Christian Worship Upon which I forsook the University and resolved to be one of this Family and this I can say in the fear of the Lord. P. Ivon concludeth This is what we have to say concerning the Work of God amongst us All this while I minded not so much their Words as I felt and had Unity with a measure of divine Sense that was upon them Certainly the Lord hath been amongst them yea I had a living Sense in my heart that somewhat of the Breath of Life had breathed upon them and though they were in great mixtures yet that God's love was towards them After some silence I began on this wise I come not to judge you but to visit you not to quarrel or dispute but to speak of the things of God's Kingdom and I have no prejudice but great love and regard in my heart towards you Wherefore hear me with Christian patience and tenderness I do confess and believe that God hath touched your hearts with his divine finger and that his work is amongst you that it was his Spirit that gave you a sight of the vanity and folly of this World and that hath made you sensible of the dead Religions that are in it 'T is this Sense I love and honour and I am so far from undervaluing or opposing this tender sense I feel upon you that this is it I am come to visit and you for the love of it And as for the reproaches that may attend you on the score of your separation with all the Reports that therefore go concerning you they are what I respect you for being well acquainted with the nature and practise of this World towards those that retire out of it Now since I have with patience and I can truly say with great satisfaction heard your account of your Experiences give me the like Christian freedome to tell you mine to the end you may have some sense of the Work of God in me For those who are come to any measure of a divine Sense they are as looking-glasses to each other seeing themselves in each other as face answereth face in a glass Here I began to let them know how and when the Lord first appeared unto me which was about the 12th Year of my Age Anno 1656. How at times betwixt that and 15 the Lord visited me and the divine Impressions he gave me of himself Of my Persecution at Oxford how the Lord sustained me in the midst of that hellish darkness and debauchery of my being banisht the College the bitter Usage I underwent when I returned to my Father whipping beating and turning out of doors in 1662 of the Lord's dealings with me in France and in the time of the great Plague in London In fine the deep sense he gave me of the Vanity of this World of the Irreligiousness of the Religions of it Then of my Mournful and Bitter Cries to him that he would show me his own way of Life and Salvation and my Resolutions to follow him whatever Reproaches or Sufferings should attend me and that with great reverence and brokenness of Spirit How after all this the glory of the world over-took me and I was even ready to give up my self unto it seeing no such thing as the Primitive Spirit and Church on the Earth and being ready to faint concerning my hope of the restitution of all things and that it was at this time that the Lord visited me with a certain sound and testimony of his eternal Word through one of those the World calls a Quaker I related to them the bitter Mockings and Scornings that fell upon me the Displeasure of my Parents the Invectiveness and Cruelty of the Priests the strangeness of all my Companions what a Sign and Wonder they made of me but above all that great Cross of resisting and watching against my own Inward vain Affections and Thoughts Here I had a fine opportunity to speak of the Mystery of Iniquity and Ungodliness in the Root and ground and to give them an account of the Power and Presence of God which attended us in our publick Testimonies and Sufferings after an indirect manner censuring their Weaknesses by declaring and commending the contrary practises among Friends too large to be here related And notwithstanding all my Sufferings and Tryals by Magistrates Parents Companions and above all from the Priests of the false Religions in the World the Lord hath preserved me to this day and hath given me an hundred fold in this World as well as the assurance of Life everlasting Informing them of the tenderness of my Father to me before and at his death and how through patience and long-suffering all opposition was conquered Then beginning my Exhortation unto them which was on this wise That therefore since God had given me and them a divine Sense of him our Eye might be to him and not to Man that we might come more into a silence of our selves and a growth into that heavenly Sense That this was the Work of the true Ministry not to keep People to themselves ever teaching them but to turn them to God the new Covenant-teacher and to Christ the great Gospel-teacher Thus John did and thought it no dishonour that they left him to go to Christ Behold the Lamb of God saith he that taketh away the Sins of the World And even John's Disciples left him to follow Christ Nay John testifies of himself That he was to decrease and Christ was to encrease Wherefore I prest them to have their eye to Christ that taketh away the Sin that is from Heaven heavenly to see that he increase in them Yea that henceforward they should know no Man after the Flesh no not Christ himself That their knowledge of and regard and fellowship one with another would stand in the Revelation of the Son of God in them which is God's great Prophet by whom God speaketh in these latter days And if their Ministers be true Ministers they will count it their glory to give way to Christ and that they decrease and Christ encrease that the instrument giveth way to him that useth it the Servant to the Lord which though it seemeth to detract from the Ministers yet it was and is the glory of a true Minister that God and Christ should be all in all and that his Will should be fulfilled For the day of the Lord God was come and all People must look to him for Salvation That all People must now come to keep God's great Sabbath to rest from meer Man and the Spirit of Man and all Men's thoughts words and works and that if they were true Believers they were at least entring into their rest I closely recommended that to them that they might not be of those that begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh for that those that should do so and thereby break God's Sabbath-day should be stoned to death by the Stone which is cut out of the Mountain without hands yea
manner of the Ancient Christians that were the true Followers of Jesus and with Godly fear and a retired Mind to wait upon God and Meditate in his Holy Law of Life that he hath writ in our Hearts according to his New Covenant-Promise that he may Feed us Teach us Strengthen us and Comfort us in our inward Man and as by this Holy Spirit according to the Practice of the Churches of Old any are inclined or moved to Reprove Exhort Admonish Praise or Pray we are found exercised in these Holy Practices Now O Prince give us poor Christians leave to Expostulate with Thee Did Christ Jesus or his Holy Followers endeavour by Precept or Example to set up their Religion with a Carnal Sword Called he any Troops of Men or Angels to defend him Did he encourage Peter to dispute his escape with the Sword But did he not say put it up Or did he countenance his over zealous Disciples when they would have had Fire from Heaven to destroy those that were not of their Mind No but did not Christ rebuke them saying ye know not what Spirit ye are of And if it was neither Christ's Spirit nor their own Spirit that would have Fire from Heaven Oh! what is that Spirit that would kindlâ—â—ire on Earth to destroy such as peaceably dissent upon the account of Conscience if we may not wish that God would smite Men of other judgments because they differ from us in which there is no use of Carnal Weapons can we so far deceive our selves as to esteem our selves Christians and Followers of Christ whilst we incourage Men with Worldly Weapons to persecute such as dissent from us O King When did the true Religion Persecute When did the true Church offer Violence for Religion Were not her Weapons Prayers Tears and Patience Did not Jesus conquer by those Weapons and vanquish Cruelty by Suffering Can Clubs and Staves and Swords and Prisons and Banishments reach the Soul convert the Heart or convince the understanding of Man When did violence ever make a true Convert Or bodily punishments a sincere Christian This maketh void the end of Christ's coming which is to save Men's lives and not to â—estroy them to perswade them and noâ—â—o force them yea it robbeth God's Spiâ—it of its Office which is to convince the World that is the Sword by which the Ancient Christians overcame It was the Apostle's Testimony that their Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual but the Practice of their pretended Successors proveth that there Weapons are not Spiritual but Carnal Suppose we are Tares as the true Wheat hath alwaies been called yet pluck us not up for Christ's Sake who saith Let the Tares and the Wheat grow together until the Harvest that is till the End of the World let God have his due as well as Caesar the judgment of Conscience belongeth to him and mistakes about Religion are best known to him And here give us leave to mind thee of a noble Saying of one of thy Ancestors Stephen King of Poland I am King of Men not of Consciences King of Bodies not of Souls and there have been found and still are among the Emperors Kings Princes and States of the World some that have had that noble Spirit of indulging their Conscientious dissenting Subjects and not only with Gamaliel and Gallio not to persecute but also eminently to protect and defend them from the Hatred and Violence of their Enemies Be not then less Noble than they consider how Quietly and Comfortably our Friends live under other Governments And indeed we conceive it to be the Prudence of the Kings and States of the World for if the wise Man say true The Glory of a Prince is in the Multitude of his People but this Practice saith No the Glory of a Prince is in the Conformity of the People to the Canons of the Clergy which seemeth to strike at all Civil Society which consisteth in Men of Virtue Parts Arts and Industry But let Men have never such excellent Abilities be never so Honest Peaceable and Industrious all which render them good and profitable Subjects to the Prince yet they must not live within their Native Country unless they will sacrifice the Peace of their Consciences by an Hypocritical Submission to the Canons and Fashions of the Church Is not this O Prince to set the Church above the State The Bishop above the King to waste and give away the Strength and Glory of a Kingdom O that thou mayest be wise even in thy Generation and use the Power that God hath given thee for God and Truth and Righteousness that therein thou mayest be like unto God who Peter telleth us Accepteth of all that fear him and work Righteousness throughout the World whose Sun shineth upon all whose Rain cometh upon all And least any should be so injurious to us as to render us Enemies to Civil Government Be it known unto thee O King that we Honour all Men in the Lord not with the vain invented Honours of this World but with the true and solid Honour that cometh from above but much more Kings and those whom God hath â—laced in Authority over us for we beâ—ieve Magistracy to be both Lawfull and â—sefull for the Terrifying of all Evil Doâ—rs and the Praise and Encouragement â—f those that do well The Premises duely Considered we â—ntreat thee O Prince to take our suffering Case into thy serious Regard and bâ— that Power and Influence thou hadst with the Magistrates of this City to recommend our suffering Condition to their serious Consideration that we may no longer lie under these not only Vnchristian but Vnnatural Severities but receive that speedy and effectual Relief which becometh Christian Magistrates to give to their own sober and Christian People The first day of the Week being come the Meeting began about the Eleventh Hour and held till about the Fourth Hour in the Afternoon There was a mighty Concourse of People from several places of this Country and that of several Perswasions Baptists Presbyterians Socinians Seekers c. and God was with his People and his Word of Life and Power of Wisdom and Strength covered them yea the hidden things both of Esau and Jacob the mystery both of Iniquity and Godliness were opened and declared in the Demonstration of the Eternal Spirit that day and O Blessed and Magnified be the Name of the Lord that hath not only not left himself but also his Servants not without a Witness Oh he is worthy to be Lov'd and Fear'd and Obey'd and Reverenced for ever The next day G.K. R.B. B.F. and my self having taken our leave of dear G.F. and Friends took Boat for Naerden where we Arrived about the Second Hour in the Afternoon and after having Eaten we took our leave of those Friends that had Accompanied us hither and begun our Journey in the common Post-waggon to Osnaburg where we came the Fourth day following in the Evening We past
ways allowed in that City Surely the true Day and Power of the Lord made known it self to the Consciences of them present yea they felt that we were such as had been with Jesus and that had obtained our Testimony through the Sufferings and Travels of the Cross They were tender the Resident and Merchant conducted us to our Inn and from thence to the Boat being about seven at Night We set out towards the City of Duysburgh of the Calvinist Way belonging to the Elector of Brandenburgh in and near to which we had been informed there were a retired and seeking People We arrived there next Day about Noon being the first Day of the Week the first thing we did after we came to our Inn was to inquire out one Dr. Mastricht a Civilian for whom we had a Letter to introduce us from a Merchant of Cullen Whom quickly finding we informed him what we came about desiring his Assistance which he readily promised us The first thing we offered was an Access to the Countess of Falchensteyn and Bruch He told us she was an extraordinary Woman one in whom we should find things worthy of our Love that he would write to her to give us an Opportunity with her that the fittest time was the present time in that we might find her at the Minister's of Mulheim on the other side of the River from her Father's Castle for that she used to come out the first Day Morning and not return till Night That we must be very shy of making our selves publick not only for our own sakes but for hers who was severely treated by her Father for the Sake of those Religious Inclinations that appeared in her although her Father pretended to be of the Protestant Religion We therefore dispatched towards Mulheim having received his Letter and being also accompanied by him about one third of the way but being six English Miles and on foot we could not compass the Place before the Meeting was over for it was past three before we could get out of Duysburgh and following that way which led to the back-side of the Greaf's Castle and Orchard which was also a common way to the Town tho if we had known the Country we might have avoided it we met with one Henry Smith Schoolmaster and Catechiser of Speldorp to whom we imparted our Business and gave the Letter of Dr. Mastricht of Duysburgh to introduce us to the Countess He told us he had just left her being come over the Water from the Worship but he would carry the Letter to her and bring an Answer suddenly but notwithstanding staid near an Hour When he came he gave us this Answer viz. that she would be glad to meet us but she did not know where but rather inclined that we should go over the Water to the Minister's House whither if she could she would come but that a strict hand was held over her by her Father After some more serious Discourse with him concerning the Witness of God in the Conscience and the Discovery Testimony and Judgment of that true Light unto which all must bow that would be Heirs of the Kingdom of God recommending him to the same we parted he returning homewards and we advancing to the Town but being â—â—cessitated to pass by her Father's Castle who is Seignour of the Country it so fell out that at that very instant he came forth to walk And seeing us in the Habit of Strangers sent one of his Attendants to demand who and from whence we were and whither we went calling us to him and asking us the same Questions We answered that we were Englishmen come from Holland going no further in these Parts than his own Town of Mulheim But not showing him or paying him that worldly Homage and Respect which was expected from us some of his Gentlemen ask'd us if we knew whom we were before and if we did not use to deport our selves after another manner before Noble-men and in the presence of Princes We answered we were not conscious to our selves of any Disrespect or unseemly Behaviour one of them sharply replied Why don't you put off your Hats then is it respect to stand covered in the presence of the Soveraign of the Country We told them it was our practice in the presence of our Prince who is a great King and that we uncovered not our Heads to any but to the Almighty God Upon which the Graef called us Quakers saying unto us We have no need of Quakers here get you out of my Dominions you shall not go to my Town We told him that we were an innocent People that feared God and had good-will towards all Men and that we had true Respect in our Hearts towards him we would be glad to do him any real Good or Service and that the Lord had made it Matter of Conscience to us not to conform our selves to the vain and fruitless Customs of this World or words to this purpose However he commanded some of his Souldiers to see us out of his Territories to whom we also declared somewhat of the Reason and Intention of our coming to that Place in the Fear and Love of God who were civil to us We parted with much Peace and Comfort in our Hearts and as we passed through the Village where the Schoolmaster dwelt yet in the Dominions of the Graef we called upon him and in the sense of God's Power and Kingdom open'd to him the Message and Testimony of Truth which the Man received with a weighty and serious Spirit For under the Dominion of the Graef there is a large Congregation of Protestants called Calvinists of a more religious inward and zealous frame of Spirit than any Body of People we met with or heard of in Germany After we had ended our Testimony to him we took our leave desiring him not to fear but to be of good Courage for the Day of the Lord was hastning upon all the Workers of Iniquity and to them that feared his Name wherever scattered throughout the Earth he would cause the Sun of Righteousness to arise and visit them with Healing under his Wings and to remember us with true Love and Kindness to the Countess Daughter to this Greaf and to desire her not to be offended in us nor to be dismayed at the Displeasure of her Father but eye the Lord that hath visited her Soul with his holy Light by which she seeth the Vanity of this World and in some measure the emptiness and deadness of the Religions that are in it and he would preserve her from the Power of the Wrath of Men that worketh not the Righteousness of God So we left the Peace of Jesus with him and walked on towards Duysburgh being about six English Miles from thence and near the eight Hour at Night The Lord was with us and comforted our Hearts as we walked without any outward Guide through a tedious and solitary Wood about three Miles long
morning but she laid a kind of violent hands upon us and necessitated us to stay and eat with her which we did And we had no sooner sat down but her Brother in Law a Man of quality and employment in that Court of the Elector of Brundenburg came in who dined with us As we sat at Meat we had a good meeting for the time was much taken up about the Things of God either in answering their questions or our ministring to them about the true Christian nature and life in all which her Brother behaved himself with great sweetness and respect After Dinner we took our Châ—istian leave of them in the fear of God recommending unto them the Light of Christ Jesus that brings all that receive it into the one Spirit to live in holy Peace and Concord together particularly and alone speaking to the Lady and the Attorney what was upon us to their States And so we departed and soon after took Waggon for Nimwegen where arriving about the 7th hour that night we immediately took Waggon for Utrecht and got thither about the 10th hour next morning We hear there is a People in that City but had not now time to visit them referring it to another opportunity About the first hour in the afternoon G. K. and B. F. took Waggon for Rotterdam and I took Waggon for Amsterdam where I came safely that night about six in the evening and I found Friends generally well though it is a sickly time in thiâ— Country The Meeting-house iâ— much enlarged and there is a fresâ— enquiry among many people afteâ— Truth and great desires to hear the Testimony and Declaration of it I also understand that dear G. F. is returned from Frederickstadt anâ— Hamburgh into Frieslandt whether T. R. and I. Y. are gone from this City to meet with him he hath had a hard time of travel with respect to the Weather yet I hear is in good health through the Lord's power that hath kept him This day at night being the seventh day of the week came John Hill from Frieslandt to the House of G. D. in Amsterdam The next day being the first day of the week we had a blessed and large Meeting larger then ordinary because a great addition of room since our Journey into Germany indeed there was a great appearance of sober professing people yea several of the chief of the Baptists as Galenus and Companions the Lord's heavenly Power was over all and the Meeting blessedly ended about the fourth hour That night after Supper having taken my leave in a sweet little Meeting among Friends I took Boat for Horn P. Hendrick's accompanying me about the seventh hour at night and got thither about two in the morning where lying down till about six we took Waggon for Enckhuysen we came thither a little after eight in the morning where having refresht our selves about the 9th hour we took Ship for Workum in Urieslandt and arrived about one and thence immediately took Waggon for Harlingen where we arrived about six there we met with dear G. F. J T. I Y. T R. J C. and his Wife The next day we had two blessed meetings one amongst Friends being the first monthly meeting that was setled for Frieslandt Groningen and Embden the other a publick meeting where resorted both Baptists Collegians and others and among the rest a Doctor of Physick and a Presbyterian Priest all sate with great attention and sobriety but the Priest and Doctor more especially The Priest having a Lecture-Sermon to Preach that evening went away but notwithstanding speedily returned G.F. still speaking but as a Man in pain to be gone yet willing to stay sate at the door till G.F. had done and then stood up and pulling off his Hat looking up to Heaven in a solemn manner and with a loud voice spake to this purpose The Almighty the All-wise the Oâ—â—ipotent great God and his Son Jesus Christ who is blessed for ever and ever confirm his Word that hath been spokâ—n this day Apologizing that he could not longer stay for that he was a Minister of the Reformed Religion and was now going to Preach where all that would come should be welcome and so left the Meeting The Physician also was called away but returned and stayed till the Meeting ended Just as the Meeting ended came the Priest again who said in the hearing of some Friends That he had made his Sermon much shorter than ordinary that he might enjoy the rest of the Meeting At night came the Physician to see me who after a serious and Christian discourse expressing great satisfaction in most things relating to Friends left me withall telling me That if I had not been to go the 4 th hour next morning he would either have stayed longer with me or come again He also remembred the Priest's Love to us and told me That if it had not been for fear of giving offence or coming too much under the Observation of the People he would have come to have seen us adding That it was great pity that this People had not printed their Principles to the World To which the Doctor answered That he had some of our Books and he would lend him them Blessed be the Lord his precious Work goeth on and his Power is over all It being now the tenth hour at night I took my leave of G.F. and Friends This day it came upon me to write a Letter to Joanna Eleonora Marlane the noble young Woman at Franckfort Dear Friend J. E. M. MY dear and tender Love which God hath raised in my Heart by his living Word to all Mankind but more especially unto those in whom he hath begotten an holy hunger and thirst after him saluteth thee and amongst those of that place where thou livest the remembrance of thee with thy companions is most particulary and eminently at this time brought before me and the sense of your open-heartedness simplicity and sincere love to the testimony of Jesus that by us was delivered unto you hath deeply engaged my heart towards you and often raised in my soul heavenly breathings to the God of my life that he would keep you in the daily sense of that divine life which then affected you for this know it was the life in your selves that so sweetly visited you by the Ministry of life through us Wherefore love the Divine Life and Light in your selves be retired and still let that holy seed move in all heavenly things before you move for no one receiveth any thing that truly profiteth but what he receiveth from above thus said John to his Disciples Now that that stirreth in your hearts draweth you out of the World sâ—ayeth you to all the vain-glory and pleasure and empty worships that are in it this is from above the heavenly seed of God pure and incorruptible that 's come down from Heaven to make you heavenly that in heavenly
