into Tophet where the breath of his nostrils shall for ever kindle up the unquenchable fire of your endlesse torments except ye repent with speed the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and it shall surely and shortly come to passe in a time and hour when you shall not be aware of it for as the lightning comes from the East and swiftly passeth unto the West so shall the day of your destruction be except you amend Amend therefore and cease preaching unto others until you come your selves to be converted and changed from that corrupt cursed nature of wickednesse which lodgeth within you O ye hypocrites are you not or at least may you not be asham'd to get into a high place amongst people and speak against sin and iniquity seeing you your selves are not purged from it May not that saying be justly turned upon you which the Apostle Paul spake saying Vnexcusable art thou O man whosoever thou art that judgeth seeing that no man was to judg another whilst he himself was guilty of the same thing O ye deceitful workers first pluck out the beam out of your own eyes and then may you come for to see the clearer in others conditions Until then this is a sure and certain warning unto you all to cease from the evil of your wayes and repent for as sure as God lives if you go on in your stiff-neckednesse and hard-heartednesse against him his righteous Judgments will assuredly overtake you And this I have written as one that feareth the Lord and trembleth at his word in which I cannot respect the persons of any but must reprove the sins of all whether in Kings Princes Rulers or Judges Priests or people of what sort or condition soever that thereby they may take warning and repent O England England many have been thy Warnings and precious have been thy Visitations to those who have prized them and glorious hath been the day of Gods love unto those Who have believed our report and to whom the Arm of the Lord hath been revealed which hath led them out of darknesse into his marvelous light therein to live and to walk safe out of the snare of the crafty Fowler hireling Priest and deceivers which thou O England hast embraced as it were anew after thy long day of blood sorrow and anguish O consider this O ye Heads of the Nation to what end and purpose did the Lord empty the power of this Nation from vessel to vessel and from man to man was it think ye that it should settle again in this bogg and reliques of confused Popery nay surely nay this was not the end of the Lord concerning thee but his end and purpose concerning thee was and is that the Son of his own bosome should be raised over all in thee to Reign as he hath appointed and decreed which decree is impossible to be altered or changed but shall and must be accomplished not only in this Nation but over all Nations and in all Nations and people of the earth shall this his glorious work be compleatly finished for he hath sworn by himself saying it shall be so that he shall reign over all the Kingdomes of the world forasmuch as I have appointed him to be heir of all things both in Heaven and Earth They that have an ear let them hear and blessed will be that eye which seeth and that heart which understandeth the things which belong to their everlasting peace before they be hid from their eyes and there be no place found for their Repentance And this I shall further say in the Spirit of the Lord concerning thee O England what the Lord intended should be thy lot 't was that thou shouldest be the first fruit unto God in this latter day that so thou mightst become a glorious example unto other Nations giving light unto them who yet sat in darknesse and in the Region and shadow of death that such I say might have received light from the glorious Sun of righteousnesse which the Lord raised in the midst of thee in thousands and this the Lord hath already in measure done Glory be to him for ever O! might not my soul take up a Lamentation over a foolish people saying O how are your hearts becom blind O inhabitants of England in whom the voyce of the Turtle is plentifully heard as in the Spring time after this dry long Winter which hath been in thee amongst whom it is on every hand said and confessed that the Lord liveth who hath brought his Seed out of the North and caused the beauty of its life to appear surpassing the glory and beauty of this present world And plentifully hath the word of his own life been declared and is still spoken forth in thee and yet for all this like an inchanted people ye turn your backs upon it and fly unto your hireling Priests whereas thou mightst have received the word of the Lord plentifully and freely at the hands of his precious Servants then wouldst thou have no need of the teachings of men nor to have gone into the Idol Masse-houses there to have taken the words of David and others to have sung but in the Spirit of the Lord ye would have all been gathered by it through which ye would have been ever praising the Lord in the land of the living Neither would you have needed to have gone to your Priests to have taken bread and wine at their polluted hands which feedeth but the natural and will corrupt but you would have been come to the High-Priest and Shepherd of your souls and have received living bread at his hands as your daily food and nourishment O England might not well my soul say that thou hast changed beauty for ashes and hast chosen chaff instead of wheat so that instead of well set hair thou hast baldnesse for if it were not so thou neededst not to have gone to the Idol-houses now for to hear a compounded parcel of words called Common Prayer read by a wicked man but instead thereof thou hadst been filled with the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication which the Lord would have showred down upon thee without measure which thing some few who are despised in thee do witnesse to the everlasting comfort of their immortal souls And also thou mightst have had a free Ministry instead of hirelings even you who might have fed on living bread at the Table of the Lord instead of taking it at your Communion-Tables which the Popes ordained for you who might have been baptised with the Holy Ghost and with fire by which ye would have been cleansed who might have walked in the light of the Lord instead of walking in the dim sparks of your own kindling who might have been satisfied with Gods presence instead of being enquiring in your minds where and what God is who might have been purged washed and made clean from sin by the blood of the Lamb instead of a vain hope as you are in now that
