their producing his Glory and their own Eternal good I say The serious consideration of this is that which doth much encourage me notwithstanding the many difficulties of this our day to take up a resolution to go on in my Christian progresse by Divine assistance and not to look back lest with Lots wife I become a standing Monument of Gods everlasting Displeasure and therefore these are earnestly to desire you also in Gods Fear to persevere in that Path and to run swiftly towards perfection in that race you have already made some progress in beginning at Heb. 6. 1 2. And so chearfully to passe thorow this valley of Tears for he that runneth obtaineth not the Crown unlesse he strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2 5. Let us therefore so run that we may obtain 1 Cor. 9. 24. Let us labour hard to get up Sions Hill having a single Eye to Gods Glory In which narrow way you must expect the Hedges to be lined on both sides with multitudes of Amalakites shooting out their Arrows even bitter words whose Teeth are as sharp as Arrows and their Tongue a sharp Sword Psalm 57. 4. Who whet their Tongue like a Sword and bend their Bow to shoot those Arrows even bitter words Psalm 64. 3. who are ready to say with those in Jer. 18. 18. Come and let us smite him with the Tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words to whom let me beg you in Gods Fear as you tender the Honour of the Gospel and the Reputation of your Master King Jesus whom Jew-like they so Mock Scoff and Jeer at not to render to them evil for evil nor reviling for reviling but contrariwise blesse knowing that you are thereunto called that ye should inherit the Blessing for he that will love Life and see good dayes let him refrain his Tongue from evil and his Lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it for the Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous and his Ears are open unto their Prayers But the Face of the Lord is against them that do evil And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good And if ye suffer for Righteousnesse sake happy are ye and be not affraid of their Terror neither be troubled but sanctifie the Lord in your Hearts and be ready alwayes to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the Hope that is in you with Meeknesse and Fear having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evil doers they may be ashamed when they shall falsly accuse your good conversation in Christ for it is better if the Will of God be so that ye suffer for well doing then for evil doing for Christ also hath suffered for sinâ—â—â—… the Just for the unjust Psalm 3. 9. c. Therefore let us look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse and despised the shame Heb. 12. 2. Who is the Captain of our Salvation and was made perfect through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. Who was led as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearer was dumb so opened he not his mouth Acts 8. 32. For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his Mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that Judgeth Righteously 1 Pet. 2. 11 12 13. Therefore seeing we have taken his yoak upon us let us learn of him who is Lowly and Meek and we shall find rest for our Souls Mat. 11. 29. And let us not think to be above our Master for if they have called the Master of the house Belzebub how much more them of his houshold And if they have so done to the green Tree what will they not do to the dry Tree It is enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord And therefore let us consider what Legacy our Master hath left us who saith That in the World we shall have tribulation for behold saith he I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves be ye therefore wise as Serpents but harmlesse as Doves But beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Counsels and they will scourge you in their Synagogues and ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my names sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake Mat. 10. 16. 18. 22. Yea the time will come that if they shall kill you they will think they do God good service and Christ hath spoken these things that we should not be offended John 16. 12. Therefore in our patience let us possesse our Souls And blessed is he that shall not be offended in him for our light afflictions which are but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory whilest we look on the things which are not seen and not on the things that are seen for the things that are seen are Temporal but the things that are not seen they eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17. And although no chastening at the present seemeth joyous but grievous yet neverthelesse afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12. 11. And were it not that to the rejoycing of my soul I heard that your Joy