places you may dwell and witness with the Saints of old this heavenly Treasure in earthen vessels O stay your minds upon the appearance of Jesus in you in whose light you shall see light it will make you of a weighty considering spirit more and more that you may see how the mystery of iniquity hath wrought and how mankind is corrupted in all things and what part you yet have that belongeth not to the paradise of God that you may lay it all down at the feet of Jesus and follow him who is going up and down doing good to all that believe in his Name So possess your Souls in the sensible feeling of his daily divine visits shinings and breathings upon your spirits and wait diligently and watch circumspectly lest the enemy surprize you or your Lord come at unawares upon you and you be unprepared to receive his sweet and precious visitations that so those holy beginnings which thou art a witness of with thy companions may not be lost or as if they had never been but that you may from day to day feel the growth of his light life power and kingdom in your souls that you may be able to say the kingdom of God is come yea it is given to the Saints And what I say unto one I say unto all that received our Testimony in that City to whom thou mayest give if thou pleasest the remembrance of my dear Love who travel in the Spirit for their redemption that they may be brought into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God particularly salute me the young Woman that met with us at thy Lodging The Lord Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace dwell amongst you keep your hearts steadfast in his holy Light without wavering all the days of your appointed time until your great and last change shall come when he will receive his own Sheep into his own everlasting Kingdom from the power of the Foxes aiâ—d Wolves and all the devouring Beasts and Birds of prey when he will wipe away all tears from their eyes and sighing and sorrowing shall be no more and when it shall be said There is no more death no more night no more time So dear I. E. M. know that the Lord hath brought us well to Amsterdam not without good service by the way for at Cullen we had a pretious Meeting and were received with much gladness of heart We also went to Duysburg and from thence towards Mullheim being the first day of the week hoping to get an opportunity with the Countess of Bruch and to deliver thy Letter but her Father who is a cruel and severe Man meeting us near his Castle stopt us and after some little time finding what we were said There wanted no Quakers there and sent us with some of his Souldiers out of his Territory it was about Sun-set so that we were forced to return towards Duysburg but the Gates of the City being shut and there being no Houses without it we were forced to lye in the Fields all night where the Lord made us a good and comfortable Bed we told the Graef at parting we were Men that feared the Almighty God we desired the good of all Men and we came not thither for any evil design but he would not hear the Lord if he pleaseth forgive him Nevertheless we had a good Meeting at Duysburg where we had our heart's desire the blessed power and life of God making its own way in the hearts of those that heard our Testimony I also writ a large and tender Letter to the Countess and received a sweet and loving Message from her and I have great hopes that all things will work for the best From Duysburg we went to Wesel where we inquired out who was worthy where we found four or five separated from all Congregations waiting for the Consolation of Israel with whom we had two precious Meetings and leaving the peace of Jesus with them went to Emrick where we visited the chief Baptist-teacher who confessed to our Testimony and received us lovingly We directed him to that gift of God in himself that pure and eternal Word in the heart that he might know the pure Ministry of that from the Ministry of Man's Spirit which cannot profit or give life to the Soul From thence we went to Cleve where at a Lady's House belonging to the Court we had a precious Meeting and we found some that had deserted the publick Ministry as not being anointed of God to preach neither knowing by a true experience the way and travel of the new birth but are made and maintained by Men we sounded the joyfull Gospel amongst them And from thence by the way of Nimmegen and Utrecht we came the last sixt day to Amsterdam which was the 7 th of the 7 th Month. This last first day I had a great and blessed Meeting at Amsterdam almost of every Quality and Religion the Lord 's heavenly Power that is quickning People into a living sense of him that they may say the Lord liveth and he liveth in me reigned that day over all In the Evening I took Boat for Horn and from thence came last night being the second day of the Week to this City of Harlingen where we met with some of our Brethren that had been up at Hamburgh and Frederickstadt and this day we are to have two Meetings in this City the one among our Friends the other publick for the Town It is upon me to visit de Labadie 's People that they might know him in themselves in whom their Salvation standeth for these simple people are to be pittied From thence I think to visit Leeuwaerden Groningen Embden Bremen Herwerden Wesel Emrick Cleve Utrecht and so to return to Amsterdam the Lord enabling me by his Power This ariseth in my Heart to thee give not thy Bread to Dogs spend not thy Portion feed not the Serpent neither hearken to him abide with Jesus and he will abide with thee that thou mayest grow in Wisdom and in Righteousness through the Cross that crucifieth thee to the World and the World to thee So in the Love which over-cometh the World that is divine and from above and leadeth all thither that receive it into their hearts I take my leave of thee with thy Companions and all the rest of that City known to us remaining Thy faithful Friend and the Lord's Day-labourer W.P. Harlingen 11. 7th Month 1677. Next Morning about the 4th hour I took Boat for Leeuwaerden J. Claus who had been at Frederickstadt with G.F. went with me G.F. J.Y. and T.R. with P. Hendricks returned that day towards Amsterdam At Leeuwaerden we came about 9 and began the Meeting about 10 which we enjoyed with peace and refreshment several being there as in other places that were never at a Meeting before The Meeting being done and having refresht our selves with food we took Waggon for Wiewart the Mansion-house of the Family of the Somerdykes
in which is Life his Candle hath hitherto rested on our Tabernacle and he hath made us glad in his own Salvation Eternal Glory to his excellent Name We immediately took a Post-Carr and came next day about two in the Afternoon to Cleve where we had a very pretious Meeting at an honest Procurator's House who received us with much love four or five more were present all Grave and Tender our Hearts were greatly affected with their love and simplicity We also visited the Lady Hubner who was kind to us Next Morning we set out for Nimeguen and thence immediately to Utrecht where we arrived that Night and took the Night-boat for Amsterdam because of a pressure upon my Spirit to be next day at the Meeting and the rather having intimated as much from Ceulen We arrived in the Morning at Amsterdam where we found our dear Friends generally well the City much Alarm'd and great Curiosity in some and Desires in others to come to the Meeting we had a very great Meeting and many People of note resorted God's Gospel Bell was rung the great Day of the great God sounded and the Dead was raised and much tenderness appeared in several O blessed be the Name of the Lord whose Work and Testimony prospereth The next day was spent in divers Affairs relating to the Truth The day following we had a Meeting with Galenus Abrahams the great Father of the Socinian Mennists in these Parts accompanied with several Preachers and others of his Congregation divers of our Friends were also present It continued about five Hours he affirmed in opposition to us That there was no Christian Church Ministry or Commission Apostolical now in the World but the Lord assisted us with his Wisdom and Strength to confound his Attempts Here endeth the Narrative I intend a Visit to the Hague to the Lady Overkirks Sister of the Somerdikes and some others that have sober Characters of Truth and Friends and thence to Rotterdam where I have much to do both with respect to Meetings and the Press G K. and B F. go with me Thus my Dear Friend have I given thee a tedious Narrative yet I hope not altogether unpleasant perhaps the brevity of my Letters hereafter may best Apologize for the length of this However I consider two things one is That thou hast time enough one time or other to look over it And next That I have plentifully as were thy requests demonstrated I have not forgotten thee O Dear Friend let us live and remember one another now absent in that Divine Sense in which the Lord God dissolv'd our Spirits when together O the Unity of this Faith the Purity of this Love and the Bond of this Peace The Lord Jesus be with thy Spirit and keep thee in this the Hour of thy Temptation that thou mayest come forth as Gold seven times tryed so shall thy Testimony shine for the God that hath called thee and he will reward thee with Honour Glory and Eternal Life Amen Thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindness of thy Youth the love of thine Espousals when thou wentest after me in the Wilderness in a Land that was not sown Jerem. 2.2 Dear Friend consider this yet again The way of the just is Uprightness thou most upright do'st weigh the Paths of the Just yea in the Way of thy Judgment O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the Remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early for when thy Judgments are in the Earth the Inhabitants of the World will learn Righteousness Lord thou wilt ordain Peace for us for thou hast wrought all our Works in us O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had Dominion over us but by thee only we make mention of thy Name Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy chastning was upon them Like as a Woman with Child that draweth near the time of her Delivery is in Pain and cryeth out in her Pangs so have we been in thy Sight O Lord. We have been with Child we have been in Pain we have as it were brought forth Wind we have not wrought any Deliverance in the Earth neither have the Inhabitants of the World fallen Thy dead Men shall live together with my dead Body shall they arise awake and Sing ye that dwell in the Dust for thy Dew is as the Dew of Herbs and the Earth shall cast out the dead Come my People enter thou into thy Chamber and shut thy door about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the Indignation be overpast For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquities the Earth also shall disclose her Blood and shall no more cover her Slain Isa 26.7 8. to 21. So come Dear Lord Jesus that was dead but is alive and liveth for ever Amen Very dearly Farewell Thy Friend that faithfully Travelleth for thy Redemption W.P. Amsterdam 10th of the 8th Month 1677. The same day we had a blessed Publick Meeting never to be forgotten O the Majesty Glory and Life that the Lord attended us with our Hearts were deeply affected with his Presence great Reverence and Brokenness was over the Meeting more than I had seen The Meeting done we were opposed by a Preacher who was closely encountred and pursued by several Merchants c. not of us that cryed he was Rude and Ignorant and that they had a Testimony for us who offered to Dispute in our Defence but the Priest run away they followed him till they housed him c. It was upon me this day to engage Galenus Abrahams to a second Conference that we might more fully debate and confute his grand Objections against the present Dispensation of Truth and the heavenly Ministry witnessed among Friends he refused not my offer of a second Meeting but sent me word his Business would not give him leave to let it be any time this day upon which the next was â—ixt for the Conference to begin at Eight which accordingly it did and held till One. The most impartial account of both these Conferences that I am briefly able to give followeth The Meeting ended and having refresht our selves after a solemn leave taken of our dear Friends at Amsterdam G. F. and I went that Night to Leyden accompanied by B. Furly coming there late at Night we forbore to inquire after any worthy in that place But the next Morning we found out two one a German of or near Darmstad who not only express'd much love to the Principle of Truth and unto us the Friends thereof but also informed us of a retired Person of great Quality that liveth about two hours back again towards Amsterdam at a Village called Nortwyck Our Resolutions of being
not come to Moses nor the shaking Mountain the Thundrings Lightnings and Whirlwinds and what it was that led to Christ and what it was to be in him and under the Government of his Grace directing them to the blessed Principle of Light and Truth and Grace which God had shed abroad in our hearts I declared the nature and manner of the appearing and operating of this Principle and appealed to their own Consciences for the truth of what was said And I can truly say the holy Life of Jesus was revealed amongst us and like Oil swom at the top of all In this I was moved to kneel down and pray great brokenness fell upon all and that that was before the World began was richly manifested in us and amongst us The Meeting done the great Man and his Wife blest us and the work of God in our hands saying with tears in his eyes My house is blessed for your sakes and blessed be God that I ever lived to see you And thus we left them though with much difficulty for they prest us with great earnestness both to eat and to lodge with them and were hard to bear our refusal They said it we was a Scandal to their house that they should let such good people as were to go out of it or suffer us to lodge in any other place But we declared our pre-engagement elsewhere and that it was not for want of true kindness towards them One passage I had almost forgot to mention I was said he once at table with the Duke of Holsteyn at Frederickstadt when the Magistrates came to complain against a people called Quakers in that City The Duke was ready to be prejudiced against them but at the very naming of them I conceived a more than ordinary kindness in my mind towards them I askt the Magistrate what they were for a People he told me that they would not pull off their hats to their Superiors I askt him whether they would pull off their hats to God he said yes said I that may be the reason why they will not pull them off to Man Do they live peaceably Yes Do they pay their Taxes Yes Do they rub their hats in your eyes No Do they do any harm with them No Why what is your Quarrel then not they meet in silence and they will speak or pray unless they be moved by the Spirit why that is according to the Doctrine of Scripture If this be to be a Quaker I would I were a Quaker too but said he I never saw one before but I bless God I see you now He very much inveighed against the false Christianity that is in the World and greatly magnified a tender mortified and retired Estate I have great hopes he and his Wife will eye the truth We returned to our Inn to supper and to bed Next morning we took Waggon for the Hague where we â—â—t with Docemius the King of Denmark's Resident at Ceulen who had been at Rotterdam to seek us and came back thither with hopes to meet us We had some service there with a Lawyer but were again disapâ—ointed visiting the Lady Overkirk â—ecause of her Husband's presence and the other retired Man beforâ—â—entioned was again from home the Judge would gladly have received us but a great Cause then depending commanded his attendance That Afternoon we took Boat for Delft and so to Rotterdam where we all arrived well It was my desire to have been the next day at a Meeting at Dort but it seems that Way that we hoped had been open for us was shut insomuch that we were prevented of that service However I applied my self to the perfecting of what yet wanted to be compleated in those Writings I left behind me to be printed The next day being the sixth day of the Week we had a very blessed publick Meeting taking therein our leave of the Country and after that was done we had another amongst Friends recommending to them the peaceable tender righteous Truth desiring that they might live and grow in it and be a People to the Lord's praise so should his Work prosper his Dominion enlarge and encrease among them In the Evening I had also a Meeting at my Lodging among the great People of that place of which I have before made mention and magnified be the Name of the Lord his Power did sweetly visit him and effectually reacht them that at their departure some of them fell upon our Necks and with Tears of Love prayed that they might be remembred by us and that they might have strength to answer our great Travel for them We recommended them unto the Lord and the pure Word of his Grace in their hearts The next day the generality of Friends of that place met at Sim. Johnson's house early in the Morning where we took our leave of one another in the Love and Power of the Lord feeling his living Presence with them that stayed and with us that went Several accompanied us to the Briel we arrived about Noon there accompanied us the King of Denmark's Resident who had been with us at those Meetings at Rotterdam P. Hendricks and Corn. Roeloffs of Amsterdam and A. Sonnemans B. Furly M. Sonnemans and Sim. Johnson with several others of Rotterdam The Pacquet-boat not being come we were necessitated to lie there that night That Night it was upon me in the earnest Love of God to salute the Princess and Countess with a few farewell-lines as followeth TO THE Princess Elizabeth c. Salvation in the Cross Amen Dear and truly respected Friend MY Soul earnestly desireth thy Temporal and Eternal Felicity which standeth in thy doing the Will of God now on Earth as 't is done in Heaven O dear Princess do it say the Word once in Truth and Righteousness not my Will but thine be done O God Thy Days are few and then thou must go to Judgment then an Account of thy Talent God will require from thee what improvement hast thou made let it prove and shew its own excellency that it is of God and that it leadeth all that love it to God O that thou mayest be able to give an Account with joy I could not leave this Country and not testifie the Resentments I bear in my mind of that humble and tender Entertainment thou gavest us at thy Court the Lord Jesus reward thee and sure he hath a Blessing in store for thee Go on be steadfast over-come and thou shalt inherit do not despond one that is mighty is near thee a present help in the needfull time of trouble O let the desire of thy Soul be to his Name and the remembrance of him O wait upon the Lord and thou shalt renew thy Strength the Youth shall faint and the young Men shall fail but they that trust in the Lord shall never be confounded I wish thee all true and solid Felicity with my whole Soul The Lord God of Heaven and Earth have