ye shall be freed but you know not when who might have come to have witnessed your bodies to have been the Temples of God instead of seeking as ye do now in the Temples made with hands O ye foolish and unwise people what might my soul say unto you of these things Ye have refused the teachings of God and seek after the teachings of men ye have slighted the true Shepherd who hath laid down his life for his Sheep and have followed the false Shepherd whose the Sheep are not but an hireling he is and fleeth because he is an hireling when the wolfe and florm cometh For hath not this been manifestly seen in thee O England that when the forcible powers of the Earth was for them then they cryed woe woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel and we preach not for hire as we are falsly accused by these reproachful Quakers but a necessity is on us so to do and if we had not any thing for so doing yet we could not hold our peace but seeing the Law of the Nation gives us yearly maintenance we take it as our due and though it be a Popish constitution we take no notice of it seeing the Property of the thing is changed as being taken from them who were no Ministers of the Gospel and given unto us who are truly so unto whom not onely the Tenths of all things belongeth but all things should be laid down at our feet as it was in the Primitive time and this hath been the general cry of your Priests unto whom you give ear and not unto us who told you the truth in that day as we do in this day saying take away but their compelled maintenance and cease putting into their mouths and they will soon prepare war against you if the Powers of the earth will but help them if not then their God they will trust no longer and soon their necessity of preaching will be taken off them and they will fly into their holes like Dragons wishing for another nights season that so they might come out upon their prey afresh And in this which is here said there is no wrong done unto them your by-past Priests have themselves by their words and actions largely proved the truth of this matter And now unto you Priests unto whom I was made to speak the word of the Lord woe and misery will assuredly be your Portion if you slight Gods tender love unto your souls For that which I now speak and that which I formerly spoke unto you is not God knows in contempt nor in any way to divide you but in tender love to warn you from the evil of your ways that so by turning from the evil and cleaving to the good ye may come to escape the dreadful Judgments of God which are nigh to overtake you And that you are and were manifest to be such as I said you to be is true to wit That you were blind guides leaders of the blind inasmuch as ye are hireling Priests made by the will of men who forceth a people by a Law for to take your stuff which makes you worse than a common hireling who are far from being Ministers of Christ Jesus called by him to his own work for such minister freely as they received freely of their Lord and Master And so as Christ said By their fruits ye shall know them so do we know you who have nothing you have freely given neither can you freely give nay you have not so much as the Sheeps cloathing but you are out wardly and inwardly ravened and gone into the Wolfs nature of tearing and devouring and persecuting like the Pope your chief head and leader in this work though some of you are ignorantly blind yet many of you are wilfully blind which will not serve your turns Awake awake and consider do you think it shall serve any of your turns to cry out against Popery in words and in nature to be found all one in Persecution Malice and Envy as one of you told me I should not have liberty to speak after he had accused me openly before the people and the other of you told me he did forgive me after he had delivered me into the hands of men and I was to be sent to prison O shame will come upon you for these things and the dreadful rod of Gods anger will overtake you for it And tell me what you have at best to give to the people for your yearly maintenance which you have of them but what is already made ready to your hands of other mens lines partly by the Pope and his Adherents who steal the words of Apostles and holy men of God and mix them with their own inventions and this is made a plat-form for you to pray and preach by and at the best this is your stuff which you confidently force upon the people to say and to speak after you for which they must give many hundred pounds unto you and your Generations of hirelings even for this which profiteth them not at all but people under your teachings live and die in their sins whilst their Priests preach unto them for hire and they love to have it so This is their very end and the very end of these things and while people are giving ear unto you it will never be otherwise For it s thus the Papists they steal the words of the Prophets and Apostles and of Jerome and Ambrose Augustine and the like and you steal it from them and the people from you and so what they have of you is at the third and fourth hand though in another misformed and disguised shane whenas in the ground it is but the Bastard of the same whore which the Roman Catholicks so dandle upon the lap of the Beast as though he were the true born heir of the Kingdom of God whenas he is no more like him than light is like darknesse or Christ like Belial And if people must needs be so in love with this which you so cry up amongst them they need not go to the Pope nor come unto you for it but at an easier rate than they give unto you they may have as good of their own but freely they may have of the Lord that which is quick living and powerful and will abide for ever Therefore this is the advice and counsel of the Spirit of God unto all people whatsoever for to come unto Christ the light of the world who hath enlightened them with his true light which makes manifest sin and evil in their own hearts to the end that thereby they might be taught led and directed in the way of God which is the way of true peace and holinesse which is none of the hirelings wayes for they say men cannot tread out of uncleannesse all the dayes of their lives And so from the Lord this is a warning and tender Visitation of love unto you all in this City or elswhere where this