Lord and Master John 13. 13. the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2. 10. our Elder Brother Heb. 2. 11. Let us cry out and say Father forgive them they know not what they do Luk. 23. 34. And thus being furnished with the Armour of Righteousnesse on the right Hand and on the left 2 Cor. 6. 7. Let us behave our selves manfully fighting the Lords Battel even to the resisting unto Blood striving against sin Heb. 12. 4. striving together for the Faith of the Gospel Phil. 1. 27. not for the Wealth Pomp Pleasure Pastimes Preferment Power nor Dominions of the Earth neither in the behalf of our selves nor others no not in the behalf of our Lord and Master King Jesus to set Him up as King For though I do really believe that Jesus Christ shall Personally Reign yet his Kingdom is not to be set up as some would have it For the seventh Angel Sounded and there were great Voices in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and He shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 11. 15. For the stone that was cut out of the Mountain without hands that smote the Image on the Feet became a great Mountain and filled the whole earth Dan. 2. 35. And this was the confidence of that Holy Man Job 19. 25. For saith he I believe that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the last day upon the earth So also saith the Prophet Zech. 14. 4. For his Feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the East and verse 9. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day there shall be one Lord and his Name one and his Dominion shall be from Sea to Sea and from the River even to the ends of the earth for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his Feet the last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. Yet this Kingdom shall not be set up by force of Arms neither shall his Servants prepare it for him but he for them for so saith he himself John 14. 2. In my Fathers House are many Mansions And I go to prepare a place for you And I will come to you again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And therefore he spake unto them a Parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear And a certain Noble-man went into a far Countrey to receive for himself a Kingdom and to return Luke 19. 11 12. So that he shall give the Kingdom to them if we may believe himself for saith he Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luke 12. 32. And I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom and sit on Thrones Judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Luke 22. 29. But we are yet in the Kingdom of Christs Patience and not in the Kingdom of his Power for if we may believe himself he telleth us John 18. That his Kingdom is not of this World for this is Esaus Kingdom And so saith the Lord to Esdras For when Jacob and Esau were born unto Isaac Jacobs hand held fast the Heel of Esau for Esau is the End of this World and Jacob is the Beginning of that which is to come 2 Esdras 6. 8 9. And indeed this is Esau or the evil ones Kingdom for Satan is the god of this World And so saith our Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this World hath blinded the Minds of them that believe not lest the Glorious Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ should shine unto them and so saith the Devil to Christ Mat. 4 8 9. when he set him upon an high Mountain and shewed him all the Glory of the World and said unto him All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And the Lord Christ is so far from reproving the falshood of it as that he saith John 14. 13. The Prince of this World cometh but he haâ—h no part in me and John 16. 11. The Prince of this World is Judged And to evidence that Antipathy that there is between these two Kings Kingdoms and the Subjects thereof the Apostle queries with those that had engaged for that King and Kingdom when they were fighting and quarrelling for the things of a Temporal Kingdom From whence saith he comes Wars and Fightings among you come they not hence even of your Lusts that War in your Members Ye Lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye Fight and War yet ye have not because ye ask not ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the Friendship of the World is emnity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend to the World is an enemy to God James 4. 1. c. And because ye are chosen out of the World therefore the World will hate you yet that hatred is not to be requited with hatred again but with Love and good Works according to Mat. 5. 44. So that no Acts of Violence or Hostility is to be found in the hands of Canaans Subjects but they are patiently to wait for the coming of Christ For so perswadeth our Apostle Be patient brethren unto the coming of the Lord Behold the husband-man waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain be you also patient stablish your Hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. 5. 7. And although we are redeem'd with the Blood of the Lamb and are made Kings and Priests to God and to Christ and shall Live and Reign with Christ a thousand Years Rev. 20. 4. 6. Rev. 5. 10. yet we ought to have no Acts of violence found in our hands to procure or set it up but this is the mistake between those that are so eager to set up Christs Kingdom by Violence and undermining of States and Governments and us that expect it and yet can act no Acts of violence They expect him to Reign Spiritually in his People and we according to the Scriptures do look for him to come and Reign Personally with his They look to have Dominion Power and earthly Authority by him and to have their Judges restored as at the first and that on this side the Grave whilest we wait for a Manifestation of Christ from Heaven at which appearance we do expect and that upon a Scripture account that those that fall asleep in the Faith of Jesus shall then appear with Jesus and that them that are then found in the Actual Faith of