Sanctuary for ever Farewell Farewell Thy Friend and the Lord's Servant W.P. Briel 30. 8th Month S.N. 1677. Next morning the Pacquet-boat arrived and about Ten we went on board having first taken our solemn leave of our Friends that accompanied us thither We immediately set sail with a great number of Passengers but by reason of contrary and tempestuous Weather we arrived not at Harwich till the third day about the 6th hour Whence next Morning I writ this following salutation and Account to the Friends of Holland and Germany A Letter from Harwich to Friends in Holland and Germany containing the Passages from Holland to England Let this be sent to Friends in High and Low-Dutch-Land O My Soul magnifieth the Lord and my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour who hath rebuked the Winds and the Seas and made us to drink of his Salvation upon the great Deeps Yea we could not but praise him in the Tempest for all things are full of his Majesty Blessed is the eye that seeth and the heart that dependeth upon him at all times there is not another God he is the Lord alone that the holy Ancients trusted in and were not confounded what shall my Soul render unto the Lord. We are full of his Mercy he hath made us Witnesses of his care We can say in righteousness they are blessed whose God is the Lord and that serve all the day long no other Master than our God Friends this is an endeared Salutation to you all in High and Low Dutch-land in the deep and fresh sense of the Lord 's preserving Power O that you may abide in that sense of him which he hath begotten in you and in the reverent knowledge of him according to the manifestation which you have received of him in the light of his dear Son O that you may be faithful and fervent for the Lord that his glorious life and power may break thro' you And these Lands long dry and barren as the Wilderness may spring and blossom as the Rose For what have we to do here but to exalâ— him that hath visited and loved us yea saved us in great measure Aâ— he is worthy my Spirit reverenceth him my Heart and Soul do bow before him eternal Blessings dwell for ever with him Dear Friends my love followeth to you as a fountain God even my God and your God hath made you dear to me yea dearer than all natural Kindred You are Flesh of Flesh indeed Sea nor Land Time nor Place can never separate our Joy divide our Communion or wipe out the remembrance that I have of you yea the living Remembrance that my God often giveth me of you in the life of his Son abideth which breaketh my heart to pieces and I can say I have left most of my heart behind me and the Lord only could have outwardly separated me so soon from you O this Love that is stronger than Death more excellent than the love of Women that endureth for ever this Privilege have all the Saints Jesus the light of the World that saveth from the World be with you Amen We got well last night about Seven to Harwich being three days and two Nights at Sea Most part of the time was a great storm of Wind and Rain and Hail the Weâ—ther was against us and the Vessel so leaky that two Pumps went night and day or we haâ— perisht 't is believed that they pumpt twice more water out than the Vessel could contain but our peace was as a River and our joy full The Seas had like to have washt some of the Seamen over-board but the great God preserved all well Frights were among the People and Despondencies in some but the Lord wrought deliverance for all we were mightily throng'd which made it the more troublesome But it is observable that though the Lord so wonderfully delivered us yet some vain People soon forgot it and returned quickly to their wanton Talk and Conversation not abiding in the sense of that hand which had delivered them nor can any do it as they should but those that are turned to his appearance in their hearts who know him to be a God nigh at hand which may it be your Experience and Portion for ever And the Lord be with you and refresh and sustain you and in all your Temptations never lâ—ave you nor forsake you that Conquerors you may be and in the end of Days and Time stand in your Lot among the Spirits of the Just made perfect Amen Amen Yours in that which is Eternal W.P. Harwich 24. of the 8th Month 1677. Here I left dear G F. G Diricks and her Children that came over with us to follow me in Coach who having a desire to be that day at Colchester Meeting went early away on horse-back G K. accompanying me we got the Meeting and were well refresht in Friends That Evening we had a mighty Meeting at J. Furly's house where we lay many being there of the Town that would not come to a publick Meeting and indeed the Lord 's divine Power and Presence was in the Assembly Next day we had a great Meeting at a Marriage where we had good service for the Lord. Afternoon about four we took horse for London G. F. c. through miscarriage of a Letter about the Coach not being come to Colchester That night we lay at I. Ravens eight miles on our Way there we met Giles Barnadiston and Willam Bennet with whom and some other Friends thereabout we were comforted in the Life and Power of the Lord. The day following we took our journey for London came there in good time that Evening where I found all things relating to Friends in a good condition blessed be the Name of the Lord. I stayed about a week in Town both to visit Friends at Meetings and to be serviceable to the more general Affairs of Truth The first day of the next week I went to Worminghurst my house in Sussex where I found my dear Wife Child and Family all well blessed be the name of the Lord God of all the families of the Earth I had that Evening a sweet meeting amongst them in which God's blessed Power made us truly glad together and I can say truly blessed are they who can chearfully give up to serve the Lord Great shall be the encrease and growth of their Treasure which shall never end To Him that was and is and is to come the eternal blessed righteous powerful and faithful One be glory honour and praises Dominion and a Kingdom for ever and ever Amen William Penn. TO THE Children of Light IN THIS GENERATION Called of God to be Partakers of Eternal Life in JESUS CHRIST the Lamb of God and Light of the World My Endeared Friends and Brethren MAny Days and Weeks yea some Months hath my Heart been Heavy and my Soul unusually Sad for the sake of this Nation the Land of our Nativity For I have
therefore laid aside so shall it Vindicate us in Due Time in the Eyes of all Nations and present us a People owned beloved and protected of God in whom we have firmly believed Nor is this Presumption as some may think who being not so well acquainted with that Entire Resignation and Supreme Faith of which Jesus is the Author that removes Mountains into the Sea conclude from meer Natural and Human Considerations against us yet we know him in whom we have believed and the same that hath Cured us of our Diseases the same said unto us Arise and Walk in this Way of Faith Trust in me and not in another And truly this is much of that Wonder which Men shall have in their Minds and Mouths about us in those Latter Days In Troubles not to be dejected and in Jeopardies not to be concerned to make to our selves Defences but as the Lillies that neither toil nor spin yet feed and grow so we may both be preserved and become Victorious without Worldly Force or Projections For we must shew our selves to be that Little City and Hill of God that hath only his Salvation for our Walls and Bulwarks by whom he will renown his Arm and magnifie his Power above the Arts and Contrivances of Men. Our Weapons and our Armour is Spiritual it hath prevailed and it will prevail if we keep in the Faith which was first delivered to us a blessed Shield by which the Just live And therefore My Dear Friends let us be Careful not to mingle with the Crowd lest their Spirit enter us instead of our Spirit entering them and we thereby come to fall into the same Temptations they are liable to of Fear and Flying to the Hills and Mountains to protect them confiding in the Arm of Flesh to deliver them no no! they must come to us we must not go to them Yet can we not be Unsensible of their Infirmities as well as we shall not be free from some of their Sufferings we must make their Case as our own and travail alike in Spirit for them as for our selves Let us stand in the Counsel of our God and he will make us Preachers-forth to them of the Works of his Divine Power and the Virtue of that Faith which comes from Heaven yea he will make us as Saviours to the People that they may come to know the Holy Law and Word of the Lord their Creator in their Hearts and have their Minds and Souls turned to him and stay'd upon them that Iniquity may no more abound nor Ungodliness find a place but that in Truth Righteousness and Peace they may be establisht and the Land keep its SABBATH to the Lord for ever Then shall God lift up the Light of his Countenance upon us and water us from Heaven and bless us with all Temporal and Spirital Blessings and we shall be yet called THE ISLAND SAVED BY THE LORD Amen Amen! This was upon my Soul from God to you I could not Visit you all with a Distinct Message upon many Accounts besides the Time is Short and the Confusion appears to me to be at hand Therefore have I sent it by way of Epistle with the Brotherly Salutation of Unfeigned and Unalterable Love to you all in your Respective Meetings and Families And the Lord God of our Visitation and Redemption stir you up to these things and keep us all in his Holy Fear Wisdom Love and Patience through all those Travails and Exercises to the End of our Days that having finisht our Testimonies our Heads may go down to our Graves in Peace and our Souls be received into the Rest which is reserved for the Righteous with God and with his Blessed Lamb forever I am Your Brother and Companion through the many Tribulations of our Day and Testimony William Penn. Worminghurst in Sussex the 4th of the 9th Month 1678. I desire that this Epistle may be read in the Fear of the Lord in your several Meetings 22d 5. Month. London 2â—d Essex 24th Colchester 25th Harwich 26th â— Month. 27th 2â—th Briel Rotterdam 2â—th 30th 5 Month. 31st Leyden 1st 6 Month. Haerlem Amsterdam 12th 6 Month. 13th 6 Month. 14th 6 Month. 15th 6. Month. 16th Naerden 18th Osnabrug 19th 6 Month. Herwerden 10th 20th 6 Month. 11th 12th â— Month. 12th 22th 6 Month. 13th 23th 6 Month. Paderborne 14th 24th 6 Month. 15th 25th Cassel 16th 26th 17th 27th 6 Month. Frankfort 21st 31st 6 Month. 22 1 6 Mon. Isa 59.21 5.23 6 Month. Crisheim Franckenthall 7.25 6 th Month. Manheim 1.26 6th Month. Worms Crisheim 2.27 6 th Month. Worms 3.28 Mentz Frankfort 4.29 6 th Month. Mentz Hampack 5.30 6 th Month. Tresy 6.31 Cullen 7.1 7 th Month. 1.2 7 th Month. Duysburgh Mulheim 2.3 7 th Month. Duysburgh Holton 7th Month. 3.4 Wesel 7 th Month. 4.5 Rees Emrick Cleve 7th Month. 5.6 Nimwegen Utrecht 7 th Month 6.7 Amsterdam 7 th Month 7.8 7 th Month. 1.9 Horn. 7 th Month. 2.10 Enckhuysen Workum Harlingen 7 th Month. 3.11 Wesel Leeuwaerden Wiewart 7 th Month. 5.13 Lippenhusen 7 th Month. 6.14 Groningen 7.15 Delfzyl 7 th Month. 1.16 Embden Lier 17 th 2. Bremen 7th Month. 3.18 7th Month. Herwerdâ—n 7.22 7 th Month. 8.23 7 th Month. 2. â—4 7 th Month. 3.25.4.26 27 7th Month. Wesel 28th Duysburgh 29th Dusseldorp 8.30 Ceulen 2.1 8th Month. Dusseldorp 3.2 Duysburgh 3. 8th Month. Wesel 5.4 8th Month. 6.5 Cleve 8th Month. 7.6 Utrecht 1.7 Amsterdam 2.8.5 3.9 8 th Month. 4.10 5.11 Leyden 8 th Month. 6.12 Hague Delft Rotterdam 8 th Month. 7.13 8 th Month. 1.14 2.15 8th Month. Nortwyck 8th Month. 4.17 Hague Delft Rotterdam 8th Month. 5.18 6.19 8 th Month. 7.20 Briel 8 th Month. 1.21 2.22 3.23 Harwich 4.24 Colchester 8 th Month. 5.25 6.26 London 9th Month. 5.1 Worminghurst Hague
our Hearts and many of our Mouths in Ministry Prayer and Praises to the Magnifying of his own Name and Truth in that Place The Meeting done we returned to John Vanderwall's House where we took our leave of Friends that is to say of the Friends of that place with others that came with us or met us there and so we went on Board of the Pacquet-boat where by the special Favour of the Master of the Pacquets to me having formerly served under my Father we had the best Accommodation given to us Many of the Friends accompanied us to the Ship not leaving us till all was fixt and then we parted in the Fellowship of Jesus Those that came over were G. Fox G. Keith R. Barclay G. Wats J. Furly W. Tallcoat E. Keith My self with two of our Servants We set Sail about Three in the Morning being the fifth day of the Week and got the Sixth day at Night within half a League of the Briel we had good Service those two daies in the Ship with several Passengers French and Dutch and though they seemed at first to be Shy of us and to Slight us yet at last their Hearts were much Opened in kindness towards us and the universal Principle had place The next Morning Friends were fetcht on Shore by a Boat of Rotterdam with some Friends of that City that came to the Briel to meet us the Friends that came were A. Sonneman B. Furly and J. Johnson Yetterkeuken with three Young Men that live at B. Furly's House After we had Eaten we took Boat immediately for Rotterdam where we arrived about Noon and where many Friends came to see us among whom we were comforted The next day being the First day of the Week we had two Meetings at B. Furly's House whither resorted a great Company of People some of them being of the considerablest Note of that City And Oh blessed be the true Word of Life that never failed them that rest upon it and abide in it The Gospel was Preached the Dead was Raised and the Living Comforted and God even our God bore Heavenly Record to his only begotten Son in us and Truth is honourable in the Eyes of several of that place The next day being the Second day of the Week we spent in visiting Friends from House to House not in one Company being lodged in several quarters of the City All our Visits were Precious Meetings for indeed for that end God brought us into this Land Several of us Dined and Supped that day at two great Men's Houses where we had blessed Opportunities to make known unto them what was the Hope of our Glory that Mystery which to the Gentiles is now revealing even Christ Jesus the Light of the World manifested in us The next day being the Third day of the Week G.F. J.F. W.T. and my self after having broken our Fast at A. Sonneman's took Boat for Leyden where we came that Night in Order to be at Haerlem next day at a Meeting appointed by G.F. and my self from Rotterdam being accompanied by J. Bocliffs J. Arents and J. Claus that came from Amsterdam on purpose to conduct us thither At Haerlem we arrived about the 11 th Hour and went to the House of a good Old Man that had long waited for and is now come to behold the Consolation and Salvation of Israel After we had a little refresht our selves we went to the Meeting where the Lord gave us a blessed Opportunity not only with respect to Friends but many sober Baptists and Professors that came in and abode in the Meeting to the End Blessed be the Name of the Lord. The Meeting done we went to Amsterdam in Company with several Friends of that City and of Alchmaer and Embden who met us at the Meeting at Haerlem and we were lodged at Getrueydt Dirck's House G. K. and his Wife and R. B. stayed over the Fourth day's Meeting at Rotterdam and so came not till the next day which was the day of the general Meeting of Friends in this Country The Fifth day of the Week at G. D's House the general Meeting was held both of Men and Women And the Lord who is setting up his own Kingdom by his own Power owned us with his own blessed Presence and opened us in that Wisdom and Love that all things Ended with Peace great Concord and Comfort many things being Spoken especially by our Dear Friend G. F. that were of good Service and I hope will dwell with them for ever These several things being agreed upon being of good Savour and Report I think fit here to insert them At the General Meeting of Friends at Amsterdam the 12th of the 6th Month 1677. 1. BE it known to all Men that thâ— power of God the Gospel is the Authority of all our Mens and Womens Meetings and every Heir of that Power is an Heir of that Authority and so becometh a living Member of right of either of those Meetings and of the Heavenly Fellowship and Order in which they stand which is not of Man nor by Man 2. That each Monthly Meeting have a Collection apart and also that there be another Collection quarterly at Amsterdam from each Meeting for general Services and that it be disposed of but by the consent of the said Quarterly Meeting 3. It is Agreed upon that henceforth a Yearly Meeting be held here at Amsterdam unto which Friends in the Palatinate Hambrough Lubeck and Frederickstadt c. be invited of which Meeting there shall be given Notice to the Friends of the Yearly Meeting at London to be kept always on the first day of that Week which is fully the third Week following after the Yearly Meeting at London 4. It is also Agreed upon that henceforth this General Meeting is to be changed into a Quarterly Meeting and that the first Quarterly Meeting hereafter shall be held on the second first day of the ninth Month following and so forth every Quarter on the second first day of the Month this second of the nine Month is to be this first Quarterly Meeting 5. It is also Agreed that henceforth a Monthly Meeting in Vriesland should be Established as also at Rotterdam and that on the second second day of each Month and at Harlingen upon the third third day of the Month. 6. Further that in the interim the Friends of Alchmaer and Haerlem and Waterland are to have their Monthly Meeting with Friends at Amsterdam and to begin the said Meeting the sixth seventh Month and so forth alwaies upon the first second day of the first week of the Month at the Eighth Hour 7. And further concerning Gospel order though the Doctrine of Christ Jesus requireth his People to admonish a Brother or Sister twice before they tell the Church yet that limiteth none so as that they shall use no longer forbearance before they tell the Church but that they shall not less than twice
through a very dark Country to that place yet I felt not so great a weight and suffering in my Spirit as six Years ago when I went through the same places At Osnabrug we had a little time with the Man of the Inn where we lay and left him several good Books of Friends in the Low and High Dutch Tongues to Read and to dispose of The next morning being the fifth day of the Week we set forward to Herwerden and came thither at Night This is the City where the Princess Elizabeth Palatine hath her Court whom and the Countess in Company with her it was especially upon us to Visit and that upon several Accompts 1. In that they are Persons seeking after the best things 2. That they are actually Lovers and Favourers of those that separate themselves from the World for the sake of Righteousness For the Princess is not only a private supporter of such but gave protection to De Labadie himself and his Company yea when they went under the reproachfull Name of Quakers about seven Years since This Man was a Frenchman that dissatisfied with the loosness and deadness of the French Protestants even at Geneva it self left them and came for Holland and so vehemently declaimed against the Apostacy of the Priests and People there that the Clergy were inraged and stir'd up the Magistrates against him and the rather because many followed him and several Women of great Quality Upon this the Princess giveth them an invitation and they came and were protected by her but since some miscarriages falling out in that place she thereupon in good measure withdrew her Favour from them and they removed into another place I was moved to Visit this Man and his Company six years ago and did see him and his two great Disciples but they would not suffer me to see the People which I laboured for I in that day saw the airiness and unstableness of the Man's Spirit and that a Sect-master was his Name and it was upon me both by Word of Mouth and Writing to let them know that the Enemy would prevail against them to draw them into inconvenient things if they came not to be stay'd in the Light of Jesus Christ and to know the Holy Silence and that at last they would come to fall out one with another and moulder away which is in some measure come to pass as I fear'd for I clearly perceived that though they had received some Divine Touches a danger there was they would run out with them and spend them like Prodigals not knowing then where to stay their Minds for daily Bread yea though they were something Angelical and like to the Celestial Bodies yet if they kept not their Station they would prove fallen Stars they moved not in the motion of him that had visited them but were fill'd with gross Mixtures and thereby brought forth mixt Births That is to say things not Natural but Monstrous In fine they were Shy of us they knew us not yet I believed well of some of the People for a good thing was stirring in them and in this Case was the Countess commendable in that she left all to have joined with a People that had a pretence at least to more Spirituality and Self-denial than was found in the National Religion she was bred up in for God had reacht her as she told me about Nine Years ago and that by an extraordinary way Now it seemed great pity to us that Persons of their Quality in the World should so willingly expose themselves for the false Quaker the reprobate Silver the Mixtures and that they should not be acquainted with the Life and Testimony of the true Quakers Now about a Year since R.B. and B.F. took that City in the way from Frederickstadt to Amsterdam and gave them a Visit in which they informed them somewhat of Friends Principles and recommended the Testimony of Truth to them as both a nearer and more certain thing than the utmost of De Labadie's Doctrine They left tender and loving Soon after this Getrueydt Dircks and Elizabeth Hendricks from Amsterdam visited them and obtained a Meeting with them improving that little way God by his Providence had made more closely to press the Testimony and though they especially the Countess made some Objections in relation to the Ordinances and certain Practices of Friends yet she seemed to receive at that time satisfaction from them These Visits have occasioned a Correspondence by way of Letter betwixt them and several of us wherein the Mistery of Truth hath been more clearly opened to their Understandings and they have been brought nearer into a waiting Frame by those Heavenly Directions they have frequently receiv'd by way of Epistles from several of us This Digression from the present History I thought not altogether unnessary or unpleasing But to Return being arrived at that City part of which is under her Government we gave her to understand it desiring to know what time next day would be most proper for us to Visit her She sent us word she was glad that we were come and should be ready to receive us the next Morning about the Seventh Hour The next morning being come which was the sixth day of the week we went about the time she had appointed us and found both her and the Countess ready to receive us which they did with a more than ordinary Expression of Kindness I can truly say it and that in God's fear I was very deeply and reverently affected with the Sense that was upon my Spirit of the great and notable day of the Lord and the breakings in of his Eternal Power upon all Nations and of the raising of the slain Witness to judge the World who is the Treasure of Life and Peace of Wisdom and Glory to all that receive him in the Hour of his Judgments and abide with him The Sense of this deep and sure Foundation which God is laying as the Hope of Eternal Life and Glory for all to Build upon fill'd my Soul with an Holy Testimony to them which in a living Sense was followed by my Brethren and so the Meeting ended about the Eleventh Hour The Princess intreated us to stay and Dine with her but with due regard both to our Testimony and to her at that time we refused it desiring if she pleased another opportunity that day which she with all chearfulness yielded to She her self appointing the Second Hour So we went to our Quarters and some time after we had Dined we returned The Meeting soon began there were several present besides the Princess and Countess it was at this Meeting that the Lord in a more eminent manner began to appear the Eternal Word shewed it self a Hammer at this day yea sharper than a two edged Sword dividing asunder between the Soul and the Spirit the Joints and the Marrow yea this day was all Flesh Humbled before the Lord it amazed one struck another broke another