men are degenerated from God I say that if thou find and feel but such a thing in thee prize it above all for it is of the very life and restorer of all things by which Moses was acted in the dayes of old when he did forsake the pleasure of sin for a season and chose rather to partake of the suffering and afflictions of the afflicted than to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter for it was that in which he wrought the wonders of God and will also do the like in thee if thou obey love and follow it it will be thy guide leader and preserver and teacher in all states and conditions whatsoever through which and in which thy immortal soul will come to be saved and so satisfied for I will tell thee plainly that except man comes to be acquainted with something in himself which is more glorious than all visible and transitory things without him he can never come to forsake all for the Lords sake For this I have seen and experienced through deep travail and sorrow how that if I had not had something in my own self which was more desireable and amiable than all things I could never have been made willing to have forsaken all things else besides it but enjoying the life and presence of my Creator in my own particular all was well enough without me though in hunger in cold and in nakednesse or prisons or bannishment or travails both by Sea or Land I did still find satisfaction and refreshment in the enjoyment of Gods presence and this I say not because another hath said it but because my soul hath found it so in the time of need even since the time that my God separated me outwardly from my Brethren in Virginia who were more neer and dear to me than all my outward kindred because they were such as did the will of my father since which time something of my travail may be seen in my following discourse very briefly of my travels outward but of my travels and sorrow inward in all those travels and prisons I shall leave it to the upright in heart to feel for truly I may in the truth of God say how that the dayes of my sorrow and fastings passed the number of my remembrance Besides the many assaults which the cursed Popish spirit of Inchantments Sorcery Witchcraft did make against me to destroy me cannot be given to be understood by Tongue Pen Ink nor Paper but by those who have undergone the like tryal with me for this I testifie in the Lord and shall leave upon record under my hand how that a deeper spirit of Necromancy and deceit is not upon the face of the whole earth to be found so deep in working in the mistery of iniquity as it is amongst them and this is the testimony which I give for the Lord God of life against them which shall stand for ever For as to my very outward they have sought my death and destruction by this means and I have been almost strangled in the night and day season by that cursed spirit of Witchcraft which hath sought to stop my mouth thereby to have deprived me of my natural breath which thing they would certainly have done had not the Lord preserved me and rebuked them for they have often come into my Prison with many hundred sorts of shapes and likenesses and have sought every way of Inchantment against me and had it been so that it had been possible for them to have prospered against me to the utter destruction of me they would have done it but when the Lord had suffered them every way to try me then he wholly rebuked them and sent his ministring Angels to comfort me every way as those poysoning spirits had every way assaulted me in which day of his everlasting love he sealed up my soul in his everlasting Covenant of love for ever for which cause I cannot forsake the Lord whatever betides me Now though tryals remain yet on every hand yet my God knoweth I can never leave him nor forsake him nor decline from his living testimony in my heart neither in life nor death but must and shall say unto all love fear dread and honour and obey the Lord above all who is worthy to have for ever all the glory honour and praise even him who is God over all blessed for ever and ever Amen And this is the end why my God separated me from my fathers house in the time of my infancy that I should be a true and faithfull witnesse against that spirit of persecution murder and envy in whomsoever it be And seeing the Lord hath thus long preserved me out of many eminent dangers I know he will do the like for ever as he hath spoken it unto my soul that he will never suffer his faithfulness to fail concerning me therefore I shall never be moved and if it were not so my soul would long ere now have sunk under the floods of deep sorrow which yet come upon me without ceasing rowling over my head the Lord rebuke them as I know he will do for his name sake even he who hath heard me out of the Whales belly and answered my request once and again in the day of need for which I say my soul magnifie blesse and praise his holy name for ever Charles Bayly Written in Newgate Prison in Bristol the first of the third Month. 1663. AND now the Magistrates of this Nation through whose hands I have passed thus from Prison to Prison may see what they have done if it be so they are not yet quite heart-blind in the persecuting of a man so unreasonably as they have done who hath been so far drawn forth as in relation to the very natural part as to render his life and body for one of their naturall Countrey men who had been in long captivity in Rome out of their Nation even one who was not himself a natural English man though born in it I say surely following Generations might well say the Heathen in America would not have thus rewarded a man upon the return of such a service as this done for any one of their Nation I am sure they would not have done it And what right can any man expect to have at or of the hands of such men who are thus lead by a spirit of wrong judgement as for to persecute in such a nature their friend in the stead of their enemy especially such a man as hath in this sort jeoparded his life to witnesse against the Popish Religion and not onely so but hath undergone all and much more than the aforesaid miseries rather than to embrace and own it Of these things and concerning these things I shall in the uprightnesse of my heart leave it and commit it unto God the judge of all for to judge of this matter between us A true and faithfull Warning unto the Inhabitants of Bristol as a loving visitation of Gods tender
best of the creation which in obedience to the Lord I continued in about 20 dayes without any natural sustenance except water which did so amaze them that they themselves could not but confesse it to be more than a natural thing seeing I was well and in good health every way at the end of the time which thing was so taken notice of amongst them that they could not endure to detain us longer after insomuch that the Lord making way for us we were released and we took our journey towards France where in the Power and Authority of God I was drawn forth to warn both Rulers Priests and People in Town City and Country until I came through the Nation and being ready to take shipping for England I spake unto two Priests of the Popish Order unto whom I declared as I had done unto many more destruction and a final end of all Idol Priests Idols and Idolaters for which Cause I violently was halled away and committed to prison in a Court called Bucke De Ault which was between Deap and Abbuilly about 20 Leagues from Dover where I continued about the space of 2 Moneths and after publick Examination and Tryall the Prison doores were set open from whence I passed to Callis continuing still to warn the People for which Cause I was had before the Magistrates and being examined by them they let me pass away toward Graveling where I was at the English Nunnery where I warned them though they would not let me see their face and after some threatning I had from their Priest I departed from thence toward Dunkirk where I was presently taken up by the Governour 's Officers and by him retained as Prisoner in his own house until the next day he sent me away in a Friggot of the Kings for England alleadging for his so doing that it was because he feared I would make a disturbance amongst the Papists saying to this purpose that there was Articles of agreement betwixt them and that they were not to be disturbed which thing he feared I would do and I being landed at Deale I passed towards Dover to visit my friends after this my sore tryal and travel amongst the Papists and e're I was in that Town 24 houres I was by the Mayor of the Town taken from a friends house of mine and committed to prison for a Jesuite where I remained about 7 Moneths and after my release from thence I took my journey towards London where I had not been long but I was apprehended by the Magistrates of the City as they were sitting at a Court in the Old Bayly who espied me only as a beholder of other transactions against my Dear friends who are called Quakers for which they sent for me and tendred me the Oath making that the same snare to ensnare me as their manner was and is still to doe to the innocent and from thence I was Committed to New-gate where I was with many more of my Brethren kept about the space of 4 Moneths until I was so weak that I was carried out in a Chaire And upon my recovery from this weaknesse I went unto one of our publick Meeting-places neare Alders-gate in London where I was taken again with the Lords innocent People under the pretence of Plotters which thing we were wholly cleere of for the thing then intended or pretended against us was a plot which was afterwards found to be intended by a people contrary-minded unto us both in their lives practises and principles for which some of them suffered death who were wholly strangers unto us and woe unto such kind of plotters Notwithstanding many of us suffered imprisonment until death in and about London for this Cause amongst whom I was a deep sufferer until the last though the King himselfe did confesse to mine and our innocency And all this as for mine own particular I could have buried in oblivion and never have made mention of it more were it not for the cleering of the innocency of that Truth of God which I professe and live in from the scandalous reproaches of Ishmael's stock at whose hands I have suffered such things as would be both long and hard to utter it now being the sixth time I have been committed to Prison by the hands of unreasonable men since I have returned from Rome once at Dover and four times at London All which sufferings imprisonments nothing was or ever could be proved against me as the breach of any Law save that by which mens Consciences are restrained from worshipping of God according to the perswasion of his Spirit in their own Consciences and also because I would not break Christs Commands who saith Swear not at all to obey the Commands of men to swear And though for those two things I have so suffered I have this day a Conscience void of offence towards all men who are of honest hearts and am cleer also in the sight of God concerning them both and am at this instant Justified in his sight and he knoweth how that I seek the good of all men though an open enemy to all deceitful works hireling Priests and Deceivers upon the face of the Earth whether in Pope or Prelate or what sort degree or denomination soever I had not been 3 Weekes released out of London Prison of Bridewell before I was committed here In which Prison I was committed by Richard Brown only for speaking a few words in the street because they did hinder me and my friends of going into our hired house I being committed to the Counter but the Week before for the same Cause and released about the middle of the week by Robinson then Mayor of London and but 3 dayes before that I was released out of New-gate upon the death of Deare E. B. with whom I was a prisoner severall Moneths as both in one Prison though not in one Roome but a little time before his death in which the Lord did Everlastingly Crown him with Glory Honour and blessing For this I shall leave upon record concerning him that as he was honourable in his life so he was in death and his seed shall praise his noble Acts for ever in which he was Renowned And now upon my release in London I tooke my journey towards this City where I had been but a short time to the number of two or three dayes before I was cast in Bonds here only for speaking to two Priests of this City telling them the blind led the blind and both would fall into the ditch and as it happened one of them was blind which was more than I know for I had never seen their faces before but these men being guilty inwardly of the Charge soone proved it by their fruits and actions who presently caused me by reason of their complaints to be had before their Rulers who being willing and ready to satisfie their malicious desires did soon tender me the Oath as there being not any seeming just cause