yea the noble Arm of the Lord was truly awakened and the weight and work thereof bowed and tendered us also after an unusual and extraordinary manner that the Lord might work an Heavenly Sign before them and among them that the Majesty of him that is risen among the poor Quakers might in some measure be known unto them what God it is we serve and what Power it is we wait for and bow before yea they had a Sense and Discovery that day what would become of the Glory of all Flesh when God shall enter into Judgment Well let my right hand forget its Cunning and my Tongue cleave to the roof of my Mouth when I shall forget the loving kindness of the Lord and the sure Mercies of our God to us his Travelling Servants that day O Lord send forth thy Light and thy Truth that all Nations may behold thy Glory Thus continued the Meeting till about the Seventh Hour which done with Hearts and Souls filled with Holy Thanksgivings to the Lord for his abundant Mercy and Goodness to us we departed to our Lodging desiring to know whether our coming the next day might not be uneasie or unseasonable to her with respect to the Affairs of her Government it being the last day of the Week when we were informed she was most frequently attended with Addresses from her Peoplâ— but with a loving and ready Mind she replyed That she should be glad to see us the next Morning and at any time when we would The next Morning being the Seventh day we were there betwixt Eight and Nine where R.B. falling into some discourse with the Princess the Countess took hold of the Opportunity and Whispered me to withdraw to get a Meeting for the more inferiour Servants of the House who would have been Bashful to have presented themselves before the Princess and blessed be the Lord he was not wanting to us but the same blessed Power that had appeared to Visit them of High appeared also to Visit them of Low Degree and we were all sweetly tender'd and broken together for Vertue went forth of Jesus that Day and the Life of our God was shed abroad amongst us as a sweet savour for which their Souls bowed before the Lord and confess'd to our Testimony which did not a little please that Noble Young Woman to find her own report of us and her great care of them so effectually answered Oh what shall we say is there any God like our God Who is glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises working Wonders To his Eternal Name Power and Arm be the Glory for Ever The Meeting done the Princess came to us expressing much Satisfaction that we had that good opportunity with her Servants telling us she much desired they should have a true and right Character of us and that therefore she chose to with-draw that they might have freer access and that it might look like their own Act on Words to that Purpose The Twelfth Hour being come we returned to our Inn letting them understand we purposed the Lord willing to Visit them some time that Afternoon I must not here forget that we found at our Inn the first Night at Supper a Young Merchant of a sweet and ingenious Temper belonging to the City of Bremen who took occasion from that Night's Discourse the sixth day at Dinner and Supper and the Seventh day also to seek all opportunities of conference with us and as we have reason to be believe he stayed Twenty Four Hours in that City on our Account We opened to him the Testimony of Truth I know not that in any one thing he contradicted us At last he plainly discovered himself unto us to be a Follower of a certain Minister in Bremen that is even by his Fellow-ministers and Protestants reproached with the Name of Quaker because of his singular sharpness against the formal lifeless Ministers and Christians in the World We laid fast hold upon this and askt him in case any of us should Visit that City if he would give us the opportunity of a Meeting at his House which he readily granted us So we gave him some Books recommending him to the true and blessed Testimony of Christ Jesus the Light and Judge of the World and Life of them that receive him and believe in him and so we parted It being now about Three in the Afternoon we went to the Princess's where being come after some little time the Princess and Countess put me in Remembrance of a Promise I made them in one of my Letters out of England namely that I would give them an account at some convenient time of my first Convincement and of those Tribulations and Consolations which I had met withal in this way of the Kingdom which God hath brought me to After some pause I found my self very free and prepared in the Lord's love and fear to comply with their request and so after some Silence began But before I had half done it was Supper time and the Princess would by no means let us go we must Sup with her which importunity not being well able to avoid we yielded to and sat down her to Supper among the rest present at these Opportunities it must not be forgotten that there was a Countess Sister to the Countess then come in to Visit her and a French Woman of Quality the first behaving her self very decently and the last often deeply broken and from a light and slighting Carriage towards the very Name of a Quaker she became very intimately and affectionately kind and respectful to us Supper being ended we all returned to the Princess's Chamber where making us all to sit down with her she with both the Countesses and the French Woman prest from me the Continuance of my Relation but none more than the Countess ' s Sister which tho' late I was not unwilling to oblige them with because I knew not when the Lord would give me such an opportunity and I found them affected It continued till about Ten at Night yet many particulars omitted partly through forgetfulness and partly for want of time howbeit I must needs say they heard me with an Earnest and Tender Attention and I hope and believe the Lord hath made it profitable unto them This done some discourse they had upon it and afterwards we spoke about a Meeting for the next day being the first day of the Week and that we might have not only as many of her own Family but as many of her Town as would willingly be there she yielded to it and appointed the Meeting to begin at the Second Hour so we parted being near the Eleventh Hour at Night The next Morning we had a Meeting among our selves in our Chamber wherein the Lord refresht us and there was a great Travail upon our Spirits that the Lord would stand by us that day and magnifie the Testimony of his own Truth by us that he might have a Seed and People
in that place to lift up a Standard for his Name At Dinner there were several Strangers that came by the Post-Waggon that day among whom there was a Young Man of Bremen being a Student of Duysburgh who informed us of a sober and seeking Man of great Note in that City of Duysburgh to him we gave some Books There was one more who was tender and inquiring to whom also we gave some Books The Second Hour being at Hand we went to the Meeting where were several as well of the Town as of the Family the Meeting began with a weighty Exercise and Travel in Prayer that the Lord would glorifie his own Name that day and by his own power he made way to their Consciences and sounded his wakening Trumpet in their Ears that they might know that he was God and that there is none like unto him Oh the day of the Lord livingly dawned upon us and the searching Life of Jesus was in the midst of us Oh! the word that never faileth them that wait for it and abide in it opened the way and unsealed the Book of Life yea the quickning Power and Life of Jesus wrought and reacht to them and vertue from him in whom dwelleth the God-head bodily went forth and blessedly distilled upon us his own Heavenly Life sweeter than the Spices with pure Frankincense yea than the sweet smelling Myrrh that cometh from a far Country and as it began so it was carried on and so it ended Blessed be the Name of the Lord and confided in be our God for ever Assoon as the Meeting was done the Princess came to me and took me by the hand which she usually did to us all coming and going and went to speak to me of the Sense she had of that Power and Presence of God that was amongst us but was stopt and turning her self to the Window brake forth in an extraordinary Passion crying out I cannot Speak to you my Heart is full claping her Hands upon her Breast it melted me into a deep and calm tenderness in which I was moved to Minister a few words softly to her and after some time of Silence she recovered her self and as I was taking my leave of her she interrupted me thus Will ye not come hither again Pray call here as ye return out of Germany I told her we were in the Hand of the Lord and being his could not dispose of our selves but the Lord had taken care that we should not forget her and those with her for he had raised and begotten an Heavenly Concernment in our Souls for her and them and that we loved them all with that love wherewith God had loved uâ— with much more to that purpose She then turned to the rest of the Friends and would have had us all gone down to Supper with her but we chose rather to be excused we should Eat a bit of her Bread and Drink a glass of her Wine if she pleased in the Chamber where we were At last we prevailed with her to leave us The Countess the French Woman and the Countess's waiting Woman stay'd with us and we had a very retir'd and seasonable Opportunity with them After the Princess had Supt we went all down and took our Solemn leave of her the Countess her Sister the French Woman with the rest of the Family whose hearts were reach'd and opened by our Testimonies recommending unto them Holy Silence from all Will-worship and the Workings Strivings and Images of their own Mind and Spirit that Jesus might be felt of them in their Hearts his holy Teachings witnessed and followed in the way of his Blessed Cross that would crucifie them unto the World and the World unto them that their Faith Hope and Joy might stand in Christs in them the Heavenly Prophet Shepherd and Bishop whose voice all that are truly Sheep will hear and follow and not the voice of any stranger whatever So we left them in the Love and Peace of God praying that they might be kept from the Evil of this World So we returned to our Lodging having our Hearts filled with a weighty Sense of the Lord's appearance with us in that place and being late towards the Ninth Hour we prepared to go to Rest The next Morning being the Second day of the Week G.K. B.F. and my self got ready to begin our Journey towards Franckfort w câ— by the way of Cassel is about 200 English Miles R. B. prepared himself to return by the way weâ—came directly back to Amsterdam But before we parted we had a little time together in the Morning in our Chamber whither came one of the Princess's Family and one of the Town The Lord moved me to call upon his great Name that he would be with them that stayed and with them that returned also and with us that went forward in wild and untrodden places and his blessed Love and Life over-shadowed us yea he filled our Cup together and made us drink into one Spirit even the Cup of Blessings in the Fellowship of the everlasting Seed in which we took leave of one another and after having Eaten it being about the Seventh Hour we departed the City We came to Paderborn that Night six German Miles which are about thirty six English it is a dark Popish Town and under the Government of a Bishop of that Religion howbeit the Woman where we lodged was an Ancient Grave and Serious Person to whom we declared the Testimony of the Light shewing her the difference betwixt an outside and an inside Religion which she received with much kindness We left some Books with her which she took readily There was also with us at Supper a Lutheran that was a Lawyer with whom I had very good Service in opening to him the great loss of the power of Godliness as well among them who separated from Rome as in the Roman Church which he confessed I directed him to the Principle of Light in his Conscience that let him see the lifeless State of the false Christians and if he turned his mind to that Principle and waited there for Power he would receive Power to Rule and Govern himself according to true Godliness and that it was the loss of Christendom that they went from this Principle in which the Power standeth that conformeth the Soul into the Image and Likeness of the dear Son of God and thither they must come again if ever they will have the true knowledge of God and enjoy Life and Salvation with much more to that purpose all which he received lovingly The next Morning we set forwards toward Cassel but through great foulness of Weather having only naked Carts to Ride in the Waters being also High with the Rains We got not to Cassel till the next day which was the Fourth day of the Week It being late we made little inquiry that Night being also wearied with the foulness of the Ways and Weather But the next day we
made our usual Inquiry viz. who was worthy in the City and found some that tenderly and lovingly received us to whom we declared the Visitation of the Light and Love of God Among the rest was Dureus our Countryman a Man of Seventy Seven Years of Age who had learned in good Measure to forget his Learning School Divinity and Priest's Craft and for his approaches towards an inward Principle is reproachfully saluted by some with the honest Title of Quaker 't is much better than Papist Lutheran or Calvinist who are not only ignorant of but Enemies to Quaking and Trembling at the Word of the Lord as Moses and others did Upon the Sixth day of the same week about Noon we set out towards Franckfort having left several Books behind us which hath been our Practice in our Journey At Franckfort we Arrived the Second day about Noon being just a Week from Herwerden and having from thence and Cassel made known our intentions of coming to that City two considerable Persons came and met us about half a German Mile from the City informing us of several well affected in that Town upon which we told them the end of our coming and desired to have a Meeting with them in the Afternoon which we easily obtained at the House of a Merchant one of the two that met us The persons that resorted thither were generally People of considerable Note both of Calvinists and Lutherans and we can say they received us with gladness of Heart and embraced our Testimony with a broken and reverent Spirit thanking God for our coming amongst them and praying that he would prosper this work in our Hands this ingaged our hearts to make some longer stay in this City We therefore desired another Meeting the next day which they cheerfully assented to where several came that were not with us the day before and the Lord that sent us into the Land was with us and by his Power reached to them insomuch that they confessed to the Truth of our Testimony Of these Persons there were two Women one a Virgin the other a Widow both Noble of Birth who had a deep Sense of that power and presence of God that accompanied our Testimony and their hearts yearned strongly towards us the Virgin giving us a particular invitation to her House the next Morning where we had the most blessed Opportunity of the three for the Lord's power so eminently appeared that not only those that had been with us before were most effectually reacht but a certain Student residing in the House of a Lutheran Minister sent for by that Young Woman was broken to pieces and magnified that blessed power which appeared Also there accidentally came in a Doctor of Physick who unexpectedly was affected and confessed to the Truth praying God to prosper us This was the blessed Issue of our Visit to Franckfort But there is one thing more not unfit to be mentioned Among some of those that have Inclinations after God a fearful Spirit together with the shame of the Cross hath entred against which our Testimony in part striking we took Notice it was as Life to these noble Women for that was it as they told us which had long opprest them and obstructed the work of the Lord amongst them Therefore said the Young Virginour Quarters are free for you let all come that will come and lift up your Voices without fear for said she it will never be well with us till Persecution come and some of us be lodged in the Stadthouse that is the Prison We left the Peace of Jesus with them and the same Afternoon we departed out of that City being the fourth day of the week Here I writ an Epistle to the Churches of Jesus TO THE CHURCHES OF JESUS Throughout the WORLD Gathered and settled in his Eternal Light Power and Spirit to be one Holy Flock Family and Houshold to the Lord who hath Redeemed them from among all the Kindreds of the Earth Godly Zeal Wisdom Power Perseverance and Victory with all Heavenly Blessings be multiplied among you in the Name of the Lord. William Penn. Printed in the Year 1677. TO THE CHURCHES OF JESUS Throughout the VVORLD Gathered and settled in his Eternal Light Power and Spirit to be One Holy Flock Family and Houshold to the Lord c. Dear Friends and Brethren WHO have been visited with the Fatherly Visitation from on High and have received God's Eternal Word and Testament in your Hearts by which you have been gathered home to Christ Jesus the true Shepherd from all the Idol-Shepherds and their barren Mountains and unprofitable Hills where you have been scattered in the Dark and Gloomy Day of Apostacy and by hiâ— Light Spirit and Power have been convinced of Sin Righteousness and Judgment and can say The Prince of thiâ— World is judged by his Holy Righteous and powerful Appearance in you untâ— whom all Judgment in Heaven and Earth is committed who is the blessed Lamâ— of God the Light and Saviour of the World who is King of Salem and Prince of Peace My Soul loves you with everlasting Love even with the Love with which my God and your God my Father and your Father hath loved me and visited my Soul and your Souls in this do I dearly salute and embrace you all in this the day of the fullfilling of his glorious Promises to his Church in the Wilderness and Witnesses in Sack-cloth And O magmagnified be his Name and everlastingly praised and renowned be his holy Power and Arm by which he hath reached unto us and brought Salvation near us For he hath found us out and hath heard our Solitary Cries the deep and mournful Supplications of our bowed Spirits when we were as the â—ittle silly Dove without its Mate and â—he lonely Pelican in the Wilderness when we were ready to cry out Is â—here none to save is there none to help O when shall the Time and Times and half a Time be finisht when shall the One Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Days be accomplisht and when shall the Abomination that stands in the Holy Place â—â—e cast out when shall the Captivity of the People be turned back O when shall Babylon come into Remembrance before God the Dragon Beast and False Prophet be cast into the Lake And when shall the Law go forth out of Sion and the Word of the Lord out of Jerusalem When shall Sion become the Joy and Jerusalem the Praise of the whole Earth And when shall the Earth be covered with the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waâ—ers cover the Sea Friends The Lord of Heaven and Earth hath heard our Cries and the full time is come yea the appointed time is come and the Voice of the Eâ—ernal Spirit in our Hearts hath been And Friends let it never pass out of our remembrance what our God hath done for us since he hath made us a People Hath any Weapon formed against us prospered hath he
called us and not protected us hath he given Power to conceive and not to bring forth hath he not sheltered us in many a Storm did he ever leave us under the Reproaches and Contradictions of Men nay hath he not spoken Peace to us were we ever cast out by Men and he forsook us No the Lord hath taken us up Were we ever in Prison and he visited us not hungry and he fed us not naked and he clothed us not or have we been sick and he came not to see us When were the Jails so close that he could not come in and the Dungeons so dark that he caused not his Light to shine upon us O nay he hath never left us nor forsaken us yea he hath provided richly for us he hath brought us into the Wilderness not to starve us but to try us yet not above our measure For he fed us with Manna from on high with pure Honey and Water out of the Rock and gave his good Spirit to sustain us By Night he was a Pillar of Fire to us to comfort us and by Day a Pillar of Cloud to hide and shelter us He was a Shadow of a mighty Rock that followed us and we never wanted a Brook by the way to refresh us Was God good to Israel outward Much more hath he abounded to his spiritual Israel the proper Seed and Off-spring of himself O the noble Deeds and valiant Acts that he hath wrought in our Day for our Deliverance He hath caused One to chase Ten and Ten an Hundred and an Hundred a Thousand many a Time None hath been able to snatch us out of his Hands who abode in his Truth For though the Winds have blown and the Sea hath raged yet hath he rebuked the Winds and the Sea for his Seed's sake He hath said to the Winds Be still and to the Sea Thus far shalt thou come and no further He hath cast up a high Way for his Ransomed to walk in so plain that though a Fool he shall not err therein This is the Light in which all Nations of them that are saved must walk for ever And therefore Friends let us stay our Minds in the Light of the Lord for ever and let the Awe Fear and Dread of the Almighty dwell in us and let his Holy Spirit be known to be a Covering to us that from the Spirit of this World we may be chastly kept and preserved unto God in the holy Light and Self-denying Life of Jesus who hath offered up himself once for all leaving us an Example that we should also follow his Steps that as he our dear Lord and Master so we his Servants and Friends and Children might by the eternal Spirit offer up our selves to God in Body in Soul and in Spirit which are his that we may be his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works to the Praise of him that hath called us which Calling is an high and an holy Calling by the eternal Light and Spirit in our Consciences O that it might for ever remain in high Estimation with us and that it may be the daily Watch and Travel of us all in the Presence of the Holy and Living God that hath called us to make our great Call and Election sure which many have neglected to do who have been convinced by the blessed Light and Truth of Christ Jesus revealed in their Hearts and who for a time have walked among us have been overcome by the Spirit of this World and turned their Hands from the Plough and deserted the Camp of the Lord and gone back into Egypt again whereby the Heathens have blasphemed and the Way and People of the Lord greatly have suffered Therefore O my dear Friends and Brethren in the Sense of that Life and Power that God from Heaven so gloriously hath dispensed among us and by which he hath given us multiplied Assurances of his Loving-kindness unto us and crowned us together with heavenly Dominion and in which my Spirit is at this time broken before the Lord do I most earnestly entreat you to watch continually lest any of you that have tasted of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come fall by Temptation and by Carelesness and Neglect tempt the living God to withdraw his fatherly Visitation from any of you and finally to desert such for the Lord our God is a jealous God and he will not give his Glory unto another He hath given to Man all but Man himself and him he hath reserved for his own peculiar Service to build him up a glorious Temple to himself so that we are bought with a Price and we are not our own Therefore let us continually watch and stand in awe that we grieve not his Holy Spirit nor turn his Grace into Wantonness But all of us let us wait and that in a holy travail of Spirit to know our selves sealed by the Spirit of Adoption unto the Day of our compleat Redemption when not only all our Sins but all Sorrows Sighings and Tears shall be wiped away from our Eyes and everlasting Songs of Joy and Thanksgivings shall melodiously fill our Hearts to God that sits upon the Throne and to his blessed immaculate Lamb who by his most precious Blood shall have compleatly redeemed us from the Earth and written our Names in the Book of Life Friends The Spirit of the Lord hath often brought you into my Remembrance since I have been in this desolate Land and with Joy unutterable have I had sweet and precious Fellowship with you in the Faith of Jesus that overcometh the World For though absent in Body yet present in him that is Omnipresent And I can truly say you are very near and very dear unto me and the Love that God hath raised in my Heart unto you surpasses the Love of Women And our Testimony I am well satisfied is sealed up together And I am well assured that all that love the Light shall endure to the End throughout all Tribulations and in the End obtain Eternal Salvation And now Friends as I have been travelling in this dark and solitary Land the great Work of the Lord in the Earth has been often presented unto my view and the Day of the Lord hath been deeply upon me and my Soul and Spirit hath frequently been possessed with an holy and weighty Concern for the Glory of the Name of the Lord and the spreading of his everlasting Truth and the Prosperity of it through all Nations that the very Ends of the Earth may look to him and may know Christ the Light to be given to them for their Salvation And when the Sense of these things hath been deeply upon me an holy and strong Cry God hath raised in my Soul to him That we who have known this fatherly Visitation from on High and who have beheld the Day of the Lord the Rising of the Sun of Righteousness who is full of Grace and full of Truth
of the Glory of this blessed Mystery in the Gentiles which is Christ Jesus the Light of the World in you the Hope of Glory For this I have to tell you in the Vision of the Almighty that the Day of the breaking up of the Nations about you and of the sounding of the Gospel-Trumpet unto the Inhabitants of the Earth is just at the Door And they that are worthy who have kept their Habitation from the beginning and have dwelt in the Unity of the Faith that overcometh the World and have kept the Bond of Peace The Lord God will impower and spirit you to go forth with his Everlasting Word and Testament to awaken and gather Kindreds Languages and People to the Glory of the rising of the Gentiles Light who is God's Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth And I must tell you that there is a Breathing Hungering Seeking People solitarily scattered up and down this great Land of Germany where the Lord hath sent me and â— believe it is the like in other Nations And as the Lord hath laid it upon me with my Companions to seeâ— some of them out so have we founâ— several in divers Places And wâ— have had many blessed Opportunities amongst them wherein our Hearts have greatly rejoiced having been made deeply sensible of the Love of God towards them and of the great openness and tenderness of Spirit in them to receive the Testimony of Light and Life through us And we have a stedfast belief that the Lord will carry on his Work in this Land effectually and that he will raise up those that shall be as Ministers of his eternal Testament amongst them And O! our desire is that God would put it into the Hearts of many of his faithful Witnesses to visit the Inhabitants of this Country where God hath a great Seed of People to be gathered that his Work may go on in the Earth till the whole Earth be filled with his Glory And it is under the deep and weighty Sense of this approaching Work that the Lord God hath laid it upon me to write to you to wait for the farther pourings out of the Power and Spirit of the Lord that nothing that is Careless Sleepy Earthly or Exalted may get up whereby to displease the Lord and cause him to withdraw his sweet and preserving Presence from any that know him But let all keep the King of Righteousness his Peace and walk in the Steps of the Flocks of the Companions For Withering and Destruction shall come upon all such as desert the Camp of the Lord or with their murmuring Spirit disquiet the Heritage of God for they are greater Enemies to Sion's Glory and Jerusalem's Peace than the open Armies of the Aliens And it is a Warning to all that make mention of the Name of the Lord in this Dispensation he hath brought us to That they have a care how they let out their Minds in any wise to please the Lusts of the Eye the Lusts of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which are not of the Father but of this World lest any be exalted in a Liberty that maketh the Cross of Jesus of none effect and the Offence thereof to cease for such will become as Salt that hath lost its Savour and at last will be trod under the Feet of God and Men. For the Lord will withdraw his daily Presence and the Fountain will come to be sealed up and the Well of Salvation be stopped again Therefore as all would rejoice in the Joy of God's Salvation let them wait for the saving Power and dwell in it that knowing the Mystery of the Work of Regeneration Christ formed in them the Hope of their Glory they may be able in the motion of him that hath begotten them through Death to Life to go forth and declare the Way of Life and Salvation And all you that are young convinced of the Eternal Truth come into it and then you will feel the Virtue of it And so you will be Witnesses otherwise Vain Talkers Wells without Water Clouds without Rain for which State is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever Wherefore gird up the Loins of your Minds and be sober and tempt not God but receive the Day of your Visitation and walk worthy of so great Love and delight to retain God in your Knowledg and grieve not his Holy Spirit but join to it and be led by it that it may be an Earnest to you of an Eternal Inheritance And take up your daily Cross and follow Christ and not the Spirit of this World He was meek and lowly he was humble and plain he was few in Words but mighty in Deeds He loved not his Life unto Death even the reproachful Death of the Cross but laid down his Life and became of no Reputation and that for the Rebellious O the Height and the Depth the Length and the Breadth yea the Vnsearchableness of the Love of God in Christ Jesus Wherefore while it is to Day hearken to his Voice and harden not your Hearts and make no Bargains for your Self neither consult with Flesh and Blood But let the Lord be your Light and your Salvation let him be the Strength of your Life and the Length of your Days And this know assuredly that none ever trusted to the Lord and were confounded Wherefore hold up your Testimony for God as ye would enjoy the Increasings of his Life and Love And let your Light shine and confess him before the whole World Smother not his Appearance neither hide thy Candle God hath lighted in thee under a Bushel for Christ walketh among his Candlesticks of pure and tried Gold Wherefore set thy Light upon a Candlestick and shew forth thy good Conversation in Meekness and godly Fear that thou mayest become a good Example and others beholding thy good Works may glorify God But for the Rebellious the Fearful and the Unbelieving the Day hastens upon such that the things that belong to their Eternal Peace shall be hid from their Eyes for ever And all you my dear Friends and Brethren who are in Sufferings for the Testimony of Jesus and a good Conscience look up to Jesus the Author and Finisher of your Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame and is sat down at the Right Hand of the Father in the heavenly Place into which if you faint not you shall all be received after the Days of your Pilgrimage shall be at an End with a Well done good and faithful Servant And though these Afflictions seem not joyous but grievous for the present yet a far more exceeding weight of Glory stands at the Door Wherefore count it all Joy you fall into these Trials and persevere to the End knowing that he that shall come will come and will not tarry and that his Reward is with him Remember the Martyrs of Jesus that loved not their Lives to the Death for his
Name's-sake that had called them And Jesus himself that made a good Confession before Pontius Pilate who hath consecrated through his Blood a new and living Way for all that come unto God by him who is made a high Priest higher than the Heavens one that can be touched and moved and is daily touched and moved with our Weakness and Infirmity that through him we may be made strong in the Lord and more than Conquerors through him that hath loved us Wherefore let it not seem as if some strange thing had happened to you for all these things are for the Trial of your Faith which is more precious than the Gold that perisheth 'T is the old Quarrel Children of this World against the Children of the Lord those that are born after the Flesh warring against those that are born after the Spirit Cain against Abel the Old World against Noah Sodomites against Lot Hagar against Sarah Ishmael against Isaac Esau against Jacob Egyptians against Israelites the false Prophets against the true Prophets as Isaiah Jeremiah c. the Jews under the Profession of the Letter of the Law against Christ that came to fulfil the Law and all his spiritual Followers and Disciples And all the false Apostate Christians against the true and Spiriritual Christians and Martyrs of Jesus So your Conflict is for the Spiritual Appearance of Christ Jesus against those that profess him in Words but in Works and Conversations every day deny him doing Despight to the Spirit of Grace in themselves and those that are led by it But though Gog and Magog shall gather themselves together to lay waste the City of God yet the Lord hath determined their Destruction and he will bring it to pass Wherefore rejoyce O thou little Hill of God and clap thy Hands for Joy for he that is Faithful and True Just and Righteous and able to deliver thee dwells in the midst of thee Who will cause thee to grow and increase till thou becomest a great Mountain till thou becomest the Praise of the whole Earth and the whole Earth be filled with thy Glory And to you all who are the followers of the Lamb of God who was dead but is alive and lives for evermore who is risen in your Hearts as a bright shining Light and is leading you out of the Nature and Spirit of this World in the Path of Regeneration I have this to say by way of holy Encouragement unto you all the Lord God Eternal that was and is and is to come hath reserved for you the Glories of the last Days and if so be that the Followers and Martyrs of Jesus in Ages past when the Church was going into the Wilderness and his Witnesses into Sackcloth were notwithstanding so Noble and Valiant for the Truth on Earth that they loved not their Lives unto the Death and suffered joyfully the Spoiling of their Goods for the Testimony of Jesus how much more ought you all to be encouraged unto Faithfulness who are come to the Resurrection of the Day which shall never more be eclipsed in which the Bride-groom is to come to fetch you his Spouse out of the WILDERNESS to give you Beauty for Ashes and the Garment of Praise for the SPIRIT of HEAVINESS who will cover you with his Spirit and adorn you with his fine Linen the Righteousness of the Saints Lean upon his Breast for ever and know your joyning in an Everlasting Covenant with him that he may lift up the Light of his Countenance upon you and delight to do you Good that in blessing he may bless you increase you and multiply you in all spiritual Blessings now and for ever that to God through him you may live all the Days of your appointed Time to whom be Glory and Honour Praises and Thanksgivings in the Church throughout all Ages and for ever I am In the Faith Patience Tribulation and Hope of the Kingdom of Jesus your Friend and Brother William Penn. My Companions in the Labour and Travel of the Testimony of Jesus G. Keith and B. Furley salute you all in the Love of our God We have passed through several Cities of Germany and are now at Franckfort where the Lord hath given us Three blessed Opportunities with a serious and seeking People whereof as in other places of this Country many of them are Persons of great Worldly Quality Blessed be the Name of the Lord to whom be Glory be for ever W.P. Franckfort the 22d of the 6th Month 1677. The fifth Day we arrived by the way of Worms at Crisheim in the Paltzgrave's Country where we found to our great Joy a Meeting of tender and faithful People But it seems the Inspector of the Calvinists hath injoined the Vooght or chief Officer not to suffer any preaching to be among our Friends who poor Man fearing the Indignation of the Clergy came next Day to desire Friends not to suffer any preaching to be amongst them lest he should be turned out of his Place To whom we desired Friends to say that if he pleased he might apprehend us and carry us to the Prince before whom we should give an Account of our Testimony But blessed be the Lord we enjoyed our Meeting quietly and comfortably of which a Coachful from Worms made a part amongst whom was a Governour of the Country and one of the chief Lutheran Priests It came upon me in this Place to salute the Princess and Countess with this following Epistle A Salutation to Elizabeth Princess Palatine and Anna Maria dâ— Hornes Countess of Hornes at Herwerden in Germany My worthy Friends SUCH as I have such I give unto you the dear and tender Salutation of Light Life Peace and Salvation by Jesus Christ the blessed Lamb of God with the unspeakable Joy of which he hath replenished my Soul at this time that my Cup overfloweth which is the Reward of them that chearfully drink his Cup of Tribulations that love the Cross and triumph in all the Shame Reproaches and Contradictions of the World that do attend it My God take you by the Hand and gently lead you through all the Difficulties of Regeneration and as you have begun to know and love his sweet and tender Drawings so resign the whole Conduct of your Lives to him dispute not away the precious Sense that you have of him be it as small as a Grain of Mustard-seed which is the least of all Seeds there is Power in it if you do but believe to remove the greatest Mountains of Opposition O pretious is this Faith yea more pretious than the Glory and Honour of this World that perish It will give Courage go with Christ before Caiaphas and Pilate yea to bear his Cross without the Camp and to be crucified with him knowing that the Spirit of God and of Glory shall rest upon them to the Inheritors of this Faith is reserved the eternal Kingdom of Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost O be you of that little Flock unto whom
Jesus said Fear not for it is my Father's good pleasure to give you a Kingdom And to be of this Flock you must become as Sheep and to be as Sheep you must become harmless and to become harmless you must hear and follow the Lamb of God as he is that blessed Light which discovereth and condemneth all the unfruitful Works of Darkness and maketh harmless as a Dove which word All leaveth not one Piccadillo or Circumstance undiscovered or unjudged and the word Darkness taketh in the whole Night of Apostacy and the word Vnfruitful is a plain Judgment against all those dark Works Wherefore out of them all come and be you separated and God will give you a Crown of Life which shall never fade away O! the lowness and meanness of those Spirits that despise or neglect the Joys and Glories of Immortality for the sake of the things which are â—een that are but Temporal debasing â—he Nobility of their Souls abandoning the Government of the Divine Spirit and embracing with all ardency of Affection the sensual Pleasures of this Life but such as persevere therein shall not enter into God's Rest for ever But this is not all that hindereth and obstructeth in the holy Way of Blessedness for there is the World's Fear as well as the World's Joy that obstructeth many or else Christ had not said Fear not to his little Flock The Shame of the Cross is a Yoke too uneasy and a Burden too heavy for Flesh and Blood to bear 't is true but therefore shall Flesh and Blood never enter into the Kingdom of God And not to them that are born of the Flesh but to those that are born of the Spirit through the Word of Regeneration is appointed the Kingdom and that Throne which shall judg the twelve Tribes of Israel and all the World The Lord perfect what he hath begun in you and give you Dominion over the Love and Fear of this World And my Friends if you would profit in the Way of God despise noâ— the Day of small things in youâ— selves Know this that to desire anâ— sincerely to breathe after the Lord iâ— a blessed State you must seek beforâ— you find Do you believe make noâ— haste extinguish not those small Beginnings by an over-earnest or impatient desire of Victory God's time is the best time be you faithful and your Conflict shall end with Glory to God and the Reward of Peace to your own Souls Therefore love the Judgment and love the Fire start not aside neither flinch from the scorchings of it for it will purify and refine you as Gold seven times tried then cometh the Stamp and Seal of the Lord upon his own Vessel Holiness to him for ever which he never gave nor will give to reprobate Silver the state of the Religious Worshippers of the World And herein be comforted that Sion shall be redeemed through Judgment and her Converts through Righteousness and after the appointed time of Mourning is over the Lord will give Beauty for Ashes the Oil of Joy for Mourning and the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness then shall you be able to say Who is he that condemneth us God hath justified us there is no Condemnation to us that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Wherefore my dear Friends walk not only not after the fleshly Lusts but also not after the fleshly Religions and Worships of the World for that that is not born of the Spirit is Flesh and all Flesh shall wither as the Grass and the Beauty of it shall fade away as the Flower of the Field before God's Sun that is risen and rising but the Word of the Lord in which is Life and that Life the Light of Men shall endure for ever and give Life Eternal to them that love and walk in the Light And I entreat you by the Love you have for Jesus have a care how you touch with fleshly Births or say Amen by Word or Practice to that which is not born of the Spirit for God is not to be found of that in your selves or others that calleth him Father and he hath never begotten it in them that Latitude and Conformity is not of God but secretly grieveth his Spirit and obstructeth the growth of the Soul in its Acquaintance and intimate Communion with the Lord. Without me saith Jesus you can do nothing and all that came before me are Thieves and Robbers If so O what are they that Pray Preach and Sing without Jesus and follow not him in those Duties but even in them crucify him O that I may find in you an Ear to hear and an Heart to perceive and embrace these Truths of Jesus And I can say I have great cause to hope and patiently to wait till the Salvation of God be further revealed to you and the whole Family with whom I must acknowledg I was abundantly refreshed and comforted in that God in measure made known the Riches of his Grace and Operation of his Celestial Power to you and his Witness shall dwell with you if we never see you more that God magnified his own Strength in our Weakness With him we leave our Travels affectionately recommending you to his holy Spirit of Grace that you may be conformed to the Image of his own dear Son who is able and ready to preserve you O stay your Minds upon him and he will keep you in perfect Peace and abide with you for ever The Almighty take you into his holy Protection now and for ever I am Your true Friend ready to serve you with fervent Love in the Will of God William Penn. My dear Companions G. K. and B.F. do with me give you the dear Salutation of unfeigned Love and those in the Family that love and desire to follow the Lord Jesus in Sincerity and Truth without wavering P. S. We are this Evening bound towards Manheim the Court of the Prince Palatine and travell'd about twelve English Miles on foot That Night we lodged at Franckenthall and goâ— the next Morning being the seventh Day of the Week to Manheim but were disappointed of our Design which was to speak with the Prince for he was gone the Day before to Heydelbâ—rgh his chief City about fifteen English Miles from that Place and considering that by reason of the Meeting next Day with Friends at Crisheim already appointed we could neither go forward nor stay till he returned and yet being not clear to come away as if we had never endeavoured to visit him it was upon me to write him this following Letter to let him know we had been there and briefly our End in coming To the Prince Elector Palatine of Heydelbergh Great Prince IT would seem strange that I both a Stranger and a Subject should use this freedom of Address to a Prince were he not one whose Actions shew him to be of a free Disposition and easy Access to all