in the other to cast me into Prison where I am at present a sufferer in the patience and good will of God And thus with as much brevity as I could have I declared something of the hard measure which I have sustained and received at the hands of unreasonable men in and about 3 yeares time since I Landed at this City upon my return from Virginia after my sore Captivity there and truely had it not been by reason of the many and various reports which are concerning me amongst many I know I should have been still willing to have concealed the grief of all this within my own bowels yea and notwithstanding all these things besides the Lord alone which might have induced me to this matter I should certainly have concealed it And now after all this in which through which the Lord hath tryed my poor soul by the common enemy if he should try me at or by the hands of dearest friends as Job was shall I be angry with him or repine at it God forbid in whose good will I rest until he arise and plead my Cause Charles Bayly Written in Newgate Prison in Bristol the 13 of the 3 Moneth 1663 A true and faithfull Relation of some of the sufferings tryals sorrows and travels of the Seed and Spirit of God for the creature and now of the creature in with the same Seed and Spirit manifest through an earthen vessel known by name C.B. SUrely had I the Tongue of the Eloquent and the Pen of a ready Writer it would be hard for me to declare the grievousness of my hard travels and sorrow which I have undergone since I was but 12 or 13 years of Age in which time my deep travell and sorrow began it being so that in my tender years I had been tenderly brought up about the Court of England my natural Parents belonging thereunto who were Roman Catholiques in which Religion they carefully brought me up sparing neither cost nor pains for any thing which might tend unto my edification and bringing me up in that way But my God intending to make me an instrument in his hand for his own work did raise up something in my soul of a child which was of himself which caused a secret dislike in my heart of that Idolatrous way of worship in so much that I could never heartily embrace the same which thing hath caused tears to be shed for me by my own friends then who dearly and tenderly loved me according unto the love as Parents bear unto their Children and it being so it raised a great discontent sometimes in them to arise towards me which was the first ground and original cause of my sorrow though I did not know what that was in my self which caused me for to dislike it both in way and worship which since I found to be the light and gift of Gods grace in my soul which was nigh me and in me at all times and places a sure and living Witnesse against all sin and evill whatsoever And from that time forwards I was ever seeking for to separate my self from my natural Parents and the wars coming on in England did enlarge my opportunity for to fulfill my intended purpose it being so that most of the Court Officers were dismissed of their outward beings in and about London where I had my natural birth and bringing up untill about the Age before mentioned and it being so I did begin to wander about not being kept at School nor at Board as formerly I had been But my Parents being willing to have me to their own natural Countrey which was France I passed thither with one who was Extraordinary Embassador sent from the King of France called the Prince Deicourt who loved me and kept me by him some time for his Interpreter whilest he was in England but still something there was in me which could not be satisfied to feed at the Table of Princes nor to be in their love and favour without the love and favour of God which made me still in a restlesse condition which caused me for to return out of France without the consent and knowledge of my outward friends or relations And coming to England at Graves-end as I was intending to passe for London I met with one Brad-street who was commonly called a Spirit for he was one of those who did entice Children and People away for Virginia he fell into discourse with me and I being tender in years he did cunningly get me on Board of a Ship which was then there riding ready for to go to those parts and I being once on Board could never get on Shoar untill I came to America where I was sold as a bond-slave for seaven years in which time it would be too hard for me to shew in every particular the hardship and misery that I did undergo in that time of hunger cold and nakednesse beatings whippings and the like for many times was I stripped naked and tied up by the hand and whipped and made to go bare-foot and bare-legged in cold and frosty weather and hardly cloaths to cover my nakednesse besides the soare and grievous labour which I was continually kept at during which time my poor soul would be often bemoaning it self every way concerning my soar captivity and misery and something I can indeed say did in secret answer and refresh my tender soul in the feeling of which I could in truth of heart say I did forgive my then persecutors And when grief would be ready to swallow me up I would consider how that that which did then befall me was surely for my good and would rather judge my self than others beleeving that I indeed did deserve it and much more for my disobedience though of a truth it was very grievous and hard for me to beat as to the very natural what I did and surely had not the secret hand of Gods love upheld me I could never have supported my burden there being such an alteration with me when I came to eat my bread in the Ash heap whenas before I had been in the presence of Princes and also the alteration both of food and every thing else for instead of a well stringed Lute in my hand I had hard labour and my daily exerci e was beyond the common manner of Slaves for mine was often night and day I say had it not been the very hand and love of God which had supported me my very outward man would have been laid in the dust as several of my then fellow Labourers were in a most sad and deplorable condition which thing I desire may not be laid to their charge who were the Authors of it I say the Lord forgive them for that which they did to them and me for I am sure the poor creatures had better have been hanged than to have suffered the death and misery they did which thing I should not in this place have spoken were it not so but that