to Worms from whence we the next Morning being the first day of the Week walked on Foot to Crisheim which is about six English Miles from Worms We had a good Meeting from the tenth till the third Hour and the Lord's Power sweetly opened to many of the Inhabitants of the Town that were at the Meeting yea the Vaught or chief Officer himself stood at the Door behind the Barn where he could hear and not be seen who went to the Priest and told him that it was his Work if we were Hereticks to discover us to be such but for his part he heard nothing but what was good and he would not meddle with us In the Evening we had a more retired Meeting of the Friends only very weighty and tender yea the Power rose in high operation among them and great was the Love of God that rose in our Hearts at the Meeting to visit them and there is a lovely sweet and true Sense among them we were greatly comforted in them and they were greatly comforted in us Poor Hearts a little handful surrounded with great and mighty Countries of Darkness 't is the Lord's great Goodness and Mercy to them that they are so finely kept even natural in the Seed of Life they were most of them gathered by dear William Ames The next Morning we had another Meeting where we took our leave of them and so came accompanied by several of them to Worms where having refresh'd our selves we went to visit the Lutheran Priest that was at the Meeting the sixth Day before at Crisheim he received us very kindly and his Wife not without some sense of our Testimony After we had discours'd about an Hour with him of the true and heavenly Ministry and Worship and in what they stood and what all People must come unto if ever they will know how to worship God aright we departed and immediately sent them several good Books of Friends in High-Dutch Immediately we took Boat about the third Hour in the Afternoon and came down the River Rhine to Mentz where we arrived about the fifth Hour in the Morning and immediately took an open Chariot for Frankfort where we came about the first Hour in the Afternoon We presently informed some of those People that had received us the Time before of our return to that City with desires that we might have a Meeting that Afternoon which was readily granted us by the Noble Women at whose House we met whither resorted some that we had not seen before And the Lord did after a living manner open our Hearts and Mouths amongst them which was received by them as a farther confirmation of the coming of the Day of the Lord unto them yea with much joy and kindness they received us The Meeting held till the ninth Hour at Night they constrained us to stay and eat with them which was also a blessed Meeting to them before we parted we desired a select Meeting the next Morning at the same Place of those that we felt more inwardly affected with Truth 's Testimony and that were nearest unto the State of a silent Meeting which they joyfully assented to We went to our Lodging and the next Morning we returned unto them with whom we had a blessed and heavenly Opportunity for we had room for our Life amongst them it was as among faithful Friends Life ran as Oil and swom a-top of all We recommended a silent Meeting unto them that they might grow into an holy Silence unto themselves that the Mouth that calls God Father that is not of his own Birth may be stop'd and all Images confounded that they may hear the soft Voice of Jesus to instruct them and receive his sweet Life to feed them and to build them up About the ninth Hour we departed from that Place and went to Vander Walls where the Meeting was the Time before and there we had a more publick Meeting of all that pleased to come The Lord did so abundantly appear amongst us that they were more broken than we had seen them at any time yea they were exceeding tender and low and the Love of God was much raised in their Hearts to the Testimony In this sensible frame we left them and the Blessings and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ with and among them And after having refresh'd our selves at our Inn we took Boat down the Main to Mentz where we arrived about the fifth Hour 't is a great City but a dark and superstitious Place according to the Popish Way and is under the Government of a Popish Bishop we stayed not longer there than till our Boat was ready which might be better than half an Hour From Mentz we went on our way down the Rhine six German Miles and came that Night to Hampack from thence the next Morning we went by Bacherach Coblentz and other places upon the Rhine to Tresy that Night being about eleven German Miles Next day being the sixth Day of the Week we got to Cullen a great Popish City about the third Hour in the Afternoon We gave notice to a sober Merchant in that Town a serious Seeker aâ—ter God that we were there arrived who presently came to us We sat down and had a living and pretious Opportunity with him opening to him the Way of the Lord as to us it had been maniâ—ested intreating him if he knew any in that City who had desires after the Lord or that were willing to come to a Meeting that he would please to inform them of our being here and of our desire to meet with them He answered That he would readily do it This night when we were in Bed came the Resident of several Princes a serious and tender Man to find us out we had some discourse with him but being late promised to see us the next Day The next Morning came the aforesaid Merchant informing us that it was a busy Time several preparing for the Mass or great Fair at Frankfort yet some would come and he desired it might be at his House in the Afternoon about Three In the Morning we were to visit that Resident whom we met coming to see us but he returned and brought us to his House We had a good Time with him for the Man is an antient Seeker opprest with the Cares of this World and he may be truly said to mourn under them his Heart was opened to us and he blessed God that he had lived to see us We gave him an Account how the Lord appeared in the Land of our Nativity and how he had dealt with us which was as the cool and gentle Showers upon the dry and scorched Desart About Noon we returned Home after we had eaten we went to the Merchant's House to the Meeting where came four Persons one of which was the Presbyterian Priest who preach'd in private to the Protestants of that Place for they are no
with the Joy of his Salvation giving us to remember and to speak one unto another of his blessed Witnesses in the Days past who wandred up and down like poor Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth their Eye being to a City in the Heavens whose Builder and Maker is God Betwixt nine and ten we reached the Walls of Duysburgh but the Gates were shut and there being no Houses without the Walls we laid us down together in a Field receiving both natural and spiritual Refreshment blessed be the Lord. About three in the Morning we rose sanctifying God in our hearts that had kept us that Night and walked till five often speaking one to another of the great and notable Day of the Lord dawning upon Germany and of several Places of that Land that were almost ripe unto Harvest Soon after the Clock had struck five they opened the Gates of the City and we had not long got to our Inn but it came upon me with a sweet yet fervent Power to visit this prosecuted Countess with a Salutation from the Love and Life of Jesus and to open unto her more plainly the Way of the Lord which I did in this following Epistle And then followeth a Letter to her Father the Graef of Bruch and Falckensteyn To the Countess of Falckensteyn and Bruch at Mulheim My dear Friend JESUS the Immaculate Lamb of God grieved and crucified by all the Workers of Iniquity illuminate thy Understanding bless and be with thy Spirit for ever Tho unknown yet art thou much beloved for the sake of thy Desires and Breathings of Soul after the living God The Report whereof from some in the same State hath made deep impressions of true Kindness upon my Spirit and raised in me a very singular and fervent inclination to visit thee and the rather because of that Suffering and Tribulation thou hast begun to endure for the sake of thy Zeal towards God my self having from my Childhood been both a Seeker after the Lord and a great Sufferer for that Cause from Parents Relations Companions and the Magistrates of this World the remembrance whereof hath so much the more endeared thy Condition unto me and my Soul hath often in the sweet Sense and Feeling of the holy Presence of God and the precious Life of his dear Son in my Heart with great tenderness implored his Divine Assistance unto thee that thou mayst both be illuminated to do and made willing to suffer for his Name 's sake that the Spirit of God and of Glory may rest upon thy Soul And truly I can say I felt the good Will of God his holy Care and heavenly Visitations of Love to extend unto thee But one thing more especially lay upon my Spirit to have communicated unto thee which made me the more pressing for an Opportunity to speak with thee and that was this That thou shouldest have a true right and distinct Knowledg of thy own State and what that is which hath visited thee and in what thy Faith Patience Hope and Salvation stand where to wait and how to find the Lord and distinguish between that which is born of God and that which is not both with respect to thy self in all the Motions and Conceptions of thy Heart and with respect to others in their Religious Worships and Performances to the end that thou mayest not be deceived about the things relating to God's Kingdom and thy Eternal Peace this is of greatest weight Now know certainly that which hath discovered unto thee the Vanities of this World the Emptiness and the Fading of all earthly Glory the Blessedness of the Righteous and the Joy of the World that is to come is the Light of Christ Jesus wherewith he hath enlightned thy Soul for in him was Life and that Life is the Light of Mankind John 1.4 9. Thus God promiseth by the Prophet Isaiah to give him viz. for a Light to lighten the Gentiles and for his Salvation to the ends of the Earth So that Christ the Light is God's Gift and eternal Life is hid in him yea all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg who is the Light of the Gospel-Temple true Believers Rev. 21. And all that receive this Light into their Hearts and bring their Deed to it to see in what ground they are wrought whether in God or in the evil One and make this Blessed Light the Guide of their Life fearing with a holy Fear to do any thing that this Light manifests to be evil waiting and watching with a godly Care to be preserved blameless before the Lord I say all such become Children of Light and Witnesses of the Life of Jesus O blessed wilt thou be for ever if in the way of this Holy Light thy Mind walks to the end Let this that hath visited thee lead thee this Seed of Light and Life which is the Seed of the Kingdom yea 't is Christ the true and only Seed of God that visited my Soul even in my young Years that spread my Sins in order before me reproved me and brought godly Sorrow upon me making me often to weep in solitary Places saying within my Soul O that I knew the Lord as I ought to know him O that I served him as I ought to serve him yea often was there a great Concern upon my Spirit about my eternal State mournfully desiring that the Lord would give my Soul rest in the great Day of Trouble Now was all the Glory of the World as a Bubble yea nothing was dear to me that I might win Christ for the Love Friendship and Pleasure of this World was a Burden unto my Soul And in this seeking-state I was directed to the Testimony of Jesus in my own Conscience as the true shining Light giving me to discern the Thoughts and Intents of my own Heart and no fooner was I turned unto it but I found it to be that which from my Childhood had visited me though I distinctly knew it not and when I received it in the Love of it it shewed me all that ever I did and reproved all the unfruitful Works of Darkness judging me as a Man in the Flesh and laying Judgment to the Line and Righteousness to the Plummet in me And as by the brightness of his coming into my Soul he discovered the Man of Sin there upon his Throne so by the Breath of his Mouth which is the two-edged Sword of his Spirit he destroyeth his Power and Kingdom and having made me a Witness of that Death of the Cross he hath also made me Witness of his Resurrection So that in good measure my Soul can now say I am justified in the Spirit and though the State of Condemnation unto Death was glorious yet Justification unto Life was and is more glorious In this state of the new Man all is new behold new Heavens and a new Earth old things come to be done away the old Man with his Deeds put off Now new Thoughts new
me and my Friends the last night if it be his Will But since thou art a mortal Man one that must give an Account in common with all to the Immortal God let me a little expostulate with thee By what Law on Earth are Men not scandalous under no Proscription harmless Strangers about lawful Occasions and Men not Vagabonds but of good Quality in their own Country stopt menaced sent back with Souldiers and that at Sun-set exposed to the Night in an unknown Country and therefore forced to lie in the Fields I say by what Law are we judged yea thus punished before heard Is this the Jus Gentium or Germanicum Naturale or Christianum Oh! Where 's Nature Where 's Civility Where 's Hospitality But where 's Christianity all this while Well but we are Quakers Quakers What 's that for a Name Is there a Law of the Empire against that Name No Did we own it No but if we had the letters of that Name neither make up Drunkard Whore-master Thief Murderer nor Traitor Why so odious then What harm hath it done Why could Jews pass just before us that have crucified Christ and not Quakers that never crucified him but Ignorance is as well the Mother of Persecution as Devotion and the false Christian and the false Jew have but one Father But Argumentum ad hominem my Friend bear with me a little Art thou a Christian How canst thou be rude uncivil and persecute then Thou art to love Enemies not abuse Friends harmless Strangers Well but this Life is dead this Doctrine antiquated Jesus Christ turn'd out of doors I perceive What art thou for a Christian A Lutheran Yes Canst thou so lately forget the Practises of the Papists and with what Abhorrence thy Ancestors declared against such sort of Entertainment Were not they despised mocked and persecuted And are their Children treading in the steps of their old Enemies Friend 't is not reformed Words but a reformed Life that will stand thee instead 't is not to live the life of the Unregenerate Worldly-minded and Wicked under the Profession of the Saint's Words that will give an Entrance into God's rest Be not deceived such as thou Sowest such must thou Reap in the Day of the Lord. Thou art not come to the Berean-state that tried all things and therefore not noble in the Christian sense the Bereans were noble for they judged not before Examination And for thy saying We want no Quakers here I say under favour you do for a true Quaker is one that trembleth at the Word of the Lord that worketh out his Salvation with fear and trembling and all the Days of his appointed Time waiteth in the Light and Grace of God till his great Change cometh and that taketh up the daily Cross to his Will and Lusts that he might do the Will of God manifested to him by the Light of Jesus in his Conscience and according to the holy Precepts and Examples in the holy Scriptures of Truth laid down by Jesus and his followers for the Ages to come Yea he is one that loveth his Enemies rather than feareth them that Blesseth those that Curse him and prayeth for those that despitefully treat him as God knoweth we do for thee And O that thou wert such a Quaker Then wouldst thou Rule for God and act in all things as one that must give an account to God for the Deeds done in the Body whether Good or Evil. Then would Temperance Mercy Justice Meekness and the Fear of the Lord dwell in thy Heart and in thy Family and Country Repent I exhort thee and consider thy latter End for thy Days are not like to be many in this World therefore mind the things that make for thy Eternal Peace least Distress come upon thee as an armed Man and there be none to deliver thee I am Thy Well-wishing Friend W.P. Duysburgh 3d. 7th m. 1677. S.V. This having done we went to Dr. Mastricht's to inform him of what had past who tho' of a kind Disposition and very friendly to us yet seemed surprized with fear the Disease of this Country crying out What will become of this poor Countess Her Father hath called her Quaker a long time behaving himself very severely to her but now he will conclude she is one indeed and he will lead her a lamentable Life I know said he you care not for suffering but she is to be pittied We told him that we both loved her and pittied her and could lay down our Lives for her as Christ hath done for us in the Will of God if we could thereby do her good but that we had not mentioned her Name neither was the Letter that he gave us to her so much as seen or known of her Father But still he feared that our Carriage would incense the Graef so much the more against both his Daughter and all those serious and inquiring People up and down the Country We answered with an earnestness of Spirit That they had minded the Incensings and Wrath of Men too much already and true Religion would never spring or grow under such fears and that it was time for all that felt any thing of the Work of God in their Hearts to cast away the slavish fear of Man and to come forth in the boldness of the true Christian life yea that Sufferings break and make way for greater Liberty and that God was wiser and stronger than Man We askt him if there were any in that City who enquired more diligently after the way of the Lord he recommended us as we had already been informed in another place to the Family of the Praetor or chief Governour of the Town whose Wife and Sister more especially were seeking after the best things So we parted with him in love and by the help of his Daughter were conducted to this Family We had not been long there before a School-master of Dusseldorp and withal a Minister came in enquiring after us having hâ—ard at Mulheim where he preached the day before to the People or else by the way of our attempt to visit that place and the Entertainment we received at the hands of the Gâ—â—ef He sat down with us and though we had already a sweet Opportunity yet feeling the Power to rise the Meeting renewed And O magnified be the Name of the Lord he witnessed to our Testimony abundantly in all their Hearts and Consciences who were broken into much tenderness and certainly there is a blessed Power and Zeal stirring in that young Man yea he is very near the Kingdom So we took our Leave of them leaving the Lord's Peace and Blessing upon them It was now something past the 12th Hour of the Day In the way to our Lodging we met a Messenger from the Countess a pretty young tender Man near to the Kingdom who saluted us in her Name with much love telling us That she was much grieved at the Enteâ—tainment of her Father towards us advising us not
being one with this Spirit in judging those that have been faithful according to the Gift of Wisdom they have received from God they will feed it and fortifie it and in the end come to be one with them against the power it self and at last run out and become open Enemies and Despisers for whom is reserved the blackness and darkness for ever Wherefore all that labour for the Restoration of those that are out of Unity with the Brethren let them be such as are of a sound mind themselves Else What will they gather from Or What will they gather to And let them labour in the Simplicity Integrity Love and Zeal of the Power that first gathered us to God For that which is rightly gotten will endure but that which is obtained by the Contrivance Interest and Perswasions of Men getteth no farther than Man and is of the Flesh and what is of the Flesh is fleshly and shall never inherit the Kingdom of God Therefore let none look out of the Seed for help for all Power is in it and there the true Light and Judgment stand for ever and that Seed hath God ordained to bruise the Serpent's head They that would save it and those that would bruise it by any other thing are Breakers of God's great Ordinance and fly to Egypt for strength For 't is David the Stripling that shall be too hard for Goliah the Giant and that not by Saul 's Armour but with God's living little stone cut out of the Mountains without hands without Man's Invention and Contrivance O this hath wrought all our mighty Works in us and for us to this day Wherefore let us be still and trust and confide therein for ever Let none look back faint or consult for if they do they will darken their pure eye and lose their way and into the Eternal Rest of the Flocks of the Companions will never come Brethren the Judgment given forth against this Spirit and all those that have resisted our love and forbearance that are joined to it must stand and all that are out of Unity with the Judgment are judged by it therefore as all would stand before the Lord and his People let not this Spirit be reasoned withal enter not into Proposals and Articles with it but feed it with Judgment that is God's Decree so may the Souls that are deceived come by the right Door into the heavenly Unity My Brethren look forwards and lift up your Eyes for the Fields are even white unto harvest up and down the Nations remember the great Name of the Lord and behold the great Work that he is doing before all People whose saving health is visiting the World and whose eternal Word and Testament must from us go forth to gather the Nations let that that will be unjust be unjust still let the Dead bury the Dead to whose appearance the King and the Kingdom of the Gentiles shall bring their glory Let us all who have received the Gift from God wait in deep humility to be raised up and impowered by him more and more to eye and prosecute his universal Service in the World which noble Work had those that are gone into the Sepation but laid deeply to heart they would never have sat at home murmuring fretting and quarrelling against the comely and godly Order and Practice of their Brethren But Love Peace and Joy had filled their hearts and not the troubler and accuser of the Brethren who hath opened an evil Eye in them and begotten them into a discontented self-separating mind and this Image they bear and the pure Eye sees it O let none tempt the Lord let none provoke the eye of his jealousie let us all dwell in that divine sense that he hath begotten in us Where our love as a fresh and pure stream will always flow to God and one another Here all his ways are pleasantness and all his paths are peace for where he keepeth the House who is Prince of Peace he will keep all in his heavenly peace We are but as one Family and therefore we have but one Lord and Master we are but as one Flock and we have but one heavenly Shepherd to hear who goeth before us and giveth us eternal like to follow him And if any are offended in him or in his it is their own fault if faint and grow weary we are truly sorry if through unwatchfulness the Enemy hath enter'd begotten coldness to the Brethren and carelessness of embracing the opportunity by which the Unity is renewed and increased so that what 's done by the Brethren without them is lockt upon first with a sleight eye and then with an evil eye which begets distance and this distance in a time separation and separation continueth enmity and this enmity death it self We are in our Spirits truly griev'd for them however the Judgments of God must stand against them and that Spirit which leadeth them in which they gather not to God but to themselves and woe to them that strengthen their hands and despise counsel they will have much to answer for before the Lord. I feel a slighting scornful laughing Spirit often flying at me with its venemous Sting but the Seed of Life is over it and the Lord God will destroy it Wherefore Friends in all places where the Spirit hath entrance keep sound Judgment upon it if you will keep your Garments clean and enter not into Disputes and Contests with it 't is that it seeketh and loveth but go on in your Testimony and business for the Lord in the Lord 's peaceable Power and Spirit and his blessing and presence of Life shall be with you and in multiplying he shall multiply you for no good will be withhold from you we can say it of a truth God is good to Israel and to all that are of an upright heart And let us be of good chear for 't is God's determination that the House of David shall grow stronger and stronger and his Branch shall encrease and spread and of his Government Kingdom and Dominion there shall be no end Your faithful Friend and Brother in the service of our dear Lord W.P. From on Board the Passage between Delfzyl and Embden 16. of 7 th Month 1677. God's blessed work encreaseth and prospereth in these Lands magnified be his everlasting Name We arrived at Embden about the 11 th hour This is the City where Friends have been so bitterly and barbarously used the like hath scarcely been known in any place where Truth hath broke forth in our day they having here been banished some 30 and some 40 times and above The first Family that received truth in this City was Doctor John William Haesbaert and his Wife at whose house also the first Meeting was set up among Friends to wait upon the Lord by way of publick Testimony they are now both Dead but the Memory of their Fidelity is a precious Ointment among the Righteous they were with me at a
Meeting six years ago in this City and I remember the power had that operation upon them that I said to B F. and T R. then with me it will not be long before they will publickly own and bear testimony in this place and about three months after he came forth and she about a year after him and from their fidelity and integrity notwithstanding all the sore and bitter tempest of Persecution a fine Meeting sprang but at this day they are scattered being still sent away as fast as they return We visited his Mother's Family where we found three of his Sisters in the love of Truth his fourth Sister being also a Friend and is Wife of John Claus living at Amsterdam We had a little sweet comfortable Meeting with them After it returning to my lodging as I was writing to Doctor Andrews President of the Counsel of State who is reported to have been the Author of this cruelty to our Friends a burden came upon me my writing would not serve turn but I must go my self and in the fear and name of the Lord to plead the innocent and suffering cause of our Friends with him So away we went to his house he was at first astonished to see what manner of Men we were but after a little time he comported himself with more kindness than we expected at his hand I askt him if He and the Senate had not received a Letter in Latine from an English-man about two years since concerning their Severity towards the People called Quakers He told me he had I replyed I was the Man and I was constrained in Conscience to visit him on their behalf and I could not see how he being a Common-wealth's-man and 〈◊〉 Protestant could persecute I pleaded with the Unnaturalness the Iâ—christianity and Imprudence of such proceedings and prest â—ur Reasonâ— earnestly but tenderly upon him he assaulted us with several Objections but blessed be the Lord they were mostly fictitious and therefore easily removed and answered He also promised me That if I would write to the Senate a Remonstrance of the Case of our Friends and express my Request therein and inclose it to him he would both present it and get it to be read and make it appear that he was not so much our enemy as we lookt upon him to be I promised to send him some Books containing a Defence of our Principles which were accordingly put into the hands of Eliza. Haesbert to deliver him in my name Having taken our leave of the Old Woman and her Daughters and a Man-friend residing in that City and left the blessings and peace of our God amongst them We took Ship for Lier where we arrived the next morning thence we took Waggon for Bremen where we came safe through the Lord's goodness the next day where we met our Friends and Companions G. Keith and B. Burly who were come hither some hours before us from Amsterdam In this City there is a work of the Lord begun though yet obscurely We had a travel upon our spirits that the blessed and precious Truth of our dear Lord and Master might find a place to rest its foot upon to that purpose we wrote to two Ministers under some Suffering from their Brethren because of their great zeal against the formality and deadness of the so called reformed Churches This we sent by a Merchant who we formerly met at Herwerden With some difficulty we got to them but the person chiefly struck at was shy to speak with us his reason was this it was known that we were in Town and it was one of the accusations against him that he was a Fosterer of all the strange Religions that came through the Town Also he was then actually under Process and that the People that had heard of the innocency of his cause conceived a prejudice against our Name though it might be without cause he could not at present confer with us and said he was sorry for it with all his heart but what we should say to his Brother should be the same as if it been said to him to whom he referred us however I took hold of his Arm and said I have this Message to deliver to thee that I may disburden my self before the Lord which was this Mind that which hath touched thy heart let that guide thee do not thou order that consult not with Flesh and Blood how to maintain that cause which Flesh and Blood in thy enemies persecuteth thee for He answered rather than I will betray that cause or desert Christ by Gods strength they shall pull my flesh of my bones So he left us in his house and truely we had a good time with his Companion the other Minister about three hours testifying unto him that the day was come and coming in which the Lord would gather out of all Sects that stand in the oldness of the Letter into his own Holy Spirit Life and Power and in this the Unity of Faith and Bond of Peace should stand and therefore that he and all of them should have an eye to the principle of God that being turned to that they might speak from it and that therein they would Glorifie God and be edified So we parted leaving the man in a sensible and savoury frame We visited the Merchant twice and had a very good time with him the man is of a loving and simple Spirit and the Love of God opened our hearts to him often We also visited Doctor Johan Sophrony Cozack an odd Compositum of a man he had great and strange openings he hath writ several hundred tracts some of them are now printed at Amsterdam he is a great enemy to the Priests and in society with none of a merry yet of a rough disposition without any method or decency in his Cloaths Food Furniture and Entertainments he wants but three of fourscore yet of a wonderful Vigor and pregnancy we were twice with him and we have reason to think he was as loving to us as to any body and truly he did show at parting some serious and hearty kindness but we could fasten little upon him as to God's Power or any inward sense of us or our testimony yet we had little to object against what we had said nay some things were very extraordinary From him we went to Doctor Belingham an English Physitian a man of a lowly and tender spirit who received us in much love lamenting when we left him that he had no more time with us At the Inn we had frequent opportunity to declare the way of Truth and we must needs say we were heard with patience and Sobriety particularly of a Doctor of Law who lodged at the house and an ancient Man of Kiel in Holstein we left Books amongst them all and in the Love and Fear of God we took our leave of them on the fifth day after dinner and begun our journey towards Herwerden the Court of the Princess where
we arrived on the Seventh day in the morning every way well through the Mercies of the Lord. We sent to inform her of our arrival and to know what hour it would be convenient for us to visit her who returned us this answer that being then imployed in the business of her Government it would be the 2d hour in the afternoon before she could be at leasure The time being come we went to visit her and found her and the Countess ready to receive us which they did with much love and tenderness I observed them to be much lower than ever and that our former blessed opportunities had had a blessed effect upon them That afternoon was imployed in the narrative of our travels which they heard with great attention and refreshment the whole discourse ended with a precious little meeting The house being clear of Strangers they both earnestly prest us to sup with them which being not well able to decline we submitted to At Supper the Power of the Lord came upon me and it was a true supper to us for the hidden Manna was manifested amongst us yea a blessed Meeting it proved to us O the reverent tenderness and lowly frame of Spirit that appeared this Evening both in the Princess and Countess The French-woman we found greatly improved both in her Love and Understanding yea she is very zealous and very broken she was always with us on these occasions After supper we returned to the Princesse's Chamber where we stayed till it was about 10. at Night at parting I desired the Princess would give us such another opportunity next day being the first day of the Week as we had the last time we were with her she answered me With all my heart But will ye not come in the Morning too I replied Yes willingly What time wilt thou be ready to receive us she answered at 7. About 7 the next Morning we came about eight the Meeting began and held till Eleven several Persons of the City as well as those of her own Family being present The Lord's power very much affected them and the Countess was twice much broken as we spoke After the People were gone out of the Chamber it lay upon me from the Lord to speak to them two the Princess and the Countess with respect to their particular conditions occasioned by these Words from the Countess I am fully convinc'd but O my Sins are great Whilst I was speaking the glorious Power of the Lord wonderfully rose yea after an awful manner and had a deep entrance upon their Spirits especially the Countesse's that she was broken to pieces God hath raised and I hope fixt his own Testimony in them We returned to our Inn and after dinner we came back to the second Meeting on that day which began about the second Hour in the afternoon And truly the Reverent Blessed Sure Word of Life was divided aâ—right the precious sense of Truth was raised in the Meeting There came more of the City than in the morning and we were much comforted in the Lord's power that was with us For the Truth had passage and the hungry were satisfied and the simple-hearted deeply affected This day at both Meetings was one of the Princess's Women that never was at Meeting before and she though very shy of us the last time became tender and loving to us she was truly reacht O magnified be the Name of the Lord whose presence was with us and whose arm stood by us After Meeting the Princess prest us to stay and sup with her pleading the quietness of the Family and that they were alone At Supper as the night before it was upon me to commemorate the Goodness of the Lord his daily Providences and how pretious he is in the Covenant of Light to the dear Children and Followers of the Light Great was the reverence and tenderness that was upon the Spirits of both Princess and Countess at that instant After Supper we returned to the Princess's Chamber where we spent the rest of our time in holy silence or discourse till about the tenth hour and then we repaired to our Quarters Next morning about eight we returned to the Court where the Princess and Countess were ready to receive us The morning was imployed in very serious Conference relating to the affairs practice and sufferings of Friends in England with which they seemed greatly affected When about the Eleventh Hour a ratling of Coach interrupted us The Countess immediately stept out to see what was the matter and returned with a countenance somewhat uneasie telling us that the young Princes Nephews to the Princess and the Graef of Donaw were come to visit her upon which I told them we should withdraw and return to our Lodging but intreated that for as much as we were to depart that night with the Post-Waggon we might not be disappointed of a farewell Meeting with them and the rather for that I had a great burden upon my Spirit which they readily complied with telling me these persons would onely dine and be gone As we went to the door the Countess stept before us and opened it for us and as I past by she lookt upon me with a weighty countenance and fetcht a deep sigh crying out O the cumber and entanglements of this vain World they hinder all good Upon which I replied looking her steadfastly in the face O come thou out of them then After we had dined in our Lodging something being upon me to write to the Professors of that Country I went up to my Chamber that I might be the more retired just as I was about the conclusion of the Paper cometh the Steward of the House to the Princess with this Message That the Princess intreated us to come to her for the Graef of Dâ—naw had a great desire to see us and to speak with us this brought a fresh Weight and Exercise upon us but committing all to the Lord and casting our care upon him we went Being arrived the Graef approacheth us in French at first took no great notice of our inceremonious behaviour but proceeded to inquire of us our success in our Journey and what we found answering our Journey and Inclinations Then we fell to points of Religion and the Nature and End of true Christianity and what was the way that leadeth to the Eternal Rest After some short debate about compleat satisfaction in this life we both agreed that Self-denial Mortification and Victory was the Duty and ought to be the endeavour of every sincere Christian From this I fell to give him some account of my Retreat from the World and the inducements I had thereto and the necessity of an inward work with which he seemed much pleased After this he fell to the Hat c. This choaketh and the rather because it telleth tales it telleth what people are it marketh Men for Separatists it 's blowing a Trumpet and visibly crossing the World and that the fear of
Minister of the Gospel be at the beck of any Mortal living or give his Soul and Conscience to the time and appointment of another the thing in it self is utterly wrong and against the very Nature and Worship of the new and everlasting Covenant You had better meet to read the Scriptures the Book of Martyrs c. if you cannot sit and wait in silence upon the Lord till his Angel move upon your Hearts than to uphold such a formal limited and ceremonious Worship this is not the Way out of Babylon And I have a deep sense upon my Soul that if the Young Man strive beyond the talent God hath given him to answer his Office and fill up his Place and wait not for the pure and living Word of God in his Heart to open his Mouth but either studieth for his Sermons or speaketh his own Words he will be utterly ruined Wherefore O Dear Friend have a care thou art no Snare to him nor he to thee Man's Works smother and stifle the true life of Christ what have you to do but to look to Jesus the Author of the holy desires that are in you who himself hath visited you tempt not the Lord provoke not God what should any Man Preach from but Christ and what should he Preach people too but Christ in them the hope of Glory Consider nothing feedeth that which is born of God but that which cometh down from God even the Bread of God which is the Son of God which giveth his life for the World feel it and feed on it let none mock God nor grieve his eternal Spirit that is come to seal them up from the mouth of Man that hath deceived them that Jesus the anointing may teach them and abide with them for ever Be stedfast and immoveable and this will draw the Young Man near to the Lord and empty him of himself and purge away mixtures and then you will all come to the Divine Silence and when all Flesh is silent before the Lord then is it the Lord's time to Speak and if you will hear your Souls shall live O my Soul is in great pain that you may be all chastly preserved in that divine Sense begotten in your Hearts by the eternal Word of God that abideth for ever that nothing may ever be able to extinguish it But more especially thou my Dear Friend mayest be kept in faithfulness for the Lord is come very near to thee and thou must begin the Work the Lord God expecteth it at thy hand if one Sheep break through the rest will follow wherefore watch O watch that thou may'st be strengthned and confirmed and strengthen all that is begotten of God in that Family by thy weighty savoury and circumspect life O how is my Soul affected with thy present condition it is the fervent Supplication of my heart that thou may'st through the daily obedience of the Cross of Jesus conquer and shine as a bright and glorious Star in the Firmament of God's eternal Kingdom So let it be Lord Jesus Amen We tenderly yet freely spoke ouâ— hearts to him before we parted which done in God's love we tooâ— our leave of him and Dusseldorp and got that Night to Duysburgh being the third Day of the Week We first visited Dr. Mastricht a Maâ— of a good natural Temper but a rigid Calvinist I perceived by him that they held a Consultation about seeing us at Bruch but they all concluded it was best to decline meeting with us because of the Graef he being ready to fling our Name in reproach upon them in his displeasure and this would confirm him in his Jealousies of them This might excuse the Countess but by no means Kuper and if I had any sense Mastricht was there with them upon design to frustrate the hopes we had conceived of meeting with her We from thaâ— descended to other things of weightâ— and in love and peace parted From his House we returned to our Inn and after Supper we visited the Schult who with much civility and some tenderness received us his Sister also came to us and we had a good little Meeting with them and our God was with us and his pure and tender life appeared for our Justification and pleaded our innocent Cause in their Consciences and so we parted with them leaving our Master's Peace amongst them The next day we came to Wesel being the 4th day where we understood by Dr. Schuler that thy Sister desired that we would be so kind as to see her when we returned upon that we went and visited her she received us very kindly Thy Brother in Law 's two Sisters were present we stayed with them at least two Hours Many Questions she put to me which I was glad to have an Opportunity to Answer for it made way for a Meeting she intreated us to come again if we stayed and told us our Visit was very grateful to her adding That because we past 〈◊〉 by the last time she concluded wiâ—â— herself we had no hopes of her with more to that effect From thence we went to Dr. Schuler's who freely offered us his House for a Meeting next day and indeed the Man is bold after his manner The next day about Seven I writ a Billiet in French to thy Sister to inform her of the Meeting to begin about Eight She came and her two Sisters with her there was Rosendale Colonel Copius and his Wife and about three or four more and to our great Joy the Lord Almighty was with us and his holy Power reached their Hearts and the Doctor and Copius confessed to our Testimony The Meeting lasted about three Hours being done we took our leave of them in the Spirit of Jesus and so returned to our Inn. The Taylor all this while afraid of coming to our Inn or to the Doctor 's to the Meeting great Fears have overtaken him and the poor Man liveth but in a dry Land After Dinner we visited Copius and Rosendale and at Copius's we had a blessed broken Meeting he his Wife Rosendale his Wife and another Woman Wife to one Dr. Willick's Brother present they were extreamly affected and overcome by the Power of the Lord 't was like one of our Herwerden Meetings indeed much Tenderness was upon all their Spirits This done and having left Books both there and with thy Sister we left Wesel with Hearts full of Joy and Peace and let me say this That more kindness more openness we have scarcely found in all our Travels O that this blessed Sense may dwell with them A Seed there is in that place God will gather yea a noble People he will find out And I doubt not but there will be a good Meeting of Friends in that City before many Years go about my love is great to that place O how God is our dear Lord to us who helpeth our Infirmities and carrieth through all Opposition and feedeth us with his Divine Presence