some of these Papers might come to the hands of those who may in like manner be inflictors of such misery upon others that so if there be but any remorse or place of repentance left in them that they may yet repent of their evill for it is very great for though the man whom I served was approved and received a Member of an Independant Church in those parts yet he was unconverted as to the Lord which shewed their light and discerning but little worth for indeed I never saw any change or alteration in the man at all But I shall return unto the thing intended by me which is to speak of the goodnesse and love of God unto my soul that so all those who might be like-minded with me might not come to despair in any condition whatsoever they may fall into if they do but love and fear the Lord he will bring them out of the sixth trouble and also the seaventh in the end For when I was out or this hard servitude I could not for all that return to or own that dark and devilish worship whatever did become of me for then I was come to a riper understanding and growth both in years and knowledge in which I saw and confessed unto a hand of Divine Justice against that people and also to a hand of Divine providence in bringing me there where I heard and understood both outward and inward that the Sword of the Lord was drawn against the wicked in this Nation of England and also I did observe in that day how that the Parliament party did and would most of all prevail because that there was something raised up in them against the grosse Popery and Idolatry and wickednesse which was then on soot in the Nation which thing was the cause I did indeed mostly affect them then beyond any other people though they were called Puritans in derision But in a short time the chiefest of those people who were amongst us lost their first integrity soon especially when the Lords hand had given their Brethren great rest and victory from their enemies and so soon turned that little liberty they had gotten to a wrong end and made use of it as an occasion to the flesh by which means they became as much in bondage as ever every one seeking his own and not anothers good which thing I did in that day observe though few knew that it was so with me but outwardly I did in that day frequent and indeed loved those most who were the most honest amongst men But it being so in the main that nothing but rioting drinking singing and dancing was amongst the best of men I knew not what to do but to be one of them which I judged better of the two than to return unto the Romish stuff for my very soul did abhor it therefore I did rather choose to labour with my hands and so get my bread with painfulnesse than to return or make my self known unto my nearest relations any way for I said in my heart their sorrow is over concerning me But in the midst of all this my soul in secret did mourn after a holy life of love but could not see it born up in any living amongst whom I did converse or had any thing to do with And as in relation to my own condition I did often lament it in secret and would often say unto the Lord Hast thou created me thus to destroy me for I saw how that I was still ingrievous bondage unto sin and lead thereunto at the Devils will and I felt in my self how that the wages of sin was death because of the terrours of the Lord that came upon my soul by the reason of it and whilest that I was in this state my grief was more than could be uttered or indeed seen by any for I would often seem to do away sorrow with laughter lightnesse and vanity yet still in the very midst of all this I continued seeking in my heart a man of love or a people in whom one might put confidence which thing I was drawn unto by the good which was of God in my own heart and as God did raise it me so in the end he did answer it to me outwardly by sending one of his dear servants into those parts whose name was Elizabeth Harris who soon answered that which was breathing after God in me by which means I came with many more to be informed in the way and truth of God having a seal in my heart and soul of the truth of her message which indeed I had long waited for And then when I had found this beloved life and people I was like a man over-joyed in my heart not onely because that I heard that God had raised up such a people in England but also because I saw the sudden fruits and effects of it both in my own heart and in others insomuch that in a short time we became all to be as one entire family of love and were drawn together in his life which was his light in us to wait upon him in the stillnesse and quietnesse of our spirits like so many people which desired nothing but the pure teachings of Gods Spirit in which we were often refreshed together and one in another And when this I had found and clearly understood how that that which judged me and condemned my soul for sin from my youth up untill that day I say when I came to see that this was the very way to God I was as a man that had found that which his soul loved and then had I had ten thousand Crowns I could have laid them all down at the feet of them who then went forth to declare such good and glad tidings of peace and good-will which was freely extended unto all the Sons of men then happy man was I if that I could but have served or have been any way serviceable unto such of those who went forth to declare who were ministring servants in the hand of the Lord to us whose pure life I loved and honoured in them above all and then I was not onely made willing to have forsaken father or mother and all outward Inheritance and favour of men but also to have laid down my life for the Lords sake such was the love that was raised in me that I had rather have been a Prisoner with the deepest sufferer in the greatest sorrow and counted it more happinesse so to be than with the Princes of this world in their greatest joy and dignity And this was of the Lords own begetting in me though few saw it then And this I can tell thee Reader whoever thou art by true experience that if thou find but such a thing in thee which bringeth a remorse upon thee by reason of sin and draweth thy heart into tendernesse and pitty unto the oppression and captivity which is upon all creatures which they lye under by reason of sin in which and by which