that Night at Rotterdam and having the Hague to Visit by the way made our return at that time unpracticable however the Relation of the German concerning the good Inclinations of the great Man and his Wife their disdain of the World voluntary retreat from the Greatness and Glory of it rested strongly upon our Spirits This Person presently conducted us to the House of one who had formerly been a Doctor in the University and there left us To this Person both G. F. and my self were more than ordinarily open he was of a sweet yet quick wise yet very loving and tender Spirit there were few Strangers we felt greater love to He assented to every thing we said and truly his Understanding was very clear and open to the things that lay upon us to declare and express'd his firm Belief of great Revolutions at hand and that they should terminate in the setting up of the glorious Kingdom of Christ in the World What shall I say the Man felt our Spirits and therefore loved us and in the fresh sense of that love writ a Letter by us to a retired Pâ—rson at the Hague like himself which in several places of Germany was the way whereby we found out several of the retired People we visited After near two Hours time with him we took Waggon for the Hague leaving the Peace of God upon him The first thing we did there was to enquire out the Lady Overkirk a Person of a retired and religious Character separated from the publick Worship of that Country She was a home but her Husband with her being a great Man of the Army of another Disposition and Way of Living hindred our Access at that time The next Person we went to was a Judge at the Law of Chief Court of Justice in that Republick he received us with great Respect and a more than ordinary desire to know the truth of our Faith and Principles We declared of the things most surely believed amongst us in the Power and Love of God He made his Observations Objections and Queries upon several things we spake to whom we replied and explained all Mattters in question insomuch that he declared himself satisfied in our Confessions and his good Belief of us and our Principles We took a solemn and sensible leave of him and we felt the Witness reacht and his Spirit tendred which filled our hearts with dear love to him he brought us to his Street-door and there we parted From him we went to visit that Person for whom we had a Letter from the Dr. at Leyden but he was not at home We immediately took Waggon for Delft and from thence an Express-Boat for Rotterdam where we arrived well about Eight at Night The next day was mostly spent in visiting of Friends and the friendly People in that place which consisted of several Persons of worldly Note The next day being the first Day of the Week we had a large and blessed Meeting wherein the deep Mysteries of the Kingdom of Christ and Antichrist were declared in the power of an endless Life Several of divers Religions were there but no Disturbance and Contradiction but a profound Silence and reverent Attention were over the Meeting That Night I had a blessed Meeting at my Lodging with those Persons of Note that at sometimes visited our publick Meetings as at that day and have a Convincement upon them The Lord's Love Truth and Life preciously reached towards them and they were very sweetly affected Next day I bestowed in perfecting and correcting several publick Letters which I was moved to write both in my first and second Journey in Germany and after my return to these Low-Countries They are left behind to be Translated and Printed they are omitted here because they are large and likely to be â—ereafter printed in English The Titles whereof follow I. A Summons to Christendom in an earnest Expostulation with her to prepare for the great and notable Day of the Lord that is at the door II. To all those who are sensible of the Day of their Visitation and who have received the Call of the LORD by the Light and Spirit of his Son in their Hearts to partake of the great Salvation where-ever scattered throughout the World but more especially in the High and Low-Dutch Nations Faith Hope and Charity which over-come the World be multiplied among you III. To all those Professors of Christianity that are Externally separated from the visible Sects and Fellowships in the Christian World so called wherever hidden or scattered true Knowledge which is Life Eternal from God the Father by Christ Jesus IV. A tender Visitation in the Love of God that over-cometh the World to all People in the High and Low-Dutch Nations who hunger and thirst after Righteousness and desire to know and worship God in Truth and in Sincerity containing a plain Testimony to the Ancient and Apostolical Life Way and Worship that God is reviving and exalting in the Earth in his Spirit and Truth The sense of the serious retreat of this great Man we heard of at Leiden was so strong upon me that I could not see my self clear to leave the Country before I had given him a Visit I purposed therefore the next Morning to set forward to the Hague from thence to Leiden and so to Nortwyck I arrived there in the Evening with B F. A Sonnemans and M Sonnemans and immediately made known our coming and the end of it to him and his Wife by the means of the young German who was got thither before us to visit them An Invitation came to us all at our Inn and immediately we repaired to his House which was very stately and yet plain he presently came to us took us by the hand and bid us heartily welcome We immediately sate down and after some time of retirement I spoke something of what was upon me yet not before he had given us a sober and pathetical Account of his Life and of the present frame and disposition of his Spirit All this was in the absence of his Wife but so soon as I had finisht what was then upon me to speak of the Witness of God and of its Work in Man upon the occasion of the History he gave us of his 〈◊〉 he led us into another Room 〈◊〉 his Wife was he told her here were â—omâ— Christian Friends come to visâ—t her she saluted us very kindly We all sat down and after some â—â—â—ence the heavenly Power of God did in a living and tender manner open their States and Conditions to me and opened my Mouth to them the substance of my Testimony was to this purpose That Death reigned from Adam to Moses Moses was till the Prophets the Prophets till John and John till Christ What Christ's day was how few see this day and whilst People are talking of being in Christ under Grace and not under the Law Death reigneth over them and they are
thee in his keeping that thou mayest not loose but keep in that Divine Sense which by his Eternal Word he hath begotten in thee Receive dear Princess my sincere and Christian Salutation Grace Mercy Peace be multiplied among you all that love the Lord Jesus Thy Business I shall follow with all the diligence and discretion I can and by the first give tâ—ee an Account after it shall please the Lord to bring me safe to London All my Brethren are well and present thee with their dear love and the rest that love Jesus the Light of the World in thy Family Thou hast taught me to forget thou art a Princess and therefore I use this freedom and to that of God in thee am I manifest and I know my integrity Give if thou pleasest the Salutation of my dear Love to A.M. de Hornes with the inclosed Dear Princess do not hinder but help her that may be required of her which considering thy Circumstances may not yet be required of thee Let her stand free and her freedom will make the passage easie unto thee Accept what I say I intreat thee in that pure and heavenly love and respect in which I write so plainly to thee Farewell my Dear Friend and the Lord be with thee I am more than I can say Thy Great Lover and Respectful Friend W.P. I referr thee to the Inclosed for Passages We visited Giltall and Hooftman and they us they were at one or two of the Meetings at Amsterdam Vale in aeternum For ANNA MARIA de Hornes stiled Countess of Hornes Jesus be with thy Spirit Amen BEloved and much Esteemed for the sake of that love which is raised in thy Heart to the Eternal Truth of God the increase of which I earnestly desire that thou mayst be more than Conqueror through the powerful Workings of that divine Love in thy Soul which casteth out all fear and overcometh the World In this eternal Love it is that I love thee and would be loved of thee blessed are they that hold their fellowship in it It is Pure Harmless Patient Fervent and Constant In fine it cometh from God and leadeth all that receive it to God indeed it is God and they that live in God live in Love If we keep and abide in him that hath visited us we shall always feel his love as a fountain and Wonderful are the Effects of it O it can lay down its Life for its Friend it will break through all Difficulty and hath Power to conquer Death and the Grave This transcendeth the Friendship of the World and the Vain-glorious Honours of the Courts of this World O this kindness is inviolable our purest Faith worketh by this Love O the Tenderness of that Soul in which this Love liveth and hath place the Humility and Compassion that always keeps it Company and who can lively enough describe the lovely Image it giveth the attracting and engaging Conversation it hath but it is discerned and greatly valued by the Children of Love who are born of it which all the Children of Light are What shall I say it is the great Command and keepeth all the Commands Love pure and undefiled it fulfilleth the Law and Gospel too Blessed are they that feel any of this Love shed abroad in their Hearts with this Love it is that God loved us and by the Power of this Love Christ Jesus hath died for us Yea 't is this Love that quickeneth us to Jesus that enflameeth our Souls with pure and ardent Love to him and Zeal for him Yea 't is this holy Love that forsaketh Father and Mother Sister and Brother Husband Wife and Children House and Land Liberty and Life for the sake of Jesus that leaveth the Dead to bury the Dead and followeth Jesus in the narrow Way of Regeneration that can trust him in the Winds and in the Earthquakes in the Fire and in the Waters yea when the Floods come in even unto the Soul this despondeth not neither murmureth and as it cannot despair so it never presumeth yea it can triumphantly say What shall be able to separate me from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus Shall Principalities or Powers Things present or Things to come Shall Life or Death O no neither Time nor Mortality My Dear Friend let this noble Plant of Paradise grow in thy Heart wait upon the Lord that he would Water it and Shine upon it and make an Hedge about it that thy whole Heart may be replenished with the heavenly increase and fruits of it O that thou mayst grow in thy inner Man in Wisdom Strength and a pure Understanding in favour with God and with all People that are in the same Nature and Image for the World only loveth its own I hoped not to have been so quick upon my last long Letter but God's pure Love that hath redeemed me from the Earth and the earthly Nature and Spirit moved fervently upon my Spirit to Visit thee once more before I leave this Land I deferr'd it to this Extremity and being not clear to go hence I send thee my Christian Salutation in this pure Love that many Waters cannot quench distance cannot make it forget nor can time wear it out My Soul reverently boweth before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that it would please him to preserve thee Fear him and thou needest not fear for the Angel of the Lord encampeth about those that trust in his Name The Angel of his Eternal Presence guard thee that none of the Enemies of thy Soul's Peace may ever prevail against thee Perseverance and Victory be thy Portion in this World and a Crown of endless Glory be thy Reward in that which is to come Amen Since my last being the next day after the Date thereof we had a meeting with Galenus Abrahams and his Company for they are the most virulent and obstinate Opposers of Truth in that Land the success thou mayst perhaps see suddenly in Print and therefore I may defer the Narrative only in general our Dear Lord our Staff and Strength was with us and Truth reigned over all That Night we went to Leyden where we visited some Thence next day to the Hague where also we had a little Meeting O the Lust and Pride of that place thou camest into my Mind as I walked in the Streets and I said â—n my self Well she hath chosen the better part O be faithful and the Lord will give thee an eternal Recompence Thence we came to Rotterdam where the Lord hath given us several heavenly Opportunities in Private and Publick We are now come to the Briel and wait our Passage the Lord Jesus be with you that stay and with us that go that in him we may live and abide for ever Salute me to my French Friend bid her be Constant I wish thy Servants felicity but thine as mine own God Almighty overshadow thee hide thee under his Pavillion be thy Shield Rock and
not only long beheld with a grieved Eye the many Abominations and gross Impieties that reign therein the Lusts Pleasures Wantonness Drunkenness Whoredoms Oaths Blasphemies Envy Treachery and Persecution of the Just but for some time I have had a deep Sense that the Overflowing Scourge of God's Wrath and Indignation was just ready to break out upon the People Confusion Amazement and Misery The Weight of which hath caused me to Cry within my self Who shall Save us Who shall Deliver us Is there none to stay the Stroke to blunt the Edge to stop the Fury and intercede for the People and mediate for this poor Land that the Lord may not utterly depart and take his Glory and his Name from it and make it a Desolation for the Wild Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the Air a Land of Judgment and not of Promise of Curses and not of Blessings My Friends whilst the Sense of this Distress that is coming as a Dreadful Visitation from the Hand of the Displeased God upon this Ungodly Land to Stain its Glory Bring down its Pride and Punish its Forgetfulness of the Lord and his many Deliverances lay so Heavy upon my Spirit the Lord presented before me all the Truly Conscientious and Well-inclined People in these Nations and more especially You his Despised but Chosen Generation for whose sake he would yet have Mercy And in the midst of his Judgments This I received for you from the Lord as his Holy Will and Counsel and it often sprung in my Heart with a very Fresh and Strong Life TO THY TENTS O ISRAEL TO THY TENTS O ISRAEL God is thy TENT To thy God O Israel PREPARE O Friends to stand in this Day before the LORD that is in the first place for ye shall also have your Exercise Yea Great is that Work which we have to do for the Lord by his Powerful but very Peaceable Spirit for God will by all these Hurries Confusions and Vexations that are at the Door drive People from their False Gods and bring them home to HIMSELF He will throw down Wickedness and establish Righteousness he will waste Sin but Truth shall grow He will debase the Mountain of Empty Profession but the Mountain of his Holiness shall be Exalted He hath determined to raise up and renown the Seed of Light Life and Truth in the Hearts of People Holy Patience Meekness Wisdom Love Faith Purity and Perseverance so much wanting in the World shall be seen to dwell in it and only to come from it And my witness is that ye are the People through whom this Heavenly Seed of Righteousness must Clearly and Stedfastly so shine unto others in these Uneven and Rough Times that are Come and Coming as that your Heavenly Father may be Glorified by you Wherefore in the Name of the Lord be ye all dis-incumbred of the World and discharged of the Cares of it Fly as for your Lives from the Snares therein and get you into your Watch-Tower the NAME of the LORD Which is not a Dead Name or a meer Literal Name but a Living Spiritual and very Powerful Name A Strong Tower indeed yea an Invincible Fortress where dwell ye with God and in him who speaketh Peace to his Children and ordains Quietness for them that trust in him He will make you to lie down Safely even then when Darkness and Confusion shall be thick about you yea ye shall live in the Fire that will Consume the Stubble of the World and your Garments shall not be so much as Singed for the Son of God whom the Flames as well as Winds and Seas obey will be in the Midst of you Next Friends this know We are the People above all others that must stand in the Gap and Pray for the putting away of the Wrath so as that this Land be not made an Utter Desolation and God expects it at our Hands PREPARE ye therefore to Meet and Sanctifie the Lord in his Coming and Judgments Why stand any of you Gazing Let none Gaze or Look out I beseech you that is the Enemy's Work to weaken you within but be ye Retired be ye Centered in the Eternal One and Meditate upon the Lord and his Living Pure Law that ye may be Wise in Heart and travel in Spirit for this Poor Land and that for Enemies as well as Friends The Lord is ready to hear you for this people when ye are ready to Intercede and I testifie Abraham is amongst you God's Friend and his Just Lot too yea Jacob that Prevailed and One that is Greater than them all JESUS the Lamb of God whose Blood speaketh better things than that of Abel in whom is the Mediation and Attonement Be therefore encouraged to wait upon the Lord and to bow before him and humbly to Meditate in the Life of JESUS with him I know he will put it into your Hearts so to do if ye wait upon him For he will not cast off this Land as he did Sodom he hath a Right Seed a Noble People in it that he hath and yet will gather many Sheep there be not yet of our Fold whom he will bring in and the foul Weather and the Storms will but help to drive them Home to JESUS the Living and True Witness and Light within that he whom God hath ordained to Reign may be Great in them And Lastly my Dear Friends and Brethren by how much this Day draws Nigh by so much the more do ye Stand loose in your Affections to the World but faâ—t in the Faith And Assemble your selves together and let God Arise in you and his Power and Spirit of Life among you that ye may not only Wrestle but in the End Prevail That it may be seen that SALVATION is of the Jews the Jews Inward in Spirit and in Truth And truly the time hastens that Ten shall take hold of the Skirt of such a Jew and they shall be saved But Wo to the Hypocrite in that Day the Formalist the Jew Outward the Circumcision in the Flesh and Fleshly Christian that cannot Resist the Temptations of this World the Temporizer one that Runs with the Tide he will be Divided For there will be more Tides more Interests on Foot at once than One wherefore Perplexity will take hold on him his Policy will be Confounded He will not know what to do to be Safe nor what to Joyn with this Double-minded Man will be Unstable in his Counsels and in his Actions his Sandy Foundation will be Shaken Therefore as I said Wo to the Hypocrite and to the Covetous Man too for his Gods will fail him the Thief the Moth and Rust will invade his Baggs and surprise his Treasure his Anguish will be Great in this Day But my Dear Brethren as the Power and Spirit of our Lord God will Preserve and Establish us if we Sincerely and Entirely confide therein and that above our Sollicitation or Need of Carnal Consultations or Contrivances which we have
where De Labadie's Company resideth it being strong upon my Spirit to give them a Visit We got thither about 5 and as we were walking over a Field to the House we met a young Man of that Company who conducted us in I askt for Ivon the Pastor and Anna Maria Schurmans Ivon presently came with his Co-pastor who received us very civilly however they seemed shy of letting me speak with A. M. S. objecting her Weakness Age taking Physick c. but putting them in mind how unhandsomely I was used at Herwerden six Years a-go by de Labadie their Father who though I came a great Journy to visit him and his People suffered me not to speak with them they presently complied and went in to let her know that such a Person desired to speak with her and quickly returned desiring me to come in But fore-seeing my time would be too short for my Message the Sun being near setting and having 2 English Miles of unknown way to our Lodging on foot desired them that they would give an Opportunity the next Morning which they readily complied with So I took my leave of them who in a Friendly manner brought us a little on our way That night a great weight was upon my Spirit and especially the next Morning yet my Faith was in the power of God and I had a plain sight that I should have a good service among them however I should clear my Conscience and my Peace should rest with me The next Morning I returned to them and John Claus along with me so soon as we came we were brought into A.M. Shurman's Chamber where also was with her one of the three Somerdikes This A. M. S. aforesaid is an ancient Maid above 60 Years of Age of great Note and Fame for Learning in Languages and Philosophy and hath obtained a considerable place among the most learned Men of this Age. The Somerdikes are Daughters to a Noble-man of the Hague people of great Breeding and Inheâ—â—â—ances These with several other Persons being affected with the zealous Declamation of de Labadie against the dead and formal Churches of the World and awakened to seek after a more spiritual Fellowship and Society separated themselves from the common Calvinist Churches and followed him in the way of a refined Independency They are a serious plain People and are come nearer to Friends as in Silence in Meetings Women-speaking Preaching by the Spirit Plainness in Garb and Furniture in their Houses than formerly and more than any other People I know With these two we had the Company of the two Pastors and a Doctor of Physick After some silence I proposed this Question to them What was it that induced them to separate from the common Way they formerly lived in I desired them that they would be pleased to be plain and open with me as to the ground of their separation for I came not to cavil but in the Christian Spirit to be informed Upon this Ivon the chief Pastoâ— gave us the History of de Labadie'â— Education how he was bred among the Jesuites and Deserted them and embraced the Protestant Religion and finally of his great Satisfaction with the Protestant Churches of France and that if God would not give them a purer Church they three would set down by themselves resolving never more to mix themselves among the Babylonish Assemblies of the World adding several solemn Appeals concerning the Simplicity and Integrity of their Hearts in these things Ivon having done A. M. Shurmans began in this manner I find my self constrained to add a short Testimony She told us of her former life of her pleasure in Learning and her love to the Religion she was brought up in but she confessed she knew not God or Christ all that while and though from a Child God had visited her at times yet she never felt such a powâ—rful Stroke as by the Ministry of de Labadie She saw her learning to be vanity and her Religion like a Body of Death she resolved to despise the Shame desert her former way of Living and Acquaintance and to join her self with this little Family that was retired out of the World among whom she desired to be found a living Sacrifice offer'd up entirely to the Lord. She spoke in a very serious and broken Sense not without some trembling These are but short hints of what she said After she had done One of the Somerdikes began in a very reverent and weighty frame of Mind and in a Sense that very well suited her Contempt of the World She told us how often she had mourned from her young Years because she did not know the Lord as she desired often saying within her self If God would make known to me his Way I would trample upon all the Pride and Glory of the World She earnestly exprest the frequent Anguish of Spirit she had because of the Deadness and Formality of the Christians she was bred among saying to her self O the Pride O the Lusts O the vain pleasures in which Christians live Can thiâ— be the way to Heaven Is this the way to Glory Are these followers of Christ O no! O God Where is thy little Flock Where is thy little Family that will live intirely to thee that will follow thee Make me one of that number and when the Servant of the Lord de Labadie came into Holland I among others had a curiosity to hear him and among several others was deeply affected by him He spoke the very Thoughts of my heart me-thought my heart was pricked when I heard him and I resolved by the grace of God to abandon all the Glory and Pride of this World to be one of those that should set down with him in a separation from the vain and dead Worships of this World I count my self happy that I ever met with him and these Pastors who seek not themselves but the Lord and we are a Family that live together in love of one Soul and one Spirit intirely given up to serve the Lord and this is the greatest Joy in the World After her du Lignon the other Pastor gave us also an account of his Inducement to embrace J. de Labadie but not so lively After him the Doctor of Physick that had been bred for a Priest but voluntarily refused that Calling exprest himself after this manner I can also bear my Testimony in the presence of God that tho I lived in as much Reputation at the University as any of my Collegues or Companions and was well reputed for Sobriety and Honesty yet I never felt such a living sense of God as when I heard the Servant of the Lord de Labadie adding The first Day I heard him I was so struck and affected that I can truly say through the good Grace of God and the Conduct of the Holy Spirit it was to me as the Day of my Salvation he did so lovingly touch my heart with the sense of the true