love unto them that thereby they may take warning and turn from the evill of their wayes and repent with speed FOr the Sword of the Lord is already drawn over the City and is made ready for the shedding of much blood and for hewing of the mighty in pieces And this is the Word of the Lord unto you all both Rulers Priests and People of what sort or degree soever and if it were so that Abraham Lot Job and Noah were in the City yet should not they deliver it from the fierce stroak of the Almighty which is ready to come upon it by reason of sin and transgression so much the more saith the Lord God of vengeance because my glorious truth hath been so much declared in it above and beyond any other of its neighbouring places for thus saith the Lord God of Hosts the mighty and terrible one If the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah which have been done in thee O Bristot they might surely have repented But ye have surely slighted it and counted it as a thing of nought you are even fled as it were upon Horses into your dark Egyptian bondage and reliques of idolatry and confusion and there as it were setled your selves upon the old lees of Popery which my hand is stretched out against and shall never more be with-drawn untill I have cut off and quite rooted it out of all Nations both root and branch and they who go about to hold it up or any part or parcel thereof such shall be the object of my fierce anger that both them and it shall surely fall together saith the Lord of Hosts And forasmuch as ye do with out-stretched necks resist my truth and say in your heart we will not that this thing rule over us therefore shall the sword of my anger bring you down if you continue still in your gainsayings against me and whatever is high and exalted in this City shall be bowed down the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and it shall shortly come to passe who will not that any thing reign but his son alone whom all the Angels must worship and every knee be made to bow and every tongue to confesse unto him for ever and own his righteous judgements which shall come upon the high lofty and proud and rebellious who forget God Therefore haste haste haste with speed and repent and remember Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonas and a greater than Jonas is here and hath been here in many Prophets to warn thee and as sure as God lives if ye take not warning hereby and repent ye shall shortly know unto your sorrow that a Prophet hath been amongst you sent of the Lord who sought not yours but you that your immortal souls might come to be saved from the wrath tribulation and anguish which is ready to come down from the righteous Judge of all upon you O People Consider whilest you have time what a sad deplorable thing will it be when ye shall be likened to a generation of Vipers and dead Adders saying We have piped unto you and yet have not danced we have mourned unto you and you have no lamented as those who would not hearken to the voyce of the Charmer though he charms never so wisely For assuredly if ye still slight Gods tender visitation of love unto you many may take up a lamentation for you but none will be able to help you As the Lamb of God who came to lay down his life for the sins of the whole world yet because his love was rejected slighted and not received the day came that he took up a lamentation over that place people and City which he would have gathered up into his armes of love whose tender bowels of pity and compassion was moved for them saying O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not Because they had slighted the day of small things and would have none of his reproofs therefore was the things which belonged to their everlasting peace hid from their eyes So likewise will it be with you oh Inhabitants of Bristol many in thee whose loves are unfained in the lowly life of the Lamb and desired nothing but thy everlasting peace and welfare such I say in like manner will come to take up a Lamentation in thee and for thee saying Oh foolish and unwise people had you but understood the things which belonged to your everlasting peace before they came thus to be hid from your eyes surely ye would have been a blessed people for ever but now instead of it weeping and howling will for ever be your portion Oh people for ever consider this thing before it come upon you whilst yet the door of mercy is set open for you and a hand freely stretched forth out of the tender bosom of God to gather you up into his bosome which is ready open to receive you but if ye refuse his loving kindness and his mercies then hell fire will open her mouth wide for you into which you will all be cast with all the workers of iniquity there to be tormented with the Devill and his Angels for evermore And this will be your portion on eithe hand if ye cleave unto the good which God by his Son hath placed by his own Light in your hearts then everlastingly happy will ye be and all those who come to witnesse an inheritance with the Saints in light But if you hate the good and love the evill which the Prince of darkness hath put in you then ye choose unto your selves death instead of life and the Prince of the power of the Air will be your God and King instead of the Prince of peace and so sad and lamentable will be your condition who have had as much if not more of the loving Visitation of Gods love in his dear and precious Servants than any people or Nation whatsoever for have ye not had line upon line and precept upon precept the Lord sending his Prophets rising up early yea it might be said early forasmuch that the Lords love reached unto you as it were in the very morning and breaking forth of his glorious Sun of righteousness after this long and dark woful night of Apostasie and confusion which hath over-shadowed all Nations and people of the earth which shall never set more until it hath exspelled all the darkness forevermore never to rise and sending yet still and yet for all this you yet remain in your sins even you who are again turned to your old hireling Priests which the Land had as it were vomited up long agoe because of their unprofitableness for in simplicity of heart consider were not they unprofitable unto you and all people over whom they were and did they not find you in your sins and did they not leave you there and now upon their return have they not found you the same
still And what think you of this is it not high time for you to be awakened and look about you seeing the day is so far spent of your lives and you know not how soon the Lord may call for your breath out of your nostrils and what can ye in righteousness think will become of you seeing the Scripture saith As the Tree falls so it lyes and There is no Repentance in the Grave and If ye dye in your sins where I go ye cannot come saith Christ And if ye do but confess him to be a man of truth and these sayings true then ye may soon passe the sentence of eternal condemnation in your selves seeing that tribulation and anguish is to come upon every soul of man that doth evil even to Jew as well as Gentile And the Apostle in plain words without wresting saith Nothing that worketh abomination or maketh a lye must enter into the holy City And Paul saith Let no man deceive you with vain words for such as ye sow such shall ye reap Now see if your Priests be not the very men who are deceiving you with vain words who tell you that you can never be freed from sin yet say it shall go well with you They call you good Christians though ye do bring forth the Devils work Or which of you in or amongst you will deny to partake of that which they call the Seal of the Covenant though they are never so wicked and ungodly in all their words and actions Surely surely the Lord is highly displeased with these things Therefore is this Warning sent amongst you that you may come away from such a devilish Priesthood as preacheth up sin unto you for tearm of life that is till ye can sin no longer Surely they who made a Covenant with Hell and Death in the dayes of old were never more lead into the Mysterie of iniquity than these And thus the Devil hath his Kingdome by consent both of Priests and people Oh horrid wickedness is this that ever men should thus sell themselves unto the Devil for dishonest gain and filthy lucres sake to preach up sin unto people these are they who trample upon the Blood of the Covenant and say in effect that its uneffectual and unsufficient to purge the creature from all sin and uncleannesse but such people ye must cease from for they who were real and true Ministers of Christ said The wages of sin is death therefore laboured to bring people therefrom whose Ministry was powerful and effectual enough in that work to accomplish the same For Paul when he writ to the Romans amongst whom he had laboured to turn them from darknesse to light and such came to be turned from Satans power to Gods by whose power they came to be redeemed and made free from sin and so became Gods children And this was the fruits and effects of those who were sent of God and were not hirelings for such run and are not sent therefore saith the Prophet they profit not the people at all no more than yours do now for I say as you love and prize the salvation and redemption of your immortal souls consider these things Is the wicked man returned from his naughtinesse amongst you is not a Lyar a Lyar still a Swearer a Swearer still and so likewise all others whatsoever And if any should go to your Priests to be eased of his burden which come upon him by reason of sin what ease can he have seeing his Priest is a sinner as well as himself if not a worse and in effect will tell him he cannot be without sin while he is in the body of flesh and so by this means as you were born and conceived in sin so ye live and so ye dye And this is the fruits of your Ministry and yet you have the liberty of the reading of the Scriptures which saith and sheweth how that the true Christians are to be redeemed from their vain conversations and did witnesse a purging and redemption therefrom not with the blood of Bulls and Goats but with the Blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World Mark that people and see if ye are not wholly strangers to this thing and to the very end and coming of Christ who was made manifest in flesh to the end that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in all those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and to such there is no condemnation But unto you who are following your blind guides and are strangers unto this thing condemnation from the righteous God the Judg of all will for evermore be seated upon your heads except ye repent even on you who are strangers unto the Spirit of God and are walking in the flesh and are fulfilling the lusts thereof and are resolved so to do until your dying day in which thing I warn you to repent in Gods pure power and dread and turn unto the Lord God by forsaking the evil of your wayes which if you do not as sure as God hath set Sodom for an example of his eternal wrath and Judgment so sure will this come upon you if you slight this the day of your visitation which is now over your heads I say repent before it fall upon you and the night overtake you in which no man can work And this is a true and faithfull warning unto you all from the Lord God of love who desireth not the death of a sinner but that he would turn from his evil wayes and live and if you do this then blessed will you be for ever but if ye refuse then will you be left without excuse and I shall be clear of your blood before the Lord who required this of me to do and to say unto you which in faithfulness I have done without respect unto persons time or place as the free Spirit of God hath given me utterance thereunto without hatred or dissimulation at all Therefore live or dye my peace is and will be with the Lord for ever And now if any should say amongst you What shall I do to be saved Why unto such I say in the tender bowels of Gods love turn unto the Light of Gods own son which shineth in your darknesse even in your dark hearts and receive it love it follow it and obey it with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength and then power will be ministred unto you whereby ye will become the Sons of God and to be born of him which birth sinneth not but in it there is power over the man of sin which hath born rule in the first birth which was according to the flesh in which none can please God forasmuch as it lusteth against the Spirit continually and will do until it be wholly crucified with the lusts and affections thereof If ye come to receive the Gift of Gods Grace and Spirit in your own hearts a measure of which